I missed this one by Noam Scheiber

Last year in The New Republic:

"Moderates must insist, à la Galston and Kamarck, that Democrats won't win back the White House unless they convince voters to trust them on national security, which means making the war on terrorism not just the party's top priority but its central preoccupation in 2008. We're not just talking about calling for a larger military, but something dramatic to signify the shift--like a plan to strike an Iranian or North Korean nuclear facility if need be...read on"

This man is crazy to think we need to attack somebody to regain some sense of authority. By the way, how has Iraq tuned out so far? (via Atrios)

Update: Sheiber responds to Atrios.

The Time Magazine 100

Congratulations to Arianna Huffington for making it on the list as one of 100 most influential people.

Valerie Plame worked on Iran: Cover blown when she was outed!
David Shuster reported on Hardball today that:
INTELLIGENCE SOURCES SAY VALERIE WILSON WAS PART OF AN OPERATION THREE YEARS AGO TRACKING THE PROLIFERATION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS MATERIAL INTO IRAN. AND THE SOURCES ALLEGE THAT WHEN MRS. WILSON'S COVER WAS BLOWN, THE ADMINISTRATION'S ABILITY TO TRACK IRAN'S NUCLEAR AMBITIONS WAS DAMAGED AS WELL."

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Raw Story has the transcript posted. Larisa reported on this in Feb.

Didn't John Gibson say that Karl Rove deserved a medal for outing Valerie? Another question needs to be asked of this President. If Iran is such a threat, why does Bush still have on his staff a man (Rover) who betrayed the identity of a CIA agent that was working on this very serious issue.

FDL: "Add this to Judge Hogan's contention that there were definitely underlying crimes committed in the CIA leak case and I'd say the "nothing to see here, no damage done, move on, it's just a little perjury" crowd are on the ropes....read on"

Colbert

I haven't heard much about Colbert on 24/7, but are they ever playing up the Bush routine with his impersonator. Let me know if you actually hear a pundit talk about Stephen.

reader William emails: Chris Mathews said something to the effect that Bush was self deprecating with his impersonator" but that Colbert's comments were not appropriate because "not only is the President a politician but he's the head of state"

Froomkin:

President Bush on Saturday night had the audience at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner in stitches. With doppelganger comedian Steve Bridges alongside -- playing his inner self -- Bush poked gentle fun of his own mangling of the English language, his belligerence and his feelings about the media. Then Comedy Central satirist Stephen Colbert ripped those stitches out. Colbert was merciless, reserving his most potent zingers for the people in spitting distance: The president who took the nation to war on false pretenses and the press corps that let him do it.

Atrios has more from Salon.

Chicago Protest
A C&L reader writes in:
"I work in the building directly south of the Sears Tower and in the heart of the Chicago Loop where today's immigration protest is taking place. It is simply astounding. The city streets are packed much farther west of Michigan Ave and Grant Park than the previous rally a month or so ago. here must be 6 or 7 times the amount of participants, which they estimated at 100k for the last event. The crowd breaks out into seemingly spontaneous cheers about every 5 minutes, but none so loud as when they are chanting USA, USA, USA. Also, its completely civil, so lets hope it inspires something more than just awe."

Georgia10:

"It's difficult to describe the energy that radiated from the mass of humanity before me. Their chants of "U-S-A! U-S-A!" caused this section of the city to pulsate. Whether you believe protests are effective or not, whether you agree with those protesting or not, it's hard to deny that these people, with their mere presence, have proved that the art of protest is still alive in the streets of America...read on"

Here's more in Denver.

Freedom of Expression

Lamar Alexander

Records of Abramoff's White House Visits

"The Secret Service has agreed to turn over White House visitor logs that will show how often convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff met with Bush administration officials- and with whom he met. U.S. District Judge John Garrett Penn last Tuesday approved an agreement between the Secret Service and Judicial Watch, a public interest group, that requires the agency to produce records of Abramoff's visits from Jan. 1, 2001, to the present....read on"

(hat tip Raw Story)

The Gaggle with Scotty on "Mission Accomplished"
You knew someone from the press corp. would bring this up today. I'm just surprised it wasn't Gregory. Scotty tries to turn it into a partisan issue, but clearly the reporter is calling out Bush for his photo-op which now is legendary for its unbelievable gall.
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Q: Havoc. He used the word havoc today, could he, would he, possibly stand under a sign that says "Mission Accomplished" today, as he did three years ago?

McClellan: Well, I think that there are some Democrats that refuse to recognize the important milestone achieved by the formation of a national unity government. And there’s an effort simply to distract attention away from the real progress that is being made by misrepresenting and distorting the past. And that really does nothing to help advance our goal of achieving victory in Iraq.

Q: So, Scott, simply yes-or-no question: Could the president stand under a sign today…

McClellan: No, see, this is a way that…

Q: This has nothing to do with Democrats. I'm asking you…

McClellan: Sure it does.

Q:-based on reporter's curiosity: Could he stand under a sign again that says Mission Accomplished?

(h/t Think Progress for the transcript)

Continue reading »

Intimidation

ABC: Homeland Inspector General says he was pressured to "tone down" criticism of Bush before election.

Brian Ross:

"The former inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security says he was pressured to tone down criticism of security failures in the months before the 2004 Presidential election. Clark Kent Ervin says he was confronted personally by then Secretary Tom Ridge “to intimidate me, to stare me down, to force me to back off, to not look into these areas that would be controversial, not to issue critical reports...read on"

Morley Safer profiled Stephen Colbert's rise from "The Daily Show," to "The Colbert Report," into the man who just headlined at the White House Correspondents' dinner. They played some of his best clips from both shows which revealed the brilliance Colbert brings into our living rooms.
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CBS:

Colbert defines his no-nonsense philosophy with a single word: "truthiness." "Truthiness. Now I'm sure some of the word police — the wordinistas — over at Webster’s are going to say, 'Hey, that’s not a word.' Well, anybody who knows me knows that I’m no fan of dictionaries. Or reference books. They’re elitist," Colbert jokes.

Asked to define "truthiness," Colbert tells Safer, "Truthiness is what you want the facts to be as opposed to what the facts are. What feels like the right answer as opposed to what reality will support."

Chris Durang: Ignoring Colbert:

This, by the way, is the same Washington event where Bush previously charmed many (and horrified others) by pretending to have trouble finding Weapons of Mass Destruction (after we'd started to realize they weren't in Iraq), and wandered the room looking under tables. Really cute, huh? They should send videos of that to the families of soldiers killed.

The media's ignoring Colbert's effect at the White House Correspondents Dinner is a very clear example of what others have called the media's penchant for buying into the conservative/rightwing "narrative."...read on"

No mention of Colbert on "THIS WEEK," but they did play the clip of Bush v Bush from the dinner.

Billmon nails it: "Colbert's routine was designed to draw blood -- as good political satire should. It seemed obvious, at least to me, that he didn't just despise his audience, he hated it. While that hardly merits comment here in Left Blogostan, White House elites clearly aren't used to having such contempt thrown in their faces at one of their most cherished self-congratulatory events....read on"

The website "Thank You Stephen Colbert," is getting a great response..