The Mote Archive - American Politics, pt. 13

American Politics, pt. 13

15001. jexster - 11/7/2006 1:03:06 AM

Survey USA has McKaskill +7 now but then I saw Pollmetrix -
tie

So I checked it out. The Pollmetrix studies were chaired Steven Ansolabehere of MIT [one of the best in the field] and in some ways may be the best public poll out there.

Handicapping the 2006 Election: What are the odds of
the Democrats winning control of the Senate?

Worth reading in full (.pdf)

15002. jexster - 11/7/2006 1:34:38 AM

Correction

MO McCaskill 51-42 SUSA

15003. jexster - 11/7/2006 1:35:16 AM

If Talent can't break 48, he ain't gonna get it tommorrow

15004. Ronski - 11/7/2006 8:38:52 AM

Purging the Republicans

With today's Republican Party, all axioms have been smashed.

Their axiom of fiscal responsibility has been smashed. Their commitment to limited government has been abandoned. A sound and prudent foreign policy is a distant memory. The effective and efficient execution of armed conflict is no longer theirs to claim. A strict adherence to constitutional constraints on state power is flotsam and jetsam.

15005. thoughtful - 11/7/2006 10:45:14 AM

Here's the problems I see.

1) while the vast majority hate the job congress is doing, when asked what they think of their own reps/sens they say my guys aren't so bad

2) extreme suspicion of e-voting. I voted this am, filled in my dots and the machine ate my ballot...no notification to me whatsoever as to if it recorded my votes accurately or not. The only good news is the town will be retaining the paper ballots for many months in case the machine count is contested...there is at least a paper trail.

But in my view, the odds of votes getting counted correctly in this election is exactly zero.

Consider this from today's news (IHT mind you...not US press!)

SALT LAKE CITY: People love voting in Daggett County. Even when they may not live there.

Daggett County registered 947 voters for Tuesday's national congressional and gubernatorial election — four more than the county's population in 2005, according to the most recent Census figures.

15006. concerned - 11/7/2006 11:24:51 AM

This will probably never see national coverage, but I want to report that there has been some problems with electronic voting machines not far from where I live in a Republican majority voting precinct where some voters got frustrated and left.

You can apply all the popular adjectives wrt disenfranchisement, etc., except that the bullshit about some deep laid RW conspiracy obviously cannot apply.

15007. jexster - 11/7/2006 11:42:23 AM

Bush Unhinged?
Calling Hannah Arendt

Journalist Bill Gallagher of Detroit's Channel 2 News joins Andrew Sullivan> in asking the increasingly unavoidable question: Is George W. Bush Criminally Insane? Gallagher writes:

' Bush's fantasies are even disturbing his fans. In a sit-down with wire-service reporters, Bush assured them that Rumsfeld, the most incompetent man on earth, would keep his job for two more years. Maybe in the last days of the Republican-dominated Congress, Bush can get him declared Defense Secretary for Life, sort of an American Raul Castro.

Gushing over Rummy and Dick Cheney, the two principal thugs who lied to get us into Iraq and designed the disaster, Bush claimed they "are doing a fantastic job and I strongly support them."

The remark prompted conservative columnist Andrew Sullivan to raise the question of Bush's mental fitness. Sullivan told CNN Bush is so delusional, "this is not an election anymore, it's an intervention."

Sullivan, long a cheerleader for the war in Iraq, said Bush is "so in denial" he simply can't come to grips with his failure: "It's unhinged. It suggests this man has lost his mind. No one objectively could look at the way this war has been conducted, whether you were for it, as I was, or against it, and say that is has been done well. It's a disaster."

Sullivan added, "For him to say it's a fantastic job suggests the president has lost it. I'm sorry, there is no other way to say it."

The president's nanny corps -- his mother, his wife, State Department hands Condoleezza Rice and Karen Hughes -- know he's unhinged, but are too loyal to share that disturbing truth with the world. Republican House Majority Leader John Boehner tried to shift responsibility for the Iraq disaster away from Rumsfeld. Boehner quickly filled the disgraced Tom DeLay's shoes as the most loathsome member of Congress.

Boehner told CNN, "Let's not blame what's happening in Iraq on Rumsfeld. But the fact is, the generals on the ground are in charge, and he works closely with them and the president." '

My own answer: Bush is not insane, he is just not very good at putting policy into effect. That is, he is a mediocre leader who has to cover up his horrible mistakes with optimistic slogans because his lack of leadership skills leaves him with no practical alternative. Give me an example of any positive and successful accomplishment of his presidency, unmarred by substantial failures. Afghanistan? Israel-Palestine? Lebanon? Iraq? Al-Qaeda? Domestically, he has, by cutting taxes on billionaires, run up the national debt by trillions, and boasts in that insane yet just mediocre way of his that the deficit is "coming down." He put the expense of the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars off-budget, and somehow the business page journalists haven't managed to notice that the deficit is not actually less than $300 billion if you count the wars. Nor is adding even $290 billion a year to the national debt a positive accomplishment. We pay interest on that debt, folks.

Cole

15008. jexster - 11/7/2006 11:44:02 AM

To paraphrase Craig Crawford "It is that time of year every two years when Bush wakes the bats in the GOP belfry like that Wicked Witch of the West sending out her flying monkeys. And there's no telling what he's going to say"

15009. jexster - 11/7/2006 11:44:59 AM

You can apply all the popular adjectives wrt disenfranchisement, etc., except that the bullshit about some deep laid RW conspiracy obviously cannot apply

Not an RW conspiracy .. an NRCC conspiracy

15010. Ronski - 11/7/2006 11:45:22 AM

I'm voting on the way home tonight. In NY the polls open at 6 am and close 9 pm.

Libertarian for governor, attorney general, and U.S. Senate.

Democrat for U.S. Representative, state senate and assembly, and judgeships.

Christian Socialist for state comptroller (aka Republican).

I am undecided about voting for increased taxpayer funding of the town library, but will probably vote against it.

On principle.

15011. jexster - 11/7/2006 11:45:39 AM

Let's not leave out the RNC...one's been convicted already

Wait til they have to pay 500 bucks a call

15012. concerned - 11/7/2006 11:59:10 AM

A New Voter Fraud

Even some Republicans have said privately that the Democrats have the edge in playing the game of politics. Given the greater political shrewdness of the Democrats and the overwhelming bias of the media in their favor, it is remarkable that Republicans have had any political success at all.

That the Republicans are still a viable party is one measure of how far the Democrats’ policies and values differ from those of most Americans.

Nowhere is that difference greater than when it comes to defending the American people against crime at home and against military and terrorist threats from abroad. Liberal Democrats — which is to say, most Democratic politicians and all of their leaders — are ready to try almost any “alternatives to incarceration” of criminals and almost any alternative to maintaining military strength as a deterrent to enemy nations.

More is involved than an unwillingness to face unpleasant facts of life. There is a coherent ideology behind these positions. That ideology goes back more than two centuries — and has failed in country after country over those centuries. But it is an ideology that sounds good and flatters the vanity of those who consider themselves part of a wise and compassionate elite.

and

Democrats have learned to avoid admitting to being liberals and this year are running a number of moderate candidates.

If these new moderate candidates are elected and give the Democrats control of Congress, that control will be exercised by senior Democrats who will hold leadership positions — and all of them are liberal extremists, whether people like Nancy Pelosi in the House or Ted Kennedy and John Kerry in the Senate.

Getting people to vote for moderates, in order to put extremists in power, may be the newest and biggest voter fraud.

15013. concerned - 11/7/2006 12:05:18 PM

15014. jexster - 11/7/2006 12:25:10 PM

A sign of the Times as it were!

"Free Access Week" sponsored by PHillips

15015. alistairconnor - 11/7/2006 12:25:33 PM

Ronski! A man of principle!

I am undecided about voting for increased taxpayer funding of the town library, but will probably vote against it. On principle.

Good for you! The community has no responsibility to provide free access to culture to the insolvent, or to children.

15016. jexster - 11/7/2006 12:29:21 PM

Yea some principles...Cafeteria libertarian! I shall report him to Justin Raimondo (gay Libertarian)

15017. alistairconnor - 11/7/2006 12:32:31 PM

Con : You can apply all the popular adjectives wrt disenfranchisement, etc., except that the bullshit about some deep laid RW conspiracy obviously cannot apply.

How is it, Con, that the world's most technologically advanced democracy has such a severely broken voting system? How is it that, six years after it became the world's laughing stock with a contested election that would make an African dictator blush, the system only seems to be even more broken?

Is it somebody's fault, or is it just bad luck?

15018. jexster - 11/7/2006 12:37:45 PM

That Losing Feeling

Rothenberg: Dems To Win 30-36 House Seats; GOP Insiders Panicked
By Greg Sargent | bio

In this morning's Roll Call, Stuart Rothenberg speaks to some GOP insiders and finds that they've got that losing feeling in a big way:

Even the most optimistic Republican insiders I can find seem to think a loss of 18 or 19 seats is inevitable, while others counter that a loss of more than 30 is more likely. Most GOP insiders would be ecstatic if the party held its losses to two dozen or less.

Rothenberg predicts Dems will win with 30-36 House seats and four to seven in the Senate. His full analysis after the jump.

read more

15019. jexster - 11/7/2006 12:40:47 PM

How I shall vote today

Straight Democrat except for the JAP DiFi...no vote

I shall vote yes on any and all bond issues

NO on any and all propositions that the legislative body could have enacted or defeated on its own except for Prop 87 - tax on oil extraction

Easy

15020. jexster - 11/7/2006 12:44:59 PM

Hillary the Succubus spent 30 million bucks on her Senate campaign but that is not, as MSNBC claims, the record for the cycle

That honor belongs to Ahnold - Over $42 million

15021. Wombat - 11/7/2006 12:57:00 PM

Oh really, Concerned. By that standard, the Bush who ran as a "compassionate conservative" was also committing voter fraud.

15022. jexster - 11/7/2006 12:57:39 PM

Saw George Allen's 2 prime time minutes...saw a loser admit that Iraq was a disaster so re-elect him

15023. Wombat - 11/7/2006 12:58:09 PM

Ronski:

On "principle," I hope that you will be making a generous contribution to the town library, so that it will not need taxpayer funds.

15024. jexster - 11/7/2006 12:58:16 PM

Or ran on the War President for that matter Wombat

15025. jexster - 11/7/2006 12:58:30 PM

"ran as"

15026. jexster - 11/7/2006 1:01:16 PM

Charles Cook's Final Final

You gotta love these "political gurus" and the boldness of their 15 seat spreads

Sheesh...Is that why they get paid the big bucks?

15027. jexster - 11/7/2006 1:08:29 PM

The VA Secty of State has referred GOP voter supression calls to State and Federal Justice Depts and the FBI is investigating

15028. Ronski - 11/7/2006 1:21:12 PM

From Election Projection:

15029. Ronski - 11/7/2006 1:26:43 PM

Real Clear Politics Senate Final: Five Tossups

15030. thoughtful - 11/7/2006 1:27:36 PM

#15012 helps explain a lot...like why Concerned's POV is so warped. That happens when you spend your days reading propaganda.

For example, overwhelming bias of the media...you mean like the editorial pages of the Wall St Journal? The Washington Times? Fox news? the vast majority of radio talk shows? the majority of editorial pages of local newspapers? or how about other tv talk shows like scarborough country hosted by an ex republican congressman? Let alone access to other sources of information including 'think' tanks like the heritage foundation and the AEI, let alone the rw blogs, let alone the various pulpits of many xtian and evangelical churches around the country that are actively pushing the gop party line, pat robertson, dobson, et. al. There is certainly no shortage of access to conservative thinking and information in this country. In fact, that would appear to be self-evident, given that concerned has no problem laying his hands on it.

And dems values differing from those of mainstream america, is also not true. For example, (from a 2004 pew study) most americans favor gay civil unions, most americans favor medical research on stem cells, and most americans want to find a middle ground on abortion. Further a majority of americans favor tax increases to fight poverty and support strong environmental regulation. Not exactly what I would call consistent with the bush-family values.

And as far as avoiding admitting being liberals...not that i'm agreeing with that statement...but if so, it is a page right out of the goper handbook which has for years encouraged radical righties to masquerade as moderates at the local level only to be unleashed once they won the election. That was then rolled up to the presidential level in the bush admin which tried to sell itself as the moderate 'compassionate conservative' govt but has proved to be so hard right as to make nixon look like a pinko liberal.

Stunned as I am by the post above, it makes sense having heard john dean speak of the research around the authoritarian mind. Yup. It all makes sense.

Scary.

But makes sense.

15031. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/7/2006 1:42:53 PM

Just back from voting where we had to stand in line for 30 minutes to vote– that was a big surprise for the time, 11AM; it's never happened at our particular precinct before.

And talk about some REALMONSTERS, connie–monsters who cause genuine death and mayhem . . .

15032. jexster - 11/7/2006 1:44:03 PM

Well that's enuf. Enuf to put AbigdorMentum in the cat bird's seat

Thanks alot Wizzer

15033. jexster - 11/7/2006 1:45:57 PM

Here's SOME slight solace to get you thru the day Wiz

Polimetrix

Mentum 48
Lamont 44
Schlesinger 5

N=401 = about a 4 MOE

That's a tossup

15034. jexster - 11/7/2006 1:46:46 PM

At +6 America gets jewed

15035. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/7/2006 2:07:30 PM

We still see more Lamont signs than TaitorJoe signs in our neighborhood–which is highly populated with Jews, having 5 or 6 Synagogues within walking distance-and where walking is mandatory on the sabbath.

I just can't bring myself to the thought that this deceitful little Zionist-bastard will get reelected.

15036. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/7/2006 2:09:56 PM

15037. jexster - 11/7/2006 2:22:24 PM

Did U go to Nancy Pelosi's Spaghetti Feed?

15038. thoughtful - 11/7/2006 2:26:50 PM

Looks like ted got his prayer answered...key lesson: be careful what you pray for (courtesy of delong's blog):

From Ted Haggard's sermon last week: Four days before accusations of his gay affair became public:

Heavenly Father, give us grace and mercy. Help us this next week and a half as we go into national elections and, Lord, we pray for our country. Father, we pray lies would be exposed and deception exposed. Father we pray that wisdom would come upon our electorate...

15039. Ronski - 11/7/2006 2:27:07 PM

Problems with Ohio voting machines and with poll workers' brains

15040. jexster - 11/7/2006 2:28:51 PM

TPM will be offering real time returns on 90 races

-Sneak Preview

15041. Wombat - 11/7/2006 2:41:47 PM
Ronski:

On "principle," I hope that you will be making a generous contribution to the town library, so that it will not need taxpayer funds.
15042. Wombat - 11/7/2006 2:45:28 PM
Don't know how that happened...
15043. jexster - 11/7/2006 2:50:19 PM
Mike Krause served two full years in Iraq, plus a stint in Afghanistan, as a Sergeant in the US Army. This Election Day, he reminds us why there's no excuse for apathy this year, and no better way to honor the sacrifices of our men and women in uniform than to cast your vote and hold your elected officials accountable.

"In November 2004, more than 200 million people were eligible to vote in the presidential election... but almost 40% of them stayed home.

That nearly 80 million people didn't make it to the polls that day was a special punch in the gut to my friends and me, because we were watching the election results from deep within Iraq's Sunni Triangle. Some Americans heard political commentary that night- we heard mortar fire.

Honor Our Service: Vote
15044. Ronski - 11/7/2006 3:08:17 PM
Wombat,

Do I have to double my contribution now?
15045. thoughtful - 11/7/2006 3:13:05 PM
Goes to show what Mike Krause knows....just because he served and risked his life for our country doesn't make him a patriot.

Instead we should be listening to a true patriot who understands and promotes the fundamental values of the american people and the us constitution. He must. He is after all a rw talk show host and someone who never served. That's all that counts...that he is not a democrat.

On the October 18 edition of his nationally syndicated radio program, Fox News host Sean Hannity encouraged Democratic voters to "stay home on Election Day," adding that, "your vote doesn't matter anyway." He added that Democrats should not turn out to vote "for the sake of the nation" because Democrats' votes "won't change who occupies the White House" and Democratic "candidates have absolutely no idea how to win the war on terrorism." Hannity also appeared to predict he would be criticized for his remarks, stating: "This is how the press is going to report this: 'Hannity says Democrats should stay home on Election Day.' " He did not explain how that would be a mischaracterization of his comments.
15046. Ronski - 11/7/2006 3:53:39 PM
Final Gallup Assessment

Good for Dems, not super good.
15047. jexster - 11/7/2006 4:01:11 PM
GOP Vote Fraud Watch

From a TPMC reader

On November 7, 2006 - 8:48am JPF311 said:
Well, just got back from voting and looks like I was right about the dirty tricks! I'm in the 22nd Congressional district in FL (Shaw vs Klein) and guess what-- that race was not even on the ballot (no House race was at all). Poll workers were unable to correct the problem, at least not while I was there. Anybody who has any connections to the Democrat party in FL should spread the news about this: voters in the Fort Lauderdale 114th precinct cannot vote for congressman, neither Shaw nor Klein.

15048. robertjayb - 11/7/2006 4:02:43 PM
We'll have Dan Rather to kick around once again...

Philly.com---Dan Rather will analyze election results with Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert tonight at 11 on Comedy Central's live, hour-long Indecision 2006 special.

"It's a risk, I guess, but what the hell," says Rather, who covered every national election since 1962 for CBS before being drop-kicked in June. Now he's global correspondent for Mark Cuban's HDNet.

"J. Stewart and company offered the chance, and I've taken it," Rather, 75, says. "I don't do comedy, I do politics, which sometimes is one and the same.

"Certainly, one can't cover politics and not have a sense of humor about it. Let's face it, politics is often a theater of the absurd."

15049. jexster - 11/7/2006 4:03:55 PM
Well I voted the CA Senate Race after all..and I voted for a good Democrat

And I don't mean that Jewish American Princess DiLies

I voted for a GOOD Democrat

J. Bennett Johnston III my buddy

BENNETT
for
The Senate

That was his dad's slogan in 1972

Catchy eh?

I hope that return somehow gets reported to her

Big Daddy and DiLiar are best of friends

15050. robertjayb - 11/7/2006 4:18:30 PM
No Governor, you gotta have a card...

(AP) A poll manager says that Governor Mark Sanford (South Carolina) was turned away from his home precinct Tuesday morning because he did NOT have his voter registration card.

Bob Crawford poll manager at Sullivan's Island Elementary School
says the governor was not allowed to vote.

The governor's campaign refused to comment on the situation and said the governor would vote at 11:30 a.m.

Crawford says first lady Jenny Sanford voted, but the governor
was going to a voter registration office to get a new card.

While he was standing in line to vote, Mark Sanford said this is
his last campaign -- win or lose.

Good job! We need more hard-nosed electrion judges...
15051. jexster - 11/7/2006 5:00:07 PM
Another blow to Ronski's Free Market Fundamentalism

Are Political Markets Really Superior to Polls as Election Predictors? [.pdf]

Abstract

Election markets have been praised for their ability to forecast elections, and to forecast even better than the polls. This paper challenges that argument, based on an analysis of Iowa Electronic Market (IEM) data from recent presidential elections. We show that while voteshare
market prices do forecast better than naïve one-to-one interpretation of poll results, polls that are properly discounted for the favorite’s inflated lead outperform the market. Moreover, winner-take-all market prices predict poorly compared to reasonable win-projections based on
the polls. Election markets generally see more uncertainty ahead in the campaign than the polling numbers warrant. The reasons for the poor performance of the IEM election markets are discussed.

Robert S. Erikson Columbia University
Christopher Wlezien Temple University
August 30, 2005

15052. judithathome - 11/7/2006 6:00:16 PM
This is the way a President should speak...the Big Dog still has it!

Bill Clinton In Alexandria
15053. thoughtful - 11/7/2006 6:30:18 PM
This is a test of the Emergency Alert System: Vote for Dick Mountjoy! By Justin Beck 06 Nov 2006 In an apparent violation of FCC rules, conservative talk radio station KFBK 1530 AM in Sacramento transmitted a paid political advertisement to an unknown number of other stations in the area, using the federal Emergency Alert System (EAS), thus automatically forcing the ad onto the stations' airwaves. This is according to a press release issued today by KDVS FM, a non-commercial community station in Davis that received and inadvertently aired the transmission. The advertisement is for Richard "Dick" Mountjoy, the Republican running against incumbent Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

Nope...only dirty tricks going on is by dems, right Conc'd?
15054. robertjayb - 11/7/2006 6:32:45 PM
I must away soon to central counting to resume my vital duties on the signature verification board. If there has been a last-minute ballot dump we may be busy into the evening. Hope not.

Saturday we (5 members) went through about 900 plus ballots
comparing signatures on the voter's ballot application to the one on the actual ballot. I didn't reject a single one but my collegues selected about 20 to kick on to another board (the absentee ballot board), on which spouse sits, for further scrutiny. This board accepted all but one ballot so I am, for the moment, proud of my judgement.

There are two obvious republicans and a fellow traveler chairwoman. The experience has not improved my opinion of that species. Petty, mean, and randomly contemptous of others. They seemed-hell bent on finding some reason to reject ballots.

There was absolutely no evidence of attempted fraud and the only "problems" were from ballots cast by obviously elderly persons and minorities. If your name was Fannie Lou Washington or Lupita Cruz your ballot received special attention. And dipshit stuff such as using a middle inital in one instance and not in another.

Pissed me off some but I kept my cool and saved some votes I think. Probably all republicans...
15055. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/7/2006 6:39:36 PM
That Clinton video was superb–thanks Judith.
15056. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/7/2006 6:54:24 PM
This is connie's team––voter intimidation and misinformation to suppress the vote . . .

15057. thoughtful - 11/7/2006 7:01:16 PM
More proof of that liberal media:

"Sen. John Kerry's 'botched joke' about the war in Iraq attracted enormous attention. Fully 84% of voters say they have heard a lot or a little about Kerry's remarks with 60% saying they have heard a lot. By comparison, just 26% say they have heard a lot about President Bush's statement that he will keep Donald Rumsfeld as secretary of defense until he leaves office in 2009."
15058. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/7/2006 7:23:22 PM
15059. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/7/2006 7:25:24 PM
15060. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/7/2006 7:27:09 PM
15061. jexster - 11/7/2006 7:33:32 PM
GOP Voter Supression Guide - MD
15062. thoughtful - 11/7/2006 7:49:29 PM
rather than worrying so much about the dems as the nat'l review article concn'd posted above, the gopers should worry about the gopers, e.g. from froomkin quoting rose in vanity fair:

For instance, there's Richard Perle. "According to Perle, who left the Defense Policy Board in 2004, this unfolding catastrophe has a central cause: devastating dysfunction within the administration of President George W. Bush. Perle says, 'The decisions did not get made that should have been. They didn't get made in a timely fashion, and the differences were argued out endlessly. . . . At the end of the day, you have to hold the president responsible."

Here's Kenneth Adelman talking: "The most dispiriting and awful moment of the whole administration was the day that Bush gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom to [former C.I.A. director] George Tenet, General Tommy Franks, and [Coalition Provisional Authority chief] Jerry [Paul] Bremer--three of the most incompetent people who've ever served in such key spots."

And here's David Frum talking: "I always believed as a speechwriter that if you could persuade the president to commit himself to certain words, he would feel himself committed to the ideas that underlay those words. And the big shock to me has been that although the president said the words, he just did not absorb the ideas. And that is the root of, maybe, everything."

There's a lot of discontent out there...
15063. jexster - 11/7/2006 8:22:20 PM
CNN's running their earlly exit poll results.

The big surprise - corruption is emerging as a major concern.

Also 62% think Congress sucks, and 525 think the economy sux

Looks like the nat6ionalized election dems were aiming for
15064. jexster - 11/7/2006 8:28:38 PM
Corruption is the number 1 issue in early exits
15065. jexster - 11/7/2006 8:33:28 PM
More exits...

Last republican off buys the boiz

Teh Economy was supposed to be the BIg Issue for Republicans...those who said economy was important voted

DEMOCRATS +20%

Illegal immigration 50-50
15066. robertjayb - 11/7/2006 8:46:41 PM
Lou Dobbs just reported on CNN that a federal judge has ordered 16 precincts in the Cleveland area to remain open until 10:30 p.m. because of electronic voting problems.

Good old Ohio.
15067. jexster - 11/7/2006 8:55:00 PM
MSNBC Exit

62% voted on national issues
38 local

Bush disapproval 58%
15068. jexster - 11/7/2006 9:07:09 PM
Shock Culture of Corruption is the big issue
15069. robertjayb - 11/7/2006 9:14:54 PM
Jeff Greenfield on CNN says socialist Bernie Sanders has been been elected to the Senate from Vermont.

Yea Bernie!
15070. jexster - 11/7/2006 9:32:26 PM
15071. jexster - 11/7/2006 9:34:50 PM
Chuck Todd - Bellweather....This should be an easy Red

KY-03 Yarmuth: 50% Northup: 49% n/a n/a 68% 07:32 pm EST
15072. jexster - 11/7/2006 9:54:02 PM
Big Cut and Run Vote

60% withdraw some or all - MSNBC exit
15073. Ronski - 11/7/2006 10:08:49 PM
Hell, even I would have voted for Bernie.
15074. arkymalarky - 11/7/2006 10:09:18 PM
Good turnout in the tiny rural precinct I vote in (very large area-wise, though). I voted then went back with Mose and when Mose voted there was a line--first ever that I know of. But only two electronic voting booths.

I know all the poll workers (they're all African-American and one was a former student of mine). They have paper records, and they like the electronic voting. I feel better about it now, at least here. It gives plenty of opportunity to review and change your vote before you submit.
15075. jexster - 11/7/2006 10:09:53 PM
Corruption is the number 1 issue in early exits
15076. arkymalarky - 11/7/2006 10:10:08 PM
Oh, and they said it had been busy all day. They worked the full twelve hours.
15077. jexster - 11/7/2006 10:11:31 PM
Lookin like a wave..but will it be a Tsunami

KY-03 Yarmuth: 50% Northup: 49% n/a n/a 81% 07:58 pm EST
15078. jexster - 11/7/2006 10:12:01 PM
Lieberman's people are bad mouthing their chances.

Why?
15079. Ronski - 11/7/2006 10:12:36 PM
KY 3 was expected to be trouble for the GOP. The fact that it is close is not great for the Democrats, but it's not bad either.

In any case, it was not "an easy red."
15080. Ronski - 11/7/2006 10:16:39 PM
jexster - 11/8/2006 3:12:01 AM

Lieberman's people are bad mouthing their chances.

Why?

Because (1) before polls close, you want to get out every possible vote.

(2) you want to influence the media spin so as to make your victory described as an unanticipated triumph.

You are not very active in politics, I gather.
15081. jexster - 11/7/2006 10:24:07 PM
Polls are closed no?

Ronski you know your problem

I gather
15082. Ronski - 11/7/2006 10:25:19 PM
Polls were not closed in CN twenty minutes ago.

What problem are you talking about? I have several.
15083. jexster - 11/7/2006 10:25:44 PM
Key to Virginia...

VA-02 Kellam: 49.89% Drake: 49.86% n/a n/a 25% 08:16 pm EST

If that is a proxy for Webb vote to any significant degree and if that holds, Webb wins.

That's the Junker Vote
15084. Ronski - 11/7/2006 10:25:49 PM
Sorry: CT. They're not voting in Canada.
15085. jexster - 11/7/2006 10:26:29 PM
I thought they were closed when the statement was made Ronski

You jumped the snark
15086. OhioSTOPAS - 11/7/2006 10:26:47 PM
Ohio has a Democratic governor! First of many Dems, I hope.
15087. Ronski - 11/7/2006 10:28:27 PM
Exit poll numbers from Doug Ireland (bless him), via Sullivan, though I would not trust the exit polls. They will be better than '04, but not as good as they used to be.

RHODE ISLAND: D-53, 47

VIRGINIA D-52, R-47

ARIZONA D-46, R-50

CONNECTICUT Lieberman up 4 points

FLORIDA D-62, R-36

MISSOURI D-50, R-48

NEW JERSEY D-50, R-46

NEW YORK D-68, R-30

OHIO D-57, R-42

PENNSYLVANIA D-57, R-42

MARYLAND D-53, R-46

MONTANA D-50, R-48
15088. Ronski - 11/7/2006 10:30:00 PM
jexster,

If the polls were closed, then you drop point one obviously, and still have the expectations game. What was the mystery here for you?
15089. Ronski - 11/7/2006 10:36:32 PM
Ohio,

I am happy for you. I would have voted for Pierce, of course, but I am glad to see the Christian Socialist Party get the boot.

15090. jexster - 11/7/2006 10:55:44 PM
You got Brown too OH...and sucked up all the bucks ..now just get Mean Jean
15091. jexster - 11/7/2006 10:56:53 PM
Why play the expectations game at all? Ridiculous unless you're figuring a recount.

He's obviously playing the expecations game

My question still is WHY?
15092. jexster - 11/7/2006 11:15:04 PM
Tsunami Center

KY-03 Yarmuth (D): 51% Northup (R): 48% n/a n/a 96%
15093. jexster - 11/7/2006 11:18:04 PM
Cardin beat the nigra
15094. concerned - 11/7/2006 11:20:44 PM
4:17 p.m. Some (Joplin, Missouri) (Republican)voters to use photocopied ballots(because not enough ballots ordered).

The 'Rats now want people to believe that if the Repubs have troubles voting, they're doing it to blame it on the 'Rats, and if 'Rats have election problems, it's the Repubs suppressing their vote.

What an insulting and embarrassingly transparent display of the victim mentality. Do we want professional victims running the US? No.
15095. jexster - 11/7/2006 11:22:40 PM
Abigdor won.

Condolences Wiz
15096. concerned - 11/7/2006 11:22:59 PM
Call me crazy, but I'm starting to get the impression that the Republicans will retain both houses of Congress. Some Democrats agree that that would be the best thing, due to the Democrat Party's total lack of vision.
15097. concerned - 11/7/2006 11:32:51 PM
If they do, but with likely reduced majorities, centrist Republicans will have more power, and the Democrats will have to be more accommodating to the centrist viewpoint to remain competitive for 2008.
15098. jexster - 11/7/2006 11:33:44 PM
Chafee RIP
15099. jexster - 11/7/2006 11:34:15 PM
Ky 03 Anne Northrup RIP

The Dem was a Netroots rebel
15100. jexster - 11/7/2006 11:35:04 PM
What centrist Republicans?

Maybe we'll a RINO defection or two
15101. jexster - 11/7/2006 11:38:03 PM
"Republicans are dropping like flies" Dick Armey
15102. jexster - 11/7/2006 11:38:32 PM
Call me crazy

OK
15103. jexster - 11/7/2006 11:39:59 PM
Here comes NoVA

VA-SEN Webb (D): 49.17% Allen (R): 49.63% n/a n/a 81% 09:31 pm EST
15104. jexster - 11/7/2006 11:44:36 PM
KY-03 Yarmuth (D): 51% Northup (R): 48% n/a Dem 100% 09:24 pm EST
15105. jexster - 11/7/2006 11:53:24 PM
VA-SEN Webb (D): 49.37% Allen (R): 49.43% n/a n/a 86.66% 09:49 pm EST
15106. arkymalarky - 11/8/2006 12:04:44 AM
Call me crazy, but I'm starting to get the impression that the Republicans will retain both houses of Congress. Some Democrats agree that that would be the best thing, due to the Democrat Party's total lack of vision.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!

But I still love you Con'd.
15107. jexster - 11/8/2006 12:24:12 AM
Pass the Mustard Gas

PA-07 Sestak (D): 57% Weldon (R): 43% n/a n/a 50% 10:18 pm EST
15108. jexster - 11/8/2006 12:25:26 AM
Virginia is tighter than a tick...

Allen 50
Webb 49
half of Arlington, all of Loudon still out.

Big Webb vote there
15109. jexster - 11/8/2006 12:28:09 AM
One top democrat, who will go unnamed, did in fact argue that a GOP narrow take of both houses would leave the country so angry that the lid would blow off in 08

Charles Cook put it well "That's just nuts"

One House gives you agenda control. Agenda control gives you media visibility

If you have no visibility, you have no influence

If you have no influence, you have no power
15110. jexster - 11/8/2006 12:30:09 AM
Dems sweep the 3 contested seats in Indiana
15111. jexster - 11/8/2006 1:05:36 AM
Took out Clay Shaw and the Child Predator in FL
15112. jexster - 11/8/2006 1:12:35 AM
At 8:08 PM

15113. Wombat - 11/8/2006 1:34:07 AM
Looking good for the House. Webb-Allen is a real anus clencher.
15114. jexster - 11/8/2006 1:37:47 AM
Let's see...this is a hard one...

Iraq and corruption are the major concerns...

What subpoenas should the WaxMan Cometh with first

Halliburton, Parsons????
15115. jexster - 11/8/2006 1:39:12 AM
Webb is still looking like he'll pull this one out. NoVA precincts - not as strong as Arlington/Fairfax (PW, Loudon) are Webb plus some negroes in Richmond..err...I mena Macacans
15116. Wombat - 11/8/2006 1:53:28 AM
Webb has just nudged ahead of Allen. He is about 3,000 votes up.
15117. jexster - 11/8/2006 2:02:58 AM
Manly Man Beats Macaca Man

VA-SEN Webb (D): 49.5% Allen (R): 49.4% n/a n/a 99% 11:56 pm
15118. jexster - 11/8/2006 2:16:21 AM
KS-02 Boyda (D): 51% Ryun (R): 47% n/a Dem 77% 12:01 am EST
15119. jexster - 11/8/2006 3:47:40 AM
A Blowout of Epic Proporition

24-47 seats in the House

Webb has claimed - as well he should!

MO, MT going determine

MO-SEN McCaskill (D): 49% Talent (R): 48% Gilmour (L): 2% n/a 84% 01:40 am EST 79% 01:18 am EST
{KC precincts out}
MT-SEN Tester (D): 51% Burns (R): 47% Jones: 2% n/a 58% 01:32 am EST

TX-22 Lampson: 52% Sekula-Gibbs: 42% Smither: 6% Dem
15120. jexster - 11/8/2006 3:48:03 AM
Just call hm CrazyCon from now on
15121. jexster - 11/8/2006 3:54:02 AM
McKaskill just claimed....Senate is Democratic

15122. OhioSTOPAS - 11/8/2006 7:50:48 AM
Good morning from the Blue state of Ohio!
15123. Wombat - 11/8/2006 10:46:10 AM
Good morning, indeed!
15124. thoughtful - 11/8/2006 11:06:52 AM
803 days, 14 hours and 53 minutes left.
15125. jexster - 11/8/2006 11:12:32 AM
15126. alistairconnor - 11/8/2006 11:20:03 AM
So that's both hice democrat?

Senate: 50 Dem, 49 Rep, 1 Likud, is that right?
15127. Wombat - 11/8/2006 11:23:46 AM
Don't forget the 1 Socialist. (Bernie Sanders, Vermont.)
15128. Magoseph - 11/8/2006 11:51:18 AM
Jex, what do you think Bush is going to do when he's presented with the bill to raise the minimun wage?
15129. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/8/2006 12:00:19 PM
15130. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/8/2006 12:04:39 PM
To answer Mago's question . . .

15131. thoughtful - 11/8/2006 12:58:36 PM
One thing i hope is that the dems don't let up on the pressure for accurate vote counts just because they've been successful gaining the house. The whole point of accurate vote counting is to benefit everyone...not just the dems or the reps. While there were certainly problems, i suspect this went a lot smoother due to the spotlight that's been shone on this issue.

In our town, we had the optical scan readers which electronically read our paper ballot and retained the paper ballots. I understand that they are requiring a hand count of all votes as a way to audit the machines and see if there are any significant errors.
15132. Ronski - 11/8/2006 1:03:06 PM
When Political Parties Go Insane

And look at how they dealt with the issue that cropped up... in the CNN exit poll: Corruption.

What did the GOP ever do about its raft of scandals, anyway?

They responded to the problems of Rep. Tom DeLay by, first, trying to change the rules to keep him in power even if he was indicted, then pushing back the Congress’s schedule in early 2006 to comport with his trial schedule.

They responded to the political cornucopia of the William Jefferson scandal by defending a criminal Congressman’s right not to be searched by the FBI.

They dealt with the Foley scandal by wheeling Dennis Hastert out to “take responsibility”… by neither resigning nor apologizing.

They had plenty of time, a full two years, to convince voters that they could right their own ship and reform spending, and pork, and earmarks, and control members of their caucus.

They decided instead to commission the guy who directed Scary Movie 4 to make anti-Democrat ads.
15133. wonkers2 - 11/8/2006 1:12:08 PM
Dick Army just expressed the opinion that the GOP's failure to deal effectively with corruption issues, in addition to Iraq, contributed to their losses.
15134. judithathome - 11/8/2006 1:17:02 PM
I heard that opinion...it was somewhat undercut on the sincerity level by his claim he never called Barney Frank by the name Barney Fag.
15135. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/8/2006 1:36:13 PM
Yeah, now we hear candor after they have no choice. Hubris always defeats itself.

15136. thoughtful - 11/8/2006 1:43:42 PM
Are dick armey

and barney frank

related?
15137. judithathome - 11/8/2006 2:00:47 PM
Separated at birth!
15138. robertjayb - 11/8/2006 2:10:07 PM
In Montana the Helena Independent has these
numbers up at the moment (counting continues):

Tester ......195235

Burns........195506

Jones........10188

The paper gives this info on recounts:

A losing candidate can request a recount at his own expense if the margin is within 1/2 of a percent, which would be a margin off roughly 2,000 votes in the Montana U.S. Senate race. If the margin is less than 1/4 of a percent, the state and the counties will pick up the tab.
15139. jexster - 11/8/2006 2:13:52 PM
We got a whuppin, a good ole Texus whuppin
Tom DeLay

Robert know what that means.

Robert remembers the Alamo
15140. jexster - 11/8/2006 2:15:43 PM
Looks like it's gonna be 50-50. Better CHeney does us than being jewed I guess
15141. Ronski - 11/8/2006 2:17:03 PM
Webb Will Hold Lead, Says Blogger

Via Kos.

15142. robertjayb - 11/8/2006 2:18:19 PM
From the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee:

Montana Vote Situation: Jon Tester leads Conrad Burns by approximately 1,700 votes (as of 11am EDT) and counting. In Silver Bow County (Butte), a Democratic stronghold, votes are still being counted but Tester is winning there with 66% of the vote. We expect to gain the majority of these uncounted votes and to add to Tester's margin.

Montana Process: When the counting phase is completed, a canvass will verify the vote tallies. That process could take as long as 48 hours, and must begin within three days and end within seven. Unless the canvass shows the margin to be within ¼ of 1%, there is no recount. As the loser, Burns would have to request the recount. When the votes are all counted, we expect to be outside that recount margin.
15143. Ronski - 11/8/2006 2:18:52 PM
The Independent has Tester back in the lead by about 400 votes.
15144. Ronski - 11/8/2006 2:20:11 PM
No, about three thousand votes.
15145. jexster - 11/8/2006 2:20:57 PM
Damn then we get jewed.
15146. robertjayb - 11/8/2006 2:24:19 PM
Correcting numbers in msg 15138 above:

Tester....195235

Burns.....193506

Jones.....10188

Hey, I was a journalism major...
15147. Ronski - 11/8/2006 2:26:52 PM
Now it appears Tester leads Burns by about 1700 votes and the one precinct out has only about a 1000 voters. But Jellystone Park is being recounted.
15148. jexster - 11/8/2006 2:28:19 PM
Nancy Pelosi defies the will of her consitutents!

Impeachment is off the table

My first nasty letter to Speaker to be elect.

Proposition J calling for the impeachment of Bush and Cheney passed 59-41
15149. jexster - 11/8/2006 2:29:55 PM
15146 Dumdass Texican

Tell us, again, how muy macho you assholes are.

God I do so loathe Texicans
15150. jexster - 11/8/2006 2:37:27 PM
AP calls for Tster

Manly Man up by 7000

The Senate is ours as well
15151. thoughtful - 11/8/2006 2:44:37 PM
what about that rumor that bush will oust rummy and name lieberass in his stead, leaving a vacancy in the senate which rell will fill with a goper....
15152. thoughtful - 11/8/2006 2:53:11 PM
Hah!...this just in...republican officials are saying rummy is resigning!!!
15153. Ronski - 11/8/2006 2:54:28 PM
That Rummy. Always taking things personally.
15154. jexster - 11/8/2006 2:56:22 PM
George behind him 1000%
15155. iiibbb - 11/8/2006 2:57:37 PM
I feel pretty good about the election. I think the GOP got a pretty good thump for straying from the qualities that I made me lean to them in the first place.

Now democrats of all people are talking about balanced budgets.

Most of the winners are very moderate democrats.

I may lose personally in all of this becasue my current research funding is thanks to a Republican with some pull who just lost... but who knows. Dems tend to favor environmental issues so maybe I will fair better on the funding front... too hard to say.

Now... my only hope is that the Dems pick someone other than Hillary for president.
15156. Wombat - 11/8/2006 2:59:09 PM
Interesting. Had Bush not endorsed Rumsfeld so fervently before the election, the Republicans might have held on to the Senate (it also blew Kerry's faux pas off the front page).
15157. robertjayb - 11/8/2006 2:59:27 PM
Oh happy day!
15158. jexster - 11/8/2006 3:01:16 PM
Best sec Def in history is history!

RObert Gates gets the job

Do I detect the fine hand of JimBob Baker
15159. jexster - 11/8/2006 3:03:31 PM
Poppy's boyz always have to clean up Little Georgie's messes.

Le plus ca change
15160. Ronski - 11/8/2006 3:03:40 PM
Who is the most likely Anybody-but-Hillary candidate?

(Feingold doesn't count).

Bayh?
15161. jexster - 11/8/2006 3:04:44 PM
Obama
15162. thoughtful - 11/8/2006 3:08:30 PM
heckuva job rummy!

when does he get his medal?
15163. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/8/2006 3:09:17 PM
David Brooks agrees with you iiibbb

A Good Night for the Country

By David Brooks, New York Times Op-Ed Columnist

Why am I weirdly happy? I’m a conservative. Many people I know and admire lost tonight. And yet somehow this strikes me as a good night for the country.

First, there would be something wrong for the country if the Republicans got to act this way in the House and then keep their majority. That would be a sign we’d become a one-party state.

But more than that, the voters have voted for change, but they haven’t gone overboard. They did not choose the Ned Lamont wing of the Democratic Party. Many moderate Republicans survived, despite my pessimistic expectations – Chris Shays, Deborah Pryce.

Furthermore, many moderate Democrats won, like Heath Shuler in North Carolina. And to top it all off, some of the crudest anti-immigration folks in places like Arizona lost.

All in all, an end to the era of base-mobilizing politics and a victory for the center (albeit with a Democratic tilt). Nancy Pelosi seems to understand this. She’s striking a bipartisan pose, not a triumphalist one. We’ll see if it lasts.
15164. thoughtful - 11/8/2006 3:10:08 PM
if the dems were smart, they'd push clark and they'd promise hillary a position in the new admin but keep her away from the presidency/vpresidency at all costs
15165. Wombat - 11/8/2006 3:10:49 PM
Bush sounds mightily pissed off. How dare they reject him. His joke about Republican interior decorators helping Nancy Pelosi select drapes fell utterly flat.
15166. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/8/2006 3:12:49 PM
I think the Dems should stick with domestic issues and let the Reps flounder and blunder their way in Iraq.
15167. thoughtful - 11/8/2006 3:13:04 PM
he is pissed...a common reaction when reality interferes with his bushworld vision.
15168. Wombat - 11/8/2006 3:15:43 PM
How can his staff allow President Bush to appear in public? Every time he opens his mouth he sounds stupider and stupider.
15169. Ronski - 11/8/2006 3:15:59 PM
Quite a few more GOP than Democrat Senate seats up in 2008, which may be good for the Dems.

15170. thoughtful - 11/8/2006 3:16:44 PM
Bush is just so illogical...and it gets worse when he's angry.

what a spoiled brat.
15171. thoughtful - 11/8/2006 3:17:16 PM
they just bleeped the president!
15172. thoughtful - 11/8/2006 3:26:02 PM
under the goper rule, house leaders have tossed out a whole bunch of rules and traditions in terms of how they were handling the minority party. It will be interesting to see if pelosi sticks with the new rules or returns to the old.
15173. Ronski - 11/8/2006 3:27:13 PM
From Kos: How Conservative Are These Democrats?
15174. Ronski - 11/8/2006 3:30:32 PM
Tester. Kinda hard not to like this guy:

15175. jexster - 11/8/2006 3:39:21 PM
U.S. Rep. Dist. 22 In: 100%
Nick Lampson, D 76,743 51.8%
Bob Smither, L 9,008 6.1%
Shelley Sekula-Gibbs (w-i), R 61,813 41.7%
Joe Reasbeck (w-i) 89 0.1%
Don Richardson (w-i) 427 0.3%
15176. jexster - 11/8/2006 3:40:00 PM
Yea Tester;s a character so's Jim Webb
15177. jexster - 11/8/2006 3:48:08 PM
The WaxMan Cometh

15178. wonkers2 - 11/8/2006 3:48:57 PM
Rumsfeld Resigns
15179. robertjayb - 11/8/2006 4:03:36 PM
RObert Gates gets the job

Do I detect the fine hand of JimBob Baker

This is daddy's work. Bush 1 pushed Gates for president of Texas A&M over objections of former student mossbacks who wanted the odious Phil Gramm.
15180. Ronski - 11/8/2006 4:10:42 PM
Get this man some sleep:

15181. wonkers2 - 11/8/2006 4:17:08 PM
He's earned a good night's sleep!

15182. Ronski - 11/8/2006 4:19:08 PM
Libertarians Rule!

Handed Montana, and probably the Senate, to the Democrats
15183. wonkers2 - 11/8/2006 4:19:20 PM
They didn't waste any time up-dating Gates's wikipedia entry! Robert Gates
15184. jexster - 11/8/2006 4:22:22 PM
Poppy's cleaning up another Little Georgie mess...But this time he didn't puke the carpets or drive a company into the ground...he wrecked a region

Recalls another Texican's reaction to a military disaster

Clark Clifford

Bush fired Cheney in effect as well
15185. wonkers2 - 11/8/2006 4:28:34 PM
Jennifer Granholm beat DeVos badly in every category of voter except one Republican. She won a majority among men and women of all ages, among every racial and ethnic group, and among all levels of education, with her highest percentage of votes among voters with graduate degrees and those without high school degrees. Independents voted for Granholm 63 to 30. The highest percentage of voters for Granholm were African Americans who voted 97% for Granholm and Jews who voted 83% for Granholm who is Roman Catholic. Presumably Jewish voters were turned off by DeVos's wingnut Christian fundamentalist social conservatism. Michigan voter demographics
15186. wonkers2 - 11/8/2006 4:30:53 PM
My biggest disappointment was the passage of a referendum prohibiting affirmative action in admissions to state universities and in government hiring and contracting, brought to Michigan courtesy of Jexter's pal, carpetbagging Uncle Tom, Ward Connerly!
15187. robertjayb - 11/8/2006 4:32:58 PM
A current Texas Monthly profile of Robert Gates...
15188. Ronski - 11/8/2006 4:38:06 PM
wonkers,

How much of DeVos's religious views came out in the campaign? Did he make a big deal of it?
15189. judithathome - 11/8/2006 4:40:41 PM
I'd be willing to bet Poppy was on the phone before breakfast telling Junior to dump Rummy before noon!
15190. jexster - 11/8/2006 4:43:10 PM
Bernie Traynor nailed it. Referring to all the hoopla about Poppy's Rescue efforts...

People are talking as if the US mattered. There's very little we can do at this point

All King Poppy's horsies can't put GWB back together again

After the Election, the Defeat
I Wallerstein

And that is the problem, breaking the truth to America - Bush has lost that war

The only lesson here is - when the Decider says "you're doin a heckuva job" - watch out
15191. jexster - 11/8/2006 4:51:27 PM
Days after promising Rumsfeld and Cheney would stay to the bitter end, Bush meets at the Fake Ranch with Dummy's replacement

"Rummy you're doin a heckuva job"

Question- Does even CallMeCrazyConcerned believe anything this guy says?
15192. jexster - 11/8/2006 5:32:01 PM
And as for Wonker..

You're welcome!

Ward Connerly and his California Freedom Riders have liberated the oppressed caucasians of Michigan!
15193. jexster - 11/8/2006 5:33:31 PM
Free at last!

Free at last!

Thank God Almighty Wonker's free at last!
15194. thoughtful - 11/8/2006 5:55:25 PM
apparently rummy was the last to know.
from economist's view blog:

n case you missed this. Fox news:

Rumsfeld Has No Plans to Step Down, Despite Democrat Gains, Official Says, Fox News: Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, a key target of Iraq war critics, gave no indication Wednesday that he planned to step down in the wake of Democratic midterm election gains, his chief spokesman said. He said he did not know whether Rumsfeld has talked to President Bush about his future in light of the election results....

Apparently that conversation didn't go so well:

GOP officials: Rumsfeld stepping down, CNN: Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, architect of an unpopular war in Iraq, intends to resign after six stormy years at the Pentagon, Republican officials said Wednesday. Officials said Robert Gates, former head of the CIA, would replace Rumsfeld.

Bush quote from news conference: "Rumsfeld and I agreed it was a time for a change."

Yup, the bushies are big on loyalty...that is loyalty by others to them...the reverse? Not so much.
15195. thoughtful - 11/8/2006 6:18:42 PM
Here's an excellent top 10 list of things the new congress should address. All very important issues.

Amazing how few of them are being discussed in the press or were discussed during the election. Yet they can critically shape our interactions with the govt going into the future.
15196. thoughtful - 11/8/2006 6:31:04 PM
while many are counting this a dem victory, i'm not....

i mean look at what an absolute disaster this country had to be led into for people to vote for the dems. this is really not support for their policies but a rejection of the radical right...a sense that things are so bad that the dems couldn't be any worse.

the dems have a lot of work to do and a long way to go. the party needs to centralize control...listen to the big dog and bring him back into a strategizing role. marginalize dean as he's lost his way from who he was as a winning vt gov. bring in pat schroeder as she's the only one clever enough to come up with one-liners to counteract the bushie one liners like 'cut and run'. find a backbone on civil liberties and wrest power back from the imperial presidency...doing so will buy them support from the libertarian wings of both parties. develop a message and learn to harp on it...one thing to learn from the gopers is how to stay on message, something they sorely need.

yup, lots of work to be done...don't take this win for granted.
15197. Ronski - 11/8/2006 7:37:46 PM
No Dressing Up This Pig

A Republican writes it was a major wipeout; blames Iraq.
15198. Magoseph - 11/8/2006 8:00:59 PM
Thoughtful, the NYT has a rather good-piece about how the election came about and how to do best with the results, I think.

November 8, 2006
The Democratic House
There was only one explanation for the crazy-quilt combination of victories around the country that gave the Democrats control of the House of Representatives last night: an angry shout of repudiation of the Bush White House and the abysmal way the Republican majority has run Congress.

It was a satisfying expression of the basic democratic principle of accountability. A government that performs badly is supposed to be punished by the electorate. And this government has performed badly on so many counts.

The Republicans created their defeat by focusing obsessively on the right-wing “base,” ostracizing not only the Democrats but their own party’s more moderate legislators. The conflict between the extremist House and the conservative Senate created a phony center, far to the right of the general public’s idea of where the middle ought to be. Yesterday, moderate Republicans in heavily Democratic states were done in by their party’s excesses. In Rhode Island, more than 60 percent of the voters told pollsters that they liked their Republican senator, Lincoln Chafee. But he was soundly defeated anyway.

The Democrats won a negative victory, riding on the wave of public anger about Republicans. The new House majority will certainly call the administration to account on any number of issues, but it will have to do far more than run investigations if it is to build on its victory.

For years now, the Democrats have been not only the minority party, but a particularly powerless minority, elbowed out of virtually any role other than that of critic. The House Democrats will have to shift from the role of tactical opposition to shadow government. They will have to pass bills — bills that might not make it into law, but that would provide a clear idea of what their party would do if it were really in control.

And while they are trying to build a new majority, the Democrats need to remember what happens when a party in power loses its way.

15199. jexster - 11/8/2006 8:02:00 PM
Nice article Ronsk...the guy's right it could have been worse had the Dems had a bit more spine on the issue..these will be interesting times...circular firing squads? What will the neocons say now that there's been a palace coup? etc etc

15200. jexster - 11/8/2006 8:08:45 PM
Mago get's the Best Prediction Award

Concerned gets the consolation prize

15201. jexster - 11/8/2006 9:09:36 PM
Rove's Losing Strategy
Frank Rich
15202. wonkers2 - 11/8/2006 9:26:13 PM
No dressing up this pig, credits to ronski and jexter
15203. jexster - 11/8/2006 9:46:22 PM
Hasta la Vista Pendejos
Republicans squandered gains made among US Hispanic voters
15204. jexster - 11/8/2006 9:48:34 PM
Who is Mister Deeds?

Free at last
Free at last

THank you Ward Connerly, Wonk's free at last
15205. wonkers2 - 11/8/2006 9:50:11 PM
Granholm got 64% of the Hispanic vote and 94% of the African American vote. There was a crackdown on undocumented workers in Michigan that cost the GOP Hispanic votes.
15206. jexster - 11/8/2006 10:02:42 PM
Throw that Grizzly bitch
Under
15207. jexster - 11/8/2006 10:04:50 PM
White Resentment in Michigan

15208. wonkers2 - 11/8/2006 10:10:29 PM
Tester wins in Montana! Dems will at least have a 50-50 vote tie in Senate. Webb is ahead in Virgina and may be headed for a re-count victory giving the forces of light control in Senate and House.
15209. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/8/2006 10:10:30 PM
15201. jexster - 11/8/2006 7:09:36 PM

Rove's Losing Strategy
Frank Rich

Thank link is bad, Jexster, please provide the correct one . . . and congrats on Speaker Pelosi, btw.
15210. wonkers2 - 11/8/2006 10:31:47 PM
Rove and Cheney are dead meat! Iraq has sunk Cheney, and Rove's get out the fundamentalist base strategy failed as the Dems wised up and fielded more moderate candidates in red districts and states.
15211. wonkers2 - 11/8/2006 10:33:37 PM
The AP just called Jim Webb a winner in Virginia over Mr. Macaca. NBC says still too close to call. Washington Post says a recount nearly certain.
15212. wonkers2 - 11/8/2006 10:35:41 PM
Washington Post says recount likely in Virginia
15213. jexster - 11/8/2006 10:41:36 PM
White power Wonk! Allen sees the writing on the wall. His response, "we'll look at the canvass and have an answer perhaps by tommorrow"

The Manly Man has whupped the Macaca Man

Hey Wizzer...Did you go to Nancy's Spaghetti Feed?

What is feminine of "paysan"?

Frank Rich
15214. jexster - 11/8/2006 10:45:04 PM
NBC News declares the Manly Man Jr. Senator

L'chaim!

Life to us!
Death to the jew!
15215. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/8/2006 10:53:20 PM
"paisana"

No, I didn't go to Festa Pelosi. I mistrust groups and I get the sweats in crowds. I'm a monk in a cell by choice and temperament.
15216. jexster - 11/8/2006 10:55:55 PM
Hi gang:

It's 5:30 Wed evening and I just walked in from our first day of the Canvass. I didn't get home last night until 10:30, so I pretty much crashed. As you have heard, there was quite a crowd. Fairfax County voted about 55.1% (345,000+ out of 633,00) which makes it much better than a "normal" senatorial election, and almost as good as a presidential election. As you have also heard, Webb came from behind to pull a spectacular win! In Fairfax County, Webb got 185,441 votes to Allen's 126.783. On the way home tonight they said the lead was currently about 7,000 votes!

It was a very busy day at the polls, but remarkably free of problems. I would have been home much sooner, but I had a new Chief in one of my high image precincts, so I spent most of the evening helping her close the polls. Weather turned bad about noon and it drizzled the rest of the day. I was interviewed by a couple of reporters for Austrian press, and may appear on TV over there (whee!).

Had to be back at the Govt Center at 9:00 this morning to begin the canvass. We had a room FULL of lawyers, literally leaning over our shoulders all day. They were nice, mostly young, and dressed casually (the Democrats, I presume) and coat and tie, or dark suits (Republicans). We also had the press (Oh boy did we have the press!) there were three TV news crews there all day. Two had their mobile trucks with the TV satellite antennas sitting outside when I left the building tonight. I am pretty sure both sides are going to keep a VERY close eye on the canvass and then decide whether or not to call for a recount (after the state certifies the count late this month. As far as we are concerned, the canvass is going along pretty well, and we should finish it up late tomorrow (Friday is a holiday). The Electoral Board met while we we were doing the canvass and processed the "provisional" ballots. I heard there were about 300, and I saw about a 30 vote increase in Webb's count today in my precincts, so they won't find major shifts here.

Since I was running around all day yesterday, got home late last night, and have been sequestered today, you may know what the details are better than I. I just heard Rummy was fired, and the 6:00 news on Channel 9 just had a live segment about the canvass. I even saw my back a couple of times (Whoopee!).

Guess that's about it.
15217. resonance - 11/8/2006 10:57:27 PM
Best Prediction Award

WTF, I called this the day after the 2004 election, in detail.
15218. jexster - 11/8/2006 11:01:38 PM
I hear ya Wizzer.

Pelosi's gonna kick ass. A poli sci prof at SF State, guru of Left Coast CIty politics and no friend of Pelosi or any of the city establishment pols, is fond of noting that with the Burton Gang, the Browns, Pelosi, Feinstein etc SF produces more than its share of power pols than our small size would justify.

That, according to Rich DeLeon, is no accident because, and he's right, SF politics is uncommonly vicious. The city's electorate has a high level of political efficacy and activism and knives can come from any direction at any time. Truly Hobbesian

Rich's theory is that SF is a great training ground. Plus Pelosi's got East Coast ward politics in her blood.

She's no ideologue, which is why Rich isn't one of her fans
15219. jexster - 11/8/2006 11:14:39 PM

Blue Wave
Mavericks Beach
Half Moon Bay, CA
15220. jexster - 11/8/2006 11:24:39 PM
Democrats got 87% of the Jewish vote. Pretty fertile ground for another War on Iran. OTOH, the Realists have pulled off a White Palace Coup.......
15221. arkymalarky - 11/9/2006 12:43:19 AM
HEY RES!!!
15222. wonkers2 - 11/9/2006 10:29:28 AM
A puzzler--why did Chaffee lose big while his comrade Olympia Snowe won big? Was Snowe's Dem opponent a dud? Or is the explanation that voters are much more liberal in Rhode Island than in Maine?
15223. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/9/2006 11:41:24 AM
Both, more liberal in RI and weaker opponent in ME.
15224. thoughtful - 11/9/2006 12:03:15 PM
Mark Crispin Miller reminds us of what was said about gates in the past:

Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I rise in opposition to the nomination of Robert Gates to be Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Mr. President, at the outset of the confirmation hearings, I had serious reservations about the nominee. The confirmation hearings only raised more questions and greater doubts. Questions and doubts about Mr. Gates' past activities, managerial style, judgment, lapses in memory and analytical abilities. Questions and doubts about his role in the Iran-Contra Affair and in providing military intelligence to Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war; and questions and doubts about whether he will be able to remove the ideological blinders reflected in his writings and speeches or whether Mr. Gates is so rooted in the past, that he will not be able to lead the Agency into the post-cold war era. Because of these concerns, I have concluded that Mr. Gates is not the right person for the important job of overseeing our intelligence operations in this New World.
15225. jexster - 11/9/2006 12:11:19 PM
I think they need some Gratitude Adjustment

[cole]

The Times of Baghdad [al-Zaman] editorializes in the third person on the resignation of US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld on Wednesday thusly:

' The political editor of Al-Zaman welcomes the resignation of the American Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. He said in his commentary today that the departure of Rumsfeld is unlamented, and might be a small source of pleasure to the wounded Iraqi people who suffered from Rumsfeld's policies and the crimes of his aides.

The time has come for those whom Rumsfeld installed in some positions of influence in Iraq to discover that they are victims of the same fate as their master. Everyone should read the signs of joy in Iraq after the announcement of the departure of a politician whose name is linked to the most heinous crimes, which began with the scandal of Abu Ghraib prison and ended with his unleashing of death squads and criminals to disrupt the security of Iraq. His crimes also included dissolving one of the oldest armies in the region, for the most part made up of brave patriots, as a preparation for the partition and tearing apart of Iraq.

Rumsfeld's fall is an announcement of the fall of those who served him on earth, whether Iraqis or others, who are dividing up the country on the chopping block of their regional ambitions, and who are shedding the blood of Iraqis, which is flowing from one of Iraq's mighty rivers to the other. '

15226. jexster - 11/9/2006 12:22:20 PM
Outlaw Empire Meets the Wave
15227. jexster - 11/9/2006 12:24:29 PM
The wave -- and make no mistake, it's a global one -- has just crashed on our shores, soaking our imperial masters. It's a sight for sore eyes.

It's been a long time since we've seen an election like midterm 2006. After all, it's a truism of our politics that Americans are almost never driven to the polls by foreign-policy issues, no less by a single one that dominates everything else, no less by a catastrophic war (and the presidential approval ratings that go with it). This strange phenomenon has been building since the moment, in May 2003, that George W. Bush stood under that White-House-prepared "Mission Accomplished" banner on the USS Abraham Lincoln and declared "major combat operations have ended."
15228. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/9/2006 1:14:50 PM
Mo Dowd offers some snarky insight into the Gates appointment . . .

A Come-to-Daddy Moment

By MAUREEN DOWD

Poppy Bush and James Baker gave Sonny the presidency to play with and he broke it. So now they’re taking it back.

They are dragging W. away from those reckless older guys who have been such a bad influence and getting him some new minders who are a lot more practical.

In a scene that might be called “Murder on the Oval Express,” Rummy turned up dead with so many knives in him that it’s impossible to say who actually finished off the man billed as Washington’s most skilled infighter. (Poppy? Scowcroft? Baker? Laura? Condi? The Silver Fox? Retired generals? Serving generals? Future generals? Troops returning to Iraq for the umpteenth time without a decent strategy? Democrats? Republicans? Joe Lieberman?)

The defense chief got hung out to dry before Saddam got hung. The president and Karl Rove, underestimating the public’s hunger for change or overestimating the loyalty of a fed-up base, did not ice Rummy in time to save the Senate from teetering Democratic. But once Sonny managed to heedlessly dynamite the Republican majority — as well as the Middle East, the Atlantic alliance and the U.S. Army — then Bush Inc., the family firm that snatched the presidency for W. in 2000, had to step in. Two trusted members of the Bush 41 war council, Mr. Baker and Robert Gates, have been dispatched to discipline the delinquent juvenile and extricate him from the mother of all messes.

Mr. Gates, already on Mr. Baker’s “How Do We Get Sonny Out of Deep Doo Doo in Iraq?” study group, left his job protecting 41’s papers at Texas A&M to return to Washington and pry the fingers of Poppy’s old nemesis, Rummy, off the Pentagon.

“They had to bring in someone from the old gang,” said someone from the old gang. “That has to make Junior uneasy. With Bob, the door is opened again to 41 and Baker and Brent.”

W. had no choice but to make an Oedipal U-turn. He couldn’t let Nancy Pelosi subpoena the cranky Rummy for hearings on Iraq. “He’s not exactly Mr. Charming or Mr. Truthful, and he’d be on TV saying something stupid,” said a Bush 41 official. “Bob can just go up to the Hill and say: ‘I don’t know. I wasn’t there when that happened.’ ”

Bob Gates, his friends say, had been worried about the belligerent, arrogant, ideological style of Rummy & Cheney from the start. He fretted at the way W.’s so-called foreign policy “dream team” — including his old staffer and fellow Soviet expert Condi — made it up as they went along, even though that had been their complaint about the Clinton foreign policy team. A realpolitik advocate like his mentor, General Scowcroft, he was critical of a linear, moralizing style that disdained nuance, demoted diplomacy and inflated villains. In 2004, he publicly questioned the administration’s approach to Iran.

While Vice went off to a corner to lick his wounds, W. was forced to do his best imitation of his dad yesterday, talking about “bipartisan outreach,” “people have spoken,” blah-blah-blah — after he’d been out on the trail saying that electing Democrats would mean that “the terrorists win and America loses.”

“I share a large part of the responsibility” for the “thumpin’ ” of Republicans, he told reporters. Actually, he gets full responsibility.

W. has stopped talking about democracy as a standard of success in Iraq; yesterday, he said that Iraq had to “govern itself, sustain itself and defend itself.”

He was asked if his surprise at the election results showed he was out of touch with Americans. “I thought when it was all said and done,” he replied, “the American people would understand the importance of taxes and the importance of security.”

So it was just that the American people were too dumb to understand? W. also managed to bash Vietnam vets, saying that this war isn’t similar because there’s a volunteer army, so “the troops understand the consequences of Iraq in the global war on terror.” Is that why W. stayed out of Vietnam? Because he understood it?

An ashen Rummy was also condescending during his uncomfortable tableau with W. and Bob Gates in the Oval Office, implying that he was dumped because Americans just didn’t “comprehend” what was going on in Iraq. Actually, Rummy, we get it. You don’t get it.

“Baker’s no fool,” a Bush 41 official said. “He wasn’t going to go out there with a plan for Iraq and have Rummy shoot it down. He wanted a receptive audience. Everyone had to be on the same page before the plan is unveiled.”

They don’t call him the Velvet Hammer for nothing. R.I.P., Rummy.
15229. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/9/2006 1:19:47 PM
Chuck Shumer is staring to sound like Joe Lieberman

Chuck Schumer Shows His Love For Bill O.
15230. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/9/2006 1:29:12 PM
Lies, Cover Ups and Slanted Intelligence
Robert Gates and Iran/Contra

By LAWRENCE E. WALSH

The day after Clair George's arraignment, we turned to Robert Gates. The Senate intelligence committee's hearings on his appointment to head the CIA were scheduled to begin within a few days. Craig Gillen and I met the committee's chairman, David Boren, and ranking minority member, Frank Murkowski, and staff counsel in Boren's office. Reiterating what I had already told Boren, we said that two questions had not been answered satisfactorily: Had Gates falsely denied knowledge of Oliver North's Contra-support activities? Had Gates falsely postdated his first knowledge of North's diversion of arms sale proceeds to the Contras?

We then described what our investigation had turned up about Gates. Alan Fiers had told us that he had kept Gates generally informed of his Contra-support activities, through written reports and regular face-to-face presentations, although his oral reports had been guarded because Gates had not always had a note-taker present. The CIA now claimed it could not find the notes of these meetings.

We said that Richard Kerr, the CIA's deputy director for intelligence, had informed Gates in August 1986 of Charles Allen's belief that North had diverted funds from the Iranian arms sales for the benefit of the Contras; Allen himself had told Gates the same thing in early October. Allen had told us that Gates, who had appeared irritated, had told Allen to write a memorandum for CIA director William Casey and had said that he did not want to hear about North. To us and to the congressional committees, Gates had denied having any recollection of either conversation. Whenever questioned, Gates had always claimed that he had first learned of Allen's concern about the diversion on the day after Eugene Hasenfus was shot down. Gates said that he and Allen had then reported this to Casey, who told them that he had just received much the same information from another source.

That day, according to North and Gates, Casey had invited North to lunch in his office, which was next to Gates's office. Gates had joined them, and according to North, had heard Casey tell North to clean up the Ilopango operation. North claimed that he had then begun to destroy records. Gates claimed not to remember the discussion of North's Nicaraguan activities. Although he had heard North mention Swiss accounts, Gates said, he had not understood the reference. He claimed to have been in and out of the room. All he remembered, he said, was that North had told him that the CIA was completely clean regarding the Contra-support operation.

We suggested to the senators that they specifically request the notes of Fiers's reports to Gates. We told them that we did not think we had enough corroborating information to indict Robert Gates, but that his answers to these questions had been unconvincing. We did not believe that he could have forgotten a warning of North's diversion of the arms sale proceeds to the Contras. The mingling of two covert activities that were of intense personal interest to the president was not something the second-highest officer in the CIA would forget. Moreover, Gates had received the same reliable contemporaneous intelligence reports about North's activities that Charles Allen had. The information suggesting that North had overcharged the Iranians would surely have caught the attention of anyone as astute as Gates.

When, after Eugene Hasenfus's aircraft was shot down, Gates and Allen had told Casey about Allen's concern that North had diverted funds to the Contras, how could Gates have forgotten that Allen and Kerr had warned him about the diversion a few weeks earlier?

The Senate intelligence committee's hearings on George H.W. Bush's nomination of Robert Gates to head the CIA began on Monday September 16, 1991. The hearings were televised. Gates, who had already answered extensive interrogatories from the committees, was the first witness. In substance, he denied recalling the details of Iran/Contra. He said that he wished he had been more skeptical and that he had asked more questions. Thirty-three times he denied recollection of the facts.

As I watched some of the broadcasts, I was impressed by the strength of the committee's members and by their identification with and sympathy for the national security community. The powerful committee had several respected members, including former secretary of the Navy John Warner and Sam Nunn, both of whom were also on the armed services committee, and Warren Rudman, who had been the ranking Republican on the Senate select committee on Iran/Contra.

Only Democrats Howard M. Metzenbaum of Ohio and Bill Bradley of New Jersey pursued the Iran/Contra connection. I got the impression that most of the senators did not want to hold Iran/Contra against Gates. As associates of the national security fraternity, they might object to venal conduct, but they did not want to rake up the issue of an old non-disclosure. They obviously respected Gates's ability and his stature as Bush's deputy national security advisor; the president was clearly nominating someone he personally knew and trusted.

Senator Rudman openly disparaged the discussion of Iran/Contra: "I might say parenthetically that I hope someday I will never have to talk about this subject again. But I guess it just keeps coming up. It's almost like a typhus epidemic in that anybody within five miles of the germ either died, is infected, or is barely able to survive, so I guess we're back in that mode again."

The committee singled out William Casey as the culprit in Iran/Contra and suggested that Gates had been largely bypassed in matters related to it. As Senator Murkowski (R-AK) put it: "What's coming out is a better understanding of the management style of Casey, and the compartmentalization. There are numerous instances where senior CIA officials were bypassed on projects that were worked by the director and his designees solely."

Senator John Chaffee (R-RI) said that Casey had not run a typical bureaucracy: "Bill Casey ran the outfit in a manner that jump-charged the command Chains of command in diagrams didn't fit with Bill Casey."

This view was contradicted by Thomas Polgar, a decorated former CIA officer and later a Senate committee staff member. Polgar testified that Gates had been Casey's creation and had not been "compartmentalized" out of sensitive information.

Fiers testified that Gates was an exceptionally gifted operator and that his meteoric rise had aroused jealousy among some older colleagues. Fiers said that Gates was very smart, very capable, although "sort of on the make." According to Fiers, Gates had understood "the universe" of the Contra-supply operation-that it had been run out of the White House, with North as the quarterback-but had not been given extensive detail.

Charles Allen told the committee of his efforts to warn Gates about the diversion of the arms sale proceeds to the Contras. After testifying that Gates had appeared irritated, Allen said, "My personal fears were that somehow this initiative had gotten off the track, and that it might have gone even higher to the Oval Office."

15231. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/9/2006 1:29:40 PM
continued . . . .

Richard Kerr, who was now the deputy director of the CIA under William Webster, confirmed Allen's story. In addition to relaying the information to Gates, he had told another CIA officer of Allen's concern. As I watched the hearings, I felt certain that Gates would not have brushed off these alarming reports if he had not already known about the diversion. He simply had not wanted to be told by a new witness.

I also disbelieved Gates's testimony about President Reagan's December 5, 1985, retroactive finding purporting to authorize the CIA's facilitation of the November 1985 Hawk missile shipment to recover the Iranian hostages. In the high-level meetings at the CIA a few days after the Hawk shipment, Casey's deputy John McMahon had announced that Reagan had signed the finding. But Gates told the committee that he had forgotten about the finding by November 1986, when he supervised the preparation of Casey's testimony for his appearances before the House and Senate intelligence committees. The CIA's then former general counsel, David Doherty, however, told the senators that he had handed Gates a draft of the finding only a day or so before Casey gave his misleading testimony.

The testimony of Charles Allen minimized the likelihood that Gates's failure to remember the president's finding had been accidental. During the preparation of Casey's testimony, said Allen, an agency lawyer had shown him a draft finding. Allen had promptly telephoned North. "In an abrupt manner," said Allen, North had "told me emphatically that the finding did not exist and that I was mistaken." Allen had then spoken to George. "I recall with great clarity Mr. Clair George informing me in a blunt and verbally abusive manner that the finding did not exist and that I should 'shut up talking about it.'"

Much of the later testimony in the month-long hearings shifted away from Iran-Contra to the question of whether Gates had slanted intelligence reports to accommodate the political views of Casey or others. At the end of the hearings, Gates was given an opportunity to respond. He directed most of his response to the issue of slanted intelligence reports. By the time the committee voted, eleven to four, to approve Gates's appointment, the testimony regarding Iran/Contra was no longer fresh. The next day, Herblock's cartoon in the Washington Post showed the CIA headquarters with a big banner proclaiming, "Now Under Old Management."

Lawrence E. Walsh was the independent counsel in the Iran/Contra investigation from 1986 to 1993. This article is excerpted from his book, Firewall: the Iran/Contra Conspiracy and Cover-Up.
15232. jexster - 11/9/2006 1:36:45 PM
Short of Jesus Christ, it don't matter who Poppy appoints to clean up the mess

It is too fucking big. The Dems will let the nominination sail through but should be using hearings on Iraq and confirmantion to lay the ground work for real oversight in January
15233. jexster - 11/9/2006 1:40:16 PM
A Muckraker Tribute to the Fallen
It's so hard to say goodbye. (TPMmuckraker)
15234. jexster - 11/9/2006 1:41:55 PM
He's Back and Got Some Splainin to Do
Larry Johnson's Insider Report on Mr. Gates
15235. jexster - 11/9/2006 2:08:18 PM
Who's Your Poppy?

Rumsfeld, Gates, and the Bushes
Ivo Daalder on daddy issues and national security.

15236. thoughtful - 11/9/2006 2:38:33 PM
Hardly seems possible, but olbermann is improving with age.

This is 'must see' tv.
15237. jexster - 11/9/2006 3:06:40 PM
Will They Use Gun Oil??

Dems plan to force change in Iraq policy

15238. wonkers2 - 11/9/2006 3:43:10 PM
Thanks, thoughtful! Olberman is the best on mainstream television, imho.
15239. robertjayb - 11/9/2006 5:18:13 PM
George Allen quits...
15240. arkymalarky - 11/9/2006 7:11:56 PM
I'm black and blue from pinching myself.

Con'd, get that ice-pack off your head and climb out from under your covers!!

But I'm heading for class.
15241. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/9/2006 7:12:42 PM
He was Macacaed!
15242. jexster - 11/9/2006 7:16:55 PM
Holy Shit

I under bid - 7NT!!!!!

Joe Biden wants to kill the Gates Nomination, according to Chris Mathews

That's Poppy's Clean Up Crew!

Damn the Marmots have risen!
15243. jexster - 11/9/2006 7:32:01 PM
Bring a Montana to BushVille

15244. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/9/2006 7:36:51 PM
Bill Maher Outs Ken Mehlman On CNN . . . and more Repugs to be outed on Friday HBO spot.
15245. jexster - 11/9/2006 7:42:07 PM
A Come-to-Daddy Moment
Mo Dowd

Porn in the Inferno with Pastor Ted
15246. robertjayb - 11/9/2006 7:47:48 PM
John Bolton is toast...

WASHINGTON - John Bolton's prospects for winning Senate approval to stay on as U.N. ambassador essentially died Thursday as Democrats and a pivotal Republican said they would continue to oppose his nomination.
.................................................

Sen. Lincoln Chafee (news, bio, voting record), R-R.I., who was defeated by Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse on Tuesday, told reporters in Rhode Island that he would continue opposing Bolton. That would likely deny Republicans the votes needed to move Bolton's nomination from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to the full Senate.

"The American people have spoken out against the president's agenda on a number of fronts, and presumably one of those is on foreign policy," Chafee said. "And at this late stage in my term, I'm not going to endorse something the American people have spoke out against."

15247. wonkers2 - 11/9/2006 9:00:33 PM
Chaffee is an honorable man. Good for him. The new Senator from Missouri just said she would support Bolton's confirmation.
15248. wonkers2 - 11/9/2006 9:01:19 PM
(The new Democrat senator from Missouri, that is.)
15249. thoughtful - 11/9/2006 9:25:14 PM
So i got dean's book out and just started it...conservatives without conscience. I'll see how it goes.

But anyway, thinking about this brand of conservative vs. what i more traditionally think of as conservative...like my hubby the barry goldwater type of conservative...and thinking about what it means to respect and adhere to the key principles of the constitution...and wonder how that correlates with a recent article i saw on the dropping membership in free masonry...that the conservatives of today have lost sight of the core principles of liberty as sponsored by our founding fathers...

15250. judithathome - 11/9/2006 9:35:28 PM
I called this on Monday...gas went up $.05 here today.
15251. jexster - 11/9/2006 10:21:24 PM
There are rumors about town that the humming sound you hear is not an early spring in Washington but the sound of paper shredders
- Jonathan Turley

The WaxMan Cometh

15252. jexster - 11/9/2006 10:27:41 PM
15244 -

When will those Republicans learn!

We've infiltrated for one purpose and one purpose only - their corruption

Gay agenda item 17
15253. jexster - 11/9/2006 10:33:43 PM
Special Memories of a Special Majority - a Love Letter
Steven Colbert
15254. arkymalarky - 11/9/2006 11:28:51 PM
Chaffee might leave the Republican Party
15255. arkymalarky - 11/9/2006 11:51:50 PM
What was the name of that severe little harpie who dissed Murtha? I can't remember what state she was from or anything. Did she get reelected?
15256. wonkers2 - 11/9/2006 11:51:56 PM
I just got home from the monthly meeting of my local Democrat club. The program was a video about campaign finance reformer 89-years-old "Granny D" who walked from Pasadena to Washington, D.C. to dramatize the need for campaign finance reform. She arrived near the time McCain-Feingold was coming up for a vote. After it passed loopholes became apparent. "Granny D" is still going strong on her campaign at age 95 or thereabouts, traveling the country giving speeches on the need for effective campaign finance reform. Quite a touching story about an indomitable lady.
15257. wonkers2 - 11/9/2006 11:52:55 PM
Granny D
15258. arkymalarky - 11/9/2006 11:55:01 PM
What was the name of that severe little harpie who dissed Murtha? I can't remember what state she was from or anything. Did she get reelected?
15259. arkymalarky - 11/9/2006 11:55:47 PM
Sorry about the hiccup
15260. Wombat - 11/9/2006 11:59:32 PM
Jean Schmidt from Ohio. She won reelection.
15261. arkymalarky - 11/10/2006 12:04:27 AM
Thanks Wombat.
15262. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/10/2006 12:13:14 AM
15263. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/10/2006 12:20:41 AM

15264. jexster - 11/10/2006 12:30:18 AM
I wanna freeze frame Foley and the boyz! U with me Jen?
15265. jexster - 11/10/2006 12:31:05 AM
Damn your eyes Wombat!
15266. jexster - 11/10/2006 12:34:24 AM
Chafee's not too swift is he?
15267. robertjayb - 11/10/2006 12:58:43 PM
15268. robertjayb - 11/10/2006 1:12:20 PM
15269. robertjayb - 11/10/2006 1:23:51 PM
The Great Revulsion...(Paul Krugman, NYTimes)

Here’s what I wrote more than three years ago, in the introduction to my column collection “The Great Unraveling”: “I have a vision — maybe just a hope — of a great revulsion: a moment in which the American people look at what is happening, realize how their good will and patriotism have been abused, and put a stop to this drive to destroy much of what is best in our country.
15270. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/10/2006 1:44:27 PM
The irony of it all . . . having to get in line side-by-side with those "lazy, entitlement queens" they've maligned. How bad are those socialist programs now, kids?

Out-of-work GOP staffers may face unemployment

"The hundreds of Republican staffers — not to mention more than a few Members — who will lose their jobs in the next few weeks are going to face a hostile marketplace on K Street as unemployed Republicans flood the market,"

. . .

The head of a lobbying firm that currently employs only Republicans tells the Capitol Hill newspaper, "It’s going to be more of a buyer’s market for Republican staffers and a seller’s market for the Democratic staffers."
15271. thoughtful - 11/10/2006 2:06:40 PM
apparently ken melhman will be one of those looking for work..he's resigning.

No idea if it's just the trouncing at the election or this 'outing' by mahr or some of both.
15272. jexster - 11/10/2006 2:13:18 PM
Wiz this is a test....

Lieberman: Call Me a Democrat -
15273. jexster - 11/10/2006 3:18:17 PM
Jane You Bitch
Pelosi aims to block Democratic hawks from key posts

Israel Lobby Harman Likely to Fall
15274. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/10/2006 3:19:47 PM
Call him a Ziopportunist!
15275. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/10/2006 3:22:29 PM
I hope Harry is as ballsy as Nancy and blocks Jew-Jitsu-Joe!
15276. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/10/2006 3:25:01 PM
Btw, I note that Pelle must have made a post in Inferno and then deleted it. How does the Sour-Sweed still rate an editing option?
15277. jexster - 11/10/2006 3:31:28 PM
The Sour Swede hehehehehe...

Pelosi hates Harman and the FBI is investigating whether she took AIPAC bribes. The acid test will be the Stenny Hoyer/John Murtha race. She doesn't think much of him either but they're saying he has the votes.

MSNBC Should Bush be impeached?

15278. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/10/2006 3:33:09 PM
This is funny . . .

15279. PelleNilsson - 11/10/2006 3:42:33 PM
I note that Pelle must have made a post in Inferno and then deleted it. How does the Sour-Sweed still rate an editing option?

I did not delete anything. By mistake I clicked the 'Post' button with an empty posting window. It is well known that this results in a null post. You can try it out if you want. I don't have any editing options, except, I guess, in International, where I'm still a (inactive) host.

Perhaps you should talk to someone about that paranoia, Wiz?
15280. jexster - 11/10/2006 4:17:08 PM
Wiz jumped the snark!

Well, I guess Joe's Mentum has something to do with it
15281. jexster - 11/10/2006 4:25:38 PM
Heckuva Job Rummy!
I Only Lied for My Own Good
Daily Show
15282. wonkers2 - 11/10/2006 4:48:26 PM
Why don't we argue about something important like global warming?! We all may be living at the North Pole in 20 years.
15283. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/10/2006 5:40:51 PM
I'm just a curious guy, Pelle and I Just wanted to draw you out–sweeten up and participate–your point of view is always welcomed . . . when you aren't being a curmudgeon.
15284. wonkers2 - 11/10/2006 6:00:50 PM
Pelosi's Top Priority
15285. jexster - 11/10/2006 6:04:08 PM
If only Ohio had got off his ass

Rep. Deborah Pryce (news, bio, voting record), a member of the House Republican leadership, is ahead in her central Ohio race by 3,536 votes. In the Columbus, Ohio-area, elections officials are delaying the count of more than 9,000 provisional ballots by one day so it doesn't disrupt the much-vaunted Ohio State-Michigan football game on Nov. 18.

Elections officials in that district will start counting Nov. 19.

Ohio Republican Rep. Jean Schmidt, who called Democratic Rep. John Murtha (news, bio, voting record) a coward, is ahead of her challenger by 2,862 votes. Rep. Barbara Cubin (news, bio, voting record), who threatened to slap her wheelchair-bound Libertarian opponent after a debate, is ahead by fewer than a thousand votes in her Wyoming contest.

We gave those lame-o's all our money and this is what we get
15286. jexster - 11/10/2006 6:06:59 PM
Dirty Deeds fan club!

As if

Tried to join but the *U#)$&#) spam control is illegible.

Figgers...and to think, Ward Connerly liberated Michigan white men for this
15287. wonkers2 - 11/10/2006 6:32:41 PM
Jex, if you had any influence Connerly would be in Sing Sing.
15288. OhioSTOPAS - 11/10/2006 8:38:38 PM
My ears are burning . . .

Jex, we'll see who wins OH-15. I suspect a significant majority of those provisional ballots were cast by college students, poor people and other Democrats.

As for #15273, you're citing "Insight"? This Washington/Moonie Times publication is the one that published the phony story about Clinton selling Arlington National Cemetery plots to campaign donors. (More innocent times when we weren't FILLING Arlington Cemetery plots.) This could be just right-wing disinformation.
15289. jexster - 11/10/2006 9:13:55 PM
It ain't really news that she's got it in for Jane. The headline promised more than the article.

Well see what happens with Stennis Hoyer

I still want my money back. Ohio failed to deliver
15290. jexster - 11/10/2006 9:15:13 PM
Sing Sing Wonk?

Talk to Hillary...

You're getting confused in your old age. CAHLEEFOHNIA here

Don't try navigating please
15291. jexster - 11/10/2006 10:45:46 PM
Murtha/Hoyer

Within minutes of Democrats' capturing the 15th seat needed to take control of the House, Mr. Hoyer tried tightening his grip on the majority leader position by reminding fellow Democrats that he had been a central figure in their caucus during their darkest times.
"We have put forward responsible budgets, proposed smarter defense policies, advanced innovative ideas on energy independence and stood strong against the privatization of Social Security," he said. "I have been proud to be a part of all of those efforts every step of the way."
He also has said he has the votes to sew up the No. 2 position.
Mr. Murtha reminded colleagues that his strongest voice in recent years came in opposition to the Iraq war, which strategists on both sides credit in part for Democrats' enormous victories this week.
"Talk is cheap, which is why, up until Iraq forced me to, I didn't do a lot of it," the former Marine told colleagues. "But empty rhetoric is expensive. It has cost America three years in a failed war at nearly three thousand lives lost and will cost us a trillion dollars by the time we can extricate ourselves from it."

My kinda ass-kicker
15292. wonkers2 - 11/11/2006 12:51:58 AM
Sorry, Jex. How about Pelican Bay or San Quentin, the one where the guards use prisoners in the yard for target practiced?
15293. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/11/2006 2:04:10 AM
I'd take Murtha any day.
15294. jexster - 11/11/2006 9:45:18 AM
The Drapes of Wrath
Mo Dowd

15295. jexster - 11/11/2006 10:14:15 AM
"The biggest difference between Tom DeLay and Nancy Pelosi is that no one wants to vacation in Sugar Land, Texas.''

As Pelosi moves into power, S.F. to stand in spotlight
15296. jexster - 11/11/2006 10:14:39 AM
Did that go to my brother's family or what
15297. robertjayb - 11/11/2006 12:46:38 PM
A picture worth quite a few words...

Former U.S. President George H.W. Bush, left, looks on at play during the Texas A&M women's basketball game against Pepperdine with Texas A&M University president Robert Gates, right, in the second half in College Station, Texas, Friday, Nov. 10, 2006. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
15298. Magoseph - 11/11/2006 2:22:01 PM
From Barron's:

Kings of the Hill--Why the GOP will strengthen its grip on Congress

THE STATE OF THE UNION is cause for anxiety. Our military is stretched thin in Afghanistan and Iraq; the profligate Congress has turned a surplus into a record deficit; and the economy is threatened by trade imbalances, job losses, high oil prices and a health-care affordability crisis.
In light of this doleful litany, you'd expect voters to "Throw the bums out!" The bums in this case are the Republicans, who control not only the White House but both branches of the legislature. But the throwing-out will not materialize, in our view. While it's too soon to predict the presidential race, the GOP looks poised to strengthen its grip on Capitol Hill once all the votes are tallied after Nov. 2 and all the legal challenges are adjudicated.
Barron's predicts that the Republicans will pick up seven additional seats in the House and three more in the Senate, adding to the gains of the 2002 midterm election.
In the House, we foresee the Republicans with 234 members to the Democrats' 201, for a 53.8% majority, up from the current 227-205, or 52.5% majority. In the Senate, we believe the Republicans will end up with 54 members to the Democrats' 46, up from the current 51-49 advantage.

(more...)
15299. robertjayb - 11/11/2006 3:00:18 PM
Ha!

The Kings seem to have a bit of trouble...
15300. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/11/2006 3:03:00 PM
??? That's dated October 11th.
15301. robertjayb - 11/11/2006 3:14:59 PM
Writing off W.....(Newsweek poll)

President Bush’s job approval rating has fallen to just 31 percent, according to the new NEWSWEEK Poll. Bill Clinton’s lowest rating during his presidency was 36 percent; Bush’s father’s was 29 percent, and Ronald Reagan’s was 35 percent. Jimmy Carter’s and Richard Nixon’s lows were 28 and 23 percent, respectively. (Just 24 approve of outgoing Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s job performance; and 31 percent approve of Vice President Dick Cheney’s.)

Worst of all, most Americans are writing off the rest of Bush’s presidency; two-thirds (66 percent) believe he will be unable to get much done, up from 56 percent in a mid-October poll; only 32 percent believe he can be effective. That’s unfortunate since 63 percent of Americans say they’re dissatisfied with the way things are going in the country; just 29 percent are satisfied, reports the poll of 1,006 adults conducted Thursday and Friday nights.

15302. robertjayb - 11/11/2006 3:22:36 PM
Flippity Flop!

WASHINGTON - (AP) - After arguing during the campaign that Democrats would undermine national security,
President Bush changed course Saturday and said America's enemies should not read this week's ground-shaking election results as a sign of U.S. weakness.
15303. jexster - 11/11/2006 3:22:41 PM

November Surprise
A Staggering New Bill for IraQ
Forbes

The U.S. armed services have requested a $160 billion supplemental appropriation to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in the remainder of fiscal year 2007--a staggering amount that, if approved by the Defense Department, may hasten the showdown between resurgent congressional Democrats and the Bush administration over the budget-busting War on Terror.

15304. jexster - 11/11/2006 3:43:33 PM
That's the Barron's bullshit model based on campaign spending.

If American business runs statistical models of that calibre ..we're in really deep shit

15298
15305. jexster - 11/11/2006 3:47:43 PM
The View from Chinatown

15306. robertjayb - 11/11/2006 4:15:59 PM
Investor's Business Daily mauls John Conyers...

Congress: The likely new chairman of the House Judiciary Committee says he's just fighting bigotry in leading a Democrat jihad to deny law enforcement key terror-fighting tools. But he is in the pocket of Islamists.

John Conyers, son of a leftist Detroit union activist, represents the largest Arab population in the country. His district includes Dearborn, Mich., nicknamed "Dearbornistan" by locals fed up with cultural encroachment and terror fears from a steady influx of Mideast immigrants.

15307. jexster - 11/11/2006 4:46:05 PM
"mauls"? - sounds good to me
15308. jexster - 11/11/2006 4:52:07 PM
This is job #1 for Dems...to educate the public to the realities

What Part of "FUBAR" Does Bush Have Trouble With?

Iraq Officials: Too Late to Curb Militias

15309. robertjayb - 11/11/2006 5:41:17 PM
Uprising in the cornfields...(Sioux City Journal)

GOP county chairman blames Christian fascists for losses...

...A day after the Democratic sweep of the midterm elections, Woodbury County Republican Chairman Steve Salem had harsh words for his own party, lambasting the influence of the conservative Christian right wing.

Salem said he coined a new phase: "You've heard of IslamaFascists -- I think we now have Christian fascists. What is the definition of a fascist? Not only do they want to beat you, but they want to destroy you in the process."

Salem said "if things keep going the way things are going locally and statewide, it is going to be more and more difficult for Republicans to recruit candidates. We have elements of the party who are moral absolutists, who take the approach that if you don't take my position every step of the way, not only will I not support you, but I will destroy you."

Iowa Republicans thought they had a chance to retake the governorship with Congressman Jim Nussle and believed they would hold the Iowa House.

15310. Jenerator - 11/11/2006 5:56:42 PM
Salem sounds like a sore loser.
15311. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/11/2006 6:30:28 PM
Welcome to the future, Jen, wish you were here!

