Not too long ago, Hillary Clinton was quite prepared for the process to end without most states having voted

Hillary Clinton has recently become the most ardent advocate for the long primary process:

She has taken the calls for her to quit and re-cast them as attempts to disenfranchise the voters. In making it clear that Mrs. Clinton is not dropping out, Maggie Williams, her campaign manager, evoked a moment that for Democrats was a searing injustice: “The last time that we were told we’d better cut the process short or the sky would fall was when the Supreme Court stopped the recount in 2000.”

Always the overly dramatic responses from the Clinton campaign. And, they really do have no long term memory because, actually, Maggie Williams, your boss was very happy to cut the process short just a couple months ago. She said it would be over February 5th -- and seemed quite pleased with that prospect.
What a difference a couple months makes. Jed, of course, has the video: Read the rest of this post...

UBS, employer of McCain's economic guru Phil Gramm, takes another subprime hit. Gramm said he didn't know about UBS had subprime holdings.

So much for the theory that the worst is behind us in the first quarter. UBS is writing down an additional $19 billion but they won't be the last to deliver hideous numbers this quarter.

Phil Gramm, McCain's economic guru, is the Vice Chair of UBS -- and he claims he knew nothing about the company's subprime holdings:

The spiraling crisis in the credit and housing markets has kept Gramm in focus, fairly or not. His employer, UBS, revealed yesterday that investment losses tied to the U.S. housing market reached $37 billion over the last six months. For the last three months, UBS posted a $12 billion loss.

Gramm, UBS's vice chairman, said yesterday he was "totally unaware" of his bank's massive holdings of securities tied to subprime mortgages, but, he added, "I'm confident we'll recover."

And, he's going to help McCain run the economy? Gramm's whopper earned him the designation "liar" at The Stump. Read the rest of this post...

DC Attorney General targeting Rev. Yearwood...again

Rev. Lennox Yearwood is the president of the Hip Hop Caucus. You may recognize him as Joe's cohort in delivering some 32,000 petition signatures to the FEC on Monday in protest of John McCain's violating campaign finance law.

According to CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington), the DC Attorney General - frustrated by having to dismiss earlier fabricated charges against Rev. Yearwood - has filed new, trumped-up charges stemming from the Reverend's participation in a protest last October:

Previously, Rev. Yearwood had been charged with assault on a police officer and disorderly conduct when he attempted to attend a September 11, 2007 House hearing during which General David Petraeus was scheduled to testify about the Iraq war. While Rev. Yearwood’s attorney, Melanie Sloan of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, was able to persuade the U.S. Attorney’s office to quickly dismiss the assault charge, the Attorney General’s office insisted on proceeding with the disorderly conduct charge. Only on the day of trial, February 25, 2008, when it was clear that Rev. Yearwood was prepared to put on a full defense, did the Attorney General’s office agree to dismiss the charges.

At the same time the Assistant Attorney General conceded that it had no case against Rev. Yearwood for his conduct on September 11th, in retaliation, the Assistant announced the government’s intention to bring new charges against Rev. Yearwood stemming from his participation in the October 22nd protest.

CREW says Rev. Yearwood plans to fight the charges and defend all Americans' right to protest the government. Doesn't the DC AG have better things to do? Read the rest of this post...

Bernake uses the R-word: "A recession is possible"

The Fed Chair testified on Capitol Hill today:

For the first time, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke acknowledged the U.S. could reel into recession from the powerful punches of housing, credit and financial crises. Yet, he was coy about the Fed's next move.

With home foreclosures swelling to record highs and job losses mounting, Bernanke on Wednesday offered Congress an unflinching - and more pessimistic - assessment of potential damage to the national economy.

"A recession is possible," said Bernanke, who is under immense political and public pressure to turn things around. "Our estimates are that we're slightly growing at the moment, but we think that there's a chance that for the first half as a whole there might be a slight contraction."

And John McCain doesn't know anything about the economy. Read the rest of this post...

At meeting with Superdelegates in CA this past weekend, "a red-faced, finger-pointing [Bill] Clinton erupted"

Someone needs to take his own advice. For the past couple weeks, Bill Clinton has been telling everyone to "chill out." That was his public message in California again this past weekend. But, behind closed doors, a different Bill Clinton emerged:

In fact, before his speech Clinton had one of his famous meltdowns Sunday, blasting away at former presidential contender Bill Richardson for having endorsed Obama, the media and the entire nomination process.

"It was one of the worst political meetings I have ever attended," one superdelegate said.

According to those at the meeting, Clinton - who flew in from Chicago with bags under his eyes - was classic old Bill at first, charming and making small talk with the 15 or so delegates who gathered in a room behind the convention stage.

But as the group moved together for the perfunctory photo, Rachel Binah, a former Richardson delegate who now supports Hillary Clinton, told Bill how "sorry" she was to have heard former Clinton campaign manager James Carville call Richardson a "Judas" for backing Obama.

It was as if someone pulled the pin from a grenade.

