"It's a clusterfuck! Just a clusterfuck!" the Corpus Christi producer for a local news affiliate shouts into his cell phone. He's telling his boss that there will be no coverage of Bill Clinton's visit to Victoria for the 6 o'clock news. "Who's running this campaign anyway?" the producer asks, of no one in particular. "And now five hundred people have stomped away mad." He shakes his head. At that moment, twenty well-dressed elderly and middle-aged dignitaries and politicians exit the back of the local arts center and walk slowly for the intersection of Goodwin and Main. Presumably, they are Hillary Clinton supporters; however, given their dazed faces, they look more like commissars who have been turned out by the NKVD and cannot believe how suddenly their fortunes have changed.

The wheels look to have come all the way off the Hillary bus.

Mayhill Fowler: Clinton's Texas Ground Game Plunges Into Chaos - Off The Bus on The Huffington Post

Now that the nominating process is up, I wanted to record my expectations for the general election (mostly so I can point and go "SEE!").

If we get Obama-McCain:
Obama gets the usual democratic areas, New England (maybe dropping like New Hampshire or Vermont, someone up there always seems to go against the grain for some reason) and the left coast. He also gets all the states that stayed in the Union in 1861, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky or Missouri could flip, but the rest are solid blue, and taking three out of four of those states would not surprise me. He also picks up 2-3 from the normally red south, Florida, Georgia, a Carolina, Louisiana? Finally out west, he might get one or two, but enh. Final count in the electoral college 330-210 or bigger. 350 is easily in reach. Obama wins.

If we get Clinton-McCain:
Clinton gets New England, like Obama, and the left coast. Now things change. Clinton still gets New York and Jersey, but the midwest splits. She loses Missouri and the entire south and west. Final result, 2004 all over again with the winner up in the air. The difference will be close enough that flipping any of Pennsylvania, Ohio or Indiana from the winner to the loser would change the winner. Count in the college, 287-273.

Now, toss a huge event out there (someone nukes a port, W bombs Iran, Black Thursday) and I think things slope even harder to the Democrats side (8 years of you guys and this is the protection you do? F-Off!). McCain needs a Hillary nomination or the second coming.

Feel free to make other predictions!

CONYERS: Well, are you ready to start a criminal investigation into whether this confirmed use of waterboarding by United States agents was illegal?

MUKASEY: That's a direct question, and I will give a direct answer.

No, I am not, for this reason: Whatever was done as part of a CIA program at the time that it was done was the subject of a Department of Justice opinion through the Office of Legal Counsel and was found to be permissible under the law as it existed then.

For me to use the occasion of the disclosure that that technique was once part of the CIA program -- an authorized part of the CIA program, would be for me to tell anybody who relied, justifiably, on a Justice Department opinion that not only may they no longer rely on that Justice Department opinion, but that they
will now be subject to criminal investigation for having done so.

Fine. If that is the case, then you prosecute the people who authorized it at OLC. The idea that this could be legal, when the Cambodians have a display devoted to waterboarding at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, is sheer insanity.

Oh, and purely as an aside, "I was just following orders" is no more valid now than it was in 1945. Mr. Attorney General, you're supporting a position of the worst government of the past 100 years, and I don't mean the one you work for.

Mukasey: No, I Will Not Investigate Waterboarding

The following is the full text of the address, with comments inserted in bold. The original can be found here just in case someone thinks I wrote my own. Audio can be found here for the one location I note a bad stumble.

An extended comment is about halfway down when I got tired of snarking.

THE PRESIDENT: Madam Speaker, Vice President Cheney, members of Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow citizens: Seven years have passed since I first stood before you at this rostrum. In that time, our country has been tested in ways none of us could have imagined. You mean like 9/11 which Berger tried to warn Condi about? Or the August 6th memo saying the same thing? Or the levees failing in New Orleans which you were told was a serious danger? We faced hard decisions about peace and war, rising competition in the world economy, and the health and welfare of our citizens. In other words, we're in two wars, our money is flowing out like the 9th street levee, and we cut messed with the healthcare system to make the companies involved more money These issues call for vigorous debate, which you and your party stifled by branding anyone not in lockstep with you as unpatriotic or helping the terrorists and I think it's fair to say we've answered the call. Yet history will record that amid our differences, we acted with purpose. And together, we showed the world the power and resilience of American self-government. Try we showed the rest of the world we're a bunch of untrustworthy lunatics, or check out the articles or report.

