About Those Telephone Solicitors….

There’s an awful lot of people, around the web this morning, talking about this Washington times story, about how the republican national committee has fired all of its phone solicitors.  The story goes, that this is the result of a grassroots donor rebellion over President Bush’s immigration policy.

Much as I object personally to that policy , I must say that this is overreaching in the extreme.  The bottom line here, is that phone bank operators are a temporary lot, and nothing can or should be read into their being dismissed, particularly during the run up to a presidential election.  If anyone was going to be doing any major changes with regards to staffing, right now would be the time to do it, wouldn’t you think?

One suspects, after reading all of the reaction and the ballyhooing, that there are many who would like to claim victory by virtue of this phone bank dismissal, who really don’t have a whole bunch to be claiming victory about, otherwise, and to whom manufacturing a victory, became the only option.

What we are seeing here, is a group of people trying to maximize the effect of what breaks there have been between the White House and the republican rank and file.  Particularly, the conservative wing of the party.  I will remind the reader that I have repeatedly stated over the last eight years that President Bush is no conservative.  Never has been.  Never will be.  On that basis I submit to you that a break of this type was inevitable. that breakup would also be consistent with the lack of enthusiasm being shown the current crop of front runners on the republican side.  There is not one of them that can be seriously considered as a conservative.  At best, these are centrists, much the same as President Bush is. the particular choices of where they got left and right, may vary somewhat, but on the whole , they are centrist.
This does not bode well for the left.  Nor does it bode well for anyone “running to the middle”.

It does bode very well indeed, for conservatives such as Fred Thompson.  We’ve discussed here in the past, the degree of support that he is getting from the grass roots. He actually has more support from the American voter, right now, that all but a few from either party, and he’s not even running yet.

Other views on these subjects:

Tammy Bruce, Right Wing Nut House, MyDD, Wonkette, Michael P.F. van der Galiën, Flopping Aces, My Left Wing, Six Meat Buffet, Moonbattery, CorrenteWire, Outside The Beltway, Hot Air, Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler, Right Wing News, Bring it On!, Senate 2008 Guru, Blue Crab Boulevard, Greatscat!, DownWithTyranny!, Bluey Blog, Wizbang New Pairodimes , The Strata-Sphere, DownWithTyranny!, The Gun Toting Liberalâ„¢, BizzyBlog, La Shawn Barber’s Corner, Rising Hegemon, Vox Popoli, TBogg, Cliff Schecter, Sadly, No! and Hot Air

Freedom will not be silenced.  Radio Caracas Television shuttered by the thug Hugo Chavez has found a new voice, via YouTube. 

CARACAS, Venezuela (CNN) — Radio Caracas Television, the station silenced by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, has found a way to continue its daily broadcasts — on YouTube, the popular video Web site.

Although the station is officially off the air, CNN’s Harris Whitbeck said its news department continues to operate on reduced staffing, and the three daily hour-long installments of the newscast “El Observador” are uploaded onto YouTube by RCTV’s Web department

(H/T: Pejman, Red State )?

Kenneth Vogel, over at the Politico, reports yesterday that the Federal election commission finally coughed up a ruling with regards to overspending by John Kerry’s campaign:

The Federal Election Commission voted unanimously Thursday to fine John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign more than $1.3 million for overspending.

But Kerry’s lawyer immediately pledged to appeal the decision, which will likely lead to an administrative hearing since the commissioners indicated a willingness to reconsider at least part of their decision. And that could set the stage for a potentially partisan battle before the panel over a relatively technical point – how labor costs are assessed.

“We will save for a later day the resolution of the labor cost issue,” commissioner Ellen Weintraub said after the 5-0 vote.

The issue, with regards to the overspending was effect on the 2000 for lecturing, is obviously moot. To my mind, this raises serious questions about the effectiveness of any FEC regulation, and the enforcement thereof.  One way or the other, the election in question is years gone by the time these idiots finally come up with anything.  Indeed, the only effect that this is going to have (aside from giving the opponents of John Edwards another minor campaign talking point ) is to create more unenforceable and possibly counter-productive law.

Update: Joyner notes the same Politico article, and  agrees:

For the sake of argument, let’s assume the FEC is right here. Let’s further posit a scenario where Kerry had received a few thousand more votes in Ohio and been elected president by a slim margin in the Electoral College. Would the election results therefore be overturned? Of course not. In that case, a $1.3 million fine would be a perfectly acceptable cost for gaining the slight advantage needed to win the presidency.

