Deans are the absolute firstiest!

Here's Dan Froomkin's tour d'horizon of the DC high wire act ...

================
A Welcome Distraction

By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Monday, May 7, 2007; 2:50 PM

There's nothing like a royal visit to take your mind off your troubles. So today's festivities in honor of Queen Elizabeth II, complete with a lavish white-tie state dinner, come at a particularly opportune moment for the Bush White House.

It seems like there's pretty much nothing else to celebrate.
Resolute or Delusional?

The latest cover of U.S. News (the soberest of the newsweeklies) features a picture of the president and the headline: 'Bush's Last Stand . . . IS HE RESOLUTE OR DELUSIONAL?'

Kenneth T. Walsh, the author of the cover story, starts off by describing President Bush's increasingly frequent habit of comparing himself to Lincoln and Truman.

Then Walsh quotes presidential historian Robert Dallek's assessment of the current president: "He may come across to some people as a man of principle, but a great majority see him as stubborn and unyielding. . . . And everything he touches turns to dust."

Walsh is particularly struck by "a fundamental fact about George W. Bush's presidency as it approaches what many consider a twilight stage. Despite a cascading series of setbacks that convey the impression of a White House in crisis, Bush continues to exude an aura of calm and self-confidence. Like him or not -- and he is one of the most polarizing leaders in American history -- he rarely if ever backs down or exhibits self-doubt. This intransigence infuriates his critics and delights his admirers, and it will remain perhaps the most vivid characteristic of his leadership."

In fact, Walsh writes that "even some former Bush advisers are worried that the mood is misplaced. . . .

"'We're seeing the very early demise of an administration,' says a former White House adviser to Bush's father, George H. W. Bush, with considerable sadness. 'It usually happens six months before a president leaves office in a second term, but in this case it's happening now.'"
[...]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...

Here's a lot about that China trade bill some have been questioning Edwards about.   I think George Steph...whatever.... questioned his vote and many other votes.  Every candidate should be held accountable, but this bill was Bill Clinton's baby....and they are being critical of Edwards alone?  Now that is not fair.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/madfloridian/1309

There are more details there about the 2000 bill and all the Democratic votes for it.  How the DLC pushed for it. 

3378

the answer to Froomkin: delusional

Der Decider has abdicated in favor of "Commander Guy" ...

http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/...

"Delusional" is too mild a term to describe Bush. "Demented" fits better. But it shouldn't be limited to him alone since he just emulates his mentor, Uncle Dick.

Attorney Scandal Pointing to Election Fraud Hits the MSM on Olberman tonight!!!

Obama is now considered the front-runner Nationally.

The internets are saving Democracy.

Who (media-myth) "invented" the internets? He was an early and powerfuly cheerleader for it:

Al Gore!

Only acceptable scenarios so far:

Gore/Hart

Gore/Obama

Gore/Edwards if he waxes eloquent, at length, about his role in writing part of the Patriot Act................. 

 Rachel Maddow is on fire on Olberman on the Left Coast re-run.

Maddow asks the question FINALLY IN THE msm, which Prez candidates will keep the Unitary Exec powers that prince w has given himself? Wow.

ok. last call for FREE DVD's. after this, and i become famous, they'll be $15 at www.cdbaby.com we're also geting it up on itunes and emusic. so there.

f b u t @earthlink.net

don't say i didn't make the offer. ok.

thanks judy.

oh. linda, i got the buttons today! thanks a bunch!

Fred says:

don't have the details, but my guess is that it would be at least like asking someone living in the middle of a drug war in the worst ghetto, to leave for a residential suburb.  Why would they not want to move?

Fred says:

don't have the details, but my guess is that it would be at least like asking someone living in the middle of a drug war in the worst ghetto, to leave for a residential suburb.  Why would they not want to move?

Fred says:

don't have the details, but my guess is that it would be at least like asking someone living in the middle of a drug war in the worst ghetto, to leave for a residential suburb.  Why would they not want to move?

Fred says:

don't have the details, but my guess is that it would be at least like asking someone living in the middle of a drug war in the worst ghetto, to leave for a residential suburb.  Why would they not want to move?

andy, buddy, a little relaxation on the return key goes a long way. LOL!

Holy crap what was that, sorry guys.

Seems to me comparing neighborhoods people may have lived in all their life (they might have been nicer 5 years ago) to drug war ghettos is a good example of the ill-informed elitist thinking that got us into this horrible fiasco in the first place.

Heh

~D

driving the point home????

ROFL. Seems...

