Author: Trish

Repugs Misunderestimate People of Faith

Trish

Froma Harrop makes some bigger points worth noting after the Dover, Penn. elections.

Few disinformation campaigns have been as dishonest as the one over intelligent design…

We hear many stereotypes about religious conservatives, but Republican strategists are among the chief stereotypers

It’s a fraud, but the political wizards in the Republican Party seem to think that ruining the education of some kids in the sticks is a small price to pay for votes – which they’re obviously not getting…

We hear many stereotypes about religious conservatives, but Republican strategists are among the chief stereotypers. They assume that people of faith don’t think – that devout people are unable to see complexity in social issues and can’t reconcile science with religion.

The Republicans’ poor soundings on the mindset of religious people are adding up. Republicans made fools of themselves over the Terry Schiavo case. It turns out that the vast majority of even religious Americans did not see the matter as a simplistic right-to-life issue.

The Bush administration assumed that its conservative base was brain-dead on global warming. But now the National Association of Evangelicals – 45,000 churches, representing 30 million Americans – is working on a draft to demand that Congress put mandatory controls on carbon-dioxide emissions.

Bad science does not make good morals.

Bush: Playing the Michael Moore Card

Trish

Write this date down. I am in full agreement with columnist Clarence Page.

You know the Bush administration is desperate when it starts playing the Michael Moore card.

…it is not the Michael Moores out there, but Bush’s own base that has been losing faith in his administration’s war policy

The Double-M words came up in response to a call by Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), a decorated Vietnam War veteran and senior House Democrat, for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq…

White House spokesman Scott McClellan fired back. He acknowledged that Murtha is “a respected veteran,” but called it “baffling” that Murtha is “endorsing the policy positions of Michael Moore and the extreme liberal wing of the Democratic Party.”

I know liberal filmmaker Michael Moore. Believe me, Mr. Press Secretary, Murtha is no Michael Moore…

Murtha is the un-Michael. He voted for the war. He has advised presidents of both parties…

Judging by the polls, it is not the Michael Moores out there, but Bush’s own base that has been losing faith in his administration’s war policy.

Like Page, I had a big ol’ “Huh??” reaction when I read McClellan’s quote. My first thought was that Michael Moore had weighed in on the Murtha thing and I missed it. My second thought was that they are getting truly desperate when they need to throw Michael Moore at us (no offense, MM).

Although hardcore Bush faithful were unswayed by Moore’s expose on Bush during the election, much of the Academy Award winner’s Farenheit 9/11 dealt with Bush’s lying us into war. Does Rove & Co. really want to go there now?

Kerry Beats the Rush for South Florida Campaign Money

Trish

John Kerry showed up in South Florida – THE destination for anyone sniffing for campaign capital – over the weekend, hobnobbing and socializing and even attending the Nextel 400 NASCAR race. That sound is me gagging, but it will pass.

…Kerry was thinking of running for president in 2008. “Now that’s something to live for,” Al Franken said

Along with recent signs he has learned how to talk tough about Bush/Cheney only one year too late, is Kerry planning his 2008 presidential run? Miami Herald:

Before setting off for Homestead on Sunday, he attended a brunch at Miami attorney Stuart Ratzan’s home.

“A lot of people in the room were asking him to run,” said [Kirk] Wagar, Kerry’s deputy finance chairman and later Florida finance chairman for the Democratic National Committee. “Like I do, a lot of people think he’s the best standard bearer for the party.”

Wagar said the talk that the Massachusetts senator can’t run because he failed in his first bid to oust President Bush is mistaken. But it got a round of laughter Saturday night when comedian Al Franken dryly noted to the Miami-Dade Executive Committee at a fundraiser that Kerry was thinking of running for president in 2008.

“Now that’s something to live for,” Franken said to scattered laughter.

But Wagar noted that Kerry garnered 10 million more votes than any other Democratic candidate.

“Name me one candidate that could have done better in 2004 than John Kerry,” Wagar said. “I don’t think Hillary Clinton would have gotten within 60,000 votes in Ohio.”

Hmmm…that’s a toughie. One Democrat that could have gotten more votes than Kerry. Wait, don’t tell me. Who’s that guy that won the national popular vote in 2000, even in a three-way race that included Ralph Nader? It’ll come to me. Oh yeah! Al Gore.

Sheesh. I only voted for Kerry once (in the general), and it was one of those Michael Dukasis moments: you know it’s bad but it’s marginally better than the alternative. Please don’t make me do that again.

The Who of the What?

Trish

Rick Warren? (who?) Sec. Dr. Condo Rice? George Freaking W. Bush again?

I don’t think so.

The Time Person of the Year poll is going on now, so quick, hurry up and vote before His Asswipeyness lands on the cover again this year.

So far, Harry Potter channeler J.K. Rowling is way out ahead of Bono, Steve Jobs, Lance Armstrong, the new pope, and even Mother Nature. Bring some sanity to this process. Vote now!

Jeb’s Secret Government

Trish

To be able to get away with it, criminals need secrecy. In Florida, to judge by Jeb Bush, so do governors.

First, state-level officials refused to discuss the latest in a string of scandals within Jeb’s largely privatized corrections system. This time, the questions concern not steriods and drug dealing, illegal use of prisoner and employee labor, pilfered equipment, fighting, or sex coerced in inappropriate places, but illegal occupation of prison housing.

Judging these folks by their ideas, abilities, and effectiveness leaves them not so much visible as revealed

First Coast News asked the Department of Corrections in Tallahassee to talk with us on camera about staff housing out at Raiford…

Since Corrections refused to talk, First Coast News asked State Attorney General Charlie Crist. He turned us down too.

First Coast News then went to Governor Jeb Bush’s office requesting an interview on Department of Corrections staff housing.

