Why the Long Faces?

I first saw this image last week, when Bush was in Baghdad, Iraq, for less than five hours on a super-duper-top-secret photo-op in an attempt to prop-up his abysmally low public approval numbers. These guys don’t appear too happy to serve as props for Bush:

White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, left, and White House Counselor Dan Barlett, ride in a military helicopter wearing helmets and flak jackets for a trip from Baghdad International Airport to U.S. Embassy in the Greenzone Tuesday, June 13, 2006 in Baghdad, Iraq. Snow and Bartlett traveled with President Bush who made a surprise visit to Baghdad.

Thanks to BAGnewsNotes.com for the image.

Political Wire Asks: Can Cheaters Run for President?

Under normal circumstances the question, Can Cheaters Run for President?, wouldn’t even come up. However, given the context of past decade, where the politics of personal destruction have been elevated to ever increasing levels, I think it’s only fair to probe the potential ‘08 GOP (God’s Own Party) presidential candidates for their moral rectitude, being that they claim to be the party of traditional family values.

PoliticalWire.com asks:

Can Cheaters Run for President?

While the media regularly dissects Sen. Hillary Clinton’s (D-NY) personal life and the infidelity of her husband a decade ago, Steve Benen notes in the Washington Monthly that adultery may be a bigger problem for Republicans in the next presidential campaign.

"Lurking just over the horizon are liabilities for three Republicans who have topped several national, independent polls for the GOP’s favorite 2008 nominee: Sen. John McCain (affair, divorce), former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (affair, divorce, affair, divorce), and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani (divorce, affair, nasty divorce). Together, they form the most maritally challenged crop of presidential hopefuls in American political history."

"Just a few years after infidelity was considered a dealbreaker for a presidential candidate, the party that presents itself as the arbiter of virtue may field an unprecedented two-timing trifecta."

Why I Like Dean

Here’s just one more example of why it is that many of us in the Democratic Party grassroots are such fans of Howard Dean, the DNC chair: he’s simply one of a handful of Democrats willing to go toe-to-toe against the Republican mouth pieces.

Joe Lieberman, Traitor?

This is remarkable:

"If Joe Lieberman is considering abandoning the Democratic party, the people have a right to know it," Swan said. "Ned is agreeing to abide by the process and respect the choice of the people. Will Joe?"

That’s right, Joe Lieberman, Al Gore’s vice-presidential choice, is considering leaving the Democratic party if he looses Connecticut’s Democratic primary. Lieberman has become Republican’s favorite Democrat; in fact, Lieberman has higher approval ratings among Connecticut’s Republican voters than among registered Democrats. And now that Ned Lamont is mounting a strong challenge against the Democratic incumbent, Lieberman is showing his true colors by threatening to bolt from the Democratic party and run as an independent in the general election.

Interestingly, the possibility that Lieberman may bolt the Democratic party has some right-wingers excited, and hoping that Joe-Mentum may even run as a Republican.

Lieberman’s unprincipled threat, especially at a time when Democrats need to stand together during the general mid-term elections, prompted Jim Dean, of Democracy for America, to write an open letter to incumbent Democrats in DC:

Open Letter to Beltway Democrats

I am disappointed that Senator Lieberman has refused to rule out leaving the Democratic Party to run for re-election as an Independent.

I plan to support the winner of the Democratic primary for Senate in August because I believe that Democrats need to stand together in November. All Democrats, both inside and outside the Beltway, must do the same. We can’t afford to divide ourselves — too much is at stake.

I hope you will join DFA, Ned Lamont, and thousands of other grassroots Democrats by pledging to fully support the winner of the Democratic primary on August 8th.

Respectfully,
Jim

Jim Dean
Chair, Democracy for America

Show your support for principled Democrats and remind those in DC that only together can we take our country back from the corrupt hands of Republicans that now control our government. Sign Jim’s open-letter by visiting:

http://www.democracyforamerica.com/standtogether/