E Pluribus Unum

First, VPOTUS chief of staff Scooter Libby killed Valerie Plame's career (under orders from his boss) to stop Joe Wilson. After his indictment, he resigned. Then, taking a page out of the Jack Ruby manual on law enforcement, WH deputy chief of staff Karl Rove stabbed Scooter in the back to protect the president.

Now it turns out that AG Alberto Gonzalez' newly-resigned chief of staff Kyle Sampson (under orders from his boss?) killed the careers of 8 Federal prosecutors who wouldn't play dirty and supress Democratic votes before the last election. And, in a giddy coincidence, it turns out that WH counsel Harriet Miers' fingerprints were all over this fiasco as well. She, at least, had the good sense get out of the WH 6 weeks ago (shinnying down a bed-sheet ladder in the dead of night), long enough before this latest firestorm to prompt her boss to soon ask the question, "Harriet who? Never heard of her."

Thomas Nast couldn't have come up with a more vile bunch of thugs and bandits (left, click to view larger image).

[Note: This classic Nast political cartoon is entitled “A Group of Vultures Waiting for the Storm to ‘Blow Over’—‘Let Us Prey”]

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Corruption , Dick Cheney , George W. Bush , Law , Republicans

Cenk Uygur pleads with the Republican party to come to their senses and stop Bush before he starts a war with Iran:

Gas prices at ten dollars a gallon, bombings all over the world, our troops trapped in the Middle East, trillions wasted. How on God's green earth do you think you're going to recover from that?
[...]
It's the Republicans who have to realize that this administration threatens their very existence...[I]n 2008 when the Republicans are run out of town en masse and the party is nearly finished historically, people will say, "Why didn't someone warn us?" Well, I'm warning you now. Please, either for your own political advantage or for the antiquated idea of actually helping the country, remove these guys from power before they do more damage. Otherwise, we will all live to regret it.

[The Dems] stand to gain nearly universal power if this administration actually starts a disastrous war with Iran. Nobody will vote for a Republican on the national level for another twenty years.

It's smart politics...except our troops will continue to die for a mistake. And, oh yeah, that part about the looming Iran war.

The only Democrat so far who has spoken out is Russ Feingold (and maybe Chris Dodd) who, rumor has it, is going to join the Republicans in filibustering the Warner-Levin non-binding resolution. His reasoning?

Some have argued that any legislative vehicle that could be spun as a rejection of the President’s policies would be worth supporting. I understand that strategy, and it may sound good to some. But when all the spinning is done, what we are left with is the actual text of the legislation, which is an endorsement of the open-ended commitment of the U.S. military in Iraq.

It’s time for Congress to end our military involvement in this war. We must redeploy our troops from Iraq so that we can focus on the global threats that face us.
[...]
I understand how important it is to send a clear message to the White House. But we shouldn’t make the compromises made in this resolution just to beat a filibuster. Instead of trying to pass something that everyone can get behind, we should be taking a strong stand. If others want to block it, go right ahead. We have the support of a majority of Americans behind us. We should recognize that and act on it.

Good for him. His voice must be heard.

UPDATE: Breaking news: U.S. not planning for war with Iran, Gates says

SusanG responds:

Leave aside for the minute any analysis of whether Gates is speaking the truth here, or whether recent actions fall into line with his statement. Just consider how frog-boiled this nation has become in the piping hot water provided by the Bush administration since 9/11. Reporting that we’re not going to war – in effect, declarations of non-events – now make up one of the main news stories of the day. We don’t even blink an eye. In fact, we breathe a sigh of relief that at least in official statements, the country has not gone to war between the time when we laid our heads upon our pillows last night and when we staggered to the coffeemaker this morning.

Pity a once-proud country that now rises each day to take comfort in the fact that it hasn’t attacked, or officially planned to attack, another country overnight. And that this is considered headline news.

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Democrats , Dick Cheney , George W. Bush , Iran , Iraq , Politics , Republicans , War

Apparently, the Libertarian vote in Montana and Missouri was greater than the Democratic margin of victory in both states:

Missouri Senate

McCaskill (D) 1,047,049
Talent (R) 1,001,238
Gilmour (L) 47,504

Montana Senate

Tester (D) 198,302
Burns (R) 195,455
Jones (L) 10,324

Maybe a more accurate observation would be that mingling religion into policy decisions on stem-cell research was a bad idea. That's closer to the truth of what happened in Missouri, where Claire McCaskill campaigned heavily in favor of the state's stem-cell initiative.

As for Montana, I'm not sure why the Libertarians turned on incumbent Repulbican Sen. Burns. After all, he was a gun-totin, horseback-ridin cowboy, right? Maybe they just saw him as another corrupt member of the big-spending-Washington-insiders' club.

Whatever it is, it shows (again -- remember Florida 2000?) that 3rd parties can still make a big difference in a close election, even when their candidates lose.

(HT to Kos)

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Democrats , Republicans

This is the Top Ten list of most popular videos I created in 2006. They were posted on both YouTube and Google Video.

10. Baton Rouge Jewish Film Festival
This is a 5-minute preview of the films being shown at the festival in January, 2007.

9. Amnesia
Inspired by David Byrne's song of the same name.

8. New Orleans Jazzfest 2006
The international music festival returns to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

7. Jesus Hates Democrats, So Vote AGAINST Stem-Cell Research
Passion of the Christ star Jim Caviziel gets creepy in an anti-stem cell research ad that ran in Missouri. This ad was eventually banned from YouTube -- but the proposition to support stem-cell research won, carrying Claire McCaskill into the Senate.

6. Tai Chi & Cool Jerk
My first video.

5. New Orleans Mardi Gras
Laissez les bon temps rouler! This video is the next best thing to being there.

4. My ad gets shown on The Colbert Report!
You're nobody til Stephen Colbert disses you. Crum-believable!

3. Bring 'Em Home
My daughter and I shot this one day at a municipal park in suburban Detroit; the music is from Bruce Springsteen.

2. Multiple ads for Democratic challengers
As a lark, I did 5 ads for Democratic congressional challengers: Patrick Murphy (PA-08), Paul Hodes (NH-02), Linda Stender (NJ-07), Jerry McNerney (CA-11), and Nancy Skinner (MI-09). I also did a generic ad for the Democratic party. Most got posted on candidate blogs and web sites, etc. Then Carol Gay (NJ-04) saw them and asked me to do one for her campaign. Eventually, Stephen Colbert saw THAT one and the rest is history -- see #4 above. [P.S. Carol lost, but many of the others won.]

And the #1 most popular video of mine from 2006 is...

1. Vote Republican (Because Jesus Hates Democrats)
A YouTuber sent me a video response to one of my candidate ads and I couldn't tell if he was being serious or not. So I, um, tweaked it to remove all doubt. An instant classic!

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Democrats , Film , Humor , Louisiana , Music , Politics , Top Posts , Video , War in Iraq

(This article was, of course, cross posted at Daily Kos)

Yesterday I listed the ten most read posts at E Pluribus Unum.

Today I'm listing my Top Ten "high-impact" diaries cross-posted at Daily Kos.

First, a word of explanation:

As you may know, there are thousands of diaries (posts) per day at Daily Kos. A tiny percentage become "recommended diaries" and are highlighted on a side-bar panel. An even tinier percentage are placed on the front page of the site. The vast majority of diaries come and go like waves lapping on the beach -- coming and going and being constantly replaced by new waves that also come and go. A "high-impact" diary represents the middle ground between a recommended diary and one of those waves on the beach. It is one of those diaries that gets the "optimum" combination of recommendations, comments and commenters. The system is somewhat arbitrary. Nonetheless, once a day, the high-impact diaries are recognized and share a brief moment of recognition.

These, then, are the diaries I posted at Daily Kos that recieved this recognition in 2006:

10. Connect dots:Cheney,Whittington=Bush lied under oath? (2/13)

8. (tie) Do the Democrats Have A Ground Game Like THIS One? (9/24)

8. (tie) (POLL) Dem Response To al-Maliki (7/25)

7. Fourth Generation Warfare: "You have to hunt like a network to defeat a network." (8/15)

6. NJ-04: Crum-believable! Colbert disses my ad for Carol Gay! (10/23)

5. Screw The Polls: Watch Prediction Markets (8/25)

4. Bush: Hiding a Serious Heart Condition? (8/23)

3. When Bush Taunts, Don't Defend: Attack Him Back HARD (6/29)

2. I'm an anti-war, yellow-dog Democrat -- and a Zionist, too (7/14)

And the highest impact diary I posted to Daily Kos in 2006 was...

1. Suskind: CIA knew "Osama backed Bush re-election" (6/21)

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Categories: 2006 Elections , 4GW , Democrats , Dick Cheney , George W. Bush , Humor , Iraq , Israel , Television , Terrorism , Top Posts , Video , War in Iraq

Without further ado (or waiting til Dec. 31), here are E Pluribus Unum's most-read posts of 2006:

10. Dad Gave Me The Keys (Mark Adams)

Wow, a real blog. How cool is this.

9. Ohio Republicans, Offers That Can't Be Refused (Mark Adams)

In France, you can't even get away with taking a Viagra before a silly bike race. If they could prove that the Browns and the Cavaliers were "fixing" point spreads, or the Indians were throwing games, there'd be riots on Euclid Avenue. Push some inconvenient voters in the wrong direction, undermine our very democracy, and it's just business as usual.

8. Movie trailer mash-ups
Where else are you going to see the movie trailer for Brokeback To Future? OK, besides YouTube.com and every other blog and website on the Internets. All I can say is: God bless Google.

7. Marbury vs. Madison
I posted this in April, 2005 and it is still one of the most widely-read things I've ever written. It has bounced around in the top 50 sites (out of 175 thousand) at Google for the eponymous keyword phrase -- and it made a star out of our buddy Wince from Kansas:

Some would say God's Law is most high. Perhaps it is, as defined (for example) in the Bible. But we are not a nation that is governed by the church or the temple. Even if we were, all you have to do is look at the Talmud to understand that there is always more than one opinion about everything.

No, we are not a government ruled by the church. We are a government of the people, for the people and by the people. We follow a document that WE wrote.

