RUINED

Sadr offers Maliki a cease fire. Out of weakness or out of strength? (Looks like strength to me)

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/30/134727/964

http://firedoglake.com/2008/03/30/what-we-learned-in-iraq-this-week/

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/the_latest_on_basra.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_03/013431.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_03/013436.php

Guess who brokered the deal? Guess who is the real political force in Iraq right now? (pssst – not us!)

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/32055.html

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_03/013437.php

http://www.juancole.com/2008/03/iran-brokers-call-for-ceasefire-bush.html

Every prediction, every estimate, every promise made by the Bush gang about their grotty little adventure in Iraq has proven to be disastrously wrong – and yet people still take their predictions and promises seriously. Why?

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2008_03_30_archive.html#8592003967550321190

Forever

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/ensuring-permanence
[Spencer Ackerman] This week the United States suffered its 4,000th military death in Iraq. That number will surely increase, as violence is now exploding across the country. Iraqi forces are clashing with the powerful Shiite militia of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. As if to offer denial in the face of disaster -- and commit the U.S. to losing many more soldiers and Marines -- the Bush administration has begun negotiations with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to keep U.S. troops in Iraq for years, even decades, after President George W. Bush leaves office. . . .

Afghanistan, the “successful” conflict

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/30/AR2008033001835.html
President Bush heads to Europe today to try to rescue the faltering mission in Afghanistan, and key NATO allies plan to meet his demands for more forces with modest troop increases, though not by as much as U.S. military officers say is needed to put down a stubborn Taliban insurgency . . .

Boo hoo

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/03/30/bush-booed-nationals/
President Bush delivered the first pitch tonight at the new Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. to a resounding chorus of boos. After being announced, Bush was showered by boos as he strode to the mound. Even after Bush delivered the pitch, the jeering did not let up until the President disappeared from the field. . .

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/opening_day.php
[Matt Yglesias] You've got to wonder why the Nationals asked Bush to throw out the first pitch at the new stadium -- it was pretty much inevitable that he'd get booed by a DC crowd. And rightly so, the man deserves to be booed. But the fan's deserve a first pitch thrower who's not so boo-worthy. Couldn't they have gotten Mayor Fenty to open the Nats' season and sent Bush to a minor league game in Utah or some other place where he's still got a good approval rating?

Our stubborn and petulant President

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/30/opinion/30sun1.html
[NYT] President Bush likes to talk about not being swayed by public opinion, especially the views of Democrats. At a news conference last December, he said the most important criterion for picking a president is “whether or not somebody’s got a sound set of principles from which they will not deviate as they make decisions.”

Unhappily for the country, we have learned that Mr. Bush has no idea when standing on principle becomes blind stubbornness and then destructive obsession . . .

More: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/356865_annmcfeattersonline30.html

http://firedoglake.com/2008/03/31/to-the-real-victor-belong-the-spoils/

Who needs multiple points of view when you know you’re always right?

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2008_03_30_archive.html#7557513661270671993
[NYT] The Council of Economic Advisers is down to one adviser. . .

The Bush gang’s illegal wiretapping. How bad was it? So bad that they couldn’t even get their toadies over at the Dept of Justice to okay it

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/03/30/not-even-john-yoo-approved-of-the-illegal-wiretap-program/
[Emptywheel] [W]hen the illegal wiretap program started in 2001, it had no specific legal authorization--not even from the compliant John Yoo!

More: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/30/washington/30nsa.html

The magnitude of their crimes

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/30/191326/404
[McJoan] Warrantless wiretapping, retroactive immunity, Operation Total Information Awareness, passport file breaches, a toothless Oversight Operations Board stacked with cronies. Each a head on the monster that is the Bush administration's approach to intelligence . . . [read on]

Good riddance!

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/31/washington/31jack.html
Housing Secretary Alphonso R. Jackson is expected to resign Monday . . .

Background: http://www.first-draft.com/2008/03/alphonso-jackso.html

Mortgaging our future

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15057.html
[Steve Benen] The Republican response to the mortgage crisis has been, shall we say, a bit of a joke. John McCain has led the way for the party with a plan that is both ineffective and surprisingly callous. . .

I’m in the wrong line of work

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/29/countrywide.ceo/index.html
The two top executives at struggling Countrywide Financial Corp., the nation's largest mortgage lender, are slated to receive a combined $19 million in payouts . . .

Life in Bush’s Big Booming Economy: food stamp use is at an all-tine high

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/31/us/31foodstamps.html

All of this faux outrage and demands for apologies and disavowal of allies during the campaign is getting pretty silly

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15056.html

Oh, what John McCain doesn’t know. It’s amazing to see, sometimes

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/30/94541/7973

McCain’s deep hypocrisy about campaign finance

http://firedoglake.com/2008/03/30/no-john-mccain-cant-just-quit/


Party identification numbers: better and better news for the Dems

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=4860

Even GOP Senators won’t donate to their own Senate campaign committee

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/3/30/202452/123
[Jonathan Singer] The National Republican Senatorial Committee is in a whole lot of trouble these days. The committee is had terrible difficulty recruiting strong challengers for the incumbent Democratic Senators up for reelection in 2008, as a result of which -- along with impressive Democratic recruitment and a raft of GOP retirements -- the NRSC appears destined to play defense rather than offense this cycle. To make matters worse, the NRSC has less than half the cash-on-hand of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee -- a $17 million disadvantage, to be precise -- making it all the more difficult for the GOP to limit its potential losses. A lot of the disparity in the relative sizes of the two committees' campaign accounts comes from contributions, or the lack thereof, from incumbents. . . . [read on]


This is a really, really dumb idea: the kind of phony “even-handedness” that actually enshrines the interests of one campaign over that of the other

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/3/30/154558/767
ABCNews' Mary Bruce Reports: Clinton supporter Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell backed this morning Former New York Governor Mario Cuomo's proposal to guarantee a "dream ticket". Cuomo has suggested Obama and Clinton agree now that whoever does not win the nomination will become the vice presidential candidate regardless of the outcome. . .

In the end, it won’t be Obama or party leaders or the DNC that drives Clinton out of the race – it will be when her money dries up

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0308/9259.html

If the Michigan and Florida cases go to the DNC Credentials Committee, here’s what’s likely to happen – views from the Obama AND Clinton points of view

Pro-Obama: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/186374.php

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/threats_3.php

Pro-Clinton: http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/3/30/125326/775

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/3/30/183834/429

Bonus item: McSame

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/30/0824/16533/624/486513

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:29 AM

 
CIVIL WAR

In Iraq: the Maliki government started a fight with the Sadrists that it now can’t handle alone – and US troops are back fighting in the middle of a civil war

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/29/11169/2653
[Devilstower] It's reprehensible enough when an American president puts soldiers in harm's way to make a political point. But the GOP has placed American soldiers at the whim of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, turning our forces into pawns between political rivals. . . .

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_03/013429.php
[Kevin Drum] Did Nouri al-Maliki really launch the Basra offensive without telling us beforehand? . . . [read on]

More: http://www.juancole.com/2008/03/mahdi-army-unsubdued-iran-asks-for-end.html

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15052.html

http://firedoglake.com/2008/03/29/a-defining-moment-in-the-history-of-a-free-iraq/

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_03/013428.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_03/013430.php
[Kevin Drum] [W]hat happens if the Mahdi Army beats the government forces and wins the Battle of Basra? The Brits are hunkered down at the airport and have no intention of helping out. American forces are busy in Baghdad and can't afford to come south. And the Iraqi 14th Division is the best one Maliki has at his disposal. He either wins with what he's got, or he doesn't.

And if he doesn't? What then? Does Sistani intervene? Does Maliki's government collapse? Does the American military take over in Basra by scavenging up troops from northern Iraq? Does Muqtada al-Sadr abandon his cease-fire and start up a real civil war? Or does everything go back to the status quo ante, but with the Sadrists in an even better position to win the October elections and take formal control over most of the south?

Beats me. But things are not going well for Maliki at the moment, and a loss in Basra would make it crystal clear just how shaky his position is, how weak and factional the Iraqi security forces are, and how little commitment there is on any side to genuine political reconciliation.

McCain’s War

http://www.slate.com/id/2187760
John McCain said the Basra assault was a sign of the Iraqi government's strength . . .

Watch: http://www.americablog.com/2008/03/following-bushs-lead-mccain-lets-bin.html

Scary thought: McCain’s economic policies might be even worse than his war policies

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15050.html

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/phil_gramm_hero_of_deregulatio.php

Thanks to Peg K: one little problem with Cheney’s excuse that US troops are all volunteers (as if that makes their deaths any less tragic). Under “stop loss” and other policies that extend tours and slow down troop rotations, it isn’t quite accurate to call them “volunteers” any more . . .

The Bush gang says their RNC email accounts aren’t subject to archiving laws because they were only used for “political” and not “official” business (never mind the fact that in a Rovean world there is no such distinction to begin with). So the DNC has sued to get those emails. The court says . . .

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/03/29/the-dnc-email-ruling/
[Politico] A federal judge has handed the White House a legal victory in a battle with the Democratic National Committee over e-mails related to U.S. attorney firings.

District Judge Ellen Huvelle of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled Thursday that the DNC does not have a right under the Freedom of Information Act to 68 pages of e-mails sent between White House and Justice Department officials simply because the White House e-mail traffic was transmitted on a server controlled by the Republican National Committee. . .

In dismissing the DNC lawsuit, Huvelle ruled that it was "based on the false factual premise that White House officials only used their RNC e-mail accounts for political communications." . . .

[NB: Catch 22!]

Go, Steve!

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15047.html
OK, new rule for Democratic presidential campaigns: unhelpful praise for John McCain should, from now on, be off limits. . . . [read on]

More hints about Hillary stepping aside – Hillary responds, “No way”

http://www.newsweek.com/id/129399
Some Democrats terrified that their bloody primary campaign will doom them in November are floating a consolation prize for Hillary Clinton: governor of New York. . . .

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/186346.php
[Josh Marshall] Sen. Clinton gave a pretty astonishing interview to the Washington Post in which she appears to say she will stay in the race till the convention in August, where she will take her fight to the credentials committee to have the delegates from the non-sanctioned Michigan and Florida primaries seated.

The convention of course starts on August 25th, roughly five months from now. . . . [read on]

Still fighting: http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/3/29/20367/1798

Who won in Texas? We should find out today

http://www.americablog.com/2008/03/results-are-coming-in-from-texas-county.html

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/obama_camp_declares_victory_in.php

The future of Fox News

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15049.html

How the conservative elites define the “liberal elite”

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080414/alterman

Sunday talk show line-ups

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/29/AR2008032902199.html
FOX NEWS SUNDAY: Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen (D) and Sens. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.).

THIS WEEK (ABC): Pennsylvania Gov. Edward G. Rendell (D) and Sens. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) and Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.).

NEWSMAKERS (C-SPAN): Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.).

FACE THE NATION (CBS): New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D), Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter (D) and Democratic strategist Joe Trippi.

MEET THE PRESS (NBC): CIA Director Michael V. Hayden.

LATE EDITION (CNN): Heraldo Munoz, Chile's ambassador to the United Nations; Sens. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.) and Nelson; Democratic strategists James Carville and Jamal Simmons; and former State Department adviser Aaron Miller.

Bonus item: Dance, monkey, dance!




***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:16 AM

 
I HATE THESE PEOPLE

Dick Cheney: Don’t worry so much about those 4000 dead American soldiers. They were all volunteers

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2008_03_23_archive.html#2120071269859314332

Aside from his infamous “Where are those darn weapons of mass destruction?” routine at the Gridiron dinner (which was meant to be funny but was NOT), this might be the dumbest, most offensive speech Bush has given during his time as President

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15038.html
“Normalcy is returning back to Iraq.” [read on]

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/28/103517/824
“I thought [Basra] was a very positive moment in the development of a sovereign nation . . .” [read on]

More: http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/bush-is-right

Gridiron: http://gregmitchellwriter.blogspot.com/2008/03/when-bush-joked-about-missing-wmd.html

“Yeah, and this time the deadline is real. We really, really mean it this time. You’d better watch out. We’re really serious. Are you listening?”

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/186156.php
[Josh Marshall] As you've probably heard, our local boss in Iraq, Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki, sternly set forth a 72 hour deadline for members of the Mahdi Army to surrender their weapons or his government forces would take them by force, attack, whatever. Well, things haven't been going well and now he's extended the deadline . . .

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/how-about-30-days-best-3-out-of-5-by.html

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_03/013425.php

http://www.juancole.com/2008/03/police-mutiny-refuse-to-attack-sadrists.html

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/i-dont-wanna-do-your

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/03/28/BL2008032801916.html

Is everyone off the hook for the Haditha massacre?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/29/world/middleeast/29haditha.html

Another Bush admin crook and liar

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/ap_wh_aide_resigns.php

Join the list

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/todays_must_read_305.php
[Paul Kiel] It's official: no Bush Administration official, current or former, can hold a candle to EPA chief Stephen Johnson when it comes to chutzpah.

Alberto Gonzales, to be sure, would normally be stiff competition. But for all his lies, half-truths, and careful distortions, Alberto Gonzales somehow lacked something in the way of chutzpah. Maybe it was the way he sometimes stuttered out his answers, his un-recollections, and apologies. Johnson, by stark contrast, does the job with bureaucratic sangfroid. . . [read on]

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_03/013424.php

Siegelman Speaks

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/29/washington/28cnd-siegelman.htm
“[Rove’s] fingerprints are smeared all over the case. . . .”

More: http://firedoglake.com/2008/03/28/don-siegelman-speaks/

http://allspinzone.com/wp/2008/03/28/why-is-the-gop-concerned-about-donald-siegelman/

Michael Mukasey gets weepy calling for telecom immunity

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/03/28/listening-to-you-mukasey-plays-the-emotion-card/

Hey, Dems: how do you think your GOP colleagues are looking at the FISA issue?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/28/82946/2833
[John Boehner] “In the end, we believe they will cave." [read on]

“We need a real American President for the American America real Americans want” Any guesses about how McCain plans to run against Obama?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/28/16104/2943

More: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15042.html

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=4829

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/186117.php
[SW] Is the Onion running McCain's slogan department?

McCain = Bush 2.0

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/03/28/bush_mccain/index.html

Why does the press corps fawn over McCain?

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/theres-something-about-jj-by-digby-i.html

If you know these men, it tells you so much about the coming McCain campaign: GOP strategist Charlie Black to join the campaign, GOP strategist Mark McKinnon to drop out, saying he wants to be no part of what they’re going to do against Obama

http://www.americablog.com/2008/03/big-time-lobbyist-charlie-black-is.html

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/03/28/mckinnon_confirms_hell_leave_mccain_if_obama_wins.html

Look at the trend lines for Obama AFTER his race speech

http://www.americablog.com/2008/03/big-movement-towards-obama-in-gallup.html

Sorry to all my Hillary supporters, but the handwriting is on the wall

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/186162.php
[Josh Marshall] It appears that we may be seeing the first signs of the long predicted super delegate move against Sen. Clinton. . .

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/186196.php

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/losing_ground.php

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/28/75455/7603

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15043.html

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=4834

Howard Dean doesn’t want the fight to go to the convention (and that’s bad news for Hillary)

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/28/101151/266

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/dean_divisive_dem_race_harmful.php

The complex dilemma for women, and Hillary

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/generational-gender
[Anne Taylor Fleming] I have been privy to heated battles among women, joined a few myself, as we’ve wrestled with the Hillary factor. . .

Bonus item: A lapel pin

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/_/2008/03/lapel_pin_.php
NO IRAN
UNTIL YOU FINISH
YOUR IRAQ

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 8:30 AM

 
LEARNING FROM MISTAKES

Oh, man, how badly have they screwed this up?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/28/washington/28intel.html
When officers from the Central Intelligence Agency destroyed hundreds of hours of videotapes documenting harsh interrogations in 2005, they may have believed they were freeing the government and themselves from potentially serious legal trouble.

But nearly four months after the disclosure that the tapes were destroyed, the list of legal entanglements for the C.I.A., the Defense Department and other agencies is only growing longer. In addition to criminal and Congressional investigations of the tapes’ destruction, the government is fighting off challenges in several major terrorism cases and a raft of prisoners’ legal claims that it may have destroyed evidence. . . .

[NB: May have?????!??]

Over there . . .

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/27/144928/225
Today's headlines from Iraq . . .

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/27/8618/62248

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/27/19123/3783

http://www.juancole.com/2008/03/al-hayat-reports-in-arabic-that-iraqi.html

http://firedoglake.com/2008/03/27/going-out-with-a-bang/

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/186077.php

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/03/27/BL2008032701982.html

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15029.html
[Steve Benen] We’ve been dealing with this kind of argument for a little too long now. When conditions in Iraq deteriorate, the Bush administration says, “We can’t withdraw U.S. troops now; this is when they’re needed most.” When violence wanes, those same officials say, “We can’t withdraw U.S. troops now; their presence is helping bring some stability to Iraq.” We should stay the course if Iraq improves, and stay the course if Iraq worsens. Either way, we have to stay the course.

Evaluating the “surge” has become a similar game. The policy is a success, the administration insists, because violence and casualties have gone down. That the point of the policy was to create conditions for political progress, of which there’s been none, is apparently an inconvenience that is supposed to go unmentioned.

And now that violence in Basra is erupting, and the Mahdi ceasefire may be unraveling, you’ll never guess what the Bush gang believes now. Yep, this is proof of the success of the surge, too

Thank god we got rid of Hussein, huh?

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/032708a.html
A classified memo written by the top U.S. military officer in western Iraq reveals that a prison in downtown Fallujah is so overcrowded and dirty that it does not even meet basic “minimal levels of hygiene for human beings.” . . .

Dude. An insight into just how screwed up the Pentagon’s weapons procurement policies are. Meet AEY

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/todays_must_read_304.php

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/waxman_scheds_hearing_for_twen.php

More on the Bush gang’s desperate attempts to suppress the NYT story on their illegal wiretapping

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/bushs-goons-jennas-barhopping-and.html

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/03/27/bushco-rolled-out-a-parade-of-liars-to-squelch-lichtblau-risen-nyt/

I can’t WAIT to run this fall campaign on the platform of “Do you want four more years of Bush?”

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/03/27/graham-mccain-not-all-that-different-from-bush/
Graham: McCain not all that ‘different’ from Bush . . .

John McCain: is there ANY position that he’s taken in the past he isn’t willing to throw over now?

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15033.html

McCain and the age issue: it’s a big deal, and hasn’t even begun to be looked at

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15028.html

Here’s how to “fix” Social Security. Let’s get it done and then shut up about it

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/27/14118/5743
[Devilstower] A new report is out on the long term health of Social Security. There's little change from last year's numbers, with the fund staying solvent through 2041, and a change in employee payroll deduction of less than 1% required to make the system solvent for at least 75 years. . .

Yes, Mr. Obama, Ms. Clinton – let’s remember who the real enemy is

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/27/AR2008032703279.html
Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton yesterday sharply criticized presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain's views on the housing crisis, illustrating a wide gap between the two parties on how to fix the ailing economy. . . .

Time to stop the ugliness on all sides (thanks to Elaine for the link)

http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=2ae1b82c-0420-4e47-adba-4af115719d47

Good Hillary, more like this please

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/3/27/182453/787
[CNN] Clinton was asked by a questioner in the audience here what she would tell frustrated Democrats who might consider voting for McCain in the general election out of spite.

"Please think through this decision," Clinton said, laughing and emphasizing the word "please."

"It is not a wise decision for yourself or your country." . . .

"First of all, every time you have a vigorous contest like we are having in this primary election people get intense," she continued. "You know, Sen. Obama has intense support. I have intense support."

Clinton stressed that there are "significant" differences between her and Obama, but said "those differences pale to the differences between us and Sen. McCain."

"I intend to do everything I can to make sure we have a unified Democratic party," she said. "When this contest is over and we have a nominee, we're going to close ranks, we're going to be united."

And less like this, please

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/27/16231/3302

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/27/clinton-campaign-stands-b_n_93749.html

http://www.americablog.com/2008/03/hillary-threat-against-pelosi-and-dccc.html

Good (?) advice for Obama from Karl Rove

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/the_daily_five_healing_in_hd.php
[Marc Ambinder] Last night on Fox News, Karl Rove floated his own balloon containing a novel way Barack Obama could end up being the nominee. In June, after all the states have finished voting and assuming he has an earned delegate lead of about 100, he could say, you know what, let's go ahead and seat those delegations from Florida and Michigan based on their January primaries. Why the hell would he consider this, given that Clinton would close the delegate gap by more than 50 and would pull to near-even -- or even ahead of -- Obama in the popular vote? It would give the undecided superdelegates a reason to vote for Obama. It would show them that he's willing to put the party's interests above his own; it would be a gesture of mangnamity that Hillary Clinton could not match; it would display, at once, confidence and humility; it would give him a way to dominate the post-early-June news cycle. . .

Hmmm. . . . so Hillary has claimed that her primary wins in big states like California show her greater electability. It’s not a bad argument. But then what does she say about this?

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/politics/blog/2008/03/obama_stronger_than_clinton_in.html
[A] a new poll in the biggest of all states – California – shows Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois stronger than Clinton among likely voters there – with Obama favored by 9 percentage points over Republican Sen. John McCain.

If the election were held today, California's likely voters would favor Obama over McCain by 49 to 40 percent, according to the survey. A Clinton-McCain match-up is a virtual tie: 46 percent Clinton, 43 percent McCain. . . .

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/27/84229/3738

Who really won Texas?

http://www.americablog.com/2008/03/bill-clinton-reportedly-terrified-that.html

Will Canada finally come clean on their role in the NAFTA controversy?

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080327.wleaks27/BNStory/National/

The whole sad Clinton in Bosnia story, gathered together in one sequence

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/186006.php

Fox News stiffs the FCC

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/27/104153/396

Bonus item: Things I find on the Internets

http://www.needlenose.com/node/view/4615

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:11 AM

 
A FOOL OR A FRAUD?

McCain gives a “major speech” on foreign policy and the war. You might think he would avoid cribbing content from a speech he gave . . .in 2001!

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2008_03_23_archive.html#3209549277908808868

Like Bush, only not like Bush: http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/in_big_speech_mccain_supports.php

What B.S. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/26/AR2008032603208.html
McCain called himself a "realistic idealist" . . .

McCain’s Achilles heel: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/185678.php
[Josh Marshall] The Democrats are missing a big opportunity to strike early at John McCain's Achilles heel -- his lockstep support for an extremely unpopular war . . . [watch]

The best part of McCain’s speech

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/03/26/qotd/index.html
[John McCain, March 26, 2008] Only a fool or a fraud sentimentalizes the merciless reality of war.

[George Bush, March 13, 2008] I must say, I'm a little envious. If I were slightly younger and not employed here, I think it would be a fantastic experience to be on the front lines of helping this young democracy succeed.

It must be exciting for you ... in some ways romantic, in some ways, you know, confronting danger. You're really making history, and thanks.

[NB: Intentional? A coincidence? You decide]

By the way, the man CAN’T give a speech

http://www.americablog.com/2008/03/mccain-flounders-reads-teleprompter-on.html
[After his “major speech” on the economy] The CNN video attached to the article is well worth watching because McCain is just terrible. His eyes stay glued to the teleprompter, proving yet again that when it comes to the economy he has no idea what he's talking about. . . .

The best McCain can do is uncomfortably stumble through the teleprompter words and tell everyone what they already know. . .

What’s happening to Iraq? Why are the Sadrists rebelling now?

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/todays_must_read_303.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_03/013407.php

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/maliki-sadr-and-the

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/26/113424/126

http://www.juancole.com/2008/03/dozens-dead-in-basra-clashes-mahdi-army.html

Bad news

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080327/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_iraq
Behind the Pentagon's closed doors, U.S. military leaders told President Bush they are worried about the Iraq war's mounting strain on troops and their families . . .

Positively Orwellian

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hCRQcD2TIGwoSyU_ODCiwSBbdlMA
The Pentagon on Wednesday said an eruption of violence in southern Iraq, where US-backed government forces were battling Shiite militias, was a "by-product of the success of the surge." . . .

“Victory”? http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15020.html

We’re winning, the progress is great, victory is near, blah blah blah – but then why is the Bush gang signaling their intention to keep the latest NIE secret?

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/new_national_intelligence_esti.php

Gitmo’s chief prosecutor criticizes the tribunal regime, now quits. Will Congressional testimony be next?

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/former_gitmo_chief_prosecutor.php

Interesting: the inside story of how the NYT decided to run its story on warrantless surveillance, over the objections of the Bush gang

http://www.slate.com/id/2187498

Filing charges against McCain for campaign finance violations

http://firedoglake.com/2008/03/26/holding-mccain-accountable-for-campaign-finance-violations/

Shoring up his weak economic credentials: Rob Portman for McCain’s VP?

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/03/26/portman_seen_as_likely_mccain_veep.html

A McCain presidency? Think about it

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/john_mccain_/2008/03/how_bad_could_four_years_of_mccain_be_bad.php

The GOP in 2008: no money, and not much hope

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/26/1477/40618
[Kos] The NRCC actually lost ground. They had $6.4 million on hand at the end of January, but they clearly got drained in their futile effort to keep IL-14 in their hands. So House Dems have over a seven-fold lead over their hapless Republican counterparts. . . .

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/26/73130/2369

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15023.html

Chris Wallace now regrets his one moment of integrity on Fox News

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15021.html

Is Clinton TRYING to alienate every Democrat who isn’t already a supporter? She couldn’t be doing a much better job of it

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/in_letter_a_dozen_top_clinton.php
[Greg Sargent] Twenty top Hillary fundraisers and donors have sent a scathing private letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, chastising her for publicly saying that the super-delegates should support the winner of the pledged delegate count and demanding that she say that they should make an "independent" choice. . .

The letter also contains an explicit reference to the fact that these donors have contributed heavily to Democratic causes. . . The letter represents a significant ratcheting up of pressure from Hillary's big money people on a Democratic leader in a position to influence how the super-delegates make up their minds at the end of the primary. . .

http://www.americablog.com/2008/03/hillarys-top-donors-threaten-pelosi.html
[Joe Sudbay] Every time I think I don't want to write another post about the failed candidacy of Hillary Clinton, some new outrage arises. . . .

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/threats_2.php
[Matt Yglesias] I doubt threatening Nancy Pelosi to take their toys and go home if she doesn't urge superdelegates to do what they want is really the smartest way for Hillary Clinton supporters to try to win this election. It sort of re-enforces the case that the Clintons and their close allies are selfish people willing and ready to destroy the party in order to maintain control over it. . . .

How much do these donors love the Democratic Party?

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=4803
[Matt Stoller] The donors threatening Nancy Pelosi are listed below. I bolded the ones who contributed to Joe Lieberman's campaign for Senate in 2006, when he won reelection as an independent. . . .

Obama responds

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/obama_camp_hammers_clinton_don.php

Has the Clinton campaign now joined the “vast right-wing conspiracy”?

http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archive/2008/03/26/joining-the-conspiracy.aspx

Does Clinton really want her supporters to back McCain instead of Obama? She sure talks like it

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/185803.php

No end in sight

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15024.html
[Steve Benen] In case there was any doubt at all about Hillary Clinton’s intention to keep fighting for the Democratic nomination, as long as it takes, the senator made her objectives clear in an interview with Time’s Mark Halperin. . . .

Hillary’s people spin the delegate math – is this the best they can do?

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=4798

What will the superdelegates do?

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/03/26/820834.aspx
At a time when Sen. Hillary Clinton is increasingly relying on superdelegates to vault her to the Democratic Party's nomination, a handful of undecided and pledged superdelegates are coming forward to say her campaign's tactics in recent weeks are doing more harm than good. . .

More: http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=4808

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=4806

The Marines?

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/03/jarheads.html
In light of Tuzla-gate (catchy, no?), reporters are going over past statements by Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, (and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois) to see if others don't stand more rigorous examination.

One that may get renewed scrutiny is a story she told “Women in Military Service” in 1994 -- that shortly after the end of the Vietnam war, she looked into joining the Marines. . . . [read on]

Bonus item: The War Journals of Hillary Clinton, Vol. 1

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/26/213123/601
[On the front lines, in Tuzla] It was a simple mission, they had told me - get in, shake a few hands and mouth a few platitudes, get out. Simple. Yeah.

Things had started going wrong while we were still in the air and only gotten worse from there. So here we were, pinned down, choking on the acrid tang of cordite and the heady scent of human blood. The mission was even simpler now: survive. Whatever the cost, survive.

There was a grunt and a clatter of equipment as Sinbad threw himself down at my side. Sweat glistened on his bare arms, and I could see tendons contracting and relaxing as he squeezed off bursts from his M14 . . . [read on]

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:40 AM

 
INDEFENSIBLE

Looks like we’re about to see a big upsurge of violence in Iraq

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/yeah-the-end-of-the
[S]o much for the Sadrist ceasefire. According to The New York Times, Iraqi and U.S. (!) forces are now battling the Mahdi Army in Baghdad -- and around the country. And it's not even just the Sadrists who are fighting. . .

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2008/mar/20/surgecollapse
[I]s the US surge collapsing?

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/great-unraveling-by-dday-iraq-is.html
[Dday] Iraq is actually falling apart on all sides. There's a reason that Gen. Petraeus and Ryan Crocker are calling for a pause in drawing down troop levels. There's a reason that we'll keep 140,000-plus troops in the country through the rest of Bush's term. There are major fires burning on both sides of the sectarian divide. . . .

http://www.slate.com/id/2187360/
[Daniel Politi] Although Bush didn't announce a decision about troop levels yesterday, there seems to be little question that he will accept Petraeus' recommendation for a "pause" in troop withdrawals. But hold on one second, apparently the word pause has fallen out of favor. In a somewhat amusing trip through the Washington lexicon, the NYT notes that Petraeus specifically avoided using the term pause, apparently because the word has become too politically charged, and is now referring to it as a period of "consolidation and evaluation."

