Tag: Fox News

Poll: Arnold Loses GOP Support, Overall Popularity Down to 35%

Jon Ponder

He Has Less Support Than President Bush at 36%

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s abrupt left turn this year has cost him support among California Republicans, while doing little to gain traction with the state’s liberal majority, according to a new poll:

Pandering to the left was Maria’s hail-mary pass. It didn’t work. The Terminator is toast.

Schwarzenegger’s approval rating fell to 35 percent among adults in the Public Policy Institute of California poll, down five points from last month…

Schwarzenegger now gets less support from Republicans in California than President Bush, whose approval rating is at a near record low of 36 percent.

Just 66 percent of Republicans said Schwarzenegger was doing a good job, while 74 percent said that of Bush. Last month, 72 percent of Republicans thought Schwarzenegger was doing a good job.

Schwarzenegger’s 35 percent approval rating puts him close to the 33 percent approval rating he had in October, when he was being pummeled by television ads decrying his special election.

Pandering to the left was Maria’s hail-mary pass. It didn’t work. The Terminator is toast.

Governor, please drop out of the race. You can start principal photography on T4 in January. It’s a win-win-win for you and the state and fans of your movies, if you have any left.

Obama Posts the Letters; See What an Ass John McCain is For Yourself

Trish

First of all, the snarky, snarly, nastiness of Sen. John “Please W., Screw Me a Little Harder Just So Long As You Let Me Be President Next” McCain (R.-Ariz.) is way understated in the news reports about his attack on Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill).

Everyone that frames this as “an exchange” in which one side is just as bad as the other, ala the Refrickinpublican Abramoff scandal, is just flat wrong.

Second, everyone including NPR’s Day to Day, that frames this as “an exchange” in which one side is just as bad as the other, a la the Refrickinpublican Abramoff scandal, is flat wrong.

Don’t take my word for it. Sen. Obama has posted the actual letters for the world to see. If you don’t walk away from reading John McCain’s sarcastic, insulting, and belittling missive feeling like he’s a complete — forgive my French — shithead then check your voter registration card. It must say “Republican.”

Here’s what Obama said that Johnny evidently took such exception to:

I know you have expressed an interest in creating a task force to further study and discuss these matters, but I and others in the Democratic Caucus believe the more effective and timely course is to allow the committees of jurisdiction to roll up their sleeves and get to work on writing ethics and lobbying reform legislation that a majority of the Senate can support.

And here’s just a sample of “Hothead” McCain’s vitriol in return:

I understand how important the opportunity to lead your party’s effort to exploit this issue must seem to a freshman Senator, and I hold no hard feelings over your earlier disingenuousness. Again, I have been around long enough to appreciate that in politics the public interest isn’t always a priority for every one of us.

Are you feeling it yet? Barack “Real Deal” Obama took all that and still turned the other cheek, in a new letter dated today.

I confess that I have no idea what has prompted your response. But let me assure you that I am not interested in typical partisan rhetoric or posturing. The fact that you have now questioned my sincerity and my desire to put aside politics for the public interest is regrettable but does not in any way diminish my deep respect for you nor my willingness to find a bipartisan solution to this problem.

Visit the site for updates, if McCain still has the heart for showing his ass to the world.

GOP Investigated Pres. Clinton’s Cat But Only Plans ‘Oversight’ on Pres. Bush’s Admitted Illegal Spying

Jon Ponder

Compare and contrast:

  • 1995: Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.), then chair of the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee, investigated whether taxpayers were footing the cost of stationery and postage for the fan club dedicated to President Clinton’s cat, Socks. (They were not – and it turns out Barbara Bush’s dog Millie had a fan club too.)
  • 2005: Two weeks ago, President Bush admitted he willfully flouted a law that requires him to get warrants before wiretapping U.S. citizens. His justification for ignoring the law appears to be LÉtat, c’est moi. In reaction, Republicans in charge of the Senate Judiciary Committee announced on Friday that they are planning “oversight” hearings into the matter.

