Lott's Retirement

Good riddance!

Actually, federal legislators know how to build tidy nest eggs without spending one day in the private sector — none of them much better than Trent Lott. Except for one year as a practicing attorney fresh out of law school, Lott has spent his career on the public payroll — four years as a congressional staffer, 16 years in the House and 19 in the Senate. Nevertheless, the Center for Responsive Politics in 2005 calculated his net worth at between $1.4 million and $2 million, or 42nd among 100 senators. It put his annual income from the Senate and private sources at $289,710, in the top 1.5 percent of American income earners.

Sarah Maria Santorum's tears inspire McBride song

It's great that Santorum's child can see first hand the truth of her father's words that good things can come from bad things.

This is the story of a defeated senator, his crying daughter, a Nashville songwriter and Martina McBride, the country music star.

It begins in Pittsburgh on election night 2006. Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), losing to Democrat Robert P. Casey Jr. by a wide margin, gathered his wife and six children around a hotel ballroom microphone and conceded.

The little girl at his side, Sarah Maria Santorum, then 8, wept. She squeezed her eyes and wiped her tears. She buried her face in her father’s arm, pulled away and cried some more — all on live, national television.

The image became an instant Internet sensation, fueled by snarky blogs like Wonkette, which declared it the “official screenshot of the 2006 congressional midterm elections,” and was debated for weeks on comment boards.

Now it’s a country music single.

McBride released the song, “For These Times,” on Monday — a social commentary inspired, in part, by Sarah Maria Santorum.

“I always tell my children that good things come from bad things,” Rick Santorum said in an interview this week.

I guess I missed the left side of the blogsphere's shot at a little girl. How compassionate, you can really see how they care for the little children (as they keep reminding us all the time).

Biden sees progress in Iraq

Biden has been going to Iraq every six months so he should know if there has been progress or not:

“I’m hoping to … make it clear that the patience of the American people is running very thin," he added. "Although terrorism is an international problem, Iraqi unity is an Iraqi problem.” Despite these problems however, Biden said progress is being made locally and that the United States military and tribal leaders are making strides against Al Qaeda.

Regarding the presidential campaign, Biden made it clear during his visit today that he is the most informed candidate when it comes to Iraq. When asked why he decided to come to Ramadi, the senator said: “This is my ninth trip. I’ve been here more than the president and more than most of my colleagues. I come about every six months.”

Tags: Biden

Reid knows more about what's going on in Iraq than Petraeus

Military strategist and Majority Leader Harry Reid has determined that if Petraeus states that things are starting to improve in Iraq, then he won't believe him.

(via)

It's amazing to me that Reid, who isn't fighting and doesn't know what's going on over there, thinks he knows more than the guy leading the fight. The guy he voted to approve. What hubris!

Here's a letter from a guy who also knows more about what's going on over there than Reid:

n raw and emotional language from the bloody front lines, Cpl. Tyler Rock, of the 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, skewered Reid for being far removed from the patriotism and progress in Iraq.

"Yeah, and I got a quote for that [expletive] Harry Reid. These families need us here," Rock vented in an e-mail to Pat Dollard, a Hollywood agent-turned-war reporter who posted the comment on his Web site, www.patdollard.com.

"Obviously [Reid] has never been in Iraq. Or at least the area worth seeing . . . the parts where insurgency is rampant and the buildings are blown to pieces," Rock wrote.

Based in Camp Lejeune, N.C., Rock catalogued a series of grim daily traumas in Iraq, like getting covered in ash and sleeping under a dirty rug in an Iraqi family's house, or watching "several terrorists die" on the same strip of pavement.

But he says he is optimistic about the future of a country that he says has "turned to complete s- - -" during a bloody insurgency.

He also spoke admiringly of the risks brave Iraqi citizens take every day.

"If Iraq didn't want us here then why do we have [Iraqi police] volunteering every day to rebuild their cities?" he asked.

"It sucks that Iraqis have more patriotism for a country that has turned to complete s- - - more than the people in America who drink Starbucks every day.

"We could leave this place and say we are sorry to the terrorists. And then we could wait for 3,000 more American civilians to die before we say, 'Hey, that's not nice' again."

"And the sad thing is after we WIN this war. People like [Reid] will say he was there for us the whole time."

Keep at, Reid. Keep dissing the troops in a time of war. That's going to go over well in 2008.

Update: Here's Jonah's take:

I've long thought Reid was mostly an empty suit but not the sort of guy to get furious at. He's no ideologue, just a fixer-type. But when he says that he won't believe General Petraeus no matter what the General says, it's really pretty outrageous, particularly when Reid begins the interview by invoking Petraeus's judgment in his own defense. Apparently, he's pocketed all he needs from the General and so why bother listening any more. I'd rather he just put his hands over his ears and yelled "Nah-nah-nah-woop-woop-woop — I'm not listening — nah-nah-nah!" then listen to his soporific sophistry.

But isn't that just what he's doing? In effect he's acting on the same level as the two year old and not as a statesman should.