After giving it some thought, instead of trying to maintain two blogs, I have decided to devote my full attention to my new blog - Capitol Talk - The bully pulpit for Progressive America! While that site is a community blog with a focus on American politics as a whole, my entries will continue to have a focus on Virginia for the most part, just as they did while I was blogging here at Liberal Progressive.
If you will, please update your blog rolls accordingly, and maybe even stop on by and join in!
The new address is http://www.capitoltalk.com or simply click here!
I can now be reached via email at TerryCarter[at]capitoltalk[dot]com !!
The Dems are doing an awesome job reaching out to us bloggers!
Soon after Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was sworn in as House speaker, she took questions from internet bloggers on a conference call that was closed to “mainstream media.”
Last week, after President Bush’s State of the Union speech, Pelosi’s aides arranged for bloggers to question two Democratic leaders on yet another conference call closed to the “mainstream media.”
Pelosi also hired a full-time staff member this month dedicated to blogger outreach, and is making plans to launch a blog of her own. The day she was sworn in, bloggers were given special accommodations at the Capitol to cover the event, and fed lunch.
It’s all evidence of the newfound attention bloggers from left-leaning Web sites are commanding on Democratic-run Capitol Hill, especially from the new speaker, a San Franciscan with an appreciation for the power of the Internet and grass-roots activism.
Politics in Virginia has taken a turn for the better too! Republicans in the state’s General Assembly were killing bills WITHOUT recording a vote, so Democrats decided to do something about it. Democratic operatives are now trolling the halls of Virginia’s State Capitol with video camera in hopes of putting Republicans on the defensive. So far it’s working too, as you might imagine, Republicans are accusing Democrats of “bringing a new, harmful tool into the nation’s oldest state legislature.” Harmful tool? So bringing more transparency into the goings on of your state government, and helping people understand what REALLY happens behind closed doors is “a harmful tool?” Excuse me but it seems as though Republicans have something they feel they want to hide here.
“We saw last election how [video] can be a powerful tool, so now we are helping bring sunshine and openness to the General Assembly,” said Mark Bergman, a state Democratic Party spokesman.
GOP leaders warned their colleagues Thursday to be on their best behavior around the camera, which is the size of a small thermos and not always easy to detect.
Videos are posted here, the blog for Democrats in the state legislature. Among the videos posted, is this one, where Republicans kill a possible min. wage increase in subcommittee:
BlogAds released it’s “Blog Readers Survey” for the year 2006 a few days ago, and the results are very interesting. I was most struck by the age groups who read (ages 41-50 being the highest), as I thought a much younger age range would have been the ‘top spot.’ I was also struck by how much Democratic blog readers outnumber Republican blog readers, and how few people said they listen to blog podcasts.
First, freshman Virginia Sen. Jim Webb pounded President Bush on Iraq last week in Webb’s reply to the State of the Union speech. Yesterday, the Democrat tangled indirectly with Vice President Dick Cheney on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
Webb went on to say that all of Cheney’s remarks throughout the war have all been wrong, and he disagrees with Sec. of Defense Robert Gates remarks claiming criticism of the Bush policy “emboldens the enemy.”
For those who aren’t aware, Webb also has a son stationed in Iraq, and of taking a new direction he said:
“And it’s wrong to say we’re going to let our military people down in terms of winning if we start taking this in a different direction. What we’re doing is trying to define specifically how this could be a win.”
Today’s protest on Washington, DC was much larger than I personally had expected, tens of thousands were out across DC to tell Congress to end the war. Several celebrities, and about half a dozen members of Congress showed up.
Standing on her toes to reach the microphone, 12-year-old Moriah Arnold told the crowd: “Now we know our leaders either lied to us or hid the truth. Because of our actions, the rest of the world sees us as a bully and a liar.”
The sixth-grader from Harvard, Mass., the youngest speaker on the National Mall stage, organized a petition drive at her school against the war.
The House Judiciary Committee chairman, Rep. John Conyers (news, bio, voting record), threatened to use congressional spending power to try to stop the war.” George Bush has a habit of firing military leaders who tell him the Iraq war is failing,” he said, looking out at the masses. “He can’t fire you.” Referring to Congress, the Michigan Democrat added: “He can’t fire us.”
