A NEW HOPE

Hillary will concede on Saturday – and her classy announcement gives hope that we can put this bitter primary fight behind us.

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/campaign_2008_/2008/06/exhale.php
Dear X,

I wanted you to be one of the first to know: on Saturday, I will hold an event in Washington D.C. to thank everyone who has supported my campaign. Over the course of the last 16 months, I have been privileged and touched to witness the incredible dedication and sacrifice of so many people working for our campaign. Every minute you put into helping us win, every dollar you gave to keep up the fight meant more to me than I can ever possibly tell you.

On Saturday, I will extend my congratulations to Senator Obama and my support for his candidacy.

This has been a long and hard-fought campaign, but as I have always said, my differences with Senator Obama are small compared to the differences we have with Senator McCain and the Republicans.

I have said throughout the campaign that I would strongly support Senator Obama if he were the Democratic Party's nominee, and I intend to deliver on that promise.

When I decided to run for president, I knew exactly why I was getting into this race: to work hard every day for the millions of Americans who need a voice in the White House.

I made you — and everyone who supported me — a promise: to stand up for our shared values and to never back down. I'm going to keep that promise today, tomorrow, and for the rest of my life.

I will be speaking on Saturday about how together we can rally the party behind Senator Obama. The stakes are too high and the task before us too important to do otherwise.

I know as I continue my lifelong work for a stronger America and a better world, I will turn to you for the support, the strength, and the commitment that you have shown me in the past 16 months. And I will always keep faith with the issues and causes that are important to you.

In the past few days, you have shown that support once again with hundreds of thousands of messages to the campaign, and again, I am touched by your thoughtfulness and kindness.

I can never possibly express my gratitude, so let me say simply, thank you.

Sincerely,

[Hillary]

Hillary Rodham Clinton

[Mark Kleiman] It should, but probably doesn't, go without saying that from now through November 5 Obama supporters should say as many nice things as they can about HRC and her supporters, and no not-nice things whatever. The healing has to start with us, and it has to start right now.

[NB: I’m with Mark on this – as is often the case. I know that a number of regular readers, and Hillary supporters, stopped reading this blog during the past couple of months. It was a constant struggle for me to report the back-and-forth of the campaign fight without expressing great frustration with the way she and her team were running things. I didn’t start out to be anti-Hillary, and I’m not a Clinton-hater. I tried to post pro-Hillary explanations for some of the things she did, even when I disagreed with them.

But my experience is a microcosm of the larger dynamics of the party this year: two sides viewing the same actions and events through Rashomon-tinted glasses. Reading the pro-Hillary blogs, I was continually shocked by what I saw as irrational Obama hatred and a perverse desire to spin every event against him; but I couldn’t be fair-minded and not admit that those folks saw what I and others were doing in exactly the same way. It has dispirited me at times, and raised concerns that the Republicans – the real enemy – were going to exploit this to pull out an election win during a year when EVERYTHING was stacked against them.

That could still happen. I believe that Hillary does not want that to happen, and this Saturday is the start of a new phase of the campaign. For me, and for this blog, it’s a chance to return to my real raison d’etre: bashing Bush and the GOP for all the damage they have done to this country, and the greater damage they still wish to do. They must be stopped, and I ask all progressive readers, whomever we supported, to keep that issue in the forefront. That is what I plan to do from now on.]

Hillary does a mitzvah – and shows the delicate challenge Obama faces in dealing with Jewish voters

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/06/hillary_obama_will_be_a_good_f.php
[Clinton] “I know Senator Obama understands what is at stake here. It has been an honor to contest primaries with him. It is an honor to call him my friend. And let me be very clear: I know that Senator Obama will be a good friend to Israel.”

Then there’s this fellow . . .

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/lieberman-questions
Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), a McCain supporter [and putative “Democrat”] challenged Sen. Barack Obama's judgment and experience on Israel and national security issues, following the Illinois senator's speech this morning at the influential pro-Israel lobbying group American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, conference in Washington. . . .

In your face, pal: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/198727.php
[Roll Call] Furthermore, during a Senate vote Wednesday, Obama dragged Lieberman by the hand to a far corner of the Senate chamber and engaged in what appeared to reporters in the gallery as an intense, three-minute conversation.

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

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

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

Afterwards, Obama smiled and pointed up at reporters peering over the edge of the press gallery for a better glimpse of their interaction.

Obama loyalists were quick to express their frustration with Lieberman's decision and warned that if he continues to take a lead role in attacking Obama it could complicate his professional relationship with the Caucus.

More: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15766.html

More from AIPAC

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/06/rice.php
In a speech yesterday to the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee in Washington, Condoleezza Rice did a little saber-rattling on Iran, in a tone the New York Times described as "unusually sharp" . . .

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/06/04/BL2008060401706.html
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is expected to use his White House visit today to push President Bush to take a more aggressive approach toward Iran -- and there are some signs that he'll have a receptive audience. . . .

http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/007492.html
[Ha’aretz] "Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met Wednesday with President George W. Bush in Washington, with Iran at the center of the discussion. Following the meeting, the premier said Wednesday that there are fewer question marks between the two allies concerning the means, the time constraints, and the level of American determination in dealing with the Iranian nuclear program. . . .

Big news!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080605/wl_nm/iraq_usa_pact_dc_1;_ylt=AsTFwXeGB1eI_0K9TbirxTtX6GMA
[Reuters] A majority of the Iraqi parliament has written to Congress rejecting a long-term security deal with Washington if it is not linked to a requirement that U.S. forces leave, a U.S. lawmaker said on Wednesday. . .

You can see why McCain is terrified of being associated with George Bush and his policies

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/06/04/opinion/polls/main4154051.shtml
President Bush's approval rating is at its lowest level to date. Just 25 percent of Americans approve of the overall job Mr. Bush is doing as President, an all-time low for him and among the lowest approval ratings ever recorded for a President.

Sixty-seven percent disapprove of the job Bush is doing - the highest such figure in CBS News polls since he assumed office.

Only Presidents Nixon (24 percent) and Truman (22 percent) have seen polls showing job approval ratings lower than 25 percent during their presidencies, according to Gallup Polls. President Carter’s all-time low was 26 percent.

TPM puts together a wonderful compilation of McCain’s feckless “I am not George Bush” speech, along with the grim commentary of Fox News pundits who recognize a car crash when they see one. Don’t miss this!

Watch! http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/198681.php

More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/03/the-lime-green-monster-mc_n_105044.html

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/06/mccains-speech.html

The Big Lie

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/6/4/15145/78135
[McCain] You will hear from my opponent's campaign in every speech, every interview, every press release that I'm running for President Bush's third term. You will hear every policy of the President described as the Bush-McCain policy. Why does Senator Obama believe it's so important to repeat that idea over and over again? Because he knows it's very difficult to get Americans to believe something they know is false.

[BarbinMD] Oh really? Let's let John McCain respond to that ridiculous claim by John McCain. . . [watch!]

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/06/mccain_and_bush_on_iraq.php
[Matt Yglesias] I think McCain himself doesn't quite realize how Bush-esque he is. He clearly doesn't like Bush, and has been disliking him for a long time. But that kind of personalized, overblown disdain for Bush-the-man can wind up leading you to overestimate Bush-the-grand-strategist. To McCain, Bush's policies have failed because of Bush. Replace Bush with McCain and shift tactics around the margins, and the same basic ideas should work out fine.

