From THE SCOTSMAN:

ALLEGATIONS that former US vice-president Dick Cheney ran a secret “black ops” unit inside the CIA for eight years without informing Congress have increased pressure on the White House for a full investigation of alleged abuses of power by the Bush administration.

The unit was so secret that even the former CIA director George Tenet did not control its activities, according to reports yesterday.

You know what that means, kids! It’s time to play…

Now, Mystery Challenger, won’t you enter and sign in, please?

The existence of the unit itself was confirmed last week in a leaked letter from CIA director Leon Panetta to selected members of Congress.

In the letter, Mr Panetta said that despite being appointed by president Barack Obama to his job some five months ago, he only learned of the unit’s existence in late June, and took immediate action to close it down.

Speculation is rife that the unit was trained for the assassinations of foreign leaders suspected of aiding terrorists.

…snip…

Assassination was outlawed in the 1970s following post- Watergate revelations of CIA assassinations and “dirty tricks” operations in Vietnam.

If Mr Cheney is found to have withheld knowledge of the unit – whatever its purpose – from Congress, that could open him to legal action.

“That’s a serious breach,” said Democrat senator Kent Conrad. “This is a question of whether something was not given to the elected members of Congress which is regulated by law.”

Among other questions that will be asked is how the CIA managed to conceal from its own boss, Mr Panetta, the existence of a unit inside its own headquarters for so many months.

The CIA itself would not comment on the nature of the unit.

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Democrat speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi clashed with Mr Panetta earlier this year when she said she and other members of a congressional oversight committee were kept in the dark about CIA “waterboarding” torture at Guantanamo Bay.

In response to Ms Pelosi’s allegations, Mr Panetta told CIA employees on 15 May that it was not CIA policy to mislead Congress.

From The Washington Post:

News over the weekend that former Vice President Dick Cheney ordered the concealment from congressional oversight of a clandestine CIA operation brought further calls of reform today in how the Central Intelligence Agency briefs Congress.

“This is a big problem, because the law is very clear,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said on “Fox News Sunday.

…snip…

Democrats pointed to the reports of Cheney’s involvement as a clear violation of the legal authority granted to the vice president.

“You can’t have somebody say, well, if you’re vice president, you don’t have to obey the law,” Sen. Pat Leahy (D-Vt.) said.

…snip…

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) defended Cheney, saying more facts need to be revealed on what the program actually was and how developed the operation was.

“Some of the Intelligence Committee people are pushing back on those stories,” Sen. Sessions said. “I don’t know what the facts are. But I believe that Vice President Cheney served his country with as much fidelity as he could possibly give to it. And he tried to serve us in an effective way. And I hope that nothing like this would impact on his outstanding record.”

…snip…

At least three Republicans, Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire and Sen. John Cornyn of Texas invoked past or possible future actions by Congress and a sitting president as examples of how appointing a special council or prosecutor to investigate the Bush-era CIA’s interrogation of certain terror suspects, as Attorney General Eric Holder is reportedly considering, would lead to an endless amount of partisan witch hunts.

…snip…

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Obama’s rival in last year’s presidential campaign, admitted that CIA agents were ordered to do legally questionable duties, but he still thinks the Obama-approved “move forward” model is best for the country.

“We all know that the operatives who did it most likely were under orders to do so,” McCain said on “Meet the Press.” “For us to continue this and harm our image throughout the world — I agree with the president of the United States, it’s time to move forward and not go back.”

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From the Anchorage Daily News:

Levi Johnston, the former fiance of Gov. Sarah Palin’s daughter Bristol, on Thursday joined the crowd offering up potential reasons for Palin’s decision to step down.

Johnston met with reporters to say that he heard her musing about a better life, one in which she could spend more time at home, reduce her stress, and accept the lucrative offers coming her way.

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Back in December, a month after her election defeat as John McCain’s running mate, Johnston said that Palin “had talked about how nice it would be to take some of this money people have been offering us and just run with it, and saying forget everything else.”

