Success...sort of. Just moments ago, Abraham Foxman, national chairman of the Anti-Defamation League, publicly reversed course on the issue of the Armenian Genocide and acknowledged that the crimes of the Ottoman Turks were indeed a genocide.

Just yesterday, I diaried about the brewing storm over the issue, as Boston-area ADL leaders bucked the national office and demanded that the Armenian Genocide be recognized as fact. Turkish leaders, cashing in on their nation being a rare Muslim ally of Israel, had lobbied American Jewish leaders to fight a pending Congressional resolution to acknowledge the Armenian Genocide, which Turkey vehemently denies to this day.

While acknowledging the Genocide, Foxman still took aim at the pending legislation, which we will look at after the flip.

Last month, I diaried about national ADL director Abraham Foxman's incorrigible aiding and abetting of Turkey's denial of the Armenian Genocide. Since then (though certainly not as a result of my efforts), the Watertown (MA) Town Council voted to sever ties with the ADL's "NO Place for Hate" Campaign. And Jewcy.com has initiated a petition to demand the ADL acknowledge the Armenian Genocide.

When the Watertown council took up the issue of the town's involvement with the ADL's "No Place for Hate" campaign (a laudable program, if slightly empty because of their position on the Armenian Genocide), the ADL's regional director Andrew Tarsy came to the meeting. He defended the ADL at the Watertown meeting, but reading his remarks, one can tell how half-hearted his effort was.

This morning's news brings word of the democratic policies of the benevolent organization in charge of Gaza, Hamas.  According to the Associated Press, "Hamas militiamen beat protesters with clubs and rifle butts to try to stop a demonstration by political opponents in the Gaza Strip on Monday, but hundreds chanting 'We want freedom' defied the ban."

Freedom is a funny thing. To hear the usual suspects tell the story, it is usually Israel, and sometimes Fatah to blame for any lack of freedom in the Occupied Territories. But as reports from Gaza plainly tell us, it's not quite as simple as that.

Hamas is no more interested in democracy than Robert Mugabe is. What they are interested in is power, and only power. They may have come to that power via democratic means, but it is plainly evident that they don't intend to spread democracy to those suffering under their rule. If they had an easier road to power in Gaza than democracy, I think it's fairly obvious they would have used it.

Holocaust Denial is increasingly en vogue among the most extreme members of society. Mahmoud Ahmedinejad is fond of engaging in it. So too is Ernst Zundel, a German neo-Nazi currently jailed in Germany for his Holocaust denial activities. It is a vile, wretched practice aimed at perpetuating hate.

It is thus, as an American Jew, that it brings me great sadness to see Abe Foxman, head of the Anti-Defamation League, which is arguably the foremost combatant of anti-Semitism, engage in a similarly disgusting process. For some ninety years now, Turkey and Turkish groups have denied their responsibility for the Armenian Genocide. Increasingly, they have preyed on prominent Jews who greatly value Turkey's surprisingly strong ties with Israel to aid them in the denial of their state's and ancestors' genocidal slaughter. After all, if anyone knows systematic, ethnic slaughter, it's Jews.

It appears the Turkish lobby caught themselves a big fish: Abe Foxman. After the flip, we'll look at Foxman's words, how wrong he is, and why he is now clearly unfit to head an organization whose mission is combating bigotry.

Today marks the 92nd anniversary of commencement of the Armenian Genocide. In 1915, the Turkish government systematically slaughtered approximately 1.5 million Armenians. The genocide of the Armenians proved inspirational to Adolf Hitler, who said, "Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?"

Today, at least one group does not speak of the annihilation of the Armenians: Turkey. Despite overwhelming evidence of their country's crimes against humanity, Turkey denies culpability to this day, to the point of exerting diplomatic pressure against anyone who says otherwise.  One politician who has cowered under their pressure is George W. Bush.

George Bush and Dennis Hastert have never supported US recognition of the Armenian Genocide. Speaker Nancy Pelosi does. After the jump, I'll delve into Turkish crimes, their denial, and why it is important Democrats take the lead on remembering the Genocide so it never happens again.

John Edwards has apparently not decided to suspend his campaign in light of his wife's cancer recurrence. I believed a suspension would be a heroic decision, but continuing on the fight for a better America is heroic too.

I remember the day in 2002 when my mom called me to tell me that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. It was early and very treatable, but it was still cancer. My then-girlfriend (now wife) was a veteran of this process, as her grandmother had beat breast cancer once and her mother had beat it twice. A week or so later, we were at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins. My dad and I waited through most of the day there, and come evening, they gave us the good news. They subsequently had to remove my mother's breasts and reconstruct them so as to prevent a recurrence and we haven't had any complications yet.

The next year, Mrs. Sox went in for her first mammogram. Because she was younger than the age threshhold her insurer had set for mammography, they refused to cover it.

More after the jump.

The enlightened judiciary of Saudi Arabia has sentenced a rape victim to 90 lashes for the crime of having been with an unrelated man.

