Bush Administration

In an indication of just how far down the wrong track things have gone, the Blunt Administration today announced its opposition to Bush Administration regulations of health-harming ozone.  Team Blunt thinks the Bush standards are too strict and wants to join the state of Mississippi in opposing them.

Quite a legacy their building there--- and that Kenny and Sarah want to continue.­­  Story Continued »

Every once in a while we get a perfect illustration of why GOPers work so hard at obscuring facts. 

Today's example is a story from the AP's Lara Jakes Jordan about the prospective grand jury investigation into possible perjury by former U.S. Attorney Brad Schlozman.  Jordan notes the connection between Schlozman and predecessor Todd Graves, writing:

Schlozman had defended his decision as U.S. Attorney in Kansas City to bring a Missouri voter fraud case days before the 2006 election, despite guidelines that discourage such cases because of the chance they could influence voting.

Schlozman's predecessor in Kansas City, Todd Graves, testified at the same hearing that he was asked to resign his post after clashing with senior department officials over the handling of some high-profile cases, including the voter fraud case. Graves was one of nine U.S. attorneys who were ousted in 2006 in an unusual midterm purge that ignited charges of White House political meddling at the fiercely independent Justice Department.

Something is very much wrong in this excerpt.

Two recent posts from Missouri political blogs do a bang-up job hammering home a theme that we explored recently here and here.

Randy Turner's Turner Report takes issue with the Blunt administration's juvenile use of his official megaphone:

Personally, I would like to see the governor spending his time using his office to help Missourians. If he wants to campaign for one of Nixon's rivals and make those remarks on the stump, I have no problem with that, but for a governor, especially one who couldn't even be troubled to run for re-election, to indulge in these playground games at our expense is a mockery of our system. Of course, he may not have anything else to do in these final months, since he said he has already accomplished all of his goals during his first and only term.

And the MO Political News Blog has a quantitative analysis of the Blunt Administration's use of official releases and press statements for political purposes:

Why do all these guys think they can cleanse their souls by pouring their concerns into "tell-all memoirs" written years after they ceased having meaningful input? 

Scott McClellan had ample opportunity to staunch the flow of Bush administration lies while he worked in the White House.  Instead, he said nothing until writing a book that almost no one will read and which will make zero difference in outcomes.

He's already cast his lot.

Check this out:

 

Check out the new Missourians for Fair Elections website:  

http://mofairelections.blogspot.com/

And call your Senator and tell them not to mess with the constitution and our voting rights.

Although there were many other worthy submissions of offensive quotes, the Heartless Quote of the Week goes to Senator John Loudon, hands down:

Republican Sen. John Loudon ridiculed concerns [voiced by nuns, elderly, disabled, student, poor and minority voters] that the photo ID requirement amounted to a tax on voters.

"The only thing taxing is you have to get off your duff and get an ID that's given away for free," Loudon said.

Yes, Loudon told that to Kathleen Weinschenk, who has cerebral palsy and doesn’t drive -  and who wouldn’t be able to vote without a government-issued photo ID if the heartless GOP has their way.  Story Continued »

If you only read one article today, read this, which details the back story on the Republican attempts to shove through a restrictive measure that will prevent registered law-abiding voters from voting. 

Bush Operative Pushes Voter-ID Law
by Jason Leopold

May 14, 2008—A senior legal adviser to the Bush-Cheney 2004 reelection campaign is working behind the scenes to help enact a Missouri state constitutional amendment that critics say would suppress the vote in the key battleground state this November by requiring voters to show proof of citizenship.

Mark “Thor” Hearne, Bush-Cheney’s national counsel in 2004 and now a partner in the St. Louis, Missouri, firm of Lathrop & Gage, has been collaborating with Missouri’s Republican state Rep. Stanley Cox, the sponsor of the constitutional amendment, Cox’s office confirmed this week...    READ FULL STORY: http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/051308b.html

Does John McCain approve of these tactics employed by Kenny Hulshof's minions at the Missouri GOP, and why hasn't the media asked that question?

Over at BradBlog, Tom Klammer of Kansas City's KFFI radio recounts some of his experiences with University of Missouri academic Jeffrey Milyo, whose recent testimony before a committee of the U.S. Senate we posted on here.  Milyo had testified there about an incredible study he had done which purported to show that Indiana's photo identification voting law had no negative effects on voter turnout in 2006.  The study was released just as a case involving the law was making its way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Via Bloomberg I see that the pending merger between the country's two satellite radio giants, XM and Sirius, has been approved by the Justice Department.  

The merger is a blow to the National Association of Broadcasters, which has spent millions of dollars on lobbying against the joinder of the two satellite radio firms.  The lobbyist who failed the NAB?  Former Missouri Governor, United States Senator and Attorney General John Ashcroft. 

The turn of events is particularly compelling when we consider how Ashcroft came by the National Association of Broadcasters lobby contract to begin with.  It was Ashcroft who first approached XM Satellite Radio about lobbying on behalf of the proposed merger with Sirius --a pitch which XM refused.  Apparently out of spite or vengefulness --but presumably not out of principled support for the cause-- Ashcroft quickly signed up to lobby for the NAB against the XM-Sirius merger.