If there's a reason that Russ Feingold will never be Governor or Senator from Wisconsin...

...it's stuff like this:

The progressive icon eviscerated his former colleagues in an e-mail for his advocacy group Progressive United on Tuesday, accusing two prominent Democrats of enabling "corruption" by opposing new transparency measures on political donations.

"This culture of corporate influence and corruption is precisely what we as Progressives United want to change," he wrote. "So we've decided to take on those legislators who are unwilling to stand up to corporate power, and we're naming names."

The names included House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO). In addition, the email targeted Sens. Mitch McConnell, (R-KY), Rob Portman (R-OH), Joe Lieberman (I-CT), and Rep. Darrell Issa, (R-CA).

Feingold accused the group of backing "corporate interests in Congress" by opposing an executive order under discussion in the White House that would require government contractors to reveal their political donations.

Let's be honest. He's right. He usually is, but he has a habit of being insufferable about it. (And this is a prime example of that).

Feingold's never been in love with the sound of his own voice (as most Senators are), but he is in love with his personal self-righteousness, and has no problem rubbing people's noses in it.

Yeah, I was born and raised in Steny Hoyer's District. Know all about him. Claire McCaskill is doing her level best to self-destruct in the Missouri Senate Race (and I could care less if she wins).

Still, do us all a favor Russ...don't write the Republican's Campaign Ads FOR THEM!!!

Look, at the end of the day, Russ is going to want his fellow Senators out there campaigning for him, sending out Emails raising money for him. Sniping at one's colleagues doesn't seem to be a good way to get that done.

Jonathan Cohn talks about a warning from the Courts to Obamacare opponents...

From today's piece:

At the moment, the case against the law in the hands of the appellate courts. Three sets of cases are pending, each one before a different Circuit Court. Last week judges from the Fourth Circuit, which sits in Virginia, heard the first of these cases. Early next month, judges from the Sixth Circuit, in Cincinnati, are supposed to hear the next one.

The Fourth Circuit judges, all of them Democratic appointees, seemed openly skeptical of arguments that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional. But the Sixth Circuit panel will include two judges appointed by Republicans and just one appointed by a Democrat. Most experts figure they will be more sympathetic to the lawsuit challenging the law's constitutionality or, at least, to the parties bringing it.

And maybe they will be. But, on Thursday, the judges sent a letter to lawyers from both parties. In it, they asked the lawyers to write briefs on three procedural questions. Two of them are about "standing" and "ripeness." (Or at least what I understand those concepts to be.)

The first question asks whether the plaintiffs can show they have suffered an injury or face an "imminent injury," even though the law doesn't take effect until 2014. The other asks for details on the penalties for violating the individual mandate and the extent to which they would actually cause "injury and hardship." As legal expert Timothy Jost and journalist Timothy Noah have pointed out, the law specifically prohibits the federal government from using criminal penalties to enforce the insurance requirement.

These questions are critical because, if the plaintiffs can't demonstrate that the Affordable Care Act has caused or will "imminently" cause them hardship, then they arguably have no right to challenge the law. And the Sixth Circuit judges don't seem to be the only ones pondering these issues. The Fourth Circuit judges, in Richmond, made a big deal about this in last week's oral arguments.

Lawrence O'Donnell spikes the football... (VIDEO)

Still think he should've named names...

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It's a sad, sad day in America when I have to agree with (shudder) Allen West...on anything.

Scott Keyes asked Rep. Allen West (the same Allen West who hired an anti-semetic Radio Show as his Chief of Staff before bailing on her), about Newt Ginrich's recent idea to basically reinstate the poll test as a method of screening out voters.

KEYES: Over the weekend, presidential contender Newt Gingrich came out and said he’d like to see some sort of poll test, throwing out the idea that maybe voters ought to have a certain standard knowledge of American history in order to be able to vote. What are your thoughts on that?

WEST: That’s going back to some times that my parents had to contend with. [...] I think that we need to do a better job educating our young men and women in school, but we don’t need to have a litmus test, no.

I know. I'm amazed too. A moment of clarity and sanity. But don't worry, Rep. West will soon say something else that will disgrace the country and the institution in which he serves.

