An Engineer's Guide to Cats

And after this, check this one out (hat tip to reader Mirth).

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Obama hits McCain for opposing new GI Bill. McCain says GI Bill too generous, wants to help troops less.

Yes, let's make sure we're not too generous to our troops risking their lives in Afghanistan and Iraq. From Democratic nominee Barack Obama today:

There is no reason we shouldn’t pass the 21st Century GI Bill that is being debated in Congress right now. It was introduced by my friend Senator Jim Webb, a Marine who served as Navy Secretary under President Ronald Reagan.. His plan has widespread support from Republicans and Democrats. It would provide every returning veteran with a real chance to afford a college education, and it would not harm retention.

I have great respect for John McCain’s service to this country and I know he loves it dearly and honors those who serve. But he is one of the few Senators of either party who oppose this bill because he thinks it’s too generous. I couldn’t disagree more. At a time when the skyrocketing cost of tuition is pricing thousands of Americans out of a college education, we should be doing everything we can to give the men and women who have risked their lives for this country the chance to pursue the American Dream.

So I did a little more reading on this. And Obama isn't kidding. McCain says the bill gives our troops too much. Seriously. McCain is opposing Senator Webb's proposed GI Bill because it helps our troops too much. So McCain has introduced another bill that gives our troops fewer benefits. Nice.

Funny, then, that the benefits in McCain's bill fall well short of those provided by the proposal he refused to endorse. That bill, sponsored by Sens. James Webb (D-Va.) and Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), offers Iraq and Afghanistan vets full tuition, room, board and supplies at any state school, despite the cost. It also makes no distinction between active-duty troops and members of the Guard and Reserves -- a provision added in recognition of the unprecedented reliance of today's volunteer military on those service-members.

In fact, one of the central criticisms of the Webb-Hagel bill -- from both the White House and many congressional Republicans -- is that it's too generous, and therefore will encourage service-members to abandon the military in favor of college. Offer a lesser benefit package, the theory goes, and the troops are more likely to stay in their boots. (Supporters of the Webb-Hagel bill, including a number of veterans advocacy groups, say the better benefits will encourage recruitment, therefore nullifying any retention problems that might occur on the other end.)

Republicans talk about honoring our troops. Democrats actually honor them. Read the rest of this post...

F*ck It, a new song by Bill O'Reilly (kind of)

This is amazingly good. It's based on this on-the-air meltdown by Bill O'Reilly that's become an Internet hit. Read the rest of this post...

Obama hits McCain on climate change hypocrisy

McCain says he's worried about climate change, then votes against all the proposals to help alleviate it. Bad on the environment, bad for America. Read the rest of this post...

Hillary nutcracker, other paraphernalia, now half off

Not with a bang, but a sale.

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Why is AFSCME wasting its members' donations on Hillary?

It's understandable that different unions came out for different Democratic candidates. I have no complaint with that. What does bother me, however, is that some unions, like AFSCME, are continuing to spend money on Hillary's now-failed campaign. As Joe wrote the other day:

[A]t this point, putting egos aside (which is very difficult to do in politics), seems like every dollar spent on behalf of Hillary Clinton's failed campaign is not only a waste, it's money that can't be spent to defeat McCain.

It's money that can't be spent against McCain, it's money that can't be spent against every anti-union candidate in the fall. Greg Sargent reports that this is exactly what's happening. AFSCME is spending large sums of money to support Hillary in the remaining races, even though it's over, she lost.

AFSCME is going to put "real money" behind independent expenditures for ads on Hillary's behalf in remaining Democratic primary states, a union official just confirmed to me.

Why? To make Hillary feel better? We're supposed to be playing politics here, not therapy. And in AFSCME's case it's even weirder. AFSCME headquarters is spending money for Hillary in Oregon:

"We are going to be knocking on doors and making phone calls and doing direct mail and contacting our members in Kentucky and Oregon and Puerto Rico," the official said.

The AFSCME local in Oregon is supporting Obama.

