Watergate Redux

This came as a Scooty Libby to me,  I had forgotten that both Hillary Clinton (House) and Fred Thompson(Senate) had both worked as staff lawyers on Watergate.   As they are potential rivals for the presidency, a comparison their Watergate careers is at least interesting.

Thompson is reported to have authored the key question of Watergate:

He was responsible for Baker’s asking one of the questions that is said to have led directly to the downfall of President Richard Nixon—”What did the President know, and when did he know it?”

In contrast, Mrs. Clinton Watergate performance seems less than distinguished . Clarice Feldman, the sharp tack. at American Thinker, links to  Sigmund, Carl and Alfred:

Jerry Zeifman was the Democrats’ general counsel chief of staff of the House Judiciary Committee during the Watergate investigation. In a WSJ piece, reviewed and summarized Hilary Clinton’s performance as a staff member:

Hillary Clinton violated House and committee rules by disclosing confidential information to unauthorized persons.

More than a few of the legal procedures she recommended were ethically flawed.

In one written legal memorandum, she advocated denying President Nixon representation by counsel.

Ms Clinton proposed that the committee should neither 1) hold any hearings with or take the depositions of any live witnesses, nor 2) conduct any original investigation of Watergate, bribery, tax evasion, or any other possible impeachable offense of President Nixon. Instead, the committee should rely on prior investigations conducted by other committees and agencies.

Ms Clinton also advocated that the official rules of the House be amended to deny members of the committee the right to question witnesses.

Jerry Zeifman decided that he could not recommend her for any position of public or private trust.

Thompson has spent a good portion of his career battling for justice and fighting power.   In stark contrast, Mrs. Clinton has spent her time fighting justice and amassing personal power

Last, what you have to like about Fred is that he looks and sounds like a president. video.  as opposed to Mrs Clinton who only sounds like a socialist, video.

McQ, yesterday does as good a job as anyone showing the split amongst the Democrats over Iraq.

Rep. Obey: “We’re trying to use the supplemental to end the war. But you can’t end the war if you vote against the supplemental. It’s time these idiot liberals understand that.”

[…]

“Liberal groups are jumping around without knowing what the hell is in the bill.”

[…]

“We don’t have the votes to pass [Rep. Lee’s Amendment]. We couldn’t even get the votes to pass a nonbinding resolution one week ago. How the hell do you think we’re going to get the votes to cut off the war?”

[…]

“I’m the sponsor of the bill that’s going to be on floor. And that bill ends the war. If that’s not good enough for you you’re smoking something illegal…

[…]

“You’ve got your facts screwed up … we can’t get the votes! You see a magic wand in my pocket? How the hell we going to get the votes for it? We ain’t got the votes for it. We do have the votes if you guys quit screwing it up.”

Nah … the Democrats aren’t split. No frustration evident there. Hello, netroots, are you listening?

Well, let’s hope they’re not… I suppose this is a matter of perspective, but it amuses me no end that Obey doesn’t consider himself a liberal… apparently his voting record notwithstanding.

McQ says:

I’ve been claiming, in the face of polls that supposedly show overwhelming opposition to the war in Iraq that, in fact, the opposition, for the most part, is mostly concerned with the way it has been managed. Success will change that.

Well, Bruce, I’m not sure we can say that, where the Democrats are concerned. You know as well as anyone, that the polls tend to lean to the far left anyway. Certainly, what objection exists among the center and right are with regards to management. But that’s hardly unanimous, or even a majority. But amongst the Democrats, it is all rabid drooling, ‘cut and run’ anti-war at any cost. And Obey is one of these.

The difference is, and the reason for Obey’s outburst, is that he’s been exposed to the reality of the situation. His idealism, such as it is, simply won’t stand up to that reality. He’s right; the Democrats simply don’t have the votes. And it must be a bitch learning that one the hard way as he apparently has.
The reason that the Democrats don’t have the votes is because nobody, save the extreme left, likes the cut and run nonsense the Democrats are pushing.
There’s a lot of being made over Obey apologizing, indeed, groveling to the woman to whom he’d laid out the facts. But as Michelle points out, the door slam in the woman’s face was something that I would not consider exactly apologetic.
Obey’s tantrum contains many things. most importantly, it contains all warning to the Democrats. Drop the cut and run, or pay for it at the next several elections.

