Slew Of New Polls-- All Devastating For The Party That Shut Down The Government

Time to say good-bye

CNN's latest polling was all bad news for the Republican Party, but in a general kind of way. The PPP/MoveOn district-by-district polls released this morning, though, are what terrorizes the hostage takers and cowards in the GOP who just cost tax-payers $24 billion with their right-wing temper tantrum. We'll get to those results in a moment.

Just over half the public says that it's bad for the country that the GOP controls the House of Representatives, according to a new national poll conducted after the end of the partial government shutdown.

…According to the survey, 54% say it's a bad thing that the GOP controls the House, up 11 points from last December, soon after the 2012 elections when the Republicans kept control of the chamber. Only 38% say it's a good thing the GOP controls the House, a 13-point dive from the end of last year.

This is the first time since the Republicans won back control of the House in the 2010 midterm elections that a majority say their control of the chamber is bad for the country.

…And the CNN/ORC International survey also indicates that more than six in 10 Americans [63%] say that Speaker of the House John Boehner should be replaced.

The most likely way to replace John Boehner is to elect a Democratic majority in the House next year. And that's what the new MoveOn polls in 25 districts are all about. So adding to the polling earlier in the month that show Republican incumbents like Buck McKeon (R-CA), Fred Upton (R-MI), Ileana Ros Lehtinen (R-FL), Mike Rogers (R-MI), David Reichert (R-WA) and several others very beatable, we now see equally dismal results for Republicans who went along with shutting down the government like Darrell Issa (R-CA), John Mica (R-FL), Scott Garrett (R-NJ), Scott Tipton (R-CO), Ed Royce (R-CA), Dennis Ross (R-FL), Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL), Peter Roskam (R-IL), Justin Amash (R-MI), Leonard Lance (R-NJ), Joe Pitts (R-PA), Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ), Mike Turner (R-OH), Steve Stivers (R-OH), Jim Renacci (R-OH), Robert Hurt (R-VA), Tom Petri (R-WI), as well as several others.

Former Rove lackey Tim Griffin, a 2-term Republican backbencher from Little Rock, announced he's retiring to "spend more time with the family." Former Arkansas Lt. Gov. Bill Halter is a likely Democratic nominee. With a Democratic wave forming against GOP excess, Griffith apparently knew when to head for the exits faster than some of his careerist colleagues who have worn out their welcomes. Like John Mica in the Orlando-area district just north of Alan Grayson's district. Blue America has endorsed independent-minded progressive Nick Ruiz for the seat. The DCCC is ignoring the race and the district. If you want to help Nick beat Mica, you can do it here. Keep in mind, if the election were held today, Nick would lead Mica 46-43%. After voters are made aware that Mica backed the government shutdown, the race shifts even more in Nick's favor-- 49-41%.

After the polls were released, we reached Nick by phone. Encouraged, he told us that "This latest MoveOn/PPP poll of our district makes it crystal clear to naysayers that it's imperative we seek to change the narrative of our government from that of what's 'impossible,' to a narrative that is more optimistic in terms of what we can achieve, if we simply, decide to. We have to turn the page on the 20th century model of a government that's always one step or two behind the social justice curve, and seems to excel only at warmaking. We can get ahead of the curve, but we need reps. to advocate for that vision. Austerity is choking the middle class world to death. For the middle and working class to continue, we will have to reinvoke that New Deal middle class spirit, and there will have to be investment. John Mica is not prepared to do it. The private sector is not prepared to do it. For that reason and others, voters will not re-elect Rep. Mica, and instead will elect me, because I am prepared to do it." And we agree. Again, please chip in for Nick's race here; the DCCC never will.

Republican Obstruction Of Obama Judicial Nominees Continues

You may have thought it was ironic that one of the most corrupt of Karl Rove's slimy protégés, vote cager extaordinaire, Tim Griffin, was nominated for a House seat by the GOP and, when he won, was immediately placed by Boehner on, of all places, the Judiciary Committee! But that's exactly how the Republican Party thugs roll.

The first anyone had ever heard of a racist Republican thug in Arizona named William Rehnquist was in the early 60's when he took a bow on the national stage as a bit player intimidating black and Hispanic voters at polling places in Phoenix. Twenty years later, when Reagan nominated him to be Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, Time Magazine had the temerity to bring it up again:

Last week's confirmation hearings must have seemed an all-too-familiar nightmare to William Rehnquist, President Reagan's nominee to be Chief Justice, who first went through this particular mill in 1971 when he was initially nominated to the Supreme Court. Even with a redoubtable conservative ally, North Carolina Republican Strom Thurmond, at the helm of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the rumpled and bemused Rehnquist suffered some turbulent moments at the hands of liberal Democratic committee members like Ted Kennedy and Joe Biden. Although the heated hearings were not expected to hurt Rehnquist's chances of confirmation as the 16th Chief Justice of the U.S. when the full Senate votes in September, they raised some sticky questions about his sensitivity to racial issues.

Most damaging were the charges that in the early '60s Rehnquist intimidated black and Hispanic voters at polling places in Phoenix, where he was then a local Republican activist, by questioning their ability to read. Until 1964, it was legal in Arizona to challenge a person's right to vote on the grounds of illiteracy. In a 1971 letter to the Senate after his confirmation hearings, Rehnquist stated categorically that he had not "personally engaged in challenging the credentials of any voter." This time around he was more circumspect. First he claimed that his function on Election Day was to provide legal advice to Republicans assigned the task of challenging voters' credentials. Then, peppering his testimony with "I don't recall"s, he said he did not believe he had ever challenged any voter.

A far less benevolent picture of his activities emerged from the testimony of four new witnesses. Psychology Professor Sydney Smith, a Democratic poll watcher at the time, said that in the '60s he saw Rehnquist go up to two black men at the polls and say to them, "You're not able to read, are you? You have no business being here." San Francisco Attorney James Brosnahan, an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Phoenix in 1962, specifically contradicted Rehnquist's sworn testimony. Brosnahan recalled how he was summoned by panicky voters and officials to a precinct where Rehnquist was a challenger. Brosnahan said he assumed that it was Rehnquist's "blanket" challenges of black and Hispanic voters that had led to the tense situation though he had not personally seen Rehnquist challenge anyone. Nonetheless, he testified that Rehnquist's conduct "was designed to reduce the number of black and Hispanic voters by confrontation and intimidation." But Vincent Maggiore, then chairman of the Phoenix-area Democratic Party, said he had never heard any negative reports about Rehnquist's Election Day activities. "All of these things," he said, "would have come through me."

Rehnquist also owned a few homes that he wouldn't rent to racial minorities, specifically including "anyone of the Hebrew race." Typical of the Party of Bigots, Haters and Hypocrites. And I remember a fascinating passage in Nixonland by Rick Perlstein about another esteemed right-wing hack who made it onto the Supreme Court. In a discussion of how Nixon used dirty tricks or dubious legality as part of his reelection master plan he mentions a low grade administration lawyer:

Meanwhile there were the broadcast networks to flay-- four of them, now that PBS, which unlike the others was relatively free of the need to placate corporate sponsors, had matured into a fearless news powerhouse. The White House's Office of Telecommunications Policy was crafting a public-broadcasting funding bill. OTP general counsel Antonin Scalia had drafted a series of memos on how the Corporation for Public Broadcasting might be made a more pliable vassal of the White House. "The best possibility for White House influence is through the Presidential appointees to the Board of Directors," he wrote; the best way to shed the influence of "the liberal Establishment of the Northeast" would be to strengthen local stations at the expense of the national organization.

