Dear Ned,

First of all, thank you for stepping forward back in January to take on Joe Lieberman.  I can't tell you how furious I had become at Holy Joe and felt as if there was not going to be any option to him this November.  It was depressing...almost as depressing as it was when Bush was elected in 2004.

I went to my first political town meeting in March just to meet you and came away impressed enough to jump on your primary bandwagon with money, time and recommendations to friends and family.  And my husband and I hung in on primary evening - with a good bottle of wine - and watched with baited breath as you beat the pants off Bush's CT sock puppet.  (Had a little headache the next morning, but it was worth it!)

Now, a favor please!

Two (kind of) unrelated things...although these days EVERYTHING IS RELATED!!!

Imagine my surprise today to receive mail from John McCain, my second least-favorite non-partisan Republican.

It's never happened before, but I suspect that it may happen again, and again and again.

I don't get it.

Bush wants to legalize torture so he can't be brought to justice for his war crimes.  The Geneva Convention prohibits torture.  So he decides that he'll change that document to cover his ass.

And three or four voter-fearing Repugs decide to (finally) say no to this bozo.  But it appears that the solution will be a COMPROMISE.

Had dinner last night with a friend - who is going to vote for Joe Lieberman.  I knew better than to open my mouth, so my husband asked him why.  

We were given the usual talking points...his experience and presence on key committees (can't remember any other reason...the wine must have been blurring my hearing, thankfully!!)

Had dinner with a friend tonight who will probably vote for Lieberman.  The only things that might make a difference is if Lieberman is elected and can't help Democrats because he is elected as an independent.

So here are the questions for which I need your expertise:

I need a sign to carry tomorrow at the Newtown, CT Labor Day Parade.  Any suggestions?

I feel really stupid and would appreciate a little help here.

AJ has posted a thoughtful piece over at Americablog and made the statement "In reality, Democrats have better ideas for fighting terrorism, both its practitioners and its root causes, and we're slowly but surely demonstrating this fact to the public."

I nodded my head while reading and then realized that I could not articulate what better ideas we have.

So much has happened during the past six weeks, my mind is in a fog.  But am I correct that the White House has an "Office of Lessons Learned" somewhere deep within its bowels?  

It's hard for me to imagine the words "Lessons" and "Learned" in the same sentence with this administration, so I couldn't be sure.  To clear my head I Goggled "Office of Lessons Learned" and found...good heavens...there are Offices of Lessons Learned throughout our government.

As Dave Ross would do, let's say that again  r  e  a  l    s  l  o  w.

T  h  e   O  f  f  i  c  e   o f   L  e  s  s  o  n  s    L  e  a  r  n  e  d

What in the hell have these offices been doing?

My first diary - be kind!

Dear Rahm,

I'm addressing you by your first name, because we've met before...in Hartford, CT at a fundraiser.  When we were introduced you commented that your mother's name is the same as mine, but spelled Marcia, so I feel very close to you!

Anyway, enough of that.