Get that Lott quote, and contact every GOP Senator and Congressman and ask if they agree or disagree.

At last, action. Cheney should "Speak Up or Step Down."

Kudos to Harry Reid and the newly minted fighting dems. GO get'em gang.

Bring it on..

and lou dobbs said, "There are those who would argue that the Senate began doing its job today." damn straight...

This is incredibly exciting, and inspirational. This congress (Republican majority, I must add) has been pitiful, and I am so impressed to see Harry Reid in action. I remember when he was first made minority speaker, many thought he was too centrist. He is fantastic.

Professor Marcus (at 6:44)--great quote from Lou Dobbs. Fantastic.

Regardless of the outcome of legal proceedings – these senior administration officials, Mr. Rove and Mr. Libby lied to the American people personally and through the President’s official spokesperson. Now that I. Lewis Libby has been indicted for several felony crimes and Karl Rove is in legal jeopardy. What are the top ten things we learn about the issues and people at the core of President Bush’s administration?

1. Bringing integrity back to the white house means replacing a man who embarrassed himself and his supporters with very his poor personal judgment; with a man who’s closest circle of advisers include opportunistic liars.

2. Un-indicted liars are still worthy of important positions and trust in today’s Presidential administration.

3. Liars are encouraged – when that behavior supports Presidential goals.

4. Self seeking is defensible even when innocent lives are at stake.

5. Presidential allegiance justifies duplicity and public fraud.

6. Leadership isn’t about being right – it’s about appearing right.

7. Our president must employ a liar on his staff; otherwise his administration will apparently collapse.

8. The strength of the arguments for the Iraq war were so weak that the criticism posed by a single man forced a Presidential campaign to malign and discredit his conscientious dissent.

9. Mustering all the senior advisors into the oval office; turning off the lights – and telling the leaker to leave his badge on the way out – wasn’t tried.

10. It is hard to imagine the President calling Mr. Wilson and apologizing on behalf of his administration.

Vaughan: Centrist is a good thing. It shows me he can take stands that are free of partisanship.

The video link seems to be dead.

Good idea Marky!

"Get that Lott quote, and contact every GOP Senator and Congressman and ask if they agree or disagree."

Is Lott still not fundraising very well? There was some speculation he might not run for reelection, which might explain some of his 'off the reservation' comments of late.

The transcripts of Lott's comments should be on the Hardball website tomorrow.

what vaughan said. this has been a wonderful thing to watch develop throughout the afternoon. couple that with patrick fitzgerald's press conference and indictment of libby, and i hope it's a sign to the rest of the world that america is not lost to this dangerous cabal.

Video link is broken--or is available only to some.

Link to some Harry Reid shirts

http://www.cafepress.com/cp/browse/v0.1/design_details.aspx?p=2&id=7935875&q=harry%20reid&opt=&fpt=&c=&hlv=t

Trent Lott was arguing on Hardball that Reed wasn't obeying the senate etiquette "This just isn't done", when Mathews brought up how the Senate leader Daschle had to face the full brunt of the republican party machine when runnign for re-election, and that went against the old unspoken senate rules as well.

He really turned the argument back on Lott. I guess Matthews knows the score from his old days on the Hill. Brilliant!

Don't count on an angry populace to react too adversely to the faked WMD intel. Bush has anger going for him above all else. Americans will put up with a lot of shenanigans if in the end they think their military is killing Arabs and Muslims. That's what many, if not most, want. 9/11 seared our consciousness and if it takes torture, bombing civilians, losing American soldiers, loss of trust in the world, anything at all, they'll go along with it if the brown, godless horde from the Middle East is being slaughtered. Bush knows this and uses it. Stop counting your chickens.

"Don't count on an angry populace to react too adversely to the faked WMD intel. Bush has anger going for him above all else. Americans will put up with a lot of shenanigans if in the end they think their military is killing Arabs and Muslims. That's what many, if not most, want."

Posted by steve duncan

Oh bullshit.

Hold on Steve. That may have been so to a certain extent in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, but most Americans, even a growing number of Bush supporters are wising up and realizing how that that reasoning (?) was exploited by these thugs. There's a change a'comin. Give 'em hell Harry!

$10.00 says Rove will be drummed out by the NRCC after xmas.

PissedOff American, travel the highways of America. Talk to a cross section of citizens. There are millions that would gladly pull the trigger and kill someone from the Middle East given the slightest proof they were a "terrorist". This is an angry, disfunctional, xenophobic society. I stand by my post.

