President Bush’s contentious nominee for the Federal Election Commission removed his name from consideration Friday, potentially ending a stalemate that had paralyzed the agency.
Hans von Spakovsky, a former Justice Department official who never had Democratic support to win confirmation, withdrew his nomination, saying it was time for the protracted deadlock to end.
Bush “reluctantly accepted” Von Spakovsky’s request, the White House said.
Democrats have objected to Von Spakovsky’s tenure at Justice, where he oversaw voting rights matters. The standoff has held up other Senate confirmations to the six-member FEC, which is without a quorum and has been unable to conduct business.
Don’t look now, but it appears the Democratic party is acting like a true opposition party… Harry Reid:
“I welcome the President’s decision to withdraw the controversial nomination of Mr. von Spakovsky. It is an action I have repeatedly urged the President to take for more than six months. Democrats stood united in their opposition to von Spakovsky because of his long and well-documented history of working to suppress the rights of minorities and the elderly to vote. He was not qualified to hold any position of trust in our government.
“His withdrawal today is a victory for our electoral process. With Mr. von Spakovsky now removed, I anticipate that we will be able to swiftly put a functioning FEC in place. That too is what the American people deserve.”
Filed Under: Campaigns/Elections, Harry Reid, Oversight, White House
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And in related news, Missouri fails to pass their voter suppression bill. The tide does really seem to be turning.
http://mofairelections.blogspo.....6739492203
Wow … Cervical C-! is formed, a backbone is starting to grow?
And in related news, Missouri fails to pass their voter suppression bill. Is the tide finally turning?
Resign Harry. You not “cutting it”.
♠Bangkok-Bob♠ @ 1:
We’ve been saying that for seven and half years now.
Well does this means that now we can get down to business and find some justice, especially with John McCain breaking the law with federal funding frud.
vrk @ 2:
It takes a hell of a lot longer to get out of a mess then it does to get into one.
L.A. Confidential @ 3:
hey LA Conf, heard it’s hotter in LA than it is here in South East Asia.
Probably not as muggy though.
A real opposition party, where?!!!
Government of the corporations, by the corporations, for the corporations… and their buddies.
And don’t you forgot it, peasants!
The pendulum is swinging back. If you are in the middle it might be time to duck.
♠Bangkok-Bob♠ @ 7:
The weather’s been really strange this past 5 months here in the sTaTeS
I don’t live in L.A. though. I’m in no mans land. LOL
Always wondered who Von Spakovsky looked like and then it came to me. Check it out.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_Himmler
I think the Dems found their balls at long last after Bush compared them to Nazi appeasers.
Well I guess Von Spakovsky will have to settle for a hedge fund gig where he can rip off the public without their knowing it.
And the next nominee is…. Joey Soprano
Yay! We get a presumptive Presidential nominee and suddenly every Democratic leader found a pair of cojones in their cracker jacks.
Bush is in for a rough ride. The waves are getting bumpy, and he lost his paddle ages ago.
Prick. Viscous racist prick. I hear Burger King is hiring manager trainees, maybe you’ll have better luck with french fries.
This is great news, but it sounds like it ended mostly because ol’ Hans can no longer afford to be unemployed and wants to go get a sweet lobbying gig, not because the GOP actually decided to be reasonable and compromise.
That makes me wonder whether they’re not going to just go and nominate yet another “poison pill” in order to keep the FEC defunct, which is clearly more in their interest than a fair and impartial FEC. Which would put things right back where they started…
Great news about MO!
Gotugye @ 11:
Ok, that was creepy! :-)
xoites (One White Vote for Obama) defends Constitution @ 9:
Interesting how each time that pendulum swings from left to right or right to left it heads back to the middle. No need for me to worry about ducking though, because of Bush’s presidency I’m a hole.
tap tap tap…is this thing on? 3rd try at a post.
And where was Chuck “Mukasey is the best we are going to get from this president” Schumer? These lame mutha fuckin’ Dems have much to make up for.
