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Gotta Love Chris Dodd 2008-01-11 16:28:00 I've written often in this space of the high esteem in which I hold Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd [such as here, here, here, and here]. His recent retirement from the Democratic presidential race was without fanfare, recrimination or sour-grapes. He knew that it was the right thing to do, so he did it... the sort of thing that most of his "colleagues" in Congress are seldom able to even attempt, much less accomplish.He probably didn't belong in the presidential contest, as it exists these days. He's too lacking in glamor and ego, and there's too much integrity and statesmanship in his blood.One of the things he's done in recent months is virtually single-handedly foil the intention of the Eavesdropper-in-Chief to grant immunity to his big corporate telecom pals who leaped at the chance to help with the illegal warrantless wiretap program. A lesser man might have let this issue slide after having given up on the hope of being elected to the nation's highest office, but ...

More Obama Endorsements 2008-01-11 15:08:00 One today from Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano. Interesting -- the top-ranking Democrat in a state bordering Nevada, who also happens to be a woman. Nevada's caucus is, of course, coming January 19th and Arizona's on February 5th. I don't know how much this will help Obama, but it surely isn't going to hurt. Via AP:"This endorsement is based on my belief in your leadership and vision and the fact that we need a new message of hope and solidarity of coming together in Washington, D.C.," Napolitano said.The endorsement is a major gain for Obama in his race against chief foe Clinton. Napolitano, one of several female governors, is the most prominent Democrat in Arizona. Her endorsement could be significant in a state now regarded as winnable by a Democrat after decades as a near-lock for Republicans; the state holds its primary Feb. 5.[....]Napolitano was elected governor in 2002 and re-elected in 2006. She previously was U.S. attorney for Arizona during most of the Clinton admini ...

Obama Looking for Mini-Bumps 2008-01-10 15:45:00 Senator Barack Obama did not have a great Tuesday this week. The spring-like weather in New Hampshire sort of matched in a perverse way his mayfly's lifespan as Democratic front-runner.But he gave a decent enough speech that night, one hardly indistinguishable from the one he would have made had he won, and tried to put the best possible face on things as he turned toward the next contests. Still, no amount of broad smiles and enthusiastic rhetoric can obscure the fact that his sails are less full of wind that they were, say, Monday. So, he's looking for a little help, hoping for any little boost that might come his way.One definite bit of good news were the (expected) endorsements by Nevada's Culinary Workers Union (60,000) and the Service Employees International Union (17,500), sure to be helpful in the January 19th caucus.The other piece of news touted today as a little boost for Obama was the endorsement by Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, which Kerry announced today at a ...

Bye-Bye Bill Richardson 2008-01-10 02:30:00 Wednesday 6:30 pm CST -- He's out.Shortly after that, NBC/MSNBC reports that his staff is saying that he's definitely still in.8:30 pm CST -- He's going to announce Thursday that he is quitting.Now, was all that really necessary?Richardson wisely decided that it was time to fold his tents and leave, so as not to interfere with whomever is the eventual Democratic nominee... in hopes that nominee will remember good ol' Bill when it's time to look at potential running mates.I don't mean that harshly. Richardson has a helluva resume. From the NYT:Richardson was born 60 years ago in Pasadena, Calif., after his American father sent his Mexican mother there to give birth and erase any doubts that his son would be a U.S. citizen. His father was an international banker from Boston, and Richardson spent his childhood in Mexico City before being sent to boarding school in Massachusetts, where he was a standout baseball player.After graduating from Tufts University in 1971 with a master's ...

The Why of New Hampshire 2008-01-09 14:43:00 First of all there were of course no real surprises in the Republican contest. It turned out as even the candidates themselves must have expected, even if contrary to their hopes and dreams. I'll admit to a bit of disappointment that Ron Paul did not show a little better. It would have been nice to see him edge out Giuliani just on principle. One would think that a state where the license plates declare "Live Free or Die" would have been more fertile soil for the seed of Paul's libertarian gospel.The big "why" that so many are seeking to answer today relates to the Democratic race, which is now a two candidate battle. John Edwards may well continue to campaign all the way to the convention. He defines himself as a fighter and I believe he is sincere. Yet no matter his dedication to his populist principles, no matter how much he relishes the fray, no matter how hot the fire of ambition and desire burns within his heart, I feel convinced that he will not win. What he can do, wh ...

