Of schizophrenic, ego-centric, paranoiac, prima-donnas

It has been 904 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”

Rove. Treason. Betrayal.

Off in a minute...

...to play host for the New Year's Eve festivities at the pub. The calendar will have likely turned for you before I get back, so let me wish each and every visitor, today, throughout the past year and into the next a new year filled with success, however you may measure it.

And, oh yeah, a new Congress filled with Democrats, too.

Randomly rockin' the new year...

Wild Magnolias - Party
Sandy Denny - Listen, Listen
Hall & Oates - You Make My Dreams
Buddy Holly - It Doesn't Matter Anymore
Ricky Nelson - Never Be Anyone Else But You
Taj Mahal - Tit Monde
Dusty Springfield - Tupelo Honey
Nick Drake - One Of These Things First
Dave Mason - Can't Stop Worrying, Can't Stop Loving
Pink Floyd - Arnold Layne

...and at some point in the PM, a very intentional spin of James Taylor's "Auld Lang Syne."

I’ve had enough of watching scenes

It has been 903 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”

Rove. Treason. Betrayal.

The cat just wasn't that curious...

...about the Xmas tree this year, so none of those 'kitty w/broken ornament' shots this year. I did catch the lovely and talented Miss Audrey Hepcat assuming her Jaba the Cat posture, though...

Just about everything…

…that makes me doubt Mark Warner as a potential Democratic nominee is wrapped up in this from Ronald Brownstein.

As Warner begins traveling the country, he is laying claim to a clear brand: the red state savior. Warner presents himself as the candidate whose message of fiscal discipline and social moderation can win back some of the culturally conservative states where Bush romped twice

I guess that's what the Deaners mean by 'Republican-lite.' I just call it Clintonism. Do we really need to revert to the strategy of being a little more like them in the hope that they'll like us more? Or should we be about building a lasting Democratic majority by staking our own ground and giving people good reason to move to our standard?

And speaking of Clintonism, Bob Geiger sums up my doubts about the other Clinton, as well.

...she remains silent and, despite the power and attention she could command, lets other Democrats carry the load in fighting the good fight.

I will vote for her in November but, until she starts acting more like a leader and less like political wallpaper, she will remain a disappointment and, even worse in our time of national distress, wholly irrelevant.

If she's this timid in pursuit of a near certain Senate reelection, why is she even a subject of Presidential speculation? Which core Democratic issue or constituency does she champion? "Wholly irrelevant" may seem like a harsh judgment, but if you're looking to Hillary for leadership, it's wholly accurate.

But she's got Warner to keep her company, at least...

Smarter?

Lynn Allen seems to think state Party Secretary Luis Moscoso has a good idea...

A Unity Coalition of several different Party caucuses, including the African American, Agriculture Rural, Asian Pacific, Disability, Federation of Democratic Women, Hispanic/Latino, Jewish, Labor, Progressive, Stonewall, Veterans and Young Democratic caucuses, is planning to hold a Candidate’s forum and try to get the people running for Chair to come and talk with the Coalition and answer some questions.

  I'm not sure that's a way to get "smarter about how we select the next Democratic Party State Chair." First, the 'coalition' seems to be so broad that the laundry list of concerns from one of the affiliated caucuses is bound to conflict with another, raising the specter of some very public disunity if, say, the YD's ho-hum the worries of aging vets, or the progressive folks admit that they think the labor crowd is a bit too defensive of some of those defense contracts that keep them on the job. Would that happen? Maybe not. Could it? Sure. So, just how smart is it to set up the conditions that would make it possible?

We convene like crazy in this state - statewide, by county, by district - although too often we come together only to split up into our sundry factions. There's plenty of opportunity for family fights when we hash out platforms and endorsements. Do we really need another one, especially over such an inside politics issue as the election of a Party chair? This isn't the time, and some ad hoc forum isn't the place.

In fact, the only people with a vote are the State Committeepersons, who will convene and hash it out among themselves, which is the appropriate forum for questioning the candidates. To the degree they do it well, they'll do it as Democrats, without prefix, without suffix, looking to the good of the whole Party and the pursuit of our platform. I'm not at all convinced we need a public display of our divisions under the guise of 'unity' in the meantime.

All I want is the truth, just gimme some truth now

It has been 902 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”

Rove. Treason. Betrayal.

Patrick Henry Democrats…

…working for civil liberties, civil rights and economic fariness. Now there's a memeworthy notion.

It's true, you know. There's a lot of good in the rest of us, but Digby is the best of us.

Inch by inch…

…row by row. Since February, 2005...

-- Those who think Saddam Hussein had strong links to Al Qaeda have fallen from 64 to 41 percent.

-- Those who believe that Iraq was a serious threat to U.S. security are down from 61 to 48 percent.

-- Those who think Saddam Hussein helped plan 9/11 are down from 47 to 22 percent.

-- Those who think Iraq had weapons of mass destruction are down from 36 to 26 percent.

-- Those who think Iraqi hijackers attacked the United States on 9/11 have fallen from 44 to 24 percent.

Something to consider, of course, when you wonder how the hell John Kerry could have lost an election to G.W. Bush. He ran in a country where most people still believed in Bushco™'s fairy tale about the bogeyman in Iraq. Seems more likely all the time we won't get fooled again.


Hat tip, once again, to Dr. Black.

Truth.

Truth.

Commie Girl is actually commenting on local (OC, CA, for her) matters, but there's a universal involved.

But it’s not the conservatism that bothers me: principled stands of any kind are a-okay with me. It’s the nastiness. The nattering classes I’d thought were fringy were in fact the opinion makers.

Some of my best friends self-identify as Republicans. Really. That's been true through all the shifting circles of friends that come from five and a half or so decades of life. One of the reasons I like them is that they care enough to take a stand, even a wrong one.

But they're friendly, not nasty. And mostly conservative types who have nothing in common with the destructionist crew in power today.

The worst of the lot - Commie Girl's 'fringies' - are in charge, more the worse for all of us, Democrat and Republican alike.

Time for the R's to reset their political, ethical and moral compasses. Meanwhile,



Hat tip to Atrios.

Just wondering...

When politicians say something desireable is 'politically impossible,' do they mean their constituents are too stupid to understand, or that the pol is just too lazy to explain?

From tight-lipped, condescending, mama’s little chauvinists

It has been 901 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”

Rove. Treason. Betrayal.

Informed, and, as usual...

...definitive comment from Juan Cole, who busts the Top Ten Myths about Iraq in 2005. It's truly essential analysis. I printed it out for regular study.

Truth is power.

I love the winter weather...

...except the part that knocks out the phone lines, resulting in a three day wait for the nice man from Qwest.

The nice man has come and gone, and I'm back, obviously. I'm a bit out of touch, though, since I took my forced exile from blogging as an opportunity for a much needed rest from current events.

Something must have happened, though, and I'm bound to have something to say about some of it, so stay tuned...

Good questions…

…from Robert Steinback in the Miami Herald.

Are we agreeing, then, to give the king unfettered privilege to defy the law forever? It's time for every member of Congress to weigh in: Do they believe the president is above the law, or bound by it?

The whole thing is a pretty good primer on contemporary Presidential lawlessness and the public cowardice that feeds it, in fact.

2168

Yeah, I know. It's still supposed to be the festive season and all, and I hate to be a spoil sport, but damn.

I’m sick to death of seeing things

It has been 898 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”

Rove. Treason. Betrayal.

Merry Christmas...

...whatever that means to you. Here at Upper Left World Headquarters, it's a purely secular celebration of friends and family, a blend of nostalgic schmaltz, caloric indulgence and, of course, loot.

Some of you attach higher significance to the day, of course, and I hope your observations are meaningful. I attach those thoughts to the menorah in the window across the room from the Chrismas tree, and it's time for happy Chanukah wishes as well.

Later, I'll be unlocking the pub to tend to holiday orphans and those who just need a break from family. In between, I'll have a thick slab of that prime rib the Brilliant and Beautiful Bride of Upper Left is whipping up down the hall after another round of unwrapping when more family appears.

And tomorrow, latkes!

Whatever you may celebrate, however you may do it, peace.

And now...

Money for dope, money for rope

It has been 897 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”

Rove. Treason. Betrayal.

I'm not the only one….

…giving the "I" word another look. Barrons imagines what just days ago may have seemed impossible, and they get right to the heart of the matter.

Administration lawyers and the president himself have tortured the Constitution and extracted a suspension of the separation of powers.

They're right. The deeds involved, however heinous, pale beside the principle.

