Rudy is channeling Bush. It's all about 9/11

Bootstrapping Andrew Sullivan has the evidence and does the analysis:

On Larry Kudlow's show tonight, Giuliani remarked that:

It's not a day that goes by that I do not think about the events of 9/11.

Do we really want four more years of "We must not forget the lessons of 9/11"? I'm hazarding that both Giuliani and Bush share the same tidbit of remorse or guilt about 9/11 and whether they could have done more to prevent, mitigate or deal with it.

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Mitt Romney, life-long member of the NRA... for the past year

Great snippet of an interview GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney did with ABC's George Stephanopoulos in February.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Let's talk about guns. You were supportive of the Brady bill, the handgun waiting period, in the past. You signed an assault weapon ban into law and you said, in the past, "I don't line up with the NRA."

Now, you...

MITT ROMNEY: Well, on that issue.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Now you're a member of the NRA.

MITT ROMNEY: Yes, and I know the NRA does not support an assault weapon ban. So I don't line up on that particular issue with the NRA, either does President Bush. He likewise says he supported an assault weapon ban.

Today we don't have the Brady bill because we have instantaneous background checks. That's no longer a operative or needed measure.

But I'm a strong proponent of Second Amendment rights. I believe people, under our Constitution, have the right to bear arms.

We have a gun in one of our homes. It's not owned by me, it's owned by my son, but I've always considered it sort of mine&

STEPHANOPOULOS: When did you join the NRA?

MITT ROMNEY: Within the last year and I signed up for a lifelong membership.

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Why should I feel bad that you gambled on a mortgage and lost?

I can deal with someone who was cheated by their mortgage broker, banker, or whomever. Someone who was literally lied to about how much their mortgage was going to cost them now, in two years, in five years, in ten years. But what I can't deal with are all of these heart-tugging news broadcast and Joe and Suzie who simply wanted the American dream for their children, so they risked their entire family's livelihood on a gamble that they could sell a house they couldn't afford before the "real" mortgage rate kicked in. Sorry, Charlie, but those people knew what they were doing. They gambled. They lost. I had the same choice they did, and I said "no," things were simply too expensive. So now they get a bail out and I get nothing because they wanted money for nothing? I don't think so. Again, if they were affirmatively lied to, then they deserve redress. But if they were idiots willing to risk it all for some easy money, then we do them no favors by bailing them out. Read More......

BREAKING: Gonzales' chief counsel refuses to testify before Congress, invokes Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination

That means someone is afraid she may have committed a crime. This issue is no longer about politics, it's now a criminal investigation of the Attorney General of the United States. More from the Washington Post.

More on The Fifth, from FindLaw:

The Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gives individuals the right to refuse to answer any questions or make any statements, when to do so would help establish that the person committed a crime or is connected to any criminal activity.

I do find it ironic that suddenly the Bush Administration has discovered the Bill of Rights. Read More......

Progressive Caucus flexes its muscles

The greatest winner in Friday's vote to pass the supplemental spending bill for Iraq and Afghanistan is undoubtedly America's security and foreign policy. The bill, which deserved to pass despite its imperfections, does right by our troops in requiring that military officials certify units for full mission capability before deployment. It directs the President to transmit to Congress benchmarks for the Iraqi government to meet by specified dates, and requires redeployment in the event that these deadlines are not met. It provides funding for, among other things, food aid to Africa and Afghanistan, veterans' health programs, and peacekeeping operations. It is a step in the right direction, and you can see a summary here or the entire text here.

The second biggest winner is the Progressive Caucus. It is no exaggeration to say that the Progressive Caucus was decisive in the debate, and the decision of its leadership to release its members to support the party by voting for the bill was absolutely the right move. Make no mistake: the Progressive Caucus could have torpedoed the bill, but to exercise its power in such a manner would have been grossly counterproductive for the party and for the nation. The Caucus was able to extract important concessions from leadership and ultimately did the right thing by releasing -- though not pressuring or forcing -- enough members for the bill to pass.

For those legislators who have opposed the Iraq war from the beginning -- and done so by refusing to vote to allocate funding for it -- this bill was an impossible choice: having to choose between voting for funding for the war or beginning to establish timelines to end it. As I wrote last week, I think the bill deserved a yes vote, but I understand the reasons of some progressives who see it as enabling. In the end, progressives were heard loud and clear, and they helped their party at the same time.

Honestly, the fact that the Progressive Caucus was organized and disciplined enough to whip this vote is impressive in itself. Progressives, long disorganized (and, accordingly, marginalized) are becoming a force to be reckoned with in Congress, and I hope they will continue to act this judiciously in the ongoing efforts to secure our defense and our foreign policy by changing the course in Iraq. Read More......

Iran "interrogates" captive British Marines

Too bad Tony Blair's bestest buddy George Bush threw out the Geneva Conventions. They might have come in handy right about now. Read More......

