O'Franken Factor Blog

Here.

Post away.

EDIT: Hmm ... For now, it's offline or buggy. Sigh.

Kerry Commands Big Lead Among Hispanics

The Miami Herald finds it at 58-33:

The presumptive Democratic nominee held a 58 percent to 33 percent lead over Bush among voters who identify themselves as Hispanic in a poll for The Miami Herald. The survey of 1,000 likely voters was conducted March 29-31 and had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points.

Despite the advantage, strategists say Kerry must hold Bush's support among Hispanic-Americans to less than 35 percent to have a shot of winning the White House in November. Bush narrowly won the presidency in part by taking a sliver of the traditionally Democratic Hispanic base and drawing 35 percent of its vote in 2000.

"The Hispanic vote is borderline for Kerry and it's borderline for the president," said pollster John Zogby of Zogby International, which conducted the poll. "Nothing is going to make this one easy to predict."

But the Kerry campaign was encouraged by the results.

"John Kerry is going to do very well among Hispanic voters in South Florida and across the country because they have felt very acutely the impact of George Bush's failed policies and broken promises," Kerry spokesman Mark Kornblau said.

9/11 Probably Preventable

Sigh. Says the leaders of the independent commission. NY Times:

In a joint television interview, the commission's chairman, Thomas H. Kean, a former Republican governor of New Jersey, and its vice chairman, Lee H. Hamilton, a former Democratic House member from Indiana, indicated that their final report this summer would find that the Sept. 11 attacks were preventable.

They also suggested that Ms. Rice, Mr. Bush's national security adviser, would be questioned aggressively on Thursday about why the administration had not taken more action against Al Qaeda before Sept. 11, and about discrepancies between her public statements and those of Richard A. Clarke, the president's former counterterrorism chief, who has accused the administration of largely ignoring terrorist threats in 2001.

"The whole story might have been different," Mr. Kean said on the NBC News program "Meet the Press," outlining a series of intelligence and law enforcement blunders in the months and years before the attacks.

Hamster Numbers: Endangered Species Act of 1973

"The Administration has consistently failed to comply with the ESA (Endangered Species Act of 1973) and numerous court orders to designate "critical habitat" for species listed as threatened or endangered, a key ingredient in species protection. They blame this failure on cost, claiming that it cannot afford to designate critical habitat and carry out other conservation efforts. In fact, the Bush Administration has repeatedly failed to seek the necessary funds from Congress to fulfill all of its responsibilities, in one instance ignoring a specific invitation from Congress to do so. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimated that $153 million would be needed to erase the backlog of overdue critical habitat designations for fiscal year 2003, yet the Bush Administration only requested $9 million in funding." -Environment 2004

Comedy Monday

"Last night, President Bush raised $1.5 million in Washington, DC, at a fundraiser. It's all part of his new program, No Cash Left Behind." David Letterman

"Earlier today, President Bush and Senator John Kerry released new political ads that don't attack each other and discuss the issues in an intelligent and accurate manner. ... April Fools!" Conan O'Brien

"Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced this week that after he got elected, he took a voluntary course on sexual harassment. Arnold says the sexual harassment course was a waste of time because quote 'I already know how to do it.'" Conan O'Brien

"Yesterday in California, John Kerry made a speech announcing a plan to control gas prices. After hearing this, President Bush said, 'That's crazy, only Dick Cheney can control gas prices.'" Conan O'Brien

"They say that Saddam is stonewalling, he's refusing to talk, he's not giving out any information. No, wait a minute, that's Condoleezza Rice." David Letterman

The most obvious next step is to be host of a show earlier in the evening — in the coveted 11:30 period, made famous by Jack Paar and Johnny Carson. At NBC, that job is currently held by Jay Leno, who consistently trounces all competition. Until recently, it was possible for Mr. O'Brien and his team to imagine a time in the not-too-distant future when Jay might step down from his throne, and Conan might step up. But last week, NBC announced it was extending Mr. Leno's contract to the end of the decade. The decision has inescapable implications for Mr. O'Brien's career, as everyone around him knows.

Gavin Polone, Mr. O'Brien's manager and long-time friend, puts it in the plainest terms. "There's just no question that he's going to be on earlier than 12:30," he says. "He's going to 11:30. It's going to happen."

There it is: the late-night star at 12:30 is pondering a move to 11:30 (it's really 12:35 and 11:35, rounded off for convenience). If it sounds at all familiar, it's because we've been here before — same time, and yes, same channel. David Letterman starred in the original; after more than a decade as host of the later show, he was blocked from advancing to the main room, the 11:35 show, the franchise, NBC's "Tonight" Show, because NBC decided to give Johnny Carson's chair to a guy its executives believed was a more mainstream — and cooperative — star.

