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Your Daily Politics Video Blog: In today's episode of TPMtv, we recap Day one of the Democratic National Convention and explain how we're managing to shoot live (or almost live) video via the web.

Today on The Lunch, the battle of the military surrogates continues. Also, where do the candidates stand on a proposed gay marriage ban, and who does the Wall Street Journal think is most like George Bush?

Today on The Lunch, the battle of the military surrogates continues. Also, where do the candidates stand on a proposed gay marriage ban, and who does the Wall Street Journal think is most like George Bush?

Virginia Senator Jim Webb appeared on The Daily Show last night to promote his new book, A Time to Fight, but ended up spending the entire interview wondering with Jon how anyone could possibly vote against his 21st century GI Bill, John McCain included. Download | Play Download | Play (h/t Heather) [John McCain] is fine voting for 600 billion dollars to send these people off, the least we can do is give them a chance at a first-class future when they get home. The taxpayers of America paid for every penny of John McCain s education and they paid for every penny of my education. The least we can do is to give these people the chance at a first-class future.

At a town hall meeting today in Baton Rouge, LA, Senator McCain was asked by a military mother why he opposes the Webb GI bill. In predictable fashion, he starts off by rightly stating that educational benefits for veterans have become outdated, but then goes into his debunked spiel about how the bill is too generous and would harm enlistment numbers. There s a reason your response was met with zero applause, Senator. Download | Play Download | Play

Jim Webb, (who is one of my picks for VP) makes an excellent case for his GI Bill on MTP this morning and calls out the GOP on their negligent behavior and the threatened Bush veto. John McCain and George Bush say they support the troops, but when it comes to stepping up and doing something tangible, they are striking out. How dare they say these benefits are too costly when we re spending millions of dollars a day to occupy Iraq? And as Webb says, this will be used on the campaign trail. And a watered down substitute by McCain and his pal Graham is not the solution. Download | Play Download | Play Webb: No president in history has, has vetoed a, a benefits bill for those who ve served. So on the one hand, we have this rhetoric, which goes to what I was writing saying, This is the next greatest generation, these guys are so great. And then we see this president, he s fine with sending these people over and over again where they re spending more time in Iraq than they are at home. He s fine with the notion of stop loss, where we can, we can make people stay in even after enlistments are done. And then we say, Give them the same benefit that the people in World War II have, and they say it s too expensive. Think Progress has more: The Pentagon has suggested that Webb’s bill is too generous in conferring benefits to soldiers after “only” two years of service. However, as Webb pointed out, soldiers would still have to finish their enlistment term. What’s more, as a recent CBO report showed, any loss in reenlistment rates is entirely made up for by increased military recruits. Full transcript via MTP below the fold: SEN. WEBB: I introduced this G.I. bill my first day in office. The idea was to give to people who d been serving since 9/11 the same educational benefits, the same right to a first-class future as those who served in World War II. We, we started working hard on this bipartisan, nonpartisan, hopefully; we have now got 58 sponsors in the Senate, 300 sponsors in the House of Representatives, and a, and a good number of the, you know, the thinking Republicans have moved to us. And now the president says he s going to veto this bill. No president in history has, has vetoed a, a benefits bill for those who ve served. So on the one hand, we have this rhetoric, which goes to what I was writing saying, This is the next greatest generation, these guys are so great. And then we see this president, he s fine with sending these people over and over again where they re spending more time in Iraq than they are at home. He s fine with the notion of stop loss, where we can, we can make people stay in even after enlistments are done. And then we say, Give them the same benefit that the people in World War II have, and they say it s too expensive. So I think the Republican Party is, you know, is, is on the block here to, to clearly demonstrate that they value military service or suffer the consequences of losing the support of people who ve, who ve served. MR. RUSSERT: The Pentagon, the administration and other editorials across the country have said the problem with the bill is that if, after three years people can leave with full benefits, it ll be very difficult to retain good soldiers, to have them re-enlist. SEN. WEBB: Well, I, I would say to them that three years of accumulated service qualify you for the benefits, but you still have to serve your enlistment. I spent five years in the Pentagon one as a Marine, four as a defense executive. I did manpower issues the whole time; I know how these formulas work. We have, as co-sponsors on this bill, John Warner, former chairman of the Armed Services Committee; Carl Levin, current chairman of the Armed Services committee; Chairman Akaka of the Veterans committee; Senator Specter, former chairman of the, the Veterans committee; Chuck Hagel, the only senator to have served as a senior official in the Veterans Administration. We know what we re doing and, and we are not going to harm the military. What you have is 70 to 75 percent of the ground troops in the, in the Army, in the Marine Corps, have left the service by the end of their first enlistment. And those are the people that are not being taken care of. The Department of Defense does a very good job of taking care of the, the career force, but this large number of people, the overwhelming majority of people who are out of the military, that come in because they love their country, they do a hitch and then they want to get on with their lives, they are not getting the opportunity for a first-class future that they deserve. MR. RUSSERT: Will this bill, you think, if the president vetoes it, be an issue in the campaign? The presidential campaign? SEN. WEBB: I, I would say the president really has a choice here and to, to show how much he values military service. And if he were to veto this bill, I can t see how it would not become an issue in the campaign. What we want to do is get a bill and I ve been, I ve been trying to keep the politics out of it. I ve working been working really hard to keep the politics out of it. We want to get a bill where Democrats and Republicans can come together. And I ve, I ve listened to all the veterans organizations, I ve, I ve listened to other members of Congress and, and made modifications in this bill, and I think it s a very fair bill.

