CNN: Sen. Hillary Clinton jumped into the fray as a 2008 presidential candidate with the words “I’m in” posted on her Web site.
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That’s good news! I’m not sure how many people would want to get behind a candidate that’s in to lose…
Author Archive for Jon-David
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CNN: Sen. Hillary Clinton jumped into the fray as a 2008 presidential candidate with the words “I’m in” posted on her Web site.
From Daily Kos:
No deal was reached because the Senate Republican leadership has no idea how to get Hagel and Snowe back on the reservation, and no leverage with which to do it. Or at least, nothing they can think of that would also have the support of the rest of Senate Republicans.Maybe the White House would have more luck?
Bush sought to stave off a major showdown between the administration and Congress by inviting GOP skeptics of the plan to the White House on Wednesday. But many of those members emerged from the meeting to say they still opposed sending more troops, although they were unsure whether they would back the resolution.
Many, but not all. Watch the spine of Senator Norm Coleman dissolve in the presence of The Decider:
Sen. Norm Coleman of Minnesota, one of several Republicans wary of Bush’s plan, said he is concerned the [Biden] resolution may go too far. Coleman spokesman Tom Steward said the senator is open to an increase in the Anbar province, for example.
Concerned that a non-binding resolution may go too far? Well, of course he’s concerned. Because he supports an escalation of the war. But just in the Anbar province, I swear!
Well, at least we now understand Coleman’s somewhat awkward construction in his previous disavowals of the escalation plans:
Coleman “said today after a two-day trip to Iraq that he would not support an increase in the number of soldiers in Baghdad. He said he would ’stand against’ any effort to send a surge of more troops to Baghdad unless there’s a clear vision that it will help end sectarian violence in the city. ‘I think it would create more targets. I think we would put more life at risk,’ he said.”
Ah, he opposes the escalation in Baghdad. But not Anbar!
Slick.
Bet that goes over well back home. Because
there’s nothing people like more when lives are on the line than standing on a technicality.
Good News Everyone!
Huzzah!
It doesn’t guarantee he’s getting in, but I think he is, because Obama looked really thin on Meet the Press. If a politician is known to be considering a run, they often drop weight.
Anywho, he’s going to announce on my Birthday, Feb. 10th!
UPDATE: Here’s one reason I’m all about Obama - his speech at the Humphrey Dinner last year:
Barack Obama Speech @ 2006 DFL Humphrey Dinner
One of the best delivered, best composed, and inspirational speeches I’ve heard - the friend I brought got tears in her eyes…
From the Strib (parens are mine):Tapped by Democrats to deliver their response to Bush’s weekly radio address, Walz (the highest-ranking enlisted soldier to serve in Congress) will say Congress “will live up to its responsibility to challenge the failed policies that have already cost us so dearly,”
“Let us be very clear: We need diplomatic and political solutions in Iraq, not more American troops.”
…for Acceptance of a Contribution from an Unregistered Committee
From the Finding:
There is probable cause to believe that the 38th Senate District accepted a contribution that exceeded $100 from the Swift for City Council Committee, an association that is not registered with the Board, without receiving the required disclosure resulting in a violation of Minnesota Statutes, section 10A.27, subdivision 13. There is no probable cause to believe that this violation was intentional or done with the intent to circumvent the requirements of Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 10A.
After extensive blowhardery on the campaign trail that Dean Johnson didn’t represent SD-13, this week Joe Gimse proved he’s a dedicated public servant, willing to faithfully represent citizens of Sauk Centre, Minnewaska, and Wilmar by…At 3pm sharp the State and Local Government Committee met and Gimse was nowhere to be found.
Two days earlier, Gimse was quoted in the West Central Tribune:
“You don’t just jump in there and think you’re going to change the world”
Evidently,
I was absolutely floored to read the quote that Dane Smith got from Ron Carey for his piece in the Strib, Hang onto that ‘Pawlenty for governor’ sign. Check out the image I whipped up and then…
…suggest a caption in comments for what you think Tim Pawlenty was saying when he found out thathis own party Chair thinks an incumbent Governor that actually survived Carey’s own recent comedy of losses needs to PROVE HIMSELF a good Governor?
…suggest a caption in comments for what you think Tim Pawlenty was saying when he found out that
At the end of the day, I’ll pick the best one :-p and add it as the caption, and credit the winner.
Sound fun? Do it anyway!
Good News Everyone! Bush’s address this past evening on America’s campaign to win the hearts and minds of Iraqis, secure their country, and score one for the good guys in the War on Terror saw our fearless leader toss out almost 4 years of It gets better…
Bush began by announcing that he is now, shockingly to some, willing to answer calls from the American public and Congress to change course in Iraq. Frustrated,
The new strategy I outline tonight will change America’s course in Iraq, and help us succeed in the War against terror….the elections of 2005 were a stunning achievement. We thought that these elections would bring the Iraqis together, and that as we trained Iraqi security forces, we could accomplish our mission with fewer American troops. But in 2006, the opposite happened.
