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This is typical Norquist, who views politics as war, and invokes chilling language whenever discussing political matters. In another political contest, for example, he explained, “Our goal is to inflict as much pain as possible. It is not good enough to win; it has to be a painful and devastating defeat. We’re sending a message here. It is like when the king would take his opponent’s head and stick it on a spike for everyone to see.” John Maggs, “Grover at the Gate,”
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Abramoff’s resume indicates he received his JD from Georgetown University Law Center in 1986, but he was not licensed to practice law.
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The Senate Indian Affairs Committee subpoenaed the e-mails from Abramoff’s two employers. They can be viewed at www.indian.senate.gov. Time after time they show Abramoff shamelessly manipulating his clients.
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The Republicans were led by Senator John McCain (AZ), who was joined by Senators Lindsey Graham (SC), John Warner (VA), Olympia Snowe (ME), Susan Collins (ME), Michael DeWine (OH), and Lincoln Chafee (RI). The Democrats were led by Senator Ben Nelson (NE), and he was joined by Senators Joe Lieberman (CT), Robert Byrd (WV), Mary Landrieu (LA), Daniel Inouye (HI), Mark Pryor (AR), and Ken Salazar (CO).
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Josh Marshall, as anyone who follows the better blogs knows, today runs the growing and always insightful (regardless of one’s political point of view) Talking Points Memo and TPM Cafe blogs at htttp://www.talkingpointsmemo. com/.
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As I suggested in
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The nine senators who voted against McCain’s amendment—and
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Bill Safire reported in his political dictionary that when campaigning for his first term as president, Franklin Roosevelt offered a good description of a radical: “[S]ay that civilization is a tree which, as it grows, continually produces rot and dead wood,” FDR said. “The radical says: ‘Cut it down.’ The conservative says: ‘Don’t touch it.’ The liberal compromises: ‘Let’s prune, so that we lose neither the old trunk nor the new branches.’” William Safire,
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For example, President Alberto Fujimori manipulated the people of Peru for electoral gains and to justify authoritarian practices in 2000 by using the threat of terror. “Elitists and dictators have used fear tactics to control their constituencies since the beginning of time,” noted scholar R. D. Davis in “Debunking the Big Lie,” in
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The total number of fatalities resulting from the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, was 168.
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For a copy of the full report, which also contains grades for some forty different recommendations previously made by the commission, see http://www.9-11pdp.org/press/2005-12-05_report.pdf.
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Polls both in the United States and Western Europe show only a relatively small number of people are so concerned about terrorism that it has an impact on their lives. For example, a Harris Poll (February 4, 2004) in both the United States and Britain found that “[m]ost people in both countries do not worry a lot about a possible attack. People in Great Britain are slightly more worried than Americans about the possibility of a terrorist attack somewhere in the country, but the difference is very small. Twelve percent (12%) of the British, compared to 9% of Americans, worry ‘often,’ while 59% of the British worry ‘occasionally’ or ‘often,’ compared to 55% in the United States.” See http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=437.
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With permission of Bob Altemeyer, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
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With permission of Jim Sidanius, University of California, Los Angeles.