…snip…

Johnston, 19, and his family have engaged in a public feud with the Palins over issues like whether his mother and sister could visit his son, born to Palin’s daughter Dec. 28, and respect. Now Johnston is the latest to join the rampant national speculation about why Palin made the decision to step down July 26 as governor.

Palin has attributed it to frustration over ethics complaints and politically ambitious legislators, saying attacks on her have been costly for the state.

…snip…

Johnston said Palin made the statement about taking the money to “just run with it,” in early December, when he said he was living at the Palin home and watching television with the governor and her daughter. Palin has disputed that Johnston ever lived with the family at their Wasilla home.

“I know the truth about my family. I know details about whether Levi Johnston was allowed to live with my teenage daughter or not. By the way, it would be over my dead body that a kid would live with my teenage daughter,” Palin said in April.

Johnston at the time was engaged to Palin’s daughter, Bristol, then nine months pregnant with their child.

…snip…

Johnston said he believes Palin had other reasons for the decision, including a desire for more family time.

“I’ve seen how stressful this job was for her and she came home late at night and things like that,” Johnston said.

He painted a picture of a family constantly receiving offers, even the young children.

Johnston said he believes Palin was talking about “books, talk shows, whatever, things like that” when she discussed taking the money, and that the big deal was the book.

But Palin didn’t have to leave office to get a book deal — she already has one, and the Alaska Department of Law signed off on her having it even as governor.

Johnston is working on his own book deal and said he hopes to be “maybe getting into some movies or something.” In the meantime, he’s doing carpentry work, living with his mother, and about to take his GED test to obtain his high school equivalency diploma.

I’m never going to talk about that with anybody. I never will, not to a court of law, not to an ethics committee, not to anybody — because that is privileged communication that I will never reveal to anybody.

That was said by Senator Tom Coburn. He won’t tell on John Ensign, because Coburn’s a physician, and he’s playing the doctor/patient confidentiality card. Yes, Tom is a doctor. He’s an ob/gyn. That can only mean one thing. Congratulations, Senator Ensign!! When are you due?

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From the Bennington Banner:

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Sen. John Ensign said Thursday his parents gave his mistress and her family nearly $100,000 “out of concern for the well being of longtime family friends during a difficult time,” providing his first public acknowledgment that the woman received payments tied to the affair.

In a statement through his attorney, Ensign described the April 2008 payment as a single check for $96,000 given to Cindy and Doug Hampton and two of their children. The Hampton family received the check after the senator told his parents of his affair with Cindy Hampton, a campaign aide and longtime friend.

“None of the gifts came from campaign or official funds, nor were they related to any campaign or official duties,” Ensign’s Dallas-based attorney, Paul Coggins, said in a statement.

…snip…

The statement comes a day after Doug Hampton told a Las Vegas television show that Ensign paid Cindy Hampton more than $25,000 in severance when she left her job as treasurer for two Ensign-controlled campaign committees in May 2008.

Ensign, the son of a Las Vegas casino mogul, had not commented directly on allegations of payments to the Hamptons, but through a spokesman called Doug Hampton’s statements “consistently inaccurate.”

A possible unreported severance payment raised questions of a campaign finance violation.

…snip…

Ensign, a 51-year-old conservative Christian lawmaker, confessed to the affair last month, after Doug Hampton sought money from the senator through an attorney and began to take his story to the media.

The news at least temporarily derailed a career that has often been lifted by his family’s support. Ensign’s father, retired casino executive Mike Ensign, was a powerhouse fundraiser on the Las Vegas Strip for his son’s early campaigns.

Doug Hampton maintains that his livelihood has been ruined by his wife’s affair with the senator.

Until May 2008, Doug Hampton also worked for Ensign, as a Senate aide. After leaving the Senate office, Ensign helped Hampton land a job as a consultant and then a full-time employee for an airline owned by an Ensign contributor.

…snip…

The Hamptons and Ensigns have been friends for decades. Cindy Hampton and Ensign’s wife, Darlene, went to high school together. The families live in adjacent gated communities in the Las Vegas suburbs and their children attend the same school.

