Comments on: Why Bush Is So Desperate to Get Bradbury Approved http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/02/08/why-bush-is-so-desperate-to-get-bradbury-approved/ Tue, 24 Nov 2009 06:35:13 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: JohnLopresti http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/02/08/why-bush-is-so-desperate-to-get-bradbury-approved/comment-page-2/#comment-51844 JohnLopresti Sun, 10 Feb 2008 18:22:33 +0000 http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/02/08/why-bush-is-so-desperate-to-get-bradbury-approved/#comment-51844 <p>sk, I think yours is a good question. It accomplishes the neat circling that brings Mukasey’s performance, denying prosecutions or even review of pending contempt of congress matters, this past week in the liveblogged hearing, into a focus similar to the tangle of argument surrounding the early Savage articles on signing statements; and it seems this territory likely is one congress will visit again, given the intransigence of the new AG, as congress nears a time of wanting resolution or at a minimum the figure of catharsis, with respect to a bundle of scandals the administration has avoided based on some ivory tower paradigm of the executive it holds dear. While the following article’s politics are diffuse, it makes some interesting points about the outcome for the <a href="http://www.users.muohio.edu/kelleycs/2006/07/return-of-unitary-executive.html" rel="nofollow">Clinton presidency in its relationship to olc</a> at a time when the IndepCounsel was creating havoc for the executive, depicting the result as paving the way for fourthbranch excesses, though I do not buy the article’s full reasoning; there is a lot ‘out there’ on this topic which was more prominent two years ago. Maybe Savage’s own site has expanded into this realm, beyond the book promotion material, though it is pretty specialized.</p> sk, I think yours is a good question. It accomplishes the neat circling that brings Mukasey’s performance, denying prosecutions or even review of pending contempt of congress matters, this past week in the liveblogged hearing, into a focus similar to the tangle of argument surrounding the early Savage articles on signing statements; and it seems this territory likely is one congress will visit again, given the intransigence of the new AG, as congress nears a time of wanting resolution or at a minimum the figure of catharsis, with respect to a bundle of scandals the administration has avoided based on some ivory tower paradigm of the executive it holds dear. While the following article’s politics are diffuse, it makes some interesting points about the outcome for the Clinton presidency in its relationship to olc at a time when the IndepCounsel was creating havoc for the executive, depicting the result as paving the way for fourthbranch excesses, though I do not buy the article’s full reasoning; there is a lot ‘out there’ on this topic which was more prominent two years ago. Maybe Savage’s own site has expanded into this realm, beyond the book promotion material, though it is pretty specialized.

]]> By: JohnLopresti http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/02/08/why-bush-is-so-desperate-to-get-bradbury-approved/comment-page-2/#comment-51843 JohnLopresti Sun, 10 Feb 2008 18:06:11 +0000 http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/02/08/why-bush-is-so-desperate-to-get-bradbury-approved/#comment-51843 <p>The advisory was because I wrote from memory about the dispute in 2006 over executive privilege and the counterbalances available in congress. A disorganized summary might proceed in the following way, my dispersed notetaking is at fault here, but these items have links, hopefully helpful and still viable. AG <a href="http://www.ciec.org/trial/abort_speech.html" rel="nofollow">Reno sent a letter to VP Gore advising of the indefensibility of a law</a> and DoJ’s decision not to defent that law. Here is a similar letter on a different topic from <a href="http://www.seniorlaw.com/reno.htm" rel="nofollow">Reno to Gingrich about indefensibility of a law</a>. Another item in my signing statement folder seems related, from <a href="http://www.usdoj.gov/olc/cdraftfin.htm" rel="nofollow">Dellinger to Reno</a>. The ‘reporting it’ concept also relates to this <a href="http://www.users.muohio.edu/kelleycs/2006/07/transmissions.html" rel="nofollow">discussion of the Carter era legislative veto practice</a>, with caveat that that writer tends to the abstruse but often seems to have a few gaps in footnotes, though managing to remain both accurate and interesting. I continue to look for the exact cite in law that explains the mechanism of DoJ reporting to congress when the president has denied to implement a law, but it was part of that review in 2006 which led to the ABA study on signing statements; and the essence was though congress had designed the mechanism for this negative feedback it was rarely observed by AGs. I usually prefer to avoid exploring those official archives, opting instead to delve into the reviews in academia.</p> The advisory was because I wrote from memory about the dispute in 2006 over executive privilege and the counterbalances available in congress. A disorganized summary might proceed in the following way, my dispersed notetaking is at fault here, but these items have links, hopefully helpful and still viable. AG Reno sent a letter to VP Gore advising of the indefensibility of a law and DoJ’s decision not to defent that law. Here is a similar letter on a different topic from Reno to Gingrich about indefensibility of a law. Another item in my signing statement folder seems related, from Dellinger to Reno. The ‘reporting it’ concept also relates to this discussion of the Carter era legislative veto practice, with caveat that that writer tends to the abstruse but often seems to have a few gaps in footnotes, though managing to remain both accurate and interesting. I continue to look for the exact cite in law that explains the mechanism of DoJ reporting to congress when the president has denied to implement a law, but it was part of that review in 2006 which led to the ABA study on signing statements; and the essence was though congress had designed the mechanism for this negative feedback it was rarely observed by AGs. I usually prefer to avoid exploring those official archives, opting instead to delve into the reviews in academia.

