Last night Steven Colbert (still sans writers) examined Tuesday's Florida primary. His conclusion: "Florida is a big deal."
Colbert Report after the break.
Colbert's lessons from Florida--John McCain is a Republican and Rudy Giuliani is a loser. "Don't tase me bro."
In the liner notes to Rudy Cops A Plea, Lee Stranathan, who by this time must seem like a regular contributor to our little enterprise, asks
Is it Rudy's last stand? That's up to you, Florida - do us proud.Tomorrow is the Rudy's big day. Added to Youtube today, just in time to remind Floridians to "keep the disaster alive."
Obama wins SC primary in a landslide -- CNN: Obama 55%, Clinton 27%, Edwards 18%. Gender and age breakouts at the link.
Congratulations were personally extended to Obama from Hillary and Bill Clinton.
Edwards on campaigning spouses -- "I believe that spouses have the right to speak their minds. In his case, [Bill] happens to be an ex-president. But my wife Elizabeth speaks her mind. And I think they're entitled to do that. It's a democracy. That's the way it works. People can agree or disagree with what they say, but they're not required to go home and sit around and be quiet. That's just the way I view it." The Trail
Track Democratic delegates by candidate here.
Gadfly calls attention to an argument that "the current Bush-Cheney regime has been a co-presidency." Thus, "respected historian Wills argues against a Clinton co-presidency. A definite liberal, Wills isn’t arguing against Hillary Clinton’s policies, just the co-presidency idea. Given the fact that Democratic big brass such as Sen. Ted Kennedy are trying at this very moment to get Bill to pipe down, with limited results, it’s a legitimate concern." Personally, I would be worried if Bill Clinton were batshit crazy like Dick Cheney. And American voters will have the last word.
Dick Sargent wrote about an NBC interview with Obama in which Barack "denied he'd personally accused the Clintons of racism." Obama reiterated, "I don't view [the Clintons] as having gone after me on the basis of race." Yesterday, Steve Hildebrand, a senior adviser for Obama, said, "[The Clintons] look at everything through racial lines, gender lines, geographic lines... ...They are playing the same old-style games." Crikey.
Rudy has a new secret weapon -- Bwahahahahahaha!
Meow! Pffft! Pffft! -- "Sen. John McCain of Arizona accused former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney of having once supported a U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq, sparking an angry demand for an apology from Romney, who called the statement dishonest.' " And it got uglier. Campaigning in Florida, McCain: "If we surrender and wave a white flag, like Senator Clinton wants to do, and withdraw, as Governor Romney wanted to do, then there will be chaos, genocide, and the cost of American blood and treasure would be dramatically higher." Mitt shot back attacking "McCain's economic policy experience" and released an ad on Friday that "uses clips of political pundits on network news shows to argue that the Republican Party's distrust of McCain runs long and deep." Other video samples of McCain vs. Romney ads posted yesterday.
If you're into placing a bet on Election 2008, take heed via Kevin Drum.
Doubts still linger over Florida's voting machines. If it's as bad as the Diebold touch screens in Georgia... Uh oh. And in Ohio, "The ACLU of Ohio has sued the Secretary of State and Cuyahoga County to block the switch to a new voting system in time for the March 4 presidential primary."
For a real Democrat from Orlando, FL -- Alan Grayson! Alan Grayson! Alan Grayson! Additional commentary and an incredible CBS video on whistle-blower Grayson's fight against war-profiteering at Down With Tyranny!
Krugman posted distribution tables from the economic stimulus program of "who gets what from tax plans." He also noted, "it’s only thanks to the Democrats that people likely to spend their rebate are getting anything at all.... this plan will produce some stimulus, while the Bush plan would have done virtually nothing." Data source: Tax Policy Center
Reaching for his FISA-colored crayon -- President Bush threatened to veto “a 30-day extension of an expiring eavesdropping law and instead wants an expanded version to be passed by Friday.” In response, Harry Reid (D-CA) said: "There will be no terrorism intelligence collection gap... But if there is any problem, the blame will clearly and unequivocally fall where it belongs: on President Bush and his allies in Congress." The WH gave the House Intel Committee "access to necessary documents on Thursday – eight months after they were requested," according to chairman Silvestre Reyes (D-TX). Shorter version: SSDD at the Bush regime.