It is important to be clear that an impeachment case, if it comes to that, would not be about wiretapping, or about a possible Constitutional right not to be wiretapped. It would be about the power of Congress to set wiretapping rules by law, and it is about the obligation of the president to follow the rules in the Acts that he and his predecessors signed into law. (emphasis mine)

The rule of law is at stake. Nothing less. It's time to confront old Ben Franklin's challenge and decide whether the republic is worth keeping. And if not?

If we don't discuss the program and the lack of authority for it, we are meeting the enemy -- in the mirror.

Was Pogo prescient again?

I suppose...

...that the continuing war on Xmas dictates that this be a holiday-free random ten, which is fine since the jukebox at the pub is loaded up with three discs of yuletide favorites and I'm getting a bit overdosed. A few of these, though, are so good they're worth a celebration in their own right...

George Jones - She's All I Got
Austin Lounge Lizards - Forty Years Old (And Livin' In My Mom's Garage)
Prince w/Sheena Easton - You Got The Look
Bo Diddley - Hey! Bo Diddley
Iggy Pop - Nazi Girlfriend
Dave Matthews - So Damn Lucky
Peter Ostroushko & Norman Blake - Restless Farewell
Fighting Men Of Crossmaglen - Sean South
Sly & The Family Stone - Hot Fun In The Summertime
Herman's Hermits - Leaning On The Lamp
The Drifters - There Goes My Baby

With just a pocketful of soap

It has been 896 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”

Rove. Treason. Betrayal.

"You woke me for what?"

The lovely and talented Miss Audrey Hepcat takes a dim view of my apparent obsession with feline photograpy...

If there's anything like a "community"…

…in the lefty blogosphere, we can't let this happen to Jeanne D'Arc.

I'm afraid my computer, which has been wheezing and sputtering for several months, has finally passed away. I can't really afford a new one, and at the moment I can't imagine how I can keep up the blog with the brief times I can borrow my husband's. Until I can save enough money -- anyone have a suggestion about the cheapest possible reliable computer? -- it looks like this blog will have to go on a long, maybe permanent, hiatus.

After some prodding and some agonizing, she's thrown up a tip jar. Everyone should go there and hit it, not because she needs a new computer, but because she continually puts before our eyes something rare, offering real human responses to terrible human suffering with a frankness that most of us have been conditioned to suppress.

Body and Soul is special. We can't let it go if Jeanne's willing to accept our help.

Truth.

To turn America around, we must turn Congress around.

Darcy Burner, Democratic primary candidate for WA-8 in '06.

Eyes on the prize.

Is gonna mother hubbard soft soap me

It has been 895 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”

Rove. Treason. Betrayal.

He said what?!?

At least 827 American people might beg to differ with the Preznit.

"It's been a good year for the American people."

You freaking twit. Your country - my country, dammit - is at war.

Now, war may be good for Presidential bios or profiteer's bankrolls, but it's categorically bad for children, living things and Americans. All Americans.

How can a country, any country, at war have a "good year"?

"Good year."

Good god.

From the Good Question file.

Atrios…

"What the hell is a war on terror anyway and who other than crazy people think it can be 'won?'"

Hard to put it in the platform, I guess, but it raises a good point.

Sorry, Barry. Your dream is dead.

Ronald Reagan was probably the last prominent Republican to even bother trying to claim the legacy of the widely hailed father of modern conservatism, Barry Goldwater, although the credibility of that claim was as elastic as Paul Krassner's silly putty reality. This crowd doesn't even bother.

Michael Berube shares his thoughts...

People who support a clandestine program of warrantless domestic spying are not “conservatives” or “libertarians.” Neither are people who support the creation of a worldwide archipelago of secret torture sites. Neither are people who support the usurpation of the functions of government by the executive branch; who espouse the theory that the executive branch is the final arbiter of the legality of the actions of the executive branch; and who call for the investigation or prosecution of a free press that dares to report on the executive branch’s secret programs of domestic spying and outsourced torture.

Berube calls them "the radical right." Since they don't want to conserve anything, or build anything, since they're so hell bent on destroying our democracy, I call them destructionists.

Maybe Senator Goldwater was right, after all, though. Maybe it's time for a little extremism in the defense of liberty, because there's a awful lot of it on the other side. Maybe that's our job.



Hat tip to John Willams at Thudfactor

Eyes on the prize.

Atrios paints the target.

"There is a civil liberties issue, and we can have that debate too, but this is about President Bush willfully and intentionally committing multiple felonies."

The President is a criminal. He admits it.

Of course, he's a liar, too, but this time I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.

Ya' mean it, Ted?

Is the senior Senator from Alaska going to give us all a terrific holiday gift?

But last night, when the Senate voted to strike the drilling provision, Stevens did not take it well. "This has been the saddest day of my life," he said. "It's a day I don't want to remember. I say goodbye to the Senate tonight. Thank you very much."

Don't let the door hit you and all that, but, well, he's a Republican.

They just lie.

I'd bank on having Senator Stevens to kick around just a bit longer...

No short-haired, yellow-bellied, son of tricky dicky

It has been 894 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”

Rove. Treason. Betrayal.

It's not just us…

…calling for justice.

Over at the Carpetbagger Report, Steve Benin has compiled a handy roster of some of the right-wing pols, pundits and scholars who are speaking out on Bush's confession that he's guilty of crimes both statutory and Constitutional.

It's important that we keep those voices at the front of the discussion, because, as Steve suggests, this need'nt be a partisan fight. In fact, it shouldn't be. This is an opportunity for Democrats to seize the banner of Americanism, a genuine Americanism drawn from time honored values like no man being above the law, the people alone being sovereign and the government being laws rather than men. It's a banner real Americans will rally to, one that transcends legitimate partisan division.

There are real Americans on the right, despite the corruption of their leadership. This battle is too big to fight without them.

It's not just us, and that's just as it should be.

Another big win…

WASHINGTON - The Senate blocked oil drilling in an Alaska wildlife refuge Wednesday, rejecting a must-pass defense spending bill where supporters positioned the quarter-century-old environmental issue to garner broader support.

…but, jeebus. The defense appropriation?

I keep forgetting. Why do the Republicans hate the troops?

Upper Left…

96.36% pure.

All I want is the truth, just gimme some truth

It has been 893 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”

Rove. Treason. Betrayal.

The Prez sez…

…or said, anyway...

"Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires -- a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so. It's important for our fellow citizens to understand, when you think Patriot Act, constitutional guarantees are in place when it comes to doing what is necessary to protect our homeland, because we value the Constitution."

Remember that bit I bolded the next time a wingnut drags out "9-11 changed everything." The Prez sez is isn't so.

Plain truth, please.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller:

"For the last few days, I have witnessed the President, the Vice President, the Secretary of State, and the Attorney General repeatedly misrepresent the facts.

"The record needs to be set clear that the Administration never afforded members briefed on the program an opportunity to either approve or disapprove the NSA program. The limited members who were told of the program were prohibited by the Administration from sharing any information about it with our colleagues, including other members of the Intelligence Committees.

The DNC blog has Reid and Pelosi.

Fair enough, I suppose, but not quite far enough.

While I understand that our leaders must sometimes be more circumspect than rabble like myself, the unnecessary and unconstitutional violation of the 4th Amendment rights of Americans by George W. Bush doesn't deserve the cover provided by phrases like "repeatedly misrepresents the facts" or "very misleading impression."

The President is a liar. And a criminal. And it's time to say so plainly.

And, oh yeah, he's absolutely the

By neurotic, psychotic, pig-headed politicians

It has been 892 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”

Rove. Treason. Betrayal.

Truth.

It really comes down to this.



Hat tip to PSoTD.

Liar.

John McCain.

Saying that Sept. 11 "changed everything," McCain told ABC's "This Week": "The president, I think, has the right to do this."

"We all know that since Sept. 11 we have new challenges with enemies that exist within the United States of America - so the equation has changed."

Equations be damned, Senator. Everything hasn't changed. The Constitution hasn't been changed. Hell, eight years of the best efforts (largely in pursuit of the war on (some) drugs) of the at least occasionally competent Clinton administration couldn't completely eviscerate the 4th Amendment. There's simply no excuse for letting this unpopular destructionist incompetent get away with it.

McCain's not wrong, he's lying. He knows it, and he should know better.

Oh yeah, lest we forget…

Good question…

…from The Rude Pundit...

Do We Have To Wait Until Bush Purges 20 Million of Us Before We Can Say He's Like Stalin?

...and a good answer, too.

I’ve had enough of reading things

It has been 891 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”

Rove. Treason. Betrayal.

The oath.

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

Nope, not a thing in there about "saving American lives." In fact, as too many Presidents in our history have sadly discovered, sometimes preserving, protecting and defending the Constitution requires the sacrifice of lives.

Whatever his reason, there is no excuse. I've tended to ignore most of the "impeach Bush" chatter, but this could be a turning point.

The President is a criminal, confessed and at large, and his crimes are a specific violation of his oath of office. Impeach the President?

Certainly, they should. Now, maybe, just maybe, they actually could, if some slight number of Republicans in Congress are willing to uphold their oaths.

Maybe. Just maybe.


(By the way, if you don't already read Matthew Gross, his work on this story is a good reason to start.)

"...a secular exercise…

... in demonstrating love through stuff."

Yep, that's what Xmas is to me.

Michael O'Hare writes much worth reading on the holiday battles.

And now...

All I want is the truth, just gimme some truth

It has been 890 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”

Rove. Treason. Betrayal.

Too good…

…not to share. From Goldy.

Wing-nuts roasting on an open fire,
Jack boots stomping through the snow,
Yuletide pundits join the paranoid choir
That claims that Christmas has a foe.

Bill O’Reilly knows this turkey of a president
Needs an enemy to fight,
So the ACLU, and George Soros too
Now find it hard to sleep at night.

They know the boobs who watch Fox News
Will blame the “War on Christmas” on the liberal Jews.
And every mother’s child will look in scorn,
To see if Soros really has devil’s horns.

And so I’m offering this simple phrase
To wing-nuts, one to ninety-two,
Although you’d prefer it be said different ways:
Happy Holidays… f*ck you!

(Personally, I don't have any problem wishing people a Merry Christmas if they're the kind of people who wouldn't mind if I said Happy Holidays.

Actually, I'm all about any holiday with presents...)

Random 10

Actually, it's not only rock 'n' roll. Some of it's not even close. But I do like it. Every bit of it.

Lyle Lovett - If I Had A Boat
The Beach Boys - Help Me Rhonda
Wham - Wake Me Up Before You Go Go
Skip James - Hard Time Killing Floor Blues
Lou Reed - Walk On The Wild Side
Otis Redding - Shake
The Rolling Stones - It's Only Rock 'n' Roll
Donovan - To Susan On The West Coast Waiting
The Weavers - Rally 'Round The Flag
Blondie - Sunday Girl

From uptight, short sighted, narrow minded hypocrites

It has been 889 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”

Rove. Treason. Betrayal.

Only ten shopping days…

…until Kwanza. But this can't really be the reason for the season, can it?



Hat tip to the usual suspect.

Ain't she sweet?

The lovely and talented Miss Audrey Hepcat in (surprise) repose...

Victory!

Damn, it's nice to win one sometimes.

WASHINGTON Dec 16, 2005 — The Senate on Friday rejected attempts to reauthorize several provisions of the USA Patriot Act as infringing too much on Americans' privacy and liberty, dealing a huge defeat to the Bush administration and Republican leaders.

In a crucial vote early Friday, the bill's Senate supporters were not able to get the 60 votes needed to overcome a threatened filibuster by Sens. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., and Larry Craig, R-Idaho, and their allies. The final vote was 52-47.

While I'm celebrating, I admit that I may be too tough on my Party sometimes. Perhaps the Democratic commitment to liberty is stronger than I often suspect. There was near unanimity among Democrats (including, I'm proud to say, the upper left team of Cantwell and Murray).

Four Republicans were willing to stand between the Bush administration and the Constitution, with Bill Frist casting a fifth GOP 'nay' in order to allow him to call for a possible reconsideration. The fact is, though, that the Democrats stood so tall and held together so strong that we could have done it without them.

So thanks anyway to Senators Craig, Hagel, Murkowski and Sununu.

But we don't need you, so it's still true…

From the things that make me go hmmm file.

Over at Pandagon, Pam Spaulding offers some observations on Bob Novak's move from CNN to Fox News, including this telling quotation...

"I don't think that's a factor," Novak said. "In 25 years I was never censored by CNN and I said some fairly outrageous things and some very conservative things. I don't want to give the impression that they were muzzling me and I had to go to a place that wouldn't muzzle me."

So, Bob Novak has felt as comfortable at CNN as he expects to feel at Fox.

Hmmm…

I think that tells me more about CNN that about Bob Novak.

Truth…

…from Ms. Julien at Big Brass Blog.

...as it now stands, Hillary could - in public - shoot a doctor who performs legal abortions, and - in public - chop off the penis of a gay man and…

SHE WOULD STILL NOT WIN A SINGLE CONSERVATIVE VOTE…

'kay?

What's more, she's politically very bright, so I assume she knows this. Which means whenever she lines up with the wingnuts on issues like flag burning, you can safely assume she's not just pandering to the right, she's a believer.

Remember, the same people who put Hillary in the liberal camp told you that Bill was a socialist.

I’m sick and tired of hearing things

It has been 888 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”

Rove. Treason. Betrayal.

No Mo Solo for Feingold.

Congrats to Senator Russ Feingold for apparently pasting together the votes for a Patriot Act filibuster, motley though his crew may be. At least it's an improvement on his solo nay vote the first time around.

Feingold finds himself with some unlikely allies, including the Christian Defense Coalition. Notably, the National Rifle Association has not endorsed the Patriot Act renewal that was personally negotiated by Vice President Dick Cheney. The NRA's non-position allows its Senate supporters to oppose renewing the law in its entirety.

"Folks, when we're dealing with civil liberties, you don't compromise them," said Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, an NRA board member.

One of my most consistent disappointments with my Party is our inconsistent record on civil liberties. Of course, as a party, the Republicans are no better. It's a sad truth that neither major party really gives a damn about liberty.

Happily, liberty still has champions on both sides of the aisle, whatever their various motivations. Thanks are due to Feingold for seeking them out and weaving them together.

I don't think Russ does Christmas, so chalk this one up as a Chanukah gift to America.

Only 6 shopping days…

…until winter solstice. Don't forget the kiddies!





You know who. You must. And nobody does it better.

Finally…

…the Preznit comes clean.

"I'm frankly, I'm not all that familiar what's going on up there in Capitol Hill…"

…or on planet Earth, apparently.

Hat tip, fittingly, to Crooks and Liars.

Sic 'em, Rahm!

The DCCC bites back, big time.



Watch it all and get involved here.

But you don't know what it is, do you, Mister Jones?

It has been 887 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”

Rove. Treason. Betrayal.

That settles it.

He's nuts.

BRIT HUME: I want to ask you about some of the people around you and your relationship them and how they stand with you.

PRESIDENT BUSH: Sure.

HUME: Secretary Rumsfeld?

PRESIDENT BUSH: Good. He’s done a heckuva job.

On a brighter note, Think Progress ponders the historical implications...

Quote of the Day.

"I think that Congressman Ney had better get right with his God."

Texas political consultant Marc Schwartz, who is cooperating in the federal investigation into Ney's campaign finances.

Hat tip to the DNC blog.

Sometimes I'm afraid…

Sometimes I'm afraid…

…that he's not just lying, but that he's sincerely delusional. David Stout reports in the New York Times...

On the eve of parliamentary elections in Iraq, President Bush today described the United States campaign there as a blend of idealism, pragmatism and flexibility that would lead to "total victory" over the forces of tyranny and terrorism.

I mean, there's a case to be made that whyever and however we may have gone to war, we're there and we're obligated to stay and try to make the best of it. It's a case that fails, I believe, when posed against those for any of several avenues to withdrawal, but it's an argument just the same.

To believe that some possible outcome exists, though, that will lead to "'total victory' over the forces of tyranny and terrorism" is, quite simply, madness.

He's just lying, right?

Please?

Good catch.

Kos compares the website banners in the contested primary to challenge Conrad Burns' Montana Senate seat…





…and asks a question that's important to ask in every state, every district, where someone seeks our nomination. "Who's carrying the "Democratic" flag in the primary?"

Kos is better informed on the race than I am, and firmly in the Tester camp. I don't know if I'm there yet, but this is the kind of thing that's got me on the way there.

Democrats, please.

Without apology.

The facts.

The facts.

From Fred Kaplan, via Oliver.

To put this in perspective: From December 1941 to August 1945, the U.S. government mobilized an entire nation; manufactured a mighty arsenal; played a huge role in defeating the armies, air forces, and navies of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan; and emerged from battle poised to shape the destiny of half the globe. By comparison, from September 2001 to December 2005, the U.S. government has advanced to the point of describing a path to victory in a country the size of California.

Ahem.

Make that "From December 1941 to August 1945, the U.S. government, led by a Democratic President and a Democratic Congress…".

Next time someone tries that "weak on defense" attack on you, just remind them…



Several fine ways to do so can be found here.

Only ten shopping days…

…(excluding Shabbos) until Chanukah.



Hat tip to the General.

Because something is happening here

It has been 886 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”

Rove. Treason. Betrayal.

More on McCarthy…

…from N in Seattle, who gets both the spirit and events of the time right, as I remember them.

Truth.

From James Wolcott...

The death penalty must be abolished. No former movie action hero--or Yale cheerleader with enough psychological baggage to sink the African Queen--should be entrusted with the power of life and death over his fellow citizens. These are essentially frivolous, uninformed men playacting blue-suited roles of grave responsibility.

And why, indeed, do we kill people who kill people to prove that killing people is wrong? A barbaric practice, crudely administered.

Time to stop.

You're very well read it's well known

It has been 885 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”

Rove. Treason. Betrayal.

Who'll be the next in line?

Paul Berendt has announced his resignation as Chair of the Washington State Democratic Party. It's time, perhaps past time, but it's a mid-term resignation, so his would-be successors, at least those outside his circle of confidence, were caught a bit by surprise.

Still, there's no lack of aspirants. Andrew has an overview of the field - some of the usual suspects from the last round (Greg Rodriguez and Kat Overman), a couple of District Chairs, and some pols who find themselves out of office after recent elections.

Among the latter group, Dwight Pelz may appear to be the powerhouse - past State Senator and King County Councilmember and most recently a candidate for Seattle City Council. Former State Rep. Mike Cooper, though, who tried to make the jump to statewide office with a run for Commissioner of Public Lands, is best known as a career firefighter, but for Mike a significant part of that career has been union activism. Beyond that is his personal activity as a longtime Party activist. Along the way, he helped make the Shoreline firefighters a political force stronger than their numbers might suggest and demonstrated a knack for finding roads to victory for Democrats in some not always friendly suburban precincts. Cooper's own political instincts are sharp, and his efforts have enhanced the stature and influence of both the IAFF and the Democratic Party. Along the way, he maintained a strong record of professional achievement as well, rising through the ranks to become a leader of his department as well as his community.

No endorsement here, not yet, but a head's up. State Chairs can make a difference, and this is an important choice for our Party. Like Mike Cooper, all of the candidates probably have qualities not readily apparent from their surface appeal (or lack thereof). I'll be especially watchful for outreach from the candidates to the thriving northwest blogosphere.

More to come on this, I'm sure.

Who will tell the people?

Who will tell the people?

The NYT gets the ball rolling...

If the rest of the nation has decided it is too expensive to give the people of New Orleans a chance at renewal, we have to tell them so. We must tell them we spent our rainy-day fund on a costly stalemate in Iraq, that we gave it away in tax cuts for wealthy families and shareholders. We must tell them America is too broke and too weak to rebuild one of its great cities.

If it's the truth, if we've given up, it's time to admit it. If we haven't, it's time to stop acting like we have.

And if you let this mess pass unnoticed, you're just as guilty as Bush, Brownie or any of that bunch.

Which side are you on?

F. Scott Fitzgerald's books.

It has been 884 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”

Rove. Treason. Betrayal.

Gene...

1916-2005

Growing up, the question of whether or not Jesus saved souls might have been a matter of family debate in the Dale household, but we all agreed that FDR had saved the country. The Democratic Party, more than anything else, was the family faith. At campaign time, it was never a question of which party, but of which Democrat. The first time I made that choice for myself, it was Gene McCarthy.

Getting 'clean for Gene' wasn't that big a challenge for me, really. My dad wouldn't let me wear my hair much longer than the campaign preferred and my mom made sure I had clean clothes. We didn't stop the war that year, or dump the Hump, or really accomplish much of anything we set out to. Sadly, the '68 primary campaign will always be defined more by the havoc in Daley's Chicago than by the legions of Gene McCarthy's "children's crusade."

Still, there was a time. And it was a time.

RIP, Gene, and thanks...

And now...

You've been through all of

It has been 883 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”

Rove. Treason. Betrayal.

It's not so, you know…

What's wrong with this NYT headline?

Lieberman’s Iraq Stance Brings Widening Split With His Party

Simply that the split between Lieberman and most Democrats on defense and foreign policy issues has been a wide one all along. He was, after all, elected by running to the right of Lowell Weicker, who held the seat as a Republican. So why would anyone imagine that he was ever represented a meaningful strain of Democratic thought? Well, there's this…

Five years after running as the vice-presidential nominee on the Democratic ticket and a year after his own presidential bid…

Yep, blame Al. He elevated Joe Lieberman from an annoying back bencher to an apparent Party leader, emboldened him to make his own run and created the media's go-to guy whenever the impulse to embarrass Democratic leader's with a dissenting quotation of two grips them.

The split has always been there, of course. That's just one reason that Joe Lieberman was so resoundingly rejected by the Democratic rank and file when he tried a national campaign under his own name. The only reason anyone might imagine otherwise would be Al Gore's foolhardy attempt to present himself as even more right-wing than his old boss Bill, almost as right wing as his Presidential opponent, Bob Dole. To some degree, Joe Lieberman is simply one of the less attractive by-products of Clintonian triangulation.

I'm all about the big tent. There's room for Joe Lieberman over there on the right side, just under the drip line. But he's not one of our leaders, and never has been, there's always been a split, and, I imagine, always will be.

Random?

Random barely begins to describe it...

Even Dozen Jug Band - Original Colossal Drag Rag
Pete Seeger - Turn, Turn, Turn
Canned Heat - Going Up The Country
New Lost City Ramblers - Franklin D. Roosevelt's Back Again
Luther Alison - Should I Wait
Sly & The Family Stone - Sing A Simple Song
Skip James - I'm So Glad
Rolling Stones - I Just Want To Make Love To You
Alison Krauss & Gillian Welch - I'll Fly Away
Bob Dylan - Queen Jane Approximately

Discussed lepers and crooks

It has been 882 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”

Rove. Treason. Betrayal.

A new one…

…finally, the lovely and talented Miss Audrey Hepcat having resigned herself to the knowledge that she'd have to sit still (or recline exhausted, perhaps) eventually…

My position is right…

…but it's not necessarily the best answer.

I'm in the Murtha/Pelosi camp on Iraq. Or perhaps they're in my camp, since I staked my pup tent on the withdrawal side of the line before they got there. The fact is, though, that while I find the arguments for other positions unpersuasive, they do exist, and reasonable opinions on the right course in Iraq can, and do, differ.

Of course, there are positons that are not only unpersuasive but irresponsible. Joe Lieberman, for instance, is not a part of the intra-party Democratic debate on Iraq. He's removed himself to the other side on this one.

Other Democrats do differ honestly, for a variety of reasons. Jim VandeHei and Shalaigh Murray used up a lot of Washington Post ink trying to make this a major source of intra-party strife, but that's a story we shouldn't buy into, regardless of where we are on the issue of withdrawal.

For instance, one of the voices cited in the WaPo piece is Rahm Emanuel, chairman of the Demcratic Congressional Campaign Committee. For him, consideration of the 'right' position has to include the political realities of hundreds of candidates, who represent a wide range of views themselves. Given that, I'd say this statement signifies a strong commitment to the Party's interests, not a harbinger of division.

"What I want Democrats to be discussing is what the president's policies have led to," Emanuel said. He added that once discussion turns to a formal timeline for troop withdrawals, "the how and when gets buried" and many voters take away only an impression that Democrats favor retreat."

Rahm's busy with what has to be job one, because the reality is that absent control of at least one legislative body, Democratic influence on policy is negligible, regardless of who wins the intra-party debate. It may well be that the people are ahead of the politicians on withdrawal, but not all the people, not everywhere, and Rahm's looking, as he should be, for a position that will serve all of our challengers.

For now, maybe Rep. Chet Edwards of Texas, who is, in my view, wrong on the policy question, has the best answer for the political one.

"The national press is playing up the fact that Democrats do not speak with one voice on Iraq. We should wear it as a badge of honor because it shows we are not playing a political line with war and peace."

Eyes on the prize.

From the 'things that make me go hmm' file...

If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?

I hope this is the truth...

...according to Zogby "Of the four percent in Egypt and nine percent in Saudi Arabia who said that 'President Bush's promotion of democracy and reform' was the most important factor determining their attitudes toward the U.S. …

...because I don't doubt that this is…

...over 80 percent said this effort worsened their view of the U.S."

It's really our best hope, isn't it? I mean, we should be encouraged to the degree they ignore him, because they seem to hate us more when they pay attention.

Hat tip to Holden at First Draft.

Every goddamn one of them...

I've often used the term 'destructionist' to describe a cabal of Republican leaders who seem determined to destroy any semblance of small-d democratic governance in the United States. But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe it's not just a cabal of leaders. Maybe it's every goddamn one of them.

