Not long ago, a source in Congressman Dennis Moore's office told me that employees from two major telecoms in his suburban Kansas City district -- Sprint Nextel and Embarq -- were battering him with demands for amnesty for spying on Americans' communications without warrants at the demand of President Bush.

And that actually makes me feel slightly better about the Democrats' capitulation on FISA. Maybe they did it because more people called asking FOR it than called to campaign against it.

Maybe it's not about the telecoms' money that swayed Moore and Barack Obama, maybe it's just that opponents of FISA were out-hustled by employees of telecoms. And how hard can that be, really, since the opponents of telecom amnesty organize all their opposition right out here in public, on DailyKos and other Web sites.

By voting for FISA "reforms" this week, Obama will help advance George Bush's best legislative year ever. That's an interesting way to punish Bush, whose government spied on Obama and the rest of America.

Up later this year: Drilling offshore and in Alaska. Bush will win that, and with gasoline prices sky high, Obama may even have to vote for both.

Also this year: War with Iran. Bush will get that through Congress too, and Obama will have to decide whether to fight against war.

Then: The election. Enough Democrats will hate our candidate and our party so much, that they'll stay home and give McCain the presidency.

Obama has no spare political capital. None. He's up against George Bush, the most successful politician of my lifetime. Bush is already planning to destroy Obama and congressional Democrats while ramming more horrors through Congress.

If Obama gives Bush a free pass for spying on Americans because Obama is fearful that a no vote and filibuster of the FISA "reform" will haunt him as a vote for terrorism, he'll let Bush make a huge withdrawal from his political capital account.

This just in:

Analysts said Sunday that Sen. Barack Obama's choice of a new church signaled his desire to build bridges to the white community and religious fundamentalists as he joined a congregation with historic ties to Pilgrims who came to America on the Mayflower to found a Christian nation.

"He's really trying to put all this black separatist baggage down deep in the hold of this historic ship, so to speak, where no one can find it," said Bibby Skollar, a divinity professor at Great Holy Toad Seminary in Atlantis, Ohio. "It'll be interesting to see whether this works."

Just hours after resigning his membership at the notorious, pulpit-pounding, anti-American, Black Liberationist Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, Obama and his wife announced that his family had transferred their membership to Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, part of a mostly white denomination that traces its beginnings to Mayflower Pilgrims.

more snark below the fold

It's time for Barack Obama to start all of his speeches with the Pledge of Allegiance.

Before John McCain begins doing it.

Because George Bush Senior did it, thereby proving that Michael Dukakis was a "card-carrying member of the ACLU" who vetoed a state law requiring the pledge in Massachusetts classrooms.

Because "Obama hates America" is the Republican's rallying cry. And you can't just deny that allegation and hope that, because it's stupid, it will go away.

It's often very difficult to figure out what advantages come from electing Democrats. Consider Montana's destruction of 1,700 bison this winter:

Officials with the Buffalo Field Campaign call this winter’s management actions the worst slaughter of bison since the 1800’s.

Montana is the wintering ground of choice for bison seeking refuge from the deep snows of the Yellowstone highlands in neighboring Wyoming.

But according to the Jackson Hole News, thanks to the slaughter and weather-related deaths:

Yellowstone officials say more than half of the park’s 4,700 bison have died this winter.

Yellowstone bison really ought to be safe in Montana, which has Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer overseeing the state's wildlife management and its agriculture department.  

You know that anti-American preacher we've heard so much about recently: Jeremiah Wright? Well, it turns out he's a Pilgrim. A capital P Pilgrim. His people came over on the Mayflower.

You know the history (or legend): English folks become unhappy with persecution by the Church of England, form their own religion and move to America, landing the Mayflower at Plymouth Rock.

Those original American patriots are the people who founded the church that ordained Jeremiah Wright.

Lately, Hillary Clinton has been unilaterally talking up the idea of a unity ticket: her and Obama.