More: http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0326/p01s13-woiq.html

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15005.html

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/iraq_unprogressing.php

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=4778

http://firedoglake.com/2008/03/26/basra-maliki-al-sadr/

http://www.juancole.com/2008/03/sadrists-clash-with-iraqi-us-forces-in.html

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/the_occupation_of_iraq_/2008/03/same_as_the_old_boss.php

Keep whistlin’ boys

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/24/AR2008032402995.html
As the American military death toll in Iraq reached 4,000, President Bush conferred yesterday with top U.S. officials in Washington and in Baghdad and vowed in a public statement that the outcome of the war "will merit the sacrifice." . . .

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/in-long-run-by-digby-dick-cheney.html
[Dick Cheney] The president of the United States, under these circumstances, dealing with these kinds of issues, can't make decisions based on public opinion polls; he shouldn't. . . .

I had the experience, for example, of working for Jerry Ford, and I've never forgotten the travails he went through after he had been president for 30 days when he issued the pardon of former president Nixon. And there was consternation coast to coast...I know how much grief he took for that decision, and it may well have cost him the presidency in '76.

Thirty years later, nearly everybody would say it is exactly the right thing to do, that if he'd paid attention at the time to the polls he never would have done that. But he demonstrated, I think, great courage and great foresight, and the country was better off for what Jerry Ford did that day. And 30 years later, everybody recognized it.

And I have the same strong conviction the issues we're dealing with today -- the global war on terror, the war in Afghanistan and Iraq -- that all of the tough calls the president has had to make, that 30 years from now it will be clear that he made the right decisions . . .

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/185444.php
[David Kurtz] White House strategy on Iraq troop levels: Let's just play it vague and maybe no one will notice we're kicking this on to the next President. . . .

Remember this pretty chart?

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/todays_must_read_302.php
When Gen. David Petraeus made his big trip to Congress last September, he came armed with a full deck of slides. But none of them captured the U.S. strategy in Iraq quite like this one . . .

In it, you can see a neat illustration of how we’re going to eventually get out of Iraq. By July, as you can see above, the U.S. force level will return to the approximate size it was preceding the surge. After that, well... the question marks begin.

According to the chart, the date for the subsequent drawdown was to be determined this month (the "decision point"). But it won't be . . .

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_03/013396.php

“So?” 2.0

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/25/185156/785
[Dick Cheney, March 19] Q Let me go back to the Americans. Two-thirds of Americans say it's not worth fighting, and they're looking at the value gain versus the cost in American lives, certainly, and Iraqi lives.

THE VICE PRESIDENT: So?

[John McCain, March 25] We're succeeding. I don't care what anybody says.

More: http://firedoglake.com/2008/03/25/mccain-doesnt-care-what-the-american-people-think-about-iraq/

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080325/ap_on_el_pr/mccain_iraq;_ylt=Ahko65ETXzWc2O4sPqBY_XWs0NUE

Wheee! George’s Magic Adventure Ride

http://www.cnbc.com/id/23790091
Consumer confidence hit a five-year low in March. . . .

But McCain will fix it, yes he will, no worries

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/grown-up-in-charge-by-digby-john-mccain.html
[Digby] John McCain is going to solve our economic problems by convening a meeting of the nation's accountants.

He also thinks that people should be forced to put bigger down payments on their houses, but he also that mortgage lenders should be like GM after 9/11 and give zero down payment loans.

Oh, and the banks don't trust each other and now they don't trust the people. Prices go down as well as up. He will not allow dogma to override common sense.

He explained all this to us as if we were five year olds.

If you liked having the idiot George W. Bush in charge during a national security crisis, you're going to love having the moron John McCain in charge during an economic crisis. . . .

More: http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/25/mccains-housing-speech/

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/the_housing_bubble_/2008/03/dont_know_much_about_economics.php

Having a “McCain Moment”

http://firedoglake.com/2008/03/25/what-exactly-is-a-mccain-moment/

McCain continues to get a free ride from the media on his outside-the-mainstream religious supporters

http://mediamatters.org/items/200803250012

Justice Dept enters State Dept passport investigation

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/25/justice.passport/index.html

“Just helping”? http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/doj_prosecutors_helping_state.php

Voter suppression – it’s what the GOP does, and they don’t plan to stop

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/hans_spreads_the_gospel.php

Clinton attacks Obama personally on the Wright issue — and even her supporters say this is a big mistake

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15009.html

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/clinton_obamas_choice_was_wrig.php

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/hillary_wright_would_not_have.php

Watch: http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/hillary_leaving_wrights_church.php

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/185504.php

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/3/25/173555/554
“A grave mistake”. . . .

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/185548.php
[Josh Marshall] You can always tell when a scandal story has peaked and is ebbing, almost down to the minute: when your political opponents start to raise it explicitly against you. . . . [read on]

Changing the subject from Bosnia?

http://www.americablog.com/2008/03/clinton-tries-desperately-and-i-mean.html

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/03/25/clinton_wright/index.html

Don’t tell me that Ms. “Ready and Prepared at 3:00 a.m.” used this excuse!

http://www.americablog.com/2008/03/sleep-deprived-thats-latest-excuse-for.html
Clinton said she was "sleep-deprived" and "misspoke" when she said last week that she landed under sniper fire during a trip to Bosnia in 1996, when she was first lady. . . .

[NB: As Joe asks, does this explain the other instances where she said it (and wrote it in print) too?]

How far is Clinton prepared to go?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/25/17183/9824
The “Tonya Harding option”?

Debate, or no debate?

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/03/25/clinton_stalls_on_north_carolina_debate.html

Harry Reid promises the Obama/Clinton fight won’t get to the convention

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/campaign_2008_/2008/03/nice_if_true.php

How will it end?

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/03/25/updating_the_math.html

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=4769

More: http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/ending_the_war_2.php

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/24/us/politics/24web-nagourney.html

Bonus item: What can you say?

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MDA2YTFkMmUxNjliNDIzODU1MWQxZmY1MjdiMDE0OGM

More: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/185608.php

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/hrc_/2008/03/limits.php

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2008_03_23_archive.html#9136073196158922435
[Atrios] Remember back in junior high, when you had that friend that the bullies picked on all the time? And you defended that friend, who really never did all that much for you, which led to you getting your ass kicked a few times yourself? And then you got to high school and your friend joined up with the bullies? It's kind of like that.

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 5:17 AM

 
THE NUMBERS DON’T LIE

Okay, we all know the figure of 4000 dead in Bush’s war – but it’s actually even worse than that

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=4743
[Chris Bowers] Whenever one a terrible milestone is reach in Iraq for the number of American soldiers killed, such as 4,000 today, it is necessary to point out that the milestone being focused on was actually reached a long time ago. In addition to the 4,000 dead American soldiers, the following fatalities have also occurred in Iraq over the past five years:

* Journalists: 135 fatalities
* Non-American military coalition forces: 308 fatalities
* Non-military contractors: At least 1,001 fatalities as of June 30th, 2007
* Iraqi Security Forces: At least 8,057
* Iraqi military forces: During the invasion, between 15,000 and 45,000 Iraqi military personnel died.
* Civilians: Between 400,000 and 650,000 as of June 2006, and over 1,000,000 now.

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/03/24/97-of-us-deaths-in-iraq-came-after-mission-accomplished/
[AFP] At least 97 percent of the deaths occurred after US President George W. Bush announced the end of “major combat” in Iraq on May 1, 2003 . . .

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/24/113116/684
[Brandon Friedman] American forces have just experienced the most violent two-week period in Iraq since September 2007. . . .

Alice explains why 4000 isn’t enough: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/185319.php

Dick: http://firedoglake.com/2008/03/24/5-years-4000-dead-dick-cheney-so/
"The president carries the biggest burden, obviously," Cheney said. "He's the one who has to make the decision to commit young Americans, but we are fortunate to have a group of men and women, the all-volunteer force, who voluntarily put on the uniform and go in harm's way for the rest of us."

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/24/161545/622
[Devilstower] If any one sentence could hold all the contempt that the Republicans feel for the military and for military families, this is the one. Who is this war hardest on? Poor ol' George. . . .

More: http://firedoglake.com/2008/03/24/monday-late-nite-who-suffers-more-than-george-bush/

Victory is near!

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/25/washington/25policy.html
Troop levels in Iraq would remain nearly the same through 2008 as at any time during five years of war, under plans presented to President Bush on Monday by the senior American commander and the top American diplomat in Iraq . . .

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/31527.html
A cease-fire critical to the improved security situation in Iraq appeared to unravel Monday when a militia loyal to radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al Sadr began shutting down neighborhoods in west Baghdad and issuing demands of the central government.

Simultaneously, in the strategic southern port city of Basra, where Sadr's Mahdi militia is in control, the Iraqi government launched a crackdown in the face of warnings by Sadr's followers that they'll fight government forces if any Sadrists are detained. By 1 a.m. Arab satellite news channels reported clashes between the Mahdi Army and police in Basra.

The freeze on offensive activity by Sadr's Mahdi Army has been a major factor behind the recent drop in violence in Iraq, and there were fears that the confrontation that's erupted in Baghdad and Basra could end the lull in attacks, assassinations, kidnappings and bombings. . . .

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/todays_must_read_301.php
"We don't have any Thomas Jeffersons here."

That's a Marine captain in The Washington Post's front page story this morning on the state of affairs in Fallujah. You're not likely to ever read a more sobering narrative about Iraq . . . [read on]

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/23/AR2008032301990_pf.html

How we got here

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/the_daily_muck_535.php
David Kay, the man who headed the Iraq Survey Group and the Bush administration charged with finding WMD in Iraq after the U.S. invasion, believes that the U.S. intelligence efforts were the biggest “fiasco of my lifetime.” . . .

More: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,542888,00.html

“Bush’s War”

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/bushs-war

The old songs are the best songs, aren’t they?

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14995.html
[Karl Rove, in the WSJ] One out of five is not a majority. Democrats should keep that simple fact of political life in mind as they pursue the White House.

For a party whose presidential candidates pledge they’ll remove U.S. troops from Iraq immediately upon taking office — without regard to conditions on the ground or the consequences to America’s security — a late February Gallup Poll was bad news. The Obama/Clinton vow to pull out of Iraq immediately appears to be the position of less than one-fifth of the voters.

Only 18% of those surveyed by Gallup agreed U.S. troops should be withdrawn “on a timetable as soon as possible.” And only 20% felt the surge was making things worse in Iraq. Twice as many respondents felt the surge was making conditions better. . . .

Just a year ago it was almost universally accepted that Iraq would wreck the GOP chances in November. Now the issue may pose a threat to the Democratic efforts to gain power. For while the American people are acknowledging the positive impact of the surge, Democratic leaders are not. . . . [read on]

Worse than Bush?

http://www.americanprogressaction.org/progressreport/2008/03/pr20080324/
In 2001, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) opposed the first round of President Bush's tax cuts, saying they were "generous tax relief to the wealthiest individuals of our country at the expense of lower- and middle-income American taxpayers." But now, as he runs for president, McCain openly mocks rhetoric that talks about "who the, quote, 'wealthy' are in America." In fact, McCain has offered massive tax cuts, mostly for corporations, that are as costly as Bush's tax cuts and even more regressive. . . . [read on]

More: http://www.discourse.net/archives/2008/03/the_mccain_plan_really_is_more_wars.html
Why We Should Fear a McCain Presidency. . . .

Oh tish, tish: what are a few campaign finance laws between friends?

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/03/24/mccain_breaks_spending_limits/
John McCain has officially broken the limits imposed by the presidential public financing system, according to spending reports filed last week by the campaign. . . .

More misery for the GOP

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0308/9175.html
At a time when the GOP presidential nominee will need more assistance than ever, a number of state Republican parties are struggling through troubled times, suffering from internal strife, poor fundraising, onerous debt, scandal or voting trends that are conspiring to relegate the local branches of the party to near-irrelevance. . . . [read on]

http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?parm1=5&docID=news-000002691761
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), which helps fund the campaigns of Democrats who are running for the U.S. House, reported raising $6.2 million in February. That compared to $4.6 million raised by the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), the partisan counterpart to the DCCC. . .

The DCCC began March with $38 million left to spend and had $763,000 in debts, compared to $5.1 million for the NRCC, which reported $1.9 million in debts.

The NRCC expected to have had a bit more at the end. But the House Republican organization revised its cash-on-hand total downward by about $740,000, following the results of a preliminary investigation that alleged financial mismanagement by former NRCC treasurer Christopher Ward.

Given their money disadvantage, Republican officials also may wish they had taken back some of the $1.1 million they invested in February on the campaign for March 8 special election in Illinois’ 14th District. Democrat Bill Foster went on to win that contest by 52.5 percent to 47.5 percent over Republican Jim Oberweis — an outcome widely described as a setback and even an embarrassment to the GOP, as the Republican-leaning district had long been held by Republican J. Dennis Hastert, the former House Speaker, who resigned from Congress last November. . . .

More: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14997.html

How they play it

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/republican_majority_committee.php
[Paul Kiel] This election is sure to see its share of attack groups like Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. But while most of the attention will be on the billionaire-backed attack organizations, there are also sure to be a number of smaller groups operating under the radar.

A group called the Republican Majority Campaign is a good example. . . [read on]

Can Obama win a truly realigning election?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/25/us/politics/25obama.html

“The Obama Doctrine”

http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=the_obama_doctrine
Barack Obama is offering the most sweeping liberal foreign-policy critique we've heard from a serious presidential contender in decades. But will voters buy it? . . .

Clinton’s call to arms on the economy

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/hillary_we_need_a_commanderinc.php
[Eric Kleefeld] Hillary Clinton gave her big speech on the mortgage crisis today in Philadelphia, laying out various proposals for restructuring debts, an important issue to many blue-collar voters in this key primary — a state where a loss would effectively end her candidacy, and where even no less than a resounding win would be necessary for her to be credible for the nomination.

Beyond that, however, it was in many ways about laying out her establishment credibility with Pennsylvania voters — she was accompanied by such leading Pennsylvania figures as Gov. Ed Rendell and Philly Mayor Michael Nutter — and contrasting herself against Barack Obama on the experience issue, without ever naming him directly.

Key quote:

So we need a president who can restore our confidence, a president who is ready to confront complex economic problems with comprehensive solutions, a president who will act at the first signs of trouble, working with experts to identify the problem, with agencies to adapt regulations, with Congress to pass necessary legislation, working to prevent crises rather than just reacting too little too late. We need a president who is ready on day one to be Commander-in-Chief of our economy.

Why the Clinton/Obama fight has gotten so nasty

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/185234.php
[Josh Marshall] Perhaps this is obvious. But it seems to me that the real reason the Democratic primary race has gone from heated to vicious (at least among the candidates' supporters, if not the candidates themselves) is precisely because we're in this awkward seven week hiatus in which there are no actual elections being held. Actual voting, rightly, has served as the closest thing to a referee this on-going contest has. So each side would have it at for a week or so. And then we'd have some voting. And despite all the efforts to spin the results on both sides they'd still have an undeniable effect. After South Carolina, Hillary seriously rejiggered her approach. After Ohio and Texas, Obama's camp decided that certain attacks against them had stuck. All the acrimony and spin notwithstanding, the regular input of voters had the effect of keeping the campaigns on something like a common narrative. Without them, we are stuck with the same, unchanging stubborn set of facts: Obama has a relatively narrow lead which, under the DNC's rules, is nevertheless extremely difficult to overcome. And each side is left cycling over into more and more heated iterations of the same arguments, like a cascade into mounting levels of mania, at least among supporters if not always the campaigns themselves. . . . [read on]

More: http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/a_response_to_allen_and_vandeh.php

Clinton’s supporters try more and more ways to redefine the rules to fit her situation

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/03/24/bayh_proposes_another_measure_to_pick_nominee.html
[Taegan Goddard] Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN), who endorsed Sen. Hillary Clinton for president, "proposed another gauge Sunday by which superdelegates might judge whether to support Mrs. Clinton or Senator Barack Obama," the New York Times reports. "He suggested that they consider the electoral votes of the states that each of them has won."

Said Bayh: "So who carried the states with the most Electoral College votes is an important factor to consider because ultimately, that’s how we choose the president of the United States."

Clinton supporters like this metric because it's the only one proposed so far that currently shows her ahead. . . [read on]

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/185225.php
[Josh Marshall] There were other options that seemed to go even further down the rabbit hole. But it did lead me to have a kind of epiphany about just where the Clinton side is at this point -- gaming out different retroactive rule changes to see who would have won the popular vote if the nomination process were operating under a different set of rules. I imagine playing poker around a table with friends. Player A has a Straight Flush; Player B has four of a kind. Then B says well, sure, if you're counting straights, but if we were adding up the numbers rather than going by straights winning, I'd have won. . . . [read on]

It’s getting kind of silly: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/185389.php
"And also remember that pledged delegates in most states are not pledged," said Clinton. "You know, there is no requirement that anybody vote for anybody. They’re just like super-delegates." . . . [read on]

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/hillary_pledged_delegates_just.php
[Eric Kleefeld] Hillary previously hinted at such a strategy about two weeks ago, while over a month ago the campaign had to deny reports that they would attempt such a thing.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/25/012/39464
Five Ways Clinton Leads Obama . . .
[Cameron Fredman] Average Highest Elevation . . . [read on!]

More: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14992.html

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/3/24/134327/431

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/24/132651/184

Clinton says she “misspoke” in characterizing her Bosnia visit in 1996 as an act of heroism. Fair enough, people make mistakes – but there’s one little problem: she’s done it repeatedly, and she’s done it in print

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/hillary_campaign_she_misspoke.php

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/03/24/clinton_bosnia/index.html
[Tommy Vietor, Obama spokesman] “The Clinton campaign claimed today that Senator Clinton 'misspoke' when she described a supposedly harrowing landing in Tuzla, Bosnia as First Lady in 1996 -- despite the fact that the claim appeared in her prepared remarks. . . .

Senator Clinton said that a planned welcoming ceremony was cancelled because they needed to avoid sniper fire, but news footage shows that she was met by a small child who read her a poem. Contrary to the latest spin from the Clinton campaign, when you make a false claim that's in your prepared remarks, it's not misspeaking, it's misleading, and it's part of a troubling pattern of Senator Clinton inflating her foreign policy experience." . . .

More: http://www.americablog.com/2008/03/well-clinton-brought-this-on-herself.html

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/outrages_of_the_day.php

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/misspoke.php

It gets worse

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/185322.php
[Josh Marshall] And there's even more. Sen. Clinton has said on a number of occasions that she was "the first, you know, high- profile American to go into Bosnia after the peace accords were signed because we wanted to show that the United States was 100 percent behind the agreement."

But this also seems to incorrect. . . [read on]

Hillary’s Bill problem (again)

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/bill_clinton_reemerges_as_majo.php

Bonus item: The socialists are coming, the socialists are coming!

http://www.charlotte.com/630/story/540430.html
Rep. Virginia Foxx says she believes God will judge people for sins of omission as well as commission. . .

"You should fear for your country," Foxx told a gathering of members of the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce.

The Democratic majority in Congress has become "bolder and bolder" . . .

"I am trying to scare you to death," she said. . . .

"I think what the Democrats are doing in terms of raising taxes and adopting the budget they are adopting should scare people in this country," said Foxx. . . . "We are going down the wrong road. We are spending money we don't have. We are raising taxes on hard-working Americans, and I'm very concerned about the direction they are taking this country." . . .

"I believe they are socialists, and if you look at their platforms you will see their plan is to take money from part of the population and give it to other people in the population," she said later, referring to their universal health care plans.

"I don't know the dictionary definition of socialism, but most people would see that as socialism." . . .

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 5:15 AM

 
McCAIN RULES

4000 Americans dead

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/23/AR2008032302124.html

http://www.juancole.com/2008/03/4000-us-troops-dead-nearly-60-dead-in.html
All hell broke loose again in Iraq on Sunday . . .

McCain’s election mantra: All of Bush’s same policies, just executed more effectively

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/23/AR2008032301550.html
Standing along the edge of the Gaza Strip and flanked by a hero of the Israeli military, Sen. John McCain last week invoked the tough rhetoric of President Bush, warning of Iranian influence in the Middle East and cautioning against negotiations with terrorists. . .

Throughout a week-long trip that took him to more than a dozen meetings with leaders in five countries, McCain walked a fine line on Iraq and other issues as the all-but-certain Republican nominee confronted perhaps the central dilemma of his presidential campaign -- the question of what role Bush and the legacy of the past seven years will play in his campaign for the White House. . .

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14988.html
[Steve Benen] When it comes to taxes, John McCain wants to make Bush’s cuts permanent, and slash the corporate income-tax rate from 35% to 25%. In all, according to the McCain campaign and the Congressional Budget Office, McCain’s plan would cost an additional $400 billion a year (at a time of already huge budget deficits), and at the same time, the senator is also vowing to balance the federal budget by the end of his first term. . . .

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/185148.php
[Josh Marshall] John McCain's primary economics advisor, former Sen. Phil Gramm (R), is probably as responsible for setting the stage for this crisis as anyone in the country through his legislative role in the deregulation of the financial services industry.

Also, highly inspiring is the fact that another of McCain's advisors is Kevin Hassett, he of "Dow 36,000" fame, sort of an avatar of boom market snake oil, if you will. . .

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_03/013388.php

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/campaign_2008_/2008/03/the_real_mccain.php

They call it “opposition research.” It used to be called “journalism”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/22/AR2008032202218.html
With Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) so busy beating up on each other, it has fallen to other Democrats to do opposition research on the presumptive GOP nominee, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.). That somebody would be the Center for American Progress Action Fund. . .

A quartet of CAP fellows -- Robert Gordon, Peter Harbage, James Kvaal and Jeanne Lambrew -- analyzed in detail on Friday McCain's tax and health-care proposals. . . . McCain's tax plan, Gordon and Kvaal said, would cost more than $2 trillion over the next decade, delivering 58 percent of its benefits to the top 1 percent of taxpayers and 4 percent of benefits to the bottom 60 percent of taxpayers.

Lambrew and Harbage questioned whether McCain's health-care agenda would increase Americans' access to insurance, arguing that it resembles President Bush's approach and would undermine individuals' ability to obtain high-quality coverage. . .

The media’s McCain Rules

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/03/23/chuck-todd-admits-media-gave-mccain-a-pass-over-iranal-qaeda-gaffe-and-would-have-attacked-the-dems/
[John Amato] On Meet the Press this morning, NBC’s Chuck Todd got honest and told us what we already know, but what the media rarely likes to confess. McCain has a lot in the bank with the media and they will help him out of his problems. You’re all aware of McCain’s linking al-Qaeda to Iran all last week—which is not happening because of the Sunni/Shia difference. He had to get bailed out by his Lieberman posse and his FOX friend Britt Hume, but the real story given to us by Chuck Todd is that the media would have attacked either of the two Democratic nominees for days on end over the same gaffe. . . .

More: http://mediamatters.org/items/200803230002

http://mediamatters.org/items/200803230003

More McCain Rules

http://firedoglake.com/2008/03/23/mccain-is-now-a-campaign-finance-criminal/
According to the latest Federal Election Commission report, John McCain has now spent $58.4 million dollars. McCain applied for public financing, and according to FEC chairman David Mason (in a letter to McCain), he can't withdraw without permission of the FEC. So he is now legally in violation of campaign finance law.

But as Media Matters points out, you'd never know it from reading AP writer Jim Kuhnhenn . .

Is anybody seriously going to look into these, beyond he said/she said?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/24/us/politics/24mccain.html
What Mr. McCain almost never mentions are two extraordinary moments in his political past that are at odds with the candidate of the present: His discussions in 2001 with Democrats about leaving the Republican Party, and his conversations in 2004 with Senator John Kerry about becoming Mr. Kerry’s running mate on the Democratic presidential ticket.

There are wildly divergent versions of both episodes, depending on whether Democrats or Mr. McCain and his advisers are telling the story. . . .

More: http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/3/23/225030/227

I ask this only of our “fair and balanced” media – that they apply exactly the same scrutiny to McCain’s religious supporters and associates that they do to Obama’s (What? You don’t think they’ll do that?)

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_03/013386.php
[Kevin Drum] Over the past week, thousands of column inches in major newspapers around the country have been devoted to Jeremiah Wright and his relationship with Barack Obama. For comparison, how many have been devoted over the past month to pastor John Hagee and his endorsement of John McCain? . . . [read on]

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14986.html

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_03/013270.php

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/03/17/wright/

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/03/23/various_items/index.html

http://mediamatters.org/items/200803230004

Jeremiah Wright, in context

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14989.html

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/wright-and-wrong-by-digby-note-this-is.html

Devilstower nails it: let’s be quite clear about what’s behind the incessant hammering on the Wright controversy by people whose own history of race-baiting is well-known. For other journalists who want to encourage and enable these slanders, they should know whose side they're on

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/23/8655/70291

Ugly, ugly stuff: http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/03/23/race/index.html

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=4727

I suppose it’s a striking coincidence that the head of one of the contracting firms whose low-level employees were involved with the passport snooping scandal is an Obama advisor. But until there is a shred of evidence otherwise, I don’t want to hear anything about a supposed conspiracy or plot

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14984.html

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/185056.php

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/3/23/112937/792

I’ve stayed out of the vagaries of the Michigan/Florida primary issue. But here is a typical piece bemoaning the supposed “disenfranchisement” of the voters in those two states by the DNC, with a big assist from Obama. Let me make two very simple points: (1) No one forced those states to schedule their primaries in violation of DNC rules in the first place, full-knowing that they would be penalized for it; (2) Having done so, there isn’t any obligation on anyone’s part to provide them a chance to “do-over” their votes WITH SOMEONE ELSE PAYING FOR IT. It’s a shame for the voters in those states – but let’s be crystal clear about why their votes aren’t being counted. And, please, let’s be finished with hearing about Obama’s “anti-democratic” strategy – which is just as bogus an accusation as the tendentious claim that caucuses are “less democratic” than primaries. No one has done more this year to EXPAND participation in the democratic process

(Besides, everybody knows that eventually, in some way, shape, or form, they will be represented at the convention.)

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/3/23/163248/213

More: http://www.americablog.com/2008/03/effort-by-rich-clinton-supporters-to.html

Obama: TWO MILLION DONORS

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0308/Closing_on_2_million_donors_this_year.html

I just don’t get it. Why, why, WHY is the Clinton camp quoting Kathleen Parker sympathetically? First of all, she’s an enemy of everything Hillary says she stands for. Second of all, she’s an idiot

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/03/clinton-campa-1.html

Jim Carville calling Bill Richardson a “Judas” gives away one of the least attractive qualities of the Clinton camp – its “us or them” bunker mentality

http://firedoglake.com/2008/03/23/somebody-needs-an-anger-management-class/

It’s a good year to be a Democrat . . .

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/3/23/153627/062
[Pew] The balance of party identification in the American electorate now favors the Democratic Party by a decidedly larger margin than in either of the two previous presidential election cycles. . .

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/03/23/economy_favors_democrats.html
Bloomberg says current economic conditions give Democrats a better chance of winning the White House in this fall's general election. . .

More: http://cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?parm1=5&docID=news-000002691747

. . . and a rough year to be a Republican

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/3/23/153627/062
[Pew] The share of voters who call themselves Republicans has declined by six points since 2004, and represents, on an annualized basis, the lowest percentage of self-identified Republican voters in 16 years of polling by the Center. . .

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/23/184434/095
The DCCC has released its list of targeted races for the 2008 cycle, and it is manna from heaven for horserace junkies, and really all Democrats who want to feel optimistic about this fall.

They have targeted 59 Republican-held seats up to this point . . .

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=4726
[Roll Call] As the National Republican Congressional Committee last week released the first details of the accounting scandal involving former Treasurer Christopher Ward, the committee's top official also asserted for the first time that the debt left over from the 2006 elections was actually in the range of $19 million.

NRCC Chairman Tom Cole (Okla.) had previously said that the committee's debt from last cycle was about $16 million, even though the highest amount reported to the Federal Election Commission was $14.5 million. . .

Ouch! Connecticut newspaper unendorses Lieberman

http://firedoglake.com/2008/03/23/connecticut-newspaper-apologizes-for-lieberman-endorsement/
When The Day endorsed Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman for re-election in November 2006 it was supporting a candidate who demonstrated a history of pragmatic leadership and a willingness to seek bipartisan solutions.

We wonder what happened to that senator. . . . [read on]

Here’s the fact: the Bush gang used non-government servers to hide their email – and what they couldn’t hide they have destroyed. This is a violation of the Presidential Records Act. They have continually defied court orders on this matter. They are flouting the law and it’s time to file charges

http://harpers.org/archive/2008/03/hbc-90002713

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/3/23/20747/9762

The Real ID Act

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/23/14321/1510

The kind of people they are

http://firedoglake.com/2008/03/23/sunday-late-nite-export-the-gays/
[TeddySanFran] We who warn stridently that the right-wing's private army squads might sometime come for any of us in the night are often mocked: "That can't happen here!" Somehow, we are reassured, American values wouldn't allow it.

But who defends values loudest in America? Who do the media go to when looking for values validation? Who does the White House invite in for chats? Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council.

His ayatollah for policy, Peter Sprigg, makes very clear in the interview above, yes: it can happen here. And these folks -- not a group on the margins, but deeply embedded at the White House and in the GOP -- want the gays gone from America. . . .

Meet Sean Hannity’s pal, Hal Turner

http://www.newshounds.us/2008/03/20/hannity_denies_past_association_with_white_supremacist_but_evidence_suggests_otherwise.php

http://www.newshounds.us/2008/03/23/neo_naziwhite_supremacist_hal_turner_confirms_friendship_and_kinship_with_sean_hannity.php

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/23/sean-hannity-confronted-o_n_92961.html

Bonus item: Vote McCain! (the younger, braver version)

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/2008/03/john_mccain_is/

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:40 AM

 
NOT THIS TIME

I am still pondering the news from yesterday, and the noticeable shift in coverage of the Obama/Clinton contest. What happened? After all, even after his remarkable speech on race, it seemed that Obama’s candidacy was in real trouble. The press seemed unwilling or unable to let the Wright issue go, even though it was obvious to any observer this side of Fox News and Rush Limbaugh that it was blatantly unfair to hold Obama responsible for his minister’s comments, however objectionable they might have been. And even if you think Obama’s distancing response wasn’t made quickly enough, or decisively enough, the relentless, rabid, vicious repetition of the same tape loops, the same commentary, over and over and over again on every network suggests, to any objective observer, a bit of an . . . err . . . . overreaction fueled by . . . well, how to say it politely . . . racial paranoia.

