Gonzales Eight... Signs of GOP Cannibalism

I don't know if anyone has done this, but I noticed that the attorneys fired by Bush weren't done so for not being Republicans, but that they were insufficiently so.

By looking at their political contributions (via opensecrets.org), it's obvious that these guys were rank-and-file-Republicans. This is hardly surpising given that they were appointed by Bush in the first place.

These guys weren't just giving money to GOP-lites. Among others, the fired attorneys gave money to Rick Santorum and Don Young, and of course GW Bush. These are the last people you'd expect to go easy on corrupt Democrats, despite Bush's paranoias.

This might not elicit too much sympathy from us Kossacks, but it seems to me that Bush is essentially liquidating the GOP base for the sake of his extremist vision of the Republican Party. How much money do you think these erstwhile Republicans will contribute in 2008?

CONTRIBUTION HISTORY

CAROL LAM

Tom Campbell     1/3/2000  $1,000

KEVIN V RYAN

Rick Santorum     11/3/2006  $500
Pete Wilson       8/29/2006  $1000
GW Bush           10/24/2003 $2000
                  8/31/2004  $1000
                  8/5/1999   $500
                  1/28/2000  $500

DANIEL G BOGDEN- No Political Contribution History

DAVID IGLESIAS

GW Bush            4/25/2000 $250

H.E CUMMINS III

Boozman, Fay W III 6/4/1998   $500
                   7/30/1998  $400
Bush, George W     8/18/1999  $1,000
                   3/15/2000  $1,000
Dickey, Jay        5/6/1993   $500
                   6/18/1997  $1,000
                   9/18/1995  $500
                   10/31/2000 $250
                   10/26/2000 $200
                   8/12/1999  $250
Gramm, Phil        9/21/1995  $1,000
Huckabee, Mike     11/2/1995  $1,000
Hutchinson, Tim    5/19/1994  $500
                   12/8/2000  $250
                   12/8/2000  $250
Powell, William E  7/1/1994   $500
                   8/3/1994   $500
Republican Party of Arkansas
                   5/2/1997   $1,250
                   11/13/1993 $600
                   5/22/1996  $400
                   5/24/1996  $200
                   3/14/1995  $500
                   3/20/1995  $500
                   8/12/1995  $400
Thomas, Robert Grant
                   8/31/2000  $250
Wyrick, Phillip    4/21/1998  $1,000
                   10/29/1998 $250
Young, Don         3/25/1998  $250

PAUL K CHARLTON

Kyl, Jon           10/21/2004 $750

JOHN MCKAY (While as lawyer at Cairncross & Hempelmann)

Gorton, Slade      12/31/1994  $250  
                   3/3/1994    $250

TOM B HEFFELFINGER

Boschwitz, Rudy    3/13/1999  $300
Grams, Rod         7/17/2000  $250
                   10/11/1999 $250
                   10/10/1999 $200
Bush, George W     3/2/2004   $500
                   8/2/1999   $750
Gutknecht, Gil     7/31/2001  $250

•  D'oh

  I guess you can't specify fonts.

  It worked during the previews though....

  by clone12 on Fri Mar 09, 2007 at 12:08:43 PM PDT

  •  A lot of HTML stuff works in the previews...

    ... that doesn't work when posted.

    ct, what is up with that?

    by tbetz on Fri Mar 09, 2007 at 12:20:47 PM PDT

    •  The preview code...

      is a 4000 byte program that expands the Autoformat shortcuts and not much more then feeds the results to your browser.

      It is a 'thin' client.

      by ek hornbeck on Fri Mar 09, 2007 at 01:09:55 PM PDT

      •  That's seriously thin.

        But that explains the differences.

        Another note to make for DK 4.0 -- "Make sure the preview only passes through HTML that will be acceptable to the posted diary or comment."

        by tbetz on Fri Mar 09, 2007 at 01:14:55 PM PDT

  •  Try...

