Wash Post on Schrock, PAGE TWO!!!

And they mention the "gay" thing, and everything. Page FRIGGIN TWO of the Washington Post tomorrow (Tuesday). This is going to be THE talk of the convention tomorrow.

In 2000, the Virginian-Pilot said of Schrock that he favored ending the Clinton administration's "Don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays in the military. He supported asking enlistees whether they have had homosexual experiences in an effort to try to keep gays from serving.

"You're in the showers with them, you're in the bunk room with them, you're in staterooms with them," Schrock told the Virginian-Pilot. "You just hope no harm would come by folks who are of that persuasion. It's a discipline thing."

And apparently, you're in the halls of Congress with them.

Republican Party Chairman Kate Obenshain Griffin, who presides over a state organization that has been rocked by one scandal after another in the past several years, said she hoped that her party would come together quickly to move on.

"It is now important for Virginia Republicans to unite behind our nominee..."

Wouldn't have been MY word choice :-) Read the rest of this post...

Bush and Giuliani disagree War on Terror can be won

Watching Giuliani, still (he MUST be over time). Unlike President Bush, Giuliani thinks we can win the war on terror. Just ask him. He "can see it!"

Well, according to the NY Times:

Mr. Bush was asked if the United States could win the war against terrorism, which he has made the focus of his administration and the central thrust of his re-election campaign.

"I don't think you can win it," Mr. Bush replied. "

Maybe someone should have told Giuliani. Read the rest of this post...

Giuliani thinks Nixon when supporting Bush

Watching Giuliani's speech, big applause line on him saying we need Bush "now more than ever". Sounds familiar, I think he got confused:

Apt comparison. Anyone have an ideas how we could play with this little button and make something fun? Read the rest of this post...

Where the F is Mary Cheney?

Watching the Convention coverage on CNN - couple of thoughts.

See Dick, See Lynne, See Elizabeth - anyone see Mary? Nice f-ing familiy values.

Also, McCain's best line so far, bashing Michael Moore - did you all see the reaction from the audience? Looks like a parade of hate will be getting all the applause lines. Looking like 1992 again :) Read the rest of this post...

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test

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In case you doubted McGreevey...

His accuser has fled to Israel and has now decided, according to AP:

NEW YORK - A former aide who claims New Jersey Gov. James E. McGreevey sexually harassed him said Monday he will not sue the governor.

The governor's resignation announcement was sufficient admission of his wrongdoing, Golan Cipel said in a statement written in Hebrew and released Monday by an Israeli public relations agency. Cipel is in seclusion with his family in Israel.

So much for him having been harassed and needing justice. Read the rest of this post...

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My favorite mistakes...

A couple weeks back I wrote a post about an idea for a commercial that featured preznit's last press conference -- April -- where he couldn't come up with a coherent answer on any mistakes he'd made since Sept. 11.

Turns out DNC already did it. My bad.

Again, going right at the heart of strong, decisive leadership. The guy can't even handle a press conference where he gets to choose who asks questions.

I think DNC might want to dust this one off, maybe tweak a bit, add the latest "mistakes" and run it again. You know, a million more in poverty, a million more uninsured, and...

my... pet... goat.
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Moderate Republicans Fighting Back

The LA Times pieces were interesting, showing some real divisions within the Republican Party. As I was flipping through the NY Times Convention section today, I came across a full page ad by these guys, Mainstream2004.

"As Republican former Governors, Senators and public officials,
we urge our party to renew its allegiance to the proven, common sense values which unite America.

Instead of partisan ideology - which increasingly has led moderates to leave the party - what's needed is a speedy return to the pragmatic, problem-solving mainstream."

They have a petition online that they indicate will be delivered to the Chairman during the convention. They talk about the current administration "weakening environmental law", the need to "end record defects", "rebuild alliances". On social issues, two interesting things:

"- put the health of millions first, and clear the way for embryonic stem cell research;

- appoint mainstream federal judges, and respect the Constitution;"

And this is coming from REPUBLICANS. Given that this ad was signed by a number of former Republican Governors and Senators, this is not shaping up to be what I would call a "unified" convention. I give them a lot of credit for standing up for what the Republican party used to be all about. For those who want to have one more go to try and change the party from within, might be a good group to join up with. Sign their petition - give the repubs a little indigestion during their convention. :) Read the rest of this post...

