The Daily Kos FP on what John Yoo says and how this means President Bush can attack Iran without Congressional authorization:

[John Yoo wrote that] the AUMF is "an express affirmation of the President's constitutional authorities by Congress." Not an authorization to use force, then, but an affirmation. An affirmation of what? That the power to use military force exists independent of this (or any other) act of Congress.

John Yoo is, of course, full of it, as Yale Law Professor Bruce Ackerman explained:

BA: The president has to get another authorization for a war against Iran. It isn't up to Nancy Pelosi or the House to prevent him; he doesn't have the constitutional authority to just expand the war. He does not have the authority to unilaterally invade Iran.... Air strikes would be an invasion. It's an act of war of an unambiguous variety....On a major incursion into another large Middle Eastern country, I believe that, when push comes to shove, the president will once again request the explicit authorization of Congress. When he was contemplating the invasion of Iraq, he was in a much stronger position politically -- and he was still obliged to request authorization

More.

The latest Newsweek poll reflects what I think is becoming a winning frame for Democrats on Iraq:

Americans remain cautious about the prospect of a hasty withdrawal from Iraq, afraid it would leave the country in chaos. Out of four possible options in the poll, 19 percent of the respondents chose immediate total withdrawal. Slightly fewer (13 percent) don't want any cutbacks at all. Nearly a quarter of all Americans (24 percent) would implement a gradual withdrawal plan that would start in the fall and extend until the spring, when the last troops would come home. Forty percent favor keeping a substantial number of troops on the ground there, but only on the condition that they fall back to their bases and focus solely on training Iraqis and targeting Al Qaeda. . . .

40% favor keeping troops in Iraq as long as they are not engaged in combat in the Iraqi civil war. This is the packaging contained in almost all of the Democratic proposals, including Reid-Feingold (the difference in Reid-Feingold to other plans is that is relies on the Spending Power, the one truly effective way for Congress to stop Bush.) Add to this the 37% who favor immediate withdrawal or withdrawal by the Spring of 2008 and it seems clear to me that the baseline position that 77% of the country has taken on Iraq is the Democratic position. More.

The thoroughly discredited Fred Hiatt, leader of the Washington Post's Editorial Board, faces the abyss. To deny it, he attempts to argue that Senator Hillary Clinton agrees with his views but is afraid to say it loudly:

Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton traveled to this crucial caucus state today to assure voters that she would keep U.S. troops in Iraq for the foreseeable future because "we cannot lose sight of our very real strategic national interests in this region." . . . [This] would have been an accurate, if incomplete, rendition of her long address on Iraq policy. That she wanted to go on the record with such a view, but didn't want voters to really hear it, says much about the current Washington bind on Iraq policy.

Actually this column, and the misleading nature of it, says much about the current bind DC Gasbags like Fred Hiatt are in. They are a discredited, much ignored group now. They strive to regain relevancy. Hiatt tries here by simply misleading his readers. More.

I'm going to take advantage of the great weather and then attack a massive amount of wiretap discovery for the rest of the day.

Here's an open thread where you can pick the topics.

In my bloggingheads conversation with Conn Carroll of the National Journal's Blogometer, I tried to explain my view of using Presidential politics to influence Iraq policy. I tried to emphasize that a savvy and issues oriented Netroots could push our Presidential contenders to lead on getting us out by endorsing, embracing and promoting the not funding approach, the only possible way to end it during Bush's tenure. I think Jerome Armstrong's post on Obama and not funding is very much in line with what I have tried to do as well:

The recent attack from Obama that was directed toward Clinton and Edwards over Iraq made me wonder about which of the two, between Obama and Edwards, might be perceived as having more credibility on ending the Iraq War. . . . [E]nding the war means cutting off funding of the war, and that's not been something that Obama has been in favor of, until just recently.

. . . Obama wants to make a preemptive differentiation that only he is prepared to be the Democratic nominee based on his original opposition to invading Iraq. It's as if Obama is trying to become the Dean of '08 in attracting those of us who were against this war from the beginning. But the comparison of Obama to Dean ends in 2003. Dean never supported funding of the war, Obama continually did until the most recent vote.

. . . I applaud the change made by Obama. It's the direction those of us who want this war ended want every Democratic politician to take, in an effort to end the war in Iraq. But the notion that Obama has some sort of special appeal over the issue of Iraq, to those of us who are actually paying attention, seems full of folly.

