Considerettes

There was quite a bit of infighting in the Republican party over the Miers nomination. Will the choice of Samuel Alito assuage that?

President Bush, stung by the collapse of his previous choice, nominated veteran judge Samuel Alito on Monday in a bid to reshape the Supreme Court and mollify his conservative allies. Ready-to-rumble Democrats warned that Alito may be an extremist who would curb abortion rights.

This bit of editorializing by the AP in a news story isn’t quite accurate. Bush isn’t (or shouldn’t be) “mollifying” his conservative allies; he is (or ought to be) keeping his campaign promise of a judge in the mold of Scalia and Thomas. Democrats may not like the idea the Bush is keeping this promise…

So consistently conservative, Alito has been dubbed “Scalito” or “Scalia-lite” by some lawyers because his judicial philosophy invites comparisons to conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. But while Scalia is outspoken and is known to badger lawyers, Alito is polite, reserved and even-tempered.

…but that’s to be expected. And Alito is known for being polite, but don’t expect that to mollify the folks who didn’t like Bolton for his temperament.

But it looks like conservatives, far from splitting from the party as many a Democrat was hoping, are sticking to principles.

Abortion emerged as a potential fault line. Democrats pointed to Alito’s rulings that restricted a woman’s right to abortion. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, a Republican who supports abortion rights, said that Alito’s views on the hot-button issue “will be among one of the first items Judge Alito and I will discuss.”

In a political twist, Republicans who helped sink Miers’ nomination rallied to Alito’s side.

Of course…

A leading Democrat who backed Miers led the attack against Alito.

…but that’s to be expected.

The fight to nominate Alito, a judge on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals since 1990, is one step in Bush’s political recovery plan as he tries to regain his footing after a cascade of troubles _ including the indictment of the vice president’s chief of staff _ rocked his presidency.

Some folks (including a commenter at Stones Cry Out) had suggested that this “rocking” would make getting this kind of nominee through, including the possible use of the “nuclear option”, politically impossible. I have a feeling, though, that Bush’s presidency hasn’t been “rocked” nearly as badly as the AP or Democrats think.

No, the Republican party is as tight as ever, even if the President occasionally needs a reminder of who played a huge part in getting him to the dance.

(Cross-posted at Stones Cry Out, Blogger News Network and Redstate.org. Comments welcome.)

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Remember; indictments aren’t convictions. Based on what TIME reporter Matt Cooper is saying, these indictments may amount to little or nothing.

On Aug. 23, I had a tuna sandwich and gave a deposition in Abrams’ Washington office about the conversation. The Wilson part that really interested Fitzgerald was tiny, as I told TIME readers. Basically, I asked Libby if he had heard anything about Wilson’s wife having been involved in sending him to Niger. Libby responded with words to the effect of, “Yeah, I’ve heard that too.”
…
I was surprised last week that the Libby indictment even mentioned me. But apparently his recollection of the conversation differed from mine in a way that led the prosecutor to think he was lying. As for me, I still have no idea if Libby or anyone else has committed a crime. I only know that if there is a Libby trial, I’ll testify truthfully and completely, as I did before the grand jury.

It’ll be interesting to hear what the major difference is, why Fitzgerald thinks Libby is lying and not Cooper, and even if there really is a substantial lie in there at all from either party. Unfortunately, it’s sounding like the trial might be labelled “classified”, so we may not get these answers.

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When the UN accuses you of corruption, that’s pretty sad.

THE controversial MP George Galloway and one of Scotland’s leading companies were last night facing the threat of prosecution after they were named in a devastating United Nations report into the Iraq oil-for-food scandal.

The report identified Mr Galloway as a political beneficiary of the oil-for-food programme and concluded that thousands of pounds from companies involved in oil deals with Saddam Hussein’s regime were paid into the Mariam Appeal which Mr Galloway chaired and which funded his anti-sanctions campaigning.

It accused the Glasgow-based engineering company Weir Group of paying $4.5 million in kickbacks to Saddam’s regime in return for contracts, and of refusing to co-operate with the inquiry.

Galloway was the face and the voice of the anti-war movement in the UK. Keep that in mind as this charge is prosecuted. Perhaps he had a good reason for not wanting Hussein removed from power.

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Actor George Takei, who played Sulu on the original “Star Trek”, has come out as a homosexual. That’s his business, but I noted an interesting quote from him in the article.

“The world has changed from when I was a young teen feeling ashamed for being gay,” he said. “The issue of gay marriage is now a political issue. That would have been unthinkable when I was young.”

Indeed. Consider what you believe now to be “unthinkable”, and realize that, the fewer taboos and standards we have as a culture, what is “unthinkable” now will very likely be the norm in the near future. Deconstructionism is taking us there.