Pakistan says no -- "Mr. Musharraf rebuffed proposals to expand any American combat presence in Pakistan, either through unilateral covert C.I.A. missions or by joint operations with Pakistani security forces." Furthermore, Musharraf expressed "that any unilateral action by the United States would be regarded as an invasion." Sunday NYT
[That's all...no more after the jump.]
In fact, some of this has to do with the Presidential Primaries but it's not the single focus because a LOT of stuff has happened in Florida without listening to the Republicans wacky campaigning.
Rep. Dave Weldon (R-15) is retiring. I guess it's true there aren't a lot of Republicans left. (Did it have anything to do with the arrest of his daughter for a bar fight?) He snuck in last cycle against a weak opponent. If we can get one half as good as Suzanne Kosmas, who is running against Tom Feeney, we might make a race of it.
Here's an interesting tidbit. Weldon's House District 15 overlaps Florida House District 32. In case you don't remember, that's the district of Bob Allen of park bathroom fame who offered to give an undercover officer oral sex for $20 bucks. (That still confuses me.) He would have been positioned very strongly for a Congressional run but blew it (yes, pun intended). He must be crying his eyes out right now.
Florida Senator Mel Martinez endorsed John McCain today. That's especially bad news for the Rudy camp. I guess they couldn't get the sympathy they apparently have from Governor Charlie Crist. Speculation was that Crist would endorse Rudy for his support of a National Catastrophe Fund, but he hasn't. Even more, he's been appearing with McCain all over. Rumor has it that Crist would endorse McCain but he didn't want to embarrass Rudy.
Senator Bill Nelson voted in favor of retroactive immunity for telecoms. He's trying to add an amendment that would let a FISA court decide the issue. What? In my opinion, he's the worst Democratic politician in our State. This just seals it for me.
And, please don't get me started on the Florida/Michigan delegate thing. My vote should count - period. A week ago, everyone wanted my vote to count. Now, because Hillary's championing for her benefit, my hero wants to just say No.
I said I'd leave this to others as Rudy withers and dies in Florida but he called in to a local talk radio show here in Orlando (he's in Miami). It was planned time but the phone call alone shows the desperation in the campaign.
To finish out the day, have a good laugh at some of Rudy's insight and lies(paraphrased with actual words in quotations):
On revealing his client list:
The host said that he had taken some hot water over the fact that he hadn't released his client list. Rudy responded by saying that he had. He said that "over 90%" had become known, talked about and researched in the press. The host let him off with that.
"I called Fred and told him he ran a good campaign."WTF? The concession speech that wasn't. The no fire in the belly. The absent candidate. Of all the things he could have said on this subject - this wasn't graceful; it was disingenuous.
Rudy says that McCain is strong on security. Romney is strong on the economy. Rudy says he's strong on both. He turned around New York City when it was in severe financial crisis by "cutting taxes and reducing spending." On national security - 9/11. 'Nough said.Let's take these one at a time - 9/11 first because I can't believe anyone hasn't said this. Rudy did nothing on 9/11 that could be remotely be called providing national security. He didn't deploy troops. He didn't fight an enemy. He didn't secure borders. He didn't do anything with regard to national security - period.
He's got some different ideas, especially about Iraq, that "I don't agree with". "Fighting islamoterrorism is the defining issue of our day." It very important and Ron Paul doesn't realize that. We don't need Iraq to become a center for terrorists.You know what I'm going to say here: Iraq is the best terrorist recruiting tool that we will ever know in our lifetime or our children's. No action we could take moving forward would make that untrue. It might add to it but this debacle will stand as the centerpiece for driving moderate Islamic factions to become enemies of the United States.
We got the New York Giants season comparison. They started the season "lagging" and now they are in the Super Bowl. Rudy specifically said that this was exactly what was happening in his campaign in Florida.Clearly, Rudy needs to visit Disney. He'll be right at home in FantasyLand.
