He's back

The 8 foot inflatable Grinch has a new friend this year. I picked him up in Normandy last winter. He's this tackly little fellow who was hanging on practically every house in northern France. Had to have him. I'm waiting for someone to call the cops thinking Santa is threatening to jump.

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The National Review thinks the GOP is screwed for a long long time

Nice analysis of the cover story of the very-conservative National Review, which basically thinks the Republicans are toast next election and beyond. If you ever needed a story to help perk up your mood, this one will do just that. Enjoy. Read More......

Bush intends to slash counterterrorism funding for police, firefighters and rescue departments across the country by more than half

Well, I mean, he did catch Osama bin Laden, so there's really no more threat. Oh. Never mind. But at least Iraq is free. Sort of. Oh that's right, we spent all our money and all of our military resources on a war we didn't need and now don't have anything left for the war we do need to fight. This would be shocking if it weren't typical. Get ready for Bush and the GOP presidential candidates to blast the Dems sometime soon as being soft on terror. Read More......

Hostage drama in Rochester, NH is over

The suspect surrendered. The hostages are safe. Read More......

Looks like Rudy lied when he blamed NYPD for the very unusual billing practices

A break from the hostage situation in NH to get an update on Rudy's growing scandal.

This thing just keeps getting worse for Rudy as ABC's The Blotter gets more information that contradicts the former Mayor. This has become a textbook campaign scandal. Now, we're dealing with the lies and the cover-up of the original scandal about Rudy using taxpayer dollars to finance his extra-marital affair with Judith Nathan. Yesterday, Rudy tried to blame NYPD. NYPD's chief says otherwise. Lies and cover-up:

Giuliani said Thursday the unusual billing practice was not intended to hide anything but instead to speed payment of American Express credit card bills.

But the current New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said today he knew of no problems with the delay of payments before Giuliani was mayor, when Kelly served under Mayor David Dinkins, or since.

"I don't recall anybody, any statements about delay," Kelly told reporters.

He said all bills for the police details for Dinkins and now for Mayor Mike Bloomberg are handled directly "through the police department."

Back to you, Rudy. What's your lie to explains this?

Oh, wait. Rudy's not talking to the media today. Now we're seeing the pre-9/11 Rudy. That's the Rudy New Yorkers hated. Read More......

Hostage situation at Hillary campaign office in NH

4:51 pm NBC tentatively identifies the suspect as "Leland Eisenberg." Son-in-law claims he was "drinking and that he was someone who wanted to be hospitalized."

4:48 pm "That was the most pointless press conference of all time" was the message I got from a reader. And, he's right.

4:35 pm Just heard from a very reliable source that all of Clinton's offices in Iowa have been shut down.

3:44 pm MSNBC: From AP, There were four hostages, but three have been released. One hostage is still being held. Also, the suspect is "known to local authorities from a past incident and that he may have a history of emotional problems."

3:19 pm ABC NEWS: Suspect is an older male with a history of mental illness who told his son today "watch the news."

2:58pm You can watch live coverage of the story on the local TV news in NH via this link.

2:52pm UPDATE from Channel 9 in NH:

Officials with the campaign confirmed that there were two workers taken hostage in the office on 28 North Main St., and NBC News reported that the man demanded to speak to Clinton.

Clinton, who is not in New Hampshire, canceled a National Democratic Committee meeting in Virginia....

Witnesses described the man as in his 40s with salt-and-pepper hair. There are several police officers in the area with guns drawn....

"There are sharp shooters on the roof, and police are negotiating with someone in the building," said another witness, who did not want to be identified. "The police are notifying all the business owners on the street to evacuate. There are fire trucks behind the Hillary Clinton office."

Presidential candidate Barack Obama also has an office in Rochester, and it has been evacuated. Staff members in John Edwards' office, which is a few buildings away, were also evacuated.

CNN reports that Hillary just canceled her speech she was going to give momentarily at the DNC winter meeting here in Virginia.

Channel 5 Boston has much more. The national cable TV networks have totally dropped the ball on this story - it took them a good half hour AFTER ABC broke the story on their Web site:

The incident happened at about 1 p.m. Friday at 28 North Main St. in Rochester. The man had what appeared to be a bomb strapped to himself inside the Democrat's office, according to Bill Shaheen, a top state campaign official.

A witness said that she spoke to a woman shortly after she was released from the office by the hostage-taker.

"A young woman with a 6-month or 8-month-old infant came rushing into the store just in tears, and she said, 'You need to call 911. A man has just walked into the Clinton office, opened his coat and showed us a bomb strapped to his chest with duct tape," witness Lettie Tzizik said.

