Archives for August 2008

A couple of western governors stopped by the Big Tent today to chat with the bloggers, and not surprisingly, I managed to get in the first question with both them.  Above is an unedited clip of Gov. Brian Schweitzer of Montana, who appears on the verge of breaking out into superstar status after his incredibly well received speech last night.

Coming up later, a video interview with our very own Gov. Chris Gregoire of Washington.

While Goldy iPhlogs from the Pepsi Center, I’m in … um … Idaho Falls, Idaho.

I’d like to say I’m heading home because once it became apparent that the media frame of Clintonites tearing limbs off Obama delegates was more hype than fact, I was so bitterly disappointed that I couldn’t take any more. But the truth is much more boring. I got really sick starting yesterday morning, and owing to some risks of medical complications, I decided to take an uncharacteristically prudent (albeit difficult) course of action and drive back to Seattle.

Goldy and Darryl are, of course, holding down the fort admirably. I had to console myself this afternoon with the Grand Tetons.

UPDATE [Lee]: From the Daily Show last night…

The media didn’t get the drama they wanted (a floor battle, or at least some loud whining), but they got some drama nonetheless, as Hillary Clinton entered the hall to ask on behalf of the New York delegation, that Barack Obama be nominated by acclamation on a voice vote.  And surprise… he was.

I’m guessing it was pretty compelling TV.

That is, assuming Washington gets a chance to cast its votes, which given past history, I can’t imagine we’ll get to the W’s… especially after Arkansas voted unanimously for Obama.  (Well, technically, WA already did cast its votes, 68-26 with 4 absent, but they probably won’t get the chance to announce it.  That’s kinda the point.)

Not much of a floor fight, is it?

UPDATE:
FYI, Clinton released her delegates this morning, so the cynical amongst you will say that the fix is in.  Or, you know, it might be described as a display of Democratic unity.  But that’s not a very compelling story, is it?  So lets just stick with the former.

UPDATE, UPDATE:

Geov and I were making our way down the pedestrian mall from one convention site to another the other day. The hot Denver sun enticed us to take one of the free shuttles that runs up and down the mall. We waited.

It seems the shuttles were temporarily shut down—perhaps something important was happening. We inspected the relatively quiet landscapes for a sign. Minutes later something stirred down the road.

It was a pro-McCain march. And a law abiding bunch of marchers they were, too. As the marchers waited for the light to change, Geov and I snapped photos and debated whether there were more marchers or more bicycle police. (Really…you can see the entire “rally” in the photo.)

Some people waiting for the shuttle next to us started chanting “Four more years! Four more years!”

That prompted one of the bicycle cops to swing around in front of our shuttle stop. He looked at our group through those menacing dark glasses and asked, “Did somebody say ‘four more beers?'”

Standing in line outside the Pepsi Center, I finally learn the deep, dark truth about politics.  Gosh was I naive.  (And Jesus am I unashamed of my crappy videography.)

Brian Baird and Danny Westneat want you to know how great the surge has been and those of us in WA-03 better say uncle!

But now that it appears he was right — that the Iraq war was going better, as he claimed, and President Bush’s troop surge was working — the Southwest Washington congressman is even more of an outcast.

Now nobody much wants to talk to him about Iraq at all.

“After all that extraordinary outrage directed at me, not one person has called me up and said ‘Hey, Brian, it looks like you might have had a point after all,’ ” said Baird, in Denver for his party’s national convention this week.

“We say Bush is so blinded by ideology that he ignores the facts in the real world, and that’s true,” Baird said. “Aren’t we doing the same thing? We’re being just like Bush.”

Meanwhile, as Atrios would put it, “over there:” (props to Juan Cole.)

At least 45 people were killed and 59 injured on Tuesday in attacks, including a bloody suicide and car bomb attack in Iraq’s restive Diyala province, in some of the worst violence the country has witnessed in recent months.

A simultaneous suicide and bomb attack in Diyala province killed at least 35 people. Around 47 people were injured in the attack.

A suicide bomber got out of a car and detonated himself amid a crowd of police recruits standing in front of a police station in Jalawla town, some 60 km northeast of the Iraqi capital, witnesses told a news agency.