Some would hope that God guided us in that ongoing endeavor. But if that is the case, it is also certainly true that God helps those who helps themselves.

It's hard to make your way through the difficult questions Wince, I know. But we all agreed, long ago, that this was a job for the people to do. We don't wait for God to judge these difficult cases for us.

6. What does leadership mean?

I think it was Chris Matthews who said voters respond most favorably to the candidate who can best articulate the following simple message: "Follow me!"

5. Intelligent Design: “The sky is blue because God wants it that way.”
The title (and the post) is borrowed from Nobel Prize winner Eric Cornell. What more is there to add?

4. Commerce Committee to Vote on Net Neutrality Wednesday
This post contained the names and numbers of the everyone on the Senate Commerce Committee and I urged you to call them and tell them to support the Snowe/Dorgan amendment. Net Neutrality survived -- for now. Stay tuned.

3. Top Ten Chuck Norris Facts
Jeez, I didn't even write it. And/But this post ranks #9 out of 480 thousand sites listed on Google. I'm baffled...but endlessly amused (along with, apparently, the rest of the Internets):

A blind man once stepped on Chuck Norris' shoe. Chuck replied, "Don't you know who I am? I'm Chuck Norris!" The mere mention of his name cured this man blindness. Sadly, the first, last, and only thing this man ever saw was a fatal roundhouse kick delivered by Chuck Norris.

2. Foley Scandal: What's up with Rep. Rodney Alexander?
Major hat tip to Miss Julie, who asked the title question thereby inspiring this post, early in the Foley scandal.

And the #1 most widely-read post of the year...

1. Bush-Cheney Escape War Crimes Prosecution
Go ahead, click the link -- you'll notice that this post was "dugg" 854 times so far (and viewed nearly 4 thousand times at Google Video -- with a strange spike in traffic on the day after Christmas). It's Jack Cafferty breathing fire:

Under the War Crimes Act, violations of the Geneva Conventions are felonies, in some cases punishable by death. When the Supreme Court ruled that the Geneva Convention applied to al Qaeda and Taliban detainees, President Bush and his boys were suddenly in big trouble.

P.S. Sometime soon, I promise to post E Pluribus Unum's Top 10 most widely viewed videos -- including the one of Stephen Colbert showing (and dissing) my ad for congressional candidate, Carol Gay.

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Categories: 2006 Elections , About Me , Constitution , Corruption , Democrats , Dick Cheney , George W. Bush , Humor , Iraq , Law , Movies , Net Neutrality , Notable Quotes , Politics , Religion , Republicans , Top Posts , Video , War in Iraq

by Mark Adams

It's rare that I disagree with Glenn Greenwald, who concludes Did Rahm Emanuel lie about his knowledge of Mark Foley? Yes.: "

Certainly Emanuel attempted to create a false impression while staying, repeatedly, on point -- clinging to the technically accurate, yet misleading, "Never saw them [the Foley E-Mails]."

Now it's being reported that, in fact, Emanuel had indeed heard of, but not seen the salacious propositions of Congressional Pages by the disgraced Congressman, the finger pointing towards a democratic party "dirty trick" releasing this to the press has more credibility.

Glenn asks us to look to the video of Emanuel on ABC where he's asked point-blank, several times, whether he was "aware" of the e-mails, to which he repeats that he "never saw them."

Independent of the question of whether Emaneul "technically lied" -- and far more important -- is the fact that Emanuel was clearly and deliberately misleading. Any reasonable person would have come away from that interview (as I know I did) with the strong impression that Emanuel was completely unaware of any e-mails sent by Foley to the pages, and that he had no reason to know anything was amiss with Foley until ABC broke the story.

That's what I took out of it when I saw it. But I also admired the lawyerly way Bill Clinton himself split the hair on the word "is" back in the day. What's not to admire about dexterous word-smiting.

It was quite obvious that Rahm Emanuel was being less than completely candid, and if you missed that, and are now indignant, start paying more attention. He may not have seen any evil, but he was certainly speaking a lot of evil, and now we know it was because he heard some evil.

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Corruption , Democrats , Politics

• Hoyer beats Murtha. Honestly I'm thrilled that there is a Democratic Majority Leader of the House of Representatives. The rest is detail. As for the traditional media calling it "a setback for Pelosi," get a life -- she's the Democratic Speaker of the House of Representatives. So far, so good. [P.S. Apparently, the Blue Dogs are not happy with Pelosi's pick, Alcee Hastings, for the Intelligence Committee.]

• Rahm and Dean shake hands and call it a day. And Carville? Not so much.

• I saw the headline about the University of California police shooting a student with a taser and ignored it. Why borrow trouble, you know? Then, after seeing it several more times, I finally watched the cellphone video. Honestly, there isn't much to see but, my God, the audio alone is profoundly disturbing. What I don't get is why they tased him, again and again, once he was on the ground. If all they wanted was to take him away, they should have simply cuffed him and dragged him off after the first taser brought him down.

• The Times wrings its hands in despair over Iraq:

  ...[W]e are sure that even a few weeks more of drift and confusion will guarantee more chaos and suffering once American troops leave. Voters gave the Democrats the floor — and are now waiting to hear what they have to say.

  That's rich -- the Times went along for years while Bush's disastrous Iraq policy unfolded; now that the voters have thrown those bums out of Congress, the editors demand that the Democrats do something about it NOW, or else.

• Arianna's on a Time Magazine panel to discuss their upcoming Person of the Year issue. Her top pick is Murtha; but her fallback picks are more interesting, among them Stewart & Colbert.

• Sen. Dodd (D-CT) introduced legislation on Thursday to amend the horrific Military Commissions Act, restoring habeas corpus, narrowing the definition of "unlawful enemy combatant," limiting the authority of the President to interpret the meaning and application of the Geneva Conventions, barring the use of information obtained through coercion, and more. Not a moment too soon.

• I grew up in Michigan during the years that George Romney was the governor (and a one-time presidential aspirant). So I'm familiar with Romney family mojo. That said, I didn't take Mitt Romney's presidential aspirations seriously until I read today that it was Romney's Bain Capital group that was one of the parties that bought Clear Channel Communications for a cool $19 billion. Holy crap! Most candidates just buy ad time. Romney bought an advertising empire.

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  Categories: 2006 Elections , Advertising , Constitution , Democrats , Law , Odds & Sods , Video , War in Iraq

Things to Think About:

There's no doubt that the margin of Webb's win over Allen was far smaller than the margin provided by the instant disgust and ensuing fallout from the 'Macaca' comments. Given that, it's literally true that S.R Sidharth, the slurred Webb staffer, flipped the Senate. Himself. His very presence at that event, when combined with Allen's bigotry, ended Republican rule over Congress. So while Isaac Chotiner ably rounds up the various Allen advisors disgraced by their boss's implosion, we should all take a moment to think fondly of Sidharth, the lowly staffer who won Democrats the Senate.

(Via Ezra Klein.)

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Categories: 2006 Elections

by Mark Adams
Crossposted at Mark's New Site
(Please update your bookmarks and feeds.)

What seems like a couple hundred years ago, I wrote my first blog post. It was about my morbid fascination with the bloviating Rush Limbaugh.

That was before Air America (actually just days before it launched), before Rush was outed as a drug addict, and well before he admitted that everything he said in support of the Bush Administration and the rubberstamp GOP Congress was a Big. Fat. Lie.

Rush and his cohorts ignored the real problems of this country for too long, opting instead to demonize anyone with the temerity to realistically examine our situation (let alone offer a solution) unless they had an "R" next to their name. It's time for America, at long last, to ignore Rush Limbaugh.

Continue reading "Fraud!" »

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Categories: 2006 Elections

"Iraq mattered," Rove says. "But it was more frustration than it was an explicit call for withdrawal. If this was a get-out-now call for withdrawal, then Lamont would not have been beaten by Lieberman. Iraq does play a role, but not the critical, central role."

"My job is not to be a prognosticator," he said. "My job is not to go out there and wring my hands and say, 'We're going to lose.' I'm looking at the data and seeing if I can figure out, Where can we be? I told the President, 'I don't know where this is going to end up. But I see our way clear to Republican control.' "

"I see this as much more of a transient, passing thing," he said. "The Republican Party remains at its core a small-government, low-tax, limit-spending, traditional-values, strong-defense party. I see the power of the ideas, even in a tough year." He added that he has "fundamental confidence in the power of the underlying agenda of this President," and cited fighting the war on terror, entitlement reform, energy, tax cuts, immigration reform, No Child Left Behind reauthorization, democracy agenda in the Middle East, reducing trade barriers, spending restraint and legal reform.

Rove goes on to spout a ton of historical statistics about midterm elections, as if to lessen the impact of what really happened here. And/But no matter how many "averages" he wants to point to, very few historical analogies match this one -- in one day, the sitting President's party lost control of an entire branch of the government. That's only happened once before in my lifetime -- and I go back to the first Eisenhower administration.

Rove is an enthusiastic historian, but even he has trouble coming up with a parallel for this wild week. "We may look back and see this as a unique expression," he said.

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Republicans

ROVE: I'm looking at all of these [polls] and adding them up. I add up to a Republican Senate and Republican House. You may end up with a different math but you are entitled to your math and I'm entitled to THE math.

But after last Tuesday, it may finally be over for Turdblossom. We've seen his "tells" one time too many.

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Republicans

...and calling 12 out of 13 gubernatorial races:

Continue reading "Polls: Why Rasmussen Should Get A Prize" »

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Poll

Everywhere you look, "experts" are sifting through the rubble of last night and offering standard-issue, conventional wisdom-approved explanations for the GOP's defeat....[But] the GOP lost for three reasons: Iraq, Iraq, and Iraq. Period. End of discussion. Election Day 2006 was an unambiguous repudiation of the Bush administration's failed and tragic policy in Iraq.

And another thing: this nonsense about the country becoming more conservative -- how many Democrats won by being more conservative than their opponents? Can you name one?

So to all the Republicans who think they lost by ignoring the commandments of conservatism: you sound like the old Marxists who still believe that communism can work if you just really, really, just give it another chance.

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Categories: 2006 Elections

But what if you had a corrupt Democrat -- but one who was also against the war?