15312. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/11/2006 6:33:37 PM
Although Nancy doesn't have much to work with, so don't expect much!
15313. wonkers2 - 11/11/2006 7:25:20 PM
He sounds like a realist to me.
15314. jexster - 11/11/2006 10:56:09 PM
Don't you talk nasty bout my CongressGirl! Wizzenstein
15315. jexster - 11/11/2006 10:56:35 PM
Cut and Run Electorate

* Virginia: Withdrawal has a 52%-40% advantage

* Ohio: Withdrawal leads 57%-39%

* Virginia: Withdrawal is favored 52%-40%

* Missouri: Withdrawal is up 50%-44%

* New Jersey: Withdrawal 62%-32%

* Pennsylvania: Withdrawal 60%-36%

* Tennessee: Withdrawal 46%-41%

* Rhode Island: Withdrawal 69%-26%

* Montana: Withdrawal 50%-44%

* Maryland: Withdrawal 62%-32%
15316. jexster - 11/11/2006 11:04:51 PM
Closing the God Gap

Lost faith in the GOP - Evangelical leader Richard Cizik explains how Iraq, corruption and other failures are transforming the political piety of America's religious voters
15317. robertjayb - 11/11/2006 11:56:47 PM
Frank Rich: 2006, the year of 'Macaca'....(NYTimes)

...the 2006 returns more often than not confirmed that Americans, Republicans and Democrats alike, are far better people than this cynical White House takes them for. This election was not a rebuke merely of the reckless fiasco in Iraq but also of the divisive ideology that had come to define the Bush-Rove-DeLay era.
15318. arkymalarky - 11/12/2006 12:31:37 AM
I read and agree from what I've seen that the DNC's strategy was very effective, too. They put in the technology, organization, and on-the-ground effort like I've never seen from them before.
15319. robertjayb - 11/12/2006 12:36:58 AM
15320. robertjayb - 11/12/2006 12:39:27 AM
jexter's toys...
15321. jexster - 11/12/2006 12:53:11 AM
Howard Dean, vindicated

The DNC chairman's "crazy" strategy of rebuilding the Democratic Party across all states helped it ride the national wave against the GOP

By Joe Conason
15322. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/12/2006 1:08:28 AM
15323. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/12/2006 1:55:19 AM
15324. arkymalarky - 11/12/2006 12:13:05 PM
#15321--

Toleya

AR has stayed a Democratic Southern state through the entire tenure of Bush, with the exception of our governor and lt governor (who are going to now be Democrats), and we've done it like the Republicans have been doing it. Democratic politicians in AR have been accessible on the ground to their constituents and respectful of their socially conservative values while promoting those things they feel government should be responsible for. Nothing the party can say works unless they're on the ground saying it directly to the people and making them feel valued. Republicans have understood that and used it, and now enough people realize they were indeed being used.

If Dems prove to be good stewards they will continue to win. Dean is largely responsible for that. And he's kept a low profile and led the creation of a much more efficient party with a clear message and inclusion of more pov's. I wouldn't have picked him and I had hoped Brazile would do it, but he's done a great job here.

Karl Rove and Bush came down to AR to "help" Asa Hutchinson, his campaign ads shifted to funny/snarky, and he lost by a fairly wide margin, when personally he's a very warm, accessible, and personable campaigner. I don't know that he would have won without their "help," but I'm certain it would have been closer, and earlier polls reflected that. Our Dems, otoh, went straight to the people in their districts, and were all over the state--without "help" from Party Big WHeels. In AR it's easy to talk to candidates in person and the Dems have been all over the state--not just the northwest Walton country and Little Rock. Hutchinson was, as well, but other Republican candidates weren't, from what I saw, and he couldn't carry it by himself.

Also, Hutchinson began his campaign later than Beebe because Win Rockefeller, who had been planning to run for governor, developed an aggressive form of leukemia and dropped out of the race, dying not long afterward.
15325. jexster - 11/12/2006 1:19:26 PM
"There are rumors about town that the humming sound you hear is not an early spring in Washington but the sound of paper shredders"

Jonathan Turley
15326. robertjayb - 11/12/2006 1:22:47 PM
The House that Rahm Built...(Chicago Tribune)

A long, informative, sometimes entertaining, sometimes tedious, must-resd article on Emanuel and his role in the Dem takeover. As the title predicts, the writer, who followed Emanuel throughout the campaign, gives him full credit for the success.

Too fawning for my taste but it makes clear to me who the principal actor is in the campaign to remove Dr. Dean as party chair. A big mistake methinks.
................................................

...here were Carville and pollster Stan Greenberg telling him he had to make each of his handpicked candidates shift from attack mode and strike a conciliatory note in their final campaign ads.

"James. No James, YOU LISTEN," Emanuel barked into a cell phone, about to release a string of profane invectives more intense than usual. "Can you listen for one [expletive] minute? I'm working these campaigns all the time. The campaigns all have different textures."

His wiry body tensed, his voice breaking with stress. Emanuel shouted, "If you don't like what you see, I highly recommend you pick up the ... phone and do it yourself."

15327. Ronski - 11/12/2006 1:44:54 PM
arky,

Has Huckabee even a remotely serious chance as a GOP presidential candidate, or is he looking for the VP slot?
15328. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/12/2006 1:49:34 PM
In a TV interview on Wednesday, Emanuel gave Dean partial credit for the Dem win, but my radar picked up a slight begrudging tone in his response to a Dean question.

Traitor-Joe was on Press The Meat this morning prancing about in his above-it-all bipartisan persona. I wanted to vomit my muffin.

Mo Dowd, as usual, had the best snarky rejoinder wrt Daddy Bush rescuing Junior. She compared W to a NeoCon Moonie who had to be "deprogrammed" by Jim Baker & Bob Gates in order to come back to the real world.
15329. jexster - 11/12/2006 1:49:55 PM

I also heart Markie Mark
15330. jexster - 11/12/2006 1:51:24 PM
See Inferno
15331. robertjayb - 11/12/2006 2:14:11 PM
A family intervention...(TIME)

The Greeks believed that the gods visit the sins of the fathers upon their sons. But when it comes to the Bush family and Iraq, the tragedy runs from stem to root. And so over the next few weeks, key members of Bush's father's vaunted foreign policy team—the real A-team of the Republican foreign policy establishment—will step in and conduct what amounts to a family intervention. Led by former cia Director Gates and former Secretary of State James Baker, who co-heads a commission on Iraq, Dad's former aides will present the son with a plan for saving his presidency and, with it, some remnant of the family's brand name. None of those involved will call it an intervention, but it's fair to say the nation's future is at stake. Although Gates and Baker will be out front, others who worked for the patriarch are helping behind the scenes. Dynasties don't get to be dynasties by neglecting the line.

15332. jexster - 11/12/2006 3:20:09 PM
NewsWeek

15333. robertjayb - 11/12/2006 5:42:40 PM
From reading the Newsweek piece I learned to my dismay that the execrable Ed Meese is a member of Jim Baker's Iraq Study Group.
15334. wonkers2 - 11/12/2006 6:24:29 PM
Carl Levin just now on ABC--We need to get together with some of the Republicans and tell Bush to inform the Iraqis that they don't have an open-ended committment and that we are going to begin a phased re-deployment in 3-6 months.
15335. jexster - 11/12/2006 8:36:48 PM
Oh big deal..just cause he's from Michigan
15336. jexster - 11/12/2006 9:30:01 PM
Doesn't really matter what the ISG comes up with. If they come up with anything, it will be a pablum product - a forced consensus. THe problem isn't ideological division as much as it is Iraq is FUBAR and there are no good options - failure is indeed no longer optional. It hasn't been for some time.

The good news out of all this may be

The appointment of Gates also marks the end of Cheney's dominance within the Bush Administration. Cheney has been conspicuously absent since the Republicans were routed at the polls. His efforts to save Rummy were rebuffed. And with the Senate in the hands of the Democrats, Cheney's influence on the Hill is over. Don't be surprised if Dick Cheney develops a heart condition in the next couple of months that will force him to resign as the Vice President. Whether he stays or goes, the era of Cheney's supremacy at the White House is done. The neocons are discredited, as is Cheney, and their pet projects--from warrantless wiretapping to torture to trashing habeus corpus--are dead as well.

Cheney Bitch-slapped
15337. arkymalarky - 11/12/2006 10:35:03 PM
Ronski,

I don't think he has a chance, but I'm too biased to be trusted in my opinion. He doesn't have support from the Republican base here at all and he doesn't work well with the legislature.
15338. jexster - 11/12/2006 10:56:21 PM
Tommorrow nite, the Alice B Toklas Club hosts Ben Tulchin of Greenberg Quinlan Rosner who will review the numbers
and impact of last week's election at a national, state, and local level. He'll speak particularly to the LGBT community's areas of interest and subversive agenda
15339. jexster - 11/13/2006 12:33:20 AM
Olbermann taps a well of discontent as the anti-O'Reilly
15340. robertjayb - 11/13/2006 1:58:51 AM
Pelosi endorses Murtha for majority leader...(WaPo)

Monday, November 13, 2006; Page A01

House Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) endorsed Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.) yesterday as the next House majority leader, thereby stepping into a contentious intraparty fight between Murtha and her current deputy, Maryland's Steny H. Hoyer.

The unexpected move signaled the sizable value Pelosi gives to personal loyalty and personality preferences. Hoyer competed with her in 2001 for the post of House minority whip, while Murtha managed her winning campaign. Pelosi has also all but decided she will not name the ranking Democrat on the House intelligence committee, Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) to chair that panel next year, a decision pregnant with personal animus.
15341. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/13/2006 3:12:46 AM
Go Nancy! She must be a modern Siciliana and only holds a grudge for eight generations.
15342. alistairconnor - 11/13/2006 6:27:51 AM
LGBT community meeting... Point of order, Mr Chairthing... which is the gayer gender?
15343. thoughtful - 11/13/2006 10:57:51 AM
I know in the past we've posted surveys of political leanings, but don't remember if we've done this one. Comes to me from Dean's book "conservatives without conscience".

Instead of usual left/right two dimensional analysis, this one breaks down to 2 axis...freedom/equality and freedom/order. Unwilling to grant government power for anything would be libertarian. Unwilling to grant govt power for order but for equality would be a liberal. Unwilling to grant govt power for equality but for order would be a conservative. Willing to grant govt power for both equality and order would be a communitarian.

If you want to give it a try, it's at http://idealog.org
15344. wonkers2 - 11/13/2006 11:09:43 AM
Why the Republicans Lost
15345. wonkers2 - 11/13/2006 11:10:17 AM
Sorry the whole strip didn't post!
15346. jexster - 11/13/2006 11:47:25 AM
It is now LGBT Q for Queer that is every Lesbo, gay, bi, transgender who don't like labels
15347. thoughtful - 11/13/2006 11:48:33 AM
This is disgusting...as well as potentially illegal. Courtesy of Mark Crispin Miller:

Ingraham encourages listeners to jam phone lines of Democratic voter assistance hotline
As the weblog Firedoglake first noted, during the November 7 edition of her nationally syndicated talk radio show, Laura Ingraham urged listeners to jam the phone lines of 1-888-DEM-VOTE, a voter assistance hotline sponsored by the Democratic Party.
Ingraham stated: "I want you to call it and I want you tell us what you get when you call 1-888-DEM-VOTE. They're on top of all of the shenanigans at the polling stations. One problem: you can't get through." Minutes later, while talking with a listener who called the hotline, Ingraham said: "Let's keep 'dem' lines ringing." Ingraham, a frequent Fox News contributor, is scheduled to appear on the November 7 edition of Fox News' Your World with Neil Cavuto.
According to Firedoglake, the voter assistance hotline is "now being flooded with calls from crank callers."

First she says voter suppression is utter bs and then she becomes an active part of it.

Un freakin' believable!
15348. jexster - 11/13/2006 11:53:40 AM
This is the key paragraph Robt..Nancy's not going to fall into the Old GOP culture war trench....

Pelosi's decision could be a significant blow to Hoyer, who has worked for years to move up in the Democratic leadership. Political handicappers had regarded Hoyer to be the strong favorite when House Democrats meet Thursday to choose a majority leader for the 110th Congress. Although Murtha's stance on Iraq has made him a hero among many grass-roots party activists, his positions against abortion and gun control have pushed many House liberals into Hoyer's camp, including the leader of the Out of Iraq Caucus, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.).
15349. Ronski - 11/13/2006 12:02:52 PM
Giuliani or McCain Would Beat Obama; Romney or Huckabee Wouldn't
15350. wonkers2 - 11/13/2006 12:07:46 PM
A toss-up for worst bitch in the world--Ingraham or Coulter. With Dr. Laura a distant third. And Nancy Grace an also ran.
15351. jexster - 11/13/2006 12:17:01 PM
How long do you hold grudges Wizzer???

McCain and Lieberman Want to Send More Troops to Iraq
15352. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/13/2006 12:54:53 PM
I'll stop hating Lieberman when they shovel dirt on his casket.
15353. jexster - 11/13/2006 1:27:32 PM
We'll sit shiva together
15354. jexster - 11/13/2006 1:30:51 PM
Republicans Explain What Happened

15355. jexster - 11/13/2006 1:50:40 PM
Lieberman won't rule out switching parties

A scary thought for the Senate's new Democratic leadership: Joe Lieberman says he could still jump ship. On Sunday's "Meet the Press," host Tim Russert asked Lieberman about the example of retiring Vermont Sen. Jim Jeffords, who crossed party lines in 2001, giving Democrats control of what had been a divided body. According to the official transcript, Russert then asked Lieberman,

"You're, you're not ruling that out at some future time?

Lieberman, who has said he will caucus with the Democratic Party despite having lost Connecticut's Democratic senatorial primary to Ned Lamont, not to mention the Democratic vote in the midterm election, wouldn't commit unequivocally to his party: "I'm not ruling it out," he said, "but I hope I don't get to that point."

A Lieberman defection would erase the slim Democratic majority in the Senate, leaving it at a 50-50 tie. Since Vice President Dick Cheney holds the tie-breaking vote, that would essentially give control to the Republicans.

-- Alex Koppelman

Call the PC police if ya must Wonker, but you just can't trust em
15356. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/13/2006 1:51:58 PM
15357. robertjayb - 11/13/2006 1:55:50 PM
Christy Hardin Smith in firedoglake.com:

Wake up. Jim Baker is about saving Junior's behind and salvaging what he can of the GOP while he's at it. This commission, for Baker and his surrogates anyway, is about saving face for the Republican party, and about GHWB not having to hang his head in shame that his son is an utter failure at his job. Again. Whatever loyalties James Baker has, they are not to W — let's just acknowledge that up front and be done with it — and they certainly aren't to some kum-bay-ya bipartisanship cooperation-fest.

For Baker, this is about saving GOP bacon. Period.

15358. wonkers2 - 11/13/2006 2:07:22 PM
Paul Krugman today on Lieberman:

" Mr. Lieberman won only through denial and deception, for example, by rewriting the history of his once-fervent support for the Iraq war and Donald Rumsfeld. He got two-thirds of the Republican vote, but managed to confuse enough Democrats about his positions to get over the top.

"Consider the vote on last year's draconian bankruptcy bill. Mr. Lieberman voted for cloture, cutting off debate and ensuring the bill's passage; then he voted against the bill, a meaningless gesture that let him have it both ways. Thirteen other Democratic senators also voted for cloture, including Joe Biden, who has just announced his candidacy for president."
15359. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/13/2006 3:17:37 PM
The dumb Dem vote rally pisses me off.
15360. robertjayb - 11/13/2006 4:11:43 PM
More GOP family values in Minnesota...

ELK RIVER — Rep. Mark Olson was arrested Sunday and is in Sherburne County Jail, facing charges of domestic abuse, said Scott Gudmanson, chief deputy of the Sherburne County Sheriff’s Department.
.................................................

Gudmanson said the alleged victim is Olson’s wife. He would not provide additional details about the events that led to Olson’s arrest. He said the sheriff’s department had not been called to that address before.

Olson, 51, was elected to an eighth term Tuesday to represent District 16B, which includes Big Lake, Clear Lake, Zimmerman, Becker and part of Elk River. Olson was the Republican chairman last session of the Local Government committee, a position he will lose when Democrats take control of the House in January.

15361. thoughtful - 11/13/2006 6:14:52 PM
this whole business about bush lying to the press about rumsfled staying or not...clinton really should've taken a page out of w's book.

you said you did not have sex with that woman...of course I did, I had to in order to get you to move on to another question. If I had answered that I did, then it would've had political ramifications and I didn't want to inject those at this important time.

See, it's not lying if you can justify it. if only wjc knew...
15362. jexster - 11/13/2006 6:24:42 PM
He switches, I am joing Connecticut for Lieberman

Either that or United Torah Judaism
15363. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/14/2006 4:15:52 AM
15364. robertjayb - 11/14/2006 2:40:20 PM
Adios, Amigos...

FARMERS BRANCH — A Dallas suburb took the fight against illegal immigration into its own hands Monday when its City Council unanimously barred landlords from renting to undocumented tenants, making it the first city in Texas to take such a step.

The six council members in Farmers Branch, an inner-ring bedroom community set 11 miles from downtown Dallas, also unanimously resolved to make English its official language and voted to enroll police officers in a federal training program that will make them de facto immigration officials.

15365. Max Macks - 11/14/2006 5:59:46 PM
Wizard your cartoon in 15356

made my day . thank you.

Re. Holy Joe , evidentally a senator can choose
who he will caucus with .

I wish there was some Dems who want to ignore
Lieberman
15366. judithathome - 11/14/2006 6:50:16 PM
Well, Max, I'm sure they'd like to but they are going to need him in future so I doubt they will.
15367. robertjayb - 11/14/2006 7:15:18 PM
Democrats broaden senate leadership...(CBS)

(AP) Senate Democrats picked two women for senior posts Tuesday and appointed former U.S. Capitol police chief Terrance Gainer as sergeant at arms. Their choice as majority leader, Sen. Harry Reid, said a top priority is getting a new secretary of defense confirmed.

Reid told The Associated Press that he supports replacing Donald Rumsfeld with former CIA Director Robert Gates by year's end, as President Bush has urged.

"I hope we can move it forward quickly," Reid, of Nevada, told the Associated Press after the Democratic caucus in the Old Senate Chamber. "The sooner we can move it forward the sooner we can get rid of Rumsfeld," he said.
15368. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/14/2006 8:03:15 PM
Thanks Max–I thought the flaming Star of David tattoo on his chest was a nice touch–in case you hadn't noticed.
15369. OhioSTOPAS - 11/14/2006 8:39:12 PM
Joe L. would be foolish to switch parties. Sure, he could extract something from the GOP to make them a slim majority (50-50 plus Cheney tiebreak), but in 2008 we Democrats are taking more Republican seats and Joe will end up leverage-less in a minority party.
15370. jexster - 11/14/2006 9:59:24 PM
McCain-Mentum 08
Your United Torah Judaism Ticket
15371. jexster - 11/14/2006 10:00:21 PM
Lose a War, Lose an Election

by William S. Lind

Lose a war, lose an election. What else should anyone expect, especially when the war is one we never had to fight? Had Spain defeated us in '98, does anyone think McKinley/Roosevelt would have won in 1900? A logical corollary is, lose two wars, lose two elections. With the war in Afghanistan following that in Iraq down the tube, 2008 may not be a Republican year.

15372. jexster - 11/14/2006 10:06:35 PM
In a reality neither Republicans nor Democrats will dare face, we have only one option left in Iraq. That option is to admit failure and withdraw. We can do it sooner, or, at the cost of more American dead and wounded, we can do it later. Obviously, sooner is better, but that would require a bold decision, which no one in Washington is willing to make.

In World War I, after the failure of the Schlieffen Plan, my reporting senior, Kaiser Wilhelm II, wanted an early, compromise peace. Regrettably, he was unwilling to force that policy on his recalcitrant generals.

Today, in Washington, the generals want peace. They could give the politicians of both parties and both relevant branches of government the cover they need to make peace, by going public in favor of an early withdrawal. Unfortunately, that would require a level of moral courage not notably evident in the senior American military. In its absence, the whole American political system will continue to flounder in a sea of half-measures, American troops will continue to die in a lost war, and the crisis of legitimacy of the American state will continue to grow.
15373. jexster - 11/14/2006 11:04:44 PM
America Wants Nancy!!!!

61% think the Democratic Congress should decide the country's direction

31% Bush

{Gallup}
15374. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/15/2006 11:25:53 AM
15375. jexster - 11/15/2006 11:40:16 AM
Looks like lotsa folks heart Huckabee's

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Gift registries have been set up to help friends of Arkansas first lady Janet Huckabee choose gifts for the Huckabees' new half-million dollar home as they prepare to leave the governor's mansion.
15376. jexster - 11/15/2006 2:06:59 PM
At TPMCafe they've dubbed her "a beautiful Margaret Thatcher"

Rep. Jim Moran Claims 128-94 Whip Count In Murtha's Favor

15377. thoughtful - 11/15/2006 3:42:53 PM
What are the odds?

In 2000, Joe Lieberman's Republican challenger received 448,077 votes ,

In 2006, Joe Lieberman's Democratic challenger received 448,077 votes.

Anyone smell a rat???
15378. robertjayb - 11/15/2006 3:43:54 PM
Sekula-Gibbs Not A Hit With The GOP

Rep. Shelley Sekula-Gibbs’ two-month stint in Washington is getting off to an inauspicious start. Roll Call’s Mary Ann Akers reports that all of Tom DeLay’s holdover staff walked out on her and immediately resigned their positions after she showed up in his old office.

Doesn’t look like she’s likely to make a return bid for the GOP nomination in ’08.

(hotline blog)
15379. jexster - 11/15/2006 4:42:37 PM

Harold call me!

Trent Lott Elected!
The South Shall Rise Again!

Don't be caught on the wrong side of the tracks..

15380. robertjayb - 11/15/2006 6:23:17 PM
Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND) is monkey-wrenching the senate over an agriculture drought relief bill.
15381. robertjayb - 11/15/2006 6:27:14 PM
Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) is backing Conrad's play.
15382. jexster - 11/15/2006 7:38:43 PM
T'fill I'd tell you what I smell but I would piss Wonk off
15383. wonkers2 - 11/15/2006 7:50:56 PM
Yes, I imagine you would! Remind me in the future not to tell stories about my misguided youth.
15384. jexster - 11/15/2006 8:08:17 PM
All the better you tell me stories about your dissolute adulthood!

15385. jexster - 11/15/2006 9:48:18 PM
Murtha: The Interview
15386. robertjayb - 11/15/2006 11:47:21 PM
Here comes John...

Sen. John McCain will formally open his 2008 presidential
exploratory committee by tomorrow a.m., an adviser said today.

The committee has already built a website -- http://www.exploremccain.com/-- and it will stream live a speech McCain plans to give tomorrow about the future of the Republican Party. His live audience will be charter members of GOPAC, a conservative grassroots group with a strong and influential pedigree.

(hotline)

15387. thoughtful - 11/16/2006 10:52:23 AM
I wonder how mccain got and keeps his reputation for being a moderate goper when he is anything but....
15388. wonkers2 - 11/16/2006 11:35:57 AM
Very true.
15389. wonkers2 - 11/16/2006 11:36:51 AM
Same old, same old.
15390. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/16/2006 1:04:40 PM
The Dems are making a catastrophic mistake if they continue with their move to withdraw the troops. I say this not because I think we can win in any way in Iraq, but because the R's will exploit the situation and jujitsu it into blaming the Dems for an even bigger fiasco.

The Dems should focus on domestic issues, healthcare, getting lobbyists out of DC and campaign reform, with diligent oversight of the war while supporting our troops in every way.

We are going to lose more military and much more treasure–no matter what we do. Bush has put this country in an untenable situation and the R's are setting a trap for the '08 election so they can say the Dems are the reason for the failure in Iraq. It's the same old use of the Bre'r Patch logic of Carl Rove.

By their very nature, Murtha and Levin will play right into Rove's trap. This is much worse than Viet Nam, not in terms American soldiers, but in the decades of murder and mayhem in the Middle East and the world that will come thanks to the many fools in power in America and the Middle East.

We're in for a long and bumpy night, Betty!
15391. robertjayb - 11/16/2006 2:03:01 PM
Hoyer wins.
15392. wonkers2 - 11/16/2006 2:10:05 PM
Tweedledum and Tweedledee, except Hoyer is more supportive of Bush's folly in Iraq, if memory serves.
15393. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/16/2006 2:11:06 PM
I like Murtha and don't care for Hoyer, but I'm relieved.
15394. wonkers2 - 11/16/2006 2:12:47 PM
Same old, same old!
15395. thoughtful - 11/16/2006 2:39:29 PM
RIP Milton Friedman
15396. Wombat - 11/16/2006 2:56:09 PM
If Murtha had not come out against the war so strongly, he would have been an appalling choice for anyone of a progressive bent. Pro-life, an earmarker, "tainted" with sleaze, not a team player. Hoyer is a much better choice.
15397. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/16/2006 3:02:25 PM
Horseshit! Nobody comes remotely close to Republican sleaze and earmarks.
15398. jexster - 11/16/2006 3:12:02 PM
Hoyer's OK...Murtha's OK..Pelosi's gonna run things. Price of loyalty
15399. Wombat - 11/16/2006 3:13:35 PM
Wiz:

True, but I am glad that the Democrats decided not to make Murtha their poster-boy for the cleanest Congress in history. It would have lasted about a week.

Murtha played a crucial role in making it respectable to oppose the Bush policy in Iraq. The change in voter sentiment that led to the Democrats' recovery of Congress is in large part due to him (and Bush's never-ending folly).

To carry out the policies that you suggest above, Hoyer will be more effective than Murtha. The Democrats also have to strive to be "Caesar's Wife" when it comes to pushing lobbyist and earmark reform, even though the Republicans are much worse.
15400. jexster - 11/16/2006 3:17:28 PM
Hoyer was very supportive of the IraQ mess but has since gone out of his way to criticize it...a recent convert to the vague deadline plan

But it now looks as if none of it will matter. According to the Guardian, Cheney's interjected his ass in the ISG deliberations. Bush will press for one last shot - 20,000 more troops in a "Strategy for Victory"

You've got to remember, whatever the Democrats say, it's Bush still calling the shots. He believes it's a matter of political will. That's what [Henry] Kissinger told him. And he's going to stick with it," a former senior administration official said. "He [Bush] is in a state of denial about Iraq. Nobody else is any more. But he is. But he knows he's got less than a year, maybe six months, to make it work. If it fails, I expect the withdrawal process to begin next fall."

Last Throes of the Dead Enders
15401. thoughtful - 11/16/2006 4:11:52 PM
i think it's cheney in the state of denial...bush is still just a panty waist doin what he's told.
15402. robertjayb - 11/16/2006 4:29:04 PM
A liberal's pledge to disheartened conservatives...(Michael Moore)

...cheer up, my friends! Do not despair. I have good news for you. I, and the millions of others who are now in charge with our Democratic Congress, have a pledge we would like to make to you, a list of promises that we offer you because we value you as our fellow Americans. You deserve to know what we plan to do with our newfound power -- and, to be specific, what we will do to you and for you.

15403. thoughtful - 11/16/2006 5:20:15 PM
Olbermann had a piece on last night which you can watch on 'faux' news....seems a memo was leaked to huffington where they spelled out the stories that should be watched for that day and sure enough, they reported on just what mgmt asked for...coincidence? They script it...they decide.
15404. jexster - 11/16/2006 5:58:46 PM
Who Will Pay for Iraq and When?
[How About the Bush Bitches!]

In all the heated words about the Iraq war, we've heard little or nothing about paying for it. Regardless of how you feel about the war, you must concede that it is going to cost us all dearly.

The Iraq war is consuming over $1.4 billion a week - or $200 million a day. In the time it takes you to read this article, the American government will have spent $700,000 on the war. The war has cost $200 billion already. Economists have estimated the war's ultimate bill will be $1-2 trillion, which includes costs such as the hospitalization and long-term care of tens of thousands of wounded veterans, interest payments on the wartime debt and replacement of worn-out equipment.
15405. jexster - 11/16/2006 6:02:04 PM
They Could Get a Night Job!
15406. jexster - 11/16/2006 6:07:46 PM
THe most disgusting - no most obscene - part of the Guardian report (iif accurate) is the suggestion that this is all being done - 20,000 more troops and one last push - for the domestic political convenience of Democratic and Republican politicos thinking of running for office in 2008

Not surprising. After all, that's why Little Georgie went to war and hundreds of thousadns have in the first place

Not surprising..

Just criminal
15407. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/16/2006 6:31:01 PM
15399. Wombat

We agree for the same reasons, wombat. but Murtha isn't a sleazebag-moreover he's a hero and a champion of the poor slobs in the military–unlike the chicken-hawks who got us into this mess. Viet Nam was his crucible and he knows what it's like to be screwed by our so called leaders.

I bristled at the following, which was flawed and unfair:

Pro-life, an earmarker, "tainted" with sleaze, not a team player.
15408. wonkers2 - 11/16/2006 6:42:17 PM
My impression is that Murtha is a highly skilled "earmarker." I don't know whether he's a team player. He's entitled to be pro-life if that's what he believes. The one important thing Murtha has going for him is his position on Iraq. I don't think Hoyer is any better overall than Murtha. I don't have much enthusiasm for either of them. I guess I agree with Wiz. I would have voted for Murtha despite his baggage.
15409. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/16/2006 6:53:57 PM
Thanks for saying what I have difficulty expressing, wonk.
15410. wonkers2 - 11/16/2006 7:12:41 PM
Paul Samuelson on Milton Friedman (in his own classroom long before Friedman's death):

"Just because Friedman said it doesn't necessarily mean it's untrue!" Friedman rated what must have been a full page obit in the NYT. R.I.P. Milton Friedman.
15411. jexster - 11/16/2006 8:36:26 PM
See if DemoGlad is Right For You!
15412. jexster - 11/16/2006 10:04:23 PM
Just heard on Olberman.

Because he lost today, Murtha will chair the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.
15413. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/16/2006 11:25:41 PM
Perfect justice for Rummy!
15414. jexster - 11/16/2006 11:29:29 PM
when Bill Clinton was president the Republicans took 140 hours of sworn testimony on the pressing issue of whether the administration had mined the White House Christmas card list for potential donors. Yet they took only 12 hours of testimony on the Abu Ghraib scandal. “The government reform panel alone,” they wrote, “issued 1,052 subpoenas related to investigations of the Clinton administration and the Democratic National Committee from 1997 to 2002, and only 11 subpoenas related to allegations of Republican abuse.”

Crush Em Like Bugs

Message # 6809 in thread 161
15415. jexster - 11/17/2006 12:28:08 AM
Poor Dear, Only 2 Weeks to Clean Up BushVille and Now This!

Sekula-Gibbs wants probe over destroyed files

Just three days after being sworn in, U.S. Rep. Shelley Sekula-Gibbs wants Congress to investigate the destruction of files in her office by former staff members of her predecessor, Tom DeLay.
15416. wonkers2 - 11/17/2006 9:59:01 AM
Milton Friedman--"Eliminate Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security." Sounds like a modern-day revival of Social Darwinism to me.
15417. thoughtful - 11/17/2006 11:00:43 AM
Milton Friedman made a lot of contributions to economics and political thought over the decades. While some of it was not correct (a lot of it has since been mistranslated and perverted), it was all fact driven, done with reason and civility. (Something sorely lacking in today's political discourse.) He was able to provide both high level scientific economic analysis as well as translating his thinking into popular, easy to consume material for the general public. He never lacked for courage or creativity.

As I was up this a.m. at 2:30, c-span had on an interview with him that was done 12 years ago, when he was 82, and covered a lot of his work. He was still as sharp as ever. Most interesting is that he did not consider himself a conservative and found little that was conservative in today's conservative party. Rather he considered himself a liberal in the 18th century sense of the word...that government should have a specific and limited role in people's lives. He focused heavily on freedom including economic freedom as well as other liberties.

One interesting comment he made was that, in the market place, if an idea fails, it dies. But in government, if an idea fails, it usually gets expanded and improved funding.
His eliminate medicare, medicaid and social security was not as heartless as one might think as, in his view, all welfare programs should be replaced with a single negative income tax which would guarantee everyone a minimum level of income, regardless of age or health status, etc. However, the system would have work-oriented incentives built into it so that people would be encouraged to work and those who did work would be better off. (I've worked for years with habitat for humanity and many may not know but their work is not geared to the poorest but to the lower income working class who, because they work, can't afford the housing that would be provided on the dole if they didn't work.) The popular with dems earned-income tax credit was a small step in that direction. The attraction of his version though was, in addition to being comprehensive, it would eliminate the patchwork of programs and services currently offered with all of their inefficiencies that make coverage spotty and cost of administration very high. Further he would frequently site the statistic that only 1c out of every dollar to help the poor actually got to them...that the rest was tapped off by others along the way. He believed his negative income tax would be more efficient for both the taxpayer and the poor.

Whether or not you agree with his proposition it is certainly different, creative, refreshing and is undergirded with economic principles...in and of itself a valuable contribution.
15418. jexster - 11/17/2006 12:17:10 PM
I KNEW IT!

She wasn't raising all that money through her PacForChange just for the exercise. Finally off her all too often lazy butt

TPM Media

Every day that passes without me doing a post on global warming is another day I fear I have spent with my head in the sand.

But we do politics at TPM--not science or grassroots advocacy--and during the GOP control of Washington there has been precious little to write about the politics of climate change on a day-to-day basis.

So when one of our team today pointed me towards a piece in Congressional Quarterly about Sen. Barbara Boxer's overhaul of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which she will be chairing, to sharpen its focus on climate change, I was both gratified to have a legitimate news peg and reminded that the mere presence of a Democratic Congress will produce significant, although sometimes subtle, changes in the national political debate.

In many fundamental ways Congress still operates, by design, at an 18th century pace. The changes in the coming months will not be swift, as if a Democratic President had taken office, and I imagine that the Administration will try to score political victories by being quicker and more agile. But Congress, properly exercising its oversight responsibilities, is like a old millstone, grinding slowly but grinding very fine. The Administration may be surprised to find that you can occasionally sidestep it, but you can't outrun it forever. -- David Kurtz
15419. wonkers2 - 11/17/2006 12:35:13 PM
Friedman economic "logic" espoused by Larry Summers in a December 12, 1991 World Bank memo where he was chief economist:

"I think the economic logic behind dumping a load of toxic waste in the lowest wage country is impeccablelllbecause foregone earnings from increased morbidity are low." He adds that "the underpopulated countries in Africa are vastly under polluted; their air quality is probably vastly inefficiently low compared to Los Angeles."
15420. wonkers2 - 11/17/2006 12:38:02 PM
Milton Friedman was an admirer of Pinochet:

"Pinochet has supported a fully free-market economy. Chile is an economic miracle."
15421. thoughtful - 11/17/2006 12:41:32 PM
Larry is not and never was milton and it would be a mistake to conflate the two.
15422. thoughtful - 11/17/2006 12:55:38 PM
Interesting question posed by robert reich:

Why Are They Gunning for Howard Dean?

By Robert Reich

What can possibly account for the post-election victory party pummeling of Howard Dean by inside-the-beltway Democrats? Prominent Democratic consultants (James Carville, Stan Greenberg) go on the record (“you can quote me”) with complaints barely two weeks from a Democratic sweep. Leading congressional Democrats (Rahm Emmanuel) vent their anger vociferously (“on background”). Why? Dems now control both Houses and have twenty-eight governorships. Dean ought to be congratulated. So what’s the underlying agenda here? Three theories:

1. The only way a Dem gets on television after such a sweet victory isn’t by criticizing Republicans – it’s by criticizing fellow Dems. Stirring up clear waters grabs attention. Attention draws crowds. Crowds create power. Power is the name of the game in Washington, especially when formal control of Congress changes hands.

2. Dean’s strategy of putting money into state party infrastructure takes money out of the pockets of Washington insiders – away form Democratic consultants and key congressional party activists. That makes insiders angry.

3. Dean is an independent DNC chair, not under the sway of the Clintons. Unlike Ron Brown, who guided the DNC toward a Clinton victory in 1992, Dean doesn’t play the usual power games. Hence, the Clintons would like him out, and the sooner the better. Carville, Greenberg, and Emmanuel, among others, are doing their bidding.

Which is it? I’m not so cynical or conspiratorial as to believe any one of them. But you come up with a more credible theory.
15423. jexster - 11/17/2006 1:00:23 PM
The Tragedy of PTSD

McCain Still Suffering Emotional Trauma from Stay at Hanoi Hilton

Military Leaders Oppose McCain's Push for Thousands of Additional Troops

Mr. I -Voted -Maybe -Not -Before -I -Voted -Yes

Never met a war he didn't like. Didn't kill enuf when he was little I suppose
15424. thoughtful - 11/17/2006 1:03:52 PM
admiring the economic policies pinochet was pursuing is not the same thing as admiring the man or the dictator.

In the first place, Friedman was never an advisor to Pinochet, and while he praised Pinochet's economic policies, he was critical of the General's human-rights record. Other economists from the University of Chicago were appointed as economic advisors, and by and large they gave excellent advice. The result was that, in less than two decades, Chile went from a bankrupt socialist Third World country to the most successful economy in Latin America with a growth rate three times the continental average. It soon left the Third World altogether.

Certainly one could argue that friedman could've chosen not to get involved at all, but clearly the economic success resulting in chile and continuing to this day, has made the chilean people far better off than without such economic growth...with or without the dictatorial rule of pinochet.
15425. thoughtful - 11/17/2006 1:34:48 PM
Re Friedman and chile:

[Friedman] wrote, "I do not regard it evil for an economist to render technical economic advice to the Chilean government to help end the plague of inflation, any more than I would regard it as evil for a physician to give technical medical advice to the Chilean government to end a medical plague." He also notes that years later, when he offered similar economic advice to China, there were no similar protests, even though the left-wing Chinese dictators were no less oppressive than Pinochet.

Above from Greg Mankiw's blog.
15426. wonkers2 - 11/17/2006 1:51:07 PM
I'm sure you're right that Summers is not a Friedmanite. But the bit on toxic waste dumping fits with Friedman's oppostion to government regulation in favor of market solutions. That's essentially what Summers was arguing. When I was in Washington during the Clinton administration a minority of people including my boss at NLRB were pushing for introducing environmental and worker rights considerations into trade negotiations. Summers would have no part of it. He was happy to leave the environment, child labor, worker safety to the lowest common denominator third world country. As a result workers in developing countries don't benefit as much as they should from free trade and workers in the U.S. and Europe are decimated by cheap imported goods.
15427. wonkers2 - 11/17/2006 1:53:03 PM
The "Chicago boys" didn't just give advice to Pinochet. They practically joined his cabinet. And not all the advice they gave has worked out so well, for example, Chile's privatized social security system.
15428. thoughtful - 11/17/2006 1:59:54 PM
friedman was not part of the 'chicago boys'.
15429. thoughtful - 11/17/2006 2:02:22 PM
and i don't understand why you want to spend so much time trashing a guy who has played a critical role in shaping economic thought over the last near century, who some have likened as important to this century as adam smith was in his century just because he died.
15430. wonkers2 - 11/17/2006 2:16:05 PM
Because I disagree with his extreme reliance/belief in the benevolence of unregulated markets. I don't look forward to being subjected to the philosophy of Herbert Spencer.

I'm not an expert on the "Chicago Boys." Maybe you know more about them than I do since you appear to be a fan. My recollection is that the Chicago Boys are a bunch of conservative market-oriented economists and lawyers at the University of Chicago who have been influenced by Friedman, Hayek, Von Mises, et al and who were involved with advising Chile under Pinochet. Perhaps you can straighten me out.
15431. wonkers2 - 11/17/2006 2:16:56 PM
In the meantime I'll Google them to refresh my fading memory.
15432. wonkers2 - 11/17/2006 2:20:13 PM
Okay, I stand corrected. According to Wikipedia the "Chicago" Boys were a group of Chilean economists who studied at the University of Chicago under Friedman or economists with similar views and returned to advise Pinochet. Chicago Boys
15433. thoughtful - 11/17/2006 2:35:46 PM
and who pray tell is subjecting you to social darwinism?

Despite his name, fame and nobel prize, friedman was never very successful in selling his brand of capitalism, to wit the unending growth in federal spending under either dems or gopers, and the promise of incredibly rapid entitlement spending yet to come.

I don't think you have to worry about laissez-faire knocking at your door in your lifetime.
15434. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/17/2006 2:43:43 PM
All these italics are driving me nuts, so I refuse to read anything before this fucking correction . . . especially jexster's fucking posts!!!!!!

:)
15435. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/17/2006 2:44:07 PM
!!!!!
15436. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/17/2006 2:46:21 PM
I can't tell who's quoting whom. Give the readers a fucking break!!!!!

15437. jexster - 11/17/2006 2:56:17 PM
Washington Jewish Week Reports

Ballyhooed Effort To Win Jews Over To GOP Is Miserable Flop

Jewed screwed tatooed blue in the nude as we USED to say (and thanks to you-know-who are again!)

FREE AT LAST!
Thank YHWH Almighty we are free at last!
15438. jexster - 11/17/2006 2:58:16 PM
Let me splain it to you Wizzer...

When you see a bold in blue sometimes not bold..that is a link

Wheh you see italics before or sometimes following or sometimes indented

That is a quote from the link.

15439. jexster - 11/17/2006 2:59:14 PM
Except in the case immediately preceding ..that is a quote from "we" including but not limited to you-know-who
15440. wonkers2 - 11/17/2006 3:36:58 PM
Who is subjecting me to Social Darwinismd? Well, Friedman tried. And where do you think David Stockman and Grover Norquist got the concept of "starve the beast?" I don't hate Friedman. I just disagree with him from what little I actually know about his approach. Nobody had heard of him when I majored in economics long ago so I wasn't subjected to his theories at that time. I don't pretend to be a Friedman expert. However, I don't agree with him on privatizing Social Security and some of the other bum ideas the GOP has borrowed from him or his theories. I'm sure Friedman has some useful insights into the role of monetary policy or they wouldn't have given him the Nobel Prize. My problem is when he extends his economic theories into the realm of government and politics. When I think of Friedman I think of Ayn Rand, Alan Greenspan, Grover Norquist and our recent candidate for governor of Michigan, Dick DeVos, who is in favor of privatizing or de-regulating just about everything. (I'd be happy to add Thoughtful to the list!") And I think of the our own Mackinac Center. Mackinac Center.
15441. Wombat - 11/17/2006 3:48:10 PM
I agree with Wonkers. Whatever brilliance Friedman may have brought to the study of economics, the application of his theories in the political arena has been behind the collapse of the post-war social contract and the increase in inequality that we have seen in the last two decades. It was bad enough that his theories were applied on the Federal level, but when they "trickled down" to the states, the results were--and still are--disastrous.
15442. wonkers2 - 11/17/2006 3:55:11 PM
Thanks, Wombat. You said it better than I could.
15443. thoughtful - 11/17/2006 4:52:53 PM
Let's see...the collapse of the post-war social contract.

Social security? Still here, and solvent. Attempts to change it have failed.

Medicare? Still here. No wait...expanded to include prescription drugs. Granted well on the road to financial crisis, but making it solvent is a worry for dems as well as gopers...just ask robert rubin.

Unemployment insurance still here and extended during the last recession as is usual during recessions.

Income taxes? Still progressive and lower than they were in the 90s. Starve the beast has and will continue to fail...government spending hasn't shrunk at all.

To the extent that the rwers have perverted and manipulated friedman's ideas to serve their own purposes, you can't blame him for that. I never heard friedman say things like crony capitalism was a good thing...rather he was for freer markets which would exclude govt regulating to business favor as well as govt regulating to limit business activities.

And as far as the rise in income inequality, it is something that is happening in other developed nations as well as in the US even though they have had different tax/political systems. So the key question here is were US tax and/or other economic policies a primary cause? Or is there something broader, related to say globalization and free trade or changing industry structure with the shift to services and IT causing this result around the world?

I've always had a strong libertarian streak, and have been a radical for individual rights for a long time, but my libertarian streak has been especially sparked lately on a very personal level.

We're trying to build a house and we are dealing with wackos from the historical society who, though they admit the current house is completely structurally unsound, has no interesting or redeeming elements on the interior, would have to be stripped to the frame and even that isn't standing and the foundation isn't very good and even at that, the entire footprint is about as big as a 2 car garage, they want us to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to restore the house for us to live in which would not meet our needs at all and would still yield a too-small house with 78" high ceilings, with no historical significance, just so they have an antique farmhouse to look at.

And mind you they are in the process of changing town regulations to add teeth to their desires. In fact they want to declare the entire town a historic landmark and make everyone with a house 50 years or older come before the commission to decide whether they can renovate their home.

So yes, when I start attending these town meetings and hear the government discussing whether someone has planted the maples in between their dogwoods and whether they are 3" in diameter as required and whether they will allow the homeowner to plant the himself or require a professional to do it, yes, my libertarian hackles get raised. Sharply so.
15444. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/17/2006 5:18:37 PM
I hope you guys know I was feigning annoyance back there. And who changed it all back so I look like an intemperate dunderhead?

Fwiw, I'm in accord with the Friedman evaluation. He was the perfect excuse for America's gangster-wealth to exploit, rape and pillage the planet.

I still agree with The Little Economic Nome on the drugs issue,
however,
15445. thoughtful - 11/17/2006 5:31:39 PM
no surprise there wiz on your assessment of friedman.

so here i am the rabid rwer in these parts while at work i'm considered the lefty liberal socialist.

such is the lot in life of a centrist.

sigh.
15446. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/17/2006 6:10:50 PM
Well if truth be told, stful, I liked the man, but not the effect of his theories. His reasoning was brilliant, but it didn't have the effect that he predicted it would. So I don't think that makes you a rwgr–just slightly thoughtful instead of thoughtful ;?*
15447. thoughtful - 11/17/2006 6:19:23 PM
What?!?!?!

Are you trying to suggest that the old adage is true?

That an economist is someone who, when he sees something working in practice, wonders if he can get it to work in theory!
15448. Max Macks - 11/17/2006 6:28:20 PM
read some wit saying that Bush who missed
going to VietNam when he was "serving" in the Texas
air guard , , not is in Viet Nam .

and he make a speech while there saying that theUS
would have won the war if they had been more patient,
and US must be patient in Iraq
15449. thoughtful - 11/17/2006 7:04:06 PM
Bush isn't going to budge on iraq:
1. would mean he'd have to admit he was wrong
2. is so delusional he believes his own press or worse what cheney says thinking things are getting better there
3. he wants things to get worse in iraq...doing his part for the rapture
15450. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/17/2006 7:27:38 PM
That an economist is someone who, when he sees something working in practice, wonders if he can get it to work in theory!

That's good!

I just heard that on NPR, Max. Bush is a maroon who hasn't a clue about his own rudeness–a very bad sign and all too typical for a despot.
15451. wonkers2 - 11/17/2006 7:37:18 PM
The fact that the Friedmanites and worshippers of Adam Smith, Hayek, et al, at Cato and Heritage haven't succeeded in repealing or privatizing Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid isn't not for lack of trying. That's not much of a defense of Friedman who, along with Ayn Rand and Alan Greenspan was egging them on at every opportunity.
15452. jexster - 11/17/2006 8:03:56 PM

Approval of Bush policy on Iraq declines

Americans' approval of President Bush's handling of Iraq has dropped to the lowest level ever, increasing the pressure on the commander in chief to find a way out after nearly four years of war.

The latest Associated Press-Ipsos poll found just 31 percent approval for Bush's handling of Iraq, days after voters registered their displeasure at the polls by defeating Republicans and handing control of Congress to the Democrats. The previous low in AP-Ipsos polling was 33 percent in both June and August.

Erosion of support for Bush's Iraq policy was most pronounced among conservatives and Republican men — critical supporters who propelled Bush to the White House and a second term in 2004. A month ago, approval of the president on the issue certain to define his presidency was 36 percent.

