Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., had this to say about Judge Sotomayor:
“There’s been no significant finding against her, there’s been no public uprising against her. . . I will support her, I’ll be proud for her, the community she represents, and the American dream she shows is possible.”
Thank you, Senator.
Usually, I roll my eyes at Republican tactics. I didn’t even focus on the viciousness of the swiftboating of Sen. Kerry.
Why am I so riled and appalled now?
Because just a few months ago, our economy was about to fall off a precipice. And whither the economy goes, so goes the social fabric that binds us. And so go the dreams and aspirations and our children’s childhoods. Now we are a few steps back from the edge of the precipice, but we are not yet safe in our beds.
I was a hard-working and productive worker. Now, I sit in my office and wonder when I will lose my job or get a further, steeper pay cut. I wonder whether my practice will ever come back. I wonder whether I can give to my child all the opportunities I had. We are at a crossroads. We need to make the right choice after vigorous debate on the issues. Fair and honest debate toward a common goal of restarting our economy, our dreams, and optimism.
If that is Obama’s vice while he deals with the most insurmountable problems of three generations, well, we are just going to have to get over it.
Clinton and JFK were philanderers. Reagan had Alzheimers and his admininstration kept us in the dark. Bush II was a “recovered” alcoholic and chose to let others make decisions for him.
News flash: Obama is mortal with flaws. Not a great example for the kids, but it is a lot better than what most Americans do: slam down some whiskey shots, take sedatives, take out their problems on other people, etc.
So, everyone, chill. We gave GWB a lot of slack.
LEAVENWORTH, Kansas (Reuters) – Not in my backyard! Not in my state! Not in my country!
That was the response from politicians and business leaders in Kansas on Monday to moves by President Barack Obama to transfer terrorism suspects from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to facilities in the United States, perhaps including Kansas.
“This is a patently bad idea,” Republican Senator Sam Brownback told reporters in the northeast Kansas riverside community of Leavenworth near the Fort Leavenworth U.S. Army base, which was cited this weekend as a possible new home for the Guantanamo prisoners.
The Washington Post reported on Sunday that a government task force was considering as possible sites Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and a 604-bed maximum security prison in Standish, Michigan, that is scheduled to be closed.
An Obama administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed on Monday that those sites were being looked at but said there were “many, many options” under consideration.
“No final decisions of any sort have been made,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.
Administration officials reportedly have been considering building a court facility within a prison site to avoid the need to transfer defendants between sites within the United States.
Obama has pledged to close the prison at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo by the end of the year but faces strong opposition from fellow Democrats and Republicans in Congress to transferring the remaining 240 prisoners to U.S. soil for detention and trial.
Harsh interrogations that some see as torture and the detention of suspected Islamic militants without trial at Guantanamo, opened for prisoners in President George W. Bush’s war against terrorism, have seriously damaged the United States’ international reputation.
Brownback said the inmates should stay at Guantanamo and vowed to work with other members of Congress to prohibit any funds from being used to move the prisoners to American soil.
He and other opponents say moving to a U.S. site would make the community a target for terrorist attacks and note that Leavenworth is close to rail lines and the heavily trafficked Missouri River.
They say no move is needed at all as the detainees are already being held “appropriately and safely” at the prison in Cuba, where there are also court facilities.
“NO” TO DETAINEES
“This community has spoken loud and clear. They don’t want the detainees here,” Republican U.S. Representative Jerry Moran told Monday’s news conference.
But the Obama administration counters that the U.S. court and prison systems have handled terrorism cases in the past and could deal with Guantanamo detainees. A number of convicted militants are already being held in U.S. prisons.
Congress has set strict limits on moving detainees until certain conditions are met, including informing lawmakers first and spelling out any threats prisoners could pose or how they were mitigated.
The 134-year-old military penitentiary at Fort Leavenworth is already a hardened high-security facility that could be further protected by the surrounding military base.
Business leaders in Leavenworth, about 40 miles from the Kansas City metropolitan area, say locating detainees near their community will depress property values, discourage new business development and put the residents at risk.
“We are not afraid of the prisoners breaking out,” said Leavenworth-Lansin Chamber of Commerce executive vice president Tim Holverson. “We are more concerned with their friends trying to break them out. We don’t want to be a target.”
(Reporting by Carey Gillam, additional reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky in Washington; Editing by David Storey)
Ok, ok, ok, ok, ok. Lemme get this straight.
Sen. David Vitter, Louisiana, Sen. John Ensign, Nevada, Gov. Mark Sanford, S. Carolina — what do these gentlemen and Sen. Stanley have in common? They are sanctimonious, self-satisfied “family-values” politicians who were hoisted on their own petards.
Worse, Sen. Stanley, who took lewd pictures of his 22-year old intern during the time of their affair, blames her. He is 47 and she is 22. He has a family and presumably of suitable age, discretion and intelligence to represent the State of Tennessee.
He isn’t hiding behind a 22 year-old, is he? Nah. Can’t be. Only someone gutless and unprincipled would do that. So, it can’t be. WAIT. I think Pauly IS a gutless, unprincipled loser. And he is angry that he has to resign. As if he did nothing to bring about this morality play.
I get it: she let herself into his apartment. She put the camera in his hand. She put his . . . . Wow, now I get it. It is a lily-livered lefty lemming conspiracy (thank you, Lou Dobbs for that phrase) to expose GOP hypocrisy.
Where is the outrage? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?