Open thread

Just did a little Christmas shopping on eBay tonight. Man that thing is an adrenaline rush. Got what I wanted, in the price range I wanted, but it took some fast typing at the end there. Read More......

Bush approval is at 31%. Americans think his presidency is over.

Americans don't like the President anymore. Really, really don't like him. And, most Americans think his presidency is history:

President Bush’s job approval rating has fallen to just 31 percent, according to the new NEWSWEEK Poll. Bill Clinton’s lowest rating during his presidency was 36 percent; Bush’s father’s was 29 percent, and Ronald Reagan’s was 35 percent. Jimmy Carter’s and Richard Nixon’s lows were 28 and 23 percent, respectively. (Just 24 approve of outgoing Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s job performance; and 31 percent approve of Vice President Dick Cheney’s.)

Worst of all, most Americans are writing off the rest of Bush’s presidency; two-thirds (66 percent) believe he will be unable to get much done, up from 56 percent in a mid-October poll; only 32 percent believe he can be effective. That’s unfortunate since 63 percent of Americans say they’re dissatisfied with the way things are going in the country; just 29 percent are satisfied, reports the poll of 1,006 adults conducted Thursday and Friday nights.

Unfortunately, we've got two more years of the clown. Fortunately, Congress is controlled by the Democrats so he can be reined in. Read More......

Pelosi supports Murtha over Hoyer for Majority Leader

This is interesting:

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, in line to become speaker of the House, stepped into a postelection power struggle among fellow Democrats on Sunday with a letter of support for Rep. Jack Murtha in the race to pick a majority leader.

''Your presence in the leadership of our party would add a knowledgeable and respected voice to our Democratic team,'' Pelosi, D-Calif., wrote Murtha. The Pennsylvania lawmaker is widely viewed as an underdog in a two-man race with Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer in this week's leadership elections.

Murtha issued a statement saying, ''I am deeply gratified to receive the support of Speaker Pelosi, a tireless advocate for change and a true leader for our party and our country.''

I'm sure Steny Hoyer appreciates this. But he and Pelosi have never been close.

Murtha could good be a counterpart for Pelosi if he can address the ethics questions. Read More......

Democrats and Republicans both need to be careful with this Potemkin Iraq Study Group

Regarding this Iraq Study Group, the Washington Post writes the following:

While [James] Baker has been testing the waters for some time to determine how much change in Iraq policy will be tolerated by the White House, [former Democratic Rep. Lee] Hamilton perhaps faces the now even-more-difficult challenge of cajoling Democrats such as former Clinton administration chief of staff Leon E. Panetta and power broker Vernon E. Jordan Jr. to sign on to a plan that falls short of a phased troop withdrawal, the position of many congressional Democrats.

This is a trap. Democrats cannot - can not - own the administration's current course in Iraq. If Democrats buy off on a policy that they know is not the right policy, then they will be buying off on future failure in Iraq. They will own Bush's bad policy. And that is insane. If the bipartisan group can't come up with a real plan, a good plan, the best plan, then let the Republicans in the group come up with their own wacky plan that will fail. The Democrats can issue a dissent that respectfully says they disagree, and why. And when all hell breaks loose over the next two years, the Dems can say "I told you so."

The last thing Democrats need is to hand George Bush some bipartisan approbation of his failed Iraq policy so that, in the future, he can say we all own Iraq, warts and all. We all don't own Iraq, it's his disaster, his failed state. And nothing we try is going to work because it's already too late - Iraq is lost. Bush had his chance, and he failed.

It's Terri Schiavo all over again. Sometimes the patient is just too far gone.

Oh yeah, one final rather important point. Check out the first line of that paragraph - James Baker is testing the waters as to how much change in Iraq policy the White House will tolerate. Excuse me? So, that means the guy running this panel isn't going to give his honest advice - he's only going to give the closest to honest the White House will let him give. That is totally messed up, incredibly dishonest, and it's the very reason we're in this predicament to start with. Generals being afraid of giving honest advice, top advisers to Bush being afraid to tell him the truth. It will be a total travesty if Baker only agrees to what the White House is willing to hear, and Lee Hamilton feels obliged to agree to whatever the Republicans want. Then what is the point of this entire exercise? Read More......

Rove says GOP loss of House and Senate was no big deal

It was to be expected, per Karl. You see, he has a memo. And his memo says that everything is going just fine:

The "one-pager" outlines why, in his view, the losses were not particularly extraordinary and therefore not a repudiation of Bush: The loss of 28 House seats and six Senate seats is roughly comparable to losses suffered by the party in the White House in the sixth year of other presidencies and the same as the average wartime midterm. Moreover, it says, 23 races were decided by two percentage points or less, and it credits the "GOP Ground Game," the Rove-devised turnout machine. Overall, a shift of 77,611 votes would have kept the House in Republican hands.

