Crossposted at New Mexico FBIHOP

Click on photos for larger versions.  More available on my Flickr page, as always.

Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel of Illinois was in the state and saw a good chunk of it in a short period of time -- at least up and down I-25.  

I'm not quite sure where he met up with Second Congressional District candidate Harry Teague for a fundraiser, but Emanuel stopped by Gabriel's Restaurant north of Santa Fe for a fundraiser and quick talk with the press (which is to mean myself and Steve Terrell of the Santa Fe New Mexican).  

Emanuel spoke about the big year Democrats had in 2006 and how we won; it wasn't just the war.

The great Texas progressive Jim Hightower was occasionally urged to moderate his insistence on fundamental change. His response was a classic of disdain.

"The only things in the middle of the road are yellow stripes and dead armadillos."

As it writes its 2008 platform, the Democratic party should remember Hightower's wisdom. This is no time to be going backward, either on principle or as a tactical concession. However, there are plenty of Democratic ideas that still need implementing. Many of them were stated in the 1948 platform but were deflected by the anti-Communist backlash that the Republicans used to tar almost every progressive idea for 60 years with the name of socialism. The best Democratic principles are not new, but right.

Please note the question mark.

My question is whether an effort should be made to replace Nancy Pelosi as speaker of the house, not whether there should be an effort to replace her in her seat in San Francisco.  

With all due respect to the efforts of Cindy Sheehan, I want to limit this discussion to the possible, however implausible.

That being said, the obvious question would be, "Who would replace her," and the phrase, "Speaker Hoyer" gives me the heaves.

Let's be clear, Hoyer would have the inside track on being her replacement, and after him, would probably be Emanuel (projectile vomit time).

So Nancy Pelosi is far better than her two most likely replacement, but they have not, probably because they have not had the opportunity, been out in front of taking Chimpeachment off the table.

I know that in ruling out impeachment, Pelosi has consciously decided to abdicate her constitutional duty, and this is a big deal, but given how bloody awful the alternatives are, is it worth it.

I gotta eat lunch now, but I'm feeling nauseous...Speaker Waxman...Well, that settles my stomach.

Cross-posted from OH-16: John Boccieri for U.S. Congress:

June 27, 2008
Contact: Bryan Collinsworth
330-754-0534 / bryan@johnforcongress.com

ADVISORY: Boccieri and Rep. Rahm Emanuel to Discuss Skyrocketing Gas Prices at Canton Station

Canton, OH – At 10:45 a.m. on Tuesday, July 1, 16th Congressional District candidate John Boccieri will be joined by U.S. House Democratic Caucus Chair Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) for a press conference at a Canton Sunoco station. The two will help customers pump gas and talk to them about skyrocketing fuel costs.

Details below the fold...

It’s the 1970s all over again! I swear to god, I just saw David Frost – or was that Dick Cavett; no, no, I’m sure it was David Frost – interviewing Richard Nixon – or was that Rahm Emanuel; no, no, I’m pretty sure that was Richard Nixon, ‘cause listen to what he just said:

When the president does it that means that it is not illegal.

Statement from Rahm Emanuel yesterday, lauding the FISA "agreement":

The FISA legislation we will consider gives our intelligence community the tools it needs and the public the civil liberty protections it deserves. In addition, it rejects calls for automatic immunity for private sector companies. While this bill isn’t perfect, the perfect should never be the enemy of the good. I applaud the Democrats and Republicans who reached this compromise and produced legislation that deserves support from both sides of the aisle.

Of course, Emanuel is correct: the bill doesn't give automatic immunity to the phone companies. It instead cleverly shifts the calls for immunity to the courts -- directing them to automatically grant that immunity to any company that was told by the President that what he was asking for was legal. And since we know the President went to the phone companies arguing that FISA-less, warrantless, anti-Constitutional domestic espionage was now legal because he said so, that's the end of that.

But hey, Rahm Emanuel thinks you're too stupid to understand that. Or perhaps he just doesn't care.

After all, Emanuel says these are the "civil liberty protections" you "deserve." If the President said it, that makes it legal, and if you don't like that new interpretation of your rights, hey -- you're just against "compromise." In this case, "compromise" means blanket immunity for everyone involved: they don't have to prove that what they were doing was legal -- because they can't, we know it violated the law -- they just have to prove that the President told them to do it anyway, and we'll just forget the whole thing. And let them keep doing it. And they don't actually have to come clean on the extent of what "it" was, or is.

According to Emanuel, that's all the protection you "deserve." All this violating-the-law nonsense is just water under the bridge, if your company has enough lobbyists.

I just finished sending copies of the U.S. Constitution to Steny Hoyer, Nancy Pelosi, Rahm Emanuel, Harry Reid & Jay Rockefeller.

Basically, my note in each packaged said, "You should try reading this sometime" with only a slight variation on each.

It cost $6.11 each, shipped from Barnes and Noble.  They had to be shipped separately obviously, but it was, for me, well worth the cost.

Here's the link/book:

The Constitution of the United States: With the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation

More below the fold...

Not only wrong, but either your staff is mistaken about your position or you feel comfortable issuing false press releases.

A statement so blatantly false it makes me cringe:

"The FISA legislation we will consider gives our intelligence community the tools it needs and the public the civil liberty protections it deserves. In addition, it rejects calls for automatic immunity for private sector companies. While this bill isn’t perfect, the perfect should never be the enemy of the good. I applaud the Democrats and Republicans who reached this compromise and produced legislation that deserves support from both sides of the aisle."

