Do we know how the Blue America vote turned out yet? Heh! Glad I voted for (against) Carney.

MSNBC:

Rahim, an Afghan national, was detained in the summer of 2007 by a foreign government, according to a statement CIA Director Michael Hayden gave to CIA employees. The name of the other country was not disclosed.

Well, give them some milkbones!

Absolutely it is time to thank those who came home - and to do so in explicit terms that remind them “we of the blogosphere who Care about Our Constitution are grateful, and will continue to watch you.”

As to Carney - to me he’s the worst disappointment of the bunch. Absolute turncoat.

Shuler - like Gerry Ford - is an addlebrain largely because he took a lot of shots to the head while playing football. Of course, had he been any good, he wouldn’t have taken that many shots, but he wasn’t.

Here are the hold outs from the original list, as I see it

:

Blue Dog Members Pushing for Telecom Immunity

Congressman Dan Boren (D-Oklahoma) http://www.house.gov/boren/
Congressman Christopher Carney (D-Pennsylvania) http://carney.house.gov/
Congressman Jim Cooper (D-Tennessee) http://www.cooper.house.gov/
Congressman Tim Holden (D-Pennsylvania) http://www.holden.house.gov/
Congressman Heath Shuler (D-North Carolina) http://shuler.house.gov/
Blue Dog Coalition web site http://www.house.gov/ross/BlueDogs/

[Note: edited as it went through the spam filter–I think this is right. ew]

Congressman Marion Berry (D-Arkansas) http://www.house.gov/berry/

Whaaa?? Did they run out of good crack in DC and Marion moved to the land of Hope; Arkansas that is?

I posted the list of the hold outs but it has not appeared. Can’t redo it now.

From memory, here are three:

Congressman Heath Shuler (D-North Carolina) http://shuler.house.gov/
Congressman Zack Space (D-Ohio) http://space.house.gov/
Congressman John Tanner (D-Tennessee) http://www.house.gov/tanner/

Shuler would be a good choice, he was on LOUD Dobbs and Glenn Beck the other night with more anti-immigrant stuff so it’s not like he’s just a failure on civil liberties.

Fucking guy never could read defenses. Apparently, that is still operative and applies even to national defenses….

LOL!!!

Agreed - if we targeted him with an ad blitz, I don’t think he’d be able to do an audible to adjust, he’d need the play called in by Coach Rahm.

The holdouts are Boren (OK), Carney (PA), Holden (PA), Shuler (NC), and Cooper (TN).

The battle still looms in the Senate. The Senate will try to ram immunity home now–and Jello Jello indicates this:

Rockerfeller Cool to Immunity

Updating the clusterfuck in Michigan and Florida, it appears that the Florida mail in vote has entered cardiac arrest as soon as it hit the ER doors–and there is a no code order on the chart–it will die a quick death over the weekend.

Architect of Florida Mail-In Vote Says Its Chances Are Poor

Democrats in the Florida House are opposed to a mail in. Nelson’s initiative to seat the delegates is going nowhere–it’s Senator 3AM’s attempt to make up the rules when wants when she wants.

In Michigan, it appears the clusterfuckers are clusterfucking the clusterfuck by attempting a private finance plan that seems clearly illegal and would get an immediate challenge by the Obama campaign lawyers, if it even got approval by the Michigan legislature.

On the bright side of things, Ashley Dupre seems to have support to continue living in the style she has been accustomed to living.

Playboy and Penthouse are in a Kristen bakeoff to get a staple in her navel.

And what about the announcement that Bud Cramer (AL) won’t seek reelection? He didn’t vote today.

Seconded.

the DC Mayor you’re thinking of was Marion Barry.

Not that anyone voting for telco immunity should be thought of as other-than-addled.

This may have been discussed before, but, What we are really talking aobut here by stripping the immunity provisions, is the ability of litigants to determine whether they have had their rights violated. But as I understand it, and I guess I don’t understand a lot, wasn’t there a recent case involving a similar suit that was decided based upon the plaintiff’s inability to prove standing? How will this new bill, if passed resolved that issue, if the government slaps “state secrets” label on the action again. Just denying the immunity, and adding a provision that allows a district court judge the right to screen sensitive information does not mean that the govt will comply. Can’t the US intervene and still seek to enjoin the disclosure?