Republicans conducted a poll to use against Senator Robert Menendez, a Democrat, who was battered by accusations of corruption and who was running against Thomas Kean Jr., an initial supporter of the war. Respondents were given a choice between a candidate with a history of corruption, facing possible indictment, versus a candidate who supported the war. Each received 40 percent, a sobering finding for Republicans.

As for the so-called genius of Karl Rove, I think we can all agree that the guy has always been a masterful poker player -- no one could bluff like that pudgy Texan. But in order to bluff effectively, you have to have decent cards once in a while. This year, it was not to be:

Until the end, keeping in character and hewing to longstanding political strategy, Mr. Rove presented an optimistic front, telling anyone who would listen that the party would hold control of the House and the Senate. Now, his aides say they knew a month ago how much trouble they were in, at least in the House. Three weeks before the election, various efforts to crunch polling data and find a path toward success kept coming to the same best case result: the Democrats would take 17 seats.

Sara Taylor, the White House political director, said that she had still seen a way to win before Election Day but that it would have required holding an "inside straight."

And Rahm Emmanuel? Elsewhere, I opined that Howard Dean was not getting enough credit for the Dems' victory. But Emmanuel was superior to Dean in a couple of respects: he was a a brutal competitor and a brilliant tactician -- easily Rove's match during this cycle. While it was Dean who led the way (early on) against the war, who pioneered the use of the Internet in fund-raising/community-building and who relentlessly promoted the (winning) strategy of a 50-state campaign, it was Emmanuel (and Schumer) who got into the trenches and fought with guns and knives to get their candidates elected. I want all of them on my team.

Gathered in the Oval Office with aides at dawn yesterday, Mr. Bush decided to add a name to his call list. “I’m going to call Rahm, the guy did a good job,” Mr. Bush said, according to an aide.

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Categories: 2006 Elections

• On a historic day when the opposition party swept the boards, I had to watch from the sidelines because not a single Democrat appeared on my local ballot. Welcome to south Louisiana.

• Minnesota sends the nation's first Muslim to Congress. Will Michelle Malkin's head explode? I certainly hope so.

• In 1994, Rush Limbaugh was dubbed "The Majority Maker" for his role as a Republican shill. And/But after that drug addict mocked Michael J. Fox's ads for Amendment II in Missouri, he might now rightfully be dubbed "The Majority Loser."

• If you think the Republican minority will sit down and shut up, think again:

  [Grover] Norquist predicted that Bush would now govern largely through executive orders rather than working with Congress on legislation. The president could, for example, use orders to lighten the load of capital gains taxes by changing how they are calculated, Norquist said. One other possible executive order, he said, could excite conservative voters in time for the 2008 election: putting the late President Reagan on the $50 or $100 bill.

  The Democrats get another 12 hours or so to feel good about their victory. After that, it's time to play hardball with Bush-Cheney, Norquist and the other extremists in this administration.

• Webb beat Allen, but there's a recount in the cards and the Attorney General of Virginia is an Allen partisan. I'm just saying. [Note: Maybe Allen forgoes the recount?]

• Brad DeLong [via Kevin Drum] points out the size of yesterday's Senate blowout: Democrats won about 32 million votes compared to 24 million for Republicans.

• Other than John McCain and Hillary Clinton, no other 2008 hopefuls were heard from yesterday -- not John Edwards, not Evan Bayh, not Rudy Giuliani, not anyone.

• Denny Hastert will not run for a leadership position in the House Republican minority. Duh.

• Voter turnout was more than 40 percent this year, slightly higher than in the last midterm election. And, for the first time in a midterm election since 1990, the Dems drew more voters than Republicans.

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Categories: 2006 Elections

Not.

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Democrats

REPORTER: ...[M]ay I ask you if you have any metrics you'd be willing to share about your reading contest with Mr. Rove.

THE PRESIDENT: I'm losing. I obviously was working harder in the campaign than he was. (Laughter.)

AUDIENCE: [As Bush turns slowly to stare at Rove]. Oooooh!

THE PRESIDENT: He's a faster reader...

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Categories: 2006 Elections , George W. Bush

Wow.

Just ... wow.

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Categories: 2006 Elections

Crum-believable -- the Dems win!

• The Democratic wave overcomes the Republican levees.
  They win the House, the Senate (pending a recount in VA and late returns in MT), the majority of Governorships, and the majority of state legislative chambers (for the first time since 2000).

• The Republican Party is looking more and more like a Southern Party.
  For the first time in many, many decades, the Congressional majority does not need the South.

• Bush will speak at a press conference Wednesday afternoon
  Can't wait to hear how that goes. Can't wait to hear what Rove says. Mehlman too.

• Speaking of Bush, we'll be seeing a lot of vetoes from now on.
  Shoe's on the other foot: now he'll be forced to reject a hike in the minimum wage, reject a repeal of the Medicare legislation that forbids the government from negotiating with drug companies for lower prices, reject a replenishing of student loan programs, reject funding of stem cell research and reject implementing those recommendations of the Sept. 11 commission that have thus far languished. In other words, the 2008 campaign for the presidency starts right now.

• Big Winners
  Speaker Pelosi, Rahm Emmanuel, Howard Dean, Chuck Schumer. And, ahem, Joe Lieberman. They all deserve a victory lap, big-time.

• Big Losers
  Rick Santorum, George Allen, Tom DeLay, J.D. Hayworth (AZ-05)**, Denny Hastert, George W. Bush, Karl Rove and Ken Mehlman. "Dick" Cheney is a vampire so nothing can kill him.

P.S. A special note of recognition should be accorded Massachusetts Governor-elect Deval Patrick, who becomes the nation's second black governor. He was overlooked in all the coverage of losers Michael Steele and Harold Ford.

(HT to Bill from Portland Maine for the title of this post)

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Categories: 2006 Elections

The Democrats will be heading for an epic House sweep, if, by 8 p.m. [ET], they have won three GOP-held Indiana seats, at least one in Kentucky, one in New Hampshire, one in Virginia (if Phil Keller knocks off Thelma Drake in the 2nd District) and a minimum of three in Ohio. That new math would give the Democrats nine new House seats -- leaving them just six pickups around the country short of making Nancy Pelosi speaker.

[Note: Dan Aibel did a similar analysis.]

Conversely, if by 8 p.m. Eastern, the Republicans have held their losses to, say, three seats, then the Democrats will once again be reeling from the hidden power of the GOP's turnout operation.

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Categories: 2006 Elections

• Showdown '06 Live blogging of the election from around the country.

• Problems at the polls? Call 1-866-OUR-VOTE
  The mission of ProtectOurVotes.org is to highlight the most serious violations as soon as they are discovered and to place them immediately in context for journalists along with all available trusted documentation.

• State-by-state guide to polling place photos
  The Center for Citizen Media has posted an extensive guide to the state-by-state rules on polling-place photography -- this is particularly relevant in this election, as Diebold' corrupt, inept voting machines come into play.

• Olbermann interviews Jonathan Alter about voter supression via Republican Robocalls
  Unfortuanately, this kind of thing works or they wouldn't be doing it; the DNCC vows to sue the Republicans to the fullest extent of the law...after the election.

• This is a test of the Emergency Alert System: Vote Republican!
  And you thought the Robocalls were over the top?

• Republicans try to raise the bar and fail
  Krauthammer and Coutler, et. al. would like to plant the idea that anything less than a 35-seat gain for the Democrats would be no big deal. But the fact is, the average gain for 6th-year midterm elections has been a whopping 5 seats. Bottom line: the Democrats either win at least one house of Congress or they don't. All the rest is detail.

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Categories: 2006 Elections

Had some trouble with the comment file -- permissions were messed up. But now it's solved.

So, please feel free to leave a comment today and tell me what happened at your polling place when you went to vote.

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Categories: 2006 Elections

Just got back in town, too much to write about right now... scan the links below from Kos' front page:

Prediction thread
Both sides trumpet GOTV successes
VA-Sen: Voter suppression in Virginia
Wave and Anti-Wave
MD-Sen: More dirty tricks

I'm disturbed at the multiple reports of the NRCC placing thousands of "false-flag robocalls" in multiple states.

Other than that, I got nothing to add -- I'm still catching up on what's happened today. But obviously, the next 24 hours will reveal whether we'll see some sort of change of course or whether the Republicans will claim a mandate for God-knows-what for the next two years.

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Categories: 2006 Elections

In a scheduling bonanza that probably gave Dick Morris a woody, "Dick" Cheney has gone to South Dakota to hunt pheasants on Election Day. With a shotgun.

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Categories: 2006 Elections

So, lemme get this straight.

Bush blames Kerry for "insulting" the troops by saying he said something he didn't say, that everybody knew he didn't say and didn't mean, and it just didn't matter.

GOP Majority Leader John Boehner blames the generals and it's no laughing matter, but his attempt to say the buck stops with the guys on the ground and not Rumsfeld, or Bush, isn't criticism of the military is truly a knee-slapper.

The Army Times blame Rumsfeld. evidently missing Boehner's memo and exposing itself as a tool of the Glorious Socialist Revolution For Make Benefit Of Liberal Mainstream Media.

Chalabi blames Wolfowitz, and the rest of the "Pentagon guys" for "chickening out" -- and if they'd listened to him the Iraqis wouldn't have any foreigners to blame.  No, really.

The neo-con chickenhawks spread blame all around, and if you only look at Vanity Fair when they've got a naked pregnant celebrity on the cover, Shakes has the money quotes.  I twist the words below ...

Continue reading "Pin The Blame On The Donkey" »

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Categories: 2006 Elections

Here's what I mean by that:

On one hand, I suppose you might imagine that Bush's brain trust thought that it would be a good thing for people to be reminded of what a butcher Saddam really was. Perhaps Karl Rove thought that if people saw his (Saddam's) ugly mug on TV Sunday and Monday, they'd vote for the Republicans in gratitude for"bringing Saddam to justice."

Maybe so. But sometimes this kind of thing takes on a life of its own.

Consider this:

What if the image on TV Sunday morning isn't of Saddam in the dock, but, instead, Baghdad ablaze like the 1992 riots in Los Angeles after the verdict in the Rodney King police brutality verdict was announced?

