(Hat tip BRAD BLOG Toon Scout, Pokey Anderson)

Blogged by Brad from the road in St. Louis...

From David Swanson at AfterDowningStreeg.org:

So what's the hold up? Accountability awaits.

Blogged by Brad from St. Louis...

Supposed to be cooling my holiday heels a bit today, but couldn't let this one pass without comment. USA Today has an article this morning anointing psychologist Drew Westen, author of The Political Brain: The Role of Emotion in Deciding the Fate of the Nation, as the Democrats' new political rhetoric guru.

Nonetheless, in her article, headlined "Democrats get advice on how to talk about issues," reporter Jill Lewis can't seem to help but pass on the conventional wisdom (read: lies) of Republican rhetoric guru/liar Frank Luntz.

"Al Gore should have won" in 2000, Lewis unquestioningly quotes Luntz as telling her. "He lost because Americans didn't want him in their living rooms every night."

No. He "lost" because one vote on the Supreme Court determined that the man who won the national popular vote, as well as the electoral vote in Florida, should not have his votes counted as cast.

Had Lewis gone back and reviewed the findings of her own newspaper, who took part in a study of the ballots across the state of Florida, she likely would have discovered that.

While we realize that history is frequently re-written by the "winners," we see no reason why the corporate mainstream media need to participate in that charade. And yet, nearly 7 years later, and with facts now easily at hand, USA Today continues to do so.

We don't blame Luntz for lying. That's his job. Much as we don't blame Ann Coulter for being an unapologetic liar and hate-monger. We blame USA Today --- and other similarly irresponsible corporate mainstream outlets --- for giving him the platform to continue to pass on his lies without correction. Much as we blame ABC, NBC, MSNBC, et al. for giving Coulter a bully pulpit from which to spew her bullshit.

We need to begin to hold those who hold the keys to the kingdom responsible for allowing the charlatans inside the gates in the first place. Until we hold the media accountable and demand that they clean up their act, the Democratic focus-grouped advice of media message masters like Westen, and George Lakoff before him, won't mean a damn thing.

Blogged by Brad from "Thor" Country (St. Louis, Missouri)...

"Emptywheel" at Next Hurray has the details on the latest Republican front group to go missing on the Internets in the time-honored cowardly tradition of George W. Bush's cut and run vote-suppression capo Thor Hearne of the "non-partisan" propaganda outlet, "American Center for Voting Rights" (ACVR).

At least the latest GOP scam outfit to see their website set to "This site is temporarily unavailable," Italia Federici's "Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy," (CREA) had the decency to include the name of their party in the group's name. As well, unlike Thor and his buddies, the group --- whose major funder was the now-jailed lobbyist Jack Abramoff --- waited until its President, Federici, had pled guilty to obstruction and tax charges before giving up their website's ghost.

Thor, on the other hand, got out as soon as the U.S. Attorney Purge scandal began to shine a spotlight on the "Democratic voter fraud" scam he had been perpetrating for years on a gullible nation and a pliant corporate mainstream media. If we ever find out who funded Thor's tax-exempt ACVR scam to the tune of more than $1 million, we'll not be surprised to see Abramoff's finger prints all over it. Pointing even more directly towards the White House, we've got reason to believe that James A. Baker and friends were also likely on the inside of the hoax set up by the man who was Karl Rove's top election "legal" eagle and, by no coincidence, Bush/Cheney '04 Inc.'s general counsel.

With groups like ACVR and CREA, the GOP helped raise the art of "astroturfing" to new, unforgivable heights of cynicism and criminal fraud. The CMSM let 'em do it for years, as most of us looked the other way in disbelief that the folks who ran this country --- by hook and mostly crook --- would ever be so blatantly disingenuous. They were. We fell for it. And it'll likely take years to undo the damage.

Blogged by Brad from St. Louis...

