This week Joe Klein wrote a post that did not attempt to hide his disdain for his critics. While he showed a willingness to outline his reporting process and address concerns raised in his comments, he did so in an extremely defensive, thin-skinned and condescending tone. He also made the following memorably clueless assertion: “Tell me where I’ve been misled by my sources.” His commenters quickly pointed out his factually challenged reporting on the FISA debate.  Read more 

Swing State Project has a MS-01: Results Thread. So far it looks very good. WillBardwell is live blogging the results. Oxford has had a very high turnout. Cotton Mouth is also following returns. It looks like a terrific night for Missippi Democrats.

Considering how much attention mass media has spent on electoral politics it has missed the elephant in the room (pardon the pun): The extreme peril of the Republican Party. Almost all coverage is now on the Democratic primary, and the least likely (and most dramatic) scenarios are getting the most focus. But here is what seems most likely: The candidates fight it out, a winner emerges in the next month or so and emotions peak. Everyone takes the summer off, spends some time at the beach with a good book, and returns at the end of August tanned, rested and ready to crank up an energetic election campaign.  Read more 

The DCCC is running some ads for a Mississippi special election. The Republicans has been forced to drop some serious cash on this one.

Cotton Mouth thinks that it is good that they used local people in the ads. The Thorn Papers says the special election is all about GOTV.

Donna Edwards on Healthcare

Businesses, particularly small businesses, want their employees to have access to health care – but it must be affordable. Through a universal, Canadian-styled, health care system, all Americans would have access to quality, affordable health care. A new system would provide stability and predictability for employers and enable employees to obtain health care coverage no matter their employer or pre-existing conditions. Under this system all Americans would be able to choose their doctor without the uncertainty of rising deductibles and co-payments. There must be shared responsibility from employers and employees to keep our workforce healthy.  Read more 

Congress can be a frustratingly opaque body, and trying to figure out causes and effects can be largely futile. Analyzing a simple proposition like “Congress has failed to adequately check executive power expansion since 2001” quickly becomes incredibly complex (rest in peace Edward Lorenz). Also, much of its work is done behind closed doors, which is probably for the best. If politicians were constantly on display before the public we would reach toxic levels of grandstanding almost immediately and government would grind to a halt (though in light of our recent experience that might be a benefit).  Read more 

The war in Iraq refuses to be dismissed. Its ongoing cost in blood and treasure will be at or near the top of our concerns for as long as it lasts. It stays there no matter how much political elites want us to look elsewhere or media elites want to keep from highlighting the painful, ongoing slog. I believe the vast majority of us grieves a little each time we hear the day’s price. If it is nothing more than a dry recitation of the latest handful of dead in the latest attack, if the report is stuck at the end of a segment or broadcast, if it is treated with the same numerical curiosity as a minor fluctuation of the stock market - it still casts a long shadow with us.  Read more 

Last week a remarkable truth emerged - we need to have a torture debate. On Friday the President admitted that we are now a state sponsor of torture and an amazing thing happened: Nothing. TV news coverage was dominated by the Democratic primary, and if news outlets acknowledged it at all it was in a summary or somewhere in the back pages. I am on record with my deep revulsion for torture, but a critical mass of our upper political and media levels does not consider it worthy of sustained focus.  Read more 

According to its web site the recently-created National Applications Office (NAO) has its roots in the Civil Applications Committee, an agency created in 1974 that “facilitated requests by civil agencies to make use of space-based imaging and remote sensing capabilities for purposes such as monitoring volcanic activity, environmental and geological changes, hurricanes, and floods.” Presumably that is how it was used; if it had been directed against citizens or for political advantage we would have found out before too long. Either the results of the abuse would have led back to it or someone would have spilled the beans somehow.  Read more 

Every adult in America probably remembers 9/11 in the immediate sense - the first time hearing the news, seeing the images, the confusion, uncertainty and fear of that day - but it seems like our memory of the period immediately after is hazy. For a month or two we were traumatized as a nation and had trouble understanding what had happened, and what should come next. By the end of 2001 the drumbeat for war had begun and it is possible that fixing our attention on how best to attack Iraq served as a psychological crutch by giving us something to focus on. This is not a professional opinion, just an observation based on what I went through and saw others going through.  Read more 

The President has one thing in common with his predecessors: He claims to not care about his legacy. Most seem to say that at one point or another; in this case “[w]e are still arguing about the record of the first president…I’m sure they will take their time when it comes to judging my record.” It is one of the more benign lies he has told, maybe because it only reveals his comprehensive inability to understand history. There is no harm in that kind of ignorance, though it has grave implications when it comes from your leader. Of course, I would love to know what exactly he thinks we are still arguing about with Washington.  Read more 

Many have pointed out the acts of President George W. Bush and his cabal as being “criminal.” Take, for example, the words of Keith Olbermann:

It is a fact startling in its cynical simplicity and it requires cynical and simple words to be properly expressed: The presidency of George W. Bush has now devolved into a criminal conspiracy to cover the ass of George W. Bush.

…

Now if that’s what this is all about, you tortured not because you’re so stupid you think torture produces confession but you tortured because you’re smart enough to know it produces really authentic-sounding fiction - well, then, you’re going to need all the lawyers you can find … because that crime wouldn’t just mean impeachment, would it?

That crime would mean George W. Bush is going to prison.

