What Digby said..

What Digby said...

But on a political level, the left has been betrayed over and over again on the things that matter to us the most. The village is pleased, I'm sure. But the Democratic party only needs to look back eight short years to see just how destructive it is to constantly tell their left flank to go fuck themselves.

After 2000, what is it going to take for the Democrats to realize that constantly using their base as a doormat is not a good idea? It only takes a few defections or enough people staying home to make a difference. And there are people on the left who have proven they're willing to do it. The Democrats are playing with fire if they think they don't have to deliver anything at all to their liberal base --- and abandoning the public option, particularly in light of what we already know about the bailouts and the side deals, may be what breaks the bond.

Obama's support in the polls is tanking - among his base. That's me! He and his Wall St finance ministers give the banksters massive bailouts with no controls over further looting. And -- surprise! - they keep looting.

Now we have the Senate Democrats falling all over themselves to try and please Chuck Grassley! Here's an idea, Senate Democrats: stop asking me for money. If you need money, ask your good pal Chuck Grassley. My wallet is closed to you.

Bluebloods

Mika Brzezinski is the heir apparent for blueblood Cokie Roberts. They are both born of the ruling class.

Big Hole in Winger Defense of Honduran Military Coup

The right wing blogs are abuzz with the same argument: Zelaya acted illegally in pushing for a referendum to get a 2nd term. (Conservatives reflexively support military coups in Latin America).

Except the referendum would not give him a second term. It was a non-binding referendum to decide on a vote in this November's Presidential election to hold a "National Constituent Assembly" (like a Constitutional Convention)

Yes, the same Presidential election where Zelaya's successor would be elected.

So, how the hell can Zelaya be furthering his stay in office by this referendum? It doesn't make sense. Not plausible.

The wingers are pointing to articles 239 and 42 in the Honduran Constitution. And on the face of it, it seems like a powerful argument. But they refuse to show how this referendum keeps him in power.

Again: He can't run for re-election by the Honduran Constitution and he wouldn't be allowed on the ballot. So, how in blue blazes is he furthering his stay in office?

They cannot and will not address that!

Here's a link to a more lucid argument on articles 239 and 42 (it is creepy how they have replicated this argument so rapidly on the blogosphere):

Links
http://www.poliblogger.com/?p=16111
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31604879/ns/world_news-americas/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/01/AR2009070103210.html
http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Constitutions/Honduras/hond05.html

It's the "Republicant Party"

For years, even decades, now Republicans have flaunted their ignorance to flout the Democratic Party by calling it the "Democrat Party". It's bad grammar, it's bad manners and it's a childish thing.

But it does bug many Democrats and lovers of English and civility. We don't have to just take it but we can respond with cutting humor: "The Republicant Party."

There have been some fine pushback as of late. The ever feisty Marcy Kaptur (D-Toledo) took Rep Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX) to task for playing the silly name game. She politely and firmly pointed out we don't refer to the Republican Party as the "Republic Party."

Chris Matthews asked Republican Rep Daryl Issa (R-WTF) to "save that for the stump" with the petty name mangling. After Issa's trip to the woodshed, Rep Barney Frank joked he wouldn't hold it against his friend from the "Republicanistical Party."

Others have had fun with ripostes like "Rethugs" and "Repubes" and others. (I've always thought there should be some way to work "Reptilian" in there, as it's very appropriate).

But for my tastes nothing gets the message across like "Republicant Party." Republicant captures the stingy, austere, backward-looking orientation of this party who keeps demanding we follow their economic advice after they ran the country into the ditch.

Whenever I hear "Democrat Party," I will respond with "Republicant Party."

A Bipartisan Tale

I'll leave it to the reader to figure out which critter is Republican and which is the Democrat. No prizes.

One day, a traveling scorpion came upon a river that ran wide and swift. He couldn't see any way across, upriver or downriver. The scorpion stopped to reconsider the situation.

He noticed a frog sitting in the rushes by the bank of the stream on the other side of the river. He decided to ask the frog for help getting across the stream.

"Hellooo Mr. Frog!" called the scorpion across the water, "Would you be so kind as to give me a ride on your back across the river?"

