In Maryland that was evidently the case, according to an article by Lisa Rein and Josh White in yesterday’s Washington Post. More complete details are now out about the suveillance program conducted by the Maryland State Police, and it is shocking the kinds of citizens groups that agency decided to infiltrate and report on, on the slim rationalization that the groups might be harboring terrorists. This is a mighty report, that’s for sure. Here’s the lead, from the Washington Post:

The Maryland State Police surveillance of advocacy groups was far more extensive than previously acknowledged, with records showing that troopers monitored — and labeled as terrorists — activists devoted to such wide-ranging causes as promoting human rights and establishing bike lanes.

Intelligence officers created a voluminous file on Norfolk-based People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, calling the group a “security threat” because of concerns that members would disrupt the circus. Angry consumers fighting a 72 percent electricity rate increase in 2006 were targeted. The DC Anti-War Network, which opposes the Iraq war, was designated a white supremacist group, without explanation.

One of the possible “crimes” in the file police opened on Amnesty International, a world-renowned human rights group: “civil rights.”

According to hundreds of pages of newly obtained police documents, the groups were swept into a broad surveillance operation that started in 2005 with routine preparations for the scheduled executions of two men on death row.

The operation has been called a “waste of resources” by the current police superintendent and “undemocratic” by the governor.

I’m willing to bet, based on the fearmongering inherent in these actions, and the incompetence the officers showed in choosing who to monitor, that every single one of the officers who hatched this illegal and unconstitutional surveillance program were Republicans. Though he was not implicated in any of this wrongdoing, the Governor of Maryland at the time, Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr., is a Republican. Micheal Steele, current GOPAC Chair and candidate for the Chair of the RNC, was Lietenant Governor of Maryland when these ugly crimes took place. Alas, Republicans will counter that they are not crimes since no charges have been filed, but I value the constitution far more highly than they do.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am a bicycle enthusist, and log ten to forty mile trips quite often throughout the spring and summer. I have even joined an advocacy group here in PA, the Friends of Schuylkill River Park. Thankfully I live in Pennsylvania, and there is no evidence, as yet, that police or others gone wild in their zeal to perform Homeland Security tasks have targeted that organization.

We all know about how Sarah Palin’s daughter Bristol is having a baby, and how the other grandmother of that sweet baby boy has been arrested on drug charges. That would be Sherry Johnston, mother of Levi, the Bristol Palin baby daddy, who was arrested for some kind of illegal relation to oxycontin. What we didn’t know is that those text messages that were part of the basis for the case were made in early October of 2008. So, I guess the question would be why in the world they didn’t arrest Sherry Johnston in October. After all, the squawking on the right wing says the charges against Sherry aren’t so bad, so why, then, delay those charges until December?

That’s what the reports are saying, that the the officers bringing the charges against Sherry Johnston delayed the investigation because of the Presidential campaign. This is pretty simple. We’re supposed to be about law and order, but when a woman is running for Vice President, then some little old thing like someone related to her being arrested on drug charges can just wait until the votes are counted. From the Washington Post:

The trooper’s affidavit indicates that Sarah Palin’s candidacy factored into the investigation, with state officials delaying execution of a search warrant until this month, when Johnston was “no longer under the protection or surveillance of the Secret Service.”

I’m thinking if I were the Palin/McCain campaign I would have begged the Alaska troopers to bring these charges during the campaign. Just think how they could play it, the Alaska Troopers taking revenge for troopergate, a whole bunch of folks picking on poor little old Sarah Palin. . . the press would have eaten it up, I’m sure. Heck, they would have eaten up this whine by the Palin Governor’s office about PETA, wouldn’t they have? The problem here ont he part of the Republicans is they have fallen apart in managing the news. Anything that could have been spun to make it look like Sarah Palin was being persecuted would have been good for them, so they should have welcomed those charges against Sherry Johnston, and they should also welcome the attacks by PETA, though whining about a web-based video game where people throw snowballs at Palin seems like a very weak and simpering sort of whine. Par for the course?

