From CREW

It's official, Kenny (BoyToy) Mehlman's replacement has been anointed by our Dear Smirkin' MisLeader. Mel (Empty-Suit) Martinez is the new partime RNC Chair. He of the infamous Terry Schiavo memo. And, yes, another Lobbygate - Bob Ney - Jack Abramoff tainted Republican. Oh, and he's also caught up in a little campaign finance scandal of his own involving corporate embezzlers in S. Fl. But I'm sure that's someone else's fault.... Great choice Smirky! I'm enjoying the hell out of watching you flush your Repugnant crime syndicate down the ol' swirly slip and slide...

Bush Announces Sen. Martinez Next RNC Chairman
Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.), a close WH ally and a Cuban American, will take the job of general chairman of the RNC, Bush announced to reporters at the WH this afternoon. The appointment comes in the wake of an election that yielded shrinking GOP support from Hispanic voters. Martinez, a first-term senator, will remain in office and serve as the party's chief spokesman and fundraiser heading into the 2008 elections. Mike Duncan, the RNC's current general counsel and a former party treasurer, will manage day-to-day operations and be elected chairman in January, Bush said. The current co-chair, Jo Ann Davidson, will continue in that post... (more)

Citizens for Legitimate Government Exclusive: Who are the eighteen members of Congress that signed Abramoff letter to Customs Trademark division? By Lori R. Price 28 October 2006 Bob Ney (R-Ohio) and seventeen other members of Congress signed a letter to Customs in 2002 advocating special consideration to allow Stolichnaya (Stoli) Vodka to import vodka that was illegally labeled "Made in Russia" when in fact, it was made in Latvia.

Just 28 days to Election Day - how many GOP scandals can we count today?

Wayne Madsen compiled a beautiful state-by-state GOP Scandal Scorecard - send it to your friends!

Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH) will plead guilty on Friday the 13th for his Abramoff bribes and go directly to jail - but he will pass Go! and he will collect $200 $165,200! And to make matters worse, he will still collect his full Congressional pension for the rest of his life!! (CREW)

It was bound to happen sooner or later. Fortuitous that it comes before the election...

Rove Aide Linked To Abramoff Resigns
A top aide to WH strategist Karl Rove resigned yesterday after disclosures that she accepted gifts from and passed information to now-convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, becoming the first official in the West Wing to lose a job in the influence-peddling scandal. Susan B. Ralston submitted her resignation to avoid causing political damage to pResident Bush a month before the midterm elections, officials said. "She did not want to be a distraction to the WH at this important time," said WH spokeswoman Dana Perino... (No distraction at all, yeah right!)

Christy surveys the ever-expanding list of GOP scandals and shakes her head in disbelief. We have truly gone through the Looking Glass.

We Democrats look at these scandals and assume the normal results will follow. For the individual politician, that means humiliation, resignation, and exile to oblivion. Then his closest colleagues are exposed and follow the same trajectory: humiliation, resignation, and exile. Then the party hangs its head in shame, removes all bad apples, and returns to the path of God.

Another rotten Republican piece of fruit falls from the tree of corruption.

Jack Abramoff's "golf buddy," pudgy Bob Ney, ® OH, has announced that he will not be running for re-election. Predictably Ney, claims he is cutting and running, for the sake of his family.

read article:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/080706J.shtml

2591 soldiers KIA
18,777 maimed and wounded
+44,191 Iraqi dead
Reject the culture of death! Embrace hope, vote Democratic!

Despite a fierce counterattack from House Speaker Denny Hastert, ABC News is sticking to its story: that Hastert is under investigation by the FBI for his role in the Abramoff scandals:

Despite a flat denial from the Department of Justice, federal law enforcement sources tonight said ABC News accurately reported that Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert is "in the mix" in the FBI investigation of corruption in Congress.

From MichiganDems.com:

LANSING–In light of Jack Abramoff’s sentencing to nearly six years in prison for fraud, Michigan Democratic Party Chair Mark Brewer today revealed that Abramoff has long been an ally to GOP gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos. Business Week and the Associated Press reported in 1999 that Abramoff was “first to sign up” for a meeting with GOP House conservatives hosted by DeVos on the Amway yacht. Brewer demanded that DeVos abide by his own words on accountability and release the photographs of him and Abramoff at that event and from other meetings they had.

When I ran track in high school in the 1970's, one of my heroes was Jim Ryun, who set the world mile record of 3:51.1 in 1967 and held the record until 1975. But then Ryun became a rightwing Kansas Republican and gained fame for speaking in tongues.

Now Ryun is running again - but now he's running away from investigative bloggers at TPMMuckraker.com. That's because TPM is on the scent of a sweetheart deal between Ryun and the U.S. Family Network (USFN), a sham nonprofit controlled by former DeLay Chief of Staff Ed Buckham and funded by Jack Abramoff's lobbying clients.