THINGS THEY WISH THEY HADN’T SAID
She – said – WHAT??!!??!!!!!
http://www.americablog.com/2008/05/breaking-hillary-reportedly-invoked.html
[AP] "Sen. Hillary Clinton referred Friday to the assassination of Robert Kennedy in 1968 Democratic campaign as a reason she should continue to campaign despite increasingly long odds."
[NB: Everyone who is a thinking person knows that the assassination of Barack Obama is a very real threat. And everyone who knows the ambition and cynicism of the Clintons has realized that part of why she hasn’t stepped aside is that she knows this is a possible avenue to the Presidency. Of course she doesn’t wish for it. But to say it, to actually say it. I’m speechless with shock.]
Disastrous. They desperately try to take it back
http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/05/get_ready_get_set_parse.php
A Clinton campaign spokesman said Clinton "was simply referencing her husband in 1992 and Bobby Kennedy in 1968 as historical examples of the nomination process going well into the summer. Any reading beyond that would be inaccurate."
More b.s. http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/196732.php
Hillary apologizes . . . to the Kennedy’s
http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/5/23/17853/8470
A mistake?
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/23/192111/929
[BarbinMD] But this isn’t the first time she has made this same, offensive comparison. In March of this year. . . .
Once might be a mistake, twice and it’s a tactic. . . .
Defending HRC: http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/5/23/20319/4465
http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/5/23/18633/7466
http://www.samefacts.com/archives/campaign_2008_/2008/05/bobby_kennedy_was_assassinated_in_june.php
Attacking HRC: http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/5/23/18533/5596
http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/5/23/171038/941
http://www.americablog.com/2008/05/keith-olbermanns-special-comment-about.html
Bush explains why we’re (still) in Iraq
http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/bush-or-yuri
“Some of our fellow citizens wonder whether the mission in Iraq is worth the cost. I strongly believe it is. And here is why: The enemy has made clear that Iraq is the central battleground of the great ideological struggle of our time. This is a struggle between those who murder the innocent to advance their hateful objectives and those of us who love liberty and long for peace. We saw that these enemies -- what these enemies intend for our country on September the 11th, 2001 -- and we must do everything in our power to stop the enemy from attacking us again.
Withdrawal from Iraq before we have achieved success would embolden al Qaeda and give them new safe havens from which to plot attacks on the American homeland. Withdrawal before success would embolden Iran in its nuclear weapons ambitions and its efforts to dominate the region. Withdrawal before success would send a signal to terrorists and extremists across the world that America is weak, and does not have the stomach for a long fight. Withdrawal before success would be catastrophic for our country. It would more likely -- be more likely that we would suffer another attack like the one we experienced on September the 11th. It would jeopardize the safety of future generations. And we must not, and we will not, allow that to happen.”
[Spencer Ackerman] Every word of this is a lie. . . [read on]
More lies: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/23/13251/5619
This hardly surprises us anymore
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Afghan-Marine-Shooting.html
Marine Corps general has decided not to bring criminal changes against two officers whose unit was accused of killing as many as 19 Afghan civilians in 2007. . .
Will Congress investigate the Pentagon propaganda program?
http://firedoglake.com/2008/05/23/tell-congress-to-investigate-the-psyops-propaganda-generals/
[Joe Galloway] Once upon a time, it was widely believed that one of the greatest sins the U.S. government or its temporary political masters could commit was to turn a propaganda machine loose on the American people.
Congress viewed this so seriously that every appropriations bill passed since 1951 has contained language that says no public money "shall be used for publicity or propaganda purposes within the United States" . . . [read on]
More: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-analysts23-2008may23,0,3695504.story
Marcy Wheeler (Emptywheel) calls this “pixie dust”: how John Yoo ignored the plain language of the FISA law to make its exclusivity clause just – poof! – disappear
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/todays_must_read_344.php
More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/23/125150/214
House bill to require videotaping all interrogations
http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/lets-go-to-the
Given the choice between self-preservation and going down with the sinking U.S.S. Bush, congressional Republicans choose . . .
http://www.washingtonindependent.com/view/gop-shifts-from
http://www.nationaljournal.com/njmagazine/cr_20080524_7554.php
More: http://www.samefacts.com/archives/watching_conservatives_/2008/05/conservatives_are_stuck_with_bush_and_the_republicans.php
Now this: the GOP at war with itself
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/23/11502/6967
John Conyers is not going to let go of Karl Rove
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/05/23/BL2008052301438.html
Let’s see, they tried the “Obama’s a Muslim” line, then they tried the “well he was RAISED as a Muslim” line, and now they’re trying the “well, other Muslims CONSIDER him a Muslim” line . . .
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/apostate-lines-by-digby-i-must-admit
More: http://isbarackobamamuslim.com/
The rules don’t apply to McCain, I guess
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15635.html
[Steve Benen] There’s been a casual agreement in recent campaign cycles that presidential candidates with military backgrounds tout their service, but they don’t necessarily denigrate their rivals for not wearing a uniform. In each of the last five races, one presidential hopeful had considerably more military experience than his rival, and in each instance, the one who served resisted the temptation to attack the other for not having served.
This year, that’s apparently off the table. . . .
More: http://firedoglake.com/2008/05/23/mccain-only-veterans-can-talk-about-military-matters/
Does it really ask too much for the press to expect McCain to tell the truth?
http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/05/i_like_the_snark
Nothing to hide? Why did McCain choose such a secretive and indirect way to release his medical records?
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15634.html
Maybe he was trying to hide THIS
http://www.americablog.com/2008/05/mccain-had-cancer-surgery-in-february.html
[John Aravosis] McCain had cancer surgery in February, and didn't disclose it . . .
McCain isn't cancer-free if he had cancer 3 months ago. . .
So, to clarify AP's headline "McCain appears cancer free, healthy" - they really meant "this month." . . . What a ridiculously sloppy AP headline
More: http://firedoglake.com/2008/05/23/mccains-medical-records-the-nodes-know-were-still-in-the-dark/
[NB: Gee, do you think this is something GOP primary voters might have wanted to know about, when they were voting at the time?]
This is going to cost him
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15639.html
When John McCain’s presidential campaign faltered badly last summer, there were a variety of problems, but near the top of the list was McCain’s work on a comprehensive immigration reform measure, which most Republican activists hated with a vengeance. McCain ultimately decided to abandon his own legislation, and announced earlier this year that he wouldn’t even vote for his own bill.
Now that he’s locked down the Republican nomination, McCain has decided to reverse course again, re-embracing the position he abandoned in order to gain GOP support. . . . [read on]
More: http://firedoglake.com/2008/05/23/the-far-right-turns-on-mccain-again/
Grumpy old man
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_05/013779.php
[Kevin Drum] I think Barack Obama has accidentally discovered the easiest way to defeat John McCain this November: make him mad. . .
http://www.samefacts.com/archives/john_mccain_/2008/05/bad_day_for_john_mccain_part_ii_anger_management.php
[Mark Kleiman] When a candidate has well-known anger-management issues, he really needs to be careful about the tone of his statements. . .
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/22/mccain-judges-obama-that-young-man/
Senator John McCain mocked Senator Barack Obama here today at an airport rally, repeatedly calling him a “young man” with “very little experience.” . . .
More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/are-we-clear-by-digby-if-john-mccain.html
http://www.samefacts.com/archives/campaign_2008_/2008/05/bad_day_for_mccain_part_iii_grandpa_is_cranky.php
How many votes has McCain missed while he is busy running for President?
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/capitol-briefing/2008/05/mccain_leads_in_missed_votes.html
More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/23/1101/67742
Hillary: VP . . . or else?
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/hillarys_top_fundraiser_says_t.php
[Greg Sargent] Hillary's top campaign fundraising official said in an interview that there's a "risk" that Hillary's political and financial supporters won't get behind Obama in time for him to win in November if she's passed over for the veep slot. . .
More: http://www.americablog.com/2008/05/hillarys-top-fundraiser-admits-dragging.html
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15636.html
CNN is reporting, based on word from Hillary Clinton’s “inner circle” is pushing for some kind of “compromise” . . .
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/196672.php
[David Kurtz] Rarely do the two chief campaign flacks, Howard Wolfson and Bill Burton, agree. But they both tell TPM Election Central that CNN's report this morning that there are formal talks between the Clinton and Obama campaigns over her dropping out of the race and getting the VP nod are "100% false."
Now that doesn't necessarily mean there aren't some sort of back-channel communications going on. . . .
More: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/196714.php
Blatant hypocrisy – there’s no nice word for it
http://www.americablog.com/2008/05/hillary-was-against-florida-primary-but.html
A better choice for VP
http://www.samefacts.com/archives/barack_obama_/2008/05/webb_for_vp.php
Bonus item: ooooh, bet he’s sorry he said that
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15642.html
[August 2000] LEHRER: Finally for the record, you have not lost your desire to be President of the United States have you?
McCAIN: Certainly it’s been put in deep cold storage. (laughter)
LEHRER: You haven’t lost it?
McCAIN: Well, in 2004, I expect to be campaigning for the reelection of President George W. Bush, and by 2008, I think I might be ready to go down to the old soldiers home . . . .
***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.***
Friday, May 23, 2008
LAST STANDS
The few, the brave, who stood up to the Bush gang over torture
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/21/AR2008052102668.html
Five years ago, as troubling reports emerged about the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a career lawyer at the Justice Department began a long and relatively lonely campaign to alert top Bush administration officials to a strategy he considered "wrongheaded."
Bruce C. Swartz, a criminal division deputy in charge of international issues, repeatedly questioned the effectiveness of harsh interrogation tactics at White House meetings of a special group formed to decide detainee matters, with representatives present from the Pentagon, the State Department and the CIA.
Swartz warned that the abuse of Guantanamo inmates would do "grave damage" to the country's reputation and to its law enforcement record . . .
Swartz was joined by a handful of other top Justice and FBI officials who said the abuse would almost certainly taint any legal proceedings against the detainees.
Now their predictions appear to be coming true. . . .
More: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/todays_must_read_343.php
Karl Rove gets a subpoena
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/house_judiciary_committee_subp.php
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/22/144523/081
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15631.html
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/05/22/roves-subpoena/
More to come: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/justice_department_watchdog_co.php
In conjunction with issuing the subpoena to Rove, the committee released a letter from the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility confirming that it has launched an investigation of "allegations of selective prosecution relating to the prosecutions of Don Siegelman, Georgia Thompson, and Oliver Diaz and Paul Minor.
http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/5/22/213836/684
Former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman filed a 99 page appeal brief today. . [read on]
Former Rove protégé and US Attorney hack gets assigned as chief oppo researcher for the RNC. Isn’t this proof of the kind of people who were being put into US Attorney posts in place of career professionals?
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/196459.php
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/republican_national_committee.php
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15625.html
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/unleashing-hell-by-digby-so-i-hear-that.html
GI Bill passes, McCain AWOL
http://www.eschatonblog.com/2008_05_18_archive.html#839547295686378989
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15628.html
http://www.americablog.com/2008/05/vote-on-webbs-gi-bill-today-will-show.html
Obama criticizes McCain, who then has a real meltdown
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/22/172711/919
“I respect sen. John McCain's service to our country. He is one of those heroes of which I speak. But I can't understand why he would line up behind the President in his opposition to this GI bill.”
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/mccain_questions_obamas_lack_o.php
“I take a backseat to no one in my affection, respect and devotion to veterans. And I will not accept from Senator Obama, who did not feel it was his responsibility to serve our country in uniform, any lectures on my regard for those who did.”
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/obama_hits_mccain_for_schoolya.php
"I am proud to stand with Senator Webb and a bipartisan coalition to give our veterans the support and opportunity they deserve. It's disappointing that Senator McCain and his campaign used this issue to launch yet another lengthy personal, political attack instead of debating an honest policy difference. He should know that this is not about John McCain or Barack Obama -- it's about giving our veterans a real chance to afford four years of college without harming retention. Senator Webb's bipartisan bill will do this, and the bill that John McCain supports would not. These endless diatribes and schoolyard taunts from the McCain campaign do nothing to advance the debate about what matters to the American people."
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/22/172711/919
"It is typical, but no less offensive that Senator Obama uses the Senate floor to take cheap shots at an opponent and easy advantage of an issue he has less than zero understanding of. . . .” [read on]
The news media starts to pay attention to the Charlie Black story
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/21/AR2008052103006.html
Longtime uber-lobbyist Charles R. Black Jr. is John McCain's man in Washington, a political maestro who is hoping to guide his friend, the senator from Arizona, to the presidency this November.
But for half a decade in the 1980s, Black was also Jonas Savimbi's man in the capital city. His lobbying firm received millions from the brutal Angolan guerrilla leader and took advantage of Black's contacts in Congress and the White House. . . .
In addition to Savimbi, Black and his partners were at times registered foreign agents for a remarkable collection of U.S.-backed foreign leaders whose human rights records were sometimes harshly criticized, even as their opposition to communism was embraced by American conservatives. They included Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire, Nigerian Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre, and the countries of Kenya and Equatorial Guinea, among others. . . .
The NRO tries a very lame “Obama has lobbyists working for him too” story
http://campaignspot.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZTQ3MzcxNmE5MDUwNTM0Njk2ZTI4MDk0MTc5M2I0ZTA
Daniel Shapiro, one of Obama's foreign policy advisers . . . counts some of America's biggest corporate names among his clients, including beermaker Anheuser-Busch, carmaker Daimler Chrysler, the American Petroleum Institute and Freddie Mac. . . .
Three political aides on Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) payroll were registered lobbyists for dozens of corporations, including Wal-Mart, British Petroleum and Lockheed Martin . . .
[NB: See? Just like Zavimbi and Marcos]
McCain to release his medical records . . . well, kinda sorta
http://www.americablog.com/2008/05/why-john-mccain-will-only-release-his.html
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/22/122053/300
* only a small, select group of reporters will have access to the records in a secure room in Phoenix, AZ
* access is limited to only three hours, between 7 and 10 AM on Friday
* no copying of the records is permitted
McCain on gay marriage and civil unions – he STILL can’t keep his story straight
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15627.html
http://cliffschecter.firedoglake.com/2008/05/22/mccains-rhetoric-on-ellen-degeneres-does-not-match-his-record/
McCain is finally shamed into disavowing John Hagee. Okay, now onto the next religious wacko who’s endorsing him
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/196545.php
[Josh Marshall] As you can see, Sen. McCain has now definitively "rejected" John Hagee's endorsement. Yesterday's story about Hagee's suggesting that God used Hitler to facilitate the departure of the Jews (sort of a gentle word) from Europe, broken by Huffpo, was I guess the final straw. . . .
http://www.americablog.com/2008/05/another-mccain-pastor-islam-is.html
Despite his call for the U.S. to win the "hearts and minds of the Islamic world," Sen. John McCain recruited the support of an evangelical minister who describes Islam as "anti-Christ" and Mohammed as "the mouthpiece of a conspiracy of spiritual evil." . . .
McCain sought the support of Pastor Rod Parsley of the World Harvest Church of Columbus, Ohio . . . At a campaign appearance in Cincinnati, McCain introduced Parsley as "one of the truly great leaders in America, a moral compass, a spiritual guide."...
"America was founded with the intention of seeing this false religion destroyed," Parsley says . . .
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15629.html
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_05/013768.php
More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/mccain-rejects-hagee-endorsement.html
Parsley dumped too? http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/196594.php
Republican insiders express real concerns about the McCain campaign
http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/05/22/mccain/index.html
McCain has been battered in recent weeks. He has lost five staffers, and his image as an enemy of special interests took a beating when it was revealed that a handful of his top campaign aides had lobbying ties, including some with connections to the Burmese government. McCain has issued new conflict of interest guidelines for his staffers to try to stave off future problems. McCain's campaign also trailed both Democratic candidates' in fundraising in April; he brought in $17.8 million to Obama's $30.7 million. McCain's campaign sputtered last summer after he raised only $11 million in the second quarter of 2007 and two top aides resigned. . . .
The Clinton team’s last-ditch battle to save their campaign – the Michigan/Florida fight – seems to have alienated even many of her defenders
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/196378.php
[Josh Marshall] For the last week it's seemed that Sens. Clinton and Obama were adhering to their tacit truce, continuing the primary campaign but avoiding the harsh exchanges that make later party unity a dimmer and dimmer prospect. Clinton particularly had deescalated her rhetoric. Then we have a speech like Sen. Clinton's yesterday in Florida in which she compared the controversy over seating the Florida and Michigan delegates to the Florida recount debacle and many of the great voting and civil rights battles of the 20th century. She is of course also claiming that whatever the delegate count, she leads in the popular vote and that that is what really counts. Never mind of course that even if you count Michigan and Florida she's still not ahead in the popular vote without resorting to tendentious methods of counting.
I've always assumed, as I think most people have, that once the nomination is settled the Florida and Michigan delegates will be seated. And I can see if Sen. Clinton wants to embrace this issue to claim a moral victory even while coming short of her goal of the nomination. As things currently stand, seating them would still leave Sen. Clinton behind in delegates.
But Sen. Clinton is doing much more than this. She is embarking on a gambit that is uncertain in its result and simply breathtaking in its cynicism. . . . [read on]
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15621.html
[Steve Benen] I've defended Clinton, more than once, when people said she was putting her own interests above those of the party and the nation. But after seeing her tactics yesterday, I'm done defending Hillary Clinton. I'm 35, and have been following politics for quite a while, and I've never been so disappointed with a politician I've admired and respected. Yesterday's tactics weren't just wrong, they were offensive.
More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/22/131237/105
http://www.americablog.com/2008/05/its-official-everybody-hates-her.html
“The Nuclear Option”? http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/196455.php
“Desperation”? http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/top_hillary_supporter_says_she.php
http://liberalvaluesblog.com/?p=3298
Will unifying the party be possible after the Clinton/Obama fight? Some encouraging signs
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/22/12239/7807
Bonus item: From Leon Kass, Bush’s “ethics” specialist
http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/tapped_archive?month=05&year=2008&base_name=stop_the_conelicking#106631
“Worst of all from this point of view are those more uncivilized forms of eating, like licking an ice cream cone--a catlike activity that has been made acceptable in informal America but that still offends those who know eating in public is offensive. ... Eating on the street--even when undertaken, say, because one is between appointments and has no other time to eat--displays [a] lack of self-control: It beckons enslavement to the belly. ... Lacking utensils for cutting and lifting to mouth, he will often be seen using his teeth for tearing off chewable portions, just like any animal. ... This doglike feeding, if one must engage in it, ought to be kept from public view, where, even if we feel no shame, others are compelled to witness our shameful behavior.”
***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 few, the brave, who stood up to the Bush gang over torture
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/21/AR2008052102668.html
Five years ago, as troubling reports emerged about the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a career lawyer at the Justice Department began a long and relatively lonely campaign to alert top Bush administration officials to a strategy he considered "wrongheaded."
Bruce C. Swartz, a criminal division deputy in charge of international issues, repeatedly questioned the effectiveness of harsh interrogation tactics at White House meetings of a special group formed to decide detainee matters, with representatives present from the Pentagon, the State Department and the CIA.
Swartz warned that the abuse of Guantanamo inmates would do "grave damage" to the country's reputation and to its law enforcement record . . .
Swartz was joined by a handful of other top Justice and FBI officials who said the abuse would almost certainly taint any legal proceedings against the detainees.
Now their predictions appear to be coming true. . . .
More: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/todays_must_read_343.php
Karl Rove gets a subpoena
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/house_judiciary_committee_subp.php
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/22/144523/081
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15631.html
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/05/22/roves-subpoena/
More to come: http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/justice_department_watchdog_co.php
In conjunction with issuing the subpoena to Rove, the committee released a letter from the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility confirming that it has launched an investigation of "allegations of selective prosecution relating to the prosecutions of Don Siegelman, Georgia Thompson, and Oliver Diaz and Paul Minor.
http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/5/22/213836/684
Former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman filed a 99 page appeal brief today. . [read on]
Former Rove protégé and US Attorney hack gets assigned as chief oppo researcher for the RNC. Isn’t this proof of the kind of people who were being put into US Attorney posts in place of career professionals?
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/196459.php
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/republican_national_committee.php
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15625.html
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/unleashing-hell-by-digby-so-i-hear-that.html
GI Bill passes, McCain AWOL
http://www.eschatonblog.com/2008_05_18_archive.html#839547295686378989
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15628.html
http://www.americablog.com/2008/05/vote-on-webbs-gi-bill-today-will-show.html
Obama criticizes McCain, who then has a real meltdown
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/22/172711/919
“I respect sen. John McCain's service to our country. He is one of those heroes of which I speak. But I can't understand why he would line up behind the President in his opposition to this GI bill.”
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/mccain_questions_obamas_lack_o.php
“I take a backseat to no one in my affection, respect and devotion to veterans. And I will not accept from Senator Obama, who did not feel it was his responsibility to serve our country in uniform, any lectures on my regard for those who did.”
