Real Security
We will protect Americans at home and lead the world by telling the truth to our troops, our citizens and our allies. We believe in a strong national defense that is both tough and smart, recognizing that homeland security begins with hometown security.
Democrats have a plan that is comprehensive-- from repairing our military, to winning the war on terror, to protecting our homeland security, to ensuring success in Iraq and freeing America of its dependence on foreign oil--and it will finally prepare America for the security needs of the 21st Century. And we honor the sacrifices our troops, their families and veterans by making sure we take care of them when they come home.
Democrats are unwavering in our commitment to keep our nation safe. For Democrats, homeland security begins with hometown security. That's why we led the fight to create the Department of Homeland Security and continue to fight to ensure that our ports, nuclear and chemical plants, and other sensitive facilities are secured against attack and support increased funding for our first responders and programs like the COPS program so we keep our communities safe. We want to close the remaining gaps in our security by enacting the 9/11 Commission recommendations.
Today's McCain Myth: John McCain will provide law enforcement officials the tools they need to combat crime.
I suppose the upside to McCain's non-stop flip-flopping on immigration is that it makes for good web videos. He almost makes it too easy:
John McCain says he would keep our country safe. But the reality is Senator McCain has voted repeatedly against giving our law enforcement officers the resources they need to protect our communities. Senator McCain voted against funding for the successful COPS program and against interoperable communications equipment for first responders. And instead of putting new officers on the street, helping officers prevent crime, and instituting tough new penalties for criminals, Senator McCain voted against the landmark 1994 Crime Bill.
Following the debate on immigration reform that John McCain had with himself at today's meeting of the National Association of Latino Elected Officials, the Democratic National Committee released a new web video called "McCain vs. McCain: Immigration Reform." During this campaign, McCain has abandoned his support for comprehensive immigration reform to pander to the right wing of his Party. After adopting an enforcement-first approach that he previously said wouldn't work, McCain even promised to vote against the bipartisan bill that bears his name if came up for a vote.
Charlie Black, top adviser to John McCain, told Forbes that a terrorist strike would be a "big advantage" to the presumptive GOP nominee. John McCain later disavowed the comments and called them "untrue" and "inappropriate."But John McCain said just as...
John McCain's folks have a real penchant for sending out all the wrong surrogates. Rudy Giuliani recently attacked Senator Barack Obama's national security credentials despite the fact that John McCain claimed in 2007 that Giuliani doesn't have any national security...
John McCain and his campaign, apparently, do not have much faith in the American justice system, nor believe our Constitution can handle the national security challenges of this century. McCain supporter and surrogate, Rudy Giuliani, revived the "noun, a verb...
Today's McCain Myth: John McCain can be trusted on immigration reform.
Senator Robert Menendez (D-New Jersey) ripped John McCain on the presumptive GOP nominee's evolved (read: pander to the right-wing) position on immigration. In an interview with The Huffington Post, Sen. Robert Menendez offered a scathing rebuke of McCain, painting him...
Today's McCain Myth: John McCain has a consistent policy on nuclear nonproliferation.
Today's McCain Myth: John McCain would produce results with North Korea.
Today's McCain Myth: John McCain would produce results with North Korea.
Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean today issued the following statement in commemoration of Memorial Day.
While John McCain was campaigning and raising money in California today, the Senate voted on a bipartisan to bill to support our brave men and women in uniform by helping them pay for college when they complete their service. Unlike both Democratic presidential candidates, who took time off the campaign trail to support our troops by voting for the 21st Century GI Bill, Senator McCain refused.
Today's McCain Myth: John McCain will support America's veterans and military families.
Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean today responded to President Bush's outrageous comments about Democrats.
In the latest ABC News/Washington Post opinion poll, 82 percent of Americans say the country is on the wrong track as President Bush hit an all-time low in the poll. The poll findings are bad news for the McCain campaign, which is running on a simple platform of four more years of failed Bush policies.
In today's New York Times, columnist Bob Herbert details how John McCain's talk about supporting our troops falls far short of the action needed to help ensure our brave troops are taken care of when they come home.
After announcing the new Spanish-language page of his website during a press conference in Arizona this morning, John McCain once again tried to have it both ways on the immigration reform debate, demonstrating yet again that he's not able to lead his own Party, much less the country.
