First Draft

Happy Democrat Photo: Jill Biden Edition

She's so awesome.

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Making History

The face we show to the world matters to the world:

People gathered in Ghana to watch for Obama as he toured the Cape Coast Slave Castle.

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Oh, Do Not EVEN

I have a delicious mental image of Michelle Obama personally kicking the asses of every single one of these doughy pantloads.





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Happy Joey the Shark Photo

You know, for all the times I think Biden can be and has been a tool:

“Biden was offended about a story pushed by conservative operatives about his daughter getting into trouble with the police,” Wolffe writes in the book, “Renegade.”

Wolffe, who covered the presidential campaign for Newsweek and now works as a political analyst for MSNBC, doesn’t explain what the “trouble” was. But Ashley Biden was charged in 2002 with obstructing an officer during an incident outside a Chicago nightclub. The charge was dropped after she apologized.

Biden brushed aside his staff’s suggestion that he release a statement, according to Wolffe.

Instead, Biden said, “Hell, no. I’m going to call John myself,” Wolffe wrote in the book, which will be released today.

When McCain refused to take his call, Biden was even more annoyed. He tried again when the candidates were in New York on the anniversary of 9/11, preparing for a forum on public service.

“McCain’s aides said he could not be disturbed, but that did not inhibit Joe Biden,” Wolffe wrote. “He walked up to McCain’s door and thumped on it. ‘John McCain,’ he shouted. ‘It’s Joe Biden. The next time I phone you, take the damn call.’ ”

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Teddy K!

He kicked cancer in the nuts and cancer said thank you, sir, may I have another?

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Happy Democrat Photo

G.K. Butterfield:

The Don't Let The Bedbugs Bite Act:

The Don't Let the Bed Bugs Bite Act of 2009 also would require public housing agencies to submit bedbug inspection plans to the federal government. It would add bedbugs to a rodent and cockroach program in the Department of Health and Human Services. It also would require the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to research bedbugs' impact on public mental health.

Butterfield's letter to congressional colleagues about the legislation attracted lots of attention: It was topped with a full-color picture of the insect sitting on human skin.

"Unfortunately, in recent years, the United States has seen a resurgence in bedbugs," the letter reads. "That's right — they're back in the sack — and biting."

Mr. A and I had an infestation of these things a few years ago. At first I blamed them on this shithole we stayed at one night, but later the exterminator told me they were all through the building and it was possible a neighbor had brought them in. Whatever the case, all of a sudden I was waking up with what felt like mosquito bites and couldn't figure out how a mosquito got in. Bug spray didn't help, long sleeves didn't help, keeping the windows closed in August didn't help, and then one day I saw the little fuckers. Ugggghhh. I hate insects. I will handle snakes and pet lizards and coo at mice but a fly sends me screaming for a swatter. The idea of insects in the BED was nightmare-inducing.

It took monthly visits from an exterminator for a year and a half to eradicate the bastards, plus bagging the mattresses and pillows, laundering everything in the house, scouring the walls, floors, furniture and pets, and caulking every crack in which they might hide. And I'm still freaked out about them coming back. Anybody willing to push for more funding to drive them to extinction is my new political boyfriend.

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Happy Joey Photo

For no reason whatsoever.

From the maniacs at Biden_Daily, about which TJ was asking in the van last night.

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flickr.gov

Geeky I know, but I love that the White House has a flickr account.  It features the First 100 Days-Delivering on Change behind-the-scenes photos by Pete Souza, some of which were released earlier this week, also available now at whitehouse.gov.  Available for download under Creative Commons license,too! 

 

Happy Democrat Photo: Sebelius Edition

Congratulations, Madam Secretary:

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Happy Hillary Photo

"After careful consideration, Mr. Rohrbacher, I've decided to let you live free as an example to others of what can happen when you screw with me. No, no, there's no need to grovel in thanks. Your public PWNING at my hands is reward enough for me."

