Monthly Archives: June 2006

Dump Duhbya

Old Moneybags, the Good Doer

Bush Raises $27 Million for GOP By Zachary A. Goldfarb, Special to The Washington Post

President Bush suggested last night that Republicans must remain in control of Congress for the country to effectively combat terrorism and keep the economy healthy, speaking at a $27 million fundraiser meant to provide a needed boost to the campaign war chest of congressional Republicans.

“The most important responsibility we have in Washington is to defend the people of the United States,” he said. “When this country sees a threat, we must deal with it before it fully materializes.”

Bush addressed about 5,000 of the GOP’s strongest supporters at the “President’s Dinner,” the largest fundraiser of the year for the Republicans’ two congressional campaign committees. [mjh: that averages to $5400 / attendee]

Bush said that the “Democrats are good talkers, we’re good doers,” but generally avoided the harsh language he used to describe the Democrats at last year’s dinner, when he urged support for his Social Security plan. [mjh: Social Security? Yeah, there’s some good “doing.”]

[Bush] added: “It’s important to have members of the United States Congress who will not wave the white flag of surrender in the war on terror.” …

It cost $2,500 for a ticket to the dinner. Campaign finance regulations allow someone to contribute up to $25,000 per party committee. Last night, for that sum, attendees could be photographed with the president. [mjh: it really is cheaper to live in Albuquerque; it only cost $5,000 to be photographed here with the Great Doer.]

Dump Duhbya

It’s No News that Money Equals Power

Ah, the associative nature of the mind. When I heard the words “Goldman Sachs” this morning, they rang a bell.

Rice’s Deputy to Join Goldman Sachs – New York Times By CHRISTINE HAUSER

Robert B. Zoellick said today that he will leave his post as the deputy secretary of state and return to the private sector to work with the New York investment bank, Goldman Sachs. …

Mr. Zoellick served during the presidency of George H.W. Bush as the under secretary of state for economic and agricultural affairs, as well as counselor. From 1985 to 1988, Mr. Zoellick served at the Department of the Treasury in various positions. …

Mr. Zoellick had previously worked for Goldman Sachs as an international adviser, a part-time consultant, when Bill Clinton was president. A Goldman Sachs statement said Mr. Zoellick would return to the company as a managing director, a full-time position, with the title of Vice Chairman, International. In that capacity he will head the firm’s group of international advisers.

Perhaps there is little to note in the revolving door that has a fellow work for Republican presidents and Goldman Sachs alternately. But Zoellick isn’t the only GS alum in the Bush administration, nor the biggest.

Now, in all that follows, I don’t see some evil conspiracy. I see the intimate ties of wealth and power, which certainly involves Democrats as well, though perhaps not so blatantly or successfully. Rich Democrats may not manipulate the rabble (aka The Base) as shamelessly as Rich Republicans. Or, maybe, poor Democrats like me, aren’t fooled into believing we set the agenda or that the Rich have our best interests in mind.

In the end, I must say I find new Treasury Secretary nominee Paulson interesting. He’s a big business environmentalist with at least a pragmatic view of gays in the workplace. He surely will hate every minute he spends with Duhbya the Doer. mjh

Continue reading It’s No News that Money Equals Power →

Dump Duhbya, other voices

Murtha on Rove: ‘He’s Sitting in His Air-Conditioned Office on His Big, Fat Backside, Saying Stay the Course’

Think Progress » Murtha on Rove: ‘He’s Sitting in His Air-Conditioned Office on His Big, Fat Backside, Saying Stay the Course’

ROVE: Like too many Democrats, it strikes me they are ready to give the green light to go to war, but when it gets tough and when it gets difficult, they fall back on that party’s old pattern of cutting and running. They may be with you at the first shots, but they are not going to be there for the last, tough battles. They are wrong and profoundly wrong in their approach. …

Karl Rove attacked Rep. John Murtha during a speech last week in New Hampshire. Rove described Murtha’s Iraq plan as “cutting and running,” and suggested that the 37-year Marine combat veteran would “be with you at the first shots” but not “for the last, tough battles.”

Murtha defended himself this morning on Meet the Press:

MURTHA: He’s in New Hampshire. He’s making a political speech. He’s sitting in his air-conditioned office on his big, fat backside, saying stay the course. That’s not a plan. … We’ve got to change direction. You can’t sit there in the air-conditioned office and tell troops carrying 70 pounds on their backs, inside these armored vessels hit with IEDs every day, seeing their friends blown up, their buddies blown up — and he says stay the course? Easy to say that from Washington, DC.

NADA - New American Dark Ages

Louisiana gov. signs law that would ban abortions

Louisiana gov. signs law that would ban abortions

(Reuters) – Louisiana Democratic Gov. Kathleen Blanco signed into law a ban on most abortions, which would be triggered if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns its 1973 ruling legalizing the procedure, a spokesman said on Saturday.

