Trump Thinks His Tax Strategy To Give Paris Hilton's Dogs A More Luxurious Lifestyle Will Energize GOP Voters

Gunster, Trumpster and a batch of U.K. neo-Nazis

While congressional leadership incompetence and Señor Trumpanzee's tweet rages against fellow Republicans will drive down turnout for the 2018 midterms among his supporters and others on the far right, well-funded GOP superPACs are preparing to lure voters to the polls with packages of ballot initiatives that appeal to racists, homophobes, Nazis, xenophobes and other key contingents of the Republican Party base. Yesterday, Alex Isenstadt reported that the West Wing is coordinating the efforts and that the White House thinks "tax reform" is the issue to motivate and invigorate conservatives.

I guess the theory is that Republican dog lovers all want to end the estate tax so Paris Hilton can inherit even more money and so that her dogs' can live even more glamorous lives than they already do in their lovely "doggie mansion." Thanks for the tweet, Paris.

The shots, reported People Magazine, "show the outside and inside of the luxe doggie digs. Hilton isn’t lying. There is an easy-to-spot chandelier, and several pieces of fancy-looking furniture placed against the house’s pink (of course) walls. The outside photo shows one of Hilton’s small pups enjoying the second-story balcony, while another frolics on the grass below. So while you struggle with the choice of paying a massive energy bill or living as a human sweat blob for the next month, take comfort in the fact that at least Hilton’s dogs are living comfortably." That should help turn out the Trumpanzee base, right?

The White House goal is to defeat Jon Tester (D-MT), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO). Someone, I suppose, figures that right-wing voters (and independents) in Montana, North Dakota and Missouri think billionaires and multimillionaires are being treated unfairly by the tax code. Who could be that stupid?

Spearheading the discussions is Republican strategist Gerry Gunster, a referendum expert who helped to lead the successful 2016, populist-infused campaign for Britain's exit from the European Union. Gunster-- who visited then-president-elect Trump in New York City along with Brexit leader Nigel Farage after the November election-- has spoken about the ballot initiative concept with top administration aides, including political director Bill Stepien and Nick Ayers, the chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence and a veteran GOP operative.

Still, it's an open question whether a White House-backed ballot initiative effort will materialize. Those involved caution that the plans are in a preliminary stage and that the White House, while intrigued, has yet to give final signoff.

Complicating matters has been the departure of chief strategist Steve Bannon, who was a leading internal proponent of the idea and thought it should be an administration priority heading into 2018.

Yet several people involved raised the prospect that Bannon, now free from the constraints of government, could orchestrate a campaign from the outside. He would have the financial resources: Bannon has a patron in Robert Mercer, the reclusive New York hedge fund billionaire who has long funded his political projects.

Neither White House officials nor Bannon would comment on the record. Gunster declined to discuss his talks with administration officials, but noted that his firm “has a well-documented history of managing initiatives and referenda that focus on tax reform and job growth. We do frequently work on state ballot measures that remove barriers to doing business."

An administration-led campaign would give conservatives a counterweight to liberals, who have already begun circulating possible initiatives in states aimed at mobilizing supporters in 2018-- some of them centered on marijuana legalization. Several midterm battlegrounds, including Missouri, Florida and Arizona, may see cannabis-related items on the ballot.

Some Republicans contend that putting tax cut-related measures on the 2018 ballot could give the party a boost.

"Probably it has some effect. It never hurts to have Republicans push on issues that are core to the party and that get people motivated," said Steve Linder, a GOP strategist in Michigan who has worked on nearly a dozen ballot measures, including the state’s 2004 anti-gay marriage amendment. "It's a way to reinforce the base, and can it help around the edges? Yes it can."

The deliberations come at a sensitive time for senior Republicans. They're increasingly worried that the party’s meager legislative accomplishments so far, the ongoing special counsel investigation of Trump campaign ties to Russia and the president’s intensifying war with GOP leaders will depress the base in 2018.

...The extent to which the anti-gay marriage amendments boosted Bush in 2004 is the subject of debate. In the immediate aftermath of his reelection, there was general agreement that the 11 amendments, all of which were approved by comfortable margins, jolted turnout in Bush’s favor.

But in the following years, some political observers began to question the influence it had on the election results. A 2006 report by the Pew Research Center concluded that while an amendment may have been decisive in the critical state of Ohio, their effect in other states was less clear.

...Some Republicans are skeptical that running an initiative campaign will do much to help their 2018 prospects. Jeff Flint, a Republican strategist in California who specializes in ballot initiatives, said the party would need to find an issue that tapped into a deep vein of frustration in order to drive turnout. He argued that a tax cut-focused effort wouldn’t do the trick.

Absent such a driving issue, voters are bound to be influenced by their opinion of Trump and his performance, Flint said.

"Nine times out of 10," he said, "turnout is driven by the top of the ticket, or the" president.

This morning Trumpanzee's chief economic advisor, Gary Cohn, the multimillionaire who Trumpanzee drafted from Goldman Sachs, was reported to have told a gaggle of Democratic senators that "only morons" pay the estate tax. Another way of putting it is that only criminals don't pay estate taxes. What the real morons-- Republican base voters who can be manipulated by these GOP SuperPAC appeals-- don't understand is that the estate tax is a 40% levy applied to the portion of an estate valued at over $5.49 million for individuals or $10.98 million for couples and that because it's a tax that applies only to the very wealthy, it only affects one out of every 500 taxpayers. The number of people actually paying the tax, and the money it raises have both plunged drastically in recent years. In 2008, the estate tax raised $25 billion; in 2015 that was down to $17 billion. Criminally-minded tax attorneys are the primary culprits. Democratic candidates we asked about the Trumpist plans to run on their version of "tax reform" were unanimous: BRING IT ON!