More lies

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/198759.php
John McCain was asked by a local reporter why he had voted against creating a federal commission to investigate the Katrina disaster.

McCain's response? "I've supported every investigation and ways of finding out what caused the tragedy. . . ."

The problem is that's just not true. He voted against such a commission -- twice. . . .

Watch: http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/06/mccain_i_forgot_two_of_my_key.php

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/6/5/0101/89872
[Smintheus] Who can forget McCain's indifference to the disaster as it unfolded? . . . [read on]

http://www.first-draft.com/2008/06/mccain-may-not.html

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/06/ah_straight_talk.php
[Matt Yglesias] One virtue of having a reputation as a straight-talker is that you can get away with constant lying. . . [read on]

Well, there goes the “Hamas wants Obama to be President” slur

http://www.americablog.com/2008/06/hamas-blasts-obama.html

[NB: Ah, but you say, they are saying this because they DO want him, and this removes an impediment to that outcome. "Never go up against a Sicilian when death is on the line!"]

Interesting move . . .

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/rivals-obama-and-mccain-work-together-behind-scenes-2008-06-04.html
Sens. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) are quietly working together on a good-government bill despite their campaign-trail battle over who is tougher against Washington’s special interests. . .

The banality of evil: repeating a disgusting canard from Rush Limbaugh, Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) still thinks Abu Ghraib was just “fraternity pranks”

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/198767.php

Fraternity pranks??!!??? http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/02/ted_zimbardo

Bonus item: The NRCC finds another way to shoot themselves in the foot

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/06/the_most_recent_evidence_that.php

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WE HAVE A WINNER

http://www.slate.com/id/2192824
[John Dickerson] Barack Obama held his wife's hand as they took the stage in Minneapolis and turned to the crowd like he was taking in the sunshine off of all those rising sun logos they were wearing and waving. Before Obama and Michelle parted, they bumped fists like they were still backstage, sharing their last private moment.

Obama had come to the site of this summer's 2008 GOP convention to end one campaign and start a new one. "Tonight, I can stand before you and say that I will be the Democratic nominee for president of the United States," he said . . .

Text: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/6/3/20542/43784

Video: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/198565.php

How he won it

http://www.juancole.com/2008/06/first-web-20-president.html
The First Web 2.0 President?

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=6161
Barack Obama won the Democratic nomination because of the roughly two million activists who supported his campaign. . . .

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=6111
The media and the net has focused on Obama's background as a community organizer, and his community organizer approach to campaigning. . .

More: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15758.html

The international headlines (and don’t think they weren’t paying attention)

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/6/4/04215/64856

Wes Clark for VP?

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=6119

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15748.html

Hillary’s speech

Watch: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/198545.php

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/06/clintons_salutatory_dont_count.php
[Clinton] "I understand that a lot of people are asking, what does Hillary want? What does she want? I want what I have always fought for in this whole campaign. . . .”

The next test of Obama’s presidential authority is how he deals with Clinton and her demands. He has to be gracious (where she wasn’t), he has to substantively respond to and welcome the aspirations of her supporters, he has to BE a unifier and not just talk like one. On the other hand, he can’t let them dictate terms to him. He can’t let her force her way onto the ticket as a VP. He can’t make it appear that she can threaten him into concessions.

In my view, the way that Clinton and her people have acted the past few days has made it LESS likely that he will ask her to be on the ticket. She continues to fan the flames of resentment and disenfranchisement among her supporters. She continues to claim she won more votes, suggesting that somehow his win was illegitimate. Her supporters even hint at months more of behind-the-scenes fights over superdelegates.

Obama has to do some things to unify the party, but so does she. A lot of this is face-saving kabuki, I know. But there is an unmistakable air coming from the Clinton people that they think they deserved to win this, they thought they were inevitably going to win it, and that they STILL think there is a path to getting it. Until they stop playing this card, they get NOTHING from me if I’m Obama

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/04/us/politics/04assess.html
Mr. Obama still has problems in his own party that may overshadow everything else until he addresses them: How to repair relations with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and her supporters and whether to offer her a spot on the ticket. . . .

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/6/3/204937/8697
On NBC, Howard Fineman is reporting (FAIR WARNING - Fineman often is wrong on these things) that the Clinton and Obama camps are discussing having Obama offer Clinton the VP slot and her rejecting it because she does not want it and that it would be an important sign of public respect and unity.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/03/clinton-open-to-vp-slot-lawmakers-say/index.html
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has told supporters that she would agree to be Senator Barack Obama’s running mate if he offered her the vice presidential spot. . . .

http://www.americablog.com/2008/06/clinton-campaign-hillarys-not-gonna.html
Fineman just said on MSNBC at 8:35pm Eastern that the Clinton campaign is demanding that Hillary be offered the VP position, which she will then decline, and then Fineman quotes the Clinton campaign as saying "don't you dare offer it to another woman." . . .

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/6/3/134915/6795
[Jeralyn Merritt] Until and unless Hillary Clinton publicly suspends or ends her campaign and concedes that Obama is the nominee, there is no nominee. There is only a statement that if current delegate positions at this moment were frozen in time until August he would be the nominee.

If and when Hillary makes that determination, then Obama will be the nominee. . . .

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/6/3/231531/5351
[Big Tent Democrat] One of the things that has been made clear tonight is that Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton will not go quietly into that good night. And in one sense, there is no reason to. . . .

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/6/3/23421/90177
[Lanny Davis, Clinton backer] Well, the majority rules, and he's got a majority that amounts to his victory. But she said tonight she's not making a decision about releasing her delegates, and that's a significant statement. I know that she's concerned about issues in the platform such as health care, and I know she's concerned about our process - how we nominate candidates in the future. So holding onto her delegates is really the headline of the night.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/198446.php
[Newsday] Former top strategist Mark Penn, reviled by many on Hillary's staff but still an important voice in the candidate's ear, has emerged (to no one's surprise) as the strongest advocate of her remaining in the race regardless of what happens in the next 24 hours, according to sources inside the campaign.

In contrast to the "realist faction" (which reportedly includes Penn's replacement Geoff Garin, communications chief Howard Wolfson and others), Penn is advising the Clintons to remain in the race through the convention -- just in case another Rev. Wright-type scuffle breaks out.

His argument: Suspend the campaign if you must, but don't end it, because all those Obama supers will flock to Hillary if more dirt on O emerges before the convention.

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=6139
[Chris Bowers] Why Clinton Will Hold Onto Her Delegates (For Now) . . .

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/06/why_does_hillary_continue_beca_1.php
[Greg Sargent] Why Does Hillary Continue? Because It Strengthens Her Emotional Grip On Her Supporters . . . [read on]

An example: http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/6/4/21320/98114

The stages of grief

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/15/18494/3250
Denial . . . anger . . . bargaining . . .

Hillary better unplug her phone

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/03/pelosi-reid-dean-to-go-pu_n_105052.html
In the absence of a concession speech from Sen. Hillary Clinton on Tuesday night, top figures in the Democratic Party are set to go public, urging all uncommitted officials to declare their presidential affiliations.

