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them.ws

No more feeds
No more feeds. Download the soruce code here http://them.ws/stuff/tmp/feeds.zip

You'll need to create a database table for this to work properly. The required SQL commands are in themws_rss.sql. Open that in a text editor and and copy the command and run it in PhpMyAdmin in a database. Then in config.php edit the three variables $usr, $pwd and $db with the MySQL username, MySQL user password and the MySQL database where you created the rssfeeds table.

The Nation: All Weblogs

The Beat: Obama's Wrong Turn in Afghanistan
by John Nichols
19 Jul 2008 at 5:57pm
Instead of talking about sending more troops, he should listen to wise critics of the occupation.

AlterNet.org: PEEK

Note to Elite Pundits: You Don't Speak for 'Ordinary Folks'
by Digby
19 Jul 2008 at 5:08pm
These gasbags will never tire of the narrative.
Iraqi Media: U.S. Building Airbase on Iran Border
by Editors
19 Jul 2008 at 4:02pm
If true, a provocative move.
This Week in God
by Steve Benen
19 Jul 2008 at 2:40pm
A round-up of religious news.
At Netroots, Pelosi Ducks Impeachment; Gore Calls for National Grassroots Mov...
by Steven Rosenfeld
19 Jul 2008 at 1:20pm
Pelosi and Gore address annual conference of progressive bloggers.
Siegelman: McCain Should Compel Rove to Testify
by Sam Stein
19 Jul 2008 at 1:00pm
Former Alabam Gov. Don Siegelman thinks Obama and McCain should "call on Congress to hold Rove in contempt."
Bush Concedes, Embraces a 'General Time Horizon' For Iraq Troop Withdrawal
by Satyam
18 Jul 2008 at 8:02pm
Bush spoke today with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki about bringing U.S. troops home from Iraq.
Fight Over the VA's Ban on Voter Registration Heads to Court
by Steven Rosenfeld
18 Jul 2008 at 7:23pm
Connecticut is looking at litigation after VA issues new restrictions on voter registration drives.
Heavy Petting: PETA Compares Teen Girls to Unneutered Animals
by Tana Ganeva
18 Jul 2008 at 6:31pm
Is PETA (yet again) exploiting female sexuality to get its point across?

Democracy Now!

