Joshua Holland discusses "Hugo Chavez's scary 'enabling law' and Bush's fast-track authority." IOW, nothing to be TOO excited about, but it is rather hypocritical for top U.S. officials to be soooo upset about it. Likewise, he notes:
This week, Senate Democrats agreed to join Richard Lugar, Chuck Hagel and up to eight other Republicans (so far) in a somewhat watered-down resolution opposing Bush's troop escalation. As far as the politics go, it's a sound, even smart approach.
But politics is a grand game and Iraq is deadly serious business; it's the reality on the ground that should convince Democrats that this is no time for a non-binding resolution -- a resolution filled with loopholes, I should add -- that expresses the displeasure of Congress to a president who's made it abundantly clear that he doesn't give a damn what Capitol Hill thinks.
Thus, the likes of Sen. Dodd thinks this move toward bipartisanship (oh boy! Sen. Warner was actually criticized by conservative backbenchers! must be sooo "reasonable" now) is a tad weenie. Agreed. The fact even this is deemed dangerous by some (hey Joey L!) underlines how pathetic they are. Of course, this allows various Senate presidential wannabees to have difficult takes on the whole matter. This includes loquacious Sen. Biden, who submitted this bit of wisdom:
Mr. Biden is equally skeptical—albeit in a slightly more backhanded way—about Mr. Obama. "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy," he said. "I mean, that’s a storybook, man."
This brought out LOADS of discussion with even Talking Points Memo going on a bit too long on comma placement. Really, is it worth even linking to that sort of stupidity? I guess, even if Biden is not seriously a likely choice, anything to fill column space and such. The guy talks so much that even suggesting he uses commas is a bit dubious at times. Some noted that "first" is clearly wrong ... hey look at Al Sharpton and that one term Illinois woman senator ... they appeared to be serious as well. Ah ... Jesse Jackson, sure, maybe "mainstream" and worth mentioning. Though, honestly, no one seriously thought he would have a shot at winning.
The others (going back to Shirley Chisholm) really were not. Are we so PC that this is not allowed to be mentioned? It is going to be a long political season.