Politico has reaction from moderate and conservative Democrats to Sarah Palin's plan to start campaigning for them:

"I don’t think so."
    -- Rep. Heath Shuler (D-NC)

"That’s a new one on me. I don’t think she wants to campaign for me."
    -- Rep. John Barrow (D-GA)

"I usually don’t ask people to come campaign for me. I hadn’t really thought about that possibility...overall, I’m not sure how she’d do there."
    -- Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR)

"Well, I don’t think it’s necessary. I don’t look to do that. I’ve had a very limited number of people ever campaign for me, and I’ve never seen the need to expand it."
    -- Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE)

You know the expression "all hat, no cattle"? Maybe with Palin it should be "all bait, no fish."

Setting aside any embarrassment they might feel at the litigious history of their poster boy for oppressed white men, Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee are gleefully anticipating tomorrow's appearance by Frank Ricci at the confirmation hearing of Sonia Sotomayor.

But before they buy Ricci a beer and sing a chorus of Kumbaya, they need to get up to speed on his newly updated resume:

On its official witness list, the Senate Judiciary Committee lists Ricci as Director of Fire Services, ConnectiCOSH (Connecticut Council on Occupational Safety and Health). And that's understandable--he boasts as much on his website.

The problem, unfortunately, is that there is no such position.

Seeking to distance themselves from Ricci, ConnectiCOSH has sent a letter to Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) asking him to correct the record. "Mr. Ricci has posted on his website that he is the "Director of Fire Services for ConnectiCOSH" but there is no such position with ConnectiCOSH," writes ConnectiCOSH Co-Chair Steve Schrag.

Another "serial exaggerator" representing the Republican cause.

Remember when decorated marines like John Murtha were called traitors by wingnuts for questioning the wisdom of the Commander in Chief? Now the same fringe conservative extremists think an officer who essentially deserts fighting Al qaeda in Afghanistan is an American patriot:

U.S. Army Maj. Stefan Frederick Cook is seeking a federal court order to stall and eventually prevent an upcoming deployment to Afghanistan.In the 20-page document — filed July 8 with the United States District Court, Middle District of Georgia — Cook's California-based attorney, Orly Taitz, asks the court to consider granting his client's request based upon Cook's belief that President Barack Obama is not a natural-born citizen of the United States and is therefore ineligible to serve as commander-in-chief of U.S Armed Forces.

Cook has now reportedly lost his job with a defense outfit. Goes with the territory I suppose. And new allegations suggest that Major 'Kook' may be more than just a deserter in waiting, he may be a full blown freeping scam artist:

It may be helpful to recap the timeline here. March: Cook acknowledges he's among the plaintiffs in a class-action suit "on behalf of 120 military officers" challenging President Obama's authority as Commander in Chief. In May, Cook tells the Army he wants to be sent to Afghanistan. In June, the Army accepts Cooks offer. In July, Cook sues to "get out" of that assignment, based on the same grounds (Obama not qualified) and using the same attorney (who actively seeks military members to participate in such suits) for a previous suit he was involved in that pre-dates his volunteering to deploy to Afghanistan.

That was then, this is now ...

The other day, there was a bit of an uproar over traditional media coverage of a semi-private strategy call between the White House and Congressional leaders, during which the President reportedly decried the airing of ads by progressive activist groups targeting known conservative Democratic foot-draggers on health care, and specifically the public option.

Today comes the news that Organizing for America (OFA) is entering the ad game itself, also with targeted buys that seem pretty clearly aimed at some of the very same targets:

The ads will run in Arkansas, Indiana, Florida, Louisiana, Maine, North Dakota, Nebraska and Ohio, states with a total of nine Democratic and seven Republican senators.

Among centrist Democrats targeted by the advertisement, Sens. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) have voiced concern over the program's cost.

Meanwhile, though Republicans have not embraced Democratic initiatives, the DNC is also aiming ads at three Republican senators. Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Olympia Snowe (Maine) and George Voinovich (Ohio) are in Democrats' sights.

There's something in this for everyone, depending on how you look at it.

Was Obama really flatly saying STFU and stop advertising? Well, the fact that OFA is now itself in the ad game (though OFA is no longer technically about Obama himself) would appear to indicate that he was not.

Was Obama really saying he didn't want pressure brought to bear on particular Democrats? The targeting of the OFA ad buy clearly points to "no" on that one, too.

Was Obama really saying that he discouraged attack-style ads, but didn't disapprove of outside advocacy in general? That may be closer to the truth of it. There is, after all, a very clear difference in the tenor of the ads aired by progressive groups and those coming from OFA -- the former being much more pointed, and the latter being very soft-touch, almost excessively so. So there's clearly room in the middle for a parsing that allows for Obama's comments to be viewed as calling for a lighter touch. And indeed, that's a fair reading of this part of the reporting of ten days ago:

Specifically, Obama said he is hoping left-leaning organizations that worked on his behalf in the presidential campaign will now rally support for "advancing legislation" that fulfills his goal of expanding coverage, controlling rising costs and modernizing the health system.

But what to make of the paragraph preceding it?

"We shouldn't be focusing resources on each other," Obama opined in the call, according to three sources who participated in or listened to the conversation. "We ought to be focused on winning this debate."

What, after all, does it mean that a good deal of the resources behind the OFA ads are targeted so clearly at Democratic Senators known to be questionable votes on health care reform, if not that we're "focusing resources on each other?"

Well, here's one reading for you: Obama's right. We shouldn't be focusing resources on each other. We should all already be on the same page, ready to deliver on a key Democratic promise that has been years in the making. One that has demanded that every other conceivable issue take a back seat along the way.

But apparently, we're not. And that's clear enough that a decision's been made that maybe we have to "focus resources on each other" after all.

I'll note for the record that the traditional media -- and let's face it, I'm talking very specifically here about very-nearly-for-sale Washington Post reporter Ceci Connolly -- was very quick to inject into the discourse a story that perpetuated the convenient myth that grassroots agitators were the ones out of step with mainstream political thought, despite all the polling data that would suggest otherwise. How quickly do we think they'll pick up on the now equally plausible meme that the OFA ads, soft-touch though they be, are a clear declaration that it's the so-called "centrists" whom the President thinks are out of sync?

We have learned that Sen. Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III (R-AL) has a favorite Puerto Rican jurist -- Jose Cabranes. Sessions demanded to know why Judge Sotomayor did not follow Judge Cabranes' lead

Interestingly, Sessions was very critical of Judge Sotomayor's involvement, as a member of the Board of Directors, of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund. Sessions seemed not to know that his favorite Boricua judge, Cabranes, was also a member of the Board of the PRDLEF. Now right wing groups allied with Sessions and following his lead are running an ad attacking Sotomayor as a "terrorist."

The question needs to be asked of Sen. Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III (R-AL) (the KKK sympathizer; the person who said the NAACP was a "commie" group and who berated a white lawyer who worked for civil rights as a "disgrace to his race"), what do he and his allies make of the fact that their favorite Puerto Rican jurist, Jose Cabranes, was also a member of the "terrorist" group - the PRLDEF?

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Well, at least he didn't advocate drowning her as he did Levi Johnston. This time Matthews and Robinson hit back at some of Pat's ridiculousness and the "militant" comment. Honestly, why is this old coot still on the air?

Buchanan: This is about Obama. The objective is to paint her as she really is, truthfully. It's just what I said, a "Militant-Liberal-Latina who...

Matthews: Militant.

Buchanan: Sure she...

Robinson: What's that, what's that word Militant. What is militant?

Matthews: What does it mean? I didn't see that anywhere in the record.

Apparently Pat wanted to make sure he got in all of his talking points from his recent column at the right wing Human Events: How to Handle Sonia. Comedy gold.

