Is Dick Cheney eligible for a Golden Duke? On the merits, you’d have to say, yes. But the rules are that the bad acts in question had to occur principally in 2007 or be first discovered in 2007. With Cheney, that makes it a harder case, but one reader has narrowed the focus.
Without prejudging the final decision on eligibility, I’d say this nomination in the category of “Outstanding Achievement in Corruption-based Chutzpah” mostly fits into the 2007 parameter:
I nominate VP Dick Cheney for having the audacity to claim that he was not part of the Executive Branch, and therefore not subject to any Executive Order signed by the President. Not only did he get away with this excuse for 4 years – since 2003 – he even tried to abolish the Information Security Oversight Office despite having one of the worst records in history regarding leaks of classified information.
This from an individual who still seeks to ensure that all communications (phone, e-mail, mail, etc.) between US citizens can be spied upon without any requirement of probable cause while simultaneously claiming “Executive Privilege” to avoid releasing his own correspondence or any other WH communications.
What better example of corruption and chutzpah, especially when you consider his active role in creating a Unitary Executive. Of course, [there’s also] the amount of time it took for the MSM to catch on to this after TPM revealed the shocking truth and the appalling response from the WH (Dana Perino’s statements were mind-blowingly bad). Never mind the 4 years this went unnoticed…
Let it be said that attempts at TPM flattery are unlikely to sway our fiercely independent contest judges.
I mentioned the other day that we added new poll trend charts from Pollster.com at TPM Election Central. Today we added a couple of Intrade widgets as well, one for each party’s nomination, so that readers can follow the prediction markets.
At the moment, Hillary is leading the Democratic field at a price of about 62 (which equates to a 62% chance of winning). On the GOP side, Rudy is at about 41. Both are down from their highs.
Scroll down the Election Central home page and you’ll find the Intrade widgets in the middle column, below the Pollster.com widgets.
The Justice Department’s kooky cult terrorism case against the “Liberty 7” in Miami ends in one acquittal and six mistrials.
Ahh, Iowa… where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average. Thursday was the final Democratic presidential debate before the January 3rd Iowa caucuses. Which means, you guessed it – panderfest end-of-the-year blowout sale! Everything must go!
Inspector general is quickly becoming the most investigated job in the Bush Administration. The Iraq IG alone is facing four of them–including a just revealed federal grand jury inquiry.
Last chance to submit your nomination for the Golden Duke award.
Categories are:
Best Testimonial Trainwreck
Outstanding Achievement in Improbable Forgetfulness
Outstanding Achievement in Corruption-based Chutzpah
Best Scandal — Local Venue
Best Scandal — Sex and Generalized Carnality
Best Scandal — General Interest
As we’ve shown you over the last few days, readers are having fun with this. So take a second to send us your entry.
DC lawyer Bob Bennett is representing the CIA’s Jose Rodriguez in the torture tapes case.
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour as VP on a Giuliani ticket?
John Tanner steps down as head of the Justice Department’s voting section.
You can see a sampling of Paul Kiel’s ongoing coverage of Tanner’s controversial tenure at TPMmuckraker, where Paul has been on the case since last spring.