(updated below)
I'm traveling today and tomorrow, and posting will therefore be erratic to non-existent over the next 24 hours. Now that the primary war has concluded, I'm doing some additional events this upcoming week for Great American Hypocrites, which focuses on the personality-based electoral strategies the Right always uses (and will use again this year) and the vital role the establishment media plays (to use Scott McClellan's words) in acting as complicit enablers for those tactics.
Next Monday, June 9, I'll be doing my first book events in New York, and those in the New York area are encouraged to attend. Following are the events I'm doing over the next few days:
* On Saturday, June 7, at 6:00 p.m., I'll be speaking at the Future of Freedom Foundation's conference, entitled "Restoring the Republic: Foreign Policy & Civil Liberties." The conference is at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Reston, Virginia. Other speakers include Jonathan Turley, Bruce Fein, Ron Paul, Andrew J. Bacevich and several others. Event and registration information is here, and the schedule of speakers and events is here. The subject of my speech is "The 2008 Candidates and Civil Liberties -- A New Path or More of the Same?"
* On Sunday, June 8, at 5:00 p.m., I'll be at the 2008 ACLU Membership Conference, held at the Washington, DC Convention Center. I'll be participating in a panel discussion with Arianna Huffington, Rachel Maddow and ABC News' Jan Crawford Greenberg -- moderated by Adaora Udoji -- entitled: "Looking Ahead: Political Realities of a Post-Bush America." Event and registration information is here.
* On Monday, June 9, at 6:30 p.m., in New York, Democratic Leadership for the 21st Century is hosting a speech, Q-and-A session and book signing for me at Firefly, located at 54 Spring Street (between Mulberry & Lafayette). Attendance is free of charge, but please RSVP here if you would like to attend.
* On Monday, June 9, at 8:00 p.m., in New York, I'll be the guest on "Shoot the Messenger," the live theater show hosted by Daily Show Co-creator Lizz Winstead. The show is at The Green Room Theater at 45 Bleecker St (at LaFayette). Information about the show is here, and for those interested in attending, ticketing information is here. I'll be discussing Great American Hypocrites and political issues generally.
In the meantime: John Cole has an amusing and accurate post on John McCain's excruciatingly bad speech last night (it was borderline pity-inducing). And without endorsing all of its particulars, Ian Welsh has a thoughtful, critical look at the role which many parts of the blogosphere played in the primary war. Feel free to use the comment section to discuss the events of last night, those two posts, or any other noteworthy matters.
UPDATE: Digby posts an article from today's National Journal (sub. only) reporting that Democratic House Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes is now "fine with" the latest GOP FISA/telecom-amnesty bill, quoting him as follows: "It's about finding middle ground and we have middle ground. It's not going to please everyone but let's get on with it." That "compromise" is anything but "middle ground" as it all but guarantees dismissal of the telecom lawsuits and vests the President with vast new warrantless eavesdropping powers. I'll have much more on this when I have a little time in the next day or so.
On a related note, the multi-media ad campaign has been running against Blue Dog Rep. Chris Carney -- with the exception of a television ad that was placed on multiple cable stations owned by one of the telecoms identified in the ad as having broken the law (a company that has donated substantially to Carney's campaign and which would benefit from the amnesty he is advocating).
Even as every other newspaper, television station and radio station in Carney's district has accepted and begun running ads with identical content, that particular telecom/cable company has been stalling, delaying, repeatedly demanding "more substantiation" and otherwise creating one hoop after the next to jump through before they will allow the ad to run. At the moment, they have placed another "hold" on its being broadcast pending "further review" of the latest documentation submitted to substantiate the claims in the ad. Unless that is resolved immediately, I'll be writing much more about that shortly as well.
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