Grapevine Pickings 4/4

[Master Capper]

Looks like this crook saw the writing on the wall:


DeLay to Quit Race
Rep. Tom DeLay (R-TX), "whose iron hold on the House Republicans melted as a lobbying corruption scandal engulfed the Capitol, told Time that he will not seek reelection and will leave Congress within months."

Said DeLay: "I'm going to announce tomorrow that I'm not running for reelection and that I'm going to leave Congress."

"DeLay's fall has been stunningly swift, one of the most brutal and decisive in American history... The surprise decision was based on the sort of ruthless calculation that had once given him unchallenged dominance of House Republicans and their wealthy friends in Washington's lobbying community:"

The New York Daily News has the most likely reason for the sudden change of heart: "The latest plea deal in the GOP lobbying corruption scandal has moved the investigation to Rep. Tom DeLay's inner circle."


The Panic continues:

Bush Shakeup to Continue
Presidential press secretary Scott McClellan and Treasury Secretary John Snow "could be next in a shake-up in the Bush administration," CNN reports. "The possible departure of both men could be among 'several senior-level staff' announcements to come within the next couple of week."

Said one insider: "You're going to have more change than you expect."


In Ohio, Democrats Look Strong
With Ohio Gov. Bob Taft's (R) job approval numbers "continuing as the worst in the nation, and with just over one in four (28%) giving incumbent Republican Sen. Mike DeWine good marks for his work in Washington, one of the nation's premiere swing states appears ready for a Democratic take-over," a new Wall Street Journal/Zogby Interactive poll shows

Harris Campaign Imploding
The last of Rep. Katherine Harris' (R-FL) key staffers "appear ready to abandon her campaign for the U.S. Senate in a wave of resignations expected to start this weekend," the Orlando Sentinel reports.

Sources close to the campaign said that "the defections would touch virtually every level of her operation." Harris "is likely to lose her chief political strategist, her campaign manager, her spokeswoman, her director of field operations and even a traveling aide who helps hand out stickers at campaign appearances."

"It is the latest and most dramatic indication so far that her campaign is on the verge of collapse."


From today?s press gaggle: ?QUESTION: Have you had any thoughts that you might be leaving soon? MCCLELLAN: I don?t speculate on any personnel matters. QUESTION: You?re not speculating for yourself. MCCLELLAN: I?m focused on helping the President advance his agenda, just like the rest of the team at the White House.

Rush Limbaugh calls woman allegedly raped by Duke lacrosse players a ?ho.?


Today in a speech to the Associated Press, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) tore apart President Bush?s ?plan? to reduce dependence on oil. Here?s an excerpt:

Now, after the President?s last State of the Union, when he told us that America was addicted to oil, there was a brief moment of hope that he?d finally do something on energy.

I was among the hopeful. But then I saw the plan.

His funding for renewable fuels is at the same level it was the day he took office. He refuses to call for even a modest increase in fuel-efficiency standards for cars. And his latest budget funds less then half of the energy bill he himself signed into law - leaving hundreds of millions of dollars in under-funded energy proposals.

This is not a serious effort. Saying that America is addicted to oil without following a real plan for energy independence is like admitting alcoholism and then skipping out on the 12-step program. It?s not enough to identify the challenge ? we have to meet it.



Fox News and others have relentlessly pushed the line that the media is too negative in its reporting on Iraq. Former CENTCOM commander Gen. Anthony Zinni was asked about this critique this morning on Meet the Press.

Full transcript:

RUSSERT: Do you believe the American media is distorting the news from Iraq or presenting an accurate picture?

ZINNI: Well, I think the American media is being made a scapegoat for what?s going on out there. At last count, I think something like 80 journalists have been killed in Iraq. It?s hard to get outside the Green Zone and not risk your life or risk kidnapping at a minimum to get the story. And it?s hard to blame the media for no good stories when the security situation is such that they can?t even go out and get the good stories without risking their lives. And you have to remember that it?s hard to dwell on the good things when the bad things are so overwhelmingly traumatic and catastrophic. So I think that?s an unfair blame that?s put on the media. I think that there probably are good things at the lower level, but are they balanced out by the bad things that are happening? All the good things happening out there will mean nothing if this unity government doesn?t come together.



Transcript:

ZINNI: There?s a series of disastrous mistakes. We just heard the Secretary of State say these were tactical mistakes. These were not tactical mistakes. These were strategic mistakes, mistakes of policies made back here. Don?t blame the troops. They?ve been magnificent. If anything saves us, it will be them.

RUSSERT: Should someone resign?