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/obama_hits_mccain_for_schoolya.php
"I am proud to stand with Senator Webb and a bipartisan coalition to give our veterans the support and opportunity they deserve. It's disappointing that Senator McCain and his campaign used this issue to launch yet another lengthy personal, political attack instead of debating an honest policy difference. He should know that this is not about John McCain or Barack Obama -- it's about giving our veterans a real chance to afford four years of college without harming retention. Senator Webb's bipartisan bill will do this, and the bill that John McCain supports would not. These endless diatribes and schoolyard taunts from the McCain campaign do nothing to advance the debate about what matters to the American people."
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/22/172711/919
"It is typical, but no less offensive that Senator Obama uses the Senate floor to take cheap shots at an opponent and easy advantage of an issue he has less than zero understanding of. . . .” [read on]
The news media starts to pay attention to the Charlie Black story
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/21/AR2008052103006.html
Longtime uber-lobbyist Charles R. Black Jr. is John McCain's man in Washington, a political maestro who is hoping to guide his friend, the senator from Arizona, to the presidency this November.
But for half a decade in the 1980s, Black was also Jonas Savimbi's man in the capital city. His lobbying firm received millions from the brutal Angolan guerrilla leader and took advantage of Black's contacts in Congress and the White House. . . .
In addition to Savimbi, Black and his partners were at times registered foreign agents for a remarkable collection of U.S.-backed foreign leaders whose human rights records were sometimes harshly criticized, even as their opposition to communism was embraced by American conservatives. They included Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire, Nigerian Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre, and the countries of Kenya and Equatorial Guinea, among others. . . .
The NRO tries a very lame “Obama has lobbyists working for him too” story
http://campaignspot.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZTQ3MzcxNmE5MDUwNTM0Njk2ZTI4MDk0MTc5M2I0ZTA
Daniel Shapiro, one of Obama's foreign policy advisers . . . counts some of America's biggest corporate names among his clients, including beermaker Anheuser-Busch, carmaker Daimler Chrysler, the American Petroleum Institute and Freddie Mac. . . .
Three political aides on Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) payroll were registered lobbyists for dozens of corporations, including Wal-Mart, British Petroleum and Lockheed Martin . . .
[NB: See? Just like Zavimbi and Marcos]
McCain to release his medical records . . . well, kinda sorta
http://www.americablog.com/2008/05/why-john-mccain-will-only-release-his.html
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/22/122053/300
* only a small, select group of reporters will have access to the records in a secure room in Phoenix, AZ
* access is limited to only three hours, between 7 and 10 AM on Friday
* no copying of the records is permitted
McCain on gay marriage and civil unions – he STILL can’t keep his story straight
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15627.html
http://cliffschecter.firedoglake.com/2008/05/22/mccains-rhetoric-on-ellen-degeneres-does-not-match-his-record/
McCain is finally shamed into disavowing John Hagee. Okay, now onto the next religious wacko who’s endorsing him
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/196545.php
[Josh Marshall] As you can see, Sen. McCain has now definitively "rejected" John Hagee's endorsement. Yesterday's story about Hagee's suggesting that God used Hitler to facilitate the departure of the Jews (sort of a gentle word) from Europe, broken by Huffpo, was I guess the final straw. . . .
http://www.americablog.com/2008/05/another-mccain-pastor-islam-is.html
Despite his call for the U.S. to win the "hearts and minds of the Islamic world," Sen. John McCain recruited the support of an evangelical minister who describes Islam as "anti-Christ" and Mohammed as "the mouthpiece of a conspiracy of spiritual evil." . . .
McCain sought the support of Pastor Rod Parsley of the World Harvest Church of Columbus, Ohio . . . At a campaign appearance in Cincinnati, McCain introduced Parsley as "one of the truly great leaders in America, a moral compass, a spiritual guide."...
"America was founded with the intention of seeing this false religion destroyed," Parsley says . . .
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15629.html
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_05/013768.php
More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/mccain-rejects-hagee-endorsement.html
Parsley dumped too? http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/196594.php
Republican insiders express real concerns about the McCain campaign
http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/05/22/mccain/index.html
McCain has been battered in recent weeks. He has lost five staffers, and his image as an enemy of special interests took a beating when it was revealed that a handful of his top campaign aides had lobbying ties, including some with connections to the Burmese government. McCain has issued new conflict of interest guidelines for his staffers to try to stave off future problems. McCain's campaign also trailed both Democratic candidates' in fundraising in April; he brought in $17.8 million to Obama's $30.7 million. McCain's campaign sputtered last summer after he raised only $11 million in the second quarter of 2007 and two top aides resigned. . . .
The Clinton team’s last-ditch battle to save their campaign – the Michigan/Florida fight – seems to have alienated even many of her defenders
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/196378.php
[Josh Marshall] For the last week it's seemed that Sens. Clinton and Obama were adhering to their tacit truce, continuing the primary campaign but avoiding the harsh exchanges that make later party unity a dimmer and dimmer prospect. Clinton particularly had deescalated her rhetoric. Then we have a speech like Sen. Clinton's yesterday in Florida in which she compared the controversy over seating the Florida and Michigan delegates to the Florida recount debacle and many of the great voting and civil rights battles of the 20th century. She is of course also claiming that whatever the delegate count, she leads in the popular vote and that that is what really counts. Never mind of course that even if you count Michigan and Florida she's still not ahead in the popular vote without resorting to tendentious methods of counting.
I've always assumed, as I think most people have, that once the nomination is settled the Florida and Michigan delegates will be seated. And I can see if Sen. Clinton wants to embrace this issue to claim a moral victory even while coming short of her goal of the nomination. As things currently stand, seating them would still leave Sen. Clinton behind in delegates.
But Sen. Clinton is doing much more than this. She is embarking on a gambit that is uncertain in its result and simply breathtaking in its cynicism. . . . [read on]
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15621.html
[Steve Benen] I've defended Clinton, more than once, when people said she was putting her own interests above those of the party and the nation. But after seeing her tactics yesterday, I'm done defending Hillary Clinton. I'm 35, and have been following politics for quite a while, and I've never been so disappointed with a politician I've admired and respected. Yesterday's tactics weren't just wrong, they were offensive.
More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/22/131237/105
http://www.americablog.com/2008/05/its-official-everybody-hates-her.html
“The Nuclear Option”? http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/196455.php
“Desperation”? http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/top_hillary_supporter_says_she.php
http://liberalvaluesblog.com/?p=3298
Will unifying the party be possible after the Clinton/Obama fight? Some encouraging signs
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/22/12239/7807
Bonus item: From Leon Kass, Bush’s “ethics” specialist
http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/tapped_archive?month=05&year=2008&base_name=stop_the_conelicking#106631
“Worst of all from this point of view are those more uncivilized forms of eating, like licking an ice cream cone--a catlike activity that has been made acceptable in informal America but that still offends those who know eating in public is offensive. ... Eating on the street--even when undertaken, say, because one is between appointments and has no other time to eat--displays [a] lack of self-control: It beckons enslavement to the belly. ... Lacking utensils for cutting and lifting to mouth, he will often be seen using his teeth for tearing off chewable portions, just like any animal. ... This doglike feeding, if one must engage in it, ought to be kept from public view, where, even if we feel no shame, others are compelled to witness our shameful behavior.”
***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.***
Thursday, May 22, 2008
BROKEN PROMISES
Aren’t you proud?
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4894921
U.S. military personnel at Guantanamo Bay allegedly softened up detainees at the request of Chinese intelligence officials who had come to the island facility to interrogate the men -- or they allowed the Chinese to dole out the treatment themselves, according to claims in a new government report. . . .
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/todays_must_read_342.php
[David Kurtz] The focus of the news coverage of the report released yesterday by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine has been on what involvement the FBI had, if any, in the "enhanced interrogations" undertaken by the Bush Administration -- and to a lesser extent how the FBI's concerns were ignored at the highest levels of government. . . .
But as you dig down into the 370-page report, it's most revealing for what it shows the U.S. government was actually doing to detainees. Because of the limited jurisdiction of the DOJ inspector general, the report was focused on the FBI. But in establishing the environment in which the FBI was operating, the report paints a picture of ghastly treatment of detainees by the United States on a consistent long-term basis. . . [read on]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/05/21/BL2008052100638.html
[Dan Froomkin] Top White House officials waved off early warnings from the FBI that interrogation tactics being used on detainees might be illegal, according to a new report from the Justice Department's inspector general. . . .
Gitmo forever!
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/stuck-by-dday-bob-gates-says-were-stuck.html
The fight over FISA “exclusivity” – and why it matters
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/05/20/fisa-update-and-why-is-john-boehner-crying-again/
More: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/05/21/the-yoo-exclusivity-opinion-more-outrageous-hackery/
You can always count on Bush’s EPA for jaw-dropping chutzpah
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/todays_must_read_341.php
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/johnsons_stonewalling_drives_w.php
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/05/20/did-george-bush-break-the-clean-air-act/
Will the Senate act? http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/senate_one_step_closer_to_reve.php
The Siegelman case: bigger than Watergate?
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/20/10452/1368
Obama and McCain go after it hammer and tong
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/05/21/1050316.aspx
"Senator Obama has consistently offered his judgment on Iraq, and he has been consistently wrong. . . .”
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0508/McCain_goes_after_Obamas_judgment_on_the_war.html
“While I always appreciate hearing the news from John McCain, he should explain to the American people why almost every single promise and prediction that he has made about Iraq has turned to be catastrophically wrong, including his support for a surge that was supposed to achieve political reconciliation. While John McCain offers his poor judgment in supporting George Bush's war and a failed foreign policy that has left us less secure, I will continue to make the case for a new foreign policy that deploys all elements of American power - including tough, principled and direct diplomacy. It's stunning that in such a lengthy written statement, John McCain could not articulate a single new idea that hasn't been tried - and failed - over the last eight years.”
Obama starts translating “Change” into details
http://www.needlenose.com/node/view/4685
John McCain is one cynical politician, isn’t he?
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/mccain_i_can_demagogue_about_i.php
McCain’s ongoing Hagee problem
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_05/013765.php
[Kevin Drum] According to pastor John Hagee, whose endorsement John McCain says he's glad to have, the Holocaust was God's way of punishing European Jews for not emigrating to Israel quickly enough and Hitler was His divine instrument for getting this done. Charming . . .
More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/21/mccain-backer-hagee-said_n_102892.html
The GOP style of campaigning – has it become a parody of itself?
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/196023.php
Dumb, dumb, dumb
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080522/ap_on_go_co/bush_farm_bill
The House overwhelmingly rejected President Bush's veto Wednesday of a $290 billion farm bill, but what should have been a stinging defeat for the president became an embarrassment for Democrats.
Only hours before the House's 316-108 vote, Bush had vetoed the five-year measure, saying it was too expensive and gave too much money to wealthy farmers when farm incomes are high. The Senate then was expected to follow suit quickly.
Action stalled, however, after the discovery that Congress had omitted a 34-page section of the bill when lawmakers sent the massive measure to the White House.
