Nothing to do with politics at all

Just a nice music video sent in by reader Mike.

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According to Bush, Basra was a "defining moment" for Iraq. It defined the leadership of Al Sadr -- which McCain said was on the wane.

They are the McSame. And, they are both dangerously McClueless.

George Bush last week:

President Bush on Friday called the decision to move troops into Basra "a defining moment in the history of a free Iraq" and a test of the Iraqi government to make decisions about its future.

Appearing at the White House with Australian Prime Minister Ken Rudd, Bush praised Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki as a leader who is willing to use force against violence in Basra, "a place where criminality has thrived."

"The Iraqis are in the lead," Bush said. "The U.S. will provide help if they need it."

John McCain, two weeks ago from Baghdad, via Think Progress:

His [Sadr’s] influence has been on the wane for a long time.

Time Magazine article this week titled "How Moqtada al-Sadr Won in Basra":

The Iraqi military's offensive in Basra was supposed to demonstrate the power of the central government in Baghdad. Instead it has proven the continuing relevance of anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Sadr's militia, the Mahdi Army, stood its ground in several days of heavy fighting with Iraqi soldiers backed up by American and British air power. But perhaps more important than the manner in which the militia fought is the manner in which it stopped fighting. On Sunday Sadr issued a call for members of the Mahdi Army to stop appearing in the streets with their weapons and to cease attacks on government installations. Within a day, the fighting had mostly ceased. It was an ominous answer to a question posed for months by U.S. military observes: Is Sadr still the leader of a unified movement and military force? The answer appears to be yes.

Five years later, it's still a disaster and Bush still doesn't have a clue. Neither does McCain. Every day we learn more that McCain really doesn't understand what's going on. And, don't forget, McCain says the U.S. can stay in Iraq for 100 years:
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Pelosi asks Bush to consider boycott of opening ceremony

The House Speaker asks that Bush leaves all options on the table, but Bush says "no." Obviously China doesn't have any oil. Read More......

Polls show voters losing trust in Clinton

Hillary Clinton is trying to sell superdelegates on her electability. And, her campaigni is trying anything and everything to prove the point. Greg Sargent at TPM Election Central was told by top Clinton strategist Harold Ickes that Rev. Wright is a "key topic" for the Clinton camp's talks with the superdelegates. Allegedly thirty-five years of experience and that's the "key topic"? That's actually pathetic.

I imagine superdelegates aren't just listening to the Clinton campaign spin. Chances are, many of them are looking at polls. And, if anything, the constant flow of independent polling numbers undermines Clinton's electability argument. The longer the race goes on, the worse it is getting for Clinton. Today's Wall Street Journal analysis of polling on the trust issue doesn't help:

In the weeks before the Pennsylvania primary, Sen. Hillary Clinton not only lags Sen. Barack Obama in the race for delegates, she also is losing ground in her effort to convince voters that she is trustworthy.

The debate over her record has left Sen. Clinton confronting her lowest approval rating since April 2006, according to a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll released last week.

According to the survey, 29% of the approximately 1,000 respondents said they had a very negative opinion of Sen. Clinton compared with 15% for Sen. Barack Obama and 12% for Sen. John McCain, the likely Republican nominee.

A Pew Research survey released last week shows 29% of Democratic voters describe Sen. Clinton as "phony," compared with 14% for Sen. Obama.

The Clinton campaign has created this dynamic. And, Hillary's own words continue to undermine her. As Jed shows again, there is plenty of material:
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Pentagon refused to transport Rep. Tammy Baldwin's partner

Don't have they have more important wars to fight? Read More......

Awesome new book

NOTE from AJ: I'm bumping this so anybody who missed it earlier can see it. The book has jumped from 50,000 to 8,000 on Amazon's rank, which is awesome, but I think we can do even better. Let's aim for 5,000 by tonight. Supporting progressives is worth it! Again, cost of a movie ticket to support a great blogger and activist, and get a great book too.

The incomparable Amanda Marcotte has written her first book! It's just been released, and since I know exactly how much of a damn pain in the ass it is to pull that off, I want to extend my heartfelt congratulations. More importantly, though, I want to extend . . . the Amazon link. Look, for obvious reasons I didn't make this argument when my book came out, but the importance of supporting progressive authors simply cannot be overstated. The conservative death grip on much of our political media is probably nowhere stronger than in publishing, and the fact that it's a miracle when someone as brilliant and talented as Marcotte gets a book deal is just insane.

My copy hasn't yet arrived, but there's a great rundown of the book here, and if you like good, funny writing (and who doesn't?), go buy a copy. It's eleven dollars for chrissakes. We want people like Amanda to have bigger megaphones, to be THE voice on the issues she addresses, to have op-ed spots and TV appearances and quotes in articles. Driving up an Amazon rank is a surprisingly effective way to help make that happen, and it'll cost you about as much as a movie ticket. So give it a look. You'll be very glad you did. Read More......

