Welcome to the fifth and final installment of the Scholars & Rogues year-end wrap-up. Today we tackle the dirty, but oddly riveting world of politics. We’ll take a couple shots at the even dirtier world of media that makes it all possible. Let’s start at the top, shall we?

George Walker Bush: I’ve been telling my Republican friends for five years now that Dubya was going to do more damage to their party than an army of Hillarys could dream of doing. And 2007 was the year where I think the truth of this proposition finally started becoming evident. Scandals at the Justice Department and World Bank did him no favors, nor did the conviction of Scooter Libby (which necessitated the most politically debilitating pardon/commutation sequence since Ford saved Nixon). Iraq got worse by the day and we’re not seeing a lot of GOP presidential hopefuls looking to surf that Bush legacy. Full Story »

There isn’t much I can add about Ron Paul’s fundraising success that hasn’t already been said before and better (particularly by Glenn Greenwald), except that this is an even clearer indication that there is a massive swath of the electorate that is so desperate for a candidate to speak plain truths and answer pleas for sanity that the fringes are suddenly looking mighty sane.

What Matt Stoller says here about the “crazy uncle theory” of politics is absolutely right–the more that so-called “mainstream” pols reject the public’s will and ignore their needs, the more they’ll gravitate to alternatives, no matter how long-shot and outlandish they may seem, to the point where (as John Aravosis notes) they start making much more sense.

But how crazy are people like Paul, Gravel, and Kucinich, really? Full Story »

Matt Taibbi, our newest Scrogue, is perhaps the premier political writer of his generation. He made his bones with Mark Ames at Russia’s legendary expat rag The eXile before moving on to The Beast and New York Press. He now writes for Rolling Stone and will soon release his fourth book, ‘The Great Derangement.’ He’s also covering the ‘08 campaign in a special RS diary entitled “Year of the Rat.” His caustic wit often compared to Hunter Thompson, he’s called Mitt Romney “a poll-chasing stuffed suit with a Max Headroom hairdo,” Tom Tancredo a “vengeful midget,” President Bush “a retarded Christian AA version of Woodrow Wilson” and gets Fred Thompson confused with Joe Don Baker. Taibbi was kind enough to answer some questions from S&R’s Mike Sheehan.

Taibbi: They’ve done some good things. In the 109th and the other Republican Congresses the two-day work week was standard, and even those two days were often half-days. This Congress has brought back the five-day week. They’ve eliminated for the most part the “vampire congress” late-night sessions and phased out the holding open of votes to intimidate recalcitrant members and that sort of thing. But on the other hand… the Democrats came in amid much fanfare and announced that they were reforming the system, eliminating earmarks, etc. After the first Continuing Resolution they passed (I think it was on January 31), Rahm Emanuel was bragging about how it was an “earmark-free bill.” But there are all sorts of earmarks in it. A guy I know named Full Story »

Six years ago, I learned about the attacks on New York and Washington a day late, on September 12. Ensconced in the Umbrian countryside, intentionally cut off from all electronic contact with the world, I was oblivious for 24 hours to the events that (as everyone insisted) changed the world.

In fact, the world did not change that day. Terrorism—the violent acts of those too weak to do anything else—and war—the violent acts of those too unimaginative to do anything else—have always been part of human history. It was only the United States that changed, driven to fear and frenzy by its lying leaders.

Full Story »

The Honorable Terry M. Bellamy
Mayor, Asheville NC
P.O. Box 7148
Asheville NC, 28802

Dear Mayor Bellamy:

As you no doubt realize by now, you have something of a PR nightmare on your hands. One of your police officers, Russell Crisp, recently arrested a resident named Jonas Phillips for obstructing a sidewalk. Since people were apparently having no trouble walking past him, and since the police department is reportedly trying to decide whether or not he ought instead be charged with some sort of state violation for “endangering motorists,” you can see how people like me (a North Carolina native who loves your wonderful city, has vacationed there, and who has recommended it highly to friends and family contemplating where to spend their tourism dollars) might suspect that the real reason he was arrested had something to do with the “Impeach Bush-Cheney” sign he was holding at the time.