1) Harry Potter in the courtroom - the author of an encyclopedia of the characters and events from the novels of J.K. Rowling faces a copyright battle; 2) In "Bad Money" Kevin Phillips warns that the enormous influence of the credit industry threatens the U.S. economy; 3) Richard Price discusses the "Lush Life" of the Lower East Side of New York on the Bryant Park Project.

Bill Clinton was answering questions over the weekend when he was asked about a Hillary Clinton - Barack Obama team.  He mentions what the polls clearly shows - Hillary wins in the rural areas and Barack wins in the major cities.  Yes, that would be a great team BUT   Now, this is what the former President doesn t mention.  He doesn t say that Barack Obama could get another running mate that would also do well in the rural areas.  He doesn t mention that Barack Obama would do far better as a presidential candidate if he choses someone with a great track record on Foreign Policy and/or Intelligence. Hillary Clinton adds little to Barack Obama in my opinion.  This is NOT a knock on Hillary but instead, it is a criticism of her experience.  She is a one term Senator.  Obama is almost a one term Senator.  They are both Democrats.  They are both progressives.  Clinton may have a little more of a conservative record but not much difference.  Hillary Clinton would need someone like Jim Webb or John Kerry (both for their experience)  to balance out a Hillary ticket in my opinion.  Barack Obama would need a Bob Graham or Joe Biden (I have changed my mind on Binden). For more on my thinking on VP s.  I did have a contest to see who could convince me of the best VP candidates and the winner s thoughts are here. barack obama, bill clinton, bob graham, Election 2008, foreign policy, jim webb, joe biden, john kerry, presidential candidate, rural areas, senator obama

The Democratic response was not quite as fiery as Jim Webb was.  Nonetheless, Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, did a great job at hitting all of the issues and making it clear that Americans are hurting and Americans need help. democratic response, governor kathleen sebelius, jim webb, kansas governor kathleen sebelius, kathleen sebelius, Party Politics

Senator Jim Webb takes his time on Meet the Press and does a great job in answering the question - Is the Surge Working? congress, iraq, Jim Webb, Meet the Press, surge, the surge, Tim Russert, war in Iraq, War on Terror

CNN follows Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) to work this Thanksgiving holiday just to bang the gavel so that technically the Senate is not in recess to make sure Bush can t slip any more of his crooks and cronies by us with more recess appointments. Among the likely candidates this move thwarts is the homophobic Dr. James Holsinger as Surgeon General and/or the election engineering Hans A. von Spakovsky to a spot on the Federal Election Commission. Download (1601) | Play (1812) Download (846) | Play (892) It s worth remembering not only the more well known in-your-face past Bush recess appointments like John Bolton, Swift boat hack Sam Fox, and anti-civil rights judge Charles Pickering. In just his first six years in office, President Bush made 171 recess appointments (pdf) including a controversial pick with Otto Reich so he could continue his dirty tricks south of the border, a spot at the pentagon for a great guy like Eric Adelman, a DOL spot for Eugene Scalia (yes, the son of that Scalia), a cushy ambassadorship for ex-girlfriend April H. Foley, and an important one as a treat for C. Boyden Gray, Bush s judicial bulldog on the Hill. It s nice to finally see the Democrats step up and follow through with stopping Bush from running roughshod right over them. This is one of the small things they can do that makes a real difference. Thank you Sens Webb and Reid.

Satan or God? scary movies, da Dubya cuts the cheese, Saddam and Osama, spin, breaking the law, it could be worse, Rush rushed, and Phil McCracken Whitcomb's News.