The purpose of this diary is to 1) dissuade the notion that Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) is in danger this cycle and 2) to make the case that Erik Fleming in MS-A is a viable candidate against Thad Cochrane.

Yeah, I'm always a day late on these things, and god knows I'm no Granny Doc, but here goes.

From the front page to the lowliest diary comments, it is impossible not to encounter somebody's grave, disheartened disappointment at something the Democratic nominee did or didn't do in his quest to gain office.

You're shocked.  You're hurt.  You're going to take your $25 and go home.  You're going to give up on the big ticket and concentrate on state races.

Enjoy.  I don't have the option.  My state sucks.

2008 is shaping up to be an exciting year in U.S. politics, with tons of progressive candidates running in every state.

This year is also an opportunity to highlight the role that big money plays in shaping the views and voting records of lawmakers, particularly money from Big Oil. Despite extremely high gas prices and record profits for oil companies, the following three members of Congress continue to place the interests of Big Oil ahead of the concerns of their constituents.

Follow me after the jump to learn about this unsavory triad.

I have here a guest post from family member journalist Randy Reynolds. He publishes a blog, a brilliant blog with stories from his life and poltical articles. I can't decide which are better. Interviewing Jimmy Carter, being shoved aside by other reporters when he was interviewing Martin Luther King Jr., you really need to read on it, there's a particularly good article about Prescott Bush trying to overthrow FDR. http://reynoldswriter.blogspot.com/

San Diego is a one paper town, The Union Tribune.  It has long supported and reflected the conservative tone of this anti-union city where the biggest industry is the U.S.Navy facilities.

A few days ago they printed this editorial with a rather nasty picture of Representative William J. Jefferson. The actual editorial was reasonable, but the tone was that prosecution of his putative crime should not be unduly hindered.

It seemed to miss something, so I wrote, and they printed this response today.  

Ummm... yay?

The Supreme Court on Monday let stand a lower court ruling that the F.B.I. went too far in searching the office of Representative William J. Jefferson, a Louisiana Democrat accused of using his position to promote business deals in Africa.

Without comment, the justices declined to review a ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which concluded last August that agents had violated the Constitution by the methods it used in the May 2006 search.

Huzzah!

When the FBI raided the Congressional office of Rep. William Jefferson -- he of the $90,000 cash in the freezer -- and seized his papers and computers in their free-ranging search for evidence, the executive branch dangerously overstepped its bounds. And with the case alleging corruption of a Democratic Member of Congress solidifying, the brave guardians of constitutional principles on Capitol Hill cast all caution to the wind, disregarded the horrific optics of the Jefferson case and did right by the Constitution.

Ah, how refreshing!

Corrupt Democrat has office raided by FBI. Congressional Democrats wisely compartmentalize issues and public perception of corruption and stand up for the critical principle of separation of powers.

Corrupt Republican uses office to torture, steal, invade sovereign nations and eavesdrop on innocent Americans. Congressional Democrats turn immediately to the pollsters, who tell them the voters will surely punish them for seeking to compartmentalize issues and public perception of civil liberties versus security and stand up for the critical principle of separation of powers.

Makes perfect sense!

After all, separation of powers is sacrosanct to this Congress. For instance, Congressional Democrats may disagree with this president's refusal to honor duly authorized Congressional subpoenas, but they'll defend to the death his right to ignore them. Or something like that.

As an extra bonus for those of you wondering whether the House is ever going to realize that its court case seeking enforcement of the Miers and Bolten subpoenas isn't going anywhere, and finally settle the matter itself, with inherent contempt, we have this rather strong hint:

Referring to President Bush’s former political adviser, Ms. Pelosi said, "The White House wouldn’t like it if we sent the Capitol Police over there to search Karl Rove’s desk."

Can't have that.

This will be short, I just saw that the Supreme Court just declined to review the DC Court of Appeals ruling on part of the William Jefferson brouhaha.

From the NYT:

The ruling that the Supreme Court declined to review held that the F.B.I.’s use of a "filter team" to examine the evidence from the Congressman’s office to determine what was clearly legislative, and therefore out of bounds, was not adequate to protect Congress’s constitutional right to operate without interference from the executive branch.

It only applied to the paper searching, as far as I can tell, so Jefferson is not cleared. My interest in this is not in Jefferson, however, but what this might mean for the unitary executive theory.

Local television (WDSU, WWL) is reporting that longtime Jefferson Parish Sheriff Harry Lee has been hospitalized and is on a ventilator.

Diagnosed with leukemia in April of this year, Lee declared himself in remission in June and vowed to stay in the race for JP sheriff.  With the election on October 20, if Lee is unable to run or serve, the race will fall to a contest between onetime Lee supporter Harahan Police Chief Peter Dale and contractor Julio Castillo.  (Background on the race here.)

Former Representative Mark Foley likely won't be prosecuted because the state's Statue of Limitations has expired. The alleged acts occurred in 2003, and the investigation did not start until 2006, when the story broke. It turns out that Raw Story and ABC held the transcripts of the lewd e-mails. The news outlets held the e-mails for weeks before publishing, because they were unable to acquire a second source before publishing the e-mails. The St. Petersburg Times also got the e-mails.

