No More Civility

No mas. We will not allow Republicans and Right Wingers to clutch pearls and call for civility. Not when the sitting president insults people using very harsh terms. A former president threw a soft, almost diplomatic criticism at the current White House, and that’s outrageous? Think about that. Would *you* respond to 100,000 dead with a soft, “the people in charge here aren’t even pretending to be in charge”? Not even raising your voice. You would, I hope, be furious, ready to set fire to every state house that didn’t take the pandemic seriously. I mean, this is the Obama Anger Translator sketch, right? He is so calm and so chill. He can sleep well at night. He’s not quite as chill as “Stoner Mom” Alicia Keys, but he’s close. And he took the courageous step of making a compliant about the current White House losing tens of thousands of citizens seem calmer and friendlier than a typical compliant launched inside a crowded DMV office.

I get it. US Presidents are not human. They are aliens. And once they are in the club, they act like no other human beings, and they protect each other. But Obama could have been a little more pointed in his remarks. He could have said that those in change are responsible for the US death tool being more than double what it could have been. He could have expressed sadness over the number of our dead. He could have assured us that incompetence will not prevail. Instead, he gave us nothing, as he almost always did. His reaction to the Sandy Hook massacre is still the most human he has ever been as president or in the years since.

Senator Leahy's Statement on Monica Goodling

I can't agree more, Patrick. It is becoming curiouser and curiouser.

Comment Of Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.,
Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee,
On Testimony Of Former DOJ White House Liaison Monica Goodling
Before The House Judiciary Committee
May 23, 2007

“It is curious that yet another senior Justice Department official claims to have limited involvement in compiling the list that led to the firings of several well-performing federal prosecutors. What we have heard today seems to reinforce the mounting evidence that the White House was pulling the strings on this project to target certain prosecutors in different parts of the country.

“It is deeply troubling that the crisis of leadership at the Department allowed the White House to wield undue political influence over key law enforcement decisions and policies. It is unacceptable that a senior Justice Department official was allowed to screen career employees for political loyalty, and it confirms our worst fears about the unprecedented and improper reach of politics into the Department’s professional ranks.

“As Congress continues its oversight to pull back the curtain on the politicization of the Justice Department, it is abundantly clear that we must do all we can to get to the truth behind this matter and the role White House played in it.”

On Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee was under-prepared (overall) for Monica Goodling. It seems that there were clues in her opening statement that Democrats could have pounced upon, but didn't. Dhalia Lithwick of Slate dissects what they might have missed, and we learn more about Ms. Goodling. She is certainly not dumb, but she had weaknesses that only a few congressmen were able to exploit (most notably Artur Davis). It's worth a read.

I get the feeling that the Senate Judicial Committee will pass on inviting Goodling to speak, and continue to pursue a subpoena for Karl Rove. Someone has to know how the names of eight USAs ended up on a termination list. If Gonzales, Goodling, McNulty, and Sampson don't know, then we have to go to the White House for answers. Simple as that.