Palin, Fundraising Firm Part Ways

Sarah Palin has had some trouble coordinating her Alaska staff

Chris Cillizza
The Fix
The Washington Post
April 24, 2009

Campaign Solutions, a Republican consulting firm advising Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s political action committee, has parted ways with the former Republican vice presidential nominee.

The group had been working with the Palin operation to raise money for SarahPAC but decided to step aside after a series of strategic and philosophic differences, according to a source familiar with the decision.

Campaign Solutions head Becki Donatelli had long been associated with the fundraising efforts of Arizona Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and got to know Palin during last year’s presidential campaign.

When Palin decided to set up a PAC earlier this year as a first step toward solidifying her role on the national stage and potentially positioning herself for a 2012 presidential run, Donatelli’s firm was the obvious choice to help raise money for the fledgling effort.

“When the Governor gave Kristan Cole permission to launch a legal expense fund, she had one request: keep it in Alaska. Campaign Solutions is not based in Alaska,” said SarahPAC spokesperson Meghan Stapleton. We appreciate Donatelli’s good work for us, but as we have been saying all along, the Governor is focused on Alaska and Alaskans.”

Pam Pryor, the DC-based spokeswoman for SarahPAC, will stay on in her current role.

SarahPAC formally incorporated in late January but is not required to file a report detailing its contributions and expenditures until the end of June.

The parting of ways between Palin and Campaign Solutions is the latest sign of a divide between the governor’s official Alaska staff and those advising her on the national level. Palin has struggled badly to balance those competing interests; she recently agreed to and then canceled an appearance at a fundraiser to benefit the Republican House and Senate campaign committees.

The news of the latest problem in Palin’s political world comes on the same day that the Alaska governorhttp://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/eye-on-2012/www.thealaskafundtrust.com, an official legal fund designed to “defend the integrity of the Alaska Governor’s Office from an onslaught of political attacks launched against current Governor Sarah Palin, the First Family, and state-employed colleagues,” according to a mission statement on the organization’s Web site.

It also comes less than 24 hours after Levi Johnston, the former fiancee of her daughter, Bristol, appeared on CNN’s “Larry King Live” to discuss his relationship with the Palins.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/eye-on-2012/palin-fundraising-firm-part-wa.html

© Copyright 1996-2009 The Washington Post Company

New GOP Meme: “Ends Justify The Means” When It Comes to Torture

Mark Nickolas
Managing Editor, PoliticalBase.com
April 22, 2009

Maybe I’m missing something, but why is no one — neither the media nor the Democrats — pushing back on Dick Cheney’s latest rant that torture produced intelligence that saved American lives, simply pointing out that America’s moral and legal code never embraces an “ends justify the means” approach? Isn’t that the most basic element of our own criminal justice system and why we have constitutional rights and rules of evidence to protect us?

If not, why not allow domestic eavesdropping on all of us without any oversight so that our government could better determine who was about to commit a heinous crime? Why not allow the police to bust into every home in drug-infested neighborhoods to search and interrogate since we clearly want to find the drugs and drug dealers before they’re allowed on the streets?

It shocks me that Cheney, and the GOP talking heads, are in full force pushing the meme that torture saved us from another attack without any simple and sensible response that, in America, the ends never justify the means when it comes to violating the law and constitutional rights. We’ve let many dangerous criminals walk out of courtrooms as free men because of botched prosecutions.

Those are our values. Or so I thought…

Copyright 2008, Whiskey Media

Sarah Palin Blames Bloggers

The lies of the blogosphere

Shannyn Moore
Just a girl from Homer.
The Huffington Post
April 22, 2009

In an interview with the Juneau Empire, Governor Sarah Palin blamed the lies of the blogosphere and e-mails from members of the public (also known as constituent voices) for the defeat of Wayne Anthony Ross for Attorney General.

The vote was the first in state history to defeat an AG appointee and went down 35-23 last Thursday. Not only was Ross the first AG to not be confirmed, according to Legislative Research Services, it was the first time in state history a head of a state agency has failed to be confirmed by the Legislature. At the time of the vote, Palin was pandering, attending an anti-choice fundraiser in Indiana.