Agence France-Presse reports:

In an interview with the Saudi Gazette, the 19-year-old said she was blackmailed a year ago into meeting a man who threatened to tell her family they were having a relationship outside wedlock, which is illegal in the ultra-conservative desert kingdom.

After driving off together from a shopping mall near her home, the woman and the man were stopped and abducted by a gang of men wielding kitchen knives who took them to a farm where she was raped 14 times by her captors.

It seems an almost incontrovertible rule of geopolitical machinations: at some point, up will always seem like down and yesterday's despot is today's voice of reason.  Such is the case with the typically odious Moammar Khadaffi.  Yesterday, Kahdaffi suggested that the Saudi government end its religious apartheid over the city of Mecca.

Mecca is the holiest city in Islam, and only Muslims are allowed entry by the Saudi government.  No other city in the Middle East, and possibly the world, practices such open religious discrimination.

As the traditional Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca is upon us, Khadaffi has taken the opportunity to call on the Saudis to end such discrimination. Saudi Arabia should "allow Jews and Christians to visit Mecca and circle the Kaaba [cubical building surrounded by the Sacred Mosque]." (Yediot).  More after the flip.

Congratulations to Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) on becoming the leader of the new Democratic majority in the House. By a vote of 149-86, Democrats chose the veteran Congressman to serve as the #2 Dem in the House.

Despite being a hard-fought campaign between two venerable loyal Democrats, it is important to come together now to craft a coherent agenda as we now lead this nation out of the Bush wilderness.

What should be among our priorities, in addition to cleaning up the corruption and the mess in Iraq is avoiding the pitfalls of the last majority we held. Like the Gingrich/Hastert Republicans, House Democrats pre-1994 forgot that this is the peoples' house. More after the jump.

WUSA TV is now reporting that SurveyUSA's final VA-SEN poll has Jim Webb in the lead 52-44. This flies in the face of yesterday's Gallup poll that had Webb down by three. This is the good news we needed as we launch GOTV.

The only link I currently have is widely-read Virginia weblog Not Larry Sabato. I suspect we will get links soon.

Tomorrow, Virginia is expected to get heavy rains statewide. If anyone can make it down here for GOTV, this is the race that could get us control of the Senate. We need our people to get to the polls by any way possible. EDIT: Better link after the jump.

After two depressing Survey USA and Reuters polls showing the Allen/Senate race getting out of reach and the incumbent pulling away, this morning's Gallup survey brings welcome news.  Conducted for USA Today from September 27 to October 1, the results show Sen. Allen leading 48-45. This is well within the poll's 5% margin for error.

The results come from 597 live-dialed likely voters. The last Reuters poll put Allen at an 11-point lead, while the Survey USA poll had him with a six-point lead. Now with Webb competitive in campaign dollars (albeit behind), he is in a good position for the final weeks of the campaign.

To defeat George Allen, we will need to counter his air war. Please consider giving to James Webb today, so we can rid the US Senate of the man who popularized the term "macaca" and put in a real American who will get things done in Washington.

After a wretched week for the Allen campaign, in which they've continually been playing defense, some of Allen's blog goons have opted to go on the offensive. I can't say I blame them--if my candidate had been outed as a racist with an apparent problem with Jews, I'd probably try to regain the upper hand too.

In a post this morning on the blog "Allen's A-Team," blogger Jim Rittinger attempts to smear Webb by association. What he does is delve into the hundreds of thousands of comments here to find some unsavory words to link to James Webb. His line of thinking is that because Markos has endorsed Webb, and because Markos runs DailyKos. Webb is therefore responsible for what any of our 100K+ members have written. Absurd, but when there are over 100,000 people posting several-hundred thousands (millions?)  of comments, you're sure to find something bad and I'd guess they'll take what they can get.

Unfortunately, "Allen's A-Team" is as dishonest as Mr. Allen is inclined towards using racist terms. Join me after the jump to learn exactly how.

(From the diaries. Wadhams was supposed to be the next Karl Rove. He saved Colorado Senator Wayne Allard from imminent defeat in 2002. He engineered Tom Daschle's defeat in South Dakota in 2004. He was supposed to be working for Allen's presidential efforts this cycle and next. Now, he's been relegated to incompetent efforts to redirect focus away from Allen's racism and anti-semitism. Pathetic. -- kos)

It's plainly evident that when you hit bottom, you should stop digging. No one ever told that to Dick Wadhams. In this morning's Richmond Times-Dispatch, Wadhams made a wild and outrageous charge of anti-Semitism against the Webb campaign.

In an article titled, "Allen: Webb camp anti-Semitic," George Allen's campaign manager wildly and irrationally tagged the Webb campaign and the pro-Webb corner of the blogosphere as Jew-haters. "Anti-Semitic themes run through the Webb campaign. I distinctly make that assertion and that charge," said Wadhams.

Perhaps Dick should have made sure not to cite Raising Kaine, run by Jewish Virginian Lowell Feld. More after the jump.

