John Edwards Is Endorsing Obama

[youtube width="250" height="197"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzkAjd3xQ7w[/youtube]

It was really just a matter of time before Edwards endorsed someone and I honestly think that had Clinton been in the lead it would have been her. All in all Edwards gives a great speech that I strongly recommend everyone watch. (h/t Shakesville)

Keith Olbermann Special Comment

I’ll admit I never watch Olbermann anymore for a lack of time but his special comments are so good that I always make sure to catch them after words. This one is just as good. (h/t Pandagon)

[youtube width="240" height="189"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9i66ydWERdc[/youtube]

[youtube width="240" height="189"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ylITNTv_sk[/youtube]

The Rest of The News

• I can’t remember if I mentioned this yesterday or not but Travis Childers (D) 8 point win in MS-1 (an R+10 district) is HUGE. America is finally waking up to how badly the Republicans have screwed our nation. Come November no Republican seat is going to be safe.
• ACLU wins case against Florida school that was trying to limit free speech by forbidding rainbows. The principal apparently believes that since rainbows cause the gayness he was somehow saving teenagers souls or something. This is the same state that released a teacher for wizardry so really at this point nothing could surprise me coming out of Florida.
• Fox and Joe Leiberman apparently feel that John Hagee is a stand up guy for throwing aside his religous convictions for political purposes. Good thing John Hagee doesn’t have the moral fortitude to stand up for the beliefs that he was selling to his followers. Oh and that he’s not black.
• Democrats are now trusted more on all 10 issues that Rasmussen Reports tracks. No surprise since Republicans have run the country into the ground. (h/t DemfromCT @ Daily Kos)
• Since the Republicans can’t run on any of the issues guess what they are hoping will pull them through? Fear Mongering and pandering to ignorant people. Bush is warning that the Dem’s plan to pull out of Iraq could mean disaster. Sigh.

Video of the Day

No Video today since I posted 3 above and the John Edwards speech is pretty long. If your going to watch anything today thats the thing to watch. Instead I am going to leave you with this picture. Read the sign and if you can’t spot what is wrong with it then read about the 1936 Summer Olympics.

[youtube width="500" height="394"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suNqiAgE1kw[/youtube]

You know the problem with buying anything on an installment plan is that you end up paying way more than its worth and by the time you own it the thing is broken and worthless.  I say we return it and cut our losses while we still can.

John McCain was busy last month

1. John McCain continues to break campaign finance laws that he wrote!
2. John McCain and his army of lobbyist buddies are responsible for European Airbus winning a contract over American Boeing. This move costs Boeing approximately 35 Billion and costs Americans about 3,800 jobs. I’m Sure the campaign contributions and being surrounded by the very lobbyists you promise to fight had nothing to do with it.
3. John McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, has shown that he knows next to nothing about the economy, foreign policy, supporting the troops, the environment, Vaccines and Autism, Evolution, or Aids and Condoms. Knowing things is overrated, Bush doesn’t know anything and look how wonderful the past 7 years have been.
4. John McCain sought and won the endorsement of anti-Catholic hate monger John Hagee. John Hagee is known for calling the Catholic church the great whore and blaming hurricane Katrina on the gays.

Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton

1. Barack Obama made the Speech of a Decade this month on race. Read Robert Creamer’s thoughts on why this speech is historic.
2. I’m writing up a story on the ongoing Obama vs. Clinton fight so you have to wait for that to hear more on these two.

Iraq War

1. The surge is a smashing and total success, thats why were not pulling out any more troops. I guess thats also why Iraqi casualties are at their highest level since last year and since the surge started 900 Americans have been killed.
2. Baghdad, which McCain described as being as dangerous as an American city last month, has exploded in violence when the cease fire with Muqtada al Sadr came to its inevitable conclusion. Don’t worry though, according to Bush this is a good thing.