Gallup: Obama seen as strongest candidate to defeat McCain

More bad news for Hillary Clinton today. While Clinton and her campaign think she's the stronger candidate in November, that's not the prevalent view. In fact, it's way off according to Gallup:

The survey was conducted March 24-27, interviewing a nationally representative sample of 1,005 Gallup Panel members. Democrats were asked whether Clinton or Obama has the better chance of defeating McCain in November: 59% say Obama does; 30% say Clinton. Republicans were asked whether McCain has a better chance of defeating Clinton or Obama on Election Day. Sixty-four percent say McCain has a better chance of beating Clinton, compared with only 22% choosing Obama, meaning Republicans view Obama as the more formidable candidate.

This seriously undermines Clinton's electability argument.


And to add insult to injury, even Clinton supporters think the campaign is hurting Democratic chances in November:

When asked about the effects of the continuing Democratic nomination campaign on the party's general election chances, 56% of Democrats say it is doing "more harm than good," while 35% think it is doing "more good than harm."

As would be expected, most Democrats who favor Obama for the nomination believe the ongoing campaign is doing more to hurt (61%) than to aid (32%) the party's chances of winning in November. But Clinton supporters also tend to believe this -- 48% say the continuing campaign is doing more harm than good, while 40% say it is doing more good than harm.

NOTE FROM JOHN: At this point, one has to ask what is Hillary's point in continuing. We already know that she can't catch up to Obama in delegates or in the popular vote. Her only hope is to prove to the SuperDelegates that she's more electable than Obama, in the hopes that they overthrow him for her. But under what possible scenario does she see that happening? The polls keep showing Obama faring better against McCain than Hillary, and Republican voters are chomping at the bit for Hillary to be the candidate - and that's never a good sign. So we have to ask, under what possible scenario does Hillary see herself becoming the nominee? While it's cute for her to compare herself to Rocky - and more than a bit dated - at this point she needs to explain, for real, without jokes or platitudes, under what specific scenario she could win this nomination. There simply isn't one - she has no excuse for remaining in the race. And that means there is no reason for the remaining SuperDelegates to remain on the fence and watch Hillary damage our chances at victory in the fall, other than their own cowardice. Read More......

"Hillary. Hillary. Hillary In The House"

Found in The Field: The brilliant musical mind behind Hillary4U&Me; has written a new rap.

It's just as craptastic as you might expect. MP3 here. Read More......

Looking Presidential

What the heck does this mean? I've heard and read several variations of the following countless times over the past few weeks: While Obama and Clinton continue to campaign for the Democratic nomination, John McCain is traveling the country - and the world - looking presidential.

Is it the standing on podiums and waving at crowds part? Wearing a bullet proof vest traveling Iraq? What exactly is it McCain is doing that's giving him a leg up right now? I don't see it, and I'd be willing to put some money on the fact that reporters and pundits repeating the catch phrase can't explain it either. Read More......

It's Pretty Simple. John McCain is breaking the law.

It is pretty simple. John McCain is breaking campaign finance laws. Yet, all his pals in the traditional media are giving McCain a free ride on this one. We're trying to change that.

Yesterday, community activist Rev. Lennox Yearwood, (who is also President of the Hip Hop caucus) and I delivered 32,000 additional signatures for the FEC complaint against McCain. As promised, here's the video:
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Some good!

It's been one of those times recently. I feel like for days I've been reading nonstop about war, political infighting, bullies, violence, and general internets stupidity. Now, there are a lot of unhappy things going on, and many of them deserve -- need! -- attention. It's also true, however, that the onslaught can get overwhelming, and there is good news out there, even if sometimes you have to search to find it. It certainly makes me feel better to give some attention to uplifting stuff, so without further ado, a few recent stories that are, each in their own way, a nice break from a tough spate of news:

In the large-scale, saving the planet category we have a new, three-year, $300 million campaign to mobilize Americans on climate change. God dag! Led by Al Gore and the Alliance for Climate Protection, the effort is reportedly one of the most ambitious and well-funded public advocacy operations in history. It will apparently attempt to match awareness with actual political/legislative action, and is being timed to coincide with the election. I don't write about climate very much because I simply am not an expert on the issues, but it affects just about everything -- including my pet issues of foreign policy and national security, eventually -- and this looks to be a great project.

In international news, last week Pakistan's parliament elected its first woman Speaker. Independent of the overall record of the role/treatment of women in the nation, it's always great to see barriers being broken, and for a country that has already had a female prime minister, this is another important milestone. Dr. Mizra is no token, either; a three-time rep, she was elected by an overwhelming margin -- 249 to 70.