]]> By: bmaz http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/02/08/why-bush-is-so-desperate-to-get-bradbury-approved/comment-page-2/#comment-51842 bmaz Sun, 10 Feb 2008 17:46:14 +0000 http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/02/08/why-bush-is-so-desperate-to-get-bradbury-approved/#comment-51842 <p>No way Hardin and his client can take the tact they do if they have any question whatsoever as to what Petitte will say. It was obvious from the get go what a tilting point Petitte could/would be; I just don’t see how you could pursue this strategy if you have any question at all on what he would say. And Petitte and his lawyer, as unhappy at being involved in the whole mess as they may well be, would want to know, have to know, how Clemens’ team was going to play things and what they might be going to say about Petitte; so the two sides are on the same page. That analysis would hold even without the fact that Petitte and Clemens are friends; which the are.</p> No way Hardin and his client can take the tact they do if they have any question whatsoever as to what Petitte will say. It was obvious from the get go what a tilting point Petitte could/would be; I just don’t see how you could pursue this strategy if you have any question at all on what he would say. And Petitte and his lawyer, as unhappy at being involved in the whole mess as they may well be, would want to know, have to know, how Clemens’ team was going to play things and what they might be going to say about Petitte; so the two sides are on the same page. That analysis would hold even without the fact that Petitte and Clemens are friends; which the are.

]]> By: GulfCoastPirate http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/02/08/why-bush-is-so-desperate-to-get-bradbury-approved/comment-page-2/#comment-51841 GulfCoastPirate Sun, 10 Feb 2008 15:14:29 +0000 http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/02/08/why-bush-is-so-desperate-to-get-bradbury-approved/#comment-51841 <p>Justice is OK, his radio show is someties quite good. For one, he must be friends with Feinstein so he gets him on semi regularly and those are interesting talks. He was on the other day after Bobby Knight resigned and Knight is one guy, love him or hate him, who makes for some good stories.</p> <p>Justice is into the idea that anyone who used steroids is cheating. Don’t know if I agree or disagree but that’s his schtick so when he got a chance to go after Roger he did so. I think there must have been some bad blood between the two before this though. Even with going after Roger hard Justice has pointed out repeatedly, on his show and in his columns, that Roger was different than some of the others in that he was only accused of doing anything less than 20 times over a multi year period and for steroids to be effective they have to be taken on a regular basis so in Roger’s case it was more experimental than anything else.</p> <p>What’s the IRS guy’s involvement in all this? Is that how they originally went after MacNamee? I wonder why George Mitchell let himself get involved in this nonsense? He can’t be that hard up for money.</p> <p>The one who’s being real quiet is Petitte. Think that’s a function of Hardin who knows what he is going to say and has asked him to keep quiet?</p> Justice is OK, his radio show is someties quite good. For one, he must be friends with Feinstein so he gets him on semi regularly and those are interesting talks. He was on the other day after Bobby Knight resigned and Knight is one guy, love him or hate him, who makes for some good stories.

Justice is into the idea that anyone who used steroids is cheating. Don’t know if I agree or disagree but that’s his schtick so when he got a chance to go after Roger he did so. I think there must have been some bad blood between the two before this though. Even with going after Roger hard Justice has pointed out repeatedly, on his show and in his columns, that Roger was different than some of the others in that he was only accused of doing anything less than 20 times over a multi year period and for steroids to be effective they have to be taken on a regular basis so in Roger’s case it was more experimental than anything else.

What’s the IRS guy’s involvement in all this? Is that how they originally went after MacNamee? I wonder why George Mitchell let himself get involved in this nonsense? He can’t be that hard up for money.

The one who’s being real quiet is Petitte. Think that’s a function of Hardin who knows what he is going to say and has asked him to keep quiet?

