Gillespie Squared

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Rove’s bed is not even cold and already Ed Gillespie is crawling into it.

Now, with the departure of Karl Rove, the president’s closest adviser, Gillespie, 46, a former lobbyist and Republican National Committee chairman, has once again been asked to help fill the void.

White House Chief of Staff Joshua B. Boltenhas said that he plans to divide Rove’s broad political andpolicymaking duties — and the 60 or so White House staffers who reportto him — among several top aides. But Bolten has yet to decide how todistribute Rove’s responsibilities.

Still, it appears thatGillespie will emerge as the first among equals. He is likely to becalled on to handle political strategy and message management for thepresident, becoming the dominant voice in determining where and howoften Bush appears and what he says during the final 17 months of his tenure.

Well, that’s might curious. After all, this is the second "irreplaceable" long-time Bush associate that Gillespie is replacing; Gillespie took over Dan Bartlett’s duties after Bartlett unexpectedly left. That’s a whole lot of irreplaceable that Gillespie has replaced.

Which leads me to ask, once again, why Gillespie?

The news reports rehearse several aspects of Gillespie’s experience: head of communications for the 2000 recount, support for the Roberts and Alito nomination battles, lie and forgetfulness coach for Alberto Gonzales’ appearance before Congress.

Somehow, though, news reports always miss one of the most important things Gillespie has done for the Bush Administration: overseeing the New Hampshire phone-jamming damage control.

“It’s entirely possible that everything they think they know is entirely false”

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cboldt linked to Wired’s liveblog from the warrantless wiretap Appeals hearing that took place today in San Francisco. Go read it. It may make you cry. Repeatedly, the government lawyers appeal to arguments outside all human cognition to defend their wiretap program.

"Was a warrant obtained in this case?" Judge Pregerson asks.

"That gets into matters that were protected by state secrets," Garre replies.

Judge McKeown asks whether the government standsby President Bush’s statements that purely-domestic communications,where both parties are in the United States, are not being monitoredwithout warrants.

"Does the government stand behind that statement," McKeown asks.

Garre: "Yes, your honor."

But Garre says the government would not be willing to sign a sworn affidavit to that effect for the court record.

[snip]

"Plaintiffs acknowledge that the room is central to their case andthat they don’t know what is going on in that room," says Garre."Something else could be going on in that room. Just to pick one, itcould be FISA court surveillance in that room."

Not that he’s saying that there is FISA court surveillanceconducted in the secret room. Just that there could be. Who knows? Presumably, Garre does. But he’s not saying.

[snip]

Al-Haramain Foundation attorneys, he points out, "think or believe or claim they were Read more →

It’s Going to Be One Heckova Political Year in Football

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Just a few weeks away, too! I can’t wait to turn the satellite back on.

It’s going to be an interesting year in football. Not only have the Patriots loaded up on targets for Tom Brady. But the following issues have arisen since the end of last season:

  • Keith Olbermann will be returning to sportscasting in NBC’s Sunday night prime time slot. He’s not likely to be overtly political–though I do hope it’ll get Joe Sixpack to consider tuning into his show. Olbermann will be accompanied by the conservative but very very pretty Tiki Barber, so the show has something for every … woman, at least.
  • A number of veterans are trying to get the NFL to help get documents relating to Pat Tillman’s death. In any case, the ongoing controversy with the Administration’s cover-up of the real reasons for Tillman’s death might begin to attract some Joe Sixpack  attention as the season gets into gear.
  • George Bush has appointed the gay-hating (but brilliant) Tony Dungy to a Presidential Council.

Hopefully, that last item, tied to Bush’s disappearing support, will convince Americans everywhere that the Colts are not America’s team.

Which is my way of warning you all that there might be an undue Read more →

Behavior Detection

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There are two things that "always" happen to me when I fly to DC. I "always" (often, rather) sit next to MI’s Republican Congressmen in First Class. And I "always" (almost always, probably) get pulled into secondary when I’m flying out of Reagan National Airport. I know why the latter occurs: my driver’s license says, "Margaret" while my Northwest frequent flier number is under the name "Marcy," so they have to pull me into secondary to quiz me about my family’s weird nicknaming habits.

But the day after the Libby sentencing, I got the full-fledged treatment, including what I believe to be behavior detection.

Specially trained security personnel are watching body language andfacial cues of passengers for signs of bad intentions. The watchercould be the attendant who hands you the tray for your laptop or theone standing behind the ticket-checker. Or the one next to the curbsidebaggage attendant.

They’recalled Behavior Detection Officers, and they’re part of several recentsecurity upgrades, Transportation Security Administrator Kip Hawleytold an aviation industry group in Washington last month. He describedthem as "a wonderful tool to be able to identify and do risk managementprior to somebody coming into the airport or approaching the crowdedcheckpoint."