ZINNI: Absolutely.

RUSSERT: Who?

ZINNI: Secretary of Defense to begin with.

RUSSERT: Anyone else?

ZINNI: Well, I think that we ? those that have been responsible for the planning, for overriding all the efforts that were made in planning before that, that those that stood by and allowed this to happen that didn?t speak out ? and there were appropriate ways within the system you can speak out, at congressional hearings and otherwise ? I think they have to be held accountable.




McCain flip flopping

Transcript:

RUSSERT: Do you believe that Jerry Falwell is still an agent of intolerance?

MCCAIN: No, I don?t. I think that Jerry Falwell can explain to you his views on this program when you have him on.

Back in 2000, when McCain was asked whether he stood by his description of Falwell, he said, ?I must not and will not retract anything that I said in that speech at Virginia Beach. It was carefully crafted, it was carefully thought out.?


?Burn the Mexican flag!? Some constructive advice from Michael Savage, a go-to source for anti-immigration hardliners and certain senior presidential advisors


Transcript:

But according to a new survey, 59 percent have bought into that crackpot notion. They rate it [the economy] as bad, very bad, or terrible, in fact, when all the facts say that just the opposite is true. So, where are the folks getting this image? My next guest says look no further than the liberal media. Larry, it?s media making the people thank the economy stinks, is that right?

But the polls don?t reflect media manipulation. Americans see the real state of the economy in their everyday lives:

- After adjusting for inflation, wages have not risen during the last three years. In fact, real hourly wages fell for most middle- and low-income workers in 2005 and the inflation-adjusted value of the minimum wage is 29 percent lower today than it was in 1979.

- The poverty rate has risen each year since 2001, with 12.7 percent of the population now living in poverty.

- Job growth during President Bush?s term has been the lowest since World War II.

 

[Master Capper]

In Pennsylvania, Santorum Edges Up on Casey
Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) "has inched up slightly"against Robert Casey Jr. (D) in his re-election bid, but still trails the challenger 48% to 37%, with 12 percent undecided, according to a Quinnipiac poll.

Interesting finding: "Only 23 percent of Pennsylvania voters know that Casey is pro-life, while 8 percent think he is pro-choice and 69 percent don't know Casey's position on abortion."

A new Rasmussen Reports poll also shows Santorum gaining ground, with Casey ahead now by single digits, 50% to 41%.

When pollsters informed voters that the National Organization for Women "is concerned about Casey on the abortion issue" 24% of Casey's initial voters "changed their mind upon hearing this news" and half actually switched to Santorum. "The change was dramatic enough that, having heard the new information, voters favored Santorum by a five-point margin (46% to 41%

Can Abortion be a Wedge Issue for Democrats?
According to The Hill, the Senate Democratic leadership "says it has found a wedge issue to strengthen the party?s position on abortion rights, which top strategists think has become a liability in recent years. The wedge is legislation expanding access to contraceptives and sex education, which polls show a majority of Americans support but which Democrats are betting will be difficult for social conservatives in the Republican base to accept.?

In previous years, Republicans have used the "partial birth abortion" issue to split Democrats. However, the addition of two new conservative Supreme Court justices in the last year might allow Democrats to take the lead on the issue.


Inside the DeLay Dropout
A "high-level Republican operative" tells Ankle Biting Pundits that Rep. Tom DeLay's resignation was planned even before his recent Texas primary victory.

"DeLay deliberately waited until after the primary had run its course to drop out of the race for Congress. The reason being: so that party higher-ups could decide who the GOP nominee would be, not the Republican primary voters. You see, now that the GOP nominee slot will be vacant, Texas Republican honchos can handpick the new and improved nominee -- in the proverbial smoky backroom, no doubt."

Meanwhile, CQ Politics says replacing DeLay may take months

How Conservatives Hope to Derail McCain
A good piece in the Manchester Union Leader looks at whether Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has "sold out" his maverick appeal "in trying to appeal to the GOP mainstream and the religious right."

However, even if McCain thinks a relationship with Jerry Falwell will patch things up with the right wing of his party, The Hotline suggests he's still got trouble brewing. "Under nearly everyone's radar, conservative activists in a handful of mostly Western and Midwestern states are edging closer to providing their base voters with a much greater say in choosing presidential candidates."

In short, they want to replace primaries with caucuses. "Why? Caucuses favor organized interests. Primaries dilute them. (Soccer moms don't vote in caucuses. Either do investment bankers. Moral conservatives usually do.)" And those people are considered less likely to vote for McCain.


