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Presidential Primary: On The War
However, her Iraq vote was not only wrongheaded. It was also cynical. She made it without taking the time to do critical background research, work that would have revealed doubts about Saddam's alleged weapons of mass destruction among U.S. intelligence agencies.
A 90-page National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq, the consensus of the 16 U.S. intelligence agencies, was made available to all members of the Senate, but apparently she didn't bother to read it. (It's a classified document, but senators were permitted to read it at two secure locations on Capitol Hill.)
For a policy-maker who prides herself on preparation and a mastery of detail, that was a curious lapse — suggesting she had made up her mind to cast a vote that would armor her against charges she was too soft to be commander-in-chief. In other words, she, like many others, sent young Americans to war to boost her political fortunes. That's not the only mistake Clinton has ever made, but it is the most damning.
On Oct. 26, 2002, in the midst of a campaign for the U.S. Senate, he gave a speech in Chicago opposing the invasion of Iraq.
While Obama rightly acknowledged that Saddam Hussein was "a bad guy," he also pointed out, "Saddam poses no imminent and direct threat to the United States or to his neighbors. ... I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a U.S. occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences."
Passed on without comment.
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LMAO Paine - you're too much
Thank you, Denise. I am too much at times. In fact, when I am frustrated I am too much to take for myself, but you know I am making the point others have made.
Yes, others. I recall...hnmmmph, was it so recent as last night when none other than Puddleriver*in*WV was consoling all (and herself) with
*relax, folks...all is well or soon to be.*
WHY?
Because HQ "promised."
I do' know, call me a fool.
Too cool.
Remaining Grateful Dead members reunite for Obama concert
Three surviving members of the Grateful Dead - Mickey Hart, Phil Lesh and Bob Weir - will reunite at 7:30 p.m. Monday at the Warfield in San Francisco for "Deadheads for Obama," a concert to support Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.
http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_8143395?nclick_check=1
Morrissey - Mute Witness http://hypem.com/track/477948
Your poor witness
Crying so loudly on the floor
Oh, well, she's only trying to tell you
What it was that she saw
She is only trying to tell you
What it was that she saw
Now see her standing on the table
With her small arms flailing
And you feel such compassion
In your soul for
Your mute witness
Still testing the strength
Of our patience
Oh, well she's only trying to tell you
What it was that she saw
She is only trying to tell you
What it was that she saw
Now see her pointing to the frisbee
With a memory so fuzzy
And her silent words
Describing the sight of last night
4 A.M. Northside, Clapham Common
Oh, god, what was she doing there ?
Will she sketch the answer later ?
Well, I will ask her
"Now dry your tears, my dear"
Now see her mime in time so nicely
It would all have been so clear
If only she had never volunteered
"Your taxi is here, my dear"
Thanks for the heads up sm - right in my backyard.
Paine, perhaps the 1000th time will be the charm. There is no way the blog would be like this if we were still Dean for America.
Ambidextrous:
Morrissey - Irish Blood, English Heart Play Stop POPUP Favorite
Irish blood, English heart, this I'm made of
There is no-one on earth I'm afraid of
And no regime can buy or sell me
I've been dreaming of a time when
To be English is not to be baneful
To be standing by the flag not feeling
Shameful, racist or partial
Irish blood, English heart, this I'm made of
There is no-one on earth I'm afraid of
And I will die with both my hands untied
I've been dreaming of a time when
The English are sick to death of Labour
And Tories, and spit upon the name of Oliver Cromwell
And denounce this royal line that still salute him
And will salute him forever
what I want to know is, is the blog fixed?
12:47 am est
A day late, but still heartfelt...
Happy Birthday Joan in Fl (2/1)
btw, very weak and iffy connection so if I disappear...
Hey there Thankful!
