Where do we go from here? The battle's done, and we kind of won, so we sound our victory cheer. Where do we go from here? -From Joss Whedon's "Once More With Feeling"

I'm stealing my title line from both Joss Whedon and mcjoan, whose fine piece on the Iraq Supplemental reflects a lot of what I think, but stated in her usual persuasive manner, as opposed to my shrill one. Joan writes:

My very pragmatic observation of the Iraq supplemental was that in cobbling together a bill that could make it through the House and set up the veto showdown with Bush, the leadership was setting a very, very low baseline with the Blue Dogs, negotiating away too much substance. . . . It's . . . unclear . . . as to how that fits in to the larger battle plan to make significant progress on actually getting the troops out.

I agree with this but I think it does not go far enough. I think this is ALSO a terrible political move. I'll explain it all on the flip.

McClatchy newspapers has posted yesterday's document dump in the U.S. Attorney firing scandal.

The problem for Alberto Gonzales in a nutshell:

The e-mails, delivered to Congress Friday night, show that Gonzales attended an hourlong meeting on the firings on Nov. 27, 2006 - 10 days before seven U.S. attorneys were told to resign. The attorney general's participation in the session calls into question his assertion that he was essentially in the dark about the firings.

At a news conference last week, Gonzales said....
"We never had a discussion about where things stood," Gonzales said on March 13. "What I knew was that there was an ongoing effort that was led by Mr. Sampson ... to ascertain where we could make improvements in U.S. attorney performances around the country."

Also check out the LA Times:

More below, including the 16 day e-mail gap and DOJ lawyer Monica Goodling goes on personal leave.

Today Kansas meets UCLA in what should be a fantastic matchup. UCLA has a terrific coach in Howland, play great defense and has big stars in Afflalo and Collison. Kansas probably has the most talent of any team left. Rush is a bigtime player. Self, the coach, is not all that however imo.

I pick UCLA to win.

In the other game, the miracle Buckeyes meet the no respect Memphis Tigers. I had A&M winning this region but they blew the Memphis game. I still don't respect Memphis. Ohio State has its one easy game.

Yesterday I was 4 3 for 4 in my picks, and what a breeze it was [I forgot I picked USC on the day after picking UNC earlier] . . . heh.

The Chicago Tribune has a five page article on Barack Obama's life growing up. Using his book as a guide, the reporters interviewed his schoolmates, friends, teachers and others, both in Hawaii and Indonesia.

I think it's worth the read, particularly for people like me who aren't as familiar with him as the other candidates.

Bloomberg News reports Harry Reid said on their tv program, to be aired this weekend, Alberto Gonzales will be gone in a month, "one way or the other."

As to the others,

``Certainly, Karl Rove, with his resume, would have to be under oath,'' Reid, 67, said in an interview with Bloomberg TV's ``Political Capital with Al Hunt,'' scheduled to air this weekend. ``He simply in my opinion, and I think the majority of the American people, is not trustworthy.''

The House and Senate judiciary panels voted this week to authorize subpoenas to compel testimony by Rove and other White House officials. The administration is insisting that the officials be permitted to talk in private with lawmakers and not under oath.

Reid stressed that he thinks a compromise is possible, and that not all officials need to give sworn statements. ``Well, I think that there could be some testimony taken in private'' and ``would be recorded,'' Reid said. ``We could do that.''

[Hat tip Raw Story.]

Rudy Giuliani once again re-invents himself to cater to the Republican conservative base. Now he's flip-flopping on gun rights.

As Mayor of New York:

He spoke in favor of a licensing system for gun owners that would require trigger locks and firearms training, and he lobbied Congress to outlaw most military-style assault weapons. He was the only Republican mayor to join a lawsuit by dozens of cities against the gun industry, and he complained that Southern states had lax gun laws that fed the illegal weapons trade in the Northeast.

In his current attempt at recarnation as a presidential contender, he's reversed course:

More...

Friday, Tony Snow dashed any hopes that Guantanamo would be closed during Bush's presidency.