Bush needs to provide some justification early on for the, ‘…and why didn’t you do this two years ago’ crowd. It seems Bush expects us to accept the premise that the incitement of sectarian violence by everyone in Iraq save the Kurds [mostly] is a recent development,
Strib:
The 2008 Democratic presidential convention will be held in Denver, the Democratic National Committee announced Thursday.
While it should have been us, I’ll take it. Maybe we can get out there a little earlier and ride snowboards for a day or two in beautiful Summit County 
He’s no longer a hawk, and you can’t call him a dove…Coleman said on the floor of the Senate yesterday that American soldiers have become targets, and that we should redeploy American forces in Iraq. So, again, we find
Coleman is already terrified of his re-election bid. With only a few seats truly competitive in the Senate in ‘08 right now, Norm’s self-reinvention for his campaign is in full swing - myDD:
[Coleman] suggested the Iraqis meet certain benchmarks within a timeframe, such as moving the Iraqi military to the frontlines. If those benchmarks aren’t met, he said U.S. troops should accelerate pulling back - but not withdrawing from the country - and repositioning within Iraq
Isn’t this setting a timetable, managing the battlefield from the US Senate, and cutting and running? Whoa!
Gil lost, so Norm flipped on DM&E. Makeover Mark lost, and now we find Coleman, SURPRISE!! a newly minted skeptic the President’s plan for Iraq. What Coleman is missing in this political calculus is one of the main reasons Kennedy got absolutely drubbed by Amy Klobuchar - because he tried to whitewash his record and couldn’t sell himself as authentic.
Coleman called Saddam Hussein the “world’s worst terrorist leader,” and said Hussein poses a grave threat to the world. “Saddam is a menace. His menace grows with each passing day. History will judge us harshly if knowing what we know, we fail to act with bipartisan solidarity to prevent the death of hundreds of thousands,”
Either Coleman was wrong then [which he will never admit], is wrong now [which he isn’t, Bush’s plan is folly], or he’s simply riding the winds of public opinion…waiting for his next Republican ally to develop a visible limp…
Lots of stuff coming this morning - a few posts on our old friend Senator Norm Coleman, and then there was that speech last night by Bush, I’ll have something to say about this strategy, especially having just finished State of Denial.
I wrote a piece for Mary Lahammer’s new session groupblog thinger called the Brain Trust - Deep thoughts from opinion leaders. Nothing too serious, she tosses out some questions and I’m supposed to come up with a couple paragraphs every couple weeks. Sounded like something different, sounded fun…
How does one measure success in the Minnesota State Legislature this upcoming session? Ask a DFLer, and you’ll hear three things - education, health care and property taxes. Ask a Minnesota Republican and you’ll probably hear tax-relief for owners of pontoon boats exceeding 28’ in length, puttin’ a stop to the gay marryin’, and trying to forget the brutal thumping they just endured at the hands of shifty liberal-to-moderate DFLers.
So you can read my post, ‘On the Relativity of Legislative Accomplishment’ here.
A few highlights, a note, and the full text from the Washington Post after the jump…
If scarcity is a myth, then poverty is not necessary. America need not have 37 million Americans living below the poverty line. It is a choice. Hunger is a choice. Exclusion of the stranger, the immigrant, or the darker other is a choice.
We can choose generosity. In America today, we spend more on health care than any other industrialized nation, yet 46 Million people have none. Canada spends half of what we spend and covers everyone. Perfectly? Of course not. But adequately. That’s more than what a lot of people have right now.
I do not blame my critics for subscribing to a politics of scarcity and intolerance. However, I believe we all must project a new politics of generosity and inclusion This is the vision of the diverse coalition in my Congressional district.
My constituents in Minnesota elected me to fight for a new politics in which a loving nation guarantees health care for all of its people; a new politics in which executive pay may not skyrocket while workers do not have enough to care for their families. I was elected to articulate a new politics in which no one is cut out of the American dream, not immigrants, not gays, not poor people, not even a Muslim committed to serve his nation.
Editor’s note: I would like to thank Congressman Ellison - for articulating your understanding of why the voters in the 5th elected you. Your eloquence reinforces my confidence that as you proceed with your first of what will undoubtedly be many terms, you will keep the values and principles of your candidacy in mind.
May peace remain your guiding principle Congressman, and by the way - I saw you raising the roof on CNN yesterday. Nice
Anyway, before I digress further… this Prauger swine is the worst kind of scum-sucking, lifeblood-leaching, dangerous swill-merchant I’ve seen in some time.
I decided to follow up on Prauger, thinking he was either a Communist or a Crusader, then it came to me - I received a phone call from someone claiming to have been a close associate of Gene Pokorny, McGovern’s superstar organizer in Wisconsin in the 1972 primary, with the scoop on Denny. A wispy, barely audible monotone voice said that Prauger is almost always drunk, violent, and is probably addicted to some South-American root-based narcotic…then quickly hung up.
Thank the Gods for Bekel, who easily parries the hopelessly inebriated Prauger’s mumblings. I wouldn’t know, but it I’m pretty sure that Prauger is so whacked-out on some root or shrub or something, that towards the end he’s observing, with stunning clarity and detail, the
Though Beckel provides no new information on Prauger’s hopeless Amyruca problem, he does make a great point.
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