Lamar Smith's progressive opponent for next year (TX-21), Derrick Crowe, is looking forward to debating him on taxes and using the issue to help him win the election and flip the seat red to blue. "Donald Trump's 'enrich the rich' tax plan," he told us confidently, "is as likely to prompt his target voters to pick up pitchforks and torches as it is to help win an election. Inequality is tearing apart the social fabric of this country. If you look at where GOP rhetoric has been translated to tax policy--like, say, Texas-- you find voters on the edge of revolt due to skyrocketing, regressive property taxes and underfunded state services. The rigged economy is already tilted heavily toward the ultra-wealthy, and people know it. Trump is just revealing whose side he's really on-- and it's not the side of the working class. There's no way that translates to electoral victory in 2018 or 2020."

James Thompson should only be so lucky to have his election determined by a debate over taxes! "Red state" Kansas has come to know what GOP tax plans mean for ordinary people. "If you want to know what will happen to the rest of the United States as a result of Trump's tax reform," warned Thompson, "just look at Kansas. The so called 'tax reform' being pushed by President Trump and Ron Estes is the nationalization of the same failed trickle down tax experiments of Sam Brownback in Kansas. Our schools and hospitals are underfunded and closing. Our infrastructure, especially in rural areas, is collapsing. Our businesses are leaving our state. Our guards in the prison system are underpaid and overworked in overcrowded prisons. Our police departments don't have the money for proper training and are short staffed. Our mental health care facilities, formerly number one in the country, are now ranked at the bottom. More and more people are falling below the poverty line. These are just a few of the examples of what 'tax reform' did to Kansas. The filthy rich got the tax break goldmine, and the working people of Kansas got the shaft. Supply side economics do not work. Businesses do not hire new employees because of tax breaks. Demand drives business. Rather than trying to get a bigger piece of the pie, how about increasing the size of the pie? Paying a living wage will circulate more money into the economy and create a larger tax base. Finally expanding Medicaid will allow 100,000 additional Kansans to get medical care, again pumping more money into our local economy. We have lost more than 2 billion dollars in the last couple of years as a result of failing to expand Medicaid. Using targeted trade agreements to allow farmers to sell their products internationally while also protecting the wages of our working class people at home will bring more money into our state. Republicans don't want to do this though, they want the pie all for themselves. In Kansas, we say 'pigs get fat, and hogs get slaughtered.' The Republicans are all greedy hogs lined up at the 2018 trough gorging themselves on the slop Trump is feeding them."

Tom Guild, another example of a "red state" Democrat not afraid of Trump's hollow threats, is running for a seat in Oklahoma that Trump won 53.2% to 39.8%. And he's not shying away from a very progressive approach to taxes that emphasizes fairness for working families and the middle class. "The Oklahoma GOP," he told us today, "has all the political marbles in Oklahoma. They control the state House of Representatives by a 3 to 1 margin and the state Senate by a 5 to 1 margin. They have the governor’s office and all statewide state offices to boot. If you look at their supply side tax policy, you would likely conclude that they didn’t have all their marbles when they adopted their trickle down tax plans. Because of the failure of trickledown economics in Oklahoma, our state is a fiscal basket case. We have had a revenue failure a number of years in a row and the gap widens as time goes on. This is due to their string of state income tax cuts for the wealthy, and their lowering of the oil and gas gross production tax from 7% (the lowest in the nation at the time) to 2% (by a country mile the lowest in the nation). They sold both types of regressive tax cuts as a way to produce more revenue for the state.  Well, their theory is an accountant’s nightmare. Teachers, who are at the bottom of the barrel nationally in salaries are fleeing the state in droves. This leads to emergency certification of replacements who aren’t quite qualified to teach. The number of emergency certifications has increased exponentially over the past few years. We can’t fund public health, including Medicaid and mental health programs. We are slashing senior nutrition programs and cutting child welfare workers in the face of a court order that demands we go in the other direction and increase state employees checking in on our vulnerable children. Our gaping potholes and chasms in our state and local roadways cost the average Oklahoman a pretty penny every year in damage to their vehicles. The GOP legislature outlawed raising the minimum wage at the local level as we were petitioning to raise the wage in Oklahoma City. Many Okies are working multiple jobs and still not able to keep their households above water. College students graduate with a bachelor’s degree and more than $30,000 in student loan debt and the shortfall increases every year because of cuts to the higher education budget. Lax regulation of the fossil fuels industry in Oklahoma has led to an unimaginable increase in human induced earthquakes, that are shaking many Oklahoma families to their core and causing many huge increases in out of pocket expenses. If Trump and his Billionaire’s Club Cabinet do for the U.S. what supply side trickledown economics has done for Oklahoma, the whole nation will be economically on its knees. Enough is Enough! We must elect progressives who put working people and the middle class first and attend to the basic necessities of the least among us."

North Carolina's Jenny Marshall has a similar perspective. She's running for the seat held;d by Virginia Foxx, who strictly represents the interests of the rich, rather than the middle and working class residents of NC-05. Foxx is a complete rubber stamp for Trump and Ryan. "North Carolina's GOP also gave away millions in tax breaks for the rich while saddling the average person with more taxes on labor costs such as auto and appliance repairs," said Jenny. "This is a typical GOP move. Reduce taxes for the rich with no regard to the fallout. My campaign's main issue is the economy. With 50% of my district living in low income or poverty households, Trump's tax reform falls on deaf ears. My community does not need a tax break. They need good paying, dependable jobs they can raise a family on. Minimum wage just doesn't pay the bills, yet rather than focus on raising wages and creating sustainable jobs, Trump wants to give the ultra wealthy a tax break. It just goes to show that the GOP leadership in Washington is out of touch with the everyday people of our country. I am committed to raising the minimum wage and the creation of jobs that will help the United States rebuild its infrastructure and increase our green energy sector."

