Mr. Grin Keeps on Grinning

After taking an incomprehensible stance on the Iraq War Resolution in the House of Representatives, Congressman Mike Rogers (aka Mr. Grin) voted with the Bush Republicans and then introduced his own proposal. You can read it here. It has gone absolutely nowhere in the House of Representatives. He had to know it would go nowhere. He is, afterall, a veteran Congressman. So you have to ask the question: what was the point?

Now he can't be bothered with the needs of Michigan farmers.

St. Johns dairy farmer Kerry Nobis wants to be able to hire foreign workers year-round to help with his 800 cows.

During a visit to Washington with other representatives of the Michigan Farm Bureau, Nobis argued that the country's foreign-worker program should be more flexible.

But he said the argument didn't seem to have much impact.

His congressman, Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Brighton, "believes that in the interest of national security, our first priority has to be a secure border and once that is achieved, we can work to address unique situations like the dairy producers," spokeswoman Sylvia Warner said.
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Nobis, 36, was skeptical. "We can't wait around forever while they secure the border," he said.

Over five years after 9/11, Mr. Grin would rather keep people out who want to come to our country to work, to the detriment of our state's farmers, while still not providing a plan for a "secure border." Again, makes you wonder what he's actually doing.

As was noted yesterday, Mr. Grin would like to see the FBI's alleged abuses of the Patriot Act be investigated, but is still foggy about Alberto Gonzales's far-less-than-stellar job performance as Attorney General.

Rogers, typically a strong supporter of the Bush administration, also said that the recent controversy over U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and the firing of several U.S. attorneys was not handled well. The administration has denied accusations that the attorneys were let go for political reasons.

"It was generally not well-done," Rogers said, but he refused to join a handful of Republicans who have called for Gonzales to resign. He said he'd rather let the situation play itself out.

Ah, the Wait-and-See Approach. This is rather surprising from a former FBI agent, someone who investigated suspected wrongdoing and gathered evidence so that U.S. attorneys could use such evidence against alleged criminals. You'd think he'd be a lot more concerned over the cheap politicization of hiring and firing federal prosecutors.

Well, now that more incriminating e-mails are being released, the public is finding out more about what was going on behind the U.S. attorney firings, like this:

At one point, McNulty questioned the dismissal of U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden in Nevada. "I'm a little skittish about Bogden," McNulty wrote in a Dec. 7 e-mail to Gonzales' chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, two days before the firings. "He has been with DOJ since 1990 and, at age 50, has never had a job outside government."

Still, McNulty concluded: "I'll admit have not looked at his district's performance. Sorry to be raising this again/now; it was just on my mind last night and this morning."

It looks more like this was not simply "generally not well-done." I was outright despicable. The most egregious has to be Carol Lam's firing.

In an E-mail from Kyle Sampson, then the chief of staff to the attorney general, to White House deputy counsel William Kelley on May 11, 2006, Sampson cryptically referred to "the real problem we have right now with Carol Lam that leads me to conclude that we should have someone ready to be nominated on 11/18, the day her 4-year term expires."

The day before, Lam had contacted the Justice Department to inform it of search warrants issued for Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, who had just resigned as No. 3 official at the CIA and was eventually indicted in connection with a bribery scandal that put former Republican Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham behind bars. Two days later, the FBI raided Foggo's home and former office.

As the clear evidence of gross incompetence and negligence piles up, Democrats and even some Republicans are calling for Gonzales' resignation. But based on what we've seen of our Congressman Mr. Grin, residents of Michigan's 8th Congressional District can expect little more than his grin.

[cross-posted on Honest Errors]