Happy Hour Discurso

Today's opining on the public discourse.

Speaker Pelosi adds insult to injury:

On the very same day that the House Dems passed the new FISA cave, Speaker Nancy Pelosi blasted out a fundraising email this afternoon with this...

As Speaker, I can tell you that we need a Democrat in the White House and a strong Democratic majority in Congress to drive change forward. Our June 30th FEC deadline is vital to our success in November. All eyes will be on Democrats' fundraising totals as a measure of our party's unity and strength.I ask that you please help to show our commitment to across-the-board victories this November by making a contribution of $35, $50 or more...

Translation: We just sold your rights up the river, but we'd like you to give us more money anyway.

I've already turned Obama down for his craven indifference to the rule of law, you spineless bitch. You can bet I'm not donating to you lot. My contributions will be going to PACs like Blue America, who are working to elect genuine Democrats, thanks ever so much.

What's-his-guts from the Nation had a good point to make in an ad on Rachel Maddow's Air America show this afternoon: Obama's going to have to tack center to win this thing, as all Presidential candidates do. What he needs is a House and Senate packed full of progressives. That's why I'm so heated on this - it's not the D after the name that's getting my support (although I'll take any D over any R any damned day of the week) - it's the quality of the Democrat elected that matters most. And this is why I'll be doing my level best to ensure that the kind of Democrat who gets elected is not the kind of mewling lowlife fuckwit that just pissed on the Constitution. 105 of you need to have your asses handed to you by progressive challengers. You know who you are.

But there's a wee bit o' light in the tunnels today. Another Bush lackey is about to get his ass handed to him:

Another week, another DOJ investigation of itself.

The latest, reported this morning by the Washington Post, involves J. Robert Flores, the Administrator at the Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, who has been the subject of a recent series of articles by ABC News investigating grants awarded by his office.

Flores is facing a federal criminal investigation for questions arising from "his hiring practices, travel expenses, and personal ties to groups which he gave millions of dollars" the Post reports.

You might remember Flores from a previous Discurso. He's the sorry son of a bitch who ensured that programs which furthered Bush's bankrupt social policies got funding - things like faith-based initiatives and abstinence-only organizations - despite those organizations not being recommended by his own staff. That's on top of using government funds for personal travel expenses and questionable hiring practices, mind you. Once again, a Bush Republican treats the government as his own personal bank.

Some of these fuckers are being held accountable. There's hope that more will be. Scott McClellan, of all people, is helping make that possible:

Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan seemed all too pleased to stop by the House this morning to answer questions about the CIA/Plame leak scandal. It’s unlikely McClellan could annoy his ol’ White House buddies anymore than he already has, but he gave it a shot.

A former spokesman for President Bush on Friday said suspicion still surrounds Vice President Dick Cheney’s office because of unanswered questions about the leaking of a CIA operative’s identity.

Scott McClellan also said he could not rule out that Cheney had ordered his former chief of staff, Lewis “Scooter” Libby, to leak Valerie Plame Wilson’s identity to the press during his testimony before the House Judiciary Committee.

That's delicious enough, but that wasn't all he said, not by a longshot (h/t Carpetbagger):

At a hearing on Friday into McClellan’s statements in his new book about the Valerie Plame scandal, Rep. Davis asked McClellan, who has known Rove since his days in Texas politics, whether he would trust Rove in the more informal setting. “Based on my own experience, I could not say that I would,” McClellan said.

Davis further queried whether Rove was capable of lying to protect himself from legal jeopardy. The former aide said of the Plame matter: “He certainly lied to me. That’s the only conclusion that I can draw.” As to whether Rove would lie to shield himself from political embarrassment: “I would have to say that he did in my situation, so the answer is yes.” […]

Furthermore, asked by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) which members of the Bush administration should come before Congress to testify on the Plame matter, McClellan pointed to Vice President Cheney and unnamed others below him.

“It would be a benefit if they shared everything they know, and it would be a benefit if they did it under oath,” he stated.

On a day with few victories, that was a sweet sound: Scottie himself calling Rove a lying sack of shit, and saying Cheney needs to have his ass hauled before Congress under oath.

Of course, the chances of this actually happening are slim-to-none. Cheney won one of his battles, securing his place as one of the most evil fuckers ever to hold office and a man who truly puts the "vice" back in Vice President:

Vice President Dick Cheney has won his battle to withhold records from the public despite efforts by Congress and other critics who say they should be open to scrutiny.

The Democrats are conceding defeat. The party’s top investigator in the House of Representatives acknowledges that there is nothing more he can do to force the vice president’s hand.

“He has managed to stonewall everyone,” said Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. “I’m not sure there’s anything we can do.”

Waxman said that despite Cheney’s turning this administration into “one of the most secretive in history,” there’s not much he or anyone else can do because the administration has only a few more months left
in office.

Note to Pelosi: thanks a fucking lot for taking impeachment off the table and thus defanging, declawing, and basically neutering the Democratic majority. See what we get from that? The President and VP can effectively moon Congress, not to mention shit all over them, and all they can do is sputter a few protests while they brace for more. And that's the fighters - too many Dems seem to be coprophagics.

It gets worse:

California petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency for waiver to regulate greenhouse gas emissions more forcefully than the federal government. EPA policy experts agreed that the state qualified for the waivers, but in the 11th hour, EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson, one of the Bush administration’s more humiliating hacks, intervened and denied the California’s request.

Dems on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee have tried for months to learn about whether (and to what extent) the White House was involved with Johnson’s decision to ignore the advice of his staff. And for months, Johnson has stonewalled, delayed, and done everything possible to avoid cooperating with congressional oversight.

This morning, Rep. Henry Waxman was prepared to take things up a notch, and hold Johnson in contempt. He had to back off, however, because the White House used its two favorite words: executive privilege.

That sound you hear is the door slamming on a Dem's face. And yes, that is maniacal laughter from the Administration in the background. However did you guess?

Waxman responded:

“I don’t think we’ve had a situation like this since Richard Nixon was president. When the President of the United States, may have been involved in acting contrary to law and the evidence that would determine that question for Congress, in exercising our oversight, is being blocked by an assertion of executive privilege. I would hope and expect this administration would not be making this assertion without a valid basis for it, but to date I have not seen a valid instance of their executive privilege.”

No, and you're not likely to, Rep. Waxman. Nothing this regime has done has been valid.

Which is that tiny ray of hope in the midst of all this gloom, because Waxman sure sounds like he's going to go after this like a terrier, and there are going to be some fangs snapping some Achilles' tendons when he finds out Bush & Co. are playing silly buggers. All a terrier needs is one slip, and SNAP. Done.

Go get 'em, Henry.