Is a Political Storm Coming?
With Rep. Tom DeLay's (R-TX) resignation, USA Today asks, "Is a tidal wave gathering?"

"Three of the five key ingredients of the 1994 turnaround are in place, including broad public dissatisfaction with the direction of the country, dismal approval ratings for the president and the taint of scandal in Congress. But there are differences, too: The number of competitive House districts is much smaller than 12 years ago, and the opposition party has yet to articulate a unified, positive message."

Charlie Cook has the most ominous quote: "We know that there's a hurricane coming, and it's going to hit the Republicans in November. We're just trying to figure out how big this thing is."

The Wall Street Journal: "In 1994, powerful Democrats didn't respond to signs that their party had lost touch, and as a consequence lost control of the House that year to Republicans. It is unclear whether House Republicans are moving aggressively to head off similar political currents in an election year."


Pentagon snooping more extensive than previously reported. A Pentagon review, led by intel chief Stephen Cambone, has found that the Defense Department?s classified terrorism database improperly included data on U.S. peace activists roughly 260 times. That?s up from the 186 times that they previously reported to the Senate Judiciary Committee


Progressives lead on port security. The Sail Only if Scanned (S.O.S.) Act, sponsored by Reps. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and James Oberstar (D-MN), would ?mandate that every container bound for the United States is scanned for nuclear weapons and bomb-making materials.? It passed a House transportation committee today after being voted down by conservatives last week


U.S. Aid in Iraq Now Equal to Assistance in Germany After World War II
A new report by the Congressional Research Service finds that the United States has spent as much on foreign assistance in Iraq during the last three years as it did during the entire seven-year reconstruction effort in Germany following World War II.

The report, obtained by the Federation of American Scientists, shows that the U.S. appropriated $28.9 billion in assistance to Iraq from FY03 to FY06. In comparison:

U.S. assistance to Germany totaled some $4.3 billion ($29.3 billion in 2005 dollars) for the years of direct military government (May 1945-May 1949) and the overlapping Marshall Plan years (1948/1949-1952).

Total U.S. assistance to Japan for the years of the occupation, from 1946-1952 was roughly $2.2 billion ($15.2 billion in 2005 dollars), of which almost $1.7 billion was grants and $504 million was loans.



More child sex troubles at DHS. Frank Figueroa, the former head of the Department of Homeland Security?s program to stop child predators (Operation Predator), today pleaded no contest to charges he exposed himself to a 16-year-old girl. According to the victim, ?Figueroa pulled up a leg of his shorts, exposed himself and masturbated for about 10 minutes?


The Architects of War: Where Are They Now?
Three years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the signs of the Bush administration?s mismanagement are glaring:

* No nuclear weapons
* No WMD
* No collaborative relationship with al Qaeda
* International terrorism on the rise
* Botched reconstruction
* Anarchic civil war
* No independent Iraqi army
* No Iraqi government
* $300 billion spent and counting
* More than 2,300 U.S. troops dead
* An estimated 100,000 Iraqi civilians dead, as of October 2004

ThinkProgress has produced a report that reviews the key architects of the Iraq war and details where they are now.

President Bush has not fired any of the architects of the Iraq War. In fact, a review of the key planners of the conflict reveals that they have been rewarded ? not blamed ? for their incompetence.



$500,000: The average tax reduction for people earning more than $10 million a year thanks to President Bush?s tax cuts, according to new data showing the cuts ?have significantly lowered the tax burden on the richest Americans.?

Senior U.S. Officials ?Want to Hit Iran?
Joseph Cirincione is a respected non-proliferation expert at the Carnegie Endowment, one who admits he ?was the last remaining person in Washington who believed President George W. Bush when he said that he was committed to a diplomatic solution.? Yet, in a new column for Foreign Policy magazine, he says he now believes that senior U.S. officials have already made up their minds to attack Iran:

For months, I have told interviewers that no senior political or military official was seriously considering a military attack on Iran. In the last few weeks, I have changed my view. In part, this shift was triggered by colleagues with close ties to the Pentagon and the executive branch who have convinced me that some senior officials have already made up their minds: They want to hit Iran. ? What I previously dismissed as posturing, I now believe may be a coordinated campaign to prepare for a military strike on Iran.

The ramifications of such an attack could be disastrous. At a minimum, it would likely ?rally the Iranian public around an otherwise unpopular regime, inflame anti-American anger around the Muslim world, and jeopardize the already fragile U.S. position in Iraq.? But most importantly, a military strike would ?almost certainly speed?up? Iran?s nuclear weapons development by sparking a ?crash nuclear program that could produce a bomb in a few years.?