Today’s Washington Post carries an Op-Ed piece by former Senator George McGovern, titled, “Why I Believe Bush Must Go”

Just a few quotes:

As we enter the eighth year of the Bush-Cheney administration, I have belatedly and painfully concluded that the only honorable course for me is to urge the impeachment of the president and the vice president.

After the 1972 presidential election, I stood clear of calls to impeach President Richard M. Nixon for his misconduct during the campaign. I thought that my joining the impeachment effort would be seen as an expression of personal vengeance toward the president who had defeated me.

Today I have made a different choice.

—snip—

I just knew this would happen.  

I watched so much football on TV today that my better/more-astute half (i.e., spouse) actually saw an entire Cialis commercial.

Everything was ok until she heard the final “warning”…

Warning:  Contact your doctor immediately if you experience an erection lasting longer than four hours.

To which Faheyman’s spouse said:  Don’t your dare!

What shoud I do?

It reminds me of what B.B. King said when asked how he remains sexually active at age 80.

B.B. said (no joke):

“I have a great Doctor named Cialis, and two fantastic nurses named Viagra and Levitra.”

Todays’ Huffington Post has a timely report by Marc Cooper on the push-back by AFSCME members against their union’s sleazy attempt to smear both Barack Obama and John Edwards on Hillary Clinton’s behalf.

Unionists Slam “Hypocritical” Leaders for Anti-Obama Mailer

Union members in Illinois and Iowa are denouncing their national leaders as hypocrites for sending out a deceptive campaign mailer aimed this week at Barack Obama. They are livid that the political arm of their 1.4 million member American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) financed a mailer to Iowa voters slamming Obama for opposing individual health care mandates – the same sort of mandates long opposed by the union.

“This is definitely hypocritical, absolutely,” said Carter Woodruff, an activist with Iowa AFSCME and a former official of the union state council. “It’s a desperate attempt to attack [Obama] for unfounded reasons. It’s a shame they stooped so low.”

The union’s direct mail flyer was written in a disguised manner that suggested it came from the John Edwards campaign and not from AFSCME and it slapped Obama for taking what it called “the timid way out, offering yet another band-aid solution.”

AFSCME’s national leadership endorsed Hillary Clinton last October and is expected to spend millions on her behalf if she wins the nomination.

—snip—

Hillary Clinton has recently targeted Obama’s rejection of universal health care mandates claiming that it would leave 15 million Americans un-insured. Mandates, of the sort supported by Clinton, would require every American family to purchase a health care plan with subsidies offered to those with lower incomes. Obama, by contrast, has argued that the problem with health insurance is precisely that it is unaffordable and that mandates would only aggravate the problem.

The Edwards campaign, which shares the Clinton position on health care mandates, nevertheless denounced the AFSCME mailer as unprecedented in its deception. “There have been a lot of misleading tactics and tricks in the last few weeks, but we’ve just never seen anything like this before,” said Edwards’ Iowa state director Jennifer O’Malley Dillon in a statement. “Either they are trying to trick people, or they’ve realized that on health care, John Edwards is the candidate who speaks honestly about what it really costs and what will be required to have truly universal coverage.”

McEntee’s office did not reply to requests to respond to today’s denunciation by the Illinois and Iowa members.

Linky:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…

(Probably will post this at Planet Orange, too…masochist that I am.)

I don’t like to infect the DD karma with this sort of political pollution, but this one is worth reading.

Personally, I’m backing Edwards and Obama (in that order), since Al Gore has let me (many of us) down by not running.

If Edwards should win the Democratic nomination (a longshot), Obama as his VP would be a no-brainer.

If Obama should win the Dem nomination (increasingly likely)–and assuming Edwards wouldn’t want to run again for VP–I hope Obama asks Sen. Jim Webb to be his running mate.  That would shut up the one-mantra (“Experience”) nay-sayers, cuz Webb has been made the Dems’ key spokesman on all things military on the basis of his experience.

Or so says today’s New York Times:

——————————————————————————–

December 12, 2007

Feeling Heat, Clinton Tries Iowa Up Close

By ADAM NAGOURNEY and PATRICK HEALY

DES MOINES – Ten months ago, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton went to East High School here on her first trip to Iowa as a presidential candidate and laid out a case for her candidacy to a cheering crowd in a packed gymnasium.

Mrs. Clinton returned to East High School late last week. But the crowd was much smaller and more sedate. And rather than discussing her candidacy, Mrs. Clinton explained the caucus process and showed a video titled “Caucusing Is Easy.”

The video was directed at voters who might be intimidated by the complicated Iowa caucus process. But the reassuring message might as well have been intended for the candidate herself.

Though she maintains a solid lead among Democrats in most national polls, Mrs. Clinton is showing signs of vulnerability, with her margins narrowing in the early voting states and her main rival for the nomination, Senator Barack Obama, taking her on more aggressively.

—snip—

linky to full article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12…

“I’m goin’ down…down, down, down down, down…”

(Jeff Beck, “I’m Goin’ Down,” 1973)

Not really an essay.  (Not gonna rant again.)  Just a bloody shame!

From today’s New York Times Web site:

December 4, 2007,  9:53 am

The ‘Draft Gore’ Movement, Sidelined

By Corey Kilgannon

The effort to draft Al Gore for the New York Democratic primary has been put on hold, but signed petitions are stacked in an apartment on East 84th Street just in case. (Photo: Corey Kilgannon/The New York Times)Al Gore is not running for president – not yet, anyway, his most ardent supporters would say — but the campaign to draft him in New York lives, if only on life support, in an apartment on East 84th Street.

Yes, the local “Draft Gore” campaign rests in several neat stacks of nomination petitions, on a campaign table next to “Gore for President” buttons, stickers and fliers. The table is in the modest, rent-stabilized apartment of Robert Plautz, 60 a tax lawyer and longtime Democratic activist. Mr. Plautz helped organize a last-ditch effort to put Mr. Gore on the Democratic primary ballot in New York State with a signature-gathering mission to persuade the former vice president to run again.

The petitioners began on Oct. 30 and, since Mr. Gore did not publicly tell such “Draft Gore” groups across the country to stop, they continued to gather 2,352 signatures in New York State on dozens of petitions. Finally, on Nov. 13, a Gore representative sent an e-mail message urging them to desist.

Mr. Plautz’s group complied, but not without second thoughts.

“We were told, ‘Please don’t put Al Gore in an uncomfortable position,'” Mr. Plautz said. “Some of our supporters said, ‘How do we know it’s not a dirty trick by another candidate?’ and wanted to continue on. But in the end, we felt it came from a credible source.”

Mr. Plautz said that state election law permitted petitioning until the Dec. 6 ballot registration deadline, or Thursday, to get 7,000 signatures to place Mr. Gore on the ballot for the Feb. 6 primary. Mr. Plautz estimated that the group would have gotten more than 7,000 by the deadline, then Mr. Gore would have until Monday to decline by filing formal papers with the Board of Elections.

While he accepts that Mr. Gore is not running, Mr. Plautz said, there is no sense in destroying the petitions before the Thursday deadline, in the event of a miraculous change of heart.

The campaign had no advertising and no real budget, he said. It did (and still does) have a Web site, Newyorkforgore.com, and a column section called “Reading Al’s Mind” — “in which we will post your thoughts on why Al Gore is or is not running.” (One entry is titled, “Will We Soldier On?”)

On the table in the apartment, there were letters from some of the 63 volunteer petitioners. One petition bore a purple Post-It that read, “Since I never heard back from anyone, I assume this effort is dead.”

Mr. Plautz said that, in all, he collected 99 signatures in about five hours on city subway platforms. “I’d say, ‘Would you like to see Al Gore on the Feb. 5 ballot?’ and some people would say, ‘Is he running?'” Mr. Plautz said. “Some people would look at me strangely, either because they didn’t like him or didn’t believe he could get on the ballot.”

Here’s the linky, in case you want to read the comments and/or post one yourself:

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes….

Peace.

Having been “called out”–not once, but twice–by an essayist here this (yesterday) evening (Eastern Standard Time), I would like to respond.  I do so with good will, in good faith, and in support of the guiding karma that has made this site so special to me/us.

First, how I was called out:

“Heh (0.00 / 0)

BTW, there is a cowardly racialist shithead posting here named Faheyman who is scared to comment but is having fun downratig me in another thread.  

Hey Faheyman, scared to defend yourself with words? Get some spine Faheyman.”

by: Armando @ Tue Nov 27, 2007 at 12:29:38 PST

——————————————————————————–

Faheyman? Really? (4.00 / 2)

I haven’t been watching…

I have to say, I whenever I downrate someone, I let them know why, unless it’s brain-numbingly obvious.

What I hate, is when people stand by not saying anything when they agree with you.

That’s part of the reason I left Dkos, apart from the Dem betrayal…I put myself out there and got TR’d to hell sometimes for sticking up for my views, and in a community of thousands, did anyone come in and at least lend a word of support?

by: TheManWithAPoint @ Tue Nov 27, 2007 at 12:39:22 PST

——————————————————————————–

I do not give a fuck about the downrate (4.00 / 2)

or hidden comments or whatever.

Let him come and explain himself here.

by: Armando @ Tue Nov 27, 2007 at 12:41:08 PST

[boldface added]

My friend and colleague, American pollster Vic Fingerhut, was instrumental in Australian Labor Party candidate Kevin Rudd’s smashing victory over Liberal Party Prime Minister (and George Bush ally) John Howard on Saturday.  

Thanks to the Vic’s sage advice, which the Australian Council of Trade Unions used to develop hugely successful TV ads in support of Rudd and the ALP, Howard and his party were delivered a landslide defeat.

The lessons learned so well in Australia should be studied and implemented in this country by organized labor and the Democrats, as outlined in Vic’s memo below.

that JFK did lay, dead in the back of that limo in Dallas, Texas. …

…And yesterday would have been his brother, Bobby’s (RFK’s), 82nd birthday.

When Dr. King was murdered on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Bobby Kennedy’s campaign paid to have Dr. King’s body flown from Memphis to Atlanta.  There, at 1 AM, in the dark of a chapel/funeral home, (now Congressman) John Lewis arranged for Bobby and Ethel Kennedy to visit Dr. King’s body, alone.  And Rep. Lewis recalls saying to himself, “Well at least we still have Bobby.”

And then, within two months , RFK was also killed.

If anyone wonders why 1968 (when I was 15) was the year the world ended for me, just ask me for more details.

It only got worse.

Still, the struggle continues.

Not really an essay here, still, I wouldn’t have made it then without my personal savior..

Not really an essay, but…thought yuz guyz should know:

When I scarfed up my Neil Young & Crazy Horse tix on TicketMaster on Thursday ( https://www.docudharma.com/show… ), I also was able to score four tix for the Eric Clapton/Stevie Winwood gig(s) in Feb. at Madison Square Garden. Three MSG gigs: 2/25, 26 & 28.

Linky here:

http://www.livedaily.com/news/…

NOTE:  Amex card-holders have thru tomorrow to get an “exlusive” shot at tix; then whatever tix are left are “open to the public” starting Monday, 11/19.

Good luck!  CAUTION: Looks like they’re going fast, and I assure you that the ones I could find were NOT cheap! (Gotta do what you gotta/can do to keep Bush’s economy alive by goin’ ever deeper in debt.)

Peace.

Well, folks…surprise, surprise! Markos is headin’ on over to the MSM, via Newsweek.

It was only a matter of time. Here’s his announcement, via Newsweek’s press release:

Kos: “Remember that big announcement I promised earlier? Well, it’s now official.”

Newsweek press release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Tuesday, November 13, 2007 MARKOS MOULITSAS, FOUNDER AND PUBLISHER OF DAILYKOS.COM, TO BECOME NEWSWEEK CONTRIBUTOR FOR 2008 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN New York — Markos Moulitsas, the founder and publisher of dailykos.com, will become a Newsweek contributor for the 2008 presidential campaign, offering occasional opinion pieces to the pages of the magazine and to Newsweek.com. "We have always sought to represent a diversity of views in Newsweek, and we think Markos will be a great part of that tradition," said Newsweek Editor Jon Meacham. "He will give our readers in print and online a unique perspective. As always, our job is to create the most energetic and illuminating magazine possible, and Markos will help us do that as the campaign unfolds.

As we used to say in the “‘hood,” “AMF!” (That’s “Adios, My Friend!” Or “Adios…something else!” …Depending on your disposition.)

“Lieberman Calls Liberal Democratic Base ‘Paranoid'” is the headline on a lengthy item in The New York Times’ “The Caucus” blog site today.

A few “highlights”:

In remarks yesterday, Senator Joseph I. Lieberman criticized the Democratic presidential candidates for their adherence to the views of the “politically paranoid, hyper-partisan” liberal base of the Democratic party, saying that allegiance could harm the eventual nominee’s chances of gaining entry to the White House.

In the speech, Senator Lieberman referred to his primary loss, and denounced the anti-war base of the Democratic party that worked hard to defeat him last year. Despite the fact that he overcame that opposition and won re-election, leading Democrats and many of the presidential candidates, consider the 2006 election results – which gave Democrats majorities in the House and Senate – a mandate against the Iraq war.

“No Democratic presidential primary candidate today speaks of America’s moral or strategic responsibility to stand with the Iraqi people against the totalitarian forces of radical Islam, or of the consequences of handing a victory in Iraq to Al Qaeda and Iran. And if they did, their campaign would be as unsuccessful as mine was in 2006.”

Mr. Lieberman called opposition to the [Kyl-Lieberman] amendment, “a case study in the distrust and partisan polarization that now poisons our body politic on even the most sensitive issues of national security.” He then assessed how Democratic officials have been swayed by anti-war forces within the party:

“First, several left-wing blogs seized upon the Kyl-Lieberman amendment, offering wild conspiracy theories about how it could be used to authorize the use of military force against Iran.

“These were absurd arguments. The text of our amendment contained nothing-nothing-that could be construed as a green light for an attack on Iran. To claim that it did was an act of delusion or deception.”

Not Voting – 7

Alexander (R-TN)
Biden (D-DE)
Clinton (D-NY)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Dodd (D-CT)
McCain (R-AZ)
Obama (D-IL)