Doug Hampton said he discovered the affair in December 2007, after reading an incriminating text message from Ensign on his wife’s phone.

In the following months, Hampton said the senator aggressively pursued his wife.

In February 2008, Hampton claims he arranged for a group of Ensign’s friends to meet at the senator’s Washington home, a town house shared by several Christian lawmakers known as “C Street.”

Hampton said he, Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and others tried to get Ensign to break off the affair, as well as to help the Hamptons pay off their home and relocate to Colorado. They also persuaded Ensign to write a letter to Cindy Hampton apologizing for using her “for my own pleasure,” Hampton said.

A spokesman for Coburn on Wednesday acknowledged that the senator had counseled Ensign to end the tryst, but the senator on Thursday denied Hampton’s account.

“I was never present when the letter was written, never made any assessment about paying anybody anything,” Coburn told reporters in Washington, according to the Las Vegas Sun.

…snip…

Coburn would not comment on the advice he gave Ensign, saying his position as a physician and ordained deacon required that he keep the information private.

Also Thursday, a liberal Washington watchdog group sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder asking for a criminal probe of the possible severance payment. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has also sought a Senate ethics investigation into the matter.

An FBI spokesman in Las Vegas, David Staretz, said the bureau was not investigating the matter. The U.S. Attorney for Nevada did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

From KTUU:

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — As confusion over who is legally bound to assume the role of lieutenant governor after Gov. Sarah Palin resigns later this month continues, the House Judiciary Committee announced it will hold a hearing next week.

Committee Chair Jay Ramras, R-Fairbanks, issued a statement Wednesday saying that his group will consider Lt. Gen. Craig Campbell, commissioner of the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, to be the next lieutenant governor-designee.

“The governor quit and went fishing,” Ramras said in the statement. “Governor Palin failed to leave specific instructions, so the Legislature is stepping in to bring order to the constitutional chaos she created.”

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Joe Schmidt, the Department of Corrections commissioner, had been confirmed by the Legislature during the last session as the next in the line of ascension. He replaced former Attorney General Talis Colberg, who resigned.

Palin created confusion over who would become lieutenant governor amid the chaos of her resignation announcement by declaring that Campbell would assume the post after current Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell was sworn in as governor, bypassing Schmidt.

Schmidt told Channel 2 News over the weekend he no longer wanted the position.

…snip…

“She seems to have planned the succession of state business around a picnic rather than the constitution she told us for years and years she cherishes more than anything else,” Ramras said in a phone interview with Channel 2. “It seems to diminish the process, and I find her behavior irresponsible and deplorable.”

…snip…

According to a legal opinion issued by the Legislative Affairs Agency’s Division of Legal and Research Services, state law is murky, at best, in trying to resolve the vacancy during the Legislature’s recess.

…snip…

House Speaker Mike Chenault said the Legislature will continue looking for a solution.

…snip…

The questions are unresolved mostly because they’ve never come up before. Then-Gov. Wally Hickel resigned in 1968 to become secretary of the federal Interior Department, but his lieutenant governor-designee did not vacate the post and the order of succession was maintained.

In Part 1, we saw how the Princess Protection Program put Princess Sarah Palin in an undisclosed location along with her friend and political tutor, Batshit Michele Bachmann. After a couple of years of fishing and conspiracy theorizing and studying the names of magazines and newspapers just in case Katie Couric asks Princess those tricky questions again, the dynamic duo of dodoheads is almost ready to reenter the public arena. All that’s left to do is a royal makeover.

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With her RNC credit card in hand, Princess can visit her favorite shops for designer clothes and charge a mere $165,000 for hair and makeup. Next stop, the Republican National Convention to claim her title of heir to the throne. (Ooh! Princess Sarah can be Queen Esther while Sparky Marky Mark plays King David!)

