CIA withheld secret counterterrorism program on direct orders from Cheney

By GottaLaff

It's like someone uncorked the Bottle of Bad. First this, then this, this, a lot of this... and now this:

The Central Intelligence Agency withheld information about a secret counterterrorism program from Congress for eight years on direct orders from former Vice President Dick Cheney, the agency’s director, Leon E. Panetta, has told the Senate and House intelligence committees, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said Saturday.

The report that Mr. Cheney was behind the decision to conceal the still-unidentified program from Congress deepened the mystery surrounding it, suggesting that the Bush administration had put a high priority on the program and its secrecy.

Mr. Panetta, who ended the program when he first learned of its existence from subordinates on June 23, briefed the two intelligence committees about it in separate closed sessions the next day.[...]

In the eight years of his vice presidency, Mr. Cheney was the Bush administration’s most vehement defender of the secrecy of government activities, particularly in the intelligence arena. He went to the Supreme Court to keep secret the advisers to his task force on energy, and won.

A report released on Friday by the inspectors general of five agencies about the National Security Agency’s domestic surveillance program makes clear that Mr. Cheney’s legal adviser, David S. Addington, had to personally approve every government official who was told about the program. The report said “the exceptionally compartmented nature of the program” frustrated F.B.I. agents who were assigned to follow up on tips it turned up.

High-level N.S.A. officials who were responsible for ensuring that the surveillance program was legal, including the agency’s inspector general and general counsel, were not permitted by Mr. Cheney’s office to read the Justice Department opinion that found the eavesdropping legal, several officials said.

The Nation of Dick is experiencing severe shrinkage. It's about time.

By the way, another person who really needs to be targeted, Limp Little Dick's personal Trojan, is David Addington. Let's get his name out there more, starting now. He deserves all the exposure we can muster up, pun intended.

VIDEO-- Fox's Chris Wallace: "Honey, I shrunk [the Republican] party"

By GottaLaff

The quote comes at about 3:15:

Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Senator John Ensign (R-NV) appeared on Fox News Sunday to discuss how the Senate’s seats will be divided, and if there will be a filibuster-proof majority on the hands of Democrats. [...]

Wallace [...] asked Senator John Ensign if he could explain why the Republican Party seems to be getting smaller. “Senator Ensign, it sounds like a Disney movie, ‘Honey, I shrunk the party,” said Wallace.

Shrinkage strikes again.

Poll-tics: Boehner's Poll Shrinkage, now with bonus Seinfeld video!

By GottaLaff

BOEHNER'S POLL SHRINKAGE:
17% Favorable, 61% Unfavorable.

Here's the rest of the poll:

Research 2000 for Daily Kos. 4/20-4/23/2009. All adults.

MoE 2% (4/13-4/16/2009 results):

	FAVORABLE	UNFAVORABLE	NET CHANGE
PRESIDENT OBAMA	68 (69)	26 (27)	+0
PELOSI:	37 (37)	44 (45)	+1
REID:	34 (35)	48 (49)	+0
McCONNELL:	22 (22)	58 (57)	-1
BOEHNER:	17 (17)	61 (60)	-1
CONGRESSIONAL DEMS:	43 (44)	50 (50)	-1
CONGRESSIONAL GOPS:	15 (16)	70 (69)	-2
DEMOCRATIC PARTY:	53 (52)	41 (42)	+2
REPUBLICAN PARTY:	23 (24)	67 (67)	-1

The Incredible Shrinking Gramm-pa McCain

By GottaLaff

Gramm-pa's not that incredible. But he is shrinking:

Republican John McCain campaigned Sunday in must-win Ohio, where polls show a close race, and spent part of the day defending running mate Sarah Palin's qualifications on national television and in a call with Jewish leaders. [...]

The Republican candidate held two rallies in Ohio, rushing through his standard speech so quickly that he left both ahead of schedule. At the convention center in Toledo, which was half-full, the crowd barely responded at times to his applause lines [...]

McCain had invited [Joe the Plumber] Wurzelbacher to join him Sunday, but the burly Everyman rebuffed the offer and instead took his son and father to New York City, where he appeared on a Fox News talk show hosted by former GOP presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee. [...]

McCain has also been forced to spend more time trying to reassure anxious voters -- including many Republicans -- that Palin is qualified to assume the presidency.

Twice on Sunday morning, in an interview on Fox News and later in a conference call with Orthodox rabbis and other Jewish leaders, McCain defended his decision to select the first-term governor and former small-town mayor.

Shrinkage.

McCain lie about Obama's "tiny" is huge

By GottaLaff

John Sidney McCain has a new ad called "Tiny". You know what's tiny? Hint: John Sidney McCain wishes his wasn't:

We in the media have given a lot of airtime to the TV ads of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., this week, starring as they do Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY.

There's been evidence emerging that McCain's campaign isn't really running these ads anywhere, according to the Campaign Media Analysis Group.

I posted that here, should you want the whole story.

OK, so that's kind of dishonest of the McCain campaign.

Yeah, yeah, what else is new? Oh, this is:

Today's new McCain ad -- "Tiny" [...] -- crosses a new line into dishonesty, however, beyond whether or not it's actually airing anywhere.

Here's the ad:

Relevant text:

"Obama says Iran is a 'tiny' country, 'doesn't pose a serious threat,'" the ad continues. "Terrorism, destroying Israel, those aren't 'serious threats'? Obama -- dangerously unprepared to be president."

Guess what?

This is a dishonest representation of Obama's words.

Now here is what Obama really said:

Relevant text:

On May 18, on Pendelton, Oregon, Obama said that "strong countries and strong Presidents talk to their adversaries. That's what Kennedy did with Khrushchev. That's what Reagan did with Gorbachev. That's what Nixon did with Mao. I mean think about it. Iran, Cuba, Venezuela -- these countries are tiny compared to the Soviet Union. They don't pose a serious threat to us the way the Soviet Union posed a threat to us. And yet we were willing to talk to the Soviet Union at the time when they were saying, 'We're going to wipe you off the planet.'

Hmmm, J Sid didn't exactly give us an accurate representation, now did he?

That is not even close to Obama saying Iran is a "tiny" country that "doesn't pose a serious threat."

Not even close.

Not even remotely. J Sid is an insecure, desperate liar: tiny in stature, tiny in moral standing, tiny in credibility, tiny where it really counts.

He may have been a bigger-than-life war hero at one time, but these days, he suffers from significant shrinkage.