This is the smartest move yet by Bush in trying to recover from the negative perception of his early non-action to the Tsunami crisis - he has selected his father (former President Bush) and former President Bill Clinton to spearhead the funds drive for the Tsunami relief effort. Clinton had already been acting on his own with Hillary to raise funds. Thus, by officially selecting him to work for the Administration on this, Bush gets the credit and removes the comparison that would otherwise have resulted.

The Bush Adminstration still needs to get its messages straight, however. While Bush makes an announcement in the U.S. that cash is most needed, as opposed to goods or services, Colin Powell announces in Thailand that the U.S. doesn't need to give more money beause enough has already been received.

Secretary of State Colin Powell said Monday the relief effort for countries devastated by the tsunami was going "exceptionally well" and he sees no immediate need for more U.S. governmental money.

Right hand, meet left hand.

The New York Times today reports on Thursday's confirmation hearing for Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General. It confirms what we've been saying at TalkLeft since his nomination: The questioning will be tough, but he will be confirmed, and a record will start being made to block his ascension to the Supreme Court after his term as AG.

The article does break some new ground reporting on the witnesses who will testify against his confirmation. One witness will be retired Rear Adm. John D. Hutson:

Sidney Blumenthal writes in The Guardian about Bush's second term and how he has purged the last members from his father's team.

The transition to President Bush's second term, filled with backstage betrayals, plots and pathologies, would make for an excellent chapter of I, Claudius. To begin with, Bush has unceremoniously and without public acknowledgement dumped Brent Scowcroft, his father's closest associate and friend, as chairman of the foreign intelligence advisory board.

A fact from the article worth noting:

Since the election, 203 US soldiers have been killed and 1,674 wounded.

On January 5, the Senate will hold a hearing on the confirmation of Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General. His participatiion in the "torture" memos is widely known and available. His Texas Clemency memos advising then Governor GW Bush on death penalty cases also deserve close scrutiny. The actual memos are available here.

It was Gonzales' responsibility to brief Bush on pending executions. In Texas, executive clemency is a two-pronged process. The Board of Pardons and Paroles, whose members are appointed by the governor, must recommend clemency. And the governor of Texas must accept the Board's recommendation.

Unfortunately, the record shows that Gonzales did a shoddy and incomplete job in briefing the governor. He ignored or glossed over claims of innocence, severe mental illness or mental retardation and claims of ineffective assistance of counsel. In short, he didn't do his job.

The Bush Administration has decided on a new formula for calculating student aid--a formula which will eliminate Pell Grants and cause a loss of student aid for up to 90,000 low-income students.

Bush administration officials said the new formula — used to measure a family's ability to pay college costs — will save the government at least $300 million in the 2005-2006 academic year. ...

The media reports this was an unexpected action. Not exactly. It was buried in the 3,000 page spending bill passed by Congress last month and TalkLeft warned readers about the Pell grant change, after reading this article in the New York Times. Maybe these members of Congress failed to read the bill they passed in its entirety:

Rudy Giuliani isn't getting the pass he wants from the Kerik story quite yet. The New York Times Friday details the many lawsuits for damages the city of New York incurred during his watch, quite a few of which are ongoing--suits that allege Rudy or his senior aides violated the plaintiffs' constitutional rights.

In the three years since Michael R. Bloomberg succeeded Mr. Giuliani, the city has spent close to $2 million to settle lawsuits brought by residents and city workers who accused the Giuliani administration of retaliating against them for exercising free speech or other constitutional rights.

Michael Hess, Giuliani's current partner at Giuliani Partners, says the suits amount to a drop in the bucket. Pocket change, right?

I'll agree that settling a lawsuit is not an acknowledgement of the correctness or truth of the prevailing party's allegations--it's more a litigation strategy and an assessment of the risk/reward ratio of going to trial. That's not the issue.

The point I'm making is that for the Times and other papers to be publishing this stuff now shows that Rudy is no longer "the golden boy"--a position he never, ever deserved to hold in the first place. Rudy was on his last leg when September 11 came around. His divorce woes had made him a laughing stock. He was pummeled by the press every day. His prostate cancer and withdrawal from the Senate race against Hillary led many to conclude his political career was over.

