The entire membership of the Democratic Caucus, including Joe Lieberman, wrote this letter responding to David Broder's silliness:

In a diary at daily kos, John Edwards repeats his bad advice on the Iraq Supplemental:

If Bush vetoes the funding for our troops, Congress must send the same bill back to the president -- and they should do this again and again--as many times as it takes for Bush to understand that the American people are right and the war must be brought to an end. In the next few days, the will of Congress will be severely tested. Bush will be doing everything in his considerable power to convince the nation that Congress is responsible for his reckless decision not to fund the troops. Plenty of people in Washington will say the political risks are just too great and Democrats in Congress should just back down.

What made this bill remotely acceptable was that it would be vetoed by Bush. Mr. Edwards seems to believe this bill ends the Debacle. It simply does not. The March 31, 2008 date is advisory, not mandatory. I repeat, it does not end the Debacle.

The goals of Reid-Feingold, announcing a date certain for not funding the Debacle, is the way to end the war. Edwards does not mention Reid-Feingold in his statement. I must say that what this appears to be is a political play from Edwards to put his rivals on the spot. It may be smart Presidential politics but I find it wrong. I think less of Edwards today.

Last Night in Little Rock wrote earlier about the two cops in Atlanta who pleaded guilty to manslaughter and civil rights violations for killing a 92 year old woman in her home during a botched drug raid.

The cops have agreed to cooperate in an investigation into corruption at the Atlanta Police Department's drug unit.

Sentencing in both courts has been deferred until later to allow the men to cooperate with a federal investigation into the Atlanta police department's narcotics unit. The men are expected to serve at least 10 years in prison on the federal charges alone.

The New York Times has more on the "culture of corruption" inside the Atlanta Police Department.

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Journalist Dave Cullen, who is writing a book on the Columbine killers, and wrote a diary at TalkLeft on the Virginia Tech killings, The Myth of the School Shooter Profile, has an op-ed (free link) in today's New York Times, proposing a compromise solution to allow the parents of Virginia Tech killer Seung-Hui Cho to talk about his early years and psychiatric issues so that the public can glean some insight, without being exposed to lawsuits.

In Columbine, the federal court sealed the depositions of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold's parents for 20 years, to protect their privacy.

Dave first explores the questions the public wants the answers to:

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MSNBC is carrying the Democrats' debate live. Did you watch? What did you think?

Update: Early AP article on the debate.

Two police officers involved in the shooting death of 92 year old Kathryn Johnson pled guilty in Atlanta to manslaughter today in state court and federal civil rights charges in federal court.

Officers plea guilty in killing of elderly woman in her home -- Murder charges dropped because men agree to help federal investigation of Atlanta Police Department.

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From AP's lips to . . .:

A defiant Democratic-controlled Senate passed legislation Thursday that would require the start of troop withdrawals from Iraq by Oct. 1, propelling Congress toward a historic veto showdown with President Bush on the war. At the White House, the president immediately promised a veto.

I love this quote from McConnell:

"The solution is simple: Take out the surrender date, take out the pork, and get the funds to our troops," said Republican Leader Mitch McConnell.

McConnell says ignore the will of the American People and just bow to the Boy-King. Nice. I have another idea - why not set a date certain where Congress will no longer fund the Bush/Lieberman/McConnell/McCain/GOP Iraq Debacle.

Reid-Feingold. That's a simple solution too.

Update [2007-4-26 15:25:57 by Big Tent Democrat]: Yet again, Senator Obama and I disagree:

In the much, and rightly, acclaimed Bill Moyers program on the Media and Iraq, while Moyers hit all the high notes, I think folks have failed to emphasize a critically important part of the story. Some are missing the fact that the Media stopped doing fact gathering long before the post 9/11 period. In fact, as Tom Shales reports, Moyers shows us then CNN head Walter Isaacson saying just that but seems not pursue the matter:

Former CNN president Walter Isaacson tells Moyers: "One of the great pressures we're facing in journalism now is, it's a lot cheaper to hire thumb-suckers and pundits and have talk shows on the air than actually have bureaus and reporters."

