We are pleased and thankful that Senator Jim Webb has been able to secure the freedom of John Yettaw, who had been sentenced to prison for swimming to the home of pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi. The Senator, and the Obama administration and its State Department, are to be congratulated.

One somewhat disturbing thought. North Korea, which has a nuclear weapon, was able to secure the visit of a former president, Bill Clinton, to accept the release of imprisoned Americans. Burma, which has no such weapon, got only a Senator.

Would Iran, maybe on its way to nuclear capability, settle for a former vice president in order to release the captured hikers?

homer   www.altara.blogspot.com

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I say that because they are the only ones with balls. Solid steel balls. For those newbies Hillary was tested during Bill's impeachment and she is really a very strong person.

 I think they are the only ones who are really capable of carrying the electorate. I say that because they are the only ones capable of beating the shit out of McCain.

What is wrong with you people you want Biden, Bayh or Sebelius?
LOL

If you have seen how Hillary campaigned in states like PA, KY and WV when she knew even her best effort would still lose her the nomination, how could you recommend Obama nominate Biden, Bayh, kain or Sebelius.

I think Hillary and Webb or the two real fighters in the Democratic Party. For the VP spot we really need a fighter. Do you guys remember the way Webb confronted Bush. I know of nobody who did that.

I am a Hillary supporter but I would be happy with Hillary or Webb.

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I see from "breaking blue," MSNBC and other sources that Webb has definitively and unambiguously declared that he is not interested in the number 2 spot.  I personally feel that his past baggage would have proved too distracting to the contest to outweigh the obvious strengths he would have brought to the ticket (and I suspect that this declaration may be a mutually face-saving way of removing his name without the embarrassment of declaring that he could not pass the vetting process).  

So, who do people feel is rising to the top at this point?

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This is the first in a likely one-part series, but I like keeping options open. A little news item, highlighted by SusanG at Kos first because I'm a turtle of slowness today, had John McCain highlighting his support for Sen. Webb's new GI Bill.

As SusanG highlighted:

I'm happy to tell you that we probably agreed to an increase in educational benefits for our veterans that not only gives them  increase in their educational benefits, but if they stay in for a certain period of time than they can transfer those educational benefits to their spouses and or children. That's a very important aspect I think of incentivizing people of staying in the military.

Now, I likely needn't remind anyone here that McCain actively opposed this GI Bill for its supposed overgenerosity. His lack of support hinged on statistics showing increased military drop-out if benefits began sooner than his preferred plan, even though an equal percentage would enlist, thus negating the dropoff.

But McCain taking credit on this ... well, it shows a Bushlike degree of Chutzpah.

Now, when I write the definitive tome "The Decline and Fall of the Republican Empire" (just kidding, I have no follow through), I'm going to subtitle it "The Age of Chutzpah." Or maybe "The Decline and Fall..." will be the subtitle. Since this book exists only in the library of dreams, I'll let Lucius and Morpheus (and any geeks who get the reference) decide. I've digressed long enough.

Chutzpah, by the way, is hard to define. Kind of like Farfegnugan or the difference between a Shlemiel and a Shlemazel. Think of Chutzpah a shameful action, undertaken without shame. Like returning a shoplifted CD for store credit. Or an AWOL draft dodger accusing a wounded war veteran of faking his illnesses.

But it's a special sort of chutzpah to take credit for a bill you actively opposed. The sort of chutzpah we've seen when adulterers impeach a president for adultery, prostitute-mongers run on morality tickets, rich Connecticutlets run as homey Texas cowboys, and oil execs wage war on uncooperative oil-rich nations and get offended by the assumption that they're just doing it for the oil.

From Joe Lieberman to the recent FISA bill, Chutzpah wins the day in the current Washington swamp and John "Campaign Finance Reformer / Campaign Finance Criminal" McCain is GREAT at it.

The problem is, people in DC don't like calling others on it. It's impolite. Impolitic. Ugly partisan vaingooglery, whatever that means. Gotcha politics. Etc.

That's why Jim Webb would be great. He could make this one flip flop by McCain into McCain's "inventing of the Internet."

Reason 1: He authored the bill. It's in his name. He has the authority to mention it at every campaign stop.

Reason 2: He would. Webb's plain-spokenness is real, compared to Obama's polish and poise. Webb called out the President of the US on his Chutzpah to ask how Webb's son in Iraq was doing -- Webb wouldn't hold back on the campaign trail. For all the negative headlines by aghast Washingtonian McKcainob-polishers, it would make the rest of America take notice.

Reason 3: McCain would have to explain himself time and time again, which would be fun to watch.

Reasons 4-10: Virginia is in play, Webb's Scotch-Irish ancestry and his fondness for Confederate History would play amazingly in the history books with an Obama presidency, Running for the empty seat would give Kaine something to do after his gubernatorial stint is over in the bizarrely term-limited state.

Reason 11: Obama-Webb looks good on paper. Actual paper. It won't mess up the logo much. Lots more circles. Ask a graphic designer.

There. And yes, Obama and Clinton looked GREAT in their Unity even today. I know. But it's not going to happen. Too much drama and soap opera. We want the soap opera to trail McCain, not our guy. Plus Hillary will look even better telling Scalia to his face to shut up when she gets on the Supreme Court.

Maybe Bill would be better on the court. Or both of them. The Clintons on the supreme court would get all those right-wing impeachment preachers really pantie-tangled. Now THATS some Chutzpah I can believe in.

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How bizarre. Maybe Jim Webb doesn't want to be Obama's veep after all.

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By pushing a bill that distances himself from the Democratic Party and its presidential candidate on offshore drilling, Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia is picking a curious time to exercise his well-known independence.

Webb wants his home state to have the right to explore for energy off Virginia's coast. His staff insists his proposal pertains only to natural gas, and not oil, and that it is completely in line with the state's other two leading Democrats -- Gov. Tim Kaine and former Gov. Mark Warner, who is running for Senate.

Yet by attaching his name to the bill, sponsored by Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), Webb is taking a step away from Barack Obama (D-Ill.), the party's presidential candidate, who opposes offshore drilling, and one closer to Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the GOP standard-bearer who recently called for lifting the federal ban.

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/webb -splits-with-obama-over-drilling-2008-06 -19.html

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