This is truly scary. And let's all remember, it happened on Bush's watch. Remind me again how this President is "strong on defense"?

Well, gosh, I almost teared up watching McCain drool all over Rick Santorum. Seems McCain thinks that Senator Man-on-Dog is a "good and decent person" who "represents family values."

McCain's latest cause is all over the news. He's traveling the country talking up his immigration reform proposal. Doesn't seem like a bad idea, to be honest. Ted Kennedy's on board, which is enough for me. It's a brilliant political move by McCain because it shores up his "moderate" image.

Examining some of McCain's actions, however, leaves us with some question marks.

While the Religious Right's influence may or may not be waning, it's clear that Christian conservatives have a disproportionate amount of influence within the Republican party. Republicans must seek the blessing of Religious Right high priests before they can climb the ranks of the party leadership, and GOP policy is often mandated directly by these folks. But who are they? What do they really believe? Who holds the power? I hope this will be a regular series describing the nefarious networks of power within the religious right and exposing the extremist views of its leaders.

It seems sort of redundant, but evidently, it's still necessary for me to say it: Bob Casey is our best chance for beating Rick Santorum this year. I won't repeat the entire "case for Casey", but I will make one point before I get to the meat of this diary. In 2004, Casey was elected with more votes than any other candidate for statewide office in the history of the state of Pennsylvania. That's electability. Today, Kos gave us another reason Casey will win.

I'm watching the Gonzales hearings on C-SPAN, and guess what? The administration and its shills have trotted out Debra Burlingame, the sister of the pilot of the plane that crashed into the Pentagon, to make an emotional case for its illegal wiretaps. Jeff Sessions of Alabama is speaking to the press, standing next to Burlingame, who is talking about how important it is for the President to "protect us".

Just in case any of you had any doubts about Glenn Greenwald being the best blogger of 2006 so far, listen to this:

The Democratic party has a window here. The American people have shown that they are dissatisfied with the Bush GOP agenda and are looking for new leadership. ABC News just released a poll showing that 51 percent of Americans think that the Democrats have a better vision for America than George Bush. This is shocking, as the Democrats haven't really unrolled any kind of manifesto or vision. This means that support for Democrats is high, but it is soft at this point. If the Democrats can come out with a plan, Americans will feel all right voting for them. Otherwise, they will default to the Republicans. What should the Democrats stand on this year?