Americans avoiding air travel

And for good reason. It's a complete hassle and the already poor airline quality gets worse by the day, not to mention more expensive. Whenever I can I avoid air travel and opt for the train, when I have to but that's not as much of an option in the US. As annoying as it is in Europe I find it much worse in the US. It might be easier to tolerate the hassles if there was a sense of it all going somewhere but the entire process strikes me as just another effort to continue the fear tactics that are so well loved by the Bush administration.

Surely there has to be a better way, but who really trusts Chertoff and his bumbling band of idiots to get this right? Maybe now that business is screaming and losing billions in revenue, someone might wake up and re-think the current (failed) model. Read the rest of this post...

Friday Mutant Orchid Blogging

(Normal flower on left, mutant on right)

Peloric Phrag. Besseae (aka A Mutant!)

This one is kind of fun in a creepy genetic way (click the image to see a larger version). It's a flower I've shown you before, from this very plant probably, but one day it bloomed a bit funny. The plant threw up a mutant flower that had an extra pair of female organs on the petals. Very creepy. Since it did it just this once, and the other flowers were normal, it was not a permanent genetic change in the plant, but rather something that went wrong with that particular flower (probably some chemicals I treated the plant with while the flower was developing). Still, it's kind of cool. I took a great photo of a flower that did something similar a while back, I'll have to find it to post it another day - but basically, if the thing could have been calling "Help me!" it would have. Totally bizarre mix of genetic mess. Anyway, so that's our Friday night mutant orchid blogging, for something a little different. Enjoy. JOHN Read the rest of this post...

Joe, Jacki and I will be at the Rules committee meeting tomorrow

Joe is going to be inside as media (AMERICAblog media), and Jacki and I are going to be enjoying the festivities outside with our cameras in tow. The fun starts at 930AM Eastern - that's when the actual meeting starts - though the loony toon protesters may be doing their shtick earlier. I need to Google them now. Anyway, check back in the morning, Joe will be updating, I won't be able to since I'll be on a sidewalk watching McCain and Huckabee supporters pretend to be Hillary supporters. Read the rest of this post...

They met playing euchre

Wow. That's a new one. Bill in Portland Maine, from DKos, celebrates his 15th anniversary and reminisces a bit about the state of the gay rights movement:

Where were you on the night of May 30, 1993? I was in a Saginaw, Michigan bar called Bambi's, staring across the room at a tall, dark and handsome guy drinkin' a beer. Through luck of the draw Michael and I ended up as partners that night in a four-person card game (in Michigan it's more like a religion) called Euchre. A blink of an eye later and here we are celebrating 15 years of Wilde's "love that dare not speak its name" together.

Read the rest of this post...

Obama to McCain: The lives of 20,000 troops aren't "nit-picking"

I sure hope McCain doesn't blow a gasket over this, otherwise he might try to choke another 90 year old man. Here is what Obama just said about McCain's latest weird statements about Iraq:

He's been proposing a joint trip to Iraq that's nothing more than a political stunt. He's even been using it to raise a few dollars for his campaign. But it seems like Senator McCain's a lot more interested in my travel plans than the facts, because yesterday – in his continued effort to put the best light on a failed policy – he stood up in Wisconsin and said, "We have drawn down to pre-surge levels" in Iraq.

"That's not true, and anyone running for Commander-in-Chief should know better. As the saying goes, you're entitled to your own view, but not your own facts. We've got around 150,000 troops in Iraq – 20,000 more than we had before the surge. We have plans to get down to around 140,000 later this summer – that's still more troops than we had in Iraq before the surge. And today, Senator McCain refused to correct his mistake. Just like George Bush, when he was presented with the truth, he just dug in and refused to admit his mistake. His campaign said it amounts to "nitpicking."

"Well I don't think tens of thousands of American troops amounts to nitpicking. Tell that to the young men and women who are serving bravely and brilliantly under our flag. Tell that to the families who have seen their loved ones fight tour after tour after tour of duty in a war that should've never been authorized and never been waged.

