Those who read here frequently know that I’m not often political in nature, though as part of my 15 minutes, slate.com once quoted me in a post about Kofi Annan.
Some things are just too good to ignore though. Like GWB in all this hot water about domestic spying. Back in the old days, when the GOP was the new kid on the political block, suspending civil liberties and holding prisoners without trial was par for the course. Arlen Specter is one of my favorite Republicans, a small and exclusive club, partially because you never really have any idea what he’ll say next. I’ve read this quote, diced up and taken out of context in at least ten different places. Here it is in its entirety for your reading enjoyment. Giggles are allowed.
Well, the remedy could be a variety of things. A president — and I’m not suggesting remotely that there’s any basis, but you’re asking, really, theory, what’s the remedy? Impeachment is a remedy. After impeachment, you could have a criminal prosecution, but the principal remedy, George, under our society is to pay a political price.
Normally I’m against what I see as the excessive spending that tends to follow behind independent counsels. However, due to pure morbid curiosity, I’d be giddy if we brought in the Democratic version of Kenn Starr for another second-term orgy of government spending.
Your the man! The quote is not that far off of the Herald excerpt. Hard to believe he actually responded to the question however it is refreshing. Hey, no Isla Mujeres pictures. Affraid the PETA radicals will get you?
The Isla photos are up. Some of them at least. I’ve always liked Arlen, he isn’t one to pull punches, but I think he hit it spot on. Impeachment is a political tool more than a judicial one, it allows criminal prosecution to procede, but it’s a major draw on the political capital of the impeached.
We should be careful about it though, impeached presidents will occasionally drop a few bombs somewhere as a matter of course. Who knows where they could fall, but if you live close to the Air America HQ, I’d take cover if you get my drift.
I was just reading a Clinton quote and “axis of evil” is a total rip-off of the Clintonism “unholy axis of terrorists”. Which one rolls off the tongue and into the mainstream lexicon easier?
Your friend Arlen was on CNN last evening. Wolf’s shpw. You may want to view it.
Its not “Domestic” spying its “international Spying”. How would you like to be the current presidential press secretary? He must really need the job. And Bushies approach is great. Darn right we’re spyng and what are you going to do about it? Why can’t the democrats win anything? Are the majority of our fellow Americans stupid or just tolerent as long as they feel safe and have a roof over their heads? If it wasn’t so discouraging it would be funny. Now the gov wants all of googles files. Why don’t they just start surgically implanting chips?
Right. As Scott likes to ask Republicans, “Would you like Bill Clinton listening on your phone calls or reading your mail?” but civil liberties don’t win or lose campaigns. Healthcare, Social Security, Education, Foreign Policy, and the occasional fiscal issue win campaigns.
We put limitations on the office, not the person in the office so we don’t have to make these kinds of decisions. People don’t win or lose on this issue because it’s not sexy and snappy. If you can’t sum it up in a 30-second sound bite, it won’t get reported on.
On the other hand, staying up to date with everything that goes on in Washington is at least a part-time job. Deciding what you think and putting it onto the ballot bumps it quickly up into full-time. Between the newspaper, radio, tv, blogs, podcasts, and the once-a-week news magazines, I occasionally find myself smothered by information, and that’s not to imply that it’s all relevant or of practical value.
Add the fact that no broadcast networks and only one radio station covered the Alito hearings and you can’t blame the public for not caring, they’re ill-informed and probably don’t have time to sort out the sticky issues.
very useful post