By the way, does anyone know if Sarah Palin’s grandson has been born yet? Does he just not want to enter that family, is that the deal?

by Walter Brasch

The chairman of the Republican National Committee may have begun an irreversible descent into a future as a fear-bound paranoid victim of functional amnesia, possibly caused by a hysterical post-traumatic event such as the overwhelming victory of Democrats in the 2008 election and the nation’s repudiation of Republican policies.

In a two-page vitriol-loaded letter dated “Friday morning”—he apparently was unable to remember the exact date—Robert M. (Mike) Duncan, RNC chairman, told Americans that the Democrats plan to “impose their radical leftist agenda on America,” and that Republicans “must work vigilantly to guard our country’s freedoms from the inevitable assault [by Democrats] they will face.” He didn’t mention that not one of Barack Obama’s proposed cabinet members nor any of the members of the current Congress is a “radical leftist.”

It’s really sad that Mike forgot that fear-mongering, obstruction of justice, reduction of public information, distrust and resentment of the worker, and curtailment of civil liberties—with the complicity of millions of Americans and much of the Democratic leadership who willingly crumpled under unremitting Neocon assaults—have been the base of the Bush–Cheney Administration and a Republican-dominated Congress for most of the past eight years. Perhaps I can shock what little memory Mike may have left in the hope that some of his brain cells may once again function.

It was the Republicans, not the Democrats, who systematically violated the Constitution, while screaming “The terrorists are coming! The terrorists are coming!” There isn’t enough space in one column to enumerate all the constitutional abuses, but here’s a starter package:

● The Bush–Cheney Administration, and their Republican supporters, stands convicted in federal courts of suppressing constitutional rights of free expression (First Amendment), unreasonable searches and the right of privacy (Fourth Amendment), right against self-incrimination (Fifth Amendment), due process (Sixth Amendment), of invoking reasonable bail and freedom from cruel and unusual punishment (Eighth Amendment), and the equal protection guarantee for both citizens and non-citizens (Fourteenth Amendment.) The conservative-leaning Supreme Court has also ruled that the Administration violated the habeas corpus clause (Article I, Section 9, Clause 2) of the Constitution, which guarantees the right of prisoners to challenge why they are incarcerated. That clause guarantees against arbitrary and capricious imprisonment.

● The acronym-happy Bush–Cheney Administration and not the Democrats created several programs—including MATRIX, TIPS, TIAP, TTIC, TALON, and CAPPS II, among others—to spy upon Americans, and curtail their constitutionally-mandated rights of due process and protections against invasion of privacy.

●Under a massive plan prepared in the White House, Americans have been arrested for peacefully protesting. Non-violent organizations, including Greenpeace, the Quakers and Veterans for Peace, were the subject of governmental spying and labeled as terrorist organizations.

● The Republicans, not the Democrats, accepted and encouraged the use of torture and kidnapping in violation of numerous international treaties.

● The President willfully and deliberately violated the Posse Comitatus Act that prohibits the military from enforcing civilian law.

But, wait, just as in a paid telemarketing pitch, there’s more from the RNC that we need to deconstruct:

“We will . . . continue to stand for . . . strong national security. . . .”

Perhaps it was too long ago for Mike to remember that the President and Attorney General early in 2001 refused to fund the FBI’s request for additional funds for counter-terrorism surveillance. A few months later, George W. Bush and his senior advisors didn’t pay much attention to a Presidential Daily Briefing report titled, “Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside U.S.” A month later, al-Qaeda attacked the United States.

During the next couple of years, the Bush–Cheney Administration launched a propaganda campaign to whip American frenzy into attacking Iraq, which not only had no ties to bin Laden and al-Qaeda but didn’t have weapons of mass destruction. Bush, Dick Cheney, and six other top officials lied 935 times about national security issues in the two years following 9/11, according to an analysis by the impartial Center for Public Integrity. During the past seven years, the President and Vice-President obstructed legal and legitimate investigations into the attacks of 9/11.

During the war in Iraq, which left Afghanistan, home of al-Qaeda, almost a minor afterthought, the Bush–Cheney Administration and their legions of supporters preached a doctrine of supporting the troops as a back-door way to get Americans to pledge loyalty to the Administration. But, it was this Administration that opposed pay raises for combat troops, and failed to provide adequate body and vehicle armor or adequate medical and psychological care.

“Democrats are salivating over their opportunity to remake American government. From socialized medicine . . . .”