Reagan appointed him too (in 1986, when Rehnquist became Chief Justice). He faced no tough questioning and was unanimously confirmed by the worthless House of Lords. Speaking of which... Patrick Leahy, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee mentioned in a press release that "[t]oday, the Judiciary Committee holds its first confirmation hearing of the 112th Congress, welcoming three nominees for lifetime appointments to the Federal bench... qualified nominees were first nominated by President Obama last year and have been re-nominated." He continued:

At a time when nearly one out of every eight Federal judgeships was vacant, the Senate last year adjourned without voting on 19 judicial nominations favorably reported by the Judiciary Committee. Attorney General Holder had warned that, "The federal judicial system that has been a rightful source of pride for the United States-- the system on which we all depend for a prompt and fair hearing of our cases when we need to call on the law-- is stressed to the breaking point." The National Association of Assistant United States Attorneys, a group of career Federal prosecutors, wrote to Senate leaders saying that, "Our federal courts cannot function effectively when judicial vacancies restrain the ability to render swift and sure justice." The Senate failed to heed these warnings.

We must do better. We can consider and confirm the President's nominations to the Federal bench in a timely manner. At the end of the 111th Congress, there were 19 judicial nominations left on the Senate's Executive Calendar awaiting a vote. These were superbly qualified nominees with a strong commitment to the rule of law and a demonstrated faithfulness to the Constitution. Fifteen of these nominees were reported with strong bipartisan support; 13 of them were reported unanimously by the Judiciary Committee. They could and should have been considered and confirmed before Congress adjourned.

President Obama, for all his other faults, has worked with both parties to come up with credible and competent nominees that are all backed across party lines-- before being subjected to vicious partisan filibusters with no substance and for no other reason beyond naked obstructionism. No one can possibly deny he's met GOP senators far more than halfway. In the last Congress, all home-state Republican and Democratic senators supported every judicial nominee. Still, GOP Senate bullying tactics denied floor votes to 19 nominees whom the Judiciary Committee approved, mostly unanimously!
Today's Senate Judiciary Committee Executive Business meeting agenda lists 11 renominees who were approved on voice votes in Committee in the lame duck and were held over last week in Committee:

James E. Graves, Jr., to be US Circuit Judge for the 5th Circuit

Amy Totenberg, to be US District Judge for the Northern District of Georgia

James E. Boasberg, to be US District Judge for the District of Columbia

Amy B. Jackson, to be US District Judge for the District of Columbia

Paul K. Holmes, III, to be US District Judge for the Western District of Arkansas

Anthony J. Battaglia, to be US District Judge for the Southern District of California

Edward Davila, to be US District Judge for the northern District of California

Diana Saldana, to be US District Judge for the Southern District of Texas

Max O. Cogburn, Jr., to be US District Judge for the Western District of North Carolina

Marco A. Hernandez, to be US District Judge for the District of Oregon

Steve Jones, to be US District Judge for the Northern District of Georgia

None are controversial. And after all the partisan foot-dragging and nastiness, all were confirmed in an en banc voice vote this morning without dissent. America is fortunate that none are like Rehnquist or Scalia.

The Worst Republicans In The House, None Of Whom Are Being Challenged By The DCCC

If Nick Cave's darling is right and there really is an interventionist God watching over mankind, DWT wouldn't have to make these political endorsements against the gravest evildoers hanging like Swords of Damocles over the very heart of our democracy. Yesterday Paul Krugman warned us to be a afraid, to be "very afraid." The Republicans, he points out, intend to bring as much pain and suffering to the country as they possibly can-- not just in gratitude to America's foreign competitors who have financed their election campaign but because they see it as the path to victory in 2012-- because the voters are rewarding their obstructionism. That said, with an acknowledgment that there remains not even one good Republican in Congress-- not in either house-- there are several who really stand out as existential threats to our nation and our families. Sure, you should urge everyone you know to vote against every one of them (including the Republicans who call themselves Blue Dog Democrats) but here's a list of Democrats running against the worst and most dangerous of the House incumbents.

Billy Kennedy is the most likely progressive to actually beat a hard core incumbent GOP hate merchant this year. He's running in northwest North Carolina and, although, the DCCC is studiously ignoring the race, he's been endorsed by the biggest newspaper in the district, he handily beat her in both debates, and his grassroots machine is working overtime to turn out Democrats, independents and non-hate obsessed Republicans. Billy has raised $290,380 to deploy against the $1,246,275 Foxx has on hand; she already spent $490,640.

Justin Coussoule is also running a serious grassroots campaign against John Boehner, the drunken golfer who China and Wall Street are working to install as Speaker. Justin has raised $216,457; Wall Street, China and other anti-American interests have given Boehner $8,194,339 this year.

Digby and I disagree over who the most dangerous Member of Congress is. She's sure it's Pence and then Ryan and I say it's Ryan, then Pence. Ladies first:

Barry Welsh is once again offering east-central Indiana voters an opportunity to ditch the ultra-reactionary Mike Pence. An apostle of class warfare and class hate, Pence was most recently in the news screaming about how if the GOP wins on Tuesday there will be no compromise, just hand-to-hand combat. Obviously the DCCC isn't opposing Pence and Barry is going up against Pence's $2,314,053 in corporate funding with... $115, all from individual contributions.

Paul Ryan, Obama's favorite Republican, is the man tasked by Wall Street to destroy Social Security. The DCCC worked very hard to sandbag and sabotage his opponent, Paulette Garin, driving her out of the race and replacing her with almost-Alvin-Greene. Ryan is in a Democratic district that Obama won-- but he's never had a serious challenge. I was told, by someone who knows, that David Obey was protecting him, although no one will tell me why. Wall Street has big plans for him; that we do know.

Tarryl Clark is making very serious headway against Minnesota monstrosity Michele Bachmann. That includes raising a startling $4,207,917-- although, keep in mind that the self-declared Queen of Teabaggery sucked up $11,130,358, and very little of it from PACs, mostly from angry white males high on hate.

Russ Warner is taking on crackpot closet queen David Dreier again, at a time when the already ultra-conservative Dreier has moved as far right as the worst of any Republicans. He's the single most out-of-step incumbent with his own district. In a moderate suburban district Obama won Dreier racked up a disgraceful 0.82 ProgressivePunch score, more extremist and intractable than anyone on this list other than Pence, Calvert and Foxx. He raised $1,008,978 this year, to Warner's $292,330. No one in the district knows how radical he is, since he owns the only newspapers in the district and they always paint him as a "moderate."

Russell Edwards is taking on Georgia sociopath and John Bircher Paul Broun. Russell has raised $193,339 to Broun's $1,829,701, although because of Broun's profligate spending, both have around the same cash on hand right now! The DCCC, once again, is ignoring this one. You know what, they're ignoring all these races, other than a little superficial support for Tarryl, so I'll just stop mentioning them at this point. They're not helping any Democrats running against any of the worst Republican incumbents.

Bill Hedrick is actually the Democratic challenger most likely to win on Tuesday, a combination of being such an awesome candidate himself-- who nearly won in 2010-- and because he's running against a corrupt corporate shill Fox named one of the most disgraceful Members of Congress and who even the Heritage Foundation is calling on the GOP to sideline, Ken Calvert, whose entire political career has been consumed with using his office for personal gain-- when not preying on drugged up young women. Bill has raised $492,888 against Calvert's massive $1,597,265 warchest full of bribes.

Matt Campbell is taking on narrow-minded right-wing extremist and hypocrite Steve King in western Iowa. The Des Moines Register has urged its readers to dump King as an embarrassment to the state and replace him with Matt. Matt has raised $225,350 to King's $893,263.

