Supreme Court speculation is intensifying

With Bush frantic to change the subject away from Leakgate, expect a Justice nominee to surface this week -- perhaps as quickly as today -- and apparently the First Lady has had some influence:

Washington was abuzz with speculation Tuesday about Judge Edith Clement of the U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans ...

Known as a conservative and a strict constructionist in legal circles, Clement also has eased fears among abortion-rights advocates. She has stated that the Supreme Court "has clearly held that the right to privacy guaranteed by the Constitution includes the right to have an abortion" and that "the law is settled in that regard."

At first blush, I'm speechless.

Update: Bush will let us all know tonight (at 8 pm CDT).

Another busy week ...

... if you're one of those people who are trying to take our country back.

Last Saturday I went across town to hear Chris Bell speak; this account of his appearance in Amarillo the same day echoes my sentiments. Tonight David Van Os spoke in my neighborhood; besides the fifty Meyerland Dems in attendance were three Houston city council candidates: Mark Lee, Herman Litt, and Ray Jones.

Tomorrow night in Bellaire, at the Campaign for a National Majority kickoff, Nick Lampson will address the group.

And this weekend a Downing Street Minutes Teach-In will be held locally. If it's anything like the Peak Oil Conference I attended a couple of weeks ago, there'll be a few hundred people there (SRO).

Find a DSM event near you this Saturday, and go.

Update: Nick Lampson will unfortunately be unable to attend the CNM event listed above; Robert Jara of the Texas Democratic Party will give an update on the prospects for the 2006 elections.

Pretend you're Karl Rove

... the version who, in just a few short months, will be in prison.

Make a license plate (for any state, with anything you care to say on it).

Journey to the left of the blogosphere

H-Town Blogsylvania assembled again during the lunch hour today, and the attendance was impressive: Houston city council candidate Jay Aiyer and his campaign manager, Kyle Johnston (who also managed Richard Morrison's run), representatives of Peter Brown's campaign staff, including manager Bill Kelly, Katie Floyd and Avery Pickard from Barbara Radnofsky's US Senate campaign, a handful of bloggers, and a few of their acquaintances.

Greg has a good wrap-up of the discussion, but the most important development was the impending kickoff of Texas Tuesdays. Go there to learn more.

Emily could be ours

by early next week.

I guess I better go to the grocery store ...

Even more SC whisperings

I'd heard this before I read it here, and it's only noteworthy because Rehnquist has declared premature media predictions of his impending retirement.

So he'll have to be carried out feet first, it seems. Which probably won't happen before, oh, next week ...

I believe there are a couple of conversations happening in the White House right now; one is, shall we go ahead and ignite that shitstorm with the liberals or not, and the other is:

"Can we make the announcement today, Boss, so that I don't have to answer any more questions about Karl, please?"

Patriotboy has me in tears again

He's got some cinematic suggestions for conservatives who will need help coping with the avalanche of bad news (for the unenlightened, the Mrs. Apuzzo he refers to is this woman) :

National Security -- A top White House aide teams up with a columnist to defend the president's honor by exposing a CIA agent and a CIA front company. Think All the President's Men with the President's men being the good guys. I see Jeff Gannon as Karl Rove and Shelly Winters as Bob Novak. Mrs. Apuzzo could play the positive immigrant maid who lets Mr. Rove's late night visitors into the White House.

Duke Cunningham, Capitalist Tool -- Rep. Duke Cunnigham rubs a flag and a lobbyist/genie appears, granting him the power to make ridiculously lucrative real estate deals. Duke uses this power to enrich himself through a series of house and boat deals and becomes a star on the conservative speakers circuit giving presentations about the rewards of hard work. Think I Dream of Jeannie crossed with Wall Street. I see Ernest Borgnine playing Duke and Mrs. Apuzzo playing the positive immigrant maid who sweeps up all the cash that falls out of visiting lobbyists' pockets.

They Fight Alone -- The untold story of the brave men who proudly wear the Cheeto-stained briefs of the 101st Fighting Keyboarders. In cold, damp basements across our nation, these courageous young men endure their mothers' nagging while fighting Islamo-fascism by flinging accusations of treason against Democrats. Think The Green Berets mixed with Beavis and Butthead. I see Cory Feldman as Ben Shapiro and Mrs. Apuzzo playing the positive immigrant maid Ben's mother hires to hose him down once a week.

The Passion of the Hammer -- The House Majority Leader is subjected to Gitmo interrogation techniques and then crucified by an activist judge who refuses to acknowledge the vital role that graft plays in a democratic society. Think The Passion of the Christ meets The Godfather. I see Randall Terry making his acting debut as Rep. DeLay and Mrs. Apuzzo playing the positive immigrant maid who the Majority Leader receives as a gift from a contributor in Saipan.

