memogate
November 28, 2003 10:28 AM   Subscribe

memogate
first the plame affair - now stolen confidential memos from democratic senators servers ... business as usual on capitol hill?
posted by specialk420 (28 comments total)
 
BashConservativesFilter or HateRepublicansGate...either of those terms humorous, or even accurate?
posted by BlueTrain at 10:50 AM on November 28, 2003


Sorry, are you defending the person(s) on Hatch's staff who stole documents an released them to the press, BlueTrain? Seems like an odd choice if you are.
posted by UrbanFigaro at 10:56 AM on November 28, 2003


BashConservativesFilter or HateRepublicansGate...either of those terms humorous, or even accurate?

or in any way relevant to the post?
posted by specialk420 at 11:06 AM on November 28, 2003


This whole thing reminds me of Nixon...expect many more things like this between now and the election.
posted by amberglow at 11:11 AM on November 28, 2003


Isn't hacking a pretty serious crime these days? Don't tell me you republican pigs want to get soft on crime now, do you?
posted by 2sheets at 11:47 AM on November 28, 2003


What Plame affair? I seem to remember something off in the hazy past, but the media stopped talking about it, so I done plumb forgot.
posted by stonerose at 12:04 PM on November 28, 2003


Guys, BlueTrain can't hear you. He's got his fingers in his ears and he's shouting out "la-la-la!" at the top of his lungs to make sure he isn't able to hear anything he doesn't want to.
posted by trondant at 12:25 PM on November 28, 2003


i wonder if dem staffers (hackers) were the "leakers" of the rumsfeld memo? not a whole lot of them in the inner circles over at defense i suspect.
posted by specialk420 at 12:31 PM on November 28, 2003


The difference between then (Nixon) and now is that then, the fourth Estate was an outsider. And they brought down a POTUS. And it got them ratings. Which makes them $$$

I think this was a sobering moment for the boys who play on the Hill. It behooved them to realign the fourth estate with the games people play.

30 years later, they've been dealt such a generous piece of the pie by the gov't (namely, the FCC), its just no longer in the news media's best interests to go nosing around in this stuff.

That and scandal fatigue are why the Plaime affair and now this, make not even a dent in the public's consciousness, during an election year, no less.
posted by Fupped Duck at 12:36 PM on November 28, 2003


Guys, BlueTrain can't hear you. He's got his fingers in his ears and he's shouting out...

CHOO-CHOO!
posted by quonsar at 12:52 PM on November 28, 2003


"If we can find some way to [stop illegal downloaders] without destroying their machines, we'd be interested in hearing about that. If that's the only way, then I'm all for destroying their machines." -- Sen. Orrin Hatch
posted by aaronetc at 1:09 PM on November 28, 2003


specialk: I think it's much more likely that Rumsfeld leaked that memo. Rumsfeld has, of late, been pushed outside the inner circle in the Bush administration. I think he (or someone of a similar mind within the DD) leaked the memo, trying to get ahead of criticism regarding the conduct of the war. Sure, it's possible that a hostile third party could have leaked it, but given that it establishes Rumsfeld (and the DD) as ahead of the curve on foreign policy, I think it's more likely an internal power play, with Rummie trying to get back in.

And given the response:

"White House press secretary Scott McClellan, traveling with President Bush in Australia, reacted by voicing support for Rumsfeld. 'That's exactly what a strong and capable secretary of defense like Secretary Rumsfeld should be doing,' said McClellan."

it was pretty successful.
posted by Coda at 1:17 PM on November 28, 2003


Isn't it odd that the GOP so concerned with trickle down economics have no interest in trickle down ethics? With a boss that allegedly is so rabid against electronic theft, what would possess a member of his staff to do such a thin?

