Taylor Marsh – TaylorMarsh.com – News, Opinion and Weblog on Progressive Politics

Wednesday\’s Rise & Shine Headlines

Guest Post by Matt Browner-Hamlin

My hopes for a sunny and beautiful New York morning appear to have been dashed. Despite the drab weather, I remain very proud of myself for making some damned fine chicken last night (I\’m not much of a cook). Eat this chicken and forget about the bad weather!

Richard Armitage has admitted to being Bob Novak\’s original source in the leak of undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame\’s name. Armitage now advises John McCain\’s 2008 presidential campaign (TimesSelect link). I would say that McCain loses credibility on national security issues when he takes counsel from someone who has twice admitted to leaking national security secrets (the other being Iran-Contra).

George Allen & racist friends

Max Blumenthal of The Nation has found a photo that George Allen doesn\’t want America to see: Allen with the leadership of the Council of Conservative Citizens. The CCC is a white supremacist hate group according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. The picture of Allen with their leadership ran in a CCC newsletter and Blumenthal brings out Allen\’s many close ties to the CCC. The question now: will traditional media outlets run this photo in connection with stories about Allen\’s \”macaca\” slur?

Marc Lynch explains why the argument – advanced by Dick Cheney – to stay in Iraq in order to prevent Al Qaeda from winning is fails on multiple levels. Lynch thinks those in support of withdrawal are close to making their case, though he is only a reluctant backer or withdrawal.

On the other hand, Sean-Paul Kelley reports that Al Qaeda is looking to expand its operations beyond Iraq into neighboring Arab nations. This would confirm that the \”we\’re fighting them over there so we don\’t have to fight them over here\” line has completely failed; Al Qaeda, which wasn\’t in Iraq when we invaded, has now moved there and is expanding. What\’s the opposite of containment?

The New York TImes reports that the number of female clerks for the Supreme Court has dropped precipitously despite rising numbers of women graduating from law school. It\’s not surprising that there aren\’t many women who want to work for justices like Scalia, Alito, or Roberts who want to take away their reproductive freedoms. Unfortunately the massive under-representation of women clerks is not limited to conservative justices; Justice Souter has no women clerking for him this year. Jill of Feministe takes a hard look at the underlying causes that stack the deck against female applicants.

Bush is in New Orleans for the anniversary of Katrina (not the federal government\’s response to Katrina, which will not hit its one year anniversary for another day). The President said, “I take full responsibility for the federal government’s response, and a year ago I made a pledge that we will learn the lessons of Katrina and that we will do what it takes to help you recover. I’ve come back to New Orleans to tell you the words that I spoke on Jackson Square are just as true today as they were then.” To which Whatever It Is, I\’m Against It replies: \”Yes, that’s exactly the problem.\”

Lastly, on the heels of gaining the endorsement of former Republican vice-presidential candidate Jack Kemp, Joe Lieberman (Lieberman-CT) has lost the endorsement of Democratic Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawai\’i. Inouye was under pressure by local Democratic groups in Hawai\’i to support Ned Lamont, the Democratic nominee for Senate. So a big mahalo goes out to Hawai\’i\’s Democratic Party for standing by their rules and making their Senator respect the wishes of Democratic voters in Connecticut.

Have a glorious day folks!

Matt Browner-Hamlin

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