Seconds after the man detonated his vest, the car loaded with explosives blew up, the witnesses said.

Yep, only brown furriners being killed, so it’s all good.

Let me put this as succinctly as I can. I was willing and still am willing to entertain Baird’s opinions about what to do in Iraq, and I refused to participate in the public flogging of Baird a year ago. Of course there are reasons not to leave too hastily. But there were also valid reasons to start figuring out how to withdraw troops, and guess what, now we are doing that planning, just ahead of the 2008 election. Go figure.

But the reason Baird’s being shunned isn’t because he had a different opinion on Iraq (or the Schiavo madness, the bankruptcy bill, forestry practices or the FISA sellout) but because he keeps adopting Republican frames, ala Joe Lieberman.

Like, you know, claiming that the surge is a success and painting himself as a victim of the dirty fucking hippies, and then lecturing us about reality. Give me a break.

Sadly, Baird’s Republican opponent in the general election, Michael Delavar, who is sometimes painted as an anti-war candidate, is only anti-war in a completely insane Ron Paul sense. Delavar wants to issue letters of marquee and reprisal to fight the dirty furrin brown people, which worked great against the Barbary pirates, but the last pirate I ever saw was in Orlando, standing next to a giant mouse. Some plan.

I was probably going to vote for Baird in the general election, if for no other reason than people like Delavar who want to run an information age economy based on 18th Century economic practices are kind of scary. I like gold as much as the next guy, but there’s not enough gold in the solar system to back the dollar against our debts to China.

I’ll probably still wind up voting for Baird, but I will certainly be on the lookout for any upcoming go-getters who can run against him next cycle. It kind of pains me personally as I was a volunteer on Baird’s 1996 oh-so-close run against Rep. Linda Smith, when he lost in the end by 887 votes or so.

I know, I’ll be accused of having a “litmus test” when in fact the only test to be in the “big tent” Democratic Party is that you don’t help the other guy put up his tent. Which is exactly what Baird is doing.

At that point you’re on the other team. Not an enemy, but an opponent.

As Washington state’s Democrats are congregating in Denver, celebrating the nomination of Barack Obama for President of the United States, Washington state Republicans are back at home marking this historic moment in their own typically Republican fashion:

The head of the Snohomish County Republican Party apologized Tuesday after the organization’s booth at the Evergreen State Fair in Monroe sold “$3 bills” depicting Barack Obama wearing Arab headgear and featuring a camel. […] Obama’s face, in the traditional Arab headgear, is pictured above the words “Da man.”

The Arab headgear and the camel on the bill are clearly references to the false rumor spread by some Obama critics that he is a Muslim.

Of course, Snohomish County Republican chairwoman Geri Modrell apologized (that’s the lede after all), telling the Seattle Times that “volunteers are being told very clearly they must not do these sorts of things.”  Wink, wink.  But I guess that pretty much sums up the kind of issue oriented campaign the Republican grassroots want… and will get.

UPDATE:
In the comment thread I’m told the Everett Herald had the story first.  I don’t know, as I haven’t had the time to scan the dailies closely this week, but I did love this tidbit from the Herald:

The serial number, “IBD14UOK” when read aloud, is fractured English: “I be de one for you, OK.”

But, you know, they apologized… so I guess it’s okay.

There is no secret about it, our soldiers are not treated with the dignity they deserve. The shoddy treatment includes deployment extensions and stop-loss orders that add both length to and uncertainty in dwell times. Extensions and stop-loss are tools that the Administration chose for executing Bush’s Big Military Adventure.

Sober planning for the war and, especially, the post-war period should have dictated a national sacrifice: taxes to fund the war (and the right equipment), a draft to put the required number of boots on the ground, and a concerted effort to fund and provide quality services to our newest veterans. But Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld tried to do it on the cheap, and our soldiers and veterans shoulder the burden.

The Walter Reed tragedy provided gut-wrenching documentation of the disgraceful treatment our veterans received under the “stewardship” of the Bush administration. But for every Walter Reed story, there are numerous other outrageous stories of veterans and soldiers denied the basic medical and (especially) mental health services they need.

This afternoon I attended a meeting of the Veterans and Military Families Caucus at the Democratic National Convention. There were two panels comprised largely of veterans: Major general Scott Gration USAF (Ret.), Colonel Dick Klass USAF (Ret), Command Sergeant Major Michelle Jones USAR (Ret), Lieutenant Colonel John Medve USA (Ret), Sergeant Major John Estrada USMC (Ret), among others.

The mood in the room was not one of anger (say, the the kind of anger you get from bloggers like me who are outraged over the fraud perpetuated on our country by the Bush administration). There were no “swift boat” attacks on McCain from the panel. Rather, the mood was one of disappointment, hope for the future, and determination.

McCain’s record on military and veterans issues was vetted by the panel, not in anger but in disappointment. The bottom line was summed up by one panelist: “McCain doesn’t listen.” A man who should be in a position to offer leadership on military and veterans issues has been AWOL far too often. A high-profile example is last year’s Webb amendment that required periods of rest and recovery between deployments. McCain voted against the amendment. Another example…in May of 2006, McCain voted against a bill that provided an additional $20 million for medical facilities for veterans. Veterans and their families noticed these votes with disapproval and disappointment.

Much of the panel discussions were about the positive things Obama would do for soldiers, their families and veterans. Folks were quick to note that the very first committee Obama joined as a freshman Senator was the Veterans Affairs Committee. Likewise there was grateful acknowledgment and praise for Michelle Obama’s genuine interest in the families of soldiers (and these folks seemed to make up a large proportion of the audience). Barack and Michelle have listened to soldiers, their families, and vets. (If you want more information on Barack Obama’s positions on the military issues, BTW, check out his recent interview with Stars and Stripes.)

I’ve dropped in on a few of these meetings over the last two days. This one was different, and I found it personally very compelling and even, dare I say, emotional. The Veterans and Military Families Caucus meeting transcended “politics as usual.” It was an authentic dialog among people deeply concerned about America and her warriors. They expressed a genuine hope in an Obama presidency—hope for change that we owe to veterans, soliders, and their families after eight years of recklessness and abuse.

The Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally meets tonight (and every Tuesday), 8PM onward at the Montlake Ale House, 2307 24th Avenue E. I won’t be there, but come on by and watch the convention coverage on the big screen; I’ll be sitting underneath the Washington sign on the convention floor.

Not in Seattle? Liberals will also be drinking tonight in the Tri-Cities. A full listing of Washington’s thirteen Drinking Liberally chapters is available here.

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean has a lot of fans in the Netroots, and for good reason.  It was Gov. Dean who first embraced the Internet as an effective fundraising and organizing tool (at least, in a major way by a major candidate).  It was Gov. Dean who embraced the 50-State Strategy, and put the full power of the DNC behind it.  And it was Gov. Dean who invited us bloggers to a barbecue this afternoon, where he chowed down on pulled pork, corn on the cob and yes, watermelon, as he talked freely with the local bloggers.

Thank you Gov. Dean, for the free food, and the incredible opportunity to cover the convention.  But the next time you invite a bunch of bloggers into a highly secured area, you might want to make some plans for letting us out.

The Pepsi Center is only three blocks away from the “Big Tent” where the bloggers congregate, but with all the street closures, perimeter check points and security stations, it’s about a half hour trek under the blazing Denver sun.  And once we arrived at the arena, it was another 10 minute walk through the parking lot, to a cordoned off area near the railroad tracks, and under the watchful eye of several snipers atop a closed down Circle K.  I joked to a colleague as we hiked in that I hoped Gov. Dean really wanted to buy us food and booze… as opposed to rounding us bloggers up and packing us onto internment camp bound railroad cars.

It was just a joke.

Until several bloggers attempted to leave, and were turned back by security.

It turns out that the blogger barbecue was just on the other side of the security perimeter, but still walled off from the outside world.  Security personnel told us we weren’t allowed to enter, when really all we wanted to do was exit.  It was a little surreal.

It took about a half hour before staff sorted things out, and we were ushered through a media security tent through a back parking lot, but the whole incident was just indicative of the incredibly tight security surrounding the entire convention.  I talked with Rep. Jim McDermott (we’ll post the video later) and he says he’s never seen security like this at any previous convention… and I guess that’s a good thing.  But it certainly is a bit inconvenient… and at times a touch scary.