Newsweek: Bush Going Down the Drain

Dubya hits a new low in the latest Newsweek survey with a pathetic 36% approval rate. To me, an even more encouraging number was this: Democrats hold a 17 point lead in the generic House ballot.

Democrats, nationalize the 2006 election. Make it a referendum on Bush, Cheney, and DeLay--and then watch us win BIG.

San Francisco Talks Back to Idiot Loser Bill O'Reilly

Right-wing borderline sociopath Bill O'Reilly recently, on air, practically invited Al Qaeda to attack San Francisco. The reason? San Francisco voters passed a resolution objecting to military recruiting in the city's high schools. (I don't agree with the voters' stance either, but I'm not going to hope for an attack on what is my favorite big city in the world.) San Franciscans are outraged, naturally, and they're talking back to O' Reilly the Fool.

Congress DID NOT See the Same Intelligence Info As Bush

The Bush Administration is attempting to push the despicable line that the Congressional Democrats that supported the war in Iraq were seeing exactly the same intelligence data as Bush and Cheney. This lie is addressed in this morning's Washington Post. Not only does the Congress NOT see the most sensitive intel, it must rely on the White House to hand over any data considered relevant to the issue at hand. Further, the committee that investigated intel data manipulation did not say that Bush and Cheney gave the Congress the whole story. In short, both of Bush's major contentions in yesterday's attacks on the war's critics are falsehoods.

Again:

• Iraq did NOT have weapons of mass destruction.
• The intelligence data on this issue were manipulated by the Bush-Cheney crowd.
• The UN inspectors who said there were no weapons were right.
• Hans Blix was right.
• Scott Ritter was right.
• Bush, Cheney, and the NeoCon boys were looking for an excuse to invade Iraq from day one of the Administration in January 2001.
• The 9/11 attacks gave the Administration a perfect excuse to attack Iraq, on no evidence of Iraqi involvement in the attacks whatsoever.
• The planning for the aftermath of the Iraqi war was atrocious to the point of criminal negligence.

It is this set of issues, above all, which is hammering Bush's approval ratings down. Our country's involvement in Iraq is HIS FAULT. The lousy planning for the war is HIS FAULT. The mess we're involved in is HIS FAULT. His lies, his incompetence, his deception, and his moral bankruptcy have all led us here.

In an ideal world, the Democrats would capture big enough majorities in both houses of Congress in 2006 to throw him and Torture Master Cheney out the door.

Let's see if we can live our dream.

The Economist Rips Bush and Cheney a New One on Torture

This powerful editorial should be required reading for the American people. Its key passage deserves emphasis:

If the pragmatic gains in terms of information yielded are dubious, the loss to America in terms of public opinion are clear and horrifically large. Abu Ghraib was a gift to the insurgency in Iraq; Guantánamo Bay and its dubious military commissions, now being examined by the Supreme Court, have acted as recruiting sergeants for al-Qaeda around the world. In the cold war, America championed the Helsinki human-rights accords. This time, the world's most magnificent democracy is struggling against vile terrorists who thought nothing of slaughtering thousands of innocent civilians—and yet the administration has somehow contrived to turn America's own human-rights record into a subject of legitimate debate.

My God, how did America come to be in the control of such vile people, people who don't have the first inkling of what our country stands for? Thanks to The Economist for saying it straight.

Little Ricky: Fraud, Liar, and Hypocrite

Soon to be ex-Senator Rick Santorum has been peddling the usual right-wing nonsense that medical care in America is expensive because of unnecsssary malpractice suits. Maybe he can explain this.

Oh, and by the way. The most current Rasmussen poll has Santorum 20 points behind Pennsylvania's next U.S. Senator, Bob Casey, Jr. Santorum's not just going to lose--he's going to be trounced and humiliated. Heh heh heh.

Haw! I LOVE It!

Taken from a thread on Huffington today discussing Dubya'sa 121st recital of the same lying, weasel-like speech defending his Iraq policy:

It's unrealistic to expect Bush to say anything different, anything that is a response to reality. He's a puppet, a wind-up doll -- he can't say anything he's not programmed for. We might as well have "Tickle Me Elmo" as president.

