About impeachment...

Markos is right.

Of course, that doesn't mean we can't have some fun in the meantime.

And look at it this way. Two more years of George Bush, and the public won't be voting Republican again for a very long time. Read More......

The last day of being a puppet for Frist

Ah, the memories. Bill Frist served as the dutiful White House puppet for the last four years. For that, he has been rewarded with a failed political career, dashed presidential aspirations and the loss of the Senate. Today was his finale:

There was significant pomp as Mr. Frist made his goodbye, and potent symbolism as well. He was preceded into the chamber by Vice President Dick Cheney, representing the White House that helped install him in the leadership job in 2002 and was seen as holding strong influence over him. Then came Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, the leader of the House, where corruption and gridlock helped spell the end of Republican control.

It was not the triumphant finale Mr. Frist, a former heart-and-lung surgeon, envisioned, having counted on his pedigree of medical and public policy expertise to provide the foundation for a presidential bid in 2008. Like others before him, Mr. Frist discovered that leading the Senate — and the accommodations requisite in the job — proved to be a political impediment. In Mr. Frist’s case, his methodical physician’s demeanor was not always suited to the black art of Senate wheeling and dealing.

The low point -- and there were many -- had to be the Schiavo diagnosis. But, the nuclear option ran a close second. It's over now. Read More......

Rep. Tom Allen may challenge Susan Collins in Maine

This is very interesting news from Political Wire:

Rep. Tom Allen (D-ME) said Wednesday he is '"seriously considering' running for Senate in 2008, and political watchers in" Maine "say he looks and acts like someone preparing for a Senate bid," reports Roll Call.

"Democrats, eager to build on the gains they made in the Northeast in the midterm elections, would like to seriously challenge" Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), one of the few Republican moderates left in Congress."

Maine is a very blue state. And, Susan Collins is not a moderate. She cast the deciding vote to bring Trent Lott back to GOP Senate leadership.

Allen vs. Collins will be a great race. Susan Collins is the next Lincoln Chafee. Read More......

Open thread

Pending wind gusts of 40mph, my Grinch goes live tomorrow. Read More......

Bush says Iran and Syria shouldn't bother to show up to talks unless they accept all of his conditions first

So much for Bush reaching out to Iran and Syria. This man has no intention of doing anything to change the course in Iraq. He's putting demands on other countries as if we're somehow in the position of strength here. He thinks we're winning. And he's going to take us all down with him.

From AP:

One of the study group's central recommendations was for the administration to reach out to Syria and Iran for help in stabilizing Iraq, a course Bush has rejected in the past and confronted skeptically on Thursday.

"Countries that participate in talks must not fund terrorism, must help the young democracy survive, must help with the economics of the country," Bush said. "If people are not committed, if Syria and Iran is not committed to that concept, then they shouldn't bother to show up."

Read More......

McCain hires "racist ad" expert to run his campaign

I suppose the "reaching out to African-Americans" talk is now back to just talk. The Republican who is leading the pack for the 2008 presidential campaign is making it clear that racist campaigning is not just acceptable, but quite welcome. Then again, McCain also now embraces Jerry Falwell and the intolerant bigots of the religious right - the same people, by name, who McCain called "agents of intolerance" the last time he ran for president. Good to see the double-talk express is in full swing.

McCain is a Republican - a very very conservative Republican at that (McCain's solution to the Iraq war, for example, is to send even MORE troops - you get the picture). So why expect anything other than lies and deception from him - it's in their nature. Read More......

Bush was against our children breathing lead before he was for it

As Chris noted earlier this morning, George Bush is on the verge of deciding that America's children need more lead in their air.

I'm not kidding.

After thirty years of America cutting the amount of lead that gets pumped into our environment, the Republicans have decided that our air is just a bit too clean. So they're now looking at gutting the Clean Air Act provision that limit the amount of lead that big business pumps in to our air. Why? Because big business asked them to.

Interestingly, at the beginning of his presidency, George Bush didn't like lead. From the White House's own Web site:He thought it was very very bad.

Lead is a persistent and highly toxic substance that can cause a range of environmental and health problems. It has an especially harmful impact on the health of children and infants. And it is found too often in some of America's older, poorer communities.

Bush administration officials told the media that Bush was going to find ways to gut our laws without having to go to Congress, and that's exactly what he's planning to do.

Then again, this is nothing new. For years, Bush has been circumventing the law, ignoring Congress, and simply doing what he wants. Many Americans found it quaint that our president would circumvent the law simply because he thought it was best. Well, this is what you get when you give an inch. Bush and the Republicans are now circumventing our laws to the detriment of our air and our children.

This is what you get when you vote Republican. Read More......

The unprecedented effort to penetrate the brain of George W. Bush

Yesterday, AJ provided his usually sharp, insightful analysis of the policy behind the Iraq Study Group report. What fascinated me was the political theater that unfolded this week. For awhile now, we've been saying Bush needs an intervention. This week, we watched some of the most influential forces in America attempt that intervention.

Everybody had a role. James Baker, The Iraq Study Group, the media, the Democrats, even Robert Gates. When was the last time the major networks covered a non-presidential press conference live? I can't think of one.

We watched a collective effort to get George Bush back to reality. It remains to be seen if it will work.

Today's The NY Times editorial, "Welcome Political Cover" explains:

Iraq is so far gone that nobody expected the panel to come up with a breakthrough solution. As the co-chairmen — former Secretary of State James Baker and former Representative Lee Hamilton — began their letter accompanying yesterday’s report, “there is no magic formula to solve the problems of Iraq.” And the study was never going to change the basic facts: there is no victory to be had in Iraq, and however American troops withdraw, they will leave behind a deadly mess.

