Part-Time Pundit

Wictory Wednesday Presents Thelma Drake

This week, Wictory Wednesday presents Thelma Drake for US Congress for the Second District of Virginia. Representative Drake is running for reelection for her second term in the Congress and is running against MoveOn backed candidate Phillip Kellam. Polls indicate this will be a tight race, and from the amount of money being poured in by MoveOn, a race of importance in 2006.

Rep. Drake has been a supporter of victory in Iraq, rejecting calls to surrender to terrorists and leave the region in chaos. By providing support that the troops need, it gives the military and administration the latitude needed to do the hard work of reconstruction.

Also a supporter of free trade, Rep. Drake has voted to create a free trade zone in South America to further economic development that is beneficial to all parties. Many protectionists keep railing against the trade deficit without realizing that the trade deficit does more for other countries developing their economies than humanitarian aid could ever do.

Lastly, in the light of the recent debate on immigration, Rep. Drake gets it. Regulating the flow of immigrants is not xenophobia, it is common sense. It is one thing to be generous in allowing immigrants to come here to build a better life. It is another to have no real border and allow anyone, including terrorists, free reign across the border. Immigration is healthy for a county, unregulated flaunting of a border is not.

Please consider supporting Thelma Drake in her race for reelection.

This has been a production of the Wictory Wednesday blogburst. If you would like to join Wictory Wednesday, please see this post or contact John Bambenek at jcb (dot) blog [at] gmail {dot} com. The following sites are members of the Wictory Wednesday team:

August 2nd, 2006 Posted by John Bambenek | Around the US, MoveOn Watch, Politics, Wictory Wednesday | no comments

Oops…

Nice job, MoveOn.

November 30th, 2005 Posted by John Bambenek | MoveOn Watch | no comments

MoveOn Watch: MoveOn Caught in Deceptive Cover-Up!

The MoveOn e-mail reads “Indicted! White House Caught In Iraq Cover-Up”. Except one thing, the investigation has absolutely nothing to do with Iraq.

Here is the text of the memo that empowered Fitzgerald as to what he can investigate:

Dear Patrick:
At your request, I am writing to clarify that my December 30, 2003, delegation to you of “all the authority of the Attorney General with respect to the Department’s investigation into the alleged unauthorized disclosure of a CIA employee’s identity” is plenary and includes the authority to investigate and prosecute violations of any federal criminal laws related to the underlying alleged unauthorized disclosure, as well as federal crimes committed in the course of, and with intent to interfere with, your investigation, such as perjury, obstruction of justice, destruction of evidence, and intimidation of witnesses; to conduct appeals arising out of the matter being investigated and/or prosecuted; and to pursue administrative remedies and civil sanctions (such as civil contempt) that are within the Attorney General’s authority to impose or pursue. Further, my conferral on you of the title of “Special Counsel” in this matter should not be misunderstood to suggest that your position and authorities are defined and limited by 28 CFR Part 600.

You can read all the documents from the investigation here, but you’ll quickly notice that whether the administration lied or not has NOTHING to do with this investigation. The investigation is SOLELY in relation to the alleged outing of a CIA agent. Coincidently no one has been charged with that. The motivations for going to Iraq, what was said and not said, what intel might have been twisted, and so on, are no where near the scope of this investigation. At all.

MoveOn, so desperate to spin this is making this investigation something that it is not. Such attempts at deception indicate that they have to resort to deception and lies because they have no other points. They are trying to make a Watergate where it does not exist.

The e-mail is attached with only parts that might identify the email I subscribed with removed.

====
Subject: Indicted! White House Caught In Iraq Cover-Up

Dear MoveOn member,

Today, the Chief of Staff to the Vice President of the United States was
indicted by a federal grand jury.

Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, a Republican appointee, announced
that Lewis “Scooter” Libby lied to a grand jury, lied to FBI agents and
obstructed an investigation into the White House cover-up of the lies that
led our nation to war in Iraq. Libby has now resigned. Top White House
advisor Karl Rove remains under federal investigation.

This is one of the biggest scandals to rock the White House in America’s
229-year history.