Now Conan O'Brien is getting set for the remake. And Jay Leno is being cast yet again as the man in possession of the prize. Mr. O'Brien has a little over a year and half left on his NBC deal, which means in only a matter of months he's likely to find himself in the precise position that David Letterman did in 1993: choosing between staying in his comfortable 12:35 home on NBC and chasing that hour-earlier dream on other networks.

Crank Yankers: "Hadassah's having a baby in a new episode of this crank calling series. Features Sarah Silverman"

Crank Yankers:"Elmer Calls a Brothel"

Crank Yankers:"Gladys' Slime with Wanda Sykes.

Top Ten Questions You're Afraid To Ask Condoleezza Rice

10. "Did Bush ever hurt himself trying to pronounce your name?"

9. "At cabinet meetings, who besides you and Cheney wear lipstick?"

8. "Do you know Leeza Gibbons?"

7. "Do you own a condo?"

6. "Did you ever try the 'Condoleezza Rice' at Chi-Chi's?"

5. "As a souvenir, did you keep any of Saddam's beard lice?"

4. "Hey, where'd you get that cool Halliburton sweatshirt?"

3. "Who told CNN that Letterman faked the footage of the bored kid next to Bush?"

2. "About those Iraqi weapons of mass destruction -- did you check Baghdad Mini-Storage?"

1. "What kind of job will you and Bush be looking for in January 2005?"

2 Coalition Soldiers Dead in Fight with Iraqi Protesters

Oy. AP:

Two soldiers--a Salvadoran and an American _ died and nine were injured Sunday in clashes with protesters at the Spanish garrison near the holy city of Najaf, the Spanish Defense Ministry said.

The ministry had earlier reported four Salvadoran soldiers in the Spanish led peacekeeping force had been killed.

The clashes broke out when gunmen who were apparently followers of an anti-U.S. Muslim cleric opened fire on the Spanish garrison, the ministry said in a statement. The protesters were angry over the arrest of an aide to the cleric, the ministry said.

Supporters of an anti-American cleric rioted in four Iraqi cities Sunday, killing eight U.S. troops and one Salvadoran soldier in the worst unrest since the spasm of looting and arson immediately after the fall of Saddam Hussein.

The U.S. military on Sunday reported two Marines were killed in a separate ``enemy action'' in Anbar province, raising the toll of American service members killed in Iraq to at least 610.

The rioters were supporters of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. They were angry over Saturday's arrest on murder charges of one of al-Sadr's aides, Mustafa al-Yacoubi, and the closure of a pro-al-Sadr newspaper.

Near the holy city of Najaf, a gunbattle at a Spanish garrison killed at least 22 people, including two coalition soldiers -- an American and a Salvadoran.

Fighting in the Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City killed seven U.S. soldiers and wounded at least 24, the U.S. military said in a written statement.

NY Post Breakdown of Right vs. Left

Yes, criticizing the NY Post is so cliche, but take a look at this editorial:

Franken says the nation needs a counterweight to the "domination" of conservative talk radio in particular, and of right-leaning big media in general.

Let's see.

On the right hand, there's basically Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage and Sean Hannity.

And on the left, there's:

ABC, BBC, CBS, NBC, CNN, HBO, Showtime, National Public Radio, MTV, BET, PBS, Christiane Amanpour, Paul Begala, Gloria Borger, Ed Bradley, Aaron Brown, Tom Brokaw, Margaret Carlson, James Carville, Bob Costas, Walter Cronkite, Katie Couric, Sam Donaldson, Charlie Gibson, Jeff Greenfield, David Gregory, Bryant Gumbel, Al Hunt, Peter Jennings, Ted Koppell, Matt Lauer, Bill Maher, Chris Matthews, Terry Moran, Bill Moyers, Keith Olbermann, Dan Rather, Cokie Roberts, John Roberts, Charlie Rose, Diane Sawyer, Bob Schieffer, Mark Shields, Leslie Stahl, Hannah Storm, George Stephanopoulos, Nina Totenberg, Mike Wallace, Barbara Walters, Brian Williams and Judy Woodruff.

Guardian: "Bush and Blair made secret pact for Iraq war"

The "decision came nine days after 9/11." Explosive. No need to say anymore, from The Guardian:

President George Bush first asked Tony Blair to support the removal of Saddam Hussein from power at a private White House dinner nine days after the terror attacks of 11 September, 2001.
According to Sir Christopher Meyer, the former British Ambassador to Washington, who was at the dinner when Blair became the first foreign leader to visit America after 11 September, Blair told Bush he should not get distracted from the war on terror's initial goal - dealing with the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.

