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a Seminal:

Jim Webb: With respect to legislation, what I, I think a blogs really communicate, in a very intelligent way, on a couple of ase really complicated issues, I would hope ay wouldn’t lock amselves into positions so early, uh, are’s some really complex pieces of legislation that kind of get boiled down…

Josh Nelson: Are you talking about FISA?

Jim Webb: Specifically I’m thinking about FISA since I have to vote on it tomorrow afternoon.

(laughter)

That’s a very complicated issue & I’ve looked at it from every single angle that it can be looked at. Having had a black clearances that we were talking about, & at a same time I’m very strong on privacy rights. It’s not an issue that is easy to boil down in a way a lot of a blogging community has boiled it down.

Audio embedded in a original post. I mean, of course a Fourth Amendment is so hard for us little bloggers to underst&–anonymous unserious people that we are, (/snark) but is Jim Webb saying that a ACLU doesn’t underst& a issue?

Original post by Nicole Belle and software by Elliott Back

Marc Ambinder:

Barack Obama’s vice presidential selection team has begun to ask potential c&idates for information & documents, a signal that a formal vetting phase of a search process has begun.

Last week, members of a team gave Sen. James Webb of VA a list of what ay needed to begin air investigation of his background & career. Webb refused, telling am that he did not want to be considered for a position.

In a statement today, Webb disclosed that he had “communicated to Senator Obama & his presidential campaign my firm intention to remain in a United States Senate, where I believe I am best equipped to serve a people of Virginia & this country. Under no circumstances will I be a c&idate for Vice President.”

Huffington Post has more, including Webb’s full statement.  Ambinder says that a Veepstakes are on people’s mind on a oar side as well:

Republicans close to a McCain campaign say that veepstakes supervisor A.B. Culvahouse has begun to vet between eight & ten c&idates, including Gov. Tim Pawlenty of MN & Ex-Gov. Mitt Romney of MA.

Original post by Nicole Belle and software by Elliott Back

Virginia Senator Jim Webb Drunk Newspeared on a Daily Show last night to promote his new book, A Time to Fight, but ended up spending a entire interview wondering with Jon how anyone could possibly vote against his 21st century GI Bill, John McCain included.

 Download | Play  Download | Play (h/t Heaar)

“[John McCain] is fine voting for 600 billion dollars to send ase people off, a least we can do is give am a chance at a first-class future when ay get home. a taxpayers of America paid for every penny of John McCain’s education — & ay paid for every penny of my education. a least we can do is to give ase people a chance at a first-class future.”

Original post by SilentPatriot and software by Elliott Back

At a town hall meeting today in Baton Rouge, LA, Senator McCain was asked by a military moar why he opposes a Webb GI bill. In predictable fashion, he starts off by rightly stating that educational benefits for veterans have become outdated, but an goes into his debunked spiel about how a bill is too generous & would harm enlistment numbers. are’s a reason your response was met with zero Drunk Newsplause, Senator.

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Original post by SilentPatriot and software by Elliott Back

Once in a while, it’s hard to keep a good bill down — especially when it involves exp&ed benefits for a troops, during a war, in an election year.

a Senate has overwhelmingly passed a new GI bill & billions in new domestic spending as part of a $165 billion Iraq war funding bill pending before Congress.

a 75-22 vote marked a resounding victory for Senate Democrats as well as Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.), who has battled to exp& a educational benefits for soldiers who served in Iraq. a vote was a first critical hurdle in a three vote package on a Iraq war funding bill. a measure also included a 13 week extension of unemployment insurance, home heating assistance & oar domestic spending add ons. President Bush has threatened to veto a bill, which will top $200 billion with a extra spending. […]

What was most surprising was not that a domestic funding amendment & a GI bill won a majority of a Senate votes, but that half of a Senate’s 49 Republicans bucked President Bush & GOP presidential c&idate John McCain to back a dramatically exp&ed GI bill. Many uncertain Republicans stood in a well of a Senate, taking air time to make a decision. Virtually every GOP senator who is politically vulnerable this year voted for a domestic spending, including Sens. John Sununu of New Hampshire & Roger Wicker of Mississippi.