The problem of skyrocketing foreclosures can hardly be spun as good news, but in the face of tragedy and difficulty, many organizations are stepping up to help, and it's in these under the radar circumstances that sometimes important efforts can get overlooked. Which is why the Humane Society effort to make sure that people who lose their homes don't lose their furry friends as well deserves a mention. With families struggling to keep and feed their pets in the face of increasing financial difficulty, this new grant program should do some real good. After my longtime canine companion passed earlier this year, I set up a recurring donation to HSUS, and I'm tremendously glad some of that contribution will go to this initiative.

Finally, in a hilarious "damn the man" vein, I include this for the ingenuity (and without any particular comment on the politics of makeup or schools or whatever): a creative -- and apparently scientifically brilliant -- group of high school girls were irritated with a school ban on nail polish, so they invented a kind that you can see outdoors but not indoors. Some chemical reaction far beyond my ability to comprehend makes the polish bright red outside and nearly invisible/transparent inside. I want some!

Obviously lots of news that sucks is still important to be aware of. I know -- I focus on Iraq, for goodness sake. And good stuff is hard to find; it took me a couple hours to find just these few nuggets! But there ya go. Every day is a new day, with new challenges but also new good, and all that. Hope y'all enjoy. Read More......

Iraq continues to confuse and befuddle McCain

National security is supposed to be John McCain's strong suit. Yikes.

On McCain's recent taxpayer funded campaign trip to Iraq, we learned that the GOP nominee didn't know the basic difference between Sunnis and Shiites. Now, McCain admits that the latest eruption of violence caught him off guard (and remember, he was just in Iraq):

“Maliki decided to take on this operation without consulting the Americans,’’ Mr. McCain said on his campaign bus as it rolled through downtown Meridian, saying that the move showed independence but that he had expected the military to focus on Mosul.

“I just am surprised that he would take it on himself to go down and take charge of a military offensive,’’ he said. “I had not anticipated that he would do that.’’

Again, McCain was just in Iraq singing the praises of "progress." Last night, TV's biggest buffoon, Lou Dobbs, was all excited about the revelation that McCain has been to Iraq more times than Clinton and Obama:

DOBBS: All right. This is something that's going to make Ed Rollins feel very, very good if we can put this up on, full screen, on the trips to Iraq of the three most relevant senators in this -- in this presidential campaign. Senator McCain enjoying quite an advantage over Senator Clinton and Senator Obama.

First, trips to Iraq, McCain -- are we going to have that or are we not? We're working on it, I'm told, reliably by our crack crew. Senator McCain, eight trips to Iraq. Three trips on the part of Senator Clinton. Senator Barack Obama has been to Iraq, once.

When we talk about experience, talk about the war and about the efficacy of policy...

Okay, let's talk about the war and the efficacy of policy. This statistic actually makes it worse for McCain. He goes to Iraq all the time, and he still doesn't know what's going on.

Hillary Clinton imputed a life time of experience to John McCain. Yet, he still doesn't know what the hell is going on -- or he can't remember. Either way, it's scary. Read More......

Tuesday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

Just read today's Washington Post article about John McCain's campaign and all the money he's trying to raise and spend these days. McCain has busted the public campaign finance system's spending limit. That's a crime. Not a mention of his campaign finance scandal in the article today. Not a word about it. Yet, just a five weeks ago, the Post actually got the gravity of the scandal:

Knowingly violating the spending limit is a criminal offense that could put McCain at risk of stiff fines and up to five years in prison.

You'd think that a major candidate breaking the law would be a constant new story -- especially when the law being broken is a campaign finance law and the candidate, John McCain, purports to be a champion of campaign finance. How can the traditional media be ignoring this story?

We're doing our part. Later today, we'll be posting video of the visit Rev. Yearwood and I paid to the FEC yesterday.

Have at it. Read More......

Zimbabwe opposition see large victory, go in to hiding

Even in the face of electoral defeat, Robert Mugabe will not go down easily. Using violence again the opposition has been a mainstay of the Mugabe period. After all, his military force has been fed a steady diet of military equipment thanks to the Olympic hosts China so he has the tools to clamp down and maintain control of his collapsing nation.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change claimed a landslide victory and declared its leader Morgan Tsvangirai an outright winner. Spokesman Tendai Biti warned the government against stealing the election, saying: "Zimbabwe is on the edge of a precipice."

He said the people would not accept a faked outcome and vowed "peaceful protests" if his party was denied the win. A cabal of Mr Mugabe's top aides, including six cabinet ministers, the Vice-President and a former intelligence chief, have lost their "safe" seats already.

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Food stamps to hit record in 2008

Something tells me the failed CEO crowd of Prince, O'Neil and Mozilo won't have to worry about food stamps. For the rest of America, life is just a bit different.

Driven by a painful mix of layoffs and rising food and fuel prices, the number of Americans receiving food stamps is projected to reach 28 million in the coming year, the highest level since the aid program began in the 1960s.

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