Pointing to the latest WSJ poll, which Jeralyn posted on earlier, Atrios says:

People Hate Bush And Hate The War
I don't know what it'll take for that to enter the bloodstream of Official Washington.

The answer is nothing will make it enter their bloodstream because of their contempt for the American People. Consider the comment by the Republican pollster who conducted the poll that demonstrates that the American People want Congress to end the war:

Yet Newhouse, the GOP pollster, says that there are dangers for the Democrats if they decide to go too far on Iraq. "The Democrats risk overplaying the Iraq issue by tying the president's hands on funding. Yes, Americans want Congress to put pressure on the president for a timetable for withdrawing from Iraq, but that doesn't mean they want Congress to sidestep the president and do it on their own."

HIS OWN POLL proves that what he says is false. And still he spouts this nonsense. So the simple answer to Atrios' question is this - nothing will ever convince the Beltway that the American People want the Congress to end the Iraq Debacle. Democrats are fools to pay attention to them. They need to pay attention to the American People.

Al-Jazeera broadcast part of an interview today (remainder to be broadcast tomorrow) with a Taliban leader who says Osama bin Laden is alive and was behind the attack on Bagram Air Force Base when Cheney visited in February. 14 (or 23) people died in the attack. Cheney was reportedly Osama's target.

Dadullah said Bin Laden planned and supervised the "suicide" operation which targeted Dick Cheney, the US vice-president, in Bargam air force base during his visit to Afghanistan in February. Dadullah said: "Thank God, he is alive, we get updated information about it. Thank God, he plans the operations in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

"You may remember the martyr operation inside the Bagram base which targeted a senior US official ... that operation was a result of his wise planning. "He planned that operation in details and guided us through it. The operation was a success."

The White House responds that it has not seen any intelligence to back up the claim.

Lanny Davis wrote an article yesterday in The Hill criticizing media coverage of Hillary Clinton's polling numbers, particularly with respect to claims that Barack Obama is closing in on her.

The Wall. St. Journal has just published the results of a poll showing Hillary at 36% and Obama at 31%.

Sen. Barack Obama is closing the gap in the race for the 2008 Democratic nomination, trailing Sen. Hillary Clinton just 36% to 31%, a new WSJ/NBC poll finds. Last month, Obama lagged 12 percentage points behind Clinton. Support for John Edwards rose to 20% from 15%. The backdrop for those findings, fueling Democratic hopes for recapturing the White House next year, remains deep discontent with President Bush and the Iraq war. The poll results show Americans side with congressional Democrats on Iraq by a lopsided 56% to 37%.

Personally, I don't take the election poll numbers too seriously this early in the race. But what I do take seriously is this:

Three months after Mr. Bush announced a new policy to stabilize violence by sending more troops, just 12% see evidence of improvement. Some 49% say conditions in Iraq have gotten worse, while another 37% say they've stayed the same.

A 55% majority says that victory in Iraq is no longer possible; 36% say victory remains within reach.

This reaction from Obama is noteworthy to me because he may finally be learning that playing nice with Republicans gets you nowhere:

Rudy Giuliani today has taken the politics of fear to a new low and I believe Americans are ready to reject those kind of politics. America’s mayor should know that when it comes to 9/11 and fighting terrorists, America is united. We know we can win this war based on shared purpose, not the same divisive politics that question your patriotism if you dare to question failed policies that have made us less secure. . . .

I liked the sarcastic "America's Mayor" crack. Good job by Obama. Hillary, who already knows that playing nice with Republicans is a waste, ripped the GOP and Bush. Edwards also danced on Rudy's head, but he gave up the Johnny Sunshine schtick long ago and has been knocking heads for a while. Obama was the one needing a lesson. Maybe he got one.

I see London, I see France...

Sen. Gary Siplin of Orlando, a Florida lawmaker has introduced a bill to suspend students if you can see their underwear.

It's called the "Pull Up Your Britches" bill. Students in violation would face a ten day suspension.

The bill is under debate by the Education Appropriations Committee. As to Sen. Siplin,

The senator was convicted of grand theft for paying his office staff with state money while he worked on his re-election campaign. The senate has suspended action to remove Siplin from office pending his appeal.

[Hat tip The Agitator]

Democrats were successful today in a vote to subpoena Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice about the Administration's decision to go to war in Iraq.