"It's time for a debate that's based on the truth, and I can't think of anything more important than how many Americans are in harm's way. It's time for a debate that's based on how we're going to end this war – not a debate that's based on raising a few dollars for John McCain's campaign.

Read the rest of this post...

To paraphrase Ayn Rand: But they don't think of you, Hillary

A Washington Post reporter was asked in an online chat yesterday why the Post isnt' covering how well Hillary is doing in recent polls. Here is his priceless response:

I've spent the past several months talking to as many super-delegates as any reporter in America, I'd guess, since I cover on a day-to-day basis about 280 of them here on Capitol Hill.

I hate saying this, because all the Clinton people are going to flip out and say, You're biased, you're biased, you're biased. So go ahead and flip out if you want, but the simple basic truth is that the super-delegates stopped paying attention to the Clinton-Obama race about a couple days after the Indiana and North Carolina primaries.

They've stopped paying attention to the primary, and instead they're focused on an Obama-McCain matchup in November. That's the basic, simple, definitive reality that has happened in this race. The "undecided" super-delegates at this moment are not going to "decide" any time soon, because to them the race is over, they're just waiting for Clinton to drop out.

Then he was asked, but what about the Gallup poll showing Hillary doing better in swing states?

Again, don't yell at me because I'm only the messenger here. But the super-delegates have moved on, they're no longer looking at how Hillary Clinton fares in battleground states against McCain. This is very hard for Clinton supporters to hear, I'm sorry, but the super-delegates are not paying attention to your candidate anymore.

Misogynist. Read the rest of this post...

Inflation up only 0.1% in April

Those gas prices...all imaginary. Didn't happen. Don't you feel better knowing that what you thought was a problem wasn't really a problem after all? And to think some naysayers find the US inflation reports to be complete bull.

Back in the real world, inflation is setting records not seen in years. Some say the real number is almost twice as high, possibly even higher. Read the rest of this post...

Hillary apparently thinks some women don't count

Hillary Clinton, champion of the blue collar, Jack Daniels' drinking woman is now trying to unseat delegates in Texas. You see, you can't claim that the only reason you're still in the race, after you lost, is because you want to see every vote counted, and then repeatedly try to stop people from having their vote count in Texas and Nevada, for starters. That makes you a hypocrite. It makes you an opportunist. And it makes you a liar. It makes you every nasty thing that the Republicans have said about you for years. Please stop proving them right. Read the rest of this post...

Getting to know McCain's economic brain, Foreclosure Phil

For those not familiar with the former Senator turned wealthy lobbyist and McCain for President co-chair, this is a must read article. Phil Gramm has played an important role in a number of failed initiatives including the S&L; failure, the energy deregulation fallout and Enron, and more recently the subprime mortgage meltdown. Remember, this is the guy who is shaping McCain economic policy. He's a highly paid lobbyist for one of the worst hit banks in the subprime crisis and yet he is still a co-chair of the McCain campaign.

Keep in mind that Phil Gramm and McCain are still unable to admit these policies were failures. Gramm says he "didn't intend this." Not the most comforting response from the architect. This is the same bullheadedness that we've experienced from Bush, who still can't admit any failures. More of the same is not what we need. Read through both links and get to know the man rumored to be McCain's choice as Treasury Secretary. Read the rest of this post...

Sabbatical

I've been writing for AMERICAblog for over two years now, and during that time I have had opportunities, conversations, and interactions beyond what I could ever have dreamed when I began. I have grown as a writer, analyst, and person during that time, part of which includes my professional life. This summer in particular, I'm doing work that I'm very excited about, work that I hope will shape my personal and educational development.

Unfortunately, though, I can't do both the job and blogging. I therefore have to take some time off from the site, and wanted to let y'all know rather than just disappearing. This isn't a "goodbye cruel world" post, not in the slightest -- I will continue to closely follow politics in general and foreign policy in particular, and I hope to return to writing about these vital issues not too long from now.