Bush, claims Meyer, replied by saying: 'I agree with you, Tony. We must deal with this first. But when we have dealt with Afghanistan, we must come back to Iraq.' Regime change was already US policy ... Details of this extraordinary conversation will be published this week in a 25,000-word article on the path to war with Iraq in the May issue of the American magazine Vanity Fair. It provides new corroboration of the claims made last month in a book by Bush's former counter-terrorism chief, Richard Clarke, that Bush was 'obsessed' with Iraq as his principal target after 9/11.

But the implications for Blair may be still more explosive. The discussion implies that, even before the bombing of Afghanistan, Blair already knew that the US intended to attack Saddam next, although he continued to insist in public that 'no decisions had been taken' until almost the moment that the invasion began in March 2003. His critics are likely to seize on the report of the two leaders' exchange and demand to know when Blair resolved to provide the backing that Bush sought.

The Vanity Fair article will provide further ammunition in the shape of extracts from the private, contemporaneous diary kept by the former International Development Secretary, Clare Short, throughout the months leading up to the war. This reveals how, during the summer of 2002, when Blair and his closest advisers were mounting an intense diplomatic campaign to persuade Bush to agree to seek United Nations support over Iraq, and promising British support for military action in return, Blair apparently concealed his actions from his Cabinet.

Washington Post: "no evidence of contradiction" re: Clarke Testimony / Book

Oh snap, biatch:

But the broad outline of Clarke's criticism has been corroborated by a number of other former officials, congressional and commission investigators, and by Bush's admission in the 2003 Bob Woodward book "Bush at War" that he "didn't feel that sense of urgency" about Osama bin Laden before the attacks occurred.

In addition, a review of dozens of declassified citations from Clarke's 2002 testimony provides no evidence of contradiction, and White House officials familiar with the testimony agree that any differences are matters of emphasis, not fact. Indeed, the declassified 838-page report of the 2002 congressional inquiry includes many passages that appear to bolster the arguments Clarke has made.

For example, Rice and others in the administration have said that they implemented much more aggressive policies than those of Clarke and President Bill Clinton. Rice said the Bush team developed "a comprehensive strategy that would not just roll back al Qaeda -- which had been the policy of the Clinton administration -- but we needed a strategy to eliminate al Qaeda."

But in 2002, Rice's deputy, Stephen J. Hadley, wrote to the joint committee that the new policy was exactly what Rice described as the old one. "The goal was to move beyond the policy of containment, criminal prosecution, and limited retaliation for specific attacks, toward attempting to 'roll back' al Qaeda."

The joint committee's declassified report, released last July, contains dozens of quotations and references to Clarke's testimony, and none appears to contradict the former White House counterterrorism chief's testimony last month. In its July 2003 report, the congressional panel cited Clark's "uncertain mandate to coordinate Bush administration policy on terrorism and specifically on bin Laden." It also said that because Bush officials did not begin their major counterterrorism policy review until April 2001, "significant slippage in counterterrorism policy may have taken place in late 2000 and early 2001."

Hamster Numbers: John Kerry Fundraising Records

From JohnKerry.com about non-incumbent fundraising:

More than $50,000,000 – total raised in any quarter

$38,000,000 total raised in any month (March)
$36,000,000 total raised from grassroots contributors in any quarter
355,000 total number of grassroots contributions in any quarter
$26,700,000 total raised online in any quarter
$2,600,000 total raised online at JohnKerry.com in one day ( March 4, 2004 )

Posted by Eric at 08:12 AM | Comments (0) | Contact / Send News

49% of Hawaii Feel Misled on Iraq War

According to the Honolulu Advertiser poll. Savage, hula hoop humping bastards.

Almost half of Hawai'i residents think the Bush administration misled the American people about the rationale for the Iraqi war, and most don't think the world is any safer because of it, according to the latest Honolulu Advertiser Hawai'i Poll.

The poll found that 49 percent of those surveyed felt the American people were misled about the reasons for the war. Only 40 percent said they thought they were provided correct information about the reasons for the war, and 11 percent said they did not know whether they were misled.

Fifty-six percent said they didn't believe the war made the world safer for the United States.

"I didn't believe them from the start of the war, and nothing I've seen since then has changed my mind," said Karren Sayre, a 51-year-old mother and entrepreneur living in the Puna district of the Big Island.

"The war didn't have anything to do with terrorism," she said. "They didn't find any weapons of mass destruction, and, if anything, it has made us even more of a target today."

Aloha Dela Rosa, Batalona's younger sister, said her husband, Fredo, tried to talk Batalona out of going to Iraq at a February birthday party for a family member in Haina. It was the day before Batalona left the Big Island for the Middle East.

Batalona, who lived with his wife, June, in Pa'auilo, wouldn't consider staying home, his sister said.

"He said, 'Braddah, you know, it's not your life. I gotta go,'" Aloha Dela Rosa recalled. "He was worried about the (Iraqi) kids up there. He said he needed to be there to help them."

Friday Stories

April 01, 2004

March 31, 2004