Hustler mag. may be getting ready to out a conservative congressman

Read more from the WOW Report - this could be gooooood. Read More......

Was wife-swapping GOP strategist the source of CBS memos?

Ok, this is getting interesting again. Apparently the White House just canceled all of pretty Dan Bartlett's appearances today, following on the news that Roger Stone, a top GOP strategist known for embracing dirty tricks (and wife swapping) may have been the source of the memos. Read More......

Latest Zogby Battleground Poll: It's a tie

From Zogby Interactive, 9/21/04 (no link, sorry)

The race for President of the United States continued to tighten during the last two weeks, as President Bush continued his long, hard slog back toward parity with Democratic challenger John Kerry, throwing the race into a virtual dead heat, the latest package of polls by Zogby Interactive shows.

Based on individual polls conducted simultaneously Sept. 13-17 in 20 battleground states, neither Mr. Bush nor Mr. Kerry hold a clear-cut lead in enough states to win the Electoral College votes required to capture the White House. Here’s the latest chart:



Two states remain too close to call: Florida (no surprise) and Arkansas, home to the former President Clinton, who has recently generated sympathy with his successful quadruple bypass surgery and headlines with his emergence as a chief advisor to Mr. Kerry, fielding strategic questions from his New York City hospital bed.

Arkansas, with 6 electoral votes, had been in the pocket of Mr.

Bush, who won it four years ago. By itself, it is unimportant in the presidential election. However, paired with one other small state, it could make all the difference in the world. Because the race is so close this year, every little state matters.

Undecided Florida and Arkansas together comprise 33 votes.

Missouri and Nevada have moved from the undecided category into the Bush camp since the last polling, done two weeks ago. Colorado also moved, albeit slightly, from the Kerry column to the Bush column, where it resided in the election four years ago.

The Electoral College count compiled in this report assumes that the 30 states not included in the package of surveys would go to the candidate of the party they supported in the 2000 election. Under this assumption, Mr. Bush begins with a base of 142 votes, compared to 172 for Mr. Kerry. In the 20 states in the polls, 224 Electoral College votes are up for grabs. Each state poll contains its own margin of error, as stated at the bottom of each state chart.

The winner of the election must amass 270 votes....

Pollster John Zogby: “Just before the Republican Convention I wrote in this column that the main problem that President George W. Bush faced was that he had to wage a three-front war to win re-election. He had to, first, bring his own numbers up. Second, he had to drive Senator John Kerry’s down.

And, finally, he had to try to dissuade undecided voters, who generally are not leaning his way, from voting at all.

“I also said that this was a difficult fete to achieve and maintained, as I have said since May, that this race was still Kerry’s to lose.

“My hat is off to the President. He had a good two weeks and was able to make notable progress on all three fronts. The President managed to raise all three of his key barometric readings – job performance, right direction for the country, and whether or not he deserves to be re-elected.

“More importantly, he has taken the offensive and dominated the language of this campaign. His chief strengths are his handling of the war on terrorism, his leadership and decisiveness, and his likability.

Over the past three weeks we have seen Mr. Bush lead the discussion. He and his team have also shown remarkable “Clintonian” capabilities to deal head-on with negative publicity and emerge triumphant. In the case of the CBS News’ “60 Minutes” and other reports about his Texas Air National Service (or lack of service), the onus has been now placed on CBS to recover from the real possibilities that forged documents were used.

“Mr. Kerry has been on the defensive. His desire to wage a battle based on his Vietnam War experience and his national security credentials has proven to be a wasted effort. Indeed, his numbers are down on his personal likability and his ability to handle the war on terrorism.

“But this battle is not over. I have already written about how this is not an eleven point race – and never really was. My last poll showed the President with a three point lead nationally and about 241 Electoral votes – less than the 270 needed to win. Mr. Kerry has 264 Electoral voters, but neither candidate has hefty enough leads overall or in many of the battleground states. The President is still posting a negative job performance rating, a negative wrong direction rating, and a negative re-elect – even though, as I said above, each of these improved. His 46% to 43% lead over Mr. Kerry is not good for an incumbent and comes only after basking in the glow of a successful convention and disarray in the Kerry campaign. In fact, the best that can be said of his 46% showing in the horse race is that it is better than 43%!”

