The Mukasey vote: wrong, but not world-ending

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Friday November 09, 2007 · 11:21 AM PST

2007/11/09 · 11:21

This diary not associated with any candidate or campaign.

Were I in the Senate, I would have voted against the nomination of Michael Mukasey to be Attorney General. I would have put off the vote until after we had passed a resolution making clear the sense of Congress on the illegality of waterboarding. I would have participated in a filibuster of the nomination until such time as he agreed that waterboarding was illegal and constituted torture. I would have encouraged others to join me in that filibuster.

But, having lost the vote, I would never turn around and say that with this vote the Senate has condoned torture, as many here have done. Not only is it wrong, it harms the cause of opposing torture. It's dramatic, but while this vote is a failure, it is not the abject catastrophe people make it out to be. But calling it one is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Poll

81 votes Show Results

Do you think we had enough votes to sustain a filibuster?

81 votes Vote Now!

Do you think we had enough votes to sustain a filibuster?

Yes -- and Harry Reid blocked it

28 votes

Yes -- and it was blocked by someone other than Reid

7 votes

No -- Democrats were motivated for the reasons expressed in this diary

27 votes

No -- fewer than 41 Democrats actually oppose torture

5 votes

I don't care what Democrats thought -- I just want to abuse them

1 vote

I just want to abuse them -- and I'm a Republican or Libertarian or Conservative

2 votes

Don't know

7 votes

Don't care

4 votes

On the real class shown by CA-44 Dem candidates

Major Danby

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday November 06, 2007 · 6:47 PM PST

2007/11/06 · 18:47

I manage the campaign of Ron Shepston in CA-42. This post does not address, or otherwise represent, that campaign. Instead, it's about CA-44, one of our neighboring districts that is also part of the "Triangle of Corruption" represented by Gary Miller (CA-42), Ken Calvert (CA-44), and Jerry Lewis (CA-41).

On Sunday, someone whom I think we can assume was a GOP smear operative (high UID with no previous diary or comment history) posted a troll diary on Daily Kos. You can read it here. This was a scurrilous and baseless attack on Bill Hedrick, the candidate who has raised the most money, leaving open the inference that it was posted by a supporter of 2006 nominee Louis Vandenberg. The diary quickly rose to the top of the Google charts for Bill Hedrick, which suggests that it was part of a Republican Googlebombing strategy.

What did Hedrick and Vanderberg do after this attack? They showed true class and cooperated in producing a joint statement that appeared today on DKos.

Major Danby

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday November 05, 2007 · 3:53 PM PST

2007/11/05 · 15:53

I'm roughly as angry as Kagro X is about the decisions of Sens. Feinstein and Schumer to support Judge Mukasey for Attorney General. I see two ways to proceed at a time like this: one, either declare defeat and slam the Democrats, or try to figure out a way to mitigate the damage. What I suggest here is not as good as blocking the nomination, but I think it's better than we'll otherwise get. I do understand why others would not think that half (or a third) a load is better than none.

Larry Johnson's diary asks that the relevant Senate Committees hold onto the nomination until Judge Mukasey accepts that he opposes waterboarding. As Glenn Greenwald notes, Mukasey's position on waterboarding is more a symptom of rather than the root of the problem, but I think it may give us some means for improving the situation.

(more)

Major Danby

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday November 01, 2007 · 5:52 PM PDT

2007/11/01 · 17:52

As most regular readers probably know, I manage the campaign of Ron Shepston (aka CanYouBeAngryAndStillDream) for U.S Congress in CA-42 against ethically challenged incumbent Gary Miller. I want to post an update on the Santiago Fire, which while 90% contained still threatens Silverado Canyon, especially the east (highest) portion, which is where Ron lives. I've been almost entirely offline for the past six days with connections problems, so have not been able to post an update until now.

I would normally post campaign material from our Campaign account, but I try to review such material with Ron before I do so. Since the fire started, I've been posting from this account because I can't confer with Ron. In fact, except for one conversation, I haven't been able to find my candidate at all.

This is not because he's slacking off. It is, I'm told, because he's still helping to fight the fire.

(more below)

Major Danby

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday October 26, 2007 · 11:54 AM PDT

2007/10/26 · 11:54

This is not a campaign diary; I include the CA-42 listing simply because what I have to report does involve the district and because I know that people looking for information about Ron Shepston ("CanYouBeAngryAndStillDream") may look for it using that tag. I have posted in the Liveblog thread, but again I know that some people have been watching for my diaries on Ron so I am posting separately. The etiquette of a situation like this is very unclear so I ask for indulgence.

I want to reiterate my liveblog post here, to which I can add that I just spoke to Ron's wife Belinda, who saw Ron yesterday for the first time since Monday. He is, as thought, working with the firefighting team in Silverado Canyon; the only thing Belinda knew specifically is that he has been clearing brush. (Obligatory Bush's "ranch" reference omitted.) But the danger to the 750 homes in the community may come as much or more from trees.

