This is a must see video, with special guest appearances by a number of California Republican Congressman. Four in fact (including the former Congressman from CA-50). It is not suprising — but somewhat shocking — that when the DCCC puts together a video on GOP corruption it is full of Californians.

Following up on dday’s great early look at vulnerable GOP seats, it is clear that California could play a huge role in picking up more seats for Speaker Pelosi. Especially considering that the Culture of Corruption could play a huge role against John Doolittle in CA-04, Jerry Lewis in CA-41, and Gary Miller in CA-42. And who knows who else, corruption doesn’t just happen in swing districts.

So I recommend everyone sign up for the new DCCC Rapid Response Network (I did).

The Auburn Journal published a pair of guest op-eds today.  Charlie Brown spent his inches on ethical leadership and the many challenges we face right now from ending the Iraq War to the record gas prices.  And what about Doolittle?  Well, he whined, a lot.

There was a nice little consipracy theory.

In fact, the search occurred after my attorney had a meeting with the government, and I now believe that the search of our home was in large measure an attempt to strong arm my wife in order to get me to admit to a crime – a crime that I did not commit.

Right, so the FBI raided the house of a sitting Congressman to try and scare his wife.  Somehow, I don’t think a judge would approve of such a raid, but don’t let me stop you from your tin foil hat theory.

Now let the real whining begin…

During the search, Julie was sequestered in the kitchen and not allowed to move without an escort. She was not even allowed to use the bathroom in our own home without an FBI agent escorting her there.

Oh the horror….  Sounds like standard practice to me.  There is a reason for these rules John, they don’t want you destroying evidence.  See, they are investigating a crime and are looking for evidence.  Your wife could have stashed some in the bathroom and attempt to flush it down the toilet or something.

It wasn’t just the bathroom escort bothering Doolittle…

Even though the search warrant only pertained to items related to Julie’s business, agents seized many personal items that clearly had no relevance to their investigation.

Julie’s personal journals, sensitive information about our two children, phone lists and personal files were all taken and have yet to be returned. They even took her mobile phone and Ipod.

Hate to burst your bubble John, but phone lists and cell phones are pretty commonly used to conduct business.  As for the journal, who knows what your wife wrote down about her activities with Abramoff.

Doolittle isn’t done with the conspiracies yet.  He even drags in Gonzales.

Then four days later, details of the search were leaked to a Washington, D.C., newspaper.

I do not believe it was a coincidence that the leak came the day before Attorney General Alberto Gonzales testified before Congress on charges that his office was overly partisan in its firing of eight U.S. Attorneys, especially considering Gonzales specifically cited his recent prosecution of Republican members of Congress as evidence to the contrary.

WTF?  I have read this paragraphs three times and I still don’t get what he is trying to say here.  Is he trying to claim that someone tied to Gonzales leaked word about the investigation to bolster support for the Attorney General?  Sorry, but one raid will not undo the damage done by the Attorney General and his staff, nor did it do anything to take the heat off of you.

I feel like I need to cleanse my eyes after reading that hooey.  How about a quote from Charlie’s column.

Every day, I hear from citizens of all political stripes who want to move beyond the era of scandal ridden pay-to-play politics, and toward a fresh start, a hopeful future, and real solutions to the problems we face in the 4th District and across the country.

I agree. So I’m devoting the remainder of this column to the challenges that I believe we can overcome together, when this sad era of corruption and scandal finally comes to a close.

Like most Americans, military leaders, and the Iraq Study Group, I believe open-ended involvement in Iraq’s civil war is preventing us from defeating the real enemy – al-Qaida. We need to work in a bi-partisan fashion to bring our heroic troops home from Iraq, and launch a diplomatic surge to restore America’s credibility around the world.

Then and only then, will we be able to reunite our country and the international community around the most pressing cause of our time, and redeploy our forces to the real frontlines in the war on terror.

Unfortunately, by paying record prices for gas, we are helping to fund the very people who are trying to hurt us. That’s why America can and must commit to a program to achieve energy independence in 10 years. And if Brazil can do it, so can the U.S.

Aaah I feel a bit better.

(Now cross-posted in Orange and Blue. – promoted by Brian Leubitz)

During the convention, I spoke (*not so well*) about the impact of community blogs. It was a rocking good time, except for the fact that I felt a bit on the unprepared side. Sorry folks! Well, anyway, there was also a reporter in that room, one Jennifer Hunter from the Chicago Sun-Times. She does a lot of coverage for the local Senator…uh…Barack Obama. Well, on May 4, she let out a cry for the old media.  Not from a position of knowledge or experience, rather it was another example of media defensiveness. 