"I'm completely frustrated," Rep. Robin Hayes (news, bio, voting record), R-N.C., said this week during a House Armed Services Committee hearing. Hayes' district includes part of Fort Bragg, and he supports the U.S. effort but favors pushing Iraqi troops to take more responsibility for the fighting.

31% - 50 million morons???

15453. jexster - 11/17/2006 8:11:19 PM
Sampler of Quotes by the Good and the Great about the Iraq War
Note: bold emphasis added, 52 quotes in all...Link in Lies

“And it is not knowable if force will be used, but if it is to be used, it is not knowable how long that conflict would last. It could last, you know, six days, six weeks. I doubt six months.”
February 7, 2003
Donald Rumsfeld, then-Secretary of Defense
Speaking at a “TownHall Meeting” held at Aviano Air Base, Italy

"I think the next few months will be crucial."
July 3, 2003
Senator Pat Roberts (Republican - Kansas)

"Looking at what we have today in Iraq and also in Afghanistan, and looking at the whole region and how infectious it can be for positive or for widespread trouble in the world, I think we may be going through a series of weeks and months that are crucial to the future history of freedom and stability. The determination of the British people, the Royal Airforce (RAF) and the Battle of Britain and Dunkirk success, if it was a success, probably saved not just Britain, but the Western world at that time. I am convinced that there is going to have to be a determination by the American people, military, particularly American military, quality and quantity, not just presence but capability, and a confidence in the Iraqi people that they can have a stable and representative government.
July 10, 2003
Representative Ike Skelton (Democrat - Missouri)
Speaking at a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee

[Question: When you speak of victory, how do you define it today in Iraq?]

MCCAIN: Probably when the people of Iraq are governing themselves. That's probably the best benchmark, and that probably could happen sooner rather than later, as far as being directly related to the return of the basic services – the electricity, the water, the sanitation, the law enforcement – those kinds of things. … And I'm not sure how long it would be, but I don't think that we have time on our side. I think it's critical that we act quickly by sending more troops there. And if not, we run the risk of the Iraqi people turning against us.

[Question: Are you thinking 6 to 12 months? Or do you think that's dreaming at this point?]

MCCAIN: I don't know because I don't know how quickly we're going to act in the form of sending troops. I don't know how quickly we're going to be able to provide them with the security. So, it's sort of up to us. But I would argue that the next three to six months will be critical.
September 10, 2003
Sen. John McCain (Republican - Arizona)
Speaking on CNN’s “American Morning”

"The next six months in Iraq – which will determine the prospects for democracy-building there – are the most important six months in U.S. foreign policy in a long, long time."
November 30, 2003
Thomas Friedman, New York Times foreign affairs columnist

....

Time is short, level of violence is great and the margins of error are narrow. The government of Iraq must act. The government of Iraq needs to show its own citizens soon and the citizens of the United States that it is deserving of continued support. The next three months are critical. Before the end of this year, this government needs to show progress in securing Baghdad, pursuing national reconciliation and delivering basic services."
September 19, 2006
Lee Hamilton, former Congressman (Democrat – Indiana), member of the Iraq Study Group

15454. jexster - 11/17/2006 11:51:18 PM
Sir David Frost is on AL-Jazeera. Try it Free
15455. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/18/2006 11:40:01 AM
This is funny . . .

15456. Ronski - 11/18/2006 12:29:38 PM
As for Milton Friedman, RIP, I only wish people had taken his ideas more seriously than they did.
15457. robertjayb - 11/18/2006 12:37:41 PM
The man who will not be president...

A profile of Russ Feingold, Madison Magazine's Person of the Year.
15458. jexster - 11/18/2006 1:41:33 PM
Pollyanna Wanna Cracker?

"One freedom that defines our way of life is the freedom to choose our leaders at the ballot box. We saw that freedom earlier this week, when millions of Americans went to the polls to cast their votes for a new Congress.
Whatever your opinion of the outcome, all Americans can take pride in the example our democracy sets for the world by holding elections even in a time of war."

President George W Bush
15459. Ronski - 11/18/2006 7:16:55 PM
A Ted Haggard ditty making the rounds, to the tune of Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious:

I used to be a master of the anti-gay crusade
Until a butch disaster blew my pastor masquerade
But if it's true I'm pounding more than pulpits, don't blame me... It's 'cause I caught my hooker-tweaker-stud's infirmity

It's Supertelevangelistic sex-and-drugs psychosis
Worse than plague and bird flu crossed with osteoporosis
We were playing doctor and he gave this diagnosis:
Supertelevangelistic sex-and-drugs psychosis

Umm Haggard Bakker Swaggart umm Tammy Faye Umm Haggard Bakker Swaggart umm Tammy Faye

I found the perfect therapist - the kind that gives massage
I like to drive my Escort and I park in his garage
I swear he only serves me crank when all his Coke is gone
And then he helps me straighten out my Peter, James, and John

Blame Supertelevangelistic sex-and-drugs psychosis
That's my greatest guilty pleasure next to Guns N' Roses
Good thing there's no ban on it in all the books of Moses
Supertelevangelistic sex-and-drugs psychosis

Umm Haggard Bakker Swaggart umm Tammy Faye Umm Haggard Bakker Swaggart umm Tammy Faye

It seems all pious public figures bugger on the sly
But Jesus loved republicans and sinners; so must I
Say "Holy moley, Mister Foley! That boy's underage!"
But I believe the congressman has turned another page

Oh! Supertelevangelistic sex-and-drugs psychosis
Next time, better cut me off at handshakes and Mimosas
No more meth or men for me (at least in overdoses)!
Supertelevangelistic sex-and-drugs psychosis!
15460. wonkers2 - 11/18/2006 8:35:51 PM
Democrats Split on Ethics Reform Same old, same old?
15461. arkymalarky - 11/18/2006 8:36:17 PM
Evidently Gonzales is having a hard time dealing with the election results.
15462. arkymalarky - 11/18/2006 8:38:09 PM
The media will try to make it seem like same-o, but it isn't. They are, however, politicians. I have a feeling the details of Dem actions in congress will be much more thoroughly reported--mixed in with plenty of speculation and innuendo--than what Republicans were.
15463. wonkers2 - 11/18/2006 9:00:16 PM
Corruption, after Iraq, was the most important reason the Dems now have a majority in both House. If they fail to pass meaningful reform it will be a big mistake. They can't afford to blow this one. Voters are tired of seeing their representatives traveling on corporate jets, golfing at St. Andrews courtesy of K Street lobbyists, getting their meal and booze tabs picked up in fancy D.C. watering holes, and the like in return for earmarks, tax breaks, defense contracts, and weakened environmental regulations. Obama and Pelosi are on the right track. Jexter had better take care of Diane Feinstein who's apparently dragging her feet.
I don't have a lot of confidence in Steny Hoyer on ethics issues either.
15464. robertjayb - 11/18/2006 9:40:06 PM
Montana state senator catches the train...

HELENA, Mont. - A Montana state senator has officially changed his party affiliation from Republican to Democrat, breaking a tie to give his new party a 26-24 advantage.

State Sen. Sam Kitzenberg filed the paperwork at the secretary of state's office on Friday.

He said he had been thinking about switching parties for about 12 years and made the decision at the suggestion of Democratic state Sen. Mike Cooney, who contacted him after the Nov. 7 election put both parties on an even footing.

"He called and said 'Guess what? It's tied. I know you've mentioned changing parties in the past, and now is the time,'" Kitzenberg said.

Democrats have a 50-49 edge in the Montana House. One Democrat, Sheila Hogan, lost by just 24 votes and party officials said this past week that she will ask for a recount; if she were to win, the Democrats' lead would change to 51-48.

15465. wonkers2 - 11/18/2006 9:57:45 PM
The rats are leaving the ship! (Not to say Kitzenberg is a rat-Now he's a Dem!)
15466. robertjayb - 11/18/2006 10:27:06 PM
Sunday morning gasbags...

CBS' "Face the Nation" — Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y.; Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

NBC's "Meet the Press" — Sens.-elect Jim Webb, D-Va., and Jon Tester, D-Mont.

ABC's "This Week" — Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.; House Majority Leader-elect Steny Hoyer, D-Md.;

"Fox News Sunday" — Sen.John Kerry, D-Mass.; former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga.

"CNN Late Edition"
Sen. Carl Levin: Armed Services Committee, D-Michigan
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison: Veterans Affairs Committee, R-Texas
Samir Sumaidaie: Iraqi Ambassador to United States
Rep. James Clyburn: Majority whip-elect, D-South Carolina
Rep. Roy Blunt: Minority whip-elect, R-Missouri
Ken Adelman: Former assistant secretary of defense
David Frum: Former speechwriter for President Bush and author of "The Right Man: The Surprise Presidency of George W. Bush"
Michael Rubin: Resident scholar, American Enterprise Institute

I must remember Meet the Press.
15467. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/18/2006 10:31:21 PM
Bill Maher had Richard Dreyfuss (who has spent the last two years in England studying civics at Oxford) as a guest last night on Real Time. One of his points of contention is that civics is no longer a required subject in education in America. (I don't know if this is true or not–I defer to arky.)

He warned that we are losing our hard won "republican democracy" because of the ignorance of our citizenry. He also said that it was the compulsive need to titillate the ignorant audience for increased viewership and higher profits rather than informing and educating the citizenry.

Later, Maher, who had interviewed Dan Rather earlier, mentioned that at one time Wiliam Paley of CBS News expected its news division, which always operated at a loss, to be buttressed by its entertainment division.

Dreyfuss said that most of the news in print and TV is run by a handful of people who determine what we read and see–which is one of the most dangerous risks for a democracy like ours. Then Maher asked why these greedy bastards, who had more money than they knew what to do with, need to make a profit in the news as the new priority over the old one.

Privatization of media may well be the death of American democracy. Look at what politicians have to spend to get elected. They have to make all this money to feed corporate media, who in turn are owned by the very corporations who pay the lobbyists to Bribe the politicians.

It's a vicious circle-jerk–ultimately paid for by the very same citizenry who are ejaculated upon by all parties. (Apologies for my lame analogy here; I'm starting to sound like the sex-obcessed Bill Maher!)
15468. robertjayb - 11/18/2006 11:23:28 PM
Kevin Drum has good news on Political Animal:

THE END OF INHOFE?....One of the best pieces of news to come from the Democratic takeover of the Senate is the change in chairmanship of the Environment and Public Works Committee, which will move from the odious and delusional James Inhofe to the environment-friendly Barbara Boxer. It's hard to think of any other committee that will change more dramatically.

15469. arkymalarky - 11/19/2006 2:01:56 AM
We require it here, Wiz, and I assume most states do. It's eitheer civics, government, or a combination (which is how it's generally taught, no matter what it's called). I can say this, though, teaching and learning aren't the same, and 180 days out of one year in junior high or high school can't compete with all the other input.
15470. wonkers2 - 11/19/2006 12:35:30 PM
Larry Summers is a partial Friedmanite. The Great Liberator

"Milton Friedman and I probably never voted the same way in any election. To my mind his thinking (and also that of the Mote's resident libertarian Ronski)gave too little weight to social justice and was far too cynical bout the capacity of collective action to make people better off. I believe that some of the great challenges we face today, like rising inequality and global climate change require that the free market be tempered instead of venerated. And like any economist, I have my list of areas where I believe Mr. Friedman oversimplified or was simply wrong.

"Nontheless, like many others I feel that I have lost a hero--a man whose success demonstrates that great ideas convincingly advanced can change the lives of people around the world."
15471. robertjayb - 11/19/2006 1:17:31 PM
Senator-elect Jim Webb used a good bit of his Meet the Press time this morning to talk about income inequality and the developing economic class system. I liked what I heard but I remember Webb as a hyper-enthusiastic supporter of Ronald Reagans's grandiose military expansion schemes. So I remain dubious.
15472. wonkers2 - 11/19/2006 1:55:53 PM
He wrote a quite good op-ed in the Wall Street Journal on the theme of inequality which was reprinted in this morning's Detroit Free Press. He pointed out that

"The top 1% now takes in an astounding 16% of national income, up from 8% in 1980.l The tax codes protect them, jsut as they protect corporate America, through a vast system of loopholes...When I graduated from college in the 1960s the average CEO made 20 times what the average worker made. Today, that CEO makes 400 times as much."

Worker's are overpaid today but the sky's the limit for what's required to motivate performance from corporate pig CEOs.
15473. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/19/2006 3:23:39 PM
I was impressed with Jon Tester of MT–for a neophyte, his responses and instincts were on the mark. I still have doubts about Webb, but he did a fine job talking about everything as well. Shit, Attila The Hun would be better than Macaca, so I'm satisfied for the first time in years.
15474. alistairConnor - 11/19/2006 5:02:06 PM
Ronski : As for Milton Friedman, RIP, I only wish people had taken his ideas more seriously than they did.

In Chile and Argentina they took his ideas pretty seriously. See how they feel about him now.

The argument, expressed here, that the Chicago school of economics has never been properly tried ignores the textbook examples of carnage they created in South America.
15475. wonkers2 - 11/19/2006 6:00:57 PM
Debunking Rudy
15476. wonkers2 - 11/19/2006 6:10:56 PM
Ethical Realism--A Vision for America's Role in the World by Anatol Lieven and John Hulsman reviewed by James Traub
Here.
15477. wonkers2 - 11/19/2006 6:14:26 PM
Lead paragraph of Traub's review:

Paul Wolfowitz, the former deputy secretary of defense, has a lot of explaining to do--and not just him but the whole circle of neoconservatives whose advocacy of democracy promotion-through-blitzkrieg has enmeshed us in the poisonus hatreds of Iraq. they couldn't have done a better job of discrediting the "forward leaning" foreign policy they preached if they had set out to sabotage it.
15478. Ronski - 11/19/2006 7:11:29 PM
alistair,

I doubt Friedman would have urged Argentina to double its spending, among other more entrenched problems the country had.
15479. Ronski - 11/19/2006 7:20:55 PM
Also, Friedman opposed Argentina's pegging their currency to the dollar. He said they would be adopting American monetary policy as their own.
15480. wonkers2 - 11/19/2006 7:35:51 PM
Frank Rich pointed out today that McCain's call for sending more troops to Iraq is not about Iraq, but about presidential politics. His position is designed to allow him to argue in perpetuity that there would have been a better outcome if his advice had been followed. This is much like Adelman and other neocons who are blaming Iraq not on their bad advice for invading Iraq but on the incompetence of the Bush administration.
15481. alistairConnor - 11/19/2006 8:13:28 PM
Ronski : Cop-out! Undoubtedly they didn't apply the doctrine correctly, so Friedmanism has not been discredited... just like Marxism hasn't been discredited, since nobody's applied it correctly yet.
15482. jexster - 11/19/2006 9:08:59 PM
Brad Delong eulogizes at Salon.

This is his open

Lord, enlighten thou our enemies. Sharpen their wits, give acuteness to their perceptions, and consecutiveness and clearness to their reasoning powers. We are in danger from their folly, not from their wisdom: their weakness is what fills us with apprehension, not their strength.

John Stuart Mill "Essay on Coleridge."
15483. wonkers2 - 11/19/2006 10:37:07 PM
Kissinger says victory in Iraq impossible. Kissinger.
15484. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/19/2006 10:57:03 PM
That's a wonderful quote, thanks Jex.
15485. OhioSTOPAS - 11/20/2006 8:29:50 AM
Wonkers (15480): I agree. Yesterday, at some time during the Sunday morning yakfests, I groaned when I heard someone describe McCain's proposal for more troops as "politically courageous." As you and Frank Rich point out, it's a politically SAFE position since there's no way McCain's proposal will happen and he avoids all responsibility for any adverse consequences of our inevitable pullout.
15486. thoughtful - 11/20/2006 11:11:40 AM
AC, You're blowing smoke on this one.
Let's see what a disaster chile's economy has been:
Real GDP growth
1980 7.8
1981 6.7
1982 -13.4
1983 -3.5
1984 6.1
1985 3.5
1986 5.6
1987 6.6
1988 7.3
1989 10.6
1990 3.7
1991 8
1992 12.3
1993 7
1994 5.7
1995 10.8
1996 7.4
1997 6.6
1998 3.2
1999 -0.8
2000 4.5
2001 3.4
2002 2.2
2003 3.3
2004 4.9
2005 4.7

So lets see...last 25 years one major recession, one downturn related to the asian currency crisis with an average growth of 4.8%. By comparison, the US had 4 recessions over the same time frame and never experienced the likes of double-digit real gdp growth and averaged only 3% real growth over the same period. Not a bad performance and the outlook from the IMF for the next couple of years is for continued strong growth in Chile.

And as ronski said, friedman was a huge proponent of flexible exchange rates. Argentina's tying their currency to the US dollar with a currency board was a disaster and was antithetical to friedman's pov. So don't blame him for the choices argentina makes.

I also don't recall friedman being a consultant or heavily involved in argentine economics. To suggest the economic performance of an entire continent rests solely on the shoulders of one economist is a stretch indeed...even one as influential as friedman.
15487. wonkers2 - 11/20/2006 6:19:15 PM
GDP growth is an important but not the only relevant measure of economic progress. As we have seen in this country, income distribution is also important. I don't know a lot about Chile, except that I have read that the private Social Security accounts have not been much of a success, except possibly for the upper crust and the financial institutions who are benefiting from them.
15488. wonkers2 - 11/20/2006 6:27:46 PM
Here is some information on Chile's economy, however, a bit out of date (1998) which touches on the issue of inequality there. Chile
15489. alistairConnor - 11/20/2006 7:05:33 PM
Hey wait a minute. People were saying "poor old Friedman, his ideas never got tried". I simply pointed out that it was a very narrow, parochial perspective, and that his ideas had indeed been applied, with armies of advisors, in South America.

Now suddenly it's more like "good old Friedman, his ideas triumphed in South America". Well whatever.

Thoughtful, why does your data series start in 1980? The Chicago crew were on the job from about 1973, if I recall.
15490. wonkers2 - 11/20/2006 7:53:38 PM
Tim Noah has really taken after Pelosi in Slate. His latest piece suggests that the Dems should consider dumping Pelosi and ends up suggesting that she be put on probation. I haven't read a lot of Tim Noah's stuff, but I had a vaguely good impression of him until this latest blast against Nancy. Anybody know where he's coming from. He came out strongly against Murtha and in favor of Hoyer. Any thoughts?
15491. wonkers2 - 11/20/2006 8:00:00 PM
Steny Hoyer's voting record. Steny Hoyer On the Issues
15492. Ronski - 11/20/2006 10:02:34 PM
alistair,

But his philosophy were not tried there, as far as I can tell.

And certainly economic liberalization needs such things as the rule of law, transparency, a handle on corruption, and probably a few other things to have a chance at succeeding.

Doesn't it?

(Where is pseudoerasmus when you need him?) ??

I'm glad we agree on Marxism, though.

15493. Ronski - 11/20/2006 10:05:32 PM
I think a lot of people assume that Pelosi is on probation.

I also think the Murtha business may have been half an honest effort, and half a ploy; she's bought off some of the anti-war left, and now she can get on with business.

I say half, because I gather she hates Hoyer's guts, but that's no reason not to work with him.

15494. Ronski - 11/20/2006 10:07:12 PM
(philosophy was not tried there).
15495. wonkers2 - 11/20/2006 10:38:58 PM
Olberman is making mincemeat out of Bush as I type.
15496. wonkers2 - 11/20/2006 10:42:52 PM
Well, I guess everybody who starts a new job is on probation for a while at the beginning. I repeat the Murtha/Hoyer matter has been greatly over-hyped. There was an election for Majority Leader. Two people ran. One won. End of story. No big deal. I do hope Pelosi finds some way out of putting Hastings in the intelligence committee job. However, Harman is a poor choice, too. She has been compromised by her support of Bush's unconstitutional surveillance and torture policies.
15497. robertjayb - 11/20/2006 11:45:01 PM
Houston janitors reach strike-ending deal...(HouChron)

Houston janitors ended a month-long strike today against the city's five major cleaning companies after reaching a tentative agreement that will guarantee higher wages, more work hours and medical benefits.

The settlement was hailed as a major victory for the 5,300 janitors who last year organized under the Service Employees International Union. It is the first citywide union contract since janitors formed a union last November.

15498. jexster - 11/21/2006 12:56:25 AM
Like that movie "Bread & Roses"

PODEMOS Roberto!
15499. jexster - 11/21/2006 1:13:22 AM
Pelosi owed her win over Hoyer in no small part to Murtha. She didn't "buy off the anti-war left" by getting trounced Ronsk. The key that most seem to have missed is that Pelosi must have known that Hoyer was likely to win.

So the question becomes, having perhaps been a little late in her campaigning for Murtha, was it smart for her to have gone public with her last minute quixotic adventure?

She accomplished two things. She delivered the message to the Freshman class - the Speaker rewards the loyal and honors her debts. She also locked Hoyer into the anti-war position that elected most of that group. Elainee Tauscher, East Bay CongressGirl, appeared on "Hardball" with Jim McDermott of Seattle and in a five minute colloquy, assured viewers no fewer than seven times that
Stay the Course Hoyer was committed to cut and run.

Was it worth it? Certainly not if she becomes a Hastert to Hoyer's DeLay. But somehow I think Nancy's too savvy an inside player to have run that risk even for Murtha. As Wiz sez, she's Siciliana.

15500. jexster - 11/21/2006 1:26:06 AM

¡Recordamos el Alamo Roberto! ¡HUELGA!

Recepción a México!
Nunca nos fuimos, Gringo.
15501. jexster - 11/21/2006 1:33:40 AM
Should she be thinking of trotting out the charge that he lacks foreign policy experience, the Succubus will end up with a mouthful of black snake.

He just innoculated hissef against the She-Devil

Obama urges gradual withdrawal from Iraq

Democratic Sen. Barack Obama, who is contemplating a run for the presidency, on Monday called for a "gradual and substantial" reduction of U.S. forces from Iraq that would begin in four to six months.

Speaking to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Obama envisioned a flexible timetable for withdrawal linked to conditions on the ground in Iraq and based on the advice of U.S. commanders. He also called for intensified efforts to train Iraqi security forces, U.S. aid packages tied to Iraqi progress in reducing sectarian violence and new diplomacy with Syria and Iran.

"I believe that it remains possible to salvage an acceptable outcome to this long and misguided war," he said. "But I have to be honest today, it will not be easy. For the fact is that there are no good options left in this war."

Obama was not in the Senate when President Bush sought and received support from Congress in 2002 to use military force against Saddam Hussein. But he has publicly opposed the war since then.

The results of this month's elections, the Illinois senator said, represented a repudiation of President Bush's policies. But he said the war has also ignited a new sense of isolationism among Americans that is risky in a post-Sept. 11, 2001, world.

"We can't afford to be a country of isolationists in the 21st century," he said, arguing that it is "absolutely vital that we maintain a strong and active foreign policy, relentless in pursuing our enemies and hopeful in promoting our values around the world."

Suck it bitch

A little more tongue, a little less teeth

15502. thoughtful - 11/21/2006 10:58:39 AM
AC, the data starts in 1980 because that's as far back as i was able to access the data out of the imf databank...take it up with them, not me.

Regardless, it's 25 years of data show that, unlike the implication in your post, Chile has done quite well as an economy.

I don't ever remember anyone saying, "poor friedman his ideas were not tried." Rather quite the opposite...he was very influential as an economist, not just in economics but also in the policy arena, that he approached his work and his discourse with reason and civility and he was never short of creative ideas or solutions. He was well respected by his peers even when they disagreed with them.

I was also pointing out that he is often mischaracterized or various policy choices are wrongly attributed to his line of thinking, and he should not be held responsible for that.

The science of economics has been advanced by his work. As summers put it in his op-ed piece,

"Mr. Friedman is perhaps best known for his views on money and monetary policy. Fierce debates continue on how the Federal Reserve and other central banks should set monetary policy. But the debates take place within the context of nearly total agreement on some basics: Monetary policy can shape an economy more than budgetary policy can; extended high inflation will not lead to prosperity and can lead to lower living standards; policy makers cannot fine-tune their economies as they fluctuate.

These insights may seem self-evident — but they were won through a combination of Mr. Friedman’s powerful argument and painful experience. I know. As an undergraduate in the early 1970s, I was taught that everyone other than Milton Friedman and a few other dissidents knew that fiscal policy was of primary importance for stabilizing economies, that the Phillips curve could be exploited to increase employment if only society would tolerate some increase in inflation and that economists would soon be able to tame economic fluctuations through finely calibrated policies. When I started teaching undergraduates a decade later, Mr. Friedman’s heresies had become the orthodoxy."

Of course, the above notwithstanding the fact that Friedmean thought the federal reserve should be abolished. As with many changes in ideas, it takes the radicals on one side or the other to move the needle. Friedman certainly did his part in that regard.

That process would also fit with Schopenhauer's stages of truth: "All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident."
15503. thoughtful - 11/21/2006 11:08:15 AM
Someone want to explain to me this latest bush illogic? He wants to send more troops so he can bring troops home?

Say what?
15504. Magoseph - 11/21/2006 12:39:03 PM
He believes that it requires 60,000 troops to stabilize the situation in Irak. When that is done, then the troops will be able to come home.

However, another reason could be that he has already authorized an air strike on Iran and if he doesn't have the 60.000 more troops in Irak, the US forces could be overrun by Iranians.
15505. thoughtful - 11/21/2006 12:50:07 PM
He should just leave it to the iranians...then he will be able to say truthfully they are developing wmd.
15506. thoughtful - 11/21/2006 12:55:26 PM
wonks, also not the most recent data, but all the indicators are moving in the right direction...and impressively so. National poverty rate cut in half in 10 years and national indigence cut by 2/3.
15507. jexster - 11/21/2006 2:52:05 PM
Tin Soldiers and Nixon's Come Again..

Military Data Reveal Tips on Antiwar Activities

WASHINGTON, Nov. 20 — An antiterrorist database used by the Defense Department in an effort to prevent attacks against military installations included intelligence tips about antiwar planning meetings held at churches, libraries, college campuses and other locations, newly disclosed documents show.

One tip in the database in February 2005, for instance, noted that “a church service for peace” would be held in the New York City area the next month. Another entry noted that antiwar protesters would be holding “nonviolence training” sessions at unidentified churches in Brooklyn and Manhattan
15508. jexster - 11/21/2006 2:57:38 PM
Now ths Chile pepper shit is all very interesting, do not get me wrong.

But it interrupts my on-topic misogynistic Pillory of Hillary so would you GIRLS please take your cat fights to International?

15509. thoughtful - 11/21/2006 3:47:12 PM
jex,

PPPBBFFFFFLLLLSSSSTTTTPPP!!
15510. jexster - 11/21/2006 3:48:33 PM
15511. Ronski - 11/21/2006 4:11:28 PM
Newt Wants a Wave
15512. jexster - 11/21/2006 5:37:12 PM
Mo Dowd kvetched on Imus this morning that Pelosi's election as House Speaker and the Ascent of the Succubus presaged a ReaKtion against the feminization of American politics complaining about Tester, Webb, Tester's hairdo ete etc ad nauseum

Fuck her. When it comes to fighting Wars Againt Bush Terror, Crony Capitalism, and Incompetence, this is a man's world.

Class Struggle
By Jim Webb, The Manly Man of Virginia
The Wall Street Journal

Man made the trains to carry the heavy loads

James Brown

15513. robertjayb - 11/21/2006 6:48:20 PM
USDA abolishes hunger...adopts "very low food security"(WaPo)
15514. jexster - 11/21/2006 7:38:58 PM
A Poppyist Plot!

This morning Mo Dowd said Pappy had sent out his men with butterfly nets for Little Georgie. Bout time he did!

But why did he wait so long?

The answer is as clear as the nose on your face. Poppy of the 30% approval inflicted Georgie on us for the sake of the 41 Legacy

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Only one in four Americans believe President Bush is a better president than his father, George H. W. Bush, a new CNN poll has found.

Six in 10 said the elder Bush, who served one term from 1989-1993, did a better job in office, according to a poll conducted by Opinion Research Corporation. Twelve percent said both were equally good or bad, and 2 percent offered no opinion.

15515. robertjayb - 11/21/2006 7:49:33 PM
Nzncy calls democratic forum on Iraq...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 21 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi announced today that House Democrats will hold a forum to discuss the war in
Iraq on Tuesday, Dec. 5. Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski, Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, and Maj. Gen. John Batiste will join current and new members of the Democratic Caucus in discussing options for a way forward in Iraq.

"The war in Iraq is one of the most critical issues confronting our nation, and the American people have clearly called for a New Direction in Iraq," Pelosi said. "We know that 'stay the course' is not working, has not made our country safer, has not honored the commitment to our troops, and has not brought stability to the region. I look forward to hearing from our distinguished group of experts as House Democrats discuss the deteriorating situation in Iraq."
15516. jexster - 11/21/2006 7:58:17 PM
A Real Hoot...

Daily Show scours the country for the top contenders 2044

Indecision 2004 - The Great Debate Pt 1

Pt. 2

"Lincoln a fiscal conservative and favorite of Soccer Moms v Mai Ling, sort of a Chinese Hillary Clinton only likeable"

Special appeance by Debating Coach and GOP framing consultant Frank Luntz
15517. OhioSTOPAS - 11/21/2006 8:29:24 PM
"Only one in four Americans believe President Bush is a better president than his father, George H. W. Bush, a new CNN poll has found."

"Only" one in four? That many? A sizeable portion of that number must be wealthy people you still resent Bush I's agreement to raise taxes slightly, and love Junior's tax cuts for them.
15518. Ronski - 11/21/2006 10:23:56 PM
Rudy the SocioCon
15519. robertjayb - 11/21/2006 10:33:07 PM
Chasing the train...

More proof that New England Republicans are in danger of taking up permanent residence at the margins comes this morning when a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives switches from Republican to Democrat. North Stonington Republican Diana Urban, elected to a fourth term two weeks ago, often voted with Democrats in the legislature. Her departure from the ranks of the GOP reduces their number to 44 of 151.

(Hotline)

15520. jexster - 11/21/2006 10:39:15 PM
OR they are members of the Church of God in Bush
15521. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/22/2006 2:38:01 AM

15522. Jenerator - 11/22/2006 10:32:13 AM
He looks like the guy you posted with the tattoos!
15523. thoughtful - 11/22/2006 11:15:42 AM
Hey Jen, you might want to check these guys out:

Institute for Progressive Christianity
15524. thoughtful - 11/22/2006 11:49:05 AM
This is a hoot...from WSJ Washington wire

Secretary of State Rice continues to struggle to find anyone to replace Robert Zoellick as her deputy, leaving many to wonder why an otherwise plum job offers so little attraction. Zoellick, who is now at Goldman Sachs, left the department in July, and Rice has since approached at least four candidates to take the post; all have turned her down, according to several knowledgeable sources. Among those who have said no are Deputy Treasury Secretary Robert Kimmitt and Gen. James Jones, former Marine Corps commander and now head the United States European Command. Rice is said to have asked Gen. Jones twice to take the job.
15525. thoughtful - 11/22/2006 11:59:47 AM
This is also a hoot...from "the big picture" blog:

Imagine a version of Jon Stewart's The Daily Show that leans rightward.

That's the latest idea from the fertile minds at FNC. Fox News plans on airing 2 episodes of a right-leaning fake news show in January as a test run.

Of course, this begs the question "How will anyone be able to tell the difference between a fake Fox news shows and the rest of Fox News?"

This ranks right up there with that goper campaign that linked to a colbert report, completely oblivious to the fact that it's all satire.
15526. jexster - 11/22/2006 1:01:08 PM
JC's Blessings

I am glad to report that Senator Barack Obama has adopted a position on a phased withdrawal from Iraq that is very similar to the one that I hold. He has it absolutely right. Pressure the government and pressure the factions to compromise by getting our guys out of the line of fire among them.
15527. jexster - 11/22/2006 1:05:53 PM
I hate when the Daily Show re-runs...Last night's rerun of the Nov6 show was like reading a 3 week old newspaper except for the timeless Haggard the Horrible
15528. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/22/2006 2:45:53 PM
15529. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/22/2006 2:54:04 PM
Speaking of satire . . .

Conservative Daily Show coming soon

I just can't wait to see what will probably be the funniest show on TV.

Now Fox News Channel, a primary source of material for Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, is teaming with the exec producer of "24" to try its hand at a news satire show for conservatives to love. Joel Surnow, co-creator of "24," is shooting two half-hour pilots of a skein he described as " 'The Daily Show' for conservatives," due to air in primetime on Saturdays in January

Just think about all the situations where Brown people can be made fun of. And as for "24," I'd say Laura Ingraham in the clip below really nails it with this bit of comedy.

15530. Ronski - 11/22/2006 3:03:15 PM
More on the Latest Crackpot Running a Ward in Bush's Asylum
15531. thoughtful - 11/22/2006 3:20:02 PM
ronski, he's gotta be one of those that opposes vaccination against hpv...better women should die of cervical cancer than risk being "encouraged" to have sex by the vaccine!

wiz, ahem, see #15525....
15532. jexster - 11/22/2006 3:27:33 PM
You're just trying to bait me there thoughtful, but I ain't bitin
15533. jexster - 11/22/2006 3:29:09 PM
WaPo Cruel to Dumb Animals

This lead pic on site

15534. jexster - 11/22/2006 3:34:48 PM
Charles Franklin's blue line

He's also out with an interesting analysis plus kewl graphs of ideological shifts in Congress
15535. thoughtful - 11/22/2006 3:42:50 PM
Who can forget that earlier encounter bush had with the turkey...no wonder he pardons them!

15536. thoughtful - 11/22/2006 3:44:27 PM
jex, what are you talking about???
15537. jexster - 11/23/2006 12:01:25 AM
What are you referring to? Charles Franklin? He's a poli sci prof at the University of Wisconsin. He used something called a NOMINATE model to show the shift in ideology in the House. It's a regression model. UR an economist tell me!

It is a point estimate but moves prior congresses into the current one....done on a supercomputer based on the notion that liberal/conservative two dimension is stable through all congresses. Not my field but I have a friend that did his dissertation using that model. He's showing moderate republicans getting killed off.
15538. jexster - 11/23/2006 12:04:46 AM
The worsening crisis in Iraq lends desperate urgency to efforts in Washington to find a solution. While the capital awaits the report of the Iraq Study Group, co-chaired by James Baker and Lee Hamilton, in December or early January, the die-hards and dead-enders in and out of the Bush administration are making one last push for, well, one last push. All reason to the contrary, they’re pushing the notion that the United States has to prepare for one more Alamo-like last stand in Iraq.

Going Long In Iraq
Robert Dreyfuss

Remember NOW Robert?

15539. jexster - 11/23/2006 12:21:21 AM

The following adjusts the House as a whole T'fill and plots committee chairs

Ideological shifts in House Committee Chairs

While the chairs are not an exact match, they are not wildly different from the House as a whole. The Republican chair median conservatism score is 73.3, while that for all Republicans in the House is 74.4. The median Democratic chair's conservatism score is 18.8 while the median for all Democrats is 23.25.

NOMINATE: A Short Intellectual History
Kieth Poole
15540. jexster - 11/23/2006 12:28:52 AM
Beyond that I have very little idea WTF they are talking about! It would take me an entire semester to be able to use that model - maybe

Measuring Bias and Uncertainty in Ideal Point Estimates via the Parametric Bootstrap"
by Jeffrey B. Lewis and Keith T. Poole.

15541. jexster - 11/23/2006 1:14:58 AM
Dreyfuss on the Dead Enders' Hail Mary
15542. jexster - 11/23/2006 11:51:55 AM
Thanksgiving Memories

15543. jexster - 11/23/2006 12:02:37 PM
The Decider
He's Still Deciding!
15544. wonkers2 - 11/23/2006 1:06:18 PM
Reality TV. Pretty funny!
15545. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/23/2006 1:42:16 PM

15546. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/23/2006 1:43:07 PM
Still serving them up!
15547. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/23/2006 6:55:40 PM
These say it all . . .

15548. wonkers2 - 11/23/2006 9:09:03 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/12/AR2006111201084.html"> Election fraud by Marland GOP Governor Robert Ehrlich

15549. wonkers2 - 11/23/2006 9:11:57 PM
Election fraud by Marland GOP Governor Robert Ehrlich
15550. wonkers2 - 11/23/2006 9:16:10 PM
Another try!!! Election fraud by Marland GOP Governor Robert Ehrlich
15551. thoughtful - 11/24/2006 11:40:24 AM
Jex, I still have no idea what you are referring to...how did i 'bait' you? About what?

I'm beginning to feel like i'm talking with ulgine!
15552. jexster - 11/24/2006 11:47:17 AM
Oh IC

Referering to my misogynistic rant...which was then on going but now has passed.....am back to normal - the Burning Bush rant
15553. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/24/2006 7:28:08 PM
Leaked Drug Company Memo: Santorum Loss "Creates A Big Hole We Will Need To Fill"..."We Now Have Fewer Allies In The Senate"...

Gee, I wonder who they'll get?

15554. wonkers2 - 11/24/2006 7:32:46 PM
I'm sure joe is for sale.
15555. jexster - 11/24/2006 11:49:21 PM
Poppy's Geriatric Rescue Squad Needs to Put a Little Giddie-up in the git-along

Woes for Baker group
Internal dissension, Bush opposition, External Events

Looks like events on the ground are moving faster than they can. Can you say "Greatest Strategic Disaster in US History?
15556. Max Macks - 11/25/2006 9:11:39 PM
"if we leave now chaos will result"

chaos tomorrow, chaos, today, chaos yesterday.

"on the verge of Civil war"
"possible Civil war"

Civil war .

great cartoons, Jexter, thanks
15557. jexster - 11/25/2006 9:12:58 PM
Thank the Wiz...

He's the toon man round here
15558. judithathome - 11/25/2006 10:39:56 PM
Bush Bumper Stickers

1/20/09: End of an Error?

That's OK, I Wasn't Using My Civil Liberties Anyway

Let's Fix Democracy in This Country First

If You Want a Nation Ruled By Religion, Move to Iran

Bush. Like a Rock. Only Dumber.

If You Can Read This, You're Not Our President

Of Course It Hurts: You're Getting Screwed by an Elephant

Hey, Bush Supporters: Embarrassed Yet?

George Bush: Creating the Terrorists Our Kids Will Have to Fight

Impeachment: It's Not Just for Blowjobs Anymore

America: One Nation, Under Surveillance

They Call Him "W" So He Can Spell It

Who's God Do You Kill For?

Cheney/Satan '08

Jail to the Chief

No, Seriously, Why Did We Invade Iraq?

Bush: God's Way of Proving Intelligent Design is Full Of Crap

Bad President! No Banana.

We Need a President Who's Fluent In At Least One Language

We're Making Enemies Faster Than We Can Kill Them

Is It Vietnam Yet?

Bush Doesn't Care About White People, Either

Where Are We Going? And Why Are We In This Handbasket?

You Elected Him. You Deserve Him.

Impeach Cheney First

Dubya, Your Dad Shoulda Pulled Out, Too

When Bush Took Office, Gas Was $1.46

Pray For Impeachment

The Republican Party: Our Bridge to the 11th Century

What Part of "Bush Lied" Don't You Understand?

One Nation Under Clod

2004: Embarrassed
2005: Horrified
2006: Terrified

Bush Never Exhaled

At Least Nixon Resigned

15559. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/25/2006 10:50:56 PM
Those are quite good, thanks Judith.
15560. wonkers2 - 11/26/2006 12:28:58 AM
Yes, they are! I'm going to have to buy a few more cars!
15561. arkymalarky - 11/26/2006 2:22:35 AM
I have the "Like a rock. Only dumber." as a refrigerator magnet, courtesy of bro, illustrated with a photo to prove it.
15562. arkymalarky - 11/26/2006 2:24:07 AM
Around here we used to have "Shut the Huck up" bumperstickers. I haven't seen one in a while.
15563. jexster - 11/26/2006 1:25:32 PM
Leaving Iraq, Honorably
» Chuck Hagel | There will be no victory or defeat for the United States in Iraq. These terms do not reflect the reality of what is going to happen there. The future of Iraq was always going to be determined by the Iraqis -- not the Americans....The United States must begin planning for a phased troop withdrawal from Iraq.
15564. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/26/2006 7:02:41 PM
The Myth Of The Liberal Media

15565. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/26/2006 7:50:49 PM
GOP “cutting and running” from unfinished spending bills

Republicans vacating the Capitol are dumping a big spring cleaning job on Democrats moving in. GOP leaders have opted to leave behind almost a half-trillion-dollar clutter of unfinished spending bills.

[..]The bulging workload that a Republican-led Congress was supposed to complete this year but is instead punting to 2007 promises to consume time and energy that Democrats had hoped to devote to their own agenda upon taking control of Congress in January for the first time in a dozen years.
15566. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/26/2006 10:46:10 PM
Karl Rove May Be Leaving The White House In ‘Weeks, Not Months
15567. arkymalarky - 11/26/2006 11:49:42 PM
Ol cut-n-run himself. Wonder how much Cheney's squirming with all the other rats abandoning ship. I predict he's in for a miserable two years in the Senate. He can't afford to be telling other Senators what they can do with themselves now. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.
15568. wonkers2 - 11/27/2006 2:07:21 AM
Rove and Cheney should be frog-walked out in handcuffs.
15569. thoughtful - 11/27/2006 11:33:59 AM
How could he let rove go? Rove knows way way way too much. Can you imagine if rove wrote a book???

I'm reading Rich's "greatest story ever sold" and it's amazing how much I've forgotten even though I thought I've been following things pretty closely over the years. The whole gemish is a terrible indictment of this administration.

It mentions how w promised to be the mba president and hired all these ceos for his cabinet. Then I realized that his "businessman's presidency" had come to pass! He modeled the administration after Enron! All smoke and mirrors...don't like the facts? Change 'em, hide 'em, ignore 'em, deny 'em!

Kenny boy strikes again!
15570. robertjayb - 11/27/2006 1:09:05 PM
Another bushie obscenity; $500 million for a library...(NY Daily News)

WASHINGTON - He may be a certified lame duck now, but President Bush and his truest believers are about to launch their final campaign - an eye-popping, half-billion-dollar drive for the Bush presidential library.

Eager to begin refurbishing his tattered legacy, the President hopes to raise $500 million to build his library and a think tank at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Bush lived in Dallas until he was elected governor of Texas in 1995.

Bush sources with direct knowledge of library plans told the Daily News that SMU and Bush fund-raisers hope to get half of the half billion from what they call "megadonations" of $10 million to $20 million a pop.
.................................................

...a major inducement for potential donors: Their names aren't required to be made public.

15571. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/27/2006 1:25:31 PM
Speaking of "refurbishing a tattered legacy," check out this piece of revisionist tripe . . .

15572. Magoseph - 11/27/2006 1:32:36 PM
Why is Bush trying to raise half-a-billion dollars for a tribute to him since at the present time he’s going out as the most incompetent one who ever occupied the presidency? Is he actually silly enough to believe that by raising more money than any preceding president, he wins an historical victory of sorts?
15573. jexster - 11/27/2006 1:42:24 PM
What is the Mission (Cole)

The Iraq Study Group or Baker-Hamilton Commission will urge intensive diplomacy with Syria and Iran to help deal with the Iraqi civil conflict but will not urge a phased pull-out of US troops.

If they don't, they should specify the mission. What is the mission of the US military in Ramadi? I hope my readers will press their representatives in Congress and the executive branch to answer this question. What is the mission? When will it be accomplished?

At what point will the people of Ramadi wake up in the morning and say, 'We've changed our minds. We like the new government dominated by Shiite ayatollahs and Kurdish warlords. We're happy to host Western Occupation troops on our soil. We don't care if those troops are allied with the Israeli military, which is daily bombing our brethren in Gaza and killing them and keeping them down. We're changed persons. We're not going to bother to set any IEDs tonight and we've put away our sniping rifles.'

(You could substitute Tikrit, Samarra', Baquba, and other Sunni Arab cities for Ramadi).

It is not going to happen. In fall, 2003, 14 percent of Sunni Arabs thought it was legitimate to attack US personnel in Iraq. Now over 70 percent do. Isn't it going toward 100 percent? How would more or less keeping the people of Ramadi in a cage help things in that regard, especially if they perceive us to be doing it on behalf of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (founded by Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran) and the Kurdish Peshmerga and the Israeli army?

(Despite the denials of Bush administration officials such as Condi Rice, the Arab and Islamic opposition to US presence in Iraq has at least something to do with local perceptions that the US invaded Iraq on behalf of Israel, and Iraqis often refer to US troops as "al-Yahud," "the Jews." This is conspiracy theory thinking and wrong-headed, but it is the reality on the ground. Even the notorious attack on the four mercenaries in Falluja was done in the name of the murdered Palestinian leader Sheikh Yassin. The deeply unpopular US support for Israel's depredations against the Palestinians was one of the things that foredoomed a US military occupation of a major Arab country.)

The idea that al-Anbar tribal forces will pull the US fat from the fire is a non-starter. Some of the tribes are openly agitating on behalf of Saddam Hussein. Any who are fighting the Salafis or Muslim fundamentalists are doing it as a grudge match. Tribes are notoriously factionalized among themselves and seldom unite for very long. The rural tribes just aren't a big center of power in Iraq any more-- it is largely urban and the power centers are urban political parties and their paramilitaries. Those urban forces have vast hinterlands of practical and monetary support in the region-- Iran for the Shiites, the Oil Gulf and small-town Jordan and Syria for the Sunni Arabs. They are not going to decline in importance.

Syria and Iran are not responsible for the resistance in Ramadi or Baquba and probably can't do anything about it. Therefore negotiating with them is not a silver bullet, though it might be useful in its own right.

What is the military mission? I can't see a practical one. And if there is not a military mission that can reasonably be accomplished in a specified period of time, then keeping US troops in al-Anbar is a sort of murder. Because you know when they go out on patrol, a few of them each week are going to get blown up or shot down. Reliably. Each week. Steadily. It is monstrous to force them to play Russian roulette every day unless there is a clear mission that could thereby be accomplished. There is not.
15574. jexster - 11/27/2006 2:20:55 PM
We paid good money for that crap Wiz!

