As we all remember, the Culture of Corruption meme was devastating during the 2006 elections. Congressman Jerry Lewis somehow managed to avoid being indicted before the election, which surprised a lot of people. What has happened since is the new GOP playbook for how the Bush Justice Department protects a Republican member. And today, the LA Times adds another piece to the puzzle — it isn’t pretty.  

It wasn’t until late August 2007 that we learned the US Attorney investigation of Lewis stalled in December 2006 for lack of resources — just after the Culture of Corruption charge helped Democrats win the House. But stalling wasn’t enough, it needed to be derailed. It was in January 2007 when speculation began that San Diego USA Carol Lam was purged for her investigation of Lewis. A couple of months later, LA USA Debra Wong Yang quit in the middle of her investigation to take a nearly $1.5 million a year job with the law firm defending Jerry Lewis.

Thomas O’Brien, the new USA, disbanded the Public Integrity Unit investigating Republican Lewis for major corruption — the same week that NY USA Public Integrity Unit brought down Elliot Spitzer. Today we learn of yet another move to keep Lewis from being brought to justice, put this in the time-line for March 2007:

U.S. Atty. Thomas P. O’Brien is facing sharp criticism from prosecutors within his office who say he is pressuring them to file relatively insignificant criminal cases to drive up statistics that make the office eligible for increased federal funding.

The prosecutors said O’Brien’s effort to increase filings amounts to a quota system in which lawyers face possible discipline and other career consequences if they fail to achieve their numbers. It also detracts from their traditional mission of prosecuting complex, time-consuming cases that local authorities are unable to pursue, they said.

[…]

The disgruntled prosecutors in Los Angeles say they are now spending an exorbitant amount of time working on less significant cases — mail theft, smaller drug offenses and illegal immigration — to reach quotas. They cited the recent disbanding of the office’s public integrity and environmental crimes section, a unit with a history of working on complex police corruption and political corruption cases, as evidence of a shift toward high-volume, low-quality prosecutions.

The Lewis scandal is so damaging because it involves both major corruption and former Republican Congressman Bill Lowery — it really does illustrate that corruption is part of the culture in the GOP.

All reports indicate that when the ABC News Democratic Party Debate airs in the Pacific Time zone at 8 PM that you are better off doing pretty much anything other than watching it. There are reviews are already in and there seems to be a clear consensus on Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos and ABC News and the parent company Disney.

“Looking around other sites, I guess I’m not the only one that thought this debate was unmitigated travesty,” Josh Marshall noted. “Maybe the embargo on debate rebroadcast was a pro-human rights stand.”

“The debate is over, and I feel like I need a shower. […] The crowd here is starting to boo Gibson. Like, a lot. Hilarious and well-deserved.”

–Chris Bowers

“No Charlie. It hasn’t been a “fascinating debate.” It’s been genuinely awful.”

–Josh Marshall

“What matters to this network is money, and that is where we need to go.  Starting tomorrow, my spare time, meager as it is, will be dedicated to revealing the advertisers of this network, for the purpose of organized boycotts.”

–Dartagnan (top Recommended Diary on Dailykos)

“Light’Em Up

Complain about this atrocity.

Main ABC switchboard: 212-456-7777

…complain here.”

–Atrios

“My friend Dan McQuade calls this the lowest moment in American history — I think he’s giving it too much credit, frankly.”

–Will Bunch

“George and Charlie were just rumor-mongering right wingers. Charlie thought it was “fascinating.” Wrong. It was just very pathetic and disturbing. If you ever question the sad state of affairs in the American political dialogue, tonight’s debate was Exhibit A.”

–Joe Sudbay

“This debate was just horrible. Too much time wasted on useless nonsense. From a media perspective, I am not sure why Stephanopoulos was in the mix at all. He didn’t add much, and if anything, his history with the Clintons had the potential to take something away. I thought Gibson was especially rough on Obama, and I think ABC did not do themselves any good with this debate. If I weren’t liveblogging, I would have switched to AI.”

–Jacki Schechner

“This is the most disgraceful and dispiriting debate of all time.”

–BooMan

“In perhaps the most embarrassing performance by the media in a major presidential debate this year, ABC News hosts Charles Gibson and George Stephanopolous focused mainly on trivial issues as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama faced off in Philadelphia.”

–Editor and Publisher

“Reflecting what seemed to be the main consensus of the night – that ABC botched this debate, big time – Charlie Gibson tells the crowd there will be one more, superfluous commercial break of the night and is subsequently jeered. “OH…” he declares, hands raised in defense. “The crowd is turning on me, the crowd is turning on me.””

