DCDL

Via Americablog, I see that Bush celebrated September 11 with a little flag desecration (a habit I’ve mentioned before). It still seems to me that if something is bad enough to require a constitutional amendment, it should be an impeachable offense.

Of course, the real question is whose idea it was to make a September 11 flag doormat in the first place. That sort of thing hasn’t gone over well with Republicans in the past.

Come see it.

I know it’s short notice, but I figure it’s a better alternative than watching ABC’s dreck.

Update: WOW it was well-done. It proposes no explanations, it only takes what information is publically available and verified and sets it in chronological order. Interesting to see a documentary, and hear the thoughts (or misgivings) expressed about things they couldn’t cover from the people who both were behind it and one of the people in it.

One interesting thing that came up is that al-Jazeera will be airing it Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

I think I’ll go see it again tomorrow just to get a better sense of it. It’s going to be at Ben’s Chili Bowl, which is right across from the U Street/African-American Civil War Memorial/Cardozo Metro station. ^.^

I agree with Bill Adler and Peggy Robin, administrators of the Cleveland Park e-mail list (definitely worth joining if you live in or near the neighborhood):

Today we received six pre-recorded calls from candidates for various offices. (And the day’s not yet over.)

To any candidates or their staff who read our listserv: Stop! These pre-recorded calls (which are usually displayed as “Unknown” on our caller ID) are disruptive and irritating. Do you think that voters like being summoned from the shower, lunch, or reading to hear a taped political pitch,
let alone a half dozen in an afternoon?

So, please, think creatively in the remaining days of your campaign. Don’t buy into the consultant’s glossy brochure that tells you how many voters you can reach cheaply through these calls. These calls can easily become an I-won’t-vote-for list.

My ancient answering machine is filling up with pointless and annoying messages. Some years ago, I tended to vote against candidates that used the technique, but nowadays it’s so pervasive that that policy would leave me with no one to vote for.

Newspaper endorsements have no effect in some races, but an endorsement from the major local paper (in DC’s case, the Washington Post) can sometimes cause people to pay serious attention to a candidate they would otherwise have written off, especially in a race with many candidates. Besides, reading the reasoning behind the endorsements can help you think through your own decisions, and sometimes endorsements are even entertaining.

I’ve searched out the endorsements for the September 12 Democratic primary from several local newspapers and put them into a table with links so you can read them. The big one, of course, is the Washington Post. The table omits the Washington Times because it has made only one DC endorsement, Marie Johns for mayor, but I did include our other conservative-owned paper, the Washington Examiner (which recently warned us about Muslims under the bed).

The Washington City Paper doesn’t have editorials, but its political columnist, Loose Lips, does make endorsements, so I’ve included those. Finally, the Northwest Current endorsed candidates, but it doesn’t put its content online, so there are no links for it.

For links to the candidates’ websites, see the list of Democratic primary candidates.

With only days to go until the September 12 primary, Michael A. Brown has pulled out of the race for DC mayor. He’s throwing his support (possibly in the neighborhood of 3 percent) to Linda Cropp. So that leaves six candidates for Democrats to choose among (see candidate list).

Last week saw a lower-profile withdrawal. John J. Forster dropped out as a candidate for shadow representative, leaving a two-man race between Mike Panetta and James Bubar.

Since both withdrawals came too close to the election for ballots to be changed, there’s a danger that people will still vote for the candidates, so educating voters is a problem. The Board of Elections has told Mike Panetta that there will be signs at the polling places.

Maryland’s primary has a similar situation, since a court ruled one of the Democratic candidates for attorney general, Tom Perez, ineligible for the office. Perez has endorsed Stuart Simms, one of the remaining candidates (the other is Douglas Gansler). As in DC, signs will be posted at polling places to notify voters.

Update (12:23pm): I forgot to suggest that you should take one last listen to “Get Down With Brown”, clearly the best song of the 2006 DC primary.