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House Democratic Leader calls for bringing troops home, but she still needs to lead her caucus into the anti-war camp.

Dear Vice President McMorris, Dean Hopewell, and Dean Long: Progressive Democrats of America with associates in fifty states and over 70 active chapters nationwide, hereby expresses its unconditional support for all students at Hampton University facing expulsion or disciplinary action for peaceful protest. In times such as these, when the conscience, soul, and fundamental morality of [...]

Stop the harassment of Hampton student activists.

While DNC Chair Howard Dean is implementing a 50-state strategy at the highest levels of the Democratic Party, we here at DFA are revitalizing progressive politics from the ground up. We've made great strides in 2005, but still have a lot to do in the coming months and years. Yet, as Gov. Dean stated in The Hill today, "Democrats will win the House and Senate in 2006 as long we continue to send a strong message and fight for what is right." So let's roll up our sleeves and continue the fight to take our country back!

More from Gov. Dean's article:

The early results in California, Virginia and New Jersey are good. Local races in St. Louis, Parkersburg and Minnesota, where we picked up seats that had been Republican for up to 58 years, are even better.

This is a solid beginning, but there is more we must do. Cutting the fundraising advantage the other party enjoys from 3-1 to 2-1 is good but not good enough. Sticking together on the budget and supporting Rep. John Murtha's (D-Pa.) great courage are good starts, but we need to continue to work together on judicial nominations, environmental legislation, trade and jobs to send effectively the message that we are again ready to lead the American people with purpose and in a fundamentally new direction.

In 2006, Democrats will take back the House and the Senate. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee have done an excellent job recruiting strong candidates, and we are already investing in the local infrastructure to ensure they win. But the key to winning is running a national campaign based on our different vision and the themes that Democrats around the country have put forward....

Together, America can do better. And in 2006, the Democrats will lead America to do just that.

To read the full article, click here.

Join Jim Dean, Chair of Democracy for America, right now for a live discussion on politics and DFA. Simply click on the Comments link to join the conversation!

Saddam, is facing a possible death sentence in his country. He is accused of mass...

Dear Mr. Cole, On your website I read: Monbiot accepts journalist and film maker Gabriele...

  Crawford, Texas -- A tragic flood destroyed the personal library of President George W....

No one has repealed the economic cycle - the pattern of rise and fall of...

As an American, do you believe our right to vote matters?  Please consider these 20...

There is no good answer to ending this war. But ... cherry pick, my friends....

Reading two different stories on the same topic left me spitting blood from bitting my...

There was a time when Americans shared their thoughts, though that time was brief. Many...

Jennifer Moses writes in the op-ed article Starving The Beast writes about the needs of...

I've really had a big problem with profiling by color.  Recently, via the Jewish Black...

Bill O'Reilly's Enemies List is out, and it contains three meager entries. No explanation of why they are enemies, either, which makes it less an Enemies List than an Enemies Bazooka Joe Wrapper.

Bill says -- and this is the sum total of Bill's Enemies List, so far:

The following media operations have regularly helped distribute defamation and false information supplied by far left websites:

• New York Daily News
  
• The St. Petersburg Times
  
• MSNBC
  

These are the worst offenders. In the months to come, we expect to add more names to this list. We recommend that you do not patronize these operations and that advertisers do the same. They are dishonest and not worth your time and money.

Of course, Atrios' commenters point out that the New York Daily News is one of the papers that carries Bill's column. So, you know, don't patronize them, but still read the column. He's not a fanatic about this or anything. [UPDATE - JakeC notes that his column was dropped by the DN and is now carried by the NY Post. Maybe that's a giant clue, eh?]

But Bill is honestly very, very upset. The indespensible George Soros-funded communist plot called Crooks and Liars has some audio from his show today, which they title Bill O'Reilly goes Nuts, and which I would have titled "The Voices Inside Bill O'Reilly's Head Any Damn Day of the Week". Note that in the audio clip, though, he's talking about smiting the enemies of the President, not of Bill O'Reilly, so somebody might have been been faxing talking points to the wrong offices.

