TPM Reader DK checks in ...
The Three Stages of Bush GriefPolitical Stage:
"When I heard the story last night I was shocked and my first reaction was one of disappointment, deep disappointment, that, if it's true, that we were not fully informed."Faux Sympathy Stage:
"[S]hortly thereafter I felt really sad for the Allen family."Excuse Stage:
"If the allegations are true, something went wrong in Claude Allen's
life. And that is really sad."
--Josh Marshall
Ahh, yes, Claude Allen flashback/update ...
In the early days of the Katrina Debacle, the White House response was being coordinated by none other than Claude Allen.
Logical choice, of course: get your guy in charge of abstinence education and school prayer policy and banning abortion to run disaster management.
Maybe he was too busy waiting in the return line at Hecht's to focus on the hurricane stuff.
--Josh Marshall
Claude Allen refund scheme update ...
Allen's lawyer,Mallon Snyder, tells WaPo he's confident he'll be able to prove the incidents were "a series of misunderstandings."
Lotta misunderstandings. More than 25, according to the police.
In any case, with so many high-level felony arrests at the White House one does need to make some effort to categorize them. Most have been crimes of the regime -- either tied to specific executive decision-making like the Libby case, or ones that flow from the nature of the operation, as I would argue the Safavian case clearly does.
But this case, at least on its face, seems personal and clinical. An accomplished man, making $160,000 a year making a few grand ripping off radios and photo-printers from the local Target?
That said, Allen always struck me as a very weird dude. I can only imagine the backstory that's going to emerge on this one.
--Josh Marshall
People have a lot of meta-theories for the decline in the White House's poll numbers and management effectiveness. But perhaps the more straightforward explanation is that with so many senior officials being arrested, it just leads to a breakdown in command and control.
As you may have read this evening, White House domestic policy adviser Claude A. Allen, one of the more surreal players in the Bush White House, was arrested this evening and charged with a bizarre retail fraud scheme in which he would buy items from Target or Hecht's, deposit them in his car and then return to the store with the receipts. Then he'd grab the identical item off the shelf, head to the return desk and 'return' the item for a refund.
Here's the narrative of Allen's crimes from the statement of the local police department ...
On January 2, 2006, a Target store Loss Prevention Manger observed an unknown man enter the store located at 25 Grand Corner Avenue in Gaithersburg. He was observed in the store with an empty Target bag in a shopping cart. The man was then seen selecting merchandise throughout the store and placing items in the Target bag. He put additional items in his cart. The man then went to guest services where he produced a receipt and received a refund for the items he had just selected from the store shelves. After receiving the refund he left the store without paying for the additional merchandise in the shopping cart. He was apprehended by the store employee.The Target Loss Prevention Manger contacted Montgomery County Police and through the police investigation it was learned that Allen had been receiving refunds in an amount exceeding $5,000 during last year. Some of the fraudulent returns were made at Target stores and some at Hecht’s stores. He would buy items, take them out to his car, and return to the store with the receipt. He would select the same items he had just purchased, and then return them for a refund. Allen is known to have conducted approximately 25 of these types of refunds, having the money credited to his credit cards.
Throughout 2005 he obtained refunds for items ranging from clothing, a Bose theater system, stereo equipment, and photo printer to items valued only at $2.50.
This you'll remember is the president's chief advisor on domestic policy issues. Before that President Bush nominated him to be a federal judge.
Actually, one clarification, Allen is the former White House domestic policy adviser. He resigned abruptly one month ago to spend more time with his family, thus, like David Safavian, providing the prescribed Bush administration interval between resignation and arrest.
--Josh Marshall
Birds of a feather?
Katherine Harris' senate campaign is on the brink of implosion because of her ties to Cunningham-fraudster Mitchell Wade.
Now we find that she sold her house for three times what she paid for it only six years earlier.
Justin Rood reports at TPMmuckraker.com.
--Josh Marshall
Ahhh, another headline only CNN could come up with.
This is a headline currently running on the Netscape section of the CNN website. And as you'll see, it runs the blazing and rather unexpected headline: "Dems Indicted; Clinton, Kerry Targeted."
Needless to say, no Democrats have been indicted. The headline is for an AP story in which RNC honcho Ken Mehlman 'indicts' the Democrats for having no message.
Who's the headline writer? Yet more of the long steady decline of CNN.
(ed.note: Special note of thanks to TPM Reader MM.)
