If I Hear "Robust" Once More, I'm Gonna Puke 10 comments

20 Apr 2007 @ 09:57, by Richard Carlson Religion is a way of walking, not a way of talking. ---Dean William R. Inge I have realized that the past and the future are real illusions, that they exist only in the present, which is what there is and all there is. ---Alan Watts A Zen master's life is one continuous mistake. ---Dogen God, how this White House loves that word! Everything they do is ROBUST. The Surge is robust, the economy is robust, our schools are SO robust, anti-abortionists are getting much more robust, and the Gun Lobby never has been so robust! Rove is just busting with robust. He and Bush are in Ohio all the time because we brim with robust! I suspect it may have been Rove (or his people) who came up with "robust." It has the first 2 letters of his name so that satisfies egomania, and of course "bust" is in it...so he can think of breasts and milk as well as allegiance to his President. What could be better? The only thing better would be if all Repubs use it...and they do (even when wearing the pink necktie of apology and surrender). Yesterday Justice Department spokeswoman Cynthia Magnuson used it against critics who say the Executive's legal people have been using federal attorneys to wipe out the opposition. She said the department has "a completely robust record when it comes to enforcing federal voting rights laws." The Justice Department not only is robust, it's COMPLETELY robust. It's like Heaven on earth there! I love this photograph by Doug Mills for The New York Times this morning. There he is, the Attorney General of the United States of America, land of the free, home of the brave. The man used the "can't remember anything" approach to his testimony. At least it's more down-to-earth than the "best-of-my-recollection" song and dance other attorneys general have used. A busy man has to have people on his staff who remember things for him. I understand that. Do you suppose there is someone at Justice who remembers who is supposed to remember the content of meetings? Maybe they can search around. In the meantime, you might take a look at Greg Gordon's article for the Baltimore Sun yesterday that contains Cynthia's robust remark...and see if you can detect any "legal" strategies in there about crushing free election. And then I guess I have to like best Lara Jakes Jordan's coverage for AP of Gonzales' pathetic appearance yesterday. From the Baltimore Sun Administration tried to curb election turnout in key states Campaign against alleged voter fraud sought to bolster the GOP By Greg Gordon Mcclatchy-tribune April 19, 2007 WASHINGTON -- For six years, the Bush administration, aided by Justice Department political appointees, has pursued an aggressive legal effort to restrict voter turnout in key battleground states in ways that favor Republican political candidates, according to former department lawyers and a review of written records. The administration intensified its efforts last year as President Bush's popularity and Republican support eroded heading into a midterm battle for control of Congress, which the Democrats won. Facing nationwide voter registration drives by Democratic-leaning groups, the administration alleged widespread election fraud and endorsed proposals for tougher state and federal voter identification laws. Presidential political adviser Karl Rove alluded to the strategy in April 2006 when he railed about voter fraud in a speech to the Republican National Lawyers Association. Questions about the administration's campaign against alleged voter fraud have helped fuel the political tempest over the firings last year of eight U.S. attorneys, several of whom were ousted in part because they failed to bring voter fraud cases important to Republican politicians. Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales could shed more light on the reasons for those firings when he appears today before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Civil rights advocates contend that the administration's policies were intended to disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of poor and minority voters who tend to support Democrats, and by filing state and federal lawsuits, civil rights groups have won court rulings blocking some of its actions. Justice Department spokeswoman Cynthia Magnuson called any allegation that the department has rolled back minority voting rights "fundamentally flawed." She said the department has "a completely robust record when it comes to enforcing federal voting rights laws," citing its support last year for reauthorization of the 1965 Voting Rights Act and the filing of at least 20 suits to ensure that language services are available to non-English-speaking voters. The administration, however, has repeatedly invoked allegations of widespread voter fraud to justify tougher voter ID measures and other steps to restrict access to the ballot, even though research suggests that voter fraud is rare. Since President Bush's first attorney general, John Ashcroft, a former Republican senator from Missouri, launched a "Ballot Access and Voter Integrity Initiative" in 2001, Justice Department political appointees have exhorted U.S. attorneys to prosecute voter fraud cases, and the department's Civil Rights Division has sought to roll back policies to protect minority voting rights. On virtually every significant decision affecting election balloting since 2001, the division's Voting Rights Section has come down on the side of Republicans, notably in Florida, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Washington and other states where recent elections have been decided by narrow margins. Joseph Rich, who left his job as chief of the section in 2005, said these events formed an unmistakable pattern. "As more information becomes available about the administration's priority on combating alleged, but not well substantiated, voter fraud, the more apparent it is that its actions concerning voter ID laws are part of a partisan strategy to suppress the votes of poor and minority citizens," he said. Former department lawyers, public records and other documents show that since Bush took office, political appointees in the Civil Rights Division have: • Approved Georgia and Arizona laws that tightened voter ID requirements. A federal judge tossed out the Georgia law as an unconstitutional infringement on the rights of poor voters, and a federal appeals court signaled its objections to the Arizona law on similar grounds last fall, but that litigation was delayed by the U.S. Supreme Court until after the election. • Issued advisory opinions that overstated a 2002 federal election law by asserting that it required states to disqualify new voting registrants if their identification didn't match that in computer databases, prompting at least three states to reject tens of thousands of applicants mistakenly. • Done little to enforce a provision of the 1993 National Voter Registration Act that requires state public assistance agencies to register voters. The inaction has contributed to a 50 percent decline in annual registrations at those