As always, I appreciate our readers, and of course John and Joe, and I know this site will continue to be a place for analysis and insight that you can't find anywhere else. (Partly because, if all goes well, another foreign policy nerd will be stepping in shortly ... stay tuned.) Thanks again, and see ya around! Read the rest of this post...

In all fairness to McCain, maybe English grammar was different in the 1920s

He's lost his mind. McCain's now trying to claim that he didn't tell voters yesterday that we have drawn down to pre-surge troop levels in Iraq. He's now trying to claim that he said we're DRAWING down, i.e., still in the process, not there yet. But of course, that's not what he said. It's on film. Everyone has seen it. ThinkProgress walks you through it again. It's just downright bizarre that McCain keeps denying that he said what he said. We have video. Bush and Cheney and company tried this for years, and got away with it. They constantly lied about the facts and figured no one would be the wiser. But people finally wisened up. And they don't accept blatant lies any longer. We have not gotten down to pre-surge troops levels - we're not even close. And now McCain is arguing "verb tenses" as an excuse - my, Grandpa, what Clintonian teeth you have. Whether McCain is lying or simply doesn't understand the facts in Iraq, for him to now deny that he said what he said, well, when we have the video, it's just kind of creepy and sad. Read the rest of this post...

"Connect Four" is misogynist

This is the video I tried to post yesterday, it seems to be back. It's entitled "Young Hillary Clinton." :-) (It includes yummy Jerry O'Connell, who apparently helped create it.)

Read the rest of this post...

According to McCain campaign, expecting McCain to know basic facts about Iraq is nitpicking

You've got to be kidding.

As John wrote below, McCain has his facts wrong about Iraq (again). We're talking very basic facts. McCain said yesterday in Wisconsin that the surge is over, all the troops are home. ("I can look you in the eye and tell you... We have drawn down to pre-surge levels.") In fact, 2/3 of the surge troops are still in Iraq (we added 30,000 troops and have removed 10,000, leaving 20,000 still in Iraq). According to Ben Smith, the McCain's campaign response to the criticism of McCain's mistake is to not only invoke "verb tense," but to charge that we're "nitpicking." Wow. 20,000 troops are "nit-picking." (As Ben notes, "[t]his verb tense thing is a novel excuse, with potentially wide future use on both sides. Hillary, for instance, could have been referring to the risk of future sniper fire.")

Remember, McCain raised the issue of Iraq this week, boasting of all his trips over there, and how that makes him so much smarter than Obama about Iraq. Well, all those trips haven't really helped McCain with the facts about Iraq. Expecting a presidential candidate to know very basic facts isn't exactly nitpicking. He thought the surge was over, when in fact it's still 2/3 going on. That's a rather huge mistake for someone who claims that this is his signature issue. The McCain campaign's overreaction to this episode is instructive. They know a pattern is emerging where the candidate's words don't match reality.

The Obama campaign weighed in again, too, via email:

"The McCain campaign still can't explain why John McCain could be so clearly and factually wrong in stating that our troops are at 'pre-surge' levels. They are not, and anyone who wants to be Commander-in-Chief should know better before launching divisive political attacks. Once again, Senator McCain has shown that he is far more interested in stubbornly making the case for continuing a failed policy in Iraq than in getting the facts right," said Obama campaign spokesman Hari Sevugan.

The McCain campaign can't explain why McCain gets the facts wrong -- over and over and over.

John McCain is still living in the pre-Internet world -- definitely the pre-YouTube world. He thinks he can say anything and just make things up... as if there are no consequences, no one will record it, no one will fact check it. That's not the world the rest of us live in anymore.

In the wake of Scott McClellan's book, the American people are paying extra attention to the discussion of the Iraq war. We've had enough deception, propaganda and happy talk. The American people want facts, something John McCain simply doesn't have. Read the rest of this post...

McCain says we're back to 'pre-surge levels' in Iraq. No we're not. 2/3 of the surge troops are still there.