Sources have confirmed that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, DNC Chairman Howard Dean, and an official with the Democratic Governors Association are planning to release a public statement on Wednesday morning requesting that the party close its ranks and prepare for the race against Sen. John McCain.

The move, which had been anticipated but seemed unnecessary following Obama's clinching of the nomination on Tuesday night, is an indication that few figures beyond Clinton's utmost loyalists are willing to stomach a prolonged vacation period for the New York Democrat to make up her mind. . .

http://www.americablog.com/2008/06/wednesday-morning-open-thread.html
[Joe Sudbay] I really don't want to write about Hillary Clinton's campaign anymore. But, like most people, I'm also still a little befuddled by that speech Hillary gave. I wonder if someone took her speech from West Virginia or Kentucky and stuck it in the teleprompter. Because, she made a fool of herself last night. The thing is, she lost. It's over. If we're going to win in November, there certainly needs to be an intervention -- soon. And, since the Democratic leaders all thought it wise to wait, let them intervene. She's their problem, not Obama's . . .

HRC VP?

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/06/questions_to_ask_about_the_uni.php
[Mark Ambinder] So, will Hillary Clinton be on the ticket? To answer that question, we have to figure out the right question to ask. . . .

Why Hillary failed

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080603/NEWS0502/80603051

Meanwhile, over on the GOP side, a truly embarrassing performance from John McCain. What a sad, angry, little man he is

Watch it: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/198534.php

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/6/3/22284/37087
[Hunter] McCain's people made a huge mistake scheduling a speech for tonight. Just huge. Compare McCain's sleepy, awkward sentences and forced grins to Obama's dramatic speaking style. Compare the venue -- McCain's was small and sleepy, Obama's is huge and energized. McCain's speech got interrupted to talk about Obama. And Obama has managed to hit McCain on the very themes of McCain's speech, a mere hour after McCain rambled through them.

Giant, giant blunder by McCain's team. A head-to-head speech comparison on Obama's biggest night of the entire primary. What GOP idiot thought that would be a good idea?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/6/3/205916/1276/191/528667
[Kos] That dumbass McCain timed his speech so it would be preempted by Obama's victory announcement.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/198502.php
[Josh Marshall] The crowd of maybe like 200 people is also sort of an unfortunate contrast. . .

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2008_06_01_archive.html#1729880491890579566
[Attaturk] "Oh, Go with the Green Background"

"It'll make you look like the cottage cheese in a lime jello salad" Always a good look for an older gentlemen.

The aesthetics of McCain's speech, just mercifully completed before a slightly energized crowd of literally dozens, was awesome in how dreadful it was. . .

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/06/thoughts_about_obamas_speech.php
[Mark Ambinder] What a different emotional register from John McCain's; Obama seems on the verge of tears; the enormous crowd in the Xcel center seems ready to lift Obama on its shoulders; the much smaller audience for McCain's speech interrupted his remarks with stilted cheers.

McCain appealed to Clinton supporters based on their resentments, pointing out that the pundits and party elders seemingly anointed Obama; Obama appeals to them based on their hopes, promising that Clinton would play a major role in securing universal health care.

Obama thanked his grandmother above all else; without her, he said, none of this would have been possible. She is white, of course. The explicit message is obvious. The implicit message: this thing, this event, is much more than just a step for racial equality.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/6/3/224952/8472
[Mort Kondracke] Well, John McCain had better start working on his speechmaking and learn how to use a teleprompter. I mean, the gap, the rhetorical gap between [Obama's] speech and...Oratorical gap between this speech and John McCain's was vast. John McCain sounded old. This sounded fresh and new and exciting and visionary. . . .

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/6/3/21377/42486
[DemFromCT] In a setting that highlighted McCain's discomfort, with a venue that came across like a half-filled high school auditorium, John McCain pretended to the the candidate of change, and pretended that Barack Obama was the status quo candidate. That incompetence was the problem with the Bush administration. That he, McCain, is the green candidate with a green background. That John McCain will take the country in a new direction, different than where Republicans have gone before . . .

“Three candidates, three speeches”

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/campaign_2008_/2008/06/three_candidates_three_speeches.php
[Mark Kleiman] Which one looked and sounded like a President? . . [read on]

More: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080603.WBwbradwanski20080603224337/WBStory/WBwbradwanski/

McCain keeps SAYING he isn’t like Bush, then keeps proving that he is

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/06/mccain-id-spy-o.html
If elected president, Senator John McCain would reserve the right to run his own warrantless wiretapping program against Americans, based on the theory that the president's wartime powers trump federal criminal statutes and court oversight, according to a statement released by his campaign Monday. . .

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/06/03/mccain/index.html
McCain, spying and executive power: A complete reversal in 6 months . . .

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15745.html
[Steve Benen] Last week, John McCain made one of his more embarrassing recent errors, telling a Wisconsin audience that U.S. forces in Iraq “have drawn down to pre-surge levels.” That’s clearly false.

McCain and his campaign compounded the problem by insisting he was right about troop levels — reality notwithstanding — and arguing that everyone was “nitpicking” by suggesting his comments about his signature issue should be accurate. His aides eventually tried to make this a semantics debate, suggesting McCain would have been right if we disregard “verb tense.”

While McCain and his cohorts insisted that his obvious error wasn’t an error at all, the senator nevertheless changed his rhetoric yesterday. That’s the good news. The bad news is, McCain’s still wrong. . . . [read on]

More: http://firedoglake.com/2008/06/03/david-brooks-mccain-is-nothing-like-bush-they-just-agree-on-all-the-important-stuff/

The gift that keeps on giving

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/06/03/republicans-begin-to-highlight-clinton%E2%80%99s-criticism-of-obama/
Hours before the polls closed Tuesday in the final two Democratic presidential primaries, the Republican National Committee began circulating a video of Hillary Clinton questioning Barack Obama’s qualifications to be commander-in-chief, and acknowledging John McCain has this important presidential credential. . . .

http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/0608/Pawlenty_McCain_will_compete_for_Clinton_backers.html
John McCain portrayed her as a trailblazing model for aspring female politicians yesterday and now one of his top surrogates and vice-presidential prospects is taking the next natural step and promising that they'll compete for Hillary Clinton's supporters.

"I think many of those voters are going to consider and support Senator McCain," said Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty in an afternoon conference calldesigned to prebut Obama's speech tonight in St. Paul.

Pawlenty even compared the two senators, saying they shared important traits of experience and tenacity.

"They see and saw in Senator Clinton somebody they value experience in and, in many cases -- in terms of her personal characteristics -- her persistence and strength," the governor said of Clinton's backers. "Many of those same characteristics and more are in Senator McCain. So we think he's going to be able to compete for Senator Clinton's supporters to a significant degree when and if she terminates her campaign." . . .

Bush says we’ll be in Iraq for 40 years – the Iraqis say, “oh, you THINK so, do you?”

http://www.muckraked.com/wordpress/2008/06/03/bush-well-be-in-iraq-for-40-years-hamas-election-was-good-thing/
“‘This is the great war of our times. It is going to take forty years,’” [Bush told Engel]. “Bush said in forty years the world would know if the war on terrorism, and conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, had reduced extremism, helped moderates, and promoted democracy.”