Howdy mprov

♥ Edwin ♥ Happy Birthday atcha, and skol!

{{{{{{ puddle }}}}}}

hey thankful. i'm still contemplating your offer.

I stayed up and watched the whole rerun of the State Dinner on CSPAN. They alluded to something about Pelosi and Reid were invited but Reid did not attend? I am nuts about HMQ and she is the famous person I would most like to meet. Well after the World's Greatest Living Basso maybe. But ahead of Barry Manilow. Tonight anyway. LOL. She's been on the throne since I was 10 years old. Her taste in clothes has improved. Her jewels are amazing. Lynn Cheney whom I detest had on the prettiest dress. Itszak Perleman (sp) was just great -- I am becoming an Elgar fan in old age. The Marine Chorus was underwhelming. Maybe it was the song -- piano didn't make up for the band that should have played the accompaniment and besides that arrangement is so hackneyed. The dessert sugar roses were breathtaking.

There is a heavy smoke in my neighborhood tonight -- believe too heavy to be the Georgia fires as I am at a distance at least 100 miles from them. It is hard to breathe. But cool, so I hesitate to close up the house.

Nitie nitie bloggie.

If this is Edwin's birthday, Happy Birthday Edwin.

Nite Annilow, breathe easy.

Cool mprov, all is good :-)

Some links for making Iraq a Federation of 3 or more states:

This opportunity should be seized quickly; an Iraq federation of eighteen provinces, rather than a unitary state, should be created. ...
http://www.unc.edu/depts/diplomat/archives_roll/2004_04-06/holliday_iraq/holliday_iraq.html

De Facto Partition Takes Hold in Iraq

By HAMZA HENDAWI
The Associated Press
Sunday, December 3, 2006; 7:07 PM

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- For months, the Waheed brothers steadfastly endured the killings raging around them in their mainly Sunni district, staying put as fellow Shiites packed up and left.

Finally, a death threat persuaded Majed and Mondhir Hatem Waheed to leave the neighborhood of Dora where they grew up and, together with their wives and children, join 24 relatives in an uncle's house in Baghdad's Shiite Sadr city district.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/03/AR2006120300436_pf.html

By Joost Hiltermann
In the escalating debate over the US role in Iraq, the latest panacea on offer is an option called "soft partition."

http://www.iri.org/newsarchive/2007/2007-03-12-News-CSM.asp

President Bush has so badly lied himself into a corner that he now needs the bipartisan "Iraq Study Group" – headed by the Bush family's fix-it man, former Secretary of State James Baker – to tell the American public that things are rapidly going south in Iraq.

http://antiwar.com/eland/?articleid=9828

All Things Considered, November 14, 2006 · Melissa Block continues our series of conversations about how the U.S. should move forward in Iraq. She talks with Peter Galbraith, author of The End of Iraq: How American Incompetence Created a War Without End.

Galbraith is a former U.S. ambassador to Croatia who has advised the Iraqi Kurds on constitutional issues. He advocates what is known as "partition," allowing the Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis in Iraq to have their own regions.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6487331

Resort to 'Soft-Partition' Repair in Iraq?

The Washington Times, January 8, 2007

Michael E. O'Hanlon, Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy Studies
Edward P. Joseph, Visiting Scholar, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies 

...Our choice is no longer whether we want ethnic relocation in Iraq or not. The choice is fast becoming whether we want to manage the process humanely and in a way that leads to stability, or allow ethnic killing and cleansing to reach their logical, terrible conclusion....

http://www.brookings.edu/views/op-ed/ohanlon/20070108.htm

All good things in their time, including sleep. Nite bloggie from me too.

♥' to all.

Kindness is free!

Holy crap what was that, sorry guys.

Seems to me comparing neighborhoods people may have lived in all their life (they might have been nicer 5 years ago) to drug war ghettos is a good example of the ill-informed elitist thinking that got us into this horrible fiasco in the first place.

=================

Well that's a mouthful that says absolutely nothing

AS per the Daily Show:

What the republican voter is looking for is a Sado-Optimist.

I'm sure you can check it out later, if you missed it, on THE you tube or crooksandliars.com.

g'nite good Patriots.

nite all - it's night time in the ghetto

Colbert claims that he is Dr. Steven Colbert, DFA.

LOL

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version

The Knesset voted against the motions with wide margins - with votes against totalling 60-62 compared to 26-28 for.

A majority of 61 of the 120 members in the Knesset is needed to force the government to resign.

Last week tens of thousands of Israelis rallied in Tel Aviv calling for Mr Olmert to resign.

