Police Slog Through 40,000 Insipid Party Pics To Find Cause Of Dorm Fire
Greg Sargent:
* CNN’s Wolf Blitzer says that Obama is (yikes!) “bracing for a showdown” with Dick Cheney:
Of course, CNN is actively helping to create this “showdown” by carrying Cheney’s speech live, along with MSNBC and Fox, elevating Cheney and giving him a platform equivalent to that of the President.
* John Aravosis points out that Cheney has in effect been tapped to give the “Republican response” to Obama’s speech tomorrow.
An abbreviated Abbreviated Pundit Round-Up (BarbinMD Daily Kos):
David Broder's main point is that it's a good thing if Obama ignores his base, and says that one of three reasons that Democrats have a hard time being the Commander-in-Chief is:
... that today's Democrats really are isolated from the military. Harry Truman had been an artillery captain; John Kennedy and Carter, Navy officers. But Bill Clinton did everything possible to avoid the draft, and Obama, motivated as he was to public service, never gave a thought to volunteering for the military.
You know, as opposed to those mighty military men, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. Oh, and Ronald Reagan. Idiot.
...
Mickey Edwards and William S. Sessions say that:
The president has nominated Dawn Johnsen, a University of Indiana law professor, as the director of his Office of Legal Counsel. The Senate should act expeditiously to approve her nomination. Though Ms. Johnsen's politics may not mirror the choice John McCain or other Republicans might have made - they lost the election, after all - her views on the limits of presidential power are precisely what the Constitution envisions and conservatives have long championed.
Drum: Global Economy Update
The U.S. economy contracted by more than 6% last quarter, as bad a decline as we've had since World War II. So how's the rest of the world doing?
On Wednesday, Mexico became the latest country to report a plunge in output. The country's gross domestic product fell at an annualized rate of 21.5% in the first quarter....Mexico's decline followed by a day Japan's report that its economy contracted in the first quarter at a 15.2% clip, its worst performance since 1955. Last week, Germany said its first quarter decline in GDP, an annualized 14.4%, was the worst since 1970.
Holy cow.
Just a thought, President Obama may not invite back people who spill the beans about an off-the-record meeting, almost before they got out the door.
Obama's secret meeting May 20: MSNBC contributor Michael Isikoff joins Rachel Maddow to talk about his report on President Obama's off-the-record meeting with human rights groups.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
hilzoy says: We're Doomed!
From the New York Times:
"Four men from upstate New York were arrested Wednesday night in what the authorities said was a plot to bomb two synagogues in the Bronx and shoot down military planes at Stewart Air National Guard base in Newburgh, N.Y.
The men were arrested around 9 p.m. after planting what they believed to be bombs in cars outside the Riverdale Temple and the nearby Riverdale Jewish Center, officials said. But the men did not know the bombs, provided by an informant with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, were fake.
The arrests capped what officials described as a "painstaking investigation" that began in June 2008 involving an F.B.I. agent who had been told of the men's desire to attack targets in America by a federal informant. As part of the plot, the men intended to fire guided stinger missiles at military aircraft at Stewart International Airport, officials said."
This raises the difficult question: what should we do with these would-be terrorists while they await trial? And if they are convicted, what then? I assume that if it's too dangerous to move people at Guantanamo to the United States, it must be much too dangerous to allow these jihadists to run loose in our prisons. After all, they might provide financing for other jihadists from their supermax cells, or radicalize other prisoners, or use special Terrorist Mind Control Techniques to create a whole army of brainwashed convicts under their complete control.
I'd suggest killing them, cutting them into pieces, and shipping their parts to parts unknown immediately (trials? who can afford trials under these circumstances?), if I weren't afraid that some hitherto unknown al Qaeda trick might allow their reanimated body parts to slither around in search of one another and, eventually, reconstitute themselves as the Islamofascist Undead. Earlier, I thought we should send prisoners into space, but that was before I realized that that would allow them to join forces with the Klingons.
In fact, I can't think of a single thing to do that would not make matters worse.
We're doomed.
Benen: KEEPING THE DANCE GOING....
Digby had a nice summary of the annoying, ongoing "controversy" surrounding Speaker Pelosi: "Uhm, everyone recognizes that this Pelosi flap is a manufactured hissy fit, right? The point is to make the whole discussion of torture politically radioactive for Democrats in the same way that questioning the surge became radioactive after Betrayus. It's a classic political kabuki designed to twist the Democrats into pretzels."
That's clearly true, and just as importantly, Republicans have figured out how to keep the hysteria going, with new attacks every day, which immediately get amplified by reporters enjoying the "story" about Pelosi questioning the veracity of the CIA.
Today, Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.), for example, said the Speaker has committed "a terrible slander against the leading intelligence service in the U.S at a time when we're fighting two wars," which in turn "makes it impossible for her to function." Newt Gingrich said Pelosi has shown "contempt for the men and women who protect our nation," and added that the Speaker's comments have increased the risk of a terrorist attack against the United States. (He seemed to be serious.)
Michael Gerson is on message, as is Rudy Giuliani. Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.) said today that Pelosi has launched a "massive attack on our intelligence community," and added that it's "outrageous" for the Speaker to "call our terror-fighters liars."
Now, I can't read their minds, obviously, but I suspect most of these hacks realize what they're saying is ridiculous, but have received instructions from the party and are doing their duty to attack the Speaker, whether it makes sense or not.
One of these days, though, it might occur to them, and the reporters keeping the story alive, that questions from lawmakers about the intelligence agencies' honesty aren't terribly unusual -- and plenty of Republicans have made remarks similar to Pelosi.
Steve M., for example, notes that in 2003, David Frum and Richard Perle wrote a book that argued:
... because the CIA, like all intelligence organizations, deals in lies, it all too easily crosses the line between lying abroad to protect the nation and lying at home to protect itself.
But this extends to the Hill, too. Rep. Peter Hoekstra, the leading Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, has not only accused the CIA of "lying," he's even initiated a congressional investigation into allegations that the CIA misled Congress about a 2001 incident in Peru.
Zachary Roth brought it all together this afternoon.
We really shouldn't have to do this. As we've said before, the idea that it's some kind of outlandish and unconscionable slur to point out that the CIA -- the CIA, for chrissakes! -- can sometimes be economical with the truth is absurd on its face. But the Republican attacks on Nancy Pelosi for daring to make that claim just keep coming, so it looks like we're going to have to point this out:
Shocking as it sounds, the GOP hasn't always been so sensitive about harsh criticism of the CIA -- including leveling the charge that the CIA is being deliberately deceptive -- when it's served the party's political interest.
Based on the palaver we've been hearing from Republicans lately, leaders of their own party have spent recent years "slandering" intelligence officials, showing "contempt" for the CIA, "attacking" the intelligence community, and increasing the risk of a domestic terrorist attack.
I know the GOP has perfected the art of manufactured hissy fits, but this one is unusually foolish.
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