Drinking the Ethanol-aid

Hmm:

Former Iowa Governor Thomas Vilsack is set to be named by President-elect Barack Obama as his choice for Agriculture secretary

My hopes for substantially improving the farm bill just decreased, but we'll see.

Senate Republicans Kill Auto Bill

Because it would have given normal people the means to live a normal lifestyle.

The Senate on Thursday night abandoned efforts to fashion a government rescue of the American automobile industry, as Senate Republicans refused to support a bill endorsed by the White House and Congressional Democrats.

The failure to reach agreement on Capitol Hill raised a specter of financial collapse for General Motors and Chrysler, which say they may not be able to survive through this month.

After Senate Republicans balked at supporting a $14 billion auto rescue plan approved by the House on Wednesday, negotiators worked late into Thursday evening to broker a deal, but deadlocked over Republican demands for steep cuts in pay and benefits by the United Automobile Workers union in 2009.

I'm sickened. Republicans' ideological - privatize wealth! socialize risk! - and political - break the unions' backs! - reasons are disgusting.

This is not to say that this was the greatest plan ever - it wasn't - and that we needed to act right now - we don't - but there are principled objections that they could have made to the bill. Instead, they acted upon the most base and wretched motives.

Link.

Clarence Thomas Wants a Pony for Christmas

Too bad for him, I don't think it's likely:

in a highly unusual move, U.S Associate Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has asked his colleagues of the court to consider a lawsuit filed, that questions Barack Obama's citizenship.

Nobody likes Clarence.

War?

Oh yeah, that war.

At least 15 people died and 147 were hurt, including many schoolchildren, by two suicide vehicle bombs in the former rebel bastion of Fallujah on Thursday, an interior ministry official said.

Earlier, a defence ministry official said at least 10 people, including women, were killed in the bombings, which he said targeted Iraqi police posts.

The surge was a success!

Media Drama Queens

NYT's Alessandra Stanley.

Oh no she didn't!

Obama's Economic Team

Roubini likes.

Illegal Spying

Can we revisit FISA now?

Verizon Wireless said on Thursday that some employees had gained unauthorized access and viewed a personal cell phone account held by President-elect Barack Obama that is now inactive.

An Obama aide said his voice-mail messages and e-mails were not breached in the incident.

"We were notified yesterday that employees had accessed the records of an old cell phone no longer in use," the Obama aide said. "No voice or e-mails were listened to or read."

Irony

Dead.

The End of Cheneyism

TPM.

Rats Jumping Ship

Reuters:

Roy Blunt, the Republican whip in the House of Representatives, will announce on Thursday he will not seek another term in leadership after his party's blowout election losses, Republican sources said.

Blunt will be the second senior Republican not seeking another term in leadership after Adam Putnam of Florida said on Tuesday that he would not seek re-election to his third-ranking job of Republican conference chairman.

I think Cantor is gunning for Blunt's job. Let him have it.

The Republican party has a lot of soul searching to do before it can be nationally viable again. Fortunately for us, I don't know what it can do. The party is disintegrating into civil war between the corporate-, theo- and neo-cons, as well as a large part of the base that won't take anything less than all three together (let's call this the National Review wing of the party), a philosophy that was hardly two days ago soundly rejected in the election.

The biggest mistake they can make is to enshrine themselves even further in their cocoon and claim that it's because they weren't Republican or conservative enough that they lost, which is what the National Review wing of the party is claiming. If they continue to cling to this and nominate a similar candidate in 2012 they will consign themselves to the wilderness for a very long time.

At Last

We won!

Couple senate races still up in there. More to come...

His Shrillness:

Last night wasn’t just a victory for tolerance; it wasn’t just a mandate for progressive change; it was also, I hope, the end of the monster years.

What I mean by that is that for the past 14 years America’s political life has been largely dominated by, well, monsters. Monsters like Tom DeLay, who suggested that the shootings at Columbine happened because schools teach students the theory of evolution. Monsters like Karl Rove, who declared that liberals wanted to offer “therapy and understanding” to terrorists. Monsters like Dick Cheney, who saw 9/11 as an opportunity to start torturing people.

And in our national discourse, we pretended that these monsters were reasonable, respectable people. To point out that the monsters were, in fact, monsters, was “shrill.”

Four years ago it seemed as if the monsters would dominate American politics for a long time to come. But for now, at least, they’ve been banished to the wilderness.

The Republican Communications Triangle

h/t DKos.

Terrorism

Domestic Republican party-style:

Today, the Obama campaign office in South Philadelphia was the target of a mailed threat that also contained a white powder. It was found by a volunteer opening the mail and resulted in a full scale hazmat and police response. The office was evacuated and containment and testing instituted to find out what the substance was.

Fortunately, the powder turned out to be sugar and all staff and volunteers are fine. Since the letter was actually sent through the mail, the matter is now a federal investigation, as it rightly should be.

Barack Obama, well-known terrorist-at-large, hates America.

Don't Sit This One Out

Sullivan:

This is not an election you can sit out. This is an election where we all have to take a stand, including the press. Too much is in peril for a false neutrality.

Remember to vote!

Broder's World

Broder writes about the VP debate. Fallows calls him out:

Such an assessment can be true only if you have decided to assess debate performance on one factor alone, perky self-assurance, and to assign no weight whatsoever to such items as logic, responsiveness to questions, clarity in explaining views, factual knowledge, sentence by sentence coherence, and so on.

Keep on chugging, good old bipartisanship! WHOO!!!

McCain's Healthcare Policy

I eatz it.

VP Debate Thoughts

Tactical victory for Biden, strategic draw.

Oops

AP:

Republican John McCain has maneuvered himself into a political dead end and has five weeks to find his way out.

Last Wednesday, McCain suspended his presidential campaign to insert himself into a $700 billion effort to rescue America's crumbling financial structure. In so doing, he tied himself far more tightly to the bill than did his Democratic opponent, Barack Obama.

...

Within hours, however, the measure died in the House mainly at the hands of McCain's own Republicans.

Initially, McCain went silent, choosing instead to send his chief economic adviser out with a statement that blamed Obama, claiming that the first-term Illinois senator had put his political ambitions ahead of the good of the country.

Read the whole article, it's pithy and damning.

Whiner

Sidney:

After making it through their first debate with their civility intact, the major presidential candidates today stepped up their rhetoric in attacks over how to deal with economic issues.

At a rally here, Republican John McCain accused rival Sen. Barack Obama of failing to show any leadership during the congressional negotiations over a $700-billion bailout package, which was defeated in the Houses today. Campaigning in Colorado, Obama argued that the country can't afford to gamble on McCain, according to excerpts supplied by the campaign.

Never mind that the package was set to pass last week until Senator Sissypants showed up and gave House Republicans a reason to defeat this on solely political grounds (i.e., make Democrats look bad). They made this mess, they stopped us from fixing it and somehow it's our fault? Shove it.

Rule O' Law

About time:

Seven of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's top aides are defying subpoenas for their testimony into possible abuse of power by the governor. Palin's Chief of Staff Mike Nizich and six other aides have failed to appear at a legislative hearing Friday into whether Palin abused her power when she fired her public safety commissioner this summer

Nobody could have predicted...

From the Paper That Brought You John Edwards' Love Child

Palinpalooza!

No less than three members of the man’s family including one by sworn affidavit have claimed that Sarah Palin engaged in an extramarital affair with hus­band Todd’s former business partner, Brad Hanson.

Let's see how this one plays out.

Bailouts R Us

Because they're our friends!

More Dodd!

No Way, No How

Can Sarah Palin be VP:

In an interview with Fox News Channel, Palin said: "It was an unfair attack on the verbiage that Sen. McCain chose to use because the fundamentals, as he was having to explain afterwards, he means our work force, he means the ingenuity of the American people. And of course, that is strong and that is the foundation of our economy."

Our ideals our strong, therefore we must be a nation of whiners. Thanks, Sarah!

Business as Usual

McCain campaign:

Senator John McCain’s campaign manager was paid more than $30,000 a month for five years as president of an advocacy group set up by the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to defend them against stricter regulations, current and former officials say.

We can trust him to fight for us against the special interests because he said so.

Behind the Times

Sarah Palin:

Sarah Palin likes to tell voters around the country about how she “put the government checkbook online” in Alaska. On Thursday, Palin suggested she would take that same proposal to Washington.

“We’re going to do a few new things also,” she said at a rally in Cedar Rapids. “For instance, as Alaska’s governor, I put the government’s checkbook online so that people can see where their money’s going. We’ll bring that kind of transparency, that responsibility, and accountability back. We’re going to bring that back to D.C.”

There’s just one problem with proposing to put the federal checkbook online – somebody’s already done it. His name is Barack Obama.

Snap!

Why I Can't Be Vice President

I blink.

Biden Thinks Paying Taxes Is Patriotic

Amen

Standing Up to Dermatologists

Palin:

While partisan bloggers and the sun scare industry will use this as an opportunity to undermine Gov. Palin and demonize the indoor tanning industry, the fact is that Governor Palin’s decision to get UV light from a tanning bed positively impacts her health.

“Moderate amounts of indoor tanning allow Governor Palin to experience the many health benefits that come with exposure to UV light,” said Dan Humiston, President of the Indoor Tanning Association. “Especially in dreary northern locations like Alaska, indoor tanning can help guard against wintertime depression and ward off diseases associated with vitamin D deficiency.”

“Kudos to Governor Palin for standing up to dermatologists and other members of the sun scare industry who are trying to frighten Americans away from UV light.”

She's a strong hockey mom.

Financial Crisis, Simplified

Atrios, PhD:

Through this crisis, there's this underlying narrative that something can be done, that there's just a wee liquidity problem. But underlying all of this is the fact that banks made a bunch of stupid loans which aren't being repaid. A bunch of people made highly leveraged investments in securities backed by those loans. A bunch of other people sold insurance on those securities and related debt.

Lots of money is being lost and there isn't any way to fix that.

Someone give this man a podium.

LOL

Rove:

Take it from an expert. Karl Rove, known as the architect of President George W. Bush’s electoral victories, believes White House candidates John McCain and Barack Obama have gone too far in their attacks on each other.

Rove, speaking on the television program Fox News Sunday, said an ad by the Democratic presidential nominee and Illinois senator criticizing McCain for not being e-mail savvy was unfair.

“His war injuries keep him from being able to use a keyboard. He can’t type. You know, it’s like saying he can’t do jumping jacks,” Rove said of the Arizona senator and former U.S. prisoner of war in Vietnam.

Sing it, Karl!

Adding, there's a difference of orders of magnitude between the two campaigns and Rove is trying to fudge that difference. Nice try.

Paul Krugman Writes a Column

Read it.

More Important Things to Do

Earmarks:

The total national debt, as I write this, is $9,679,000,000,000.00 (nine and a half trillion).

The Budget for 2008 is close to $3,000,000,000,000.00 (three trillion).

Our budget deficit for this year is going to range in between $400-500,000,000,000.00 (four hundred to five hundred billion, give or take a few billion).

The total value of wasteful earmarks in 2008 (according to CAGW) will be approximately $18,000,000,000.00 (eighteen billion).

In other words, when McCain talks about earmarks, he is talking about 3% of our annual budget deficit, .6% of our annual budget, and a number too small to even report when discussing our national debt. Or, put another way, he is talking about two months in Iraq, something he wants to keep going indefinitely.

John McCain is a liar and cannot solve our problems.

Liars

Republicans.

From a Jim Demint (Sen, R-SC) op-ed in today's WSJ:

Mrs. Palin also killed the infamous Bridge to Nowhere in her own state. Yes, she once supported the project: But after witnessing the problems created by earmarks for her state and for the nation's budget, she did what others like me have done: She changed her position and saved taxpayers millions. Even the Alaska Democratic Party credits her with killing the bridge.

That is a lie, one so completely wrong it's pathetic. But so is John McCain.

Talking Points Everyone Should Be Aware of

On pork:

At a rally today, Sen. McCain again asserted that Sen. Obama has requested nearly a billion in earmarks. In fact, the Illinois senator requested $311 million last year, according to the Associated Press, and none this year. In comparison, Gov. Palin has requested $750 million in her two years as governor -- which the AP says is the largest per-capita request in the nation.

This "reformer" talk is pure bullshit. If the press bothered to do its homework instead of just repeating his bullshit McCain would be stopped dead in his tracks, but such is our press. Same Republican party, same bullshit, different candidate.

I was only going to post that, but this is just as awful:

The priorities of Sarah Palin:

• An expensive sports complex made much more expensive because you're too incompetent to ensure the city had the land rights -- not burdensome.
  
• Paying for rape kits for rape victims -- burdensome.

(via LGM)

Once again the media is missing the ball. The issue isn't experience - it's sound judgment and understanding. If Palin can't properly administer a town of 4,000 and she doesn't understand how our government and economy work, then she does not deserve the office for which she campaigns.

John McCain represents neither reform nor change. He represents the same Bush policies that have dragged this country into the mud.

Tax Cuts Pay for Themselves

Except when they don't:

The budget deficit will jump by $246 billion to $407 billion, according to an updated estimate by the Congressional Budget Office released Tuesday.

Last year, the budget deficit was $161 billion. The government's budget year ends Sept. 30.

The agency attributes the jump to "a substantial increase in spending and a halt in the growth of tax revenues."

McCain must not be allowed to win this election. He doesn't give a damn about the economy. Looking forward to Thursday's debate.

Nothing to the Left of Bill O'Reilly Allowed on TV

Explain FOX News to me?

MSNBC is removing Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews as the anchors of live political events, bowing to growing criticism that they are too opinionated to be seen as neutral in the heat of the presidential campaign.

Let's see what this does to their ratings...

McMaverick

Not quite:

According to Nicole Wallace of the McCain campaign, the American people don't care whether Sarah Palin can answer specific questions about foreign and domestic policy. According to Wallace -- in an appearance I did with her this morning on Joe Scarborough's show -- the American people will learn all they need to know (and all they deserve to know) from Palin's scripted speeches and choreographed appearances on the campaign trail and in campaign ads.

Apparently they have nothing to hide.

Pork's Baby Daddf

Palin:

John McCain touts his running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, as a force in his battle against earmarks and entrenched power brokers.

But under her leadership, Alaska has asked the federal government for almost $300 per person in requests for pet projects this year. That's more than any other state received, per person, from Congress and runs counter to the image the GOP ticket is pushing.

The Gift That Keeps on Giving

Sarah Palin:

Sarah Palin: Separatist, former mayor of a village, and a wannabe book-burner

Please, oh please, let her stay on the ticket.

I Know This Doesn't Need Saying, But

Megan McArdle is still an idiot.

Sarah Palin

McCain has a VP.

Avoiding a Lieberman Disaster

Says Bob Novak!

Reports of strong support within John McCain's presidential campaign for Independent Democratic Sen. Joseph Lieberman as the Republican candidate for vice president are not a fairy tale. Influential McCain backers, plus McCain himself, would pick the pro-choice liberal from Connecticut if they thought they could get away with it.

But they can't get away with it -- and this has been made clear to McCain by none other than Joe Lieberman himself.

Joe is stupid and ugly and nobody likes him.

I Can Has Red Meet?

Biden.

Billmon Lives!

Been a while.

War?

Oh yeah, that war:

A suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest blew himself up in a crowd of Iraqi police recruits on Tuesday, killing 28 people and wounding 45, police said.

Timeline me.

War?

Oh yeah... oh yeah... that war.