Hardall: Why the International Monetary Fund's Chief getting arrested matters (VIDEO)

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Race to the Top comes through for Booker T. Washington High School in Memphis, TN (VIDEO)

I'm hoping they put the speech up somewhere, because it looks like a good time was had by all.



This last bit was first caught by The Only Adult In The Room:

Hmmm. Wonder if this'll satisfy Krugman.

Doubt it.

The White House is threatening to hold up final passage of three coveted free trade agreements unless lawmakers agree to expand retraining assistance for American workers who lose their jobs because of foreign competition.

The move comes as administration officials begin talks on Capitol Hill to finalize the agreements the White House reached to expand trade with South Korea, Panama and Colombia. President Barack Obama has said the deals are an integral part of his economic agenda, and the pacts have broad Republican support.

While administration officials have long said they supported expanding the Trade Adjustment Assistance Program, or TAA, Monday's announcement was the first time aides said they would be willing to delay the deals without it.

"We will not submit the FTAs without an agreement on an enhanced TAA," said Gene Sperling, director of the National Economic Council. "But we also believe we can work on congressional leadership to get that accomplished."

60 Minutes: The growing threat of "Sovereign Citizens" (VIDEO)

Anyone who's been following the Militia movement has heard of these guys. Nevertheless, I'm glad 60 Minutes took some time to shine a spotlight on them in yesterday's broadcast:

(CBS News video can't get it's act together. The video that is coming through their "Embed this clip" button is of some magnetic kid from Croatia, and not the story I'm talking about. Hence, if you want to see the video, click here.)

It is interesting that this movement has a lot of clear ties to some very racist organizations in the past, yet there is Wesley Snipes, apparently (according to the piece) using Sovereign language in legal filings about his Tax Case.

Personally, I think that says more about Wesley Snipes than it does this movement.

The West Wing explains the Debt Ceiling

A great, great catch by Matthew Yglesias:



And it also could explain the President's strategy in the matter.

The Fireside Chat for May 15th, 2011 (VIDEO)

As part of his long-term plan to reduce our reliance on foreign oil, President Obama lays out his strategy to continue expanding safe and responsible domestic oil production.

About the only time you'll see me (or more importantly the DNC) promoting anything Fox News says (VIDEO)

The President's Town Hall on the Economy from CBS News (VIDEO)

Republicans aren't racist, they're just racializ--awww forget it. They're just being racist. (VIDEO)

...again.

First, a little Jon Stewart:

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Yeah, I'd ignore the rap. It was the worst part of an otherwise legendary segment.

Next, we move on to Lawrence on the Last Word (with clips of the actual White House Performance!):

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Let me say that I'm a bit of a rarity among black people. I'm a black man who doesn't listen to a lot of Hip-Hop (I'm more of an R&B man). Despite that, I was offended by this crap coming out of Fox News yesterday. I was particularly offended by Hannity and Rove. Common is about the most positive of Rappers out here. (Hell, I don't listen to Hip-Hop, and I knew that!) Dr. Harris-Perry's made a particularly sharp point in the Last Word: How is it that Teabaggers coming to Presidential appearances armed with automatic weapons is just fine and dandy as far as political speech goes, yet a Rapper rapping about automatic weapons is out of bounds.

Conservatives would say its all about the sanctity of the White House, but it's really about race, and appealing to the lizard brains of the Obama-is-never-legitmate portion of the Republican electorate.

Ta-Neishi Coates had a great catch yesterday, from one of the commenters on his blog:

You know, normally something this stupid wouldn't bother me, but this story really gets under my skin. If they can try to paint Common as a 'dangerous black man,' what black man is immune? If they think Common is vile, then I know they have no use for my black ass. Common is beyond the pale, Michelle Obama hates whitey, Eric Holder is protecting the New Black Panther Party, Shirley Sherrod is discriminating against white farmers, Barack Obama is giving reparations to black people? Conservatives, do you realize how stupid this sounds to black people? (and I know that black people aren't the audience for that kind of talk, there's no need to point that out to me.) Seriously, you can't find less-threatening black people.

And fundamentally, I doubt if they even think Common's that bad. He's a convenient target for a bit of demagoguing, which is even more repugnant. At least when Lee Atwater used the "Let's dredge up the 'dangerous black man' feelings for a cheap political hit" ploy, he'd choose an actually dangerous black man.