Early voting in Florida began Jan. 14, before Giuliani’s campaign was totally in the crapper instead of just halfway there, for example. California's also had early voting since mid-January.
From the point of wanting more GOP schadenfreude, we can only hope.
Ideally, Rudy will win Florida, while going nearly broke and throw the GOP race into more turmoil, followed by Huckabee winning all the Southern states in Super Tuesday, McCain losing New York to a resurgent but totally broke Rudy, the Schmuck Talk Express™ winning New Jersey and Pennsylvania, while Romney picks up a bunch of seconds and delegates, and maybe wins a state here and there.
Anyway, even though Thompson dropped out one state too late for Huckabee, he isn’t folding yet, you know that. He can win enough states to hang tough.
With most GOP contests being winner-take-all, “spoiler” is the only role left for Ron Paul, though.
This week, I'm attending the Florida Chief of Police Association mid-winter conference in St. Augustine (as a guest). This morning, Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum - Republican extraordinnaire in that he has held or run for every statewide office in Florida including Senator - was scheduled to speak.
McCollum spoke for 30 minutes, much of it dedicated to why he was supporting Rudy for President. I expected the room to go nuts, especially with this almost exclusively Republican and pro-law enforcement audience.
If the media had been in attendance, this would be national news. The room only just politely clapped at the mention of Rudy. While there was a lot of support for the Republican Party, poor Rudy didn't get much. It was almost embarrasing.
If he's failing with these people, I think his Florida firewall may go down in flames.
UPDATE: And then there's this news from Florida:
In the Quinnipiac University poll, 22 percent of likely Republican voters backed McCain, while 20 percent supported Giuliani. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney each had 19 percent.
Actually seeing a bit of useful information on Faux News, it’s worth noting how many of the Feb. 5 primaries, on the Republican side only, are winner-take-all. The biggie here is California, but the list also includes Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Utah. In other words, about 80 percent or so of the GOP delegates on this date are on a winner-take-all basis, even with a plurality and not an absolute majority. (Tennessee is winner-take-all with a majority.)
So, on the GOP side, a run of the table is possible. That’s why even hapless old Rudy would be dumb to fold before then. If he can take populous New York and New Jersey, he’s clearly back in the race. Assuming he does at least reasonably well in Florida before that, this means California will be a bloodbath par excellence.
Hell, Mitt Romney will probably pledge to personally fund the entire state budget deficit if Ahhhnold will endorse him.
After that, most the remaining states that hold primaries are winner-take-all on the GOP side, including Texas March 4. Since Rudy has Gov. Rick Perry’s endorsement (for what it’s worth, coming from a guy re-elected with less than 40 percent of the vote), if Rudy has any pulse after the February Super Tuesday, well, then, he’ll stay in until March.
So, here’s hoping Rudy actually does do well in Florida — really well, since it, too, is winner-take-all. If he wins, we’ve got a four-man race through at least mid-March if not all the way to the GOP convention.
Since we started awarding the prize late in 2007, we added two deserving recipients who are standard bearers from the past week to our Top 10 countdown of exemplary honorees. Who is No. 1 in all of Wingnuttia? We think you will applaud but let's start with...
No. 10: I see nutheeng! -- One of two recipients from the Heritage Foundation, Nina Owcharenko can face the problem of uninsured children, and without batting an eyelash, obfuscate the situation. Nina trotted out the fallacy that the government program to cover uninsured children is expanding in order to -- gasp with us in horror -- drive children from private insurance! Oh, what an affront to the profits of the insurance industry! "The truth is various states have been pushing for an expansion of SCHIP precisely because, faced with spiraling increases in health insurance premiums, more and more employers are electing to drop dependent coverage and more and more middle class parents, confronted with the same price spiral, are unable to pay for private insurance." The parental nightmare: choose between paying for their children's health coverage or the mortgage. But, pish posh, neighs Nina. She canters on, her award teetering on her ideological rump, leaving a trail of road apples for the kiddies.
