Good Wednesday morning Fellow Seekers,
The big political trends favor Democrats in countless ways that would have almost unthinkable a few years ago when Karl Rove could talk, with some credibility, about his vision of a permanent Republican majority. At the moment, one contrary factor should worry Dems very much: John McCain’s proven appeal to independent […]

This piece is cross-posted at my new home, MinnPost.com.
When did Sen. Hillary Clinton first publicly express her outrage at the betrayal of White House promises that were made to her to secure her vote in favor of the 2002 resolution authorizing the Iraq war?
In the Sunday “Meet the Press” appearance that fanned the flames of […]

Good Tuesday morning Fellow Seekers,
In her Monday column, my friend and former Strib colleague Katherine Kersten assails unnamed “pundits,” “anonymous self-interested leakers” “aided and abetted by former employees of the U.S. attorney’s office” who employed shameful tactics of “rumor and innuendo” to commit both “a classic campaign of character assassination” and even “the professional […]

Good Tuesday morning Fellow Seekers,
Did the Minnesota Historical Society decline to host the local premiere of an important new film about the Rape of Nanking because MHS was concerned about offending Japanese-Americans?
The top MHS official who decided to decline that opportunity says concern about offending Japanese sensibilities had nothing whatsoever to do with the decision. […]

Good Thursday morning Fellow Seekers,
DFL U.S. Senate candidate Mike Ciresi has been on the attack lately against his chief rival for the DFL endorsement, Al Franken, over Franken’s early support for the decision to invade Iraq. Ciresi has said that he opposed the war from the beginning.
But it is apparently the case — and the […]

Reese Erlich says yes, by proxy at least.
After reporting trips to Iran, Iraq and Washington, Erlich, who will speak at the U of M this afternoon (details here) told me in a phone interview yesterday:

“The U.S. is waging a covert war against Iran by encouraging, training and arming ethnic minority militias that carry out military […]

And does a politician who aired and condoned slimy ads on her own behalf forfeit any of her right to complain when she doesn’t like the ads run against her?
Good Thursday morning Fellow Seekers of Wisdom and Truth,
As you may have heard, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann is asking local TV stations to yank an […]

And does it matter if you smear a smear artist who commits new smears while complaining about the smear against him?
Good Monday morning Fellow Seekers,
This is a foloup to a post from Friday that I confess I put up without enough thought or fact-checking. It linked to a piece by lefty media watchdog Media Matters for […]

Good Thursday morning Fellow Seekers, 
A few grim findings from the past five years of international polling by the Pew Global Attitudes Project:

Between 2002 and 2007, the percentages of Turks who said they had a positive attitude of the United States dropped from 55 percent to nine. Yes, nine. This in a country that is often […]

Dear Al Franken,
Why did you support the Iraq war at the beginning? Why did you trust Colin Powell on the weapons question and not Hans Blix? And when did you change your mind? And why? And what U.S. policy do you favor now?
I ask you these question in an open letter because you have declined […]

… but he got a non-answer.
(this post has been updated with more precise quotes based on an unofficial transcript of Coleman’s exchange with the witnesses, eb)
Coleman said that what the American people want and need and don’t have are “objective measures of progress” toward the U.S. goal in Iraq – military progress, governmental, either or both – that can be […]

Congressman  Brad Sherman (D-Cal) just came up with two unexpected exchanges with Gen. Petraeus, both on points I’ve wonder about.
Sherman (that’s him at right) asked Petraeus to consider the possibility that Congress might pass a law setting a deadline after which no government funds except for limited purposes, such as force protection or training. And suppose […]

If it is true that the appointment of the new leadership team of Crocker and Petraeus, and the new strategy of the surge are what has been needed all along and that Iraq is now headed in the right direction, who should be held accountable, and how, for leaving the wrong leaders in charge with the […]