It's been 80 years since a presidential election didn't include a sitting (or standing) president or vice president ... which is just one of the reasons that the candidate field is so darn crowded. Ken Rudin is our Political Junkie as usual, and he'll be able to sort out all the rock stars, tv stars, movie stars, and er ... governors for us, along with the latest political imbroglios.
1:05 PM ET | 03-14-2007 | permalink
Just curious...I haven't kept a tally of all of the president's and his staff's mistakes. However, I do hear a pattern of him/them saying/doing something that turns out to be either a lie, or a "justified mistake". Anyone care to list these, and comment on them?
The fact the firings of the US Attorneys took place in Decmeber suggests three things. First, waiting until after the election, in light of the newly released memos, suggests they knew they were doing something wrong and hoped to hide in the post-election slow news period. Second, doing this after they got a "thumpin" in the election shows they learned nothing. Third, this occurred after Pelosi's pre-election no-impeachemnt pledge, and presumably isn't covered by it. Surely the politicization of criminal justice warrants investigation for a possible impeachable offense.
I am shocked and disappointed by Mr. Ruden's use of political bigotry and hatred to make a cheap joke on air about Mr. Romney. In an age of failed marriages and juvenile violence, Mr. Ruden felt it appropriate to denigrate Mr. Romney's sterling accomplishment of a lasting marriage by stating "its ironic that the Mormon has only one wife." This gives the impression that the practice of polygamy is current in the Mormon faith, which has not been true for over 100 years. It is the type of comment and untruth that led to the persecution, murder and wholesale relocation of an entire community in this, a country of religious liberty.
Mr. Ruden, and NPR, owe an apology, not just to the Mormon community, but to all NPR listeners for perpetuating false information and making cheap jokes instead of being journalists dedicated to truth and analysis.
I was disappointed to hear Mr. Rudin characterize the firings of US attorneys as a dispute over how the firings were done rather than that the firings were done. I believe he is overlooking at least one clear indication of the administration attempting to curtail an embarrassing investigation. It's clear that the firing of Ms. Lam served the intended purpose of delaying the investigation of other Republican lawmakers linked to the bribery scandal involving Duke Cunningham. Furthermore, there is the suggestion that an earlier dismissal of a US Attorney was intended to delay the Abramoff associated scandal.
Mr. Rudin painted these events as related to some sort of turf battle between branches of government without giving consideration to actual obstruction of justice. I hope you will have the opportunity to explore this further.
>>wince
Perhaps you could play "I wanna grow up to be a politician" in its entirety at either end of the Political Junkie segment. 'Tis a cute little ditty that gives a nostalgic look at the national political debate before it was hijacked by fearmonging and religiousity.
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