That means Bush vetoed a different bill from the one Congress passed, raising questions that the eventual law would be unconstitutional. Republicans objected when Democrats proposed passing the missing section separately and sending that to Bush.
In order to avoid those potential problems, House Democrats hoped to pass the entire bill, again, on Thursday under expedited rules usually reserved for unopposed legislation. The Senate was expected to follow suit. The correct version would then be sent to Bush under a new bill number for another expected veto. . . .
Looking ahead to the 2010 Senate races: a filibuster-proof majority?
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/20/12501/2123
Chuck Hagel, our favorite Republican
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/20/chuck-hagel-takes-on-mcca_n_102775.html
More: http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/05/hagel_muses_about_impeachment.php
Joe Lieberman, their favorite Democrat
http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/05/21/lieberman/index.html
More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/21/165150/857
http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB121132806884008847.html
Clinton’s loss: is it because of sexism?
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/you-can-believe-us-by-digby.html
More: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/19/us/politics/19women.html
Oh, come on!
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/05/21/politics/fromtheroad/entry4116567.shtml
Desperate to get attention for her cause to seat Florida and Michigan delegates, Hillary Clinton compared the plight of Zimbabweans in their recent fraudulent election to the uncounted votes of Michigan and Florida voters saying it is wrong when “people go through the motions of an election only to have them discarded and disregarded.” . . .
More: http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archive/2008/05/21/clinton-s-shocking-florida-gambit.aspx
Clinton’s campaign chair, May 8
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/mcauliffe_this_race_wont_go_to.php
McAuliffe: This Race Won't Go To The Convention. . . .
Clinton yesterday
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/hillary_i_will_take_fight_over.php
Hillary: I Might Take Fight Over Florida And Michigan To Convention!
Now, I assume this is all Clinton campaign kabuki to ramp up the pressure on the DNC in advance of their May 31 meeting – here’s what to expect
http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/5/21/172330/705
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/21/164646/957/812/519910
http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/5/21/224644/084
Still movin’ them goalposts
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/196122.php
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15610.html
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/21/103836/968
***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.***
Aren’t you proud?
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4894921
U.S. military personnel at Guantanamo Bay allegedly softened up detainees at the request of Chinese intelligence officials who had come to the island facility to interrogate the men -- or they allowed the Chinese to dole out the treatment themselves, according to claims in a new government report. . . .
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/todays_must_read_342.php
[David Kurtz] The focus of the news coverage of the report released yesterday by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine has been on what involvement the FBI had, if any, in the "enhanced interrogations" undertaken by the Bush Administration -- and to a lesser extent how the FBI's concerns were ignored at the highest levels of government. . . .
But as you dig down into the 370-page report, it's most revealing for what it shows the U.S. government was actually doing to detainees. Because of the limited jurisdiction of the DOJ inspector general, the report was focused on the FBI. But in establishing the environment in which the FBI was operating, the report paints a picture of ghastly treatment of detainees by the United States on a consistent long-term basis. . . [read on]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/05/21/BL2008052100638.html
[Dan Froomkin] Top White House officials waved off early warnings from the FBI that interrogation tactics being used on detainees might be illegal, according to a new report from the Justice Department's inspector general. . . .
Gitmo forever!
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/stuck-by-dday-bob-gates-says-were-stuck.html
The fight over FISA “exclusivity” – and why it matters
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/05/20/fisa-update-and-why-is-john-boehner-crying-again/
More: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/05/21/the-yoo-exclusivity-opinion-more-outrageous-hackery/
You can always count on Bush’s EPA for jaw-dropping chutzpah
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/todays_must_read_341.php
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/johnsons_stonewalling_drives_w.php
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/05/20/did-george-bush-break-the-clean-air-act/
Will the Senate act? http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/senate_one_step_closer_to_reve.php
The Siegelman case: bigger than Watergate?
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/20/10452/1368
Obama and McCain go after it hammer and tong
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/05/21/1050316.aspx
"Senator Obama has consistently offered his judgment on Iraq, and he has been consistently wrong. . . .”
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0508/McCain_goes_after_Obamas_judgment_on_the_war.html
“While I always appreciate hearing the news from John McCain, he should explain to the American people why almost every single promise and prediction that he has made about Iraq has turned to be catastrophically wrong, including his support for a surge that was supposed to achieve political reconciliation. While John McCain offers his poor judgment in supporting George Bush's war and a failed foreign policy that has left us less secure, I will continue to make the case for a new foreign policy that deploys all elements of American power - including tough, principled and direct diplomacy. It's stunning that in such a lengthy written statement, John McCain could not articulate a single new idea that hasn't been tried - and failed - over the last eight years.”
Obama starts translating “Change” into details
http://www.needlenose.com/node/view/4685
John McCain is one cynical politician, isn’t he?
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/mccain_i_can_demagogue_about_i.php
McCain’s ongoing Hagee problem
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_05/013765.php
[Kevin Drum] According to pastor John Hagee, whose endorsement John McCain says he's glad to have, the Holocaust was God's way of punishing European Jews for not emigrating to Israel quickly enough and Hitler was His divine instrument for getting this done. Charming . . .
More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/21/mccain-backer-hagee-said_n_102892.html
The GOP style of campaigning – has it become a parody of itself?
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/196023.php
Dumb, dumb, dumb
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080522/ap_on_go_co/bush_farm_bill
The House overwhelmingly rejected President Bush's veto Wednesday of a $290 billion farm bill, but what should have been a stinging defeat for the president became an embarrassment for Democrats.
Only hours before the House's 316-108 vote, Bush had vetoed the five-year measure, saying it was too expensive and gave too much money to wealthy farmers when farm incomes are high. The Senate then was expected to follow suit quickly.
Action stalled, however, after the discovery that Congress had omitted a 34-page section of the bill when lawmakers sent the massive measure to the White House.
That means Bush vetoed a different bill from the one Congress passed, raising questions that the eventual law would be unconstitutional. Republicans objected when Democrats proposed passing the missing section separately and sending that to Bush.
In order to avoid those potential problems, House Democrats hoped to pass the entire bill, again, on Thursday under expedited rules usually reserved for unopposed legislation. The Senate was expected to follow suit. The correct version would then be sent to Bush under a new bill number for another expected veto. . . .
Looking ahead to the 2010 Senate races: a filibuster-proof majority?
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/20/12501/2123
Chuck Hagel, our favorite Republican
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/20/chuck-hagel-takes-on-mcca_n_102775.html
More: http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/05/hagel_muses_about_impeachment.php
Joe Lieberman, their favorite Democrat
http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/05/21/lieberman/index.html
More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/21/165150/857
http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB121132806884008847.html
Clinton’s loss: is it because of sexism?
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/you-can-believe-us-by-digby.html
More: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/19/us/politics/19women.html
Oh, come on!
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/05/21/politics/fromtheroad/entry4116567.shtml
Desperate to get attention for her cause to seat Florida and Michigan delegates, Hillary Clinton compared the plight of Zimbabweans in their recent fraudulent election to the uncounted votes of Michigan and Florida voters saying it is wrong when “people go through the motions of an election only to have them discarded and disregarded.” . . .
More: http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archive/2008/05/21/clinton-s-shocking-florida-gambit.aspx
Clinton’s campaign chair, May 8
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/mcauliffe_this_race_wont_go_to.php
McAuliffe: This Race Won't Go To The Convention. . . .
Clinton yesterday
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/hillary_i_will_take_fight_over.php
Hillary: I Might Take Fight Over Florida And Michigan To Convention!
Now, I assume this is all Clinton campaign kabuki to ramp up the pressure on the DNC in advance of their May 31 meeting – here’s what to expect
http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/5/21/172330/705
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/21/164646/957/812/519910
http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/5/21/224644/084
Still movin’ them goalposts
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/196122.php
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15610.html
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/21/103836/968
***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.***
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
FALSE COMPARISONS
McCain tries to gin up a totally phony and ridiculous controversy with Obama over whether Iran is a bigger threat today than the Soviet Union was during the Cold War
http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/2008/05/mccain-challeng.html
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/mccain_hits_obamas_inexperienc.php
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/obama_responds_to_mccain_stron.php
[Obama] "Here's the truth: the Soviet Union had thousands of nuclear weapons, and Iran doesn't have a single one. But when the world was on the brink of nuclear holocaust, Kennedy talked to Khrushchev and he got those missiles out of Cuba. Why shouldn't we have the same courage and the confidence to talk to our enemies? That's what strong countries do, that's what strong presidents do, that's what I'll do when I'm president of the United States of America." . . .
"What are George Bush and John McCain afraid of"?
More: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15589.html
Are the Dems finally figuring out how to argue with the Republicans about foreign policy?
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15588.html
Hey, Obama met with an imam in Michigan – more proof that he’s a terrorist-loving, America-hating, secret Muslim agent. He. . . . wait . . . . oh . . . . well . . . never mind
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/19/143249/347
Tennessee GOP targets Obama through his wife
http://www.americablog.com/2008/05/were-to-believe-that-mccain-and-rnc-can.html
Obama responds: http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/obama_gop_should_lay_off_my_wi.php
But just remember, OBAMA is the “elitist”
http://www.americablog.com/2008/05/elitist_5260.html
A man who can't remember if he has eight homes or nine. . . . .
More: http://www.americablog.com/2008/05/elitist.html
McCain’s lobbyist troubles are just going to get worse
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/05/19/you-cant-clean-the-stench-out-of-the-straight-talk-for-lobbyists-express/
http://www.americablog.com/2008/05/mccain-senior-adviser-charlie-black.html
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/19/9551/42961
http://www.needlenose.com/node/view/4684
http://firedoglake.com/2008/05/19/mccain-pushes-free-trade-deal-supported-by-campaign-aidelobbyist-for-foreign-government/
http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/05/mccain_and_the_lobbyists_part_1.php
Look at the last twelve postings on McCain’s web site
http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=5879
McCain’s Social Security problem
http://www.americablog.com/2008/05/obama-calls-out-mccain-on-social.html
McCain’s campaign money troubles continue
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/19/us/politics/19donate.html
Senator John McCain, whose fund-raising has badly trailed that of his Democratic counterparts, is leaning on the Republican National Committee. Mr. McCain’s efforts to raise money suffered a blow this weekend when a key fund-raiser, Tom Loeffler, resigned because of a new campaign policy on conflicts of interest.
Mr. McCain is likely to depend upon the party, which finished April with an impressive $40 million in the bank and has significantly higher contribution limits, to an unprecedented degree to power his campaign, Republican officials said.