Shhhh!! Don’t tell anyone; the story is more fun if people think it is Marion Barry instead of Marion Berry. By the way, you damn well know that Marion Barry would be voting against all this illegal surveillance; he knows how harmful wiretaps can be.

Do I detect a double entendre here?

If so, then we need to keep heath around, that way we can trash talk football all year long.

OK. But, if you saw one of my comments about Shuler, @3 above, you’d note Berry is not the only one I’m having fun with, viz.:

Shuler - like Gerry Ford - is an addlebrain largely because he took a lot of shots to the head while playing football. Of course, had he been any good, he wouldn’t have taken that many shots, but he wasn’t.

and the not voting, including Rangel and Capuano, how do we figure those?

Capuano voted no. Rangel, eh, I don’t know. I suspect he would have voted right if they needed it.

These are the names posted by various people on FDL. Can;t vouch for them, as there was no source. For what it’s worth.

DEMS VOTING NAY

Boren
Capuano
Carney
Cooper
Filner
Hinchey
Holden
Kucinich
Lampson

Not voting:

GOP:
Boustany
Brown-Waite, Ginny
Everett
Hunter
LaHood
Musgrave
Nunes
Peterson (PA)
Pickering
Tancredo
Walsh (NY)
Weller
Young (AK)

Dems:
Cramer
Green, Gene
Hooley
Oberstar
Rangel
Rush
Woolsey

McDermott
Shuler
Welch (VT)

There is need for definitive legislation in Congress to get a handle on the State Secrets defense pandemic. I don’t know when or whether that will happen. Right now, the US will continue to wave the state secrets club, and it has been boosted by its success in 3 appellate courts and the disappointing and cowardly stance of the Supreme Court who has not mustered 4 cert. votes so far in any appeal of State Secrets affirmations in the D.C. Circuit and several other cases.

The standing question has been decided in the D.C. Circuit where the ACLU was not successful in getting the 4 votes it needed for cert. so that the case could be argued in the Supreme Court.

In the Ninth Circuit, the panel ruled similarly in two companion cases, and they have been remanded to the District Court for determination on narrower grounds.

There is another case perculating in the Ninth Circuit where a district court allowed the case to go forward.

The Sixth Circuit recently issued an opinion that denied a case based on standing.

State Secrets is being applied broadly by DOJ. They used it in the egregious false arrest and torture of an innocent man, Khaled el-Masri, when the Supreme Court failed to grant cert. in the appeal of ACLU v. NSA.

So just to be clear - Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, voted the good way?

If so, great! I called his office this morning and maybe it helped.

For Charlie it’s Friday and he’s probably relaxing in Harlem.

Roll Call on Vote No. 145

From Cboldt:

Democrats voting NAY: Boren, Capuano (not a “Blue dog”), Carney, Cooper, Filner (not a “blue dog”), Hinchey (not a “blue dog”), Holden, Kucinich (not a “blue dog”), Lampson (not a “blue dog”), McDermott (not a “blue dog”), Shuler and Welch (VT) (not a “blue dog”)
I count 5 of the 21 “blue dogs” who were in favor of the Senate bill, changing their minds.

That sure complicates passage of FISA. Off to the Senate (or back to the Senate) with H.R.3773.

So in summary then, the recently oft used “State Secret” option remains unaffected by this legislation? So the executive branch, whether a party to the suit or not, can squelch any civil suit at any point by designating any issue a “state secret” thus ending further inquiry?

Roll Call Votes Click Links to Nos. 144 and 145

Got it wrong.

Capuano is a nay:

and here is his reasoning for his Febuary vote. Nothing up yet for today. Can someone parse this for me. It seems Kucinichean, if I read it right (but, once again, ureliable as jetlagged.)
http://www.house.gov/capuano/e.....2-15.shtml

As you may know, I have opposed all attempts by this President to limit our civil liberties or to circumvent our judicial system. Because of these strong beliefs, I was one of only 66 Members who voted against the original PATRIOT Act.

