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Mr. Lieberman's Choice
He would be the better senator. That's why staying in the race is the right move.
Thursday, August 10, 2006; Page A22

CONNECTICUT Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman's decision to move forward with an independent candidacy after his loss in the Democratic primary is a controversial choice but in this circumstance the correct one. The leaders of Mr. Lieberman's party lined up yesterday to endorse Ned Lamont, the political newcomer who rode a wave of antiwar fervor to upset the incumbent senator. That's not surprising: After all, Democratic voters selected Mr. Lamont to represent them. And as weak a competitor as the Republican candidate, Alan Schlesinger, may be, those leaders have to worry that Mr. Lamont and Mr. Lieberman would split the vote and make way for Mr. Schlesinger or a replacement. (The state's popular Republican governor, M. Jodi Rell, has called on Mr. Schlesinger to step aside.)

The Washington Post Editorial Board is useless, clueless, and purposeless, as usual.

In a sign of Democratic unity, Mark Wilson will tomorrow officially endorse Maria Cantwell and announce his intention to campaign for the Senator full time, NPI has learned.

The news, which may come as a surprise to many in the state's political circles, is a great sign that the State Democratic Party is quite healthy going into the 2006 midterm elections. While we Democrats prize dissent and the freedom to speak our minds, we also know how important it is to be united.

We can't win and become the majority party in Washington D.C. if we are fractured and splintered. Mark Wilson knows that the Bush administration and its cronies in Congress are slowly wreaking havoc on this country.

It is absolutely critical in 2006 that we mount the strongest effort possible to win back control of the Congress. And we can't do that if we're not united.

More below the fold.

There's a lot happening at the convention this year.

Here's one of his latest updates:

According to the Credentials Committee Chair for the State Democratic Convention, over 50% of delegates elected to the state convention from the legislative district caucuses back in April have already signed in and registered, as of 2 PM.

That's pretty amazing, considering it's still very early and registration has only been open since 9 AM earlier today. There should be even more delegates arriving tomorrow morning. And this convention is in a midterm year, not a pesidential election year.

What does this mean? It means Democrats are energized and inspired to take back our country this year and work for change. That's a very encouraging sign.

The email included a graphic showing a doorhanger illuminating the "Democratic Vision" (image to your left, click for full size).

I don't know who thought this up, but it's a great idea! I would just love to go hang these things around my precinct RIGHT NOW.

Last week somebody outlined for me the apparent DCCC and DSCC plan for winning the midterms. I was asking my friend why the Dems weren't lining up behind Feingold's censure resolution and speaking out loudly against the GOP.

"Oh," he said. "Well, the Republicans are imploding right now and they (DCCC + DSCC) want that to continue. We have to allow that happen and not give them something to attack."

"But don't worry," he continued. "They'll go on the offensive like 8 weeks before Election Day when they roll out a major offensive like the Contract for America."

I don't know about you, but I think that's ridiculous.

Toward the end of the segment Stewart was making a comparison between us and the Palestinians. He noted that the Palestinian government had become incredibly corrupt (like the current administration) and that led to an election in which the corrupt incumbents were turned out.

Stewart then turned and said something along the lines of, "Now, who could possibly be more unappealing than Hamas?" A graphic went up depicting Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, and a couple of other Democrats. I didn't see it for long - it looked like Kerry had something on his face.

The audience groaned. Some booed.

Stewart reacted defensively: "What? It's the truth and you know it."

WTF? I stopped laughing immediately. I almost dropped the bowl of cereal I was eating. I was pissed. I still am.

It's perhaps the stupidest thing I've heard Stewart ever say. It totally ruined what would have been an otherwise great segment.

Sure, it's still got its high points.

But I'm getting tired of Stewart (who I once thought was supposed to be "liberal") having conservative guests on and going fairly easy on them.

I'm also sick of the attacks on Reid and Pelosi. Watch the Daily Show and you get the idea that Democratic leaders are stupid buffoons who don't communicate well. Watch actual footage from C-SPAN or CNN that hasn't been ripped out context and you get a different idea.

