If I hadn't seen this on their website, I would have sworn this came from The Onion or 23/6...

Hollywood's Conservative Underground: 'Friends of Abe' group meets quietly

No, this came from The Washington Times, and it cites a number of Hollywood figures known to be conservative -- Gary Sinise, Jon Voight, Lionel Chetwynd, Kelsey Grammer.  They have to meet in secret, slipping under the cloak of the bright California sun into discreet, well-hidden billionaire estates to plot their grassroots strategies.

The movement has grown over the past few years from gatherings of a few dozen to one last month that drew more than 600 to a billionaire's California estate, Mr. Boone said.

Among my wonderful Netroots Nation experiences was meeting Ret. Lt. Col. Charlie Brown, the Democratic nominee for the House seat representing the Fourth District in California.

Col. Brown was featured prominently last year at the YearlyKos Netroots Candidates events.  Back then he was expecting to run against loathsome incumbent John Doolittle, but since the incumbent has decided to retire to spend more quality time with his defense lawyers, Charlie is holding a narrow lead against Tom McClintock, a race that benefits Charlie the more people hear about him.

But right now, I would like to simply tell the story of how we met.  I think it speaks volumes about him.

...sunscreen.

Seriously, don't wear flowers in your hair.  They will just turn to potpourri.

The ten-day forecast for Austin, TX and vicinity...

Expect humidity as well.

... sunscreen.

I mean, my god, look at this...

Fri, July 11   Hi 100  Lo 74
Sat, July 12   Hi 100  Lo 73
Sun, July 13   Hi 101  Lo 74
Mon, July 14   Hi 104  Lo 74
Tue, July 15   Hi 101  Lo 73
Wed, July 16   Hi 100  Lo 74
Thu, July 17   Hi 101  Lo 74
Fri, July 18   Hi 101  Lo 74
Sat, July 19   Hi 100  Lo 74

Last week I wrote a diary about Al Giordano and his departure from RuralVoters.com, the website where his blog, The Field, appeared for six months and quickly became must-read blogging.  I'm not going to rehash the details here, so please read the diary for the essential background.  I tell the story fully and, I might add, quite compellingly.

I had some outstanding questions about the whole situation and I wrote to Al for some background, and he was kind enough to fill in the blanks for me.  I provide his unedited comments after the jump...

While I am not as fanatically attuned to the blogosphere as many Kossacks are, I am more attuned to it than most of my friends, and when we discuss the media coverage of the political scene this year, I inevitably cite the three people who have become, in my opinion, the Big Stars To Emerge in the political media -- Chuck Todd, Nate Silver and Al Giordano.

Up until a few days ago, Giordano's blog, The Field, was seen at RuralVotes.com.  They have parted ways.  The story of how Giordano and Rural Votes broke is one that is not particularly unique -- it's as old as journalism itself.  But the story here is not only the battle between Publisher With Something To Lose and Upstart Journalist, but the battle Progressives, Liberals, Democrats -- whatever you want to call us -- have with our own history.

At the end of the classic movie "Sunset Boulevard", Gloria Swanson, a former movie star now aged and long past her prime, makes the throng await her final entrance.

Only the throng is not an adoring public or an awaiting film crew.  The throng are the police, awaiting her appearance to arrest her for murder.

But deep in her dementia, she descends the stairs of her home, garishly made up and coiffed in what she imagines to be her former beauty, and informs the officers, "I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille."

Todd Beeton at MyDD.com quotes Chuck Todd

She only has leverage this week.

Barack does not have to name his running mate immediately.  He can go about running his general election, trying to work all those swing states, seeing if he can sway Hillary voters without her help.  If the numbers move, the more he will realize he doesn't need her, and will be free to choose someone else.

Consequently, Hillary is motivated to push Barack to commit to her as running mate sooner rather than later, if that's what she really wants.  I believe that is what she wants.  

Found this very revealing item on Andrew Sullivan's blog.

The source link is from a conservative website, and their mission evidently is to rebuild the conservative movement through community-driven grassroots websites. Essentially, they are trying to replicate what DailyKos has achieved, only for the right.  So when you read what they have to say, keep in mind that this is not from a hopeful liberal.  This is a CONSERVATIVE SPEAKING...

The conventional wisdom is that the Republican brand is ruined.  People are going to vote against anyone with an (R) next to their name.  But conservatives like to think that people in principle are in favor of their policies, that the bad acts of the Bush administration has tarnished their brand, but a return to their intellectual roots will bring the public back to the GOP in droves.