In August, Congress passed the so-called Protect America Act. This law provided extensive powers to the executive branch to conduct warrantless surveillance. Some provisions of the law are set to expire February 15, 2008. I voted against the Act.

As part of the debate over extending these expiring provisions, the President has insisted that his surveillance powers be extended and private companies that helped him violate the law be immunized from any independent judicial review of those acts. Unfortunately, this past week, the Senate agreed with his positions and sent a bill to the House to do just that. You should know that Senators Kerry and Kennedy both voted against this proposal.

Fortunately, the House refuses to cave into the President’s demands, especially on the immunity provisions. In an attempt to allow all parties time to work out their differences, the House proposed a 21 day extension to the expiring provisions. Since I simply cannot envision a scenario where I would support this measure, I voted against the extension. The entire vote is recorded below. Please note that some of those who voted in favor may not agree with the provisions — they may have been voting simply to allow time for compromise.

DEMS VOTING NAY

Boren
Capuano
Carney
Cooper
Filner
Hinchey
Holden
Kucinich
Lampson

Yes, so you should call and thank him. A couple of folks at DKos said some of the yes votes are getting slammed (I would not be surprised if Matheson were one of them). So he could use a thanks…

The legislation isn’t finished yet Skilly. Whether immunity is stripped, (and there are a number of other important provisions that Cboldt/ always summarizes well in charts on his site) is still up in the air. The Senate has passed a bill with Immunity, the House just passed a bill without it which has been the subject of EW’s blogs here, and now the House Bill gets sent back to the Senate for its input.

When the FISA legislation is through though, it will not stop the administration from using State Secrets as a defense. Further legislation might modulate that.

Done. Thanks!

I think Rangel’s been sick lately - flu or something. I recall seeing something in an NY paper about his getting out of the hospital - like within the last week.

That and, if he’s not sick, y’gotta remember he’s likely helping Patterson get things squared away - they’re from the same neighborhood.

My 15 year old son just made a great comment. He said, “If there is success to get this through the Senate and the President vetoes the bill, the Dems should work like crazy to override the veto to show at least THEY tried to address all the concerns (security and rights) and that this was not just a political play to revert back to the original FISA. Otherwise, Reps will have ammo…”

Not bad for 15…

Sure would be nice to have the two Democratic presidential candidates get out on front of this and lay some heavy rhetoric about the failure of Bush to adequately protect both the rights and safety of Americans and jointly call on Bush and his identical twin, McCain, to “pass and sign the House version for the good of the country”. But, instead, they will both do nothing, and MSNBC will call Hillary a witch for not doing anything and Obama a messiah of change and inclusion for not doing anything.

If I’m not mistaken, the only guy Schuler ran against in the primary was a guy whose main platform was legalization of marijuana. A friend of mine was on the dccc committee to recommend him, he even joined the campaign. He eventually quit when he realized he had a garden tool for a candidate.

I can understand the attraction of running a former college football hero as a Democrat in a football-mad area of the country, and sometimes it even works out ok - Bill Bradley wasn’t a bad Senator, although he was a better basketball player. I’m glad that I don’t have to hold my nose and vote for him because he is a “Democrat”.

Could “we” push that card on both of them? How about next week at Take Back America?

I don’t think they’re going to be there.

Capuano is one of the good guys. (And my own MA-08 rep.) He’s been fighting against immunity, fighting against any expansion of authority, tooth and nail within the caucus.

I understand the desire to let these Blue Dogs know they’re doing the right thing; but in addition to calling these Blue Dogs, we ought also recognize the work of some of the real progressives in the caucus who also worked to keep pressure on the Speaker.

And nobody’s brought it up, but looking at the list, Hinchey is also one of the good guys; a former rep of mine when I was in grad school. (Clearly we need to send me around to live in more different districts.) Hinchey is the one who first brought to light that the OPR lawyers looking into the NSA wiretapping had been denied clearances.

