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Agrees To Testify Against Cheney About PlameSo much for Scott McClellan's claims to move beyond the partisanship of Washington. The former White House Press Secretary has agreed to tesify about the disclosure of Valerie Plame's identity before Democratic Rep. John Conyers' House Judiciary Committee. Sadly, it now appears that Scott is less of "useful idiot" than a closet liberal. The Associated Press identifies McClellan's legal team as Michael and Jane Tigar. Michal Tigar represented terrorist sympathizer lawyer Lynne Stewart, who served prison time after being convicted of assisting her client Sheikh Omar Abdul-Rahman, also known as "The Blind Sheikh." Rahman...

The Old Media feeding frenzy surrounding former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan’s “tell all” book continued unabated this week across television, radio, print and the Internet. However, something is noticeably absent from the volume that sparked a jubilant liberal orgy: Jeff Gannon. Howard Kurtz noted the omission in his Washington Post column Monday pointing out McClellan’s first cable talk show appearance was an interview with MSNBC’s Bush-hating Keith Olbermann: Olbermann hailed the book, "What Happened," as "a primary document of American history" that contained "poetry." Talk about role reversal: It was Olbermann who said in 2005 that "whenever I...

Since you're not answering my e-mails anymore, I'm writing to pose a few questions that haven't been asked on your truth, honesty and candor tour: · Was it the truth or a lie when you told me, during a series of personal discussions in your West Wing office in late 2005 and early 2006 (at the apex of what you now call your period of "disillusionment" and "dismay"), that you were happy in your job and proud to serve President Bush and that you had no intention of leaving soon? What about in April 2006, when rumors swirled about a...

Former Colleagues, White House Reporters Stunned By McClellan AllegationsMSNBC’s spittle-spewing Chris Matthews had a new “tingle running down his leg” Wednesday with the release of a “tell-all” book by former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan critical of the Bush administration. However, Matthews was only one among legions of Old Media liberals gushing about McClellan’s tome. In "What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception," McClellan said that the war in Iraq was “unnecessary” and sold with “propaganda” and suggested that Karl Rove, Scooter Libby and maybe Vice President Dick Cheney conspired to conceal their roles...

On accepting Scott McClellan's resignation as his press secretary two years ago, President Bush predicted that he and the outgoing aide some day would be "rocking in chairs in Texas and talking about the good old days." But maybe their days in the White House together weren't so happy after all. Next week will bring the publication of McClellan's 341-page tome, "What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception." It is described by Politico's Mike Allen as "surprisingly scathing."

A quote from his site: “That’s a shame - because Obama clearly represents, whatever his faults, a different racial politics than that of Jackson, Sharpton and the past.” (that’s Andy’s quote. my response below) and what are those “faults” you speak of? I’d like to know, Andrew. Really, ‘cause I haven’t seen much about that from you. And now you’re giving Democrats advice on how to heal the divide by bringing HILLARY to the VP slot?! Wow, have your priorities changed. I mean, your style hasn’t, but your priorities have. Also, after basically writing off Hillary as the devil (one...

.....I wrote a play about politics (November, Barrymore Theater, Broadway, some seats still available). And as part of the "writing process," as I believe it's called, I started thinking about politics. This comment is not actually as jejune as it might seem. Porgy and Bess is a buncha good songs but has nothing to do with race relations, which is the flag of convenience under which it sailed. But my play, it turned out, was actually about politics, which is to say, about the polemic between persons of two opposing views. The argument in my play is between a president...

"To use the adjective "egergious" in descriving this bill, is not enough. It goes without saying that this was an incredibly stupid and badly-though-out bill, but the really sad thing is, as Michelle Malkin has pointed out, there were href="http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2007/roll1108.xml">four-- yep, count 'em, four-- Republicans who voted for this, too. Amazingly, Ron Paul and Wayne Gilchrest weren't among them. Maybe the bill was actually just too low and ill-conceived even for them."

An adult stepdaughter of a former Republican congressional candidate said his failure to acknowledge her on a Web site contributed to her decision to contact authorities with allegations he sexually assaulted her throughout her childhood. Tanya Jenerette-Begg told The Sun News on Friday that she "couldn't sit back and let his wife and him sit in a political arena." The Sun News does not normally publish names of possible sexual assault victims. Jenerette-Begg agreed to be interviewed. Her stepfather, Van Jenerette, who lost a bid for a 1st Congressional District seat to Henry Brown in 2000, was charged Thursday with...

