Comments (43)

Adrian wrote on October 2, 2007 4:53 PM:

If republicunts spent half the time doing good as they do evil, they could change the world.

C92 wrote on October 2, 2007 4:55 PM:

Lest we not forget that Rick Santorum used some of his official Senate-paid staff in the campaign signature gathering event.

And many of the signatures they (and other paid canvassers) obtained were forged.

They were not prosecuted.

Contrast that with the case of the four ACORN signature canvassers in Kansas City, who were prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law by US Attorney Bradley Schlozman.

Mike Mid City wrote on October 2, 2007 4:59 PM:

Why do we need public financing of elections?

So mercenary corporations like Blackwater can't manipulate the public elections system to benefit themselves with a congress that would reward them with no-bid cost plus contracts for wars started upon lies and continued with lies and gutless democrats.

The fact that this so called legal corporation is financing politicians that decide issues of war and peace is unconscionable. It makes the United States of America an outlaw nation and like nothing I grew up in.

It needs fixing. God help the world and forgive America.

Clavis wrote on October 2, 2007 5:05 PM:

Come on, folks! How can you claim that Prince is doing anything unsavory? He's a devout Christian, and believes that everything he's doing is in the service of making America an even more Christian nation than it already is (which is totally)!

Don't you people remember? When God is on your side, the ends *always* justify the means!

jimmy wrote on October 2, 2007 5:19 PM:

Isnt Issa a car thief?

moondancer wrote on October 2, 2007 5:31 PM:

Maybe. But I know for a fact he is a world-class moron. He did more damage to Prince today than any democrat. ROFL what a jackass.

Anonymous wrote on October 2, 2007 5:38 PM:

I wonder if the Blackwater no-bid contracts were tailored to also make a State-Department funded budget available for contributions to other political parties, etc.

Jamey wrote on October 2, 2007 5:39 PM:

Is Issa really that stupid? I mean, he's really gone out of his way this week to make himself out to be a clown.

Sally wrote on October 2, 2007 5:44 PM:

The Prince's cocksure attitude that he's right about it all reminded me of that other great patriot Ollie North.

the exile wrote on October 2, 2007 5:52 PM:

Aren't people just a LITTLE bit concerned about movement conservatives building a private army? Or about taxpayer money being used to help movement conservatives build a private army? Will these people just quietly go away if some future president cancels all their contracts? Or will they do what the Iraqi army did when Paul Bremer sent them home without their paychecks? I know that TPM is not the proper site for paranoid conspiracy-theory types, but I am starting to get genuinely scared.

Sully18 wrote on October 2, 2007 5:52 PM:

I grew up Catholic,and am now Buddhist.I never did like arrogant thugs.That`s one of the reasons why I became Buddhist.I am grateful for most of my Catholic education.I believe that in Christ`s day and age the arrogant thugs were called Scribes,Pharisees,and money lenders;and I also understand that Jesus threw them out of the Temple
I bring this up as an analogy to the

31tudor wrote on October 2, 2007 5:54 PM:

typical right:

"I'm a politician, which means I'm a cheat and a liar, and when I'm not kissing babies, I'm stealing their lollipops, but it also means that I keep my options open."

-Jeffery Pelt, The Presidents National Security Advisor-

The Hunt for Red October

theWalrus wrote on October 2, 2007 5:59 PM:

Issa's performance at the hearings today was beyond the lunacy stage. He is a demented demagogue, for sure.

Fortunately, he was bitch-slapped soundly by Waxman more than once.

Sagacity wrote on October 2, 2007 6:03 PM:

Yes, the exile, this stuff is scary. I get chills everytime I read what they are saying. These nutty extremists have private armies. Not a good thing.

Patient Observer wrote on October 2, 2007 6:09 PM:

"Last summer, he and his wife shelled out $10,000 in contributions for a Green."

Actually, summer 2006 -- not last summer. How time flies!

Sully18 wrote on October 2, 2007 6:11 PM:

Arrogant thuggery is as alive in today`s Christomilitaristicreligioaddictive Right wing as it was in Christ`s day.If I`m not mistaken,he threw those people out of the Temple.These were the people who crucified Him.
According to LUKE:09:11 "The man leading the mob,Dubyanus, sayeth unto the Scribe,'He threw my Daddy outa the Temple.He must die.' And thus the Prince of Darkness was pleased."
I have not met any arrogant thugs at Buddhist meditation.

jawbone wrote on October 2, 2007 6:14 PM:

Thanks! That little exchange sounded really weird.

