I have just returned from working the past three days in gorgeous Telluride. A huge thanks to Big Tent for keeping TalkLeft current on political issues in my absence.

I probably won't resume blogging until the morning as I have a few hundred work and blog related emails to read first, many voicemails to listen to, a lot of mail to open and family members to check in with.

For the past 30 years, my heart has belonged to Aspen, but I have to say, Telluride is one of the most charming, laid back, beautiful towns anywhere. I'm just glad I don't have to choose between them.

And yes, this is an open thread.

I gave discussed George Lakoff before and much of this post will sound familiar. But Lakoff has a new post that, I think, illustrates my earlier points. Lakoff writes:

The right wing has worked for decades to alter the meanings of concepts that define our way of life. The Bush administration's distortions of language are a culmination of these efforts. To restore the meaning of values such as respect for the rule of law and reverence for human life, we all must do our part. We have many strong progressive leaders who are working to reclaim these concepts, but, as in the election at hand, they can succeed only when we are all fully engaged in this struggle.

Fair enough. Nothing to quarrel with there. Now let's consider what Lakoff specifically proposes.

Brilliant, not:

Kerry's spokesman, David Wade, sounds similarly entitled:

Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004, came under fire last week when it was pointed out that he had contributed only $15,000 this year to the party’s senatorial committee. Heyjohn.org, whose creator has remained anonymous, highlights the fact that Mr. Kerry has $14 million in his campaign accounts.[...]

“Cowards can hide behind anonymous Web sites,” Mr. Wade said, “but Democrats out in the country, party leaders and real net-roots activists know how hard John Kerry has fought to win these elections.”

So Kerry works hard to make inroads with the Netroots and David Wade decides to piss it all away. Nice job David.

I'm working at my day job today and tomorrow in beautiful Telluride. The weather is spectacular, it's off-season and the town is empty and it's days like these I really appreciate what I do for a living.

For those of you with the time and inclination, here's an open thread and I'll check in late this evening. (Yesterday we worked nonstop from 9 am until 11 pm, I suspect today will be a repeat.)

When I defended Howard Dean's 50 State Strategy earlier, I must admit it was not because I was thinking of this:

Could it be that Howard Dean is really a savvy political strategist? . . [F]ollowing the Mark Foley scandal, Democrats are talking about not just winning the House but piling up as many as 40 new seats and also capturing the Senate. And some of the places where they are now competing lie in the blood-red states where Dean has been on his lonely crusade to find blue voters. . . . "If we win a House seat in Nebraska, Howard Dean will get more credit than Rahm Emanuel," says Barry Rubin, executive director of the Nebraska Democratic Party.

I disagree with Atrios when he says:

[W]hether you gave the thumbs up or thumbs down to any particular conflict, no matter how right or wrong it seems after the fact, doesn't necessarily say all that much about you. However, I would say an exception to that is the current conflict in Iraq, which was sold to the country in an especially divisive and dishonest manner. Supporting this war wasn't just about supporting the war, but "supporting the supporters" who, by the time the bombs dropped at least, had clearly demonstrated that they were very bad people who were not acting in good faith. Though, I suppose, they weren't quite as smelly and annoying as Some Guy With A Sign somewhere.

I disagree because I believe that the policies you support, be they war, tax cuts or what have you do of course say a lot about your judgment. War being the most important decision, it especially says something about you how you decided and what you decided on that question. He is also wrong to say that supporting the Iraq Debacle made you, by necessity, a Bush supporter. Why would it do that? Because atrios thought they were "very bad people"? That is not convincing. More on the flip.

Spencer Ackerman has left The New Republic and it is major hit to that publication, for Ackerman was clearly the best they had. There are other fine writers still at TNR of course, Chait for instance and Frank Foer himself. But Ackerman stood out.

Ackerman has a new blog -
I am sure it will fast become a must read.

I am a newcomer to posting here at TalkLeft, but have been a longtime reader and fan of Jeralyn, Chris and LNILR.

What I have found since becoming a poster at TalkLeft is the intelligent and generally civil exchange of ideas and arguments that the TalkLeft community brings. And it can only get better now that TalkLeft has installed Scoop software, the best there is in my opinion. The best voices, and often, the best conversations, will often now be found in the diaries, linked in the right hand column.

Jeralyn has been generous with us in making this investment in Scoop. I wish to emulate her generosity, and ask the TalkLeft community to join me. I am offering a $500 matching contribution to TalkLeft - I will match your contributions dollar for dollar up to a maximum of $500. Thus, you can double the value of your contributions, be they 10, 25, 50 or whatever you can give, courtesy of my wallet. I think Jeralyn can count on the TalkLeft community to express its gratitude for her hard work and generosity with a litle generosity of our own.

Michael DeWayne Johnson was 17 18 years old when he was charged in Texas with killing a convenience store clerk. He was sentenced to death.

Johnson was to have faced his Texecutioner last night. Hours earlier, despite 15 minute checks by guards, Johnson slit his own throat and used his blood to write on his cell wall, "I did not shoot him."

Prison spokeswoman Michelle Lyons said Johnson cut his jugular vein and an artery in his right arm with a blade fastened to what appeared to be Popsicle sticks. He was last seen alive at 2:30 a.m. as guards made their regular four-times-an-hour death-watch check of his cell.

Lyons said the blade was small, possibly fashioned from a disposable razor. She said Johnson's cell had been searched for weapons several days before the incident.

Michael DeWayne Johnson died at age 29, beating the Texecutioner of the opportunity to kill him by mere hours. He had had no prior convictions.

Johnson always maintained his innocence in prison interviews. What if he was telling the truth?

Bush and Lieberman, h/t Stoller:

You know, the Democrat Party made a clear statement about the nature of their party when it came to how they dealt with Senator Joe Lieberman. He's a three-term Democrat from Connecticut who supports completing the mission in Iraq. He took a strong, principled stand, and he was purged from the Democrat Party.

. . . There's only one position in the Democratic Party that everybody seems to agree on. If you want to be a Democrat these days, you can be for almost anything, but victory in Iraq is not an option.

President George Joe McCarthy Bush and Senator Joe McCarthy Lieberman:

If we just pick up as Ned Lamont wants us to do and get out by a date certain, it will be taken as a tremendous victory by the same people who wanted to blow up these planes in this plot hatched in England and it will strengthen them and they will strike us again."

And don't forget Dick "Iraq is going remarkably well" Cheney:

[W]hen [the terrorists] see the Democratic Party reject one of its own . . . it would seem to say a lot about the state the party is in today."

You see Bush, Cheney and Lieberman have a plan:

Does America have a good plan for doing this, a strategy for victory in Iraq? Yes we do.

I'll be in court and with clients most of the day. Let's try another open thread, now that so many of you are registered and have mastered the comment area of the new site.

Feel free to let me know what you think of the change, whether you are getting accustomed to it, and whether you have found it speedier to load and to comment.

You can also weigh in on other subjects. Just remember, no profanity here. I can't edit your comments, so those with profanity or blazing attacks on other posters will just be deleted. I still intend to keep the site civil.