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Amnesty Day for Bush and lawbreaking telecoms — (updated below - Update II - Update III) — The Senate today — led by Jay Rockefeller, enabled by Harry Reid, and with the active support of at least 12 (and probably more) Democrats, in conjunction with an as-always lockstep GOP caucus …
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The FISA fight: Nutroots lose, America wins — I've been keeping you up-to-date on the FISA fight in the Senate (see here and here). This morning, a series of votes took place and you'll be happy to know that the defeatist Dems were defeated. — Carter Wood at the NAM's ShopFloor blog sums up the votes:


Senate Moves to Shield Phone Companies on Eavesdropping — WASHINGTON — After more than a year of heated political wrangling, the Senate handed the White House a major victory Tuesday by voting to broaden the government's spy powers and to give legal protection to phone companies that cooperated …
Discussion:
American Spectator

Senate OKs immunity for telecoms — WASHINGTON - The Senate voted Tuesday to shield from lawsuits telecommunications companies that helped the government eavesdrop on their customers without court permission after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. — After nearly two months of stops and starts …

Obama Unplugged — Lost without a Teleprompter. — USUALLY WHEN BARACK OBAMA gives a major speech, the overdone hosannas from the liberal commentariat follow as surely as night follows day. The American Prospect's Ezra Klein wrote of Obama's post-Iowa victory speech, “I've been blessed to hear many great orations.

Gov. ‘Blunt Talk’ Rendell (and other topics) — So many topics, so little space: — Gov. Ed “Don't Call Me ‘Fast Eddie’ ” Rendell met with the editorial board of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette last week to talk about his latest budget. But before turning the meeting over to his number-crunchers …
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Top Hillary Supporter: Some Whites In Pennsylvania “Are Not Ready” To Support Black Candidate — This explanation from a prominent Hillary supporter in Pennsylvania, regarding why he thinks Barack Obama could lose his state, seems a bit off message. — According to a columnist …

Inside the Clinton Shake-Up — Like so much involving Hillary Clinton, Sunday's departure of her campaign manager, Patti Solis Doyle, has gotten tons of attention, but its larger significance has been somewhat misunderstood. I've spent a fair amount of time over the last two years reporting on …
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‘SUPER’ LATINO SLAMS CLINTON — A prominent member of the national Democratic Party has circulated a sharp e-mail saying the removal of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton campaign manager Patti Solis Doyle was disloyal to Hispanics and should give “pause” to superdelegates and voters.

Cool on O'Bama — All this emoting over Barack Obama's wonderful, wonderful personality is starting to trigger my gag reflex. — What are we electing here, a faith healer? What is Obama's view of the executive power? How, exactly, does he propose to “bring us together”? Just by being half-black?
Discussion:
The New Republic
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“Barack Obama is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human …
Discussion:
PrestoPundit

Outside the Beltway and Off the Rails — James Joyner is rushing to do damage control for Barack Obama: Obama Che Guevara Flag ‘Scandal’. He takes particular exception to an “insinuation” (his word) he says I made: … “Loyalty oath?” Where the hell does that come from?
Discussion:
PERRspectives Blog, The Newshoggers, Rachel Lucas, Ground Game, Moonbattery, Solomonia and NO QUARTER
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Obama Che Guevara Flag ‘Scandal’
Discussion:
The Carpetbagger Report, NewsBusters.org, Babalu Blog, Right Voices, Captain's Quarters, Redstate and Lone Star Times

John McCain's Top 24 Potential Picks For Vice-President — Predicting whom a particular candidate will take as Vice-President is always difficult because so many factors play into it. Do both candidates get along? Is the presidential nominee looking to carry a particular state, region …


Boss Esser's dirty little secret: there was no WA state GOP caucus! — After reading the rules, reviewing the documents and analyzing the data, I am now prepared to categorically state that Sen. John McCain most certainly did not win the Washington state Republican caucus …
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McCain still winner in updated WA GOP caucus results
Discussion:
Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Seattle Times, Jonathan Martin's Blogs, Wonkette, Boston Globe, MSNBC, Los Angeles Times and DownWithTyranny!

When Reality Bites — There's a big difference between the Republican and Democratic campaigns: The Republicans have split on policy grounds; the Democrats haven't. There's been a Republican divide between center and right, yet no Democratic divide between center and left.

Go with the tough guy — The new ‘axis of evil’ doesn't fear the U.S. McCain could change that. — Some conservatives are having conniptions over the rise of John McCain as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. Personally, I am less interested in what Rush Limbaugh …

TO FIRE OR NOT TO FIRE (HINT: OPTION #1) — In his interview with Hillary Clinton, The Politico's John Harris asked whether she really wanted MSNBC's David Shuster fired. Here's what she said. — Late Update: We've now seen the video of the Harris interview.