Columnist Andrés Oppenheimer ripped John McCain over his embrace of the right-wing on immigration in Sunday's Miami Herald. Oppenheimer, an award-winning journalist, writes that following an interview with the presumptive GOP nominee that McCain is "moving steadily backward" on immigration.
Republicans are incensed over our latest ad hitting John McCain for his commitment to 100 years in Iraq. And they should be -- it is devastating to John McCain's campaign. This past Sunday, Governor Dean appeared on Meet the Press and hit the nail on the head by picking apart McCain's defense.
John McCain says that, if elected president, he would nominate Supreme Court justices in the mold of Antonin Scalia and Samuel Alito.
Josh Marshall asks: If John McCain can't stand up to the North Carolina GOP swift-boat freaks, how can he stand up to al Qaeda?...
This week, the Democratic National Committee announced the Hispanic Leadership Council that will be led by long-time activists Gilberto Ocañas and Ingrid Duran. Arizona Republic: "We believe this is a key for us to be able to go on the...
As John McCain attends the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast in Washington today, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean called on the Republican nominee to denounce insulting comments made by one of his campaign surrogates, Rep. Tom Tancredo. Tancredo issued a press release yesterday attacking the "Pope's comments regarding U.S. immigration policy" and accusing his position of stemming from an interest in "recruiting new members."
McCain earmark cutting would leave Military families out in the cold.
Adam Blickstein, blogging at Democracy Arsenal for the National Security Network, commented on the President's speech about defense spending this morning. Bush just stated in his speech that spending on defense as a percentage of the U.S. economy was around...
In an op-ed in today's Los Angeles Times, General Wesley Clark and VoteVets chairman Jon Soltz point out that John McCain is "casting doubt on his own commitment to the newest generation of American heroes" by "hedging" his support for a 21st Century GI Bill.
John McCain says he "understands national security and the threats facing our nation." Yet at the same time, he has said he would keep our troops in Iraq for 100 years, despite the fact that key military and political experts believe our engagement in Iraq has not made America safer and has diverted critical resources from the real war on terror in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
GOP Senatorial candidate Bob Schaffer was touting his support for a guest-worker program while discussing his views on immigration. However, you will never guess the specific guest-worker program he pointed to: He pointed to the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S....
With General Petreaus testifying before Congress, Senator McCain once again got basic facts wrong about the situation on the ground in Iraq. During his questioning, he referred to al Qaeda as an "an obscure sect of the Shi'ites." This has become a rather frequent problem for the GOP nominee.
You can't really call them gaffes, when it's what he really understands to be the situation in Iraq:
Early in the primary process, John McCain backed away from his efforts on comprehensive immigration reform by telling Republican crowds that he "got the message." Just a few weeks ago, McCain traveled to Illinois' 14th Congressional District to endorse and...
"John McCain can't apologize for one mistake while making another of the same ilk. As recently as 1994 John McCain voted to cut off funding for the Commission promoting Dr. King's holiday, but today says he made 'a mistake.' If McCain is truly regretful of those past actions, how can he justify advertising on a website that promotes the same type of hate and division Dr. King gave his life to end?"
John McCain likes to style himself as a foreign policy expert on the campaign trail but this is a self-professed and unabashed supporter of George W. Bush's failed policies that is offering three words to the American people: Four. More. Years.
Late Tuesday, the Pentagon released a 2003 memo from the Department of Justice on the treatment of detainees. The Justice Department memo, dated March 14, 2003, outlines legal justification for military interrogators to use harsh tactics against al-Qaida and Taliban...
"John McCain's empty rhetoric today can't change the fact that he has steadfastly stood with President Bush from day one and is now talking about keeping our troops in Iraq for 100 years. His new appreciation for diplomacy has no credibility after he mimicked President Bush's misleading case for a unilateral war of choice when it mattered most. Why should the American people now trust John McCain to offer anything more than four more years of President Bush's reckless economic policies and failed foreign policy?"
In an effort to burnish his foreign policy credentials, John McCain made a taxpayer-funded campaign swing through Europe and the Middle East this week. But the trip was not the success the McCain campaign had hoped for.
At the Baker Institute for Public Policy in February, McCain made the same mistake he's made three different times in the last three days when he said: "But Al Qaeda is there, they are functioning, they are supported in many times, in many ways by the Iranians."
Well, not really.
This wasn't some little piece of trivia, either, and it undermines his argument that he somehow has his an expertise on matters of foreign policy.
Today's McCain Myth: John McCain has been right on Iraq all along.
