Bush consigliere Karl Rove says former White House press secretary Scott McClellan sounds like “a left-wing blogger” in his new insider book about the Bush presidency.
** NWN FORUM: SPIRITED DEBATE ON GAY MARRIAGE. There is a spirited debate taking place in the Forum on gay and lesbian marriage and children. Speaking as someone who has not been a particular fan of gay marriage, you can either accept the future or reject it.
** IRAQ CLOCK. The Republican National Committee has erected an “Iraq Clock” to memorialize the two years since presidential frontunner Barack Obama has visited Iraq. Although I have the RNC’s release, I just spent an unsuccessful seven minutes attempting to link to this clever device. Perhaps they should stick to IBM Selectrics. Incidentally, I have never been to Iraq. But I do know that, were I to go, it would take thousands of dollars to guarantee my safety in getting from the airport outside Baghdad to the capital inside Baghdad itself. Unless I decided to play Lawrence of Arabia and disguise myself as an Arab. Of course, as readers know, I have no idea whatsoever what is going on in the ME …
** NORTH BY NORTHWEST. Hillary Clinton, campaigning in South Dakota, which Barack Obama will win next Tuesday, visited Mount Rushmore this morning. Asked if she visualized herself up there one day, alongside Washington, Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt, and Lincoln, she smirked and threw up her hands.
“You think Bill Clinton should be up there?” a reporter asked.
“Why don’t you learn something about the monument,” Clinton finally said, before walking away to greet some more tourists.
Clinton refused to answer questions about former White House press secretary Scott McClellan’s new expose book on the Bush presidency. Clinton has not held a press conference for two weeks.
** SCHWARZENEGGER NAMES FONDA AND 11 OTHERS TO CALIFORNIA HALL OF FAME. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will name the following people to the California Hall of Fame: Dave Brubeck, Jane Fonda, Theodor Geisel (“Dr. Seuss”), Robert Graham, Quincy Jones, Jack LaLanne, Dorothea Lange, Julia Morgan, Jack Nicholson, Linus Pauling, Leland Stanford and Alice Waters. Let the games begin …
** WHERE THEY ARE TODAY.
Barack Obama is in Denver and Thornton, Colorado. Obama and John McCain are both focusing this week on the new general election battleground — the Mountain West.
It’s part of what you might call a … New West.
John McCain is in Reno, Nevada.
Hillary Clinton is in South Dakota.
Bill Clinton is in Puerto Rico.
** SCHWARZENEGGER LIVE WEBCAST THIS MORNING, THEN OFF TO MEXICO CITY. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appears at the ribbon-cutting for the 400th LA school playground renovation financed by his friends Kirk and Anne Douglas. The event will be at 9:45 AM and will be webcast live at www.gov.ca.gov. Schwarzenegger played the role of “Handsome Stranger” in Douglas’s 1979 Western comedy, The Villain.
After that, Schwarzenegger is off to Mexico City for a whirlwind round of meetings with his fellow US and Mexican border governors, various ministers of the Mexican government, and Mexican President Felipe Calderon. Schwarzenegger hosts a major border governors conference in LA this summer. I’ll have much more about all this.
** BOMBSHELL BUSH BOOK. Scott McClellan, that nice guy presidential press secretary given to malapropisms who came with President Bush from Texas has a bombshell book coming out that will guarantee that Bush remains a political pariah for the rest of his term and make life quite difficult for John McCain. In “What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception,” McClellan says the liberal media failed to expose the “propaganda campaign” that led to the Iraq War, discusses the debacle of Hurricane Katrina, and rips Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, and Bush political consigliere Karl Rove. And to think La Maison Blanche was perturbed with Bush chief strategist-turned-Schwarzenegger chief strategist Matthew Dowd. He didn’t write a book.
** WITH ICE CAP MELTING, ARCTIC NEGOTIATIONS BEGIN. With the Arctic ice cap melting rapidly — and, ironically, an estimated 25% of the world’s remaining oil and natural gas reserves beneath it — the five nations of the region have begun meeting in Greenland to try to work out their respective claims. Russia, Canada, Denmark, Norway and the U.S. are all meeting now in the wake of last year’s planting of the Russian flag beneath the North Pole.
