Letters to the Editor
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What about McKinney?
In response to all this blather about how the left wing of the D party is taking over, why idn't anyone pointing out that the very very liberal Cynthia McKinney was ALSO turned out of office on Tuesday? If the left wing was really taking over, she'd be the last person to get the boot.
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War Room
Not that I don't enjoy reading, but I believe, that as of late, the War Room posts are a little too long. Each post is almost like reading a full article. Not that War Room is a blog, nor do I want it to be, but I belive some editing is in order to keep it in line with it's original intent.
Dan
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But wait, there's more!
You missed this choice quote from Lieberman on the party leaders from the NYT article:
“They are not criticizing me for running an independent campaign, they are criticizing Democratic voters for the way they voted.”
Um, how's that, exactly, Joe? If they were rejecting the voters' decision - as YOU are - they would support YOU. You are the only one crying "do over" because you didn't the the results you wanted.
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Three incumbents lost yesterday
...in a time when incumbents usually get re-elected over 90 percent of the time.
You'd think that would be a story.
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Not on NTV, sorry
All Ned all the time. There is no other news. No get out you traitor or you too will be purged from the party.
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Glenn Greenwald
Overall, I like his style. Its more eloquent and nuanced than Tim Grieve. And nuance is essential -- the politics of black and white are the politics of the far right.
That said, he does tend to run a bit long. I've found his best material to be the stuff that comes in at 3-5 paragraphs, not 8 or so.
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Not "opposed to the war"
The real issue here is not being "opposed to the war" but "opposed to the way this war was manipulated, managed and presently executed." Not a single Democrat is against fighting terrorists (and any that are should be considered idiots). It is just that we are against the way the Bush administration has chosen to fight terrorists. Stop allowing the GOP talking heads to frame the debate. We are not safer as a nation because of the war in Iraq. We are actually less safe. Democrats should state very clearly that we need to reorganize our national security efforts by:
1. Stopping the creation and training more terrorists in Iraq by reducing our presence.
2. Asking the Iraqi's and other Middle East partners to provide forces to maintain Iraq's growing government. If Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan are not committed to a new and improved Iraq, why do we consider them to be "allies?"
3. Using the money currently allocated for the war in Iraq to secure our ports, borders, planes and nuclear facilities here at home.
Simple solutions are not hard to communicate. It is how the Bushies and the GOP have come to ru(i)n America. The Lieberman defeat is a chance for the Democrats to state very clearly and concisely a plan for a better future. The American people are willing to listen -- tell them and this will be a different government for the remainder of Bush's term.
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Lieberman doesn't need to worry about money ...
I'm sure that Republicans will open up their checkbooks to him, if only to siphon votes away from Lamont. After all, Santorum's allies are doing the same for a Green Party senate candidate in Pennsylvania to siphon votes from Casey.
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Tony Snow blames 9/11 on Bush Sr.
It seems not many people have caught this part of Tony Snow's remarks yesterday:
"Now, when the United States walked away, in the opinion of Osama bin Laden in 1991, bin Laden drew from that the conclusion that Americans were weak and wouldn’t stay the course and that led to September 11th."
This says to me that he's putting a large part of the blame for the attacks of 9/11/01 on the first Bush administration.
The video can be found at http://thinkprogress.org/2006/08/09/snow-lamont/
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Mike Allen - Lickspittle
Mike Allen has been dutifully kissing Bush's ass since his first day on the beat.
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To the right- please spin and spin hard
Won't this be interesting, seeing as politicians on the right and media personnel of all stripes are painting themselves into the proverbial corner. The right's problem is they're yelling at the top of their lungs to anyone still gullible enough to believe them that Lamont and his supporters are from some mythical extreme left-wing fringe. The media's problem is two-fold. One, they are parroting this "fringe" claim without bothering to investigate what are essentially republican press releases [as usual]. Two, they have been focusing on Lieberman and have not allowed Ned Lamont any hint of a national voice prior to his victory. Won't everyone be surprised when Mr. Lamont starts to speak and he turns out to be a rational individual looking for a workable way to disengage from Iraq while maintaining national security. Like this blurb in War Room said, this could be the moment that galvanizes opposition to the republican ideologues. Expect them to sink to new lows soon.
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" A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes", attributed to Mark Twain
It's not Lamont who needs to "do something" at this point ... as a novice, imho, he needs to focus on his race and his staff and his hoped for constituency .... The Democratic Party, however, does need to do quite a number of things rather quickly ...
Regarding Iraq, without a fairly strong coalition of Democrats pushing for disengagement and some credible (and hopefully externally well-endorsed) plan/proposal for disengagement, Lamont may find himself twisting slowly in the wind and being used as a posterboy for Rethug talking points -- particularly those regarding lack of experience, lack of plan, and using the GWOT and Iraq for "political purposes." Yes, yes, they say, we all want our troops home ... no one more than I ....
A "referendum on the war" IMHO may genuinely be a dangerously too narrow focus for a Congressional seachange ... don't forget that 40% who "support" the war. Don't forget all those folks who still believe 30 years later that the problem with Vietnam was that we "weren't allowed to win it." America is not seething over Iraq ... it seems more sort of regretful and frustrated. If Iraq were going "well", would they mind the lies, the cost, etc. ... As Lieberman said last night on PBS, paraphrase, no one wants us out of Iraq more than I do ...
oh, don't forget the economy sucks, gas costs $3 a gallon, and minimum wage is an unliveable wage ... and we really do still have 2+ million citizens warehoused in prisons and Johnny still can't read, write or do arithmetic ... and then there is the lack of "good jobs" and all those "illegals" and the rising regional real political power of Islamic militias ... etc. Our infrastructure is falling apart and our "technical superiority" is being lost as we lose all that foreign talent that's choosing to work elsewhere.