Day: September 13, 2006

Bush Says America Is Experiencing a Christian ‘Awakening’ as Part of Coming War of ‘Good and Evil’

Jon Ponder

President Bush believes we are in the midst of a religious revival that was triggered by terrorist attacks by Islamic extremists:

“A lot of people in America see this as a confrontation between good and evil, including me,” Bush said during a 1 1/2 -hour Oval Office conversation on cultural changes and a battle with terrorists that he sees lasting decades. “There was a stark change between the culture of the ’50s and the ’60s — boom — and I think there’s change happening here,” he added. “It seems to me that there’s a Third Awakening.”

The president appeared to be conflating the “confrontation between good and evil” with the War on Terror — a fact his aides rushed to deny:

In his comments yesterday, aides said Bush was not casting the war as a religious struggle but was describing American cultural changes in a time of war.

“He’s drawing a parallel in terms of a resurgence, in dangerous times, of people going back to their religion,” said one aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the session was not open to other journalists. “This is not ‘God is on our side’ or anything like that.”

The White House did not release a transcript of Bush’s remarks…

This sounded a bit scary so I looked up Awakenings:

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Republicans Set to Outspend Dems $60 Mil to $12 Mil in Six Weeks

Jon Ponder
It is an open question whether the deal between the DNC and DCCC will be enough to offset the financial advantage that the RNC cash will give Republican candidates this fall.

The Bush presidency is at stake. If the Republicans lose their majority in Congress, the new Democratic majority will actually investigate the president’s incompetence and malfeasance — and the White House political team simply cannot let that happen. The Republican National Committee will even risk bankrupting itself to keep the Congress under President Bush’s control:

The Republican National Committee (RNC) will spend its entire bank account, $60 million or more, helping Republicans try to retain control of Congress in the midterm elections.

The looming spending spree appears to have spurred Democratic House leaders to reach agreement over how much the Democratic National Committee (DNC) will help counter this onslaught.

The relationship between the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and DNC has been rocky. There is dispute over whether it took House Democratic Caucus Chairman James Clyburn’s (S.C.) intervention to broker the deal announced yesterday under which part of the DNC’s $12 million will be funneled to 40 House races. Targeted House Democratic candidates will receive about $60,000 from the party committee.

One Democratic official said Clyburn had to bring the sides together, but another official denied it.

The DNC money will also be spent on Senate and gubernatorial races, and voter turnout activities in battleground states.

It is an open question whether the deal between the DNC and DCCC will be enough to offset the financial advantage that the RNC cash will give Republican candidates this fall.

Reviews Are In: Barbra Streisand Recommends Us; Another Reader Compares Pensito Review to the BBC

Jon Ponder

First, I was poking around on the Internets yesterday and happened upon a link back to an article from Pensito Review on the website for Barbra Streisand. I am one of two gay men over 50 in the United States who is not gaga over Streisand’s music (and, perhaps not coincidentally, I have lived with the other one in unmarried bliss for 27 years). However, Barbra and I are pretty well simpatico when it comes to politics so it is a high honor — right up there the time an angry troll called us “liberal extremists” — to be included on Barbra Streisand’s “must read” articles list.

Second — okay, the comparison of Pensito Review to the BBC by reader Machupicchu on his Live Journal page was unfavorable, but what the heck. The reference is in a journal listing that is too long to quote in its entirety, so we’ll just jump in here:
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Burns & Allen: Unfunny Comedy Duo Is Emblematic of GOP Senate in Disarray

Jon Ponder

Sen. Conrad Burns (l) and Sen. George Allen

Burns’ Nixonian protestation that he is not crook drew boos and cries of “psycho” from the audience.

Good night, Gracie: The national media is stuck on the meme of “Democrats in disarray” fed to them by the White House political office, even though any dispassionate observer would have to admit that the Democrats in Congress are keeping themselves remarkably gaffe-free and under control this year — especially for Democrats.

Meanwhile, GOP members in Congress, particularly in the Senate, have been acting like a bus load of rodeo clowns, starting with its top two buffoons, senators Burns and Allen.

At a debate last Sunday, Sept. 9, 2006, with his Democratic opponent, Jon Tester, Montana Sen. Conrad Burns told the audience:

“I believe in light bulbs and sunshine,” Burns said. “You know everything about me because it’s all out there on the Web site.”

What Burns meant by this bizarre formulation was that his record is an open book — that he is not a crook. Tester disagreed and “…chuckled, then defended himself by citing a lengthy, rapid-fire list of out-of-state and out-of-country trips taken by Burns, and the multinational corporations from which Burns has taken money.”

Burns’ Nixonian protestation that he is not crook drew boos and cries of “psycho” from the audience.

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