When the decision was made, Rice was Bush's National Security Advisor.

Republicans accused Democrats of a "fishing expedition." But Democrats said they want Rice to explain what she knew about administration's warnings, later proven false, that Iraq had sought uranium from Niger for nuclear arms.

"There was one person in the White House who had primary responsibility to get the intelligence about Iraq right — and that was Secretary Rice who was then President George W. Bush's national security adviser," said committee Chairman Henry Waxman, a California Democrat.

Adding to Jeralyn's post on the Iraq Supplemental, I want to discuss an issue Kid Oakland mentions:

Speaker Pelosi was most emphatic on this point, this bill will also define under law that the President does not have the authority by any Act of Congress to continue his chosen course of action unfettered in Iraq. . . . Speaker Pelosi emphasized that Congress must reassert itself and say, and I'm paraphrasing here, when Congress defines the limits of the authorization in Iraq, that is the law. The bill that Congress sends to the President, veto or not, goal language or not, will be an important first step in the process of putting Congressional limits on the President's authority in Iraq and, hence, ending this war.

I do not understand this point frankly. Is Pelosi saying by the mere act of passing this bill, whether the President vetoes it or not, the Iraq War is deauthorized? Because if she is, then she seems wrong to me. We have discussed this point before. Another point from Pelosi is disheartening:

Opening arguments are underway in the Phil Spector murder trial.

The LA Times is providing updates from the courtroom, blog-style.

You can watch the trial live on the internet (for a fee) at Court TV's extra.

There are nine women and three women on the jury. Testimony begins tomorrow.

Amnesty International has issued a report with alarming statistics on Native American women and rape.

The figures said more than one in three Native women would be raped in their lifetime, although that figure may in fact be substantially higher because of a traditional reluctance to report sex crimes.

"Native women are brutalized at an alarming rate, and the United States government, a purported champion of women's rights, is unfortunately contributing to the problem," said Larry Cox, executive director of Amnesty International USA.

Amnesty's press release is here.

More...

The Supreme Court today threw out three Texas death sentences.

The cases all stem from jury instructions that Texas hasn't used since 1991. Under those rules, courts have found that jurors were not allowed to give sufficient weight to factors that might cause them to impose a life sentence instead of death.

The cases were decided by a 5-4 majority, with Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Anthony Kennedy, David Souter and John Paul Stevens voting to overturn the sentences.

Via How Appealing:

Lyle Denniston has this post at "SCOTUSblog." You can access the opinion in Smith v. Texas, No. 05-11304, here and the oral argument transcript here. Justice Anthony M. Kennedy issued the majority opinion in a case that divided the U.S. Supreme Court 5-4.

The Court today also issued decisions in two other death penalty cases that were orally argued together (access the transcript here): Abdul-Kabir v. Quarterman, No. 05-11284 (opinion here) and Brewer v. Quarterman, No. 05-11287 (opinion here).

Think Progress reports that the House Judiciary Committee has voted to grant Monica Goodling immunity for her testimony about the firing of U.S. Attorneys.

On MSNBC yesterday, fired U.S. Attorney David Iglesias, in addition to saying he filed a Complaint with the Office of Special Counsel against Karl Rove and Alberto Gonzales (and Goodling) for violating the Hatch Act,

It’s is something I filed back on April 3 of this year…based on, you know, Special Counsel having powers to investigate where evidence goes. I actually filed a Hatch Act complaint against Gonzales, McNulty, Sampson and Goodling and they’re already getting documents from the Justice Department and possibly from the White House. […]

...I think Monica Goodling is holding the keys to the kingdom. I think if they get her to testify under oath with a transcript, and have her describe the process between the information flow between the White House counsel, White House and the Justice Department, I believe the picture becomes a lot clearer.

As to Rove,

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The House of Representatives will vote today on the compromise legislation to pull out of Iraq, as part of the Iraq funding bill.

I was on a blogger conference call with Speaker Nancy Pelosi yesterday. Here's what she had to say:

She is proud of the conference report. The President should either sign the bill and honor it or veto it.

The goal is for troops to be out of Iraq by March, 2008. If the Iraqi government is not meeting the benchmarks by July, 2007, redeployment would begin this July. If they meet the benchmarks, the redeployment would begin in October, 2007 and must be with a goal of completion in 180 days, by March, 2008.

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