But Isaacson understates the case. His reporters, as do almost all reporters, print or electronic, simply do he said/she said journalism. How many times do you hear "the Republicans say, but the Democrats say" without even a nod at considering what the ACTUAL FACTS are? Every single day in virtually every report. and this was hardly a phenomenon developed in the post-9/11 era. As I have written, it is something that became the norm in the 1990s:

In this post, TalkLeft cautioned against the euphoria that might spring from news that Karl Rove is under investigation by the Office of Special Counsel. Adding to that cautionary note is this story about Scott Bloch, who heads that office.

For three-and-a-half years, Scott Bloch has managed to hang onto his job as head of the federal government’s Office of Special Counsel, despite a flurry of allegations about anti-gay discrimination, cronyism, political use of his office, retaliatory firing of staff, and general incompetence. ... Bloch is a die-hard conservative whom Bush stood by when congressional Democrats assailed him. Moreover, Bloch told the Times that his investigation would work independently of others, including House Democrats, which could allow him to bury unsavory tidbits. This is a highly unusual — unprecedented, even — use of the Special Counsel’s powers, making it irregular to the point of odd.

Additional skepticism is reported in this LA Times article.

This post by Paul Begala on David Broder is good and important:

Broder, of course, is a gasbag. The Hindenburg of pundits.

. . . Mr. Broder has been foaming at the mouth these days. A man generally given to soporific prose, Broder has been downright venomous lately. And what has put the Benzedrine in Mr. Broder's Ovaltine? Not the fact that President Bush continues to lie about "progress" in the war in Iraq. Or that Dick Cheney continues to lie about pre-invasion links between al Qaeda and Iraq. Or that the Bush Administration has neglected our wounded warriors, ignored the victims of Katrina, potentially obstructed justice by firing US Attorneys who were pursuing GOP wrongdoing. Not even that the Bush Administration lied to the families of Pat Tillman and Jessica Lynch, cynically using their blood to distract from their own incompetence and dishonesty.

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Lt. Col. William Steele, Commander of the 451st Police Detachment Unit at Camp Cropper, located at the Baghdad airport, which houses some of Saddam Hussein's top deputies, has been charged with aiding the enemy, having improper sexual relations with a translator and a detainee's daughter and possessing pornographic videos.

The aiding the enemy charge stems partially from allegations he provided unmonitored cell phones to detainees. In all there are nine charges:

The other charges included unauthorized possession of classified information, fraternizing with the daughter of a detainee, maintaining an inappropriate relationship with an interpreter, storing classified information in his quarters and possessing pornographic videos, the military said. Steele also was charged with improperly marking classified information, failing to obey an order and failing to fulfill his obligations in the expenditure of funds, the military said.

Steele is being held in Kuwait pending an Article 32 hearing. The 451st Police Detachment Unit is based in Inkster, MI (pdf).

Too funny:

Last week a series of coordinated suicide bombings killed more than 170 people. . . . Unfortunately, because this slaughter took place in Baghdad, the carnage was seized upon as the latest talking point by advocates of withdrawal here in Washington. Rather than condemning the attacks and the terrorists who committed them, critics trumpeted them as proof that Gen. David Petraeus's security strategy has failed and that the war is "lost."

Um, failing to provide security in Baghdad, says Joe, is not evidence that "Gen. David Petraeus's security strategy is failing?" Well surely it is not evidence that it is working is it Joe? But it gets better:

And today, perversely, the Senate is likely to vote on a binding timeline of withdrawal from Iraq. This reaction is dangerously wrong. It reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of both the reality in Iraq and the nature of the enemy we are fighting there. What is needed in Iraq policy is not overheated rhetoric but a sober assessment of the progress we have made and the challenges we still face.

A sober assessment you say Joe? Like this one from November 2005?