U.S.-led coalition forces killed 76 Afghan civilians in western Afghanistan on Friday, most of them children, the Interior Ministry said.

We're still there? I never would have guessed.

Harper's Index tells me that there were 300 total minutes of network TV coverage devoted to the war in Iraq in 1H08, down from 1,229 in 1H07. I can only imagine how abysmally low Afghanistan ranks, but don't forget, we're fighting there too.

McCain's Cribz

Josh is angry:

I will not stand by and watch the Obama camp try to claim McCain owns seven homes when he owns at least ten.

Get on it rabid left! Seven houses is not damning enough! It's only middle class!

Lieberman to Speak at Republican Convention

Pickler got it right yesterday:

A Republican official tells The Associated Press that Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman will be speaking at the Republican National Convention.

The GOP official said Wednesday that Lieberman would deliver a speech as Republicans gathered in St. Paul to nominate John McCain for president. The official requested anonymity because a formal announcement had yet to been made.

I was going to award him Zell Miller status but since he's no longer a Dem he doesn't qualify. He's just sad and all alone.

Was McCain Tortured?

This is brutal, but them's the rules according to Bush and McCain:

In all the discussion of John McCain's recently recovered memory of a religious epiphany in Vietnam, one thing has been missing. The torture that was deployed against McCain emerges in all the various accounts. It involved sleep deprivation, the withholding of medical treatment, stress positions, long-time standing, and beating. Sound familiar?

According to the Bush administration's definition of torture, McCain was therefore not tortured.

...

Now the kicker: in the Military Commissions Act, McCain acquiesced to the use of these techniques against terror suspects by the CIA. And so the tortured became the enabler of torture. Someone somewhere cried out in pain for the same reasons McCain once did. And McCain let it continue.

I linked to Sully!

Joe Lieberman, 2000 Vice Presidential

His top contenders are said to include Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Less traditional choices mentioned include former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, an abortion-rights supporter, and Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Democratic vice presidential prick in 2000 who now is an independent.

Yes.

McCain Doesn't Like to Talk About Being a P.O.W.

And 500 other falsehoods propagated by his enablers in the media:

"The insinuation from the Obama campaign that John McCain, a former prisoner of war, cheated is outrageous," Ms. Wallace said.

Sounds like a non-denial denial to me.

AR Democratic Party Chair Murdered

Bill Gwatney, the chairman of the Arkansas Democratic Party, died after being shot in his office in Little Rock on Wednesday, police officials said. The suspect was later shot by the police and died of his wounds.

Condolences to his friends and family. This is horrible.

MoDo

Got to go.

Prosecuting Criminals

By criminals:

Attorney General Michael Mukasey on Tuesday said former Justice Department officials will not face prosecution for letting improper political considerations drive hirings of prosecutors, immigration judges and other career government lawyers.

Mukasey used his sharpest words yet to criticize the senior leaders who took part in or failed to stop illegal hiring practices during the tenure of his predecessor, Alberto Gonzales.

But, he told delegates to the American Bar Association annual meeting, "not every wrong, or even every violation of the law, is a crime. In this instance, the two joint reports found only violations of the civil service laws."

Nothing like a good old-fashioned independent AG.

Oink Oink

The Homeland Security Department swept aside evaluations of government experts and named Mississippi - home to powerful U.S. lawmakers with sway over the agency - as a top location for a new $451 million, national laboratory to study some of the world's most virulent biological threats, according to internal documents obtained by The Associated Press.

Mississippi's lawmakers include the Democratic chairman of the department's oversight committee in the House and the senior Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, which is expected to approve money to build the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility at one of five sites being considered. The two lawmakers said they were unaware of the Homeland Security evaluation system that scored the Mississippi site so low.

All about the benjamins. Always has been.

Obama Vindicated on Tire Pressure

Silly kerfluffle:

Our friends at Politifact have also looked into Sen. Barack Obama's claim about tire inflation and found it to be true -- not merely that car tune-ups and proper tire inflation will save millions of barrels of oil per year, but that it will save more energy than new off shore drilling would yield.

No one knows for sure, of course, which may be one of the reasons why our experts disagreed with Obama's claim that this conservation method would save more energy than new off shore drilling would yield.

But the salient point is that such measures are serious. Why the Republicans are mocking them at a time of energy crisis seems bizarre.

We're also reminded of this news from 1990:

"The Washington Times, September 14, 1990...The Bush administration yesterday launched an advertising blitz telling Americans they could fight oil shortages and high gas prices by conserving, while advising Congress there is no sign of price gouging by the oil industry and that gas prices are 'not unreasonable.' The slogan for the yearlong campaign, 'Do Your Part, Drive Smart,' tells consumers they can save more than 7 million gallons of gasoline a day if they keep their tires properly inflated, drive slower and join car pools.

Good luck trying to get anything fact based to stick with the Republicans. Especially principled John McCain.

Bush Aides Can Be Subpoenaed

Suck on this:

President George W. Bush's top advisers aren't immune from congressional subpoenas, a federal judge ruled Thursday in an unprecedented dispute between the two political branches.

The House Judiciary Committee wants to question the president's chief of staff, Josh Bolten, and former legal counsel Harriet Miers, about the firing of nine U.S. attorneys. But President Bush says they are immune from such subpoenas. They say Congress can't force them to testify or turn over documents.

U.S. District Judge John Bates disagreed. He said there's no legal basis for that argument. He said that Ms. Miers must appear before Congress and, if she wants to refuse to testify, she must do so in person.

Now if Congress will subpoena them...

All the Tubes' Fault

Stevens indicted.

All About the Benjamins

Conservativism:

Influential former Pentagon official Richard Perle has been exploring going into the oil business in Iraq and Kazakhstan, according to people with knowledge of the matter and documents outlining possible deals.

Mr. Perle, one of a group of security experts who began pushing the case for toppling Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein about a decade ago, has been discussing a possible deal with officials of northern Iraq's Kurdistan regional government, including its Washington envoy, according to these people and the documents.

It would involve a tract called K18, near the Kurdish city of Erbil, according to documents describing the plan. A consortium founded by Turkish company AK Group International is seeking rights to drill there, the documents say. Potential backers include two Turkish companies as well as Kazakhstan, according to individuals involved.

The pursuit of one's happiness.

McWhine

I'm a little worried his base may even get sick of him.

Credibility Gap

CBS and John McCain.

McCain's Media

Indeed.

War?

Oh yeah, that war.

Two suicide bombers posing as army recruits struck an Iraqi base just east of Baquba on Tuesday morning, killing at least 35 Iraqi recruits and wounding 63, according to the Iraqi police and medical officials in Diyala Province.

John McCain and Joe Lieberman say we have to stay, and McCain is a POW and Lieberman a good man, so they must be right!

WAAAAAHHH!!!!!

Because he can, because he is the worst president ever:

President Bush will veto the recently cleared Medicare bill Tuesday, a senior administration official said Monday on a conference call arranged by the White House.

The administration is unhappy with the Republican senators who voted for the bill July 9, but appears to hold out little hope of being able to sustain the veto, or flip back GOP senators who deserted the president on the controversial measure.

[...]

The House passed the bill, 355-59, on June 24. The Senate passed it by voice vote July 9 after voting 69-30 to overcome a procedural hurdle. Both chambers have more than enough votes to override the president, assuming no members change their votes. In the case of a veto override, the House would vote first.

First SCHIP, now this. The man is fetid.

L'Etat C'est Moi

Bushie:

In another push to deal with soaring gas prices, President Bush on Monday will lift an executive ban on offshore drilling that his stood since his father was president. But the move, by itself, will do nothing unless Congress acts as well.

The president plans to officially lift the ban and explain his actions in a Rose Garden statement, White House press secretary Dana Perino said.

There are two prohibitions on offshore drilling, one imposed by Congress and another by executive order signed by former President Bush in 1990. The current president, trying to ease market tensions and boost supply, called last month for Congress to lift its prohibition before he did so himself.

