There's always lots of good content over at PartyBuilder to choose from, so consider this a healthy sample:

• In Scooter's Free Ride: A Lesson For Congress, D. Tree examines what Democrats can learn from this whole ordeal.
• Pat Crowley draws attention to a Group Home in Lincoln Slated for Closure saying that to make such a decision without consulting or notifying the residents and their guardians is a violation of patient’s rights.
• In Mitch McConnell: Shows Scorn for the American Worker, Again, RDillon looks at the record of Mitch McConnell when it comes to the rights of workers -- adding a personal touch.

The Democratic Party gives anybody the ability to write blog posts directly on our website over at PartyBuilder (PB). You can read what everybody has to say, or you can create your own account and start writing posts yourself.

This is an open thread. Chat away...

Despite assuring the American people that anyone within his Administration involved in the leaking of classified information would be "taken care of," President Bush commuted Scooter Libby's sentence. Here's the web video we just put out:

This morning during a press conference with White House spokesman Tony Snow, a reporter tried to make an important distinction about Scooter Libby and his friends in the Republican establishment. We used the footage to make this video:

A poll from Survey USA found that more than 60% of Americans disagreed with Bush's decision to commute the sentence of Scooter Libby. Meanwhile the Republican presidential candidates tripped over themselves to stand with Bush and against justice.

Fred Thompson, who helped raise over 5 million dollars for the Scooter Libby Defense Fund, praised Bush saying, "while for a long time I have urged a pardon for Scooter, I respect the President's decision."

Anthony Circosta, an Iraq war veteran, asked then-Governor Mitt Romney for a pardon, twice. When Circosta was 13 years old he'd shot a BB gun at the arm of a friend and had been convicted of a felony, even though his friend was completely unharmed. Circosta needed a pardon in order to become a police officer in Massachusetts, but was denied twice by Romney. Today Mitt Romney praised Bush's decision to commute Libby's sentence.

Rudolph Giuliani, who fancies himself a "tough on crime" candidate, instantly caved when he heard about Bush's decision. Like Patrick Fitzgerald, Giuliani was a federal prosecutor at one time, though he may have changed his position on obstruction of justice.

Today Governor Dean will appear on CNN's Situation Room at 4:15 PM ET and then Bloomberg's Money & Politics at 5:00 PM ET. Don't miss it!

And for those of you who didn't get to catch Governor Dean on Hardball yesterday, I've got the video below. Enjoy!

Having trouble? Download the file here.

Adding insult to injury, Tony Snow brushed off the leak of the identity of a covert CIA agent. As if it wasn't enough to just excuse the obstruction of justice, today in the press briefing Tony Snow mocked the importance of this case, saying "In Washington, things get leaked all the time" in response to the characterization of the case as "serious."

(Video at AmericaBlog).

So if he's going to take issue with this being serious, let's take a look at what they've said about leaking classified information in the past:

Vice President Dick Cheney: "Those leaks do do enormous damage to our national security. It happens in several ways. It, obviously, reveals techniques and sources and methods that are important to try to protect. It gives information to our enemies about how we go about collecting intelligence against them. It also raises questions in the minds of other intelligence services about whether or not they can work with the United States intelligence service, with our CIA, for example, if we can't keep a secret."

Former WH Spokesman Scott McClellan, on President Bush: "The President has made it very clear that the leaking of classified information is a serious matter, and he takes it very seriously. That's why he is saying that we need to get to the bottom of this, and the sooner, the better."

Homeland Security Advisor Frances Fragos Townsend: "Let me be clear that, you know, with every unauthorized disclosure of classified information it does harm to our national and homeland security. Every leak is a victory for our enemies who plot to kill us, because we tell them something about our knowledge, our intelligence capability and our perspective on their capability."

Convicted felon Scooter Libby is free, thanks to his friends in the White House. So what about the average Joe convicted of, oh say, perjury?

Appeals courts that review prison terms imposed by trial judges may deem them reasonable if they fall within federal sentencing guidelines adopted in the mid-1980s, the high court said.

The justices upheld a 33-month sentence given to Victor Rita for perjury and making false statements. Rita is a 25-year military veteran and former civilian federal employee.

The prison term falls within the guidelines range and was upheld by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, posing the question of whether sentences within the guidelines ordinarily will be considered reasonable.

From ABC: "Rita had sought a sentence lower than 33 months, based on his physical condition--he has diabetes and other illnesses--his likely vulnerability in prison and his military service in Vietnam and in Operation Desert Storm."

From USA Today (June 21, 2007), via Talking Points Memo.

Wonder if Fred Thompson would call for a pardon for Victor Rita, like he did for Scooter Libby, based on the fact that he's "done a lot for his country."