I so admire the glibness of Mr. Olbermann, the sharpness of his language and most of all, his passion.

However, under Article II, Section 2 of the United States Constitution, President George W. Bush, and all those he chooses to include in pardons, will never be prosecuted for crimes committed against the United States absent impeachment.  Read more 

Memories light the corners of my mind…
Misty water colored memories…
of the way we were  Read more 

To be this dumb.

Ruth Marcus has at it regarding the on-going saga of our Attorney-General, and if I tell you that she carves out a idiosyncratic place for herself from the rocky heights of beltway profundity, (using a tooth pick because this is the only experience of tool-using folks like Marcus ever get), you could probably come pretty close to sketching out the column without ever reading it.

Here’s her opening:

I find myself in an unaccustomed and unexpected position: defending Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

Gonzales fans, if there are Gonzales fans left, except for the only fan who counts: Don’t take any comfort from my assessment.

Unaccustomed and unexpected only because she doesn’t remember any of her previous columns; that’s part of the curriculum in that secret class, “How to Become A Consumate Media Asshole,” I am now convinced has to exist out there somewhere.

Her caution to Gonzales fans is given because Marcus is willing to concede the undeniable; that Gonzales is a fool and a knave, a deceiver and a dissembler in his sworn testimony before the Senate, and he deserved the brutal treatment he got from both sides of the aisle.

However, ah, yes, the inevitable “however,” the inescapable “but,”…you knew it was coming, but can you guess what “the but” is?  Read more 

Salon:  Read more 

Great, great little piece in NYT today, which interestingly enough they chose not to hide behind the evil Paywall. The author: Frank Bowman, a law professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Not a big name, not a politician. Very nice writer though, and his logic (as well as politcal savvy) seems quite impeccable.

His topic: Should Congress impeach the Attorney General? That they can is unquestionable:

A cabinet officer, like a judge or a president, may be impeached only for commission of “high crimes and misdemeanors.” But as the Nixon and Clinton impeachment debates reminded us, that constitutional phrase embraces not only indictable crimes but “conduct … grossly incompatible with the office held and subversive of that office and of our constitutional system of government.”

Emphasis added, because as we’ve said on possibly a time or two before, this is the heart of the matter.  Read more 

It’ll be all over the interwebs today, but I just want to make a simple statement: it is beyond insulting that the White House would claim they “can’t find” some of the emails that Congress wants to see. That is ridiculous. First off, emails are forever- you can do your own homework if you don’t know this, but emails and the nature of the net combine to form a, ahem, paper trail that just isn’t that hard for computer experts to follow. Secondly, hello, NSA, CIA, DoD and FBI domestic spying, anyone? They probably have a copy of every email every progressive activist has ever sent stored in triplicate on government servers, and they want us to believe they can’t find their own? Give me a break.  Read more 

MySpace meets Congress.

Pass it on, if it catches on, it could really be a lot of fun. Oh, and informative n shit, too.

I have been without access to a working computer for much of the last month, so it was a shock, getting back to the lethal emptiness of our political discourse as represented by the utter and complete pap spewed by our Sunday gasbags.  Read more 

Confession time…

In 2006, I ran for the US House against an unholy a far-right DINO and lost in the Primary. I drop the phrase, "I placed second in a three-way race", to either joke-it or to save face—it could be either. In reality, the incumbent got 86.2%, I got 10.0% and Mr.Last Place got 3.8%.  Read more 

This is one of several pieces I’ve read recently that have some bad news for people like me and Mr. Schaller, as we argue for the “new coalition” of states and seats that will bring Democratic majorities to Congress:

The new Census Bureau 2006 state population estimates are out and the numbers offer some insight into the post-2010 Census reapportionment of congressional seats. While it’s still too early to predict exactly which states are gainers and losers, a few things are already clear.

According to an analysis by Polidata, a political data consulting firm, seven states are all but certain to lose at least one seat: Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Another six states are all but certain to gain at least one seat: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, Texas and Utah.  Read more 

Danny and Gloria can STEP OFF. She’s mine

I support legislation that guarantees “Internet Freedom” – known as network neutrality. This is being referred to as the “First Amendment” of the Internet and ensures equal access for all to access the Internet. However, this freedom is now in jeopardy.
There should be no corporate or governmental gatekeepers for the online medium. Consumers should be able to readily visit the website of their choice. Websites, such as those from local businesses, should not have to pay a tax to large cable or phone companies in order to ensure they receive reasonable service.  Read more 

Sen. Pat Roberts (Fucktard-KS) issued a thunderous statement today to which we will give a ringing endorsement:

”We cannot continue to operate in a system where the government takes steps to counter terrorism…without any regard for protection of lives, sources and legal methods,” said Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., who as intelligence chairman has been briefed extensively on the efforts.

In a letter, Roberts asked National Intelligence Director John Negroponte to order an assessment of damage caused by…the government’s most classified programs. He said he was particularly interested in the impact of…the Bush administration’s warrantless surveillance program and its program to monitor terror finances.

Minor editing to remove superfluous verbiage and emphasize the important points. We will get firmly behind Sen. Roberts and push for just such an investigation….as soon as he actually asks for it.  Read more 

Eat it, middle class people! That’s what 99% of Republicans and a depressingly large number of Democrats in Congress said to you last year.  Read more