Last week a group of campaign operatives for Massachusetts Gubernatorial candidate Kerry "Euthanize the elderly, we need their Houses" Healey showed up at the homes of Democrat Deval Patrick and his campaign manager dressed in Prison garb, waving signs reading "Inmates for Patrick."  This was just another ploy in Healey's hypernegative campaign--the most infamous of which is a "Willie Horton" type commercial accusing Patrick of being soft on crime.

Today, the Boston Globe ran a most excellent Letter to the Editor commenting on the event.

On the flip.

This evening the White House released the official signing statement by George W. Bush regarding interpretation and enforcement of the Voting Rights Act Extension of 2006.

Follow me to the flip.

When Democrats aim to win elections, they focus on Get Out The Vote (GOTV) initiatives. Republicans have a bifurcated approach: they split their energy equally between GOTRV crusades and Suppress The Democratic Vote (STDV) schemes.  Many excellent diaries have discussed the latter practice, including contemptible campaigns in Washington, New Hampshire, Mississippi, Georgia and in general.

The latest round comes in the GOP proposal to eliminate the requirement for bilingual ballots, and restrict the use of interpreters at the polls. As always I am left wondering: how strong is your party vision when winning depends on preventing a large segment of the population from voting?

Voting is one of the most fundamental and neglected of American rights. We should be doing everything we can to increase participation in our democracy, across the board. However, if Republicans are truly committed to restricting voting rights, then I propose a better approach: qualify voters based on their informed understanding of our constitutional government and the challenges it faces.

What would this test look like? More on the flip.

Let's face it: Babs and Poppy did not do a very good job of bringing up their children. L'il George, Jeb and Neil have hurt many people.  Forgive me if I am not impressed with their parenting skills.

Everyday America pays for the fact that l'il George never developed basic reading comprehension skills, nor how to process a large, complex set of information. To his credit, he did make an attempt to address this shortcoming early in his presidency when sat in on a reading group grappling with The Pet Goat. Unfortunately that effort was cut short by other events. To our eternal regret and injury, he has never gone back.

We still have almost three years with George in charge (so to speak), so perhaps it is time we took a more positive tack. Namely, let us put together a remedial reading list for George.  I don't mean books like The Federalist Papers, Our Endangered Values, or American Gospel. Great books all, but clearly a bit out of his league. (Nor do we want him to read CTG, lest he know what is coming).

I mean Children's Books, books that even George would understand.

More on the flip.

Your Democratic Action Group meets once a week. You started a few years back as a strategy group to win back the City Council, but it has since evolved into a forum to debate a wide array of topics relating to important national issues, the soul of the party, shared values and social responsibility.

One night, you see a new face. A young guy who was invited by a member who saw him deliver a most excellent anti-Bushco snark at a local college rally. You get to talking over cocktails. Out of nowhere he says "I think we still don't know the full truth about 9/11."

"Holy crap!," you think. "Not again!"

What comes next:

Shopping: The Great American Pastime.

Once we went shopping because we needed, or even wanted, something.  Used to be that if someone was going to the mall, the natural question was: what for? The answer: "I need a new pair of dress shoes" or "Frampton Comes Alive is on sale" or "I need a new ribbon for my typewriter."

Ask the question today, you will most likely receive the answer: "No reason in particular, just to shop."

Yes, shopping is no longer utilitarian, it has officially become a leisure activity.  For some, even a sport. Sort of like baseball, hide and seek and red-rover used to be.

More on the flip.

My name is RickB, and I'm a Plame-a-holic.  When you take your first swig, you have no idea what impact it can have on your life.  When you finally realize, it is already too late.

More on the flip.

Another Sunday of the talking head circus is past, where the 101st Fighting Keyboardists can bravely take up arms against an army of straw men who hate America.  Yes, with extreme valor do they shoot down those who don't want to listen in on Al Queda, lob grenades at isolationists, or skewer the liberals who don't believe Iraqis deserve freedom.

Yes, week in and week out Republicans caricature Democratic positions to the point of ridiculousness, and then blow them over with a gust of hot air.  Why? Because it works! The listener tends to have an instinctive revulsion to the silly position, and the person on the other side of the debate frequently is forced to dissociate himself from the strawman argument, to clarify his real position--leaving precious little time to discuss the merits of his position.  Moreover, the Republican version of his argument is neat, clean and--most of all--memorable.

How do liberals respond?  Why, with truth and logic of course.  And they usually prevail, three hours after the show has gone off the air.  

Fighting back on the flip.

In today's column, Howard Kurtz lambasts former Generals and high-ranking administration officials for not speaking out more publicly when they were on the inside.

Could not the same criticism be leveled at our favorite WaPo media critic?

More below the fold...

Iranian leaders have just announced successful efforts to enrich uranium--the first step in obtaining nuclear weapons.

How can this present anything but a no-win situation for Bush and the White House "Iran-Syrian War Marketing Board"?  

Ignore it, you lose your national security creds at home.  Conventional strike, you are drawn into another quagmire at a time you cannot afford it.  Tactical nuclear strike, even Tony Blair will turn on you, and the potential reaction by world opinion would be guaranteed send the US into an economic freefall.