House Republicans, in a party-line vote, rejected a Democratic-sponsored resolution Thursday denouncing a “culture of corruption exhibited by the Republican leadership.”

The resolution, introduced by Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California, would have specifically condemned the GOP majority’s practice of holding open close votes until wavering Republicans can be won over, sometimes with favors or threats.

All those 'good' Republicans - the 'moderates,' the 'mainstreamers,' whoever, whatever. Given the opportunity, they all rallied to cast a vote that essentially endorsed some of the most damaging attacks on the respect for order that is necessary in the operation of a democratic legislative body.

All the graft, bribery, profiteering, racketeering - none of it is as destructive in the long run as the Republican attack on the fundamental institutions of our constitutional goverment, from the idea of an independent judiciary to the operation of our legislative bodies with the same respect for the rights of the minority and the supremacy of law that's enshrined in the Constitution they're sworn to uphold.

And every goddamn one of them voted to sustain those attacks.

One more reason….

With great lawyers you have

It has been 881 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”

Rove. Treason. Betrayal.

I'm sick and tired of hearing things

From uptight, short-sighted, narrow-minded hypocritics
All I want is the truth
Just gimme some truth



October 9, 1940 - December 8, 1980

Me too, John. Me too.

What if…

…Hillary's telling the truth? After all, she's not a Republican.

Garance Franke-Ruta peeks past the conventional wisdom.

"...if you take the He's Just Not That Into You approach to her actions and look at what she's actually doing instead of constantly speculating, it actually looks like she may not be running for president, or at least not at this time. This, of course, would be perfectly consistent with what she and her staff constantly repeat -- that she is focused on her Senate race -- even though no one believes them."

I've been figuring against a Hillary run for some time, probably with an announcement about her concern over the threat the rigors of a national campaign might pose to Bill's health. There's just no way to keep him out of it, or to reign him in when it's underway, right?

Good a reason as any.

That's why I don't get too excited when she demonstrates her general antipathy to civil liberties with specific acts of blue dog idiocy.

After all, she's really just another conservative Democrat from the northeast, likely to face the fate of Joementum in a national intra-party contest.

He should know…

“When conservatism was a movement of ideas, it attracted oddballs; now that it’s a movement with power, it attracts sleazeballs.”

After all, David Brooks has been aboard for the whole ride. I mean, how do you know this and continue to toe the line? Unless you just naturally fit in...

Hat tip to Ron Chusid at the Democratic Daily.

And they've all liked your looks

It has been 880 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”

Rove. Treason. Betrayal.

A lesson…

…in fighting back, taught by Ohio State Rep. John Boccieri, D-Youngstown…

“When you call one veteran a coward, you call every veteran a coward,” he said on Sunday in front of Schmidt's Chillicothe Street office. “I was personally offended by that remark, and I don't think there was enough of an apology. I have a message for Jean Schmidt - you're not sending the right message to the troops.”

An insult to one is an injury to all. Don't mess with a band of brothers.

Truth…

…from Tim Tagaris at the DNC blog.

Theirs is a party with a public relations ploy in place of a military and diplomatic strategy in the Middle East.

To go with their public relations ploys in place of a jobs policy, an energy policy, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera...

You've been with the professors

It has been 879 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”

Rove. Treason. Betrayal.

Why, exactly?

This remark by Jazon Zengerle has been kicking around in my note cache for a couple of days...

Because it seems as if every day is "Whack John Kerry Day" here on The Plank...

Why would that be, Jason? What's the point? And what does it say about The New Republic these days? Of course, TNR is hardly the only contestant in the Kerry whacking sweepstakes. Kos, for instance, is a frequent player and lowgrade grumbling things like the frequency of JohnKerry.com email is widespread.

The particular offense in this case seems to be that a career politician with political ambitions used political contributions to his Political Action Committee in a way that might be viewed as being to his political advantage.

In other news, early today a large yellow object appeared in the east.

John Kerry may or may not be the next nominee of my Party. I may or may not want him to be, when the time comes to make that decision. In the meantime, there's no sense in denying that John Kerry is a leader of the Democratic Party, and in the eyes of many, the leader. After all, more Americans have voted for John Kerry than for any President in American history. He continues to raise millions of dollars, whether for his own PAC, Democratic candidates across the country or various relief efforts and progressive causes. There is no advantage to the Democratic Party, or to any Democratic campaign, to have John Kerry's stature, and thus his effectiveness on behalf of Democratic candidates and a Democratic agenda, diminished.

So why do it, over and over? Why treat it like a joke, or some point of perverse pride?

Why isn't, for instance, every day "Whack John McCain Day"?

The old question is still a good question.

Which side are you on?

Bulletin, bulletin, bulletin…

Breaking news on the Duke's dirty money front, from the PI via the NPI...

McMorris said in a news release late Monday she will give $1,000 received from Cunningham's political action committee to Second Harvest Inland Northwest, a Spokane-based food bank.

Reichert's chief of staff said Reichert will donate $1,000 to Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation, a nonprofit organization that helps seriously ill children and their families.

Fair enough. I missed Cathy McMorris when I first noticed this story. I can't be too condemnatory when someone atones before I accuse them, I suppose, but it's worth noting that our entire Republican Congressional delegation from the upper left has been a spoke in the wheel of corruption that Cunningham served as the hub of. Every one of them. Which leads to this question…

When will the Chairman of the House Ethics Committee do the right thing with the grand he took from the crook?

I mean, what's up, Doc?

You'd have to think…

…that lawnorder wingnuts of the 'stop the ACLU' variety must be very disturbed by Tom DeLay escaping prosecution for conspiracy to commit a crime on a mere technicality, wouldn't you?

Me, I'm fine with it. I'm all about the rights of the accused. If Tom DeLay's only conviction is on the more substantive crime of money laundering in fact, I'll be perfectly happy.

Heh.™

Holden, at First Draft.

Looks like Condi has intitiated another charm offensive, this time without the charm.

Good question.

No. Really excellent question from David Sirota.

Why Paul Hackett (D) won't go and finally take out an even weaker Rep. Jean Schmidt (R) is truly beyond comprehension … rather than see a nasty Democratic primary, why wouldn't he go run the race he just ran as a frontrunner and take that seat for his party?

I don't get it either, anymore than I get the level of blogospheric excitement over the guy. I think if he was the kind of guy that would take on the House race again, I could get a bit excited myelf, though.

Good question…

...in a comment from Craig R. Harmon. A couple of 'em, in fact.

Just wondering: what's your definition of Swiftboating? It should be something like "alledging (sic) that one's stated service to one's country wasn't exactly what it has been stated to have been", no?

To the second question, Craig, well, no.

But that's not fair, is it. You're as entitled to your definition of what swiftboating "should" be as I am, I suppose, so let's focus on your first question, and see if that doesn't largely deal the second as well. It's likely the term will be used around here more frequently with so many Iraq war vets lining up as Democratic Congressional candidates next year, so refining my thoughts on the matter should be a valuable exercise.

While the term derives from a specific series of attacks on John Kerry during the 2004 Presidential campaign, I look at is as a more generalized phenomenon. For instance, I would argue that Max Cleland was swiftboated before swiftboating was named. More recently, Paul Hackett was a victim of the phenomenon when Jean Schmidt suggested that he had exaggerated his service as a Marine Corps officer in Iraq, a suggestion which proved to be false.

In essence, I see swiftboating as an attack that involves a public official or candidate for public office who points toward their military service as a particular qualification for office. They may claim that their service demonstrates a particular commitment to, and sometimes an expertise in, national security measures, or that it demonstrates a particular qualities of leadership and judgment, especially in times of war or national emergency.

The second element would be an attacker who questions the service, or the commitment to national security, or the victim's leadership or soundness of judgement. The most egregious attacks are those from the victim's fellow veterans, although the attack may be broadcast, and even broadened, by sundry partisans (it's reported that Ann Coulter has called the validity of Rep. Murtha's Purple Hearts into question. I wouldn't know firsthand. I don't read fiction, especially GOPorn®.) I would argue that McCain is guilty of the latter form of attack.

The specific attacks that were levied against John Kerry don't define the limits of what I think of as swiftboating. Jack Murtha was twice wounded while leading Marines in combat. He has experienced the reality of war in a way that's unimaginable to John McCain, just as McCain has experienced capture and imprisonment in a way unfathomable to those who haven't shared the experience. McCain's suggestion that Murtha's judgement might be overwhelmed by visiting those similarly injured, or by attending services for those tragically lost, and thus abandon his resolve concerning the security of the United States demeans not only Murtha's judgment, but his service and his patriotism.