Full Story »

Bad news. Now that Bush and Cheney’s approval has fallen into the lower depths, the two-headed president no longer has anything to lose. Therefore, according to Ewen MacAskill and Julian Borger of the Guardian, Iran is again in serious danger of being attacked. At some point before Bush leaves office, a preemptive strike is very likely:

The shift [in thinking] follows an internal review involving the White House, the Pentagon and the state department over the last month. Although the Bush administration is in deep trouble over Iraq, it remains focused on Iran. A well-placed source in Washington said: “Bush is not going to leave office with Iran still in limbo.”… Full Story »

By now, thanks to The Washington Post, you’ve figured out that Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, he of the minimal memory, can warp time itself. The Department of Justice, under his leadership, can also turn an FBI report of civil liberties violations into a typographical error.

The AG told Congress on April 27, 2005, that “[t]here has not been one verified case of civil liberties abuse.”

The Post today, however, reported that the FBI had notified Mr. Gonzales of such violations as much as three months before that:

Six days earlier, the FBI sent Gonzales a copy of a report that said its agents had obtained personal information that they were not entitled to have. It was one of at least half a dozen reports of legal or procedural violations that Gonzales received in the three months before he made his statement to the Senate intelligence committee, according to internal FBI documents released under the Freedom of Information Act.

Full Story »

Every once in a while stray facts and rumors collide in a way that causes my antennae to twitch. Sometimes it’s nothing, but sometimes it’s not. In any case, I like to get it out there to see if anybody can flesh it out or explain why I’m just being paranoid. Such a case buzzed around this morning.

• Item: A number of Republican legislators appear to be abandoning Bush on Iraq. Full Story »

Scooter Libby walks free because he is a friend of the king. Two hundred thirty-one years after we American colonials declared our independence from the tyranny of one King George, another King George has reasserted the royal prerogative of placing himself and his friends above the law.

It’s time for a new Declaration of Independence, but we don’t have to start from scratch. Many charges in the original bill of particulars against George III are equally applicable to George W:

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice. Full Story »

The only characteristic George Bush shares with Solomon is his certainty that God anointed him king. He certainly exhibited no Solomonic wisdom when he commuted Scooter Libby’s prison sentence. True, he could have pardoned Libby outright, or he could have allowed Libby to serve his 30-month sentence. Commutation, therefore, appears to be a split-the-difference compromise, a wise middle course.

But it is not. Bush decided on commutation, in fact, as simply the best way to protect himself and Cheney, because it keeps the lid on Libby. As Jeff Lomonaco predicted two weeks ago when he wrote this oped, either of the other two courses would have been more likely to open legal avenues for establishing Bush and Cheney’s involvement in the case—including both the initial leak of Valerie Plame Wilson’s identity and the subsequent coverup for which Libby was convicted.

Either pardoning or allowing imprisonment might also have kept the case active in Congress and in the media, as the investigative pot continued to bubble. Pardon would have further enraged Congressional leaders, while imprisonment would have further enraged the right-wing GOP base. But commutation, while hardly a real compromise in legal terms, is more nearly acceptable to Bush’s critics on both sides and so less likely to create continuing dispute. Full Story »

I had the pleasure of subbing in for Sam for a conference call with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi today. Although there were a good number of progressive bloggers in attendance with a lot to say, Pelosi pretty much dominated the conversation, sometimes answering questions before people could even ask them. I was impressed with how knowledgeable she was on environmental issues in particular, ranging from biofuel creation and consumption to raising CAFE standards. Good stuff. Dave Johnson of Seeing The Forest has a fairly thorough recap of the conversation.