There is a growing attitude about war and the defense of our nation, stoked by men such as Ron Paul, which proclaims that we have no business doing what we are doing. The claim is that our Constitution and the intent of our Founding Fathers should prohibit us from engaging in such activities as the war in Iraq. If you argue for the merits of the war, then the charge is made that you cannot possibly respect the Constitution. The principles of the founders, which they so eloquently enshrined in the Constitution, were never (and I will argue until I...

It’s a big green week for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. He’s on the cover of Newsweek magazine’s save the planet issue, is the keynote speaker of the magazine’s global environmental leadership conference in Washington, and addresses the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. And the British Conservative Party chose the week of his Newsweek cover status to announce that he will headline their annual party conference this fall.

Maverick Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona... is talking with advisers about leaving the GOP and launching a third-party challenge to Bush in 2004, those close to the senator say. ... This weekend, McCain is hosting the Senate Democratic leader, Thomas Daschle , at his home. His office called it a "social event," but McCain has met privately to discuss party switching with at least three Democratic senators -- Daschle, Edward Kennedy and John Edwards. On Thursday, four McCain loyalists -- campaign strategist John Weaver, legislative director Daniel McKivergan, Weekly Standard publisher William Kristol and Hudson Institute scholar Marshall Wittmann...

Destroying a president is not much of a strategy to win a war, but it's all the Democrats have. The churls of the left don't seem to care whether their country wins the war, the important thing is to "keep hate alive." If hate worked in '06, maybe it will work again in '08, when the stakes will be considerably higher. Sometimes it's not only hate, but a bit of schadenfreude, too, taking pleasure in the woes of the enemy. "Partisan pleasure in George Bush's pain dates to the anguish of the contested 2000 election loss," observes Daniel Henninger in...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- This is probably not what President Bush had in mind when he stressed bipartisanship after the Democratic Party's midterm elections sweep. A key Senate Republican has joined Democrats in opposing one of Bush's initiatives for the lame-duck Congress: John Bolton's nomination as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. With leaders from both parties promising a new bipartisan Washington, Bush began efforts to get two of his most controversial decisions approved before the Democrats take over. . . . . But Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee, who was defeated in this week's election, said he would block Bolton's nomination....

BE HERE, OR BE NOWHERE!

A veteran CIA operations official who clashed with former agency Director Porter J. Goss was formally named the deputy CIA director yesterday, raising concerns among critics who say he will hamper reform at the agency. Stephen R. Kappes, who is well-liked among CIA rank and file but who is viewed as someone supporting the status quo at the embattled agency, began work yesterday in his new role, a CIA statement said.

Dear Friend, Provide us the resources to reach voters across Virginia. Donate before the Monday deadline! On Tuesday, I sat down for a kitchen table conversation with concerned Virginians in Hampton Roads. It was a wide-ranging discussion with other concerned citizens, and I have to tell you, it was refreshing and eye opening. Instead of the rubberstamping of policy or the empty slash-and-burn rhetoric my opponent and his campaign seem to enjoy so much, we discussed issues that affect and concern the everyday lives of Virginians -- topics such as alternative fuels, Social Security, the failure of "No Child Left...

INFIDELS, come out come out wherever you are.....SAVAGE!

In a country's hinterlands, a distant region seldom visited by outsiders, a television crew investigates why so many residents are fleeing the area. When local officials catch wind of the crew's presence, they begin interrogating people the journalists interviewed, and pressure others not to talk. Russia? Uzbekistan? China? No. This incident took place in North Dakota, in the heart of the United States. That's where a team of reporters I supervise went to shoot a story about the Great Plains emptying out. When the sheriff of Crosby, a town near the Canadian border, heard about it, he contacted the U.S....

Dear Friend, Help us put radio ads on the air! Make a contribution before today! We have just a few short days left before the critical Virginia primary on June 13th. I am writing because we need your support for radio buys to make sure that Virginia voters hear Jim's message. We are on the right road to change to future of the Democratic Party and elect someone who will stand for you. I have written to you before but no message is more urgent than today. Today is the last day that we can buy radio ads that will...

$500,000 to buy a Senate seat? Dear Friend, Don't let lobbyist money buy the Democratic nomination. Contribute today! $500,000. That seems to be the going rate to buy a Senate seat. Well, at least in Harris Miller's mind. Last Friday, the Virginian Pilot reported that since April 1, Miller has poured in $500,000 of his lobbyist cash into his campaign for U.S. Senate. Harris Miller is trying to buy the Democratic nomination, the way he buys legislation as a lobbyist. We can't let that happen. Last Tuesday, I sent you an urgent plea for money. Our goal is to raise...

from email: Jim Webb needs your help, and we need Jim Webb! - Why? Jim will win in November: He is uniting Democrats behind our common values and bringing new people into the party. His honesty, leadership and populist values have inspired a grassroots movement of thousands. Jim Webb will fight for economic fairness: He will fight corruption and the influence of lobbyists on Washington. He will lead the fight against outsourcing and fight for economic fairness and opportunity for American families. He will stand up to the President and restore checks and balances to our government. Jim Webb will...

