…despite previously belittling him. ‘In her February 28 column, titled “Ozone Man Sequel” (subscription required), New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd described former Vice President Al Gore as the “man who was prescient on climate change, the Internet, terrorism and Iraq,” and wrote that “[i]t must be excruciating not only to lose a presidency you’ve won because the Supreme Court turned partisan and stopped the vote, but to then watch the madness of King George and Tricky Dick II as they misled their way into serial catastrophes.” Dowd wondered who Gore must blame more for his defeat in the 2000 election: “Does he blame himself? Does he blame the voting machines? Ralph Nader? Robert Shrum? Naomi Wolf? How about Bush Inc. and Clinton Inc.?” Yet, as blogger Bob Somerby noted (Daily Howler, ) Dowd omitted an obvious other potential target of blame: the media. Indeed, Dowd herself, while now praising Gore for being “prescient” on such issues, relentlessly mocked Gore during his 2000 presidential campaign and onward for what she described as Gore’s “obsessions about global warming and the information highway.” Dowd has also compared Gore to the “wackadoo wing of the Democratic Party” for his criticism of the Iraq war; and has repeatedly furthered numerous falsehoods about Gore, such as that Gore once claimed to have “invented the Internet…” ‘ (Media Matters)

Bill Scher writes in The Huffington Post: “Today through Saturday, when Republicans and conservatives gather in Washington for the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, will they face up to the biggest obstacle preventing them from connecting with voters? Their ‘secular problem.’

Lots of ink has been spilled about how Democrats and liberals suffer from a ‘religion problem’ — a perceived hostility towards Christianity and religion in general.
But Pew Research Center exit poll data from the 2006 midterm elections shows the opposite.

Democrats crushed Republicans among secular voters, broadly defined as those who attend church seldom (favoring Democrats 60% to 38%) or never (67% to 30%). Republicans retained strong support among those who attend church more than weekly. But among those who only go weekly — the larger portion of the religious vote — the Republican lead shrunk from 15 points to 7.

In short, Republicans failed to be competitive among secular voters, while Democrats were at least competitive among regular churchgoers. And since the secular vote is roughly equal to the regular churchgoing vote, according to the last several national election exit polls, that means Republicans and their conservative base have a far bigger secular problem than their rivals have a religion problem.”

Al-Qaeda’s resurgence: “KARACHI – Al-Qaeda will this year significantly step up its global operations after centralizing its leadership and reviving its financial lifelines. Crucially, al-Qaeda has developed missile and rocket technology with the capability of carrying chemical, biological and nuclear warheads, according to an al-Qaeda insider who spoke to Asia Times Online. While al-Qaeda will continue to operate in Afghanistan and Iraq, it will broaden its global perspective to include Europe and hostile Muslim states, Asia Times Online has learned. For the first time since its attacks on the US on September 11, 2001, this could be al-Qaeda’s year on the offensive. “

Joe Conason: “…the broader collapse of Middle East policy under Cheney’s intellectual stewardship. Thanks to his belligerent outlook, we have abandoned the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, encouraged both Shiite and Sunni extremism, diminished our own military strength, and made democracy synonymous with irreparable destruction. No wonder the vice president thinks things are going so well.” (truthdig)