"Who would have thought that in the United States of America in the 21st century, the top officials of the executive branch would routinely gather in the White House to approve torture?" Kennedy said in a statement. "Long after President Bush has left office, our country will continue to pay the price for his administration's renegade repudiation of the rule of law and fundamental human rights."

Partisan divide? Absolutely. We now have a torture party and a no-torture party. There isn't a much clearer divide than that.

ABC News: Cheney OK'd 'Torture'; Bush Insulated

"Her securing the nomination is certainly possible - but it will require exercising the 'Tonya Harding option.'" the official said. "Is that really what we Democrats want?"

OW! I don't think that's the kind of comparison Hillary wants.

Political Punch

Pressed to elaborate, McCain said it was "common knowledge and has been reported in the media that al-Qaeda is going back into Iran and receiving training and are coming back into Iraq from Iran, that's well known. And it's unfortunate." A few moments later, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, standing just behind McCain, stepped forward and whispered in the presidential candidate's ear. McCain then said: "I'm sorry, the Iranians are training extremists, not al-Qaeda."

Sorry, cCain making this sort of error is nothing new, the fact that it's now being noted is. As screwed up as things are now, someone making basic mistakes like this is a problem, the nominee making this mistake is a train wreck in progress.

A McCain Gaffe in Jordan | The Trail | washingtonpost.com

I'm trying to imagine the mindset of a man who doesn't realize that when you try to take dildos away from women, basically everyone with a brain and/or a sense of humor is going to assume it's because you're afraid you can't handle the competition.

Yet another entry in the "Law or humor?" category. In this case, it's headed back to court so it goes in law, but... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

AlterNet: Blogs: Video: The Dildo War in Texas Is Still Not Over

Republican U.S. Rep. Richard Renzi of Arizona, a state co-chair for Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign, was indicted on corruption charges stemming from land deals in his state, Justice Department officials said on Friday.

Don Pardo, who's our next contestant? Why it's Dick Renzi, come on down! And we have another seat to fill, who's that going be? James Doolittle! You're the next contestant on Indict a Republican Congressman!

And to think, this is happening with the most politicized Department of Justice evar!!!

Rep. Renzi indicted on corruption charges | Reuters

"I said to him that if we come up short and there are some acquittals in our cases, it will at least validate the process," Davis continued. "At which point, [Haynes's] eyes got wide and he said, 'Wait a minute, we can't have acquittals. If we've been holding these guys for so long, how can we explain letting them get off? We can't have acquittals. We've got to have convictions.'"

And the fix is in...

Rigged Trials at Gitmo

"If you want to call it significant undercounting, I guess that's a euphemism for fraud," said the mayor.

And not the kind the DoJ keeps going after, this is the real kind of fraud, screwing with the ballot box.

MIKE BLOOMBERG CLAIMS VOTE 'FRAUD’ - New York Post

"It's a clusterfuck! Just a clusterfuck!" the Corpus Christi producer for a local news affiliate shouts into his cell phone. He's telling his boss that there will be no coverage of Bill Clinton's visit to Victoria for the 6 o'clock news. "Who's running this campaign anyway?" the producer asks, of no one in particular. "And now five hundred people have stomped away mad." He shakes his head. At that moment, twenty well-dressed elderly and middle-aged dignitaries and politicians exit the back of the local arts center and walk slowly for the intersection of Goodwin and Main. Presumably, they are Hillary Clinton supporters; however, given their dazed faces, they look more like commissars who have been turned out by the NKVD and cannot believe how suddenly their fortunes have changed.

The wheels look to have come all the way off the Hillary bus.

Mayhill Fowler: Clinton's Texas Ground Game Plunges Into Chaos - Off The Bus on The Huffington Post

Now that the nominating process is up, I wanted to record my expectations for the general election (mostly so I can point and go "SEE!").

If we get Obama-McCain:
Obama gets the usual democratic areas, New England (maybe dropping like New Hampshire or Vermont, someone up there always seems to go against the grain for some reason) and the left coast. He also gets all the states that stayed in the Union in 1861, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky or Missouri could flip, but the rest are solid blue, and taking three out of four of those states would not surprise me. He also picks up 2-3 from the normally red south, Florida, Georgia, a Carolina, Louisiana? Finally out west, he might get one or two, but enh. Final count in the electoral college 330-210 or bigger. 350 is easily in reach. Obama wins.

If we get Clinton-McCain:
Clinton gets New England, like Obama, and the left coast. Now things change. Clinton still gets New York and Jersey, but the midwest splits. She loses Missouri and the entire south and west. Final result, 2004 all over again with the winner up in the air. The difference will be close enough that flipping any of Pennsylvania, Ohio or Indiana from the winner to the loser would change the winner. Count in the college, 287-273.

Now, toss a huge event out there (someone nukes a port, W bombs Iran, Black Thursday) and I think things slope even harder to the Democrats side (8 years of you guys and this is the protection you do? F-Off!). McCain needs a Hillary nomination or the second coming.

Feel free to make other predictions!

CONYERS: Well, are you ready to start a criminal investigation into whether this confirmed use of waterboarding by United States agents was illegal?

MUKASEY: That's a direct question, and I will give a direct answer.

No, I am not, for this reason: Whatever was done as part of a CIA program at the time that it was done was the subject of a Department of Justice opinion through the Office of Legal Counsel and was found to be permissible under the law as it existed then.

For me to use the occasion of the disclosure that that technique was once part of the CIA program -- an authorized part of the CIA program, would be for me to tell anybody who relied, justifiably, on a Justice Department opinion that not only may they no longer rely on that Justice Department opinion, but that they
will now be subject to criminal investigation for having done so.

Fine. If that is the case, then you prosecute the people who authorized it at OLC. The idea that this could be legal, when the Cambodians have a display devoted to waterboarding at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, is sheer insanity.

Oh, and purely as an aside, "I was just following orders" is no more valid now than it was in 1945. Mr. Attorney General, you're supporting a position of the worst government of the past 100 years, and I don't mean the one you work for.

Mukasey: No, I Will Not Investigate Waterboarding