“A great problem was public lies were told about Mr. Ross,” Palin told the Juneau Empire.

The one example she cited was “he being engaged in a machine gun shoot on somebody’s property down in Seward, and there were witnesses to such a thing, and he’d never been there,” she said. “That’s just one example.”

It is true the Alaska blogosphere was rabid about the nomination of Wayne Anthony Ross. The example she sited DOES NOT EXIST.

Palin was referring to a fundraiser held by Congressman Don Young last August in Seward, Alaska. It was the second such fundraiser that included machine guns, targets, dry bombs, turkey, potato salad and s’mores. A Seward resident mentioned the swans in the swamp not being quite the same. Wayne Anthony Ross’s name was not mentioned. This allegation was never brought up during the judiciary process.

Feeling like an endangered species, Alaska progressives are tight. The Alaska Bloggers are tighter. Right after the nomination of Sarah Palin for VP, Wasilla blogger, musician, professor, and all around renaissance man, Phil Munger, threw a party at his home-the first of many. Secrecies were sworn; we were not alone in front of our computers-we had each other; Mudflats, Immoral Minority, Writing Raven, Celtic Diva, Progressive Alaska, Alaska Report, What Do I Know, and myself, Just a Girl From Homer. Documentary crews interviewed us and protected anonymous identities at the time.

What we were going up against was so much bigger than any one of us. We’d email or call each other daily. We’d comment on each other’s blogs. We shared a community and a desire to make Alaska better. We told each other when we were wrong.

As a group, we’re like herding cats. But Sarah Palin is right; we made a difference. As proud as I am of my fellow Alaskan activists, we didn’t defeat her attorney general nomination. She did. Sarah Palin chose an unqualified candidate and then left him to sink his own ship.

The collective effort to defeat W.A.R. was fierce.

The Leah Burton letter went viral. Her testimony of Ross’s statement “If you can’t rape your wife, who are you gonna rape?” stood firm. It went into the record and she held up under cross examination by the legislators.

The Alaska Federation of Natives has considered Ross an enemy for decades. He had no defense.

His vile phobic reaction to the rights of gay and lesbian Alaskans, likening them to lima beans, demonstrated he was clearly not qualified for the job. When given the opportunity to repudiate unambiguous bigoted anti-gay statements, Ross refused.

Wayne Anthony Ross lied to the legislature in the last hours before his nomination and got caught. Sean Cockerham, reporter for the Anchorage Daily News, posted the tape of Ross which contradicted his written denial; we bloggers reported it, hardly making it our fault.

I was waiting to hear who would be faulted for the largest political defeat in Alaska history, short of an election. Who would Sarah blame? Mudflats, Diva and I speculated last Thursday at a “victory dinner.” We knew it wouldn’t be W.A.R. or herself.

When it comes to taking responsibility for her failures, Sarah Palin is George W. Bush with lipstick; nothing is ever her fault.

Troopergate was her brother-in-law’s fault. Walt Monegan was a rogue commissioner. Her pro-Pebble Mine stance during a contentious election was the fault of a “Governor’s hat” wardrobe malfunction. Her criticisms when her witch hunting, governor-anointing pastor, Pastor Muthee, was exposed, were the fault of people who hate Jesus. Her failed interviews were Katie Couric’s and Charlie Gibson’s fault. Her exorbitant wardrobe was the RNC’s fault. Her charging the state per diem to sleep in her own bed and flying her family around the country at state expense weren’t her fault. Her daughter’s problems are Levi’s fault. Her VP political loss was John McCain’s fault. Her image problems are Tina Fey’s fault. Turkeygate was the cameraman’s fault. Her policy on aerial wolf hunting was Ashley Judd’s and Outsiders’ fault. The empty Juneau Senate seat wasn’t on her, it was the Senate Democrats’ fault.

Whose fault was it that W.A.R. was rejected?
Whose fault was it that your bills failed in Juneau?
Whose fault was it that you didn’t sign SB89 supporting WWII troops?
Whose fault was it rural Alaska was damn near starving this winter?

The Alaska bloggers?

