Elections

I don't know what they're serving up in MSNBC's Hardball's green room, but it sure isn't valium or brain food. For the second night in a row, Chris Matthews refuses to suffer foolishness - and good on him for a change. Last night it was Pat Buchanan, who in comparison to tonight's crazy right-winger, look staid, composed and reasonable.

Tonight's Hardball guest was KRLA (Intelligent. Conservative. Talk Radio) radio's Kevin James, who apparently is a lawyer. Tonight's topic was President Bush's remarks (covered by my colleague Mark) at the Israeli Knesset . As you'll see, his undergraduate and law schools must not have made him take American History. Or his grammar school or high school.

Another long one, but definitely worth every second of your viewing time!

Kevin's Wiki was updated to add this to his list of accomplishments not long after this aired.

President Bush delivered a speech today in front of the Knesset, Israel's parliament, as part of his visit to celebrate that nation's 60th anniversary. In his remarks, the president commented on critics of his Administration's approach toward dealing with America's and Israel's common enemies, telling the assembled lawmakers, "We also believe that nations have a right to defend themselves and that no nation should ever be forced to negotiate with killers pledged to its destruction." The president followed that with some criticism of his own for those who do not share his view.

"Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along. We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: "Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided." We have an obligation to call this what it is -- the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history."

Those words brought howls of protest from Democrats on the campaign trail and on Capitol Hill. Sen. Barack Obama, the likely Democratic presidential nominee, interpreted the president's remarks as a thinly veiled shot at his campaign pledge to sit down with the leaders of Iran, Syria, North Korea, Venezuela, and Cuba without preconditions. The White House denies that the president was speaking about any one person, and he did not directly mention Sen. Obama, or the Democratic Party. That did not stop prominent Democrats from condemning the speech. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi decried the remarks as "beneath the dignity of the [president's] office." That's advice the Obama campaign should have taken before reacting to the president.

McCain delivered a major speech in Columbus, in Ohio, which is obviously a must-win state for him. In it he sent clear signals not only about his intended policies, but about his campaign's strategic direction as well. Please note that he speaks as if the year was 2013, after four years of his presidency. Here are some highlights:

The Iraq War has been won. Iraq is a functioning democracy, although still suffering from the lingering effects of decades of tyranny and centuries of sectarian tension. Violence still occurs, but it is spasmodic and much reduced. Civil war has been prevented; militias disbanded; the Iraqi Security Force is professional and competent; al Qaeda in Iraq has been defeated; and the Government of Iraq is capable of imposing its authority in every province of Iraq and defending the integrity of its borders. The United States maintains a military presence there, but a much smaller one, and it does not play a direct combat role.

Pretty standard stuff and should get applause lines from the usual crowd, no mention of "how" so the implication here is that we stay the course and this will happen.

The Alternate Minimum Tax is being phased out, with relief provided first to middle income families. Doubling the size of the child exemption has put more disposable income in the hands of taxpayers, further stimulating growth. Congress has just passed by a single up or down vote a tax reform proposal that offers Americans a choice of continuing to file under the rules of the current complicated and burdensome tax code or use a new, simpler, fairer and flatter tax, with two rates and a generous deduction. Millions of taxpayers are expected to file under the flat tax, and save billions in the cost of preparing their returns.

The flat tax as an option here is strategically brilliant and a good policy move. If he can get it done, which will be difficult as will be the focus.

John McCain's campaign released a new :30 second web video titled "2013." It takes a look at the world, as McCain promises, by the end of his first term.

Wired's Brandon Keim reports that a new poll from the Pew Research Center shows a sharp drop in the number of Americans who believe the Earth is warming. Since a January poll, the percentage of those who accept global warming dropped from 77 percent to 71 percent.

Keim writes, "Seeing as how 2007 was the second-warmest year on record, and the popular press finally took climate change seriously, I'm not sure how attitudes shifted in this manner."

Indeed the poll comes at a time when evidence continues to pile up that climate change is real. USA Today reports that a new study shows "rapid glacier melts in North America, South America and Europe; trees and plants sprouting leaves much earlier in the spring in Europe, Asia and North America; permafrost melting in Asia; and changes in bird migration patterns across Europe, North America and Australia, all in response to rising global temperatures."

Oddly, the numbers reflect a growing partisan divide at a time when the Republican nominee, John McCain, is campaigning on the issue. The sharpest drop is among Republicans, with just 49 percent, down from 62 percent in January. Speaking yesterday at a Portland, Oregon, wind turbine manufacturer, McCain signaled his determination to lead the world in a campaign against global warming. "I will not permit eight long years to pass without serious action on serious challenges. I will not accept the same dead-end of failed diplomacy that claimed Kyoto. The United States will lead and will lead with a different approach - an approach that speaks to the interests and obligations of every nation," he said.