What, then, is the point?

The election in question was decided two and a half years ago.  We’re well into the next presidential campaign cycle.  If the FEC can not investigate and punish in real time, we might as well scrap it.

It occurs to me that this whole scenario would seem to lend argument to those opposed to McCain /Feingold, as a whole.

The same media which ran over six thousand stories on over heated and over dramatized allegations of torture at Abu Ghraib has been silent in face of real torture by al Qaeida.

From the Media Research Center:

To their credit, CNN and Fox News Channel ran stories on the declassified material. Yet nine days since the material was released, neither ABC, CBS, NBC, The New York Times nor The Washington Post has run a story with the photos of this shocking evidence of al-Qaeda’s barbarism.

Brian, Iowa Voice, comments on Andrew Sullivan’s silence.  No one is more blind that a person who refuse to see.  Sullvan needs a white cane.

Addendum:(Bit)

The Jawa Report notes the story and gets angry… and draws this comparison:

Yet a heinous torture manual captured from a freedom fighter an al-Qaeda safe house in Iraq, complete with requisite disturbing illustrations on how to mutilate prisoners and inflict as much pain on them as humanly possible in direct violation of every international human rights and POW convention ever wailed about by leftards the world over, simply isn’t as newsworthy to our media.

Because reporting these facts with the veracity and repetition of Abu Gharib is, apparently, “pro-war propaganda.”

No music tonight. Instead, I’m listening to a scanner that someone’s set up in the Buffalo area, and tuned for local rail channels.There’s an interesting train headed our way here in Rochester; I figure it’s about an hour away, and I’m keeping tabs on it. Too bad it won’t get here before the sunlight fails, or I’d grab a picture of it.
* I note that I’ve managed to pull off a third place at OTB’s Caption contest. Of course, that is small potatoes, as compared to this one…

* Oh, and speaking of OTB,  Schuler over there is passing along a note that Nessie is back... along with Film clips.

* Hot here today… around 85.  Too hot to get the second coat of wax on.

* Hume makes note that the Plame thing isn’t over, just yet:

The vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee wants former CIA officer Valerie Plame to explain discrepancies in her accounts of how her husband was hired for an intelligence mission to Africa.

Joe Wilson went to Niger in 2002 to investigate reports Iraq was trying to buy uranium. USA Today reports Missouri Republican Senator Kit Bond says Plame has had three different stories. He says she told the CIA’s inspector general in 2003 or 2004 that she suggested Wilson told Intelligence Committee staffers in 2004 she couldn’t remember whether she had suggested Wilson, and told a House panel last March that an unidentified CIA officer came up with the idea.

Plame’s CIA connection was revealed after Wilson accused the Bush administration of ignoring his findings. The leak of her CIA status led to the conviction of former White House aide “Scooter” Libby on perjury and obstruction of justice charges.

There’s a reason that particular link hasn’t come out, gang… and when it comes out at last, both she and Wilson will be seeing jail time. Both for the lies and the original reason.

Wedneday I was hiking and mentioned Charlie Rangel’s statement that the immigration bill was an amnesty bill.   From Rangel in particular, I transitioned to black congresscritters in general.   As black congresscritters come exclusively from gerrrymandered majority black disstricts there seats are very safe, and run little risk being unseated no matter what they say or do.

I realized that my statement was a wee bit too broad because one black congresscritter, Cynthia McKinney did mange, twice, to lose her House seat.   It doesn’t say much for the political bona fides of the black congresscritter to lose an election in a majority black district.

So I found it amusing to read that McKinney is suggesting that she is thinking of running for president.   Off the top of my head, I can’t think of any presidential canidate, Ralph Nader, Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich included, with less political viability.

Don Surber, is suggesttng an all female, and all moonbat, ticket:

Hey, now for the Battle Royale to be her running mate between Rosie O’Donnell and Cindy Sheehan.

A McKinney run would provide the conservative ‘sphere plenty of opportunities for comments, and might provoke the leftards to do another Cindy Sheehan style divorce.

Addendum:   Sister Toldjah “endorses” McKinney’s campaign:

“RUN, CYNTHIA, RUN! “

Very interesting.

Boortz, this morning:

A recent issue of Geophysical Research Letters (surely you’re a subscriber) revealed that Neptune has been getting warmer since 1980.  Researchers are investigating whether increased output from the Sun might be the cause.

