First Door on the Left

(Washington, D.C.) - Today U.S. Senator Patty Murray announced that she will vote against the confirmation of attorney general nominee Alberto Gonzales.

Murray issued the following statement:

“After studying Alberto Gonzales’ record and reviewing his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, I have concluded that he does not meet the standards required to be attorney general. I will vote against his confirmation when it comes before the full Senate. (source)

(The emphasis is mine.)

Now there’s an interesting concept, and one that many of our friends on the right seem incapable of grasping. To think that somebody would vote against somebody just because they do not believe he or she meets the standards required for the job!

According to Republicans, the only reason anybody would ever vote against anything the Bush administration wants is because they are an “obstructionist.” Here we have a Senator who will be voting against the confirmation of Alberto Gonzales because she feels he does not meet the standards required for the job. Will she be called an obstructionist? You betcha. As will the other 34 Senators who will reportedly be voting against Mr. Gonzales’ confirmation.

Oh, and lest we forget… Mr. Gonzales is Hispanic. So, without doubt, all these people will also be labeled as racists.

Update: See what I mean?

Frost Quits Race for Democratic Chief

WASHINGTON (AP) - Former Texas Rep. Martin Frost dropped out of the race for Democratic national chairman on Tuesday after failing to win the backing of organized labor, winnowing the field to front-runner Howard Dean and three challengers.

Frost’s decision came hours after AFL-CIO leaders decided not to make an endorsement in the race for Democratic National Committee chairman.

Frost had counted heavily on organized labor to give him a boost against Dean. Many in the AFL-CIO were prepared to back Frost at one point, but he had not shown enough movement in the race to win labor support, union officials said.

The former congressman said Tuesday he had called Dean, the former presidential candidate, and “congratulated him for running a strong campaign. The challenge ahead for Governor Dean will be to unite the party, rebuild the DNC and win elections in every region of the country.”

I live in Mr. Frost’s congressional district and believe me when I say that this is a good thing. The campaign he ran against Pete Sessions was shameful.

The article goes on to state that Donnie Fowler remains in the race. You have to admit that he and RNC Chairman Kenny Mehlman would make a cute couple…

I am not implying that either of them is gay. I would never do that. But, I mean, c’mon now…

The New York Times is reporting that…

Iraqis Claim Irregularities Kept Many People From Voting

BASRA, Iraq, Feb. 1 - As the national euphoria over the high turnout and seemingly smooth operation of Sunday’s elections begins to fade slightly, claims of election irregularities are surfacing around the country.

In northern Iraq, protests have repeatedly broken out over the last few days in several cities, where officials contend that hundreds of thousands of citizens, many of them Kurdish Christians, had not been able to vote because balloting materials had arrived inexplicably late.

A huge crowd of Shiite Muslims returning to southern Iraq from their holy pilgrimage to Mecca charged on Monday that they and hundreds of others like them had been deliberately kept from coming back to their country in time to vote in Sunday’s election. “They have wasted our votes,” said Jaleel Harran, 41, a pilgrim from the southern city of Nasiriya.

There are also assertions that election workers bent rules to allow unregistered citizens to cast ballots, and one charge that a political party was improperly left off the ballots.

Is anybody able to verify the whereabouts of one J. Kenneth Blackwell this past Sunday?

Howard Dean (who was, you may recall, my first choice for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004) is emerging as the frontrunner in the election for the new DNC chair.

Paul Mirengoff (deacon) at Power Line thinks that Dr. Dean is positioning himself for another run at the nomination in 2008…

For his part, Dean is making an interesting play by seeking the job. He must be betting that the Democrats will do well in the 2006 elecions. That’s not a bad bet — an incumbent president’s sixth year is usually a great year for the opposition. If that pattern holds, Dean will emerge as a hero and will be relatively well-position to run for his party’s nomination in 2008. In this scenario, Democrats will convince themselves that they can win from the left. And Hillary will have to move back to the left to contend with Dean, just as John Kerry did. Thus, the Democrats may be worse off if Dean succeeds in 2006 than if he fails.

He’s forgetting one thing: Dr. Dean has stated that if he is elected to the chairmanship, he will not be running for the presidency in 2008. Besides, the DNC chairman is committed to serve a full four year term, which would preclude a run in 2008 in any case.

I have never quite understood the right’s blind hatred of Howard Dean. If they would examine his record as Governor of Vermont, they would find that he is more moderate than liberal. He is definitely more fiscally conservative than the “conservatives” currently in control of the Republican party. (He balanced the state’s budget for every one of the eleven years he served as governor.)

Could it be possible that we have too much freedom in the United States?

First Amendment No Big Deal, Students Say

WASHINGTON (AP) - The way many high school students see it, government censorship of newspapers may not be a bad thing, and flag burning is hardly protected free speech.

It turns out the First Amendment is a second-rate issue to many of those nearing their own adult independence, according to a study of high school attitudes released Monday.

The original amendment to the Constitution is the cornerstone of the way of life in the United States, promising citizens the freedoms of religion, speech, press and assembly.

Yet, when told of the exact text of the First Amendment, more than one in three high school students said it goes “too far” in the rights it guarantees. Only half of the students said newspapers should be allowed to publish freely without government approval of stories…

The results reflected indifference, with almost three in four students saying they took the First Amendment for granted or didn’t know how they felt about it. It was also clear that many students do not understand what is protected by the bedrock of the Bill of Rights.

Three in four students said flag burning is illegal. It’s not. About half the students said the government can restrict any indecent material on the Internet. It can’t.

Conservatives everywhere are smiling this morning.

You know you may be getting a bit tired when you see a heading on someone’s weblog that says “Indecency Bill Gains Steam” and you read “Indecency Bill Gates Steam.”

Made sense to me. They are going to make the fines for indecency so steep that only Bill Gates will be able to afford them.

What is indecency, anyway? One man’s indecency may be another man’s hobby.