On Thursday, April 13, the Ithaca chapter of Progressive Democrats of America voted to endorse Jonathan Tasini for United States Senate. Tasini received two-thirds of votes by members required for endorsement. Incumbent Senator Hillary Clinton did not receive any votes.

The group agreed that Tasini would be the best candidate for Senator from New York, speaking out on the issues of peace, health care, and economics that concern us all.

Congratulations, Jonathan! Hope this is just the first in a series of victories leading to your representing the state of New York in the U.S. Senate next January.

Our campaign spends a lot of time discussing the failures of the Bush administration in bringing us into the Iraq war and Senator Clinton for her continued support of the Iraq war, but we should also take time to note how poorly executed the war has been. It's remarkable to me that three years after the Iraq invasion, with all the tactical errors we've seen (even Condoleezza Rice suggested last week that "thousands" of mistakes have been made) that the person most responsible for generating the strategy for the invasion, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, still has a job.

Generals are traditionally reluctant to criticize the governement, especially during times of war. But recently a string of retired generals have suggested that enough is enough, and called for Rumsfeld to step down. The article notes that amongst the many causes for anger from the generals:

Last week anti-war protestors heckled Hillary Clinton as she spoke at Brown University. After one man shouted, “Is it leadership to support the war?” other protestors joined in until they were escorted from the auditorium by police. Mrs. Clinton continued her speech.

Not to worry, though. The junior Senator has won over a bevy of new conservative admirers. This week William F. Buckley Jr., the ancient, lock-jawed, right-wing pontificator, called her a "contender."

Mrs. Clinton is "a very consequential woman with an extraordinary background," [Buckley] said in an interview with Bloomberg Television that was broadcast on Monday. "Her thought is kind of woozy left, not in my judgment threatening."

From Atlanta to Madison, from Philadelphia to a small town in Tennessee, nearly one million people around the country stood up for their civil rights in a stunning display of patriotism and an energized movement. In New York City, the Jonathan Tasini campaign rallied at City Hall with hundreds of thousands of protestors, which caused twelve blocks of Broadway to close down for a rally.

Newsday is reporting on this in a local capacity here, and the New York Times is focusing on all the rallies, here.

Yesterday on Meet The Press, Senator John Kerry admitted that his vote to authorize the use of force in Iraq was "a mistake" and took full responsibility for his vote. He went on to call the vote his only regret in his years in the Senate.

That Senator Kerry would say this is unremarkable, considering the overwhelming evidence, three years later that the war was a mistake. However, considering that nearly the entire Republican party, along with several Democratic "leaders" (including the junior Senator for New York) continue to defend their vote in the face of the facts on the ground, let's give Senator Kerry his due. We only wish he had the courage to cast his vote correctly the first time, or barring that, say what he said yesterday back in 2004. We might be facing a very different situation in Iraq if he had.