Even by McCain standards, this is pretty outrageous.  McCain fights against the bill to increase GI benefits -- in fact, nearly kills it.  Then, when it passes the Senate, McCain doesn't even show up to vote.  Then, after it's done, he boasts about "we" have accomplished.  Obama, by the way, supported and showed up in the Senate to vote for the bill.  

Stop!  My sides are hurting!  This is toooooo funny!
Larry Craig and David Vitter — “two United States Senators implicated in extramarital sexual activity” — have named themselves as co-sponsors of S.J. Res. 43, the Marriage Protection Amendment. If passed, the bill would amend the Constitution to declare that marriage “shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman.”

Weekend edition, because it's happenin'!  See below.

Race To The White House: Obama’s Bipartisan Appeal

Flip-flop watch .Steve Benen has updates from the past two weeks of John McCain's flip-flops. The total now comes to 48 — though it might be higher by the time I hit the "Save" button on this post. Pandering to the Republican base is hard work.

More below.

Bush and McCain Both Flip For Offshore Drilling The day after McCain announced that he now favors offshore drilling, the president suddenly follows suit. He's calling on Congress on Wednesday to end a federal ban.

What real journalism looks like

The Washington Post has a great A1 article examining yesterday's argument between Obama and McCain on giving detainees the right to seek habeas corpus. The piece got the politics right, usefully contextualizing the advisers involved in the back-and-forth, but also gave a nuanced discussion of the policy dispute, and even attempted to quietly adjudicate the argument and provide readers with a real-world baseline.

More below.

Might be the heart of the problem right there, Sparky Gas Hits $4 a Gallon; Bush "Hadn’t Heard That"

McCain's own attack dog, Sen. Graham says: McCain’s Policies Would ‘Absolutely’ Be An ‘Extension’ And ‘Enhancement’ Of Bush’s

The sound of unity Beautiful speech by Hillary Clinton endorsing Barack Obama.

More below.

A special Thursday edition, just because there's so much going on.

"Report on Whether Public Statements Regarding Iraq by U.S. Government officials Were Substantiated by Intelligence Information"

"Report on Intelligence Activities Relating to Iraq Conducted by the Policy Counterterrorism Evaluation Group and the Office of Special Plans Within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy"

Spoiler: They lied to us.  You're shocked, I know.  More below.

So, what are the McCains hiding? Cindy McCain was asked about releasing her tax returns, on the Today show, and reiterated that she would never release them -- ever -- even if she becomes First Lady:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vZi6...

We're All Hacks Atrios is right

It's important to remember that none of us are above the fray, that we all have hackish tendencies to suppress information which doesn't fit our worldview and privilege information that does. We're more likely to excuse behavior from people we like and exaggerate the ills of people we don't like. I try to fight hackish tendencies especially during this intra-Dem battle, but I don't claim to have superhuman Nonhack powers.

For the record, I make no effort to be above the fray nor any pretense of being fair or balanced.  I'm not only a member of the Hack Club for Men, I'm the president.  It's good to know your own filters....

More hackery below.

[editor's note, by PoliSigh] promoted by o'moi.(but I'm Ukrainian!?)

OK, you've had the weekend off, slackers.  Take your news....

Promoted by PD

It's Friday and there's a lot of interesting stuff in the news.  Two reasons to smile.

[editor's note, by PoliSigh] promoted by me, this part of the SOTU address boiled my blood too. We cannot forget NOLA.  We have already fallen into the Bush/Rove calculation that Americans have a short attention span and are racist.

Well, fuck, I guess he got bored dancing exclusively on the graves of New Yorkers.  Time to deface New Orleans once more before he goes!
          --Yours truly, reacting to Bush's SOTU announcement to hold this year's North American Summit in New Orleans

Normally, I'm not the kind to start a diary of any sort out this way, especially with an lead quote from myself.  But when Meteor Blades tells you to start a diary with it you don't ask questions.  You just do it.  So I did.

This State of the Union is perhaps the most valuable of Bush's reign.  Why?  Well, they've all been so entirely worthless, that the fact that this one has had a single lone happy side effect makes it by default the best.

It got people talking about what I thought they'd forgotten: the crime against humanity committed in New Orleans in the last days of August and first days of September 2005.

In February 2006, a council of prominent Evangelical Christians signed a mission statement dedicated to the preservation of the only earth God gave us. Among the signatories were the Rev. Rick Warren (author of The Purpose-Driven Life and pastor of the country's largest church), David Neff (editor of Christianity Today), W. Todd Bassett (national commander of the Salvation Army), and the Rev. Berten A. Waggoner of Sugar Land, Texas.

March 26, 2007

Judith Clark, Pharmacy Services Director
Division of Medicaid, State of Mississippi

Dear Ms. Clark:

I am writing on behalf of the thousands of lawyers, law students, and activists of the Student Hurricane Network, an organization working to rebuild and repair the lives of Hurricane Katrina survivors in Mississippi and Louisiana, to sing the praises of one of your employees, Joyce Hunter.  Ms. Hunter today gave assistance vastly beyond the call of duty.  I am stunned as I write this to recall the difference she made in one person’s life today in ten minutes on the phone.

As a volunteer for the Matchmakers 4 Justice program, I was asked to meet with a resident (name redacted to protect confidentiality) to discuss her potential legal issues and help her resolve them.  This resident is a middle-aged woman in poor health receiving Medicaid from the State of Mississippi.  She receives seven prescriptions per month, but the State will only provide five of them.  This had the potential to become a serious problem, and so the resident asked me to contact the Division of Medicaid to find a solution.

Ms. Hunter, in ten minutes on the phone, solved the entire problem.  By informing me that Medicaid would fill three-month supplies for some of the resident’s prescriptions, if her doctor deemed it necessary, Ms. Hunter made it possible for the resident to afford to fill all her prescriptions.  When I informed her of this, she showered praise upon me – but all that praise should really go to Ms. Hunter.  It is my hope that whatever incentive system the Division maintains will consider this incident in Ms. Hunter’s favor.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about this incident.

With kindest regards, I remain,

Very truly yours,

Matthew Krell, J.D. Candidate, Class of 2009
University of Alabama School of Law