Beware "Phased Withdrawal"

Nixon pulled that one out after the war was lost and 20,000 Americans died for nothing
15575. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/27/2006 4:30:26 PM
No way Jexster, that is all the result of corrupt money–we had nothing to do with it!
15576. robertjayb - 11/27/2006 5:15:47 PM

(via bartcop.com)
15577. wonkers2 - 11/27/2006 7:11:22 PM
According to a long article in yesterday's NYTimes, it looks unlikely that the DEMs are going make much headway on earmarks and pork. There are many pork addicts on both sides of the aisle. GOP pork aficionados are being replaced by DEM pork lovers on key appropriations committees and subcommittees. Dem porkers include Robert Byrd, Herb Kohl, Barbara Mikulski, Daniel Inouye, Byron Dorgan, Diane Feinstein, Tom Harkin and Patty Murray in the Senate. House appropriations committee chairman to be include David Obey, Rose DeLauro, Alan Mollohan, John Murtha, Peter Visclosky, Norm Dicks, and John Oliver. As Power Shifts in Congress Pork May Linger.
15578. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/27/2006 7:47:35 PM
That's so depressing!
15579. jexster - 11/27/2006 8:37:47 PM
At Least SOMEONE Cares

Iran says will do all it can to help Iraq
15580. jexster - 11/27/2006 10:04:30 PM
It's Official

The same "expert" criteria existed 2 years ago when I called it.

Better late than never
15581. jexster - 11/27/2006 10:07:19 PM
Better Never

15582. jexster - 11/27/2006 10:43:59 PM
Olberman reports via the New York Daily News that Bush plans to raise $1/2 Billion for his Liberry at SMU. The two volumes including My Pet Goat and the Iraq War Wing shouldn't cost much. The balance - get this - for the George W. Bush THINK TANK where scholars and the not-so-scholarly can re-write histories proclaiming the values and vision of the worst president of modern times..

The money in $20 million chunks from big corporations and Arab sheiks

15583. jexster - 11/27/2006 11:28:20 PM
toys
15584. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/28/2006 1:52:45 AM
15585. thoughtful - 11/28/2006 11:35:21 AM
So many things to be frustrated about with iraq, but one of the things I find most frustrating is that, at various stages along the way, there were potentially some solutions that could've saved the country, or at least pulled it together enough that what would be left would be a semblance of a country with some degree of hope for improving in the future. But due to the 'stay the course' approach as the country was circling the drain, there is no hope for recovery at this point. And despite poppy's best effort, it looks like these guys are planning on 'staying the course' regardless of whatever small hope the iraq study group proposes. It's a complete outrage and shame.

And to think this too can be yours for only about a trillion dollars, thousands of US lives and hundreds of thousands of iraqi lives. Happy holiday everyone!
15586. jexster - 11/28/2006 1:11:48 PM
Harman: In Her Own Words

Jane Harman has called herself "the best Republican in the Democratic party." Muckraker finds the quotes that back up that title.
15587. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/28/2006 1:47:40 PM
Jesus, send that article to Pelosi, jexster!
15588. jexster - 11/28/2006 3:38:27 PM
Way ahead of ya Wizzer
15589. jexster - 11/28/2006 3:46:11 PM
And you thought Mentum was an a**hole

Thank you! Please note that if you are not a constituent, this form will not process your entry. Non-constituents should visit http://democraticleader.house.gov to learn more about Congresswoman Pelosi's role as Democratic Leader.

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Comments: Dear Madam Speaker Elect:

I applaud your decision not to appoint Rep Harman to the House Select Intelligence Committee. After reading the following at Josh Marshall's The Muckraker this morning, I feel a special kinship with the Chron's Little Man..I am falling out of my chair:
"Harman: In Her Own Words By Justin Rood - ..."

Frankly the lead alternative, Alcee Hastings, leaves me a little cold but Ms Harman as HSIC chairm would leave me a burning anger. Perhaps you can find a Black Caucus member who is less radioactive. Thank you for opposing Jane Harman's bid for chair

15590. jexster - 11/28/2006 3:48:28 PM
SF Chron Movie Reviews - The Little Man

15591. Max Macks - 11/28/2006 6:08:28 PM
In lastest New Yorker magazine Cy Hersh
writes about Cheney's desire to bomb Iran

Are there really such stupid assholes in the Bush
Gang who will plan to bomb Iran.

I almost wish they would , They may think Iran
is like Iraq or Lebanon.
15592. jexster - 11/28/2006 6:09:20 PM
'Civil' Disobedience Spreads -- 'NYT' Adjusts Language on Iraq

In the wake of the highly-publicized NBC and MSNBC decision to start referring to the conflict in Iraq as a "civil war," other media outlets, which have long used phrases such as "sectarian violence," are reconsidering their language in this regard. Bill Keller, executive editor of The New York Times, says "it's hard to argue" with the fact of civil war. - November 28, 2006 10:05 AM ET Editor and Publisher

And the Busheviks are beside themselves...

The Bush Justice (sic) Dept has just launched an investigation into the legality of NSA domestic spying
15593. robertjayb - 11/28/2006 6:31:09 PM
Alcee Hastings out of running for intel committee spot, says CNN. Nancy said no.
15594. jexster - 11/28/2006 6:42:24 PM
YES!

She got my email
15595. thoughtful - 11/28/2006 6:59:38 PM
This civil war terminology is such idiocy.

"On Friday, Scott Stanzel, a White House spokesman, insisted that the Iraq conflict was not civil war, noting that Iraq's top leaders had agreed with that assessment.

Anytime they refer to Iraq's leaders as backup, you know they aren't telling the truth...the iraqi leaders will agree with anything the bushies tell them because they are scared sh-less that the americans will leave.

Idiocy.

And just another data point proving that there is NOTHING that this admin does that doesn't have politics as it's primary motivation.

15596. thoughtful - 11/28/2006 7:07:18 PM
More from froomkin quoting Michael Ware of CNN:

"I mean, if this is not civil war, where there is, on average, 40 to 50 tortured, mutilated, executed bodies showing up on the capital streets each morning, where we have thousands of unaccounted for dead bodies mounting up every month, and where the list of those who have simply disappeared for the sake of the fact that they have the wrong name, a name that is either Sunni or Shia, so much so that we have people getting dual identity cards, where parents cannot send their children to school, because they have to cross a sectarian line, then, goodness, me, I don't want to see what a civil war looks like either if this isn't one."

I think bush's stay the course is designed to let all the iraqis kill each other and then the US can step in and take over the oil fields. Given how many have been killed, wounded, disappeared, or fled the country, it shouldn't be too long before the country's empty.
15597. thoughtful - 11/28/2006 7:10:43 PM
More from froomkin:

Marc Kaufman writes in The Washington Post: "Jordan's King Abdullah, who will host President Bush this week during emergency talks on Iraq, said yesterday that the Middle East faces the prospect of three simultaneous civil wars erupting.

"'We're juggling with the strong potential of three civil wars in the region, whether it's the Palestinians, that of Lebanon, or of Iraq,' the Jordanian king said on ABC's 'This Week.'

"He said that as a result, 'something dramatic' had to come out of this week's Amman meetings between Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. 'I don't think we're in a position where we can come back and revisit the problem in early 2007,' he told interviewer George Stephanopoulos."

Perhaps what they say is true. Perhaps bush is really achieving his goal of preparing the world for the rapture. If major wars have to break out in the middle east before christ returns, they are well on their way.

White buffalo indeed.
15598. jexster - 11/28/2006 7:13:12 PM
As the USMC concedes defeat in al-Anbar, Michael Ware from Baghdad? "Control the militias? You've got to be kidding! THe Iraqi government is little more than a apparition"

So Georgie's gonna meet with antoher of his phantasms
15599. jexster - 11/28/2006 7:36:16 PM
Confiscate the Texican's Passport

Sometime last spring, I was on the phone with former federal prosecutor Elizabeth de la Vega talking about books she might someday write, when she suddenly said to me, "You know what I'd like to do?" When I asked what, she replied, "What I've done all my life."

"What's that?" I wondered innocently enough.

"I'd like to draft an indictment of President Bush and his senior aides, and present the case for prewar intelligence fraud to a grand jury, just as if it were an actual case of mine, using the evidence we already have in the public record. That's the book I'd like to do."

Bringing Bush to Court
15600. wonkers2 - 11/28/2006 8:57:01 PM
Jimmy Carter is doing a marathon of TV and radio appearances pushing his new book on Israel-Palestine. He's tough on Israel's appropriation of Palestinian land and on Bush for doing nothing to promote peace there. I gather from Larry King's interview of Carter last night that Alan Dershowitz is accusing Carter of anti-semitism. I used to admire Dershowitz, but he screams anti-semitism at the slightest criticism of Israel's policies.
15601. wonkers2 - 11/28/2006 9:34:56 PM
Carter is ripping the Israelis a new one tonight on the Lehrer News Hour.
15602. jexster - 11/28/2006 10:06:39 PM
Dershowitz is a Jew Horror

Wolf Blitzer's not quite so obvious in his dual loyalties but he trotted out the usual Jewish lies about Israel and Carter would have none of em

15603. jexster - 11/28/2006 10:08:37 PM
As for me Wonk....I am proud to be an American..I don't send my money to defend another country - at least not voluntarily though I might send cash to France if the Bosch or Swedes attack
15604. Max Macks - 11/28/2006 10:32:52 PM
I just watched Carter on the Liar news hour

and once again thought what a great man

speaking truth to power. I imagine he will
be vilfied in many places.
15605. Max Macks - 11/28/2006 10:35:17 PM
It is almost laughable the concern over when
to call the Civil war in Iraq what it has been for
over a year.

reminds me of the guy who came up with the phrase,

"if it walks like a duck , and quacks like a duck,
it's a duck"

wasent there a third part , maybe , "if it looks like
duck"
15606. jexster - 11/28/2006 10:36:48 PM
Dana Milbank: "We've entered a new phase of sectarian skirmishing and so we must strategically redeploy"

Bush DoubleSpeak
15607. jexster - 11/29/2006 6:41:35 AM
Another Bush Leak. This the second in as many days about Maliki is to the NyT. Yesterday's to WaPo.

This is from Hadley's office. Full Text hyperlink included.

Wonder if he gets referred to Justice Dept?
15608. thoughtful - 11/29/2006 11:15:12 AM
Stunning, just stunning. This a.m. on imus jay severin who is a rw radio talk guy and has been an unbelievably staunch supporter of bush this a.m. read a thing calling for bush's impeachment. Un-freakin-believable!

White buffalo indeed!
15609. wonkers2 - 11/29/2006 11:20:58 AM
Bush administration loses one of its few good advisers-- Philip Zelikow. Zelikow resigns.
15610. thoughtful - 11/29/2006 11:40:56 AM
Wonks, so help me understand...is that a good thing or a bad thing?

I mean if the guys jumping ship are the radicals like wolfowitz was, that's a good thing, right? And they'll be forced to hire moderates from the reality-based community rather than idealogues?

Or are they losing moderates, and are left with only the kool aid drinkers?
15611. wonkers2 - 11/29/2006 12:23:07 PM
It's unfortuntate. Zelikow was one of the few voices of reason in the Bush administration. He provided good advice, some of which, was actually followed. Rice will miss him.
15612. wonkers2 - 11/29/2006 12:25:50 PM
Here's the vote on the controversial immigration bill passed this month by the Senate. Senate Roll Call on Immigration Bill

I've been getting 2-3 emails a day asking me to signe petitions urging Bush to veto the bill if anything like it is agreed upon by the House. It's obviously one of the hottest of hot-button issues.
15613. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/29/2006 12:54:04 PM
Son also rises in testy Webb-Bush exchange

At a private reception held at the White House with newly elected lawmakers shortly after the election, Bush asked Webb how his son, a Marine lance corporal serving in Iraq, was doing.

Webb responded that he really wanted to see his son brought back home, said a person who heard about the exchange from Webb.

“I didn’t ask you that, I asked how he’s doing,” Bush retorted, according to the source.

Webb confessed that he was so angered by this that he was tempted to slug the commander-in-chief, reported the source, but of course didn’t. It’s safe to say, however, that Bush and Webb won’t be taking any overseas trips together anytime soon.

[I think Webb replied: "That's private and between me and my son!"]

15614. alistairconnor - 11/29/2006 1:51:38 PM
Alan Dershowitz is accusing Carter of anti-semitism.

I think that's very positive. It demonstrates how extreme the unconditional supporters of Israel have become. People know who Carter is, they know his record with respect to Israel.
15615. jexster - 11/29/2006 2:03:38 PM
The Abominables of
The New Republic
Getting away with murder
15616. jexster - 11/29/2006 2:04:36 PM
I love it Wizzer..There are Manly Men, then there are Texicans
15617. jexster - 11/29/2006 2:11:58 PM
Texicans make me sick. Sniveling little beeyatches
15618. jexster - 11/29/2006 2:12:45 PM
Peter Beinart and the New Republic make me hurl

Beinart strongly urged the invasion of a country that had not attacked us, and that did not threaten us. This is the advocacy of illegitimate, immoral, and illegal aggressive war. Let us always remember the exact nature of the crime involved.

But now Beinart's heart breaks:

"I can't even imagine Iraq anymore. It exceeds my capacity to visualize horror. In a recent interview with The Washington Post's Anthony Shadid, a woman named Fatima put it this way: 'One-third of us are dying, one-third of us are fleeing, and one-third of us will be widows.' At the Baghdad morgue, they distinguish Shia from Sunnis because the former are beheaded and the latter are killed with power drills. Moqtada Al Sadr has actually grown afraid of his own men. I came of age believing the United States had a mission to stop such evil. And now, not only isn't the United States stopping it – in some important sense, we are its cause."

No, Beinart: not "in some important sense." The United States government and its military are the cause – in every "important sense." And the U.S. government was aided and abetted by Beinart and his fellow warmongers. But the collective "we" is critical to Beinart's purposes, since he is determined to avoid accountability at every turn. That "we" carries profound meaning. As Hannah Arendt observes: "[W]here all are guilty, no one is." The "we" washes Beinart clean of sin, or so he hopes
15619. wonkers2 - 11/29/2006 3:02:34 PM
Beinart is a smug little warmongering jerk. So is Tim Noah. Both of them supported the invasion.
15620. wonkers2 - 11/29/2006 3:03:19 PM
What about Michael Kinsley? Was he smart enough to see what a dumb idea invading Iraq was?
15621. jexster - 11/29/2006 3:11:48 PM
The biggest impact of the election will not be seen at either end of PA Ave but on the small screen and in print.

The media is now reporting again!

CNN from Jordan: "The moderate leaders Bush is now courting pleaded with him not to invade Iraq fearing that this would open the very Pandora's of troubles we are now witnesssing. Frankly they do not believe Bush has the credibility or the ability to deal with the problems his invasion has created."

It will set you free America!

Too little truth too late
15622. jexster - 11/29/2006 3:15:48 PM
Kingsley hasn't been at TNR for a decade Wonk!

Acts of terror have never brought down liberal democracies. Acts of parliament have closed a few.

~Lt. General William E. Odom, US Army (Ret.)

15623. wonkers2 - 11/29/2006 4:06:44 PM
I know that, dummy! I just happened to read one of Kinsley's columns today in Slate. He grew up in my neighborhood for whatever that's worth. Not much I guess.
15624. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/29/2006 4:36:46 PM
Will it get even more tragic?

These arrogant gangsters and fear-mongering control-freak-fucks! They continue to assume they can bully their way through every situation.

Well if anything is obvious, it's that more brutality is coming if Bush & Tom Friedman have their ways. Our military is surely in for more of it.
15625. Magoseph - 11/29/2006 5:33:17 PM
At a recent White House reception for freshman members of Congress, Virginia's newest senator tried to avoid President Bush. Democrat James Webb declined to stand in a presidential receiving line or to have his picture taken with the man he had often criticized on the stump this fall. But it wasn't long before Bush found him.

"How's your boy?" Bush asked, referring to Webb's son, a Marine serving in Iraq.

"I'd like to get them out of Iraq, Mr. President," Webb responded, echoing a campaign theme.

"That's not what I asked you," Bush said. "How's your boy?"

"That's between me and my boy, Mr. President," Webb said coldly, ending the conversation on the State Floor of the East Wing of the White House.

Webb was narrowly elected to the U.S. Senate this month with a brash, unpolished style that helped win over independent voters in Virginia and earned him support from national party leaders. Now, his Democratic colleagues in the Senate are getting a close-up view of the former boxer, military officer and Republican who is joining their ranks.

If the exchange with Bush two weeks ago is any indication, Webb won't be a wallflower, especially when it comes to the war in Iraq. And he won't stick to a script drafted by top Democrats.

"I'm not particularly interested in having a picture of me and George W. Bush on my wall," Webb said in an interview yesterday in which he confirmed the exchange between him and Bush. "No offense to the institution of the presidency, and I'm certainly looking forward to working with him and his administration. [But] leaders do some symbolic things to try to convey who they are and what the message is."

(more)

15626. Magoseph - 11/29/2006 5:36:20 PM
In Following His Own Script, Webb May Test Senate's Limits
15627. wonkers2 - 11/29/2006 6:15:25 PM
Webb'll be interesting to watch.
15628. jexster - 11/29/2006 6:16:34 PM
Guees Who's NOT Coming to Dinner With Idiot George?

The Prime Minister of Iraq

Power Failure
by Procol Harum

Climbing out of open windows
Crashing down from broken stairs
Keeping watch on smoking cinders
Falling over burning chairs
Tossed and crossed and screwed in transit
Broken, splintered, bruised and thrown
Badly shattered, gale force frighty
Rrushed across and shown alone
Speech reduced by poor relations
Strung from weeks of self abuse
Chopped up, churned out weeks of greazy
Spark plugs burned up, power's fused
15629. Max Macks - 11/29/2006 6:21:12 PM
Webb can take some of the bad taste
in my mouth over the cowardly Dems who
supported The Bush War

Have always been glad that Barbara Lee is my
congress person.

Maybe Webb can get more of the Democrats
to stop thinking that if they are nice
to Cheney and Rove the same will be true
of the Bush Gang.
They should have known better after Bush renominated
that Bolton with the mustache that makes him look
like the clown he is.
15630. jexster - 11/29/2006 6:45:55 PM

toys
15631. jexster - 11/29/2006 10:07:18 PM
Webb's not the kinda guy to stab you in the back. He'll do it in the front

Craig Crawford on the Manly Man of Virginny
15632. thoughtful - 11/30/2006 11:19:10 AM
There's another huge danger going on that having this admin in power presents. It's not only that they do everything based on political impact, it's also that, while in charge, they are ignoring the very real dangers that are escalating in the world. Forget the meltdown that is iraq for a minute. There is still a terrorist threat present that is being ignored, much in the way katrina's onslaught and aftermath was ignored and much in the way the recommendations of the 9/11 commission are being ignored and much in the way the spending to fight terrorism is being parsed on a political basis rather than threat-risk basis. (was watching lee hamilton on cspan last night. He's good.)

That is the loud and clear message sent by the assassins of Litvinenko....we have the materials and the ability to make a dirty bomb and bring it to your city, and there's nothing you can do about it. If no message like that was being sent, why not use ricin? or a bullet? or a garrote? And exactly who won't these people sell refined radioactive material to?

From wikipedia, polonium is 250 billion times as toxic as hydrogen cyanide....

Sleep tight, boys and girls, because w is working to keep american safe.

781 days left.

Do you feel lucky?
15633. thoughtful - 11/30/2006 11:32:05 AM
This will be fun to watch:

Some conservatives are livid that Keith Ellison, the Minnesota Democrat who became the first Muslim ever elected to Congress, has said he will take the oath of office with his left hand on the Koran....

15634. Wombat - 11/30/2006 12:45:45 PM
This has been covered extensively in the blogosphere. It never ceases to amaze me that the founders of US constitutional government were farsighted enough to take these situations into account. Comparing them intellectually with today's polity is like comparing collussi to midgets.
15635. robertjayb - 11/30/2006 1:22:35 PM
Iowa's democratic governor Tom Vilsack has announced he is a candidate for president. Probably he will do well in the primary, if he is still a candidate, that is.
15636. jexster - 11/30/2006 1:34:04 PM
Throw Brunehilde a bodyblock right up front. Then the First Black Lady of the US will have to face a real colored boy in South Carolina.

Keep Vilsack in the race
15637. jexster - 11/30/2006 1:36:10 PM
JimBob Baker Better Break Out the Butterfly Net

Headlines WaPo

Bush: Calls for Iraq Pullout Are Unrealistic

Iraq Study Group to call for major withdrawal of U.S. forces
15638. bubbaette - 11/30/2006 2:41:24 PM
A friend of mine was just announced as Webb's Chief of Staff. He's never worked for a republican before.
15639. jexster - 11/30/2006 2:53:03 PM
Sen John Corndog

Gotta be the second dumbest Texican I have ever seen....Just flappin his gums on CNN about EyeRak.

Is there any subject on which he isn't ashamed to look like a fucking idiot?

Must be planning a run for President
15640. jexster - 11/30/2006 2:54:04 PM
KEWL Bubbs!!

Would be great to work for the Manly Man of the Ole Dominion!
15641. Max Macks - 11/30/2006 3:32:36 PM
Has any Moter ventured a guess on what would
happen in Iraq after the US pulls troops
out , if not all the way home to Kuwait
or ...well they are unwelcome in Saudi arabia

and Jordon doesnt has enough trouble with its
suport of US ,
so where would the troops go if not Kuwait?

Moqqauada Sadr has the largest militia doesnt
he . would he be the leader of Iraq??

15642. jexster - 11/30/2006 3:38:00 PM
Bushism of the Decade

I know there's a lot of speculation that these reports in Washington mean there's going to be some kind of graceful exit out of Iraq.

15643. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/30/2006 4:35:26 PM
15644. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/30/2006 4:46:58 PM
"Won't Fox News love this?!"

15645. judithathome - 11/30/2006 9:02:27 PM
That was GREAT!!!
15646. jexster - 11/30/2006 9:58:49 PM
Yea he spoke in French...send him to Guantanamo
15647. arkymalarky - 11/30/2006 10:34:03 PM
Can y'all fill me in a little? Who is it?
15648. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/30/2006 10:44:09 PM
Howard Dean gave a well received speech in English and French to the Canadian Liberal Leadership Conference and after speaking in French he said: "Fox News is gonna love this!"
15649. jexster - 11/30/2006 10:44:40 PM
There is a gay agenda -- winning elections
Gay millionaires and their allies poured unprecedented sums into the 2006 election -- and it worked.

Jon "Fag" Stryker poured a cool million into Grizzly Granholm's race.....a fool and his money..
15650. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/30/2006 10:50:55 PM
Dan Froomkin: On Calling Bullshit
15651. arkymalarky - 11/30/2006 10:52:15 PM
Thanks Wiz!
15652. wonkers2 - 11/30/2006 11:28:55 PM
Rumsfeld was bad. Gates may be almost as bad. According to a couple of commentators this morning on NPR Gates's record under Carter and Reagan left a lot to be desired. Apparently he was quite a cowboy, recommending, contrary to international law, in a memo to his boss at CIA that the U.S. bomb Nicaragua. Also, he appparently was less than truthful before a Congressional committee about his knowledge of and involvement in the Iran-Contra scandal.
One of the speakers also claimed he may have been involved in the October surprise when he was working in the Carter administration but secretly supporting Reagan. He allegedly was part of the scheme to suggest to Iran that they not release the prisoners prior to the election, thus hurting Carter's chances for re-election. After the election, he was rewarded with a job in the Reagan administration. These were some of the reasons he failed to be confirmed by Congress when he was first appointed head of CIA. (This is from memory as I was driving, so I may not have all the details completely correct. Feel free to correct any innacuracies.)

NPR also was critical for the lack of attention to Jimmy Carter's book on Palestine, pointing out that thusfar his book has not been mentioned by the NYT, Newsweek, WAshington Post or LA Times. What do you make of this?
15653. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 11/30/2006 11:57:19 PM
Carter was on The News Hour last night and he was terrific. As far as I'm concerned, he was and is the most honorable (under-rated) President in and after the WH in the last sixty years.
15654. jexster - 12/1/2006 12:58:25 AM
What do you make of this?

What do you think I make of it Wonk?
15655. jexster - 12/1/2006 12:59:31 AM
Carter's been on Blitzer, Larry King, NewsHour and God knows where else....full of piss and vinegar and not takin any shit from the jewsual suspects
15656. robertjayb - 12/1/2006 11:48:20 AM
Boston Globe outs Romney for alien gardners...

As Governor Mitt Romney explores a presidential bid, he has grown outspoken in his criticism of illegal immigration. But, for a decade, the governor has used a landscaping company that relies heavily on workers like these, illegal Guatemalan immigrants, to maintain the grounds surrounding his pink Colonial house on Marsh Street in Belmont.

The Globe recently interviewed four current and former employees of Community Lawn Service with a Heart, the tiny Chelsea-based company that provides upkeep of Romney's property. All but one said they were in the United States illegally.

Bye bye, Mitt...

15657. robertjayb - 12/1/2006 2:19:28 PM
Pelosi taps Reyes to head intelligence committee...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- House Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi has chosen a Border-Patrol-agent-turned-congressman to lead the House intelligence committee, according to congressional aides.

Democratic leaders are contacting congressional and other political officials to tell them Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, will be the new chairman of the committee when Democrats take over in January, said the two aides, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they considered it an internal party issue.

The selection of Reyes marks one of the few committee assignments that was still a question after Democrats won control of the House of Representatives last month. It set up an early challenge for Pelosi, who had sole discretion on the selection.

The California Democrat had to navigate a series of candidates -- and their supporters -- who were vying for the post. In the end, Pelosi bypassed two more senior intelligence committee members -- Reps. Jane Harman, D-California, and Alcee Hastings, D-Florida -- to select Reyes.

Good job, eh jexster? Another Texican. We mighty proud.

15658. jexster - 12/1/2006 2:32:51 PM
Excellente Roberto!
15659. jexster - 12/1/2006 2:35:29 PM
Estoy seguro que Sr. Reyes hará el más nuevo estado de México orgulloso.
15660. thoughtful - 12/1/2006 3:04:45 PM
I'm always so impressed with carter...I mean how many guys are there out there for whom being president of the united states was just one and not the most notable of his lifetime accomplishments. He was underappreciated as president and reagan wrongly got credit for deregulation of key industries which actually began under carter.
15661. Magoseph - 12/1/2006 3:53:15 PM
I wouldn’t be surprised if Bush was faced with an ultimatum one of these days: Return the land Israel stole from the Palestinians and we the Sunnis will take care of Iraq for you.
15662. jexster - 12/1/2006 4:38:07 PM
Specter Hot to Dick Cheney
15663. jexster - 12/1/2006 4:40:31 PM
That's what the Emirs, Eygpt, Abudullah and the House of Saud want no doubt.

But it is too late
15664. Magoseph - 12/1/2006 5:37:30 PM
Wouln't be too late if Iran and Syria joined them in this endeavor.
15665. robertjayb - 12/1/2006 8:53:55 PM
Bayh is suiting up...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh, a Democrat with a record of political success in a Republican-leaning state, intends to take the first official step toward a 2008 presidential campaign early next week, officials said Friday.

Bayh's plans include creation of a presidential exploratory committee, as well as appearances Monday in Iowa and next weekend in New Hampshire, two early states on the campaign calendar.

Bayh would be the second Democrat to take a formal step toward a presidential campaign. Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack is already in the race. Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois are among numerous other potential rivals who are expected to decide within a few weeks whether to run.

What about Biden?

15666. jexster - 12/1/2006 9:10:40 PM
Gen Barry McCafferty explaining why Iraq is FUBAR

"We've passed too many off ramps already"

On the roadmap?
15667. jexster - 12/1/2006 9:33:48 PM
I hope you Brunehilde bitches out there heard Nignack Obama a preachin at the largest Evangelical MegaChurch in America - Saddleback Church Oc on stage with Brownback!

Hillary better find some polonium

15668. jexster - 12/1/2006 9:36:49 PM
Brownback "Welcome to my house"

Nignack: "This is God's House and it is mine too"
15669. judithathome - 12/2/2006 12:41:10 PM
Saw this sign on another forum: Monica has more president in her than Bush ever will.
15670. Max Macks - 12/2/2006 4:57:52 PM
Wow is right to Howard Dean's speech in French and English.

He gets such little positive coverage in the US large media , it is a shame.]

I wanted him not Kerry to run against Bush
and was disgusted that the media , not the voters in the primaries that kept him from winning the nomination.
I predicted that Kerry would lose , because of his
speaking style, and that even were Howard Dean
to lose at least we would have heard some good speeches.
15671. robertjayb - 12/2/2006 5:47:38 PM
The gasbag lineup for tomorrow:

• "Meet the Press" Guests: National security adviser Stephen Hadley; Sens. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and John Warner, R-Va.; former President Carter.

• "This Week" Guests: Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind.; Gov. Tom Vilsack, D-Iowa.

• "Face the Nation" Guests: National security adviser Stephen Hadley; Sens. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., and Chuck Hagel, R-Neb.

• "CNN Late Edition" Guests: Saudi Ambassador to the U.S. Prince Turki Faisal; Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., and John Kerry, D-Mass; U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad; Iraqi Industry Minister Fawzi Hariri.

• "Fox News Sunday" Guests: Sens. Joseph Biden, D-Del. , and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer; Incoming District of Columbia police Chief Cathy Lanier.
15672. judithathome - 12/2/2006 8:23:06 PM
Well, I can safely skip FOX, that's for sure.

Hadley ought to be interesting, to say the least. How many minutes before he passes the buck to a staffer? If it weren't so early in the morning, we could have a drinking game!
15673. wonkers2 - 12/4/2006 1:04:15 AM
The unregulated market economy at work. Bush's gift to Big Oil

Bush's gift to Big Trucking
15674. Max Macks - 12/4/2006 1:15:04 AM
Holy Joe Lieberman makes me puke,
what a shame that he got elected.

re. running for POTUS.
Does Kerry actually think he could get elected ?!

and altho Senator Clinton might make a good president
she too would not get elected.

Will the Democrats ever learn not to pick loosers
for their POTUS candidates?
15675. judithathome - 12/4/2006 12:41:17 PM
Why should they? It's worked so well for the Republicans...putting the biggest loser of all time in that office.
15676. robertjayb - 12/4/2006 12:41:36 PM
Bolton quits as U.N. ambassador...

Bolton Bolts:

Alas, Amabassador John Bolton deprived the President of a chance to fight for him. Here's the President's full statement:

It is with deep regret that I accept John Bolton’s decision to end his service in the Administration as Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations when his commission expires.

Too bad, John.
15677. judithathome - 12/4/2006 12:51:28 PM
Yep, and DO let the door hit you in the ass on your way out!
15678. Max Macks - 12/4/2006 1:50:44 PM
Another piece of good news,
after Webb of VA getting eleted Senator
and Tasker of MT.

Now this silly looking clown , Bolton got the message
to resign before he gets fired.
a clown but a dangerous clown.

The UN could use some reforming , but he was not
the one to do it, .
We need one of those decks of cards like Bush Gang
made for Saddam and others,
one for
Cheney, Rice, Bolton , Rumsfeld ,
15679. Max Macks - 12/4/2006 1:51:36 PM
btw regarding the Bush Gang ,
whatever happened to Ollie North and the other
crook who got pardoned by Raygun?
15680. jexster - 12/4/2006 2:00:24 PM
Polonium Poppies for Little Miss Pillory PigPile

Early ‘Maybe’ From Obama Jolts ’08 Field

In Mr. Obama, Democrats have a prospective candidate who both underlines and compensates for the potential weaknesses that worry many Democrats about Mrs. Clinton.

Oh mama Oh Bama Arky!

This post brought to you by the He Man Hillary Haters Club

15681. robertjayb - 12/4/2006 2:17:12 PM
Blowing the whistle on big oil...(NYTimes)

Bobby Maxwell
is at the center of an escalating battle with both the oil industry and the Bush administration over how the federal government oversees about $60 billion worth of oil and gas produced every year on federal property. In the process, he has become one of the most nettlesome whistle-blowers Big Oil has ever encountered, a face-off that offers an inside look at how the industry and the government do business together.

Invoking a law that rewards private citizens who expose fraud against the government, Mr. Maxwell has filed a suit in federal court in Denver against the Kerr-McGee Corporation. The suit accuses the company, which was recently acquired by Anadarko Petroleum, of bilking the government out of royalty payments. It also contends that the Interior Department ignored audits indicating that Kerr-McGee was cheating. Three other federal auditors, who once worked for Mr. Maxwell and still work at the Interior Department, have since filed similar suits of their own against other energy companies.
15682. thoughtful - 12/4/2006 2:44:37 PM
This could get to be interesting.

Who leaked the hadley memo? Could it be the vp's office? In an attempt to get back at w for trying to duck around cheney's iraq plan? W's caught between cheney and daddy's boys on how to handle iraq.

What to do...what to do....

This could actually get to be fun to watch!
15683. jexster - 12/4/2006 2:47:38 PM
a walking, talking hope machine....

Mark McKinnon, who was a top adviser to President Bush in his two White House runs and who is a senior adviser to Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona and a likely presidential candidate in 2008, said, “I think Barack Obama is the most interesting persona to appear on the political radar screen in decades.” He added, “He’s a walking, talking hope machine, and he may reshape American politics.”
15684. jexster - 12/4/2006 2:49:44 PM
Who leaked Dummy's ruminations?

The Sinking Ship Bush will be very interesting to watch starting in January

The WaxMan cometh..Libby's goin on trial, and as Eyeraki will tell ya..tommorrow will be worse than today.

Tenent's book too!

You think they're leaky now....
15685. jexster - 12/4/2006 3:06:33 PM
My Hadley hunch -

It was intentional. Came from Hadley. The idiots are trying to play their divide and conquer games again.

Possible coup
15686. jexster - 12/4/2006 3:07:37 PM
Republicans Need to Be More Like Ike
John Hulsman
Anatol Lieven
15687. thoughtful - 12/4/2006 3:58:57 PM
Now here's an interesting idea:

Former Tennessee Senate candidate Harold Ford Jr. has an idea to help prevent inaccurate negative ads from destroying a candidate’s reputation: require broadcasters to check the accuracy of ads before they appear on the air.

Of course, one would hope that determining the truth of statements is something the press is supposed to be doing, but we're clearly beyond that now....
15688. wonkers2 - 12/4/2006 4:44:56 PM
That would be asking a bit much of the broadcasters. Maybe it would be reasonable, when in doubt, to require them to contact the opposing candidate. If he or she claimed the add was innacurate, her or she could be given the right to a free disclaimer immediately after the allegedly innacurate ad.
15689. jexster - 12/4/2006 5:01:01 PM
Feel Their Pain

"Thank Your Eminence..."

As Bushie kisses Iranian Ayatollah butt, feel the pain of the Holy Church of God in Bush

IslamoFascist Revolutionary Alliance

15690. jexster - 12/4/2006 5:10:11 PM
Harold Ford's an idiot...that's the Big Secret of Indecision 2006
15691. wonkers2 - 12/4/2006 5:12:34 PM
The Republicans never give up. Big headline in this morning's Detroit Free Press--"Democrats get chance to fix Social Security" followed by an anticle by Gannett reporter Larry Wheeler. The gist of the article was that the Dems will get a wonderful chance for a win-win deal to save Social Security if they are just willing to compromise on private accounts "according to experts." The so-called experts are Maya MacGuineas, former adviser to John McCain, Jeffrey Liebman, former aide to President Bill Clinton, and Andrew Samwick former chief economist for Bush's Council of Economic Advisers. MacGuineas is currently director of fiscal policy programs at the New America Foundation.

The plan would

1. Change benefit formulas to reduce payments to future retirees, especially wealthy people.

Comment: Means testing was considered and rejected for good reason at the outset of Social Security. This would not be a good idea.

2. Increase to 68 the age at which full Social Security retirement benefits would become available and reduce early retirement benefits.

Comment: Indreasing the age for full benefits makes sense and would significantly improve the funding situation.

3. Create mandatory personal retirement accounts funded through a combination of NEW PAYROLL DEDUCTIONS and contributions from Social Security trust-fund surpluses.

COMMENT: What surpluses? The Democrats would be crazy to agree to raise Social Security taxes in order to help Bush give a gift of private accounts to Wall Street. All that is needed for solvency for the forseeable future is an increase in the retirement age and removing or increasing the earnings cap. Moreover IRAs and 401ks already provide for voluntary personal accounts. Participation can be increased by automatic enrollment and enhanced tax benefits.

4. Let people invest in the personal accounts in any of 15 private fund companies certified by the government.

Comment: I don't believe that there are 15 certifiable private fund companies. The mutual fund industry is riddled with conflicts and practices that don't benefit investors.

5. Make 90% of a worker's earnings subject to FICA tax--that's where it was in 1982--and do away with the current annual cap ($94,200 in 2006 and $97,500 in 2007).

Comment: Okay if the GOP will agree. The earnings cap should be eliminated or significantly increased and indexed.

6. Create a minimum benefit for workers who spend many years earning low wages.

Comment: Isn't there already a minimum benefit? Maybe it should be increased or indexed?

"We tried to figure out how to make compromise in each major area," MacGuineas said. She said lawmakers (which ones?) see the plan as an honest attempt by a bipartisan group to identify the choices necessary to shore up Social Security.

COMMENT: I doubt seriously the DEMs will be willing to agree to private accounts. They would be crazy to do so after six years of successfully shooting down the idea.

Funding Medicare, not Social Security, is what Congress should be focused on.
15692. jexster - 12/4/2006 5:32:31 PM
A Crimmus Present for Every Idiot of the Imperator:

A Lesson Plan

Listing things done wrong in Iraq, one veteran US policymaker put it bluntly: Pentagon leaders ignored analyses that indicated they needed more troops to keep order. The military was slow to develop a clear plan to counter the insurgency. For too long, US generals kept assuming that the day when Iraqi troops would be able to stand on their own was just around the corner.

Furthermore, neither the Americans nor the Iraqis moved fast enough to counter the rising influence of the radical Moqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army militia.

Is this critic a Democratic lawmaker, perhaps? A senior fellow from a liberal think-tank? No, he's Paul Bremer, President Bush's choice to head the Coalition Provisional Authority, who makes these points and more in an updated version of his book about his year in Iraq.

15693. jexster - 12/4/2006 5:32:58 PM
Here's UR Cheat Sheet

one of the broader strategic lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan may be a deceptively simple-sounding one: the US needs to take the world as it is
15694. jexster - 12/4/2006 5:34:10 PM
Democrats ain't gonna try to "fix social security" before 2008

No wonder Dee-troit is so fuckt up
15695. jexster - 12/4/2006 5:35:29 PM
P.S. to the CSM article

The demon du jour Muqtada Sadr....

Take it for what it is worth
15696. wonkers2 - 12/4/2006 5:39:42 PM
The description of the SS proposal on the New America Foundeation was more explicit than the article in this morning's paper. The proposal would provide for mandatory contributions of 3% of earnings to private accounts funded by an increase in the FICA payroll tax from 4% to 5.5%. The website portrayed this increase as a 1.5% increase, but if my math is correct it would actually be a 37.5% increase. the other 1.5% would come from "surplus funds" according to the article. Presumably these would be generated by increasing the cap to 90% of all earnings and increasing the retirement age to 68.
15697. iiibbb - 12/4/2006 6:10:38 PM
Message # 15692

So you're saying the mess in Iraq the military's fault... not the president's fault?

My brother is in the military, and I think I have a good feel for the culture of military planners and their compulsion to considering as many possibilities as possible... granted I won't be able to talk much about the minds of generals, but I think I have a feel for the people they lead, and I find it hard to believe that such a culture would exist if it didn't get listened to.

I'd be willing to bet that there's a big difference between what the military knew needed to be done, and what they were told they had to make work by the administration.

Given that Bush is the CIC, and most military people aren't going to openly criticize, it is doubtful we'll ever get a good feel for it.
15698. thoughtful - 12/4/2006 6:27:29 PM
soc sec...the big lie.

It isn't broken and doesn't need fixing. Any attempt to fix it with private accounts will just be a gift to wall st.

If they had any guts they'd take on medicare/medicaid and the stupid medicare Rx plan and the whole patchwork of health insurance...clean it up streamline it and opt for some form of national health insurance.

As Daniel Gross points out, we're halfway there....we're paying for the system and not getting our money's worth.

15699. wonkers2 - 12/4/2006 6:50:11 PM
I agree. We already have a reasonably working national health plan--Medicare (except for the drug part) which could be extended in several steps over a period of years to the uninsured--starting perhaps with pre-and post natal care, and unemployed workers, etc. That way health insurers wouldn't be wiped out all at once.
15700. jexster - 12/4/2006 8:16:03 PM
It is the President's fault i3 from his choice of shitbag generals to dickwad VP to dummy Sec Def to lawn jockeys Cunnilingus and Colin

Bremmer's of course of the view that it is everyone's fault but his..

He's Bush's fault too
15701. jexster - 12/4/2006 9:20:31 PM
CNN did her today.

"Hillary Clinton may or may not be running but she's now talking about it. Here's why.."

[Cut to Obama]
15702. jexster - 12/4/2006 10:05:49 PM
Olbermann and Dana Milbank doin a number on the Dumbsfeld "I Wanna Be Like Murtha Memo" using some of the choicest Bush blasts at Cut and Run Democrats..

Wait until the WaxMan Comes
15703. wonkers2 - 12/4/2006 10:22:24 PM
Sad day in America. It appears that the Supreme Court chucked the Brown v. Board of Education decision today, if tonight's reports on the hearing are accurate.
15704. wonkers2 - 12/4/2006 10:23:56 PM
Olberman reports that FBI counter-terrorism experts couldn't tell the difference between Shia and Sunni and who was responsible for 9-11. Incredible.
15705. jexster - 12/4/2006 10:34:05 PM
Ward Connerly for President Wonk!
15706. wonkers2 - 12/5/2006 1:08:37 AM
He's your guy!
15707. arkymalarky - 12/5/2006 3:53:36 AM
I figured that would happen wrt BvB. What's happening wrt race in this country is detestable.
15708. wonkers2 - 12/5/2006 12:56:58 PM
Our compassion, generosity of spirit and willingness to do the right thing seem to have diminished since the sixties, seventies and eighties.
15709. wonkers2 - 12/5/2006 1:43:29 PM
Not our country's finest hour.
15710. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/5/2006 2:41:15 PM
Amazing, isn't it. In essence they seem to be saying racism should be ended and diversity is a good objective, but we won't allow you any tools to accomplish those goals.
15711. wonkers2 - 12/5/2006 2:53:26 PM
Risk and Reward. This one is worth the price of admission.
15712. jexster - 12/5/2006 3:16:58 PM
They can't do anything about it....America is so mobile, people constantly "voting with their feet" no matter what you do, they'll just eventually move
15713. jexster - 12/5/2006 3:17:43 PM
Or has the WonkVille Yacht Club relocated to Woodward Ave????
15714. robertjayb - 12/5/2006 4:57:23 PM
Boxer says no to further environmental rollbacks

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Environmental rollbacks from the Bush administration "in the dead of the night" are history, the Senate's incoming environment chairwoman said Tuesday.

"That's over. We are going to bring these things into the light," Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said in a wide-ranging interview laying out her agenda with The Associated Press. She cited concerns about a host of new Bush administration rules on air, land and water quality.

"Some of the things are so outrageous that when they hit the light of day, you'll see people back off," she said. "And that's something I do, and I will do. The oversight function of this committee is going to be very important to me."

Boxer, who takes over the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in January, anticipates fireworks as early as Wednesday when the outgoing chairman, Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., holds a last hearing portraying the news media as fanning global warming alarmism.
15715. jexster - 12/5/2006 5:03:00 PM
Nancy Pelosi, San Francisco
Dianne Feinstein, San Francisco
Tom Lantos, San Francisco
George Miller, Martinez
Barabar Boxer, San Rafael

All of em within a 25 mile radius
15716. jexster - 12/5/2006 5:41:10 PM
Clearly, they want to be taken seriously so they've spoken to people other than George Bush

CNN on the Iraq Study Group
(aka Little Georgie's Pooped His Pants Again)
15717. Max Macks - 12/5/2006 5:55:53 PM
BIG STORY ON GOOGLE NEWS,

WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 The United States is not winning the war in Iraq, U.S. President George Bush's nominee for Defense secretary told his Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday.

Robert Gates made the assertion twice when asked by Democratic and Republican members of the Senate Armed Services Committee his opinion of progress in Iraq.

WOW they should have asked me a year or so ago
and I could have told them this and they might
start thinking how to get out of the Cheney War on Iraq
mess.

15718. wonkers2 - 12/6/2006 1:33:01 AM
Bush the worst president ever.
15719. wonkers2 - 12/6/2006 1:36:20 AM
Is Bush the worst president in American history? Vote here.
15720. jexster - 12/6/2006 10:34:32 AM
The Wimp Weeps Video

Was Poppy cryin bout Jebulon or bawlin for Little Georgie Poopie Pants?
15721. jexster - 12/6/2006 10:36:51 AM
Wonder how Poppy voted Wonk??
15722. jexster - 12/6/2006 10:37:52 AM
Screw you Wonker and the yatch you sailed in on

That's a TIMES SELECTmen Link
15723. thoughtful - 12/6/2006 11:56:26 AM
So does anybody think poppy's weeping was for the fact that his younger son most likely wouldn't have made such a mess of this country and the world? and why couldn't he have been president instead???

How can you be poppy and babs and not feel some responsibility for letting your son, who has been nothing but a screw-up his entire life, take over the most powerful country in the world and drive the entire ship of state into a stone wall???

W is so delusional, he'll have no trouble shaving the face of the man in the mirror, but his parents can't be that out of touch....
15724. jexster - 12/6/2006 11:59:00 AM
Let the bitch cry. I am sure Big Balls Babs gave him a real whuppin when he got home.

That pathetic girlie-man is cryin cause his Dynasty is a shambles
15725. jexster - 12/6/2006 3:36:46 PM
Saddam Hussein's regime is a grave and gathering danger

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States should begin to withdraw forces from combat and launch a diplomatic push, including Iran and Syria, to prevent "a slide toward chaos" in Iraq, an elite panel recommended on Wednesday.
15726. jexster - 12/6/2006 3:37:57 PM
WASHINGTON (AFP) - A top US panel urged President George W. Bush to act to halt a "grave and deteriorating" crisis in Iraq by holding talks with Iran and Syria and starting to withdraw US combat forces.
15727. Max Macks - 12/6/2006 9:50:11 PM
Does the Mote have any postS (anywhere) on what the US could do regarding the mess in Iraq?

Or any references elsewhere on what the
viable solutions might be.

e.g. I keep hearing , now again from Baker,
that if the US pulls all troops out of Iraq
chaos will happen.
I keep asking what he and others like him
think is happening now , if it ain't chaos.