Do you think anyone planned for that possibility?

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Politics , Republicans , Television , War in Iraq

After seeing a resurgence in the price during September, the Intrade prediction market for "House GOP control" crashed in October and now stands at 25, i.e., traders believe there is only a 25% chance that the Republicans will hold onto their majority.

The prediction market for "Senate GOP control" stands at 69, although a couple of the individual races are very close.

Here are the market prices for seats that Dems look to flip:

• MT-Sen: Tester 67
  
• OH-Sen: Brown 92
  
• PA-Sen: Casey 94
  
• RI-Sen: Whitehouse 90

• TN-Sen: Corker 75

• MO-Sen: McCaskill 51, Talent 46
  
• VA-Sen: Webb 49, Allen 48

He also says this:

[T]he Crystal Ball cannot identify a single election for Senate, House or Governor in which a Republican is likely to succeed a Democrat in office. Just imagine how devastating an absolute shutout would be in the eyes of history if this proves to be true!

Sure, we could easily be fooled by more than a few outcomes in this regard on Election Night, and we would probably place the odds of this historical unlikelihood's occurrence at no better than 50/50. But the very notion such a scenario is within the realm of possibilities is a testament to the lopsidedness of this year's theaters of battle.

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Categories: 2006 Elections

That's why I'd like to suggest that you at least ask for a paper ballot when you go to vote on November 7. It's late to vote via absentee ballot and, honestly, I don't know if your precinct will be prepared to accomodate you with a paper ballot. But it couldn't hurt to ask. And, like any good consumer, ask to talk to the supervisor if the poll-worker blows you off.

Florida flipping votes from Democrat to Republican
Texas flipping votes from Democrat to Republican
Tennessee missing e-vote smart cards

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Corruption , Democrats , Law , Republicans

by Mark Adams

Demotion to Minority Leader isn't enough for this embarrassment to all of Ohio, or even losing his leadership position to become a backbencher (which he rightly deserves).  He shouldn't ever get elected dog catcher again.

GOP HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER JOHN BOEHNER: Let's not blame what's happening in Iraq on Rumsfeld.

WOLF BLITZER: But he's in charge of the military.

BOEHNER: But the fact is, the generals on the ground are in charge, and he works closely with them and the president.

If this will be known as the year of the Democratic Tsunami.  2008 should be the Great GOP Purge if this guy remains the face of the Republican Party leadership.

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Categories: 2006 Elections , War in Iraq

by Mark Adams

Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki demanded the removal of American checkpoints from the streets of Baghdad on Tuesday, in what appeared to be his latest and boldest gambit in an increasingly tense struggle for more independence from his American protectors.

Mr. Maliki’s public declaration seemed at first to catch American commanders off guard. But by nightfall, American troops had abandoned all the positions in eastern and central Baghdad that they had set up last week with Iraqi forces as part of a search for a missing American soldier. The checkpoints had snarled traffic and disrupted daily life and commerce throughout the eastern part of the city.

Hey, I get it.  It was a choice between traffic jams ... or securing the capital and finding our lost GI.  That used to be a no-brainer in the quaint old days of a more chivalrous era.

Like four years ago ... Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld 9/20/2002:

"Throughout the history of our nation, we have been blessed by heroes willing to sacrifice their freedom to protect and defend our own.  It is still so today.  In foreign lands and on far away seas, courageous military men and women are fighting to defend our country's freedom.

"They do so knowing that if they should fall on the field of battle, should they be captured or lost, we will do everything in our power to find them and to bring them home,"  That is our pledge to them and to you.

The Carpetbagger makes the point that, "Maliki doesn't have 'command' over U.S. troops, but our soldiers abandoned all the positions in eastern and central Baghdad they had set up just as soon Iraqis told them to."

This happens under the watch of a President who promised exactly the opposite.

Back when we had Beloved Leader the Swaggerer he castigated the Clinton Adminstration for allowing NATO commanders to have US Forces under their command. "Never Happen under my watch" said he.

Dishonorable?  Too mild a word if you ask me.  It's criminal, and Dem Vet shows us just where in the Code of Conduct we find the mandate that we do not leave soldiers behind, a Code that earned many a hero more than just a Button, but a premature trip to Arlington as well.  Heros who, unlike the cretins running the show, knew the meaning of the words, "Honor, Duty, Code"

And now you know why they want to make Kerry a campaign issue, because the truth of the war is something they cannot handle.

Yes, this election is indeed about Iraq, and now it's not just the lies that got us there or the incompetence that turned it into such chaos we can't get out, or the war crimes, or corruption -- but now it's the cowardice of the 1600 crew too.

Do you really need any more proof than this:  Bush wants Rumsfeld, Cheney for rest of term - USATODAY.com

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Categories: 2006 Elections , War in Iraq

Because of Iraq, Osama bin Laden is still a threat.
Because of Iraq, our military is spread too thin.
Because of Iraq, there are more terrorists in the world.
Because of Iraq, America is less secure.

So if you see commercials telling you to be afraid of terrorism, remember: It's because of Iraq.

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Video , War in Iraq

This election is your last chance to speak up and be heard -- until 2008.

Do you want to let things ride until then? Or do you think it is time to make a course correction?

Fact is, there are no easy solutions left. But the Democrats will (at least) ask the hard questions and try to find the best solution. On the other hand, the Republicans will just continue to be a rubber stamp for the the Bush administration's failed policies.

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Democrats , Dick Cheney , George W. Bush , Republicans , Video , War in Iraq

It's about Iraq, stupid.

So Kerry should cede the spotlight to the one man who can guarantee victory for the Democrats on November 7.

That man is George W. Bush.

For some unknown reason (and to the great frustration of his own party's candidates), the president continues to talk about victory in Iraq at this late date in the campaign. And/But instead of going back to his office and at least look like he's trying to win that war, he insists on stumping before crowds of Bush loyalists in places like Georgia. And/But in doing so, he keeps alive the one issue that hurts his party and helps the Democrats. He is either unable or unwilling to accept what this election is all about. Democrats, to their credit, HAVE figured it out:

It's about Iraq, stupid.

Democrats know that the closing argument for this campaign is simple: if you like the way things are going in Iraq, vote for the Republicans. But if you feel that we need a change of direction, vote for the Democrats.

Now, like most things in life, it isn't that simple. But, for once, the Democrats understand that when it comes to politics, most voters will only take the time to glance at a snapshot, not the whole movie.

Now maybe Bush is reverting to his former role as a high school cheerleader. Maybe he sees his role as Morale-Builder-In-Chief. But even if Osama is captured -- or delivers another jihad-video -- on November 3, it won't change what this election is about:

It's about Iraq, stupid.

Bush is missing what everyone else sees: that every day we stay in Iraq, two outcomes will become more and more likely. Both outcomes are mutually reinforcing. Both outcomes are bad for Iraq. Both outcomes are bad for the US. Both outcomes lead to defeat in the Iraq war for the US.

It's about Iraq, stupid and Iraq is all about this, now:

1. Life is going from bad to worse for the Iraqis.
   
2. An anti-US Iraqi government is gaining in strength and momentum.

And/But still, Bush doesn't get it. Or maybe he does and he thinks that being a cheerleader will turn it around. I don't know anymore what he thinks and, really, I don't care. It doesn't matter what he says -- it only matters what he does.

And by staying the course in Iraq, by insisting that victory is around the corner, saying that the insurgency is in its last throes, and/or by bashing Kerry, by saying that a vote for the Democrats is a vote for the terrorists, he hurts the Republicans and he helps the Democrats.

He doesn't get it. He doesn't get that it really IS about Iraq, stupid.

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Democrats , Dick Cheney , George W. Bush , Republicans , War in Iraq

Do you ever get the feeling that just about anything might happen this week?

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Categories: 2006 Elections , History

Senator George Allen made a campaign stop in Charlottesville, NC, Tuesday morning...

As Senator Allen was exiting a ballroom, coming to talk to the media, a protestor started yelling and asking, "Why did you spit on your first wife?". He wasn't able to get near the senator as he was tackled by three men wearing Allen stickers, presumed to be staffers. He was pushed and manhandled and ended up on the floor, near windows at the Omni.

Well, let's check back with him in 7 days.

Mike Stark, the man who asked the question, was apparently referring to an incident that is allegedly detailed in the sealed divorce records from Allen's first marriage.

And speaking of sealed records, when are we going to see what those Allen arrest warrants are all about that are allegedly mentioned in Allen's application to the Virginia Bar?

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Republicans , Video

KFDM continues to get complaints from Jefferson County voters who say the electronic voting machines are not registering their votes correctly.

Friday night, KFDM reported about people who had cast straight Democratic ticket ballots, but the touch-screen machines indicated they had voted a straight Republican ticket...[and] Saturday, KFDM spoke to another voter who says it's not just happening with straight ticket voting, he says it's happening on individual races as well.

....Bueller...?

While you're pondering that question, please remember to be careful when you vote next week. If you are in a district that uses e-voting machines, MAKE SURE THAT YOUR VOTE COUNTS. Double- and triple-check that the e-voting machine tabulates your vote accurately before you leave the voting booth.

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Video

(cross posted at Daily Kos)

Don't let this happen again! On November 7, make your vote count and COUNT YOUR VOTE.

And contact the Miami Herald and insist that they investigate this story further and not let it die.

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Video

In all cases, Republicans are listed first and all times are Eastern Time.

Continue reading "20 Races to Watch on Election Night" »

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Categories: 2006 Elections

1. Thanks to increasing voter apathy, turnout keeps dwindling.
   Fact is, the number of people NOT ELIGIBLE to vote (non-citizens and convicted felons) is rising. Take them out of the model and turnout is steady.
2. Other countries' higher turnout indicates more vibrant democracies.
   It's hard to make a comparison when some countries make voting manadatory and/or have fewer elections.
3. Negative ads turn off voters and reduce turnout.
   You could just as easily say the opposite: the most famous negative campaign in recent history (the 2004 "Swiftboating" of John Kerry) coincided with one of the highest turnouts.
4. The Republican "72-hour campaign" will win the election.
   Evidence shows that might be true when voters are not already motivated by hot-button issues. But during an election dominated by, say, dissatisfaction with the war, GOTV operations might have a smaller net impact.
5. Making voter registration easier would dramatically increase turnout.
   Fact is, "motor-voter" laws increase registration -- but not necessarily turnout.

