Open thread

They're baaaaaack.

You gotta admit, he's good. (We're not going to post as many YouTube vids live as YouTube and Firefox browsers apparently have a conflict that is screwing up our blog and many other sites. Perhaps some day YouTube and Blogger will address this problem. A girl can dream.) Read the rest of this post...

Mark "Do I Make You Horny?" Foley is the belle of the ball in Florida high society

Seriously messed up people (and Republicans, no less):

"Everybody loves Mark. He's fine now," Sullivan says.

Really? Would you let him babysit your son? Read the rest of this post...

Roman porn star runs for city hall

God I love Italy :-) And here are her campaign posters that AP didn't bother including in their story. You might recall that in the 1980s, Italy had a porn star in the parliament, good ole Cicciolina. Read the rest of this post...

All 3 networks slam Bill Clinton over Bosnia lie

NBC

ABC

CBS Read the rest of this post...

Bush approval averages 28.3%

From Pollster.com:

President Bush's approval trend has taken a sharp downturn in recent weeks, to fall to a new low for the administration at 28.3%. This follows a lengthy period of stable approval at around 32-33%.

Recent polls from Gallup and AP/Ipsos put approval at 28%, a new low for the Gallup poll. Harris recently found approval at 26% while CBS News put approval at 28%. Pew similarly has approval at 28%, though the Diageo/Hotline result for registered voters (as opposed to adults in the other polls) has approval at 35%, the only recent poll over 30%.

This chart from Pollster.com is fascinating. And, McCain wants to be Bush. Okay.

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McCain's "record" on campaign finance is going to be a criminal record

John McCain can't raise campaign money, no one is donating to him. So, he's planning to enter the public finance system for the general election (this, after he just pulled out of the campaign finance system, after having gone in last fall) - and is trying to goad Obama into joining him. But, McCain isn't in a position to challenge anyone on campaign finance. McCain is a campaign finance criminal. It's not that complicated, but reporters can't seem to grasp it. Given McCain's criminality (breaking the public finance spending cap is a criminal offense publishable by up to 5 years in prison), it's the height of hypocrisy for McCain to challenge anyone on campaign finance these days:

"I have a record on reform; Senator Obama has rhetoric on reform," McCain said, adding that the current system "needs further reform."

"I would be glad to join him on reform," McCain told reporters Friday in Lubbock, Texas. "That doesn't change the fact that he committed a year ago to public financing if I would. In direct contradiction to his rhetoric, he's now saying well, he may not do it."

Okay, that doesn't change the fact that McCain is breaking the campaign finance laws by trying to scam the public financing system, which, of course, was not included in Jim Kuhnhenn's article for AP. Of course.

The NY Times blog, The Caucus, acknowledged McCain had campaign finance issues of his own, noting:

[McCain] drew criticism earlier this year when he backed away from public financing for the primary elections.

The reporter, Michael Cooper, apparently buys the McCain campaign's spin that he can unilaterally withdraw from the system. He can't , according to the (Republican) chair of the FEC.

Obama can't trust McCain's words on campaign finance - McCain was in, then he was out (illegally), now he looks like he's going back in again because he's incapable of raising a dime. McCain's actions on public financing during the primaries speaks louder than any of his words. Read the rest of this post...

AP calls Hillary to account for lying about her NAFTA stance

There was sniper fire in the White House as Hillary and Bill were discussing NAFTA.... Read the rest of this post...

Lehman Brothers does it again, but with Federal Reserve help

Will anyone in Congress, White House or Federal Reserve ever learn? Lehmen Brothers, rumored to be the next Bear Stearns only weeks ago and who just downplayed the seriousness of the subprime loss (surely by coincidence) has just used some more "innovative" financing to move a few billion of absolute shite into cash to help their books, all courtesy of the American taxpayer. Great. Just as they played games and took the country (and beyond) into this recession with funny business, they're doing it again but this time with the backing of the hapless Bernanke and Federal Reserve.

We bail out this bunch of bums and to say "thanks" they do it again. Does anyone in Washington have any common sense? Are they going to let Wall Street pull these games forever? Read the rest of this post...

My interview with a big French magazine about American blogs and the elections

UPDATE: And for what it's worth, here's the Italian take from the class I taught at the university in Urbino, Italy - a beautiful medieval city, top of a mountain, walled in, just amazing. The student newspaper reported on my talk. (It's in Italian, but I know some of you speak it.)