Do you think John Murtha will be heard from
after January 07 , saying pull out NOW?
15728. jexster - 12/6/2006 10:09:19 PM
Iraq Study Group Report (pdf)

15729. jexster - 12/7/2006 7:40:37 AM
"Our Ship of State Has Hit Rough Waters"

Lee Hamilton

Thou, too, sail on, O Ship of State!
Sail on, O Union, strong and great!
Humanity with all its fears,
With all the hopes of future years,
Is hanging breathless on thy fate!
We know what Master laid thy keel,
What Workmen wrought thy ribs of steel,
Who made each mast, and sail, and rope,
What anvils rang, what hammers beat,
In what a forge and what a heat
Were shaped the anchors of thy hope!
Fear not each sudden sound and shock,
’Tis of the wave and not the rock;
’Tis but the flapping of the sail,
And not a rent made by the gale!
In spite of rock and tempest’s roar,
In spite of false lights on the shore,
Sail on, nor fear to breast the sea!
Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee.
Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears,
Our faith triumphant o’er our fears,
Are all with thee,—are all with thee!

15730. jexster - 12/7/2006 7:44:20 AM
Madness. they're all in Lies Have Consequences...but don't bother....too late
15731. jexster - 12/7/2006 7:48:58 AM
"The U.S. effectively sent a bull in to liberate a china shop, and the Study Group now called upon the U.S. to threaten to remove the bull if the shop doesn't fix the china."

Anthony Cordesman
15732. thoughtful - 12/7/2006 11:51:43 AM
Max if you go to Niemanwatchdog.org a few months back there was a 2-part essay by a woman whose name escapes me on first defining if iraq is in a civil war or not and she concludes it is, and second what the possible resolutions are to civil war. Very good analysis...no happy endings though.
15733. thoughtful - 12/7/2006 12:04:57 PM
I can't see the sense of a gradual withdrawal...would you want to be the handful of troops left behind without ground support???? Term sitting duck comes to mind.

15734. thoughtful - 12/7/2006 12:11:21 PM
I wish i had a hard copy of rich's book...he had an excellent summary in his epilogue.

Anyway, he points out one of the biggest injuries to the war on terror that iraq has accomplished...at the same time that iraq is becoming a breeding ground for terrorism and a proving ground for use of weaponry, at the very time that the taliban are making inroads back into afghanistan, the american people are growing weary of war and the spilling of blood and the waste of treasure on the middle east thanks to war in iraq. So as the danger from al qaeda is growing, the people's willingness to do anything about it is waning. A most deadly combination.

So much for the repugs making the us safer....
15735. jexster - 12/7/2006 12:48:14 PM
Want plans? The Project for Defense Alternatives has a compilation
15736. robertjayb - 12/7/2006 1:06:53 PM
Russ Feingold critiques ISG report:

The fact is this commission was composed apparently entirely of people who did not have the judgment to oppose this Iraq war in the first place, and did not have the judgment to realize it was not a wise move in the fight against terrorism. So that's who is doing this report. Then I looked at the list of who testified before them. There is virtually no one who opposed the war in the first place. Virtually no one who has been really calling for a different strategy that goes for a global approach to the war on terrorism. So this is really a Washington inside job and it shows not in the description of what's happened - that's fairly accurate - but it shows in the recommendations. It's been called a classic Washington compromise that does not do the job of extricating us from Iraq in a way that we can deal with the issues in Southeast Asia, in Afghanistan, and in Somalia which are every bit as important as what is happening in Iraq. This report does not do the job and it's because it was not composed of a real representative group of Americans who believe what the American people showed in the election, which is that it's time for us to have a timetable to bring the troops out of Iraq.
15737. jexster - 12/7/2006 1:47:35 PM
Peace of the Grave

Via Ronski in Lies

“I think that this whole idea of Americans training Arabs is so silly I cannot take it seriously...The sad fact is that insurgencies are defeated only rarely, and then by imposing the peace of the grave on hundreds of thousands if not millions of people. How much more can Washington let itself be implicated in such carnage? How far over the horizon do American troops need to pull back to escape the stench of such a victory? One answer: all the way home”

Martin van Creveld
15738. thoughtful - 12/7/2006 1:57:18 PM
Friedman made a similar point this am on imus...said the iraqis don't need any training...the insurgents are getting no training and are being most effective. It's not a matter of knowhow but a matter of will. It's true...all the training in the world isn't going to stop them from dropping arms and fleeing in the face of danger, which is exactly what they've been doing.
15739. jexster - 12/7/2006 2:04:49 PM
Kinky Friedman???

Damn those jews are smart.

Yea I saw Russ last night on Olbermann. Another smart jew! Particularly liked his line, "the idea of imbedding all these trainers in Iraqi units sounds great but what about Afghanistan?"

Where the Taliban only a day or two ago sent the Brits packing in a nasty little fight in Helmand Province
15740. thoughtful - 12/7/2006 4:24:49 PM
not kinky, jex...your favorite boy Tommy.
15741. jexster - 12/7/2006 6:17:29 PM
15742. wonkers2 - 12/7/2006 6:37:15 PM
Someone on NPR this morning pointed out that one of the requirements impposed on Iraq by the recommendations is that Iraq's oil be privatized and American companies be given an opportunity to participate in its development and production. She pointed to Baker's personal financial stake in the oil industry and his tight ties with Saudi Arabia.
15743. wonkers2 - 12/7/2006 6:38:02 PM
Her conclusion was that Iraq was and remains about oil.
15744. wonkers2 - 12/7/2006 6:38:45 PM
Thoughtful, I have a copy of Frank Rich's book. Haven't read it yet. Is there something I could look up for you?
15745. thoughtful - 12/7/2006 7:28:46 PM
Thanks wonks...it was just something in the epilogue where in one paragraph he summarizes all the damage the bushies have done to america...from loss of civil liberties to loss of respect in the world. I thought he did a nice job of it.

That book has left me most upset, which is not a good thing this time of year when I normally have to fight depression due to the loss of daylight. Especially since i read it right after reading conservatives w/out conscience. Though I have to admit that the one helped me understand the other.

Rich focuses on bush's intent on iraq post 9/11 and wonders why. But he missed some key signals the admin sent out that suggests iraq was a target even before 9/11 including condi's quote that: after 9/11 iraq was off the table and afghanistan was on. He also missed Nicholas Lemann's prescient article in jan 01 newyorker on why he expects this administration to attack iraq.
15746. thoughtful - 12/7/2006 7:34:36 PM
Lemann's article has been posted here.
15747. wonkers2 - 12/7/2006 7:36:33 PM
You mean attack Iran. Hersh has also been dwelling on Iran about every other month in the New Yorker.
15748. robertjayb - 12/7/2006 7:59:39 PM
Thanks for the Leman srticle, thoughtful. A shocking read about a story that should be mainstreamed.

I've always doubted the Bush I assassination attempt tale and I haven't seen a convincing account.
15749. jexster - 12/7/2006 8:23:26 PM
Will call that The Tracks of Poppy's Tears T'ful
15750. Max Macks - 12/7/2006 9:07:25 PM
wonkers, is Rich book the one with the apt title
FIASCO ?

I just watched the Lehr news hour and tuned in late
and had the misfortune to see and hear both
MClain and Joe(barf) Liebrman.
There is something about Holy Joe'd voice
even without what he says , that is very annoying,

In various blogs I read many posts that are
weary of McClain and his "send in more troops,
--to be ,as Murtha or someone put it. become
ducks in a shooting gallery.
15751. wonkers2 - 12/7/2006 9:19:37 PM
No, that's another one. Rich'a book is "The Greatest Story Ever Sold."
15752. wonkers2 - 12/7/2006 11:11:42 PM
Rich (from epilogue)
"The other alternative, of course, is that this war of choice could prove to be an enormous victory for Iran and Al Qaeda alike, a commensurate disaster for Israel and the West, and a political boon to other jighdists worldwide (starting with those who consolidated governmental power in U.S.-endorsed elections in Iraq, Palestine, and Egypt). Shoudl that be the case, the Bush presidency could well prove, as its most severe critics have maintained, the worst ever. Its legacy will include the destruction of America's image, credibility, and prestige abroad; record budget deficits produced by unchecked spending and tax cuts; an abused and broken military; a subversion of the
Constitution achieved by rigidly ideological judicial appointments, the abridgment of civil liberties, and out right lawbreaking te the White House; an indifference to environmental imperatives, including the energy conservation urgently needed to end America's chronic economic dependence on the congenitally unstable Middle "East; and the promotion of America's homegrown religious fundamentalism with both official and political assaults on medical and earth science (including evolution) and the rights of gay Americans. (And that's just the short list.)Even the supposedly beatific Bush achievements will be heavily asterisked. No Child Left Behind education reform did mor for the nation's testing industry than for students, who found their curricula narrowed to the two subjects (math and reading) measured by the tests. The administration's AIDS initiative was blun ted by being yoked to abstinence programs that flattered Christian right voters in the Republican base but were irrelevant to the rampaging life-or-death tragedy in Africa." p207-208, The Greatest Story Ever Sold by Frank Rich. $25.95 at your local bookstore.
15753. robertjayb - 12/7/2006 11:55:05 PM
Here, from The New Yorker archive, is a September '02 Seymour Hersh article on the alleged attempt to assassinate George H. W. Bush. Hersh seems dubious, too.
15754. thoughtful - 12/8/2006 11:55:15 AM
15747, no wonks, i mean attack iraq....lemann was making the case back in jan '01 why we should expect to be at war with iraq sometime during the w administration, 9 mos. before 9/11. See the article i linked in 15746 and you'll understand what this iraq folly was all about.
15755. thoughtful - 12/8/2006 11:57:29 AM
wonks, that was what i was looking for...thanks for posting!
15756. jexster - 12/8/2006 12:34:36 PM
War Support Hits New Low as Cut and Run Majority Grows
AP/ISPOS

27% approve Bush handling of Iraq
71% favor 2 year withdrawal timetable
60% favor 6 month deadline

Once a President loses support for his war, it never comes back
15757. jexster - 12/8/2006 1:40:44 PM
Bishop Arrested at War Protest

Northern California's Episcopalian leader, the newly appointed Rev. Marc Handley Andrus, was arrested [Thurs] afternoon for blocking the front door of the San Francisco federal building to protest the Iraq war.

Andrus, carrying a shepherd's staff and singing "Down by the Riverside,'' was among 200 protesters who had marched from Grace Cathedral on Nob Hill to join the weekly "die-in" at on Golden Gate Avenue near City Hall.

The bishop celebrated communion at the entrance plaza before Federal Protective Service officers began arresting protesters for lying down and blocking the two main doors.

The officers passed Andrus in their first round of arrests as he was not positioned in front of the doors. After Andrus, in his purple robe, got up, moved a few steps and lay down again directly in front of the entrance, the officers returned and placed him in handcuffs -- as one said, "How are you?'' and shook the priest's hand.

Protesters applauded, cheered and sang as Andrus was photographed by another officer and led inside the building.

"God is with all who have suffered in Iraq,'' the bishop said. "This war needs to be opposed. Even though there is widespread sentiment against the war, we need to continue to push for peace.''

Andrus became the eighth bishop of the 80-congregation Episcopal Diocese of California in July.

15758. wonkers2 - 12/8/2006 2:32:55 PM
If they had pumped 50 bullets into him it would have stirred things up more.
15759. thoughtful - 12/8/2006 3:44:11 PM
I'm just reading froomkin's latest on bush and the iraq study group. It's clear frank rich was right about what bush's solution to iraq is: keep kicking that can down the road until it becomes another president's problem in 2009.

I never understand it why there are just some people in the world who always seem to find other people who step in and clean up their messes so they don't have to...
15760. thoughtful - 12/8/2006 3:47:55 PM
773 days left
15761. judithathome - 12/8/2006 7:15:40 PM
I never understand it why there are just some people in the world who always seem to find other people who step in and clean up their messes so they don't have to...

It's simple: that's the way they were raised. I tried to tell everyone that Bush was like this but no one would listen. Why on earth anyone thought a man who had never had a business success in his life could run the country is beyond me.
15762. jexster - 12/8/2006 7:30:48 PM
Gordon Smith Floor Statement
15763. jexster - 12/8/2006 9:59:03 PM
Another GOP Traitor

Sam Brownback(!!!) - Cut Up Iraq and Walk

Endorses Baker-Hamilton; threatens loss of Congressional support; urges partition
15764. robertjayb - 12/9/2006 12:50:21 AM
Guest lineup for the Sunday TV news shows
(AP):

ABC's "This Week" - British Prime Minister Tony Blair; Sens. Joe Biden, D-Del., and Gordon Smith, R-Ore.; actor Ed Asner.

CBS' "Face the Nation" - Former Secretary of State James A. Baker III and former Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind., co-chairmen of the Iraq Study Group; Sens. Carl Levin, D-Mich., and Trent Lott, R-Miss.

NBC's "Meet the Press" - Baker and Hamilton.

CNN's "Late Edition" - Baker and Hamilton; Reps. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., and Jane Harman, D-Calif.; Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution of Iraq; Israeli Vice Prime Minister Shimon Peres.

"Fox News Sunday" - Baker and Hamilton; Sens. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., and Sam Brownback, R-Kan.; composer Marvin Hamlisch.
15765. Magoseph - 12/9/2006 9:34:52 AM
Thank you, Robert--this is very helpful right now for Flexy and me.
15766. wonkers2 - 12/9/2006 12:57:07 PM
Thanks, robert. I wonder what Jane Harman will have to say?
15767. judithathome - 12/9/2006 1:04:42 PM
composer Marvin Hamlisch

Are they daft??? And is he still alive?
15768. jexster - 12/9/2006 2:26:40 PM
Gordon Smith is the news of the weekend. The Republican Murtha???
15769. Max Macks - 12/9/2006 3:44:44 PM
i I never understand it why there are just some people in the world who always seem to find other people who step in and clean up their messes so they don't have to...

thougtful , Bush Jr. learned that from his father
the other War loving Bush, who invaded Panama
(often forgotten) to rescue his drug buddy Noreiga

then invaded Somalia and left a mess for Clinton
to try to clean up and who was blamed for
what happened there.
15770. judithathome - 12/9/2006 4:27:04 PM
There was a letter in the paper yesterday blaming the new Democrat majority for gas prices going up....yeah, like they are even sworn in yet and surely gas never went up around holiday time when the Republicans were in charge. Sheesh.
15771. jexster - 12/9/2006 5:43:53 PM
Divide and Conquer: A Time Honored Imperialist Strategery

ISG Report Exposes GOP Divisions
15772. Max Macks - 12/9/2006 10:01:08 PM
I was disappointed in the ISG report

sounds like" stay the course, but maybe make a few
changes,"

Surely there are more in Congress than John Murtha
who are calling for the troops to be moved
away from Bagdad and for many to be brought home,

and MaCain, what's with that guy ?

All the talk of chaos or disaster that would follow
if the US leaves now is also strange talk
there is bloody chaos now ,,,
15773. jexster - 12/10/2006 3:42:50 PM

Jefferson Storms Back
15774. jexster - 12/11/2006 3:04:37 PM
Pelosi piques public's interest
As incoming head of the House, with more eyes on her, she intends to paint her own picture.
15775. Max Macks - 12/11/2006 3:29:15 PM
thanks for that article about Pelosi, Jexter,

15776. robertjayb - 12/11/2006 4:07:07 PM
Blogger Bob Geiger* has posted his half-hour interview with incoming senate majority leader Harry Reid. Nothing startling but a good session I thought.

*I never heard of him either.

...I was struck over the course of our visit by something... that's readily apparent in Reid: He's a genuinely tough guy. Not in the loud, back-slapping, overt sense, but in the quiet, firm resolve with which he speaks and the conviction that he attaches to almost every word.

Reid is, after all, the former boxer who once beat a man senseless for trying to bribe him for political favors, a guy who knows what he's going to do in the next two years and who doesn’t believe that needless posturing will make it any more clear that fools will not be easily suffered on his watch.
15777. jexster - 12/11/2006 11:09:00 PM
Joe Scarborough, conservative cred or no, will find his ass in Guantanamo if doesn't watch his mouth.

Congressman Joe's Bush bashing started late last summer and has gotten progessively worse. Tonight, against the backdrop of Newsweek Poll (32% approval, 68% losin IraQ), he made fun of the new slogan "A New Way Forward", using clips of Bush mouthing some of the oldies but goodies ("grave and gathering", "plan for victory", "central front" etc).
15778. jexster - 12/12/2006 12:02:51 AM
Tired of 20 years of Bushes and Clintons????

Obama-rama in New Hampshire
NewsHour
15779. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/12/2006 12:51:12 AM
15780. thoughtful - 12/12/2006 10:52:40 AM
Well, perhaps obama is electable and will win and then he'll put wes clark in a critical position like secdef or sec of state....

769 days left
15781. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/12/2006 10:54:55 AM

Dick Cheney: "That's funny!"

15782. jexster - 12/12/2006 10:59:09 AM
Good Catch Wizzer!
15783. jexster - 12/12/2006 11:00:44 AM
Time for a New Slogan

Poll: 4% Say Stay the Course in Iraq
I'd say that they done got about all the miles on the roadmap deyu gon git with dat one
15784. thoughtful - 12/12/2006 11:03:33 AM
Olbermann is quite funny.

Last night he had a piece on about tom delay who decided he needed to get more personally involved with this blogosphere thing, so he hired a ghost writer to post a daily blog for him.

Turns out the site lasted all of 75 min once he learned and started receiving e-mails from his, er....uh....adoring fans. He had no idea that the blogosphere allows free speech!
15785. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/12/2006 2:06:21 PM
Ta jext!

Delay's lawyer probably suggested he dress up his image for the judge and jury–like any other thug/perp!

[Olbermann shouldn't do Murrow so much.]
15786. robertjayb - 12/12/2006 3:49:50 PM
The Manchurian Candidate...(History News Network)

By Robert Buzzanco

Mr. Buzzanco, Professor of History, University of Houston, is the author of several books and articles on Vietnam War.

If enemies of the United States had gotten together a few years ago to devise a plan to damage America and undermine its global position–diminish its power and credibility, drag it into a stubborn war, harm its relations with allies, create international financial disarray, run up huge deficits, create political openings for the Europeans and China to exploit and become equals in global economic matters, motivate terrorists, bring the U.S. image in the Middle East to its nadir, restrict civil liberties at home, and so forth–they would have been hard-pressed to create a program that would be more effective than the Bush administration’s policies on these issues of war, terrorism, and global economics have.
..................................................

Some years ago, during the Vietnam War, Richard Nixon said that “Vietnam cannot defeat or humiliate the United States. Only Americans can do that.” It seems like George Bush has accomplished precisely that all these years later.

15787. Max Macks - 12/12/2006 4:01:41 PM
Boy !! was I lucky last night
by accident I turned on C-span and there
was the entire 30 mintue speech that Barak Obama
gave in New Hamshire,

Do you think he gets some sort of protetion
from getting shot at .?
remember Wellsone in Minnesota ?

then after ward there was a interview from
someone from the Chicago Tribune who told me
lots of thing about Obama that I never new.
Maybe now his bio is in Wikipedia , you think so?
15788. robertjayb - 12/12/2006 4:59:30 PM
Any buzz on the notion goopers may boot cheney and plug McCain or Giuliani or such in as veep to give them a leg up for '08?
15789. jexster - 12/12/2006 5:05:25 PM
Bush without Cheney is like Vidor without the Klan
15790. jexster - 12/12/2006 5:08:18 PM
Not to mention the fact that McCain or Guiliani would have to harbor a political death wish

15791. jexster - 12/12/2006 5:09:48 PM
Leg Up 08

15792. jexster - 12/12/2006 5:10:28 PM
Robert you Texicans aren't good for much but none better for a good laugh
15793. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/12/2006 7:05:54 PM
Emmm, leg of GOP––roast it up. Tasty!

Buzzanco has a good sense of prophetic irony.

. . . who told me lots of thing about Obama that I never new.

Such as, Max?
15794. arkymalarky - 12/12/2006 8:24:47 PM
Max, he does have an entry on Wikipedia. I haven't read it, but I read he was pretty open about himself in his first book and this latest is getting good attention as well.
15795. jexster - 12/12/2006 9:01:42 PM
Knocking Opportunity

by William S. Lind

Last week, the Iraq Study Group report [.pdf] burst upon a breathless world, and proved to be an empty piñata. None of its recommendations has the slightest chance of reversing the course of the war in Iraq. Only those who just got into town on the last truckload of turnips expected anything more. All Washington "Blue Ribbon Commissions" are part of the kabuki, intended to fool the rubes back home into thinking something real is happening, when it isn't.

If the Iraq Study Group report is empty of content, the responses to it from the war hawks, or more accurately at this point the war vultures, since what they are feeding on is dead, were as clueless as a Marine at a meeting of Mensa

15796. wonkers2 - 12/12/2006 9:28:25 PM
I received a long letter from John McCain today urging me to support the Environmental Defense Action Fund by contributing and by signing enclosed petitions to my senators urging them to support the McCain-Lieberman bill which would "cap global warming pollution."

McCain came out four square that global warming is real and something we have no choice but to do something about.

I signed the petitions and made a small contribution. Please don't tell me that EXXON is behind the Global Warming Action Fund! :-) I should have done a bit of research before writing the check.
15797. wonkers2 - 12/12/2006 9:32:13 PM
John Edwards and his wife Elizabeth were on Hardball tonight. He sounded like he's going to run. They were kidding around and Elizabeth commented that John wasn't a very funny comedian, and Matthews chided her for "biting his balls." Elizabeth protested that "her children were watching the show."

The text omitted Matthews comment.
15798. jexster - 12/12/2006 9:42:50 PM
Don't know about EXXON, but..and I don't know quite how to say this...

Have you seen "Call me Crazy" aka Concerned aka ThomasD lately?
15799. jexster - 12/12/2006 10:01:22 PM
Official Countdown Clock!

15800. robertjayb - 12/13/2006 12:22:01 AM
Another democratic win in TX-23

U.S. Rep. Henry Bonilla lost Bexar County for the first time in his political career Tuesday night, and trailed Democrat Ciro Rodriguez in total votes in the sprawling Congressional District 23.

The Associated Press declared Rodriguez the winner shortly before 9 p.m.

15801. robertjayb - 12/13/2006 1:46:52 AM
No surprises here...

By Susan Page, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — History's view of George W. Bush will be harsh, Americans predict.
In a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken Friday through Sunday, a 54% majority says Bush will be judged as a below-average or poor president, more than double the negative rating given any of his five most recent predecessors.

Just 19% expect him to be seen as outstanding or above average, placing him last among the six. Bush, re-elected in 2004, now trails three presidents who were rejected by voters when they sought second or full terms, including his father, George H.W. Bush.

15802. Magoseph - 12/13/2006 9:33:27 AM
Jex, my call for oil to trade around sixty was correct but now has to be revised downward. Agree?
15803. jexster - 12/13/2006 12:23:59 PM
Yea it looks like 55...for now

Until the helicopters start evacuating the Green Zone
15804. jexster - 12/13/2006 12:26:31 PM
I defer to AC on such things however.

I am the go to guy on Texicans and other morons....Mago you know the diff between a coon ass and a jackass?

An even 30 seats

Tejas 23 Comes Thru for the Nancy Boiz
15805. jexster - 12/13/2006 3:06:49 PM
Network pentagon correspondents are typically the most Bush friendly of the Bush friendly. So as a measure of how much the ISG has changed the landscape, CNN reporting from the Pentagon on Bush's military briefings:

"President Bush is fond of saying 'failure is not an option' but military leaders are telling him it is the likely outcome"
15806. Magoseph - 12/13/2006 3:27:13 PM
...Mago you know the diff between a coon ass and a jackass?

Tell me.
15807. jexster - 12/13/2006 4:03:31 PM
Ask Robert!!!

bwahahahaha
15808. robertjayb - 12/13/2006 6:57:45 PM
Bad News...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson of South Dakota suffered a possible stroke Wednesday and was taken to a hospital, his office said.

If he should be unable to continue to serve, it could halt the scheduled Democratic takeover of the Senate. Democrats won a 51-49 majority in the November election. South Dakota's governor, who would appoint any temporary replacement, is a Republican.

"Senator Tim Johnson was taken to George Washington University Hospital this afternoon suffering from a possible stroke," read a statement from his Senate office. "At this stage, he is undergoing a comprehensive evaluation by the stroke team."

Johnson had become disoriented during a call with reporters, stuttering in response to a question. He appeared to recover, asking if there were any additional questions and then signing off.
15809. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/13/2006 7:04:34 PM
F#@K!!!! Now Lieberman is even more in control of the situation and he'll exploit it to the hilt.
15810. jexster - 12/13/2006 7:11:36 PM
Well it looks like Robert ain't the co-jones there Mago...

Texicans harumph

What separates a coon ass from a jackass???

Why it's the Sabine River Mago!!!

15811. jexster - 12/13/2006 7:22:58 PM
82% the new cut and run supermajority - Gallup
15812. alistairConnor - 12/13/2006 8:51:04 PM
Jex, my call for oil to trade around sixty was correct but now has to be revised downward. Agree?

What makes you think that, Mago? It's been trading about 60 for the last couple of months, all futures contracts are 65 to 70... what makes you think 55?
15813. Max Macks - 12/13/2006 9:47:05 PM
gee I didnt know the SD senator was Democrat

that makes it very tricky , but I think he will
recover.

Jexter the Israel lobby is out in force I see
to Swift Boat Jimmy Carter on his book.
15814. robertjayb - 12/13/2006 10:02:22 PM
As long as Tim Johnson has a pulse he should hold the seat.
After all, Strom Thurmond served in a vegetative state.
15815. jexster - 12/13/2006 10:03:07 PM
No stroke, no heart attack, just another lyin Texican.

Happy Birthday Sen Johnson!!!
15816. jexster - 12/13/2006 10:05:58 PM
15817. wonkers2 - 12/13/2006 11:13:41 PM
Bush Screwing America
15818. wonkers2 - 12/13/2006 11:50:01 PM
This might work better-- Bush Screws the Country
15819. jexster - 12/14/2006 4:25:21 AM
Let the Nancy Boiz run things.....

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Less than one in four Americans approves of President George W. Bush's handling of the Iraq war...The NBC/Wall Street Journal poll found only 21 percent of Americans wanted Bush to set the policy, while 59 percent wanted the incoming Democratic-led Congress to do so.
15820. jexster - 12/14/2006 11:09:17 AM
Johnson had something like my uncle did. He tripped on steps from airplane to tarmac in Maine. Was given a 50-50 chance if he had surgery which they wouldn't do in Portland so they flew him Lear jet to San Mateo. He's still alive four years later and for 87 year old, in acceptable shape to be a Senator
15821. jexster - 12/14/2006 11:10:02 AM
He won't be voting when the Senate organizes if he lives
15822. jexster - 12/14/2006 11:59:33 AM
Will He Be Alive in January???

With Johnson in office, Democrats would hold a 51-to-49 edge in the Senate that convenes Jan. 4 as part of the 110th Congress. (The two independents have said they will caucus with the Democrats.) But if he is to leave office before then and Rounds replaces him with a Republican, the GOP would control the chamber.

In a 50-50 Senate, Vice President Cheney could break tie votes in the GOP's favor. But a Senate that becomes evenly split after it is in session would not necessarily fall to Republicans, Senate historians said. Rules and precedents could leave a party in charge of the chamber even after its membership falls below that of the other party.

"It's what happens in January that counts," said Senate associate historian Donald A. Ritchie, referring to when party leaders hash out rules governing the chamber's organization.
...
The only time that partisan control of the Senate changed in mid-session, historians say, was in 2001. Republicans began the year controlling the 50-50 chamber with Cheney's tie-breaking vote. But Democrats, mindful of the recent sudden death of Sen. Paul Coverdell (R-Ga.), were aware they could be a heartbeat away from the majority.

In order to adopt new rules organizing the Senate, the two parties must reach nearly unanimous agreement. Democrats in 2001 blocked the naming of committee chairmen and members, demanding concessions before agreeing to the rules. Among those concessions: Should the numerical advantage change, all committee assignments and chairmanships would be nullified, and a new organization would have to be submitted.

That's what happened, not because of a death but because disgruntled moderate Republican Sen. James M. Jeffords (Vt.) decided to caucus with the Democrats, giving them a 51-49 edge and the powers of the majority. Senate Republican sources said yesterday that their party is likely to press for similar concessions when negotiating the operating rules for the next Congress. But even if Johnson were incapacitated, Democratic aides say, they would resist.

A different scenario unfolded in 1954, after the deaths and replacements of several senators over two years. Republicans remained the majority party even though Democrats eventually outnumbered them, 48 to 47, with one independent. Democratic leader Lyndon B. Johnson did not challenge the GOP's control, in part, historians said, because the independent, Wayne L. Morse of Oregon, warned that he would caucus with the Republicans if need be. That would have led to a 48-48 chamber, and Vice President Richard M. Nixon would have broken the tie in Republicans' favor.
WaPo
15823. robertjayb - 12/14/2006 1:16:06 PM
Arteriovenous malformation...

What is it?

A snarled tangle of arteries and veins that often is congenital and can occur in the brain and other areas.

What are the symptoms?

Most people have few symptoms, if any, but possible effects include muscle weakness or paralysis in one part of the body or loss of coordination.

Who has them?

An estimated 300,000 Americans.

How dangerous are they?

Each year about 1 percent of people with the condition will die as a direct result.

(Source: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke)
15824. robertjayb - 12/14/2006 1:24:21 PM
From an MSNBC article:

Previous cases...

The Senate historian's office cites several examples of a senator being incapacitated for years and remaining in office.

Most recently, Sen. Karl Mundt (coincidentally, also from South Dakota) suffered a stroke in 1969 and was incapacitated, but he refused to step down. He remained in office until January 1973, when his term expired. Mundt was pressured repeatedly to step down during his illness, but he demanded that the governor promise to appoint his wife. The governor refused, and Mundt remained in office.

Another example was Sen. Carter Glass, D-Va. Glass had a heart condition that prevented him from working for most of his last term after his re-election in 1942. Yet Glass refused to resign, and finally died of congestive heart failure in May 1946, in his apartment at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington.

(The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.)
15825. jexster - 12/14/2006 3:06:41 PM
Previous Cases

15826. robertjayb - 12/14/2006 5:23:22 PM
Thursday, December 14, 2006

Washington, DC—The office of Senator Tim Johnson has released the following:

Admiral John Eisold, Attending Physician of the United States Capitol said, "Subsequent to his admission to George Washington University Hospital yesterday, Senator Tim Johnson was found to have had an intracerebral bleed caused by a congenital arteriovenous malformation. He underwent successful surgery to evacuate the blood and stabilize the malformation. The Senator is recovering without complication in the critical care unit at George Washington University Hospital. It is premature to determine whether further surgery will be required or to assess any long term prognosis."

15827. Magoseph - 12/14/2006 6:53:36 PM
What makes you think that, Mago? It's been trading about 60 for the last couple of months, all futures contracts are 65 to 70... what makes you think 55?

Ali, Jex mentioned 55, not me—I just said downward.

To answer your question, everything I hear and see goes contrary to higher oil prices over any period of time. I see everybody drilling at a mad pace at the same time huge money is going into competitive sources. To me, that spells lower prices ahead.
15828. Max Macks - 12/14/2006 9:22:36 PM
Tell me about the caucus in the Senate,

Can a Senator decide who he will caucus with?
If Holy Joe wants to caucus with the Dems
will they have to let him?
15829. arkymalarky - 12/14/2006 10:52:27 PM
Yes, there are two independents, both caucusing with the Dems, which is what gives them their majority, so wrt Lieberman they'll hold their noses and keep their mouths shut, much as it must pain some of them to do so.
15830. jexster - 12/14/2006 11:47:01 PM
Ali, Jex mentioned 55, not me—I just said downward.

15831. jexster - 12/14/2006 11:48:21 PM
If Holy Joe wants to caucus with the Dems
will they have to let him?

It's Wizzer's call. All his fault. If Wiz sez yes, Joe finds his Mentum on the VaterLand Security Committee
15832. robertjayb - 12/15/2006 11:58:53 AM
NPR poll says voters turned off by GOP...

Voters are feeling more positive about the Democratic Party than about the Republicans as the GOP prepares to hand over control of Congress in January, according to a new NPR poll. And with his approval rating remaining low, President Bush will find it tough to keep Republican lawmakers on his side, the numbers suggest.

Democrat Stan Greenberg and Republican Glen Bolger conducted the survey of likely voters. They found that unlike some previous elections, the 2006 midterms were not a release valve. In other words, according to Bolger, voters are still angry, mostly at Republicans.

15833. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/15/2006 12:42:33 PM
Joe Zion and Bend-over Johnny MaCaque are tag-teaming for more troops and a bigger commitment to war. If the Dems had any integrity or swense, they'd strip the little Israelite of any power. He's going to vote how he likes–and not how the Dems want, so why kowtow to the opportunist/creep?
15834. jexster - 12/15/2006 1:25:01 PM
And they had their little fat toad with the facial warts, Lindsay Graham along for the ride.

I saw their news conference...they didn't look very comfortable singing the More Troops Now song....I think they might have eaten some bad IraQi fish
15835. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/15/2006 2:25:10 PM
Don't give me any false hope, jext!
15836. Max Macks - 12/15/2006 2:34:44 PM
Joe Zion , handy term Wizard, haven't seen it before.

I too wonder both what Sen. Reid will do about
Liber-barf-man , and what he can do regarding
his committe assignments. If he got on committees
when a Dem surely he can't stay on them ,

I sure would like to know about the Dems in Conn.
who defeated Lamont.
15837. jexster - 12/15/2006 2:35:19 PM
CheneyRoveBush Making Robo Calls in Baghdad
15838. jexster - 12/15/2006 2:45:55 PM
Iraqi Joke of the Day
This Wickedly Morbid Joke is Making the Rounds in Baghdad

A driver is stuck in a traffic jam on the highway. Suddenly a man knocks on his window. The driver rolls down his window and asks, "What's going on?"

"Terrorists down the road have kidnapped George W. Bush and Dick Cheney," the man says, "They're asking $100 million ransom. Otherwise they're going to douse them with gasoline and set them on fire. We're going from car to car taking up a collection."

The driver asks, "How much is everyone giving on average?"

The man responds: "Most people are giving about a gallon."

[Via IraqSlogger}
15839. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/15/2006 3:10:52 PM
I sure would like to know about the Dems in Conn. who defeated Lamont.

It wasn't the Dems; it was Dem Jews and Repugs who wouldn't vote for the convicted (Republican) compulsive gambler.

I'm an original, jext! "Dem Jews & Joe Zion" bubbled up from my lexdysic unconscious–but you're free to use 'em and take credit. I've decided to opt for obscurity over fame so my art will become stronger and truer.

Wait til you see what Newfoundland has done to me––I've found new land––as an artist, I mean.
15840. jexster - 12/15/2006 3:30:00 PM
I won't jew you Wiz..I am not like Wonker
15841. jexster - 12/15/2006 3:30:31 PM
And a Chappy Channuka to everyone (begins tonight)
15842. Max Macks - 12/15/2006 3:57:35 PM
Jex, thanks for that great joke
15843. robertjayb - 12/15/2006 4:46:38 PM
Bush pal in Coast Guard contract screwup...(Think Progress)

Donald ¡°Boysie¡± Bollinger, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Bollinger Shipyards, ¡°has been a friend of George W. Bush for a quarter century.¡± CQ Today reported in 2004 that ¡°Bollinger has known Bush since 1980¡å and has twice served as Bush¡¯s Louisiana campaign chair. In 2004, Bollinger became a Bush ¡°Super Ranger¡± after ¡°bringing in more than $300,000¡å for the campaign.

Bollinger Shipyards is part of an emerging scandal over the costly Coast Guard fleet-building program. Four years ago, the Coast Guard ¡ª ¡°in an astonishing abdication of responsibility¡± ¡ª handed off the $17 billion program to Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman ¡°to plan, supervise and deliver the new vessels and helicopters.¡± (The program is now ¡°foundering¡± as the estimated cost of the program has ballooned to $24 billion. Continuing problems have ¡°delayed the arrival of any new ships or aircraft.¡±)

15844. jexster - 12/15/2006 6:15:47 PM
The GOP's Iraq 2 Step

Make the Pyre Higher:
The Urge to Surge
15845. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/15/2006 6:23:54 PM
Thanks for the cheer, robert! Are those strange characters swear words?

The problem is that the woefully inadequate and ruthless man has the same kind of friends. America is suffering from the continuing ripples of Bush's cannonball onto the world scene with his corporate cronies and political thugs.

Mozzeloff, Earth–you have a buffoon who can't swim for your lifeguard.
15846. wonkers2 - 12/15/2006 7:00:46 PM
Macks, interesting question on Lieberman's committee assignments. I wonder what they'll do?
15847. jexster - 12/15/2006 8:17:32 PM
The Urge to Surge
Make the Pyre Higher
15848. jexster - 12/15/2006 8:28:15 PM
I tole ya Wonk...they put his yid ass in the chairman's seat VaterLand Security....

I think we've been jewed myself
15849. robertjayb - 12/16/2006 12:59:43 AM
Will Bayh abandon?

(CBS) There has been intense speculation among Democrats Friday night that Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh will not seek his party's nomination for president in 2008, CBS News has learned. Bayh’s office has not yet responded to requests for comment.

The speculation comes less than two weeks after Bayh hired campaign staff and announced plans to form a fundraising committee for a potential presidential bid.
15850. judithathome - 12/16/2006 1:14:54 PM
Sounds like someone found something scandalous in his past...though I can't imagine what that could be. He seems about as interesting as dry toast.
15851. wonkers2 - 12/16/2006 2:42:52 PM
Anybody familiar with Public Citizen. I just signed a couple of petitions for them that came in the mail this morning and sent them a small check. My nephew works for the organization. Joan Claybrook heads it up.
15852. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/16/2006 3:37:59 PM
Things are getting Shakespeareanly tragic. . .

Farewell, Dense Prince

By MAUREEN DOWD
Published: December 16, 2006

WASHINGTON

James Baker ran after W. with a butterfly net for a while, but it is now clear that the inmates are still running the asylum.

The Defiant Ones came striding from the Pentagon yesterday, the troika of wayward warriors marching abreast in their dark suits and power ties. W., Rummy and Dick Cheney were so full of quick-draw confidence that they might have been sauntering down the main drag of Deadwood.

Far from being run out of town, the defense czar who rivals Robert McNamara for deadly incompetence has been on a victory lap in Baghdad, Mosul and Washington. Yesterday’s tribute had full military honors, a color guard, a 19-gun salute, an Old Guard performance with marching musicians — including piccolo players — in Revolutionary War costumes, John Philip Sousa music and the chuckleheaded neocons and ex-Rummy deputies who helped screw up the occupation, Paul Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith, cheering in the audience.

It was surreal: the septuagenarian who arrogantly dismissed initial advice to send more troops to secure Iraq, being praised as “the finest secretary of defense this nation has ever had” by his pal, the vice president, even as a desperate White House drafted ways to reinvade Iraq by sending more troops in a grasping-at-straws effort to reverse the chaos caused by Rummy’s mistakes.

Just imagine the send-off a defense secretary would have gotten who hadn’t sabotaged the Army, Iraq, global security, our chance to get Osama, our moral credibility, the deficit and American military confidence.

Even Joyce Rumsfeld got a Distinguished Public Service Award ribbon placed around her neck. The grandiose ceremony featured everything but the gold-plated matching set of pistols Tommy Franks, another failed warrior, and his wife, Cathy, recently received from a weapons manufacturer. (His had four stars and diamonds; hers, rubies and their marriage date.)

W. never seems as alarmed about the devastation in Iraq as he should be. He told People magazine, “I must tell you, I’m sleeping a lot better than people would assume,” and he told Brit Hume that his presidency was “a joyful experience.”

He slacked off on his slacker effort to form a new Iraq plan. (Can’t these guys ever order pizzas and pull some all-nighters?) Mr. Bush was busy this week hosting Christmas parties for a press corps he disdains; convening a malaria conference at the National Geographic with Dr. Burke of “Grey’s Anatomy,” Isaiah Washington; and presiding over a hero’s departure for the defense secretary he actually dumped, not because of incompetence but for political expediency.

The Rummy hoopla was a way for W. to signal his decision to shred the Baker-Hamilton study, after reportedly denouncing it as a flaming cow pie. Condi Rice signaled the same, telling The Washington Post that she did not want to negotiate with Syria and Iran, as the Iraq Study Group had proposed, because “the compensation” might be too high.

The Democrats thought that when they had won the election, they won the debate on the war and they had W. cornered. But the president is leaning toward surging over the Democrats, voters, Baker and the Bush 41 crowd and some of his own commanders.

W. seems gratified by the idea that rather than having his ears boxed by his father’s best friend, he’s going to go down swinging, or double down, in the metaphor du jour, on his macho bet in Iraq. He’s reading about Harry Truman and casting himself as a feisty Truman, but he’s heading toward late L.B.J. The White House budget office is studying how much it will cost to finance The Surge, an infusion of 20,000 to 50,000 troops into Baghdad to make one last try at “victory.” The policy would devolve from “We stand down as they stand up” to “We stand up more and maybe someday they will, too.”

Some serving commanders are not in favor of The Surge because they fret that it will infantilize Iraqis even more about assuming responsibility for their own security. They also fear that the insurgents, who have nowhere to go, will outwait our troops.

But W. would rather take a risk in Iraq than risk being a wimp. So he continued to wrap himself in muscular delusions, asserting that on Rummy’s watch, “the United States military helped the Iraqi people establish a constitutional democracy in the heart of the Middle East, a watershed event in the story of freedom.”

Dick Cheney offered this praise to his friend: “On the professional side, I would not be where I am today but for the confidence that Don first placed in me those many years ago.”

Alas, we wouldn’t be where we are today, either.
15853. jexster - 12/16/2006 4:05:44 PM
15841-

Front organization. Hate to break it to ya...have you Concnerned lately...
15854. jexster - 12/16/2006 4:08:23 PM
15853

15855. jexster - 12/17/2006 1:12:44 PM
Master of Ceremonies
Ahnold Inaugural

15856. wonkers2 - 12/18/2006 10:26:20 AM
Did anyone hear that Bill Frist who diagnosed Schiavo from a video tape two years ago, concluding that she should be kept on life support, performed a similar remote diagnosis on Senator Tim Johnson? Frist: "Put him in a bag of rocks and throw him in the Potomac!"
15857. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/18/2006 5:35:40 PM
15858. Ronski - 12/18/2006 6:13:42 PM
Media Meeting with Muslims

The conclusion I drew from this meeting is that the Muslim community's leaders here will not accept any criticism, no matter how legitimate, considering it to be bigoted. They will not admit to any radicalism going on in their community, and try to minimize it, even as it goes on.
15859. wonkers2 - 12/18/2006 7:45:27 PM
Comparable to the attitude of AIPAC, Dershowitz and the other Jewish antisemitism whiners?
15860. jexster - 12/18/2006 10:53:15 PM
We've been jewed Ronsk...wake up
15861. jexster - 12/18/2006 10:54:22 PM
Hey turnabout is fair play eh? I entered a Chappy Channucka contest at the Forward. Eight drawings, eight days, eight days, eight nights in Zion.

Wish me luck
15862. wonkers2 - 12/18/2006 11:32:20 PM
Dick Cheney believes in Darwin--survival of the fittest, Sunni or Shia in Iraq. Survival of the fittest in Iraq
15863. wonkers2 - 12/18/2006 11:48:50 PM
Seems to me the Feds visited a lot of unnecessary Christmas misery on the undocumented Swift workers in Greeley. Our American hearts are hardening.
15864. jexster - 12/19/2006 12:47:37 AM
I hope that the next president picks Zbig for Natl Security Advisor.

See Zbigniew Brzezinksi on Charlie Rose 12/15/06
{video]
15865. jexster - 12/19/2006 6:10:27 AM
Last June I predicted that within twelve months, the State of Iraq would cease to exist....

Missing: a functional Iraqi state
CSM

WASHINGTON - AsPresident Bush weighs his options for forging a new Iraq policy, he faces this big conundrum: Many proposals call for greater reliance on and deeper development of the Iraqi state, but the reality is that the Iraqi state, in many respects, does not exist.

Kinda cheated. It didn't exist when I made the prediction!
15866. jexster - 12/19/2006 6:26:43 AM
And the Leaks go on TD.....

wherever you are...

From the Sinking Ship Bush

Joint Chiefs Differ With White House on Troops

Military officials say proposal to boost numbers in Iraq is being promoted in part because of limited alternatives and the lack of a defined mission.
15867. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/19/2006 12:07:33 PM
Speaking of the Joint Chiefs, while on my treadmill, I watched the Full Honor Review in Honor of Sec. of Defense Rumsfeld on C-span and everyone who spoke about Rumsfeld's "exceptional personal qualities," always recalled his "selfless" devotion and loyalty to America and the military. Last night before turning in, I read the following by Eric Hoffer:

The taint hidden in selflessness is that selflessness is the only moral justification for ruthlessness.

15868. jexster - 12/19/2006 1:24:39 PM
By the Authority of the Imperator of all Armadillos

Vested in me, Wizzer I hereby award you and Donald Duck, our nation's highest civilian honor

15869. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/19/2006 5:43:58 PM
Thanks jext; I'll wear it with irony!
15870. Max Macks - 12/19/2006 6:45:06 PM
Looks like Gates is a Rummy clone

why was he confirmed without being asked
about Raygun and the Contra scandal?
15871. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/19/2006 7:51:09 PM
I don't think the Dems care, Max.
15872. jexster - 12/19/2006 8:55:28 PM
Pelosi Familia

15873. Max Macks - 12/19/2006 9:32:39 PM
Was it in this thread that the Other day I read
the great joke being told in Bagdad
about Cheney and bush or Cheney and Rumself being
kidnaopped and threated to be burned with gasoline?

want to read it again.
15874. jexster - 12/19/2006 9:56:39 PM
Poor Pill-ary Pig Pile just got raked on Hardball. Mathews followed an intermidable interview from the Today Show with commentary from Kate O'Bierne and Bob Hebert of the Post. They batted her around like kittens playing with a mouse. Hebert leads with "I am one of those who doesn't think she's going to make it. People are tired of 20 years of Bush/Clinton rotation in the Oval Orifice"

It got worse from there. She's re-releasing "It Takes a Village". Gonna take more than that.

Take lotsa lipstick

15875. wonkers2 - 12/19/2006 10:11:25 PM
Did anyone else hear that Frist, who remotely diagnosed Diane Schiavo and concluded she should be kept on life support, diagnosed Tim Johnson last week. His recommendation: "Bag him with rocks and throw him in the Potomoc."
15876. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/19/2006 10:29:18 PM
I enjoyed the Pelosi piece, jexster, thanks.

I'm a bit disheartened that Reyes, the new head of the House Intelligence Committee, didn't know the difference between a Shiite and a Sunni.