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Categories: 2006 Elections

Michael Kinsley:...

[A] vote for the Democrat is a vote against the Republican. And voting "no" to a record of failure is more important to the functioning of democracy than voting "yes" to any number of promises about the future. It was not Newt Gingrich's Contract With America that caused the great Republican sweep of 1994: It was disgust, skillfully nurtured by Republicans, with the Democratic-controlled Congress.

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Democrats

My name is Tony Trupiano and I am a proud Progressive candidate for Congress in Michigan's 11th CD. I am running against a neo-con rubber stamper who believes that America is best served on a platter. He should be ashamed of himself, to be honest. This is only his second term and with your help it will be his last.

Representative is not just a job title, it is a job description. I believe too many that are serving never got that memo.

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Categories: 2006 Elections

Keith Olbermann:

We began this week with reports that a mainstay of American politics was in failing health. And all too soon it was clear that the worst was true and that the nation had lost an old and honored friend...Tonight we pause to take the long view, the historic view of the important, the illustrious, and yes, sometimes controversial life and career of Stay The Course...

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Categories: 2006 Elections , History , Humor , Politics , Television , Video

From Lars Sandvik:

"I made this ad as a free gift to the Webb campaign. I felt this would strike a chord across party lines. The Webb campaign and the DSCC "LOVE IT," but tell me that they cannot run it because they did not originate the concept, and their "rules" prevent its use. Webb is at least 4 points behind Allen. I believe that if they ran this ad, Webb would take Virginia. If anyone knows someone with the guts to run this thing on the air, about half a million dollars is all it would take!"

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Democrats , Republicans , Video

I took some time today and compiled links to (mostly) local newspaper coverage of House, Senate and Gubernatorial races around the country.

It didn't take that long. And/But tell me if you find this useful/informative. If I see enough comments to that effect, I'll continue to do it through the election.

HOUSE RACES

• CA-04 and CA-11:New York Times

• CO-05 and ID-01: USA Today

• CT-04: Hartford Courant

• IA-03: Quad City Times

• FL-16: South Florida Sun-Sentinel

• KY-03: Louisville Courier Journal

• TN-Sen: New York Times, Memphis Commercial Appeal, USA Today, Nashville Tennessean (1), Nashville Tennessean (2)

• VA-Sen: ABC News, USA Today (1), USA Today (2), Richmond Times Dispatch, Washington Times

• MO-Sen: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, St. Louis Post-Dispatch (2), Kansas City Star (1), Kansas City Star (2)

• MT-Sen: Billings Gazette

• NJ-Sen: New York Times

• MD-Sen: Washington Times

• PA-Sen: Philadelphia Inquirer

• OH-Sen: Cleveland Plain-Dealer

• CT-Sen: Hartford Courant, New York Times

GUBERNATORIAL RACES

• NV-Gov: Las Vegas Review Journal (1), Las Vegas Review Journal (2)

• PA-Gov: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

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Categories: 2006 Elections

President Clinton said that.

P.S. Normally, I don't advise integrating your opponent's verbiage in your own defense. But perhaps the exception proves the rule -- if your message can be delivered in 10 words or less.

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Democrats

In brief:
Will this be a story about sexual titillation -- or a story about a hero vs. a coward?

In detail:
George Allen is hoping to disgust Virginia voters by rubbing their noses in various graphically violent and/or prurient passages from James Webb's fiction. That slimeball Drudge is obliging by posting the passages as supplied in broad daylight by Allen.

At the very least, Allen is hoping that Webb will be held up to the same kind of ridicule that befell Lynne Cheney and Scooter Libby when steamy passages from their novels came to light. Never mind, of course, that John McCain wrote a glowing review for Webb. Allen is counting on Virginians (translation: rural voters in the southern part of the state) to be shocked and squeamish when confronted by the offending passages.

How should Webb respond?

In brief, he should say that the books are based on fact, not fiction. He should NOT say he made these things up; he should state categorically that he saw these things (and worse) while he was fighting for his country, something George Allen was too much of a coward and a hypocrite to do.

Watch to see if Webb figures this out on his own and/or takes the advice of his supporters. It could make or break his campaign.

P.S. Like the racist sex-smear against Harold Ford Jr., this one has "Karl Rove" written all over it.

UPDATE: James Webb reponds -- forcefully. Do you think his campaign reads the blogs? Sounds like it does.

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Democrats , Politics , Republicans , War

In an eye-opening survey, Gallup has found that voters expect (and would approve of) Democrats doing the following things if they take over Congress on November 7:

• Set a time-table for withdrawal of US troops from Iraq
  
• Increase the minimum wage
  
• Pass legislation to provide healthcare to those who do not have it
  
• Allow Americans to buy prescription drugs from other countries

• Repeal the Patriot Act
  
• Take steps to make same-sex marriages legal
  
• Cut back on efforts to fight terrorism

• Reject most of Bush's nominations for federal judges
  
• Increase federal income taxes.

• Implement all anti-terror recommendations made by the 9/11 commission.

• Conduct major investigations of the Bush administration.

• Raise the minimum wage
  
• Repeal the Medicare legislation that forbids the government from negotiating with drug companies for lower prices
  
• Replenishing student loan programs
  
• Fund stem cell research
  
• Implement those recommendations of the Sept. 11 commission that have thus far languished.

• Make George W. Bush's life a ghastly, living hell
  
• Abolish Christmas
  
• Provide unlimited nights and weekends for terrorists using cellphones overseas.
  
• Install Osama bin Laden as Commissioner of Baseball

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Democrats , Economics , Health + Wellness , Health Care , Iraq , Politics , War in Iraq

Prof. Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia Center for Politics says the following in his latest newsletter:

• At its most effective, a good field operation is worth only one or two points at the ballot box.
  By comparison, Rove, Mehlman & Co. (who have an agenda) put it at 5-7 points.

• New Jersey's Supreme Court justices have come to the luckless GOP's aid
  They may have just influenced several key midterm races [including, Ford v. Corker in Tennessee and, I presume, Kean v. Menendez in NJ itself]. No fundraising visit from Bush, Cheney, Giuliani, Hastert, McCain, Mehlman, or Rove could have done this well for the Republicans.

• Democrats are on track to net 21 to 26 seats in the House, 4 to 6 seats in the Senate, and 5 to 7 governorships.

• The second-to-last week of a campaign is typically the last week voter persuasion actually works.
  Translation: put those jungle drums behind Harold Ford's name in that radio ad.

• Republicans are despondent.
  They fear defeat.

• Democrats are paranoid.
  They fear defeat...will be snatched from the jaws of victory.

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Democrats , Politics , Republicans

Ford's opponents are running racist radio and TV ads against him, reinforcing a stereotype of blacks as chasers of white women accompanied by a soundtrack of jungle drums. I kid you not.

And/But when Ford comes out against the NJ Supremes' decision on gay rights (including civil unions), he is blasted by the left.

I say 6 years of Ford is better than 6 years of ANY Republican.

P.S. If you think Ford is bad, you should take a look at his constituents.

P.P.S. This is not Connecticut and Ford is not Lieberman. I'm just saying.

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Democrats

This morning, the Post has published a major article about George Allen. It goes into great and exhuastive detail about his past -- his turbulent family life, his racist past, etc. It's the kind of story that will be used as source material for every piece that henceforth gets written about Allen -- if he wins re-election and later runs for President.

If character counts, if voters make a decision based on who a candidate is more so than what he says or does, then this story is not good for Allen, now or later.

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Republicans

But if you think we need a change of direction, then vote for the Democrats on Nov. 7.

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Dick Cheney , George W. Bush , Politics , Republicans , Video , War in Iraq

Could it be that the worsening situation in Iraq becomes the main story -- the October Surprise -- between now and November 7?:

BAGHDAD, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- The significant surge of violence in Iraq sweeping U.S. personnel, Iraqi armed forces and civilians has made October the deadliest for Americans in Iraq.

The U.S. army announced Wednesday the death of four U.S. Marines, bringing to at least 87 the number of American personnel killed in Iraq this month.

Problem is, the president has abandoned "stay the course," pretending like he was never for it all along.

And Democrats? Our message should be the same: if you are happy with the way things are going in Iraq, then vote for the Republicans -- they'll stay the course and you'll get more of the same. But if you've had enough, if you think we need to change course, then vote for the Democrats on Nov. 7.

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Democrats , Dick Cheney , George W. Bush , Republicans , War in Iraq

(cross posted at Daily Kos)

Jim Caviziel, star of Passion of the Christ, appears in an anti-stem cell ad with a creepy subliminal message.

I won't provide a link to the full ad -- it's easy enough to Google.

But, rest assured, it is a real ad. I understand it will be running tonight on TV during the World Series broadcast -- live from Missouri where Amendment Two is a hot-button issue in the close race between Republican incumbent Jim Talent and Democratic challenger Claire McCaskill.

The anti-stem cell bunch is running this ad to counter the powerful ad featuring Michael J. Fox -- you remember that convicted felon Rush Limbaugh mocked Fox for faking it or purposely going off his meds to shoot the pro-Amendment Two ad.

So now, the anti-crowd is rolling out some other big guns as well -- Jeff Suppan, the starting pitcher for St. Louis in tonight's game also appears in the ad.

Man, if ever there was a reason to root for the Detroit Tigers in the World Series, this is it!

Others appearing in the anti-stem cell ad include Kurt Warner of the Arizona Cardinals and Patricia Heaton of Everybody Loves Raymond.

These are the battle lines, people: We're for prevention, they're for punishment. One side wants life-saving research to go on; the other side wants to send you to Hell.

Send money to Claire McCaskill's campaign.

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Faith & Religion , Health + Wellness , Health Care , Politics , Republicans , Science , Technology , Video

If you needed any reason at all to root for the Tigers tonight (who lost to the Cardinals last night to fall behind in the Series 2-1), you have it now: Cards starting pitcher Jeff Suppan will appear in a commercial, to be shown during the game, that comes out against the Missouri ballot initiative favoring stem cell research.