Tod Theise is the progressive ex-Republican running against the single most right-wing congressman in the Northeast, Wall Street shill Scott Garrett. Tod raised $20,679 to go up against Wall Street's massive $1,593,392 investment in Garrett. (It didn't all come from Wall Street; the anti-Choice absolutists have donated heavily to Garrett too, as have loads of anti-environmental fanatics.)

Rick Waugh is taking on the GOP's #2, Eric Cantor, who has been having Waugh supporters roughed up by security guards, like Joe Miller does. Cantor, who practically defines congressional corruption, has scooped up $5,552,954 in bribes this year. Waugh has raised $108,104.

Howard Katz is the man who is taking on career criminal Darrell Issa, who started out as a car jacker and is now the wealthiest Member of Congress-- and the nastiest and most vindictive as well. Should Boehner and his cronies win on Tuesday, Issa will be charged with grinding the government to a halt by investigating everything that moves, a job he relishes and is well-suited for. Katz has raised $14,112 against Issa's $1,322,194.

And Georgia's nastiest and most dangerous bigot, Tom Price, doesn't even have a token opponent. That hasn't stopped him from sucking up to every corrupt lobbyist on K Street and hauling in $1,959,189. If he isn't part of the next Congress it will only be through God's direct intervention.

Three honorable mentions for three exceptionally hideous GOP challengers: crackpot religious fanatic Daniel "Taliban Dan" Webster, who is challenging Alan Grayson; serial sex predator and multimillionaire Boehner crony Tom Ganley (who's in the news again this week for molesting yet another woman); and, last and probably least-- keep in mind I'm leaving out outrageous scum like Nazi Rich Iott and Dan Quayle's slow son Ben, the pornographer-- Tim Griffin. Since he knows him so well, let's allow former U.S. Attorney, and Republican, David Iglesias tell us about Griffin in the video below:

It's Late October-- So It's A Time For Goblins, Goons And Griffins... I Mean Caging

No, caging isn't what Alaska extremist Joe Miller does to journalists who ask him tough questions. That's handcuffing. Caging is one of the things-- there are many-- that elites do to hold down voter participation in elections, because, of course, there are lots of regular folks and only a few multimillionaires and if we vote, they're more likely to lose. One of the books I never tire of sharing is Thom Hartmann's Threshold and, yes, he has a great explanation of caging.

[T]he Republican Party has devised dozens of ways to prevent people from voting, particularly in largely Democratic regions. They engage in "caging"-- a practice the Republican Party has been under court order to stop for more than two decades but regularly ignores-- where they mail letters to people's homes and if enclosed cards aren't returned or if the original envelope is returned, they can challenge the voter at the polls, forcing them to vote on a "provisional ballot," which is usually not counted. They have passed laws in more than a half-dozen states (the most infamous in Indiana, which was the subject of a Supreme Court case that upheld this Republican practice) that say that a voter's registration must exactly match his driver's license or Social Security records. Thus, because I'm registered to vote as Thomas C. Hartmann but my driver's license says "Thomas Carl Hartmann," a Republican poll challenger in Indiana could, if he thought I looked like a Democrat (a criterion that's often skin-color or age related) or lived in a heavily Democratic area, prevent me from voting on a real ballot and force me to a provisional ballot.

The British Broadcasting Corporation documented in a TV news special in October 2008 how more than three million Americans had shown up at the polls in the 2004 elections thinking they were registered to vote, only to be turned away or forced to use a provisional ballot. Because of aggressive Republican efforts in the following four years, estimates of disenfranchised voters in the 2008 election run from seven million to ten million. In Colorado, for example, the BBC reported that in 2008, even after a massive voters registration drive by the Democratic Party, fewer people were registered to vote than in 2004 because of the voter-purging efforts of two successive Republican secretaries of state.

Rove's point person on voter caging during the Bush Regime was a sleazy Arkansas lawyer named Tim Griffin, who Rove had placed in a U.S. Attorney job in Little Rock, where he further disgraced himself and was forced to resign. Needless to say, he's among the flotsam and jetsam the teabagger faux-- though well financed-- movement has puked up this year. He's running for an open House seat in Little Rock (AR-2)-- and he's running against Blue America backed Joyce Elliott. Yesterday Brad Friedman looked at how the voter caging scandal had largely escaped media scrutiny-- until now.

it's nice to see a bit of in-depth coverage of issues that actually matter from local news reporters for a change. Here's Melissa Sims of KARK 4 News in Arkansas last night, on the vote caging of Tim Griffin, the Karl Rove protege installed as U.S. Attorney without Senate confirmation by the Bush Administration during their infamous U.S. Attorney purge.

Griffin's vote-caging dirty work for the Bush Regime in 2004 was originally reported on by Greg Palast working on the BBC special referenced by Hartmann above. There's little doubt that Griffin should have been prosecuted and punished for his criminal behavior. Yesterday Palast was writing about Griffith again.

"What he [Griffin] did was absolutely illegal and he should be in jail."

That's hardly the kind of endorsement a candidate for Congress expects. But that is the conclusion of voting rights attorney Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after digging into the evidence of Congressional candidate Tim Griffin's role in directing the Republican National Committee's (RNC) racially biased attack on voters known as "caging."

A brutal mano-a-mano race in Arkansas' Second District has become a showdown between Sarah Palin's banner carrier Griffin (funded by SarahPAC) and Democrat Joyce Elliott, who has drawn homeboy Bill Clinton back to Little Rock.
The ex-president, in Arkansas this week, was especially worked up about Griffin's caging list, vote suppression scheme. (Our Good Ol' Boy in Chief told me back in 2008 he would bust out the story, and it only took him two years to do the right thing, a personal best for Bill.)

Here's how caging à la Griffin works: In 2004, Griffin and the Bush re-election committee sent letters to Democratic voters marked "do not forward." Griffin seemed especially interested in sending notes to active duty soldiers sent overseas, especially soldiers of color. When the letters to the servicemen were returned to the RNC as "undeliverable," the Bush crew would then challenge the soldiers' absentee ballots as fraudulent. In other words: Go to Iraq, lose your vote. Mission accomplished.

This past Monday, the local NBC TV affiliate's news anchor, Melissa Simas, confronted Griffin on air about his using caging to challenge the votes of black soldiers on active duty overseas. Griffin, pathetically, tried to paint his "Tim Crow" operation as patriotic.

In June 2007, our BBC "Newsnight" team disclosed that US federal prosecutor David Iglesias was fired because, he told us, the Griffin/Rove/Bush crew wanted him to arrest innocent people for voting fraud. He refused and he was fired. Seven other prosecutors, most of them Republicans, were also dismissed for failure to pursue a phony "voter fraud" investigations which would justify the RNC's caging operation.

One of these resistant prosecutors who chose integrity over politics, Bud Cummins of Little Rock, was replaced with Griffin himself.

The day after BBC broadcast our exposé, Griffin resigned as US prosecutor, literally in tears, blaming "that British reporter" for his downfall. Mr. Griffin, I'm not British, I'm as American as apple pie and post-imperial warfare.

The race in Little Rock has come down to a slugfest between a 30 year veteran teacher of public schools and one of the sleaziest lowlifes to ever emerge from the bowels of Rove's dirty tricks menagerie. Character is an issue-- and if it turns into the dominant issue, Griffin is going to lose this race despite prevailing trends. In a debate Monday Griffin actually tried blaming his colleagues from the Bush Regime for his bad reputation. "The Bush administration mishandled that entire episode,” Griffin said. “It doesn’t take away from the fact that I was proud to be asked and proud to serve" and at the debate he told the audience that his consideration for his wife, then pregnant, lead to his resignation, as well as his belief that he would not receive a fair trial.