Pressure has been building on the prime minister after an inquiry accused him of "serious failure in exercising judgement, responsibility and prudence" during last year's 34-day war with Lebanon.

Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, who lodged one of motions, opened the parliamentary debate.

"A storm is brewing in all corners of the country. The people are telling you a simple thing - you have failed. Accept the responsibility and go home," he said.

Ran Cohen of the left-wing Meretz party added that Mr Olmert's government taken the country into a "crazy adventure".

"Because of you, the country is doubting its future," he said.

But Mr Olmert has said he will stay in office and implement the report's proposals.

The report, issued after a six-month investigation led by retired judge Eliahu Winograd, and commissioned by Mr Olmert, did not explicitly call for resignations.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6633515.stm 

Between sanctions and wars, it's the children who suffer the most.

Report: Iraq last in child survival
The chance that a child will live past age five has fallen fastest in Iraq since 1990.

Well, she's got this right at least.

Pelosi: Guard not ready to deal with disasters due to Iraq war

Well, this is right up  Condi's alley.

Russia will answer US missile 'threat'
Cold War redux? Russia to respond to US defense system set for Europe.

Oh my !  Å SecDef who may actually be worth something.

Gates appears to break from Bush playbook on Iraq RAW STORY
Published: Sunday May 6, 2007 reddit_url=window.location.href reddit_title='Gates appears to break from Bush playbook on Iraq'
Print This  Email This  

Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates' message on Iraq has recently seemed to conflict with the White House line, writes the Los Angeles Times.

"During a recent trip to the Middle East, Gates told the Iraqi government that time was running out and praised Democratic efforts in the U.S. Congress to set a timetable for withdrawal, saying it would help prod the Iraqis. He reiterated that point during a meeting with reporters last week," report Peter Spiegel and Julian E. Barnes.

A spokesman for Gates says that the Defense Secretary shares the views on troop withdrawal held by the White House and General David Petraeus, who commands US troops in Iraq.

"But his warnings to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki are just the latest indications from Gates that he believes the window of opportunity for the administration to get Iraq right is closing sooner rather than later," say Spiegel and Barnes.

Gates' supposed fracture from the Bush plan for Iraq has some "surge" backers worried.

"I believe Gates is on a completely different page than President Bush and Gen. Petraeus," a former senior Defense official told the LA Times. "He wants to see some results by summer, and if he doesn't see those results, he seems willing to throw the towel in."

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Gates_appears_to_break_from_Bush_0506.html 

I know it's a bit early to call the GOP presidential primaries, especially in favor of someone who hasn't officially announced, but Chuck Hagel's the guy.

Here's why: Hagel is the only candidate with both impeccable social reactionary credentials and a credible basis for supporting a withdrawal from Iraq by the time the actual presidential campaign begins. Although he supports the occupation, he's been a harsh critic of the administration's conduct of it; the other leading contenders have been falling all over themselves to support it and, for the moment, the president. He can win the primaries because he hasn't done anything to alienate the base and because he'll be seen as electable by Republican party heavyweights who recognize that as things now stand, Iraq will dominate the campaign. Take Iraq off the table, which a Hagel candidacy might do, and suddenly Democrats are confronted with a whole new landscape.

You know we're in trouble when our President's father tells Larry King that the country is suffering from "Bush fatigue."

You know we're in trouble when Laura Bush tells the nation that nobody suffers more than she and her husband when it comes to Iraq.

You know we're in Lewis Carroll territory when the most memorable Dubya moments of the last two weeks consist of Bush dancing and drumming with a group of African musicians, appearing on "American Idol" and Bush celebrating Cinco de Mayo with a mariachi band.

You know we're down the rabbit hole when Bush re-defines himself as "the Commander guy" and it takes the White House forty-eight hours to correct the official transcripts to "a Commander guy." This is closely akin to changing the statement "I'm THE moron" to "I'm A moron."

Nite all.  Sleep well. 

Fred is a funny one.

Freddy, you compared neighborhoods that certain Iraqi's probably have lived in for years to ghettos, drug war ghettos I think. Nevermind that these "ghettos" were probably "surburban" type areas five years ago.

hehah. There are probably sturban elderly people in this country that wouldn't want to be "relocated" out of their neigborhood because the've lived there all their life.

So why would Iraqi's do the same, nevermind the demeaning analogy of their neighborhoods to "the worst drug war ghettos" or whatever comparison you tried to make.

Apples and freakin pommagranits man.