But The New York Times reported that the Bush spin machine will resort to
“attacking any criminal charges as a disagreement over legal
technicalities.” [1] The battle over public opinion begins today. We must
remind the country that this scandal isn’t about a “technicality”–it’s
about a White House scheme to cover-up the lies that led our nation into
one of the most deadly foreign policy blunders in our nation’s history.

Can you write a letter to the editor to remind folks that there’s no
graver crime than misleading a country into war, and then covering it up?
Our tool makes it easy to write to your local paper:

Today’s indictment says Libby illegally obstructed the investigation into
the White House outing of an undercover CIA agent, Valerie Plame Wilson.
The ongoing investigation of Karl Rove revolves around the same charge.

So why did the White House leak a CIA agent’s name? To punish her husband,
a former ambassador who had gone public with evidence that the Bush
Administration lied about WMD and nuclear threats in the run-up to war in
Iraq.

Here is a primer on what happened:

The 2003 Bush State of the Union: President Lies About Iraq Nuclear
Capability

* In his January 2003 State Of The Union, President Bush made his case
for war in Iraq. He included this now-infamous 16-word deception about
Iraq’s nuclear capability: “The British government has learned that
Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from
Africa.” [2]
* But the White House had known for nearly a year that this claim was
false. In February 2002, the CIA sent former Ambassador Joseph Wilson
to Niger to investigate the unsubstantiated claim that Saddam Hussein
tried to buy uranium from Niger for use in nuclear weapons [3].
* Wilson had discovered that the claims were bogus and documents used to
support the claims had been forgeries. He reported this to the CIA,
and the CIA told the White House [3].

Why Did The President Ignore Wilson’s Findings And Lie? It’s About Iraq

* Why did President Bush use the discredited nuclear claims in his
January 2003 State of the Union Address to make the case that Iraq was
a nuclear threat? They wanted to invade Iraq.
* A CBS News polling report in late 2002 made clear, “there is no
consensus on adopting a pre-emptive strike policy in general–except
where a nuclear attack against the United States is
contemplated…” [4]
* Only well after the war had begun would the Washington Post report on
“a pattern in which President Bush, Vice President Cheney and their
subordinates…made allegations depicting Iraq’s nuclear weapons
program as more active, more certain and more imminent in its threat
than the data they had would support. On occasion administration
advocates withheld evidence that did not conform to their views.” [5]

Wilson Strikes Back–Exposes Bush’s Lie In Lead-Up To War

* Six months after the President’s 2003 State of the Union Address, as
Bush’s WMD and nuclear claims began to unravel, Wilson went public and
exposed the Bush Administration’s false nuclear claims in a New York
Times op-ed [6].
* The full July 6, 2003 op-ed, “What I Didn’t Find In Africa,” can be
read here: http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1070
* The White House saw Wilson as a major threat. According to the Los
Angeles Times, “Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff was so
angry about the public statements of former Ambassador Joseph C.
Wilson IV, a Bush administration critic married to an undercover CIA
officer, that he monitored all of Wilson’s television appearances and
urged the White House to mount an aggressive public campaign against
him, former aides say.” [7]

White House Retaliates–Outs Valerie Plame Wilson As CIA Agent

* The week after Wilson’s op-ed in the New York Times, “two senior
administration officials” were cited by conservative columnist Robert
Novak in his column outing CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson [8].
* The White House Iraq Group (WHIG), originally formed to sell the war
to the public, “morphed into a virtual hit squad that took aim at
critics who questioned its claims.” [9] WHIG was run out of Vice
President Cheney’s office, and included Cheney’s Chief of Staff
“Scooter” Libby, top Bush strategist Karl Rove, and other top Bush
administration officials.
* Not only did this leak end Valerie Plame Wilson’s 20-year career as a
CIA covert agent, but it also exposed a longstanding CIA front
company, Brewster Jennings & Associates, where Plame worked and put at
risk many of the undercover agents who had worked with Wilson in the
past [10].

