At times, it seems that Jon Stewart has the world’s easiest job. Mocking the media is not exactly rocket science but Stewart does it oh so well. In this clip, Bob Herbert of the New York is simply eviscerated. Someone please send Bob Herbert to Europe and then onto DC so get his phallic symbols straight. A leaning tower of mediocrity pretty much defines Mr. Herbert. He’s an embarrassment to the nation’s paper of record. As for the media, they have played so many cards they must be at a poker game.

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In a poll from July 15, 2008 from Rasmussen Reports incumbent Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu held a narrow lead over her GOP challenger John Kennedy of 49% to 44%. With leaners included, Landrieu led 51% to 45%. In the Presidential race, however, Obama trails McCain badly by a 54% to 34%. With this in mind, it appears that Senator Landrieu is keeping her distance from the presumptive Democratic nominee. There will be no jambalaya for Obama down in Lousiana.

Marc Ambinder of The Atlantic picks up the coverage:

Heartbroken Bush campaign ex-officio Matthew Dowd wrote on ABC News.com recently that Barack Obama was running behind his party nationally and therefore that the party’s congressional candidates ought to be wary about running with him.

Sen. Mary Landrieu is keeping her distance.

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I have been reluctant to delve into the scandal surrounding former North Carolina Senator and twice Presidential candidate John Edwards but it appears that scandal is growing and now threatens to impact Edwards’ role at the Democratic convention in Denver at the end of this month. It is also pretty clear that Edwards will not be Obama’s Vice Presidential choice either.

From the Charlotte Observer:

Former Sen. John Edwards has a deadline to save his spot on the national stage.

With two weeks to go before their national convention, a number of Democrats are saying that Edwards needs to publicly address National Enquirer stories that have alleged he had an affair with a campaign worker and fathered her baby.

If Edwards fails to clear up the story in short order, he risks party officials deciding not to have him speak or, if they do, creating a distraction from a week focused on Barack Obama accepting the nomination.

“If there is not an explanation that’s satisfactory, acceptable and meets high moral standards, the answer is ‘no,’ he would not be a prime candidate to make a major address to the convention,” said Don Fowler, a former Democratic National Committee chair.

Democrats gather in Denver on Aug. 25 and Edwards, as the 2004 vice presidential nominee and a presidential candidate who won delegates this year, ordinarily would be locked in as a speaker.

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The above is the trailer to the movie Sometimes in April, a film about the Rwandan genocide of April to June 1994 that left at 800,000 and perhaps upwards of a million Rwandans dead. I have long been a critic of Western and Chinese policy in Africa holding especially Paris and Beijing accountable for their support of repressive regimes whose aims are nothing more than self-richment and the exploitation of Africa’s vast natural resources to the detriment of its people. It is thus that I am not surprised by the release of the three volume 500 page report released today in Kigali by the Mucyo Commission that singles out 33 French officials, including former French President François Mitterand, for abetting and/or participating in the Rwandan genocide.

The Mucyo Commission singles out 20 French military and 13 political figures who knowingly abetted the Hutus in their slaughter of ethnic Tutis. Some of the French military personnel are accused of rape and murder. It sums up the role played by France prior, during and after the genocide.

The Mucyo commission was set up in April 2006 to gather and document testimonies on the suspected involvement of French politicians and soldiers in the genocide, which was planned and systematically executed by the then Rwandan government of extremist Hutus. During its public hearings, the Mucyo commission heard testimonies from a number of witnesses including French, Belgians and Britons, all of whom accused French soldiers and politicians of actively supporting and directly participating in the Rwandan genocide.

At the height of the killings, France – under the auspices of the UN – deployed troops in Rwandan areas along the DR Congo border, under what was called Zone Turquoise. Witnesses particularly singled out this operation as having worsened matters for fleeing Tutsis, by wooing them out of their hiding, like in Bisesero Hills in present-day Karongi District – and shielding the killers during their subsequent exodus to DR Congo.

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The McCain campaign has released a new thirty-second spot to run on television nation-wide. The ad started running today in select battleground including Michigan, Ohio and Missouri. The ad will start run nationally starting Friday when the Olympics get underway. Both campaigns have made major ad buys for the Olympics. Obama purchased airtime packages worth $5 million about two weeks ago and this week, the McCain camp bought a $6 million airtime package.

Notice that add starts out attacking Obama’s celebrity status and showing his campaign speech in Berlin. That clearly builds on McCain’s The One ad which may yet the turning point of this campaign. But then the add turns to the litany of GOP mantras (lower taxes, less government spending and attacking Obama for higher taxes and more government spending) before settling on energy. In this 30 second spot, McCain packed it all in.

