What is Frist on?!

Was Bill Frist so excited about his straw poll win over John McCain that his brain stopped working, or does he actually believe this stuff?! ThinkProgress has the video.

Speaking with George Stephanopolus, good ol’ Bill, the [ethically-challenged, video-diagnosing, multi-award winner of the 'Biggest Idiot of the Week' Prize] Republican Senator from Tennessee had this to say in response to Sen. Russ Feingold’s call for the Senate to censure President Bush:

STEPHANOPOULOS: You heard Senator Feingold there. He wants Democrats and Republicans to come together on the censure resolution he’ll introduce tomorrow. I can’t imagine you’re going to support that.

FRIST: George, what was interesting in listening to my good friend, Russ, is that he mentioned protecting the American people only one time, and although you went to politics a little bit later, I think it’s a crazy political move and I think it in part is a political move because here we are, the Republican Party, the leadership in the Congress, supporting the President of the United States as Commander in Chief, who is out there fighting al Qaeda and the Taliban and Osama bin Laden and the people who have sworn, have sworn to destroy Western civilization and all the families listening to us. And they’re out now attacking, at least today, through this proposed censure vote, out attacking our Commander in Chief. Doesn’t make sense.

*snicker, snicker….snort*

[cue theme music] [cue video of cape flapping in the wind]

Voiceover: FASTER than a speeding tricycle, SMARTER than your average two-year-old, TOUGHER than a piece of sponge-cake….It’s SUPER-GEORGE!

Single-handedly saving the United States from terrorists around the world while still making it home to bed by 9!

*chuckle….hysterical laughter….falling on the floor…*

The Post-Gazette understands

In an op-ed on Friday, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette made it abundantly clear that the new ‘rules’ governing illegal wiretapping will cost us our civil liberties and, in effect, turn the United States into a de facto police state.

National insecurity / The FISA ‘fix’ would jeopardize civil liberties

Friday, March 10, 2006 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Republican senators have developed a bill that will enshrine the Bush administration’s lack of observance of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Unfortunately, their approach perpetuates the lack of oversight and does not assure future protection of Americans’ civil liberties.

(snip)

The government law-breaking involved in the NSA wiretaps is being carried out in the name of Bush administration solicitude for Americans’ security. Civil liberties groups and some senators are uncomfortable about what is going on. The solution that the White House and some Republican lawmakers have put forward is intended to meet these concerns.

Their proposal includes two provisions. First, a new seven-senator “terrorist surveillance subcommittee” would be created. The administration would be required to give the panel full access to information about surveillance activities. Second, the administration would still be required to seek court approval to tap phones and e-mails, but within 45 days of the surveillance, “whenever possible,” as opposed to before or immediately after starting the surveillance. If the administration decided that it did not want to seek court approval, after 45 days it would be required to tell the subcommittee and provide a reason.

In other words, the administration’s practice of not seeking the advance approval of the court, as required by FISA, could be maintained. Congress would not even look into the violations of the 1978 law.

(snip)

The odor of what has happened and what the new White House-Senate proposal would institutionalize is clearly ‘police state,’ and for no good reason. FISA makes possible all of the surveillance of terrorists that is needed, with no delays and with effective oversight by a responsible U.S. court. There is no reason to change it. (emphasis mine)

Read the full editorial here.

Joe Klein on Chris Carney

Chris Carney is the Democratic challenger for PA’s 10th District seat currently held by Rep. Don Sherwood (R).

From Joe Klein in Time Magazine:

This is Karl Rove’s worst nightmare: a large crowd has gathered in a restaurant in the small town of Montrose, Pa., on a sunny Sunday afternoon in February to listen to the Democratic candidate running in the 10th Congressional District, a rural conservative bastion considered “safe” for Republicans. The candidate, Chris Carney, is soft-spoken and well informed. The audience is enthusiastic and predominantly Democratic, but peppered with Republicans who seem every bit as angry about the Bush Administration as do the Democrats. One man, dressed in a jacket and tie, stands up and confesses he’s a lifelong Republican who can’t vote for Bush because of his ‘fiscal irresponsibility.’ Another Republican, a prohibitively large corrections officer named Gary Morgan, tells me he’s disgusted by the way Bush has prosecuted the war in Iraq and by his party’s ‘culture of corruption.’ He’s impressed by Carney, a Navy Reserve intelligence officer who is also a college professor. ‘It’s nice to be able to vote for somebody with honor and integrity, and a veteran.’ (emphasis mine)
(snip)

Carney is no left-wing bomb thrower; he is a pragmatic moderate. Before the war began, he specialized in studying Saddam’s ties to regional terrorist groups. ‘There were no links to 9/11,’ he told me. ‘But there were plenty of other contacts with terror groups. I always thought that was a better argument for the war than weapons of mass destruction.’

Carney’s politics pretty accurately reflect the views of most Iraq combat veterans running as Democrats. They are not so much antiwar as anti-Bush, furious about the lack of preparation for the war, the insufficient troop levels, the lousy equipment. ‘I served in Kosovo and had an up-armored humvee,’ says Jon Soltz, the director of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America political-action committee. ‘Then I served in Iraq and had a humvee that wasn’t armored. I lost one soldier I sent on a convoy without armor. You don’t forget something like that.’

Where Chris Carney stands on the issues:

Supporting Our Troops & Our Veterans
As one who serves, Chris strongly disagrees with the Bush administration cutbacks on benefits for veterans, the National Guard, and Reserves. He will fight to restore and expand benefits for our veterans. To do otherwise would be dereliction of duty.

Fixing Healthcare
As the most powerful nation on Earth, we have a moral obligation to ensure all citizens have access to quality healthcare. Chris will work tirelessly to bring healthcare benefits to the 45 million Americans that have no health care coverage.

Ensuring Medical Freedom
With the advice of their doctors and the counsel of their families and of their faith, Chris believes Americans have the right to make their own medical decisions. In order to make informed decisions, individuals need access to complete and accurate information about prescription drugs and medical treatments. Government should enable good decision making, not legislate private action.

Read more here.