"Pissed Off American, travel the highways of America. Talk to a cross section of citizens. There are millions that would gladly pull the trigger and kill someone from the Middle East given the slightest proof they were a "terrorist". This is an angry, disfunctional, xenophobic society.I stand by my post."

Posted by steve duncan

Oh bullshit. Your first post said....

" Americans will put up with a lot of shenanigans if in the end they think their military is killing Arabs and Muslims."

Thats crap. Simple, pure, unadulterated, CRAP.

Joe Wilson on Countdown tommorrow nite- and yes, Countdown and Hardball and Lou Dobbs- the important thing is that the Important issue is on the Table -that Americans have been lied to and decieved, badly and there are now funerals -many. And Americans even center, repugs, and even those that didn't vote are going WTF....and that needed to happen...Where I live- and I think it is a cross section- there are pissed off people- but not at terrorist- they have no healthcare, bills they can't pay, and job changes and are facing a Draft ( because that is what heppens when the recruiting centers are closed and 40% are on the Close list).....People also now know people over in Iraq or have friends there...It is REAL....and so are the Lies....Sorry SD- but I think you are wrong- yes, there are a few Nascar idiots..but not as many as even 6 monthes ago...sorry didn't mean to ramble there...

What Steve D. said. I suppose the dissenters, in addition to their well-argued rebuttals of Steve D's point, could point me in the direction of that groundswell, that vast majority of Americans who are doing their all to stop the daily butchery of civilians in Iraq. Or perhaps, that vast majority of Americans who reacted with horror to the Abu Ghraib photos and subsequent torture revelations by demanding accountability from their elected leaders. Or perhaps, you could point out to me that vast majority of Americans disgusted by the federal reaction to Katrina and demanded an accounting, some responsibility, from their elected leaders. Maybe you could even point me towards that vast majority of Americans who are wondering where Usama bin Laden is, and why, exactly, we haven't caught him yet. Thanks.

--lj--

Ooops. Gotta run. I hear someone calling me....Don't call me, I'l call youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.....

--

Dear XXXXX,

Last Friday was an ominous day for the country, a new low since Watergate in terms of openness and honesty in our government.

The indictment of presidential advisor 'Scooter' Libby is far more than an indictment of one individual. It's an indictment of the lengths to which administration officials were willing to go to cover up their failed intelligence. It's an indictment of their distortions about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and their serious blunders taking us to war and their vindictive efforts to discredit anyone who challenges their misrepresentations.

As we know, Scooter Libby and Vice President Cheney withheld critical documents in the Senate's investigation of the use and misuse of intelligence and the abuse of power in the decision to go to war and in the management of the war.

These documents must be handed over, because the American people deserve answers:

http://www.tedkennedy.com/page/petition/iraqdocuments

That is why I'm urging the White House to hand over those documents and asking you to join me in doing so. We need as many Americans as possible to join us in the next few days to show the White House that we are not letting this indictment be the end.

Thousands of Americans came to TedKennedy.com this weekend and joined me in asking for those documents, let's get 25,000 people to join us today:

http://www.tedkennedy.com/page/petition/iraqdocuments

The White House has made keeping secrets from the American people a priority, and that has to stop.

The American people know the high cost of this misguided war - 2,000 U.S. soldiers dead, more than 15,000 wounded, hundreds of billions of dollars spent with no end in sight, and a continuing shameful effort by the White House to silence those who try to tell the truth about the war.

We need answers, not cover-ups, by the administration about these serious issues. Thank you for all your support in trying to get the truth.

Join thousands of your fellow Americans and show this is not the end:

http://www.tedkennedy.com/page/petition/iraqdocuments

Thank you very much for your continued work.

Sincerely,

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy

Give them Hell Harry!===Finally, a Democratic Leader standing UP for Americans. What Sen Reid did was GREAT. This Admin is the most Corrupt Admin in US history, if we don't speak out against it,,,these Repubs will continue with their Arrogrant, Self-serving agenda.

If we have to Filibuster Judge Alito==so be it--SHUT the Senate Down===Bush has screwed America so badly that Shutting down the Senate can't be anyworse then what Bush has done.

I just posted my $0.02 over at my blog, RealistDem.

I think this is likely to eventually get the focus back to the real issue at the crux of everything: Why ARE We in Iraq to begin with?