Abstinence for Dummies

It doesn't work:

The number of U.S. teenagers who gave birth increased for the first time in 15 years, raising what a health official called ``a red flag.''

The rate at which teen girls became mothers rose 2.8 percent in 2006 from a year earlier, according to a report on children compiled by 22 U.S. agencies. The increase ended a decline that began when the teen birthrate peaked at 38 births per 1,000 girls ages 15 to 17 in 1991, the report's authors said.

Keep on truckin, Bushie.

Obama's FISA Vote

Obama voted for the awful FISA bill, which is some egg on his face, and although some on the left are up in arms, let's think about his vote in a political context. Obama will most likely become president with a sitting Democratic Congress with the same Speaker and majority leader. Whether you love or hate the FISA bill - I hate it - it was Steny Hoyer's - ugly, mentally-impaired, kitten-killing - baby. If Obama publicly came out against the bill this late in the game he would only antagonize Hoyer, with whom he has to work come 2009. I see the same logic behind his support of Blue Dog John Barrow in GA-12 against a progressive, black candidate. If Congressional incumbents feel threatened they will circle the wagons and thwart Obama's plans.

Obama needs to get along with the 111th Congress in order to get legislation passed. Although I disagree with his FISA vote, I abide by it.

69 Senators Unfit for Their Jobs

The Senate has approved a bill overhauling the rules on secret government eavesdropping and granting immunity to telecom companies that helped listen in on Americans after Sept. 11.

The Senate passed the bill Wednesday, 69-28. It turned back three amendments that would have watered down, delayed or stripped away the immunity provision demanded by President Bush.

Silence.

McCain Mancrush Watch

The AP.

Nothing funnier than dead people!

John McCain Does Not Support the Troops

And gets hissy when called on it.

Club of Fools

I'm sure they will be regular guests on TV.

Two hard-charging political operatives are teaming up to create a bipartisan consulting organization to advise corporations in crisis -- as they work to burnish their own reputations as well.

Former Clinton strategist Mark Penn, chairman and CEO of public-relations firm Burson-Marsteller, is hiring former Bush adviser Karen Hughes as a vice chairman, the principals say. The political combatants, known for their partisan efforts, decided to combine forces to offer a one-stop crisis-communication and public-affairs shop to corporations caught in front-page headlines or faced with a changing Washington.

It's a comeback effort of sorts for both players. Mr. Penn, 54, who served as chief strategist and pollster for Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential bid, has been blamed in recent months for her failed candidacy. Ms. Hughes, 51, who came to Washington with President George W. Bush as his communications director, left her State Department position several months ago after making little progress on her mission to improve the U.S. image around the world.

I'd say that last paragraph nicely sums up this operation.

Cheney Hearts Evil

How else do you explain this?

U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's office was behind a push to censor congressional testimony that global warming poses a danger to the public, a former Environmental Protection Agency official told Congress.

The director of the Centers for Disease Control testified to a U.S. Senate panel last year about the public health effects of climate change in testimony that was heavily edited by the White House's Office of Management and Budget. Until now, Mr. Cheney's office hadn't been publicly linked to the efforts to keep information about climate change out of the public eye.

"The Council on Environmental Quality and the Office of the Vice President were seeking deletions to the CDC testimony," Jason Burnett, formerly an EPA associate deputy administrator, wrote in a letter dated July 6 to U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer (D., Calif.).

Apparently Cheney can only survive in an atmosphere filled with poisonous gases.

Elections have consequences. Vote the crooks out.

Why Hello Mr. Pot!

JP Morgan Chase’s chief executive, Jamie Dimon, said U.S. regulators should investigate whether people betting on Bear Stearns‘ stock falling deliberately brought down the investment bank.

“Where there is smoke, there’s fire,” Mr. Dimon said in an interview with Charlie Rose on PBS, televised on Monday. “I think the Securities and Exchange Commission should investigate it, okay? I think if someone knowingly starts a rumor or passes on a rumor, they should go to jail.”

Then the same should go for those who make absurdly optimistic predictions about their companies' performances. If people can be punished for causing a stock to unduly drop, they should also take heat for causing one to unduly rise.

Then again, when stocks rise everyone makes money, so who cares?!

Link.

Stupid Buddy Poll Questions

As long as we're being subject to the stupid "Which candidate would you rather have a drink/bbq with?" questions, can we please add "Which candidate would you rather fill up a tank of gas with?"

Q You must be the most excellent expert on oil business.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes. (Laughter.) Look where our price is. (Laughter.)

Q Well, actually, I'm suffering high gas prices.

THE PRESIDENT: You are?

My vote still goes for the press giving McCain a free ride.

McCain's Base

At least we already know how this cycle is going to play:

Bob Schieffer, on Face the Nation, responding to John Kerry stating that McCain has completely changed his position on a large number of issues:

“Are you attacking John McCain’s integrity?”

I'm going to place a roll of John McCain's integrity in my bathroom where it belongs.

McCain Is Playing Loose with Campaign Finance

But it's ok, because he was a POW:

Allies of Sen. John McCain have found new loopholes in the campaign-finance law he helped write -- and they're using them to reel in huge contributions to help him compete with Sen. Barack Obama.

In one method, a Republican Party fund aimed at electing governors has started marketing itself as a home for contributions of unlimited size to help Sen. McCain. His 2002 campaign law limits donations to presidential races to try to curtail the influence of wealth.

The Republican Governors Association isn't subject to those limits, and has long gathered up large donations from individuals and companies. Now it is telling donors it can use their contributions to benefit Sen. McCain in some key battleground states.

I wonder if the media will go into conniptions and scold McCain for weeks like they did when Obama legally refused public financing.

...

:: ROFL ::

Worst Legislation Ever

Telecom Act of 1996, which spawned Clear Channel:

Conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh signed an eight-year contract extension worth as much as $400 million with Clear Channel Communications Inc, The New York Times said on its website on Wednesday citing an interview with Limbaugh.

You reap what you sow.

Winning the Stupid

I'm glad we're winning, but come on:

People would rather barbecue burgers with Barack Obama than with John McCain.

While many are still deciding who should be president, by 52 percent to 45 percent they would prefer having Obama than McCain to their summer cookout, according to an Associated Press-Yahoo News poll released Wednesday.

Men are about evenly divided between the two while women prefer Obama by 11 percentage points. Whites prefer McCain, minorities Obama. And Obama is a more popular guest with younger voters while McCain does best with the oldest.

Having Obama to a barbecue would be like a relaxed family gathering, while inviting McCain "would be more like a retirement party than something fun," said Wesley Welbourne, 38, a systems engineer from Washington, D.C.

It's because our media continues to focus to stupid things like this that we can't have relevant discussions about policy and where our country is headed.

Dangerous Territory

Does he have to go there? Really?

Reaching out to evangelical voters, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is announcing plans to expand President Bush's program steering federal social service dollars to religious groups and -- in a move sure to cause controversy -- support some ability to hire and fire based on faith.

Sen. Obama was unveiling his approach to getting religious charities more involved in government anti-poverty programs during a tour and remarks Tuesday in Zanesville, Ohio, at Eastside Community Ministry, which provides food, clothes, youth ministry and other services.

I'm skeptical to say the least.

All About the Oil

A free and independent Iraq:

A group of American advisers led by a small State Department team played an integral part in drawing up contracts between the Iraqi government and five major Western oil companies to develop some of the largest fields in Iraq, American officials say.

The disclosure, coming on the eve of the contracts’ announcement, is the first confirmation of direct involvement by the Bush administration in deals to open Iraq’s oil to commercial development and is likely to stoke criticism.

Iraqis are going to love this.

FISA Leadership

The Dodd:



Contact your Senators and talk to them about the need to strip retroactive immunity out of the FISA bill.

War?

