Joe The Plumber-- The Movie

Ken and I haven't done much analysis of the Joe The Plumber phenomena. Fortunately John Cleese has-- and with a Bill O'Reilly bonus poem:

BREAKING NEWS: According To A High Placed DC Insider, Ted Stevens Was Not Convicted After All

Of course the high placed DC Insider is the most senior-- and one of the most senile-- Republican in the Senate, Ted Stevens himself. "I have not been convicted" the Alaska senator told supporters when he got home, perhaps assuming that the news hasn't reached that far north yet. Today's Anchorage Daily News did get the word though that Senator Ted had indeed been convicted, unanimously so on all 7 counts. Like any other criminal, he's entitled to appeal. But, like any other criminal, he's been convicted. And the biggest newspaper in the state just endorsed his opponent, Mark Begich.

We recognize that Sen. Stevens has done much to benefit our state, but, like many Alaskans, we are troubled by the arrogance, poor judgment and lack of personal integrity revealed during his trial. Since the verdict, the condemnation of his conduct has been bipartisan. Republican presidential candidate John McCain, Gov. Sarah Palin and Senate colleagues of both parties have called upon Sen. Stevens to resign his office.

Mayor Begich offers Alaskans a fresh, effective start. A pragmatic Democrat, he has demonstrated a willingness to work with politicians of all political stripes, from a Republican governor and legislative leaders to his ideological opponents on the Anchorage Assembly. If elected to the Senate, he would be a member of the majority party, unlike incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski, which would give Alaskans a voice in both the majority and minority caucuses.

...BOTTOM LINE: Sen. Stevens' conduct has besmirched Alaska and crippled his effectiveness. Mayor Mark Begich is the best choice to represent Alaska.

And while Stevens is running around the state informing startled voters that he hasn't been convicted yet, across America-- despite McCain and his media allies' misleading statements-- Obama's lead in the polls is increasing. Even the neo-fascist editorial page of the Wall Street Journal forced itself to acknowledge, via Mavericky former Reagan speech writer Peggy Noonan, that Obama is the right man at the right time for America.

He has within him the possibility to change the direction and tone of American foreign policy, which need changing; his rise will serve as a practical rebuke to the past five years, which need rebuking; his victory would provide a fresh start in a nation in which a fresh start would come as a national relief. He climbed steep stairs, born off the continent with no father to guide, a dreamy, abandoning mother, mixed race, no connections. He rose with guts and gifts. He is steady, calm, and, in terms of the execution of his political ascent, still the primary and almost only area in which his executive abilities can be discerned, he shows good judgment in terms of whom to hire and consult, what steps to take and moves to make. We witnessed from him this year something unique in American politics: He took down a political machine without raising his voice.

...Something new is happening in America. It is the imminent arrival of a new liberal moment. History happens, it makes its turns, you hold on for dear life. Life moves.

A fitting end for a harem-scarem, rock-'em-sock-'em shakeup of a year--- one of tumbling inevitabilities, torn coalitions, striking new personalities.

Apparently nervous Jews have come around for Obama. What's left? Georgia? Arizona? Glad you asked. A poll over at Kos:

Likely voters. MoE 4% (No trend lines)
McCain (R) 48
Obama (D) 47

Early voters  (17 percent of sample)

McCain (R) 42
Obama (D) 54

I can't believe we may actually win Arizona. And I have a bonus treat for you guys:

If the 2010 election for U.S. Senate were held today for whom would you vote for if the choices were between Janet Napolitano the Democrat and John McCain the Republican?

McCain (R) 45
Napolitano (D) 53

You have to figure Obama's internal polling is showing pretty optimistic results if he's using campaign funds to run ads in Georgia, North Dakota and Arizona! Let's hope the Arizona ones turn out enough people to help Bob Lord's congressional race against the corrupt extremist incumbent loon in Phoenix, John Shadegg. Here's the 30 second spot:

"Is it even possible to imagine more breathtaking ignorance from someone holding high office and running for even higher office?" Guess who!

You betcha, it's the 2009 Princess Sarah Calendar!

"She has learned much in a very short period. And she will learn more. I predict we'll have Sarah Palin to kick around for a long, long time."

-- Eugene Robinson, in his Washington Post column today,
"Northern Star Rising"

"This isn't only about profound ignorance regarding our basic liberties, though it is obviously that. Palin here is also giving voice to the standard right-wing grievance instinct: that it's inherently unfair when they're criticized. And now, apparently, it's even unconstitutional."

-- Glenn Greenwald, in a Salon post today,
"Sarah Palin speaks on the First Amendment"

by Ken

Both Gene Robinson and Glenn Greenwald have the Princess Sarah on their minds, and when you put their thoughts together, it doesn't bode well for the quality of political discourse during the first term of the Obama administration.

"My view of Sarah Palin has changed in the two months since John McCain named her as his running mate," Gene Robinson begins, adding, "I'm guessing that McCain's view of Palin may be changing, too, and not entirely in a good way." But that's not what's on his mind.

I thought Palin was a lightweight; she's not. I thought she was an ingenue; she is, but only as long as her claws are sheathed. I thought she was bewildered and star-struck at her sudden elevation to national prominence; if she ever was, she isn't anymore. I thought she was nothing but raw political talent and unrealistic ambition; it turns out that she has impressive political skills. I thought she was destined to become nothing more than a historical footnote; I now think that Democrats underestimate her at their peril. . . .


I should make clear that I believe Palin is wrong about basically everything, at least to the extent that we know what she really believes. The McCain campaign gave her a job to do -- slash, burn, fire up the base, accuse Barack Obama of "palling around with terrorists," accuse Obama supporters of not living in "pro-America" parts of the country -- and she went out and did it. McCain's campaign rallies often have a sense of purpose and duty about them; Palin's have a sense of electricity.

Palin's brief record as governor of Alaska, however, doesn't really display the ideological rigidity she has shown on the campaign trail. I suspect that in the coming years she will rediscover the flexibility and pragmatism that have made her a genuinely popular governor.

I'm not so sure that even at home Princess Sarah's hyperpopularity -- already dropping significantly in the wake of the Troopergate and other home-state messes -- is going to survive the much closer scrutiny likely to be directed at the substance and style of her governance once she resumes her governor's tiara. But again, that's really beside Gene's point.

That she wasn't ready to meet the national media became clear when she sat down with Katie Couric for those embarrassing sessions. But compare the bunny-in-the-headlights Sarah Palin of just a few weeks ago with the much more poised and confident Sarah Palin of today. Ignorance isn't the same thing as stupidity. When Palin talks about economic policy these days, her sentences don't meander into the Twilight Zone the way they once did. She has more to say about foreign policy besides the fact that Russia is just across the Bering Strait. She has learned much in a very short period.

And she will learn more. I predict we'll have Sarah Palin to kick around for a long, long time.

Apparently, though, we're going to have to kick with care. It seems now that if we dare criticize the princess, we risk violating the First Amendment. At least as viewed by a certain scum-sucking ignoramus.

"Somehow," Glenn Greenwald kicks off his column, "in Sarah Palin's brain, it's a threat to the First Amendment when newspapers criticize her negative attacks on Barack Obama. This is actually so dumb that it hurts." And he quotes from a report by Steven Portnoy on ABC News's Political Radar blog:

In a conservative radio interview that aired in Washington, D.C. Friday morning, Republican vice presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin said she fears her First Amendment rights may be threatened by "attacks" from reporters who suggest she is engaging in a negative campaign against Barack Obama.

Palin told WMAL-AM that her criticism of Obama's associations, like those with 1960s radical Bill Ayers and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, should not be considered negative attacks. Rather, for reporters or columnists to suggest that it is going negative may constitute an attack that threatens a candidate's free speech rights under the Constitution, Palin said.

"If [the media] convince enough voters that that is negative campaigning, for me to call Barack Obama out on his associations," Palin told host Chris Plante, "then I don't know what the future of our country would be in terms of First Amendment rights and our ability to ask questions without fear of attacks by the mainstream media."

[Jonathan Schwarz has an MP3 audio link at A Tiny Revolution.]

Glenn points out that Maureen Dowd is also suffering from First Amendment confusion with her recent suggestion that the McCranky campaign's exclusion of her from the campaign plane violates her rights. Glenn points out:

The First Amendment is actually not that complicated. It can be read from start to finish in about 10 seconds. It bars the Government from abridging free speech rights. It doesn't have anything to do with whether you're free to say things without being criticized, or whether you can comment on blogs without being edited, or whether people can bar you from their private planes because they don't like what you've said.

If anything, Palin has this exactly backwards, since one thing that the First Amendment does actually guarantee is a free press. Thus, when the press criticizes a political candidate and a Governor such as Palin, that is a classic example of First Amendment rights being exercised, not abridged.

At this point Glenn makes the key observation I've quoted at the top of this post. Then he concludes:

According to Palin, what the Founders intended with the First Amendment was that political candidates for the most powerful offices in the country and Governors of states would be free to say whatever they want without being criticized in the newspapers. In the Palin worldview, the First Amendment was meant to ensure that powerful political officials such as herself would not be "attacked" in the papers. Is it even possible to imagine more breathtaking ignorance from someone holding high office and running for even higher office?

Glenn added this UPDATE:

The Constitution also guarantees freedom of association. Thus, by Palin's "reasoning," when newspapers -- or Palin herself -- criticize Obama for his associations, they're threatening his constitutional rights.

#

Bad News For Another Hypocritical Republican Closet Queen: Mitch McConnell Outed (Again)

If you follow DWT you are probably aware that we do not support nominal Democrat Bruce Lunsford for the Kentucky Senate seat. That certainly doesn't mean we support the current occupant of the seat, Miss McConnell, either. We want them both to lose. But a group in Kentucky may have seen Blue America's campaign against David Dreier, which has sent mailers to the most conservative pro-Dreier parts of CA-26, mailers that explain to his constituents that the congressman they support and think they know, is someone else entirely. In fact, the gay-bashing David Dreier is himself a closeted homosexual.

And so is Mitch McConnell. It's the worst-kept secret in Washington and many people in Louisville and Lexington know how queer their senator is. But in rural counties around Paducah, Bowling Green, Covington, Pikeville, Somerset... not a clue. Well, not 'til today. As many as 150,000 of the above fliers are being placed on windshields in the most Republican precincts in Kentucky.

They are aimed at McConnell's own hysterically homophobic base, the same kind of people who turned on Republicans in FL-16 when they found out that Mark Foley was another of the GOP closet queens. These aren't the kind of folks that usually care that much about hypocrisy. These are the hard-core haters who just don't like anyone who has been painted as "different."

There are many reasons to deny McConnell another 6 years of obstructionism in the Senate. The fact that he's gay should be no big deal, especially not to himself or to enlightened voters. The flyer isn't aimed at enlightened voters.

How Badly Can Right Wing Democrats Hurt Obama? Like Nick Lampson

Only one Democratic congressman can be The Worst, unless there's an exact tie. Or unless you can't agree how to measure worst. But if you measure worst by looking at every contentious vote in Congress on a substantive issue and you see which Democrat has voted most consistently with the Republicans and against the Democrats you come up with... Blue Dog Nick Lampson.

Lampson would never had been elected had Tom Delay not been indicted. And Lampson would never had been elected had Tom Delay not contributed some of his district's solidly Republican areas to neighboring districts so that they would turn red-- even if it meant his own was less red. But it's still plenty red. Since getting into Congress (for the second time), Lampson has catered to Republican voters and decided Democrats would have no place else to go except to vote for him. Today's CQPolitics calls his strategy going local. I call it selling out. And I'm not talking about his rational support for the Space Program or other job-producing efforts in TX-22.

In 2006 Lampson barely beat (52%) a write-in effort by a silly and discredited candidate, Shelley Sekula-Gibbs. This year he's facing a much more formidable threat from far right extremist-- and that's how they like 'em in that part of Texas-- Pete Olson. TX-22 is expected to vote overwhelmingly for McCain; he and Palin is exactly what this district wants in leaders. If 5% of the country thinks Obama is Muslim and 23% of Texans think Obama is Muslim, 50% of TX-22 must be mired in the same appallingly grotesque ignorance. The race is rated a toss-up and Lampson is considered one of only 3 or 4 Democrats vulnerable to defeat on Tuesday. I'll have my fingers crossed.

Lampson's "party unity score" for 2008 is 56%, far worst than even the most reactionary and chickenshit nominal Democrats like Jim Marshall (83%), Jim Matheson (86%), John Barrow (83%), Chris Carney (84%), Joe Donnelly (79%), Jason Altmire (84%), and Brad Ellsworth (85%). In effect, he isn't really a functioning Democrat. To counter Olson's attacks on him as not being conservative enough, Lampson never tries defending Democratic positions. Instead he boasts about endorsements from anti-Democratic, right-wing groups like the National Rifle Association, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the Texas Farm Bureau.

But Olson is pushing his conservative credentials, saying in his first TV spot that only a congressman with “conservative principles” can reign in government excess. He’s anti-abortion and pro-“traditional marriage.” He is, as he announced at the candidates’ debate, “fundamentally against universal health care” and supports extending President Bush’s tax cuts. He describes himself as a “smaller government” conservative and says he would have opposed the $700 billion financial bailout package Congress passed in early October.

Lampson voted “no” on the bailout twice, saying the bill “forces the average taxpayer to pay for a crisis that they did not create.” The Olson campaign charges that Lampson voted for authorizing the Treasury department’s credit assistance to mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac “when nobody was watching,” then flipped “for political reasons” when it came time to weigh in on the higher-profile rescue. (The Fannie/Freddie provision was part of a larger housing package, and Lampson’s vote was to approve the entire bill.)

And Lampson is hardly the only member of Congress from Texas unworthy of the "D" next to his name. Bush's closest Democratic ally in the Texas Democratic congressional delegation has always been the odious Henry Cuellar from Laredo. Cuellar, proving that his loyalty is to the corporate interests that bribe him, not just to Bush personally, has already signaled that he is ready to undermine Obama if he becomes president-- especially on so-called "free trade."

Congressman Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, says he is ready to "fight" Barack Obama over the future of U.S. trade with Mexico.

On the campaign trail, Obama has said many times that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) will be renegotiated if he is elected president.

South Texas business and political leaders say NAFTA has been hugely important in growing the region over the last 15 years.

Speaking at a Rio Grande Valley Partnership luncheon on Thursday, Cuellar said he had spoken to Obama about the importance of NAFTA.

"I will fight him, the president," Cuellar said at the meeting. "If Obama becomes president, on NAFTA I will convince him on why trade is important especially for the border area."

If the carefully placed and ubiquitous rumors are true-- and let's pray it's just more signature Emanuel self-promotion-- that Obama is already looking at the worst and most treacherous "free" trader in Congress as a potential chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, Cuellar won't have much to worry about-- unless it's true that Americans are actually ready to put their feet down and say no to the Lampsons and Cuellars and Emanuels, as well as the the GOP. In any case, if we don't fight against corruption in both parties none of the most venal corporate interests who seek to buy influence for their special interests will have much to worry about.

The Daily Blue America Report-- #8

They should all retire together

Finally some good news for Ted Stevens! On returning home from his trial in Washington Stevens was told that Alaska law permits felons to run for federal office. In fact, as long as he isn't sentenced before Tuesday, he can even vote for himself! And he'll need every vote he can muster. "Like most people, I'm not perfect," Stevens told a throng of adoring recipients of wealth from the Lower 48 spread around through Stevens' earmarks.

Stevens has been kicked to the curb by both friend and for. McCain, who has always hated his guts, called on him to resign before the last juror had a chance to nod. He then forced Palin do the same, breaking with the Alaska Republican Party, which is still urging the faithful to vote for Uncle Ted. Many of the crooked Republicans who have been taking bribes from Big Oil funneled through Stevens' PAC-- particularly Republican senators in jeopardy of losing their seats Tuesday, like Mitch McConnell R-KY), Norm Coleman (R-MN), who is having his own spiraling out-of-control ethics scandal, Gordon Smith (R-OR) and John Sununu (R-NH)-- have hypocritically demanded their old partner in crime resign... immediately. Who's name is missing from this list? Well, check out which members of the Senate got the really big pay-outs from Stevens' money-laundering operation, The Northern Lights PAC and you will find Maine's most corrupt political hack, Susan Collins ($10,000 this year and $10,000 last time she ran). Maine's other senator, the honest, moderate one, Olympia Snowe, has joined her colleagues urging Stevens to resign. But not Collins, whose own PAC funneled $10,000 to Stevens, a kind of semi-legalistic way for politicians to avoid campaign finance laws.

And while Susan Collins is pledging her undying fealty to convicted felon Ted Stevens, her opponent, Tom Allen, one of the finest-- and most tested and proven-- public servants running for the Senate from anywhere, is being supported by Bill Clinton. President Clinton and Congressman Allen are old friends from the days they were both Rhodes Scholars at Oxford. Tens of thousands of Mainers were surprised when they picked up their phones tonight-- praying it wouldn't be another hysterical robocall from another of the far right GOP front groups flooding the state with negativity on behalf of Collins-- to find President Clinton's comforting voice urging them to vote for Tom.

"Hello this is President Clinton and I'm calling to urge you to support Tom Allen for United States Senate.  Barack Obama needs Democrats like Tom Allen in Washington in order implement his agenda of change to turn this economy around.

"Congressman Tom Allen opposes Bush's failed economy policy and is fighting for change: a new economic policy that focuses on the middle class, creates jobs in Maine, and supports small businesses. For Real Change support Tom Allen for US Senate on November 4."

That was especially refreshing after a day of dire warnings from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party that they intend to control Obama's agenda and the Democratic Party after Tuesday.

Conservative Democrats who've been a thorn in the side of liberal party leaders could grow into a major obstacle to Barack Obama's agenda if he is elected president.

Majority Democrats are positioned for big gains in next week's congressional election. But many of the new faces would join a growing chorus of "Blue Dogs" who often part from the party base on big issues like taxes and increasing federal spending.

That could set up a roadblock for Obama, who has promised to broaden health insurance coverage, start a new round of public works projects and improve early childhood education, among other things-- all initiatives that would require substantial government spending at a time of soaring deficits.

Ironically, it was Obama's radio ad for one of the worst of the Blue Dogs, John Barrow, a nominal Democrat from Georgia, that saved him from being defeated in a primary by state Senator Regina Thomas, who is an exemplary progressive. On substantive matters, Barrow has voted with the GOP 65% of the time and with the Democrats 35% of the time. And Barrow is only one of 16 nominal Democrats who have voted with the Repugs more frequently than with their own party. The others, from bad to worse, are: Zach Space (OH), Baron Hill (IN), Gene Taylor (MS), Harry Mitchell (AZ), Jim Matheson (UT), Chris Carney (PA), Heath Shuler (NC), Jason Altmire (PA), Dan Boren (OK), Brad Ellsworth (IN), Travis Childers (MS), Don Cazayoux (LA), Joe Donnelly (IN), Jim Marshall (GA) and Nick Lampson (TX).

Lately we've been mentioning how the DCCC is spending far more money on Independent Expenditures for conservative and corporate candidates than for grassroots and progressive candidates. Today I saw quite a few weighty endorsements come over the transom-- mostly for conservatives. Many of the best candidates across the country-- the hope of the progressive movement, have been snubbed by the Establishment Democrats over and over, as though they actually hope they lose. Today conservative business shill Mark Warner warmly endorsed fellow conservative Glenn Nye, while ignoring progressive candidates Judy Feder and Tom Perriello. Simultaneously Jim Webb sent out a last minute plea for 4 Democratic candidates for the Senate-- pointedly leaving out progressives-- and pleading for cash from a right-wing corporate shill like Bruce Lunsford (KY) and for right-of-center bad-news-Dems Kay Hagan (NC) and Ronnie Musgrove (MS) plus moderate Jim Martin (GA). Not a word about struggling progressives like Jeff Merkley (OR), Rick Noriega (TX), Andrew Rice (OK), or Tom Allen (ME).

Connecticut-04- On the other hand, Jim Himes did get a little help that should go a long way in the form of a radio ad by Barack Obama.

New York-25- Yesterday's NY Times reported that the Republican Party has given up on all but two of the congressional races in New York State, the others being hopelessly out of their reach. Dan Maffei is sure to win a seat he just missed out on in 2006. The only Blue America candidate in New York now facing a challenge is Eric Massa, who is leading in a tight rematch with Bush rubber stamp Randy Kuhl.

National Republican officials have decided to withhold financial support from all but two closely contested Congressional races in New York, as the party braces for the possibility that it could lose several more House seats in the state.

The decision to abandon much of the state came after internal party polls showed Republican candidates in at least three once-promising races falling behind their Democratic opponents, a party official briefed on the internal deliberations said.

As a result, Republican leaders are diverting money to candidates in other races in which party officials believe they have a greater chance of success, the official said.

The decision by national Republicans to focus on a smaller group of races underscores the degree to which the party is on the defensive not only in New York but also in New Jersey, Connecticut and many other states. The national party is short on cash and is being forced into the difficult position of deciding where to continue to fight-- and where to effectively surrender-- as the election enters the final days of campaigning.

“Tough decisions have to be made,” said Representative Peter T. King, a Republican from Long Island, who conceded that the party was seeking to minimize its losses. “You have to decide who comes off life support and who gets a massive infusion.”

Two of the races effectively being written off in New York are in districts currently held by Republican incumbents who are retiring at the end of the year-- the 25th Congressional District in the Syracuse region, now held by James T. Walsh; and the 13th District on Staten Island, where Vito J. Fossella is stepping down. Representative Fossella was found guilty in a Virginia court this month on a charge of driving under the influence of alcohol.

VIRGINIA-05- In a stunning and precedent-shattering move, the Danville Register & Bee has ended its career-long support for corrupt Bush rubber stamp Virgil Goode and urged voters to trade him in for Tom Perriello.

This newspaper hasn’t endorsed a Democrat for Congress since Virgil Goode was a Democrat. Since Goode’s first campaign for Congress in 1996, we have backed him in every election, defended him from what we thought was unfair criticism by challengers and wished for him a long career in Washington.

But today, the Danville Register & Bee endorses Tom Perriello for the 5th District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

We haven’t left Virgil Goode. Virgil Goode has left us.

...We expect to receive great criticism for endorsing Perriello over Goode.

But our decision was born out of frustration with a career politician who has already told us he expects to be ineffective as Democrats gain more power in Congress. Just this year, Goode has voted against the tax rebate checks that people throughout the 5th District received this year and he voted against a financial rescue plan that even his own Republicans believed was necessary to stave off more serious economic problems.

If we send Goode back to Washington, how many more times will he vote against our interests? We can’t take that chance.

On Tuesday, it’s time to elect a young man of integrity, energy, faith and hard work. It’s time to send Tom Perriello to Congress.

Texas-10- Cook upgraded Larry Joe Doherty's chance of unseating Bush rubber stamp Michael McCaul... for the second time. McCaul, one of the least knowledgeable hacks in the whole Congress has refused to debate Doherty and over the past couple of months the district went from "safe Republican" to "likely Republican" to "leans Republican." McCaul has no get ground game and Doherty has been building one all year. The latest polling shows a virtual tie. A victory Tuesday for Larry Joe will be reason to celebrate-- for Texans and for all Americans. Watch him on local TV news yesterday explaining his ideas about bailing out big corporations.

California-04- Last night we talked about the soft-core porn robocalls Republican congressional candidate Zane Starkewolf has been using (illegally) in CA-01. Mike Thompson, the incumbent from that district was campaigning with Charlie Brown yesterday in CA-04. And Little Zane's buddy, Tom McClintock was also employing more illegal robocalls, which most people in Northern California refer to as nuisance calls. (McClintock, who lives in the L.A. suburbs doesn't know anything about northern California, so he isn't aware people don't like them-- or that they're illegal.) A couple weeks ago Charlie Brown called on McClintock to join him in swearing them off. "Robo-Dial phone calls are a nuisance and a deceptive campaign tactic typical of negative campaigns that would rather attack a person’s character than offer detailed solutions. I am calling on Tom McClintock to join me in a bi-partisan effort to conduct an above board campaign based on direct contact with voters-- not deceptive and annoying robo-calls." McClintock refused and instead launched another barrage of the calls, illegal because they violated laws requiring that they include a disclaimer identifying who paid for and authorized the campaign communication.

Another great SEIU TV spot-- this one on behalf of progressives in Ohio. Let's hope it rubs off on Vic Wulsin, the best candidate in the entire state and the one who is being pummeled the hardest by the GOP smear machine.



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Mr. Sun Came Up And I'm Feelin' Good-- Barack Gets Another Endorsement

I can't even keep track of all the Republicans, ex-Republicans, Republicans-turned-Independents, ex-Bush staffers, former Reagan advisors, GOP pundits, NeoCons and fellow travelers who have dissed McCain and endorsed Obama in the last month. I was almost relieved when I saw that McCain got an unexpected nod in his direction yesterday from Joe The Guitar Player. After being inspired by Rudy G and Arnold, Joe said "We pretty much stay out of it. But seeing so many people come out for Obama, I just felt like ‘What the hell, I might as well raise my hand for this side.’” And Real America countered-- not just with The Economist and Stephen Colbert-- but with SpongeBob SquarePants.

As Michelle Obama said in Newsweek, "It's SpongeBob's world...we just live in it!" The whole family watches SpongeBob all the time and Barack said it's his favorite cartoon! And he's SpongeBob's favorite air breather:




UPDATE: SPONGEBOB AND GOOGLE ON THE SAME DAY!

Eric Schmidt, presumably no relation to Mean Jean or the Karl Rove Jr guy, is the CEO of Google. He's recorded a short clip on why Obama's instincts for new technology has persuaded him to vote for Barack Tuesday. And I guarantee you, Schmidt is one of the 5% of Americans who will get a tax hike when Obama is president.

Says The Economist: To vote for McCranky, you have to assume "that he does not believe a word of what he has been saying"

"Ironically, given that he first won over so many independents by
speaking his mind, the case for Mr McCain comes down to a piece of
artifice: vote for him on the assumption that he does not believe a
word of what he has been saying."

-- from The Economist's endorsement of Obama for president today

by Ken

Bear in mind that The Economist is editorially seriously conservative -- only not in the sense that, say, Mitch McConnell or Grover Norquist or Sean Hannity or Princess Sarah Palin or Joe the Plumber is "conservative."

Oh, there's a deal of nonsense in the editorial, like the glib declaration that "[Senator McCranky's] gut reaction over Georgia -- to warn Russia off immediately -- was the right one," or the notion that Douglas "Young Johnny Made the Blackberry" Holtz-Eakin is "the impressive exception" to Senator McCranky's poor effort to enlist competent economic advisers (the hapless Dougie would be old-line Tories' kind of guy), or the weird assumption that Senator Obama is in thrall to labor unions, or the usual right-wing lumping together of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid into a single looming crisis.

And around DWT, we're a long way from sharing The Economist's fear "that on economic matters the centre that Mr Obama moves to would be that of his party, not that of the country as a whole." We don't want to see him moving toward any damned center. (I guess we're the kind of people the posh folk at The Economist worry that Obama may listen to. There doesn't really seem much danger of that.)

Still, in its thoughtful and specific discussion, the editorial does appreciate both the scariness of the campaign waged by "the Candidate McCain of the past six months" ("his good features magically inverted, his bad ones exaggerated") and the promise of the Obama candidacy:

"Of course, Mr Obama will make mistakes; but this is a man who listens, learns and manages well."

Certainly the editorial gets the basic point right:

"In terms of painting a brighter future for America and the world, Mr Obama has produced the more compelling and detailed portrait. He has campaigned with more style, intelligence and discipline than his opponent. Whether he can fulfil his immense potential remains to be seen. But Mr Obama deserves the presidency."

