Brilliant Politics

Here is the latest video from the Edwards campaign, showing that he has revised his populist pitch so that it is framed as a positive vision — America Rising. It is a savvy move on his part, although he should have shifted gears like this a month or two earlier. The political jujitsu in the reframed message is that shining a bright light on the most important problems in the country is the way that “America rises.” If Edwards starts to peak just as the voting starts in Iowa and New Hampshire, the America Rising theme will have hit just the right note of optimism in a campaign that has heretofore been flirting with bitterness. -Doc

Sheldon Whitehouse, a democratic senator from Rhode Island and a former U. S. Attorney, is a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Here he shares some of his notes after having spent many hours studying the legal opinions issued by the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel. The following is what Senator Whitehouse found to be the Bush Administration’s legal rationale for doing whatever the hell it wants regardless of whether it is legal or not:

1. An executive order cannot limit a President. There is no constitutional requirement for a President to issue a new executive order whenever he wishes to depart from the terms of a previous executive order. Rather than violate an executive order, the President has instead modified or waived it.

2. The President, exercising his constitutional authority under Article II, can determine whether an action is a lawful exercise of the President’s authority under Article II.

3. The Department of Justice is bound by the President’s legal determinations.

See a video of Senator Whitehouse discussing his findings at Think Progress.

This, my fellow Americans, is the road to perdition. Bush believes that he can determine what is and is not lawful and that the DOJ must follow his orders like an indentured servant. Every candidate for president, Democrat and Republican, should be asked if they agree with these legal opinions.

-Doc

Hillary courts the youth vote.  Richardson courts the Latino vote.

These photos were taken at the DNC Fall Meeting in Vienna, Virginia, just outside of D.C. on November 30, 2007.

This is our first political music video. Actually, it is more of a photo documentary of Democratic presidential candidates campaigning in Iowa, with a Woody Guthrie song for the soundtrack. Let us know what you think. -Doc