A New Kind of Democratic Presidential Primary

Jane Hamsher and her blog FireDogLake are attempting to field a progressive opponent to run in the Democratic primary against President Barack Obama. Hamsher and her supporters have started the New Progressive Alliance. How does Hamsher and her minions plan on finding a candidate suitable to run against Obama? On Craigslist, of course.

A process for the aggressive political organization of progressives in the US has been started called New Progressive Alliance (NPA), under the benign tolerance* of the eminent progressive blog FireDogLake. This budding organization will be looking to leverage a Democratic run for US President into rapidly growing this new organization. There has already been a poll of initial supporters of NPA to determine an ordered list of who should be invited to be the NPA approved candidate. Elizabeth Warren has won the top designation, however, like the other well-known nominees, it is currently unknown if Warren will accept. Running against a Presidential incumbent can be political suicide within a party, be that incumbent a Democrat or Republican.

However, for an NPA candidate who is fully on board with the program, committing political suicide as a Democrat is not only of no concern, but in a sense welcome. That’s because it is anticipated that any NPA approved Democrat primary candidate must, if they fail to win the Democratic Party’s nomination (as everybody expects will be the case), turn around and give their endorsement to an NPA approved progressive Presidential candidate, running under a third party, such as the Green Party, or as an independent. NPA seeks to break the stranglehold of the corrupted Democratic Party on the minds and voting behavior of the progressive electorate. Until that stranglehold is broken, being popular with Democratic Party power brokers should be viewed as undesirable for a genuine progressive, anyway.

The NPA polling, ranked in order of approval, is as follows:
1. Elizabeth Warren
2. Russ Feingold
4. Howard Dean
4. Richard Trumka
5. Alan Grayson
6. Cynthia McKinney
7. Al Franken
8. Paul Krugman
9. Dennis Kucinich
10. Jane Hamsher

The purpose of this ad is: 1) to solicit volunteers for running as a Democratic Party challenger to President Obama in 2012, in the case that NPA is not able to find a suitable, well known candidate and 2) study the feasibility of craigslist for these types of endeavors.

Dennis Kucinich would take up the offer just for attention. Kucinich would not win a single primary or caucus against the Obama campaign machine.

I'm closer to Hamsher's mind than Obama's on policy and share her frustration. I generally like to see primaries with candidates debating the issues and voters having a choice. Unfortunately, that is not going to happen.

The truth is Obama is the best active politician (Bill Clinton isn't serving or running for office) in America. No Democrat wants to get crushed by Obama and anger the party establishment.

In writing this post I see that Joy-Ann Reid comes down hard on FireDogLake.

The most aggressive anti-Obama action is to be found in three places: among an group of highly influential blogs connected to Jane Hamsher’s Firedoglake and its associated FDL Action PAC and knit together via Hamsher’s advertising network; from Greenwald, Moore and other libertarian-leaning activists who oppose Obama’s war and national security policies (which they say are too close to George W. Bush’s); and from Adam Green’s Progressive Campaign Change Committee PAC, which has spent as much time attacking the president as it has advertising against Republicans.

I generally agree with Obama on 85 percent of his foreign policy. I supported his troop surge for Afghanistan. The excerpts I read from Bob Woodward's book indicate that Obama wants to get out of Iraq and Afghanistan ASAP. I also agree with Obama on the Israelis should put land taken in 1967 on the negotiating table. Where I differ with Obama is his horrible neoliberal economic policies.

Craigslist has been known for finding hook-ups and professional escorts? Craigslist really isn't the proper venue for Hamsher and company to search for a candidate. The ad is also requesting that activists join. It will be hard to recruit volunteers for NPA without a candidate.

Quote of the Day

"The study itself (which suffers from some unfortunate biases, including its assumption that members of the military should be more supportive of torture) suggests that Dick Cheney’s pro-torture media blitz might explain why torture became more popular once a purportedly anti-torture President took power."

"There may be some truth to that. I wouldn’t endorse it unquestioningly without some evidence to support it. But if it is true, it would serve as a lesson about the Obama Administration strategy to avoid fighting for anything it believes in. That is, the study raises the possibility that–by ceding the field to PapaDick’s relentless pro-torture campaign–the Administration served to make its own stated policy less popular."

Marcy Wheeler, aka Emptywheel of Firedoglake.