"Five times to my face (Richardson) said that he would never do that," a red-faced, finger-pointing Clinton erupted.

The former president then went on a tirade that ran from the media's unfair treatment of Hillary to questions about the fairness of the votes in state caucuses that voted for Obama. It ended with him asking delegates to imagine what the reaction would be if Obama was trailing by just 1 percent and people were telling him to drop out.

"It was very, very intense," said one attendee. "Not at all like the Bill of earlier campaigns."

When he finally wound down, Bill was asked what message he wanted the delegates to take away from the meeting.

At that point, a much calmer Clinton outlined his message of party unity.

Seems Bill should be heeding his own advice. This does not sound like the voice of a winning campaign. Generally speaking, screaming at potential supporters is a bad policy. It's standard operating procedure for Team Clinton, from Bill on down.

Also, in an op-ed in yesterday's Washington Post, Bill Richardson denied telling Bill Clinton that he was supporting Hillary:

Carville and others say that I owe President Clinton's wife my endorsement because he gave me two jobs. Would someone who worked for Carville then owe his wife, Mary Matalin, similar loyalty in her professional pursuits? Do the people now attacking me recall that I ran for president, albeit unsuccessfully, against Sen. Clinton? Was that also an act of disloyalty?

And while I was truly torn for weeks about this decision, and seriously contemplated endorsing Sen. Clinton, I never told anyone, including President Clinton, that I would do so. Those who say I did are misinformed or worse.

Guess that means one of the parties isn't quite telling the truth. Hmmm.

I'd really rather be writing posts about John McCain's explosive temper and John McCain's tirades. But, we are where we are right now because Hillary and Bill won't accept that she's lost. Read the rest of this post...

AP: Senator Stabenow's hubby paid for sex

Senator Debbie Stabenow's (D-Michigan) husband admits having paid a prostitute $150 for oral sex in a motel room:

Officers said they saw [Thomas] Athans enter the room Feb. 26 and leave 15 minutes later, and they stopped him and informed him of the investigation.

He told the officers he had used the Internet to make a date with a prostitute and paid her $150 for oral sex at the motel, the report said.

Evidence the cost of living is indeed cheaper in Michigan than New York.

(I know. I know. I just couldn't resist. Sorry.) Read the rest of this post...

A slew of polls from Pennsylvania show a closer than expected playing field

With just under three weeks to go til the Pennsylvania primary, there's a lot of air space to fill. Naturally, the state polls provide plenty of fodder. And, this week, there are a slew of polls to examine.

Over the past two days, four Pennsylvania polls have been released. Rasmussen caused a stir yesterday when it showed Clinton's lead had dropped to five: 47 - 42. Shortly thereafter, SurveyUSA released a poll giving Clinton a 12-point lead: 53 - 41 (down from her expected 19 point margin of victory). This morning, Quinnipiac gave its latest numbers for PA - Clinton was up by 9: 50 - 41. Then, this morning, came Public Policy Polling (PPP) with the first poll showing Obama in the lead, 45 - 43. The PPP lead for Clinton was 26 points a couple weeks ago. The PPP poll has a lot of people scratching their heads.

So what does it mean? Good question. Keep in mind that Pennsylvania is supposed to be Clinton's ultimate firewall state. She's not only supposed to win -- we've all been lead to believe she is going to win BIG -- like 15 - 20 points big. PA has to be a blowout for Clinton.

There are still 20 days til primary day. But, seems like this week, Pennsylvania got a lot more interesting. The big question is whether Clinton can meet the high expectations that her campaign has set.

And, I find it helpful to watch the trendline on Pollster.com:
Read the rest of this post...

McCain's Pork

Following Jacki's post from earlier today --

John McCain will probably brag he does not have a single entry in the "Congressional Pig Book", yet he is willing to spend $12 billion a month in Iraq.

Which is worse?

Total cost of all pork in 2008: $17.2 Billion

Cost of War in Iraq in 2008: $144 Billion

And the $144 Billion won't build anything here at home, which is exactly what most of that pork does. Read the rest of this post...

Be a Pig! Be a Pig!

Citizens Against Government Waste is out with its annual "Congressional Pig Book" today. Here's the lowdown on this past year's pork:

In fiscal year 2008, Congress stuffed 11,610 projects (the second highest total ever) worth $17.2 billion into the 12 appropriations bills. That is a 337 percent increase over the 2,658 projects in fiscal year 2007, and a 30 percent increase over the $13.2 billion total in fiscal year 2007. Alaska led the nation with $556 in pork per capita ($380 million total), followed by Hawaii with $221 ($283 million) and North Dakota with $208 ($133 million).

You can search the database by state, party, bill, keyword, or member of Congress. Here's how CAGW rates pork:

As in previous years, all of the items in the Congressional Pig Book Summary meet at least one of CAGW’s seven criteria, but most satisfy at least two:

• Requested by only one chamber of Congress;
• Not specifically authorized;
• Not competitively awarded;
• Not requested by the President;
• Greatly exceeds the President’s budget request or the previous
year ’s funding;
• Not the subject of congressional hearings; or
• Serves only a local or special interest.

