I didn't know whether to run tonight's video as campaign video of the day. After all it is Keith Olbermann interviewing George Carlin, but Carlin is serious and introspective. What makes this video tonight's funny is the clip of Arlen Specter doing stand up at the Improv. Now that's funny.
Posted by rackjite1 seven minutes ago.
Here is an odd story. It seems that The Hill, Congress Gossip Blog, and the Politico' Crypt Blog, are all reporting that Arlen Specter is getting ready for a third run at immigration reform. According to the Politico
Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) said he's floating a plan that would grant legal status to the nation's 12 million illegal immigrants, but offer no path to citizenship.Let's see, Specter is saying if you have gotten into the country illegally, all you need to do is sign up for some sort of green card equivalent and you are legal. Isn't that the essence of amnesty? Specter says it isn't. Maybe he is counting on conservatives not noticing. It could happen. Specter knows how Republicans think. After all last month the Senate missed breaking the filibuster by one vote.
"It might be the equivalent of a green card," Specter said Thursday. "The main thrust is to bring the 12 million out of the shadows," and eliminate the fear of arrest or deportation.
Specter said conservatives who last month derailed a comprehensive immigration bill might accept his plan because it would not allow the 12 million to seek citizenship status.
Alberto went back up the Hill today and once more faced a stern and scowling Senate Judiciary Committee. By the time it was all said and done, Senator Leahy was hinting at perjury charges and Senator Specter raised the specter of a special prosecutor.
Noting aWol’s unprecedented invocation of executive privilege, Specter observed that “the president’s word stands and the constitutional authority and responsibility for congressional oversight is gone.” He went on to voice that one of the alternatives he has been kicking around is the appointment of a special prosecutor. “The attorney general has the authority to appoint a special prosecutor,” said Specter. “You’re recused, but somebody else could do it. You’re recused because you know all of the principals. You have a conflict of interest. But doesn’t the president have an identical conflict of interest?”
He disputed charges that morale in the Justice Department has plummeted under his leadership, saying that morale can best be measured by "output." The department's output in the last six months has been "outstanding," he asserted.
"I've decided to stay and fix the problems," he said in response to a question.
Senator Leahy was decidedly not buying what Gonzo was selling:
But Gonzales came under withering criticism from the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), and from its top Republican, Sen. Arlen Specter (
"The attorney general has lost the confidence of the Congress and the American people," Leahy said. He said the administration "has squandered our trust" and told Gonzales bluntly, "I don't trust you."
And Senator Specter seemed to blast the hapless Gonzo with both barrels:
Specter said there was "evidence of low morale" at the Justice Department and blasted what he described as Gonzales's lack of "personal credibility." He called the department "dysfunctional." Specter raised the prospect of calling for a special prosecutor to press a potential contempt-of-Congress citation over the White House's refusal to provide certain documents and sworn testimony regarding the firing of nine federal prosecutors last year. He denounced the Bush administration's stand that it would prohibit the
"Now if that forecloses a determination of whether executive privilege has been properly imposed, then the president in that manner can stymie congressional oversight by simply saying there is executive privilege," Specter said. That would spell the end of congressional oversight and take the controversy "to a really incredible level," he said.
"Now we've been exploring some alternatives," Specter said, noting that "the attorney general has the authority to appoint a special prosecutor." He told Gonzales, "You're recused, but somebody else could do it."
Specter added, "We also have the alternative of convening the Senate and having a contempt citation and trying it in the Senate."
Gonzo’s pledge to stay on and roll up his sleeves and get to work setting the department back right is simply staggering. WTF???
There is no confidence in the Attorney General from the rank-and-file in the Justice Department. They are despondent and have zero confidence in their compromised, beleaguered “leader.”
Senior staff has resigned in unprecedented numbers. Candidates refuse employment with the department. At least half of the top jobs at Main Justice are unfilled and others are staffed with temps.
Legislative priorities are not being addressed, including revisions to the intelligence laws and anti-crime proposals. "It takes away from normal work," one recently departed Justice official said about the persistent controversy over Gonzales's role in the firings and the use of improper political considerations in hiring career employees. "It obviously has a serious impact," said the former official, who would discuss the department's internal workings only if not identified.
Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have called on Gonzales to resign, but he has steadfastly refused, taking the slings and arrows of public and congressional outrage for his boss. He staunchly, stubbornly hangs on, knowing that his boss will never fire the firewall that stands between him and criminal investigations and prosecutions. The Senate has no confidence in him, and the vote indicates. No, it wasn’t sixty – but it wasn’t less than fifty, either. Remember that.