Don't miss a chance to attack ever, do they, those reThugs?

Non Issa wrote on October 2, 2007 6:17 PM:

Mr. Issa is not the sharpest knife in the drawer, is he?

Bill T wrote on October 2, 2007 6:32 PM:

Remember folks, ISSA spelled backwards is ASSI.

Sarah wrote on October 2, 2007 7:00 PM:

"Republicunts"? Really? That's just offensive.

Clean up your mouth, and more people will listen to what you're saying.

Gary Ruppert wrote on October 2, 2007 7:13 PM:

Indeed. Fowl language and name calling is why the liberals can't win arguments. They have no facts, no reaonsed discourse, centrist bipartisan dialog.

Troll Patrol wrote on October 2, 2007 7:25 PM:

Tactic: pick a term no one has used and state how offended you are.

Huh?

jeffgee wrote on October 2, 2007 7:45 PM:

Issa: the new Santorum.
Love the Ken-doll hair and the oh-so-serious face.

jeffgee wrote on October 2, 2007 7:57 PM:

Of course, the reason he supported a Green candidate was because said candidate was a GOP plant intended to siphon votes from Bob Casey. The theory was that if Nader could spoil Florida for Gore in 2000, another Green could spoil PA for Santorum.
Prince wouldn't support a Green under any other circumstances. Issa's blowing smoke.

lambert strether wrote on October 2, 2007 7:58 PM:

exile:

Aren't people just a LITTLE bit concerned about movement conservatives building a private army?

Bingo!

nolo wrote on October 2, 2007 9:45 PM:

tonight, i offer a new "nightly
nolo" -- on all things blackwater!

just click my name to watch an
under-two minute, highly-distilled,
video from todays proceedings!

p e a c e

enough wrote on October 2, 2007 10:00 PM:

What a load of crap. Which is exactly what Waxman should say. This guy is making twice what the revered General Petraeus makes. We are paying him outrageously to kill Iraqi's. Who is the enemy here, could somebody please let me know.

fuzz wrote on October 2, 2007 10:40 PM:

Fowl language and name calling is why?

*snicker*

FRIED CHICKEN!

al75 wrote on October 2, 2007 10:49 PM:

A little concerned about a private army? This story just gets more ominous. Germany was torn apart after WWI (yes, I know this isn't Germany) by the rise of the 'Friekorps' - private armies of veterans funded by wealthy reactionaries. Some of these were soldiers of real skill -- and from these precursors rose the SA and later the SS - the shock troops that overturned the corrupt 'liberal' 'degenerate' democracy.

Couldn't happen here? Watch Prince smirk as he testifies.

Iraq was botched by our present-day reactionaries -- these people already have the blood of hundreds of thousands on their hands.

It CAN happen here, and Prince is the kind of brutal, self-righteous man who could bring it on.

kc wrote on October 2, 2007 11:15 PM:

I agree -what a load of crap--Issa just wanted to assure us that Blackwater supported both the extreme left and right. They really expect people to be that dumb?
I suppose if the mainstream media repeats it enough-they might just get away with it. But I would like to believe that Americans aren't that stupid.
Here's hoping......

The Oracle wrote on October 3, 2007 12:20 AM:

Why do I get the feeling that the Princes (who are moral paupers) not only gave money to the Green candidate in Pennsylvania but also probably donated to Joe Lieberman's Connecticut for Lieberman Party and the Green candidate to help Lieberman keep his Senate seat after losing the Democratic Party's Connecticut primary???

Is there anyway to check Lieberman's donor list and the Green Party candidate's donor list to verify if my suspicion is correct???

anon wrote on October 3, 2007 4:48 AM:

...They really expect people to be that dumb?...

I'm not sure how much it has to do with dumbness, although, yeah, dumb is a necessary part of it, but I'm pretty sure most of the polls I've seen indicate that--in general, and over the course of, say, a year or so--most people believe that the two parties are equally corrupt. IMO, that's probably correct averaged out over, say, the last fifty years but, of course, it's not correct now. Also, I think most people associate the level of corruption arround them to the number of arrests, trials, jail years, etc. Scandals without the trappings of modern scandals are difficult to judge at a glance and I'd guess most people figure the level of corruption in Whitewater was roughly that of Abramoff. Certainly, numerous conservatives believe that. They argue that Whitewater was about the personal corruption of the president, even if on a kinda small scale, and Abramoff, why Abramoff didn't rise to the level of the WH, that was just congressmen and, ya know, you're always going to have corrupt congressmen. Viola! Abramoff is equal to or less than Whitewater. It's not logical but you can see how people who aren't paying attention get mislead.

