The War Room

You’ve watched the great documentary about Bill Clinton’s 1992 Presidential Campaign, The War Room, haven’t you?  It seems the term “War Room” is taking on a new meaning in the internet days of 2007.  In the doc, it refers to the big planning room in Little Rock where campaign decisions were hashed out.  In today’s vernacular, it becomes more public…

11/9: Why Aren’t They All (Or At Least The Better Funded Ones) Doing This?

Following the initial hits and then push back from the Hillary Clinton/no tip story, we are amazed that more campaigns do not have dedicated war room destinations like Team Clinton does. Now, we don’t necessarily see a need for both [...]

Weekend Agenda

We’ll have to keep an eye out for coverage of this event up in Iowa. Crawford usually has a pretty good handle on political posturing. 

Craig Crawford’s Trail Mix: Clinton Needs a Boost

Democratic presidential hopefuls have few major events left to reach big numbers of voters in the crucial state of Iowa — raising the stakes when the candidates collide on Saturday for a lightning round of 10-minute speeches before an expected audience of 9,000 at the Iowa Democratic Party’s Jefferson-Jackson dinner [...]

All About Iran

Hagle’s picking up a bunch of political points with his tough talk against the Administration’s Iran policy.

Hagel mocks Bush’s Iran strategy.

Yesterday, Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) reiterated his call for President Bush to “pursue an offer of direct, unconditional, and comprehensive talks with Iran.” Former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton criticized Hagel this morning, telling CNN: “I don’t think Iran is going to be chit-chatted out of its nuclear weapons.” Hagel, also appearing on CNN, quipped in [...]

Best Friends Forever

It’s just great when a guy running for President can’t even conjure up a good answer to an obviously legitimate question…

Rudy and Bernie

Ah, excellent. Via Steve, I see that Rudy Giuliani is refusing to say whether he’d pardon his pal Bernie Kerik if he becomes president. “He may or may not be charged, he may or may not be convicted,” [...]

Just Dig Deeper

You know you have more cash.  Somewhere..

Oil Markets out of Control

Once more the nation is facing $3 gasoline and home heating oil over speculation and what some would think is market manipulation. While the market and its volatility are soaring out of control you can almost here the cash registers ringing non stop for all of the friends of President Bush. With his lack of action on behalf of the lower classes of America he is proving the point made by thousands of political writers like yours truly that he is a puppet President.  This man that claims to be a great listener is tone deaf when [...]

Wall Street struggled, big time, today – finishing the day down 223 points. In fact, for the week, it capped the worst performance since 9/11. But, there’s a bigger story..

Wachovia, Capital One Say Credit Conditions Worsen

Wachovia said Friday it suffered a $1.1 billion loss on subprime mortgage-related debt in October, while Capital One Financial said more customers are having trouble paying their bills as the U.S. credit crisis deepened [...]

Health Update

Something kind of unusual around here-a post that might make you healthier! This is really quite an important study that hasn’t gotten the serious exposure it deserves.  Put a lock on your refrigerator for a day or two!

American Heart Association: Going Off Food is Good

My grandpa was a health freak, a frugal eater, a moderate drinker and lived upto the ripe old age of 93, virtually without any serious disease troubling him. He would go off food whenever his body indicated symptoms of an ailment. So I was delighted to see the American Heart Association’s recent report that fasting [...]

He Wanted Attention

Now, Mike Huckabee is getting it.   Not in a good way…

Huckabee Gets Another Free Ride

The first fact anyone should know about Mike Huckabee is he is a man so opportunistic and ruthless – and so stupid – he proactively worked to release Wayne Dumond, a serial rapist and murderer, because he felt it would advance his political career. Putting the best spin possible on Huckabee’s behavior, the Dumond incident makes it very clear that Huckabee has such poor judgment he should be never be considered for a serious position in the US government, let alone the presidency, where his hand will rest on a nuclear button and some demented rightwing extremist could [...]

Back at home, where we are, the Arkansas Times keeps the pressure on…

Huckabee bandwagon UPDATE

Here’s a New York Times smooch of The Huckster, though the last paragraph quotes former Republican Sen. Joe Yates, once a Huckabee staffer, as saying he doesn’t support Huck and that he’s thin-skinned. Do tell. … A blogger in Atlantic says Iowa is down to Huckabee and Romney … American Spectator says he could shortly be getting the endorsement of [...]

Here’s one more questioning post..

Pick the preacher for president?

Given the circumstances, it’s not surprising that various presidential candidates are going to insist that they, and they alone, are uniquely suited to combat global terrorism. Some of the arguments are coherent but unpersuasive (John McCain emphasizes that he’s the only candidate who served in the military), while other arguments are plainly ridiculous (Rudy Giuliani [...]

And, for good measure, check out a Michigan mom who is just crazy about her meeting with Huckabee:

…Then I introduced him to my daughter Hannah who had been working on spelling a word on her doodle. He got down on her level, talked gently with her, asked her what word she was working on and then proceeded to help her figure out the next letter she needed. The room was too small and I was too close to capture the moment on my camera, but it is an image that I will cherish clearly in my heart, always [...]

I’d Chuckle

If it wasn’t so darned disgusting!  Especially to yours truly, the parent of a soon-to-graduate journalism student!

I’m Going To Be Sick: Journalism Edition

Okay: With tuition-gouged and cash-strapped college students already barely making it through unpaid or poorly-paid internships, I’m truly horrified to find — if true, and I hope it’s not — an internship at Harper’s Bazaar being sold to the highest [...]