--Josh Marshall
Interior Secretary Gale Norton is resigning. Someone close to her tells the Denver Post it has nothing to do with the Abramoff investigation. Don't believe it.
Most of the corruption around Abramoff was channeled in one fashion or another. She was the secretary from 2001 on. A lot of it touches her.
--Josh Marshall
Jimmy Carter at the Council on Foreign Relations on Israel/Palestine. See the speech here.
--Josh Marshall
Tell us what you think.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee has a new Harold Ford attack site up called FancyFord.com.
Now, I always try to be cautious about imputing racist overtones to political attacks. Dems are all over the place this year accusing various politicians of having their PACs or charities subsidize their personal expenses. So that's certainly fair game. But take a look at FancyFord.com. You've got the picture of the fancy hotel suite, the shmance dinner, the Playboy Bunnies, the gold filigree. The message is pretty clear: Harold Ford is an uppity black man.
I think Atrios is probably right too: the creators of the site are saying Ford is basically a pimp, a black guy livin' large and probably doing white women too. If I had the volume on on my computer I'd actually be surprised if they didn't have the Shaft soundtrack playing in the background.
I guess Sen. Liddy Dole (head of the NRSC this cycle) thinks she's going to need to plug the racist vote hard to keep Ford out of the senate.
Look at the site. Tell us what you think.
We've set up this thread to discuss the site over at TPMCafe.
--Josh Marshall
Salon Scoop: Deputy Chief of Staff to Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL) reprimanded for role in Abu Ghraib detainee abuse scandal.
--Josh Marshall
Santorum founds charity for needy lobbyists? That and other news of the day in today's Daily Muck.
--Josh Marshall
Outsourcing?
On Tuesday I reported this odd fact that 
the Executive Office of the President (EOP) -- i.e., the administrative designation for the White House -- signed three contracts with Cunningham conspirator Mitchell Wade's company to provide 'intelligence services.'
Remember too that this was shortly after Wade registered a non-profit called the 'Iranian Democratization Foundation.'
All of this was happening in the summer of 2004. And by that time the EOP had already gotten in a decent amount of trouble running its own intelligence operations.
What am I talking about? Well the Office of the Vice President is housed within EOP. And Cheney's office had been running all sorts of shenanigans through the Pentagon, particularly through Doug Feith's Office of Special Plans.
Was this a way to do some reprise of the earlier Iraq-related operations, but off the books, or at least further distanced from possible congressional or journalistic scrutiny?
Given all we know now about Mitchell Wade those three contracts stick out like a sore thumb. Even with the White House's penchant for secrecy at all times and in all places, there should really be some pressure for them to provide some explanation of what those contracts were for.
--Josh Marshall
More on the Thomas Kontogiannis front.
We noted this last summer. But in addition to having cut a deal with prosecutors to plea guilty to misdemeanor fraud charges in a New York public school bid-rigging scandal back in 2002, the FBI arrested Kontogiannis and an employee at the US Embassy in Athens a decade earlier for accepting bribes to provide phony US visas.
Kontogiannis got 5 years probation in the visa fraud case and then managed to avoid prison again in the bid-rigging case.
--Josh Marshall
AP: "Gov. Ernie Fletcher was taken to the hospital Thursday for emergency treatment of a life-threatening blood clot somewhere between his upper arm and his jugular vein."
--Josh Marshall
Another piece of the puzzle.
Remember Thomas Kontogiannis? He's the larger 
than life twice-convicted Greek-born real estate developer who is better known in Duke Cunningham's plea agreement as co-conspirator #3.
If you look through the Duke files, Kontogiannis' role was mainly as a pass through for large sums of money. Yes, he gave bribes and of course he was involved in a boat transaction with Duke. But in the Cunningham corruption club that was almost a rite of passage.
Now, from the records, one of things that Kontogiannis wanted from Duke was some help trying to beat the rap (and later get a pardon for) a bid-rigging scandal back in New York. And for a long time I'd always sort of figured that Brent Wilkes and Mitchell Wade were the real players in this story, with Kontogiannis just added in for comic relief and -- as someone who controlled a mortgage company -- someone who could easily move money around.
But I'm hearing it may not be that simple.
Consider this. Mitch Wade was in naval intelligence before he left to work in the fraud and public corruption sector. Brent Wilkes -- and we're going to be hearing a lot more about this -- was deep into the darker regions of the intel world. Both of their scams were the same, plying the government contracting biz deep in the classified realm where scrutiny and oversight is minimal at best.