I think this has made a lot of people in the press uncomfortable, as evidenced most clearly by Chris Wallace calling out his own network for its excessive, wall-to-wall coverage of what it knows to be a racially explosive and polarizing narrative. I think it pushed Bill Richardson finally over the fence of committing to Obama. I think it didn’t help Clinton that her campaign was seen as exploiting the issue behind the scenes, if not publicly. And Geraldine Ferraro’s continued race-baiting made it all worse.

I think this combination of factors (alongside Clinton’s money problems and ongoing staff dysfunctions) has made it suddenly okay to say out loud what has been quite evident for a while – that Clinton’s shortfall in delegates and popular votes is nearly insurmountable, and that given that shortfall no scenario of superdelegates rushing to her side is even remotely possible unless Obama suffers a complete and total meltdown. Clinton’s people may have convinced themselves that these are viable possibilities – but there is no reason why the press has to drink that Kool-Aid any longer.

Meanwhile, as my gym buddy Bob points out, perhaps the least remarked-upon aspect of Obama’s speech was his invocation, “Not this time . . .” Not this time will we let the forces of racial polarization drive a wedge between white voters and voters of color. Not this time will the politics of cynicism prevail over a politics of positive message. Not this time will playing demographic segments off one another to forge a bare voting majority win over a message of common purpose and mutual respect. Not this time will the politics of personal destruction “swiftboat” a popular candidate by elevating a fabricated controversy into the decisive issue of a campaign.

Even at the time this struck me as an overly optimistic assessment of the state of American politics, the electorate, and the way the press likes to cover these contests. And yet, isn’t this what we say we want? Don’t we say we are sick of the low-brow, take-no-prisoners way in which campaigns are being run? Wasn’t this what the post-mortems of 2000 and 2004 were all about? Wasn’t this what prompted the soul-searching of the media, from “welfare moms” to Willie Horton to the present, when they realized after the fact that they got played into helping racially divisive strategies to succeed – and that from Colson to Nofziger to Atwater to DeLay to Rove to the present day, Republicans have relied on their ability to insinuate these kinds of messages into the media's campaign coverage? Perhaps, if the reporters and pundits are still capable of shame, if their imagined sense of their own integrity means anything to them at all, they can still be reached by these calls to conscience.

Maybe “Not this time.”

Gallup poll shows a solid bounce-back after Obama’s race speech (psst – don’t tell Fox News, they’re determined to ignore it)

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/2008/03/reversal_of_the/
[NB: Obama down 42/49 before the speech; climbs back to a 48/45 lead after it]

More: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14983.html

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14976.html

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_03/013382.php

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/3/22/133758/048

According to Jim Carville, Bill Richardson is Judas. So I guess that makes Hillary. . . .?

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2008_03_16_archive.html#7881623399184411139

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14977.html

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/name_in_vain.php

I can understand some Clinton supporters refusing to vote for Obama if he wins the nomination over her – but voting FOR McCain?

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/184975.php

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/185040.php

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/185046.php

A very strange campaign

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/insulting_your_voters.php
[Matt Yglesias] A very strange, repeated trope of the Clinton 2008 campaign has been to attack not Obama but groups of people perceived as likely to vote for Obama. Sometimes this takes the form of dismissing whole states . . . [read on]

Questions raised about Hillary’s 1996 trip to Bosnia, and her account of it

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14981.html

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/22/211412/654

The prince of snark: http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/hillary_clinton_in_bosnia.php

Looking ahead to the remaining primaries – a pro-Clinton analysis

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/3/22/123727/461

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/3/22/10202/1360

Clinton’s best-case scenario?

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/185037.php

Doing the delegate math (not so pro-Clinton)

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=4703

Hard numbers

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/22/15416/3084

Mark Kleiman declares a renewed “cease fire” with Clinton

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/campaign_2008_/2008/03/another_ceasefire.php
There are more than enough good things to say about Obama and more than enough bad things to say about McCain to keep us all busy. The more the Clintonites and their affiliated websites and surrogates — HillaryIs44, Taylor Marsh, Paul Krugman, Joe Wilson — sound like Republicans, attacking Obama's character even at the expense of saying nice things about McCain, the more the Obama team should sound like Democrats, ignoring their now-defeated intra-party rival and looking forward to November. . . .

Going after John McCain: an oppo research brief

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/3/22/175538/954

McCain refuses to sign on to Jim Webb’s GI Bill

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/22/1064/03868

McCain on the economy: he wants to DOUBLE Bush’s tax cuts

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/03/22/mccain-econ-adviser-mccains-tax-plan-will-make-deficits-expand/

Or, you can go the snide ridicule approach (watch – this one’s fun)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcdLO3jKkPo&NR=1

McCain on the environment

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14982.html

The GOP in crisis

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/22/71235/4159

Serious trouble in Iraq

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/22/world/middleeast/22policy.html
Senior military commanders have presented the Bush administration with proposals to put off any plans for further reductions of troops in Iraq at least until the end of summer. . . .

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/03/21/the-guardian-the-surge-may-be-on-the-verge-of-collapse/
[Logan Murphy] Our occupation of Iraq and the fragile surge has been all but blacked out in the U.S. media, but thankfully, the foreign press is still out there trying to bring the truth to the rest of the world. A big part of the surge was the Awakening Project. The goal of the project was to pay Sunni and former insurgents to fight al Qaeda and drive them out of their towns. The result is 80,000 angry men and a surge on the brink of collapse.

Despite spending some $12 billion dollars a month in Iraq, the Bush administration has failed to pay most of the Awakening members and their patience is all but gone. Thousands of men have given up and walked away from the program . . . [read on]

“So?”

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/22/123942/085

Some headlines exceed even my capacity for ironic scorn

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/03/22/cheney.travel.ap/index.html
Cheney presses for Mideast peace . . .

Stalinesque: Admiral Fallon – forced out, then declared a non-person

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hcWJu9bbzrJZ7uNHjvMn0BuTGqHQD8VI238G0
The Pentagon on Friday ruled out including Adm. William Fallon as a witness before Congress when the top U.S. military and diplomatic officials in Baghdad testify next month on the way ahead in Iraq. . . .

More examples of Soviet information control: WH web site crows about Bush’s economy one day, then suddenly it all disappears when the numbers turn sour

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/03/21/white-house-scrubs-web-site-on-the-economy/
“President Bush’s actions are moving our economy forward” . . .

Sean Hannity thinks it’s just terrible for Barack Obama to blame the Bush administration for allowing State Dept employees to rifle through his passport information. So unfair, isn’t it? Hannity manages to make Newt Gingrich look sane

http://mediamatters.org/items/200803210002
HANNITY: All right, just one point on this breaking news tonight. There’s a couple things that we do know that Bill Gertz has put into the Washington Times, and one is that Secretary of State Condi Rice is saying that the security measures that are used to monitor the records of high-profile Americans worked properly in detecting the breaches and that these were contract employees. Seems to me Barack Obama is looking for anything to distract from the story of Jeremiah Wright. Your initial thoughts?

GINGRICH: Well, no. No, my first thoughts are to be totally with Senator Obama on this. I think your records are confidential.

HANNITY: Oh, I agree with that.

GINGRICH: The government has an absolute obligation to keep them. I suspect these people have broken a law. I don’t think it’s enough just to fire them. And frankly, if the first breakthrough was back in January, how can they say that the security system worked? Why didn’t they — go ahead.

HANNITY: The only thing I might disagree a little bit on — because immediately they make it into a political statement by blaming the administration. . . .

Sunday talk show line-ups

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/22/AR2008032201935.html
FOX NEWS SUNDAY: New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D), Pennsylvania Gov. Edward G. Rendell (D), former Treasury secretary Lawrence H. Summers and R. Glenn Hubbard, former White House Council of Economic Advisers chairman.

THIS WEEK (ABC): Sens. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.).

FACE THE NATION (CBS): Sens. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.).

MEET THE PRESS (NBC): All-media roundtable.

LATE EDITION (CNN): Sens. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Evan Bayh (D-Ind.); Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano (D); Iraqi national security adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie; Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist; and Laura D'Andrea Tyson, former Clinton administration economic adviser.

Bonus item: Wow, I don’t know what to say, just “wow.” Go watch it

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/halleluja.php
"Raining McCain "

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2008_03_16_archive.html#9197121312102259305
I believe the YouTube era begins the age when it is impossible to tell parody/irony/performance art from completely sincere product.

Extra bonus item: Morphologo

http://www.needlenose.com/node/view/4607

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:46 AM

 
BELIEVE, AND MAKE IT TRUE

This shouldn’t surprise us any more: Bush continues to make claims that he knows are contradicted by his own intelligence services – why? Because he BELIEVES them to be true

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/20/AR2008032002284.html
President Bush said Thursday that Iran has declared that it wants to be a nuclear power with a weapon to "destroy people," including others in the Middle East, contradicting the judgments of a recent U.S. intelligence estimate. . . .

More: http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20080320/wl_mcclatchy/2885810

We now know that State Dept snoops violated the privacy of all three major candidates for President – STARTING LAST SUMMER. But we still don’t know who did it, or why

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2008/03/clinton_mccain_passport_record.php

http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/007197.html

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/whos-watching-you-by-digby.html

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/184817.php
[Josh Marshall] [T]he State Department seems much more solicitous of the privacy of these fired rule-breakers than the privacy of the president candidate(s) being snooped. State is still refusing to release the names of the snoopers or the contractors they worked for. . . .

Who are the contractors? http://deepbackground.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/03/21/794799.aspx

More on how the “investigation” is being handled

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/about_that_investigation.php

Henry Waxman isn’t satisfied

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/waxman_queries_state_dept_on_o.php
House sleuth Henry Waxman (D-CA) has questions. . .

From Owen, a loyal reader

"We believe this was out of imprudent curiosity, so we are taking steps to reassure ourselves that that is, in fact, the case," [State Dept spokesman Sean] McCormack said. . .

Isn't this their line on everything? “We believe that Saddam had WMD's and we are taking steps to reassure ourselves that is in fact the case.”

“We at the Justice Dept did nothing inappropriate in the firing of judges and we are taking steps TO REASSURE OURSELVES that is the case.”

More of the same: Rove on why he believes we are “winning” in Iraq

http://firedoglake.com/2008/03/21/but-what-if-we-lose/

Chief legal officer of the nation Michael Mukasey still seems confused on the concept that doing something illegal, even if the government asks you to do it, is still illegal

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/mukasey_im_open_to_compromise.php

THIS IS A CRIME

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080321/ap_on_go_pr_wh/white_house_e_mail;_ylt=Asb5LHAk89gUyAJDNa6gdCeyFz4D
Older White House computer hard drives have been destroyed, the White House disclosed to a federal court Friday in a controversy over millions of possibly missing e-mails from 2003 to 2005.

The White House revealed new information about how it handles its computers in an effort to persuade a federal magistrate it would be fruitless to undertake an e-mail recovery plan that the court proposed. . . .

I really don’t understand how the guy stuck around THIS long

http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN2131202120080321
Two Democratic U.S. senators on Friday called for the resignation of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson, saying he is unfit to run the top U.S. housing agency . . .

More: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/dem_senators_call_for_hud_chie.php

Worst President ever? (thanks to Buzzflash for the link)

http://www.thestar.com/Canada/Columnist/article/349621

Let’s get serious about bashing McCain. Start now, and don’t stop until November 5

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/2008/03/john_mccain_an/

http://www.antiwar.com/bandow/?articleid=12559

THIS HAS TO STOP

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/21/173124/898
[Bill Clinton, on why we should want a McCain/Clinton contest] “It'd be a great thing if we had an election where you had two people who love this country, who were devoted to the interest of the country and people could actually ask themselves who is right on these issues instead of all this other stuff . . .”

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080322/ap_on_el_pr/obama_patriotism;_ylt=Ag6IR3dIDgTB7uTCq1ZtGais0NUE
Clinton's campaign said the comments were being misinterpreted and quickly posted a clarification on its Web site. . . .

[NB: AGAIN!]

The important thing about Bill Richardson’s endorsement of Obama is that it came AFTER the Wright controversy, which Clinton’s people seem to want us to believe has ended his campaign. I think Obama's brave speech on race turned more opinions than people realize

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/22/us/politics/22richardson.htm
The decision by Mr. Richardson, who ended his own presidential campaign on Jan. 10, to support Mr. Obama was a belt of bad news for Mrs. Clinton. It was a stinging rejection of her candidacy by a man who had served in two senior positions in President Bill Clinton’s administration, and who is one of the nation’s most prominent elected Hispanics. Mr. Richardson came back from vacation to announce his endorsement at a moment when Mrs. Clinton’s hopes of winning the Democratic nomination seem to be dimming.

But potentially more troublesome for Mrs. Clinton was what Mr. Richardson said in announcing his decision. He criticized the tenor of Mrs. Clinton’s campaign. He praised Mr. Obama for the speech he gave in response to the furor over racially incendiary remarks delivered by Mr. Obama’s former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.

And he came close to doing what Mrs. Clinton’s advisers have increasingly feared some big-name Democrat would do as the battle for the nomination drags on: Urge Mrs. Clinton to step aside in the interest of party unity. . .

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/21/AR2008032102957.htm

http://www.slate.com/id/2187113

Erasable Penn

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/184819.php
“The time that he could have been effective has long since passed,” [Penn] continued, “I don’t think it is a significant endorsement in this environment.”

Perhaps sensing that it may not be effective to dismiss out of hand a popular Hispanic governor’s political clout, campaign spokesman Phil Singer chimed in. “We respect Gov. Richardson,” he clarified . . .

[NB: If Richardson’s endorsement means so little, why did the Clintons work so hard to get it?]

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/03/21/richardson-calls-out-clinton-adviser/
Bill Richardson criticized a Clinton campaign adviser Friday for suggesting his endorsement of Barack Obama is insignificant.
"I resent the fact that the Clinton people are now saying that my endorsement is too late because I only can help with Texans — with Texas and Hispanics, implying that that's my only value," the New Mexico governor told CNN's John King.

"That's typical of some of his advisers that kind of turned me off." . . .

In the interview Friday, Richardson also said he called Hillary Clinton Thursday to inform her of his decision to back Obama, a conversation he described as "painful."

"It was painful and it wasn't easy," he said. "I've spoken to others who have had that same conversation and they say at the end, it’s not all that pleasant.”

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/03/21/richardson_nearly_backed_clinton.html
Richardson Nearly Backed Clinton . . .

This is significant, too: Edwards, widely expected to endorse Clinton, suddenly says he’s staying neutral

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/03/21/edwards_stays_neutral.html

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/03/21/edwards_not_likely_to_endorse.html

Hillary raised $35 million in February – and her campaign is still in the red

http://www.americablog.com/2008/03/clinton-campaign-finished-february-in.html

Obama has Wright. Clinton has this . . .

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14967.html
[Gallup] Hillary Clinton is rated as “honest and trustworthy” by 44% of Americans, far fewer than say this about John McCain (67%) and Barack Obama (63%). . . . [read on]

Don’t blame me – this is what HER people say

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/3/21/154817/299
[Politico] One big fact has largely been lost in the recent coverage of the Democratic presidential race: Hillary Rodham Clinton has virtually no chance of winning.

Her own campaign acknowledges there is no way that she will finish ahead in pledged delegates. That means the only way she wins is if Democratic superdelegates are ready to risk a backlash of historic proportions from the party's most reliable constituency.

Unless Clinton is able to at least win the primary popular vote -- which also would take nothing less than an electoral miracle -- and use that achievement to pressure superdelegates, she has only one scenario for victory. An African-American opponent and his backers would be told that, even though he won the contest with voters, the prize is going to someone else.

People who think that scenario is even remotely likely are living on another planet.

As it happens, many people inside Clinton's campaign live right here on Earth. One important Clinton adviser estimated to Politico privately that she has no more than a 10 percent chance of winning her race against Barack Obama, an appraisal that was echoed by other operatives.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0308/9149.html
Journalists have become partners with the Clinton campaign in pretending that the contest is closer than it really is. Most coverage breathlessly portrays the race as a down-to-the-wire sprint between two well-matched candidates, one only slightly better situated than the other to win in August at the national convention in Denver.

One reason is fear of embarrassment. In its zeal to avoid predictive reporting of the sort that embarrassed journalists in New Hampshire, the media — including Politico — have tended to avoid zeroing in on the tough math Clinton faces. . . .

One important, if subliminal, reason is self-interest. Reporters and editors love a close race — it’s more fun and it’s good for business.

The media are also enamored of the almost mystical ability of the Clintons to work their way out of tight jams, as they have done for 16 years at the national level. That explains why some reporters are inclined to believe the Clinton campaign when it talks about how she’s going to win on the third ballot at the Democratic National Convention in August. . . [read on]

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/fantasy_camp.php
[Politico] Clinton’s top supporters, including her husband, have suggested in recent days that amassing more votes than Sen. Barack Obama, while it has no formal meaning, could offer a key rationale for laying claim to the nomination. The theory: Winning the popular vote might give party leaders known as superdelegates a reason to take the nomination away from Obama, who is virtually sure to earn more pledged delegates.

[Matt Yglesias] The assumption here is that superdelegates who have not yet endorsed Clinton are actually harboring a secret, unexpressed desire to overturn the outcome of the delegate-selection process and hand the nomination to her. These people are just waiting to be given a reason to do it.

The thing is: That's crazy. Hillary started out with a huge lead in superdelegates because she got a treasure trove of early endorsements. Guess why? Because her husband used to be President and party figures had every reason to offer her early endorsements. Since that time, all the superdelegate momentum's been toward Obama because, guess what, the people who didn't line up behind Clinton early are people who don't want Clinton to win! . . .

More: http://www.samefacts.com/archives/campaign_2008_/2008/03/is_it_over.php

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/21/16328/6508

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/21/112047/802

Acceptance?

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/184883.php
[Josh Marshall] [U]sually when we publish something that doesn't reflect well on either of the remaining Democratic candidates (was the same when Edwards was still in) we get a flood of really not very happy emails from readers. Yet this afternoon, just before going to a meeting, I posted a link to The Politico article on Hillary Clinton's chances of winning the nomination and expressed my agreement with it. When I returned I fully expected an avalanche of emails from Hillary supporters. But when I did return, nothing, or nearly so. Even the few we did get barely seemed to have their heart in it.

This is, I grant you, a highly unscientific measure. But I wonder whether the collapse of the revote negotiations, the revelation that the campaign is in debt and the Richardson endorsement together are collectively forcing a moment of realization.

Some contrary analyses (though these are getting harder and harder to find)

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_03/013380.php

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/3/21/114155/225

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/184916.php

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/184931.php

Stunning

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/20/AR2008032003528.html
With Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds (N.Y.), below, announcing his retirement yesterday, all but two of the Republican leaders who controlled the House before Democrats seized power in the 2006 elections are gone or on their way out. . . .

This time, maybe, Larry Craig really IS retiring

http://www.americablog.com/2008/03/larry-craig-really-is-retiring.html

Rush Limbaugh has a mental disease

http://mediamatters.org/items/200803210012
"It is clear that Senator Obama has disowned his white half, that he's decided he's got to go all in on the black side." . . . [read on]

Theocracy watch: finding humor in the “intelligent design” debate

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/rotflmao-by-tristero-you-cant-make-this.html

Bonus item: Somewhere in his DNA, Chris Wallace carries the instincts of a real news man, from his father. They don’t come out very often, but when they do . . .

Watch him call out his colleagues on Fox “News” for their breathless obsession with Obama’s “race problem.” And, even better, watch their reaction. This is must-see tv

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/184863.php

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/21/mayhem-at-fox-news-ancho_n_92743.html

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/21/141015/743

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:49 AM

 
THIS STINKS

This stinks (part one). In January, a major presidential candidate’s passport information is improperly accessed – a low level employee is fired. A few weeks later, it happens again. A few weeks later, it happens again. At no point were these breaches forwarded to the State Dept Inspector General for investigation, as they should be. At no point were ANY State Dept officials informed. At no point were the candidate or his campaign told that his private information had been accessed.

Now the State Dept says that they’ve just found out about it – from a REPORTER – but they’re sure this was just random acts of inappropriate curiosity (yeah, right, THREE TIMES, BY THREE DIFFERENT PEOPLE); that there was no political motivation whatsoever; that no information was altered, copied, or disclosed to third parties; and that low level employees simply failed to report the breaches up the line. No serious crime. No cover-up. But since no proper investigation has been carried out, since they haven’t even spoken to the individuals yet, it’s hard to know what such confident assertions are based upon. Still, they’ll get right onto investigating it now, okay?

More to come, I’m sure. . . .

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080321/ap_on_el_pr/obama_passport

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/20/AR2008032003422.html

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/03/obama_demands_p.html

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/20/state-dept-punishes-aides-for-obama-passport-breach/index.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23736254/
"We believe this was out of imprudent curiosity, so we are taking steps to reassure ourselves that that is, in fact, the case," [State Dept spokesman Sean] McCormack said. . .

[NB: Does that sound like a full and rigorous investigation is being planned?]

The three dates: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/184677.php

P.S. The same thing happened under Bush’s daddy, to Bill Clinton: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE5D71F39F93BA25752C1A964958260

More: http://www.samefacts.com/archives/campaign_2008_/2008/03/snoopery.php

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/21/0252/59550

This stinks (part two). Clinton’s people have made a big deal about saying that they’re not going to exploit the racial aspects of Obama’s “Wright problem.” But guess what? They’re using it to try to persuade superdelegates that Obama is unelectable. And when asked about it, Clinton ducks the question. Something to hide, Hill?

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0308/Clintons_Wright_dilemma.html
[NYT] Mrs. Clinton’s advisers said they had spent recent days making the case to wavering superdelegates that Mr. Obama’s association with Mr. Wright would doom their party in the general election. . . .

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/asked_whether_advisers_are_pus.php
[Greg Sargent] Asked about today's big story that her advisers are telling the super-dels that the Wright controversy should make them nervous about Obama's hopes in the general, Hillary demurred . . .

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/03/clinton-doesnt.html
When Clinton was then asked specifically if her campaign was pushing the Wright story –- she shrugged and took the next question, ignoring the reporter. . .

Could it backfire? http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/03/the-danger-of-w.html

This stinks (part three). McCain’s conflation of Al Qaeda and Iran is no accident or slip of the tongue – it’s clear that he’s been asserting it repeatedly and intentionally. Now, he decides it wasn’t a gaffe after all: there REALLY IS a link, he says

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/184631.php
First John McCain said that Iran was trained and arming al Qaeda in Iraq. Then Joe Lieberman corrected him and he apologized and corrected himself. Now his campaign is saying ... well, he was right after all.

More: http://thinkprogress.org/2008/03/20/mccain-asserted-iranal-qaeda-ties-last-month/

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14955.html

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/03/20/mccain/index.html

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/hes-going-for-it-by-dday-looks-like.html

Bush has been doing it too: http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=93503

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14951.html

Iran – the real story: http://www.juancole.com/2008/03/iran-danger-and-opportunity-polk-guest.html

Is McCain really ready to be Commander in Chief?

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/184558.php

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/184630.php
[Josh Marshall] [T]he available evidence, and there's a lot of it, shows that McCain is unable to see beyond immediate tactical questions to any larger grasp of strategy. . .

More: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/184590.php

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/184584.php

How ironic is this? McCain violates campaign finance law

http://www.americablog.com/2008/03/mccain-busts-fecs-spending-cap.html

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/3/21/1648/10092

McCain wants to distance himself now from John Hagee, but guess who sought out whose affiliation?

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003728364

McCain suspends (not fires) a staffer for circulating a racist video about Barack Obama. What’s not so good is how he did it

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/its-out-there-by-digby-so-i-just-saw.html

More: http://firedoglake.com/2008/03/20/will-mccain-get-a-pass-on-racist-video/

Despite her current claims to have been cool on the idea, Hillary’s WH records show that she lobbied for NAFTA – I think we’ll be hearing a bit more about this

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/20/134712/987

More: http://www.americablog.com/2008/03/nafta-comes-back-to-haunt-hillary.html

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/obama_camp_blasts_hillary_on_n.php

Did Obama’s speech on race help change the discussion over the Wright issue? Here’s what the polls say

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/gallup_obamas_big_race_speech.php

http://www.americablog.com/2008/03/dear-msnbc-if-youre-going-call-poll.html

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/poll_majority_doesnt_believe_o.php

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/03/20/wright_poll/index.html

Obama gives another major policy speech, on the costs of the Iraq war, and spends his time attacking McCain (not his Democratic opponent)

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/in-his-third-major-speech-in-three-days.html

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/20/115717/730

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14959.html

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/obama_hits_mccain_again_iraq_w.php

A big endorsement for Obama

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/3/21/33047/3247

Counting civilian deaths in Iraq

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/19/iraq

Sometimes complex issues suddenly come into quite simple focus

http://www.fareedzakaria.com/articles/articles.html
[Fareed Zakaria] There is a paradox in the current situation in Iraq. We are told that the surge has worked brilliantly and violence is way down. And yet the plan to reduce troop levels—which was at the heart of the original surge strategy—must be postponed or all hell will once again break loose. Making sense of this paradox is critical. Because in certain crucial ways things are not improving in Iraq . . .

Yesterday, VP Cheney said, “I think there’s a general consensus that we’ve made major progress, that the surge has worked.” When told that no such consensus exists, that in fact two thirds of the American people say the war hasn’t been worth it, he replied, “So?” Today, watch Alice try to explain that this doesn’t mean Cheney has no regard for what the people want or think

http://www.first-draft.com/2008/03/today-on-hol-11.html
Q Dana, can I just follow on our colleague Martha Raddatz's interview with the Vice President? Let's set aside the meaning of the word "so" for a second, and get to something the Vice President then said about fluctuations in the public opinion polls: "You can't be blown off course by fluctuations in public opinion polls." . . . So is the Vice President saying it really doesn't matter what the American public thinks about the war?

MS. PERINO: No, I don't think that's what he's saying, and obviously I haven't spoken to the Vice President since he's traveling today and was in Kabul visiting with President Karzai a the request of the President. But what he went on to say is that President should not make decisions based on polls. . . .

Q So at what point -- I mean, I guess I just -- there is the impression that the Vice President doesn't care about what the American people think in policy like that. Is that a wrong impression? And does the President share that impression?

MS. PERINO: I think that is the wrong impression. I think that the Vice President and the President both, together, all of us across the administration, would like for people to support the President's decisions. We realize that that's unrealistic, especially in a time of war -- and in particular this war. . . .

Q The American people are being asked to die and pay for this, and you're saying they have no say in this war?

MS. PERINO: I didn't say that, Helen. But, Helen, this President was elected --

Q Well, what it amounts to is you saying we have no input at all.

MS. PERINO: You had input. The American people have input every four years, and that's the way our system is set up.

Q Every four years.

MS. PERINO: And we listen to --

Q It sounds familiar.

MS. PERINO: -- different points of view. The President, in fact, had many meetings with members of Congress leading up to his decision about the surge.

Q Supposed to be a government for the people, of the people, by the people?

MS. PERINO: I would submit to you that people across America, if asked what type of a President do you want: one that stands on principle or that one that chases polls? And I think that they would want . . .

Watch: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/184620.php

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/03/20/BL2008032001868.html
Cheney Doesn't Care What You Think . . .

More trouble for Alice

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/20/111939/744
Q The President warned of the danger that al Qaeda could gain access to Iraq's oil resources. But I don't understand how a fragmented, clandestine, non-Iraqi terrorist organization could produce and sell Iraqi oil on the global market, especially when the majority of Iraqis have turned against al Qaeda. Could you describe a plausible scenario?

MS. PERINO: The purpose of what the President said is that al Qaeda should not be allowed to have safe haven in Iraq and take over --

Q How can they take over Iraq's oil reserves --

MS. PERINO: Well, if we were to leave we would certainly ensue chaos and not be able to -- if we were to leave too soon, it would certainly be chaos and it would be terrible for not only the innocent Iraqis, but the entire region and, in fact, our own national security. That's what the President --

Q But the Iraqis would let a foreign terrorist organization take over their oil?

MS. PERINO: You're missing the point, and I think that you should go back and read --

Q No, I --

MS. PERINO: Yes, actually, I think you are missing the point. And I call on you because I see what you write about how you come here and you really want to have questions asked. And I'm calling on you and I'm providing it to you, but I suggest that you read the President's speech and read it in context, because that's -- what you're suggesting is not what the President said . . . [read on]

[NB: In fact, that is precisely what the President said]

More: http://www.btcnews.com/btcnews/1853

The Bush gang uses the Department of Education as a campaign tool

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14956.html

US Attorney disbands public corruption unit in LA, then warns his lawyers not to complain about it

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/lat_usa_threatened_corruption.php

Kafkaesque: the EPA not only won’t share information with Henry Waxman’s committee: now they want his committee to tell THEM what their own employees have been telling the committee behind closed doors

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/epa_to_waxman_please_tell_us_w.php

The House wants an expedited review of their contempt case against Bolten and Miers

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/house_pushes_for_quick_handlin.php

“Scooter” Libby disbarred

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/libby_disbarred.php

Bonus item: So, a black guy comes up to you and asks you for change. . .

http://firedoglake.com/2008/03/20/black-guy-asks-nation-for-change/

Extra bonus item: Jeremiah Wright, a welcomed guest in the Clinton White house

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0308/Jeremiah_Wright_was_White_House_guest.html

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:46 AM

 
UNHAPPY ANNIVERSARY

Five years. Four thousand Americans dead. Thirty thousand injured.

Here are a few milestones

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/19/10632/4386
[One year] “There are still violent thugs and murderers in Iraq, and we're dealing with them.”

[Two years] “Iraq's progress toward political freedom has opened a new phase of our work there.”

