Bush mocks Dems with Fox appointment

So much to get to today - a welcome day off from work. I will post more today than I ever have in a single day, without question. Anyway, I'll get to it - more outrages in our government to comment on.

It looks like Bush got his man after all, with yet another recess appointment.

Sam Fox, the partisan political contributor who gave $50,000 to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth in 2004 so they could slander and try to destroy John Kerry, is now our brand spanking new ambassador to Belgium! President Bush, via recess appointment, got his man yesterday. Put differently, Bush said, "Thanks for a job well done smearing and slandering my opponent, John Kerry, during the 2004 election. Enjoy your ambassadorship!"

Fox's nomination was withdrawn last week when it became clear to the Bush Administration that he had zero chance of being confirmed in the Senate.

This is not the first time that Bush has used a recess appointment to elevate a controversial figure to a position when Senate approval was unlikely. Former UN Ambassador John Bolton was appointed on August 1, 2005 by Bush, and he remained as ambassador until December 9, 2006. When Bush resubmitted Bolton's name to be U.S. Ambassador, he had no chance to be reconfirmed, and his name was subsequently withdrawn.

Presidents have the right to use recess appointments, as outlined in Article II Section II of the Constitution. I was doing some reading earlier today about recess appointments, though, and this was put into the Constitution when Congress seldom convened during the very hot summer months, so giving the president the power to temporarily fill vacancies was prudent.

I think it's time that we change that, or at least modify it in some way. Congress does take some time off in the summer, but not as much as 200 years ago. What's more, Bush is using recess appointments to elevate unconfirmable nominees.

According to Wikipedia (with a nod that these numbers might not be completely accurate), Bush has made 167 recess appointments in just over six years in office. Comparatively, President Clinton made 140 over two terms, and Reagan 243 over his two terms.

It just angers me that presidents have the ability to sidestep Congress by making these appointments. Bolton served as UN ambassador for 16 months because of this provision, and it appears that Fox will serve until near the end of Bush's term, if I'm not mistaken.

I'm pretty angry that a partisan hack has been awarded an ambassadorship. Surly he isn't the first and he won't be the last ~ both parties are guilty of it. But, Fox is a special case - he was a slash and burn operative for the president in 2004, and he's being rewarded for it. This has got to stick in John Kerry's craw just a bit.

This is just the latest example of President Bush:

A. Being "A uniter, not a divider," or
B. "Restoring honor and integrity to the Oval Office"

Update: Swiftboat benefactor's ambassadorial nomination 86'd

I guarantee this bit of news gets lost in the news shuffle, considering all that is taking place on Capitol Hill these days.

I previously blogged about Sam Faux (I mean, "Fox" - sorry - it's a habit), a Swiftboat Veterans for Truth benefactor, who had to go before Congress and explain himself when he was nominated by the Bush Administration to be U.S. ambassador to Belgium.

Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic nominee for president and target of Fox and the Swifties, didn't miss his opportunity last month to call out Fox for his involvement with the SBVT. Kerry made the most of it.

Yesterday, the Bush Administration withdrew Fox's name from consideration for the ambassadorship. Good. Finally, the Bush teams gets one right. He never should have been nominated in the first place.

"His nomination would not have passed today if the vote had been called up," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino, as reported by AP.

During Fox's hearing last month, Kerry raked Fox over the coals about his $50,000 donation to the SBVT, saying the group was "smearing and spreading lies" about him. Kerry was after an apology, but didn't get one. No matter.

"Sam Fox had every opportunity to disavow the politics of personal destruction and to embrace the truth," Kerry said Wednesday, according to an AP story. "He chose not to. The White House made the right decision to withdraw the nomination. I hope this signals a new day in political discourse."

Keep dreamin', Senator. It's a victory for Kerry, albeit a very, very small one when compared to the damage Fox and his minions did in 2004.

Justice delayed is justice denied, but at least Kerry got his day with Fox by outing him as the partisan hate monger he really is.

Since I always hear Bill O'Lielly whining and complaining about the likes of George Soros and the money he donates to Democrats, I wonder if BOR has anything to say about Sam Fox? I already know the answer.

Kerry grills major SBVT donor

Well, this came nearly three years too late, but better late than never, I guess.

Sam Fox, the Bush Administration's nominee for ambassador to Belgium, had to face the fire recently from the man he helped slander, defame and attempted to politically destroy - John Kerry, the Massachusetts Senator and 2004 Democratic Presidential Nominee. Fox donated $50,000 to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (SBVT), a tax-exempt 527 founded in 2004 by long-time Republican benefactor John O'Neill. (More on O'Neill in a bit.)

I got a particular kick out of Fox's blatant ass kissing of Kerry toward the end of the video clip in the face of Kerry's steady, unyielding questioning. Kerry wouldn't let him off, and Fox had nowhere to go. Evidently, Fox at one point called Kerry "a hero," but it's not in this clip.

Unbelievable.

There's no freakin' question that Fox was lying through his teeth - who would donate $50,000 and not remember where it went? Anyone who donated that much to the SBVT certainly was very aware of what that organization was saying about Kerry. Clearly, he supported the lies and slander that were being spread (truth be damned), or he wouldn't have donated the $50,000.