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In the Garden State, four-term Democratic incumbent Senator Frank Lautenberg is widening his lead over his GOP challenger Dick Zimmer, a former New Jersey State Legislator and member of Congress representing the 12th Congressional District of New Jersey (Somerset & Morris counties) from 1990-1996. You probably aren’t familiar with Dick Zimmer’s name, but if you live in the United States you are familiar with one of his laws. Zimmer was the author of Megan’s Law (U.S. Public Law 104-145), which requires notification when a convicted sex offender moves into a residential area. It was named after Megan Kanka, a New Jersey resident who was raped and murdered by convicted sex offender Jesse Timmendequas. Since retiring from Congress, Zimmer has been in private legal practice.

From Rasmussen Reports:

Democratic Senator Frank Lautenberg has expanded his lead over challenger Dick Zimmer in the U.S. Senate race in New Jersey. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the Garden State finds Lautenberg on top 51% to 33%.

When “leaners” are included, the Democrat has a 53% to 38% advantage. The latest poll marks the first in which the incumbent receives over 50% support.

Lautenberg, who is seeking his fifth term in the Senate, led 49% to 36% in July. Just a month earlier, right after the state’s primary elections, the two candidates were in a virtual tie. Zimmer is a former member of the House of Representatives.

This month, the incumbent is backed by 79% of New Jersey Democrats while Zimmer is supported by 72% of Republicans. Among unaffiliated voters, Lautenberg has a 45% to 28% lead. The Democrat has a dominant 60% to 25% lead among women, but Zimmer has a 43% to 40% advantage among men.

Favorability ratings for the incumbent have slipped a bit over the past month. Lautenberg is viewed favorably by 48%, down from 50% last month. He is viewed unfavorably by 45%, up from 41% in June. Zimmer’s ratings also worsened in July. Thirty-seven percent (37%) of voters in New Jersey have a favorable view of the challenger, down from 45% last month. Zimmer is viewed unfavorably by 41%, up from 35% in June. More than one in five voters (22%) still have no opinion of the republican challenger.

Lautenberg has been a decent progressive Senator over the years. Progressive Punch ranked Launtenberg in the top ten of US Senators for their progressive record.

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Sadly, there has been a coup d’état in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania in north-west Africa. I have fond memories of my time there now many years ago when I worked for UNHCR. President Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi was elected last year in the country’s first democratic elections since independence in 1960 and had begun making important reforms including expanding the rights of women and moving to end the practice of slavery still extant in the desert regions and female circumcision, a more common practise. He was deposed after attempting to change the leadership of the military. The country is a former French colony and France still holds considerable sway over the country and the region. Let’s just say the French government, in my view, is no friend of democracy in its former colonies. We will see if Sarkozy is any better than his predcessors, one of whom now stands accused of genocide in Rwanda.

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El Nuevo País' Front Page

Generalísimo Hugo Chávez (yes, that’s his new official title) continues his assault on what’s left of Venezuela’s democratic institutions. As I reported last week, Chávez issues 26 decrees with the force of law but failed to actually disclose what the laws actually were. The new decrees are now coming to light and they are effectively a rehash of the constitutional reforms that Chávez attempted to pass last December that were spurned by voters.

But that’s only half the story. The other part is that Venezuela is set to have local and regional elections on November 23, 2008. The Tribunal Supremo de Justicia (TSJ), Venezuela’s Supreme Court, has been declaring hundreds of candidates ineligible to run for office. Not surprsingly, they are all from the opposition. The TSJ has declared these candidates ineligible while probes of corruption are conducted. Caught up in this is Leopoldo López, one of the most popular anti-Chávez figures. He had intened to run for one of Caracas’ mayorships (Caracas is divided into several districts each with their own mayor). So far, more than 250 candidates have been declared “inhabilatos.”

If you understand Spanish, here is a report from Venezuelan television:

Some of the decrees are mind-blowing. Chávez becomes a Generalísimo, a title last held by Francisco Franco. Chávez can seize businesses and imprison their owners for ten years for failing to produce. What does that mean? Chávez will have the power to name regional leaders apart from elected ones with their own budgets and oversight. Chávez gets to create his own militia.

The opposition in Venezuela remains fragmented but in advance of the elections in November, parties from across the political spectrum are attempting to only run one candidate for each post to assure themselves of winning. Not easy to do when the parties range from conservative to social democratic. Still so far, the opposition has agreed to run single candidates in 4 states and 26 cities.