It's our turn to answer Jim's call Dear Jim Webb Supporter, Help Jim Fight Back! Contribute today! As one of Jim's earliest and most dedicated supporters, you played a hugely important role in convincing Jim Webb to run for US Senate as a Democrat this year. As a co-founder of Draft James Webb, I'm writing to you because we need your help now more than ever. We're two weeks away from an election that could play a major role in shaping the future of our party, our state, and our country but, we need your support to ensure victory. This...

ALITO’S FIRST OPINION FAVORS MURDER DEFENDANT State Court Must Loosen Evidence Rule, Ex-Prosecutor Says BY DAVID L. HUDSON JR. In his first opinion for the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., a former federal prosecutor, overturned a South Carolina Supreme Court ruling restricting a murder defendant’s right to produce evidence that another person committed the crime. The South Carolina Supreme Court had ruled that since the state had strong forensic evidence of the defendant’s guilt, he was precluded from introducing his evidence of third-party guilt. Writing for a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court in Holmes v. South Carolina, No....

NEW YORK In a piece sure to draw controversy or worse (he notes that he is listed in the phone book), Joel Stein opens his Los Angeles Times column with: "I don't support our troops." He says he has no problem with those in favor of the Iraq war expressing backing for soldiers by loading up on "those patriotic magnets and bracelets." But he feels "being against the war and saying you support the troops" suggests that "the one lesson they took away from Vietnam wasn't to avoid foreign conflicts with no pressing national interest but to remember to throw...

Colin Powell, who warned President Bush on the eve of the Iraq war that US forces would have to stay for the long haul after toppling Saddam, yesterday predicted that troop withdrawals would begin by the end of this year. He spoke as final results of the elections for a new Iraqi government left the Shia Muslim alliance 10 seats short of an outright parliamentary majority - boosting US and British hopes of a coalition including Sunni and Kurdish groups. Britain's ambassador to Iraq, William Patey, said after the results were announced that an 'inclusive government of national unity' would...

MEIRA, Pakistan - Former U.S. presidential candidate John Kerry toured earthquake-devastated parts of northern Pakistan on Saturday, distributing school uniforms and meeting local leaders at a tent village funded partly by both the United States and communist Cuba. The visit came amid warnings that heavy snow would blanket the quake zone over the next four to five days, possibly triggering avalanches along the jagged peaks and promising more misery for the 3.5 million people left homeless by the Oct. 8 quake. "The relief operations will be affected badly," the Pakistan Meteorological Department said. Kerry toured a camp housing some 18,000...

A draft immigration bill from Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter calls for dramatic increases in legal immigration, far beyond any of the other major proposals now before Congress.Immigration and border security have become the hottest issues in Washington, with senators and members of Congress filing bill after bill to address them. The Senate is preparing for a major debate early next year on an overhaul, including creating a new flow of foreign workers like that contained in the bill by Mr. Specter, Pennsylvania Republican.     

Belinda's lesson By LINK BYFIELD -- Calgary Sun Pardon me while I gag. It was announced from Ottawa last week that our new Minister of Democratic Renewal will spend $1 million crossing the country to find out why fewer Canadians -- especially young people -- are voting in national elections. Why is there such growing apathy, disengagement and even cynicism about politics? She's determined to find out. The minister is Belinda Stronach, who was elected a year ago as a Conservative MP by the voters of New Market-Aurora in Ontario. On May 17, the Liberals bribed her with a cabinet...

"A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. "For the traitor appears not a traitor – he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots...

United States Senator John McCain will not be in attendance at Saturday’s Arizona Republican Assembly state convention. He would not want to be present, nor would his presence be all that welcomed by Republicans. Among the resolutions to be addressed during Saturday’s annual Arizona Republican Assembly (ARA) convention is an effort to censure Arizona’s senior U.S. senator over his betrayal of the GOP on juidicial filibusters and other important issues. The ARA is a principled, constitutional organization which honors – without compromise – the Republican Party platform. In recent years, Senator McCain has shown little regard for the party or...