There were some left-leaning 527s in the 2004 campaign as well, most notably MoveOn.org. MoveOn aired some anti-Bush ads and were working against Republicans and the Bush campaign, no question, but there were no established ties between the Kerry campaign and MoveOn that I've read about, anyway, and I've done a fair amount of reading on the subject.

Anyway, the bottom line is that MoveOn and the SBVT paid whompin' fines last December for campaign finance violations. The SBVT paid the highest fine, which was around $300,000.

The founder of the SBVT, John O'Neill, is human garbage who can't seem to let go of the fact that Kerry has been a success despite the '04 campaign. He has long ties to the Bush family (as does Sam Fox) and is a regular contributor to Insanity and Colmes.

Following Fox's testimony and grilling by Kerry on the Hill a little over a week ago, O'Neill, of course, appeared on Insanity and Colmes. Just a tidbit:

HANNITY: So are you wondering if Senator Kerry is bitter? Joining us now is the man who created the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, John O'Neill is back with us.

John, first of all, your reaction to the overreaction and this real bitterness of Senator Kerry?

JOHN O'NEILL, SWIFT BOAT VETERANS FOR TRUTH: Sean, he just won't let it go. You know, he spent 37 years obsessed with three-and-a-half months in Vietnam. Everybody else went about their business, had jobs, you know, did other things. Our kids didn't even know we were there. You can see it again the same way.

But the retaliation by Kerry follows a very — a pattern that's gone on ever since the election. They went and picketed my home during my daughter's wedding.

Kerry's commanding officer in Vietnam was a Captain George Elliott. Immediately before — while his wife had cancer, he received an e-mail, she did, wishing, hoping that she died. She did die three weeks later. He really should be ashamed for what he's done.

HANNITY: Well, I want to ask you this, because you talk about the politics of personal destruction. Clearly, you're the victim of this here.

More importantly, you know, here's a guy that's up for a position. He has a different political point of view. Now, my take is that, if the real liar the person that really smeared individuals, well, that was John Kerry. John Kerry smeared the good character, the good name of Vietnam vets like yourself, and he lied about them, and he made accusations that they were murderers, and that they were terrorizing people, and cutting off head and arms and limbs, etc.

We don't have to rehash all of it here, but it seems to me it's John Kerry. But the important question is here, because somebody dared to disagree with him, donate money to a campaign that was against him from president, he now is using his position, or misusing his position, to take revenge. Is that what you saw in this?

[...]

COLMES: Mr. Fox, by the way, who John Kerry was questioning, just referred to John Kerry as a hero. Do you agree with your contributor, Mr. Fox, who said that?

O'NEILL: Mr. Fox and 155,000 other people, but, no, the great heroes we had, Alan, are all back in Vietnam. They all died there. I think if you talk to the people in our unit, you would find that we believe those are the great heroes we had. And I think you'd find also that most of us don't live on our experience there like Kerry does.

HANNITY: I don't know if George Bush would have won re-election but for you guys telling the truth. And as far as I'm concerned, you're all heroes. John O'Neill, you're a great American. Thank you for being with us.

O'NEILL: Thank you, Sean.

Oh, what the hell - take a look at the Insanity and Colmes video - here it is - see for yourself. I'm warning you though, anger is sure to follow.



This video clip just enrages me, although I know it shouldn't. Hannity is a gutless, uneducated, soulless person who does or says anything to advance the cause of Fox News and his hero, President Bush. I couldn't believe my ears when I heard Insanity say to O'Neill, "Clearly, you are the victim here." I'll let that one stand on its own.

Does anyone really believe that John Kerry, or someone in John Kerry's stead, really e-mailed a dying wife and wished death on her? O'Neill is the lowest form of human filth who will say or do anything to smear Kerry. It's well documented that part of O'Neill's animosity toward Kerry stems from Kerry's anti-war activities once he returned from Vietnam. Never mind the fact that Kerry was exercising his constitutional right to speak out against a war that he felt was immoral and unjust. (Score Kerry right on both counts.)

O'Neill has a long and storied history with the Republican Party, going all the way back to the Nixon White House, who recruited him to combat Kerry in the court of public opinion. Kerry's Congressional testimony and anti-war activities infuriated Nixon.

Secondly, college drop-out Insanity calling O'Neill a hero is about what I'd expect from a right-wing ideologue who would spin President Bush murdering someone into it somehow being the Democrats' fault (and if he could tie in Bill Clinton somehow, all the better). If I were to ever meet Insanity, I'd have a hard time controlling my absolute, right-down-to-my-bones hatred for him.

It's not a stretch to say that the SBVT played a pretty significant role in Kerry's defeat in 2004. In a close election decided by less than four million votes, it could have made the difference. It's just too bad that Kerry waited nearly three years too long to aggressively combat the SBVT's lies, slander and falsehoods. O'Neill and his band of liars did have an impact, and I witnessed some of it personally - a few of my Republican best friends bought into the SBVT's lies and distortions hook, line and sinker.

Now in his early sixties, Kerry has probably missed his chance to ever be president. For what it's worth, I still have a tremendous amount of respect for Kerry and his wife, Theresa Heinz Kerry, despite the campaign Kerry ran in '04 that was beleaguered by poor decisions and even worse advice from incompetent advisers. Despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, enough people bought into the SBVT's b.s. to have an impact on the election.

Score another phony Mission Accomplished for President Bush.