Good News

The Albany Project: NY-29: CQ Politics Upgrades Race From 'No Clear Favorite' To 'Leans Democratic'

More Poll Candy

Obama up over McCain by 8 points in Virginia, mostly because he leads in Northern Virgina by a 2-1 margin. (Unreal Virginia).

Poll Candy

Obama up 15 in New Hampshire, 54-39.

Analysis: salon.com: Where the road ends for John McCain
His Straight Talk Express bolted out of New Hampshire eight years ago. Now the candidate is running on empty.

Poll Candy

Taegan Goddard's Political Wire: Quinnipiac: Obama Leads in Big Three

With 12 days to go, a new Quinnipiac poll finds Sen. John McCain is narrowing the gap in Florida, but fading in Ohio and barely denting Sen. Barack Obama's double-digit lead in Pennsylvania.

Florida: Obama 49%, McCain 44%

Ohio: Obama 52%, McCain 38%

Pennsylvania: Obama 53%, McCain 40%

Said pollster Peter Brown: "As we enter the home stretch, Sen. Obama is winning voter groups that no Democrat has carried in more than four decades, and he holds very solid leads in the big swing states. If these numbers hold up, he could win the biggest Democratic landslide since Lyndon Johnson in 1964."

Mucho Poll Candy

dailykos: ------ AVALANCHE !!! ----- --- By 3 to 1 Margin --- (Now /w Mega Eye Candy)

Photos of the debate and from the campaign trail, and many screengrabs of the cable polls, all of which showed Obama wiped the floor with Senator Angry.

Oh My

Poll candy!

CQPolitics: Economic Concerns, Backlash Against Attacks Fuel Big Obama Lead

Barack Obama is leading John McCain 53 percent to 39 percent among registered voters with 1 percent preferring someone else and 6 percent answering "depends" or undecided in a New York Times/CBS News poll conducted Oct. 10-13. The "depends/undecided" voters lean to Obama 54 percent to 41 percent. Obama's overall margin over McCain is 2 points less if Ralph Nader and Libertarian Bob Barr are factored into the choices. Obama had led by 3 points in this poll at the beginning of October.

Poll Candy

Obama up 51-43 -- in Missouri.

The same polling group, SurveyUSA, had the race McCain over Obama 48-46 just 18 days ago.

Poll Candy

WaPo: Obama Up by 10 Points as McCain Favorability Ratings Fall

Overall, Obama is leading 53 percent to 43 percent among likely voters, and for the first time in the general-election campaign, voters gave the Democrat a clear edge on tax policy and providing strong leadership.

McCain has made little headway in his attempts to convince voters that Obama is too "risky" or too "liberal." Rather, recent strategic shifts may have hurt the Republican nominee, who now has higher negative ratings than his rival and is seen as mostly attacking his opponent rather than addressing the issues that voters care about. Even McCain's supporters are now less enthusiastic about his candidacy, returning to levels not seen since before the Republican National Convention.

Conversely, Obama's pitch to the middle class on taxes is beginning to sink in; nearly as many said they think their taxes would go up under a McCain administration as under an Obama presidency, and more see their burdens easing with the Democrat in the White House.

Poll Candy

ARG has Obama up 8% -- in West Virginia.

Holy fucking cow.

Breathe, Democrats

ABC News poll has Obama with a 52-43 -- 9 point -- lead over McCain.

WaPo: Economic Fears Give Obama Clear Lead Over McCain in Poll

Reading List

Crooks & Liars: Blue America’s Steny Hoyer FISA ad

Whatever happened to Jimmy Carter's solar panels?

Retired 24-year military veteran has to beg for cancer treatments. Sicko.

Read about the media's slobbering affair with John McBush: Loving John McCain

Newsweek sez Obama has a 15 point lead over McCain. Don't get excited; it's still June.

Profiles of Michelle Obama, from high-brow to low: New York Times, Guardian (uk), Telegraph (uk), US Weekly, Wall Street Journal (I put this next to US Weekly for a reason).

And now for something completely different: A 5-minute interview with English striker Kelly Smith.

No Kidding

USAToady: Majority say history won't be kind to Bush

In a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken Friday through Sunday, a 54% majority says Bush will be judged as a below-average or poor president, more than double the negative rating given any of his five most recent predecessors.

Call Daddy!

The little ditty was written in my friend Irene Zahava's writing circle, in Ithaca, New York:


T'was the eve of elections in GOP land.

George, Karl, Dick and Rummy, the Great Asshole Band

Were playing their song, "we're great," ad infinitum

Not knowing the people were all poised to bite 'em.

"Hey Karl" says our George with his head full of holes,

"Now you know I cain't read but I don't like these polls."

"The evening is young, George. Let's not make a fuss.

My strategic plan says the win is for us."

Dick sits on the side tying flies and just wishin,

"This sounds just like Katrina, I think I'll go fishin."

While Rummy who's smart feels his gut passing gas

As he's starting to think "I'll be out on my ass."

The evening wears on, the Dems can't be ignored,

But our prez reads the comics and looks pretty bored.

When the polls finally close Karl hits George in the head.

"Hey wake up buddy boy, I believe we're all dead.

It's the riff raff who've won, they want minimum wage.

They want health care and clean air, I'm just in a rage!"

Georgie panics and says, "They all think I'm a baddy,"

So he gets on the phone and he wails to his daddy,

"Daddy help me, I'm stumped. Help me please - please do sompin'

I'm afraid we've been walloped, it's a real Texas thumpin'."

"Now my boy, you remember in '04 way way back.

I slapped up your head, said don't go to Iraq.

But no, you had to beat me, show your dad you're a man.

So you marched into war, missing one thing - a plan.

OK this time you listen and you do what I say,

Follow all my advice and then you'd better pray.

First give Rummy the boot, he's the one they all hate.

And I'll get on the stick and deliver Bob Gates.

Then you get on the phone, say congrats to that Nancy.

Just say one or two words, you'll flub up if it's fancy.

Then get out on TV to the millions of folks.

And whatever you do, don't tell any dumb jokes.

You've just never been bright son, now you're a lame duck.

Georgie what can I say, face the facts, you've been fucked."


Written by Ann Wexler 11/9/06

Football Takes A Dive

Enraged : French midfielder Zinedine Zidane (L) gestures after head butting Italian defender Marco Materazzi during the World Cup 2006 final football match between Italy and France at BerlinÂ’s Olympic Stadium. Italy won the 2006 World Cup defeating France 5-3 on penalties. (AFP/John MacDougall)

The Italian Diving Team hoisted the World Cup trophy last night, after Zinedine Zidane was sent off in overtime for headbutting the Italian defender Materazzi. I cannot help but believe that Materazzi said something racially offensive to Zidane, a Frenchman of Algerian heritage who had read FIFA's empty anti-racism message before every knockout round match. (But see the BBC article that says Materazzi insulted Zidane's mother. Yo Momma!) A painful ending for all of us who love the Beautiful Game, to have the most cynical team in the tournament the last one standing. Let's close the book on the 2006 World Cup with a Best and Worst list.

BEST COACH: Jurgen Klinsmann (Germany). Though he got outcoached in the semifinal against Italy, he wins the award for making Germans believe in more than just the German team.

WORST COACH: As an American, I have to give Bruce Arena (USA) the worst coach award. At least Sven Moron Erickson (England) and Jose Pekerman (Argentina) won a few games. And they didn't have press conferences excoriating their players by name after losses. Bruce must go. Klinsi, come home to San Diego, only 20 minutes away from the USA training center!

BEST PLAYER: The journalists who award the Golden Ball gave it to Zidane in a close vote over Italy captain Fabio Cannavaro (2,012 to 1,977), and I can't disagree with that. If Cannavaro hadn't knocked Thierry Henry out in the first minute of the game, I would have given it to him, but he did and I won't. Zidane was magnificent in the knockout round. His game against Brazil was one for the ages.

BEST GOAL: Maxi Rodriguez's chest trap, blast volley goal against Mexico in overtime, hands down. Brilliant goal, and the gamewinner. Second place for me was Beckham's free kick goal, because it was a great goal and it won the game.

WORST PLAYER: Daniele DeRossi of Italy, the guy who elbowed Brian McBride in the face.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: Brazil and Ronaldhino. He was hamstrung by the coach's formation, but I expected more from the World Player of the Year. Second place, the Americans and Bruce Arena's decision to make Eddie Pope the Jeff Agoos of 2006. Last October I predicted this:

Eddie Pope? I think Bruce sees his past more than he sees his present. I love and adore Eddie Pope, but he's done at the international level. Once you lose that step as a defender, it's over. Can you see him going head to head with Wayne Rooney? Kaka? Eto'o? Shevchenko? Nope. We tried this last World Cup (Jeff Agoos) with disastrous results.

And there was Eddie Pope, waving his hand for an offsides call as Alberto Gilardino, the Italian he was failing to mark, scored a header past Kasey Keller. If only Arena had started Conrad from the get-go. We coulda been a contender!

BEST YOUNG PLAYER: I'm not using a rigid age limit. For me this category is a tie between Franck Ribery of France, the man who ran so France's old folks could conserve their energy, and Philip Lahm of Germany, the best tiny defender since Ashley Cole.

BEST OLD PLAYER: Keeper Shaka Hislop of Trinidad & Tobago (age 37) was called into the T&T game against Sweden at the last minute as regular keeper Kelvin Jack was injured in warm-ups. Hislop stoned the Swedes with a number of spectacular saves to make the game the BEST 0-0 TIE of the tournament.

BIGGEST VILLAIN: Must be Sepp Blatter for giving us this hideous refereeing with his edict telling referees cards must fly. Ruined the tournament. If only he had announced that diving must be curtailed. No way would be Italy be holding the trophy today if that were so.

WORST ANNOUNCER: Dave O'Brien (Dumb) by a whisker over his boothmate, Marcelo Balboa (Dumber). OK, they were both horrible, but O'Brien seems to think he's earned the job. Listening him to talk about Italy having gone from a man marking defense to more of a zone yesterday -- a man who knows nothing about soccer, nothing, it was just pathetic. Please god, let ESPN fire both their sorry asses and start over. Can we steal Martin Tyler from Australia, anyone?

WORST PERFORMANCE BY A TELEVISION NETWORK: And the envelope goes to ESPN. Where to start? Let's hire a lead announcer who doesn't know anything about the world's most popular sport! Let's lower the crowd noise so everyone can hear every stupid word out of our stupid announcers' mouths! Let's use huge graphics that obscure the screen! Let's skip the national anthems of US opponents! Let's skip national anthems altogether if the US isn't playing! Let's show the lineups in groups, on top of the action after the game has started! Let's hire one of the most hated announcers in sports to anchor the booth (Musberger). Let's cut away immediately after matches!

BEST PERFORMANCE BY A TELEVISION NETWORK: Univision. I couldn't understand much more than pelota, but I could follow the game better than with Dumb and Dumber pissing me off.

PERSONAL HIGH POINT: Arriving at the stadium in Gelsenkirchen for the US-Czech Republic game to find that my Row 1 tickets that I assumed would be in the upper deck were in the actual front row, right behind the tent through which the players entered the field. Unfortunately my PERSONAL LOW POINT was that 3-0 trouncing by the Czechs. Ouch.

Great tournament though and kudos to the German people who were great hosts.

WaPo: The Golden Boot

WaPo: France's Zidane Sees Red, Ends Fabled Career With an Ejection

Jere Longman, NYTimes: A Star Falters, France Fades, Italy Rejoices

BBC: Zidane blamed Materazzi comment

BBC: European press review: World Cup

Guardian (uk): Italy strike gold as Zidane sees red

Mirror (uk): DID 'TERRORIST' JIBE MAKE ZZ BLOW HIS TOP

Mark Lawrenson (Lawro), Mirror (uk): GOODBYE CRUEL WORLD

Mirror (uk): MAGIC MAXI, POTTY POLL, DULL DOMENECH, SOGGY SAUDIS

Times (uk): Materazzi mystery hangs over the party in Rome

BBC: World Cup Final photos

Why I Will Never Vote for John Kerry for National Office Again

He didn't stay and fight for every vote, like he promised. The Robert F. Kennedy article in tomorrow's Rolling Stone on the theft of the 2004 election is too little, too late. We are stuck with the class clown at the helm for another two and one-half years. God help us.

I'm supporting John Bonifaz for Secretary of State in Massachusetts, because when he heard that Kerry lost Ohio, while Kerry took his $15 million war chest and went home, Bonifaz bought a plane ticket to Columbus and fought to have the votes counted.

No more Vichy Democrats. You can't win if you don't fight.


Robert F. Kennedy, Rolling Stone: Was the 2004 Election Stolen?

Like many Americans, I spent the evening of the 2004 election watching the returns on television and wondering how the exit polls, which predicted an overwhelming victory for John Kerry, had gotten it so wrong. By midnight, the official tallies showed a decisive lead for George Bush -- and the next day, lacking enough legal evidence to contest the results, Kerry conceded. Republicans derided anyone who expressed doubts about Bush's victory as nut cases in ''tinfoil hats,'' while the national media, with few exceptions, did little to question the validity of the election. The Washington Post immediately dismissed allegations of fraud as ''conspiracy theories,''(1) and The New York Times declared that ''there is no evidence of vote theft or errors on a large scale.''(2)

But despite the media blackout, indications continued to emerge that something deeply troubling had taken place in 2004. Nearly half of the 6 million American voters living abroad(3) never received their ballots -- or received them too late to vote(4) -- after the Pentagon unaccountably shut down a state-of-the-art Web site used to file overseas registrations.(5) A consulting firm called Sproul & Associates, which was hired by the Republican National Committee to register voters in six battleground states,(6) was discovered shredding Democratic registrations.(7) In New Mexico, which was decided by 5,988 votes,(8) malfunctioning machines mysteriously failed to properly register a presidential vote on more than 20,000 ballots.(9) Nationwide, according to the federal commission charged with implementing election reforms, as many as 1 million ballots were spoiled by faulty voting equipment -- roughly one for every 100 cast.(10)

The reports were especially disturbing in Ohio, the critical battleground state that clinched Bush's victory in the electoral college. Officials there purged tens of thousands of eligible voters from the rolls, neglected to process registration cards generated by Democratic voter drives, shortchanged Democratic precincts when they allocated voting machines and illegally derailed a recount that could have given Kerry the presidency. A precinct in an evangelical church in Miami County recorded an impossibly high turnout of ninety-eight percent, while a polling place in inner-city Cleveland recorded an equally impossible turnout of only seven percent. In Warren County, GOP election officials even invented a nonexistent terrorist threat to bar the media from monitoring the official vote count.(11)

Any election, of course, will have anomalies. America's voting system is a messy patchwork of polling rules run mostly by county and city officials. ''We didn't have one election for president in 2004,'' says Robert Pastor, who directs the Center for Democracy and Election Management at American University. ''We didn't have fifty elections. We actually had 13,000 elections run by 13,000 independent, quasi-sovereign counties and municipalities.''

But what is most anomalous about the irregularities in 2004 was their decidedly partisan bent: Almost without exception they hurt John Kerry and benefited George Bush. After carefully examining the evidence, I've become convinced that the president's party mounted a massive, coordinated campaign to subvert the will of the people in 2004. Across the country, Republican election officials and party stalwarts employed a wide range of illegal and unethical tactics to fix the election. A review of the available data reveals that in Ohio alone, at least 357,000 voters, the overwhelming majority of them Democratic, were prevented from casting ballots or did not have their votes counted in 2004(12) -- more than enough to shift the results of an election decided by 118,601 votes.(13) (See Ohio's Missing Votes) In what may be the single most astounding fact from the election, one in every four Ohio citizens who registered to vote in 2004 showed up at the polls only to discover that they were not listed on the rolls, thanks to GOP efforts to stem the unprecedented flood of Democrats eager to cast ballots.(14) And that doesn?t even take into account the troubling evidence of outright fraud, which indicates that upwards of 80,000 votes for Kerry were counted instead for Bush. That alone is a swing of more than 160,000 votes -- enough to have put John Kerry in the White House.(15)

Updates

Politics:

Little Ricky Santorum, who doesn''t live there anymore, trails Bob Casey in Pennsylvania opinion polls by 23%, 56 to 33.

Coingate impresario Tom Noe plead guilty yesterday to illegally funneling campaign contributions to President Bush; prosecutors plan to recommend a two-and-one-half year sentence, while he could have gotten 15 years and a $950,000 fine. He still faces charges of embezzling from Ohio state worker's compensation funds.

AP has a story about moderate Republicans; says Blutarski Sweeney faces a "tough challenge" from Kirsen Gillibrand (who I learned from 20TrueBlue blog pronounces her name "Jill-i-brand")



Soccer:

Australia's Harry Kewell won't be fully fit for the World Cup group games.

