The White House has just recess-appointed Sam (SBVT) Fox!
http://tinyurl.com/2vglxe (Think Progress)
http://tinyurl.com/39zcxa (Democratic Underground)
http://tinyurl.com/3dw8df (Daily Kos)
Despite having withdrawn his nomination just weeks ago to avoid political embarrassment in the Senate, the White House has just recess-appointed SBVT funder and major RNC meal ticket Sam Fox to his previously-rejected post as Ambassador to Belgium.
This is so totally wrong, in so many different ways.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Democrats will be assessing every option -- both legal and within the SFRC itself -- for taking on this recess appointment.
Never before has a withdrawn nominee been recess appointed in this fashion. The White House withdrew Fox's nomination on March 27th, less than an hour before the hearing was to start, admitting later that he did not have the votes to survive.
It’s sad (but not surprising) that this White House would abuse the power of the presidency to send a big-money Rethug Party donor to a post in Belgium over the objections of the Senate.
When it comes to getting body armor for our soldiers or relief for New Orleans, they’re AWOL, but they'll move heaven and earth to reward a smear.
This administration has governed on fear and smear for far too long. Today's move shows it is so wedded to the politics of personal character assassination that they are willing to take unprecedented steps to reward Sam Fox with an ambassadorship that he clearly does not deserve.
Last week, the White House acknowledged that Sam Fox did not have the support of the Foreign Relations committee to succeed. Rather than lose a vote, they withdrew his nomination. Rather than fight on principle, though, they are hiding behind cowardly and perhaps illegal tactics instead.
Today we see they will go to any lengths to reward one of their biggest donors with a post he is not qualified for and does not deserve, no matter what the many legal, ethical, and moral objections to that unprecedented action might justifiably be.
It’s not just arrogant, but also cowardly for the Bush administration to buck the will of the Foreign Relations Committee just to reward a big-money donor whose nomination was already withdrawn to avoid outright rejection by the Senate.
This is another abuse of power by this White House and shows an utter disregard of Congress's role in the nominating process. It’s time this White House learns it can’t change the rules just to win its game.
Never before has a president used a recess appointment to support a withdrawn nominee like this. But every time this president and his crew act on the idea that if they can’t win the game, then they just change the rules, our democracy and the Constitution loses.
SO...
Call your Congressmen! Call your Senators! Call the White House, stat!
(If you don't have the contact info handy, you can always go to http://www/firstgov.com and drill down from there.)
White House phone numbers:
202-456-1414 (switchboard)
202-456-1111 (comments line)
Bush & Company's power-mad abuse of all the legal, ethical, and moral tenets that underlie our system of representative government MUST be constrained, period.
So put pressure on all your legislative representatives, in both the House and Senate, to use this latest example of egregious excess on the part of a desperate Bush administration to:
(1) Scuttle Sam Fox's bogus recess appointment;
(2) As the final straw that broke the threatened Iraq-withdrawal veto's back
(3) And to finally impeach this morally-bankrupt presidency once and for all.
Speak up! Act out! Don't delay -- the Constitution you save might be your own!
Bookmark/Search this post with:
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
Abuse of Power | Constitution | Corruption | greed | Neo-Cons | SBVT | Belgium | George W. Bush | Republicans | Sam Fox | Senate | Senate Foreign Relations Committee | White House
And...
Submitted by mole333 on 4 April 2007 - 10:04pm.
COngress should use their legally given power of the purse to force Bush to recognize their Constitutional powers. Sorry mate. PLaying games like this only invites retaliation. He appointed (Constitutionally), Congress rejected (Constitutionally), he told them "fuck you." They have every right to pay his insult back. And I hope they do. Bush is a spoiled brat who is best known for going AWOL and pissing on police cars. It's time he should be put in his place.
Kerry's pissed. Dodd is even more pissed.
Submitted by M. Loutre on 4 April 2007 - 7:23pm.
I spoke with Chris Dodd's blogger-outreach people a little while ago, and he's even more mightily pissed off about this than Kerry is (if that's possible). Here's what they wanted me to pass along to you guys:
----------------
Statement of Senator Chris Dodd on the recess appointment of Sam Fox:
"It is outrageous that the President has sought to stealthily appoint Sam Fox to the position of ambassador to Belgium when the President formally requested that the Fox nomination be withdrawn from the Senate because it was facing certain defeat in the Foreign Relations Committee last week. I seriously question the legality of the President's use of the recess appointment authority in this instance. I intend to seek an opinion on the legality of this appointment from the General Accountability Office and invite other Senators to join with me in that request. This is underhanded and an abuse of Executive authority — sadly this behavior has become the hallmark of this administration."
Sam Fox is part of the infamous "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth," having contributed $50,000 to the group infamous for their ads attacking Senator John Kerry's service during the Vietnam War.
"U.S. ambassadors need to be both responsible and credible, and Mr. Fox's support for an organization known to have spread falsehoods illustrates neither. The fact that Mr. Fox refused to apologize for his behavior during his nomination hearing reinforces my belief that he would not be an acceptable representative for the position of U.S. ambassador."
Join Senator Dodd by signing the petition urging opposing this recess appointment then ask your family friends and personal networks to do the same:
http://chrisdodd.com/opposefox
---------------
impeach these friggin bastids NOW,
M. Loutre
Well...
Submitted by Michael Bouldin on 4 April 2007 - 11:18pm.
...it's probably not formally illegal, as the freeper below notes, because Clinton did it too, and Clinton was a bad man who had sex.
But seriously, it's doubtful that the illegal resident broke any laws with this. A slap in the face of the Senate, yes, which is never a good idea when you're at 28% in the polls, the country wants you to just go away, and you need a budget passed. But illegal, probably not.
President Clinton's recess appointments
Submitted by HCdL on 4 April 2007 - 7:25pm.
President Bill Clinton made a recess appointment of Bill Lan Lee as Assistant Attorney General for civil rights, when it became clear that Lee's strong support of affirmative action would lead to Senate opposition. Similarly, when the Senate did not vote on his nomination of James Hormel to be Ambassador to Luxembourg, Clinton made a recess appointment. Many people felt that the Senate's inaction was because Hormel was openly gay, and when he was appointed became the first such person to serve as a U.S. ambassador. Clinton made 140 recess appointments over two terms. On one of the last days of his Presidency, Clinton used the recess appointment power to place Roger L. Gregory on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Gregory was the first African-American to serve on that court.
FUNNY how I don't recall the left crying fowl back then...
ABSOLUTELY CORRECT! People
ABSOLUTELY CORRECT! People SHOULD be calling and writing their congressmen and senators and tell them that they are OUTRAGED, OUTRAGED, I say, that the President should do something so callous as to use his legally given authority to make appointments while they're on recess after playing partisan politics with our troops...
HOW DARE the President continue to take care of the nations business while our Congress and Senate pout, knowing that they face vetoes because of their failure to make any ATTEMPT to work together for the good of the country.
Yes, this is totally outragious behavior, you're absolutely correct.