~D

Yes, I know, I can't spell worth a damn.

~D

Oh and BTW mprov, it's Drew or Drewid or Drewbakha or Drucifer, but it is never Andy.

:)

~D

Good morning, everybody

Bush/Cheney fell into demise the day after the election in 2004.  When they had to claim a mandate, the start of the slide was clear.

The blurb about Katrina Swett reveals that she's got but one grass-roots person on board.  80% of her money is coming from out of state. 

Drucifer you and Fred should have a discussion about urban planning. He is keen for us to do it in Iraq.

Me, I think Turkey is at least as important and the miltary there keeps the state secular, and I would hate for them to be drawn into a battle with Kurdistan.

Back in the day when a dollar was worth one hundred pennies you could fill the tank for $6.66 (really, youngsters, it's true).

Yesterday $66.66 was the number of the beast.

Gas is now higher in real dollars than during the oil shocks of the seventies.

To keep the dollar falling (which seems to be this administration's plan) interest rates will have to be lowered. and no that doesn't really mean your house is worth more

The next President will face the same choices Jimmy Carter had and they aren't pretty.

ending the war quickly isn't the only reason to rescind the tax cut to paygo the supplemental

Democrats have a golden opportunity for a twopher by tying the Rangel rate adjustment to the supplemental, and it is the only way it will ever get a Presidential signature.

Edwards has this position too:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Democratic Field Seeks New Moves to Halt War
Standing up to President Bush's veto on the Iraq war spending bill, Senator Biden broke with many of his fellow Democratic presidential contenders to urge Democrats to send another spending bill back to the president and force him to veto it again. "I favor a relentless push on the president, with every penny the troops need, because [President Bush] is not going to change until the Republicans up here crack," Biden said in an interview with the Washington Post. "That is happening, but it may take until September."
Washington Post, "Democratic Field Seeks New Moves to Halt War," 5/2/07

I'm not backing Biden, just wanted to show that the candidates are in more than the horeserace between Hillary and Obama that the media keeps pushing at us

There's a really interesting quote from Giuliani on KOS about freedom being the consequence of authority.  That's, of course, the same point made in the legend over the Presidio in San Francisco that Obedience to the Law is Freedom.

Going to do a riff on Hannah about Rudy Giuliani's Prejudice.  

bbl 

Luck of the Irish ?

(IMO not luck but rather hard work on the part of long-suffering, long-hating the other side parties and individuals, to overcome their past, their differences and instead put blood, sweat and tears into the greater good, the commonweal):

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070508/ap_on_re_eu/northern_ireland

The Stormont Parliament Building, where the incoming leaders of Northern Ireland's Protestant-Catholic government, Protestant political leader Ian Paisley and Sinn Fein deputy leader Martin McGuinness, are committed to forming a coalition on May 8, is seen in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Monday, May, 7, 2007. Paisley, the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, and McGuinness, representing the Irish Catholic minority, will take charge of a 12-member, four-party administration following 3 1/2 years of diplomatic deadlock. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

Paisley elected to lead N. Ireland gov't

By SHAWN POGATCHNIK, Associated Press Writer 40 minutes ago

BELFAST, Northern Ireland - Protestant leader Ian Paisley, who spent decades refusing to cooperate with Northern Ireland's Catholic minority, was elected Tuesday to oversee a power-sharing administration alongside his longtime Sinn Fein foes.

The unopposed election of Democratic Unionist Party chief Paisley, 81, as "first minister" of a new 12-member administration heralded an astonishing new era for Northern Ireland.

Paisley immediately affirmed an oath pledging to cooperate with Catholics and the government of the neighboring Republic of Ireland — moves that the evangelical firebrand long denounced as surrender.

Seconds later, Sinn Fein deputy leader and ex-IRA commander Martin McGuinness accepted the No. 2 post of deputy first minister. McGuinness, 56, affirmed the same oath, which required all ministers to support the Northern Ireland police and British courts — a position that Sinn Fein refused for decades to accept.

Within a few more minutes, all 12 power-sharing positions were filled on the basis of how many seats each party holds in the Northern Ireland Assembly. Paisley's Democratic Unionists took five Cabinet positions, Sinn Fein four, while the moderate Protestants of the Ulster Unionists received two and the moderate Catholics of the Social Democratic and Labour Party just one.

The 107 members offered no applause once the full Cabinet was appointed but moved straight on to the next order of business.

...

Northern Ireland

It's good to hear some good news for a change in the news.

The big tent with a bit of Crystal Blue Persuasion.