Today’s Indictment–White House Official Obstructed Investigation Into The
Lie

* Today’s indictment says Libby illegally obstructed the investigation
into the White House outing of an undercover CIA agent, Valerie Plame
Wilson. He also was charged with perjury and making false statements
to FBI agents. The ongoing investigation of Karl Rove revolves around
the same issues, among possible others.
* Former President George H. W. Bush was right in 1999 when he said, “I
have nothing but contempt and anger for those who betray the trust by
exposing the name of our sources. They are, in my view, the most
insidious, of traitors.” [11]
* Former Republican National Committee Chair Ed Gillespie was right when
he said, “I think if the allegation is true, to reveal the identity of
an undercover CIA operative–it’s abhorrent, and it should be a crime,
and it is a crime.” [12]

The American people must know this important truth: Today’s indictment is
about a cover-up of the lies that led our nation to war in Iraq.

Please write a letter to the editor to remind people that this was crime
against our entire nation, and could not be more serious. This letter tool
makes it easy.

Thanks for all you do.

–Tom, Jennifer, Adam, Carrie and the MoveOn.org Political Action Team
Friday, October 28th, 2005 [1] “Republicans Testing Ways to Blunt Leak Charges,”
New York Times,
October 24, 2005

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1071 [2] “Rice: 16 words dispute ‘enormously overblown,’”
CNN, July 14, 2003

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1072 [3] “Cast of Characters Grows in CIA Leak Drama,”
Associated Press,
October 24, 2005

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1073 [4] “Poll: Don’t Go It Alone On Iraq,” CBS News,
September 7, 2002

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1074 [5] “Depiction of Threat Outgrew Supporting
Evidence,” The Washington
Post, August 10, 2003

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1075 [6] “What I Didn’t Find In Africa,” New York Times,
July 7, 2003

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1070 [7] “Bush Critic Became Target of Libby, Former Aides
Say,” Los Angeles
Times, October 21, 2005

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1076 [8] “Mission To Niger,” syndicated column, July 14, 2003

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1077 [9] “Prez Iraq team fought to squelch war critics,”
New York Daily News,
October 19, 2005

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1015 [10] “Leak of Agent’s Name Causes Exposure of CIA
Front Firm,” October 4,
2003

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1079 [11] Remarks By George Bush, 41st President of the
United States, At the
Dedication Ceremony for the George Bush Center for Intelligence, April 26,
1999

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1080 [12] Hardball With Chris Matthews, September 30, 2003

http://www.moveon.org/r?r=1078

Support our member-driven organization: MoveOn.org Political Action is
entirely funded by our 3.3 million members. If you’d like to support our
work, you can give now at:

PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION,

Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.

________________

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this list, please visit our subscription management page at:

====
Thanks to Wizbang, TMH

October 29th, 2005 Posted by John Bambenek | Law / Legal Issues, Libby, Military / War, MoveOn Watch, National, Plame, Politics | 2 comments

MoveOn Watch: Don’t Let Republicans Point out Failures with Locals during Katrina, That Hurts Our Chances to Blame Bush!

MoveOn is outraged. They’re steaming that federal officials have the unmitigated gall to point out that city officials should have used their own buses to get people out when they could, or that 2/3rds of the police force walked off the job leaving the city in chaos (earning a free trip to Vegas), or that Gov. Blanco sat on a Presidential request to evacuate and then waited 24 hours to approve the federal response. FEMA has some improvement to do, yes. But the local officials utterly failed their people. Mayor Nagin could have used the buses to get people out, he could have ordered the evacuation 36 hours when the emergency was declared AS HE SHOULD HAVE. FEMA can be faulted for not having the best response to the crisis, but the locals made the crisis happen. And MoveOn is pissed that people dare point out who is REALLY to blame here. It hurts their talking points.

Here’s MoveOn’s E-mail:
==============================================
President Bush and Republican leaders are trying to shift blame for the poor rescue and relief effort to the victims of Hurricane Katrina including state and local officials. Don’t let them get away with that.

Sign a petition today demanding the president stop the blame-shifting and get to work helping Hurricane victims. Petition delivery will start tomorrow in Washington, D.C.
Dear MoveOn member,

It has been a week since Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, leveled New Orleans and left hundreds of thousands of Americans homeless. We saw the best of America during that time—millions of people stepped forward to offer help. Meanwhile, the Bush administration failed at their most important job: keeping America safe. The federal effort was too little, too late and it is now becoming obvious that hundreds or even thousands of people died as a result.