When I walked into the California State Democratic Convention last Saturday in San Diego and saw all the bloggers, I realized that not only was I a Luddite, hauling around my ailing microcassette tape recorder, but that this trend of political blogging is growing like a kudzu vine, snaking around a dozen newspaper boxes … overnight. (Chicago Sun-Times 5/4/07)

Well, I wasn’t sure about the reference to kudzu, either. But after a little kudzu research, I don’t think it’s a very friendly reference. It turns out kudzu, in America, is invasive and grows out of control in the Southeast. Not nice, Ms. Hunter. But we probably shouldn’t  feel to threatened by Ms. Hunter’s call to arms. It turns out that she throws out any remaining credibility at the end of the article.

You see apparently, Ms. Hunter never covered the tech beat, either in Chicago, or for her previous Canadian gigs.  You see, had she covered, well anything remotely related to tech, I’m guessing she would have heard the phrase “early adopters.”  Well, she hasn’t, because throughout the whole article she cites blogs as the domain of “early adaptors.” 

But putting that aside, her closing is a doozy.

In the end, who has time to blog? After reading four newspapers each day and my e-mails and doing my work, I’ve had it. Blogging remains a luxury for the young — or the bored.

I guess I should apologize for wasting your time. I mean I shouldn’t have spent all that time explaining the blogosphere to Ms. Hunter, given that it’s such a waste of time. But I’m no therapist, and I don’t know where she was coming from. Perhaps she was intimidated by the fact that Calitics had the best coverage of the CDP Convention. Or perhaps she doesn’t understand the symbiotic nature of blogosphere and the MSM. Or, well, whatever, but somebody is a bit nervous.

But, Ms. Hunter, thanks for the shout out to Calitics. Any attention, misguided or not, is a boost to the blogosphere. Thanks for the help.

As you no doubt have read by now, on Sunday The LA Times editorial board, in an editorial titled “Bring Them Home,” belatedly called for an end to American troop presence in Iraq.

The U.S. should immediately declare its intention to begin a gradual troop drawdown, starting no later than the fall. The pace of the withdrawal must be flexible, to reflect progress or requests by the Iraqis and the military’s commanders. The precise date for completing the withdrawal need not be announced, but the assumption should be that combat troops would depart by the end of 2009.

Don’t ya love when the Times issues these strong declarative statements about what the U.S. SHOULD do in times of war as though a. they’re the first to even consider such a thing and b. they have any credibility left?

Over…

First of all, where the f- have you been? You make statements like:

it seems increasingly obvious that an Iraqi political settlement cannot be achieved in the shadow of an indefinite foreign occupation.

and

there is no reason to believe that the surge will help bring about an end to what is, in fact, a multifaceted civil war.

as though these conclusions are surprising. For months principled elected officials in Washington who are sick at the toll this war has taken in blood and treasure, having come to these conclusions long ago, have been trying to do pretty much what you recommend, albeit on a faster schedule.

And where were you? March, 12:

By interfering with the discretion of the commander in chief and military leaders in order to fulfill domestic political needs, Congress undermines whatever prospects remain of a successful outcome. It’s absurd for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) to try to micromanage the conflict, and the evolution of Iraqi society, with arbitrary timetables and benchmarks.

Incredibly, even now, in what is essentially a reversal of your support for the surge, you can’t bring yourself to give any credit to Democrats.

No, to the LA Times editorial board, Democrats’ motivations are nothing more than “domestic political needs,” hence the call for a late 2009 end date. Their judgment is that because 2008 is an election year, the Democrats’ desire for withdrawal is merely political and, hence, by definition hasty.

Better to begin planning a careful, strategic withdrawal from Iraq now, based on the strategies laid out by the Iraq Study Group, than allow for the 2008 campaign season to create a precipitous pullout.

In yet another of the editorial’s if-it-weren’t-so-sad-it-would-be-funny statements, the board states:

Having invested so much in Iraq, Americans are likely to find disengagement almost as painful as war.

Are you kidding me? The people want out. Now. They’ve been calling for it for months. What is an editorial board’s function if not a forum to reflect the sensibilities of its readership? On that score, you have proven a miserable failure.

You are however absolutely right when you say:

But the longer we delay planning for the inevitable, the worse the outcome is likely to be. The time has come to leave.

Which begs the question why do you call for yet another Friedman Unit by demanding the withdrawal begin no later than the fall? On what planet are you living if you think the administration will heed a measured recommendation such as yours? You apparently, and foolishly, still see an inherent virtue in deference to the commander in chief in a time of war without acknowledging what to most observers is obvious: a. that you’ve been duped before; b. that the administration has long since squandered any trust or benefit of the doubt on this war; and c. that it is about time the Democrats were given a little leeway and deference of their own.