The DCCC is trying to derail the campaign of young progressive Sam Jammal to help recruit their pathetic and unelectable silly recruit, a lottery winner who literally lies as much as Donald Trump! Sam is eager to debate Ed Royce on how the tax system should be reformed. "I find this whole tax reform conversation to represent everything wrong with Washington," he told us. "Right now, thousands of lobbyists are lining up with their own 'fixes' to our tax system. Everything is centered on how the most wealthy will benefit. None of the conversation is about how we help working families. My Congressman, Ed Royce, is too busy overseas to worry about what families in our community need. I would be shocked if we hear anything from him, other than a solid 'yes' vote for whatever scheme Trump and Ryan come up with. Tax reform should be about making sure the middle class is still a reality for our community. We should scrap corporate tax reform and focus on reforms that help regular people. This includes increasing the Earned Income Tax Credit, expanding deductions on child care, student loans and home ownership, and promoting job creation by entrepreneurs and small business-- not paybacks to the uber wealthy. We can't continue to have an economy where so few can get ahead and so many are falling behind. Everything we are hearing on Trump's tax reform looks like a bad deal for our families. We need to stop this 'reform.'"

And Randy Bryce, the ironworker and union and veterans' activist, challenging Paul Ryan for the southeast Wisconsin congressional seat, reminded us that "At the recent CNN media event that Paul Ryan had, he let it slip that tax reform really meant 'tax cuts' for the rich. The Banana Republicans aren’t fooling anyone when it comes to who they stand with. People across the country are admitting to having buyer’s remorse due to the 2016 election, and I personally can not wait for November 6, 2018 when we end one chapter that had them trying to bury working people only to find out that we were seeds."

Paris Hilton Endores Obama's Energy Plan-- Hates The Wrinked Up White Haired Guy

Paris Hilton is treating John McCain like a... a... a... dumb blonde! And to think I made fun of her and her mother a few days ago. She sounds smarter than Eric Cantor, John Shadegg and Mike Pence combined. Not sure about that VP choice of hers though. H/T: Perez:

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

Paris Hilton is ready to lead on energy; why isn't John McCain? I guess she doesn't need all the money Big Oil doles out to him. And speaking of dumb blondes... Mitt Romney, the likely Republican Party VP nominee, was asked on CNN today to name one-- just one-- energy accomplishment John McCain has achieved in his two and a half decades in Congress. His response was a lot less impressive than Paris': "Well, I'm not a historian that goes through all of the pieces of legislation John McCain has worked on." As Matt Ortega points out, he once did go through McCain's record with a fine tooth comb-- and what he came up with was pretty gnarly.

We've Been Silent On McCain-Paris-Britney Too Long!

Mother and child

Even though Bush personally nixed plans to have Britney Spears play the Republican Convention in NYC in 2004, the trashy, drug addicted and dysfunctional McComb, Mississippi/Kentwood, Louisiana dancer and singer, is as famous for endorsing him (as well as Pepsi and a bevy of swell fragrances called Curious, Fantasy, In Control and, most recently, Believe) as she is for her attempts to write songs. Watch her first brush with GOP presidential fame:



Now she has been dragged into another Republican presidential campaign-- along with one of the few celebrities with even less talent than herself-- and she doesn't like it one bit. While McCain has been roundly berated for taking the low road for a spate of vicious, racist, negative campaign ads, Britney herself has either been too drugged up to be aware of them or is, uncharacteristically, keeping her own counsel. But the other camp isn't.

Kathy Hilton, the proud parent of Paris, is a McCain campaign contributor. Shallow, selfish rich people tend to kick in a little when their candidates are running for office. But now that infamous McCain ad, further dehumanizing her daughter, has got her dander up. Kathy posted at HuffPo this morning. She actually managed 5 coherent sentences proving she's twice as smart as her daughter and Britney combined. She points out that the ad is a frivolous way to chose the next president and that it's a "complete waste of the country's time and attention at the very moment when millions of people are losing their homes and their jobs," although glossing over why she donated money to a candidate who's record and policies are the very cause of those millions of people losing their homes and their jobs. But her first point, a quintessentially Republican-- and personal-- one, is that "it is a complete waste of the money John McCain's contributors have donated to his campaign." Indeed. And I hope they learned their lesson. Why not, as an alternative, donate to someone who is planning to come to the aid of those millions of people whose homes and jobs are in jeopardy because of the Bush-McCain Economic Miracle? May I suggest someone courageous, fearless and brilliant like Alan Grayson, Jeff Merkley, Carol Shea-Porter, or Howard Shanker? Or, if you don't want to donate to a Democrat, Steve Porter.

Meanwhile, here's McCain's latest fucked up and desperate campaign ad-- in which he substitutes Britney and Paris for Moses-- and here's one from Obama:

DO YOU EVER WISH YOU WERE A RICH, WHITE, WELL-CONNECTED REPUBLICAN?

I never do but if I screwed up badly enough to be in serious trouble with the law maybe I wouldn't be so idealistic. Take, for example Scooter and Paris, the Bobbsey twins of above-the-law perks and privilege. Scooter, convicted by a jury of a series of criminal activities-- though not the underlying war time treason that could should have sent him to face a firing squad-- doesn't want to have to serve any time from his ridiculously light sentence, in prison. A slick lobbyist of 18 years, Fred Thompson, who has more recently become an actor and is now hoping to convince enough fools that he deserves the GOP presidential nomination, is fighting to get Scooter pardoned as though he were someone, like Nelson Mandela, who actually deserved a pardon. Regime shills in the mass media and a huge barrage of Neo-cons and even some ill-advised Democrats are working overtime to keep Scooter out of prison-- and away from the temptation of turning state's evidence on Cheney and Rove. [UPDATE: Obama opposes a pardon for Libby.]