Oh yeah, that war.

A suicide bomber struck Thursday inside a municipal building west of Baghdad, killing at least 20 people at a meeting of tribal sheiks opposed to al-Qaida, police said. The U.S. confirmed American casualties but gave no further details.

Another 18 people were killed and about 60 wounded in a car bombing near a government headquarters in the northern city of Mosul, officials said. Thursday's attacks were part of a spike in violence in Iraq after weeks of relative calm.

John McCain's favorite.

Always Winning All the Time!

No news is good news!

THE Iraq war’s defenders like to bash the press for pushing the bad news and ignoring the good. Maybe they’ll be happy to hear that the bad news doesn’t rate anymore. When a bomb killed at least 51 Iraqis at a Baghdad market on Tuesday, ending an extended run of relative calm, only one of the three network newscasts (NBC’s) even bothered to mention it.

The only problem is that no news from Iraq isn’t good news — it’s no news. The night of the Baghdad bombing the CBS war correspondent Lara Logan appeared as Jon Stewart’s guest on “The Daily Show” to lament the vanishing television coverage and the even steeper falloff in viewer interest. “Tell me the last time you saw the body of a dead American soldier,” she said. After pointing out that more soldiers died in Afghanistan than Iraq last month, she asked, “Who’s paying attention to that?”

If it doesn't get ratings, why do consumers need to know? Boring!

Our Punditry Is This Dumb

Bowers:

The long and short of it is that established media punditry has liked McCain more than Obama in the last couple of weeks, but the country disagrees. As such, what we are seeing is the fundamental problem with much election analysis: is the punditry trying to describe what is happening, or are they trying to create the reality themselves? Whenever polls numbers and pundits opinions of the campaign move in opposite directions, the answer is clearly the latter.

Unsurprisingly, Broder is railing about public finance. Heh.

Bad Omens

Republicans' choice to replace Vito Fossella (NY-13) has died:

Frank Powers, a retired Wall Street executive and MTA board member who had been recently chosen to run for Representative Vito Fossella's congressional seat this fall, died yesterday. The 67-year-old apparently died in his sleep, found by his wife Diane, in his Todt Hill home.

Condolences to his friends and family.

House Passes FISA Bill

Steny Hoyer is pathetic:

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill on Friday that could shield phone companies that participated in President George W. Bush's warrantless surveillance program begun after the September 11 attacks from billions of dollars in privacy lawsuits.

Drafted by Democratic and Republican negotiators, the White House-backed measure would also overhaul of U.S. spy powers. The Senate is expected to give the bill final approval next week, clearing the way for Bush to sign it into law.

Way to cave. Way to cave.

All About Me

Bush:

Noting that several hundred federal emergency workers are fanning across Iowa, he added: "That ought to help the people in the smaller communities know that somebody is there to listen to them."

I hear he can also cure leprosy by looking at people. Narcissist.

Obama to Opt Out of Public Financing

I get an email alert:

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama announced that he would become the first presidential candidate to forgo public financing of his general election campaign since the system was established three decades ago. Obama’s Republican opponent, John McCain, has been much less successful at raising money and the move sets up the likelihood of a big mismatch in money heading into the fall campaign. Here is the text of Obama’s announcement.

Good call. Time to crush McCain.

War Crimes

Bush Co:

The first extensive medical examinations of former detainees in U.S. military jails offer corroboration for prisoners' claims of physical and psychological abuse at the hands of their American captors, a Boston-based human rights group said in a report released yesterday.

...

In a statement accompanying the report, retired Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba, who led the Army's first official investigation on Abu Ghraib, said the new evidence suggested a "systematic regime of torture" inside U.S.-run detention camps.

The only remaining question is whether they'll be tried for it.

Quick! Back to the Bubble!

Bush gets interviewed by a foreign correspondent, loses no sleep.

Priorities

High: Being nice, civil, minding our manners and not using potty language.

Low: Starting a war that has claimed the lives of thousands of Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.

Reward for such priorities?

An Op-Ed column at the Washington Post and a fellowship at the Council on Foreign Relations!

Where can I sign up?

Adding, the stick-waving, manly conservatives were always more obsessed with having their own egos insulted than the actual physical well-being of their neighbors.

More on Gerson.

More Like This

Obama:

Sen. Barack Obama shed new light on his economic plans for the country, saying he would rely on a heavy dose of government spending to spur growth, use the tax code to narrow the widening gap between winners and losers in the U.S. economy, and possibly back a reduction in corporate tax rates.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, the Illinois Democrat said that he was trying to put together tax and spending policies that dealt with two challenges. One is the competition from rapidly growing developing countries, like India and China. The other: the U.S. becoming what he called a "winner-take-all" economy, where the gains from economic growth skew heavily toward the wealthy.

Sen. Obama cited new economic forces to explain what appears like a return to an older-style big-government Democratic platform skeptical of market forces. "Globalization and technology and automation all weaken the position of workers," he said, and a strong government hand is needed to assure that wealth is distributed more equitably. He spoke aboard his campaign bus, where a big-screen TV was tuned to the final holes of the U.S. Open golf tournament.

Tim Russert Dead from Heart Attack

So long, Timmeh:

Tim Russert, NBC's Washington bureau chief and host of NBC's "Meet the Press," has died after collapsing at NBC's Washington news bureau.

Supreme Court Restores Habeas Corpus for Detainees

So long, torture loving, John McCain voted for Military Commissions Act:

Federal judges cannot block U.S. military officials from turning over two Americans held in Iraq to local authorities who want to prosecute them for involvement in the insurgency or criminal activity, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday.

The high court's decision was a defeat for two Americans who say they are innocent and who are being held by U.S. soldiers at Camp Cropper near Baghdad International Airport.

The usual suspects (Roberts, Scalia, Alito, Thomas) dissented.

Slowly but surely.

Importance of Bringing the Troops Home

For John McCain, not very:

Q: If it’s working, senator, do you now have a better estimate of when American forces can come home from Iraq?

McCAIN: No, but that’s not too important. What’s important is the casualties in Iraq. Americans are in South Korea. Americans are in Japan. American troops are in Germany. That’s all fine.

Of course. It's not like constantly fighting a war has any effect on the troops:

Maj. Lance Waldorf took pride in what he did during two tours in Afghanistan as a civil affairs officer, helping villagers build schools, roads and hospitals.

And, his wife said, he was looking forward to a third tour in Africa in the coming months. As she prepares for his funeral, set for Saturday, Lana Waldorf is comforted by the good her husband did while deployed and her deep Christian faith.

Lance Waldorf, 40, was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head Monday at the Great Lakes National Cemetery in Holly Township. A note, his will and family photos were nearby. While he exhibited signs of depression, Lana Waldorf, 51, said her husband seemed to be doing better in recent days. He was in the U.S. Army Reserves.

It's not important enough to bring them home. That John McCain doesn't understand this and is unable to draw a distinction between South Korea and Germany, which are peaceful outposts, and Iraq, which is a war zone, speaks volumes about his judgment and leadership.

They Don't Want Us There Either

In a shocking turn of events, Iraqis don't agree with the words put into their mouths by the Bush administration:

Iraqi officials have raised a number of objections to the draft documents, both publicly and privately. And they are now suggesting that the latest proposal isn't even worth submitting to their parliament for approval.

The war was never about the condition of the Iraqi people, WMD or whatever excuse Bush and his enablers managed to peddle that day. It was about everlasting glory for the boy who would be king.

Bush to Talk on Economy

Mr. Bush, in a departure statement on the South Lawn, sought to address anxieties about the economy.

"A lot of Americans are concerned about our economy. I can understand why," he said. "Gasoline prices are high; energy prices are high." He said the economic stimulus package approved by Congress should help matters.

Bush talking on a subject of which he has absolutely no clue will surely help people's anxieties.

Link.