PO'd American, I appreciate the sentiment of Senator Kennedy's efforts and fully support his argument as posted above. But an online petition? Excuse me, but Is that supposed to be some kind of a fucking joke? I bet Rove and the Cheney administration are really quaking in their boots now that Ted Kennedy has started an online petition to "demand" their cooperation in turning over these Iraq intel documents. Visited the URL you posted. Somehow I don't think my "signature" (coming as it does from Marin County no less), will matter much to the White House. Just a guess.

I am one jaded SOB, but I am stunned and delighted with Harry Reid. Let's hope the sound we hear is democratic spines stiffening!

"PO'd American, I appreciate the sentiment of Senator Kennedy's efforts and fully support his argument as posted above. But an online petition? Excuse me, but Is that supposed to be some kind of a fucking joke? I bet Rove and the Cheney administration are really quaking in their boots now that Ted Kennedy has started an online petition to "demand" their cooperation in turning over these Iraq intel documents. Visited the URL you posted. Somehow I don't think my "signature" (coming as it does from Marin County no less), will matter much to the White House. Just a guess."

Posted by luckyjack at November 1, 2005 09:02 PM

It just takes a few seconds. Why not? Is posting here any more effective or useful??

Steve D.,
I live in Middle America and more and more people, including Iraq war veterans and their families are growing frustrated with this war. We agree that we need to finish the job (although the administrations keeps changing what that job is) and bring the troops home safely. We're not all racists people out to kill people of Middle Eastern descent, but I'm sure you could find those people all over the nation, not just in the mid-section. More and more people are wising up to the fact that the terrorist were in Afghanistan BEFORE the war and have moved into Iraq AFTER the war.

Um, Steve Duncan has the same comment cut and pasted on a couple different blogs. Can't recall if the other place I saw it was firedoglake or digby.

Makes you wonder...

PO'd American, I signed the petition. And thanks to you, I'll expect the 3AM knock at the door.
;-)

And Betsy, I may live in a sort of liberal "promised land" now, but I'm a southerner by birth and culture and lived there for over thirty years. I would guess (and we're all just guessing about what's in people's hearts after all) that very few (white) people in those red states are given even the slightest pause by the tens of thousands of Iraqi deaths we've caused. They never really cared about the Iraqi's before we were whipped into this war frenzy, and I sincerely doubt they care now. Or ever will. That, I believe, was Steve D's point, with which I must, with regret, concur. To take just one example among the many we've been afforded in the last four years, I'd offer that the underwhelming public reaction to Abu Ghraib was the most sickening and disheartening to me. More so even than the willing march to war. That *all* Americans, every last one, were not in some way outraged by that insanity (which, I'd remind you, allegedly included the rape of children) should be deeply disturbing to decent folk across the country. These last few years have been so distressing that I'm currently making every effort to move my family abroad, most likely for the rest of our days (and I'm in my mid-30s). We live in a sick, callous, ignorant, and depraved culture and effecting change on that level is a slow, uneven, and far from certain chore.

cheers,
--lj--

or coulda been washington monthly...

Whether or not it is good politics, it is the correct thing to do. Congress has given up on oversight of the Bush Administration and that in and of itself is harmful to the American people. Congress is supposed to control the purse strings and oversee the executive. Congress has been doing neither. Someone needs to get Congress to start doing its job.

Strangely enough, Larry King had a decent program tonight. One of the guests was Sen. Shelby (R, AL), who was sounding downright reasonable. Pretty amazing. But then there was Matt Cooper, who was his usual mealy-mouth self, plus Spikey Mikey the male Maureen Dowd Isikoff.

luckyjack,
Unlike the current majority in congress, I am going to listen to what you have to say and acknowledge that you have made some valid points. Of course, it would be easier to follow the current republican political protocal of changing the subject. For example, I could aruge that sweented ice tea is better in the south, than in the north and that Americans who don't drink sweetened ice tea are anti-American. ;)

This was great, no so much because Reid took the bull by the horns, but because the ridiculous level of whining by GOP leaders. Frist and his boys have been riding roughshod over Senate traditions for years now, and now suddenly Democrats start playing the same game, and Frist starts crying about it?

Harry Reid. Finally, some balls to go along with the name.

I think Steve deserves a personal note of appreciation for this.

Larry Wilkerson's speech talked about how the VP's office has taken on extra-constitutional powers at the expense of Congressional oversight. Libby's indictment demonstrated the role of the VP's office. Reid is using the limited powers available, and trying to redress the balance.

