Missouri has a bunch of great contests this year, and the Lieutenant Governor's race is one where we stand a strong chance of replacing a Republican incumbent with a great Democrat.
Peter Kinder, the incumbent, got caught up in a sex scandal when his Chief of Staff was arrested for having pornographic conversations with a cop he thought was a thirteen year-old girl. The police report is nauseating. Kinder drew himself into the fray by declaring, 3 hours after the arrest, that an investigation had determined state computers weren't used, and the criminal conversations took place during "comp time".
I must apologize I don't write diaries, but this is breaking in the blogs and needs more juice. Karl Rove has been accused of threatening a primary witness in for the plaintiffs in the King Lincoln Bronzeville v. Blackwell. Check out Brad Blog as well as ePluribusMediafor a backgrounder on the new "IT Forest Gump" genious computer Guru who has handled IT business for the Republicans since they lost New Hampshire in 2000.
Update: King Lincoln Bronzeville v. Blackwell link
OMG: Criminal "threatening" corrected thanks to Shpilk
updated: Meet Matthew Kairis an attorney with the law firm Jones Day, who represents one or more of the "defendants" in this case.
Rove knows he is in deep doo doo, caught without a paddle, and the roar of a flush approaching seems to be causing some consternation. That's my impression of Rove's latest propaganda effort to create the impression that he is denying involvement in the persecution and prosecution of governor Don Siegelman.
Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX, member House Judiciary) questions Rove in a letter "before ... Siegelman's initial indictment in May 2005, did you ever communicate ....?" What about after May 2008? Okay, Smith is not good at asking questions. And Rove is not very good at answering the question completely. The report was aired by Dan Abrams on Verdict:
Same old, same old from Rove, of course, so no surprise. What is new here is Smith's involvement! Has a Republican member of the Judiciary Committee now participated in an effort to obstruct justice?
Emptywheel has Karl Rove's answers to questions from the ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee -- you know, the committee before which Rove won't actually go to testify. It's written questions, no follow-ups, so basically Rove's dream scenario.
Promising follow-up, emptywheel offers this initial reading:
Smith repeatedly asks Rove whether or not he ever communicated with:
Department of Justice officials, State of Alabama officials, or any other individual about the investigation, indictment, potential prosecution, prosecution, conviction, or sentencing of Governor Siegelman
And repeatedly, Rove answers that he has never directly or indirectly communicated with:
Justice Department or Alabama officials [] about the investigation, indictment, potential prosecution, prosecution, conviction, or sentencing of Governor Siegelman
Rove would not make the same denials about talking to "any other individuals" he did about DOJ and Alabama officials.
Now to be fair to old Turdblossom, Rove does add this caveat, repeatedly:
nor have I asked any other individual to communicate about these matters on my behalf
But that's not the same thing as answering whether he spoke to anyone about it all.
Karl Rove being less than fully honest. Big surprise. We know emptywheel (and Kagro X, and other bloggers) will follow up on this. Will Congress?
This is my first installment of research for our diarist clammyc. I had emailed this wonderful diarist when he posted asking for volunteers to lend research to his "hopefully" ongoing .series "It's time to stop Defending Obama" and go on the offensive against McCain. Since I do research for my local Democratic Club and some local candidates, I have found in my freetime I love to research the Republicans. I have really had my eyes opened. Call me naive, but I had no idea of the extent of the corruption and dishonesty that permeates the Republican Party and has for years. I knew I never liked their ideas but researching them on a broader field than just local politics has shown this proud Democrat that while there indeed are some not so savory characters in the Democratic party (which seems to be a disease that afflicts all politicans,) but what I am finding as I follow the tangled web of connections, is that they all tend to lead directly to George Bush, Karl Rove, the RNC and yes, the candidate himself, John McCain.
I ask that clammyc use this diary as one of his installments so please feel free sammyc to post this in your diary as a continuation of your efforts.
event horizon: the boundary of a black hole beyond which nothing can escape from within it
-- Merriam-Webster Online
After five years and change of turned corners and dead enders and last throes, is it possible that we're approaching an event horizon in our Middle East miasma? Stuff seems to happen faster than anyone can deny it occurred these days, and from the sound of things, it won't be too long before we're committed to getting out of Iraq in smart fashion or sucked into staying there until kingdom come.
For months now I've been trying to define and articulate one particular thing about the Bush administration that's always disturbed me, and I've finally figured it out: it's the lack of outrage. It came to me when I was reading TPMMuckraker, specifically the post about political interference by Vice President Cheney's office in getting several pages of the CDC's congressional testimony that referred to climate change and it's effect on human health removed from the report. I kept wondering if President Bush knew about Cheney's plans to censor the remarks beforehand, and if so did he approve? Maybe he didn't find out until afterwards, so what was his reaction?