Happy birthday Joan - hope it was a good one :)
Hey Denise and Paine! I have one bar and it comes and goes :-( My trip was all good except for between Rochester and Buffalo ~ yikes. If I can't get a connection here tomorrow, I'll go to the library midday... so far everyone I've talked with here in the burbs is clueless about the election other than the snippets they here on the news. How is anyone to make an informed decisionif they don't get factual info?
my last in reference to 1000 More Fools
LOL, yeah I'm in Chitown, but I always list time est cuz it's blogtime.
Well, T2T4, Greenich Burlington mean time is the standard.
:-D well, of course, I operate on my own time, but nonetheless list Burlington time for posts. Spent most of the time since arriving late Tues night catching up on much needed sleep. and eating to try to put a couple pounds on. Going up to visist the 'rents and my older sister tomorrow...
1:02 am est
Bill Maher is on now - gonna watch it and then sleep - and then sleep some more.
Night all :)
Night Denise ♥ Sweet ones atcha.
1:06 am est
Happy Groundhog Day :-)
1:11 am est
What's it 10pm, Denise?
lol at the last Paine ~ my mom won't allow that name to be mentioned in her house. Nice to see you on so late :-)
Ah, Jane's the one that's unmentionable. All's hangin' here. In wait and see mode...
what's to mind?
1:33 am est
I didn't take it literally, lol.
Uh oh, not sure this is going to refresh this time/next time... will post agian if possible but if not...
hugs and sweet dreams atcha Paine
♥'s to all
Kindness is free!
cool, it posted
1:42 am est
music's always good. as good as poetry slams, haiku, and recipes :-)
Night Paine. Pumpkin time here, too.
good morning's to Judy and Monica :-)
♥'s and Kindness...
1:54 am est
BMT?
Carville and Matalin are on MTP again Sunday. I won't watch. That reminded me of some of the quotes of his in the past.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/1800
Here is one that is really ugly:
"The Democratic constituency is just like a herd of cows. All you have to do is lay out enough silage and they come running. That's why I became an operative working with Democrats. With Democrats all you have to do is make a lot of noise, lay out the hay, and be ready to use the ole cattle prod in case a few want to bolt the herd."
Carville is going to need a taser not a prod, to keep me in line. floridagal.
Printable version Anti-war grouping supports Obama A leading anti-war movement in the United States has opted to back Barack Obama for the presidency. MoveOn.org claims to have 3.2 million members, and said it would start a campaign immediately to persuade them to support the senator from Illinois.
Mr Obama has won more delegates than Mrs Clinton from the Democrats' contests so far, but polls suggest Mrs Clinton will have the edge in the states that vote on Super Tuesday.
Super Tuesday could be decisive for the Republicans, as in many states the winner of the contest takes all of the delegates on offer.
In the Democratic race, however, states award their delegates according to the proportion of the vote won - meaning the tight battle could continue for weeks.
'Desperate for change'
MoveOn said 70% of its members had backed Mr Obama over 30% for Mrs Clinton.
"Our members' endorsement of Senator Obama is a clear call for a new America at this critical moment in history," said MoveOn executive director Eli Pariser.
He says MoveOn's goal is to bring "progressive values" to Washington,
"Seven years of the disastrous policies of the Bush administration have left the country desperate for change."
Mr Pariser said America needed its next president "to end the war in Iraq, provide health care to every American, deal with our climate crisis, and restore America's standing in the world".
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I would go further and say an end to the War Party's control of budget and foreign policy, a new green economy growing a respose to the threat of warming, and a health care system actually focused on health rather than expensive treatment doled out through a labyrinth of payers. I'd go further. That is a modest list. But I do agree with MoveOn that Barack Obama is more likely to complete that list.
Good morning, everybody
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYATbsu2cP8
Hillary knows better. She has experience.
No the blog is not fixed. Offer it up for the people being killed in Iraq.
Whenever I suggest in comments on KOS that the invasion of Iraq to gain bases and a listening post in the Middle East during the Clinton Administration, that suggestion is forcibly rejected. The script that it was all Bush Two''s idea and the logistics of moving men and materielle and planning the lay-out of the bases and their location was all accomplished in less than two years is the "official" story and they're going to stick with it.