Seattle Post Intelligencer cartoonist David Horsey posted a cartoon here that illustrates the problems McCain may have with his base if he continues to push this issue.

The Hill newspaper asked 97 Senators this question:

"If you were asked, would you accept an offer to be the VP nominee?"

This sounds like a pretty simple question. Vice POTUS is probably the best job you can get without having to do anything to earn it. But these Senators act like they've been posed some mystical Zen koan, along the lines of the job interview trump card, "What's your biggest weakness?" (I care too much)

I'm not going to list all 97, but I encourage you to, and pick out your own favorites. Instead, I am going to hand out hypothetical trophies to a few of the most deserving answers.

The "Bitter Much?"Award goes to:

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) "I know already who it will be: the man in charge of the search. There's no need for me to respond. That's how you get to be vice president."

The gold standard of YouTube gaffedom was given to us from former Virginia Senator George Allen, whose odd "macaca" moment almost single-handedly sank his re-election bid. Yesterday, another video-taped snafu occurred on the campaign trail. Some would have you believe that, this time, Senator Barack Obama is on the losing end of the "loose lips sink ships" dictum. Have a look:



Ouch. That's no way to address a female news reporter. Even if she's firing out inane, persistent questions during your choreographed visit to a Detroit automaker. So, drum roll please, does this mean that we've finally "peeled the bark off" Barack Obama? Has this stealth misogynist been exposed for the world to see once and for all? I guess it all depends on what the meaning of the word "sweetie" is. Did Obama use it in an affectionate or condescending manner? Or was it simply a repetitive slip of the tongue from a family man who regularly calls his wife and two daughters by the same term?

Yes, yes. It is still premature. The race, of course, is not over, technically speaking. Still, when you watched John Edwards standing beside Barack Obama last night, you had to ask yourself, is that the eventual Democratic ticket?

Let's have a look at a few of the short-list contenders who Obama might select for what has become, since Dick Cheney, a much more important job than in years past.

Obama/Edwards has a nice ring to it. For one thing, John Edwards might be able to bolster Obama's weak numbers in Appalachia. The "son of a mill worker" made poverty a priority in this race, and even drew 8% of the vote in West Virginia. Obama is said to have embraced Edwards' pledge to cut poverty in half in America within 10 years. On the down side, we've already seen Edwards try for the #2 slot and fail to get there. Nobody liked that kind of dejá vu.


Jim Webb is a guy whose very presence seems like a bad omen for Republicans. A marine platoon commander in Vietnam, Secretary of the Navy under Ronald Reagan, with a son currently serving in Iraq, this combat-boot wearing Senator is not to be messed with in terms of patriotism. Good luck swift-boating him. The man does not shy away from a fight. And he could deliver Sweet Virginia, a swing state swinging Dem, without much trouble.

Rush Limbaugh:

You think I ought to be happy that there's conservatism out there. I'm not happy my own party wants to get rid of it. I'm mad that my own party wants to cast conservatism aside. I know there's plenty of conservatism out there. That's the source of the frustration. But conservatism by itself cannot move things. It needs a political party. In our political structure, it is parties that get things done. The Republican Party was the home of conservatism, and it still is. But the people that run the Republican Party right now are trying to get rid of it. And it's a death wish. It is an absolute death wish.

Rush is not being prophetic, he is just stating the facts on the ground. The current Republican leadership is pushing the panic button because they keep losing fights they shouldn't. Why? Probably because the GOP (at least at the top) no longer stands for conservative values on a whole host of issues, including spending, amnesty for illegal immigrants, punishing American industry for global warming. And today we have corporate welfare for rich farmers.

Rank and file conservatives are fed up, because they know that McCain is at best condescending to them, and at worst, actively conspiring to render them irrelevant to the political process. See this from Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler.

First off, I understand "compromise", I also understand "give and take" and I know full well that sometimes you have to compromise to get some of what you want. But voting for McCain isn't "compromise", its proper name is "abject surrender."

What's in it for me? The answer is "nothing."

At some point, you have to say "stop! No further!" The thing is, we should've done that a long time ago, but instead we kept reinforcing bad behavior by rewarding it. I don't know what kind of magical, wishful thinking it is that makes people think that rewarding scum for drifting to the left is going to one day, miraculously, make them turn around and drift the other way. I don't know what the proper name for it is, but I'm certain that the word "pathological" is part of it.

As Barack Obama visits Michigan, and gets the endorsement of John Edwards, a local GOP county Party (Kent) in Grand Rapids, MI released a video ad framing Obama. The slow moving 2-minute spot is titled "Obama Show Us Your Flag."