Apparently, Mike doesn’t know that Medicare, health care for all active duty military, veterans, members of Congress, and even the executive branch is a socialistic system. He may be upset that the Democratic leaders also want to give adequate health care to more than 45.7 million Americans, most of whom can’t afford health insurance.

“ . . . and new entitlements to massive tax increases and out of control federal spending . . .”

Would that “out of control federal spending” include trying to recover from the $438 billion deficit and an $11 trillion debt, largest in American history, that the Republican president is leaving the nation, after inheriting a balanced budget and a $236 billion surplus at the end of President Clinton’s term?

Mike apparently has no memory of the massive financial fraud and overbilling in Iraq and Katrina recovery, and then the Bush–Cheney Administration extending immunity to those Republican-owned businesses. Anything the Obama Administration does won’t even come close to what the tax-and-spend Republicans burdened Americans with the past eight years.

And speaking of overspending—does anyone know anyone from the Democratic National Committee who authorized any of their candidates to spend more than $200,000 on clothes and makeup during the final two months of a presidential campaign, and then lie to the people that this was only “on loan” and would be “donated” after the election? Anyone want a used tube of lipstick?

“. . . they are reaching back for their old playlist of nanny-state interference and lessened personal freedom.”

Perhaps it was a Republican reaction to “nanny-state interference” that led the Bush–Cheney Administration to decimate the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and fail to adequately respond to the Katrina disaster.

Maybe it was the Republican reaction to be labeled as a “nanny-state” government that caused the Bush–Cheney Administration to cut funding for education, food stamps, Medicaid, and student loans, while not touching pork barrel funding.

Just whose political party was it that lessened personal freedoms of choice by executive orders that public schools must teach abstinence-only education in order to receive federal funding? And what kind of “personal freedom” is at stake when the President rushes through a late-term order that anyone who works in a hospital may refuse to assist any woman who requests an abortion? This sweeping rule apparently applies even to a janitor who can refuse to clean the room of a woman who has a medical or psychological reason for an abortion.

Because Mike is a banker and lawyer, he may not have had a chance to socialize with the underclass and America’s invisible minorities. Perhaps he is unaware (or just forgot) that 12.5 percent of all Americans, about 37.3 million according to the Census Bureau, are living in poverty. He probably doesn’t even notice, or maybe doesn’t care, about the 3.5 million Americans who were homeless this year. Perhaps he doesn’t think the “nanny-care” government he excoriates and the “support the troops” party he believes he is a part of should even deal with the half-million veterans who are homeless. He may not be aware that, primarily because of an economic meltdown caused by greed and ineffective federal regulation, 1.1 million Americans filed for bankruptcy in 2008, about 33 percent higher than 2007, or that about 9 percent of all home mortgages are in default. He may not care that 6.7 percent of the workforce, about 10.3 million Americans, are unemployed, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Maybe Mike and the RNC want to eliminate any federal program, including massive jobs creation programs proposed by President-Elect Barack Obama, which assists those Americans from having the “personal freedom” from sinking even further into poverty.

Of course, Mike and his RNC minions have been silent about corporate welfare, most of which goes to Republican-owned business. Although the federal government provides about $75 billion to individuals in various forms of assistance, during the 2006 fiscal year it gave private enterprise about $92 billion in direct and indirect subsidies, according to the independent Cato Institute; private enterprise received another $40–50 billion from state and local governments. Not included is the recent $700 billion bailout to corporate incompetence and greed.

“Just as the liberal mainstream media aided the Democrats . . .”

Would that be the liberal media that for years failed to question just about anything the Bush–Cheney Administration said? The media that stood silent as one constitutional amendment after another was stomped on by the Bush–Cheney Administration? Would that include the New York Times and Washington Post that finally admitted they failed to do their jobs by not challenging the President on his claims that America was invading Iraq in order to remove non-existent weapons of mass destruction? That liberal media?

[The media] will obscure the radical nature of the Democrats’ proposed legislation for benefiting unions. . . .”

Disregarding the fact that Mike is a banker/lawyer and expected to say nasty things against the working class, it certainly wasn’t the Democrats who spent eight years trying to destroy unions by emasculating the National Labor Relations Board, reducing the effectiveness of the Department of Labor, and launching a fusillade of attacks upon the American worker. Restraining worker abuse apparently isn’t part of any Republican program.