The New York Times has an article out this morning entitled New Decrees From Chávez Mirror Spurned Measures:

President Hugo Chávez is using his decree powers to enact a set of socialist-inspired measures that seem based on a package of constitutional changes that voters rejected last year. His actions open a new stage of confrontation between his government and the political opposition.

The government quietly revealed last week that the president had approved 26 new laws on Thursday, when the 18-month decree powers bestowed on him by Congress were set to expire, but officials withheld offering the full text of the new laws until this week.

Some of the laws significantly increase Mr. Chávez’s power. For instance, one law allows him to name regional political leaders who would have separate budgets, which could help him offset possible victories by opposition candidates in state and municipal elections scheduled for November.

(In a further blow to the opposition, the Supreme Court upheld a measure on Tuesday that prohibits more than 250 people from running for office while the comptroller general investigates claims of corruption against them. The measure will prevent Leopoldo López, one of the country’s most popular politicians, from running for mayor of Caracas.)

Mr. Chávez is also trying to assert greater control over the armed forces through a decree creating militias, a new military branch he has pushed for.

Reigniting private property concerns, another law allows his government to “occupy and temporarily operate” private companies not in compliance with bookkeeping rules.

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Well, she certainly has a sense of humour if scantily clad. Reclining in a pool-side sun-lounger, Ms. Hilton says: “Hey America, I’m Paris Hilton and I’m a celebrity, too. Only I’m not from the olden days and I’m not promising change like that other guy. I’m just hot.”

“But then that wrinkly, white-haired guy used me in his campaign ad, which I guess means I’m running for president. So thanks for the endorsement, white-haired dude.”

She continues: “I want America to know that I’m, like, totally ready to lead.”

Discussing energy policy, which has this week emerged as the central issue of the Presidential campaign, Ms. Hilton endorses a combination of McCain’s plan to increase offshore oil drilling and Obama’s scheme to offer more incentives for new energy technology. She signs off: “Energy crisis solved! I’ll see you at the debates.”

I might add that she has a better energy policy than Obama. Both the Obama and McCain campaigns issued response to Paris. The Obama campaign issued a one word statement:

Whatever.

The McCain campaign had a longer statement:

Paris Hilton might not be as big a celebrity as Barack Obama, but she obviously has a better energy plan. It sounds like Paris Hilton supports John McCain’s ‘all of the above’ approach to America’s energy crisis — including both alternatives and drilling. In reality, Paris Hilton may have a more substantive energy policy than Barack Obama.

Just a note there Paris, Rihanna, your choice for Vice President, is a citizen of Barbados and sadly not eligible to be Vice President. On a more serious note, the McCain “The One” ad continues to be a boon for the McCain campaign. The McCain campaign noted that the ad cost $9.99 to produce (I’m sure it was more but you get the point) but the ad continues to be played and discussed almost a week later. Ms. Hilton’s salvo only keeps it in play in the news more.

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Today marks Bolivia’s independence day. While Bolivia is, in effect, an artificial state carved out of the old Vice Royalty of Peru in 1825, the country has managed to survive and endure a tragic history. Since independence Bolivia has lost over half of its national territory to Brazil, Chile and Paraguay. The country holds the record for golpe de estados (coups) and more military governments than one can count but the country has been relatively stable (by Bolivian standards) since 1993. Still today it remains a highly polarized land with a deep cleavage between rich and poor and some the world’s lowest socio-economic standards.

Evo Morales, a former coca farmer and peasant union leader, has been President of Bolivia since January 2006. Morales forms part of the hard left in the Latin America and his government is closely tied to Hugo Chávez of Venezuela. However, his government remains embattled with five of Bolivia’s nine provinces in more or less open rebellion. These provinces are energy-rich and have resented Morales’ attempts to nationalize the natural gas resources and devote the income to alleviating poverty in the highland regions of Bolivia. They recently held autonomy referendums which passed by a wide margin and have set the stage for a recall of Morales from office.

One of my favourite journeys is the drive from La Paz down to the Yungas of northern Bolivia down the infamous carretera de la muerte, the highway of death, on which hundreds of people lose their lives each year. It is an amazing if perilous descent from the Andes into the Amazon basin.

One of the quirks of Bolivia is that though Bolivia lost its coast in 1879 in the War of the Pacific to Chile, Bolivia still has a navy with admirals. No sea-faring ships but admirals.

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