In what is clearly an attempt to rescue a foundering campaign once thought to be on easy street, Wadhams and Allen are seeking to use the Jewish community as a bludgeon to deflect their own hatemongering and project their intolerance onto Webb. They even trotted two of the grand total of three Jewish Republicans in Congress--Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor and Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman--to help out in the effort.

The Allen campaign specifically noted stories on Raising Kaine as some sort of evidence that the Webb campaign is rife with anti-Semitism:

Wadhams referred to posts on Democratic blog sites that address Allen's Jewish ancestry, Among the sites mentioned by Wadhams: raisingkaine.com, operated by Webb campaign blogger Lowell Fulk (sic). Fulk (sic) is Jewish.

"To call me in any way, shape or form anti-Semitic is just a little ridiculous," said Fulk (sic), who put up a post after the Fairfax County debate that included video of Allen's testy response. "Wadhams is just trying to turn George Allen into some sort of victim."

On several blogs, some friendly to Webb, posts chided Allen for his fierce reply to the question by a Washington television station. Others poked fun at the senator or raised questions about his forthrightness. Some Republican blogs carried posts defending Allen and critical of those who questioned his lineage.

Fulk (sic) said by attacking Democratic blogs, the Allen campaign is "trying to change the subject. . . . They're shooting the messenger."

Note that the pro-Allen rag, Times-Dispatch, gets Feld's last name wrong. Lowell Fulk was a Democratic candidate for House of Delegates last year from Rockingham County.

Like Lowell Feld, I am a Jewish Virginian. I know what anti-Semitism is, and calling George Felix Allen out for his deeply aghast reaction to being asked if he was Jewish is not anti-Semitism. In an era where synagogues are advised to undertake heavy security measures on High Holidays, where victims like Ilan Halimi are kidnapped, tortured, and murdered for being Jewish, anti-Semitism is a serious concern. That George Felix Allen would simply spit on those victims to make a cheap point and use our religious community as a weapon only further underscores what more and more Virginians realize every day: he is unfit for public office.

By now, everyone is aware that James Webb has a new TV ad up that contains Ronald Reagan's praise. Many of us also know that Nancy Reagan's office has asked for it to be taken down, much to the delight of the GOP.

What many people may not know is that she has clearly never seen the ad.

Below the fold, let's look at her press release, as it contains some telling clues. Someone is force-feeding her lines, and one can only hope it's been the Allen campaign.

While I still remain slightly skeptical of automated polls, it seems that L'Affaire Macaca has done serious harm to Senator George Felix Allen Jr. in the 2006 VA Senate race. Challenger James Webb (D) is now in a statistical dead heat with the Senator.

According to Washington, DC CBS affiliate, WUSA, "In an election for the United States Senate in Virginia today, 8/21/06, incumbent Republican George Allen edges Democrat challenger James Webb 48% to 45%, according to an exclusive SurveyUSA poll conducted for W*USA-TV in Washington, DC."

The poll carried a margin of error of 4.2%, making the race statistically tied. More after the flip.

Amazingly absent from Daily Kos have been two major issues facing elected Democrats: the Lamont/Lieberman primary and the fighting between Israel and Lebanon. I realize that there have been other issues consuming our attention like the environment and transportation, but I feel the time has come to pay just due to these pressing matters.

First, you may be aware that last night we nominated a great man named Ned Lamont to run for Senate in Connecticut. This is particularly noteworthy because he defeated an incumbent Senator. That Senator in turn is going to run as an independent. This should make for interesting political theater, and I hope to see more Kos members writing diaries about this development. We've given it short shrift, but no more.

Second, there are two countries in the Middle East that don't really like each other right now. One is Israel (lotsa Jews there), and the other is Lebanon (lotsa Muslims, a few Christians, not so many Jews). In Lebanon is this group called Hizb'allah. They're terrorists...or freedom fighters...or political resistance...or a detergent, maybe all of the above. More after the flip.

One, congratulations to Ned Lamont. I hope he wins, and if I were a Nutmegger, he would have my vote.

That said, I'm not asking any leaders to strip anyone of anything. Joe Lieberman is currently holding a seat he was elected to as a Democrat. He has not left the caucus for organizational purposes. At least until January, he is Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT).

On top of that, I'm not demanding anything of the parties vís a vís funding. As much as I support the nominee, and as much as I want Lieberman to drop this indie nonsense, the GOP candidate is not credible, and that means that whoever wins the general election will be a member of the Senate Democratic Caucus. The party doesn't fund races where our nominee is a gazillionaire, and we certainly don't spend precious party dollars where control of a seat is not at stake. To me, that means we don't spend another red cent in Connecticut.

Yesterday, georgia10 wrote a front page piece about Sen. Specter's toothless bill that might restore some actual constitutionality to the administration.  For the uninitiated, the POTUS had been allowing warrantless domestic wiretaps by the NSA on anyone deemed a terrorist.

Conservative jurists are typically bred in Federalist Society law school organizations.  What the American Constitution Society is to progressive and center-left law students, the Federalist Society is to the right.  But by any objective standard, the actions of the administration and the lapdog Congress are the antithesis of what the federalists intended.

More after the jump.