Simultaneously, on the other coast, you have a novella of nonsense playing out around one of the most despised celebrities in history. Her stay in the freshly re-painted luxury wing of the county jail will cost-- most deservedly-- L.A. Sheriff Lee Baca his political career. But what an eye-opener for the public this has been! Since I don't ever watch Fox-TV, I haven't been keeping up the minute on the P Hilton saga. Fortunately my neighbor filled me in today.

Apparently it can take as much as 5 hours of waiting around in the reception area of the county jail if you want to visit your locked up loved one. Not for the Hiltons-- right to the front of the line. On top of that, what's she in the prison wing for? There are people with serious problems who can't get in for real problems-- like an eyeball falling out-- while Sheriff Baca's concern seems to be Paris' A.D.D.! "I don't know what her health issue is, but you have got to have a pretty intense medical or mental health problem to be in that part of the jail," said Mary Tiedeman who visits the jail as a monitor for the ACLU.

And although Hilton is a Bush-supporting Republican who is very grateful to the GOP for making her even richer by abolishing the inheritance tax and financing her lifestyle, this isn't really a partisan matter. In fact, Rahm Emanuel's unseemly and disreputable brother, Ari, has a talent agency, Endeavor, that claims to have recognized in Hilton what no one else ever has: talent. They signed her up in 2005. And dropped her yesterday.


UPDATE: ONE BOBBSEY INSPIRES A LETTER FROM SOME CIA AGENTS

13 June 2007

The Honorable Mel Martinez
General Chairman
The Republican National Committee
310 First Street, SE
Washington, D.C. 20003

As former intelligence officers-- most of us have served the United States in undercover positions-- we are saddened and appalled by the recent public comments of former Senator Fred Thompson, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and former Governor Mitt Romney-- one a potential candidate and the other two declared candidates for the Republican nomination for President-- with respect to the perjury and obstruction of justice conviction of Vice President Cheney's Chief of Staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby. These men misrepresent the case against Mr. Libby and call into question the integrity of a respected Federal Judge and U.S. attorney. Their positions with respect to the just and fair punishment meted out to Mr. Libby raise serious questions about their commitment to the rule of law free of partisan bias.

We are particularly concerned by the recent speech by Fred Thompson, who declared:

As you may recall, for some inexplicable reason, the CIA sent the husband of one of its employees to Niger on a sensitive mission. She had suggested it. He came back to the U.S. and proceeded to publicly blast the administration. Naturally, everyone wanted to know "who is this guy?" and "why was he sent to Niger?" Just as naturally, the fact that he was married to Valerie Plame at the CIA was leaked.

Having virtually guaranteed that Ms. Plame's identity would be ultimately disclosed by using her, shall we say, "politically
active" husband, the CIA then demanded that this leak of her name be investigated by the Justice Department for a possible
violation of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act.

The Justice Department, bowing to political and media pressure, appointed a Special Counsel to investigate the leak and promised that the Justice Department would exercise no supervision over him whatsoever-- a status even the Attorney General does not have.

The only problem with this little scenario was that there was no violation of the law, by anyone, and everybody-- the CIA, the
Justice Department and the Special Counsel knew it. Ms. Plame was not a "covered person" under the statute and it was
obvious from the outset.

Furthermore, Justice and the Special Counsel knew who leaked Plames's name and it wasn't Scooter Libby. But the Beltway machinery was well oiled and geared up so the Special Counsel spent the next two years moving heaven and earth to come up with something, anything. Finally he came up with some inconsistent recollections by Scooter Libby, who had been up to his ears studying National Intelligence Estimates. But he worked for Dick Cheney, so that apparently was enough for the special counsel.

The factual errors in Mr. Thompson's statement are almost as egregious as his partisan view that perjury and obstruction of justice are not serious crimes. For example, Thompson states that there is something implausible about sending Ambassador Joseph Wilson to Niger to investigate reports that Iraq was trying to buy yellow cake uranium. In fact, Ambassador Wilson was uniquely qualified for the mission. Having served as the acting Ambassador in Iraq and faced down Saddam Hussein, Ambassador Wilson also was the Director of Africa in the National Security Council and had served as an Ambassador in west Africa and monitored the uranium mining activity of the country where he was stationed.

Former Senator Thompson persists with the lie that there was no "violation" of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act (IIPA). But his claim is debunked by Federal Judge Reginald Walton and Federal Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, who, after reviewing the classified personnel file of Valerie Plame Wilson, stated that she was in fact covered by the IIPA when Robert Novak printed her name in July of 2003.

It also is important to correct the record that Valerie Wilson did not suggest sending her husband to Niger. She responded to an inquiry from her supervisor and provided a memo laying out his capabilities. The decision to send Ambassador Wilson to Niger was made by a senior official in the Counter Proliferation Division of the CIA. Fred Thompson also is factually wrong by claiming that Joe Wilson returned from the trip, "and proceeded to publicly blast the administration". This is not true. Ambassador Wilson made no public statements critical of the Administration's claims about the alleged purchase of yellowcake uranium until May of 2003--more than 15 months after returning from the trip and only after the President made the specious claim in the State of the Union address.

Our concern about Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney is narrower but important-- are these men committed to a rule of law free of partisan influence? During the last Republican debate Rudy Giuliani said that: he'd have to wait for the appeals process to play out to see if Libby met the criteria for a pardon. However, the former federal prosecutor said he believes the sentence imposed on Libby was "way out of line."

Mr. Giuliani had a different standard for charges of perjury and obstruction of justice on September 11, 1987:

The United States Attorney in Manhattan, Rudolph W. Giuliani, declared yesterday that the one-year prison sentence that a
Queens judge received for perjury was "somewhat shocking."

"A sentence of one year seemed to me to be very lenient," Mr. Giuliani said, when asked to comment on the sentence imposed Wednesday on Justice Francis X. Smith, the former Queens administrative judge. . .

Justice Smith was convicted of committing perjury before a grand jury investigating corruption in the city, Mr. Giuliani said
later, adding that "he could have helped root out corruption" by cooperating with the grand jury.

Mr. Romney's statement is more outrageous. He accused Patrick Fitzgerald of abusing "prosecutorial discretion."

The case against Mr. Libby is straightforward. He blocked the efforts of Federal agents to investigate the leak of the identity of an undercover CIA officer who was covered by the Intelligence Identities Protection Act. Mr. Libby lied to Federal law enforcement officials investigating the leak. Most importantly, Mr. Libby was convicted in a fair trial of perjury and obstruction of justice.

This is not an issue of Republican versus Democrat. The signatories of this letter include registered Republicans, Democrats, and Independents. We believe that Republicans and Democrats alike must commit themselves to upholding the rule of law and refusing to use clandestine CIA officers as a political football. In this regard we find that the recent comments by Fred Thompson, Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney sadly wanting and unworthy of the highest elected office in the United States.

We are pleased, however, that the Republican Party is offering candidates who do believe in the rule of law. Former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore and U.S. Congressman Ron Paul spoke boldly and reaffirmed the commitment of Republicans to uphold the rule of law. Both emphasized that the law must be applied to Mr. Libby, regardless of his social standing or wealth. We believe that Governor Gilmore and Congressman Paul reflect the values espoused by Ronald Reagan. Good intelligence should not be a partisan issue. It is a professional obligation of intelligence officers to provide politicians with the best information and their best judgment. And it is the professional obligation of politicians to uphold the rule of law and ensure that the Constitution of the United States is upheld and enforced. On this critical issue we believe that the statements by Fred Thompson, Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney do damage to the reputation of the Republican Party and undermine public respect for the judicial system.

Respectfully yours,

Ray Close, Directorate of Operations
James Marcinkowski, Directorate of Operations
Philip Giraldi, Directorate of Operations
Michael Grimaldi, Directorate of Intelligence
Ray McGovern, Directorate of Intelligence
Melvin Goodman, Directorate of Intelligence
Larry Johnson, Directorate of Intelligence
David MacMichael, National Intelligence Council

SPIN SUNDAY MAY BE TRUTH SUNDAY TODAY: NEWT, McCAIN, LIBBY, AND, OF COURSE, PARIS HILTON

Looks like today is going to be a day for truth telling. Newt Gingrich, someone who never participates in those kinds of days, got the ball rolling yesterday when he told the American Enterprise Institute that McCain blew his shot at winning the GOP nomination because of his work on Bush's failed immigration legislation. McCain, another one who hasn't drunk from the cup of Truth in a few years, acknowledged to ABC News' George Stephanopoulos that the Newtster may well be correct.

I may have mentioned before how the Republican Insider Establishment has saddled up their whole cavalry to destroy Patrick Fitzgerald and muddy the waters so much on the Libby case that Bush can get the political confusion and cover he needs to grant Scooter the pardon necessary to keep Cheney and Rove from being indicted-- like here, here and here. But this morning's Washington Post decided to throw a roadblock in front of them: some truth. Carol Leonnig, who's been covering the case for them, outlines some of the GOP talking points and explains why they are patently false. The big one, which those most prone to dittoheadness have already worked into their DNA, is that Valerie Plame wasn't a covert operative.

Wrong. She was.

Granted, this wasn't so clear at the start of Fitzgerald's grand jury investigation, so Libby's allies argued that the beans he spilled weren't that important to begin with. In fact, many of the officials who knew about her classified CIA status kept mum, which let Libby's pals jump to assert that she wasn't an undercover operative at the time of the leak.

But a CIA "unclassified summary" of Plame's career, released in court filings before Libby's June 5 sentencing, puts this one to rest: The CIA considered her covert at the time her identity was leaked to the media. The CIA report said that Plame had worked overseas in the previous five years and that the agency had been taking "affirmative measures" to conceal her CIA employment. That echoes the language used in the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, which makes it a crime to reveal the identities of covert CIA officers.

When Libby was convicted, some conservative pundits complained that Fitzgerald had presented no compelling evidence at trial that Plame was covert. But that wasn't for lack of evidence; it was because Libby's lawyers convinced the court to bar any mention of her status during the trial, arguing that evidence suggesting that her job was classified would have been "unfairly prejudicial" to their client.

The CIA isn't famous for its clarity, but it's being pretty blunt on this issue: Langley says she was covert. Which other spook bureaucracy do you need to ask?

Another good one that Hannity, O'Reilly and the Hate Talk Radio Amen Choir can never get enough of hearing themselves repeat is that Libby didn't actually leak Plame's identity. Leonnig is as tired as hearing that lie as the rest of us are.

Libby wasn't charged with the crime of knowingly leaking classified information about Plame; he was charged with lying to investigators. But the overwhelming weight of the evidence at the trial-- including reporters' notes of their interviews with Libby-- showed that Libby had indeed leaked classified information about Plame's identity, even though that wasn't what put him in the dock. The jury agreed that Libby lied when he said that he'd been telling reporters only what other reporters had told him about Plame's role at the CIA.