Capuano’s my rep, and yes, his vote is Kunichean. He’s not going to accept any bill that includes (as this one does) basket warrants. He’s a rock solid reliable progressive vote just about every time. I doubt the handful of real patriots holding firm against any expansion of Bush’s powers at all are likely to tip the balance, and force a capitulation because a mainly decent “compromise” couldn’t make it through. And so long as they don’t, it’s a good thing having a handful on record in support of a full throated fourth amendment.

O/T to Ishmael: I saw your notes on the two previous threads re the death-penalty vote and Khadr. That was for sure an amazing number of Cons (well, I was surprised, anyway) voting to reaffirm opposition at home and abroad, so I guess it’s pretty good news. At least one of the Cons I saw quoted somewhere is a right-wing pro-lifer who is just being consistent, but I guess we take ‘em where we can get ‘em. Harper is so petulant: he has already made his position public (”Get in trouble with my friends abroad and my gov’t won’t help you”), so why wouldn’t he show up to vote?

About Khadr: didn’t we already know about that “updated” report? It’s great that the G&M is sticking with the story, though. Publish it every day until Harper gets embarrassed, I say.

hey Bmaz, did you see Scruggs pled guilty?

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpoi.....guilty.php

Eric’s take on today…Lichtblau writes…

http://www.iht.com/articles/20...../house.php

Democrats say it may be the only way they will learn how the program was really run, but Bush called it “a redundant and partisan exercise that would waste our intelligence officials’ time and taxpayers’ money.”

Re Khadr - apparently the judge in the case was sympathetic to the arguments about the doctoring of evidence, and has ordered discovery of the author and other disclosure. Regarding Harper and his deference - Khadr is a perfect example. Australia got its nationals out of Guantanamo, so did Britain, but not Canada. The Khadr family may be terrorists, but Omar at the time was only 15 and a child under every relevant law and convention.

Yeah, I saw that. I have an inkling that EW is right, and he is doing it to protect his son. I guess we shall see if that is the case. Personally, I am sad; Scruggs was very nice and generous with information and help to me when I contacted him for assistance. Above and beyond simple comity too. He did make an aircraft carrier sized boatload of money off of the tobacco and asbestos class actions, and a lot of the negative stuff that has been said about him is true I think, but he is responsible for some very good things on the product liability front too. Ironic that he got busted for the same type of Alabama/Mississippi common wheel greasing graft that has been the daily norm and bread and butter operating procedure of Republican cronies in those states for decades. It doesn’t make him any less culpable, but there sure is a double standard going on here.

I started reading into the Scruggs matter, but diverted to a different project when some of the references were to Scrushy, the latter having escaped from a bluechip stakes trial but facing yet other charges; my time being budgeted; it was a disappointment to hear the claims of innocence based on inexperience, a defense which even as a child seemed to me inapposite when facing some parental music.

More on topic, a scan with the new computer at the current worksite revealed our CA-01 representative has tandemmed with the votes to keep telco liability alive, and to countervail against the hype coming out of the whitehose; in fact this local rep remains a partly blueDog, his website now linking to some harangue by the president, for illustrative ends; but there is a newsroom part of the webpage showing he cosponsored a bill to ban tortcha, with Eshoo, also a very circumspect centrist. The votes to which I refer on telco liability preservation are 145 and 144. It’s been a while since I navigated the clerk of the House’s rollcall pages.

Ruh roh. In an act likely to push the already shell shocked Tom Brady, still addled from the Gents four man rush, over the edge of despair and out of competitive focus for the upcoming season, Giselle Bundchen has taken up with LeBron James!

The important thing is that he keeps up his relationship with Randy Moss!

I understand that Kristen/Ashley has been spotted around Tom’s pad….

I think you are mistaken, Tom Brady is No. 12, not Client No. 10!

I’m pissed I worked my ass off for Congressman Zack Space

He did a good thing today though.

Got it. Sorry

I was sweatin. I volunteered hundreds of hours for Space. Sure glad he did the right thing today.

I think it was his realization that he risked losing that kind of support that was undoubtedly a factor in his change of heart from that in the letter.

This is so encouraging!