Bush admits to Engel that going to war was a decision based on his personal instinct and not on any long-range strategy for the Mideast:

“I know people are saying we should have left things the way they were, but I changed after 9/11. I had to act. I don’t care if it created more enemies. I had to act.”

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/can-iraqis-save-iraq-by-dday-unified.html
A unified front is forming in Iraq among Sunnis and Shiites, opposed to the terms of the draft of a long-term security agreement to keep US forces in the country. Muqtada al-Sadr tapped into a populist rejection of the US occupation and the Iraqi government, for now, is playing hardball. . . .

Closing in on the Great White Whale?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/06/03/BL2008060301890.html
[Dan Froomkin] Former vice presidential chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby told the FBI that it was "possible" that Vice President Cheney instructed him to disseminate information about CIA agent Valerie Plame to the press, according to a redacted FBI report recently examined by Congressional investigators. . . . [read on]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/03/AR2008060301627.html
The chairman of a House investigative committee yesterday asked for copies of the FBI's interview of Vice President Cheney in the Valerie Plame Wilson leak investigation . . .

More: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/06/congress_watchdog_wants_docume.php

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/06/03/waxman-noted-the-same-thing-i-did/

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/06/03/did-condi-speak-with-bush-about-roves-so-called-innocence-or-about-the-nie/

Gutless

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/03/AR2008060303237.html
House Democrats are likely to drop a 13-week extension of unemployment insurance benefits from a major spending package that includes continued funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan . . .

http://www.americablog.com/2008/06/democrats-to-abandon-benefits-for.html
This is so pathetic. . . .

Theocracy watch: the new fight over evolution

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/04/us/04evolution.html
Opponents of teaching evolution, in a natural selection of sorts, have gradually shed those strategies that have not survived the courts. Over the last decade, creationism has given rise to “creation science,” which became “intelligent design,” which in 2005 was banned from the public school curriculum in Pennsylvania by a federal judge.

Now a battle looms in Texas over science textbooks that teach evolution, and the wrestle for control seizes on three words. None of them are “creationism” or “intelligent design” or even “creator.”

The words are “strengths and weaknesses.”

Starting this summer, the state education board will determine the curriculum for the next decade and decide whether the “strengths and weaknesses” of evolution should be taught. The benign-sounding phrase, some argue, is a reasonable effort at balance. But critics say it is a new strategy taking shape across the nation to undermine the teaching of evolution . . .

Bonus item: The latest attempt at reverse racism from Rush and his ilk: Obama is LUCKY to be black

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2008_06_01_archive.html#2776723139470007431
[Atrios] One of the hilarious if somewhat disgusting themes we've heard from certain quarters is that Obama will win because he's black. It's quite an amazing thing that no other African-American figured out that all they had to do was go work in the state legislature, become a US Senator, and then run for president and there'd be no stopping them. . .

http://mediamatters.org/items/200806020006
On the June 2 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio program, while discussing Sen. Barack Obama's presidential candidacy, Rush Limbaugh asserted that the Democratic Party was "go[ing] with a veritable rookie whose only chance of winning is that he's black."

More: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15754.html

Remember this? http://espn.go.com/gen/news/2003/1001/1628537.html
"I think what we've had here is a little social concern in the NFL. The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well,'' Limbaugh said. "There is a little hope invested in McNabb, and he got a lot of credit for the performance of this team that he didn't deserve.”

***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.***

END GAMES

Will Hillary do the right thing?

Yes: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/02/clinton-summons-top-donor_n_104715.html
Hillary Clinton has summoned top donors and backers to attend her New York speech tomorrow night in an unusual move that is being widely interpreted to mean she plans to suspend her campaign and endorse Barack Obama. . .

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15734.html
[Politico] Members of Hillary Clinton’s advance staff received calls and emails this evening from headquarters summoning them to New York City Tuesday night, and telling them their roles on the campaign are ending . . . [read on]

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/06/02/bill-clinton-this-could-be-the-last-day/
Could this be Bill Clinton's last day on the stump this campaign season? The former president seemed to signal that his time on the trail was drawing to a close at a campaign event in South Dakota Monday.

"This may be the last day I'm ever involved in a campaign of this kind," he said. . . .

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/06/02/clinton_sheds_staff.html
Newsday reports Clinton "is headed to Chappaqua late tonight for a somber and potentially momentous homecoming" where she "will huddle with advisers and husband Bill Clinton at her mansion tomorrow... She will monitor results from the final 2008 primaries in South Dakota and Montana and decide whether, how and when she will end her campaign as Barack Obama nears the nomination threshold."

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/06/hillarybacker_vilsack_she_shou.php
In a blow to any hopes Hillary Clinton might have of continuing the fight for super-delegates after Tuesday, a top supporter is now saying she should admit defeat after the voting is all over.

"It does appear to be pretty clear that Senator Obama is going to be the nominee," said former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack. "After Tuesday's contests, she needs to acknowledge that he's going to be the nominee and quickly get behind him."

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/politicalinsider/2008/06/what-will-clinton-do.html


No: http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/6/2/184941/8956

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/06/the_end_how_it_happens.php
[Marc Ambinder] Over the weekend, Sen. Hillary Clinton has told friends that she will NOT drop out today. Again, these conversations occurred over the weekend.

These friends expect that she will take a few days to think about her next move. They say she does not feel rushed and does not want to feel pressured. It is quite possible that Clinton makes a vice presidential overture in the speech . . .

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0608/Clinton_aides_rallying_donors_floating_convention_fight_August_and_no_earlier.html
[Ben Smith] A Clinton donor tells me that on a conference call today with major fundraisers this afternoon, Harold Ickes told them Clinton isn't planning to drop out. He pressed donors to stay unified, and reviewed tactical options, including challenging the Michigan delegation. . . .

I've obtained a draft of the Illinois finance committee's letter, being circulated by a Clinton fundraising aide, Rafi Jafri, which stresses a fight until the convention, and a resolution in "August, and no earlier." . . .

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/06/02/cuts/index.html
Hillary Clinton's campaign says that Amie Parnes' report, referenced in an earlier post here, is not true and that members of the advance staff have not essentially been told they're out of a job. . . .

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0608/Clinton_rejects_concession_buzz.html
Hillary Clinton will not drop out of the presidential race Tuesday or in several days that follow, the spokesman, Mo Elleithee, said Monday afternoon.

"It's pretty clear that she's not conceding," Elleithee told reporters on Clinton's campaign plane en route from Rapid City, S.D. to Sioux City, Iowa.

Instead, Elleithee said Clinton would be "aggressively courting" superdelegates and "putting together the next phase of the campaign” . . .

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/06/clinton_aides_tomorrow_nights.php
Senior Clinton campaign aides privy to the construction of tomorrow night's election night celebration in New York insist that Sen. Clinton will not use the occasion to drop out of the race. . . .

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/06/hillarys_top_fundraiser_poohpo.php
Hillary's top campaign fundraising chair, Hassan Nemazee, confirms that her top donors and fundraisers have been invited to join Hillary at her Tuesday evening party celebrating the last primary -- but he tells me it doesn't mean she'll drop out . . .