Conservatives best to be rid of treasonous Stronach: Both the Conservatives, then the Liberals have made more of the blond floor crosser than she deserved The Edmonton Journal Wed 18 May 2005 Page: A19 , Section: Opinion Byline: Lorne Gunter "Mr. Sorenson?" "Yea." "Ms. St-Hilaire?" "Yea." "Mr. Stinson?" "Yea." "Mr. Strahl?" "Yea." "Ms. Stronach?" "Yea." "Ms. Thibault?" "Yea." "Mr. Thomp ...?" Whoa. Back up a minute. What's this!? Ms. Stronach votes yea? That's right, just a week ago Belinda Stronach voted with her then-fellow Conservatives (and with the Bloc, too, remember that) to bring down the same Liberal government...

OTTAWA (CP) - They started off as a political golden couple, but wound up a wincing example of why you shouldn't date someone from work. "Never dip your pen in the company ink," as one Conservative insider put it. With news reverberating around Parliament Hill of Belinda Stronach's blockbuster bolt from the Tories to the Liberals, the indelicate question was unavoidable: "What about Peter MacKay?" Stronach's well-publicized romance with the Conservative deputy leader could hardly have come to a more stunning end. Sources confirmed the pair are taking a "break" from the photogenic relationship first made public in January. "Suffice...

Stronach appointed to Liberal cabinet Political observers stunned Canadian Press Tuesday, May 17, 2005 OTTAWA -- In a stunning political move that could save Paul Martin's government, high-profile Tory MP Belinda Stronach has defected to the Liberals. Martin, sitting beside a smiling Stronach at a surprise news conference Tuesday, welcomed his new caucus member and named her human resources minister. He also said she will be in charge of democratic renewal. The development boosts the government's chance of surviving a very tight confidence motion in the House of Commons scheduled for Thursday. It is also a big blow to...

WASHINGTON — One of Congress' most conservative members on Friday became the second House Republican to urge Majority Leader Tom DeLay to step aside because of the ethics scrutiny he's facing. "If the majority leader were to temporarily step aside so that these trumped up charges can be dealt with in a less hostile environment, as they have proven to be an unnecessary distraction, it may be a productive move," said Rep. Tom Tancredo , R-Colo.Tancredo, elected in 1998, said he believes all charges against DeLay, R-Texas, "lack merit" and are "being leveled in the hopes of bringing him down...

By Michael Dinan Staff Writer April 10, 2005 Though Republicans in some circles are rallying around beleaguered House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, one prominent Republican yesterday dissociated himself from the powerful and controversial lawmaker. "He is an absolute embarrassment to me and to the Republican Party," U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Bridgeport, told more than 50 Greenwich residents yesterday morning at Town Hall. He was in Greenwich to host a public forum, open to all political parties, on whatever pressing issues attendees were interested in discussing.

In an effort to parry likely Democratic attacks, U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays, R-4, has started to distance himself from embattled House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. Shays, who narrowly won re-election last November, bluntly criticized DeLay as pushing ethics and campaign finance laws "to the very edge" and antagonizing Democrats with his partisan rhetoric. "He is on the thinnest of ice as far as I'm concerned," said Shays, who noted that the conservative Texan has been reprimanded three times by the House ethics committee. "That is disquieting. It raises huge questions that Democrats have a right to raise." And raise they...

WASHINGTON - Signaling that persistent ethics questions about House Majority Leader Tom DeLay may be starting to weigh down Republicans, a GOP moderate on Sunday called for DeLay to resign his leadership post, and a top GOP senator urged DeLay to answer questions about his ethics. "Tom's conduct is hurting the Republican Party, is hurting this Republican majority and it is hurting any Republican who is up for re-election," Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., told the Associated Press after making similar comments at community meetings in his home district this weekend. He said DeLay should step down. Shays has had a...

I see on Doug Weade's website that he pledges to donate proceeds from his book to charity.He does not name the charity, wouldn't one assume that you would state "I donate it to..." Breast Cancer, ALS, SPCA, Colon Cancer, Battered Women, Prostate Cancer, etc,etc. Could it be that he is practicing "Charity begins at home"?Is Mr. Weade soon to be seen driving a new BMW?I have no probs with him getting a new BMW but don't us this age-old lame ambiguous copout of "Donating proceedes to Charity". To put my money where my mouth is; I promise to donate all...

President Bush is reportedly furious after being betrayed by author Doug Wead, who tape-recorded their private phone conversations, then played the tapes, first for his publisher, then for the New York Times. "Dubya's become a Burning Bush over it," reports the New York Post's Cindy Adams. "And rightly so. With pals like Friend Wead, who needs enemies?" -snip- "Around publishing water coolers it's being whispered and rewhispered that Friend Wead played them for his publisher as a marketing tool," the Post columnist reports. "Marketing for himself, that is." It was Wead's "financial ploy," she says. "The tapes are what got...

