A day after Scotland Yard announces it managed to prevent a major terrorist incident (with the help of Pakistan), terror is back on the menu here at home, with the GOP invoking 9/11, 9/11, 9/11 and Lieberman — absolutely wallowing in shamefulness now — actually calling Lamont’s recent victory a boon for plane-bombers. This was a terrifying near-event indeed — were it not for top-notch intel work by British authorities, the world might’ve experienced another horrific day akin to September 11 in very short order. But, look closely, and you’ll find this plot by homegrown British terrorists bears the likely marks of Al Qaeda, which, last I recall, we left somewhere near Afghanistan to go dink around in Iraq. Crossover Joe and the GOP can shout terror to the heavens, but the fact is that Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda are more of a threat to us today because of Dubya’s non-sequitur Iraq sideshow. Make no mistake: America is less safe because Dubya and the neocons chose to cut and run in Tora Bora so they could prosecute their war of choice in Baghdad.
Category: Congress
Joe’s Hill | From Loser to Embarrassment.
Is Lieberman’s MoJoe rising, or have Ned Lamont and his YouTube army stymied the Joementum for good? It’s decision time in Connecticut today, and the political world is watching with bated breath. My hope? Lamont in a walk. Update: As expected, Lieberman is defeated by a margin of 52-48%. Alas, after spewing forth some staggeringly self-serving GOP talking points about “partisan polarizers” in the Democratic Party (which several of the media glitterati are taking at face value), Lieberman has already announced his independent bid. Well, say hi to Zell for us on your way out of the party, Joe, and good riddance.
Ney Away | DeLay won’t Stay.
Oof, it’s been a bad 24 hours for Casino Jack’s cronies in the House. With the public in an increasingly unforgiving mood towards congressional incumbents, GOP fave and Abramoff flunky Bob Ney drops out of his Ohio House race. And, one day after losing a bid to get his name off the ballot in Sugar Land, Boss DeLay announces he’ll step aside for a write-in candidate. Update: It appears Ney’s leaving will cause some ballot trouble as well for the GOP.
Glass Joe.
“What [Connecticut] tells us about the fall is something I think we’ve known all along, and that is the status quo in Iraq is unacceptable. It’s unacceptable to Democratic primary voters, it’s unacceptable to independents and it’s unacceptable to a large minority of Republicans. Iraq is the number one issue and the message is exceptionally simple: We cannot abide the status quo.” As Joe Lieberman likely nears the end of his days as a Democrat, Hillary, the DLC, and other centrist Dems prep for the fallout from the Connecticut primary.
Dubya Who?
“All these guys are trying to seem like reasonable, moderate guys who are not the scary conservatives who their opponents will make them out to be…But they all have very conservative records and support for the president that will make it difficult for them to duck this.” As November looms closer, the WP finds GOP candidates running scared from Dubya.
Estate of Confusion.
Pathetic…these guys really have no shame. In yet another desperate and disgusting bid to pamper the rich by stealing from the poor, Catkiller Frist and the Senate GOP try to game the Senate Dems into backing a repeal of the estate tax by coupling it with a long-overdue minimum wage hike. To put this ploy in perspective, a recent report “concluded that the estate tax reduction would cut government income by $753 billion in the first 10 years, forcing lower spending for Medicaid, food stamps and unemployment insurance, which help low-wage workers.” Update: Thankfully, the bill failed on a 56-42 cloture vote, three shorts shy of the necessary 60 (Catkiller switched his vote to enable reconsideration later.)
And, in quite related news, new Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson admits the Dubya economy has been leaving people behind: “‘Many aren’t seeing significant increases in their take-home pay. Their increases in wages are being eaten up by high energy prices and rising health care costs, among others.’“
The Sheltering Sky.
“‘The universe of offshore tax cheating has become so large that no one, not even the United States government, could go after all of it.” A new Senate report delves into offshore tax shelter schemes by extremely wealthy individuals, ones which cost the American public billions in federal tax revenues (and which often utilized fronts based in the Isle of Man, once the long-time home of my now-deceased English grandparents.) “‘We need to significantly strengthen the aiding and abetting statutes to get at the lawyers and accountants and other advisers who enable this cheating,’ Senator Levin said, adding that ‘we need major changes in law to stop the use of tax havens’ by tax cheats.”
The Specter of Tyranny | King George covers his flank.
“[I]f Specter’s bill prevails, it will amount to a White House masterstroke, precisely what James Madison had in mind when he described the dangers of unchecked rule by one branch of government: ‘the very definition of tyranny.’” Having read the legislation in full, author and wiretap expert Patrick Radden Keefe discovers, perhaps not surprisingly, that Specter’s recent NSA “compromise” is a complete capitulation to executive power. And, in very related news, file this under “repeated injuries and usurpations“: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales testified under oath this week that it was Dubya’s personal decision to close down the Justice Department’s probe into the NSA’s warrantless wiretaps (the one, you may recall, that couldn’t get the security clearances to do its job.)
Reed Ruined.
Stick a fork in him — As suspected, former Christian Coalition wunderkind and Casino Jack flunky Ralph Reed is politically finished after being forced to concede the Georgia Lieutenant Governor’s race, a campaign he was a mortal lock to win before his Abramoff shenanigans leaked. Almost as sweet as Reed’s comeuppance, we now know that, despite the GOP’s gamble, the Ballad of Casino Jack does in fact play at the polls this election season. Better start dancin’, Boehner…
Joementum Stalls.
And is dubious Democrat Joe Lieberman finished as well? (At least in the party, that is.) A new Quinnipac poll shows him trailing challenger Ned Lamont 51-47 for the first time in the Connecticut primary, which takes place August 8. (Although, loath to make the same mistake as his former running mate, Lieberman has the one and only Bill Clinton — a man who knows how to survive an inappropriate kiss or two — coming to town on Monday to campaign for him.) Update: Clinton makes the case.