Harry Reid, his baby powder is dry...

First thing I heard at 5 AM, Pacific time, was that Reid is threatening ... a filibuster. Stop laughing. He is our leader. And his Everlast wardrobe closet is ... ready to go. Those are NOT mothballs you smell. Stop with the jokes.

Leader Reid fights for us and he picks his battles. He warehouses his powder. We need to be appreciative.

Gagging yet? Have a dog bone... and the b-b-blogs will be back to saying all of the above pretty soon.

There is a co-option of message on the b-b-blogs, as they sense some real rebellion in the ranks. No shit. DC looks to be somewhere out past Pluto in terms of being clued into anything on earth... Meanwhile they bluster: gosh! they missed how weak DC is -- Duckworth juuust scraped in, despite spin from DC that the boyos (say they) fell for, shock in the electronic town square.

Stop laughing, you might choke on your dog bone...

There are signs all over, from MyDD in full genuflection to "not getting it" and, for those around for a while, in the upper corner today at MyDD is a pic of Ginny Schrader... the last anti-establishment candidate (PA-8) rally run out of Dkos/aligned blogs (7/'04).

Like Chris, I screwed up on Cegelis.

I didn't realize that the party establishment was as weak as it was, and I didn't get the basic dishonesty of the DCCC in this fight. The DCCC was squeezing donors hard to give to Duckworth, as did golden boy Barack Obama who appeared in Duckworth's commercial.

But what offends me is not that they weighed in on Duckworth's side, but that they pretended like Cegelis did not exist. I bet that a substantial portion of Duckworth's voters simply did not know that Cegelis was a Democrat. They probably saw Duckworth on TV with Obama, got some mailers, and figured, hey, I'll vote for the Democrat.

Cue the smoke and mirrors. Certainly on the establishment acting like Cegelis "did not exist".

Kos dropped her, hugged Duckworth and the lambkins followed suit. DC needed to deliver on Duckworth... return on investment, face saving, you name it... and the play is old. Decades old, but a recent one was the SF mayoralty run, Nov 2003. They dared not have DLCer Newsom (oh don't be taken in by gay marriages, it was all so cynical on his part) lose to a just-barely-not-a-Green anymore (Gonzales) at the start of the GE season. Marina District (Newsom's neighborhood) pulled in late and put him in. Sound familiar?

Blogs are in a hiccup, an interruption of the establishment message...grateful for Domenech, Lieberman ("Lamont! loves you, NARAL sells you out, click, donate and add a penny!") and even, just now, for Feingold. They shifted FEC hate to Pelosi. I say they - and the big bad DC Dems - want a pro lifer in that spot. Book end with Reid.

But let's get back to Leader Reid... and his big bruiser of a filibuster ... threat:

SAN DIEGO - As the Senate prepares to tackle the most sweeping immigration reforms in years, a top Democrat vowed Wednesday to do everything in his power, including filibuster, to thwart Majority Leader Bill Frist's proposed overhaul.

Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he would "use every procedural means at my disposal" to prevent Frist from bypassing the Judiciary Committee. Frist, R-Tenn., has made clear the Senate will take up his proposal next week if the 18-member committee fails to complete a broader bill.
"If Leader Frist brings a bill to the floor that does not have the approval of the Judiciary Committee, it will not get out of the Senate," Reid told reporters at the San Ysidro border crossing, a few steps from Tijuana, Mexico.

Bob Stevenson, a spokesman for Frist, did not immediately respond to a call Wednesday evening.

I am sure the Republicans feel properly warned and are girding for battle with "Give 'Em Hell, Harry" (Daily Kos needs to copyright that whopper)...

Toy poodle, "white girl", 200 USD on the tiny hoof

And lest she be left out, Hillary is on the record: no criminalisation should be part of any bill (there are several pending, Sensenbrenner, Spector and McCain-Kennedy, NYDN gives a fast overview, along with Schumer's position). I am certain the clinic docs at the last women's health care clinic in SD are relieved, she will fight criminalisation.... Kidding! We know that is filed under "tragedy".

I am all for sane immigration, amnesty, guest worker programs... but as a native Californian, I have never seen any, other than the one big amnesty program of long ago.... Nor any worker program, from "bracero" forward, that was not abused by the Anglo business community. For the past nearly 10 years (yes some things do pre-date Big Bad Bush) we have had relentless militarisation of the US Mexico border in California. Feinstein and Clinton (Bill) agreed on that... And I oppose any criminalisation of those who might help undocumented workers. We have enough laws, we really do. Coyotes and those who leave them to die in the desert (where we drove them to die) - are different.

However, I don't think the Dems mean much of anything with all this... bluster. Hoopla. Part of 'bitch and capitulate'.

And with photos like this, from the NYT - it accompanied today's story in the NY Region section, Hillary should not be talking about "plantation". AND pointing fingers. From her royal barge floating toward the WH from Chappaqua. Neither Hollywood nor DC does replay well.

[NYT]

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton invoked the Bible yesterday to criticize a stringent border security measure that, among other things, would make it a federal crime to offer aid to illegal immigrants.

"It is hard to believe that a Republican leadership that is constantly talking about values and about faith would put forth such a mean-spirited piece of legislation," she said of the measure, which was passed by the House of Representatives in December and mirrored a companion Senate bill introduced last week by Senator Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican and the majority leader.

"It is certainly not in keeping with my understanding of the Scripture because this bill would literally criminalize the Good Samaritan and probably even Jesus himself," she said. "We need to sound the alarm about what is being done in the Congress."

Mrs. Clinton, who is running for re-election this year and is leading in polls for the Democratic presidential nomination, spoke at a news conference in Manhattan with more than 30 immigrant leaders after meeting with them privately.

The meeting took place in an atmosphere of mounting urgency, as the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops called on its flock to oppose the measure, and tens of thousands of immigrants around the country stepped up a series of protest rallies in anticipation of a Senate vote on competing immigration bills next week.

One issue is cleared up early, VP choice will be JeeeeeSUS! In a heart beat. The crowded field shaping up for '08 should note*.

*Walter Shapiro in Salon, and worth the ad.

Addendum, 3:11 PM, PT: Kos senses malaise, due to the low fibre kibble.