Conservative claims victory in razor-thin Mexican election, opposition candidate may contest

Kind of fascinating how not only were both US presidential elections close, but Italy's election was recently extremely close, and now Mexico's. A trend? Read the rest of this post...

Hillary will reportedly endorse whoever wins Democratic nomination in Connecticut

Just heard from a reliable source that Hillary will announce sometime over the next few days that she'll be endorsing whoever wins the Democratic primary. Good for her. Read the rest of this post...

Latest on Lieberman from the Washington Post

Yes, the latest polls in Connecticut show Lieberman winning a three-way race. But, I'd be curious what those polls will show after all the publicity over today's announcement that Lieberman might run as an independent. I suspect the voters will get a whiff of desperation out of all of this, and that can't be good for Lieberman. And if Lieberman loses the primary, that whiff will turn into a stench. It's one thing to poll well when you're running as the incumbent Democrat, it's quite another to run as the sore loser.

Apparently, some folks in Connecticut have recreated the now infamous George Bush/Joe Lieberman same-sex kiss from the State of the Union. They've made a float they're planning on driving in a local July 4th parade.

Read the rest of this post...

Crazy dancing man in Zurich

Kyle the wonderboy (our tech guru who we sent to New Orleans as our correspondent during Katrina, and the guy building AMERICAblog 2.0 (beta coming soon)) is off in Zurich for five months doing something for IBM that apparently I would never understand. Anyway, it's our Kyle's first time in Europe, he just got there two days ago, and yesterday in a public park he and another friend came upon some man dancing. Being the good geeks they are, they filmed it and put it on YouTube. Probably just as fun as the video is the commentary from Kyle and his buddy. Enjoy. Read the rest of this post...

Fighting against the war on birth control from Waco, Texas

Great column in the Waco paper about the war on birth control which is being waged by the theocrats in the GOP and the Bush administration. The right wingers want to overturn the right to privacy established in Griswold v. Connecticut -- a case that overturned a state law prohibiting birth control for married couples. Yeah, that's how far the wingers want to go. I'm not sure why the Democrats and the pro-choice groups don't make birth control more of an issue:

After all, a Harris Poll found that 90 percent of Americans support the use of contraception.

Check that. Harris found that 90 percent of Catholics support contraception.

Among Americans, the number is 93 percent.

Yet, New York Times Magazine recently presented the alarming case that our government is a staging platform for a "war on contraception."

Considering how many Americans use contraception, or support it matter-of-factly, this is comparable to being governed by forces sworn to eradicate peanut butter or fluorescent lights.

Yes, the issues aren't comparable. But public acceptance being comparable, how could officials elected by the people be so inclined? Maybe it's because the people who ought to care just don't.

They should. Making it possible for one to control one's reproductive destiny short of a crisis pregnancy would be, should be, one of the centerpieces of health policy, sort of like reading or math in education.

CNN keeps promoting an interview that Larry King is doing with George and Laura Bush on Thursday night. He needs to ask them about the Bush family policy on abstinence and contraception. Is what they're trying to impose on the rest of America the same policy in the family? King is too much of a wuss to ask, but someone should. Read the rest of this post...

Bush told Cheney on Wilson: "Get it out," or "Let's get this out"

Bush was a key player in the campaign to trash Joseph Wilson, according to the latest from Murray Waas:

One senior government official familiar with the discussions between Bush and Cheney -- but who does not have firsthand knowledge of Bush's interview with prosecutors -- said that Bush told the vice president to "Get it out," or "Let's get this out," regarding information that administration officials believed would rebut Wilson's allegations and would discredit him.

A person with direct knowledge of Bush's interview refused to confirm that Bush used those words, but said that the first official's account was generally consistent with what Bush had told Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald.

Libby, in language strikingly similar to Bush's words, testified to the federal grand jury in the leak case that Cheney had told him to "get all the facts out" that would defend the administration and discredit Wilson. Portions of Libby's grand jury testimony were an exhibit in a recent court filing by Fitzgerald.

This was the same guy who last week said it was "disgraceful" for newspapers to print articles about national security. How can anyone take Bush seriously? The press should just laugh at him. Bush doesn't keep us safe and he leaks national security info. for poltiical reasons.

