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DON'T SUPPORT ANYONE WHO VOTES TO GIVE BUSH $12
BILLION A MONTH FOR THE OCCUPATION OF IRAQ-- NO MATTER WHICH PARTY THEY'RE WITH

post from DownWithTyranny! on 09 May 2008 12:00:00 PM. © DownWithTyranny!

We may have mentioned a few times this week how Steny Hoyer is taking a leading role in delivering retroactive immunity and warrantless wiretapping authority to the Bush Regime... on a silver platter. But that doesn't make him too busy to also figure out how to make sure Bush has all the money he needs to continue his absolutely disastrous war policy in Iraq. Of course, Hoyer has plenty of allies among Democrats helping him with that odious task. "But Steny is the Democratic leader," you ask... kind of plaintively. "Would he really do that?" Sure, his Iraq voting record is pro-war and has been since October 10, 2002 when he voted to give Bush a blank check in attacking Iraq. If ever there are war crimes trials, Hoyer will have a tough time proving his innocence-- and he will need to pray I'm not on the jury.

I have little doubt that Bush's latest "supplemental budget"-- $108.1 billion in war funds for the remainder of fiscal 2008, plus $70 billion in fiscal 2009 for the war and $5.8 billion for Gulf Coast levee reconstruction in fiscal 2009-- after the Congressional leadership and various congressional factions are finished with their pointless dramatics. Hoyer and other reactionary pro-war Democrats want to lure moderates in by offering a temporary extension of unemployment benefits and a major expansion of education benefits for veterans (which Bush says he'll veto)-- at which point, Hoyer will lead the Democrats back to approve Bush's billions. It's complicated by the warmongering Blue Dog faction, which, like the Republicans, wants plenty of war but no economic middle class relief-- not even for returning vets.

You think there's a better way to handle this? Maine Congressman Tom Allen is one of a growing cadre of Democrats-- ones who actually want to end the war-- who take a completely different tact from Hoyer's shameful and deceptive pro-war policy. Allen says he'll oppose the "supplemental appropriations bill to fund the war in Iraq because it lacks a binding responsible deadline for troop withdrawal and leaves room for an open-ended commitment."

This is one reason-- among many-- Blue America supports his election to Congress. Tom:

?After more than five long years, there is still no end in sight in Iraq. Yet President Bush, Vice President Cheney, Senator Collins, and other supporters of an open-ended commitment still have no plan for bringing our troops home. During a time when the middle class is struggling to pay for things like fuel, groceries, healthcare, and education, we continue to spend $12 billion every month in Iraq. America can?t afford to stay in Iraq indefinitely. For that reason, I will oppose any funding bill that doesn?t include a firm, responsible deadline to bring our troops home.?

That's the progressive position. Ironically, the pro-war Blue Dogs and the anti-war Out-of-Iraq Caucus may vote together on a procedural motion to prevent Hoyer's plans from working. Right wing Blue Dogs are against it because, like the Republicans, they oppose the modernization of the GI Bill which would offer military vets better educational benefits. Out of this mess, Pelosi predicts not just victory (in Congress, obviously victory in Iraq is beyond illusory), but Democratic unanimity. I don't know what drugs she's on but she must have picked them up when she visited Damascus. She thinks she's going to get Democrats who want-- I mean really want, not make believe, theoretically, rhetorically want-- to end the war to support the same bill the die-hard war mongers like Jim Marshall (GA), John Barrow (GA), Gene Taylor (MS), Jim Matheson (UT), Chris Carney (PA) and Dan Boren support. Roll some of that up and send it over here, Ms Off the Table.

Read The Full Article:
http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2008/05/dont-support-anyone-who-votes-to-give
.html

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We Hardly Know You Anymore

post from Talking Points Memo on 09 May 2008 11:58:00 AM. © Talking Points Memo

Add Joe Conason to the list of those dismayed by the direction of Hillary's campaign.[...]

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Talking-Points-Memo/~3/286916972/194186.php

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"Swimmingly"

post from Talking Points Memo on 09 May 2008 11:49:00 AM. © Talking Points Memo

The Vice President today, in a Mississippi radio interview with an obviously friendly host:INTERVIEWER: . . . You know, I look at this, and every once in a while, we'll see a story, Mr. Vice President, things like an amusement park opens in Iraq or in[...]

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Talking-Points-Memo/~3/286916973/194182.php

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Meanwhile In West Virginia . . .

post from TalkLeft on 09 May 2008 11:38:00 AM. © TalkLeft

Hillary Clinton will blow out Obama 66-23:

Hillary Clinton leads Barack Obama 57% to 27% among men (43% of likely Democratic primary voters). Among women, Clinton leads 72% to 20%. Clinton leads 70% to 19% among white voters (93% of likely Democratic primary voters). Obama leads 91% to 3% among African American voters (5% of likely Democratic primary voters).

