A long piece on the relationship between Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) and convicted briber Vernon Jackson, from the Lexington Herald-Leader:
Vernon Lamar Jackson and William J. Jefferson and their wives spent a pleasant weekend in New York City in the fall of 2004. The Kentucky businessman and the Louisiana congressman watched U.S. Open tennis from an air-conditioned corporate box, attended The Lion King on Broadway and did a little shopping.
Those were the good old days.
Curiously, despite the calls for lobbying reform from Dennis Hastert and John Boehner, those seeking to rein in congressional earmarks are being punished. Gannett reviews the earmarks for Tennessee in next year’s federal budget. Rep. Jim Cooper (D-TN) did okay for his district, but says he could have done better if not for his votes for earmark reform.
Cooper’s 5th District also has 19 projects, but he thinks there would be more if he had not been so outspoken in his opposition to this method of distributing federal tax dollars. “In general, what they are trying to do is punish me without eliminating all my projects,” Cooper said.
He said he received warnings on the floor of the House during votes on proposals by Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., to remove some of these projects from bills.
Lobbying reform, GOP-style.
Karl Rove is still a fundraising draw deep in the heart of Texas. But you know what they say about familiarity breeding contempt:
“I think we actually like Karl a lot more now than we did when he was more active locally,” said Republican consultant Royal Masset.
Masset said there is a sense that Rove in Washington is remaining loyal to Bush while “fighting the good fight. He’s fighting budgets. He’s fighting wars. He’s doing conservative kinds of things.”
As a Texas consultant, Masset said, “There was a real sense of him being a total self-centered (person) who didn’t care about anybody. He would literally destroy people who tried to oppose him.”
Where to even start . . .
Practical question: If the concern is that Lieberman is going to drive up GOP turnout in Connecticut, thereby hurting Democratic congressional candidates, is casting the Lamont-Lieberman race as a crucial battle between the forces of darkness and light the best way to dampen Republican turnout?
Reader MF takes the same view as many TPM readers do (albeit more politely than some):
Sorry but with your and Atrios’ blog battle over Joe Momentum the real issue is being missed.
This is now an issue about the basis of the Democratic Party – if Lieberman gets re-elected as a Independent after loosing a Democratic Party primary and the Dems in the Senate welcome him back into their caucus like nothing has happened our Party is dead. The Dems in Washington will have said that the wishes of the States don’t matter and will be ignored when its handy and that there are 2 Parties, the one that lives in the States and the one in Washington and on this and all things Washington rules. Sometimes there are things that are more important than a majority. It doesn’t matter if he’s needed to get the 51 votes or not Lieberman has to be forced out of the Party.
If there is no Party discipline there is no Party – if there aren’t rules and regulations there isn’t a Party.
This whole mess is more important than Lieberman, the Dems in the Senate, and the nutmeg State.
Putting self above party at the expense of party should have consequences. But at what cost? I part ways with those wanting to enforce party discipline even as they admit it might cost Dems a Senate majority. As I have said before, a Democratic Senate with Lieberman in it far surpasses a GOP Senate without Lieberman.
Lebanese PM Siniora: “I think that if Israel acts wisely, this would enable us to transform the tragedy that was inflicted on Lebanon into an opportunity to move towards true peace.”
Pat Buchanan coughs up another xenophobic hairball, while anti-immigration counter-demonstraters in Riverside, N.J., show their true colors:
Opponents of a local law cracking down on illegal immigrants clashed on Sunday with residents chanting “go home” as both sides proclaimed their loyalty to the United States.
An estimated 300 to 400 people gathered outside the town hall to protest a recently passed ordinance that bans hiring or renting to illegal immigrants, who are accused of overburdening local services such as schools and hospitals without paying taxes.
The protesters, representing the largely Brazilian immigrant community of Riverside, were heckled by about 500 counter-demonstrators kept at bay by police on the other side of the town’s main intersection.
As immigration supporters accused the town’s council of racism, opponents chanted “USA, USA” and waved placards saying “Scram” and “Stop Illegal Immigration.” A passing pickup truck drew loud cheers by flying a Confederate flag with the motto “The South Will Rise Again.”
I like that last part. The South will rise again–in New Jersey?
Update: Apparently there was a secret pact between New Jersey and the Confederacy heretofore unknown to historians. More here.
An investigation is underway in Britain into whether the Blair government’s cooperation with U.S. spying on international banking transactions violated British and European law, The Guardian reports.
The Brits open an investigation into whether passing information about British banking transactions to the CIA is against British and European law. That and other news of the day in today’s Daily Muck.