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With her new clothes, hairstyles, and enough patriotic jewelry strewn across her chest that she could make the most decorated military man envious and her tutor and intellectual soulmate at her side, who knows what her next stop might be…

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It’s the stuff of which princesses’ dreams and the rest of the world’s nightmares are made.

I don’t know about you, kids, but I’m worried sick over Princess Sarah Palin’s future now that she’s told the people of Alaska to go f#¢k themselves stepped down from the governorship of Alaska. It’s been keeping me up nights, and since there’s not a damned thing on TV in the middle of the night other than informercials and commercials for wee-wee extenders, I’ve come up with a plan for her. First, she needs to have one last hurrah amongst her most fervent supporters. They include Bill Kristol (who likes to use parentheses), Elisabeth I’ll Tell You My View as Soon as I Get the Fax Hasselbeck, Rich I Touch Myself Lowry, Rush The Boss Limbaugh, and Greta I Am So Friggin’ in Love with Todd Van Susteren.  Of course, Captain Underpants John McCain will have to show up, because he can’t admit he was wrong in choosing her for his running mate. Once the adulation is over, though, it’s off to the Princess Protection Program!

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The next time you’re on the phone with Deadeye Dick Cheney, perhaps you can ask to borrow one of those undisclosed locations he’s no longer using. It’ll make you feel all veepy! And don’t worry, Princess Sarah, you won’t be alone. Not only have I selected someone with whom I know you will love communicating since you both speak Batshit Crazy fluently , but someone who can school you on the dangers of things like the census and any other kind of conspiracy she can think up.

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Of course, it won’t be a one-way street. While Batshit Michele Bachmann is teaching you about all that stuff, you can teach her how to fish for all those fish swimming against the flow in full makeup.

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To be continued…

Only dead fish go with the flow.

–Sarah Palin July 3, 2009

From Eugene Robinson at The Washington Post:

What can you say about a public official who ridicules those who would take the “quitter’s way out” — as she faces reporters to announce that she’s quitting? A governor who claims that “the worthless, easy path” would be to serve out the remaining 18 months of her term? An ambitious politician who says that “life is too short” to worry about, you know, boring things such as responsibility or duty?

You can say that all of us who ever took Sarah Palin seriously — or pretended to take her seriously — should be deeply ashamed. And you can say that John McCain should publicly apologize for putting the nation he loves at risk by choosing Palin as his running mate.

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The reasons she gave for stepping down are not just contrived or implausible but literally nonsensical. She can most effectively serve the people of Alaska by ceasing to exercise the powers of chief executive? She worries that as a lame duck she would somehow be compelled to waste taxpayer money on useless junkets? In her “Don’t Cry For Me, Alaska” news conference announcing her departure, the folksy non sequiturs — “Only dead fish go with the flow” — were like nuggets of Cartesian logic amid a tub of mush.

…snip…

There are basically two reasons the political class and the commentariat continue to speak and write about Palin as if she were a substantial figure whose presence on the national stage is anything but a cruel, unfunny joke. The first is fear — not of Palin and her know-nothing legions, but of being painted as elitist and sexist.

From the beginning, Palin has been a master at maneuvering her critics into this trap.

…snip…

The most recent illustration is what she posted on her Facebook page last weekend on the reaction to her announced resignation:

“How sad that Washington and the media will never understand; it’s about country. And though it’s honorable for countless others to leave their positions for a higher calling and without finishing a term, of course we know by now, for some reason a different standard applies for the decisions I make.”

What is she talking about? Who are these “countless others” who supposedly have made the same decision to abandon governorships for no credible reason? The names don’t come rushing to mind. Why is any criticism of Poor Little Sarah the result of the “different standard” that mean old “Washington and the media” always apply? Because blaming her favorite alleged persecutors allows her to ignore the bewildered reaction from her constituents in Alaska who are stunned and mystified at her decision to skip out.

The other reason Palin is taken more seriously than she deserves is that she has a constituency. Heaven help us.