"Well now, Mr. Scorpion! How do I know that if I try to help you, you wont try to kill me?" asked the frog hesitantly.

"Because," the scorpion replied, "If I try to kill you, then I would die too, for you see I cannot swim!"

Now this seemed to make sense to the frog. But he asked. "What about when I get close to the bank? You could still try to kill me and get back to the shore!"

"This is true," agreed the scorpion, "But then I wouldn't be able to get to the other side of the river!"

"Alright then...how do I know you wont just wait till we get to the other side and THEN kill me?" said the frog.

"Ahh...," crooned the scorpion, "Because you see, once you've taken me to the other side of this river, I will be so grateful for your help, that it would hardly be fair to reward you with death, now would it?!"

So the frog agreed to take the scorpion across the river. He swam over and the scorpion crawled onto the frog's back and the frog slid into the river. The water swirled around them, but the frog stayed near the surface so the scorpion would not drown. He kicked strongly through the first half of the stream, his flippers paddling wildly against the current.

Halfway across the river, the frog suddenly felt a sharp sting and, out of the corner of his eye, saw the scorpion remove his stinger from the his back. A deadening numbness began to creep into his limbs.

"You fool!" croaked the frog, "Now we shall both die! Why on earth did you do that?"

The scorpion shrugged, and did a little jig on the drownings frog's back.

"I could not help myself. It is my nature."

Then they both sank into the waters of the swiftly flowing river.

Dear George: Your Presidency is a Warning Beacon for the Ages

There's a neat web site, at Goodbye.us, where people can post their heartfelt letters to George Bush. I didn't think I'd have anything to post, but, of course, finally did:

=====================================

Dear Former President Bush:

I really have little to say to you anymore. It's time to focus on the future and the only thing I care about from you in the future is to resist your inevitable attempts at historical rewrites.

Instead, your Presidency should serve as a warning beacon to future politicians to shun lying the country into war, not to deregulate wildly, to govern by uniting and not dividing, to embrace science over fantasy, to avoid politicizing the Justice Dept (at least), to help the people in their need (Katrina).

If we let you rewrite, gloss over and falsify these last eight years, you turn off the beacon. Your ideological heirs could run us up on the rocks again.

Looking forward, I know you and your operatives will seek to rewrite history to try and etch your false version of events in stone. You're going to find this to be pretty difficult because your record was so bad and those us who had to live through this will not let you succeed at your revisionism.

I do hope you are held to account for the laws you have broken.

I'm very happy our nation is finally free of your reign.

A national debate about a nation following the law

Glenn Greenwald marshals evidence and logic to show the absurdity of our national debate over investigating, and possibly trying, Bush-Cheney officials for torture. This post has many helpful links for online debate.

Combine press reports of approval of torture techniques at the highest level of government, with US signed and approved treaties binding us to prosecute torture, and it's clear that the law compels us to act.

The default judgment should be that we follow the law and investigate reports of torture. Wouldn't we investigate murder? It speaks poorly of us as a nation that following the law is viewed as a fringe perspective.

We must investigate the torture record and prosecute the wrongdoers.

We do Obama a disservice by withholding policy criticisms

Watching Sunday morning news shows, catching up on Josh's updates from last night's post, and seeing some of the debates I've been in here, it seems we need a better debate and understanding of the benefits and perils of criticizing our new President.

Josh's update makes the point:

If Nate's right about what Obama's plan is, having people pushing for something better from the outside is part of it. So under either scenario, holding your tongue makes no sense, in addition to being unethical.

Adrian Fenty, on Meet the Press just now praised the Obama economic recovery plan, saying it's just what we need. It's nice to be positive, but that's not entirely true.

The truth is that the Obama plan is a damn good start toward what we need, but it's not big enough for the problem we face. So, if we all run around muting any criticism then the Obama Recovery Plan will have fewer voices trying to make it better.

It's likely that Obama and his team have judged they will have a larger plan in the end if they start low to get bargained higher rather than starting high and getting knocked down. There's some logic there.