There are several police officers positioned across the street from the office, crouched down behind cruisers with guns drawn, according to a reported at the scene.

"There are sharp shooters on the roof, and police are negotiating with someone in the building," said another witness, who did not want to be identified. "The police are notifying all the business owners on the street to evacuate. There are fire trucks behind the Hillary Clinton office.

"I walked out and I immediately started running, and I saw that the road was blocked off. They told me run and keep going," said Cassandra Hamilton, who works in an office adjacent to the building.

Nearby businesses have been evacuated, and the St. Elizabeth Seaton School has been locked down.

Reuters:

An armed man took people hostage at a New Hampshire campaign office for Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton on Friday, New Hampshire's WMUR TV reported.

Clinton, who was scheduled to campaign in Virginia on Friday, was not present at the office in Rochester, New Hampshire, according to TV reports.

The number of hostages was unclear, WMUR said. A separate report on MSNBC said a man claiming to have a bomb strapped to him walked into the campaign office.

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Clinton/Powell and Obama/Bloomberg?

The rumors are swirling that Hillary might consider asking Colin Powell to be her VP and that Obama may be considering NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Weird but interesting notions for each candidate. Pohell isn't exactly loved by Democrats, and he really screwed President Clinton, his commander in chief, to the tune of insubordination in the early 90s. Odd that there might be a rapprochement with the Clintons now. I'm not sure Hillary can or should trust Powell. And it's an interesting question, though not a very PC one, as to whether America will take kindly to the first woman president and first black vice president being on the same ticket (and even if they wouldn't, is that a reason not to do the ticket?) As for Obama, also a bit odd, talk of him considering a Republican, albeit a very moderate kind of Democrat one, isn't going to thrill party regulars. Read More......

More on Giuliani's secret use of taxpayer money to facilitate his adultery

Not that there's anything wrong with that. Well, actually, there is. First, Giuliani is running as a Republican, and the Republican party is the party of family values. Adultery isn't a family value. Second, Giuliani didn't just use taxpayer money to pay for his security while visiting his mistress - and I would agree, he was the mayor of NYC, he needed security even during his off hours - but he then tried to jigger the books to hide the money he was spending on his security for the adultery. That's creepy. And it's of questionable legality as well - you just can't charge the NYC agency dealing with "lofts" for your security to visit your mistress. And Giuliani is now telling the media that he charged obscure agencies for his security detail while visiting his mistress because it was easier to bill it this way. Hmmm. Then did Giuliani use this innovative accounting method, charging the wrong agency for his security, for any other extra-curricular activities beyond his adultery? And just as important, why did Giuliani keep charging the security detail's expenses to different agencies each time, as though he were trying to hide it by spreading it around?

Giuliani is falling into the classic political scandal trap. You get caught, then you lie, then you get caught in your lie, making the story even bigger.

Ah yes, a president who lies and then breaks the law because of his adultery. Plus ca change... Read More......

Weekly election update, by podcast

I've decided, for now at least, to do a weekly election update on the podcast. Joe really is one of the smartest people I know when it comes to elections - he has a scary knowledge of polls and districts and facts about why a caucus isn't a primary, and more. So, each week, we're going to do a round up of where the elections stand and why. This week, Joe and I invited longtime Internet reporter Jacki Schechner (formerly of CNN) to join us. I think it turned into a really interesting discussion, and hope you agree (I also left the file in stereo mode this time, which I think adds a nice touch). You can listen to the broadcast via this link (just click and it should play the audio file on your computer), you can subscribe to our podcasts via iTunes here, or you can subscribe to our podcast RSS feed here. This show is about 26 minutes long, so perfect for the treadmill :-) Read More......

Tough guy Republicans are really afraid of questions from real Americans

The right wingers are in a frenzy over the CNN YouTube debate. In their world view, it's somehow diabolical that real Americans, some of whom were Democrats, submitted questions to the candidates. The GOPers have gotten used to watching Bush live in his his bubble where he's only greeted by adoring fans. Apparently, right wingers only want their candidates to be insulated from anything except immigration bashing and supporting Bush's war in Iraq -- and top GOP operative Grover Norquist who managed to get a question.

Seriously, how are any of these wimps going to stand up to Al Qaeda if they can't even take a tough question from a Democrat? Read More......

Friday Morning Open Thread

Rudy, Rudy, Rudy. The GOP front-runner is in BIG trouble. He's got a major scandal on his hands -- having taxpayers finance his affair probably won't go over so well with the GOP voters. Just imagine how insane the right wingers would be if a Democrat pulled a stunt like that and also tried to cover it up.

So, let's get cranking. Read More......