Final Stretch

The OH-02 special election is going to go down in only a few days and it is incredible how competitive Hackett has become. If you have the time please contact anyone you know in OH and talk to them about the election. If you have the money please donate, any amount is useful, here. If we can win here we can win anywhere, but we have to fight for it.

Yay Democrats!

Way to oppose the Republicans on energy, transport and gun maker liability legislation!

Oh yeah, way to go CAFTA too!

groan.

Bolton Lied

People died. Just kidding. Well, in this context.

Anyway, at this rate Bush will have to make a recess appointment or he will never make it out of the Senate alive.

Link.

The Evangelical Hulk

It's only a matter of time:

In a break with President Bush, the Senate Republican leader, Bill Frist, has decided to support a bill to expand federal financing for embryonic stem cell research, a move that could push it closer to passage and force a confrontation with the White House, which is threatening to veto the measure.

Frist, don't make Dobson angry. You wouldn't like him when he's angry.

Frist presidency? DOBSON SMASH!!!!!!

Link.

Fuuuuuuck

The energy bill has finally been negotiated, and

The tax package -- negotiated behind closed doors by lawmakers -- would award 58 percentof the total benefit over 10 years to traditional energy industries, including oil, natural gas, coal, electric utilities and nuclear power. About 36 percent of the total would go for renewable sources of energy, energy efficiency and cleaner-burning vehicles. The Senate had sought considerably more in tax incentives for conservation and alternative sources of energy in its version of the energy bill approved last month.

We're in a situation where oil is *seriously* running out, we have alternate, cheap, clean energy sources but we're awarding 58% of the tax break to traditional energy??!!

Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, described the tax breaks as "well balanced among renewable energy, conservation and traditional energy sources" and said, "Renewable energy and conservation got a very big slice of the pie."

Energy providers lobbied heavily for the tax provisions, and many were thrilled with the results. But taxpayer advocates and environmental groups complained that the bill would distribute billions in tax dollars to highly profitable companies that do not need government assistance at a time of soaring energy costs.

What does it tell you if the providers are thrilled? I mean besides the fact that your ordinary person is screwed. How often are lobbyists thrilled unless they're getting their way to the letter?

Link.

Good Morning Sunshine

Glad to see you finally realize that Roberts is a right wing hack.

Where were you last week?

Kick 'em When They're Down

Sirota does.

John Roberts, Racist?

With the MSM and many Democrats fawning over John Roberts, his confirmation seemed almost inevitable. Not that some of us were not going to try to fight it anyway, but it seemed that he was going to be confirmed regardless of what we did. Well get your gun, Annie, because the NYT reports that

He defended, for instance, the constitutionality of proposed legislation to restrict the ability of federal courts to order busing to desegregate schools.

On other civil rights issues, he encouraged a cautious approach by courts and federal agencies in enforcing laws against discrimination.

Sounds a little fishy to me... if the courts do not mandate laws against discrimination how will it be eliminated? Maybe discrimination does not bother Judge Roberts. Here's Roberts reasoning:

On the matter of proposed legislation limiting the power of courts to order school busing, such a restriction would not have "an invidious discriminatory purpose," he wrote in a memorandum to Mr. Smith. "Indeed," he said, "the bill would protect all students from transportation to schools distant from their homes, irrespective of their race."

"We do not believe busing is necessary" to ensure equal educational opportunity, he declared.

Well in addition to being a classist and trying to keep those Americans who live far away from schools or do not have the money and time to drive their kids to school (dare I say the poor?) down, Judge Roberts' comments completely smack of that ugly white sheet in the closet some of us cannot help but call racism. I hope Democratic leadership in the senate load their guns with this ammo and aim for Roberts' head.

Traitorgate

The epic continues. New today from the WaPo,

Harlow, the former CIA spokesman, said in an interview yesterday that he testified last year before a grand jury about conversations he had with Novak at least three days before the column was published. He said he warned Novak, in the strongest terms he was permitted to use without revealing classified information, that Wilson's wife had not authorized the mission and that if he did write about it, her name should not be revealed.

Novak definitely sang like a canary being roasted alive in a garlic and white wine sauce with some shallots and thyme. On top of this, it is clear that the CIA is not happy about the situation, as they rightly should not be. We all know what happens to people who get on the CIA's bad side. When you consider the size of the net that Fitzgerald has thrown out in this investigation you cannot help but think that he has some large fish to fry, and lots of them.

DLC Blues

For those of you who have not yet heard, Hillary was at the DLC convention on Monday, pushing a tough, centrist image and calling for a truce within the Democratic party in an effort to shore up support for her 2008 presidential bid.

Make no mistake about it: Hillary is the DLC's candidate in '08, and if any other Democrat wants a chance at the nomination, he will have to take the grass/labor/progressive/netroots approach.

Personally while I am ok with Hillary as a senator from NY (although her voting record is nowhere near as progressive as it could be from this state - probably because she has been angling for the presidency) I do not want to see her win the Democratic nomination in '08. A lot of this has to do with the DLC's platform and talking points; searching for an ever-changing center will get you nowhere except abandoning any principles and positions you have, which Hillary personifies in this DLC let's play nice with everyone playbook. My other reasons are that I think the wingnuttery would come out of the woodwork to campaign and vote against her, as well as we have just had 1 Bush, 2 Clinton and 2 Bush administrations. It is time for a change.

However even excluding those last two concerns, I still do not feel that Hillary represents the party. She may be very liberal on several issues, but that has nothing to do with being a partisan Democrat. Standing by Bush as he committed the nation to a false and failed war in Iraq and continuing to support it in his terms is not a Democratic stance. Well, I guess since 51% of the nation voted for Bush that means that she has to woo them. Do you see what I am getting at? Needing to cozy up to big business to get money for the party while selling out your base economically is not a Democratic stance. For those of you who believe that the Democratic party cannot compete without big, powerful business lining their pocketbooks, I would encourage you to visit Paul Hackett's ActBlue page, where you can see that he has raised 172K from approximately 3500 people, The average donation is $50 and most of this occurred over the past week. Not too shabby.

It is no longer 1992 and Bill's triangulation is not going to work for Hillary in 2008, yet the DLC continues to cling to this failed vision because they see it as the only way to win. If the DLC wants to position itself as a middle of the road, hawkish, good for the rich organization then it can form its own middle of the road, centrist party, because it does not represent the mainstream of the Democratic party.

These are just my concerns with the DLC's policies and prescriptions. Still, the main reason that myself and many partisan Democrats hate the DLC (take note that there is a difference between thinking someone has the wrong idea, as per above, which does not entail dislike, and hatred) is because they spend so much time bashing their own party. I have said it before and I will say it again: if you use Republican language to bash a Democrat you are not a Democrat. This is exactly what the DLC does when they try to make themselves look 'tough' on defense and belittle the progressive base of the Democratic party because the DLC always shifts away from the partisan line toward the center at the expense of what they consider to be the 'left.' Kos has a rebuttal to this call for peace, I recommend it as well as the other articles he links to at the bottom, especially Digby's and Steve's.

Let me end by saying that if Hillary gets the nomination the grass/netroots will close ranks behind her and support her. I would hardly expect the same of the DLC, who would probably defect to the Republicans and spend their time bashing a progressive and partisan candidate. Hillary's nomination is not inevitable and I urge everyone to work towards getting a more progressive and partisan candidate the nomination (Clark or Feingold for me at the moment).