Fmr. Mitch McConnell campaign manager pleads the hell out of executive privilege

(Photo: CSPAN)

Longtime Sen. Mitch McConnell confidant, former campaign manager, and former Special Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of Political Affairs under President George W. Bush, invoked executive privilege in response to questions from Sen. Patrick Leahy (VT-D) during an April 2, 2007 Senate hearing. And McConnell feigned no outrage.

Jennings was supposed to testify about his knowledge of decisions made by White House and Justice Department officials in the dismissal of U.S. attorneys, but instead, Jennings brought three lawyers with him, and said stuff like this:

"Senator, I will decline to answer that question pursuant to the president's assertion of executive privilege."

Couple highlights from Mitch McConnell on Meet the Press

McConnell: “I don’t think we know what the facts are" re IRS @davidgregory: "That hasn’t stopped you from accusing" #mtp
— Joan Walsh (@joanwalsh) May 19, 2013

McConnell making an accusation without the facts? No way! He would never do that. (cough) "Nixonian tactics.." (cough)

And this is a jewell. We all know how Mitch McConnell uses the First Amendment to fight campaign finance reform, but when the DOJ investigates the AP for outing a CIA spy pretending to bomb an airplane: "this is an investigation that needs to happen." See: HuffPost: McConnell defends Obama...

David Gregory's post-show thoughts.

Who is at YUM? Lady Gaga? The Bieb? Guess again...

As of a couple hours ago, the line to get in to see His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Louisville, Kentucky had wrapped on to the sidewalk of the George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge. Neat.

 

Photo: Ben Sollee

We apologize for long security lines for the Dalai Lama, security measures required by The State Dept. slowed the entrance process.
— KFC Yum! Center (@kfc_yumcenter) May 19, 2013

I saw him in Bloomington in 1999. When asked he about the threat of Y2K, he told us not to worry so much.

9:45 pm:  Update of the wierd

Does OFA think grassroots works from the top down?

“Volunteers from Credo Action or other organizations may attend your planning session and want to demand that we work on the Keystone XL pipeline.”

That's a snippet from OFA talking points that presume CREDO members are not part of OFA, per Buzzfeed's Ruby Cramer: Obama Group Braces For Progressive Backlash Over Keystone.

As a Tar Sands arrestee, CREDO member, and former CREDO Superpac employee, I am biased.

Mitch McConnell already has six challengers

Despite talk about how Sen. Mitch McConnell may not face opponents for his bid for a 6th-term in 2014, six candidates have committed to challenging him, two Republicans and four Democrats. Most are being ignored by traditional media.

Mitch McConnell: One reason Indonesian baby had 2-pack per day smoking habit

Smoking toddler of Sumatra

Sen. Mitch McConnell sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk in late 2009 warning Kirk of the "dangerous consequences of cutting tobacco from the Pacific Rim agreement." 

Dangerous consequences, indeed.

McConnell's concern was that the American Medical Association had been lobbying to exclude U.S. tobacco from the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. 

How the Boy Scouts of America made me a (wait for it) ...Democrat

Me, as a Webelos.

When I was in Boy Scouts, we had an amazing Scoutmaster who taught us to always leave our campsite better than we found it. In the beginning, I thought this was only the last procedure in breaking down our camp on Sundays. I thought it was a good idea, but I didn't initially understand why.

A few years into scouting, we were canoeing 61 miles of Kentucky’s Green River, when we came across a beach and took a break for lunch.

Unlike University of Louisville, a law school can seek students connected to their community

According to the University of Louisville Louis D. Brandeis School of Law, 31% of their incoming 2012 class were non-residents of Kentucky. This is a public school sponsored by the state of Kentucky, which is supposed to be serving Kentuckians.

One law school in New York tries a different approach. The City University of New York School of Law seeks students connected to the city and state the school is located, fostering the development of people who live in their own community.

From their application instructions: 

Mahasen headed for Myanmar, and possibly Mitch McConnell's conscience?

Image: wunderground.com

Burma, also known as Myanmar, is facing a "major threat" in the form of a cyclone named Mahasen. 

Pray to God that Mahasen does no one harm. But if it does, Sen. Mitch McConnell will be in awkward spot, both politically and with his own conscience.

AP's Roger Alford: Cleaning up Mitch McConnell's mess, in wake of secret recording

Roger Alford, the Frankfort, Ky correspondent for the Associated Press, won't return my email sent four days ago.

The inquiry I posed to to Alford that he did not answer, and a look at his reporting of the Kentucky's US Senate race, suggest an ugly possibility.

If Alford is not a shill for Sen. Mitch McConnell himself, he could be acting on behalf of the coal industry to achieve their agenda, which is also re-electing McConnell.