While today’s rally certainly sent a powerful message, and was great for energizing the anti-war movement, George Bush didn’t hear it, and like he’s proven in the past, he simply doesn’t care what the American people want.
White House anxiety is mounting over the prospect that top officials—including deputy chief of staff Karl Rove and counselor Dan Bartlett-may be forced to provide potentially awkward testimony in the perjury and obstruction trial of Lewis (Scooter) Libby.
Both Rove and Bartlett have already received trial subpoenas from Libby’s defense lawyers, according to lawyers close to the case who asked not to be identified talking about sensitive matters. While that is no guarantee they will be called, the odds increased this week after Libby’s lawyer, Ted Wells, laid out a defense resting on the idea that his client, Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff, had been made a “scapegoat” to protect Rove.
White House anxiety is mounting over the prospect that top officials—including deputy chief of staff Karl Rove and counselor Dan Bartlett-may be forced to provide potentially awkward testimony in the perjury and obstruction trial of Lewis (Scooter) Libby.
Both Rove and Bartlett have already received trial subpoenas from Libby’s defense lawyers, according to lawyers close to the case who asked not to be identified talking about sensitive matters. While that is no guarantee they will be called, the odds increased this week after Libby’s lawyer, Ted Wells, laid out a defense resting on the idea that his client, Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff, had been made a “scapegoat” to protect Rove.
While I’m not the biggest fan of Republican Senator John Warner (as seen here, here, here, here, and here), I certainly support the Congressional resolution opposing Bush’s troop surge to Iraq (although I don’t think it’s NEARLY enough).
Today, Defense Secretary Robert Gates accused the Congress of emboldening the enemy by opposing the plan! Via the AP:
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday that a congressional resolution opposing President Bush’s troop buildup in Iraq undercuts U.S. commanders and “emboldens the enemy.”
He also said the Pentagon was now studying whether it could accelerate the deployment of the five additional Army brigades that it has announced will be sent to Baghdad between now and May to bolster security in the capital.
At his first Pentagon news conference since taking office Dec. 18, Gates was asked his reaction to the debate in Congress over the effect of such a nonbinding resolution. “It’s pretty clear that a resolution that in effect says that the general going out to take command of the arena shouldn’t have the resources he thinks he needs to be successful certainly emboldens the enemy and our adversaries,” he said.
Seriously, when the hell are these people going to realize that AMERICA ISN’T BUYING IT ANYMORE! To question the President, and the rest of our leadership, in any situation, at any time, no matter WHO is in the White House, is the patriotic thing to do!
While I’m not the biggest fan of Virginia Senator John Warner (as seen here, here, here, here, and here), I certainly support the Congressional resolution opposing Bush’s troop surge to Iraq (although I don’t think it’s NEARLY enough).
Today, Defense Secretary Robert Gates accused the Congress of emboldening the enemy by opposing the plan! Via the AP:
Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Friday that a congressional resolution opposing President Bush’s troop buildup in Iraq undercuts U.S. commanders and “emboldens the enemy.”
He also said the Pentagon was now studying whether it could accelerate the deployment of the five additional Army brigades that it has announced will be sent to Baghdad between now and May to bolster security in the capital.
At his first Pentagon news conference since taking office Dec. 18, Gates was asked his reaction to the debate in Congress over the effect of such a nonbinding resolution. “It’s pretty clear that a resolution that in effect says that the general going out to take command of the arena shouldn’t have the resources he thinks he needs to be successful certainly emboldens the enemy and our adversaries,” he said.
Seriously, when the hell are these people going to realize that AMERICA ISN’T BUYING IT ANYMORE! To question the President, and the rest of our leadership, in any situation, at any time, no matter WHO is in the White House, is the patriotic thing to do!
You’ll recall that President Bush recently dubbed himself “the decider,” - well today, he also claimed to be the “decision maker” on Iraq. He has also authorized U.S. military to capture or kill Iranian agents within Iraq.
Someone needs to remind Bush that now that Democrats control Congress, his administration WILL have some oversight, instead of the “rubber-stamp” it receive throughout it’s first six years while Republicans were in control.
President Bush, on a collision course with Congress over Iraq, said Friday “I’m the decision-maker” about sending more troops to the war. He challenged skeptical lawmakers not to prematurely condemn his buildup.
“I’ve picked the plan that I think is most likely to succeed.”