I mean, look, politically, I'm pretty liberal, so it's not like I'd ever be a regular Republican voter anyway. But shit like this is what prevents me from even getting to the point where I'd give their policies a fair hearing. And I know there are some Republicans and conservatives here, and I say that you have no chance of getting any kind of support from black voters as long as the leaders of your party are pulling these kinds of stunts.

So once again, Conservatives, keep in mind that a lot of what you're saying is being talked about in the Black Community, and we will remember.

The whole performance video is right here:

President Obama's speech on Building a 21st Century Immigration System (VIDEO)

The President's Interview on 60 Minutes, on Osama Bin Laden (VIDEO)

President Obama and Vice-President Biden's visit to Fort Campbell, Kentucky (VIDEO)

The Fireside Chat for May 8th, 2011 (VIDEO)

Speaking from a hybrid vehicle transmission company in Indiana, the President explains how investments in a clean energy economy are the only solution to high gas prices in the long term.

The simple, mathematical equation that shows why George Bush deserves ZERO credit for killing Bin Laden (VIDEO)

This has been floating around out there since Sunday. It started with Andy Card (for Bush Chief of Staff) that Sunday, on through last night's waste of time interview with Condelezza Rice. How much credit does former President Bush really deserve?

Now, there are a number of people (including the current President) that have been generous, trying to share the stage with the former President as a way of healing the divide. And a part of me understands that. But on thinking about the issue, I have come to one unapologetically simple conclusion:

George W. Bush deserves absolutely no credit for the raid that killed Bin Laden.

Zero. None. Zilch.

Granted, I'm a Liberal and I will freely admit to hating on the former President.

But, believe it or not, Politics, nor my own ideology does not come into this. If it was just a matter of Politics or Ideology, I'd probably be more generous.

But this is really about the workload involves. Who did the most work (between the Presidents --as Seal Team Six did the actual work), and at what cost?

Mathematics reveals all. The answer is revealed by simply reversing the components of the formula in question. Instead of how much credit would George W. Bush been given or accepted had the mission to kill Bin Laden gone badly? The question is now:

How much blame would George W. Bush been given or accepted had the mission to kill Bin Laden gone badly?

Whatever number you come up with is the answer to how much credit George Bush actually deserves.

If my Father (the...you know...actual Professor of Mathematics) has any notes, I'll post them when I get them.

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Lawrence O'Donnell's interview with Matthew Alexander on Torture, Ethics and OBL.

Matthew Alexander's first book How To Break A Terrorist, was a fantastic read, and fully recommended by this blog. His a former Interrogator for...well...someone in our Armed Forces. I'm not sure who, especially given that Matthew Alexander is not his name.

Now, he's back with a new book, and rips apart the Conservative line on Torture and Information gathering.

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"We mean what we say..." (VIDEO)

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Missed Stories: Lara Logan's Interview on 60 Minutes (VIDEO)

One of the things President Obama mentioned in his speech about his long-form Birth Certificate, was the fact that the Media gets us all distracted on things (like his birth certificate) that we don't need to get distracted on.

Unfortunately, sometimes other, actually relevant events can swamp aside other, equally important stories.

One of those unfortunate circumstances took place during Sunday's announcement of the death of Osama Bin Laden. We lost track of Lara Logan's interview talking about her sexual assault while working on the Egyptian Uprising Story for CBS.

This is one of those instances for a woman in Ms. Logan's position, that's both hard and necessary. To have to relive that order is hard, but to share that experience with the world, on a major news telecast, is necessary because it helps chip away at the stigma that seems to still exist about these crimes. Still, she got up in front the camera, and broke that code of silence. I don't even know Ms. Logan, but I'm proud of her for doing this.

It's a damn shame that a proper discussion of what she said was swept aside. Well, at least here, you have a chance to see the interview in case you missed it:



And 60 Minutes Overtime:

"We don't need to spike the football..." (VIDEO)

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UPDATE: 4:30pm Pacific:

Never mind, here's the actual interview bit from 60 Minutes:



Needless to say, I'll be putting up the 60 Minutes story when its posted next Monday.

TPM: Remembering McCain and Clinton, slamming then Senator Obama over trying to kill OBL... (VIDEO)

Hell, somebody got it right. Any guesses as to who?



I guess he meant what he said.

Then again, one of the people that should be labeled as "wrong" in this video is, errr...ummm...the current Secretary of State. She'd be the one gasping in that famous photo.

Lawrence O'Donnell: This is how George Bush got himself re-elected without going after OBL (VIDEO)

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Apparently, Christiane Amanpour pretty much nailed OBL's location back in 2008 (VIDEO)

Maximum credit where credit's due.

Watch Jon get lied to, TWICE in his interview with Pervez Musharraf (VIDEO)

From before the days this Blog existed. Interesting, given the context of the times.

"Do you know where he is?  We'll follow you."

Well, apparently that's what happened.


Part 1:

The Daily Show - Pervez Musharraf Pt. 1
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Hmm.  Watch the where Musharraf emphasizes over and over again that Pakistan eliminated Al-Qaeda from their cities.

You know...little bit of a problem there...

Methinks Jon got upset...at the wrong lie.

Part 2:

The Daily Show - Pervez Musharraf Pt. 2
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"What more proof do you need? Abject cruelty to children??" (VIDEO)

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To Kill a Mockingturd - Pakistani Intelligence
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Lawrence O'Donnell: So much for that whole "Democrats soft-on-defense" meme (VIDEO)

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Will Ferrell is back...along with his classic George Bush (VIDEO)

President Bush Reacts to Osama Bin Laden's Death with Will Ferrell from Will Ferrell

Maddow: Why is it all these HVT's keep getting picked up in Pakistan? (VIDEO)

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The New Graphic...

Well, finally a new banner graphic for ye old blog. Last time I did it around the time of the last State of the Union. But as much as I liked the "Win The Future" speech, it didn't catch me like his defense of the Social Safety net did. Hence, the quote is from that speech. If there had been room, I would have put in a quote I found by FDR: "We've always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals; we know now that it is bad economics."

Same thing really.

I also came dangerously close to using a quote of the President's from October 7, 2008 promising to kill Bin Laden, and paralleling that with his statement about the death of Bin Laden. But having those quotes along with that image would have been really, really inappropriate.

John Brennan's Security Briefing...at least a good chunk of it (VIDEO)

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Jake Tapper on the DNA Confirmation, and the reason for the quick burial at sea (VIDEO)

President Obama announcing Osama Bin Laden's death (VIDEO)

UBL's Compound...ABC News Video

There will of course, be more, much more, on this as the day progresses, but first, the lay of the land, courtesy ABC News:

"Yes, Michelle...this is how it starts..." The President's WH Correspondent's Dinner (VIDEO)

UPDATE: May 2, 2010: And now, Seth Meyers!

The Fireside Chat for April 30th, 2011 (VIDEO)

At a time of high gas prices and massive oil industry profits, the President renews his call to end the $4 billion-per-year subsidies for oil and gas companies and invest in clean energy.

Dave thinks its racist... (VIDEO)

Number three on the list from the Home Office in...well, wherever. "Top Ten signs Donald Trump isn't going to be on Letterman anytime soon."

President Obama's Commencement Address at Miami Dade College (VIDEO)

President Obama delivers the commencement address to graduating students at Miami Dade College in Miami, FL.

I'm just having too much fun with Chris Matthews just chewing up the Birthers. (VIDEO)

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Make sure you listen to Michael Smerconish's point about new voter Registrations in the Philly Suburbs (VIDEO)

Mainline Republican voters are abandoning the party.

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The argument that the Debt Limit Vote is Unconstitutional...and not in the way the Teabaggers think!

From Taegan Goddard, but first posited by Garrett Epps:

The 14th Amendment directs that "the validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned."

In short: "This provision makes clear that both the monies our nation owes to bondholders, and the sums promised in legislation to those receiving pensions set by law from the federal government, must be paid regardless of the political whims of the current congressional majority. All obligations that the nation has undertaken by drawing on its credit must at all times be rendered current."

I'm still a Keynesian...now and forever... (VIDEO)

I posted the original back in January of 2010, and this past February...

...and now comes, the sequel:

"Putting to rest the crazy fringe idea that this will end the controversy..." (VIDEO)

And let's not forget the Daily Show:

The Daily Show - Believe It or Believe It - Obama Releases Long-Form Birth Certificate
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America Needs to See Obama's Report Cards
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Now that you mention it, Rachel mentioned it as well... (VIDEO)

Rachel decided to focus in on (gasp!) actual news, and talked ethics and fundraising to kick the show off. But when she decided to focus in on the Birther nonsense, she did so in a very emotional way:

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By the way, Chris Matthews had a Busy night, too (VIDEO)

First his bit with Eugene Robinson and uber-villager Howard Fineman:

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And then his dissection of the winners and losers with David Corn and Josh Marshall:

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Lawrence's Busy Night...Part 3 (Racists from Moldova Edition)

It was almost unfair, but...

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Lawrence's Busy Night...Part 2 (David Remnick Interview)

"We need to call this by it's proper name: Race Baiting."

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Lawrence's Busy Night...Part 1

This was mentioned a lot over the last 24 hours, and bears repeating. Lawrence absolutely destroyed last night. I still think he's got bits of Trump and NBC/Universal Entertainment Exec in his teeth.

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But keep in mind, last I heard, Lawrence has a Pilot in development at HBO. Now, I don't think he's going anywhere, but at the same time, he's not afraid to get fired by NBC/Universal either. Thus we get brave television.

Bob Schieffer calls it Racism (VIDEO)

Good for him. Never knew he had it in him.



Then again, a lot of us have been on this page since...2008.

"That these folks are truly irrational in Washington..." (VIDEO)

Lawrence with Andrew Ross Sorkin. And yes, they're talking about Teabaggers.

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A key way to look at the Birther Question going forward...

Call it a racism test (courtesy Jonathan Chait):

The interesting question to me is whether Republican leaders start responding to questions about Obama's birth as a question of settled fact rather than a murky controversy upon which the only evidence to go on is Obama's claims.

Greg Sargent agrees, and thinks that so far, the Republican Rights is failing:

Now that President Obama has released his long-form birth certificate, here’s the question: Will leading conservatives and Republicans step up, place the blame for birtherism where it belongs, and call on the birthers among them to stop the nonsense once and for all?

There are birther bills being introduced in state legislatures across the country. Will leading conservatives and Republicans unequivocally denounce these efforts?

Some Republicans are already falling short of this basic test of decency. In a statement this morning, RNC chairman Reince Priebus declared that birtherism is a ”distraction,” but he also hinted — without saying so openly — that Obama has been subtly egging on the controversy on when he should be more focused on the economy. Priebus, recall, recently had a private conversation with Donald Trump in which he conspicuously did not ask him to can the birther talk.

Newt Gingrich actually blamed Obama this morning for the delay in the release, and hinted that we should still harbor doubts about Obama’s citizenship. “Why did it take so long?” Gingrich asked. “The whole thing is strange.”

How to argue with a Birther (not that you're going to win)...courtesy the President (VIDEO)

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I got to be honest, I don't think he should have done this. I don't think elevating Donald "Racist" Trump is a good idea.

Erza disagrees:

There’s only one explanation that makes sense to me in light of this morning’s events: The Obama administration wants Donald Trump to be the GOP’s nominee in 2012, and this is their effort to strengthen him in the primary. Of course, that explanation violates my axiom that almost nothing in Washington is really a complicated plan and almost everything is a rushed decision made by tired people with insufficient information.

My favorite part of the President's off-the-cuff remarks, highlighted in the video above?

Now, this issue has been going on for two, two and a half years now. I think it started during the campaign. And I have to say that over the last two and a half years I have watched with bemusement, I have been puzzled at the degree to which this thing just kept on going.

We've had every official in Hawaii, Democrat and Republican, every news outlet that has investigated this confirm that, yes, in fact, I was born in Hawaii August 4th, 1961, in Kapiolani Hospital. We've posted the certification that is given by the state of Hawaii on the Internet for everybody to see. People have provided affidavits that they, in fact, have seen this birth certificate.

And yet this thing just keeps on going.

Now, normally, I would not comment on something like this, because, obviously, there's a lot of stuff swirling in the press at any given day and I've got other things to do.

But two weeks ago, when the Republican House had put forward a budget that will have huge consequences potentially to the country, and when I gave a speech about my budget and how I felt that we needed to invest in education and infrastructure and making sure that we had a strong safety net for our seniors even as we were closing the deficit, during that entire week, the dominant news story wasn't about these huge, monumental choices that we're going to have to make as a nation, it was about my birth certificate. And that was true on most of the news outlets that were represented here.