How many people are kicking themselves for not grabbing the bull by the horns and removing Saddam and moving onto the southwest Asian mainland during Clinton? How many are regretting that they let him piddle around with periodic air strikes? How many are arguing that it could have been done cleanly and gotten over with, if they'd acted sooner?
When are we going to talk about the air war? When are we going to talk about the Air Force assets, the strategic command, the domination of cyber space, the dominion of the U.S. over all the earth?
Confession isn't just good for the soul, it's a necessary antecendent to making a change in one's behavior. We cannot remove the Air Force from its bases in Iraq until they are admitted.
5:01 AM EST
The blog she posted correctly.
BTW, I noticed in yesterday's Keith Olbermann comment that he referred to needles in hay-stacks that hadn't been made yet. LOL
I found that I used the haystacks in a post on Hannah, entitled "A Little Kerfuffle" and then I found this on the web
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ__ubDz_Xk
enjoy!! I've added it to the Hannah post from last August.
hello all. just popped in to bestow some loving blessings on the blog. as across the country, some divisions have formed here as this race has progressed. I've read so many stories lately of mothers and daughters, brothers, sisters, best friends being on opposite sides re: HRC vs. BHO. some are handlng it very well - others are building mean verbal bridges that are dividing those once close. then we have the corpmedia whores - pounding the drum that this will tear the dem party apart and lead to another loss in November.
WE MUST PROVE THEM WRONG. please, I feel we must step back and ask ourselves before speaking/blogging - is this how I really feel, will this make my country safer, the ill better, the hungry, well-fed? will this bring the troops home, protect our freedoms, restore our Constition to it's full level of respect? amid all the things that need to be fixed, is my passion creating divisions that may never be healed? will I NOT vote for the eventual dem nominee if it's not my guy/gal? is my anger, or disappointment or intuition going to allow the republicans to have 4, perhaps 8 more years to destroy all we love and believe in??!!!
LOVE AND BLESSINGS ON ALL OF US. it's going to be a tough 9 months and we need to be wary as the intensity of this all heats up. if a Democrat becomes POTUS this time, it will still be just the beginning of the fight. let's have a tempered passion for the dem contest and save our burning passion for the general election. take nothing for granted. together we will prevail - apart we will not.
well, I'm off to watch the Dog Show - a wonderful way to start a Saturday! I'll leave the news and commentary for later...
hope you all have easy weather and a fine day - and as our dear friend says:
remember, kindness is free.
let's have a tempered passion for the dem contest and save our burning passion for the general election
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~have to disagree somewhat as this is a life or death struggle for the fifty state plan and bottom up politics, passionless people don't vote
do agree, carborate in a little love
Whistlepig Pome
Time, tide and spring
a month with a heart
in the center
Small things checking for sun
already spring
before we're ready
More rain than snow
more sun more shine
clouds white sky blue
Winter hearts doffing mittens
toes tingle to be free
sap runs rises
Our hearts already warm
as butter on a biscuit &
raspberry jam
come, come
jjl
2/2/08
Nowhere for the Democratic Wing to go
http://www.opednews.com/articles/genera_joe_quee_080201_alone_on_the_left_wi.htm
Once upon a time the Democratic party had a left wing - not in the European sense, as communism has never flourished here and socialism has barely taken root; but by American standards, presidential candidates such as George McGovern and Teddy Kennedy in the 70s and early 80s were pretty far left. (Kennedy, whose contributions to his country surpass those of his more famous bothers, remains uncompromisingly liberal, but represents Massachusetts, America's most liberal state.) This led to electoral disaster and a Republican golden age, interrupted only by Jimmy Carter's bewildering presidency and ended when Bill Clinton pulled the party back to the centre of the spectrum, where it is today. Of the candidates on the hustings this year, only Kucinich is even vaguely of the left. And now he has pulled out, lacking the cash to go on and worried that he might lose his congressional seat.
Viable leftwing candidates in the US are now spotted less often than UFOs. And creatures in UFOs would have a better chance of getting invited to the debates.