Republicans Hate You

Love money:

Republicans have blocked efforts to bring a global warming bill up for a final Senate vote after a bitter debate over its economic costs and whether it would push gasoline prices higher.

Democratic leaders Friday fell 12 votes short of getting the 60 votes needed to end a Republican filibuster on the measure. The vote was 48-36.

Majority Leader Harry Reid now must decide whether to pull the bill and push the climate change issue to next year with a new Congress and a new president.

The bill would cap carbon dioxide coming from power plants and factories with a target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 71% by mid-century. Opponents say it amounts to a huge tax increase and would lead to higher energy prices.

"It's a huge tax increase," argued Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, a prominent coal-producing state. He maintained that the proposed system of allowing widespread trading of carbon emissions allowances would produce "the largest restructuring of the American economy since the New Deal."

That New Deal really sucked something horrible. Most Americans think so too, especially the ones who suck this country dry with their social security paychecks.

(emphasis mine)

Lieberman Forms New McCain Group

BFF JOE!!!!!

Former Democrat Joe Lieberman today launched a new bipartisan grassroots group to build support for presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain.

In the solicitation for "Citizens for McCain," Lieberman, now an independent US senator from Connecticut, notes that he caucuses with Democrats in the Senate and was the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 2000.

Looks like he felt pretty threatened by Obama.

On Hillary Undermining Obama's Victory

There's been some agita in the left blogosphere over Hillary's ungracious way of conceding by continuing to claim that she won the popular vote and therefore has some claim to the nomination. Some bloggers say that this somehow undermines Obama's legitimacy as the Democratic nominee. I don't think this is the case. It seems to me like everyone - the rest of the Democratic party, the Republican party, the media, many Hillary supporters - are ready to move on to the general and are no longer paying attention to her. I'd prefer if she didn't make those remarks, but even if she does she'll just sound whiny and no one will care.

Joe Is Stupid and Ugly

and nobody likes him:

[D]uring a Senate vote Wednesday, Obama dragged Lieberman by the hand to a far corner of the Senate chamber and engaged in what appeared to reporters in the gallery as an intense, three-minute conversation.

While it was unclear what the two were discussing, the body language suggested that Obama was trying to convince Lieberman of something and his stance appeared slightly intimidating.

Using forceful, but not angry, hand gestures, Obama literally backed up Lieberman against the wall, leaned in very close at times, and appeared to be trying to dominate the conversation, as the two talked over each other in a few instances.

Still, Obama and Lieberman seemed to be trying to keep the back-and-forth congenial as they both patted each other on the back during and after the exchange

Except Lindsey Graham of course.

Over

Barack Obama will now go on to defeat John McCain:

Sen. Barack Obama captured enough convention delegates Tuesday to make a historic claim to the Democratic presidential nomination, the first African-American to earn a major party's nod.

The first-term Illinois senator defeated what had once been the most powerful machine in the party. His rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton, the former first lady who sought to be history's first female nominee, saluted him. But she did not concede, even as she signaled openness to being considered as his vice presidential running mate.

Yes we can.

Personal Carbon Rationing

This is a pretty cool idea:

Every adult should be forced to use a 'carbon ration card' when they pay for petrol, airline tickets or household energy, MPs say.

The influential Environmental Audit Committee says a personal carbon trading scheme is the best and fairest way of cutting Britain's CO2 emissions without penalising the poor.

Under the scheme, everyone would be given an annual carbon allowance to use when buying oil, gas, electricity and flights.

Not sure how I feel about it if everyone has the same allowances, but it could be a good starting point.

In related news, commander prissypants will, in all likelihood, veto the Lieberman-Warner climate change bill that is being debated in the Senate.

More Like This

Sadly, Yes.

McCain's Base

Militaristic, simplistic and paranoid:

The rest of the questions were non-confrontational, though they often veered to the right of McCain's own positions. One audience member suggested McCain throw out the current Mexican government in order to halt illegal immigration; a young boy suggested the country stop using paper money and revert to silver in order to curb inflation. A third person questioned whether "the administration, and maybe this is classified, has calculated what the daily losses would be under a retreat plan under Obama."

Insert your own commentary. I'm too appalled to educate. Here's McSame's responses:

McCain tactfully deflected most of these questions, saying the Mexican government faced a difficult drug war, he doubted the United States would start using silver dollars, and that he would continue to press for victory in Iraq.

The reporter can call it a tactful deflection all she wants. Looks more like someone who can't give an honest answer to a question to me.

I'm Sorry, So Sorry

A little late, but we'll take what we can get. Little Scottie McClellan, former Bush bootlicker:

The White House took part in an "endless effort to manipulate public opinion to their advantage" in promoting the invasion of Iraq, former White House press secretary Scott McClellan declares in a new book.

Mr. McClellan says that he "unknowingly passed along false information" in his press briefings, including strong denials from Karl Rove and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby that they had no role in the outing of Central Intelligence Agency spy Valerie Plame.

We knew all along...

Time to Go, Joe

Go. Go now.

Disgust

Fox News.

Go on, tell me the left and right are the same. Just try.

The Most Obnoxious Type of Partisanship

Elitism.

We need to stop pretending as if the media are disinterested observers.

GI Bill Passes

Webb's 21st century GI bill passed with a veto-proof majority:

Twenty-five Republican senators broke with President Bush and voted Thursday for a major expansion of veterans’ benefits as part of a bill to finance another year of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The proposal, adopted by a vote of 75 to 22, also provides money for extended unemployment insurance benefits and other domestic programs to which Mr. Bush has objected.

Of course troop-hating, terrorist-loving Barack Obama voted for bill, but even though troop-loving veteran John McCain opposed the bill, he couldn't be bothered to show up and vote against it, which led to:

“I respect Senator John McCain’s service to our country,” Mr. Obama said. “But I can’t understand why he would line up behind the president in opposition to this G.I. Bill.”

Mr. McCain, who was campaigning in California, shot back with a statement questioning Mr. Obama’s motives.

“I take a back seat to no one in my affection, respect and devotion to veterans,” Mr. McCain said. “I will not accept from Senator Obama, who did not feel it was his responsibility to serve our country in uniform, any lectures on my regard for those who did.”

Easy, senator, no reason to throw a hissy fit! McCain is losing it, fast.

Bobblefoot Love

Hilarious.

Time to Go, Joe

Go join party in which you belong. You won't survive another election anyway.

Far too many Democratic leaders have kowtowed to these opinions rather than challenging them. That unfortunately includes Barack Obama, who, contrary to his rhetorical invocations of bipartisan change, has not been willing to stand up to his party's left wing on a single significant national security or international economic issue in this campaign.

In this, Sen. Obama stands in stark contrast to John McCain, who has shown the political courage throughout his career to do what he thinks is right – regardless of its popularity in his party or outside it.

John also understands something else that too many Democrats seem to have become confused about lately – the difference between America's friends and America's enemies.

That's not even the worst of it. Read it, and read Hunter's smackdown.

Obama Wins It

He's won the pledged delegate count and is leading in supers. Can we go home now and start kicking around John McCain?

McSame

Wow. Even as dumb as Bush.

OR, KY Primaries Today

Clinton will no doubt crush Obama in KY with WV-like margins, but Obama will handily beat her in OR and win a majority of pledged delegates. This race is over.

Another One Bites the Dust

McCain advisors:

A top adviser overseeing finances for Republican Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign has quit over his ties with lobbying, a McCain campaign official confirmed on Sunday.

Former Texas Rep. Thomas Loeffler, a national finance co-chairman, is the latest McCain adviser to step down amid concern over potential conflicts of interest among lobbyists in the campaign.

He is the fifth person who worked on McCain's campaign to resign recently over links to lobbying activities.

Wanna bet he isn't the last?

How Low Can You Go?

This low:

Some seem to believe we should negotiate with terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along. We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: "Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided." We have an obligation to call this what it is – the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history.