UPDATE: McCain's campaign conference call for reporters is taking place as I write. And his staff is saying that McCain was actually correct about how many troops we have in Iraq because you have to take a look at his "verb tense." Seriously. They're haggling over the definition of "is," "was," and "will be."

It's kind of scary that John McCain, who keeps talking about how many trips he's made to Iraq, doesn't even know how many troops we have there. Yesterday, McCain told an audience in Wisconsin that we are back to pre-surge troop levels in Iraq.

MCCAIN: "So I can tell you that it is succeeding. I can look you in the eye and tell you it's succeeding. We have drawn down to pre-surge levels."

Actually, Mr. Magoo, two-thirds of the surge troops are still in Iraq.

Let me walk you through this.

1. Pre-surge troops levels. That's 130,000 to 135,000 troops.

2. Bush sent 30,000 or so "surge" troops to Iraq.

3. That means at full surge we had 165,000 troops in Iraq.

4. We currently have 155,000 troops in Iraq.

5. That means we still currently have 20,000 more troops in Iraq than we had pre-surge, or 2/3 of the surge troops are still in Iraq.

We're not at pre-surge levels by a long shot. Sure, the military is talking about kind-of sort-of maybe drawing down our troops to pre-surge levels in by the end of the summer (we've heard that one before). But that's not what John McCain said. He didn't say we're planning to hopefully get down to pre-surge levels a few months, assuming we can safely do so. He said he can look you in the eye and tell you today that WE ARE AT pre-surge levels. And we're not. (Though I am kind of impressed that he can look you in the eye while getting it completely wrong.)

McCain has done this a lot with regards to Iraq (though it's not clear if he's simply lying to the American people, or if McCain is just getting too old to keep his facts straight). He keeps visiting the country, then telling us things about "happy" Iraq that aren't true. Remember his old chestnut about how our commander over there travels without security? (Not true.) Then there was the time he said he was visiting markets and it was totally safe (except that he was wearing a bullet-proof vest, had 100 troops as bodyguards, and had several attack helicopters overhead). Or the time when McCain, repeatedly, got confused between the Shia and the Sunni in Iraq and Iran. I'm not sure I want Barack Obama, or any politician, visiting Iraq if all they're coming home with is misinformation. You can watch the video of McCain from yesterday for yourself, it's short and to the point. McCain has no idea what's going on in Iraq (or anywhere else, I fear):

Read the rest of this post...

Hillary's girl power

Jacki Schechner thinks a woman would make an exceptional commander in chief. Just not this one:

I think it does women a disservice to play the sexism card at this stage in the game in this particular circumstance....

Neanderthal men who think women belong in the kitchen barefoot and pregnant are not a large enough demographic to be holding Senator Clinton back from clinching this nomination, and claiming that's her downfall is both disingenuous and bad form. Save the fight for when it matters. When there is real discrimination based on sex. If anything, the press has been infinitely generous with Clinton - keeping her in this race long after the math proved Obama's delegate lead insurmountable. Again, she's not losing because she's a woman. She's losing because she got bad campaign advice and ran with it.

If you listened to my podcast commentary, I made it very clear I was excited by the idea of the first female President. I just don't think Clinton's turned out to be that female. That doesn't make me naive or a traitor to my gender. If anything, it does us some justice. One of us is going to make an exceptional Commander-in-Chief someday.

I just want my President to be someone I can look up to and be proud of as a human being. Gender aside, Clinton is not that person.

Read the rest of this post...

Conservatives upset about Crist's "live and let live" attitudes

Oh is that what we're calling it now. :-) This is actually getting fun. McCain seems to be seriously considering Crist for VP. And if he does, well, let's just say history may be made. There is no way McCain will pick him with all of Crist's "live and let live" baggage. McCain is humoring Crist in order to ensure that Crist will help McCain win Florida in the general election. But on the off chance that McCain is really considering Crist, all I have to say is "you go girl." Read the rest of this post...

After Tuesday, Clinton is running in the "superdelegate primary" - or not

From the L.A. Times, we learn, not surprisingly, of different camps inside Team Clinton:

Within Clinton's camp, aides are divided over how to proceed. Some want the fight to go on; others are ready for it to end.