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Dubya’s poll numbers may be down, but that’s not translating into any help to Democrats. Looks like most of the country is sick of the whole government in general.

A just-released political survey by George Washington University contains bad news for Democrats and Republicans because it lays bare a public seemingly disenfranchised with both major parties.

The Battleground poll – unique for its inclusion of top Democrat and Republican pollsters – shows a definite slide in support for President Bush and the GOP. But the survey contains little good news for Democrats as a viable alternative.
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While a Republican retreat in the polls normally means good news for Democrats, there is little evidence Americans are enamored with the opposition party, survey results indicate. On a host of issues – Iraq, homeland security, the economy – Democrats don’t fare much better, the poll indicated.

“There is a real void right now in terms of what the alternative is. And right now, Democrats suffer from the fact that Americans are disillusioned and distrustful of government in general,” Democratic pollster Celinda Lake told Voice Of America. “They tend to be feeling more negative about the Republicans, but not particularly positive about the Democrats.”

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Today’s Odd “Considerettes” Search Phrase - LARGE SCALE MODELS OF THE AT AT STAR WARS WALKER [#21 on Yahoo! Search]

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All the rumors have Patrick Fitzgerald announcing something about the Plame investigation today, so I thought I’d get this in now.

Considerettes Prediction: None of the charges will relate to outing an undercover CIA operative.

I say this because Valerie Plame had been driving to and from the CIA’s Langley, VA headquarters for over 5 years before this “outing”, and thus wasn’t undercover by any means at the time of the Robert Novak column. No undercover operative would do that. Besides, if that really was an issue, Novak would have been one of the targets for participating in the “outing” even more publicly. News article, opinion columns and blog posts keep referring to her as “undercover” when she was nothing of the sort, but it does make for better news copy or pundit fodder.

What charges we do get will relate to the investigation itself; things like perjury or obstruction of justice. Those actions, while they are serious and should be prosecuted to the fullest, and while certainly many a pundit will point to them as “proof” that the “outing” was a crime, will not speak at all to the “outing” itself.

(Cross-posted at Stones Cry Out. Comments welcome.)

UPDATE: Right so far.

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Bryan Preston at Junkyard Blog has a post up on the admission that some documents were forged by France to dupe the Americans and British into thinking it was evidence for going to war, in hope that when the forgery was revealed it would halt it in its tracks. He asks a pointed question with regards to the Plame affair.

In his anonymous whisper campaign to Nick Kristoff and in his own op-ed of July 2003, Wilson pulled a switcheroo between these documents and the infamous 16 words in the President’s SOTU address of January 2003, claiming that his trip to Niger had debunked those 16 words. But the 16 words were not based on those documents, but rather on a British finding that they stand by to this day regarding Iraqi interest in purchasing yellowcake uranium from Niger.

Is it possible that Wilson pulled the switcheroo for the same reason that Martino created the documents in the first place–that he had paymasters who wanted him to? This next section is highly speculative, but intriguing. If the French could pay an Italian to make the documents to undermine the case for war before hostilities ensued, and we have the forger’s confession that they did, why couldn’t the French pay an American to use them to smear the Bush administration once hostilities had been underway for a few months?

Don’t expect that this information will be brought out by Fitzgerald’s investigation.

It may be asking too much of Fitzgerald to include anything relating to the origin of those fake Nigerian documents in his investigation–the story linked above is a little over a year old. Had you heard of it? Has the press made a big deal of it, and have the Democrats treated that story in anything resembling good faith?

The answer, of course, is “No”.

(Cross-posted at Stones Cry Out. Comments welcome.)

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Harriet Miers has withdrawn her name from consideration for the Supreme Court. While I was on the fence about this, I have to say that I’m quite relieved that she’s done this. Given speeches and remarks she’d made in the past (but post-conversion to Christianity, by the way), she didn’t sound very much like Scalia and Thomas, as the President promised. Let’s hope the next nominee fulfills that promise.

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Democrat National Committee Chairman Howard Dean urged party members to “restrain their joy” during nationwide celebrations of the 2,000th American fatality of the Iraq war, “out of respect for the untold thousands who have been killed by our troops.”

“These American military dead are not just names on a list,” Mr. Dean said. “Behind many of those names we can feel the loss of the grieving families of Arab freedom fighters who mourn their dearly-departed insurgents.”

Yeah, it’s part of a satire piece from ScrappleFace, but just wait for the big brouhaha Democrats make over the loss of 2000 soldiers in the liberation of 25 million who now have their own Constitution. It will, of course, be couched as a memorial of sorts, but what will remain unspoken is that without those 2000 brave men and women, Saddam would still be in power, people would be dying in Iraq at a rate higher than during the war, and self-government would still be a pipe dream.

