National

NY Times:

So Jeb Bush now says he would not have invaded Iraq if he knew then what he knows today. Neither would Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, John R. Kasich, Rand Paul, Rick Santorum or Marco Rubio. In fact, Mr. Rubio said, “Not only would I not have been in favor of it, President Bush would not have been in favor of it.” Which raises an interesting question: Would George W. Bush still have authorized the invasion in 2003 had he known that Iraq did not actually have the unconventional weapons that intelligence agencies said it did? Mr. Rubio’s staff said he based his comment on the fact that Mr. Bush had expressed regret about the false intelligence he relied on and — since the war was predicated on it — it is reasonable to assume he would have decided differently, if he had known differently. But in fact, while Mr. Bush has said he was sick to learn the intelligence was off base, he has always defended his decision to invade Iraq as the right one, arguing that the world is still better off without Saddam Hussein.

This really presents a logical conundrum for Republicans. Because for the last two years, hell, for the last seven years, every single Republican has criticized President Obama for withdrawing from Iraq, and then they blamed that pullout for the rise of ISIS. But how can that be? If they all now think that the U.S. invasion was wrong, then they have to blame President Bush for the consequences. And the consequences were sectarian violence and terrorism. We liberals said so at the time. And we were right.

Amy Walter on why Hillary needs Obama: “Every presidential election is a response to the current president, even when the current president isn’t seeking re-election. If people don’t like the guy in the White House, it’s almost impossible for a member of his party to be elected to succeed him. Even when voters are happy with their incumbent president, it’s not always a guarantee of success for the party’s nominee. Voters are often looking for a change in style as much as substance (see: Bush v. Gore, 2000). This is why we should spend as much time checking in on President Obama’s job approval ratings as we do the polling data of the potential presidential candidates.” “The magic number for Obama – and ultimately Hillary’s chances – is somewhere around 47 percent. If Obama’s job approval rating is above that, a Democrat has a decent to a good chance of winning in 2016. Below that number, especially if Obama is in the 45 percent range or below, it will be hard for a Democrat to gain entry to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.” President Obama's job approval is currently at 48%.

Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) slammed House Republicans who voted to cut funding for Amtrak a few hours after a deadly train accident in Philadelphia, TPM reports. Said Rendell: “Here, less than 12 hours after seven people died, these SOBs, and that’s all I can call them, these SOBs didn’t even have the decency to table the vote.”

Dear Governor Bush, Acknowledging that the invasion of Iraq was a bad idea doesn't "disrespect the troops." It respects the truth. Jason330

GOP Presidential hopefuls were asked who they thought where the greatest living President was. They all answered Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan died in June of 2004, eleven years ago. He is no longer living. Or so we thought. We have been joking about it for years, but maybe they really did reanimate the dead corpse of Ronald Reagan. The reality is they all have to say Reagan because the living Presidents currently stand at Carter, Bush, Clinton, Bush and Obama. They can't say Carter, Clinton and Obama. And if they say either Bush, it will look like a plug of Jebbie Bush, or self serving if you are Jebbie Bush.

During the last session of the General Assembly, the Senate passed the repeal of the Death Penalty 11-10, only to have House Judiciary Committee Chair Rebecca Walker bottle up the legislation in her committee, refusing to even consider the legislation table the legislation in committee. This year, repeal again passed the Senate in a close bipartisan vote, 11-9. But this time, at least the bill will get a public hearing may get a vote a vote. [DD: It seems my memory is faulty. Drew Volturo contacted me and said that the Repeal Bill did get a public hearing last session but it was tabled in committee due to lack of votes to release it.] The bill's House sponsor, Rep. Sean Lynn (D-Dover), is not optimistic about the bill's chances in committee, but he has a Plan B ready.

Claire Snyder-Hall would lose a Democratic primary to Tom Carper, but that's not the point. The Democratic Party needs the moral leadership of people like Snyder-Hall. I only hope that she isn't already mobbed-up in the corporatist shit hole so much that she'd regard a primary challenge to Tom Carper as an affront to propriety. Her work with Common Cause gives me hope to think that she is not. But if not to win, why run? That's a legitimate questions, Snyder-Hall knows as well as anybody that running is hard. But I think a primary challenge from the left could help bring the discussion of income inequality back home to Delaware. It could make Carper account for his Republican voting record, and put issues from the environment to women's health in play. Tom Carper's utter contempt for the party of Truman, Kennedy and FDR is well known, and on constant display. If he is not primaried, it could very well reveal our contempt for democracy.

Bernie August would lose a Democratic primary to Tom Carper, but that's not the point. The Democratic Party needs the moral leadership of the Green Party people who have left the Party in disgust. Do I blame them for leaving? Hell no! The Democratic Party, particularly the Delaware Democratic Party is a festering shit hole of corporatist functionaires. And yet the Democratic Party is the only viable counterweight to its own wrongheadedness. If not to win, why run? That's a legitimate questions, but I think a primary challenge from the left could help bring the discussion of income inequality back home to Delaware. It could make Carper account for his Republican voting record, and put issues from the environment to women's health in play. Tom Carper's utter contempt for the party of Truman, Kennedy and FDR is well known, and on constant display. If he is not primaried, it could very well reveal our contempt for democracy.

Who was the wage killing, American worker hating hold out?

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democrats have dealt President Barack Obama a stinging setback on trade by blocking efforts to begin full-blown debate on his initiatives. All but one Senate Democrat defied the president Tuesday by voting to prevent consideration of his request for "fast track" trade authority. Such authority would let Obama present trade agreements that Congress could ratify or reject, but not amend.

Jonathan Cohn on what this means for the GOP if the Court does strike down the subsidies:

“Republicans keep saying they’ll be ready to act if the Supreme Court upholds the big legal challenge to Obamacare, thereby wiping out financial assistance for millions of people in two-thirds of the states. With the clock ticking down to a ruling, it’s gotten awfully hard to take the GOP’s vows seriously."

And that is because the choice on health care is more basic than everyone is willing to admit. President Obama passed the market-based conservative Healthcare plan. Obamacare is actually Republicancare. But because a black socialist muslim was proposing it, it had to be opposed until death. And most in the Republican party are fine with that because most really do believe that having health insurance and thus the resultant health care is a privilege for those who can afford it (i.e. the rich), and not a right. So really the reason there is not Republican alternative is because 1) Obamacare is the Republican alternative and 2) they don't care if millions can't now afford health insurance, because if you cannot afford it it means you were not supposed to have it.

Last week, we had the Governor sign HB 56 (Wilmington Charter School Moratorium) into law. We saw the House unanimously pass Senator Townsend's SB 47, the Public Defender Reform bill. We saw the Senate pass Rep. Jaques' HB 58 (allowing NCCo Vocational & Technical School District to levy taxes), 17-2. Rep. Heffernan's E-Cig Indoor Ban bill passed the House, as did Kowalko's Opt Out Bill and Bryon Short's Employee Social Media Privacy Bill. Come inside to see how everyone voted.

I think we can all agree that Republicans are not really anti-abortion. They are anti-sex. If they were honestly interested in reducing the number of abortions performed each year in…