The ad, which will run during primetime, was quickly put together to counter another ad featuring Michael J. Fox -- the ad that Rush Limbaugh called a fake:

"He's moving all around and shaking and it's purely an act. . . . This is really shameless of Michael J. Fox. Either he didn't take his medication or he's acting."

So tonight Jeff Suppan, professional athelete, will take the field -- against Michael J. Fox. Suppan will appear in a commercial that is against the interests of everyone who feels that research money should be allowed to be used to find a cure for a disease that Suppan and Limbaugh are fortunate enough never to have been afflicted with.

Suppan will be joined by Jim Cavizel (star of Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ) and Kurt Warner, quarterback for the the Arizona Cardinals.

Go Tigers and go Democrats!

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Health Care , Republicans , Science , Sports , Technology

Two weeks before the election, before a single early voter has had his vote counted, before even a single vote has been cast in a voting booth, Democrats are now assumed to be the favorites to take over the House and perhaps even the Senate.

I'm not buying it.

Similarly, Jim Leyland (manager of the American League champion Detroit Tigers) has had it with predictions of his team's inevitable victory in the World Series and he wants to set the record straight:

"...I'm tired of hearing about what a favorite we are, and how the Cardinals -- they're happy with their one win," Leyland said. "Let me tell you something about the Cardinals: You have been writing for the last several years, they've got one of the greatest, and some people think the best defensive third baseman, of all-time.

Attention Democrats: Stop it. Stop measuring the drapes in the Speaker's office. I don't want to hear about how we're a shoo-in. Like the Tigers' manager, I want to disabuse y'all of any notions you have that this is going to be a slam-dunk:"[The Cardinals have] the best young player in all of baseball. They've got an eight- or nine-time Gold Glove center fielder, a great player. They've got a Cy Young pitching tomorrow night. They've got the All-America baseball player at shortstop.The Republicans have an overwhelming edge re: cash on hand. The Republicans have an awesome GOTV machine, probably good for an undetected 5-7 percentage points in the polls. And they have a set of gerrymandered congressional districts that were designed to protect incumbents -- Republican incumbents.

"[The Tigers are] a great team," he added. "I don't really think the Cardinals, [are] happy about it. But I don't think they've gotten the credit they deserve. When you start talking about the Cards, you better look closely. They also have probably the best young catcher in baseball. I'm not sure we're favorites."

So I don't want to read anymore press clippings or click on any blog posts saying "we're going to win." I much prefer the role of the underdog. I like the idea that we may yet shock the world. I like the idea that Bush and Rove could wake up on November 8 with a nasty surprise while our team is preparing for our victory parade.

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Democrats , Republicans , Sports

London Yank has the update.

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Categories: 2006 Elections , George W. Bush , Iran , Republicans , War

Two weeks to go before the election.

I'm just saying.

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Terrorism

We're into "head-game" territory now.

Republicans -- their party in tatters, with voters verrrrrrrry angry with the rubber-stamp Republican Congress -- have only one thing left: bluff, bluff and more bluff. And/But, in poker, you win if you can bluff your opponents just enough.

Continue reading "Top Republicans are bluffing their way through this election" »

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Democrats , Republicans

DarkSyde debunks the myth of the bull market.

Continue reading "If I were Bush, I wouldn't be bragging about the economy" »

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Economics , George W. Bush , Republicans

(Cross posted on Daily Kos)

OK, he showed one of my videos, and really just part of it, but still...crum-believable!

Continue reading "Crum-believable! I was on the Colbert Report!" »

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Categories: 2006 Elections , About Me , Democrats , Humor , Television , Video

Here's Bush saying he's never been "stay the course" and then a video compilation of all the times he (and other Republicans) have trumpeted that lame "policy."

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Corruption , George W. Bush , Video , War in Iraq

by Mark Adams X-posted @ KOS

Before he went full time into Loonyville, I occasionally saw a comment by Mark Noonan around the 'sphere.  Sometimes I check him out just for sheer amusement and he seldom disappoints.

Yesterday there was this gem at his site, Blogs For Bush:

I'm telling ya, the MSM has gotten it wrong - the polling is bogus: the Democrats are heading for quite the crash on November 7th...and the leadership knows

Note he's not predicting that the GOP will retain an ever so slim margin of control over Congress, but the Democrats will "crash."

I can only assume this means that they will end up with a net loss instead of gaining seats.  I'm also assuming that on November 8th, anything less than a veto-proof 2/3 majority by the Dems (an impossibility in the Senate with only a third of the body up for grabs) will be his "proof" that the Democrats are losers.

Continue reading "Pathetic Predictions" »

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Categories: 2006 Elections

JD Hayworth is the Republican incumbent in Arizona's 5th Congressional District. I've heard him speak on TV and radio many, many times. The right-wing noise machine loves him because he is predictably loyal to Bush; he smiles nicely, and can make the requisite jokes with Don Imus. But the bottom line is that he has the style of a bombastic blowhard -- wrapping himself in the flag which, for him, comes in two shades: black and white.

It comes as no surprise that he is the hardest of hardliners on the immigration issue, even going so far as to praise Henry Ford's anti-Semitic "Americanization" program while claiming that he was just urging all immigrants to learn how to speak English.

His Jewish constituents were not impressed.

Continue reading "AZ-05: Hayworth Surrogate to Jews: "No wonder there are anti-Semites"" »

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Corruption , Republicans

It turned out that Congressman Mark Foley, pedophile, was in charge of the Missing and Exploited Childrens' Caucus. Yuck.

Now, we hear that Congressman Jerry Lewis, himself under investigation for corruption charges, is in charge of, well, investigating fraud, waste and abuse of Congressional appropriations.

But wait!

Continue reading "Here's another crater in the moonscape of Republican corruption" »

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Corruption , Law , Republicans

Matt:

Connecticut Election 2006 has gone off the deep end. It's not your normal white picket fence suburban election, with attack ad facing attack ad. No, this is more like a white picket fence election that suddenly gets bored with life and decides to live in the forest, take a bunch of LSD, trout-fish naked, and taunt a bear cub before ending its life suddenly and with total and inexplicable resolution on November 7.

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Categories: 2006 Elections

The new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll illustrates the political price Republicans are paying for dissatisfaction over the war, as well as disgust over the various Republican scandals.

Some highlights:

Continue reading "Poll Signals More Republican Woes As Disapproval of Congress Grows" »

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Democrats , Poll , Republicans

An Ohio Snapshot, by Mark Adams

AP - The Republican Party placed $700,000 in television ads in Ohio on Tuesday, a scaled-back ad campaign amid growing doubts by party officials that GOP Sen. Mike DeWine can win re-election in the battleground state.

Regardless, it "proves" nothing, no matter how hard desperate wingnuts click their heels.  While they're buying ads for Mike, it's not as much as they planned, and they don't plan any more.  (I'll note right here that, Ara's rumors notwithstanding, things can always change -- except the wankerness of Ad Nags.)   Mind you, it would be more helpful to DeWine if the RNC could keep its facts straight in the ads it does run instead of just making stuff up.

Continue reading "DeWine And Other Whiny Losers" »

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Categories: 2006 Elections

by Mark Adams

The ubiquitous Stirling Newberry is usually a go-to guy for the facts and figures needed to debunk the Right-wing noise machine's economic propaganda.  However, his TMP Cafe post describes the political war in Ohio as the "beachhead" that may seal the GOP out of the White House for decades if (and only if) the anti-triagulation strategy of fusing the moderates with progressives pushed by (soon to be) Governor Strickland plays out.

Per his expertise, Newberry keys into the Ohio "independent" voter's perception of the economy.  And he accurately describes at least two, if not more, different independent, moderate voters.

Moderates are realists, make up their own mind, enjoy tax cuts and respect integrity.  Or, they have no problem with big government as long as they get a piece of the action, and respect integrity  Or, are leery of ideological dogma, and respect independence -- which means their representatives better have enough integrity to stand up to the extreme wings of either party.

Moderate Republicans came into play when tax cuts were misrepresented and didn't impact their personal finances the way the gimicksters in Washington advertised, and the GOP showed their universal lack of integrity by not standing up to Bush for his fiasco in Iraq -- "but instead were cheerleaders for failure."

The underlying dynamic is that Republicans haven't really delivered on tax cuts. These people are paying the same in taxes as before, and their wages have stopped going up. Burdened by housing costs and property taxes, they are capable of looking at the total tax burden.

[snip]

Iraq, then, for the moderates, now looks like pure calculation, a blunder. A Bad Decision. Good deciders don't cover up Bad Decisions, they deal with them.

Continue reading "Stirling On Strickland, and the Progressive-Moderate Fusion" »

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Politics

STEPHANOPOULOS: Tom Friedman wrote in the New York Times this morning that what we might be seeing now is the Iraqi equivalent of the Tet Offensive in Vietnam in 1968. Tony Snow this morning said, "He may be right." Do you agree?

BUSH: He could be right. There's certainly a stepped up level of violence, and we're heading into an election.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But what's your gut tell you?

BUSH: George, my gut tells me that they have all along been trying to inflict enough damage that we'd leave. And the leaders of al Qaeda have made that very clear. Look, here's how I view it. First of all, al Qaeda is still very active in Iraq. They are dangerous. They are lethal. They are trying to not only kill American troops, but they're trying to foment sectarian violence. They believe that if they can create enough chaos, the American people will grow sick and tired of the Iraqi effort and will cause government to withdraw

Continue reading "Bush on the "Jihadist equivalent" of the Tet Offensive" »

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Categories: 2006 Elections , George W. Bush , History , Terrorism , War in Iraq

This is no time for Democrats to stop and pat themselves on the back. Republicans are working hard to get their voters motivated and to the polls:

In a month, the party completed more than a million phone calls and door contacts combined. Bigger states are putting up big numbers -- even Ohio, which lagged behind its targets all summer, has caught up. The RNC is particularly pleased with their progress in New Jersey, where they've rapidly set up a more aggressive version of their 72 Hour Program in light of the state's more competitive Senate race.