“I know there is skepticism and pessimism and that some are condemning a plan before it’s even had a chance to work. They have an obligation and a serious responsibility therefore to put up their own plan as to what would work.”
You’ll recall that President Bush recently dubbed himself “the decider,” - well today, he also claimed to be the “decision maker” on Iraq. He has also authorized U.S. military to capture or kill Iranian agents within Iraq.
Someone needs to remind Bush that now that Democrats control Congress, his administration WILL have some oversight, instead of the “rubber-stamp” it receive throughout it’s first six years while Republicans were in control.
President Bush, on a collision course with Congress over Iraq, said Friday “I’m the decision-maker” about sending more troops to the war. He challenged skeptical lawmakers not to prematurely condemn his buildup.
“I’ve picked the plan that I think is most likely to succeed.”
“I know there is skepticism and pessimism and that some are condemning a plan before it’s even had a chance to work. They have an obligation and a serious responsibility therefore to put up their own plan as to what would work.”
You all will recall the Disney/ABC “documentary” entitled “The Path To 9/11″ that was scrutinized, and ultimately edited to delete scenes that were shown to be false. Well guess what! Sean Hannity and Fox News plan to air the inaccurate scenes, while ABC refuses to act on it’s copyright! Via MediaBistro:
“Fox News Channel is touting the fact that it has obtained controversial unseen footage from ABC’s miniseries ‘The Path to 9/11′ and is planning to air the video during ‘Hannity’s America’ on Sunday night,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“Fox News obtained the outtakes by taping a public talk that Cyrus Nowrasteh, writer and producer of ‘The Path to 9/11,’ gave to a World Affairs Council chapter last Friday at Cal State Channel Islands. Nowrasteh discussed making the docudrama and played several minutes edited out of the movie,” the Los Angeles Times adds.
Looks like Dick Cheney may have major problems on his hands as far as this Plame trial goes. Earlier yesterday, an MSNBC report on the “Libby Trial” revealed Cheney was deeply involved in “quarterbacking” the discrediting of the Wilsons (view video the report here).
On top of that (and perhaps this may be worse news for Tim Russert), we have this:
Memo to Tim Russert: Dick Cheney thinks he controls you.
This delicious morsel about the “Meet the Press” host and the vice president was part of the extensive dish Cathie Martin served up yesterday when the former Cheney communications director took the stand in the perjury trial of former Cheney chief of staff I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby.
Flashed on the courtroom computer screens were her notes from 2004 about how Cheney could respond to allegations that the Bush administration had played fast and loose with evidence of Iraq’s nuclear ambitions. Option 1: “MTP-VP,” she wrote, then listed the pros and cons of a vice presidential appearance on the Sunday show. Under “pro,” she wrote: “control message.”
“I suggested we put the vice president on ‘Meet the Press,’ which was a tactic we often used,” Martin testified. “It’s our best format.”
It’ll be interesting to see how (if?) the media, and especially Tim Russert, choose to cover, and respond to this.
Last night I posted an entry regarding Dick Cheney’s interview with Wolf Blitzer of CNN, where Cheney had actually claimed “much accomplishment” in Iraq, and that we have “accomplished our objectives.” Well today..Dick Durbin gave a direct response to that interview calling VP Cheney “delusional” about the situation in Iraq.
“To have Vice President Cheney suggest that we have had a series of enormous successes in Iraq is delusional. I don’t understand how he can continue to say those things while the president calls them ’slow failure’.”
That’s the term President Bush used in a separate television interview earlier this month, saying that’s where the situation would be headed unless another 21,500 troops were injected.
For the record, the White House has also said the capture of Osama bin Laden is also a “success that hasn’t occurred yet.”
Rolling Stone Magazine author Tim Dickinson has an article explaining why Gore should run, and why he would win.
(For the record, I personally am not endorsing Al Gore, or any other candidate for that matter, yet!)
A stiff vice president campaigns on his administration’s legacy of unprecedented prosperity. Looks terrible on TV. Bows out, following a disputed vote count. Then, two terms later, with no incumbent in the race, he re-enters the fray. Promises to change the course of a disastrous war founded on lies. And charges to victory. I’m referring, of course, to the 1968 campaign of Richard Milhous Nixon. But four decades later, history has a chance to repeat itself for Albert Arnold Gore.