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2008/06/clinton_seeks_to_go_after_obam.php
[AP] The former first lady enters this week with an insurgent strategy not only to win over undecided superdelegates but to peel away Obama's support from those party leaders and elected officials who already have committed to back him for the nomination.

"One thing about superdelegates is that they can change their minds," she told reporters . . .

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/06/02/clintons_three_questions.html
As Hillary Rodham Clinton ponders her options, there are three questions she is asking superdelegates to consider . . .

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/6/2/131857/5673
[February 19, 2008] "We have not, are not, and will not pursue the pledged delegates of Barack Obama," Clinton communications director Howard Wolfson told reporters . . .

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/06/aides_do_not_believe_that_clin.php

http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/012628.php

http://www.americablog.com/2008/06/i-dont-think-hillary-is-leaving-race.html


Maybe: http://firedoglake.com/2008/06/02/let-this-be-so/
[The Telegraph] Hillary Clinton will be offered a dignified exit from the presidential race and the prospect of a place in Barack Obama's cabinet under plans for a "negotiated surrender" of her White House ambitions being drawn up by Senator Obama's aides. . . .

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/6/2/102723/7509

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15732.html

http://www.latimes.com/news/la-na-dems2-2008jun02,0,7620278.story

I’m not going to spend a lot of time here on the Vanity Fair “expose” on Bill Clinton. But it does show the ongoing baggage of any campaign with Hillary as the candidate (or as the VP). Who needs it?

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2008/07/clinton200807

More: http://mediamatters.org/items/200806020003

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mayhill-fowler/bill-clinton-purdhum-a-sl_b_104771.html

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0608/Clinton_attacks_Vanity_Fair.html

Watch for a deluge of superdelegates coming to Obama later today and tomorrow

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/06/02/obama_delegates/index.html

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/06/02/superdelegates/index.html

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/6/2/182521/6973

VP scuttlebutt

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=6119

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/6/2/192249/5233

Yes, I think it is a conscious strategy of the Obama campaign to get under McCain’s skin and drive him to more public outbursts

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15739.html

http://firedoglake.com/2008/06/02/obama-flips-the-flip-flopper-narrative/

The horror never ends

http://www.discourse.net/archives/2008/06/us_accused_of_regime_of_secret_floating_prisons.html
[Michael Froomkin] According to an article by Duncan Campbell and Richard Norton-Taylor in the Guardian, the US has a series of floating prisons in which people are held and questioned in a law-free regime. . . .

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/wooden-ships-on-water-not-very-free-by.html
[Dday] Jack Welch, the former CEO of General Electric, once said that his ideal factory would be situated on a barge, so it could be "hauled around the world to law-wage areas, where it could operate without labor rules, environmental protections or other standards." The US government under Bush and Cheney took it one step further . . .

400,000 troops needed for Afghanistan – and nowhere to find them

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/400-000-troops

Fighting the war on credit

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/06/could_the_us_ultimately_end.php
Could the U.S. ultimately end up privatizing its entire mission in Iraq?

That's what the latest round of contracts the U.S. government plans to let out in the coming months might suggest.

As Walter Pincus reports in today's Washington Post, the new contracts underscore the non-military involvement the U.S. is undertaking as public pressure mounts to reduce troop numbers . . .

Scott McClellan must . . . be . . . destroyed. . .

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/198187.php

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/06/02/BL2008060201318.html

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/liars-or-fools-by-digby-from-crooks-and.html

Lucky Karl

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/06/luck_of_the_draw.php
Karl Rove is facing contempt citations for his refusal to answer subpoenas to testify before congress. But lucky for him, he's gotten himself a friendly judge in Bush appointee John Bates . . .

Rewriting science

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/02/AR2008060202698.html
An investigation by the NASA inspector general found that political appointees in the space agency's public affairs office worked to control and distort public accounts of its researchers' findings about climate change for at least two years . . .

Bill Kristol’s NYT column: could it get any worse? (yes)

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/06/02/kristol-obama-salary/
[Kristol] And one day, a group of churches in Chicago offered him a job as a community organizer for “$12,000 a year plus $2,000 for an old, beat-up car.” . . . Obama wants us to be impressed by the drama of his spurning the big bucks, by his bold acceptance of such a pittance of money in order that he could do good.

Leave aside the fact that two years elapsed between Obama’s graduation from Columbia in 1983 and his heading off to Chicago in 1985. Dramatic foreshortening is, after all, sometimes necessary. And leave aside whether $14,000 in 1985 was really such a shockingly low salary for someone recently out of college — in inflation-adjusted dollars, it’s about what we pay entry-level editorial assistants today at The Weekly Standard.

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15737.html
[Steve Benen] I’ve always thought Obama going from an Ivy League school to a low-paying job as a community organizer was pretty admirable. But Kristol would have us believe it wasn’t especially impressive given the value of a $12,000 salary 23 years ago.

But, as usual, Kristol didn’t do his homework before publishing a column in the paper of record. As Ben at TP noted, “In today’s dollars, Obama’s $12,000/year in 1985 translates into an inflation-adjusted current salary of $23,958. It seems Kristol may be living in a time warp because what he pays his new employees is less than the average salary for the lowest-level congressional staffer.”

Plagiarism too? http://www.americablog.com/2008/06/plagiarism-on-nyt-op-ed-page.html

“I’m a tough guy, he’s a wimp.” The old GOP line never changes

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/03/us/politics/02cnd-mccain.html
Speaking Monday morning in Washington to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the pro-Israel lobby, Mr. McCain charged that Mr. Obama’s prescription for more diplomacy with Iran was misguided and insufficient, and that his proposal to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq would lead to a catastrophe and endanger Israel. Mr. McCain got several standing ovations from the group, which seemed receptive to some of his more hawkish statements — especially on Iran, and the threat it poses to Israel.

Some of Mr. McCain’s main points of attack on Mr. Obama, including his criticism of Mr. Obama’s past statement that he would meet with the leaders of enemy nations without preconditions, simply amplified and sharpened attacks that have been leveled at Mr. Obama earlier in the nomination battle by his main Democratic rival, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. At times Mr. McCain’s voice seemed to drip with sarcasm, as it did when he spoke of Mr. Obama’s call for more diplomacy with Iran.

“We hear talk of a meeting with the Iranian leadership offered up as if it were some sudden inspiration, a bold new idea that somehow nobody has ever thought of before,” Mr. McCain said at the pro-Israel lobby’s convention in Washington. “Yet it’s hard to see what such a summit with President Ahmadinejad would actually gain, except an earful of anti-Semitic rants, and a worldwide audience for a man who denies one Holocaust and talks before frenzied crowds about starting another.”

http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/012634.php
[Steve Soto] McCain’s attempt to look tough on Iran today at AIPAC might be taken seriously – if his chief advisors had not all made millions lobbying on behalf of companies selling goods to the regime.