AFSCME plans to mail to its members and participate in other get-out-the-vote activities both for Obama and for Jeff Merkley for U.S. Senate.

So you have AFSCME national spending money in Oregon for Hillary, and AFSCME Oregon spending money in Oregon for Obama. That's beyond idiotic, and an incredible waste of union members' money. If Hillary weren't still in this race wasting everyone's time and money, both AFSCME's could potentially save their money for the fall. This is yet another reason why Hillary's ongoing temper tantrum she calls a campaign comes with a serious cost.

When anyone says "oh, let the poor woman have her four weeks to come to terms with her grief," they're ignoring the very real fact that Hillary is forcing Obama and third parties like AFSCME and EMILY's List to waste money that they could be using against McCain, and other Republicans, in the fall. I have no problem with AFSCME picking sides (though this is the second time that AFSCME's leader, Gerald McEntee, has picked a loser - he was for Dean in 2004). I do have a problem with AFSCME jeopardizing races in the fall. Read the rest of this post...

According to AP, Clinton may be able to use those general election contributions to pay down her debt

Terry McAuliffe told MSNBC that Hillary Clinton is staying in until June 3rd. This against the backdrop of her growing mountain of debt. As John reported last night, the estimate right now is that the Clinton campaign is $20 million in debt -- and you know it's growing fast.

The best solution would be for Clinton to just face reality and drop out. But, that's not what anyone expects from the candidate AP calls the "deluded, also ran." There's already a big pool of money available to pay Clinton's debts according to the Associated Press -- all that money Hillary raised for the general election. A large number of Hillary's supporters contributed the maximum amount of $2300 to both the primary and the general election. The general election total (approximately $22 million as of March 31, 2008) is off limits for now. However, with some finagling of the system, that money may be available to Hillary to pay debts:

Money may matter, too, although arcane federal campaign finance rules appear to make it easier to pare her debts than is generally understood.

Several experienced campaign finance lawyers argue that Clinton can have her Senate campaign fund assume all debts owed to others. Then, with permission from her donors, she could transfer into the same account an estimated $22 million she has raised for the general election campaign.

That money could be used to pay down what she owes others, they said, but not the $11.4 million or more she loaned herself.

That's a much better solution than asking the rest of the Democratic party to pay for her decision to continue the ego trip. And, this may explain why Clinton is so willing to stay in the race. She can scam the system in a way that would make John McCain proud. Read the rest of this post...

Will Hillary only get 8% of the black vote?

As we approach the West Virginia and Kentucky primaries, Hillary is once again telling us that how a candidate does in a primary dictates how they will do in the general election. Meaning, if Obama loses to Hillary in the primary in a certain state, then he will lose to McCain in the fall in that state. It's total bull, but nonetheless, that's what Hillary keeps saying. So, I guess that means that no blacks will be voting for Hillary in the fall since they're not voting for her now. Specifically, Hillary will only get 8% of the black vote in the fall, dooming her candidacy, were she to be handed the nomination by the Superdelegates. The Roman Quintilian once said, "a liar should have a good memory." Meaning, you really need to keep track of your lies or they end up biting you in the ass. Marc Ambinder explores the Clintons' perverted logic. Read the rest of this post...

Congressional Republicans are freaking

There's only one hope left for GOP members of Congress. That Hillary will be our nominee and energize their troops. Of course, she won't be. But still, it's the only thing that could save them now. More from DKos.

Republicans in the U.S. Congress are petrified about a November debacle, a fear stoked on May 3, when they lost their second straight special election in a district held by Republicans.

The party's fundamental situation is terrible: Republicans are saddled with an enormously unpopular president, a war, a troubled economy and a Democratic opposition that's being energized by important constituent groups.

"The generics are as bad as anytime since I have been here," said Representative Tom Davis, a Virginia Republican and one of the most politically astute members of Congress in either party.

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O'Reilly meltdown flashback

Per Politico, CBS is yanking copies of O'Reilly's meltdown, from his Inside Edition days, off of YouTube. CBS has done this before. They don't get it. YouTube is helping to bring CBS viewers, helping to showcase its shows. Comedy Central also has a hard time dealing with this concept - publicity good, strong-armed thuggery bad. Anyway, C&L; still has it. Watch it here.

