Here’s a new way of looking at the differences between the two parties. Perhaps not 100% accurate, but certainly applicable at times!
There was an interesting exchange between Barack Obama and a young supporter at an event in Iowa yesterday. From Jonathan Stein’s transcript: Young girl: “I just want to say that every time I see a commercial of Mitt Romney on TV I want to throw up.” Barack Obama: “Haha. Okay. I feel you. What’s your question?” Young girl: [...]
Tags: 2008 Election
Categories: 2008 Election
Ready for a quick roundup of some of the latest poll results? Start clicking away…We start with the biggie -
Categories: 2008 Election
Oh, this must be just the worst Christmas present for the White House.
Judge Orders Hearing on Destruction of CIA Torture Tapes
And the judicial branch enters the fray. Much to the administration’s chagrin, Judge Henry H. Kennedy Jr. has ordered a hearing on the CIA’s destruction of the torture tapes for this Friday at 11 AM. Back in 2005, Kennedy, a Clinton appointee, had ordered the [...]
Categories: Bush Administration · Torture · Waterboarding
In the media, we often used to say that “all publicity is good publicity. Just get the name right”. Does that hold true in politics? Is just the fact that so many people KNOW Hillary Clinton a “plus” in the long run? Even if they hate her now?
And that’s not a good thing for her… Forty percent of Americans say they would vote to keep Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton from winning the presidency, more than twice the total for their No. 2 “anti-” pick, former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani. In a new Fox 5-The Washington Times-Rasmussen Reports survey, 64 percent of Republicans, [...]
Tags: Hillary Clinton, Polls
Categories: 2008 Election · Clinton
Need another reason to not keep the Iowa Caucuses as important as they seem to be in the political big-picture? How about the fact that the networks are doing something that could influence the voting? Yup. You got it!
“Instead of waiting for actual votes to be counted on the night of the Jan. 3 Iowa caucus, a consortium of the major TV networks and The Associated Press will conduct an entrance poll to measure how people say they will vote,” The Politico reports. “Those results will be broadcast long before [...]
Tags: Iowa Caucuses
Categories: 2008 Election
They’ll ignore this report. You know they will. Leaving another mess for the next administration to deal with.
GAO: If Gov’t Were A Business, ‘Our Stock Would Be Dropping’ And We’d Need A ‘Major Shake-Up’
Yesterday, the Treasury Department released a troubling financial report that revealed the federal government’s “total liabilities and unfunded commitments for future payments” related to Social Security and Medicare are now estimated at $53 trillion, up from $20 trillion in 2000. In a speech yesterday at the National Press Club, GAO Comptroller General David Walker said: If the [...]
Categories: Bush Administration · Economy · Taxes
Just so you know it’s out there. The Enquirer is trashing John Edwards.
Here’s the link to Drudge, in case you don’t know it. Thanks to JackM. Here’s Doug Ross’ take, with lots of stuff ripped from a previous National Enquirer article revealing (they claim) his illicit affair with the woman. Clinton [...]
Tags: John Edwards, Drudge
Categories: 2008 Election · Edwards
Oh, this is not good news. Not at all. If the Dems can’t get their act together over a huge issue that impacts millions of Americans, their collective goose is cooked.
Hoyer says Congress may not be able to patch AMT
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) hinted Tuesday that Congress may not be able to stop a big tax increase from hitting 23 million Americans. Hoyer, pressed on whether Congress would resolve disputes over the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), said, “Maybe.” His remark came as a surprise, since [...]
UPDATE: Rangel seems more optimistic
House Ways and Means Chairman Charles B. Rangel said Tuesday he cares more about “patching” the alternative minimum tax than following the pay-as-you-go budget rule, signaling an end to a months-long standoff over a [...]
UPDATE 2: It’s looking good, finally!
A temporary standoff on the omnibus spending bill was resolved today after the Senate agreed to vote on an alternative minimum tax patch with offsets, lawmakers and aides said. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, addressing concerns of the moderate-to-conservative Blue Dog Coalition of House Democrats, had threatened not to send the spending bill to the Senate until Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid agreed to bring up a fully offset AMT bill. Reid agreed to the change this afternoon, and Pelosi [...]
Well, it’s not shaping up to be a quiet Christmas season for the top politicos. Huckabee’s been getting a lot of criticism for some ghosts in his past and now ABC News seems to have caught Romney in a bald-faced lie!
Photo proves Romney lied about attending Planned Parenthood fundraiser
Definitely read ABC’s article, it’s great – Romney outright lied about this entire incident. Said it was all his wife’s doing, he had nothing to do with Planned Parenthood. That’s assuming, of course, that attending a Planned Parenthood fundraiser in person is “nothing.” Piece of work, this guy. More pro-gay, pro-life, and anti-gun than Ted Kennedy – and now [...]
Tags: Romney, Planned Parenthood
Categories: 2008 Election · Romney
The Bush Administration continues to raise eyebrows among those who believe in open government. The push continues to get access to records, particularly records of who has visited the White House. And the law seems to be siding those who want to see the records.