Now you have the third player Thomas Kontogiannis (#4 was Kontogiannis' nephew. So I'll consider him an extension of his uncle.). Given the background and habits of the other two, is this guy really just a real estate developer from Long Island?
Consider this passage from a piece in the San Diego Union-Tribune that I excerpted back in November ...
In a previously undisclosed link between Cunningham and Kontogiannis, the developer accompanied the congressman to Saudi Arabia last year. A Saudi-American businessman flew Cunningham to Saudi Arabia twice last year aboard a private jet. On the second trip, the jet stopped in Athens to pick up Kontogiannis, a native of Greece with businesses interests in several countries. Ziyad Abduljawad, founder and chairman of San Diego-based PLC Land Co., paid for Cunningham's two trips to Saudi Arabia, each at a cost of more than $10,000. Cunningham has described Abduljawad as an acquaintance who shares his interest in improving U.S.-Saudi relations.Kontogiannis "went as a friend of Duke's," said Harmony Allen, Cunningham's chief of staff. "That's the extent of it. Duke asked him to go as a friend. I'm not sure if (Kontogiannis) had a special interest (in visiting) Saudi Arabia or not."
It was unclear who paid for Kontogiannis' trip.
What's that about? Cunningham going to Saudi to smooth the edges of the clash of civilizations? Brings Kontogiannis along to help with the outreach?
Just how did Kontogiannis get into the mix with Wilkes and Wade? What's Kontogiannis's real line of work?
--Josh Marshall
Musgrave event follow-up.
The Fort Collins Coloradoan has run a follow-up story on the Musgrave event and the response from the Marine Corps, or the apparent one.
The first five grafs of the piece tell the tale ...
The uniformed troops who appeared at the Larimer County Republican Party's Lincoln Day Dinner last weekend did not violate military code, said a spokeswoman for the Marine Corps Headquarters' public affairs office."I don't think there's any trouble to be had," said the spokeswoman, who declined to give her name, citing protocol. "It's a touchy issue because lots of honorees are being invited to things like this. It's a shame people are trying to turn it into more than that."
Organizations from both parties have been asking military members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan to attend their events to be honored, and the Marine Corps will turn down those requests if the troops are expected to speak, act in an official capacity to assist with the event or endorse a party or candidate, the spokeswoman said.Strictly being honored at an event, however, is not against regulations, she said.
Officials at the Pentagon deferred to the Marine Corps for a ruling on the appearances.
Now, needless to say, I'm not in a position to interpret DOD regs. But here is a link to one version of the regulations.
I've spoken to a number of vets and active duty military who say that the training they got always made very clear that this sort of activity was prohibited. What's more, look at the regs yourself. They seem pretty clear on their face. And, if you read them, the whole point of the regs, as they're structured, is that having active duty military appearing in uniform as participants at partisan political events is tantamount to an endorsement.
Three other points about the spokeswoman's statement strike me as suspicious. One is the inherently engaged nature of the response. She doesn't state policy; she spins.
Second, she can't be identified? Military spokepersons in some contexts won't give their names. But this context? I find that odd.
Third, and most important, the spokesperson ducks the principal issue: appearing in uniform. It's the essence of the issue. And she dodges it.
This whole story needs more attention.
--Josh Marshall
John Bresnahan has a very important piece behind the firewall at Roll Call today, both because of the story itself and because of much more it points to.
The story is about our friend Brent Wilkes -- Duke Cunningham's core contracting crook. And the question is just when Pentagon officials knew he was dirty. Remember, authorities swooped in very quickly on the Cunningham case and managed to have him indicted and out of Congress only a few months after the crooked house story first broke. That was pretty quick.
Now Bresnahan reveals that as far back as 2000 the Defense Criminal Investigative Service was investigating Wilkes. In fact, they went so far as to conclude he had probably committed a crime and referred his case to the Justice Department for prosecution.
The US Attorney in San Diego declined to pursue the case. Why, we don't know.
Now, there are a couple different issues in play here. On the one hand, obviously if they had tagged Wilkes back in 2000 the taxpayers would have saved a lot of money and we would have avoided one of the biggest corruption scandals in years. But I suspect there may be more in play here.
People in the defense and intel world knew Brent Wilkes was dirty. But in the years since 2000 he just went from success to success, bagging millions on dollars in contracts. Keep an eye an out for the possibility that Wilkes may not have been getting a lot of these edgy spook contracts in spite of the fact that he was dirty, but because of it.