Then, starting Friday, in a Karl Rove-led campaign, the White House started to blame state and local officials and even the victims who were stranded without transportation when the Hurricane arrived. Sign our petition demanding that the Bush administration stop blaming victims, including state and local officials, and focus on helping them.

We’ll begin to deliver the earliest signatures to the White House tomorrow, Thursday, when a delegation of MoveOn members from New Orleans, who are now homeless and will come to Washington and join other MoveOn members outside the White House at a petition delivery and protest. The petition is one important way to demonstrate that the public wants more action to help hurricane victims and is getting angry about this blame-shifting game the Bush administration is playing.

It is important that the Bush administration not get away with shifting their responsibility to local officials. Here is what actually happened.

Timeline

Friday, Aug. 26: Gov. Kathleen Blanco declares a state of emergency in Louisiana and requests troop assistance.

Saturday, Aug. 27: Gov. Blanco asks for federal state of emergency. A federal emergency is declared giving federal officials the authority to get involved.

Sunday, Aug. 28: Mayor Ray Nagin orders mandatory evacuation of New Orleans. President Bush warned of Levee failure by National Hurricane Center. National Weather Service predicts area will be “uninhabitable” after Hurricane arrives. First reports of water toppling over the levee appear in local paper.

Monday, Aug. 29: Levee breaches and New Orleans begins to fill with water, Bush travels to Arizona and California to discuss Medicare. FEMA chief finally responds to federal emergency, dispatching employees but giving them two days to arrive on site.

Tuesday, Aug. 30: Mass looting reported, security shortage cited in New Orleans. Pentagon says that local authorities have adequate National Guard units to handle hurricane needs despite governor’s earlier request. Bush returns to Crawford for final day of vacation. TV coverage is around-the-clock Hurricane news.

Wednesday, Aug. 31: Tens of thousands trapped in New Orleans including at Convention Center and Superdome in “medieval” conditions. President Bush finally returns to Washington to establish a task force to coordinate federal response. Local authorities run out of food and water supplies.

Thursday, Sept. 1: New Orleans descends into anarchy. New Orleans Mayor issues a “Desperate SOS” to federal government. Bush claims nobody predicted the breach of the levees despite multiple warnings and his earlier briefing.

Friday, Sept. 2: Karl Rove begins Bush administration campaign to blame state and local officials—despite their repeated requests for help. Bush stages a photo-op—diverting Coast Guard helicopters and crew to act as backdrop for cameras. Levee repair work orchestrated for president’s visit and White House press corps.

Saturday, Sept. 3: Bush blames state and local officials. Senior administration official (possibly Rove) caught in a lie claiming Gov. Blanco had not declared a state of emergency or asked for help.

Monday, Sept. 5: New Orleans officials begin to collect their dead.

(Adapted from: Katrina Timeline, http://thinkprogress.org/katrina-timeline/ )

Those are the facts. State and local officials BEGGED for help as people in their city suffered. The Bush administration didn’t get the job done and when their failure became an embarrassment they attacked those asking for help.

The New York Times reported on Friday that Karl Rove and White House communications director Dan Bartlett “rolled out a plan…to contain the political damage from the administration’s response to Hurricane Katrina.” The core of the strategy is “to shift the blame away from the White House and toward officials of New Orleans and Louisiana.”

This is the same pattern of smearing that the Bush political machine has used for a decade. John McCain and John Kerry had their war records smeared. The CIA cover of Ambassador Joseph Wilson’s wife was blown after he criticized the Bush Iraq policy. Now, Hurricane victims are attacked when the Bush administration failed to do their duty to help them.

It isn’t just the Bush administration. Republican Senator Rick Santorum blamed victims in a TV interview and House Speaker Dennis Hastert suggested New Orleans should not be rebuilt.

We can’t let them get away with this. Please sign our petition today and do your part.