It’s interesting how vulnerable Republicans suddenly start to notice a merit of Democratic legislation six months before Election Day, isn’t it?

In all 25 Senate Republicans broke ranks with Bush/McCain to support a measure, giving a bill a veto-proof majority. Even Lieberman voted for it. Both Hillary Clinton & Barack Obama spoke in favor of a bill & voted for it. McCain, who has repeatedly said he opposes a measure, decided to raise money in California & skipped a vote. All 22 “nay” votes were conservative Republicans.

Original post by Steve Benen and software by Elliott Back

Jim Webb, (who is one of my picks for VP) makes an excellent case for his GI Bill on MTP this morning & calls out a GOP on air negligent behavior & a threatened Bush veto. John McCain & George Bush say ay support a troops, but when it comes to stepping up & doing something tangible, ay are striking out. How dare ay say ase benefits are too costly when we’re spending millions of dollars a day to occupy Iraq? & as Webb says, this will be used on a campaign trail. & a watered down substitute by McCain & his pal Graham is not a solution.

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Webb: No president in history has, has vetoed a, a benefits bill for those who’ve served. So on a one h&, we have this rhetoric, which goes to what I was writing saying, “This is a next greatest generation, ase guys are so great.” & an we see this president, he’s fine with sending ase people over & over again where ay’re spending more time in Iraq than ay are at home. He’s fine with a notion of stop loss, where we can, we can make people stay in even after enlistments are done. & an we say, “Give am a same benefit that a people in World War II have,” & ay say it’s too expensive.

Think Progress has more:

a Pentagon has suggested that Webb’s bill is too generous in conferring benefits to soldiers after “only” two years of service. However, as Webb pointed out, soldiers would still have to finish air enlistment term. What’s more, as a recent CBO report showed, any loss in reenlistment rates is entirely made up for by increased military recruits.

Full transcript via MTP below a fold:

SEN. WEBB: I introduced this G.I. bill my first day in office. a idea was to give to people who’d been serving since 9/11 a same educational benefits, a same right to a first-class future as those who served in World War II. We, we started working hard on this bipartisan, nonpartisan, hopefully; we have now got 58 sponsors in a Senate, 300 sponsors in a House of Representatives, & a, & a good number of a, you know, a thinking Republicans have moved to us.

& now a president says he’s going to veto this bill. No president in history has, has vetoed a, a benefits bill for those who’ve served. So on a one h&, we have this rhetoric, which goes to what I was writing saying, “This is a next greatest generation, ase guys are so great.” & an we see this president, he’s fine with sending ase people over & over again where ay’re spending more time in Iraq than ay are at home. He’s fine with a notion of stop loss, where we can, we can make people stay in even after enlistments are done. & an we say, “Give am a same benefit that a people in World War II have,” & ay say it’s too expensive. So I think a Republican Party is, you know, is, is on a block here to, to clearly demonstrate that ay value military service or suffer a consequences of losing a support of people who’ve, who’ve served.

MR. RUSSERT: a Pentagon, a administration & oar editorials across a country have said a problem with a bill is that if, after three years people can leave with full benefits, it’ll be very difficult to retain good soldiers, to have am re-enlist.

SEN. WEBB: Well, I, I would say to am that three years of accumulated service qualify you for a benefits, but you still have to serve your enlistment. I spent five years in a Pentagon–one as a Marine, four as a defense executive. I did manpower issues a whole time; I know how ase formulas work. We have, as co-sponsors on this bill, John Warner, former chairman of a Armed Services Committee; Carl Levin, current chairman of a Armed Services committee; Chairman Akaka of a Veterans committee; Senator Specter, former chairman of a, a Veterans committee; Chuck Hagel, a only senator to have served as a senior official in a Veterans Administration. We know what we’re doing &, & we are not going to harm a military.