The Kerik mess has dethroned Rudy. It's probably the way the Republicans want it, since they think he's liberal on social justice issues. They may even be engineering it. I won't be surprised if the media begins re-hashing the Donna Hanover stories next. That ought to be the final nail in the coffin of Rudy's political aspirations. [hat tip to Terry K.]

When I first read the news of ex-Conn. Republican Governor John Rowland pleading guilty this morning, there was no mention of the likely sentence. I assumed he made a deal for probation or house arrest. This more recent article says Roland faces 15 to 21 months in jail.

Rowland was accused of allowing state contractors to renovate his beach house and accepting similar perks and then lying about it.

Federal prosecutors last year accused Rowland of accepting free renovations to his vacation cottage as well as charter flights and vacations from a state contractor, and of defrauding the Internal Revenue Service by not paying taxes on the free services.

He stepped down to avoid impeachment. Now Rowland has pleaded guilty to one count of "conspiracy to deprive the state of his honest services."

Rowland was considered as a possible VP choice for Bush in 2000.

Mainstream media in House Minority Leader Harry Reid's home state of Nevada has taken note of liberal bloggers' opposition to his appointment.

Bloggers and liberal Web pages called for Reid's defeat and the election instead of Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, Richard Durbin of Illinois or even Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.

One of the first came from TalkLeft.com, which the day after the election posted this notice: "TalkLeft supports Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois, primarily on his record, yet also because he comes from a solidly Democratic state, and Republicans won't be able to successfully target him for removal the way they did [Tom] Daschle."

The article continues with opposition by several other bloggers and then notes:

Soon, liberals in the mainstream media were joining the effort.

One of Rudy Giuliani's last feats as Mayor was to rename the Manhattan Detention Center the Bernard B. Kerik complex. Will Rudy ever live down his endorsement of Kerik?

Rudy has not been completely forthright regarding Kerik. As we reported here, in April, 2002, at Kerik's retirement dinner, Rudy called Kerik "the brother he never had." After Kerik withdrew his nomination, Rudy denied being particularly close to Kerik.

Rudy said Kerik wasn't really part of the company, despite his "vice president" title and despoite the fact that a joint venture of Giuliani Partners is named Giuliani-Kerik, LLP(now to be renamed Giuliani Security & Safety.

Giuliani said repeatedly that Kerik's role in the firm is very limited, representing "less than 5 percent" of its business. He also said that Kerik's position was largely limited to their joint venture, Giuliani-Kerik. "He's not part of Giuliani Partners," the former mayor said.

I hope Rudy and Judy move to the Hamptons and live happily ever after, far away from electoral politics.

Too funny. Talk about the politics of crime, via Wonkette who got it from Roll Call: A legislative staffer for Barney Frank caught a Republican staffer stealing a plasma TV from a hearing room in the Rayburn building. An update via e-mail to Wonkette suggests it's not a lowly staffer:

just found out this guy is NOT some lowpaid staff a**...he's the f**king republican chief economist on the small bidness committee!!!!

Bernie Kerik announced today he is leaving Giuliani Partners in order to "clear his good name."

Much more likely, in my opinion, he was forced out by Rudy who finally realized he couldn't control the damage--to himself or his firm.

Let's hope this takes care of Rudy's further political ambitions. Between ex-wife Donna Hanover and Kerik, Rudy won't withstand the heat any better than Kerik.

How is Bush going to deal with the deficit? By cutting food aid to the world's poor--breaking our prior agreements and leaving 5 to 7 million people in dire straits.

In the past two months the Bush administration has reduced its contributions to global food aid programs aimed at helping millions of people climb out of poverty. With the budget deficit growing and President Bush promising to reduce spending, the administration has told representatives of several charities that it was unable to honor some earlier promises and would have money to pay for food only in emergency crises like that in Darfur, in western Sudan. The cutbacks, estimated by some charities at up to $100 million, come at a time when the number of hungry in the world is rising for the first time in years and all food programs are being stretched.

The Bush cutbacks are having an immediate negative impact: