Open Thread

Keep stirring the pot. Read More......

Bush's new Iraq spin is back to the old Iraq spin: It's Saddam's fault

Bush has run out of excuses for the failure in Iraq. He's gone back to blaming Saddam:

In his third speech this month to bolster public support for the war, Bush worked to counter critics who say the U.S. presence in the wartorn nation is fueling the insurgency.

Bush said that Saddam was a tyrant and used violence to exacerbate sectarian divisions to keep himself in power, and that as a result, deep tensions persist to this day.

"The enemies of a free Iraq are employing the same tactics Saddam used, killing and terrorizing the Iraqi people in an effort to foment sectarian division," Bush said.

Yes, this mess has nothing to do with Bush's obsession with invading Iraq without a plan. It's easier to blame Saddam than think about a solution. Still using Saddam as the excuse for the mess in 2006 is so weak. Read More......

Ann Coulter's legal troubles continue

Oh, this is almost too good....Crooks and Liars has an update on Ann Coulter's legal trouble -- for voting irregularities -- down in Palm Beach County. If she broke the law, throw the book at her. Put her in jail. Surely, that's what tough talking Ann would recommend. Keep your fingers crossed -- she could end up being someone's bitch. Read More......

McCain: I was against the anti-gay amendment til Jerry Falwell said I was for it

You know how the press makes it seem like John McCain is somehow a moderate, despite his very conservative voting record? One issue that did set McCain apart from the other right wing whackos was his opposition to the anti-gay constitutional amendment. Those days may be over now that he's making nice with renowned gay basher Jerry Falwell.

Well, that is if Falwell is believable. Think Progress has the details via ABC News:

When McCain accepted an invitation to be Liberty University's graduation speaker, he spoke with Falwell by phone about the marriage issue. According to Falwell, McCain is not pushing for a federal marriage amendment at this time. But McCain "reconfirmed" to Falwell that he would support a federal constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman if a federal court were to strike down state constitutional bans on gay marriage.

If Falwell is right then McCain is willing to throw the gay and lesbian community under the bus just to to get an invite to speak at Falwell's college.

McCain isn't quoted in the ABC News article which was posted yesterday. I just did a google news search and didn't find any articles that have McCain saying anything to contradict Falwell. "Straight Talk" McCain sure knows a lot of the traditional media. One of them needs to ask what his version of this story is. Otherwise, McCain is letting Falwell speak for him. Read More......

Update from John

So John made it to the big Radio and TV Gallery dinner. There were some glitches getting him there -- including a wardrobe malfunction, but it all worked out.

He just called with a few fun updates already. The best one is that he just introduced himself to Wesley Clark. They'd never met, although John did call him before he put up the post about buying Clark's cell phone records. That's what blew that story wide open. John said Clark could not have been more gracious...even said "sometimes you just have to take one for the cause." Class act. There's also been some mingling with Paula Zahn (their mother's know each other).

To me, the whole event isn't worth it if Anderson Cooper isn't there. (But, if Anderson is there, he should know that I live right around the corner from the Hilton.) Read More......

Iraqi leader defies Bush, will stay in power

The Iraqi Prime Minister wants to keep his job. The Bush administration wants him gone. He says he's staying. He should probably keep in mind what Bush did to the last leader of Iraq. Bush only has so much respect for sovereignty, especially when his poll numbers are tanking:

Facing growing pressure from the Bush administration for him to step down, Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari of Iraq vigorously asserted his right to stay in office today and warned the Americans against undue interference in Iraq's political process.

It's actually almost quaint. The Iraqi PM actually thought Bush really meant that he wanted the Iraqi people to pick their own leaders. Read More......

Open thread

Heading off to the Radio and TV Correspondents Dinner in an hour. Ugh. Shower, shave, tux. I'm a mess cleaning up.

Oh my, I just googled the dinner. This is the dinner that Bush made his WMD jokes at the other year. Oh my. Unfortunately he's on a plane to Mexico, so I'm thinking we may get Cheney. Which means Mary might be there. Now that's a photo op that'll be priceless. Read More......

It's confirmed, GOP congressional candidate faked photo of Baghdad

Then again, he is running for a felon's seat, so maybe he felt the need to fit it. More from E&P;. Read More......

Gallup: In Shift, More Americans Now Call Themselves Democrats than Republicans

This is, as E&P; says, potentially historic. For years now we've been bemoaning the fact that more people called themselves Republicans. Now, Republican has become a bad word.

God bless George Bush.

In a (perhaps) historic shift, more Americans now consider themselves Democrats than Republicans, the Gallup organization revealed today.

Republicans had gained the upper hand in recent years, but 33% of Americans, in the latest Gallup poll, now call themselves Democrats, with those favoring the GOP one point behind. But Gallup says this widens a bit more "once the leanings of Independents are taken into account."

Independents now make up 34% of the population. When asked if they lean in a certain direction, their answers pushed the Democrat numbers to 49% with Republicans at 42%. One year ago, the parties were dead even at 46% each.

Read More......

Abramoff gets almost 6 years in jail

I swear, it always happens when I'm at lunch or on travel. All the big news, it waits for me, until I leave. The only time I got asked to be on CrossFire? And this was when CrossFire was still a big deal, the hour long format. I was at lunch, no cell, buh bye.

Anyway, Jack is toast. Read More......

Fed raises rates again

Sounds like Bernanke is taking a page out of the Greenspan book by raising the rates and suggesting more to come. With the housing market showing signs of severe decline and the jobs market still delicate this may be a Greenspan-like overreaction. The market reaction to the news was decidedly negative, with stocks declining. Read More......

Scalia denies making "obscene" gesture. Great, then release the photo

No problem. Release the photo that was taken of you at the exact moment and prove it. And then explain why you ordered the photographer not to publish the photo.

Release the photo.

Release the photo.

Release the photo. Read More......

Funniest. Commercial. Ever.

Of course, the major networks are refusing to show it because it's an ad about tolerance, it's an ad about a - shhhh! - LIBERAL church. A church that isn't all about hate and bigotry. The networks, like ABC, run ads by the hateful people like the religious right group Focus on the Family - yes, ABC had no problem running a Focus on the Family ad. But ABC and the networks won't run ads by the United Church of Christ which simply talk about their church's main message, inclusion.

If that isn't a civil rights law suit, I don't know what it. The religious right would be suing these networks for violating the civil rights act, in a flash. TV networks like ABC simply cannot pick and choose which religious groups they let advertise - religious right good, United Church of Christ bad. Where are our lawsuits?

Anyway, check out this ad. Then go to the action alert and tell ABC and the other networks to stop the war on Christians. Read More......

I [heart] CBS' Lara Logan

Wow. Stunningly smart, stunningly beautiful. Just wow. Watch this piece about whether the media is being too mean on Iraq. And do watch the entire piece, she gets better and better as she goes on. The priceless moment is at the very end... Read More......

How alcohol works

Hat tip to Aaron, who caught it and TiVo'd it. Read More......

Open Thread Question

So, we know members of the White House press corps are being invited to have lemonade and a little private chat with the President. They are all making nice with each other.

But that's not what they should be doing so let's give those reporters some help. What should they ask George Bush? Read More......

The Wash. Times reporter really, really liked the President

E&P; has more on the private chit-chats Bush is having with select members of the White House press corps. Most of the reporters who went to the meeting are keeping it private. But, not the reporter from Reverend Moon's right wing rag. He not only went, he went on the record to say just how wonderful Bush is:

Several correspondents confirmed to E&P; either participating in such meetings or being invited to them, noting that at least two have been held in the past week, with one scheduled for Tuesday. Most have lasted more than an hour and at least one took place in Bush's private residence.

"It was very pleasant, he seemed very thoughtful and frank," said Stephan Dinan, a Washington Times reporter and one of about six reporters who took part in a session Monday afternoon. "It was on a wide range of stuff."

Monday's gathering also included reporters from the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, and Cox Newspapers, according to sources.

Read More......

FISA Judges doubt Bush had authority for domestic wiretapping

The judges want the President to act in a constitutional manner. What a concept in George Bush's America:

In a rare glimpse into the inner workings of the secretive court, known as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, several former judges who served on the panel also voiced skepticism at a Senate hearing about the president's constitutional authority to order wiretapping on Americans without a court order. They also suggested that the program could imperil criminal prosecutions that grew out of the wiretaps.

Judge Harold A. Baker, a sitting federal judge in Illinois who served on the intelligence court until last year, said the president was bound by the law "like everyone else." If a law like the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is duly enacted by Congress and considered constitutional, Judge Baker said, "the president ignores it at the president's peril."

Congress can't and won't deal with the simple fact that Bush broke the law. To paraphrase Judge Baker, since the president ignored the law, he should be in legal peril.

Bush broke the law. It's that simple. Read More......

Olmert and Kadima win Israeli elections

With most of the results in, Kadima has picked up 28 of 120 seats so while they have won, passing anything is not going to be easy. I had figured that the voters would be out in force but turnout was low and those who did vote were supporting a wide cast of parties outside of the traditional groups. It sounds like voter fatigue and a failure to ignite the country...something we can all relate to. Read More......

Strikes in France generate more hype but limited impact, for now

Traffic on the Metro was hardly bothered yesterday and the rains, which were very heavy at times, also seemed to limit the impact of the one day strike. With more and more people able to work from home, that probably also helped to limit the impact of the events as well. The center-right party of Chirac is in disarray, but that's nothing unusual for them and they looks ready to fold.

Villepin, the never-elected, silver-spoon-in-the-mouth PM was hoping to build his resume for the elections next year but his actions have been so incredibly unpopular that he will be lucky to maintain even a Cabinet position next year. Sarkozy, the leading candidate for next years election, has questioned Villepin's latest policy and has suggested shelving the deal until negotiations have been finished. Chirac, always in search of love from the people and sitting on approval rates in the range of Cheney's rates, has somehow managed to support both sides in the struggle. The end result is going to be the standard collapse in the face of opposition that is the hallmark of French politics.

The government is half right in the need to change the heavy employment system but like I said before, it needs to be fair to all workers, not just isolating the weakest and overlooking the large companies. The students are also half right because maintaining the status quo is not a long term strategy and looking at the demographics, they are going to be shafted even more in the coming years as the boomers retire. They have every right to be mad with the new law because they are being unfairly selected for this trial. If the government had any spine at all, this would be for everyone and not just a few slices of the economy.

Add into the mix the failed policies and post-riot reaction to the suburban problems and you have a real mess with the potential for the perfect storm. The government, with Villepin directing the show, has provided little more than talk for addressing the underlying problems with the suburban poor so that situation alone can easily trigger street problems. At this point I will be completely shocked if Villepin doesn't completely collapse on this program and Sarko will be even stronger than ever, poised to take over for the 2007 elections. Read More......

Open thread until Paris wakes up

Or at least until Chris does. Read More......

Maryland anti-gay marriage ban fails

What if you threw a jihad and nobody came. I don't think any of this bodes well for the Republicans' plan to use gay-bashing - I'm sorry, I mean Mary-Cheney-bashing - to help get out the Republican vote in the fall elections. Read More......

Media Matters action alert against the WashingtonPost.com

Any chance to take on Jim Brady, the head of WashingtonPost.com, is a-okay with me. Apparently he's not a real big fan of Jane over at Firedoglake. well, you know what, if it's a choice between Jane and the guy who hired the Republican activist plagiarist, well, I'm comfortable saying that we choose Jane.

Sic him. Read More......