Politics

1. The Republican economic theory continues its historic success and does not appear to be stopping anytime soon. Of course by success I mean rising unemployment and food stamps for poor people and government bail outs for rich people. Don’t you love Republican socialism.
2. “Curveball” the secret Iraqi informant upon whose word Bush and co. built their claims of Saddam’s weapons capability has been outed. More importantly he denies ever having made those claims. Surprisingly our mainstream media has ignored this story.
3. Another testament to Republican leadership, 21 countries are ranked as being more stable than the US. I’m sure this is Clinton’s fault somehow.

Religion

1. Apparently the Pittsburgh Steelers feel that domestic abuse is ok when its done for Jesus.
2. Parents pray while daughter dies. I’m a strong supporter of freedom of religion and all but no child should die because of the crazy ideas of their parents.
3. Students that attend private school with the assistance of public vouchers do not do any better than those attending “failing” public schools. Religious indoctrination and brainwashing are much greater however.

Other Stuff

1. Some experts are expecting tourism from conservatives to drop to the Netherlands and Japan. Not sure why.
2. Don’t listen to anyone who claims were not safer now than before 9/11.

Well, seems I was wrong about that and I bet you were too. The Bush administration is under the assumption that the American Democracy is on a four year cycle. Every four years we enjoy a short period of democracy when our opinion counts, then its right back to living under an oppressive dictatorship. I don’t know how you all feel about this but it seriously pisses me off.

This administration has spent the past 7 years acting like dictators. They have lied and stolen and cheated and bullied their way through every obstacle between them and whatever it is they want to do. In that time they have shredded the constitution, violated the rights and protections due to every American, and broken domestic and international laws at a level that is completely unheard of. In his prime Nixon wasn’t half as corrupt and dishonest as our current administration which is the worst presidency ever.

Well you know what, they may be right about us not having a say until election time. Impeachment is off the table because our Democratic leaders are spineless cowards. Luckily for us though our four year cycle is right around the corner and we not only have a chance to send the Republicans home, but we can show them the door en mass. We started the clean up in 2006 by getting more and better Democrats in office, I say we keep up the cleansing until we once again have a government to be proud of.

I have no assumptions that this administration will ever be held accountable for the crimes it committed, but we don’t have to forget what Republicans do when in power. If your under the delusion that McCain will be somehow better than Bush your living in a fantasy land. McCain has all the bad qualities of Bush but worse. Even the Republicans are having a hard time supporting McCain because of his temper and spiteful nature. A vote for McCain is a vote for a third term for Bush.

I am not saying that the Democrats are wonderful, we all have our flaws. However I would much prefer a President who will come in and try to clean up the mess the Republicans are leaving for us than one who will be just 4 more years of the same. The current mess that our country is in is a direct result of this dictator mentality that Republicans bring. I don’t know how everyone else feels but I am tired of living in a dictatorship so this Fall I will be voting for the party of hope. I don’t think I could explain anything else to my children.

Who Would Jesus Vote For?
William

Before the invasion Bush told us ““Our mission is clear in Iraq. Should we have to go in, our mission is very clear: disarmament.” (( George W. Bush 3/6/2003 )) So a successful Iraqi mission would mean that Iraq would no longer have WMD. Got it. But wait, they never had WMD to begin with so weren’t we then successful by default?

Oh no, no, no once we were in Iraq our mission expanded. In fact George Bush said “Our forces have been given a clear mission: to end a regime that threatened its neighbors and the world with weapons of mass destruction and to free a people that had suffered far too long.” (( George W. Bush 4/13/2003 )) Now, Bush wasn’t very clear about when our troops were given this “clear mission” that very clearly differed enormously from the “mission” the American people and Congress had approved of.

It wasn’t long, however; until Bush declared “mission accomplished”. On May 1, 2003 on board the USS Abraham Lincoln, Bush, and his prominent codpiece, told the American people that we had achieved success in Iraq and that major combat operations were ended. Yay! We were victorious, but wait, that was certainly not the end.

