Update: Steve, alas, has completely lost his voice this morning. My good friend Mark Schmitt, executive editor of The American Prospect, will be kindly filling in this afternoon. Feel better Steve!
Today at 3:30 PM EST, Steve ClemonsMark Schmitt and I will be discussing my new book, The Progressive Revolution, at the New America Foundation in DC. Steve always has great deep thoughts and questions, so I think it will be a really excellent discussion.
If you haven't RSVPed yet, you can do so by clicking here.
And for the rest of y'all not in DC, you can watch the streaming feed here on OpenLeft using the embed below.
I just got off the phone with my friend Steve Clemons, who is hosting a discussion with General Wes Clark tomorrow at 4pm ET at the New America Foundation at 1630 Connecticut. Clark will be talking about our economy and national security challenges, and the event will be streamed on The Washington Note, on OpenLeft, and around the blogosphere.
I'm a big Clark booster and think he has a real sense of vision, something that is lacking among most luminaries in our political system right now.
In addition, journalist and friend Brian Beutler, who was shot earlier this year in DC, has reactivated his website. Give it a look.
Every election there's talk of an October surprise, a foreign policy blunder or ratcheted up tension which is exploited by the Republicans to win an election. I believe this started with the arms for hostages deal in 1980, but I'm not sure, and it's not the kind of tactic that has a starting point. In 2004, Bin Laden released a tape a few days before the election, and given that terrorism is as much theater as anything else, why wouldn't Al Qaeda do that again? On the other hand, there are many countries empowered by our war on terror that now have the ability to say 'boo' and get the establishment media to freak out and possibly swing a few points to restrict the speculation to Al Qaeda.
Steve Clemons thinks it's going to be China "getting ready to mimic something that the U.S. stupidly did recently in the high skies." I don't see Americans caring enough about China's military - though we do care about outsourcing - for that October surprise to work on a national security level.
I have no idea. But the chatter level is going to ramp up dramatically.
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