UPDATE: Cox & Forkum have a great cartoon on this topic.

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The Iraqi Constitution referendum results are in, and it passed by a wide margin; 78 to 21 percent. Two provinces were expected to vote “No” in big numbers, and one was too close to call before the referendum.

Two provinces had already been confirmed to have voted heavily “No” — 96 percent in the insurgent stronghold of Anbar and 81 percent in Saddam Hussein’s home region of Salahaddin.

But the final results announced on Tuesday showed that a third, “swing,” province of Nineveh, had voted by only 55 percent against the constitution, short of a two-thirds majority.

Way to go, Jonah!

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The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is urging Democrats to sign a petition to get Republicans to return Tom DeLay’s “dirty money”. Of course, there’s been no court case yet, so whether it’s dirty is yet to be seen.

However, this money has already been declared “dirty”.

Former U.S. Rep. Frank Ballance, a North Carolina Democrat, was sentenced to four years in prison on Oct. 12 for conspiring to divert taxpayer money to his friends and family through the charitable organization he founded in 1985.

But almost two weeks later, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee still has not returned the thousands of dollars in “dirty money” that Ballance contributed to the DCCC, the National Republican Congressional Committee wants everyone to know.

The NRCC said based on press reports, it appears that the DCCC has no plans to return the $29,500 that Ballance contributed to its coffers.

And Ballance isn’t the DCCC’s only “dirty money” contributor. The NRCC noted that third-quarter Federal Election Commission reports show the DCCC has not yet returned $5,000 donated by a Chicago attorney who pled guilty to attempted extortion.

Just last month, the DCCC said it would return contributions from donors who plead guilty but it isn’t happening, the NRCC said.

The Democrats of Oz. Pay no attention to the piles of dirty money behind the curtain.

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In 1955, Rosa Parks decided that she preferred to sit right where she was sitting. That one simple act became the spark that exposed the shame that was personal and institutional racism in our country, and started us on the path to setting that straight.

Rosa Parks died last night at the age of 92. Her contribution to the American conscience should not be forgotten. She was rewarded by being able to see the results of the stand she took by sitting.

We have come a very long way since that day in 1955. Racism is not dead, to be sure, but it has become marginalized. We will never be completely free of hate or fear, and as such we will never be completely free of racism; it’s part of the sinful nature of mankind. Only God can remove that from individuals. What helps, though, is being able to call it what it is when it rears its head.

What doesn’t help is when the term “racism” is used to label things that have nothing to do with it. This cheapens the term and removes from it any relevant meaning and force. It also reverses the proper marginalization of those who are true racists. “If they call that ‘racist’, then what I think isn’t all that bad.”

We can honor Rosa Parks by combating and marginalizing true racism. She took a stand, and so can we.

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Homespun Bloggers Radio, Program #10, released!

Homespun Bloggers Radio hits 2 milestones; our 10th show and our first since starting podcasting. We have some of our regular voices, some old voices returning, and a new voice, not to mention music from the band of one of our own Homespun Bloggers.

• Tom Carroll, of MuD&PHuD and founder of Homespun Bloggers, starts off with a welcome and some thanks to folks for listening and contributing.
• Andrew Ian Dodge of Dodgeblogium brings the London Report; a tale of two Davids, and the latest from Open Europe. Also appearing on HBR is his band, “Growing Old Disgracefully”.
• Yours truly talks about my “discovery” of podcasting, and mentions some of my favorites (as listed below).
• Derek Gilbert, of the blog Weapon of Mass Distraction and the podcast Peering Into Darkness, reads between the lines in regards to avian flu preparations.
• Amelia Latella, granddaughter of famed commentator Emily Latella, speaks out on the California ban on phishing.

You now have 3 ways to listen to HBR:

1. Streaming audio (click here or on the HBR button on the left for the current shows, or click here for some of the recent previous shows)
2. Download the show (click here )
3. and now the Podcast (click here or on the “Podcast” graphic on the left, copy the URL into your podcast software)

Homespun Bloggers: If you’re interested in participating, E-mail me at “frodo at thepaytons dot org”. It’s open to all members. All you need is a PC and a microphone!

Visitors: If you’d like to get on the air with HBR, just join our band of bloggers and you’re eligible. (And immediately getting over 280 links to your own blog ain’t so bad either!)

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If Al Franken speaks on the radio, and no one is tuned in to hear him, does he make a sound?

Arbitron is asking that question in Washington, DC, where Air America has no measurable audience. In such a liberal bastion as DC, you’d think they could draw some kind of audience. But AA can’t even manage that.

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