Monday, June 09, 2008

Barack Oblogger: Barack Obama's Pro-Choice Record

Barack Oblogger: Barack Obama's Pro-Choice Record

Barack Oblogger: McCain Says Wiretapping Is OK by Him

Barack Oblogger: McCain Says Wiretapping Is OK by Him

Barack Oblogger: McCain Emerges as Master Economic Flip-Flopper

Barack Oblogger: McCain Emerges as Master Economic Flip-Flopper

Barack Oblogger: John McCain's Record on Women's Issues

Barack Oblogger: John McCain's Record on Women's Issues

Barack Oblogger: The Wife John McCain Left Behind

Barack Oblogger: The Wife John McCain Left Behind

Barack Oblogger: Barack Obama's Record on Women's Issues

Barack Oblogger: Barack Obama's Record on Women's Issues

Barack Oblogger: Barack Obama's Pro-Choice Record

Barack Oblogger: Barack Obama's Pro-Choice Record

Articles of Impeachment Introduced By Congressman Dennis Kucinich

Accoriding to blogger elishastephens over at DailyKos Congressman Dennis Kucinich is introducing 35 articles of impeachment of George W. Bush.

This isn't being reported on CNN so far, but I'll be it gets traction, soon, and increases with Scott McClellan's appearance at the House Judiciary Committee.

Bears release Benson following 2nd arrest

By ANDREW SELIGMAN, AP Sports Writer

LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP)—Chicago Bears running back Cedric Benson was released Monday following his second alcohol-related arrest in a month.

“Cedric displayed a pattern of behavior we will not tolerate,” General Manager Jerry Angelo said in a statement. “As I said this past weekend, you have to protect your job. Everyone in this organization is held accountable for their actions.”

The troubled running back did not participate in organized team activities on Monday, and it was unclear whether he showed up at Halas Hall.

Benson’s agent Eugene Parker and attorney Sam Bassett did not return messages seeking comment before the announcement that he’d been waived.

The Bears had already made it clear they were losing patience with Benson when they drafted Tulane’s Matt Forte in the second round in April. Three ineffective, injury-plagued years during which Benson at times annoyed teammates with blunt comments left management looking for another running back. And that was before the recent brushes with the law.

''When individual priorities overshadow team goals, we suffer the consequences as a team,” Angelo said. “Those who fail to understand the importance of ‘team’ will not play for the Chicago Bears.”

Benson’s rocky relationship with the Bears took a turn for the worse when he was arrested on a drunken driving charge in Austin, Texas, early Saturday after failing a field sobriety test. The former first-round draft pick was released on bond.

The former first-round draft pick was also arrested May 5 and charged with boating while intoxicated and resisting arrest on a lake near Austin. Both cases are pending.

Bassett said Saturday that the former Texas star had a few drinks with dinner but didn’t think he was intoxicated, although he acknowledged his client would “probably be in trouble with his team.”

Benson was pulled over for running a red light and refused to take a breath test or provide blood samples Saturday, Austin police spokeswoman Veneza Aguinaga said.

Bassett said Benson thought the light was yellow when he went through around 2 a.m. but stopped immediately when police appeared, and he added that Benson told him he wasn’t speeding or driving recklessly.

The last thing he needed was more trouble.

A few promising glimpses aside, Benson has not lived up to the hype that accompanied him to the NFL when the Bears took him with the fourth pick in 2005. He has 1,593 yards and 10 touchdowns while averaging 3.8 yards a carry for the Bears after running for more than 5,500 yards and 64 touchdowns at Texas.

Benson also has a June 30 court date for the May arrest while operating a 30-foot boat on Lake Travis—an incident in which authorities used pepper spray to subdue him. No court date had been set for the latest incident as of Monday afternoon.
With Benson gone, Forte has a big opportunity.

“I’m not going to sit here and doubt myself or my talent,” Forte said before Benson was released. “I believe that I can come in and play.”

Scott McClellan Will Testify On Bush Administration and War

Scott McClellan is set to spill more beans about the Bush Administration and the Irag War intelligence controversy when he appears before Congress to testify before the House Judiciary Committee at a date to be set. This matter shows signs of only getting deeper and deeper and really can't come at a worst time for Republican Senator John McCain as he's campaigning for President.

People Poker: Hillary Rosen And Obama's Victory - Ashley Long

People Poker

I loved Hillary Rosen's blog on Wednesday. She has been a long time supporter of Hillary Clinton and was genuinely disappointed when Sen. Clinton lost the Democratic nomination.

She was supremely disappointed, however, at the way Sen. Clinton handled the events of this past week. The last three lines of this piece, in response to Sen. Clinton's statement that she was waiting to see how she could "use" her 18 million voters, are my favorite:

"I will enthusiastically support Barack Obama's campaign. Because I am not a bargaining chip. I am a Democrat."

I posted a few days ago about how we might bring the party together at the convention. What philosophy or mantra or cause could join all Democrats together as one unified force after such a contentious campaign? I still can't completely answer that one, but I can say that Ms. Rosen has hit on something.

What will not serve us well is looking at each of our delegates, at each of our voters, as numbers on tally sheets. We have spent an inordinate amount of time over the last year tallying delegates and looking at magic numbers. Now, we need to get behind the numbers and into the reason those voters and delegates cast their votes in the way they did and will at the convention. It is in studying that data that we may find a way to unify our party and, in doing so, take back the White House.