Monday, April 30, 2007

Commemorating Broder: A Quarter-Century of Hackery from a Guy Opposed to C-SPAN (9:28 pm)

Ken Silverstein for Harper’s offers a brief historical retrospective:

As a whole, Broder’s current work is virtually indistinguishable from the drivel he was producing a quarter-century ago.

posted by Brian Zick | start the discussion

If Bush DoJ Didn’t Trump Up Bogus Cases Against Dems, How Would Anybody Ever Know for Sure? (7:16 pm)

Eric Lipton for the NY Times reports on the growing suspicion surrounding numbers of prosecutions around the country which also served a convenient partisan electoral purpose, even though many of the cases were exceedingly weak - some altogether bogus - from the start.

That kind of second guessing has surfaced with increasing frequency in recent weeks in states including Alabama, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Since the dismissals of eight United States attorneys, local lawyers, politicians, editorial writers, members of Congress and defendants are questioning what they say is a pattern of investigating Democrats. They point to inquiries that drag on for years but end with no charges, an acquittal or convictions for relatively modest infractions.

posted by Brian Zick | start the discussion

Pat Leahy Reacts to News of Smoking Gun Document (4:39 pm)

“The mass firing of U.S. attorneys appeared to be part of a systematic scheme to inject political influence into the hiring and firing decisions of key justice employees. This secret order would seem to be evidence of an effort to hardwire control over law enforcement by White House political operatives.”

Think Progress has Senator Leahy’s full statement.

posted by Brian Zick | start the discussion

Smoking Gun Document: Rove Used Sampson and Goodling as Proxies to Front for His Decisions (11:53 am)

Murray Waas for National Journal reports:

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales signed a highly confidential order in March 2006 delegating to two of his top aides — who have since resigned because of their central roles in the firings of eight U.S. attorneys — extraordinary authority over the hiring and firing of most non-civil-service employees of the Justice Department. A copy of the order and other Justice Department records related to the conception and implementation of the order were provided to National Journal.

In the order, Gonzales delegated to his then-chief of staff, D. Kyle Sampson, and his White House liaison “the authority, with the approval of the Attorney General, to take final action in matters pertaining to the appointment, employment, pay, separation, and general administration” of virtually all non-civil-service employees of the Justice Department, including all of the department’s political appointees who do not require Senate confirmation. Monica Goodling became White House liaison in April 2006, the month after Gonzales signed the order.

The existence of the order suggests that a broad effort was under way by the White House to place politically and ideologically loyal appointees throughout the Justice Department, not just at the U.S.-attorney level. Department records show that the personnel authority was delegated to the two aides at about the same time they were working with the White House in planning the firings of a dozen U.S. attorneys, eight of whom were, in fact, later dismissed.
(…)
The senior administration official who had firsthand knowledge of the... read more

posted by Brian Zick | 1 comment

Unassisted Triple Play (10:33 am)

AP reports:

At Coors Field, Kelly Johnson and Edgar Renteria singled for the Braves in the seventh inning and were running on a 3-2 pitch when [Colorado shortstop Troy] Tulowitzki caught Chipper Jones’ line drive behind second base. The rookie stepped on the bag to double up Johnson and then tagged Renteria for the third out.

Apparently unsure if he had completed the play properly, Tulowitzki went back and touched second base again, then threw to first. Nothing to worry about — the inning was already over.

It was the 13th unassisted triple play in major league history and first since shortstop Rafael Furcal did it for Atlanta on Sept. 10, 2003, against St. Louis.

Tulowitzki also turned the second triple play in the Rockies’ 13-year history. The first happened April 10, 2003, against the Cardinals.

ESPN has the video.

via Phil Denslow

posted by Brian Zick | start the discussion

Broder: Resolutely Pathetic and Dishonest (10:20 am)

Dave Astor for E&P reports:

David Broder said he wouldn’t change anything in his April 26 column, which angered many readers and caused 50 members of the Senate Democratic Caucus to write a letter criticizing Broder in Friday’s Washington Post.

Noting the list of 50 Senators in the Democratic Caucus who wrote the letter criticising Broder’s characterizations of Reid, Atrios poses the obvious question:

In the original column he wrote:

And join the long list of senators of both parties who are ready for these two springtime exhibitions of ineptitude to end.
(…)
Who’s on his list of senators? Where exactly did this list come from?

posted by Brian Zick | start the discussion

Preview of Carl Bernstein’s Book on Hillary Clinton (7:10 am)

Sarah Baxter for the Sunday Times of London reports:

Drawing on a trove of private papers from Hillary Clinton’s best friend, the legendary Watergate journalist Carl Bernstein is to publish a hard-hitting and intimate portrait of the 2008 presidential candidate, which will reveal a number of “discrepancies” in her official story.

“Bernstein reaches conclusions that stand in opposition to what Senator Clinton has said in the past and has written in the past,” said Paul Bogaards, a spokesman for Knopf, which publishes the book on June 19.

With the thoroughness for which he is famous, Bernstein spoke to more than 200 of Clinton’s friends, colleagues and adversaries. He stops short of accusing the New York senator of blatantly lying about her past, but has unearthed examples of where she has played fast and loose with the facts about her “personal and political life”, according to Knopf.

via Taegan Goddard

posted by Brian Zick | 1 comment

News Teaser (6:22 am)

Brian Ross, Rhonda Schwartz and Justin Rood for ABC report:

Also on Palfrey’s list of customers who could be potential witnesses are a Bush administration economist, the head of a conservative think tank, a prominent CEO, several lobbysits and a handful of military officials.

Paul Kiel at TPM Muckraker offers a forecast:

Expect some of that to come out this Friday, during Palfrey’s star turn on 20/20.