–Huffington Post

I feel sorry for both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

Today is the day to choose the delegates for this year’s DNC Convention in Denver. Since the Clinton team refuses to acknowledge the math, it could be the first convention floor fight in a generation so choose well. Here’s what you need to know:

• Get there early, registration is from 2PM – 3PM followed by the caucuses. So get there early (I’m aiming for 1:45).
• Find out your caucus location. It is by congressional district. Obama sites – Clinton sites
• Check out the candidate list. There are a ton of candidates with many running like actual campaigns and such.
• Any other questions? Check out the FAQ

And let us know how things worked. I’m predicting record turnout with logistical problems because of record interest. Speaking of which, bring your friends!

P.S. You MUST be in line by 3PM to vote. Did I mention to get there early?

In last year’s front page Washington Post story on Ellen Tauscher, Iraq took center stage:

[Tauscher] then raced to catch the last minutes of an Armed Services Committee hearing, just in time to question Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. As five women from the antiwar group Code Pink stood in protest, Tauscher asked two quick questions: Why didn’t Bush’s budget increase production of the C-17, a plane based at Travis? And how much would the president’s troop increase cost?

[…]

But Code Pink activist Zanne Joi, whose shirt read “Stop Funding, Start Impeaching,” was not impressed. She said she was horrified that Tauscher hadn’t challenged Gates about Iraq, that she had treated the increase as a done deal. “We need her to stand up and end this war,” said Joi.

Interestingly, at the Petraeus hearing last week, it was Tauscher with the most interesting line of questioning. And two weeks ago, at what was billed as a “major address” before the Contra Costa Council, Ellen Tauscher went hard against Iraq:

A former stockbroker rated as a political moderate by the National Journal, Tauscher is well-liked at the Contra Costa Council, a group largely made up of dues-paying business leaders.

But her ardent Iraq war views engendered limited vocal enthusiasm among the more conservative crowd.

That did not slow Tauscher, who devoted at least half of her speech to Iraq.

Back to the Washington Post story, remember this?

But Kos points to Harman as a perfect example of how the Net roots can keep Democrats in line. He said Harman used to be a constant irritant, a go-to quote for reporters looking for a Democrat to tweak liberals — until she had to fight off a primary challenge from the left in 2006. “She’s been great ever since,” he said. Now Harman even writes on the liberal Huffington Post blog.

Kos can imagine a day when Tauscher still holds her seat but is no longer distasteful to the left. “That’s what victory would look like — a more responsive representative,” he said. So when Tauscher praises Pelosi as “perfect on substance, perfect on optics,” it’s hard to know if that’s a result of personal evolution, political trends, or blogospheric pressure, but it’s music to Kos’s ears. It’s helpful to Democratic leaders, too.

Said Rosenthal, the Working for Us founder: “We want them to understand what we’re doing helps and enhances the majority.”

Indeed.

The last time the  FCC gathered public comment on Net Neutrality, Comcast paid people to fill seats so that people who care about an open and free internet couldn’t get in the building. Next week, the FCC is coming to Stanford, Thursday from noon until 7 PM. Public comment is slated for 4:30 and with Comcast currently under official FCC investigation after the AP busted them for data discrimination, expect problems getting seats.

We are in a unique moment in history when we can help to decide whether we have a closed Internet controlled by a small handful of giant corporations, or an open Internet controlled by the people who use it. Now is the time to speak up for an open internet free from corporate gatekeepers.

It is rare for all five members of the Federal Communications Commission to leave Washington, D.C., and they want to hear from you. There will be a public comment period – come speak up to save the Internet!

Christopher Edley, Dean of the Boalt School of Law at Cal Berkeley has taken to the internets under the headline: The Torture Memos and Academic Freedom where explains that he can’t fire John Yoo.

UPDATE (by Dave): Let me again say that John Yoo is making a public appearance on the 14th of April, next Monday, at the Bancroft Hotel in Berkeley, and you should go and tell him how you feel, because this guy shouldn’t be allowed to walk the earth without hearing from citizens disgusted with how he debased this country.  

Assuming one believes as I do that Professor Yoo offered bad ideas and even worse advice during his government service, that judgment alone would not warrant dismissal or even a potentially chilling inquiry. As a legal matter, the test here is the relevant excerpt from the “General University Policy Regarding Academic Appointees,” adopted for the 10-campus University of California by both the system-wide Academic Senate and the Board of Regents:

Types of unacceptable conduct: … Commission of a criminal act which has led to conviction in a court of law and which clearly demonstrates unfitness to continue as a member of the faculty. [Academic Personnel Manual sec. 015]

This very restrictive standard is binding on me as dean, but I will put aside that shield and state my independent and personal view of the matter. I believe the crucial questions in view of our university mission are these: Was there clear professional misconduct-that is, some breach of the professional ethics applicable to a government attorney-material to Professor Yoo’s academic position? Did the writing of the memoranda, and his related conduct, violate a criminal or comparable statute?