What DON'T The Republicans Plan To UnDo If They Win In November?

Yesterday we released a statement by Justin Coussoule (D-OH) on the difference between his support for middle class tax cuts and John Boehner's insistence that there will be no middle class tax cuts unless the richest 3% of Americans gets billions and billions of dollars in welfare for the wealthy. Earlier today Billy Kennedy (D-NC) drew a similar contrast between himself and the wealthiest member of North Carolina's congressional delegation, self-server Virginia Foxx. And this morning I found this poll the SEIU commissioned that shows broad support for the position Coussoule, Kennedy and most Democrats are taking-- most meaning virtually all with the exception of a kennel's full of mangy, nasty old Blue Dogs on their way to... what's the doggie equivalent of the glue factory?

A majority of voters (55 percent) indicate support for allowing tax cuts to expire for the wealthiest filers, including 40 percent who think that the tax cuts should be allowed to expire for the top earners and another 15 percent who say that all tax cuts should be allowed to expire. This holds true whether the cutoff is $1 million a year or $250,000 a year.

"We need to make this a more fair economy, and that means no more Bush-era tax giveaways to the rich. If we are going to get this country on the right track, we need to create good jobs and put more money in people's pockets. This poll shows that Americans of all stripes agree that working families and small businesses need and deserve a tax cut."

A strong majority in every state polled favors a proposal that replaces tax cuts for those making MORE than $250,000 a year with "lower income taxes for families that make less than 250 thousand dollars a year and provide a series of additional tax cuts and credits to help middle class families pay for child care, save for their kids' college, or afford to buy a home." The plan is also wildly popular with independents.

...A majority of voters think the Bush tax cuts either made no difference on the economy (26 percent) or hurt the economy (27 percent). Only 39 percent think that they have helped the economy, and these respondents are primarily Republican voters (66 percent). A plurality-- 46 percent-- say that the Bush tax cuts made no impact on their personal financial situation. Again, only 39 percent said that the tax cuts were personally good for their families (61 percent Republicans).

This is the winning issue for Democrats-- or at least it would be if the House leadership wouldn't buckle under to a handful of reactionary Blue Dogs who virtually always side with Boehner and the GOP on the big issues and who are worried that if they vote with the Republicans on this one, no Democrats will vote for them in November. Keep in mind as you read this excerpt that when the Inside-the-Beltway press consciously tries to confuse readers by referring to reactionary Blue Dogs as "moderates:"

[T]his issue is shaping up as another one pitting skittish moderates against House liberals, many of whom are urging a vote because they want the party to stand firm on an issue that will motivate the base and draw a sharp contrast between the two parties.

And it seems like the moderates may carry the day.

In recent days there have been indications that the Senate is getting ready to hold their own vote on extending the middle class tax cuts, and it's likely Republicans will successfully filibuster. If that happens, the senior lawmaker involved in the discussions tells me, "that will probably be the end of the discussion."

"The question is whether you have a symbolic vote in the House or let members take it district by district. I'm not sure we could even pass it," the lawmaker says. "People are still taking the temperature of the caucus -- that seems to be where the caucus is."

Three dozen moderate Dems have signed a letter to Dem leaders demanding a vote on extending all the tax cuts. And behind the scenes, they are telling House Dem leaders in no uncertain terms that they don't want a vote focused on just the middle class ones, the sources say. The leadership aide says moderates are complaining that if they take the vote, "they'll be subject to a 30 second ad saying they raised taxes."

I've taken to checking the White House blog whenever I get a chance; you never know what you're going to find on there and last night I found a post by Jen Psaki that resonated.

Yesterday afternoon, Senator Richard Shelby laid out very clearly what Congressional Republicans consider to be one of their major priorities-- rolling back legislation that will provide more security and stability to middle class families, and more accountability to Wall Street. He joins the Republican Leader in the House who promised to try to repeal Wall Street Reform in July.

Senator Shelby wants to go back to a time when there was no such thing as a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and when consumers were left without a voice at the table. This is an agency whose mission is to look out for American consumers and empower them with the clear and concise information they need to make the financial decisions that are best for them. Its existence is enormously important, because one cause of the financial crisis and the Lost Decade for the middle class was the unscrupulous practices of credit card companies and mortgage lenders, who reaped billions at the expense of consumers from hidden fees and penalties.

That's why the President fought so hard for the new CFPB and new rules to outlaw the tricks and traps that have punished the American people. That hard-won victory came over the fierce opposition of Wall Street and the financial industry. But now the man who would be chair of the Senate Banking Committee says that if Republicans win control of the Senate, he will work to gut these new consumer protections.

We hope Senator Shelby is prepared to explain why he feels that way to the millions of Americans who have been misled with pages and pages of fine print on applications for credit cards, mortgages or student loans, and now find themselves in untenable financial situations.

It’s important to understand that when Congressional Republicans talk about re-opening this legislation, they’re talking about standing up for the interests of big banks and their lobbyists and leaving middle class families to fend for themselves.

The Wall Street reform legislation is a clear victory for the American people. It will bring greater economic security to families and businesses across our country by enacting the toughest financial reforms since the ones created in the aftermath of the Great Depression, and by making Wall Street more accountable. And yet Senator Shelby wants to get rid of the progress we made and go back to a system that helped cause the financial crisis.

It’s become very clear that Congressional Republicans do not have any viable solutions to fix our nation’s problems. And the solutions they do offer, like repealing Wall Street reform legislation, will do absolutely nothing to grow our economy, put people back to work and strengthen America’s middle class. Instead, they would take us back to the same exact failed economic policies that created the mess we’re in: cutting rules for the special interests and big corporations and cutting the middle class loose.

And Shelby is less insane than the new crop of Republican extremists trying to get into Congress now, dangerous crackpots like Joe Miller (AK), Christine O'Donnell (DE), Rand Paul (PA), Sharron Angle (NV), Ken Buck (CO), Mike Lee (UT), Carly Fiorina (CA), Rob Portman (OH), Marco Rubio (FL), Ron Johnson (WI) and, perhaps worst of all, Pat Toomey (PA). Worst of all? Yes, the former Wall Street derivatives trader who went on to lead the Greed-Is-Good attack machine known as Club For Growth. The fondest dream of GOP front groups like Club For Growth-- especially Club For Growth-- is the privatize Social Security and abolish Medicare. That's what all these Republicans have in common. They don't want to talk about it, but that's what they're running on, some, like Sharron Angle and Joe Miller, more openly than others.

Blue America is backing a working family type candidate in central Arkansas, Joyce Elliott, a proven progressive leader and a defender of Social Security and Medicare. Her opponent, Karl Rove's shady protégé Tim Griffin, is more in the Sharron Angle/Joe Miller camp of wanting to privatize Social Security entirely, but he's trying to not frighten Little Rock voters by being too vocal about it in public. This is a press release that went out to Arkansas media yesterday from the DCCC:

The conservative Club for Growth, a Washington DC-based backer of Tim Griffin, today issued a fervent call for the risky scheme to privatize Social Security, or to put it in their own words: “Privatize Social Security? Hell Yeah!” Tim Griffin needs to come forward immediately and explain this “hell yeah” approach to privatizing Social Security to Arizona voters.
 
“Today Tim Griffin’s backers in Washington announced a ‘hell yeah’ approach to privatizing Social Security, effectively signing over Arkansas seniors’ retirement benefits to Wall Street,” said Ryan Rudominer, Spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “With Arkansas families losing their savings on Wall Street and seniors struggling to make ends meet, the last thing they need is Tim Griffin subjecting their guaranteed Social Security benefits to the whims of Wall Street.”
 
