The Blue State

Americans want out, regardless whether mission accomplished

The new ABC News poll released this week shows that a majority of Americans do not want to stay until the job is done.  They want a deadline.  They are excepting the reality that staying there long-term might be a bad idea:

Fifty-six percent say U.S. forces should be withdrawn eventuallyeven if civil order has not been restored in Iraq, reflecting acontinued and gradual departure from the "you break it, you've boughtit" sentiment, ABC said.

Fifty-three percent support setting adate for withdrawing U.S. forces from Iraq, up from 47 percent lastsummer and 39 percent in late 2005.

Not that we ought to govern by polls.  It just should not surprise people why certain Republican Senators up for reelection in 2008 -- like Norm Coleman, Susan Collins and John Sununu -- are more skeptical of the President's position on the war.  The jury is still out on whether they would be saying anything if they were not up for reelection.

(Video) Fox & Friends concerned with Romney's hair

Apparently, talking about a candidate's hair is Fox & Friends' way of discussing campaign strategy.  Anything substantive to say?:

Though, this certainly does not top the Fox & Friends episode when they attacked Obama for the madrassa lie.  Jon Stewart made them pay for that one.

Latest anti-American wave goes tropical

Country by country, the United States is becoming more isolated in the world today.  Many of the Eastern European countries that volunteered to help us in Iraq are now out.  Our greatest ally, Great Britain, announced last week that its troops would start coming home this year.  Even the fringe right-wing government in Australia, whose Prime Minister hypocritically criticized Barack Obama for wanting the U.S. to withdraw troops, only has 850 of its own in Iraq.

Unfortunately, the anti-American wave is not confined to the east of the Atlantic.  Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory, has announced that it will seek statehood:

The president of the Puerto Rican Senate will lobby Congress this weekfor a bill that could lead to statehood for the Caribbean island --even though Puerto Ricans have rejected statehood three times in thelast 40 years.

Passage in Congress of the Puerto Rico Democracy Act would lead to thefirst congressionally authorized referendum on statehood in theterritory's history.

Meanwhile, thousands of Costa Ricans turned out yesterday to protest a new trade agreement between the Bush Administration and their local government:

Tens of thousands protested this Monday in Costa Rica, to stop theCosta Rican president, Oscar Arias from signing the Free TradeAgreement with the United States. The march began in the morninghours on Monday and stretched out for six kilometers from Savannah parkwest of San Jose, to the  Legislative Assembly in the center of thecapital passed pacific way.

How is America in a better position to fight terrorism today than it was six years ago if we are continuously losing the support of the international community?

Oops, Typepad did it again

Sorry for the long delay in posts today.  Last night, as they do every month without telling me, Typad conducted maintenance.  This prevented me from writing a number of blog posts, and also prevented you all from commenting.

Instead of waiting until midnight pacific time when the whole ordeal cleared up, I choose to get what anybody that had a long day at work should be entitled to: sleep.   :)

Expect a smaller number of posts today (maybe six or seven), since I just don't have time.  I'll try to have the normal number of posts for the rest of the week.  Today is just a weird day.

2.27.07 Blue Radar

Here are the miscellaneous politicalstories thatmight not be worthy of their own posts, but are still news-worthy.  Be sure to check out The Blue State on Youtube, which is located under "Menu."  It includes all of the political videos that are featured on this site:

• Last night on CNN's Larry King Live, guest Laura Bush under-reported the number of attacks in Iraq: "This is their opportunity to seize the moment, to build a really goodand stable country. And many parts of Iraq are stable now. But, ofcourse, what we see on television is the one bombing a day thatdiscourages everybody."  (One bombing a day?  More like above 100 incidents per day.)
• Al Gore finally responds to the vicious attacks that have surfaced on him these last few days.
• The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is warning that if the State Children's Health Insurance Program is frozen, states will face $5 billion per year in budget shortfalls.  A Democratic Congressman says he will block Bush's health care proposal: “I have absolutely no intention of moving the president’s proposalsthrough our subcommittee,” said Representative FrankPallone Jr. (D-NJ)
• One of the jurors in the CIA leak trial has been dismissed because of too much media exposure.
• A classified report by Peter Pace that was to be delivered to certain members of Congress was leaked.  According to a source that spoke on condition of anonymity, America's military capability is eroding.  Military readiness has declined.  (Is this another excuse for the Pentagon to grow deeper entrenched in the military industrial complex?)
• If Bush is unwilling to set caps on greenhouse emissions, states will.  Five western states are uniting to form a regional pact on the issue of global warming.  Reuters: "The Western Regional Climate Action Initiative requires Oregon,California, Washington, New Mexico and Arizona to develop a regionaltarget in six months for reducing greenhouse emissions according tostatements from the states' governors."
• Virginia Senator John Warner has endorsed John McCain for president.  (Even though the two disagree on the most important issue facing this country, according to '06 voters: Iraq.)
• Former Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan is predicting that a recession might be just around the corner, even by the end of this year: "When you get this far away from a recession, invariably forces buildup for the next recessions, and indeed we are beginning to se thatsign."
• President Bush is beginning his fundraising push for Republicans in 2008.  During a speech at the Republican Governors Association, Bush spoke to some of the highest GOP donors: "My political agenda is this: more Republican governors, take backcontrol of the House and the Senate and make sure we keep the WhiteHouse in 2008."
• Bill Clinton is courting some of the big donors in order to help his wife's presidential bid.  According to TPM Cafe, Bill Clinton "is hosting a series of private gatherings of elite donors designed tobring in hundreds of thousands of dollars a pop for his wife'sPresident campaign."
• An interesting blog entry by Craig Crawford on how Joe Lieberman could completely shut down the Senate.  It has to do with procedural rules regarding party-switching.

