I just had the fortune of attending the lunch discussion between Congressman Harold Ford of the DLC and our own Markos Moulitsas.
While it was generally a good discussion with several common points of interest between the two, I was absolutely floored by what I heard from Ford at the end of the discussion.
As the last question (and apologies to those who were in line after me), I asked Congressman Ford about how he felt about the current political timidity to engage in any accountability measures for the current administration--such as inherent contempt of Congress for Karl Rove--and why our Congress isn't doing anything to let the country know that, simply put, this just isn't how it's supposed to be.
His answer:
Well, I think the election results in 2006 were accountability enough.
After I get off work today, I'm going to go home and pack for Netroots Nation. One of the items I'll be bringing with me is the custom button that Darcy Burner, our netroots favorite Congressional Candidate in Washington's 8th District, made for me at a fundraiser I helped put together for her in Los Angeles.
Despite the tragedy that befell Darcy's family on July 1st in which a fire rendered their beautiful home a total loss, Darcy will be taking the time to attend Netroots Nation as well.
Not only will she be attending, she'll be one of the celebrity bartenders (Facebook login required) at the Young Voter PAC afterparty Saturday night in Austin! Imagine that--she loves the netroots so much she's willing to serve us all a beer. That's family.
Regardless, though--in the aftermath of the fire that destroyed Darcy's home, we in the netroots stepped up to the fundraising plate. We set a target, but we're still a few thousand short.
Back in November of 2007, Democratic activists in the California Democratic Party, aided by our friends at the Courage Campaign, drew up a resoution to Censure Senator Dianne Feinstein for her repeated enabling of the Bush agenda. This particular outcry was created by Senator Feinstein's swing vote on the Senate Judiciary Committee that allowed for the confirmation of our torture-loving Attorney General Bob Mukasey.
The Courage Campaign collected 33,000 signatures supporting a resolution to censure Dianne Feinstein for her pro-Bush votes. Needless to say, the efforts of those who actually support and defend the Constitution were met with great howls of execration by the serious people in the California Democratic Party.
But now that Senator Feinstein has once again sold the Constitution down the river by voting against removing telecom immunity from the FISA bill, it's time to ask: should the effort to censure Senator Feinstein be revived?
The Courage Campaign would like to know. More below the fold.
In the fall of 2006, my friend Reality Bites Back and I set out on the netroots journey of a lifetime: we spend two months driving 10,000 miles around the country visiting over 20 different netroots-supported federal campaigns, including netroots heroes like Ned Lamont, Jim Webb, Darcy Burner, Eric Massa and John Tester. Along the way, we interviewed dozens of bloggers and netroots figures, ranging from blogger luminaries like kos, Chris Bowers and Jane Hamsher to the hardworking regular diarists and local bloggers who were putting their hearts and souls into their preferred campaigns.
And on the way, we interviewed some relatively important political figures like Senators Kerry and Feingold and Reps. Conyers, Slaughter and Miller (D-NC).
We're making a documentary about it called Crashing The States, which is currently in production. But what's important for this diary is, like I said: I'm privileged. I say that because my journey has provided me uncommon insight into who we are as a community, and why we do what we do.
I guess I was naive. The morning after John McCain came out with his stupendously non-sensical pledge to eliminate the deficit by "winning" the war in Iraq (because, you know, when I stop going further into debt, my debt starts paying itself off!), I saw an article in my virtual copy of the L.A. Times attacking a candidate for creating economic proposals that don't add up.
And guess who that candidate is?
Barack Obama, of course.
In the past, we've complained about reporters giving false credence to, say, fringe climate change deniers in an effort to provide an untruthful balance. But I guess that when it comes to John McCain, no balance need apply, despite the obvious potential for its inclusion.
Fresh off CNN's decision to promulgate the idea that Obama's 5-point lead over McCain (which has been consistent with other polls) constituted a "statistical dead heat", CNN has come out with yet another misleading poll headline--this time regarding the state of Clinton voters.
You can imagine my concern this morning when I directed my browser to CNN and saw the "latest news" about a poll that showed "warning signs" for Obama.
Origianally posted at Calitics, your 24-hours news source for California politics.
Or something.
I'm still trying to make heads and tails of Bob Drogin's narrative in Thursday's L.A. Times regarding John McCain's campaign strategy, which seems to be treating the entire country like one giant New Hampshire:
CINCINNATI -- When John McCain campaigned here last week, he relied on his signature event, an unscripted town hall meeting, to sway undecided voters in this crucial swing state.
The presumed Republican presidential nominee paced with a microphone at Xavier University, taking questions about energy, the economy and other issues from about 150 people.
I can consider myself one of the luckier members of our netroots "order": lucky, in that I've gotten to spend an entire day staffing Darcy Burner.
I didn't write about that day then owing to constraints on my own personal time, but in the context of the events of the past couple of days, I thought I'd share with you what I remember--and some photos.
I think the best thing I can say about Darcy is that even if she weren't my favorite Congressional Candidate, she'd still be an awesome friend.
More below the fold--as well as the obligatory fundraising ask.
By now, I'm sure you've all seen that the home of Darcy Burner, a netroots hero running in WA-08, was destroyed in a fire.