But if we limit our roles to a choir praising anything he does, we will be doing him a disservice. We can help with spreading the word on the depth of the Bush crater Obama and Congress need to fill. By remaining involved, remaining active, and not adopting partisan fictions around our Leader's greatness, we can help create the policy environment to make President Obama a huge historical success.

Of course, we should remember to keep the disagreements to policy.

Republicans still in the driver's seat?

You have to hope there's a grand play at work in the economic recovery plan. Josh Marshall notes:

And yet the desire to get a substantial number of Republicans to vote for the bill appears to be having a big impact on the proposal's size and shape. Quite likely, leaving it too small and too tilted toward tax cuts to get the job done.

Paul Krugman and others have shown the current plans for the stimulus are not keeping up with the growing crater left by Republican policies. As Krugman shows, economic output is down by 8% but plans will only cover 3%.

We're hemorrhaging 1/2 million jobs per month now - but the Republicans are obsessed with defending their ideology and the Democrats are obessessing with pleasing Republicans.

Hopefully, that's not all there is to the plan.

Obama Scores Big With Justice and CIA Appointments

President-Elect Obama delivers change and a new course for our nation with today's notice of appointments.

Leon Panetta at CIA will bring an established leader with the power to take control of an agency badly tarnished by Bush corruption and embrace of torture.

The appointment of Dawn Johnsen at the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel is a very hopeful sign. From this office John Yoo wrote memos helping Bush and Cheney introduce torture. Johnsen's writings on this and other subjects have been spot-on and properly outraged.

The rule of law -- returning to America!

Bravery in opposing torture

Okay, now I am happy to speak out against torture and torture-enabling policies and ideas.

But, Matthew Alexander lays it on the line. He actually was an interrogator in Iraq, did the job humanely and with better results than the "Dark Side" devotees. The Pentagon is trying to censor him and he's fighting back.

And, he says stuff like this:

My experiences have landed me in the middle of another war -- one even more important than the Iraq conflict. The war after the war is a fight about who we are as Americans. Murderers like Zarqawi can kill us, but they can't force us to change who we are. We can only do that to ourselves. One day, when my grandkids sit on my knee and ask me about the war, I'll say to them, "Which one?"

Barack Obama holds out a lot of hope that we can put this morally corrupt period behind us.

Thanks for everything

It's Thanksgiving Day, 2008 and I am amazed at the things to be thankful for. My family, my wife, and a rewarding life.

And, my previous kvetching posts aside, I am thankful everyday for the Obama Presidency that awaits around the corner. Obama is a man of talent we're fortunate to have as a leader.

And the dog. How couldn't I be thankful for the pooch?

(And Sarah Palin!)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Change is slow at DoD

So, now the report is that President-Elect Obama will likely re-appoint Bush Secreary of Defense Robert Gates. After what we've seen so far, this is starting to get alarming.

Sure, this is the Bush-Cheney Pentagon that Obama is taking over. It needs work. There's the whole issue of declining US power and influence and continued risk of violent terrorism. And we know the Bush-Cheney Pentagon has been involved in all manner of scandal; torture, anti-Constitutional practices at Guantanamo Bay; waste, fraud, abuse with taxpayer funds and war profiteering. Oh, and where's Osama?

So, if President Obama needs to have a short transition period at Defense with Gates while fighting the economic battles at home, I could live with it. If this is what it takes to bring the Bush-Cheney military under civilian control of a different sort, perhaps we need to do it. (Though the military does have an oath and obligation to the Constitution to follow civilian authority).

Let's consider though, if Obama is going this far to include Republicans, how far will he go to include liberals? I mean, so far we've had the Lieberman bailout he brokered, the record Citigroup bailout his new Treasury signed off on, the increasingly possible return of Clinton Triangulation, and a hawk at Secretary of State.

Here's hoping that the new politics President Elect Obama will display also include a rejection of the typical Democratic “scorn the base” approach, used by Clinton and his followers. We can have hope, at least, and perhaps the deeds.

So much for Change we can believe in

Joe Lieberman was a terrible Chair of the Senate Homeland Security Committee. He held no hearings on the many abuses and corrupt acts by the Bush Administration in regards to "homeland security," Katrina, war on terror, etc.