This warming of Neptune must be particularly distressing to Al Gore and the anti-capitalist global warming cabal out there. You see, there has been no recent build-up of greenhouse gasses on Neptune.  No deforestation.  No contrails from jets.  No SUVs.  Yet Neptune is warming.

OK, so we now have reports from every planet the system that we have the capability of monitoring, that indicates that the planets are all warming up.  Most of them, without the help of fossil fuels.  The evidence seems overwhelming, that what we’re experiencing, that half a degree warm-up, is caused not by pollution, but by the sun.

I’d comment further, but I think you get the gist of it.

The Music: Jeff Lynne’s Armchair Theatre

Jeff Levine is one of those artists that you can’t help but recognize , if he has been involved with a recording on any level.  As an example, his work with Tom Petty on “Full Moon Fever”, or any of the Traveling Willburys”, or George Harrison’s later work. (Notably , “I’ve got my mind set on you”.  Simply put, I have always considered Jeff Lynne to be a production genius.

This particular disk, has been out of print for some time.  It’s still available on Ebay, Amazon, and so on. It did fairly well in England, as I understand it, but not very well here in the states.  Our loss. It should be pointed out, that the album does sound a lot like ELO, only from the standpoint of the production values not the instrumentation.  Lynne has always had a tendency to use over dubbing and other studio tricks in a particular way, that produced a sound that was unique to him. It should also be pointed out that a good amount of his sound comes from his voice, which lends itself rather nicely to multilayer recordings.  Still, the resulting sounds from an instrumentation standpoint, are quite different, and frankly enjoyable for it being a bit of a change.

The overall feel is very much relaxed and very basic and structure if not in implementation.  Perhaps part of the reason for that is the majority of the album was recorded in various rooms in his house.  That relaxed image is furthered by the addition of a couple of standards, most notably “September song” which is thrown together in an almost casual fashion, for Lynne.  One almost envisions that the song was included as a nod to the days when Lynne was playing in the various dives and Pali’s in the England of his youth.

Reccomended.

Personal favorite from the Album changes from day to day, but I like “Lift Me Up” a great deal, for both the song and the vocal arrangements.

* No, Tom, we’re not lost. Say rather that we have returned to reality in large part.  Reality being something that Cindy Sheehan has very little grasp on. All at the implications of that statement 11, since it will, anyway.

* Hey Kevin: Shaddap, Kevin.

Just stop it.

Look; Sullivan’s griping about social security is one of the things he’s done right. granted, that his bitch is that the government isn’t going to take care of him, as opposed to the whole design of socialist security….  But his comments, particularly as compared to the tripe usually comes up with, Fairly REEK with reality.  It’s something that Sullivan very seldom engages in.  I can understand, however, why you would have problems with it.

The fact of the matter is that Social Security is not going to be there for us when we retire. Period.
* One thing I noticed about Google, over the weekend, and probably should have mentioned it, is that they made no mention, no nod of respect, no acknowledgement at all of Memorial Day.  When you see such pages making such great efforts to put graphics up to announce “talk like a pirate day ” you would think that simple acknowledgement of Memorial Day, would be part of the act.

LGF notes the same problem and offers some nice artwork to solve the problem, and some responses to the lame excuses they offered to explain the omission.
* I’ve been making note, the last few evenings, of the events down in Venezuela, where are Hugo Chavez has closed down a television station for opposing him.  McQ is noting the same thing, and has some thoughts.

Allow me to point out, that there are many here in the states, who have yet to learn what the Venezuelans are learning just now; there is no such thing as getting back your freedom of speech, without a revolution.  It’s true; there are large numbers of protesters every night, but there is no leader.  As a result, the anti Chavez movement, will wither and die, alas!!. Chavez and his thugs are also the ones with all the guns, you see.

Now, about this “Fairness Doctrine”….

* Over at Reason Mag David Weigel note that Cynthia McKinney is running for President. Among her platform planks is “impeachment of the president”. Ummmm Yeah, OK, Cindy, thanks for checking in.

So the Democrats, and the press, (granted, a redundancy) are all over a story about how Valerie Plame was covert, after all?

Ho-hum. So what else is new?

Forgive me; I get forgetful sometimes . Is this the same group of Democrats, is this the same group of supposed newshounds, (as opposed to DNC Water carriers) that were so busy dissing the CIA and it’s handling of intel as regards Iraq and WMD? Is this the same group of press, and lefties, that were calling for the destruction, the utter demise of the CIA, for those problems?