What is unclear is whether Libby knew she was a covert CIA agent at the time he discussed her with reporters-- a key point in determining whether this was an illegal leak. But Walton said that Libby "had a unique and special obligation" to keep such secrets, well, secret.

It's not as good as your garden variety Firedoglake analysis, but it's not bad... for the Sunday Post.

Now we'll have to see if Scooter will be as much a man as Paris Hilton-- after some weeping, screaming, kicking and general hysteria-- turned into today. "Today, I told my attorneys not to appeal the judge's decision," Hilton said in a statement posted on TMZ.com. "While I greatly appreciate the sheriff's concern for my health and welfare, after meeting with doctors I intend to serve my time as ordered by the judge." You think we'll ever hear those words from her Inside the Beltway doppleganger?

REPUBLICANS USE WRITS OF HABEAS CORPUS WHEN THEY NEED THEM-- PARIS HILTON MAY GO FREE AFTER ALL

Two Bush fans

Let's see, what did we learn about Hollywood's version of "Scooter" Libby today?

Paris' grandpa gave soon-to-be-former L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca, the one who let her out against the judge's express orders, a thousand dollars-- the maximum bribe campaign contribution a sheriff is allowed to accept. But I'm sure it was just a coincidence-- or, like he says, just a case of no room in the inn; or that the "severe medical problems" were getting worse by the minute (withdrawal?). Or does "severe medical problems" mean she was depressed, missed her dog and was weeping? I wonder if Baca would agree to forfeit his life if Hilton gets drunk and hopped up on whatever she gets from the quacks she pays and slams her car into some unlikely citizen and kills them. What do you think?


I hope Rocky Delgadillo sends Bush the same message about Scooter that he sent out about Hilton:
"This decision sends the message that no individual-- no matter how wealthy or powerful-- is above the law. Today, justice was served."

It was-- but her attorneys will file a writ of habeas corpus on Monday.

And remember over the long weekend if someone tells you to feel a little sympathy for her... she chose to be a Republican and a freak; she wasn't born that way. And once you become a Republican... well then sooner or later you are Paris Hilton.

ARE REPUBLICANS THE LAW & ORDER PARTY ONLY WHEN IT COMES TO THE POOR AND PEOPLE OF COLOR? LIBBY'S SENTENCE IS ONE THEY SHOULD ALL SHARE

I don't expect all the Neo-cons who manipulated this country into Bush's catastrophic Iraq occupation to embrace the sentence imposed on Vulcan Irving Libby (AKA- "Scooter"). Neither does E.J. Dionne, Jr. But we both think they should. Dionne gets to explain in today's Washington Post where he argues that Republicans most eager for Bush to pardon Libby immediately "are those who were most deeply invested in the Iraq war and were willing to do whatever was expedient to commit American troops to a venture they were certain would turn out well... The verdict against Libby was a verdict against them."

The Republicans with the gravest doubts are those who worry about the damage a pardon would cause their party by undercutting its oft-stated commitment to the rule of law.

At this week's GOP presidential debate there didn't seem to be too many of the former, but lots and lots of the former. Jim Gilmore opposes a pardon. "I'm steeped in the law. I wouldn't do that... If the public believes there's one law for a certain group of people in high places and another law for regular people, then you will destroy the law and destroy the system."

This isn't exactly the way Cheney is looking at it. He and his allies have a deal with Libby that makes it clear that in return for Libby adhering to strict Omertà regarding Cheney's and Rove's treasonous participation in the case, he gets off scott free. Dionne doesn't quite go there. He talks more generally about "those who advocated hard for the war." Those folks see Libby as a hero, not as a criminal, let alone a traitor who should be put against a wall, blindfolded and shot-- along with themselves. The 3 front-runners-- all aggressively pro-war candidates-- dissembled, going on and on sounding like they were pro-pardon for the wingnuts GOP primary voters without saying anything that would damn them in the minds of normal Americans who vote in the general election. Many think Giuliani is the most habitually disingenuous of the 3 (not knowing McCain or Romney well, apparently) and they point to how deftly he tossed red meat Rovian talking points to the base-- Libby's sentence was "way out of line" and there was "no underlying crime involved"-- while giving himself plenty of wiggle room in case any sane people were watching the debate: "I would see if it fit the criteria for pardon. I'd wait for the appeal."

For his part, Romney said that special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald "clearly abused prosecutorial discretion" but then used all the classic dodges: "It's worth looking at that. I will study it very closely, if I'm lucky enough to be president, and I'd keep that option open."

Actor/lobbyist Fred Thompson isn't equivocating like the other front-runners. He's on the Free Scooter Mandela Committee and-- in sharp contrast to his Law & Order image he's strongly-- some say hysterically-- advocating for a full pardon for Libby, regardless of what some damn jury found.

The Bush Regime knows that ultimately Libby has to be kept out of prison-- if only to save Cheney and Rove and so that other Neo-cons don't start realizing their whole glorious raison d'etre was a criminal enterprise. But keeping Libby out of the hoosegow looks very bad to normal Americans. It "would amount to the repudiation of a jury verdict-- as well as the decisions of federal Judge Reggie Walton, one of the president's appointees. Commuting Libby's sentence would not, as some have suggested, be a happy compromise because doing so would still involve setting aside a formal punishment on behalf of an administration favorite. Yet if Bush allows Libby to go to prison, he will alienate his dwindling band of supporters, particularly those most vociferous in standing up for the administration's Iraq policies."


