UPDATE: Sometimes a story is too good to be true. Even though this story sounds plausible, turns out http://www.snopes.com/politics/satire/kinsley.asp ">it's been debunked on Snopes.com.

While John McCain is eagerly embracing Bush and vowing to continue Bush's failed policies, it may be a good idea to remember what Ronald Reagan thought of the Little Bush:

"A moment I've been dreading. George brought his n'er-do-well son around this morning and asked me to find the kid a job. Not the political one who lives in Florida; the one who hangs around here all the time looking shiftless. This so-called kid is already almost 40 and has never had a real job. Maybe I'll call Kinsley over at The New Republic and see if they'll hire him as a contributing editor or something. That looks like easy work."

From the REAGAN DIARIES------entry dated May 17, 1986.

So this is the guy we had shoved down our throats and who John McCain wants to emulate?

Time for the voters to reject the failed Bush/McCain poli
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The Big Bush, Little Gerogie Bush, and Jeb Bush have all given John McCain their approval. Could there be a worse endorsement?

The Bush family have brought us two of the least popular Presidents in American history.

The Bush family helped arm Saddam Hussein before declaring him our enemy. They have brought us two Iraq wars, the most recent has turned into a quagmire sucking our soldiers and dollars down with no end in sight and no exit stratgy and no strategic purpose.

The Bush family helped arm al-Qaeda, then stupidly ignored warnings of an impending attack, allowing al-Qaeda to hit us hard. And they have failed to stop al-Qaeda even AFTER they attacked us.

The Bush family has brought us some of the worst economic times since the Great Depression, giving us no fewer than three rescessions with little recovery under their watch. Job growth under the Bush family has been rock bottom.

The Bush family represents nothing but failed domestic policy, failed foreign policy and deficits, deficits, deficits. About the only people who still like the Bush family are their good friends in Saudi Arabia: the Royal Saud family and their close allies, the bin Laden family.
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I think I have decided. Yeah...I've been all over the place. Kucinich most closely matches my personal beliefs. Well, he never had a shot and he's out anyway. Richardson impressed me the most as an experienced statesman. But he could barely raise enthusiasm even with an almost awed Jon Stewart soft balling him on the Daily Show. Richardson perhaps was the BEST person to be President...but possibly the worst candidate.

John Edwards almost got me. I like his focus on poverty, his speech at Pace University on foreign policy, and I figured he fit the mold of people who win as Democrats: young, charismatic with a hint of sexuality about him. But he failed even to take his own birth state and I can't say I ever became ENTHUSIASTIC about him.

Now, one thing that I am pleased as punch about is the fact that it is almost certain that the Democratic primary will nominate either a woman or a black. The white guys couldn't get out of the starting gate with any momentum. The first states to caucus/primary aren't exactly the hot beds of progressivism, at least on the surface. Yet they each favored either the black guy or the woman...often the white guy came in third. As a phenomenon, and given that all three are competent, intelligent people who would be good Presidents, I think it is well worth feeling good about that. For most of my life that could NEVER have happened.
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Tonight was the presidential forum of my local Democratic Club, Independent Neighborhood Democrats. We had representatives from the four top candidates: Barack Obama, John Edwards, Hillary Clinton and Bill Richardson. I was present not just as a board member of the club, and not just as a blogger. I was there as an undecided voter. Yep...though I am vocally opinionated and adament on so many issues, I am as yet undecided on Presidential nominees.

Today's forum did not change that. I left with pretty much the same impressions of all the four top candidates as I entered with. This is not necessarily a bad thing because I am undecided largely because we have, as City Councilman Bill DeBlasio, while speaking for Hillary Clinton, pointed out, one of the best fields of candidates in recent memory. His memory probably goes back a tad more than mine, but I agree that this is a far cry from "Gary Hart and the Seven Dwarfs". One thing I felt during this forum, as I felt at several moments in this elongated election cycle, is that I would be proud to support ANY of our top tier candidates for President over any of the Republicans. I would eagerly campaign for Obama, Edwards...even Richardson and Clinton. These are extremely intelligent and compentent people who would make good Presidents. I agree with Bill DeBlasio that we have an embarassment of riches this year. No...none of them is the perfect candidate to me. But all of them are pretty damned good.
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[UPDATE: Rumor Confirmed...]

Rumor has it that Wes Clark is endorsing Hillary Clinton. To me this was easily predictable. For a long time I saw Wes positioning himself to run. He was acting like a candidate early on. I predicted if he did run it would hurt Hillary because they have overlapping pools of supporters and run in roughly the same political circles.

Then, suddenly Wes Clark stopped acting like a candidate. He quieted down and started to sound more like someone positioning himself for alliances, rather than being the focus of an alliance himself. It struck me that his sudden change in behavior probably meant someone made him an offer...and the someone who seemed most likely to make him an offer was Hillary Clinton.

Now, if the rumor is true, Wes has endorsed Hillary.

What offer would it take to get him to back out and back Hillary? Possibly Sec. of State. But I really think the smart thing would be for Hillary to pick Clark for her running mate. I think a Clinton/Clark ticket would be a strong one and would boost Hillary's chances a great deal.

So prediction #1: if Hillary gets the nomination, Wes is her VP choice.

I feel pretty safe in making that prediction. Interestingly, when I discussed Clark and Clinton as appealing to the same basic pool of supporters, I was attacked by Clark supporters who wanted him to be their progressive savior and couldn't abide seeing him as a centrist. Wonder how they feel now if he does endorse Hillary and does become her VP choice.
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Bush has chosen to use is veto for the third time. Two of those three vetoes were used to block stem cell research. Yes...vital research that offers promise to millions of people suffering from many diseases.

Stem cell research offers the chance to grow new heart valvues, allowing for quicker and safer life-saving heart surgery.

Stem cell research offers possibilities to cure Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. It offers the chance to repair and replace nerves, giving the paralyzed hope. Stem cells are useful in practically every level of medical research.

What is the down side to stem cell research? Well, I guess you don't get to incinerate all those un-used embryos that don't get used for in vitro fertilization. Why is he so in favor of burning balls of cells rather than using it to save lives?

Bush's most consistent veto has been to condemn thousands of Americans to death, dementia or paralysis when science could help them. He has turned his back on science, on medicine, on life. Everyone in America should be disgusted by Bush's veto. You can disagree about Iraq. Some may still cling to the thin belief that we might someday accomplish something, though to date the decline of Iraq under our watch has been an absolute travisty.

But how could ANYONE think they are accomplishing anything by insisting unused embryos from fertility treatments be burned instead of used to save lives?
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