No, Governor Palin, your losses are your fault

Copyright 2009 HuffingtonPost.com

As Alaska Turns…The Newest Palin Rumor

Syrin’s Blog
syrin.vox.com
April 20, 2009

This just floated in from the halls of Juneau…

“…since Palin has already appointed Corrections Commissioner Joe Schmidt as the 3rd in line, she is planning on announcing (Lt. Governor) Sean Parnell for AG and Joe will be Lt. Gov….That may fall under things you already know…but thought it worth the pass off…“

Wow. I ran this past a few people fresh from session and they said it was definitely floating out there.

Captain Zero for AG!

For all the buttons worn by both Republican and Democratic legislators that say “Where’s Sarah?” there should be billboards asking “Where’s Sean?”

During the Governor’s unholy campaign for VP, Sean Parnell, the current Governor Light, was MIA. I called his office often and would be told he was on a plane. I’m quite sure it took off at 8a.m. and circled until 5p.m.

Joe Schmidt? While serving as Department of Corrections Chief, he had a vote of no confidence from the Alaska Correctional Officers Association (ACOA) last April. It was the first time such a vote had ever come up with “No Confidence.” ACOA alleged Schmidt had cut positions to dangerously low levels in the prisons and covered up medical issues in the jails. Specifically, the spread of a contagious bacterial infection, MRSA, among prisoners and even guards. Neat guy to work for.

Another possibility? Joe and Sarah attended Wasilla High School together. Yes, another WHS alum appointment. This should make the reunions easier. Reminds me of Franci Havemeister’s appointment to the State Division of Agriculture. She cited her childhood love of cows as one of her qualifications for running the roughly $2 million agency. I think it actually may have been her Wasilla Warrior status.

Another possibility? Joe and Sarah went to Wasilla High School together. Celtic Diva’s sources report Joe Schmidt has bragged they were sweeties…hmmm…AWKWARD!

Sean Parnell as AG? Well, how will he handle State issues with the oil companies? He did work for Conoco Phillips from 2000 to 2003. What about issues regarding the Governor? They are pretty tight. When it comes to laws the Governor is trying to pass like the Papa Pilgram Protection Act (Parental Consent for Abortion), is he going to protect the rights of privacy for young Alaskan women (2 last year) or will he call in the Uterus Police?

Lots of questions for a little, itty, bitty rumor….

http://syrin.vox.com/library/post/as-alaska-turnsthe-newest-palin-rumor.html
Vox © 2003-2008 Six Apart, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

Bush Should Be Deposed In Lawsuit Over Presidential Library, Judge Rules

George W. Bush should be deposed

Nick Sabloff
The Huffington Post
April 17, 2009

DALLAS — A judge has ruled that former President George W. Bush should be deposed in a lawsuit challenging the site of his proposed presidential library.

Bush’s attorneys were working Friday on an appeal that would trigger an immediate stay of state District Judge Martin Hoffman’s ruling.

The library is to be built on the Southern Methodist University campus. Two former condominium owners are suing, claiming SMU bullied them into selling their property without disclosing plans for it.

Attorneys for the property owners want to know whether SMU officials told Bush of their plans.

The plaintiffs have obtained statements from top SMU officials and former White House counsel Harriet Miers, who answered questions under oath for hours.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/17/bush-should-be-deposed-in_n_188521.html

Copyright © 2009 HuffingtonPost.com, Inc.

Is torture really over?

Without a hard look at the Bush administration’s torture program, the United States could be condemned to repeat it, no matter what President Obama says.

Dick Cheney in wheelchair.

Mark Benjamin
Salon.com
April 17, 2009

In his statement announcing the release of the Bush administration’s torture memos Thursday, President Barack Obama ruled out prosecuting whoever was in the room during the CIA’s “enhanced interrogation” sessions. “In releasing these memos, it is our intention to assure those who carried out their duties relying in good faith upon legal advice from the Department of Justice that they will not be subject to prosecution,” he said.

Obama made it clear he is generally ready to move on from the whole issue. So don’t expect David Addington, former counsel to Vice President Dick Cheney and self-appointed interrogation expert, to be hauled into court anytime soon. “We have been through a dark and painful chapter in our history,” Obama said. “But at a time of great challenges and disturbing disunity, nothing will be gained by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past.”