All of us were sent to Washington to carry out the people's business. That is the purpose of this body. It is the meaning of our oath. It remains our charge to keep. Way to plug your book George.

The actions of the 110th Congress will affect the security and prosperity of our nation long after this session has ended. In this election year, let us show our fellow Americans that we recognize our responsibilities and are determined to meet them. Let us show them that Republicans and Democrats can compete for votes and cooperate for results at the same time. (Applause.) The Congress being addressed set a record last year for most bills filibustered in the history of the nation, and did so halfway through the term. If you call that "cooperation" I've got some oceanview property in Wyoming for you.

From expanding opportunity (worst job growth of any president since Hoover, yes I'd like to find a less partial source, but BLS doesn't want to help) to protecti... [ Read More (5.3k in body) ]

Joe Shoemaker, a spokesman for Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, said that by putting Mr. Bradbury’s name forward again as a nominee, “the president has thumbed his nose at Congress and chosen an individual who has been involved in authorizing some of the most controversial policies of this administration.”

So over on the Democrats side of the aisle we have people saying they would like to work together with the Republicans to get things done. Compromise, that old story that doesn't always get good things done, but is designed to get passable results. From the other side, we get things like this.

It's time for the Democrats to wake up. The Republicans have already used cloture more times to kill things than any other senate in history, and we're just barely into the second year of the congress, and the White House keeps sending out crap like this. They have no interest in working with anyone. As far as anyone with eyes can see, their position is their way or the highway, and to hell with the nation.

Justice Nomination Seen as Snub to Democrats - New York Times

THE MIDDLE CLASS JOBS PROTECTION ACT WILL:

1) Slash the corporate tax rate from 35% to 25%, encouraging businesses to create jobs.

2) Provide for a 50% bonus depreciation for 2008 and 2009.

3) Allow for section 179 expensing for '08-'09 of up to $250,000 for purchases up to a $1 M

4) Allow a 5 year carry back of Net Operating Loss.

5) Allow for extension of carry back period for Business Tax Credits for 3 years.

Wow. And this protects jobs how? Or protects the middle class how? Or does anything other than bail out big businesses how? Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't we watching business after business give their CEOs huge buyouts when they get rid of them? Didn't Merrill Lynch just hand their outgoing CEO over $100 million at the same time they've had to write off $25 BILLION in the past six months? Give me a damn break.

Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) :: Chief Deputy Whip

Some officials assert that in the push to complete the long-delayed project, potentially life-threatening problems have been left untouched. "This is serious enough to get someone killed," said a State Department official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he feared retaliation. "The fire systems are the tip of the iceberg. That is the most visible. But no one has ever inspected the electrical system, the power plant" and other parts of the embassy complex, which will house more than 1,000 people and is vulnerable to mortar attacks.

Now that's quality construction!

(Why is this in Politics and Law? Because as John Dean points out in the new book, this is the kind of work Republicans get done.)

Baghdad Embassy Is Called A Fire Risk - washingtonpost.com

The former deputy legal counsel to Gov. Matt Blunt sued the governor and four of his top aides Wednesday, alleging a wide-ranging conspiracy to cover up the administration’s activities.

The suit, filed in Jackson County Circuit Court, describes schemes within the governor’s office to destroy public documents, to evade the state Sunshine law by sending text messages on personal Blackberrys and to fire a long-time state employee for political reasons.

Ah the joys of state politics. The governor is also the son of minority whip Roy Blunt. Whoops.

Blunt, four staffers sued, accused of plot to destroy public records and hide activities from the public | KansasCity.com Prime Buzz

"This is especially about all of the young people in New Hampshire who need a president who won't just call for change, or a president who won't just demand change, but a president who will produce change, just like I've been doing for 35 years."

There's a problem with this statement from Hillary. If she's been producing change for 35 years, then it's her fault we're in the middle of this enormous mess? No. Wrong. And she's a complete moron for even saying this.

Analysis: Clinton goes for young voters - Yahoo! News

While on the campaign trail, Huckabee has claimed that he supported the 1999 release of Wayne Dumond because, at the time, he had no good reason to believe that the man represented a further threat to the public. Thanks to Huckabee's intervention, conducted in concert with a right-wing tabloid campaign on Dumond's behalf, Dumond was let out of prison 25 years before his sentence would have ended.

Wow, a Willie Horton moment, except this time the guy being accused of screwing things up (Huckabee) is the one who is responsible for the release.

Documents Expose Huckabee's Role In Serial Rapist's Release - Politics on The Huffington Post