Khalid Sheik Mohammed

Khalid Sheik Mohammed testified in a hearing on his "enemy combatant" status yesterday at Gitmo, listing 31 different al Qaeda plots he was involved with in some capacity or another, including the September 11th attacks. Also,

I decapitated with my blessed right hand the American Jew, Daniel Pearl, in the city of Karachi, Pakistan

Bastard. The whole redacted and released transcript of the hearing can be found here. While I'm glad to see documents such as this one being released, I don't think it's necessary to have hearings to do so.

Amusing Loons

[NOTE: I almost wrote a radically different post on this topic, then went back and checked my story...first impressions can be deceiving (MATT STOLLER)] I'd privately noted a few weeks ago that when the DCCC released their "Frontline '08" list - the most vulnerable of their freshman reps, Carol Shea-Porter (NH1) was not on there. I was rather surprised as her opponent Jeb Bradley said he was running again and this is the kind of race that the DCCC must win to keep control of the House. I wondered if ideological disputes (and her rejection of establishment aid in 06) had come back to haunt her?

Apparently Matt Stoller, of progressive blog MyDD.com, thought the same thing, saying in a recent column bemoaning the alleged exclusion of progressives from party decision-making

From what I understand from talking to a few progressives on the Hill, the freshmen in Congress are being extensively 'trained' by Rahm Emanuel (news, bio, voting record)'s DLC band of consultants and pollsters, which is one reason they've been silent. Carol Shea-Porter is an exception, and notice how she was shut out of the DCCC's front line program.

Uh Matt? Check any sources lately? That column was published March 3rd. On Febraury 19th, CQPolitics noted that Shea-Porter and another grassroots candidate, Nancy Boyda, both

ran as political outsiders last year, and they aim to maintain that independent posture even as they seek re-election from inside Congress.

“I wanted to stay with the kind of campaign I ran before,” Shea-Porter told CQPolitics.com on Friday. The freshman explained her desire to continue her state’s tradition of “retail politics,” which favors local, door-to-door efforts. “It’s really about building trust and relationships.”

So Stoller flips out citing Shea-Porter's absence from the list as evidence of an alleged anti-progressive conspiracy. In reality, it was public knowledge almost two weeks before that Shea-Porter herself rejected DCCC aid.

It's been said before but bears repeting: this faction of the Democratic Party exists in a reality-free void - factcheck, factcheck, factcheck.

Remembering a Travesty

I missed it by two days but it's still worth noting the one year anniversary of the Duke Lacrosse Fraud. What happens when a politically-motivated DA seeks to make hay out of the drug-addled accusations of a felon and a whore with the complicity of a hopelessly-biased, ultra sensationalist media establishment and a cabal of professors of dubious intellectual capacity involved in the worst sort of navel-gazing concerned only with undermining society and criticizing "white privilege"? You ruin innocent lives. Almost as bad as all of the component parts of this hoax is the silence of the university's administration.

That the administration, Trustees, and faculty council have not yet begun a serious discussion (though I'd prefer termination proceedings) of the inexplicable, inexusable commentary of the "Group of 88" is ridiculous. We should be questioning what every one of these faculty members adds to the university community. At a time when we're looking to hire more faculty in some major disciplines, wouldn't we be helped in unburdening ourselves of professors researching (to cite one example) "feminism & queer studies" in 16th C France or those (no names) who falsely claim to have published books and articles.

Every individual and organization that had a hand in ruining the lives of Reade Seligman, Colin Finnerty and Dave Evans and tarnishing the reputation of one of the nation's finest universities should be ashamed of themselves, and in many cases (Nifong, the hooker) subject to litigation.

Just Throwing It Out There

It's been asked before but I'll ask it again. If a Republican candidate belonged to a church which proclaimed that:

We believe in the following 12 precepts and covenantal statements. These Black Ethics must be taught and exemplified in homes, churches, nurseries and schools, wherever Whites are gathered. They must reflect on the following concepts:

1. Commitment to God
2. Commitment to the White Community
3. Commitment to the White Family
4. Dedication to the Pursuit of Education
5. Dedication to the Pursuit of Excellence
6. Adherence to the White Work Ethic
7. Commitment to Self-Discipline and Self-Respect
8. Disavowal of the Pursuit of "Middleclassness"
9. Pledge to make the fruits of all developing and acquired skills available to the White Community
10. Pledge to Allocate Regularly, a Portion of Personal Resources for Strengthening and Supporting White Institutions
11. Pledge allegiance to all White leadership who espouse and embrace the White Value System
12. Personal commitment to embracement of the White Value System.

It goes without saying they'd be reviled and demonized by the media, particularly by Sharpton, Jackson, the NAACP, etc. But change white to black and what do you get? Barack Obama and nary a peep in the mainstream media. This should put to rest any questions about Obama's "blackness" but should raise serious issues about his dedication to an America where race doesn't matter, which essentially is what he praised in his 2004 speech at the Democratic National Convention. Just food for thought.

A Real Senate Race in Texas?

Trolling through the online insane asylum that is DailyKos today (as I do every day if only for amusement's sake), I found that Kos - who is sadly gaining more and more control of the Democratic Party, which should instead be finding and running more sane rational and admirable candidates like Lieberman - has selected for himself a candidate to run against John Cornyn in Texas. Now my initial thought was that a good Republican like Cornyn would be basically untouchable in so red a state as Texas but Kossacks are crowing about poll numbers that might suggest otherwise. Cornyn's fav/unfav are tighter than a candidate might want going into an election, but certainly not bad (Hillary's are pretty much in the same awful region too).

So who's this newly-crowned "people powered candidate" (and is only Kos's support needed to make him people-powered or do the...um...people actually need to approve too?)? He's a state senator from Houston by the name of Rick Noriega. Compelling resume, I must admit - Afghanistan veteran, KSG graduate - but whether he's got the substance to actually run remains to be seen. Should Noriega prove to be somewhat viable (and get past whatever the Texas DP establishment throws at him), this could be a noteworthy race in Texas. What's always an interesting aspect to Texas politics is the Hispanic dimension as both parties understand the importance of that vote and thus neither engages in the sort of anti-immigrant sentiment that too often boils over into xenophobic/racist anti-Latino rhetoric elsewhere. I love race season.

Bear on the Prowl

So we all know that Russia's awash in petrodollars, much like the theocracies of the Middle East are. But what I didn't know till today is that much like their Gulf counterparts, the Russians are also cozying up to anti-Israeli terrorist organizations. According to a story from the Weekly Standard, Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal is the guest of the Russian Foreign Minister - for the second time this year. The Kremlin willfully insists that Hamas isn't allied with Muslim terrorists in Chechyna, but Levitt's article makes the falsehood of such beliefs painfully obvious.

That of course begs questions about Russian aims and motives. Historically speaking, Russia has always been a bastion of antisemitism - the infamous Protocols of the Elders of Zion were authored by the Csarist secret police - but more more recently, the Soviet Union sided with Arab states against Israel. Now seeing that Israel is basically our only friend in the region (many regional leaders feared Sadaam but fear a viable democracy as well), it makes sense to encourage their enemies. But there's a larger lesson for our leaders in all of this: the Cold War is basically back, with a rich Russia funding mischief around the world, and we should begin to understand Russian machinations less as aberations but more as intentional practice. They've shown themselves willing to cause trouble (meddling with gas supplies, killing critics, threatening those who would host our missile shield, etc.) and we can't keep wishing the problem away.

(How Often Do I Post These Mea Culpas?)

So it goes without saying that I've been absent and silent for a while, really AWOL more than anything else as I could no doubt find the time to blog. That being said, I'm back for at least the time being. Not that anyone's missed me.

A Double-Edged Sword

While trolling Kos this morning [note: I do so for 2 reasons: 1) often times some real gems in their if you can strip away the reality-free spin and 2) whenever I find myself despising the GOP, a brief visit to Kosland reminds me that as bad as they may be, the alternative is incomparably worse], I came across a diary entry by Russ Feingold, the contents of which I feel are worth reporting and discussing.

Progressives/socialists/whatever label you love while despising corporations/Republicans/private property: you can exhale. Your knight in shining armor (I apologize for not using a gender neutral term like "person") is not running for President.

To clarify, this is the same Senator Feingold who voted against the Patriot Act, against the tax cuts, against the partial-birth abortion ban, and to restrict missile defense. Basically, if you were to combine every element of Democratic wackiness into an animate form you'd either get an ass or Russ Feingold...though I'm not sure the two are much different. On another note, Feingold is slated to be Chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Civil Rights & Property Rights...I'm hoping he doesn't think Kelo v. New London didn't go far enough!

But why do I say this is a double-edged sword? Although I think Feingold could be a semi-dangerous candidate, perhaps even winning himself a Cabinet post were he to make a decent enough showing (and at worst he'd STILL be in the Senate!), he would also adversely affect the whole race by dragging the rhetoric in the Democratic primaries far to the Left. If Tuesday was an aberation then this would be a good thing for the GOP. If, however, Tuesday was more than a moment of temporary insanity, and the American people are ready to vote Democratic regardless of the drivel they spout, this is noticeably a bad thing.

However, given that I'm optimistically embracing scenario 1 for the time being, and hoping the American people were only pissed off and will return to their senses about a hundred hours after Pelosi grabs the Speaker's gavel, then I would say Russ Feingold should run. Why? Because he'll bring out the true-blue loons on the left of his party, and the American people would get to see the Democrats for the head-cases they really are (as if a John Conyers-chaired Judiciary wouldn't do that already!)

Somewhere in all of this, one of my favorite Churchill aphorisms keeps bubbling up: "The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter."

Let the Infighting Begin

I would say that only the Democrats are about ready to go to the mattresses over leadership positions but sadly it's not true. In the new majority, Pelosi's rise to the Speaker's seat seems uncontested. But that means that the majority leader's position is open, as is that of majority whip (the old whip, Steny Hoyer, is ostensibly the heir apparent for the majority leadership). Hoyer has obviously thrown his hat into the ring; Roll Call says he's gotten support from a broad cross-section of the party. But crazy old Jack Murtha wants to run too, though for reasons that have many Democrats scratching their heads. If I had to guess I'd say Steny wins this one, though perhaps not without making some concessions to the Murtha faction (probably on the war). As to the majority whip, Rahm Emmanuel is said to be considering a run. I despise Rahm with just about every fiber of my being - but I'll say this for the man, he's a damn good politician and his party owes him everything. If he runs, expect him to be a shoe-in (the fact that he's an all-star fundraiser certainly won't hurt his chances).

On the other side in the GOP minority, Hastert made headlines when he (rather as expected) announced that he will seek to be minority leader. Fact of the matter is he deserves to be stripped of his seniority - I'm blaming him for Foleygate. That of course leaves a wide-open seat...and if there's one thing our new minority doesn't need, it's a civil war. Thus far, I've only heard of two candidates seeking the spot: currently Majority Leader John Boehner and Mike Pence. Boehner hasn't been in the spotlight long enough for me to get a good sense of him. Pence has, however: he's conservative as hell (and may piss off the handful of moderates who didn't get blown away) but a great mind and a good leader. I think Pence could keep a minority pretty disciplined, which may prove invaluable but I'm not sure whether or not Boehner wouldn't be able to do the same. I can't make any sort of prediction on this one, but if the survivors are feeling embittered about where the present leadership has taken them, expect Boehner to be returned to the party ranks.

First of the 08s

The Senate only "officially" went blue yesterday (Allen is expected to concede at some point today, making it really official), but already things are shaping up for 2008. Unofficially, contenders have been locking up key operatives in states like Iowa for months. According to the Des Moines Register, however, things are getting rolling today with an announcement by outgoing Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack that he will be running for the Democratic nomination in 2008.


Vilsack has neither the star power nor the fundraising ability to truly challenge a top-tier candidate of the Obama/Clinton/(Edwards?) league. In fact, I don't even think he's a viable #2 like Richardson or Bayh might be. But as the Iowa hometown boy, he could be something of a spoiler in that state's caucus. By later throwing his support to Clinton or Obama, he could certainly lock up some cushy post like Ag Secretary...which is probably what he's really aiming for.

Let me reiterate: the important part of this story is not that Vilsack is running. It's that two days after the midterm elections, people are starting to throw their hats in the ring.

I'm Back!

So sometime in September school/political disillusionement caught up with me. My decision (not made explicitly) not to blog was also a product of being overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of news about the elections.

