Change.gov

I've been busy lately, and the 7 to 8 readers of CDR have suffered. I have a few things to say, and I intend to write some posts over the next couple of weeks.

I've had a lot of bad election nights over the last eight years. The worst may have been the New Orleans Mayoral election in 2006.

But last tuesday was different. For once, I was celebrating on election night. I was in a hotel ballroom at the Inter Continental and wasn't avidly following the returns from each state. Instead, I started out the night confident of victory and socialized with friends I've made over the last several years. I did watch Obama's speech at Grant Park, but with all the noise and commotion, it was hard to hear the whole thing. At one point during the speech, it all of a sudden occured to me: this war is actually going to end.

It really struck me when I went to the Obama Administration's official website, change.gov, and saw the new official Iraq policy of the American Goverment:

Barack Obama and Joe Biden's Plan

Judgment You Can Trust
In 2002, as the conventional thinking in Washington lined up with President Bush for war, Obama had the judgment and courage to speak out against going to war, and to warn of “an occupation of undetermined length, with undetermined costs, and undetermined consequences.” He and Joe Biden are fully committed to ending the war in Iraq.


A Responsible, Phased Withdrawal
Barack Obama and Joe Biden believe we must be as careful getting out of Iraq as we were careless getting in. Immediately upon taking office, Obama will give his Secretary of Defense and military commanders a new mission in Iraq: ending the war. The removal of our troops will be responsible and phased, directed by military commanders on the ground and done in consultation with the Iraqi government. Military experts believe we can safely redeploy combat brigades from Iraq at a pace of 1 to 2 brigades a month that would remove them in 16 months. That would be the summer of 2010 – more than 7 years after the war began.

Under the Obama-Biden plan, a residual force will remain in Iraq and in the region to conduct targeted counter-terrorism missions against al Qaeda in Iraq and to protect American diplomatic and civilian personnel. They will not build permanent bases in Iraq, but will continue efforts to train and support the Iraqi security forces as long as Iraqi leaders move toward political reconciliation and away from sectarianism.


Encouraging Political Accommodation
Barack Obama and Joe Biden believe that the U.S. must apply pressure on the Iraqi government to work toward real political accommodation. There is no military solution to Iraq’s political differences, but the Bush Administration’s blank check approach has failed to press Iraq’s leaders to take responsibility for their future or to substantially spend their oil revenues on their own reconstruction.

Obama and Biden's plan will help create lasting stability in Iraq. A phased withdrawal will encourage Iraqis to take the lead in securing their own country and making political compromises, while the responsible pace of redeployment called for by the Obama-Biden plan offers more than enough time for Iraqi leaders to get their own house in order. As our forces redeploy, Obama and Biden will make sure we engage representatives from all levels of Iraqi society—in and out of government—to forge compromises on oil revenue sharing, the equitable provision of services, federalism, the status of disputed territories, new elections, aid to displaced Iraqis, and the reform of Iraqi security forces.


Surging Diplomacy
Barack Obama and Joe Biden will launch an aggressive diplomatic effort to reach a comprehensive compact on the stability of Iraq and the region. This effort will include all of Iraq’s neighbors—including Iran and Syria, as suggested by the bi-partisan The Iraq Study Group Report. This compact will aim to secure Iraq’s borders; keep neighboring countries from meddling inside Iraq; isolate al Qaeda; support reconciliation among Iraq’s sectarian groups; and provide financial support for Iraq’s reconstruction and development.


Preventing Humanitarian Crisis
Barack Obama and Joe Biden believe that America has both a moral obligation and a responsibility for security that demands we confront Iraq’s humanitarian crisis—more than five million Iraqis are refugees or are displaced inside their own country. Obama and Biden will form an international working group to address this crisis. They will provide at least $2 billion to expand services to Iraqi refugees in neighboring countries, and ensure that Iraqis inside their own country can find sanctuary. Obama and Biden will also work with Iraqi authorities and the international community to hold the perpetrators of potential war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide accountable. They will reserve the right to intervene militarily, with our international partners, to suppress potential genocidal violence within Iraq.


