A Spork in the Drawer

Your Republican Party

[Bumped: Two updates.]

George "Me, a Jew?" Allen staffers beat up critic.

(Video at link.)

I'm afraid it's only going to get worse over the next week.

[Via kos.]

---

UPDATE: kos reminds us of what Allen's sister has to say:

"Ever since my brother George held me over the railing at Niagara Falls, I've had a fear of heights." [Fifth Quarter: The Scrimmage of a Football Coach's Daughter, page 43]

"We all obeyed George. If we didn't, we knew he would kill us. Once, when Bruce refused to go to bed, George hurled him through a sliding glass door. Another time, when Gregory refused to go to bed, George tackled him and broke his collarbone. Another time, when I refused to go to bed, George dragged me up the stairs by my hair." [Fifth Quarter: The Scrimmage of a Football Coach's Daughter, page 22]

And let's not forget Pennsylvania Republican Congressman Don "Mistress Strangler" Sherword. The Republicans are fun people. I guess "Abstinence for Adults" is a desperate attempt by Republicans to protect themselves from themselves.

UPDATE II: Video:

.

Your Republican Party II

Dear, sweet, lovable Laura Bush:

Q: One of the issues that’s come up. Michael J. Fox. The whole issue of stem cell research. Your reaction to the events of the past week.

LAURA BUSH: Well, I don’t have any idea about any of those. I mean, I’ve watch on television just like you have. But the fact is President Bush is the only president that authorized funding for stem cell research. And, um, you know, it’s an issue that it’s easy to try to manipulate people’s feelings about and I understand that. My dad died of Alzheimer’s. You know, there’ s nothing I’d like more than to think there was a cure for Alzheimer’s. Especially before I get to be the age he is, but knowing also how he suffered. It’s always easy to manipulate people’s feelings, especially when you are talking about diseases that are so difficult. [Emphasis added.]

And she's the nice one.

.

A Halloween Treat...

...from Maria.

.

A Report From The Front

This past Sunday, reader nobozos decided to check attendance one of Li'l Ricky's campaign events.

Report follows.

Batshit Insane

That's the only way to explain Katie Harris:

Katherine Harris, who is trying to become a U.S. senator, says she is writing a tell-all about the many people who have wronged her. This includes, but is not necessarily limited to: the Republican leaders who didn't want her to run, the press that has covered her troubled campaign, and the many staffers who have quit her employ, whom she accuses of colluding with her opponent.

She is vague about what, precisely, makes her a victim, but she says she has it all documented.

"I've been writing it all year," she says in that kittenish voice. She often smiles and cocks her head as if she's letting you in on a secret. "It's going to be a great book."

[...]

The way Harris sees it, a vast left- and right-wing conspiracy, encompassing both the "liberal media" and the Republican "elite," is attempting to keep her out of the Senate. She says anyone could see the way the panel of questioners coddled Nelson at their debate last week. Her voice gets all high and mocking as she imitates them.

"Ooooh, Senator Nelson," she says. "I mean, come on."

It might be time to get a straight-jacket.

.

FYI

When you vote for Democrats you're voting for terrorists:

"However they put it, the Democrat approach in Iraq comes down to this: The terrorists win and America loses," Bush told a raucous crowd of about 5,000 GOP partisans packed in an arena at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, one of his stops Monday. "That's what's at stake in this election. The Democrat goal is to get out of Iraq. The Republican goal is to win in Iraq."

Smell the desperation.

Oh, and George? It's "Democrat-ic." Don't be juvenile.

.

The Shredding Begins

Wonkette:

Spotted on 10/19, by an eagle-eyed Wonkette reader: The Mid-Atlantic Shredding Services truck making its way up to the Cheney compound at the Naval Observatory.

Fun fact: Mid-Atlantic Shredding Services has been contracted by the Secret Service for our Executive Branch’s record-not-keeping needs.

[Via C&L.]

.

Why Elections Matter

They get away with it:

The Interior Department has dropped claims that the Chevron Corporation systematically underpaid the government for natural gas produced in the Gulf of Mexico, a decision that could allow energy companies to avoid paying hundreds of millions of dollars in royalties.

The agency had ordered Chevron to pay $6 million in additional royalties but could have sought tens of millions more had it prevailed. The decision also sets a precedent that could make it easier for oil and gas companies to lower the value of what they pump each year from federal property and thus their payments to the government.

It's good to have friends in high places.

.

We'll All Be Children Soon

What BushCo™ thinks of you:

Now the government is targeting unmarried adults up to age 29 as part of its abstinence-only programs, which include millions of dollars in federal money that will be available to the states under revised federal grant guidelines for 2007.

The government says the change is a clarification. But critics say it's a clear signal of a more directed policy targeting the sexual behavior of adults.

"They've stepped over the line of common sense," said James Wagoner, president of Advocates for Youth, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit that supports sex education. "To be preaching abstinence when 90% of people are having sex is in essence to lose touch with reality. It's an ideological campaign. It has nothing to do with public health."

The Right has long claimed that liberals are in favor of a "Nanny State," that adults can't be trusted to make decisions for themselves.

So much for that.

.

Laying It On Thick

You know you're in trouble when yoou have to get Sean Hannity to campaign for you:

Santorum, of Pittsburgh, made his second stop in Lancaster County in four days when he stumped at the rally held on his behalf. Joining him on stage was radio and TV talk-show personality Sean Hannity, who told the voters they will be making a choice between good and evil on Election Day.