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Happy Kerry Photo

Via Kos, he's gonna need some smokes and road beers.

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Happy Kerry Photo

Still proud of my vote.

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Happy Dodd Photo

Suck it, Geithner. You do not fuck with Dodd. He has a motherfucking BUS:

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LOLDEMOCRATS

Telegraph doesn't get the joke, News At 11:

Andrew Rasiej, founder of the political technology site Personal Democracy Forum, said too many messages consist of warbling monologues that miss the point.

Other postings, including one by Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, were said to be too eccentric or random to resonate.

In a minute-long video, Mrs Pelosi showed footage of her life behind the scenes in the Capitol Building through the eyes of two pet cats.

Making matters more bizarre, the minute-long film was captured to the strains of Rick Astley’s disco hit, Never Going To Give You Up.

Mr Rasiej said: “The problem for Nancy Pelosi, or anyone who tries to do this, is that you can’t fake authenticity.

“The more you try to make the video authentic, the more inauthentic it becomes. And Nancy Pelosi’s cat video is the perfect example of overdoing it, and watching one’s head disappear in a pool of quicksand.”

The Telegraph is apparently unaware of all Internet traditions.

In another video, Democrat Tim Ryan promoted the virtues of driving an environmental car by referring to the vehicle as a “chick magnet”.

Well, that we had to see:

It's the porny 70s music that makes it art. Be sure to peruse the whole stupid hilarious archive of Ryan's videos, including the one of him answering questions on Facebook and asking to be your friend. Because there's been a decline in the quality of political crack on offer of late, and we could all use a good high right now.

Via ONTD_Political.

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Happy Howard Photo: Bring It, Bitches

Seriously.

You think your approval ratings suck now? Try telling people it's socialism for their kids to see a doctor. Try holding tea parties on every corner while their grandparents need surgery. Try that line for a while, see how popular it makes you Rush Limbaugh.

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Happy Kerry Photo

Ordinarily I don't like linking to Politico, but this time they've really left me no choice.

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OMG Kerry Heart Hamas!!!11!

The usual suspects freak out impressively:

Given how Kerry beat up his fellow GI's in Vietnam,can you almost understand how he will beat up Israel with the rubble of Gaza.

Watch, The MSM will suck up the excrement that's going to flow from his mouth when he gets back. It's the first cycle of hanging Israel out to dry.

Maybe, though? Not so much:

GAZA, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Hamas denied on Friday it had given U.S. Senator John Kerry a letter for President Barack Obama when the senator visited the Gaza Strip this week.

Have a Happy Kerry Photo:

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Happy Democrat Photo: Reader Pr0n Edition

Just for joejoejoe. Because he luuuuurrves her.

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Happy Obama Photo: Signing Edition

Bipartisanship this, already.

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Happy Obama Photo: Dope. Roped.

He's fuckin' Smoove B. Play it everywhere. Buy another half hour of network time and get this shit HANDLED.

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DUKAKIS!

I'd been wondering where the Party was keeping him. Via ONTD_Political, here's an interview full of awesome:

Setting aside modesty, if you’d beaten “Poppy” Bush would we be facing an infrastructure crisis now?
Oh Christ, we’d have been at this thing all guns blazing.

You mean, for instance, we’d now have a halfway decent passenger rail system in the U.S.?
Are you kidding me? If I’d served as president for eight years? I certainly think so.

---

We seem to have gotten to a place where people have forgotten that large public works projects can happen in less than a half a lifetime.
In the 1950s we built the Calahan Tunnel in two years. What the hell are we doing now? Our friends in Europe and Asia still know how to build a tunnel. London has announced this cross-rail project, 25 miles from one side of city to the other. It will have a hugely positive effect on all kinds of things. It’s costing $1.5 billion per mile. Compare that to the estimates for tunnels in this country. The North-South rail link in Boston (which is important not only for the city but the whole Northeast corridor and all this America 2050 stuff that my friend Bob Yaro is talking about) is a mile long and it’s projected to cost $8 billion. For a mile. Nobody can tell me that the area below London is less complicated – they’re going to be finding Roman ruins down there, for God’s sake.