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Group in Iraq reportedly kills 2nd US hostage

Wonder if his family feels safer now that we've removed Saddam Hussein from power. Read More......

Cheney: Ronald Reagan was a "weak commander in chief"

I am SO not making this up. Wash Post:

Invoking U.S. military withdrawals from Beirut in 1983 and Mogadishu in 1993, Cheney said a weak commander in chief would mean that terrorists could "become convinced in their own minds that if they hit the United States or if they keep up the pressure long enough that we'll fold or take our toys and go home."

1983 was Reagan and VP Bush. Is Cheney suggesting as well that Reagan is partly to blame for 9/11 - i.e., the terrorists saw a weak commander in chief and thought that if they hit the us on September 11, we'd fold? Read More......

TalkLeft: Unnamed Officials Warn of 'Spectacular' Al Qaeda Attack in U.S.

Here we go again. Read More......

ACTION ALERT: Bush trying to kill protections for gay federal employees, AGAIN

Here they go again. Right before the election the Bushies are trying to kill language protecting Social Security Administration (SSA) employees from on-the-job discrimination based on their sexual orientation. The Bush administration, even though it promised to continue the Clinton era executive order protecting gay federal employees, has been trying for the past year to kill such protections. And now in the SSA, they're doing it again. After you read the article below from GovExec.com, feel free to call the Social Security Administration and rip them a new one, then call the Bush campaign and do the same (numbers below):

Total pigs:

Social Security Administration officials are trying to remove language protecting employees from discrimination based on sexual orientation from the agency's labor contract, union leaders claim.

During negotiations on renewing the contract, SSA officials proposed eliminating a clause that allows gay, lesbian and bisexual workers to file discrimination grievances, said Witold Skwierczynski, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Council 220.

AFGE officials convinced SSA to add the language to the contract during 2000 negotiations, after President Clinton issued an executive order establishing a uniform policy protecting federal employees from discrimination based on sexual orientation.

The union hasn't had to re-negotiate the terms of the contract until now. "I'm not aware of President Bush revoking that executive order," Skwierczynski said.

....union officials see the agency's attempt to revoke the protections as a move to reverse a longstanding antidiscrimination policy. "This administration is now attempting to permit discrimination against lesbians, gays and bisexuals by removing protections from union contracts," said Andrea Brooks, AFGE's national vice president for women's and fair practices.

....The union hopes that SSA will back down if John Kerry wins the November presidential election, Skwierczynski added.

Feel free to give the Social Security Administration public affairs office a piece of your mind:

* Phone in MD: 410-965-8904

* Email the public affairs folks at SSA here. Read More......

Top 25 OTHER reasons Bush went into Iraq

From MyDD.com:

1. I just wanted to blow something up.
2. I wanted to be a war time president because my support was waning and I needed to "wag the dog."
3. The bastards got ten times more oil than we got in Texas.
4. Huge no bid contracts for Cheney's company Haliburton for the rebuilding.
5. A doctor in Baghdad once treated an injured Al Queda guy a few years back.
6. My Dad told me Iraq invaded Kuwait.
7. Oh yeah, my Dad.... Sadaam tried to kill him.
8. Muslims.... enough said.
9. Cheney and Rummy told me to do it.
10. Iraqis are always yelling aiye aiye aiye aiye everytime they get excited, and it bothers me.
11. I never got to beat anyone up when I was a cheerleader in college.
12. He gassed the Kurds twenty years ago.
13. Sadaam wasn't a nice guy.
14. Sadaam murdered 6 million jews during WW2.
15. That sneak attack on Pearl Harbor.
16. After 911 the American people would back me on anything as long as I blew up Arabs in the process, and you just can't pass up on an opportunity like that.
17. Sadaam had factories that could be converted to some kind of other kind of factory that could possibly have produced weapons of mass destruction.
18. Sadaam is a very poor public speaker.
19. Sadaam fixed his last election.
20. Sadaam once went AWOL from the Iraqi hit squad that he was in charge of.
21. Sadaam chased broads, did a lot of drugs, drank, and got several DUI's when he was a cheerleader at Baghdad University.
22. I figured once I installed a democratic puppet government in Iraq, all of the other Arab nations would fall in line and become part of the free world. We're talking another Disney World here... one that actually turns a profit, unlike that one we built for the Frogs.
23. Thought the more Arabs I blew up, the better it would look on my resume for re-election.
24. Wanted Kerry to vote for the war before voting against it.
25. Was having a hard time reaching my 500 billion dollar deficit goal.