Addendum:  (David L)  From Red State:

Finally, with :38 remaining in the clip David Obey tells the moonbats to “go f*** with somebody else.” As Rush Limbaugh said today, “you created these kooks, you deal with them.”

* The Music: Boston’s first. Given the events of the day, what else?
* Been an interesting day for readership.  This blog got several hundred hits, from sites in the United Kingdom, all night long.  Apparently people never sleep over there, that are interested in the global warming myth.

* While I find myself mildly encouraged by the DC circuit ruling, as regards the second amendment, today, I will remind you that the argument is far from over.  There are several such rulings, over the years, about various topics, that have been utterly ignored… the Beck decision, leaps to mind.

* It interests me, how the lefties, in their blindness have decided to try to dump on Fox News.  Clearly, their biggest problem is that there is one news organization that doesn’t end over forwards for the left.. Let all the usual suspects wail and moan, that still leaves the one network not biased toward liberals in the lead position by a wide margin…. indeed; fox news has more viewers, then the Democrats have voters. The bottom line here is, that what we have in the democrats is a bunch of gutless wonders who won’t show up unless they have their fellow travelers in the press fawning all over them.  They know Fox won’t do that, so they won’t show.  Any amount of resistance to the leftist mantra cannot be tolerated, so they don’t show up.

Any questions?
* It’s supposed to be 50° here, tomorrow.  It’ll be interesting to see how that quick amount of plays out on my roof.

* Speaking of roofs, Forbes is saying the net worth of American households is through the proverbial one.  Of course, it all comes down to the Reaganesque tax cuts.  Letting people keep more of what they earn.  The evidence is there, friends. But you know the n’t going to say anything about this, because reporting that might let people know how goodthe economy… and their pocketbook, is doing under a Republican President. And they cannot allow Hillary to lose.

ATKINSON, N.H. —AP- Brad Delp, the lead singer for the band Boston, was found dead Friday in his home in southern New Hampshire. He was 55. Atkinson police responded to a call for help at 1:20 p.m. and found Delp dead. Police Lt. William Baldwin said in a statement the death was “untimely” and that there was no indication of foul play.

Sad. Back when they played here in 1978, when they were touring, promoting “Don’t look Back”, I had an opportunity to meet with some of the band.  Never did meet Delp, though. Luck of the draw, I guess…  Sad, because as I understand it, he was as the website says one of the nicest guys on the planet.

Talented, as well.

If you look closely you’ll notice that I didn’t say “lead vocalist” I merely said “vocalist”.  There’s a reason for that; he did all their vocals all the harmonies.  All the leads.  All of it. Really quite something , given the technology of the time, and given that their first album, arguably their best, was recorded in the studio built in Tom Sholz’ basement. (Yes, that’s what Foxglove Studios was, gang)

In terms of how that studio performance translated into a live performance, I can only speak for the one concert of theirs that I attended; they covered the recordings surprisingly well.

I was not a fan of the band the way some folks live and breathe a particular band.  Like most people of the time, I have their first two albums committed to memory ; Given the number of sales that they made you can hardly avoid it, particularly in the business I was in at the time. Their later albums, seemed lackluster by comparison.  Which is sad because taken in their own light, the later albums were actually quite good.

But even with that slight detachment, I can’t help but feel a bit of loss, this evening.  Perhaps, it’s because they were such a large part of the musical scene, back in the day.  And thus, part of my history, too.  So it was with so much of America , that there was hardly a household in the ‘states that did not copy of that least the first album stuffed into a record cabinet, someplace.
Boston’s website has a nice tribute up.

55? Too early, man, way too early.
If I remember rightly, Delp was a vegetarian.  It wouldn’t surprise me much, if that had something to do with this untimely demise .  It wouldn’t be the first time it’s happened.  Anyone remember Jim Henson, for example? Cause of death will not be released until Monday; I suppose we’ll all find out what the story was, then.

Not that it’ll help much.