In my view Stewart has been going out of his way to ridicule Democrats when he doesn't need to. The Daily Show still spends most of the time lampooning Republicans. But then again, they're the ones in power. If we retake Congress and the Presidency, what will the Daily Show be like then?

LOS ANGELES (Dec. 12) - An employee of the Comedy Central program "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" has committed suicide, leading the network to suspend production of Monday night's episode of the program, a spokesman confirmed.

Bill Clarey, 25, took his own life over the weekend, according to the network. A former "Daily Show" intern, Clarey also worked as a receptionist at the program's offices in New York.

"Bill Clarey, a young staff member of 'The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,' passed away over the weekend. He was a wonderful and dedicated employee and all of us at Comedy Central and 'The Daily Show' are devastated by his loss. Our hearts and prayers go out to his family and friends," the network said in a statement.

Spokane voters ousted Mayor Jim West today, probably ending the political career of one of the longest-serving elected officials in the city's history.

Preliminary results in the all-mail special election have 65 percent of the ballots marked in favor of the recall, and 35 percent against.

The 59,501 ballots counted represent 54 percent of the 110,589 sent to voters nearly three weeks ago. Ballots will continue to arrive at the elections office for the next several days, but the margin of support for the recall makes it mathematically unlikely that West can reverse the results.

Jim West should be a synonym for hypocrite. Now he's out of office. I sure won't miss him.

This is an outrage - please recommend. More information:

Gov. Chris Gregoire today protested the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) directive to end funding nationwide for interim housing for victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. There are about 5,000 evacuees living in counties throughout Washington State.

"This is devastating news to people who have already been through too much," said Gov. Gregoire. "As governor I must protest in the strongest terms."

The policy ends FEMA's hotel funding on Dec. 1. In addition, no new interim housing leases will be signed after that date. All interim housing leases for evacuees will end in March, according to the FEMA directive.

State and local authorities were not given any warning of this directive or consulted in advance about how to transition hotel residents to other public housing.

More after the flip....

My reaction to today's display of courage: I would like to briefly echo what one of my co-bloggers wrote:

HURRAY! Democrats standing up for accountability and responsibility! We commend Senator Reid for his outstanding leadership. He has our firm support in this endeavor.

Here's Dean's email:

Late this afternoon my friend Senator Harry Reid forced the Senate into an extraordinary closed session to discuss the manipulation of intelligence on Iraq and subsequent cover-up that led to the indictments last week.

It was the first indictment of a sitting White House official in well over a hundred years. Why? It's not because other administrations haven't gotten into trouble -- they have. The difference is that most administrations have a Congress willing to live up to its Constitutional responsibility. But this Republican-led Congress has blocked an investigation for over a year.

Continued....

But in fact, Jon Stewart did have Bill O'Reilly on the show tonight, and it was a classic interview.

If you missed it, watch the clip at Crooks and Liars.

The first thing that made me laugh was when O'Reilly came in and sat down, Stewart got up to greet him, but then didn't sit down until O'Reilly started talking.

The discussion was fairly lively, with the first topic being Stephen Colbert's new show (clearly, O'Reilly isn't much of a fan) but the high point was definitely when Jon Stewart pressed O'Reilly about his French boycott.

O'Reilly's defense brought boos from the audience, but that was to be expected!

O'Reilly also tried to make a number of quips, but Stewart always had an answer:

O'Reilly: There's a lot of bad people out there and it's our job to go after them.

Stewart: So when are you going to start?

[...]

Stewart: We do add insult to injury....but you add injury!

more after the flip...

As Kos noted recently, Senator Elizabeth Dole has done a terrible job of recruiting candidates for 2006 Senate races (click link to see Kos' recent outlook)

The NRSC apparently realizes they've been getting some bad press, so they're trying to fight back. Today they sent out this lame defense of their 2006 recruiting efforts. I managed to get a hold of the release, and passed it along to other members of our organization.