Murray Waas has done some amazing reporting on this issue. Read the rest of this post...

Not only is Lieberman not a Democrat, he's also not democratic

Lieberman is beginning to sound more and more like George Bush every day. To wit:

Lieberman said he will still be running as a Democrat even if he's not the party's nominee and plans to remain part of the Democratic caucus in the Senate if re-elected.

"I want the opportunity to put my case before all the people of Connecticut in November," Lieberman said.

Well, there are a few problems here. First off, you can't run as a Democrat if you think you have to run as an independent because not enough Democrats will vote for you. In a democracy, you get to be the Democratic candidate by winning the Democratic primary. If you have to short circuit the democratic process in order to win the office, you're not a Democrat (or a democrat either).

Secondly, Lieberman has answered the question we've long been asking. Is he a Democrat or has he become little more than a Republican in Democrat clothing? Well, if you can't win the Democratic primary, and have to run as an independent to win the general election, then that means you need lots of non-Democrat voters or you just can't win. That means you're not a Democrat, you're something else. Per se Lieberman has become too conservative for the Connecticut Democratic Party.

It seems that Lieberman has learned a lot from his mentor, George Bush. If you don't like the democratic process, if the voice of the people is against you, just circumvent the process and usurp the people. If Lieberman can't win the Democratic primary, he'll run as a Democrat anyway because he says so, to hell with the people, to hell with the election results come this August.

As Joe notes below, the Connecticut election, and I suspect many elections around the country this November, are referenda on George Bush. Lieberman is not a moderate Democrat, he's a politician who has made his bed with George Bush. Lieberman has repeatedly gone out of his way to provide aid and comfort to a failed Republican presidency even as the majority of the American people say otherwise. And rather than be voting his conscience, it's not clear what Lieberman is voting. He continues to believe the Iraq war is going well. That view isn't conservative, it isn't liberal, and it has nothing to do with the conscience of a rational man - it's out of touch and a little bit crazy.

Lieberman has the right to be out of touch with the majority of the Democratic party and the majority of Connecticut Democrats. He even has the right to be a little bit nutty. What Joe Lieberman does not have is the right to defy the will of the voters in an election that is becoming less and less about the issues, and more and more about Joe Lieberman's ego.

It's time to let it go, Joe. At some point, it's more humane to simply pull the plug. Read the rest of this post...

Lieberman, a Bush ally, is already a political casualty of the Iraq War

Today, Joe Lieberman proved he is a political casualty of the Iraq War. Because of his fierce allegiance to the failed Bush Iraq war policy, Lieberman humiliated himself today by saying he'd have to run as an independent this fall if he loses in the Democratic primary. Oh how the mighty have fallen.

One of my very wise political friends in Connecticut explained to me that Connecticut Democrats rarely get a chance to have an impact in national politics. But the Lieberman - Lamont primary is providing them an amazing opportunity to issue a strong rejection of the failed Iraq policy. Joe Lieberman personifies that failure of Bush and the GOP.

Democrats in Connecticut understand that. They know that the Senate primary gives them the chance to make a statement -- one of the first and most important statements -- about the Iraq war in the 2006 cycle.

Clearly, that statement is being heard loud and clear. Joe Lieberman chose Bush and Iraq over the Democratic party. And, today, Lieberman admitted he's losing.

There's still a lot of work to be done both in the August primary and the November general election. But Ned Lamont, the netroots and Connecticut's Democrats had a win today. Read the rest of this post...

Lieberman abandons Democrats

UPDATED: It's official...Lieberman made the announcement...

Major news out of Connecticut. Lieberman is jumping from the Democratic ship after he loses the primary:

Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman announced today he will petition for a place on the November ballot as an "independent Democrat," giving him a chance to stay alive politically should he lose an Aug. 8 primary for the Democratic nomination.

Lieberman, 64, a three-term senator whose outspoken support of the war in Iraq has brought months of grief and inspired a strong primary challenge from Greenwich businessman Ned Lamont, announced his decision this afternoon at a brief press conference at the State Capitol.