The president has admitted he broke the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) hundreds of times. Isn’t it a bit late for “oversight?”

Abramoff Homie Agrees to Tell All; Now Casting: Miamiana — The True Story

Trish

The plot has thickened and it’s not looking good for Jack Abramoff. His co-defendant on wire fraud and conspiracy charges, Adam Kidan, has agreed to sing like a budgie in exchange for a reduced sentence, from the 30 years he was facing down to 10.

The news seems to come as a surprise to Abramoff. South Florida Sun Sentinel:

Kidan reportedly feared for his life, which is kind of funny, considering that Boulis is the one who ended up splattered all over his car in a hail of bullets

Abramoff’s attorney, Neal Sonnett, said, “I hadn’t heard that” when asked Wednesday about Kidan’s intended plea. Sonnett said he wouldn’t comment until he received official notification. Abramoff has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Under the plea deal, Kidan would testify against Abramoff, his longtime friend and mentor.

We’ll understand all this better in the movie version, but basically it looks like Kidan and Abramoff, who met (I’m not making this up) at a young Republicans club while they were in college in Washington, cooked up a scheme to rip off the owner of the SunCruz gambling boats. Gus Boulis, a Greek immigrant, built the casino operation from money earned in his Miami Subs sandwich franchise but was now in need of a solid, upstanding American to look like the boss. […]

Repost – Bush Advisor: ‘We’re an Empire Now’

Jon Ponder

“We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality — judiciously, as you will — we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.”

– Unnamed Bush advisor to writer Ron Suskind, as reported in a October 2004 New York Times Magazine article

Gov. Bill Richardson Commits Political Suicide for Baseball

Trish

Another Democrat saves Republicans a bullet by shooting himself in the foot so they won’t have to. New Mexico’s Gov. Bill Richardson has established a credibility issue which will make great late night fodder now and in the 2008 presidential race, if he decides to enter it.

“After being notified of the situation … I came to the conclusion that I was not drafted by the A’s,” Richardson said.

For nearly four decades, Richardson has maintained he was drafted as a pitcher in 1966 by the Kansas City Athletics.

But an Albuquerque Journal investigation found no record of Richardson being drafted by the A’s, who have since moved to Oakland, or any other team.

Richardson’s explanation for the claim is even lamer than the issue of whether he was drafted by the A’s.

“After being notified of the situation (by Journal reporter Toby Smith) and after researching the matter … I came to the conclusion that I was not drafted by the A’s,” Richardson said.

Well there you go. With those feeble words, another one bites the dust, and without even having to be smeared by Repug goons.

Richardson included the fact in a brief biography released when he successfully ran for Congress in 1982. The Clinton White House mentioned it in a 1997 news release, when Richardson was about to be named U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Over the years, several media organizations have reported it as fact, including The Associated Press, the New York Times and New Republic magazine, along with political almanacs.

Richardson, who was a star right-handed pitcher in high school and played at Tufts University, maintained, though: “I was actively scouted by several major league teams.”

Yeah, blah blah, Ginger. Look, it’s really simple: don’t lie, don’t embelish, don’t go there. It will absolutely bite you in the ass sooner or later, and now the Dems — and Latinos — stand to lose a great candidate. Thanks Bill. You pitched a real no-hitter this time.

In His Own Words: Pat Robertson Is the Poster Child for Conservative Lies & Corruption

Jon Ponder

You know, I don’t know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we’re trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it. It’s a whole lot cheaper than starting a war, and I don’t think any oil shipments will stop… We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability. We don’t need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator. It’s a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with.

– Pat Robertson, Wednesday, August 24, 2005

I didn’t say “assassination.” I said our special forces should “take him out.” “Take him out” could be a number of things including kidnapping.

– Pat Robertson, Thursday, August 25, 2005

Is it right to call for assassination? No, and I apologize for that statement. I spoke in frustration that we should accommodate the man who thinks the U.S. is out to kill him.

– Pat Robertson, later on Thursday, August 25, 2005