Had individuals been relying on private Social Security accounts in the stock market during the 2008 collapse, they could have lost nearly 40% of their retirement savings in the 12 months leading up to the collapse.

 

We'll Make An Ad For The Worst Republican You Know-- Just Tell Us Who

Two progressive political action committees, Blue America and Americans For America, have teamed up to do a series of video ads highlighting the worst the GOP has to offer. Last week we unveiled our first in the series, highlighting Sarah Palin, Rand Paul and John Boehner (above). Yecchhh, huh? Many say there are even worse-- or, at least, just as bad. Would you like to vote on who we should include in the next video in our series?

This week we're considering five more-- and there'll be others between now and November, of course. First up, though are five especially unsavory Republicans, 4 House incumbents-- Michele Bachmann (R-MN), Ken Calvert (R-CA), Virginia Foxx (R-NC), and Steve King (R-IA)-- plus one challenger for an open seat, Karl Rove protégé and disgraced ex-U.S. Attorney Tim Griffin.

Here's how you vote: just make a donation on the page dedicated to the culprit of your choice. If you click on the picture below, you go directly to their page. Because we're progressives and not conservatives, a one dollar donation equals the same single vote as a one hundred dollar donation. Now, one of the great aspects of this is that each one of these exceptionally bad Republicans has an exceptionally good Democrat running for the seat. Believe me, that isn't easy to find. I mean, Republican John Boozman in Arkansas, for example, is just terrible but his Democratic opponent, Blanche Lincoln, is just as bad. We won't be offering any Hobbesian choices like that. In Arkansas, to stick with that state as the example, the woman running against Griffin is state Senate Majority Leader and proven progressive Joyce Elliott.

So, we're happy to announce that all of the money raised through this little contest will be used to help voters understand that there's a difference between the Republican and the Democrat running for the seat that gets the most votes. Who do you think is the worst of the worst?

Michele Bachmann:





Ken Calvert:





Virginia Foxx:





Tim Griffin:





Steve King:

CREW Reveals The Most Corrupt Candidates Of The Cycle

Yesterday CREW unveiled its nonpartisan list of this year's worst crooks running for election. "CREW's Crooked Candidates, the write, "highlights 11 candidates with scandal-littered pasts and histories of questionable ethics [and] focuses on office-seekers who have engaged in unethical and, in one case, even criminal conduct. Their misdeeds range from quid pro quo schemes to abusing state office for the benefit of friends and donors, to an obscenity charge. I don't understand how Ken Calvert, who even Fox thinks is the most corrupt member of Congress missed the Top 11, but I was happy to see CREW brave enough to go after crooked Democratic Rep.-- and Senate candidate-- Kendrick Meek, who many so-called "good government" types have let slide because he's vaguely progressive in his voting record. But, of course, most of the perps are egregiously corrupt Republicans like Roy Blunt (R-MO), Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Dino Rossi (R-WA). How they missed David Rivera (R-FL) is troubling.

I'd like to focus on one of the worst of CREW's worst miscreants: Arkansas congressional candidate, Timothy Griffith, who has been discussed before in these pages. CREW's carefully researched report on the corporate Republican shill running in AR-02 (Little Rock) for the seat being given up by Democrat Vic Snyder:

Mr. Griffin was a former aide to and protégé of notorious political operative Karl Rove. In the 2004 presidential election, Mr. Griffin was the research director of the RNC where he may have spearheaded Republican vote caging efforts, a legally questionable direct mail campaign to disenfranchise poor, minority and military voters.

Mr. Griffin was most prominently touched by scandal when he was picked to replace a U.S. Attorney in Arkansas who, despite being highly regarded, had been asked to resign. Emails between the Justice Department and the White House revealed that despite his lack of prosecutorial experience, the selection of Mr. Griffin was personally important to Mr. Rove. Knowing that he would never pass muster at a Senate confirmation hearing, Mr. Griffin was appointed interim U.S. Attorney for an indefinite time period under a misused, emergency provision of the PATRIOT Act.

Mr. Griffin resigned effective June 1, 2007, after less than six months on the job and in the midst of an investigation by the House Judiciary Committee into the political motivations behind the U.S. Attorney scandal.

One of Blue America's most important endorsements this year is Arkansas Senate Majority Leader Joyce Elliott, an outstanding progressive champion of working families, who's running for Snyder's old seat-- with Snyder's full and enthusiastic blessing. Blue America endorsed her and if you'd like to contribute to her campaign, you can do it here at our ActBlue page. Last night I reached out to a campaign spokesperson we had heard about CREW's bombshell.

It certainly should give the voters of Arkansas pause to know that a person like Tim Griffin, who by his own words is running to clean up Washington, has a record of such unethical behavior that he would be named to a top ten list of "the most corrupt and unethical candidates vying for federal office in 2010."  To be named to a bi-partisan list of the most unethical candidates running for office in 2010, is certainly not the type of bi-partisan record of accomplishment that voters in Arkansas will reward in November.

Joe Barton Sticking His Oily Fingers Into Arkansas Politics

Tools: Barton & Griffin

Our friends at Blue Arkansas have started looking closely at who's been financing Karl Rove protégé, Tim Griffin, in his bid to take over Vic Snyder's congressional seat in central Arkansas. And they found something very interesting, a shady outfit called the Texas Freedom Fund has contributed a grand towards Griffin's campaign. It didn't take much digging for Blue Arkansas to figure out who and what the Texas Freedom Fund is.

If you've been following the news lately, you couldn't possibly have missed the dustup over Congress' most oily member, Joe Barton (R-TX). Turns out he's the sole owner of the Texas Freedom Fund and he uses it to funnel vast sums of cash from Big Oil executives and lobbyists into competitive campaigns around the country, particularly into campaigns where filthy oil money might prove embarrassing to the recipients. Now, keep in mind that Barton has taken more money from Big Oil than any other member of the House-- by far: $1,447,880, so far. And after his performance last week, apologizing to B.P. for being made to clean up their mess in the Gulf, there's every reason to believe that his own personal gusher will keep flowing strongly. As the Ranking Member of the House Energy Committee he is in a position to make sure the Oil Industry's agenda becomes official policy.

So who's this Griffin character Barton is so dead set on getting into Congress? Many of us first became familiar with Griffin around the time of the 2000 election when he worked as an opposition research director for Bush. His job, to smear Al Gore, was covered in Peter Marshall's BBC documentary Digging the Dirt, and viewers got the impression, which over the years has proven correct, that he is one of the slimiest and least trustworthy rogues to mount the political stage in our lifetime. After serving on the Florida Recount Commission that helped steal the election for Bush, he was appointed a Special Assistant to the Assistant Attorney General, Michael Chertoff, then when back into opposition research for Bush's reelection bid-- two years before the election-- and then became an aide to Karl Rove in the White House. Eventually Rove was able to force Arkansas US Attorney Bud Cummins to resign and to replace him with Griffin. Griffin, considered the sleaziest appointment in the entire Bush Regime, was never confirmed by the Senate, served on an interim basis and was eventually pushed aside when he became too embarrassing even for the Bush people.