I guess such calls are only useful, when they’re used as a tool to attack George W. Bush. now suddenly, the CIA is credible, because attacks on that supposed credibility can be used against Bush? Gee, who didn’t see THAT one coming?

I ask because if it isn’t a different group of people that we’re talking about, here, it seems to me that their concern for the integrity of the CIA, and it’s operatives, is rather selective at best.

Further, let’s examine very closely the nature of the report that Fitzgerald issued, shall we? Of the 30 page report, 27 of those pages are testimony at the show trial that Democrat Henry Waxman ran just a short time ago. Gee, now, there’s an unbiased source.

As for the remaining pages not generated in the show trial, Flopping Aces says, in part:

The other 3 are details from the CIA about her travel.

On 1 January 2002, Valerie Wilson was working for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as an operations officer in the Directorate of Operations (DO). She was assigned to the Counterproliferation Division (CPD) at CIA Headquarters, where she served as the Chief of a CPD component with responsibility for weapons proliferation issues related to Iraq.

While assigned to CPD, Ms. Wilson engaged in Temporary Duty (TDY) travel overseas on official business. She traveled at least seven times to more than ten countries. When traveling overseas, Ms. Wilson always traveled under a cover identity–sometimes in true name and sometimes in alias–but always using cover–whether official or non-official cover (NOC)–with no ostensible relationship to the CIA.

At the time of the initial unauthorized disclosure in the media of Ms. Wilson’s employment relationship with the CIA on 14 July 2003, Ms. Wilson was a covert CIA employee for whom the CIA was taking affirmative measures to conceal her intelligence relationship to the United States.

So basically what constitutes a “covert” agent within the CIA is that they travel overseas sometimes using an alias, sometimes using their true name.

Wow.

Just wow.

I mean a foreign country would never keep tabs on the real names of agents would they? But hey, she was “cover

Either way you look at it she was not a covert agent covered by the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982, this is why ole Fitz’ never brought any charges against the leaker of her name (a leaker other then her husband who tended to talk alot at cocktail parties).

The action that we see here, on the part of Fitzgerald and the Democrats, is one of desperation. It’s a last ditch play in an already overlong anti-Bush derangement fit.

There was no “outing” folks. None. The bottom line is, the left has nothing else to go with, so they’re going to keep telling this lie, until they start getting others to mouth it with them.

Other views, including some examples of people who’ve already fallen victim to the lie: Heading Right, Newsweek, Taylor Marsh, Unqualified Offerings, Captain’s Quarters The Democratic Daily, Brilliant at Breakfast Liberal Values Salon, Firedoglake, Right Wing Nut House, Unqualified Offerings, Patterico’s Pontifications, The Sundries Shack, Shakesville, DownWithTyranny!, Michael P.F. van der Galiën, Bark Bark Woof Woof, Greatscat!, The Newshoggers, The BRAD BLOG, The Mahablog, Washington Monthly, protein wisdom, About U.S. Politics, The American Mind, Jules Crittenden, Balloon Juice, Flopping Aces, The Impolitic,

Addendum:  (David L)  Let me try to get this straight.,  For the purpose of sentencing, Patrick Fitzgerald wants the court to accept for a fact that a crime was committed, to wit the outing of a protected CIA agent, for which the People never charged anybody, and which was never alleged in open oourt.

Tom Maguire, Just One Minute, digs into Fritz.  

Getting straight answers from the goverment is akin to birthing elephants.  I’d say that Mrs. Wilson was considered “covert” by the CIA but not covered by thE IIPA statute.

Word is out from several sources that Fred Thompson, is going to be announcing to enter the presidential race over the Fourth of July holiday.  Most notable among the links is the Politico :

Thompson’s formal announcement is planned for Nashville. Organizers say the red pickup truck that was a hallmark of Thompson’s first Senate race will begin showing up in Iowa and New Hampshire as an emblem of what they consider his folksy, populist appeal.

A testing-the-waters committee is to be formed June 4 so Thompson can start raising money, and staffers will go on the payroll in early June, the organizers said. A policy team has been formed, but remains under wraps.

This is going to be an interesting situation.  I just remarked to my wife last evening , after watching the current crop of republican front runners spout, “Where the hell is Fred Thompson? it’s time for him to show up. ” Apparently, his people agree with that assessment.

The timing and the nature of this pre-announcement suggests that a July 4 announcement was always in the works.  The timing of this announcement also suggests that Thompson in his people have been watching the developments in the republican nomination race very closely indeed.

What will the most interesting to me, is the polling bounce that Thompson gets of this announcement.