It's highly unlikely that you can dispense with all those cases between now and the end of the administration," White House spokesman Tony Snow said of about 385 prisoners currently at the Guantanamo facility. Asked directly whether the prison would close before Bush leaves office in January 2009, Snow said, "I doubt it, no."

Defense Secretary Robert Gates recently advocated the closure of Guantanamo.

More....

Keith Olbermann named Bill O'Reilly worst person of the day Friday for cutting his co-host Lis Wiehl's mike during his radio show. What was Lis's transgression? Pointing out there would be no public transcript of White House officials' interviews before a Congressional panel if the White House proposal was accepted.

O'Reilly screamed and yelled and got so mad he demanded Lis' mike be cut for three minutes. What a prince of free speech -- not.

Media Matters has the audio tape, go listen, it's a hoot. Probably was no fun for Lis who you can hear in the background after her mike was cut -- good for her for standing up to him.

And check out her new book.

Remember when Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said he wasn't very involved in the firing of U.S. Attorneys?

He said at a news conference on March 13 that he had not participated in any discussions about the removals, but knew in general that his aides were working on personnel changes involving United States attorneys.

The AP now reports that documents released today show he signed off on the plan.

A Nov. 27 meeting, in which the attorney general and at least five top Justice Department officials participated, focused on a five-step plan for carrying out the firings of the prosecutors, Gonzales' aides said late Friday. There, Gonzales signed off on the plan, which was drafted by his chief of staff, Kyle Sampson. Sampson resigned last week. Another Justice aide closely involved in the dismissals, White House liaison Monica Goodling, has also taken a leave of absence, two officials said.

[Hat tip Atrios.]

Update: The Daily Background provides a review and analysis of the newly released documents.

This piece in TAPPED really worries me:

A FINAL WORD ON HILLARY. For this round of the debate, at least. Let me begin with an anecdote. A bunch of us Tappers went for drinks the other day, and Hillary Clinton came up. It was a mixed crowd, but, reflecting the magazine's writing employees, mainly men. As the conversation turned to '08, a young woman spoke up softly. "I like Hillary," she said. Very quickly, several men raised their voices against her, expounding, at great length, on everything that was wrong with Hillary, and why she couldn't win, and why no one should support her. The young woman said nothing in reply, and, in fact, said nothing more for the remainder of the evening. But I'm not sure that her mind was changed.

I like Hillary too. If she is the nominee, I'll support her. I am not in love with her political instincts frankly. But I am not a big fan of Obama's instincts either. As for Edwards, his record on Iraq was probably the worst at the time of the vote on the war in 2002 AND through the 2004 primaries. But he got himself straight early in 2005. Frankly, Edwards seems the best POLITICIAN of the bunch. But being President is more than being the head politician. Heck, George Bush is a good politician too.

Why am I rambling here? Because I can understand how women like Garance, who wrote the piece I link to, get their radar up with all the Hillary hate. It does seem over the top. Sure, there are problems with Hillary Clinton, but so are there problems with Obama and Edwards. And it is clear that men are not as driven to discuss the flaws in the male candidates. Are they sexists? I doubt it, but the concern Garance expresses seems not unwarranted.

President Bush says the Democrats' bill hurts the troops. He's says there's too much pork in the bill.

The Washington Post reports:

The bill provides about $95.5 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as more than $20 billion in new domestic spending for such items as agricultural subsidies, veterans' health care and rebuilding efforts in Gulf Coast states hit by hurricanes two years ago. Among other things, it provides about $3.5 billion in additional funding above Bush's request to address the health care problems faced by veterans and by returning service members wounded in Iraq or Afghanistan.

...More

The House of Representatives today passed the Iraq funding bill containing a provision calling for troop pullouts from Iraq by August, 2008.

Bush says he will veto the bill.

Bush said House Democrats had engaged in "an act of political theater" and "voted to substitute their judgment for that of our military commanders on the ground in Iraq."

As to the vote:

216 Democrats were joined by two Republicans in supporting the bill, while 198 Republicans and 14 Democrats opposed it. Voting with the Democratic majority were Republicans Walter B. Jones of North Carolina and Wayne T. Gilchrest of Maryland.

More...