WE WANT TO REMIND everyone that it was FIVE YEARS AGO today that W. told the world that combat operation in Iraq were over and that for the U.S. it was “mission accomplished.” While we’re at it might as well also remind you of a few other things W. said:

“I’m the commander — see, I don’t need to explain — I do not need to explain why I say things. That’s the interesting thing about being president.”

“We spent a lot of time talking about Africa. Africa is a nation that suffers from incredible disease.”

“I am surprised, frankly, at the amount of distrust that exists in Washington. And I’m sorry it’s the case, and I’ll work hard to try to elevate it.”

“I think - tide turning - see, as I remember - I was raised in the desert, but tides kind of - it’s easy to see a tide turn - did I say those words?”

“I think that the vice president is a person reflecting a half-glass-full mentality.”

“I glance at the headlines just to kind of get a flavor for what’s moving. I rarely read the stories, and get briefed by people who are probably read the news themselves.”

“You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test.”
“And let me say, thanks for the kids. I learned an awful lot about bathtub toys - about how to work the telephone. One kid knows - several of them know their own phone numbers - preparation to go to the dentist. A lot of things I’d forgotten.

A PEACE BRIDGE discussion and community meeting sponsored by Olmsted Parks Conservancy will be held at 6:30 p.m. in the West Side Community Services Center, 161 Vermont St. Dave Colligan, Olmsted chairman, and Olmsted CEO Tom Herrera-Mishler will lead the discussion. Program is open to the public.

HILARY CLINTON wants a straight up debate with Obama with no moderator. Their last debate in Pennsylvania was a disastrous display of just how stupid moderators can be––asking the most trivial and tabloid-style questions one could imagine. It was so bad it was insulting to the American voter. We’d love to see a Lincoln-Douglas style debate. Unfortunately, Obama doesn’t seem to have the stomach for it. Apparently, from his point of view he has nothing to gain and everything to lose.

THE MEXICO-US FENCE doesn’t look like it’s going to be finished before W leaves office; they’re only halfway along in the 700 miles of planned border fence with only eight months before Bush is history. Like so many other Bush administration names, like the polluting legislation of the “Clear Skies Initiatives”, this a Orwellian joke. The “fence”, made of concrete and steel, is really more like the Berlin “wall.” this not poet Robert Frost’s “good fences make good neighbors” type of fencing. It’s unlikely the next president, no matter who that is, will be so stupid as to try and finish the project. The wall is likely to be pretty ineffective anyway. Didn’t anyone in the Bush administration hear about the network of tunnels going into Palestine carrying truckloads of guns, ammo and cash? Tunnel passages across an international border into the United States are already a real problem. Over 40 such tunnels crossing into the U.S. southern border have been discovered since 9/11. Large-scale smuggling of drugs, weapons, and immigrants takes place today through these tunnels. One sophisticated tunnel running from San Diego to Tijuana was a half mile long. It went 60 to 80 feet deep, 8 feet tall. It had a concrete floor. It was wired for electricity. It had drainage. At one end, 300 pounds of marijuana were found, and at the other end, 300 pounds of marijuana. The California entry into the tunnel was a modern warehouse, a huge warehouse compartmented but empty and kept empty for a year. In one office there was a hatch in the floor. It looked much like the hatch which Saddam had secreted himself in. But lifting that hatch disclosed a very sophisticated tunnel. It went under other buildings all the way across the double fence into Mexico and up in Mexico in a building as well. A wall is also not a solution to the probably 15 -20 million illegal immigrants already here. As long as the average annual paycheck in Mexico is $4,000 a year, Mexicans are going to want to get here so they can try for $30,000 a year.

A week or so ago, 14 members of Congress announced that they will file an Amicus Curiae brief in support of the constitutional challenge to the Real ID Act filed by the Sierra Club and Defenders of Wildlife. Section 102 of the Real ID Act gives Secretary Chertoff and Secretary Chertoff alone the power to waive any local, state, or federal law that he decides will slow construction of the border wall. The Real ID Act failed when it was introduced as a stand alone bill, and only passed when it was attached as a rider on a bill funding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with tsunami relief. The power given to the Secretary of Homeland Security to sweep away laws passed by Congress and signed by the President for the express purpose of avoiding judicial review is clearly a violation of the separation of powers provided for in the US Constitution. Chertoff has used this authority to waive environmental laws, regulatory laws, ignore ranchers, townships, private property and anything else that gets in his way.

Three years after Hurricane Katrina devastated Louisiana, The New York Times reported this morning that Senator John McCain, during a visit to New Orleans yesterday, was critical of the Bush administration’s handling of the disaster. “Terrible and disgraceful,” said McCain and ticked off a long list of mistakes by the current administration, saying there were “unqualified people in charge, there was a total misreading of the dimensions of the disaster, there was a failure of communications.”

Gee, John, are you certain you’re not making that observation a little too hastily?

AV columnist Bruce Fisher writes:

What’s a super-delegate to do?

1. Pay attention to Pennsylvania

2. Just say No to a repeat of 1972

Democrats should worry that 1972 is going to happen all over again.

That was the year when Pat Caddell was the strategist and pollster for Senator George McGovern, the South Dakota war hero who wanted to end the Vietnam War.

Pat Caddell sold campaign manager Gary Hart on a fantasy—that they could put together a new coalition to defeat a very weird man named President Richard Nixon. The Pat Caddell fantasy was that young people, racial minorities and newly politicized women would join with union men to defeat an incumbent Republican who was tough on Communism, tough on crime, and tough on social discord. The Pat Caddell fantasy turned out to be just that.

That history should be in mind as folks consider Hillary Clinton’s 10-point victory in the Pennsylvania Democratic primary. That contest was more than a win for Hillary Clinton—it was a signal that the Clinton coalition is an enduring phenomenon, and not a flavor-of-the-month. She really does connect with the Democratic base.

Democrats voting in a primary open only to registered Democrats chose a combative, class-oriented appeal based on a very forceful assertion of the federal government’s role in changing policy. This should be music to the ears of progressives everywhere.

Why? Because Democrats seem to be coming home—if only to Hillary. Republicans since Richard Nixon not only made inroads into but actually relied upon those key Democratic constituencies—older voters, white males of every age, women, Jews, and Catholics—who this week chose Clinton over Obama.

They chose Clinton notwithstanding Obama’s enormous advantage in funds and campaign competence. That doesn’t mean, though, that Clinton will be able to overcome the rules of the Democratic National Committee, which currently favor an Obama nomination.

The Cadell-like theory of the Obama candidacy has resulted in a tremendous excitement in “open” primaries. But Obama’s candidacy has failed to attract much support from the swing voters who could just swing back to the Republicans, the way they have since 1968—except when they voted for Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996.

Western New York, outside of Buffalo, voted for George Bush in 2000 and again in 2004. Western New York is full of Nixon Democrats, Reagan Democrats, Bush Democrats, and Clinton Democrats.

But given the way Pennsylvania went, Democrats here may be more likely to support McCain if they can’t have Hillary.