Well, I think most of us here think that Darcy should be in a different House: The House of Representatives. And I think that the last thing Darcy needs to worry about is whether she'll have the money to compete down the stretch in one of the most competitive districts in the country.
Let's get Darcy's Q3 numbers off to a good start. I've set up a special ActBlue page in response to this tragedy, and I've set the target at a relatively modest $5,000. You know what to do.
Some things are just too good to let pass without some sort of commentary. In this vein, I offer you (h/t to RunnerAAA) McCain's new web ad "attacking" Obama's energy policy:
Once you get done laughing, my commentary is below the fold...
[update] opinion below confirmed by Glenn Greenwald.
Are you pissed about FISA? I know I'm pissed about FISA. However, I may have discovered something. I could be wrong, and I would welcome corrections, especially since I'm not a lawyer.
But if I read the compromise bill correctly, there is some wiggle room that would still provide for some accountability for some of the most egregious parts of the domestic surveillance program: namely, everything that occurred before 9/11.
You know the right-wing gasbaggery the Republicans like to use to say we should stay in Iraq. The old refrain was, "fight them over there so we don't have to fight them over here" or "The dhimmicrats want to see our women in purdah" or other such nonsense.
Michelle Malkin, as I'm sure many of you know, is panicked about "Sharia Creep" into the United States. And true to Michelle's fears, there has now been an actual request for Sharia--Islamic Law--to govern a U.S. courtroom.
But the source isn't some radical fundamentalist. Not even a mosque, or a Muslim family.
No. Rather, this request for Sharia is courtesy of that patriotic American company that's in it to help win the "war on terror": Blackwater USA.
We all know it takes 270 Electoral Votes to win the Electoral College outright. But what happens in a 269-269 tie? Well, according to the Constitution, the election of the President would devolve to the House of Representatives. But instead of it being a majority vote, it's a little more complicated because, as Chris Weigant explains, each state delegation gets one vote. And it's a little more complicated even than that: since the House vote would take place on Jan. 6, and the new Congressional terms begin on Jan. 3, it would be the incoming Congress that would vote.
The 269-269 scenario is possible. The article linked above has some scenarios for how it could work, but here's a possibility:
Also, any scenario in which McCain would have won 270-268, but with Obama taking NE-01 and splitting Nebraska, would produce the same outcome.
The entry by Weigant above creates a worrisome scenario. But unlike Weigand, I've analyzed all 51 states for you, and come up with an inescapable conclusion: Obama wins the tie. More below.
I'm quite sure many of you remember Larry Sinclair. He's the upstanding citizen who has claimed that in 1999, he was in the back of a Limo with Barack Obama performing oral sex on him while Obama smoked crack. (If you want to find out, go google it, but I ain't linking to it.) This crackpot has also accused Obama of murdering his pastor to prevent him from disclosing their gay relationship.
Well, it turns out that these accusations have been debunked, of course--but that doesn't change the fact that somehow, he is being hosted by the National Press Club next Wednesday.
What we're asking is very simple: Tell the NPC not to host Larry Sinclair and provide his claims the air of legitimacy.
It is definitely not my standard practice to do this. And yet, in so many places, including a few voices that are still here, you will see some individuals who are so upset about Hillary Clinton's loss, and are so opposed to Barack Obama because of what they perceive as the sexism of his campaign, that they are going to vote for John McCain.
Now that Barack Obama all but officially has the Democratic nomination, it's time to focus on our convention this summer.
And no, I'm not talking about the DNC convention in Denver, I'm talking about Netroots Nation in Austin!
A lot of us will be in Austin in mid-July for the convention, but for many people, paying the convention registration, lodging and travel makes attending the convention financially impossible.
Last year, kid oakland, a brilliant ideator and organizer, came up with a grassroots solution: scholarships for those who couldn't afford to make it. This effort sent many enthusiastic netroots activists from underserved geographic areas who otherwise couldn't afford the convention costs to Chicago to participate.
I want to make one thing clear that has been a bit under-discussed regarding the situation with the Rules and Bylaws Committee meeting in Florida and Michigan:
What the RBC decides tomorrow has repercussions far beyond the Obama/Clinton race, which has for all practical purposes already been decided.
Regardless of whether you take the Hillary's position that the rules prevent uncommitted delegates from being seated for Obama, or the position that the rules actually say that the RBC can do what it damn well pleases, there really is only one thing to remember:
If the DNC is paying attention at all to the future of its primary process, they must sanction Florida and Michigan. And if I got the chance to talk to an RBC member before tomorrow's showdown, the names "Obama" and "Clinton" would not enter into the discussion.
I open my virtual copy of the New York Times this afternoon to find an article mentioning that lawyers for the Democratic Party have determined that no more than half of the delegations from Michigan and Florida can be seated (or that the delegations can be seated, but with each delegate getting half a vote), according to the bylaws of the Party. If we use as a guideline Poblano's WWF-style takedown of Lanny Davis as a guideline regarding the delegate allocations of Florida and Michigan, it seems likely that Clinton will only net 23 extra delegates from a seating of Michigan and Florida according to these rules:
