Tom Oliphant, Peter Galbraith, and the Restoration of Hope

As the races accross the country hit warp speed, the mud is being slung with ferocity. Such is the business, I suppose. But it leaves me disillusioned, though not to the point at which I'll fail to participate or pay any attention. The week started with Clinton's anger and further destruction of George Allen's character. I'm not for a second asserting that either was necessarily unjustified. In my opinion, Clinton's outburst was inspiring and the Allen stories are an unfortunate necessity. But what a drag politics in the new century have become!

Read more...at Jay's Page

Olbermann On a Roll, and In Danger

If he keeps this up, we here at Angry Progressives are just going to have to link you to Olbermann's show every night. Unfortunately, Olbermann's hard-hitting and thoroughly-reported criticism of Bush and Co. is putting his his personal safety in danger. Read this excellent post from the Daily Kos, which describes how not only did Olbermann have white powder mailed to his house, but how he was also told to keep quiet about it by the FBI. The news only went public because the Rupert Murdoch-owned New York Daily Post chose to make fun of him about it.

Watch here how Olbermann again eviscerates Bush and his administration for their piss-poor inaction on Al-Qaeda in the 8 months before 9/11, and once again shows their excuses to be outright lies.

The more the public realizes that Bush personally did nothing to keep us safe before 9/11, and that his war of choice in Iraq is in fact making us even less safe from terrorism today, the better we all are. And once that weapon of fear, their only weapon, is taken from the Republicans hands, the better the chances are for Democrats to take power in November and start turning this country around.

Chance to avoid an E-Nightmare on 11/7 - Contact Your Senators and Reps

Back in late August, we argued that given the evidence that elections can easily be manipulated when there's no paper trail, perhaps the most important issue of the day is the issue of electronic voting machines vs. paper ballots.

Brad Friedman has been all over this, and finally Senators Boxer, Dodd, and Feingold, as well as Rep. Rush Holt, have introduced a bill to provide funding to jurisdictions to print emergency paper ballots for the November election. Any jurisdiction that accepts the money must offer a paper ballot to any voter who requests one on election day. The NYT ran an article on this on Tuesday.

Congress adjourns Friday, so act quickly. Go to www.senate.gov for your Senators' contact info, and http://www.house.gov for your Rep.'s. Let them know how important this is!

TN-SEN Update - CQ Politics Calls Race a Tossup

Big News! CQ Politics has moved the TN Senate race to replace Bill Frist into the "No Clear Favorite" category.

Ford has a ton of momentum in this race right now, and has been running a near-perfect campaign. Meanwhile, Corker has run up against the illumination of corrupt land dealings while he was mayor of Chattanooga, as well as the fact that while mayor he let 17% of 911 calls go unanswered.

This is a seat we can win.

Angry Progressives Hero of the Week - Keith Olbermann

Earlier in the week we showed you the video of Bill Clinton smacking down Chris Wallace and debunking the right-wing 9/11 revisionism.

Monday night on his show Countdown, on MSNBC, Keith Olbermann took it a step further. In a "Special Comment," Olbermann tore Bush and the Republicans a new one. He revokes Bush's free pass.

It's hard to describe how powerful this was, so just watch it.

NIE More Proof That Iraq is Making America Less Safe - Democrats On the Offensive

This past weekend, the New York Times reported that American intelligence agencies completed a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) finding that the Iraq war has increased the danger of terrorism against the United States, spawning a new generation of Islamic radicalism. According to one American intelligence official, the report “says that the Iraq war has made the overall terrorism problem worse.”

The report is damning, and not only contradicts Bush's and Cheney's lies about Iraq, but also very clearly undercuts the "stay the course/fight them over there instead of over here/we're winning, just trust us" lines they've been peddling. That's all the Republicans have left, the hope that they can scare people into voting for them one more time. If more and more people realize that staying in Iraq is just making it worse, and making us less safe, the more people are going to vote Democrat in Novemeber.

To their credit, the Democrats aren't letting this opportunity slip by. Watch some House Democrats bash Bush and the Republicans on the NIE.

They aren't stopping there. Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA), the top Democrat on the House intelligence committee, says there is a second report out there, which paints a grim picture of the current situation in Iraq. Bush wants to keep it from the public until after the election in November, but Harman wants it out now.

Afghanistan - Another Bush Failure As the Taliban Is Back

Who says? Nobody important, just NATO, Bush's own top commander in the field, Army Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry...you know, the naysayers in the liberal media.

W to Be In Memphis On 9/27 Raising Money For Corker - Protest Planned

President Bush is coming to Memphis next Wednesday, September 27, to attend a $2100 per plate fund raiser for senate nominee Bob Corker.

Join with the Mid South Peace and Justice Center at the intersection of Shady Grove and Yates in East Memphis at 11am to protest the president's visit and to draw attention to the escalating cost of the Bush administration's war in Iraq, in terms of lives lost and tax dollars wasted, while emphasizing the need for funding of vital services here at home.

Check out Democratic nominee Harold Ford Jr.'s website.

4 Progressive Candidates We Love

• Jon Tester, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate from Montana
• Ned Lamont, Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate from Connecticutt
• Tim Walz, Democratic nominee for U.S. Congress for the 1st District in Minnesota
• Joe Sestak, Democratic nominee for U.S. Congress in the 7th District in Pennsylvania

Visit their websites, and donate to these and other progressive Netroots candidates at ActBlue.

At Least Senator George Allen isn't a Racist

Fine, so George Allen used the racial epithet "macaca" to denigrate an Indian-American volunteer for his opponent, Jim Webb. But that was just an isolated incident, right? Oh, he used to keep a noose in his law office and opposed a Martin Luther King, Jr. state holiday while a VA state legislator? Well, I'm sure that's just a coincidence. Wait, he was visibly offended when a reporter asked him if he was part Jewish? And he's associated with a white supremacist group? And he used to use the "N-word" in college? That can't be right. He's got some former teammates from UVA that say he never would have done that. Oh, these guys are either Republican activists or beneficiaries of his actions as a legislator. Hmmm. I guess the only conclusion one can come to about George Allen is that he is a racist.

Bill Clinton Rips Fox's Chris Wallace, Makes Mockery of Right-Wing Lies About Bin Laden

President Bill Clinton appeared on The Republican News Channel (aka Fox) for an interview with Chris Wallace. Despite being told that the interview was to be about Clinton raising $7 billion last week for the Clinton Global Initiative, Wallace attempted a "gotcha" moment by beginning the interview with the question: "Why didn’t you do more to put Bin Laden and al Qaeda out of business when you were President?" Clinton didn't take it lightly, and proceeded to not only tear Wallce a new asshole but also to tear down every Republican and right-wing lie about al-Qaeda and 9/11. As my distinguished colleague Jay said, Clinton needs to be front and center for the Democrats. The distinction between Clinton and W is day and night, and the American people need to be reminded how good things were when the Democrats were in power, and how bad they've been with Bush and his cronies running the country, and the world, into a ditch.

Crooks and Liars has the video and the transcript here.