[ Posted Thursday, September 6th, 2007 – 17:31 UTC ]
. . . Starting with the good news, the ACLU has won a legal victory (again) with a ruling by a judge who has actually read the First and Fourth Amendments to the Constitution. The ruling bans the federal government from issuing "National Security Letters" (NSLs) which are, in essence, a power usually reserved for royalty (I've actually written about this many times in the past). The FBI issued NSLs to avoid the pesky process of actually getting a warrant before searching or seizing evidence. The judge threw this mockery of the Constitution on the ashheap of history. Of course, the Bush Administration will probably appeal all the way up to the Supreme Court, so stay tuned.
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[ Posted Wednesday, September 5th, 2007 – 03:04 UTC ]
If Basra goes up in flames, look for Republicans in Congress to bludgeon Democrats with the following: "See?... SEE?!?... We TOLD you this would happen if the coalition pulls out too early! This is what's going to happen to the WHOLE COUNTRY if we withdraw now, right when we're on the verge of success in Iraq."
If Basra remains calm and the Iraqi forces contain things well enough to keep chaos off American network news television screens for a few weeks, look for congressional Democrats to use the opposite argument: "See?... SEE?!?... We TOLD you that all your fears of utter chaos are unfounded because OUR PRESENCE in Iraq is the main cause of all the violence. Once you remove the coalition from the field, things will improve in Iraq. Our success depends on us getting out as fast as possible."
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[ Posted Tuesday, September 4th, 2007 – 15:29 UTC ]
Republicans, thankfully, are doing a good job of self-destructing on their own. This will serve to depress their base in the primaries and the election next year. But Democrats should be warned that their own base will likely desert them if they can't manage to win a few fights in Congress.
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[ Posted Tuesday, September 4th, 2007 – 06:00 UTC ]
[ Posted Monday, September 3rd, 2007 – 19:59 UTC ]
Once again, there was a flood of excellent entries, making it extremely difficult to pick winners out of the field.
As always, winners receive absolutely nothing, other than bragging rights. A big thanks to everyone who entered, and without further ado, here are the top three winners in each of the following categories: Best Chant, Best Anti-Bush Slogan, Best Slogan To Influence Middle America, Best Slogan To Influence Congress, Funniest Slogan, Most Subtle Slogan, and Best Obscure Reference.
At the end, five awards for Most Profane / Tasteless (because of overwhelming interest in the category), and my five picks for Best Overall Slogan.
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[ Posted Friday, August 31st, 2007 – 12:02 UTC ]
I heartily salute both organizations in their efforts. I have been saying since the beginning of this year that the anti-war forces need to keep the pressure on the politicians in Washington with a show of numbers in order to convince weak-willed congressmen from both sides of the aisle that the anti-war stance is actually wildly popular among their constituents. Even in red states.
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[ Posted Thursday, August 30th, 2007 – 13:16 UTC ]
We continue today looking at the Democratic candidates for President, and what they would do about Iraq. Part 1 of this article ran yesterday, and covered Richardson, Obama, Kucinich, and Gravel. Continuing in reverse alphabetical order, today we examine Edwards, Dodd, Clinton, and Biden.
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[ Posted Wednesday, August 29th, 2007 – 03:24 UTC ]
With the most important debate of the whole year (and possibly the whole war) teed up and ready to begin in Congress in the next few weeks, I thought it would be a good time to do a summary and analysis of what all the Democratic candidates have to say on the subject of Iraq. Many of these candidates, it should be noted, are still sitting Senators and Representatives, and therefore have both the duty and the responsibility to participate in the debate in Congress.
They should be relishing this upcoming debate, since it will be a rare chance to show actual, tangible leadership. Which is definitely a requirement for the job of President of the United States.
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[ Posted Monday, August 27th, 2007 – 16:18 UTC ]
Some may call me crass (or even worse names) for addressing just the "framing" or "spin" of these issues. I strongly disagree. Republicans have been winning these framing victories for years now, and the only way Democrats can counter this tactic is to co-opt the framing game. Democrats need to agree on one phrase to use in order to ridicule the other side's position -- and then repeat that phrase ad nauseum. "Ten words or less" should be the golden rule.
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[ Posted Saturday, August 25th, 2007 – 06:00 UTC ]