A Clinton media spokesman, Phil Singer, said Thursday that after the final primaries next week, Clinton would remain a candidate, competing in what he called "the superdelegate primary."

But others believe the end will come sooner.

One person with ties to the Clinton campaign said the senator might drop out as soon as Wednesday because it would become fruitless to lobby superdelegates.

The so-called "superdelegate primary" has been going on for awhile. And it's not going so well for Clinton. Nor is it going to get better. Via Democratic Convention Watch as of this morning, Obama needs 41 delegates to secure the nomination. But check out these charts on superdelegates since that's the next "primary" for Clinton:

It's pretty clear to everyone that Obama will secure the nomination next week. So, maybe this thing will end next week. But don't count on it. There will be some new permutation of reality from the Clintons, as they continue their battle to ensure that John McCain wins in November. Read the rest of this post...

John McCain's definition of a "quiet" day in Mosul has 30 dead from suicide bombings

All week we've been hearing about all those trips McCain has made to Iraq. We know about some of them. Like the one where he claimed he could stroll safely through a Baghdad. Or the one recently where he didn't know the difference between Sunnis and Shi'as.

Just yesterday, McCain was talking about how "quiet" Mosul is. But, Nico Pitney compared McCain's words to what was actually happening yesterday in Mosul:

Moreover, McCain's claim that Mosul is "quiet" was disproved earlier today in grim fashion. Three suicide bombings -- two in Mosul and another in a surrounding town -- left 30 Iraqis dead and more than two dozen injured, according to press reports.

Is it possible for the traditional media to grasp the fact that on Iraq, McCain really doesn't know what he's talking about? McCain gets basic facts wrong -- and he makes things up. Haven't we had enough of that on Iraq? Seriously.

UDPATE 11:24 a.m.: Someone in the traditional media gets it. Via Think Progress, CNN's Michael Ware, who is in Baghdad and has been there for awhile, had this to say about McCain and Iraq:

WARE: I’ll issue a word of caution, too. I mean Senator McCain has been here, what, more than half a dozen times. And we’ve seen him get assessments of Iraq terribly wrong. So I wouldn’t be hanging my hat on the fact that your opponent has only been here once.

Read the rest of this post...

Are Clinton's staffers and superdelegates actually going along with this campaign of destruction?

For the past couple weeks, the Clinton campaign has veered in so many directions, I'm starting to wonder if anyone is in charge. Maybe, it's gotten to a point where they're just winging it. When Clinton herself is once again abetting John McCain and her supporters are teaming up with Huckabee and McCain's followers, something is desperately wrong.

You have to wonder what's going on with the staff. Most of them are very fine people, strong Democrats, committed progressives. Most of them are realists and know this is over. Same goes for most of Clinton's superdelegate supporters (although probably not Debbie Wasserman Schultz).

Yet, it seems like their candidate is still on a slash and burn campaign to destroy the Democratic nominee. Instead of healing wounds, Hillary (with help from Bill, McAuliffe, Lanny and a few other very wealthy fundraising types) seems intent on rubbing salt in wounds.

This can't be what most of the staff and superdelegates signed up for. Who wants to be tagged with helping to elect John McCain? Who wants to be burdened with knowing their work led to a Supreme Court that overturned Roe v. Wade or the continuation of the endless war in Iraq?

We are losing time here. Obama and the Democrats need to fully engage the battle with McCain and the GOP. This drama has gone on too long. And, for all those who thought Hillary would make a graceful effort, think again. It hasn't happened -- and there is no sign it will.

So, it's legacy time. Not for Hillary and Bill. No, it's time for the Clinton staffers and the Clinton superdelegates to start thinking about their legacies. Read the rest of this post...

Is McCain coordinating the attacks against Obama with the swiftboating group?