You heard that right, Obama = Nazi appeaser. Have a feeling this one's not going to stick.

Little Tommy Friedman

Still an idiot.

At least he's not Richard Cohen.

Worst Sacrifice Ever

Golf.

McLobbyist

The fun don't stop on the Straight Talk Express:

A consultant to Sen. John McCain hired a public-relations firm last year to burnish the U.S. image of a Ukrainian political party backed by Russian leader Vladimir Putin, according to documents filed with the Justice Department.

First Burma, now this. McCain should travel in a clown car. It would be much more amusing.

I don't know, maybe I've got this thing all wrong and the press will decide lobbying is the maverick thing to do. Hey, you never can tell!

Debunking Clinton's Claims

That was easy:

One of her primary arguments (no pun intended) is that she wins the big states and the swing states. McAuliffe falsely claimed that she can win the states with the most electoral college votes. I'm not sure how they can make either claim, since she has never run a national campaign, but that's the assertion she and her campaign always makes. Unfortunately for Hillary, her primary wins in New York, Massachusetts, Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia, and others really bear no relationship to how she, or Obama for that matter, will perform in a general election. Here's why:

First, it's a DEMOCRATIC primary. She's only hearing from less than half of the total electorate, less than half of whom support her. She and her campaign have asserted that only she can win the states that she won in the primaries. Of course, that's absurd on the face, and anyone with objective judgment can recognized that. The Democratic candidate WILL WIN New York, California, Massachusetts, and the other blue states in the general election.

Congrats on her win in WV. The following quote from last night has me optimistic:

"I am more determined than ever to carry on this campaign until everyone has had a chance to make their voices heard," Sen. Clinton told supporters at a victory rally in Charleston Tuesday night.

Maybe this is just me looking for a pony, but it sounds like she'll drop out after the last primary (MT?). If that's what she needs to do to save face, that's fine, as it's impossible for her to win at this point. As a side effect, her continued campaign will force Obama to build his organization in every single state, which will come in handy in the general.

Onto McCain!

Wake up NYT

Even if McCain disagrees with Bush on an issue, that doesn't mean he's leading on it.

For example, compare McCain's plan to either Obama's or Clinton's. It's a no-brainer.

John McCain supports lukewarm measures that won't accomplish anything. If global warming is an important issue, the Dems are by far the stronger party.

Devilstower has the rundown.

Crazy Pills

Bill O'Reilly needs to stop taking them.

It's Over

Done.

Sen. Barack Obama moved into the lead today in the last category that Sen. Hillary Clinton had claimed to have an edge -- support among the Democratic Party's superdelegates.

The Illinois Democrat grabbed the superdelegate lead thanks to a switch by New Jersey Rep. Donald Payne and an endorsement from previously uncommitted Rep. Peter DeFazio of Oregon.

Can we end this now?

Moving Goalposts

Clinton campaign.

Operation Chaos

Obama outperformed expectations last night, handily winning NC and coming within breathing room in IN. To whom can Clinton credit her victory? None other than Rush Limbaugh:

Eleven percent of the voters in Indiana tonight were Republican, Marc Ambinder of the Atlantic reports -- and they went for Clinton over Obama 52% to 46%.

Over at the Huffington Post, Sam Stein crunches some of the exit poll numbers and wonders: “Thirty-six percent of primary voters said that Clinton does not share their values. And yet, among that total, one out of every five (20 percent) nevertheless voted for her in the Indiana election. Moreover, of the 10 percent of Hoosiers who said ‘neither candidate’ shared their values, 75 percent cast their ballots for Clinton.

Clinton's margin of victory was under 2%. Had it not been for those Republicans, who will not vote for Clinton in November, she would already be out of the race. I hope she can take a sober look at reality and concede.

Investigating the Investigators

Very corrupt investigators:

Federal Bureau of Investigation agents raided the Office of Special Counsel here, seizing computers and documents belonging to the agency chief Scott Bloch and staff.

More than a dozen FBI agents served grand jury subpoenas shortly after 10 a.m., shutting down the agency's computer network and searching its offices, as well as Mr. Bloch's home. Employees said the searches appeared focused on alleged obstruction of justice by Mr. Bloch during the course of an 2006 inquiry into his conduct in office.

The independent agency, created by Congress in the wake of the Watergate scandal, is charged with protecting federal employees and deciding whether their complaints merit full-scale investigation -- a first line of defense against fraud and mismanagement in government. It also enforces a ban on U.S. employees engaging in partisan political activity.

The Wall Street Journal reported last year that Mr. Bloch had used "Geeks on Call," an outside computer-service firm, to erase his computer and those of two former staff members in December 2006.

Corrupt from head to toe.

Investigating the Investigators

Very corrupt investigators:

Federal Bureau of Investigation agents raided the Office of Special Counsel here, seizing computers and documents belonging to the agency chief Scott Bloch and staff.

More than a dozen FBI agents served grand jury subpoenas shortly after 10 a.m., shutting down the agency's computer network and searching its offices, as well as Mr. Bloch's home. Employees said the searches appeared focused on alleged obstruction of justice by Mr. Bloch during the course of an 2006 inquiry into his conduct in office.

The independent agency, created by Congress in the wake of the Watergate scandal, is charged with protecting federal employees and deciding whether their complaints merit full-scale investigation -- a first line of defense against fraud and mismanagement in government. It also enforces a ban on U.S. employees engaging in partisan political activity.

The Wall Street Journal reported last year that Mr. Bloch had used "Geeks on Call," an outside computer-service firm, to erase his computer and those of two former staff members in December 2006.

Corrupt from head to toe.

Get Uncle Alan His Meds

He's talking crazy again:

The United States has fallen into an "awfully pale recession" and may remain stagnant for the rest of the year, former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan was quoted on Monday saying.

"We're in a recession," Bloomberg news agency reported Greenspan had said in a television interview. "But this is an awfully pale recession at the moment. The declines in employment have not been as big as you'd expect to see."

Pale? If you call negative GDP growth and skyrocketing prices pale, then ok. As for the employment figures, 1. the unemployment rate doesn't tell the whole story (i.e. it doesn't include people who have been looking for work for over 6 months, those who have given up altogether or those who work part time), and 2. our latest economic boom was really a jobless recovery.

We're in for a bumpy ride. Buckle up and save.

Little Tommy Friedman Asks a Question

How could this be?

says Friedman, in a column the NYT describes as "Lost Greatness."

Gee, think this may have something to do with it?

I agree with Friedman's column - it's quite sensible - but his silence when it comes to his own role in our lost greatness is jarring and unsettling.

Not Enough Health Care to Go Around

Read up, it's a good article.

Under the current system, the winners are the insurance companies. By shrinking coverage to healthier and wealthier people - by charging more for it - insurance companies are raking in huge profits, because these people will not get sick as often. What this is about is maximizing insurers' profits at the expense of consumers. Both healthy, rich people, who pay higher premiums for the same service, and sick, poor people, who receive no coverage, are worse off. If we socialize the risk by way of a universal health care plan, costs will dramatically fall and everyone will be insured. Under that system, the losers are the insurance companies. Boohoo.

Economic Outlook

I don't think so.

Many on Wall Street, the epicenter of the credit mess, seem to think that the worst is over. For the first time in months, analysts and executives sound upbeat again. Many of them see a broad, sustained recovery in both the economy and the financial markets coming in the second half of this year, a prediction some market strategists call hopeful at best.

For now, policy makers are echoing the mood on Wall Street. Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Thursday that “we are closer to the end of this problem than we are to the beginning.”

Sure, we'll trust the perennial optimists to tell us when the market has bottom. Look at this chart of the S&P 500 from 4Q07 to date. First they told us there was no crisis, then they told us it was contained, now they're telling us it's already passed.

