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Thursday, August 2, 2007
Moulitsas says bloggers softening hostility toward Clinton
Hillary Clinton has never been a very popular political figure in the blogosphere. Her original support for the war in Iraq and her unwillingness to apologize for her vote in favor of the war has long been fodder for the liberal bloggers and netroots activists.
But the YearlyKos convention of the netroots got under way Thursday with an important sign that the netroots are warming to the idea of Clinton being the 2008 Democratic presidential nominee.
Well, at least one netroot, the superstar of the blogosphere - Markos Moulitsas, the founder of the DailyKos website, perhaps the most popular blog site in blogosphere, with more than a million visitors each day.
At a news conference helping to kick off the convention in Chicago, Moulitsas said Clinton has shown “growing respect” for the role of the liberal bloggers and netroots in Democratic politics.
He was referring to the fact that Clinton campaign spokesman Howard Wolfson had come to the defense of DailyKos and YearlyKos in response to repeated criticism from Bill O’Reilly on Fox News.
Wolfson, in an appearing on The O’Reilly Factor on Tuesday, called DailyKos a “community, hundreds of thousands of people who go to the site every day, who talk to one another, who participate vigorously in our democracy.”
Moulitsas said Thursday that a year ago, there wasn’t that respect within her inner circle. He said there has been a realization within the Clinton camp that “maybe we’re not going to win the blogosphere primary (because) there’s a lot of hostility towards us (but) we want to negate some of that.”
He added: “I think she’s doing that very effectively.”
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More Power to Spy?
It’s no secret that the Bush administration is pressing Capitol Hill for more power to spy on suspected terrorists, saying a new threat is imminent.
But the American Civil Liberties Union is launching a lobbying blitz of its own, asking the crucial question: why so fast?
The ACLU says the administration’s appeal for change is an overreaction to a recent secret ruling from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court against a “basket warrant.” Typically, all requests for surveillance of terrorists are approved with a court warrant, according to FISA warrant records kept at the Justice Department.
“A campaign of fear and misinformation has spread on Capitol Hill that needs to be stopped,” said Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the ACLU.
“When a judge rules against the government, we shouldn’t just rush to change the law. We can’t allow an administration that breaks the laws to simply bully lawmakers into rewriting them. Congress must stop caving in and start standing up to this administration.”
The nation’s top spy chief, Mike McConnell, is lobbying for gutting of the 1978 law, which requires law enforcement officers to secure a warrant from the FISA court before conducting surveillance on suspected terrorists and covert agents.
A Republican bill proposes sweeping changes recommended by the White House that would include putting oversight in the hands of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. A Democratic proposal would also allow mass collection of Americans’ communications.
“This administration’s continued aversion to oversight and the rule of law shows a remarkable lack of respect for the American people,” said Caroline Fredrickson, director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office.
To read the ACLU’s letter to Congressional leadership on FISA changes, go to: here
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Gimme Shelter
When anti-war activists dominated campus politics in the 1960s, the Young America’s Foundation was formed as a conservative counterpoint for the Vietnam generation. Now, with the Iraq war grinding into its fifth year, the group’s 29th annual National Conservative Student Conference is in full swing this week. But the conflict that has taken the lives of more than 3,600 U.S. troops was well below the radar in a Thursday morning session, where students voiced more interest in how to keep global warming activists from stemming domestic oil production or how to thwart the influence of Hollywood celebrities.
“Is anyone going to ask me about the war,” Sen. James Inhofe, R-Ok., pleaded to some 300 college students attending his conference talk at George Washington University. “Hold your hand up if you are; I’ll put you at the front of the line.”
With four students in line to ask questions, not a single hand went up.
“My favorite food happens to be cheeseburgers,” the next questioner pointed out, as a prelude to asking whether “environmentalists” were poised to challenge the beef industry.
“Enjoy your hamburger while you’ve got it,” Inhofe replied.
At last a student stepped forth with this: “How’s it going in Iraq and are we having progress?”
“Where’ve you been,” Inhofe asked the questioner, a query that might have been taken any number of ways.
“A miracle is taking place right now in Iraq,” the senator said, going on to assert that the surge in troop levels is taking a bite out of the insurgency and showing gains in security parts of the country.
As Inhofe left the podium, conference attendees took a break, and the overhead sound system resonated with a voice from another era: the Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger belting out the words “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.”
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Rose Garden Math
A little Rose Garden math from the calculator-in-chief this morning as President Bush urged congressional Democrats to go easy on spending but get the necessary appropriations bills to his desk pronto.
“If Congress doesn’t pass the spending bills by the end of the fiscal year, cabinet secretaries report that their departments may be unable to move forward with urgent priorities for our country,” Bush said after a cabinet session. “It just doesn’t have to be this way.”
