Today on MSNBC, Chris Matthews hosted a segment entitled “Is Iran Next?” Matthews said that Bill Kristol and other neoconservatives “may be right” when they argue that Bush “has to hit” Iran militarily. Watch it:

Matthews didn’t mention that a bi-partisan group of national security experts believe there are no good military options in Iran.

Transcript: Read more

for next week.

Bush’s current approval rating — unchanged from July — according to a new American Research Group poll. Just 32 percent of Americans approve of his handling of the economy.

In his new book and in numerous media appearances, Pat Buchanan has been trying to make the case that Mexican immigrants are fundamentally unlike past immigrant groups. Buchanan, who is of Irish ancestry, argues that Germans, Irish, Italians, etc were different because they were willing and able to assimilate. Last night on Hannity and Colmes he stated, “[T]he guys I went to school with in the ’50s and ’60s and the ’40s, they were the sons of immigrants. They’d all been completely assimilated, Americanized. We were marinated in the same culture.”

But Buchanan’s statements against Hispanic immigrants mirror the charges that German, Irish, Italian, Jews, and other immigrant groups also faced. Some examples:

Immigrants will not be able to assimilate:

Where the Italians wanted to be part of our family, millions of Mexicans are determined to retain their language and loyalty to Mexico. They prefer to remain outsiders. They do not wish to assimilate and the nation no longer demands that they do so. [Buchanan, p. 28, 2006]

VERSUS

Why should Pennsylvania, founded by the English, become a Colony of Aliens, who will shortly be so numerous as to Germanize us instead of our Anglifying them, and will never adopt our Languages or Customs, any more than they can acquire our Complexion. [Benjamin Franklin, 1751]

Immigrants are responsible for crime:

Many Hispanics, as a matter of fact, you know what culture they are assimilating to? “” the rap culture, the crime culture, anti-cops, all the rest of it. [Buchanan, 8/22/06]

VERSUS

“The Irish fill our prisons, our poor houses. … Scratch a convict or a pauper, and the chances are that you tickle the skin of an Irish Catholic. Putting them on a boat and sending them home would end crime in this country.” [Chicago Post, 1868]

Immigrants plan to commit treason against America: Read more

The $1.2 billion proposal would invest $225 million over the next five to ten years to build up to 20 ethanol plants, “five soy biodiesel plants and four facilities that would make ethanol from plant waste like corn husks.” In addition, biofuels would be used to met half the state’s demand for gasoline by 2017.

For the last several days, Katrina victim Rockey Vaccarella has been on television repeatedly requesting a meeting with President Bush so he could “thank him for what he has done.” This morning, Bush met with him. Standing with Bush, Vaccarella said, “I just wish the President could have another term in office.” Watch and learn what it takes to score a meeting with President Bush:

Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan — whose son died in Iraq — camped outside Bush’s ranch last summer, seeking to arrange a meeting with the President. But Bush disagreed with Sheehan’s message of bringing the troops home from Iraq and declined to meet with her.

Transcript of the video segments: Read more

People have the right to disagree about what should be done in Iraq. This is part of a healthy political debate. What isn’t healthy is distorting someone’s position to score political points.

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT), and others are appearing on national TV and claiming — explcitly and implicitly — that Ned Lamont supports “immediate withdrawal” from Iraq. Watch some examples:

These claims are false. Ned Lamont does not support immediate withdrawal. He has explicitly said that he would have supported the amendment proposed by Sens. John Kerry (D-MA) and Russ Feingold (D-WI), which called for a phased withdrawal over the course of the next year.

A majority of Americans do not support immediate withdrawal of all troops. But Lamont’s actual position — setting a timetable for withdrawal — is supported by nearly 60 percent of the American public.

Digg It!

Race and ethnicity aren’t currently factors in his hiring decisions, but the congressman said that diversifying his staff “would probably make me look good to show that I have someone on staff that doesn’t fit the stereotype.”