"There can only be one winner and one loser that day," said Hannity, co-host and producer of Fox News' "Hannity & Colmes."

Early Returns notes: "You'll notice that he didn't predict a winner."

Also campaining for Li'l Ricky was former Rep. Bob Walker, who said:

"A victory for Republicans will carry the message that our future is bright along the broadening way."

That's some quality purple prose; somebody get Walker a better speechwriter.

.

A Bit Of Isamu Noguchi

The Roar, 1966.

.

Neiwert

Read.

.

Letterman...

destroys Bill'O:

(It's obviously truncated...sorry.)

.

Howard Beale speaks for me:

November 7.

.

Jack Kelly Asks A Question

Why is Moqtada al-Sadr still alive?"

Because killing him would be bad for the US.

Really, they are this stupid.

.

20 Reasons To Vote Against Rick Santorum

Pittsburgh City Paper:

After months of political ads and campaigning, it's easy to forget why anyone goes to the polls at all. So as a public service to voters who want to put aside the partisanship and bickering of Washington, City Paper offers this partial list of highlights from Sen. Rick Santorum's career.

20) Santorum on the pedophile priest scandal: "Priests, like all of us, are affected by culture. ... [I]t is no surprise that Boston, a seat of academic, political and cultural liberalism in America, lies at the center of the storm." -- Catholic Online, July 12, 2002

19) "It's the equivalent of Adolf Hitler in 1942 saying, 'I'm in Paris. How dare you invade me? How dare you bomb my city? It's mine.'" -- Santorum in 2005, responding to Democrats who were pondering a filibuster of a judicial nominee

18) In 2001, after Robinson Township's Ronald Reagan Atrium I nursing home failed three inspections by federal health officials, Santorum lobbied to keep the center open so it could have one more try at passing inspection. In 2005, a federal jury convicted the nursing-home operator of fraud; patients' families testified that poor care resulted in patients falling and breaking bones, being dehydrated, and sitting in their own waste.

17) Santorum's voting record gets a 27 percent rating from the National Education Association, but it's not just teachers he has a problem with -- it's all those whacked-out students. "Mass education is really the aberration," he wrote in It Takes a Family. "It's amazing that so many kids turn out to be normal considering the weird socialization they get in public schools."

16) Santorum has proposed a $250,000 cap on the amount victims of medical malpractice can sue their doctors for. Yet his wife sought twice that much from a chiropractor she said treated her negligently. "The court proceedings are a personal family matter," said Mr. Privacy Rights, in answer to queries from reporters.

15) Santorum, who has accepted numerous campaign contributions from the weather forecasting firm Accu-Weather, has sought to prohibit the National Weather Service from sharing its forecasts with the public. After Hurricane Katrina, Santorum insisted the National Weather Service warnings about the storm were "not sufficient" -- despite agency warnings deeming it "a most powerful hurricane with unprecedented strength."

14) "My primary residence will be in suburban Pittsburgh -- unlike the incumbent, who lives full time in Virginia and maintains no residence in Allegheny County." Rick Santorum, 1990

13) In March 2005, he voted against restoring $565 million in cuts made to emergency-responders, port-security programs -- and border-patrol agents. In February 2006, he voted against increasing funding by $47 billion for the Iraq-strapped military, preferring to spend the money on tax cuts for the wealthy instead.

12) In March 2005, voted against a plan to increase funding for college-aid and other educational programs by closing corporate tax loopholes.

11) That Santorum home in Virginia? According to the American Prospect, Santorum paid for it with a sweetheart low-interest mortgage financed by the Philadelphia Trust Company -- whose executives have been heavy contributors to the Santorum campaign. Santorum sits on the Senate Banking Committee.

10) Santorum to WTAE-TV on Katrina victims: "[Y]ou have people who don't heed those warnings and then put people at risk as a result of not heeding those warnings. There may be a need to look at tougher penalties on those who decide to ride it out and understand that there are consequences to not leaving."

9) Social-security privatization

8) "As the decline of true science has been a major factor in the decline of Western culture, so too the renewal of science will play a big part in cultural renewal." -- Santorum in the forward to Darwin's Nemesis, a 2006 book honoring Philip Johnson, an evolution skeptic who advocates for the pseudo-science "intelligent design"

7) "We have found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, chemical weapons." -- Santorum in a June 21 press conference.

"[A] senior Defense Department official pointed out that the chemical weapons were not in useable condition. 'This does not reflect a capacity that was built up after 1991,' the official said, adding the munitions 'are not the WMDs this country and the rest of the world believed Iraq had, and not the WMDs for which this country went to war.'" -- FOX News, reporting on Santorum's claims, which were based on long-buried shells left over from the early 1990s.

6) "I have no problem with homosexuality. I have a problem with homosexual acts," Santorum, in his famous "man on dog" Associated Press interview. (Actually, he clearly does have a problem with homosexuality: He voted against a bill to prevent workers from being fired just for their sexual orientation.)

5) Santorum's lifetime rating from the League of Conservation Voters: 10 percent

4) Santorum's lifetime rating from pro-choice group NARAL: 0 percent.