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So Here's Somebody Who's THE SEX

DAMN, baby.

“Rush Limbaugh is a has-been hypocrite loser, who craves attention. His right-wing lunacy sounds like Mikhail Gorbachev, extolling the virtues of communism. Limbaugh actually was more lucid when he was a drug addict. If America ever did 1% of what he wanted us to do, then we’d all need pain killers.”

I mean, DAMN BABY.

On first meeting him, one might not suspect Alan Grayson of being a crusader against government-contractor fraud. Six feet four in his socks, he likes to dress flamboyantly, on the theory that items such as pink cowboy boots help retain a jury’s attention. He and his Filipino wife, Lolita, chose their palm-fringed mansion in Orlando, Florida, partly because the climate alleviates his chronic asthma, and partly because they wanted their five children to have unlimited access to the area’s many theme parks.

Grayson likes theme parks, too. Toward the end of two long days of interviews, he insists we break to visit Universal Studios, because it wouldn’t be right for me to leave his adopted city without having sampled the rides. Later he sends me an e-mail earnestly inquiring which one I liked best.

He can be forgiven a little frivolity. In his functional home-office in Orlando, and at the Beltway headquarters of his law firm, Grayson & Kubli, Grayson spends most of his days and many of his evenings on a lonely legal campaign to redress colossal frauds against American taxpayers by private contractors operating in Iraq. He calls it “the crime of the century.”

His obvious adversaries are the contracting corporations themselves—especially Halliburton, the giant oil-services conglomerate where Vice President Dick Cheney spent the latter half of the 1990s as C.E.O., and its former subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root, now known simply as KBR. But he says his efforts to take on those organizations have earned him another enemy: the United States Department of Justice.

Over the past 16 years, Grayson has litigated dozens of cases of contractor fraud. In many of these, he has found the Justice Department to be an ally in exposing wrongdoing. But in cases that involve the Iraq war, the D.O.J. has taken extraordinary steps to stand in his way. Behind its machinations, he believes, is a scandal of epic proportions—one that may come to haunt the legacy of the Bush administration long after it is gone.

I mean, DAMN.

“Wall Street is the only place in the world where you can mug the taxpayers in plain view and then bill them for services rendered,” said Grayson.

“I opposed the initial $700 Billion bailout because it did nothing for homeowners, employment, or the economy.  There was no plan or strategy to help anyone but Wall Street banks.  And sure enough, the Bush administration wasted most of the $350 billion it got its hands on,” he added.  “Yesterday, I voted for the TARP Reform and Accountability Act to ensure that as much as $100 billion of remaining the money to help foreclosure mitigation.  I want to help people to keep their homes, and I want home values to go up, not down.”

“Today, I voted against releasing the rest of the money.  But if that money is going to be spent anyway, this legislation will direct at least some of it to solving the real problems of real people.  It will require participating banks to disclose what they are doing with the money, prevent bank bosses from enriching themselves at taxpayer expense, and allow funds to go to smaller community financial institutions.  I hope that President Obama will recognize the public’s disgust over the bailouts for everyone but them.”

Hey there. I mean, hey baby. Um, hey.

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Happy Ledbetter/Obama Photo

 

Hey there. How about some Fair Pay? Would you like some of that? Let's hook that up together.

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Happy Obama Photo: Dodd Edition

Stolen from Obama_Daily:

As the Bush Years wind down I think it's important to remember the times people did stand up. This is one of my favorite political speeches of all time. I read it every now and then just to remind myself what righteous fury sounds like:

In these times—under a president who seems every more day intent on acting as if he is the law, who grants himself the right to ignore legislation, who claims the power to spy without a warrant, to imprison without a hearing, to torture without a scruple—in these times, I would be a fool to take his offer.

