The last of the combat troops pulled out of Iraq a couple of weeks or so ago. This evening, in an address to the nation, President Obama said “…tonight, I am announcing that the American combat mission in Iraq has ended. Operation Iraqi Freedom is over, and the Iraqi people now have lead responsibility for the security of their country.” Thank goodness Bush’s war is finally over. Well sort of… Read: Iraq: What Did We Win, And What Did...

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Democrats will begin running a television ad on Tuesday in the no-holds-barred race to hold onto the seat of retiring Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.). The ad, paid for by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), calls out GOP candidate Sean Duffy for his support for a leading Republican’s economic proposals, particularly Social Security privatization. Democratic state Sen. Julie Lassa is vying with Duffy to succeed Obey, the powerful chairman of the House Appropriations Committee who has represented Wisconsin’s 7th...

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A post over at BooMan Tribune caught my eye a short time ago, via Memeorandum. BooMan quotes a blurb from Robert Gibbs today on Politico: Asked if the stimulus bill was too small, Gibbs says: “I think it makes sense to step back just for a second. … Nobody had, in January of 2009, a sufficient grasp of … what we were facing.” He adds that any stimulus was “unlikely to fill” the hole the financial meltdown created. “What...

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Rep. John Boehner plans to criticize President Obama regarding the war in Iraq on the same day that Obama plans to address the nation about the end of combat operations in that nation. Boehner will deliver his remarks at a meeting of the American Legion, the nation’s largest veterans service organization. It is being billed as a “major speech,” the second such event the Ohio Republican has held in as many weeks. Last week, Boehner blasted Obama for his...

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Republicans have spent the last 20 months hammering the American poor and unemployed at nearly every turn. From the economic stimulus, to extension of unemployment benefits, Republicans have tried only to stand in the way of offering any help to those who borne the worst of the Great Recession. They have done so only for the most crass political reasons, hoping to retake control of Congress by energizing the votes of anti-government conservatives, but what if, instead of tea...

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An alliance of U.S. truck drivers and environmental, labor, community, faith, civil rights and public health groups cheered the news that a federal judge on Thursday lifted an injunction and upheld the Los Angeles Clean Truck Program in its entirety. The coast-to-coast coalition of more than 125 organizations has advocated for L.A.’s award-winning model, and has led the fight to protect and replicate it nationwide for several years. Supporters of clean port programs, which are credited with cutting diesel...

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The fervent anti-government populism of the so-called tea party movement way well provide Republicans with short-term gains in the 2010 midterm elections, but it isn’t enough to establish the GOP as a majority party in the long run, according to a left-leaning political analyst. Ongoing shifts in demographics, such growth in minority voters, young voters, and even white college graduates, all point to trouble ahead for a staunchly right-wing Republican Party, says Ruy Texeira, senior fellow at the Century...

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I’d be remiss to not mention here today that it is the one year anniversary of Senator Ted Kennedy’s death. I’ve thought many times over the past year, each time the Senate faltered on important legislation, that if Kennedy were still alive we’d be getting this stuff passed. As Peter S. Canellos notes today in the Boston Globe: “The sad truth is that Kennedy died at just the moment when his blend of skills and relationships — particularly with...

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