Letters to the Editor
Frank Smith, Bluff City, KS
Published Letters: 161 Editor's Choice: 15
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Shades of the Watergate hearings!
[Read the article: The Scott McClellan sideshow]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I wish Conason had gotten more into dissecting the dynamics of the House Judiciary Committee hearing.
Firstly, there was a lot of Democratic Watergate/Rodino-type grandstanding going on, devouring time that could have been used to ask crucial questions of McClellan. Some of the questioners, though, were exquisite, on point, incisive. They included Tammy Baldwin, Sheila Jackson-Lee and Artur Davis.
Then there was obviously a coordinated Republican ad hominem effort to destroy McClellan's credibility and reputation. Chief among the slimy hatchet men were Reps. Goodlatte, Lungren, Feeney and Trent Franks. There were loud and ironic echoes of the deliberate and calculated personal destruction of Ambassador Joseph Wilson in the attacks levied by these loathesome Congressional reptiles.
McClellan's testimony was remarkable. His memory was excellent. He never hesitated to answer any question, no matter how complicated nor how hostile. He was extremely thoughtful.
Though he obviously still likes Bush (it was clear he no longer "admires" him) McClellan held him to account for the leaking of the National Intelligence Estimate to further the baseless case for war and for Dubya's failure to fire Rove and Libby after it became clear that they shared responsibility for the retaliatory, traitorous outing of Plame's spy status.
I've watched Scott interviewed about the relevations in his book in many venues, including by Amy Goodman on Democracy Now. I think he was absolutely a credible and persuasive witness.
Lastly, McClellan was unshakable in one aspect. He thoroughly and repeatedly condemned the inflation and distortion of putative intelligence by which strategem Bush and Cheney led this nation to a catastrophic illegal invasion and occupation.
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McCain overrated
[Read the article: On energy, McCain sounds a lot like Cheney]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Checking out interest group ratings, going back a dozen years, McCain does fairly well in the ratings by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the energy industry lobby that denies global warming. The Republicans for Environmental Protection rate him weak, and the League of Conservation Voters rate him middling to awful, depending on the year.
He's flipped flopped on all sorts of wedge issues, moving consistently in the direction of conservative or reactionary. His positions on energy consumption seem to have become one with Exxon-Mobile.
So why should anyone be surprised if there's "not a dime's worth of difference" between him and Darth Cheney?
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I that a rhetorical question?
[Read the article: Of all the attack dogs McCain could have picked ...]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Benen writes: "Why, pray tell, is McCain encouraging one of the people responsible for the 'dishonest and dishonorable' smear to speak on behalf of his campaign, in order to distort the words of a four-star general?"
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Kathleen is not the one.
[Read the article: Obama veepstakes: The other woman]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm a Kansan, an activist Democrat and one who knows that McCaskill isn't the governor of Missouri. I love Kathleen. She's smart, tough, honest. She's stood up to the lunatic fringe numerous times and usually won despite enduring a 3:1 state Senate Republican edge, about 2:1 in the House. She has very good political sense, knowing which worthwhile fights are close but winnable. She owes her office to the fact that we have two Republican parties in Kansas, one bat-shit mad, and the other composed of moderates who are appalled by the radical right wingers and vote "D" when the nutcases run.
McCain also has a big problem in Kansas. It was he who caused Boeing to lose the Air Force tanker contract to Airbus. U.S. Senator Pat Roberts, up for reelection, voted against a "buy American" provision in military acquisition.
Still, I'm not comfortable with Sebelius as Veep candidate. I like Napolitano too, but I can't imagine that her presence on the ballot would carry McCain's Arizona though it has more electoral votes than Kansas. Both governors are DLC. We don't need any more NAFTAs and MFN status for countries like China, and "tough on crime."
Richardson always seems one step away from an indictment. NM government has clearly continued being for sale, during his tenure, part of the DLC program. But Jeff Bingaman isn't DLC.
Obama needs a non-DLC running mate who isn't afraid to get his or her hands dirty and who is from a swing state that can contribute to his victory. Maria Cantwell? She has eight years in the Senate, a free ride, has been a champ on rational energy policy, K-12 education, health care and is very smart. She was one of 21 Senate Democrats voting against the Quds resolution though she did vote to allow Bush to invade Iraq. Debbie Stabenow voted no on Iraq, yes, unfortunately, on Iran. Both are DLC.
I'd love to see Russ Feingold as Veep, but his campaign finance reform message wouldn't fit well with Obama. Bob Graham is too old.
What to do? What to do?
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Napolitano has her advantages, but no...
[Read the article: The other "other woman" for veep]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Napolitano has managed well in Arizona but it's unlikely that her presence on the ballot would beat McCain there.
She has been courageous in standing up to some of the worst elements in U.S. politics, such as a home-state fundamentalist right wing, "Sheriff Joe" Arpaio and his Gestapo tactics, even the for-profit prison industry which unfortunatelyoperates with little oversight in her state, thanks to a bought and paid for legislature.
My worry is that the Democratic party has been poisoned by the corporatist Democratic Leadership Council, that collective that brought us dismal campaigns by Kerry and Gore, NAFTA - which helped to destroy the Mexican economy and create our immigration problem, and "tough on crime" which has put 2.4 million people, mostly of color, in prisons. Many of the alternative possible women candidates, like Hillary are also DLC: Cantwell, Murray, Sebelius, etc. These are candidates who voted for giving Bush authority to invade Iraq, and a pretext for invading Iran (the Quds resolution).