#

Ashs & Ashs: McCain Campaign Staffer Asked To Choose Between Prison And Seeking Mental Health Treatment

The Republicans have cranked up their dirty tricks machine into high gear and are out to sow as much discord and confusion as they can in preparation for what they hope will be the biggest election fraud in world history. See that photo above. The man on the left is Ashwin Madia a former marine who served in Iraq and is now running for Congress against a right wing extremist in Minnesota. The picture on the right? That's a doctored pic of Ash that the Republican Party has doctored to make Ash appear... "other." Is it racism? It's from the GOP. And they say they stand by their racist ad. Could we expect any less? After we saw the McCain campaign staffer, Ashley Todd claiming last week she was mutilated by a "big black man" who carved a "b" into her face. The fact that the "b" was carved by "someone" looking in a mirror tipped off the police that Ashley, like virtually all McCain supporters, is a- very stupid and b- very racist. Under gentle questioning she admitted she manufactured the whole incident.

Today a woman who was about to rise to the ranks of a Joe the Plumber in the McCain-Palin hagiology, Ashley the Campaign Worker/Martyr, was released from jail after agreeing to seek mental treatment.

How dare I assert that McCain and his supporters are all stupid? I forgot to mention where I got that from: Republican Fox News shill Neil Cavuto. Cavuto, one of the media's biggest advocates of Greed and Selfishness, to McCain:

Cavuto: Frankly, neither of your numbers adds up. But I’ve come to see a consistent pattern in Obama's. For the life of me, Senator Straight Talk, I see no such straight thing with yours...

You rail against big government, yet continue to push cockamamie spending plans that make a mockery of it. That's why you're losing right now, Senator McCain.

Not because you don't have the courage of your convictions. But because on economic matters, you have no convictions, period.

No convictions... ahhh... so that's why the campaign's been so erratic. And now they're just trying to blame everything on Palin. How do you blame Palin without bringing up McCain's horrendous judgment and cynicism, his penchant for gimmickry and his sloppy and apparently dangerous vetting process?

John McCain's campaign is looking for a scapegoat. It is looking for someone to blame if McCain loses on Tuesday.

And it has decided on Sarah Palin.

In recent days, a McCain “adviser” told Dana Bash of CNN: “She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone.”

Imagine not taking advice from the geniuses at the McCain campaign. What could Palin be thinking?

Also, a “top McCain adviser” told Mike Allen of Politico that Palin is “a whack job.”

Maybe she is. But who chose to put this “whack job” on the ticket? Wasn’t it John McCain? And wasn’t it his first presidential-level decision?

McCain has surrounded himself with nasty smear artists and his campaign is all about fear and smear... and disenfranchising as many voters as possible in as many battleground states as possible. That's why we've included this:

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Prop 8

I have a "No on 8" sign on my lawn. I placed it carefully so that people driving both up and down the hill would see it clearly. What's the big deal, right? A gay man in liberal Los Feliz (where probably a third of the homes have "No on 8" signs and where there is not one single "Yes on 8" sign)... The big deal, for me, is that I don't believe in the institution of marriage. And beyond that, I'm uncomfortable with the homogenization of society. When I figured out I was gay and would accept that happily, one of the appeals was to the rebel in me. There was-- at the time, at least-- something "outlaw" in being openly gay. When this whole gay marriage thing came up it just made me cranky-- more of society's clone-like superficiality leaking into what's left of an independent gay world. But I'm mature enough to know that most gays-- like most non-gays, don't want to be outlaws or outsiders or freethinkers or anything but someone who fits in and is accepted. I accept that and I empathize and realize their point of view is probably more reasonable that my own. As long as no one ever tries to force me to marry-- gay or otherwise-- it's better to just opt for equality.

Stanford Law Professor, a married heterosexual and an advocate for preventing restrictions on the Internet, Lawrence Lessig, has put together a very straight forward 8 minute explanation of what's at stake in the battle over Proposition 8 and why all progressive-minded people should oppose it. This is only for people with 3-digit IQs. The ACLU has something out today that is also very, very effective, although more overtly emotional, Why Marriage Matters; it even made me-- an avowed anti-marriage curmudgeon-- cry.

I saw my first and only "Yes on 8" sign a few days ago. It was on the door of a church and not even a Mormon one, a real Christian Church where, ironically, they profess a believe in the message of Jesus Christ. Again, ironically, there was a marriage going on in front of the church when we drove by-- a young Filipino couple. Everyone seemed so gay and ebullient. I can't imagine that anyone in the marriage party was a hateful bigot, not like the horrible, false, vicious ads on radio that try manipulating people's minds into thinking that gays are "the other." I may actually BE "the other" because I do reject your stupid Bronze Age superstitions and social constricts. But most gays, the ones who want to marry especially... they're just like you! I recalled Hemmingway recounting-- probably in For Whom The Bell Tolls-- a village rising up during the Spanish Civil War and locking a bunch of rotten reactionary priests in a barn and setting it on fire. It's such a violent reaction but these folks were the victims of the church's violence for so many years, so many centuries...

I went to lunch a few weeks ago with a staffer who's worked for Dianne Feinstein for many years. He told me how supportive she was when he and others spoke with her about how important it is that she take a stand on Prop 8. She issued a press release opposing it. Seemed fair enough to me. And then, this week California's most popular elected official, someone who is respected across party lines by voters in this state, went as far out as I could ever imagine her going on this. Take a look:



Extra credit for anyone who can explain how this story in the Houston Chrocicle about how 23% of Texans are convinced that Barack Obama is a Muslim is related to the post above.

Potential Shocker On Tuesday?

There is going to be a gigantic Democratic Party victory in congressional races around the country. With an immense majority, though, I expect we will see tremendous disappointment as Democrats fail to accomplish progressive goals because of the enhanced power of nominal Democrats from deep in the bowels of the Republican wing of the Democratic Party. Earlier this morning we looked at the cynical approach of corporatist Democrats like Rahm Emanuel and Steny Hoyer who are using so-called "free" trade as a potent campaign issue to beat up on Republican incumbents while their own records are as bad-- if not worse-- than the Republicans! They admit that after the election they will work on new Democrats to "moderate" (i.e.- come over to the Dark Side) their positions. And this morning's Wall Street Journal reassures its reactionary readers that with enhanced clout within the Democratic caucus, the Blue Dogs will have the power to prevent any real reform from making America a more progressive nation.

Also this morning I was looking at some potential good news regarding possible losses from a couple of the worst most reactionary Democrats in Congress, Jim Marshall (GA) and Nick Lampson (TX), two whose voting records show they stand with the GOP far more than with the Democrats when it comes to representing the interests of working families. Members like Marshall and Lampson, in some ways, are even worse than actual Republicans, because these treacherous Blue Dogs eat away at the heart and soul of progressivism from within the Democratic Party. One of my friends with a similar perspective e-mailed me at around 6 this morning:

I want to choke when I read in places like Daily Kos things like: "Good news! This poll shows Carney with a solid lead" or "Bad news-- Jim Marshall is struggling." 

I mean-- I understand that in a two-party system, only one party can win, but when you know that your party is going to have a 60-seat margin (at least), there's no reason to openly cheer for people that support every horrible thing there is.

I wonder if the Kosack who was bemoaning Marshall's re-election problem even knows that, in the end, Marshall was the only Democrat to stand with Bush's veto of healthcare for needy children (SCHIP). I doubt it. But if Marshall does lose his seat on Tuesday, I would be shocked, pleasantly so. Same for Lampson. Voters are excited about Obama and think voting for generic "Democrats," even arch-reactionaries like Marshall and Lampson, will give Obama the ability to push through his agenda for change, an agenda that will be blocked by congressman like Marshall and Lampson who vote far more frequently with the GOP on substantive matters than with Democrats.

This morning Bob Geiger, a Senate expert who was the only person I know of who called every single Senate contest correctly in 2006, predicted that the Democrats would reach the filibuster-proof magic number. He is forecasting Democratic victories in 3 open Republican seats: Virginia, New Mexico and Colorado plus red to blue switches in Oregon, New Hampshire, Alaska, North Carolina, Minnesota, and, after a run-off, Georgia. That leaves the Democrats with 60 if you count Lieberman as a Democrat and if you ignore that nominal Democrats like Ben Nelson, Mary Landrieu, Evan Bayh and others who cross the aisle and vote with the GOP frequently.

It's a dire look for a best-case scenario. The only way around it would be to elect 3 more progressives-- Andrew Rice in Oklahoma, Rick Noriega in Texas, and Tom Allen in Maine-- all of whom are struggling to gain traction but none of whom face hopeless situations. The Democratic Establishment Inside-the-Beltway will instead squander precious resources to help the most reactionary "Democratic" candidate running anywhere-- Bruce Lunsford in Kentucky, who, if he wins, will be an even worse and more corrupting presence than Ben Nelson and Mary Landrieu.

So what's the shocker from the headline? Ah... glad you remembered. It's in the House. Yesterday, we reminded you that the Insider prognosticators and pundits and pollsters shape the national perception of races and often miss key ones. No one talked about Nancy Boyda, Dave Loebsack or Carol Shea-Porter in the run up to the 2006 election. But all are members of Congress today. This morning CQPolitics moved the race in Idaho's first district from leans or likely Republican (incumbent extremist loon Bill Sali) to "toss up." For Insiders like CQPolitics to make a call like that, it pretty much means that Democrat Walt Minnick has the race in the bag. In any case, this race-- which has been the subject of optimistic chatter for weeks--is far from the shocker. The shocker (this year's equivalents of the Boyda, Loebsack and Shea-Porter victories) would be the races we talked about yesterday Rob Hubler and Becky Greenwald in Iowa and Steve O'Donnell in Pennsylvania.

Yes, the Beltway Cooks and Schnooks, have never looked seriously at any of these races but inside the districts, people who know a lot more about it than they ever will see a potential for change that the Cooks and Schnooks will call unpredictable and even cataclysmic on Tuesday if they come to fruition. Yesterday we looked at the Des Moines Register endorsements for progressive challengers Becky Greenwald and Rob Hubler. Today there was a much bigger surprise. One of the most conservative newspapers in the country, owned in fact by neo-Nazi Richard Mellon Scaife, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review called for the defeat of Republican rubber stamp incumbent Tim Murphy in PA-18. The content of the endorsement is mind-boggling and must have left Murphy shattered this morning when he read it. Predictably, it attacks him from the right:

"We have serious problems and it's time for serious solutions," says Tim Murphy, Pennsylvania's 18th District congressman, in one of his campaign re-election commercials.

So, why isn't he offering any?

Mr. Murphy, 56, of Upper St. Clair, is seeking his fourth House term. But he doesn't deserve it.

Not only does Murphy remain under the cloud of a federal investigation that's attempting to determine if he illegally used his taxpayer-funded staff for impermissible political work, his conservative credentials have turned about as cloudy as they come.

The paper goes on to savage him for supporting the Employee Free Choice Act-- the biggest bugaboo for the Greed and Selfishness wing of the GOP this year-- their version of gay marriage-- and then mentions that "Murphy fails to give his Republican Party affiliation in his campaign commercials and literature. It sounds to us as if he's ready to switch parties and join the emboldened Nancy Pelosi Democrat-Socialist liberal majority on Capitol Hill. There's no excuse for Tim Murphy. And the electorate should make none for him."

It's not exactly a ringing endorsement for proud progressive Steve O'Donnell but the effect is what's key and for Republican voters already disillusioned by McCain's erratic, directionless campaign, this is exactly what the doctor ordered to keep depressed Republicans away from the polls on Tuesday-- in a district where registration has swung over to Democrats by 60,000. The DCCC is busy pumping millions of dollars into races of anti-choice fanatics-- Democratic anti-choice fanatics-- like Bobby Bright and Parker Griffith in Alabama, Kathy Dahlkemper just north of PA-18 up in Erie, David Boswell in Kentucky, Bill O'Neill in Ohio, etc-- while just a small push for a real Democrat like Steve O'Donnell would win him the race. But do they want real Democrats? Or do they want more reactionary garbage who will vote with the GOP the way Don Cazayoux and Travis Childers have been doing since millions of dollars in Democratic money was pumped into their special elections a few months ago?

The Daily Blue America Report-- #7

Yesterday I woke up and the very first thing I read, a story in the Austin Statesman, inspired me for the whole day. It's about a woman born in 1899 whose father was a slave. A slave! Please stop for one moment and think about that. Her father was owned like a piece of furniture or like livestock by someone else who may well have been unsympathetic to his humanity. This woman, 109 year old Amanda Jones in Cedar Creek, Texas, voted early, by absentee ballot. She's been a Democrat for 70 years but this week she had the opportunity to vote for Barack Obama. "I feel good about voting for him," she said. I hope all the Blue America candidates will live up to the dreams of people like Amanda and like the people who fought to free her father and her people-- our people-- from slavery.

California-46- Pete McCloskey retired from the GOP congressional delegation 5 years before Dana Rohrabacher was elected. But McCloskey saw that there wasn't something quite right with Rohrabacher. This week he endorsed-- and started actively campaigning for-- Debbie Cook.

“What is desperately needed in the next Congress are individuals of great integrity with fresh thoughts from outside the Beltway, and who also possess a willingness to set aside partisanship and rigid ideology. I am confident that she will help bring courtesy and thoughtful compromise back to Washington, and maybe even help restore some of the faith in our system of government that all of us have lost at least a little bit of over the last few years. Dana Rohrabacher is part of the problem.”

Florida-08- Early voting is massive, more people eager to express their enthusiasm than just beat the rush. It isn't massive just in Florida either, but all over the country (30 states). In Florida, though, Governor Crist may well have doomed McCain's chances to win the election by extending early voting hours. The earlier voters seem to be overwhelmingly people eager to vote for change. A friend in Orlando who saw the statewide figures told me that 60% of the Florida voters so far have been Democrats and Republicans and Independents are about even, 21% and 19% respectively. Alan Grayson is feeling like a great deal of hard work from his staff and volunteers is paying off. His polling shows him decisively ahead of rubber stamp retread Ric Keller and much of his game plan for the election-- just as it was for the primary-- was tied up early voting. "We're winning for one reason only," he told me this morning. "This year, truth wins against lies." And according to HuffPo the early voting trends are showing an even bigger landslide against McCain, Bush and the Republican philosophy of governance than anyone expected.

Florida- 25- Mario Diaz-Balart, a clownish man, has been a complete rubber stamp for the entire Bush-Cheney agenda. Three months ago a consultant told him that Bush and his agenda are unpopular down in Miami-Dade so he started trying, superficially at least, to distance himself from Bush. Now he tries claiming, he an "independent voice." His record tells another story though. His voting record on veterans, for example, is absolutely breathtaking. There isn't a worse one in the entire Congress! Since January 2003 Diaz-Balart the Younger has participated in 29 roll call votes regarding our veterans. Take a look at it. The only question that comes to mind is "why does Mario Diaz-Balart hate the people who went to war defending this country?" Of the 22 votes he voted against American veterans 22 times!

•    Mario Diaz-Balart voted against increasing Department of Defense survivor benefits. (Roll Call 144, 2006)
•    Diaz-Balart voted against military pay raises. (Roll Call 554, 2003)
•    Diaz-Balart voted against $3.6 billion to enhance quality of life for the troops (Roll Call 546)
•    Diaz-Balart voted against minimum rest periods for troops (Roll Call 796, 2007)
•    Diaz-Balart voted against protecting service members from bankruptcy (Roll Call 107, 2005)
•    Diaz-Balart voted against expanding healthcare for reservists (Roll Call 221, 2005)

Yesterday Joe Garcia released a new television ad that let's South Florida voters know the real story on Diaz-Balart's record on veterans.

Virginia-10- One might think that after Frank Wolf exposed himself on camera as a cranky and violent old fascist, he would just shut up and hope not enough people became aware of the story to topple him from power. But if you are one of those people to imagine that, you don't know much about what a self-entitled, self-righteous jerk Frank Wolf has always been. Lowell at Raising Kaine has another video and another look at a congressman whose "good 'til" date has long expired. Paul Begala has also noticed that there's something seriously wrong with Wolf and that he needs a nice long rest-- forever. "Dare to ask Rep. Wolf a question, and his paid congressional staff gives you a couple of lumps. I’m sure Kim Jong Il would be proud."

Texas-10- Charles Kuffner recorded a very worthwhile interview with Larry Joe Doherty. You get a great feel for who the candidate really is and what kind of a congressman he will be when he beats Bush rubber stamp Michael McCaul.

Ohio-02- BlueOhioan wins today's prize for ugliest ad of the day. Would it come as a shock that it's from Mean Jean Schmidt, the lunatic fringe congresswoman who got drunk at a St Patrick's Day Party and slipped in Michele Bachmann's vomit?

Indiana-06- Yesterday's Fort Wayne Journal Gazette rejected a major force in the extreme wing of the national Republican leadership, Mike Pence, and urged its readers to vote for Berry Welsh.

Voters in Indiana’s 6th Congressional District should elect Barry Welsh. The Democratic challenger’s positions on the key issues facing the country are more palatable than those of the incumbent, Mike Pence... [H]is position on issues such as health care, the economy and war will better serve the interests of 6th District residents than those of his opponent... Welsh demonstrates a greater understanding of how the country needs to move forward to put an end to the wars and repair relations with other nations.

This Obama ad could be adapted for any of the Blue America candidates:



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Trade, Traitors And Accountability Within The Democratic Party Establishment

A couple weeks ago-- before rubber stamp incumbent Robin Hayes (R-NC) self-destructed ala his ideological sister Michele Bachmann and before the latest polling showed Larry Kissell beating him next Tuesday-- a Democratic Party higher up contacted me in my role as treasurer of the Blue America PAC. "We see," he said, "that your PAC has been raising money for Larry Kissell longer than anyone and that you've been pushing him since 2006. Can you help him now? Hayes is pouring money into negative TV spots and we're getting clobbered."

I offered him a deal. Since the terrible, job-killing trade policies of Bush, the GOP and the reactionary and Blue Dog Democrats is the most important issue in the district, I agreed to go to the Blue America Board if he could persuade Rahm Emanuel-- whose lack of support in 2006 cost Larry the seat-- to admit it was his fault and apologize for his incompetence and agree to never bother Congressman Kissell about voting for any of the kinds of corporate trade legislation he is always shoving down Democrats' throats.

The big shot Democratic insider got back to me in less than 24 hours and said that he could get Emanuel to admit and apologize but that he would never agree to say anything negative about the trade policies he shoves down Democrats' throats. I said "No deal then" and hung up. I did call Jane and Digby and John (the rest of the Board) and we all decided to fund around 3,000 trade policy ads for the last week of the election, all over cable TV and on ABC-TV for the NASCAR races this weekend. Here's the ad:



Interestingly, yesterday's CongressDaily carried a story called Dems' Ads In Tight Races Tap Into Anti-Trade Sentiment by Peter Cohn in which he claimed that so-called "free trade" advocates could face a lonely 111th Congress "if the Democrats' campaign rhetoric is any indication. References to 'job-killing trade deals,' outsourcing and anti-China sentiment abound, with more than 100 trade-related advertisements and counting. If the party makes a clean sweep, 2008 could be similar to two years ago, when 37 House and Senate Democrats opposed to expanding trade pacts like the North American and Central America free-trade agreements won their races, observers say."

This year the DSCC and the DCCC are spending lots of money on ads attacking unfair Republican trade policies but he never actually mentions that the unfair Republican trade policies are also the trade policies of cynical corporate Democrats like Emanuel, Hoyer and their reactionary claque.

"Two years ago [Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Charles] Schumer [of New York] and [then-Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman] Rahm [Emanuel of Illinois] were staying as far as they could away from these issues," said Andy Gussert, national director of Citizens Trade Campaign, a coalition of groups advocating trade reforms.

I don't know if I would describe it as stayed as far away as they could. Emanuel made a point to undercut progressive candidates who disagreed with his trade policies-- like Larry Kissell.

The DSCC charged in an ad opposing Senate Minority Leader McConnell that Kentucky has lost automotive jobs to Mexico and apparel jobs to Honduras as a result of NAFTA and CAFTA, as well as 33,000 jobs to China. "He created jobs all right. Just not here," says the narrator. His opponent's campaign this week accused McConnell of being "a friend of Communist China" based on votes for permanent normal trade relations with that country and other measures. In another DSCC-financed ad, a man refers to Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., as "the senator from China." A DSCC spot promoting former Mississippi Gov. Ronnie Musgrove, who is challenging GOP Sen. Roger Wicker, says the Democrat opposes the trade deals as "job-killers" and will "fight to keep Mississippi jobs in Mississippi." And a DSCC ad for Oregon House Speaker Jeff Merkley, running against GOP Sen. Gordon Smith, argues Oregon has paid "a very heavy price" for free trade, "with nearly 70,000 jobs shipped overseas."

Trade has also emerged as an issue in roughly 30 House races considered "competitive" by the nonpartisan Cook Political ReportHayes of North Carolina, Tim Walberg of Michigan and Steve Chabot of Ohio on their trade records. "Michigan lost 319,000 jobs due to unfair trade alone," says the latest ad running in Walberg's district. It charges that Walberg "even voted for more unfair trade with South America," noting his vote last year in favor of the Peru Free Trade Agreement, and a vote this year to allow debate on the Colombia Free Trade Agreement.

And now for the kicker. The Emanuel wing, which is, on trade, essentially identical to the GOP, had an anonymous spokesperson tell Cohn that they are "hopeful incoming lawmakers will moderate their positions after the election." In their universe "moderate" means buckle under to the special interests and leave working families dying on the side of the road. Emanuel and Hoyer maintain their absolute power inside the caucus because of their ability to raise huge sums of tainted cash from The Bad Guys and then to dole it out to other Democrats.

And the above is why it is so important for grassroots Democrats to never cede the party to insider hacks with personal career agendas-- the Rahm Emanuels and Steny Hoyers. This week The Hill explained how progressive activists are getting together to challenge Democrats from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party who consistently act in bad faith, nominal Democrats like Dan Boren, John Barrow, Emanuel, etc. This will be, in great part, what the next two years will be about for activists watching closely what the Democrats do with the power being investing in them on Tuesday.

The Daily Blue America Report-- #6

I'm going to break format tonight and put off writing about the Blue America candidates for a day so we can offer everyone an opportunity to just sit down for 30 minutes and watch Barack Obama make the case for his presidency. Compare it to the vicious and negative John McCain campaign. This is what the country I love is all about. This is the inspiration and hope for the country I love. This isn't a message for Democrats or for Republicans. This was a message appealing to the best in each and every one of us. I'm betting the whole country except the narrowest of McCain partisans-- including his devoted and dishonest propaganda cadres-- will watch this and feel better about our national future. If you missed it, please watch it. If you did see it, watch it again; it's better the second time:

Desperate Republican Party Goes For Softcore Pornographic Robocalls To Reach The Base

GOP purveyor of smut, Zane Starkewolf (CA-01)

Mike Thompson isn't exactly my favorite California Democratic congressman. He's a Blue Dog from way up in Northern California, but he's one of the better Blue Dogs and not even nearly as bad as the really reactionary California Democrats, Dennis Cardoza and Jim Costa. His district is solidly Democratic-- and getting more so-- and the Republican clown who's challenging him, a 27 year old pip-squeak named Zane Starkewolf, has raised less money than the third party candidate! In fact, all little Zane could do in the way of a campaign was to annoy district residents with a sexually-implicit cheapo robocall. It sounds like he found a professional phone sex operator to spread the Republican Party message. Listen to the actual call.

Yes, yes, Republicans are perverts and hypocrites; we already know that. The problem with this call-- which is also illegal since in California robocalls have to be introduced by a live person-- is that dozens of parents complained that the calls were taken by young children. Yep, it isn't your parents' GOP. Starkewolf apologized and said he "took full responsibility"-- you know, the meaningless Republican genre of responsibility.

So... if it's not your parents' GOP, whose is it? Well, Sarah Palin says it will be hers after McCain is defeated on Tuesday. But 'til then... it's this guy's:



Oh... and speaking of robocalls, as Obama's polling numbers have steadily climbed in Arizona (it's a 46-44% race now), McCain's campaign has gotten more and more worried that there aren't enough Mormon extremists to keep the state in Republican hands Tuesday. So they're running robocalls there. That's embarrassing-- but at least they're not softcore porn, just the garden variety Republican attack filth.

Ted Stevens, Mitch McConnell And Susan Collins-- Trio Of Despair

A real axis of evil

Unless the rumors about Larry Craig becoming a lobbyist for HRC are true, it could be very lonely for Lindsey Graham come January. Lonely like in "Gee, this closet is so empty these days... I hope David Dreier, Patrick McHenry, or Adrian Smith runs for the Senate soon." That's right, after Larry Craig's little tragedy in the Minneapolis-St Paul Airport toilet with officer Karsnia, and the increasingly likely forced departure of Kentucky gay groper Mitch McConnell, poor Lindsey will be left all by his lonesome-- the only closet queen in the whole Senate! How fair is that, Mr. Slave?

Anyway, I'm not cheering as loudly as everyone I know over Miss McConnell's impending political obliteration-- primarily because of the horror Chuck Schumer has replacing him, the corrupt and reactionary (don't those two words always get shmooshed together these days?) Bruce Lunsford. Lunsford is likely to be an improvement over McConnell-- the way a D- is better than an F, although, in this case, the F was at least not inside the Democratic caucus inexorably dragging it further and further in the direction of even more corporate-oriented corruption and further and further away from the interests of working families the Democrats always regret stabbing in the back-- though only when they are absolutely forced to by deplorable monsters like Ben Nelson, Mary Landrieu, Mark Pryor, Joe Lieberman, Evan Bayh... and, of course, Bruce Lunsford.

Most Democrats would rather cut off a toe than vote for McConnell even if it does mean that a sleazy and treacherous slimebag like Lunsford winds up in the Senate. And i wouldn't urge anyone to cut off anything. On the other hand, McConnell, who is not just the single most corrupt member of the Senate, he is also spending millions of dollars of corruptly acquired corporate bribes to blanket the state with TV ads attacking Lunsford's own corruption! And just to be consistent, this morning McConnell called on the Senate's runner-up most corrupt member, Ted Stevens, to resign. Cozy, since the two of them have been blatantly money-laundering illicit campaign contributions to each other for years. Miss McConnell:

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has joined the growing chorus of congressional Republicans calling for Sen. Ted Stevens to resign in the wake of his conviction earlier this week on seven corruption-related felonies.

McConnell, in Kentucky campaigning for his own re-election, told the Lexington Herald-Leader that Stevens should step aside, and that he should do it before Election Day, when the Alaska Republican is trying to win a seventh full term.

“I think he should resign immediately,” said McConnell, Kentucky’s senior senator, who is locked in a competitive race against businessman Bruce Lunsford. “If he did not do that ... there is a 100 percent certainty that he would be expelled from the Senate.”

Not all Republicans who have taken thousands and thousands of dollars of Big Oil bribes via Stevens are abandoning him in his time of need though. Susan Collins, Maine's rubber stamp Republican hack has taken immense sums of "contributions" from some of the most corrupt companies in America, funneled her way courtesy of Steven's generous PAC. And even though most Republicans are distancing themselves from the convicted felon-- including McCain and Palin-- Susan Collins is standing by her man (just like she always has with Bush). Maine's other Republican senator, Olympia Snowe, who isn't as crooked and sleazy as Collins is calling for Stevens to resign immediately. It is expected that Collins will buckle under the pressure and be denouncing Stevens by Monday.

"If Susan Collins really believes that convicted felons have a place in the Senate, she clearly does not represent the kind of change that people in Maine are hungry for in Washington," said Rebecca Pollard, communications director for the Maine Democratic Party. "Whether or not Alaska voters re-elect him a week after a jury of his peers found him guilty should not determine whether Susan Collins thinks he should remain in the Senate."
 
"She can't take a pass on this. As a sitting Senator and candidate for re-election to the Senate chamber, Collins doesn't get a pass on telling Maine people whether she thinks Stevens remains worthy of his Senate seat when he accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of work on his house from a big oil company and was convicted on seven felony counts," Pollard said.