Finally, finally news of Northern Ireland turning the corner, makes me proud to be of Irish descent.

The people of Northern Ireland have chosen peace:

Members of the public stroll past a mural depicting a loyalist paramilitary group Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) fighter holding a gun on a street corner in Shankill Road in Belfast, northern Ireland in this September 26, 2005 file photograph. The UVF, the most lethal of Northern Ireland's Protestant paramilitary groups, said on May 3 , 2007 it would put its weapons beyond reach and that it would adopt a "non-military" role. REUTERS/Dylan Martinez/Files (NORTHERN IRELAND)

Phil wrote: "I'm not backing Biden, just wanted to show that the candidates are in more than the horeserace between Hillary and Obama that the media keeps pushing at us."

Yet, go back to 2004, after the turmoil stirred up by Dean’s candidacy in 2003, and what were we looking at after Iowa? Kerry and Edwards, with Dean and Clark on the margins. In fact, check out the candidacy of Terrific John Kerry. He bobbed up on the surface even after his campaign was declared inconsequential, and he took out a mortgage on his home to give it artificial resuscitation. It’s fun to think otherwise, but the big players have their thumbs on the scale.

The people of Northern Ireland have chosen peace:

__________________________________________________________________________

Well rd, id say its 'bout time............there are arguments pro and con for both sides.......England potentially could have gone in there guns ablaze and flattened the place if they had wanted to....Im not sure what that would have got them, much like the IRA "terrorist" attacks and I even witnessed a bombing in the London underground in '92.............

Either way, hopegully sanity has prevailed for now............best of luck to both sides now in achieving a peaceful solution to an obvious complex problem...........

Other areas of the globe may learn something from this...............

LIVERPOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fred is a funny one.

Freddy, you compared neighborhoods that certain Iraqi's probably have lived in for years to ghettos, drug war ghettos I think. Nevermind that these "ghettos" were probably "surburban" type areas five years ago.

==================

 That was even more off-the-wall, Andy boy.  Not a joke though, when trying to leave your neighborhood and someone asks if  you are Sunni or Shiite at a checkpoint, when the answer could get you taken away, and a bullet in the back of the head. It happens every day there.

The people of Northern Ireland have chosen peace:

__________________________________________________________________________

Well rd, id say its 'bout time.......

Either way, hopegully sanity has prevailed for now............best of luck to both sides now in achieving a peaceful solution to an obvious complex problem...........

Other areas of the globe may learn something from this...............

+++

Mike -

Amen.

I saw the sun shining out my window today and flipped on the tellie.  It was good news finally to hear about Northern Ireland.

I think the Brits, the Irish and the disputing parties got it right.

Time will tell.

I've never been to England or Ireland or Scotland or Wales.

I was waiting to also feel free and comfortable to visit NI too.

Maybe this year for a visit is in order...

..."With (me) Irish Eyes Smiling"

...

LIVERPOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

+++

Mike -

speaking of Liverpool:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/6617779.stm

Last Updated: Thursday, 3 May 2007, 07:10 GMT 08:10 UK Rector traces Obama's Irish roots

US presidential hopeful Barack Obama's roots have possibly been traced to an 18th century Irish shoemaker.

Church of Ireland rector Canon Stephen Neill said the Hawaiian-born Illinois senator's ancestors hailed from the village of Moneygall in County Offaly.

He said Mr Obama is directly descended from shoemaker Joseph Kearney's son Fulmuth, who emigrated to the US.

...

* rdorgan
Tue, 05/08/07
8:58 am
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

By all means get to the place of your roots......you will automatically feel a belonging and a complete fit from the minute you step foot.......I did..........its always a good thing to see the land of your Fathers..........

I could see the coast of Ireland from North Wales (Anglesey) one day........very beautiful I understand..........

Mike -

Indeed.

Well, speaking of turning the page in NI, there's a turning the page here (a new thread has been sown).

Unless a bill for education spending actually benefits schools -- by providing them with adequate technology and resources -- I don't understand the debates over education. Education is one of the most important equalizers in society that enables people of all socio-economic backgrounds to gain the social capital needed to be successful. In America specifically, education is very important in the fight against poverty and inequality. There is more than enough money to better all of our schools and give children the education they deserve. On an internation scale, the Borgen Project states that it takes just $12 billion annually provides education for every child in the world, yet we have chosen to increase our military budget to $522 billion instead.

I get very irritated when there is so much talk about nt having enough funding for education, health, etc when all the money that is needed to change the world is being funneled into the Iraq War.