If these stories are old news to you, let me know.  Feel free to add any new stories in the commentbox.

2.26.07 Blue Political Clips for Nightowls

As posted each night, here are some of the popular clips that are making their rounds throughout the blogosphere:

1. Bill Richardson discusses foreign policy on Hardball.  This guy knows what he is talking about.
2. Bill Richardson on C-Span's Washington Journal.  More foreign policy talk.
3. Was Jesus' coffin found?
4. Giuliani vs "Guiliani"
5. John Dean on institutionalized bribery in campaigns.
6. Olbermann's "Special Comment" on Condoleezza Rice.
7. Gore's big night on Sunday.

More clips later today and tomorrow.

So who likes big government?

Republican presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani is trying to prove to right-wing conservatives that he is genuine in his bashing of Democrats.  John McCain is going through the exact same test.  As the Arizona Senator panders to the Jerry Falwell crowd, the former New York Mayor blind-sides Democrats on the size of the federal government:

"The Republican party is the party of the people," said Giuliani. "The Democratic Party is the party of government."

Oh really?  So the Republicans love small government?  Maybe Giuliani can explain the following decisions that have been made during this Republican administration -- an administration that he idolizes like God:

• Two Patriot Act legislations (Violation of the 4th Amendment of the Bill of Rights regarding search and seizures)
• Guantanamo Bay (Violation of numerous international laws regarding modern warfare)
• The Military Commissions Act (Violation of habeas corpus clause in Article I Section 9 of U.S. Constitution)
• Warrantless wiretaps (violation of the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and the 1996 Telecommunications Act)
• The sudden firing of eight federal prosecutors.  Under a loophole in the Patriot Act, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales can hand-nominate new Bush-friendly prosecutors without them having to go through Senate confirmation.
• Record debt -- that speaks for itself.

Soon we will find out whether Rudolph Giuliani is welcomed into the party of big government: the Republican party.

New ABC news poll numbers

The results are in:

• Bush approval rating: 36% (19% "strongly approve", and 49% "strongly disapprove)
• Approval of the way Bush is handling things in Iraq: 31%
• Approval of the way Bush is handling the economy: 43%
• Congress approval rating: 41%
• Trust the Democrats to do a better job handling Iraq: 54%
• Pelosi approval rating:  50%

You've got to wonder about that 19%!

Dick Cheney as a realist in '91

Here is a 1991 quote from then Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney in which he predicted that Iraq would be a quagmire if the U.S. removed Saddam and occupied the country:

“The notion that we ought to now go to Baghdad and somehow take controlof the country strikes me as an extremely serious one in terms of whatwe’d have to do once we got there. You’d probably have to put some newgovernment in place. It’s not clear what kind of government that wouldbe, how long you’d have to stay. For the U.S. to get involvedmilitarily in determining the outcome of the struggle over who’s goingto govern in Iraq strikes me as a classic definition of a quagmire.”

So how would you define this war, Mr. Cheney?  An enormous success?  Oops!  I apologize for putting words in his mouth.  But he actually did say that.

What an amazing transformation it has been.  Over the course of one decade, Dick Cheney went from a cautious realist to a knee-jerk ideologue.  As Christopher Layne wrote in an op-ed in this morning's edition of The Australian, "If only George H.W. Bush's foreign policy realists were running the show.":

If the realists were still making US foreign policy instead of Cheneyand Bush Jr, they would be trying to negotiate with Iran instead ofcompounding the mistaken war in Iraq by engaging in recklesssabre-rattling that risks provoking an even wider war in the PersianGulf.

Like it or not, Cheney says that all options are on the table regarding Iran.  With the Administration now in a lame duck position, we can only cross our fingers and pray that the next two years go by fast, and that the moderates in the White House (comparatively speaking) can outflank Cheney's influence.

(Video) Keith Olbermann on 60 Minutes

This was from last night's edition of "60 Minutes."

Olbermann has turned into one of the best progressive voices on television, right alongside Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.  Other than them, you have a minefield full of socially right-wing hosts:

• Lou Dobbs
• Tucker Carlson
• Joe Scarborough
• Bill O'Reilly
• Sean Hannity
• Neil Cavuto
• Jon Gibson
• Shepard Smith
• Brit Hume
• Morton Kondracke
• Fred Barnes

Those are just the main ones.  So who are the progressives?  Here is our short list:

• Jon Stewart
• Stephen Colbert
• Keith Olbermann
• John Cafferty
• Alan Colmes

And no, Chris Matthews is not progressive.  No person that voted for Bush in 2000 is a progressive.