Hullabaloo

Monday, March 17, 2008

 
Heart of Darkness

by digby


So I'm here inside the belly of the beast. The Villagers eye me warily. The Hillshills and the Bamabots circle one another with barely leashed antagonism. (Don't get stuck in an elevator with members of the opposing tribes --- the crossfire is lethal.)

Seriously, Take Back America a great gathering of DFH's from across the land and much good information and good will is exchanged. You can catch up on what's going on over at the Campaign For America's Future site.

I'm going to be on a panel tomorrow discussing the future of the blogosphere, specifically its relationship with the media. I've always felt that one of our primary missions was to challenge the press on its bias, narratives and conventional wisdom. It's why I got into this thing in the first place. If any of you have any thoughts on that topic, please leave them in the comments. (No primary stuff, please. This is a Big Picture presentation.)

Meanwhile, I'm off to this event. It's not on the TBA schedule, but if you happen to be here and are obsessively reading your RSS feeds, do stop by. (Firedoglake will post the live feed, if you want to watch it.)

Ten Democratic Challengers to Issue Plan for Congressional Action to Bring Iraq War to a Responsible Close


Washington, DC (March 17) – A group of top-tier Democratic congressional challengers will launch a major new grassroots effort on Monday around a comprehensive strategy to bring the war in Iraq to responsible close.



Darcy Burner (WA-8), Chellie Pingree (ME-1), Donna Edwards (MD-4), Jared Polis (CO-2), Tom Perriello (VA-5) and Sam Bennett (PA-15) will be in attendance at the unveiling of a detailed strategy document at the Take Back America Conference in Washington, DC. The release of the document will take place at:


Palladian Room

Omni Shoreham Hotel

2500 Calvert St. NW Washington, DC

5:30 pm EST


Other challengers .participating in the effort but unable to attend include Eric Massa (NY-29), Larry Byrnes (FL-14), George Fearing (WA-4), and Steve Harrison (NY-13).

Originating outside the Beltway and based on consultations with retired generals and other national security experts on a path forward to end the war, the challengers' document lays out a series of actions for Congress to take to end United States military involvement in Iraq, strengthen America and improve our standing around the world, restore accountability and checks and balances to our government and work toward energy independence.

"I wholeheartedly endorse this plan as a responsible and forward looking plan for ending the war in Iraq. As Burner and her colleagues correctly note, bringing our troops home is the first, but not the only step that must be taken to ensure a debacle like Iraq never happens again," said Dr. Lawrence Korb, former assistant secretary of defense in the Reagan administration. "This plan addresses the root causes that allowed the Bush Administration to lead this country into this mess, and sets us in the right direction. I applaud their efforts on this ambitious and sound strategy. This is progressive strength on national security in action."

digby 3/17/2008 12:55:00 PM |