But “trust me,” says President Bush. He means it literally. When he first asked Congress to make the telecoms’ actions legally disappear, Congress had a reasonable question for him: Can we at least know exactly what we’d be immunizing? Can you at least tell us what we’d be cleaning up?

And the president refused to answer. Only he, his close advisors, and a handful of telecom executives know all of the facts. Congress is only asked to give token oversight.

But if we are to do our Constitutionally-mandated job, we need more than token oversight; we need full hearings on the terrorist surveillance program before the Intelligence and Judiciary Committees.

Without that, we remain in the dark—and in the dark we’re expected to grant the president’s wish, because he knows best.

Does that sound familiar to any of my colleagues?

In 2002, we took the president’s word and voted to go to war on faulty intelligence. What if we took his word again—and found, next year or the year after, that we had blindly legalized grave crimes?

If this disastrous war has taught us anything, it is that the Senate must never again stack such a momentous decision on such a weak foundation of fact. The decision we’re asked to make today is not, of course, as immense. But between fact and decision, the disproportion is just as huge.

So I rise in determined opposition to this unprecedented immunity and all that it represents. I have served in this body for more than a quarter-century. I have spoken from this desk hundreds and hundreds of times. I have rarely come to the floor with such anger.

But since I came to Washington, I have seen six presidents sit in the White House—and I have never seen a contempt for the rule of law equal to this. Today I have reached a breaking point. Today my disgust has found its limit.

I don’t expect every one of my colleagues to share that disgust, or that limit. I wish they did—but had that been the case, we would never have come to this point.

I only ask them to believe me when I say if I did not speak today, my conscience would not let me rest.

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Happy Feingold Photo: Talk HARD

Russ: Not here, Mr. President-Elect, the cameras are on!
Harry: Why does Feingold get all the hot ass around here?

Because he's just that good:

Feingold's letter calls the president-elect's attention to a September hearing of the Constitution subcommittee entitled "Restoring the Rule of Law," at which more than three dozen historians, law professors and advocates -- including John Podesta, now a key player in the transition process -- testified.

Out of that hearing came a series of recommendations for steps the new president can and should take to renew the rule of law:

1.) Close the facility at Guantanamo Bay.

2.) Ban torture and establish a single, government-wide standard of humane detainee treatment.

3.) Conduct a comprehensive review of Office of Legal Counsel opinions and repudiate or revise those that overstate executive authority.

4.) Support significant legislative changes to the Patriot Act and the FISA Amendments Act.

5.) Cooperate with congressional oversight, including providing full information to intelligence committees.

6.) Establish presumptions of openness and disclosure in making decisions on the classification of information and respond to requests under the Freedom of Information Act.

Those are all important proposals, and Obama is likely to embrace at least some of them. He has, for instance, signaled that he intends to keep his promise to shutter the detention center at Guantanamo, which came to symbolize the Bush/Cheney administration's disregard for international law.

But the work of repairing a broken system of checks and balances is not merely the responsibility of the president, as Feingold well recognizes.

"All three branches of government must be engaged in the process of restoring the rule of law," the senator writes in his letter to Obama.

Hummina.

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Happy Obama, Clinton, Carter Photo: Three Out of Five Ain't Bad

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OBAMA WINS!!!!!

Formally elected.

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Happy Obama Photo: Road Trip Edition

Going on tour.

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Happy Obama Photo

"I got your backs."

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Happy Feingold Foto

He's just basically trying to talk me into bed now:

While Americans’ decisive call for change this election was a clear repudiation of the Bush administration’s conduct, failing to act swiftly to reverse the damage could essentially legitimize that conduct and the extreme legal theories on which it was based. That is why it is critically important for President-elect Obama to unequivocally renounce President Bush’s extreme claims of executive authority. As I mentioned in the interview yesterday, stating this position clearly in the inaugural address would affirm to the nation, and the world, that respect for the rule of law has returned to the Oval Office.

