Political writer Carla Marinucci of the San Francisco Chronicle reports here on the latest You Tube video against presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.  I have seen a few versions of it, but the video cited in the Marinucci article can be viewed here.

Marinucci says the video:

...may be the most stunning and creative attack ad yet for a 2008 presidential candidate -- one experts say could represent a watershed moment in 21st century media and political advertising.

 Citing think tank director, Peter Leyden, she continues:

The compelling "Hillary 1984" video recently introduced on YouTube represents "a new era, a new wave of politics ... because it's not about Obama," said Peter Leyden, director of the New Politics Institute, a San Francisco-based think tank on politics and new media. "It's about the end of the broadcast era."

When you have a few moments to view it, I hope you will check back in here with your reactions.  All perspectives are welcome. 

My initial take is that Hillary 1984 represents a new genre, a generational clarion call for a paradigmatic shift away from old politics and media as usual.  I would love to hear back from you younger voters who may be voting for the first time in your lives! Students, feel free to e-mail me.

Best,

Ticia

Update: WaPo on the You Tube ad today here.

Again, the message is clear. Clinton is the establishment, yesterday's news. She -- and, by association, her husband -- represent the party's past, while Obama represents the future.

The ad has clearly struck a chord with some. As of this writing, the Obama video had been viewed 438,795 times over the past two weeks. The original 1984 Apple ad, which was placed on YouTube June 19, 2006, has been viewed 72, 531 times.

Update: ABC Hillary 1984 as most viewed on YouTube here.

Update: Mother Jones blog on Hillary 1984 here.

War Mouth I is attempting to hide behind the doctrine of executive privilege, an extra-Constitutional notion of historically dubious merits to the courts. Constitutionally challenged, the best His Pugnacity can do is spew an ill-drawn platitude about the separation of powers.

See the Petulant Infant, the Puer Aeternus, salivating contempt for the People who would question his pet Dobermans Rove and Miers.   

See Peter Pan turn Chucky as his narcissistic sense of entitlement is punctured by the inquiring minds of Congress whose responsibility is to find out and to represent us -- the People for whom War Mouth drools contempt. 

See Congress question, under oath and on the record, the ethics and practices of the Attorney General, the head of the United States Department of Justice concerned with legal affairs.  

Boys and girls, the chief law enforcement officer of the United States Government is not above the law. 

Fellow citizens, as I indicated in my post last night, I saw the video of the speech, just like you did. Those facial antics are reminiscent of the wincing histrionics of OJ Simpson.  I now think exactly what I thought then: He's lying through his teeth.

For my part --to represent my interests as an American -- those flaccidities in Congress must, at long last, get it on and do their job. 

More soon,

Ticia

GonzoGate: Leahy Rejects War Mouth's Offer here.

 New York Times now reporting:

“I don’t accept his offer,” said Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee. “It is not constructive, and it is not helpful to be telling the Senate how to do our investigation or to prejudge its outcome.”

In the Senate, lawmakers responded to the furor over the firings by voting overwhelmingly to revoke the authority they had granted the administration last year under the USA Patriot Act to install federal prosecutors indefinitely without Senate confirmation.

Backstory: Democrats dismissed Fielding’s offer. Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, suggested that the administration had misled him, and released a Justice Department letter that said it was not aware that Mr. Rove had played any role in the decision to appoint one of his former deputies as United States attorney in Arkansas.

“I want to hear Karl Rove testify under oath about the role he played in this whole affair,” Mr. Reid said.

Just reviewed the video of War Mouth's belligerent speech. His antics remind me of OJ Simpson's.  I think now exactly what I thought then: He's lying through his teeth.

And a word from Senator Feinstein:

"The time for slippery explanations is over,” Mrs. Feinstein said Tuesday, after the Senate voted 94 to 2 to repeal the Patriot Act provision. “We don’t intend to stop now. We intend to flesh out who did what, when and why.”

WAPO now reporting: E-Mails Reveal Tumult in Firings here.

The dismissal process itself, the documents show, was chaotic and spiked with petty cruelty. Two senior officials joked caustically about U.S. Attorney Carol Lam in San Diego -- who prosecuted the corruption case of former congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Calif.) -- calling her "sad" and saying her record was "hideous."

Text of War Mouth's remarks here. 

Leahy website here.

Eye on the ball item: Gonzales,  A Timely Distraction? here. 

More soon,

Ticia

The White House has begun actively seeking a replacement for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, reports Politico and Raw Story. 

In a sign of Republican despair, GOP political strategists on Capitol Hill said that it is too late for Gonzales' departure to head off a full-scale Democratic investigation into the motives and timing behind the firing of eight U.S. attorneys.

GOP support for Gonzo erodes futher here. 

More soon,

Ticia

Topping national news stories today are reports that thousands of anti-war protesters flooded the streets over the weekend to demand the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq on the fourth anniversary of the invasion here and here and here.

See also Paul Abram's Huffington Post editorial today, Madam Speaker: Impeachment Proceedings Against Cheney Are No Longer a Choice.

GonzoGate updates here.

Ticia

Last weekend, I drew upon the psychology of denial to characterize the contemporary political paradox of dealing with abusers of power.  It was astonishing for me to learn how the administration was described in yesterday's reportage on how it is now dealing with the abuses of U.S. Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales:  

Republicans close to the White House told CBS News chief White House correspondent Jim Axelrod that President Bush is in "his usual posture: pugnacious, that no one is going to tell him who to fire." But sources also said Gonzales' firing is just a matter of time, Axelrod said.

Amazingly, according to type, the abuser in chief is more invested in how things appear, rather than in ethically grappling with how things are:

The White House is bracing for a weekend of criticism and more calls for Gonzales to go, CBS related. One source said he's never seen the administration in such deep denial, "and Republicans are growing increasingly restless for the president to take action," CBS reported.

In the politically motivated outing of Valerie Plame Wilson and the ousting of eight U.S. Attorneys, War Mouth I and II may have sown the seeds of their own impeachment. Call it luck of the Irish.

More soon,

Ticia 

Leahy to push for White House subpoenas here.

Leahy vows to subpoena Rove, Miers here.

Aborted DOJ Probe Probably Would Have Targeted Gonzales.

Gonzales Nixed Inquiry into Own Conduct at DOJ, Democrats Furious

GonzoGate: All Roads Lead to Rove here.

Sununu calls for Bush to fire Gonzales here.

Conservative reaction: Forget Impeachment, Grab Tar and Feathers here.

More GonzoGate resources here.

House Overturns Bush Order on Secret Papers: 333-93 here.

March Impeachment Watch, updated 3/18/07, here.