Its real mission was to avert the worst scenario, in which a stubborn George W. Bush spends the next two years blindly insisting he will accept nothing short of victory, while Iraq keeps spiraling out of control and the Iraqis get no closer to being able to contain the chaos after the Americans leave.

That is a recipe for years more of savagery, a spillover of terrorism and instability across the Middle East, more sacrifice of American soldiers and more cynicism and division among the American people. Avoiding it is not the same as winning the war, but it is a way to cut one’s losses.

If Mr. Bush has the capacity to seriously reassess his Iraq strategy, he will need exactly the kind of political cover that the Baker-Hamilton group was meant to provide.

The problem America has right now is the President's capacity. He's impervious to the disaster that he's created. And, it's getting worse by the day.

Yesterday, eleven U.S. troops were killed in Iraq. The insurgents have become more effective. NBC's Jane Arraf reported that U.S. soldiers, especially officers, have been attacked by a new "particularly lethal" roadside bomb. According to Arraf, this new device forms projectiles that can pierce tanks.

Even against this backdrop, there is not much hope Bush can rise to the task. CBS News reported last night:

But this president may not be in much of a hurry to accept Baker's ideas about that — or much else. Asked if Baker would help implement the report, a spokesman for Mr. Bush said, "Jim Baker can go back to his day job."

The problem is that Bush still has his day job for the next two years. Read More......

GOP Moderates: R.I.P.

The 2006 elections marked the defeat of several so-called GOP moderates. What remains is an even more hard-core right wing Republican caucus. There is no room for moderation with that crowd -- there never was. The GOP is going to be even uglier than in past sessions. Not only have they lost power, but the worst elements in the party remain:

With the defeat of Leach and several other Republican moderates Nov. 7, the Democrats' victory in the midterm election accelerates a three-decade-old pattern of declining moderate influence and rising conservative dominance in the Republican Party. By one measure, the GOP is more ideologically homogenous now than it has been in modern history. The waning moderate wing must find its place when the Democratic majority takes over in January.

"The irony of this election is that the public, in seeking change, has . . . weakened the center," Leach said recently. "In a sense, what has occurred is the strengthening of the edges of the parties."

Eight of the House's 20 most moderate Republicans lost their seats: Rob Simmons and Nancy L. Johnson (Conn.); Jeb Bradley and Charles Bass (N.H.); Michael G. Fitzpatrick and Curt Weldon (Pa.); Sue W. Kelly (N.Y.); and Leach. Also, moderate GOP Rep. Sherwood L. Boehlert (N.Y.), is retiring, and he will be replaced by Democrat Michael A. Arcuri, the Oneida County district attorney.

On the Senate side, the defeat of Lincoln D. Chafee (R-R.I.), a critic of the war who declined to vote for Bush's reelection in 2004, underscored the same trend.

The problem for the GOP moderates is that the first votes they cast every session were for the extremely conservative leaders like Tom DeLay in the House and Trent Lott in the Senate. And, with the GOP was in the majority, support for that kind of leadership undermined any hope for passing reasonable legislation. In 2006 was the electorate figured that out.

There is no room for reason in the Republican Party.

And, for the record, Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) is not a moderate. She's been very loyal to her party and her president, George Bush. UPDATE: The Hill reported today that Collins was one of the deciding votes that brought Trent Lott back to the second ranking spot in GOP Senate Leadership. It's impossible to be a moderate when you vote for a racist as your leader:

Sen. Trent Lott’s (R-Miss.) stunning return to the Senate leadership was made possible by the last-minute defections of Sens. John Warner (R-Va.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) from Sen. Lamar Alexander’s (R-Tenn.) rival campaign for Republican whip.

Read More......

Romney, the compassionate conservative

He's always there to help those in need. If you liked Bush's compassion, you will love Romney.

Social workers and human service providers angry at Gov. Mitt Romney's decision to cut $425 million from the state budget last month converged on Beacon Hill on Wednesday to demand he restore the money.

Romney said the cuts were needed to balance the budget, but those who work with the mentally ill, homeless and those battling substance abuse say the cuts made life more difficult for the state's most vulnerable.

"This is not a joke," Michael Weekes of the Massachusetts Council of Human Service Providers told a rally of about 1,000 protesters. "People that have abused children, homeless families, people with mental and physical disabilities -- they are not pork, they are people."

If only they donated to the GOP... Read More......

Thursday Morning Open Thread

December 7th. Pearl Harbor Day. Roosevelt was a real President. When he took the country to war after the U.S. was attacked, he went after the country that attacked us. As Tom Brokaw noted on the Today Show, Roosevelt had real allies and he asked the country to sacrifice. It wasn't about his ego or his pipedreams. Sixty five years later, the opposite is true on all those points when it comes to Bush and Iraq.

Get it started. Read More......

Bush ready to trash EPA lead standards

Doing for the environment what he's done to Iraq and New Orleans. Same same, but different. Who needs a successful program that benefited the American public? Those complaining probably didn't give donations to the GOP so tough luck, I guess. Let's see what Congress has to say.

The Bush administration is considering doing away with health standards that cut lead from gasoline, widely regarded as one of the nation's biggest clean-air accomplishments.

Battery makers, lead smelters, refiners all have lobbied the administration to do away with the Clean Air Act limits.

Worst president ever. Read More......

It's only phytoplankton

Right? What does that have to do with the food chain anyway?

In a "sneak peak" revealing a grim side effect of future warmer seas, new NASA satellite data find that the vital base of the ocean food web shrinks when the world's seas get hotter.

And that discovery has scientists worried about how much food marine life will have as global warming progresses.

Oh. I'm sure Senator Inhofe has a good scientific reason why none of this matters or how it's another liberal plot. Read More......