The folks and Blue Arkansas are hoping to raise the money to match Barton's $1,000 for the progressive challenger running for the seat, Joyce Elliott. Joyce was endorsed by Blue America even before she won her tough primary race against a conservative Democrat and we would be eager to help her win this seat regardless of who the Republican opposition was. The fact that it's someone as disreputable and as utterly unfit to hold public office as Tim Griffin only makes us even more determined. So... we'd like to encourage anyone who wants to help to toss a donation into the pot. At this ActBlue page you'll find a slot for Joyce-- as well as for other Blue America-backed candidates who are being targeted by Joe Barton and his oily corporate polluters with big bucks for Republicans. Barton wrote a check from the Texas Freedom Fund for $4,000 for Ken Calvert, $2,000 for Dennis Ross, and for $5,000 for Charlie Bass, conservatives running against Bill Hedrick in California, Doug Tudor in Florida and Ann Kuster in New Hampshire. Today everyone who makes a contribution to all three candidates-- Joyce Elliott, Bill Hedrick, Doug Tudor, and Ann Kuster, will get a Blue America thank you CD and one winner will be drawn randomly to win an autographed book-- This Moment on Earth by John and Teresa Kerry. (The hardcover book was signed for us by both of them.) Again, here's the page to make your contribution.

Yesterday we got a letter from Ann Kuster's campaign warning us that Barton was in New Hampshire this month campaigning for Charlie Bass and that Bass-- another outrageous corporate toady himself-- prasied him as “a man of energy, integrity-- a good friend and great Congressman.” Ann doesn't see it quite the same way. " I couldn’t disagree more with Congressman Barton’s words, or with the long pro-oil voting record that Congressmen Bass and Barton have racked up in their combined 38 years in Congress... As your congresswoman, I will end tax breaks for big oil companies; be a voice of caution against expanding offshore drilling and using taxpayer dollars to subsidize nuclear power; stand proudly with environmental leaders; and invest in the renewable energy technologies that create jobs here in New Hampshire."



Democratic Candidates Have Taken Note

Natalie Mosher is a progressive grassroots activists running for the seat currently held by Thaddeus McCotter, a member of Boehner's leadership team. McCotter is thought to be vulnerable this year and he's running around looking for cash. He took some from the highly toxic Texas Freedom Fund. Natalie is now insisting he give it back.

“Big Oil thought they could launder a political contribution to McCotter through Joe Barton's PAC and get away with it. Well BP, Barton and McCotter need to know that it's not just me that has an eagle-eye on their underhanded campaign fund raising, both Republicans and Democrats are sick of the Washington games that career politicians are playing. I'm going to stand up for people in this election and I won't back down from telling the ugly truth about what McCotter's up to in Washington,” said Mosher.
 
Mosher went on to point out that as the Chairman of the Republican House Policy Committee he has the ability to lead by example on BP and Big Oil's stranglehold on the Republican Party.
 
“The extremist Republicans in Washington should be scared of their collectively cozy relationship with Big Oil and what it will cost them at the polls in November. As a member of the Republican leadership in Washington, McCotter should lead by example and return Big Oil's money. To do anything less would be signal McCotter's official stamp of approval on the reckless practices that have led to the largest and most economically devastating oil spill in American history. For someone who prides himself an intellectual and a history buff, McCotter sure has acted like a dunce on this one,” concluded Mosher.

There's A Real Life Progressive In The Arkansas Runoff June 8-- Blue America Welcomes Joyce Elliott

When moderate Democrat Vic Snyder decided to retire from Congress, half a dozen Democrats jumped into a race that was sure to pit one of them against crooked Karl Rove protégé, Tim Griffin, the sleaziest of the corrupt U.S. Attorneys who were appointed by Bush to turn the Justice Department into a punitive arm of the Republican Party. In the end there was a formidable group of Democrats in the race to replace Synder, including his chief of staff, David Boling; the Senate Majority Leader, Joyce Elliott; and the House Speaker, Robbie Wills. Wills, who hails from Conway in Faulkner County north of Little Rock, is way on the right-wing fringes of the Democratic Party, a corporate hack who opposed health care reform, taylor made for the Blue Dog caucus Snyder never joined. Joyce Elliott has been a tireless and well respected advocate for ordinary working families as a member of the Arkansas House (2000-2006) and then as a member of the state Senate. She came out on top in the primary last week, despite being outspent by both Boling and Wills and despite the never ending din of "convention wisdom" that an African-American woman could never win federal office in Arkansas. In the 5-way race she drew 39.7% of the vote to Wills' 27.8% and Boling's 19%, the other candidates in the single digits. Closet racists in central Arkansas currently have a mantra, "She can't win against Griffin so we have to support Wills" (who will vote like Griffin but at least wears a blue jersey).

Boling has endorsed Joyce and Wills is scurrying around to find bit players to counter that devastating blow to his candidacy. Joyce was also enthusiastically endorsed by Blue Arkansas which urges its readers to help her make history:

State Senator Joyce Elliott has been a progressive leader and champion in the state legislature long before Blue Arkansas was ever around to back her up. Now she’s running to represent the people of AR-02 in Congress. No matter what position she has taken or how hard the fight was, Senator Elliott has always lead with courage, intelligence, grace, and character. She is the best choice to succeed Vic Snyder and represent AR-02 in these tough times, and we will stand with her every step of the way, no matter how tough the fight is.

Today Blue America also endorses Joyce, who will join us for a live blog session at Crooks and Liars at 2pm, PT (4pm in Little Rock). I hope you can stop by to meet her and ask her the kinds of questions you think candidates for Congress need to address. Last week when I was on the phone congratulating her for her convincing win in the first round I asked her a tough one-- how she would have voted on October 3, 2008 when Bush was pushing his Wall Street bailout. I like the way she approached it:

Though I am an unabashed optimist, I am grounded in reality. The Wall Street debacle forced a clash between my worlds of reality and optimism. The indefensibility of the Wall Street debacle rendered this confluence particularly disturbing when tax payers became “forced” partners to the bail out. While I accept it was better to pull our country back from the brink of economic disaster than to let the entire system crash, I find it wholly unacceptable that transparent, stringent accountability was not a part of the equation. Handing over the Tax Payers of America credit card to “too-big-to-fail” institutions with no strings attached or with strings so loose they were totally uninhibiting was bad policy. The gravity of the economic situation was threatening, I am sure; nevertheless, it is the responsibility of Congress to conduct business in a manner that is accountable to taxpayers who pay this country’s bills, even in under great pressure. While I won’t bog myself down in hindsight, I will use hindsight going forward to make sure I never cast a vote such as the “bail out” without holding institutions and/or individuals accountable.

Please consider making a contribution to Joyce's campaign today. In fact if you do so at the Blue America ActBlue page before midnight tonight, we'll enter you in a drawing for a rare, numbered, collectible and very beautiful print of Patti Smith, one of only six that were made. This one was signed by both Richard Aaron, the photographer, and by Patti Smith herself, who wrote on it, next to her signature, "People have the power." Joyce reminds me of Patti, which is why I dug it out and decided to give it away today.

WHAT DID ROVE WANT-- THAT JUSTICE DEPTARTMENT OFFICIALS LIE TO CONGRESS? WELL... DUH!

"Yeah, that Court thing didn't work out too good, but Karl has something he needs you for."

Why is everyone so surprised that last night's document dump from the White House included an e-mail showing one of Rove's twerpy assistants pissed off about Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty admitting that the White House had forced out a U.S. Attorney to make room for grubby GOP operative and Rove protege Tim Griffin. (Griffin-- now exposed and asked to leave the Department of Justice-- is currently doing grubby political ops for actor/lobbyist Fred Thompson.)

Then-White House political affairs director Sara Taylor spelled out her frustrations in a Feb. 16 e-mail to Kyle Sampson, then the chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

... "Tim was put in a horrible position; hung out to dry w/ no heads up," Taylor lashed out in the e-mail, which was sent from a Republican Party account rather than from her White House e-mail address. "This is not good for his long-term career."