Let me slip in one additional journalism note.  See how the fake FEMA news conference story turned uglier today. Pay attention now.  Journalism 101..

The Fakery Of It All

CBS has obtained a FEMA photograph of the fake press conference held by Deputy Director Harvey Johnson. The photo shows that those in attendance were high-level FEMA aides personally known to Johnson, CBS reports. Up to now, the agency has [...]

Quote of the Day

Ya’ gotta just love it!

Waitress tells campaign reporters: ‘You people are really nuts’

It’s hard to say for sure when the “silly season” started in the media’s coverage of the presidential campaign. If there was a “serious season,” it was exceedingly short. I’m afraid I missed it. But yesterday was unusually inane. A waitress at an Iowa diner noted that Hillary Clinton and her campaign aides had recently stopped [...]

Your Bank Account

If it’s like many, it’s a bit emptier this year than last.  Higher gas means higher transportation cost means higher food prices means less cash for you and for me. This seemingly endless cycle is depressing.

Waiting for the inevitable collapse

Lost in the unbelievable botch job the Administration has made of America’s position in the world is the unbelievable botch job they have made of our economic condition [...]

While we’re in this Friday night “feel good” mode, let’s dip into another author’s writing..

Bush Economy Better Than Ever?

President Bush loves to claim that his economic policies have made Americans better off. Even in the face of resounding evidence that ordinary Americans are feeling the pinch, Bush obvioulsy believes that so long as the rich, wealthy class is getting their tax cuts, off-shore havens, and increased dividends the economy couldn’t possibly be better. [...]

Indeed, it’s the kind of stuff that keeps you awake at night..

Wall Street Could Once Again Face – ‘Black Monday’

In many ways the bad news of the past few weeks has set the U.S. stock market up, once again, for a ‘Black Monday’ event that could make all previous sell offs look mild by comparison. Why? Well, there are so many reasons, but the leading suspects are high crude oil prices, the ever shrinking value of the U.S. dollar and the mortgage loan crisis that could easily move from just a sub-prime problem into the entire mortgage market as a whole. The previous three Congress’ have spent [...]

There was one big “whew” that popped up late this afternoon.  Good work, Representatives!

House approves AMT patch

House passes bill increasing taxes on private equity, hedge fund and venture capitalists to prevent AMT from hitting millions of [...]

Not so fast, Krile.  There’s a little thing called a “veto”…

Priorities, Chimpy-Style

Chimpy threatens to veto a bill that would rescue 23 million members of the middle class from the Alternative Minimum Tax because it would make up for the lost revenues by making 50,000 millionaires pay the same tax rate as [...]

Confirming Torture

Now that he’s been sworn in, it’ll be really interesting to see what Mukasey does. Will he stand with those who oppose waterboarding?  I’m not betting on it.

Mukasey Confirmed in Senate 53-40

Until last night, the criminal responsibility for the torturing of terror suspects by the U.S. government was entirely on the heads of George Bush, Dick Cheney, their senior aides and the civilian and uniformed military leadership who approved and implemented “advanced interrogation techniques” such [...]

Abject Failure

That’s our Middle East Policy. We picked the wrong targets and chose bad strategies.  With tragic results.

Killing Little Children

I confess I have become anesthetized to the horror of all the atrocities which have occurred since September 11, 2001. There have been so many that it’s hard to keep track of them all, and after a while they all blend together. Every once in a while, however, a story pierces my desensitized sense of outrage to shock me again, and I realize, with mounting anger and sorrow, just how horribly we have failed in this “War on Terror” which seems to get more terrible every year. This is that [... ]

Happy Holidays

It’s gift-giving time! And we have yet another toxic toy!

Curious George is toxic

Merry Christmas, kids. What five year old doesn’t want a toxic holiday? “About 175,000 Curious George Plush Dolls were recalled Thursday, becoming the latest popular toy made in China found to be contaminated with dangerous levels of lead. Manufactured by [...]

On the way home yesterday, I heard something on Sirius about a new batch of “Tickle Me Elmo” dolls being released for Christmas, along with an assurance that, even though they were made in China, the company was “100% confident” that they were safe.  Right. I’m waiting silently for the recall…

The Mukasey Vote Last Night

Let’s just say there’s something fishy about this deal…

What Went Down Last Night?

Greg Sargent starts putting the pieces together on why the Mukasey vote was rushed through so quickly last night that the four Democratic senators running for President–all opposed to Mukasey–couldn’t get back to DC in time to vote [....]

Meanwhile, over in the House, they’re dropping like flies..

GOP Reps. Saxton, Cubin to retire

New Jersey lawmaker’s decision gives Democrats another prime pickup opportunity [...]

Chemical Weapons in Iraq

Ours. Not theirs. Pretty spectacular allegations that seem to be off the mainstream media radar. It’s worth a quick read, because it make for great conversation. And, who knows, you just might be way ahead of everyone else, thanks to the blogosphere!!  By the way, TGIF!  No long, rambling, dissertation on the day today, just a sigh of relief that the weekend is here.  For SO many reasons…

US Violating Chemical Weapons Convention in Iraq

The United States has been caught with at least 2,386 chemical weapons deployed in Iraq. The items appear in a spectacular 2,000 page leak of nearly one million items of US military equipment deployed in Iraq given to the government transparency group Wikileaks. The items are labeled under the military’s own NATO supply classification Chemical weapons and [...]