More: http://firedoglake.com/2008/06/02/mccain-parrots-neocon-lie-about-iran-for-aipac-crowd/

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/6/2/11452/62621

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/dirt-diggers-by-digby-center-for-public.html

A new election drinking game: every time McCain links himself rhetorically or substantively with Bush policies, take a sip (you’ll be hammered by lunch time)

http://firedoglake.com/2008/06/02/mccain-has-bought-the-phony-return-on-success-propaganda/

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15741.html

For faster results, add in a sip every time he reverses a former position (you’ll be hammered before breakfast)

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15733.html

For even faster results, add a sip every time he has a “senior moment” (SPLASH. . . gurgle . . . . ooops, sorry!)

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/06/02/mccains-has-senior-moment-on-the-campaign-trail-i-will-win-in-january/

Wow

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/06/exclusive_mccain_almost_took_o.php
When he formally announced his presidential candidacy last year, Sen. John McCain was inches away from making an unprecedented pledge: if he were elected, he would serve only one term as president. . . .

More run-of-the-mill GOP corruption

http://www.miamiherald.com/top_stories/story/554526.html
A Maryland prosthetics company pushing a new federal bill that would broaden insurance coverage for its products -- and boost its bottom line -- has enlisted significant political support from two of South Florida's most prominent members of Congress. . . .

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/06/allegations_extend_to_former_o.php
Federal prosecutors may have their sites on former Rep. Ernest Istook (R-OK) after getting a guilty plea from his former chief of staff. . . .

Bonus item: The kind of guy he is

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2008/06/cheney_tells_west_virginia_jok.php
[AP] Talking about his family roots and how he's distantly related to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, the vice president noted that he had Cheneys on both sides of his family.

"And we don't even live in West Virginia," Cheney quipped.

"You can say those things when you're not running for re-election."

More: http://www.samefacts.com/archives/campaign_2008_/2008/06/incestbelt_humor.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.***

THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN


Hillary’s last stand

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/06/01/clinton_speech/index.html
"We are winning the popular vote," Clinton said. "Now there can be no doubt: The people have spoken and you have chosen your candidate."

[NB: Uh, that's right. They have.]

Ouch!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080601/ap_on_el_pr/primary_rdp;_ylt=AuVjyBXO1UNgYoQL41mXcDys0NUE
[AP] Hillary Rodham Clinton won a lopsided, but largely symbolic victory Sunday . . .

http://www.slate.com/id/2192683
[Justin Peters] In all likelihood, Clinton's Puerto Rican victory will be remembered as little more than a souvenir of what was apparently a lovely vacation . . .

Relatively low turnout in Puerto Rico didn’t help

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/06/01/clinton_math/index.html
[Alex Koppelman] First, though network projections say only about 400,000 of the island's 2.4 million registered voters cast ballots in the primary, the Clintonistas say turnout wasn't low. And they said it exactly that directly. "The turnout is not low," spokesman Mo Elleithee told me. That's despite the fact that various Clinton supporters had said, over the last couple of months, that she might win the state by 400,000 or 500,000 votes, or that turnout would at least be around a half a million. Until it became clear that the low -- er, sorry, not low -- turnout would make it unlikely, the Clinton camp had been expecting to use Puerto Rico's primary to take the lead in the national popular vote.

More analysis: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15727.html

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/06/democratic_race_unchanged_by_h.php

http://firedoglake.com/2008/06/01/ta-quiero-puerto-rico/

Popularvotepopularvotepopularvotepopularvotepopularvotepopularvote – it doesn’t mean anything, but everyone’s talking about it. It all depends on how you count it. Everyone has their own tendentious way of adding up the numbers – which weren’t even tabulated fully in some states

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/06/01/clinton_ad/index.html
"17 million Americans have voted for Hillary Clinton, more than for any primary candidate in history," the ad's narrator says . . .

Pick your favorite total: http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/6/1/162925/9637

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/6/1/175917/0943/933/526892

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/6/1/213210/7468

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/6/1/225330/6399

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/6/1/16747/37393

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=6103

Unity, shmunity

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/01/the-day-after-clinton-aides-push-delegate-fight/index.html
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign was out in full force on the Sunday shows, insisting that Mrs. Clinton will be leading in the popular vote at the end of the primary process this week and will be making a final appeal to the party’s uncommitted superdelegates on that basis.

The Clinton forces also left the door open that they could press forward with a fight to the credentials committee, as it threatened to do yesterday. . .

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/01/dncs-brazile-says-clinton_n_104553.html
BRAZILE: Look, in 72 hours I'm sure many of us will declare because there's no question that the pressure is on to end this nomination fight. The battle's over. We know the victor. And I learned a great deal sitting in a room, on some of the struggles we did in the middle of the night. Of course, we were drinking fresh water. I kept waiting to see if the Clinton campaign would go over to the Obama campaign or the undeclared superdelegates and cut a deal. And there was no effort whatsoever to come to the undeclared superdelegates. Remember, we're a bunch of superdelegates. The Clinton campaign went in with 13 declared superdelegates. Obama had nine. He walked away yesterday, if you look at the final vote, with 19 people taking his position. He also could have won on a crucial vote on this Michigan proposal to split the delegation 50-50. And rather than cause a ruckus they gave in. He had the votes. and the Clinton campaign never took the olive branch. Instead they wanted to come out and . . .

[NB: I can’t find the transcript on their site, but Brazile could hardly contain herself on CNN about the sense of betrayal she felt toward Harold Ickes, in particular, for destroying any sense of compromise or comity after the DNC meeting. Of course the Clinton loyalists didn’t get everything that they wanted on Michigan and Florida. They could have gotten even less.

It reminds me of the old story about a mother who breaks a cookie in half and gives a half each to a brother and sister. The brother eats his half then runs to his sister and says “Mom says we have to share.” The Clinton folks got a good deal on Florida, not so good on Michigan. So now they want to go back and refight the Michigan issue.]

Digby offers some good sense here

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/photo-finish-by-digby-im-hearing-and.html
I'm hearing and reading a lot today about how the Clinton supporters are going to ruin the party with their obstinate refusal to acknowledge that Obama has won and threats to vote for McCain. I think everyone needs to take a breath.

The fact is that this campaign is a photo finish. There has never been a primary where it's come even close to a tie before. Someone had to win and it's going to be Obama and it's going to be seen as legitimate, mostly because the primaries ran their course (for which everyone should actually be grateful.) But to think that a race this close could end with an instantaneous round of kumbaaya among the loser's most passionate supporters is probably a little naive. . . .

Here are the ONLY numbers that matter

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/06/01/the_math.html
[Taegan Goddard] With the deal on Michigan and Florida in place, the new "magic number" for the Democratic presidential nomination is 2,118.

NBC News reports Sen. Barack Obama needs just 45.5 delegates while Sen. Hillary Clinton needs 203 to win the nomination.

There are 237.5 total delegates remaining in addition to the 201.5 still undeclared superdelegates. That means Obama needs 19% of all remaining delegates while Clinton needs 85%.

McClellan on Rove

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15730.html
[AP] President Bush broke his promise to the country by refusing to fire aide Karl Rove for leaking a CIA agent’s identity, said Scott McClellan, the president’s chief spokesman for almost three years. . . [read on]

Our President as comic-book hero

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/01/AR2008060101961_2.html
Getting lost in the media furor over McClellan's memoir is the new autobiography of retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez, the onetime commander of U.S. troops in Iraq, who is scathing in his assessment that the Bush administration "led America into a strategic blunder of historic proportions." . . .