From SF Chronicle:

Top levels of FBI blamed in improper subpoena use
Report describes how counterterror officials tried to ‘cover’ illegal blanket record requests

Michael J. Sniffen, Associated Press

Friday, March 14, 2008 (03-14) 04:00 PDT Washington - —

Top-level FBI counterterrorism executives issued improper blanket demands in 2006 for records of 3,860 telephone lines to justify the fact that agents already had obtained the data using an illegal procedure that is now prohibited, the Justice Department inspector general reported Thursday.

Glenn Fine also reported that in one case, FBI anti-terrorism agents circumvented a federal court that twice had refused a warrant for personal records because the judges believed the agents were investigating conduct protected by the First Amendment. Fine said the agents got the records using national security letters, which do not require a judge’s approval, without altering or re-examining the basis of their suspicions - the target’s association with others under investigation.

These findings were highlighted in Fine’s second report in two years on how the FBI has used broad authority to gather personal information about Americans granted by the USA Patriot Act and other statutes since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

…

Badreporter because you all need a laugh!!!

oh, there is definitely more to THIS story. “contract guards”?

“A surveillance trailer with $400,000 worth of high-tech equipment was stolen from the parking garage of a federal building in Los Angeles, California. CNN has learned that the trailer was stolen from the Los Angeles FBI field office in May. Contract guards watched the theft on surveillance cameras but did nothing to intervene and did not report the incident for three days, according to an incident report confirmed by the FBI and Norton. The trailer was recovered with some of the equipment intact. The FBI investigation is still open.”

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/.....index.html

There’s a huge lie that is still being used like a pile driver by the Bush administration and by most Republicans in Congress; i.e., that anti-terror programs are being used exclusively—minus a few glitches—against terror suspects, not to cast dragnets and to collect information on everyone. That big lie is losing ground, as evidenced by today’s House vote, but it will be around for the duration of the battle over FISA-related issues.

Thanks to all everywhere who have put out good technical and legal information, it’s getting harder to deny what government, government contractors, and eager-to-please private companies are up to.

And thanks to the whistleblowers. I hope—easy for me to say—that there will be more whistleblowers coming forward as the final Bush administration comes to an end.

Aw man, you’re going to love taking the keys when I go on vacation. Congress will still be on recess, so there’ll be nothing to do but trash talk about March Madness.

Symbolic or not, Obama showed up in the Senate to vote for nearly all the amendments even though as Cboldt showed clearly, they were positioned to fail.

Senator 3AM was miles away and did not.

Now, with Pennsylvania and the two debates just scheduled in Pennsylvania weeks off, they have every opportunity to show some leadership in the Senate.

I am not very optimistic about what the Senate will do now that FISA is once again in their lap.

Barack Obama is going to be on Countdown with KO.

IIRC Hillary showed up for the immunity vote, but then left before the exclusivity vote, which failed by 3 votes.

sorry to break O/T, here,
but on FISA telecom immunity,
and being able to explain why
there should be none — consider
using this with your reps.:

i have updated my post, of
earlier today — to include a new
full-sized image of page 142
of the DoJ’s OIG 2006 NSL report,
which details egregious negligence
in turning over the wrong person’s
records, in some cases, in turning
over the full-text of emails, in
others, and turning over the wrong
person’s phone records, in still others,
all due entirely to the failure of
the telecoms to carefully read the
national security letter, or the
FISA Section 215 records request.

[see the matter under the
U P D A T E D
banner in that above-link. . .]

fax the full image to your congress-
people, and tell them you won’t allow
such wanton negligence to be free of
legal consequences!

do it! let ‘er rip!

p e a c e

EW - the last time you went on a trip, Spitzergate erupted. If you go away for an extended period, I am willing to bet that something totally unprecedented will happen, like Cheney shooting someone or something!

Remarks by Obama’s pastor have become a scarily huge issue.

It might be time to whip out the Old Testament. Should everyone who values the Ten Commandments be said to countenance all the behaviors done and statements made reportedly in obedience to God in the Old Testament? No, that would be taking the association thing too far, wouldn’t it; the line must be drawn somewhere.

Oh, I’m expecting something huge. Not only will I be on vacation, I don’t think there’s wifi at the cabin.

I haven’t been this remote since the Judy shit hit the fan. And the most recent time offline was when Gonzales quit.

