Inside the Beltway. . . and Out

Somehow, even though they control all branches of government, the Republicans haven't been able to accomplish much. (That's not a complaint, mind you.)

Bush has gone too far even for the Republican-dominated US Supreme Court. The Court smacked Bush down for ignoring the law regarding trials for prisoners -- telling him he cannot just do whatever he wants to do, or even whatever Cheney tells him to do.

And the Republicans in the Senate, who initially tried to avoid the extreme, anti-immigrant, anti-Hispanic junk coming from their breatheren in the House, are fearing a backlash from their fellow anti-immigrant Republicans and are taking another look at the House's odious legislation.

But while Republicans play to their anti-immigrant base, they are losing the Hispanic voters Karl Rove has been trying to court. Well, duh. Why would any Hispanic vote Republican?

Now the Administration is trying to change the subject away from the war, the scandals, the high gas prices, etc. -- attacking the New York Times, for example, for writing about the Administration's snooping into people's financial records, even though Bush proudly talked about the program a few years back when he put it in place. (It's interesting that they are not attacking the conservative Wall Street Journal, which also wrote about the financial snooping.)

But the public is watching. America deserves better.

Good news for Democrats.

The new USAToday poll shows that Americans are paying attention to Congressional antics in anticipation of the November elections -- and the results look good for Democrats.

The poll shows that Bush continues to be a drag. 40% of Americans say they are less likely to vote for a candidate who supports Bush.

This is good news. Let's continue to work to restore Democratic majorities in the House and Senate. America deserves better than the Congress we have now.

Not surprisingly, the Republican-controlled House and Senate are not eager to actually enact the strenuous reform measures they touted earlier this year when they were all scurrying to distance themselves from Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his golfing trips, campaign contributions, free meals and other benefits he heaped upon them prior to his plea bargain agreement.

Jeff Birnbaum outlines that the effort is virtually dead. If Congress passes any legislation, which is doubtful at this point, it likely will be a further watered-down plan to require lobbyists to file their forms more frequently, but with few, if any, additional requirements on lawmakers themselves. The overseas trips, meals, entertainment, etc. likely will continue with little change.

As I have indicated in previous posts, it is becoming increasingly clear that corruption alone likely will not cost any Member of Congress his or her seat in November.

And that would be too bad. America deserves better than the Republican control it is now under.

Despite the pouring rain, the Allman Brothers Band put on a great show last night at the Nissan Pavilion in Northern Virginia just outside Washington, DC.

Showing my age, I will tell you that I first saw the Allman Brothers shortly after they started performing in 1969. I have seen them several times over the years, and consider myself to be a big fan.

Last night's show mixed some classics from the early years with some relatively recent tunes and some new things they have never performed before.

Of course we had some 20-year-old drunks who didn't care about the Allman Brothers but thought it was cool to be drunk at a concert. Plus, the rain fell throughout the show. But we had a great time. As for the rain, we were under the Pavilion, but when the wind blew, in came the rain. It even reached the stage, but fortunately didn't interrupt the show.

The music was great, and it was fun to watch the old-timers re-living their youth dancing in the aisles. I didn't dance, but I sure couldn't sit still.

We are seeing stories every day about corruption in public office. Just this week we found out about:

• House Speaker Denny Hastert's land deal where he netted some $2 million by getting a federally funded highway built near his property
• Republican Rep. Bob Ney's statements about his relationship with Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff and Ney's meetings with Abramoff's clients that conflict with statements provided by Abramoff himself and Ney's former chief of staff
• Republican Ralph Reed's attempt to launder fees he was receiving from casinos through Republican Grover Nordquist's not for profit entities -- which may impact his run for Lt. Governor of Georgia

Are the voters paying attention? Do they care? I'm not sure.

Chris Cillizza notes that corruption could become a major issue in the November elections, but he has become more skeptical about the issue's ability to defeat incumbent lawmakers by itself. He cites the recent election of another Republican to replace Republican Rep. Duke Cunningham, who is going to jail after admitting to demanding and receiving bribes.