3) Just after making a televised visit to Terri Schiavo's Florida bedside -- and just after canceling a forum on Social Security "out of respect" for the Schiavos -- Santorum attended a series of Sunshine State fund-raisers. He raised $250,000 in contributions -- including several made by executives at Outback Steakhouses. (Days before, Santorum had proposed excluding restaurant workers from a hike in the minimum wage.) The sponsor of the jet that chauffeured him from one event to the next? Wal-Mart.

2) From Sept. 3, 2006 Meet the Press:

Tim Russert (moderator): When President Clinton took troops into Kosovo, you said, "President Clinton is once again releasing American military might on a foreign country with an ill-defined objective and no exit strategy. He is yet to tell Congress how much this operation will cost. And, he has not informed our nation's Armed Forces about how long they will be away from home." Do you believe you should have the same standard for President Bush? ...

Santorum: No. Because Kosovo and [Serb leader] Slobodan Milosevic were never a security threat to the U.S.

1) "Privacy. [Religious] neutrality. Free Expression. None of these terms is in the Constitution. ... [T]hese 'philosophical' tenets are pure abstractions." -- Santorum, It Takes a Family

.

Word Of The Day

Tax:

Election Day is around the corner, and one of the biggest issues at stake in this campaign is your taxes.

[...]

Now the results of these tax cuts are in...

[...]

Tax revenues have soared...

[...]

All these signs point to one conclusion: Cutting your taxes worked.

[...] The child tax credit will be cut in half...

DON'T MENTION THE WAR!

.

Yawn

Doyle:

The challenger is a bright and congenial candidate who supports true democracy, but Mike Doyle is engaged in the issues and positions that matter to Allegheny County and has earned the Post-Gazette's endorsement.

No, I'm not excited.

ADDED: Oops, link here.

.

Another Comma

P-G:

The flag-draped casket of Army Spc. Russell Culbertson was removed from a hearse shortly before a funeral at Bethany Presbyterian Church. Spc. Culbertson received a final salute yesterday, 10 days after he was killed in a roadside bombing in Baghdad, Iraq. He was 22.

Soldiers carried his coffin into Bethany Presbyterian Church in Bridgeville. Vietnam veterans who assembled outside held U.S. flags. One man, not a flag bearer, hunched over and cried.

Spc. Culbertson, of Lone Pine in Washington County, was a 2003 graduate of Trinity High School and a tank gunner with the 4th Infantry Division.

Three other soldiers were killed with him in the Oct. 17 explosion. They included a second man from Pennsylvania, 2nd Lt. Christopher E. Loudon, 23, of Brockport in Elk County.

.

Your Liberal Media: Dixie Chicks Edition

I guess General Electric is afraid of losing pentagon contracts:

NBC is refusing to air an ad for the new Dixie Chicks documentary, “Shut Up & Sing.” Variety reports, “NBC’s commercial clearance department said in writing that it ‘cannot accept these spots as they are disparaging to President Bush.’”

Do we now have to bow and scrape when in the presence of Our Glorious Leader™? Avert our eyes? Peel his grapes?

The offending ad:

.

Told You

When The Daily Scaife endorsed Jack Murtha for reelection you just knew the Gates of Hell would open for them. And sure enough look here and here. Not to be outdone, our old friend David P. Shreiner (here and here) just has to blow a gasket:

Where is the real Colin McNickle? First, we read he won't vote for Republicans because they have spent too much time off the conservative reservation ("Vote Republican?: Deliver a spanking," Oct. 22 and PghTrib.com). Then we read that the editorial page McNickle edits supports Rep. Jack "Cut 'n Run" Murtha ("Election 2006: Jack Murtha in the 12th," Editorial, Oct. 26 and PghTrib.com) and another anti-Bush ad appears on the front page of the Trib ("Bush faces public's unease," Oct. 26).

Anyone can understand the terrorists in Iraq want Democrats to win the Nov. 7 election. The propaganda news media trumpet daily that the October killings in Iraq are the highest ever. This is the terrorists' way of voting for Democrats, i.e., putting pressure on Americans via liberal news attempting to show a defeat of Bush's war in Iraq.

Who benefits if Democrats regain power? The terrorists do because they know Democrats will pull out our soldiers.

Democrats and their allies in the propaganda media want power more than winning the war against terrorism. Unfortunately they are succeeding in swaying people to vote against Republicans.
If you want the Middle East to become a terrorist training ground to export militant Islam around the world, then vote Democrat. If you want to continue feeling safe in America, vote Republican.

I will not renew my subscription to the Trib, so this will probably be my last unpublished letter.

David P. Shreiner
Franklin Park

The Daily Scaife just won't be the same without the insane ravings of Davey.

.

The All-Purpose GOP Excuse

Meanwhile, in Florida:

MIAMI -- For months, state Rep. Rafael Arza has ducked accusations that he repeatedly used a racial slur. But last Saturday night, according to authorities, he was caught using the derogatory term for a black person on another legislator's voice mail, and what has been a long-running sideshow here has come to a political climax.

In a rare move, House Democrats vowed this week to walk out unless the prominent Republican legislator resigns or is expelled.

[...]

In a statement, Arza apologized for the phone message, blaming it in part on drinking. He is expected to be reelected on Nov. 7. [Emphasis added.]

I think we can now assume that the Republican Party is the party of booze-addled racists.