As odious as McConnell is, I'd rather see the end of Collins. With him you pretty much know what you're going to get. She's deceptive and sneaky and if he goes, we're stuck with Lunsford. If Collins goes, the Senate gets one of the finest members of the House, Congressman Tom Allen, moving across Capitol Hill.

One Step Closer To The Bitter End For Holy Joe Lieberman?

Disclaimer: I was the Executive Producer of the debut album by Ice-T led Bodycount and I resented Joe Lieberman using that album as an incendiary fundraising tool by cynically twisting it's meaning to frighten parents. I've watched this career politician and shameless hack descend into the realm of self-righteousness we normally only get from those about to be indicted. Lieberman covers his tracks better than most but at last it looks like some of his actions-- like his support for John McCain and the Iraq war-- are finally catching up with him.

If ever a member of the Senate didn't deserve to chair an important committee, it is Joe Lieberman. But Democrats, worried that he would jump the fence the way Strom Thurmond did in 1964, Richard Shelby did in 1994, and Ben Nighthouse Campbell did in 1995, seem to have made a deal with the Devil, a deal that is expiring. Today's Hill is reporting that Lieberman is going to lose his chairmanship of the Homeland Security Committee to Daniel Akaka (D-HI).

Lieberman spokesman Marshall Witmann dismissed the speculation, saying Lieberman “is focused on doing all he can to elect John McCain as president rather than post-election Washington politics.”

It has long been postulated that the Senate Dems would make it apparent enough to Lieberman-- who has also endorsed Republican rubber stamp Susan Collins-- that he's viewed as a pariah in the hope, shared with the GOP, that he would go caucus with them instead of spying on Democrats.

The proposed shakeup is hardly final, but it has begun to be sketched out on paper. It depends largely on a victory by Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) in the presidential election, which would result in Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.), Obama’s running mate, giving up his chairmanship on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The shift also hinges on Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) stepping down as chairman of the powerful Appropriations Committee, which aides say is included in the proposed changes. Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) would replace him. Byrd, who turns 91 in November, has been hospitalized three times this year and some have questioned if he is capable of leading the committee. [Note: I question whether Inouye, Ted Stevens' #1 supporter on this sensitive committee, is ethically capable of leading the committee.]

Other moves include Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) taking over the Senate Commerce Committee, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) taking over the Senate Select Intelligence Committee and Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) moving to the helm of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee.

There is no set plan to replace Biden, but one source cited Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) as a possibility.
However, another Democratic source said Dodd is likely to hold onto his chairmanship of the Senate Banking Committee and be available to replace Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, should Kennedy’s health fail.

In recent days, Lieberman has tried to step back towards his Democratic colleagues by refusing to toe the Republican Party line on Palin and by claiming he has always been respectful of Obama (another Lieberman lie).

Perhaps Lieberman's less than charitable response to the question about Palin's readiness and his sudden emphasis on his "respect" for Barack Obama has to do with Democrats approaching what I like to call the Lieberman Threshold of 60 Senate seats in the Democratic caucus.

All the numbers around 60 have wildly shifting implications for Lieberman. If the Democrats get to 60, Lieberman will continue to hold a considerable amount of power, as he would be the likely swing vote that could consistently overcome GOP filibusters. If the Democrats get to 61 or stall short of 60, then Lieberman will have virtually no leverage whatsoever.

If Lieberman loses his leverage, he could be stripped of his coveted position as chair the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and his position as chair of the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs.

Norm Coleman And His Own Personal Pervgate Scandal

No, this one's the actual wife

Long after Norm Coleman (R-MN) and I were co-secretaries of our elementary school class at PS 197 in Brooklyn, disturbing rumors started circulating about him being a womanizer, something no one from the 5th grade would have guessed. (We all would have just guessed he would be a crook.) I sat down with a well-placed friend on mine in Minneapolis and we tried piecing it all together. As Coleman heads into the final week of a troubled re-election bid, nobody is willing to be identified for fear of the backlash from a sitting Senator and his powerful, wealthy friends. However, there are numerous anonymous sources that independently confirm his philandering. Some have spoken on tape, others via email, but all sources have been well documented. These rumors are so pervasive that Twin Cities public television's political reporter Mary LaHammer felt it necessary to directly ask Norm.

Now it might not be the question that reporters are trying to get him to answer at this moment (about who bought his suits) but contrary to Sen. Coleman's statement that he doesn't respond to blogger accusations and rumors, he did with us. In the interview we showed an excerpt of on Almanac, Coleman responded to all the whispers and blogger claims that he cheats on his wife. Coleman said he's been true to his wife, although he conceded his marriage hasn't been perfect, he said his marriage is stronger now than it has ever been. He said the accusations come from hate over his pro-life position on abortion and his wife's career acting in Los Angeles.

Norm felt the need to address this issue himself with his first ad (which ironically sparked accusations that Laurie was green-screened into the ad... later disproved).

When Republicans accuse a Democrat of something, they are usually much worse. The Republicans accused Norm's opponent Al Franken of writing porn a decade ago and linked him to rape jokes and accused him of having a poor attitude toward women in classic Republican smear attacks. The truth is that Norm's treatment of women is disgusting and shameless.

Numerous sources have confirmed that they knew Norm had an affair. Multiple sources have attested that Norm is often out with his friends shamelessly hitting on women. Most sources have also seen Norm with women they characterize as prostitutes.

It's not just that Norm hasn't been faithful, it's the many reports of how Norm treats women. From women who have seen Norm grope waitresses who served him at restaurants to a media personality in the Twin Cities who claims that Norm stuck his tongue in her mouth, many women have had unpleasant experiences with Minnesota's senior Senator.

Norm has always claimed that he has been faithful, but multiple sources claim that this is simply not true. Like I said, these sources want to remain anonymous because they fear reprisal from Norm and his rich, powerful benefactors. For about 5 years in the 90s, Norm had an affair with Mary Sue Perpich, the daughter of former Governor Rudy Perpich. This affair occurred while Norm was the Mayor of St. Paul, MN. Witnesses saw Norm and Ms. Perpich at restaurants repeatedly. This appears to be the best kept secret in St. Paul that everyone knows about.

In recent years, Norm's neighbors claim to have seen a woman arriving "within hours" of Laurie leaving for California. This woman would stay the entire week, leaving before Laurie's return. Also, they have occasionally seen various women leaving Norm's house as early as 5 AM when Laurie was out of town.

His neighbors also tell the story of Laurie throwing Norm out of the house after finding out about his relationship with Ms. Perpich. He stayed with a friend who they say lived "down the street" until Laurie let him back in.

One of Norm's neighbors had an interesting run-in with one of Norm's ex-girlfriends (not Ms. Perpich). This neighbor heard crashing sounds downstairs while he and his family were upstairs. He came downstairs and confronted the woman. She was drunk and thought she was trashing Norm's house. The police came and arrested her. According to this neighbor the police report of this incident was buried-- He had a hard time getting his insurance company to cover the damages.

Norm made a pass at a Twin Cities media personality who wishes to remain anonymous. She related that Norm kissed her on the lips and tried to stick his tongue in her mouth, but she rebuffed his advances. She didn't "make a scene" because this was in a public place.

A former employee of the Minneapolis restaurant Babalu claims to have seen Norm with women she characterized as "skanky." She believes that these women were prostitutes. She stated that she saw Norm fondle one of these women's thighs. She also states that she saw Norm grab a server's butt and would often try and "feel up" a server's leg. She also related a story from one
particular evening which Norm called a friend and urged him to drive over to Babalu because "there is an unbelievable amount of tail here."

A former employee at Bellanotte witnessed Norm hit on an African-American waitress. When she walked away rather than respond to his advances, he said loudly "C'mon back, baby, you're giving me
jungle fever." Another person verified this incident.

Norm hit on a waitress at Morton's Steak House in Minneapolis. She said the encounter "grossed her out." Norm took her hand and wouldn't let go. "He gave me the creeps," she said.

A former server at Rossi's, a Minneapolis restaurant which recently closed, said she worked a private room that was set aside for Norm Coleman and his buddies. They call  themselves the "Millionaire Boys Club" (note: Norm is not a millionaire). They had reserved the room from noon to 6. Along with their steak dinners and cases of wine, they were smoking cigars. An obvious flaunting of the recently passed smoking ban.



The former server said that they "got good and drunk" and that the conversation in the room was "nauseating." They made sexist and racist comments all afternoon long. African Americans were referred to as "darkies." There was a long conversation in which they expounded upon the reasons poor people were poor. The conclusion was that "they are lazy and don't work" according to this source. The worst part was when they were passing around a laptop they were using to view hardcore pornographic movies. They showed the movies to the women employees and tried to encourage them to watch with them. They were commenting "like frat boys" on the movies making her and the other servers very uncomfortable.

Later in the evening, there was a wedding event planned in this room. Not only had Norm and his buddies fumigated the room so badly that the wedding event was nearly ruined, they refused to leave when asked to by the staff so they could prepare for the event. The server described their behavior as "being jerks about it."

A Minneapolis man witnessed Norm "hitting on" women at Redstone, a restaurant in Minnetonka, MN (a western suburb). He describes Norm's behavior as "blatant" and said Norm's womanizing behavior and obvious come-ons became a standing joke amongst the female customers at Redstone.

An attorney claimed to have spoken with two women who were looking into pressing sexual harassment charges against Norm. These women in the end decided against moving forward with their claims.

A woman who lives in Minneapolis stated that she spoke to three female Republicans who bragged about sleeping with Norm recently. But beyond that, Young Turks host Cenk Uygur pretty much has the rest of the Norm Coleman down pat:

For Many GOP Members Of Congress John McCain's Campaign Has Been A Career-Ending Tragedy

Dick & Tim-- helping turn PA bluer

Ever since McCain clinched the GOP presidential nomination and marched right into Denny Hastert's congressional district to campaign vigorously with Jim Oberweis for the seat Hastert was giving up, a shudder went up the spine of Republican incumbents. An unknown Democratic challenger, Bill Foster, straight from a bitterly fought primary that he only won by a few votes, should have been an easy target for McCain and Oberweis. The district is overwhelmingly Republican (R+5) and exactly the kind of district Republicans have to win if they are going to stay nationally relevant and not just fade away into the party of the old slave holding states and the Mormons. But instead of McCain's first victory, early March saw the beginning of a nightmare vision for the GOP about what kind of a disaster McCain's coattails were going to be for them. And it just got worse from there.

McCain's coattails were also toxic in Baton Rouge, in another very red district's special election, and then in a Mississippi district where Democrats normally don't even bother to run (R+10). It seems like every single day the rearview mirror, Inside the Beltway prognosticators are-- as usual-- trying to catch up with reality in the "real America" (everything to the west, north and south of the Beltway) by changing their ratings, which generally started out as 2 or 3 Democratic gains in the Senate and 8 or 9 net wins for the Dems in the House. Cook and Schnook and Rothengeek and the rest of them seem to be willing to declare a seat leaning to the Democrats when the Republican gives a concession speech. They're a joke and I expect that on Wednesday they will make fairly accurate predictions for a Democratic landslide in both houses.

Today's Washington Post deals with the delicate subject-- in a one industry company town-- of John McCain's coattails, by claiming that his struggle in traditionally Republican states is "complicating the already tenuous reelection prospects of some congressional Republicans." Moderate suburban districts are breaking for Obama and vacated Republican seats plus embattled GOP incumbents are looking mighty blue 6 days before the election.

The apparent McCain drag on congressional races comes as voters increasingly cast blame on Bush and Republicans for the crumbling economy and at a time when the GOP's national party committees have little financial resources to defend an increasing number of House and Senate seats that are in jeopardy.

"McCain is just running so poorly now. He's collapsed in some districts. It's brutal out there for Republicans," said Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the independent Rothenberg Political Report.

The environment has created the potential for gains by the Democrats that could leave them in control of the Capitol for years.

Democrats hold a 51 to 49 edge in the Senate when the two independents who caucus with them are factored in, and a 236 to 199 House majority. Rothenberg predicted that Democrats will pick up 27 to 33 House seats, and make gains of six to nine seats in the Senate. The Cook Political Report, another independent political forecaster, suggests that Democrats will net 23 to 28 House seats, and pick up seven to nine Republican-held Senate seats.

That would have been an astute observation in late August. If Cook were on the ball he would have said "Democrats will net 30 to 40 House seats."

Does anyone pay attention to these blinkered forecasters? The DCCC and NRCC consider them the holy grail, media frames the coverage of races through the prism they offer, and their impact on big donors is immense. Otherwise, they're inconsequential.

Many political observers are talking about the career-ending balloting coming up for John Sununu (R-NH), Steve Pearce (R-NM), Robin Hayes (R-NC) and Ric Keller (R-FL) but I want to talk about two races that none of the pollsters or pundits ever mention and that have been largely flying under the radar. This morning the most influential newspaper in Iowa, the Des Moines Register shocked the political establishment by rejecting 7-term incumbent rubber stamp Tom Latham and endorsed a grassroots Democrat for his seat, Becky Greenwald. Cook and Schnook must be scratching their head and scurrying around for a map that shows where Iowa's 4th CD is.

Iowa's 4th District has a chance to make history. This state has never sent a woman to Congress, but should do so this election.

Becky Greenwald, a Democrat from Perry, has not made that point the main emphasis of her campaign. She calls herself a candidate who "happens to be female." But she also happens to be a woman with potential to be a leader in Washington.

[The Register also endorsed progressive Democrat Rob Hubler in the 5th district and urged Iowa voters to retire hysterical extremist goon Steve King.]

The other race I want to bring up, though, is even further under the radar than either of the Iowa races. Southwest Pennsylvania's 18th CD was gerrymandered to find every potential Republican voter south of Pittsburgh and put them into a safe district for Tim Murphy. But the district (R+2) isn't safe enough for someone with as terrible a rubber stamp record as Murphy has amassed since first taking office in 2002. Just look at this Iraq voting record; it could have been accrued by Dick Cheney! But I bet no one outside the district-- especially no one Inside the Beltway-- knows that there might be an upset brewing inside.

Steve O'Donnell is a progressive Democrat with a shot-- albeit a longshot-- to be Tuesday night's jaw dropper. Murphy has tried to stay under the radar himself and he's tried, despite his record, to sound like a moderate and keep his distance, at least publicly, from Bush and McCain. But his approval rating is only 34%, something that would have him on the critical list if the DCCC was paying attention. Registration has changed so drastically in Pennsylvania that there are now 60,000 more registered Democrats in PA-18 than registered Republicans! And it's an economically hard-hit part of the country with very strong anti-Republican sentiment.

Labor is behind O'Donnell in a big way and his pro-choice, single payer healthcare, out-of-Iraq positions are in sync with what voters actually want. Meanwhile the FBI is investigating Murphy as another dirty Republican Culture of Corruption crook:



Murphy was named one of the 20 most corrupt members of Congress by CREW and he's continued taking immense sums of money from the special interests he serves in Congress, like Big Oil, Halliburton, Wal-Mart and many of the worst players in the mortgage crisis and Wall Street meltdown.

If O'Donnell comes close, the DCCC will be weeping to activists next year for screwing up-- like they're doing this year for screwing up Larry Kissell's race in 2006. But he can win, especially if McCain and Palin keep campaigning in Pennsylvania.


UPDATE: ET TU, SHAYS?

Chris Shays is a self-serving hack from a blue district in Connecticut who manages to stay in office by distancing himself from his right-wing voting record at election time. This year, up against an energetic and much smarter opponent, Jim Himes, it looks like Shays' old tactic isn't working. So instead, the Chairman of McCain's campaign committee in Connecticut has come up with an interesting new strategy: attacking McCain, when he's on the ground... and groping for a break.

"He has lost his brand as a maverick," Rep. Chris Shays, a Connecticut Republican and co-chairman of the McCain campaign in that state, told the Yale Daily News in the latest criticism. "He did not live up to his pledge to fight a clean campaign."

Connecticut conservatives are furious and many are swearing off support for Shays. "I know he always votes the right way when we really need him," said a Republican elected official in Fairfield County, who asked to remain anonymous, "but this is the last straw. He's just so treacherous and hypocritical. We all know McCain is going to lose but does that mean you kick him in the teeth on his way down. Christopher Shays owes Republicans an apology."

Has Anyone Considered Sellin' Alaska Back To The Russians?

Once McCain went on record demanding that convicted felon Ted Stevens step down as Alaska senator, Palin was bound to follow along-- which she did, if reluctantly, yesterday. The Alaska Republican Party, regardless of the urgings of their presidential candidate, vice presidential candidate and titular leader, is painting a different scenario. They're urging conservatives to vote for the felon with the hope of getting him to resign or something after the election.

But there's another possibility. First dude used to be a member of a bizarre fringe secessionist party, The Alaska Independence Party, which also enjoys warm relations with his wife Sarah. They have endorsed third party candidate Charles Baldwin for president (of the Constitution Party) but they are running their own candidate for Senate, Bob Bird, who, like Palin, is an anti-choice fanatic. Take a look:



And, of course, the Alaska Independence Part appealed to their pal, Sarah to help Bird now that Uncle Ted is circling the drain. This letter was sent out late last night:

October 28, 2008

Open Letter to Governor Palin:

We admire your ability to galvanize the conservative movement in America with such conviction, clarity, and grace. Your message of small government, social conservatism, and reform has endured the attacks of your detractors, re-energized a presidential campaign and, God willing, will soon bring you into the vice presidency.

You have taken a stand against corruption in Alaska, and your demand that Senator Stevens, regrettably now a convicted felon, step down from his position has shown you true to your convictions and that you can be relied upon to reform government at the highest levels.

However, Governor, you have many supporters in Alaska that wonder who you are supporting in the U.S. Senate election. Allow us to suggest a solution.

Bob Bird is the AIP candidate for U.S. Senate. He is a hockey coach and father of three who has introduced thousands of Alaska’s high school students to the truth of our nation’s Constitution in more than 30 years of service as a public educator in Alaska’s schools. He is an avid sportsman, a devout Christian, and former President of Alaska Right to Life. Bob was a lifelong Republican until faced with the same corruption which you recognized and now casts a shadow over our great state. In 1996, he left the party and joined more than 14,000 other Alaskans, including myself in the AIP-- not a radical group as painted by an unjust media, but Alaska’s most respected and established third party, a socially and fiscally conservative party. You remember that in 1990 Wally Hickel, former U.S. Interior Secretary under Ronald Reagan, was elected on the AIP ticket to the same gubernatorial position you now hold.

Senator Stevens’ betrayal of his constituents is unfortunate, but as a conservative coalition we cannot let it result in the election of another liberal democrat to Congress. Bob Bird is a conservative, and he will caucus with Republicans at a time America can’t afford to let Harry Reid get a 60-person majority in the Senate. Bob will join your movement to bring Constitutional conservatism, transparency, and simple Alaskan common sense to Washington.

Please, when asked by the next “gotcha” reporter who thinks they can stump you with a question about who you will support in the race for U.S. Senate in Alaska, simply respond, “Bob Bird, a fellow conservative and Washington outsider who I know will bring honor and integrity back to that seat in the U.S. Senate.”

Good luck, God bless you, and may God bless the America people in this most crucial of times.

Sincerely,

Lynette Clark, Chairman
Alaskan Independence Party

And Lynette Clark, Bob Bird and the secessionists aren't the only ones who acknowledge that they need Sarah Palin. No, I'm not talking about the late night comedy hosts. John McCain explains he he needs Palin too:



Palin says she plans to take over the GOP after McCain is defeated Tuesday. McCain staffers are "speechless."

What Would A Maverick Buy For $150,000 In Donations?

Last night while Letterman was treating Sarah Palin as though she is some kind of bozo instead of the candidate for the vice presidency (of the United States... of America), our pals at BraveNewFilms were rescuing the good name of a fine American family, the Mavericks.

Top Ten Sarah Palin Excuses For Spending $150,000 On Clothes

10."Need to look good for the Russians who can see me in Alaska"
9."The old man spends more on Polident"
8."Auditioning to be Paris Hilton's BFF"
7."Wanted to impress the American voters in the evening gown competition"
6."Maverick, Joe the plumber, maverick, maverick, William Ayers, you betcha!"
5."I fell for the liberal retailers' 'gotcha sales tactics'"
4."Because the dollar is so weak, it's really like I only spent $50,000"
3."Hmm...excuses? I'll find some and I'll get right back to ya!"
2."In addition to every newspaper and magazine, I also read every catalog"
1."The difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull: lipstick, Prada shoes, a Gucci handbag, and a few $3,000 suits"

Top Ten Extras

11."Relax, I dealt with it by firing the entire Wasilla police force"
12."Oh like you've never dropped a hundred G's in Neiman Marcus"
13."Buying sensible, reasonably priced clothes didn't seem very mavericky"
14."I'll pass a law against such outrageous spending once I'm in charge of the Senate"
15."Come on, it's not like we're going through a recession or anything"

Meanwhile,according to today's NY Times "prominent conservatives" take her seriously. They claim they're looking for a leader, but what they mean, of course, is they want their own puppet who is a convincing mime for their crazed ideas and are salivating because Palin draws many time more mindless zombies to her rallies than McCain or any other dull GOP empty suits do. One of the most odious of the far right lunatics, Brent Bozell "called it a 'top order of business' to determine Ms. Palin’s future role. 'Conservatives have been looking for leadership, and she has proven that she can electrify the grass roots like few people have in the last 20 years,' Mr. Bozell said. 'No matter what she decides to do, there will be a small mother lode of financial support behind her.'”

The Daily Blue America Report-- #5

If you want a government crippled by the obstructionism of ideological extremists, you'll be happy to know that with their dying breath the collapsing Republican Party has just borrowed $5 million-- not quite enough for a new plane for the McCains but more than the cost of a couple pair of Cindy's earrings-- to try to save some of the incumbent senators on the verge of being turned out by their constituents. The GOP has given up entirely on the open red seats in Virginia, New Mexico and Colorado but they're still hoping to salvage their ability to block Obama's program by re-electing reactionaries in some combination of North Carolina, Oregon, Minnesota, Kentucky, Alaska, Georgia, Texas, Oklahoma, Maine, etc. Thwart them here. Our friends and allies at People For the American Way are running a series of ads to try to counter the GOP effort. Here's one they did that puts the lie to Susan Collins' deceptive image of her as an "independent" and "moderate."



I've been complaining how the DCCC is spending the vast bulk of the contributions they get on reactionary candidates from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party-- even anti-choice fanatics-- but I was heartened to hear that they're distributing some small amount of help to more progressives this week. Mind you, not the huge million dollar TV campaigns for the Rahm Emanuel Caucus slimebags, but we saw they had gone up with a couple of TV spots against Mean Jean Schmidt in OH-02 and that they're going to finally donate some much-needed cash to Annette Taddeo in Miami-Dade and they're running this negative ad against Ric Keller in Orlando.

Last night we saw how the Austin Statesman was encouraged that Mike "Low-Hanging Fruit" McCaul could lose his seat next week. Today the drumbeat in Texas got louder as a panic-stricken McCaul sent an SOS out to all his wealthy supporters asking them to do some door-knocking. That would be a funny sight to see!

Republican rubber stamps like Susan Collins, Gordon Smith, Chris Shays can put one over on constituents who don't pay close enough attention and make the case-- much the way McCain does-- that they haven't followed Bush entirely. But if it's untrue for Collins, Smith and Shays, it's the lie-of-the-year for Michael McCaul, one of the half dozen members of Congress with the greatest percentage of ironclad Bush votes. An apt illustration in the dictionary for the term "rubber stamp," would be a photo of Michael McCaul. And today's Houston Chronicle reports that he sat before a roomful of Chronicle editors with a straight face claiming to be "an independent congressman." It was a startling assertion.

"I've been an independent voice up there, and that's important to me," said McCaul, explaining that he voted against President Bush by opposing the finance industry rescue plan and an attempt to cut Medicare payment rates to doctors and hospitals.

Doherty retorted: "Michael may cast himself as an independent voice, but the record shows he has voted 94 percent of the time with the Republican agenda. That is not representation, it is misrepresentation."

Further, McCaul did not respond to Doherty's charge that the congressman voted to cut Medicare reimbursements, then switched his vote when he saw it would make no difference to the outcome of the legislation.

It was the only face-to-face encounter McCaul has agreed to, knowing full well that he's no match for Larry Joe Dohert in any kind of public debate. He claims "scheduling conflicts" when called on his unwillingness to participate in one of the most fundamental aspects of democracy, a free an open public debate on the issues. Of course, when you look at McCaul's appalling and indefensible voting record of those issues, it is easy to see why he doesn't want to defend it and just spends his father-in-law's fortune on negative ads.

McCaul told the editorial writers he opposed the Democratic version of a bill to expand the Children's Health Insurance Program because, he said, it would have expanded such benefits to adults and illegal immigrants.

Doherty said citizens of the district already pay indirectly for emergency care for illegal immigrants-- services funded largely through local property taxes. Health costs, he said, are high partly because profit drives decisions made by medical insurance companies. He said the solution is a "single payer," government-sponsored healthcare system.

McCaul said nations that use such a system must ration health care and make patients wait for services. Doherty said many of those countries rank significantly higher than the United States in life expectancy rates and do better in preventing infant deaths.

The candidates' disagreements also applied to the rate of the federal tax on investment income.

McCaul said lowering the capital gains tax would free up money that can be invested in ways that would help restore the U.S. economy.

"What we should do is what worked very well under Presidents Kennedy and Reagan," he said. "What better way to unleash that capital than to reduce the capital gains tax rate?"

Doherty countered that cutting taxes on investment income "is a cynical suggestion for the wealthy to get wealthier."

After their only scheduled meeting of the campaign, Doherty told McCaul he hoped they'd cross paths again before the Nov. 4 election. McCaul said he hoped they could get together when the election's over.

Apparently McCain has made Palin change her "mind" and she too is now demanding that convicted Republican felon Ted Stevens resign from the office he disgraced. If he resigns, she gets to appoint his replacement-- at least until January, when Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich is likely to become senator. Stevens claims he's innocent and that he will win re-election and win his appeal. There are dark rumors swirling that he has the goods on Palin and if she opens her yap again about him resigning, he knows how to get them to the press. Let's hope!

McClatchy reported today that in the aftermath of Robin Hayes hate-filled attack on liberals, his polling numbers have tanked and that he now trails Blue America-endorsed Larry Kissel, 51-46%. Gee, I guess we can just call the nearly three thousand Blue America ads running on Charlotte and Raleigh cable and then all the broadcast spots on ABC-TV's NASCAR show will just be some extra insurance. An internal Republican memo terms Hayes as "likely gone."

This morning we started the day with the cheery news that NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg had given Dennis Shulman a hearty, rousing endorsement for the congressional seat in northern New Jersey currently in the hands of right-wing extremist Scott Garrett. So let's end the day with more good news from New Jersey: Democracy For America just endorsed Dennis as well and their executive director announced a huge door-to-door get out the vote effort on Dennis' behalf.

I'm not a lawyer, but when Willard Romney says Miss Mitch McConnell's opponent "will be a reliable vote for the Democrats," is that legally binding?

"[Miss Mitch's] opponent was handpicked by Chuck Schumer and will be a reliable vote for the Democrats. And as we face the very real possibility of an Obama presidency, that's the last thing we need."

-- Willard Romney, in an e-plea for moolah to help reelect
the despicable Senate minority leader

by Ken

This morning, when I found (mercifully failed) presidential contender Willard Romney lurking in my e-mailbox as the sender of an e-mail with the subject heading "A Real Leader," it was only the most morbid curiosity that led me to open the damned thing. Admit it, this is a real poser: Who on earth could Willard be touting as "A Real Leader"?

The only person I could think of was Willard's erstwhile presidential rival Young Johnny McCranky. But no, even Willard doesn't seem prepared to stoop to passing the Crankyman off as any kind of a leader, least of all a "real" one. At least not when there's no imaginable payoff for him. (I'm assuming that Willard has now refocused his eyes on the 2012 nomination. Shudder.)

No, our Willard's idea of "a real leader" turns out to be (shudder again) the shame of Kentucky, Senate Minority Leader Miss Mitch "I'm Scamming As Fast As I Can" McConnell.

At this point I have to backtrack a bit. With the utterly unlamented General Pinochet suddenly back in the news, in connection with the frolics, back in the day, of the Younger Johnny McCranky with Chile's then-strongman of (are we really supposed to be surprised?), a friend asked the other day if I hadn't seen the TV movie about Pinochet and Margaret Thatcher.

Now I didn't know there had been a TV movie about this terrifying twosome. But even if I had, I can't imagine watching it. As I tried to explain to my friend, I can't imagine choosing to spend time in the company of that pair.

The prospect of thinking about Willard and Miss Mitch fills me with much the same enthusiasm. Nevertheless, I glanced at Willard's appeal, and was intrigued to find the paragraph I've put at the top of this post. Here it is again, with the paragraph that precedes it:

Mitch McConnell is the highest-ranking Republican in the Senate, a place where it's hard to get things done. His friends and foes alike both acknowledge his effectiveness in delivering for his constituents and crafting commonsense legislation that benefits all Americans.

His opponent was handpicked by Chuck Schumer and will be a reliable vote for the Democrats. And as we face the very real possibility of an Obama presidency, that's the last thing we need. [boldface in the original]

I think Willard is mistaken about what the "foes" of Miss Mitch "acknowledge."

Take me, for example. I'm proud to call myself a "foe" of Miss Mitch. And I understand him to be

* a vile human being,

*a crook and more seriously a die-hard champion of Republicrookery,

* and an ideological neanderthal who apparently believes that the function of government is to shovel money into the pockets of the kind of people who consider it a mitzvah to give him money to help enable their money-shoveling.

In his inaugural session as Senate minority leader, he padded this resume with his delighted discovery -- in much the manner of your average demented delinquent adolescent -- that the rules of the Senate could be stretched to enable him and his fellow storm troopers of the Far Right to shut down its business. (By all means credit Majority Leader Harry Reid and his brain trust with an assist, but it's still Miss Mitch and his team who did the dirty work.)

It's for all these reasons, and oh so many more, that with Miss Mitch's hold on his seat appearing surprisingly uncertain as the 2008 election season approached, a lot of us looked forward to a serious reelection challenge. However, thanks to the revolting combination of the power of Big Money and the craven Master Rahm-style machinations of DSCC tsar Chuck Schumer, Kentuckians wound up with a Democratic candidate, Bruce Lunsford, who's only slightly less revolting than revolting than the incumbent.

'IS MITCH McCONNELL THE WORST SENATOR UP FOR REELECTION?'

Here was Howie's take in his above-titled August 12 post:

"It's unfortunate that McConnell's opponent, reactionary corporate Democrat Bruce Lunsford is the worst Democrat running for the Senate this year and can pretty much go toe to toe with McConnell when it comes to corruption. There's nothing that would ever make me vote for either one of these characters. I hope they both lose." [emphasis added]

Now it appears that with the rising Democratic tide, despite a predictably lame campaign, Lunsford may have a serious shot at ousting the unspeakable Mitch. And I guess this would be a good thing. Still, let's not kid ourselves that having Lunsford on his side will embolden Majority Leader Reid to steer the Senate in a bolder or more enlightened mode.

Or will it?

Now we have Willard declaring that Lunsford as a senator "will be a reliable vote for the Democrats"!

Now I'm not a lawyer, but even I know that when candidate Lunsford claims to be a Democrat, that doesn't tell us anything about how he'll vote. Why, even Holy Joe Lieberman still claims -- sometimes, anyway -- to be a Democrat.

But when Willard promises that the bum "will be a reliable vote for the Democrats," isn't that, like, legally binding? Even if the structure of the sentence doesn't commit him to more than being a Democrats like Chuck Schumer, that would still separate him from name-only Democrats like the Nelson twins or Mary Landrieu, wouldn't it?


POSTSCRIPT: GIVING, WILLARD-STYLE

One note about the above-referenced e-appeal from Willard Romney on behalf of his bosom buddy Mitch McConnell. Okay, two notes, and that will be absolutely it.

(1) In his appeal, Willard writes: "Please take just a few minutes today to visit Mitch's website and make a donation of at least $25.

Um, uh, Mr. Willard, sir, do I really have to give at least $25? Isn't it customary to ask me to give, like, as much as I can afford -- with maybe a suggestion that $25 would be a helpful amount? But to order me to "make a donation of at least $25"? Isn't that, you know, just a teensy bit pushy?

(2) The graphic accompanying Willard's appeal is reproduced at the top of this post exactly as it appears in the e-appeal. And it's the only graphic element in the bloody thing. Is it just me, or is there a not-so-subliminal message here, a message that sort of doesn't include poor Mitch?

At the very least, I think this gives us a fairly accurate read of who is really on our Willard's mind.

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The GOP Has A Future... Kind Of

McCain may be the titular head of what's left of the Republican Party after the tsunami of '08 wipes them out a week from today but Republican strategists planning for the future aren't factoring him in at all. Delusional wingnuts may be in for a surprise next week but polling shows that-- short of this kind of widespread Republican voter fraud in Virginia, where the GOP may have given up on McCain and Gilmore but is desperate to save right-wing extremists Thelma Drake and Virgil Goode from surging Glenn Nye and Tom Perriello campaigns, in Ohio, and in Florida, where Republican operative know McCain is going down but where they hope they can save at least one of the 3 crooked reactionary Republicans, the notorious Diaz-Balarts and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, from long overdue political extinction-- McCain's goose is cooked and the situation is getting worse by the day. The goal of McCain's demoralized campaign loyalists (so not treacherous Mormon backstabbers) now is to get out of the 30s and into the 40s.

As a party, the Republican Establishment has written McCain off even before the votes are counted. Their interest in him as part of their future is reflected by his absence from their official website.

So who will pick up the ruins and try to rebuild-- in Congress and at the grassroots level? Yesterday we talked about a poll of far right bloggers that seems to accurately reflect not much-- other than the (extraordinarily narrow) mindset of the Republican base. Giving up on the useless battle to drum up a few extra points to burnish McCain's legacy, serious Republicans are looking past his defeat for who will control the levers of power within the crippled party machinery. It will be a war to the death between the corporate shills (the Greed and Selfishness wing) and the religionists (the Hatred and Bigotry wing), the latter vowing that anyone who thinks the GOP has been extreme so far-- and that would be around 75% of Americans-- ain't seen nothin' yet.

In skirmishes around the country in recent months, evangelicals and others who believe Republicans have been too timid in fighting abortion, gay marriage and illegal immigration have won election to the party's national committee, in preparation for a fight over the direction and leadership of the party.

The growing power of religious conservatives is alarming some moderate Republicans who believe that the party's main problem is that it has narrowed its appeal and alienated too many voters. They cite the aggressive tone of the McCain campaign in challenging Barack Obama, who has close to universal support from African American voters; as well as the push by many Republican leaders to clamp down on illegal immigration using rhetoric that has driven away Latinos.

...A focal point of the GOP fight is the selection of the next chairman of the Republican National Committee -- the party's power center for fundraising and strategic thinking. With various factions already trying to build support for their favored candidates, some conservatives are warning that McCain cannot serve as the party's spiritual guide even if he becomes president. The Arizona senator, after all, has a history of breaking with the party's mainstream on such issues as immigration and campaign financing.

"Committee members want to see our party move forward and be part of a branding process, as opposed to just simply supporting and putting a rubber stamp on the policies of a sitting president," said Robin Smith, chairwoman of the Tennessee state GOP and a supporter of turning the party to the right.

Conservative champion Rush Limbaugh, who often provides the rallying cry to the party's most ardent supporters via his radio program, last week laid out a similar warning, suggesting that a McCain win would do little to deter conservatives from pushing for major changes.

And the really psychotic right-wingers-- the ones who would be Gauleiters, Ortsgruppenleiters and Blockleiters if it was legal-- are already plotting to remodel the GOP around Sarah Palin. "If John McCain loses next week, Sarah Palin 'has absolutely earned a right to run in 2012,' says Greg Mueller, who was a senior aide in the presidential campaigns of Pat Buchanan and Steve Forbes. Mueller says Palin has given conservatives 'hope' and 'something to believe in.'" Yes, absolutely.

The Republican Culture Of Corruption Is Back

Well... it never went away and it is certainly not confined to Republicans. It's the all pervasive, never-ending stench of Washington and the political class and the type of characters drawn to politics-- be it a Tom DeLay or a Rahm Emanuel. But to the general public, that Culture of Corruption has been an albatross around Republican necks, not Democratic necks and the conviction of the most senior Republican in the Senate, Ted Stevens, brings the whole ugly mess-- the Duke Cunninghams, the Tom Delays, the Bob Neys, the Jack Abramoffs, Jerry Lewis, Conrad Burns, Tom Feeney, Virgil Goode, Katherine Harris, John Doolittle, Dirty Dick Pombo, Denny Hastert, Gary Miller, Charlie Taylor, even Mark Foley (a different kind of corruption)-- back into play. Oh... and Don Young.

So while John McCain and the Republican Party are struggling to hold on in "sure-thing," "in-the-bag" red states like North Carolina, Virginia and, now, Montana, far off Alaska eases into the national focus. It isn't a story the Republican Party wants anyone looking at.

Alaska's senior GOP politicians, Ted Stevens and Don Young, are-- Inside the Beltway world-- prominent national figures, although each has long been a personification of pork, earmarks and corruption. Alaska's primary airport is currently named for Ted Stevens but the Bridge to Nowhere is what pops into most minds when either his or Young's name is brought up. But the two of them-- albeit on top of a systemic pyramid of corruption-- are just the garbage in plain sight. The entire, all-powerful Republican political establishment in Alaska is rotten to the core. Dozens of elected officials are either rotting in prison, awaiting sentencing or trial or under investigation. "Bipartisan" in Alaska refers to the few Democrats who were invited into the GOP schemes to enrich the political class. And then there's the reformer, maverick governor-- naive, religion-obsessed small town mayor Sarah Palin who liked the idea of "cleaning things up, although appears to have had substituting her own regime of small town corruption and nepotism for the Big Oil brand that had turned Alaska into one of the country's ethics cesspools.

Yesterday a spokesman for the Alaska Republican Party, McHugh Pierre urged Republicans to "continue to support Sen. Stevens. We need to vote for him because a vote for him is a vote for a conservative candidate, a Republican who best represents the interests and beliefs of Alaskans. ... We don't know what happens in the future. But if you don't want Mark Begich, you vote for Ted Stevens." The entire Republican political establishment, rotten to the core, is standing behind Stevens:

Senator Lisa Murkowski, herself in ethical hot water and the daughter of one of the few politicians in contemporary history considered as corrupt as Stevens himself: "Ted Stevens is an honorable, hardworking Alaskan who has served our state well for as long as we have been a state....Ted has asked for Alaskans and his Senate colleagues to stand with him as he pursues his legal rights. He stood with Alaskans for 40 years, and I plan to continue to stand with him."

Rep. Don Young, Stevens' longtime partner in crime, likely to lose his seat a week from today and likelier still to soon face trial, conviction and prison himself: "I'm deeply disappointed. It surprises me. I don't think he had a jury of his peers. That's the way it goes. I'm sure there will be an appeal. If you watched the conduct of the court with the one juror leaving and going out and, of course, the actions of the prosecutors themselves, there definitely will be an appeal, and it will go for a long period of time."

McCain's campaign wrote a cagier and slicker response for Palin to mouth:

"This is a sad day for Alaska and for Sen. Stevens and his family. The verdict shines a light on the corrupting influence of the big oil service company that was allowed to control too much of our state. ... As governor of the state of Alaska, I will carefully monitor this situation and take any appropriate action as needed. In the meantime, I ask the people of Alaska to join me in respecting the workings of our judicial system. I'm confident Sen. Stevens will do what's right for the people of Alaska."

But although her "monitoring" may remind people of Bush's inability to take any remedial actions whatsoever, leading to his cataclysmic popularity crash, it is what the McCain wordsmiths left out of Palin's statement that is most glaring. Not a word from the maverick, religious reformer about the fact that a convicted felon is up for re-election in 7 days. She doesn't give a speech ever in which she doesn't invoke maverickness and her and her runningmate's "well known" battles against "our own party." That's an empty charade and her response to Stevens conviction just proves it was just another in a series of gimmicks that defines the tragic presidential campaign of John W. McCain.

Personally McCain and Stevens have long loathed each other and this morning McCain tried to further distance his sinking campaign from Stevens' corruption scandal.

"Yesterday, Senator Ted Stevens was found guilty of corruption. It is a sign of the health of our democracy that the people continue to hold their representatives to account for improper or illegal conduct, but this verdict is also a sign of the corruption and insider-dealing that has become so pervasive in our nation's capital.

"It is clear that Senator Stevens has broken his trust with the people and that he should now step down. I hope that my colleagues in the Senate will be spurred by these events to redouble their efforts to end this kind of corruption once and for all."

McCain staffers have taken to referring to Palin as a whack job but it isn't the lunacy and bizarre political extremism that are likely to damage the ticket most in the next seven days. It's her ties to the aforementioned Culture of Corruption.

This Ted Stevens fiasco is baggage of the McCain camp's own choosing. Before they added Sarah Palin to the ticket, Alaska was anything but Main Street America. Under the old rules, Steven's corruption scandal could well have blown over as a parochial scandal of the great, oily North.

But since picking Palin, McCain & Co. have staked out Alaska as the living, beating heart of American authenticity. And so, today, Ted Steven's felonious betrayal of the public trust is going to allow Democrats to campaign like it's 2006-- against the Republican "culture of corruption" that proved so electorally toxic to the GOP two years ago.

Let's remember that the McCain camp knew in late July that Stevens was under indictment and demanding a speedy trial that would put Alaska's frontier ethics front-and-center in the days before the election.

And yet, thanks to a vetting free Veepstakes, in August the campaign chose Palin, who not only owes her governorship to Stevens' throaty endorsement, but as recently as 2005 served as the director of "Ted
Stevens Excellence in Public Service" 527 group.

...So here's my question: If Sarah Palin was such an all-American maverick, what was she doing palling around with a suspected felon like Ted Stevens?

It may be a lot of people's question.

The Circular Firing Squad Begins Blasting Away... NRSC Blames McCain For Their Disaster

Will the GOP Senate leadership take responsibility-- or just blame McCain and Bush? One guess

Well, I guess John Ensign (R-NV) would be looking for a likely scapegoat to blame for what he knows is coming a week from today. After all, the arch-reactionary Nevada Republican is the chairman of the NRSC and it's his job to make sure all the Republican Senate incumbents get re-elected, make sure the retiring Republicans are replaced with new Republicans, and then see if he can pick up some Democratic seats. He's failing-- miserably-- on all three charges. Earlier today he was looking to shift some blame onto Ted Stevens' corruption-- calling the twilight of the Senate's longest serving Republican's career a "disgrace"-- but by late afternoon he went public with something he's been grousing about for months: the disaster of being saddled with McCain.

He said aloud what Republicans were loathe to even whisper 'til now, that the Democrats could win a filibuster-proof majority. Even if you count Lieberman as a Democrat [and on substantive matters in this session he's voted with the Democrats 69% of the time-- more than red state nominal Democrats from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party like Mark Pryor (AR), Evan Bayh (IN), Mary Landrieu (LA), Ben Nelson (NE) and Tim Johnson (SD)] the Democrats would need to hold all their own seats-- looks like that's no problem whatsoever-- and pick up 10 Republican seats; much harder.

There are two sure things: the open red seats in Virginia and New Mexico are going to conservative business-oriented Democrat Mark Warner and progressive, working family Democrat Tom Udall, respectively. Two moderate Democrats, Jeanne Shaheen (NH) and Mark Udall (CO) look like their races are pretty much wrapped up and are just waiting for the bows on Tuesday. Conservative Kay Hagan (NC) and refreshingly progressive Jeff Merkley (OR) also look like they're about to cross the home stretch with bug smiles on their faces. That's 6. Polls show Al Franken ahead of pathetic Bush rubber stamp Norm Coleman in Minnesota but it's a 3-way race so you never know what's going to happen and Mark Begich looks good to beat convicted GOP felon Ted Stevens up in Alaska. OK, that's 8. Democrats still need 2 (and then they'll still have a Lieberman problem, not to mention members like Johnson, Nelson, Bayh, et al. who are just as likely to vote with Republicans as they are to vote with Democrats. The most current polling predicts 3 shots-- without Divine intervention-- for Democrats: 2 very right-wing Democrats who are unlikely to be of any use whatsoever on progressive governance-- Ronnie Mussgrove of Mississippi and, worse, Bruce Lunsford of Kentucky-- plus a decent moderate in Georgia, Jim Martin. Beyond that there would have to be major turnarounds in Nebraska, Texas, Maine and Oklahoma, four really good candidates in four very red states. None are in the hopeless category, like Tennessee, the two Wyoming races or Alabama, but all are-- as we've been saying all year-- really tough.

OK, back to Ensign, who's about to preside over the loss of between 6 and 10 seats. "There's no question the top of the ticket is affecting our Senate races and it’s making it a lot more difficult,” Ensign said on MSNBC. “It’s a fairly toxic atmosphere out there with the financial crisis for Republicans.” He hopes the Lieberman will join the Republican caucus and calls him a "wild card."

Ensign is especially worried after looking at the record of McCain's coattails in special elections since he's become the nominee. In three consecutive races to replace retiring Republicans in red districts of Illinois, Louisiana and Mississippi, McCain failed dismally, losing all three seats. Several Republican Senators have denounced McCain's viciously negative campaign tactics and even called on him to try running a more decent and honest campaign. Likely Oregon loser Gordon Smith resigned as McCain's state campaign chair, started running TV ads that made it look like he was on the Obama team and has done everything to distance himself from McCain short of comparing him and Palin to Adolph Hitler and Eva Braun. Very few Senate incumbents have asked McCain to campaign with them and even a crackpot extremist like James Inhofe has tried to distance himself from the stink of political death that is the McCain campaign.

Meanwhile McCain staffers are blaming their candidate's likely loss of solidly red states like Virginia and North Carolina on weak Republican candidates, respectively ex-governor James Gilmore and incumbent Senator Liddy Dole, who was trashed by McCain staffers last week as "road kill" and "hopeless." If I wanted to direct last minute money to Democrats where it could do some good, I would stick with probable winners Jeff Merkley and Mark Begich and long-shot hopefuls Andrew Rice, Rick Noriega and Tom Allen-- all right here. Anyone who donates to all 5 today will get a Blue America gift in return as a thank you. Watch the kind of negative and vicious smear campaign that Inhofe is running against Andrew Rice in Oklahoma, distracting people there from the real issues:

Michael Bloomberg Endorses Dennis Shulman (D-NJ)

On Sunday the NY Times endorsed Dennis Shulman in his feisty congressional race against New Jersey's ultra-corrupt ultra-extremist Scott Garrett, one Republican who has worked hand in glove with all the authors of the Wall Street meltdown and the mortgage crisis-- and profited handsomely. On a scale of odiousness, Michele Bachmann, Mean Jean Schmidt, Patrick McHenry, James Inhofe, Marilyn Musgrave and Steve King have nothing on Garrett. Even the campaign manager of right-wing fringe Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) insists that Garrett is "a nut."

In the Times' congressional endorsements they usually had something postive to say about their endorsee's opponent. In the NJ-07 race: "In the race for the open seat in this central state region, Republican Leonard Lance and Democrat Linda Stender are both excellent candidates." In CT-04 they called Jim Himes "an attractive candidate" while giving the nod to Chris Shays and in CT-05 they mentioned that David Cappiello has "a reputation for independence," while endorsing Chris Murphy for the seat. But in NJ-05 all they could say about Garrett, while urging Bergen County voters to dump him, is that he's "one of the most conservative members of Congress" who "supports constitutional amendments to ban abortion, even in cases of rape and incest" and that he "backs President Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy and limited aid for the poor."

What they don't mention is how he has been running the single most disgusting campaign of anyone in Congress, using the hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes he's sucked up from Wall Street to run vicious TV spots trying to mislead voters into thinking Dennis, a blind rabbi, is an anti-Israel terrorist. Scott Garrett almost makes Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann seem moderate.

But this kind of filth and slander isn't something that slipped by New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg unnoticed. Bloomberg, a Republican-turned-independent this morning will join New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine and New York Governor David Paterson in endorsing Dennis for the congressional seat.

Garrett's garbage advertising campaign has prompted some of Israel's strongest supporters in Congress-- Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Brian Baird (D-WA), Charlie Rangel (D-NY), Steve Israel (D-MY). James Langevin (D-RI), Ron Klein (D-FL) and Tim Bishop (D-NY) to join New Jersey's pro-Israel contingent, Rush Holt, Albio Sires, Steve Rothman, Rob Andrews, Donald Pryce, Bill Pascrell, Frank Pallone and Senators Bob Menendez and Frank Lautenberg in urging northern New Jersey voters to back Shulman over Garrett. It has also prompted Al Doblin editor of the biggest newspaper in the district to give Garrett a healthy dose of his own medicine:

"The Congressman does not hate poor people. But he cares for his ideology more." I wrote that about Rep. Scott Garrett, R-Wantage, in an Oct. 19, 2007, column. I was referring to a vote Garrett made to uphold President Bush's veto on the State Children's Health Insurance Program.

I had it wrong. Garrett cares more about being reelected than his ideology or poor people. In a nasty campaign season, Garrett hasn't just crossed a line; he climbed in a tank and rolled over most levels of decency.

Last week, Garrett mailed a campaign piece tying his Democratic challenger, Dennis Shulman, to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Shulman is a rabbi. To suggest that a rabbi is going to walk hand in hand with someone who would advocate for the destruction of Israel is shameless and despicable. It's also desperate.

...Sowing hatred has consequences. These are dangerous times. People are losing their homes, their jobs and their savings. This is exactly when desperate people look for an easy answer for their anguish, an easy target for their problems.

There are no easy answers. Voting "no" in Congress doesn't help people who are facing eviction. Garrett wants to stand on principle while many Americans are standing out in the cold. They need food, shelter and security. They do not require a plateful of hate.

The 5th District was drawn to elect a Republican. That may not change until the district is redrawn after the 2010 Census. Garrett is facing a serious challenger in 2008 because many voters want change. Even a safe Republican district is no longer safe.

In a Garrett commercial I watched on the Internet, the congressman claims Shulman is too extreme for New Jersey, showing images of Ahmadinejad and Shulman simultaneously. Garrett asks, "What do voters know about Dennis Shulman?"

Maybe not enough.

But based on this hate campaign, voters also should ask what they know about Scott Garrett.

Maybe too much.

Garrett has already spent well over a million dollars in his smear campaign and has another $400,000 to go. Dennis has $125,000 for the rest of the campaign-- in the country's most expensive media market. It isn't too late to give Dennis a hand, not because Michael Bloomberg is but because he'll bring real wisdom to the halls of Congress, something that has been much missed-- and something that has nothing whatsoever to do with a well-dressed thug and smooth criminal like Scott Garrett. Watch today's PBS feature on the race:




UPDATE

Mayor Bloomberg: "I'm endorsing Dennis Shulman because I'm impressed by his pragmatic, sensible approach to the tough issues, including how we strengthen the economy and how we keep illegal guns out of the hands of criminals," said Mayor Bloomberg. "We need more leaders in Congress willing to reach across the aisle and focus on problem solving, not ideology. He's been a strong voice for change at a time when we badly need it. He's not afraid of shaking up Washington, and I urge voters in his district to give him the chance to do exactly that by voting for him on Election Day.

"Dennis happens to live in New Jersey, but in our federal government every congressman gets the same vote.

"On too many things, ideology has gotten in the way. [Dennis Shulman is] somebody who understands that we have to do something about these issue, walk away from ideology and focus on results. The reason to vote for Shulman is that he's right on the issues.... I don't agree with him on everything but he has stood up, analyzed the issues, and said 'I'm not going to let partisan politics get in the way. I'm not going to let single-issue advocacy groups cow me and beat me down or bribe me. I'm going to go out and do what's right.'"

Monday Night Endorsement Update

McCain is getting wiped out when it comes to newspaper endorsements-- and that includes at three dozen that endorsed Bush in 2004 and have come over to Obama this year.

Obama's lopsided margin, including most of the major papers that have decided so far, is in stark contrast to John Kerry barely edging George W. Bush in endorsements in 2004 by 213 to 205.

If you'd like a great laugh, you should take a look at the poll of far right-wing Republican bloggers. Are they trying to fool someone or are they really all this stupid and allergic to reality? There were exactly 76 trombones in this sad funeral cortege and most of them claim they believe McCain will win the election next week. 91% think Palin has been a plus for the campaign and 67% think the Republican Party got its ass kicked in 2006 and appears to be in for an even worse drubbing this week because... the GOP isn't conservative enough! And if you've ever wondered where all the crazy hatred comes from... well it's not all Limbaugh and Coulter and Hannity and O'Reilly. The right-wing bloggers are pretty off the cliff as well. 89% claim Obama is dishonest; 76% say he's not patriotic and 88% say he's not qualified to be president. Only 8% say they're not Sarah Palin fans.

In recent days we've been reading about many high profile Republicans endorsing Obama. Many are sickened by McCain's viciously divisive and negative campaign and by the extremism of his supporters. Others are disillusioned by his selection of Sarah Palin as a running mate. We've all read about Colin Powell, Lincoln Chafee, Jim Leach (R-IA), William Weld, former Alabama Congressman John Buchanan, Chris Buckley, former Michigan Governor William Milliken, Arne Carlson, former L.A. Mayor Richard Riordan, Wick Allison, Rep Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD), Larry Pressler (R-SD), and even freaks like arch-Neocon Ken Adelman and GOP child molester Mark Foley. But all over the country there are lesser known Republicans backing Obama against McCain.

The GOP candidate for Congress in Portland, Oregon, Joel Haugen has gone a step beyond Republican Senator Gordon Smith and actually endorsed Obama. "I am sure," he writes, "that we need to choose a President who exemplifies the 21st Century and is not just an echo of the Cold War mentality. I personally admire John McCain, but I simply cannot see him inspiring the nation and our world economic partners to work together and solve our very daunting problems. My Obama support-decision matrix includes the characteristics of Judgment, Temperament, Charisma, Intellect, Adaptability, Virtue, Vision, Traditional Republican Values, and dedication to 'Main Street.'  Barack Obama is without question the superior choice for me."

One Republican who still hasn't come out for Obama-- and probably won't-- is one of the most respected colleagues of John McCain's in the Senate-- and the real war hero that McCain alsways tried so hard to paint himself, Chuck Hagel of Nebraska. Hagel's wife has donated to the Obama campaign and Hagel has pointedly refused to endorse his old pal McCain. This week's New Yorker published a Connie Bruck feature.

It isn't only Hagel's genuine heroism in battle that McCain has tried to claim as his own, it is also, even more overtly, the fact that it has been Hagel, never McCain, who was the Republican who opposed Bush's toxic Iraq agenda.

McCain no doubt understood how difficult it would be for Hagel to endorse him, yet their differences were what would make the endorsement so valuable. From 2004 on, McCain, in his desire to win the nomination, had embraced Bush’s policies ever more zealously, while Hagel had become the Administration’s most severe Republican critic. Although he has frequently voted with his party on domestic policy, his views on foreign policy represent a bold departure from those of the Administration, and his willingness to take Bush to task publicly has alienated many Republicans. In some ways, Hagel is far more of a maverick than McCain has ever been, and his endorsement would likely sway independents whose votes McCain probably needs in order to win.

...In mid-July, Hagel and his friend Senator Jack Reed, a Democrat from Rhode Island, accompanied Obama on a trip to Afghanistan and Iraq. Describing Baghdad to me after he returned, Hagel said, “You can’t walk around-- you’ve got flak jackets, helmets on all the time, no matter where you are. It’s always struck me it’s almost like a Fellini movie, kind of unreal. The American people are told things are stable and secure and violence is down. No American would walk outside there without a convoy!”

Hagel’s unwillingness to endorse McCain is generally perceived to be a result of their ongoing disagreements over the Iraq war. But he told me that the gulf between them is much deeper: “In good conscience, I could not enthusiastically-- honestly-- go out and endorse him and support him when we so fundamentally disagree on the future course of our foreign policy and our role in the world.”

...Hagel said, he’s been “very disappointed” by McCain’s campaign. “He gave one unifying speech and then has spent fifty million dollars to destroy his opponent.” Hagel may be the only senior Republican elected official who has publicly criticized McCain’s choice of Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. “I don’t believe she’s qualified to be President of the United States,” Hagel told me. “The first judgment a potential President makes is who their running mate is—and I don’t think John made a very good selection.” He scoffed at McCain’s attempts to portray her as an experienced politician. “To try to make the excuse that she looks out her window and sees Russia—and that she’s commander of the Alaska National Guard.” He added, “There is no question that this candidate is arguably the thinnest-résumé candidate for Vice-President in the history of America.” Hagel’s criticisms have prompted protests from Republicans, including Senator Orrin Hatch, of Utah, who said in an e-mail statement to me, “Senator Hagel knows that decades of foreign-policy experience in the Senate did not stop countless Democrats and some Republicans from declaring the surge a failure before it started and recommending instead a disastrous policy of withdrawal and retreat in Iraq.”

For Hagel, almost as disturbing as Palin’s lack of experience is her willingness--in disparaging remarks about Joe Biden’s long Senate career, for example-- to belittle the notion that experience is important. “There’s no question, she knows her market,” Hagel said. “She knows her audience, and she’s going right after them. And I’ll tell you why that’s dangerous. It’s dangerous because you don’t want to define down the standards in any institution, ever, in life. You want to always strive to define standards up. If you start defining standards down—‘Well, I don’t have a big education, I don’t have experience’—yes, there’s a point to be made that not all the smartest people come out of Yale or Harvard. But to intentionally define down in some kind of wild populism, that those things don’t count in a complicated, dangerous world—that’s dangerous in itself.

“There was a political party in this country called the Know-Nothings,” he continued. “And we’re getting on the fringe of that, with these one-issue voters—pro-choice or pro-life. Important issue, I know that. But, my goodness. The world is blowing up everywhere, and I just don’t think that is a responsible way to see the world, on that one issue. And, interestingly enough, that is one issue that stopped John McCain from picking one of the people he really wanted, Joe Lieberman or Tom Ridge”-- the Independent senator from Connecticut and the Republican former governor of Pennsylvania. (Both men are pro-choice.)

The Daily Blue America Report-- #4

McCaul- to the right of Cheney, about to get some Texas Justice

Lots of great news today. Since we've covered the fortunate news from Alaska, let's go right to some awesome tidings from Oregon. KATU, via SUSA, is reporting that Jeff Merkley, a Democrat from the Wellstone wing of the party, "is pulling away from Gordon Smith in the race for Senate."

Jeff Berkley 49%
Bush rubber stamp Gordon Smith 42%
Dave Brownlow (Constitution Party) 5%
Undecided 4%

Looks like Brownlow is killing Smith's re-election chances. It's fitting Smith leave government at the same time as Bush. But Brownlow isn't the only independent running who has been helpful to a Blue America candidate. David Krikorian, the right-wing xenophobe running in southwest Ohio against Mean Jean Schmidt and Vic Wulsin has been eating into Schmidt's base. That's about to get worse. Another far right zealot, Tom Brinkman (anti-choice, anti-taxes, anti-sanity) just endorsed Krikoran. Polls that include Krikorian are showing a neck and neck race between Vic and Mean. (By the way, if you're thinking about donating to Vic's campaign, today is an especially good day to do it: her birthday. She was born in 1953 and the campaign suggested people send in $19.53.)

Let's skip down to... oops, I'm sworn to secrecy on where this bit came from. But it's a good one. In 2006 the Republican rubber stamp incumbent, a slug of a human being (there's a hint), beat his opponent, a conservative Democrat by 9% in early polling. This year early polling has been far more substantial and the slug is not up by 9%. He's down by 20%-- against a progressive Democrat and a real kick ass fighter. With all those hints, how could any regular DWT reader not figure out who we're talkin' about here?

Let's head north now to the district of one of our favorite incumbents, Carol Shea-Porter (NH-01), who has been targeted by GOP front groups and hate organizations like Freedoms Watch. They are flooding her district with the slimiest ad campaign anywhere in the country. But with her polling numbers holding up nicely, that isn't enough. They do not want a fighter for working families in that seat; they want it back in the hands of a corporate shill, Jeb Bradley. And they given Jeb Bradley the cash he needs to hire the criminals who stole the 2002 New Hampshire Senate race that illicitly put John Sununu in office. Bradley has funneled over $90,000 into convicted felon-- now released from prison-- Chuck McGee's election stealing operation.

The huge Texas congressional delegation is a hotbed of the most reactionary vision of America anywhere on Capitol Hill. This year Blue America found only one Texas House race we wanted to get involved with-- Michale McCaul's bid for re-election in a gerrymandered masterpiece that sprawls from a piece of Austin to the suburbs of Houston, designed especially to disenfranchise Austin voters (by splitting the blue city into pieces where their votes could be diluted by red surroundings). But McCaul, whose father-in-law, the chairman of Clear Channel, bought him the seat, has been such a disaster as a congressman that even a red district like TX-10 seems to have had enough of him. His progressive opponent, Larry Joe Doherty has virtually caught up with him in the polling, with 4 points, less than the margin of error, separating them.

Today's Austin Statesman agrees that a defeat for McCaul, a rotten piece of "low hanging fruit," is Texas' best shot at turning a red district blue.

[W]ith the national mood turned fiercely against Republicans, some Democratic operatives believe they can win a seat that they haven't seriously contested since it was drawn in 2003.

The outcome of the 10th Congressional District race will also offer a glimpse of just how Republican Texas still is. Though Democrats have been making gains in the Legislature, Republicans have dominated races for statewide office for 12 years. A Doherty win would show that his party's resurgence, while far from complete, is further along than many would have guessed a few elections ago.

Whether Doherty can win will depend on how well he personally connects with voters, whether McCaul can distinguish himself from President Bush and whether Democrats in the Travis County part of the district can outmuscle Republicans closer to Houston.

..."Republicans are losing on the generic ballot, and polling for right track/wrong direction has never been worse," Karen Hanretty, a spokeswoman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said in a memo Thursday.

Democratic enthusiasm is up, and that enthusiasm was fueled by unexpectedly high turnout in the party's March presidential primary.

About 109,000 10th District residents voted in the Democratic primary. Of those, almost 63,000 appear not to have voted in either party's primary in the past 16 years, said Democratic consultant Harold Cook, who offers occasional advice to Doherty's team.

"Never before have we been able to identify such a rich target full of low-hanging fruit," Cook said. "We know that they've already voted for Democrats, so they'll consider it again, and probably lean toward it again."

And we'll leave you with this to ponder: tomorrow morning at 6AM we'll be announcing a major endorsement for one of our East Coast candidates. Wanna take a guess? Hint: think someone with extremely clear vision for American working families.

Let me leave you with an ad from our pals at VoteVets. It's a TV spot that targets one of the worst members of the Senate, Georgia rubber stamp wingnut Saxby Chambliss, who looks like he may lose his seat to Jim Martin next week. It's not a Blue America race but we've got our fingers crossed that a decent Democrat will replace an absolutely odious Republican.

Republican Senior Senator From Alaska Ted Stevens-- Guilty On All Charges

Ted and Sarah Will Never Stop Fighting To Keep Alaska Free Of Ethics

A few days ago the GOP was saying that if Stevens was just convicted on a few of the 7 charges it would help his re-election bid. I'm sure they'll come up with some way to explain how being convicted on every one of the charges will also help his re-election bid. Polling says otherwise though and it looks like the red state of Alaska, home of Sarah Palin, will be throwing out convicted felon Ted Stevens and as yet unindicted Congressman Don Young.

This afternoon's Hill has all the sordid details. "The verdict was reached after the jury deliberated since Wednesday and found the 84-year-old senator guilty of failing to report more than $250,000 in gifts from Bill Allen, the former head of Veco Corp., and other friends."

Stevens appeared expressionless, holding his stomach while the verdict was read. The courtroom was silent as the powerful Republican's fate was read to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Judge Emmet G. Sullivan deferred sentencing until after Feb. 23, when a hearing is scheduled on further motions. Stevens faces up to five years in prison on each count.

The jury did not seem to buy the explanation from Stevens that Allen showered him with gifts he didn't want and was unaware of, and that he believed the $160,000 he gave to another contractor covered all costs for the home renovations.

Stevens could get-- if he weren't a rich, powerful white guy-- 35 years in prison. He's not likely to ever serve a day in jail. Although sentencing isn't until after Bush leaves the White House, it is unlikely that Bush won't pardon him before that. What's a little bribery and perjury between old comrades? My favorite part of this is that the corrupt and contemptible Senate won't even consider expelling him-- or doing anything to him-- now that he is officially a convicted felon.

Despite being a convicted felon, he is not required to drop out of the race or resign from the Senate. If he wins re-election, he can continue to hold his seat because there is no rule barring felons from serving in Congress. The Senate could vote to expel him on a two-thirds vote.

"Put this down: That will never happen-- ever, OK?" Stevens said in the weeks leading up to his trial. "I am not stepping down. I'm going to run through, and I'm going to win this election."

The Anchorage Daily News put the Stevens conviction into the context of an ongoing investigation into the criminal conspiracy of the entire Alaskan Republican Party. Among the crooked politicians already convicted are former Alaska House Speaker Pete Kott, the former chairman of the Special Committee on Oil and Gas, Vic Kohring, and former state Rep Tom Anderson. They will soon be joined by Congressman Don Young, who is probably even more guilty than Stevens, and Stevens crooked son Ben, as well as still-serving state Senator John Cowdery and ex-state Rep Bruce Weyhrauch.


UPDATE: EVEN FAR RIGHT GOP WEBSITES ARE ENDORSING BEGICH... AND BERKOWITZ!!

RedState usually provides a dependable look into what the Republican Party is up to. They're more a GOP propaganda outlet than an actual blog. Today, though, they broke with the Republican Party-- and with Sarah Palin, who is still supporting her pal/convicted felon Ted Stevens-- and has endorsed Mark Begich and Ethan Berkowitz, the Democratic opponent for Alaska's other most corrupt member of Congress, Rep. Don Young.

We stand at a perilous moment in American politics, with the real possibility that the Democrats could get to 60 votes in the Senate. This is no time for litmus tests of party loyalty, for abandoning our own. But we must make one exception: good conscience compels us to advise Alaskans to vote for Mark Begich, the Democrat mayor of Anchorage, for the U.S. Senate. And we also endorse Ethan Berkowitz for the at-large House seat in Alaska... Washington cannot too soon see the end of Stevens and Young.

Michele Bachmann Pals Around With Republican Investment Fraud Criminals

A gross Bush-Bachmann lip-lock while she was trying to get a pardon for her crooked campaign donor

Frank E. Vennes Jr and his moll wife, Kimberley, have donated over $27,000 to Michele Bachmann's political career. (The only other politicians they given money to is another right wing extremist of similarly questionable ethical trustworthiness, Erik Paulsen, alo of Minnesota.) Vennes' investment in Bachmann paid off royally when Congresswoman Bachmann requested a pardon for Vennes after his conviction on felony money laundering charges (as well as firearms and drug charges).

A week after the FBI searched his home and office, confiscating evidence related to a $3 billion invetsment fraud, Bachmann, embarrassed, withdrew her request for a pardon. Bachmann claims she donated $9,200 of the bribes she was paid by Vennes to charity. There is no proof whether or not Bachmann was involved with her pal Vennes cocaine use, let alone his cocaine distribution network. Basically she just was a "respectable" front for him as he ripped off tens of millions of dollars from charities.

Bachmann tried using her influence with Bush to get him pardoned for his crimes, claiming his conviction "hinders his ability to expand his business which places limits on his support to the neediest in society" while he was stealing money from charities she was also involved with. She didn't mention in her request that Vennes was one of her biggest campaign contributors.

They didn't say so but perhaps this is part of the reason why the biggets and most influential newspaper in Bachmann's Minnesota district, the St Cloud Times endorsed her opponent yesterday.

Incumbent Rep. Michele Bachmann has simply made too many serious errors in judgment to deserve a second term.

Look no further than the Stillwater Republican’s recent appearance on MSNBC’s “Hardball.” Even if you side with her statement that she was trapped and didn’t know the “Hardball” environment (despite 23 appearances on similar shows since elected), it should not have taken her almost four days to appear in the district and offer an explanation/apology.

And then there was the debacle she created with comments made in February of 2007 in a Times Media podcast. In that case she clearly claimed, based on classified briefings, she knew of a plan to split Iraq and turn half of it into a “terrorist haven” to launch attacks in the Middle East. When pressed for details, she failed to fully explain herself and tried to blame her words on others.

As for her positions, those even seem to be changing of late. When we asked Tuesday about what should happen next in the financial crisis, she talked of providing stricter oversight. That sounds very contradictory to her comments early this month about “hyper-regulation” as a cause of the crisis and statements alluding to less, not more, oversight.

We asked about Iraq. She said she sees the U.S. role concluding there soon now that Iraq has a stable government and cash reserves. That is almost the polar opposite of her position since elected.

In the Senate race they endorsed the third party candidate, Dean Barkley (of the Independence Party, which has also endorsed Bachmann's opponent, Elwyn Tinklenberg), who is taking so many votes from Norm Coleman that he is likely to throw the race to Al Franken. Meanwhile, Bachmann's race is now too close to call and will surely be one that the national news media will be watching closely a week from Tuesday. But, as the Republican-oriented Boston Herald points out this morning, "Bachmann, one of Minnesota’s most polarizing politicians, has always thrived on adversity."

Before Bachmann outed herself as an extremist lunatic on Hardball it looked like she would sail to victory. Many progressives are uncomfortable supporting Tinklenberg, an anti-choice conservative from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party. But Bachmann has managed to rally Democrats and independents-- and even the handful of moderate Republicans in the district-- around him. Parroting McCain she's been babbling about what a maverick she is. "I’ve been willing to be a strong reformer in Washington, D.C., and take on my own party, including the bailout in Washington D.C." It isn't working for McCain and it shouldn't work for Bachmann either. Tinklenberg has collected $1.8 million in donations since Bachmann had her little episode. He doesn't need any more money. Cash-strapped Blue America progressives like Debbie Cook, Russ Warner, Dennis Shulman, and Annette Taddeo do. And, unlike Tinklenberg, they are all committed to upholding women's right to choice. You can donate here.


UPDATE: NEW POLLING

The newest SUSA poll shows Tinklenberg beating Bachmann 47-44%.

I Would Tap That, My Friend

CNN is reporting that more unscripted Palin remarks are pissing off McCain's top aides. They wish she'd just shut up about McCain giving her $150,000 to buy herself a wardrobe. Unfortunately, the unvetted candidate isn't comfortable about talking about much else without a TelePrompTer. Palin's camp say's she's trying to "bust free" from the way the McCain campaign has mismanaged her image.

McCain sources say Palin has gone off-message several times, and they privately wonder whether the incidents were deliberate. They cited an instance in which she labeled robocalls -- recorded messages often used to attack a candidate's opponent -- "irritating" even as the campaign defended their use. Also, they pointed to her telling reporters she disagreed with the campaign's decision to pull out of Michigan.

A second McCain source says she appears to be looking out for herself more than the McCain campaign.

"She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone," this McCain adviser said. "She does not have any relationships of trust with any of us, her family or anyone else.

"Also, she is playing for her own future and sees herself as the next leader of the party. Remember: Divas trust only unto themselves, as they see themselves as the beginning and end of all wisdom."

In this video she uses her only actual talents to flummox both Obama and McCain.

Rep Frank Wolf (R-VA)-- The Mirror Image Of Ashley Todd

The McCain campaign made a big production out of some unfortunate-looking campaign worker of theirs, a demented Texan named Ashley Todd, who claimed to have been attacked and beaten and mutilated by a great big BLACK man. The primitive drums of racism were being pounded on by McCain, Palin and everyone remotely connected to the campaign. "Violent Negroes attacking our women" was the message. Then it turned out that the McCain campaign worker was... well exactly like everyone involved with the McCain campaign at all levels: a congenital liar. After a lie-detector test, she admitted that she made the whole thing up-- and badly, having carved a "B" (for Barack we were told by another McCain spokesperson in Pennsylvania) in a mirror... backwards. Neither McCain nor Palin has apologized for this outrageous, divisive and racist stunt perpetrated on the electorate by their campaign. Instead McCain supporters are still trying to cover up the fact that it was nothing but another discredited McCain gimmick.

Last night there was more campaign violence. But this time it involved a demented old Republican congressman, Frank Wolf, from northern Virginia's 10th CD. Wolf's startling rubber stamp voting record has finally caught up to him in a year when Virginia voters are sick of the GOP and in a year when he has a spectacular opponent (Judy Feder) who is well-financed and running an exemplary campaign. Wolf is freaking out and hysterical. With McCain trailing and Wolf's pal/extreme right Senate candidate James Gilmore III down by 30 points-- even higher in VA-10-- Virginia could well see 4 red congressional districts turn blue, career-ending cataclysms for Virgil Goode, Thelma Drake, and Wolf. (The 4th GOP likely loser is extremist new-comer Keith Fimian, given up by the GOP as road kill 6 weeks ago.)

Wolf is especially concerned this year because he stands out as the worst member of Congress on veterans issues. Not a single member has a worse voting record when it comes to America's military vets. Since November, 2002, Wolf has participated in 24 roll call votes concerning our military vets. He voted against them all 24 times. Hard to believe from someone who voted with Bush and Cheney on every single Iraq-related item. Even when other Republicans were looking for common ground with Democrats on behalf of peace and for the safety of our fighting men and women, Wolf was blindly agreeing to every failed policy Bush and Cheney spewed out. There are very few members of Congress as completely worthless as Wolf. Since the October 10, 2002 bill authorizing the use of force in Iraq, there have been 64 roll calls on Iraq. Wolf was with Bush on every single one of them.

With a record like Wolf's, it's no wonder he doesn't like answering questions from his constituents or from the press. And it helps put into perspective his campaign's violent fascistic reaction to a man asking questions. Frank Wolf is not part of the political mainstream. It's time for him to retire. The folks in McLean, Winchester, Chantilly, Manassas, Front Royal and way out in Frederick County are lucky that just when Wolf has finally gone off the deep end-- along with Michele Bachmann, Robin Hayes, Scott Garrett, Steve King, and some of the other extremists-- Judy Feder is making a case about how she will be a far better representative for northern Virginians than Wolf has been.

Please consider making a donation to Judy's campaign, while you watch Congressman Wolf's version of democracy:

So What's The Real Story On McCain?

Is he just a garden variety political liar? Or is he seriously delusional? Before you answer, please watch the 80 second clip:



That was the short version; very much to the point, right? Joe Conason has a more nuanced analysis up at Salon, one that is no less devastating for John McCain and other Republican-- and some Democratic-- rubber stamps.

[D]espite McCain's claim to greater experience and judgment in foreign policy, he just doesn't seem to know what he's talking about. If he did, the latest developments in relations between Baghdad and Washington would dampen the Republican nominee's enthusiasm for a prolonged occupation.

Negotiations between the Bush administration and the government of Nouri al-Maliki over the presence of U.S. forces have reached an impasse that no longer seems certain to be resolved until George W. Bush has left office. If any resolution is achieved over the coming weeks, moreover, it will render McCain's hard-line position on the war null and void.

Gone are the fantasies-- if not the lies and the delusions of the seriously senile-- "of the neoconservatives, who once imagined the new Iraq as a permanent base for American troops in the Middle East, with a client government that would reflect U.S. priorities. What has come to exist instead is an Iraq much closer to Iran than to the United States, one that will countenance no permanent U.S. bases and prefers that our troops depart sooner rather than later." Tell it to McCain. He makes Bush look like a peacenik.

The Daily Blue America Report-- #3

California-04- In a rational world it would not be especially remarkable that the Sacramento Bee endorsed Charlie Brown over Tom McClintock today. Of course in a rational world, we would never have accepted George Bush as president and elected a Congress dedicated to the impoverishment of working families on behalf of special interests. The editors of the very Republican Bee say it was a "clear choice" and urges their readers to "opt for pragmatism, not rigid ideology." Bingo! Charlie is a moderate and pragmatic well-respected, admired member of the community. McClintock is some kind of a far right extremist from hundreds of miles away looking-- as he always is-- for a plush job.

Democratic candidate Charlie Brown is a career U.S. Air Force officer, now retired. During the Vietnam War, he flew helicopter missions in southeast Asia. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his helicopter rescue in the Mayaguez incident of May 1975 and coordinated Air Force surveillance flights over Iraq in the 1990s.

Brown, a 17-year resident of Roseville who ran against Doolittle in 2006, has worked hard the last three years to build a relationship with voters in the district. In the end, he would be the more effective voice on issues that matter to the district and the region.

... McClintock has an "old economy" vision for the district, relying on increased timber production (which would require gutting environmental laws and hard-won compromises) and water. He sees an Auburn Dam as the "single most important project for the region."

Brown has met with wind and solar business owners and favors alternative energy tax credits and high-speed Internet access. He would fight for expansion of Interstate 80 and Highway 50, stream-bed restoration in Sierra Meadows, improvements to existing dams and Lake Tahoe restoration. He supports forest thinning to decrease fire hazards.

The most recent polling shows Charlie ahead 48-42 and with $2 million in air time reserved by the DCCC. The Republican Party has given up on McClintock as hopeless and too extreme. He's out of money. His is the race most observers see as the surest Democratic victory in California. The infamous NRCC "death list" from last week writes off CA-04 and is pessimistic about Brian Bilbray's chances for re-election. But several other California incumbents are in jeopardy: Dana Rohrabacher (CA-46), Mary Bono Mack (CA-45), Dan Lungren (CA-03) and David Dreier (CA-26).


California-26- Blue America just launched a special fundraising page with one object: defeating David Dreier, one of the last of the ultra reactionary extremists left in the Los Angeles congressional delegation (along with Dana Rohrabacher).

Dreier has certainly been a dependable Bush rubber stamp across the entire panoply of issues that have made Bush’s presidency the worst in modern American history. But it isn't even just his blind support for Bush that has made Dreier so odious. In these troubled economic times Dreier has been a shameless handmaiden for Big Business and special corporate interests over and above the interests of his own constituents. His record on health care is the worst of any California congressman and his record on veterans is just as disgraceful. Fortunately, there is a way to battle a deceitful and corrupt hack like Dreier on the issues—and that is what the Democrats are doing. We applaud them. But there’s is more to Dreier than just reactionary politics.

Dreier is a closeted gay man and a frightened hypocrite who votes against equality for gay families while prancing around the world to every gay hotspot there is-- at taxpayer expense-- with his overpaid lover. It’s time for him to shuffle back to Kansas City, where he still lives when he’s not in Washington, so CA-26 can have some real representation that makes sense for southern California.

Please help Blue America mail this information piece about Congressman Dreier out to some of the residents of the district, like himself, who are in favor of the homophobic Proposition 8. If they plan to vote against equality for gay people, maybe they need to find out about their own representative's extracurricular activities. You can donate here.



Virginia-10- Clear across the country in Northern Virginia-- the part Republicans claim isn't "real" Virginia-- a Democratic video tracker was politely asking Congressman Frank Wolf a question-- which Wolf rudely ignored-- when he was assaulted by Republican staffers and beaten with a cane. (Hey, Sarah-- is that what you meant by "Real Virginia?") Although Wolf did nothing to stop the attack, at least he didn't personally join in. RaisingKaine has the video and the whole sordid story.

Normally we reserve this space for Blue America candidates-- and let me remind you that you can contribute to Charlie Brown, Russ Warner and Judy Feder right here-- a Sam Bennett supporter in Montgomery County, PA sent DWT a beautiful and inspiring Obama video we want to share with you as we go into the most important week of the campaign:

DUMBINION! Why The Right Is Always Wrong: The Saga Of Matthew Scully And The Suffering Of Animals

-by Philip Steir

Consistent inaccuracy in doing the right thing is the main theme in the story of conservative ideology. The world we live in today, at the start of the 21st century, feels bogged down from the weight of right-wing policies. All one has to do is simply glance back through the tunnel of history at each and every issue we've faced and they will see for themselves how the right has been wrong about virtually everything. But why? Whether the issue was political, social, cultural or environmental, the right have always been on the wrong side. The question is no longer who is correct but why do conservatives constantly make the wrong choices and seem to willfully choose to be wrong. Are they merely bluffing and is that look that Sean Hannity gives Alan Colmes just poker face? Is it a lack of caring for those outside of let's say their own family members? Is it a lack of real compassion for others which is not motivated by the religious dogma of salvation that usually accompanies their decisions? Is it possibly a deep seeded fear of moving forward or evolving that just stops the right-wing mammal dead in his tracks? It may be all of the above and, while most researchers in the areas of psychology and neuroscience may swing to the left, any factual evidence on these questions will chalked up as liberal fact based bias.

But when we begin going over the failures, the lies, the scandals, the incompetence, the corruption, the wasteful spending, the privatizing of the military, the deception, the torture, the electoral frauds, the foreign policy of war and violence, it becomes an endless parade of ugly mistakes and huge blunders hovering like gigantic helium-filled floats over the heads of innocent bystanders watching this ridiculous procession. And these are only the stupid monster balloons from just the past eight years of conservative rule!

Now when you begin to add up the history of slavery, racism, sexism, homophobia, environmental destruction, the murdering of indigenous peoples and the countless millions of wild animals slaughtered, what you are left with is a crystal clear view of issues where right-wing principles have always without question been wrong. But the question again begs why are people on the right always on the wrong side? It's not that liberals have not participated in wars, violence, scandals or building terrible parade balloons. Its just that conservatives throughout history never seem willing to take the balloons down when the parade is actually over and there appears enough evidence to show that the huge 3 story inflated Ronald McDonald zeppelin has scared all the children, proved to be dangerous and also denied onlookers their civil rights. And those are just the balloons.

My point here is that on every major issue where the power of compassion should bring about change the conservative person sees that power as dangerous, frightening or even as the main source of modern society's collapse. Much of this outlook as we all well know comes from the way folks on the right "cling to their religion" and to the belief that when the times they are a changin', its about time to blame the Jews (or whoever at the time may seem to be the new Jews) maybe start to blame the vegans. And now that this (envision any progressive issue from the last 200 years in this space) change seems close at hand its time to grab the pitchforks of justice or a semi automatic without safety locks.

What happens is whenever the right-wing mindset begins to sense that compassion may change or remove their sacred belief system, which is usually the key to their power, they begin to feel threatened and, worse, insignificant. If their way of life is to have any meaning then compassion must be defeated, their religion rescued from progress and their belief system propped back up and put back in place. Conservatives also arrogantly believe that they have the solutions for what is ailing the world and it's usually a quick fix based on an extra bloody animal sacrifice from the book of Leviticus.

However, they fail to see from the past that they themselves are the actual warning signs in the coming disaster which they pretend to ward off. And pretending is the important word here because that is what many conservatives do. They pretend to actually care about another's well being but what they are really passionate about is maintaining power and making money. Conservatism in almost every form is about the expression of business and making profit. Greed becomes the main gesture in a movement that glorifies the virtues of selfishness. Maintaining power in order to keep on getting paid is the modus operandi of the right even when it goes against the dogma they've been spitting out since the first reactionary rode his camel through the eye of a needle. And note how they never even cared if the camel had enough food, water or even enough space to turn around.

Remember how folks on the right were against premarital sex and unwed teenage mothers until Bristol Palin strutted out on stage in the Twin Cities? They've waged an angry patriotic pious war against both feminism and pornography until super supposedly sexy Sarah showed up at the work place and gave them a hypocritical and strange reason to support both. They scorn big Government and pray at the alter of the free market until they need bailouts for failed industries. They hate everything about communism and third world dictators until those regimes provide liquefied dead fossils or cheap slave labor for business purposes. They lash out at the culture and corruption of Washington until they receive that no-bid contract to provide services to rebuild what the occupation just destroyed. They bash Hollywood elites for wanting their politics to be inserted into the mainstream of America until a Reagan, Schwarznegger, Thompson, Voight or Norris decides to insert their influence. Keeping the cash flowing even when it comes at the price of betraying everything they once pretended to stand for is all that appears to matter when a person leans to the right.

The results we all now have to live with from the last 8 years of conservative rule proves this point about the wrongness aspect of righties as well as the why-- that people on the right are not in the right when it comes to being correct.

Now, a much less confusing sentence than the previous one is an even more profound actual example of what has been asserted here so far. And now the evidence regarding how conservative principles are mainly based on sustaining power and making money actually exists in the true saga of a certain conservative Christian author whom the McCain team hired to draft the acceptance speech for the little known Governor of Alaska at the Republican convention back in the dark days of September 2008.

It makes complete calculating strategy that the Rove-Cheney cabal, as Naomi Wolf aptly names them, would choose Matthew Scully to write the all-important sermon that would introduce the Republican vice presidential nominee to the American people. After all Mr Scully was the special assistant and senior speech writer for George W Bush. He was also the gifted word engineer who helped Bush sell the disastrous and bloody war in Iraq. What better preemptive approach to adopt in the war against critical thinking than by hiring this genius of poetic sarcasm and divine interventionist theory to help close this very important deal for the conservatives to stay in power. If one need to sell a mindless, small town hockey mom to the US Americans this would be the guy to formulate the pitch. His reputation for eloquent marketing was infamous in Inside-the-Beltway GOP circles.

The combination of a shallow politician with rural folksy values and a witty, sharp, patriotically vibrant religious writer worked magically in 2003 to sell absurd policies to the American public and would again be the winning hand for the conservatives (Republicans) in 2008.

It's completely inconceivable to explain in one blog post the mass of deception, lies and breach of trust that went into manipulating this occupation in Iraq. However, understanding a faith based Glengarry Glen Ross salesmanship with words scattered around like pastoral IED's occupying the speeches which Bush delivered to the American people can shed a bit of light on who Matthew Scully is. 

According to Mr. Scully himself, in a bizarre turn against his own co-worker, it was his own religious references about good and evil and his biblical world view in the months leading up to the invasion of Iraq that defined the coming holy battle for the masses. Speech after speech Scully would help craft for W the moving and prophetic words that would allude to a Christian fundamentalist theory of the world and to the dangers of those evil doers. The sales pitch worked wonders on the millions of reactionary Americans who voted for the Crawford cowboy and now today thousands upon thousands of Iraqi citizens and American soldiers have paid with their lives. The horrors and bloodshed in Iraq still continue as the self proclaimed pro life Scully also continues to this day writing speeches for the rest of the repulsive party.

If aiding and abetting the Bush administration in their selling of a completely despicable, unjustified and needless war to the American public were not enough on Scully's resume to get the Palin gig it must have been his convincing attempt at selling the most trivial cause of all, at least in the eyes of his fellow conservatives... the cause for animal welfare.

In the same arrogant way conservatives in the past once scoffed at the idea of women's rights or violently opposed worker and civil rights, the concept of animal protection or, heavens forbid, of non human animal rights, is made out to be a ridiculous and unimportant cause. Although human chauvinism obviously exists in both liberal and conservative mindsets it is particularly embedded in the architecture of right-wing belief systems where caring about another's well being actually plays second Charlie Daniels fiddle to worrying about what others actually do. For instance, you will find mobs of conservatives lining up to denounce homosexuality, family planning and the killing of blastocysts but almost never see them denounce the killings of innocent non human animals in the countless arenas where their lives are taken away in gruesome practices by humans every single hour of every day. It's not merely a matter of coincidence that animal rescue or animal rights organizations are made up almost exclusively from the fabric of liberal society than it is a coincidence that the majority of NRA members fall ideologically somewhere between Tom Delay and Ted Nugent. And the righter they are the harder they fall.

So if there was a particular someone out there who would even dare take a stab at selling this segment of the population a message of compassion with regard to animals than they had to look no further than this skillful man behind the curtain.

Dominion: The Power of Man, The Suffering Of Animals And The Call To Mercy was Matthew Scully's attempt to reach out to the political right with a very groundbreaking and, I must admit, a beautifully written book regarding the horrible and arrogant cruelties that humans inflict on non human animals. Groundbreaking because this is the first book that I know of personally that was written by a conservative that was actually against cruelty to animals. Most of everything I've read about animals written from the right side of the aisle are usually:

1. Over enthusiastic, irrational and grotesque tirades on the best ways to exploit or kill non humans;

2. Excuses and rationalizations on why for moral reasons animals don't matter;

3. Excuses and even more excuses on why for Divine reasons animals don't matter;

4. The overt violence of hunting coupled with its erotic stimulation make it a fun activity for the whole conservative family.

I admit again that I was seduced by Matthew Scully's gift for prose and sarcasm. His deep insight and eloquence in expressing his own distress regarding the human mistreatment and callousness toward animals is truly impressive. His talent to articulate with deep expressive phrases an underlying angst, sadness and confusion related to the suffering caused to animals is breath taking and eye opening. So when reading him you do get some physical excersise. The suffering he exposes and details specifically at the hands of humans delivered on the animals of the world is without a doubt almost unsurpassed in any works written on this subject.

Yet with all the eloquence Scully possesses in his descriptive and philosophical explanations there is also an almost absurd supernatural aspect found in his writing which difficult to ignore creates a maze of imbalance and makes it a bit problematic to appreciate the author's words. He writes from a perspective that God along with humans are above all other living things and that humans need only give mercy to animals rather than real substantial consideration in protecting their interests. It is a failed philosophy for actual animal's rights. However, his God of the Old Testament is not only magical and a bit silly but a violent, cruel, power hungry and vengeful God as well. The same callousness and mindless violence perpetrated on animals by humans that the author complains about throughout his book is constantly inflicted on animals by Yahweh himself throughout that other well known book. Matthew Scully is a very profound Christian conservative man who spends most of his writing in Dominion ironically criticizing fellow Christian conservatives and their values and beliefs about animals. Chapter after chapter he spends sarcastically mocking them as well as chastising their abhorrent behavior and way of thinking.

"Conservatives bring to the whole matter not only philosophical doubts and debatable economic points, but a kind of exasperated snobbery, as if they should not even bother with such trifling questions, and who are all these petty activists distracting them from the great moral questions of the day"

For the duration of his book as he constantly condemns other conservatives for lacking compassion Scully sounds, relatively, like a frustrated liberal. Chapter after chapter he denounces every abusive and oppressive act of human violence and injustice against animals. He seems to grow weary as his book nears the end in not being able to comprehend why his fellow conservatives are so void of sympathy, so indifferent to the pain and injustice directed at defenseless creatures who just want to be left alone and live their lives in peace the way most humans do. Yet he fails to grasp that he and his compatriots share an ideology itself which blocks the very goals he yearns to achieve. This seems to happen constantly with right wing policies as well. His associates would much rather obsess about the tax breaks established in some newly written sport-hunting legislation, for instance, than having any concern whatsoever about the orphaned elephant calf who has just witnessed his mother being blasted to smithereens by a fellow Safari Club International member. Throughout Dominion, Scully becomes more and more cynical and less and less aware that he is much closer aligned with the bleeding heart liberals of the world than with the right-wing Christian biblical evangelicals he actually associates with and works for. Scully, while writing moving pleas for compassion and stirring arguments against oppression he often resembles a man constantly at war with the very demons he sleeps with. And for all his brilliance as a writer he never seems able to make the connection between the conservative philosophy he owns himself and, as he declares,

"to those people who bring only violence and fear into the animal world."

He fails over and over to make the connection between how he himself, a man of seemingly deep empathy for the powerless, feels and how liberals often experience the world when conservatives claim how it is much too inconvenient and often too economically costly to worry about those less fortunate and more vulnerable in the world. And Scully, like a few other religious conservatives who may be opposed to violence against animals, never once makes the reality based connection that it's their own Christian mythology which makes the dubious claim that the highest virtues and highest morals all originate from a great sky God. But it's precisely this sky God of Abraham who in the end cares nothing about non human animals suffering.

The circumstances of Scully's dilemma which suggest an even bigger irony than the one present in his own writing style is that he can never break away from what he detests so much. He is wrapped up so tight in an irrational conservative fundamentalist Christian view of the world that all he ends up doing is banging his head against the wall adorned with the animal trophy heads he is so repulsed by. His dilemma is having compassion for beings who are said to be soulless and therefore in the eyes of most Christians also worthless. Animals to the biblically endowed are seen with some pity for they have no chance of salvation and are not seen as valuable at least when compared to the divine human animal. His predicament is that this divine human animal was created in a violent God's image. So, if Scully remains holed up in a world view and belief system with the rest of his cronies he also leaves the animals he supposedly has concerns for behind in a big bloody heap. However, if he leaves his magical Christian beliefs in the dust he must give up the idea that his life will have extra meaning. To be a conservative, just caring for the life of another is not in itself meaningful enough. There either must be salvation or a big pay day to realize a more meaningful life.

Matthew's two worlds can never be reconciled. He must make a choice. Yet, underneath it all he is still a true conservative so his choice remains lodged up in his own ask: not what you can do for the animals but what the animals can do for your business. Even this man who defines hunting as "the pornography of bloodlust" and who's critically acclaimed words cried out against the suffering of animals at the hands of heartless humans, sold out his own principles for money and power. What other explanation are we left with? What reply do we have to the question of how someone could write several scathing chapters against the reprehensible practice of hunting and then come to a conclusion based on facts, that the majority of these hunters are right-wing Christians and then still desire to help guide them all to political victory? What other reason could there be for him to lend his creative energy to composing speeches which will give these blood thirsty killers even more power? (For the record Matthew Scully has also recently written speeches for canned hunting expert Dick Cheney.) What lucid, compassionate person who identifies hunters as "the lowest of the low" could go on to collaborate with these despicable humans who take delight in murdering other beings? A person with only power and money on their agenda.

Matthew Scully had already written the majority of the speech that would propel Sarah Palin to instant celebrity fame among the conservative base of gun and God nuts when he was informed who McCain's VP choice actually would be. He had already spent countless hours writing the one line bumper stickers that would make Sarah barracuda a famous canine with lipstick. Here he could have taken the path of integrity and stood up for what he so passionately seemed to believe in and turned down the job of personalizing the speech for Ms. Moose Meat Breath herself. Yet business is, after all, the ultimate expression of conservative politics and Scully perfectly demonstrated where his principles lie. They lie in bed spooning with the type of humans he claims to detest most. Sarah Palin, although a woman and a huge minority in the killing-for-pleasure business, still represents the same evil which Scully claims he loathes.

This woman to nowhere has a deep hatred for wild and free animals. She spent $450,000 of Alaska's State money to promote shooting wolves from airplanes and helicopters and launched a vicious bounty on wolves body parts as well. She has shot and killed virtually every species that lives in her own home state and then alleges, like many conservatives, that she is adamantly "pro life." Sarah Palin represents a violent, apathetic, insensitive, and ignorant kind of conservative American Christian that is extremely dangerous to the well being of not only animals but to the country as well. Sarah Palin the feisty on her own rogue campaigner with a nuclear weapon should frighten everybody who does not believe in the left behind series.

Like most politicians on the right she uses her so called love of symbolic issues in a cynical way to actually achieve the opposite goals she claims she sets out to attain. She loves nature for drilling and killing and loves America so much that she wants to belong to a political party in Alaska which demands Alaska break away from the US. And when Queen Sarah claims her deep love for Israel any thinking informed person understands that her mythical yet dangerous fundamentalist Christian beliefs actually require a powerful Jewish State in the Holy land for Christ's return to earth to do battle against Satan and then the final annihilation of the Jews. She alleges to be pro life but like many conservatives this claim only means pro right-wing American life. There is no real concern for liberal or even a secular Americans whom she deems all to be not "real" Americans or even anti-American. She has never spoken of concern for Iraqi children killed by a task of God or the simply minding their own business animals of the Alaskan wilderness whom she proudly guns down.

The notion of any real caring in this woman seems to be rooted in her love of the symbolic and for those only in her immediate family. In this simple fact Sarah represents a picture of a right-wing attitude which enables her to limit her sympathies to those only in her immediate Klan. Scully does the same by staying faithful to his own group even if it means his concern for animals will not just merely be over shadowed but actually exterminated.

Matthew Scully embodies the spirit of today's ultra neo-conservative fraud who moves through life pretending to have compassion and pretending to fight for the interests of others but who will, at the drop of a cowboy hat, switch their belief system to align with the flow of cash and the appetite for power.

As a long-time supporter of animal rights I've always known that conservatives can never make good animal rights activists just as they do not make for good feminists or great fighters against racial discrimination and prejudice. The fact is in order to be a conservative and remain fundamentally genuine to that ideology you can't care about the well being of others. History has shown that it is liberal ideology and liberal politics which have constantly defeated the majority of oppressive abuses inflicted on both humans and animals. Liberal thought opens the doors of the moral community to allow others to enter whereas conservatives main agenda has always been to nail those doors shut.  

Matthew Scully is a perfect example of what a conservative is. He is not only bound by a closed minded spirituality that does not allow for scientific proof to enter the room to see a 21st century view of the universe, but Scully is also stuck in the conservative narrow hallway of self interest. To remain a true reactionary one must follow religiously the creed of greed like Scully has, and abandon those who may pose an inconvenient barrier between himself and the money.

As a species we have a short term memory when it comes to history. The last eight years has proven once and for all that compassionate conservatives cannot actually exist. Once someone breaks away from the preemptive strike of the drill baby kill pack and the selfish me first mode and then thoughtfully begins to operate from the motivation of compassion and empathy, that person can actually no longer be called a conservative. Scully wrote about this person quite a bit in his triumphant will of a Palin speech and that person is what he and the bias in the right-wing media actually call them. A liberal. 

The Endorsement Parade/Charade

Endorsements continued to flood into Obama Central. What everyone talks about on TV is how all these newspapers that endorsed George Bush are coming out for Obama and warning voters away from McCain-Palin. Many, in fact, said it would have been a much tougher call for them had McCain not demonstrated such abysmal judgment by selecting Palin. The argument from the Anchorage Daily News is the worst slap in the face yet. They wave the state flag enthusiastically and acknowledge how thrilled many Alaskans are to have one of their own considered for the vice presidency. But then they take a step back and look at which one of their own.

Gov. Palin's nomination clearly alters the landscape for Alaskans as we survey this race for the presidency-- but it does not overwhelm all other judgment. The election, after all is said and done, is not about Sarah Palin, and our sober view is that her running mate, Sen. John McCain, is the wrong choice for president at this critical time for our nation.

Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee, brings far more promise to the office. In a time of grave economic crisis, he displays thoughtful analysis, enlists wise counsel and operates with a cool, steady hand. The same cannot be said of Sen. McCain.

...Yet despite her formidable gifts, few who have worked closely with the governor would argue she is truly ready to assume command of the most important, powerful nation on earth. To step in and juggle the demands of an economic meltdown, two deadly wars and a deteriorating climate crisis would stretch the governor beyond her range. Like picking Sen. McCain for president, putting her one 72-year-old heartbeat from the leadership of the free world is just too risky at this time.

And no one should understand that better than Alaskans. But in her short, tumultuous time on the national stage, Palin has not endeared herself to Americans looking for a serious approach to serious problems our society is facing, serious problems brought on by basic concepts of Republican governance still wholeheartedly embraced by McCain and, as much as she understands them, Palin. Connecticut's Hartford Courant has been around when the tsars still ruled Alaska as part of the Russian Empire. In their 244 year history they had only endorsed one Democrat for president-- until today.

The times cry out for a leader of Mr. Obama's mettle. Americans have suffered through years of losses, from the nearly 3,000 people who died on Sept. 11, 2001, through the more than 4,000 American troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan and the tens of thousands wounded. More than a million people have lost their homes through foreclosure. Economists are warning that the United States is facing the gravest economic threat since the Great Depression.

Republican Sen. John McCain has failed to persuade us he could wake the nation from this seven-year nightmare... his judgment has been questionable of late, impulsive and off-key, especially his almost panicky announcement that he would suspend campaigning and perhaps postpone one of only three presidential debates to attend to Wall Street bailout legislation. That performance was apparently for show.

Most worrisome, however, is Mr. McCain's choice of a running mate, Sarah Palin, who is not yet ready for prime time. With so many capable people to choose from, Mr. McCain's pick of a governor with such a thin resume was disappointing.

According to Editor & Publisher, as of today, Obama has garnered 160 endorsements and McCain has gotten 59, a 3-1 margin. Three dozen are newspapers that had endorsed Bush in 2004, like powerhouses the Chicago Tribune, the New York Daily News, the Denver Post, the Salt Lake Tribune, and the Houston Chronicle.

Even Lindsey Graham, who was tasked with "vetting" Palin (great job, Miss Thing!), admitted today that he thought Lieberman should have been the VP pick! And in the same issue of the one of the worst of the nominal Democrats from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party-- or in this case, the cloddish neo-Con wing-- Michael O'Hanlon, has tried jumping on the Obama freight train. This is one of the more repulsive Inside the Beltway blowhards who fluffed Bush every step of the and could have easily wound up as a member of Democrats For McCain. His whiny and tepid endorsement for Obama Joe Biden today should be rejected.

If you have spent the last 8 years living on Pluto and arrived back last night and watched TV this morning, you probably came away thinking McCain is running against George Bush (and, if you decided to catch up by reading certain newspapers instead of watching TV, that Palin is running against McCain). Well... anyone who was stuck up on Pluto, or even the moon, should probably watch this short clip just to remind you that there is no daylight between Bush and McCain on most of the tragic Bush agenda, and certainly none on economic matters:




UPDATE: ANOTHER BIG TIME REPUBLICAN BACKS OBAMA OVER McCAIN

Larry Pressler (R-SD) and John McCain served in the U.S. Senate at the same time and Pressler, a fellow Republican, has had many opportunities, as the Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, to see the erratic and volatile McCain in action. Pressler was the first Vietnam vet to be elected to the Senate. Until a few days ago he had never voted for a Democrat in his life but he's already voted for Obama and donated to his campaign.

"I just got the feeling that Obama will be able to handle this financial crisis better, and I like his financial team of [former Treasury Secretary Robert] Rubin and [former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul] Volcker better," he said. By contrast, John McCain's "handling of the financial crisis made me feel nervous... We have to be a moderate party. We can't be for all these foreign military adventures. We have to stop spending so much money. My God, the deficit is so high! The Republican Party I knew in the 1970s is just all gone."

DCCC Pushing Anti-Choice Activists

Palin and Dahlkemper-- too much in common

Have you ever thought about donating to the DCCC? Some of the tens of millions of dollars that comes in and goes out of there actually goes to help good candidates like Darcy Burner and Martin Heinrich get elected. But very little. It's got a bit better since 2006 when it was run by pro-war fanatic Rahm Emanuel and being against the war was almost the kiss of death. Now the D-Trip is run, at least ostensibly, by a progressive, Chris Van Hollen. Still, the bulk of the money they take in goes to help elect reactionary nominal Democrats from deep in the bowels of the Republican wing of the Democratic Party.

Today's NY Times celebrates how the "diversity" of having anti-choice activists running is putting more seats into play. Into play for what? Democrats, Inc? Who gives a damn about that except Insiders? Most people who vote for Democrats are doing so because they believe in what the party is supposed to stand for. But the Rahm Emanuel Democratic Party is standing on its head and has more in common-- much more-- with the Republican Party insiders than with its own grassroots.

Did you give a donation to the DCCC this year? If you did you contributed towards the ending of a woman's right to choice. No hyperbole; that's a fact. The DCCC has spent around $1.5 million on electing Bobby Bright an anti-choice fanatic and Alabama reactionary.

In fact, Mr. Bright is one of a dozen anti-abortion Democratic challengers the party has recruited to run for the House this year and has aggressively supported with millions of dollars and other resources in culturally conservative districts long unfriendly to the party.

That is the highest number of anti-abortion candidates the party has fielded in recent memory to run either for open seats or against Republican challengers, according to party strategists and a leading anti-abortion organization... The Democratic effort to seek out candidates like Mr. Bright has not been without tensions, given the party’s reliance on abortion rights groups for fundraising and get-out-the-vote efforts. And there is the fundamental reality that the Democratic Party’s platform explicitly embraces abortion rights.

Kelli Conlin, the president of the National Institute for Reproductive Health, called the recruitment strategy misguided, saying that surveys conducted by her organization showed that even some Republicans express support for abortion rights when her group described the consequences of outlawing the procedure.

“The movement to recruit anti-choice candidates ignores the larger reality that this is a pro-choice nation,” she said.

Van Hollen lamely describes the support for these anti-choice hacks as "taking the wedge issues off the table." For real Democrats, that wedge issue is part of what makes the Democratic Party, as corrupt and pathetic as it is, preferable to the Republicans. If the DCCC won't stand up for women's rights what will they stand up for? Where do they draw the line? They're pushing 12 anti-choice activists this year but they don't advertise them to the general public. The Times also mentions Kathy Dahlkemper (PA-03) and Jim Esch (NE-02).

I'm looking at the 3 hotly contested races in Alabama. The Democrats are represented by two reactionaries who are anti-choice, Bright and Parker Griffith, each of whom they will have spent around $2 million on by election day. There is also a grassroots moderate running, Josh Segall, who is pro-choice. They haven't spent a nickel on his race. Every dime they get they shovel into the anti-choice races.

The DCCC is active in 3 Louisiana races-- on behalf of right-wing incumbent Don Cazayoux and two reactionary challengers, Paul Carmouche and Don Cravins. All three are running on platforms that include denying women the right to choice. The DCCC is spending another couple of million on them.

In southwest Ohio the DCCC has lavished a million and a half dollars on anti-choice, right-of-center Steve Driehaus and nothing at all on pro-choice progressive Vic Wulsin, both in Cincinnati.

Although Chris Carney has collected immense sums of money from the corporations he has been supporting, including the Insurance Industry and Big Oil, the DCCC has spent $500,000 to protect his right-wing, anti-choice, anti-gay ass. He has voted more frequently with the Republicans on substantive matters than he has with Democrats and has one of the worst voting records of any Democratic member of Congress. That seems like a requirement to get funding from the DCCC. Just south of his district is a progressive, pro-choice woman, Sam Bennett, who the DCCC has given... nothing at all.

Anti-choice Democratic incumbents include right-wing and corporate Dems Jason Altmire (PA), Marion Berry (AR), Dan Boren (OK), Chris Carney (PA), Don Cazayoux (LA), Travis Childers (MS), Henry Cuellar (TX), Lincoln Davis (TN), Joe Donnelly (IN), Brad Ellsworth (IN), Tim Holden (PA), Dan Lipinski (IL), Jim Marshall (GA), Mike McIntyre (NC), Charlie Melancon (LA), Jack Murtha (PA), Solomon Ortiz (TX), Collin Peterson (MN), Ike Skelton (MO), Heath Shuler (NC), Bart Stupak (MI). Gene Taylor (MS), and Charlie Wilson (OH).

And the anti-choice fanatics who are serious candidates this year:

Ronnie Musgrove (MS- Senate)
Bobby Bright (AL-02)
Parker Griffith (AL-05)
Mike Montagano (IN-03)
David Boswell (KY-02)
Bill O'Neill (OH-14)
Kathy Dahlkemper (PA-03)

If you want to support real Democrats, the kind who are committed to fighting for progressive ideals and values-- including women's right to choice-- please think about the candidates at the Blue America ActBlue page. It's your choice.

Apple Stands For America And The Mormon Cult Stands For Hatred

A box arrived on Friday and it weighed so little I thought it was a couple of CDs but the mailman announced it was from Apple. Apple! I was a consultant on the development of the iPod after I left Warner Bros and this box must have been some new iteration of the shuffle. But I'm perfectly happy with the shuffles I have and I can't remember how to put new songs on them anyway. So I put the box aside, unopened. Later a friend came over and, seeing the box, asked what I got from Apple. I said he could open it. OMG! It was the new MacBook! I get thicker magazines in the mail! I'm an Apple fanatic and I was over the moon to have gotten this wonderful gift-- just in time for my trip to Mali too.

Anyway, I figured I'd go read up on this thing and figure out what it is exactly so I went to the Apple homepage. The second and third story is about the new MacBook. The first story says No on Prop 8. I was shocked. I recall having read that the Mormons and other homophobic fanatics and hate-mongers are threatening to boycott any companies that dare to support gay families' choices. With that in mind I read the Apple blurb on top of their website:

Apple is publicly opposing Proposition 8 and making a donation of $100,000 to the No on 8 campaign. Apple was among the first California companies to offer equal rights and benefits to our employees’ same-sex partners, and we strongly believe that a person’s fundamental rights-- including the right to marry-- should not be affected by their sexual orientation. Apple views this as a civil rights issue, rather than just a political issue, and is therefore speaking out publicly against Proposition 8.

That's more than many Democratic politicians have the balls to do! And $100,000! Good for Steve Jobs!

Today's L.A. Times reported that about $60 million have been raised around Prop 8. I thought the whole hateful effort was just being financed by the Mormon Mafia and their Utah-based theocracy. Turns out that although they're the biggest merchants of hate and bigotry-- around $10 million so far-- they're not alone. And now that they've been exposed and are feeling vulnerable, the Mormon cult leaders are at least giving lip service to tamping down the orgy of hatred and bigotry a little. They claim that they've now stopped the Utah-based homophobic phone banking operation.

And not all are Mormons sticking with the hate-filled religionist cult on this, though their poisonous fake priests have been asking all parishioners to donate. Bruce Bastian is an ex-Mormon who still lives in Utah and is one of the 5 people who donated a million dollars to stop Prop 8. So as evil and Satanic as the Mormon Church is, remember that there are individual Mormons who are still human and not fully sucked into the garbage pseudo-religion. Bastian:

"They're a church and in their name they have the name Jesus Christ. Can you imagine Jesus Christ doing something like this? There is nothing in Jesus' teachings that justifies what the church is doing.

"To me this is the civil rights movement of the 21st century," Bastian said. "How embarrassing is it now to look back at what we did to African Americans in the 19th century."

But it isn't just the Cult of the Latter Day Satanites who are funding the hatred. The murderous war criminal, neo-Nazi Prince family (Blackwater mercenaries) are also major contributors-- giving to both McCain and to Yes on 8-- but having put around $8 million dollars into right-wing anti-gay efforts this year.

It Hasn't Happened... Yet-- The Saturday Night Palin Video

Sure Sarah Palin has become of the butt of jokes all over the world but inside the McCain camp the feeling is that the joke's on them. CNN is reporting that the ambitious and overreaching Alaskan has now gone rogue. McCain insiders claim she's "looking out for herself more than the McCain campaign."

"She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone," said this McCain adviser. "She does not have any relationships of trust with any of us, her family or anyone else.

"Also, she is playing for her own future and sees herself as the next leader of the party. Remember: Divas trust only unto themselves, as they see themselves as the beginning and end of all wisdom."

McCain is apparently regretting that he didn't bother vetting her and was caught unawares when she turned out to be the most ignorant politician he'd ever met-- and that includes Rick Renzi! "Her lack of fundamental understanding of some key issues was dramatic," said another McCain source with direct knowledge of the process to prepare Palin after she was picked. The source said it was probably the "hardest" to get her "up to speed than any candidate in history." And, judging by her rare press appearances, it wasn't a very successful effort either. Nice clothes though.

The Daily Blue America Report-- #2

Florida-08- Beneson released a new poll yesterday for the Orlando-centric district and it's more really bad news for incumbent rubber stamp Ric Keller. It's the third poll since the primary and the third showing him losing decisively to progressive truth-talker Alan Grayson. Grayson leads Keller by 11 points, 52-41%, up significantly since the September poll that stunned the DC Establishment by showing Grayson up 4 points over Keller. Keller's response has been a barrage of costly negative ads, paid for by the corporate interests he has steadfastly represented instead of central Florida voters. Keller has three times as much money in his campaign war chest as Grayson.

Florida-18- With Annette Taddeo's polling numbers steadily rising, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen has been confronted with a question she's never had to face before. How far is she willing to go to win re-election? Clearly she won't move away from her extremist reactionary world view and she's not going to suddenly end her rubber stamp posture towards Bush and the GOP. Apparently though, she is willing to toss her dignity to the winds and... poll dance in a bar. Watch:



Another thing she won't do: debate her opponent. Her nasty, elitist argument is that she's been around a long time and if the voters don't know where she stands by now, it's too bad. She so shocked the NBC and ABC affiliates by flatly turning down an opportunity to debate Annette on the biggest broadcast outlets in Miami-Dade, that they each invited Annette to come on and discuss the issues facing south Florida voters tomorrow. At 9 AM Annette will be on with Nick Bogert (NBC 6) on Today in South Florida Sunday and at 11:30 AM she'll be on WPLG Local 10 with Michael Putney on This Week in South Florida.

Meanwhile, the two south Florida progressives, Joe Garcia (FL-25) and Annette, will be holding public a meeting with Congressman Silvestre Reyes, Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, to discuss veterans' issues on Monday morning at 10AM in Kendall. Very few members of Congress have such unambiguously anti-veteran voting records as Mario Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. Diaz-Balart participated in 22 roll calls regarding veterans issues since 2003-- and he voted against our vets all 22 times! The pole dancer has a slightly worse voting record-- 23 roll calls/23 votes against American veterans. These are two of the sleaziest and most contemptible members of Congress, each running around screeching that they support the troops. But when it comes to paying for armor for the troops, they're AWOL and when it comes to supporting our vets, no member of Congress is worse than Mario Diaz-Balart and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen! No wonder Chairman Reyes is traveling all the way to Miami. After the Iraq and Afghan wars we will need members of Congress who support a fair deal for vets and their families, not slimy hacks like Diaz-Balart and the pole dancer.

And America's worst senator-- and Oklahoma's shame-- James Inhofe has joined the ranks of divisive extremist maniacs like Michele Bachmann, Robin Hayes, Scott Garrett and Sarah Palin. These shameless swine would rather divide Americans up and provoke animosity and hatred than talk about real issues facing the country. Garrett actually accused his opponent, Dennis Shulman, a blind rabbi of being in league with anti-Israeli terrorists! These people know no bounds. They follow pure Rovian constructs that advocate attacking political opponents with lies that go after their strongest points. Inhofe just came out with his newest TV smear campaign, a negative attack ad insinuating that Barack Obama and Andrew Rice are not "real Americans" and not like the rest of us.

Inhofe has been one of corporate America's most steadfast tools against the interests of American working families. Inhofe has accepted $1,356,302 in so-called "donations" from the finance, insurance and real estate industries, authors of the current economic misery that is plaguing this country's working people. And in return he has supported every single deregulation and every single tax break for them while offering regular Americans nothing but a pointy stick in the eye. Similarly, Big Oil has found a real partner in crime in James Inhofe. While his legislation drove their profits into the billions, while impoverishing working families, they lavished him with "donations." Big Oil has only given 4 current senators over a million dollars: shills John McCain, Kay Bailey Hutchison, John Cornyn and James Inhofe. There isn't a single member of Congress more corrupt than James Inhofe-- more corrupt and less in touch with his own constituents' needs. That's why he'd rather run a smear campaign against Andrew Rice than debate the issues.

As Karina Henderson from Rice's campaign wrote about the road trip to 30 Oklahoma communities he and his wife did last week, "The Oklahomans they meet aren't afraid of Andrew Rice, or of Barack Obama-- they're afraid of losing their jobs, being bankrupted by a health problem, watching their retirement savings disappear, and losing their home.  They're afraid of the very problems Jim Inhofe helped create because he thought the financial industry was 'overregulated.'"

You can donate to Andrew Rice, Joe Garcia, Annette Taddeo, Dennis Shulman and Alan Grayson all on the same page.

The World Is Not 100% Behind Obama-- But Damn Close

A friend of mine is running for Congress and his campaign has been doing weekly tracking polls. He told me that he has the support of 100% of African American voters in the district-- 100%. I never saw anyone get 100% in any election anywhere, not even in the fake elections they used to have in the Soviet Union or in Third World military dictatorships. So I've been really impressed with this never-changing tracking poll stat.

But a day or two ago I was listening to NPR and they mentioned that the Economist.com has an interact map that shows the polling data internationally on McCain and Obama. The map is fun and you should click the link and check it out. Most of it isn't surprising: basically the whole world, including the U.S. and every single country in North America and Europe is strongly in favor of Obama (except rump countrilettes Macedonia, which leans McCain, and Moldova and Slovakia which lean Obama in Europe and Cuba, also leaning McCain). As for their ancestral homes, McCain's Britain favors Obama (89-11%) and Obama's Kenya favors Obama (97-3%). Obama lived in Indonesia for a few years when he was a child and the folks there favor him 96-4%. McCain was born and raised in Panama and the people there favor Obama 79-21%). I was actually surprised to see that Israel strongly favors Obama (70-30%) and that Iraq is the only country in the world strongly favoring McCain (75-25%). Afghanistan goes 89-11% for Obama.

What I was looking for though was to see if there were any countries that replicated the 100% that my friend the soon-to-be-congressman was finding. And there are two! Haiti and Cameroon are 100% for Obama! The other stat I was looking for was Vietnam. After all, a huge part of the McCain myth was manufactured in and about Vietnam and they have his old flight uniform on display and he's handed out senatorial cuff links to his former captors and guards and to a woman who once claimed she once popped him with a hoe. She may be supporting his attempt to become president but most people in Nam, just like most people in every single Asian country except Iraq and Georgia (which leans McCain), is strongly for Obama, 85-15%. Today's Times, the one in London where they care about this far away little countries, carries a feature centered around Tran Trong Duyet, a pro-McCain guy who used to run the Hanoi Hilton (McCain's prison). The story confirms what most people who refused to take McCain's word for what actually happened there have long figured: he made the whole torture thing up as part of the myth building. McCain's lies, just accepted at face value, but never anything more than an excuse for signing a confession about war crimes:

“I was hauled into an empty room and kept there for four days. At intervals, the guards returned to administer beatings. One held me while the others pounded away. They cracked several of my ribs and broke a couple of teeth. Weakened by beatings and dysentery, with my right leg again almost useless, I found it impossible to stand.

“On the third night I lay in my blood and waste, so tired and hurt that I could not move. Three guards lifted me to my feet and gave me the worst beating yet. They left me on the floor moaning from the pain in my arm. Despairing of any relief from pain and further torture, I tried to take my life.”

After the election I'm flying to Dakar in Senegal and then going hiking in the Dogone country of Mali. Mali has no dog in this fight one way or the other and the Dogones have no electricity and no way of knowing who either McCain or Obama is but prosperous and Democratic little Senegal-- unlike savage hellholes like McCain-leaning Sudan and the Congo-- is strong for Obama (77-23%).

How Badly Will McCain's Collapse Hurt Down Ballot Republicans?

It isn't even clear if it'll be a landslide or not and Republicans are already picking over the bones trying to figure out who to blame. There are still dozens of congressional seats hanging in the balance and the GOP is still looking like they have a chance-- albeit a slight chance-- to save seats for far right extremists like Vern Buchanan (FL-13), Brian Bilbray (CA-50), Sam Graves (R-MO), Thelma Drake (VA-02), John Culberson (TX-07)... maybe even Lincoln Diaz-Balart (FL-21) and Dean Heller (NV-02). And then there's the anticipation of the one sure victory they know they will have when right-wing extremist Tom Rooney beats moderate Republican Tom Mahoney (FL-16) and the GOP has something to celebrate. But instead of savoring the end of Tim Mahoney-- something that should bring both Democrats and Republicans together on-- they're gnashing their teeth over that Governor of Alaska's sinking poll ratings and the ugly tensions over her inside the campaign. The lobbyists who run the Double Talk Express seem to have decided that she will be the star of the post mortem: "Four Republicans close to Palin said she has decided increasingly to disregard the advice of the former Bush aides tasked to handle her, creating occasionally tense situations as she travels the country with them. Those Palin supporters, inside the campaign and out, said Palin blames her handlers for a botched rollout and a tarnished public image-- even as others in McCain's camp blame the pick of the relatively inexperienced Alaska governor, and her public performance, for McCain's decline. "

A majority of likely voters in a new Washington Post-ABC News national poll now have unfavorable views of the Alaska governor, most still doubt her presidential qualifications and there is an even split on whether she "gets it," a perception that had been a key component of her initial appeal.

Palin's addition to the GOP ticket initially helped McCain narrow the gap with Obama on the question of which presidential hopeful "better understands the problems of people like you," but at 18 percentage points, the Democrat's margin on that question is now as big as it has been all fall. Nor has Palin attracted female voters to McCain, as his campaign had hoped.

Bill Kristol rarely gets anything right-- and never on any of the big stuff-- but in today's neo-fascist propaganda sheet, the Weekly Standard, he hits the nail on the head: McCain's going to lose. What he doesn't say is that it was the fact that his always bad judgment was exposed to the American people through the cynical Palin pick and that that was the decisive blow against his candidacy. The only lines worth reading in this week's Weekly Standard:

It's always darkest before it goes totally black... Well, with 10 days to go before the election, it's getting pretty dark out there.

Kristol, neo-Con loon 'til the end and beyond denounces the Republicans who have been abandoning McCain's sinking ship as rats. He may be right but one of the worst of the rats, Kenneth Adelman, defends himself today at, of all places, HuffPo:

McCain's tempera- ment -- leading him to bizarre behavior during the week the economic crisis broke-- and his judgment-- leading him to Wasilla -- depressed me into thinking that "our guy" would be a(nother) lousy conservative president. Been there, done that.

One of the hateful Republican extremists on the fringes of the far right, who basically admits what most right-wing loons believe-- that he would rather see America on its knees, its working families starving and desperate, than see Obama succeed as president-- ripped into Adelman on a Republican hate site:

...it is ironic that Ken Adelman-- the man who assured us Iraq would be a "cakewalk"-- would criticize Bush's competency. Second, if Adelman values conservative philosophy above all else, shouldn't he consider a "competent" liberal be the worst possible combination?  After all, an incompetent liberal might not be able to pass liberal legislation-- but a competent liberal would use his intellect and ability to pass tax hikes, create more departments, nationalize more industries, etc.

So while McCain desperately tries to win solid red states like Indiana, Ohio and Montana, where he's behind, and even Arizona, where observers say McCain's own state would slip away if Obama would schedule just one rally in Phoenix, the Obama campaign has its eyes on areas where Democrats haven't tread in far too long. He is the culmination of Howard Dean's 50 state strategy.

By every metric, Barack Obama's presidential campaign appears headed for the upper deck. Polls (both national and state-by-state), organization, money, and momentum are all running strongly in Obama's favor. At this point, one wonders whether Obama's winning margin could be greater than Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton's 5.6-point win over President George H.W. Bush in 1992, more than Bush's 7.7-point win over Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis in 1988, or more than Clinton's 8.5-point win over Sen. Bob Dole in 1996. Even higher on the landslide roster is California Gov. Ronald Reagan's 9.7-point victory over President Carter in 1980 and Gen. Dwight Eisenhower's 10.9-point win over Adlai Stevenson in 1952.

For many professional politicians on the right the only question worth talking about between now and election night is how badly McCain's toxic coattails will hurt the Republican Party and how many rightists' careers will be destroyed. The GOP has completely written off incumbents like Don Young (AK), Tom Feeney (FL), Randy Kuhl (NY), Tim Walberg (MI) as well as "up-and-comers" like Darren White (NM), Leonard Lance (NJ), and Tom McClintock (CA). And they now view races to retain the seats of Robin Hayes (NC), Ric Keller (FL), Marilyn Musgrave (CO), Joe Knollenberg (MI), Chris Shays (CT), Mark Kirk (IL), Jon Porter (NV), Dave Reichert (WA), Steve Chabot (OH), and Michele Bachmann (MN) as a waste of time and resources. Instead the battleground has moved to saving incumbents once thought untouchable-- like Dana Rohrabacher (CA), John Shadegg (AZ), Virgil Goode (VA), Scott Garrett (NJ), Michael McCaul (TX), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL), Bill Sali (ID), Frank Wolf (VA), and Lee Terry (NE).

On the Senate side, they've written off New Mexico, Virginia, Alaska, Colorado, New Hampshire, and North Carolina entirely and are hoping for miracles to save their incumbents in Mississippi, Minnesota, and Oregon. Their last stand against a filibuster-proof Senate is taking place in Kentucky, Georgia, Maine, Texas, Oklahoma and Nebraska.

Back to McCain for a second: it looks like the new battleground state is Georgia, where Obama has just pulled ahead. Bob Barr, a former conservative Republican Georgia congressman says it isn't so much that Obama is winning; it's just that McCain is losing.

If you're looking to help: one stop shopping-- for our nation's future.

Progressive Majority in Wisconsin

Last weekend we spent some time with our Progressive Majority friends and allies from Ohio and met an exceptional state legislative candidate, Matt Patten. The same way they are helping turn Ohio blue and helping turn blue Ohio progressive, they are busy in Wisconsin assisting men and women with progressive values make their ways up the political ladder. Today we're going to spend some time with  Nicholl Caruso, Wisconsin State Director of Progressive Majority, and one of the state's most promising Assembly candidates, Fred Clark of Baraboo.

Progressive Majority’s top national goal in 2008 is flipping control in the Wisconsin Assembly. All it takes is three seats. In 2006, Progressive Majority was critical in shifting power in the Wisconsin Senate with a four-seat pick up. That year they won eight more seats in the Assembly. Building on those major gains they are now poised to win the three seats needed to win Assembly control from the Republicans. 

Progressive Majority has twenty Assembly candidates either challenging a conservative or running in an open seat formerly held by a conservative. That’s twenty opportunities to win the three seats Democrats need!

One of the incredible Progressive Majority candidates working to be part of the new governing majority is Fred Clark.

Fred Clark is challenging seven-year conservative incumbent, "Doc" Hines in Assembly District 42. His district is in south-central Wisconsin and includes the Wisconsin Dells area. Fred is a small business owner and forester.  Over 12 years ago he founded Clark Forestry, a forestry consulting and land management firm. In that time Fred’s clients have included hundreds of farmers, private landowners, environmental groups, and government agencies throughout Wisconsin. Before starting his business, Fred worked as a Senior Forester for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and as an ecologist with The Nature Conservancy. 
 
Fred has worn many hats throughout his nearly twenty-year career in Wisconsin. He is a skilled facilitator, and his work frequently involves resolving issues between stakeholders, neighbors, citizens and other affected parties in natural resource projects. 
 
Fred’s work on the environment has been so impressive that he was appointed by a Republican, former Governor Thompson, to the Lower Wisconsin Riverway Board in 1998, where he served as a representative for Columbia County. In 2004 he was appointed by Governor Doyle to the Wisconsin Council on Forestry, where he serves as Chairman of the Council’s Subcommittee on Invasive Species.
 
Fred Clark was a founder of the Woodland School, a Baraboo-based educational program providing conservation training to private landowners, now in its eighth year of service.  He was also a founding member of the Baraboo Range Preservation Association, a non-profit land trust serving Sauk and Columbia counties.
 
As state Representative, Fred will be a strong conservation advocate and with a progressive majority in the Assembly, he’ll be a leader in the fight for affordable health care and job growth. He is an ouspoken advocate for both campaign finance reform and for universal health care. Not surprisingly he has been endorsed by Russ Feingold. Stick surf over to Firedoglake and join Fred and Nicoll in comments. And please consider a  donation to Fred's campaign.

NY Times Endorses Dennis Shulman

All week there have been rumors flying that Dennis Shulman has a big and unexpected endorsement breaking in the next few days. This morning the NY Times picked Dennis as the best candidate to represent northern New Jersey's 5th CD. Although the Times endorsed both democrats and Republicans-- or at least one-- for NYC Metropolitan area congressional seats, it is hardly a surprise or unexpected that they would throw their weight behind one of the most well-versed and wisest candidates running for Congress from anywhere in America. And that is doubly true when you consider the alternative, far right incumbent Scott Garrett, one of the most personally corrupt men left in New Jersey politics.

Residents in this stretch from northeast Bergen County to rural northwestern New Jersey are represented by Scott Garrett, one of the most conservative members of Congress. Mr. Garrett supports constitutional amendments to ban abortion, even in cases of rape and incest. He backs President Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy and limited aid for the poor.

We endorse Dennis Shulman, a Democrat who is a rabbi and psychologist. Mr. Shulman says he would work to mitigate global warming. He would also take an interest in psychological counseling and educational opportunities for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Times must be exhausted after the stunning Obama endorsement a few days ago. But what this endorsement of Dennis lacks in depth and insight, TPM makes up for in their investigation into "New Jersey's Own Version of Michele Bachmann."

Intriguingly, the line of attack that Garrett has taken against his Rabbinical opponent is to accuse him of being a terrorist-hugging, Ahmadinejad-appeasing, scary extremist. Check out this ad that Garrett is running, alongside mailings that depict Shulman and the Iranian President along with masked gunmen. If this is beginning to sound like the vile and counterproductive excesses of Minnesota motor mouth Representative Michele Bachmann, then that is not coincidental.

Bachmann's Chief of Staff and Press Secretary both worked for Garrett earlier this year-Chief of Staff Michelle Presson left in March to take up the same position, while in July Garrett's spokeswoman Mary Vought left to become Bachmann's Communications Director.

Last night Dennis devastated the deceptive and sleazy Garrett during their third debate in Hackettstown. Right off the bat he threw Garrett off his game by asking him a simple question: "Do you have no shame? You cannot be that desperate to keep your job to make these kinds of accusations." Garrett nervously ignored the question and it sat their like a big turd on his head for the entire debate. Dennis went on to pulverize him on every issue that was brought up, from the veterans who Garrett has completely ignored (take a look at the very worst voting record on vets in the entire Congress) to the economic downturn over which Garrett has helped preside.

Blue America is offering two ways to assist Dennis win this tough race. The most direct is to donate directly to his campaign at the Blue America ActBlue page. Another is to put your own ad campaign together for the district at the SaysMe.tv campaign site. Just select the New York City media market, double click on Dennis' district, enter your name on the ad and pick the networks and times of day you want to run the ad. It's an expensive market-- $376 for one ad late at night on MSNBC or $289 on MTV or the SciFi channel. It would be cool if you could do one or two. If not, even $5 and $10 donations at the Blue America page ad up.

As for the "unexpected endorsement," come back on Monday.

Eine Kleine Nachtmusik Von Paul V

Paul and I worked together at Warner Bros Records. Now we're both doing what we can to support Obama's bid for the presidency. Paul, one of L.A.'s most popular djs, put together this megamix we both hope you'll enjoy:

Obama vs. Ratatat - Obamatat (We Can Not Walk Alone) (Justin Lowe mashup)
Daft Punk vs. Adam Freeland - AerObama
DJ Z-Trip - Obama Outake 1 (snippet)
The Alan Cohen Experience - Obama
MC Yogi - Vote For Hope
The Hush Sound - We Believe In (Barack Obama)
Jay-Z - Lick A Shot For Obama
John Brown - Sarah Palin (I Wanna Lay Some Pipe)
DLake - I'ma Vote Obama Way (Tisa remix)
The Crystal Method - Now Is The Time (Vote '08 remix)
Kennedy - Who's Votin' Obama?
Z-Trip - Yes We Can (Obama Outake 1)

Give it a listen:



And while you're listening-- if you can keep from dancing-- you might want to ponder Marc Ambinder's picture of the new GOP or andrew Sullivan's theories on the collapse of the Republican Party. Sullivan:

We've been told over and over again that the Bush administration always put politics before policy - and then made Karl Rove its policy czar! This is how they approached something as grave as war.

We will see a serious conservatism again when Bill Kristol and Karl Rove are banished from the Republican party and from the conservative media. The Republican implosion is primarily their doing, their achievement, their legacy. It was when McCain ceded his campaign to Schmidt and Palin (creatures of Rove and Kristol respectively) that he threw it all away. As long as they are given any credence, Republicanism will not recover.

No? How about the Wall Street Journal's pathetic endgame hopes and their sad pride in the fact that McCain's strength is up to 43% in some polls?

Still No Apology From McCain... Drudge?

Another not well thought out McCain campaign gimmick

So this is all that's left of the McCain campaign and the McCain legacy-- the blood libel against black men concerning the defilement of caucasian womanhood. Did someone in the McCain campaign put her up to this or did typical Republican trash nutcase Ashley Todd think this racist stunt up herself?



Matt Grimm of Red Smear brings up a good point:

SOMETIMES WHEN WE CALL YOU 'RACIST' IT'S BECAUSE YOU ARE

"If Barak [sic] loses his supporters will riot in the streets and kill many including white Obama supporters. If he wins we will see the turn of racism (what we tern reverse racism) and all races but black races will be treated as scum of the earth by the new socialist black majority. not only that we will see a collapse of the free market enterprise and the socialization of our Nation completed in the first 24 months of his presidency."

So sayeth some guy named Chet who posted this today over at Newbusters, the right-wing paranoiac site dedicated to proving that right-leaning mainstream media are left-leaning mainstream media. The post, as you can see, is in reference to the Ashley Todd story, the young Texan volunteer for the McCain campaign who claimed a big scary black man attacked her in Pittsburgh, mugged her, noticed the McCain sticker on her car, then went further to take a knife out and cut a B (for "Barack" according to several higher-up McCain campaign officials) on her cheek to teach her a lesson about being a pinched little white Republican. He happened to carve the B backward, as if in a mirror. The only problem was he didn't do any of that stuff because he didn't exist; she made it all up, which she has now admitted.

Of course, she admitted it after fear-fueled psychotics like Sean Hannity and the Fox News gang had raised holy hell out of it and after Sarah Palin and John McCain milked it for all it was worth publicity-wise. Sure, it turns out, the McCain campaign took the story and ran with it like a football, 
actively pimping it to its Republican mouthpiece media before most local news sources and cops even had a sense of what happened.
 
According to TPM, "John McCain's Pennsylvania communications director told reporters in the state an incendiary version of the hoax story about the attack on a McCain volunteer well before the facts of the case were known or established -- and even told reporters outright that the 'B' carved into the victim's cheek stood for 'Barack,' according to multiple sources familiar with the discussions."

The Republican PR assets at Fox and on talk radio dutifully leveraged Ashley's fake story exactly as she and they had intended, as the spark that allowed them to rage about the fire they genuinely see coming, an America taken over by savage, amorphously different infidels. And this time there is no Little Colonel and his intrepid Klansmen to ride to the rescue, as they had in Birth of a Nation. Well, there are, and plenty of self-rationalizing little '38'-ers, it's just that most of us-- you know, the non-twelve percenters-- don't fucking like Klansmen and are getting ever more sick of self-righteous Michele Bachmanesque reactionary base they represent.



As appalling as anything about the whole incident is the fact that JOHN McCAIN, the presidential candidate of the Republican Party, phoned Ashley Todd to console her. What I would like to know of the McCain campaign is this: how many other mugging victims has the candidate taken time out of his busy schedule to place a personal call to? Three-to-seven? 50-75? Is there, like, a police-band radio on the StraightTalk Express by which they track muggings in major metros around the country?

Or did John McCain phone the girl whom he heard was the victim of some Rastus gettin' uppity? We fuckwell know that's why Hannity and Fox, et al., the mouthpieces of the lily-white fucking elite and their lily-white bible-thumping footsoldiers, jumped on the story, even though it never happened, because one Rastus gettin' uppity, whether as a presidential candidate or on a Pittsburgh street, portends a nationwide epidemic of "certain types" forgetting their place, enabled by those of us non-real-Americans here in the scary un-American cities where we sip scary non-American beverages, burn flags like tiki torches, teach our children science and compete to see who can be least American. 

Courtesy of Driftglass

Even some of the douchebags over at Newsbusters have admitted they fucked up, but, like Chet above, they're still qualifying their state of heightened wariness. It's justified, they say, because it could be true, and soon. That is, the wholesale fiction they just swallowed like a glory-hole load, spun by a racist Texan crazywoman they so desperately wanted to be their Ivory Girl martyr, just faithfully approximates the white-knuckled fearscape they tread every day of their sad fucking lives.

The Daily Blue America Report

Superb Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter

Texas-10- Early voting, increased Democratic voter registration, a lack of enthusiasm for McCain and for Republicans in general looks like it is turning one of Tom Delay's gerrymandered districts-- a big swatch of eastern and central Texas from Austin to the Houston suburbs-- blue. Larry Joe Doherty is doing an incredible job and Bush rubber stamp Michael McCaul' is suddenly waking up to realize he may soon be working for his father-in-law directly. Today's Austin Statesman seems to have detected a bit of the old gloom and doom setting in at McCaul campaign headquarters.

After looking at the early voting turnout-- two to one, Democrat over Repug-- McCaul campaign manager Jack Ladd sent out an e-mail alert to right-wing activists: “This is very bad news. If you think your friends are volunteering, they are not. I know I’m not going to sit down and die, and I know you will not either. There are only 12 days left, and this is not a lifelong commitment, we are asking you just give part of a day or days and help keep CD10 Republican.”

Between the Rick Noriega, Barack Obama and SEIU ground campaigns-- not to mention Larry Joe's own-- McCaul would probably be better off spending the next 12 days in one of the snake-handling churches that support him begging for some of that sky-god intervention Palin is counting on.

New Hampshire-01- None of the freshmen elected in 2006 has been more forthright in battling the special interests and always keeping the interests of working families front and center than Carol Shea-Porter. Unfortunately, Jeb Bradley, the rubber stamp reactionary the voters in eastern New Hampshire decided to replace in 2006, is trying to get his old job back. And there's nothing he won't stoop to to get back to Washington. Right now he's using a poor distraught Gold Star mother to distort Carol's support for the troops and principled opposition to the war. Carol has received the endorsement of the VFW's PAC, and an A+ rating from the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. What Bradley is trying to do to her is despicable. 

Carol is a military spouse and has been one of the best friends our fighting men and women have in Congress but Bradley is callously manipulating this woman-- apparently driven insane and filled with partisan rage and hatred-- as an attack dog against Carol.

Bradley's corporately funded campaign includes the most vicious and deceitful ads being run by anyone from either party in New England. His ads are entirely based on distortion and outright lies-- like this ugliness. Fortunately New Hampshire is not Alabama and most of the voters there seem to see right through Bradley's slimefest. The two most recent polls-- both in October-- show Carol ahead of him by an average of 7 points. The problem is that Bradley was a 100% corporate shill before Carol banished him from Congress and K Street wants him back-- and right-wing front groups and hate organizations like Freedom's Watch are flooding the district with ads. Carol can really use our help-- and she's earned it.

Pennsylvania-03- The only independent who Blue America has endorsed this year, Dr. Steven Porter, is running against an anti-choice fanatic/pathetic Democratic hack from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party, Kathy Dahlkemper and against one of the most useless and personally corrupt GOP shills in Congress, Phil English. Predictably, the two superficial and unqualified major party candidates have conspired to keep Steven out of the debates. When Edinboro University announced recently that they are including him in a debate next Tuesday, the petrified and tongue-tied Dahlkemper immediately backed out. English isn't saying whether or not he will participate.

"Dahlkemper’s refusal," Steve told us, "is evidence of a fatal flaw in the character of a legislator:  the lack of courage. When the choice before the electorate is limited to one between clever thieves and shallow puppets, the only results possible are disastrous. We are experiencing those kinds of results now in our land and across our planet. And still, things can get worse. Recessions can collapse into depressions. Terrorist conflagrations can escalate into nuclear war. The greed of international business can result in ecological holocaust. To stave off such calamities, legislative leaders around the world will need the courage to speak the truth and act accordingly. The cowardice of Mrs. Dahlkemper (and a very corrupt political system which supports her) in both driving independent voices off the ballot and refusing to face them in open debate signals her complete unpreparedness for the office which she seeks. It is a warning sign of unmistakable dimensions."

And English, as usual, has problems of his own. One of the misguided labor unions that has backed him preciously, AFSCME, has finally woken up and seen the light, launching a half million dollar campaign against him for his consistent support of Bush's anti-working family economic agenda. The AFSCME campaign may not be enough to defeat English. Steve has virtually no money to mount a campaign and Dahlkemper is such an abysmal candidate that no self-respecting progressive could possibly vote for her. On top of the corporate pals who English has sold his soul to are coming through for him with last minute mega-donations, especially mutual fund firms, mortgage bankers and other authors of the economic collapse he has helped preside over. Needless to say Big Oil and every big corporation that opposes labor unions, especially Wal-Mart, is donating to English.

Tonight's last item: in a move that surprised most people, Oklahoma's fourth largest newspaper, the Muskogee Phoenix endorsed one of the best candidates running for Senate anywhere, Andrew Rice.

There is no doubt that Inhofe maintains a conservative attitude that reflects the position of his constituent base, but the extremist statements he has made throughout his career on many subjects hurts his credibility and the state's image despite whatever positive contributions he has made while in Congress. And extremism, whether to the right or left, does not promote good government policies or government that benefits everyone.

That is why Andrew Rice is a better candidate in the U.S. Senate race.

Rice has a more even-handed and rational approach to the issues and problems we are experiencing. He has gained a experiential world view as a missionary, working with rural development projects in Asia, that would serve him well in the Senate.

And another great Blue America candidate for Senate, Jeff Merkley, had a pretty special endorsement today too:



Meanwhile, I want to remind everyone to be sure to wander over and check out Digby's Blue America fundraiser.

Will The Democrats Win A Filibuster-Proof Senate?

Key to a filibuster-proof Senate is in Oklahoma

Yesterday we used CQPolitics new tool to see which members of the House have clung most desperately to Bush's agenda. We exposed the worst Republican and Democratic rubber stamps-- and the handful of proud Democrats who have resisted most consistently. Today, let's do the same thing for the Senate.

First, the most pathetic senatorial Republican rubber stamps who are up for re-election in 2 weeks:

John Cornyn (TX)
Michael Enzi (WY)
James Inhofe (OK)
Mitch McConnell (KY)
Thad Cochran (MS)
Jeff Sessions (AL)
Saxby Chambliss (GA)
John McCain (AZ)

Now the worst of the Vichy Democrats, the traitors who have backed Bush up, betrayed working families and are as responsible for the nation's problems as are the Republicans:

Ben Nelson (NE)
Mary Landrieu (LA)
Blanche Lincoln (AR)
Bill Nelson (FL)
Mark Pryor (AR)
Evan Bayh (IN)
Max Baucus (MT)

Those are the worst of the Democrats, none of whom are worthy of being re-elected. There were damn few Democrats who really stood up to Bush in a consistently meaningful way. The best ones:

Bernie Sanders (VT)
Sherrod Brown (OH)
Ben Cardin (MD)
Robert Menendez (NJ)
Jon Tester (MT)
Sheldon Whitehouse (RI)
Amy Klobuchar (MN)

Voters are in a pissed off mood-- and it isn't only McCain they're pissed off at. It looks like the target isn't going to be the Bush Democrats-- just rubber stamp Republicans. Today's Boston Globe predicts an electoral bloodbath in both houses. And in the Senate they've honed in on Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), while mentioning that Elizabeth Dole (R-NC), John Sununu (R-NH), Norm Coleman (R-MN), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Ted Stevens (R-AK) and Mitch McConnell (R-KY) are all also in grave jeopardy of losing their seats.

Blue America's Senate Page only features 5 progressives that are the tough races that will make the difference between Democrats having an enhanced majority that will still be subject to systematic obstructionism from reactionaries and having a filibuster-proof majority-- and one that includes real live progressives who won't be joining the Ben Nelsons and Mary Landrieux as they cross the aisle to stab working families in the back. There is virtually no way to get to 60 Democrats (and that's 60 without Lieberman of course) without electing at least a couple of the great candidates in the difficult races:

Andrew Rice (OK)
Jeff Merkley (OR)
Tom Allen (ME)
Rick Noriega (AK)
Mark Begich (AK)

Please consider donating today. In fact, anyone who spreads some contributions to all 5 of our candidates in the next 24 hours will get a present from Blue America.

The Wal-Mart Mom, The Media And The Incredible Shrinking GOP-- Oh And The McCain Campaign Faked The Mutilation Story

They dressed her up nice but she wouldn't give up her own purse

We resisted writing about the $150,000 McCain gave Caribou Barbie for designer clothes and makeup. Anything that distracts from the real issues is a plus for McCain's crumbling campaign. Today Palin did an interview with the Chicago Tribune and instead of talking about why the Republican Party thinks staying the course is the way to make the economy work for regular Americans, she got to yammer on mindlessly about her clothing. Her and McCain didn't exactly get their stories straight though. "Oh, if people only knew how frugal we are," she whined.

"It's kind of painful to be criticized for something when all the facts are not out there and are not reported," said Palin, saying the clothes are not worth $150,000 and were bought for the Republican National Convention. Still, she has been wearing pricey clothes at campaign events this fall. She said they will be given back, auctioned off or sent to charity. Most of them, she said, haven't even left the belly of her campaign plane.

McCain meanwhile, claims the $150,000 worth of clothes and accessories was money well-spent. Obviously, the kind of people who have bought into the Wal-Mart Mom crap, can't connect the dots anyway. "She needed the clothes," sniffed McCain, who likes his women well turned-out-- although... fashion experts are scratching their heads and wondering how exactly she spent all that money (based on what they've seen her wearing). It looks like at least some of the money was pocketed by the Palins.

Meanwhile, the media can always be counted on to keep 'em honest... right?




UPDATE: GOP DESPERATION LEADS POOR GIRL TO... WELL SHE MUST THINK SHE'S ROVE OR SCHMIDT-- OR McCAIN'S OWN TAWANA BRAWLEY

You probably heard all the carrying on from the right-wing loons like Drudge and from the poor victims at the McCain campaign screeching about how their volunteer was beaten up and mutilated for her McCainishness. The racist story never made any sense anyway but after she took a lie detector test, she just proved herself to be another typical Republican liar. She now admits she made the whole thing up. A Fox news executive VP said if the story is a hoax-- and it has now been established that it was-- then McCain's campaign is over. That's news?

I haven't heard McCain or Palin apologizing. You? No, they're still figuring out a way to blame this on... well anyone. McCain never says he's sorry. He never accepts responsibility in any meaningful way. That's the story of his life. Even Michele Bachmann is trying to apologize (now that she sees her political career rapidly fading into the past).

Keith Olbermann Has A New Worst Person: Robin Hayes (R-NC)

Robin Hayes can't ever seem to get his stories straight

Olbermann is never kind to extremist lunatics. It's taken him a while but he's finally gotten around to Robin "Weepy" Hayes, a kind of feudal type who represents a sprawling district that stretches from Charlotte to Fayetteville (NC-08). Apparently he had either just lost control of himself or he was trying to compete with Michele Bachmann for the GOP crazee du jour, when he introduced John McCain to an audience in North Carolina by saying "Liberals hate real Americans that work and accomplish and believe in God." Forgetting that we're in a different kind of media age, where things are easy recorded and checked, he flatly denied saying it.

The next day witnesses came forward to say they heard him. He denied it some more. Then someone released a recording and he was caught like a rat. He first claimed he didn't remember saying it and then claimed he didn't mean to say it and later claimed he never really denied it-- and blamed the whole thing on... liberal bloggers. The funny thing is, North Carolina voters have even better reasons to get rid of Robin Hayes than just his erratic grappling with Truth and Reality.

If any member of Congress personifies a willingness to sell out his constituents' economic interests for the sake of special interests, it is Robin Hayes. Few districts anywhere have been as hard hit by unfair trade policies as NC-08. And yet Hayes was the deciding vote-- twice-- on trade agreements his party was pushing that he himself said he knew was bad for North Carolina! Once he actually voted NO and then, weeping like a little girl, changed his vote to YES when Tom Delay threatened him on the floor of the House.

Hayes' opponent, Larry Kissell, is one of the best candidates running for Congress anywhere. A laid off mill worker, Larry became a social studies teacher and later came within 325 votes of ousting Hayes from Congress in 2006. This year polls say he will complete the job. Blue America has endorsed him and I'm very nervous about this race because Hayes and his corporate allies are flooding the district with negative campaign ads-- and Larry's pretty much out of money. According to Open Secrets, on September 30 Hayes still had $1,113,272 left to spend and Larry was down to $250,134. The most recent polling shows Larry at 49% and Hayes at 41% but the NRCC is blasting away with $882,000 in television smears.

Larry deserves our support-- and not just because Hayes has been such an egregious rubber stamp for the entire Bush agenda. Larry is a committed progressive who will stand up to special interests across the board-- the kind represented by Bush Republicans and the kind, just as venal, represented by corrupt Democrats like Rahm Emanuel. Emanuel, the Tom Delay doppelganger in the Democratic caucus, favors the exact same unfair trade policies that Bush and Delay were pushing. I'd LOVE to see the little twerp try to persuade Larry Kissell to change his vote and support that kind of crap! This is what Larry told me when I asked him about Hayes' latest episode:

Unfortunately this dishonesty that my opponent has continued to show this week is part of a pattern of deceit that goes all the way back to his betrayal of our district and his last minute vote switches on fast track authority for Bush and CAFTA.

There are two ways to help Larry win this seat now. One is by donating directly to his campaign via ActBlue. Even $5 and $10 donations help. The other is to place your own ad buy in the Charlotte cable market through SaysMe.tv. Just pick which ad you want to run, which network you want to run it on and what time of the day. An ad on MSNBC in the late afternoon, for example, costs $60, while a late night ad on MTV or the SciFi channel costs $31; ESPN 2 charges $60 for a spot late night or early morning. It's fun. Meanwhile, watch Keith giving Hayes his due:

By November Will There Be Any Non-Mormons Left Voting For McCain?

It's well known in Arizona political circles that Barry Goldwater always hated McCain and avoided him whenever he could. McCain's crooked approach to politics and sleazy relationships with bribe wielding big money men, coupled with his nasty personality and suck-up attitude always made Goldwater's skin crawl. If the book Barry Goldwater, Jr. (penned with John Dean) about his dad, Pure Goldwater, wasn't enough to convince you that Barry, Sr. had passed his antipathy towards McCain on to his whole clan, be sure to read his granddaughter's post at HuffPo. She and her siblings joined other members of the Goldwater family in endorsing Barack Obama.

We believe strongly in what our grandfather stood for: honesty, integrity, and personal freedom, free from political maneuvering and fear tactics. I learned a lot about my grandfather while producing the documentary, Mr. Conservative Goldwater on Goldwater. Our generation of Goldwaters expects government to provide for constitutional protections. We reject the constant intrusion into our personal lives, along with other crucial policy issues of the McCain/Palin ticket.

My grandfather (Paka) would never suggest denying a woman's right to choose. My grandmother co-founded Planned Parenthood in Arizona in the 1930's, a cause my grandfather supported. I'm not sure about how he would feel about marriage rights based on same-sex orientation. I think he would feel that love and respect for ones privacy is what matters most and not the intolerance and poor judgment displayed by McCain over the years. Paka respected our civil liberties and passed on the message that that we should conduct our lives standing up for the basic freedoms we hold so dear.

Long before the current Goldwaters were born, their antecedents changed their name from Goldwasser and changed their religion to something that was more upwardly mobile at the time. Today it's ok to be Jewish and there are even some Jewish Republicans-- just like their were a few self-loathing or just really stupid Jews in the early 1930s who supported the Nazis in Germany. But the vast majority of Jews do not support right-wing parties and the GOP never fares very well with Jews. Every election cycle Republicans say this year we will get the Jews They never do-- and 2008 will not be the exception. A new Gallup poll shows that since the summer, more and more Jews have embraced the idea of a President Obama. He now leads McCain 74-22%. That's around the same number of Jews who voted for Bush in 2004. As you can see from the graph, Jewish support for Democrats has been pretty steady for three decades.



But this morning's big news isn't that Scotty McClellan endorsed Obama or that much of the Bush electoral coalition is swinging in Obama's direction or that most Jews are doing exactly what most Jews always do-- vote for the better candidate. No, it's the quality of the exhaustive 3 page NY Times Obama endorsement. The warm-up:

The United States is battered and drifting after eight years of President Bush’s failed leadership. He is saddling his successor with two wars, a scarred global image and a government systematically stripped of its ability to protect and help its citizens — whether they are fleeing a hurricane’s floodwaters, searching for affordable health care or struggling to hold on to their homes, jobs, savings and pensions in the midst of a financial crisis that was foretold and preventable.

As tough as the times are, the selection of a new president is easy. After nearly two years of a grueling and ugly campaign, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois has proved that he is the right choice to be the 44th president of the United States.

And for a newspaper that actually endorsed McCain just a few months ago and has been part of the media cabal that has helped him create a false myth that he was a straight talking and honest maverick, they have certainly soured on him under long overdue scrutiny.

Senator John McCain of Arizona has retreated farther and farther to the fringe of American politics, running a campaign on partisan division, class warfare and even hints of racism. His policies and worldview are mired in the past. His choice of a running mate so evidently unfit for the office was a final act of opportunism and bad judgment that eclipsed the accomplishments of 26 years in Congress.

Given the particularly ugly nature of Mr. McCain’s campaign, the urge to choose on the basis of raw emotion is strong. But there is a greater value in looking closely at the facts of life in America today and at the prescriptions the candidates offer. The differences are profound.

Mr. McCain offers more of the Republican every-man-for-himself ideology, now lying in shards on Wall Street and in Americans’ bank accounts. Mr. Obama has another vision of government’s role and responsibilities.

...The American financial system is the victim of decades of Republican deregulatory and anti-tax policies. Those ideas have been proved wrong at an unfathomable price, but Mr. McCain-- a self-proclaimed “foot soldier in the Reagan revolution”-- is still a believer.

Mr. Obama sees that far-reaching reforms will be needed to protect Americans and American business.

Mr. McCain talks about reform a lot, but his vision is pinched. His answer to any economic question is to eliminate pork-barrel spending-- about $18 billion in a $3 trillion budget-- cut taxes and wait for unfettered markets to solve the problem.

It will should come as no surprise to anyone-- though it will-- that McCain-Palin is dragging the entire Republican Party down the toilet with it. Last night the Politico reported on GOP warnings of a rout.

An internal document circulating among House Republicans warns of an impending congressional bloodbath, listing 58 Republican-held House seats being at risk, and 11 already considered as good as gone. As many as 34 GOP-held seats are in serious jeopardy of swinging to Democrats, the assessment shows.

The seats that they know they're losing are many of the ones we've been talking about all year here at DWT and pushing at Blue America. According to the memo they've written off the seats currently held by Randy Kuhl (NY-29), Don Young (AK), Tim Walberg (MI-07), Joe Knollenberg (MI-09), Tom Feeney (FL-24), Ric Keller (FL-08) as well as almost all the open seats from which Republicans-- some facing prison, some just sick of politics-- are retiring.

Ironically, the only blue to red switch, will be in FL-16, where the Republicans are going to beat a corrupt Republican who switched his voter registration to Democratic a few months before the 2006 election. Rahm Emanuel explained to him that Foley had a problem about to break and that if Mahoney became a Democrat he could promise him the seat. Mahoney did win (as a "Democrat") but has voted with the GOP more than almost any other Democrats in the House. Evan a lowlife like Emanuel is afraid to defend him now. Let the GOP take the district back. It will mean a net pick up of 36 instead of 37 seats-- or maybe 40 instead of 41.

To be honest with you, I would rather the Democrats win far fewer seats as long as they are real Democrats, not these phony nominal ones from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party who are just as bad as actual Republicans. How do you know who the real ones are? We did the work for you. If you can help... even $5 or $10 helps.


UPDATE: ANOTHER MAINSTREAM REPUBLICAN DUMPS McCAIN

Former Massachusetts Bill Weld (R), just endorsed Obama. "Senator Obama is a once-in-a-lifetime candidate who will transform our politics and restore America's standing in the world," Weld said in a statement. "We need a president who will lead based on our common values and Senator Obama demonstrates an ability to unite and inspire. Throughout this campaign I've watched his steady leadership through trying times and I'm confident he is the best candidate to move our country forward."

Will McCain Win After All?

They're working on it everywhere... hard.

Video the Vote

Things We Learned Today

Are new registrations enough to put Kleeb over the top?

Obama is winning Montana, a state that has only voted for two Democrats in presidential elections since helping elect Eisenhower. The latest poll gives him 44% over McCain's 40%, primarily because independents, who are sick of McCain's negative campaign tactics, are breaking Obama's way bigtime

Nebraska is even redder. Although they did vote for LBJ against Goldwater, he was the only Democrat they have voted for in presidential elections since the 1930s! Not that I'm predicting that they're going to go for Obama. They're not. But... voter registration figures released today are startling, to say the least. Republicans now make up less than half the electorate in that state. And although that has a lot to do with independents, in the last year Nebraska Democrats have a 23.5 to 1 advantage in net new registrations. 31,693 new Democrats registered; 1,348 newly minted Republicans.

We also learned that lagging indicator Cook is now projecting a win for another Blue America candidate: Martin Henirich (NM-01). The other Blue America candidates he has already suggested start looking for apartments or houses in the DC area are Alan Grayson (FL-08), Gary Peters (MI-09), Eric Massa (NY-29), Larry Kissell (NC-08), and Darcy Burner (WA-08). And Vic Wulsin (OH-02) is moving in our direction as well. Remember, Cook is the worst lagging indicator and if he says a race leans Democratic it means that the voting is over and the Democrat won with double digits. His Senate prognostications indicate that 2 of the Blue America candidates are likely to win, Mark Begich (AK) and Jeff Merkley (OR), although he's not counting out either Andrew Rice (OK) or Tom Allen (ME).

Less out-of-touch prognosticators than Cook and the Inside-the-Beltway crowd, see many more seats in play. Today's San Francisco Chronicle is predicting-- or at least acknowledging-- that many GOP seats can no longer be considered "safe."

The state's 53 congressional districts are so gerrymandered that competitive races are extremely rare. There were supposed to be just two hotly contested seats this year-- in the 4th and 11th districts in Northern California.

But the nation's economic crisis, President Bush's unpopularity in California and excitement over Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama have combined to put more GOP seats in play. Democratic victories in any of them would still amount to surprising upsets, though.

They've added Nick Leibham, Bill Durston, Debbie Cook, Russ Warner and Julie Bornstein to the list of... one (Charlie Brown), with chances of changing red districts blue. Blue America's ActBlue page is open.

We also learned about a great new tool CQPolitics has developed to analyze specifically the degree of Bush rubber stampiness can be attributed to every member of Congress. The worst Republicans (over 90%) were: John Boehner (OH), Roy Blunt (MO), Eric Cantor (VA), David Dreier (CA), Trent Franks (AZ), Doug Lamborn (CO), John Linder (GA), Jim McCrery (LA), Pete Sessions (TX), and William Thornberry (TX). And the worst Democrats were Jim Marshall (GA), Dan Boren (OK), Buddy Cramer (AL), Allen Boyd (FL), Jim Matheson (UT), Lincoln Davis (TN), Bart Gordon (TN), Mike McIntyre (NC), Tim Holden (PA), Charlie Melancon (LA), Gene Taylor (MS), Collin Peterson (MN), John Barrow (GA), Henry Cuellar (TX), Sanford Bishop (GA), and Solomon Ortiz (TX).

And the Democrats who supported Bush least, the real heroes willing to courageously stand up to the slime machine?

Joe Courtney (CT)
Hank Johnson (GA)
Steve Kagen (WI)
Dave Loebsack (IA)
Phil Hare (IL)
John Hall (NY)
Mazie Hirono (HI)
John Yarmuth (KY)
Keith Ellison (MN)
Betty Sutton (OH)
Steve Cohen (TN)
Paul Hodes (NH)
Carol Shea-Porter (NH)
Bruce Braley (IA)
John Sarbanes (MD)
Jackie Speier (CA)
Tim Walz (MN)
Peter Welch (VT)

Meanwhile, hate group, the Family Research Council, is flipping out because the NRCC has stopped funding lunatic fringe Republicans who damage their own re-election chances by making overtly Nazi statements to the media. Michele Bachmann, Marilyn Musgrave and Tom Feeney have all been left on the side of the road for the scavengers. Here's Tony Perkins' declaration of civil war.

And we learned that Scotty McClellan must be black or not a real American-- another Republican insider who's supporting Obama!

Oh, and one more thing-- we learned Opie and the Fonz are Commies:

See more Ron Howard videos at Funny or Die

Good News And Bad News For Gays

Who supports Prop 8? Well... Nazis and Mormans

The good news is for the good gay people and the bad news is for the bad gay people. First the bad news for the bad gays. Last Tuesday we reported that Austrian Nazi Jörg Haider was killed in a car crash, probably engineered by the Mossad to look like an accident. (I guessed it was the Mossad but that has been confirmed to me, off the record, of course, by an Israeli intelligence agent.) Anyway, to paraphrase a well-known American right-winger, who cares about a washed up old terrorist-- in this case a dead one?

Turns out Austria's most frequent user of plastic surgeons was, as many people suspected, not just a far right lunatic and a vicious and bigoted xenophobe, he was-- like American wing nuts Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Mark Foley (R-FL), David Dreier (R-CA), Larry Craig (R-ID), et al-- a self-loathing closeted homosexual, kind of a Log Cabin Austrian. And his lover? Stefan Petzner, his political heir and head of Austria's Nazi movement. Ex-head of Austria's Nazi movement. The other Austrian Nazis fired him yesterday.

In emotional interviews with the national broadcaster and a tabloid newspaper Stefan Petzner spoke openly about his affair with Haider, who died at the age of 58 in a high-speed car crash after heavy drinking session at a gay club this month. Haider’s party, the Alliance for the Future of Austria, captured 11 per cent of the vote in national elections last month.

“He was the man of my life. Our relationship went far beyond friendship,” Mr Petzner, 27, said after only a week in the job, adding that Haider’s wife, Claudia, 52, “did not object” to their relationship.

“I only had him. Now I am all alone. I would spend nights with him and his family and that was important for me because I often was afraid to be alone in the dark,” he added.

Mr Petzner’s appointment as party leader was widely seen as a fulfillment of Haider’s last wish, as he had frequently said in public that he would like his young protégé to take his place one day. Mr Petzner dropped out of university when he met Haider at a party. At that time he was working as a journalist, writing about cosmetic treatments.

Outraged by the interviews, the party felt compelled yesterday to dismiss its leader amid reports of his alleged role in Haider’s tragic death. Local papers said that, on the night of his accident, Haider and Mr Petzner had a row at a magazine launch party. Haider left in a hurry and drove to a gay club in Klagenfurt, his home town, where he drank vodka with male escorts. The reports said that he was hardly able to walk to his car.

Haider's boyfriend wasn't kicked out of the party and he will now serve as the deputy fuhrer. This is what happens when social stigma forces people to stay in closets and hate themselves. I know dozens of gay men and women. None of them are in closets. None of them hate themselves. None of them vote for Republicans, Nazis or any other right-wing parties (although I know one gay guy who I suspect supports Blue Dogs).



Now, let's segue over to the good gays, the regular men and women trying to get on with our lives in this horribly reactionary Age of Bush. Narrow-minded, hate filled bigots, enabled by false prophets of made-up religions, especially the satanic Mormon cult, are attempting to single out gay Californians by taking away their right to marry. The good news is that new polling released last night is showing that the bigots and hate-mongers are losing-- albeit narrowly. I don't want to marry anyone, gay or straight, but I don't want a bunch of Mormons-- why the hell are they even allowed in a normal state like California-- dumping millions and millions of tax exempt dollars to run deceptive and divisive right-wing TV campaigns of bigotry and hatred-- turning our state into another hellhole of ignorance, disease and superstition like Utah. The Mormon cult hasn't changed, not really; they are a real danger to society-- just as bad as Jörg Haider:

McCain Blames Bush For His Campaign's Collapse But Is He Being Honest With Himself?

Almost daily we're hearing how McCain "blames" Palin for his death march to political oblivion. I doubt it. Blaming Palin means buying in to what every serious McCain detractor from both sides of the aisle has been saying: McCain's poor judgment and cynicism-- for selecting her in the first place-- make him unfit for the presidency. So who does he blame for his sinking poll numbers and what is shaping up to be the biggest disaster for the Republican Party since the last time a senator from Arizona headed the national ticket? Bush, of course, his old nemesis.

Yesterday on the Double Talk Express, he granted an interview to a couple of friendly reporters from the Moonie Times. He "lashed out at a litany of Bush policies and issues that he said he would have handled differently as president," neglecting to mention he supported almost every single one of them in the Senate. Consistently refusing to take any responsibility for his own rejection by the voters, McCain "blasted President Bush for building a mountain of debt for future generations, failing to pay for expanding Medicare and abusing executive powers, leveling his strongest criticism to date of an administration whose unpopularity may be dragging the Republican Party to the brink of a massive electoral defeat." None of the crowing about how he voted for 90% of Bush's agenda.



No, McCain wasn't talking about how he turned himself into a virtual rubber stamp for Bush-Cheney, especially in the most recent years, when he racked up a disgraceful and shockingly extremist voting record to the right of lunatic fringe senators like Larry Craig (R-ID), Sam Brownback (R-KS), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) and Elizabeth Dole (R-NC). The handful of senators to the right of McCain are the bizarre extremists and neo-Confederate obstructionists like David Vitter (R-LA), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Miss McConnell (R-KY), Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), John Cornyn (R-TX), James Inhofe (R-OK)... mostly the worst trash in Congress several of whom are in jeopardy of losing their seats in two weeks. Instead, it was all Bush's fault.

"Spending, the conduct of the war in Iraq for years, growth in the size of government, larger than any time since the Great Society, laying a $10 trillion debt on future generations of America, owing $500 billion to China, obviously, failure to both enforce and modernize the [financial] regulatory agencies that were designed for the 1930s and certainly not for the 21st century, failure to address the issue of climate change seriously."

Were the lobbyists who run the campaign not certain that the Moonies would let it all pass without reminding the brittle and nasty senator that he voted for every one of these things he's now blaming on his political demise, they would never have been granted the interview. He also took the opportunity to blame the GOP in general for his woes and to lash out on the one person in America who is even less liked than Bush: Cheney. "I don't agree with Dick Cheney's allegation that he's part of both the legislative and the executive branch." (Perhaps he should explain that to ignorant and unqualified his running mate.)

"I think, frankly, the problem was, with a Republican Congress, that the president was told by the speaker and majority leaders and others, 'Don't veto these bills, we need this pork, we need this excess spending, we need to grow these bureaucracies.' They all sponsor certain ones. And