Saint Augustine @ 18:
I’m in a hole, though I have been call an asshole before.
More coffee please!
Hmmm…interesting. Let’s try again.
GREAT news about Missouri! It’s good to see people across the country, including local and state governments finally taking a stand. Honestly, what did PAA and the wiretapping get on these people?
As for the Himmler look-alike…that is creepy!
jkb @ 20:
You know, we can give everyone a hard time about Muckassy, but honestly, would it matter who Bush nominated? Do you think we would have gotten someone honest no matter who was nominated?
And to what purpose would putting off every criminal Bush tried to instill have earned us? I don’t see anything possibly good either way. We got another lame a$$ AG, albeit a much smarter one.
MsJoanne @ 19:
Easy on that tapping, some of us aren’t fully awake yet.
Good morning MsJoanne, how are things in Lincolnland today.
BTW, I like your website.
Gotugye @ 11:
And does Dana Perino look like anything but a good Nazi Fraulein?
The nazis were supposed to be so scary, but when you look at photos of their leaders, there were so many pasty, doughy losers among them.
Bush’s GOP looks like their reincarnation.
And where was Chuck “Mukasey is the best we are going to get from this president” Schumer? These lame mutha fuckin’ Dems have much to make up for.
Honestly, what good would have come from holding up Muckassy? Would Bush have given any nod to anyone who wasn’t as criminal as he? There was no way we would get an AG with any ethics, morals or conception of right v. wrong.
What would it have accomplished to stall on an AG - except to not have one for the remainder of Bush’s term? (This is an honest question, not snark.)
Saint Augustine @ 21:
Good morning. I am barely into my second cup.
There will be no evidence of a “pendulum swing” until impeachment procedings are started against all of the “Crooks and Liars” versus “impeachment is off the table”.
Hiya, Saint! As I travel lots and lots and lots, today find me in NY, tomorrow Chicago, Sunday Atlanta. Thus far, having only seen the four walls of this room, NY is just fine. :-)
Thanks for the nice words on my blog. Very kind of you to say.
Pee Wee Spakovsky.
Big Ed @ 27:
If that is the only way you think the world will change then you are out of luck. It’s way too late. I prefer direct prosecutions in criminal court after they leave office.
IMHO the Dem leadership has played this just about right — because it’s not about coming out with six guns blazing, it’s about permanent change. And what they’re accomplishing is changing the minds of (and even the party affiliation of) voters and reps formerly known as Republicans. It’s a long slow process, though we have every right to tell them to keep at it, and speed it up as the tide really does turn.
A “December Purge” — where a whole lot of highly placed lawbreakers go to jail and are impeached — may be a very important step. But it will only look ugly & vindictivene if the Dems don’t spend the meantime holding hearings and keeping at them, drip drip drip, to the point that the vast majority of Americans recognize that these people have committed crimes against humanity, war crimes, crimes against the US Constitution, and subverted every mechanism that was supposed to prevent them from being able to get away with it.
It looked like these warmongering corporatist rethug buffoons were finally defeated by Watergate, and the New Day was Dawning Jimmy Carter got in.
This time, I think, they’re playing it longer and slower, for more permanent change.
While it might seem futile to start impeaching Bush and Cheney et al in December, and why not just let it go (assuming the Dems win); but that’s not the point. Their whole approach needs to be permanently discredited, and the process by which their crimes are highlighted as such would be in public hearing after public hearing after public hearing — with subpoenaed testimony.
#30, exactly!!
If you haven’t yet read this, please do. Bush Administration officials have been charged with war crimes. Now it’s time to indict, try and hang these pricks!
Ruthless People @ 29:
Yes, they all seem to fit the mold for the term “Pencil-Neck” don’t they.
Pasty little mommas’ boys.
Read Glen Greenwalds book “Great American Hypocrites” and you get a great picture of why the Republicans look like they do.
xoites (One White Vote for Obama) defends Constitution @ 30:
Correct … The ONLY way America can heal if for there to be trials and accountability.
