The Hollywood Liberal

McCain’s Speech to NALEO
National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) Conference Washington, D.C. Thank you. It’s good to be with you. I want to speak very briefly, and then take your questions. I have the privilege today of speaking before my opponent, Senator Obama, whose talent as an orator, as you might notice, is somewhat greater than mine. I will not overemphasize that fact by indulging your patience with a lengthy speech. Fortunate for me and you, I enjoy listening and responding to my audience’s questions more than I do delivering formal remarks. So, I want to share just a few thoughts with you, and then move quickly to your questions, comments or insults. We meet after another week of rising gasoline prices, another stock market sell-off, more mortgage foreclosures and the increasing loss of the American people’s confidence in the economy. The question of how government should respond to these troubling developments will shape much of the debate in this election, and I want to offer a few thoughts about what I believe we should do and not do.

Grand New Party
David Brooks: “There have been other outstanding books on how the G.O.P. can rediscover its soul (like Comeback by David Frum), but if I could put one book on the desk of every Republican officeholder, Grand New Party would be it. You can discount my praise because of my friendship with the authors, but this is the best single roadmap of where the party should and is likely to head.”

“Several years ago, Tim Pawlenty, the Minnesota governor, said the Republicans should be the party of Sam’s Club, not the country club. This line is the animating spirit of Grand New Party. Douthat and Salam argue that the Republicans rode to the majority because of support from the Reagan Democrats, and if the party has a future, it will be because it understands the dreams and tribulations of working-class Americans.”

Time Poll Shows Small Bounce for Obama
Sen. Barack Obama enters the fall campaign with a tight lead, 43% to 38%, over Sen. John McCain, according to a new Time magazine poll of registered voters. The poll shows Obama gaining only a slight bounce from Hillary Clinton’s departure from the campaign early this month.

“When undecided voters leaning towards Obama and McCain are accounted for, the race narrows to a mere 4 percentage points, barely above the poll’s 3.5% margin of error. Thirty percent of those who remain undecided said they lean towards McCain, 20% said they were leaning toward Obama with 46% citing no preference. Overall, 28% said they could still change their minds in the four months left before the November election.”

CQ Politics: Wild differences in national polls explained.

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.

DMV Learns Acronyms

The Division of Motor Vehicles in North Carolina issued 10,000 license plates that began with WTF before someone spoiled the fun by complaining.

DMV officials got word of the plates last July when a 60-year-old technology teacher from Fayetteville complained about the plate after her teenage grandchildren clued her in.

The DMV actually featured a WTF license plate on its website. According to the linked story, “[o]fficials are trying to remove the plate from the site.” Trying? Maybe DMV should call the technology teacher's grandkids to ask for help.

Now that the DMV has been clued in, it's offering all WTF plate recipients a chance to trade in their plates for a less expressive combination of letters. It's also inviting “anyone who has an issue with their plate” to “contact their local DMV office to request a new one.” (The linked story helpfully links to a slideshow of 20 internet acronyms someone thinks parents should know.)

Not Very Confident
Quite pessimistic, in fact.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – consumer confidence fell more than expected in June, hitting another 28-year low as surging prices and mounting job losses sapped sentiment, according to a survey released on Friday.

…

The Surveys of Consumers said the final June reading for its index of confidence fell to 56.4 from May’s 59.8.

The June reading is the lowest since 51.7 in May 1980, which was also the lowest reading ever. The index dates back to 1952, though the survey has been conducted since 1946.

Will the Last Superpower Recognize In Time What We Must Do to Save the Planet?
In a time when the old order is shattering, a global movement is emerging to challenge the use of war as a tool of statecraft.

Obama Hires Top Hillary Policy Adviser
A key hire by the Obama camp: He reportedly signs up senior Hillary policy adviser Neera Tanden, one of her top loyalists, as his new Director of Domestic Policy. Tanden, a fixture on many a Hillary campaign conference call, was…

Wrapping Up This Week’s Book Club
What do Philip Gourevitch’s reflections on Abu Ghraib tell us? For one, Robert Stone says, that “the Bush-Cheney operation ought never to have been trusted to supervise the deployment of armed troops.”…

Bloggingheads.tv: FISA, Guns, Drilling

The latest edition of The Week In Blog is up at Bloggingheads.tv, featuring myself and Bill Beutler talking about Obama & FISA, Newt & coastal drilling, and guns & bloggers.

Also, my colleagues at bhTV were particularly excited about this week’s segment with FireDogLake’s Jane Hamsher and Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr — I believe the first presidential hopeful ever on bhTV — also discussing the FISA fallout among other things.

Check out both videos below.

Rare Iraqi books surface in Israel
JERUSALEM – Some 300 rare and valuable books confiscated from Iraq’s Jewish community by Saddam Hussein’s regime have been secretly spirited into Israel, an Israeli newspaper reported on Friday…

US: Taliban attacks may rise this year
WASHINGTON – The Taliban has created a “resilient insurgency” in Afghanistan and will likely maintain or increase the pace of its attacks this year, the Pentagon said on Friday…