Rangel's Slanders

Read it at the Standard.

Did Dick Cheney Use the DC Madam?

When was the last time DailyKos got something wrong?

DC Madamm[sic] talk is all the conversation in DC.

Brace Yourself.

I was just told Dick Cheney, while CEO of Halliburton, used her services regularly, they are trying to spin up a message to explain that members of his staff, in his offices, used this service to entertain foreign clients.

Apparently several of his ex-staff at Halliburton are already being besieged by calls.

Of course. Dick Cheney is the center of evil in the universe; how could he not have hired prostitutes? I almost hope this comes true, so I can watch the brains on the left explode when Cheney weathers it.

On a more serious note, is there any shame about accusing anyone on the Right of anything? Sex is private... unless you're a Republican, apparently.

At least one Kos commenter uses logic to refute the charge:

That's probably part of the problem: if the guy was getting "taken care of" on a regular basis, he might be mellow enough not to subvert the Constitution.

Perhaps we should hire some 'help' for Ahmadinehad, Chavez, and Kim Jong Il...

Democrats Over-Reading their Mandate

Bob Novak wrote the other day (no link because it's an E-mail) that Congressional approval ratings are low -- and likely to go lower -- because Democrats are reading too much into their 2006 mandate:

Moving Left: When President Bush took office in 2001 after a close election, pundits -- most of them coming from a center-left background -- immediately accused him of going too far to the right when he began enacting his agenda. The same cries were heard when Republicans began control of Congress in 1995. Congress was misreading its mandate, they said, and moving too far to the right.

1. No one is giving this Congress similar treatment, but they should. This Congress has misread its mandate, and its leaders are moving much too far to the left. Congress' record-low 14 percent approval rating is significant, and much of the disaffection comes from the political center.
2. After being elected in order to do something about Iraq and to stem corruption, the Democratic Congress has shown itself corrupt like its predecessor, and it has also capitulated to the President on Iraq. The recent earmark saga, in which Democrats attempted to adopt rules even more opaque than the Republicans before them, comes together with the indictment of Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) and an endless stream of new accusations against Rep. Jack Murtha (D-Pa.) for using his position as an appropriations "cardinal" to build a base of political money and power in Pennsylvania.
3. In the meantime, Democrats pursue an agenda hostile to business, which is likely to diminish value for nearly 100 million small shareholders, and supportive of much larger government. The hearings on the Securities and Exchange Commission called by Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) have as their aim the expansion of shareholder lawsuits against corporate management. This could seriously hurt the tiny portfolio of the average small stock owner saving for retirement. Likewise, plans to raise taxes on hedge fund managers will definitely affect the price of equities, slamming small investors. Democratic plans to raise taxes on private equity will keep small investors out of that market, or else it will slam them with increased costs, which will be passed along.
4. Plans to punish oil companies and discourage new oil and natural gas drilling will result in higher gas prices that persist for a longer duration. Mandates for a variety of alternative energy sources will result in higher electricity prices. The failed union card-check rules would have been devastating for many businesses. Democrats hope to help union bosses regain influence by cutting the Labor Department funds used to enforce disclosure of how unions use membership dues by 20 percent.
5. Also on tap are plans that would put 71 percent of all children on government medical care (see below), and a plan to regulate talk radio in order to purge or diminish the influence of conservative hosts.
6. Republicans should have little difficulty making the argument that this is not what the American people sought to do when they threw them out in 2006. Republicans remain on their heels at the moment, but passage of some serious left-wing legislation may be just the thing to scare voters and breathe some life into GOP 2008 congressional campaigns.

I can't help but think that they're headed for trouble when they talk about impeaching a lame duck Vice President:

"When a sitting vice president claims that he is not part of the executive branch of government to which he was elected, it is time to remove him from office,” McDermott said.

Johnson also cited the refusal to submit to ISOO oversight in his decision to support impeachment.

Hhmm... making a claim that McDermott disputes and refusing to submit to ISOO oversight. I'm confused: which is the high crime, and which is the misdemeanor?

Republicans to Get Rid of Cheney

Sally Quinn makes the silly argument:

The big question right now among Republicans is how to remove Vice President Cheney from office. Even before this week's blockbuster series in The Post, discontent in Republican ranks was rising.

As the reputed architect of the war in Iraq, Cheney is viewed as toxic, and as the administration's leading proponent of an attack on Iran, he is seen as dangerous. As long as he remains vice president, according to this thinking, he has the potential to drag down every member of the party -- including the presidential nominee -- in next year's elections...

The idea is to install a vice president who could beat the Democratic nominee in 2008. It's unlikely that any of the top three Republican candidates -- former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Sen. John McCain of Arizona or former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney -- would want the job, for fear that association with Bush's war would be the kiss of death...

That leaves Fred Thompson. Everybody loves Fred. He has the healing qualities of Gerald Ford and the movie-star appeal of Ronald Reagan. He is relatively moderate on social issues. He has a reputation as a peacemaker and a compromiser. And he has a good sense of humor.

Captain Ed spends more ink debunking this argument than it's worth. But I'll add to the arguments he makes -- why would Thompson want the job? Democrats would clearly use the confirmation process to attempt to 'rough him up,' and would argue forcefully that by accepting Cheney's job -- a job that became open because of 'Cheney's unpopular war' -- that he was accepting responsibility for the war, as well.

Polls show that Thompson has a good chance at the nomination and the presidency without having the job of Vice President. And let's remember -- the Vice Presidency is the kiss of death for presidential aspirations. George HW Bush was one of the very few who have successfully made that jump. So why would Thompson choose to make it?

If anyone wants to take bets on the Quinn scenario, send an E-mail to influencepeddler@gmail.com. I'll give good odds.