This declaration should be followed with quick action, to ensure that history sees the outgoing administration’s actions as an aberration and not a redefinition of executive power. I plan to try to help our new President by presenting him with a range of recommendations for restoring the rule of law from constitutional, legal and historical experts. In September, I held a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Constitution Subcommittee on what should be done to restore the rule of law. An impressive array of experts set forth detailed recommendations and proposals. I hope the record of this hearing will provide President-elect Obama with a useful blueprint for his efforts, just as it will help inform my work in the Senate.

The recommendations primarily focus on four key areas – the separation of powers among the branches, government secrecy, detention and interrogation policy, and protecting the privacy of law-abiding Americans. Following my hearing in September, I laid out many of these potential changes in a speech from the Senate floor, which I also invite you to read to get a sense of what needs to be done.

I am happy to see that this issue has been gaining traction in the media and on the blogs.

I mean, come on.

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Happy Obama Photo

Set to announce foreign policy team tomorrow.

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Happy Obama Photo: Food Bank Edition

The Secret Service is all, "Erm, we don't have a protocol for THE WHOLE WORLD WANTS TO HUG THE PRESIDENT. What now?"

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Happy Obama Photo: Georgia Edition

"Anybody kind of sad the election's over? Kind of got that day-after-Christmas feeling? Well guess what, bitches? It's STILL election season! GOTV!"

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Happy Kerry Photo: Full Circle Edition

All of this has happened before and all of this will happen again.

visit videodetective.com for more info

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Happy Obama Photo

Can the blog stand four years of these?

Also, as an answer to the oidous "Chuck Norris Facts," here's some President-Elect Obama Facts.

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Happy Vice President-Elect Photo: FOOTBALL SUNDAY EDITION

Because.

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The President-Elect is a Large Dork

Hee:

Nothing seemed to rattle Obama. He had a way of retreating into his own little world. During one of the debate preps, the lights blew, flickering on and off like a strobe light from the 1970s disco craze. Obama stood behind the podium, quietly singing the song "Disco Inferno," last popular in the heyday of "Saturday Night Fever."

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Howard's Other Ride Is Your Mom

moar funny pictures

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Happy Obama Photo

moar funny pictures

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It's Been A While; Let's Watch This Again

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Happy Obama Photo

Yes, yes.  I make LOLpresidents.

Sue me.

The Obama Pitch

I said this over at the crack den, but I wanted to expand on it a bit here. It's a measure of how screwed we've been for how long, and how utterly unacknowledged it has been by our leaders, that the very basic statement that once you've earned a pension no one should take it away should sound so radical to our ears, should be so welcomed. It's a measure how voiceless we have been for so long that we would take such wild joy in hearing that no one should lose her house because her husband got sick. It's a measure of how intemperate our face to the world has been, that someone can speak of "taking the fight" to anyone and be perceived as mild.

In other words, my response to what Obama said in that ad isn't so much about Obama as it is about Bush, and maybe that's the case with all politicians, that we hear not just what they're saying but what we're saying. In that case I'm less reassured than I would be by this kind of thing ordinarily, because what I heard very clearly was WE ARE MASSIVELY SCREWED THIS IS A VERY DEEP HOLE PLEASE SEND GRAPPLING HOOKS AND CANNED GOODS.

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Happy Obama Photo

BOO!

Sent in by commenter CrispyShot.

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And Happy Joey Photo, So Long As We're Here

Stolen from the insane fangirls over at Biden Daily.

Because booyah, that's why.

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Happy Obama Photo

He drinks your milkshake.

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Happy Obama Photo: Reader Edition

This is from commenter Serving Patriot, from a rally in The Real Virginia.

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Joy

Via Grandmére Mimi, who's making me wish I'd kept up my high school French.

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Happy Hillary & Obama Photo

TOUCHDOWN!

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Happy Obama Photo

Yes We Can Hold Babies, via Virgo.

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Happy Obama Photo

I understand somebody had a pretty good day today.

Pic via Obama Daily.

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