As I’m sure we all know too well, Iraq quickly fell apart and the “insurgency” began killing our soldiers faster and faster. Baghdad was torn apart among sectarian lines, Bush, who did not know the cultural differences among the Iraqi people, was going to have to again redefine our mission if we were truly going to be successful. So a year later Bush stated “We will see that Iraq is free and self-governing and democratic. We will accomplish our mission.” (( George W. Bush 5/4/2004 ))

With the increasing violence, turbulent political infighting, and broader divisions among Sunni and Shiite lines Iraq was quickly becoming a “quagmire”. It became obvious that the Iraqi government and the Iraqi soldiers and police would not be able to control their country anytime soon so Bush once again changed the definition of success by adding a new “mission”. “And our mission is clear there, as well, and that is to train the Iraqis so they can do the fighting; make sure they can stand up to defend their freedoms, which they want to do.” (( George W. Bush 6/2/2005 ))

As I told you in Part 1, not only was our mission and definition of success changing but the justifications for the war were changing as well. In order to keep up with the new reason to remain in Iraq, which was that it was a hot spot for international terrorism, our mission once again changed to keeping Iraq from becoming a safe haven for terrorists. “In the coming days, there will be considerable reflection on the removal of Saddam Hussein from power and our remaining mission in Iraq…By helping the Iraqi people build a free and representative government, we will deny the terrorists a safe haven to plan attacks against America.” (( George W. Bush 3/11/2006 ))

At the beginning of 2007, to justify the troop surge, Bush once again changed our mission in Iraq. We now had to provide a secure environment in which the Iraqi government could then effect change and take control of their own country. “In fact, we have a new strategy with a new mission: helping secure the population, especially in Baghdad. Our plan puts Iraqis in the lead.” (( George W. Bush 1/13/2007 ))

We now hear that the surge has been successful, violence is down, success is at hand. Of course, like everything else in regards to Iraq, there is debate over the statistics and the assertion that it is working on the security front. There is not debate, however; on if the surge is having any effect on the political front. It’s not. But don’t worry we have yet another “mission” this one perhaps the most vaguely worded and unmeasurable to date. “It’s a new mission. And David Petraeus is in Iraq carrying it out. Its goal is to help the Iraqis make progress toward reconciliation — to build a free nation that respects the rights of its people, upholds the rule of law, and is an ally against the extremists in this war.” (( George W. Bush 6/28/2007 ))

When one looks at the constantly evolving rhetoric, justifications, and definitions of “success” in Iraq it is confusing, it can be overwhelming and that is exactly what this administration wants. A population pushed into apathy by their deception, fear mongering, and overused rhetoric. That is the only way that this travesty could be allowed to be carried on for YEARS.

As citizens it is our responsibility to know what is going on in our government, especially when we have men and women dying for an unjustified, undefined, and unprepared for war. Our administration will tell you that to question their authority and policies is treasonous and emboldens the terrorists. I tell you that not to question them is dangerous, lazy, and threatens the very foundations of our country.

The justification for the use of force against Iraq has changed so much so over time that even those who support the war aren’t sure which argument to use. In the beginning we were told that Saddam had WMD, that there was credible intelligence he was connected to Al Qaeda, and was an imminent threat to America. These sounded like great reasons to at least address the situation with Saddam but Bush went several steps further and invaded a sovereign nation without UN support.

On December 14, 2003 Saddam was captured and the administration now told us that our liberation of the Iraqi people was complete and weren’t we good democracy spreaders? WTF? But by and large the American public bought into this, after all Saddam was a pretty evil guy. For some that change in rhetoric was a little to hard to swallow and the anti-war movement picked up speed.

Soon it was shown that the original reasons for invasion were, well, lies. The administration then stated that Iraq was a pivotal point for the global war on terror as Islamic terrorists from surrounding nations were gathering there to attack our forces. We had to fight them in Iraq to keep them from following us home. (Apparently the terrorists are really bad with directions.)

It was true that there were some foreign fighters coming to Iraq to attack American soldiers but the overwhelming bulk of the insurgency were pissed off Iraqis who didn’t like an American occupation. When faced with this truth Bush again began touting the Al Qaeda connection in Iraq, a connection that had never been substantiated and remains largely guess work today.