To that end, Republican officials said they were enlisting President Bush, a formidable fund-raiser who has raised more than $36 million this year for Republican candidates and committees, for three events on Mr. McCain’s behalf. They will appear together at a fund-raiser in Phoenix on May 27, and the next day the president will take part in a luncheon with Mitt Romney in Salt Lake City and then an exclusive dinner at Mr. Romney’s vacation home in Park City, Utah. . . .
More: http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/5/20/02533/6148
But the GOP is strapped for money too
http://firedoglake.com/2008/05/19/republicans-hemorrhaging-money-for-fall-elections/
[USAT] The number of Republicans leaving Congress will cost the GOP millions of dollars in party-building funds for the fall congressional elections, campaign-finance records show.
Of the 32 Republicans who have resigned or announced plans to retire, 26 have political action committees known as leadership PACs — which members of Congress typically use to make donations to colleagues facing tough campaigns. Those 26 PACs raised $17 million in the last campaign cycle, but only $5.3 million for this election, a USA TODAY analysis of the latest campaign reports filed in March and April shows.
More bad news for the Republicans in the Fall
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/19/14263/4526
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/19/121117/846
Assault on FOIA: Bush invents a whole new category for keeping government information secret
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/todays_must_read_340.php
How the FBI tried to keep its distance from interrogation methods it knew were illegal and wrong
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/ap_report_on_fbi_role_in_inter.php
More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/main-core-by-digby-i-have-heard-some.html
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/05/19/main-core/
Arrest ‘em all and sort it out later
http://www.slate.com/id/2191781
[Daniel Politi] USAT emphasizes that simply because the U.S. military acknowledges that the vast majority of Iraqi detainees aren't part of an extremist group it doesn't mean commanders are "suggesting that U.S. forces captured innocent men." But it's difficult to reach any other conclusion when defense experts point out that it's not easy to separate who might be an enemy in Afghanistan and Iraq. "[T]he reality of those wars is we don't really know who we're holding," one defense analyst tells the paper.
Bush’s thugs at HUD
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/hud.
[David Kurtz] We've documented Alphonso Jackson's tenure at HUD pretty thoroughly here: the cronyism, the politicization, the stonewalling of congressional investigators.
But let's not forget retaliation as a tool to further those ends. . .
Bush’s EPA, no better
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/19/AR2008051902337.html
Oooh, snippy, aren’t we?
http://www.first-draft.com/2008/05/today-on-hold-4.html
Q The White House has denied that it knew about the Pentagon program that used TV military analysts --
MR. STANZEL: We've been through this before. Do you have a question?
Q Yes. There's something new. Last week emails surfaced that showed that Pentagon officials, including Donald Rumsfeld, communicated with White House officials, including Karl Rove and Stephen Hadley, about the program. One email written by a Pentagon official mentioned that Rove was approached about arranging a meeting between the military analysts and the President --
MR. STANZEL: Your question is?
Q My question is, what was the nature and extent of the involvement of Karl Rove, Stephen Hadley and President Bush in the military analyst program?
MR. STANZEL: Well, the idea that people in the administration would brief people who are talking to reporters about our programs and our policies doesn't seem like to be that far-fetched of an idea to me. So in terms of the emails, I haven't been monitoring the staff emails here, so I can't tell you what their conversations were like. But it's not unusual for administration officials to brief people who are talking about our plans and our policies. Much like I'm standing here today, briefing all of you --
Q Right, and why was the program kept secret?
MR. STANZEL: -- and much like I'm standing here answering your question, and you go out on your liberal blog and talk about the way that you see things; we brief people who talk about the President's policies.
Q Why was the program kept secret?
MR. STANZEL: You can talk to the Defense Department. It was their program -- which they've discontinued.
Q Who was in charge at the White House?
Myths of the “white working class”
http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=5880
[Mike Lux] Some people who agree with me on the need to appeal to these kinds of voters believe that we have to move to the right to win them over. I don't believe that is true. . . .
Clinton’s people launch a pre-emptive strike
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/hillary_camp_obamas_plan_to_de.php
“Senator Obama's plan to declare himself the Democratic nominee tomorrow night in Iowa is a slap in the face to the millions of voters in the remaining primary states and to Senator Clinton's 17 million supporters.”
One little problem: http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/obama_wont_declare_victory_tom.php
Although Barack Obama could end up with a majority of the pledged delegates after tomorrow's voting in Kentucky and Oregon, Obama himself declared yesterday in Oregon that this "does not mean we declare victory." . . .
More: http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/05/clinton_camp_on_obamas_slap_in.php
http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/5/19/13470/8527
Remember the words of Rahm Emanuel
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/19/15746/2175
“The way the loser loses will determine whether the winner wins in November.”
Geraldine Ferraro, still making trouble
http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/05/sorry_sweetie_geraldine_ferrar.php
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/19/143937/115
With friends like this . . .
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/19/superdelegates-turned-dow_n_102450.html
One of Sen. Hillary Clinton's top financial supporters offered $1 million to the Young Democrats of America during a phone conversation in which he also pressed for the organization's two uncommitted superdelegates to endorse the New York Democrat, a high-ranking official with YDA told The Huffington Post.
Haim Saban, the billionaire entertainment magnate and longtime Clinton supporter, denied the allegation. But four independent sources said that just before the North Carolina and Indiana primaries, Saban called YDA President David Hardt and offered what was perceived as a lucrative proposal: $1 million would be made available for the group if Hardt and the organization's other uncommitted superdelegate backed Clinton. . . .
Escape from “Hillaryland”
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/former_hillary_campaign_manage.php
Patti Solis Doyle, one of the closest of Hillary confidantes, is informally discussing the possibility of working for Obama in the general election. Already.
That the woman who actually coined the expression "Hillaryland" would be discussing this at this juncture -- when the official position of the Hillary campaign is that this thing is far from over -- is pretty striking. . .
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/19/14121/6952/292/518380
[Kos] I'd love to see Clinton's group of Latino staffers and experts transition over to the Obama team. That crew was pretty darn good.
More: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15591.html
Another Clinton post-mortem
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/20/us/politics/20nagourney.html
Bill Kristol’s waste of space in the NYT
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/05/19/kristol/index.html
More: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15590.html
http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2008/05/kristol-wrong-again.html
Bonus item: the kind of people they ARE
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/19/135621/485
Georgia Republican Party chairwoman Sue Everhart said Saturday that the party's presumed presidential nominee has a lot in common with Jesus Christ.
"John McCain is kind of like Jesus Christ on the cross," Everhart said as she began the second day of the state GOP convention. "He never denounced God, either."
More: http://firedoglake.com/2008/05/19/monday-late-nite-mccain-316/
***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.***
McCain tries to gin up a totally phony and ridiculous controversy with Obama over whether Iran is a bigger threat today than the Soviet Union was during the Cold War
http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/2008/05/mccain-challeng.html
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/mccain_hits_obamas_inexperienc.php
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/obama_responds_to_mccain_stron.php
[Obama] "Here's the truth: the Soviet Union had thousands of nuclear weapons, and Iran doesn't have a single one. But when the world was on the brink of nuclear holocaust, Kennedy talked to Khrushchev and he got those missiles out of Cuba. Why shouldn't we have the same courage and the confidence to talk to our enemies? That's what strong countries do, that's what strong presidents do, that's what I'll do when I'm president of the United States of America." . . .
"What are George Bush and John McCain afraid of"?
More: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15589.html
Are the Dems finally figuring out how to argue with the Republicans about foreign policy?
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15588.html
Hey, Obama met with an imam in Michigan – more proof that he’s a terrorist-loving, America-hating, secret Muslim agent. He. . . . wait . . . . oh . . . . well . . . never mindhttp://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/19/143249/347
Tennessee GOP targets Obama through his wife
http://www.americablog.com/2008/05/were-to-believe-that-mccain-and-rnc-can.html
Obama responds: http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/obama_gop_should_lay_off_my_wi.php
But just remember, OBAMA is the “elitist”
http://www.americablog.com/2008/05/elitist_5260.html
A man who can't remember if he has eight homes or nine. . . . .
More: http://www.americablog.com/2008/05/elitist.html
McCain’s lobbyist troubles are just going to get worse
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/05/19/you-cant-clean-the-stench-out-of-the-straight-talk-for-lobbyists-express/
http://www.americablog.com/2008/05/mccain-senior-adviser-charlie-black.html
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/19/9551/42961
http://www.needlenose.com/node/view/4684
http://firedoglake.com/2008/05/19/mccain-pushes-free-trade-deal-supported-by-campaign-aidelobbyist-for-foreign-government/
http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/05/mccain_and_the_lobbyists_part_1.php
Look at the last twelve postings on McCain’s web site
http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=5879
McCain’s Social Security problem
http://www.americablog.com/2008/05/obama-calls-out-mccain-on-social.html
McCain’s campaign money troubles continue
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/19/us/politics/19donate.html
Senator John McCain, whose fund-raising has badly trailed that of his Democratic counterparts, is leaning on the Republican National Committee. Mr. McCain’s efforts to raise money suffered a blow this weekend when a key fund-raiser, Tom Loeffler, resigned because of a new campaign policy on conflicts of interest.
Mr. McCain is likely to depend upon the party, which finished April with an impressive $40 million in the bank and has significantly higher contribution limits, to an unprecedented degree to power his campaign, Republican officials said.
To that end, Republican officials said they were enlisting President Bush, a formidable fund-raiser who has raised more than $36 million this year for Republican candidates and committees, for three events on Mr. McCain’s behalf. They will appear together at a fund-raiser in Phoenix on May 27, and the next day the president will take part in a luncheon with Mitt Romney in Salt Lake City and then an exclusive dinner at Mr. Romney’s vacation home in Park City, Utah. . . .
More: http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/5/20/02533/6148
But the GOP is strapped for money too
http://firedoglake.com/2008/05/19/republicans-hemorrhaging-money-for-fall-elections/
[USAT] The number of Republicans leaving Congress will cost the GOP millions of dollars in party-building funds for the fall congressional elections, campaign-finance records show.
Of the 32 Republicans who have resigned or announced plans to retire, 26 have political action committees known as leadership PACs — which members of Congress typically use to make donations to colleagues facing tough campaigns. Those 26 PACs raised $17 million in the last campaign cycle, but only $5.3 million for this election, a USA TODAY analysis of the latest campaign reports filed in March and April shows.
More bad news for the Republicans in the Fall
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/19/14263/4526
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/19/121117/846
Assault on FOIA: Bush invents a whole new category for keeping government information secret
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/todays_must_read_340.php
How the FBI tried to keep its distance from interrogation methods it knew were illegal and wrong
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/ap_report_on_fbi_role_in_inter.php
More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/main-core-by-digby-i-have-heard-some.html
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/05/19/main-core/
Arrest ‘em all and sort it out later
http://www.slate.com/id/2191781
[Daniel Politi] USAT emphasizes that simply because the U.S. military acknowledges that the vast majority of Iraqi detainees aren't part of an extremist group it doesn't mean commanders are "suggesting that U.S. forces captured innocent men." But it's difficult to reach any other conclusion when defense experts point out that it's not easy to separate who might be an enemy in Afghanistan and Iraq. "[T]he reality of those wars is we don't really know who we're holding," one defense analyst tells the paper.
