Home / thinkprogress.org rss archive / September-17-2007


WH’s ‘furious attempt’ to sell Mukasey to conservatives.
The New York Times reports that over the weekend, the top aides to President Bush “made a furious attempt” to sell Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey to the right wing, “inviting at least six leading conservative thinkers to the White House for meetings with Mr. Mukasey. Participants said a range of issues were discussed, from [...]

Dodd, Leahy reintroduce Habeas Corpus Restoration Act.
In an e-mail to supporters, Sens. Chris Dodd (D-CT) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) announced that they were reintroducing the Habeas Corpus Restoration Act as an amendment to a defense authorization bill today. Last fall’s Military Commissions Act stripped detainees charged as enemy combatants of their right of habeas corpus. Watch Dodd introduce the bill on [...]

Matthews laughs up prospect of bombing Iran with McCain.
In April, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) was asked his policy on Iran, and he began by singing “bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran” to the tune of the Beach Boys’ Barbara Ann. Today on Hardball, host Chris Matthews jokingly asked McCain: “Are you still for the Beach Boys lyric on that one?” McCain responded, “You [...]

Sen. Reed’s Democratic Response Beats Bush Speech In Cable Ratings On Fox And CNN
In what was billed as major televised address on Iraq, President Bush last week “recycled tired rhetoric” and “mumbo jumbo” about staying the course. Sen. Jack Reed delivered a direct response, pledging the Democratic leadership would “exercise our Constitutional duties and profoundly change our military involvement in Iraq.”In case any more evidence was needed that [...]

Sally Field uncensored.
Although Fox censored actress Sally Field from finishing her anti-war sentence — “If mothers ruled the world, there would be no god-damned wars in the first place” — at the Emmy Awards last night, Canadian television allowed her remarks to air. Watch them HERE.

Rove investigation in jeopardy due to funding.
In April, the Office of Special Counsel launched a six-member task force examining “the firing of at least one U.S. attorney, missing White House e-mails, and White House efforts to keep presidential appointees attuned to Republican political priorities.” The task force is in now jeopardy. “Without a last-minute infusion of nearly $3 million, the [...]

Fallon denies conflict with Petraeus.
Military Times writes that CentCom Commander Adm. William Fallon is calling reports of a sour relationship with Gen. Petraeus “just absurd”:“I agree with what’s going on,” said Fallon, who spoke with the Military Times newspapers Sept. 14 just prior to a flight to the Middle East. “The thing that’s important right now is that we’re [...]

Three more lawmakers take food stamp challenge.
Reps. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), and Keith Ellison (D-MN) have agreed to take the food stamp challenge. They will “limit their spending to $1 per meal for a week” in an effort to “highlight inadequacies with the current food stamp program.” This past summer, four lawmakers first took the food stamp challenge. [...]

Second warmest August ever.
The National Climatic Data Center, a division of the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, reports that last month was the second warmest August on record. Moreover, at the end of August, drought affected approximately 83% of the Southeast and 46% of the contiguous US. Climate Progress breaks down the key facts.

Cheney On Secrecy: ‘If You Don’t Want Your Memos To Get You In Trouble, Don’t Write Any’
On Friday, Vice President Dick Cheney spoke in Grand Rapids, MI to pay tribute to his former boss, President Gerald Ford, telling the audience that he learned “early on” how to evade oversight:This Museum, and the Ford Library in Ann Arbor, mean a great deal to me — not just personally but from the standpoint [...]

Chemerinsky re-hired by UC-Irvine.
Last week, controversy erupted when the University of California at Irvine fired the inaugural Dean of its new law school, constitutional scholar Erwin Chemerinsky, because his “political views would make him

McCain Falsely Claims Jones Report Doesn’t Say Political Reconciliation Is ‘Key’ To Progress In Iraq
Yesterday on NBC’s Meet the Press, host Tim Russert asked Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) about Maj. Gen. James Jones’s report to Congress, which concluded that the U.S. presence in Iraq currently is conveying the impression of being an “occupying force.” It also questioned the administration’s approach of trying to achieve security before political progress: RUSSERT: [...]

Viguerie angered over Mukasey nomination.
Richard Viguerie, a right-wing political operative, expresses his great disappointment with Bush’s nomination of Michael Mukasey to head the DoJ. “The fact that President Bush caved in shows even more political weakness considering his willingness to claim and flaunt executive powers of questionable constitutional authority in other circumstances,” he writes. “This nomination is an invitation [...]

Right Wing ‘Deflated,’ Concerned Over Bush’s Attorney General Nominee
Earlier today, President Bush officially nominated retired federal judge Michael Mukasey to replace Alberto Gonzales as the nation’s Attorney General. Fearing an outcry on the right, the Bush administration first leaked word of Mukasey’s nomination to necon ally Bill Kristol, who cautioned conservatives to “hold their fire” and “support the president.”Though most are “holding their [...]

Vicente Fox: Bush is the ‘cockiest guy I have ever met.’
In his new book out Oct. 4, former Mexican President Vicente Fox calls President Bush “the cockiest guy I have ever met in my life.” He also rates Bush’s Spanish skills as “grade-school” level and writes, “I can’t honestly say that I had ever seen George W. Bush getting to the White House.”Digg It!

Chuck Norris’s ‘facts’ on Iraq: ‘Morale is up — way up!’
Chuck Norris, “six-time world professional karate champion, movie and TV star,” is visiting troops in Iraq. WorldNetDaily reports: Norris’ pastor, Todd DuBord, who is part of the traveling team that arrived last week, says Norris so far has seen more than 10,000 soldiers, “shaking hands with nearly every one!”Norris said in an e-mail from Iraq [...]

El Baradei Fights Off Drumbeat For Iran War, Warns Of Repeat Of Pre-War Iraq Failures
By all accounts, there is an increasing clamor in recent weeks from the right-wing for military action against Iran. U.S. News writes calls for “stronger actions are intensifying, including among some U.S. officials.” Last week, Fox News reported that German officials were giving up on new sanctions against Iran, helping push the U.S. closer to [...]

ThinkFast: September 17, 2007
The Iraqi Interior Ministry is pulling the license of Blackwater USA, an American security firm, after the company was “allegedly involved in the fatal shooting of civilians during an attack on a U.S. State Department motorcade.” “We have canceled the license of Blackwater and prevented them from working all over Iraqi territory,” Interior Ministry spokesman [...]

Field’s censored comments not technically ‘profane.’
Last night, Sally Field began an anti-war acceptance speech at the Emmy Awards, stating, “If mothers ruled the world, there would be no –” But Fox then cut off her sound and pointed the camera away from the stage, silencing the rest of her sentence: “god-damned wars in the first place.” Tom O’Neil of the [...]

Colbert: Fighting global warming means ‘the earth wins.’
At last night’s Emmy Awards, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert debated whether or not celebrity awards shows should be cancelled in order to help combat climate change: STEWART: Perhaps even the very act of gathering tonight for an awards show, no matter how green, is wasteful. Maybe we shouldn’t even have award shows. COLBERT: WHAT? [...]