[Three years] “We are implementing a strategy that will lead to victory in Iraq.”

[Four years] “There's been good progress.”

More memorable quotes: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/19/83847/4150

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/spin-cycle-by-dday-its-illuminating-to.html

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/19/73750/1892

Five years, and Bush is still telling us how great things are in Iraq. Doesn’t he know we’ve stopped listening?

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN1929611920080319
President George W. Bush said on Wednesday he had no regrets about the unpopular war in Iraq despite the "high cost in lives and treasure" and declared that the United States was on track for victory. . . .

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/03/19/BL2008031901776.html
[Dan Froomkin] On the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq, President Bush today attempted to recast it as a great success for the United States and a major blow to Osama bin Laden. But for the American people to go along with his construction will require a pretty severe case of amnesia. . . .

National reconciliation in Iraq? Very doubtful

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/todays_must_read_299.php
[Paul Kiel] I think everyone can agree that if you go to the trouble of organizing an Iraqi political reconciliation conference, it's generally a bad sign if a number of key players don't even show up. . . .

Significant troop pullouts? Don’t hold your breath

http://www.slate.com/id/2187027
[Daniel Politi] The fact that there's disagreement within the Pentagon on the pace of withdrawal from Iraq is hardly new, but the LAT does manage to shed some light on why the tensions have flared up once again. Gen. David Petraeus and the Joint Chiefs had agreed to put off discussions about troops cuts until this spring. But then Petraeus suggested publicly that there should be a pause in withdrawals, which many saw as an attempt by the ground commanders to circumvent the process, "effectively cutting the Joint Chiefs out of this spring's debate," says the LAT. It is also revealing to note that the Joint Chiefs are still skeptical about the "surge," noting that it hasn't led to much political progress on the ground.

More: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-na-milassess20mar20,1,194667.story

In two polls, Bush reaches an all-time low

http://www.zogby.com/news/ReadNews.dbm?ID=1469

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/19/bush.poll/index.html

Asshole

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/so
CHENEY: On the security front, I think there’s a general consensus that we’ve made major progress, that the surge has worked. That’s been a major success.

RADDATZ: Two-third of Americans say it’s not worth fighting.

CHENEY: So?

RADDATZ So? You don’t care what the American people think?

CHENEY: No. . . .

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/19/15419/9994

We all remember the infamous visit to John Ashcroft’s hospital bedside, and the threat by the entire Justice Dept leadership to quit over a controversial domestic surveillance program. But we’ve never learned what that program was. Now, the story is starting to come out . . .

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/lichtblau_pizza_hut_leads.php

More: http://firedoglake.com/2008/03/19/dhs-data-mining-its-as-bad-as-you-thought/

McCain’s “gaffe” about an Al Qaeda/Iran link. Here’s why we know that it’s more than a slip – he repeated it before, and he repeated it today, in print, AFTER being told it is bogus. (Hmmm. . . . where have we seen false efforts to link a country with Al Qaeda in order to prepare the ground for attacking it? Anyone remember anything like that before?)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/19/mccain-repeats-iranal-qa_n_92349.html
"Today in Iraq, America and our allies stand on the precipice of winning a major victory against radical Islamic extremism. The security gains over the past year have been dramatic and undeniable. Al Qaeda and Shia extremists -- with support from external powers such as Iran -- are on the run but not defeated." . . . [read on]

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/not-misstatement-by-dday-ive-been.html
[Dday] This is a real careful statement, putting Al Qaeda and Iran in the same sentence but with enough weasel words to claim that he's not saying what he's actually saying. . . [read on]

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/19/1554/76712
[Hunter] Why do people keep calling it a "gaffe"? If he's stating something that's flatly wrong three times in two days, it's not a gaffe, it's a talking point. . . [read on]

Fool me once. . . http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/fast-an-loose-with

More: http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/03/19/mccain/index.html

http://firedoglake.com/2008/03/19/late-nite-fdl-mccain-lying-stupid-or-both/

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/184346.php

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/184135.php

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/not_a_gaffe.php

It’s contagious!

http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2008/03/mccain_was_right_iran_works_wi.asp
[The Weekly Standard] McCain Was Right, Iran Works with Al Qaeda . . .

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=Mzg4ZGVmZTdkMTM4MWY0NTU3ODg0MWVjZjQxOWQ2NzI=
[The National Review] There is so much evidence of Iranian support of al-Qaeda that one hardly knows where to begin. . .

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/184386.php
CNN's Kyra Phillips was interviewing Gen. David Petraeus today and repeated McCain's gaffe from yesterday, touting a connection between Iran and al Qaeda in Iraq. Later in the interview, Petraeus gently corrected her . . .

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/nervous-much-by-dday-i-think-that-noise.html

The press coverage? They actually REWROTE McCain's quote to remove the error!

http://mediamatters.org/items/200803190001
And how have the media responded? Has there been wall-to-wall coverage on this major foreign policy gaffe by a politician that claims to be "ready from day one," according to his campaign website? Hardly. As NBC News political director Chuck Todd observed, "[H]ad Clinton or Obama done something like this, this would have been played on a loop, over and over." Some reports even offered possible excuses for McCain. In a post on his Political Punch blog, ABC News' Jake Tapper wondered, "Jet lag?" after noting Lieberman's correction of McCain. . . .

Associated Press writer Alfred de Montesquiou initially reported that McCain "voiced concern that Tehran is bringing militants over the border into Iran for training before sending them back to fight U.S. troops in Iraq, and blamed Syria for allegedly continuing to 'expedite' a flow of foreign fighters."

Similarly, a March 18 United Press International article reported that during the press conference, McCain "said concern still exists that Iran could be training Iraqi extremists in Iran then returning them to Iraq." In fact, McCain did not refer simply to "militants" or "Iraqi extremists"; he claimed that Iranian operatives are "taking al-Qaeda into Iran, training them and sending them back" and, when pressed to elaborate, asserted that it is "common knowledge and has been reported in the media that al-Qaeda is going back into Iran and receiving training and are coming back into Iraq from Iran, that's well known"

http://mediamatters.org/items/200803190012
[CNN’s] Wolf Blitzer falsely asserted that McCain "quickly corrected [the misstatement] . . . Blitzer then aired a spliced video of McCain's "misstatement" -- "We continue to be concerned about Iranian -- taking the Al Qaeda into Iran, training them and sending them back. We continue to be concerned about Iranian influence and assistance to Hezbollah, as well as Iranian pursuit of nuclear weapons" -- immediately followed by McCain's "correct[ion]": "I'm sorry. The Iranians are training extremists, not al Qaeda, not al Qaeda. I'm sorry." CNN gave no indication that the video had been spliced or that any time had elapsed between McCain's misstatement and correction.

More: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14938.html

http://mediamatters.org/items/200803190002

I think this is what you call an “unfalsifiable hypothesis”

http://firedoglake.com/2008/03/19/village-reaction-to-mccains-macaca-moment/
[WaPo’s] Ruth Marcus: I thought that was an odd comment from Sen. McCain, and I do think that it would have gotten a lot more attention were it not coming from someone who is generally judged to have a lot of foreign policy expertise. . . [read on]

Heh

http://firedoglake.com/2008/03/19/will-mccain-have-lieberman-next-to-him-at-3am/
Will McCain Have Lieberman Next To Him At 3AM? . . .

Gee, it looks as if McCain is just using the religious right, for whom he still has contempt. Think this bears some wider coverage?

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14941.html
[Steve Benen] John McCain’s relationship with the religious right has been, shall we say, a little awkward since he denounced the movement’s top leaders as “agents of intolerance” eight years ago. I have a hunch the tensions are about to get a little bit worse.

Yesterday, representatives of the Clinton, Obama and McCain campaigns spoke before the United Jewish Communities in DC, and McCain sent campaign advisor Lawrence Eagleburger, deputy secretary of State under Bush I, to speak on his behalf.

Thankfully, Eagleburger went off-script when asked about McCain’s relationship with the religious right . . . [read on!]

Pssst! McCain also doesn’t want to be pinned down on the immigration issue

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/mccain-advises
[Luis Rumbaut] McCain said that GOP candidates had lost some races because of their stand on immigration. He brought up Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Penn.), "who emphasized that issue and lost by a large number," and Rep. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), who "had very strong anti-immigrant rhetoric." McCain urged Republican congressional candidates "to understand the political practicalities of this issue."

His GOP colleagues in Congress, however, are taking a different tack. . . .

Prepping for a race-baiting campaign in the Fall (a.k.a., the kind of people they are)

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/184451.php

Another high-profile Republican retires (#27)

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/19/233720/840

Obama follows up his speech on race with a great speech on the war and foreign policy

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/19/114032/682

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/barack_obama_/2008/03/it_is_time_once_again_for_america_to_lead_.php

Here’s an interesting trend: everyone agrees that the impact of Obama’s speech on race depends on people hearing (or reading) the whole thing in a thoughtful way. It presented an argument, not a series of applause lines. But in an era of sound-bite politics, that’s not the way stories get covered by the press. Well, enter the Internet . . .

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=4647
[Tremayne] The speech aired on a weekday morning. Normally, this would mean that a very small percentage of the electorate would ever see it; most would only see short clips on the news or short quotes in the newspaper. But this campaign may be different. So far already, this YouTube version (also available directly from the Obama site) has been viewed 1.6 million times. Links to this video have been prominently posted at most major political blogs. Will this make a difference?

Many people think so. There is also some data to back up this point. . . .

Mike Huckabee – really!

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14948.html
HUCKABEE: [Obama] made the point, and I think it’s a valid one, that you can’t hold the candidate responsible for everything that people around him may say or do. You just can’t. Whether it’s me, whether it’s Obama…anybody else. But he did distance himself from the very vitriolic statements. . . .

And one other thing I think we’ve gotta remember. As easy as it is for those of us who are white, to look back and say “That’s a terrible statement!”…I grew up in a very segregated south. And I think that you have to cut some slack — and I’m gonna be probably the only Conservative in America who’s gonna say something like this, but I’m just tellin’ you — we’ve gotta cut some slack to people who grew up being called names, being told “you have to sit in the balcony when you go to the movie. You have to go to the back door to go into the restaurant. And you can’t sit out there with everyone else. There’s a separate waiting room in the doctor’s office. Here’s where you sit on the bus…” And you know what? Sometimes people do have a chip on their shoulder and resentment. And you have to just say, I probably would too. I probably would too. In fact, I may have had more of a chip on my shoulder had it been me.

If we’re going to examine Obama’s religious associates, let’s also take a look at Clinton’s conservative prayer group, “The Family”

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080331/ehrenreich

The Clinton reaction to the Obama speech

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/questions_about_obama.php
[Marc Ambinder] Note that the Clinton campaign has said word ZERO about the Wright story. I'm told that campaign manager Maggie Williams issued an edict to staff members and surrogates and top fundraisers, urging them to hold their tongues. . . .

http://www.americablog.com/2008/03/clintonlieberman-spinmeister-lanny.html
[Joe Sudbay] We also hear via various reporters, that Team Clinton won't go near the Rev. Wright issue. But, that's not true. Lanny Davis, one of the most loathesome Hillary spinmeisters, has an insidious post up at Huffington challenging the Obama speech. . .

Is the current Democratic campaign ruining it for whomever gets the final nomination?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080319/ap_on_el_pr/campaign_liberals;_ylt=Ar6lK3UWO07xFYysFc3lkbis0NUE

http://www.americablog.com/2008/03/hillarys-secret-plan.html

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/3/20/31353/6644

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/20/us/politics/20memo.html

How about a “superdelegate primary”?

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14940.html

Bonus item: Hillary’s scheduling sheets

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/03/19/ross/index.html
[Glenn Greenwald] It just isn't possible for this country to have a more depraved and wretched press corps. After spending months haranguing Hillary Clinton to release her schedule as First Lady -- based on high-minded demands that open government is important -- this is what ABC News "investigative reporter" Brian Ross did with the documents today:

Hillary Was in White House on "Stained Blue Dress" Day

http://susiemadrak.com/2008/03/19/19/44/your-librul-media-7/
[Susie Madrak] In all my years in journalism, I’ve never seen anything quite as disgusting as this . . . [read on]

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/acceptable-vs.html
[Dday] When you read this story, you have to play back in your mind the vision of Brian Ross getting the release of Hillary Clinton's personal First Lady schedule, flipping through his heavily dog-eared copy of the Starr Report, and studiously matching up dates. . . .

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:59 AM

 
THE SPEECH

If you haven’t seen or read Obama’s full speech, here it is. You really should see it

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/samgrahamfelsen/gGBbKG

Before the usual barrage of links, a few personal comments. I said yesterday this would be an historic speech, and it was. It was a speech that only Barack Obama could have given – but more to the point, it was a speech that only he would have tried to give. Yes, it was a political speech; yes, he had to say something about the Wright mess; yes, it had calculated moments and a few snipey asides at Clinton.

But who can deny that it was the most honest public speech given about race in our lifetimes? It appealed to our better natures, it tried to broaden our understandings across various racial divides, it tried to redefine easy dualities and oversimplifications, it tried to raise the level of our public discourse about race.

It was a broadminded and generous speech, a speech about forgiveness and empathy, a truly Christian speech – and a reminder that such a speech is still possible at a time when “Christian” so often equates with the bigotry of Falwell, Robertson, Hagee, and their ilk.

It was spoken, as it had to be, out of the hybridity of Obama’s own life experience – referring to both his firebrand black minister and his racist white grandmother as inseparable parts of what made him as he is. The authenticity and sincerity of his natural voice was unmistakable. He tried, truly tried, to get Americans – black, white, and brown – to understand and appreciate the legitimate concerns and grievances of one another, beyond simple stereotypes. It tried to replace the language of zero-sum games with a language of interdependence and common purpose.

It was a challenging speech, a risky speech – a speech that exemplifies the “audacity to hope.” A repeated refrain during the pundits’ endless post-speech analyses was that maybe it asked too much of its audience, had overly high expectations, that it asked the country, not to get past the issue of race, but to admit that we have never gotten past the issue of race – and why that is so.

Of course the speech will be mischaracterized by the Buchanans and Limbaughs, men whose careers depend on exploiting and exacerbating racial polarizations. Of course it will be ignored or damned with faint praise by Hillary Clinton. And, of course a certain segment of the media will say that the Wright issue remains alive, because there was nothing Obama could say or do that would have kept them from doing so.

But maybe, just maybe, Obama was not aiming his aspirations too high. Maybe, just maybe, there are enough people who will listen to the speech, and not just the sound bites, to realize what a great man this is – what a good man this is. Are we ready as a nation for a leader like this? Are we ready for the wind of change we say we want? Or might he be – as a friend of mine suggested – too good for us, for where this country is right now?

This election, for me, is becoming a sign of something bigger than who wins – it is becoming a sign of what kind of politics, what kind of media coverage, what kind of electorate we have in this country. I do not have the hopes that Obama has, unfortunately – but I am impressed and deeply moved by his capacity to articulate that better vision of who we are.

The audacity of hope, indeed.

http://www.attytood.com/2008/03/barack_obamas_postracial_polit.html
[Will Bunch] The era of what we called "post-racial politics" in America only lasted about a year. It ended this morning. Maybe Barack Obama's powerful vision of where is America is at in 2008, with regard to race and politics, should be called "post-post racial politics," or, to invoke a popular cliche, Post-Racial Politics 2.0.

But unlike a Microsoft update patch, the new version laid out here by Barack Obama is indeed a real improvement because, quite simply, it lays out a path to a more honest and open American dialogue -- and hopefully a brighter future. . . .

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/184062.php
[David Kurtz] It is remarkable for its nuance, for its long view of history, and for its decency. . . .

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14930.html
[Steve Benen] I found Obama’s speech rather extraordinary. Indeed, it’s the kind of speech politicians just don’t give anymore — a brilliant address with context and nuance. It answered key questions, while challenging his audience with new ones. . . .

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/personal_reflections_on_obamas.php
[Marc Ambinder] Obama's speech was a marvel of contemporary political rhetoric. Politically, analytically and emotively, it hit many high notes. His acknowledgment of white working class resentments (busing) and about the perception that there's been no racial progress, his willingness to stick by his friends, his grasp of history, his sense that our views of race are cramped and caricatured... all of that is something that even those who disagree with the substance of his speech, can, I think, appreciate.

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=4616
[Mimikatz] Barack Obama's heralded speech on race is the most honest appraisal of racial problems in America I can remember a politician ever giving. It is long and nuanced, not easy to encapsulate in sound-bites. He describes his experiences in the Trinity United church of Christ and with Reverend Wright, saying that while he disagrees with some of Wright's statements, he understands the frustrations that give rise to such views. He also understands the frustrations that give rise to views such as those expressed by Geraldine Ferraro. Both views, he says, are wrong because they are limited and based on stereotypes, and assume that America is static, that we cannot change. . . .

http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/18/best-speech-this-year/?8ty&emc=ty
[Nicholas Kristof] That was the best political speech I’ve heard at least since a certain keynote address in 2004 at the Democratic National Convention. And maybe this was better, because it was substantive and peeled away layers to confront sensitive matters that normally go unexamined. . . .

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/barack_obama_/2008/03/that_is_where_the_perfection_begins.php
[Mark Kleiman] Barack Obama's "More Perfect Union" speech today was even better than I'd dared hope for. It demands to be read as a whole . . .

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/03/18/on_obamas_speech.html
[Andrew Sullivan] "I have never felt more convinced that this man's candidacy - not this man, his candidacy - and what he can bring us to achieve - is an historic opportunity. This was a testing; and he did not merely pass it by uttering safe bromides. He addressed the intimate, painful love he has for an imperfect and sometimes embittered man. And how that love enables him to see that man's faults and pain as well as his promise. This is what my faith is about. It is what the Gospels are about. This is a candidate who does not merely speak as a Christian. He acts like a Christian."

[Charles Murray] "Has any other major American politician ever made a speech on race that comes even close to this one? As far as I'm concerned, it is just plain flat out brilliant -- rhetorically, but also in capturing a lot of nuance about race in America. It is so far above the standard we're used to from our pols."

[Ben Smith] "A smart colleague notes that this speech is the polar opposite of this year's other big speech on faith, in which Mitt Romney went to Texas to talk about Mormonism, but made just one reference to his Mormon faith. Obama mentions Wright by name 14 times."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/19/opinion/19wed1.html
[NYT] There are moments — increasingly rare in risk-abhorrent modern campaigns — when politicians are called upon to bare their fundamental beliefs. In the best of these moments, the speaker does not just salve the current political wound, but also illuminates larger, troubling issues that the nation is wrestling with. . . .

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/03/18/obama/index.html
[Glenn Greenwald] Personally, I found the speech riveting, provocative, insightful, thoughtful and courageous -- courageous because it eschewed almost completely all cliches, pandering and condescension, the first time I can recall a political figure of any significance doing so when addressing a controversial matter. . . .

The speech will be adored by Obama fans, the political and media elite, and high-information, politically engaged voters other than those firmly entrenched on the Right. But politically speaking, that isn't the target audience . . .

http://www.discourse.net/archives/2008/03/the_speech_rfk_or_adeli_stevenson.html
[Michael Froomkin] I’ll only add this: whether this is Obama’s breakthrough moment, as it deserves to be, or his Adeli Stevenson moment depends on two things: first, whether the gatekeepers of old media, few if any of whom are friendly to Democrats, allow his rich and complex statements anywhere near a voter. I’m pretty dubious about that. The first news report I read was from AP. By Notorious Nedra Pickler. And it missed all the points, by some combination of malice, haste, and stupidity. . . And on radio, one still can expect only the very worst. . . .

More reactions, left and right: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/race-and-campaign-by-dday-i-want-to.html

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14931.html

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14933.html

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/18/133351/735

http://www.americablog.com/2008/03/positive-reaction-to-obamas-speech.html

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_03/013355.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_03/013352.php

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/race-enters-the-race

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/reflections_on_obamas_speech.php

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/19/us/politics/19assess.html

http://www.juancole.com/2008/03/obama-race-and-dynamism-of-america.html

Hillary’s response

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/hillary_im_glad_obama_gave_tha.php
"I did not have a chance to see or to read yet Sen. Obama's speech. But I'm very glad that he gave it. It's an important topic. Issues of race and gender in America have been complicated throughout our history, and they are complicated in this primary campaign.”

Why the media has a hard time counting Hillary out, despite all the numbers stacked up against her

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/18/162812/965
[Kos] There's no doubt that no other candidate in this race would've survived the kind of drubbing Clinton received in February without the media abandoning that campaign in droves. But Hillary is a rock star Democrat . . . [read on]

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/18/171337/977
[Chuck Todd, MSNBC] One reason this has been brushed under the rug? Media-types don't realize the problems many rank-and-file Democratic activists have with the Clinton family. . . .

More: http://www.americablog.com/2008/03/taking-look-at-why-clintons-down-but.html

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/18/121334/712

McCain, the man whose sole claim to the White House is his supposed foreign policy knowledge and expertise, bungles a simple point of fact in Iraq

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/doesnt_understand_economics_ei.php
[WP] Speaking to reporters in Amman, the Jordanian capital, McCain said he and two Senate colleagues traveling with him continue to be concerned about Iranian operatives “taking al-Qaeda into Iran, training them and sending them back.”

Pressed to elaborate, McCain said it was “common knowledge and has been reported in the media that al-Qaeda is going back into Iran and receiving training and are coming back into Iraq from Iran, that’s well known. And it’s unfortunate.” A few moments later, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, standing just behind McCain, stepped forward and whispered in the presidential candidate’s ear. McCain then said: “I’m sorry, the Iranians are training extremists, not al-Qaeda.” . . . [read on]

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14932.html
[Steve Benen] All of this is, of course, wrong. Al Qaeda is Sunni; Iran is Shiite. This is “common knowledge.” McCain was speaking with authority about the basics in the Middle East, and getting the regional dynamic backwards. . . [read on]

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/18/133937/837
[Smintheus] This isn't just a minor slip. This betrays a profound lack of foreign policy expertise, a shallowness so extreme that if the remark had been made by Barack Obama, say, it would have called into question his viability as a presidential candidate. . . .

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/184202.php
[Josh Marshall] McCain apparently said the same thing several times, in a couple different venues - not just in the press conference, where Joe Lieberman of all people finally had to correct him, but earlier on the Hugh Hewitt show. . . .

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/campaign_2008_/2008/03/retraction.php
[Mark Kleiman] Given McCain's buffoonish performance in Jordan, wouldn't this be a good time for Hillary Clinton to say, "Gee, I thought he was ready to be Commander-in-Chief, but it sure doesn't sound like it. The least we should expect from the President is some basic knowledge about who our enemies are." . . . .

Watch: http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/?rn=3906861&cl=7020979&ch=4226716&src=news

It’s getting to be a habit: http://mediamatters.org/items/200803180007

http://www.americablog.com/2008/03/mccain-makes-major-mistake-about-very.html

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/klingon-candidate-by-dday-latest-from.html

We know the Bush gang lied to justify and lead the country to war. Now, after five years, what’s surprising is that anyone should think that they’ve stopped lying about it

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/18/10638/8664

http://www.juancole.com/2008/03/5-years-5-lies-cole-in-salon.html

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/enter-fourthbranch-by-dday-as-we-reach.html

http://www.needlenose.com/node/view/4602

The case of the missing emails . . .

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4473451
The White House has three days to explain why it shouldn't be required to copy its computer hard drives to ensure no further e-mails are lost, a federal judge ordered Tuesday.

Already, e-mails between March and October 2003 appear to have been lost, Judge John M. Facciola noted, because they were improperly archived and no backup copies exist. That period includes the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

E-mails by White House staff are considered part of the nation's historical record, and federal law requires they be preserved. The White House has admitted that potentially millions of e-mails from the past eight years have been erased, although it has provided conflicting accounts on how many may still exist on backup tapes. . .

More: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14934.html

Help wanted

http://www.newsweek.com/id/124117
The Bush administration has been rebuffed in its efforts to find a high-profile candidate to fill the top White House counterterrorism post.

The failure to find a successor to Frances Fragos Townsend, who resigned last January as assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism, has frustrated White House aides, given the significance the Bush administration has attached to the job . . .

The homeland security job is not the only key counterterrorism post the Bush administration is having trouble filling. As NEWSWEEK reported earlier this month, White House officials have spent months searching for a new candidate to head the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) . . .

The politics of fear isn't working any more

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/todays_must_read_298.php
The administration threw everything it had at the Democrats. Statement after statement after statement on the White House lawn. TV ads, web ads. Letters from the attorney general and director of national intelligence raising the alarm about the danger the country is in. Even a TV appearance by the DNI himself to highlight the "increased danger."

And what did it get them? At the end of last week, nearly a month after the Protect America Act lapsed, the House passed a bill that does not contain retroactive immunity -- the bill even contains a provision that dispenses with the administration's main legal argument for blocking the lawsuits, the state secrets privilege.

So what now? . . .

There seems to be a definite lack of urgency (despite the Republicans' terrifying web ad). And as the Politico reports, that lack of urgency on top of the considerable differences between the House and Senate surveillance bills -- most evidently on the issue of retroactive immunity -- means that the prospects for passing any bill through both houses appear dubious . . .

The Bush gang admits that NCLB is broken

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/19/us/19child.html

The week that was, for the Democrats and for the Republicans

http://firedoglake.com/2008/03/18/compare-contrast/
[Eli] I'm starting to allow myself to feel a teensy bit optimistic about November. Consider the week the Democrats have had, versus the week the Republicans have had . . .

Don Young (R-AK) – the kind of man he is

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/184131.php

Bonus item: Ann Coulter liveblogs the Gettysburg Address

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/literature_/2008/03/liveblogging_the_gettysburg_address.php

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:32 AM

 
NO END IN SIGHT

Cheney tells us how great things are in Iraq (guess what: he was right all along!)

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/17/95937/5656
Dick Cheney said that, "It's good to be back in Iraq," as he praised the "dramatic improvement in security." . . . . “It has been a difficult, challenging but nonetheless successful endeavor ... and it has been well worth the effort.”

Ouch! http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/183947.php
[Headline, from McClatchy] Cheney Praises "Phenomenal" Progress as Bomber Kills 39

One little problem: didn’t General Petraeus just tell us differently?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/13/AR2008031303793_pf.html
[Gen. Petraeus, March 13] Iraqi leaders have failed to take advantage of a reduction in violence to make adequate progress toward resolving their political differences, Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said Thursday.

Petraeus, who is preparing to testify to Congress next month on the Iraq war, said in an interview that "no one" in the U.S. and Iraqi governments "feels that there has been sufficient progress by any means in the area of national reconciliation," or in the provision of basic public services. . . . [NB: Clearly, “no one” doesn’t include Cheney]

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14919.html
[John McCain, yesterday] “Anybody who believes the surge has not succeeded, militarily, politically and in most other ways, frankly, does not know the facts on the ground.”

[NB: Apparently, Gen. Petraeus “does not know the facts on the ground” as well as John McCain does]

The Bush gang is still angling to make our presence in Iraq last far beyond their term of office – no matter who wins in November

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/17/121122/195

“A responsible plan to end the war in Iraq”

http://www.responsibleplan.com/

On the disastrous decision to disband the Iraqi army: look who was involved in the decision – and who was not!

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/todays_must_read_297.php

The CIA believes lawsuits are coming

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/cia_increases_legal_liability.php
[AP] The CIA announced Monday that it will now pay the full cost of legal liability insurance for about two-thirds of the agency workforce . . .

[NB: TWO-THIRDS??!!??]

Is John McCain breaking the law?

http://www.americablog.com/2008/03/tuesday-morning-open-thread_18.html

Trying to move past the Wright imbroglio, Obama schedules a major speech on race in Philadelphia. It might turn out to be a watershed moment not only for his campaign, but for modern political history

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0308/Obama_plans_major_race_speech_tomorrow.html

Advice he doesn’t need: http://www.slate.com/id/2186845

No revote in Florida – now they go to negotiations

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/17/19714/6204

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/breaking_florida_will_not_hold.php

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/3/17/214715/253

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/michigan.php
This is a definite blow to [Clinton’s] chances for the nomination. . . [read on]

Roadblocks for a Michigan revote

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/03/17/two_roadblocks_for_michigan_revote.html

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/a_last_minute_hurdle_erected_i.php

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/3/17/85349/6785

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/not_technically_a_hurdle_in_mi.php

Is the Clinton vs. Obama blogger war exaggerated?

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/3/17/174543/686

Kos says he doesn’t mind the pro-Clinton rebellion against his blog site, because he never intended it as an "open" space anyway

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/17/12417/1285
[Al Giordano] There was always something incongruous about the self-proclaimed “Hillary Bloggers” trying to use Daily Kos for their purposes. DKos has been defined as a meeting ground not for every Democrat, but for the kind that wants to change the party to be more grassroots oriented, adhere to a 50-state strategy, stop the war in Iraq, and blunt the influence of lobbyists, PACs and the neoliberal Democratic Leadership Council (DLC). . .

[Kos] Clinton isn't the most horrible person in the world. She's actually quite nice, despite all her flaws, and would make a fine enough president.

If she was winning.

But she's not, and that's the rub. . . .

[S]he cannot win without overturning the will of the national Democratic electorate and fomenting civil war, and she doesn't care. . . . [read on]

More: http://www.americablog.com/2008/03/it-will-be-clinton-initiated-clinton.html

It’s time to end this

http://www.slate.com/id/2186752
[John Dickerson] [T]he Democratic Party seems to have been tricked by Karl Rove or Beelzebub into designing a delegate-selection process that offers a range of opportunities for Clinton and Obama supporters to feel shortchanged and cheated. The unresolved question of whether to hold do-over elections in Michigan and Florida is one front on which supporters can feel they are somehow getting shortchanged, but that's only an appetizer course for the big meal of woe that activists might have to eat over the role of superdelegates at the party convention in Denver.

The proper role of superdelegates is so undefined that either side could feel entitled to moral outrage, though Obama clearly has the advantage in this argument and is trying to exploit it. If superdelegates back Clinton and reverse the will of the pledged delegates who have supported Obama, his voters say they will revolt. "It will be an explosion," agrees John Edwards' strategist, Joe Trippi. Particularly angry will be the first-time voters Obama has brought into the world of national politics with a promise of openness and transparency. . .