#30
And they’ll appeal their prosecutions to the Supreme Court which will let them off.
I think Von Spakovsky stepped down because Bush has someone even worse that he wants. Hard to believe you could get worse,…. I think his name was Mason, a Republican who was one of the FEC commissioners, who decided to go after McCain for not following the McCain Feingold bill. So Bush is getting rid of Mason and trying to put someone else in his place. But Bush knows he’s going nowhere with Von Spakovsky - the Dems did finally get a backbone on this. They did not recess so that Bush could not make Von Spakovsky a recess appt. Also - Obama was one of the main people blocking him. Why give Obama more publicity?
Many of the voting activist community worked to stop the Von Spakovsky appointment. I was part of a group that visited Dianne Feinstein’s offices to give a presentation on how bad he is. Now we need to do the same for the next crook and liar that is coming up. There is no dearth of these people to fill these positions. Sad, isn’t it.
When I see the democratic party doing something about ending the war in Iraq -
determined action - bringing the subject up again and again - showing photos of the
carnage and killed and maimed - motivating the anger of the public - forcing the Republicans to give in -
- I’ll start to consider voting for them.
As of now, not a chance.
As of now, it’s all little puffs of hot air.
And that goes for their presumptive pompous ego-driven nominee.
They acted like an opposition party for a few months leading up to the 2006 election too.
And they made fools out of a lot of people.
Rinse and repeat.
Come 2009, they’ll jump back in bed with the Republicans. They only need to pretend to like their constituents until they are re-elected.
It’s a good plan. It’ll work fine.
Yay! There’s a real opposition in the lame-duck year of Dubya’s term! Awesome! (snark.)
It’s great the Congressional Dems are standing together, but not so great that it took until Bush’s term was damn near over and his time in power is effectively useless.
What they really need to do is Clean out the whole Damn Vespiary
Geeez Harry you blocked one man from an appointment, think what you and Pelosi could do with an IMPEACHMENT investigation. Think big. Think about sending a message to future generations that an administration this corrupt will never be tollerated under our Constitution. The players will be removed and jailed.
One in a row.
Easy to find your backbone when it is “your” ability to get elected or not! The Dems are nothing BUT united when it matters how they will get elected, ie, minority and disadvantaged voters. Its AFTER they are elected, when it matters to us, they crumble.
Alice Hussein @ 8:
Please remember to remind yourself, your friends, and family of this unfortunate reality.
Thanks, from a concerned citizen.
They didn’t impeach Nixon because it would be “bad for the country”, the same reasoning that they are using now. Had they impeached him, they would have shown that the Constitution and the laws of this country meant something. Instead they let him off and allowed the Republicans and their Democratic enablers to fine tune their methods for circumventing the Constitution and laws of this country. Then they cheapened impeachment by going after Clinton and made the Democrats afraid to use impeachment because they were afraid the Republicans would say they were just being vindictive after they went after Clinton.
I’ve been voting in presidential elections for 40 years now, predominantly for Democrats. Their (the Democrats) inaction, for the best part, over the the last 7 years has really discouraged me and has turned me into a cynic when it comes to believing that the “process” will favor the individual citizen in this country. The court system favors the priviledged, a group to which the politicians belong.
I hope you are right about using the judicial system to make things right. I’ll believe it when I see it though.
Doesnt he look like the Nazi with the hand scar in Indiana Jones, Raiders of the Lost Ark???
Big Ed @ 35:
This is why impeachment is so important. A bunch of them at once, so they can’t play the resign-and-pardon game that went on with Nixon and Ford.
Maybe that’s what the endless series of hearings we’ve been seeing since 2006 has been about all along.
When the Democrats had a chance to make sure the Supreme Court had members who would protect the Constitution instead of make a mockery of it, enough of them voted to approve the justices Bush nominated, despite the fact that their testimony in front of the appointment hearings was belied by their records. As a result, there’s not much justice in the judicial system.