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Why do the media fawn over the likes of Karl Rove? He's the heir to Lee Atwater, and his scumbag tactics are legendary.

Remember the Willie Horton ad?

Atwater's single most notorious bit of work came during the 1988 campaign, in the form of the Willie Horton ad used against Dukakis. The ad attacked a prison furlough program that Dukakis had supported while governor of Massachusetts. Horton, a convicted killer who is black, escaped while in the program and raped a woman. The ad said Dukakis was soft on crime, and made prominent use of Horton's glowering mug shot. Atwater said he was going to make Horton Dukakis's "running mate."

The ad pretty much became the touchstone for demonizing black men in political campaigning. In archival footage, we see Atwater denying that he or the Bush campaign had anything to do with the ad, insisting he'd never even seen it.

Then Forbes cuts to one of Atwater's friends describing how, before the ad was ever aired, Atwater called him into his office, showed him the ad, said he was going to set it up as the work of an independent committee (and thus, with no fingerprints) and asked what he thought. The friend says that he told Atwater it was appalling, racist and that it was going to "follow you to your grave."
--
What is clear, from watching this talented man and his view of politics and America, is that his corrosive vision has seeped into the nation's political groundwater.

That's the man Rove learned from, and he is his prize pupil. With Rove's help, Atwater turned politics into a smear contest. Eventually, they all helped lead this country down the drain with their boy Bush.

Still, Karl Rove is treated with reverence, and it's sickening. On Bill O'Reilly's show earlier this week, he was saying that Cheney and the CIA should never inform Congress of what thy are doing because it won't remain a secret so, hey, screw them and the law.

Think Progress has more:

Rove then appeared to make the argument that executive branch should not inform Congress of what it is doing:

ROVE: Look, it?s interesting. The CIA briefed Congress to this, I guess, in June. And the Congress immediately leaks it. That, itself is, a violation, I think, of several statutes and indicative of why it is so dangerous to give Congress information.

To clarify, Congress did not ?leak? details of the secret program. The Wall Street Journal cited ?former intelligence officials familiar with the matter? in its report. But Rove?s comment seems to confirm the Bush administration?s motives for routinely attempting to hide information from Congress.

Rove lies about what happened when the facts are clear as a bell. And he conveniently forgets that the Bush administration leaked the name of a CIA operative named Valerie Plame just to smear her husband Joe Wilson because he told the truth about their lies.

Here's a newsflash to this pompous ass: The CIA is required by law to inform Congress on what they are doing. Period. There are no exceptions.

Glenn Greenwald finds a typical MSM story regarding Dick Cheney's lawbreaking. Are any of you surprised?

After many false starts, one of the final remaining space shuttle missions got under way this evening with the liftoff of the Endeavour orbiter from Kennedy nasSpace Center in Florida. The shuttle blasted off at 6:03 P.M. (Eastern Daylight Time) on a mission to the International Space Station (ISS), after hydrogen leaks twice delayed June launch attempts and bad weather thwarted three liftoff opportunities earlier this month. [More]

Last night at a packed bar in New York City, Donald Johanson – the paleoanthropologist who discovered Lucy, the world’s most celebrated human ancestor – took swipes at detractors who claim her bones should not be on public display. [More]

A dozen stainless steel spiders descended from a helicopter into the crater of Mount Saint Helens yesterday. As Seattle’s KOMO News reported, the “pods are small and tough enough to reach places no man dares” to go. Scientists hope that data collected by the monitoring machines could one day help them to better predict volcanic eruptions. [More]

The United States and China are launching a joint Clean Energy Research Center aimed at bolstering research and development of technologies to improve energy efficiency, carbon sequestration and low-emissions vehicles. [More]

Surface coal mining--the controversial procedure that levels mountaintops and pollutes streams in the quest for the nation’s dirtiest fossil fuel--will face stricter rules under the Obama administration. [More]