No. 9: The poor couldn't possibly be really poor -- That's what an elite fellow of the Heritage Foundation, Robert Rector, explained, wagging his finger at us little people. When "one in eight" Americans lack "enough money for the food, shelter, and clothing they need," caught in a daily "struggle with incredible poverty," Rector pulled out his scented hankie, dabbed his pursed lips before opining, Let them eat dirt. Rector's award for excellence in denying the truth about Americans living in poverty earns him a special booby prize in addition to the award -- a miniature guillotine designed to trim his lengthy aristocratic claws.
No. 8: I'm a useful idiot -- Bill Sammon of the Washington Examiner knows how to lobe a softball to Bush during a WH press briefing so the pResident Evil can chortle, "Now, watch this drive." Sammon's question, ”Mr. President, what did you think of the MoveOn ad?” With that, aWol launched into a tirade against the "Democrat" Party. “I thought the ad was disgusting. I felt like the ad was an attack not only on General Petraeus, but on the U.S. military....[blah, blah, blah]." For Sammon's efforts, he gets a brass-plated Kool-Aid sippycup inscribed with "D.C. Stenographer" to accompany his award.
No. 7: Wiping the ass of the GOP -- Home to the rants of crotchety white man Lou Dobbs, stenographer Malveaux, and groveling Wolf, the Cowardly News Network proves once again that liberal media is an extinct creature of mythical lore. In homage to their GOP favoritism during the presidential debates, the award comes with a magic CNN eightball that when shaken, always answers, "Carry water for Republicans or God will getcha!" They take the admonition Seriously.
No. 6: Harangutan Glenn Beck -- When Southern California burned, ravaging the homes of Republican-leaning Orange County and San Diego, a place where active duty and retired military also live, the right-wing nutjob of CNN poisoned with venom for the blue state -- and absent of fact-checking to whom he would spew his obscenities -- delighted in the inferno by announcing that "people who hate America are losing their homes today." A perpetual fountain of animosity toward liberals, environmentalists, Anyone Not A Wingnut™, Beck's bigotry earned him an award wrapped in a brownshirt for outstanding achievement in smearing non-Christians.
[Read on... the countdown continues after the jump!]
No. 5: War on Christmas kerfuffle -- Faux News & Friends hosted a curious holiday segment with the Catholic League's Bill Donohue as guest to kvetch about Huckabee's holiday campaign ad that "displayed an image of a white cross floating in the background behind the Huckster's head." WTF? Didn't the Flared Nostril realize there was a war on Xmas? How could he quibble with a cross, for chrissakes?! His "hypocrisy, partisan bias, and bullying are legion.... Donohue's hyperbolic media whoring and Judas act to progressives, Catholic Democrats, gays, Muslims, Wiccans, and Jews" tickles him pinko. "He excoriates or discounts anyone who disturbs his unbridled wingnuttery" and "Big Media, having given him a bully pulpit, turn a blind eye to his hypocrisy." For his yuletide performance and to complement his award, we bestow a super-size kazoo to play along off-key with the noise machine.
No. 4: O'shilling is me middle name -- NBC's Tim Russert never encountered a fact he couldn't dismiss or distort on behalf of his BFF, the Greedy Old Phonies. Describing Huck's victory in Iowa, he said that "the Republicans [were] embracing someone whose message was populist, and in terms of foreign policy, anti-George W. Bush." Wait a minute. That's not what Huck said: "I love the president. I've been with him on the war. I've been with him on the surge when Mitt Romney wasn't. So it's absurd to say that I'm against the president." Typical of Russert, his Meet The Press dog-and-pony show demonstrates an exercise in disregarding his buddies' misleading statements, allowing propaganda to flourish, and dissing Democrats every chance he can insert an attack. In special recognition, he receives a GOP-monogrammed chamois to polish his award along with the turds he serves up as journalism. Maybe he can use it to buff his brown nose, too.
No. 3: He's a Muslim (wink, wink) but I'm a slut -- He'll criticize others for spreading innuendo but when Chris Matthews does the same thing, he's oblivious to his brazen double standard. As a bona fide Hillary-hater, Tweety makes millions trashing Big Major Dems and he doesn't mind stooping to sexism to do it. He's been dissembling a long, long time. Ah, but he can't seem to cure his complusion 'cause he's in love! Republican he-men, Mr. 9/11, the Codpiece-in-Chief, and "Big Handsome" Fred Thompson make him swoon. We've re-engineered the Wurlitzer prize to accommodate a hidden compartment where Tweety can keep a bottle of smelling salts to use when he's overcome with the vapors. Should we toss in a hand towel for his, um, sweaty palms?
No. 2: Who can top Rudy!? Only Rudy Giuliani, a constant source of wingnuttery, can soar beyond himself like Icarus lifting on the thermal of 9/11 (video). He was for "socialized medicine" before he was against it, but Rudy's never liked facts much. He can out-howl the dogs of war louder than any banshee and he can scare little children and big people alike with terror, terror, terror. Oh, Rudy! "The serial exaggerator can't help himself." But when will he drop out of the race for the WH? His Wurlitzer prize comes rigged with a oscillating white flag. Maybe he will get the hint.
No. 1: Who's the wrongest wingnut of all? -- Taking the top slot, William "The Bloody" Kristol reigns as the King of Crap. For being spectacularly wrong as a pundit, the Gray Lady added him to her "stable of neocon stooges." I kid you not! With Bloody Bill "on board, the Nyuk Nyuk Times can whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop it up with the phoniest stooge of all. The infotainment value that a weekly dose of Bloody Bill can bring to Serious Punditry will surely elevate the laughing stock of the paper in the marketplace of Opinion as it bolts in the opposite direction of the nation's move toward progressive ideas. Who's next to [dis]grace its editorial pages? Ann Coultergeist? N'yaaah-ah-ah!" For such an colossal misstep, the sound of mailbox flaps banging shut on cancelled subscription letters lends a raspberry-induced a cappella to both the Times and Kristol's Wurlitzer Prize for Wingnuttery™.
Stay tuned for next Saturday's award to kick off the first honoree of 2008.
Tonight's funny, Mr. 911 -- the Giuliani Anthem, was posted to youtube by drewantarctic. If you like it you might visit http://www.headastate.com for more.
In the latest in a long tradition of South Carolina mudslinging, voters there got a Christmas card purporting to be from Mitt Romney. The catch? It claims to be from the Boston (Mormon) Temple and it’s filled with comments from The Book of Mormon and Mormon leads not the Christian Bible.
“We have now clearly shown that God the Father had a plurality of wives, one or more being in eternity by whom He begat our spirits as well as the spirit of Jesus His first born, and another being upon the earth by whom he begat the tabernacle of Jesus, as his only begotten in this world,” reads one passage from Orson Pratt, cited on the card as an “original member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles.”
John Deady is a Rudy Giuliani campaign official. Lets listen in as he talks to the Guardian. Hat tip to Greg Sargent at TPM.
Tonight's funny, What AilsRudy, is another parody video from Stranathan.
OK, slow news weekend, holiday coming up and all that, so since I'm finished my Christmas preparations, I'm going to get a jump on the presidential primary predications coming January 1 (since the Iowa caucus is Jan. 3) and make my own semi-baseless predictions:
Republicans:
Huckabee is peaking perfectly but broke. He'll win Iowa, drop to third in New Hampshire then disappear for lack of money.
McCain will turn up a surprising second in Iowa, rake in the dough from grateful Wall Street types terrified of Huckabee and win the nomination.
Romney and Giuliani will tie for third in Iowa, with Mitt coming a not-close-enough second in New Hampshire and disappearing in South Carolina. Giuliani will have a foam-at-the-mouth public freakout over losing to hick Huckabee, tank in New Hampshire, and spend the rest of 2008 tearing down McCain and whining about how he should be the nominee.
Democrats:
Edwards will win in Iowa, possibly drop to a close second in New Hampshire, rebound in South Carolina and win the nomination.
