Decision ‘08 » 2005

Archive for October, 2005

Friday, October 28th, 2005

A U2 Story For The Road

I was a freshman at the University of Texas. U2 played 2 nights at the Summit in Houston to celebrate the release of their breakthrough The Joshua Tree, and the album had been out a grand total of three days when I saw them from about the 20th row, lower deck, six o’clock. […]

5 Comments » - Posted in Uncategorized by Mark

Friday, October 28th, 2005

Rove Is Safe…

…for the moment, as was widely reported last night from a leaker who was almost certainly Rove’s lawyer. The news conference will be at 1:00 p.m. central, I believe, and I will be on the road. It appears, though, that we can say with a fair degree of certainty that Libby will be […]

6 Comments » - Posted in PlameGate by Mark

Friday, October 28th, 2005

Indictments? Here’s The Scoop

No, I don’t have any inside info…but I’m going to be in and out during the day, and I leave later for my big U2 show tonight (woooooo-hoooooo!), so, after devoting so much time and space to PlameGate, I may very well miss any announcement. Here’s my guide (and it’s nothing many others haven’t […]

5 Comments » - Posted in PlameGate by Mark

Thursday, October 27th, 2005

Rove Dodges the Bullet - For Now

So reports the New York Times:
Lawyers in the C.I.A. leak case said Thursday that they expected I. Lewis Libby Jr., Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, to be indicted on Friday, charged with making false statements to the grand jury.
Karl Rove, President Bush’s senior adviser and deputy chief of staff, will not be charged […]

No Comments » - Posted in PlameGate by Mark

Thursday, October 27th, 2005

Some Final Thoughts On Miers

My conservative brethren are relieved for the most part, and so am I. I am also deeply disappointed. There were elements on the right (not all her opponents, mind you, but I think we all know who they are) that behaved atrociously, and some of those same elements seem to think that they […]

13 Comments » - Posted in SCOTUS by Mark

Thursday, October 27th, 2005

24 Hours Away, Baby!

Ryan James has the retrospective (and the floor seats!)…this will be my fifth show (yes, I’ve been saying fourth - I forgot I saw two shows on the Joshua Tree tour!). The other four?
Houston (Summit) and Austin (Frank Erwin Center): The Joshua Tree
San Antonio (AlamoDome): Pop
Austin (Frank Erwin Center): All That You Can’t Leave […]

1 Comment » - Posted in Uncategorized by Mark

Thursday, October 27th, 2005

The Case Against Pinch

Mickey Kaus has the bill of particulars against the Times publisher:
1) Falling for Howell Raines’ con and hiring him as editor over Bill Keller, only to have to fire him after a scandal and staff rebellion, during which the publisher made an idiot of himself by brandishing a stuffed moose–Bad Move;
[…]

No Comments » - Posted in NY Times/Media Watch by Mark

Thursday, October 27th, 2005

Can The GOP Reach Black Voters, Asks Time?

You can read the short piece here. Answer: yes it can, but only in the long haul, by appealing to them as individuals and not a special interest group. We’ll never outpander the Democrats, nor should we attempt to. Incidentally, Time features a photo of Michael Steele, the Lt. Governor of Maryland. […]

8 Comments » - Posted in Uncategorized by Mark

Thursday, October 27th, 2005

An Update On That OTHER Story…

The New York Times is reporting that tomorrow will be the day, as we’ve already surmised, when we hear from Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald…if he doesn’t make any announcement before about 11:30 or so in the morning, I’ll be on my way to Houston to see this little ol’ band…

No Comments » - Posted in Uncategorized by Mark

Thursday, October 27th, 2005

Miers Withdraws!

My initial reaction…I would have liked to have seen her go to the hearings…but considering how divisive the nomination was, it’s probably for the better…more later…
The initial CNN report suggests that the ‘cover’ of the document requests was indeed successful…
Where do we go from here? Should Bush bow to the hardcore ‘rebels’ like David Frum? […]

45 Comments » - Posted in SCOTUS, RINOs / Chillers by Mark

Thursday, October 27th, 2005

Final Oil-For-Food Report To Be Released Today

The focus of the final Volcker Committee report will be on kickbacks:
More than 4,500 companies took part in the United Nations oil-for-food program and more than half of them paid illegal surcharges and kickbacks to Saddam Hussein, according to the independent committee investigating the program.
The country with the most companies involved in the program […]

1 Comment » - Posted in Iraq, UN/Oil-For-Food by Mark

Wednesday, October 26th, 2005

Friday’s the Day…

…from all indications…naturally, I’ll be out of pocket most of the day as I hit the road for U2 in Houston, so all of you may well know before I do what Fitzgerald comes up with…good tidbits from the WaPo, though:
The prosecutor in the CIA leak investigation presented a summary of his case to a […]

No Comments » - Posted in PlameGate by Mark

Wednesday, October 26th, 2005

I Hate To Say I Told You So (No, This Time I Really Do!)

Regular readers of this blog will know that I am not a very confident camper heading into 2006; I think the Republicans are in for a very rude awakening if things don’t change, and quickly. I’m not the only one…Fred Barnes of the Weekly Standard opens his new piece like this:
IF YOU’RE A REPUBLICAN […]

2 Comments » - Posted in Elephants by Mark

Wednesday, October 26th, 2005

Say It Ain’t So, Joe…

Well, it looks like Bono won’t have to worry about wearing that Astros cap after all. My fellow Texans have stunk it up, but good, this World Series. Before we bid goodbye to the boys of October, though, I highly recommend the following very informative and entertaining piece on the 1919 version of […]

No Comments » - Posted in Uncategorized by Mark

Wednesday, October 26th, 2005

Judy Miller: PlameGate’s First Casualty?

Judy Miller had better hope that book contract she will soon sign is lucrative (well, okay, probably not; I’m sure she’s richer than I’ll ever be and that the New York Times has a generous severance package). Reports the WSJ:
New York Times reporter Judith Miller has begun discussing her future employment options with […]

2 Comments » - Posted in PlameGate, NY Times/Media Watch by Mark

Wednesday, October 26th, 2005

Extending the Agony?

Patrick Fitzgerald was seen meeting with the Chief Judge overseeing the PlameGate investigation - so add the possibility that Fitzgerald is seeking a grand jury extension to the list of unconfirmed speculation…

2 Comments » - Posted in PlameGate by Mark

Wednesday, October 26th, 2005

The MinuteMan On The Odds

Our good friend Tom Maguire has thrown caution to the wind and come out with his fearless predictions: Libby goes to trial, and Rove walks. The rest, you’ll have to read for yourself - and don’t miss the TradeSports updates, either…you, too, can personally profit from the outing of Valerie Plame!…
UPDATE 12:51 p.m.: The […]

9 Comments » - Posted in PlameGate by Mark

Wednesday, October 26th, 2005

No Announcement Today, Reports CNN

Of course, it’s anonymously sourced, like everything else PlameGate related…
Meanwhile, in far more important news, President Bush addressed the Joint Armed Forces ‘Wives’ Luncheon yesterday, as you probably know. You can read the transcript here. This is the story that must not got lost in the buzzing, the reason why we are in […]

No Comments » - Posted in PlameGate, POTUS, Iraq by Mark

Wednesday, October 26th, 2005

In The Category of ‘Better Late Than Never’…

…we have the announcement that Andrew Heyward, who presided over the Rathergate fiasco as head of CBS News, will be be stepping down, to be replaced by Sean McManus of CBS Sports.

1 Comment » - Posted in NY Times/Media Watch by Mark

Wednesday, October 26th, 2005

Iranian President Calls For Destruction of Israel

Lest anyone think anti-Semitism is not one of the driving motivations of radical Islam, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad crawled out from under his rock and spewed out the following venom:
Iran’s hard-line president called for Israel to be “wiped off the map” and said a new wave of Palestinian attacks will destroy the Jewish state, state-run […]