In other words, the president turned the page. No prosecutions at any level, apparently. Based on Obama’s move-on tone, there may not even be an independent commission to dig into this issue (though the administration won’t formally rule that out for now — an internal Justice Department review of the lawyers who authorized the torture is still ongoing). “We have taken steps to ensure that the actions described within them never take place again,” Obama said. See — he stopped the torture program. It’s all fixed. End of story.

Another major issue is lingering, however. Did the torture “work”?

Former Bush administration officials, of course, continue to insist that they got a lot of good intelligence from forcing water into people’s noses. Politico quoted one unnamed ex-Bush aide Thursday who blasted the decision. “It’s damaging because these are techniques that work, and by Obama’s action today, we are telling the terrorists what they are,” the official said. “We have laid it all out for our enemies. This is totally unnecessary. … Publicizing the techniques does grave damage to our national security by ensuring they can never be used again — even in a ticking-time-bomb scenario where thousands or even millions of American lives are at stake.”

Cheney went on CNN last month to specifically defend the United States’ organized torture program — which Cheney says was not torture: “I think those programs were absolutely essential to the success we enjoy, of being able to collect the intelligence that let us defeat all further attempts to launch attacks against the United States since 9/11,” he said. “I think it’s a great success story. It was done legally. It was done in accordance with our constitutional practices and principles.”

There were no professional interrogators involved in the creation of the CIA’s torture program. The pros would likely have balked, because they unanimously think torture is stupid and ineffective: People will tell you whatever they think will make you stop the treatment, never mind what the truth is. Those pros also chuckle at the thought of torture as an effective intelligence-gathering tool. News reports have seriously questioned the value of intelligence gathered through torture of suspected al-Qaida operatives like Abu Zubaydah.

So who is right? Is Dick Cheney Jack Bauer, or something more akin to an evil Col. Klink?

Without a rigorous investigation into the alleged efficacy of U.S. torture, we’ll never know. A torture commission would have looked into this very issue. With Obama’s blessing, Congress could try to appoint a nonpartisan group of experts to carefully evaluate whether the torture program was an effective way to gather valuable intelligence or, as interrogators suspect, simply made desperate prisoners say whatever they had to say to make the pain stop, yielding a few gems among a flow of muck. But Obama hasn’t advocated a commission or any other vehicle to look into that, and today seems disinclined to do anything other than move on.

There are some indications that other Democrats are falling into line on ditching the commission idea, too. Rhode Island Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse, a leading proponent of a commission, released a statement Thursday applauding the Obama administration for releasing the memos. Whitehouse didn’t mention a commission that would look into whether torture worked. He referred only to an ongoing, and mostly secret, investigation of unknown scope by the Senate Intelligence Committee.

But while Obama has turned the page, many others haven’t — including the people, and their allies, who think waterboarding was a good idea. Without a commission, if Mitt Romney (the man who pledged to double the size of the prison at Guantánamo) is president in 2013 — or 2017 — we could start torturing all over again.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2009/04/17/torture/

Copyright ©2009 Salon Media Group, Inc.

G.O.P.: R.I.P.

G.O.P.: R.I.P.

Steve Weber
The Huffington Post
April 10, 2009

So there it stands: a naked, pigeon-chested old man, random strands of white hair on its boney shoulders; its swollen-knuckled hands clasped over its dead genitals, looking at once forlorn and menacing, shivering with self-loathing and xenophobia, raging pathetically at its timely and appropriate defeat at the hands of Reason.

Ladies and gentlemen: The Republican Party.

With every passing day, the people who stubbornly, maddeningly cling to an obsolete ideal and who stand in the way of the cultural advancement of this country, this America, spew the base reality of their caustic ideology into the air.