God Bless America's Veterans

You have given of yourselves on our behalf, and I will honor you for it all the days of my life--not just today. From the bottom of my heart, thank you, now and forever.

Republican Party to Veterans: Drop Dead

The Republicans continue their war on America's veterans with this outrageous action. Veterans groups will not be allowed to testify at open Congressional hearings for the first time in the 55 years since such hearings have been held. Bush's House cronies are behind this. They probably don't want to hear members of the VFW rip Bush a new one on his vicious, disastrous policies. Remember, this is the Administration that has attempted repeatedly to cut veterans benefits. From Phil Singer:

Republicans Voted Against Veterans' Health Care FIVE TIMES This Year, Despite Warnings of Budget Shortfall. Before the Department of Veterans Affairs announced a $1 billion budget shortfall earlier this year, Senate Republicans voted twice against $1.98 billion for veterans' health care, while also opposing a proposal to increase veterans' health care funding by $2.8 billion. And last month, Republicans said "no" to keeping veterans' health care funding in line with inflation and population growth. These votes all came despite at least five warnings from Sen. Patty Murray that the proposed federal funding for veterans' programs would not be enough to cover costs. [Vote #89, 4/12/05; Vote #90, 4/12/05; Vote #55, 3/16/05; Vote #251, 10/5/05; CQ Today, 10/5/05; U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs Press Release, 6/23/05; Office of Sen. Patty Murray; Tacoma News Tribune, 6/29/05]

The Republicans are also attempting to cripple the Veterans Administration. I posted this last month; it's time to post it again.

And need I remind you about the lies that put our service people in the line of fire in Iraq? The lack of adequate Humvee and body armor for them once they got there? The rotten planning for post-war Iraq that has put our service people in grave danger every day? The disgusting lies about a genuine American hero, Pat Tillman, whose tragic death was exploited by right-wing Republicans for political gain?

Veterans, all you've gotten from Bush and his lying thugs is bullshit. He doesn't give a damn about you except as props for his photo-ops and Republican campaign commercials. It's time to stand with the people who have ALWAYS stood with you, have NEVER let you down, and WILL NEVER let you down: The Democratic Party.

Cheney and the Twisting of Intelligence Data

Eric Alterman reminds us here of the catastrophic role that Torture Master Dick Cheney has had in manipulating intelligence info to suit his preconceived notions. We are reminded that Cheney set up what has been called a parallel government to impose his views on the Iraq situation on the intelligence community. Go read this and see what you think.

Is there any way in which this disgusting bastard Cheney has not harmed our country?

Judith Miller: Bush's Ally in Deceiving Us Into Iraq

Pathetic, lying Bush Administration whore Judith Miller, late of the New York Times, is on a speaking tour to try to clear her name. Miller is the "journalist" who, you may recall, posted stories asserting that claims of Iraqi WMDs were supported by solid evidence. Her stories, appearing in the nation's most prestigious newspaper, helped bolster public support for the disastrous Iraq War. Miller was nothing but a rectum for Bush Administration lies and misinformation. She has a part of the blood of 2,000 servicemen on her head. She's trying to blame others for her career difficulties. That's garbage. They are all entirely her fault. She deserves nothing but utter condemnation.

For more, check here.

The Truth About the American Economy

Courtesy of my favorite Democratic economics expert Bonddad, who completely dismantles the fraudulent arguments of a National Review partisan. He demolishes the false, rosy assumptions of the conservatives and again comes down hard on the main point: our children and our grandchildren will be paying for Bush's reckless irresponsibility for decades. Go get 'em, Bonddad!

The Vatican and Darwin: A Rebuke to the Creationists

The Catholic Church continues to maintain its very sane and level-headed view of evolutionary reality. It rejects the ludicrous Biblical literalism of so many American fundamentalists, and is scornful of attempts to use the Bible to undermine scientific principles. The key thoughts from the article

At [a] press conference [Cardinal Paul Poupard] was discussing the issue of evolution, which is the critical dividing line between science and religion. Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species shook religious belief when it was first published in 1859 in a way that Isaac Newton’s equally important Principia had not shaken the faith of 1687.

