The Krile Files

Right Hand, Meet Left Hand

March 23, 2007 · Leave a Comment

It won’t help.  They still won’t communicate.

Alberto Gonzales Stands By Firing of Seattle Prosecutor

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales today defended the firing of Seattle U.S. Attorney John McKay, even though a month before the firing, his Chief of Staff, Kyle Sampson, wrote e-mails to the White House Counsel’s office urging support for McKay to be named a federal judge, saying "it’s highly unlikely that we could do better."  Check the double speak. All of a sudden, Gonzales claims [...]

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Digging Through the Numbers

March 23, 2007 · Leave a Comment

Kevin Drum does the heavy lifting and talks about some huge implications he’s seeing in recent poll numbers.

The Myth of the Permanent Majority

The Pew survey I linked to yesterday showed some pretty stunning reversals for the Republican Party, and I think it’s worth taking a minute to deconstruct what the numbers show. The party ID catastrophe, in [...]

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No Kidding…

March 23, 2007 · Leave a Comment

But, no surprise, either.

Gates admits U.S. military not ready for new conflict.

“We would not be able to achieve our goals on the timelines that we’ve set for ourselves in terms of being successful in that other conflict,” Defense Secretary Robert Gates said. “It would take a little longer and we would not be as precise. We would not have as many precision weapons. … It would [...]

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Just Keeping Track

March 23, 2007 · Leave a Comment

Just keeping track of the latest polls for the 2008 Presidential election.  I know, I know.  It’s almost too early to even pay attention to the numbers, but it’s worth a quick glance.

New Polls: Iowa, New Hampshire, Texas, Arkansas

American Research Group is out with a new batch of presidential polls from Iowa, New Hampshire, Texas and Arkansas. Among Democrats, Sen. Hillary Clinton leads in every race, though John Edwards is running just one point behind in Iowa and Sen. Barack Obama is just two points behind in Texas. It’s clear that Tom Vilsack’s withdrawal from the race has boosted Edwards in Iowa. Among Republicans, Rudy Giuliani and John McCain are [...]

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Ignored Reports

March 23, 2007 · Leave a Comment

Again.  More reports.  Ignored by the Administration.

‘The entire country was one big ammo dump’

Remember the debacle at Al Qaqaa? In 2004, we learned that the administration was given warnings about a massive ammunitions site, which Bush officials decided to ignore. About a dozen U.S. troops guarded the sprawling facility. As a result, Iraqi looters loaded powerful explosives into pickup trucks and drove away with about 380 tons of [...]

UPDATE:  And, as a result…

Friendly Fire

Half of all U.S. casualties in Iraq have been caused by unsecured munitions. You know, the ones that were in caches throughout the country that were ignored because we didn’t have enough troops to occupy the country and didn’t [...]

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Just Follow The Thread

March 23, 2007 · Leave a Comment

There’s a good one going over at Daily Kos –

Bush hissy fit thread

He’s whining again.  He rejects all notions of accountability. Update: Veto, veto, veto, veto. Update II: MSNBC’s idiot reporter, "Bush has the [...]

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One Who Should Understand

March 23, 2007 · Leave a Comment

John Dean.  He’s been through this situation before.  He knows how presidencies operate.  I’m willing to bet that he’s pretty darn much "on target" right now.

Executive Privilege And The Unilateral Executive Self-Delusion Of George W. Bush

John Dean has some fantastic analysis today on the issues of executive privilege and the unitary executive theory.  It makes for a compelling read in terms of historical and philosophical context — and personal undercurrents within the current Bush Administration, [...]

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The Iraq Vote

March 23, 2007 · Leave a Comment

Not likely to become law, but a striking example of how the balance of power has shifted in Congress.

House passes Iraq bill, Pelosi scores big win

Talk about your hard-fought victories, this one looked like it might not happen at all. The House Democratic leadership put together the “U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans’ Health and Iraq Accountability Act,” which, among other things, would set a timeline to bring troops home from Iraq by Sept. 1, 2008. It represents the biggest shift in [...]

UPDATE:  Well, not everybody on the liberal side of things is impressed. Our friend, Magpie, wanted more…

With this kind of a victory, who needs defeat?