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Howard Dean: A draft is likely if Bush is re-elected

And the younger voters like Dean. If he says this, they have to take it seriously. Some excerpts from Dean's recent article on this:

A key issue for young Americans and their families to consider as they prepare to cast their votes in the upcoming presidential election is the real likelihood of a military draft being reinstated if President Bush is re-elected. President Bush should tell us now whether he supports a military draft....

President Bush will be forced to decide whether we can continue the current course in Iraq, which will clearly require the reinstatement of the draft. The Pentagon has objected to a draft but, the President has ignored other Pentagon recommendations in the past.

American families and young people are owed an explanation about the President's plans. Will the President withdraw from some of our military commitments or will he reinstate the draft? We need to know that before we vote, not afterwards.

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But everything is going okay, really, I'm serious

Nothing to see here, keep moving along:

After initially insisting it had enough money, the Bush administration has begun tapping its $25 billion emergency fund for the Iraq war to prepare for a major troop rotation and intense fighting this fall, administration and congressional officials said on Tuesday.

Already the Pentagon has used more than $2 billion from what the White House dubbed its "contingency reserve" fund. The money is being used to ramp up production of armored Humvees to support the upcoming troop rotation, as well as to buy body armor and bolster fuel supplies, the officials told Reuters.

The decision to tap into the $25 billion reserve fund underscores growing concern within the administration about the rise in anti-American violence in Iraq.

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Ask pretty Dan about his pretty hair-do

Not that there's anything wrong with it.

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Feed the hungry? Bush says cut taxes instead

The day he's scheduled to address the UN about that pesky little invasion thing, the US decides to take a pass on a new UN initiative designed to raise $50 billion to fight global hunger. This money would be spent -- suprise -- on growing and providing food to starving people.

The official policy of the white house -- as expressed in this instance by Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman -- on ending hunger in the world isn't feeding people, it's cutting taxes for corporations.

We report, you decide.

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Condi's right

"That is no evidence that the Iraqis are falling into civil war. Quite the opposite. Kurds and Shia and Sunnis are working together to build a new Iraq," Condoleezza Rice told NBC's "Today" show. - Reuters

They're working together alright. Working together to blow us the fuck up. Read More......

Bush has changed his reason for invading Iraq 25 27 times

John Kerry said today that the Bush administration has changed his reason for invading Iraq 23 times to justify the war in Iraq. I found the original source for that quote, and in fact, the administration has changed its reasoning 25 times (you'll note that the study says 24 of the rationales ORIGINATED with the administration, the 25th rationale, however, the administration still used even though they didn't come up with it originally). The study documenting this is pretty damn good, well-sourced, and over 200 pages long. You can find the study via this page. This is really good stuff, and damning as hell. Now who's waffling?

PS One more sobering point: Jerome over at MyDD points out that the study is now almost 2 years old. Lord knows how many additional reasons Bush came up with (like the 2 I found this weekend alone) since that time. All 25 reasons were given in just ONE YEAR! Sounds like time for an updated study.

1. War on Terror
2. Prevention of the proliferation of WMD
3. Lack of Inspections
4. Remove Saddam Hussein regime
5. Saddam Hussein is evil
6. Invading Iraq would allow us to gain favor in the Middle East
7. Example to other terror states
8. Liberate the Iraqi people
9. Broken Promises - Iraq had made commitments to the UN and the world
10. Revenge for Iraq's attempt on the life of President H.W. Bush
11. Threat Saddam posed to the region
12. Because We Can - There would be little conflict or struggle, little price to pay for entering the country, the war would be easy.
13. Cleaning up unfinished business in Iraq from the first Gulf War
14. War for Oil - The US' oil interests in the Middle East and Iraq serve as a reason for wanting to invade the state and topple its leader.
15. Sake of History - Pres. Bush claimed history had called on the US to take action against Iraq
16. Disarmament - total elimination of ALL weapons in Iraq
17. Safety of the World - Iraq as a terrorist nation could sell weapons to other terrorists and thus posed a threat to the entire world
18. Commitment to the Children - America should give its children and the world's children a better future.
19. Imminent Threat - The uncertainty of Iraq's weapon power and future plans.
20. Preserve Peace - Iraq posted a threat to the peace of the world by its continued terrorist involvement and its increased tension in the Middle East
21. Threat to Freedom - By oppressing its people and threatening the world with possible terror acts, freedom was prevention from spreading through the Middle East and was lessened in those nations that feared terror in their backyards.
22. Link to al Qaeda
23. Iraq Unique - Rumsfeld declared that Saddam Hussein in combination with the weapons potential in Iraq made Iraq different than the other "axis of evil" countries, and therefore a great immediate threat.
24. Relevance of UN - The UN was put on notice that it would face illegitimacy if it did not support the cause of the United States.
25. Iraq had broken international law - Colin Powell said that violations of UN resolutions broke international laws established in the UN Charter.