This is just the first step. We need to continue to help those in need directly and make sure our government does their job. There will be a time to figure out who specifically to blame and what to change. In the meantime, the Bush administration needs to get to work helping those in need.

Thanks for all you do,

–Tom, Tanya, Joan, Jennifer and the MoveOn.org Political Action Team
Wednesday, September 7th, 2005

P.S. Check out these links for more on the Hurricane relief efforts.

Katrina Timeline, ThinkProgress.org http://thinkprogress.org/katrina-timeline/

Editorial: No time for turf wars. The Times-Picayune, September 7, 2005. http://www.moveon.org/r?r=869

Editorial blasts federal response. CNN, September 4, 2005. http://www.moveon.org/r?r=870

The big disconnect on New Orleans. CNN, September 2, 2005. http://www.moveon.org/r?r=871

PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION
Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.

September 8th, 2005 Posted by John Bambenek | Hurricane Katrina, MoveOn Watch, National, Politics | 9 comments

MoveOn Watch: Corruption Only Matters When its a Republican

You’d think by reading this e-mail that only Republicans are engaging in corruption in Congress. But with over 200 lawmakers filing late reports like Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif, reporting 21 trips and Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., reporting 20 past trips, it comes as a surprise to learn there are just as many Democrats engaging in the time dishonored practice of junkets. The biggest traveler with privately funded trips is a Democrat also.

Rep. Harold E. Ford Jr., a Tennessee Democrat who is running for the Senate, holds first place as Congress’ most prolific traveler since 2000. While his travel reports have been trouble-free in recent years, that has not always been the case.
From 1998 to 2003, he took 61 privately funded trips. During that period, he failed to file a single travel-disclosure form with the House clerk, as required by the chamber’s ethics rules.

The tips DeLay took that were paid for on Abramoff’s credit card also include two other DemocratCongressmen, who are not under investigation for the exact same offense DeLay is accused of.

The point is, MoveOn isn’t concerned about corruption, they are concerned about getting people out of office who disagree with them despite the fact that they were elected by a majority of this country who want them there and support their agenda. That agenda may keep Hillary awake at night and she may think that is isn’t good for America, but the facts remain, that a majority of this country has rejected the Democrats because all they can do is spew racist hatred.

The latest MoveOn production shows that they aren’t even going to try to convince voters anymore, they’ll just try to get every Republican thrown out of office under any pretext they can. No agenda, no issues, no discussion and the US keeps on getting redder.

==========
Dear MoveOn member,

Last week, MoveOn members made the news when we took on Republican members of Congress who continue to back Republican leader Tom DeLay despite his numerous ethical and legal misdeeds. The Rocky Mountain News headline was, “MoveOn Targets Beauprez, Musgrave.” The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote, “PAC Targeting Hart with Anti-DeLay Radio Ads” and the Ventura County (CA) Star noted that “Gallegly Gets Anti-DeLay Petitions.”

In an impressive week:

* The “Fire Tom DeLay” petition topped out at more than 484,146 signers urging Republicans to fire DeLay as their leader.

* MoveOn volunteers organized 195 events to deliver these signatures to Republican members of Congress and others.

* Thousands of MoveOn volunteers attended or organized the petition deliveries and worked hard to alert the media. It paid off. We’ve seen news stories for about a third of the local events and heard about many more–meaning millions of people heard about their representative’s support for Tom DeLay through our efforts.

* We’ve been running ads against seven members of Congress who both come from vulnerable congressional districts and fundraise with DeLay’s help. Contribute to support the radio ads.

The goal of all of these actions was to drive home the public outrage over corruption and abuse of power among the Republican leadership and make it clear to Republicans that they should dump DeLay as their leader.

How well did it work? On the front page of today’s edition of The Washington Post, there’s a story with the headline, “GOP Worries Ethics Issue May Hurt Party in ‘06.”

The article opens:

After enlarging their majority in the past two elections, House Republicans have begun to fear that public attention to members’ travel and relations with lobbyists will make ethics a potent issue that could cost the party seats in next year’s midterm races.