Senator Thad Cochran (R-MS) is this year's big pig topping the Senate list at 245 projects for a grand total of $892.2 million dollars. On the House side, Mississippi's former Representative-now-Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS) racked up the most cash at $176.3 mil, but Steny Hoyer (D-MD) has reportedly packed in the most projects at 98 for a total of $149.1 million.

The good journalist in me is required to point out that pork is often subjective, and when you call these offices to get reaction to the pig book, you often get well-crafted and reasonable explanations for even the most seemingly frivolous expenditures. Read the rest of this post...

Dept. of Justice: Bush is above the law and torture laws don't apply

Today, the Washington Post revealed the actual contents of a memo from top Dept. of Justice official John Yoo that authorized torture and, basically, said the President is above the law:

The Justice Department sent a legal memorandum to the Pentagon in 2003 asserting that federal laws prohibiting assault, maiming and other crimes did not apply to military interrogators who questioned al-Qaeda captives because the president's ultimate authority as commander in chief overrode such statutes.

The 81-page memo, which was declassified and released publicly yesterday, argues that poking, slapping or shoving detainees would not give rise to criminal liability. The document also appears to defend the use of mind-altering drugs that do not produce "an extreme effect" calculated to "cause a profound disruption of the senses or personality."

Although the existence of the memo has long been known, its contents had not been previously disclosed.

From the ACLU, to whom we all owe thanks and gratitude for having the letter made public:

A secret memo authored by the Department of Justice (DOJ) asserting that President Bush has unlimited power to order brutal interrogations to extract information from detainees was declassified today as a result of an American Civil Liberties Union Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. The memo, written by John Yoo, then a deputy at the DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), was sent to the Defense Department in March 2003.

"Senior officials at the Justice Department gave the Pentagon the green light to torture prisoners," said Amrit Singh, an ACLU staff attorney. "It is outrageous that none of these high-level officials have been brought to task yet for their role in authorizing prisoner abuse."

A similar OLC memo asserting the same kind of unchecked executive authority was sent to the CIA in August 2002. In that now-notorious document, torture was defined so narrowly that it encompassed only those methods that result in pain akin to that associated with "death, organ failure or the permanent impairment of a significant body function."

In many respects, the March 2003 memo released today parrots the advice previously given to the CIA. In other ways, however, the 2003 memo goes even further. For example, it argues — without any qualification — that, during wartime, the president's Commander-in-Chief power overrides the due process guarantee of the Fifth Amendment.

As bad as the Bush administration is and has been, it's actually quite stunning to see in writing the disregard for the Constitution. The ACLU has posted a pdf of the memo here.

As you can imagine, there is already an enormous amount of commentary online from some of those really great minds who have followed this issue closely. Glenn Greenwald titles his analysis "John Yoo's War Crimes." Christy Hardin Smith writes:

As I'm reading through the Yoo memorandum, I have to keep pausing to clear my head or get up and walk for a while. It's going to be a long day with a pot of tea, and I've already got a pounding headache from my first skim through. Thus far, I'm reading it as "might makes right." Oy.

Marcy Wheeler invites us to participate in the "The “John Yoo, Let’s Pretend We’re Lawyers” Game" and find a reference to the case that determined Presidential powers during wartime, Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer. That case actually limited the power of the president.

Currently, Mr. Yoo is teaching law at UC Berkeley. How does one teach law when one doesn't think the Constitution matters? Just asking. Read the rest of this post...

Co-chair of 9/11 Commission endorses Obama

From Bloomberg:

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has won the endorsement of one of his party's top foreign policy figures, Lee Hamilton, who hails from Indiana, home to one of the next crucial primary votes.

Hamilton, a former U.S. House member who co-chaired the commission that investigated the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and headed the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, said he was impressed by Obama's approach to national security and foreign policy.

``I read his national security and foreign policy speeches, and he comes across to me as pragmatic, visionary and tough,'' Hamilton said in an interview. ``He impresses me as a person who wants to use all the tools of presidential power.''

Read the rest of this post...

Don't mess with Rachel Maddow

Love Rachel Maddow. She's willing to call out John McCain on the facts, yes facts. Meanwhile the rest of the sycophants punditry continue to fawn all over him:
Read the rest of this post...

Wednesday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

What's the news today?

I did watch a report by NBC's Kelly O'Donnell on John McCain this morning. She talked about his fundraising efforts, but failed to mention McCain is breaking the law. Big surprise. Now that campaign finance issue might be too complicated for O'Donnell, which is plausible. More likely, she just likes riding on the bus with McCain and hearing his stories. Editors and producers should be on the lookout for that behavior from their reporters. That happened in 2000 when Bush gave reporters nicknames -- and they all LOVED it. Don't think it didn't warp the coverage. If you don't think it's happening, read Glenn Greenwald's post, "The guys from the Politico brought my mom flowers" -- and watch the video by Meghan McCain.

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

Jay Leno apologizes for nasty gay joke

Good. Background here. Read the rest of this post...