Jack Murtha's made of tougher stuff than that. John McCain knows it. Granted, he hasn't crawled in the gutter with the Coulters of the wingnut world, but his message, that Col. John Murtha, USMC (ret.) just can't handle the tough business of making war, is swiftboating, just the same.

So, back to the broader point, I think you draw too narrow a boundary around the term. The attacks come from many quarters, in many ways. In fairness, those in the Cheney quarter who question John McCain's capacity to judge the issue of torture because of the trauma of his own captivity are swiftboating John McCain, just as the Bush campaign first used the tactic against McCain himself in the 2000 primary campaign. Of course, to me this history only increases the shame McCain incurs by adoption of the tactic.

Those are my first thoughts, anyway. I hope they're at least responsive. Revision is always possible, usually probable...

To tax-deductible charity organizations

It has been 878 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”

Rove. Treason. Betrayal.

Soft-hearted peacenik?

MCCAIN: I think he has become too emotional and understandably so. He goes to funerals. He goes, as many of us do, out to Walter Reed, and he sees the price of war. And I think that that has had some effect on him…

Except that somewhere along the path he followed from buck private to bird colonel in the United States Marine Corps, Jack Murtha saw the price of war first hand. In fact, his twin Purple Hearts are evidence to most of us who have been there that Jack Murtha made his own substantial payment toward the price of war.

John McCain may be pursuing a subtle course of swiftboating Rep. Murtha, but it's swiftboating just the same.

And what can you say about a man who visits wounded soldiers at Walter Reed and is apparently unaffected by the experience? Maybe he's just emotionally drained from overexposure to his favorite fella…

Worst. President. Ever.

But don't take my word for it. Richard Reeves checks in with the experts...

The History News Network at George Mason University has just polled historians informally on the Bush record. Four hundred and fifteen, about a third of those contacted, answered -- maybe they were all crazed liberals -- making the project as unofficial as it was interesting. These were the results: 338 said they believed Bush was failing, while 77 said he was succeeding. Fifty said they thought he was the worst president ever. Worse than Buchanan.

…and ideology aside, their judgement is not without reason.

· He has taken the country into an unwinnable war and alienated friend and foe alike in the process;

· He is bankrupting the country with a combination of aggressive military spending and reduced taxation of the rich;

· He has deliberately and dangerously attacked separation of church and state;

· He has repeatedly "misled," to use a kind word, the American people on affairs domestic and foreign;

· He has proved to be incompetent in affairs domestic (New Orleans) and foreign ( Iraq and the battle against al-Qaida);

· He has sacrificed American employment (including the toleration of pension and benefit elimination) to increase overall productivity;

· He is ignorantly hostile to science and technological progress;

· He has tolerated or ignored one of the republic's oldest problems, corporate cheating in supplying the military in wartime.

An ignorant, incompetent liar and cheat? Sounds about right. Or you could just say…

To just give a check...

It has been 877 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”

Rove. Treason. Betrayal.

Truth.

Gilliard gets it.

Because the first thing the compent Iraqi Army would do is turn on the US like a rabid dog. So we send them out in pickups, while Marines laugh at them for doing so. The problem is that many of them speak some English and most of us don't speak any Arabic. They smile in our faces, they do their jobs, but they hate us. Too many Americans die in ambushes and traps for that to be untrue.

Think about the new Iraqi army. Think about how many of them have lost a brother, father or son to American firepower. Think of how many have seen their mother, sister or daughter insulted, even humiliated, by American troops resentful of their assignment and ignorant of local culture. Think of the scorn heaped on them by many of their countrymen for their collaboration with the occupiers, and the risks they face in missions assigned and designed by their American overseers.

This isn't a 'blame the troops' rant. Soldiers and Marines are sent to combat zones to break things and kill people. It's just the job, an ugly one, but sometimes a necessary one. Our troops are real good at it. Ideally, you break enough of your enemy's stuff, and kill enough of his people, to force him to submit.

In Iraq, the stuff we break is the property of our putative allies. The people we kill are their families and neighbors. Our troops don't understand their social and religious customs, and worse, I fear, often don't care. They don't need to. Their job is to break things and kill people.

We've sent the best of a generation into harm's way on a lie, pursuing shifting objectives for which their particular skills, no matter how expertly employed, are particularly unsuited. While rebuilding schools, opening hospitals, restoring power - all the humanitarian efforts for which, it's true, too little credit is given in some quarters - are admirable, they aren't intrinsic to the real military mission, and if the real military mission is successful, those side jobs will never be enough to secure the proverbial hearts and minds victory.

The better the US forces are at their jobs, the more impossible their mission becomes. That contradiction, terrible in its consequences, is the result of the incompetence and corruption of Republican political leadership, not the men and women who serve.

Still, in this, as in so many things, Pogo was prescient…

And now...

Anyway they already expect you...

It has been 876 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”

Rove. Treason. Betrayal.

Ten Random Answers…

…to the musical question, "What's next?"

The Beach Boys - Good Vibrations
The Lovin' Spoonful - Lovin' You
Joe Turner - Shake, Rattle & Roll
The Temptations - Runaway Child, Running Wild
The Chords - Sh Boom
The Dimensions - She's Boss
Gary Lewis & The Playboys - This Diamond Ring
The Daily Flash - Jack Of Diamonds
Roger Miller - You Don't Want My Love
Jesus & Mary Chain - I Love Rock 'N' Roll

Think what you will. I think I've got the only hard drive in captivity containing this particular set of tunes.

I just want to say...

I'll miss the game, or most of it probably, doing my annual Santa gig at my Lodge's charity breakfast, but my thoughts will be with the Black Knights.

Beat Navy!

From the Good Question file…

Matthew Gross...

If freedom is on the march, which way is it going?

But nobody has any respect

It has been 875 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action."

Rove. Treason. Betrayal.

Don't even think about sitting here.

The lovely and talented Miss Audrey Hepcat stakes her claim at the dinner table...

Credit where it's due…

Duke Cunningham may have his faults, but he isn't stingy. He passed his bribe money on quite generously, in fact, according to the list compiled by the DCCC. Some of it even found it's way into the upper left...

· $1,000 Dave Reichert
· $1,000 Doc Hastings

Yep, that's King County's previous top cop and the House Republican's Ethics chair. (House Republican's ethics? Contradiction in terms noted.)

When will they return the money from the GOP's latest poster boy for the culture of corruption?

A note…

…from Tom McMahon, DNC Executive Director...

...Unfortunately, at about 10 AM, we got two phone calls -- the first came from Lamar's Cincinnati office informing us that because of the content of the ad, they are refusing to continue to work with us. The second call came a few minutes later from Lamar's Huntington, West Virginia office, informing us that despite our signed contract, they were also rejecting our ad. This reversal came more than 24 hours after the DNC had signed a contract with Lamar, and 48 hours after they had accepted the artwork for the billboards you helped pay to put up.

By rejecting these ads, Lamar has limited your right to be heard.

DNC General Counsel Joseph Sandler and Chief Counsel Amanda LaForge have sounded off...

Rep. Schmidt's constituents are entitled to know what she is saying on the floor of the U.S. House and the DNC has a right to tell them. Lamar should either offer a credible reason for its efforts to censor the Democratic Party or else should live up to its contractual obligation and let the DNC put up its billboard and let the people of Rep. Schmidt's district hear the truth.

You can, too.

Batshit crazy.

Rummy...

"We were deeply concerned that there could be conflict among the various elements in that country after the end of major combat operations, and there hasn't been, and that's a good thing."

Nope, no factional strife in Iraq. Uh-uh.

Jeebus.

At least he's not the emperor…except maybe in his mind…

Small blessing.

I mean, at least she's not the Attorney General.

"...you can't allow somebody to commit the crime before you detain them."

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice

Or the Queen...

`Let the jury consider their verdict,' the King said, for about the twentieth time that day.

`No, no!' said the Queen. `Sentence first--verdict afterwards.'

But we're not safe until she's back at Stanford, because it's...

When someone attacks your imagination.

It has been 874 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”

Rove. Treason. Betrayal.

…or just slap some sense into the sumbitch.

I've put this blog at the service of the DCCC on occasion, enough to feel I have a little skin in the game. I've been generally happy with their efforts, and generally in agreement with their strategies. Of course, The Stakeholder is still the best institutional blog in the biz for my money.

When I noticed the D-Trip's John Lapp on a C-SPAN panel with his DSCC counterpart, Guy Cecil, against the forces of evil (i.e., the NRCC and NRSC), my ears naturally perked up. He did a fine job, hitting the culture of corruption theme hard, touting our veteran candidates, generally making the case for Democratic victory in '06. Hotline On Call has a brief recap here.