That’s what MoveOn members have been working to make a reality. The
reporter adds:

In what Republican strategists call “the DeLay effect,” questions plaguing House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) are starting to hurt his fellow party members, who are facing news coverage of their own trips and use of relatives on their campaign payrolls. Liberal interest groups have begun running advertising in districts where Republicans may be in trouble, trying to tie the incumbents to their leaders’ troubles.

This is one sure sign that we’ve made an impact over the last week. You helped create “the DeLay effect” that is making Republicans nervous by turning up the heat on the members of Congress who shield DeLay from accountability. The media has caught on to the fact that members of Congress who shield DeLay will face troubles of their own. That is helpful and why we have to keep the heat turned up.

We’re still running radio ads and we need your help to raise our budget.

Please make a contribution today.

[SNIPPED LINK]

We’ve also heard from some MoveOn members who wrote us about their
experiences.

Tom from Gresham, Oregon wrote:

It was a huge success! What an empowering and rewarding experience to have this group of people, most of whom have never met, come together because they want to do something good. And what a great group of people–young and old, singles, kids and parents–people who really care about our country and are stepping up when it needs them. A common theme was, “I’ve never done anything like this before”, and an hour later we were all ready for another action. There’s no question we will be active again, and we are grateful to MoveOn for bringing us together–that’s what it’s all about, and that’s what it will take to win back our great country.

When we asked volunteers what the best moment of the petition delivery was, Susan from Coarsegold, California responded, “The stunned look on the staff member’s face when over 600 petitions were delivered to the office.”

These actions only happened because we all did our part. Some of us signed the “Fire Tom DeLay” petition. Others organized or helped out at petition delivery events. Still others contributed money to pay for the radio ads.

Some of us did all three. Still others did their part just by spreading the word about Tom DeLay.

Republican leaders in Congress seem to think they can get away with anything–that nobody could stop them. But you and 3 million other MoveOn members are helping to prove them wrong. Thanks so much for everything you do.

Every little bit makes a difference.

–Tom, Matt, Joan, James, Rosalyn and the MoveOn PAC Team
Monday, June 6th, 2005

P.S. Here are some links.

“GOP Worries Ethics Issue May Hurt Party in ‘06″ The Washington Post, June 6, 2005.
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=736

Good research on the connections between Tom DeLay and other members of Congress.
http://www.indelayspocket.com/

PAID FOR BY MOVEON PAC
Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.

June 8th, 2005 Posted by John Bambenek | MoveOn Watch | no comments

MoveOn Watch: Investigate DeLay! But only DeLay!

Here’s a list of congresspeople that have committed or apparently committed the same thing DeLay has done:

Rep. Jim Clyburn
Rep. Bennie Thompson - Both on the same trip as DeLay
Sen. Gordon Smith
Sen. Don Nickles
Rep. Howard Coble
Rep. Harold Rogers
Rep. Clay Shaw
Rep. Bill Thomas
Rep. Neil Abercrombie
Rep. Norm Dicks
Rep. Nancy Pelosi
Sen. Hillary Clinton who’s fundraiser crimes are in trial now
List goes on.

(Read some of it here)

But MoveOn is apparently only concerned with Tom DeLay’s ethical lapses… As usual, it isn’t the ethics that are the real udnerlying concern, but it is a convenient club to knock down someone they can’t defeat in elections. If they cared about elections they could start by demanding resignations from Clyborn and Thompson who were on the very same trip as DeLay and paid for by the very same Abramoff credit card. Call your MoveOn representatives…

====================

Report Card
Rep. Timothy Johnson’s Connections to Tom DeLay

Accepted $25,000
from Tom DeLay’s PAC

Voted 82.98%
of the time with DeLay
(980 of 1,181 votes)

Tell Rep. Johnson,
“Fire Tom DeLay!”

sign the petition

Data in the “Report Card” was compiled by Public Campaign Action Fund for its DeLay Rankings at http://www.InDeLaysPocket.com

Dear MoveOn member,

A month ago it looked like the scandals surrounding Republican Majority Leader Rep. Tom DeLay couldn’t get any worse. Newspapers were breaking new stories every week about lobbyist-paid golf trips, the $500,000 paid from DeLay’s political coffers to his family, and back-room deals DeLay was cutting to save his hide.