We have a word for this.. that word is hypocrite.
posted by MrLint at 4:14 PM on November 28, 2003


The Pentagon Papers are a good reference here. It is not so important how these memos got out. What is important is that we now know that Democrat Senators had elevated their hatred for Bush over love of country.
posted by paleocon at 4:14 PM on November 28, 2003


trharlan: Im thinking a bullet to the head.
posted by MrLint at 4:15 PM on November 28, 2003


I'm not defending anyone's behavior. I'm suggesting that the term "memogate" is asinine. Though, thanks for the assumptions regarding my political compass and ethics. I appreciate the ridiculously formulated conclusions. Humorous to see how "conservatives" are viewed here, even though I've shown on many occasions to lean left.
posted by BlueTrain at 4:40 PM on November 28, 2003


Republicans continue to lead the field in the dirty tricks dept. They wrote the book.
posted by wsg at 5:04 PM on November 28, 2003


Republicans and Republic
posted by homunculus at 5:10 PM on November 28, 2003


I'm suggesting that the term "memogate" is asinine.

ok bill o'rielly ... take it easy.

you didn't do much 'splainin on how the, off the cuff, term "memogate" was so "asisnine" in your first post ... instead you threw out some huffy way out in left (or right as may be the case) field comments about the term then stormed off ...
posted by specialk420 at 5:48 PM on November 28, 2003


Then why not just say, "memogate is an asinine name?" If you want people to understand what you're trying to say, express your ideas clearly the first time around.
posted by trondant at 6:01 PM on November 28, 2003


Republicans continue to lead the field in the dirty tricks dept. They wrote the book.

"Political dirty tricks were the norm. Democrats marked badges "Black Republican" depicting a runaway slave and made frequent jabs at Frémont's out-of-wedlock birth. Republicans countered with remarks about Buchanan's age and bachelorhood as well as the nickname "Ten-Cent Jimmy" after he unwisely said in public that he considered ten cents a day a fair wage for manual laborers. They also suggested that Buchanan's trademark tendency to tilt his head stemmed not from deficient eyesight but because he had once tried to hang himself."
posted by clavdivs at 6:07 PM on November 28, 2003


clav : as the animaniacs put it "Four long years with James Buchanan.

But really both sets of political morons dont have much to do with the parties of times past. I mean Strom thurmond use to be a racist 'dixiecrat' and then he became a compassionate conservative!
posted by MrLint at 6:46 PM on November 28, 2003


So, just for confirmation ...

MrLint made a joke about putting a bullet in Sen. Hatch's head. Is this acceptable?
posted by paleocon at 6:52 PM on November 28, 2003


Im thinking a bullet to the head

it probably won't be hatch that takes one paleocon.
posted by specialk420 at 12:03 AM on November 29, 2003


Just for the hell of it I did google searches for "republican dirty tricks" and "democrat dirty tricks." Here are the results:

republican dirty tricks: 622 results
democrat dirty tricks: 81 results
posted by wsg at 12:41 AM on November 29, 2003


Just for the hell of it I did a google search of

"ultra left wing" 1,890
"ultra right wing" 11,400

Both of these pairs of search terms show how liberal bias has distorted the public discourse.
posted by paleocon at 6:17 AM on November 29, 2003


paleo : so you are saying that if you find more search results on something that doesnt agree with your views it must be somehow skewed and have no basis in reality.

So if i find more search result about brown cows, and almost none about purple cows, it must be media bias against purple cows?

Have you considered analyzing data deeper than your opinion?
posted by MrLint at 8:39 AM on November 29, 2003


"Thurlow Weed, about a traveler named Roorback who on a visit down South supposedly came across some of Democrat James Polk's slaves cruelly branded with Polk’s initials (a president could own slaves but he couldn't brand them like cattle--that was considered inhumane.). Another involved an attempt by the Whigs to demoralize leading Democrats; to persuade the Democrats that the campaign was going badly the Whigs sent out a letter to that effect supposedly written by some high party muckety-muck. Still another involved the printing up of phony ballots; the ballots mixed up the names of Democratic and Whig electors, which was intended to confuse voters. All in all pretty tame stuff."

some Whig dirty tricks. just to fair.
and to be of topic:


'How mighty Rome her fiat hurl'd
Resistless o'er a bowing world,
And, kinder than they did desire,
Polish'd mankind with sword and fire:
With much too tedious to relate
Of ancient and of modern date,'

-Burns

(I thought the Sarge might like me using Burns)
posted by clavdivs at 10:03 AM on November 29, 2003


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