Gawd, I just LOVE Rahm Emanuel. He was the last member of Illinois' congressional delegation to elect Senator Barack Obama. He was a Clinton bulldog in the 1990's. And now, he absolutely OWNS George W. Bush in a new Huffington Post article, calling on him to take a farewell tour of the United States. What does Rahm Emanuel use for his argument that Bush is a shithead? Facts. And Bush's own words.

h/t to HuffPost, and, of course, Rahm himself.

Jonathan Martin ponders the awkward position Dick Cheney finds himself in this election cycle. Loathed by most of American except a small rump of wealthy Republican donors, Cheney has been shunted onto the chicken-dinner circuit. Even then the Vice President has had to keep out of the public spotlight to avoid embarrassing the candidates he's raising money for.

Rahm Emanuel has a good suggestion: Let Cheney campaign loudly and proudly on behalf of Democrats. Emanuel is even willing to pay his way.

"The last time they put him on the road was for the Mississippi special, and look at how he worked there," crowed Rep. Rahm Emanuel, the former House campaign chief for the Democrats and currently the caucus chairman. "I look forward to and I will pay the travel fees to put Vice President Cheney out on the road to talk about energy policy. Because it will remind this country of where this administration has been and who their friends are. And their friends are doing very well."

Say it actually happens - Obama beats McCain in November. In that case Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich will have to choose a successor for Barack Obama's Senate seat.

Today, Robert Novak rumors that Nancy Pelosi would like Rahm Emanuel, House Democratic caucus chair, to replace Obama. Now, this may be true or not. With the self styled Prince of Darkness you never know.

No matter what Novak "reports" or Pelosi supposedly wants, here's the more important question:

Who would you like to see replace Obama in the Senate?

Robert Novak's column from yesterday says that Speaker Pelosi is privately talking up Rahm Emanuel as the next U.S. Senator from Illinois should Barack Obama win the presidency.

I know that Markos is convinced that immigration as a wedge issue was a big loser for Republicans, and I agree.  Clearly they have gotten little or no traction from it electorally, and their dash headlong into the arms of xenophobes increasingly cements their status as a permanent minority party, particularly as the Hispanic population grows and becomes a political force.

However, that's a reality of politics that's going to play out over the next decade or so.  Right now, the anti-immigrant forces have shown sufficient perceived power to send Republicans (and more than a few Democrats) cowering.  And the policies that have been implemented since the last attempt at comprehensive immigration reform are incredibly damaging and catastrophic.  The consequences of waiting for the politics to become more favorable are grave.  

Everyone's talking about Obama's running mate. But who would you like to see in an Obama cabinet?

Today you can vote on the next White House Chief of Staff. Also, the previous rounds are still open for voting. More below the fold.

I was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt about her intentions, but not anymore.

It's been obvious since February: Barack Obama will be our presidential nominee. The Obama campaign is shifting to general election mode.  The reaction from the Clinton campaign?  

Not helpful:

To: Interested Parties From: Howard Wolfson, Communications Director
Date: Monday, May 19, 2008

Re: Mission Accomplished? Not so fast.

Senator Obama’s plan to declare himself the Democratic nominee tomorrow night in Iowa (http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0508/10184.html) is a slap in the face to the millions of voters in the remaining primary states and to Senator Clinton’s 17 million supporters.

There is no scenario under the rules of the Democratic National Committee by which Senator Obama will be able to claim the nomination tomorrow night. He will not have 2210 delegates, the number needed with Florida and Michigan included in the process, nor will he have 2025 delegates, the number needed to secure the nomination without Florida and Michigan.

Premature victory laps and false declarations of victory are unwarranted. Declaring mission accomplished does not make it so.

While Senator Obama inaccurately declares himself the nominee, Senator Clinton will continue to work hard, campaigning for every vote in the upcoming states and making the case that she will be the best nominee to take on John McCain and be our next President.

The Clinton campaign needs to remember the words of Rahm Emanuel:

The way the loser loses will determine whether the winner wins in November.

Leave it to Senator Joe Biden to pull no punches. Uncensored for Effect.

“This is bullshit, this is malarkey. This is outrageous, for the president of the United States to go to a foreign country, to sit in the Knesset . . . and make this kind of ridiculous statement.”

“He is the guy who has weakened us,” he said. “He has increased the number of terrorists in the world. It is his policies that have produced this vulnerability that the U.S. has. It’s his [own] intelligence community [that] has pointed this out, not me.”

Biden noted that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have both suggested that the United States ought to find a way to talk more with its enemies.

"If he thinks this is appeasement, is he going to come back and fire his own cabinet?” Biden asked. “Is he going to fire Condi Rice?”

Tonight's Must Watch Video:  Chris Matthews  Hardball OWNS Republican n00b, woot!...   Jump 4:00!

From TheHill.com we get the story that Rahm Emmanuel showed up at the House Republican "theme team" meeting, which TheHill.com headlines as "Cocky Emmanuel Shows Up to Gloat".

[Republican Rep. Jack] Kingston said the Illinois Democrat was well-received by the group and even offered some advice: that President Bush and the GOP’s lack of an agenda would continue to haunt the party in November.

This isn't "gamesmanship"...the Republicans already know they have to run away from Bush. The last thing we need is Emmanuel showing up and reinforcing anything.