Harmon Wilfred, an American businessman and exiled whistleblower who has lived in Christchurch, New Zealand since August, 2001, says he will formally renounce his U.S. citizenship on March 1, 2005 to disassociate himself forever with the United States Government and its policies. “Americans are literally brain-washed by paid political spin doctors into believing that they live in a representative democracy when in actual fact today, the US system is nothing more than a politically corrupt form of special interest capitalism. Around the globe we’re seeing the US Government act unilaterally and in its own interests while in direct defiance of...

The coming economic crisis. Unemployment. Health care for the poor. The almost 1,500 dead soldiers. The almost 100,000 dead Iraqis. Armstrong Williams and Maggie Gallagher. The Christian Conservative takeover of our nation. The missing 9 billion. The missing weapons of mass destruction. The impending invasion of Iran, and Syria. The total failure to protect us on 9-11.

The White House’s acknowledgement last month that the United States has formally ended its search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq brought to a close the most calamitous international deception of modern times. This decision was taken a month after a contentious presidential election in which the issue of WMD and the war in Iraq played a central role. In the lead-up to the invasion, and throughout its aftermath, President Bush was unwavering in his conviction that Iraq had WMD, and that this posed a threat to the US and the world. The failure to find WMD should have...

US Democratic Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, who had hoped to replace George W. Bush as president yesterday, instead sat in the cold and clapped as the Republican began a second four-year term. Iowa Democratic Senator Tom Harkin patted Senator Kerry on the back shortly before the inauguration Senator Kerry had hoped would be his. As Mr Bush delivered his inaugural address, Senator Kerry, about 10m away on the steps of the US Capitol, joined other lawmakers and the crowd in repeated applause. Senator Kerry looked relaxed, at times wistful. He frequently smiled, able to hide any disappointment over what...

"SORRY, SENATOR: YOU DON'T PICK THE SECDEF [KJL] John Kerry sends out a pre-inaugural e-mail: From: John Kerry Sent: Tuesday, January 18, 2005 5:19 PM> To: Kathryn Lopez Subject: Hold Bush and Rumsfeld Accountable! Dear Kathryn, I have just come back from Iraq. After several months consumed by the campaign trail, I wanted to make contact with our soldiers on the ground there. The first thing I want you to know is that, in very difficult circumstances, our brave soldiers are serving America with enormous skill and great courage. In the Senate, we have a duty during times like these...

Visiting with U.S. troops in Baghdad on Thursday, failed presidential candidate John Kerry trashed Commander-in-chief George Bush for making "horrendous judgments" and "unbelievable blunders" that have undermined the war effort. In a series of demoralizing comments first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, the defeated Democrat griped, "What is sad about what's happening here now is that so much of it is a process of catching up from the enormous miscalculations and wrong judgments made in the beginning." Kerry said that because of the Bush administration's mistakes, "the job has been made enormously harder." Among the errors cited by the...

AUGUSTA — Sen. Arthur Mayo of Bath, newly re-elected to a second term, said Tuesday he had switched his party registration from Republican to Democrat. "It's a change in affiliation. It's not a change in philosophy," said Mayo, whose move across the political aisle boosts the Democratic Senate majority in the new Legislature to 19-16. Characterizing himself as a long-standing "liberal Republican," Mayo said "it has been increasingly difficult in the Senate Republican caucus" for someone with his political philosophy. Mayo said he believed the Republican Senate bloc has "moved to the right" and that at least some of his...

Well, that didn't take long. The ink was barely dry on last Tuesday's election, the promises of reconciliation barely out of the President's mouth, when the Far Right leveled its howitzers at a favorite old nemesis. In the crosshairs was not the typical liberal irritant. Not Teddy or Hillary or Teresa; not even the vanquished JFK II, who now limps back to the Senate to lick his wounds. It was a fellow Republican who dared to break out of lockstep with the New Order. Yes, it was our own Milquetoast moderate senator, Arlen Specter. Pennsylvania's senior senator was warmly endorsed...

An Iraqi commander deserted a U.S. military base where troops are preparing the imminent assault on Fallujah after getting a full briefing on the battle plan, taking notes on the operation with him, military officials said yesterday. But the pool report sent to media organizations from the Marine unit quoted officers as saying the desertion of the unidentified Kurdish commander would not change plans for the siege of the crucial rebel-held stronghold. The officer, who disappeared on Friday morning, a day after being briefed, commanded some 160 Iraqi soldiers training with U.S. Marines. Officials said he was unlikely to hand...