He began talking almost obsessively about a group called “Al Qaeda in Iraq.” Now, in America that sounds like a local Iraqi chapter of the supposed 9/11 masterminds. In truth that is probably not even close to what the group actually is.

The group’s real name is Tanzim Qaidat Al Jihad fi Bilad Al Rafidin: Organization of Qaidat Al Jihad in the Land of Two Rivers. It is important to know that the word “al qaeda” means base so really this is a different group with no proven connections to the other Al Qaeda we hear so much about. They had a horribly long name and shortened it to basically “base of operations in Iraq.”

Not only do they most probably not have any real connection to Al Qaeda, they also account for only 5-10 % of the Sunni insurgency. The rest are again, angry Iraqis who don’t appreciate being occupied by arrogant American infidels. (( About.com: Al Qaeda in Iraq ))

None of these facts kept the Bushies from spouting off about the danger of Al Qaeda taking over Iraq and then forcing America to somehow submit to Islam. (I have never understood this argument but hear it all the time.) But faced with an angry left wing blogosphere, discontented Congresspeople, more people calling for truth in the media, and the nose dive of Bush’s approval ratings it was soon time for another reason to stay in Iraq, Iran.

I noticed that right after a press conference in which Bush cited Iran’s assistance with the insurgency (which coincidentally followed the adoption of the Kyl/Lieberman amendment) our media began reporting as fact Iran’s contributions of weaponry and manpower to the Sunni insurgency.

The truth of the matter is that once again there is no clear cut connection between Iran and the “terrorism” in Iraq. However, since Iran is now designated a state sponsor of terror, it lends new credence to the lie that Iraq is a hot spot for international terrorism.

Scott Ritter, an UN weapons inspector, is very vocal about the lies and deception regarding the case against Iran and you can find excerpts of an article he wrote outlining how Bush is once again using rhetoric and not facts to advance his own agenda here on MyDD.

I’ve laid out how the argument supporting the Iraq war has changed from preventing Saddam from being an imminent threat to America, to liberating the Iraqi people, to fighting foreign terrorists, to fighting Al Qaeda, to fighting Iranian terrorists and how each of these arguments are exaggerations or flat out lies.

This is just one aspect of the constantly changing rhetoric regarding the “war on terror”. Tomorrow we will discuss the many faces of “success” in Iraq. Stay tuned and feel free to comment.

The original votes were 81 to 12 and 381 to 40 or about 90% of all votes in favor. This percentage dropped to about 87% in the veto override. While this is still incredibly high, and way more than necessary to overturn the veto, it is surprising that such a popular bill saw a 3% drop in support. However despite this small drop in support I applaud the congress for standing up to a bully president who is all too happy to veto any helpful bills for political purposes.

I’m sure this administration will not miss the chance to attack the Democratic led congress for fiscal irresponsibility once again. But like before these attacks are very obviously partisan political ploys and not any real concern for fiscal responsibility. I wrote up a good article on the administration’s fiscal responsibility lies that I suggest to everyone. The summery is that Bush and his Republicans have destroyed Clinton’s budget surplus and ran up record deficits. Now as election season heats up they are hoping to pin the blame for their actions on the Democrats. I’m hoping the American people are smart enough to realize the deception. I just wish I had more confidence.

This veto override is the first for Bush, but if he continues to veto popular bills to score partisan political points it will surely not be his last. There are plenty more bills coming through Congress that have strong support in both parties that Bush is threatening to veto. I know that after running the country into the ground he is trying to save his legacy, but unless he wants his legacy to be overridden vetoes (to go along with his worst president ever legacy) he needs to start paying attention to what the people want; something he has made very clear that before now he has not done.

First I want to say that had Bush ever cared about fiscal responsibility in the past this veto would not be such an issue. However, the hypocrisy of ignoring pork leaden bills passed by his own party, while vetoing much leaner (yet still porky) bills passed under Democrats is clear partisan politics at its worst. The only possible explanation giving that the bill passed with a combined vote of 462 to 52, way more than needed for the override, is that Bush is still throwing his temper tantrum that Congress isn’t doing whatever he wants anymore.