I hope voters are paying attention. America deserves better than what we have in office now.

TPMmuckraker has a great post about how Ralph Reed -- former Christian Coalition head turned lobbyist turned candidate for Lt. Governor of Georgia -- laundered money from casinos through fellow Republican Grover Nordquist.

Reed's base of conservative Christians assume he is anti-gambling, so it would not look good for him to be receiving payments from casinos who hired him -- at Jack Abramoff's suggestion -- to stir up the anti-gambling crowd to oppose efforts unfavorable to these particular casinos' interests.

America deserves better. Let's restore Democratic majorities this November.

Former Bush aide David Safavian was convicted of lying about the help he was providing to Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Although other Republicans involved with Abramoff -- including aides to Tom DeLay and Bob Ney -- and Abramoff himself, entered into plea bargain arrangements, Safavian thought he could beat the charges.

He was wrong.

Taking a cue from their boss -- who three years ago dressed up in a flight suit and let people believe he actually flew a jet onto an aircraft carrier to declare "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq -- White House aides Dan Bartlett and Tony Snow dressed up like soldiers for the brief trip from the Baghdad airport to the American compound.

The Associated Press photo makes you think Dan and Tony were a little sorry they decided to play dress-up.

Looks like Danny-boy just wet his pants. Maybe it's a little scarier than they thought, now that they are up close and personal -- like real soldiers are every day.

Tom DeLay finally left the House of Representatives. And that is very good news for America.

You would think that after all his ethical troubles and indictments, and the plea deals of several of his staffers, who have admitted bribing people, that DeLay would be somewhat humbled in his final remarks from the House floor.

But he as just as obnoxious as ever. Of course, DeLay accepted responsibility for nothing. All of his troubles are someone else's doing.

But the House will be a better place without him.

DeLay still will be hanging around inside the Beltway, trying to make money from his conservative and religious fundamentalist friends. But he will just be making speeches and getting on Fox News, not actually making law.

I am glad to see him finally go.

I am a lobbyist in Washington, DC. I have seen every kind of political posturing. I have seen elected officials shamelessly pandering -- cynically saying one thing for constituent consumption, and doing quite another.

I should be used to it by now. Nothing should phase me any more.

But this week, I just can't take it.

Realizing they face the real risk of losing control of one or both houses of Congress in November, they are trotting out the old reliable issues to rile up their base -- the anti-gay marriage amendment to get the religious conservatives in line, and the repeal of the estate tax to get farmers and small business owners in line.

On the anti-gay stuff, I still cannot understand how a commitment to each other between two people of the same sex is destroying heterosexual marriage. Dana Milbank of the Washington Post was on TV last night and said he interviewed the eight protestors at the Capitol yesterday who were concerned about gay marriage, and one of their main talking points is that gay marriage will lead to more masturbation. Is that the best they can come up with?

On the estate tax repeal, Republicans have convinced farmers and small business owners that their heirs will have to sell everything to pay taxes. That's simply not true, but no one seems to care. Paris Hilton, if she were capable of thinking about it, no doubt would favor repeal of the estate tax, since the current tax affects only very large estates -- less than 2% of all estates, I am told.

I guess Republican posturing will be over after this week -- at least until after the August vacation.

America deserves better. Let's work to restore Democratic majorities in Congress.

As I have said in previous posts, Bush lies even when the truth would serve him just as well.

I am not talking about the now-obvious lies that paved the way for getting us into Iraq. I am talking about the lies he tells in the ordinary course of doing his job as president.

He lied on May 25 about Treasury Secretary John Snow resigning, saying that Snow had given no indication of stepping down even though Bush had already accepted his resignation and picked his successor!

Now he has been caught in another lie -- this one about when he learned of the Marines' massacre of civilians at Haditha.

But do the American people care any more? Have we just accepted that our President lies to us?

America deserves better.