Even more Romney flip-flops on gays, stem cells, abortion, environment - this is bad

This is bad for Romney. We can now add the environment to the litany of issues that Mitt Romney suddenly flip-flopped on in the past few years, once he decided he wanted to run for president. But it's worse than that. Remember how Romney now claims that his views on stem cell research have changed (he's now opposed) because of a shocking personal experience? Well, he claimed the same thing a few years ago as justification for why he supported stem cell research - yes, another shocking personal experience.

And in many cases, he said his commitment had been cemented by watching the suffering of someone dear to him: a grandchild whose asthma left him worried about air pollution; his wife's multiple sclerosis, which had him placing hope in embryonic stem cell research; the death of a distant relative in an illegal abortion, convincing him that the procedure needed to remain legal.

All of Romney's liberal views were based on shocking personal experiences, then he decided to run for president and came up with new shocking personal experiences that could justify him wooing the far-right of the Republican party. This guy is a snake.

Oh yeah, more on the snake being uber pro-gay just four years ago.

He met gay-rights activists on their turf, in a restaurant attached to a popular gay bar, and told skeptics he would be a "good voice" and a moderating force within his party.

Then there's this:

"There's a benefit to simplicity. I'm a strong believer in stating your position and not wavering," he said at the 2002 meeting with the group, according to notes taken by then-NARAL officer Nicole Roos that were private until being shared with the Los Angeles Times.

Sure is. Read More......

"Liberals have finally joined the ranks of scoundrels like Hitler."

"By charging this big lie, liberals have finally joined the ranks of scoundrels like Hitler."

I know you are, but what am I?

That would be former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX), in his new book No Retreat, No Surrender, on being charged with violating Texas campaign-finance laws. Good to see he's learned from his mistakes. (Hat tip Bloggernista and Political Wire). Read More......

Specter has questions about Gonzales. How come no one is asking questions about Specter?

No one does sanctimonious better than Arlen Specter. He's truly one of the most pompous and arrogant Senators -- and he has a lot of competition. He was on "Meet the Press" talking about the US Attorneys scandal yesterday:

A leading GOP senator is questioning whether Attorney General Alberto Gonzales "has been candid" about the firings of eight U.S. attorneys, while another said the issue has left a "cloud" over the Justice Department chief.

Sen. Arlen Specter, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, told NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday that Gonzales would have a chance to "present his case" but had some explaining to do. The attorney general is scheduled to appear before the committee April 17.

Tim Russert asked a lot of questions about the scandal -- but not one question about Specter's key role in the whole mess. As TPM Muckraker reported, Specter got the law changed to that allowed the Bush administration to by-pass the Senate when it replaced the fired U.S. Attorneys. Specter and his staff played a key role in changing that law.

Russert never asked Specter about that. Figures. After all, Russert was at the center of the Valerie Plame outing and never gave a full accounting as a reporter. He only did that as a witness in the trial. Read More......

VA probe finds routine mice, insect invasions, asbestos

But not to worry, it's all just normal stuff so the American vets shouldn't be concerned.

The nationwide review, ordered by Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson, reported mice at the VA Medical Center in Providence, recurring reports of flies at an outpatient clinic in Hyannis, and mismatched, stained, and broken furniture in Manchester, N.H.

VA officials yesterday described the problems as normal concerns for aging buildings, some of which are more than 75 years old. But Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, said the results of the review were a sign of bureaucratic neglect of the nation's veterans.

And of course, we have good reason to trust the VA team.

The review contained "no surprises for us," said James W. Burrows, spokesman for the VA Medical Center in Providence. Most of the problems, he continued, "were routine maintenance kinds of things from a building that's approaching 60 years old."

The mice, he said, were spotted in administrative offices and have not been seen recently.

"That's not anything new," Burrows said of the mice. "It's not uncommon to have field mice come in, especially in the winter months. We immediately brought in a pest control service."

The bugs, he said, were flies that had become a problem at the Hyannis outpatient clinic, which the Providence VA center operates.

"We continue to work with the landlord on that," said Burrows, who added that the VA is seeking a larger space for its Cape Cod clinic.

All routine conditions and clearly nothing to be alarmed over. Read More......

GOP Senators struggle with the politics of Iraq. Meanwhile, five more soldiers die.

Today's NY Times has an article about the political impact of Iraq on Republican Senate candidates. Focusing on New Hampshire's John Sununu, the piece also mentions Oregon's Gordon Smith and Minnesota's Norm Coleman. For some reason, Maine's Susan Collins missed the scrutiny of the Times although she faces the same problem:

On Monday, the Senate resumes its protracted struggle to forge an Iraq strategy. Mr. Sununu and a handful of Republicans — including those facing re-election next year and those who have expressed unhappiness with President Bush’s conduct of the war but are uncomfortable with the idea of setting a date for withdrawal — find themselves searching for balance as they juggle three tasks: responding to the frustrations of their constituents, resisting the demands of antiwar Democrats and not entirely abandoning the White House.

“The issue is difficult for everybody,” Mr. Sununu said in an interview. “My goal is to do what I can to help get the policy right.”

What Sununu means is he's trying to get the politics right. For the Republicans and their President who are responsible for the Iraq war, it's always been a political issue first. They've never had a real policy, but they've had a lot of campaign slogans. And, no matter how poorly Bush has managed the war, the GOP has made loyalty to their President the top priority.