The Status-of-Forces-Agreement
Obama and Biden believe any Status of Forces Agreement, or any strategic framework agreement, should be negotiated in the context of a broader commitment by the U.S. to begin withdrawing its troops and forswearing permanent bases. Obama and Biden also believe that any security accord must be subject to Congressional approval. It is unacceptable that the Iraqi government will present the agreement to the Iraqi parliament for approval—yet the Bush administration will not do the same with the U.S. Congress. The Bush administration must submit the agreement to Congress or allow the next administration to negotiate an agreement that has bipartisan support here at home and makes absolutely clear that the U.S. will not maintain permanent bases in Iraq.

CDR

She-Bush coming to the Pelican state?

WDSU is reporting that Palin is coming to Louisiana next week for a fundraiser. If it's just a fundraiser, that makes sense, I guess. Cheney was here yesterday, which had nothing today with turning the state red, just raising money for my goof-ball Congressman. But with 30+ days left in the campaign, why do they need one of the big guns to headline a fundraiser in Louisiana? Can't the repub donors in the state make do with a D-list surrogate like Fred Thompson?

Maybe I'm trying to read too much into this, particularly since the McCain Campaign is criticized by dems and repubs alike as "all tactics, no strategy."

By the way, I think Jon Stewart came up with the best nick name for Alaska's Governor: She-Bush.

CDR

Spittin' Mad

Few people make me spittin' mad, and Senator Saxby Chambliss is one of them. Please see the below piece from 538. I don't think the world's greatest deliberative body will miss him if he is forced into early retirement.


Monday, October 6, 2008
In Georgia, Small Improvements in Black Voter Participation May Make Big Difference

Perhaps the only happy consequence of the segregation era is that a number of Southern states like Georgia are required by the Voting Rights Act to keep statistics on registration and turnout by the race of the voter. Those statistics suggest that black voter registration is up materially from 2004.

Here are the numbers. In November 2004, black voters represented 27.4 percent of Georgia's active registered voter pool. As of October 1st, that figure has increased to 29.0 percent.

Now, that might not seem like all that big a difference. But suppose that the black vote is split 95/5 between Obama and McCain, and the nonblack vote is split 30/70. (Obama probably will not win 30 percent of the white vote. But since Georgia also contains material numbers of Hispanic and Asian voters, winning 30 percent of the nonblack vote is probably reasonable).

In 2004, also according to statistics from the Georgia Secretary of State, black voters made up 25.4 percent of election day turnout (this means that they participated at slightly lower rates than white voters). Applying those 95/5 and 30/70 voter splits to the 25.4 percent figure would work out to a 7.0-point win for John McCain, about where polls seem to have Georgia now.

Now suppose that black and nonblack voters each turn out at the same rates as they did in 2004, but that we account for the increase in black registration. According to our math, John McCain's 7.0-point lead is now cut to 4.9 points.

But that is probably too conservative an assumption. Newly-registered voters -- and nearly half of Georgia's newly-registered voters are black -- turn out at higher rates than previously registered voters. In addition, one would assume that the opportunity to vote for the first African-American nominee might be just a little bit of a motivating factor for black voters. Suppose that African-Americans represent 29.0 percent of Georgia's turnout, matching their share of active registrations. Using the splits we described above, McCain's lead is now cut to 2.3 points.

Even this, however, may be too conservative. For one thing, the registration window in Georgia is not yet over ... it concludes today. The statistics I cited above only reflected registrations through September 30. There is typically a surge of registrations in the final few days before the deadline. In 2004, Georgia's active voter rolls increased by about 150,000 persons in the first four days of October, before the registration deadline closed. That was more than they'd increased in the entire month of September.

So suppose that by tonight, black voters have increased to 30 percent of Georgia's registered voter pool. Plugging that 30 percent number in, McCain's advantage is a mere 1 point.

Think these numbers sound unreasonable? Early voting is underway in Georgia, and according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, black voters do not represent 30 percent of Georgia's early voter turnout. Instead, they represent almost 40 percent. Although early voting figures can be idiosyncratic , Barack Obama certainly seems to be having little trouble getting his vote out. Indeed, Barack Obama is winning Georgia right now.

A related question is whether the pollsters are underrepresenting the black vote in their turnout estimates in states like Georgia. I think they might be. In their past two surveys of Georgia, SurveyUSA pegged black voter turnout at 25-26 percent. This is a pretty safe assumption, since it exactly matches the Secretary of State's turnout estimate from 2004. But this isn't 2004. I would be surprised if black turnout wasn't at least 27-28 percent, and somewhere in the 29-31 percent range is entirely possible. If those numbers are achieved, Georgia is pretty close to being a toss-up. And if it is a toss-up for Barack Obama, it is probably also a toss-up for Jim Martin, who is attempting to unseat Saxby Chambliss from the Senate.

