Cheney Isn't Just Evil--He's an Incompetent

Check out these delightful assessments of the worst Vice President in American history, first from Digby and then from James Carroll. Both are excellent.

Where in hell did Cheney get his reputation for competence? He's an out and out disaster, as incompetent of a fool as has ever presumed to govern. Add to this his total lack of any moral compass whatsoever and his hideous, vicious personality, and you get a sense of what this blood-stained son of a bitch really is.

UPDATE: Dan Drezner piles on, too.

Get Everyone You Know Out to Vote Today...

if they live in Virginia or New Jersey (Governor's races), California or Ohio (referendums), New York City (mayor's race), or for any other election in their area. Get yourself out, too.

The message is simple: Vote Democratic from top to bottom. Send a message. Today.

Astounding! Liberal Church in California Threatened by Bush's IRS

It seems that a church rector had the nerve to criticize the Iraq war in a sermon two days before the 2004 election. The IRS is therefore threatening to revoke the church's tax exempt status.

Remember, it's OK for the "Christian Coalition's" churches to push for Republicans.

It's OK for right-wing churches to hand out pro-Republican "voting guides" in church prior to elections.

It's OK for Robertson, Reed, and Falwell to be intrinsic parts of the Republican Party.

But it's not all right for one church's leadership to criticize Dear Leader.

This is an outrage.

The Bush Administration on Iraq: Lie After Lie After Lie

Thanks to Harper's for reprinting this series of statements. These pronouncements, all from Bush administration members, constitute their version of reality about Iraq and why we invaded. Every single one of them is pure, unadulterated BS. I know that, of course. It's just interesting to see all this in one place, that's all.

Democrats--the People Are Moving Toward You

So says the ABC poll, which gives the Democrats a huge lead in the generic Congressional ballot and an astonishing lead in nine out of ten "issue" categories. In the tenth, fighting terrorism, the Democrats run even. In other words, the Republicans hold the advantage on nothing whatsoever.

How to exploit this advantage? This passage lays out the challenge--and the opportunity:

With incumbent re-election rates usually over 90 percent, it takes a nationalized congressional election — with a differentiated, unifying theme and anti-incumbent sentiment — to create real change. The template is the Republicans' realigning election of 1994, when they gained 52 House seats and the control they still enjoy today.

Yes! Nationalize the 2006 Elections. Make them a referendum on Bush, Cheney, and the entire rat-bastard Republican Party. Find a unified message and pound it relentlessly.

Democrats, grow a spine. Fight Alito. Fight the new round of tax cuts for the wealthy. Continue to demand answers about what went wrong in Iraq. Flush Cheney out of hiding and make him answer questions in public. The majority of Americans are waiting for you to take a stand--DO IT!

Torture Man Cheney and the (Mis)Uses of Intelligence

Kevin Drum beats all over Dick "The Torturer" Cheney in this post from Washington Monthly. Drum points out (as many others have) that not only is torture morally wrong, it isn't even a good way of getting information. The recent exposure of fraudulent information given to the United States by an al-Qaeda informant who was subjected to "physical coercion" is case in point on this. But for me, the money quote was this:

If conservatives dislike Dick Durbin's comparison of American practices to those of Hitler and Stalin, they should make clear to Dick Cheney that America doesn't condone the practices of Hitler and Stalin. Because apparently, the vice president of the United States does condone them. Vigorously. It's enough to make any decent human being puke.

Well said, Kevin. Well said.

Little Ricky In Hot Water--and He Knows It

Soon to be ex-Senator Rick Santorum is between the proverbial rock and a hard place, as the GOP's despicable fiscal choices are catching up with him. While the Republicans in the Senate are pushing $35 billion in spending reductions (much of which would hurt people who genuinely need help), they're also pushing $70 billion in new tax cuts designed to help the wealthy campaign contributors to the Republican Party. Any way he turns on this issue, Pennsylvania voters are going to smack him. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

Casey for Senate '06

Chalabi Back in Favor With Bush Gang

Ahmed Chalabi, noted liar and author of fiction regarding Saddam's mysterious WMDs, is back in the good graces of the Bush Administration. Chalabi, whose false information helped provide Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld with a rationale for leading the country into war, has also been tied to people in Iran's violently anti-American government. Apparently, however, he's still considered a good friend to those in power in Washington.

Alito: Sock Puppet of Big Business

And the Big Money Boys are going all out to push his nomination. Not only is Alito a reliable vote for corporate interests, however egregiously they have violated the law, he is, as noted elsewhere on this blog, a bitter enemy of workers rights. He in fact, opposes the right of workers to even be heard or to voice their grievances. His nomination by Bush is nothing less than a declaration of war against working Americans and those who care about the environment and corporate accountability. And to this I say,

ALITO? HELL NO!

The Republicans: Trying to Lie Their Way Out of the Plame Affair

Typically, I might add. AlterNet nails their nine most prominent lies here.

Again: these right-wing bastards thought it was worth turning the United States upside down for years at a time because Bill Clinton lied about sex in a civil suit, but they'll lie and distort and smear tirelessly when their own side lies the United States into a disastrous war and commits treason in order to destroy one of that war's critics. The Plame Affair reveals them in all their despicable reality.

