There is a lot of frustration to go around over the way the funds are being used by the financial institutions after the bailout was approved. Even Neil Cavuto is getting into the act. He didn't even have to do too much to make Chris Cannon (R-UT) look like a buffoon. Mentioning the name of Barry Goldwater isn't much of a defense. He complains that there isn't much of an oversight staff to keep an eye on the bailout. Then sucks up to Cavuto (his words). Then says that actually Paulson is keeping a good eye on it and tries blaming Democrats:

Cannon: If Steny Hoyer is still listening, we need more oversight staff in Congress. That's something that is vitally important.

Cavuto: ...but didn't you know this when you voted for this?

Cannon: Sure I did.

Cannon: We have congressional oversight, and if I can blatantly suck up for a minute, we have you. In fact I love your program. You let reasonable people talk and develop their ideas and you let unreasonable people... when that happens you sometimes ask these puncturing questions.

Cavuto: Wouldn't it have been a reasonable assumption to assume that before anyone approved this package that the I's were dotted, that the T's were crossed and there was someone looking at that?

Cannon: There are people looking at it, in all fairness.

Cavuto: Who?

Cannon: Hank Paulson has done a great job.

Cavuto: Hank, Hank just changed the rules, Congressman, he just redid...

Cannon: Well of course he changed the rules.

If we have to depend on talkies like Cavuto to watch the store ... we are in big trouble. Right-wing talkers already broke the store by never doing anything when Bush was in power. And this man is in Congress.

Campaign for America's Future:

Several politicians are booked to discuss the virtual pardon of Scooter Libby: Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. and Orrin Hatch, R-Utah on CBS' Face The Nation; Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich. on ABC's This Week and Reps. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., and Chris Cannon, R-Utah on Fox News Sunday.

The critical question for all of them is:

Does the commutation of Scooter Libby's jail sentence amount to obstruction of justice on the part of President Bush?

Several have directly accused Bush of obstruction of justice, including Ambassador Joe Wilson, blogger-journalists Marcy Wheeler and Josh Marshall, and our own Rick Perlstein. Also, Washingtonpost.com's Dan Froomkin noted that our Founders did not believe the pardon power included the power for the president to "stop inquiry and prevent detection" of crimes associated with himself.

More questions on the CfAF site as well as links to give feedback to the Sunday bobblehead shows. Bill Scher will be on Sam Seder's AAR show to discuss.  You can stream Sam's show here.

To fully appreciate the ideology of large parts of the Republican Party, one needs to look past Capitol Hill and consider what state GOP officials are up to. Take Utah, for example.

Several top Republican officials in Utah — including the lieutenant governor, the state attorney general, and U.S. Rep. Chris Cannon — gathered over the weekend for an annual GOP county convention where attendees debated a resolution on immigration. The debate didn't go well.

Don Larsen, chairman of legislative District 65 for the Utah County Republican Party, had submitted a resolution warning that Satan’s minions want to eliminate national borders and do away with sovereignty.

In a speech at the convention, Larsen told those gathered that illegal immigrants “hate American people” and “are determined to destroy this country, and there is nothing they won’t do.”

Illegal aliens are in control of the media, and working in tandem with Democrats, are trying to “destroy Christian America” and replace it with “a godless new world order — and that is not extremism, that is fact,” Larsen said. […]

Republican officials then allowed speakers to defend and refute the resolution. One speaker, who was identified as “Joe,” said illegal immigrants were Marxist and under the influence of the devil. Another, who declined to give her name to the Daily Herald, said illegal immigrants should not be allowed because “they are not going to become Republicans….”

Wow.