Why? Is there something too unsavory for Griffin about working as a lobbyist? Isn't that what all Republican trash does when they get caught doing things they shouldn't be doing? I'm sure he and Toensing and Bossie and Thompson will do some memorable things together-- and you can count on DWT to follow their misadventures closely.

In this morning's Washington Post Dan Eggan writes that Bush's gal Harriet Miers and a bunch of Rove thugs "were closely involved in crafting a public response to the uproar over the firing of a group of U.S. attorneys." He's so polite. He means they were orchestrating the coverup. Poor Harriet; she coulda been a contender. From a sure thing in the Supreme Court to a felon.

The new records provide a peek at the actions of the White House, which has repeatedly refused Democratic demands for records and sworn testimony related to the issue.

"These documents show that the White House played an integral role in the firings and their aftermath," said House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.). "This only underscores the need for White House cooperation with this investigation."

Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) added: "We need an end to the White House's stonewalling of our investigations so we can learn the truth."

UPDATE: SUBPOENAS... WE HAVE SUBPOENAS

Does it matter? The Senate Judiciary Committee is subpoenaing Taylor and the House Judiciary Committee is subpoenaing Miers. The White House announced that they will invoke executive privilege to prevent either from testifying about anything that happened inside the Regime while they were working there. So the question is... why not just subpoena Rove, who they were both taking orders for and who thought up the whole plan to begin with? I mean the most Congress will be able to do is hold someone in contempt of congress, so why not the most contemptible creature in the regime instead of these two order takers? Just askin'.


UPDATE: CONYERS EXPLAINS WHY HE AND LEAHY ISSUED SUBPOENAS TO MIERS AND TAYLOR-- BUT NARY A WORD ON ROVE

This morning John Conyers availed himself of the might Daily Kos platform to share his insights into the unfolding Purge-gate scandal with the million or so concerned citizens who wisely get their information there instead of on the corporately owned, heavily biased mass media. Rep. Conyers (D-MI) explained why he and Leahy finally felt compelled to issue the subpoenas.

I consider these subpoenas to be essential because the evidence our investigation has uncovered points to the pivotal role the White House played in the U.S. Attorney firings.  We have only sought to compel cooperation through subpoenas after more than three months of stonewalling by the White House.  

I had hoped that the White House would be more forthcoming in assisting our investigation. Unfortunately, this subpoena provided the only legal means for the American people, through their elected representatives, to find out how their government functions.

He then goes on to summarize what his committee has discovered so far. It sounds like a novel that an editor might say is too far fetched for anyone in the U.S. to believe; the editor might suggest setting it in Paraguay or Albania.

• Key White House political advisers Karl Rove and then-White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales were involved from the beginning in plans to remove U.S. Attorneys. According to documents obtained from the Department of Justice and Mr. Sampson’s testimony, Mr. Sampson discussed the plan with then-White House Counsel Gonzales not long after President Bush’s re-election in late 2004. A January 9, 2005 e-mail released by the Department shows that Karl Rove initiated inquires as to "how we planned to proceed regarding U.S. Attorneys, whether we were going to allow all to stay, request resignations from all and accept only some of them, or selectively replace them, etc." In his response to queries from David Leitch, a White House official, Mr. Sampson expressly deferred to the political judgment of Mr. Rove as to whether to proceed with plans for the replacement of U.S. Attorneys, writing,"[I]f Karl thinks there would be political will to do it, then so do I."

• Mr. Sampson, who has testified that he "aggregated" the list of U.S. Attorneys to be fired, was in frequent contact with White House officials about multiple versions of proposed lists of possible U.S. Attorneys for dismissal and potential replacements over the course of nearly two years, sending draft lists for review in March 2005, January 2006, April 2006, and several drafts in September 2006 through the firings on December 7, 2006.

• According to documents and testimony, Sara Taylor, the head of the White House political operation and deputy of Karl Rove, and Scott Jennings, another aide to Mr. Rove, were involved in the discussions and planning that led to the removal of Bud Cummins and bypassing the Senate confirmation process to install Tim Griffin, another former aide to Mr. Rove, as U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District of Arkansas. They were part of a group that discussed using the Attorney General’s expanded authority under the Patriot Act Reauthorization to avoid the opposition of the Arkansas Senators by appointing Mr. Griffin as interim indefinitely. In one e-mail, Mr. Sampson described Mr. Griffin’s appointment as "important to Harriet, Karl, etc." After the firing, writing from her RNC email account, Ms. Taylor writes that "Bud is lazy – which is why we got rid of him in the first place."

• Mr. Sampson testified that Ms. Taylor was upset when the Attorney General finally "rejected" this use of the interim authority -- a month after telling Senator Pryor he was committed to finding a Senate-confirmed U.S. Attorney.

• The evidence gathered so far also shows significant White House involvement-- including by Mr. Rove-- in the decision to dismiss David Iglesias as U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico. We have learned from the testimony of the Attorney General and Mr. Sampson that Mr. Rove directly complained to the Attorney General about concerns that prosecutors were not aggressively pursuing voter fraud cases in districts in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and New Mexico. One of these districts was that of Mr. Iglesias, who was added after that complaint to the list of U.S. Attorneys to be replaced. We have also learned that Mr. Rove’s aide, Mr. Jennings, set up a meeting between White House Liaison Monica Goodling and New Mexico Republican officials in June 2006 to talk about the U.S. Attorney "situation" in New Mexico, describing it as "sensitive." Those officials also met with another aide to the Attorney General, Matthew Friedrich, told him that they were seeking Iglesias’ ouster and that they had spoken to Karl Rove about the subject, according to Friedrich’s testimony to congressional investigators.

• Media reports and the White House Press Office have confirmed that Mr. Rove relayed complaints about Mr. Iglesias to the White House Counsel’s office and to the Justice Department.  
 
• Press accounts and congressional testimony have also revealed that after the midterm election, Mr. Rove discussed the performance of Mr. Iglesias with Senator Domenici, who himself had called Mr. Igelisias before the election to ask whether he was bringing indictments against a Democratic official in the lead up to the election. According to Allen Weh, Chairman of New Mexico's Republican Party chairman, when he asked Mr. Rove during a holiday party in 2006 "is anything ever going to happen to that guy?" -- referring to Mr. Iglesias-- Mr. Rove responded, "He’s gone."

• The concern by White House officials with purported voter fraud extends beyond New Mexico. We have learned that Mr. Rove sent Mr. Sampson a packet of information related to Wisconsin. According to his testimony, Mr. Sampson gave this packet to another Department official, Matthew Friedrich, and also asked him to look into the voter concerns in districts relayed by Mr. Rove to the Attorney General. The packet sent by Mr. Rove contains a 30-page report concerning voting in Wisconsin in 2004 and also handwritten notes suggesting a concern with prosecution in numerous districts. Some of these Wisconsin materials appear to have been viewed and printed by Mr. Rove in February 2005, just a month before the US Attorney in the Eastern District of Wisconsin was place on the termination list.
 
• John McKay, former U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington, testified that when he met with Ms. Miers and her deputy William Kelley in August 2006 to interview for a federal judgeship, he was asked to explain "criticism that I mishandled the 2004 governor's election," in which Republicans were upset with him for not intervening in that closely contested election.

• Since the firings of these U.S. Attorneys for political reasons became public, there has been an effort to minimize, and in some instances, cover up, the role of White House officials. According to documents and the testimony of Mr. Sampson, the Attorney General was upset after the February 6, 2007, testimony of Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty because Mr. McNulty’s testimony put the White House involvement in the firings into the public domain. Former Justice Department White House Liaison Monica Goodling recently told the House Judiciary Committee that she was told not to attend a briefing by Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty on the firings to the Senate Judiciary Committee in February, 2007, because of the concern that her presence might prompt Senators to ask questions about White House involvement.

