Edgewise

Former Senator Fred Thompson

For those who have managed to avoid the “Law and Order” TV series all these years, the recent Presidential boomlet for Fred Thompson - who plays the DA, to whom the protagonists go for wisdom and tough choices - is probably not a big deal. But let me tell you, this guy is so palpably appealing that it is very scary.

I don’t mean just a “recognition” carryover from his being a TV star. It’s that his demeanor will be the same in a campaign; it is very natural to him: steady, wise, avuncular, likable, reasonable, the very figure of a Statesman President. So, there it is, it could just be me, but maybe not.

I think he would be a far stronger Republican nominee than any of those currently in the field, and a far more formidable opponent for the Democrat. I have no idea what he has to say about Iraq, Bush, abortion rights, gays, or anything else. Hopefully, he would get himself in trouble over something.

But it’s hard to see how such troubles could be worse than what McCain and Guiliani already face. McCain’s problem’s are going to keep on getting worse because of the war (and his lack of a Surge Suppressor). Guiliani is going to be set back hard because of himself. The better he is known, the worse he looks, including the social issues and personal history/scandals. And his honeymoon period with the press is already ending.

Thompson could beat them both. I’m hoping that he’s had dozens of divorces and sordid affairs. If Thompson is reasonable on social issues, that could complicate things within the party. But, on reflection, it may not be just happenstance that the two current leading contenders are to the left of their party’s traditions. It’s possible that if Thompson came out as a True Conservative, that would hamper him, either in the primaries or in the general election.

The other hope is that deeply entrenched powers in the Republican Party - money-sources, local political machines, influence peddlers and the companies and industries they serve - have too much at stake already, are too committed, to allow someone new to take all the marbles.

Yes, Josh, There Is a Bill of Rights

Back in 2002, I got this email from my brother’s brother-in-law, Josh Kiok. Kind of relevant.

Dear David,

Once again I’m shocked, shocked! I suspect you already know about this, but just in case you don’t, a recent series of articles appeared in the SF Chronicle about the FBI/CIA spying on the Free Speech Movement. You can find them at <>

Josh

* [Me, per a famous newspaper column answering a little girl who had asked if there really was a Santa Claus.]

Yes, Josh, There Is a Bill of Rights

Of course, you are shocked, Josh. You have heard thoughtless adults imply that the Bill of Rights is just a pleasant story that we tell to children.

But rest assured, Josh, as long as we can dream, as long as we can fantasize, as long as we can pretend, there will always be a Bill of Rights.

Bush vs. Watergate - Who Wins?

A lot of people have said that the Bush/Cheney White House re-established Presidential powers that had been eroded since Watergate. How could they tell? Congress has not been testing Presidential power, because it was backing Presidential policy.

Now there are two fighters in the ring, and we may at last get to see whether it is Bush-Cheney or the Watergate legacy that has indeed prevailed.

Quoting here from my own old Watergate wrap-up:*

“[T]here has normally been little reason to think of Congress as a political unit set off against the Executive…. Congress as a whole could at any time have had its way, if there had been a way it wanted very much to have….

“…Nixon’s logical extension of other Presidents’ abuses was also the reductio ad absurdum, for it left Congress without leverage in any traditional transactions.

“When Senator Muskie asked incredulously, ‘Under your definition [of executive privilege] Congress has no power to command the production of the testimony of anyone in the executive branch in any circumstances?’ Kleindienst replied ‘If the President so commands it.’

“The various claims to privilege invoked by Presidents are by and large flimsy and incoherent—so much so that even a sympathetic judiciary would find them unsustainable (courts are not guided by pure logic, but a minimum of logic is a precondition of their work).”

*”Gerald Ford—Understudy for Defeat,” Ramparts, October, 1974. (I have re-sequenced these excerpts.)

Well, now, let’s find out!

Bush's legacy: The Cheney Administration

I think it’s clear now with the conviction of “Cheney’s Cheney” aka Scooter Libby that the Vice President’s Wizard-of-Oz-like pulling of levers behind curtains is the mind behind the Oval Office, and that fat balding head floating over us all is saying, “We have to make America the best place in the world to do business.” That is, Cheney’s business. Heh Heh Heh.

Jail the Walter Read reporters!

Defense Secretary Sends Stern Message About Accountability WP, 3/3/07

DKo: Shouldn’t they investigate the reporters for divulging the Army’s methods and resources for protecting the wounded? Jail the Walter Read reporters!

WP Article

Edgewise Readers. I’m duplicating this to make Edgewise links show up in the WP pages for both of their stories. They display the line or two just above their link.

Jail the Walter Reed Reporters!

Army Secretary Ousted Second Firing Follows Walter Reed Revelations; Bush Vows a Probe, WP, 3/3/07

DKo: Shouldn’t they investigate the reporters for divulging the Army’s methods and resources for protecting the wounded? Jail the Walter Read reporters!

WP Article