So here's the deal: I'm fed up "to here" with the tactics that right-wingers seem to think are acceptable in getting their way. Cases in point:


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There are days when I wish I could sign up for one ideology or another. Some days I wish with all my heart that I could be a true Democrat, and then others when I wish I could buy in on the Republican agenda,. But most days, I'm too disgusted with both sides of the aisle to want to do either.

I find myself disagreeing with most of what the Republicans stand for, but at least they take a stand! Democrats, bless their hearts, have good intentions, but their follow through leaves a little something to be desired. They are so busy straddling fences that they don't manage to take a firm stand on anything. They can't agree on any issue, and they don't have strong, decisive, charismatic leaders. Not any more.

Where are the Franklin D. Roosevelts? Where are the Trumans? Heck, I'd settle for an Eisenhower about now. Where are the moral leaders like Jimmy Carter or the just plain good folks like Gerald R. Ford? Where are the men who want to serve, instead of the men (and women) who merely want to be served?

Lately, I've been taking long hard looks at the men and women who might serve the country's needs in the coming decades, and I worry that no one will step up to the plate who can lead this country in the difficult days ahead. I'm looking for someone who won't treat the American people with total disdain, and who won't lie to us routinely to forward their own agendas. I'm looking for someone who can get the necessary work of governing done, who has the strength and the support to accomplish all that needs doing. I'm looking for someone who will lead by example, not by edict, and who will have a heartfelt desire to serve his or her country, and not the other way around. Does such a person exist?

I think so. I just haven't seen that person yet.

Well, the Alito hearings have opened today. The first day will bring nothing worth talking about; the Senators will all stake out their predictable positions--the Republicans claiming that anything negative said about the guy is someow an affront to the "dignity" of the process, and the Democrats warning Alito that if he doesn't answer his questions with candor that they'll vote against him (which most will probably do anyway)--and Alito will try to present himself as a reasonable moderate who is shocked--SHOCKED--that anyone could oppose him.

So, in that vein, let's review what we know about Scalito:


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Things just keep getting worse and worse for Geoffrey Fieger. After what appears to be a botched attempt to blackmail Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, he is being investigated for violations of Michigan ethics rules for attorneys, and now the feds want in on the act: they are now claiming that he laundered money and made illegal contributions to the John Edwards presidential campaign in 2004.


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I've been neglecting my blog for the last few days because of the hectic pace of my lifestyle this week, but there are a couple of things that I want to comment on.

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The Fieger-Cox scandal just keeps getting more and more sordid. The Oakland County prosecutor, who would have jurisdiction, has said that he is not going to charge Fieger with attempting to blackmail Attorney General Mike Cox into ending his investigation of Fieger's alleged illegal campaign donations. The prosecutor says he is "100% sure" that Fieger did attempt to blackmail Cox, but he doesn't have enough evidence.

The best piece of evidence in this case is some video tape.

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And now, more tales of hypocrisy, drama, and even some good old-fashioned fire and brimstone. And it's all true; trust me, I couldn't make this stuff up if I wanted to.


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Yesterday, after being pressed by reporters in Panama about growing evidence that the United States has been using torture (or outsourcing torture jobs to other countries), President Bush said, in as many words, "We do not torture."

Oh, really?


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Well, it's official: one of America's biggest media whores is coming to Michigan. Fred "God Hates Fags" Phelps is coming to Ann Arbor on November 19, reportedly to protest the Mendelssohn Theatre's presentation of "The Laramie Project", a play about the murder of Matthew Shepard. In reality, the reason for this hatefest is the same as it is every time Phelps comes to town: to get Phelps on TV. But in the past, the community has made this work for them, and I hope they can do so again.


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There have been a lot of calls for the resignation or outright firing of Karl Rove following the indictment of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby for covering up the misuse of classified information to attack one of the Bush administration's political opponents. Now, another reason has just been pointed out by Newsweek's Jonathon Alter: he might be incapable of doing the job because under Executive Order 12958, signed by President Clinton in 1995, he could—should—lose his security clearance. And without his security clearance, he wouldn't be able to do much as Deputy Chief of Staff.


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I said I wasn't going to let this go, and now the Democrats in the Senate have apparently adopted the same attitude. O glorious day! It's nice to see the Democrats in office finally start showing some cajones. As you are no doubt aware, the Senate Democrats forced a semi-rare closed session yesterday to pressure the GOP into doing its actual damn job related to the Iraq debacle. This left the Republicans floundering, flopping, and gasping like fish out of water. Seethed Bill Frist, "This is an affront to me personally. It's an affront to our leadership. It's an affront to the United States of America. And it is wrong."

Geez, Bill, maybe now you know how the rest of the country has felt for the last few years.


