Rep. Rush Holt’s (D-N.J.) Emergency Assistance for Secure Elections Act seemed like the kind of bill that should sail through Congress. The legislation would help local governments pay for paper trails and audits for electronic voting machines, adding safeguards to potential recounts and a layer of integrity to the election process.

Indeed, Holt’s bill was so obviously worthwhile, when it came for a vote in the House Administration Committee a few weeks ago, even House Republicans voted for it — unanimously.

It was a very encouraging development. Five years ago, Holt nearly passed a similar bill, before it was blocked by far-right lawmakers. That the bill cleared committee unanimously suggested the elections in 2008 would not be marred by some of the problems we’ve seen in recent cycles. Finally, something everyone could agree on.

Or not.

[T]wo weeks later, those same Republican members voted against moving the bill to the House floor. It would have taken a two-thirds vote to push the bill to the floor; with most House Republicans opposed, the bill didn’t make it that far. [...]

The result: The elections in November will likely be marred by the same accusations of fraud and error involving voting machines that arose in the aftermath of the 2004 presidential race.

And we'll know who tried to help -- and who got in the way.

Attytood's Will Bunch asks Senator Obama the question that's on everyone's mind:

Tonight I had an opportunity to ask Barack Obama a question that is on the minds of many Americans, yet rarely rises to the surface in the great ruckus of the 2008 presidential race -- and that is whether an Obama administration would seek to prosecute officials of a former Bush administration on the revelations that they greenlighted torture, or for other potential crimes that took place in the White House.

Obama said that as president he would indeed ask his new Attorney General and his deputies to "immediately review the information that's already there" and determine if an inquiry is warranted -- but he also tread carefully on the issue, in line with his reputation for seeking to bridge the partisan divide. He worried that such a probe could be spun as "a partisan witch hunt." However, he said that equation changes if there was willful criminality, because "nobody is above the law."

Back in October, shortly after he endorsed Hillary Clinton, General Wesley Clark told Matt Stoller that Senator Clinton would pursue investigations as well:

Matt Stoller: So you think Senator Clinton as President will do those investigations?

Wes Clark: Yes.

Matt Stoller: And you think Congress should continue those investigations once Bush is out of office?

Wes Clark: Absolutely.

Words are nice, but I want some firm commitments. Who's with me?

Just to ensure it doesn't get overlooked, Bunch's question was framed in terms of the recent revelation that President Bush personally approved the meeting of his principals in which they discussed the intimate details of how we would torture suspected terrorists. If you haven't already, please follow John's action alert from yesterday and make your voice heard. Because this is what inevitably happens when our country is flippant about torture.

PERRspectives:

What a difference a week makes, especially when it comes to the rollercoaster American economy. No where is the impact of looming recession and the near-meltdown on Wall Street clearer than on the White House web site. Just days ago, the site boasted about President Bush's glorious stewardship of the U.S. economy. Now, the White House's economy web page reflects the mad scramble to ward off the twin crises of the housing market and the financial system.

A cached version of the White House web site from March 16, 2008 showed the last vestiges of rosy optimism and unbridled Bush boosterism. (The Google cache has since been updated.) In the upper left hand corner, an elegant animation proclaimed "President Bush's actions are moving our economy forward," "18,000 jobs created in December 2007," "Over 8.3 million new jobs created since August 2003" and "Unemployment rate remains low at 5%."

The usual fuzzy math was there as well, cynically designed as always to sell making President Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy permanent:

"The 2001 and 2003 tax cuts are set to expire in less than three years. If Congress allows that to happen, 116 million taxpayers will see their taxes go up by $1,800 on average."

Some signs of the downturn were already present as well. Bush's disastrous appearance last week before the Economic Club of New York was front and center. And a run down of the steps being taken to confront the imploding housing market were highlighted as well.

But four days later, the main White House economy web page has gotten an emergency face-lift. The eye-catching animation crowing about Bush leading the economy forward is gone. After the U.S. shed 63,000 jobs in February and new jobless claims this week jumped by 22,000, the text about past job creation became history. And even the verbiage about making the tax cuts permanent has been deleted. And just days after the Federal Reserve intervened with its massive Bear Stearns bailout to halt the building Wall Street panic, the White House web site proclaims:

"The President remains deeply concerned about the housing issue and strongly believes that any government policies must be responsible. Government actions often have far-reaching and unintended consequences. Any time the government intervenes in the market, it must do so with clear purpose and great care."

Will Bunch:

This footage of the rioting in Tibet is raw and harrowing. It's also, for the most part, not being seen in China where authorities have blocked access to YouTube.com, which has many videos on Tibet.

The Internet as a liberating force? Not always. [..]

The whole thing is a bloody mess as the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing draws near. I think a vast majority of people have no stomach for another boycott -- most Americans would rather defeat evil on the athletic field, as Jesse Owens did in Berlin in 1936, than take our ball and go home, as Jimmy Carter did in 1980. That said, I'd like to see freedom-loving people, from the U.S. and elsewhere, figure out how to make some kind of statement this August.

This is something:

PARIS (AP) - Moves to punish China over its handling of violence in Tibet gained momentum Tuesday, with a novel suggestion for a mini-boycott of the Beijing Olympics by VIPs at the opening ceremony.

Such a protest by world leaders would be a huge slap in the face for China's Communist leadership.

France's outspoken foreign minister, former humanitarian campaigner Bernard Kouchner, said the idea "is interesting."

Sadly, I can't see anyone in the Bush administration going along with that idea...especially when we owe China so much. I guess that oppressing their citizens, violence and actual weapons of mass destruction, that's not so important, when they underwrite your loans.