And so I just want to make a larger point here. We've got some enormous challenges out there. There are a lot of folks out there who are still looking for work. Everybody is still suffering under high gas prices. We're going to have to make a series of very difficult decisions about how we invest in our future, but also get a hold of our deficit and our debt -- how do we do that in a balanced way.

And this is going to generate huge and serious debates, important debates. And there are going to be some fierce disagreements. And that's good; that's how democracy is supposed to work.

And I'm confident that the American people and America's political leaders can come together in a bipartisan way and solve these problems. We always have.

But we're not going to be able to do it if we are distracted. We're not going to be able to do it if we spend time vilifying each other.

We're not going to be able to do it if we just make stuff up and pretend that facts are not facts. We're not going to be able to solve our problems if we get distracted by sideshows and carnival barkers.

Or put another way:

How to argue with a Birther (not that you're going to win)...courtesy CNN (VIDEO)

I'm sure you remember George Stephanopoulos's interview with Donald Trump last week, where he asked Trump about the alledged investigations that Trump has going on in Hawaii about the President's Birth Certificate.

Trump did not respond well (wait till about 1:30 in).



That's probably because Jon Stewart more accurately displayed what's really going on with Trump's money right now (wait till about 50 seconds into the video):

The Daily Show - Tales of Principled Behavior - Obama Birth Certificate Mystery
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Anyway, an actual credible news organization, CNN, decided to launch their own, definitive investigation into the matter. Not Fox, not MSNBC, supposedly neutral CNN.

Well, here it is.



Note that they dragged out a committed Republican, someone who worked for the former Republican Governor of Hawaii, to say flat-out...he was born in Hawaii.

They also have a printed story on their website by Gary Truchman. His conclusion can be found in the first sentence of the story:

A new CNN investigation reveals what most analysts have been saying since the "birther" controversy erupted during the 2008 presidential campaign: Obama was born in Hawaii on August 4, 1961. Period.

A couple of salient facts to remember the next time to come into contact with one of these racists. (I was going to correct myself and call them birthers, but...you know...what's the point? Let's just call 'em what they are, and be done with it.)

Here are the hard facts as presented in Mr. Truchman's piece:

Dr. Chiyome Fukino, a former director of the Hawaii Department of Health and a Republican, told CNN in her most extensive comments to date that she has "no doubt" Obama was born in the state.

Obama's 2008 campaign produced a certification of live birth, a document legally accepted as confirmation of a birth and routinely used for official purposes. Fukino went one step further, taking advantage of a state law that allows certain public officials to examine a person's actual birth certificate if there is a "direct and tangible interest."


The president's certificate, she said, is stored in a vault in the building that houses the Department of Health. Ironically, unlike the certificate of live birth, it is no longer accepted for official usage.

Obama's certificate is "absolutely authentic," she said. "He was absolutely born here in the state of Hawaii."

...

To see what happens when someone born in Hawaii requests a birth certificate, CNN asked a current resident of the state -- Stig Waidelich -- if he could get a copy of the document.

Waidelich was born hours after Obama in August 1961. Like Obama, Waidelich's birth was announced at the time in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin newspaper.

Waidelich, like Obama in 2008, was given a certification of live birth in response to his request.

Could Obama's 1961 birth announcement in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin be a fake? Some conspiracy theorists say yes. Longtime Honolulu newspaper reporter Dan Nakaso says no.

"It's not possible," Nakaso said. "Under the system that existed back then, there was no avenue for people to submit information that way. ... The information came directly from the state Department of Health."


Indeed, as CNN confirmed, all birth announcements at the time came directly from hospital birth records.

...

Could Obama, a self-proclaimed Christian, be preventing the distribution of copies of the original birth certificate because it identifies him as a Muslim?

Fukino says no. The original certificate includes no mention of the president's religion. And indeed, other original certificates from that time don't mention faith.

Obama could file a Freedom of Information Act request to view his original birth certificate and make copies. But at this point, the White House maintains, nothing will satisfy the doubters.

...

Rick Smethurst, a 2008 John McCain voter who now lives in Obama's childhood home in Hawaii, counts himself among the doubters. He said he wants to find someone who saw Obama immediately after the president was born.

Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie said he did. Abercrombie, a Democrat, was friendly with Ann Dunham, Obama's mother, and remembers celebrating the birth.

"Of course, we had no idea at the time that the future president of the United States was that little boy, that little baby," Abercrombie recalled. But "we are very, very happy ... that took place."

Professor Alice Dewey of the University of Hawaii was a faculty adviser to Dunham and also knew the future president when he was a child. She called the controversy "funny." She said there is "no way" Obama wasn't born in the state.

Dewey remembered a conversation in which Dunham compared the birth of Obama with that of his sister, Maya, who was born overseas.

"She said, 'When I had Maya, it was a lot of more difficult because Indonesia doesn't believe in painkillers while you're giving birth. ... Of course, in the United States, giving birth to Barry (Obama's childhood nickname) was quite different and much more comfortable,' " Dewey recalled.

Waidelich's mother, Monika, said she believes she saw Obama in Honolulu's Kapi'olani Medical Center next to her son in 1961.

"In those days, there were hardly any other black babies," she said.

The hospital wouldn't show patient records from 1961, but the state's African-American population was less than 1% at the time.

Translation: The future President stood out in a crowd, even in Hawaii.

The Senator from Massey Energy (i.e., West Virginia)...is an idiot.

I seem to remember saying (warning) y'all about what a bad Senator Joe Manchin (??-WV) might be. I think I called him another Ben Nelson (??-NB), that he was a complete and total whore for Massey Energy, and that he was holding 2.1 Million Americans hostage to serve his political ambitions.

Now this:

Today, Machin will formally endorse a Republican proposal for strict new spending caps, saying it would be "irresponsible" not to. He joins the Senate GOP, independent Sen. Joe Lieberman (Conn.), and Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill (Mo.), which suggests the measure, generally known as the CAP Act, now has the support of a Senate majority, or at least close to it. There's even some talk it will be included as part of a "compromise" on the debt ceiling.

To date, the proposal hasn't gotten much attention, but it's important to understand how dangerous this is. Ezra Klein, who's arguably even more cautious in his rhetoric than I am, recently described the spending cap idea as "completely insane."

Spending caps are bad policy, and the McCaskill-Corker spending cap -- which holds spending to 21.5 percent of GDP, or three percentage points lower than it is right now -- is a badly designed spending cap. But beyond all that, it's laughable to posit it as a compromise: It's arguably the most radically conservative reform that could be made to the federal budget. More extreme, by far, than Paul Ryan's plan.

Start with the shell game at the core of this discussion: We're worried about the debt ceiling but talking about a spending cap. This works just fine if you hew to the conservative conceit that "we have a spending problem, not a taxing problem." But that applause line is just an effort to deny the contribution tax cuts have made to the deficit and keep tax increases from being part of a solution. If you think we have a debt problem -- and that's what being upset about raising the debt ceiling implies -- then do something about the debt. The "trigger" proposal the White House included in is budget, for instance, is tied to the debt, not to spending or taxes.

Of course, to the Republicans, that's a feature, not a bug. The virtue of a spending cap is that by focusing on only one contributor to debt, it admits only one solution to it: spending cuts. Savage ones. The Corker-McCaskill proposal is so aggressive that there are years when even Paul Ryan's budget, with all its fantastical assumptions and hard caps, wouldn't qualify. "You put McCaskill-Corker into law," says Bob Greenstein, president of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, "and progressive policy is dead for the next quarter-century."

Not that Lieberman and McCaskill are helping.  McCaskill is about to become the former Senator from Missouri, and Lieberman is well...Lieberman.

You wait. This scumbag will be campaigning for the Republican Nominee come 2012.

Obama 2012 Strategy Briefing (VIDEO)

In case you missed Jim Messina's Campaign Email this morning:



I think David was a little smoother in his presentation, but the data's all the same.  This was a good presentation, and now I know what we need to do.

What's interesting to me is, for a guy who is constantly accused of decrying the Grassroots, he spent an awful lot of time talking up the Grassroots.

What does that mean to me? That a lot of his decrying the Grassroots was manufactured by a media hypestorm. That he probably shares a lot of fustration that I have with those of my shared ideological bent (i.e., that some Liberals understand how things work and don't work in Washington, and others -- Firedoglake anyone? -- live in perpetual fantasyland.)