The Republican Party is like a dying tyrant, mad with syphilis, ironically like that very Stalin they would accuse their enemies of associating with. How else to account for their desperation to resurrect the wraith of Joseph McCarthy; the hammy and baffling utterances from high level party officials like Boehner and McConnell; the blatant desire on their part to let the country fail out of sheer resentment; the wanton sedition of Conservative shit-stirrers ranging from the quasi Madame Defarge Michele Bachmann to the porcine, pill-popping porcine propagandist Rush Limbaugh?

It is an all out assault on reason, on progress, on truth. What is the difference between the Republican Party and, say, the Taliban? A rogue by any other name would smell as rank. Their frantic accusations all churned out in a futile effort to explain their current pariah status is as pathetic and draconian as stoning a woman in the street.

I feel I must apologize for my own particularly febrile anger. It’s unseemly and ugly. But finally, the enemy is clearly outlined. We can see it for what it is and what it always has been. It exists not in myth but in a reality which has plagued humanity for millennia: utter, hateful ignorance born from a fear of truth, indeed a fear of life itself; a mad and impotent pursuit of some long-forgotten ecstasy having spawned generations of paranoid power addicts who chase the past at the expense of the future, cloaking their real intentions in perfumed patriotism and the seductive swoon of religion.

It’s so fitting that we are living in an age where beheadings, torture, piracy and now unbridled power mongering are all common place. Perhaps that element of humanity is going back into hibernation and is snapping at any and everything before its eyes finally close. In our lifetime the choice has never been so stark.

Don’t be intimidated by that naked, pigeon-chested old man. His party’s over.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steven-weber/gop-rip_b_185447.html

Copyright 2009 HuffingtonPost.com

GOP Leadership Hammers Obama Over Policies They Support

Boehner Hammered

Sam Stein
The Huffington Post
April 9, 2009

Some progressive House Democrats were quoted criticizing President Obama’s approach to Afghanistan and Iraq on Thursday, and perhaps not surprisingly, Republicans in Congress jumped all over it.

“Folks — just wanted to make sure you didn’t miss this story in this morning’s Wall Street Journal,” wrote a GOP leadership aide in a morning email blast to reporters. The aide highlighted what is by far the most damning quote: Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) calling Obama’s war plan “embarrassingly naïve.”

It would make for a sharp political attack if it weren’t for the fact that GOP leadership in the House actually supports Obama’s plans. Take for example, this quote from Minority Leader John Boehner just two weeks ago:

“The challenge of bringing stability to Afghanistan is enormously complex, but our efforts to defeat Al Qaeda and the Taliban are vital to the security of the American people. I support the strategy the President unveiled today because it reflects the advice of our commanders on the ground. I hope he will continue to honor their counsel because we should not allow political considerations here at home to trump the importance of achieving success in the region. Moving forward, we must ensure this strategy is implemented in a manner that is both flexible and reflective of the situation on the ground, and we must aggressively monitor its progress.”

Or how about this one from Minority Whip Eric Cantor, who wrote in the Washington Times yesterday: “The GOP has the obligation to be the honest opposition. When we believe the president is correct — for example, in his handling of Iraq policy — we will stand with him.”

Then there is the 2008 Republican presidential candidate, John McCain, who has endorsed the approach the administration has taken to both Iraq and Afghanistan.

So, if the two highest-ranking Republicans in the House, as well as the Republican presidential candidate from the last cycle, all support components of the president’s foreign policy, why would aides to these very leaders be highlighting quotes calling that policy naive? Would that not also be an indictment of their judgment on Iraq and Afghanistan?

“The point of emailing this around is to highlight the divisions President Obama will face within his own party, which — in my opinion — is a woefully under-covered story thus far,” explained the aide behind the email.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/09/gop-leadership-hammers-ob_n_185109.htm

Copyright 2009 HuffingtonPost.coml

RUDY’S FIRM IN DECLINE

Rudy '9/11 Tourette's' Giuliani

MAGGIE HABERMAN and DAVID SEIFMAN
New York Post
April 4, 2009

Rudy Giuliani’s once-thriving consulting firm is on the ropes, heavily pared down after his aborted presidential run last year, several sources told The Post.

The firm’s client list has thinned out in the past few years, as have partner salaries, the sources said. Some partners have left, and some support staffers let go.