I'm groovy with that, as long as Obama is at the top of the ticket. Frankly, Hillary vs. McCain isn't much of a choice. Rovian tactics? No difference. Iraq and Iran warmongering? No difference. Caving to conservatives? No difference.

Obama vs. McCain is a real choice. Iraq. The economy. You name it.

And putting Hillary at No. 2 would strengthen the ticket in big swing states while Obama carries the red states and the pair carry the blue states.

I think Obama should start having some fun with this proposal from Hillary.

Earlier today, McJoan wrote a diary about the American Legion's campaign on behalf of illegal spying against Americans:

Did the veterans of America's wars really fight so that AT&T could break the law without being punished? So that their government could illegally spy on anyone they want to, and get away with it? Somehow I don't think so.

...

If you're a veteran and are opposed to giving AT&T a free pass for breaking the law, please let the American Legion know that they don't speak for you. Call them at (202) 861-2700 or use this contact page.

But look what's on the VFW's home page:

"These terrorists have no privacy rights, as it relates to the aiding and abetting of future attacks, and the thought of giving them the right to sue their phone company for a privacy violation is asinine."

Wow. Now that's a twisted interpretation of existing law.

Here's the speech I'd like to hear Barack Obama plagiarize:

My fellow Americans.

Like you, I've been amazed by this year's primary election.

I am amazed that after so many years in this nation of opportunity, the voters finally have a chance to elect a black man or a white woman president of this great land.

For together, we have struggled long and hard.

Some of us came here as slaves. Generations of us could not vote.

Black Americans have been pushed to the back of the bus, bitten by vicious dogs, blasted with fire hoses and hung from the branches swamp trees.

And women have suffered too, sometimes more recently than other minorities. Black men could vote before white women could.

I'd like to help all people keep pace with progress in this country.

It would not hurt my feelings one bit if a woman were president before a black man.

And so, tonight, I urge the House of Representatives to begin simultaneous impeachment proceedings against both George Bush and Dick Cheney. I urge the Senate to convict George Bush and Dick Cheney on the articles of impeachment.

I have two daughters, both in high school, who use the word "pimp" daily. It's a joke to them. The jokes aren't appropriate for adult conversation, but I've never docked an allowance or confiscated a cell phone for the use of the word "pimp" because the jokes aren't all that bad.

It's a joke that spans generations. This afternoon, a 50-something co-worker in sales asked what I'd been up to lately. She's said she'd been "pimping" too much to keep track of the rest of the office lately. We laughed.

But the multigenerational Clinton family has no such sense of humor.

Today, MSNBC responded to a Clinton hissy fit by suspending David Schuster. He said they'd been "pimping" Chelsea to call super delegates or movie stars or some such. Stupid comment, but whatever, that shit goes on all the time. Folks here cheered and jeered.

Count me among the jeerers.

Because, to paraphrase the Untouchables, when we put one of theirs in the hospital, they'll put one of ours in the morgue. At least they'll sure as hell try.

UPDATE: As commenter josephk notes below, Olbermann has accused Bush of "pimping Petraeus."

I've sent messages to Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama making clear that if Bush smirks in victory over FISA at his State of the Union speech Monday night, neither senator will have my support on Super Tuesday.

Here's what I wrote:

I'm absolutely thrilled after watching our three top candidates furiously denounce the Reagan legacy in the South Carolina debate.

Finally, we're having a debate about those horrific eight years of Beirut bombings, Persian Gulf genocide, Central American hegemony and economic ineptitude.

And what we're seeing is three fantastic candidates, any of whom could beat the holy hell out of the paper doll known as the Great Communicator.

Karl Rove called Hillary Clinton a bitch in the pages of Newsweek, and Salon Editor Joan Walsh declared Rove the winner in this week's face off between Bush's boy genius and our very own boyish genius, Kos.

And that means the Democrats just lost another election.

Which alarmed me. Rove is using the pages of Newsweek to call the leading Democrat a bitch. Moulitsas is taking the high road to explain how, looking at the Bush record rationally, the Democrats simply can't lose. If this is a preview of the political season to come, Democrats are toast.

Her suggestion:

With Rove calling Clinton a bitch, why couldn't Kos open with a tough-but-fair column on Giuliani ethics problems the mainstream media have been reluctant to put together, from Bernie Kerik to Alan Placa?

Huh?

Wiretapping? Big deal. If you've done nothing wrong, you've got nothing to hide.

At least that's what Bush's remaining supporters tell us.

Funny, I thought Bush's best supporters were gun owners.

And I bet some of them talk about their guns online.

So they ought to be really pissed at that libtard Diane Feinstein, who's working to let telecom companies get away with spying on U.S. gun owners.

The National Rifle Association has for decades fought most gun-registration laws, which in the past, at least, were seen as a method for curtailing crime by aiding in the prosecution of gun crimes.

But organized gun owners generally argued that gun registration was a violation of the 2nd Amendment.

Today, after my futile daily Google news search for word that former U.S. Rep. Jim Slattery, D-Kansas, is still considering a run for Pat Roberts' Senate seat, I turned to a proprietary database for a second search.

I found that one year ago Monday, the Kansas City Star ran a guest piece by Slattery urging Missouri and Kansas voters to select Democrats.

If Democrats take control of just one chamber in Congress, the stranglehold will be broken. Monopolies are not good in business, and political monopolies are not good for our country.

Of course, the stranglehold hasn't really been broken, Republican values still rule Washington, and there's still work for Jim Slattery to do if he runs and wins.

But before Slattery announces his candidacy, he should renounce his lobbying clients' interests. Because Congress doesn't need another telecommunications attorney voting to allow domestic spying without warrants.

When I was a junior in high school, the first chair tuba player mistook the intent of a good-natured shove and pushed me hard to the floor. I rose up and thought better of punching him in the jaw, but only after my fist was already in flight. My timid tap on the Marine trainee's chin only enraged him further, and he promptly reduced the second chair tuba to a sniffling heap. Friends -- trumpet players, drummers, and the third chair tuba -- stepped in and pulled the psychopath off of me, and I spent the rest of the day desperately trying to make classmates think I was bleeding from the nose rather than weeping. But my snot wasn't very red, really.

I see a lot of second-chair tuba players in Congress these days. And I'm beginning to think they should keep capitulating rather than begin fighting to lose.

For some reason, we're not making a difference.

We're just not trying hard enough.

How can we make Congress seriously resist amnesty for law-breaking telecoms who've caused billions of dollars in damages for Americans by eavesdropping without warrant on Americans? (At least, that's what Intelligence Hotshot Michael McConnell has confessed to.)

How can we stop Congress from giving Gen. Petraeus another $200,000,000,000 to grind American soldiers into dust and fatten Blackwater's bank accounts?

How can we stop Congress from declaring war on Iran next week?

Here are some ideas on how we can harness more of daily kos's horses to pull America back from disaster.

My Fox-watching father-in-law took up the chant in July at my dinner table:

Rew Dee! Rew Dee! Rew Dee! Rew Dee!

I said to myself: Just wait until the Republican National Convention. You're gonna get real sick of hearing Ruuu Deee. Ruuu Deee. Ruuu Deee. Ruuu Deee.

That's when I realized that every time anyone calls Rudolph by the nickname Rudy, Rudolph gets a nice boost of brand reinforcement.

"Rudy" may sounds silly to his political opponents, but it sounds endearing to his political fans.

Earlier today, in a comment on a kos diary, I bluntly proposed we call Rudolph by his real name.

Here's why:

-- It diminishes his brand-building efforts.

-- It might make Fox-based voters realize Rudolph has something to hide: a communist-sounding name!

-- Or is it a fascist-sounding name?