Dave actually asked the question I want to address here. Pelosi was discussing the absolute lack of oversight and accountability that has been a hallmark of the Bush junta, and Dave said, simply, “What are you going to do about it?” Full Story »

“If this were a dictatorship, it’d be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I’m the dictator.” - George W. Bush, Dec. 19, 2000

Where to begin?

We could pimp it Hollywood style:

FROM THE PEOPLE WHO BROUGHT YOU ATTORNEYGATE - THEY THOUGHT THEY’D REIN HIM IN BY PASSING LAWS. BUT GEORGE DON’T NEED NO STINKING LAWS….HE’S GOT SIGNING STATEMENTS! NOW PLAYING IN AN ADMINISTRATION NEAR YOU….

Or we could do what the Democrats always do - roll over and ask to have their bellies rubbed:

We are Americans. We have the right to participate and debate any administration. - Hillary Rodham Clinton Full Story »

GOP Chatty Cathy Bob Novak says that Nancy Pelosi isn’t a left-wing loon at all… she’s in fact beholden to a handful of Blue Dog (i.e., moderate) Democrats. Count Novakula writes in his latest newsletter:

[Pelosi] is painted by Republicans as a left-wing extremist, but the truth is that the left wing of House Democrats complain privately that she is far too cautious. They grumble that nothing is being accomplished in Congress because Pelosi is far too attentive to 20 or so moderates in the Democratic caucus — especially those who overturned Republicans last year in marginal districts.

I wonder if maybe Novak is miffed that Full Story »

Glenn Greenwald does his usual masterful job in analyzing the full horrific consequences of the lengths Abu Gonzales went to in order to ensure that the NSA’s illegal wiretapping program would continue: Full Story »

My thoughts on the Bush veto are here for those who are interested.

“Disgust” sums it up nicely. Perhaps “Anger,” “shame,” “rage,” and “frustration” as well.

Actually, a picture’s worth a thousand words, so maybe this’ll capsule things well:

Full Story »

President Bush today said that embattled World Bank head Paul Wolfowitz, currently embroiled in yet another BushCo scandal, “ought to stay” in his position. This comes hot on the heels of Bush’s show of support for buddy Alberto Gonzales, whose leadership at Justice has been such a festering embarrassment that even loyal Republicans are howling for his head.

This is all very good news for Democrats, although not all of them seem to fully understand the gift before them. Full Story »

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi held a blogger call this afternoon to discuss the reconciled House/Senate Iraq spending bill. Bob Geiger’s post on the passage this morning seems to capture the thrust of Pelosi’s message today - Dem leadership have worked to set goals and are going to force Bush to “differentiate himself” on the issue with the American public.

Perhaps the most interesting moment of the conference came when Pelosi was asked directly whether she supported articles of impeachment against the President. Here’s a close paraphrase of her response:

I totally oppose impeachment. Full Story »

Once upon a time, Republican moral high-grounders turned a blowjob and land deal-gone-wrong into the end of the world. If you didn’t buy those arguments at the time, you’re probably fairly annoyed at how things have gone with the current administration. If you were convinced that the Clinton “scandals” merited special prosecutors and articles of impeachment, then I imagine you’re just about beside yourself with shame over the job your boys have done since taking office.

Since I don’t see these things catalogued and bullet-pointed as often as I feel like I should, I want to pause and take stock:

• Iraq: Full Story »

Calm yourselves, though. It’s just the Peace Gnome, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), on a righteous rampage again. He’ll likely get a few onboard, but the vast majority of Congress will once again ignore him en masse. Unless they disappoint and finally act on their consciences or something similarly radical.

From Mary Ann Akers’ ‘The Sleuth‘ blog at The Washington Post:

Looks like he’s reached his boiling point.

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), the most liberal of the Democratic presidential candidates in the primary field, declared in a letter sent to his Democratic House colleagues this morning that he plans to file articles of impeachment against Vice President Dick Cheney.

Kucinich has made ending the war in Iraq the central theme of his campaign. He has even taken aim at the leading Democratic presidential candidates in the field for their votes on authorizing the war. Full Story »