Some of the others noting the non-event:

CNN Political Ticker, The Caucus, Townhall.com, MSNBC, Wizbang, Hot Air, No Silence Here, Captain’s Quarters , TIME, PSoTD, Michael P.F. van der Galiën, Cliff Schecter Babalu Blog

…..Update: Or, not, perhaps. 

TA3: “There will be no July 4 announcement… There was some discussion of a June 4 beginning of fundraising; that’s the date checks will be collected. I suspect that’s where there was some confusion.”

…

My gut instinct after talking with TA3 is that there will be an announcement in July, but not July 4.

Let’s consider this closely; a rumor hits the net about Fred Thompson running for president, or at least, that he will be making an announcement in a little over a month’s time.  Immediately said rumor gets viral.

Clearly there is a good deal of excitement surrounding the very possibility that we are actually going to have a strong conservative nominee.  I have been saying since the late nineties that despite the fact that he was the best choice of the availables, GWB was no conservative. Frankly, while any of them would be better than any Democrat… though not by much… none of the other frontrunners appeared to be any better than GWB’s centertism, and most of them are actually worse, in that regard.

Thompson running for president, is a serious threat to the Democrats on the very face of it.. but more….  Consider the number of people who being conservative republicans, did not vote for GWB, for whatever reasoning, in the last two elections. presented with a genuine conservative, these people will come back to voting Republican before the echo dies.

Thompson, therefore, would end up being the biggest target of the democrats, even before the primary season is over.  I think, therefore, Thompson is wise to keep himself out of the fray for as long as possible.

Mrs. Clinton wants to take your property for the public good:

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) – Presidential hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton outlined a broad economic vision Tuesday, saying it’s time to replace an “on your own” society with one based on shared responsibility and prosperity.

H/T: Curt, Flopping Aces.
Rich hags who lives in two mansions, and have millions of dollars from dubious futures trading and shady books deals should not be threatening to take the property of working stiffs.

Hugo Chavez’s subjects weep as he slams the door on freedom.  Gateway Pundit has this photo, the story and more.

“I don’t know why this word ‘amnesty’ is such a terrible word … I think these people would make good citizens. We ought to give them amnesty.”

Charles B. Rangel, as quoted in the Washington Times.   Finally an honest politician.

Ah, yes, another example of ‘Moderate’

I’ve been saying this for years, and this proves it; The “Moderate Voice”  ….Isn’t.    They keep trying to deny it, and then they keep coming up with garbage like this and proving me correct.

I see where their requiring logins to make comments, now.  Could it be that they’ve had to much negative reaction to their version of “moderation”?  I suspect so.

In hunting around the ‘shere, tonight, I stumbled across a comment from McGehee, which got me to thinking about David’s earlier post as regards Cindy Sheehan making a show of quitting the Democratic Party, and the party faithful’s response….

McGehee’s comment:

…. lest we forget, Matt Drudge was generally regarded in D.C. as an internet gossip reporter before he broke the Lewinsky story.

OK, granted, the story that the game he likes here, has to do with Hillary Clinton, and the protection thereof, as regards for political missteps.  But you know, it got me to thinking… I really have to wonder if Kos’ reaction to this Sheehan story isn’t exactly the same thing; Protection of Hillary Clinton from her political missteps.

It’s one of many possibilities, and one of the two most likely of possibilities… but it’s a conclusion that’s not very difficult at all to draw.  After all, the biggest problem that Hillary Clinton has had with the left, was her initial support for our actions in Iraq.  It is one of the few things that she managed to do right while representing my state of New York.  No surprise, then, that the far left would have such problems with it.

The other most likely possibility for the reaction, is one that I’ve alluded to, in the comments to David’s post, but did not hit square on; that being that she has been an embarrassment to the left for some time now, and they’ve been looking for an excuse to get rid of her.

Either way, the Kos kids clearly see an advantage to getting the woman to finally shut up.  It becomes apparent even after the most cursory of examinations, that the left as usual, being prone to latching on to whoever happens to be making the right noises at a given moment, finally figured out that they backed the wrong horse.

The trend of backing the wrong horse because they happen to look fairly good at a given moment, is one the left has long been prone to; one of the more recent examples would be there being in love with Ron Paul, just now. As has been pointed out elsewhere, they clearly have no clue what the man stands for.

The left’s tendency of giving their political hearts away too easily, is troubling enough, particularly for anyone who considers themselves to be driven by principle.  But being less than honest about it, as we have seen Kos in particular do over the course of this war… and the resulting anti-war, anti-Bush, anti-America tirade, is a genuine cause for concern for all Americans.