My trip to Europe over the past month was a working trip. In addition to doing a panel discussion and a workshop about online advocacy and blogs at the annual conference of the lead (liberal) opposition party in Greece, I also did a number of presentations/discussions for reporters and college students in Italy about the same topic. Both Greece and Italy are behind in using the Internet for politics (though Greece, at least, has a pretty good nascent corps of online advocates on the left - I can't speak for Italy as I didn't meet any). I'd say each country is easily 8 to 10 years behind us in terms of their use of blogs, but also years behind in the use of the Net at large for politics (though, oddly, Italy claims one of the top bloggers in the world, Beppe Grillo). I also did a number of interviews with the press in each country, in order to push the idea that blogging, and the Internet overall, could be a force for positive change. In Greece, there's a lot of suspicion about blogging, and in Italy I got the sense that many people think it's simply irrelevant. This interview below, with "Marianne" magazine, one of the largest weekly magazines in France (I'm told), was part of that marketing effort (you can check the magazine out here). The interview is in French, and I was nervous as hell (in addition to sick with the flu and freezing), so I figured this was worth a laugh on a Friday. Enjoy. Read the rest of this post...

ABC: Bill Clinton told 4 8 lies in only 23 words about Hillary

UPDATE: That would be 8 lies.

From ABC:

Former president Bill Clinton is the latest to hand out a juicy fib -- circling back to Bosnia to cram four falsehoods into 23 words: His wife, he said, "one time late at night when she was exhausted, misstated and immediately apologized for it, what happened to her in Bosnia in 1995."

Where to start? If his telling is accurate, it depends on what the definition of "one time," "late at night," and "immediately apologized" is. (And it was 1996, not 1995.)

"Hillary Clinton actually made the comments numerous times, including at an event in Iowa on Dec. 29, and an event on Feb. 29 and one time -- bright and early in the morning -- on March 17," ABC's Sarah Amos and Eloise Harper report.

"Sen. Clinton wasn't as quick with her apology as President Clinton may remember either. In fact, it took a week for her to eventually correct herself, first talking to the Philadelphia Inquirer editorial board on March 24 and again apologizing the next day in Greensboro, N.C."

Politifact.com gave Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's handling of the matter the dreaded "pants on fire" designation.

ABC's Jake Tapper counts up a total of eight different misstatements/exaggerations in his telling of the tale on Thursday.

AP is now on the story as well. This isn't good. It's also rather dumb. Bill Clinton has become a lightning rod for controversy. He's the last person the campaign should be using in public, for anything, let alone to push revisionist talking points that everyone knows aren't true. It's not clear who on the Clinton campaign came up with the bright idea to lie about Hillary's Bosnia lie, and claim that she only said it once, but it's not clear who's the bigger moron - the person who came up with the lie, or the person who agreed to say it. Read the rest of this post...

Did Bush just say he doesn't (or didn't) think Iraq was worth it?

From ABC:

Though there were concerns during much of last year that Iraq was heading toward civil war, Bush says that he often reiterated his confidence in U.S. "victory" for the sake of the troops.

"That's as much to try and bolster the spirits of the people in the field as well -- you can't have the commander-in-chief say to a bunch of kids who are sacrificing that either it's not worth it or you're losing. What does that do for morale?" Bush said.

So Bush wasn't confident of victory? And he didn't say that Iraq wasn't worth it, or that we were losing, because that would hurt the morale of the troops, rather than not saying it because it wasn't true. Kind of like saying "I denied I had an affair because it would have hurt my wife to say otherwise." No, you denied you had an affair because you didn't have an affair. The only person who comes up with the previous excuse is someone who knows he was lying. So Bush is basically saying that he thought we were losing and that it wasn't worth it. But he kept wasting our money, and letting our troops be injured and killed, so that he didn't hurt anyone's feelings. Well, that would be the feelings of the troops who survived. Read the rest of this post...

Consumer confidence hits 26 year low

Let's just say America isn't very impressed with Republican economics. Surely the public will be impressed with McCain's lack of understanding on all economic matters except "reading Greenspan's book", "more tax cuts and less regulation" and of course, the Keating Five. What a record...please run with that and let us know how it all works out. Read the rest of this post...

UN General Secretary to miss Olympic opening ceremony; Harry Reid is boycotting it too

Harry Reid did an interview on Bill Press' show and said he's not going to the Opening Ceremonies. Neither is the UN Secretary General.

Don't they know that China is offended that the world is offended by China's actions in Tibet?