Many conservative Republicans have been asking why Idaho Republican Senator Larry Craig should be pressured to relinquish his committee posts (and apparently is now planning to resign) when he only pled guilty to a misdemeanor offense. Others in Washington D.C. like Senator Ted Stevens remain on the Appropriations Committee despite being the subject of a major criminal investigation and FBI raid on his Alaska home, and Senator David Vitter maintains his assignments despite admitting to the crime of soliciting a prostitute. Sloan misses the point, although personally I think Stevens and Vitter should not just leave their committee assignments, they should quit public office, too.

This is an offshoot from Larry Craig is a ????...sort of.  Anyways, after reading about that I decided to look up coverage of Rep. Will Jefferson and see how the Fox News Website would break the news to the world that Rep Jefferson is, in fact, a democrat.  

To learn more, Join me over the break...

Forget impeaching Bush, Cheney, or even Gonzales.  I think the Democratic Congress should get the ball rolling by first impeaching... Rep. William Jefferson.  As we all know, the media has vastly higher standards for Democrats than it does for Republicans, so a trial would get a lot of coverage on the networks and be discussed in great length by our Very Serious Pundits, without Democrats ever mentioning the Bush Administration.

I doubt too many Republicans would pass up a chance to impeach another Democrat, especially one busted with thousands of dollars of bribe money in his freezer.  We'd have a lot of nice C-Span footage of Republicans talking about the seriousness of corruption and the need for accountability for public officials.  Dems would partially innoculate themselves against charges of "just playing politics" or "getting revenge for Clinton".

Then we impeach Gonzales.  Then we impeach Cheney.  Then we impeach Bush.  And dare the GOP and the media to justify their double standards.

It would appear there is one area in which Republicans are willing to help Democrats: Corruption. According to yesterday's article by the Washington Post, Cheney took an active role in keeping evidence out of the hands of the FBI at the behest of Republican House leadership.

All of us have read story after story after story about the 16 indictments leveled against Democrat Bill Jefferson, Representative of LA-02, a district encompassing parts of Jefferson Parish and the majority of Orleans Parish.  The controversy surrounding Bill Jefferson's alleged misdeeds are not limited to the Orleans Parish Democrat, however; a certain Republican named Billy Tauzin, Jr., former Republican representative of LA-03, a southeastern Louisiana district now represented by Democrat Charlie Melancon, is also embroiled in the scandal.  

I have to give credit where credit is due.  This weekend dengre continued the long, drawn out story of one of the worst periods of corruption in the history of Congress.  And, in his typical style, he gives full credit to Josh Marshall and the hard workers at TPM/TPM Muckraker for their following the story of Alberto Gonzales and the political firing of a group of prosecutors.

And, it typical fashion, I will continue to point out that Jack Abramoff was not the sole source of sleaze in Washington and that the Republicans are not the only party that has sleazy members.  

Faux News and the CBC may need to review the terms of their presidential debate agreements... again... take it under full consideration for many, many reasons.

The least of which, but certainly the most recent:

A Case of Mistaken Identity!

The crooks are sticking together.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) rushed to the floor a measure that would order the ethics committee to investigate any member who was indicted or arrested on criminal charges. It passed 387-10, with 15 members voting “present.”

The legislation came under sharp attack from Rep. David Dreier of California, the top Republican on the Rules Committee, who complained the resolution was poorly drafted and could spark an ethics investigation of a traffic ticket or an arrest at a protest. Hoyer said the ethics commission would not investigate trivial matters.

“When Mr. Abramoff takes trips with lots of people, that is not a traffic ticket, that is not a protest at the Sudanese Embassy and the American people know the difference,” Hoyer said.

Among those voting against both resolutions was Rep. John Doolittle (R-Calif.). Doolittle’s home was searched by the FBI in April as part of the investigation into disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Crooks have to stick together, you know?

Doolittle's challenger, Charlie Brown, is taking full advantage of that gift:

“The politics of personal enrichment has been the status quo in Washington for far too long,” Brown said, referring to Congress’s faulty ethics as a “growing cancer on our democracy.”

Brown opposes Rep. John Doolittle (R) in California’s conservative 4th district. Doolittle, whose Virginia home was raided by the FBI in April, faces his own Justice Department investigation over ties to imprisoned lobbyist Jack Abramoff, and Brown has denounced what he calls an “era of corruption” in Congress as part of his platform.

While congressional Democrats pointed the ethical finger at Republicans in November and promised to end the “culture of corruption” of the GOP’s reign, Brown accused Congress of having a climate of a corruption that spans party lines.

“With yet another Washington politician facing incarceration for bribery, we are reminded that corruption in Congress — like so many of the challenges we face as a nation — is not a partisan issue,” Brown said.

Fox News has stooped to an all-time low this time. I would love to know who ordered them to defame the character of Congressman John Conyers. Whose bright idea was it? Rupert Murdoch, Roger Ailes, or some other disgusting, slimy Fox employee?