Bush’s thugs at HUD
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/hud.
[David Kurtz] We've documented Alphonso Jackson's tenure at HUD pretty thoroughly here: the cronyism, the politicization, the stonewalling of congressional investigators.
But let's not forget retaliation as a tool to further those ends. . .
Bush’s EPA, no better
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/19/AR2008051902337.html
Oooh, snippy, aren’t we?
http://www.first-draft.com/2008/05/today-on-hold-4.html
Q The White House has denied that it knew about the Pentagon program that used TV military analysts --
MR. STANZEL: We've been through this before. Do you have a question?
Q Yes. There's something new. Last week emails surfaced that showed that Pentagon officials, including Donald Rumsfeld, communicated with White House officials, including Karl Rove and Stephen Hadley, about the program. One email written by a Pentagon official mentioned that Rove was approached about arranging a meeting between the military analysts and the President --
MR. STANZEL: Your question is?
Q My question is, what was the nature and extent of the involvement of Karl Rove, Stephen Hadley and President Bush in the military analyst program?
MR. STANZEL: Well, the idea that people in the administration would brief people who are talking to reporters about our programs and our policies doesn't seem like to be that far-fetched of an idea to me. So in terms of the emails, I haven't been monitoring the staff emails here, so I can't tell you what their conversations were like. But it's not unusual for administration officials to brief people who are talking about our plans and our policies. Much like I'm standing here today, briefing all of you --
Q Right, and why was the program kept secret?
MR. STANZEL: -- and much like I'm standing here answering your question, and you go out on your liberal blog and talk about the way that you see things; we brief people who talk about the President's policies.
Q Why was the program kept secret?
MR. STANZEL: You can talk to the Defense Department. It was their program -- which they've discontinued.
Q Who was in charge at the White House?
Myths of the “white working class”
http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=5880
[Mike Lux] Some people who agree with me on the need to appeal to these kinds of voters believe that we have to move to the right to win them over. I don't believe that is true. . . .
Clinton’s people launch a pre-emptive strike
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/hillary_camp_obamas_plan_to_de.php
“Senator Obama's plan to declare himself the Democratic nominee tomorrow night in Iowa is a slap in the face to the millions of voters in the remaining primary states and to Senator Clinton's 17 million supporters.”
One little problem: http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/obama_wont_declare_victory_tom.php
Although Barack Obama could end up with a majority of the pledged delegates after tomorrow's voting in Kentucky and Oregon, Obama himself declared yesterday in Oregon that this "does not mean we declare victory." . . .
More: http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/05/clinton_camp_on_obamas_slap_in.php
http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/5/19/13470/8527
Remember the words of Rahm Emanuel
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/19/15746/2175
“The way the loser loses will determine whether the winner wins in November.”
Geraldine Ferraro, still making trouble
http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/05/sorry_sweetie_geraldine_ferrar.php
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/19/143937/115
With friends like this . . .
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/19/superdelegates-turned-dow_n_102450.html
One of Sen. Hillary Clinton's top financial supporters offered $1 million to the Young Democrats of America during a phone conversation in which he also pressed for the organization's two uncommitted superdelegates to endorse the New York Democrat, a high-ranking official with YDA told The Huffington Post.
Haim Saban, the billionaire entertainment magnate and longtime Clinton supporter, denied the allegation. But four independent sources said that just before the North Carolina and Indiana primaries, Saban called YDA President David Hardt and offered what was perceived as a lucrative proposal: $1 million would be made available for the group if Hardt and the organization's other uncommitted superdelegate backed Clinton. . . .
Escape from “Hillaryland”
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/former_hillary_campaign_manage.php
Patti Solis Doyle, one of the closest of Hillary confidantes, is informally discussing the possibility of working for Obama in the general election. Already.
That the woman who actually coined the expression "Hillaryland" would be discussing this at this juncture -- when the official position of the Hillary campaign is that this thing is far from over -- is pretty striking. . .
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/19/14121/6952/292/518380
[Kos] I'd love to see Clinton's group of Latino staffers and experts transition over to the Obama team. That crew was pretty darn good.
More: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15591.html
Another Clinton post-mortem
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/20/us/politics/20nagourney.html
Bill Kristol’s waste of space in the NYT
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/05/19/kristol/index.html
More: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15590.html
http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2008/05/kristol-wrong-again.html
Bonus item: the kind of people they ARE
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/19/135621/485
Georgia Republican Party chairwoman Sue Everhart said Saturday that the party's presumed presidential nominee has a lot in common with Jesus Christ.
"John McCain is kind of like Jesus Christ on the cross," Everhart said as she began the second day of the state GOP convention. "He never denounced God, either."
More: http://firedoglake.com/2008/05/19/monday-late-nite-mccain-316/
***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.***
Monday, May 19, 2008
72,000http://blog.oregonlive.com/breakingnews/2008/05/obamamayvisit.html
Tens of thousands jammed Gov. Tom McCall Waterfront Park in Portland today to watch Barack Obama wrap up a busy weekend in Oregon and a historic campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.
The Portland Fire Bureau estimated the crowd at 72,000. . . .
But Oregon is still very much in play.
Neither candidate can gain enough delegates with the primaries in Oregon and Kentucky on Tuesday to clinch the nomination. But Obama hopes Oregon will give him the majority of the pledged delegates. Meanwhile, Clinton, who is behind in Oregon and ahead in Kentucky, could use a strong showing to prove she's the best candidate to face Republican John McCain in November.
Clinton left Oregon for Kentucky after a televised town hall meeting Friday, but former President Bill Clinton and daughter Chelsea stayed behind Saturday and today to crisscross the state talking to voters.
Sporting a blue "Hillary 2008" baseball cap, the former president told more than 1,000 people at Salem's sun-drenched Riverfront Park to ignore the growing news media consensus that Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois has all but wrapped up the nomination. . . .
Clinton, Obama campaigns start to plan for merger
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15578.html
Watch – this – video. It’s been clear for a while that the fall ad campaign against McCain is going to consist largely of video clips of him saying diametrically opposing things on different occasions. But even I underestimated how devastating the effect is. This is beyond flip-flopping
http://www.discourse.net/archives/2008/05/too_good_to_wait_for_next_friday.html
McCain has to let another senior advisor go
http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=5853
[Chris Bowers] In the past eight days, the McCain campaign already had to dismiss four aides for their lobbyist activities on behalf of, among other reputable organizations, the Burmese government. Today, that number has grown to five . . .
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_05/013744.php
[Kevin Drum] This is ridiculous. Except for Shirley, whose sins are a little different, all of the other four headed up or worked for big lobbying outfits. The press is reporting this as if it's just one embarrassment for McCain after another that he keeps finding out he's got lobbyists working for him, but that's not the story here. The real story is that McCain obviously knew these guys were lobbyists long before anyone pointed it out to him. You don't hire the CEO of the DCI group without knowing that the guy is a lobbyist.
Only a child would believe that McCain didn't know who these guys were when he hired them. The press really needs to step up their game a notch on this story. . .
More to come? http://cliffschecter.firedoglake.com/2008/05/18/another-mccain-lobbyist-bites-the-dust/
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15577.html
[Steve Benen] I have a hunch it’s not over yet. . . . [read on]
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15580.html
http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/05/mccain_and_the_lobbyists_part.php
[Marc Ambinder] A few others are expected to leave within the week, according to outside campaign advisers. . . . [read on]
John McCain, tree-hugger
http://firedoglake.com/2008/05/18/eco-friendly-mccain-disdain-from-all-sides/
McCain is OLD, really old
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_05/013745.php
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/wisdom-of-ancients-by-digby-some-of-you.html
The GOP has a great new strategy for the Fall: try to trick people into thinking they’re Democrats!
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_05/013742.php
More: http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=5852
Karl who?
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/18/185655/492
[Brownsox] Well, that Permanent Majority sure didn’t last long. . . . [read on]
Will Bush veto the G.I. Bill?
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/05/18/webb-gi-bill-veto/
It’s what they do. Republican AG in Texas investigates voter fraud and comes up with 26 cases
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/195725.php
[Josh Marshall] All 26 cases involved Democrats, and almost were either blacks or Hispanics.
Of the 26, 8 appear to have been genuine cases of fraud, two of which were cases of people actually casting fraudulent ballots, as opposed to bogus registrations.
The remaining 18 cases all involved eligible voters casting legitimate mail-in ballots. . . .
You knew it was going to get ugly. It’s the only way Republicans know how to run a campaign
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15579.html
“Barack Obama claims he’s against HAMAS and Hezbollah and is offended by President Bush’s speech in Israel about Obama’s ethos of ‘appeasement.’ So why is he meeting with one of Hezbollah’s most important imams and agents in America, Imam Hassan Qazwini?” . . .
“BHO isn’t even officially the Democratic nominee yet and already he’s meeting terrorist supporters — and Iran by proxy.” . . . [read on]
Obama’s a faggot?
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/practically-lactating-by-digby-i-looks.html
Obama’s an ape?http://firedoglake.com/2008/05/18/curious-george-and-the-men-in-the-pointy-white-hats/
The T-shirts are being peddled by Marietta bar owner Mike Norman at his Mulligan's Bar and Grill in Cobb County. They show a picture of Curious Georgie peeling a banana, with the words "Obama '08" underneath. . . .
***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.***
Sunday, May 18, 2008
SLOW LEARNERS
Making friends
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/05/17/iraq.quran/index.html
A soldier used the Quran -- Islam's holy book -- for target practice, forcing the chief U.S. commander in Baghdad to issue a formal apology on Saturday. . . .
The kind of people they are
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15576.html
[Kathleen Parker] Full-bloodedness is an old coin that’s gaining currency in the new American realm. Meaning: Politics may no longer be so much about race and gender as about heritage, core values, and made-in-America. Just as we once and still have a cultural divide in this country, we now have a patriot divide. . . .
Who “gets” America? And who doesn’t?
The answer has nothing to do with a flag lapel pin, which Obama donned for a campaign swing through West Virginia, or even military service, though that helps. It’s also not about flagpoles in front yards or magnetic ribbons stuck on tailgates.
It’s about blood equity, heritage and commitment to hard-won American values. And roots. . . . [read on]
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/05/17/parker/index.html
[Glenn Greenwald] In one of the most repellent columns one will ever read . . .