He noted that Democrats “won last year’s election fair and square,” something Democrats don’t always say about his election victories.
And then the math, as Bush urged lawmakers to stay within spending caps he has set.
“Their budget calls for nearly $22 billion more discretionary spending next year alone. … And that difference will keep getting bigger. Over the next five years, it will total nearly $205 billion in additional discretionary spending. That $205 billion averages out to about $112 million per day, $4.7 million per hour, $78,000 per minute. Put another way, that’s about $1,300 in higher spending every second of every minute of every hour of every day of every year for the next five years,” Bush said.
“In fact, at that pace, Democrats in Congress would have spent an extra $300,000 since I began these remarks,” he said.
And, he warned, that means tax hikes.
Not on my watch, Bush has promised, threatening to veto a bunch of Democratic-backed spending plans.
About the only way the rhetoric could get stronger would be if Bush, instead of threatening to send a veto to the hill, would threaten to send a guy named Vito to the hill.
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Edwards Continues Fight With Fox News
Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards took his fight with Fox News a step closer to the top Thursday by opposing Rupert Murdoch’s takeover of The Wall Street Journal and the Dow Jones Co. and criticizing rival Hillary Clinton’s financial ties to Murdoch.
“The time has come for Democrats to stop pretending to be friends with the very people who demonize the Democratic Party,” Edwards said in a statement released by his campaign office in North Carolina.
Edwards did not mention Clinton by name, but it was clear that he was referring to her when he called on his Democratic presidential rivals to return any campaign contributions they have received from Murdoch or any News Corp. or Fox executives.
In her most recent filing at the Federal Election Commission, Clinton reported two large donations from the very top of the Fox corporate structure.
Murdoch, chairman of the News Corp., gave her presidential bid $2,300 in early June. His son, James R. Murdoch, chief executive of British Sky Broadcasting in London, gave $3,400, also in June.
Altogether, News Corp. and Fox executives have given at least $40,000 to the Clinton campaign, according to the FEC records.
During her 2006 Senate re-election campaign, Murdoch hosted a fundraiser for Clinton. And according to the New York Times, he has hosted two fundraisers for her presidential bid.
Also, according to the New York Times, executives and political action committees tied to Murdoch’s financial empire have contributed $4.76 million to politicians since 1997, 56 percent of which have gone to Republicans.
Edwards, who led the Democratic boycott of a Fox News-sponsored presidential debate earlier this year, said in a statement that News Corp.’s purchase is the latest event in a troubling trend of media consolidation.
“The basis of a strong democracy begins and ends with a strong, unbiased and fair media - all qualities which are pretty hard to subscribe to Fox News and News Corp.,” he said. “The reality is that Americans deserve more news outlets - not fewer.” “Moreover,” he added, “given Fox News’ consistent efforts to demean Democrats - they have attacked the character of Senator (Barack) Obama, Vice President Gore, and many others - no Democrat running for president should accept campaign money from top News Corp executives. So, today, I’m challenging every Democratic presidential candidate to refuse contributions from News Corp executives and return any they’ve already taken, beginning with Rupert Murdoch.”
There was no immediate response from the Clinton campaign.
Edwards’ statement came just two days before the leading Democratic presidential candidates are set to address the YearlyKos convention, a gathering of liberal bloggers and netroots activists who hold Murdoch in low regard.
FEC records show that Obama has taken more $14,000 from News Corp. or Fox executives, although none came from the Murdochs themselves.
Edwards himself received a little less than $1,000 total from donors with ties to News Corp. or Fox.
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Specter Says Gonzales Should Leave
Sen. Arlen Specter, the leading Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said today that the panel should complete its investigation into the questionable firing of nine U.S. attorneys as soon as possible so they can find “a way to end the tenure of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.”
It is the first time that Specter has called for Gonzales to leave. Placing a planned expansion of surveillance activities under Gonzales’ control would be a major mistake, the Pennsylvania senator said, given the dysfunction at the Justice Department and the misleading statements that Gonzales has given the committee.
Feds to the Rescue
First Lady Laura Bush will head to Minneapolis tomorrow in the wake of the deadly bridge collapse there, White House spokesman Tony Snow announced today.
President Bush spoke this morning with Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak to pass along condolences and offer assistance.
Snow said there are no indications of any “link” to terrorism.
Officials from the National Transportation Safety Board, Federal Emergency Management Agency, FBI, Army Corps of Engineers, Coast Guard, Department of Transportation and Environmental Protection Agency are en route to the scene.
The feds also are sending a $5-million grant for debris removal and “restoration of traffic flow,” Snow said.
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