I may not be a Law School Dean, but I do have google and read the Academic Personal Manual (PDF). If you scroll up from the section Edley cites, you’ll read, “the following general principle is intended to govern all instances of its application:”

University discipline under this Code may be imposed on a faculty member only for conduct which is not justified by the ethical principles and which significantly impairs the University’s central functions as set forth in the Preamble. To the extent that violations of University policies mentioned in the examples below are not also inconsistent with the ethical principles, these policy violations may not be independent grounds for imposing discipline as defined herein. The Types of Unacceptable Conduct listed below in Sections A through E are examples of types of conduct which meet the preceding standards and hence are presumptively subject to University discipline. Other types of serious misconduct, not specifically enumerated herein, may nonetheless be the basis for disciplinary action if they also meet the preceding standards. [emphasis mine]

So Dean Edley has a lot more latitude then he claims. A kossak has a response letter:

   Dear Dean Edley:

   I fear I must disagree with your analysis that John Yoo’s conduct does not justify his dismissal from the law school.  While freedom of thought and economic security are a bedrock of academic freedom, nearly all tenured positions are held subject to certain conditions.  Indeed, the 1940 Statement of the AUP (with 1970 comments) recognizes that moral turpitude is a just reason for termination.

   Moral turpitude is a legal concept in the United States that refers to “conduct that is considered contrary to community standards of justice, honesty, or good morals”. Moral turpitude may be fraudulent behavior, or other actions including, but not limited to:

   • An attempt to commit a crime deemed to involve moral turpitude

   • Aiding and abetting in the commission of a crime deemed to involve moral turpitude

   • Being an accessory (before or after the fact) in the commission of a crime deemed to involve moral turpitude

   • Taking part in a conspiracy (or attempting to take part in a conspiracy) to commit a crime involving moral turpitude where the attempted crime would not itself constitute moral turpitude.

   Mr. Yoo’s legal memoranda, prepared as they were to aid, abet and justify the Bush Administration’s criminal and unlawful use of torture against detainees from Iraq and Afghanistan, in violation of U.S. statutes and the Geneva Conventions, fall precisely within the ambit of these definitions.  Further, Mr. Yoo’s specious theories of the Unitary Executive are so removed from rational thought as to be either morally bankrupt or indicators of a diseased mind. Yoo’s Unitary Executive claims the King can do no Wrong.

   When Charles I made the same claim, Parliament separated his head from his shoulders in 1649.  The Framers were well aware of the legal history of England, as it was the progenitor of our system of laws.  Having just deposed a monarch, they were surely in no hurry to enthrone another.  I am told Yoo is a clever man.  If that is true, it is prima facie evidence his unitary theory is fraudulent, as no one with even a nodding acquaintance with Anglo-American history would proffer such ridiculous assertions.

   Yoo should be fired forthwith. He should not be permitted to further pollute future generations of lawyers.  His continued employment at Berkeley is a stain upon a great institution.

Record interest in Barack Obama’s soaring presidential bid became too much for the state campaign to handle this week.

In a move some Obama backers called undemocratic but campaign officials said was unavoidable, hundreds of supporters were barred Tuesday from competing in the state’s 53 caucuses this weekend that will determine who represents the candidate at the Democratic National Convention.

Campaign officials said too many people had signed up to become district-level delegates and Sunday’s Iowa-style contests simply can’t accommodate the crowds. Merc News

San Francisco officials spent months preparing for the arrival of the Olympic torch, but their decision Wednesday to cut the route short and drastically alter the torchbearers’ path was an act of desperation just before opening ceremonies kicked off, sources said.

The move to scrap the city’s highly publicized plans for runners to carry the torch from AT&T Park and along the city’s scenic waterfront infuriated many protesters and torch supporters who waited for hours to spread their anti-China message or to catch a glimpse of the Olympic flame.

But Mayor Gavin Newsom said he and Police Chief Heather Fong decided to change the route after realizing that police officers stationed along the designated path – especially near the ballpark and the Ferry Building, the relay’s original start and finish – were overwhelmed by the size of the crowds and by skirmishes between torch supporters and protesters. SFGate

Yes, politics is changing. It has been for a while. Facilitate it, don’t fear it.

Just took the stage.

“Well, we did it!”

Huge crowd, big win.

“So, believe it or not, tomorrow morning we’re all getting on a plane and going to Washington, DC.”

Great speech. She’s going off.