From the WaPo -

The CIA has been hiding and interrogating some of its most important al Qaeda captives at a Soviet-era compound in Eastern Europe, according to U.S. and foreign officials familiar with the arrangement.

The secret facility is part of a covert prison system set up by the CIA nearly four years ago that at various times has included sites in eight countries, including Thailand, Afghanistan and several democracies in Eastern Europe, as well as a small center at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba, according to current and former intelligence officials and diplomats from three continents.

/snip

It could not be determined whether Bush approved a separate finding for the black-sites program, but the consensus among current and former intelligence and other government officials interviewed for this article is that he did not have to.

Rather, they believe that the CIA general counsel's office acted within the parameters of the Sept. 17 finding. The black-site program was approved by a small circle of White House and Justice Department lawyers and officials, according to several former and current U.S. government and intelligence officials.

With every story that comes out about what this administration has done and continues to do on behalf of the American people, it becomes clearer that they eventually must face their day in court.

One assumes Trent has it in for Frist, as well, and will be undermining him in his hour of weakness.

One assumes Trent has it in for Frist, as well, and will be undermining him in his hour of weakness.

I have not been able to find a functioning link showing the Reid video. No such difficulty seeing the video of the majority senators spinning Reid's gambit.

I hope that the immediate positive results of this tactic encourages the opposition to become more aggressive in the senate. After all, what have they got to lose? Their minority status? The high regard of the american people? Their health-care benefits? It is time for the minority to show its power--if the majority will call the minority "obstructionist" regardless, then why not show them what the word actually means. The american people support 'rash' behavior when there is a good reason for it.

Let us see how Alito fares in the hearings, and then, if the Dems are truly opposed, fillibuster. Make him enter the court over dead bodies, damn the torpedoes (or nuclear options) and let the chips fall where they may.
I don't think this would be a disadvantage in the coming mid-terms.

"Whether or not it is good politics, it is the correct thing to do."

This is the crux of the matter and, possibly, it can lead to change in people's perception of Democrats. Additionally, it helps that it is Reid - pro-life, Mormon, Westerner who is leading this charge to reclaim our country and not one of old-line liberal establishment. Democrats definitely are in need of "bare knuckled brawler" Reids rather than "Take the high road/Finger in the wind" Kerrys.

Re: the point that someone was making about middle America not being mad yet ... they may not be mad, but they are getting scared...see yesterday's Post on the parents trying to keep military recruiters away from their kids.

Sooner or later (I'm betting sooner) that little internal contradiction ("I support President Bush and our troops ...but, hey, not my child")is going to nag at them.

Can someone please explain to me why we have to rely on REPUBLICANS to suggest that Rove step down? Why isn't Rove's resignation a mantra being repeated on a daily basis by all leading Democratic politicians?

Doofus, Democrats asking Rove to resign is akin to a court defendant asking a prosecutor to resign. There is an antagonistic relationship between the two, with the Dems desire for Rove to be gone self evident. Democrats would like the entire administration to resign, wouldn't they? Sure, they could mouth their sentiments to get it on the record, but sometimes expressing the obvious brings more scorn than it's worth. Let the Republicans do him in (as Lott has broached) and his leaving will be so much the more satisfying. I don't see Democrat calls for his dismissal hastening his demise.

Actually, Bush should take this opportunity to clean house and get rid of the advisors that have contributed to the policy failures of his administration. We can start with Iraq, but the irresponsible fiscal policy and over $2 Trillion in new debt looms large. Then there are the failures of FEMA, the Patriot Act that infringes our civil liberties, taking prisoners without access to legal counsel, torture of prisoners in US custody, kidnapping people to be tortured in other countries,No Child Left Behind, the misguided attempt to gut Social Security, the outrageously expensive new prescription drug entitlement program, the botched flu vaccines of last year and on and on. Bush needs to get rid of his failure team and bring on board some GOP elder statemen who know how to govern. Our country does not need 3 more years of failures.

I really pity the next president (Democrat) who will be left cleaning up the mess this president has made.

Bahko, elder statesman? Most elder statesmen of Republican persuasion are bigger crooks than the current crew. Do you want George Schultz, Cap Weinberger, Al Haig or any number of other past advisors brought back? Bush has already given the murderer Negroponte a job. Maybe Frank Carlucci or James Baker can steer the ship clear of the shoals. Or maybe they'd see to it Carlyle was further enriched. No, I think it's a canard to say a few older and wiser Republicans can help Bush out of this jam. All they'd do is help their current and former corporate or state benefactors to a few extra billion from the treasury.