[snip]

At the heart of the new Read more →

Ghost Writing

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I think it ought to be mandatory for everyone who reads this LAT article to also watch Bill Kristol on TDS. It’s bad enough, after all, to learn that the Petraeus report we’ve all been waiting for might as well be called the Dick Cheney report.

Despite Bush’s repeated statements that the report will reflect evaluations by Petraeus and Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, administration officials said it would actually be written by the White House, with inputs from officials throughout the government.

And though Petraeus and Crocker will present their recommendations onCapitol Hill, legislation passed by Congress leaves it to the presidentto decide how to interpret the report’s data.

Though now I understand how the Administration is going to use the NIE on Iraq that is also due next month–they’re going to interpret the news from the intelligence community for us. And here’s a description of the interpretive process:

The senior administration official said the process had created "uncomfortable positions" for the White House because of debates over what constitutes "satisfactory progress."

During internal White House discussion of a July interim report, some officials urged the administration to claim progress in policy areas such as legislation to divvy up Iraq’s oil Read more →

Privacy versus the Press

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Judge Reggie is back in the news today, granting, in part, Steven Hatfill’s pursuit of journalists’ sources for information that he was the main subject of the FBI’s anthrax investigation. Walton required the journalists themselves to give up their sources, but not the media companies.

Based on the foregoing analysis, the plaintiff’s Motion to Compel Further Testimony from Michael Isikoff, Daniel Klaidman, Allan Lengel, Toni Locy, and James Stewart [D.E. # 157] is granted. These reporters are therefore ordered to comply with the subpoenas issued to them by Dr. Hatfill and to provide full and truthful responses to questions propounded to them by Dr. Hatfill’s attorneys. On the other hand, the motions to quash the subpoenas of ABC, The Washington Post, Newsweek, CBS, The Associated Press, the Baltimore Sun, and The New York Times are granted.

While I’m somewhat comfortable that Walton’s reading of the First Amendment implications is, at least, consistent with the Circuit Court’s decision on the Miller and Cooper decisions (as well as Branzburg), I’m less comfortable of his reading of what is covered under the Privacy Act.

“At 56 years old says he is done with political consulting”

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I’ve laid out some possible reasons for Rove’s resignation here. But I’d like to do a close reading of the WSJ story associated with the announcement, partly because I think it so fascinating that Rove would feel the need to pitch his own successes and failures on his way out the door.

The Investigations

Far and away the most interesting comment in the article, though, is this self-assessment from Rove:

His biggest error, Mr. Rove says, was in not working soon enough to replace Republicans tainted by scandal.

Consider the logic: Rove believes that if he just got those who were mired in scandal to step down before the scandal broke, then he might have been able to save the Republican majority. This, from a guy stepping down before–Josh Bolten has dictated–everyone must commit to stay through the next election. That’s not definitive proof, of course, but Rove logic would suggest that Rove may well be imminently tainted by scandal. And Rove doesn’t deny he’s stepping down because of scandal. Instead he throws incendiary words out there like "mob" and "Mark of Rove," without ever denying that there may be is merit to the allegations. (Speaking of which, check out this link from pseudonymous in nc, which suggests there are hundreds of pages of papers relating to the Don Siegelman case at DOJ.)

What about those who say he’s leaving to avoidCongressional scrutiny? "I know they’ll say that," he says, "But I’mnot going to stay or leave based on whether it pleases the mob." Healso knows he’ll continue to be a target, even from afar, since beliefin his influence over every Administration decision has become, well,faith-based.

"I’m a myth. There’s the Mark of Rove," he says, witha bemused air. "I read about some of the things I’m supposed to havedone, and I have to try not to laugh." He says the real target is Mr.Bush, whom many Democrats have never accepted as a legitimate presidentand "never will."

I especially like the way Rove admits that "the real target is Mr. Bush," not because Rove observes the banality that many people believe he was not elected. But because, as I’ve suggested, Bush may well be the target.

My Guesses on Why Rove Resigned

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By now you’ve heard the news: Rove is stepping down. So here’s my treatment of possible reasons why he’s leaving, in reverse order of their likelihood:

Time with the Family

As he said to the WSJ, he wants to spend more time with this family. Of course, this is a load of horse puckey–if he had wanted to spend time with his family, he surely would have done it before his son went to college.

Republicans Think He’s a Loser

The Republicans have finally realized he’s a loser. Mahablog links to a well-timed Atlantic article that lays out Rove’s failures:

  • Social Security
  • Faith-based wingnut welfare
  • Katrina
  • The 2006 elections

It is quite likely that Republicans have finally realized that if you want support from voters, you need to actually deliver on policies, not just promise to. But to change the previous "create our own reality" approach to governance, you’d have to get rid of Rove, because that’s all Rove does. With one exception.

