I Give You Mr. 19%

post from MyDD on 20 February 2008 02:37:33 PM. © MyDD

Remember the good ole days when we all had that one guy we were united against? Well, he's still around and I couldn't let this go without a mention, per ARG (h/t mcjoan): George W. Bush's overall job approval rating has dropped to a new low in American[...]

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Two Weeks Until The Next Ones

post from Eschaton on 20 February 2008 02:37:00 PM. © Eschaton

oy.

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Obama Gets Two More Union Endorsements

post from Daily Kos on 20 February 2008 02:36:21 PM. © Daily Kos

In another sign of Obama's gathering momentum, the Teamsters and Boilermakers unions are endorsing him.

As DHinMI explained of the significance of other recent union endorsements:

Some may deride UFCW (and assuming they follow suit, SEIU) for getting on board with Obama now, when he appears capable of securing the nomination. It's possible that Edwards supporters were keeping SEIU and maybe UFCW from moving forward, but Edwards has been out of the contest now for over two weeks. Whatever the case, the help comes in time to make a difference for Obama. If they hurry, SEIU and UFCW can probably at least do some hurried voter contact by phone and maybe in the workplace to their members in Wisconsin. But with close to three weeks to work their members in Texas and especially Ohio, and to put people on the ground to do independent expenditure work on behalf of Obama, they can move votes in the states that if she doesn't win could augur the end of Hillary Clinton's presidential aspirations.

Wisconsin is done, it's already less than two weeks to Ohio and Texas, and by now Obama looks likely to be the nominee. But further union support could materially help him lock things up with a strong performance in Ohio, which is more than 14% unionized. And even the cynical view that this is bandwagon-jumping reveals the widespread belief that Obama will be the nominee.

Meanwhile, at least these unions have thus far avoided repeating rightwing slurs of Hillary Clinton and her supporters in choosing Barack Obama.

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19 percent:

post from Think Progress on 20 February 2008 02:36:00 PM. © Think Progress

President Bush’s latest approval rating, according to an American Research Group poll, down from 34 percent just one month ago. Seventy-seven percent of Americans disapprove of the job he is doing, and 79 percent disapprove of his handling of the economy.

(HT: TP reader Jeff)

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Locals See Mahdi Army Activity, Despite Freeze

post from IraqSlogger.com on 20 February 2008 02:29:19 PM. © IraqSlogger.com

Although the bulk of the armed activities of the Mahdi Army are officially "frozen" on orders of Muqtada al-Sadr, to whom the powerful militia is nominally loyal, local sources in Baghdad report ongoing low-level militia activity including an internal assassination in Sadr City and a suspected raid on pro-US Sunni fighters in a militia stronghold in northern Baghdad.

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McCain: Bush Should Veto Anti-Torture Bill

post from Muckraker on 20 February 2008 02:29:00 PM. © Muckraker

No real surprise here. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) voted against a bill in the Senate that would have confined the CIA to interrogations outlined in the Army Field Manual -- that means no ambiguity about the use of waterboarding or other "enhanced interrogation" techniques. We explained his position at length here.

The President has threatened to veto the bill, and because sometime swing votes like McCain, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) oppose it, a veto override vote in the Senate seems certain to fail. Today, McCain told reporters that Bush should veto the bill and said he's banking on the consistency of his position on the issue of torture overriding the subtlety of his stance. From the AP:

"I think I can show my record is clear. I said there should be additional techniques allowed to other agencies of government as long as they were not" torture.
"I was on the record as saying that they could use additional techniques as long as they were not cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment," McCain said. "So the vote was in keeping with my clear record of saying that they could have additional techniques, but those techniques could not violate" international rules against torture.

Of course, that's the administration's position, too: we don't "torture."

Interestingly, McCain also took the opportunity to outline a real difference between himself and the president: he says that if he were elected president, he wouldn't use signing statements -- those statements Bush has tacked on to a number of important bills (including McCain's anti-torture amendment) that essentially say, "NOT." As McCain put it: "If I disagree with a law that's passed, I'll veto it."

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Hillary Clinton Allies Prepare To “Swift
Boat” Barack Obama In Texas, Ohio And Pennsylvania

post from The Gun Toting Liberal? on 20 February 2008 02:28:00 PM. © The Gun Toting Liberal?

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Obama With An Advantage On The Ground In Houston
And Cincinnati

Hillary Clinton opened a campaign office in Houston only two days ago.The Barack Obama office in Houston has been open for at least 10 days.Also, confirming what one of my many Cincinnati sources told me this morning, there is an Obama office in Cincinnati while there is not yet a Clinton office in that city.Looks like Mr. Obama may have [...]

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Here it comes

Obama’s family must be Commies. That’s a new one. John Cole:Lisa Schiffren at the Corner, perfect representative of the modern GOP:Obama and I are roughly the same age. I grew up in liberal circles in New York City ? a place to which people who wished to rebel against their upbringings had gravitated for generations. [...]

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http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/02/20/here-it-comes/

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Schumer presses admin on Economic Indicators
site.

Last week, ThinkProgress reported that the Bush administration has taken another step in hiding data from the public by announcing plans to shut down EconomicIndicators.gov because of “budgetary constraints.” The award-winning site compiles economic data for the public to easily access. Today, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) urged Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez to keep the site open:

I was further troubled to learn that after this website has been shut down, members of the public may still receive e-mails with compilations of this type of data for a fee. […] I find it appalling that taxpayers will now have to pay for data that the federal government already collects and compiles.
I find it hard to believe that shutting down this important information portal will result in any significant savings to the Department. Since the fixed costs of website creation have been paid, the operational costs of maintaining such a site must be relatively small.

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