Tag Archives: US attorneys scandal

CA-46: Is Crazy Dana Starting to Make Sense?

{Thanks to Joe Shaw at Orange Juice for bringing this to my attention. : ) }

Say what you will about Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, but even if you disagree with him more often than not, you have to at least admit he’s not afraid to speak his mind.

And in these days of political polarization, it’s refreshing to still have an elected leader you can count on to tell you how he sees things and not just parrot party talking points.

Believe it or not, that’s what the Huntington Beach Independent has to say about Dana Rohrabacher in their editorial page today. So are they right? Does “Crazy Dana” really make sense now? Follow me after the flip for more…

So why exactly is the HB Independent praising Dana Rohrabacher?

Remember last year when most Republicans were treating disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff the way Superman handles kryptonite?

Rohrabacher put his neck out to stick up for his friend, even writing a note to the judge asking for leniency.

Wow, so they actually like the fact that Crazy Dana was singing words of praise for “disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff“? (From Washington Post)

A friend of two decades, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), defended Abramoff: “I think he’s been dealt a bad hand and the worst, rawest deal I’ve ever seen in my life. Words like bribery are being used to describe things that happened every day in Washington and are not bribes.”

Oh, wait! The HB Independent also has this to say:

Last week, Rohrabacher reared back and delivered one of his patented one-two verbal punches right straight to the guts of the White House.

It’s not what you’d expect in proudly Republican Orange County, where President Bush enjoyed lop-sided support in the past two elections.

But there was Rohrabacher calling on President Bush to fire his attorney general, Alberto Gonzales, and even saying the president ought to be impeached if two recently convicted Border Patrol agents are killed in prison.

We may not always agree with Rohrabacher, but we surely appreciate his independent nature and the courage he shows to speak his mind.

Well, maybe he is doing the right thing here… But is it for the right reason? Rohrabacher’s recent interview with Costa Mesa’s Daily Pilot should give us some insight here:

If it was just the U.S. attorneys, I would say we shouldn’t be calling the president’s appointee into question, but the fact is that the heavy-handed approach that the president used toward these U.S. attorneys reflects a pattern of arrogance in this administration, and those of us even in the Republican congress recognized a contempt of congressional oversight by this administration as compared to other administrations. We’ve seen an abuse of power by the FBI, we’ve seen an incredibly ruthless prosecution of [Border Patrol agents Ignacio] Ramos and [Jose] Compean. All of those things combined would signal that the president is not well served by having a very good buddy as attorney general rather than someone with a more professional focus. It is the job of the attorney general as the president’s legal counsel … to give direction and offer advice to the president and to make sure that what he’s doing is both politically and legally advantageous to the president and the president’s authority, and the president has not been well served by Gonzales.

The president has every right to fire U.S. attorneys – in fact, maybe he should have done so the first day of his administration, the way Bill Clinton did…. He has every right to throw the book at Border Patrol agents while pardoning drug dealers. The fact that these things are happening would suggest to me that you’ve got Mr. Gonzales not being forceful enough to advise the president that he’s on the wrong track. For all we know, they could be Mr. Gonzales’ policies.

OK, so while everyone else is angry at Bush for his Imperial Presidency, Crazy Dana screams about the Border Patrol agents. But yet, he reaches the same conclusion that we do. Does this mean that we should praise Crazy Dana?

Well, I guess it serves the larger purpose of bringing down Bush that Dana Rohrabacher is leading a mutiny in the Republican Party. I wish him the best on that. But will I ever start respecting him? No, especially since he’s still willing to give Bush “one last chance” to continue his miserable failure in Iraq. And oh yes, how can I respect someone who refuses to even accept reality on the looming climate change catastrophe?

I’ll cheer Dana on as he takes down his own party, but I certainly won’t cheer him on when he runs for reelection. He still makes no sense, and West Orange County and South LA County still deserve better.