There's one thing, though, that I wish John, Cecil and anyone in a similar situation would do for me and for self-respecting Democrats everywhere. Next time one of those Republican twits starts to prattle on about "…the Democrat Party," stop him in his tracks and say "You're an educated person. You know the name of my Party and I take your deliberate misuse as a personal insult."

Do it to every one of them. Every time.

Or...nah, just tell 'em.

Sometimes folks get it right.

Harris poll

"Most Americans think big companies and political action committees have too much power in Washington..."

Ain't it the truth...

Really?

Cable News: Olbermann Beats Nancy Grace

Oh. In the ratings.

Headline of the day, though, to TalkLeft. Hey, it made me look.

I know, I know…

I should post something profound about Preznit 30something%'s address to the midshipmen (midshippersons?). But he just lies, doesn't he?



Yeah, he does.

Anyway, Think Progress has torn so many holes in his "plan" that there's not a lot left to say, and when there is, I'm sure they'll say that, too. I gotta get me a staff...

Truth?

"Maybe God puts you in the place where He thinks you could do the most good."

Former Rep. "Duke" Cunningham, 1991

Well, maybe. Of course, this isn't "the place" the Dukester had in mind…



But maybe.

To get you facts...

It has been 873 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”

Rove. Treason. Betrayal.

A significant truth…

…and the inevitable good question, via the Heretik at Big Brass Blog.

GEORGE BUSH BROKE Iraq. How much longer will we have to buy it?

Of course, we really won't ever "buy" it, exactly, will we? I mean, we're not even keeping up the payments, are we? Because he hasn't just broken Iraq, he's busted the US treasury.

Maybe my grandkids…or theirs…will pay off the loan.

It's the holiday season…

…and the DNC has greetings for Rep. Schmidt…

From this day forward, the Democratic Party will commit to putting up a "Shame on You" billboard in the home district of any Republican who attacks a veteran's service in order to score political points.

The first billboard will go up near Jean Schmidt's district office in Portsmouth, Ohio. The message: "Shame on You, Jean Schmidt: Stop Attacking Veterans. Keep Your Eye on the Ball -- We Need a Real Plan for Iraq".

Chip in to get it up!

American values…

... are Democratic values.

Chairman Dean...

The vast majority of Americans believe it is immoral to lets kids go hungry. We agree. The other party cuts school lunches (they just can’t seem to leave that one alone.)

Americans believe it is immoral that not everyone has some kind of health insurance. We agree.

The vast majority of Americans believe that government overreaching into personal and family decisions is wrong. We agree.

Americans believe that it is immoral to leave huge debts to our children and grandchildren. We agree.

Americans believe that using issues to divide us as a country to win elections is bad for America. We will restore America’s sense of community.

It's true, you know. Once again, the Democratic party is called on to do the patriotic thing and clean up the mess the corrupt Republican party has made with its free lunch policies and taxpayer rip-offs.

The truth is out there.

Harry Reid shares some...

"Simply staying the course is no longer an option, we must change the course. We can do better."

Hat tip to Armando at DK.

Among the lumberjacks...

It has been 872 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”

Rove. Treason. Betrayal.

My take on the "war vote…"

…is pretty much the same as William Raspberry's, but his analogy is better than anything I've come up with...

Except they didn't really vote us into war. As I recall, that vote authorizing the president to use force against Iraq was analogous to a trade union's strike vote. When negotiations bog down, union leaders often will ask their members for a resolution authorizing a strike. For members to refuse such a vote would cripple their own leadership. But to grant it is not the same as ending negotiations and launching a strike. It is a way of steeling the leadership, giving it a powerful negotiating tool.

Unfortunately, some within the Democratic Party itself have fallen into the Rovian trap and allowed some of our candidates and leaders to be described as having voted 'for the war.' It was the basis of the 'flip-flopper' assault launched against John Kerry by the Dean camp, a line that was happily picked up and expanded on by the Bushco™ slander syndicate.

We can't afford the luxury of division over who was where on what when. The stakes going forward are too high. Hardly a Democrat voted for this war, and with some of the Party's strongest hawks joining the chorus of critics it's time for general amnesty on the use of force resolution.

The question can't be "why then?" It has to be "What now?"

The answer seems obvious to me…



Hat tip to Mr. Natural at Left Edge North.

Truth…

...from Kos.

It's quite telling that our veteran statesmen like Hagel and Murtha are leading the charge to get our troops out of Iraq. Too many others are so busy trying to look and sound "tough" that they can't see that current policy is a disaster needlessly putting our troops in harms' way.

And credit where it's due. John Kerry belongs on that list of "our veteran statesmen" showing leadership on withdrawal, too.

Without prefix, without suffix...

Saw Mark Warner on the Charlie Rose show, and I just don't understand the appeal. His brand of neo-Clintonism promises to be as damaging to the fortunes of the Democratic Party, and particularly of its liberal wing, as the original.

The injuries the Democratic Party suffered during the era of old school Clintonism have yet to be fully healed. The last thing we need is a Democratic candidate who feels compelled to apologize for the Party's history, or who passes along the kind of accusations of Democratic weakness on national security that I usually associate with the most willfully misinformed wingnuts.

A Democrat without apology, please. Nothing less.

You have many contacts...

It has been 871 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”

Rove. Treason. Betrayal.

From the Good Question file.

Sy Hersh, via Greg at The Talent Show.

"But the issue is, is this president going to be capable of responding to reality?"

I'm afraid the right answer isn't good at all...

Meet the new boss.

Human rights abuses in Iraq are now as bad as they were under Saddam Hussein and are even in danger of eclipsing his record, according to the country's first Prime Minister after the fall of Saddam's regime.

'People are doing the same as [in] Saddam's time and worse,' Ayad Allawi told The Observer. 'It is an appropriate comparison. People are remembering the days of Saddam. These were the precise reasons that we fought Saddam and now we are seeing the same things.'

Anyone surprised?

Truth…

…from, unsurprisingly, digby.

...we ought to be shouting "once again, the Democratic party is called on to do the patriotic thing and clean up the mess the corrupt Republican party has made with its free lunch policies and taxpayer rip-offs."

If we don't say it, McCain will win on personality alone.

Yep.

Say it loud. Say it proud.

Say it everyone, everywhere.

...do you, Mister Jones?

It has been 870 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”

Rove. Treason. Betrayal.

Yep, Joe.

A big mistake.

2108

Damn.

Truth…

...long overdue.

"It was a mistake to assume the President would use the authority we gave him properly."

Joe Biden, on MTP.

No shit, Sherlock.

And now...

But you don't know what it is...

It has been 869 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”

Rove. Treason. Betrayal.

Random, sure...

…but not without a curious synchronosity or two…

John Lennon - Watching The Wheels
Jimmy Cliff - You Can Get If You Really Want
Dar Williams - I Won't Be Your Yoko Ono
Buck Owens - Foolin' Around
Jerry Lee Lewis - Breathless
Barbara Lewis - Baby, I'm Yours
Sam The Sham & The Pharaohs - Wooly Bully
The Byrds - You Ain't Goin' Nowhere
Pete Seeger - Talkin' Atom
Doobie Brothers - Long Train Runnin'

Newer and bluer…

…just in case you missed it almost everywhere else.




Respects to the Kos diarist who apparently created the map, apologies for the lost link.

How 'bout that.

Sometimes keeping up a blog is, well, sometimes it's a pain in the ass. There are payoffs, though, sometimes surprising ones.

I've been reading and enjoying Clark Humphrey's MISCmedia stuff for approximately ever, and I've learned a thing or three along the way. The idea that he peeks in here now and then, well, it just tickles the dickens out of me.

And Clark, if you see this, thanks for the link. I'm thankful you're there, too.

"People screamed."

Presumably not with Xmas glee. The P-I reports...

Extra police were called to a Wal-Mart store in the south Seattle suburb of Renton to help control shoppers who dislocated counters as they rushed into the electronics department after doors opened Friday morning, hunting a limited supply of laptop computers.

There were some officers already at the store, but others were called to help.

At the South Hill Wal-Mart in Puyallup, near Tacoma, a crowd of hundreds was getting edgy by 4:45 a.m. When the doors opened 15 minutes later, shoppers converged on a pile of $378 laptops. People screamed, one witness said.

The General reminds us - there's a reason for the season...

Because something is happening here...

It has been 868 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”

Rove. Treason. Betrayal.

Ol' Blue Eyes is back...

...as the lovely and talented Miss Audrey Hepcat does her very best Sinatra, tux and all...

Oh yeah...