I hope they're proud.

.

Money

It's a gas:

For the first time in the campaign, Democratic Senate candidate Bob Casey Jr. has more ready cash than Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum.

According to numbers provided by the campaigns yesterday, state Treasurer Casey has $2.7 million cash on hand and Santorum has $2.4 million.

Between Oct. 1 and Oct. 18, Santorum raised $1.3 million and Casey $1.35 million.

Political analyst Larry Sabato said the numbers show the handwriting is on the wall for Santorum's re-election effort.

"History tells us that when this happens, it means that the challenger has been accepted by the political community as the likely winner," said Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.

He added: "Almost never does an incumbent fall behind in fundraising or cash on hand unless he is lagging badly in the polls."

[Via Keystone Politics.]

Maybe Li'l Ricky could raise some bucks by selling the seersucker.

.

Ricky Churchill

An evermore flailing Sen Manondog (R-AKC) desperately tries to convince voters he's the second coming of Winston Churchill:

CORNWALL, Pa. -- For the first time in his fight for a third term, U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., directly questioned his opponent's ability to make the right decisions on national security at a time when "our enemies are fully committed to our destruction."

[...]

Mr. Santorum's criticism comes after the campaign released a hard-hitting TV ad earlier this week showing Mr. Casey's face next to a mushroom cloud and accusing him of supporting policies that hurt national security.

[...]

In his speech, Mr. Santorum invoked Winston Churchill, described alleged terror plots and said the United States must pay attention to escalating threats from countries such as Iran, Venezuela and North Korea.

"We will have to face this threat because our enemies are fully committed to our destruction," Mr. Santorum said. "They will not stop until they destroy us or we destroy them."

[...]

Mr. Santorum referred to what he said were multiple forces trying to undermine the United States as "the gathering storm" -- a phrase that is also the title of Churchill's memoir about the causes of World War II.

Mr. Santorum quoted the opening passage, in which Churchill, the onetime British leader, said English-speaking peoples "allowed the wicked to rearm."

You don't want to know what Ricky would do with Churchill's famous cigar.

As for Li'l Ricky's latest ad: AIEEEE! Commie Pinko Islamofascists are gonna get us!

The upside-down US flag next to Casey is a nice touch. Very subliminable, as Our Glorious Leader™ might say.

Bob Casey on the web.

.

Your Liberal Media

NBC's Matt Lauer asks a question:

Didn't Rush Limbaugh just say what a lot of people were privately thinking?

No.

Next question?

.

Oh. My. God.

Just watch:

.

How Exciting For Us

A visit from a VIP:

Tomorrow, look for more political talent as Republican National Chairman Ken Mehlman will be in the region checking out the GOTV efforts for Rep. Melissa Hart and Sen. Rick Santorum.

No word if Mehlman travels with a portable closet.

.

This Can't Be Good

Via Nicole Belle at C&L, the US is conducting naval exercises in the near Iran:

There is a massive concentration of US naval power in the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea. Two US naval strike groups are deployed: USS Enterprise, and USS Iwo Jima Expeditionary Strike Group. The naval strike groups have been assigned to fighting the "global war on terrorism."

[...]

Concurrent with ths concentration of US Naval power, the US is also involved in military exercises in the Persian Gulf, which consists in "interdicting ships in the Gulf carrying weapons of mass destruction and missiles"

The exercise is taking place as the United States and other major powers are considering sanctions including possible interdiction of ships on North Korea, following a reported nuclear test, and on Iran, which has defied a U.N. Security Council mandate to stop enriching uranium.

The exercise, set for Oct. 31, is the 25th to be organized under the U.S.-led 66-member Proliferation Security Initiative and the first to be based in the Gulf near Bahrain, across from Iran, the officials said.
A senior U.S. official insisted the exercise is not aimed specifically at Iran, although it reinforces a U.S. strategy aimed at strengthening America’s ties with states in the Gulf, where Tehran and Washington are competing for influence"

.

This Is A New One

A press release from National Pro- Life Action Center:

WASHINGTON, Oct. 26 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Michael J. Fox and other celebrities are going head to head in a debate about stem cell research that destroys a human embryo says the National Pro- Life Action Center.

Dr. Paul Chaim Schenck, executive director of National Pro- Life Action Center on Capitol Hill had this to say: "Much has been made of Rush Limbaugh's apology for suggesting that Michael J. Fox exaggerated his Parkinson's symptoms for a political purpose. But the real issue is not what a talk show host may or may not have said about Fox's disease. Rather, it is Fox's proposal that is truly shocking: he suggests, no demands, that tax payers subsidize, under penalty of law, dubious research which results in the deaths of human embryo-children, so that his symptoms might be relieved. That is an outrageous demand -- and that is what should spark debate, not what one celebrity thinks about another."

"Human embryo-children"?

.

Agreed

(Sticker available here. (I have nothing to do with the creation or selling of this.))

.

That Pop You Hear...

...is the sound of Wingnut heads exploding. The Daily Scaife enthusiastically endorses Jack Murtha:

Mr. Murtha's exemplary service qualifies the Johnstown Democrat for re-election in the 12th Congressional District.

In wartime and peace, no member of Congress has been a stronger, more steadfast voice for this nation's military than Murtha. Yet when he challenged the U.S. course in Iraq and called for troop withdrawals last year, many dismissed him as a know-nothing.