Judge: White House Logs are Public
…They went over every single Clinton visitor with a fine-tooth comb and now they don’t want anyone to know that Falwell was visiting the White House? Why do I not buy the storyline that they are worried about the religious zealots visiting the White House? Seems to me they should be much more concerned with the Jack Abramoffs’ of the world who seemed to come and go as they pleased……at least as [...]
Looks like there might be some help on the horizon..
Congress is moving to reverse one area of the Bush administration’s trend toward secrecy since the 2001 terrorist attacks by expanding the Freedom of Information Act, increasing penalties for noncompliance and making records held by government contractors subject to [...]
Tags: Bush Administration
Categories: Bush Administration · National Security
Care to have your mind boggled? You simply won’t believe how much more we’re spending on our Armed Forces today, compared to 2001. At least I was astounded.
When defense spending soars to unseen heights
Most of the political establishment agrees that federal defense spending is entirely off-limits — if you look askance at Pentagon funding, you’re necessarily “weak” and insufficiently supportive of the military. As a result, every Bush administration request for defense expenditures has been met by Congress, without exception. But it’s worth pausing once in a while to [...]
Tags: Defense Spending
You just had to know that it would happen. The states would begin to feel the financial pinch that many Americans have been feeling for some time now. The numbers are frightening.
How is your State’s current state?
AP Exclusive: State Budgets Slide For the third time in a month, an analysis of state finances is warning that budget deficits and spending cuts are on the way. Thirteen states say they could face shortfalls for the fiscal year that begins July 1 in most states, including large states like California and New York. “With the deficits this large already before there’s actual evidence we’re in a [...]
Tags: Economy
Categories: Economy
Oh, the good reverend is back making headlines today, thanks to his latest Iowa TV commercial, filled with references to Christianity. Some references are blatant, some more subliminal.
Personally, I see nothing wrong with this ad on its face. Huckabee is a Christian, and if he wants to use his campaign funds to wish America Merry Christmas, so be it – even if it’s probably not a genuine Christmas wish: In fact, this ad is probably a more shrewd political move that you might [...]
From the TV screen, to your local book store. David Corn has been reading what Huckabee wrote. He’s bothered by it. A lot.
It’s been days since we learned about another intemperate, intolerant remark from Mike Huckabee before he became a presidential candidate, so I suppose we were due for a new round of revelations. Mother Jones’ David Corn delivers. To briefly recap, the past couple of weeks have been painfully revealing for the former Arkansas governor. In 1998, [...]
Oh, my. Think Progress takes the David Corn information a bit farther, noting Huck’s word today don’t mirror those of his past…
On CNN’s Larry King Live last night, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said that he would “absolutely” allow a gay man or woman to serve in his administration. “I have people who are homosexual that work for me in the governor’s office,” noted Huckabee: KING: Could a gay be in your administration? HUCKABEE: Absolutely. Why not? People are competent [...]
Tags: Huckabee
Categories: 2008 Election · Huckabee
Nice touch. Let’s let the big get bigger. My background is media. I most recently worked for a media company that grew rapidly. I was proud of that growth and worked hard to make it happen. However, there is a point of diminishing return; a point where the cost savings of contralization come at the expense of localization and true service to the community. The problem with broadcasting today is quite simple: it doesn’t serve the viewers or listeners the way it once did. Radio is seldom “local” anymore. Television exists to get advertisers products into your living room, not to provide you with the kind of service and information it once did. Sure, there are local newscasts, staffed with fewer people than ten years ago, producing more hours of product every week. Do you know if part of your local news is produced in another city? To be shared with another station? It’s cost-effective, to be sure. But, does it serve you the best. I apologize for painting the industry with a broad brush. There are, of course, shining examples of how you CAN do things the right way and still make money. They’re just not as easy to find these days. So, what does the FCC want to do?
FCC to vote in favor of media consolidation
Fantastic. I was almost getting worried that we might have competition and too many news sources. Those ideas are so old fashioned and out of date. The Bush administration is loving this move, which should say enough about what this means to everyone outside of media conglomerates such as News Corp. This administration never [...]
The FCC isn’t making many people happy with this goofy move:
Via our good friends at Freepress, we learn that Kevin Martin at the FCC went ahead and relaxed media ownership rules so that media companies can own both newspapers and broadcast outlets in the same market. Over twenty Senators, including four Republicans, blasted Martin for doing this.The public outburst [...]
Tags: FCC, Radio, Television
Categories: Bush Administration · Radio · Television
One down. Four to go. Actually, three for me. I’m taking Friday off to get ready for a double dose of Christmas, trying to work around both kids’ schedules and plans. I’m also (once again) testing some software that’s supposed to make posting a bit easier than using the online editor. I really didn’t have a huge problem with WordPress’ editor, except for the way it would always scroll back to the top of the post whenever you navigated away from the page. We’ll see how BlogDesk handles things tonight.
And we begin quite simply, with today’s “Must Read” from TPMmuckraker. If you’re at all interested in the CIA torture and waterboarding stories, it’s filled with important information.
Abu Zubaydah was:
A) A high-ranking Al Qaeda operative who largely confounded U.S. interrogators with his literary and tactical genius until they submitted him to waterboarding and other forms of torture. After that, he provided key information that likely preempted future attacks. B) A low-ranking and [...]
Tags: Torture, Waterboarding
Categories: Bush Administration · Torture · Waterboarding
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