The Dark Side: Jane Mayer on the Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned...
by mail@democracynow.org (Democracy Now!)
18 Jul 2008 at 8:30am
We spend the hour with New Yorker magazine investigative journalist Jane Mayer about her new book, The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals. In the book, Mayer reveals a secret report by the International Red Cross warned the Bush administration last year that the CIA?s treatment of prisoners categorically constituted torture and could make Bush administration officials who approved the torture methods guilty of war crimes. Mayer also reveals that the Bush administration ignored warnings from the CIA six years ago that up to a third of the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay may have been imprisoned by mistake. [includes rush transcript]
Headlines for July 18, 2008
by mail@democracynow.org (Democracy Now!)
18 Jul 2008 at 8:00am
Court Rejects Delay to 1st Gitmo Military Trial, Ashcroft Questioned on Approving Torture, Probe Finds Widespread Abuse at Chicago Prison, Shoddy Contractor Work Blamed for Spike of Electrocutions in Iraq, Prosecutors Drop Probe of Iraq Reconstruction IG, Group: US Aid to Africa Increasingly Militarized, Gore Calls for Ending Carbon Reliance in Favor of Renewable Sources, McCain Can?t Recall Making Rape Joke, Obama Leaves for Mideast, Europe Trip, Judge Upholds Restrictions on Antiwar March at GOP Convention, Nelson Mandela Celebrates 90th Birthday, White House Threatens Veto on Banning Contractors from CIA Interrogations
Spike Lee to Film Tony Award-Winning Musical "Passing Strange" as Show Comes ...
by mail@democracynow.org (Democracy Now!)
17 Jul 2008 at 8:36am
The rock musical Passing Strange closes on Sunday after a six-month run on Broadway. The show won a Tony Award for best book. It was co-written by its star, longtime recording artist Stew and Heidi Rodewald. It was nominated for six other Tony's including best musical. Acclaimed filmmaker Spike Lee is planning to film the musical this weekend to bring it to a wider audience. We speak to Stew, the playwright, composer and narrator of Passing Strange. [includes rush transcript]
Nelson Mandela Turns 90
by mail@democracynow.org (Democracy Now!)
17 Jul 2008 at 8:31am
On Friday, former South African president and anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela will celebrate his ninetieth birthday. Events marking the milestone have been held across the globe over the past month. We speak with Danny Schechter, who recently returned from South Africa, where he helped make the new documentary Viva Madiba: A Hero for All Seasons. [includes rush transcript]
Bailout for Mortgage Giants, IndyMac Bank Collapse, Dollar Hits New Low, Infl...
by mail@democracynow.org (Democracy Now!)
17 Jul 2008 at 8:10am
It has been a tough seven days for the US economy. On Friday, the FDIC seized control of the failed California-based IndyMac Bank. It was second largest bank failure in US history. Analysts project another 150 banks could collapse. On Sunday, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced extraordinary moves to bail out the mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. On Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped below 11,000 for the first time since 2006 and the dollar hit a record low against the euro. And Wednesday, it was announced that inflation is now rising at its fastest pace in twenty-six years. We take an in-depth look an the economic crisis. [includes rush transcript]
Headlines for July 17, 2008
by mail@democracynow.org (Democracy Now!)
17 Jul 2008 at 8:00am
8 Afghan Civilians Killed in US Attack, US Abandons Site of Deadly Troop Raid, 18 Killed in Iraq Market Bombing, Lebanese Celebrate Release of Freed Prisoners, Report: US to Re-Establish Diplomatic Presence in Iran, US Ordered to Delay Executions of 5 Mexicans, Ecuador, Venezuela to Build Oil Refinery, Colombia Misused Red Cross Symbol During Hostage Rescue, Addressing NAACP, McCain Backs Private Vouchers, Bernanke Avoids Recession Claim, Bush Invokes Exec Privilege to Block CIA Leak Testimony, White House Pushed Bush Loyalist Over Top Justice Dept. Candidates
Singer-Songwriter Simone White Performing Live On Democracy Now!
by mail@democracynow.org (Democracy Now!)
16 Jul 2008 at 8:45am
The California-based artist performs two songs in our Firehouse studio: "Great Imperialist State" and "We Used to Stand So Tall."
Amory Lovins: Expanding Nuclear Power Makes Climate Change Worse
by mail@democracynow.org (Democracy Now!)
16 Jul 2008 at 8:30am
There's one issue that President Bush and presidential hopefuls John McCain and Barack Obama all agree on: expanding the use of nuclear power. We speak with Amory Lovins, the co-founder, chairman and chief scientist of Rocky Mountain Institute in Colorado, who has been described as "one of the Western world's most influential energy thinkers." [includes rush transcript]

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MotherJones.com

Avoiding Torture's Taint
26 Jul 2008 at 12:00am
Don't let the Red Cross find out—and other military advice on the use of harsh interrogation techniques.
Polar Peril: Nine Animals in Need
18 Jul 2008 at 12:00am
It's not just penguins and other Antarctic animals that are in trouble. A sampling of Arctic species reeling from climate change.
Mad Men's Retro Trip
18 Jul 2008 at 12:00am
The Emmy-nominated drama reminds us what things were like in 1960 and what they could be like again.
March Of The Tourists
18 Jul 2008 at 12:00am
Polar Earth is thawing. Does it matter if the visiting hordes don't understand?
Video: The Coca Stompers of Bolivia
17 Jul 2008 at 12:00am
Along the Bolivian front of the war on drugs, men work for hours stomping coca leaves with water, gasoline, and chemicals to create a cocaine paste. For a related photo essay, click here. For the full story, click here. Video by Marco Vernaschi and Sebastiano Vitale. Text by Patrick Symmes. Along the...
Politishop 8.0
17 Jul 2008 at 12:00am
Learn the benefits of digital alteration, threat magnification, deletion, and cover-up masking. A political cartoon. Learn the benefits of digital alteration, threat magnification, deletion, and cover-up masking. A political cartoon.
Not Another Teen Movie
16 Jul 2008 at 12:00am
Three MoJo staffers dissect American Teen.
The Hunt for Black Gold
16 Jul 2008 at 12:00am
The oil deal nobody, especially the Pentagon, wants to talk about.

them.ws

No more feeds
No more feeds. Download the soruce code here http://them.ws/stuff/tmp/feeds.zip

You'll need to create a database table for this to work properly. The required SQL commands are in themws_rss.sql. Open that in a text editor and and copy the command and run it in PhpMyAdmin in a database. Then in config.php edit the three variables $usr, $pwd and $db with the MySQL username, MySQL user password and the MySQL database where you created the rssfeeds table.