So I’m hoping it’s not Cheney shooting someone, I’m hoping Cheney resigns or something.

Well, the Southern Baptist Convention has, as has most Calvinist theology, been based on the “inerrancy” or “infallibility” of the Bible. But Mike Huckabee, an ordained Baptist minister, has of course been given a pass, as has the now-Baptist, Hagee-grateful John McCain.

If it will cause Cheney to resign, I will personally come cart you off to the remote Tibetan wilderness tomorrow.

So Barrack is going to be on with Keith Obamermann huh? Wow, I am sure it will be pretty rough on Obama seeing how neutral and detached Keith and all of MSNBC is in the primary battle.

I am stunned that my Congressman, Jim Cooper, not only voted against the Democratic Party on the bill, he voted to consider the Senate Bill first. FWIW, I sent him an e-mail, asking him to provide a list of other entities who should not be held liable for breaking the law, and suggesting that a statute naming them would be in order. (epu’d from prior thread)

Has Cooper stated his rationale?

IIRC Hillary showed up for the immunity vote, but then left before the exclusivity vote, which failed by 3 votes.

EW I can’t find any record of her voting that day on anything and I don’t think she was there. This was February 12, 2008 the day of the Patomac Primaries. Clinton was in the area being drive around, I really can’t find any record of her being in the Senate but hundreds of records of her not being there. We were all “all over the votes” that day and I was pretty sure that I put up a number of links on the votes, and Cboldt/others did and you probably blogged on it a few times. I thought the media was clear on it as well as the voting record.

HRC’s Current Senate Voting Record Including Feb. 12 No Votes Across the Board Clinton

For every individual link for every FISA vote that day, I see Clinton No Vote for every link that day, for example:

S. 2248: FISA Amendments Act of 2007 (Vote On Passage)

I can’t find a media outlet or blog that doesn’t have a story that Clinton did not set foot in the Senate on Feb. 12, 2008:

Senate Votes on Telecom Immunity: Clinton Absent

Hanoi Harry does it again; cuts deal to move 40 Bush nominees in return for a paltry 5 posts that are, apparently, required to be filed by Democrats. From The Hill:

In exchange for Bush’s help in moving five Democratic nominees to federal agencies and boards, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) agreed to act on 40 Republican nominees, a Democratic leadership aide said.

The breakthrough came after Reid and White House chief of staff Josh Bolten had a “positive” meeting earlier Thursday, but could not reach an agreement. Democratic and White House aides continued to hold talks and reached a deal as the Senate finished its work on a budget blueprint well past midnight.
The Senate confirmed dozens of executive branch nominees early Friday morning.

I wonder if any of Hanoi Harry’s 5 “victories” were to the FEC, so that they can have a quorum and give their blessing to McCain’s illegal public finance shenanigans? Does anybody know who the 40 and the 5 are?

I just viewed the KO interview. I’m wondering if Keith is having
second thoughts on his Clinton “special comment”?
I personally thought he jumped the gun, but that’s because I’m pro-Hill

Does this mean that the von Spakovsky saga is over?

Well, von Spas was withdrawn and out already I think, so I am betting that the FEC may well be where a couple of these nominees are going; so maybe the saga is truly over. I haven’t been able to find who the exact 45 people/positions are yet though…

– So in summary then, the recently oft used “State Secret” option remains unaffected by this legislation? –

Not exactly. The House-passed bill stipulates that the defendant telecoms can disclose the documents in their possession to a judge, in camera and ex parte (in judges chambers, and not shared with plaintiffs), notwithstanding any assertion of state secret by the government.

That’s not much different from the usual application of state secrets, but it is different because the government loses direct control over what’s disclosed in judge’s chambers.

Plaintiff can lose in any one of a number of ways. The most common is lack of evidence that the plaintiff in the case was subjected to surveillance. This is colloquially called “absence of standing.”

Even if standing is found, the government may withhold evidence on the basis of “state secret” that would separate wrongful surveillance (inadequate cause) from permitted surveillance (perhaps even the presence of a warrant from FISC).

It was pretty straight forward. Obama was asked about the minister of his church who has been making fiery statements just like the recent ones before Obama got out of high school.