President Bush's move to commute the sentence of convicted felon and former top White House aide Scooter Libby goes beyond the usual display of contempt for our system of justice we see from this administration.

It's not just because of the overwhelming public opinion in opposition to Bush's move. Americans are tired of this administration, and opposition to the White House is basically par for the course. It's not just because he thumbed his nose at our system of justice. Again, par for the course, as we've seen with the politicization of the Justice Department. It's not just because the White House dishonestly claimed the sentence was harsh, even though it was mid-range for sentencing guidelines. Once again, it's what we've all come to expect.

No, there are three main reasons why this goes beyond their usual contempt for the law:

• Scooter Libby was convicted for lying and obstructing justice while a top White House aide in order to protect others in the White House. After being convicted, the White House intervenes to protect him from prison without even claiming he was innocent. All this comes despite the "cloud over the White House" that Fitzgerald spoke about in his closing statement.
• President Bush completely ignored the Justice Department's Manual on Commutation. This sends the message that there's one system of justice for "loyal Bushies" and another system of justice for the rest of us. Here's the important section from the guidelines:
  Requests for commutation generally are not accepted unless and until a person has begun serving that sentence. Nor are commutation requests generally accepted from persons who are presently challenging their convictions or sentences through appeal or other court proceeding.
• As Fire Dog Lake points out, "by commuting Libby’s sentence rather than pardoning him, Bush insures that Scooter will remain silent and be able to invoke the fifth before before Congress and not risk being cited for contempt."

Democrats aren't just going to take this lying down. To start, Rep. John Conyers will be holding hearings on the commutation starting next week. And we're going to keep the pressure on this administration and hold them accountable for this disgraceful move to free convicted felon Scooter Libby.

Until then, you can call the White House and let them know what you think: 202-456-1111. Make sure to report back in the comments.

Chat away...

You guys wrote quite a bit over at PartyBuilder this weekend and today, so here's a highlight of a few that stood out:

• The Horizon For Wise Women On Their Own. Joanna M. Pucci, an intern for the Women's Leadership Forum, points out that elderly women are living alone in greater and greater numbers and our social security system must recognize the reality of this very vulnerable segment of our population
• Davidual also takes aim at the Republican administration and says that they haven’t done enough to help Americans who cannot afford health insurance in Liberty, Justice, and Health Care for all!
• Paul Thompson advocates making donations to those in need from small gifts such as contributing hair to Locks of Love, to end-of-life organ donations that help turn tragedies into lifesavers.

The Democratic Party gives anybody the ability to write blog posts directly on our website over at PartyBuilder (PB). You can read what everybody has to say, or you can create your own account and start writing posts yourself.

This is an open thread. Chat away...

We'll have more to come, but it the Bush administration has chosen to commute the sentence of Scooter Libby. More to come soon.

UPDATE 1: From Bloomberg:

The president's action means that Libby's conviction still stands and he is still required to pay the $250,000 fine ordered by a federal judge.

The question of whether to intervene in Libby's case had been termed a ``no-win situation'' for the president by David Gergen, who advised Presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton.

UPDATE 2: Only 21-percent of Americans favor a pardon.

UPDATE 3: Ahhhh... memories:

UPDATE 4: Governor Dean's statement:

Come on down to the second-tier party! Everyone's invited to take pot shots at flip-flopper Mitt Romney:

“I did not become pro-life because of politics,” former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee told the more than 600 GOP stalwarts at the forum put on by Iowans for Tax Relief and the Iowa Christian Alliance.

The comment echoed former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson’s comment earlier: “I didn’t become right-to-life on the road to Des Moines.”

“Conservatism doesn’t need an adjective. It needs a leader,” U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo said. “It needs a leader who will oppose abortions, not just because Iowa caucusgoers oppose abortions.”

Also participating in the forum were Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback and U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter of California.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Arizona Sen. John McCain were absent from the forum.

The New Mexico lawyer who lobbied for the ouster of former U.S. attorney David Iglesias was also the officer of a Republican group that pushed for tougher voter identification laws, possibly to make it more difficult for Democratic voters to cast a ballot.

According to an investigation by McClatchy newspapers, Patrick Rogers, an Albuquerque lawyer and secretary of the American Center for Voting Rights Legislative Fund, repeatedly pressured Iglesias to prosecute voter fraud cases where little or no evidence existed. Iglesias believes that he was fired in part because he did not pursue those cases.

David Iglesias was one of the nine U.S. attorneys fired by the Bush administration during a political purge last year.

During an April 2006 speech to the Republican National Lawyers Association, Karl Rove described the Republican Party’s “voter fraud” work as another method of voter suppression, through a mixture of tougher I.D. laws and other forms of intimidation.