In reality Jack Murtha was well ahead on the learning curve. He recognized the fallacy of pursuing Iraqis' welfare through U.S.-supplied warfare. Eleven months later, U.S. officials now are finally talking about a timeline for Iraq's self-determination.

[...]

The 12th District, and certainly America, needs John Murtha.

I can't wait for the torrent of letters over this.

.

Jungle Drums

Nope. Republicans aren't at all racist.

.

Wingnuts Go Ballistic...

...in 5...4....3...:

"Times and attitudes have changed," the New Jersey State Supreme Court said in a nuanced 90-page ruling that was neither a clear victory nor a defeat for gay marriage, which is currently legal in the United States only in Massachusetts.

[...]

But saying that gay couples must have the same rights as other couples, the court said gay advocates must now "appeal to their fellow citizens whose voices are heard through their popularly elected representatives."

With that in mind, the court gave the legislature six months to either amend the state's marriage statutes to include gay people, or write a new law in which same-sex couples "would enjoy the rights of civil marriage."

The down side is this might motivate the Fundies to actually vote.

---

UPDATE: And right on cue comes Mullah Dobson.

.

More Like This Please

The DNC today released a dynamite new web ad.

If they are smart they'll get this onto teevee.

.

Wednesday Boot

This morning Iran is tuggin' at Max's brain. Negotiations are useless. Invasion is impossible. So what's left? Proxy war!

NOW THAT WE'VE failed to stop North Korea from going nuclear, it's all the more imperative to prevent Iran, another member of the "axis of evil," from going down the same route.

But how? The approach that failed with North Korea — endless negotiations backed by feeble sanctions and rhetorical bluster — isn't likely to be any more successful with Iran.

Should I point out that the United States hasn't really engaged in negotiations with North Korea?

There are at least two alternatives that should be seriously considered: "soft" and "hard" approaches to regime change.

The soft line would be to offer Iran a grand bargain: If you verifiably suspend your nuclear program and end support for terrorism (primarily in Lebanon and Iraq), the U.S. will lift sanctions, reestablish diplomatic relations and back Iran's entry into the World Trade Organization. As part of this deal, the U.S. could pledge to not use force to overthrow the Iranian regime, but we would most assuredly not give up peaceful support of Iranian democrats. In fact, by establishing an embassy in Tehran and opening up more cultural and economic links with the West, we might be able to do more to foster regime change than by continuing to try to isolate the mullahs.

Okay, this isn't a terrible suggestion, although I doubt that we'd be too happy if a foreign power started to fund, "peacefully," American political movements. Still, coming from Max this isn't bad.

This is the preferred strategy of leading Iranian dissidents such as Akbar Ganji, who was released from prison earlier this year after a hunger strike. Iranian liberals believe that such a gambit would put Iran's government on the defensive because most Iranians want greater foreign investment and more access to the outside world. This approach may be worth trying, if only to score points with the Iranian public and Washington's allies, but such a deal is unlikely to be accepted by the hard-liners in Tehran. They don't want to give up the "Great Satan" as a scapegoat for all the ills of their society.

Oh. So much for that, then.

Hence we need to think about a tougher approach to regime change. The U.S. already has increased aid for the promotion of democracy in Iran, from $3 million in 2005 to $76 million in the just-concluded fiscal year. If we're serious, we need to spend much more, and we need to consider the possibility of going beyond peaceful measures to foment change. An American invasion is out of the question. But perhaps we could do to Iran what the Iranians are doing to us in Iraq, where they are funneling weapons and money to militias that are killing our soldiers.

This doesn't sound good.

There also are a number of opposition groups that span the ethnic spectrum. Workers, women's groups and students have staged peaceful demonstrations to protest various grievances. The Mujahedin Khalq, a leftist political cult, mounted attacks on Iran in the 1980s and 1990s from bases in Iraq. Since the U.S. invasion of Iraq, American troops have detained thousands of its activists. They could easily be set loose to make trouble across the border.

This option has a lot of drawbacks. It's not clear that, even with massive U.S. support, we could mobilize an active insurgency. And, even if we did, our support could backfire and unite the Iranian people around their regime. But then this also would be a likely consequence of airstrikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, which would be the only serious option left once the current Bush administration policy of half-hearted multilateral negotiations backed by toothless U.N. resolutions fails. (Or, rather, once its failure can no longer be denied.)

A proxy war could backfire? Shocking! Unfortunately, Max doesn't say what we should do if (when) his proxy war backfires. Back off? Full scale war? It's little questions like these that matter. Apparently Max isn't up to the serious brain-storming to which these questions would lead as he concludes limply:

The options outlined here aren't palatable to major political constituencies in the United States — conservatives disdain the soft line; liberals the hard line. But we can't let political orthodoxy stand in the way of stopping another rogue regime from going nuclear.

Poor Max. A whole column to write and not a coherent thought in his mind. It's tough out there for a Neocon.

.

Oooo-kay

In an op-ed arguing that we should stay the course in Iraq Frederick W. Kagan reaches a whole new level of idiocy:

It is also worth keeping in mind that as indirect consequences of America's defeat in Vietnam, the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, the Sandinistas seized power in Nicaragua and Ayatollah Khomeini seized Tehran and American hostages. The "decent interval" between our withdrawal and the collapse of South Vietnam didn't help. Neither will the implausible deniability the Pentagon is now trying to establish in Iraq.