Cambridge Journals looked at the major polls, during the Bush years, on torture. There was never public approval for torture. The numbers change in 2009. There was a steady increase in approval for torture. The Obama administration's fear of being labeled not centrist has hampered their ability to close Gitmo. Prosecuting Bush officials for torture isn't going to cost the White House Republican Senate votes. Obama never had Republican Senate support for his policies.

The White House is obsessed with the out-of-date neoliberal playbook of the 90s. The White House is talking deficit reduction when the smart polical and policy position would be job creation. Even David Brooks and Paul Krugman agree that unemployment benefits should be extended.

Bill Clinton lowered the deficit so the Obama people feel that takes precedence over the lack of new job creation. Clinton was able to balance the budget because new jobs created created tax revenue to balance the budget. The Obama team has not made extending unemployment benefits a rallying cry or politically made the Republicans pay. Instead, Obama's bipartisan deficit commission has refused to have open meetings. Reports are that military spending is off-the-table. I have a hard time taking a commission with Alan Simpson as co-chair seriously.

The Obama strategy on torture and economics seems to be making grand gestures to Republican voters who were never support them. Bush won two elections and I don't ever remember Bush courting Russ Feingold for his vote or worried about the deficit.

The Cheney PR Campaign For Waterboarding

This is a jaw dropping exchange between Anderson Cooper and former White House Press Sec. Ari Fleischer.

COOPER: Ari, was President Bush lying when he said, we do not torture?

FLEISCHER: No, I don't think he was lying.

COOPER: Was he telling the truth?

FLEISCHER: Yes. I think that it depends, again, on things that none of us were privy to, that none of us saw, that none of us know.

COOPER: If what they did was -- was right and -- and correct and legal, why did they destroy the evidence? Why did they destroy the videotapes?

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: They destroyed the videotapes of two people being tortured, water-boarded, more than 100 times.

FLEISCHER: I think that's a fair question. And I think the CIA destroys a lot of things. They -- they typically like to destroy as much things as they can. That's a matter of procedure at the CIA, not only on this, but on a host of...

(CROSSTALK)

COOPER: Porter Goss, I think, head of the CIA, specifically did not want those tapes destroyed. And, yet, they were.

FLEISCHER: Well, and that's why I said I think that's a fair question. I think it's a matter of CIA routine procedure to destroy a lot of things. And, sometimes, they go too far, get themselves in trouble for it.

People can draw their own conclusions on why the C.I.A. destroyed 92 videotapes. If a drug gang or mafia destroyed evidence prosecuters would use that information to charge the leaders of criminal conspiracy. The cover up is what got the Watergate Seven and Lewis "Scooter" Libby convicted. The destruction of the videotapes hurt the Bush administration.

I'm not sure the Bush people should publicly defend waterboarding and say President Barack Obama is endangering America. Obama didn't have the stomach to prosecute. Dick Cheney and other former Bush officials attacked Obama on on the cable talk shows. Moveon.org, Firedoglake and Daily Kos pressured Obama to prosecute. Obama slightly retracted his earlier position of no prosecution of Bush officials.

Cheney badly miscalculated against Obama. Cheney will lose if he fights Obama in the political arena. The same way Hillary Clinton and John McCain lost. George W. Bush had enough sense to maintain a low profile. Cheney is a Vice-President so unpopular that he was not invited to the Republican Nation Convention. Democrats maintain control of both houses of Congress. Cheney has no political collateral. His surrogates Ari Fleischer and Michael Hayden have less. The smart move for Cheney would have been to keep his mouth shut and work a backroom deal with the Justice Department. Cheney isn't that smart.

Obama can turn the heat on Bush administration officials involved with torture and take the economy on the front page. Republicans will play defense for a highly unpopular President and Vice-President. The GOP is tanking in the polls and fighting amongst the moderates and red meat conservatives. Prosecuting the John Yoo isn't going to hurt Obama's approval ratings. If Republicans want to run on waterboarding in 2010 and 2012 the Democrats will win. Guaranteed.

Side note: if Cheney wasn't part of the waterboarding policy then why he is acting so frantic.

BLITZER: And if necessary, would you authorize it again?

CHENEY: Well, I'm not in the chain of command, but if necessary, I would certainly recommend it again.