(As an off-topic aside, has anybody else noticed how sucky Firefox has gotten? Just me, or is it hogging more and more CPU, or something, as it "improves" to higher and higher numbered versions?) Read the rest of this post...

4th SuperD comes out for Obama today

Right about now, Hillary is threatening to bite Obama's legs off.

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Dear Chuck Todd, Clinton is playing you

The Washington Post reports today (via Politico) that NBC political director Chuck Todd is troubled because the Clinton team keeps accusing MSNBC of being biased towards Obama.

While the Obama camp praises Todd, relations have been more strained with top Clinton strategists, who view MSNBC as a blatantly pro-Obama network and have complained about remarks by Matthews and correspondent David Shuster, among others. Clinton aides say Todd is a straight shooter but question his ability to rein in the bigger guns at the network. Todd has told colleagues he is frustrated by the complaints and the perception that MSNBC is biased.

"That's the hardest part of this job," Todd says of fencing with the campaigns. "It's nothing but negative reinforcement: 'You guys are so in the tank for X,' or 'Why are you showing that negative ad 25 times?'"

Well, duh.

Why would this trouble you, Chuck? Do you honestly believe that the Clinton people are telling you what they honestly believe? These people don't live in the same dimension as you and I. They spin and lie relentlessly. Of course they're going to say that MSNBC is biased. They've been claiming that the entire media has been unfair to them from the beginning. Which is kind of funny since everyone in the media had been saying for a full year that Obama had no chance in hell (that in fact he had even less of a chance than Edwards), and that Hillary was clearly going to be the nominee. So, now, even if MSNBC and the media is unfairly biased towards Obama (a point I'm not conceding), how does 4 months of the media saying that Hillary is doomed compare to 12 months of the media saying Obama is doomed?

The Clintons will say anything and do anything to win, Chuck. And you know that. You can no more be troubled by a Clinton lie as you could by the sun rising in the morning. Both are inevitable, and there's nothing you can do to stop them. Read the rest of this post...

82% of Americans say country is on the wrong track

Sounds like they want a change.

Public disgruntlement neared a record high and President Bush slipped to his career low in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll.

Eighty-two percent of Americans now say the country's seriously off on the wrong track, up 10 points in the last year to a point from its record high in polls since 1973. And 31 percent approve of Bush's job performance overall, while 66 percent disapprove.

Click here for a PDF with charts and full questionnaire.
The country's mood -- and the president's ratings -- are suffering from the double whammy of an unpopular war and a faltering economy. Consistently for the last year, nearly two-thirds of Americans have said the war in Iraq was not worth fighting. And consumer confidence is near its lowest in weekly ABC News polls since late 1985....

Views on the nation's overall direction are sour across the board, again with a partisan and ideological slant: While 95 percent of Democrats and 86 percent of independents say the country's off on the wrong track, this eases to 62 percent of Republicans and 66 percent of conservatives.

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One of the young Democratic Superdels supports Obama -- finally

Per "The Page," Crystal Strait from Young Democrats endorsed Obama this past weekend. Good for her.

John wrote a post on Friday wondering why the superdelegates representing Young Dems and College Dems were still uncommitted. That doesn't make sense given that Obama has not only created enormous enthusiasm among young people, but they're also voting for him in overwhelming numbers. Yet, somehow, none of the four young DNC superdelegates had committed until Ms. Strait did this weekend.

The remaining 3 student Superdelegates, Lauren Wolfe, David Hardt and Awais Khalil, need to decide. And, their votes should reflect the work of the young voters in the Democratic party who aren't superdelegates, but are putting their hearts and souls into electing the next President. This is a no-brainer for Wolfe, Hardt and Khalil. So what are they waiting for? It's soon going to be too late, Obama will pass the 2,025 mark, and Wolfe, Hardt and Khalil will lose their chance of helping elect America's next president. Yes, our next president could owe them one. That's a hell of a missed opportunity. Read the rest of this post...

