Asked about his popularity, George W. Bush offers this explanation: "Popularity is fleeting. And I want it to be said about George W. Bush that when he finished his presidency, he looked in the mirror at a man who did not compromise his core principles for the sake of politics, or the Gallup poll, or the latest, you know, whatever. And you can't lead in this world if you're chasing something as temporary as a popularity poll."

Unbelievably, the man seems to still really believe he's on some sort of moral high road. Since core principles, by definition, are neither good nor bad, it won't be Bush's mirror that decides if his adherence to his principles was good for our weakened nation. For some time now, Americans have seemed to agree that deliberate deception doesn't qualify as principled or honorable behavior. Nor does a violent and deadly attack on a sovereign nation that posed no threat to U.S. citizens. His upsurging of our national debt (and the resulting plunge in the value of our U.S. dollar) was so fundamentally unprincipled that it's caused skyrocketing inflation, widespread hunger, rising unemployment, millions of home foreclosures, and loss of healthcare for millions of trusting Americans. It's true that any man can stand firm on dishonorable principles. Unfortunately for all of us, it appears this has been the case with George Bush. Those principles from which he did not waver may be comprised of ingredients like greed, meanness, deceit or selfishness. Certainly standing firm on such principles is nothing to be proud of. Mercifully for George Bush, his mirror is unlikely to speak this truth to him.

George Bush is absolutely right about his popularity - it was extremely fleeting. His unpopularity, on the other hand, has hung heavily around us all for many years. Like the hottest muggiest August day in Crawford, Texas. Stifling and hard to bear, his awful reputation has been anything but short-lived.

More convention delegates can be won today than on any other single day in 2008. Twenty-four states are holding primaries or caucuses, with 52 percent of all pledged Democratic Party delegates and 41 percent of the total Republican Party delegates still up for grabs.

This is the very first year that Super Tuesday in February has had this much influence in the selection of presidential nominees. In the past, New Hampshire and Iowa had more influence and other states mainly weighed in in March. This year, twenty-four states with over half the delegates to the national conventions moved to change their primary dates to February 5, 2008, creating the largest "Super Tuesday" to date.

The biggest day in U.S. presidential nominating contests is now underway with Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton struggling for an edge while Republican John McCain hopes to knock Mitt Romney out of the race - even though we just heard that Mike Huckabee just won West Virginia! Stay tuned! Somebody here is bound to weigh in later! How about you?

John Edwards said moments ago:

"Don't worry about me. This son of a millworker is going to be fine. Our job now is to make sure that America is going to be fine...

"Our work goes on... Do not give up. Do not give up on the causes we have fought for... It's time for all of us to make the two Americas one. Thank you. And, let's get to work."

John's full speech today was wonderful. For John's complete farewell address, follow me to the next page. It's a good one...

"I believe that, as long as there is plenty, poverty is evil." - Robert Kennedy

Like Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and President John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy was assassinated in 1960s. He was right in the middle of a successful campaign for the presidency in 1968 when his life was cut short. Bobby Kennedy spoke loudly and consistently about ending the Vietnam War and ending poverty. These days, Kennedy is often compared with John Edwards - for good and solid reasons. Perhaps Obama is compared to MLK and Clinton compared to LBJ - but, for me, what we need this day is Bobby Kennedy.

"Restoring our moral authority means leading by example and making clear that the hard challenges don't frighten us. There is no better opportunity than the challenge of poverty – the great moral issue of our time." -- John Edwards

Mitt Romney and Hillary Clinton are scoring convincing victories in the Nevada caucuses as the primaries in South Carolina loom on the horizon. Meanwhile, Edwards and McCain lag way behind in the Nevada shake-out.

The Republicans, with 98% reporting, have their clear winner with Romney at 51%, Paul at 13% (interesting, huh?), McCain at less than 13%, Huckabee 8%, Thompson 8%, Giuliani 4% (no surprise here) and Hunter (who?) at 2%.

On the Democratic side, with 91% caucuses reporting, Clinton is the winner at 51%, Obama in second place with 45%, Edwards at 4% (big let down for loyal Edwards supporters like myself) and Kucinich less than 1%.

Edwards will probably have to give up his delegates but don't count on them going to Obama. For thoughts on this, turn the page! I defer to another blogger's take on the Edwards/Obama/Clinton delegate race...

How safe is your right to vote? Alarming evidence continues to surface that our votes may be in danger of continued attempts at manipulation and outright suppression. When these sorts of underhanded tactics center on efforts to disqualify voters based on age, race and ethnicity, these so-called dirty tricks are not only reprehensible and unethical - but also unlawful and dangerous.

Recently, Ally Klimkoski gave us a fantastic summary of the newly discovered efforts in her state to "cage" voters. Evidently, Kris Kobach, the chairman of her state's Republican Party sent out an email boasting that his party has "identified and caged more voters in the last 11 months than the previous two years." This is not about party politics. This is about the rule of law. If guilty, Kris Kobach deserves to be bestowed with loud, raucous and sustained opprobrium.

You're about to hear an important story. It's a story that involves both your right to vote, and your right to have your vote counted.

The way ahead is difficult. The outer boundary of what we currently believe is feasible is still far short of what we actually must do.

Moreover, between here and there, across the unknown, falls the shadow.

That is just another way of saying that we have to expand the boundaries of what is possible. In the words of the Spanish poet, Antonio Machado, "Pathwalker, there is no path. You must make the path as you walk."

We are standing at the most fateful fork in that path.

Former vice president Al Gore, accepting his Nobel Peace Prize on Monday, called on the United States and China, the world's two largest polluters, "to make the boldest moves" on climate change "or stand accountable before history for their failure to act."

"Both countries should stop using each other's behavior as an excuse for stalemate," Gore said, labeling the threat from rising temperatures and sea levels "a planetary emergency, a threat to the survival of our civilization that is gathering, ominous and destructive."

"Make no mistake, the next generation will ask us one of two questions," Gore said. "Either they will ask: 'What were you thinking, why didn't you act?' Or they will ask instead, 'How did you find the moral courage to rise and successfully resolve a crisis that so many said was impossible to solve?' "

OK, but why a Peace Prize?

As Simone pointed out last week, President Bush is building a $600 million embassy in Baghdad that will cost us $1.2 billion dollars to run. The new embassy compound in Iraq is the strongest signal yet that George Bush is doing everything he can to ensure that our presence in Iraq remains long after his presidency is over.

Rather than responding to the two-thirds of Americans that want us out of Iraq, or even negotiating his strategies with the members of Congress that represent the citizens of America - Bush is instead negotiating his long-term plans with the puppet prime minister of Iraq...

The most exclusive community in South Florida was invaded by ordinary activists hoping to stand up for the rights of ordinary workers.

Off the coast of Miami last Saturday, decorated boats ferried more than one hundred activists as close as possible to the shore of the ultra-wealthy Fisher Island to protest discriminatory and abusive treatment of the workers that clean, maintain, and protect the island. The activists then swam the rest of the way to shore.

"Because they are so isolated, Fisher Island residents think they can wall themselves off from the poverty they create," said Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 11 Political Director Hiram Ruiz. "We set out to make a point, that there should be only one Miami, not one Miami for the wealthy and another for the rest of us."