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Sec. 6.  Revocation.  Executive Order 13233 of November 1, 2001, is revoked.

BARACK OBAMA
THE WHITE HOUSE,

    January 21, 2009

I ask on Tuesday.  It gets done on Wednesday.  Now that's good government.

Anybody else want anything done?

Let's Start At The Beginning

The first thing President Obama ought to do to begin erasing the awful stain of the Bush administration on this great country is revoke Executive Order 13233 so we can finally, eight years later, find out just what exactly it was Bush was so eager to hide about the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations.

Ah, What The Hell

One more time.

I know, I know--it's not nearly as sunny and optimistic and inspiring as when Ronald Reagan told us that The Government of and by and for The People was actually the problem.

But it's still pretty good.

Now We Face The Challenges Of The Future

And by that, I mean we need to wrap Barack up in kevlar and six hundred Secret Service agents for the next eighty days or so.

Rantless

This just might be the greatest political moment in my life.  In all our lives.  

But, still, it kind of makes me laugh to think that nearly half of Americans voted against it happening.

Because a lot of them think Sarah Palin is folksy.

Good for you, Americans, those of you who participated.

Thoughtfully.

Look At The Democrats Spend! Look At The Democrats Tax!

For the thousandth time:

You can't say it any better than this:

As you can see, there are basically two kinds of situations in which this ratio skyrockets — either World War II breaks out, or else you put representatives of the modern conservative movement in the White House.

Why don't Americans know this?

The Man Who Wasn't There, Part III

The Nation -- In the edgiest debate of the Democratic presidential race, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton repeatedly engaged on Monday night in bitter and at times personal exchanges with one another.

And John Edwards effectively pointed to the heated squabbling between the two frontrunners in anticipation of Saturday's South Carolina Democratic primary as a deviation from the issues that matter…

Clinton accused Obama of doing legal work for a Chicago slumlord and charged that her opponent "did the bidding of the insurance companies" when health care was debated in the Illinois legislature.

Obama told Clinton he was fighting to help workers in Chicago when "you were a corporate lawyer sitting on the board of Wal-Mart…"

Way to go, Obama! Way to go, Hillary! Way to get on a national stage and make a powerful case that Democrats are a bunch of hypocritical stooges for corporate interests!

Karl Rove couldn't have said it better! Or for a bigger audience.

Christ, it's like having Joe Lieberman back in the Democratic primaries. Only worse.

I mean, only centrist Democrats, with their DLC Democratic strategists, could unbelievably make the party, whose leading candidates are a woman and a black man and the son of poor mill worker, look like a bunch of sexists and racists, and corporate lackeys.

In a primary of unprecedented, historical, and progressive firsts--where, for the first time in the history of our country, the two leading candidates for President of the United States were candidates simply as people without regard to their race or their sex--and these two idiots have managed to make race and sex an issue.

They seem unable to stop tarring Democrats as racist, sexist, unreasonable, uncivil hypocrits, all the while singing the praises of Ronald Fucking Reagan.

I can barely stand to listen to either one of them.

The Republicans have handed them this election. It's a Democratic White House. And not because of anything Democrats have done. Lord knows they haven't fought against having troops in Iraq until 2018 and beyond. They haven't fought against that appalling Iran resolution. They didn't fight against that awful bankruptcy bill. If their constituents hadn't howled bloody murder--along with Republicans--Democrats would have "compromised" on privatizing Social Security.

Jesus, Obama was bringing it up even after we shouted it down.

The two of them have no stomach whatsoever to fight the worst Republican president and Congress in the history of our country, but they are ready to go bareknuckled at Democrats every chance they get.

In short order, Edwards had gotten the best of both his opponents. That was the order of the night. Again and again, Edwards took the side of one of the frontrunners against the other, effectively serving as an arbiter between the two.

It was an ideal position for Edwards, the outsider candidate who is struggling to distinguish himself from two opponents with more money and better poll positions.

Not to mention the fact that they, as far as Americans know, apparently exist.

But the former senator from North Carolina had to fight for it. More than half an hour into the debate in South Carolina, where voters will participate in a high-stakes Democratic primary on Saturday, CNN moderator Wolf Blitzer had presided over what was essential a showcase for Clinton and Obama.

"Are there three people in this debate, not two?" interjected Edwards. The 2004 Democratic nominee then delivered what may have been the most effective soliloquy of the night. Referencing the bitter back-and-forth between his two opponents, Edwards asked, "This kind of squabbling -- how many children is this going to get health care? How many people are going to get education because of this? How many kids are going to get to go to college because of this?"

"I respect both of my fellow candidates," he continued, "but we have got to understand this is not about us personally. It's about what we are trying to do for this country,'

Of course, Blitzer interrupted. But Edwards held his ground. "Let me finish here," he said. "Lord knows, you let them go on forever."

The crowd cheered as loudly as it had for anything said by Obama or Clinton.