The ban would apply to all abortions, even in cases of rape or incest, except when the mother’s life is threatened. It is similar to a South Dakota law that has become the latest focus of the abortion battle. …

Seven states have such abortion trigger laws, and Louisiana already had a trigger law, although abortion legislation has been blocked by courts. The new law would mean the ban would happen quicker in the case of a new Supreme Court decision.

Dump Duhbya, other voices

The Horse’s Mouth

The Horse’s Mouth — Greg Sargent

KARL ZINSMEISTER SAYS HE WOULD SUPPORT JAILING DOCTORS FOR PERFORMING ABORTIONS. This appears to have passed virtually unnoticed. In an interview on Thursday, June 15, with Ben Wattenberg on the PBS show Think Tank, new top White House domestic policy adviser Karl Zinsmeister said that he would support putting doctors who perform abortions in jail.

Here’s the key excerpt:

WATTENBERG: Do you want to have laws that prevent people from having abortions?

ZINSMEISTER: You know, personally I would vote in favor of that.

WATTENBERG: So you would feel comfortable putting a doctor in jail for performing a procedure that a woman wants? And not just on-demand, but it could be rape, incest, life of the mother.

ZINSMEISTER: Sure. No, again, I have a definition that had some exceptions for rape and incest where there could be real psychological damage to the mother. …

He appears to be serious. And keep in mind that this man is probably the presidential adviser with the most influence over domestic policymaking in the United States.

loco

Dump Dimdahl

Even as I was composing yesterday’s ambivalent defense of John Dimdahl, forces were moving to position him as the new and improved Republican candidate for governor, replacing that other guy whose name we needn’t remember. Keep reading because I’m not only going to defend Dimdahl again, I have a rebuke for “my” party.

Wow, Richardson, whom I don’t especially like, is going to have great fun kicking Dimdahl’s ass, especially after Dimdahl’s involvement in Sanchez’s previous romp in the mud. At the same time, Dimdahl, whom I like less than I like Richardson, will have great fun thumbing his nose at the Guv, playing the mouse to Richardson’s elephant. I do love an underdog and I have some sympathy for anyone brave enough to run for office. After an unqualified boob like Gary “Big Jerk” Johnson, the Republicans have actually picked someone who is not only qualified but represents them perfectly.

Sadly, I won’t be able to read any more of Dimdahl’s columns for a few months nor see him on The Line, but my blood pressure will probably benefit from it. In commercials, the focus will be on Richardson’s heavy-handed control of everything with an occasional shot of Dimdahl’s smiling face and skier’s tan. The only people who actually hear his venom will be like-minded folk. Oh, well, after the slaughter, he’ll return to his booth at the Frontier, our own Don Quixote. ¡Buena suerte, Juan!

As for the stern rebuke of the god-damn Democrats: one of the responses to Dimdahl’s candidacy chided him for supporting legalization of marijuana. There is the one thing that millions of Democrats and Republicans agree on: marijuana should be legalized, regulated just like alcohol and taxed at twice the rate. For Democrats to attack anyone on this issue is hypocrisy and mud-slinging worthy of right-wingers. mjh

ABQjournal: New Start in Race for Governor By Leslie Linthicum, Journal Staff Writer

Republicans dropped a bomb in the governor’s race Saturday, taking poor-performing Santa Fe doctor J.R. Damron off the ticket and replacing him with party pit bull John Dendahl, a conservative former party chairman.

Republicans hope sharp-tongued Dendahl will bring bigger guns to the November battle to unseat popular incumbent Bill Richardson. …

“I think that it’s an act of desperation for a party to reach back into the past to someone who represents the nasty politics of division and gridlock,” [Richardson’s campaign chairman Dave] Contarino said. “The contrast is incredible— a bi-partisan governor who crosses party lines to get things done versus a partisan, negative bomb-thrower.”

Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman quickly weighed in with praise for Dendahl’s nomination, saying, “Unlike his opponent, John Dendahl is committed to fighting corruption from the Governor’s office on down.” [mjh: you can judge Dimdahl by those who praise him, like the ruthless Mehlman] …

Dendahl, who said he will drop the drug issue in this campaign, has mixed it up with Richardson before. He was still the Republican Party chairman when Richardson first ran for governor in 2002 against Republican John Sanchez and Green Party candidate David Bacon.

The Sanchez-Richardson battle was expensive and ugly until, shortly before election day, Sanchez announced he was stopping his attack ads and telling Dendahl to cut the mudslinging as well.

After he won, Richardson said, “I think what this election shows is Dendahl’s politics of negativity is going to be repudiated and, hopefully, he’ll be gone from the political scene.”
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The Wednesday Morning Quarterback: RICHARDSON HAS A NEW OPPONENT

mjh’s blog — In Defense of Dendahl (gag)

mjh’s blog — Search Results for Dimdahl