However, Tuesday night, the Democratic wave wiped away much of my disgust with the party and was replaced by the knowledge that we can better ourselves in the minority. And because I feel like I can do some good by keeping an eye on the new Democratic Congress, I'm back!

Ohio Called

D Strickland over R Blackwell...while it's not surprising, I am surprised they've called it now.

First Round of Updates

Things are looking up in the IN2, down in the IN8...

KY3 is looking worse than the KY4 (which is surprising...)

Lugar wins. Big surprise.
MSNBC has already called it for Sanders in VT.

Gubernatorial Scorecard

State	Republican	%	Democrat	%
Alaska	Murkowski		Knowles
Arizona	Goldwater		Napolitano
Arkansas	Beebe		Hutchison
California	Schwarzenegger		Angelides
Colorado	Beauprez		Ritter
Florida	Crist		Davis
Illinois	Topinka		Blagojevich
Iowa	Culver		Nussle
Maine	Woodcock		Baldacci
Maryland	Ehrlich		O'Malley
Michigan	DeVos		Granholm
Minnesota	Pawlenty		Hatch
Nevada	Titus		Gibbons
Oklahoma	Istook		Henry
Oregon	Kulongoski		Saxton
Rhode Island	Fogarty		Carcierri
Texas	Perry		Bell		Strayhorn		Friedman
Wisconsin	Green		Doyle
Wyoming	Hunkins		Freudenthal

House Scorecard

Arizona	GOP	%	Dem	%
1	Renzi		Simon
5	Hayworth		Mitchell
8	Graf		Giffords
California
4	Doolittle		Brown
11	Pombo		McNerney
50	Bilbray		Busbee
Colorado
3	Tipton		Salazar
4	Musgrave		Paccione
5	Lamborn		Fawcett
7	O'Donnell		Perlmutter
Connecticut
2	Simmons		Courtney
4	Shays		Farrell
5	Johnson		Murphy
Florida
13	Buchanan		Jennings
16	"Foley"		Mahoney
22	Shaw		Klein
Georgia
8	Collins		Marshall
12	Burns		Barrow
Idaho
1	Sali		Grant
Illinois
6	Roskam		Duckworth
8	McSweeney		Bean
10	Kirk		Seals
13	Biggert		Shannon
17	Zinga		Hare
Indiana
2	Chocola		Donnelly
8	Hostetter		Ellsworth
9	Sodrel		Hill
Iowa
1	Whalen		Braley
3	Lamberti		Boswell
Kentucky
2	Lewis		Weaver
3	Northup		Yarmuth
4	Davis		Lucas
Minnesota
1	Gutknecht		Walz
5	Fine		Ellsworth
6	Bachmann		Wetterling
Nebraska
3	Smith		Kleeb
New Hampshire
1	Bradley		Shea-Porter
2	Bass		Hodes
New Mexico
1	Wilson		Madrid
New York
19	Kelly		Hall
20	Sweeney		Gillibrand
24	Meier		Arcuri
25	Walsh		Maffei
26	Reynolds		Davis
29	Kuhl		Massa
Nevada
2	Heller		Derby
3	Porter		Hafen
North Carolina
11	Taylor		Shuler
Ohio
1	Chabot		Cranley
2	Schmidt		Wulsin
6	Blasdel		Wilson
13	Foltin		Sutton
15	Pryce		Kilroy
18	Padgett		Space
Pennsylvania
4	Hart		Altmire
6	Gerlach		Murphy
7	Weldon		Sestak
8	Fitzpatrick		Murphy
10	Sherwood		Carney
Texas
22	Write-In		Lampson
Vermont
0	Rainville		Welch
Virginia
2	Drake		Kellam
Washington
8	Reichert		Burner
Wisconsin
8	Gard		Kagen
Wyoming
0	Cubin		Trauner

Senate Scorecard

Arizona

Kyl

Pederson

Connecticut

Lieberman

Lamont

Schlesinger

Maryland

Steele

Cardin

Michigan

Stabenow

Bouchard

Minnesota

Kennedy

Klobuchar

Missouri

Talent

McCaskill

Montana

Burns

Tester

New Jersey

Menendez

Kean

Nevada

Ensign

Carter

Pennsylvania

Santorum

Casey

Rhode Island

Chafee

Whitehouse

Tennessee

Corker

Ford

Virginia

Allen

Webb

Vermont

Tarrant

Sanders

Washington

Cantwell

McGavick

GOP Bids Adieu to AZ08?