Wikio.com lists the 100 most influential political blogs on the Internet

Someone is missing from this list.

Can you guess who?

There is a minor kerfuffle afoot over Arianna Huffington's assertion that John McCain did not vote for George Bush in 2000.

She claims that McCain admitted this at a dinner party that Candice Bergen hosted in LA not long after the 2000 election, and that he was pretty proud of it.  Indeed, he was so abused by the infamous treatment he received at the hands of Karl Rove during that primary season, it would have been somewhat shocking to hear that McCain did vote for him.  And it would hardly hurt his maverick image to say such a thing.

Anyway, McCain's people flatly deny Arianna's claim.  Now there is an eyewitness claim from two other guests at the party, Bradley Whitford and Richard Schiff, both actors from "The West Wing" TV show, that back up Arianna's account of the evening.  McCain's people continue to deny it emphatically.

Surely all of us, conservative and liberal, right and left, people of all colors, faiths and nationalities... surely all of us will join together as one and stop this abomination from ever happening!!!

Madonna is hoping to remake classic movie Casablanca, but update it for a modern-day audience by setting it in Iraq...

"She wants to update the story and maybe set it in a modern war zone such as Iraq. There is no script yet.

Well, it looks like him anyway.

The point is, just when it seems like the Bush Administration can reach no further nadir in competence, another jaw-dropping abomination hits the news.

The story here is that a 22-year old kid won a $300 million contract to provide ammunition to US and Afghan forces in Afghanistan.

Obviously, I hang around the Daily Kos site and have a high regard for many of the things I read here.  Some of the writers here are rock stars to me.  I also believe that a person writing a diary here with mistakes of fact tends to get called out with amazing speed.

However, I recognize that this site is far more amenable to some points of view than others.  I would not expect a writer or columnist for a major media publication to cite a diary on the Daily Kos as the sole evidence to something he is publishing in his periodical.  While a diary, or even a front page item, might be a great lead for an item or column, I would expect that journalist or columnist to do a bit more digging to confirm the veracity of what they read here, which, after all, has a partisan axe to grind.

I am mystified at all the whining and hand wringing that Hillary is not popular on the Daily Kos.  Hillary has always been lowly regarded on Daily Kos even before the campaigns started.  She has always been seen as not progressive enough for most Kossacks' tastes.  She has been very low in the pack in all the straw votes here in the last year, polling far lower than she does among the general Democratic rank and file.  Look at them!  She has never gotten more than 11% of the Kossack vote, and this when she was a massive frontrunner in the national polls.

So why are Hillary advocates looking for love here?  She wasn't popular here when she was winning.  Why would we want her more now that she's losing??

Assuming the January vote were to stand, in Florida, Hillary would receive 105 pledged delegates, Barack 67 and John Edwards 14.  This presents an edge to Hillary over Barack of 38 delegates.  

In Michigan, Hillary would get 73 pledged delegates, with 55 uncommitted.  Since John Edwards and Barack removed themselves from the ballot, it is reasonable to conclude that people who voted "Uncommitted" were likely going to vote either for Edwards or Obama.  

If we seat both delegations per these results, Hillary would have a delegate advantage of 111.  If we shift all 55 uncommitted delegates in Michigan to Barack, the advantage is down to 56.

Clearly there are minimum standards that Florida and Michigan must attain in holding a revote, but it could be done at a fraction of the cost of a regular vote.

Why?  There would only be one contest on the ballot - Obama or Clinton?  There would be no third candidates (throw in Gravel for a giggle, if you must), no down ticket races, no bond issues, no referenda.  All you need is a piece of paper with two choices - Obama or Clinton?

Because there is only one race on the ballot, a voter's time in the polling place would be a fraction of the time spent in a booth for a full ballot.  It shouldn't take more than a few seconds to vote.  So because the lines would move much more quickly, the revote would require far fewer polling sites.  This would cut costs drastically.

Six diaries in the last 24 hours about SNL last night, each one complaining that the opening sketch was unfair to Obama. The sketch is embedded in this link. Please watch it, as this discussion deals substantially with this sketch.

Okay, people, the first words of the sketch -- the VERY FIRST WORDS OF THE SKETCH -- are as follows -- "I'm Hillary Clinton, and I approve this unfair and deceptive message."