Let’s face it – without Gonzales, a competent attorney general would have to be installed. The Democratic-controlled Congress would not confirm a lackey like Gonzales. (Imagine Jack Danforth as AG…Oh, reverie…Not only would those Main Justice jobs get snapped up by well-qualified candidates, there would be resignations in the West Wing sufficient to stop the administration dead in its tracks.)
So make with the impeachment of this hapless, sad little man who feebly feigns a desire to do his job, now that it’s all come undone and he is exposed for what he is: a not-to-bright, ideologically driven, inept and compromised failure.
Let me finish with an installment of “What My Lawyer Said”
“This is precisely why I have been a raving lunatic for months … about the necessity of initiating an impeachment investigation, even if it is only as to Gonzales to start. Running out the clock in order to protect our majorities, gain some seats and install a Democratic administration does not cut it. That is akin to doing some public service announcements and hoping crime disappears in your community. The facts and extent of harm must be fleshed out in a formal investigation, the public must be allowed to understand the full nature and extent of what has occurred, and those responsible must be held to account. If not, the ugly beast continues to raise it’s ugly head with impunity in the future.”
The Arkansas Democrat Gazette reports that
Tim Griffin, whose December appointment as U. S. attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas sparked a national outcry about surreptitious changes made to a law affecting federal prosecutors, says he no longer wants the job permanently.Apparently Griffin blames “the partisanship that has been exhibited by Sen. [Mark ] Pryor [D-Ark. ] and other senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee in the recent hearing” for his decision to bow out. I am sure his participation in the "caging" scheme discussed in my previous post has nothing to do with his decision not to undergo Senate Confirmation.
“I have made the decision not to let my name go forward to the Senate,” Griffin said Thursday evening.
For those who have been paying attention the President wants the power to appoint any of his friends to the position of US attorney without dealing with the pesky senate confirmation process. During the passage of the USA Patriot Act a Republican staffer snuck in a change to the law allowing the AG to permanently appoint US attorneys without Senate approval. Recently the AG used the new law to fire 9 US attorneys and to appoint their replacements without Senate confirmation. Some of the firings involved US attorneys who were involved in fighting Republican corruption. One of the others resulted in the appointment of one of Karl Rove's henchmen as US attorney in Arkansas. Any guesses why Rove would want one of his boys down in Little Rock during the run up to the 2008 election?
When Specter found out that giving away the Senate's confirmation power had been attributed to him, he was shocked. Apparently nobody told him about the change. It turned out that a staffer who fancied himself Senator inserted the language at the request of the Administration without telling his boss. Senator Feinstein recently sponsored a bill restoring the law to status quo ante. Well, it seems the administration has had its Senate waterboy, Senator Kyl, block the legislation. That resulted in an uproar on the Senate Floor this afternoon. Enjoy Senator Schumer's comments.
Remember the uproar about the provision of the USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act that allowed the Attorney General to appoint US Attorneys without Senate confirmation. The early reports indicated that Senator Arlen Specter snuck the change in during negotiations. Well it turns out that Specter was a bit miffed when he heard he had submitted that change. Why, he would have remembered doing something that dastardly. It turns out that while Senator Specter didn't slip the language into the Patriot Act, one of his staff did insert it at the request of the Department of Justice. Apparently the Republican staffer forgot he worked for Senator Specter, or maybe he thought they both worked for the Karl Rove, who apparently was able to talk Alberto Gonzolas into appointing one of his political operatives US Attorney in Arkansas.
In any event it is being reported that the provison is on its way to being repealed. Apparently Justice and Senate Republicans aren't complaining now about the senate confirmation requirement. Instead they seem upset about a provision of the old law (now being restored in a bill sponsored by Senator Feinstein) that allows district court judges to appoint replacement US Attorneys if they are not confirmed within 120 days of nomination.
I wonder what other laws were enacted having never been reviewed by a single member of Congress. I guess we will find out as the 110th congress unfolds.
UPDATE Joe Conason has posted a very good discussion of this mess at Salon.com including information about the Specter staffer,Michael O'Neill, now a law professor at George Mason University, who evidently thought being a Clarence Thomas law clerk gave him the right to insert language in legislation without running it past his boss.
