Monday, May 10, 2004

On the morning Andrew Sullivan says that to deserve reelection in the wake of the current crisis in Iraq, Bush must be "in touch enough to recognize it as a crisis," Instapundit highlights...supposed "doubts about Seymour Hersh's integrity." Objection. Irrelevant. Sustained. It's a little late to be shooting the messenger on this one, isn't it? 2:58:17 PM    comment []

1:25:49 PM    comment []

Andrew Sullivan: "The one anti-war argument that, in retrospect, I did not take seriously enough was a simple one. It was that this war was noble and defensible but that this administration was simply too incompetent and arrogant to carry it out effectively. I dismissed this as facile Bush-bashing at the time. I was wrong... ...when November comes around, we have to decide whether this president is now a liability in the war on terror or the asset he once was. How he reacts to this crisis - whether he is even in touch enough to recognize it as a crisis - should determine how the country votes this fall. He and his team have failed us profoundly. He has a few months to show he can yet succeed." 1:20:43 PM    comment []

The Business Journal notes Robert Rubin's visit to Greensboro: "No mainstream media covered the Empire Room luncheon, but Greensboro writer Ed Cone posted a summary of Rubin's remarks on his Web site." 10:13:41 AM    comment []

Bloggers get press credentials to the Democratic convention (via Romenesko). 8:57:26 AM    comment []

Salon: "There's now a growing chorus on both the left and the right demanding that the administration acknowledge that its Iraq adventure is an unsalvageable failure and cut America's (and Iraq's) losses by bringing the troops home." The same article notes that we might have to go back in to quell an ensuing civil war...and that we might have to leave a dictator in our place to prevent one. So...pulling out wouldn't really be pulling out. And the message to the rest of the world would be one of weakness and vacillation. And in the process we would create a lawless haven for terrorists. I think we are stuck there for a while. But in November we can fire the guy who botched things, and begin to offload some of the problems to other countries. 8:54:18 AM    comment []

Democratic Underground has started a state-by-state campaign site with info on major races, contacts, media, etc. Here's the NC page. 8:33:48 AM    comment []

Drug war casualty: Lorraine Ahearn reports on a high school kid lured into buying small amounts of pot for an undercover hottie he hoped to woo. He's now serving time on felony charges. Jeffrey Webster, 17, "was in honors classes, worked two jobs, went to church three times a week, ran the school blood drive, had no criminal record, and no history of trouble at school... And though he had no girlfriend, he had hopes." Others arrested in the big Alamance County drug sting copped pleas and got probation -- including basketball star JamesON Curry, who just signed to play at Oklahoma State. Webster went to trial, admitted to buying pot for the "gorgeous" girl he knew as Cindy, and got five months at a youth prison in Morganton. Your tax dollars at work. 8:28:18 AM    comment []

Could North Carolina be trending Democratic in national elections? Over at MyDD, Chris Bowers says the numbers suggest that a change may be underway: "Since the Iowa caucus, every single poll out of North Carolina has shown Democrats running closer to Bush than the partisan index would indicate as normal...with a statewide favorable rating well over 70%, John Edwards as Vice-President would probably instantly make North Carolina a toss up." Maybe...but any narrowing of the Red-Blue gap in NC is good news for Erskine Bowles. 8:13:48 AM    comment []