Bob Barr to run as a Libertarian

Do we care? Will Barr take Republican votes (he's an arch-conservative former Republican member of Congress who recently discovered the Constitution) or Democratic votes? A few percentage points matter nowadays. Then again, Barr comes off as awfully evil when he's on camera (which favors Republican voters). Are they going to put him on stage with McCain and Obama during the debates? Should they? Read the rest of this post...

Winner of MoveOn ad campaign

It's very good.

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Obama has picked up 20 SuperDs since Tuesday, Hillary has picked up 1.5

As for the rest of the uncommitted SuperDelegates, you have a choice. Support Obama now and tick off Hillary, or support him later and tick off Obama. Let me put this more clearly, you can either tick off a former president or the next president. Guess which one has more power.

From MSNBC:

Maine congressman and candidate for U.S. Senate Tom Allen announced his support for Obama this morning, bringing the Illinois senator within one of taking the lead in the NBC News superdelegate count.

Obama has now picked up 20 superdelegates since last Tuesday's contests in North Carolina and Indiana. Clinton has netted 1.5 since then.

The NBC NEWS delegate counts:
PLEDGED: Obama 1,590, Clinton 1,426
SUPERS: Clinton 276.5, Obama 276
TOTAL: Obama 1,866, Clinton 1,702.5

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5,000 may be dead in Chinese earthquake

Wow. As an aside, this BBC clip, below, talks about some town near Tibet that I've never heard of. It has a population of 10m. That's amazing. China's "other" towns, you know, the little ones we've never even heard of, are as large as our largest city. It reminds me of a story my old boss, Ted Stevens, used to tell (yeah, I worked for Stevens almost 20 years ago now, get over it). He tells how he had a meeting with the then-leader of China, Deng Xiaoping, and how Stevens asked what the population was of China. Deng said "around a billion, give or take 20%." Stevens replied, "Mr. Premiere, do you realize that your rounding error is the size of our entire population?" Deng replied, "yes, Senator, but do YOU?"

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Hillary supporter Ed Koch wins 4 Monicas for pulling the Israel card, and Farrakhan and Wright, and then saying Obama will lose to McCain

As you may know, we here at AMERICAblog are now awarding Hillary and her team a special prize every time they cross the line of decency and attack Democratic nominee Obama in a way that could hurt his chances against McCain in the fall. Our award is called a "Monica," and the Hillary team member will earn between one and five Monicas, based on the severity of their sleaze. This morning's Monica goes to former NY Mayor Ed Koch.

Hillary supporter Ed Koch is now claiming that since Obama criticized Hillary for saying that if she becomes president she'll "obliterate" Iran in a nuclear fireball (she actually said she'd nuke 'em), this means Obama isn't a friend of Israel. No, Obama just has a problem with indiscriminately nuking millions of innocent men, women and children for a few votes. (In all fairness to Hillary, she was actually for nuking Iran before she was against it, though now, apparently, since she lost the election and is desperate, nuking Iran is back on the agenda. It's so hard to keep track with a Clinton.)

You'd have thought Hillary would have learned her lesson by now - you don't support going to war simply to prove you're a tough guy in the next election. And don't forget, Hillary didn't just say she'd nuke Iran for Israel, she also said she'd nuke Iran if they attacked Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt and other Arab countries in the region. Yes, Hillary is willing to start a nuclear war for Jordan, and for the despots in Saudi Arabia. Think about that. I'm not too sure a nuclear war on Israel's border is the best way to guarantee Israel's long-term survival.

Koch goes on to mention Louis Farrakhan, Rev. Wright, and then says that we can't trust Obama to defend America against Islamic terrorists. Way to go, Hillary, that should help our party a lot in the fall against McCain when our nominee, Barack Obama, has to take on John McCain. But then again, you don't really care about the fall election, do you? Oh, and just a few days ago, Koch said outright that Obama will lose in the fall to McCain. Nice, very nice, Hillary.