...those longer, (presumably) thoughtful posts. Blame it on tryptophane and Irish coffee. Anyway, hope your Thanksgiving was as enjoyable as mine (very).

It's off to work I go for a short shift at the pub, so blogging will have to wait until this evening. Maybe the lovely and talented Miss Audrey Hepcat will get within camera range. Maybe something worthwhile will show up to fill the post-holiday news hole. Maybe I'll actually write something longer and (possibly) thoughtful.

Meanwhile, use this as an open thread, poke around the archives or check out some of my fine blogroll friends.

In any event, ya'll come back. I will.

As he hands you a bone.

It has been 867 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”

Rove. Treason. Betrayal.

Truth…

As he so often does, Krugman has some to offer...

The fact is that we're not going to stay in Iraq until we achieve victory, whatever that means in this context. At most, we'll stay until the American military can take no more.

****

So the question isn't whether things will be ugly after American forces leave Iraq. They probably will. The question, instead, is whether it makes sense to keep the war going for another year or two, which is all the time we realistically have.

Topplebush has it all.

Thankful...

...for family, football and the feast.

Lots more, too, including each and every one of you who has logged in here.

Hopeful for a little time, post family, football and feast, to write and post a couple of longer, (hopefully) thoughtful pieces that have been kicking around the back of my brain lately...

And you say, "Impossible"

It has been 866 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”

Rove. Treason. Betrayal.

It's not just Bushco™.

Sure, there's always a passel of prevarication at the White House, but they're hardly alone. Oliver surveys the scene and reports dishonesty from Republican Congresscritters, Republican Party organizations and wingnut news operations. There's even a Supreme Court Justice in the mix.

They just lie. It's what they do, and it's one of the reasons that…

Oh yeah…

…the blog. Caught up in pre-holiday preparations - carpet cleaning, a quick wipe of tub and bowl, etc. - while the Brilliant and Beautiful Bride of Upper Left gets started on the feast. Of course, not much has changed in the last 24. As most people know, they still just lie.

More specific lies and a truth or two to come...

...To be such a freak?"

It has been 865 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”

Rove. Treason. Betrayal.

They just lie.

{A] spokeswoman for the colonel, Danny R. Bubp, said Ms. Schmidt had misconstrued their conversation.

While Mr. Bubp, a Republican member of the Ohio House of Representatives, opposes a quick withdrawal for forces, "he did not mention Congressman Murtha by name nor did he mean to disparage Congressman Murtha," said Karen Tabor, his spokeswoman. "He feels as though the words that Congresswoman Schmidt chose did not represent their conversation."

No surprise, really, that Jean Schmidt is a liar. No surprise that she'd stoop to demeaning the service of a combat veteran, either. She did it to Paul Hackett, too.

Least surprising of all is that Col. Bubp, USMC, would stand by Col. Murtha, USMC.

Semper Fi is more than a bumper sticker slogan for those that have been there.

Hat tip to The Carpetbagger Report

Not just a good question…

…but in a certain sense the only question that matters.

What is victory in Iraq? When will we know we've won?

Eugene Robinson in the WaPo

Like I've said before, if Preznit GoingOn20something% wants to declare victory and bring the troops home, I won't squabble…

…much…

Oh, hell, I'd bitch like crazy, but that's just me. He should do it anyway.


Hat tip to Atrios.

And says, "How does it feel...

It has been 864 days since Karl Rove violated his obligations under Standard Form 312 without the White House taking “corrective action.”

Rove. Treason. Betrayal.

The truth.

"There are any number of simple empirical arguments that may be made in defense of the presidential candidacy of John Kerry. Among them are these..."

The truth expanded.

While you read…

…what Shake's Sis has to say about a certain Senator she loathes "...with a fury not an iota less intense than the sun itself," ask yourself this…



…where's his other hand?

Pass it on.

I've seen it before, and you probably have too, but it's making the rounds again. Gilliard got it from a Kos diarist, who may have gotten from wherever I saw it first, or wherever you did.

At any rate, it's worth passing on again, maybe now more than ever...

Service in the Armed Forces

Democrats:

* Richard Gephardt: Air National Guard, 1965-71.
* David Bonior: Staff Sgt., Air Force 1968-72.
* Tom Daschle: 1st Lt., Air Force SAC 1969-72.
* Al Gore: enlisted Aug. 1969; sent to Vietnam Jan. 1971 as an army journalist in
20th Engineer Brigade.
* Bob Kerrey: Lt. j.g. Navy 1966-69; Medal of Honor, Vietnam.
* Daniel Inouye: Army 1943-47; Medal of Honor, WWII.
* John Kerry: Lt., Navy 1966-70; Silver Star, Bronze Star with Combat V,Purple
Hearts.
* Charles Rangel: Staff Sgt., Army 1948-52; Bronze Star, Korea.
* Max Cleland: Captain, Army 1965-68; Silver Star & Bronze Star, Vietnam. Paraplegic from war injuries. Served in Congress.
* Ted Kennedy: Army, 1951-53.
* Tom Harkin: Lt., Navy, 1962-67; Naval Reserve, 1968-74.
* Jack Reed: Army Ranger, 1971-1979; Captain, Army Reserve 1979-91.
* Fritz Hollings: Army officer in WWII; Bronze Star and seven campaign ribbons.
* Leonard Boswell: Lt. Col., Army 1956-76; Vietnam, DFCs, Bronze Stars,and Soldier's Medal.
* Pete Peterson: Air Force Captain, POW. Purple Heart, Silver Star and Legion of Merit.
* Mike Thompson: Staff sergeant, 173rd Airborne, Purple Heart.
* Bill McBride: Candidate for Fla. Governor. Marine in Vietnam; Bronze Star with Combat V.
* Gray Davis: Army Captain in Vietnam, Bronze Star.
* Pete Stark: Air Force 1955-57
* Chuck Robb: Vietnam
* Howell Heflin: Silver Star
* George McGovern: Silver Star & DFC during WWII.
* Bill Clinton: Did not serve. Student deferments. Entered draft but received #311.
* Jimmy Carter: Seven years in the Navy.
* Walter Mondale: Army 1951-1953
* John Glenn: WWII and Korea; six DFCs and AirMedal with 18 Clusters.
* Tom Lantos: Served in Hungarian underground in WWII. Saved by Raoul Wallenberg.

Republicans

* Dick Cheney: did not serve. Several deferments, the last by marriage.
* Dennis Hastert: did not serve.
* Tom Delay: did not serve.
* Roy Blunt: did not serve.
* Bill Frist: did not serve.
* Mitch McConnell: did not serve.
* Rick Santorum: did not serve.
* Trent Lott: did not serve.
* John Ashcroft: did not serve. Seven deferments to teach business.
* Jeb Bush: did not serve.
* Karl Rove: did not serve.
* Saxby Chambliss: did not serve. "Bad knee." (The man who attacked Max Cleland's patriotism.)
* Paul Wolfowitz: did not serve.
* Vin Weber: did not serve.
* Richard Perle: did not serve.
* Douglas Feith: did not serve.
* Eliot Abrams: did not serve.
* Richard Shelby: did not serve.
* Jon! Kyl: did not serve.
* Tim Hutchison: did not serve.
* Christopher Cox: did not serve.
* Newt Gingrich: did not serve.
* Don Rumsfeld: served in Navy (1954-57) as flight instructor.
* George W. Bush: failed to complete his six-year National Guard; failed to show up
* B-1 Bob Dornan: enlisted after fighting was over in Korea.
* Phil Gramm: did not serve.
* John McCain: Vietnam POW, Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross.
* Dana Rohrabacher: did not serve.
* John M. McHugh: did not serve.
* JC Watts: did not serve.
* Jack Kemp: did not serve. "Knee problem, " although continued in NFL for 8 years as quarterback.
* Dan Quayle: Journalism unit of the Indiana National Guard.
* Rudy Giuliani: did not serve.
* George Pataki: did not serve.
* Spencer Abraham: did not serve.
* John Engler: did not serve.
* Lindsey Graham: National Guard lawyer.
* Arnold Schwarzenegger: AWOL from Austrian army base.

Pundits & Preachers

* Sean Hannity: did not serve.
* Rush Limbaugh: did not serve
* Bill O'Reilly: did not serve.
* Michael Savage: did not serve.
* George Will: did not serve.
* Chris Matthews: did not serve.
* Paul Gigot: did not serve.
* Bill Bennett: did not serve.
* Pat Buchanan: did not serve.
* John Wayne: did not serve.
* Bill Kristol: did not serve.
* Kenneth Starr: did not serve.
* Antonin Scalia: did not serve.
* Clarence Thomas: did not serve.
* Ralph Reed: did not serve.
* Michael Medved: did not serve.