Addendum:

Added comments from Captain Ed, and from Right Celebrity 

Hume:

  House Democrats want to force the Pentagon to shut down the Guantanamo Bay detention camp and bring the terror suspects housed there to the U.S. The Politico newspaper reports the effort is being led by Virginia Democrat Jim Moran, who wants the 385 suspects in custody to be either released, tried or moved to military brigs along the East Coast.

Moran wants to cut funding for the facility by the end of the summer of 2008. A senior administration official responded by saying: “Where do Democrats believe we should keep Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the 9/11 plot? Which American city will they choose to place America’s most wanted terrorists?”

And isn’t that the whole point?

I’ve got an idea to demonstrate it. Let’s ship them to whatever city the DNC will be held in. Save the terrorists on travel expense.

Is there a market for Chuck Hagel as a presidential candidate in the Republican Party? Short answer: No

Scott Johnson, Powerline.

In stunning news the D.C. Circuit Court actually read the Constitutiion of the United States, and after so many long years found the Second Amendment, link:

To summarize, we conclude that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear arms. That right existed prior to the formation of the new government under the Constitution and was premised on the private use of arms for activities such as hunting and self-defense, the latter being understood as resistance to either private lawlessness or the depredations of a tyrannical government (or a threat from abroad).

The D.C. Circuit affirmed the individual model of rights rather than the Soviet style collective.  Glenn Reynolds. 

La Shawn  Barber is thrilled.  Let freedom ring.

… starts getting interesting, that is.

Former Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker (R-Tenn.) is contacting powerbrokers in the Republican Party to build support for a 2008 presidential campaign by his one-time protégé, former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.).

Baker, who Wednesday made a visit to the Senate, was asked by several Republicans about his involvement on Thompson’s behalf.

“He said, ‘I am making a few calls and I think it’s a great idea,'” said one Senate Republican who heard Baker discuss his efforts to advance Thompson’s prospects.
…

I said a few weeks back that nobody had caught my interest yet, much less my support. The idea of Thompson running has caught my interest. 

Apparently the smoking gun has been found for Bill Richardson’s candicacy.   Richardson has busy hands and some women, rightfully, find it annoying.  Then that might make a Richardson/Edwards ticket a natural.

Not to defend Richardson, but as democrats go, Richardson’s offense is pretty minor.   It is neither rape nor kidnapping.

On Talk to Action, Frederick Clarkson has his knickers in a twist over very rare anti-abortion violence.  As outraged a Clarkson is over violence that so rare that practically is non existent, he is morally blind to the wanton killing of some forty million human beings.

Question for Clarkson, and those who would support him, if, as Clarkson argues, abortion is moral because it is legal; does that mean that slavery too was moral when it too was legal?

If Clarkson finds, as I do, abortion related violece appallling, he should work to end it, all violence.  Will you?

You’re going to hear about Newt Gingrich, today. The reports will undoubtedly focus on this meme:

“Ginrgich was having an affair while he was investigating Bill Clinton’s having an affair.”

What was really going on, though, was that Gringrich was having an affair while investigating Bill Clinton’s perjury and obstruction of Justice.

 Of course that’s not the angle we’ll see in the press.

If as some contend ‘Faggot’ means ‘Homosexual’, why would a faggot be interested in having ‘chicks for free’?

 Get with the program, Mark.

Hmmm. Perhaps Ann’s right, huh?

Addendum: (David L)   Ann Coulter is a smart chick, and a pretty sharp lawyer to boot.  Naturally, Coulter is wlling to defend herself, and does a pretty good job of it.  Media Matters has the audio clip of Coulter on the Sean Hannity program along with former liberal activist Pat Caddell 

Coulter makes a reasonable arguement, and one which Caddell finds pausible.   Coulter is lot more reasoned than her crtics.

Mounting my high horse, since when in the American tradition did ‘rehabilitation” becomes acceptable for politically incorrect thought?   Fidel Castro thinks rehab is appropriate for incorrect thought.  Do you?

The Music: Dire Straights, Brothers in Arms:

See the little faggot with the earring and the makeup
Yeah buddy that’s his own hair
That little faggot got his own jet airplane
That little faggot he’s a millionaire

Perhaps somebody ought to send a note to the John Edwards for president campaign, suggesting that one as a campaign theme song.