I'm sure they're nervously watching the outrage building in L.A. where Sheriff Lee Baca has just committed political suicide by freeing another rich, privileged white Republican who thinks she is above the law, Paris Hilton, against the express orders of the judge. Try picturing Scooter handcuffed in the back of a police cruiser with Dick and Lynne Cheney's limo pulling up and Lynne waving and yelling Hi Hon!




UPDATE: OH DEAR

I have no sympathy for Paris Hilton or for any other asshole who thinks their socio-economic status puts them above the law. I think Libby is far more guilty and worse in all ways and I certainly hope we see the same kinds of outbursts from him when he faces up to the fact that he's just like everybody else who is convicted of a crime. Let's remember Lee Baca's name next time there's an election.


UPDATE: PARIS HILTON IS IN JAIL-- SCOOTER LIBBY OUGHT TO BE TOO

Although the far right spin machine is working overtime to brainwash the public into thinking of convicted criminal Irving Libby ("Scooter"), who is also a purveyor of the most vile child pornography ever published by a DC insider-- worse even than Lynne Cheney's lurid lesbian novel-- as an unfortunate victim of an overzealous prosecutor and a crazy judge and jury, mainstream newspapers aren't buying it. Thursday's Chicago Tribune titled their editorial No Pardon For Libby.

By his actions, Libby undermined the very system to which he dedicated his life. A jury found he did not allow the system to work to ferret out truth. He lied under oath. He lied repeatedly and boldly. He wasted federal investigators' time and resources. He obstructed justice.

In the words of the special prosecutor, U.S. Atty. Patrick Fitzgerald: "When someone doesn't tell the truth to the system, everyone suffers. The legal system suffers because we don't know what the actual facts are. And, frankly, lots of other people suffer since, when you don't know what the truth is, people draw all sorts of conclusions."

A question for those who seek to spare Libby from prison for lying under oath -- what did you have to say when President Bill Clinton faced impeachment for lying under oath? Most likely, you wanted Clinton punished.

And John Kass joined in the same day in the same paper about how the GOP joins in mockery of rule of law.

The Cincinnati Post, further south and more conservative, offered those who would spring Libby little sympathy: "Walton got it right when he said there must be tough sanctions for those in high government positions who intentionally lie to the FBI and, even worse, to a grand jury." And the Houston Chronicle was even more adamant that Bush butt out. "Convicted on 'overwhelming' evidence, Libby should start his prison term now."

IS LIBBY STUDYING THE PARIS HILTON MODEL OF HOW TO ESCAPE SERVING PRISON TIME?

Ugly in Pink: free from the bonds of prison, Republican white girl heiress Paris Hilton ends her hunger strike

I used to run a record label that boasted artists like Neil Young, Green Day, Eric Clapton, The Smiths (and then Morrissey), Joni Mitchell, Depeche Mode, Wilco, Alanis Morissette, Fleetwood Mac, Rickie Lee Jones, Enya, Lou Reed... I've been very happy bloggin' away in my retirement and I haven't followed what goes on at my old joint much. After the company was disgraced by the signing of the cultural excrement known as Paris Hilton I tuned out entirely. Now I just follow her career. And today I saw that Shaun Mullen over at The Moderate Voice took a moment out of his analysis of how Paris Hilton's candidates are faring on the campaign trail to wonder why exactly she was allowed out of prison after 5 days.

As everyone but those hundreds of tortured souls rotting in Gitmo surely know by now, the hotel heiress was streeted only five days into her 23-day sentence (already reduced from 45 days) in a celebrity lockup for repeatedly driving drunk.

The reason: Paris couldn’t sleep and had become a sniveling mess. She will serve the rest of her sentence at home with a tracking device attached to her ankle.

The New York Post said she was seen crying after she cracked “under the pressure of prison.”

Hopefully we'll be hearing a chant from the Amen chorus today about the Inside the Beltway version of Paris Hilton: Free Scooter Mandela!

better than LA County-- and there's a stripper's pole in the living room

UPDATE: LIBBY COMMITTEE TRAIL BALLOON

Lobbyist and putative Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson and his cohorts on the Free Scooter Mandela Committee are putting forward the horrible idea that Scooter can avoid even the 5 days in the slammer Paris Hilton got if Bush commutes his sentence. The scheme is buried on page 27 of today's Washington Post.


UPDATE: NO STRIPPER POLE FOR PARIS AFTERALL?

The L.A. City Attorney, Rocky Delgadillo, and Superior Court Judge Michael Sauer, the judge who sentenced her (and specifically said she could not serve her time under house arrest) were none to pleased when L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca just went and freed her of his own volition. The sheriff's department has been ordered to deliver her ass back to Sauer's court tomorrow morning at 9am. No new news on Scooter.

PARIS HILTON AND THE PENIS-LIKE PRISON BARS-- JACK NICHOLSON DRINKS WATER

CENSORED! CENSORED! CENSORED! CENSORED! CENSORED!


My pal Matt just sent my something that is so hilarious, albeit not overtly political, that I just had to share it. Like Sarah Silverman says at the end: "Why do I feel dirty?"



And tomorrow we find out if "Scooter" is going to jail too. Jane and Marcy will be covering it live. I wonder if they'll do one of these polls for "Scooter" after the sentencing.


UPDATE: WHOEVER FORCED YOUTUBE TO TAKE IT DOWN, MTV STILL HAS IT UP

It just isn't as to the point-- still worth watching if you want to see the smile wiped off Paris Hilton's smug face. Plus more.


