Tuesday’s Mini-Report
Today’s edition of quick hits.
* We’ll see if the Bosnia story is still dogging Clinton tomorrow, but for today, it’s still a headache: “Clinton told reporters in Pennsylvania on Tuesday that she erred in describing the scene, which she now realizes after talking with aides and others. ‘So I made a mistake,’ she said. ‘That happens. It proves I’m human, which you know, for some people, is a revelation.'” (The campaign has not yet explained why the senator made the same mistake several times.)
* Well, this isn’t good: “A vast ice shelf hanging on by a thin strip looks to be the next chunk to break off from the Antarctic Peninsula, the latest sign of global warming’s impact on Earth’s southernmost continent. Scientists are shocked by the rapid change of events. Glaciologist Ted Scambos of the University of Colorado was monitoring satellite images of the Wilkins Ice Shelf and spotted a huge iceberg measuring 25 miles by 1.5 miles (about 10 times the area of Manhattan) that appeared to have broken away from the shelf.”
* A poorly timed attack: “A spokesman for Hillary Clinton’s campaign sent out a press release Tuesday morning belatedly attacking Barack Obama for his failure to release his tax returns – at virtually the exact moment the Illinois senator’s campaign posted his 2000-2006 filings on his campaign Web site. ‘In the public record there are 20 years of Hillary’s tax returns, hundreds of thousands of pages of records from her time in White House and countless other documents detailing her time in public life. Sen. Obama’s record is far more opaque. Sen. Obama has not released his tax returns, except for 2006,’ Clinton spokesman Phil Singer said in a statement sent to reporters just as the Obama camp posted the Illinois senator’s returns online.”
* Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid seems unusually confident that the Democrats’ nominating mess will be resolved before the convention. He told Molly Ball of the Las Vegas Review-Journal: “[I]t will be done. I had a conversation with Governor Dean (Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean) today. Things are being done.” Beyond those cryptic words, no one knows.
* This should be a fascinating lawsuit: “[N]ine Americans are accusing KBR, then a subsidiary of the oil conglomerate Halliburton, of knowingly exposing them to the deadly substance [sodium dichromate] and failing to provide them with the protective equipment needed to keep them safe.” KBR is claiming immunity under a WWII-era federal workers compensation law, but the employees have a clever response: “[T]he company’s own actions have undermined its case: To avoid payroll taxes for its American employees, KBR hired the workers through two subsidiaries registered in the Cayman Islands, part of a strategy that has allowed KBR to dodge hundreds of millions of dollars in Social Security and Medicare taxes.”
* Speaking of interesting cases, word from the Supremes today: “The Supreme Court today said President Bush does not have to power to order state courts to reopen a death penalty case involving a foreign national because of a judgment of the World Court. The court held 6-3 that judgments of the international court are not binding on U.S. courts and that President Bush’s order that courts in Texas comply anyway does not change that. The court’s decision, written by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., was a rebuke to the government in a case that involved the powers of all three branches of government, the intricacies of treaties and the international debate over the death penalty.”
* This won’t help the administration’s competency problems: “The U.S. Air Force mistakenly shipped fuses that are used in nuclear weapons to Taiwan in 2006, believing the crates contained helicopter batteries, officials at the Pentagon announced this morning. The error — undetected by the United States until last week, despite repeated inquiries by Taiwan — raises questions about how carefully the Pentagon safeguards its weapons systems. It also exposes the United States to criticism from China, a staunch opponent of a militarized Taiwan. Pentagon officials said Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has launched a full investigation.”
* Let’s not forget about the House contempt lawsuit: “We knew that the House’s lawsuit against White House officials would take awhile. And it turns out that it’ll be June, at the earliest, before a judge makes his first decision in the House’s suit against Harriet Miers and White House chief of staff Josh Bolten. That relatively rapid pace (for the courts, at least) is the result of the House pushing for quicker resolution of some of the White House’s more expansive claims of executive privilege.”
* Sooner or later, we’ll go a whole week without controversial news from the governor’s office in New York: “New York’s new governor, who disclosed last week that he and his wife committed adultery several years ago, said Monday he used cocaine in his 20s and smoked marijuana when he was younger.”