]]> By: skdadl http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/02/08/why-bush-is-so-desperate-to-get-bradbury-approved/comment-page-2/#comment-51840 skdadl Sun, 10 Feb 2008 13:39:29 +0000 http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/02/08/why-bush-is-so-desperate-to-get-bradbury-approved/#comment-51840 <blockquote><p>… the essence was congress had legislated that if the executive was going to refuse to implement a law, DoJ was bound <strong>to report it</strong>; …</p></blockquote> <p>Could someone explain what it means for the DoJ “to report” something?</p>

… the essence was congress had legislated that if the executive was going to refuse to implement a law, DoJ was bound to report it; …

Could someone explain what it means for the DoJ “to report” something?

]]> By: bmaz http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/02/08/why-bush-is-so-desperate-to-get-bradbury-approved/comment-page-2/#comment-51839 bmaz Sun, 10 Feb 2008 06:10:31 +0000 http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/02/08/why-bush-is-so-desperate-to-get-bradbury-approved/#comment-51839 <p>By the way, I have always kind of liked Richard Justice. If you watched him from then up until now, you have seen him backpeddling at an increasing speed from what he was initially positing. He knows. He just can’t spit it all out yet. Rocket ain’t a real forgiving guy either I don’ think…..</p> By the way, I have always kind of liked Richard Justice. If you watched him from then up until now, you have seen him backpeddling at an increasing speed from what he was initially positing. He knows. He just can’t spit it all out yet. Rocket ain’t a real forgiving guy either I don’ think…..

]]> By: bmaz http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/02/08/why-bush-is-so-desperate-to-get-bradbury-approved/comment-page-2/#comment-51838 bmaz Sun, 10 Feb 2008 05:59:34 +0000 http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/02/08/why-bush-is-so-desperate-to-get-bradbury-approved/#comment-51838 <p>Hardin has undoubtedly had it in his pocket for a bit; exactly how long is hard to say. He is extremely thorough and has a first rate team around him. He would have debriefed Clemens about everything, and I mean everything down to when, where and how many times he went to the bathroom during the entire relevant period of time and then accumulating every known piece of information in the world on Macnamee and investigating with a microscope the whole lot of it. If you will recall, Clemens didn’t make any public statement of significance for a few days after the report first surfaced; the word I hear is that they were tipped off in advance and were already putting all this together and investigating up a storm. I guarantee you this much, Rusty knew the score pretty damn well before he said word one and was convinced he was on dead solid ground with what he said. Macnamee’s lawyers run their yaps; Hardin won’t say anything he doesn’t intend to say and have a specific reason for saying. And there is no way in hell he would be letting Clemens talk like he has been without being very certain of exactly where he was in the scheme of things. Hardin has a lot more under his magic hat too; you can bet the pot on it. I predict there will be at least one more little golden nugget revealed, maybe two, between now and Clemens’ testimony. Rusty will keep the crescendo building, slowly, toward the testimony. Won’t put it all out in the table yet, but he will keep the ball matriculating down the field as Hank Stram used to say. Macnamee is toast; only a question of how crispy he will be when it is all over. I speculated after hearing that taped phone call that Hardin and Clemens played at the press conference that MacNamee may well be a suicide risk; I still believe that. </p> <p>Now mind you that Clemens may still be guilty in the ultimate truth; but that isn’t what this is about here. This is a legal case and all that matters is what is proved, or not proved, and how it plays out; Rusty Hardin is one of the extremely few best of the best at what he does. As good as he is, however, he wouldn’t dream of playing his hand this way unless he is dead certain of what he held. I have seen this scene in many different movies before, with lawyers of this kind of quality; my money has been all in with Hardin from day one. Not only still is, I might double down. Hey, I blow it every now and then; if I am wrong I will admit it. You try enough of these cases, you bite it every now and then; I will be shocked if this is one of them though. By the way, Rusty hasn’t even started carving up IRS agent Novitsky, who has been ginning up this dog and pony show from the get go. If it gets that far, better get some more snacks cause that will be a real treat; he will not hold up much better than MacNamee, trust me on that. Bet you can’t tell I love watching this stuff eh?</p> Hardin has undoubtedly had it in his pocket for a bit; exactly how long is hard to say. He is extremely thorough and has a first rate team around him. He would have debriefed Clemens about everything, and I mean everything down to when, where and how many times he went to the bathroom during the entire relevant period of time and then accumulating every known piece of information in the world on Macnamee and investigating with a microscope the whole lot of it. If you will recall, Clemens didn’t make any public statement of significance for a few days after the report first surfaced; the word I hear is that they were tipped off in advance and were already putting all this together and investigating up a storm. I guarantee you this much, Rusty knew the score pretty damn well before he said word one and was convinced he was on dead solid ground with what he said. Macnamee’s lawyers run their yaps; Hardin won’t say anything he doesn’t intend to say and have a specific reason for saying. And there is no way in hell he would be letting Clemens talk like he has been without being very certain of exactly where he was in the scheme of things. Hardin has a lot more under his magic hat too; you can bet the pot on it. I predict there will be at least one more little golden nugget revealed, maybe two, between now and Clemens’ testimony. Rusty will keep the crescendo building, slowly, toward the testimony. Won’t put it all out in the table yet, but he will keep the ball matriculating down the field as Hank Stram used to say. Macnamee is toast; only a question of how crispy he will be when it is all over. I speculated after hearing that taped phone call that Hardin and Clemens played at the press conference that MacNamee may well be a suicide risk; I still believe that.

Now mind you that Clemens may still be guilty in the ultimate truth; but that isn’t what this is about here. This is a legal case and all that matters is what is proved, or not proved, and how it plays out; Rusty Hardin is one of the extremely few best of the best at what he does. As good as he is, however, he wouldn’t dream of playing his hand this way unless he is dead certain of what he held. I have seen this scene in many different movies before, with lawyers of this kind of quality; my money has been all in with Hardin from day one. Not only still is, I might double down. Hey, I blow it every now and then; if I am wrong I will admit it. You try enough of these cases, you bite it every now and then; I will be shocked if this is one of them though. By the way, Rusty hasn’t even started carving up IRS agent Novitsky, who has been ginning up this dog and pony show from the get go. If it gets that far, better get some more snacks cause that will be a real treat; he will not hold up much better than MacNamee, trust me on that. Bet you can’t tell I love watching this stuff eh?

]]> By: Sedgequill http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/02/08/why-bush-is-so-desperate-to-get-bradbury-approved/comment-page-2/#comment-51837 Sedgequill Sun, 10 Feb 2008 05:18:47 +0000 http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/02/08/why-bush-is-so-desperate-to-get-bradbury-approved/#comment-51837 <p>“We need a change in nomenclature,” writes Dan Fejes in <a href="http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_dan_feje_080209_the_new_authoritaria.htm" rel="nofollow">The New Authoritarians</a>, at opednews.com. Sounds good to me, although I’ve been partial to using <em>sham conservatives</em> for a while.</p> “We need a change in nomenclature,” writes Dan Fejes in The New Authoritarians, at opednews.com. Sounds good to me, although I’ve been partial to using sham conservatives for a while.

]]> By: GulfCoastPirate http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/02/08/why-bush-is-so-desperate-to-get-bradbury-approved/comment-page-2/#comment-51836 GulfCoastPirate Sun, 10 Feb 2008 05:18:35 +0000 http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/02/08/why-bush-is-so-desperate-to-get-bradbury-approved/#comment-51836 <p>Would I be wrong in assuming that Rusty knew this and stuck it in his back pocket for future use before he allowed Roger to walk that plank?</p> <p>The whole steroids thing is a crock. Do you remember that ‘chicks dig the long ball’ commercial? The owners made millions off these guys and now they’re acting surprised. </p> <p>Did you see Roger’s press conference? Remember him glaring at a local reporter and calling him out? The guy’s name is David Justice and he has a local talk radio show. He was talking the other day about the millions that the owners are now making off MLB.com on the Internet. Just a pot of gold they found sitting in their laps. Now think back to the time after the last strike when they couldn’t give tickets away because people were so disgusted. They ought to name that pot of gold ’steroids’.</p> Would I be wrong in assuming that Rusty knew this and stuck it in his back pocket for future use before he allowed Roger to walk that plank?

The whole steroids thing is a crock. Do you remember that ‘chicks dig the long ball’ commercial? The owners made millions off these guys and now they’re acting surprised.

Did you see Roger’s press conference? Remember him glaring at a local reporter and calling him out? The guy’s name is David Justice and he has a local talk radio show. He was talking the other day about the millions that the owners are now making off MLB.com on the Internet. Just a pot of gold they found sitting in their laps. Now think back to the time after the last strike when they couldn’t give tickets away because people were so disgusted. They ought to name that pot of gold ’steroids’.

]]> By: GulfCoastPirate http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/02/08/why-bush-is-so-desperate-to-get-bradbury-approved/comment-page-2/#comment-51835 GulfCoastPirate Sun, 10 Feb 2008 04:55:47 +0000 http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/02/08/why-bush-is-so-desperate-to-get-bradbury-approved/#comment-51835 <p>You’re absolutely correct and what drives me crazy is even when you see it coming, and then see it happening, there doesn’t seem to be a darn thing we can do about it. If you try to point it out most people don’t have the foggiest clue what you’re talking about.</p> You’re absolutely correct and what drives me crazy is even when you see it coming, and then see it happening, there doesn’t seem to be a darn thing we can do about it. If you try to point it out most people don’t have the foggiest clue what you’re talking about.

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