Republicans Think He’s a Loser, Nativist Edition

I said there was one exception to the rule that Rove simply "creates his own reality" and makes policy promises without delivering on those promises. The exception was supposed to be Latino voters. That is, Rove really did want to court the Latino vote, rather than just claiming Republicans had Latino support. The reason is obvious: if Republicans don’t get Latino voters, they’re sunk.

Of course, this conflicts (and has, in noticeable ways) with the nativist instincts of the base of the Republican party. About the only thing, at this point, that could mobilize the Republican base (and save some Congressional seats, if not the White House) is to give in to these nativist instincts, and start attacking brown people with gusto. But I doubt Rove would stick around for that–he knows the numbers too well. So it’s possible that Rove is out so the Republicans can turn into the full-fledged racist party they’ve always been.

Update: Athenae goes to Freepi-land, so I (and you) don’t have to. And sure enough, they’re thrilled to see Rove and his Latino-friendly ways gone.

The Sheriff Is Coming

Several times in the WSJ coverage of Rove’s resignation, it notes that, Rove was thinking of leaving a year ago:

"I just think it’s time," he says, adding that he first floated theidea of leaving to Mr. Bush a year ago. His friends confirm he had beentalking about it with others even earlier.

Of course, it wasn’t exactly a year ago. It was more like 15 months ago, when it looked likely that Rove would be indicted in the Plame investigation. So it’s quite possible that Rove is leaving just three steps ahead of one of the many sheriffs that have him in their sites sights. These include:

Republican Self-Hate

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Crooks & Liars links to Bobo Brooks informing Chris Matthews that Republicans hate Matthews’ man-crush, President Bush.

BROOKS: Bush…you gotta remember though…a lot ofRepublicans hate Bush. I mean, we look..we talk about the Democrats,how they hate Bush, in private…

MATTHEWS: What do you mean, “hate Bush?”

BROOKS: They think Bush is incompetent and destroying their party.

Having just taped a Sunday show of my own (this one may be good–I’ll actually provide a link, but it’ll air ten days from now), I gotta say, Bobo is right–and Democrats really need to start hammering on it.

The two Republicans on the show with me were pushing against Democratic health care proposals, saying, "well you don’t want our health care to run like Katrina or Iraq…" To which I said, "Okay, we’ll make sure Bush isn’t in charge of our health care program. We’re in agreement." This got them nodding enthusiastically, until I continued, "But if we can only aspire to be as competent as the French, we should have working health care." Which shut them up. (Of course, I’m sure it wasn’t really as cool as I remember, so assume I’m just self-promoting here.)

At the same time, these republicans were no more willing to speak enthusiastically about any of their Presidential candidates. I kept hammering them about how Obama is running third, among Republicans, in Iowa.

Perhaps most surprising of all,Obama actually finished third as the preferred general electioncandidate of registered Republicans, at 6.7 percent, behind Romney(21.8 percent), and Giuliani (10 percent), but ahead of Thompson (5.2percent) and McCain (1.8 percent).

And how the leading Republican candidates fail either 2004’s standard of flipfloppery or Republican standards of the last 12 years on social conservatism. Which again brought some embarrassed admissions that there wasn’t much exciting in the Republican field. We’re about a week and a half late piling on top of this self-hate–though the DNC has a new website out to join in the fun. But this should be the main point of every Democrat out there–the Republicans, as a party, have failed so badly even Republicans hate them.

Republicans are just barely containing their disgust for the leaders of their party. At this point, we’d do really well to unleash that sentiment.

When an Interview Is Definitely a Blow-Job

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Oh, this one merits an entire blogger ethics conference. So you’ve got the announcement for a rare public interview of a very important person.

Former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan, who helped shapethe nation’s economic and monetary policy for almost 19 years, talksabout the people he met, the issues he faced and the crises he helpedmanage during five different administrations. Greenspan discusses theworld we now live in, with a global capitalist economy that is moreflexible, resilient, open, self-directing and fast-changing than ever.Greenspan is the author of a new book, The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World, to be published by The Penguin Press on September 17.

That’s nice, you might say to yourself. I’d sure like to show up and watch this interviewer really skewer Greenspan for irresponsibly talking up ARM mortgages, leading predictably to the mortgage crunch that is about to start accelerating badly. It’ll be nice to see him forced to answer for the foolishness.

Only then you read further and see who is the "interviewer" who you hoped might actually pose some tough questions to Greenspan.

He is interviewed in this rare public appearance by the person whoknows him best, his wife, Andrea Mitchell, who covers politics andforeign Read more →