Harmon is obviously more prepared and smarter and it mad me wonder about Pelosi's character, somewhat.
15877. thoughtful - 12/19/2006 11:37:07 PM
wonks...i only heard that here about frist...don't think it's true...
15878. robertjayb - 12/20/2006 11:16:08 AM
More troops, more money, more time. Trust me, I am the decider.

Bush press conference: 10 a.m. eastern.
15879. Magoseph - 12/20/2006 12:08:37 PM
I believe the greatest danger to Bush occurs if he moves ahead with the surge gamble in Iraq, which is condemned by the generals.

This gives the opposition the basis for an attempt to oust him.

I really can't stand to listen to him now...
15880. Magoseph - 12/20/2006 12:17:18 PM
This gives the opposition the basis for an attempt to oust him.

Of course, this assumes the failure of the surge, which I deem to be more than likely.
15881. Magoseph - 12/20/2006 12:26:42 PM
After listening up to now to his speech and his answers, so far I sense the sly imprint of Rove at work:

The generals veto the surge—Bush goes along with the veto—the collapse is then laid on the generals’ staff and Bush avoids responsibility for the fiasco in Iraq—he thinks!
15882. Magoseph - 12/20/2006 12:27:37 PM
His heart breaks on a regular basis?

15883. Magoseph - 12/20/2006 12:29:29 PM
The economy is great--yeah, but for whom, you son of a...?
15884. Magoseph - 12/20/2006 12:35:11 PM
Bush is now telling the public what they want to hear—Sick of it—going to town!
15885. jexster - 12/20/2006 1:44:17 PM

Hitler always listened to his generals....

Right Wombat?

After Criticizing Surge, Gen. Abizaid to Retire
15886. jexster - 12/20/2006 1:50:41 PM
Napoleon in the White House
Iraq is Bush's Waterloo – will it be America's, too?

15887. jexster - 12/20/2006 2:33:49 PM
CNN didn't even bother with live coverage Mago. I suspect that we shall soon see a coup or puppet change by other means in IraQ as part of the Last Charm Offensive.

2/3 of Americans now oppose the fucking war and want a timetable. With silly season coming on faster this cycle than ever, he's not got many trips to the bully pulpit left in him

Most people stopped believing anything that man said along time ago.
15888. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/20/2006 3:30:56 PM

15889. jexster - 12/20/2006 4:56:13 PM
Our nation has been led to war by the arts of imposition, by its own credulity, through means of false hope, false pride, and promised advantages of the most romantic and improbable nature.

Lord Chatham (Pitt the elder) to Parliament on December 11, 1777

15890. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/20/2006 5:08:58 PM
Don't pass this one up–John Stewart makes Bill Kristol cower and shake in this interview . . .

Jon Stewart Gets Tough with “one more shot” Bill Kristol
15891. robertjayb - 12/20/2006 5:34:01 PM
Just a few billion more...

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon wants the White House to seek an additional $99.7 billion to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to information provided to The Associated Press.

The military's request, if embraced by President Bush and approved by Congress, would boost this year's budget for those wars to about $170 billion.

Military planners assembled the proposal at a time when Bush is developing new strategies for Iraq, such as sending thousands of more U.S. troops there, although it was put together before the president said the troop surge was under consideration.

15892. Max Macks - 12/20/2006 6:38:30 PM
A surge to more insaniy
'
who beside Murtha is demadning US out of Iraq
NOW.??
15893. wonkers2 - 12/20/2006 8:12:34 PM
Bush today: "We're not succeeding [in Iraq] nearly as fast as I wanted."
15894. jexster - 12/20/2006 9:08:20 PM
Merry Crimmus

And I Encourage You All to Go Shopping!

12/20/06
15895. jexster - 12/20/2006 9:32:17 PM
99.97 Billion??

Is that the same marketing theory that 99.95 comes from?
15896. thoughtful - 12/21/2006 11:26:09 AM
I still don't get it. I still don't get how people who sound otherwise intelligible can be buy into total nonsense.

No, that's not it. People who are so devoted to their ideological point of view, that they'd rather misattribute facts to the other guy than even allow a glimmer of the truth about their own guys to get in...that they'll sacrifice truth for the sake of avoiding cognitive dissonance.

What triggered this was this morning I was listening to some rwer on cspan talk about his history book. Callers were calling in from the dem line, the rep line and the ind line asking questions.

One rep fellow called in and said how unfair and unrealistic it was of the "liberals and democrats" to expect the iraqis to stand up to the insurgents. The author of course agreed with him. Now correct me if i'm wrong here, but wasn't it drilled into our heads by this administration for years that the correct and appropriate approach to iraq was 'we'll stand down as they stand up'?

This same fellow also asked about how could iraq be in such bad shape if their economy has grown 17% in the last year. The author said something stupid about how devastated the economy was so it doesn't take much growth to make a big number yadda yadda. Ok...the guy knows nothing. You can't look at iraq economic growth without looking at the billions and billions the US has been pouring into the country. Take that away and you get a very different picture.

Then a dem caller called in making some nasty comment and he was called on it by the author...I had no problem with that, but the author said, "just as the republicans, if there were any, who accused democrats of being unpatriotic should be ashamed..." Hello? If there were any? That too was core to administration policy, from fleisher's american's have to be careful what they say to gopers even trashing max clelland's service to this country. Was swift boating so long ago that no one remembers?

I just don't understand...is it that people know the facts and pick and choose among them? or is the media coverage so bad and the blogosphere so amplifies the one-sided nature of coverage, that they really don't know what's truth any more?

I still remember that NPR interview from the last presidential election where the interviewer was talking to some red stater who kept insisting cheney didn't have a lesbian daughter...kerry did.
15897. jexster - 12/21/2006 3:06:08 PM
That apparently is the latest right wing trope - not telling the "good news" about the economy in IraQ.

Cole additionally observed the other day:

Newsweek misleadingly reports 'a booming economy' in Iraq. Iraq's is a war economy, and some sectors have benefitted from the end of the old regime and of international sanctions. So there is construction, sure. And a lot of used cars and consumer goods have been imported (that is not actually necessarily a good thing). People talk on cell phones. But no new factories have been founded. There is no evidence of increased productivity. Inflation is up to 53 percent. The professional middle class is fleeing in droves, so that soon there won't be any physicians left. Electricity and fuel are scarce. Unemployment is probably 50 to 60 percent. Saying that this economy is "flourishing" (outside Kurdistan) is like saying that the US economy was "flourishing" during the Great Depression of the 1930s. There was construction going on then, too, quite a lot of it. Iraq's economy is different insofar as it functions in the midst of a civil war. War economies create pockets of wealth and activity. When a fourth to a half of your workers are unemployed, no one cares.

New Construction in Iraq:

New US Embassy
15898. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/21/2006 4:18:49 PM
15899. jexster - 12/21/2006 5:14:02 PM
As Mo Dowd might say "Break out the butterfly net"
15900. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/21/2006 5:17:57 PM
Yup, I think it may have captured his core.

What a sad and beautiful planet we're on!
15901. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/21/2006 5:21:48 PM
You'll like this, jex . . .

McCain Hires Blog Sockpuppet
15902. Max Macks - 12/21/2006 9:43:31 PM
that cartoon explains Bush the best Wizard.

I listened to a few seconds of his press conf.
There is something about the way Bush smirks after he says something that I find annoying.
Also the expression on his face as he has to listen
to someone else talk is also ..what to call it?..
...dont know what to call it , I know it when I see it.
15903. judithathome - 12/21/2006 9:46:03 PM
It's called sneering at lesser people than you. It's called snobbery.
15904. jexster - 12/21/2006 10:43:47 PM
Twelve Days of Whoopsmas - Part I
15905. jexster - 12/21/2006 10:47:35 PM
how UN-original Wizzer...

A guy I know did exactly that to a rival SF mayoral candidate...

Can't name names
15906. jexster - 12/21/2006 10:48:05 PM
Funny how they can trace back to computers ain't it.
15907. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/21/2006 10:48:41 PM
I know what you mean, Max. You just know he's going through the motions and couldn't care what you think or say. I wouldn't call it snobbery, Judith, but it is arrogant and it seems to betray an attitude of self-importance. When I think of snobbery, however, I think of someone like PE or William F. Buckley with abilities–W. is just too inept to pull off snobbery. Maybe there's a wordsmith around who knows the precise word.
15908. jexster - 12/21/2006 10:50:39 PM
Moron
15909. judithathome - 12/21/2006 10:52:00 PM
To me, snobbery only requires that you "think" you're better than everyone else. He definitely does that.

15910. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/21/2006 10:53:20 PM
15905. jexster - 12/21/2006 8:47:35 PM

how UN-original Wizzer...

A guy I know did exactly that to a rival SF mayoral candidate...

Can't name names

Well I never saw it–honest and it was original as far as I'm concerned. But that's too bad, jexster, I'd like to see it.

Nevertheless, the idea may be out there but was it done with more skill and impact? it was my idea
15911. jexster - 12/21/2006 10:54:02 PM
Delta Kappa Epsilon....

They're the same everywhere, but most grow up.
15912. jexster - 12/21/2006 10:55:56 PM
Mayoral race Wizzer, and boy it did it backfire. Got the poor fella a heap o shit.

Wuz kewl tho.....lotsa publicity ..the press fell for the hoax and then fell on my pal the hoaxster
15913. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/21/2006 11:12:25 PM
Political parody is legal, I don't know why he got in trouble.
15914. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/21/2006 11:13:31 PM
Jest, did you see my last post in Sex & Gender? Check it out–it's a hoot!
15915. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/21/2006 11:13:54 PM
And DKE is a bullseye!
15916. jexster - 12/22/2006 12:12:25 AM
From IraqSlogger

IraqSide:Buzz
Only on Slogger
Saddam's Revenge?: Gates's Bug Bite
Defense Secretary's Badly-Swollen Eyelid Appears Overnight

As if new Defense Secretary Robert Gates doesn't have enough challenges during his time in Iraq, he woke up this morning in Baghdad with a badly-swollen left eyelid. A tipster in Gates's traveling party tells us Gates "was bitten by a bug or something," apparently while sleeping last night in one of the Saddam Hussein-era palaces now used as U.S. military VIP sleeping quarters. The tipster quipped, "Call it Saddam's revenge."

15917. jexster - 12/22/2006 9:30:23 AM
4
My what a difference an election makes! Our brave press is widely bandying the "F" word about these days without fear of being trashed as "defeatist" Al qaeder luvin, Osama suckin Saddamites. From cable to print to the internets.....

William M. Arkin on National and Homeland Security - Failure in Iraq? We've Already Failed
15918. thoughtful - 12/22/2006 2:14:06 PM
Well, Jon Stewart put it well when he said that w talks not like HE's stupid, but like he thinks WE are stupid.
15919. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/22/2006 3:14:44 PM
Well, many in America believed his con, so if the shoe fits. Jexster's comment comes close–just another privileged DKE bully who learned to intimidate others at a young age. But there must be a specific word for that kind of behavior.
15920. robertjayb - 12/22/2006 3:29:28 PM
Kansas abortion doctor charged...

Kansas' attorney general, a vocal abortion opponent, has filed criminal charges against Wichita abortion provider George Tiller, the doctor's attorney said Friday.

Attorney Dan Monnat did not identify the charges, and officials in Attorney General Phill Kline's office did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

Tiller's clinic, known for being one of the few in the country to do late-term procedures, has been a high-profile target of anti-abortion protesters for decades. The clinic was bombed in 1985, and Tiller was shot in both arms by a protester in 1993.

Kline, who lost his re-election bid in November and leaves office in three weeks, has been investigating whether Tiller and other abortion providers performed illegal late-term abortions in Kansas or failed to report suspected child abuse as required by law.
..................................................

The filing of criminal charges by Phill Kline is the last gasp of a defeated and discredited politician," an attorney said. "Rather than executing his duty as a prosecutor to see that justice is done, he has chosen to engage in a malicious and spiteful prosecution on the eve of Christmas."

The incoming attorney general, Democrat Paul Morrison, has criticized Kline for seeking the records, describing it as an invasion of the patients' privacy, but he wouldn't say if he would drop any investigation Kline started against the clinics.

15921. jexster - 12/22/2006 3:37:23 PM
that w talks not like HE's stupid, but like he thinks WE are stupid.

I love his little civics lectures particularly about what his job is; what your job is; what Congress does; what the Evil Ones do etc....

Next fave are his travels with Georgie stories "The PM of ___ is a very nice fella"

It is truly painful to listen to but I have to disagree with Stewart. When I hear that cornpone of his, I believe hie thinks we're no smarter than he is.

It's like "GEE WIZZZ lookee what I done learnt today...."
15922. jexster - 12/22/2006 3:42:16 PM
15923. jexster - 12/22/2006 3:45:25 PM
Bush to mull Iraq strategy over holidays

Like mulled wine? Does it have to breathe? I have never seen any decision making like this. He's been in Iraq how long? Planning since the fucking day he took office if not before. Iraq is going to hell in a freaking handbasket and the Texican is mulling....
15924. Max Macks - 12/22/2006 6:00:26 PM
Interesting how Gates and even Blair
go to Iraq,
Junior hasent gone since he went there with his
plastic turkey.

btw ,there is something about the lips on Bush
when he is having to listen to something he doesnt
want to , hard to describe but easy to see
when you see him on TV
15925. Max Macks - 12/22/2006 6:02:44 PM
So many details I never seen on any TV station
except C-span

the length of those suppy convoys going
from Kuwait to the Green zone

as someone said, bringing ice cream and booze
for those hunkered down in the Green Zone

and the many, many, many attacks on those trucks
every (sic) every day.
15926. jexster - 12/22/2006 6:31:38 PM
Close your eyes Jen

Now that's pornographic!
15927. robertjayb - 12/22/2006 7:39:41 PM
Kansas abortion charge dropped...

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) -- Kansas' attorney general, a vocal abortion opponent, charged a well-known abortion provider with illegally performing late-term abortions, but a Sedgwick County judge on Friday threw out the charges after less than a day.
15928. robertjayb - 12/22/2006 7:58:42 PM
Edwards, Obama tied at 22% in Iowa poll...Hillary at 10%

The poll asked Iowa Democrats which candidates they would vote for if the 2008 Democratic caucus were held today.

The top three candidates were Sen. John Edwards at 22 percent, Democratic U.S. Sen. Barrack Obama at 22 percent and Vilsack at 12 percent. U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton of New York came in fourth at 10 percent.

KCCI political analyst Dennis Goldford said that Edwards left himself well-positioned from the caucuses.

15929. Magoseph - 12/22/2006 8:01:53 PM
When I hear that cornpone of his, I believe hie thinks we're no smarter than he is.

He thinks that half of the voters are no smarter than he is and he is correct--with Rove’s help, he got the slight margin of votes that made him twice President. After leaving office and back on his ranch, he’ll be quite comfortable with himself that he’s placed his stamp on history and for him that’ll be more than enough.
15930. jexster - 12/22/2006 11:31:29 PM
And 30% of the public never heard of Oh-bama!
15931. jexster - 12/22/2006 11:32:07 PM
15932. Magoseph - 12/23/2006 12:25:22 PM
Democrats and the Deficit
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Now that the Democrats have regained some power, they have to decide what to do. One of the biggest questions is whether the party should return to Rubinomics — the doctrine, associated with former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, that placed a very high priority on reducing the budget deficit.

The answer, I believe, is no. Mr. Rubin was one of the ablest Treasury secretaries in American history. But it’s now clear that while Rubinomics made sense in terms of pure economics, it failed to take account of the ugly realities of contemporary American politics.

And the lesson of the last six years is that the Democrats shouldn’t spend political capital trying to bring the deficit down. They should refrain from actions that make the deficit worse. But given a choice between cutting the deficit and spending more on good things like health care reform, they should choose the spending.

In a saner political environment, the economic logic behind Rubinomics would have been compelling. Basic fiscal principles tell us that the government should run budget deficits only when it faces unusually high expenses, mainly during wartime. In other periods it should try to run a surplus, paying down its debt.

Since the 1990s were an era of peace, prosperity and favorable demographics (the baby boomers were still in the work force, not collecting Social Security and Medicare), it should have been a good time to put the federal budget in the black. And under Mr. Rubin, the huge deficits of the Reagan-Bush years were transformed into an impressive surplus.

But the realities of American politics ensured that it was all for naught. The second President Bush quickly squandered the surplus on tax cuts that heavily favored the wealthy, then plunged the budget deep into deficit by cutting taxes on dividends and capital gains even as he took the country into a disastrous war. And you can even argue that Mr. Rubin’s surplus was a bad thing, because it greased the rails for Mr. Bush’s irresponsibility.

As Brad DeLong, a Berkeley economist who served in the Clinton administration, recently wrote on his influential blog: “Rubin and us spearcarriers moved heaven and earth to restore fiscal balance to the American government in order to raise the rate of economic growth. But what we turned out to have done, in the end, was to enable George W. Bush’s right-wing class war: his push for greater after-tax income inequality.”

My only quibble with Mr. DeLong’s characterization is that this wasn’t just one man’s class war: the whole conservative movement shared Mr. Bush’s squanderlust, his urge to run off with the money so carefully saved under Mr. Rubin’s leadership.

With the benefit of hindsight, it’s clear that conservatives who claimed to care about deficits when Democrats were in power never meant it. Let’s not forget how Alan Greenspan, who posed as the high priest of fiscal rectitude as long as Bill Clinton was in the White House, became an apologist for tax cuts — even in the face of budget deficits — once a Republican took up residence.

Now the Democrats are back in control of Congress. They’ve pledged not to be as irresponsible as their predecessors: Nancy Pelosi, the incoming House speaker, has promised to restore the “pay-as-you-go” rule that the Republicans tossed aside in the Bush years. This rule would basically prevent Congress from passing budgets that increase the deficit.

I’m for pay-as-you-go. The question, however, is whether to go further. Suppose the Democrats can free up some money by fixing the Medicare drug program, by ending the Iraq war and/or clamping down on war profiteering, or by rolling back some of the Bush tax cuts. Should they use the reclaimed revenue to reduce the deficit, or spend it on other things?

The answer, I now think, is to spend the money — while taking great care to ensure that it is spent well, not squandered — and let the deficit be. By spending money well, Democrats can both improve Americans’ lives and, more broadly, offer a demonstration of the benefits of good government. Deficit reduction, on the other hand, might just end up playing into the hands of the next irresponsible president.

In the long run, something will have to be done about the deficit. But given the state of our politics, now is not the time.
15933. jexster - 12/23/2006 4:23:15 PM
Paygo Mago? That went the way of $55/bbl erl.

We gots terruhrisses to fight ....now 3 billion a week in EyeRak by some estimates

Indeed

That Was Then ...
By Ivo Daalder

I was talking to a reporter the other day, arguing that while Bush inherited a lot of problems from Clinton, in each instance he had done everything possible to make things worse. The reporter told me take a look at the 2000 GOP foreign policy platform, and reread the litany of indictments Bush & Co. had issued with respect to Clinton’s foreign policy. So I did. Sure makes for interesting reading.
15934. wonkers2 - 12/23/2006 5:40:45 PM
For those who don't have the time to read as many books as they would like, there's a long book review by Mark Danner in the latest NY Review of Books on Woodward's new book on Iraq and Ron Suskind's "The One Percent Doctrine: Deep Inside America's Pursuit of Its Enemies Since 9-11 and James Risen's "State of War: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration." Danner This long review is well worth reading.
15935. jexster - 12/23/2006 10:09:47 PM
Thanks Wonk! The 1% Solution is key to the Lies of CheneyRoveBush
15936. jexster - 12/23/2006 10:12:06 PM
Cunnilingus Rice said BushWar is a good investment

But how much????

Estimate The Total Cost of the Iraq War

AEI/Brookings Interactive Web site ---- You Predict
15937. jexster - 12/24/2006 5:42:42 PM
Unbelievable...

Bush to Announce $10 Billion Jobs Program for Iraq
15938. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/24/2006 6:32:13 PM
Merrym Merry Jexster!

Who pays for the liberty you demand?
15939. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/24/2006 7:38:12 PM
How dare someone have the audacity to challenge a powerful, arrogant Zionist . . .

15940. jexster - 12/24/2006 9:23:37 PM
And a Chappy Chanuka to you too Wiz you ole hunk of gabagool you!
15941. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/24/2006 9:51:29 PM
:LOL!
15942. jexster - 12/25/2006 11:02:20 PM
The Irrelevance of Joe Lieberman

At homeland Security/Gov Ops, he can't do much harm, only work to clean up the mess he made when he let Bush hijack his legislation in 2002.
15943. alistairconnor - 12/26/2006 9:58:48 AM
10 billion dollar jobs program!

Reconstruction for Iraq! Such a great idea, it's a wonder nobody ever thought of it before.

What the china shop needs is more bulls, plus a few tubes of glue.

But sending more troops is expensive. It would be less trouble just to send Bernanke with a helicopter, he could just shovel the $10 billion out the door over the difficult neighbourhoods.
15944. jexster - 12/26/2006 3:12:41 PM
OOOPS

IraN May Need Nuclear Power After All
Says the National Academy of Sciences

Fucking Islamofascists must have infiltrated the place
15945. jexster - 12/26/2006 3:13:14 PM
I think out national command authority has been sniffing the glue AC
15946. jexster - 12/26/2006 6:00:45 PM

Helping the Poor, the British Way
By Paul Krugman

15947. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/26/2006 10:46:39 PM
Hypocrites 'R Us Department:

Lieberman Defends Video-Game Money

WASHINGTON -- It has become a holiday ritual: Joe Lieberman and family-research officials hold a well-attended press conference to decry the impact on children of excessive video game sex and violence.

And, again in 2006, Lieberman indulged in another yearly ritual: taking campaign money from the entertainment industry.

An analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan watchdog group, found that the Connecticut Democrat, who won re-election last month as an independent, received about $73,000 from a variety of industry sources over the past two years.
15948. jexster - 12/26/2006 11:02:00 PM
You feign surprise Wizardo

Meyer Lansky Mug Shot
15949. robertjayb - 12/27/2006 12:05:20 AM
Joe will go...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Delaware Sen. Joseph Biden, one of the Democratic party's leading voices on foreign policy and a sharp critic of President George W. Bush's handling of the Iraq war, on Tuesday said he intends to run for president in 2008.

"It is my intention to seek the nomination, and it's my intention sometime in the month of January to set up the appropriate mechanism to be able to raise money for that purpose," Biden said in a telephone news conference that centered on Iraq.
15950. jexster - 12/27/2006 10:13:56 AM
Gerald R. Ford
RIP

Wonk is too broken up to report and asked that I do so,
15951. wonkers2 - 12/27/2006 12:59:58 PM
Ford was a paragon compared to W. I actually met him once back in the sixties when he was a Congressman in the Snowflake Lounge at Boyne Mountain. He liked to ski.
15952. jexster - 12/27/2006 1:41:08 PM
See. I tole y'all. Those Grosse Pointe bois are thick as thieves. Even ole Juan Cole's eulogizin.

15953. jexster - 12/27/2006 3:23:33 PM
Ford attended the Lousiana Mardi Gras Ball at the Shoreham. Johnston was chairman and I sat at the table next to Gerald and Betty with the kids and the Secret Service
15954. jexster - 12/27/2006 3:24:01 PM
Fuck me I still have the crystal ashtray party gift
15955. Max Macks - 12/27/2006 4:58:07 PM
some question his pardon of Nixon
15956. robertjayb - 12/27/2006 6:15:07 PM
John Edwards is in...MSNBC via AP.
15957. jexster - 12/27/2006 10:54:42 PM
I questioned his pardon of Noxin at the time and still do Stupid fuck.

I also question the media for making a big deal out of "I am a Ford not a Lincoln"

That one had been on fucking bumper stickers for at least a year at the time Ford used it.

John Edwards could well emerge as the leading contender. Hillary ain't gonna be in the Final Four.
15958. jexster - 12/28/2006 11:59:19 AM
St. Gerald Blasts CheneyBush War

(COle)

Bob Woodward reveals in WaPo that the late President Gerald Ford deeply disagreed with George W. Bush's Iraq War. Excerpts:

' "Rumsfeld and Cheney and the president made a big mistake in justifying going into the war in Iraq. They put the emphasis on weapons of mass destruction," Mr. Ford said. "And now, I've never publicly said I thought they made a mistake, but I felt very strongly it was an error in how they should justify what they were going to do . . ."

Mr. Ford took issue with the notion of the U.S. entering a conflict in service of the idea of spreading democracy. "Well, I can understand the theory of wanting to free people," Mr. Ford said, referring to Mr. Bush's assertion that the U.S. has a "duty to free people." But the former president said he was skeptical "whether you can detach that from the obligation No. 1, of what's in our national interest." He added: "And I just don't think we should go hellfire damnation around the globe freeing people, unless it is directly related to our own national security. . ."

"He was an excellent chief of staff. First class," Mr. Ford said of Mr. Cheney. "But I think Cheney has become much more pugnacious" as vice president. He said he agreed with former Secretary of State Colin Powell's assertion that Mr. Cheney developed a "fever" about the threat of terrorism and Iraq. "I think that's probably true."

"I don't think, if I had been president, on the basis of the facts as I saw them publicly," he said, "I don't think I would have ordered the Iraq war. I would have maximized our effort through sanctions, through restrictions, whatever, to find another answer."

Ahem. I wrote yesterday, "The blowback from that Reaganesque era of private armies of the Right helped push the US after 2001 toward an incipient fascism at which Ford, the All-American, the lawyerly gentleman, the great Wolverine, must have wept daily in his twilight years."

Some of Ford's points would have made good additions to my Top Ten Myths about Iraq 2006.
15959. thoughtful - 12/28/2006 12:36:18 PM
Even at the time, as I do now, I think ford did the right thing in pardoning nixon. Americans, as has been so soundly proved by this admin, often lust for blood and pursue that lust only to be proved, years later, as the barbaric and immoral acts that they were, besmirching and bestaining the country...be it putting the japanese in camps, or torturing 'enemy combatants'. I think ford was right to resist the blood-lust at the time in favor of moving forward and allowing the nation to heal...hopefully, though seemingly less likely, to learn from the mistakes of the past.

Even at that, I believe it was revenge on the nixon era that drove the rw radicals to pursue clinton so virulently and clearly impacting cheney, addington, etal on emasculating the congress by ignoring the laws and cases created in the post-nixon era that were designed to protect the nation from the imperial presidency.

Had nixon been further prosecuted, who knows where we'd be now...
15960. jexster - 12/28/2006 1:03:20 PM
Bush Prepares Stay The Course Forward to Victory

"He is now caught between admitting the war was a mistake and his policy has failed, or trying to tough it out," said Joseph Cirincione, a foreign policy analyst at the Center for American Progress, a liberal Washington think tank.

"It looks like the president would rather let the whole operation go down in flames than admit he was wrong...."

His domestic political troubles are sure to deepen starting on Jan. 4,
15961. jexster - 12/28/2006 1:07:12 PM
Bullshit. Can't do the time, don't do the crime. Everybody got nailed but the main culprit. Ford worked his slimy ass off in the House to block all investigations like a snake. It ain't no accident that Cheney and Rumsfeld got their starts in the Interregenum of St. Gerald of Grand Rapids

15962. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/28/2006 1:24:58 PM
15963. arkymalarky - 12/28/2006 2:08:14 PM
Oooh, that one's going into my files, Wiz. Thanks.

I was furious at the time, but agree with the pardon now; however, the investigations should have continued and the systemic issues that led to Watergate dealt with. I truly believe that John Dean is right and this admdinistration is worse--maybe far worse--and we may never know about it. There is no excuse for that after Watergate, especially after the Clinton Impeachment Fiasco.
15964. jexster - 12/28/2006 4:00:09 PM
And THAT is where it had better stay Miss Malarky! The Arkansas National Guard would not be pleased as their fine young men and women surge into harms way to defend our JudeoChristianGodinBush values.

Support the troops. Destroy the toon before it is too late
15965. jexster - 12/28/2006 4:01:31 PM
As for Ford, he redeemed himself in death with that Woodward interview and will rest in peace
15966. jexster - 12/28/2006 4:05:54 PM
Thank God GRF was an Episcopalian. His funeral will be tasteful, unlike that grostesque display for St. Ron of Rayguns
15967. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/28/2006 6:07:55 PM
I confess to some schadenfreude when W praised Ford before the Woodward info came out. Many are contrasting Ford's largess to W's pettiness.
15968. arkymalarky - 12/28/2006 7:27:01 PM
(From AP and Yahoo)
President Bush worked nearly three hours at his Texas ranch on Thursday to design a new U.S. policy in Iraq, then emerged to say that he and his advisers need more time to craft the plan he'll announce in the new year.

What drive. What commitment. What unrelenting effort to devise a way to make Americans and Iraqis in Iraq safer. He'll work an eighth of a day for however many days it takes to get the job done.

I've worked triple that every day since I got out over Christmas "holiday" on a graduate school project.

Of all the things I've read and seen in over six years of this stuff, for some reason this tops them all in terms of my visceral reaction to the person, the individual that is George W. Bush.
15969. jexster - 12/28/2006 9:54:20 PM
I heard his statement today. He makes my skin crawl generally but today, George was a special insect. That mutha's gonna get it starting, I believe, 1/11 when Sen. Wonkers1 starts hearings at Senate Armed Services.
15970. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/29/2006 1:26:12 PM
Arky, your indignation is so justified and appropriate. W's arrogant core of entitlement is revealed in every pathetic act of merely going through the motions, while other people do the work he's incapable of doing.

Look at this un-doctored photo when these thugs were at the zenith of their tyranny . . . you can taste the hubris!

15971. jexster - 12/29/2006 2:04:31 PM
Texicans
15972. Max Macks - 12/29/2006 3:38:22 PM
Is W. bowlegged or has he got something up his sorry
ass.? I saw the way he walked on a brief shot of
him re. his thinking about Iraq at Crawford.
And now in this photo.

What is so difficult about , "get the hell OUT
OF IRAQ NOW .?
15973. Magoseph - 12/29/2006 4:48:38 PM
Is W. bowlegged or has he got something up his sorry
ass.?

No, Max, he's showing his stuff, Texas style--it's called "strutting".
15974. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/29/2006 7:34:48 PM
15975. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 12/29/2006 7:35:06 PM
15976. thoughtful - 12/30/2006 5:51:46 PM
751 days 8 hours 8 minutes and 30 seconds

Happy New Year everyone!!!
15977. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 1/1/2007 12:22:53 AM
We Will Remember . . ,

15978. jexster - 1/1/2007 3:33:19 PM
Yea I remember Wizzer how you let Joe get his Mentum back.

Connecticut for Lieberman endorsed the McCain Escalation yesterday. I'm thinkin McCain-Lieberman National Mentum for Unity ticket 2008
15979. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 1/1/2007 4:38:45 PM
Good, because they'll lose!
15980. thoughtful - 1/2/2007 1:33:27 PM
Joe Stiglitz in project syndicate:

When Bush assumed the presidency in 2001, many hoped that he would govern competently from the center. More pessimistic critics consoled themselves by questioning how much harm a president can do in a few years. We now know the answer: a great deal.

Never has America’s standing in the world’s eyes been lower. Basic values that Americans regard as central to their identity have been subverted. The unthinkable has occurred: an American president defending the use of torture, using technicalities in interpreting the Geneva Conventions and ignoring the Convention on Torture, which forbids it under any circumstances. Likewise, whereas Bush was hailed as the first “MBA president,” corruption and incompetence have reigned under his administration, from the botched response to Hurricane Katrina to its conduct of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

I'm still stunned at how awful things have become since he started and how still, so many people can continue to support him and his policies. And how even more inept the dems can be to have such an ineffective response.
15981. wonkers2 - 1/2/2007 1:37:21 PM
Here's some interesting info on differences in the voting records of Clinton and Obama Obama v.Clinton
15982. thoughtful - 1/2/2007 1:38:42 PM
and stiglitz forgot about that little itty bitty constitutional issue knows as the destruction of habeas corpus
15983. wonkers2 - 1/2/2007 2:04:07 PM
Stiglitz is my kind of economist.
15984. jexster - 1/2/2007 3:16:42 PM
Kristol Clear at Time

The market doesn't work -- not when it comes to conservative commentators.

Before the Iraq war, rightwing (and middle-of-the-road) pundits claimed Saddam Hussein was a dire WMD threat, that he was in cahoots with al Qaeda, that the war was necessary. The neoconservative cheerleaders for war also argued that an invasion of Iraq would bring democracy to that nation and throughout the region. They were wrong. But they have paid no price for their errors. They did not have to serve in Iraq. None, as far as I can tell, have had sons or daughters harmed or killed in the fighting there. They did not have to bear higher taxes, because George W. Bush has charged the costs of this military enterprise to the national credit card. Though they miscalled the number-one issue of the post-9/11 period, they did not lose their influential perches in the commentariat. Charles Krauthammer, Richard Perle, Robert Kagan, Gary Schmitt, Danielle Pletka and others (including non-neocon Thomas Friedman) who blew it on Iraq still regularly appear on op-ed pages and television news shows, pitching their latest notions about Iraq, Iran or other matters....
15985. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 1/2/2007 4:06:57 PM
Revenge? Ridicule is the only revenge possible and they're NOT getting their just deserts– that's for sure. And why, you may ask?–because the people in charge of public ridicule would be ridicule along with them. Vicious cycle department!
15986. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 1/2/2007 4:07:44 PM
Who guards the guards?
15987. wonkers2 - 1/2/2007 4:18:45 PM
Time Magazine gives us Bill Kristol, and the Detroit News feeds us Michelle Malkin and Thomas Sowell. Not to mention Jeff Jacoby in the Free Press. Yes, Virginia, there is a liberal bias in the media.
15988. wonkers2 - 1/2/2007 10:15:14 PM
New Jersey May Join Michigan in Banning Capital Punishment.
15989. jexster - 1/2/2007 10:21:25 PM
Back from Grand Rapids?
15990. jexster - 1/2/2007 11:04:33 PM
Olbermann's roling again...

Olbermann: Special comment about ‘sacrifice’
BBC reports Bush will reveal troop surge plan in sacrifice-themed speech

Did McCain really tell the GOP taliban wack jobs that the Grand Canyon was created in the Great Flood????

15991. wonkers2 - 1/2/2007 11:24:14 PM
Park Service not Allowed by Bush to Tell How Old the Grand Canyon is!
15992. jexster - 1/2/2007 11:35:47 PM
A Voice That Will Be Heard
NewsHour Segment on Madame Speaker
15993. wonkers2 - 1/3/2007 12:24:52 AM
It was a good program. Made her look good and plenty smart. I met her around 1995 in Washington in the lobby of her apartment building, introduced by Bill Gould, my boss at the time. The Cap'n sez, "But she didn't invite you up." W2, "True enough."
15994. jexster - 1/3/2007 12:30:00 AM
I got connections. Gavin's her first cousin by marriage.
15995. jexster - 1/3/2007 12:39:18 AM
They set my buddy Mike Denunzio up bad....

Friggin liberals! I sent him another snarky email
15996. robertjayb - 1/3/2007 1:23:35 AM
Discouraging report on Senator Johnson...

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- A Sioux Falls neurologist says U-S Senator Tim Johnson may be in for a long recovery period from brain surgery.

Doctor William Rossing bases that belief on the length of time that the senator has been sedated.

Prolonged sedation was used to minimize swelling after emergency surgery on Johnson for bleeding in the brain.

Rossing says recovery for someone who's been sedated as long as Johnson is likely to be "significant and lengthy."

That could mean the 60-year-old politician will be in recovery for months instead of weeks.

Rossing says it usually takes just a few days to wean a patient from sedation. Johnson has been sedated since December 13th and is being gradually weaned.

A New York University Medical Center official also says it's unusual for a patient to be sedated for more than a few days after brain surgery.

15997. jexster - 1/3/2007 6:43:23 AM
Take all the time he wants. We'll wait.

Thank God he looks like he's gonna make it through the organizing session of the Senate
15998. thoughtful - 1/3/2007 10:51:01 AM
Wow
15999. thoughtful - 1/3/2007 10:51:15 AM
Olbermann
16000. thoughtful - 1/3/2007 10:51:25 AM
really
16001. thoughtful - 1/3/2007 10:57:42 AM
(sorry about that....it'd been awhile since i hit a millennial)

sliced and diced W last night over his 'surge' plan and nailed mccain in the process.

See/read the whole thing here.

Mr. Bush, your judgment about Iraq — and now about “sacrifice” — is at variance with your people’s, to the point of delusion.

Your most respected generals see no value in a “surge” — they could not possibly see it in this madness of “sacrifice.”

The Iraq Study Group told you it would be a mistake.

Perhaps dozens more have told you it would be a mistake.

And you threw their wisdom back, until you finally heard what you wanted to hear, like some child drawing straws and then saying “best two out of three … best three out of five … hundredth one counts.”

Your citizens, the people for whom you work, have told you they do not want this, and moreover, they do not want you to do this.

Yet once again, sir, you have ignored all of us.

Mr. Bush, you do not own this country!
16002. thoughtful - 1/3/2007 11:48:09 AM
When I see w and the actions he's taken/taking, I see a spoiled brat. A brat that will not be told 'no'. A spoiled brat that will prove to everyone, regardless of the cost, that he WILL get his own way. A rich kid who sees every cache as something put there to feed his compulsion to destroy everything of value he touches, just to prove he can...be it the political capital he enjoyed after 9/11, the respect the US had in the world when he took office, or the billions in surplus in the federal coffers...and then to deny that he's done anything wrong. Spoiled brats get that way because no one has ever told them 'no' and meant it. Spoiled brats get that way because their rich sponsors manage to hire enough help to clean up the messes they leave behind. Spoiled brats can't appreciate the work and effort that goes into creating something of value or the sacrifices made by others to achieve a noble goal, because they've never had to do so, and they can't tolerate having others around them lauded for doing so as it shows them up for the spoiled brats they are...thus they must destroy it and anyone who stands to remind them of their lack of maturity, their lack of character, their lack of responsibility, and their lack of having ever been tested or challenged to become something other than what they are. A spoiled brat.
16003. wonkers2 - 1/3/2007 12:25:03 PM
Jack Lessenberry's take on Gerald Ford Gerald Ford
16004. robertjayb - 1/3/2007 12:54:06 PM
Romney explores...

BOSTON (AP) -- Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said Wednesday he's filing papers to form an exploratory committee to run for president, joining an increasingly crowded field of Republican hopefuls.
16005. wonkers2 - 1/3/2007 1:02:20 PM
I think I'd prefer Romney over McCain.
16006. robertjayb - 1/3/2007 1:14:10 PM
Wow, wonkers2, that Lessenberry, can turn a phrase. Georgie as an out-of-control chucklehead...barely qualifies to be Ford's caddy.

16007. jexster - 1/3/2007 1:26:29 PM
WH; McCain Escalation "a Political Decision"
16008. jexster - 1/3/2007 1:28:31 PM
Pathetic T'ful

Did you cop the link for 16001 from 15990?
16009. thoughtful - 1/3/2007 3:25:16 PM
nope..sorry jex, i missed it...i wasn't awake enough i guess when i posted
16010. thoughtful - 1/3/2007 3:31:04 PM
Romney is already starting to fold on his positions to cater to the rwers.

I don't understand it....why do these people who succeed so well in their states proceed to change positions to cater the the 'national' audience only to make themselves look fickle and weak willed.

Much better obama who admits to using cocaine in his past...his mantra...he wants to be honest with the american people...

how refreshing.
16011. robertjayb - 1/3/2007 3:53:16 PM
from snarky democrats:

Dear Friends and Relatives:
>
> I have the distinguished honor of being named to the
> committee to raise $5,000,000 for a monument to
> George W. Bush. I am contacting you in hopes you will be
> willing to contribute to this noble cause. But first,
> a little about what the committee has been doing to date.
>
> We originally wanted to put him on Mount Rushmore
> until we discovered that there was not enough room
> for two more faces. We then decided to erect a
> statue of George in the Washington, DC Hall of Fame.
> We were in a quandary as to where the statue should be
> placed. It was not proper to place it beside the
> statue of George Washington, who never told a lie,
> or beside Richard Nixon, who never told the truth,
> since George could never tell the difference.
>
> We finally decided to place it beside Christopher
> Columbus, the greatest Republican of all. He left not
> knowing where he was going, and when he got
> there he did not know where he was. He returned not
> knowing where he had been, decimated the well-being of
> the majority of the population while he was there,
> and did it all on someone else's money.
>
> Thank you.
> George W. Bush Monument Committee

16012. jexster - 1/3/2007 4:49:19 PM
Another Ford memory...

Barbeque, an intime get together circa 1975, Stephen Ford and Dean Martin Jr. at a friend's house on Capitol Hill
16013. jexster - 1/3/2007 5:11:01 PM
Blasphemy of the Day

It is a comfort to know that Jerry Ford is in a place even greater than the country he served.

Donald Dumsfeld

Gag Me With a Spoon
16014. judithathome - 1/4/2007 1:42:12 PM
Bush Is Now Reading Our Mail

Screw this war in Iraq to give them freedom...how about respecting the freedoms your own country has and is swiftly losing, bit by bit?
16015. robertjayb - 1/4/2007 2:29:56 PM
ABC News:

HARRIET MIERS, FORMER BUSH NOMINEE FOR THE SUPREME COURT, RESIGNS AS WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL...

Maybe Harriet doesn't love him anymore...
16016. robertjayb - 1/4/2007 2:30:16 PM
ABC News:

HARRIET MIERS, FORMER BUSH NOMINEE FOR THE SUPREME COURT, RESIGNS AS WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL...

Maybe Harriet doesn't love him anymore...
16017. thoughtful - 1/4/2007 6:21:53 PM
J@h, that's really awful. I guess we'd all better make room for the feds in our homes...I'm sure the next signing statement will require that we quarter them...I mean, are there any other pieces left of the bill of rights that they haven't shredded?

And again I ask, where is the libertarian wing of the gop? How much of this nonsense will they put up with before they raise a voice?

And where is the outrage from the press? The very press that was so outraged because wjc got his knob polished says nothing at the shredding of the constitution. How does this make any sense???

And how on earth does any of this not constitute a violation of the oath of office which is simply:

I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of the President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

Damn! That's it...he has an out! To the best of his ability which he's already demonstrated in iraq, new orleans, etc. that his ability is negligible. Wouldn't you know it!

16018. wonkers2 - 1/4/2007 6:27:28 PM
What libertarian wing of the GOP? I can't think of one.
16019. thoughtful - 1/4/2007 6:50:08 PM
well it used to be guys like the cato institute...guys like barry goldwater...y'know, the ones who said keep the govt out of wallets and out of our bedrooms...remember?
16020. wonkers2 - 1/4/2007 7:06:59 PM
Yep. Yesterday I heard the president of Cato ranting about how Sarbanes-Oxley is crippling the country. But there aren't too many like him in Congress. Or at least I can't name one.
16021. thoughtful - 1/4/2007 7:42:43 PM
BTW, who was wonkers 1???
16022. judithathome - 1/4/2007 8:03:41 PM
You nailed it, Thoughtful:

and will to the best of my ability,

His ability isn't diddly.
16023. arkymalarky - 1/4/2007 8:20:48 PM
Bob Barr was very outspoken about it, for one, but when you don't get a hearing it's as though nothing's being said. Similar stuff with Dems happened, that I hope will change now that they control congress, but Pelosi and Reid did some sharp things, and I loved the foot-stomping and shouting "shame," which the press had to cover, I guess, but they did a bare minimum. Now the TX Democrats who left the state to keep DeLay from redistricting got a little more press, but only because DeLay was determined to force them back.

And I've noticed they're already starting on Obama. I've come to really dislike the Washington Post a lot of the time. Instead of lying, Obama actually referred to his occasional drug use in high school and college. Trying to turn speculation in reality, the Post was predicting how that would likely come back to haunt him. Bush's history and failure to address or to even be asked about it rated half of a sentence.
16024. wonkers2 - 1/4/2007 10:47:02 PM
"2" is short for "too" (also). My thought was that I was just as wonkers or bonkers as the rest of youse guys. Back in the days of the Fray, I used another moniker which I can't recall at the moment.
16025. thoughtful - 1/5/2007 10:32:44 AM
I see.
16026. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 1/5/2007 12:54:26 PM
16027. robertjayb - 1/5/2007 1:22:21 PM
Senator Collins wants some 'splaining...(NY Daily News)

WASHINGTON - The Republican sponsor of a postal reform bill called on President Bush yesterday to explain why he used it to claim he can open domestic mail without a search warrant.

Sen. Susan Collins of Maine questioned Bush's controversial Dec. 20 "signing statement" in which he stated if there were an emergency he wouldn't need a warrant to open letters. The bill he signed into law that day, co-sponsored by Collins, requires search warrants for mail.

"It is my hope that the administration will clarify its intent with this recent statement," said Collins, a GOP moderate.

The former Senate Homeland Security Committee chairwoman added that she has long had concerns about Bush's broad use of signing statements that attempt to reinterpret laws passed by Congress.
16028. jexster - 1/5/2007 2:51:04 PM

White House Postponing Loss of Iraq, Biden Says
By Glenn Kessler
The Washington Post

Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said yesterday that he believes top officials in the Bush administration have privately concluded they have lost Iraq and are simply trying to postpone disaster so the next president will "be the guy landing helicopters inside the Green Zone, taking people off the roof," in a chaotic withdrawal reminiscent of Vietnam.

"I have reached the tentative conclusion that a significant portion of this administration, maybe even including the vice president, believes Iraq is lost," Biden said. "They have no answer to deal with how badly they have screwed it up. I am not being facetious now. Therefore, the best thing to do is keep it from totally collapsing on your watch and hand it off to the next guy - literally, not figuratively."

Biden gave the comments in an interview as he outlined an ambitious agenda for the committee, including holding four weeks of hearings focused on every aspect of U.S. policy in Iraq.

Refreshing isn't it? A Congress instead of a whitewash.
16029. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 1/5/2007 3:55:07 PM
Fresher air everywhere!

16030. wonkers2 - 1/5/2007 5:04:43 PM
Ha! Nancy's going to be okay.
16031. thoughtful - 1/5/2007 5:23:04 PM
Yes, the rw commentators this am were talking about how surprised they were that nancy did such a great job...even the gopers had to stand and clap at some things and the image of her being extremely comfortable surrounded by the children was a good one.

Perhaps one of these days the rwers will figure out that they ought not believe their own propaganda.

I missed it but caught the end this a.m. on imus of keith naming the worst person in the world...mccain:

But the winner, Senator John McCain of Arizona told us today that he knew that the war in Iraq was, quote, probably going to be long and hard and tough, and that he was sorry for anybody who voted for it that thought it would be some kind of an easy task. Senator McCain, on CNN, on September 24th, 2002, I believe that the success will be fairly easy. Senator McCain on CNN on September 29th, 2002, we‘re not going to have a blood letting of trading American bodies for Iraqi bodies.

