The Hollywood Liberal

McCain’s Veep Problem
Joe Klein says “the word in Republican circles is that John McCain is quite frustrated by the vice presidential selection process because he can’t go with any of his top three choices.”

The problem? One is pro-choice (Tom Ridge), one is named Bush (Jeb) and one was born outside the United States (Sen. Mel Martinez).

Meanwhile, over at Political Insider, we guess when McCain and Obama will announce their running mates.

Suggestion Box
Please let us know here at FDL if you have inspired ideas or just simple suggestions about things we can do better. We really appreciate your support.

Please let us know here at FDL if you have inspired ideas or just simple suggestions about things we can do better. We really appreciate your support.

What Political Cost?

Of all the strange defenses to the FISA capitulation, I find the one Kevin Drum uses here one of the strangest:

Like everyone else in the liberal blogosphere, I think retroactive immunity is a bad idea that sets a bad precedent, but as I’ve mentioned before, this isn’t a hill I’m willing to die defending.

Where did the idea that fighting against granting amnesty to AT&T was political suicide come from? Hell, there is no hill to defend here politically. Indeed, the Democrats, and Obama especially, have caused themselves unnecessary political grief with this craven act. Of course, I happen to think it is a principle worth fighting for anyway, but where in Gawd’s name is Kevin Drum getting the idea that stopping amnesty for Big Telco is a political loser? Kevin is making that up. It may not be a political plus, I think it is, but it surely is not a political minus, much less political suicide.

Speaking for me only.

Just Because
What’s amazing about all of this bomb Iran talk is that there doesn’t seem to be any genuine (if crazy) military goal as commonly understood. Sure there’s talk of bombing the nuclear program, but basically the bombing talk is about bombing for its own sake to prove that we can and to demonstrate that people still listen to John Bolton. I suppose there’s some sort of tiny penis psychology going on here, such that the point of bombing them is to prove to the world that we do have a big swinging dick and then those silly Persians will be so awed by it that they’ll do anything we want.

But this is, you know, morally obscene and criminal. Welcome to Bush America!

The New Republic Syndrome
Quite the track record over there.

Abuse of the Filibuster: Republicans Play Dirty ‘Block and Blame’ Game
It works like this: Republicans hijack the Senate, block important legislation, then complain nothing is getting done.

Zimbabwe: more beatings, more abductions as the world watches
The UN Security Council have unanimously agreed with the stance taken by Morgan Tsvangirai and have stated that elections in Zimbabwe would not have been possible given the levels of violence in that country and have called on Mugabe not to go ahead with Friday’s elections as this would produce results, according to the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, “that cannot be credible”.However, despite Tsvangirai and his party stepping down from the electoral process, the violence towards the MDC
—- link

LeftWord: The Best Liberal Blog Posts
All The Best Liberal Blog Posts From Arond The Web.

Dems Giving McCain a Big Pass
I just saw John McCain very gravely lamenting Barack Obama’s decision not to accept public financing for the general election campaign and opining about what it says about Obama’s ethics and trustworthiness. And I must confess that I’m a little…

Studios: AM/FM radio ‘a form of piracy’
The recording industry and U.S. radio companies have squared off for decades about whether AM and FM radio broadcasters should pay royalties to singers, musicians and their labels. But now the debate is getting meaner; there’s more at stake as the recording industry seeks new income avenues in the wake of wanton peer-to-peer piracy and declining CD sales in part due to the iPod and satellite radio. A U.S. House subcommittee could vote as early as Thursday on a royalty measure…

Gas prices up a dime in two weeks
Price of oil rises despite Saudi pledge to increase output 200k barrels daily.