Category: Edgewise

  • 21st Century Lou

    Here’s a swank new version of Walk on the Wild Side, from Lou “Mr.” Reed, with updated lyrics for this modern world. Worth a listen….

  • Great article on McNerney’s race to unseat Pombo in CA-11 from the UK Independent

    The coverage in this article makes the McNerney-Pombo race seem like a bellwether. To me, this is the money quote: >He has put family members on his congressional payroll at salaries so high that two years ago they outstripped the entire campaign budget of his Democratic Party challenger. And now he is pushing to build…

  • What’s wrong with John Kerry?

    It wasn’t enough that he lost the 2004 election for us; now he wants to lose the 2006 election, too? Why on Earth would he open his mouth and give the Republicans a piece of red meat like this? Kerry says sorry for “botched joke” Johnny: Much respect for all you’ve done for your country.…

  • East Bay Exhortation Sensation: Phone Banking for Moveon.Org

    This is an offical, authenticated exhortation to East Bay folks everywhere. Well, East Bay folks in the East Bay. Short version: The last two nights I went to the MoveOn office in Oakland. These folks have their act together. It’s fun, easy, and unintimidating. You can volunteer any day, any time o’ day between 9…

  • For election junkies only

    Wondering if the Democrats are really about to take the House or if a dirty trick or surge of evangelical voters will deny them (ok, us) the majority? Keep an eye on the odds at Majority Watch. Think that people betting real money (ok, one dollar per share) have a better take on upcoming elections…

  • For the Baker-Hamilton Suggestion Box

    Note: This is very dense and wonky, and only marginally informed considering how definite it sounds. I’m just noodling with limited information, but I have a realpolitik suggestion for the Baker-Hamilton Commission. It can’t be much worse than what has been bruited about so far. It is a variation on the federated partition idea, and…

  • Chris Bowers’ Google Bomb

    Chris Bowers of MyDD.com has put together an excellent list of links to articles on various republican candidates. By having large #s of folks duplicate this list of links, the odds go up that when someone searches, for example, Pombo, their results will include this article. Never let it be said that I wouldn’t post…

  • Is North Korea Nuts?

    This viewpoint should be common knowledge. North Korea: A Nuclear Threat–An exclusive account of what Pyongyang really wants. Newsweek International Edition On Sept. 19, 2005, North Korea signed a widely heralded denuclearization agreement….to “abandon all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs.” In return, Washington agreed [to] “respect each other’s sovereignty, exist peacefully together and take…

  • Well, they’re not all that concerned.

    “The Republican Party is taking pro-family conservatives for granted,” said Mike Mears, executive director of the political action committee of Concerned Women for America, which promotes biblical values. –“Some Seek ‘Pink Purge’ in the GOP,” LA Times DKo: No, it’s not a mistake; I’ve seen him quoted before.

  • MAPlight helps you ‘follow the money’

    Years ago B and I dreamed about something called the “Senator From” project, based on the idea that, for example, Scoop Jackson used to be known as “the Senator from Boeing.” We’d take the public info available and identify the largest contributors to candidate and officeholder. Great idea, but we didn’t know how to execute…

  • Take election day off

    The Democratic Party is asking people to take election day off to do last minute get out the vote work – The Democratic Party | Take a Day Off for Democracy – an area where the Republicans traditionally beat us. I’m in.

  • Bush insider: Bush administration used and mocked Christian right

    MSNBC reports that a new book called Tempting Faith, by former administration official David Kuo, gives an inside look at the Bush administration that’s bound to give some of the Christian Right pause on election day. He says some of the nation’s most prominent evangelical leaders were known in the office of presidential political strategist…

  • John Murtha’s not mincing words

    Here’s an amazing snippet a friend just emailed me. This is from a new MoveOn.org exhortation written by Congressman John Murtha: A year ago when I presented my plan for Iraq, I did it to provide leadership and protect our troops. The Republicans have spent their time name-calling while the situation for our troops in…

  • The Democrats Will Have to Be Detained

    I’ve put together a couple of things President Bush has revealed recently about the Democrats in Congress; it is awfully sobering, but very clear, what he is going to have to do. (My italics.) Bush: [I]f somebody from al Qaeda is calling into the United States…we need to know…what they’re planning …. 177 Democrats voted…

  • The real mistake in the first moon words was ruthlessly suppressed.

    I first reported years ago the real mistake in the first moon words, and that mistake’s potentially staggering costs to our nation. When I give you the details, the words Why didn’t the biggest newspapers in America grab this story and run with it as front page news? will leap to your lips! This is…

  • Flat Daddies

    Warning: This

  • What did Bush do about Al Qaeda in his first 8 months?

    After the back and forth ‘tween Bill Clinton and Condi Rice this past week re who did what to stop Al Qaeda pre-9/11, Countdown took an interesting look at how the Bush Administration’s spent its first 8 months. The transcript is posted online, as well as a video that’s well worth watching. Note: The meat…

  • Getting tough, within reason.

    “Don’t even think about it! “Uh, well, of course, you can think about it. I mean, you couldn’t resolve not to do it, if you couldn’t think about it. “But, don’t even contemplate enacting it!”

  • Then, Why Not Torture?

    “[Sen. Allen] said the United States needs to interrogate terrorism suspects effectively. ‘I don’t want to stop these interrogations,’ he said. ‘I’m not for torture . . . but some of these techniques have been very helpful to us.’” Article,” Washington Post. DKo: Then why not torture? Wouldn’t those interrogations be even more effective? Wouldn’t…

  • They signed it, didn’t they? The letter stays in the show!

    Military Lawyers Caught in Middle on Tribunals, NYT, 9/15/06 On Wednesday evening, the night before a crucial Senate vote…the Pentagon general counsel, William J. Haynes II, summoned the senior uniformed lawyers [judge advocates general] from each military service to a meeting. …Mr. Haynes sought to enlist the lawyers on the administration’s side by asking whether…

  • Focus on Disney is playing their game

    I agree with k / o completely: >My impression of the pulse of the netroots is that all-Disney all-the-time has actually been a net negative. I’m sure GOP strategists are happy that netroots diarists are talking about Bill Clinton and Madeleine Albright today and not vulnerable GOP incumbents. I wrote a piece yesterday on dKos…