The Blue State

Monday Iraq roundup

There was yet another violent mess in Iraq this morning.  A terrorist drove his car into an Iraqi checkpoint.  The car exploded, killing 10 and wounding 32.  This attack occurred right next to the Interior Ministry in Baghdad.  Still, Prime Minister Maliki says Iraq and civil war do not go together:

"In Iraq, we'll never be in civil war," al-Maliki told CNN's "Late Edition" on Sunday.

Attacks on American troops around the Iraqi capital Sunday left six soldiers dead, the U.S. command in Baghdad reported.

This comes one day after 69 people were killed across Iraq.  According to an Iraqi government source, Prime Minister Maliki is shuffling his cabinet just less than 100 days after it was formed.

Lastly, Ted Kennedy voiced outrage after he was notified by military families that 150 soldiers who had spent an entire year in Iraq were forced to take an 18-hour bus ride right when they got back to the states:

``I was absolutely outraged," Kennedy said in a phone interviewyesterday. ``These are men and women who have worn our uniform thatbears the flag of the United States of America. They deserve a hero'swelcome."

The senator dashed off a letter to Secretary of theArmy Francis J. Harvey , pointing out that the IndianapolisInternational Airport was 38 miles from Camp Atterbury.

``Withair service such a viable option, I don't believe putting thesesoldiers on buses for an extended overnight ride is the mostappropriate way for the US Army to show its gratitude for theirconsiderable sacrifices," Kennedy wrote.

With military recruitment struggling, you'd think that the Army could at least treat their soldiers like human beings.  Word spreads easily within local communities when this kind of treatment takes place.

GOP beginning to understand political implications of immigration debate

Don't think for one second that the battle over immigration will be over until next year.  According to the Monday morning edition of the New York Times, speechwriters have inserted a pitch for immigration reform into an address Bush will give today:

Two weeks after the Senate walked away from its immigration debate,leaders of both parties are expressing a new sense of urgency to actbefore the November midterm elections. Mr. Bush, who has made animmigration bill a centerpiece of his legislative agenda and who coulduse a victory on Capitol Hill to revive his flagging second term, isexpected to address the issue again on Monday in an appearance inIrvine, Calif.

On the NBC Sunday show "Meet the Press", Massachusetts Democrat Ted Kennedy, who just released his book titled America Back on Track, encouraged the President to push the issue:

"There's strong support for it," Sen. Edward Kennedy, a MassachusettsDemocrat, said of the bipartisan measure that he crafted largely withRepublican Sen. John McCain of Arizona.

"If the president were take on the right wing of his own politicalparty, we could get this legislation and pass it very, very quickly,"Kennedy told NBC's "Meet the Press."

This comes as others across the country pump up the volume on the debate.  Over in California, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger blasted the idea of the United States paying billions of dollars for a fence that illegal immigrants can just dig under.

This issue will not go away.  Last month, Republican Congressman George Sensenbrenner ignited a flame that will not go out anytime soon, and years from now might be looked back at by historians as an ill-advised strategic mistake that burned the trust that a majority of Hispanics had towards the GOP when it came to moral issues after 9/11.  What the GOP fails to realize is that while they consider immigration a security issue, Hispanics consider it a moral issue.  Karl Rove seems to understand it, as does John McCain, while a clear majority of the GOP don't.  Until all of the GOP can grapple with this reality, it will cost them politically.

Thursday Editorial: Teddy's revival

Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy's stock is on the rise.  After years of being labeled as an out of touch, fringe-left liberal, the brother of one of the most famous presidents of the 20th century is making the slow trek back to the mainstream.  One of the criticisms Americans have of many Democrats is their reluctance to provide solutions to whatever GOP policy they criticize.  Kennedy has learned all too well over more than a quarter century that voters don't just want resistance to the status-quo, they want a path to the future.

Even though most conservatives want to make him out to be a crazy liberal, Kennedy is the one that worked with Bush to compromise on No Child Left Behind (yes, compromise -- meaning that the program could have been a lot worse had Kennedy not intervened).  And now he is working with John McCain on historic immigration reform.

With the release of his new book, America Back on Track, the Massachusetts Senator slams Bush's foreign policy, and offers what he believes his party can promote as a new direction for the country in a highly anticipated midterm election year.  Kennedy agreed that in order to sway independents and rally the Democratic base ahead of this November, his party must offer a solution to the mess we are in both at home and abroad.  "The national discussion and dialogue is negativity," he said in an interview with Knight Ridder news services. "If someone is going todo something right and take some political risk, we have to sort ofdeal with it. That is how the politics that I grew up with works."

Today Ted Kennedy kicks off his campaign to promote his new book.  Following some great advice, he is slated to be the guest on tonight's edition of The Daily Show with host Jon Stewart.  His brother Jack inspired the youth of the 1960s.  Knowing that mostly younger Americans watch the Daily Show, he seems to want to follow a similar strategy.

Kennedy to appear on Daily Show

Thursday's episode of the Daily Show should prove to be an entertaining one.  The office of Ted Kennedy announced that the Massachusetts Senator has accepted an invitation to appear on Thursday's show:

"Senator Kennedy has been waitingfor the right invitation," said Stephanie Cutter, a Kennedy adviser."He's a huge fan of Jon Stewart and he's very much looking forward tothis."

You can bet that the issues of immigration, wiretaps and prewar intelligence will be touched on.

Speaking of Kennedy, yesterday he made Time Magazine's List of America's Top-10 Senators.  Six of the ten on the list were Republican.  This could give hope to anyone with political aspiration, since all a Senator has to do now is just rubber stamp whatever the President wants and then claim to be an effective lawmaker.  How noble.