Georgia is not quite a tipping-point state. In order to win it, Barack Obama will have to have made at least some inroads with Southern whites, and if he's done so, that will mean that he's won states like Virginia and North Carolina and won't need Georgia's electoral votes. But I'd guess that it represents a more plausible pickup opportunity for Obama than states like West Virginia and Montana, which are nominally closer in the polling. And if these black voter registration numbers are replicated throughout the South, Elizabeth Dole, Saxby Chambliss and Roger Wicker could all face tough re-election battles, substantially increasing the Democrats' chances of winning 60 Senate seats.

-- Nate Silver at 7:15 AM

The Alaska and Arkansas National Guard

"She's been the commander of Alaska's National Guard, who's been deployed overseas...that's foreign policy experience."Tucker Bounds, a McCain spokesman

From Poppy Bush's Acceptance Speech at the 1992 Republican Convention:
The President: My opponents say I spend too much time on foreign policy, as if it didn't matter that schoolchildren once hid under their desks in drills to prepare for nuclear war. I saw the chance to rid our children's dreams of the nuclear nightmare, and I did. Over the past 4 years, more people have breathed the fresh air of freedom than in all of human history. I saw a chance to help, and I did. These were the two defining opportunities not of a year, not of a decade, but of an entire span of human history. I seized those opportunities for our kids and our grandkids, and I make no apologies for that.

Now, the Soviet bear may be gone, but there are still wolves in the woods. We saw that when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. The Mideast might have become a nuclear powder keg, our energy supplies held hostage. So we did what was right and what was necessary. We destroyed a threat, freed a people, and locked a tyrant in the prison of his own country.

What about the leader of the Arkansas National Guard, the man who hopes to be Commander in Chief? Well, I bit the bullet, and he bit his nails.

Audience members. U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!

I'm serious, that crowd reaction was written into the trancript that I found on the internets.

Geo Bush 41 is not running for his second term, McCain is running for his first. I'm sure if I looked hard enough, and reached back 16 years, I could find multiple republican flip flops. But I still think it's kind of funny that the republican party of 16 years ago did not hesitate to mock Bill Clinton's experience commanding the AR Nat'l Guard.

But the real point is that a governor is given command of his/her organized state militia (at least that's what's legally called in La) for domestic purposes. Essentially, the governor can deploy them to supplement law enforcement, do minor drug intervention, and to respond to a natural disaster. All of these situations do provide a governor with experience that could qualify them to be commander in chief. This is because the governor in these situations is acting as the civilian chief of an armed service and has authority over its uniform commanders. It's a small scale and very simplified version of the command relationship between the President and the Armed Services.

Here's how Bill Clinton Spun his experience in '92 as reported by the Boston Globe:

Appearing earlier in the day with Gore on "CBS This Morning," Clinton pointed to his role in commanding the Arkansas National Guard to argue that he has the necessary experience to be commander in chief.

"I had to command the National Guard in some very difficult positions," Clinton said in response to a viewer's question. He explained that he had called the guard out and authorized the use of force to quell a riot of Cuban refugees in 1980. "I did so to try to save lives," he said. "I didn't have any problem with doing that."

The McCain campaign is stretching the truth (by that I mean they're lying) when they claim that it is "foreign policy experience." When a governor commands his/her national guard, it has nothing to do with foreign policy. Governors don't make decisions about foreign deployments (whether they be to combat environments or on training missions),they don't deal with foreign troops or officials, and they don't have to deal with status of forces agreements. When National Guard units are mobilized for combat duty, they are federalized and the governor is removed from the chain of command.

I guess that plan B is to talk about how close Russia is to Alaska:

"We have trade missions back and forth, we do. It's very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia. As Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just right over the border. It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation, Russia, because they are right there, they are right next to our state."

Addendum: I wrote this post last week, before all of the GOP hand wringing (or perhaps they're just lowering expectations) came out.

Addendum Addendum: I'd like to include these quotes that ABC's "The Note" published this morning:
"It's very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia, as Putin rears his head and comes into the airspace of the United States of America -- where do they go? It's Alaska." -- Sarah Palin, to Katie Couric.

"To be very clear, there has not been any [Russian] incursion in U.S. airspace in recent years." -- Maj. Allen Herritage, spokesman for the Alaska region of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, to the AP.

"She doesn't have any role in that process. . . . The authority to launch and respond to a Russian incursion lies with the Alaska NORAD Region commander." -- Herritage, to the New York Daily News.



CDR

Hope Posters

You can pick 'em up at Dirty Coast.

I've got tons more, so if you are having an event in NOLA and want to distribute them, leave a comment on this post.

CDR

Deadlock!

Here's my prediction for the presidential election:

Obama wins every state that Kerry won except for New Hampshire. He also manages to flip Iowa, New Mexico, and Colorado to the Democratic side. That leaves the race deadlocked at 269 electoral votes each.

I think I'm on pretty solid ground here..I'm not making this prediction because I want to see the 12th amendment invoked for the first time since 1824.

CDR

Vernon Palmer

After Larry Ponoroff issued this apology, do you think Vernon is going to return his Legion of Honor to the French Government?
Having read his text book on obligations, none of this surprises me.

CDR

Scalia's interview with Parade Magazine

In a recent interview with Parade Magazine Scalia said "when a society requires such a large number of its best minds to conduct the unproductive enterprise of the law, something is wrong with the legal profession."

I wish I knew this before I started law school.

CDR

The press does its job.

I want to thank WVUE for this segment last night.

Rarely if ever does a news organization so thou roughly dissect and refute a political ad, and my hat goes off to the local fox affiliate.

CDR

Enough?

"I don't care what they say about me. But I love this country too much to let them take over another election with lies and phony outrage and Swift boat politics. Enough is enough."

I couldn't agree more with what Obama said today.

Unfortunately, John McCain and the republicans aren't going to disengage just because Barack Obama called them on it. They won't disengage because this is the only way they know how to operate. And incidentally, voters have repeatedly rewarded them for their behavior. As much as we decry the state of our politics, we allow politicians to act the way they do because we like it. Admit it, you took glee when John McCain didn't know how many houses he owns.

The last eight years have taught us a lot about the republican party, but the one lesson we should never forget is that they have no shame. If they think something is working, they will stick with it, no matter how dishonest it is.

So what's the answer?

I think we need to hit them hard. There is plenty of stuff out there. We need to go at it- eye for eye, tooth for tooth. With 54 days to go, we can't "change" the game- we have to play it and we have to win it.

To paraphrase Gov Stanton, Abe Lincoln had to be a whore before he could appeal to the "better angels of our nature."

CDR

It's ok, they were for it before they were against it....

How can the same shit birds who brought us the last four years keep a straight face? In 2004, it was a cardinal sin for an elected official to ever change his mind, even over the course of a lengthy career. The less than subtle implication was that "flip flopping" was a sign of political opportunism and evidence that one put his political career before his country. You can read about McCain's mass pandering in other places, but I want to point out the biggest flip and/or flop of '08. It came in Sarah Palin's acceptance speech last week, when she said:

"I suspended the state fuel tax and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress."
"I told the Congress 'thanks, but no thanks,' for that Bridge to Nowhere. If our state wanted a bridge, we'd build it ourselves."

I guess she was literally telling the truth, because she first said "thanks" when it was popular to do so and then said "no thanks" to the bridge when it became unpopular (if someone has made this joke already, then I give them full credit). What I don't get is that the McCain campaign had to know about her record on this issue and they still put it in the speech. I wish this was getting a little more coverage.

I'd like to nominate Jon Stewart for the Presidential Medal of Freedom for this piece. He really made "an especially meritorious contribution to the...national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors."

CDR

Gustav

I just returned from my Hurricane sponsored vacation to Florida and here are a few thoughts:

1) Contraflow- I have no idea who makes decisions regarding contraflow, but shutting down traffic on I-10 East was a major fuck-up. The storm was tracking west and many reasonable people chose to flee to the East. My co-pilot, Sophie, was able to navigate us onto a Mississippi state highway through Kiln and back to I-10 East, but many people were less fortunate and spent 12 hours or more on I-59. We listened to countless people call into WWL (whose signal almost reaches Tallahassee) to complain about the Mississippi Highway patrol not letting anyone with Louisiana plates off the Interstate.

2) Text Messages- The city of New Orleans text message service is a complete disaster. I signed up for it last year under the promise that it would send me up to date info in case of a "weather event." I got almost 50 text messages telling me about the impending storm. On the day Gustav made landfall, I got two messages every hour telling me that a "hurricane warning was in effect for Orleans Parish." Duh. But I didn't get a single message fron the city telling me the one thing I wanted to know: when can residents come back to New Orleans. Tulane also has a text messaging system which sent me three messages, all containing very useful and relevant info. Kudos Scott Cowen, Booh Ray Nagin.

3) Bobby- Repubs in La talk about Bobby Jindal the same way that Dems across the country talk about Barack Obama- they treat him like the second coming. And I'll give him high marks for his performance during Gustav. I couldn't help but chuckle over the fact that all of the plans for this storm were made in the wake of Katrina, under the watchful eye of KBB. Nevertheless, he executed it well. One of the key improvements is Jindal's ability to communicate. He didn't approach the cameras in a stupor and completely muddle through his multiple press conferences. Despite all of the debate over "executive experience," about half of political leadership is being able to communicate effectively with the public and Bobby has got that down.

4) Crab- If you're ever in Naples, Boca Raton, Dallas, or Houston, I recommend you eat at Trulucks. We had the Butter Poached Norwegian King Crab and it was amazing. It also has a kid's menu that is reasonably priced (unlike the adult menu).

5) It's better to leave late. We left at 4:20 on sunday and encountered very little traffic until we got to the Admiral Benbow Lodge in Chattahoochee, FL. By the way, the Admiral Benbow Lodge accepts pets and a night's stay costs about as much as a tank of gas.

6) Midsummer Mardi Gras has been postponed. However, a die hard group of about 20 folks participated in an unsanctioned parade from the Maple Leaf to Snake and Jake's to Bruno's and back to the Maple Leaf. It was preceded by a BBQ at my house where people brought over their perishables and threw them on the grill as opposed to throwing them out before the storm.

7) Ike- I'm going to keep the windows boarded up until Ike shows his hand. When is Hurricane Tina going to form?

CDR

Go Mary!

I was glad to see these poll results for Mary.

So far, she has run a very strong campaign. I've gotten to know her operation and it is staffed by dedicated and competent people. This may be my biased opinion, but of all the government officials who got it wrong after the storm, Mary is the one who has consistently gotten it right for Lousiana. And people seem to be aware of this. I've spoken to several conservatives from across the state who have told me that they may disagree with her on some social issues, but she has delivered and they'll vote for her.

This is all compared with the Kennedy campaign. Granted, it's hard for the most competent state treasurer to run on his record, because so few people know what their state treasurer does. Kennedy has been a hapless candidate all summer long. He did a terrible job of explaining away his candidacy against Vitter four years ago and his endorsement of John Kerry. His announcement tour was a joke. I think about a half a dozen people showed up for his announcement in Kenner- 6 people in the state's largest metropolitan area!

And here is what his campaign had to say about the latest poll results:

"Its political silly season. Polls will go up and down all the way until Election Day"

It's funny because they acknowledge that the poll is accurate and that they are losing. Given Kennedy's lackluster campaign, Mary's poll numbers are not likely to go down any time soon.

CDR

Obama's speech to the VFW

The Speech
Obama gave a good speech yesterday. News reports said that he had spent a lot of time revising it on the plane from New Mexico, and it showed. The speech forcefully countered McCain’s attacks from the day before, which came as a relief to democrats every where

The Crowd
The national media outlets have provided more insightful commentary than I can, so I want to focus on the crowd’s reaction. Four years ago, the crowd was less then gracious in receiving John Kerry. I was told that some stood up and turned their backs while others left the hall in protest. While I was working on Kerry’s campaign at the time and fully supported him, I also understood the deep wounds that still existed over Vietnam. Someone told me that most people simply chose not to go to see Obama’s speech as opposed to putting on a demonstration like they had four years ago.

The introduction that the VFW commander gave was short and to the point- nothing like the intro he gave McCain on Monday and Bush today. When Obama took the stage, many stood up and applauded, but not the whole room. I was seated next to some African American Veterans from Alexandria, La who are big Obama supporters. I made sure to note when Obama received the most applause and they were at the following lines:
“But understand what the essential argument was about. Before the surge, I argued that the long-term solution in Iraq is political – the Iraqi government must reconcile its differences and take responsibility for its future.”

“We should not keep sending our troops to fight tour after tour of duty while our military is overstretched. We should not keep spending $10 billion a month in Iraq while Americans struggle in a sluggish economy.”

To my surprise, the part of the speech that got the most applause was the following:
“These are the judgments I’ve made and the policies that we have to debate, because we do have differences in this election. But one of the things that we have to change in this country is the idea that people can’t disagree without challenging each other’s character and patriotism. I have never suggested that Senator McCain picks his positions on national security based on politics or personal ambition. I have not suggested it because I believe that he genuinely wants to serve America’s national interest. Now, it’s time for him to acknowledge that I want to do the same.”

To me, this was the most important part of the speech and it was the most covered. I am glad to see that it was also the part of the speech that the crowd most approved of. Does this indicate some unwillingness to put up with the old Bush/Cheney playbook? I’m not sure. I had a conversation with a Vietnam Veteran from New Iberia on Monday night where I asked him what he thought of the presidential election. He told me that he was going to base his vote on the person “who loves America the most” and told me that he thought McCain was that man. I told him that both John McCain and Barack Obama had gotten a lot from this country and how could you really measure one man’s love of country over another? How could he say that Obama didn’t love America after all he had gotten from it? For a moment I thought I had at least gotten him to think about it and then he said “but he doesn’t wear an American flag on his lapel or say the pledge of allegiance.” Just because Obama is willing to fight back the republican charges doesn’t mean that they’re going to stop their whisper campaign. How does the expression go – patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel?

In talking to veterans after the speech, many sad that they were glad that Obama came. Many said that the speech showed a command of national security issues and that they didn't necessarily disagree with this policy (which was confirmed by the reception some of the key points of his Iraq policy received). In a room where there were probably few undecided voters, I think he at least succeeded in showing that he is neither the hapless neophyte or Islamic jihadist that the repubs make him out to be, which is a victory in itself. When his speech was over, the whole room did rise to applaud him. But the 3,000 people in the room were not necessarily the intended audience. I think the greater purpose was to show Americans that hew won't shy from McCain's attacks and I think that he accomplished that goal.

On a last note, I got to go back stage and briefly meet with Obama. I went back there with two Afghanistan vets, one of whom had been badly injured. Obama spent most of his time talking to the injured vet who is a McCain supporter, which was the right thing to do. I got a picture and I've posted it above (I don't think I'll make it my profile picture on facebook). I kind of wished I had smiled and buttoned my jacket, but it all happened so fast. I'll have to admit, I kind of froze up when I shook his hand, and could only tell him that he was doing a great job. I'm sure he's used to that by now. I think I would have the same reaction to Brittany or Paris.

CDR

John McCain's Speech to the VFW

It is day two for me in Orlando and John McCain spoke to the convention today (after a lovely meal at the Olive Garden last night).

The VFW is about as good a crowd as McCain can get, and I happened to be sitting next to the Arizona delegation. The speech he gave was well written and McCain did a pretty good job delivering it. It was a formal setting before a large audience and he did well with he teleprompter. Despite all of these things, I fundamentally disagreed with a few points that he made:

Iraq
McCain ended the speech with a lot of eloquent sound bites and the one that stuck out to me was :
"It is every veteran's hope that should their children be called upon to answer a call to arms, the battle will be necessary and the field well chosen. But that is not their responsibility. It belongs to the government that called them."
It stuck out because it contradicted a lot of things he had said in the beginning of the speech about Iraq. Clearly, the battlefield in Iraq was chosen by us, but most Americans agree that it was a poor decision. And as for the war being necessary, our stated goals were accomplished before the first boot went north- Saddam had no WMD and he wasn't aiding Al Quaeda. Regardless, McCain used the speech to go on the offensive against Obama, saying that he had tried to "legislate defeat" and that Obama's "political self interest and the national self interest had parted ways."

In full disclosure, I supported the war in '02 and '03. When I was in Iraq, I convinced myself that even though there was no WMD, we had still lifted the "yoke of repression" from the shoulders of the Iraqi people. Then the insurgency came, and Saddam's reign of terror was replaced by the terror of sunni and shiite extremist who wasted thousands of lives fighting the US and themselves. It was sometime in early 2004 that I came to believe that the war was a terrible decision and that the president's handling of it was text book incompetence. Despite the fact that I came to oppose the war, I also opposed a withdrawal, thinking that it would lead to even greater insability. I have now come around on that point too- I firmly believe that so long as the Iraqi government can call in US troops, they Will never fully get their shit together.

All of that being said, I can't fault Barack Obama and the democrats of the 110th Congress for trying to end the war. I can't fault them for trying to implement the will of the majority of Americans who want this war to be over. While McCain rightly points out that Obama won't admit that the surge has had some impact, he is just as stubborn in not admitting that the war should never have been fought in the first place. Indeed, the war was far from necessary, and the field was not well chosen.

I will give McCain a lot of credit for one thing. His own son, a Lance Corporal in the Marine Corps was sent to implement the very policy that McCain so strongly advocated for. While I think the McCain is wrong on Iraq, he certainly is sincere in his beliefs.

GI Bill
McCain said that he sought a "better GI bill" and that's the one that passed. Of course that isn't what happened- McCain was opposed to the new GI Bill from the day it was introduced to the day it was passed. He never sought a better bill, he just introduced one that was watered down. Though the VFW has lost a lot of influence over the years, I give them a lot of credit on the GI Bill. The VFW stood up to the president and McCain on this one, and their efforts really paid off.

Odds and Ends
McCain's speech was preceded by a very lengthy speech given by a representative of a Russian veterans group who spoke through an interpreter. McCain spent a good bit of his speech talking about how terrible the Russians were while the Russian sat on stage. While I didn't disagree with what McCain said, the scene was less than diplomatic.
One of the ladies sitting behind me was from Arizona and when Cindy McCain went on stage, she said "Oh, there's McCain's wife, the one with all the beer. Why hasn't she joined the auxiliary?"

CDR

My Dinner with John McCain

The title of this post is a little misleading. To clarify things, I did not have dinner with John McCain tonight. But I did have the pleasure of eating at an Olive Garden in Orlando at the very same time that John McCain was eating at the same Olive Garden. For the record, this was my first meal at an Olive Garden.

Basically, the restaurant is across from my hotel, so I decided to head over there for dinner. I was greeted at the door by Secrete Service agents who told me that someone "under their protection" was eating there and would I submit to a "pat down."

I had a lovely dinner at the bar and towards the end of my meal, Sen McCain and his entourage of Joe Lieberman, Lindsey Graham,and Mel Martinez walked out. McCain went into the kitchen and thanked all of the cooks and he went out of his way to shake hands with all of the waiters. He even went behind the bar to take a picture with the bartenders. I told the bartender "I certainly won't vote for him, but he was classy to say hello to everyone." I have to say, he probably had more body guards than Brittany. Then again, he is a celebrity.

So why am I in Orlando? I am attending the 109th Veterans of Foreign Wars Convention. McCain speaks tomorrow morning, Sen Obama speaks on tuesday and W. speaks on wed. I intend to post my thoughts on each speech.

CDR

Someone who is helping our recovery

I hope that everyone in New Orleans reads this article in today's NY Times. I read it early this morning and thought that the perfect title for a post would be "Gadbois the Gadfly" --- but Oyster beat me to the punch.

When confronted with his administration's incompetence, Nagin had the audacity to tell Karen Gadbois, Sarah Lewis, and Lee Zurick that they were "hurting our recovery." I won't be the first to point out that C.Ray is an ongoing man-made disaster, who has done about as much to hold back our recovery as the Bush Administration and the Repubs in Congress.

CDR

An early election recommendation

I recently had the chance to hear from all of the school board candidates in New Orleans. Some argue that the school board is irrelevent today and will have no role in the future of education in New Orleans. I disagree- the school board isn't going anywhere and the future governing structure of our schools is far from clear. That being said, I would like to reccomend Davin Boldissar for the 3rd District School Board seat.
This will be the first of many election reccomendations, so I urge all five of my readers to stay tuned.

CDR

Anything but swift....

Why wasn't this released two weeks ago?