Then, it got worse.

The latest scandal connects DeLay to sweatshops in the Mariana Islands making apparel with “Made in the USA” labeling while avoiding U.S. labor laws — exploiting Chinese immigrant labor. But a growing number of Republicans are going mute on DeLay’s ethical abuses. They’re afraid of far-right organizations — who are staunch DeLay supporters — and of retribution from DeLay himself.

The thing that will push Tom DeLay out of his leadership role is a public outcry and pressure on the Republicans who gave him that office. That’s where you come in. In a few weeks, we’re going to organize events across the nation to deliver our petition to fire Tom DeLay to the Republicans who still back him — either Republicans in Congress or the local Republican Party.

Take a moment to sign it now — the more signatures we can deliver Rep. Johnson, the more likely he is to think twice about DeLay’s leadership.

[snip link]

The tangled web of backslapping relationships between DeLay, other Republicans, and lobbyists needs to be exposed to the light. So we’ve taken the best information out there on the connections between Republican members of Congress and Rep. Tom DeLay and we’re sending it to you as your own personal “Report Card on Rep. Johnson” (see right).

After you read the report card please sign our petition and forward this e-mail to your friends, family and colleagues. This is exactly the sort of detailed information they’re looking for and will find useful.

So far, nearly 300,000 of us have signed a petition to Congress urging them to fire Tom DeLay as Majority Leader. We want to collect at least 500,000 petition signatures before the beginning of June when Congress returns home for a week.

During the first week in June MoveOn members will deliver the petition to Republican members of Congress while they’re home. If you live in a Democratic district, we will deliver the petition to the local Republican Party headquarters. You can volunteer to get involved in the petition delivery when you sign the petition.

Please take the time now to sign our petition urging Congress to fire Tom DeLay as majority leader.

[snip link]

We need to turn the heat up on representatives about their association with DeLay. As absurd as it sounds, many Republicans are actually gathering later this week at a banquet to honor DeLay. Rep. Johnson might be one of them.

Among his offenses, Tom Delay:

* Accepted trips from corporations and later helped kill legislation they opposed

* Accepted trips from the lobbyist for a foreign government in violation of House rules

* Paid family members more than $500,000 out of campaign contributions

* Helped sweatshops in the Mariana Islands at the behest of a lobbyist.

* Promised a role in drafting legislation to a corporate donor

* Tried to coerce a Congressman for a vote on Medicare

* Allegedly used corporate money given to his PAC to finance Texas campaigns in violation of state law

* Used Homeland Security resources in a dispute with Democrats in Texas

* Diverted funds from a children’s charity for lavish celebrations at the Republican convention

* Threatened retaliation against interest groups that don’t support Republicans

* Stacked the House Ethics Committee with representatives who have contributed to his legal defense fund

* Crippled the effectiveness of the House Ethics Committee by purging members who had rebuked him

* Pushed for a rules change for the House Ethics process that paralyzed the panel

* Sought a rule change that would have no longer “required leaders to step aside temporarily if indicted”

(See postscript below for a link to citations.)

As Majority Leader, DeLay is the second-ranking leader in the House of Representatives. He is responsible for developing the Republican issue agenda and sets the legislative schedule by selecting which bills the House will consider.

The ranks of government contractors and lobbyists who depend on this legislative authority have slathered DeLay, his cronies and related organizations with millions of dollars.

Please sign our petition today urging Congress to fire Tom Delay!

[snip link]

Thanks for all you do.

–Tom, Wes, Adam, Laura and the MoveOn PAC Team
Wednesday, May 11th, 2005

P.S. Here is a link to the brief that we used to document DeLay’s abuses. It includes links to news reports with the specific background on each of the assertions we make above. “DeLay’s Dirty Dozen” from the American Progress Action Fund http://thinkprogress.org/index.php?p=430

P.P.S. Our work in this campaign is inspired by a number of organizations who have taken the lead.