John McCain appeared on the NPR program, Morning Edition today. In the radio appearance, McCain cited Jim Oberweis' anti-immigrant rhetoric for the Republicans' loss of former Speaker Denny Hastert's seat to Democratic Rep. Bill Foster. Despite traveling to the district...
On the same day John McCain began his taxpayer-funded campaign swing through Europe and the Middle East, a new report revealed John McCain's double talk on foreign policy. According to reports, despite portraying himself as "an unyielding hawk" to win over skeptical conservative leaders, McCain "has privately assured prominent supporters in the traditional foreign policy camp that 'his more exuberant statements don't necessarily reflect his real views.'" [Los Angeles Times, 3/16/08]
John McCain's silence last night while his Republican colleagues in the Senate forced votes on mean-spirited enforcement-only immigration amendments speaks volumes about how far he is willing to go to pander to the far right.
The Bush administration is
reportedly trying to make sure a Pentagon report finding "no direct connection between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda" never sees the light of day.
ThinkProgress highlights a Bloomberg article, which reports that some think McCain is "less bellicose" than Bush, he's actually "more confrontational [...] on foreign policy issues ranging from Russia and China to North Korea."
Today's McCain Myth: John McCain would fight for American jobs as president.
"It is shameful that George Bush and John McCain lack the courage to ban torture," said Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean. "And it is reprehensible that McCain changed his position on torture just to win an election. That's not the kind of leadership Americans want, and it's exactly the reason why voters will reject John McCain in November. The last thing we need is another president who will put politics over principle."
John McCain's efforts to pander to the far right by betraying the Hispanic community went to a new level this week.
Though he claims to be a "maverick" who stands up for what he believes in no matter the cost, The New York Times this morning shows how John McCain has "meandered over the years from position to position on some topics, particularly as he has tried to court the conservatives who have long distrusted him."
McCain’s sharp right turn on immigration
may cost him Hispanic support:
Ayensa Millan, a 24 year old community activist and DNC State Party Partnership staffer in Arizona, will deliver the Democratic Hispanic Radio Address this Saturday. Millan will discuss her impressions from meeting with Hispanic voters in Arizona and their disappointment with Senator John McCain's betrayal on the issue of immigration and his promise of a third term of George W. Bush's failed policies.
"Today's developments in Cuba are a welcome, dramatic, and long overdue change. Unfortunately, the Cuban people and the island's political dissidents will continue to face a tyrannical dictatorship led by Fidel's brother Raul.
"Despite promising to help bring democracy to Cuba as a presidential candidate, President Bush has repatriated some 8,000 Cuban refugees fleeing the Castro regime during his tenure, and this week becomes the President who presided while power was transferred seamlessly from one Castro to another. The Republican frontrunner, John McCain, offered more of the same wait-and-see attitude today after months of remaining silent while his fellow Republican candidates used Castro's lines in their speeches and warned that Cuban refugees might bring suitcase bombs with them while inciting fear over immigrants.
"We all stand united to help the Cuban people reclaim the freedom they have been denied for almost five decades and to help a free Cuba take its rightful place among the democratic nations of the Americas. But the Cuban people deserve straight talk, not a third Bush term of empty promises and shallow rhetoric from their elected officials."
Pure coincidence, I'm sure. From Think Progress: In October 2006, President Bush authorized the construction of a 700-mile border fence between the United States and Mexico. Now, however, the Department of Homeland Security’s construction plans are facing opposition from Texans...
I briefly alluded to what's going on with FISA and the Protect America Act (PPA) yesterday, but missed a lot of the specifics because of the DRAMA! of the House Republicans interrupting the service for Tom Lantos and later walking out during a contempt vote.
On Fox News Sunday this morning, President Bush expressed his confidence that John McCain will offer a third Bush term, and made it clear he'd be "glad to help [McCain] if he's the nominee" assuring Chris Wallace that McCain is "absolutely" a conservative. [Fox News Sunday, 2/10/08]
Either John McCain's shameless pandering knows no bounds or the Double Talk Express runs on ethanol. During his remarks at the Conservative Political Action Conference today, Campaign McCain tried to proclaim himself a consistent conservative by claiming to have campaigned against ethanol subsidies in Iowa. But in what Fortune magazine called "a flip-flop so absurd it'll be a wonder if it doesn't get lampooned by late-night comedians" the Real McCain pandered to Iowa Republicans: declaring himself a "strong" ethanol supporter and calling it "a vital alternative energy source not only because of our dependency on foreign oil but its greenhouse gas reduction effects." [Fortune, 10/31/06]
"A Van Buren man paroled in 2004 after then-Gov. Mike Huckabee commuted his six-year prison sentence for fourth-offense DWI pleaded guilty to a new drunken driving charge Tuesday."