In The Times Martin Penner reported the cardinal’s argument. He had said that the description in Genesis of the Creation was “perfectly compatible” with Darwin’s theory of evolution, if the Bible were read properly. “Fundamentalists want to give a scientific meaning to words that had no scientific aim.”

He argued that the real message of Genesis was that the Universe did not make itself, and had a creator. “Science and theology act in different fields, each in its own.” In Rome, the immediate reaction was that this was a Vatican rejection of the fundamentalist American doctrine of “intelligent design”. No doubt the Vatican does want to separate itself from American creationists, but the significance surely goes further than that. This is not another Galileo case; the teachings of the Church have never imposed a literal interpretation of the language of the Bible; that was a Protestant mistake. Nor did the Church condemn the theory of evolution, though it did and does reject neo-Darwinism when that is made specifically atheist.

Well said. More intelligent and thoughtful Christians need to add their voices in the increasingly vocal chorus that is denouncing the absurd creationist fairy tales of the religious right.

Libby's Weird, Perverse Novel to Be Reissued

Lewis Libby, possible future inhabitant of the Federal penal system and former top aide to Vice President "Dick" Cheney, published a novel called The Apprentice in 1996. Due to Libby's recent notoriety, it's being offered for sale again. I haven't read it, but it involves murder and prostitution in Japan. In one of the novel's scenes a young female being held in a cage is, at her captor's instigation, raped by a bear, thereby combining both pedophilia and bestiality. Now who the hell would dream up something like that, much less publish it in a novel?

What kind of people are we dealing with here?

The Depths to Which Bush's Image Has Fallen

Emerging Democratic Majority has an excellent post summarizing how completely Bush has collapsed in the eyes of the American people. Only Richard Nixon, bedeviled by Watergate, has had lower ratings at this point in his term. Clinton, who Republican rightwingers considered to be a combination of the AntiChrist and Stalin, was overwhelmingly more popular than Dubya. Bush has even lost public support on those twin pillars which have allowed him to bully everyone else around: leadership and effectiveness against terrorism. In short, his Administration is politically bankrupt. I intend to shout this fact as much as humanly possible.

Historians will long ponder how the least qualified presidential candidate since William Jennings Bryan in 1896 was "elected" president in 2000. They will study the breathtaking venality and incompetence of Bush and his cronies at some length. And they may just see 2005 as the year the American people began to wake up from their dream world--and saved themselves.

Pseudo-Conservative Bush and the Texas Rip-Off

Read how Bush, when part owner of the Texas Rangers baseball franchise, used public money and eminent domain to enrich himself and his cronies, while leaving Arlington, Texas's taxpayers with his legal bills.

And yes, the story was known before the 2000 election. And yes, it makes what the Clintons were accused of in Whitewater look penny-ante. And no, the mainstream press did not make an issue of it.

He's simply a lying, crooked little bastard.

Congratulations, Democrats!

Solid victories for Governor-Elect Jon Corzine (NJ) and Governor-Elect Tim Kaine (VA) . The Virginia victory was especially sweet, inasmuch as the local Republicans brought in W at the last minute to campaign for the GOP candidate. Heh heh heh.

Arnold Schwarzenegger's propositions all went down to defeat in Kaleefornia. The Gropenator is through. If he doesn't decide against running for re-election in 2006, he'll be voted out of office, and I have a hunch he knows that. (Robert Scheer weighs in here.)

Bush's popularity ratings are at record lows and going down. The Republicans are nervous and uncertain. Now is not the time to spend congratulating ourselves on yesterday's victories. Now is the time to start getting ready for the big show on Tuesday, 7 November 2006. The goals must be crystal clear in our minds:

Win control of the U.S. House of Representatives. There is no reason why the Democrats cannot gain 35-40 new seats.

Win control 0f the U.S. Senate. Republican seats are vulnerable in Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Missouri, Montana, Arizona, Tennessee, and maybe more.

Win control of the Governor's mansions in New York, Florida, California, and any number of other states.

Win control of state legislatures across the country.

Win county offices in every state in the country.

There is no reason why we can't. There is every reason why we must.

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.