Democrats will be sending President Bush the Iraq bill on Tuesday. That day, of course, is the four year anniversary of Mission Accomplished.
With this, and the recent letter to WaPo about Broder, I'm really thinking someone has stolen our Congressional Democrats and replaced them with people who actually know something about political strategy...
Giving in to the urge not to make this a horse race...
Edwards clearly had the best performance last night. Not a Breck Girl, but articulate, bold, and substantive. Huge points in my mind for talking about raising taxes.
Hillary was...well, Hillary. Solid. Polished. (The chatterheads on MSNBC appeared stunned that she is not a frothing liberal. Duh.) But I don't think she at all changed minds about her.
Obama? A real disappointment. It wasn't until the end, when he got a bit confrontational and mixed it up, did he start to shine. His strength is his smarts, along with his ability to speak to us "regular" folk, and that did not at all come through. He unfortunately sounded like a politician.
Biden was actually pretty good, and he may just have the best idea on what to do about Iraq. Richardson also had a good performance, and I think left us wanted to hear more from him.
Kucinich may be a lot of things, but he does not come across as a "Healer" for America. I thought that really bombed. If he wants to be taken more seriously, then he needs to stick to the Constitution-in-his-pocket tack.
Dodd needs to distinguish himself.
And Gravel? Really, who let that guy on the stage? He just seemed angry, and the notion that America has no enemies was just way too far out there, even for a bleeding heart liberal like myself.
As far as the format, it was terrible, and a real disservice to the candidates. Too rushed and too made-for-TV, it did not allow for substance and debate, encouraging instead soundbites rather than ideas.
Although I am not a Washington insider, I sincerely hope Outlook considers my essay for this Sunday's issue:
Is Harry Reid right? Is the Iraq War lost?
Yes.
Why?
Because George W. Bush says it can be won.
Thank you for your consideration,
cscs
Six years of Bush, four years of failure in Iraq, a mandate in the 2006 elections and, looking at their response to Rudy, Democrats STILL don't get it. But one of Josh's readers does:
No advice on how Rudy should feel, instead simply pointing out that this is the real Giuliani, a Bush clone employing the same failed rhetoric to prop up the same disastrous ideas. Who wants another 4 years of that?
Pretty easy, really.
Straight off his "Bomb Iran" tour, McCain led with this knee-slapper, on The Daily Show last night:
McCain joked that he'd brought the host a gift from his much-commented on recent trip through a Baghdad market. "It's a nice i.e.d. (improvised explosive device) to put under your desk," McCain said.
H A H A! That is just SO funny. Get it? An IED. So it blows up! Just like they use to kill our soliders in Iraq. HA HA HA!
Part of the long history of Republicans making light of people dying for their war.
Yes, that's our friend Maureen Dowd's message today (sub req):
Usually, I love the dynamics of a cheeky woman puncturing the ego of a cocky guy. So why don’t I like it with Michelle and Barack?
Dowd has a real problem with Michelle -- the "princess of South Chicago" she calls her -- reminding voters that Barack is human, that he can't butter toast well, or make the bed. And she quotes the infamous "others" who are "worried" Michelle might be "emasculating" her husband.
Back in the real world, Obama's appeal is completely wrapped up in his inability to butter toast -- that he speaks and acts like a regular person, and not a politician. His inexperience is at worst inconsequential, and, at best, actually a plus. If Obama wins, it will be because of his smarts, and because he can relate to voters.
Seems to me, Maureen Dowd is becoming the Joe Lieberman of punditry -- all irrelevancy, all the time.
And yes, you knew this was coming...perhaps it's time for Maureen Down to shut the f*&k up?
Just heard Sam Waterston on with Wolf Blitzer, talking about how we desperately need some imaginary centrist party to solve of the problems of America.
Looking at the poll numbers Nathan showed from Pew, it seems like the country already pretty much agrees on plenty of issues, and those issues pretty much square up with the Democratic Party.
Don't we already have a Unity08 party?
Shorter Adam Nagourney: Even though I'm the reason why everyone thinks Edwards is a lightweight, I do it because people really want this information, and, in fact, here is even more about his hair.
Josh's comment about NBC and their logo all over their "IP" from VT, seems a bit...well, naive.
Seems to me, very little consideration of the public domain goes into the decision-making process in our news media.
Getting your name all over every television network for days and days?
Priceless.
Here's a terrific paper via Henry Jenkins, from one of his grad students, Debora Lui. It's about, in part, the construction of identity though one's Netflix queue, which, like so many of these "media lists" on profiles at social networking sites, says much about you:
This identity-creation aspect of listing movies definitely bleeds into the creation of my Netflix queue. As I previously mentioned, much of my effort on Netflix was put into searching for the DVDs that I could use to educate or cultivate myself into a "better" person. Of course, I often add movies that I simply want to see but these are usually impulse additions that don't fit into the larger matrix of my cultural education. So the actual process making the list becomes not just about movies I'd like to watch, but also about movies that contribute to my identity creation.
So, what's your Netflix queue say about you?
Here are the next five movies on mine, plus two that have been sitting in the queue forever...movies that, as "things I aspire to watch," certainly are there for a reason."
All right, let's have it. What are yours?
In his attempt to dismiss us, Mr. Rove turned to head toward his table, but as soon as he did so, Sheryl reached out to touch his arm. Karl swung around and spat, “Don’t touch me.” How hardened and removed from reality must a person be to refuse to be touched by Sheryl Crow? Unphased, Sheryl abruptly responded, “You can’t speak to us like that, you work for us.” Karl then quipped, “I don’t work for you, I work for the American people.” To which Sheryl promptly reminded him, “We are the American people.”
Not sure how else to describe it.