It is, of course, not uncommon for Wall Street to run ahead of the broader economy. Investors, after all, make money by anticipating the future. The job market, by contrast, improves more slowly than other aspects of the economy.

But specialists say the two sides will eventually converge. Either the markets will give up their recent gains or, if the optimists are right, the broader economy will show greater strength as tax rebate checks and lower interest rates stimulate the economy.

That first sentence sums it up really well. Look at the logic on which the optimists - let's call them ponyboys - are banking their recovery on: tax rebate checks - $600 is enough to solve every negative homeowner equity and bad commercial/real estate loan ever! - and lower interest rates - $4 gas! That stimulates somebody's pockets - will save the world.

Ride on ponyboys, ride on into the sunset.

It's Over

Really.

The Media's Mancrush David Petraeus Loves Progress

This kind:

More than 900 people have been killed in clashes between militiamen and security forces in Baghdad's Sadr City that broke out last month, a senior Iraqi official told reporters on Wednesday.

"There were 925 martyrs in Sadr City and 2,605 others have been wounded," in the firefights that began on March 25 and are still continuing, said Tehseen Sheikhly, a spokesman for the government's Baghdad security plan.

Thank you all for continuing to enable this.

The Wright Stuff

Can we make it stop now? Please?

I know this will only hurt Obama, so can we please get back to policy and things that matter? We're electing Obama, not wright.

Great, now I have a 80s song running through my head. Quick, to the glorious legends of funk!

Complainer in Chief

He's at it again:

U.S. President George W. Bush said on Tuesday the U.S. economy was facing a "tough time" because of rising food and energy prices and a weak housing market, and faulted Congress for inaction.

"Many Americans are understandably anxious about issues affecting their pocketbook, from gas and food prices to mortgage and tuition bills," Bush told a press conference.

"They're looking to their elected leaders in Congress for action. Unfortunately, on many of these issues, all they're getting is delay," he added.

I had 6 years of a Republican presidency and Congress and all I got is this crappy economy? Never mind their appalling lack of leadership that got us into this mess in the first place. Never mind the White House's attempts to stop the Frank-Dodd bill or the Treasury's bailout of Bear Stearns. Never mind that he has done nothing to help fix our economy. Just blame everyone else.

Supporting Human Rights

Eat it, ivory tower, liberal hawks. Just because the invasion of Iraq had some trappings of your pony plan, you never should have deluded yourself for one second into thinking that it would become reality, which turned out like this:

He also said that his superiors saw no problem with using confessions obtained through torture, including waterboarding. Everything is "fair game," he says he was told, "let the judge sort it out."

End the war now.

Pick the Democrat

Hillary Rodham Clinton criticized Barack Obama on Monday for opposing proposals to suspend federal gas taxes this summer, a plan she and Republican John McCain have endorsed. Obama didn't take the bait. He ignored Clinton and focused on McCain.

"My opponent, Senator Obama, opposes giving consumers a break," Clinton said at a firehouse. "I understand the American people need some relief," she added, implying that Obama doesn't get it.

That was easy.

Update: I make a point.

War?

Oh yeah, that war:

Fierce clashes between Shiite militiamen and US and Iraqi forces in east Baghdad killed at least 38 people, the American military said on Monday, amid new political efforts to end the bloodletting.

Sunday's heaviest fighting in weeks came on a day when militiamen blasted Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone with rockets and mortars, taking advantage of a blinding dust storm that grounded US attack helicopters.

Sounds like freedom is on the march.

Obama to Take on Fox

Yes.

McCain Gets Another Free Ride from the Press

Katrina-style:

Senator John McCain took direct aim at the Bush administration on Thursday as he stood in the lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, the area hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and declared that “never again will a disaster of this nature be handled in the terrible and disgraceful way that it was handled.’’

Mr. McCain, who was on the fourth day of a tour of America’s “forgotten places” to try to prove that he is a kinder, gentler Republican, ticked off a long list of mistakes: “There was unqualified people in charge, there was a total misreading of the dimensions of the disaster, there was a failure of communications.’’

Lest we forget exactly what McCain was doing when Katrina hit.

Gonna be a long election.

Where's the Outrage?

Imagine if this had been any other country:

An 84-year-old former Army engineer in New Jersey was charged on Tuesday with leaking dozens of secret documents about nuclear arms, missiles and fighter jets to the Israeli government during the early 1980s, federal prosecutors said.

The engineer, Ben-Ami Kadish of Monroe Township, could face life in prison or possibly the death penalty if convicted on the most serious charge, prosecutors said.

I'm sure the same people who regularly call for us to nuke Iran are busy getting their act together.

Clintonball

Hunter has a rant.

After PA, Clinton now needs 71% of all remaining pledged delegates. Good luck.

And, despite the spin coming out of the campaign about a win, she's back exactly where she started.

The score is oogy to boogy.

Corruption, McCain Style

Straight talkin':

Mr. Diamond, for his part, said Mr. McCain had only done his job. “I think that is what Congress people are supposed to do for constituents,” he said. “When you have a big, significant businessman like myself, why wouldn’t you want to help move things along? What else would they do? They waste so much time with legislation.”

PA Primary Today

My prediction - Clinton +7.

Yes we can!

Selling the War

Back from vacation.

Here's an article in today's NYT about how the Pentagon pushed coordinated talking points (otherwise known as propaganda) through retired generals in order to sell the Iraq war. This administration is full of crooks, thieves and liars through and through.

Bush Pays Taxes?

Something here seems funny:

President George W. Bush and first lady Laura Bush reported taxable income of $719,274 for 2007 and paid $221,635 in federal income tax, the White House said on Friday. The president's income included his salary as president and income from trusts in which his assets are held. The first lady received a $150,000 advance for a children's book she co-authored with daughter, Jenna, the White House said

Chris Matthews

The New York Times Magazine publishes a story.

Petraeus Punts

Can I be the first to call this a Petraeus Unit (P.U.)?

In his opening remarks, Gen. David Petraeus, the Iraq war commander, told the Senate panel there has been "significant but uneven security progress" in Iraq and the situation remains fragile.

The general recommended a 45-day "period of consolidation and evaluation" in July before deciding when to resume troop reductions and said current troop reductions will continue through July.

Wasn't this supposed to be the evaluation? Oh, it doesn't matter. It's only a few dozen lives and billion dollars.

How long before John McCain starts recommending P.U.s?

The Iraq War: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying.

I Didn't Do It!

Uncle Alan says he's innocent:

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has lashed out again at his critics, saying he was being blamed unfairly for the credit crisis and that he had no regrets about decisions he took while at the helm.

In an interview in Tuesday's Wall Street Journal, Greenspan, who left the Fed in early 2006, says critics are ignoring evidence in his favor and failing to give credit to the thinking behind the Fed's decision to lower rates when he was in charge.

No one could have predicted that encouraging home ownership in such a reckless manner and keeping the interest rate below the inflation rate for so long could have had such an effect. Except they did, and Greenspan was wrong. It's his Randian problem and he'll have to shoulder the blame for it.

Mark Penn Is Gone

Let the healing begin.

Beyond the Pale

Friends of BushCheney:

That dawn, naked, covered in blood and feces, bleeding from her anus, she found a US soldier she did not know lying naked in the bed next to her: his gun lay on the floor beside the bed, she could not rouse him and all she could remember of the night before was screaming and screaming as the soldier anally penetrated her while a colleague who worked for defense contractor KBR held her hand--but instead of helping her, as she had hoped, he jammed his penis in her mouth.

Over the next few weeks Smith would be told to keep quiet about the incident by a KBR supervisor. The camp's military liaison officer also told her not to speak about what had happened, she says. And she would follow these instructions. "Because then, all of a sudden, if you've done exactly what you've been instructed not to do--tell somebody--then you're in danger," Smith says.

But contractors are good! And we can't prosecute them because they're not operating in the U.S.!

Read the article, this isn't an isolated incident.

I feel ill.