EVENING UPDATE,  JANUARY 24,  2008

•   The word for the day is "unity."   Have you noticed that this has become the big vocabulary item in the Democratic Party?  It's right up there with diversity, multiculturalism, and Ralph Lauren.

The sensitive Democrats are concerned that attacks on Obama will destroy "unity." 

Now just a second.  Just wait.  Aren't these the same guys who tried to destroy Joe Lieberman, their own candidate for vice president?  Aren't these the guys who stand by and watch the Daily Kos demolish any Democrat who dares deviate half an inch from the party line?  Aren't these the people who have nothing to say about threats to any Democrats who might hint that we're succeeding in Iraq? 

They're talking unity?  If Mr. Obama can't stand to be attacked by...Hillary, how will he do against Putin, or bin Laden, or the rollicking mullahs of Iran?  Oh, wait, I know.  He won't have to do anything because he'll "negotiate unconditionally" with them.  Just give peace a chance, as the Cambodians know. 

This was the party whose leader once said we would "pay and price" and "bear any burden."

•   Meanwhile, a Financial Times columnist expresses worry that Bill Clinton's international image can be tarnished by his partisanship in this campaign.  Now, no one would say that if he were attacking the evil BUSH.  But he's going after Barack Obama, and that seems to be the crime. 

I must say that this is very dangerous stuff in a democracy.  No doubt Bill Clinton has, on occasion, gone over the top.  But I see nothing racist in what he has done.  I mean, the man has his office in Harlem, and Harlem's congressman, Charlie Rangel, is supporting his wife.  What is dangerous is that some people think we should have several classes of presidential candidates - the touchable and the untouchable.  This is frighteningly similar to speech codes on college campuses.  You may say this about this group, but not about that one.  You must be sensitive, but only toward certain people, those on the approved list.

It is wrong.  Mr. Obama is a thoughtful adult.  He can take care of himself.  If he can't, he might choose a different line of work.  If the Clintons are, shock, smearing him, go after them.  But don't expect a pass.

•   Sylvester Stallone endorses McCain.  Thought you'd like to know.  

•   CBS's "Sixty Minutes," which has always slanted against the Iraq war, will feature this week the American agent, George Piro, who interrogated Saddam Hussein after Hussein's capture.  Most of the stuff coming out has been reported before.  But I was struck by this passage in the CBS story describing the spot:

He also intended and had the wherewithal to restart the weapons program. "Saddam still had the engineers. The folks that he needed to reconstitute his program are still there," says Piro. "He wanted to pursue all of WMD…to reconstitute his entire WMD program." This included chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, Piro says.

That's the heart of it.  Look, there were legitimate reasons to oppose our going into Iraq, especially if you thought Iran should be the priority.  But it's absurd, and dishonest, to believe that Saddam was virginal on WMDs.  We invaded in 2003.  It is now five years later.  If we hadn't invaded, we can only imagine where he'd be with those programs today. 

But "Bush lied, thousands died," is much simpler, and makes better TV.

•   And still one more Russian shipment of nuclear fuel has arrived in Iran.  About 80 percent of the promised Russian supply has now been delivered.

By the way, isn't it interesting that all these "environmentalists" who agonize over nuclear power plants in the U.S. have no reaction when Iran announces it's going to build them there, in a country with a history of earthquakes?  Well, maybe the enviros feel that we must not criticize another culture.  After all, who are we?  Or maybe they know what we feel in our gut - that nuclear power plants aren't the goal.  After all, what's a few nuclear weapons among friends?

At the same time, outgoing Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns insists that the new sanctions to be voted on at the UN are actually quite tough:

Burns said the draft increases travel restrictions on Iranian nuclear scientists, bans trade in items that can be used for nuclear purposes and freezes more Iranian assets.

Please note that nothing up to this point has worked.  Enrichment of uranium is the key to any nuclear program, and that continues.  Does anyone think that sanctions like the ones described will stop it?
 

•   There's a story circulating that John Edwards, at a fund-raiser, called John McCain "crazy."  Mr. Edwards spends $1,200 for a haircut.  Who's he calling crazy?  Here's the quote:

He did mention that he thought McCain was the likely Republican nominee and that McCain was “crazy”—unfit to have his “finger on the button.”

He said that Hillary and Obama have true dislike for each other and that after the most recent debate Hillary mentioned to John in passing that there’s more about Obama and that “slum landlord” [Rezko] that has yet to be disclosed to the public.

Tim Robbins raised the possibility of a brokered convention and Edwards mentioned that it was remote but a possibility.

Tim who?  Edwards hangs around with Tim Robbins, Mr. Susan Sarandon, at fund-raisers?
Look, we can't be sure of this story, but it sounds right.   And we're grateful that we now know Tim Robbins's assessment of the political season.  I learned alot.

•   Oh, a request:  If anyone is having trouble with our RSS feed, especially if you're using Explorer, would you let us know at comments@urgentagenda.com.  Thanks.

Be back tomorrow.

Posted on January 24, 2008.