John McCain turned himself into the Republican Party's establishment frontrunner yesterday, but he did it by turning himself against his past principles, and ditching his credibility as part of a do-anything-to-win strategy. As he has done with other issues he once championed like campaign finance reform, McCain abandoned his position on immigration to save his campaign, and just last week admitted he would vote against the immigration bill he personally co-sponsored in 2006. Asked by Janet Hook of the LA Times during the debate from California last week if his "original proposal came to the Senate floor, would you vote for it?" McCain admitted under pressure, "no, I would not." [CNN debate, 1/30/08; http://youtube.com/watch?v=PgvFkICnRoo]
Now that his win in Florida has thrust him back into frontrunner status, the voters are getting another look at John McCain's do-anything-to-win campaign strategy. On issue after issue, including his own signature immigration reform bill, the John McCain who once had a reputation for sticking to his principles no matter the cost has been replaced with the opportunistic John McCain who has set aside his principles.
Now that his win in Florida has thrust him back into frontrunner status, the voters are getting another look at John McCain's do-anything-to-win campaign strategy. On issue after issue, including his own signature immigration reform bill, the John McCain who once had a reputation for sticking to his principles no matter the cost has been replaced with the opportunistic John McCain who has set aside his principles.
In an interview with National Journal, former Director of National Intelligence, John Negroponte, confirmed the use of waterboarding as an interrogation tactic by the Bush administration.
Senators Jim Webb (D-Virginia) and Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri) spoke about the need for a "modern day Truman Commission," and last year introduced an amendment to that effect. The commission was signed into law by the President as part of the...
From the Huffington Post: "The presidential candidate who sang "Bomb bomb Iran" is already looking towards the war after the war in Iraq."
Another installment of Governor Huckabee vs. presidential candidate Huckabee. This time, Mike continues his rightward spiral on immigration:
When Bush finally got around to reading the National Intelligence Estimate that determined that Iran had disbanded its nuclear ambitions in 2003, he didn't say he disagreed with it.
Yesterday I talked about Huckabee's flip-flop on immigration. After his top immigration surrogate claimed he supported a constitutional amendment to deny birthright citizenship -- and after his campaign refused to back away from it -- they later put out a statement reversing his position.
Today the Washington Times reported that Mike Huckabee vowed to amend the Constitution to prevent children born in the U.S. to illegal aliens from automatically becoming American citizens. It attributed this information to his "his top immigration surrogate," and fits nicely with his recent sharp right turn on immigration.
After years of championing a comprehensive immigration reform package that would have opened up a path to legalization for the millions of undocumented workers in the United States, John McCain sings a very different tune today in hopes of keeping his presidential hopes alive.
No han pasado 48 horas, y ya los precandidatos presidenciales del Partido Republicano se han distanciado a toda velocidad del tono moderado que trataron de usar durante la discusión sobre inmigranción en el debate de los precandidatos patrocinado por Univisión el domingo en Miami.
It took less than 48 hours for the Republican Party's presidential candidates to run away from the moderate tone on immigration they had tried to use at the Univision Republican debate on Sunday.
Last night I was kicked out of the press file from the Univision debate because Republicans didn't want me to pass out a press packet highlighting the Republican candidates' real positions on issues important to Hispanic voters. Republican allies at the debate made sure I was kicked out by security, and I was threatened that I'd be arrested if I returned to campus. All for distributing a simple press packet to reporters inside the media filing room.
Smooth talking Mitt Romney still seems to think he can talk his way out of his campaign's biggest problems. After failing to address his litany of flip-flops and complete lack of credibility in yesterday's speech in Texas, Romney is giving a speech in Iowa today aimed at tackling another challenge: his lack of foreign policy experience.
On the same day the the Pew Hispanic poll and the LA Times released the details of a new poll showing Hispanic voters are more inclined to vote Democratic than they have been since the late 1990's, Governor Dean met with Reverend Luis Cortes to call on the Republican presidential candidates to tone down their anti-immigrant rhetoric.