UPDATE: PARIS HILTON'S NEW ROOM ISN'T AS NICE AS THE HILTON IN PARIS

Most people who have thought about it one way or the other-- like by nearly 90%-- think Paris Hilton deserves the sentence she got. Polls aren't in on Libby's sentence yet but a huge propaganda push has already begun to convince the public that Libby was an innocent victim and that Fitz was more a persecutor than a prosecutor. Meanwhile, today's L.A. Times compares her new home in the L.A. County jail to her family's hotels in Paris.

WHO DO THE HOLLYWOOD CELEBRITIES SUPPORT? AND HATE?

I never had many right wing friends. I know a few Republicans; not many. But in business you meet some from time to time and some seem friendly. I live in L.A. and there are hardly any around. One of my favorite restaurants-- especially when I have fancy out-of-town guests-- is the Water Grill and it draws a pretty establishment-looking crowd and sometimes I get a mildly Republican vibe in there. Someone once took me to Mastro's Steakhouse and it reeked of them. It was loud and brassy and the portions were enough for a family of four. Everything was gross; I never went back.

I do have one friend who claims to be a "libertarian" but who I've worked on for years and as a result he's now a more respectable human being-- he's even stopped whoring around, getting drunk and using drugs, and he's married a lovely (and progressive) woman and they have two kids and he has totally turned against eating unhealthy food and supporting Bush and the Republicans. Unfortunately, primitive tribal identity politics has a strong hold on him and last week he invited me to come with him to a fundraiser for the guy he's supporting for president, Giuliani. "It's time for an Italian president," is all he could say in defense of the goomba he wrote a $2,300 check for.

I know how fed up he is with the Iraq War and how the Republicans have disastrously botched what they call the "war on terror." I argued that by supporting a stay the course Republican like Giuliani he would be condemning his two sons to eventually have to go fight overseas. "They're protected," he says, something many wealthy, selfish sociopaths think about their own situation. What about other people's sons and daughters? It doesn't matter; it's time for an Italian president.

Today's L.A. Times has a piece on who Angeleno celebrities are supporting. Will Smith is for Obama; wingnut Dennis Miller is for Giuliani; Oprah is for Obama, as are Ben Affleck, Ed Norton, Matt Damon, George Clooney and David Geffen; Quincy Jones and a lot of the old school Dems are sticking with Hillary.

The didn't mention which Republicans Paris Hilton and Brittney Spears are backing. But the article goes on to talk about a growing sophistication among celebrities who have learned that their support can be a "double-edged sword."

Clooney points to a deeply personal example of Hollywood backlash: His father, former television anchorman and game show host Nick Clooney, lost his congressional race in Kentucky in 2004 after his opponent blasted him for having "Hollywood values."

"It became an issue of Hollywood versus the heartland," said Clooney, who opted not to publicly campaign for his father. "I believed I could only do him more harm."

So when Obama, an Illinois Democrat, told Clooney last year that he was thinking about running for president, the actor was excited but cautious. "I told him I would do anything for him, including staying completely away from him," said Clooney, speaking recently on his cellphone from the South Carolina set of his latest movie, "Leatherheads."

Obama, however, welcomed Clooney's involvement and support. They got to know each other a year ago while attending a rally to raise awareness about the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan and have stayed in touch. When asked about Clooney at a recent event, Obama broke into a smile, gestured expressively and said simply: "He's a good friend."

I doubt Paris and Brittney are as politically astute as Clooney but I know for a fact that some Republican strategists are already asking them to keep their right-wing opinions to themselves. When the Bush-lovin' Brittney was asked to perform at the last GOP convention, some of the wingnuts went bonkers.

The belly-baring pop star is being courted to attend the Republican convention in New York next week, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, and that has sparked outrage among some conservative groups.

"Through her immature antics, Spears has probably done more to undermine sexual morality than all the misguided legislation introduced in the United States over the last decade," the Illinois Family Institute wrote in an e-mail to members. "It would be the height of hypocrisy for a party that claims to represent wholesome values to celebrate her."

Citing Spears’ "lesbian" kiss with Madonna, her "general immodesty," and her annulled marriage to a childhood friend, the group is urging Republicans to call the GOP’s convention hotline to protest any appearance by Spears.

But whether the wingnuts want Brittney and Paris out there campaigning for McCain or Giuliani or whichever rightist they decide to sacrifice to Hillary-- or if they'd keep them locked up in a closet as tightly as Mitch McConnell keeps his sexual proclivities-- the GOP sure hates outspoken progressive celebrities. Although some of the biggest names in fascist propaganda, like Ann Coulter, Hannity and Scarborough, stayed away last night the Republican Party's Media Research Center had their 20th anniversary gala/hate-fest at Washington's Grand Hyatt. Greedily shoveling the grilled beef down their throats-- eat more, little piggies, eat more-- they were all hootin' and hollerin' as they let their hair down and took off their masks to reveal the monsters lurking beneath. The purpose of the night was to slander progressive media celebrities and independent voices who don't just regurgitate Rovian talking points and recycled tracts from Hitler and Mussolini.

Bottom of the barrel GOP spokesperson, Neal Boortz, for example went after Keith Olbermann, calling him a "void surrounded by a sphincter muscle... You know you've done something right when that footstool attacks you on national TV." Boortz also seems to have a bone to pick with Bryant Gumbel, calling him an "arrogant little jock-sniffer" and an "obtuse mindless person." Oooooooo.

One of the biggest Republican thinkers in the media-- not counting Brittney Spears-- is Wheel of Fortune's Pat Sajek and although he was too almost drunk to make it to the podium on his own, he did manage to accept a large pointy phallus ("The I'm Not a Political Genius But I Play One on TV" Award) for Rosie O'Donnell, saying "I don't know if she has room for this, but I'd be happy to take it over to her and show her where to put it." Hic.