I just heard that the House of Representatives has narrowly approved a spending measure that includes a timetable for withdrawing US troops from Iraq. I’m sorry, but it doesn’t seem to me that allowing Dubya to keep going with his doomed ’surge’ until October 2008 is any sort of victory for opponents of the Iraq war. I’ve tried to write a post describing why I’m so [...]

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The Vacation Gap

March 23, 2007 · Leave a Comment

Did it go right to the top of the Bush Administration?  Very interesting possibility outlined here!  An, by the way, I’m confused about the timeframe.  Others are calling it a 16-Day gap.

Was the 18-day gap because Bush was on vacation

The Bush administration turned over thousands of document, including emails, regarding the firing of the US Attorneys. There was an 18 day gap during which no emails were sent. Many of us suspected that the emails were either deleted or that the Bushies refused to turn them over. But CREW has come up with a third, intriguing possibility. The 18 day gap took place during a time in which Bush was on vacation and traveling. Did the gap occur because [...]

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Right Next Door

March 23, 2007 · Leave a Comment

More Administration shenanignans.

Full Circle in Missouri: Even Before Cummins, Bush DoJ Was All About Politics in the Show-Me State

New evidence today that the Bud Cummins firing is actually at the tail-end of a long string of actions by the Bush Justice Department meant to assert pro-Republican influence over Missouri’s electoral and political sphere. Salon.com yesterday published a blockbuster piece that provides evidence that Bush and Alberto Gonzales were using U.S. Attorney appointments to muck around in Missouri politics even before they began leaning on Bud Cummins in the midst of his fee office investigation. Salon writes [...]

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The Cummins Connection

March 23, 2007 · Leave a Comment

I’ve been telling you, all along, that Arkansas’ Bud Cummins was going to be a key figure in the U.S. Attorneys’ Purge.  Shor ’nuff, he’s headline news at the Washington Post today.  via Democratic Underground:

E-Mails show administration schemed for months to make Rove aide U.S. Attorney in Arkansas

Two months before Bud Cummins was fired as U.S. attorney in Little Rock, a protege of presidential adviser Karl Rove was maneuvering with the Justice Department to take his place. Last April, Tim Griffin, a Rove aide and longtime GOP operative, sent the attorney general’s chief of staff a flatter [...]

UPDATE:  It wasn’t only Cummins…

New Emails Show USA Purge Clearly Political

Yes, Alberto flat-out lied to Congress about the Tim Griffin installation in the Arkansas US attorney (USA) slot. It turns out that both the White House and Justice were working to dump Bud Cummins and replace him with political hack and Rove lieutenant Griffin as far back as early 2005, even thought Gonzales told Congress it wasn’t the case. And now another USA [...]

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Right Hand, Meet Left Hand

March 23, 2007 · Leave a Comment

It won’t help.  They still won’t communicate.

Alberto Gonzales Stands By Firing of Seattle Prosecutor

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales today defended the firing of Seattle U.S. Attorney John McKay, even though a month before the firing, his Chief of Staff, Kyle Sampson, wrote e-mails to the White House Counsel’s office urging support for McKay to be named a federal judge, saying "it’s highly unlikely that we could do better."  Check the double speak. All of a sudden, Gonzales claims [...]

Tags: , ,

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Categories: Uncategorized

Digging Through the Numbers

March 23, 2007 · Leave a Comment

Kevin Drum does the heavy lifting and talks about some huge implications he’s seeing in recent poll numbers.

The Myth of the Permanent Majority

The Pew survey I linked to yesterday showed some pretty stunning reversals for the Republican Party, and I think it’s worth taking a minute to deconstruct what the numbers show. The party ID catastrophe, in [...]

Tags: , ,

Powered by Qumana

Categories: Uncategorized

No Kidding…

March 23, 2007 · Leave a Comment

But, no surprise, either.

Gates admits U.S. military not ready for new conflict.

“We would not be able to achieve our goals on the timelines that we’ve set for ourselves in terms of being successful in that other conflict,” Defense Secretary Robert Gates said. “It would take a little longer and we would not be as precise. We would not have as many precision weapons. … It would [...]