“. . . shaking down businesses. . . .”

It most certainly wasn’t the Democrats who removed regulatory protections for Americans and led the nation into the abyss of subprime lending and massive Wall Street greed that helped launch the nation’s worst recession in 70 years. Apparently, any regulation for the public good is, in Republican views, “shaking down businesses.”

“. . . limiting free speech . . . “

Not only does Mike have amnesia, he’s delusional if he believes it’ll be the Democrats who have plans to restrict free speech. As a reminder, it was the Republicans, not the Democrats, who created the unconstitutional free speech zones to restrict any dissent to as much as a mile away from the President and Vice-president. It was the Republicans, not the Democrats, who pushed for even greater restrictions upon freedom of speech, religion, the press, the right to assemble, and most important the right to petition government for a redress of grievances. It was the Republicans, not the Democrats, who willfully, maliciously, and illegally blocked innumerable Freedom of Information requests. In the arrogant and illogical world of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and the Republican National Committee leadership, Thomas Jefferson and the Founding Fathers are merely Old Codgers who don’t understand that the Constitution is now “quaint.”

“ . . . and imposing questionable environmental restrictions.”

It wasn’t those pesky liberals who thought global warming was a hoax, and who pulled the United States out of the Kyoto Protocol, signed by 37 industrialized nations, that would lead to stabilization of greenhouse gases. It certainly wasn’t the Democrats who removed “questionable” anti-pollution restrictions from corporate America, weakened the Clean Water and Clean Air acts, cut funding for toxic waste cleanups, yielded to corporate influence to allow logging and mining in national forests, strip mining in the Appalachians and then left residue in formerly clean rivers.

Apparently, such regulations as the Endangered Species Act, approved by the Nixon Administration in 1973 and gutted by the Republicans during the past eight years, is among the “questionable governmental restrictions” that annoy Mike and the RNC. As a result of Bush–Cheney policies, dozens of species are now extinct; 20,000 polar bears are threatened by global warming because the Administration wants to encourage even further gas and oil exploration in the already diminished arctic sea ice. In the Northern Rockies, 1,500 gray wolves were taken off the list of endangered and threatened species, leading to indiscriminate and unregulated killing until federal courts reversed the orders; and just about anyone in Alaska has the “right” to kill wolves, even from the air.

The “imposition of questionable environmental restrictions” that scare the RNC might include protection of the nation’s wild horses and burros, symbols of America’s independence. Under the Republican leadership, influenced by the cattle industry, 4.1 million head of cattle graze upon public lands, but the Pinocchio Department of the Interior believes it has a divine mission to slaughter most of the 32,000 wild horses and burros because it claims there’s not enough room for them, and they could starve from lack of natural resources.

Perhaps Mike and the RNC are upset that the Obama Administration may establish “questionable environmental restrictions” to reverse newly-enacted policies that allow trophy hunters to kill and import into the U.S. endangered species from other countries.

Apparently, Mike and the RNC actually believe that a free enterprise system of environmental destruction with minimal oversight is the American Way.

“I’m proud of the honorable campaigns our candidates ran . . .”

While John McCain and most Republicans conducted honorable campaigns, did Mike even attend a Sarah Palin rally? Was he so concentrating upon strategy that he didn’t hear her say that Obama “pals around with terrorists” or her ultra-right followers at every rally bleating out racial, ethnic, and religious slurs.

“America remains a center-right country.”

Not only is Mike forgetful and delusional, he’s also mathematically-challenged. Barack Obama won in the Electoral College by a near landslide 365–173, and a popular vote of 52 percent to John McCain’s 46 percent, a higher winning percentage than George W. Bush had in 2004 when he haughtily claimed he had a “mandate” from the people. Maybe Mike doesn’t understand that 59 percent of the 2009–2011 House (257–178) are Democrats, 21 more Democrats than two years ago; or that at least 58 of 100 Senators (one race is still being determined) are Democrats, nine more than two years ago. Maybe if Mike closed his eyes tightly and wished upon the nearest oil rig America could still be a “center-right” country.