TV Newser:

Insiders tell TVNewser Tucker Carlson's 6pmET show Tucker is getting the axe, but Carlson stays on as a political contributor to all MSNBC shows at least through the 2008 election. The official announcement, expected tomorrow, will include details about who will replace Tucker at 6pmET as well as other political programming additions. Sources say the network is going to beef up its schedule with more NBC News talent.

In recent days, Jossip, as well as other blogs, ratcheted up the talk that Tucker would be replaced "for a new project." In its 33-month run, Carlson's show has had two names, four time slots and multiple formats. At 6pmET, it builds on its Harbdall lead-in on some days, but loses audience on others.

Carlson is expected to host the show through next week, with his new role and title to take effect March 17. We're told he'll also be reporting from the campaign trail. Read on...

Finally! We have documented many of Tucker's atrocities during his time at MSNBC and have been asking for this for years. Carlson will remain at MSNBC as a contributor for the time being, but at last, there's a chance we'll see a reality based, progressive show in that time slot. Rumor has it Air America Radio's Rachel Maddow is working on a show for the network -- we can only hope she gets her shot. She's earned it.

Comedy Central:

NEW YORK, February 29, 2008 -- Senator Hillary Clinton will make an appearance as a guest on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" on Monday, March 3 at 11:00 p.m. (ET/PT). This will mark the Senator's second appearance on "The Daily Show," but her first since announcing her candidacy for the Democratic nomination. Clinton previously appeared as a guest on the show on October 8, 2003.

That should be pretty interesting...

White House For Sale: Take a look a the number of lobbyist-bundlers the 'straight talker' has working for him.

Political Animal: In the Middle East, "everything the United States has favored is now radioactive, especially democracy..."

Article of Faith: I need a drink

Balkinization: Historical precedents of torture

Senate 2008 Guru: The League of Conservation Voters has released their National Environmental Scorecard for 2007

HOLY CRAP: Usury Law and the Christian Right...Christian conservatives are great proponents of democracy in the Muslim world, except when it's democratic...Prominent Southern Baptist issues Death Prayer against critics...Religious liberty?...The 'sophisticated elites' of fundamentalism...This is what a theocracy looks like...Baby Bible Bashers...Southern Baptists and the Republican party...IRS investigation into partisan politicking by a California church...The trouble with following your own moral compass...

You may not know the name, but you certainly know the faces behind the 501c4 group, Freedom's Watch:

Freedom's Watch has been described by critics as a front group for White House policy and a "neo-conservative 'slush fund' supporting the views of Vice President Dick Cheney",^[4][5] "came out of" a December 2006 "event"^[6] at the American Enterprise Institute when retired Gen. Jack Keane and AEI scholar Frederick W. Kagan "talk[ed] about the need for a troop increase in Iraq, "a plan adopted by" President George W. Bush in January 2007.^[7]

And members of Freedom's Watch are among the more frequently invited talking heads on all the news shows, Ari Fleischer, Dan Senor, etc., eager to push their version of reality and neo-con agenda on to the rest of us.

Good news is that we have now Freedom'sWatch Newsladder to watch these war and Bush/Cheney cheerleaders:

Thank you for visiting this site and learning more about Freedom's Watch - a 501c4 run by Republican leadership and consultants that intends to make a major impact on the 2008 Elections; from the Presidential Campaign to State and House races. [..]

We believe that America is indeed the land of free speech, but it is very important that you know who you are speaking to; Freedom's Watch is nothing more than a Republican, neo-conservative front group with a strict Republican, neo-conservative agenda, nothing more, nothing less.

You can join the Freedom's Watch Newsladder and keep all of us informed on their propaganda pushes.

What a wild time! I took this picture in the balcony of the Kodak theater at the historic Democratic Presidential Debate Thursday with my iPhone. This was a special night.

Update: Just Above Sunset has a host of photographs for the entire event.

Friday, February 1, 2008 – Political Hollywood

The Los Angeles Democratic Presidential Debate, January 31, 2008, at the Kodak Theater on Hollywood Boulevard – JUST ABOVE SUNSET received press credentials and covered the event, live, here, from inside the hall. This was what was happening outside, just before the debate began.

The Photographs:

The Big Event

Gathering Opinion

The Media

Partisans

CNN Broadcasting

I've been receiving statements and videos from all sorts of progressive groups and individuals responding to Bush's 2008 State of the Union speech. Here are two reactions that I thought were particularly good:

DMI's Andrea Batista Schlesinger analyzes the SOTU and finds that once again, Bush fails the middle class:

And David Swanson caught something that no one else appears to have:

On the day of the State of the Union, apparently hoping nobody would notice, President George W. Bush posted a statement on the White House website announcing his intention to violate major sections of the Defense Authorization bill that he just signed into law.[..]

He's decided to close the office that handles Freedom of Information requests from Congress. He's left Blackwater free but jailed citizens who reenact its crimes. He's rewritten government reports on global warming. He's blocked his Justice Departments investigation of political hirings and firings, while the former governor of Alabama begins his eighth month as a political prisoner. He's delivered a State of the Union address packed with the same contemptuous lies as last year's, and announced the seizure of new powers (which Congress greeted with applause). And then there's the latest signing statement.

This statement announces in the by now familiar coded language of the "unitary executive" Bush's intention to violate four key sections of a bill he is simultaneously making "law."

CQ Today sums up these sections as follows:

"One such provision sets up a commission to probe contracting fraud in Iraq and Afghanistan. Another expands protections for whistleblowers who work for government contractors. A third requires that U.S. intelligence agencies promptly respond to congressional requests for documents. And a fourth bars funding for permanent bases in Iraq and for any action that exercises U.S. control over Iraq’s oil money."

See, Andrea, I don't think you carried it far enough. Bush didn't just fail the middle class. Bush has failed all of us.