Gov. Huckabee says 'It'll happen again' on NIE blankness:
Smooth talking Mitt Romney's blatant hypocrisy on immigration reform is on full display today. One year ago, the Boston Globe revealed that Romney had employed a landscaping company that used undocumented workers on the lawn of his Belmont mansion.
I guess he couldn't pull a Huckabee and say he hadn't heard about it. Instead, he tells RedState that Iran "benefits" from "all this."
Romney nixes landscaping company after hiring undocumented workers... again.
This was an important finding related to our nation's security that dominated the news coverage over the last couple days. Is this a show of the same kind of disinterest that presumably led to Bush trying to claim he wasn't briefed on the findings until last week?
An odd moment from Bush's press conference came when he claimed that he learned of the new intelligence assessment last week that Iran stopped its nuclear weapons program back in 2003.
Mitt and Rudy's ever-evolving positions:
Rudy describes an imaginary NYC in new ad. From Factcheck.org
While our resources are bogged down in Iraq, White House officials privately express pessimism about the situation there.
Lieutenant General Ricardo S. Sanchez, U.S. Army, retired, who served as the top American commander of U.S. Armed Forces in Iraq following the U.S invasion in March 2003, will deliver the Democratic Radio Address on Saturday, November 24.
Today, Nevadans will get a first-hand look at the contrast between the strong Democratic presidential candidates who took part in last night's DNC-sanctioned debate in Las Vegas and smooth talking Mitt Romney's empty rhetoric and crass flip-flopping.
Bernie Kerik and Rudy Giuliani have been the best of friends. We put together a presentation to shed some light on how we got to where we are today, with Kerik indicted on 16 felony counts.
Washington, DC -- Upon hearing the news that Bernard Kerik would be indicted on multiple corruption charges, Rudy Giuliani refused to say whether or not he would pardon his long time friend. Having helped shepherd Kerik's career, evidence suggests that Giuliani knew about Kerik's ethical problems and still promoted him from driver in his 1993 mayoral campaign to New York City's Corrections Department Commissioner to the city's police chief to business partner. [Daily News, 11/09/07]
The American people once again rejected the Republican Party's divisive fear mongering on immigration yesterday at the polls, just as they did a year ago.
This is what Julie Myers, head of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement division, awards the "most original costume" prize for:
Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean issued the following statement after President Bush spoke about the war on terror and his misguided war in Iraq:
Harvard student Mariana Zamboni will deliver the Democratic Hispanic Radio Address this Saturday. Zamboni arrived in the United States when she was seven years old to be reunited with her mother, and completed her studies in Los Angeles public schools.
El Presidente Bush ofreció un discurso sobre la política hacia Cuba de su Administración luego de casi ocho años de ofrecerle promesas vacías a la comunidad Cubano Americana, y luego de haber repatriado a unos 8,000 refugiados Cubanos que huían del regimen Castrista durante su presidencia. [New York Times, 10/23/07; AP, 10/24/07; New York Sun, 1/18/06]
Fred Thompson is in the Sunshine State again today, announcing an immigration plan that earns an A+ for political pandering, but just doesn't line up with his earlier positions on the issue.
As lobbyist turned actor Fred Thompson campaigns in Georgia today after a week of cancellations and no-shows that have angered supporters, voters will be wondering if he's really ready to be president.
John McCain, who lost the South Carolina primary the last time he ran, is in the Palmetto State for a second straight day highlighting the key problem with his candidacy this cycle: McCain offers fundamentally the same failed policies of the Bush Administration that are keeping our brave American troops bogged down in the middle of an Iraqi civil war, opposing critical measures to keep us safe at home, and failing to adequately pursue Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden.
From the archives comes this footage of George W Bush at the Republican convention dismissing allegations that Dan Quayle had received help getting into the National Guard during Vietnam.
As part of his multimillion-dollar marketing campaign, smooth talking Mitt Romney today rolled out a new ad, entitled "Jihad," that aims to distract from his complete lack of foreign policy credentials and litany of blunders on international affairs.
As part of his multimillion-dollar marketing campaign, smooth talking Mitt Romney today rolled out a new ad, entitled "Jihad," that aims to distract from his complete lack of foreign policy credentials and litany of blunders on international affairs.
Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean today applauded the passage of the federal Hate Crimes bill in the U.S. Senate. The bill would provide equal protections for every American by extending the definition of hate crimes under federal law...
