Notice that I did not adopt the cliche form out of the Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign.  But I was tempted to.

The primaries and caucuses are not about winning, they are about getting delegates for the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

In the battles among candidates and their supporters, progressives risk losing sight of the fact that the later the Republicans know who the Democratic candidate is going to be, the more difficult it will be to mount a negative campaign against the Democratic candidate.

It is in our interest to vote our consciences instead of jumping on any bandwagon of electability.

It is in our interest for it not be decided on February 5.

We are not long from the days that will set Kossack against Kossack against Kosmopolitan against Kosmic.  The primaries.

It is helpful to think of who the entire team might be, not just who your choice for president is.

To start us thinking about the team, here is a pre-emptive fantasy.

This is short, so I will put it all here.

1. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of permanent political parties nor prohibiting the free association thereof.

2. No individual or association with a grant of limited liability may be granted powers that violate the rights of individuals granted by this Constitution and its amendmendments.

3. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of gender or sexual orientation.  The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provision of this article.  This amendment shall take effect upon ratification.

4. No election shall be decided except that all votes of the people be counted.  No election shall be certified except that all challenges to the election be satisfied by presentation of evidence that proves the issue one way or the other.

5. Money shall not be construed as protected speech.

I've been following the Congressional Daily Digest to keep up with what this Congress is doing since the Kos Congressional Committees Project has turned out to be a bust.  And what I've been seeing has been disturbing.  The Democrats in Congress began with a 100-hour blitz.  Having blown that wad and being opposed by a Republican minority in Congress that has more spine than the Democrats could ever muster, Democrats are apparently seeking "compromise" solutions within the Democratic caucus itself.  The actions of the past two days make it clear how far Democratic unity has to go.

Big Eddie Schultz and Air America are going at it big time.  The Kossacks and the "Free Speech Advocates" are still mixing it up.  MSOC is still in meta-mode.

Meanwhile...

President Bush has given Congress a conundrum: how to exert oversight on a President who has publicly declared that he does not have to listen to Congress on matters of national security.   Congress can cut off funding he says, but he as the "unitary executive" can reprogram funds from other places because it his responsibility and he knows best how to protect the American people -- and Congress doesn't.  So what does the power of the purse actually mean?  Does not the President control the Department of the Treasury, and cannot he instruct them to keep on writing checks for whatever he wants them to as long as it falls under the banner of national security?  The other side of this dilemma is the fact that cutting funds for troops already deployed into a war zone puts the lives of those  troops in danger, and the President will use that fact to argue that the Congress is not only against the troops but is actually harming the people they are trying to protect from his insanity.

So what is to be done?

My proposal: De-fund the deciders, not the troops.  But how?

There has been much discussion about regional strategies for 2008.  I believe that making allocation decisions on the basis of broad regions and 2004 data is a mistake.  It is fighting the last campaign; the current situation is different.

The 50-state strategy should not be sacrificed for the sake a single election. But given the fact that we will be required to make the Presidential campaign effort that we did in 2004 and the Congressional effort that we made in 2006 both at the same time, using resources wisely is indeed an issues.  What we have experienced in 2004 and 2006 is the coming forth of volunteers and donation of resources as we saw the possibility of winning.  What we do between now and 2008 can increase the probability of having a second watershed election.  (Of course, this is assuming that the Democratic Congress will perform to enable expansion of our gains.)

It's time.  Check your voting registration and have your family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers who you are counting on to vote Democratic check theirs.

Find out where and when early voting is happening and confirm those dates locally.  And start getting folks to the polls.

NC Board of Elections

In SC, there is no early voting, but people should check their registration and absentee ballot status.

SC Board of Elections

SCVotes.org

Bernstein delivers a professional journalistic take on the situation and shames Woodward's sycophancy.  Bernstein has now moved up to where Howard Fineman is.  Encouraging, but not yet something to cheer about.

And part of it is that what the Bush administration has done is more pervasive and more damaging than anything that Richard Nixon did--no, take that back, than Richard Nixon ever contemplated doing.  There is no other word but "extreme" to describe the Bush administration.

Which means specifically:

Yesterday, I followed a link to slide.com that had posted the purported cartoons from the Jyllands-Posten.  I don't know if these are what were actually printed in that newspaper. Along with these were three "cartoons" of uncertain origin the were clearly offensive (in the "I know it when I see it" sense).  If anyone has the link from yesterday, I would appreciate them posting it in the thread.

I would be interested in how the cartoons are being read (deconstructed, interpreted) by Muslims.  And what the offense of each one is.  My reaction to the twelve Jyllands-Posten cartoons was that one would have to be told that they were images of Muhammed in order to make that interpretation.