And from the comments:

"The Boys from Brazos." When their maximum leader gets in trouble by betraying a secret agent, his former clients in Texas are notified by phone, fax, and pony express to get their talking points synchronized. Congress is played by congress. The Press is played yet again by Karl Rove.

"Weekend in the Tropics." It's about a noble country forced to imprison evil thugs bent on destroying civilization. The noble country treats the prisoners so well that they come around in the end to realize the error of their ways. Think Midnight Express where the captors are the good guys.

... he's a treacherous, fleshy sociopath bent on world domination, forced by circumstances to move into a cheap apartment. His new roommate is an uptight male prostitute with a penchant for get-rich-quick schemes. Put them together, and you've got the original odd couple! It's Karl and JimJeff starring in "Below the Beltway." Rated PG-13 for brief (and patriotic) displays of little soldiers...

Has anyone ever had to be hospitalized for intense, prolonged, vertigo-inducing laughter? Because I'm about to have to call myself an ambulance ...

Bluebonnet at Pink Dome

has a Q & A with Chris Bell.

This is a good one:

BB: Your thoughts on Kinky Friedman? Carole Keaton Strayhorn?

CB: Kinky's a humorous guy who I've enjoyed listening to over the years. I once won a pitcher of beer for singing a Kinky Friedman song.

As far as Carole, I'm glad she's in the race.

More at the link in the header.

Turd Blossom needs a hug

Atrios points us to one-click way to e-mail your support for Bush's Brain-Leak.

Rove-ing around the Internets

Though I could have indulged my schadenfreude every day this week by posting something about The Leaky Turd Blossom, I have hesitated doing so, mostly because the situation seems to change by the hour. Blow-by-blow ringside action of the bout between Scotty "Pinata" McClelland and a suddenly testicular White House press corps has been well-documented by others; many have weighed in on the is-it-smoke-or-fire aspect, and the GOP, after one day of news blackout, all got their talking points distributed ("Poor Karl is being smeared!") and started slamming them hard, right down to their wretched lickspittles in the media.

But this post represents today's most intriguing development, in my humble O:

On July 11th, 2003, Karl Rove, the Chief Adviser to the President of the United States, told Time reporter Matthew Cooper that he knew who had sent Ambassador Joseph Wilson on his fact-finding trip to Niger: Wilson's wife.

According to the RNC statement released today, more than two months later, Vice President Dick Cheney told NBC, on September 14th, 2003, "I don't (know) who sent Joe Wilson (to Niger)."

So: Karl Rove was leaking information to Time that he wasn't willing to share with the Vice President of the United States? A top Administration official (Rove) tells Time that it (the Administration) "knew" who had sent Wilson to Niger, and then two months later another top official (Cheney) denies that knowledge?

I don't think so.

At some point, Rove's supposedly lying to so many people -- first Bush, now you'd have to believe he was lying to Cheney, too -- that you realize, he didn't lie to any of them: they've all been lying to us.

So, did Cheney repeat this lie to the prosecutor investigating the Plame leak, Attorney Fitzgerald, when the latter interviewed him?

If so, guess what: that's obstruction of justice.

You know, (that was) one of the things they tried to impeach Clinton for -- and Clinton's deceit was both less direct and pursuant to a civil (not criminal) investigation.

Think about it: if Cheney did tell Fitzgerald that he knew who had sent Wilson, then he would also have been forced to tell him how he got that information -- from Rove. Which means Rove would be in a jail cell right now, either for the leak itself, or for perjury, or for obstruction of justice. The fact that Rove remains free is, politically-speaking, res ipsa loquitur proof ("the thing speaks for itself") that Cheney maintained his claim of ignorance not only to NBC and to America, but to Fitzgerald as well. Which makes him not only a liar, but also, almost certainly, a criminal.

And if it really is true that Rove was withholding information from Cheney, that fact would already have been uncovered and Rove would have been fired from the Bush Administration. The fact that they haven't fired him is, again, at least in political terms, res ipsa loquitur proof that the Administration was wise to the same intelligence Rove had.

And by Administration, I mean President and Vice President.

And by President, I mean the man who told the American people repeatedly that he wanted to uncover the source of the leak and didn't know himself who the leaker was.

But what did he know, and when did he know it?

White House Press Corps reporters have already asked White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan that question, and he's refused to answer; now the RNC statement casts an even greater shadow on whether Cheney and Bush have lied publicly about the Plame leak. That is, did Bush lie to the cameras, in a Lewinsky-like moment, in order to save his corrupt king-maker, Rove?

And what sort of dirt would Rove have to have on Bush for Bush to be willing to do that?

Seth Abramson has been blogging these angles heavily. Go check him out.