[CaRP] XML error: SYSTEM or PUBLIC, the URI is missing at line 26

them.ws

No more feeds
No more feeds. Download the soruce code here http://them.ws/stuff/tmp/feeds.zip

You'll need to create a database table for this to work properly. The required SQL commands are in themws_rss.sql. Open that in a text editor and and copy the command and run it in PhpMyAdmin in a database. Then in config.php edit the three variables $usr, $pwd and $db with the MySQL username, MySQL user password and the MySQL database where you created the rssfeeds table.

WorkingForChange

FAQ: Petraeus' testimony
by Will Durst
14 Sep 2007 at 4:00pm
Frequently asked questions about the General's congressional testimony
Republicans gone wild 2!
by Will Durst
31 Aug 2007 at 12:40pm
The most crazed, sexed up elected official footage ever accumulated
Rove bye bye
by Will Durst
23 Aug 2007 at 1:10pm
President's strategist to spend more time lying to his family
Me. Me. Me. Me. Me.
by Will Durst
15 Aug 2007 at 8:05pm
State-sponsored selfishness steals spotlight in Decision '08
Between the fringes
by Will Durst
2 Aug 2007 at 7:00pm
The center's still here, but all anybody hears is right and left
Skooter skates
by Will Durst
13 Jul 2007 at 6:40pm
Dubya deems Libby sentence 'excessive'
Boss Dick
by Will Durst
3 Jul 2007 at 2:50pm
Vice President Cheney reports to no one, and we should be glad
Darting squirters
by Will Durst
20 Jun 2007 at 12:20am
Bush eschews 'quagmire,' but when it rains it pours