That general concern aside, we are left with either the impression that the far left was being opportunistic when it embraced Sheehan, or that it is being opportunistic now , when it rejects her, or both.  Under no circumstance in any scenario I have seen offered for this happening, can they be considered honest, forthright, or principled.
Interestingly, the left having rejected Sheehan, now faces a choice; they have to decide just what they rejected her for. The reactions that I have seen, are by no means uniform, except by their lack.
For example, did they reject her for saying that America was evil?  No.

Did they reject Sheehan for saying that it was all George Bush’s fault?  No.

Did they reject she and for saying that the warship and at all cost?  No.

Did they reject her for being an attention whore?  The answer again, clearly, is no, so long as her grabbing attention served their purposes.

So why did they reject her?

They rejected her, because what she was saying, and how she was saying it, we’re becoming a lightning rod to use against Democrats.  In short, she was to correctly representing their position on things.  Dangerously so, for Democrats.

And yet, we come back to the question of whether some of the reaction we’re seeing isn’t to protect such people who voted for the war as Hillary Clinton did.  If we answer yes, as I did originally, that logic would seem to fly in the face of much of the rest of what I’ve written here.

The answer to that seeming dichotomy, is both harder and easier to answer than one might think, on the surface.  The easy part of the answer, is that there is a serious ideological split occurring within the Democratic party, which this election will bring out in some force.

There are some within the party, who recognize that that part of the party that she and represents, is more likely than not to alienate the party from the majority of American voters.  Even, Democrat voters. They look at the polling data, and recognize that their antiwar actions, have been unpopular in the extreme; for one thing congressional numbers have been plummeting far faster than have President Bush’s.  Most of that drop , the pollsters say, has been directly on the strength , or weakness, of the anti Iraq war position of the Democrats.  Apparently, you only have to hit them over the head a few times, before they get the message.

The remainder, such as Sheehan, do not recognize this. Apparently, with this bunch, no matter how large a baseball bat you use, you’re not going to get their attention.  Trouble is, these idiots constitute a little over half of the Democratic party.  One now, perhaps, has a better understanding of why David Obey has been blowing gaskets with some regularity, of late.

As further evidence of the Democrats and their split with reality, I point with some amusement to their Fox news problem.  (BBCT: Cap’t Ed) They’d still like to regulate the network to death, for the damage that fair reporting has done to democrats, yet some of them, recognizing that the network is in the number one position to stay for quite some time, have been forging connections with Fox.  If you want a demonstration of just how deep the split is on the democratic side, one need to know more than simply raise that issue in a Democratic dominated chat room, and white excrement take flight. Believe me when I tell you, you’re in for an entertaining evening if you try that.  After dropping the initial line, you need not say anything at all.  The result is a feeding frenzy the likes of which would make for a great horror flick.
Thus are the battle lines drawn.  The ring has been constructed, the tickets to he event are sold, the networks engaged, the broadcasters hired, the date set, and away we go.

The only possible outcome from such a split , is the defeat of Democratic candidates, regardless of who they manage to nominate. The comedy sidebar to all of this, is the amount of duct tape which we will see run over what splits occur in the party, while it’s leaders, sorta like Baghdad Bob, insist there’s no problem.

Addendum, next morning: 

As I was drifting off to sleep last night, after writing this, I thought of a couple of points that I probably should have added to the original text.  First of all, the question; are the democrats antiwar, or simply anti Bush?   The same question, apparently could be asked of the media.  I say that because the media has basically ignored the story.  At least, until this morning.  I see where Fox news has picked up on it, as has the Guardian . 

But frankly, even including these the coverage of the event is less than stellar, and certainly less than when she was serving the Democrats as an effective foil to GWB.

Second point; make no mistake about this, the timing of this announcement was not haphazard by any stretch.  Sheehan chose Memorial Day to launch this story, for both symbolic and news coverage reasons.   Granted, the latter half of that idea didn’t work out so well, but that’s not a function of timing.
* Not much time for music tonight; I’m headed for an interview in the morning. I suppose I oughta write a few of those longer music writeups I do, and store them for later use. I’ll look at that.
* I note Powerline’s been online for 5 years now. I’m amused; Bitsblog has been on for seven years, now come the first weekend in June. But congrats are due to the Powerline guys. They clearly have been  able to gather more in the way of readership; no small task.