Tags: , ,

Powered by Qumana

Categories: Uncategorized

Just Keeping Track

March 23, 2007 · Leave a Comment

Just keeping track of the latest polls for the 2008 Presidential election.  I know, I know.  It’s almost too early to even pay attention to the numbers, but it’s worth a quick glance.

New Polls: Iowa, New Hampshire, Texas, Arkansas

American Research Group is out with a new batch of presidential polls from Iowa, New Hampshire, Texas and Arkansas. Among Democrats, Sen. Hillary Clinton leads in every race, though John Edwards is running just one point behind in Iowa and Sen. Barack Obama is just two points behind in Texas. It’s clear that Tom Vilsack’s withdrawal from the race has boosted Edwards in Iowa. Among Republicans, Rudy Giuliani and John McCain are [...]

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Categories: Uncategorized

Ignored Reports

March 23, 2007 · Leave a Comment

Again.  More reports.  Ignored by the Administration.

‘The entire country was one big ammo dump’

Remember the debacle at Al Qaqaa? In 2004, we learned that the administration was given warnings about a massive ammunitions site, which Bush officials decided to ignore. About a dozen U.S. troops guarded the sprawling facility. As a result, Iraqi looters loaded powerful explosives into pickup trucks and drove away with about 380 tons of [...]

UPDATE:  And, as a result…

Friendly Fire

Half of all U.S. casualties in Iraq have been caused by unsecured munitions. You know, the ones that were in caches throughout the country that were ignored because we didn’t have enough troops to occupy the country and didn’t [...]

Tags: , ,

Powered by Qumana

Categories: Uncategorized

Just Follow The Thread

March 23, 2007 · Leave a Comment

There’s a good one going over at Daily Kos –

Bush hissy fit thread

He’s whining again.  He rejects all notions of accountability. Update: Veto, veto, veto, veto. Update II: MSNBC’s idiot reporter, "Bush has the [...]

Tags: , ,

Powered by Qumana

Categories: Uncategorized

One Who Should Understand

March 23, 2007 · Leave a Comment

John Dean.  He’s been through this situation before.  He knows how presidencies operate.  I’m willing to bet that he’s pretty darn much "on target" right now.

Executive Privilege And The Unilateral Executive Self-Delusion Of George W. Bush

John Dean has some fantastic analysis today on the issues of executive privilege and the unitary executive theory.  It makes for a compelling read in terms of historical and philosophical context — and personal undercurrents within the current Bush Administration, [...]

Tags: , ,

Powered by Qumana

Categories: Uncategorized

The Iraq Vote

March 23, 2007 · Leave a Comment

Not likely to become law, but a striking example of how the balance of power has shifted in Congress.

House passes Iraq bill, Pelosi scores big win

Talk about your hard-fought victories, this one looked like it might not happen at all. The House Democratic leadership put together the “U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans’ Health and Iraq Accountability Act,” which, among other things, would set a timeline to bring troops home from Iraq by Sept. 1, 2008. It represents the biggest shift in [...]

UPDATE:  Well, not everybody on the liberal side of things is impressed. Our friend, Magpie, wanted more…

With this kind of a victory, who needs defeat?

I just heard that the House of Representatives has narrowly approved a spending measure that includes a timetable for withdrawing US troops from Iraq. I’m sorry, but it doesn’t seem to me that allowing Dubya to keep going with his doomed ’surge’ until October 2008 is any sort of victory for opponents of the Iraq war. I’ve tried to write a post describing why I’m so [...]

Tags: , ,

Powered by Qumana

Categories: Uncategorized

The Vacation Gap

March 23, 2007 · Leave a Comment

Did it go right to the top of the Bush Administration?  Very interesting possibility outlined here!  An, by the way, I’m confused about the timeframe.  Others are calling it a 16-Day gap.

Was the 18-day gap because Bush was on vacation

The Bush administration turned over thousands of document, including emails, regarding the firing of the US Attorneys. There was an 18 day gap during which no emails were sent. Many of us suspected that the emails were either deleted or that the Bushies refused to turn them over. But CREW has come up with a third, intriguing possibility. The 18 day gap took place during a time in which Bush was on vacation and traveling. Did the gap occur because [...]

Tags: , ,

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Categories: Uncategorized