That the loss of the war in Vietnam led to the overthrow of the Shah of Iran is not only new but wholly asinine. Even the discredited "Domino Theory" can't account for this. (It's also arguable that the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan had more to do with the Iranian revolution than Vietnam but I'll let that pass.)

Maybe Fred should read a little history and familiarize himself with Mohammed Mossadegh.

---

ADDED: Kevin Drum on the banality of Fred.

.

Another Reason To Vote Democratic

It's ba-aaack:

In recent days, Bush has said Social Security remains one of the "big items" he wants to tackle next year and he continues to "believe that a worker, at his or her option, ought to be allowed to put some of their own money . . . in a private savings account, an account that they call their own."

[...]

Democratic strategists were gleeful about the chance to draw a sharp distinction between the parties on Social Security, an explosive issue among elderly voters. "I couldn't believe it. What an opening," Democratic pollster Celinda Lake said. "I think he had an out-of-body experience."

Some Republicans were equally perplexed by Bush's timing.

"I guess you could argue if it gets Iraq off the front page, it was probably a good thing at this point," said Rep. Thomas M. Davis III (R-Va.), a top Republican strategist who opposed the president's Social Security plan. But a new White House push on the issue "is not going anywhere. This president never likes to back down. I think he's putting it on the table, but I don't think anybody's going to pick it up."

And everybody's favorite dog-lovin' Senator remains steadfast in his quest to destroy Social Security:

One of the few exceptions was Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), chairman of a Senate subcommittee on Social Security and an outspoken advocate of the president's plan. He is trailing Democrat Robert P. Casey Jr. in recent polls.

Santorum told AARP that he continues to support private accounts, so long as they are voluntary. On the campaign trail, he has lashed out at Casey -- and Democrats in general -- for failing to offer their own ideas for tackling the Social Security problem.

"He won't give you an -- he won't give you an answer on Social Security. He won't give you an answer on anything to make any changes," Santorum said in a television debate last month. "My question to Mr. Casey is: If you're not for personal retirement accounts, which he says he's not, how much are you going to raise their taxes? Or how much are you going to cut benefits to fix the Social Security problem?"

Remember, kiddies: The Republicans destroy everything they touch. Don't be a patsy; don't vote Republican!

.

How Low Can They Go?

The WaPo picks up on the Oxycontin Kid's vile attacks on Michael J. Fox:

To Rush Limbaugh on Monday, Michael J. Fox looked like a faker. The actor, who suffers from Parkinson's disease, has done a series of political ads supporting candidates who favor stem cell research, including Maryland Democrat Ben Cardin, who is running against Republican Michael Steele for the Senate seat being vacated by Paul Sarbanes.

"He is exaggerating the effects of the disease," Limbaugh told listeners. "He's moving all around and shaking and it's purely an act. . . . This is really shameless of Michael J. Fox. Either he didn't take his medication or he's acting."

[...]

"Anyone who knows the disease well would regard his movement as classic severe Parkinson's disease," said Elaine Richman, a neuroscientist in Baltimore who co-wrote "Parkinson's Disease and the Family." "Any other interpretation is misinformed."

[...]

"Now people are telling me they have seen Michael J. Fox in interviews and he does appear the same way in the interviews as he does in this commercial," Limbaugh said, according to a transcript on his Web site. "All right then, I stand corrected. . . . So I will bigly, hugely admit that I was wrong, and I will apologize to Michael J. Fox, if I am wrong in characterizing his behavior on this commercial as an act."

Then Limbaugh pivoted to a different critique: "Michael J. Fox is allowing his illness to be exploited and in the process is shilling for a Democratic politician."

Why this drug-addict and Dominican prostitute-visiting sleaze is listened to by anyone is a mystery to me. But I suppose his merry band of "Dittoheads" enjoy the slime under rocks.

Fox's ad for Claire McCaskill:

.

Altmire

Jason Altmire gets the P-G's endorsement:

As his background suggests, Mr. Altmire's No. 1 issue is the health-insurance crisis, which has left 46 million Americans without coverage. His remedy involves a three-point plan that includes paying doctors and hospitals for quality of care, not quantity; taking millions of people who are privately insured and putting them into a large pool so that risks are spread out and individuals are not penalized for becoming sick; and allowing people younger than 65 to buy into Medicare, thus getting them affordable coverage and invigorating the system.

[...]

We also find Mr. Altmire more convincing on his support for a higher minimum wage and for ending tax cuts to the wealthy, particularly at a time of war and growing national debt. With guns and abortion largely neutralized as issues in this race because of common ground between two socially conservative candidates, the contest is for many a referendum on the performance of the Bush administration and the Republican-controlled Congress. Rep. Hart is the smiley face on some unsmiling policies -- and none more so than the growing disaster in Iraq.

Melissa Hart is the good soldier who doesn't depart from President Bush's marching orders. She is glad that the administration is talking about a change in tactics, but gives no hint that Iraq was a mistake or a miscalculation. The job must be finished, she says, or else calamity will ensue.

Help defeat the long-lost sister of Li'l Ricky: Jason Altmire on the Web.

.

Borat!

