A new poll from Public Agenda and Foreign Affairs magazine says only 8% want to take military action against Iran, and only 5% want to threaten military action. The vast majority support diplomacy or sanctions. And large majorities say the criticism that the U.S. is too quick to resort to war is at least "partly justified". Even Republicans prefer non-military options (68 percent of Republicans, compared to 78 percent of Democrats).

http://www.publicagenda.org/foreignpolicy/foreignpolicy_diplomacy.htm

It doesn't matter what Sharpton meant by his comment. People are looking for any weapon to beat Sharpton with, especially after so soon after the Imus matter. This sort of purposeful misunderstanding happens constantly in our media culture, and it's no surprise that someone as controversial as Sharpton is the focus of it this time.

Remember when the Iraq Study Group was supposed to save us all? When we all gleefully anticipated the grown-ups in Washington finally forcing Bush to face reality? How it was going to point the way forward out of Iraq? What ever happened with that?

I say this from the bottom of my heart: Fuck Michael Jordan. I don't care if we never hear his name ever again. There is nothing--nothing--more annoying in sports right now than the constant comparisons of the latest up and coming NBA star with Jordan. Someone needs to pull you aside and read you the Rick Pitino rant: "Michael Jordan is not coming through that door to save you!" Please, get the fuck over him. You don't hear baseball announcers saying "oh, Babe Ruth would have done this," or football announcers saying "Jim Brown would have never done that." Can you please get off of Jordan's dick and pay attention to what's going on in front of you?

Here's Dickerson on the Colbert Report:

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2007/Colbert_questions_Obamas_blackness_0209.html

It's clear to me that Buffie is in better shape than Dickerson.

I'm glad Kaufman made the very important point about what separates great coaches from average ones. Great coaches take the time to evaluate their talent, and build their system around using that talent properly. Average coaches build a system and then try to force their players into that system, whether they have the proper talent for it or not.

[joking]so what you're saying is that the war in Iraq, and the coming war in Iran, are black people's fault?[/joking]

The press doesn't have time to cover things like the 4th Amendment, torture, or FISA. They're covering more important topics, like Barack Obama possibly lying last August when he said he didn't have a cigarette.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/04/obama-is-smokin.html

As Jack Tapper notes in this hard-hitting investigation,

It's not a big deal in the scheme of things -- the war on Iraq, a major economic crisis -- indeed, it's miniscule. Hardly worth mentioning.

Except that I don't like feeling that I wasn't being dealt with honestly. And as much as citizens who are suspect of the media might scoff at such a notion, many of us consider ourselves to be your representatives to help make sure our leaders are telling us the truth, and leading the country down a path we're confident is the right one. (Corny, I know.)

Such dedicated truth-seekers deserve our support, not our scorn, Glenn.

The only time I remember seeing a dildo on TV was on VH1's The White Rapper Show, when Persia threatened to beat up John Brown with her dildo. Great TV moment.

I read that TNR piece this morning, and what was most interesting about it was it's lack of argument in support of the new bill. The best they could come up with was "hey, you don't really believe Democrats want to eviscerate the Constitution, do you?" That's what passes for "serious" political points these days?

The risk is, in their minds, too great that when Israel needs help the most, Obama will buckle and Israel will be crushed.

It can't be repeated often enough: Israel has the most powerful military in the Middle East. Israel is the only nuclear power in the Middle East. The idea that any of the other Middle Eastern countries could "crush" Israel is so absurd that anyone making that argument should be laughed off the stage.

Glenn says "He never pretended that he wanted to implement or advance a progressive agenda."

Proposing near-universal government health care, getting serious about climate change, ending the war in Iraq, closing Guantanamo prison, ending torture, re-engaging the world through dimplomacy, raising taxes on the super rich, proposing massive government public works projects, supporting pro-choice policies and stem-cell research....

How is that not a progressive agenda? And he hasn't backed off on any of it. In fact, he's made a point multiple times of reaffirming his commitment to those things, and has promised to act boldly in enacting that agenda. So what is the problem?