What if China was to throw a party and the only people to show up were the 'Sacred Flame Protection Police', also known as street thugs with a badge? It's a great strategy to help show the world the 'new' China though it does suggest the communications team might need to be modernized. You can put a nice blue track suit on a hooligan but they're still a hooligan underneath. Read the rest of this post...

Since Hillary Clinton brought up her Iraq record on the campaign trail, let's review -- with video.

This week, Hillary Clinton once again tried to reconfigure the facts on an important issue. According to ABC, she made a "false claim" when comparing her Iraq record to Obama's:

The misrepresentation of the record is symbolic of the re-writing of history Clinton has attempted on her record regarding the war in Iraq.

Since Hillary wanted to discuss Iraq on the campaign trail again, it's worth a look at what both she and Obama have both actually said -- not what Clinton "thinks" she said or Obama did. Jed provides the (updated) video. Watch it. Read the rest of this post...

Taking a minute - literally - to raise money for Obama

Is it possible to raise a million dollars in 60 seconds?

According to Business Week, Manahattan-based photographer Scott Cohen created AnObamaMinute.com and hopes to have 10,000 people giving $100 each at exactly 1pm EST on April 21st - the day before the Pennsylvania primary. The website says:

1) You register now to donate $100 at 1 pm on April 21st.
2) We will send you email updates as we get closer to the event.
3) On April 21st, we will send you an email with a direct link to the "An Obama Minute" page on the Barack Obama campaign website. You will be making your donation directly to the campaign at 1PM EST.

They're also reaching out on Facebook and LinkedIn. It looks like the effort got a little positive attention earlier in the week over at kos, but New York Magazine's got a different slant on the stunt:

But while it would be an impressive show of grassroots force, you have to wonder whether the working-class, blue-collar voter — which we understand from story after story is every person in Pennsylvania — won’t simply be turned off by the Obama campaign’s fund-raising muscle-flexing. It’s not really inspiring to be reminded that Obama can raise more in one minute with his legs resting atop his desk than you’ll earn in 30 years at the steel mill. And it might be the only thing that makes the $109 million Clintons look poor.

I don't see how you can discourage creative fundraising for fear you might alienate the less tech-savvy. And even though a million isn't what it used to be in this bazillion dollar election, I'm all for reinforcing - once again - the power of online collaboration. Read the rest of this post...

Friday Morning Open Thread

I'm jetlagging, Joe is sleeping in. What a messed up world. I suspect Joe will have more to add when he gets up. Read the rest of this post...

Let them eat gas

Oh right, they can't afford that either but the Marie Antoinette free marketers don't really care any way. They helped create a new bubble for their corporate lobbyist friends in the middle of a global food shortage and as long as their friends are making good money everyone else can drop dead...literally. In our world where we expect to have three meals a day, this increase is painful but nothing like what the poor are experiencing. From the World Bank:

He said the price of wheat had risen by 120% in the past year, more than doubling the cost of a loaf of bread. Rice prices were up by 75% in just two months. On average, the Bank calculates that food prices have risen by 83% in the past three years.

"In Bangladesh a 2kg bag of rice now consumes almost half of the daily income of a poor family. With little margin for survival, rising prices too often means fewer meals," he said. Poor people in Yemen were now spending more than a quarter of their income on bread. "This is not just about meals forgone today, or about increasing social unrest, it is about lost learning potential for children and adults in the future, stunted intellectual and physical growth. Even more, we estimate that the effect of this food crisis on poverty reduction worldwide is in the order of seven lost years."

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Home loan rates rise even after rate cuts

Sound familiar? The UK is seeing the same situation as the US, that despite rate cuts by the central bank to banks, rates to customers have stayed high. In the US there has been some movement down though nothing in comparison to the rate drops that banks have received. A few stories have popped up in the US media, one of which went as far as to say there really isn't any connection since the rates are out in an open market, blah, blah, blah. That spin reminded me of the administration spinning the oil increases after the invasion of Iraq. In the case of the banks, if the government - meaning us - is lending banks extraordinary sums of money, shouldn't the government - again, that is us - be able to dictate a few terms such as lower rates? But that might make too much sense and go against the long standing tradition of banks screwing customers.

Britain's largest mortgage lenders were last night accused of fattening their profits at the expense of increasingly stretched homeowners as two leading firms ignored the third interest rate cut from the Bank of England in five months and pushed through price increases on some of their most popular home loan offers.

The moves are part of an increasingly rapid withdrawal by lenders from the most competitive mortgage deals as the credit crunch continues to bite and house prices fall. The Bank's three rate cuts since December have failed to halt the retreat.

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