And you know what? Good. Keep Bush doing exactly what he's doing, Karl. I want that man as arrogant and stupid as ever. Because 2 more years of George Bush, incompetently staying the course because he thinks the public really likes him - all 31% approval rating of him - and we'll have the presidency in 2008 and strengthen our hold on both houses of Congress.

And one more thing. Ask Rick Santorum, George Allen, Denny Hastert, John Boehner, and Mitch McConnell whether they think the election was no big deal. Read More......

Steny Hoyer (D-MD) says he has the votes to be the next House Majority Leader

Hoyer will be running against John Murtha (D-PA), the man best known for being the top Democratic defense hawk who is now opposed to the Iraq war. Hoyer says he has the votes to become the next House Majority Leader (that's the #2 leadership post, right after Speaker (Pelosi)).

This race is a bit of a conundrum. Hoyer has not exactly been the most supportive guy, in terms of helping Nancy Pelosi in her leadership position. But Murtha also has his issues.

First off, putting Murtha's now-good position on the war aside for a moment, he's quite conservative on lots of issues that Dems hold dear. And then on other issues, like race or children's issues, he appears pretty good. He's a very mixed bag. Having said that, Harry Reid is also anti-choice, but he hasn't exactly imposed his view on the Democrats in the Senate.

To wit:

LIBERAL-MINDED GROUPS
0% - NARAL (pro-choice group)
0% - Planned Parenthood
34% - Humane Society
44% - ACLU
45% - US PIRG
56% - League of Conservation Voters
33% to 17% to 63% over 3 years - Human Rights Campaign (gay civil rights)
74% - NAACP
78% - Children's Defense Fund
96% - Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
100% - National Education Association (they're a good education group)

CONSERVATIVE-MINDED GROUPS
28% - Focus on the Family, Family Research Council (religious right)
50% - John Birch Society (insanely conservative)
50% - Eagle Forum (Phyllis Schlafly)
53% - Christian Coalition (religious right)
70% - National Right to Life (anti-choice)
92% - National Rifle Association

And perhaps the even greater issue, Murth has ethics problems - he got an honorable mention on CREW's "most corrupt members of Congress" list. That is not good, at all. Especially after we just won an election on the corruption issue. At the very least, Murtha needs to clean up his house if he is going to become Majority Leader. Read More......

2 suicide bombers kill 35 at Iraq police recruit HQ

What's the plan, Mr. Bush? Read More......

When Condi knifed Rummy or how the Sec. of State disposed of the Sec. of Defense (and Cheney)

From the perspective of GOP leaders like Newt Gingrich, the White House completely botched the Rumsfeld departure. The President also lied to the media about Rumsfeld shortly before the election. Been wondering what finally made it happen and today's New York Times gives the credit to Rice:

While Mr. Gates, a former director of central intelligence, had long been considered for a variety of roles, over the past two months Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the national security adviser, Stephen J. Hadley, quietly steered the White House toward replacing Donald H. Rumsfeld with Mr. Gates, who had worked closely with Ms. Rice under the first President Bush. One senior participant in those discussions, who declined to be identified by name while talking about internal deliberations, said, “everyone realizes that we don’t have much time to get this right” and the first step is to get “everyone driving on the same track.”

Rice "quietly steered" it. Need more information. We know she's best friends with Bush and Laura. We also know that Bush is incapable of making any serious decisions. He can't admit failure. So, did Rumsfeld get out-maneuvered by a woman who he has spent the last six years dissing? Or is this just spinning to give Condi the credit for vanquishing the evil Rummy.

Either way, the big loser is Cheney. He should be watching his back now, too. Read More......

Feingold not running for President

Watching "This Week," heard Stephanopoulos mention Feingold wasn't running. It's true:

Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold has decided against seeking the Democratic nomination for president in 2008.

He states in a letter to friends and supporters of his Progressive Patriots Fund, formed in early 2005 as he explored the possibility of a run for the party nomination, that he has decided to continue his work as senator and not make the run for president.

Read More......

Sunday Talk Shows Open Thread

All about the elections on the talk shows. Mostly what happened last week, but McCain's pushing his presidential candidacy on Meet the Press. I really doubt Russert will ask the questions that show just how conservative McCain really is.

It's going to be a lot more fun to watch the shows today then it was in 2002 or 2004:

This Week With George Stephanopoulos. Among guests: Senator Joseph Biden Jr., Democrat of Delaware; Senator Carl Levin, Democrat of Michigan...

Fox News Sunday With Chris Wallace. Among guests: Howard Dean, Democratic National Committee chairman....

Face the Nation With Bob Schieffer. Guests: Senator Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada....

Meet the Press With Tim Russert. Guests: Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona; Senator Joseph Lieberman, Democrat of Connecticut....

Late Edition With Wolf Blitzer. Guests: Joshua Bolten, White House chief of staff; Shaukat Aziz, prime minister of Pakistan; Senator Charles Schumer, Democrat of New York; George Joulwan, retired Army general and former NATO supreme allied commander. 11 a.m. (CNN)

If you're watching, provide commentary. Read More......