Running Washington like a small-town patronage operation
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/17/AR2008051702336.html
The small Texas property-management company had no experience overseeing hundreds of defaulted homes across the country. It did have two former Reagan administration officials at the helm and warm relations with senior Republican appointees at the federal housing agency. . . .
It’s only “appeasement” when Democrats do it
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-oe-scoblic17-2008may17,0,647492.story
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/17/opinion/17sat2.html
McCain’s Hamas problem
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15574.html
McCain’s lobbyist problem
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/05/17/john-mccains-green-credentials-were-developed-by-an-active-energy-lobbyist/
http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/5/17/174427/581
http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/05/_political_action_for_immediat.php
http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/05/charlie_black_and_zaire.php
More on McCain’s latest ad: what a silly piece of nonsense it is
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/195651.php
[Josh Marshall] Your promises about what you're going to accomplish in four years are implicit, and often explicit, in every presidential campaign. But taking a victory lap over your list of accomplishments that you haven't even accomplished yet does come off a little silly. . . .
McCain is like Lincoln. Really
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-wi-republicans-natio,0,1951380.story
John Hagee is a nut, and sooner or later McCain is going to have to give his own “Wright” speech denouncing him (thanks to Buzzflash for the link)
http://www.talk2action.org/story/2008/5/15/141520/281
More: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/politics/stories/MYSA051708.1A.Hagee.397499d.html
Obama really IS running a different kind of campaign
http://www.eschatonblog.com/2008_05_11_archive.html#2725006034736336483
http://www.samefacts.com/archives/corruption_in_washington_/2008/05/what_could_we_do_if_we_broke_the_power_of_money_in_politics.php
[Mark Kleiman] What could we do if we broke the power of money in politics? . . . [read on]
In the rear-view mirror
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/17/AR2008051702367.html
Obama has not completely forgotten about his battle against Clinton. . . .
But at one point in his speech here, Obama pointedly used past-tense to describe the primary battle with Clinton, saying it "was hard-fought."
"She was relentless and very effective," he added. . .
The damage Hillary has done
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/17/17218/2778
More: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/05/17/virginia-and-tom-davis-plan-to-save-the-gop-brand/
In 1974, because of Watergate and Nixon’s disastrous war policies, Dems won in districts they never were competitive in before. This gave them numbers, but brought into the party a bunch of social and economic conservatives who never quite all fit together with other Democrats from a policy and governing standpoint. Are we about to see the same thing again?
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/conundrum-by-digby-im-curious-as-to.html
[NYT] While much of the Congressional political focus has been on the declining fortunes and numbers of House Republicans, House Democrats have their own problem – they are winning too many elections. . . .
Sunday talk show line-ups
http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlDC/television/sunday_show_preview_85035.asp
NBC Meet the Press: Sen. Jim Webb (D) and a roundtable with former Rep. Harold Ford Jr. (D), Mike Huckabee, Republican strategist Mike Murphy and Democratic strategist Bob Shrum.
CBS Face the Nation: FL Gov. Charlie Crist, Republican Strategist Ed Rollins, former NY Gov. Mario Cuomo and former CO Gov. Roy Romer.
ABC This Week: Joe Biden and House Minority Leader John Boehner, and a roundtable with New York Times Magazine's Matt Bai, Wall Street Journal's Peggy Noonan, Democratic strategist Donna Brazile and George Will.
Fox News Sunday: Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) Republican Whip/McCain Surrogate, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), Karl Rove, Former White House Senior Advisor/Fox News Contributor, Big Brown's trainer, Rick Dutrow Jr. is the Power Player of The Week and a panel with Brit Hume, Washington Managing Editor of Fox News, Mara Liasson, National Public Radio & Fox News, Bill Kristol, Weekly Standard & Fox News, Juan Williams, National Public Radio & Fox News
CNN Late Edition: Carlos Gutierrez, U.S. Commerce Secretary, Trent Lott (R), former U.S. Senator; McCain supporter and CNN's John King, Jessica Yellin and Dana Bash
Bonus item: Funny web site – “Things That Are Younger Than John McCain”
http://www.thingsyoungerthanmccain.com/
***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.***
Making friends
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/05/17/iraq.quran/index.html
A soldier used the Quran -- Islam's holy book -- for target practice, forcing the chief U.S. commander in Baghdad to issue a formal apology on Saturday. . . .
The kind of people they are
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15576.html
[Kathleen Parker] Full-bloodedness is an old coin that’s gaining currency in the new American realm. Meaning: Politics may no longer be so much about race and gender as about heritage, core values, and made-in-America. Just as we once and still have a cultural divide in this country, we now have a patriot divide. . . .
Who “gets” America? And who doesn’t?
The answer has nothing to do with a flag lapel pin, which Obama donned for a campaign swing through West Virginia, or even military service, though that helps. It’s also not about flagpoles in front yards or magnetic ribbons stuck on tailgates.
It’s about blood equity, heritage and commitment to hard-won American values. And roots. . . . [read on]
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/05/17/parker/index.html
[Glenn Greenwald] In one of the most repellent columns one will ever read . . .
Running Washington like a small-town patronage operation
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/17/AR2008051702336.html
The small Texas property-management company had no experience overseeing hundreds of defaulted homes across the country. It did have two former Reagan administration officials at the helm and warm relations with senior Republican appointees at the federal housing agency. . . .
It’s only “appeasement” when Democrats do it
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-oe-scoblic17-2008may17,0,647492.story
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/17/opinion/17sat2.html
McCain’s Hamas problem
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15574.html
McCain’s lobbyist problem
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/05/17/john-mccains-green-credentials-were-developed-by-an-active-energy-lobbyist/
http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/5/17/174427/581
http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/05/_political_action_for_immediat.php
http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/05/charlie_black_and_zaire.php
More on McCain’s latest ad: what a silly piece of nonsense it is
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/195651.php
[Josh Marshall] Your promises about what you're going to accomplish in four years are implicit, and often explicit, in every presidential campaign. But taking a victory lap over your list of accomplishments that you haven't even accomplished yet does come off a little silly. . . .
McCain is like Lincoln. Really
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-wi-republicans-natio,0,1951380.story
John Hagee is a nut, and sooner or later McCain is going to have to give his own “Wright” speech denouncing him (thanks to Buzzflash for the link)
http://www.talk2action.org/story/2008/5/15/141520/281
More: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/politics/stories/MYSA051708.1A.Hagee.397499d.html
Obama really IS running a different kind of campaign
http://www.eschatonblog.com/2008_05_11_archive.html#2725006034736336483
http://www.samefacts.com/archives/corruption_in_washington_/2008/05/what_could_we_do_if_we_broke_the_power_of_money_in_politics.php
[Mark Kleiman] What could we do if we broke the power of money in politics? . . . [read on]
In the rear-view mirror
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/17/AR2008051702367.html
Obama has not completely forgotten about his battle against Clinton. . . .
But at one point in his speech here, Obama pointedly used past-tense to describe the primary battle with Clinton, saying it "was hard-fought."
"She was relentless and very effective," he added. . .
The damage Hillary has done
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/17/17218/2778
More: http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/05/17/virginia-and-tom-davis-plan-to-save-the-gop-brand/
In 1974, because of Watergate and Nixon’s disastrous war policies, Dems won in districts they never were competitive in before. This gave them numbers, but brought into the party a bunch of social and economic conservatives who never quite all fit together with other Democrats from a policy and governing standpoint. Are we about to see the same thing again?
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/conundrum-by-digby-im-curious-as-to.html
[NYT] While much of the Congressional political focus has been on the declining fortunes and numbers of House Republicans, House Democrats have their own problem – they are winning too many elections. . . .
Sunday talk show line-ups
http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlDC/television/sunday_show_preview_85035.asp
NBC Meet the Press: Sen. Jim Webb (D) and a roundtable with former Rep. Harold Ford Jr. (D), Mike Huckabee, Republican strategist Mike Murphy and Democratic strategist Bob Shrum.
CBS Face the Nation: FL Gov. Charlie Crist, Republican Strategist Ed Rollins, former NY Gov. Mario Cuomo and former CO Gov. Roy Romer.
ABC This Week: Joe Biden and House Minority Leader John Boehner, and a roundtable with New York Times Magazine's Matt Bai, Wall Street Journal's Peggy Noonan, Democratic strategist Donna Brazile and George Will.
Fox News Sunday: Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) Republican Whip/McCain Surrogate, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), Karl Rove, Former White House Senior Advisor/Fox News Contributor, Big Brown's trainer, Rick Dutrow Jr. is the Power Player of The Week and a panel with Brit Hume, Washington Managing Editor of Fox News, Mara Liasson, National Public Radio & Fox News, Bill Kristol, Weekly Standard & Fox News, Juan Williams, National Public Radio & Fox News
CNN Late Edition: Carlos Gutierrez, U.S. Commerce Secretary, Trent Lott (R), former U.S. Senator; McCain supporter and CNN's John King, Jessica Yellin and Dana Bash
Bonus item: Funny web site – “Things That Are Younger Than John McCain”
http://www.thingsyoungerthanmccain.com/
***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.***
Saturday, May 17, 2008
NO MORE APPEASEMENT
One thing the Democratic candidates have learned is to come back hard after the GOP’s smear tactics. Obama shows how it’s done
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15562.html
“They’re trying to fool you. They’re trying to scare you. And they’re not telling you the truth [because] they can’t win a foreign policy debate on the merits,” Obama said. He went on to call the Bush/McCain approach “naive and irresponsible.” [read on]
Watch: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/195484.php
McCain calls this an “hysterical diatribe”
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15563.html
“It was remarkable to see Barack Obama’s hysterical diatribe in response to a speech in which his name wasn’t even mentioned. . . .” [read on]
More: http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/mccain_americans_should_be_afr.php
Obama hits back hard again
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/16/182713/026
"What's reckless is continuing the Bush-McCain foreign policy that has cost us thousands of lives and a trillion dollars in Iraq, strengthened Iran, enabled Hamas to take Gaza, took our eye off al Qaeda, failed to capture Osama bin Laden, failed to finish the job in Afghanistan, and left us less safe and less respected in the world. No amount of utterly predictable fear-mongering and tough talk can change the fact that John McCain is running to continue the most disastrous foreign policy in recent American history”
The Bush gang tries to say they were referring to . . . Jimmy Carter. But they’re lying, of course
http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=5824
[Mike Lux] [T]he way Obama is hammering Bush and McCain on this Knesset speech is a really good sign. Now Bush's people are back-pedaling, another good sign. . . .
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/16/11201/8064
http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/05/the_white_house_changes_target.php
http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/05/obama_camp_white_house_has_its.php
NBC (John Yang): Speaking on background, a senior administration official says the president's language to anyone -- the official specifically mentioned Obama . . . .