These are the numbers that motivate Karl Rove's optimism. The spreadsheets show that Republican volunteers are working hard. There are plenty of volunteers and they seem plenty willing to knock on doors and make telephone calls. That's why it makes sense for Rove, for White House pol. dir Sara Taylor, and for Mehlman to exude uncanny optimism even while their brains pour over pessimistic polls. Right now, a strong volunteer corps on election day working to turn out voters is the only hope they've got. If the volunteers detect a shred of defeatist cross-talk or come across a newspaper article suggesting that Rove is panicked, then they'll start to panic, too.

The point is that top-level Republican optimism is pragmatic, not ignorant.

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Democrats , Republicans

MoveOn:

The November election is our best opportunity in years to change the direction of our country. We can end Republican control in Washington if we get progressives in key districts to come out and vote.

That's why we've launched Call for Change, one of the largest volunteer phonebanking efforts in American history. MoveOn members will make more than 5 million phone calls to voters in 30 highly competitive House districts plus key Senate races.

This works! We tested this program in a special election in April, and our calls boosted voter turnout more than any volunteer phonebank ever studied. MoveOn members also made 77,000 calls to put Ned Lamont over the top in the recent Conecticut Senate primary.

Now, if we all pitch in, we're going to win back Congress.

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Democrats

Top Democrats think they have a shot at capturing as many as 40 House seats (or more) in November, but that the money isn't all there to put into the right races.

Donations can be sent to:

• Democratic National Committee
  
• Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
  
• Democratic Senate Campaign Committee

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Democrats

DemFromCT:

A plan for which topic? There's plenty of plans. More importantly, there's a process for planning and oversight, something sorely lacking for the last six years. I can't wait, and judging by polling of voter enthusiasm, neither can America

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Democrats

Sunday's "Stand for the Family" rally in Nashville was a bust:

The event was originally scheduled in arena with tickets to be sold, but later was moved to a church and free admission. Monday's crowd was substantially smaller than a "Justice Sunday" event held two years ago in the same church.

We've already seen all the polls showing the Dems poised to make historic gains in the House, Senate, and Governorships; we've seen the polling models that indicate that fewer voters self-identify with the Republicans; we've heard the stories about the playing field expanding for the Democrats and shrinking for the Republicans; we've heard that the Republican Congressional campaign committees are shutting off money to lots of races previously thought to be competitive; and we've heard they are huddling behind a "firewall" that is crumbling under the heat and fire.

Just 20 more days and we'll know for sure if the Dems can take back the majority. One thing is for sure: it can't happen without your vote on November 7.

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Democrats , Politics , Republicans

Polls seem to indicate that if you are unmarried, you are more likely to vote Democratic. That said, here's another great (and funny) political ad I came across called "Speed Dating."

Pass it along!

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Humor , Video

1. “I have not been informed of any investigation or that I am a target.”
2. “I am cooperating fully, but this whole thing is a political ploy by the Democrats.”
3. “I’m SHOCKED by the mistakes made by my subordinates.”
4. “I’m deeply sorry for letting down my friends and family. I now recognize that I am an alcoholic. I will be entering rehab immediately, so I have no time for questions.”
5. “Can I serve my time at Eglin Federal Penitentiary (aka Club Fed)?”

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Humor , Politics , Republicans

(Cross posted at Daily Kos)

In keeping with the tone of baseball triumphalism around here lately, I'm including a tidbit from The Note, wherein they float one of their cute, fictional memos to make a point about what the Democrats should do between now and November 7. It's "from" Begala, Carville, Greenberg, et. al. and is addressed to "Leader Pelosi:"

1. Let's keep our candidates focused ("like a laser beam") on the national "meta" narrative of this campaign -- change v. more of the same. [...]
   
2. Play offense every hour of every day for the next three weeks. [...]
   
3. Act like winners. [...]

Let's follow the trajectory of the Detroit Tigers . . . given up for dead last year . . . surprising everyone with a great summer . . . An early fall swoon . . . followed by a late autumn charge to the World Series . . . good pitching beats good hitting . . . let's keep throwing the high heat at their heads.

Oh, and the Democrats have to win, too.

I'm just saying.

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Democrats , Politics , Republicans , Sports

by Mark Adams

It's a very big chessboard out there, and the October Surprise could just as easily be a skirmish with North Korea instead of the "accidental" war with Iran many of us liberal Blogtopians have dreaded.

It's shouldn't be too hard to start some shooting in South East Asia since North Korea has already declared that the UN sanctions constitute an act of war. 

The US-drafted resolution also authorises UN member states to interdict and search cargo ships going to and from North Korean ports for weapons and weapons material.

I know that most of Bush's supporters are too young to remember the Tonkin Gulf, but Cheney's buddy Kissinger sure does.

Never misunderestimate Bush and Rove's ability to switch from one disastrously bone-headed idea to another.  They do, after all, have a plan for disaster, contrary to popular belief.

It seems George Bush is already planning his escape from the US.

Isn't that the last the last refuge for fascist dictators?  Or was that Agentina?

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Iran , North Korea , Politics

Stop. Just stop.

There's a phrase that describes what Democrats are doing right now: they're measuring the drapes, i.e., they're assuming that they have the November election already won. Democrats need to sober up -- a lot can happen between now and November 7 to turn this thing around for the Republicans.

Yes, I've seen the polls, I've read the insider stories, like the one that has unnamed Republican strategists bemoaning a certain loss of between 7 to 30 House seats. And/But I've read the following story, too, and it sounds fishy -- for a different reason:

The official White House line of supreme self-assurance comes from the top down. Bush has publicly and privately banished any talk of losing the GOP majorities, in part to squelch any loss of nerve among his legions. Come January, he said last week, "We'll have a Republican speaker and a Republican leader of the Senate."

Whatever it is, I would advise you to keep your eye on the ENTIRE chess board:

The aircraft carrier Eisenhower, accompanied by the guided-missile cruiser USS Anzio, guided-missile destroyer USS Ramage, guided-missile destroyer USS Mason and the fast-attack submarine USS Newport News, is, as I write, making its way to the Straits of Hormuz off Iran. The ships will be in place to strike Iran by the end of the month. It may be a bluff. It may be a feint. It may be a simple show of American power. But I doubt it

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Democrats , Republicans , War

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Categories: 2006 Elections

Wolf Blitzer moderates a debate between former Democratic Senator/war hero Max Cleland and the preposterously high-voiced Terry Jeffrey, editor of Human Events. Cleland is on fire:

JEFFREY: "I believe that were it not for the public dissatisfaction with what's going on in Iraq, the Democrats would have no chance at this time of winning in November. However now, I think they have a very real chance."

CLELAND: "If a frog had wings, he wouldn't bump his rear end. This has been a disaster - not just for the Republicans - for the country. We are four years into this war and we've lost a lot of fine young Americans there. It's time to redepoy our forces and bring the Guard and Reserve home and refocus on the real enemy. It is Al Qaeda stupid and this crash in New York should just remind us that it's been five years since 9/11. And if we don't get it now - that it's Al Qaeda stupid - we should be sent up the creek."

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Democrats , Republicans , War in Iraq

Republican Congressman Chris Shays has apparently lost his marbles, again:

Now I've seen what happened in Abu Ghraib, and Abu Ghraib was not torture...It was outrageous, outrageous involvement of National Guard troops from Maryland who were involved in a sex ring and they took pictures of soldiers who were naked. And they did other things that were just outrageous. But it wasn't torture.

Earlier in the week he slammed Sen. Kennedy while excusing Denny Hastert's outrageous cover-up of Mark Foley by saying "At least Denny Hastert never killed anyone."

Now, I haven't seen any polls for the race between Republican Shays and Democratic challenger Diane Farrell. But is it possible that the race is tightening up and Shays is, you know, starting to choke?

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Politics , Republicans

This excellent 30-second spot will be aired on CNN in about a dozen congressional districts. It was produced by the September Fund, a 527 organized by Harold Ickes, a close advisor to Hillary Clinton.

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Democrats , Television , Video

Keith Olbermann interviews Richard Wolffe, senior White House correspondent for Newsweek magazine, about Bush's press conference on Wednesday...

Wolffe: The idea that Democrats are going out there, as he put it today and he's put it before, that they are waiting for America to be attacked before they seek to protect America it's just nonsense. It sounds great but there is a core problem at the heart of this for the administration.

Continue reading "Olbermann: Bush is "Solid As Iraq"" »

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Categories: 2006 Elections , George W. Bush , Republicans

First Adam Gadahn, an American-born convert to Islam, is charged with treason -- the first such case since World War II.

Now they want Sandy Berger's hide too:

[Former Clinton National Security Advisor] Berger admitted last year that he deliberately took classified documents out of the National Archives in 2003 and destroyed some of them at his office. He pleaded guilty in federal court to one charge of unauthorized removal and retention of classified material and was fined $50,000.

Ten lawmakers led by House Armed Services Chairman Duncan Hunter, R- Calif., and Judiciary Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., released a letter calling for the House Government Reform Committee to investigate.

Shouldn't the investigation come before the sentencing? I'm just asking.

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Corruption , Law , Politics , Republicans

Ted Kennedy went to Connecticut to campaign for Rep. Chris Shays' opponent and apparently it was too much for the Congressman:

"I know the speaker didn't go over a bridge and leave a young person in the water, and then have a press conference the next day," said Shays, R-4th District, referring to the 1969 incident in which the Massachusetts Democrat drove a car that plunged into the water and a young campaign worker died.

"Dennis Hastert didn't kill anybody," he added.

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Corruption , Republicans

• Down in the polls, Republicans bring on the terrorists
  Adam Gadahn, an American-born convert to Islam, has become the first American to be charged with treason since World War II.

• Bush thinks Mark Foley's behavior was "disgusting"
  ...which is apparently why he's OK with Hastert covering it up.

• What's wrong with Studio 60?
  "It's misty-eyed about the days when it was still possible to believe that somebody could go on TV and tell the truth and it might make a difference."

• Tiger Manager Jim Leyland is a character out of Damon Runyon
  He's a serious horse player, Leyland is. He carries a briefcase to the [race]track, and he bets the other tracks.

