Gore Hammers Bush On Immorality, Incuriosity, Contempt For Public Interest:
"(the Bush White House) is a great disappointment ... the brazenness of it is surprising ... to take the chief propagandist in charge of the disinformation campaign funded by ExxonMobil ... and make that person the person in charge of all White House environmental policy ... to empower him to censor scientific EPA reports to conform to the economic desires of the biggest polluters in the country ... that should shock people ... almost every key position that affects environmental policy has been filled ... by propagandists for the polluters ... it is horribly unethical and immoral ..."

"... what surprises me most is his incuriousity ... it is a puzzle that he would ask no questions about important matters ... when his first Secretary of the Treasury came in for their first meeting and spoke for an hour about economic policies ... when he received the briefing in August of 2001 that Osama Bin Laden was planning a major attack soon on the United States ... when when he was briefed several days before hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and the weather service people were saying it may mark a return to medieval conditions ... he did not ask a single question ... he doesn't apparently look under the rug - he doesn't ask questions ... the President is the only person (in our system) charged with looking after the welfare of the people as a whole ... the  President should at least ask questions about how the public interest is affected ..."

ExxonMobil Exec To Get $160M Payout From Bush "Tax Relief" Plan For Super-Rich:
"Democrats have prepared for an upcoming Senate battle over repeal of the estate tax by releasing estimated savings the repeal could equal for oil executives and members of the Bush Administration ... 99 percent of the estate tax is paid by the highest-earning 5 percent of Americans, a report released by the Democrats indicates that CEO's of major oil companies stood to gain significantly from a repeal. Democrats' estimates put oil company gains at at least a "$200 million windfall." The family of one oil executive, Lee Raymond ... alone stood to receive a tax break worth over $160 million."

Bush Hires Bad Comic Book Author To Replace Shoplifter As Policy Chief:
"Karl Zinsmeister. He's quite the guy. A liar, of course, and completely full of shit but he's perfect to replace the person who was arrested for shoplifting toiletries from Target. In an administration that cares nothing for policy, these jobs are all just patronage gigs. And old Karl has been a good little wingnut. He deserves a nice Whitehouse gig on his resume ... This guy has gone on to advise the president of the United States about domestic policy, which he seems highly qualified to do. He's a comic book writer for a cartoon administration."

More Echoes Of Nixon In Cheney Shadow Government:
"This report is also a good reminder of why some of us don't trust the FBI to be the good guys in these political battles and why we think there should be pretty strict separation of powers and very strong oversight. Police agencies have a tendency to forget their limitations. And so do presidents ... Cheney has been upfront about this from the get. He believed that the nation was better served when someone like Nixon could do whatever he wanted. He believes that the FBI should be able to do what he thinks is necessary to "protect" to country from people like me. He just simply believes that the presidency should be more powerful than the other two branches (as long as a Republican occupies it, of course ...)"

Cheney-Condi Catfight While Bush Fiddles, Rome Burns:
"The question now is who will come in after Zoellick. Sources have told TWN that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice prefers to appoint Nick Burns as her DepSec.  But Cheney may use his influence to block Burns, whom many consider to be too much of a "diplomatic type". During the recent UN Security Council skirmishes with Russia and China over how to deal with Iran, John Bolton and various other Cheney acolytes began a whisper campaign against Nick Burns ... It will be interesting to watch the sides square off, and whomever does succeed Zoellick will give some indication of the relative strengths of Rice and Cheney in the administration."

Murtha: Bush-Rumsfeld Iraq F**kups Help Al Quaeda Recruit Terrorists:
"Well, what I worry about Wolf is [that] this happened six months ago and you heard nothing about it. As a matter of fact, the original story was that an [improvised explosive device] killed these 15 people. It became very confusing to the public. Time Magazine came out with an article and (the Pentagon) still tried to cover it up ... And the longer it goes the worse it is for us, because it looks like it's our policy to do something like this... This helps [al Qaeda] recruit terrorists."

More GOP Leaders Linked To Abramoff Scandal:
"A convicted lobbyist described Tuesday how he obtained insider information and advice from Bush administration procurement chief David Safavian to advance two projects for Republican influence-peddlar Jack Abramoff, who then took the official on a lavish golf trip to Scotland.  A partner of Abramoff's at the time, Neil Volz also outlined in U.S. District Court how the Abramoff team received assistance from several Republican congressmen or their aides including, Rep. Bob Ney of Ohio, Rep. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Rep. Don Young of Alaska and Rep. Steven LaTourette of Ohio."