Meanwhile, in Iraq, far from the political handwringing among the GOPers in D.C., the soldiers that George Bush sent to Iraq continue to die:

Five U.S. soldiers were killed on Sunday by roadside bomb attacks in Iraq, the U.S. military said in a statement.

Four soldiers were killed north of Baghdad in Diyala, a restive province where U.S. commanders recently asked for more troops to fight al Qaeda and other militants.

Two more soldiers were wounded in the attack.

A fifth soldier was killed by a roadside bomb in northwest Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

The deaths bring to at least 75 the number of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq this month.

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Monday Morning Open Thread

What does this week hold? Does Alberto Gonzales last the week? Of course George Bush supports him. Bush doesn't think there's anything wrong with lying to the American people or Congress. He does it all the time.

Start threading. Read More......

West trying to build alliances with existing Zimbabwe politicians

Sensing the end of the line for Mugabe and his disastrous policies, ZANU-PF (ruling party) politicians are building bridges with western countries who are keen to move into the post-Mugabe period. Both sides find advantages, as Mugabe has become unpredictable and vindictive with anyone who he thinks might challenge his authority and the western nations are able to plug into the ruling party without pushing for complete revolution. There are continuing doubts by the western nations that the main opposition party MDC can be effective in organizing or capitalizing on the momentum against Mugabe's rule.

Whether this campaign works is another question as the issue of who can best represent the people of Zimbabwe, but if nothing else this should help move Zimbabwe to free(er) elections in the near term without large the more typical rampant voter fraud in opposition areas. It just might also help avoid bloodshed in a country that is fed up and angry. Read More......

Detroit and Bush, still clueless with environment

Today's meeting between Bush and the Big Auto makers from Detroit gives us a clue as to just how clueless the whole lot of them are. Bush is eager to show that he's not a complete idiot when it comes to global warming, though the results are predictable, with Bush promoting the option that is at best years away, stinks of massive government welfare to corporate farmers and raises too many environmental and social disruption issues to even count.

On the other hand, we have Detroit, eager to show that they're not run by a bunch of complete fools who have been passed by Japan and Europe with new fuel efficient cars and hybrids. Detroit wants to show the world that they can build bio-fuel cars, but of course, why even tell everyone that you can produce X amount when the available fuel for X doesn't exist and won't likely exist for at least ten years in any meaningful amount, possibly never beyond small numbers? Ugh.

Meanwhile, the rest of the competition continues to move ahead, years ahead of the dinosaurs, delivering cars that consumers want and tapping in to the strong interest in our global environment. Read More......

Sci-fi Channel, way to kill Battlestar Galactica

SPOILER WARNING.

Just watched the season finale of Battlestar Galactica. All I can say is, good riddance. Never has a TV show gone from brilliance to crap in such short order. It's only the third season and they have already destroyed one of the best television shows ever. It's as if the writers all suffered a mass aneurysm this year. It's not even the same writers, it can't be (I think they moved the real writers over to the new spin-off - of course, if these are still the original writers, then they're really in trouble). It's 2am on a Monday morning, so I'm permitting myself a little latitude to vent about a TV show most of you probably haven't watched. But I love TV, and I know TV. This series was amazing television. And now it's pathetic, predictable, nauseatingly unbelievable crap. I just can't understand how something so good could so quickly turn so awful.

The show is now off-the-air for 9 months. And I'm not sure I care.

PS Okay, it's all making sense now. Check out this interview with the executive producer over at Salon.com. Basically, he says that a lot of the show is him just winging it and changing things at the last minute, "organically."

Do you have story arcs plotted out over the whole series or over the season, and how much of it do you decide as you go along?

A good amount of it is improvised in terms of how we develop story, which is how I like to do it. At the beginning of the season, we arc out about 10 episodes.

And this:

We'll get different ideas or get inspiration in the middle of a scene I'm writing and think, "Oh, know what? We should make a hard left turn here." Then all the planning goes out the window and we have to make a change on the fly.... You think you've laid out a path, but as you do it you find that there's this other more interesting path to get there. It causes chaos and you have to scramble to change things that you've already set in motion. But I find that it's just a more organic way to do it.

And this:

In this season's finale, I decided on the fly to give Laura her cancer back. It's been bubbling in the back of my mind for a while. When we cured her cancer in the second season, I knew I didn't want that to be a permanent thing. I knew at some point I wanted to bring it back, because we'd changed her character in a way I wasn't happy with. But it wasn't until I was sitting down doing a rewrite of the finale that I decided this is the moment, let's do it. Tigh losing his eye was done in the same way. I was writing the teaser for the season opener and I decided on the fly that Tigh's lost an eye. That became a huge thing for the character and shifted a lot of things in the show. It just worked.

That explains a lot. He just changes major parts of the plot on a moment's notice, at the last minute. Well, I got news for you. It shows.

Oh, and as for the eye-thing being a "huge deal" for Tigh's character, all he's missing is a parrot on his shoulder. What were you thinking? Read More......