50 Days Until Voting Day!

…one Nation under God, indivisible,With Liberty and Justice for all. June 14, 1954

Welcome to the new face of the DailyPolitique…lets get right down to business. As usual, its been a very active (political) weekend! But first I’d like to thank all those who participated in phone-banking this weekend to ‘get out the vote’ this November. My wife and I welcomed 8-10 participants at our house this past Saturday and together we made over 520 phone calls! Nationwide over over 150,000 calls were made this weekend! Lets keep it moving!

As for the newer format of the Politique, I want to examine views from all sides as well as throw in a bit of opinion (of course)! A good baseline to evaluate all poltics on (without partisanship) would seem to be the ‘Oath of Office’ taken by each public servant as they are sworn in to uphold the documents that represent our Country. Let us begin with Congress. As required by Article 6 of the U.S. Constitution, members of Congress shall be bound by oath or affirmation to support the Constitution:

"I, (name of Member), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign or domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God."

Each president recites the following oath, in accordance with Article II, Section I of the U.S. Constitution:

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

The Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Bill of Rights, etc are there to guarantee us specific things that should not be waived (if we are to be the America we say we are). Over the last several weeks, President Bush and his allies have launched a new offensive against political dissent. On Tuesday, House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) wondered aloud if critics of the President's national security policy are "more interested in the rights of terrorists than protecting the American people." Earlier, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld compared critics of his policies to people “in the decades before World War II” who believed Hitler “could be appeased” and argued that the fascist threat was exaggerated -- or that it was someone else’s problem.

Is attacking political opponents far easier than addressing the actual issues though? There was an interesting opinion by Michael Barone: Framing the issues; which states that "he who frames the issues tends to determine the outcome of the election". That's an old rule of political consultants, the first and most important rule, really. Although this is a conservative article –the point is well taken; he who frames the issues tends to determine the outcome. This is a lesson in marketing that independents and democrats need to learn!

Well then, lets get to the goings-on...

International News:
On Monday, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan met with the U.N. Security Council to warn of the intense new wave of genocidal violence that may unfold in two weeks when African Union (AU) peacekeeping forces are scheduled to pull out of Darfur. In an attempt to raise individual council members to action, Annon used unusually blunt language, Annan called on 'additional voices' (key member states like China, Russia, and the United States) to do their utmost to press Sudan to consent to a UN peacekeeping operation for Darfur. Unfortunately, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton wasn't around to respond to Annan's remarks.

At least 255,000 people have died in Darfur since the genocide began in 2003, researchers report in the Journal Science, "though they believe the actual number may be much higher." Tens of thousands of protesters rallied in four dozen cities worldwide on Sunday in a global day against genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan. The global day of protests was organized to coincide with the start of the United Nations General Assembly debate this week on Sudan. Listen/Watch/Read outrageous and dishonest' and offering evidence to refute its central claims.

In the latest wave of violence in Iraq, nearly 100 people were killed or found dead in the Iraqi capital over a 24 hour period. During a tour of a 911 call facility in Baghdad, ABC News reported hearing 4,000 calls about the "chaos outside in the streets."

Warren P. Strobel and John Walcott wrote Saturday about an echo of the intelligence wars that preceded the U.S. invasion of Iraq, as administration hard-liners "have tried recently to portray Iran's nuclear program as more advanced than it is." Editor & Publisher noted that "reports from Strobel, Walcott and others in the former [Knight-Ridder] Washington office, proved more skeptical and accurate than those from other leading news organizations in the pre-Iraq invasion push." The reporters wrote that officials from the CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency, and the State Department suspect Vice President Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumseld "may be receiving a stream of questionable information" from a discredited Iranian exile. The reported dubious information may include claims that Iran directed Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group, to kidnap two Israeli soldiers in July; that Iran's nuclear program is moving faster than generally believed; and that the Iranian people are eager to join foreign efforts to overthrow their theocratic rulers. ... The officials said there is no reliable intelligence to support any of those assertions and some that contradicts all three. Several former defense officials have also said "they've they've been told that plans for airstrikes -- if Bush deems them necessary -- are being updated." According to one U.S. counterterrorism official, "It seems like Iran is becoming the new Iraq."

National News:

The U.S. continues to rank 16th among industrialized nations for broadband internet development and penetration, and customers in countries like Japan and South Korea "enjoy broadband speeds that are hundreds of times faster" as standard U.S. speeds.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) said Tuesday his “recent trip to the Guantanamo Bay detainee camp showed excellent prison conditions , including '24/7 medical care - better than many Americans' get."

President Bush's approval rating rose to 42 percent from 38 percent after his latest round of speeches on Iraq, a new WSJ/NBC News poll shows.

A rush by state and local governments to prepare new voting machines and train poll workers is raising the possibility of trouble reminiscent of the 2000 presidential election standoff. "There are so many potential failure points this year that some of it could get ugly," says R. Doug Lewis, executive director of the Election Center.

In May, Al Gore predicted that "there is a chance that within the next two years, even (President) Bush and (Vice President) Dick Cheney will be forced to change their position on this [global warming] crisis. ... One can only attempt to create one's own reality for so long." Just four months later, Gore may be right. This weekend, the UK Independent reported, "President Bush is preparing an astonishing U-turn on global warming. ... After years of trying to sabotage agreements to tackle climate change he is drawing up plans to control emissions of carbon dioxide and rapidly boost the use of renewable energy sources."

Obama tries to push Dems toward hasn't taken the hint."

Thomas W. O'Connell, the Pentagon's top special operations policy-maker, "is quitting in a move that several Bush administration sources say is the first negative fallout from a major reorganization of advisers in the office of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld."

Will Sen. Warner go against the administration on the detainee bill?

And finally: Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) argued last week that the South could have won the Civil War if the Confederates had just had better intelligence. Sources told Roll Call that Chambliss said, "We need better intelligence. If we had better intelligence in the Civil War we'd be quoting Jefferson Davis, not Lincoln."

(Sources: Library of Congress, Senate and House websites, TownHall, Center For American Progress, UN, Washington Post, WSJ, ABC News, FOXNews, DemocracyNow, The Independent, AP, EditorAndPublisher, SaveDarfur, Washington Times, NY Times, Consumer Affairs, RollCall)