We talked with two different people in Bush’s press office. That was a week and a half ago. Our numerous calls have never been returned.

It’s easy to understand why Jeb Inc. might not want to talk about how woefully adrift Florida’s correction system has become since Jeb raided it for the profit of his buddies. But his reluctance to confab extends to the mess he made by attempting to privatize education through his poorly planned and executed voucher system as well. […]

Katherine Harris in Trouble – and Denial

Trish

Hope springs eternal for Florida’s U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris in her bid to take Sen. Bill Nelson’s seat in 2006, no matter how bad things look. And they look awful.

Last week, the news climaxed when, on the same day, word broke that Harris’ campaign manager had quit and a poll showed her 24 points behind Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson.

That followed stories in October about how her fundraising, considered her strong point, was disappointing.

Not to worry, Harris said, showing a Rove-worthy capacity for surreal spin.

…in an interview late in the week, Harris insisted the campaign remains healthy, the bad news has been over-hyped and “We have turned a corner.”

The problems, Harris said, are only temporary. “We’re completely viable, and we have a great chance.”

Harris went through the predictable routine of questioning the poll’s accuracy and citing how early it is in the process. Oddly, she also took the unusual tactic of blaming the weather and her own record.

She acknowledged the campaign has had stumbles — caused in part, she said, by the fall hurricanes and a focus on her congressional work.

“The only issue where we have to focus now is fundraising,” she said. “We will not pay much attention to polling a year out. A year to go is a world of difference, and polls won’t change until we go up on TV.”

The scary part is, she’s right. Bill Nelson, God love him, isn’t Mr. Excitement when speaking. And Katherine has started working the cult of personality thing pretty hard.

I wish I felt safe ruling her out but even if she fails to win over her own party by its unofficial Dec. 31 deadline, the prospects for her possible replacements – like Florida House Speaker Allan Bense – worry me even more. Let’s hope the newfound questioning of Republicans by the voters continues and intensifies.

“Potted Plant” Rumsfeld Cautions Against Speaking Out

Trish

Sec. Of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was so adept at bobbing and weaving to avoid responsibility on ABC’s This Week that Newsweek’s Fareed Zakaria later said he made it sound as if his role in Iraq up to now is like that of a “potted plant.”

Indeed, listening to Rumsfeld, he had nothing to do with anything, ever. Unless it was good, and then it’s probably attributable to him and/or the Bush administration. If it was bad it’s because of Congress, impatient or disloyal Americans, and/or terrorists-insurgents. He’s only the secretary of defense, for crying out loud, what can he do?

Would he have still advocated invading had he known there were no weapons of mass distruction, Stephanopoulos asked. I didn’t advocate it, Rumsfeld answered, because the president never asked me. So was he not in favor of it? The president knew his feelings on the matter.

Did we have too few troops going in and do we still? That decision was always up to military leaders. So if they wanted more, as they have publicly stated, they could have them? A formal request from one of the three commanders of the Iraq war has never been formally turned down.

And on, and on. Rumsfeld played both sides of the net so exhaustively he was able to change the direction of the ball in midair, without it even touching the racket.

Rumsfeld just wants the questions to go away, even if it means making veiled threats, or as lapdog Jean Schmidt demonstrated, performing character assassination.

“We have to all have the willingness to have a free debate, but we also all have to have the willingness to understand what the effects of our words are,” he said.

He should know. The lies and distortions of the Bush administration have reaped horrific effects. Mere words can do that. And the unwillingness to debate first, then act with restraint and certainty later, is deadly.

Doin’ a Heckuva Job, Red-dies

Trish

AP:

The Republican-controlled Congress helped itself to a $3,100 pay raise on Friday, then postponed final decisions on curbing spending on social programs and cutting taxes in favor of a two-week vacation.

It’s heartening to see that partisan bickering can be overcome when truly important issues are at hand.

The cost-of-living increase for members of Congress – which will put pay for the rank and file at an estimated $165,200 a year – marked a brief truce in the pitched political battles that have flared in recent weeks on the war as well as domestic issues.

So much so that the war was not mentioned on the floor of either the House or Senate as lawmakers worked on legislation whose passage will ensure bigger paychecks.

If the Patriot Act Goes Through, No Matter How Bad It Gets for Bush, We Still Lose

Trish

We are close, very close, to a big victory for the American way. Let the senators who are trying to prevent parts of the USAPatriot Act from being made permanent know you’re behind them.

Contact your own senators, along with the six true patriots who don’t want to quit being Americans in order to protect America

The senators are Republicans Larry Craig of Idaho, John Sununu of New Hampshire and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Democrats Dick Durbin of Illinois, Russ Feingold of Wisconsin and Ken Salazar of Colorado.

Congress is facing two deadlines. Lawmakers want to leave before week’s end for Thanksgiving and many parts of the Patriot Act are to expire by year’s end if Congress does not renew them.

The Republican-controlled House hoped to approve the compromise on Friday. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., told senators on Thursday that they will have to address the legislation “before we leave.”

But Feingold, D-Wis., the only senator to vote against the original Patriot Act in 2001, said there are several different delaying tactics available to stop the bill in the Senate.

Feingold said he had cleared his schedule through Thanksgiving. “And this time I don’t think I’ll be alone,” he said.

Added Murkowski: “We have worked too long and too hard to allow this conference report to eliminate the modest protections for civil liberties that were agreed to unanimously in the Senate.”

No matter how far Bush slips in the polls, no matter how much other bad legislation we defeat, if the Patriot Act is allowed to be exempted from public review forever, we lose. See this earlier story on exactly what’s at stake, and then contact your own senators, along with the six true patriots who don’t want to quit being Americans in order to protect America.