CAVE-IN!

Congressional Democrats have, for all intents and purposes, completely capitulated to Bush's demands on FISA--his unfettered power to spy on American citizens. The "compromise" not only blesses the President's illegal actions, but also exempts the tele-com Quislings from the inconvenience of having to answer for their actions in court--the ONLY avenue by which the American public could ever have learned who in the government authorized this lawless action in the first place. I suspect, as other commenters have noted, that Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer were motivated by a combination of lust for tele-com campaign contributions and fear that another terrorist attack would be blamed on them; how else to account for abasing themselves to a wildly unpopular lame-duck President in an election year? Even more disappointing is that Barack Obama has signed off on this instrument of surrender.

In Congress

A fascinating and informative law review article on a seldom-discussed matter: the right of the Cherokee Nation under treaty to a delegate in the US House of Representatives. I had always thought that some other tribes (for some reason, the Delaware stuck in my head) had at least been promised a delegate at some point, but apparently CN is unique. If not for all the negative feelings generated over the Freedmen Issue, now would seem to be a good time to push for this delegate, given Speaker Pelosi's efforts to increase the power of other delegates.

Serves Him Right for Listening to Me

Speaker Pelosi threatens to take President Bush to court if he takes my advice and signs a withdrawal bill but tries to circumvent it with a signing statement.

Lou Dobbs is Full of Crap

Lou Dobbs is rapidly becoming like Pat Buchanan for me: an unsubtle racist who occasionally says something about the economy that makes sense, but is otherwise crazier than a shithouse rat. Now, he's parroting the RW Noise Machine smear that Nancy Pelosi is demanding round-the-clock access to a luxury jet tricked out like Austin Powers'. It's a bald-faced lie and Think Progress calls him on it.

UPDATE: Lou Dobbs is STILL full of crap and the MSM STILL refuses to admit that this story is false.

UPDATE 2: Cong. Jeff Flake is my new favorite Republican. Hat tip to the Carpetbagger Report.

UPDATE 3: Cong. John Carter, now filled with 25% more crap than Lou Dobbs!

A Tale of Two Speakers

In Washington, Nancy Pelosi took over as the first female Speaker of the House and pushed through her promised ethics reform package. Despite the many hosannas being sung, it isn't perfect and still contains some loopholes. It's a good start from a practical standpoint, though, and from a political standpoint, it helps link "Democrats" and "reform" (and by extension, "Republicans" and "corruption") in the public consciousness. The MSM will be watching the new Congress closely, alert for the slightest hint of hypocrisy. When ethical problems erupt, Democrats must act swiftly and decisively. If William Jefferson is indicted, he needs to be expelled from the House so fast it makes his refrigerator spin. If it had been up to me, he wouldn't even be in the Caucus now.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Tom Craddick clings desperately to power, learning that it is not always better to be feared than loved. He's not the worst Speaker of the Texas House (my vote would be either Gib Lewis or Gus Mustcher), but he is the best current symbol of the worst in Lone Star politics--vicious, unethical, power-mad. I can easily see him, as one blog poster noted, destroying the Republican Party in trying to save himself. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

UPDATE: This is exactly the kind of thing that Congressional Democrats need to be avoiding, not lamely spinning.

Another One Bites the Dust

In the last Congressional election of the year, Ciro Rodriguez has defeated Henry Bonilla (who I was beginning to think was invulnerable) in the TX-23 runoff. This caps off a truly remarkable season for Texas Democrats and almost, but not quite, gets rid of the bad taste in my mouth over William Jefferson. Speaker-designate Pelosi is apparently going to keep him off the Ways & Means Committee, but frankly that's just not good enough. She needs to kick him out of the Democratic Caucus entirely until or unless he is cleared of wrongdoing. Is that a double-standard? Of course it is, but Democrats have got to be, as the saying goes, more Catholic than the Pope on the ethics issue, since that's what got them the majority that Ciro Rodriguez just added to.

Our House Is A Very, Very, Very Fine House

Historically speaking, the Murtha vs. Hoyer fight is probably nowhere near as big a deal as the media are making it out to be. But the media double-standard for Democrats illustrates once again why Alcee Hastings should NOT be chairman of the Intelligence Committee, a point on which the Bluedogs and I both agree, though I'm still holding out for Silvestre Reyes.

UPDATE: Harman is out, and probably a good thing under the circumstances. Hastings would still be worse, though.

UPDATE 2: Silvestre Reyes may have some problems of his own, though not nearly as bad as, say, getting impeached and removed from the bench for corruption.

Get It?

Man, that Chris Matthews! What a caution! See, Nancy Pelosi is a woman in a position of power, right? So that automatically must mean she's a ball-buster, get it? So that's why it's funny that Chris Matthews says she's gonna "castrate" Steny Hoyer! Get it? What? You don't think that's funny? What a bunch of feminazis!

Madam Speaker

Democrats take the House and Nancy Pelosi becomes the closest woman ever to the Presidency, replacing Condoleeza Rice, who replaced Madeline Albright.

B(F)logging the Debate

Small crowd at the Don Smith Special Events Center, maybe 200, all partisans of one side or the other. Seemed to be evenly divided, based upon lapel stickers and t-shirts. Both candidates wore virtually identical charcoal-gray suits. Van Taylor grips the podium for dear life and has a perennial deer-in-the-headlights look.

Shorter Van Taylor: I'm a Marine! And a hero! There's too much partisanship in Washington and it's all the fault of liberal cut and run Democrats like Nancy Pelosi, whom my opponent loves and plans to marry. America faces many challenges, and they are all the fault of gay terrorist illegal aliens who want to adopt. Grover Norquist loves me so you should, too! If you hate America, vote for my opponent.

Shorter Chet Edwards: I'm the only grown-up in this race and I've actually done my homework. Plus, veterans and normally Right-Wing special interest groups love me, thus showing how bipartisan I am. And I bring home the bacon for Johnson County. The Dallas Morning News says my opponent is a nitwit.

My observations: Van Taylor looks even younger in person, maybe 25. When you consider that Chet (at 51) could easily pass for 40+, it just emphasizes his immaturity. Vancampen was considerably better behaved than at the first debate, except towards the end, when he started to get cranky. Perhaps he missed his nap. You would've thought that sometime between the first debate and now, Vancampen would've bothered to read his own party's budget resolution, given that Chet has been relentlessly flogging him with it. Or at the very least, someone on his crack staff might've come up with a better response than "I didn't read it. There are too many bills to read." Yeah, and math is hard. Taylor answered "illegal aliens!" or "homosexual adoption!" to every question but his name. He is opposed to free health care for illegal aliens (i.e., the emergency room) but he wants them to have "dignity." Presumably, he'd like them to die with dignity in the hospital parking lot. Taylor also hates runaway government spending. Voters should send a message to stop runaway government spending by electing...more Republicans like the ones who've been writing the budgets for the last twelve years? The only applause of the evening came when Taylor made the mistake of claiming Chet was against Jesus. It was such an incredibly bone-headed manuever, you'd almost think Chet was paying him off.

Further impressions later on. In the meantime, Somervell County Salon has some interesting bits on Vancampen's pedigree. Let's see, a thin-skinned, arrogant trust-fund baby who owes everything in life to family connections? Does this sound familiar?

UPDATE: Capitol Annex has more fallout from the debate.

UPDATE II: Via BOR, the NRCC raises the white flag and cancels its ad buys for CD-17.