What a bastard. He is sooo important, that he can't abide by the decision of his party. Lieberman's arrogance is off the charts. He's addicted to his own power, or sense of power. And, clearly, he's smarter than the rest of the Democrats in Connecticut.

Another UPDATE gives some more insight into Lieberman's decision. According to the Connecticut Post, Lieberman got booed at the Bridgeport street festival (while the Mayor who recently admitted cocaine abuse was cheered):

The only negative shouts seemed directed at Lieberman, who is facing a primary challenge from Ned Lamont of Greenwich.

"Hey, look at that, a Democrat walking with a Republican," came one shout to Lieberman.

"How's the president," shouted another parade watcher, giving Lieberman a thumbs-down sign.

Read the rest of this post...

The Bush bounce: "any improvement was very short lived."

Despite all the hype and the spin, the media may be finally digesting the idea that the "Bush bounce" never really materialized. Hopefully, the story is officially dead. Bill Schneider on CNN earlier today:

COSTELLO: OK, let's show the first set of numbers we have from "Time" magazine. You can see the president's approval rating stands at 35 percent. That's down 2 points from March 29 and 30.

Now, you would think with Zarqawi dead and Iraqi government in place, his surprise visit to Iraq and Karl Rove in the clear, that the president's approval ratings would be up and not sinking.

SCHNEIDER: Well, some polls did show them going up a very little bit, in last few weeks, after those events just mentioned, somewhere in the range of 37 to 41 percent. But this is the most recent poll. The only one taken since the Supreme Court's Guantanamo decision, which went against the White House and it shows the president with a low number indeed, 35 percent. So any improvement was very short lived.

Try as they might, the Bush team and the pundits couldn't make Bush even a little bit more popular. Read the rest of this post...

Trouble in the Banana Republic

Too bad this isn't a joke. With the yelping by Congressional stooges, it's already in the works. Why is the GOP so ready, willing and able to throw away democracy? Read the rest of this post...

While the Republicans are worrying about the epidemic of flag burning...

North Korea, the forgotten member of the "Axis of Evil," is threatening us with nuclear war.

But hey, at least we know the Republicans have our back on gay marriage. Read the rest of this post...

What is a patriot?

From PoliticsTV.com Read the rest of this post...

Monday Morning Open Thread

Getting off to a slow start.

Anything happening? Read the rest of this post...

Largest crop ever of opium coming in Afghanistan

Remember when the administration used to try and brag about their successful efforts to knock out the opium business? Those days are far behind and with our continuing struggles in Iraq, problems in Afghanistan are mounting. Read the rest of this post...

Winning hearts and minds

Wow. And I thought we had problems winning friends in the Middle East. Bush has even bungled one our traditionally best relationships.

People in Britain view the United States as a vulgar, crime-ridden society obsessed with money and led by an incompetent president whose Iraq policy is failing, according to a newspaper poll.

A few highlights, errr, lowlights:

• 77 percent of respondents disagreed with the statement that the US is "a beacon of hope for the world".
• 12 percent of Britons trust them to act wisely on the global stage. This is half the number who had faith in the Vietnam-scarred White House of 1975.
• 83 percent of those questioned said that the United States doesn't care what the rest of the world thinks. (Surprised it's not higher. Who actually thinks Bush cares?)
• 70 percent of Britons like Americans a lot or a little. (Phew, there's hope for the future.)
• 1% consider Bush a "great leader" against 77 percent who deemed him a "pretty poor" or "terrible" leader.
• 1 per cent of those who took a view said President George W Bush hypocritically championed democracy as a cover for the pursuit of American self-interests.
• In answer to other questions, a majority of the Britons questions described Americans as uncaring, divided by class, awash in violent crime, vulgar, preoccupied with money, ignorant of the outside world, racially divided, uncultured and in the most overwhelming result (90 percent of respondents) dominated by big business.

Now if they can only take a serious look at Blair, not to mention their own violent crime, rigid class divisions, corporate weasels (BP, Shell, etc) and rampant racism. We can only hope that in a few years, both of our countries are able to get back on track. Read the rest of this post...