Kazakhstan gets wise:

All this has left the Kazakhstan government unamused. It has threatened to sue. It shut down Borat's Kazakh Web site. Last month, it took out full-page newspaper ads to counter "damaging slurs." But last week Kazakhstan finally got its public relations apparatus up and running. "We must have a sense of humor and respect for other people's freedom of creativity," a deputy foreign minister told The Scotsman. "I'd like to invite Cohen here. Women drive cars, wine is made of grapes, and Jews are free to go to synagogue." The PR efforts seemed to be going well -- until Kazakhstan's central bank printed millions of new notes and misspelled the word "bank."

Allegedly the first four minutes of the movie. Enjoy!

.

The Dog Ate My NIE

The National Intelligence Estimate completed in April and buried until the New York Times unearthed it last month was actually delayed because...

As Ware explained it, the Iraq terror NIE came to the committee in late April, but did not get scanned because of the malfunction. Then, after the equipment was working again in late April, the document -- which contradicted key aspects of Bush administration policy and rhetoric -- sat unnoticed in a "backlog," along with other classified documents awaiting the committee's consideration, until the New York Times revealed its conclusions in late September.

There isn't a schoolteacher in the world who would buy that excuse.

.

Another Reason To Vote Democratic

The TelCos are afraid of a Democratic Congress:

A Democratic takeover on Capitol Hill would be good news to those who say the government should prohibit telecommunications giants from playing favorites with Internet content.

The idea, known as ``network neutrality,'' is about preventing those who control traffic on the Internet from allowing well-heeled Web sites to in effect buy their way to the front of the line in a world where data flow can be as congested as Los Angeles traffic. Proponents say it should be a bipartisan issue.

But lobbyists for the big companies that control most of the Internet in the United States are worried that the Democrats might pick up the seats they need to take over one or both chambers of Congress.

[...]

The current chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee is Rep. Joe Barton, a Republican from AT&T's home state of Texas. Barton has consistently opposed network neutrality, as has Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., who chairs the Internet and Technology subcommittee.

By contrast, Rep. John Dingell, also of Michigan and who would assume the chairmanship if Democrats take over, has been sympathetic to network neutrality proponents. And Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., who would take over the Internet and Technology subcommittee, wrote an unsuccessful network neutrality amendment in the House and has made the issue a top priority.

[...]

Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, the ranking Democrat who would take over the committee if the Democrats win control, supports network neutrality, while current chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, blames the issue for sinking his broad telecommunications bill.

Regardless of the election's outcome, network neutrality legislation would still have to be signed by President Bush -- something that both sides acknowledge is unlikely to happen.

So unless you want the internets to be controlled by a few big corporations and the Republican Party, vote Democratic!

Save the Internet or just click on the orange banner to the right.

.

Too Funny

Kevin asks a question:

JUST ASKING....Conservatives have been lecturing liberals for the past few years about the fact that George Bush will be our president for the next few years whether we like it or not, so for the good of the country we ought to be supporting him instead of gleefully hoping for a failure that just hurts all of us. The stakes are high, war of civilizations, madmen with nuclear bombs, etc. etc.

So if Democrats win control of Congress this year, I expect we'll see plenty of sober, thoughtful support for Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid from conservatives, right? Gotta do what's right for the country, after all.

Right?

That's good snark from Mr. Milquetoast.

.

Li' Ricky: Savior Of America

More evidence that Li'l Ricky is seriously deranged:

Likening the times to the late 1930s as Nazi Germany was rising to power, Sen. Rick Santorum said last night that if he loses his re-election bid, it could set the stage for terrorism to become more of a threat than the Nazis ever were.

“If we are not successful here and things don’t go right in the election, there’s a good chance that the course of our country could change,” he said. “We are in the equivalent of the late 1930s, and this election will decide whether we are going to continue to appease or whether we will stand and fight while we have a chance to win without devastating consequences.

“And you here in Pennsylvania — you here in this room — will have a huge role to play as to what happens.”

[...]

“I’m sure that offended a lot of Germans when we went out and declared war against the Nazis and fought that concept, as it did the Japanese in America. [...]

Putting aside the obvious lunacy of these statements it's worth noting that Germany declared war on the United States on 11 December, 1941.

And am I wrong in thinking that Ricky comes very close the saying that putting Japanese-Americans in prison camps was a good idea?

I may not be the biggest fan of Bob Casey on this planet but at least he's sane.

[Via Atrios.]

.

That Tears It

Oh, the upcoming electins are going the be fun:

Election officials attribute the mistake to an increase in the type size on the ballot. Although the larger type is easier to read, it also unintentionally shortens the longer names on the summary page of the ballot.

Thus, Democratic candidate Webb will appear with his first name and nickname only -- or "James H. 'Jim' " -- on summary pages in Alexandria, Falls Church and Charlottesville, the only jurisdictions in Virginia that use balloting machines manufactured by Hart InterCivic of Austin.

"We're not happy about it," Webb spokeswoman Kristian Denny Todd said last night, adding that the campaign learned about the problem a week ago and has since been in touch with state election officials. "I don't think it can be remedied by Election Day. Obviously, that's a concern."

Every candidate on Alexandria's summary page has been affected in some way by the glitch. Even if candidates' full names appear, as is the case with Webb's Republican opponent, incumbent Sen. George F. Allen, their party affiliations have been cut off.