"If the superdelegates intervene and get in the way and say, 'Oh no, we are going to determine what's best,' there will be chaos at the convention," said Obama supporter and Richmond, Va., Mayor Douglas Wilder, who raised the specter of the 1968 convention riots. "If you think 1968 was bad, you watch 2008. It will be worse."

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/17/153525/285
[Chuck Todd] By our count, the Clinton campaign hasn’t publicly announced the support of a new superdelegate since just after February 5. Indeed, since Super Tuesday, Obama has gained 47 new superdelegates, while Clinton has lost seven (including Eliot Spitzer).

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/03/the-one-blog-entry-you-can-fin.php
[Brian Leung] A Democrat must be in the Oval Office next January. Let's not let process, scrounging for delegates, and inter-party back-biting spoil that necessity. The bigger woman or bigger man must see the handwriting on the wall before the convention and gracefully throw their support behind the other. The sooner the better.

More: http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/3/18/23515/4056

Clinton: on to Puerto Rico! (June 7)

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/3/18/0642/02160

Rush calls it “Operation Chaos,” and he’s very proud of it. He wasn't able to influence the outcome of the Republican primaries -- but he's determined to influence the outcome of the Democratic ones

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_031708/content/01125107.guest.html
RUSH: Operation Chaos continues. Operation Rush the Vote. The Boston Globe has finally discovered it today, the Allentown Morning Call has discovered it today, and even at The Nation magazine, very, very liberal magazine, they've discovered it. . .

They are so agitated over this. They just can't stand it when their own tactics are turned back on them, folks. They just can't stand it. They get to muck up our primaries all they want, they get to cross over, they get to do anything they want, choose our nominee and so forth. We get involved in theirs -- and, by the way, this is not just about getting Hillary nominated because she'd be easier to beat. This is about causing chaos; this is about continuing this soap opera for a whole bunch of reasons, and the reasons run from the political, and they are obvious, to the simple fact also that this is fun. . . . [W]e may wake up one morning in November and be miserable and unhappy, but we will have the memory of more fun months leading up to it. . .

This is from the York, Pennsylvania, Daily Record yesterday: "'Voters Switched Parties to Prep for Primary.' -- A large number of Republicans have changed affiliation to have a say in the 2008 outcome. Sandra Reed of Gettysburg has been a Republican since she was old enough to vote. But Tuesday, she and her husband, Vernon, went to the Adams County Courthouse and became Democrats. 'We were registered Republicans, and we will always be Republicans, but we want to help Hillary get the No. 1 position for the Democrats,' said Reed, 70. 'So, we are switching for the primary to vote for Hillary, then we will switch back and vote for McCain.' ... That's what the Reeds did. They got the idea to influence the Democratic race from conservative radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh, she said. Limbaugh recommended his listeners temporarily switch party affiliation to give Clinton a boost, and vote out Obama. Monica Dutko, Adams County elections director, has seen a steady stream of Republicans switching over to the Democratic Party. While she does not ask why they're switching, some have told her that they're switching at the suggestion of Limbaugh."

You know, this is going to be with me and us, folks, for the rest of our lives. This is in the Nexis database, Operation Chaos, the Rush the Vote effect. Even if -- and I'm not saying this is the case -- even if what we're doing is having no effect, the Drive-Bys and Democrats still think it is, and so they're reporting it as though it is. Now, we know it is. We can probably pull this scam even without it working, because this is what they fear from talk radio in the first place. Yeah, we're having too much fun while we're doing this. . .

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_031708/content/01125114.guest.html
RUSH: I did suggest that we needed to keep the Democrat soap opera going. We needed to create some chaos. We need this party undecided and at war with each other, all the way through the convention. I suggested that Republicans, after our nominee was chosen, I said, we need to bloody up Obama politically. . . .

CALLER: I'm a "boneheaded follower," and I wanted to tell you that I just changed my affiliation to Democrat, and I haven't been this excited about voting since 1984! . . . Well, bonehead here waiting for orders.

RUSH: (laughing) Okay, what happened? What happened when you went and registered? Did they say anything to you?

CALLER: They didn't say anything, but I was just proud.

RUSH: Did you tell them that you were a Republican wanting to register Democrat?

CALLER: Yep. Well, I didn't say I was Republican. I said, "I want to change affiliation," but I'd love to see them in disarray at the Democrat Party, and I just can't wait to go that day and "vote Rush."

RUSH: Thank you.

CALLER: Yes, sir.

RUSH: That's great. More excited! Now, what does this tell us? In a way, this is somewhat concerning. A Republican just said (laughing) that the most excited he's been since 1984, is the chance to go vote for Hillary Clinton in a primary!

More: http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/03/17/many_voting_for_clinton_to_boost_gop/

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14920.html

How the politics of character assassination work -- and why the Republicans are so good at it

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/tell-me-lies-by-digby-as-we-hurtle.html

Meet Karl Rove

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14916.html
Thomas Friedman, hardly a liberal ideologue, once said Rove is brilliant the same way cigarette companies are: “He is not a man who has designed a strategy to reunite our country around an agenda of renewal for the 21st century — to bring out the best in us. His ‘genius’ is taking some irrelevant aside by John Kerry and twisting it to bring out the worst in us, so you will ignore the mess that the Bush team has visited on this country. And Karl Rove has succeeded at that in the past because he was sure that he could sell just enough Bush cigarettes, even though people knew they caused cancer.”

So, naturally, Rove parlayed his career into becoming an analyst for Fox News . . .

Don Young (R-AK): fighting for his life

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/don_young_shows_his_mink_teeth.php

Good news for Jerry Lewis (R-CA)?

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/183926.php
[Josh Marshall] You'll be happy to know that the Los Angeles US Attorney's office, where the (endlessly) on-going investigation into Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA) is being handled, has decided to shut down its public corruption unit.

Let’s see, Eliot Spitzer (D) had to resign immediately in disgrace. David Vitter (R) and Larry Craig (R) are still in office. Why?

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/183891.php
Sen. David Vitter (R-LA): There's an "enormous difference" between my use of prostitutes and Eliot Spitzer's.

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/17/15366/3255

Bonus item: Erasing history on Wikipedia

http://www.americablog.com/2008/03/as-joe-noted-earlier-bill-kristol.html

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:23 AM

 
NOT SAFE

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/03/16/mccain-market-iraq/
On April 1, 2007, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) strolled through the open-air Shorja market in Baghdad in an effort to prove that Americans are “not getting the full picture” of what’s going on in Iraq. In a press conference after his Baghdad tour, McCain told a reporter that his visit to the market was proof that people could “walk freely” in parts of Baghdad.

What McCain failed to mention was that he was accompanied by “100 American soldiers, with three Blackhawk helicopters, and two Apache gunships overhead.” He also appeared to be wearing a bulletproof vest during his visit. . . .

McCain is now back in Iraq for a “surprise visit with Iraqi and American diplomatic and military leaders.” He is joined by fellow Iraq war defenders Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC). But it’s unlikely they will be visiting the Shorja market again. Today, CNN reported that they tried to visit the Shorja market, but it was too unsafe and they were unable to go . . .

Why Cheney is there – and why McCain is too (think that wasn’t coordinated?)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/17/AR2008031700143.html
Vice President Cheney made an unannounced visit to Baghdad this morning . . .

A senior official traveling with Cheney told reporters aboard his plane that the vice president was going to meet with Iraqi leaders to "thank them for the hard work they've done" and urge them to move ahead with "the rest of the hard work necessary to consolidate Iraq's democracy," according to a pool report filed once they arrived in Baghdad. Cheney also will discuss a long-term security agreement intended to outlive the Bush presidency, the official said. . .

In Iraq: how things went wrong from the very start

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/the_occupation_of_iraq_/2008/03/clusterfck.php

The “Winter Soldier” testimonies – have you been following these?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-cohen/iraq-winter-soldier-heari_b_91776.html

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/soldiers-testify-at

More: http://ivaw.org/wintersoldier

We’ve been hearing lately that, gee, maybe there was some excessive zeal in detentions and interrogations in the early, desperate times immediately after 9/11 – but we don’t do those things any more. Well, guess what?

http://firedoglake.com/2008/03/16/more-tortured-reasoning/

Persona non grata?

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/3/16/123419/677
Attorney General Michael Mukasey was in London speaking to a group at the London School of Economics. After his speech, and speaking for himself only, he said he personally opposed the death penalty for the 9/11 detainees at Guantanamo. . .

The US Attorney firings are about to come back into the news: an upcoming Justice Dept report will be “explosive”

http://harpers.org/archive/2008/03/hbc-90002635
Perhaps the hallmark of the administration of justice in the Bush era is its complete politicization. No aspect of the process of law enforcement seems beyond the reach of political meddling. This was dramatically demonstrated when Senator Sheldon Whitehouse disclosed early in the hearing process that virtually every political staffer in the White House had been authorized to meddle with criminal investigations and prosecutions. But the reach of Karl Rove was most apparent, and his fingerprints are all about the December 7 scandal. Moreover, when senior figures of the New Mexico G.O.P. decided they wanted to fire their U.S. attorney because he had refused to prostitute his office for electoral political purposes, they went straight to the man who could obviously make it happen: Karl Rove. . . [read on]

The era of deregulation and laissez-faire market absolutism has brought the US economy to its knees. The geniuses who did a “heckuva job” on Iraq, foreign policy, Katrina, and the environment, are now ruining our retirement programs, home mortgages, and employment prospects. And at the top of it all, our own Herbert Hoover

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_03/013339.php
[From a reader] One of the things that shocks me is that the liberal blogosphere has been deadly silent about the massive bailout of bankers that is taking place with taxpayer money, and fueling the collapse of the dollar. Where's the outrage? What we're seeing is a classic example of "Privatize the gains during the boom — e.g. hand out $30B+ in Wall Street bonuses each of the last several years — and socialize the losses during the bust." But for this to be taking place in the context of a financial apocalypse among the American middle class (9m families currently have negative equity in their homes, and prices in all likelihood have much further to fall) strikes me as bordering on criminal. Why aren't the Democrats demanding the re-regulation of Wall Street and the reining in of compensation in the finance industry as quid pro quo for these bailouts?

More: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/17/opinion/17krugman.html
[Paul Krugman] Henry Paulson, the current Treasury secretary, still says that any proposal to use taxpayers’ money to help resolve the crisis is a “non-starter.” But that’s about as credible as all of his previous pronouncements on the financial situation. . . .

So here’s the question we really should be asking: When the feds do bail out the financial system, what will they do to ensure that they aren’t also bailing out the people who got us into this mess?

Let’s talk about why a bailout is inevitable.

http://firedoglake.com/2008/03/17/bush-is-becoming-hoover-where-is-fdr/

http://www.americablog.com/2008/03/schumer-and-pelosi-are-absolutely.html

Bush’s demagoguery on the FISA bill

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/16/opinion/16sun2.html

GOP Senate prospects have party pros very worried

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=4585

The kind of people they are

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/17/1047/24357
[DarkSyde] Sally Kern, Oklahoma State Rep, was a smash hit in the blogosphere last week, ranting against gay Americans saying, among other funny things, they were more dangerous to the US than terrorism (You really have to hear it). But she's outdone herself with Oklahoma HB 2211:

The bill requires public schools to guarantee students the right to express their religious viewpoints in a public forum, in class, in homework and in other ways without being penalized. If a student's religious beliefs were in conflict with scientific theory, and the student chose to express those beliefs rather than explain the theory in response to an exam question, the student's incorrect response would be deemed satisfactory, according to this bill.

More on religion and politics

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_03/013340.php
Are Democrats clueless about religion? Are there electoral gains to be made even among evangelicals? Do we have to sell our souls to do it? And what about abortion and gays? . . .

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/3/16/222916/595
Cleveland's United Church of Christ is under investigation by the I.R.S. and could lose its tax exempt status because of a speech Barack Obama gave there last year. . . .

The Chicago Tribune, hardly a liberal rag, declares the Rezko “scandal” a non-story

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/chi-0316edit1mar16,0,745313.story
U.S. Sen. Barack Obama waited 16 months to attempt the exorcism. But when he finally sat down with the Tribune editorial board Friday, Obama offered a lengthy and, to us, plausible explanation for the presence of now-indicted businessman Tony Rezko in his personal and political lives.

The most remarkable facet of Obama's 92-minute discussion was that, at the outset, he pledged to answer every question the three dozen Tribune journalists crammed into the room would put to him. And he did. . . .

We fully expect the Clinton campaign, given its current desperation, to do whatever it must in order to keep the Rezko tin can tied to Obama's bumper.

When we endorsed Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination Jan. 27, we said we had formed our opinions of him during 12 years of scrutiny. We concluded that the professional judgment and personal decency with which he has managed himself and his ambition distinguish him.

Nothing Obama said in our editorial board room Friday diminishes that verdict. . . . [read on]

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/16/11535/6707

http://www.americablog.com/2008/03/publish-sunday-am-chicago-trib.html

How do Jeremiah Wright’s comments compare to those of others?

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=4582
“This Fourth July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn. . . .”

Are the Wright and Rezko episodes an indictment of Obama’s judgment?

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/3/16/233031/191

What about Hillary’s judgment?

http://www.americablog.com/2008/03/lynn-sweet-on-disclosure-front-clinton.html
[Chicago Sun Times] In making the effort to get potentially crippling matters behind him and to move on, Obama is now freer than before to go after Clinton’s lapses on the ethics and disclosure fronts.

Clinton has declined to release even the last year of her income tax returns, and Obama has. Clinton has not been able to expedite the release of her first lady records from the Clinton presidential library. Clinton has not made public her earmark — or pet project — spending requests for any of her time in the Senate, and Obama has. Obama has revealed a bit more information about his fund-raising “bundlers” than Clinton. The donors who bankroll Bill Clinton’s library and foundation are not public.

With showdown primaries ahead — and debates April 16 in Pennsylvania and April 19 in North Carolina — Clinton has every liability in front of her. . .

Obama and Clinton: there ARE policy differences

http://www.hnn.us/articles/48391.html

By the way, how often DOES the President have to get up at 3:00 a.m. and make a decision?

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14910.html

There seems to be a growing sentiment among party pros that Clinton can’t win the nomination, but can only ruin it for Obama

http://www.americablog.com/2008/03/clinton-to-pelosi-you-sank-my.html

Mark Kleiman does the delegate math: http://www.samefacts.com/archives/campaign_2008_/2008/03/new_math.php
Conclusion: HRC has no real path to the nomination. . .

Some contrary views

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/3/16/11469/1331

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=4586

It’s the job of the superdelegates to look out for the best interests of the party, we keep hearing. Well, it’s time for them to do so

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14908.html

Don’t make me laugh

http://www.americablog.com/2008/03/funniest-headline-of-campaign-season-so.html
[Politico] "Clinton aides deplore negativity" . . .

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/3/16/19508/9043
Who is doing the negative campaigning? Peter Daou, Hillary's internet communications director, points out in an e-mail to bloggers, it's Obama, not Hillary . . .

More: http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0308/Clinton_aides_deplore_negativity.html
[Ben Smith] Clinton aides Mark Penn and Howard Wolfson convened a conference call this afternoon to discuss John McCormick's report that Obama is preparing "a full assault on Sen. Hillary Clinton over ethics and transparency."

Clinton's aides seem to be alleging both that Obama is going shockingly negative and that there should be a higher standard for Obama, because he has promised to play nice. (The latter argument seems somewhat more credible to me.)

"This is a tried-and-true technique of the Obama campaign that has repeatedly shifted negative when they find the momentum shifting against them," said Penn.

I asked whether that hadn't also been what Clinton did when she found the momentum shifting against her.

"They have decided to go consistently negative," Penn said. "They have gone personally negative against Sen. Clinton repeatedly in this campaign, and that is a big difference."

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:39 AM

 
REALITY CHECK

The true cost of Bush’s war

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2008/03/15/a_3_trillion_debacle
NEARLY FIVE years since the start of the Iraq war, the Bush administration is still funding much of it through emergency appropriations, and only partially through the regular defense budget. This is one of several ways in which the administration has managed to hide the true cost of the war from the American people. . . . [read on]

From “oil for food” to oil for . . .

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/16/world/middleeast/16insurgent.html
The sea of oil under Iraq is supposed to rebuild the nation, then make it prosper. But at least one-third, and possibly much more, of the fuel from Iraq’s largest refinery here is diverted to the black market, according to American military officials. Tankers are hijacked, drivers are bribed, papers are forged and meters are manipulated — and some of the earnings go to insurgents who are still killing more than 100 Iraqis a week. . .

Juan Cole assesses the state of political “progress” in Iraq

http://www.juancole.com/2008/03/reflections-on-petraeuss-comments-on.html
Sunni Arab provinces such as Diyala, Salahuddin and Mosul are still violent, and even al-Anbar, which has settled down, is not paradise. The Awakening Council model does not seem to have been successful outside al-Anbar and some Baghdad neighborhoods, and there is always the danger that the US is creating a powerful Sunni militia that despises Prime Minister al-Maliki as Iran's cat's paw.

The Kurdish-Arab struggles in the north, the issue of Kirkuk, the terror activities of the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK)-- based in Iraq but hitting NATO Turkish troops in eastern Turkey-- and the Turkish incursions into and bombings of Iraqi Kurdistan, signal that the north is a powder keg. The unresolved issue of oil-rich Kirkuk and whether it will accede to the Kurdistan Regional Government is the other shoe in the Iraq crisis, which has not yet dropped but could at any moment. I have been told that Gen. Petraeus deeply disagreed with Bush's decision to share real time intelligence on the PKK with the Turkish government and to allow a major Turkish incursion into and bombing of northern Iraq. . . . [read on]

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/catch-that-goalpost-by-dday-over-last.html
[AP] Al-Qaida is in Iraq to stay. It's not a conclusion the White House talks about much when denouncing the shadowy group, known as al-Qaida in Iraq, that used the U.S. invasion five years ago to develop into a major killer.

The militants are weakened, battered, perhaps even desperate, by most U.S. accounts. But far from being "routed," as Defense Secretary Robert Gates claimed last month, they're still there, still deadly active and likely to remain far into the future . . . [read on]

Condi Rice: history will not be kind

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/03/15/consequences/
[Emptywheel] Not just in Palestine, Condi has a habit of taking bad situations and making them worse, with tremendous costs in terms of lives and American stature. The question is, if she had received the blame she should have for 9/11, would we have avoided those mistakes? . . . [read on]

Bill Kristol insists that the Pentagon report shows there WAS a Hussein-Al Qaeda link

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14905.html

What next in the FISA fight?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/15/18456/6564

Retroactive impunity

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/03/fbi-tried-to-co.html
FBI headquarters officials sought to cover their informal and possibly illegal acquisition of phone records on thousands of Americans from 2003 to 2005 by issuing 11 improper, retroactive "blanket" administrative subpoenas in 2006 to three phone companies that are under contract to the FBI, according to an audit released Thursday.

Top officials at the FBI's counter-terrorism division signed the blanket subpoenas "retroactively to justify the FBI's acquisition of data through the exigent letters or other informal requests," the Justice Department's Inspector General Glenn Fine found. . . .

He’s not going to get away with this, is he?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/15/AR2008031502048.html
Housing Secretary Alphonso Jackson twice last week declined to directly answer senators' questions about allegations that he and his agency sought to punish a housing authority for refusing to help one of Jackson's friends. . . .

Jackson, when asked about retaliation accusations by Senate banking committee members Wednesday, said he could not discuss the matter because it is the subject of a lawsuit against his agency. He said a gag order prevented him from commenting.

But when Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) said he had learned that the judge's gag order did not prohibit Jackson from answering senators' questions, Jackson acknowledged Thursday at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing that he had learned he could discuss the matter. Reading from a written statement, however, Jackson said he did not have any firsthand information about the e-mails . . .

He later sidestepped several questions about any personal role he played in the dispute with the Philadelphia agency. . . .

Jackson declined to answer several questions about any role he may have played in that dispute. . .

Jackson declined to answer detailed questions. . . .

http://dallas.bizjournals.com/dallas/stories/2006/05/08/story1.html
[May 5, 2006, discussing another contract] "He had made every effort to get a contract with HUD for 10 years," Jackson said of the prospective contractor. "He made a heck of a proposal and was on the (General Services Administration) list, so we selected him. He came to see me and thank me for selecting him. Then he said something ... he said, 'I have a problem with your president.'

"I said, 'What do you mean?' He said, 'I don't like President Bush.' I thought to myself, 'Brother, you have a disconnect -- the president is elected, I was selected. You wouldn't be getting the contract unless I was sitting here. If you have a problem with the president, don't tell the secretary.'

"He didn't get the contract," Jackson continued. "Why should I reward someone who doesn't like the president, so they can use funds to try to campaign against the president? Logic says they don't get the contract. That's the way I believe."

[NB: And yes, in case you were wondering, that IS illegal.]

The Obama and Clinton political world views

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/15/8222/89130/817/477167
[NJ Mom] I've been concerned for a while that the Obama/Clinton contest is becoming a surrogate battle between the Dean and McAuliffe wings of the DNC. It is a battle between those that believe in the "important states" vs. "the other 40", between DLCers and DFAers, between an addiction to corporate/special interest money and those that believe that small donors in vast numbers are democracy at its most powerful.

What I read in the NYT today, makes me concerned that McAuliffe and those that he represents are trying to ambush Dean using Clinton donors. . . . [read on]

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/top_hillary_donor_directly_pre.php
[Greg Sargent] Top fundraisers for Hillary Clinton have begun to exert direct and personal pressure on DNC chair Howard Dean, urging him to show more leadership to bring about some sort of resolution to the Florida and Michigan vote standoffs.

In an interview with Election Central, venture capitalist Alan Patricof, a member of Hillary's finance committee and one of the Democratic Party's most influential fundraisers, said that he'd privately urged Dean to do more to get the Florida and Michigan delegations seated -- something that's crucial to the Hillary camp's hopes of closing the gap with Obama. . .

Oh, really?

http://thehill.com/campaign-2008/clinton-camp-questions-obamas-transparency-2008-03-15.html
Clinton camp questions Obama’s transparency . . .

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/15/clinton-wont-release-ear_n_91681.html
Close observers of yesterday's reports on the efforts of McCain and Obama to get Sen. Clinton to disclose her earmark requests going back to 2001 may have noticed a strange thing about the statement her office issued at the end of the day.

It said all manner of things about earmarks, and moratoriums, and funding, and accountability. But it never said whether she would disclose her earmark requests . . .

Cass Sunstein on Barack Obama

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-oped0314obamamar14,0,7185898.story

Obama picks up most of Edwards delegates in Iowa – and why it’s a big deal

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/3/15/195828/234

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=4580

Make a decision!

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/16/us/politics/16delegates.html
Lacking a clear route to the selection of a Democratic presidential nominee, the party’s uncommitted superdelegates say they are growing increasingly concerned about the risks of a prolonged fight between Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, and perplexed about how to resolve the conflict. . . .

While many superdelegates said they intended to keep their options open as the race continued to play out over the next three months, the interviews suggested that the playing field was tilting slightly toward Mr. Obama in one potentially vital respect. Many of them said that in deciding whom to support, they would adopt what Mr. Obama’s campaign has advocated as the essential principle: reflecting the will of the voters. . . .

http://www.slate.com/id/2186728
[Roger McShane] Most of the superdelegates interviewed by the Times want the nomination battle decided before the Democratic convention, but they don't know how to resolve the conflict. Lucky for them, TP has a solution: Pick a candidate. As the Times says, "it is a virtual certainty that neither candidate will win enough pledged delegates to clinch the nomination," so the decision will come down to the votes of the superdelegates. But many of them are "hoping they will be relieved of making an excruciating decision that could lose them friends and supporters at home." A true profile in courage.

The NYT adds that while many superdelegates intend to keep their options open, they also said that "in deciding whom to support, they would adopt what Mr. Obama's campaign has advocated as the essential principle: reflecting the will of the voters." If this is the case, and with Obama holding nearly insurmountable (and growing) leads in the popular vote and delegate count, what are they waiting for? . . .

A problem with Obama’s donors

http://www.americablog.com/2008/03/obama-answers-rezko-questions-in.html

A problem with Clinton’s donors

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/3/14/91513/8023/534/476441

Meanwhile, John McCain seems to be getting off scot free

http://www.americablog.com/2008/03/british-lord-hosting-fundraiser-for.html
[Joe Sudbay] McCain is already on the verge of breaking U.S. campaign finance laws by busting the spending cap. He's been having trouble raising money in the U.S., too. But, this borders on the absurd:

Sen. John McCain plans at least one campaign event on his week-long congressional trip to Europe and the Middle East: a March 20 fundraiser in London. An invitation sent out by the campaign says the luncheon will be held at Spencer House, St. James's Place, "by kind permission of Lord Rothschild OM GBE and the Hon Nathaniel Rothschild." Tickets to the invitation-only event cost $1,000 to $2,300. Attire is listed as "lounge suits."

According to the McCain campaign, in keeping with U.S. law, only Americans can contribute. But, the damn thing is being hosted by a Brit. They are not Americans.

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14902.html
[Steve Benen] Michael Crowley noted, “He’s holding a fundraiser in London. Can you imagine if John Kerry — or either of the current Democrats — tried that? It would be a Fox News Mardi Gras.”

Agreed. I can hear Hannity now: “Liberal Barack Obama hasn’t raised enough money from Americans, so he’s traveling to liberal Europe to host a fundraiser. What’s with Obama and his foreign money? Is this legal? Will this divide his loyalties in office? What will he owe foreigners who helped finance his campaign?”

Somehow, I doubt similar questions will be raised with McCain. Call it a hunch.

Here's why he's going overseas to collect money

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/3/15/171155/645
Four or five million dollars is nothing to cough at -- except when you begin thinking about what that number actually represents. This is the time when money should be pouring into the McCain campaign. Not only has McCain secured the nomination, presumably opening up the floodgates of money from both the GOP base and establishment, he also is free to devote time to fundraise rather than campaign. Indeed, these fundraising events are a testament to that.

But $4 or $5 million in a week works out to only $15 to $20 over the course of a month -- nowhere near the type of money being brought in these days by either the Clinton campaign or the Obama campaign. This is problematic for McCain not only due to the fact that he is unable to keep up with his Democratic rivals, but also because he is unable to match their grassroots support with his traditional big dollar fundraisers. . .

McCain, foreign policy “expert”

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-mccainpolicy16mar16,0,3339321,full.story
The presumptive GOP nominee for president, McCain -- who leads a congressional delegation to Europe and the Middle East this week -- has adopted a surprising diversity of views on foreign policy issues during his 25 years in Congress. It is a pattern that brings uncertainty to the path he would take if elected. . . .

One sign of the internal contradictions in his views is growing friction between rival camps of McCain supporters -- between neoconservatives and those with more traditional views, widely called "realists." Both sides believe they have assurances from McCain that he would largely follow their path, and that like-minded allies would have key roles in the new administration . . .

[Dmitri] Simes said McCain, one of the Nixon Center's advisors, has privately assured prominent supporters in the traditional foreign policy camp that "his more exuberant statements don't necessarily reflect his real views." . . .

[NB: Hmmm. . . and think of the media and public response to the hyped-up story about Obama supposedly telling the Canadians that his public statements on NAFTA didn't necessarily reflect his real views:

http://hotair.com/archives/2008/02/29/obamas-nafta-double-talk-confirmed-ctv/
[V]oters need to understand that the supposed “new politics” of Obama smells very similar to that of the same old lies and empty rhetoric we have heard from the Beltway for decades. And without that “new politics”, Obama is nothing more than an empty suit with a pleasant voice.]

McCain’s “rustic cabin”

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/little-rustic-cabin-by-digby-jamison.html
Jamison Foser talks about the odd obsession the press corps has for Democratic candidates' finances while ignoring the finances of the much richer Mr and Mrs John McCain. He specifically mentions their descriptions of McCain's so-called cabin in Sedona as an example of the double standard . . . [read on]

Theocracy watch: McCain seems to be collecting bigoted Christian leaders as fast as he can sign them up

http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=25066
Today, Republican presidential candidate John McCain distanced himself from the views of one anti-Catholic leader — John Hagee — while simultaneously seeking the support of another, Tim LaHaye. McCain was in New Orleans today to gain the support of the secretive right-wing Council for National Policy, whose co-founder LaHaye has a long history of religious intolerance, and specifically anti-Catholicism. . .

[NB: Remember when he used to call these same people “agents of intolerance”?]

Sunday talk show line-ups

http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlDC/television/sunday_show_preview_79955.asp
NBC Meet the Press: Obama supporter fmr. Sen. Bill Bradley (D-NJ), Clinton supporter Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY) and a roundtable with David Broder of the Washington Post, David Gregory of NBC News, and Michele Norris of NPR's "All Things Considered".

CBS Face the Nation: Clinton supporter and former White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta, Obama supporter and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, and David Brooks, New York Times and Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune.

ABC This Week: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and a roundtable with The Washington Post's Ruth Marcus, Time Magazine's Mark Halperin, ABC News consultant strategist Donna Brazile and George Will.

Fox News Sunday: Henry Paulson, Secretary of the Treasury, Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Christopher Dodd (D-CT) and a panel with Brit Hume, Mara Liasson, Bill Kristol and Juan Williams. The Power Player of the Week is White House Press Secretary Dana Perino.

CNN Late Edition: Paulson, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, McCain Campaign policy advisor; Council on Foreign Relations, Gene Sperling, Clinton Campaign economic advisor; Center for American Progress, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA); Clinton Campaign supporter, Sen. Patrick Leahy, (D-VT); Obama Campaign supporter, Amb. Paul Bremer, former Director of Reconstruction in Iraq, Robin Wright, author, "Dreams and Shadows: The Future of the Middle East"; Washington Post, Gloria Borger, CNN senior political analyst and Dana Bash, CNN congressional correspondent

Bonus item: Losers

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/15/AR2008031502047.html
While all eyes were on the presidential campaign and the demise of New York Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer (D) last week, Republicans on Capitol Hill were suffering a run of bad news that could hold dire implications for the campaign season.

