Marble Composition

Name That Idiot

Wow, there's some great stuff posted over at the American Prospect's website today. This was one of my favorites, so I'm stealing the whole damn thing: (as I'm a subscriber to the print edition, I'm not sure I'm stealing, but, whatever)

CLOWNING WITH IMPUNITY. It has been demonstrated that Republican congressmen can advocate dropping nuclear bombs on Syria without catching too much grief, and that the Senate majority leader can feel fairly free to use his medical credentials to peddle the possibility of AIDS transmission through tears or to offer off-the-cuff diagnoses via edited videotape. It is also apparent that the same Majority Leader probably won’t be troubled by questions concerning allegations of election fraud carried out by officials under his employ. Another Republican congressman has demonstrated that it is possible to offer an explanation for a pivotal abstention on an important vote that vastly strains credulity without needing to withstand much in the way of follow-up scrutiny. And of course, we know of one prominent Republican lawmaker who has direct ties to a disgraced lobbyist and a casino scheme that is now the subject of a criminal indictment and another, even more prominent Republican, who has clearly lied about the extent and duration of his dealings with said disgraced lobbyist; at the moment, the re-election prospects of both members remain, if not secure, still quite bright.

This all provides some context for understanding how congressman Curt Weldon can possibly get away with hurling about what now appear to be egregiously embellished and embroidered allegations regarding Mohammed Atta and the Able Danger program. Just prior to the emergence of the Able Danger story and the swift implosion of Weldon’s claims, Laura Rozen and collaborators had done a sterling job documenting the dangerous antics and crackpot intelligence theorizing in which the Pennsylvania congressman has been engaging of late. Now we have the likes of shrill Republican-basher John Podhoretz declaring that “[i]f Time's account is accurate, Weldon has done something very, very bad with this whole story -- something either knowingly dishonest, unknowingly crazy, or foolishly naive -- and he should be held accountable for it.”

Podhoretz can rest assured that no such accountability will be enforced. The Able Danger kerfluffle will do little to diminish Weldon’s standing as a prominent House Republican spokesman on military and international matters -- nor will it likely alter the virtual inevitability that he will become chairman either of the House Homeland Security Committee in September or of the Armed Services Committee in two years. It’s all part of the fun immunity granted to congressional Republicans to be complete chuckleheads. It’s quite a deal.

--Sam Rosenfeld

As I've noted here before (yes, even me), when congressman Curt Weldon looks at his butt cheeks, he thinks his ass will make a fine fit for a hat. Again, the good people of Pennsylvania would be better served if Curt was tending to things back home instead of running around playing intelligence operative. Try Leaving that to the grown-ups, Curt.

posted by FuzzFinger @ 8/16/2005 05:16:00 PM