Below is a chart from Citizens Against Government Waste that clearly shows the trending on pork barrel spending. Remember from 1995 to 2006 the Spend and Spend Republicans controlled congress. Luckily Clinton was able to reign in a lot of their spending so the damage doesn’t get bad until after Bush takes over. After that; however, it is clear that having so called fiscal conservatives in the Congress and White House at the same time is a recipe for financial disaster with pork-barrel spending increasing every single year! Well, at least until the fiscally irresponsible Democrats take over again, then somehow it all changes.

In 1995 the Republicans gained the majority in Congress and held onto that majority until the 110th congress took over in 2007. During the decade plus of government by fiscal conservatives congressional earmarks exploded and they turned Clinton’s budget surplus into record deficits. They raided social security to pay for irresponsible tax cuts for their rich buddies. Worst of all they have waged a huge war with no accountability and oversight over funds which has lost billions and billions of dollars. While running the country like a bunch of giddy teenagers with daddy’s credit card they have never let up the attacks on the so called “tax and spend” Democrats. Luckily for them fact checking isn’t really their followers’ thing.

So now after happily funding the Spend and Spend Republicans extravagant spending spree our President wants to call foul on the Democrats for not being fiscally responsible? I am almost at a loss for words for how hypocritical and dishonest this accusation is. Since the Democrats have taken over they have drastically reduced the number and cost of congressional earmarks (see above). Instead of praising their efforts to reign in spending, the president has embarked on a dishonest and partisan offensive with the only motive to help his party in next year’s elections.

So as Congress prepares for their first successful veto override it is important to keep in mind how this administration works. The lessons learned from Karl Rove have not been forgotten. Bush will politicize everything, putting everything second to his desire to win political influence and power no matter the costs. Bush knows this bill, which is being pushed by high powered Republicans, will override his veto without any cuts to spending. He could care less about the spending. This is all about getting in one last jab at the spending habits of Democrats before he leaves town. It is the desperate partisan politics of a spoiled man child who is angry for not getting his way.

The bill was intended to authorize hundreds of projects to repair hurricane damage, restore wetlands, and improve the levees for New Orleans. Each of these key projects is years and years overdue, with the last such authorization taking place in 2000. By vetoing this bill Bush has endangered vital wetlands that play a key role in protecting our gulf states from hurricanes. In fact, the destruction of these wetlands is highly regarded as one of the key reasons Katrina did so much damage.

“Every day brings new evidence that President Bush is out of touch with the American people and their priorities,” said Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. “More than two years after failing to respond to the devastation and destruction of Hurricane Katrina, he is refusing to fund important projects guided by the Army Corps of Engineers that are essential to protecting the people of the Gulf Coast region.” – CBSNews.com

According to Dana Perino Bush vetoed the bill because it was “fiscally irresponsible”. It is clear that this is just more partisan attacks intended to bash the Democratic controlled Congress. This after 6 years of never vetoing a single Republican spending bill, racking up record deficits (after blowing Clinton’s Surplus), and raiding Social Security to pay for his rich buddies’ tax breaks. The idea that this administration can even say the words fiscal responsibility with a straight face is laughable. The fact that they can do so and not be called on it by our so called “liberal media” is sad.

This veto, like the SCHIP veto, is the act of a spoiled and irresponsible child. This administration is more concerned with creating the illusion of fiscal responsibility and scoring partisan political points than looking after the best interests of the country they swore to protect. Luckily for us this is one temper tantrum we won’t have to put up with long as the votes are there for an overturn. I do expect to see the same kind of lies and misinformation about this bill as they trotted out for SCHIP, with the same staggering indifference to the truth.

Update: 11/9/07 By William
The promised veto has happened. See my write up of President Bush’s first veto here. Unless Bush stops using his veto powers for partisan political stunts at the expense of the nations needs there will be more veto overrides coming.