Get. Rid. Of. The. Fucking. Machines.

[Via Trapper John.]

.

Further We Slip

The First Amendment? Not using it so much:

Some poor countries, such as Mauritania and Haiti, improved their record in a global press freedom index this year, while France, the United States and Japan slipped further down the scale of 168 countries rated, the group Reporters Without Borders said yesterday.

[...]

Although it ranked 17th on the first list, published in 2002, the United States now stands at 53, having fallen nine places since last year.

"Relations between the media and the Bush administration sharply deteriorated after the president used the pretext of 'national security' to regard as suspicious any journalist who questioned his 'war on terrorism,' " the group said.

"The zeal of federal courts which, unlike those in 33 U.S. states, refuse to recognize the media's right not to reveal its sources, even threatens journalists whose investigations have no connection at all with terrorism," the group said.

.

Stay The Course

So much for that:

President Bush and his aides are annoyed that people keep misinterpreting his Iraq policy as "stay the course." A complete distortion, they say. "That is not a stay-the-course policy," White House press secretary Tony Snow declared yesterday.

Where would anyone have gotten that idea? Well, maybe from Bush.

"We will stay the course. We will help this young Iraqi democracy succeed," he said in Salt Lake City in August.

"We will win in Iraq so long as we stay the course," he said in Milwaukee in July.

"I saw people wondering whether the United States would have the nerve to stay the course and help them succeed," he said after returning from Baghdad in June.

But the White House is cutting and running from "stay the course." A phrase meant to connote steely resolve instead has become a symbol for being out of touch and rigid in the face of a war that seems to grow worse by the week, Republican strategists say. Democrats have now turned "stay the course" into an attack line in campaign commercials, and the Bush team is busy explaining that "stay the course" does not actually mean stay the course.

---

ADDED: Maria at 2PJ has a video of Stay the Course greatest hits.

.

More Republican Class

Dateline Wyoming:

Thomas Rankin, the Libertarian running for Wyoming's lone U.S. House seat, said Rep. Barbara Cubin, R-Wyo., threatened to slap him after a televised debate.

[...]

Rankin, who has multiple sclerosis and uses an electric wheelchair, said Monday night in a telephone interview with The Associated Press that the confrontation occurred immediately after the debate.

"My aide and I were packing up to leave the debate, and Barbara walked over to me and said, 'If you weren't sitting in that chair, I'd slap you across the face.' That's quote-unquote," Rankin said.

[...]

When contacted by The Associated Press, Cubin campaign spokesman Eric Cullen acknowledged that Rankin and Cubin exchanged strong words, but said he didn't hear the exchange.

Republicans seem to make enemies everywhre they go these days.

---

UPDATE:

Rankin said he wanted Cubin to resign over the incident.

“The best response Barbara Cubin could give would be a resignation,” he said. “Nothing less than that would satisfy me.

“She is not the type of person Wyoming residents want representing them,” he said.

[Via AmericaBlog.]

.

GOP Big Tent Gets Smaller

LAT:

President Bush, strategist Karl Rove and other top Republicans have wooed Latino and black leaders, many of them evangelical clergy who lead large congregations, in hopes of peeling away the traditional Democratic base. But now some of the leaders who helped Bush win in 2004 are revisiting their loyalty to the Republican Party and, in some cases, abandoning it.

"There is a fissure, and I doubt it will be closed in this election," said the Rev. Luis Cortes Jr., a Republican who founded the annual National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast that has featured Bush every year since 2002. His Philadelphia-based Esperanza USA boasts a national affiliate network of more than 10,000 churches.

[...]

Complaints among black pastors who had been courted by the White House — while less pronounced than those of Latino leaders — have been fueled by a tell-all book by former White House aide David Kuo. The new book says that Bush, referring to pastors from one major African American denomination, once griped: "Money. All these guys care about is money. They want money."

A White House spokeswoman said Friday that nobody there recalled hearing such a comment from the president.

The Rev. Eugene Rivers, a Boston Pentecostal minister and one of about two dozen black clergy invited to a series of White House meetings with Bush, said Friday that black leaders had been wooed with assurances that their social service groups would receive money from the president's faith-based initiative. But, Rivers said, the bulk of the money had gone to white organizations, leaving black churches on the sidelines.

Too much of the Republican base simply doesn't like brown-skinned people for this to have ever worked.

.

Meltdown Joe

Jane:

Evidently after the debate Lieberman walked up to Ned and said "You goddamn sonovabitch," and something to the effect of "how dare you run those direct mail pieces accusing me of voting for the energy bill in 2005 because of campaign contributions from the oil companies." Joe's losing it.

.

Keith

.

Riding The Donkey

Tony Norman:

So the word went forth. One thing led to another and the echo chambers of the nation's capitol resonated with a subversive proclamation:

"Put your energy behind Barack Obama. Barack Obama for President."

Without a doubt, it was an outlandish gospel, but important people, smart people, endorsed it.

Men and women of sober mien and bent blurted out "Oh, my God, yes" when asked about an Obama candidacy.

How does it feel to be the savior of the party -- at least this week?

So, now you're sitting on the Democratic donkey on the outskirts of town mulling your options. Caution and ambition are at war in your soul, working at cross purposes and making you sweat.

.