--Josh Marshall
Does this count as a crackdown on 
lobbying?
Last week we brought you word of Brian Bilbray, former congressman-turned-lobbyist trying to turn back into a congressman.
He's running for the seat vacated by the resignation of the Duke Cunningham, California's 50th district. And he's run into a bit of turbulence over the fact that he was tight with Jack Abramoff, became a lobbyist himself and generally is a poster-boy for much of what reformers this year are trying to root out in Washington.
He's big battle so far this year has been to present to prevent the state of California from identifying his occupation as "lobbyist" on election materials. Most of his work has been on behalf of an anti-immigration group and an Indian tribe with a casino.
Today the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that Bilbray has won his battle.
On the special election ballot, Bilbray will appear as "immigration reform consultant."
--Josh Marshall
Sen. Santorum says his charity isn't his charity. That and other news of the day in today's Daily Muck.
--Josh Marshall
Gotta love it.
WaPo: "After saying in January that he would end his regular meetings with lobbyists, Sen. Rick Santorum (Pa.), the third-ranking GOP leader in the Senate, has continued to meet with many of the same lobbyists at the same time and on the same day of the week."
--Josh Marshall
"The Vietnam War experience can’t tell us anything about the war in Iraq – or so it is said. If you believe that, trying looking through this lens, and you may change your mind."
Those are the first two sentences of former NSA chief and Lt. Gen. William Odom's new article Iraq through the prism of Vietnam.
--Josh Marshall
More juicy details from the Vanity Fair Abramoff tell-all piece.
Advance Morsel: Monty Warner, a Republican media strategist: "I can remember Ney coming up and groveling [at Abramoff's table at Signatures], saying how much he enjoyed a golf outing or skybox or ball game, and really appreciated Jack's support."
--Josh Marshall
CQ ain't convinced.
Congressional Quarterly, the respected DC news and information service, moves Tom DeLay's 22nd district from "Leans Republican" to "No Clear Favorite."
--Josh Marshall
Who you gonna believe? Me or your lyin' Abramoff?
Ahhh, wingnut grudge match. Sen. Burns has just responded to the new Abramoff interview in Vanity Fair, in which Abramoff says his staff was “as close as they could be," with Burns' office. Spokesman calls Abramoff "a pathological liar who has no credibility and belongs in jail."
--Josh Marshall
Source tells TPMmuckraker.com Katherine Harris may be pulling out of the race. Campaign denies.
--Josh Marshall
Knowing Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT) is very, very good for business. That and other news of the day in today's Daily Muck.
--Josh Marshall
Oh, if at first you don't succeed and all that.
Bob Ney is still looking for a disparagement of choice to use on his one-time partner in (alleged) crime, Jack Abramoff.
Now Ney's office is saying Jack Abramoff shouldn't be believed because he's a "slick trial lawyer." That's a good one. This truly has to be the reductio ad absurdum of GOP anti-trial lawyer politics.
And, by the way, has Jack Abramoff ever done any trial work in his life (no, smart alecky looks. I mean as a lawyer.) As far as I know, he got a law degree, but never practiced.
Actually, the whole quote is even better. Ney's spokesman Brian Walsh rails at one of Ney's critics for basing "his latest negative attacks solely on the tainted words of a slick trial lawyer and a convicted felon like Jack Abramoff."
Remember, one of the crimes Jack Abramoff is convicted of is bribing Bob Ney.
--Josh Marshall
Let me try an idea out on you. What if Brent Wilkes is too big to go down?
Wilkes, you remember, is the less-noted but more central contracting crook in the Duke Cunningham scandal. Mitch Wade gets more attention (flashier bribes will do that). But Wade was Wilkes' protege.
Now, whatever else Wilkes was, he was deep into all sorts of highly classified CIA and other intel agency programs -- and don't be surprised if not just as a 'contractor'. There are even telling signs he may have been involved in some of the administration's more creative domestic intelligence activities.
If he's indicted, what might he threaten to reveal? More prosaically, what might his lawyer say he needs to bring into open court in order to be able to defend himself?
Just something to consider as we keep waiting to see if and when the feds get around to Mr. Wilkes.
--Josh Marshall
As Josh promised Al Franken on Air America today, here's the link to Mitchell Wade's plea agreement.
--Paul Kiel
With Abramoff headed to the slammer, anti-gambling bill makes a comeback. That and other news of the day in today's Daily Muck.
