Cross-posted at Mydd.com

This article by Ben Smith on Politico has been getting a lot of buzz today.  There are a number of articles about it on Google News, right now, some of them rather entertaining.

Ben Smith is reporting that there are talks under way about Hillary strategist Patty Solis-Doyle, who was fired in March, coming to work for Obama.  I'll try not to characterize it too much, because that might be dangerous.  Ben Smith leaves some questions unanswered.  This is such a bombshell, though, that I can't believe we won't hear more about it soon.  If there are more Hillary staffers preparing to jump ship and climb on the USS Obama, that's a good sign this thing isn't going to turn into a scorched earth take-it-to-the-floor strategy after June 3.

Remember me?  I was your vice-president for eight years.  We used to have some good times.

Anyway, what I wanted to talk to you about...  All these people you see here, well, they're friends of yours.  Just like me.  I know, you thought this was going to be a fund-raiser, just a little fund-raiser.  I'm sorry we had to tell you that lie.  We just felt it was important that we got together, as a group, to help you in your crisis.

What crisis?  Well, you may not realize that there is one, but we assure you there is.  

The title should speak for itself, without further analysis.  Allow me to pad this out a little.

http://blogs.tnr.com/...

Most Counterproductive Spin of the Night

(Unofficial) Clinton flack Lanny Davis just explained on Fox News that Barack Obama is like Ned Lamont (who, whatever you think of him, won that Democratic Senate primary), and Hillary Clinton is like Joe Lieberman (who, whatever you think of him, refused to abide by the primary result, ran and won as an independent with massive GOP support, and has subsequently endorsed John McCain). Lest anyone miss his meaning, Davis noted that he had been a devout Lieberman booster.

Will Clinton run as a Republican-friendly independent if she fails to get the nomination? Of course not. But that's the scenario Davis has gone out of his way to sketch metaphorically. That's the way to help Clinton get the Democratic nomination.

Everybody is aware of the mess that is Pakistan.  It was getting messy even before Bhutto's assassination.  But did you know there were plans afoot to send troops to Pakistan to "stabilize" it?

My mother is 87 years old.  She's not as spry as she used to be, but she's still going and can wear out her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  I'd love to tell you a little tale about her.  And as sweet an  historical anecdote as this is, there's an important moral and political point to it, at the end.

Born in 1920, my mother ran off to Hollywood with her sister when she turned 18 so they could be movie stars.  Well, that never came to be, but they did well in the service industry.  My mother eventually married a reserve officer in the US Army who was also a stunt man and stunt coordinator, as well as a schoolteacher.  

There have been quite a few posts and even diaries of late pressing us to confirm now our undying loyalty to the candidate of the party, regardless of who she (cough or he) is.

Since we are getting in the habit of asking people to sign blank checks, let me then offer my own.  Surely, anybody that would agree that we must support the nominee of the party regardless of who he/she is would also feel as sanguine about signing the following petition.

Petition:

WE, THE UNDERSIGNED, DEMAND THAT PRESIDENT JOHN/JANE DOE IN 2009 SHOULD BE IMPEACHED FOR NEEDLESSLY CONTINUING A FOOLISH WAR IN IRAQ AND WASTING OUR COUNTRY'S PRECIOUS BLOOD, YOUTH, AND TREASURE ON A DISTRACTION FROM AMERICA'S REAL SECURITY NEEDS.

The election is almost on us, this Tuesday, and there has been shamefully little posted about this on the blogs.

Full disclosure: I've given assistance to the Peter Mathews campaign, so I am biased.  Still, I think some people here might like to know what's been happening from my POV sorta close to the frontlines.

Their are eleven candidates in the open primary which is this Tuesday, June 26.  Since this is an outrageously blue district, the winner of the Democratic primary will basically become our new US Congressperson to replace the late Juanita Millender McDonald, who died a few months ago from cancer.

[The following diary was prepared by CA-37 candidate Peter Mathews.  I'm letting him post it under my account rather than his because of the first-week diary restriction on new accounts.  He is in no way accountable for any past comments or diaries of mine made over the years, many of which are certainly silly.]

Hello to all Kossacks!  I have had people on my staff after me to do this.  The technology of blogging is still new to me, so be gentle!