Your Uncle Bastard wrote on October 3, 2007 7:50 AM:

Sorry Sarah - next time we'll bring out the fainting couch just for you. All the better for you to lecture us about proper language.

Last time I checked, there was still a First Amendment...offensive speech is protected as much as your right to complain about it. :-)

Jane wrote on October 3, 2007 7:51 AM:

Tell the truth and shame the devil. Telling the truth about the Rethugs with or without opbrious epithets is name calling.

It is also false witness to say that someone is good who is not.

Ellie wrote on October 3, 2007 8:14 AM:

Dem moderate Bob Casey

Is this the same "moderate" Bob Casey whose anti-choice, anti-gay stance (during his campaign for office) was justified by the Dem Party Head Cases as a trade-off for getting a Dem majority and a Dem vote they could count on for "important" issues?

(Important, meaning: not in the wimmins and gay aisle of human rights that would bring out the GOP meanies to give the Dems wedgies.)

But then Casey delivered neither and runs with the Bush Dogs? But it turns out not to matter anyway because excuse-making timorous chickenshit Dems outnumber Bush Dogs anyway?

That Casey?

gwpriester wrote on October 3, 2007 8:54 AM:

I agree with the comments re: language. What really brings the levels of these blogs down is the amount of school boy comments that add absolutely nothing to the discussion.

The bigger question is why do we need a mercenary army?

For years I have been under the wrong impression that the reason we keep recycling the same hapless group of soldiers through 3, 4, and 5 tours of combat duty is because the White House was too cowardly to reinstate the draft. Remember the tour in Viet Nam was 13 months and if you lived, you did not have to go back.

Now the real answer surfaces. And yes, we should all be really scared.

Good question about what will these professional thugs do after Iraq when many of them return home to the US?

evie wrote on October 3, 2007 9:00 AM:

Fowl language -

You filthy Guinea Hen!
Dirty Mother Duckling
Roast in hell, Capon

Nice try, trolls

evie wrote on October 3, 2007 9:08 AM:

Gw - that is the Good Question in my mind - will they be the 'army' used to enforce the administrations decree of martial law? What do we do to prepare for this event? Really - if marial law is declared, elections are cancelled, what do we do?

Billy Pilgrim wrote on October 3, 2007 9:27 AM:

Oracle wrote:

"Is there anyway to check Lieberman's donor list and the Green Party candidate's donor list to verify if my suspicion is correct???"

Does the state of Connecticut have a procedure for removing a U.S. Senator by a recall election? A recall vote is up-down with no third party interference.

Goldspinner wrote on October 3, 2007 9:42 AM:

Sorry, Your Uncle Bastard and Troll Patrol, you're wrong. Even under the First Amendment, certain forms of discourse are NOT protected in all fora. Ever heard of slander, hate speech, or the FCC? The misogyny inherent in Adrian's comment IS extremely offensive and as a female reader of this blog, I'm calling you all on it.

As for the gist of Adrian's post, Democrats share substantial culpability for the war in Iraq, FISA, Blackwater, the past two Supreme Court appointments, and Joseph Lieberman. Unfortuately al75, your remarks are on point. Most of what I'm seeing on C-SPAN reminds me of the final days of the Weimar Republic and yes, the exile, you should be concerned.

Plenty of folks on this blog can rant about "Repugs" but have never heard of true American patriots like Major General Smedley Butler. If it were not for "Repugs" like Butler, the freedoms that many of you espouse would not exist. Talk is cheap Adrian, Your Uncle Bastard, and Troll Patrol. Saved any democracies lately?

tubino wrote on October 3, 2007 11:06 AM:

Good question about what will these professional thugs do after Iraq when many of them return home to the US?

Easy. They will lobby for more wars, which is more and better employement for them.

A mercenary army, and the politically-connected corporation that controls it, is the logical end of the military-industrial-congressional complex. Industry already lobbies congress to get fat contracts to arm the military -- it's only a matter of time before they supply the majority of the manpower.

There are more contractors than troops in Iraq. If the US pulled out all troops now, it would still have a large presence in Iraq. You never hear that in the MSM.

steve-annie wrote on October 3, 2007 3:05 PM:

Anyone watch Keith Olbermann on the subject of Blackwater last night? Check it out. Very enlightening.

Aaron G. Stock wrote on October 4, 2007 2:13 PM:

Sarah and Gary Ruppert, I don't feel as though any of us need to worry about whether you would listen to any leftist argument, no matter the choices of phrase.