There is a very real likelihood that he will use the seat now to stick pins and needles into Obama-Biden and cause Republican mischief. There is no mention I can find in press reports that Lieberman has changed anything in his approach. His first public statement was denial.

There's no change here, as Obama promised the American people. Instead, Obama protected Lieberman!

Then there's the question of the Democratic passion to stick it to their base to show the Villagers they are worthy of a pat on the head. Progressive Democrats must be independent of the official Dem party. That means giving contrbutions to MoveOn and DFA and not a dime for the DSCC.

Let's do that again

That was a beautiful election. People from all walks of life in our country came out to vote for Obama-Biden. And when they won, people all over the world celebrated.

We will need to maintain activism for the progressive agenda and, unfortunately, to fight back against the big business opposition. For now, this time is for celebrating.

It's time to campaign (for a mandate)

I'm spending less time at the keyboards and more time at the doors and on the streets campaigning. It's beautiful fall weather for campaigning.

Please help out in this election. A larger margin of victory for Obama will position his agenda of change well. The Republicans and forces of the status quo will try to "Clintonize" Obama and obstruct. We must not allow that because President Obama will need a strong mandate for change to overcome Republican obstructionism.

Further, the deeper we bury Republicans in this election, the greater their disarray, their infighting, their disrepute. Bury `em deep! They'll be digging themselves out longer.

If you want to know how to get started, the Obama web site is a great organizing tool. Check it out, find something that works for you, and just pitch in.

For Victory!

John McCain is losing it

Wow. Just wow. John McCain is losing it!

John McCain, Ringleader of the Keating Five

John McCain associated with, and abetted, a financial confidence man convicted of fraud, racketeering, and conspiracy. Bailing out the investors in Keating's company cost U.S. Taxpayers billions of dollars.

This, however, is directly relevant to our current events and lives, unlike the Ayers opposition research attack.

Let's talk about Charles Keating and John McCain, the Keating Five and the the Savings and Loan scandal. Why should a Senator reprimanded for his involvement with convicted financial felons be trusted with this financial scandal?

Biden Sails Past Palin

Well, that was not as painful a Vice Presidential debate as I expected.

On style, Sarah Palin was only really painfully awkward a couple times. She proved she could loosely string together talking points to make it seem like she was engaging in debate.

But... she embraced Dick Cheney's looney "fourth branch" theories of the Vice Presidency. She repeatedly and falsely accused Joe Biden of lying. She embraced Bush and McCain. She got the name of the commander in Afghanistan wrong and stubbornly lied about his opposition to a surge in Afghanistan.

Joe Biden knocked it out of the park. He demonstrated mastery of the issues with passion for doing the right thing.

And Biden took McCain apart. Not a Maverick on health care, on Iraq, on education. Nice riff! And the Obama-Biden campaign backs it up.

Palin could show she could talk without complete embarassment for an hour and a half. Biden showed that the Obama-Biden campaign is ready to lead America back to international respect, back to economic solvenccy and ahead to great environmental security.

Making up some serious allegations

Picking Sarah Palin for VP was a bad joke.

The McCain-Palin campaign clarified Gov. Sarah Palin’s (R-AK) remark from last week that “Putin rears his head and comes into the airspace of the United States of America.” The campaign told CBS News, “Russian incursions…inside the air defense identification zone have occurred.” But as the Associated Press reports today, no such incursions have occurred ‘in recent years’:

The air defense identification zone, almost completely over water, extends 12-mile past the perimeter of the United States. … However, no Russian military planes have been flying even into that zone, said Maj. Allen Herritage, a spokesman for the Alaska region of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, at Elmendorf Air Force Base. “To be very clear, there has not been any incursion in U.S. airspace in recent years,” Herritage said.


They should have her well-trained in the dark arts of deflection by tomorrow night. McSame has been focusing his staff on getting her ready.

She's pulling the campaign down. Bad choice, McCain. Thanks.

McCain will soon go really negative, start inventing new Republican victimizations to be outraged over.