Leadership.

It is a word thrown around all too frequently, and far to often without much though as to what actually constitutes leadership.  Oftentimes, it means doing something or being in a position where your words or actions can motivate others, while it also means having the ability to make others want to follow you based on your actions or stances on issues.  And other times, it means taking a strong stand for what you know in your heart and mind is the right thing, regardless of the odds or the obstacles.

Most of all, leadership is demonstrated by actions, and while there are many many opportunities to talk about how one would lead, there are fewer opportunities to stand up for your beliefs, both symbolically and in reality – and to back up your words.

This is one such opportunity.

I’ll start right at the outset of this by pointing out that when Tom Daschle lost his election, Chris Dodd lost to Harry Reid by one vote to become the Senate Minority Leader. Both drational and booman have excellent posts up about Reid screwing over Dodd and the rest of the country on the FISA bill with respect to telecom immunity. With this, instead of asking what could have been if Dodd had one more vote, let’s use this to push for what will be (if Dodd doesn’t win the Presidency, of course).

While their diaries are excellent, I want to take a different angle here, and I have action items directly from Dodd himself at the bottom of this post. What I want to know is, if Bush is pushing so hard for retroactive immunity for the telecom companies in their illegal acts, then why is Reid (and Sen. Jay Rockefeller) so hell bent on going against his own party, including many of the Presidential candidates in order to accommodate this?

We’ve all dealt with them before.  

It could be an old friend who you still have fond memories of but has really changed and let you down over time – yet you just don’t have the heart to break things off or say “enough”.  It could be an acquaintance or even a family member who you just have to deal with from time to time and you figure that if you make the best of it, it won’t be all that bad and eventually it will all be over.  It could be someone who isn’t a bad person who has just let you down over time but you still have a soft spot for.  Or, it could be someone who tags along with a friend and you’re now stuck with them.

Much has already been written about the recent NIE and how the United States Intelligence Community is a bunch of lying, terrorist loving conspiracists that don’t have a clue about “real intelligence”.

Yet, these people have such short memories, as they were singing the praises of the NIE back when it was convenient for them to do so.

Let’s start with one similarity, just to dismiss the “Cheney didn’t pressure anyone onthe NIEs and even if he did, they didn’t change. anything” comments that may come.

Joe Biden said it recently about bombing Iran and impeachment. Hell, some loudmouth said it back in February as well. But we can’t afford to wait for the smoking gun about whether we will bomb Iran to be the mushroom cloud over Iran, right?

Noted terrorist loving communist far left radicals such as Joe Scarborough and Pat Buchanan are calling for hearings into who knew what and when. And frankly, we know that there was highly questionable behavior with respect to the “when”.

Let’s stop parsing and ignoring the very basic heart of the NIE findings, Bush’s and Hadley’s comments over the past couple of days, as well as a number other facts that just so happen to be eerily similar to that other country that starts with the letters “I”, “r” and “a”. It’s the same exact playbook as last time around – make no mistake about it. Except, this time there is one major difference:

This time, they got caught lying.

See, y’all got it all backwards.  None other than Norman Podhoretz just knows that this is a vast left wing and intelligence community conspiracy.  Mister Bush says that this is proof that we need to step up pressure on Iran – precisely because they stopped their weapons program.

And that goes exactly with the thinking of the chest thumping “send others off to kill and die” crowd.  Are you “formidable” and do you have nuclear weapons?  Then sorry, we don’t want to mess with you.  But if you appear to be formidable and “evil”, but aren’t really a dire (or even imagined) threat to the US, your neighbors or anyone else, then it is of utmost importance to make sure that the weapons that aren’t being developed, well, aren’t being developed.

Which makes the NIE confirm the reason why Iran must be bombed.  Just look at recent past history.

Frankly and unfortunately, the only thing that surprises me about the hostage situation yesterday at Senator Clinton’s office in New Hampshire is that it took this long to have something like this happen.  And no, I don’t mean that directly at Clinton – it could have been any Democratic candidate’s office.

In fact, something(s) similar already happened to Democratic candidates, officials and critics of the Bush administration.  Let’s look at the pattern here:  

I know this is a pretty strong statement, and many people’s hearts are in the right direction, at least in starting to wake up from the slumber that overtook tens of millions of people over the past few years.  However, there are still so many people who don’t even realize, let alone have even remotely prepared for, the effects from the hangover caused by the past seven years.

Ironically, this all started back in the 2000 campaign with promises to “restore honor and dignity to the White House”, and was followed up in 2004 with the so-called “moral values” dominating the debate and election.  I’d normally laugh at this farce if the foul stench of hypocrisy and lies didn’t have such a grave impact on what so many in this country find “of utmost importance” and really how the view of moral decline and decadence really was portrayed by those who were not only in power, but by those who blindly supported the most radical and extremists views and actions – and had the unmitigated gall to call themselves “morally superior”.

For starters, I must give a hat tip to my good friend, thereisnospoon, for mentioning this frame on our BlogTalkRadio show, “Don’t Hijack My Thread!” when I was talking about how Rudy’s tremendous and consistent showing of bad judgment when it comes to who he aligns himself with and what his major decisions and actions are.

And for anyone who still can overlook his lack of “family values” when it comes to multiple marriages, or his (conflicting) views on a woman’s right to privacy in her personal and medical decisions, surely will at least be a bit disturbed by the fact that Guiliani is closer with the corrupt and indicted Bernard Kerik than he is with his own children. Whether this kills him in the primary battle or the general election, I think this is a simple and direct reminder of what the “strong on crime former Federal prosecutor” Rudolph Giuliani deems to be important when choosing his relationships.

At a time of year when many families are traveling long distances to be with one another, as well as to have quite possibly the biggest meal of the year, it is easy to get caught up in packing, traveling and even giving thanks for whatever it is that people will be giving thanks for (for me it will be health and a safe birth of our son who is due in late March).

But what gets lost in this time of the year, and even the name “Thanksgiving” is the 2nd half of the word – the “giving” part. And unfortunately, in the mix of the class divide that this country has been experiencing, the issue of homelessness and hunger has dropped relatively below the radar, even though it is becoming more and more of an epidemic.

No doubt there will be much whining, hand-wringing and finger pointing by the republicans, the talking meatsticks and whoever else in the right wing noise machine with respect to the two votes on the Senate floor regarding the Iraq spending bills.  For those who didn’t follow what has happened over the past couple of days, the short answer is this:

• The House passed a bill that would give $50 billion, largely tied to bringing the troops home.  While it is far from perfect, it did get support from some of the Out of Iraq Caucus;
• The Senate had two bills introduced today, both of which did not have 60 votes.
• Reid introduced a bill that basically mirrored the House bill – it “failed”, 53-45
• McConnell introduced a bill (without consulting Reid) that would give $70 billion with no strings attached.  That bill failed, 45-53.