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  Categories: 2006 Elections , Corruption , Entertainment , George W. Bush , Sports , Television

If you're reading this, then you probably already know about the crucial role played by Florida's Secretary of State, Katherine Harris, in the 2000 election, e.g., making several key decisions about deadlines and statutory interpretation that ran out the clock on the Florida recount. And in 2004, Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell played a similar role in thwarting Democratic efforts, e.g., distributing too few voting machines in Democratic precincts so people would stand in long lines, then give up and go home without casting their votes.

That said, the Secretary of State Project is seeking your support in electing clean candidates to this key role in Ohio, Minnesota, Colorado, Nevada, Iowa, Michigan and New Mexico.

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Democrats

The Republicans' knack for visual imagery is legendary.

(HT to John)

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Corruption , Republicans

My hunch is that the Republicans are lowering the bar:

Republican campaign officials said yesterday that they expect to lose at least seven House seats and as many as 30 in the Nov. 7 midterm elections, as a result of sustained violence in Iraq and the page scandal involving former GOP representative Mark Foley.

Continue reading "Bluff or Believable? GOP Officials "Brace" for Loss Of Seven to 30 House Seats" »

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Republicans

OK, this should probably be viewed as evidence of a gathering storm bearing down on the Republicans:

Continue reading "Sign of Weakness: Republicans Target Just 3 Senate Races" »

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Republicans

The Republicans are clinging to power in Congress. And now I understand that they're going to cling to each other (and to Bush, too), hoping they can gut it out one more time. Too bad for the Democrats that the election isn't today. Because they could beat these guys in a heartbeat right now.

Leave your caption suggestions in the comments.

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Corruption , George W. Bush , Republicans

Bush 41:

"I would hate to think what Arlen [Spector's] life would be like, what Rick [Santorum's] life would be like, and what my son's life would be like if we lose control of the Congress," said former President George Bush in a reference to Pennsylvania's two Republican Senators. "If we have some of these wild Democrats in charge of these committees, it will be a ghastly thing for our country."

Here's what Nancy Pelosi has said she would try to get done in the first 100 hours of a Democratic House of Representatives:

Continue reading "Bush 41 Warns of "Ghastly" Future...if Democrats win majority" »

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Democrats , George W. Bush , Politics , Republicans

David Rogers of the Wall Street Journal reports that one Jeff Trandahl (write that name down) may be the "key" to the entire case.

Who is Jeff Trandahl?

[M]ore attention is beginning to focus on former House clerk Jeff Trandahl, who both oversaw the page program and was close to Mr. Foley.

[...]

Kirk Fordham, Mr. Foley's chief of staff until late 2003, has said warnings from Mr. Trandahl about Mr. Foley's conduct were what led him to ask the speaker's office to intervene with the congressman more than two years ago. And last fall, Mr. Trandahl again played a central role when he was dispatched with Rep. John Shimkus (R., Ill.) the chairman of the page board, to warn Mr. Foley against any further emails to a former page from Louisiana.

But Mr. Trandahl was in a unique position to recognize the implicit danger in the fact that Mr. Foley wasn't just close to pages on the House floor but was pursuing contact via email.

P.S. Just curious: is he (or was he ever) a member of that gay cabal?

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Corruption , Republicans

Just kidding.

Actually the judge did drop the child porn charges against him and he was released from jail in California today. Whether or not he's headed for Florida, I can't say. But turn on Fox News -- I'm sure they'll be covering this story 24/7 til November 8th.

So finally, Republicans can breathe a sigh of relief. There's ONE story that isn't about the Mark Foley cover-up, or Iraq, or Afghanistan, or Condi Rice, or the NIE report or Woodward's book...

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Corruption , Republicans

by Mark Adams

Steve Soto at The Left Coaster alerts us to the polling data, via FOX:

An internal GOP poll and analysis by a Republican strategist this afternoon concludes that if Hastert stays as Speaker, the GOP will suffer cataclysmic losses next month.

So, when I mentioned the sheer idiocy of Hugh Hewitt earlier, it was not because I disagree with his conclusion that Dennis Hastert should fight with all his might to retain the Speakership.  It was because he arrived at that conclusion for all the wrong reasons.

Actually, for Democrats, the entire fiasco is a win-win.  If Hastert steps down, we no longer have to put up with the President's chief enabler.  If he stays, he's a lightening rod.

Make no mistake.  Hastert needs to go.  But the phrase "The sooner the better" only works if you're a Republican.

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Corruption , Republicans

Earlier this week I suggested that Republicans were trying to divert attention away from their coverup of Foley's disgusting behavior by gay-bashing, essentially blaming the whole thing on the Democrats' tolerance of homosexuality.

Now that the strategy has failed, they've taken a different tack -- they have tied these two threads together and are suggesting that a "gay cabal" sought to shield Mark Foley from the authorities. That'll fire up the base! This has Karl Rove's fingerprints all over it.

And you know what's distressing? Katie Couric and CBS News have apparently bought the story at retail.

This will cloud the issue by throwing fear, uncertainty and doubt into the minds of whatever Republican loyalists are still sympathetic to the leadership of this corrupt, rubber-stamp Republican Congress.

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Corruption , Republicans

Jon Stewart: "Today it came out that Foley finger-banged two high school sophmores from the Model U.N. on the catwalk of the Rotunda. However, Foley has announced today that his mother smoked while pregnant. So, again, I don't see how this has anything to do with him."

Continue reading "The Daily Show: Foley Sex Scandal Coverup" »

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Corruption , Humor , Politics , Republicans , Television , Video

The news cycle is awash in the following stories:

• The latest Abramoff revelations,
  
• Foley sex scandal and the resulting House leadership crisis
  
• Troubles in Iraq (including the Saudis building a 550 mile security fence along their Iraqi border)
  
• Troubles in Afghanistan
  
• The Iraqi poll showing we are not greeted as liberators by the by the Iraqis.
  
• Woodward's book

Had you even heard he was dead?

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Iraq , Republicans , Terrorism

First, HT to Jane for the title phrase of this post.

Second, it's clear Hastert's days as Speaker are over. If the Republicans keep their majority, they'll probably think hard before voting him in again. And if the Democrats win, well...you do the math. The only question left is this: will he last until the election? My guess is that he will, but that's just my hunch.

Finally, and most importantly, I'd like to point out something you've probably already noticed: that Republican apologists are saying that all of this is the Democrats' fault.

The most ridiculous assertion by Republican loyalists is that the Democrats knew about Foley all along -- emails and IMs and all -- and waited to spring their October surprise. This, of course, is disputed by ABC News who broke the story last week.

Other Republican apologists are suggesting that the Democrats are to blame, in a larger sense, for Foley preying on those pages. Some (e.g., the Christian Right) are saying that "our sex-drenched culture" encouraged and/or enabled Foley. Translation: the Democrats loooooove to drench things in sex. Others (I'm talking to you, Newt Gingrich) have said that Republicans were afraid to pull the trigger on Foley because they'd be accused of, you know, gay-bashing. Jon Stewart had the best come-back for that:

By the way, equating a 52-year-old Congressman who preys on 16-year-olds with being gay may be one reason that the GOP is being accused of gay-bashing.

No to all of them. Just no.

The fact is, what Foley did was wrong and everyone knows it. And, knowing it was wrong, the House leadership swept it under the rug, for whatever reason we cannot say. Perhaps they feared losing his seat, perhaps they feared losing face, perhaps they feared losing power. Who knows? But it's clear now that Foley being gay was the least of it.

So for the Republicans to divert attention away from their own corrupt leadership by somehowing equate this scandal with their own anti-gay platform is wrong and no one should be fooled by it.

So, if you've had enough of their crap, vote for change -- vote Democratic. Because that is the only way to say that everyone should be held accountable for their actions.

UPDATE: Jonah Goldberg joins the masses of clueless, finger-pointing Republicans.

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Corruption , Republicans

by Mark Adams

The shame of it is, the Pedo-Foley-a scandal* gives the entire GOP apparatus an excuse.

The Democrats were well on their way to an historic victory, reemerging to the seats of power and influence on the merits.  So inept at managing the nation, the Republican stranglehold on all the levers of government exposed them as without the principles necessary to lead America or minimal ability to supervise each other.

And they had no one to blame but themselves.  They had no credible Democratic whipping boy obstructing their great plans . . . if only the liberals/courts/media or brainwashed public would get out of their way, we would all finally see the light of their vision for a better world.

Continue reading "Foley: The Shame" »

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Politics , Republicans

(Click image to see complete poll results)

In another America, in another time, deliberately misleading the country into war would be an impeachable offense. But with a rubber-stamp Republican Congress, Bush-Cheney are immune from accountability.

This is why you must vote for change. You must vote Democratic. You must do this for no other reason than simply to restore accountability to the system.

It's not going to be easy to overturn the Republican majority. Let's get real: Bush's approval rating in the same poll is 39% (down three points in a week). So, in other words, the guy lies us into a war (resulting in nearly 25 thousand American casualties) and over a third of the public still approves of his performance as president.

Amazing.

But we can take some small measure of encouragement from this: a solid majority (54-37) say that, if the Congressional elections were held today, they would vote for the Democrat over the Republican in their own district. And this poll was done just as the Foley Sex Scandal Coverup started gathering steam.

Vote for Change. Vote Democratic on November 7.

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Democrats , George W. Bush , Poll , Republicans

Yes, it's true: Rosemary is out. She's vowing to throw the Republican bastards under the bus.

Continue reading "Bush loyalist caves, vows to vote Democratic" »

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Corruption , Republicans

Political debates usually find challengers on the attack and incumbents playing defense. But Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm reversed roles on Republican Dick DeVos in their first debate Monday night.

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Categories: 2006 Elections , Democrats , Republicans

(cross posted at Daily Kos)

Of course, all the stories lead off with the Washington TImes calling for Hastert's head on a platter:

Mr. Hastert has forfeited the confidence of the public and his party, and he cannot preside over the necessary coming investigation, an investigation that must examine his own inept performance.

Continue reading "The Redder They Are, The Harder They Fall: Latest on PredatorGate Sex Scandal Cover-up" »

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