I’ve always liked Dire Straights anyway…Mark Knopfler’s playing is among the best around. I’ve always wondered what would have happened if Vince Gill had taken up Knopfler’s offer as the lead singer for the band.

* A first, at Outside the Beltway’s Caption Contest. And before you ask, no, I didn’t plan it this way….

* Ann Coulter’s Column of today is a keeper:

It was not a crime to reveal Valerie Plame’s name because she was not a covert agent. If it had been a crime, Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald could have wrapped up his investigation with an indictment of the State Department’s Richard Armitage on the first day of his investigation since it was Armitage who revealed her name and Fitzgerald knew it.

With no crime to investigate, Fitzgerald pursued a pointless investigation into nothing, getting a lot of White House officials to make statements under oath and hoping some of their recollections would end up conflicting with other witness recollections, so he could charge some Republican with “perjury” and enjoy the fawning media attention.

As a result, Libby is now a convicted felon for having a faulty memory of the person who first told him that Joe Wilson was a delusional boob who lied about his wife sending him to Niger.

This makes it official: It’s illegal to be Republican.

Since Teddy Kennedy walked away from a dead girl with only a wrist slap (which was knocked down to a mild talking-to, plus time served: zero), Democrats have apparently become a protected class in America, immune from criminal prosecution no matter what they do.

As a result, Democrats have run wild, accepting bribes, destroying classified information, lying under oath, molesting interns, driving under the influence, obstructing justice and engaging in sex with underage girls, among other things.

Meanwhile, conservatives of any importance constantly have to spend millions of dollars defending themselves from utterly frivolous criminal prosecutions. Everything is illegal, but only Republicans get prosecuted.

Ain’t it real. Now, combine that column, with my writings of earlier today about Matt Sanchez, and you begin to understand the kind of hypocrites were dealing with one we deal with the Democrats. I see Fran’s on this one too.

* Speaking of the Democrats, I see there trying again to get us to lose in Iraq.  I’m telling you, people, that’s what this is all about.  Defeat, at all costs. They are not even bothering to deny, anymore that the policy they’re calling for is in fact, cut and run.

* I see also, that CBS, and NBC have decided to fire the producers of their suppose it news programs.  Both of them have been losing viewers.  CBS was particularly embarrassed after having made a major investment in Katie Couric. Joyner suggests a death of a thousand cuts is what’s killing them off so quickly.

Conversely, the explosion in the number of television options during the dinner hour means that what Katie Couric, Brian Williams, and Charlie Gibson have to say has a lot more competition than did their 1980 counterparts Walter Chronkite, John Chancellor, and Frank Reynolds.

Well, most of that competition isn’t news, being instead reruns of MASH, and HAPPY DAYS. (I know, arguably, neither are NBC/CBS, and I have my doubts about ABC)

The question becomes, though, will they can Couric when her numbers still refuse to come up? I doubt it.
* This has to be the most complete disemboweling I have ever witnessed. completely deserved, of course.  It is simply astounding to me, the level of hypocrisy that goes on from the left of these days.

And Billy, I have to tell you something:As good as you are, on this kind of thing, I have to wonder if you truly realize how solidly you nailed it, here; The issue is and always was about enforced cultural change…. and forced by the socialist left.  That culture, being the foundation of western civilization.  It is that which they are fighting against.

* You know this politically correct nonsense has gone completely around the bend, when you see stuff like this:

Attention Fred Flintstone and the Geico cave guys: “Stone Age” is no longer acceptable, joining the list of other words and terms deemed offensive in polite society. “Primitive” also is considered, well, primitive by some.
“All anthropologists would agree that the negative use of the terms ‘primitive’ and ‘Stone Age’ to describe tribal peoples has serious implications for their welfare,” the British-based Association of Social Anthropologists said Tuesday. “Governments and other social groups have long used these ideas as a pretext of depriving such peoples of land and their resources.”

You just knew that this was going to come out, eventually, when they started running those caveman spots to hawk insurance.  Eventually, some bozo had to take offense to the whole thing and start an argument.  Once again, we prove that according to the left, there is only one type of person who is politically correct to make fun of: white Christian conservative males.  If you think I’m kidding, sit back and watch how this argument is going to develop.