* There sure are a lot of high-profile senators “misspeaking” lately. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is the latest.
* And finally, after a full year of campaigning, 25 years in Congress, and two lengthy presidential races, John McCain is learning how to read a prepared speech: “In an effort to improve John McCain’s big speech delivery, his campaign put in place for today’s speech a large flat screen monitor and two side panel teleprompters. Campaign officials have expressed concern that McCain has looked in prior speeches like he was watching a tennis match. Today, by installing a large monitor in the back of the room, McCain is able to fix his gaze straight ahead.” He’s just now getting to this?
Anything to add? Consider this an end-of-the-day open thread.
For perhaps the only time ever I agree with a line of Kristols. Regading having a national conversation on race, he said, “Let’s not and pretend we did.”
My support of Obama doesn’t rely on inspiration. I find that what he says just makes sense and is grounded in clear perceptions. I was really hoping that he wouldn’t be forced to campaign on race at all. I just see a very smart human being that I think would be a great president. He seems unencumbered by all the political ideology that both McCain and Hillary are bound by. It seems that he can see a problem without the problem being filtered through the lenses of self-political-interest and accepted “wisdom”.
I think of this race in terms of a corset. McCain and Hillary are corseted by their pre-conceptions and lack flexibility. Obama has more freedom of movement.
‘That happens. It proves I’m human, which you know, for some people, is a revelation.’” (The campaign has not yet explained why the senator made the same mistake several times.)
Nor will the campaign explain why it persists in thinking that these petulant snipes about voters who fail to appreciate Clinton’s great warmth, likeability and humanity do anything but make people’s dislike of her stronger.
Say goodbye Hillary:
http://www.columbian.com/news/localNews/2008/03/03242008_Cantwell-supporting-Clinton–for-now.cfm/
Cantwell won’t overturn the pledged delegate leader.
If being “sleep deprived” leads Clinton to make up stories about dodging sniper fire when the truth involved being greeted by children with flowers, I certainly don’t want her answering the phone at 3am.
‘So I made a mistake,’ she said. ‘That happens. It proves I’m human, which you know, for some people, is a revelation.’”
Ever notice how snippy she gets when she gets caught on her lies?
(The campaign has not yet explained why the senator made the same mistake several times.)
In TriangulationSpeak, this would be explained by (1) Zombies keep doing the same dumb things over and over; (2) Hillary keep doing the same dumb things over and over: thus (3) Hillary is not a human, but a zombie (not dissimilar to her pet plague-rat, Carville).
A poorly timed attack
Refer to TriangulationSpeak (above).
The U.S. Air Force mistakenly shipped fuses that are used in nuclear weapons to Taiwan
And to think that people want a president who mistakes a peaceful red-carpet stroll down a runway for a dangerous, sniper-infested environment and will have C-in-C powers over an AF that ships nuclear weapons components to a direct adversary of the one country on the whole freaking planet that has the power to shut down our economy in a heartbeat. Hugo Chavez will declare Hillary to be “Empress Danger” in 5…4…3….
* Well, this isn’t good: “A vast ice shelf hanging on by a thin strip looks to be the next chunk to break off from the Antarctic Peninsula, the latest sign of global warming’s impact on Earth’s southernmost continent. Scientists are shocked by the rapid change of events. Glaciologist Ted Scambos of the University of Colorado was monitoring satellite images of the Wilkins Ice Shelf and spotted a huge iceberg measuring 25 miles by 1.5 miles (about 10 times the area of Manhattan) that appeared to have broken away from the shelf.”
This is truly horrible for the penguins – the ones in “March of the Penguins”? – because they next inland, then walk to the short to hunt in the sea. But with this, they can’t get to the shore, and they can’t dive in the big crack, since there’s no food down there under the ice floe. It’s news like this that makes one see homo sap as the cancer on the planet we’ve become.
…nest inland, then walk to the shore…
Old fumble fingers strikes again.
if she can apologize for one mistake (the bosnia thing), why can’t she apologize for a much bigger one (her vote on aumf)?
“KBR hired the workers through two subsidiaries registered in the Cayman Islands, part of a strategy that has allowed KBR to dodge hundreds of millions of dollars in Social Security and Medicare taxes.”
Does anyone know how this would effect the US employment contracts that KBR has been hiding behind ?
“So I made a mistake… That happens. It proves I’m human, which you know, for some people, is a revelation.” – HRC
In other words, “big fucken deal, so I lied to make myself look better”. Get over it.
“Obama camp posted the Illinois senator’s returns online.”
What about McCain, where are his returns ??
PLEASE VIEW THIS…CNN SAID THE SUPREME COURT OBJECTED TO ALLOWING PROMOTIONAL ADS TO COME OUT PROMOTING THIS HOWEVER, IT CAN STILL BE SEEN ONLINE AND BOUGHT. THIS IS NOT ALL HILLARY IS ALL ABOUT AND IF WE HAVE TO POST THIS ON EVERY BLOG AND EMAIL WE CAN…
Detailed information: Hillary Clinton exposed, the movie she had banned from theaters!!!!
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1119319130868761649
The court (SCOTUS) held 6-3 that judgments of the international court are not binding on U.S. courts and that President Bush’s order that courts in Texas comply anyway does not change that. — CB
This is almost as good as the KBR story, about their own dodges biting them in the butt. It was Bush himself, who made sure that US didn’t recognize the rulings of the International Court…
* A poorly timed attack: “A spokesman for Hillary Clinton’s campaign sent out a press release Tuesday morning belatedly attacking Barack Obama for his failure to release his tax returns – at virtually the exact moment the Illinois senator’s campaign posted his 2000-2006 filings on his campaign Web site. — CB
Perhaps it shows Obama campaign’s efficiency… took them all of two minutes to respond 🙂 Compared to Clinton’s months (and still no results)…
I’m confused. A President can commute sentences, overturn jury decisions in criminal court…
…But can’t do that to comply with a foreign court?
Hmm. Can we get the International Court to declare that Bush is allowed to overturn laws? In the Supreme’s ruling, that would mean that he then couldn’t overturn laws, because that would be sacrificing our sovereignty to a foreign court…
“Well, this isn’t good: “A vast ice shelf hanging on by a thin strip looks to be the next chunk to break off from the Antarctic Peninsula, the latest sign of global warming’s impact on Earth’s southernmost continent. Scientists are shocked by the rapid change of events.”
Oh Noes! Ice is melting in the Springtime!
Clearly Global Warming!
The court’s decision, written by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., was a rebuke to the government in a case that involved the powers of all three branches of government, the intricacies of treaties and the international debate over the death penalty.”
Supreme Court Rule #1: killing people is more important than any other principle.
The Roberts court only stiffed Bush because that allowed it to kill someone.
And finally, after a full year of campaigning, 25 years in Congress, and two lengthy presidential races, John McCain is learning how to read a prepared speech:
Careful – this is how the Repubs got expectations set so low that when Bush didn’t soil himself at the podium he was declared to have beaten Gore in the debates.
I LMAO’d at John #14, although it took me a few seconds to realize he was joking. Before anyone else replies with a long-winded description of how this shelf has been there for centuries with full links to scientific websites and all, we can simply all remember that it’s actually autumn in the southern hemisphere 🙂
No wonder the GOP’s articles of faith have an unhealthy obsession with homosexuals and homosexuality @ the expense of The Bigger Picture, and then solely for the sake of “party unity” coming before the best interests of the people and nation.
A friend of mine, for his part, thinks homosexuality (and homosexual behaviour) is being confused by the Zealots and True Believers of homophobia with the likes of:
*transvestism (as in wearing clothes and/or showing mannerisms and behaviours “not belonging to his or her sex”);
*transsexualism (as in having heterosexual and homosexual relations interchangably); and
*hermaphroditism (the very rare phenomenon of having male and female characteristics in the same body).
Care to dispute this?
*smacks John@14 with a used railroad tie*
It isn’t Springtime at the South Pole, you doofus. The ice is supposed to be getting thicker down there; not crumbling into filling for your stupid frozen margarita.
@ #14: Oh Noes! Ice is melting in the Springtime!
Southern Hemisphere, you goddamn half-wit. It’s a miracle that you can type and breathe at the same time.
Addendum to #14: unless you were being sarcastic, in which case I apologize for my short temper. Been dealing with too many idiots lately, so my radar might be a bit off.
As a 47 year old “used to be middle class American”, I am surprised that my understanding of a “bold face lie “ has been now replaced with the words and or phrase(s) , I misspoke, I exaggerated, I made a mistake, I misremembered and lets not forget, I was sleep deprived.
To believe that if the very definition of a lie (To make an untrue statement with the intent to deceive), can so easily be twisted to convince another of vulnerability rather than deception…… is the ultimate lie!
Hilary should be ashamed to think for one second that America is that stupid!
Jeff
“[I]t will be done. I had a conversation with Governor Dean (Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean) today. Things are being done.”
Given Harry Reid’s Vegas connections and the ever-present mob question marks, is it too late to invest in a life insurance policy for Hillary? Say “things being done” in a Joisey accent and it can sound downright threatening.
CB, I saw this comment about Hillary over at The Field and was very surprised. I’d never seen it put quite that way before. What do you think?
John @#14. Thanks for confirming our (ie furreners) opinions of ‘murrican geographic knowledge. Antarctica is in the Southern Hemisphere. It’s Autumn, here. Idiot.
I’ve been wondering this for a while. Article 6 of the Constitution says “This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.”
The opinion says (NYTimes) “The Supreme Court ruling acknowledged that President Bush, in pressing Texas to take another look at the Medellin case, was acting on behalf of the “plainly compelling interests” of fostering observance of the Vienna Convention and trying to maintain good relations with other countries.
However, the ruling added, “The president’s authority to act, as with the exercise of any governmental power, ‘must stem either from an act of Congress or from the Constitution itself.’ ”
So in what sense do the Supremes think the Vienna Convention is not the supreme law of the land and binding on every state? The Constitution itself says that all treaties are such. It was signed and ratified and that makes it such. This is not the first time the nutball wing of the court has made this argument regarding treaties, as if they were some lesser form of law.
Clinton playing the Jeremiah card was a blunder that shows people under sniper fire tend to err in grave ways.
Two points:
1) She definitely lost all hope of ever recovering the black vote in her political career. One does not invite the pastor to a White House breakfast to help smooth over the Monica scandal, and then turn about years later and throw him out the back door to draw sniper fire away from one’s own lies.
2) There are nearly 2 million individual donors to the Obama campaign. This pisses us off. We are going to bury her under an avalanche of donations. Talk about a blunder. This move today shows she has no comprehension of the size and march of her political foes. She just fed and clothed the wrong army. Purely from the political standpoint it was an appallingly dumb. Brute Rove stupidity.
Interesting side quote and link:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/03/donna-brazile-o.html
That’s what Brazile picked up on, making a reference to Wright’s willingness to join dozens of other religious figures in attending an annual White House prayer breakfast just as the Starr report on Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky — in all its lurid detail — was about to come out.
Speaking of small pricks and unstable minds, here’s one of my favs, Grover Norquist, on how Congress is killing people with the CAFE standards…
Where to begin? Would it even matter?
Re: Reid.
It’s obvious something is up. Cantwell, Dean, Pelosi et al, it’s about time. This silly sniping has got to end, there are far bigger fish to fry.
shillary is still lying… This from TPM:
As you know, earlier today Hillary Clinton tried to stoke the Jeremiah Wright controversy by telling an editorial board meeting in Pittsburgh that Jeremiah Wright “would not have been my pastor” and then going on to note that she had denounced Don Imus in contrast to Obama’s allegedly more tolerant attitude toward hate speech.
Later in the afternoon she repeated the same comments at a press conference and when asked why she had chosen to engage Obama on the Wright controversy she seemed to suggest that rather than being intentional she was only providing an answer to a direct question. “Well I answered a question in an ed board today that was very specific about what i would have done,” Clinton told the reporter, “And you know I’m just speaking for myself, and i was answering a question that was posed to me.”
Now obviously, Hillary’s been in the political big leagues for a while. She knows how to deflect a question. But it’s actually much richer than this. This afternoon Greg Sargent and I were talking this over and one of us realized that this wasn’t just any Pittsburgh paper. It was the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, the money-losing, vanity, fringe sheet of Richard Mellon Scaife, funder of the Arkansas Project, the American Spectator during its prime Clinton-hunting years and virtually every right-wing operation of note at one point or another over the last twenty years or more.
In fact, what I only discovered late this evening, when Eric Kleefeld sent me this link at National Review Online, is that not only was it Scaife’s paper. Scaife himself was there sitting just to Clinton’s right apparently taking part in the questioning.
This alone has to amount to some sort cosmic encounter like something out of a Wagner opera. Remember, this is the guy who spent millions of dollars puffing up wingnut fantasies about Hillary’s having Vince Foster whacked and lots of other curdled and ugly nonsense. But there’s more.
Let’s game this out. Hillary’s saying this wasn’t some planned thing. She just got hit with this question and she answered it. But here’s my question. You think Richard Mellon Scaife might want to dig into the Jeremiah Wright story? This is sort of like, ‘Hey, I go on Hannity and next thing you know he’s asking me about Wright and Farrakhan. How was I supposed to see that coming?’
I don’t know just how this went down. But the idea Sen. Clinton and her staff went into an editorial board meeting with Scaife and his lackey reporters without a clear sense that they were going to get at least one choice Jeremiah Wright question just somehow doesn’t ring true to me.
=========================
So when will her apologists here admit – SHE’S DONE AND SHE DID IT TO HERSELF!
She is as dishonest as they come!
Just to clarify – the iceberg, at 25 miles x 1.5 miles is not 10 times the size of Manhattan. The ice shelf it’s breaking off of is roughly the size of Northern Ireland, which I suppose might be the comparison intended. We’re densely populated, but not that densely.
There are nearly 2 million individual donors to the Obama campaign. This pisses us off. We are going to bury her under an avalanche of donations. — ROTFetc, @26
Indeed. Over the past month or so, whenever the trolls here or Clinton campaign’s antics “out there” got my blood up, I “vented” by sending Obama another (small) donation. As of last night, I added another “safety valve” to the system: every time I get “please give” e-mail, on behalf of a Dem “system (DNC, DCCC, DSCC) from someone like Dean, Durbin, Dodd, Boxer — ie someone whose record I approve – I send them a little something, if I can spare it. The same begging e-mail, sent out under the same “flag”, but by someone like Albright, Ferraro or Wesley Clark gets a “finger”. And I tell them why their word no longer carries any weight with me.
I expect nobody pays a blind bit of attention to those messages but they, sure-as-sure, lower my blood pressure. At far less cost than a prescription medication, too 🙂
Obama’s Gives $240,000 to Charity in 2007
Obama’s Gives $240,000 to Charity in 2007
This is the kind of person we need in the White House – America was never meant to be ruled by a BUSH-CLINTON-BUSH-CLINTON monarchy/dynasty.
It’s time for change – Obama is our best hope. Enough of the lies and slander from shillary and her enablers.
Over the past month or so, whenever the trolls here or Clinton campaign’s antics “out there” got my blood up, I “vented” by sending Obama another (small) donation.
Same here, Libra. Greg and company have almost gotten me maxed out to the $2300 limit for the primary season.
Maybe if they realize their posts are the most effective fundraiser for Obama out there, they’ll stop wasting their time.
Time to file RICO charges against KBR- or hit ’em with back taxes.
Whichever comes first.
The problem with a corporatocracy is that it has feet of clay firmly planted on Wall Street.
We can see where this is going, can’t we.
If you can manage to get 16 billion dollars in government contracts on a cost plus basis winning them with a no bid system and then funneling the funds throuh an office in the Grand Caymans so you pay no taxes or unemployment, how much more effort would it take to funnel some of those funds to accounts in Dubai in the name of George Bush and Dick Cheney.