I hope Jerome is right because it is my wish to see our Presidential contenders be pushed to be leaders in the Not Funding movement. More.

Last year it seems to me MySpace was big. This seems to be the year for bloggers and Facebook.

Firedoglake has over 700 members. Christy has figured out how to put up her own page. Jane has one too.

Digby has a group. So does Yearly Kos.

They have inspired me to spend an absurd amount of time today updating the TalkLeft page and TalkLeft Group on Facebook. I haven't created a separate page for me, and instead put my stuff on the TalkLeft page.

As of now TalkLeft has only 17 friends and the TalkLeft group has only 8 members, a pretty paltry showing. If you're into Facebook, I hope you'll stop by and connect up with us. You can just click to join the TalkLeft group. I'm not sure how I add you as a friend.

Some questions for Facebook pros below:

Happy 5th blogiversary to Skippy the Bush Kangaroo. Skippy has made me smile with his unique writing voice all that time.

His blogiversary post reads like a Who's Who of the liberal blogosphere, so go on over and read it and check out the many blogs mentioned.

Congrats, Skippy, you've been a great blogosphere friend . I wish you many more great blogging years and hope you hit that 2 million mark soon.

In other blogging news, Heretik is doing a great job with Mike's Blog Roundup at Crooks and Liars. For those interested in the mechanics of blogging (such as the change-over of many individual blogs to group blogs and the concept of short head vs. long tail blogs) Chris Bowers explains all at the new blog Open Left in a post he titles, New Establishment Rising? The End Of the Flat Blogosphere

Arianna writes that Democrats can't wait for GOP'ers to defect to act to end the war.

Let's make this an open thread.

The House Judiciary Committee has announced the list of witnesses for Wednesday's hearing on "The Use and Misuse of Presidential Clemency Power for Executive Branch Officials.

Via TP Muckraker and Sentencing Law & Policy:

• Ambassador Joseph Wilson
• Roger Adams, US Department of Justice Pardon Attorney
• Douglas A. Berman, William B. Saxbe Designated Professor of Law, Moritz College of Law, The Ohio State University
• Tom Cochran, Assistant Federal Public Defender, Middle District of North Carolina (Attorney for [sic] Vincent Rita, Rita v. US)
• David Rifkin, partner, Baker & Hostetler LLP, former Justice Department official during the Reagan and Bush Sr. administrations.

TP Muckraker quotes Rep. John Conyers on the purpose of the hearing:

"Congress must now look into presidential authority to grant clemency, and how such power may be abused. Taken to its extreme, and possibly in the case of the Libby clemency, the use of such authority could completely circumvent the law enforcement process and prevent credible efforts to investigate wrongdoing in the executive branch."

While I'm pleased Joe Wilson and Prof. Berman, who writes the excellent Sentencing Law & Policy blog are going to be witnesses, I'm concerned that the committee will not be hearing from anyone involved in the Libby commutation process.

There was no clemency petition, the Pardon Attorney was kept out of the loop and I just don't see how these witnesses will shed any light on whether Bush's motive for granting the clemency was proper or improper.

More...

Say hello to Matt Stoller, Chris Bowers and Mike Lux' new blog, Open Left.

It already has a thumbs up from Digby and Jane Hamsher.

What's it about? Matt Stoller explains here.

Mostly, its "trying to bring progressive activists and professionals from 'inside' and 'outside' the political establishment into regular, thoughtful, and active connection with one another."

I'm all for that, go on over and check it out.

Between Live Earth and blogging, I barely left the computer or the house all weekend. So, you're on your own today. This space is for you.

If you want to see me discuss politics with The Hotline's Blogometer's Conn Carroll, take a look here. - btd

Yesterday, President George Bush turned 61. The Dalai Lama turned 73.

Bush celebrated by going to Camp David.

Via Moderate Voice, Craig Johnston says:

“Two men born on the same day, George Bush and the Dalai Lama.

“One who forgoes all thoughts of self to set the Wheel of the Dharma in motion, dedicates his existence to saving all life from suffering.

“The other, seemingly ethically mute to thoughts of peace and the fortunes of mankind; acts as an axis around which evil conspires.

Karma. Hopefully, what goes around comes around.

[Animated graphic here.]

The ACLU responds to the Sixth Circuit's dismissal of its lawsuit over the NSA warrantless electronic monitoring program.

The decision is here (pdf.)

Big Tent Democrat weighs in here. Also check out Think Progress.