Entries by emptywheel

First Wilkes and Now Mrs. Cunningham

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Last week we were treated to Brent Wilkes’ attempt to exonerate himself publicly and/or threaten his co-conspirators, Lowery and Lewis. This week, we’re treated to Mrs. Randall “Duke” Cunningham’s story (sub. required), who is apparently a person of interest in the investigation. As Mrs. Cunningham’s lawyer explains, she’s trying to convince us that she didn’t know about Duke’s multi-million dollar bribery racket.

“My client faces an uphill battle as faras people believing

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The Question They Didn't Ask and Bush's New Plan C

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You don’t need me to tell you things are not going well in Iraq. The NYT surveys the state of affairs this morning, and the news is not good.

The number of roadside bombs planted in Iraqrose in July to the highest monthly total of the war, offering moreevidence that the anti-American insurgency has continued to strengthendespite the killing of the terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

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How Was Rashid Rauf Arrested?

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Atrios links to Andrew Sullivan being skeptical who links to Craig Murray being even more skeptical. And Murray raised a point that I had raised earlier. Here’s Murray:

What is more, many of those arrested had been under surveillance forover a year – like thousands of other British Muslims. And not justMuslims.

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Allen's Mob and Their Caca

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By now, you’ve no doubt read about or seen the video of George Allen drudging up the racism his mother taught him to insult an Indian-American student trailing his campaign for the Webb campaign. Allen is now on his second or third excuse right now, trying to claim he was talking caca all the time.

Allen’s a racist, and we need to use Allen’s antics to make that clear to people.

But I’d

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The Shrillification of the Moderates

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I’m fascinated by the outpouring of moderates’ conversion narratives, from balanced and temperate to, um, shrill. JMM started it:

As Americans I think we need to grapple with what’s happened. And it goes beyond President Bush. He did after all win reelection.He marginally expanded his congressional majorities. In the rough andtumble of the political moment, the fight needs to be taken to thepresident and his party.

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They're Not Robots

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First Jonathan Chait and now Spencer Ackerman have escaped Marty’s grasp reached beyond their New Republic home to oppose Lieberman. Chait’s contribution is a logical attack on Joe’s justification for his run (if surprising, given the source).

What’s the point of running to uphold Democratichawkishness when you’re running against the Democratic Party and itschosen nominee?

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NeoCon Joe, the Failed Lebanese Campaign, and Losing by Winning

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This is going to be a bit of a wandering post. But I’m going to cover the following and hopefully finish in enough time to go can peaches:Taking Joe at his wordHersh’s portrayal of failureOn how the Neocons may become winners out of losing

Taking Joe at His Word

Mark Schmitt asked the other day,

Can someone explain what Senator Lieberman could possibly mean when he says the following:

“I’m worried that too many people,

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An Issue of Fairness

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mamayaga makes a superb point, in response to Byron Calame’s explanation that withholding the NSA domestic spying story was an issue of fairness:

[C]andidatesaffected by a negative article deserve to have time — several days to aweek — to get their response disseminated before voters head to thepolls.

To which mamayaga asks:

By the same logic, shouldn’t the major news media have held the storyof bin Laden’s conveeeenient new videotape until a few days

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The Plot Thickens

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So here’s how the plot was going to work. 20 men of South Asian descent, traveling in pairs, buy tickets for flights the US on-line. They pack their carry-ons carefully, with their bottles of acetone and hydrogen peroxide. They’re a little nervous as they approach Check-In, but confident that things will go well.

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The Gray Lady's Gray Area

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Byron Calame pretends to come clean today, forcing the NYT to admit that it knew about the NSA domestic spying story before the 2004 elections. Come clean, you say? Then he must have revealed precisely when Risen first had the story, right?

Not really.

Calame comes closest to revealing precisely when the NYT had the NSA story when he says,

Holding a fresh draft of the story just days before the electionalso was

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