When we first ran the full Declaration of Independence here at The BRAD BLOG on the Fourth of July, 2005, it felt very much like a seditious act during those dark, oppressive days. Incredibly, we actually paused for a moment or two to consider whether there would be blowback of some sort for posting such a thing publicly. That we felt some level of concern in posting this document --- described by the National Archives as "the nation's most cherished symbol of liberty" --- at that time, is an irony that may take the historians decades to fully explain.

This is the third Fourth of July in a row on which we post this extraordinary document in full, along with the strong encouragement for you to read it. In full.

We have just done so again ourselves, and find it more incredibly apropos than ever. The section enumerating the crimes of King George against his country and constituents is remarkable in its near line-by-line parallels to the crimes of our own King George today: "A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people."

We stand by both the following Declaration and the words of Kieth Olbermann on MSNBC last night, calling on Bush and Cheney to do the right thing for their nation and Resign. For the good of this country. For the good of the world.

We challenge you to read America's Declaration of Independence which follows and not draw the direct and striking parallels that are so apparent from the very first paragraph on through the end.

On Independence Day, 2007, the following words likely ring more true than any single day since they were first adopted, some 231 years ago, by a small band of rag-tag patriots who declared their right to be free from tyranny, for a Government which derives its power from the consent of the governed, and "whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its power in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."

Please read on...

Blogged by Brad on our way out of Nashville...

Looking back at the original CNN report from February 11, 2004, announcing that a Special Prosecutor had been assigned to the CIA Leak matter, it's clear that what Bush had said at the time is exactly what he meant...

Scooter has now been well "taken care of", so once again, George W. Bush has proven to be a man of his word.

Though his interest in "want[ing] to know who" may have leaked the classified identify of a covert CIA operative overseeing worldwide WMD networks may have been somewhat overstated. As we recently learned during sworn Congressional testimony, White House Security Chief, Joe Knodell admitted that they never bothered to launch an investigation into the matter.

"Leaks of classified information are bad things," the Commutator-in-Chief said, apparently just kidding, back in early 2004.

UPDATE: Not yet "taken care of" enough, Bush refuses to rule out a full pardon...

Blogged by Brad from Nashville...

Via TPM, the DoJ manual on Commutations:

And from Patrick Fitzgerald's reaction:

Meanwhile, former Sen. Fred Thompson couldn't be happier:

...And Guilliani joins him in standing firmly against National Security for America, and in favor of outing covert CIA assets:

George W. Bush's father, however, feels differently. Or, at least he did back in 1999 when addressing his former colleagues at the CIA...

Blogged by Brad from Nashville after Escaping Atlanta...

"It's been a thriller," said the eponymous host of the Peter B. Collins Show as Friday's live radio debate wrapped up between myself and attorney Lawrence D. Norden, Chair of the NYU Brennan Center for Justice's Task Force on Voting System Security.

Norden made, in our spirited debate, what I believe to be some stunning admissions.

Complete "must listen" audio of the debate is available at the end of this article...

Blogged by Brad from Nashville...

While it's tough keeping up from the road --- where we will be for a long while still --- we rest much easier knowing that Greg Gordon of McClatchy Newspapers continues to lift the rocks and scrape off the slime that's found under them in the name of the disgraced "non-partisan" GOP front group calling themselves the "American Center for Voting Rights" (ACVR) and their vote-suppressor in chief, the Bush/Cheney '04 General Counsel, Mark F. "Thor" Hearne.

Today, Gordon advances the ACVR story --- which we broke more than two years ago and have been drilling down into ever since --- with the latest in his string of doozies that he's been rolling out since jumping on the beat.

His latest must-read begins by detailing the ACVR Menace as it reached its tentacles into New Mexico and the case behind the political firing of U.S. Attorney David Iglesias.

He also details some fresh gut-busters from our friend Thor, whose turds just don't seem to have the same luster they once did, when previously offered to a far less dubious media...

Blogged by Brad from Nashville...It's not easy keeping up from the road. But we're doing our best....

Leahy on Meet the Press today (via TPM, who has more, video available at C&L)...