    <tt></tt> to turn monospace on and off.

    by ek hornbeck on Fri Mar 09, 2007 at 01:07:47 PM PDT

    •  Thxs! n/t

      by clone12 on Fri Mar 09, 2007 at 01:38:38 PM PDT

•  Good work. Thanks

  This is the best news of the day.  

  by LillithMc on Fri Mar 09, 2007 at 12:08:47 PM PDT

•  Good catch!

  The Revolution devours its children, indeed.  And cause the Thermidorian reaction.

  by Phoenix Woman on Fri Mar 09, 2007 at 12:09:30 PM PDT

  •  Count the GOP

    as another institution Bush has driven into the ground....

    by clone12 on Fri Mar 09, 2007 at 12:11:23 PM PDT

•  You're barking up the wrong tree.

  The attorney donations are a drop in the bucket for the GOP.

  The only real utility of the attorneys is for their ability to abuse their power, by selectively prosecuting Democrats, especially at the local level, which shoots the party's legs out from under it, decimating the 'farm team'. Additionally, the resources of the local candidates are drained into legal bills, and local publicity taints the Democratic party brand.

  Those contributions reflect only that the attorneys are Republicans who knew that they had to donate to the party just to 'earn' their appointments in the first place. The GOP eats up their own and spits them out with ease when they are of no further use.

  I remarked during the Senate hearing that their replies to the Democrtic senators were evasive and witholding, whereas they let Sen. Spector back them into changing their stories and soft-pedaling on the characterization of Elston's phone call threatening retaliation as "friendly advice". i.e. they were defferential to the Republican senators. They did not exhibit whistleblower defiance and indignation. Rather they seemed more concerned with their own fates, and the unfairness of not being rewarded for their party loyalty.

  by Halcyon on Fri Mar 09, 2007 at 12:19:08 PM PDT

  •  I Would Argue

    that grinding out your GOP base like this is probably is not a long run equilibrium solution

    by clone12 on Fri Mar 09, 2007 at 12:23:08 PM PDT

    •  "Grinding out your GOP base"...?

      These attorneys are not the base. They were being groomed to be enforcers, and they flunked the test by not allowing themselves to be coerced into complying with directives from management. The GOP doesn't want honest attorneys. It wants political operatives.

      This is not grinding out the base. It is making an example of what happens when you don't play by the party rules.

      A handful of lowly lawyers who fail to deliver convictions of political opponents, or salvage lost elections by phonying up investigations into GOP-alleged 'voter fraud' (McKay in Washington), are not part of 'the base'. The base is the top 1/10th%.

      by Halcyon on Fri Mar 09, 2007 at 01:36:20 PM PDT

      •  I Respectfully Disagree

        While these GOP lawyers are not top 1/10th%, they are reliable GOP voters, who presumably have reliable GOP relatives who hear good things about the GOP from them. What do you think the'll say now?

        Given the closeness of some of the elections, this could be enough to tilt elections one way or the other.

        by clone12 on Fri Mar 09, 2007 at 01:42:23 PM PDT

        •  I also hope these fired attorneys

          will come to their senses, feel alienated from the GOP, and spread the word and feeling to their family and friends. But they only represent a handful of people, and the GOP relies on the mass turn-out of the wingnuts to win elections. I just don't think the ripple effect concerns the GOP, nor switches enough votes to matter.

          The millions of middle class Christians who seek solace as their economic plight worsens will in increasing numbers gravitate to authoritarian RW religious sects that will proselytize them into voting (R).

          by Halcyon on Fri Mar 09, 2007 at 01:49:55 PM PDT

•  Oooooooooooooooooh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  Somebody's busy hacking at the base of the Republican party - the loyal honest contributing Republican. And it ain't a democrat.

  I can see the foundations of a reverse Dixie here. Me likey!!!!!!! rubs nipples a-la Jon Stewart

  by horatius on Fri Mar 09, 2007 at 12:20:52 PM PDT