(more)

Major Danby

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday October 24, 2007 · 5:09 PM PDT

2007/10/24 · 17:09

Many people have contacted me over the past few days asking me whether Ron Shepston (aka CanYouBeAngryAndStillDream), whose campaign for Congress I'm managing, is OK. Ron lives at the top of Silverado Canyon, in the Silverado 92676 zip code that has taken much damage from the Santiago Canyon fire. I last spoke to Ron on Monday morning when I was at the airport preparing to fly back from Chicago; I encouraged him to post an update for people who knew he was in the area and might worry. Since that noon PDT comment, neither I nor anyone from the campaign had heard from him, which is why I haven't been able to reply to questions.

I just spoke to his wife, Belinda. He's OK. He dropped Belinda off from the danger area and then went back in. His friend and neighbor is an ex-fire chief living in the Upper Canyon, and if I understand correctly Ron is involved in efforts to protect the canyon from fire jumping over from Modjeska Canyon.

Major Danby

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday October 17, 2007 · 1:46 PM PDT

2007/10/17 · 13:46

Claimer: this diary is associated with a candidate and campaign!

As many of you know, I'm managing the campaign of Ron Shepston, whom you've long known as CanYouBeAngryAndStillDream, in California's 42nd District. Ron, along with me and hekebolos, are traveling to Chicago tomorrow to attend a "Boot Camp" for Democratic Congressional candidates. If Ron wasn't running for Congress and the three of us all happened to be in Chicago at the same time, we might try to arrange a meetup with local Kosters. But since Ron is running for Congress, we're doing something even better than that: we're arranging a joint meetup with IL-10 candidate Dan Seals and his supporters for Thursday evening at 8:00 p.m. (Thanks to Jerry 101, to whose diary that links, for doing the heavy organizational lifting on this one!)

That's right: you'll meet two progressive netroots-friendly Democratic candidates for the price of one!

Details below:

Poll

10 votes Show Results

Regarding setting up a second meet-up on the weekend:

10 votes Vote Now!

Regarding setting up a second meet-up on the weekend:

I would be interested in attending something on Saturday night

0 votes

I would be interested in planning and attending something on Saturday night

1 vote

I would be interested in attending something on Sunday morning

0 votes

I would be interested in planning attending something on Sunday morning

0 votes

I would be interested in attending something on Sunday afternoon

0 votes

I would be interested in planning and attending something on Sunday afternoon

0 votes

I would be interested in attending something and am open as to time

0 votes

I would be interested in planning and attending something and am open as to time

0 votes

I live in Chicagoland but cannot or will not attend a second meet-up

0 votes

I do not live in Chicagoland or will not be there next weekend

5 votes

Pie Butcher to the World!

4 votes

A middle plan for Al Gore: become Super-Enviro-Veep

Major Danby

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday October 12, 2007 · 11:56 AM PDT

2007/10/12 · 11:56

If Al Gore runs for President this year, I expect I'll end up supporting him, even though I like Edwards, Obama, and Dodd, and even though I expect many disappointments from him on the way to what I expect would be his ultimate victory. (Some of this is inevitable; I simply don't think that he can take as a Presidential candidate -- or even himself holds -- all of the wonderful positions that people on DKos have projected on him. Pushed for details, for example, I doubt his Iraq position would end up being that much different from that of Edwards.) But I judge a candidate largely by intelligence, integrity, and ability to win, and he has those in droves.

And I don't think he's going to run. I'd be more than happy to be proved wrong, but I don't think he'll run. I think that the reasoning that he would squander too much of the stature he's gained over the past few years to run by sullying himself in electoral politics now probably does reflect his own thinking, whether or not it's correct.

So this diary is about a Plan B for Gore: let people know that he would accept a draft, next August, to become VP again, so long as he has a Cheney-like grip over the environmental and energy portfolios of the U.S. government.

Poll

21 votes Show Results

If Gore decides not to run for President

21 votes Vote Now!

If Gore decides not to run for President

he should announce that he would accept being Super-Enviro-Veep

7 votes

he should not do so because he would not be appointed

0 votes

he should not do so because the ticket would not be elected

0 votes

he should not do so because he would not hold power effectively as VP

0 votes

he should not do so because it would destroy his effectiveness on the issue

2 votes

he should not do so because he is not someone we want in government

0 votes

he should not do for some other reason I note in comments

1 vote

actually he announced his run for President while you were composing this diary

1 vote

he should be forced run for President against his will anyway

6 votes

by even raising that possibility this diary has destroyed the world

4 votes

Someone on this site is in trouble and needs work

Major Danby

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday October 09, 2007 · 8:05 PM PDT

2007/10/09 · 20:05

This is about someone you know. I'm going to refer to the person as "he/him" because most people here are male and I want to narrow down the person's identity as little as possible out of respect for his confidentiality. The other identifying things you need to know are that this person is a skilled attorney, lives in the Los Angeles area, and is not me.

Like many of us these days, this person has lived responsibly and was able to have some financial cushion before a series of externally caused problems occurred -- but not every prudently saved cushion is enough. This person is therefore in imminent danger of losing his house by Friday, he and his pets will be evicted with no place to go.