Leahy's comments synch up with what Conyer's telegraphed a week during a House Judiciary hearing when he asked outgoing Dep. AG Paul McNulty if the DoJ would work with Congress should the White House ignore their subpoenas and it became necessary to issue criminal contempt charges. (For the record, McNulty punted in response, stating he's recused himself from the issue, will likely be gone by then, since he's already resigned, and otherwise, couldn't speak for the DoJ on the matter.)

Washington Post noticed Leahy's comments as well, and offers this road map to what comes next in their Monday edition...

"Referred to a U.S. attorney." See what a frickin' mess we're looking at here? The USA in question would be Jeffrey A. Taylor of the District of Columbia. Unless he gets fired any time soon. Don't know much about Taylor, with no time to dig for now. So feel free to fill us in with any thoughts on him in comments.

As the Summer of Accountability continues...

Blogged by Brad from Atlanta...

Next time you hear Nova M Radio's Mike Malloy unleashing one of his trademark tirades, just remember, he may well be wearing the "geezer slippers," as he described them, received for his 65th birthday, and as seen in the photo below.

Now, how scary could that be?

As luck would have it, I was able to hang with Mike --- perhaps the most fearless man on American radio --- and his lovely wife Kathy in Atlanta this weekend, as he celebrated. Today (July 1) is his official, birthday. So happy Birthday, geezer! Here's to many more!

And thanks to you both for the great old fashioned southern hospitality while in town!

A timely point, from the folks at Give 2 Shitz...

Blogged by Brad (quickly) from Atlanta...

Congrats to our friends, at RAW STORY. They've made it onto the radar screen of Rightwing Extremist, borderline psychotic John Gibson of Fox "News." They must be doing something right. Fantasy World Dwellers like the Bush dead-ender Gibson must be seeing the writing on the wall. If Gibson's silly, desperate, and unsupportable shots at RAW are any indication, it seems that the previous strategy of the 28-percenters may be quickly disintegrating. Pretending the real world doesn't exist --- by ignoring actual journalism and critics of administration policies (such as breaking the law, ignoring the constitution, etc.) --- may be a dog whose time on the hunt is soon coming to an end.

"The far Lefties are mad at [Cheney] for a host of imagined and concocted offenses. Having mostly to do with the fact that Cheney doggedly pursues our nation's enemies and he doesn't much care what other people think of what he's doing," opines Gibson from the undisclosed location of his own mind. That, after using the words "far far," "extreme," and "lefties" more times in his opening several sentences than we were able to count this morning.

Gibson, not watched by all that many people on Fox "News," describes RAW as being read by "not all that many people." In the past week, RAW STORY has had over 3.5 million page views. Anyone have time to check any numbers for Gibson's "Big Show"? We wonder how it compares number-wise.

By the way, the "Leftist blog" RAW STORY, as Gibson attempts to marginalize it, is not a blog. It's a news site. But, given his employer, we'll forgive Gibson for being unfamiliar with what news actually looks like.

Gibson's embarrassing broadcast, live from Planet Clueless, may be viewed at RAW STORY, naturally.

NOTE: While the above toon's suggestion, that the Constitution is protected each night from Dick Cheney, may be a joke, the part about powerful hydraulics lowering it into the ground each night is actually true. The company who made the high-tech security system, custom built to protect our nation's most important document: Diebold, Inc.

Yes, that Diebold, Inc.

(Hat-tip for the toon to BRAD BLOG's comic sherpa, Pokey Anderson)

Blogged by Brad (quickly) from Atlanta...

Constitutional law professor Jonathon Turley on Olbermann: "For many years, since we first found out about this program, some of us have said that this was a clearly criminal act that the president called for. ... If we're right, not only did he order that crime, but it would be, in fact, an impeachable offense."

"This administration, I have to say, has a certain contempt for the law," added Turley. "They treat it like some of my criminal defendents used to treat it. ... They come up with any argument that might work. ... It's a sort of shocking development. ... But at the end of the day, they will lose, and they're making the situation worse."

Full story, video at RAW STORY.