In These Times

Muqtada, the Future of Iraq
by Robert S. Eshelman
18 Jul 2008 at 1:00pm
"Firebrand." It was the ubiquitous moniker used to describe Iraq's fiercely anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr when, in March 2004, his leering portrait became commonplace among American media reports of Iraq. American Viceroy L. Paul Bremer III had just shut down al-Sadr's Baghdad newspaper, al-Hawza, and hinted at arresting him, ushering in the first of several confrontations with al-Sadr and his Mehdi Army. More recently, this label has given way to that of "Iranian-backed" -- conjuring comparisons to Lebanon's Hezbollah and Palestine's besieged Hamas party. In both cases, these depictions serve to portray al-Sadr as an irrational, extremist proxy, who, to a great degree, has contributed to Iraq's instability and continues to be a major obstacle to peace in Iraq, if not across the Middle East. But as Patrick Cockburn, the Iraq correspondent for The Independent of London, argues convincingly in Muqtada: Muqtada al-Sadr, the Shia Revival and the Struggle for Iraq (Scribner, May 2008), such representations overlook the causes of al-Sadr's rise to political prominence. More importantly, they grossly misrepresent his unique blend of Shiite religious doctrine and Iraqi nationalism, as well as overlook the fact that he leads the only truly mass political movement in Iraq. "Part of?
?Centrists? Running the Asylum
by David Sirota
18 Jul 2008 at 1:00pm
In the asylum that is American politics, beware a candidate like Barack Obama when he is lauded for moving to "the center" -- because usually that means he is drifting away from it. Over the last month, the Democratic presidential nominee has backed a measure to permit warrantless wiretapping and protect telecom companies when they violate customers' privacy; sent conflicting signals about whether he will reform the NAFTA trade model; and threatened to revise his timetable for ending the war in Iraq. Universally, reporters have billed this dance as a move to the middle. As the Associated Press claimed in a typical description, Obama's shifts are designed "to appeal to the center of the electorate." However, empirical data proves "the center of the electorate" is exactly the opposite: -- Polls by Quinnipiac University and the Mellman Group found majorities support warrant requirements for wiretaps and oppose immunity for companies that released private consumer information without such warrants. -- Surveys by Fortune magazine, CNN and the Wall Street Journal report that most Americans oppose NAFTA-style trade policies. -- For years, major polls have consistently shown Americans want a firm timetable for withdrawal from Iraq. As just one of many examples, five?
McCain?s Aches and Pains
by Terry J. Allen
17 Jul 2008 at 1:00pm
Like jokes about President Bush being stupid, cheap shots at Sen. John McCain's age are largely unfunny. More importantly, they deflect crucial concerns about the men. Bush's alleged stupidity camouflaged his administration's brilliance in implementing radical economic, ideological, legal and social policies that advanced its agenda. Ridicule of McCain's age (along with paeans to his war record) distracts from hard critiques of his record and policies. McCain's age is irrelevant unless it affects his ability to function in a world that has radically changed since his formative years. McCain's computer illiteracy, for example, is not the result of advanced years. Rather it suggests someone who is coddled, out-of-touch and loath to learn new things. Nor is McCain's history of cancer tied to age. But some things are, such as the less-publicized array of his potentially compromising conditions, ailments and medications. Everyone knows about the cancer. In the last 15 years, McCain has had "every kind of skin cancer you can get, basal cell cancer, squamous cell cancer and, of course, malignant melanoma ...[and] quite a few precancerous lesions," said Dr. Nancy Snyderman, who reviewed McCain's medical records. "He's going to get another skin cancer," the NBC News chief medical editor?
The Dark Side of the Toyota Prius
by Paul Abowd
16 Jul 2008 at 1:00pm
The National Labor Committee (NLC), a New York-based human rights group, has been investigating working conditions at Toyota Motor Corp., and the labor used to produce its best-selling Prius hybrid cars. In its 65-page report released in June, NLC includes first-hand testimony of factory conditions in "Toyota City," outside of Nagoya, Japan -- less than 200 miles southwest of Tokyo -- where the largest auto company in the world employs some 70,000 people. The report alleges that Toyota exploits guest workers, mostly shipped in from China and Vietnam. According to the NLC, these workers are "stripped of their passports and often forced to work -- including at subcontract plants supplying Toyota -- 16 hours a day, seven days a week, while being paid less than half the legal minimum wage." Workers are forced to live in company dormitories and deported for complaining about poor treatment, the report finds. Low-wage temporary workers make up one-third of Toyota's Prius assembly-line workers, mostly in the auto-parts supply chain. They are signed to contracts for periods as short as four months, and are paid only 60 percent of a full-time employee's wage. Parts plants run by subcontractors advertise standard, nine-hour, five-day-a-week jobs. But according?
Chicago?s Olympic Dreams Undeserved
by Salim Muwakkil
15 Jul 2008 at 1:00pm
Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley has set his sights on winning the gold for his city. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) recently chose the Windy City as one of four international finalists in the race to host the coveted 2016 summer games. But a group of local activists argues that a history of racist police torture has made Chicago inappropriate as an Olympic site and is mobilizing to convince the IOC to reject the city's bid. "How can a city that has been condemned by the United Nations for allowing its police to engage in systematic torture of black men be worthy of hosting the Olympic games?" asks Patricia Hill, a primary organizer of Black People Against Police Torture, the group at the forefront of opposition to the Chicago Olympics. Hill, who is also executive director of the city's African American Police League, says that several allied groups have joined in opposition to Chicago's Olympic bid -- including the local chapter of Amnesty International USA. For nearly 20 years, a former Chicago police commander named Jon Burge and detectives under his command routinely tortured more than 100 black males, claiming they were criminal suspects. Several independent investigations and court decisions?
EPA on Trial
by Joel Bleifuss
14 Jul 2008 at 1:00pm
For more than six years, Hugh Kaufman has been battling the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), his employer for 37 years, with a whistleblower lawsuit. He has been aided by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), a D.C.-based group that represents workers who expose corruption in agencies that oversee environmental quality and public health. "We get people calling us all the time, but in this administration, more than ever," says Paula Dinerstein, PEER senior counsel. In June, Kaufman made his case before a Department of Labor administrative law judge, testifying that former EPA head Christine Todd Whitman closed down the agency's National Ombudsman Office in an effort to stop investigations that Kaufman was conducting. As the chief investigator for the agency's National Ombudsman Office -- which investigated public complaints about the EPA's Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response -- Kaufman had a bird's eye view of how the public health and safety were routinely subordinated to corporate interests. "The Reagan, Bush I and Clinton EPAs, were all pretty much the same," he says. "The Bush administration took a bad EPA and made it worse." In February 2001, Kaufman alerted the Denver Post to the fact that Whitman had not recused?
The American Left: Dogmatic rhetoric is self-defeating
by Ken Brociner
13 Jul 2008 at 1:00pm
Martha Biondi and James Thindwa's viewpoint, "Earth to Ken Brociner," does start out with a clever title ? that much I'll grant them. Unfortunately, they seem to have misunderstood the points I raised in my last column, "What Progressives Can Learn from Obama." Part of Barack Obama's appeal to Americans of all backgrounds stems from the way he conducts himself in the heat of political combat. Obama rarely, if ever, casts aspersions on his opponents' ultimate intentions. He eschews the use of incendiary or insulting rhetoric. And he totally avoids the use of dogma in his writing, in debates, and in his speeches. Of course, Obama is not the ideal candidate from a progressive or leftwing perspective. Before his most recent embrace of the political center, it was plain that Obama had never been more than a center-left candidate to begin with. Nonetheless, progressives can learn a lot by examining Obama's style of politics. Yet in their article, Martha Biondi and James Thindwa illustrate the kind of political style that Obama has warned us against -- one that has long proven to be counterproductive to the prospects of the American left. For example, Biondi and Thindwa accuse me of having?
Is the Fourth Estate a Fifth Column?
by Bill Moyers
11 Jul 2008 at 1:00pm
I heard this story a long time ago, growing up in Choctaw County in Oklahoma before my family moved to Texas. A tribal elder was telling his grandson about the battle the old man was waging within himself. He said, "It is between two wolves, my son. One is an evil wolf: anger, envy, sorrow, greed, self-pity, guilt, resentment, lies, false pride, superiority and ego. The other is the good wolf: joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith." The boy took this in for a few minutes and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf won?" The old Cherokee replied simply, "The one I feed." Democracy is that way. The wolf that wins is the one we feed. And in our society, media provides the fodder. Our media institutions, deeply embedded in the power structures of society, are not providing the information that we need to make our democracy work. To put it another way, corporate media consolidation is a corrosive social force. It robs people of their voice in public affairs and pollutes the political culture. And it turns the debates about profound issues into a shouting match of polarized views promulgated by partisan apologists?