Among the anecdotes in "Wiser in Battle: A Soldier's Story" is an arresting portrait of Bush after four contractors were killed in Fallujah in 2004, triggering a fierce U.S. response that was reportedly egged on by the president.

During a videoconference with his national security team and generals, Sanchez writes, Bush launched into what he described as a "confused" pep talk:

"Kick ass!" he quotes the president as saying. "If somebody tries to stop the march to democracy, we will seek them out and kill them! We must be tougher than hell! This Vietnam stuff, this is not even close. It is a mind-set. We can't send that message. It's an excuse to prepare us for withdrawal."

"There is a series of moments and this is one of them. Our will is being tested, but we are resolute. We have a better way. Stay strong! Stay the course! Kill them! Be confident! Prevail! We are going to wipe them out! We are not blinking!"

A White House spokesman had no comment.

Wow. They really hate him

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15726.html
[TP] [Sen. Lindsey] Graham used his remarks to embrace President Bush, just hours before he was to meet Bush at Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport and accompany him to Furman University for a presidential commencement address that has divided the campus.

At his first mention of Bush’s visit, Graham paused, waiting for applause. . . .

Should Obama go to Iraq?

http://www.juancole.com/2008/06/obama-dukakis-trap-and-meeting-sistani.html
[Juan Cole] So here is some advice for Senator Obama if he goes to Iraq . . .

Should Obama pick a Republican for VP?

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/06/survey-says-by-digby-i-find-this.html

THIS is what a newspaper ombudsman needs to do sometimes

http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/06/where_facts_are_madeup.php
Clark Hoyt, New York Times public editor, has a devastating rebuttal to the NYT's Edward Luttwak op-ed on Barack Obama being a Muslim apostate . . .

McCain’s McClellan problem (thanks to David L for the link)

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/01/opinion/01richedit.html

More on McCain’s YouTube problem

http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=6086

Theocracy watch: McCain’s fumble-thumbed approach to the religious right

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/religion_and_politics_/2008/06/mccains_religious_cluelessness.php

Bonus item: More things that are younger than McCain

http://firedoglake.com/2008/06/01/sunday-late-nite-things-younger-than-mccain/

***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.***

WINNERS AND LOSERS

Leave it for the next guy

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/30/AR2008053002858.html
Previewing the world for the next U.S. president, a top U.S. intelligence official this week predicted that the Bush administration would make little progress before leaving office on top national security priorities including an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement, political reconciliation in Iraq and keeping Iran from being able to produce a nuclear weapon.

A regenerated al-Qaeda will remain the leading terrorism threat, Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence Donald M. Kerr said. Pakistan's "inward" political focus and failure to control the tribal territories where al-Qaeda maintains a haven, he said, is "the number one thing we worry about." . . .

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/mining-harbor-by-dday-weve-been-talking.html

No exit

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/31/world/middleeast/31iraq.html
Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki is facing growing opposition to a proposed security agreement that would set out how long American forces and military bases stayed in Iraq. . . .

Criminal acts

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080530/ap_on_re_us/marines_haditha
Prosecutors will call a top NATO general to address a potential conflict of interest in the case of a Marine officer charged with failing to investigate the killings of 24 Iraqi men, women and children . . .

Defense attorneys say Marine Gen. James Mattis, currently NATO's top commander in charge of military modernization, is scheduled to take the stand Monday during a hearing to address a military judge's finding that there was evidence of unlawful command influence in the case of Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani. . . .

Chessani is the highest ranking officer to be tried in the case stemming from the shooting deaths of 24 men, women and children in the Iraqi town of Haditha on Nov. 19, 2005. The killings, which occurred after a roadside bomb killed one Marine and wounded two others, sparked outrage, but military prosecutors' case has been gradually eroding. . . .

The hearing comes as the other Marine officer charged in the case, 1st Lt. Andrew Grayson of Springboro, Ohio, is being court-martialed on charges of making false official statements, trying to fraudulently separate from service, attempting to deceive by making false statements and obstruction of justice by trying to impede an investigation.

Like Chessani, Grayson was not present at the scene of the killings in Haditha. Grayson is accused of telling a sergeant to delete photographs of the dead from his digital camera. . . .

Military justice (an oxymoron?)

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/31/washington/31gitmo.html
The chief judge at Guantánamo replaced the military judge in one of the most closely watched war crimes cases on Thursday, creating a new controversy in the military commission system and the potential for new delays. . . [read on]

More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/whats-up-down-there-by-digby-i-think-we.html

http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/012619.php
[Mary] The Miami Herald reports that the administration is set to start the "terrorist" show trials on September 11th in order to make terrorism the center of John McCain's election. As the Miami Herald noted, included in making sure the show trial of the century gets off the ground in time, was the dismissal of one of the Gitmo judges who had been seen to favorable in his rulings for the defense and who had ruled that the government had to provide more access to the "evidence" they were using to prosecute the defendant.

Along with the institutionalization of torture and the illegal invasion of a country that was no threat, these show trials will be the culmination of the destruction of the values upon which this country was founded. It will take decades before our country can live down the reputation of being a rogue nation, and with this plan to once more exploit the terror and fear of 9/11 by bogus and illegitimate show trials, the warmongering GOP are once more attempting to condemn us to further scorn. How low with they go?

Central intelligence (another oxymoron?)

http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/007470.html
[LAT] A Bush administration plan to issue new orders realigning the chain of command over U.S. spy services has triggered turf-related skirmishes across the intelligence community. . . .

"The Bureau, NSA, DOD, etc. they all want the same thing -- to be able to do whatever they want, wherever they want regardless of its effectiveness, its level of stupidity or how it may hurt the larger US interest," comments one former senior US intelligence officer. "They have sensed weakness since 9-11 and they will not stop in this effort. . .”

Brilliant strategy from the McCain camp

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/31/8101/74305
[DemfromCT] One of the interesting ideas we see being floated (as battle lines are drawn for November) is the idea that Iraq will be a strong point for John McCain and the Republican party . . . [read on]

More brilliant strategy

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15719.html
[Steve Benen] It’s become quite entertaining to highlight John McCain’s similarities with Still-President Bush, on everything from the major policy issues to the identical words they use to describe various challenges.

But I can’t help but notice that McCain isn’t just eerily similar to the president, he’s also following the strategy Bush used eight years ago . . .

It’s very revealing that these people don’t see McCain as the “moderate reformer” he pretends to be

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/39067.html
A McClatchy computer analysis, incomplete due to the difficulty matching data from various campaign finance reports, found that hundreds of people who gave at least $200 to Bush's 2004 campaign have donated to Obama.

Among them are Julie Nixon Eisenhower, the daughter of the late GOP President Richard Nixon and wife of late GOP President Dwight Eisenhower's grandson; Connie Ballmer, the wife of Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer; Ritchie Scaife, the estranged wife of conservative tycoon Richard Mellon Scaife and boxing promoter Don King.

Many of the donors are likely "moderate Republicans or independents who are dissatisfied with the direction of the country now and are looking for change," said Anthony Corrado, a government professor at Colby College in Maine who specializes in campaign finance. . . .

