Google Alerts are a handy thing if you want to keep on top of am important or interesting subject, but man, they pile up like you wouldn't believe if you don't tend to them often. I have 12 alerts in my inbox that have between one and five links each in them. If you figure the average is somewhere around 3 each, then I have a little under forty waiting for me to look at here. Alrighty then, here we go.
California Notes has some pictures of the town hall meeting in Reno, Nevada. Forbes has an AP piece that's not all that interesting and devoid of any real new information, expect maybe for this funny bit that Governor Tom Vilsack said on Fox News Channel of all places, where Vilsack answers a question about him polling third in his own state. His response was that "polls show he would win his state's caucuses if they included individuals who may become Democrats just to attend the caucus meetings."
This is wrong on so many levels, not only did he acknowledge being knee deep in his own state, but his only retort is that his numbers might improve when people who amount to being party crashers show up for the free beer. Also, I wish I could be an AP writer. I'd just look up the generic fluff from Wikipedia and watch cable news 24/7 like they did.
Mr. and Mrs. Edwards were on ABC's This Week today, and the transcript is up today. I don't really watch this show and certainly slept through this one (two days of moving = ouchie) so I can't give highlights, but I think it'll probably be worth a read.
sfgate.com has a piece of up with this interesting bit about impeachment.
Edwards said the Republican-led impeachment of former President Clinton was driven by politics and damaged the nation. "I don't think the way to correct that mistake is by another mistake," Edwards said. "We don't have to get in the mud with pigs."
<rant>Edwards is playing nice and I appreciate the need to do that when running for President, but it is too early to being saying things like this. He doesn't need to bring conservatives over to his side when the primaries are still a year away. I also take issue with the comparison between President Clinton's and President Bush's actions. The accusations against Bush are of violating FISA and the United States Constitution, far more serious than anything lobbed at Clinton.
Those are not politically motivated, and if the members of Congress decide the man should be impeached by trial, then that is exactly what should happen. Not because I want it or because I think it would be what he deserves, but because that is the legal right of the Congress as a means of legally prosecuting a person who is virtually immune from the law under all other circumstances, and impeachment proceedings do not guarantee a guilty verdict.
There is a difference between what happened in those instances where Republicans were seeking to punish Clinton because they didn't like him, while we're seeking justice because Bush didn't just break the law, he violated the basis of all law, the constitution.</rant>
A local NBC station has a small blurb on the Senator's visit to Reno, and the always-cool crooksandliars.com has video from the Senators appearance on MSNBC's Hardball with Christ Matthews. Here is a funny quote they have:
Matthews: President Bush in his last press conference last week said that his idea was for America to go shopping. He literally said that. What do you make of that? As a way to engage the public in our national cause.
Edwards: What planet is he living on? I have absolutely no idea. This is the man who is in charge of this war in Iraq.
Just found the transcript for Edwards appearance on CNN's The Situation Room, so check that out, I heard the hosts were dicks to Edwards but that's hardly unexpected. These 24/7 "news" cable channels are still used to playing for the Republicans and giving them softballs and passes left and right, it will probably take a couple of more years for them to remember what the words unbiased journalism mean.
Meanwhile Steve Garfield actually got to "meet" the Senator in something of a blogger-meet-the-candidate meeting that only lasted a handful of minutes, and he wrote up about the event could have gone a lot better. He makes some good points as it sounds like the event was poorly planned, maybe things will get better as the campaign goes on.
Conservative rag Human Events had this to say about the Senators message.
Democrats know (or at least, I think they know) that their success in the 2006 midterm election was largely a function of their best efforts to imitate Republicans. It was the conservative Blue Dog Democrats who were the tail successfully wagging the entire Democratic dog.
I'm sorry to break the news to you guys, but you lost because you did a horrible job running the country, and the people were sick of your incompetence. You couldn't satisfy the religious extremists on your right, couldn't fix the mess in Iraq that you were told was a bad idea to begin with, couldn't make the country a better place to live with a total majority in Washington, couldn't avoid abuses of power and the all too familiar sex scandals. In summary, the GOP couldn't do anything right. Want proof of the delusion that conservatives are still living under?
For starters, he wants to cut and run from Iraq.
This talking point hurt Democrats during the 04 elections and were killing us for years, right up until the people realized there is a difference between weakened surrender, and giving up on a lost cause that will do nothing but consume and destroy you. Resolve is an admirable trait, stubbornness in the face of the impossible is not; that's called insanity.
The days of the talking-points-majority are over, grown ups are in charge now. We'll look hard at the mess and figure out the smartest way to withdraw, because that is the only sane option left to us.