…snip…

[...] I feel sorry for conservatives who look to her as a champion because she’s going to let them down. Articulating a political vision and inspiring people to believe in it are true accomplishments, and no one can take that away from her. But realizing that vision through legislation or executive action requires discipline, persistence and rigor. To return to stating the obvious, these are attributes that Palin lacks.

Anyone tempted to see her resignation gambit as a masterstroke, positioning her for a presidential run in 2012, is riding for a fall. She will flake out.

Kids, don’t ever forget that this was brought to you by JSM Studios.

From Michael Carey at the Los Angeles Times (Op-Ed):

Reporting from Anchorage — Sarah Palin’s career as governor of Alaska is over. So is her barely begun career as a serious presidential candidate. The road map to the White House doesn’t include a stop at “I quit.”

In a truly Palinesque moment near the end of her speech in Wasilla on Friday, the departing governor quoted a saying she said her parents kept on their refrigerator. “Don’t explain: Your friends don’t need it, and your enemies won’t believe you anyway.”

The governor might have done better to take her cue from another piece of refrigerator wisdom: “Quitters never win, and winners never quit.”

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Palin’s speech was hastily arranged and hastily delivered.

…snip…

The governor seemed to have trouble breathing — was on the verge of panting — as she took a long, clunky windup to make her pitch. She recited her achievements and chastised the media for not appreciating them. She told us how sorry she feels for herself and her family. She praised our brave troops serving abroad, renewed her commitment to the fight for free enterprise, denounced apathy and explained she would not waste public dollars as a lame duck. And she dipped into metaphor, invoking her experience as a high school point guard.

The point-guard metaphor was supposed to leave Alaskans appreciating her willingness to pass the ball. Instead, it raised an obvious question: “What kind of point guard walks off the court in the fourth quarter, refusing to play any more?”

…snip…

The only thing we can be absolutely sure of is this: Palin did not tell the truth when she said she is leaving for the good of Alaskans. She is leaving for her own good. With Sarah Palin, “me” always comes first.

…snip…

But the “why” of why she left may be as simple as this: She couldn’t take it anymore. The scrutiny, the criticism, the mockery, and yes, the hard work of being governor. Palin’s thin skin is legendary. She never ignores a slight. For most of the last year, she has been feuding with the Alaska media and many of the state’s political leaders.

She has almost no support among legislators, even Republicans.

…snip…

Palin will continue as an A-list celebrity in the tabloids and gossip magazines. She and her husband, Todd, provide a rich source of family drama, scandal and compelling photographs. She also will remain a celebrity on the Christian right, which adores her.

She will keep my state in the news. But she is finished as a leader. No leader abandons the battle in mid-fight.

…snip…

Michael Carey is a columnist for the Anchorage Daily News and host of “Anchorage Edition” on Alaska Public Broadcasting.

Keep in mind, kids, this isn’t the first time Princess Sarah quit (or gave up her “title” as she put it). From the Anchorage Daily News:

Published: January 17th, 2004 05:09 PM

Last Modified: September 5th, 2008 06:49 PM

Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission Chairwoman Sarah Palin said Friday she is resigning amid frustration that she is being forced to keep silent about ethics allegations against Republican Party of Alaska chairman Randy Ruedrich.

…snip…

Republican Gov. Frank Murkowski appointed both Ruedrich and Palin to the state commission last spring. In November, Ruedrich resigned the $118,000 commission job in the face of mounting criticism that his job and his party position presented a conflict of interest.

As a top party official he was raising political funds from the same industries he regulated as a commissioner. In addition, allegations surfaced that Ruedrich was doing party business while he was on the state job as an oil and gas commissioner.

Palin has deflected numerous questions from the press about the Ruedrich affair in recent weeks. The Alaska Department of Law has told her that she cannot talk about the ethics allegations against Ruedrich, even after she resigns.

Palin said frustration over the gag order made her conclude it was time to quit, but she said it wasn’t the only reason. She wouldn’t detail what else contributed to her decision.

…snip…

Palin said it was hard to do her job with potential civil penalties hanging over her head if she talked about what went on at her agency. She said the experience was taking the “oomph” out of her passion for government service and she decided to quit rather than becoming bitter.