These efforts are now under renewed scrutiny as Congress continues to investigate the political activities of the Bush administration’s Justice Department, as well as Republican financing behind organizations like the American Center for Voting Rights.

Amid the controversy, the American Center for Voting Rights shut down its website last March. But that doesn’t mean that its efforts have ended.

The division is charged with policing elections and guarding against discrimination against minorities.

On July 23, the Democratic Party is sanctioning a Democratic presidential debate sponsored by CNN and YouTube that embraces the potential of web participation. Voters can film themselves asking the candidates questions and upload the video to YouTube. The night of the debate, CNN and YouTube will play those questions for the Democratic presidential candidates.

The only problem is that most of the users who use YouTube have two things that not all Americans have: a video camera and a high speed internet connection that allows them to upload and view video easily online. YouTube, CNN and the Democratic Party are trying to change that by asking YouTube users to record the questions of who don't have an internet connection or a camera.

You can take your camera to a nursing home, community center or to the home of a family members who isn’t connected. Record their question to the Democratic presidential candidates and have those questions uploaded to the CNN & YouTube debate section of the YouTube website.

Steve Grove explains:

This certainly can't be a good sign for the Senator. The AP reports that John McCain "is undergoing a significant reorganization," letting go "50 staffers or more." Our crack research team put together the numbers into this handy graphic:

Watch the McCain campaign crumble by the month:
July: TBD (50+)
June: Former Rockingham County Co-Chairman Rep. D.J. Bettencourt, Former McCain South Carolina Aiken County Chairman-David Nix, Former Senior Fundraiser- John Dowd, (Pending) Senior Advisor-Mark McKinnon, (Former-ish) National Co-Chair Georgette Mosbacher
May: Former National Director of his “Americans of Faith” Coalition- Marlene Elwell, Former Deputy National Director of McCain’s “Americans of Faith” Coalition- Judy Haynes
April: Former California State Director-Craig Goldman, Former Finance Director-Carla Eudy
March: (Non)Endorsee Alfonse D'Amato

Just a heads-up, since many of you will want to watch. Today Governor Dean appears on Hardball, with special guest host Rev. Al Sharpton. It's at 5PM ET and will re-air at 7PM ET.

There are more excuses in the ever-changing story from Mitt Romney about strapping his dog to the top of his car for a 12 hour wild ride. But first, there's the announcement of the Mitt Mobile, which will officially launch July 4th. But there's something a little funny about the diagram they posted online (yes, the diagram is for real):

And in other PuppyGate news, add one more excuse to the long list of them being used to justify Romney's cruel act. Let me recap.

1) The dog liked fresh air. (Mitt couldn't open a window?)
2) It was the puppy's fault. He strapped himself up there!
3) There was a special windshield installed.

And now, the latest excuse:
4) The kennel was enclosed, with nothing but air vents at the back.

I'm not quite sure how that makes it any better. If anything, that's worse. Atrios points out just one of the problems here.

You know, the event itself happened a while ago, but what's really interesting here is how today -- right now -- he's flip-flopping about what took place.

With a new poll showing that President Bush's approval rating is a sad, pathetic 26-percent, it's worth noting that this finally puts him within the margin of error for Nixon's approval rating at the time he was forced to resign from office (August 1974).

Here's a chart to illustrate that point:

These approval rating numbers are historically low. The numbers for Nixon came well after he had been impeached for the Watergate scandal and just around the time he left office in shame.

Speaking of polls...

As President Bush's approval rating drops to near-historic lows of 26% (ouch!), a majority of Americans still believe that Democratic control of Congress is better for America, according to a new CNN/Opinion Research Poll released Friday.

...Fifty-three percent of 907 poll respondents who are registered voters said they would vote for a Democratic candidate for Congress if elections were held today, as opposed to 41 percent who said they would vote Republican.

Overall, 51% of respondents have a favorable opinion of the Democratic Party--compared to just 36% of respondents who have a favorable opinion of the Republican Party.

Four years ago, when President Bush first uttered the irresponsible "Bring 'em on" taunt, Democrats blasted him for the remark and the White House promptly defended it. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) said at the time:

So, yes, this was a big deal. And thousands of lost American lives later, it's an even bigger deal.

Years later, President Bush said at a press conference that he would offer "a confession, a regret, something." It wasn't exactly an apology, of course.

He also said at the press conference that when he got home the night of the "bring 'em on" remark, his wife asked, "what did you do that for?" Yet like the administration always does--no matter how right or wrong--they defended the remark anyway. They brushed it off, saying "I don't think people in Iraq who are loyal to Saddam Hussein are going to or not going to attack based on a news conference."

This wasn't just some slip of the tongue. It's a perfect example of why President Bush continues a failed policy in Iraq: arrogance, then stubbornness, then spinning a story to avoid accountability.