So, we award Hillary supporter Ed Koch, who's obviously doing this at Hillary's request, 4 Monicas for trying to destroy Democratic nominee Obama's support in the Jewish community vis-a-vis McCain in the fall, for dredging up Farrakhan and Rev. Wright, and for outright telling the world that our nominee can't win. Remember, McCain has Lieberman claiming that McCain is better for Israel (and American Jews), so Koch's words, Hillary' strategy, could seriously damage Obama in the fall with a key Democratic constituency (American Jews support Obama over McCain 2-1, but that doesn't mean Hillary won't try to change that). But Hillary doesn't care, and neither do our congressional leaders, the DNC, or the superdelegates. They'll let Hillary's fairy tale drag out for another month in order to keep Hillary happy because, you know, she's very fragile. Read the rest of this post...

Two-family Fossella running for re-election.

Vito Fossella not only isn't retiring, he's running for re-election. From NY1:

Despite calls for him to resign, it seems embattled Congressman Vito Fossella will be fighting to keep his seat on Capitol Hill in November.

A high-ranking Republican source on Staten Island told NY1 Saturday that Fossella plans to run for re-election. It would be his sixth term.

The source also told NY1 that Fossella is surprised some of his GOP colleagues in the borough are being mentioned as potential replacements should he step down.

And you have to love the quote from his spokesperson:

A Fossella spokeswoman told NY1, "Congressman Fossella appreciates the support of so many people...but he has not made any decision yet. He continues to spend time with his family."

Which one? Read the rest of this post...

AP examines the fall of the Clinton campaign

I suspect that over the next few weeks, we'll see many articles deconstructing how the Clinton campaign collapsed. AP's analysis looks at the obvious, but it's going to get really ugly when the top Clinton aides all start trashing each other:

These are some of the paradoxes and missed opportunities that will be examined by the cottage industry sure to arise to explore the what-ifs of Clinton's campaign.

By now, it's common knowledge that she planned to wrap up the nomination in early February. It was a reasonable assumption in 2007 but there wasn't much of a Plan B when that didn't work out in 2008.

"Her inevitability was based on a concept that no one would have the gumption or the resources or drive to get in - anyone with serious chances," Dick Harpootlian, a former South Carolina Democratic chairman and Barack Obama supporter, said after her Super Tuesday strategy fell short.

"They had an inevitability strategy, which was sort of a political Maginot line. It was illusionary. You just went around it, and, you know, Barack Obama did that."

David Gergen, a senior adviser to a succession of presidents from both parties, thought she was not well served by her team, citing "elements of malpractice in this campaign."

Malpractice is an understatement. But, Demcocrats being Democrats, the worst offenders on the campaign staff will go on to make a lot of money working for other Democrats. It's the "screw up/move up" mentality. And, with so much at stake, the blame game will be fierce. Read the rest of this post...

Monday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

It's been raining hard in D.C. for a day. My dog will not go out in the rain. Just won't.

So, what are the odds Hillary drops out this week? I say close to zero. Although, NBC's Andrea Mitchell just reported that Clinton supporters are saying she should get out this week -- after West Virginia. Interesting, but will Clinton listen? It might come down to money. How much more debt is she accumulating during this ego trip?

Meanwhile, in the real world, the battle begins with McCain. Let's get to it.

Start threading... Read the rest of this post...

Hillary's campaign is $20m in debt

And I seem to remember hearing it costs $1m a day to run a campaign. Hillary's fairy tale comes with a cost. At this point, she's simply bluffing. But it's not clear what she's trying to win. She's not stupid, she knows she lost the nomination. So then what is she doing? Trying to suck up to MI and FL for the next election in 2012? Trying to hurt Obama out of revenge? Trying to become Obama's VP? Trying to assuage her ego by finishing up all the primaries, to hell with how much damage she does the party? I suspect it's all of the above, plus staying on deck in case Obama gets hit by a meteor. In any case, stories like this will only accelerate her campaign's demise. Read the rest of this post...