Obama will come in second in Iowa, a close first or second to Edwards in New Hampshire, a further-back second to Edwards in South Carolina, and end up the vice-presidential nominee.
Hillary will come in a close third to Edwards and Obama in Iowa, but tank in New Hampshire as her supporters reel from the shock and her money dries up.If Dodd's on the ballot in South Carolina, he might beat her.
A couple of notes on methodology, or rather the lack of any:
I've been predicting Iowa and New Hampshire would kill Hillary's campaign since last spring, about the same time I predicted Edwards/Obama would be the nominees. At the time I thought the desperate repug wingnut freakazoids would nominate Brownback. Although it seems that Huckabee has stepped into that darling-of-the-jayzus-humpers position, believers don't really choose the republican nominee; Wall Street does.
Yes, my prediction for Edwards has a little wishful thinking in it, as I'm a strong Edwards supporter, but I also think McCain is the strongest possible republican nominee and therefore hoped his summer-fall swoon would be permanent. No such luck. As Rudy, Mitt and Fred reveal their fatal flaws to the faithful, and as Huck's skeletons begin to spill out of the closet, politically rational republicans (the ones with the money and power) are realizing McCain is their only hope.
It's 12 days to the Iowa caucuses; 19 to the New Hampshire primary. At the speed this race is changing, that's plenty of time for Tom Tancredo and Joe Biden to leap out front.
But what's the fun in waiting until it's all over?
Cross-posted at BlueGrassRoots.
This is just a little note for you to consider. Yesterday Kevin Drum posted Huck and the Moneycons examining the fear and loathing the Republican "establishment" has for Mike Huckabee. I think he is on to why the Republican "establishment" doesn't like Huck--clearly he is not part of the ruling elite. He truly represents the NASCAR dads and church going moms out in Red State America. As a Democratic activist friend of mine said the other day, when you look at Huckabee he is really a pro-life theocratic Democrat. He is very likely to use the levers of power to help people outside of the upper one percent achieve their goals. In many ways he is a Republican version of Bill Clinton and for that reason must be opposed at all costs by the elites who are actively trying to strip America of her greatness and future in support of their "new world order."
I don't support Huckabee. His actions in the Dumond case alone disqualify him, but the Republican establishment has every reason to be scared silly of Huckabee. Steve Benen calls it the Huckabee Panic. He probably represents the future of their party, a future where they are not going to be welcome.
What both Drum and Benen both overlook is just why Huckabee's support has grown so quickly. They are quick to ascribe it to his appeal to the evangelical base. Those dumb hicks are voting for one of their own. I think both Drum and Benen, both proud members of the Democratic establishment, are just as biased as the Republican establishment guys. If Huckabee's appeal to the evangelical hot buttons was his only appeal he would have lost the argument to one of the better funded but more establishment evangelical candidates. The junior Senator from Kansas comes to mind.
Huckabee's appeal is broader than the standard evangelical hot buttons. He is attractive to Republicans living outside the beltway elite because they are just as shocked as the rest of us at the utter incompetence of the Bush administration. People who go to church on Sunday aren't stupid. They realize that the Republican establishment has presided over the decline of the American middle class. They are middle class and are wondering just what those establishment candidates offer them. The truth is Romney, Giuliani, McCain et al offer nothing of substance to people who are worried about mortgage payments, college tuition, whether they are going to have a job next year and all the rest of the things that concern Democratic members of the middle class. They might not be sure what Huckabee offers, but they know he was a governor and that he was not afraid to raise taxes to improve Arkansas schools and provide child health care.
The other day Huckabee called the Bush foreign policy arrogant and representative of a bunker mentality. Today Romney attacked him for his comments. I have a hunch Huckabee isn't going to be hurt in either Iowa or South Carolina for telling the obvious truth. Those Iowa farmers and NASCAR dads aren't nearly as dumb as the establishment types think.
I've got to go now. My son is playing the trumpet at his Baptist church and Grandma and I want to hear him play.