--Josh Marshall
A White House connection to that Iran-regime-change group set up by Mitch Wade, Duke Cunningham's chief briber? We found some contracts that have us wondering.
--Josh Marshall
The Coloradoan follows up on the Musgrave event and her help in violating military regs.
The piece treats it as an open question whether what happened violates the rules. Every JAG officer I've spoken to, however, says it's open and shut.
In any case, check out the piece and see what you think. I'm curious to see this reported out from the JAG/DOD side to see their interpretation of the rules and also from the White House to get their response on their apparent violation of the same.
--Josh Marshall
PC-Rage-Mac-Envy update.
So, my own predictions notwithstanding, this weekend, I took the plunge. I went out and bought my first Mac.
I am, it turns out, afflicted with a severe characterological disorder which prevents me from ever reading directions for any new product I purchase but rather forces me to stumble around by trial and error until I figure out how the new thing works. No pity please, I've had the condition since childhood. But that did create a few grumbly moments as I tried to figure out how to do some elementary task. At first at least, not having the right mouse key was something like learning to ride a bike.
Within about a day though I felt like I'd gotten my sea legs. And so far I have to say that I'm really pleased with the decision.
--Josh Marshall
Call off the dogs!
Rep. Virgil Goode (R-VA) -- "Representative A" in Mitchell Wade's plea agreement -- issued a statement today saying he has done nothing wrong and is not hiring a lawyer. He also said neither he nor his staff have ever been contacted by the Feds.
In Wade's plea two weeks ago, the crooked contractor indentified Goode as a recipient of illegal campaign contributions from his company, MZM. Wade also pegged Rep. Katherine Harris (R-FL) -- "Representative B" -- for the same offense.
Unlike Goode, Harris lawyered up last week, as fans will recall, hiring ace campaign finance shark Ben Ginsberg. (More on Ginsberg's colorful history later.)
--Justin Rood
Yesterday, we linked to this picture from the Larimer County (CO) Republican party website, which shows Rep. Maryilyn Musgrave introducing two Marines at a GOP fundraiser, an apparent violation of standing military regs. The photos in question have now been scrubbed from the Larimer County GOP website.
--Josh Marshall
Multitasking?
We know Mitch Wade as coconspirator #2, the 
guy who bought all the houses and antiques and boats for the now-imprisoned Duke Cunningham in exchange for Duke's help bagging defense and intelligence procurement projects.
But Wade had his finger in some other pies too.
It turns out that Wade was also the registered agent for something called the "Iranian Democratization Foundation." The date of registration was in April 2004 and it's now "dissolved."
What's it all about? Your guess is as good as ours. But we're looking into it.
--Josh Marshall
Mark your calendars...
The judge for Jack Abramoff's SunCruz fraud case in Florida has pushed back his sentencing there to Wednesday, March 29th. His business partner Adam Kidan will be sentenced the same day. It's earlier than the two had wanted, because they're busily talking to prosecutors and worried that doing some of that talking in public might hurt their plea deal. Or as Abramoff's lawyer put it:
"We will name names. We will provide the public with evidence of what is going on out there."
Can't wait.
--Paul Kiel
Tampa Tribune: "Gov. Jeb Bush's office is refusing to release documents or answer questions about a $400,000 tax credit awarded to MZM Inc., whose former chief executive pleaded guilty last week to bribery and illegal campaign contributions."
--Josh Marshall
Katherine Harris abruptly cancels five campaign stops, the Lakeland (FL) Ledger reports.
The paper says her campaign is in "full crisis mode" as questions mount over her involvement with crooked contractor Mitchell Wade.
They're not calling the game yet - but no one's saying those skies don't look like rain.
--Justin Rood
This week in TPMCafe Book Club we're featuring Gershom Gorenberg's The Accidental Empire: Israel and the Birth of the Settlements, 1967-1977 and the current state affairs in Israel-Palestine. Gorenberg just got the conversation started with a post about how and why he wrote the book. Stop by and check it out.
--Josh Marshall
The Foggo of war. (Hint|: the Duke/Wilkes link into the CIA). That and other news of the day in today's Daily Muck.