Lies, hyperbole, and propaganda aside, Mike’s real purpose of the letter was to energize the Republican base to send money to Washington to “ensure that our Party has the funding it needs to hold the Democrats accountable to the American people.” Accountability is a real nice word. It’s something the Republicans didn’t have the past few years. Just about the only thing the Administration did say for most of its term—for any issue—was, “We’re at war, we know best, and if you question what we say and what we do you’re giving aid and comfort to the enemy.”

By 2008, the American public no longer bought into a campaign of fear, intimidation, harassment, and lies. Loudly and clearly they said they wanted an end to the nightmare of the past eight years. They wanted hope; they demanded change.

[For a more complete look at the Bush–Cheney Administration and its effect upon Americans, read Dr. Brasch’s critically-acclaimed books America’s Unpatriotic Acts: The Federal Government’s Violation of Constitutional and Civil Rights (2004); ‘Unacceptable’: The Federal Government’s Response to Hurricane Katrina (2006); and the 560-page Sinking the Ship of State: The Presidency of George W. Bush (2008). All books are available at amazon.com, and most bookstores. You may contact Dr. Brasch through his website, www.walterbrasch.com, or by e-mail at brasch@bloomu.edu]

Perhaps if Larry Craig wants to succeed in his appeals of his guilty plea in the Minneapolis bathroom sex sting case, he should find out where the Minnesota Supreme Court gathers. I’m thinking he should look for the restroom they frequently use, first because the courtroom is not proving a profitable venue for Craig, and secondly because he evidently has experience in soliciting help in restrooms. From the Idaho Statesman:

Idaho Sen. Larry Craig on Tuesday lost his latest attempt to withdraw his guilty plea in a Minneapolis airport bathroom sex sting case, but said he’s considering another appeal.

A three-judge panel of the Minnesota Court of Appeals on Tuesday rejected the Republican’s bid to toss out his disorderly conduct conviction.

Perhaps the most fun of this story is that the ACLU had turned in an amicus brief on Larry Craig’s behalf. Yes, a Republican was being defended by the ACLU:

The American Civil Liberties Union also weighed in on Craig’s behalf, arguing in an amicus brief that the state’s disorderly conduct law was unconstitutional.

Prosecutors, however, insisted his plea was legally binding.

I think we all need to remember that Larry Craig is not gay. He’s just a run-of-the-mill Republican criminal who won’t take responsibility for his actions.

This time that candidate is Ken Blackwell! You remember Ken. Considering Blackwell’s role in the controversial election of George Bush in 2004, it may be that he’s the one the Republicans needed this year. But, then, it seems Ohio voters didn’t take too well to that role, and he lost heavily when he ran for Governor in 2006, by well over 20 points. That’s a landslide for Ted Strickland, but despite his connection to Ohio vote and funding scandals, despite that perfume of eau de culture of corruption, Ken Blackwell thinks he’s the man to run the RNC.

What does Ken Blackwell stand for? He’s four square with the social conservatives, having worked hard to pass the anti-gay marriage amendment in Ohio. He’s admired by the wing nuts, as evidenced by his popular column in that haven for wing nuts, Townhall.com. The gun nuts love him as do the exteremist Christians, as he serves on the Board of the NRA and on the Family Research Council Board. This guy’s got the constiuencies of all of the major Republican groups, and he wants to take the party back in time by recalling the recent success of the “surge” strategy in Iraq. Here’s an excerpt from the letter he sent to the members of the RNC announcing his candidacy, from Townhall.com:

Each candidate for chairman has emphasized the importance of technology. And technology is important … but we need to use technology in the right ways. We need to use technology to identify voters, energize the base, and communicate with younger voters in the venues where they want to communicate.

We also need substantive changes in the way the RNC operates.

I will be proposing an “RNC Conservative Resurgence Plan” that will be a dramatic overhaul of the way the RNC does business. I have a general outline of what I believe this plan should entail, and I will be contacting members of the RNC in the next week to gather additional ideas for inclusion.