This is why Obama will win – what a fine, deft touch

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/obama_hits_mccain_again_we_don.php
“We all misspeak sometimes. I've done it myself. So on such a basic, factual error, you'd think that Senator McCain would just admit that he made a mistake and move on. But he couldn't do that. Instead, he dug in. . . .

We don't need more leaders who can't admit they've made a mistake . . .” [read on]

More: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15721.html

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/5/31/15411/0131

If you want to win, act like a winner

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/obama_to_hold_huge_rally_tuesd.php
[Greg Sargent] Some folks have already reported this, based on anonymous sources, but now the Obama campaign has made it official via a press release: He and his wife, Michelle, will hold a big rally on Tuesday evening -- the night of the last voting in the Dem primary -- at the site of the 2008 Republican National Convention.

It will be at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. Expect Obama to use the occasion to frame his entire argument against McCain.

It's a pretty ballsy move. To state the obvious, the event will strongly symbolize that the real significance of the completion of the Dem primary voting is that the general election has begun, with Obama as the standard-bearer challenging McCain and the GOP. . . .

He had to do it

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/01/us/politics/01obama.html
Senator Barack Obama has resigned his membership in Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ, which he attended for nearly two decades, following months of controversy about pastors and their political views. . . .

More: http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/obama_explains_his_break_from.php

This is why they call it a COMPROMISE, right? (actually, for all the sturm and drang, an outcome more or less like this should have been foreseeable all along). Let’s move on

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/01/us/politics/01rules.html
To jeers and boos that showcased deep party divisions, Democratic Party officials agreed Saturday to seat delegates from the disputed Florida and Michigan primaries at the party’s convention in August but give them only half a vote each . . .

The agreement, reached by the rules committee of the Democratic National Committee behind closed doors and voted on publicly before a raucous audience of supporters of the two candidates, would give Mrs. Clinton a net gain of 24 delegates over Senator Barack Obama. But this fell far short of her hopes of winning the full votes of both delegations and moved the nomination further out of her reach. . . .

More: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15723.html

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/in_blow_to_hillary_dnc_agrees.php

http://www.americablog.com/2008/05/florida-and-michigan-democratic-parties.html

The Clinton campaign responds

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/05/clinton_campaign_statement_on.php
Today’s results are a victory for the people of Florida . . .

We strongly object to the Committee’s decision to undercut its own rules in seating Michigan’s delegates without reflecting the votes of the people of Michigan. . .

http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/5/31/234415/437
[Todd Beeton] Certainly sounds like they're prepping for a fight over Michigan, doesn't it? I was actually fairly shocked that they decided to seat Michigan as they did but seriously, why are Ickes and Flournoy bitching? This is about as good a result as Clinton could have hoped to get. Sure Obama took himself off the ballot in Michigan, but everyone knows a good chunk of the uncommitted vote was for Obama, so if the Clinton team is really making an intent of the voter argument then they should be pleased with this result.

Apparently, Obama had the votes to force an even better deal (for him), but let it go

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/05/31/1091448.aspx

People are STILL arguing about the popular vote?

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/5/31/235239/925

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/5/31/234414/273

The dead enders

http://www.correntewire.com/congratulations_new_michigan_obama_voters

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/5/31/202337/114

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/01/us/politics/01dems.html

Watch: http://firedoglake.com/2008/05/31/clinton-supporter-ejected-from-meeting-mccain-will-be-our-next-president/

What next?

http://www.samefacts.com/archives/campaign_2008_/2008/05/what_it_means.php
[Mark Kleiman] As far as I can tell, Obama started the day forty delegates from clinching the nomination. The Rules and By-Laws Committee just moved the goalposts back about 30 delegates.

He's likely to get about 40 of the 85 delegates at stake tomorrow and Tuesday. That means he will need about 30 superdelegates. Some of those — about 20 — Obama actually already has in the bank: they're the nominally unpledged add-ons yet to be selected on the basis of past primaries. So he actually only needs about 10 more announcements. That being the case, the only question right now is whether enough supers announce Monday and Tuesday so that it's Tuesday night's voting that formally puts him over the top.

http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/05/31/the-rules-and-bylaws-committee-meeting-a-primer/
[Emptywheel] Understand, though, that this is really just a five-day solution.

On Tuesday, the final primaries will be held. At that point, Obama will have a clear lead in the elected delegates. On Wednesday, enough super-delegates will endorse Obama to allow him to reach whatever new "win" number comes out of today (they have to add the delegates that they decide to seat into the total). On Thursday or Friday, Hillary will likely concede. Once that happens, Obama will then graciously decide to seat both delegations at full strength.

Crying wolf? Or is the GOP really scared?

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15720.html
[Steve Benen] Republicans have been known, from time to time, to use the politics of fear to get ahead. That, of course, includes scaring the bejeezus out of their own rank-and-file supporters, in order to get them to open their checkbooks.

But former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) seems to have laid it on pretty thick in his latest email missive on behalf of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, sent this week. The subject line read, “Democrats Win Landslide Victory.” . . . [read on]

No one has discredited a single thing in Scott McClellan’s book of devastating revelations about the systematic lies of the Bush gang. Instead, we get a lot of nonsense like this

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MDNlM2IzOGJiZDdkYmEyZmFjMWZmMjU4YmU2MjZiMWY
[Rich Lowry] I think he's an individual illustration of one of John O'Sullivan's laws: that any organization that's not explicitly conservative becomes liberal over time. McClellan wasn't an ideological conservative. So I think he was fine with being a kind of conservative as long as he was surrounded (more or less) with conservatives and it suited his career interests. But once you ripped him out of that context and put him among liberal book editors and told him that writing a lefty book would get more attention and sales, he was fine with being a kind of liberal. . . .

More: http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/5/31/16432/5474

Sunday talk show line-ups

http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlDC/television/sunday_show_preview_85989.asp
NBC Meet the Press: Scott McClellan and former Sen. Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), an Obama supporter and Harold Ickes, senior adviser for the Clinton Campaign and a member of the DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee

CBS Face the Nation: Sen. Claire McCaskill and Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell.

ABC This Week: McClellan and Clinton chair Terry McAuliffe, and a roundtable with Democratic strategist Donna Brazile, New York Times' David Brooks, Vanity Fair's Todd Purdum and George Will.

Fox News Sunday: Howard Wolfson, Communication Director for the Clinton Campaign, David Bonior, Obama surrogate and former Michigan Congressman. Power Player of the Week is Brendan Sullivan, executive director of Headfirst and a panel with Bill Kristol, Weekly Standard & Fox News, Nina Easton, Fortune Magazine & Fox News, Byron York, National Review & Fox News and Juan Williams, National Public Radio & Fox News

CNN Late Edition: Chris Dodd, Sen. Bill Nelson, Democratic strategist Jamal Simmons, Republican strategist Leslie Sanchez, Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen, and a roundtable with CNN's Suzanne Malveaux, Fareed Zakaria and Jeffrey Toobin.

Bonus item: Theocracy watch

http://www.americablog.com/2008/05/christian-right-protests-starbucks-logo.html
Christian right protests Starbucks logo . . .

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