The former mayor himself is infrequently there, the sources said, adding that he’s still working the speaker’s circuit hard and making international trips. He spends much of his time at his law firm, Bracewell and Giuliani.

Giuliani Partners insisted that the reduction in salaries was “not true” and denied that the company is in peril.

The partnership claimed the ex-mayor is spending many days at the firm and that the company is now back to its original model of having fewer — but higher-priced — clients.

Officials said their international clients are in India, Japan and Qatar and that the security and safety division of the firm has grown.

“Rudy’s spending more time than ever at the company helping us to reposition our business, and like every prudent business in this economy, we’re doing everything we can to reduce costs and we are gaining new clients,” said Giuliani adviser Anthony Carbonetti.

The firm declined to name its clients or say how many it has.

The fate of Giuliani Partners is a subject of major discussion in political circles, at a time when the former mayor has told Republican leaders he’s mulling a run for governor.

Privately, several Giuliani boosters noted the bad economy is impacting every consulting firm. Some said not having a raft of new clients could be helpful should he run for statewide office — since his business dealings become fodder for opposition research during the presidential run.

Giuliani built a major international brand in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

But his costly presidential run flamed out in the Florida primary in January 2008, and the firm has never reverted back to its old form.

The firm is down to about 30 employees from the 60 it had about two years ago, officials said. They acknowledged that the number includes support staff, but insisted it’s more on par with how the company looked when it was first founded.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/04042009/news/regionalnews/rudys_firm_in_decline_162861.htm

Copyright 2009 NYP Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved.

America has not forgotten

Brilliant at Breakfast
brilliantatbreakfast.blogspot.com
Saturday, April 04, 2009

Despite the best efforts of Republican guests on cable news shows to rewrite history to erase the Bush years so that the Presidency passed directly from Bill Clinton to Barack Obama, with the 9/11 attacks taking place on Clinton’s watch and the economic collapse on Obama’s, it seems that America’s people have not forgotten who ran things for the last eight years:

Neither George W. Bush’s deliberate silence about the Obama administration nor Dick Cheney’s ready criticism of it appear to have altered U.S. public perceptions about either man. The former president and former vice president are each viewed unfavorably by 63% of Americans, very similar to where they stood with the public in their final White House years.

The last reading on Bush’s favorability that Gallup recorded during his presidency came in a Jan. 9-11, 2009, survey. At that time, 40% of Americans viewed him favorably and 59% unfavorably. However, this represented an unusual spurt in positive feelings toward Bush, possibly due to changes in media coverage of the embattled president as his term ended, or because of Americans’ generally buoyant mood leading up to Inauguration Day. (Barack Obama’s favorable reading in the same survey was also higher than in previous and subsequent polling.)

[snip]

Despite Bush’s seemingly “post-partisan” stance toward the new president, Democrats’ reactions to Bush remain overwhelmingly negative. Only 10% have a favorable view of him and 89% an unfavorable view, little different from their views of him in August of last year — at the height of the rancorous election season.

Perhaps it’s because Americans aren’t as enamored of “post-partisanship” as the media (and Gallup, apparently) want to believe — not when it results in the kind of utter nonsense we’ve seen coming out of Republicans this year. Americans did not reject “partisanship” at the polls last November, they rejected the Republican policies of endless war and unlimited shoveling of working- and middle-class cash into the pockets of people who already have more money than they, their children, and their grandchildren could spend in a dozen lifetimes.

For nearly three decades, we tried it their way — and it has been a miserable failure. The Republicans may have decided they wanted to end both the Great Society and the New Deal, and Americans bought it because they were fat and happy as a result of these programs. But now we have seen what happens when you gut the middle class and tell them that the upper class will “trickle down” a few bucks upon them if you just give them enough. And last November, this country successfully battled its Fear of a Black Planet and elected a man that the opposition had painted as a secret Muslim, a terrorist, and everything else you can name — just to get out from under these disastrous Republican policies.

George W. Bush can remain silent until the day he dies, and until Americans can feel confident in their future again, we will remember who it was that did this to us.
http://brilliantatbreakfast.blogspot.com/

Copyright 2009 brilliantatbreakfast.blogspot.com