Balls and Walnuts
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Have a Dowdy morning
My favorite Guerilla Woman from Tennessee has posted the full text of Maureen Dowd’s column, Hunting for a Straight Shooter. Dowd neatly summarizes the Shape of Things to Come vis a vis the Plame Affair:
It was at the end of his interview with Brit Hume, when Shooter talked about Scooter, that his eagerness to share important facts with the press and public — a well-concealed trait in recent days, years and decades — burst forth. He pronounced himself a Great Declassifier.
Asked by the Fox News anchor if a vice president had the authority to declassify secrets, Mr. Cheney replied that there’s an executive order giving him that power, adding: “I’ve certainly advocated declassification and participated in declassification decisions.” This neatly set up a defense for Scooter, who testified that “superiors” had authorized him to leak classified information on Valerie Plame.
President Bush signed Executive Order 13292 on March 25, 2003, amending a Clinton-era order, to grant the vice president the same power as the president on top-secret material. W. must have been concerned that Vice didn’t have enough power to abuse.
Earlier this week at Daily Kos, georgia10 reported on this maneuver. I don’t know how many Kossacks there are in the audience, but georgia10 consistently amazes me. According to her blog, she’s a 23-year-old law student. But she writes like no 23-year-old I’ve ever read. I anticipate great things from this woman.
But what to do, what to do? Will Scooter Libby and Dick Cheney wriggle out of the Plame Affair thanks to dubya’s wand-wave? Can an Executive Order trump reason? The overall tone of discussion in response to georgia10’s article was grim. Our only hope, the commenters seemed to be saying, is that the American people will at last smell a skunk.
Most already have. As Tennessee Guerilla Woman reports, Bush’s approval rating is lower than ever. But it’s not enough. Impeach now? No, not while the Republicans control Congress, and impeachment would be toothless.
Between now and November, I’m aiming my donations towards key elections across the country. We need to unseat Republicans wherever they are vulnerable, and we need to unseat Vichy Democrats wherever possible, too. Want a good place to start? Visit ActBlue and contribute what you can. I’ve contributed to Ciro Rodgriguez and Ned Lamont.
D.
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Maureen Dowd Bush Dick Cheney King George Republican Propaganda Impeach Bush Cheney Rumsfeld Dowd
his ratings are higher than congress’s. . .