Turn Out the Lights 2008-01-08 21:57:00 ...the party's over, as "Dandy" Don Meredith used to croon to Howard Cosell back in the early days of Monday Night Football when the evening's game's outcome had become obvious -- inevitable, if you will. So it is now for both the Democratic and Republican primaries in New Hampshire.McCain was declared the GOP victor fairly early in the evening. At this moment with 73 percent reported, he leads Romney 37 to 32. Barring something greatly unforeseen, Huckabee will hang to to his anticipated third place spot with 11 percent, exceeding no one's expectations. The only item of interest for the last couple of hours on the red board was seeing if Ron Paul would be able to edge out Rudy Giuliani for fourth. Right now Rudy leads by about 1300 votes, so there's still a slim chance they might change positions before dawn... much more than there is of Rudy nudging ahead of Mike.The Democratic contest was called about 20 minutes ago, declaring Hillary Clinton [come on, let's all say in in ...

An Oscar for Hillary? 2008-01-08 07:49:00 "The secret of success is sincerity. Once you can fake that you've got it made." It's attributed to Jean Giraudoux -- French diplomat, dramatist, & novelist (1882 - 1944). George Burns paraphrased it as "the secret of acting is sincerity...." and used it in his monologues for decades. The unfortunate thing is that it is regularly true in the world of the political stage.Yesterday morning's cable news was full of breathless reporting about how the polls seemed to show Senator Obama extending his over Senator Clinton almost hourly. There was video of enthusiastic crowds surrounding him as he spoke of doing what the cynics said couldn't be done. I don't want to be a cynic. Maybe cynicism is like greatness... some are born with it while others have it thrust upon them. I've been feeling that it's being thrust upon me since I saw The Tear-Up Heard 'Round The World yesterday afternoon in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.If the video fails to play, click here.Via Reuters:Sen. Hilla ...

Tool Time 2 2008-01-08 04:31:00 Speaking of the U.S. Surveillance State reminded me of something I wrote back in October...The degree to which the Bush crime family administration relentlessly seeks to expand the legal means through which it can spy on individuals (foreign and domestic) ...and likely has long since covertly been doing extra-legally... is becoming progressively more a part of my daily consciousness....an article in which I discussed some free and legal "privacy tools" available to anyone in the U.S. In it I reminisced about the good ol' days of the Cypherpunks and talked about more secure email alternatives plus a bit about file encryption. I intended to revisit the topic in a more circumspect fashion, but well... good intentions and all that.I was pleasantly surprised to discover last night that at the end of last year Paul Boutin at Slate had accomplished much of what I intended to do with his article, "Secret Surfing: How To Keep Prying Eyes Away From Your Web Browser, E-mail and IM." It's a d ...

The Big Brothers 2008-01-07 15:30:00 The Threat Level blog at Wired closed out 2007 with a summary of the findings of Privacy International, a UK privacy group, and the U.S.-based Electronic Privacy Information Center with regard to how the nations of the world compare in the lengths to which they're going to keep their citizenry under surveillance in 2007. The worst offenders (seen in black on the world map below) -- Thailand, Taiwan, Singapore, Russia, China, Malaysia, the UK and... the United States of America. Such fine company we're in.Among the findings of PI and EPIC:* The 2007 rankings indicate an overall worsening of privacy protection across the world, reflecting an increase in surveillance and a declining performance on privacy safeguards.* Concern over immigration and border control dominated the world agenda in 2007. Countries have moved swiftly to implement database, identity and fingerprinting systems, often without regard to the privacy implications for their own citizens* The 2007 rankings show an inc ...