We both see a lot of media, wince at their legal coverage which is much less sohpisticated than their medical coverage I can guarantee you. There are very few media outlets that have until now scrutinized HRC’s claim to be so damn experienced and more experienced than Obama until the last few days. I don’t remember many Presidents experienced before they hit the White House really in areas that had direct extrapolation to their duties in the White House. The media has given HRC a huge pass. When that insipid 3AM commercial broke, I just roared. I thought it was a parody of Clinton by Clinton. The media just accepted her claim to superior “experience” stupidly at face value. She’s been in the Senate 7 years; Obama 4 years. Before that she was a political wife.

The excellent Robert A. Caro books like Master of the Senate do make me think LBJ used his experience learned in the Senate cajoling/blackmailing/intimidating people effectively sometimes.

The day she announced and started the experience shuffle and mantra, my dog perked up and said “WTF experience did she have?” I agree.

Clinton’s foreign experience is exponentially (my word here) more limited than she says

She is claiming she crafted everything from SCHIP 10 years ago to being instrumental in the Ireland peace agreement but principles say that is crap. She did not have access to secuirty clearance requiring documents while in the WH, and as far as I can tell was the President’s wife.

She will not release her taxes although she could (Senate reporting means nothing bedause it says nothing). She won’t release the 1.6 million documents detailing her activities in the White House although her old law partner is the gate keeper for them. These things are important and appropriate to see, and a whole helluva lot more important to me than what some screaming reverend in some church has said in the heat of his pulpit rhetoric.

I don’t understand what the hell religion is doing in this campaign for a government office anyway. I could give a flying whatever if these people are Christians, Jews, Muslims or if they worship on the alter of the Waffle House. The media has a lot of space to fill and a lot of airheads to fill them.

Sure was a little bit of dichotomy in the way he treated the bogus blown out of proportion Clinton Ferraro junk and how he treated the equally bogus blown out of proportion Obama junk eh? Personally, I thought both somewhat minor campaign people’s (Ferraro and the pastor) were fairly lame, but really had no relevance to the respective candidate or campaign. The amount of claptrapping on the two incidents, both in the media and the blogosphere, is absolutely insane. I absolutely love Olbermann, but he is so in the tank for Obama, and out for blood against Clinton, that I have had a hard time watching the last few weeks. Keith Olbamarmann is his new name to me.

I agree, WTF has religion got to do with it, and I’m glad Barack did not
give up his pastor. He still views him as a mentor, etc. I personally
believe you do not fuck your friends, and people who have helped you.
What I object too, is the same thing could be said of Hillary and
her relationship with Ferraro…

Nominations Confirmed

Includes action from March 13. I haven’t checked it for FEC confirmations.

I wrote earlier, and called and talked to a staffer about FISA. I got the standard vapid response to my e-mail, including a paragraph especially for those who favor the House amendment:

I recognize your concerns about the surveillance program and
retroactive immunity for telecommunications. The Senate-passed
legislation included language granting retroactive immunity. None of
the bills that have passed the House have this immunity provision,
hence the reason the House and Senate are at an impasse on
producing a final FISA bill. I remain focused on ensuring our
nation’s security and the importance of ensuring our liberty as well. I
will continue to work to find the solution that best preserves both
our safety and our liberty.

Cooper will be getting another e-mail pointing out that he is voting with other odious Tennessee congresspeople, Zack Wamp and the horrifyingly stupid Marsha Blackburn, congresswoman for the nouveau riche leeches on the health care system who infest Williamson County, the county south of Nashville/Davidson County.

I think it was a superlative special comment. I have 2nd and 3rd thoughts on it every day and I play it B.I.D. I’m thinking of upping it to T.I.D. or prning the order for it–it makes me feel great. There needs to be a lot more scrutiny of Clinton’s experience.

I’m not trying to play “trashtalk the candidates”, but I welcome anyone to show me a substantive list of Bullet Points that detail any “experience advantage” HRC has for a call at any time comparing and contrasting it with Obama. I have not seen it yet. FDL won’t vet her, but they did several Rezko headlines with posts that did not adhere to the legal facts in the case–and I follow the ole Rezko blogs from the Sun Times and the lawyer blogs every few days.