John McCain, who the traditional media still thinks is a campaign finance maverick, is actually a campaign finance criminal. So, it's no surprise that his campaign appears to be colluding with an "independent" group, which until recently was advised by McCain's buddies, Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham. That group, Vets for Freedom, is trying to swiftboat Obama. McCain is parroting the group's talking points -- pretty much word for word. It's illegal for federal campaigns to coordinate with outside groups:
Read the rest of this post...

Scotty McClellan dominates today's Washington Post

Sometimes, getting the paper delivered at home is really worth it. Like today.

There are not one, not two, but three major pieces on Scotty McClellan's book. There's the front page, above the fold, article titled "McClellan Says Book's Tone Evolved: Aide-Turned-Critic Tells of Growing Disillusionment With Bush Administration." On page 3, there's another article about the book titled, "For Future White House Aides, Required Reading." Then, there's Dana Milbank, who notes Scotty's ability to stay on message, a trick he learned from the Bushies he's now screwing:

Bush loyalists watching Scott McClellan kick off his media tour yesterday must have felt a revulsion akin to Dr. Frankenstein's.

McClellan's former White House colleagues had built and trained the former press secretary to parrot their talking points, monotonously if not mindlessly, no matterwhat argument or fact stood in the way. Saddam Hussein was a grave threat. The war in Iraq was going well. Scooter Libby and Karl Rove didn't leak Valerie Plame's identity.

But now the McClellan monster is back -- and he's got a new set of talking points that attack the very people he was trained to defend. He's a bit thinner around the middle, and the sideburns are comically longer, but McClellan's famous fealty to his message is as stubborn as ever.

That's today's Washington Post. Thanks again, Scott.

Also, McClellan will be doing a live Q & A with the Post at noon Eastern time today. Read the rest of this post...

Friday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

Well, we're onto the fourth day of the media frenzy surrounding Scotty McClellan's book -- and it's far from over. He'll be on "Meet the Press" on Sunday. The Bushies are freaking out. It's great. Just great.

This can't make John McCain too happy either. John McCain has to run on Bush's Iraq record and Scotty reminded us that the war was started with lies and propaganda.

John McCain is taking the day off. Apparently he has a cold. Must be one hell of a cold to knock him off the campaign trail. But, I guess at McCain's age, any cold is a hell of a cold. And, John McCain has excellent health care. He can see his doctor even if he just has a cold. Not many Americans can do that. (Please indulge the John McCain links -- and please click on them every time. We're helping an online campaign to help people find the truth about the GOP nominee.)

So, now start threading... Read the rest of this post...

Bush administration siding with Libya over terrorist victims

This is incredible. Does this administration always have to be Big Oil's lapdog? Libya previously agreed to pay compensation claims for their terrorist attacks and then failed to live up to their agreements. There is no gray area here. Why is Bush and Rice siding with Libya instead of supporting the families who were victimized by terrorism? Let Big Oil do their own dirty work or let Big Oil pay the families if they want the Libyan oil contracts so badly.

Why is Bush re-negotiating a done deal with a known terrorist? Read the rest of this post...

Bahrain appoints new ambassador for US

Change is good.

Bahrain's king has appointed a Jewish woman as the country's envoy to the United States.

Houda Nonoo said she was proud to serve her country "first of all as a Bahraini" and that she was not chosen for the post because of her religion.

She is believed to be the Arab world's first Jewish ambassador.

Read the rest of this post...

Tony Blair is really too much

Oh please. How does invading a country and killing people in any way mesh with bringing religions together? Let's not forget he is on the payroll of Wall Street, making millions to guide those slimeballs out of their self-created problems, all on the taxpayers bill. What next? Joining hands with Phil Gramm and being a co-chair of the McCain campaign?

Former prime minister Tony Blair has promised to "spend the rest of my life" uniting the world's religions.

He said faith could be a "civilising force in globalisation", bringing people together to solve problems such as malaria and extreme poverty.

Read the rest of this post...

Let's have some fun

Dan Savage is looking for some help with a gay marriage poll on a Utah news site. And I can't refuse Dan. So please visit the site, and in the bottom right corner you'll find the poll. Read the rest of this post...