Fine Taxidermy

I was at Le Club the other night (or as the kids call it, Ms. Mae's) and I noticed that my favorite taxidermed squirell had been removed from its perch above the bar. I hadn't been to Le Club for about a year, and I asked the bartender about the squirrel. He said that it didn't make it in the fire they had last year (the one where the patrons refused to make way for NOFD because there was a Saints game on).

A few days later, I happened to read an article on this Paris establishment. I often fantasize about what I'd do if I hit powerball, and I definitely think I would buy some fine Parisian taxidermy. Unfortunately, Deyrolle had a devastating fire of its own last year (VF doesn't have a link to the article on their website)but I understand that it is well on the road to recovery. Incidently, I don't read French, but I still spent a few minutes gazing at the pretty pictures ysterday.

CDR

McNasty

I agree fully agree with this article from Politico on McCain.

Isn't it ironic that the party of Ronald Reagan, our first movie star president, is trying to tear Obama down by calling him a celebrity? It was no big deal to the repubs in 1980 that RR had spent more time acting in westerns and monkey flicks than he had spent in government. Then again, it's pretty clear from the last four years that flip-flopping is no longer a cardinal sin, so I should just give McCain a pass on this one.

And I love how John Stewart pointed out that Paris Hilton's parents gave the maximum amount to his campaign. I guess their children might be bad for America, but their money is certainly good enough for McCain.

Addendum:
I think it would be appropriate to post Kathy Hilton's response here.


CDR

Barackbook

I have to admit, this is pretty funny and original, unlike the nasty Bush/Rove type commercials that the McCain campaign put out this week.

http://www.barackbook.com/

I know absolutely nothing about the internets, aside from the fact that it is made of a series of tubes (Incredible Hulk, you will be missed). I imagine that this sort of page can't be that hard to put together, and I'd love to see some copycats pop up attacking the repubs.

Though it has its uses, I always thought that the social networking part of barackobama.com was kind of silly. It reminds me of when Dunder Mifflin added a social networking page to Dunder Mifflin infinity.

CDR

Leave Lap Dancing to the Pros

As promised, here is my first posting of a newspaper story. Shepherd has alway been a competitive person, and it looks like he's trying to burn out with more intensity than all of the other public officials under indictment.

I have a lot of mixed feelings about the Times Picayune- I've witnessed some shoddy reporting and I think that they spend a little too much time coddling the Boston Club crowd that Ashton Phelps runs with.

But I think they've gotten the Shepherd story right- particularly on his residency issues. I'll have to save my thoughts on the residency requirements for the Louisiana Legislature for a different post.

I'm glad that the TP decided to print the letter to the editor that I've posted below- it is much funnier than anything on the Picayune's now diminished comics page.

CDR


Leave Lap Dancing to the Pros

Re: "State senator arrested in battery, theft, " Page 1, July 28.

I read with dismay the report in Monday's paper of the arrest of a member of the Louisiana Senate, but it was the circumstances of the arrest, as reported by one of the arresting officers, that really caught my eye.
Police said two women were in Sen. Derrick Shepherd's residence, and at the time of the arrest one of them was performing a lap dance for the recumbent incumbent. When I linked that fact with the $100 bill allegedly missing from his ex-girlfriend's pocketbook the story started to come together.
Clearly, the senator doesn't understand that most of the cabarets on Bourbon Street take credit cards. No need to raid someone else's cookie jar for the odd dollar bill to pay for an amateur dance when you can slap down the plastic and high roll to your heart's content.
This lamentable ignorance may be unique to Louisiana, because this past week New Orleans hosted the National Conference of State Legislatures, and I'm pleased to report that our sales numbers indicate that other states' legislators and their staffs are better informed.

Robert Watters
Rick's Cabaret
New Orleans

Grand Opening

So I'm going to give blogging a try.

Hopefully I'll put something out there that is not as disturbing as creed thoughts: http://blog.nbc.com/CreedThoughts/

I guess I'll blog on whatever has gotten my goat on that particular day. Most days, something political or related to New Orleans has gotten my goat.

I'll probably just post newspaper stories, like I do on facebook, but I may take the time to add a little more commentary.

There's no real meaning to the name of this blog, I was basically looking for something that wasn't already taken. Plus, I don't mind dressing up like a penguin every now and again, though I haven't done so in a couple of years.

CDR