Only from the DCCC thus far, but apparently NRCC has pulled all of their ad buys from the AZ08 - which may or may not be translated as an admission of defeat. Randy Graff seems to be the consensus wrong candidate for the district, and this just confirms that yup, the GOP thinks so too.

Coup Brewing in Thailand?

Clearly not the first to get this one - but it looks like the military is undertaking a putsch against the Thai government, taking advantage of the fact that the PM is presently at the UN. Thailand has never been a model democracy, but it's been better than the alternative. I'll try and keep an eye on this one.

Politics Makes Strange Bedfellows

But within a party, this may be the strangest yet: Obama's stumping for the Old Man of the Senate, Robert Byrd. Now that's all well and good - party members stump for eachother regularly - but Obama is only the Senate's sole black man, and Byrd a former KKK member. Either Obama truly buys into Byrd's shtick about his membership being a political necessity back in the day (isn't that a sign that you might want to work for another line of work? Did they hold fundraiser lynchings?), or he's holding his nose in a big way. But this also says a little something else to me - even though Byrd looks ready to romp to reelection (I've said before only death will take this man from his seat), someone's a little nervous if they're pulling out the big guns like Obama for $5k a head.

Primary Preview

Let's start with the less complicated of tomorrow's two high-profile primaries. In Rhode Island, as I blogged last Wednesday, two polls are painting two different numbers. I still think the NRSC's numbers from Public Opinion Surveys might be closer to the fact, especially since there is no doubt in my mind that Chafee will have a significantly better turnout operation. But should Laffey win, no one dares suggest that the GOP can hold this one. The DSCC and Sheldon Whitehouse's hopes are pinned on Chafee going down in flames; if he holds on, it's going to be a great race.

Let's turn our eyes to the border and the Arizona 08 where retiring Republican Jim Kolbe is giving
the DCCC one of their best pickup chances of the cycle. On the left, it looks like Gabrielle Giffords will wrap up the Democratic nomination. But the real fight is on the right, between former Kolbe challenger Randy Graf (a true conservative) and Steve Huffman (a more moderate Republican) who has the backing of both Kolbe (or at least Kolbe has said that Graf is too conservative to win in the district) and the NRCC. Problem is all of this is backfiring; not only is Huffman's campaign poorly run, some analysis suggests that Graf will better motivate the base. More than that, according to a friend of mine observing the race closely, "Huffman's excessive use of negative campaigning has also turned off a great deal of the electorate to him" to the point that he's at risk of splitting the GOP base in a district that is already less than bright red. But according to my friend, Huffman's problems only get worse from here:

Huffman has also been very short on public appearances this campaign season. This could be because he is such a poor public speaker and a weak presence. It is difficult to see him as "congressional" and against a stronger Gabrielle Giffords (the likely Democratic nominee for the seat), he may be torn to pieces in any sort of debate. Randy Graf (currently the leader in the polls for the Republican nomination by more than 10 points) has been written off by many as having no chance of winning in a general election. However, more good may come from his nomination. Graf's supporters are extremely passionate about his election and would fight hard for his victory, more so than Huffman's from my personal experience. In addition, the other three candidates (Mike Hellon, Frank Antenori, and Mike Jenkins) all have pledged to support Randy should he win. Randy is far more confident, a better speaker, and a stronger presence than Steve Huffman, and this will certainly help him in any sort of debate.

So the NRCC has picked the politically palatable moderate who happens to be a stiff, over someone with better base credentials and more charisma - does anyone else see this as a sign of extreme nervousness? After all, they have an unabashed conservative at the top of the ticket in Jon Kyl, and while the 8th is more liberal than other parts of the state, a well-motivated candidate might still hold the district. Chris Cilizza said today that this race would vaunt into the top 2 House races should Graf win, meaning that Cilizza thinks it's likely to flip blue. But voices on the ground are saying otherwise. Bottom line? Kolbe had a lot of success here; the NRCC picked someone who might be his ideological heir, but they may have picked the wrong man. No matter how tomorrow turns out, the GOP isn't out of the woods just yet.