Anyway, there is actually a liberal media. It's tiny and hard to find. But that's how they saw the debate: Edwards won, while Obama and Clinton continued to act like jackasses who'd throw their own mothers under the campaign bus to get elected.

Course, if you, like most of America, read the corporately owned, conservatively dominated, imaginary "liberal" media, you'd know who the real winner in last night's Democratic debate was:

MYRTLE BEACH, South Carolina (CNN) -- The gloves came off quickly Monday night as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama traded blows just days before the South Carolina primary, and two weeks before voters in 24 Super Tuesday states weigh in on this wide-open presidential contest...

Still, there was no clear winner in this Democratic slugfest, the most contentious yet, unless you count John McCain, the Arizona Republican senator who took the gold in last Saturday's South Carolina Republican presidential primary.

That's right--John McCain.

And it shouldn't surprise you that a Republican, in a field of really sorry hopeless Republicans, won a Democratic debate. If you recall, back in November of 2007:

He was nowhere to be found on stage, but Rudy Giuliani's campaign shrewdly rushed to declare victory after Tuesday night's Democratic debate in Philadelphia - chiefly because the former New York mayor emerged as the preferred whipping boy among the seven Democratic rivals.

Shrewdly, said your liberal media, approvingly.

In November of 2007, the presumptive Republican nominee was the clear winner of the Democratic debate in Philadelphia. In January of 2008, the new presumptive Republican nominee was the clear winner in the Democratic debate in South Carolina.

With such a pathetically weak and unpopular Republican field, one can only guess which Republican will win the next Democratic debate!

And that's what Democrats are up against.

And neither Obama, nor Clinton seem to notice or care.

In our time, there is a very real struggle for the soul of our country.

And neither Obama nor Clinton seem to want to fight for it.

They want to talk about unity and civility and inclusiveness, and whatever.

Four years ago, the highest ranking military officers in this country were publicly discussing turning our country into a military dictatorship.

In seven years, we've gone from a $230 billion surplus to nearly doubling the national debt.

We have secret prisons, "First Amendment Zones", millions of missing White House emails, billions of missing dollars, two hopelessly mismanaged wars, warrantless wiretaps, we torture people and destroy the tapes.

This is not the time to be all fucking touchy feely.

This is a time to scrap. And not with the people--Democrats--who didn't create this godawful mess.

John Edwards was a lousy Senator. And he was a lousy Vice Presidential candidate. But he strikes me as a man who tried to play the game and wound up getting played himself. And he's a little smarter now, and little bit bitter about it, and a little bit angry about it. And he doesn't need the money, and he doesn't need the fame, and all he wants to do is feel his fingers wrap around the tape.

And we ought to put the bat in his hands.

He might be full of shit. But, honestly, he's the only one promising to swing it.

The End Of The Road

The Gilbert and Sullivan charade of statesmanship played out by George W. Bush and his enabler, Condoleezza Rice, as they wander the Middle East is a fitting end to seven years of misrule. Despots stripped of power are transformed from monsters into buffoons. And this is the metamorphosis that is eating away at the Bush presidency…

It is the end of the road for George Bush. The world takes less and less notice of him. He strutted and swaggered across the stage. He bellowed and raged. He plundered and murdered. And now he wants to be anointed as a peacemaker. His presidency, like his life, has been a tragic waste. But he at least he has a life. There are tens of thousands of mute graves in Gaza, Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan that stand as stark testaments to his true legacy. If he wants to redeem his time in office he should kneel before one and ask for forgiveness.

That's Chris Hedges. He wrote a pretty good book.

In 2003, Americans booed him, and turned their backs on him, and shouted him down, and finally unplugged him to shut him up.

Some people in the audience even cried, because he insulted war, which in 2003, was an American value.

Though, you know, everything he said was true.

Dude's spot on again.

Screw 'em Both

Between reinvigorating Bush's Social Security "crisis", and contemplating putting Powell in your cabinet, and pulling this kind of horseshit on a fellow Democrat in a primary...

Bleh.

These are people who've got more stomach to fight Democrats than Republicans.

Vote Edwards.

Any guy who is willing to spend $400 to make sure his fucking hair is right is a guy who'll pay attention to details.

That's a guy who is on top of everything.

And he wants everything done right.

Wouldn't that be a nice change from eight years of a President who didn't pay attention to any details? Even Presidential Daily Briefings?

Oh, and also, Edwards spent a lifetime fighting for people he represented.

And he mostly won.

Obama and Clinton?

They mostly seem to enjoy fighting Democrats and progressives, while doing their best to woo conservatives who hate their guts and will never, ever, ever vote for them.

Enough of that.

Vote for a guy who understands what "represent" means.

And "adversary".

And "win".

Short, Sharp, and Shorter

I don't know where he goes, but when he feels like coming back, the dude is fucking awesome.