Here is the giggling Giuliani from yesterday's meet the press. It is the full hour. Rudy's performance has M.J. Rosenberg singing "Na, Na, Na, Na, Hey, Hey, Hey Goodbye." Frankly there are entire sections where he doesn't giggle. 
Rudy Giuliani on 'Meet the Press'
"Blowin' In The Wind" is the first Democratic PAC attack video of the campaign. From Democratic Courage Pac it challenges Hillary for being less than courageous in the face of a little Giuliani rant. I understand it is running in Iowa. The PAC is trying to raise money for a broader buy. I am not sure they wouldn't be wise to save their ammunition. Hillary isn't nearly the sure thing she was just last week and Democrats are going to need all the media we can purchase in the general who ever is nominated. The ad, however, does go right at a perceived Hillary weakness.
If you encounter a video in need of some coverage, please email the link to proctoring.congress@gamil.com subject: campaign video of the day.
If you haven't seen this "Giuliani ad" give it a look. It has a clear message. Rudy Giuliani knows how to protect his mistress. None of the other candidates do.
The "ad" was posted to YouTube by Stranathan. 9/11, 9/11, 9/11.
Steve Benen offers a splendid day-by-day breakout of Rudy Giuliani's Worst. Week. Ever. Alas, even the magical wand of the Tax Fairy couldn't ameliorate Il Douche's woes because there is no such hocus pocus, a fact that informed adults already know.
Harvard University published a new study: "Nearly two-thirds of Americans do not trust press coverage of the 2008 presidential campaign... four out of five people believe coverage focuses too much on the trivial -- and more than 60% believe coverage is politically biased." What's that say about journalistic integrity and the Beltway intelligentsia?
With all the talk about the military success of the Surge™, the lack of political progress becomes more apparent and oil divides Iraq even more. Remarkably, the Bush WH didn't deny that the military outpaced the political gains in Iraq.
Tragically, the suicide rate of returning Iraq war vets is "four times as high as the general population." Unsurprisingly, "Bush's Department of Veterans Affairs lied" about the "epidemic of suicides among returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans."
Presidential contender Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico took congressional Democrats and a few of the Democratic WH hopefuls to the woodshed. Good for you, Big Bill.
And in a sick display of utter wingnuttery, when Hillary Clinton's NH campaign office in Rochester was assailed by a hostage-taking mental case, Michelle Malkin's rightwing nutjobs came out to laugh it up. How insane is that? Certifiably wacky.
Now it's almost time for the Sunday funnies and I've got to git 'cause Lil' Tim and The Villagers can bust your guts making you roar with laughter at the stuff they think is smart.
[The end. But y'all come back. Chow!]
During a town hall meeting in Staten Island on June 27, 2001, Mayor Rudy insults city workers when the subject of corruption in his administration comes up. President Larry Hanley of the ATU Local 726 attempts to confront Rudy on an inside deal to grant bus routes to private bus companies that contributed to his campaign. And Rudy loses it! Hanley can't get a word in during Rudy's deluge of verbal attacks as city workers hector him:
"Oh, get out of here! ...Stop it! ...Cut out irresponsible, stupid, ridiculous charges.... Nobody is corrupted.... I find people who make false and irresponsible charges of corruption to be reprehensible.
"Take the microphone away! End of the conversation.... That's the end of the conversation.... I do not talk to people that accuse me of corruption.... Sit down and that's the end of your irresponsible charges.... That's the end of this conversation.
"I'm not running away from anything... I'm standing here and you're acting like a bunch of immature idiots.... Ask another question.... You all look too irresponsible to be bus drivers.
"You accuse me of corruption, I stop talking to you.... That's the end of it, OK? You accuse me of committing a crime and corruption, I do not talk to you. So that's the end of the conversation....
"You came here to cause trouble and you're a bunch of idiots. You came here to cause trouble, you've accomplished it, and you're probably too irresponsible to be handling other people on buses.... It's really, really scary that these people drive buses.
"I know the kindergarten does a lot better than these morons.... You're acting like morons, yes. Yes."You've got to watch this YouTube to believe it!