Elizabeth Holtzman takes down the specious arguments against impeachment.
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_elizabet_080202_judiciary_committee_.htm
What then is the justification for taking impeachment "off the table"? Congressional leaders don't defend the administration, nor do they contend that its actions are unimpeachable or less serious than Nixon's. Instead they argue there is no time, or that impeachment proceedings would distract the Congress from other work, or divide the country. The subtext seems to be fear that impeachment could undermine Democratic election prospects in 2008.
But even these "pragmatic" arguments are wrong. Let's take them one at a time:
Insufficient time. In the case of Nixon, the House officially instructed the Judiciary Committee to act in early February 1974. The committee finished voting on articles of impeachment July 29, less than six months later. No presidential impeachment proceeding had taken place for almost 100 years, so the committee had to start from scratch, analyzing the Constitution and developing procedures for the impeachment inquiry. Now that the relevant legal spade work is done and a road map for proper impeachment proceedings exists, Congress might conduct them even faster than in 1974.
Distraction. During Watergate, the impeachment inquiry didn't prevent Congress from getting its work done. In fact, the House Judiciary Committee also worked on other matters during impeachment, just as the Senate did during its impeachment trial of former President Bill Clinton.
Divisiveness. True, President Clinton's impeachment was a highly partisan process that divided the country - because most Americans didn't support it. They believed his conduct was reprehensible, but not an impeachable offense. Impeachment therefore had negative repercussions for the Republicans who instigated it.
Nixon's impeachment united the American people. The process was bipartisan, demonstrating this wasn't just a Democratic ploy to undo an election. The fairness of the process, the seriousness of purpose, the substantial evidence - all gave the public confidence that justice had been done. This reinvigorated the shared value that the rule of law and What then is the justification for taking impeachment "off the table"? Congressional leaders don't defend the administration, nor do they contend that its actions are unimpeachable or less serious than Nixon's. Instead they argue there is no time, or that impeachment proceedings would distract the Congress from other work, or divide the country. The subtext seems to be fear that impeachment could undermine Democratic election prospects in 2008.But even these "pragmatic" arguments are wrong. Let's take them one at a time:
Insufficient time. In the case of Nixon, the House officially instructed the Judiciary Committee to act in early February 1974. The committee finished voting on articles of impeachment July 29, less than six months later. No presidential impeachment proceeding had taken place for almost 100 years, so the committee had to start from scratch, analyzing the Constitution and developing procedures for the impeachment inquiry. Now that the relevant legal spade work is done and a road map for proper impeachment proceedings exists, Congress might conduct them even faster than in 1974.
Distraction. During Watergate, the impeachment inquiry didn't prevent Congress from getting its work done. In fact, the House Judiciary Committee also worked on other matters during impeachment, just as the Senate did during its impeachment trial of former President Bill Clinton.
Divisiveness. True, President Clinton's impeachment was a highly partisan process that divided the country - because most Americans didn't support it. They believed his conduct was reprehensible, but not an impeachable offense. Impeachment therefore had negative repercussions for the Republicans who instigated it.
Nixon's impeachment united the American people. The process was bipartisan, demonstrating this wasn't just a Democratic ploy to undo an election. The fairness of the process, the seriousness of purpose, the substantial evidence - all gave the public confidence that justice had been done. This reinvigorated the shared value that the rule of law and preservation of democracy are more important than any president or party.
Stonewalling such widespread public sentiment is itself divisive, leading at least half the country to feel their concerns about upholding the Constitution are being ignored. Only a serious airing of evidence in hearings would heal the split.
Undermining election prospects. When the impeachment process began, Nixon had just been reelected in one of the largest landslides in history. Few, if any, worried about whether impeachment was a political winner for Congress or the Democrats. Public opinion simply forced Congress' hand when Nixon fired Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox. After the Judiciary Committee conducted impartial hearings and voted on impeachment
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By Susan Rowe on Feb 2, 2008 12:13 AM ESTDean is first!