One of the best resources for information on the Tom DeLay scandals and how other members of Congress are connected to it is the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee run by Rep. Rahm Emmanuel of Illinois. Visit http://www.houseofscandal.org and join their e-mail list for alerts on how to clean up Congress.

Check out the DeLay Rankings from the Public Campaign Action Fund. http://www.indelayspocket.com/

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington drafted the ethics complaint against DeLay, who then tried to have them held in contempt of Congress. http://www.citizensforethics.org/

You can make a contribution to support MoveOn PAC’s work on this and other issues by clicking on the link below. https://www.moveonpac.org/donate/donate.html

PAID FOR BY MOVEON PAC
Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.

May 11th, 2005 Posted by John Bambenek | MoveOn Watch | no comments

MoveOn Watch: Sometimes the Truth Slips Out

You can see the winning video here.

Sometimes the truth manages to slip out despite the left’s best attempts to hide it. The video starts that there is no social security crisis. But then suggests a solution of removing the $90k cap (gee, didn’t President Bush mention this one too). Why suggest a solution to a non-problem? Perhaps, maybe, because there is one?

Lastly, and this has been mentioned elsewhere, gambling on a index fund isn’t such a problem as people make it out to be. You won’t be able to invest in stocks, just index funds, and let’s be honest if the Dow tanks (and by tank I mean go to 0) I think we’re all screwed long before we hit retirement. That would mean essentially the biggest businesses just outright don’t exist anymore with the attending fallout that would lead to (i.e. employment = 100%). Retirement won’t be my chief concern then. Index funds are low fee funds and even after 9/11 and index fund still produces profit over the long term. Most people plan their retirements with 401(k)s, and people hold them more secure by far than Social Security.

If MoveOn has to deceive about basic facts then it is obvious they aren’t contributing to the discussion and aren’t interested in the problem. Why listen to what a deceiver has to say?

============
Dear MoveOn member,

In his nationally-televised prime time press conference, George W. Bush
showed his cards — embracing massive cuts in Social Security benefits
as part and parcel of Social Security privatization. Today, we’re
announcing the winner of Bush in 30 Years — a grassroots contest to
find the best Macromedia Flash animation or game that explains the
Republicans’ Social Security scam.

Lots of brilliant Flash animators worked long and hard, and they created
hilarious, bold entries. More than 140,000 MoveOn members voted to
decide the ten finalists. Our panel of celebrity judges — actor John
Cusack, comedian and radio host Al Franken, columnist Arianna
Huffington, filmmaker Richard Linklater, and animator Aaron McGruder —
chose a winner.

And the winner is…”If it ain’t broke, don’t privatize it!” by Andy
Menconi of San Francisco, California. Both the judges and MoveOn members
picked “If it ain’t broke” as their favorite — a popular and critical
smash hit!

See the winning entry in our Bush in 30 Years contest at:

[snip link]

With subtle humor and clean visuals, “If it ain’t broke” makes things
clear: Bush’s private accounts will do nothing to strengthen Social
Security. Instead, they’ll cut benefits and add trillions in new debt,
all to gamble on Wall Street with your retirement savings.

With your help, this animation could inspire tens of thousands of new
people to join the fight to protect Social Security. Help get your
friends, family, and co-workers involved by passing along this winning
animation today.

Watch the winner, then pass it along by clicking here:



[snip link]

Later this week, we’ll advertise the winner on The New York Times
website and MySpace.com, a popular youth website, reaching millions of
people who are making up their minds about Social Security
privatization. You can help run those ads by donating at the link above.

The president has been campaigning hard to privatize Social Security
since his State of the Union address in January. That’s nearly four
months of non-stop, election-style campaigning. Yet everywhere the
president goes, the poll numbers show that the public widely disapproves
of his proposal to cut benefits and privatize Social Security. This
looks like a win in the works — but we need to stay vigilant.

Thanks for all that you do.

Sincerely,

–Laura, Noah, Eli, Tom and the MoveOn PAC Team
Monday, May 9th, 2005

P.S. Please contribute to help pay for the web ads at:

[snip link]

PAID FOR BY MOVEON PAC
Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.

May 10th, 2005 Posted by John Bambenek | MoveOn Watch | 3 comments