It's kind of funny, but I think it's worth knowing what their talking points are. Let's get started:

To: Interested Parties
From: Mark Stephens, Executive Director, NRSC
Re: Candidate Recruitment

As you may have seen, there has been an article or two regarding recruiting in the past week.  Frankly, some of these stories are shortsighted, incomplete and ignore political common sense.  I hope you'll take an opportunity to look at a more objective view and I would welcome your thoughts and comments.

continued after the flip...

Conservatives are "pretty demoralized" over President Bush's surprise nomination of Harriet Miers to the U.S. Supreme Court, says Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol.

Kristol noted, in an interview with Fox News, that with liberal Republican Sandra Day O'Connor leaving the court, Bush had a unique opportunity to put his conservative stamp on the Supreme Court.

Instead, Kristol suggests Bush "flinched."

"It looks like he capitulated," a pessimistic Kristol said. The conservative commentator noted she has absolutely no judicial record, and he fears she will be "another O'Connor, another Souter."

more on the flip....

It is a message from a Democrat who is trying to challenge the Republican incumbent, Bobby Jindal, in Lousiana's 1st Congressional District. She has apparently lost her home and her campaign needs help. This is her appeal:

Tallitsch for Congress 2006

Due to the hurricane, my campaign against the Republican
incumbent is in serious question. Currently, I and my family are homeless.
We are being put up in a hotel outside Chicago by the Red Cross and I
don't know what my life will be beyond today.

I am resolute more than ever to defeat the Republicans in the upcoming
election. The criminal negligence in the New Orleans tragedy has
inspired a passion I did even know I had.

So many people are coming to the aid of the Gulf Coast region, that its
difficult not to be proud to be an American.

Continued below the flip...

I was surprised because the e-mail was fairly lengthy (and attempts to sound rational); I suspect this was copied from somewhere else. Anyone know where?

Here goes (all emphasis mine):

No one anticipated that the aftermath of Katrina would include
a false and ignorant tidal wave of calumny against President Bush.  
Conservatives beware, because the goal here is to politically disable the
President, and the conservative agenda along with him.

A few basic facts will help to detox the political environment.  First,
FEMA is not an agency of first responders.  It is not the agency
responsible for bringing people bottles of water and trays of fresh food, or
transporting them out of harm's way.  It also has zero law enforcement
authority, or personnel.

Continued below the flip...

He crossposted it to our own blog, the Northwest Progressive Institute Official Blog, which both he and I write for, among others. (He would have diaried this response, but because we're at 1 A Day right now he asked me to. I have not used mine yet).

Well, it seems the local wingnuts have taken notice. This appeared at the top of one of their sites, our local Drudge imitator:

FEELING THE LOVE:

NPI RESPONSE TO ORBUSMAX, NW CONSERVATIVES: "Locally, we have our own crew of wingnuts who are playing defense... It's good to see the administration's lapdogs against the wall for a change..."

CROSS-POSTED AT DAILY CHAOS...

ORBUSMAX TO NPI: THANKS AGAIN FOR MAKING MY POINTS FOR ME... BY THE WAY, HOW'S YOUR WEB TRAFFIC?

More of their response below the fold....

The hompeage isn't displaying correctly for me. I don't know why, but display errors on the site are up today....is this true for anyone else? I'm curious.

Look at this screenshot I took from my computer. I'm using Internet Explorer on a windows 2000 machine:

(with thanks to ImageShack)

If you look at the right sidebar, you can see it's moved to the left somewhat. Now, this isn't the case for every page. But it's occuring on the homepage, and I'm unsure why. I booted up Firefox, which I actually like better than IE anyway, and there isn't a problem with the sidebar on the home page.

I also clicked on a couple diary threads (this is in IE again) and the comments were stretching all the way across the page, even into the adspace. Now, for weeks, the comments have occasionally jutted out of the space, but I've never seen them go all the way across the page.