A more perfect union

Morning has spoken




Obama's speech -- YouTube video link. Transcript PDF. Full text non-PDF (Courtesy Avedon). See also commentary from Watson, my good man, dday at Hullabaloo, and Glenn Greenwald at Salon. (H/t Tom).

Why We're Liberals: A Political Handbook for Post-Bush America by Eric Alterman, a review of his new book at Publishers Weekly. Need to update my reading list.

Anti-war Murtha endorsed Hillary -- Jeralyn at TalkLeft cited WashPo: " 'Her experience and careful consideration of [health care, education, the economy, and the war in Iraq] convinced me that she is best qualified to lead our nation and to bring credibility back to the White House,' Murtha said. He said he 'whole-heartedly' recommends Clinton to all voters in his state." That's some PA mojo.

Fighting for a Michigan revote: "Clinton is adding a quick trip to Detroit to her Wednesday campaign schedule in a high-profile push for a primary contest revote there so Michigan’s delegates are counted in the Democratic nomination fight." (The Caucus) C'mon, Obama. Stop resisting a revote. Go ahead. Just say it: Yes, we can!

Polls! McCain is up and beats both Barack and Hillary in favorability ratings. In PA, Clinton moves up, 53% to Obama's 41% among likely primary voters. TM

Notice to Hillary bloggers! If I'm taking TPM to task, then by jennies, I'm also holding Clinton bloggers accountable. They must end their unseemly affinity with "Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Newsmax, and Fox News as sources to buttress their arguments that Obama is an unelectable dewdrop with a hate diploma from Jeremiah Wright's religious academy." So not credible, so wingnutty. Stop it!

Unsurprisingly, I agree with Wolcott regarding Obama's speech. I also "question that a 'conversation' or dialogue about race is what the country wants or needs right now--it may be a pedagogical aria that appeals to the political media elite and other word-crafters but occupies a plane irrelevant to most people's concerns as the economy implodes." Survival trumps everything.

More Rev. Wright videos -- "The alleged 'racist' nature of the United States government has been a recurring theme in sermon after sermon by Obama's longtime pastor." (ABC News) The Wright stuff isn't going away easily.

Belated St. Patrick's Day note -- Ireland hearts Hillary: Prime Minister Bertie Ahern "called Mrs. Clinton 'hugely helpful' in the process both as first lady and as a U.S. senator, and suggested some of the criticism of her are unfair." What are the criticisms? That she exaggerated her role in the Northern Ireland peace process. Video at the link.

P-FLAG rally scared Sally! Pam reported on a gay and lesbian protest at Oklahoma City over Rep. Sally Kern's homophobic tirade. She fled. "The door to Kern's office was locked and the lights were out following the rally. She did not return telephone calls from The Associated Press to her office and home seeking comment."

Lost environmental documents -- Before you chuck 'em, it's a good idea to scan 'em for the Internet. But the EPA didn't.

Gender-bashing wingnut Laura Ingraham mocked Brett Favre for crying at his retirement presser. "All these years, and I didn't know there was a woman quarterback in the NFL." (Thanks, Amanda.)

Unbelievable headline -- Cheney again links Iraq invasion to 9/11 attacks. Isn't it about time to conduct a psych evaluation of Dick?

Why lies work: "[A] paradox of social psychology, a problem for myth busters everywhere: repeating a claim, even if only to refute it, increases its apparent truthfulness." As Arachnae said, "It all starts to make sense now, everything from the War in Iraq to Rush Limbaugh." So that's why Cheney keeps pushing that Iraq-9/11 link.

Thank you, thank you! Mary at The Left Coaster said it nicely: "Kudos to the Democratic challengers who have come up with a very credible plan for getting out of Iraq. Here's to Darcy Burner, Donna Edwards, Chellie Pingree, Tom Perriello, Sam Bennett and Jared Polis." Check Darcy's website for video and PDF of "A Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq."