2008

Markos' early take. We'll second this emotion:

I am 100 percent undecided at this point. I don't even lean toward someone.

Although we're leaning away from some.

They just make shit up

This guy is supposedly an intellectual working for a think tank.
Perhaps his next gig will be writing a Clownhall.com column.

Why we hate George Will

He's dishonest. (No, that's not a link to his column.) But really, how the hell does Will sit there with a straight face -- the only kind he possesses -- and call someone else "a boor?"

Cold front

Fayetteville 68, Tulsa 34.

Bummer

Frist won't run for president. That would have been good for some laughs.

A frat boy and a Marine are drinking in a bar

The Hill:

Bush asked Webb how his son, a Marine lance corporal serving in Iraq, was doing.
Webb responded that he really wanted to see his son brought back home, said a person who heard about the exchange from Webb.
“I didn’t ask you that, I asked how he’s doing,” Bush retorted, according to the source.
Webb confessed that he was so angered by this that he was tempted to slug the commander-in-chief, reported the source, but of course didn’t.

W doesn't give a damn how Webb's son -- or any other service member -- is doing. Remember this?

NRSC in debt

Liddy Dole begging. Warms the heart.

Out of control

McClatchy:

WASHINGTON - This is supposed to be a pivotal week for the U.S. venture in Iraq: President Bush is to meet Thursday in Jordan with Iraq's prime minister, and the blue-ribbon Iraq Study Group has begun debating its final recommendations to the White House.
But does any of it matter?
Not really, according to a growing number of Middle East analysts, who say that Iraq's cascading civil war has spun out of Washington's control.

AP:

Bush blamed the escalating bloodshed in Iraq on an al-Qaida plot to stoke cycles of sectarian revenge, and refused to debate whether the country has fallen into civil war. ... Directly seeking help from Iran and Syria with Iraq, as part of new, aggressive diplomacy throughout the region, is expected to be among the recommendations of the Baker-Hamilton group. But Bush repeated his administration's reluctance to talk with two nations it regards as pariah states working to destabilize the Middle East.

W: It's not a civil war, but it's al-Qaida's fault. Iran and Syria are to blame for any regional instability. Our continued occupation of Iraq is, therefore, the only solution.
The man is hopelessly delusional.

Name the New Team Contest

The Wichita Wranglers minor league baseball team will move to Springdale in 2008. The owners are conducting a name-the-team contest. We like the Levi's. Yeah, there are some grammatical issues, but this is just baseball, after all. And it would simplify the stadium-naming situation as well.

Consensus

The LA Times, NBC News and McClatchy agree: It's a civil war.

Miami

Houston Nutt would be a fine choice for the Hurricanes.

'Not his problem any more'

Sounds like a good title for the biography of George W. Bush. Subtitle: "Dad's pals always take care of it."

Civil war

This phrase:

The single deadliest assault on Iraqi civilians since the start of the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

They're still not killing as many Iraqi civilians as we did when we invaded -- what a sorry legacy for W.

21 reasons to give thanks

Courtesy of The Progress Report.

Coincidence

On 5 News at noon, Ashley Beck was promising "a live report from XNA at 5" just as we clicked on Ask the pilot:

It's Thanksgiving again. In terminals around the country, camera crews are getting in position. It's time for the media's annual barrage of crowded-airport stories. ... We've grown accustomed to their stories -- quick little drive-by segments that seldom stray from the boilerplate: Remark on how many millions of Americans are expected to fly between Wednesday and Sunday; remind them to arrive at the airport as early as possible; get some shots of stranded travelers sleeping on the floor; interview a bedraggled passenger who, after standing in a security line for the past 190 minutes, is happy to chime in, "Well, at least we're safer." They might as well use the same clips every year.

Ditto for anytime there's a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico. Local Red Cross volunteers prepare to ride to the relief of victims. Tsunami in Indonesia? Earthquake in Pakistan? Israel bombing the crap out of Lebanon? Someone around here surely has a relative or friend there affected. Contact the Office of International Students and Scholars at the university. It's like a template. Localize everything.

Carville's done

NY Daily News:

WASHINGTON - James Carville's attempt to topple Howard Dean as chairman of the Democratic National Committee failed after state party officials and even a vocal critic of Dean crushed the coup, officials said.

Dumb move. Dean's 50-state strategy was key to the midterm congressional takeover.

Eat, drink

Drinking Liberally
Powerhouse, 7 p.m.

Who would've thunk it?

Yesterday:

CAMARILLO, Calif. (AP) -- Gas prices are on the rise again, just as Americans hit the highways for Thanksgiving. Gas prices rose about 5 cents per gallon nationwide compared to two weeks ago, industry analyst Trilby Lundberg said Sunday.

So predictable.

Divided Republicans

Big Game

NYT:

A punk band based in Columbus known as the Dead Schembechlers — its name prescient and unintentionally macabre — said it would disband in honor of the coach after playing at a Hate Michigan Rally on Friday.

Can't wait. Too bad about Bo. Go Wolverines.
AFTERWARD: Quite a game. Congrats to those 10-1 Hogs, too.

Randy Andy vs. K-Lo

Because we don't care what they think, we never read Andrew Sullivan or the Corner, but other people do, and these conservative pissing matches can be pretty entertaining. Andy's conservative, but he's not a delusional wingnut.

GOP clown show

It never ends. Tom DeLay's (temporary) replacement is already a laughingstock on Capitol Hill.

When will they ever learn?

The Guardian:

President George Bush has told senior advisers that the US and its allies must make "a last big push" to win the war in Iraq and that instead of beginning a troop withdrawal next year, he may increase US forces by up to 20,000 soldiers, according to sources familiar with the administration's internal deliberations.

He's listening to Kissinger, not Baker. Atrios is right; this is bad for McCain.

FOX 'News'

This is what passes for journalism there.

Dividends

The Independent:

Environmentalists in the United States say they hope the removal of global-warming sceptics from powerful positions on Capitol Hill will present a new opportunity to force the Bush administration to tackle climate change.
This week's seizure of both houses of Congress by the Democrats means that two key Republican opponents of action to confront climate change - Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma and Richard Pombo of California - will lose their positions as the chairmen of Congress's two environmental acecommittees.
Mr Pombo, who lost his bid for re-election, will leave the House altogether. Mr Inhofe, who once said the threat of global warming was, "the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people", will probably be replaced by the California Democrat Barbara Boxer. She has promised to curb carbon emissions and strengthen environmental protection legislation.

Let's get started. Inhofe and Pombo were a global disgrace.

Take pride

W:

Whatever your opinion of the outcome, all Americans can take pride in the example our democracy sets for the world by holding elections even in a time of war.

Not bad

No. 5.

Pwned*

We kicked Tennessee's ass. But we shouldn't underestimate Mississippi State. And as long as we're on the subject, local TV folks, when you're doing a promo, stuff like,"Could the Hogs beat the Vols?" doesn't work as a tease when everybody knows the answer. Please stop it. (Some letter counting involved.)

*pwn

Miserable failure

WaPo:

Nine months after invading Iraq, President Bush told an interviewer he did not turn to his father for strength. "There is a higher father that I appeal to," he said. Nearly three years later, Bush may be appealing to his earthly father as well. Or at least his people.
With the war in Iraq going badly and Congress captured by the opposition, a commander in chief who has labored to demonstrate independence from his presidential father is now seeking help from some key veterans of George H.W. Bush's team to salvage the remainder of his own administration.

This is the story of his life, but he can't like hearing it with two years left in his term. Daddy bails him out again.

Free Krugman

We get mail

Just about right:

Well, it looks like we have some new sheriffs in town. Congratulations, all you democrat voters. It’s nice to see all that blue color back on the map. My only regret is we won’t have Donald to kick around any more. Of course, he will probably be calling the shots from behind the scenes to a large extent. I wonder why Cheney didn’t resign, too? Oh yeah, I forgot, who would tell W what to say, think and feel if both of them went at the same time? Condi?

Actually, Condi's a Bob Gates Cold War-era protege. What about Karl? Isn't he the one who promised them an everlasting dominance based on suckering ignorant wingnuts into blind alllegiance? That didn't work out, did it? Where's his mangy scalp?

Making a list

Galloway:

Simply put, the jig is up. President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Rumsfeld have come to the end of their free ride. No longer can they act without thought or ignore the boundaries of the Constitution, the law and common sense.
Did they really think they could get away with all of this without ever being called to answer to history and the American people?

Yeah, they did. Karl said they could. Joe's got a to-do list for Congress.

MoDo

TimesSelect is free this week:

[W] couldn't let Nancy Pelosi subpoena the cranky Rummy for hearings on Iraq. "He's not exactly Mr. Charming or Mr. Truthful, and he'd be on TV saying something stupid," said a Bush 41 official. "Bob can just go up to the Hill and say: 'I don't know. I wasn't there when that happened.'"

Then they can ask Bob about Iran/Contra. Because he was there when that happened. But they won't.

Mystery

We'll never get it.

Fired his ass

Hasta la vista, Rummy.

Found her

The next speaker of the House is at the Hyatt Regency in D.C. at the victory party. Looks good so far. We'll miss Ricky. And a bunch of B-list wingnuts like Katherine Harris, Count Chocola et al. Let's hope Lamont turns it around.
10:50: Pretty classy Asa concession speech. Think he's figured out that his career in Arkansas politics ended in 1998?
Weldon, Sherwood, Sweeney, Hayworth and that South Dakota abortion ban -- gone.
Go Webb.
12:15: Jim Ryun? Whatever was wrong with Kansas was apparently reversible. McCaskill and Tester look pretty good. If Webb wins, watch that Joementum.
1:15: Still close, but six Senate seats likely. "Good point."

CNN results pages

Senate. House.
Markos:

[D]on't look at the exit polls. DON'T. They don't mean squat.

Sorry, Kos. They look good. Whether they mean squat, we'll find out soon enough.

Chuckle

Markos catches Rep. Charlie Bass,

R-N.H., staging a photo op.

Seems better

Logged off and back on. Occasionally, certain pages -- the Arkansas Times blog being one -- have an image that won't load. And then none of the other windows will display images, either, until we log off and start over. The WaPo site does it periodically, too.

Blogger's sluggish

Nice day for it to be slow. At least it's not totally bloggered -- yet.

Ortega

This must be driving the Cold Warriors crazy:

MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) -- Daniel Ortega, the revolutionary Marxist who battled a U.S.-backed Contra insurgency in the 1980s, was closing in on Nicaragua's presidency, appearing Monday to have defeated four opponents with promises that he was a changed man.

Negroponte's probably already formulating a plan.

Voter suppression

Josh and his crew have been doing commendable work the past few days illuminating the GOP's underhanded tactics. Too bad the corporate media have their collective heads up their asses.

W at XNA

That was a long-ass speech considering he didn't have anything new to say.

Start the week off on the left foot

Out

Good one

It's all too much

D.C.'s really a fucking cesspool.

The GOP gave everyone the bomb designs

NYT:

Last March, the federal government set up a Web site to make public a vast archive of Iraqi documents captured during the war. The Bush administration did so under pressure from Congressional Republicans who said they hoped to “leverage the Internet” to find new evidence of the prewar dangers posed by Saddam Hussein.
But in recent weeks, the site has posted some documents that weapons experts say are a danger themselves: detailed accounts of Iraq’s secret nuclear research before the 1991 Persian Gulf war. The documents, the experts say, constitute a basic guide to building an atom bomb.
... The director of national intelligence, John D. Negroponte, had resisted setting up the Web site, which some intelligence officials felt implicitly raised questions about the competence and judgment of government analysts. But President Bush approved the site’s creation after Congressional Republicans proposed legislation to force the documents’ release.

Feel safer with these guys protecting you?

Drudge

No, we won't link to him. But some people take this idiot seriously. And then there's this.

Step by step

Niagra Falls. The GOP leadership has played its voters for suckers for a long time. They're finally catching on. Good for them.

You are a liar and a partisan hack

Craig Cannon:

"John Kerry ... has still not issued a visible viable (sic) apology for his disparaging remarks about the troops."

It's Thursday night. Kerry spent the better part of Wednesday apologizing for what was not a remark about the troops. It was initially somewhat surprising that even a blatant FOX News wannabe like Cannon would try to stoke the right-wing phony-outrage furnace in a news report a day later, but that's Craig.

Scandalous

WaPo:

Indictments, investigations and allegations of wrongdoing have helped put at least 15 Republican House seats in jeopardy, enough to swing control to the Democrats on Tuesday even before the larger issues of war, economic unease and President Bush are invoked.
... A CNN poll last month found that "half of all Americans believe most members of Congress are corrupt" and that "more than a third think their own representative is crooked."

When they return from campaigning, they should have the Capitol fumigated.

Harry Reid's a fighter

And a trainer. Boehner's a bum. Pay attention, Dems.

Tip of the tin foil hat

Nutty conspiracy theories on Wall Street.

4029TV.com

The Hometown Channel was a dumb gimmick. Speaking of which, what the hell is Commitment 2006 supposed to mean?

Throw the book at her

Up to five years:

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- Conservative columnist Ann Coulter has refused to cooperate in an investigation into whether she voted in the wrong precinct, so the case will probably be turned over to prosecutors, Palm Beach County's elections chief said Wednesday.

Gitmo's not that far away.

Two more years

Great timing:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush said Wednesday he wants Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney to remain in his administration until the end of his presidency, extending a job guarantee to two of the most criticized members of his team.

Throwing them overboard might have stemmed the GOP losses next week.

Liberal media Wednesday

Gene Lyons makes the case:

Although the Founding Fathers deliberately tried to design a government whose separation of powers would prevent any one man or faction from gaining excessive power, they never anticipated today’s Republicans.

Joe Conason previews the spin:

No matter what may happen on Election Day, they say, the results must not be taken at face value — because liberal Democrats can only prevail by pretending to be right-wing Republicans.