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It didn't even take 24 hours from Samuel Alito's nomination to the Supreme Court for my prediction of an about-face on the part of right-wingnuts to take place.

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Of all the days my internet connection could flake out, it had to be Friday. Curses. As a result I was unable to wish everyone a Merry Fitzmas, so I'm doing it now: Merry Fitzmas, everyone!

Okay, so we didn't get everything under the tree that we should have gotten: Karl "Turdblossom" Rove is still walking around loose (which, when you come to think of it, is somewhat appropriate with today being Halloween and all), no indictments for Cheney, and no direct implication of George II. But, we did get three things: Scooter's indictment, Scooter's subsequent resignation, and the news that the probe continues . . . meaning Fitzmas might extend into some time in the future.

I know the big news today is the Scalita nomination, but let's keep out collective eyes on the metaphorical ball, shall we? Honestly, I think Scalita's nomination is timed to distract everyone from the Scooter/Cheney problem and I am determined not to let the distraction overwhelm the problem.


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As I said at least once before, I hate hypocrisy. And, boy, are we getting a load of it today following the death of the Miers nomination.


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I wasn't going to post on the blog again so soon (it takes away from my time ogling photos of Ona Grauer) but it's big enough I thought it deserved some comment: Harriet Miers has withdrawn her acceptance of the nomination to the Supreme Court.

Gots to tell you, I have some mixed emotions on this one.


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It turns out Richard Sale wasn't up to his usual level of accuracy yesterday, but no matter; I've got it on pretty good authority that the Rove/Libby indictments will be filed today or tomorrow. There are conflicting reports on whether or not they will be announced today, but it's likely that at least some of them will. Some may remain sealed for the time being. One scenario that seems likely to me is reported by ThinkProgress.org: Fitzgerald got the indictments and is now giving the parties involved a chance to enter into a plea bargain by the end of the week. My understanding is that the grand jury is going to meet again Friday, so this makes some sense to me.

(UPDATE: A Fitzgerald spokesman now says that there will be no announcements before Friday. This leads me to believe that the ThinkProgress.org speculation is correct. From that and the numerous reports of Rove meeting with both his own lawyers and Fitz, it sounds like Turdblossom is looking to cut a deal. We'll find out if he does tomorrow.)


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CNN is now reporting that Karl "Turdblossom" Rove (Bush's name for him, not mine) and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby will have to wait at least one more day before finding out if they're going to have to pay their lawyers for a trial; apparently Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald isn't going to make any announcements today. Meanwhile, Raw Story claims Fitzgerald has asked the grand jury to indict the pair on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. He is also seeking an indictment against Libby for illegally outing Valerie Plame's secret CIA job. The story cites "lawyers close to the investigation" as the source.


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A few days ago I lamented how George W. Bush has made being a Republican into a shameful thing. Then, yesterday, I read Steven Shelton's blog about hypocrisy. It was a diatribe, really, about how awful and hypocritical the political Right is. At first, I was offended and very disappointed because I've known Steven for a considerable amount of time and he's usually pretty fair and even-handed. Then I thought about it. "Is this really how Republicans come across?" I asked myself. And then I realized that, yes, it is. From Bush to Tom Delay to Jack Abramoff to the really appalling comments made by Bill Bennett that aborting black babies would reduce the crime rate, Republicans are coming across as hypocritical, greedy, and downright evil. And what's worse is that when a Republican gets caught, the rest of the GOP reflexively jumps to his defense, even when the actions in question are indefensible. We gained control of the federal government and the governments of most states by promising to make government cleaner, leaner, and more responsible. Now with the biggest government in our history, the biggest debt in our history, and daily embarrassments from the bad apples in our ranks, we look like fools. Or, as Steven would say, hypocrites.


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For years, I've been the voice of conservatives in my world. I was in the campus Republicans at Michigan State (both undergrad and law school). I attended all of the GOP fundraisers I could. I advocated and defended every Republican position, and even individual Republicans themselves when they mis-stepped. (Yes, I even apologized for Newt Gingrich; he is only a human being, after all, and he did manage to accomplish quite a bit before he got himself in trouble with his own family.) But for the last four or five years, I've found it very, very difficult to be proud of my Republican roots.

Quite frankly, it's embarrassing to be a Republican these days.

It all started after George W. Bush was elected in 2000. Like all of my other Republican friends, I was outright giddy. I actually danced a jig (of sorts) at the campus Republicans election party. And I was honestly disgusted with the people who refused to stand behind the president after September 11, 2001. They were, I said, anti-American for being critical of our Commander in Chief in a moment of international crisis. When he announced that Iraq was a terrorist threat, I was on the bandwagon: we had to get these people who, Bush led me to believe, had been behind September 11.


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