I ran accross a great column by George Will, that busts the myth of the so-called “values voter.” Actually, it’s not that he busts the myth, it’s that he believes we all vote our values. Here are some choice quotes: An aggressively annoying new phrase in America’s political lexicon is “values voters.” It is used [...]

I have to go to the extended quote with bolds added for this. Newsweek editor John Meacham writing about John McCain at Liberty University: Speaking of Iraq, McCain said: “Should we lose this war, our defeat will further destabilize an already volatile and dangerous region, strengthen the threat of terrorism and unleash furies that will [...]

From Political Wire: “Some historian should really look at all of the proposals that have been forth throughout the history of our country for possible constitutional amendments. Maybe at some point in time there was one that was sillier than this one, but I don’t know of one.” — Former Sen. John Danforth (R-MO), in [...]

Know what that’s a picture of? If you guessed Three Mile Island, you’d be right. Not a very good way to start out a post about the upsides of nuclear energy, eh? Well, just wait. Sure, we’ve seen a few examples of nuclear plants going wrong over the years, but what about the good? Well, [...]

Here’s the conclusion…. It is vitally important for the future of progressive politics that people of liberal, egalitarian and internationalist outlook should now speak clearly. We must define ourselves against those for whom the entire progressive-democratic agenda has been subordinated to a blanket and simplistic ‘anti-imperialism’ and/or hostility to the current US administration. The values [...]

I would never pollute the pages of Donklephant with a post that was little more than a toldja so.” But I have no problem doing it at home.”

Thomas Friedman (behind the dreaded and idiotic subscription wall of the New York Times) dresses down “tough guy” Dick Cheney over the latter’s passivity in the face of an energy crisis that is now America’s number one foreign policy issue. It has been for decades, actually, but people finally are beginning to notice the interconnections. [...]

I’m afraid Umberto Eco is right about this: Human beings are religious animals. It is psychologically very hard to go through life without the justification, and the hope, provided by religion. It doesn’t mean you should rush into the nearest church and throw yourself on the altar. It does mean that if you choose to [...]

Joe Lieberman is thankfully providing a first hand account as to the situation in Iraq, as well as perspective on what’s been achieved, and what’s still at stake. I have just returned from my fourth trip to Iraq in the past 17 months and can report real progress there. More work needs to be done, [...]

As most of you may already know, California congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham messed up and took some bribes. It was a stupid thing to do, and as I was at work today I discussed with my coworkers why a guy like this would really need more money. I mean really, how much money do these [...]

Once again, leave it to Jeff Goldstein to spell out, in bulleted, plain English, what the Administration seems to be trying to say: Clearly, the important administration arguments are beginning to coalesce: 1) Criticism of the war is not by itself unpatriotic 2) Similarly, answering anti-war critics is not challenging their patriotism 3) But opportunistic [...]

He’s finally penned an editorial on why torture is wrong and the reasons we need to stop. If anybody can unite us over the torture issue, McCain can. And for my money, the following is THE most important point about the War on Terrorism and torture’s effect on it: To prevail in this war we [...]

This one from John McCain (click on “Sen. McCain’s remarks” in upper right: While we make improvements in our political-military strategy, the latest polls and protests at home show that we need a renewed effort to win the homefront. If we can’t retain the support of the American people, we will have lost this war [...]

Norman Podhoretz, the arch-Neo-Con, pushes back against those who would turn the Fitzgerald probe into an indictment of the rationale for the Iraq war (i.e., “most Democrats”). He lays the cards on the table, both about Joe Wilson’s Niger adventure and the state of pre-war WMD intelligence. It’s not so much a constructed argument as [...]

via Jeff Jarvis.

Peter Beinart, one of my favorite Democrats and a man who writes things that drives some other Democrats absolutely up the wall, has further thoughts on “Tough Liberalism.” When John Kerry lost in 2004, I started in my despair reading about the late 1940s, the first years of the Cold War. That was the last [...]

Needless to say, if I’m blogging an IM conversation, I think it’s very good stuff. This passage in particular speaks to my thoughts on the Crescent of Embrace debate and beyond: [20:34] INDCBill: let me give you an example I thought of, a bit less grandiose, yet practical [20:34] INDCBill: that “crescent of embrace” brouhaha [...]

For what it’s worth (to those who care) comes this catch from Andrew Sullivan: “The power of the Executive to cast a man into prison without formulating any charge known to the law, and particularly to deny him the judgement of his peers, is in the highest degree odious and is the foundation of all [...]

Sasha Abramsky, whose writings appear in Mother Jones, Atlantic Monthly, and the Nation, is among the lifelong “leftwing” activists who have a feet-on-the-ground approach to the current struggle with Islamists. He recently wrote a thoughtful meditation on that situation in The Progressive, and an abridged version of the article is online at Open Democracy. I [...]

Fouad Ajami on “Heart of Darkness” It was the luck of the imperial draw that the American project in Iraq came to the rescue of the Shiites — and of the Kurds. We may not fully appreciate the historical change we unleashed on the Arab world, but we have given liberty to the stepchildren of [...]