agencies, to 1 million from 2 million. • Sued at least six states on grounds that they had too many people on their voter rolls. Some eligible voters were removed in the resulting purges. Copyright © 2007, The Baltimore Sun [link] Yahoo! News GOP senator calls for Gonzales to resign By LARA JAKES JORDAN, Associated Press Writer Thu Apr 19, 7:51 PM ET Attorney General Alberto Gonzales struggled Thursday to convince skeptical senators he did nothing improper in firing eight federal prosecutors, losing ground as a second senator from his own party joined the calls for his resignation. Republican as well as Democratic lawmakers challenged the embattled attorney general during an often-bitter five-hour hearing before the Judiciary Committee. Lawmakers confronted Gonzales with documents and sworn testimony they said showed he was more involved in the dismissals than he contended. "The best way to put this behind us is your resignation," Sen. Tom Coburn (news, bio, voting record) of Oklahoma bluntly told Gonzales, one conservative to another. Gonzales disagreed, rejecting the idea that his departure would put the controversy to rest. Even with the White House offering fresh support, it was a long day for the attorney general. Seventy-one times he fell back on faulty memory, saying he could not recall or remember conversations or events surrounding the firings. During breaks in the hearing, sign-waving protesters rose from the audience calling for him to resign. Digging in as the day wore on, Gonzales defended his decision last year to oust the U.S. attorneys. Congress is investigating whether the firings were politically motivated, which the Bush administration vehemently denies. "The notion that there was something that was improper that happened here is simply not supported," Gonzales said, adding that he would make the same decisions again. Late Thursday, Sen. Jeff Sessions (news, bio, voting record) said in a telephone interview that the Justice Department might be better served with new leadership. "I think it's going to be difficult for him to be an effective leader," said Sessions, a Republican member of the Judiciary Committee and former federal prosecutor. "At this point, I think (Gonzales) should be given a chance to think it through and talk to the president about what his future should be," Sessions said, adding that he was most troubled by Gonzales' inability to recall attending a meeting at which the firings were discussed. Documents provided by the Justice Department show he was present at the Nov. 27, 2006, meeting. Gonzales has provided differing versions of the events surrounding the dismissals, first saying he had almost no involvement and later acknowledging that his role was larger — but only after e-mails about meetings he attended were released by the Justice Department to House and Senate committees. There was no doubt about the stakes involved for a member of President Bush's inner circle, and support from fellow Republicans was critical to his attempt to hold his job. Calling most of Gonzales' explanations for the firings "a stretch," Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham (news, bio, voting record) asked whether the dismissals simply came down to personality disagreements the Justice Department and White House had with the former prosecutors. "You said something that struck me — that sometimes it just came down to these were not the right people at the right time," said Graham, R-S.C. "If I applied that standard to you, what would you say?" Ignoring hoots of laughter from the protesters, Gonzales responded: "I believe that I continue to be effective as the attorney general of the United States. We've done some great things." A number of Democrats have called for Gonzales to resign or be fired, but until Thursday John Sununu (news, bio, voting record) of New Hampshire was the only Republican senator to say so. Bush spokesman Tony Fratto said at the White House that Gonzales "can be effective going forward." "It's understandable that the senators have been frustrated by the way this decision was communicated and we fully expected that they would take this opportunity to express this frustration," Fratto said. Gonzales also scrapped with Democrats, most notably committee chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy (news, bio, voting record) of Vermont and Charles E. Schumer of New York. Even soft-spoken Sen. Herb Kohl of Wisconsin chastised Gonzales for having "severely shaken the confidence of the American people." "Would you explain to the American people why it is so important that you should remain in this office?" Kohl asked. "The moment I believe I can no longer be effective, I will resign as attorney general," Gonzales responded, making it clear he had not reached that point. Sen. Arlen Specter (news, bio, voting record) of Pennsylvania, top Republican on the panel, stopped short of calling for Gonzales to resign — a modest lifeline for the attorney general — even while questioning his credibility. Specter said the attorney general's answers "did not stick together." Senators ticked off evidence — based on department documents and testimony from two former senior Justice officials — that Gonzales participated in discussions about at least three of the fired prosecutors: Carol Lam in San Diego, Bud Cummins in Little Rock, Ark., and David Iglesias in New Mexico. In Iglesias' case, Gonzales recalled an Oct. 11 conversation with Bush and White House political adviser Karl Rove about voter fraud concerns during which the prosecutor's name came up. "I now understand that there was a conversation between myself and the president," Gonzales said. In an interview Thursday with The Associated Press, Iglesias said Gonzales has yet to point out a performance-related reason that justifies the firing. The reasons Gonzales has given "are political issues," Iglesias said. "I wish he would shoot straight with the American people." Gonzales faced GOP as well as Democratic challenges to his credibility throughout the day. Later, Sen. Charles Grassley (news, bio, voting record) of Iowa criticized Gonzales for now accepting responsibility for the firings after initially saying he had played only a minor role. "Why is your story changing?" Grassley asked. In response, Gonzales replied that his earlier answers had been "overbroad," the result of inadequate preparation. Gonzales maintained a stoic face through most of the hearing, pursing his lips at times, ignoring the protesters wearing orange garb and pink police costumes. The words "Arrest Gonzales" were duct-taped to their backs. He said he made a "mistake I freely acknowledge" for taking a largely hands-off approach to the firings. But "at the end of the day I know I did not do anything improper." Gonzales marched out of the hearing at its conclusion, shortly before 5 p.m., as protesters began singing "Hey, hey, goodbye" from the 1970s hit song by Steam. ___ Associated Press writer Laurie Kellman contributed to this report. ___ On the Net: Senate Judiciary Committee: [link] Copyright © 2007 The Associated Press. [link]

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