And I would be interested in hearing how these are like of different from Jesus General's "Republican Jesus"

One of the other diaries today had a cartoon of a donkey rug debating whether it was the right time to stand up.  The cartoon was making fun of the Democratic spokespeople, but it is apt in another way.  There are currently 113 Republicans without any Democratic opposition.  I want to take my 2 x 4 and get that donkey's attention.  That is conceding more than one quarter of the seats in the House.

I can hear the excuses already.  That's never been anything other than a Republican district.  It's too hard.  All those folks over there are rightwing loonies.  It's in a red state.  Or it's a red area of the state.  They've always been conservative.  More below.

At the request of Madman in the marketplace, these comments have become a diary.

There are 50 states, 3081 counties, and 192,480 precincts that need to have a strong progressive presence before next summer.

This list below the fold is of the 177 House members who voted with Tom Delay at least 90% of the time.  These seats need progressive Democratic candidates.  The Democratic voters in these Congressional Districts need to be able to vote for a Congressional candidate insted of being disenfranchised.

Here are the top 5 Delay Rubber Stamps:
1  Carter, John R.     TX
2  Blackburn, Marsha   TN
3  McHenry, Patrick    NC
4  Foxx, Virginia      NC
5  Schmidt, Jean       OH

I spent this morning at a small-town July 4th parade.  The music was provided by a boom box playing marches, which the librarian turned up loud enough to hear as the parade passed by.   A parade of bicycles and tricycles, red, white, and blue crepe paper in the spokes and a cardboard-and-clothes-pin noisemaker on the back wheel.  Led by a squad of baby strollers, decorated in bunting, flying little American flags.  After the parade, a morning of watching kickball and bean tosses and nerf rocket ships and football dummies, kids swinging and playing with hula hoops.  And lemonade and ice water.  A celebration put together in about one week.  Total cost, probably $50 bucks.

For all of the craziness of these areas during election season, there was only one sour note among the roughly one hundred white, black, Asian, and Hispanic people involved.  (Even North Carolina small towns are global these days.)  A lady wore a red tee shirt that said "It's freedom of religion, not freedom from religion."  To my mind very minor compared to some of the opinions last year.

(Cross-posted at Booman Tribute and Daily Kos)

Robert Scheer at Liberal Oasis says about the increasing calls for impeachment:

The folks in Germany had to do it after World War II.  The folks in Russia had to do it after 1989.  Some successfully accomplish it.  For some, it is a condition that lingers and lingers.  After a totalitarian state falls, there is a mess--a mess of law, of courts, of bureaucracy, and especially of finances.

In the midst of fretting about the filibuster, babbling about Bolton, and fulminating about Frist, we need to take a little time to look at the long view.

In 2006, 2008,  or God forbid 2010 or 2012, what must progressive Democrats have in place, ready to implement, when we regain power?  Think FDR's hundred days.

If there is one area of national policy that will need a dramatic reorientation after the Bush administration leaves, it is this.  Let's talk about how to get it right.  This diary deals only with the domestic aspects of environmental action.  A later diary will deal international actions, such as environmental treaties and agreements.

The folks in Germany had to do it after World War II.  The folks in Russia had to do it after 1989.  Some successfully accomplish it.  For some, it is a condition that lingers and lingers.  After a totalitarian state falls, there is a mess--a mess of law, of courts, of bureaucracy, and especially of finances.

In the midst of fretting about the filibuster, babbling about Bolton, and fulminating about Frist, we need to take a little time to look at the long view.

In 2006, 2008,  or God forbid 2010 or 2012, what must progressive Democrats have in place, ready to implement, when we regain power?  Think FDR's hundred days.

This diary looks at the very problematical area of national defense, homeland security, law enforcement, and emergency services.

The folks in Germany had to do it after World War II.  The folks in Russia had to do it after 1989.  Some successfully accomplish it.  For some, it is a condition that lingers and lingers.  After a totalitarian state falls, there is a mess--a mess of law, of courts, of bureaucracy, and especially of finances.

In the midst of fretting about the filibuster, babbling about Bolton, and fulminating about Frist, we need to take a little time to look at the long view.

In 2006, 2008,  or God forbid 2010 or 2012, what must progressive Democrats have in place, ready to implement, when we regain power?  Think FDR's hundred days.

This diary looks at how the structure of the executive departments reflect progressive priorities.

In 2006, 2008,  or God forbid 2010 or 2012, what must progressive Democrats have in place, ready to

implement, when we regain power?  Think FDR's hundred days.

This diary looks at how the structure of the executive departments reflect progressive priorities.