Daily Kos

Sunday Talk - Lazy Days of Summer
by Sam Loomis
20 Jul 2008 at 1:42am

"Could I mention the presence of my friend, Congressman Steve Pearce, who I believe will be joining me in the United States Senate?"  -  John McCain in New Mexico this week.

It just gets worse and worse for John McSame and the gop.
Full lineup and other goodies below...

This evening's Rescue Rangers are ybruti, Larsstephens (ably mentored by Patriot Daily), ezdidit, grog, and Avila, with watercarrier4diogenes scrounging around in the pockets of the Robes of Objectivity, looking for the Wand of 'Seriousness' (tm) Glennzilla.

Tonight's diaries cover a variety of interesting issues not covered by the 'traditional media' (tm Kos), and definitely show that not all our 'best writers' are offline and partyin' hardy at Netroots Nation this weekend:

Blissing opens our eyes to the heartbreaking realities of native women and their struggles for justice at the NN Panel: Pretty Bird Woman House W/Video. (Larsstephens)

The Field details the Obama campaign's plan to take the convention to the unregistered voters and beyond in Hildebrand: 3-Day "Massive" Voter Registration Drive for Labor Day Weekend. (Avila)

mataliandy finds sustenance and chews the fat with other NN food writers in the Future of Food Panel at Netroots Nation. (Larsstephens)

With a worthy retrospective and an outline of exhibits, lampwicke proposes the founding of The George W. Bush Presidential Disaster Museum. (ezdidit)

dancewater has some new information on the condition of a seriously injured Iraqi girl receiving medical treatment here in the U.S. in Update on Rusul and her surgery. (Avila)

DrSteveB prescribes remedies for a one-sided debate on health care legislation with the Single Payer to HCAN: We Will Not Not Be Listened To. (Larsstephens)

Political theory junkies will love Cassiodorus's ongoing series Bad Pragmatism in Theory (pt.4): Gramsci vs. the Republicans. (grog)

MadScientist muses on better days and the present day in The General Decline of Just About Everything. (Avila)

In 1795, Thomas Paine wrote that "To take away this right [to vote] is to reduce a man to slavery." Karen Hedwig Backman reports more than two decades later that our votes are still vulnerable in Fixing Elections. (Avila)

jimstaro wants Obama & McCain to come to a Fort Hood Town Hall Presidential Forum, with a challenge to the putative Democratic nominee: Yes or No, Up or Down, Barack. (ezdidit)

