Hey, That’s My Name

Let’s remember that for most of that time the Republican primary was over. Obama and Clinton were still in the thick of their primary fight, but McCain was coasting as his party’s presumptive nominee. So much for his responsibilities to his Arizona constituency.

Republican presidential hopeful John McCain hasn’t voted in the Senate since April 8.

[From CQ Politics | Cautious Presidential Candidates Choosing to Avoid Senate Votes]

Joss Whedon, Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillion … in an online musical web series. Ladies and gentlemen, our first look at Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog:

Teaser from Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog on Vimeo.
Oh yes, it will be awesome.

In case you haven’t heard about it yet, yesterday McCain advisor Charlie Black stepped in it big time. He basically said that another terrorist attack on the U.S. would likely help the McCain campaign. You argue about whether or not that’s true (ginning up the fear machine sure worked for the Republicans back in 2002 and 2004), but you can’t really argue that that really isn’t something that someone affiliated with a presidential candidate should say. In last night’s episode of Countdown, former counter-terrorism czar Richard Clarke indicated why this is such a big gaffe. Here’s a snippet of what he said, as well as the video of the segment:

Well, Charlie Black knows a lot about politics but he doesn’t know much about terrorism. If he did, he would know that Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and all the al Qaeda leadership, watch U.S. politics very closely. We’ve even had cases where in interviews, bin Laden quoted opinion polls from European public opinion polls.

So, yes, they understand that they can manipulate politics as they tried to in the Spanish election with the attacks there. And to say, “Yes, you can manipulate our politics, come and do it,” is an invitation that the McCain campaign shouldn’t be anywhere near.

While women make up 14 percent of Army personnel, 46 percent of those discharged under the policy last year were women. And while 20 percent of Air Force personnel are women, 49 percent of its discharges under the policy last year were women.

[From ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Hits Women Much More - NYTimes.com]

The House has passed legislation that would give federal employees 4 weeks of paid parental leave time when they adopt or give birth to a child on a vote of 278 to 146. Guess who doesn’t think time with your new kid is important?

And the White House threatened to veto the bill, calling it a “costly, unnecessary, new paid leave entitlement.”

[From Paid Parental Leave Act Passes House, but Faces Veto Threat - washingtonpost.com]