** FIELD POLL: CALIFORNIANS BACK GAY MARRIAGE. The Field Poll of California voters shows same-sex marriage now favored, 51% to 42%. Before Arnold Schwarzenegger, who publicly opposes a likely November initiative attempt to ban gay marriage, became governor in 2003, same-sex marriage was opposed, 50% to 42%. (Schwarzenegger has vetoed high-profile gay marriage legislation citing an initiative at the beginning of the decade banning it, while making his sympathy clear. Then the California Supreme Court, dominated by Republicans, tossed out the gay marriage ban.) Partisan breakdown? Democrats, 65-29. Republicans, 25-69. Independents, 61-27.
** MY LATEST PODCAST. The road ahead.
** THE OTHER BIG PROBLEM WITH HILLARY’S NOTORIOUS REMARKS. I explain the OTHER big problem with Hillary Clinton’s notorious Friday afternoon remarks, on my other blog. (Not the RFK assassination reference, but her false claim that Bill Clinton’s 1992 nomination was in any doubt in June. As you’ll see, the Clinton high command knew in May that the fight was effectively over.)
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the new Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti.
While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, which I know as a former DemRussia advisor, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** TRACK GLOBAL AND U.S. ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Crude oil is trading in the $127 to $128 per barrel range.
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| Comments (126) |
… And for that matter, Robert Heinlein. A favorite author of both myself and Hart.
Indeed.
>Brasky:
Good chats today!
May 28, 2008 – 5:51 pm
How about that?
>Pat Skipper:
brasky, we agree on Webb. 100%
May 28, 2008 – 6:09 pm
I’m glad Pat has joined our crew. It’s good to get good regulars.
Pat Skipper is a great guy, a super-smart Ivy Leaguer and top Hollywood character actor with whom — along with some other actors and a few producer types — I had dinner most every night for over a month while we were making See Arnold Run a few years ago on location in San Diego. (During which THE Arnold told me: “Isn’t it great to be off on location?”)
Sometimes, these Yalies actually know a little bit about politics …
Ivies? Kill ‘em all.
too bad you’re not a film critic.
I have a couple of friends that are male and committed. My friends have children. They are the best parents, better than some of my heterosexual friends. The children are happy and well adjusted. I love them dearly and miss them, when they are not here.
Bill,
dammit! One of my old male friends had a tizzy because he had to share a locker room with a gay peer. I just don’t understand. Gay men and lesbian women love each other the same way you love a woman. It is all in the soul.
Thank You for the history lesson today, everyone.
Remember Spock reacting to Zefram Cochrane’s rant about decency and morality?
“Fascinating, a totally parochial attitude.”
Thank You for the history lesson today, everyone. — Carole, it is also very good to have this place, at which Bill encourages civility, and in fact enforces it when it becomes necessary or useful. I also like that there is a group of regulars that I enjoy hearing from, including you, and that our host takes out his time and participates in the forum.
Seconded Hap.
In my country, homosexuals who marry would be killed.
Sergei – Thank you for giving us Americans some perspective
What video today?
100% agreement with Hap and Brasky.
Love you guys!
Um, thanks.
A Hillary swan song.
>Jonas Blane:
What video today?
May 29, 2008 – 7:20 am
Not a very uplifting perspective, from a major country where black people can be beaten in the streets of Moscow …
>Hap Hazard:
Sergei – Thank you for giving us Americans some perspective
May 29, 2008 – 6:03 am
Indeed.
>sergei:
In my country, homosexuals who marry would be killed.
May 29, 2008 – 2:50 am
Thanks, Hap!
>Hap Hazard:
Thank You for the history lesson today, everyone. — Carole, it is also very good to have this place, at which Bill encourages civility, and in fact enforces it when it becomes necessary or useful. I also like that there is a group of regulars that I enjoy hearing from, including you, and that our host takes out his time and participates in the forum.
May 28, 2008 – 9:55 pm
That would be from the Original Series, not the movie Star Trek: First Contact …
>Dana:
Remember Spock reacting to Zefram Cochrane’s rant about decency and morality?
“Fascinating, a totally parochial attitude.”
May 28, 2008 – 8:57 pm
Exactly. Very well said.
>carole w:
I have a couple of friends that are male and committed. My friends have children. They are the best parents, better than some of my heterosexual friends. The children are happy and well adjusted. I love them dearly and miss them, when they are not here.
Bill,
dammit! One of my old male friends had a tizzy because he had to share a locker room with a gay peer. I just don’t understand. Gay men and lesbian women love each other the same way you love a woman. It is all in the soul.
May 28, 2008 – 7:42 pm
I sometimes wish I’d gone into that field. It would certainly make life simpler.
>Pat Skipper:
too bad you’re not a film critic.
May 28, 2008 – 7:39 pm
Good article over again! I am looking forward for more updates!