Discussing Al Gore's recent proposal to end our reliance on fossil fuels for electricity generation in ten years, throughaglassdarkly presents Gore's Speech; Obama's Challenge. (ybruti)

desmoinesdem has a point and makes it well: To fight global warming, we also need to rethink transportation. (ezdidit)

Second-time diarist luvsathoroughbred describes Trolling for Votes: A Womano a Mano Debate with a colleague who despises Obama. After you read this, you'll find some comic relief in her first diary (about a dog for the next president): The K-9 Conundrum: An Open Letter of Advice to Sen. Obama. (ybruti)

jotter has High Impact Diaries - July 18, 2008 and carolita has Top Comments 7-19-08 -- Kaizen Edition.

Enjoy and please promote your own favorite diaries in this open thread (even if you're the author! Here's where that's actually appreciated). And, of course, since it's an open thread, PLAY NICE, OK? 8^)

Remember all those silly foreign affairs positions held by Barack Obama?  You know, like meeting directly with our enemies, which showed that Obama was naive and inexperienced?  Like setting a timetable for Iraq which was not important but on the other hand could lead to chaos and genocide?  

Over the last couple of weeks, conservative Andrew Sullivan notes that the lines between Obama's positions and those of McCain and Bush are starting "to blur."  Only, that blur seems to be moving in a particular direction.  

Iran

Obama has famously argued that the US should deal directly with the mullahs, negotiate the nuclear question and have talks without the precondition that Tehran suspend uranium enrichment. This was a clear and vital difference, we were told only a short time ago, between a reckless, appeasing Obama and the resolute, Churchillian Bushies.

And yet last week Bush authorised William Burns, a high-level State Department official, to attend talks with Tehran’s representatives on the Iranian nuclear question.

Iraq

Obama’s position has long been that troops should be withdrawn expeditiously but with care, and that the US military should shift its emphasis towards Afghanistan and Pakistan. And, lo and behold, last week we were also told that Bush was considering accelerating the exit of Iraq troops to beef up the Afghan mission.

For good measure, McCain also gave a speech backing what he calls a "surge" in Afghanistan, with more troops and a counterinsurgency strategy in the style of General David Petraeus, the commander of US forces.

And that's before McCain has made any response to Iraqi President Maliki's agreement with Obama's timeline.  Sullivan notes that the candidates are now sounding an awful lot alike, and that they're having trouble "putting blue sky" between their positions.

One thing he doesn't make clear: the lack of sky is because McCain and Bush have adopted more and more of Obama's "naive" positions rather than his bowing to their towering experience.

Blurry.  It's all so blurry.  Sure, Obama has a timeline, but now Bush has a "horizon," and by tomorrow McCain will probably have a purview, or a vision, or a vista.  It's all the same.  Right?

Barack Obama in Kuwait:

With today's news that Iraq's Prime Minister Maliki agrees with Barack Obama's plan to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq within 16 months, the McCain campaign has so far failed to comment on the story. But McCain did have something to say about it in 2004:

QUESTION: Let me give you a hypothetical, senator. What would or should we do if, in the post-June 30th period, a so-called sovereign Iraqi government asks us to leave, even if we are unhappy about the security situation there? I understand it's a hypothetical, but it's at least possible.

McCAIN: Well, if that scenario evolves, then I think it's obvious that we would have to leave because— if it was an elected government of Iraq— and we've been asked to leave other places in the world. If it were an extremist government, then I think we would have other challenges, but I don't see how we could stay when our whole emphasis and policy has been based on turning the Iraqi government over to the Iraqi
people.

Prepare yourself for spinning of Linda Blair-like proportions.

[From the diaries - BarbinMD]

Stupid is as stupid does.

The White House this afternoon accidentally sent to its extensive distribution list a Reuters story headlined "Iraqi PM backs Obama troop exit plan - magazine."

The story relayed how Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told the German magazine Der Spiegel that "he supported prospective U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's proposal that U.S. troops should leave Iraq within 16 months ... ‘U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama talks about 16 months. That, we think, would be the right timeframe for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes,'" the prime minister said.

The White House employee had intended to send the article to an internal distribution list, ABC News' Martha Raddatz reports, but hit the wrong button.

My take: The WH was obviously freaking out after the announcement that al-Maliki supports Obama's plan, and of course was planning to email this around internally get some some advice from advisers and get their talking points together. This also ensures additional coverage of this issue. The Obama camp of course has already pounced on this:

The national security adviser to the Obama campaign, Susan Rice, said the senator welcomed Maliki's support.

"This presents an important opportunity to transition to Iraqi responsibility, while restoring our military and increasing our commitment to finish the fight in Afghanistan," Rice said in a statement Saturday.

This is just starting to hit the media; unlike McCain leaking Obama's travel schedule, this is just too big to ignore. The implications are huge, when you consider what would have happened had the opposite occurred:

To really understand the importance of Maliki's comments, you need to consider their opposite. Imagine if Maliki had walked in front of the cameras and said, "at this stage, a timetable for withdrawal is unrealistic, and we hope our American friends will not bow to domestic political pressures and be hasty in leaving Iraq just as the country improves." It would be a transformative moment in this election. John McCain would talk of nothing else. The cable shows would talk of nothing else. Magazines would run thousands of covers about "Obama's Iraq Problem." Obama would probably lose the race.

Indeed.

Update: I just had to relay this post on what the al-Maliki statement means for McCain (per Ambinder):

Via e-mail, a prominent Republican strategist who occasionally provides advice to the McCain campaign said, simply, "We're fucked." No response yet from the McCain campaign, although here's what McCain said the last time Maliki mentioned withdrawal: "Since we are succeeding, then I am convinced, as I have said before, we can withdraw and withdraw with honor, not according to a set timetable. And I’m confident that is what Prime Minister Maliki is talking about, since he has told me that for many meetings we’'ve had."

DIGG IT UP!!

Isn’t it exciting that he’s here?

For those in attendance, my guess is, yes.

Barack Obama arrived in Afghanistan today, the first stop on his tour of Europe and the Middle East.

Now that 13 U.S. soldiers in Iraq have been electrocuted because of shoddy workmanship by KBR, five Democratic Senators are asking for an independent review of the work. The first question should be, why was KBR inspecting their own work given their miserable record of service in Iraq.

George Bush continues his fundraising efforts for GOP candidates behind closed doors since no one wants to be seen with him in public.

And speaking of “the Decider,”

Felons are asking President Bush for pardons and commutations at historic levels as he nears his final months in office...

It’s not clear how many of them are former officials with the administration.

John Cole reviews Michael Gerson’s latest Washington Post op-ed:

Got it? Environmental activists are to blame for not working enough with the people who oppose them, denounce them, mock them, work openly to sabotage their efforts, and have created a cottage industry creating and spreading pseudo-scientific babble.

What twisted bastard at the Washington Post reviews these op-eds and thinks they are worth printing? What kind of jackass believes the real problem regarding the environment is the environmental movement, and not James Inhofe. This is like blaming doctors for not being willing enough to work with the tobacco industry to prevent cancer.

Good question.

And finally, Al Gore has been upstaged! An actual presidential candidate has shown at Netroots Nation. Yes, folks, it's true:  Bob Barr is in the house, and is watching Markos, brownsox, DavidNYC, James L and Jonathan Singer talk horse races.  Note Steve Singiser and Democratic Luntz behind the good gentleman from Georgia.
-Trapper John

John McCain still hasn't given up on his idea of a gas-tax "holiday:

The Republican told an estimated 1,200 people at Union Station that suspending the federal tax on gasoline and diesel fuel would help put millions of dollars into the hands of businesses and lower-income Americans.

And he's still the only one who thinks it's a good idea:

The political vision of a summer gas tax holiday died a quick death in Congress, losing to a view that federal excise taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel will have to go up if they go anywhere.  [...]

Depriving the 52-year-old Highway Trust Fund of $9 billion at a time when it is heading into the red doomed the notion of a gas tax holiday in Congress.

The chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Rep. James Oberstar, and the chairman of the highway subcommittee, Rep. Peter DeFazio, presented fellow lawmakers with a list of how many jobs and how much money each state would lose. It ranged from $30 million and 1,000 jobs in Vermont to $664 million and 23,000 jobs in California.

But still McCain presses on. Never mind that "only about $27 billion in federal money will be available next year to states and local governments for new infrastructure investment even though the current highway act calls for spending $41 billion a year," McCain thinks he's latched onto something that will resonate with the public, so damn the consequences.