Palin is a former mayor of Wasilla. She made an unsuccessful bid for the Republican lieutenant governor nomination in the 2002 election and has been discussed as a possible challenger to U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski. Palin said Friday her decision to leave the commission had nothing to do with such matters.

Palin said she has not discounted running against Murkowski but is leaning against it. The Republican Party is backing Murkowski with money and endorsements, she said. Palin said she has no immediate employment plans.

And, kids, don’t forget her illustrious college career. I guess when the going got too tough at one school, she’d quit and go to the next one.

From POLITICO (July 3, 2009):

Washington Post publisher Katharine Weymouth said today she was canceling plans for an exclusive “salon” at her home where for as much as $250,000, the Post offered lobbyists and association executives off-the-record access to “those powerful few” — Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and even the paper’s own reporters and editors.

The astonishing offer was detailed in a flier circulated Wednesday to a health care lobbyist, who provided it to a reporter because the lobbyist said he felt it was a conflict for the paper to charge for access to, as the flier says, its “health care reporting and editorial staff.”

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(bottom l to r: Dana Milbank, Howard Kurtz, Michael Shear)

With the Post newsroom in an uproar after POLITICO reported the solicitation, Weymouth said in an email to the staff that “a flier went out that was prepared by the Marketing department and was never vetted by me or by the newsroom. Had it been, the flier would have been immediately killed, because it completely misrepresented what we were trying to do.”

Weymouth said the paper had planned a series of dinners with participation from the newsroom “but with parameters such that we did not in any way compromise our integrity. [...]

…snip…

She made it clear however, that The Post, which lost $19.5 million in the first quarter, sees bringing together Washington figures as a future revenue source.

…snip…

Executive editor Marcus Brauchli was as adamant as Weymouth in denouncing the plan promoted in the flier. “You cannot buy access to a Washington Post journalist,” Brauchli told POLITICO. Brauchli was named on the flier as one of the salon’s “Hosts and Discussion Leaders.”

…snip…

“Underwriting Opportunity: An evening with the right people can alter the debate,” says the one-page flier. “Underwrite and participate in this intimate and exclusive Washington Post Salon, an off-the-record dinner and discussion at the home of CEO and Publisher Katharine Weymouth. … Bring your organization’s CEO or executive director literally to the table. Interact with key Obama administration and congressional leaders.”

…snip…

Brauchli said that Post employees on the business side — not the newsroom — would have been responsible for seeking participants for this event. Reporters, he said, would not solicit sources or administration officials. Brauchli said that he did not know who was invited or who accepted.

Ceci Connolly, a Post reporter who covers health care, told POLITICO that she had been told there would be a dinner and that she would be invited. However, Connolly said, she “knew nothing about sponsorships and had not seen any flier or invitation.”

…snip…

Charles Pelton, The Post business-side employee listed as the event contact, seemed to dispute Brauchli’s version of events.

Pelton was quoted by Post ombudsman Andy Alexander in an online commentary as saying that newsroom leaders, including Brauchli, had been involved in discussions about the salons and other events.

…snip…

If POLITICO had not reported on the flier this morning, Brauchli said he expects someone would have seen it before the event and, given the obvious ethical issue, it would have been canceled.

…snip…

Earlier this morning, Brauchli sent an e-mail entitled “Newsroom Independence” to his staff explaining his position.

“Colleagues,” Brauchli said. “A flier was distributed this week offering an ‘underwriting opportunity’ for a dinner on health care reform, in which the news department had been asked to participate. The language in the flier and the description of the event preclude our participation.

“We will not participate in events where promises are made that in exchange for money The Post will offer access to newsroom personnel or will refrain from confrontational questioning. Our independence from advertisers or sponsors is inviolable. There is a long tradition of news organizations hosting conferences and events, and we believe The Post, including the newsroom, can do these things in ways that are consistent with our values.”

…snip…

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs was asked Thursday in the briefing room if anyone from the White House was invited to attend the salons, and what the policy is for attending such events.

“I don’t know if anybody here was,” Gibbs said. “I think some people in the administration, writ large, may have been invited. I do not believe, based on what I’ve been able to check, anyone has accepted the invitations.”

From The New York Times (July 2. 2009):

For generations, The Washington Post has been a scrupulous watchdog over the capital’s cozy world of power networking. For a short time, it almost became the network’s host.

The Post decided Thursday to cancel plans to charge lobbyists and trade groups $25,000 or more to sponsor private, off-the-record dinner parties at the home of its publisher, Katharine Weymouth, events that would have brought together lobbyists, business leaders, Post journalists and officials from the Obama administration and Congress.

The revelation of the parties early Thursday morning by Politico.com appalled members of The Post newsroom and put the paper squarely in the cross hairs of journalism ethicists. In response, Ms. Weymouth canceled the first dinner, scheduled for July 21.

…snip…

With the print business in tough straits, many news organizations have turned to conferences and other events to raise revenue and their profiles. But the planned Post events seem particularly audacious, not only acting essentially as a paid conduit between lobbyists and government officials, but also providing sponsors the opportunity to make their case to Post journalists.

…snip…

News of the planned events dominated discussion across the nation’s capital Thursday, and inspired wisecracks.

At that White House briefing, when a Post reporter, Michael Shear, asked about the president’s health care plan, Mr. Gibbs joked: “The counsel’s office has advised me to ask Mike exactly how much each of these questions is costing. I seem to have forgotten my AmEx card.”

In the Post’s newsroom, editors and reporters reacted with dismay. Marc Fisher, the enterprise editor for local news, said people in the newsroom knew the company was considering conferences, “but I don’t think that anybody envisioned that we would attempt to sell access in a very limited way, with the implication that there would be inside information only to those who ponied up big money.”

Most often, events held by journalism organizations are on the record and the public can attend by buying a ticket.

…snip…

What has made The Post’s proposed events different is the setting — in the privacy of the publisher’s home — and that they were aimed at connecting lobbyists, trade associations and other influential capital players.

From emptywheel (July 3, 2009):

Howie Kurtz worked all day yesterday trying to come up with a narrative that would make the WaPo’s Pay2Play scheme look less damning. His latest effort is notable for several reasons:

* He killed the anonymous quotations from Weymouth and Brauchli
* With those anonymous quotes, he also killed any description of what the Pay2Play dinners were supposed to be
* He let Weymouth spend 356 words claiming “everyone does it”
* He gave a list of the planned attendees

…snip…

Killing the anonymous quotations from Weymouth and Brauchli

Perhaps Howie killed the anonymous quotes because, in an article trying to defend the WaPo’s “journalistic integrity” and “integrity of the newsroom” it just looked bad to grant the WaPo’s Publisher and Executive Editor anonymity to blame another employee and make vague claims about what the real intent here was.

…snip…

Killing the description of what the dinners were supposed to be

…snip…

Mostly, though, he’s left with Weymouth’s now on-the-record excuses for why Pay2Play isn’t such a bad thing.

But precisely what would be acceptable remains unclear. Asked whether the forums she envisions might still be viewed as buying access to Post journalists, Weymouth said, “I suppose you could spin it that way, but that is not the way it would have been done.” She said the situation would be comparable to a company buying an ad in the newspaper while knowing that it “might hate the content” on that page.

What? Weymouth was going to serve “content”–rubber chicken or something–that attendees would hate? She was going to interrupt Kaiser’s attendees just as they started attacking a public option? Make sure they weren’t allowed to speak to the White House healthcare czar? How do you control the content of a dinner party?

…snip…

Arguing “everybody does it”

Rather than a real recognition of the problem here, the WaPo’s publisher basically argues–and Howie spends 356 words arguing for her–that “everybody does it.”

…snip…

Apparently, the woman now running the WaPo sees no difference between an event in her living room targeted to the biggest policy fight of the year, and more general exchanges of ideas. Apparently, she also thinks that if ideologically driven papers like the WSJ hold such events, so can she–even while invoking journalistic integrity with her next breath.

…snip…

Listing the planned attendees

The key players, Howie reveals, were supposed to be White House health care reform czar Nancy-Ann DeParle, Blue Dog Jim Cooper, and Kaiser Permanente, all big players in the upcoming healthcare fight.

For her part, DeParle is denying she had received the invitation (though, particularly given her fondness for the revolving door, this could be an attempt to parse a distinction between receiving an invite and agreeing to attend).

…snip…

Blue Dog headache Jim Cooper says–through an aide–that he would not attend a “radioactive” event like this.

…snip…

And while both those Democratic fans of influence peddling appear to deny they were attending a Pay2Play dinner, Kaiser Permanente makes a more narrow distinction between “buying influence” and “a seat at the table.”

Sybil Wartenberg, a spokeswoman for California-based Kaiser Permanente, said the company had not made a final decision to finance the dinner — no contract had been signed — and was not attempting to buy influence. “Our organization is not as well-known on the East Coast,” she said. “We’re keenly interested in reform and want to be at the table for discussions.”

I assume, however, that Kaiser was well aware of just how exclusive Katharine Weymouth’s table was set to be.

While Rethuglican TV pundits try to make Palinade out of the lemons Princess Sarah threw them by resigning the governorship of Alaska, there were others who were most likely celebrating. Yeah, I’m talking about the 2012 presidential hopefuls. Good thing they still have the backroom at Denny’s they were partying in when John Ensign and Sparky Marky Mark Sanford put their political ambitions to bed right after they did the same to their mistresses .

(Reuters) – Alaska Governor Sarah Palin said on Friday she will resign this month and will not run for re-election as governor amid speculation that she will seek the Republican party’s nomination for president in 2012.

Palin was Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s running mate in last year’s election and rallied the party’s conservative base.

Following is a list of Republicans seen as potential candidates for their party’s nomination in 2012.

Original movie poster


Haley I Have a Girl’s Name Barbour:

The governor of Mississippi is seen as a party power broker. He was chairman of the Republican National Committee and last month was named chairman of the Republican Governors Association.

Wowza! Two breaks in one week! He became chairman of the RGA, because Sparky Marky Mark resigned after getting his dinky stinky, and now the 2012 field is narrowed, because Winky is up to something hinky!

Willard Mittsie Who Let the Dogs Out Romney:

The former governor of Massachusetts came in second to eventual 2008 Republican nominee McCain.

Tim Little Timmy Pawlenty::

The governor of Minnesota announced last month he would not stand for another term. The decision was seen by some as giving Pawlenty more latitude to pursue a presidential bid.

Little Timmy couldn’t be in the movie, because he’s still pissed off about having to sign the certification that makes Al Franken  the official junior senator from Minnesota.  Plus, he’s still wringing his hanky over poor, poor Jenny Sanford’s plight.

Bobby Don’t Call Me Kenneth The Exorcist Jindal:

One of the nation’s youngest governors, Louisiana’s 38-year-old chief executive is seen as a rising star in the party and is a favorite of conservatives. A high-profile, televised speech Jindal gave in February was criticized as lackluster.

Lackluster? It was friggin’ hilarious!!

Newt I Was Named After a Fig Cookie Gingrich:

The prominent former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, who is from Georgia, is widely admired by conservatives for his role in helping to end 40 years of Democratic majorities in the House in 1994.

The only thing prominent about Newtie is his big fat gut hanging over his belt!

Mike Chuckleberry Huckabee:

The former governor of Arkansas excited the party’s evangelical base during his run for the Republican nomination in 2008. He now has his own cable TV show.

His own cable TV show and dating Chuck Norris? He’s a shoo-in!

John Who the Fuck Is John Thune Thune:

The Republican senator from South Dakota ranks high with many conservatives.

Sorry, but you can’t win when your last name makes you sound like you have a lisp.