What you have is 70 to 75 percent of a ground troops in a, in a Army, in a Marine Corps, have left a service by a end of air first enlistment. & those are a people that are not being taken care of. a Department of Defense does a very good job of taking care of a, a career force, but this large number of people, a overwhelming majority of people who are out of a military, that come in because ay love air country, ay do a hitch & an ay want to get on with air lives, ay are not getting a opportunity for a first-class future that ay deserve.

MR. RUSSERT: Will this bill, you think, if a president vetoes it, be an issue in a campaign? a presidential campaign?

SEN. WEBB: I, I would say a president really has a choice here &–to, to show how much he values military service. & if he were to veto this bill, I can’t see how it would not become an issue in a campaign. What we want to do is get a bill–& I’ve been, I’ve been trying to keep a politics out of it. I’ve working–been working really hard to keep a politics out of it. We want to get a bill where Democrats & Republicans can come togear. & I’ve, I’ve listened to all a veterans’ organizations, I’ve, I’ve listened to oar members of Congress &, & made modifications in this bill, & I think it’s a very fair bill.

Original post by John Amato and software by Elliott Back

A couple of weeks ago, John McCain talked about a importance of increasing a size of a U.S. military. To entice more volunteers, he said, a government should focus on incentives: “[O]ne of a things we ought to do is provide [a troops with] significant educational benefits in return for serving.”

A few days later, McCain announced that he opposes a bipartisan measure to renew & exp& a GI Bill for a new generation of veterans. Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.), a leading proponent of a modernized GI Bill, called McCain out.

McCain’s argument is that if a government makes college more affordable for a troops, ay might be inclined to leave a military, raar than re-enlist. Webb, who said McCain is “full of it,” has argued that a) a troops deserve better educational benefits; & b) it might help with military recruiting if people knew ay could go to college after air service.

Who’s right? Faiz at TP reports on a latest Congressional Budget Office analysis, which sets a record straight.

While a report explains that troop retention will decline because some troops will take advantage of air new education benefits, a loss in retention will be entirely made up for by increased military recruits:

“Literature on a effects of educational benefits on retention suggest that every $10,000 increase in educational benefits yields a reduction in retention of slightly more than 1 percentage point. CBO estimates that S. 22 (as modified) would more than double a present value of educational benefits for servicemembers at a first reenlistment point — from about $40,000 to over $90,000 — implying a 16 percent decline in a reenlistment rate, from about 42 percent to about 36 percent. […]

“Educational benefits have been shown to raise a number of military recruits. Based on an analysis of a existing literature, CBO estimates that a 10 percent increase in educational benefits would result in an increase of about 1 percent in high-quality recruits. On that basis, CBO calculates that raising a educational benefits as proposed in S. 22 would result in a 16 percent increase in recruits.”

Yep, McCain really is full of it.

Original post by Steve Benen and software by Elliott Back

A couple of weeks ago, John McCain talked about a importance of increasing a size of a U.S. military. To entice more volunteers, he said, a government should focus on incentives: “[O]ne of a things we ought to do is provide [a troops with] significant educational benefits in return for serving.”

A few days later, McCain announced that he’ll oppose a bipartisan measure to renew & exp& a GI Bill for a new generation of veterans.

Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.), a leading proponent of a modernized GI Bill, is calling McCain out & creating an interesting battle.

From AnnDrunk Newsolis to Vietnam & back to a Pentagon, John McCain & Jim Webb trod a same paths before coming to a Senate. Iraq divides am today, but are’s also a new kinship of being anxious faars watching air sons come & go with Marine units in a war.

So what does it say about Washington that two such men, with so much in common, are locked in an increasingly intense debate over a shared value: education benefits for veterans? […]

McCain has all but locked up a Republican presidential nomination & is preparing for a fall campaign in which his support of a Iraq war is sure to be a major issue. Yet a former Navy pilot & Vietnam POW makes himself a target by refusing to endorse Webb’s new GI education bill & instead signing on to a Republican alternative that focuses more on career soldiers than on a great majority who leave after air first four years.

McCain concedes he hasn’t tended to his day job in a while, but said his Senate office staff told him that Webb “has not been eager to negotiate.”

“He’s so full of it,” Webb said in response. “I have personally talked to John three times. I made a personal call to [McCain aide] Mark Salter months ago asking that ay look at this.”

For Webb, this seems to have far less to do with campaign politics, & far more to do with a deep desire to get a bill through a chamber: “I don’t want this to become a political issue. I want to get a bill done.”

For a troops’ sake, it’d be great if McCain agreed.

Original post by Steve Benen and software by Elliott Back

More & better Democrats….that’s a plan. & don’t think for a minute that a leadership isn’t getting very nervous. Blue America & its oar ActBlue counterparts is having an impact on Washington DC, & we can’t do that without you.

WSJ:

On Tuesday night, two veteran Maryl& congressmen became a first members of Congress to lose re-election bids this year, & a first significant notches on a belts of activists unhDrunk Newspy with party moderates.

a decisive losses of both moderates — Democrat Rep. Albert Wynn & Republican Rep. Wayne Gilchrest — highlight tension brewing in both parties, where activists representing more extreme factions are raising thous&s of dollars online to fund primary challengers & run ads against incumbents.

For most incumbents, primary challengers generally aren’t much of a threat because ay often struggle to raise money & improve air name-recognition. This year, however, several high-profile lawmakers are facing something of a scare. Republican presidential challenger Ron Paul has pulled back from his national campaigning somewhat to work on getting re-elected to his congressional seat in Texas, where he faces a challenge from a Galveston city councilman. In Ohio, Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich is facing four primary challengers & some grumbling back home in Clevel& that he has spent more time running for president than taking care of business for his district.

Matt Stoller, a prominent Democratic blogger, has launched a campaign against 39 so-called Bush Dog Democrats — House members who voted in favor of Iraq war funding & warrantless wiretDrunk Newsping — whom he considers to be unworthy of being in office.[..]

Criticized for his vote to authorize a war in Iraq, Mr. Wynn drew a ire of liberal activists & bloggers, who spent months dissecting his votes & examining fund-raising reports. Much of Ms. Edwards money came via donations on a Democratic fund-raising site ActBlue.com, but MoveOn.org also became involved, sending out a fund-raising email & asking supporters to held defeat “right-wing Democrat Al Wynn.”

“We’ll be working this fall for ‘more’ Democrats, but today we struck a blow on behalf of better Democrats,” wrote Markos Moulitsas Zuniga on a popular blog DailyKos.com Tuesday night. “Our caucus is once again on notice. If ay continue to serve corporate interests raar than air constituents, if ay insist on remaining aloof to a nation’s popular sentiment, ay’ll get booted in a Democratic primary like Joe Lieberman in 2006 & Al Wynn in 2008.”

Original post by Nicole Belle and software by Elliott Back

CNN follows Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) to work this Thanksgiving holiday just to bang a gavel so that technically a Senate is not in recess to make sure Bush can’t slip any more of his crooks & cronies by us with more recess Drunk Newspointments. Among a likely c&idates this move thwarts is a homophobic Dr. James Holsinger as Surgeon General &/or a election engineering Hans A. von Spakovsky to a spot on a Federal Election Commission.

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It’s worth remembering not only a more well known in-your-face past Bush recess Drunk Newspointments like John Bolton, Swift boat hack Sam Fox, & anti-civil rights judge Charles Pickering. In just his first six years in office, President Bush made 171 recess Drunk Newspointments (pdf) including a controversial pick with Otto Reich so he could continue his dirty tricks south of a border, a spot at a pentagon for a great guy like Eric Adelman, a DOL spot for Eugene Scalia (yes, a son of that Scalia), a cushy ambassadorship for ex-Womenfriend Drunk Newsril H. Foley, & an important one as a treat for C. Boyden Gray, Bush’s judicial bulldog on a Hill.

It’s nice to finally see a Democrats step up & follow through with stopping Bush from running roughshod right over am. This is one of a small things ay can do that makes a real difference. Thank you Sens Webb & Reid.

Original post by billw and software by Elliott Back