My name is Peter Mathews, and I am running for Congress in the California 37th (Long Beach, Compton, Carson, Watts, Willowbrook) Congressional district special election on June 26th, to fill the vacancy created by the death of the late Congresswoman Juanita Millender-McDonald.  

^{(Peter Mathews bottom left)}

Of the many issues facing the 37th and the nation that are important to me, there is one that I want to address in particular in this introductory diary:  Impeachment.

According to a Clinton-insider, the Clintons will seek "total retribution, if the opportunity presents itself" towards former Clinton donors and insiders that have donated now to Obama.

NYMag:

"There are some people the Clintons consider Clinton people who have gotten behind Barack," a longtime friend of Bill and Hillary's explains to me. "And there will be total retribution if the opportunity presents itself."

Total retribution? You're joking, right?

"I'm not joking. They're not going to audit somebody's tax return or anything. But once you've been in the Clinton camp, once they think you're part of the team, once you've helped them and they've helped you and you then go somewhere else--I just think it's very hard to crawl back into their good graces. I'm not saying it won't happen. But they won't forget. They may take you back eventually, but they won't forget."

Some of of us have worried for years about the fallout from Abu Ghraib, Bagram, Guantanamo, Extraordinary Rendition, and the Torture Memos.  Would American soldiers be put at risk of torture in future wars because of the excesses of this administration.

And then the British soldiers were taken prisoner by the Iranians.

The horrible thought must have crossed the minds of many people: What if they torture the prisoners?  What if they use Abu Ghraib and all the Republican excuse-making for torture as THEIR guidelines for the treatment of Coalition (in this case, British) soldiers?  How infuriating that would be!  And yet, who could the British turn to for moral support?  Bush?  What could he ever again have to say?

And then, today, an even more shocking thought came to me.  This is what prompted me to write this diary:

What if, when the soldiers are released, we find out that they weren't tortured?

In what was perhaps one of the funniest and saddest, yet metaphorically significant exchanges on MSNBC today, was this unbelievable gem [paraphrasing until transcript available]:

"Despite this new report, Michael Tillman will get to keep his Silver Star award."

"But wasn't that awarded for 'Bravery in the face of enemy fire?'"

"Yes, that is true, but the Army says that Tillman did show great bravery that day, so he gets to keep his posthumous medal, the only difference being that now it is for bravery in the face of FRIENDLY FIRE rather than ENEMY FIRE."

Asked why he thought it was proper for a reverend to ask Hastert to resign, he said:

"We don't need liars in our government!  We don't need pedophiles in our government!"

This makes me think Kuo's new book, Tempting Faith, is likely to find a receptive audience, eh?

Should human trophy-hunting by the executive branch be legal or illegal?  Is it protected by the Constitution of the United States?

"Hell yes it is!" says Vice-President Dick Cheney, posing, above, with one of his most recent conquests, a homeless derelict killed with one eagle-eyed shot on the Cheneys' Maryland estate.  "Bastard was sleeping in a tree bole on my property.  My property!  A few seconds later, and he would have been over the fence, protesting or selling drugs or having gay sex, or whatever it is they do."

"Big time," agreed an admiring Secret Service agent who helps spot for the VP.

How often did Bush authorize illegal spying by the NSA?

It has been 52 months since 9/11. Bush has reauthorized this 30 times. That works out to about six weeks between authorizations. Which is UNLIKELY, because the government doesn't generally do things in six week intervals.

See some calculations after the flip.

No.  The way to save his presidency would have been to call Bob Woodward into the Oval Office and tell him everything.

[More on the flip.]

The title of this diary is hyperbole, of course.  But... damn!  It must be galling to lose one of the conservative pundits the Bush administration PAID FOR!

Time to Get Out of Iraq

More...

To my dismay, I discovered just now that it may have to shut down for lack of funds.  They need to raise $45,000 in 30 days.  

This is very distressing.  This is one of my favorite resources on Abu Ghraib and other torture subjects.  It will be a terrible loss if this goes down.

Here is the message on their site:

http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/

Please help keep this wondeful site alive.  

Baghdad Mayor Is Ousted by a Shiite Group and Replaced