You too can enjoy the Special Comment the way I do here:

Keith Olbermann commentary on Hillary Clinton 3/12/2008

Clinton’s foreign experience is more limited than she says

We all know the print and particularly the TV media is limited, but fortunately a lot of well educated people who dig and are a lot more sophisticated than most of the MSM are doing blogs now.

I’ll give you a quick example. Almost every very major newspaper outlet–possibly not McClatchy and a few others less known reflexly talks about FISA with some numb brained intro comment that the Telcoms/Comcoms began it after 911. That’s clearly not factual. It was begun from close to day one when Bush hit the oval and I’ve put up several links countless times as a lot of others have that there is extensive wiretapping and data mining going on. Siobhan Gorman’s Articles and some by the NYT security writers and less frequently the often conservative WaPo dig into data mining and wiretapping, but most media outlets do not. Of course EFF does and they litigate actively and well against it.

NSA’s Domestic Spying Grows As Agency Sweeps Up Data

http://www.eff.org/

The amount of claptrapping on the two incidents, both in the media and the blogosphere, is absolutely insane. I absolutely love Olbermann, but he is so in the tank for Obama, and out for blood against Clinton, that I have had a hard time watching the last few weeks. Keith Olbamarmann is his new name to me.

Ditto!

I’ll vote for the Democratic nominee, but like you have put my hands over my eyes and my fingers in my ears for the MSM trash-talking marathon.

KO, like many others, finds the defense of his choice means going on the offense on the one that is not his choice.

Can’t watch no more ’cause all the dogs in the neighborhood start howlin’.

For every KO piece of rhetoric, there are a hundred TV shows that put on the same babbling people who talk about Hillary’s experience but can’t name one substantive example and have been told not to try. I loved it when Howie the Wolfie Wolfson was put on the spot and asked to tick off her experience and was 100% flumoxed–he might as well have been a vegetable in that call. He was clinically brain dead when asked what experience she actually has. They don’t want to go there. No Clinton supporter ever goes there because there isn’t any place for them to go.

A few hundred thousand of us are determined to vote for the Democratic nominee who wins the delegate vote period. If they are not the same, some of us will vote for the down ticket people running for the House and Senate who would ride Obama’s coattails much better than they would ride Clinton’s.

And if you don’t think the black vote that would be unprecedentedly greater than ever before in this general if Obama is the nominee will stay home in a way to possibly impact the outcome, turn on black radio. It’s a determination that would happen if Clinton were to steal Michigan and Florida–she can’t but will keep trying into 2010–I now that now or if Clinton were to get the nomination via Super Delegates.

There are two numbers dynamics that would happen if Clinton got the nomination. Republicans would come out in record numbers–astounding record numbers. Blacks who have not turned out previously in an impressive way would stay home in an impressive way. If Obama is the nominee there will be less galvinzation for Republicans to turn out–sure they’ll attack the crap out of him but they would attack the crap out of her and anyone who thinks the SNL paradies are real is beyond educating.

I watch Olbermann on tivo, and just skip the crap. Same thing at the gym, no CNN, no MSNBC. ESPN for a while until we get to baseball, then it’s morning tv. Matt Lauer, here I come. I can’t change it, so ignoring seems best.

Concur.
I’m counting the days to my 7:00 PM Red Sox TV ritual.
If Todd explains the “primary math” once more, I’m throwing
my Corona at the Toobz…

That mute button is a pretty solid invention. There’s bang for the buck with it. Sorry my typing makes me mispell words like “parody” and “know”.

LOL Todd is one of my faves. He confers some reality on this bullshit concept that anyone is “winning Ohio” or that a certain candidate “won Texas” when in fact she loses the delegate vote every day that more of the Texas vote comes in including the next few.

He reminds people that this isn’t the SEC championships or the regionals, despite CNN’s airhead name Ballot Bowl with a team that may be the worst political team on television. You can turn on CNN in October 2007 or March 2008 and you’ll hear the same monotonous, banal aphorisms and questions out of Blitzer and the rest.