Legislative Statecraft

LEGISLATIVE STATECRAFT....Hey, remember Manny Miranda, the Republican Senate aide who filched reams of notes and memos from Democratic members of the Senate Judiciary Committee a few years ago? Sure you do! Even Orrin Hatch disowned him when he found out what Miranda had done, but Miranda remained unrepentant throughout the entire affair and continued to be a darling of right-wing movement activists afterward. Rebecca Sinderbrand updated us on his activities earlier this year.

So what's the latest on Manny? Well, you can't let legislative talent like his go to waste, especially when there are legislatures in dire need of it. The Washington Post reports:

What a surprise to find an old face on the Hill yesterday — former Senate GOP leadership aide Manuel Miranda — but an even bigger surprise was learning his new job: giving legislative advice to fledgling democrats in Baghdad.

Miranda's official title is director of the Office of Legislative Statecraft at the U.S. Embassy in Iraq. There, he's giving instruction on democratic principles to Iraqi lawyers and lawmakers, a group of whom he escorted around the Capitol complex yesterday.

The Office of Legislative Statecraft. Indeed. Who needs the Onion when we still have the Bush administration around?