A Romney Win 2008-01-07 13:48:00 In case you weren't paying attention, Willard Mitt Romney put one in the win column over the weekend, scoring a majority of delegates in the Wyoming Republican caucuses on Saturday.At stake were 12 delegates, of which Romney landed 7. One each went to Fred Thompson and Duncan Hunter. The remaining 3 remain uncommitted. Ron Paul, the only other Republican candidate whose campaign trail veered through Cheney-land, came up empty handed. [hat tip to TPM]Normally 28 delegates would have been up for grabs, but the Republican National Committee penalized Wyoming for moving up the date of the caucuses. Similar punishments are in store for Florida, Michigan, New Hampshire and South Carolina.In addition to the 12 delegates allocated on Saturday, 2 more will be chosen at a statewide convention in May will also be sent to the Republican National Convention.What remains to be seen is how much of a Wyoming "bounce" Romney will experience in New Hampshire. Will it be as bolstering as McCain's ...

What Will He Say Next? 2008-01-07 13:14:00 One might wonder just what it is that former-President Bill Clinton is not inhaling these days. Last week in Iowa, he told a crowd in Sergeant Bluff that Hillary is tougher than Nelson Mandela or Yitzhak Rabin [Jake Tapper via Andrew Sullivan].Now today there's this gem.If the above video doesn't work, click here.Things are getting a little strange in the Clinton campaign as the last of the aura of inevitability evaporates. One day Bill is redefining hyperbole in his praise of his wife... a few days later it sounds as if he's saying that the faltering of her campaign is not his fault. What will be next? Stay tuned. ...

Biden, Pakistan and the F-16s 2008-01-07 12:35:00 I miss Joe Biden, a lot. One of my greatest disappointments in the whole of the presidential race so far is that he was unable to generate more interest in his candidacy. I certainly didn't agree with him on everything, but there are so many things that he simply got right. Here's a case in point.In spite of the Bhutto assassination (which Musharraf said yesterday on 60 Minutes was her own fault) and the various other incidents of political violence, in spite of the general instability of the Musharraf government, the Bush administration announced last week that it was going ahead with the sale of eighteen new F-16s to Pakistan.In typical style, Joe Biden got it right. In a statement issued the day before his run for the presidency ended, he said:The decision to go ahead with a half-billion dollar sale of advanced fighter aircraft to Pakistan shows how dangerously misguided President Bush's policy is: How can the White House even think of green-lighting such a sale at such an in ...

Abu Ghraib Redux? 2008-01-07 11:11:00 The Bush administration has done a pretty good job so far of keeping the goings-on at the Bagram Theater Internment Facility in Afghanistan off the MainStream Media radar. But cracks are starting to appear in their stone wall. Kudos to the NYT for breaking this story:The American detention center, established at the Bagram military base as a temporary screening site after the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, is now teeming with some 630 prisoners — more than twice the 275 being held at Guantánamo.The administration has spent nearly three years and more than $30 million on a plan to transfer Afghan prisoners held by the United States to a refurbished high-security detention center run by the Afghan military outside Kabul.But almost a year after the Afghan detention center opened, American officials say it can accommodate only about half the prisoners they once planned to put there. As a result, the makeshift American site at Bagram will probably continue to operate with hundreds of ...

New Year, New Hampshire 2008-01-07 08:28:00 Those who've checked this blog in recent days looking for insightful, pithy commentary about the Iowa caucuses found such to be conspicuously absent. Frankly, it felt to me in the days approaching them and in the couple following them that the whole thing had been absolutely micro-analyzed to the point of absurdity... simply talked to death. Other than an occasional story about the violence in Kenya that filtered through, it was as if the world stood still for about five days. Whether it was the blogs or the endless stream of talking heads on television, the same things were being said over and over and over. I truly felt a sense of burnout. So, yes, I abdicated whatever responsibility I had here.The problem is, I'm feeling rather the same way as the New Hampshire primaries approach. As with Iowa, I don't expect to be surprised by the results. McCain is going to finish first among the Republican field, barring something like being caught in bed with a dead girl or a live boy. ...

It's the End of the Year as we Know It 2007-12-30 01:32:00 What is left for me to do at this point in time but to wish the blog browsers who stumble upon this remote corner of the blogosphere a happy, safe and propitious end-of-year holiday season.I look forward to returning, feeling more content (if somewhat less bloated) and ever so slightly wiser than before.Keep safeJohn ...