Hey, he might even try to hire David Petraeus to run the campaigns. The “surge” may be the only success of the last eight years for Republicans, so I suppose that’s why he uses such a turn of phrase, but frankly, I find it offensive. Also, I’m thinking this guy doesn’t know the littlest bit about how to employ technology to GOTV or anything. He represents the past, and a failed past in his own biggest election attempt. The past, you say? Well, he calls for technology-enhanced micro-targeting of voters in future GOP GOTV measures, and then he quotes an expert on the subject, from the same letter:

“Organize the whole state so that every Whig can be brought to the polls… Divide the county into small districts and appoint in each a sub-committee. Make a perfect list of all the voters and ascertain with certainty for which they will vote, keep a constant watch on the doubtful voters and…Have them talked to by those in whom they have the most confidence, and on Election Day see that every Whig is brought to the polls.” -Abraham Lincoln 1/21/1840

Yeah, that’s the funniest part of Blackwell’s letter, that he uses Abraham Lincoln’s words from one hundred and sixty eight years ago to advocate for new and innovative ways to use technology in winning elections. This from a guy still enmired in Diebold controversies and such.

Ken Blackwell is a failed candidate and aligned with several scandals over the last several years. The Republicans would be stupid to choose him as RNC Chair. I don’t expect that to stop them, though.

The sentencing memorandum on behalf of Mitchell Wade is in, and there’s some indications that he’s told some stories about yet more Republican office holders who accepted illegal campaign contributions. Among those office holders is Katherine Harris, she of the Florida vote recount that was so pivotal to giving us the failure that is George Bush in 2000. Seth Hettena has the story, as does Politico. Here’s a bit from Seth:

Mitchell Wade, the man who bribed Randy “Duke” Cunningham and then did much to speed the congressman’s spectacular fall, is asking a judge to sentence him to a year of home detention for all the help he provided the government. Prosecutors don’t dispute that Wade was helpful, but they believe that four years in prison is more appropriate for $1.8 million in bribes.

Would Cunningham ultimately have been convicted without Wade? Probably, but Wade made it happen much, much faster. He was debriefed 23 times by government investigators and supplied them a searchable electronic database of 150,000 documents, including the infamous “bribe menu.” And Wade’s cooperation didn’t stop with Cunningham. He provided damaging evidence against several others, including his testimony at the bribery trial of his former boss, Brent Wilkes, who’s now serving time in prison.

A 42-page sentencing memo filed by Wade’s attorneys says he aided the government in its investigation “of at least five other members of Congress” who were under investigation for “corruption similar to that of Mr. Cunningham.” These no doubt include Virgil Goode and Katherine “Pink Sugar” Harris. Wade wanted to open facilities in their districts and made $78,000 in “straw” contributions to grease the wheels. Neither Harris nor Goode has been charged with wrongdoing.

Prosecutors drop tantalizing hints about an even bigger, ongoing investigation. Wade was debriefed in 2006 and provided “moderately useful” background information in another “large and important corruption investigation” that also has not yet resulted in any charges.

“Large and important corruption investigation?” Man, this Duke Cunningham, Wilkes, Wade thing is the gift that keeps on giving. Sure, we all expect that there will be Republicans who escape the culture of corruption web they wove, but I’m sure we’re all hoping Katherine Haqrris gets caught in this one. This would be true justice in pursuit of voter fraud, eh?

A Bush aide, Felipe Sixto, resigned last March amidst some serious rumors that there were some financial improprieties involving the USAID money he administered while he was working for the Center for Free Cuba. When he resigned last March Mr. Sixto was serving as Special Assistant to President Bush for Intergovernmental Affairs. He has now been indicted. From the Washington DC Examiner:

On Thursday, Sixto was charged in federal court with stealing thousands of dollars from the nonprofit agency. The alleged theft occurred from March 2005 to January 2008, while Sixto, a 29-year-old graduate of American University, worked at the Center for a Free Cuba and after he went to work for the White House in July 2007, court documents said. Sixto was charged via criminal information, which typically signals that a plea agreement is in the works.

As TPM notes, this is theft of taxpayer dollars. Seems to me that’s a whole lot worse than the usual Bush Administration crime of tragic misuse (Iraq) of taxpayer dollars.

Well, that title doesn’t have a great pun, now does it. Heck, I once had a dart team I named “Future Rodeo Clowns of America,” and I thought that was the wittiest thing in the whole world, at least for a while. But I digress. . . .