It started with the loss last weekend of the seat held for two decades by former House speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.). It got worse when Republicans lost potentially strong challengers to Democratic senators in South Dakota and New Jersey, and failed to field anyone to oppose the reelection bid of Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.).

The latest blow came with the revelation that the former treasurer of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) had allegedly diverted hundreds of thousands of dollars -- and possibly as much as $1 million -- from the organization's depleted coffers to his own bank accounts.

If Republicans needed any more evidence of how difficult this fall may be, the past week had it all, analysts said. The Illinois race demonstrated new levels of disaffection, the party's efforts to go on offense elsewhere were thwarted by recruiting failures, and the NRCC scandal will divert campaign resources and could frighten off badly needed contributors, they said.

"It's no mystery," said Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.). "You have a very unhappy electorate, which is no surprise, with oil at $108 a barrel, stocks down a few thousand points, a war in Iraq with no end in sight and a president who is still very, very unpopular. He's just killed the Republican brand."

Stuart Rothenberg, a nonpartisan analyst of congressional politics, said: "The math is against them. The environment is against them. The money is against them. This is one of those cycles that if you're a Republican strategist, you just want to go into the bomb shelter." . . .

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:39 AM

 
WHEN LOSING IS WINNING

Tell me again: WHAT was the surge intended to do?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/13/AR2008031303793.html
[March 14] Iraqi leaders have failed to take advantage of a reduction in violence to make adequate progress toward resolving their political differences, Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, said Thursday. . .

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14898.html
[Steve Benen] A month ago today, Gen. David Petraeus sounded relatively optimistic about political progress in Iraq. . . .

That was then; this is now . . . [read on]

More: http://firedoglake.com/2008/03/14/petraeus-admits-the-surge-has-failed/

Uh, Senator Lindsey Graham? Over to you . . .

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2007_09_02_archive.html#4602813000274087648
[September 2, 2007] I'll make a prediction on your show. In a matter of weeks, we're going to have a major breakthrough in Baghdad on items of political reconciliation -- the benchmarks -- because the Iraqi people are putting pressure on their politicians. . .

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1665833,00.html
[Oct 1, 2007] Graham told Time Wednesday that the Iraqi leaders have 90 days to start resolving their political differences with real legislative agreements or face a change in strategy by the U.S. “If they can’t do it in 90 days,” he said, “it means the major players don’t want to.” . . .

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/graham-may-seek-to-pull-plug-on-maliki-2007-11-15.html
[November 15, 2007] Graham said he is disappointed with the political reconciliation efforts in Iraq and is considering influencing alternatives to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government if the country does not make strides toward that goal.

“If his government has not delivered meaningful political reconciliation by the end of the year, given the success of the surge and better security, I will consider [Maliki’s] government a failure,” Graham told The Hill. “And then we look for other horses to support”

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,312903,00.html
[November 26, 2007] SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM R-S.C.: It's working amazingly well, beyond my expectations. I think history will judge the surge as probably the most successful counterinsurgency military operation in history. . . .

The surge was necessary to bring about the conditions for political reconciliation. I think we're on track at the national level.

Local reconciliation is very robust at the local level. I think it will migrate to the national level. If it doesn't in January, then I will be very disappointed . . . I will work with Democrats and Republicans to put more pressure on the Maliki government . . .

http://www.charleston.net/news/2008/feb/26/graham_happy_iraqs_progress31808/
[February, 26. 2008] "A year ago at this time, I was very worried Iraq was slipping into chaos," he said Monday. "The surge has exceeded all expectations that I had." . . .

He also expressed hope that some of Iraq's remaining challenges — holding local and regional elections and working out an oil-sharing deal — could be done by year's end. . . .

"There's a long way to go yet. We're not there, but Iraq today is much closer to being a stable government than it was a year ago," he said. "Troops are coming home. They will be coming home this spring and this summer . . .”

John McCain learns a little trick from Bush. When you’ve staked your candidacy on the idea that things are going great in Iraq, you have to inoculate yourself against the possibility that something terrible could happen before the election. How do you do that? Turn a catastrophe into GOOD NEWS for you!

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN1418633520080314
Republican presidential candidate John McCain said on Friday he fears that al Qaeda or another extremist group might attempt spectacular attacks in Iraq to try to tilt the U.S. election against him. . .

More: http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/mccain_i_worry_that_al_qaeda_w.php

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14896.html

I – am – speechless

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/13/bush-envious-of-soldier_n_91455.html
[Bush, to troops in Afghanistan] "I must say, I'm a little envious," Bush said. "If I were slightly younger and not employed here, I think it would be a fantastic experience to be on the front lines of helping this young democracy succeed.”

"It must be exciting for you ... in some ways romantic, in some ways, you know, confronting danger. . .”

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/the_romance_of_empire.php
[Matt Yglesias] Need we note that when Bush had an actual opportunity to put his life on the line in a war, he chose to avoid doing so? The guy who sent me the link observed the connection between these sentiments and the point about Bush-style democracy-promotion as the return of Victorian imperialism -- shot through with daffy romanticism about dashing off to exotic lands to take up the white man's burden. . . .

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/missed-opportunities-by-digby-somebodys.html
“I was not prepared to shoot my eardrum out with a shotgun in order to get a deferment. Nor was I willing to go to Canada. So I chose to better myself by learning how to fly airplanes." George W. Bush on why he joined the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War, 1990. . . .

The House did the right thing on the revised FISA bill – but let’s not get too giddy, yet. . . .

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-031408-terrorist-surveillance,0,4408616.story
The House on Friday approved a Democratic bill that would set rules for the government's eavesdropping on phone calls and e-mails inside the United States.

The bill, approved as lawmakers departed for a two-week break, faces a veto threat from President Bush. . . .

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/house_passes_surveillance_bill.php
[Paul Kiel] The bill has stricter privacy safeguards than the Senate's version -- and of course does not contain a provision granting retroactive immunity for the telecoms' participation in the administration's warrantless wiretapping program.

As for what's next, it's over to the Senate where it's sure to undergo some modifications. . . .

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/reid_very_encouraged_by_passag.php
[Harry Reid, D-NV] “I am very encouraged by House passage of a new FISA bill. The new House version adopts the basic structure of the Senate-passed bill, but contains added privacy protections. Now is the time for Republicans to come to the negotiating table so we can resolve the last few issues. The President should stop giving high-handed speeches in the Rose Garden and start working with Congress to finalize this important national security bill.”

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/14/15714/0966
FISA: The good guys win a big one . . . [read on]

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14897.html
The Speaker’s happy; Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is happy; the ACLU’s happy; and EFF is happy. This is so much better than the outcome I expected as recently as a few weeks ago, it’s hard to measure.

Not a bad day on Capitol Hill; kudos all around. . .

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/03/14/fisa/index.html
[Glenn Greenwald] As impressive as the House vote itself was, more impressive still was the floor debate which preceded it. I can't recall ever watching a debate on the floor of either House of Congress that I found even remotely impressive -- until today . . .

It is possible that the House will ultimately end up capitulating to the President, but I have real doubts about whether that will happen. They have defied the standard GOP Terrorism-exploitation attacks for weeks, allowed the Protect America Act to expire (once the President refused to extend it), and now passed a very good bill even in the midst of intense GOP/media attacks. They did so as a result of a shrewd strategy and a willingness to frame and engage the debate aggressively. . .

It's hard not to believe that there's at least some significant sea change reflected by this. They have seen that they can defy the President even on matters of Terrorism, and the sky doesn't fall in on them. Quite the opposite: an outspoken opponent of telecom amnesty, warrantless eavesdropping and the Iraq War was just elected to the House from Denny Hastert's bright red district, and before that, Donna Edwards ousted long-time incumbent Al Wynn by accusing him of being excessively complicit with the Bush agenda. . . [read on]

The Blue Dogs come home: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/03/14/the-blue-dogs-some-of-them-at-least-come-home/

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/03/14/more-blue-dogs-come-home/

What next? Here’s the worst case scenario

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/house_dems_circulate_draft_of.php
Of course, just because the House bill does not have retroactive immunity does not mean that the final bill to arise from the process will not. As the Politico reported last night, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) now favors a strategy of "ping-ponging" alternatives back and forth between the two chambers. What that means is that the House could vote out a bill that does not contain retroactive immunity, but that the Senate could vote to add it back in, sending that back to the House, where such a modified bill might pass with the help of moderate Democrats. . . .

Here’s the best case scenario: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/14/20531/4456
[WP] The House's action ensures that Bush will not receive surveillance legislation for several weeks. But some lawmakers from both parties said the impasse is now so deep that the issue may not be resolved until a new president takes office next year.

Bush and Republican lawmakers have shown no desire to move further toward the House Democratic leaders' position, and the Democrats are showing no sign of buckling under the mounting political pressure.

The Bush gang hates oversight

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/14/113232/092
[T]oday's report in the Boston Globe by Charlie Savage is welcome. In fact, Savage provides considerable background on the issues, describing the most important ways in which Bush's Executive Order hollows out the IOB; the historical background to the Board's creation under Gerald Ford; and the series of steps George Bush has taken to undermine the intelligence oversight reforms instituted during the 1970s. . . [read on]

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/03/14/fisa-fbi-overrides-constitutional-objections/
[Reuters] The FBI twice disregarded a secret court's constitutional objections and obtained private records for national-security probes, a U.S. inspector reported on Thursday . . .

Bush personally intervenes to weaken ozone rule

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/13/AR2008031304175.html

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/todays_must_read_296.php
[Paul Kiel] If there's one thing EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson doesn't like to talk about, it's his conversations with the White House. . . .

More: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14892.html

Breaking the deadlock?

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14900.html
[Steve Benen] I’m waiting to see the fine print on this deal: “Senate Democrats and the White House reached a deal early Friday morning on moving a host of President Bush’s nominees, according to Democratic and White House officials. In exchange for Bush’s help in moving five Democratic nominees to federal agencies and boards, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) agreed to act on 40 Republican nominees, a Democratic leadership aide said…. Despite the agreement, Democrats did not win assurances that Bush would not install some controversial nominees during the Senate’s recess, including Steven Bradbury to head the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department.”

Embezzler rips off the NRCC to the tune of $1 million

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0308/9027.html

MSNBC savaged by the Right for dropping the Tucker Carlson show

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2008_03_09_archive.html#5634263377726430273
“LEFTIST JIHAD PURGES MSNBC . . ."

Maybe it had something to do with this? http://www.newscorpse.com/ncWP/?p=582
Tucker Carlson: A Ratings Black Hole . . .

So now will they attack Fox News? http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14890.html
[Steve Benen] It hasn’t been a good week for conservative hosts of unwatchable cable talk shows with poor ratings. Earlier this week, MSNBC yanked Tucker Carlson off the air. The next day, Fox News gave up on notorious blowhard John Gibson. . . .

A revote coming in Michigan; in Florida, maybe not. . .

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/hillarybacker_bill_nelson_floa.php
[Eric Kleefeld] Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) is floating a new compromise idea for seating delegates from Florida: That the result of the January rogue primary be accepted as is, but that the overall delegate allotment be cut in half, as the Republican National Committee originally did to their unauthorized primaries.

If such an idea were accepted — a big "if" — then Hillary Clinton's hypothetical delegate margin from Florida would be reduced from +38 to +19. In exchange, the candidates wouldn't have to go to the trouble of running in a whole new primary contest or being in the position of throwing out Florida entirely.

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/campaign_2008_/2008/03/no_longer_for_sale.php
[Mark Kleiman] Paul Cejas, having bought the Ambassadorship to Belgium from one Clinton, now thinks he can buy the Democratic Presidential nomination for the other. He's part of a group of top donors to the DNC who, having met with former DNC Chair and current Clinton fundraiser Terry McAuliffe, is telling the DNC that if the Florida delegates selected contrary to the rules aren't seated, he's going to ask for his $28,500 back. (McAuliffe says he encouraged phone calls to the DNC but doesn't approve of the blackmail. R-i-i-i-i-i-i-ght.) . . . [read on]

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2008/03/15/2008-03-15_democrats_agree_on_michigan_doover.html
Michigan Democrats Friday agreed in principle for Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to face off in a do-over primary on June 3. . .

Why Hillary should fight for revotes: http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/3/14/14109/3751
[Big Tent Democrat] Hillary Clinton's candidacy for the nomination requires revotes in Florida and Michigan . . .

Why Hilary shouldn’t fight for revotes: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14899.html
[Steve Benen] There are practically zero circumstances in which re-votes would help the Clinton campaign. She won’t beat Obama by 20 points in Florida again, and she won’t beat him by 55 in Michigan again. Clinton benefits from a) leaving things just as they are, and convincing the DNC to throw its rules out the window; or b) having the situation unresolved indefinitely. . .

Obama says a ten-point loss in Pennsylvania would be a “victory” for him

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/obama_tells_major_donors_that.php

Obama tries to put away the Jeremiah Wright problem

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/barack-obama/on-my-faith-and-my-church_b_91623.html
I vehemently disagree and strongly condemn the statements that have been the subject of this controversy. I categorically denounce any statement that disparages our great country or serves to divide us from our allies. I also believe that words that degrade individuals have no place in our public dialogue, whether it's on the campaign stump or in the pulpit. In sum, I reject outright the statements by Rev. Wright that are at issue. . .

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0308/Wright_leaves_Obama_campaign.html
"Rev. Wright is no longer serving on the African American Religious Leadership Committee." . . .

How about some equal time?

http://mediamatters.org/items/200803140013
ABC repeatedly noted controversial comments by Obama's "allies," but has yet to report comments by McCain endorsers . . .

Bonus item: Fascinating. As regular readers know, Daily Kos is blog headquarters #1 for pro-Obama postings – at the top end. But the D-Kos community contains a lot of other people . . .

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/prohillary_writers_on_strike_a.php
There's a movement afoot by prominent pro-Clinton diarists at Dailykos.com. . . .

"We are going on strike and taking our writing elsewhere. When and if our beloved community is once more a focal point for Democratic election discussions, we will gladly return." . . . [read on]

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 8:05 AM

 
SAVE THE CHILDREN!

The President who cried wolf: looks like it isn’t working any more

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/13/washington/13cnd-fisa.html
With the House moving toward a vote on electronic surveillance legislation that the White House has said falls far short of its requirements, President Bush warned legislators strongly Thursday morning against passing what he called “a partisan bill that will undermine American security.” . . .

“Voting for this bill would make our country less safe,” Mr. Bush said. “Congress should stop playing politics with the past and focus on helping us prevent attacks in the future.” . . .

“House leaders simply adopted the position that class-action trial lawyers are taking in the multibillion law suits they have filed” . . .

“Their partisan legislation would extend protections we enjoy as Americans to foreign terrorists overseas” . . .

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/03/20080313.html
"The American people understand the stakes in this struggle. They want their children to be safe from terror. . . ."

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/pelosi_the_president_is_wrong.php
Pelosi: "The President Is Wrong And He Knows It" . . . [watch]

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/13/14533/4124
Q: "Are you saying the President is lying?" . . . [read on]

What happens next? http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/todays_must_read_295.php

http://firedoglake.com/2008/03/13/fisa-overreach-and-other-surveillance-state-realities-and-questions/

The “secret session” http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/13/AR2008031304435.html

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/14/13839/2798

For once, the House leadership seems to be playing it smart

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/13/16282/5629

At least we know what they do with these powers once they’re given to them

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/13/164854/653
[Smintheus] The Justice Department's Inspector General published a report (PDF) today on the FBI's continued abuse of National Security Letters. However the IG postponed reporting on the abuse of "blanket" NSLs. We learned about the existence of these only today from the NY Times. They're an example of how the Bush "administration" actually employs retroactive immunity to shield its own lawbreaking. . . .

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/12/174232/451

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/13/AR2008031302277.html

The lie that won’t go away. The telecoms’ assistance with domestic surveillance DIDN’T start after 9/11 – but months before!

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/14/32927/2778

Well, the Pentagon didn’t want to a post an online version of their report detailing the lack of Saddam-Al Qaeda links. But it’s been posted now

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/the_iraqal_qaeda_report_squelc.php

Dead enders: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/oh-heck-by-digby-exhaustive-review-of.html

The EPA is lying to Congress, and Congress isn’t taking it

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/waxman_evidence_shows_epa_ston.php

They run their party the way they’ve run the country: the NRCC is even more broke than they realized

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/183291.php
$740,000 less

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/13/13256/5355

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/3/13/155016/570

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/nrcc_audit_aide_may_have_stole.php

Goodbye Geraldine: I once admired you, and now I just want you to go away

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/13/ferraro-the-obama-camp-s_n_91287.html
"If anybody is going to apologize, they should apologize to me . . .”

More: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/183401.php

Mark Penn: an anchor dragging down the Clinton campaign, and the Democratic party. He can’t open his mouth without doing damage

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/penn_pennsylvania_will_show_th.php
"We believe [Pennsylvania] will again show that Hillary is ready to win and that Senator Obama really can't win the general election."

http://donklephant.com/2008/03/13/penn-on-obama-he-cant-win-general-election/
Later, a reporter asks what he meant. Clinton campaign communications chief Howard Wolfson jumps in to say that “Mark did not say that.”

More: http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/3/13/154944/092

http://www.americablog.com/2008/03/mark-penn-continues-his-destructive.html

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/obama_cant_win_the_general.php

Is this the Clinton strategy: if we damage Obama enough and ruin his chances of winning, they’ll HAVE to give us the nomination?

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-03-13-democrats_N.htm
Democrats are increasingly worried about their chances for victory in November after a series of attacks by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on rival Sen. Barack Obama's leadership, credibility, readiness as commander in chief and, now, his ability to win the White House. . . .

Obama attacks McCain, the REPUBLICAN OPPONENT (Hillary, are you taking notes?)

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14884.html

In the end, the sort of thing that’s going to persuade the superdelegates

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/eyeing-obama-coattails-2008-03-12.html
Democratic lawmakers are becoming persuaded that Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) would have a more positive impact on other Democrats on the November ballot than Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.). . . .

This is going to become a real problem for Barack Obama, and he’d better find a way to deal with it

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/183228.php
This morning Obama's former pastor Jeremiah Wright is in the news again. . . .

More: http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/03/crazy-like-an-uncle.php

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/183354.php

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/13/the-wright-controversy/

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14885.html
[Steve Benen] I guess there’s a political upside for Obama: he can’t be a Muslim and a Christian with a radical pastor at the same time.

In the interests of balance. . .

http://sideshow.me.uk/smar08.htm#03140354
The RealSpiel: "James Wolcott believes that Republicans fear running against Clinton more than Obama. 'And now along comes Wayne Barrett in The Village Voice, persuasively arguing and methodically documenting that the original Obama infatuation emanating from such untrustworthies as Robert Novak, Rush Limbaugh, William Bennett, George Will, and others was indeed a hydra-headed head fake. . . With their lipless smiles and lidless eyes, conservative connivers don't even bother to disguise their duplicity, so proud and gleeful are they of their little tricks. And why shouldn't they be, when so many liberal bloggers and pundits are ready to fall for them?'"

[NB: Look, you can play this kind of double reverse psychology all day and all night. All I know is that Rush is begging his followers to vote for Clinton]

http://www.americablog.com/2008/03/25-of-hillary-supporters-would-vote-for.html
25% of Hillary supporters would vote for McCain . . . [read on]

Florida and Michigan – the story changes nearly every day

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/florida_revote_plan_in_trouble.php
Florida Revote Plan In Trouble . . .

http://www.iowaindependent.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=2079
Florida's U.S. House delegation threw another monkey wrench into the state's delegate dilemma Tuesday night. "Our House delegation is opposed to a mail-in campaign or any redo of any kind," the House members said in a joint release. . . .

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/the_michigan_compromise.php
Mark Halperin has his hands on a compromise plan floated by some Michigan Democrats. . . .

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/03/13/michigan_revote_gains_traction.html

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/3/14/22640/9677

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/3/14/24433/6116

What blogs do the “liberal media” like to read?

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2008_03_09_archive.html#5737754033494042065

[NB: And this doesn’t even include Drudge!]

A case study: http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=4536

Bonus item: the phony “assault” charge against a heckler who dared – DARED – to insult Darth Cheney continues to raise questions about the Secret Service

http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_8552359

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:07 AM

 
KEEPING COUNT

http://www.juancole.com/2008/03/15-us-troops-killed-since-sunday-mccain.html
15 US Troops Killed Since Sunday . . .

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/13/05721/3827
[AP] Fewer people know how many U.S. troops have died in the war in Iraq, a poll showed Wednesday.

Only 28 percent correctly said that about 4,000 Americans have died in the war . . .

Remember that Pentagon study that showed there was no tie between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda? Well, the Pentagon wants you to forget it

http://blogs.abcnews.com/rapidreport/2008/03/pentagon-report.html
The Bush Administration apparently does not want a U.S. military study that found no direct connection between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda to get any attention. This morning, the Pentagon cancelled plans to send out a press release announcing the report's release and will no longer make the report available online. . .

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/military_tries_to_squelch_repo.php
[Paul Kiel] Did you think that just because taxpayers funded a study that showed conclusively there was no operational link between Saddam Hussein's Iraq and Al Qaeda that it would be released without a fuss? Well, this is the Bush administration we're talking about here -- a group who've shown themselves over the years to be masters at disappearing inconvenient information.

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14872.html
[Steve Benen] They scheduled its release, then cancelled it. They scheduled a briefing, then cancelled it, too. And if asked, I’m certain Dana Perino would insist, with a mostly straight face, that the White House never contacted the Pentagon about this, and it was solely the decision of military officials, who, for whatever reason, preferred to hide its own report. . . .

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/03/12/suppressed_report/index.html
[George Bush, June 18, 2004] “The reason I keep insisting that there was a relationship between Iraq and Saddam and al Qaeda: because there was a relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda” . . . [read on]

They’re saying now that the key issue that led to Adm. Fallon’s departure as head of Central Command wasn’t Iran, but a difference over how quickly to withdraw troops from Iraq

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/183181.php

More: http://www.first-draft.com/2008/03/today-on-hold-6.html
Q Were there differences between Admiral Fallon and this administration about how to handle, for example, Iran, troop levels in Iraq? Were there differences inside?

MS. PERINO: Well, as Secretary Gates said, when it comes to Iran he does not believe that there was a difference, but there had built up over a period of time a perception that there was a difference. And when it comes to foreign policy it's critical that an administration speak with one voice. And if there's a perception that they are not speaking with one voice, then that becomes a problem. And that's what Secretary Gates and Admiral Fallon both said yesterday. . . .

Q Just one more thing. He said in the Esquire article that he had been in hot water with the White House before. Is that true?

MS. PERINO: I do not know where that came from.

Q So you don't know whether he was or not, or --

MS. PERINO: I would say I don't know whether he was or not, and I never heard that he was. . .

The Pentagon has about 50 interrogations on tape

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/13/washington/13intel.html
. . . including one that showed what a military spokesman described as the forcible gagging of a terrorism suspect.

Bush’s deeply corrupt HUD dept

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14873.html

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/life_in_the_hud.php

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/12/83839/4523

So much left to do . . .

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/12/AR2008031203703.html
A congressional investigation of alleged mismanagement at the Federal Communications Commission intensified yesterday with a request for documents dating back three years. . .

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/crew_asks_fbi_to_probe_missing.php
It's the burning question of the Bush Administration: malfeasance or incompetence? Did the White House just lose an untold number of emails because of their "primitive" archiving setup? Or is there something worse at play -- something criminal?

CREW, which has been pursuing a lawsuit over the lost emails, wants to know. And today the group wrote (pdf) FBI Director Robert Mueller to request that he investigate whether White House officials deleted emails relevant to the Valerie Plame investigation.

The complaint is based on evidence that "for the period September 30 through October 6, 2003, there were no e-mails for the entire Office of the Vice President on either the White House servers or on a back-up tape created on October 21, 2003, with the exception of e-mails that had not yet been erased from individual OVP employee mailboxes." Then-White House counsel Alberto Gonzales had notified all White House employees that the Department of Justice was investigating the Plame outing on September 30th. . . .

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/node/31752
One of the most underexplored aspects of Bush's unprecedented use of signing statements has been the practical consequences. . . .

Here’s the question: will the House continue to stand firm on the telecom immunity issue, if the Senate wants to add it back to the bill?

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/house_judiciary_dems_no_retroa.php
After holding out for months, the administration finally turned over documents from the warrantless wiretapping program to the House Judiciary Committee. It was a transparent bid to convince Democrats to get on board with retroactive immunity for the telecoms, a plan that largely worked with the Senate intelligence committee.

But, obviously, it didn't work. The Dems, led by Chair John Conyers (D-MI), reviewed the documentation. And in a statement today, Conyers and 19 members of the committee explain in detail why they concluded "that the Administration has not established a valid and credible case justifying the extraordinary action of Congress enacting blanket retroactive immunity as set forth in the Senate bill." . .. [read on]

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/03/12/house_democrats/index.html
[Glenn Greenwald] With regard to yesterday's FISA bill, more surprising than their defiance is their shrewdness. By including a provision that explicitly authorizes telecoms to submit to the court any exculpatory documents -- notwithstanding the assertion by the administration that those documents are subject to the "state secrets" privilege -- the House bill completely guts, in one fell swoop, the primary argument that, for months, has been made by telecoms and their allies as to why amnesty is necessary. . . . [read on]

More: http://www.discourse.net/archives/2008/03/important_fisa_statement_by_house_judiciary_committee.html

What will the Blue Dogs do? http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/12/19229/4481

The GOP goes mental: http://thinkprogress.org/2008/03/12/hoekstra-american-mental-health-at-risk-without-paa/
House Republicans are so intent on forcing through the Senate-approved surveillance bill “that they’ve tried to attach it to some strange vehicles,” including “an unrelated mental health parity bill (HR 1424).” Attempting to justify this move, Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-MI) was forced to stretch logic:

“This bill is intended to ensure the mental health of Americans; yet, no American’s health can be fully secured if they are under attack by a terrorist or facing the potential threat of terrorist attack.”

“I am told” that Republicans are lying creeps

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14874.html
[Rep. Paul Broun, R-Ga.] “[Immigration] is a national security problem,” Broun told the lawmakers. “I’m told by people who are involved in helping just monitor the border that roughly 40 percent of the people that are intercepted crossing our border are not Mexicans.”

[Al Kamen] Actually, the official stats for FY 2007 show slightly less than 7 percent are OTMs, or “Other than Mexicans.” The ASICs, or “Aliens from Special Interest Countries” — most anywhere in the Middle East and a chunk of South Asia — totaled 297. That’s three-hundredths of 1 percent. . .

You gotta enjoy the little things

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/12/183742/500
The bill, pushed aggressively by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), creates an independent, outside panel to investigate ethics complaints against House members. The House approved it last night, 229-182, with most Democrats in favor and most Republicans opposed. That margin is deceptive: Before final passage, the bill first had to clear a much closer procedural vote, which gave House members a chance to kill the idea without, technically, voting against it.

The bill survived that test by a single vote, with Foster voting in favor.

[NB: That would be Bill Foster, who just won Denny Hastert’s IL-14 seat last weekend]

More: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/pelosi_gets_reform_bill_while.php
As The Hill reports, the Dem leadership pushed hard for the reform bill despite Republicans and a number of senior Democrats digging in their heels and doing what they could to prevent the vote. As The Washington Post reports, "Even with two House members under indictment, two others sent to prison, and several others under federal investigation, nearly half the House did not want to submit the body to the scrutiny of a panel not under its control." Some of the choicer quotes from last night's debate:

Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-KS): "If you have a single ounce of self-preservation, you'll vote no."

Mighty reform foe Rep. John Murtha (D-PA): “We have a New York governor in the news right who shows that you can’t legislate ethics. It always comes down to the individual.”

And most quotable of all: Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii) . . . “With this proposal we are indicting ourselves, yielding and retreating to those who would tear this House down and denigrate us as crooks and knaves and hustlers…we cringe before our critics,” he said. “If we have no respect for ourselves—how to we expect it from anybody else?”

Heh

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/12/AR2008031204051_pf.html
In an election year that holds dismal prospects for congressional Republicans, possible financial problems at the cash-strapped NRCC are the last thing the GOP needs.

"The House Republican brand is so bad right now that if it were a dog food, they'd take it off the shelf," said retiring Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (Va.), who chaired the NRCC for four years earlier this decade. . . .

How Bush met God

http://www.slate.com/id/2186343/entry/2186344/

McCain’s Christian backers

http://www.motherjones.com/washington_dispatch/2008/03/john-mccain-rod-parsley-spiritual-guide.html
Senator John McCain hailed as a spiritual adviser an Ohio megachurch pastor who has called upon Christians to wage a "war" against the "false religion" of Islam with the aim of destroying it. . . .

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14864.html
[Steve Benen] I would have been more than content to avoid further comment on John McCain’s outreach and embrace of anti-Catholic, anti-gay, anti-Muslim, anti-woman, and anti-Semitic televangelist John Hagee. The media collectively decided to give McCain a pass, the senator made a half-hearted effort to distance himself from some of Hagee’s comments, and McCain critics had no choice but to give up on making this an important part of the campaign.

But before we can move on in earnest, McCain’s latest explanation for his relationship really deserves a closer look. . .

John McCain, warmonger

http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20080312/pl_bloomberg/apzut4blweek
John McCain is at least as determined as George W. Bush to stay the course in Iraq and more confrontational than the president on foreign policy issues ranging from Russia and China to North Korea. . .

“McCain Revealed”

http://www.aflcio.org/issues/politics/mccain.cfm

This strikes me as a fair analysis: the Clinton people argue that Obama is winning states no Democrat will win in November, so his popularity amongst a Democratic minority in those states doesn’t mean very much, and that Hillary has won most of the big states that a Democrat must win. Fair enough.

But it is also true that most of these big states (California, New York, etc) will go to either her or Obama in the Fall. The key factor, then, is to look at swing states – who shows more strength in the states that could go either way? And the result is. . . .

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/in_play.php

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/statebystate_1.php

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/12/14325/7309

The fight over revoting Florida and Michigan: this might fall under “be careful what you ask for” – a revote in Florida may yield Clinton fewer delegates; and in Michigan they may opt for a caucus, which could benefit Obama

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/a_snag_for_proponents_of_a_red.php

It’s official: Obama wins Texas (can we change the headlines now?)

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/03/11/caucus-win-gives-obama-more-texas-delegates-than-clinton/
Caucus win gives Obama more Texas delegates than Clinton

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/delegate_scoreboard_obama_has.php
Delegate Scoreboard: Obama Has Erased Hillary's March 4 Gains

A different version of events

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/3/13/24835/4433
[AP] Obama won 19 of the 33 delegates at stake Tuesday, according to the Associated Press tally, which gives him an overall lead, including superdelegates, of 111.

Clinton, however, eliminated Obama's gain from Mississippi when she picked up five delegates yesterday based on final results from the New York primary and the Colorado caucuses, both held Feb. 5.

I criticize this when the Clintons do it, and I’m criticizing it here too: you don’t change the agreed-upon rules when you suddenly decide they might disadvantage you

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/3/12/151551/198
[Big Tent Democrat] [I] want to take a moment to consider the shameless hypocrisy of the Obama campaign. Barack Obama is out there having his campaign argue that mail in voting has some type of impact that requires a Voting Rights Act review that could be troubling. That it will take more than a rubber stamp. Let's be clear, if the implication is this is just filling out a form, then no one would be bringing this up. Even the time frame is not a particular problem. No, Barack Obama is intimating that HE will raise a Voting Rights Act issue about mail in voting.

The SAME Barack Obama who is co-sponsor of the Senate version of this bill, "The Universal Right To Vote By Mail Act", which declares that NOT ALLOWING mail in voting in every state (28 do through absentee balloting) disenfranchises voters, now opposes a mail in revote. I have heard of chutzpah, but this one takes the cake.

Ferraro quits the Clinton campaign

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/12/ferraro-quits-clinton-post/index.html
After a two-day firestorm, Geraldine Ferraro has quit Senator Hillary Clinton’s finance committee, saying that Senator Barack Obama’s campaign was twisting her words to make her appear racist and that this was hurting Mrs. Clinton.

“I am stepping down from your finance committee so I can speak for myself and you can continue to speak for yourself about what is at stake in this campaign,” Ms. Ferraro wrote in a letter to Mrs. Clinton. “The Obama campaign is attacking me to hurt you. I won’t let that happen.” . . .

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/12/18841/5291
[DHinMI] If one can think of resignation letters on a continuum of repentant to defiant, this one definitely falls less on the "gee, I'm sorry" side of the continuum and more on the "screw those jerks who are making me step down" side. She continues to speak the language of a persecuted victim. . . . [read on]

In her own words: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/183105.php

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14871.html
She told Sawyer she was “absolutely not” sorry for what she said. . . “It wasn’t a racist comment, it was a statement of fact.” . . .

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/12/03341/8284
"Sexism is a bigger problem," Ferraro argued. "It's OK to be sexist in some people's minds. It's not OK to be racist." . . . [read on]

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/183170.php
TPM Reader JB dug up this passage from a December 2006 article in the Times about what then seemed the likely prospect that a women and a black man would be competitive candidates in the 2008 Democratic primaries:

“All evidence is that a white female has an advantage over a black male — for reasons of our cultural heritage,” said the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, the civil rights leader who ran for president in 1984 and 1988. Still, he said, for African-American and female candidates, “It’s easier — emphatically so.”

Ms. Ferraro offered a similar sentiment. “I think it’s more realistic for a woman than it is for an African-American,” said Ms. Ferraro. “There is a certain amount of racism that exists in the United States — whether it’s conscious or not it’s true.”

“Women are 51 percent of the population,” she added.

Look, I want to try to be fair here – and that’s hard given the venomous character of what Ferraro has been saying – but the fact is she’s not a key part of the Clinton team, and it’s easy to dismiss much of what she said as the pointless grumblings of an irrelevant, bitter 72 year old with her own long history of grievances and disappointments. But the failure is on the part of Clinton and her team to condemn these remarks as anything worse than “regrettable”

http://www.denverpost.com/ci_8539510
Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday that she disagrees with Geraldine Ferraro . . . "It's regrettable that any of our supporters — on both sides, because we both have this experience — say things that kind of veer off into the personal" . . .

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/12/03341/8284
[Clinton campaign manager Maggie Williams] "I do not agree with that and you know it’s regrettable that any of our supporters on both sides say things that veer off into the personal. . .”

[NB: Great word, that "regrettable" - both passive and subjunctive: the sort of thing about which one might feel regret. Why not just "I regret it" - or even better, "I reject and denounce it"?

Notice too that Hillary and her campaign manager have the formula down word for word - what is "regrettable" is not what their surrogate says, but all the bad things said by people on both sides.]

More: http://www.americablog.com/2008/03/having-done-dirty-work-ferraro-is.html

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/12/20339/1093

Keith Olbermann unleashes a blistering attack on Clinton. Hillary fans, you might want to skip this one

Watch: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23601041/

If it’s possible to find humor in all this . . .

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/_/2008/03/hes_not_that_black.php

On the theory that wording choices are never accidental

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/183038.php
Get your FREE PDF copy of HUMAN EVENTS' new special report - Barack Obama: EXPOSED! - when you sign up for our free email newsletters. It's the only way you'll get all the ammunition you need to end Obama's White House dreams once and for all. . .

Bonus item: Not really pertinent to this blog, but think about the implications. . .

http://atrios.blogspot.com/2008_03_09_archive.html#9493926130825700
High Def Tivo owners will soon be able to pull YouTube videos onto their Tivos and watch them on the TV.

While we aren't quite there yet, it's one more step towards the internet allowing anyone, in a sense, to use it to distribute content to televisions. No need to own a broadcast or cable channel.

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***

- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:44 AM

 
YES, SIR!

Bush likes to say that he follows the advice of his generals – except when they tell him things he doesn’t want to hear, of course. Then he fires them

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/11/washington/11cnd-fallon.html
Adm. William J. Fallon, the top American commander in the Middle East whose views on Iran and other issues have seemed to put him at odds with the Bush administration, is retiring early . . .

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/182868.php
[Josh Marshall] The interlocking rumor and speculation mills are now buzzing with theories about whether Adm. Fallon jumped or was pushed from his perch as the top military commander for US military forces across the Middle East (what the Pentagon refers to as 'Central Command'). But there is a big picture that is important to keep in focus. That is, quite simply, that Fallon is leaving because he was apparently too sane for the Bush White House. . . .

By all accounts, the points of contention between Fallon and Bush administration officials centered on three points: 1) his belief that the indefinite occupation of Iraq is a disaster for the US military, 2) that diplomacy has a central role in American foreign and national security policy, 3) that war is not a credible policy for the US to pursue in dealing with Iran. . . [read on]

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/182862.php
[David Kurtz] Like other professional classes -- lawyers and scientists come immediately to mind -- the military officer corps is seen by the White House as a threat to its own Executive Branch hegemony.

That's the key to understanding today's resignation by Adm. William Fallon, the commander in chief of Central Command.

The resignation of a CINC is a big deal, under almost any circumstance. But considering the Bush Administration's seven-year effort to put the Pentagon under its thumb, the resignation of a commander like Fallon, who by most accounts was willing to exercise his independent military judgment, is another setback for the professional officer corps as an institution. . . The effort has been focused on degrading the autonomy, independence, and institutional authority of the Pentagon in order to further the narrow ideological and partisan aims of this particular White House. . . . [read on]

The full story: http://www.esquire.com/features/fox-fallon

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/03/11/fallon_retiring/index.html

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/fallon_out.php

Petraeus wins: http://www.discourse.net/archives/2008/03/fallon_firing_fallout_petraeus_wins.html

Bomb Iran? http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_03/013305.php
[Kevin Drum] Defense Secretary Robert Gates, says the New York Times, "labeled as 'ridiculous' any speculation that the admiral's retirement portends a more bellicose American approach toward Iran." . . .

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/stick-this-in-your-stovepipe-by-digby.html

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/2008/03/stop_hyperventi/

Bush gives a speech

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/03/11/bush_iraq/index.html
Bush twists the facts on Iraq . . .

The Pentagon discovers – oh my gosh! – there wasn’t any link between Hussein and Al Qaeda after all

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/the-death-of-a-lie
The Death of a Lie . . .

The House sends forward a FISA bill without telecom immunity: but will the Senate put it back in?

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/house_surveillance_bill_contai.php
[Paul Kiel] As The New York Times reports this morning, the House leadership's draft proposal for a surveillance bill contains a provision that would reject giving retroactive immunity to the telecoms. Instead, it would give the courts authorization to hear the classified material at issue in the case -- in essence disposing with the administration's claim of the state secrets privilege. I had a senior House aide walk me through the proposal, which is sure to infuriate the administration. . . .

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/admin_officials_criticize_dem.php
[Paul Kiel] You knew that the administration wouldn't like the House Democrats' new surveillance bill. And indeed they don't. This afternoon, Attorney General Michael Mukasey and Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell released a statement criticizing the bill, saying that "we are concerned that the proposal would not provide the Intelligence Community the critical tools needed to protect the country."

They focused on the bill's requirement for warrants to precede surveillance and the lack of retroactive immunity for telecoms as two particular areas of "concern."

They also don't like the two-year sunset period set out for the bill, saying that the "uncertainty created by a short sunset does not provide the stability needed for intelligence operations." And that congressional commission to investigate the program? They don't like that either, saying that it would only "redo the extensive oversight done by the intelligence committees in Congress over the past two years." . . .

Rockefeller’s the key: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/rockefeller_on_house_bill_cons.php

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/03/11/democrats/index.html

Action alert: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/11/173335/425

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/vote-by-digby-dear-friend-at-this-point.html

More: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14856.html

http://firedoglake.com/2008/03/11/firsthand-fisa-whistleblower-speaks-out/

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/03/11/think-outside-the-box/

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/eff_on_house_bill_we_are_very.php

House tries, fails to override Bush torture bill veto – putting the Republicans on record

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/house_bid_to_override_bush_ant.php

Haven’t heard much from Darth Cheney recently: now he’s going to go lower oil prices for us

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/03/10/mideast/cheney.php

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/03/11/do-they-think-cheney-makes-a-better-supplicant-than-bush/
[Emptywheel] I'm curious precisely what kind of leverage Dick Cheney might have over the Saudis that Bush doesn't have? Does the fact that our economy has gotten worse and people are beginning to talk about a Citibank failure change things for the Saudis? Or is Dick just going to beg again because Bush suddenly realized that we're getting close to $4/gallon gasoline?

Fire this guy, now!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/11/AR2008031102800.html
After Philadelphia's housing director refused a demand by President Bush's housing secretary to transfer a piece of city property to a business friend, two top political appointees at the department exchanged e-mails discussing the pain they could cause the Philadelphia director. . . .

HUD has argued publicly that this decision was not related to the demands by HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson that Greene turn over a $2 million vacant city lot to Kenny Gamble, a friend of Jackson's. . .

Drug policy

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/11/AR2008031102540.html
Despite congressional demands for transparency, the Office of National Drug Control Policy has a murky budget that understates its emphasis on popular law enforcement efforts over treatment and prevention programs . . .

Henry Waxman, our pit bull, isn’t letting the EPA go

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/waxman_threatens_second_subpoe.php

A new, independent House Ethics panel?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/11/AR2008031102795.html

John McCain, always thinking for himself

http://lefarkins.blogspot.com/2008/03/mccain-still-his-own-guy.html
[March 2007] Q: "What about grants for sex education in the United States? Should they include instructions about using contraceptives? Or should it be Bush's policy, which is just abstinence?"

McCain: (Long pause) "Ahhh. I think I support the president's policy."

Q: "So no contraception, no counseling on contraception. Just abstinence. Do you think contraceptives help stop the spread of HIV?"

McCain: (Long pause) "You've stumped me."

Yeah, and how is that abstinence education working out?

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/conditions/03/11/teen.std.ap/index.html
At least one in four teenage girls nationwide has a sexually transmitted disease, or more than 3 million teens . . .

McCain can’t shake his lobbyist ties

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/11/AR2008031103134.html

Obama wins Mississippi by a much bigger margin than predicted, widens delegate lead

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/12/us/politics/12mississippi.html
60% - 37%

Exit poll tidbits: http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/03/11/mississippi_exits/index.html

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/12/02257/1544

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/mississippi.php

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/182967.php
According to MSNBC's exit numbers, Republicans made up either 12% or 13% of the voters in tonight's [Democratic] primary. And they went for Hillary Clinton by a decisive 3 to 1 margin.

“Feeding frenzy”

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_03/013304.php
[Kevin Drum] The online feeding frenzy against Hillary Clinton is driving me crazy. And that's despite the fact that I support Obama and, all things considered, think Hillary should probably withdraw from the race.

More on that later — maybe — but for now I just want to make one comment: the current attempts to tar Hillary as a racist have gone way, way over the top. They're revolting. Back before the South Carolina primary, the Clinton campaign and its surrogates really did seem to be making a few too many racially charged comments for it to be just a coincidence (though even then some of the accusations were bogus), but after South Carolina it pretty much stopped. I can't say whether it stopped for reasons of politics or reasons of principle, but it stopped.

But the accusations of racism haven't. They've just gotten more ridiculous. . . [read on]

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/too_black_for_3am.php
[Matt Yglesias] I think a lot of the charges of racism against the Clinton campaign have been overstated. Where they've been guilty, I think, is that in their characterization of primary results they've tended to act as if black people just don't exist in the United States so Obama supporters are all highly-educated latte-sipping intellectuals or rich caucus-goers and states with too many black residents "don't count." Speaking merely even as a white person living in a majority black jurisdiction, this is an absurd and offensive way of looking at the world. . . .

More pro-Hillary bloggers

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/3/11/16339/7225
To be a Clinton blogger in the progressive blogosphere is to be hated, shunned, passed without notice in the street. . . . [read on]

[NB: Yes, why should progressives have a problem with a candidate who (a) calls her rival “too liberal”; (b) says her Republican opponent would make a better Commander in Chief; and (c) has surrogates saying Obama is “lucky” to be black? Listen, smart politics, stupid politics, we can debate that – but is this PROGRESSIVE politics?]

What the HELL is Geraldine Ferraro doing?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/11/18417/6487
“Any time anybody does anything that in any way pulls this campaign down and says let's address reality and the problems we're facing in this world, you're accused of being racist, so you have to shut up. Racism works in two different directions. I really think they're attacking me because I'm white. How's that?” . . . [read on]

Who’s playing the race card now?

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/clinton_campaign_manager_sugge.php
The battle over Ferraro is rapidly heating up right now, and the latest twist in the story is a surprising one: Clinton campaign manager Maggie Williams is suggesting that it's the Obama camp that played the race card in the dust-up over the Ferraro comments. . . .

[NB: Here’s a reminder of what FERRARO said: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/10/174538/523
“If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is.”]

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/11/21956/1233

http://www.americablog.com/2008/03/ferraro-did-it-again-two-weeks-ago.html

Looks like the Clintons have lost Nancy Pelosi

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/03/11/pelosi-joint-ticket-impossible/
A so-called "dream ticket" scenario - the idea that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama could join forces this fall — may have gripped the imaginations of Democrats nationwide - but you can list House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as a skeptic.

"I think that ticket either way is impossible," Pelosi told a New England Cable News reporter Tuesday, pointing to comments from Clinton and her campaign that implied Republican John McCain would make a better commander-in-chief than Obama.

"I think that the Clinton administration has fairly ruled that out by proclaiming that Senator McCain would be a better commander-in-Chief than Obama," she said. . .

More evidence that the Canadian govt was knowingly interfering with the US election campaign

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/182975.php

Fox News “analyst” Karl Rove now a regular advisor to the McCain campaign – continuing their tradition of fierce independence

http://mediamatters.org/items/200803110004

Bonus item: PANIC! Another Muslim elected to Congress!

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/democrat_carson_wins_special_e.php

The Freepers react: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1984292/posts

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:41 AM

 
CAUGHT IN THE NET

The NSA’s domestic spying: not what you would call “narrowly targeted”

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/182602.php
[David Kurtz] Here's an example: If the feds suspect there's a terrorist in Detroit, "the government's spy systems may be directed to collect and analyze all electronic communications into and out of the city." . . .

More: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/todays_must_read_292.php

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/10/163135/078

http://firedoglake.com/2008/03/10/the-long-road-ahead-for-the-civil-liberties-fight-and-fisa/

Think about it

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/10/135734/728
[Donald Kerr, Deputy Director of National Intelligence] Since many people routinely post details of their lives on social-networking sites such as MySpace, he said, their identity shouldn't need the same protection as in the past. Instead, only their "essential privacy," or "what they would wish to protect about their lives and affairs," should be veiled, he said, without providing examples.

The fight isn’t over on telecom immunity

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/10/115935/155

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/10/105419/305

Well, lookee here. . . .

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/house_panel_files_suit_against.php
[Paul Kiel] First, the House found Harriet Miers and White House chief of staff Josh Bolten in contempt for refusing to respond to House Judiciary Committee subpoenas from the U.S. attorney firings investigation. Then, the Justice Department, as Attorney General Mukasey had warned it would, refused to convene a grand jury and rebuffed the criminal referral. And now we're on to step three: a lawsuit against the administration to enforce the subpoenas. . . .

The case: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/10/111930/635

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14844.html
As Slate’s Dahlia Lithwick explained a while back, the White House’s legal argument is, in effect, that executive privilege extends to everyone who has ever spoken to the president about anything. . . .

Can the Bush gang just run out the clock?

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/beating-the-clock

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/sidebar-a-stalling

Our hero, Henry Waxman, takes on Blackwater: tax fraud

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/waxman_calls_for_investigation.php

More: http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/report-blackwater

Ahem

http://www.juancole.com/2008/03/8-us-troops-killed-bombings-in-baghdad.html
[Juan Cole] An exhaustive Pentagon study of 600,000 captured Iraqi documents shows conclusively that Saddam Hussein's government had no operational link to al-Qaeda. A secular Arab nationalist, Saddam mistrusted the fundamentalists of al-Qaeda and bluntly rejected an overture from Bin Laden in 1995. . . .

Alice has a rough day – forget the questions, just look at her answers

http://www.first-draft.com/2008/03/today-on-hold-4.html
MS. PERINO: Kathleen, I think that that is really -- I think it's a little bit outrageous to suggest that. . . .

MS. PERINO: I don't know of anyone -- except maybe some in the media -- no one is suggesting targeting Russia in this regard. . . .

MS. PERINO: Who is suggesting that Russia is going to attack anybody? Certainly no one from here is. . .

MS. PERINO: I really don't know where you're getting that. . .

MS. PERINO: I just told Ben Feller that I don't know exactly what the package will look like at the end of the day. . . .

MS. PERINO: But no one is suggesting that we should defend. . .

MS. PERINO: I'm not going to dispute his estimates. . . We'll have to -- you know, OMB could give it to you, but obviously it's very expensive.

MS. PERINO: I'm sure it's had an impact, but, April, I'm not an economist. . .

This is what years of deregulation and neglect of environmental standards have gotten us

http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/03/10/pharma.water1/index.html
A vast array of pharmaceuticals -- including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones -- have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows. . . .

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/worse-than-you
The Post reports today that new studies show carbon emissions will have to be cut to zero in a matter of decades to fight a dangerous rise in global temperatures . . .

How long until THIS little item gets pulled down from John McCain’s web site, listing his supporters?

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/mccain_web_site_touts_support.php
FORMER U.S. PRESIDENTS
President George W. Bush
President George H.W. Bush

Too bad, gone now: http://www.johnmccain.com/supporters/

Bill Kristol – the man’s a genius

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14847.html
Perhaps the most obvious way McCain could upend the normal dynamics of this year’s election would be a bold vice presidential choice. He could pick a hawkish and principled Democrat like Joe Lieberman.

He could reach beyond the usual bevy of elected officials by tapping either David Petraeus or Raymond Odierno — the two generals who together, in an amazing demonstration of leadership and competence, turned the war in Iraq around last year. He could persuade the most impressive conservative in American public life, Clarence Thomas, to join the ticket. . . .

Whoa

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=4472
A 50 House Seat Democratic Pickup in 2008?

Can the Dems sort out the Michigan/Florida mess?

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/182614.php

http://firedoglake.com/2008/03/10/whos-going-to-pay-for-florida-and-michigan-re-vote/

Steven King (the bigoted Republican congressman from Iowa, not the novelist) keeps throwing garbage at Obama – and it’s working

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/182587.php

But just to show that Republicans don’t have a monopoly on this sort of thing, here is Geraldine Ferraro (who ought to know better)

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/10/174538/523
“If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is.”

More: http://www.americablog.com/2008/03/obama-is-lucky-hes-black-says-top.html

Obama for VP? You must admit, this is a pretty good line

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14845.html
[Obama] “With all due respect, with all due respect, I’ve won twice as many states as Sen. Clinton. I’ve won more of the popular vote than Sen. Clinton. I have more delegates than Sen. Clinton. So, I don’t know how somebody who’s in second place is offering the vice presidency to the person who’s in first place. . . .”

Also this one

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14845.html
[Obama] “I want you guys to follow me on this. You know Pres. Bill Clinton, back in 1992, when he was being asked about his selection for vice president, he said, ‘The only criteria, the most important criteria for vice president, is that that person is ready, if I fell out in the first week, that he or she would be ready to be the commander-in-chief.’ That was his criteria.

“Now, they have been spending the last two, three weeks — you remember that advertisement with the phone call, telling everybody, getting all the generals to say well we’re not sure he’s ready, ‘I’m ready on day one, he may not be ready yet.’ But I don’t understand. If I’m not ready, how is it that you think I should be such a great vice president? Do you understand that?

“See, I was trying to explain to someone the ‘okey-doke.’ Y’all know the okey-doke? It’s when someone’s trying to bamboozle you, when they’re trying to hoodwink you. They are trying to hoodwink you. You can’t say that he’s not ready on day one, unless he’s willing to be your vice president and then he’s ready on day one.”

The Clinton campaign “explains” http://weblogs.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/blog/2008/03/clinton_spokesman_declares_oba.html
Clinton Communications Director Wolfson . . . reaffirmed Clinton’s position that Obama has not demonstrated his suitability to guide the nation in an international crisis.

“We do not believe at this point that Sen. Obama has passed that key commander in chief test,” Wolfson said. Later, Wolfson added that what Clinton views as Obama's failure to pass that test would disqualify him as a vice presidential pick, since a vice president must be prepared to step into the presidency at a moment’s notice.

“Sen. Clinton will not choose any candidate who has not at the time of choosing passed the national security threshold, period,” Wolfson said.

But in an unusual logical twist, Wolfson said Clinton considered it possible that Obama might be able to demonstrate his readiness for commander-in-chief between now and August, when the Democratic National Convention meets in Denver and the party’s nominee must choose a running mate.

[NB: Huh??]

The worst aspect of the Clinton campaign is their continual redefinition of the rules to suit their self-interest. Michigan/Florida is the obvious example – but so is their handling of superdelegates

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/02/clinton_spokesperson_we_will_n.ph
[February 19] “We have not, are not and will not pursue the pledged delegates of Barack Obama.”

http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080222/NATION/667723564/1001
[February 22] Democratic officials backing Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton are urging uncommitted superdelegates to wait until after the Texas and Ohio primaries, on March 4, before deciding who they will support at the presidential nominating convention in August.

One of the most disturbing parts of this strategy is their imputation that caucus delegates (among whom they have a big disadvantage) are a special kind of delegate, NOT democratically chosen. Do they really want to run a campaign based on the argument that states who have been running caucuses for decades are now suddenly in violation of democratic principle – just because these votes have been going against them?

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/hillary_pledged_delegates_can.php
[Clinton] "There are elected delegates, caucus delegates and super-delegates, and they're all equal in their ability to cast their vote for whomever they choose.”

[NB: Get that? Caucus delegates are not “elected” delegates. Does this make them somehow illegitimate and open to challenge? Plus the hint that they might even go after delegates pledged to Obama – but didn’t they just promise not to do that? Yes they did.]

Update: http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/hillary_pledged_delegates_can.php
[Eric Kleefeld] Hillary spokesperson Phil Singer e-mailed Election Central to say that his previous statement on this — that the Hillary camp has not and will not pursue Obama's pledged delegates — is still operative and that there's been no change of position.

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14837.html
[Isaac Chotiner] The strategy here seems completely mystifying. It’s simply impossible to imagine that Clinton will get elected delegates to switch to her (the outcry would be enormous, obviously), and yet her campaign is intent on pushing the idea (Harold Ickes said something similar last week). All this ensures is that the media will run a lot stories about a dirty campaign intent on stealing the election. Given that the Clintonites are going to need some good will in July (if in fact they want to garner a delegate majority through superdelegates), the logic of this ploy eludes me.

More: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/182722.php

Why even a big victory in Mississippi today won’t net Obama many delegates (guess: it’s because of race)

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/3/9/925/32569

More: http://cottonmouthblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/mississippi-delegate-math-explained.html

Do Republicans WANT Clinton to get the nomination?

http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/03/wtf-bill-clinton-on-rush-limba.php

Clinton's camp: Obama “too liberal” (once again, making the Republicans’ argument for them)

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/10/121225/510

Obama’s very bad week?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/10/151122/998

http://www.americablog.com/2008/03/even-counting-hillarys-victory-last.html

The press we have

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/lets-talk-about-prostitutes.html

Bonus item: (Democrat) Eliot Spitzer is a moron who deserves whatever he gets – that’s not a concern for this blog. But the circumstances of the investigation that netted him, how the Feds got involved, and how their treatment of this case contrasts with (Republican) David Vitter’s, are definitely worth a look

http://firedoglake.com/2008/03/10/some-questions-about-the-spitzer-incident/
[Jane Hamsher] ABC is reporting that Spitzer came under the attention from the Feds because his bank reported "suspicious money transfers" to the IRS. The Justice Department brought it to the FBI's Public Corruption Squad, who looked into it and found that payments were made to a company called QET, which did business as The Emperor's Club. All kinds of questions arise here . . .

More: http://sideshow.me.uk/smar08.htm#03110355

Spitzer and Vitter: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/10/173146/587

Spitzer and Limbaugh: http://www.samefacts.com/archives/crime_control_/2008/03/structuring_by_spitzer_and_by_limbaugh.php

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:26 AM

 
DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE

Doug Feith lashes out at everyone who opposed him or let him down over the Iraq war – he even has this to say about his boss:

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/inevitable-by-digby-doug-feith-makes.html
Among the disclosures made by Feith in "War and Decision," scheduled for release next month by HarperCollins, is Bush's declaration, at a Dec. 18, 2002, National Security Council meeting, that "war is inevitable." The statement came weeks before U.N. weapons inspectors reported their initial findings on Iraq and months before Bush delivered an ultimatum to Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. . . .

[Dec 31, 2002] “I hope this Iraq situation will be resolved peacefully. One of my New Year’s resolutions is to work to deal with these situations in a way so that they’re resolved peacefully.”

[January 2, 2003] “I'm hopeful we won't have to go war, and let's leave it at that.”

The Senate Intel committee finally will release its report on the Bush gang’s prewar lies

http://www.slate.com/id/2186176
[Daniel Politi] The Los Angeles Times leads with word that the Senate Intelligence Committee is getting ready to release a critical analysis of claims that were made by Bush administration officials in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. The long-delayed report, which is one of the last in a series of investigations relating to the Iraq war, sounds like it could be a bombshell but officials emphasized it reaches a "mixed verdict" in its evaluation of whether the White House misused intelligence to make the case for war. . . .

Officials familiar with the new Senate Intelligence Committee report say it's unlikely to satisfy either side of the political divide. While it criticizes White House officials for not making clear that there were disagreements within the intelligence community about Iraq, it also notes that several of the claims that proved to be erroneous were in line with the intelligence that was available at the time. "The left is not going to be happy. The right is not going to be happy. Nobody is going to be happy," one official said. But there's little doubt that the White House is not eager to open up this debate again . . .

More: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-intel10mar10,0,5115595.story

The National Security Agency, created for foreign intelligence gathering, has stepped up its domestic activities

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120511973377523845.html

Paging Secretary Rice, paging Secretary Rice. . . .

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/07/AR2008030702837.html
[David Ignatius] The Annapolis peace conference last November was a good moment for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. She seemed to be getting serious, finally, about using American diplomacy to push for an Israeli-Palestinian agreement whose basic parameters are understood by everyone -- but which requires U.S. follow-through to make it happen.

Since then, that crucial ingredient -- American follow-through -- has been sadly lacking. As a result, the Annapolis process has languished to the point that over the past two weeks, some Israelis and Palestinians warned it was near collapse. Rice's critics have argued that this failure to follow up on big initiatives has been her biggest weakness in her years in Washington. She's running out of time to prove her critics wrong. . . [read on]

Sometimes political rhetoric just doesn’t even pass the “threshold” of sensibility. Hillary says Obama isn’t fit to serve as Commander in Chief, BUT she’d be happy to have him as her VP, a heartbeat away from the Presidency. WTF?

http://weblogs.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/blog/2008/03/clinton_ive_crossed_commanderi.html
[Clinton] “I think that since we now know Sen. (John) McCain will be the nominee for the Republican Party, national security will be front and center in this election. We all know that. And I think it’s imperative that each of us be able to demonstrate we can cross the commander-in-chief threshold,” the New York senator told reporters crowded into an infant’s bedroom-sized hotel conference room in Washington.

“I believe that I’ve done that. Certainly, Sen. McCain has done that and you’ll have to ask Sen. Obama with respect to his candidacy,” she said. . .

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080310/pl_nm/usa_politics_democrats_dc;_ylt=AtYt5WJWmQbEvZv5OTv29ois0NUE
Hillary and Bill Clinton are again teaming up on Barack Obama -- this time saying the first-term U.S. lawmaker, whom they have derided as inexperienced, would be a strong running mate on a Democratic presidential ticket headed by the former first lady . . .