July 10, 2008: Karl Rove fails to appear before the House Judiciary Committee.
July 10, 2008: The House Judiciary Committee gives Karl Rove until July 15, 2008 to declare whether he will comply with the subpoena he defied earlier in the day.
July 15, 2008: ?
July 19, 2008: The first question for Speaker Pelosi at Netroots Nation is about holding Rove in inherent contempt. Speaker Pelosi expresses support for the efforts of Chairman Conyers.
July 21, 2008: Tick, tick, tick...
There are only about five weeks of active work left in the House of Representatives for the 110th Congress. On August 1st, they will adjourn for a month, returning on September 8th. The target adjournment date thereafter is September 26th.
What do you think our Rove timeline entry will be for that day?
Here's my latest Salon.com animation, featuring Karl Rove and Bill O'Reilly:
And don't forget:
Scott Bateman Animation Show
Tuesday, July 22 7PM (TOMORROW NIGHT!)
Peoples Improv Theater, NYC
Five bucks (cheap!)
Featuring Joe Mande (Best Week Ever), Laura Krafft (Colbert Report), Ali Farahnakian (SNL, 30 Rock) and I watching my animations and discussing the issues--it's like the McLaughlin Group, but funny on purpose.
Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein rose to prominence in the journalistic community during the early 1970's. Originally investigating a common burglary at the Democratic National Committee headquarters, they ultimately uncovered a political scandal that brought down a President.
Today, we have our own Woodward and Bernstein and their names are; Larisa Alexandrovna and Muriel Kane.
Yes, there is a difference between these two journalistic teams; Woodward and Bernstein's work was published and became front page material.
Follow me after the flip for a look at the work of an investigative team that uncovers a scandal larger than Watergate...
And I thought about the invasion of Iraq. Acase that can be made that it was a war crime, so people who played a central role in selling it, which would include Colin "the most overrated man in America" Powell, too, would appear to me to have some level of liability.
So, do any lawyers out there know if the Hague is in Karl's future.
Last Thursday, Rep. Linda Sanchez called for Karl Rove to be arrested for failing to comply with a Congressional subpoena and appear before her Committee. While I applaud Congresswoman Sanchez's sentiments, I seriously doubt Karl Rove will face such action and I blame Sanchez and her ilk in Congress. Sanchez wrote:
"After my ruling that Mr. Rove's claims of immunity are not legally valid, Congressman Conyers and I gave him one last chance to comply with the law. He ignored us. As he let yet another deadline slip by this week, Mr. Rove's disregard for Congress has become intolerable..."
Translation: "I subpoenaed Mr. Rove and he didn't show up. Then I warned him and gave him one last chance, and he still didn't show up. Then I double warned him and he still didn't comply. If he refuses to comply any longer, I may have to super-duper double-secret warn him and see if he complies then..."
Scream louder. Maybe another strongly worded letter is appropriate.
Two weeks ago, when Rove failed to appear for his congressional subpeona, he was out making bling that most wage earners get in a year.
I'm referring to the new Newsweek article that details what Raw Story told us the day after his failure to appear. The same day (I think) Conyers issued his July 15th deadline.
All I really have is a few choice quotes below the fold. The rest is up to the readers, which I guess means scream louder.
I totally wish I was in Austin this weekend for Netroots Nation, especially after I learned this week that former Alabama Governor Don Sieglman would be there.
Air America Radio has upstream video from Don Siegelman's appearance at this weekend's Netroots Nation conference in Austin.
When Karl Rove refused to appear before the House Judiciary Committee to answer questions, I began to worry that it might be difficult to find him--even if they wanted to. Could it be too late, or even worse, "off the table".
What if he's already in Paraguay? Ah, not to worry. Welcome releif arrived in my email. I was "reassured" to see his pudgy white visage on this cool website They have already collected about 50,000 signatures for the HJC, encouraging them to do their constitutional job and bring him in for a little oathy chat. The website looked legit. Our emptywheel, Marcy Wheeler was there. I signed the petition and wrote the committee a little note of encouragement. Then, fertilized by all the BS from Karl, one more idea blossomed.
As I think about the absolutely horrific gaffe by John McCain today, that has literally put the lives of 3 US Senators, masses of US Government employees, and journalists at risk, I asked myself, What Would Karl Rove Do?
I firmly believe the Karl Rove would turn this into the "I voted for it before I voted against it moment". He would attack John McCain only perceived strength, national security, by hammering away at it ruthlessly.
For better or worse, I am not sure the Obama campaign is willing to take these steps. However, follow me after the jump to what I believe are the 5 easy steps that would literally end the campaign in mid July.