If the Democrats were going to sit down and construct the perfect candidate for 2008, they’d be hard-pressed to improve on Gore. Unlike Hillary Clinton, he has no controversial vote on Iraq to defend. Unlike Barack Obama and John Edwards, he has extensive experience in both the Senate and the White House. He has put aside his wooden, policy-wonk demeanor to emerge as the Bush administration’s most eloquent critic. And thanks to An Inconvenient Truth, Gore is not only the most impassioned leader on the most urgent crisis facing the planet, he’s also a Hollywood celebrity, the star of the third-highest-grossing documentary of all time. Read the full article…
I looked for this the other day, but couldn’t find it, thankfully though, it has turned up on YouTube (where else?). It’s a parody of Hillary Clinton appearing on Hardball with Chris Matthews after announcing that she will be running for President in 2008. Enjoy…
I was amazed at the MASSIVE response Jim Webb’s SOTU rebuttal speech got around the Virginia blogosphere today (I probably shouldn’t have been, though):
Video of the speech itself (there were FAR too many blogs posting this to link them all, so I’ll just choose the most logical one). - Raising Kaine
Sen. Webb Supports Biden-Hagel-Levin IWR. Raising Kaine
Vivian Paige had several great live blogging sessions today. - Vivian J. Paige
I launched a new “community blog” today that will focus on NATIONAL politics, and the opinion of ‘Progressive’ Americans from all around the country. Hopefully some of you fellow VA bloggers will join in too! - CapitolTalk.com - Progressive Americans sound off!
Vice President Dick Cheney seems to be the only one still in denial over the situation in Iraq. While President Bush may not be making the wisest strategic decisions, at least he is finally admitting that things aren’t going well. VP Dick Cheney however, in an interview earlier today with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, said that America has accomplished it’s objectives so far in Iraq.
Here’s some excerpts from the interview:
Blitzer: But there is a terrible situation……
THE VICE PRESIDENT: No, there is not. There is not. There’s problems, ongoing problems, but we have, in fact, accomplished our objectives of getting rid of the old regime, and there is a new regime in place that’s been there for less than a year, far too soon for you guys to write them off.
However, that wasn’t nearly as amusing as when Cheney said he “doesn’t accept the premise” that fellow Republicans are starting to break ranks with the Bush administration, and called it “hogwash.”
Blitzer: Here’s what Jim Webb, senator from Virginia, said in his Democratic response last night. He said:
“The President took us into the war recklessly. We are now, as a nation, held hostage to the predictable and predicted disarray that has followed.”
And it’s not just Jim Webb, it’s some of your good Republican friends in the Senate and the House, are now seriously questioning your credibility because of the blunders, of the failures. All right, Gordon Smith –
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Wolf, Wolf, I simply don’t accept the premise of your question. I just think it’s hogwash.
Cheney also went on to attack the media as “biased,” and concluded that Senators coming out against the troop “surge” are “anti-troops.”
TPM Muckraker, and CNN both have the full transcripts posted, and CNN has a clip of the interview up. Hopefully the full interview will show up on YouTube though, because it’s certainly one worth watching if you missed it!
I’m sure (hopefully) some of you have noticed my lack of activity over the past few days as far as posting goes, but as I mentioned briefly the other night I have been working on a new blogging “project” that I’m very excited about (and given my LACK of knowledge as far as registering and launching a domain and all that goes, it took me a little longer than it would probably have taken most). I “launched” a new “community blog” this morning called CapitolTalk.com. The new blog will be a NATIONAL “Progressive voice” that hopefully many of you will be interested in reading, and participating in. In fact, many of you (especially those in Virginia), will also find the site VERY easy to use, since it is hosted by SoapBlox, the same “community blog host” that Raising Kaine uses!
Anyway, while the new site is still looking a little rough, since I haven’t quite gotten all the kinks worked out, I hope that you all will still join in and contribute!! I WILL continue to blog here at The Liberal Progressive too, but I’ll be trying to focus my attention a little more on Virginia politics, than I have in the past.
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Vice President Dick Cheney seems to be the only one still in denial over the situation in Iraq. While President Bush may not be making the wisest strategic decisions, at least he is finally admitting that things aren’t going well. VP Dick Cheney however, in an interview earlier today with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, said that America has accomplished it’s objectives so far in Iraq.