We’ve all been speculating about who Bush will pardon when he leaves office. Sure, some would say he’s already started the pardoning, but no big fish as yet. Still, I’m not seeing lists of names or anything. The speculation that Bush would pardon Cheney, then resign and Cheney would pardon Bush is all the rage. Wouldn’t that be cute?

OK, I’ve got some names. At the very least they are candidates for a gathering a few years from now at a reunion at the Crawford Ranch of the last people to support Bush, those he pardoned in the waning days of the administration.

OK, the Washington Post does have some names. Michael Milken wants his record clean, and given the good works of his family foundation and his prostate cancer foundation, I actually support the move, except for the timing. We are in financial crisis right now, in case nobody noticed, caused by some slick Wall Street types who securitized risky mortgages. Wasn’t Milken convicted of a similar crime?

The WaPo list also includes Randy “Duke” Cunningham, one of the poster boys for the Republican “culture of corruption,” and Edwin Edwards, former Governor of Louisiana, also convicted on corruption charges. Were Bush to pardon them, then it would be a public relations problem for the GOP, reminding us all that the Republican Brand stands for corruption nowadays. Still, Bush has no fear of ruining his own already soiled reputation, so I think he’ll likely go for it. Ted Stevens has not applied for a pardon.

Now for some new possiblities, some Republicans who just might qualify in time for a Bush pardon by the end of his tenure in office, or perhaps should get a premptory pardon. How about Katon Dawson, the current candidate for RNC Chair? Sure, it is not a crime to belong to a Whites Only club, but this kind of stupidity probably indicates Dawson is guilty of something somewhere. Hey, and maybe a Bush pardon could get him free of the charge of the stupid move of thinking he could lead the Republicans even though he’s belonged to such a club for 10 years? Seriously, in the Whites Only Republican Party, one that says it wants to appeal to all Americans, isn’t this about as stupid as they come?

Of course, we’ve got to include Alberto Gonzales. Bush likely thinks he’s an All-Star Patriot, despite the extreme lengths Gonzales went to defend syping on his countrymen, torture, and politicizing the DOJ. But maybe we should add Mike Mukasey to the list, just out of principle, and also for spending DOJ money for Gonzales’ defense.

Hey, the Jack Abramoff gift that keeps on giving has given us another corrupt Republican. Maybe James F. Hirni is a good candidate for a late pardon by Bush. Here’s his crimes detailed from the Associated Press:

James F. Hirni will be charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, according to papers filed by the Justice Department in U.S. District Court.

A Hirni spokesman said he is cooperating with the Justice Department.

“He regrets one single instance as a first-time lobbyist over five years ago when a mistake in judgment by agreeing to a client’s request led to an unfortunate chain of events on one evening,” spokesman Scott Sobel said. “Jim has acknowledged his role and the involvement of those responsible for that incident.”

Hirni, who most recently worked for Wal-Mart Stores Inc., was implicated on Thursday as part of a plea agreement reached by federal prosecutors with former congressional aide Trevor L. Blackann.

Blackann pleaded guilty in federal court to not reporting more than $4,100 in illegal gifts from lobbyists on his 2003 tax forms, including tickets to the World Series, concerts and sporting events.

Court documents say that one of the lobbyists who provided the World Series tickets was Hirni. In exchange, “Blackann agreed to provide favorable official action to, and to use their influence on behalf of, defendant Hirni,” two other unnamed people and an unnamed equipment rental company.

Come on, W, it was just a pair of World Series tickets involved in this quid pro quo! This guy obviously just loves baseball and wanted to reward a fellow baseball fan! Pardon him!

Of course, this list is not exhaustive. I didn’t even mention Larry Craig! It would take too much work to list all the Bush pardon possibilities. What is instructive is that so many Republicans are lining up hoping to be the beneficiaries of Bush’s pardon pen, and so many of them are connected to some corruption or other. Were Bush to fully exercise his rights and pardon lots of corrupt Republicans, and then later have a convention of the Bush Pardonees, he’d likely have to rent out the Alamo Dome to hold them all. Hey, maybe they could just hold such a meeting in conjunction with the Republican Convention in 2012?