“But Your Honor, I had to hit Eric.  He called me hot tempered.” 

Pretty lame.   Yet speaking of lame, from Gateway Pundit:

Filipino Muslims display a banner, which reads ‘Behead Those Who Insult Islam,’ and t-shirts with a wanted sign during a rally Wednesday March 7, 2007, at a downtown Manila square, to protest recent televised preaching by a Christian sect leader Eli Soriano, who alleges that Muslims are killers. More than 1,000 Muslims took part in the rally and demanded Soriano, who is currently in hiding, be extradited back to the Philippines so he can face charges being brought against him

Clearly all Islam is not fundamentally incompatible with civilization.  Yet the debacle in Manila illustrates a large part of the Muslem population is simply incapable of living as a part of the civilized world.   Is the typical Muslem simply incapable of rational and civilized discourse?   Evidently so. 

(H/T:  Atlas )

Well, now, this is interesting.

Under an article in Slaon, subtitled:

“Left-wing blogs gleefully outed my gay porn past after I criticized antiwar zealots. But the truth has set me free.”

… Matt Sanchez:

In September 2005, I wrote a column for the campus newspaper that blasted the anti-military bias among my fellow students at Columbia University. In addition to being an American studies major at Columbia, I am a Marine Corps reservist, and my comrades in arms were proud of me once that column had turned into appearances on “The O’Reilly Factor” and “Hannity & Colmes” and an opinion piece for the New York Post. None of those media outlets knew who I had been before I was a Marine, an Ivy Leaguer and an outspoken defender of the military.

…

Up until last weekend, Salon and the rest of the left-wing media had largely ignored me. Given the left’s constant talk about equality, discrimination, minority rights and systemic oppression, I thought the fact that I was a Hispanic, a Marine, a nontraditional, 36-year-old Ivy League student and a 100 percent flag-waving red-blooded Reagan Republican would make my point of view interesting, but so be it. Everything is political now, and even the double standards have talking points.

…

 Then came last weekend. I was invited to the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, an annual convention of the right attended by more than 5,000 people, to accept the Jeanne Kirkpatrick Academic Freedom Award. It was recognition for what I’d said in print and on-air about anti-military attitudes on campus. During CPAC, I had my picture taken with the controversial conservative pundit and author Ann Coulter.

Coulter’s comments about John Edwards drew unprecedented attention to this year’s CPAC. Then, after a while, some of that attention was turned on me.

 …

The reaction of course was predictable…

Several bloggers were posting pictures of me and Coulter together and noting, gleefully, that the guy with his arm around the waist of the woman who called Edwards a faggot had, once upon a time, acted in adult films.

Some of the sites were comparing me to Rich Merritt, a Marine Corps captain who appeared in gay films. Others were comparing me to Jeff Gannon and claiming that I too had advertised my services as a male escort. I won’t deny it, or that I acted in several adult movies 15 years ago under names like Pierre LaBranche and Rod Majors.

We all have a tendency to want to hate the enemy. I suppose that’s why Coulter gets applause when she uses terms like “faggot” or “ragheads” (was that the last Coulter scandal, or was it her comments about 9/11 widows?). I also suppose that’s why I got so much abuse in my in box when gay and liberal bloggers posted ancient pictures of me.

Sanchez goes on to make other points the focus of his article.  But the passages I’ve excerpted here stood out like arc lamps in the night sky, in that they expose a double standard. It’s OK for liberals to wave the anti-homosexual flags when attacking conservative points of view, yet these same people will go after Ann Coulter? How’s THAT work?

 Well, it’s simple… for all their protests, such people are not arguing from a standpoint of principle… they’re arguing from a standpoint of whatever will give their anti-war slavering, a momentary advantage.

And here’s the capper: Clearly the left thought Sanchez would lose conservative support. However:

I am embarrassed to admit that was I worried that my fellow conservatives would distance themselves from me when the news about my film career broke. The opposite has happened. I’ve been asked to give my point of view, invited to speak at various functions, and invited back on television. My peers on the right have gone out of their way to give me a vote of confidence and avoid a rush to judgment.

The readership of this blog is a smart one; the implications of all of this will be obvious to you.