A very bad week for ShrubCo.
Harriet Miers withdraws her name for consideration as Supreme Court Justice to replace Sandra Day O'Connor. Ostensibly this was to prevent the release of confidential Executive Branch documents and muddying up Executive privilege (never mind that her nomination itself arguably caused an issue with separation of powers). In reality, it was due to being cannibalised by other neo-Conservatives for her lack of adequate answers within the confirmation process coupled with her lack of credentials, and a perception of both contradictory views and not being enough of a fascist religious extremist. This has the potential to cause a fair few fractures -- or at least fissures -- in Conservative America, which has largely been successful due to its ideological unity and collective purpose. It also holds the worrying possibility of a candidate tailor-made for the love of the Religious Right, but for now I'm laughing.
Meanwhile, today is the deadline for Special Criminal Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald to bring charges of treason criminal charges against high-level members of the Bush administration for involvement in the Valerie Plame affair after a two-year investigation; if you have the attention span of a gnat or have been frying with your brain with Fox News, Plame was a CIA operative whose name was leaked in retaliation for her husband's article for contradicting administration claims (which were already known as false in the UK due to the dodgy dossier) about what was to become known as the Yellowcake forgery. Although I find it doubtful that Dubya himself didn't know about it, the chances that could be proven are close to nil, and the likely heads on the chopping block are Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby and presidential political adviser Karl Rove. Given that Fitzgerald has the option to ask for a grand jury extension, I think the best case scenario would be if Libby and Rove were indicted today and Fitzgerald received approval to keep VP Dick Cheney and others under continuing investigation for a second round of indictments; Bush would have to reconsider his decision to reneg on his public promise to fire anyone involved in the leak and Cheney would inevitably have to consider whether his position continues to be tenable and might resign in advance of being indicted later. Keep your fingers crossed and send thoughts of karma towards Pennsylvania Avenue.
Between these events, DeLay and others under investigation for corruption and/or fraud, three hurricanes with poor federal response, and the 2000th soldier killed in Iraq, I'd hate to be a power-mad narcissistic ex-cokehead President right about now.
Meanwhile, today is the deadline for Special Criminal Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald to bring charges of treason criminal charges against high-level members of the Bush administration for involvement in the Valerie Plame affair after a two-year investigation; if you have the attention span of a gnat or have been frying with your brain with Fox News, Plame was a CIA operative whose name was leaked in retaliation for her husband's article for contradicting administration claims (which were already known as false in the UK due to the dodgy dossier) about what was to become known as the Yellowcake forgery. Although I find it doubtful that Dubya himself didn't know about it, the chances that could be proven are close to nil, and the likely heads on the chopping block are Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby and presidential political adviser Karl Rove. Given that Fitzgerald has the option to ask for a grand jury extension, I think the best case scenario would be if Libby and Rove were indicted today and Fitzgerald received approval to keep VP Dick Cheney and others under continuing investigation for a second round of indictments; Bush would have to reconsider his decision to reneg on his public promise to fire anyone involved in the leak and Cheney would inevitably have to consider whether his position continues to be tenable and might resign in advance of being indicted later. Keep your fingers crossed and send thoughts of karma towards Pennsylvania Avenue.
Between these events, DeLay and others under investigation for corruption and/or fraud, three hurricanes with poor federal response, and the 2000th soldier killed in Iraq, I'd hate to be a power-mad narcissistic ex-cokehead President right about now.