Peter Crouch's scored England's third goal in their tune-up against Hungary last week, then did an 80s-style robot dance; here are photos, and video of the same dance, on a dance floor. Too funny.

The US beat Latvia 1-0 in Hartford Sunday night (we were there!) in their final tune-up before Germany and the World Cup. Eddie Johnson looked good; a crappy officiating crew from Canada kept calling him offside when he wasn't (we were sitting on the 18 yard line so we had the perfect view in the first half.) Brian McBride, or McHead, was magnificent, playing the entire game and scoring the only goal after getting a giant egg on his forehead from a clumsy Latvian attempted head. Landon Donovan kept taking most of our freekicks, why I can't imagine, as Eddie Lewis is much more accurate. Pablo Mastroeni played well but ran out of gas about the 70th minute. Johny O'Brien played 65 minutes; he's still not 90 minute match fit.

As preparations for our trip to Germany intensify, blogging will be light. I'll have a computer in Germany, so will be filing a few reports from there. Go USA!

Frat Boy Sweeney in NYTimes

Gerrymandering can only take you so far
Look at that district. Lots of poor folks who are probably not enjoying $3.00+ a gallon gasoline. Most have never been to a frat party, even when they were the right age. The NYTimes takes note of John Sweeney's (cough, cough) ineptitude:

Congressman With Long Reach Faces Political Battle of His Life

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — Only a few years ago, John E. Sweeney was a rising star in New York Republican circles, a streetwise political operative who helped engineer the 1994 victory of a little-known state senator, George E. Pataki, over Gov. Mario M. Cuomo before going on to take a seat in Congress. There, his combative brand of politics made him a favorite of national Republican leaders, including President Bush.

But these days, with Congressional elections just six months away, Mr. Sweeney finds himself in the political battle of his life, as he faces his first significant electoral challenge since taking office in 1998, from a political novice who has not only turned out to be a surprisingly strong campaigner and fund-raiser but who also has assembled a seasoned campaign team closely tied to the vaunted Clinton operation.

The threat that independent analysts say Mr. Sweeney faces is one of the more intriguing and unexpected developments of this electoral season, since the congressman represents the solidly Republican 20th Congressional District and has emerged in recent years as one of the more prominent politicians in the state. Well liked even among his Democratic colleagues, the gregarious Mr. Sweeney has long been considered a potential candidate for higher office.

But now he finds himself battered by headlines about his own actions, including his recent attendance at a college fraternity party. He also faces the woes afflicting other Republicans around the country, who — as members of the party controlling the White House and Congress — are potentially vulnerable at a time when polls indicate that Americans are in a dark mood about the future of the nation.

[]

By most measures, Ms. Gillibrand has run an aggressive campaign that seems to have caught Mr. Sweeney off guard as it has swiftly moved to put him on the defensive.

In January, her campaign surrogates seized on reports that he organized a $2,000-a-person "Skiing with Sweeney" weekend getaway attended by lobbyists at a resort in Park City, Utah, as well as a dinner at the home of a wealthy pharmaceutical industry lobbyist.

Operation Photo Op, George W. Bush Posturing on Immigration Edition

Commander Codpiece has a new war, the war on his falling poll numbers. The next front in that war, another war of choice, is the Mexican border. (Why not Canada? It has its own game already. Dead or Canadian? (Examples: Pierre Trudeau? Both! Steve Nash? Canadian.)

The next powerfully staged photo op of the Bush Administration's continuing series of powerfully staged photo ops takes place in the Oval Office tonight, on prime time television. It will lead to the next powerfully staged photo op, the sight of National Guard troops riding little ATVs on the Mexican border, brandishing M-16s and looking tough. Maybe Commander Codpiece will go to the border for his own powerfully staged photo op, wearing one of those weird semi-military jackets with the Presidential seal embroidered on the breast pocket.

But it's all a ruse. The real Border Patrol have been cut by the Bushies, so they can give tax cuts to millionaires.

Bush campaigned in 2004 on a pledge to hire 2,000 new Border Patrol agents each year for five years. But his '06 budget scrapped those plans and asked for only 210.

All Colbert, All The Time

The chimperor is not amused.
Whew, blogger is up again and I can post. Whee-hoo!

From Atrios, I learn that Google Video has the rights to the Colbert video, so you can watch it again. Remember not to spit coffee on your computer screen.

In the WaPo, Richard Cohen, intrepid journalist, who believed Bush's case for war (MORON) is tetchy about ... emails, chiding him for saying Colbert was not funny. Remember, even though thousands have died and are dying for Bush's lies, it's all about being nice to the corporate media. They believe they've earned it.

Speaking of the corporate media, I expect this TV critic to get canned any day now:

Doug Elfman, Chicago Sun-Times: Did media miss real Colbert story?

The truth is many in the media wrote about Bush's stand-up routine at the dinner as if they had just watched the coming of a comic genius, but they didn't report much on Colbert's funnier, harsher jokes. This may have been a case of the press corps following a standard motto: to the winner goes the spoils, and Bush got more laughs (out of copy written for him) than Colbert did.

How did Bush tickle reporters? He made fun of the fact that he can barely speak English (he is quite simply the worst communicator of all U.S. presidents), that our vice president is a heartless face-shooter, and that Bush is basically an idiot.

Ha ha, our "war president" knows he's a village idiot? To members of the White House press corps, that's some real funny stuff. To non-insiders, this looked like another example of good old boys and gals slapping each other on the back.

Colbert's routine was more remarkable for its unique and creative brazenness. He joked that Bush's presidency is like the Hindenburg; that Bush's wiretappers were monitoring this very event, and that the White House press corps, sitting in front of Colbert, gave Bush a free pass, scandal after scandal, until recently (when his polls numbers dropped).

How's this for a newsworthy lead? It was perhaps the first time in Bush's tenure that the president was forced to sit and listen to any American cite the litany of criminal and corruption allegations that have piled up against his administration. And mouth-tense Bush and first lady Laura Bush fled as soon as possible afterward.

From whom were they fleeing? A star comedian pretending to be a Fox News-like blowhard doing a sort of performance art that America hasn't witnessed nationally since the days of Andy Kaufman. Even if Colbert's bit had been reported as a train wreck, that would have sufficed. Instead, shocking lines like the following were barely covered by any traditional organ except industry magazine Editor & Publisher: "I stand by" Bush, Colbert cracked, "because he stands for things. Not only for things, he stands on things. Things like aircraft carriers and rubble, and recently flooded city squares. And that sends a strong message that no matter what happens to America, she will always rebound with the most powerfully staged photo ops in the world."

'Everything Was Fake Except The Troops'

Faker-In-Chief
NYTimes: Frank Rich, Bush of a Thousand Days

The demons that keep rising up from the past to grab Mr. Bush are the fictional W.M.D. he wielded to take us into Iraq. They stalk him as relentlessly as Banquo's ghost did Macbeth. From that original sin, all else flows. Mr. Rove wouldn't be in jeopardy if the White House hadn't hatched a clumsy plot to cover up its fictions. Mr. Bush's poll numbers wouldn't be in the toilet if American blood was not being spilled daily because of his fictions. By recruiting a practiced Fox News performer to better spin this history, the White House reveals that it has learned nothing. Made-for-TV propaganda propelled the Bush presidency into its quagmire in the first place. At this late date only the truth, the whole and nothing but, can set it free.

All too fittingly, Tony Snow's appointment was announced just before May Day, a red-letter day twice over in the history of the Iraq war. It was on May 1 three years ago that Mr. Bush did his victory jig on the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln. It was May 1 last year that The Sunday Times of London published the so-called Downing Street memo. These events bracket all that has gone wrong and will keep going wrong for this president until he comes clean.

To mark the third anniversary of the Iraq invasion last month, the White House hyped something called Operation Swarmer, "the largest air assault" since the start of the war, complete with Pentagon-produced video suitable for the evening news. (What the operation actually accomplished as either warfare or P.R. remains a mystery.) It will take nothing less than a replay of D-Day with the original cast to put a happy gloss on tomorrow's anniversary. Looking back at "Mission Accomplished" now is like playing that childhood game of "What's wrong with this picture?" It wasn't just the banner or the "Top Gun" joyride or the declaration of the end of "major combat operations" that was bogus. Everything was fake except the troops.

Ed Strong has the full article:

Ed Strong, The Daily Mindbender: Frank Rich: Lame-Duck Bush of a Thousand Days and No Way Out