And, by the way, what ”threshold” has McCain actually crossed that suddenly qualifies him as a proven leader?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/9/11395/45051

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/_/2008/03/mccain_and_the_threshold.php

More: http://www.discourse.net/archives/2008/03/mccain_unheroic_outside_of_prison.html

McCain’s “straight talk” on torture

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/9/161347/8163

The Washington Monthly devotes its entire issue to a condemnation of torture – 37 essays, all saying, “Stop!”

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_03/013290.php

I’m sure Jeralyn Merritt means this as a completely objective and evenhanded proposal: Was the withdrawal of non-Hillary candidates from the Michigan primary – itself held in violation of party rules – some kind of devious plot? Is revoting there now somehow rewarding them?

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/3/9/211753/2995
It was Obama's choice to remove himself from the Michigan ballot. Did he do it for strategic reasons because Hillary was leading by large margins in the polls (Here's one from October 5 to 7, right before the drop out deadline, showing Hillary 42%, Obama 26%)? If so, why should there be a revote?

I think the DNC should remove the penalty from Michigan and Florida and seat the delegates. In Michigan's case, Hillary should get the delegates according to her vote total. . . .

Does primary vote performance predict performance in the general election?

http://action.credomobile.com/sirota/2008/03/the_false_assumptions_in_the_e.html

A Western strategy?

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/3/9/223917/2482

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/3/8/144052/0767

The National Republican Congressional Committee: broke, demoralized, and now dealing with an embezzler in their midst

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14836.html

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/3/9/163335/8549

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0308/8920.html

Can’t wait for the Fall: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/us/politics/10house.html

Theocracy watch: I’m not sure this is true, but. . . .

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/07/AR2008030702847.html
[E.J. Dionne] If my theory is right, we will come to see this era of religious polarization as having lasted from 1980 to 2008. The era that is beginning will likely be more religious than the long post-FDR secular period. It's hard to imagine Obama, Clinton or any other Democrat giving a speech quite as relentlessly secular as Kennedy's Houston address. But compared with the period that is just ending, the new period will be more secular, more pluralistic and more focused on issues outside the cultural realm.

The era of the religious right is over. Even absent the rise of urgent new problems, Americans had already reached a point of exhaustion with a religious style of politics that was dogmatic, partisan and ideological. . . .

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 6:51 AM

 
LEGACIES

As Bush likes to say, we do not torture. But he can only say that because he has people working for him who have defined waterboarding and other forms of physical abuse as not torture – a ridiculous distinction in defiance of history, U.S. legal precedent, and international law.

Members of his administration have admitted that they used waterboarding, because we needed urgent information in the wake of 9/11, while explaining that we don’t do it any more.

But Bush still refuses to accept a restriction that says we won’t do it again in the future. And he has the audacity to say that it’s necessary to protect the lives of the American people.

Which begs the question: Is there anything he WOULDN’T do if he decided it was “necessary”?

Check out the NYT headline – someone has a dark sense of humor:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/washington/09policy.html
Bush Uses Veto on C.I.A. Tactics to Affirm Legacy

More: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/bush_limiting_cia_interrogatio.php

Remember when the war in Iraq wouldn’t cost us anything?

http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0403-02.htm
[April 3, 2003] The 1991 Gulf War, which cost $60 billion, was paid for almost entirely by Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, which had invited the American forces in. Having marched in uninvited this time, America does not have anyone to pay the big bills. Yet.

"I expect we will get a lot of mitigation, but it'll be easier after the fact than before the fact," Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz told Congress long before the start of the war.

Consider President Bush's recent request to Congress for a $75 billion war appropriation as merely bridge financing.

The money will be recovered from future Iraqi oil revenues. . . .

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/world/middleeast/09iraq.html
[March 9, 2008] Two senior members of the Senate Armed Services Committee have requested a full accounting of how Iraq is spending its soaring oil revenues, amid starkly conflicting estimates of how much the country has invested in rebuilding its broken infrastructure and providing basic services to its citizens.

The request, sent Friday to David M. Walker, the top official at the United States Government Accountability Office, estimates that Iraqi oil revenues could skyrocket above $56 billion in 2008, largely because of the rising price of oil. . . .

Doug Feith, once called “the dumbest f**king guy on the planet,” comes out with his own utterly self-serving version of events in Iraq – and guess whose fault the whole fiasco is?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/08/AR2008030802724.html

Same old, same old

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0308/8911.html
John McCain is getting much more than President Bush's endorsement and fundraising help for his campaign. He’s getting Bush's staff.

It’s no secret that Steve Schmidt, Bush’s attack dog in the 2004 election, and Mark McKinnon, the president’s media strategist, are performing similar functions for McCain now.

But other big-name Bushies are lining up to boost McCain, too.

Ken Mehlman, who ran Bush’s 2004 campaign, is now serving as an unpaid, outside adviser to the Arizona Republican. Karl Rove, the president’s top political hand since his Texas days, recently gave money to McCain and soon after had a private conversation with the senator. A top McCain adviser said both Mehlman and Rove are now informally advising the campaign. . . .

Photo credit: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/8/235333/5542/62/471844

We saw McCain go ballistic when asked about his exploration of once being John Kerry’s VP. Every candidate has a third rail, and this is his – he has to shut down any press inquiries into that area, or into the related topic of his once possibly switching parties. Slamming anyone who dares to question him is one way of declaring these topics off limits. But his own constantly shifting story means further press inquiries. Meanwhile, I suspect, (and hope!) Kerry and Tom Daschle are waiting for the right moment to come forward with what McCain really said

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/182220.php

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/8/102225/6560

Honest John McCain – not so good when he resorts to weasel words

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14821.html
[Steve Benen] John McCain, for the first time in nearly a week, has finally commented on the John Hagee controversy, it’s worth noting exactly what he had to say. . .

Let’s see: Clinton/Norman Hsu; Obama/Tony Rezko – we all know the names. But how many press stories have you seen about McCain and Rick Renzi?

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14824.html

Chalabi’s good pal?

http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/007126.html

The GOP congressional campaign committee, despite investing ONE THIRD OF THEIR NATIONAL CASH ON HAND, can’t hold onto Former Speaker Denny Hastert’s (IL-14) seat

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beaconnews/index.html

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/182354.php
The race is so tight that the NRCC yesterday emailed congressional staff on the Hill asking them to send any of their spare interns over to the RNC to do phone-banking for the GOP candidate, The Hill reports. Is that legal? Not clear, but what happened next is a no-no . . .

"An amazing upset": http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/democrats_win_dennis_hasterts.php

GOP calls it “a disaster” http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/portents_democrats_pick_up_ill.php

More on what this means: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/182431.php

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/8/151547/4327

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/fosters-by-dday-its-australian-for.html
[Dday] Put it this way: if I told you in the middle of 2006 that Democrats would control Tom DeLay AND Dennis Hastert's seats in Congress within two years, would you believe me?

License to steal

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/03/08/truck-sized-loophole-for-theft/
[Emptywheel] The media ought to be paying more attention to Congressman Peter Welch's call for an investigation into how a giant loophole got stuck into rules aiming to force companies to report contracting fraud. . . .

Obama dominates in another state "that doesn’t matter"

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/primaries/results/state/#WY
[NB: Wyoming, 61% - 38%. A net pickup of three delegates, which cuts into almost half of what Clinton netted in her Big Important Win on March 4.]

More: http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/the_legacy_of_a_strategic_deci.php

Reaction from the Clinton camp

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/8/10246/00557
One Clinton aide yesterday derided Mr Obama’s victories in "boutique" caucus states rather than the hardscrabble terrain of the rustbelt, saying: "Obama has won the small caucus states with the latte-sipping crowd. They don’t need a president, they need a feeling."

The Clintons managed a nice little bit of payback by taking the scalp of Samantha Power over her “monster” comment. It turns out that her journalism and research are an indictment of Bill Clinton’s policies in Africa. This comes from a reader of this blog with extensive international policy expertise:

“Power's work really speaks to foreign policy problems with the Clintons. During Bill's administration, he used very little political capital on foreign affairs; for the most part, he let the Republicans in Senate set the agenda and pretty much run things. The big exceptions were the WTO, NAFTA, and the later stages of US involvement in the former Yugoslavia. His inattention and unwillingness to expend political capital left US allies hanging out to dry over and over again, on the landmines treaty, the International Criminal Court, Kyoto, and UN reform. . . .

That, of course, is far from the worst thing that the Clinton inattention caused. Samantha Power is quite clear about the two major things: allowing the Rwanda genocide and absolutely disastrous sanctions policy in Iraq, which gave Hussein the power of life and death over more than half the population and to which UNICEF (ironically) attributes half a million civilian deaths. . .”

More: http://www.samefacts.com/archives/hrc_/2008/03/the_truth_hurts.php

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marc-cooper/clinton-genocide-and-a-c_b_90436.html

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/hrc_/2008/03/hilzoy_on_hillary_and_rwanda.php

Clinton: “I helped to bring peace to Northern Ireland"

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/182351.php

Theocracy watch: quoted without comment

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14823.html
[CBN] Clinton: I believe in the father, son, and Holy Spirit, and I have felt the presence of the Holy Spirit on many occasions in my years on this earth.

Reporter: Can I ask you theologically, do you believe that the resurrection of Jesus actually happened, that it actually historically did happen?

Clinton: Yes, I do.

Reporter: And, do you believe on the salvation issue — and this is controversial too — that belief in Christ is needed for going to heaven?

Clinton: That one I’m a little more open to. I think that it is, as we understand our relationship to God as Christians, it is how we see our way forward, and it is the way. But, ever since I was a little girl, I’ve asked every Sunday school teacher I’ve ever had, I asked every theologian I’ve ever talked with, whether that meant that there was no salvation, there was no heaven for people who did not accept Christ. And, you’re well aware that there are a lot of answers to that. There are people who are totally rooted in the fact that, no, that’s why there are missionaries, that’s why you have to try to convert. And, then there are a lot of other people who are deeply faithful and deeply Christ-centered who say, that’s how we understand it and who are we to read God’s mind about such a weighty decision as that.

Reporter: And your attitude toward the Bible about how literally people should take it.

Clinton: I think the whole Bible is real. The whole Bible gives you a glimpse of God and God’s desire for a personal relationship, but we can’t possibly understand every way God is communicating with us. I’ve always felt that people who try to shoehorn in their cultural and social understandings of the time into the Bible might be actually missing the larger point that we’re supposed to take from the Bible. . . . [read on]

CNN: “fair and balanced”

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14828.html
[Steve Benen] Three days ago, CNN ran an online feature that asked, “Can Cindy McCain really be that perfect?” Today, the lead item on CNN’s Politics page shows this headline, “Fellow legislator saw little ‘bold’ about Obama.” . . .

So, let me get this straight. CNN believes the lead political story of the day is a former Republican state lawmaker who was unimpressed a former Democratic state lawmaker? . . .

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/182362.php
[Josh Marshall] Turns out Cronin is actually a member of McCain's Illinois leadership team. (Good catch by TPM Reader TK) At this point, this amounts to CNN being spoofed. Correction or some explanation is in order, guys. . . .

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/bold-failure-to-be-conservative-by.html

Another chapter in the annals of “Republicans Can Say ANYTHING”

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/182343.php
[AP] An Iowa Republican congressman said Friday that terrorists would be "dancing in the streets" if Democratic candidate Barack Obama were to win the presidency.

Rep. Steve King based his prediction on Obama's pledge to pull troops out of Iraq, his Kenyan heritage and his middle name, Hussein.

"The radical Islamists, the al-Qaida ... would be dancing in the streets in greater numbers than they did on Sept. 11 because they would declare victory in this war on terror," King said in an interview with the Daily Reporter in Spencer.

King said his comments were not meant to demean Obama but to warn how an Obama presidency would look to the world.

"His middle name does matter," King said. "It matters because they read a meaning into that."

More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/8/121747/2335

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14826.html

Jeralyn Merritt reviews the bad news of the day for Obama

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/3/9/41458/09670

Just for fun: the Clinton/Obama race as a soap opera

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/as-stomach-churns-by-digby-noting.html

By the way, here’s a bit of bad news for Obama AND Clinton supporters

http://firedoglake.com/2008/03/08/bloggers-netroots-and-the-democratic-presidential-primary/
[Pachacutec] So, we have no progressive candidate. We have no Wellstone, no Feingold, no ideologically based movement person. My question is this: which of these candidates is more likely to reveal an inner Lieberman of some form once in power? I don't have an answer. . . .

More: http://sideshow.me.uk/smar08.htm#03082101

The “monster” quote: a case study of differences between US and UK press customs

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/03/08/carlson/index.html

Sunday talk show line-ups

http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlDC/television/sunday_show_preview_79364.asp
NBC Meet the Press: Former Sen. Tom Daschle, national co-chair of Obama campaign and Gov. Ed Rendell, Clinton supporter, and a roundtable with Ron Brownstein, Political Director, Atlantic Media, Dan Balz from the Washington Post, John Harwood from the New York Times and Gwen Ifill from PBS's "Washington Week."

CBS Face the Nation: Howard Dean, Sens. Bill Nelson and John Kerry, Republican Strategist Ed Rollins and Democratic Strategist Joe Trippi.

ABC This Week: Howard Dean, Gov. Charlie Crist, Sen. Carl Levin and a panel with Cokie Roberts, Sam Donaldson and George Will.

Fox News Sunday (hosted by Brit Hume this week): Michigan Superdelegate Debbie Dingell, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schulz, Rep. Mike Pence and a panel with Fred Barnes, Bill Kristol, Juan Williams and Mara Liasson.

CNN Late Edition: Marc Morial, president and CEO, National Urban League, Sen. Claire McCaskill, Obama supporter and Sen. Robert Menendez, Clinton supporter, Sens. Jon Kyl and Bob Casey, Garry Kasparov, former Russian presidential candidate; former chess champion, and Jessica Yellin, Joe Johns and Rich Stengel.

Bonus item: Obama girl

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/182378.php
[David Kurtz] That little girl "safe and asleep" in Hillary's 3 a.m. phone ringing ad turns 18 next month -- and is a big Obama supporter. . . .

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 7:52 AM

 
DIRTY BUSINESS

Today Bush will officially put the imprimatur of the Presidency on the legitimacy of torture as U.S. policy. It’s a dark, dark day for our nation

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/07/AR2008030702686.html

More: http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/making-world-safe-jack-bauer

The House prepares a version of the FISA bill without telecom immunity. Good news, it appears. But not so fast . . .

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/house_dems_circulate_draft_of.php
[Paul Kiel] Of course, just because the House bill does not have retroactive immunity does not mean that the final bill to arise from the process will not. As the Politico reported last night, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) now favors a strategy of "ping-ponging" alternatives back and forth between the two chambers. What that means is that the House could vote out a bill that does not contain retroactive immunity, but that the Senate could vote to add it back in, sending that back to the House, where such a modified bill might pass with the help of moderate Democrats. Of course, such a strategy could also lead to stalemate, as the Politico points out. . . .

No, no, no http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/7/165745/0279

No! http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/03/07/house_fisa/index.html

What we don’t know . . .

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/dude_thats_what_they_want.php
[Wired] A U.S. government office in Quantico, Virginia, has direct, high-speed access to a major wireless carrier's systems, exposing customers' voice calls, data packets and physical movements to uncontrolled surveillance, according to a computer security consultant who says he worked for the carrier in late 2003. . . [read on!]

More: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/03/07/the-quantico-circuit/

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/03/07/dude-thats-what-they-want/

US Attorney firings, back in the news

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/iglesias_bush_buddy_usa_said_f.php
[From David Iglesias’s new book] “Look,” he said, in the same matter-of-fact manner. “I’ve been around awhile. This is political. If I were you, I’d just go quietly.” . . .

There was long silence on the other end. “I saw your name,” he said at last, in a barely audible voice.

It took a minute for the implications to sink in. “Where?” I finally asked. “You mean, there’s some sort of list?” . . .

More: http://firedoglake.com/2008/03/07/the-usatty-firings-rearing-up-again/

The hand of Rove: http://www.slate.com/id/2185931

Of all the undercovered stories, the mysterious and utterly illegal erasure and “loss” of WH emails, the illegal use of third-party accounts to circumvent the law, and the refusal to release what is clearly available, somewhere, on backup files really needs to be held up to the public light better than it has been

http://firedoglake.com/2008/03/07/mission-craptastical-more-tales-of-dick-and-scooter/

The mask slips, and John McCain flashes a little bit of his infamous temper with a reporter. I’m sure he has a funny and light side too, but from all accounts McCain is, personally, a real bastard. Why can’t people say so?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/07/mccain-loses-cool-with-ny_n_90428.html
[AP] Republican Sen. John McCain, showing a flash of the temper he is known for, repeatedly cut off a reporter Friday when asked whether he had spoken to Democratic Sen. John Kerry about being his vice president in 2004.

"Everybody knows that I had a private conversation. Everybody knows that, that I had a conversation," McCain told the reporter. "And you know it, too. No. You know it, too. No. You do know. You do know."

The reporter, Elisabeth Bumiller of The New York Times, was following up on a question McCain had answered at a campaign event Friday morning in Atlanta. Asked if he might consider Kerry as a running mate, since Kerry asked him in 2004, McCain said no.

Afterward, on a campaign flight, Bumiller said she looked in the Times' archives and that McCain had denied talking with Kerry in a May 2004 story.

McCain interrupted, saying that everyone knew he had a private conversation, and he kept interrupting as she tried to follow up. McCain clearly was irate. . . .

Transcript: http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/03/07/743261.aspx

Watch: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14818.html

Yes, a real bastard: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/testy-pilot-by-digby-st-john-had-bit-of.html

Here’s how twisted the media’s efforts to polish McCain’s apple can get

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14819.html
On MSNBC this morning, anchor Monica Novotny claimed that President Bush’s impending veto of the Intelligence Authorization Bill would put “a chill” in his alliance with Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). Bush is vetoing the bill because of an amendment that puts the CIA’s interrogation program under the standards of Army Field Manual, which Novotny claims McCain supports.

“He doesn’t like a provision that’s been pushed by, you guessed it, Sen. McCain,” claimed Novotny.

[Steve Benen] That sound you hear is me banging my head against my desk in frustration.

If MSNBC personalities want to praise McCain for his position on the Intelligence Authorization Bill, fine. It’s not good journalism, but whatever. But these same personalities should at least know what McCain’s position is — and not credit him for taking one position, when he actually voted in the opposite direction.

Yes, McCain used to criticize U.S. torture policies, but last month, when push came to shove and McCain’s principles ran into conflict with McCain’s political agenda, his principles lost. The bill Bush is going to veto tomorrow? McCain voted against it — despite what MSNBC’s national television audience was led to believe this afternoon. . . .

McCain feels the heat about his embrace of Christian wacko John Hagee, and backs off a little bit. (Oh, the delicate balancing act of hypocrisy.)

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/182274.php

We’re going to hear more of this, you can be sure

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/182254.php
[David Kurtz] At a Council on Foreign Relations event in D.C. today, as a Hillary adviser touted Clinton's foreign policy experience, McCain adviser Randy Scheunemann reportedly chimed in with: "Please keep running those 3:00 a.m. ads about who you want to answer the phone, because we like those." . . .

I want to say something here about the Obama/Clinton situation. I know I have pro-Hillary readers as well as pro-Obama readers. While my own leanings are pretty apparent, this blog is not about making endorsements. My main targets are described in the upper right corner – and most days the Democratic fight is a sidelight to my real concerns.

I will happily criticize both candidates – as I criticize Democrats generally – when I think they are betraying progressive principles or tilting toward Republican policies (and tactics). These days I see more of that on the Clinton side – but I’m not interested in driving my pro-Hillary readers away. So, while I can’t pretend to be entirely even-handed, I do try to keep in mind that the agenda of THIS blog is providing an overall and representative sampling of progressive news and commentary. I cite pro-Hillary (or anti-Obama) arguments too, and will continue to

For example: http://quartz.he.net/~beyondch/news/nucleus/plugins/print/print.php?itemid=5413
The Obama Craze: Count Me Out . . .

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/3/7/22743/20122
It continues to amaze me-- the contortions that folks who dearly want Obama to win will rationalize to themselves about his candidacy. . .

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/3/7/23318/97359
Can we really trust that what Barack Obama says on the campaign trail will be what he delivers as President? . . .

Daily Kos’s “darkened Obama ad” screed, it turns out, was much ado about nothing. I’m sorry I gave it the play that I did (thanks to Gilda for the link)

http://cannonfire.blogspot.com/2008/03/kos-is-klown-or-why-did-obama-girl.html
The false accusation originated with a diarist who calls himself "Troutnut." . . .

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_03/013281.php

A senior advisor to Obama, in an unguarded moment, tells a reporter she thinks Clinton is a “monster.” She says it was off the record, but the reporter publishes it anyway. She apologizes – but that’s not enough. She resigns – but that’s not enough. I wouldn’t defend the comment (though, let’s face it, she’s not the only one to think so). But from all accounts this is a really, really good person: someone on the right side of the fight for global justice. Isn’t this a pretty shabby way for her to be treated?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/07/wpower207.xml
“She is stooping to anything,” added Miss Power, who is a professor of public policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.

“You just look at her and think, ’Ergh’. The amount of deceit she has put forward is really unattractive.”

[NB: Hmmm . . . is this really beyond the pale?]

http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/archives/2008/03/7493_in_monstergate.html
[David Corn] Non-News Flash: Aides to presidential candidates routinely refer to the competition in harsh terms, particularly when they talk to reporters off the record. More than once, a top Clinton person has told me that s/he believes Obama is a self-righteous fraud--or worse. It was, of course, always off the record. But if I had reported any of these remarks, I could have gotten the pop The Scotsman has received for disclosing Power's comment.

The Clinton people do deserve chutzpah points for trying to turn this nothing-burger into a full-course feast. . . .

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/power_off.php
[Marc Ambinder] I speak daily with aides, senior and junior, from both Clinton and Obama campaigns, and I can say, without revealing confidences, that the level of personal antipathy they express, the level of complete distrust, is extreme and in many ways alarming. One public example: when Obama's chief counsel, Bob Bauer, crashed a conference call held by Clinton advisers on Tuesday night.

The stress created by the interpersonal tension, and by the long hours, is taking a heavy toll. . . .

If Clinton wins the nomination, there will be many Obama staffers, particularly mid-to-high-ranking aides, who will refuse offers to help with the general election. The walk-away rate will be unprecedented.

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/by_any_means_necessary.php
[Matt Yglesias] Samantha Power is a Pulitzer Prize winning author, and a brilliant and original thinker and advocate for the intelligent deployment of American power in order to build a more just and humane world. But she's supporting Barack Obama, she made a gaffe, she promptly and rightly apologized, and then she resigned. And now this afternoon, the Clinton campaign has continued to push out Power-bashing material in order to prove, I guess, that there's nothing and nobody they won't try to destroy if they think that will provide them with some slender additional shot at getting themselves and their clique back in power. It's a bit disgusting. . . . [read on]

http://www.observer.com/2008/brzezinski-power-shouldnt-have-resigned
In response to a request for reaction to her resignation earlier today, the office of Brzezinski—another of Obama's foreign policy advisers—relayed the following statement: "I think an expression of regret for using an inappropriate description of Senator Clinton should have sufficed. And I don't think she should have resigned."

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/power_outage.php
[Matt Yglesias] Having her resign, by contrast, is just playing the game poorly. Remember when fresh strategic thinking and common sense were going to break with the conventional wisdom? I do. The "monster" business was a dumb thing to say, and certainly the kind of thing you apologize for, but no kind of indication that she was a bad person to get foreign policy advice from.

More: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_03/013282.php

Who is Samantha Power?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/7/134228/1938

The Rules: when you have a political opponent on the defensive, keep pushing

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/hillary_obama_camp_tells_ameri.php
[Clinton] Well I think Sen. Obama did the right thing, but I think it’s important to look at what she and his other advisors say behind closed doors, particularly when they’re talking to foreign governments and foreign press. It raises disturbing questions about what the real planning and policy positions inside the Obama campaign happen to be.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/182191.php
[Josh Marshall] The Clinton campaign has gotten so deep inside the Obama campaign's collective head it just ain't funny -- or, depending on your political persuasion, it's very funny. . . .

She's on the offense every day, dictating the terms of the discussion and getting results.

This "monster" thing is a good case in point. That's a pretty over-the-top thing for a key campaign advisor to say. But what it tells me more than that is that the Clinton campaign has these guys rattled really bad. Some of this is no doubt due to the fact that Power is a bit out of her element. She's more from the academic/policy world than the political/policy world. But, again, rattled. The Clinton folks have been bashing Obama like crazy. Now they follow up by explicitly demanding that Obama fire one of his key foreign policy advisors and ... how, long did it take? An hour? And she's gone. . . [read on]

Obama’s dilemma: as an advocate of “a new kind of politics,” he can’t get into a nasty street fight. But if he doesn’t come back hard, he looks weak and reinforces the “not ready to be Commander in Chief” argument. And I’ll say this in Clinton’s defense – what she is hitting him with is nothing compared to what McCain will hit him with. If he can’t come up with better, tougher responses now, he’ll get massacred in the fall. That is a legitimate part of the primary process, unpleasant as it is to watch

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14812.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/08/us/politics/08adviser.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/08/opinion/08herbert.html

The murky reality of who said what to the Canadians about NAFTA

http://firedoglake.com/2008/03/07/who-said-what-about-nafta/

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/182292.php

Hillary’s claims of foreign policy experience get questioned

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/clinton_a_wee_bit_silly.php

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-experiencemar07,0,51719.story

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL (http://pbd.blogspot.com).

I don't get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don't run ads, etc). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a "mission," it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
- posted by Nick Burbules @ 8:03 AM

 
A BAD THING TO DO

As they have done in the past, the Bush gang has searched and searched for some ad hoc legal justification to make a permanent security agreement with Iraq without public review or congressional approval. Now they decide that – voila! – such unlimited authority was implicit in the original authorization for war itself

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/state_dept_authorization_for_w.php

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/05/AR2008030503492.html

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14806.html

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/letat-cest-moi-by-dday-another-day.html

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/03/more-on-bush-iraq-treaty-by-dday-some.html

A new National Intelligence Estimate is coming on Iraq – and we’re already being told it won’t be made public

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/06/AR2008030603900.html

Our patriotic military-industrial corporations

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/03/06/kbrs-cayman-island-scam/
KBR’s Cayman Island Scam . . .

Oh, poor Alice

http://www.first-draft.com/2008/03/today-on-hold-3.html
Q Does the President realize he's going to further tarnish our image for humanity if he vetoes a ban on torture?

MS. PERINO: That's not what he's suggesting, Helen. You're talking about the Senate -- the intelligence authorization bill?

Q Isn't he supposed to veto the ban this week, or so?

MS. PERINO: Helen -- well, he is going to veto a bill, but it's not the bill in which you describe. The bill that he is going to veto is the intelligence authorization bill. We've had a statement of administration position that has been out for a long time. There are many different reasons he's going to veto it. One of the main ones is that it would apply the Army Field Manual, which is very good guidance for young soldiers who are out on the field who might capture somebody out on the battlefield, but it is not something that should apply to a terrorist interrogation program that is run by the CIA.

Q Why? It's torture, isn't it?

MS. PERINO: It isn't -- no, we are not torturing, and that is not what the bill says.

Q Well, it would ban --

MS. PERINO: Torture is already illegal.

Q -- he is vetoing a ban on torture, isn't he?

MS. PERINO: Torture is already illegal in this country, and the President has already signed a bill reiterating that fact. The simple point of this bill is that the Army Field Manual -- the President does not believe, nor does the intelligence community -- I'd point you to General Hayden and others who say that it should not --

Q The military certainly believes in it.

MS. PERINO: It is appropriate for the military to have the Army Field Manual as its guidelines. But we do not believe that it should apply to the Central Intelligence Agency.

Q Why? Are they human beings? Are we humane people?

MS. PERINO: We are humane people. We have a terrorist interrogation program that helps make sure that we keep this country safe. We do not torture. . . .

What a monster

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/scalia_on_torture_not_everythi.php
Last month, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia pronounced in an interview with the BBC that it was "extraordinary" to think that "so-called torture" might be prohibited by the Constitution.

Well, to the quotes from that memorable interview ("You can't come in smugly and with great self satisfaction and say 'Oh it's torture, and therefore it's no good'" and "Is it really so easy to determine that smacking someone in the face to determine where he has hidden the bomb that is about to blow up Los Angeles is prohibited in the constitution?") you can add this, from Scalia's speech at the University of Central Missouri yesterday:

Of torture, Scalia said: "It’s a bad thing to do. But not everything that is bad is unconstitutional."

The House Dems appear ready to trade “immunity” for “exclusivity” in the FISA bill. But why do they have to choose between them at all?

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/181861.php

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/pelosi_surveillance_bill_must.php

No, no, no: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/6/16164/73515
[McJoan] The problem with this reasoning is its short-sightedness. . .

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/03/06/my-version-of-pelosis-statement-on-exclusivity/

A vote on the revised bill is pushed back – does this indicate some real spine among the Dems?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/6/122326/0124

Heh, heh: the Republican National Congressional Committee had a major crook in its midst (what, only one?)

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/todays_must_read_290.php

More: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/06/washington/06gop.html

During this campaign, we’ll be hearing a lot more about how military leaders don’t have confidence in Clinton OR Obama as Commander in Chief – but guess what they REALLY think about McCain?

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14800.html
Military officials worried about McCain’s ‘knee-jerk response factor’ . . .

McCain’s “policies”

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/mccain_on_education.php
[Matt Yglesias] Strolling through John McCain's policy proposals is a fascinating experience . . . lurking behind every link is a nearly-astounding level of vacuity. . .

Obama raised a stunning record $55 million in February (the same month John McCain crowed about raising $12 million and Hillary bragged about raising $35 million)

http://weblogs.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/blog/2008/03/barack_obamas_february_haul_ne.html

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/03/obama_campaign_raises_55_milli.php
More than $45 million of it was raised online. . . . Woah.

More: http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/the_money_chase_obama_sets_a_r.php

“Ten reason