--Josh Marshall
Our intelligence czar living the czar's life. From CQ:
On many a workday lunchtime, the nominal boss of U.S. intelligence, John D. Negroponte, can be found at a private club in downtown Washington, getting a massage, taking a swim, and having lunch, followed by a good cigar and a perusal of the daily papers in the club’s library.“He spends three hours there [every] Monday through Friday,” gripes a
senior counterterrorism official, noting that the former ambassador has a security detail sitting outside all that time in chase cars. Others say they’ve seen the Director of National Intelligence at the University Club, a 100-year-old mansion-like redoubt of dark oak panels and high ceilings a few blocks from the White House, only “several” times a week.......there seems to be a new, relaxed John Negroponte. And some close
observers think they know why.He’s figured out the job. Which is to say, he really doesn’t have much control over the 16 U.S. intelligence agencies.
--Paul Kiel
Yet another follow-up on Rep. Marilyn Musgrave's (R-CO) Republican party event out in Colorado over the weekend.
Here's a photograph from the Larimer County GOP website in which Rep. Musgrave appears to be introducing two Marines at the County GOP political event. (That's how it's described in this article in the local paper.)
We still need to know more about just what happened here (and what seems to be happening at a lot of GOP events around the country). But just what appears within the four corners of this photograph seems in direct contravention of military regs.
And as we noted before, this is something people across party lines should be concerned about because it's bad for the country and bad for the armed forces.
--Josh Marshall
I've long suspected a wide-ranging Republican party conspiracy to create content ready-made for Talking Points Memo. And as Republican conspiracies go, it's one I can't say I have too big a problem with. But I think I've found another example of the cabal at work.
To paraphrase the late Richard M. Nixon, we don't have Duke Cunningham to kick around any more. But perhaps the conspirators are cueing up a replacement.
Francine Busby is the main Democrat running to replace the seat left vacant by Duke's resignation. It's CA-50, for those of you keeping score. It's an open primary on April 11th. The top Dem and GOPer go to a run-off, unless one candidate gets over 50%, a distinctly unlikely outcome.
Anyway, one of the main Republicans is former GOP Congressman Brian Bilbray.
Since leaving Congress, Brian Bilbray has worked as a lobbyist for, among other clients, a controversial Indian tribe with a casino. Actually, let me amend that slightly. More recently, he's been spending his time fighting with the state of California over whether he has to identify his profession as that of "lobbyist" on election materials. Bilbray prefers to style himself "consultant".
In any case, given the recent unpleasantness in the 50th district, Busby is pretty keen to make the election about ethics and political corruption. (It's a fairly Republican district.) And if Brian Bilbray makes it into the run-off against her, that may not be that hard.
You see, Bilbray was a pretty big pal of our friend Jack Abramoff. Back in the mid-1990s he even went on one of Jack's all-expense-paid junkets to the Marianas islands to watch first hand the alchemic magic of laborers from across the Far East working in sweatshops producing "Made in the USA" label clothing.
A lot of Republicans went to the Marianas back in the glory days; and even a few Dems. But Bilbray became one of the most outspoken proponents of the campaign to keep US labor laws off the island. Somehow I suspect there's more beneath the surface on this one.
--Josh Marshall
Let me mention another point about this issue of uniformed military appearing at and/or speaking at partisan political events.
I've gotten a few emails on this point so I want to clarify lest there be any confusion: violation of the ban on uniformed military participating in partisan political events isn't some technical violation like not filling out a form or not following some obscure protocol. And pointing it out isn't just some blog gotcha.
The existence of this ban and the enforcement of it are hugely important both to good order and discipline within the military and to preserving our democratic republic. The military can't be made into an arm of one or the other political party. Nor can the executive be allowed to enlist members of the armed forces, either individually or en masse, willingly or not, as soldiers in his domestic political battles.
This is about preserving a professional military and preserving our system of government. It's a big deal. We need to find out a few more specifics about what happened at the Musgrave event. Perhaps the newspaper account is deeply misleading about what actually happened. But if this thing that looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, is a duck, then it needs to be nipped in the bud.
--Josh Marshall
Here's a thought. Bob Novak pretty much put us on notice a couple weeks ago that the White House and the RNC were going to make a habit of using uniformed military personnel as props at Republican political rallies. This despite the fact that it is a plain violation of military regulations banning politicization of the armed forces.
Now, with Rep. Marilyn Musgrave's (R-CO) event in Colorado we seem to have the first actual example of it.
My gut tells me this isn't the only one. But in the nature of things the notations of it will show up only in local papers, well under the radar of the national press. So I'm curious whether folks have seen examples of similar things happening in their own districts. If you've seen examples, let us know.
--Josh Marshall
