A Change Is Gonna Come....for the worst!!!!
Powell Said Poised to Leave Bush Cabinet
By GEORGE GEDDA and DEB RIECHMANN
Associated Press Writers
Published November 15, 2004, 9:55 AM CST
WASHINGTON -- Secretary of State Colin Powell and three other Cabinet members submitted their resignations, a senior administration official said Monday, as the shake-up of President Bush's second-term team escalated.
Besides Powell, who had argued Bush's case for ousting Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein before a skeptical U.N. Security Council in February 2003, others whose resignations were confirmed Monday included Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman, Education Secretary Rod Paige and Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham.
The departures of Attorney General John Ashcroft and Commerce Secretary Donald Evans had been announced last week. The resignations announced Monday bring to six -- out of 15 -- the number of Cabinet members to decide so far to leave.
Bush already has chosen White House counsel Alberto Gonzales to succeed Ashcroft.
Article Continued...Chicago Tribune
3 comments:
It was bound to happen. Powell was the only moderate on the cabinet. Clearly he's been alienated in recent days as well. Thing is Powell was probably the one figure that added some legitimacy to Bush's cabinet too. Not sure if he had any real clout but with him gone the NEo-Cons will probably take that post too and its not looking good.
Think that's bad...you oughta hear what the GOP has planned to push Chimp's nominations thru.
Democrats successfully filibustered to block 10 of Bush's court nominations in the first term. They only need 40 votes to filibuster (takes 60 to break one). It's used sparingly (so as not to be obstructionist), as there were 213 nominations, 203 confirmed. But the GOP leadership in the Senate and the administration are still fuming over it.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist wants to put a procedural vote to the floor that would in short rule filibusters unconstitutional for the purposes of votes for confirming nominations to the bench (federal court, Supreme Court)...and likely other Senate-confirmed nominations, too. This procedural measure would only require a simple majority (51) to pass, and the GOP has that comfortably now (in the past they were not so comfortable a majority, as moderates like Sen. McCain and Sen. Chaffee would probably not support such a move).
With that done, confirmations would be able to be pushed through with a standard majority vote, and the Democrats couldn't even block a radical appointment, as no filibuster would be allowed. Basically any appointment Bush wanted he'd get, unless he really pissed off the GOP in the Senate (and they seem committed to being his yes-men.) The confirmation process would essentially be a rubber stamp...opposition would be symbolic only.
That, my friends, is SCARY. The filibuster has been the traditional last ditch power of the minority to provide a check on extremism; with a political party that controls the House, Senate, White House and has a majority of it's idealogues on the Supreme Court, this would be the final power they need to cement nearly absolute control. If this passes, the right-wing agenda will be unstoppable, and we will truly live in the United States of Republicans.
Bob
Now that sounds scary!
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