But West Virginia is a state that does not count to the Obama Movement. It has those white working class voters that the Creative Class is trying to purge from the Party:

Cultural Shift: Out with Bubbas, up with Creatives. . . . Obama has all the markers of a creative class background, from his community organizing, to his Unitarianism, to being an academic, to living in Hyde Park to shopping at Whole Foods and drinking PBR. These will be the type of people running the Democratic Party now, and it will be a big cultural shift from the white working class focus of earlier decades. . . . Culturally, the Democratic Party will feel pretty normal to netroots types. It will consistently send out cultural signals designed to appeal primarily to the creative class instead of . . . the white working class.

(Emphasis supplied.) Wow! Obama's Creative Class supporters are really his worst enemies now. Thank Gawd so relatively few people read the blogs.

By Big Tent Democrat, speaking for me only.

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalkleftThePoliticsOfCrime/~3/286882340/8075

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And then there were six

post from AMERICAblog: A great nation deserves the truth on 09 May 2008 11:35:00 AM. © AMERICAblog: A great nation deserves the truth

Democratic nominee Barack Obama gets his sixth SuperDelegate today. He is now 3 SuperDelegates away from surpassing Hillary.

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Americablog/~3/287059897/and-then-there-were-six_0
9.html

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When Hillary Chooses to Leave is Irrelevant

post from Open Left - Front Page on 09 May 2008 11:33:43 AM. © Open Left - Front Page

I mentioned this in a post the other day, but I wanted to add some more thoughts about it: I don't[...]

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/OpenLeft-FrontPage/~3/286908375/showDiary.do

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Hillary as Veep

post from AMERICAblog: A great nation deserves the truth on 09 May 2008 11:32:00 AM. © AMERICAblog: A great nation deserves the truth

Putting aside for a moment the fact that she's not going to be running for president in 2012, she's going to be running for president until 2012 - how do you add the name "Clinton" to the ticket and claim that you're for change?

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Americablog/~3/287059898/hillary-as-veep.html

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Hard Sell

TPM Election Central has posted the power point presentation distributed to House Democrats by the Clinton campaign making her case for why she is the better nominee to help Dems hold on to the toughest swing district seats in November.[...]

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Talking-Points-Memo/~3/286916974/194177.php

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Youtube: Woman Challenges Bill Clinton on Health
Care

video details and more

In this video, a West Virginia (old, white) woman who supports Barack Obama says, "They promised us [health care] and they didn't deliver."

It's clearly true that the Clintons ran on a promise to deliver universal health care in 1992, and since we don't have universal health care, it's fair to say that the Clintons didn't deliver on their promise, for whatever reason.

The woman in the video says that Hillary Clinton holed up in the White House and didn't campaign for national health care. Bill Clinton's answer is telling: "We've released thousands of pages of documents . . ." Well, those documents come from Hillary Clinton's hypersecretive universal health care working group that worked up a hyper complicated plan in secret while doctors and insurance companies, hospitals and the Republican Party were whipping up sentiment against that plan in public. The result showed that public campaigning is far more useful than secret scheming when it comes to Democrats getting a national health care plan through the U.S. Congress.

Although Clinton probably has memorized more of the minutiae of health care, Barack Obama arguably has a much better understanding of the very public consensus-building that will be necessary to get national health care passed. Just look at Hillary Clinton's approach to getting elected! Is she building a consensus for her candidacy, or pitting Blacks and whites against each other in a way that would make it difficult for us to vote for her, much less support her health plan once she was elected.

That's waste water under the bridge now. Barack Obama is the nominee and Hillary Clinton is toast.

Read The Full Article:
http://francislholland.blogspot.com/2008/05/youtube-woman-challenges-bill-clinton
.html

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Obama Takes Lead in Superdelegate Count

Via Jake Tapper:

Sen. Barack Obama moved into the lead today in the last category that Sen. Hillary Clinton had claimed to have an edge -- support among the Democratic Party's superdelegates.

The Illinois Democrat grabbed the superdelegate lead thanks to a switch by New Jersey Rep. Donald Payne and an endorsement from previously uncommitted Rep. Peter DeFazio of Oregon.

Those two votes gave Obama a 267-266 lead over Clinton. That is a huge shift since the days when Clinton boasted about a 60-plus vote lead among the party's pros back on Super Tuesday.

Yet another Clinton talking point falls ....

[Erik W also has a diary going on the topic.]