Yep, it's time for a new episode of Bloggingheads.tv featuring Jim Pinkerton and yours truly. After our last pairing, two--count 'em, two!--viewers wrote in to hail our "chemistry." Thus, blogginghead-in-chief Bob Wright requested that we meet again on the field of honor. And once more, we agreed more than we should have--especially on the war. (I hate when that happens.) But ever faithful to those who want to see pundit blood on the screen, we tried mightily to accentuate our differences when they did occur. And the differences mostly came when the discussion turned toward immigration and Pinkerton predicted a popular uprising against the elites on this issue. He envisions main-street Americans waving pitchforks at Washington politicians (Ds and Rs) who are willing to let more immigrants into this great land of ours. Since last time we did BHTV a pal of mine gave me grief for not challenging Pinkerton on the topic of John Kerry's botched joke, I made sure to deride Pinkerton's prediction of an immigration-fueled revolution. Other than that, we got on just fine. It certainly is a sign of the times that the Washington editor of The Nation and the former domestic policy chief for Bush the First can concur on so much. Look at what the neocons have done.

UNDERSTATEMENT OF THE DAY: General John Abizaid, head of CentCom, testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee about Iraq: "More American troops would have been advisable in the early stages." But he did brush back Senator John McCain, when the leading GOP presidential contender advocated sending more troops now to Iraq. McCain is painting himself into a corner with his call for more troops. He's running against the public mood--and against the White House--on this critical issue. What can save him? The Dems succeeding in pushing Bush to withdraw (or redeploy) troops. Presuming such a move does not lead to peace and stability in Iraq, McCain will be able to say, "See, if you had listened to me...." But short of that, he's tying one big millstone to his presidential ambitions.

SELF-REVELATION OF THE DAY: Roll Call is reporting that at a meeting with Blue Dog Democrats yesterday, Representative Murtha, the majority leader hopeful, said of Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi's grand political reform package, "It's total crap." Murtha, who has been endorsed by Pelosi in his fight against Representative Steny Hoyer for the majority leader post, did say he'd vote for it. But this was one heckuva admission from the fellow who Pelosi wants by her side.

Posted by David Corn at November 15, 2006 03:44 PM