Time for some serious Congressional hearings. The New York Times reports that Hamid Karzai’s brother, who has long been suspected of running a drug ring in southern Afghanistan — I mean, I asked Said Jawad, the Afghan ambassador to the U.S., about Ahmed Wali Karzai’s ties to opium trade in 2007 for TPM — is [...]

. . . but it’s not because I have any special ability to draw a primary challenger out of thin air. It’s because there are credible challengers sitting on the sidelines, waiting to jump in if Lincoln does filibuster health care. And if I know it, she knows it. Blanche’s numbers in Arkansas are weak. [...]

Yes, it’s true – Politico is actually trying to claim that the media have gone easier on Obama than they have on Bush.

The state-based progressive blogs are weighing in on Joe Lieberman’s filibuster threat, as well as on the “opt-out,” and overall it’s not pretty. Here’s a short sampling: *In Connecticut, My Left Nutmeg says that Lieberman’s move ” is the clearest signal yet that he is strongly considering retirement in 2012,” given that “[it] would be [...]

A New York bankruptcy court wiped out a $400,000+ mortgage because the promissory note and the mortgage had been detached from each other during the mortgage registry process and the promissory note had not been properly transferred tot he party trying to collect on it. It’s part of an increasing number of cases related to foreclosure which bear further attention.

Harry Reid “trusted him”:

“The question is, do I trust Senator Lieberman? The answer is, yes, I trust Senator Lieberman…. We’re looking forward, we’re not looking back. We’re not looking back at the 95 filibusters that were conducted, those are something that took place in the past. We’re looking forward to the future, a future that we believe sets a new tone for America.” – Harry Reid, November 18, 2008

Nice going, Senate Majority Leader Reid. Well, you trusted him, you fought for him — now you own him.

Senator John Kerry came back from Afghanistan calling President Hamid Karzai a “patriot” and supportive of a plan “closer to McChrystal than to Biden,” meaning he loves him some counterinsurgency, just not in the doses prescribed by Gen. McChrystal. Kerry’s Monday speech to the Council on Foreign Relations shows that in sipping the COIN Kool-Aid, [...]

  Reconcile the guy who wants to filibuster health care reform if he doesn’t get the bill he likes with the guy running for re-election who said all this:   WASHINGTON — After spending most of his Senate career advocating piecemeal health care reforms, Joseph I. Lieberman said Wednesday he strongly supports universal health care. [...]

Lieberman says he’ll join a Republican filibuster if he’s not happy with the final Senate bill: “I told Senator Reid that I’m strongly inclined–i haven’t totally decided, but I’m strongly inclined–to vote to proceed to the health care debate, even though I don’t support the bill that he’s bringing together because it’s important that we [...]

I know it’s fun to get he pom-poms out, but what exactly is everyone celebrating? MoveOn, which was asking members to pressure Obama last week, is now shifting gears to make sure the Democratic Party gets in line and votes to block a filibuster. Health Care for America Now was championing Reid for “standing up” [...]