I would also add 2 more that Bush announced in the past few days:

26. Saddam "hopes" to "some day" get WMD (as compared to he "has" WMD).
27. Saddam had an "ability to work with terrorist organizations" (as compared to actually "working" with terrorist orgs).

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Oil prices stay above $46, new problem for supplies

Now that hurricane Ivan has passed, that issue is gone but in it's place we now have Yukos ceasing it's export of oil to China, a country that's consuming a lot of oil and one of the main reasons why oil has been and will continue to remain high. Don't worry though because that SUV really doesn't consume that much in the global picture unless everyone else is driving one and other fuel inefficient cars. Fuel efficiency is for terrorist lovin' assholes anyway. Nothing to see here...keep moving...nothing to see here.
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Syria redeploys troops in Lebenon, tells US to go Cheney themselves

The US macho man/High Noon international diplomacy strategy sure is showing results. Let's see what we have:

• North Korea playing nuclear games and taunting the US
• Iran playing nuclear games and taunting the US
• US civilians having their heads chopped off in Iraq
• Syria now redeploying troops in Lebanon, taunting the US and showing the world just how weak our position really is in Iraq.

Boy, that's really showing them who's in control. It's a good thing we have allies like Tonga to help us out of situations like this. The end result makes it look like the return of the Wimp Factor because we couldn't hurt a fly even if we wanted to. Four More Years.

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Novak says Bush advisers want full us retreat from Iraq after election

"Inside the Bush administration policymaking apparatus, there is strong feeling that U.S. troops must leave Iraq next year. This determination is not predicated on success in implanting Iraqi democracy and internal stability. Rather, the officials are saying: Ready or not, here we go." - Bob Novak, Chicago Sun-Times

Ok, this is wild stuff. It could be a trial balloon, but if so, it's a trial balloon Bush is going to be forced to reject immediately since it's what he's claiming Kerry wants to do. This just isn't good for Bush to be out there. It's going to start a lot of people talking, and questioning whether Bush is losing his way, panicking, etc. Read More......

Rank and file soldiers LOATHE Bush

Kos posted an article about how the rank-and-file soldiers feel about President Bush, and it ain't exactly warm and fuzzy. Looks like BEEG trouble for moose and squirrel.

A few excerpts:

Inside dusty, barricaded camps around Iraq, groups of American troops in between missions are gathering around screens to view an unlikely choice from the US box office: "Fahrenheit 9-11," Michael Moore's controversial documentary attacking the commander-in-chief.

"Everyone's watching it," says a Marine corporal at an outpost in Ramadi that is mortared by insurgents daily. "It's shaping a lot of people's image of Bush."

...."Nobody I know wants Bush," says an enlisted soldier in Najaf, adding, "This whole war was based on lies." Like several others interviewed, his animosity centered on a belief that the war lacked a clear purpose even as it took a tremendous toll on US troops, many of whom are in Iraq involuntarily under "stop loss" orders that keep them in the service for months beyond their scheduled exit in order to keep units together during deployments.

"There's no clear definition of why we came here," says Army Spc. Nathan Swink, of Quincy, Ill. "First they said they have WMD and nuclear weapons, then it was to get Saddam Hussein out of office, and then to rebuild Iraq. I want to fight for my nation and for my family, to protect the United States against enemies foreign and domestic, not to protect Iraqi civilians or deal with Sadr's militia," he said.

Specialist Swink, who comes from a family of both Democrats and Republicans, plans to vote for Kerry. "Kerry protested the war in Vietnam. He is the one to end this stuff, to lead to our exit of Iraq," he said.

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