Senate Cuts $35 Billion in Social Spending, Grants $70 Billion Tax Cut to the Rich

The news is in this article in the Washington Post, although you'd have to read pretty far down to get the tax cut news. (The headline of the article is utterly deceptive.) Key graph:

With so many controversial provisions, the House measure is forcing Republican leaders to scramble for support in what could be the most difficult vote of the year. Some Republican moderates are balking at cuts to anti-poverty programs, especially in light of a $70 billion tax cut that could come to a vote soon after the budget bill, more than wiping out the first bill's deficit reduction.

This is the tenth paragraph of the article, by the way.

The Republicans: screw the poor, feed the rich, drive the nation into bankruptcy.

And you wonder why I despise them?

Washington Post Poll: 58% Say Bush is Dishonest

The awakening continues. Also, check out the shocking 33%-66% DISAPPROVAL of Bush among independents.

If only this had all happened in October of 2004...

Cheney Fighting Tooth and Nail for Torture

Read about how the House Republicans are trying to spare Dickie boy an embarrassing defeat as he continues to push for the right of U.S. forces to torture our enemies. Don't buy it? Then check this out.

Cheney is a hideous, loathsome, repulsive excuse for a human being. He wants us to morally be no better than our enemies.

Bastard.

Cheney's Approval in CBS Poll at Laughable, Pathetic 19%

Read 'em and weep, Dickie boy.

By the way, when is the press going to get aggressive about getting some damned answers out of this son of a bitch? Cheney is the most secretive Vice President in history. His arrogance, his cruelty, his dishonesty, and his contempt for the American people are unparalleled. He despises us. I guess we feel the same way about him.

The Republican Leadership is Playing Evangelical Christians for Fools

Check out this devastating post by JohnnyCougar in DKos today. It contains, among other things, a quote from one of TOM DE LAY'S former political strategists about how the Republicans really play the game. The issue at hand here is protecting right-wing Republicans from legal trouble surrounding the skimming of money from Indian casinos.

"The wackos get their information through the Christian right, Christian radio, mail, the internet and telephone trees," Scanlon wrote in the memo, which was read into the public record at a hearing of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. "Simply put, we want to bring out the wackos to vote against something and make sure the rest of the public lets the whole thing slip past them."

The Wackos. Did you see that everyone? Did the Republican Right's soldiers see that? The Republican leadership SNEERS AT THEM and thinks they're a bunch of suckers. The Republican leaders use the Religious Right's members as tools--to be discarded, presumably, when no longer needed.

Bush Continues to Bottom Out: 35%-57% DISAPPROVE in New CBS Poll

And check out the right track/wrong track ratings. SIXTY-NINE PER CENT OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE SAY WE'RE ON THE WRONG TRACK.

Democrats, get a spine. (The closed session Senate thing yesterday was a good sign.) This lying, incompetent little weasel is WEAK AND VULNERABLE. Pound him relentlessly. Pound Cheney just as hard. Hit every weakness these sons of bitches have. Pound the whole damned corrupt, rotten, lying Republican Party. The American people are ready to stand with you, Democrats--GIVE THEM A REASON TO.

American People Unenthusiastic About Alito

And by 50%-40%, they would back a Democratic filibuster against him.

Face it--the only people really hot for this guy are the firebreathers on the Radical Right, who apparently believe themselves to be accountable to no one. Bush, being the coward that he is, caved in on the Miers nomination at the behest of these lunatics (so much for every nominee getting an "up or down" vote). Now he and the American Taliban are trying to foist a judge on us who is every bit as much of a far right authoritarian as Scalia. And to that I say,

ALITO? HELL NO!

Alito: Enemy of Workers Rights

One every single issue Judge Samuel Alito has ruled against the interests of working Americans. He has consistently sided with Big Business, however unjust its practices are. In fact, many are saying Alito's atrocious record on workers' rights should be the centerpiece of the effort to defeat him. Example:

Alito on the Supreme Court will be a consistent vote against workers rights. That is a clear message if you look over his history on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. What is striking about Alito is that he is so hostile even to the basic right of workers to have a day in court, much less interpreting the law in their favor.

[In a number of cases]Alito dissented from a majority decision of the Third Circuit, cases where his views were more conservative than the overall panel. They cover minimum wage, discrimination, retirement, public employee rights, and interpretations of union labor law.

There are other cases as well, where Alito wrote anti-worker majority decisions, as in his opinion to exempt public employers from the Family and Medical Leave Act (a principle that the Supreme Court subsequently overruled, putting him to the right of William Rehnquist) [Emphasis added.]

To the right of Rehnquist? To that I say

ALITO? HELL NO!

Disturbing: Bush Administration Running Secret Prisons for Terror Suspects

And it's using old Soviet facilities in one case. A lot of people are bothered by this, judging by the blogs, and I don't blame them. Along with the enthusiastic support for torture shown by Bush, Rumsfeld, and Cheney, this is another troubling part of the picture of how this Administration operates.