Anyway... Honestly, Bill, if it takes you this much research to produce an Enemies List, I think you're doing it wrong. Enemies can't be analyzed, they just "are".

Look, I've got lots and lots of mortal enemies, myself. I can rattle them off without hesitation:

Federalist X finds a WaPo story that defines the difference between true military people like Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Peter Pace and amoral jerks like Donald Rumsfeld. From the WaPo story:

The nation's top military man, Marine Gen. Peter Pace, said American troops in Iraq have a duty to intercede and stop abuse of prisoners by Iraqi security personnel.

. . . When UPI's Pam Hess asked about torture by Iraqi authorities, [Secretary of Defense Donald] Rumsfeld replied that "obviously, the United States does not have a responsibility" other than to voice disapproval.

But Pace had a different view. "It is the absolute responsibility of every U.S. service member, if they see inhumane treatment being conducted, to intervene, to stop it," the general said.

Rumsfeld interjected: "I don't think you mean they have an obligation to physically stop it; it's to report it."

But Pace meant what he said. "If they are physically present when inhumane treatment is taking place, sir, they have an obligation to try to stop it," he said, firmly.

Why do I think highly of our military? Pace demonstrates one of the reasons. Why do I despise BushCo? Rumsfeld also demonstrates one of the reasons.

I'm about to go to bed after Jerome, our editor Safir, and I spent 20 marathon hours trying to finish up the editing of our book, Crashing the Gate: Netroots, Grassroots, and the Rise of People-Powered Politics. Alas, we failed. We still have to finish the acknowledgments. And we ran out of steam with a few pages left on the final chapter.

Regardless, it's safe to say it's just about there. And we're actually quite proud with the outcome. Surprisingly, it's not half bad!

I'll be talking about the book more in the coming weeks and months, so it'll be clearer what the book is about. There will be a pre-sale period, and those books will ship out in late February. Otherwise, the book will hit stores in mid-March.

Good night!

Harry Reid responds:

Just two weeks ago, a bipartisan majority of the United States Senate registered a vote of no confidence in the president's current policy in Iraq. Democrats and Republicans called on the president to change course and release a strategy for success in Iraq with specific benchmarks by which the progress could be measured.  Today, President Bush failed to meet this call. Instead, he recycled his tired rhetoric of `stay the course' and once again missed an opportunity to lay out a real strategy for success in Iraq that will bring our troops safely home.

After nearly 1,000 days of war in Iraq, our troops, their families, and the American people deserve more than just a Bush-Cheney public relations campaign.  They deserve a clear strategy with military, economic and political measures to be met in order to successfully complete our mission.  The president's continued refusal to provide that plan does nothing to support our troops or their families.  Simply staying the course is no longer an option, we must change the course.  We can do better.

You can look at the little of substance from Bush's speech and  demolish it. But I thought it was just more of the same.

Shorter Bush: Stay the Course, into the ditch:

After two-and-a-half years and 2,110 U.S. fatalities, the Bush administration finally released a "National Strategy for Victory in Iraq" (NSVI). The problem is, it's not a new strategy for success in Iraq, it's a public relations document. The strategy describes what has transpired in Iraq to date as a resounding success and stubbornly refuses to establish any standards for accountability. It dismisses serious problems such as the dramatic increase in bombings as "metrics that the terrorists and insurgents want the world to use." Americans understand it's time for a new course in Iraq. Unfortunately, this document is little more than an extended justification for a President "determined to stay his course."
. . . THE NATIONAL PAT ON THE BACK: The NSIV is less of a strategy and more of a pat on the back. Much of the 35 pages is devoted to describing how well things are going. Oddly, the strategy declares on Page 5 that "Our Strategy Is Working." On the economic front we are told, "Our restore, reform, build, strategy is achieving results." On the political front: "Our Isolate, Engage, and Build strategy is working." On the security front: "Our clear, hold, and build strategy is working."

Mission BEING Accomplished. Delusion. Or worse.