Senator McCain on this network on January 22nd, 2003, we will win this conflict. We will win it easily. What‘s that called again, flip flopping?

Senator, we keep all the tapes of these interviews, come on. Senator John McCain of Arizona, both of him, today‘s worst persons in the world.
16032. Max Macks - 1/5/2007 6:44:15 PM
Jexter,
did Biden really say that?

if so good for him

Bush is looking and acting more and more insane

now more troops will be sent,

Unfuckingbelievable
16033. jexster - 1/5/2007 7:08:18 PM
Yes he did. He also said he had absolutely no direct evidence to support his conclusion. There are only 3 possibilities: 1. The entire admin is romprised of mongoloid idiots 2. The enitre admin is comprised of mongoloid idiots on crack 3. Only a few if any are 1 or 2. The rest just don't want to go out on helicopter skids.

David Gergen however does have direct evidence from senior WH and military officials confirming Biden's hypothesis
16034. judithathome - 1/5/2007 7:37:07 PM
House passes Budget & Ethics Reforms

One rule requires that tax cuts have corresponding cuts in government spending or tax increases elsewhere to pay for them. Likewise, any increase in entitlement programs like Medicare would have to have corresponding tax increases, or equal cuts in other government programs, under the pay-as-you-go rule reinstated Friday. It was adopted 280-154.

If strictly enforced, the PAYGO rule would make it difficult for Democrats to pass increases in federal benefit programs such as Medicare or the Medicaid health care program for the poor or disabled. In the near term, it would mean Democrats' bill to cut student loan rates will be less generous than they'd like. The rule would also threaten efforts to extend Bush's tax cuts, most of which expire at the end of 2010.

"Today, we are cutting our national credit card," countered Heath Shuler, D-N.C., during floor debate Friday. To underscore the point, Shuler cut a credit card in half at a news conference populated by moderate-to-conservative "Blue Dog" Democrats who are most responsible for implementing the rule.

At the same time, House lawmakers passed a Democratic proposal to require lawmakers to disclose publicly the pet projects - referred to as earmarks in legislative terms - they want for their districts or states, such as Alaska's bridge to nowhere in the last Congress. Republicans had made a similar move last year, and GOP critics of pet projects applauded Democrats' efforts to require greater disclosure.

Still, only about a fourth of the Republicans voted for the earmark disclosures. The emphasis on earmark reform came in the wake of the Randy "Duke" Cunningham scandal, in which the former California GOP congressman pleaded guilty to corruption charges for channeling earmarks to defense contractors in exchange for $2.4 million in bribes. Lesser scandals have hit other lawmakers.

In Pelosi's first step as speaker, she orchestrated bipartisan 430-1 passage of a measure banning lawmakers from accepting gifts and free trips from lobbyists and discounted trips on private planes. Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., cast the sole "nay" vote.

Another rule change, adopted 430-0, would curb past abuses in which GOP leaders held votes open for hours and excluded Democratic lawmakers from House-Senate negotiations on the language of final bills sent to the White House for enactment.
16035. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 1/5/2007 8:06:14 PM
This is a terrific piece of video that ends with a flourish of stellar indignation by a genuine conservative . . .

16036. jexster - 1/5/2007 8:22:33 PM
Mago...know Friday closing lite sweet landed Port of New York?

Blame Jexie for putting words in your mouth eh? Next time stick out tongue and say AAAAH

How about YOU AC...
16037. jexster - 1/5/2007 8:42:07 PM
Amy Goddard, "The Hill" today on Hardball discussion of Dem legistive opportunities WRT Iraq:

"appropriations control the Dems know to be too difficult' There is talk emerging about revisiting the War Powers Act and that would put incredible pressure on Bush" (paraphrase)

Revist? No..no...no

REPEAL it

Coincidentally this email exchange today....same concept, more developed than Hardball segment would permit.

Ascending order

-1. ------------- Original message from john mccutchen --------------

1

The problem with an appropriation cut off or even reduction is that the Congress cannot sufficiently restrict the President's spending discretion nor can they legislate through an appropriation bill the incredibly complicated task of stopping a war, at least not competently.

But the DEMS CAN affect troop levels. They can appropriate for 100,000 then 50,000 ...

They also have another, extremely powerful tool (short of impeachment) and it was none other than John Warner who showed the way. They authorzied the war and they can de-authorize.

Simple as:

"The War Powers Resolution of 2002 is hereby repealed effective 1/1/08"

There are some bells and whistles they might add but essentially that is it. Bush figures out the timing because Congress can't appropriate that which isn't authorized.

Should get some attention from Republicans running for their lives next year.

2. [Republican scoffed that War Powers approach as idle an exerciase as was Church Amendment appropriation control}

3. On Jan 5, 2007, at 3:18 PM, john mccutchen wrote:

No it isn't the same. I thought that was evident. I will try childlike

1. A President has discretion NOT to spend appropriated money. He could and probably would cut support for the troops, perhaps Iraq training and equipment, overrun on his troop appropriation and clean it all up in a reconcilliation telling the country that the Evil Dems made him do it because they tried to micromanage the war

2. The War Powers Act is by contrast a scalpel in Bush's hands, across his throat. Give him the drop dead date, let him manage to find his own way out - with advice from Congress to be sure!

He has to decide how to ramp down and exit because once the authority's gone, there's nothing to appropriate. No Dems to blame

4. William Neyman wrote:
Your scalpel idea is interesting, but two questions occur to me:

1) In the absence of the War Powers Resolution, how much authority might the president have to continue operations already underway? The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was repealed in 1970, but Nixon was able to continue in Vietnam for the rest of his term, despite enormous opposition.

2) How much support do you think there is in Congress for setting a date certain for withdrawal? So far I haven't seen any public discussion about revoking the resolution, which, under the War Powers Act of 1973, would require withdrawal within 60 to 90 days of expiration of Congressional authority.

4. John Mcc

War Powers enacted post Noxin. That's one of the bells and whistles. The president has something like 60 days to kill as many as he can for any reason, anywhere, any time.

1) INteresting constitutional law case considering that in the first place the Congress has exclusive War Making Power - good law except in in Roberts' s court.. Give him days after to clean up any loose ends in his exit plan

2) I am not terribly confident that there is enough time for enough D's and R's to grow sufficient spine. That's where the Dem hearings are key. If they use agenda visiblity well through aggressive oversight, well publicized and if Iraq continues to stay the course...The US public is already there. Easy to make an election year issue but that will scare off some Republicans Has to be done by Fall

16038. jexster - 1/5/2007 9:08:17 PM
STATEMENT OF JAMES HORNEY, DIRECTOR OF FEDERAL FISCAL POLICY,
ON REINSTATEMENT OF THE PAY-AS-YOU-GO RULE
Today's House vote to reinstate the pay-as-you-go rule marks a significant and welcome first step in restoring the fiscal discipline that has been sorely lacking in Washington.
During the 1990s, a similar pay-as-you-go rule proved to be an important tool in turning deficits into surpluses. Reinstating pay-as-you-go does not guarantee that the new Congress will always operate in a fiscally responsible manner, but it does indicate that congressional leaders recognize the nation faces a serious deficit problem and that tax cuts or entitlement increases that are worth enacting are worth paying for.

For too long, Congress has focused primarily on the benefits provided by new tax cuts or new spending, without considering how the costs of those policies are eroding the government’s ability to meet the needs of the American people in the longer run. We congratulate the House for requiring lawmakers who propose new tax cuts or new entitlement spending to answer the fundamental question: "How are you going to pay for it?".

http://www.cbpp.org/1-5-07bud-stmt.htm
http://www.cbpp.org/1-5-07bud-stmt.pdf 1pp.
16039. jexster - 1/5/2007 9:13:45 PM
Chris Mathews reports that Oli North and Charles Krauthammer oppose Bush/McCain Escalation in WaPo WE op-ed
16040. Max Macks - 1/5/2007 10:14:07 PM
Krauthammer, now theres a guy who makes me
puke,

Most of the slimy toads from Reagan years our
back out in bush Juniors administration
but where is Poindexter ?
16041. concerned - 1/5/2007 11:11:43 PM
The American electorate is guaranteed to experience extreme buyer's remorse if and once the Congressional 'Rats ever feel empowered to start shoving their tax boosting Governmental Nannyism cut and run policies down peoples' throats in force.

The level of Left Wing intellectual dishonesty is astonishing. At the least, everybody across the political spectrum could decipher what the Republicans meant to do, but the radical Left, starting with Pelosi, are literally starting out with an elitist, doublefaced approach that is an insult to every thinking American, but is just sufficiently plausible sounding, on the most superficial level, to initially fool the bulk of the LW electorate.

The Left, it is blindingly obvious, now, as if I hadn't said this before wants to:

1) cut and run from Iraq, where great advances worth commendations from the world have been made from what is little more than an extended policing action, and blame the president for everything under the sun.

2) boost the fuck out of our taxes and avoid all accountability.

On the other hand the Republicans have made mistakes, for which they have already paid, wrt. immigration policy and the minimum wage. The question is, two or possibly six years from now, in the final analysis, will the Democrats have acccomplished anything in these areas where their 'strongest' policies have been announced, or will they have dismally failed here, and thus, made a much sorrier showing than the Republicans have for the previous six years?
16042. concerned - 1/5/2007 11:16:14 PM
Hey, Max Macks -

Know where I can score some kickass weed online?
16043. Max Macks - 1/5/2007 11:21:58 PM
Hey concerned, have you tried your local
garden supply and nursery?

I watch C-span on occasion. Just what some of
the Tony Snow meeting with press...
No wonder they call him Tony Snowjob
16044. concerned - 1/5/2007 11:25:25 PM
Hi, Max Macks -

Just thought your positively retro drivel about the Reagan era had to have come from a stoner. Sorry if I'm mistaken here.
16045. concerned - 1/5/2007 11:27:15 PM
I might just have underestimated the power of LW thought control which is really old, poor stuff when you think about it (if you can).
16046. concerned - 1/5/2007 11:37:18 PM
To Lefties: Who are your Brain Police?
16047. concerned - 1/5/2007 11:40:58 PM
I have none - who can I listen to - the likes of your buddies among those who single out the Judeo/Christian tradition to hate (but oh, nooo - can't criticize the Muslims - hypocrites), or the cut and run squad?
16048. concerned - 1/5/2007 11:43:39 PM
Much of Europe has surrendered to the likelihood of eventual extreme religious fundamentalism, and you're still obsessing about the Reagan era?

Are you insane?
16049. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 1/6/2007 12:41:33 AM
The Mote's rightwing flirt is back!

Hi connie!

Lock & Load Folks!
16050. arkymalarky - 1/6/2007 3:35:10 AM
I never cease to be amazed at Con'd's ability to type so well while humming with his fingers in his ears. Way cool.
16051. Max Macks - 1/6/2007 3:30:44 PM
Concerned and Condolese ?
16052. judithathome - 1/6/2007 6:18:18 PM
I've noticed the media seems to hold the Democrats to a much higher standard than the Republicans...they are already attacking the Dems for not being bi-partisan enough in their first few hours of holding the majority.

I don't recall reading about how much the Republicans bent over backwards to be bi-partisan...seems to me all the Repubs said was "Neener, neener, we have the most votes so GET OVER IT!"
16053. Wombat - 1/6/2007 7:20:48 PM
He's suffering from LIPD: "Lefties" in Power Derangement.
16054. robertjayb - 1/6/2007 9:44:56 PM
Sunday talkers...

CBS' Face the Nation - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

NBC's Meet the Press - Sens. Joe Biden, D-Del., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

ABC's This Week- Reps. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., David Obey, D-Wis., and Henry Waxman, D-Calif.; former national security adviser Brent Scowcroft;
Former Rep. Harold Ford Jr., D-Tenn., and ABC's Cokie Roberts and George Will join George to discuss the new Democratic control on the Hill and the president's plan.

Fox News Sunday - Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Senate Republican Leader; House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md.

CNN's "Late Edition" -Dr. Mowaffak al-Rubaie: Iraqi National Security Adviser
Sen. Trent Lott, R-Mississippi: Minority Whip
Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-California: Foreign Relations Committee member
Gen. George Joulwan (Ret.): U.S. Army, Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander
Lawrence Korb: Former Assistant Secretary of Defense, Center for American Progress
Danielle Pletka: American Enterprise Institute Vice President
John Burns: New York Times Baghdad Bureau Chief
Rajiv Chandrasekaran: Washington Post, author of "Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone"
Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio: presidential candidate
Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Missouri

16055. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 1/6/2007 9:56:58 PM
Robert, where do you find that info?
16056. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 1/6/2007 10:56:27 PM
Thanks for the info, btw, robert!

16057. jexster - 1/6/2007 11:30:11 PM
CALLmeCRAZY

Que pasa jomie?
16058. jexster - 1/6/2007 11:59:21 PM
yo Wiz...

The real Iraq Study Group
Forget Jim Baker's crew. The neocon hawks who sold the war, joined by John McCain and Joe Lieberman, unveiled their new plan for "victory": At least 25,000 new troops in combat roles well into 2008.

Who got the Mentum now bitch.

CallHimCrazy need company? I can do the GodFearin Old Glory Lovin conservative thing need company

Sweet

Transvestite, Transexual

Jess Call - Never Lonely Again baby
16059. jexster - 1/6/2007 11:59:22 PM
yo Wiz...

The real Iraq Study Group
Forget Jim Baker's crew. The neocon hawks who sold the war, joined by John McCain and Joe Lieberman, unveiled their new plan for "victory": At least 25,000 new troops in combat roles well into 2008.

Who got the Mentum now bitch.

CallHimCrazy need company? I can do the GodFearin Old Glory Lovin conservative thing need company

Sweet

Transvestite, Transexual

Jess Call - Never Lonely Again baby
16060. jexster - 1/7/2007 12:32:10 AM
Fuckin Lefties to the Right of Me, lefties to the left..goddamn IslamoBobble heads....couldn't tell a doon coon from a dune buggy.

WAKE UP AMERICA 4 It is Too Late...

NEW YORK A new CBS poll released Thursday finds the public by an overwhelming number asking the new Democratic-led Congress to take action on Iraq. The problem: They don't believe that party has a clear plan. They also don't feel the president has a plan.

But at least they have high hopes for Congress, with two and three offering a positive view. But the president's approval rating has hit a rock-bottom 30%, and even lower on his handling of Iraq, at 23%.

A startling 8% say "yes" to the question of whether they think the Democrats have a clear plan for Iraq. The president at least gets 1 in 5 to say they think he does.

Terrorists HELLOO..we see you....You see us?

They haven't fooled all the people...We got Saddam on a Rope... We have a a Man With a Plan and a Surgin in His Loins.

Best of all Jew Freedom Fighters and with a bomb

Israel Plans to Nuke IraN

When you bend over to kiss your asses good bye Abdullah forget Mecca ..Allah can't save you now. Bend over look West.

USA!

JEW-esse!

USA!

16061. robertjayb - 1/7/2007 12:39:15 AM
The Sunday talk show information usually shows up on democraticunderground.com
16062. jexster - 1/7/2007 1:24:07 AM
Ladies, Gentlemen, CallMeCrazy, ManOHumble Tejas...

The Game is Three Card Monty and - lest your forget the Dealer is still The Man from Texas...Feel the Surge in his loins...

Place your bets watch your wallets...keep your eyes on the cards..Things are never what the they seem....The Troops are Surgin to Tehran...

Like I was tellin ya 2 weeks ago..Connie Rice warned you 4 years ago...Soon the smoking gun will be a mushroom cloud

Perceptive Analysis, White House Rhetoric
Patrick Cockburn
16063. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 1/7/2007 6:08:12 AM
16059. jexster - 1/6/2007 9:59:22 PM

Dead link, walkin'!
16064. wonkers2 - 1/7/2007 1:56:25 PM
It worked for me.
16065. robertjayb - 1/7/2007 2:14:26 PM
Me too.
16066. jexster - 1/7/2007 3:26:50 PM
We got da man..we gotta plan..we got killer Jews..and thanks to Wizzer's feckless campaigning we got da MENTUM

[Salon]
Lieberman made sweeping historical comparisons between the war in Iraq and the Spanish Civil War, the failure to grasp the growing threat of fascism in Europe in the late 1930s and the start of World War II for America. "Pearl Harbor has already happened on 9-11-01," Lieberman said darkly.
...
At AEI on Friday, there was some palpable concern that even with the color-coded road map to victory the White House might still screw things up. Half measures would lead to failure, according to supporters of this escalation. The Iraq Study Group warned last month against adopting only part of its plan. The same was true of the hawks in the AEI conference room. "This troop surge must be significant and sustained," McCain said. "Otherwise, do not do it. Otherwise, there will be more needless loss of American lives."

That kind of messy carnage couldn't have felt more removed from the posh 12th-floor AEI offices in downtown Washington. Even the roughly 120 war protesters marching out front seemed far away, as reporters and think tank experts snacked on delicately rolled sandwich wraps and a chilled pasta salad, coolly chatting about sending another 25,000 troops into a war that has already cost more than 3,000 American lives.
16067. jexster - 1/7/2007 3:31:22 PM
I know you gavones have Jew blood in you. A Siciian told me.And you love fine wine.

Here's my late CHRISTmas present...

Mozeltov LIZzard of Limsey!

16068. jexster - 1/7/2007 3:45:02 PM
Siciliana Faces the Nation
16069. jexster - 1/7/2007 4:31:01 PM
Siciliana Faces the Nation
16070. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 1/7/2007 10:27:49 PM
Ha! All we could afford in art school was Mad Dog 20-20–though they improved the look of the label.

And never f@#k with Sicilain women–if you don't want to become a castrato; something Bush sorely needs!
16071. robertjayb - 1/8/2007 1:11:16 PM
Man with a plan...

WASHINGTON - (AP) -- President Bush will address the nation at 9 p.m. EST Wednesday about his new approach for the war in Iraq, the White House said. Bush is expected to announce an increase of up to 20,000 additional U.S. troops.

16072. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 1/8/2007 2:18:28 PM

16073. jexster - 1/8/2007 3:02:44 PM
16070...Learnt that from Angela Alioto Wizzer
16074. jexster - 1/8/2007 3:05:09 PM
In fact, I was kibbutzing a meeting where she went off the fucking wall...and I wasn't about to sit there any longer and watch her drama so I asked the victim of her wrath (an employee) to show me the way out (after hours doors locked)

"How do you put up with that shit? I can't stand to be around it"

"Oh in my job you get used to it or you leave"
16075. jexster - 1/8/2007 3:14:58 PM
Death Throes on the Death Star
US twists civilian arms to fill Fortress Baghdad
FT.com

At the heart of George W. Bush’s “new way forward” – which the president is expected to announce on Wednesday and involve substantial troop reinforcements – is the plan already under way to expand the US civilian presence across Iraq and complete the world’s largest embassy in Baghdad.

Construction of what critics call “Fortress Baghdad” has led to arguments inside the State Department amid fears that the overwhelming diplomatic presence will perpetuate a sense of US occupation and become a focus of local anger.

US diplomats say that just as the armed forces are being stretched to breaking point, the US foreign service is suffering from low morale and operations in the rest of the world are being damaged by the diversion of resources to Iraq.

Officials are also questioning why the Bush administration is sending more civilians into a deteriorating war zone, and the effectiveness of the work they can do.
16076. jexster - 1/8/2007 3:29:27 PM
Crazy if you're around...Bush is going to nominate a Muslim for UN ambassador

Don't slit your wrists
16077. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 1/8/2007 4:54:55 PM
It's that Arabic blood, jext.

Joke: How can you tell a modern Sicilian from a traditional Sicilian?

He/she only holds a grudge for eight generations!
16078. jexster - 1/8/2007 6:13:24 PM
Hey Crazy..3013 Dead...$500 Billion spent

We got Saddam on a rope.

What else you got?

Surge on Crazy!
16079. thoughtful - 1/8/2007 7:22:32 PM
Hahaha: Re bush signing statement on opening the mail, via froomkin, this editorial statment:

And Ethel Channon, an editor at the Texarkana Gazette, writes that if Bush "really wants us to trust him on this mail deal, he . . . should take whatever action is incumbent on the person who ordinarily would be opening it.

"If he opens a credit card bill, he should pay it, and not just the minimum payment either."
16080. thoughtful - 1/8/2007 7:32:27 PM
About sums it up:

16081. judithathome - 1/8/2007 7:34:21 PM
Bushcronium: New Element on Periodic Table

A major research institution has just announced the discovery of the densest element yet known to science. The new element has been named "Bushcronium." Bushcronium has one neutron, 12 assistant neutrons, 75 deputy neutrons, and 224 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 311. These particles are held together by dark forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons. The symbol for Bushcronium is "W."

Bushcronium's mass actually increases over time, as morons randomly interact with various elements in the atmosphere and become assistant deputy neutrons in a Bushcronium molecule, forming isodopes. This characteristic of moron- promotion leads some scientists to believe that Bushcronium is formed whenever morons reach a certain quantity
in concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as "Critical Morass." When catalyzed with money, Bushcronium activates Foxnewsium, an element that radiates orders of magnitude, more energy, albeit as incoherent noise, since it has 1/2 as many peons but twice as many morons.
16082. robertjayb - 1/8/2007 7:51:15 PM
Thanks for the funny, judith.
16083. robertjayb - 1/8/2007 7:55:17 PM
Gallup: Americana want Dems, not Bush, in charge...

A USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken Friday through Sunday shows that Americans by 2-to-1 — 63% to 32% — want congressional Democrats, not President Bush, to have more influence over the direction the nation takes in 2007 .

Half or more of those surveyed identify four issues as "extremely important" for the White House and Congress to deal with this year: The situation in Iraq, terrorism, corruption in government and health care.

16084. judithathome - 1/8/2007 8:19:46 PM
Robert, what do you think about Craddick's possible downfall?
16085. robertjayb - 1/8/2007 8:38:01 PM
Sounds good to me although I don't expect the Texas legislature to become a model for good governance no matter the outcome. But I'm enjoying the turmoil. Confusion to the enemy!
16086. jexster - 1/8/2007 8:58:04 PM
That mean they want Bush impeached?

That's goin viral JAH
16087. jexster - 1/8/2007 9:12:49 PM
For those who missed Hardball, Jack Murtha's gonna be hell on wheels at the Defense Approp subcomittee...

"Not a single commander who I have talked to believes this will work. I don't know who he is listening to."
16088. jexster - 1/8/2007 11:35:22 PM
Smile!

To my pal Jack-in-the-Jew
16089. jexster - 1/8/2007 11:45:04 PM
16083

Can be arranged...by popular demand easy as 1-2-3

1-2

3

16090. jexster - 1/9/2007 12:10:30 PM
Republicans’ division over Iraq grows
16091. jexster - 1/9/2007 3:29:08 PM
The Problem My Fellow Americans is Not in Our Stars. The Problem is in Our Texians

Our history makes clear that a new escalation in our forces will not advance our national security. It will not move Iraq toward self-government, and it will needlessly endanger our troops by injecting more of them into the middle of a civil war.

Some will disagree. Listen to this comment from a high-ranking American official: “It became clear that if we were prepared to stay the course, we could help to lay the cornerstone for a diverse and independent Asia…If we faltered, the forces of chaos would scent victory and decades of strife and aggression would stretch endlessly before us. The choice was clear. We would stay the course. And we shall stay the course.”

That is not President Bush speaking. It is President Lyndon Johnson, forty years ago, ordering a hundred thousand more American soldiers to Vietnam.

Here is another quotation. “The big problem is to get territory and to keep it. You can get it today and it will be gone next week. That is the problem. You have to have enough people to clear it…and enough people to preserve what you have done.”

That is not President Bush on the need for more forces in Iraq. It is President Johnson in 1966 as he doubled our military presence in Vietnam.
Edward Kennedy 1/9

Next time please

REMEMBER THE ALAMO
16092. robertjayb - 1/9/2007 4:18:24 PM
Twenty-six percent back bush on Iraq ...

WASHINGTON — President Bush will outline his "new way forward" in Iraq on Wednesday to a nation that overwhelmingly opposes sending more U.S. troops and is increasingly skeptical that the war can be won.

A USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken Friday through Sunday shows a daunting sales job ahead for the White House, which is considering a plan to deploy up to 20,000 additional U.S. troops to Iraq.

Those surveyed oppose the idea of increased troop levels by 61%-36%. Approval of the job Bush is doing in Iraq has sunk to 26%, a record low.

16093. jexster - 1/9/2007 4:32:22 PM
Another Cut and Run Conservative

Gordon Smith: Troop "surge" in Iraq could lead to conflict with Congress

"Escalation".."acceleration of failure"

Damned well better cause a confrontation or some more Congresspersons will lose their jobs
16094. jexster - 1/9/2007 11:15:28 PM
Gordon Smith: Kennedy's Bill a "Good Idea"

Congressional Authority to Act - Recent History
16095. jexster - 1/9/2007 11:42:53 PM
CA Universal Health Care - New Demo Governor's Bodacious Initiative
16096. jexster - 1/10/2007 5:58:43 PM
Fox News Calls the Surging in George's loin's an "Esclation"
16097. thoughtful - 1/10/2007 6:28:33 PM
I couldn't believe it.

I was flipping channels, as I do quite often, and hit fox news for about 2 minutes...the guy was interviewing some senator and then interrupted him and apologized and told the senator that he'd have to go given the breaking news and he hoped the senator would understand. Senator said he did and he was off.

Y'know what that breaking news was???

Go to a picture of the WH library to show the room where w will be talking from tonight and give a little history of the room like how it used to be a laundry room up until the 1930s!!!!

I kid you not!

Un-Freakin' Believeable!
16098. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 1/10/2007 6:44:22 PM
It's an offshoot of The Ann Coulter technique. Brazen lies and and ruthless hyperbole that shocks people into silence with open mouths.
16099. thoughtful - 1/10/2007 7:03:51 PM
reading froomkin and it's suggested that this surge is all because it was exactly what the iraq study group did NOT recommend and the wh was looking for something to dis the iraq study group...

In other words, it's still all about, "I'll show my old man who's boss!"

For cripes sake! He's 60 years old...don't you think it's about time he got over it?????

from wapo:

So how did it come to pass? Well, during White House deliberations, "How to look distinctive from the study group became a recurring theme.

"As described by participants in the administration review, some staff members on the National Security Council became enamored of the idea of sending more troops to Iraq in part because it was not a key feature of Baker-Hamilton."

And: "In the end, the White House favored the idea of more troops as one visible and dramatic step the administration could take."
16100. thoughtful - 1/10/2007 7:09:38 PM
I was listening to mary matalin on the imus show this am talking about the pres and the surge and all. One thing became perfectly clear...

she needs a 12 step program to get herself off the kool-aid.
16101. judithathome - 1/10/2007 8:01:19 PM
She's had a nose job recently...it's clearly affected her brain.

I've met her in person and at the time, was thoroughly intrigued by the weird little "pinch" on the tip of her nose. Looking at her on MSNBC today, I noticed it's gone and she has a cheerleader's little pug nose now. Mary, Mary, Mary....how could you?
16102. jexster - 1/10/2007 10:07:44 PM
Two more tats jump Sinking Ship Bush

Brownback
Coleman
16103. jexster - 1/10/2007 10:39:47 PM
I wish there was a transcript of Olberman's machine gun fire intro to the Fineman segment....rapid fire litany of every Bush lie over the past 6 years.

Howard Fineman came on "Wow"
16104. jexster - 1/10/2007 10:42:54 PM
16099....Seen the Real Iraq Study Group at Salon? Same point....take what ISG did and Kagan/Kristol/Keane @ AEI gave him the opposite with a Congressional Greek Chorus now of about 3

McCain
Graham
JoeMentum of Jizzrael

Then there's Laura and Barney
16105. jexster - 1/10/2007 11:02:24 PM
Chris Mathews Remembers

Looking through this speech it doesn't look like a plan for victory. It looks like a plan for the Alamo!

Lugar
Collins
Smith
Brownback
Hagel
Coleman....

Which rat next??

16106. robertjayb - 1/11/2007 12:01:27 AM
Too little, too late...(Cragg Hines, HouChron)

Bush finally admitted some obvious mistakes. Now he's set the stage to make some more.

16107. jexster - 1/11/2007 12:28:21 AM

Iraq continues to flaunt its hostility toward America and to support terror. The Iraqi regime has plotted to develop anthrax and nerve gas and nuclear weapons for over a decade. This is a regime that has already used poison gas to murder thousands of its own citizens, leaving the bodies of mothers huddled over their dead children. This is a regime that agreed to international inspections then kicked out the inspectors. This is a regime that has something to hide from the civilized world.

States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world

To the extent mistakes have been made....

To the extent!?!?!???!?!?

Speak about destruction. (x3)

This is a world destruction, your life ain't nothing.

The human race is becoming a disgrace.

16108. robertjayb - 1/11/2007 1:28:20 AM
John Burns, the NYTimes Baghdad bureau chief, just suggested on CNN that the Shiites may be looking forward to a U.S. pullout so they can get their war on without interference.
16109. thoughtful - 1/11/2007 10:32:28 AM
jex i saw that too...Olbermann was fab.
Patience, they'll have the transcript posted soon. Would be nice if they posted the video too.
16110. jexster - 1/11/2007 12:32:11 PM
Cole: Bush Sends GIs to his Private Fantasyland

16111. jexster - 1/11/2007 12:41:06 PM
Has nothing to do with Iraq. He wants to buy time; run out the clock and bomb Iran

WaPo Poll

Most Americans oppose President Bush's call to send additional U.S. military forces to Iraq and just over a third say the new plan makes victory there more likely, an initial public rebuke of the strategy he unveiled last night in a nationally televised address.

A new Washington Post-ABC News poll conducted following the President's speech finds broad and strong opposition to his call to send about 21,500 more troops to Iraq: 61 percent oppose the force increase, with 52 percent "strongly" opposing the build-up. Thirty-six percent support the additional troops; only one-quarter of the public is strongly supportive.
16112. jexster - 1/11/2007 12:44:20 PM
IHT: Iraq Wants No Part of Escalation
16113. jexster - 1/11/2007 1:11:45 PM
Hagel: "Bush policy the greatest disaster since Vietnam"
16114. jexster - 1/11/2007 1:22:59 PM
The times they have changed. MSNBC has its A team on (Andrea Mitchell) and CNN is covering Cunninglingus before the Foreign Relations committee where Kerry's now bitch slapping her.

Make the pyre higher
16115. judithathome - 1/11/2007 2:33:34 PM
Time Magazine Cover
16116. jexster - 1/11/2007 3:04:59 PM
"Madame Secretary the president's plan is the greatest foreign policy blunder since Vietnam and I will resist it."

As will perhaps 10 republican senators thought likely to support Kennedy's legislation
16117. jexster - 1/11/2007 3:05:13 PM
Chuck Hagel via CNN
16118. Max Macks - 1/11/2007 3:32:42 PM
The best part was on Lehrs hour , the interviews
with the two Generals Trainor and Odom

really great . too bad thre was no way to get what
they said on tape some where.

The part of the W's monolog that I could hardly
believe was said, was his mention of Holy Joe
who would head up some bi-partisan ??) committe
to help him or something.

It was the first time I ever listened to this
disgrace to the presidentcy , more than 5 minutes.
Had to make sure I heard what he said.
16119. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 1/11/2007 3:46:46 PM
16120. wonkers2 - 1/11/2007 3:47:56 PM
Great caricatures, Wiz!
16121. wonkers2 - 1/11/2007 3:48:32 PM
However, could you make them a bit less realistic?
16122. robertjayb - 1/11/2007 5:30:17 PM
Rocky Mountain High...

NEW YORK - Democrats selected Denver to host their 2008
presidential convention, turning down New York in favor of a problematic but enthusiastic bid from a city in the growing Rocky Mountain West.
16123. robertjayb - 1/11/2007 5:39:51 PM
Stem Cell bill passes house but...

WASHINGTON — (AP) - The Democratic-controlled House today passed a bill bolstering embryonic stem cell research that advocates say shows promise for numerous medical cures.

But the 253-174 vote fell short of the two-thirds margin required to overturn President Bush's promised veto, despite gains made by supporters in the November elections. Bush vetoed identical legislation last year and the White House today promised he would veto it again.

The White House said the bill — the third bill of the Democrats' first 100 hours agenda to pass the House — "would use federal taxpayer dollars to support and encourage the destruction of human life for research."

...offers one more chance for * to demonstrate profound and heartless stupidity.

16124. thoughtful - 1/11/2007 6:09:27 PM
Here's keith's homer from last night:

OLBERMANN: President Bush makes no secret of his distaste for looking backward, for assessing past results. But in our third story on the COUNTDOWN tonight, and his speech coming up at the top of the hour, that will not be possible. Any meaningful assessment of the president‘s next step in Iraq must consider his steps and missteps so far.

So, let‘s look at the record. Before Mr. Bush was elected he said he was no nation builder. Nation building was wrong for America. Now he says it is vital for America. He said he would never have put U.S. troops under foreign control. Today U.S. troops observe Iraqi restrictions.

He told us about WMDs, mobile labs, secret sources, aluminum tubing, yellow cake. He has told us the war is necessary because Saddam was a threat, because of 9/11, because of Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda, because of terrorism in general, to liberate Iraq, to spread freedom, to spread democracy, to keep the oil out of the hands of potentially terrorist controlled states, because this was a guy who tried to kill his dad.

In pushing for and prosecuting this war, he passed on chances to get Abu Musab al Zarqawi, Moqtada al Sadr, Osama bin Laden. He sent in fewer troops than recommended. He disbanded the Iraqi army and deBaathified the government. He short changed Iraqi training. He did not plan for widespread looting, nor the explosion of sectarian violence. He sent in troops without life saving equipment, gave job to foreign contractors and not the Iraqis, staffed U.S. positions in Iraq based on partisanship, not professional experience.

We learned that America had prevailed, mission accomplished, the resistance was in its last throws. He has said that more troops were not necessary and more troops are necessary, and that it‘s up to the generals, and then removed some of the generals who said more troops would be necessary.

He told us of turning points, the fall of Baghdad, the death of Uday and Qusay, the capture of Saddam, a provisional government, the trial of Saddam, a charter, a constitution, an Iraqi government, elections, purple fingers, a new government, the death of Saddam. We would be greeted as liberators with flowers, as they stood up, we would stand down. We would stay the course. We would never stay the course. The enemy was al Qaeda, was foreigners, was terrorist, was Baathists.

The war would pay for itself. It was cost 1.7 billion dollars, 100 billion, 400 billion, half a trillion dollars. And after all of that, today it is his credibility versus that of generals, diplomats, allies, Republicans, Democrats, the Iraq Study Group, past presidents, voters last November, and the majority of the American people.

Let‘s turn to MSNBC political analyst Howard Fineman, “Newsweek‘s” senior Washington correspondent. Howard, good evening.

HOWARD FINEMAN, “NEWSWEEK”: Wow, hi Keith.

OLBERMANN: Unfortunately I didn‘t make any of that up.
16125. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 1/11/2007 6:50:12 PM
Thanks wonk . . and I understand!
16126. robertjayb - 1/11/2007 7:44:24 PM
Senator Johnson speaks...

Jan 11, 2007 — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Sen. Tim Johnson of South Dakota, whose brain surgery last month raised speculation that Democrats could lose control of the Senate, is able to talk and has been transferred to a rehabilitation unit to begin "aggressive therapy," his office said on Thursday.

"Yesterday, Senator Johnson underwent an MRI which showed that his speech centers were spared of injury. This is confirmed by the fact that he is following commands and has started to say words," neurosurgeon Dr. Vivek Deshmukh said.

16127. wonkers2 - 1/11/2007 8:20:00 PM
Barack and Penelope on the beach in People Magazine Barack at the Beach where's the speedo?
16128. jexster - 1/11/2007 8:35:14 PM
"I think this speech given last night by this president represents the most dangerous foreign policy blunder in this country since Vietnam, if it's carried out. I intend to resist it (applause)" Chuck Hagel

This just in from the Double Talk Express, Joe Jizzrael attending...."I believe it will take a larger committment but this could work"
16129. jexster - 1/11/2007 8:35:54 PM
Thanks T'ful!
16130. jexster - 1/11/2007 8:39:04 PM
16124

Those that run are Republicans. Those that stand still are well-disciplined Republicans
16131. robertjayb - 1/11/2007 8:55:07 PM
Give-em-Hell Harry Reid saw Hagel and raised him:

"I don't think it's the worst foreign policy blunder since Vietnam, I think it's the worst foreign policy blunder in the history of the country."
16132. jexster - 1/11/2007 10:09:02 PM
My worst nightmare is that Bush will gin up another war. That I will wake up one morning to find he's bombed Iran and Hillary's saluting.

16133. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 1/11/2007 10:23:46 PM
These jerks need to be stopped.

We just got back from a (26ºF) downtown anti-surge demonstration. Lots of people–familys with kids and especially people you'd never expect–sedate middle-aged insurance types. Ninety % of the cars beeped in solidarity.

16134. jexster - 1/11/2007 11:10:38 PM
Joe Klein and Scarborough are going bonkers.

Klein: "phoney baloney....load of malarky...worst Presidential address I've heard in my 36 years..a joke"

Olberman: And Oceania Has Always Been at War With East Asia
16135. jexster - 1/11/2007 11:49:21 PM
Zbig Smells the IraN Rat Too
it reflects, on the one hand, desperation, on the other hand, a kind of fanatical commitment which I think is detached from reality.
16136. jexster - 1/11/2007 11:55:07 PM
AP Ipsos: 70% oppose the escalation
16137. robertjayb - 1/12/2007 1:53:56 AM
Your ass is grass, etc., etc...

The Pentagon has abandoned its limit on the time a citizen-soldier can be required to serve on active duty, officials said Thursday, a major change that reflects an Army stretched thin by longer-than-expected combat in Iraq.

The day after President Bush announced his plan for a deeper U.S. military commitment in Iraq, Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters the change in reserve policy would have been made anyway because active-duty troops already were getting too little time between their combat tours.
...........................................................

Until now, the Pentagon's policy on the Guard or Reserve was that members' cumulative time on active duty for the Iraq or Afghan wars could not exceed 24 months. That cumulative limit is now lifted; the remaining limit is on the length of any single mobilization, which may not exceed 24 consecutive months, Pace said.

In other words, a citizen-soldier could be mobilized for a 24-month stretch in Iraq or Afghanistan, then demobilized and allowed to return to civilian life, only to be mobilized a second time for as much as an additional 24 months. In practice, Pace said, the Pentagon intends to limit all future mobilizations to 12 months.

16138. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 1/12/2007 4:28:07 AM
Ironic–when Bush got Daddy to put him in the Air Guard, we had a draft that kept him from serving in Vietnam. Now, with no draft, had Bush been in the Guard, he'd be going to Iraq for multiple tours. The deck is still stacked for the rich and powerful in Amerika.
16139. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 1/12/2007 4:30:14 AM
16140. alistairconnor - 1/12/2007 7:17:20 AM
Looks like the new-look congress has a few more clues than the old one on energy issues :
http://www.globalpublicmedia.com/articles/836
Just how bad are the geopolitics of energy, from the perspective of the United States?

This morning the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources launched its New Year with an unusual hearing into “The Geopolitics of Oil.”

The consensus conclusion of the witnesses: the United States is in deep, deep trouble, facing the emergence of an “axis of oil” that threatens to recreate the bi-polar world of the Cold War, complete with Russia as a principal actor.

Normally the Committee deals with less weighty matters, like fuel efficiency standards for cars. But the incoming chairman, Senator Jeff Bingaman, decided to go for the big picture, and the big picture is not pretty.
16141. judithathome - 1/12/2007 11:46:35 AM
There is no hope for common sense in Texas...the new session started with a challenge to Tom Craddick, the corrupt Speaker of the House and naturally, an entrenched Republican. Looked like people might have awakened with a run against him.

End of the day and FIFTEEN Democrats voted in favor of keeping him.
16142. jexster - 1/12/2007 1:20:15 PM
No hope for Tejas - full stop -

Been sayin nigh unto fifty yarn now
16143. jexster - 1/12/2007 1:24:05 PM
AC...my Senator chairs the Environment and Public Works Committee

Global warming and Pork Committee
16144. jexster - 1/12/2007 3:50:21 PM
Trouble in Spin City

When the Political Theater Fails
16145. robertjayb - 1/12/2007 4:20:46 PM
Rasmussen: Bush Job Approval (9 point drop in 3 days - 35% their lowest ever)

Just 35% of Americans now approve of the way that George W. Bush is performing his role as President. That's down sharply in recent days and is the lowest level of Approval ever measure by Rasmussen Reports.

January 12 - 35% Approval 61% Disapproval

January 11 - 39% Approval 58% Disapproval

January 10 - 44% Approval 54% Disapproval
16146. jexster - 1/12/2007 5:22:46 PM
Everybody seems to be gittin it now...fuckin Texians..double dealin jizzbuckets...Can't live with em Can't live with em..Bush is out to jin up another war - as I said weeks ago.

Doubtless Mago and her gang at the Cattlemen's Club are long in erl and gas futures

It's all About Iran

16147. jexster - 1/12/2007 5:23:44 PM
16148. judithathome - 1/12/2007 5:53:18 PM
JR would do better for Texas than Bush ever did.
16149. Max Macks - 1/12/2007 5:57:23 PM
Ya , I watched Lehr hour and Brzezinski.

He is the best person I know of to tell it like
it is. too bad he does not get seen and heard more .

I also by accident watched C-span and the Senate
hearings with Condi Rice ,
Wow the stuff that was said to her that
did not make the 10 second sound bites on
commerican TV news.
Hagel had a lot more to say than just the great
remark about the greatest blunder since Vientnam
if carried out.
Also heard Russ Freingolds entire remarks ,
\

Did any of you see that ?
16150. robertjayb - 1/12/2007 6:21:55 PM
Bush speech made little difference...(CNN poll)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Two out of three Americans oppose President Bush's plan to send more troops to Iraq, a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released Friday indicates.

Nearly two-thirds of those polled also say Bush has no clear plan for Iraq.

While his numbers have inched up slightly on that question since the previous poll last week, Bush's address to the nation Wednesday night seems to have made little difference.

16151. judithathome - 1/12/2007 8:41:29 PM
Max, I saw some of it. Amazing, huh?

The tide has finally turned on people keeping quiet but it may be too late for speaking up now...this loon has good and truly sunk the country.
16152. judithathome - 1/12/2007 8:44:20 PM
Viet Iraq
16153. jexster - 1/12/2007 8:54:23 PM
16148....sure Miss Ellie, sure
16154. Max Macks - 1/12/2007 9:49:16 PM
How great it is that after 6 years of Republican
controlled Congress and a pro Bush media

The Democrats are being seen and heard.
16155. jexster - 1/12/2007 11:28:40 PM
Most excellent eh Max?

Speaker.gov
16156. robertjayb - 1/13/2007 12:36:09 AM
Truly repellent people and such fine Americans...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 12 — The senior Pentagon official in charge of military detainees suspected of terrorism said in an interview this week that he was dismayed that lawyers at many of the nation’s top firms were representing prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and that the firms’ corporate clients should consider ending their business ties.

The comments by Charles D. Stimson, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs, produced an instant torrent of anger from lawyers, legal ethics specialists and bar association officials, who said Friday that his comments were repellent and displayed an ignorance of the duties of lawyers to represent people in legal trouble.

16157. jexster - 1/13/2007 12:06:52 PM
THe President Who Cried Wolf

16158. robertjayb - 1/13/2007 3:30:15 PM
Wow!
16159. robertjayb - 1/13/2007 3:34:57 PM
And * says, Fuck you, fuck everybody...

In an interview set to air on this Sunday's 60 Minutes, President George W. Bush vows to send an additional 21,500 troops to Iraq "no matter what" the Democratic-controlled Congress tries to do.

"Do you believe as Commander in Chief you have the authority to put the troops in there no matter what the Congress wants to do," 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley asks Bush in the short clip uploaded to the CBS News web site Friday night.

"I think I've got, in this situation, I do, yeah," Bush said.

16160. Max Macks - 1/13/2007 3:46:57 PM
I happened to watch the entire Sen. Boxer vs. Rice
exchange,
I thought Boxer talking about the wounded was
over due. The news just reports the numbers ,
She had some powerful words about what was behind
some of the numbers.

She included herself as among those who had no
children of age to go in the military nor did
Rice

well, I see via the news that the Repugs lost
no time in trying to smear Boxer.

It's a typical Repub method, perfected of course
by Rove , but still it is disgusting.

btw Rove must be hunkered down somewhere,
not a sign of him anywhere out in the open as
e.g. in the news .
16161. wonkers2 - 1/13/2007 5:50:12 PM
Yeah, Rove is dead meat!
16162. robertjayb - 1/14/2007 12:13:26 PM
Here are today's talkers:

Chuck Hegel is reported to get all over Joe Lieberman on Meet the Press. I'm waiting for the segment to come up...

Newsmakers (C-SPAN): Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK; National Republican Campaign Committee chairman), with reporters Josh Kurtz (politics editor at Roll Call) & Jackie Calmes (national reporter at the Wall Street Journal).

Meet The Press (NBC): National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley talking about Iraq, and then four senators on Iraq and the "first 100 hours": Christopher Dodd (D-CT; 2008 presidential candidate), Joseph Lieberman (D/I-CT [yes, that's how MTP mis-identifies him on their website]; chair of Homeland Security & Govt. Affairs Committee), John Kyl (R-AZ; Senate Republican Conference chair) and Chuck Hegel (R-NE; Foreign Relations Committee).

This Week (ABC): National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley and Rep. Jack Murtha (D-PA) on the president's plan for Iraq; Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) on his agenda for 2007; and the roundtable with George Will, Katrina vander Heuvel, and Fareed Zakaria.

Face the Nation (CBS): Senators John McCain (R-AZ; Armed Services Committee) and Barak Obama (D-IL; Foreign Relations Committee) on the plan for Iraq.

CNN Late Edition (CNN): Iraqi foreign minister Hoshyar Zebari, Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI, Armed Services Committee chairman), Pakistani prime minister Shaukat Aziz, Gen. Richard Myers (former Joint Chiefs chairman), and Sen. John Kerry (D-MA, Foreign Relations Committee member).

Fox News Sunday (FOX): An exclusive interview with Vice President Dick Cheney, followed by a panel discussion of Iraq and the first 100 days of the Democratic Congress with Fox News Washington Managing Editor Brit Hume, Weekly Standard Editor Bill Kristol, NPR Senior National Correspondent Juan Williams and NPR National Political Correspondent Mara Liasson.

16163. judithathome - 1/14/2007 1:20:49 PM