This is the place in my diary where, if this person were not a skilled attorney, I might be asking for donations to keep this person afloat. But I'm not doing that.

Poll

327 votes Show Results

Just to keep count of how many people saw this:

327 votes Vote Now!

Just to keep count of how many people saw this:

I live in the Greater Los Angeles area

29 votes

I do not live in the Greater Los Angeles area

298 votes

FEC: approve one pair, but not von Spakovsky + 1 Dem

Major Danby

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday October 08, 2007 · 7:15 PM PDT

2007/10/08 · 19:15

This is going to be both short and sweet and hit and run. I'm putting it up here in hope that someone with some sort of influence will see what seems to be to be an obvious course of action. Here's the takeaway:

The Democrats should hold two votes for FEC Commissioners, one pairing up the execrable Hans von Spakovsky with someone they've designated to be doomed, and one pairing off a Democrat and Republican who will actually be appointed. Vote down the first pair; vote in the second pair.

If the Republicans won't go along with that, let them fully own the fact that starting in 2009 we have the prospect of a seriously understaffed FEC. (There are currently five commissioners rather than six; Robert D. Lenhard, Steven T. Walther, and von Spakovsky are recess appointments; David M. Mason's term is almost up, and Ellen L. Weintraub has already wanted to leave by now. A full replacement of what should be staggered six-year terms is simply bad government.)

Poll

48 votes Show Results

Do you have proper current ID that would allow you to vote?

48 votes Vote Now!

Do you have proper current ID that would allow you to vote?

Yes

40 votes

2 votes

I don't know

2 votes

Huh?

4 votes

"We have no friends" is OK. "We have no allies" is not.

Major Danby

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday October 07, 2007 · 10:00 AM PDT

2007/10/07 · 10:00

"If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog."

- President Harry S Truman

Netroots writers have recently been on the warpath against Democrats to a degree I never before remember. I mark the time of the shift as this past August, after the FISA vote during ~~YearlyKos~~ Netroots Nation minus-1.0. (I admit, that vote was one hell of a provocation.)

It's no mystery why this is: the Democrats have more power and the common complaint is that our leaders aren't hewing to the tactical line that we think is best. (Examples follow the jump.) Many people here offer great ideas -- some practicable, some pie-in-the-sky -- for what Democrats should do; some ideas are not so great. I'm not immune from thinking that my bright ideas are the ones that can change the country, so I don't criticize people for believing in the worth of their proposals.

If the standard to which we would hold our friends is that they must agree with us on every proposal and take our interests as theirs, though, then in Truman's sense we have pretty much no "friends" in Washington. But we sure as hell do have allies, and we should treat our allies as such:

Maintaining alliances requires diplomacy.

Poll

45 votes Show Results

How should we criticize the decent Congressional Dems?

45 votes Vote Now!

How should we criticize the decent Congressional Dems?

We should criticize them with increasing fury until they agree with us

5 votes

We should criticize them as one would allies whose lasting good will we value

38 votes

We should not criticize them at all and defer to their leadership and expertise

2 votes

"More and Better Democrats" in bitter times (by request)

Major Danby

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday September 29, 2007 · 8:56 PM PDT

2007/09/29 · 20:56

I don't think I've ever expanded a portion of one diary into a full new diary by request before, but I'm doing so tonight. Yesterday, I wrote a diary tracing the history of the term "More and Better Democrats". It turns out that Meteor Blades coined it, Atrios began popularizing it a year ago yesterday (when the Senate passed the Military Commissions Act), and it really flowered after Darcy Burner took it on as a slogan.

Towards the end of the diary I included what would in music composition would have been considered a bridge: a sidebar on the new theme why one's belief in the rightness of the premise -- that we need both more Democrats and better ones as the only foreseeable decent solution to our current political problems -- is all the more important in trying times like ours when it doesn't seem that the Democrats can deliver.

MB thought that that was actually the important part of diary, buried under paragraphs on another theme as it was, and that it deserved its own emphasis. And so, by request:

more

Poll

37 votes Show Results

I support "More and Better Democrats"

37 votes Vote Now!

I support "More and Better Democrats"

always as a guiding principle

26 votes

only when Democrats behave

6 votes

not at all (explain)

2 votes

other (explain)

3 votes

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The Mukasey vote: wrong, but not world-ending

On the real class shown by CA-44 Dem candidates

What Democrats should do before the Mukasey vote

CA-42: Santiago fire update (it's not over yet)

CA-42 -- Santiago fire burns thru Cleveland Natl Forest

CA-42: Ron's OK & helping protect Silverado from fire

CA-42: Meet Ron Shepston in Chicago tomorrow night!

A middle plan for Al Gore: become Super-Enviro-Veep

Someone on this site is in trouble and needs work

FEC: approve one pair, but not von Spakovsky + 1 Dem

"We have no friends" is OK. "We have no allies" is not.

"More and Better Democrats" in bitter times (by request)