• The Administration’s February 23, 2007, response to a letter from Senators Reid, Schumer, Durbin and Murray regarding the firings stated, "I am not aware of Karl Rove playing any role in the AG’s decision to appoint Griffin." Earlier e-mails indicate that the appointment of Mr. Griffin, another former deputy to Mr. Rove, was important to Mr. Rove.  The White House, Associate White House Counsel Chris Oprison, signed off on this letter.  Before Griffin was installed, Mr. Oprison, who signed off on the letter, had written that the Griffin issue was "front/center on [his] radar screen" and that he had "had several conversations with [Rove aide] Scott Jennings" about "the controversy." Many parts of this letter have since been retracted by the Department.

• According to the testimony of Department officials, Mr. Rove and other White House officials attended a meeting at the White House on March 5, 2007-- the day before Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General William Moschella testified before the House Judiciary Committee-- to "go over the admin position on all aspects of the US attorney issue." Rove is reported to have spoken at this meeting and directed the Department to provide reasons to explain the firings in the next day’s testimony.

OK, so why exactly hasn't Rove been subpoenaed? And why is impeachment off the table again? Like I said before, just askin'.

Tim Griffin, the grossest joke to surface so far in the still-unfolding Purge-Gate scandal, decides it's time for him to pursue other opportunities

"Griffin became the poster boy for the politicization of the U.S. attorney process. Former Justice official Kyle Sampson noted that getting Griffin into office 'was important to Harriet [Miers], Karl, et cetera.'”
--from ThinkProgress's report of the resignation of Rove-style campaign hatcheteer Tim Griffin as a U.S. attorney

The grossest embarrassment in the Purge-Gate U.S. attorney scandal is moving on. Friday will be the last day as U.S. attorney for the Eastern district of Arkansas for Tim Griffin, the Karl Rove protege who scammed his way into the job with absolutely no qualifications except a master's degree--the master in question being his mentor, Master Rove--in campaign slimery and election thievery. That and his apparent feeling that it would be just a swell job for him, and never mind that there was a widely admired and respected incumbent, Bud Cummins, occupying the office.

It's important to recall that Cummins wasn't fired as part of the famous Virgin List (of insufficiently Bush-sucky U.S. attorney appointees). In fact, beyond the Bush regime's general and enduring hatred for competence, nobody seems to know why Cummins was given the old heave-ho, except that the punk Griffin wanted his job. (At any rate, Deputy AG Paul McNulty testified that he didn't know of any reason apart from the wish of people in high places to install Master Karl's puppet in the job. There is plausible speculation that Master Rove wanted to install his Timmy in Arkansas to position him for a reelection challenge to Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor.) Thanks to the stealth insertion in the Patriot Act that gave the attorney general the power to replace a U.S. attorney indefinitely without Senate confirmation, Idiot Al "The Torture Guy" Gonzales could have slotted the Prince of Darkness himself into the job. Hell, he would have had better credentials for it.

Here's ThinkProgress's report of Timmy's departure:

Rove-Protege Tim Griffin Resigns As U.S. Attorney

The Arkansas Times reports that the controversial U.S. attorney in Arkansas, Tim Griffin, has resigned:

The U.S. Justice Department has notified Arkansas’s congressional delegation that Interim Eastern District U.S. Attorney Tim Griffin is resigning effective Friday, June 1.

Griffin, a former protege of Karl Rove, was formerly research director of the Republican National Committee. In 2004, BBC News published a report showing that Griffin led a “caging” scheme to suppress the votes of African-American servicemembers in Florida.

Griffin became the poster boy for the politicization of the U.S. attorney process. Former Justice official Kyle Sampson noted that getting Griffin into office “was important to Harriet [Miers], Karl, et cetera.” The traditional 120-day term for “interim” U.S. attorneys had expired for Griffin on April 20, yet the Justice Department continued to allow him to serve.

ThinkProgress earlier spoke with Rep. John Boozman’s (R-AR) office, which said that the congressman submitted names of replacements for Griffin to the White House on March 30. So far, no word from the Justice Department on the name of the new U.S. attorney.

In the meantime, assistant U.S. attorney Jane Duke will take over. The Justice Department had previously passed her over to install Griffin, using sexual discrimination as an excuse because Duke had been on maternity leave at the time.

Meanwhile Raw Story reports this comment from a spokesman for Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Arkansas), Michael Teague:

[Griffin's] departure from the U.S. Attorney Office for the Eastern District of Arkansas is a positive development, and the senator is looking forward to having credible leadership restored there.

Reports floated by the Wall Street Journal have the odious Griffin taking a top position in Fred Thompson's impending Republican presidential campaign. However, tonight on Countdown Alison Stewart asked political commentator Dana Milbank why Thompson would want to take on Griffin's weighty baggage, and Dana couldn't think of a good reason.

GOD MUST LOVE JOHN YARMUTH-- HE JUST GOT THE MOST ABSURD CHALLENGER ANY INCUMBENT COULD HOPE FOR

You'd be smiling just like John Yarmuth if you just found out your opponent was Erwin Roberts

This morning's Louisville Courier-Journal reported that Erwin Roberts announced that he'll be challenging freshman Congressman John Yarmuth. Every Democrat should be so lucky. (They should also be so conscientious and progressive as Yarmuth, by the way; he has the one of the half dozen best voting records of any of the newly elected members of the House.) This is one race I won't have to stress out about.

Is Roberts a serial pet rapist or an illegal gay alien or something? No, he's really bad news-- and on two counts. Peculiar to Kentucky, here's someone who has just announced he's running for high office after having been not just a member-- but a lynch pin in the heart of darkness of the single most corrupt state administration anywhere in America, that of indicted Governor and Republicrook Ernie Fletcher.

Roberts was Fletcher's personnel secretary when a whistleblower's complaint triggered an investigation into allegations that the administration had illegally awarded civil service jobs on the basis of politics rather than qualifications.

That investigation produced indictments of Fletcher and 14 known defendants, as well as 14 sealed indictments. Fletcher pardoned others, and the misdemeanor charges against him were dropped when he admitted to strong evidence of wrongdoing in his administration's hiring practices.

Roberts was identified by prosecutors as an un-indicted co-conspirator in one court filing. And he asserted his Fifth Amendment right in declining to testify before the grand jury.

What could be worse? Well... Roberts was one of the U.S. attorney types who did not get canned for refusing to politicize the Justice Department. In fact, looking at who was let go and who carried out Karl Rove's diktats that perverted justice, it's very clear which side of the line the Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky is likely to have been on-- the same side as the crooked U.S. Attorney from Arkansas, Tim Griffin. The Arkansas Times announced that trash was finally thrown out "resigned" today. "Griffin, a former protege of Karl Rove, was formerly research director of the Republican National Committee. In 2004, BBC News published a report showing that Griffin led a "caging" scheme to suppress the votes of African-American servicemembers in Florida. He was the poster boy for the politicization of the U.S. attorney process.

Nothing to do with Kentucky or the crook who's running against Yarmuth-- at least not directly... so far-- but the Justice Department formally notified the Senate Judiciary Committee that it is expanding its probe of the firing of U.S. attorneys last year to include allegations of improper politicizing of hiring at the agency, including the actions of former senior official Monica Goodling. I guess they've had enough time to make sure all the incriminating evidence was disposed of. And, as I've said all along, investigating the circumstances of those-- like David Iglesias-- who were fired is important, but so is investigating the low-life criminals who were rated satisfactory by Rove to stay... like the fellow in Kentucky.