Some things that happened in the world today while I was flying down the side of a mountain...
+ The Pentagon has completed a massive study of over 600,000 documents captured in Iraq just after the 2003 invasion. And guess what? There was no link between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda! Any guesses what happened next? That's right... the Bush administration decided to suppress the report by releasing it only on CD-ROM. Apparently these inept fools have never heard of the Internet.
+ The Geraldine Ferraro madness apparently continued this morning on GMA and Bill O'Reilly. By the time I got off the mountain, however, Ferraro had been forced to resign from Clinton's campaign.
+ Longtime readers of this blog know that I'm fairly obsessed with the idea that 2008 could be a transformative election for the United States. It's a theory that drives much of my analysis, just as it drives my support for Obama's campaign. Obama gets that a realignment is both possible and likely this year. Clinton, meanwhile, openly denies that a realignment is possible. If you want a small modification of the status quo, vote Clinton. If you want something more, vote Obama. It really is that simple.
+ Not convinced? Here's the polling data from the 10 biggest states in the nation. Ignore the rhetoci coming from Hillaryland - Obama's got an advantage here. Then check out the smaller states. Yup, Obama's got a HUGE advantage there. Remind me again why anyone would want Hillary to be the nominee? Anyone outside of Republicans, that is.
+ There are a million different theories about what the Obama campaign wants done with Michigan and Florida, but so far no one seems to have suggested what I think is most likely to actually happen. By mid-June the primary process will be over, and with or without these two states Obama's lead will be insurmountable. And at that point he'll suggest that the delegations from both states get seated as is.
+ McMegan is absolutely right: The states should have no role whatsoever in controlling the delegate selection process of our political parties. The parties are independent, private groups that are entirely separate from our government. They are not, nor should they ever be, organs of the state. They may be more important than the Elks Lodge, but they are equally private.
+ If you want to understand the real reasons for CENTOM commander Admiral William Fallon's departure yesterday, Tom Ricks is your go-to guy. Among other things, Ricks reports that Gen. Petraeus may take over for Fallon. Also worth reading is Juan Cole. Cole reports that Fallon may have been removed because he continues to believe that the Surge is at best a temporary success. And given the news out of Iraq over the last 48 hours, he's almost certainly right.
+ Believe it or not, after six months of trying, Pelosi has managed to push through a tough new ethics package in the House of Representative. TPM highlights a great part of the long debate - Republicans begged their fellow legislators to vote against the measure out of a sense of "self-preservation."
+ Speaking of House Dems, it looks like they may have outmaneuvered the White House on FISA reform and telecomm immunity. Hard to believe, I know, but knock on wood it might be true!
+ Did partisanship play a role in the Spitzer investigation? Perhaps. Do I care? No. I'm against corruption, period. Republican, Democrat, Independent, I don't care. If they are dirty, go get 'em. Gov. Spitzer should go. So too should Sen. Vitter. Funny how inconsistent those on the right can be about these things, isn't it?
+ AFL-CIO announced today that it is set to spend $53 million this fall to elect a Democrat - any Democrat - as President of the United States.
+ Speaking of McCain, it seems he loves to compare himself to Teddy Roosevelt. Only one problem. He has no idea what TR stood for.
+ Even worse, McCain's self-proclaimed spiritual advisor, Rod Parsley, believes that America was founded in part to destroy the "false religion" of Islam founded by a man who was "a demon spirit."
+ Mark it on your calendar - today is the date on which it became obvious that W. was even more economically out of touch than his father.
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