Please Enjoy Some Camp With Your Orange Juice

As you all know by now, I love Orange Juice. Claudio can alway be counted upon for piercing insight into the pure insanity of the anti-immigrant wingnuts. Art is always great at pointing out the sheer insanity his old comrades in the Orange County Republican Party. Ryan Gene may have issues with unions, but I still appreciate what he has to say…

But what the heck is going on with Ron and Anna Winship? They are supposed to be the “Newport Beach Republicans” on the blog, but I am wondering if they are really representing more than just your typical Newport Beach Republicans… Especially when they say stuff like this:

The inquiry goes something like this: “Are you a witch?”, NO! “Ok, is any member of your family a witch?” NO!, “OK, so you are saying that you have never known any witch in your entire life?” NO!…. I am saying I am not a witch and no member of my family is a witch! “Hmmm, then you are saying basically that you have never known a witch, never met a witch, never dated a witch, never attended a coven meeting, never watched a television program with witches and in fact are a non-denominational church going person of good repute…who denies any connections to the ‘Wicked Witches of the West’ or any affiliate organizations?” What do you mean by Affiliate Organizations Senator?

At first, I thought this was ridiculous… But now, I must admit that this is some of the most brilliant and hilarious CAMP that I have ever seen. OK, I know this sounds crazy, but I’ll explain it to you after the flip…

Well, first off, we should define what camp exactly is. From Wikipedia:

Camp (colloquially “cheesy”) is an aesthetic in which something has appeal because of its bad taste or ironic value.

So what could possibly have more appeal because of its bad taste than this?

*When people want to know…
they should as of course…
but as we saw in the Monica
Lewinsky episode…just
knowing what “what” is…
can be a problem without
a shot spot on a dress.

Why did Clinton bomb the
Serbs? The true answer
was that Yugoslavia made
the best and cheapest washers and dryers in all
of the world. Sort of
the Mexico of Europe. It
had nothing to do with
ethnic anything. The Serbs
are the intelligent, caring
people in the world. More
like Americans than most
Americans are….who did
you want us to come clean
on again…Saddam who and
what many groupg of Arab
terrorists again? The
Serbs never bombed any
US Target ever…so should
Hillary now answer for the
bombing of Serbia?
“Sophmoric”, “Naive” or “Moronic”? – you pick!

Now they were asked why Bush Administration officials shouldn’t be subpoenaed to tell the truth about all the disaster that they have heaped upon this nation
Yet instead of receiving a coherent response from the Winships, they get this crazy rambling about Yugoslavia, cheap washers and dryers, and Serbs possibly being “more like Americans than Americans are”. At first, I wondered more ridiculous this could get…
Then it dawned on me: This may be the most amazing piece of camp since The Eurythmics did their classic AND classy music videos in the 1980s:

This makes so little sense, yet it makes such high art.

Ok…there are reasons to have subpoenas….valid, true
and honest reasons. But to what end and what purpose?
Public Inquiry should always be demanded by the Citizens
…no matter what community. What we disdain….is the
political forays into the realm of watching Fox News…
with its yelling and screaming or MSNBC with its Hardball
yelling and screaming or CNN with its cynical low key…
whisper campaigns “psst..is the president is a jerk…
ya think?” “He seems in big trouble now….!”

All in all when bureaucrats steal money, misappropriate
funds for others, use their power for personal gain,
molest children, perform a capital or felonious crime
….then….and only then we probably need the subpoena
….but till that day?

Wait a minute… Didn’t the Republicans do ALL OF THIS during their unchecked years of hegemonic power from 2001 to 2006? I mean, after all, isn’t this why Congressional Democrats are asking for subpoenas in the first place?

But whatever, I guess facts shouldn’t get in the way of such perfectly absurd yet brilliantly humorous camp.

The reality is – that there was a “Watergate”…thank
you Richard Nixon for being the “putz” that you were
in this regard! People like Hillary Clinton and Fred
Thompson were the legal eagles that did the research.
We still remember the Democrats piling on the likes of
Halderman, Erlichman and the rest. It was sad. John
Dean the saddest…as the turncoat with the sexy wife
…..who did what? How about those McCarthy hearings?
Those were popular television fare. What happened to
the Warren Commission? They never got much play on the
TV did they? Why do you suppose? The Waco hearings
were the best we have ever gotten to see. There never
were open hearings on Whitewater….wonder why?

Ah, can’t you just see Susan Sontag rolling in her grave as she cannot resist to laugh at what the genre she so loved has become.