CNN (Ed Henry): While the words Barack Obama were never used White House aides privately admit the President referring not just to Barack Obama but other Democrats . . .
More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/05/16/BL2008051602115.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns
The McCain gang tries to deny that their candidate ever called for negotiations with Hamas
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/16/63130/5839
Watch: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/195384.php
[NB: I detect a distinct shift in the coverage of Mr. Straight Talk – he is spending more and more time trying to redefine and explain his shifts in position.]
More flip flops
http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2008/05/16/mccain_iraq/
McCain rewrites history
http://firedoglake.com/2008/05/16/mccain-lies-away-the-iran-contra-scandal/
“I believe that it’s not an accident that our hostages came home from Iran when President Reagan was president of the United States. He didn’t sit down in a negotiation with the religious extremists in Iran, he made it very clear that those hostages were coming home.'’ [read on]
McCain’s lobbyist problems
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15558.html
[Steve Benen] On Saturday, John McCain had to get rid of the man he tasked with managing the Republican National Convention when we learned he’d run a lobbying firm that represented Burma’s military junta. On Sunday, McCain had to get rid of a regional campaign manager because he’d been the lobbyist responsible for managing the junta’s account. Yesterday, McCain had to get rid of a campaign advisor who was working simultaneously for McCain and an independent “527″ group opposing Democratic candidates. This morning, McCain dropped another aide, energy lobbyist Eric Burgeson, who had lobbied for Qatar and Serbia. . . .
More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/16/18011/7455
Bush can’t get his good friends the Saudis to help ease up on gas prices
http://www.eschatonblog.com/2008_05_11_archive.html#1754398290513345452
http://www.americablog.com/2008/05/saudis-tell-bush-to-go-f-himself-oil.html
Reconstruction continues
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/17/world/asia/17detain.html
The Pentagon is moving forward with plans to build a new, 40-acre detention complex on the main American military base in Afghanistan, officials said, in a stark acknowledgment that the United States is likely to continue to hold prisoners overseas for years to come. . . .
You probably saw that the Bush gang severed all ties with Chalabi, who was once their promised savior in Iraq. Instead they found out he was pedaling information to Iran and playing both sides of every issue. Well, here’s the backstory
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/mcclatchy_us_ditched_chalabi_t.php
An outrage. This deserves condemnation from every corner
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/05/16/huckabee-jokes-about-obama-ducking-a-gunman/
During a speech before the National Rifle Association convention Friday afternoon in Louisville, Kentucky, former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee — who has endorsed presumptive GOP nominee John McCain — joked that an unexpected offstage noise was Democrat Barack Obama looking to avoid a gunman.
“That was Barack Obama, he just tripped off a chair, he's getting ready to speak. . . Somebody aimed a gun at him and he dove for the floor.” . . .
More: http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/2008/05/huckabee_jokes/
It took a while, but the Dems stood firm and won this one
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/breaking_spakovsky_withdraws_a.php
[Paul Kiel] After a five-month standoff, Hans von Spakovsky has withdrawn his name as a nominee to the FEC. The move likely clears the way for the deadlock over the FEC to be resolved. . . .
Democrats have opposed Spakovsky's nomination ever since last year, but it was the opposition of Sens. Barack Obama (D-IL) and Russ Feingold (D-WI), who refused to allow any vote on the nominees together, that ultimately led to his withdrawal. Republicans, on the other hand, refused to allow Spakovsky to be voted on separately. . .
More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/16/182048/697
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/friday-news-dump-alert-by-dday.html
Another victory
http://www.eschatonblog.com/2008_05_11_archive.html#5447621015923399327
Thursday night, the Senate cast a near-unanimous vote to reverse the Federal Communication Commission's December 2007 decision to let media companies own both a major TV or radio station and a major daily newspaper in the same city. . . .
But the fight never ends
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/todays_must_read_339.php
The Bush administration is on the verge of implementing new air quality rules that will make it easier to build power plants near national parks and wilderness areas, according to rank-and-file agency scientists and park managers who oppose the plan. . . [read on]
Will Blackwater EVER be held accountable?
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/blackwater_xmas_shooting_guard.php
Another Clinton post-mortem
http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=f7a4a380-c4a4-4f84-b653-f252e8569915
Still, there are corners of the blogosphere where people think that Clinton is WINNING
http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/5/16/173211/720
http://www.correntewire.com/clinton_election_juggernaut_accelerates_0
House and Senate prospects for the fall
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/16/144235/757
Bonus item: the fight to oust John Yoo from Berkeley
http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/2008/05/uc_berkeleys_to/
***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.***
One thing the Democratic candidates have learned is to come back hard after the GOP’s smear tactics. Obama shows how it’s done
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15562.html
“They’re trying to fool you. They’re trying to scare you. And they’re not telling you the truth [because] they can’t win a foreign policy debate on the merits,” Obama said. He went on to call the Bush/McCain approach “naive and irresponsible.” [read on]
Watch: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/195484.php
McCain calls this an “hysterical diatribe”
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15563.html
“It was remarkable to see Barack Obama’s hysterical diatribe in response to a speech in which his name wasn’t even mentioned. . . .” [read on]
More: http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/mccain_americans_should_be_afr.php
Obama hits back hard again
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/16/182713/026
"What's reckless is continuing the Bush-McCain foreign policy that has cost us thousands of lives and a trillion dollars in Iraq, strengthened Iran, enabled Hamas to take Gaza, took our eye off al Qaeda, failed to capture Osama bin Laden, failed to finish the job in Afghanistan, and left us less safe and less respected in the world. No amount of utterly predictable fear-mongering and tough talk can change the fact that John McCain is running to continue the most disastrous foreign policy in recent American history”
The Bush gang tries to say they were referring to . . . Jimmy Carter. But they’re lying, of course
http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=5824
[Mike Lux] [T]he way Obama is hammering Bush and McCain on this Knesset speech is a really good sign. Now Bush's people are back-pedaling, another good sign. . . .
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/16/11201/8064
http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/05/the_white_house_changes_target.php
http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/05/obama_camp_white_house_has_its.php
NBC (John Yang): Speaking on background, a senior administration official says the president's language to anyone -- the official specifically mentioned Obama . . . .
CNN (Ed Henry): While the words Barack Obama were never used White House aides privately admit the President referring not just to Barack Obama but other Democrats . . .
More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2008/05/16/BL2008051602115.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns
The McCain gang tries to deny that their candidate ever called for negotiations with Hamas
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/16/63130/5839
Watch: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/195384.php
[NB: I detect a distinct shift in the coverage of Mr. Straight Talk – he is spending more and more time trying to redefine and explain his shifts in position.]
More flip flops
http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2008/05/16/mccain_iraq/
McCain rewrites history
http://firedoglake.com/2008/05/16/mccain-lies-away-the-iran-contra-scandal/
“I believe that it’s not an accident that our hostages came home from Iran when President Reagan was president of the United States. He didn’t sit down in a negotiation with the religious extremists in Iran, he made it very clear that those hostages were coming home.'’ [read on]
McCain’s lobbyist problems
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15558.html
[Steve Benen] On Saturday, John McCain had to get rid of the man he tasked with managing the Republican National Convention when we learned he’d run a lobbying firm that represented Burma’s military junta. On Sunday, McCain had to get rid of a regional campaign manager because he’d been the lobbyist responsible for managing the junta’s account. Yesterday, McCain had to get rid of a campaign advisor who was working simultaneously for McCain and an independent “527″ group opposing Democratic candidates. This morning, McCain dropped another aide, energy lobbyist Eric Burgeson, who had lobbied for Qatar and Serbia. . . .
More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/16/18011/7455
Bush can’t get his good friends the Saudis to help ease up on gas prices
http://www.eschatonblog.com/2008_05_11_archive.html#1754398290513345452
http://www.americablog.com/2008/05/saudis-tell-bush-to-go-f-himself-oil.html
Reconstruction continues
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/17/world/asia/17detain.html
The Pentagon is moving forward with plans to build a new, 40-acre detention complex on the main American military base in Afghanistan, officials said, in a stark acknowledgment that the United States is likely to continue to hold prisoners overseas for years to come. . . .
You probably saw that the Bush gang severed all ties with Chalabi, who was once their promised savior in Iraq. Instead they found out he was pedaling information to Iran and playing both sides of every issue. Well, here’s the backstory
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/mcclatchy_us_ditched_chalabi_t.php
An outrage. This deserves condemnation from every corner
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/05/16/huckabee-jokes-about-obama-ducking-a-gunman/
During a speech before the National Rifle Association convention Friday afternoon in Louisville, Kentucky, former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee — who has endorsed presumptive GOP nominee John McCain — joked that an unexpected offstage noise was Democrat Barack Obama looking to avoid a gunman.
“That was Barack Obama, he just tripped off a chair, he's getting ready to speak. . . Somebody aimed a gun at him and he dove for the floor.” . . .
More: http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/2008/05/huckabee_jokes/
It took a while, but the Dems stood firm and won this one
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/breaking_spakovsky_withdraws_a.php
[Paul Kiel] After a five-month standoff, Hans von Spakovsky has withdrawn his name as a nominee to the FEC. The move likely clears the way for the deadlock over the FEC to be resolved. . . .
Democrats have opposed Spakovsky's nomination ever since last year, but it was the opposition of Sens. Barack Obama (D-IL) and Russ Feingold (D-WI), who refused to allow any vote on the nominees together, that ultimately led to his withdrawal. Republicans, on the other hand, refused to allow Spakovsky to be voted on separately. . .
More: http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/16/182048/697
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/friday-news-dump-alert-by-dday.html
Another victory
http://www.eschatonblog.com/2008_05_11_archive.html#5447621015923399327
Thursday night, the Senate cast a near-unanimous vote to reverse the Federal Communication Commission's December 2007 decision to let media companies own both a major TV or radio station and a major daily newspaper in the same city. . . .
But the fight never ends
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/todays_must_read_339.php
The Bush administration is on the verge of implementing new air quality rules that will make it easier to build power plants near national parks and wilderness areas, according to rank-and-file agency scientists and park managers who oppose the plan. . . [read on]
Will Blackwater EVER be held accountable?
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/05/blackwater_xmas_shooting_guard.php
Another Clinton post-mortem
http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=f7a4a380-c4a4-4f84-b653-f252e8569915
Still, there are corners of the blogosphere where people think that Clinton is WINNING
http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/5/16/173211/720
http://www.correntewire.com/clinton_election_juggernaut_accelerates_0
House and Senate prospects for the fall
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/5/16/144235/757
Bonus item: the fight to oust John Yoo from Berkeley
http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/2008/05/uc_berkeleys_to/
***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).
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