Bush admits he had plans to invade Iraq pre 9/11, kind of

President Bush admitted, almost, on Friday that he was thinking of invading Iraq even before 9/11. Not that this is news, but it's something that we all keep forgetting, and it's important to keep on him about this. What WAS the point of this war?

From USA Today:

I believe the decision to go to war was the right decision, particularly after September the 11th.

So, even without Sept 11, it would have been valid to go to war. But before Sept. 11, there wasn't a war on terror, so what would the justification have been? Look, I don't like Saddam, I don't think the Iraqis were flying kites before we invaded, but it's BS for the president to start coming up with alternative pre-9/11 reasons to invade, now that the WMD discussion has gone out the window (not to mention, what DID happen to Sarin gas shells they "discovered" a few months ago?) Read the rest of this post...

Three Words

Strong, decisive leadership. That will be the theme of the convention and what the R's hope everyone understands about their candidate. There will be flags, soldiers, firemen, flags, police, sailors, and flags. Above all, we'll hear about strong, decisive leadership.

Three simple words that create an effective message.

I have three words in response.

My.

Pet.

Goat.
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Bush admits defeat in war on terror

This guy just gets worse by the day. Now he's giving up on American security in the War on Terror.

When asked "Can we win?" the war on terror, Bush said, "I don't think you can win it."

Why does Bush not believe in America? It's time to rebuild our alliances around the world and win this war. Just because Bush is giving in doesn't mean everyone else should.
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Catania does Air America at RNC...

Gay, Republican DC City Councillor David Catania will make an appearance on the Al Franken show on Air America Radio in the next hour or two. Should be interesting...
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BIG ASS article on gay-baiting, and gay staffers, in Florida Senate campaign

AMAZING article in the Miami Herald about how Republican Senate candidate Mel Martinez in Florida is using gay-baiting TO THE MAX in his campaign. This, even though Martinez has two openly-gay staff in senior positions.

What a pig. And what very sad morons these staffers are.

As Christian conservatives rally around Mel Martinez, their favorite candidate in the U.S. Senate race, a key reason for their support is his strict stance on one of their hot-button issues: homosexuality.

The Martinez campaign has made the fight against what it calls ''the radical homosexual lobby'' central to its campaign. It's the subject of an attack ad -- removed Saturday under political pressure -- and a stinging mailer that criticizes rival Bill McCollum, a fellow conservative, for ''pandering to gays'' because he supported so-called hate crimes legislation in Congress.

Yet the Martinez campaign and the candidate's religious allies find themselves having to carefully parse their positions for one reason: Both Martinez and McCollum -- Republican politicians with impeccable conservative credentials -- have highly placed campaign staffers who are gay.

I don't know why a local gay group doesn't launch protests calling on these gay staffers to quit. Read the rest of this post...

BIG ASS NYT article about Mary Cheney

Allow me one small gloat. You'd likely have NEVER seen the New York Times writing about Mary had we not launched DearMary.com (and had many of you not donated to the DearMary.com ad campaign) and made it "okay" to talk about her being a lesbian.

This part of the article made me go YEAH (again, wouldn't have happened had we not alerted the country to the fact that Mary is gay):

Mr. [Alan] Simpson recalled a tense confrontation on the campaign trail when one of Mr. Bush's Christian conservative backers advised Mr. Cheney to "pray for her" and "to urge her away from her aberration."

"Dick just starred at him," Mr. Simpson recalled. "If you said that to Dick or Lynne Cheney, you will get a look that would sizzle your underwear, I tell you."

And this part of the article made me want to spit on Mary Matalin. What kind of homophobic crap is this? She knows better.

"When people are open, which Mary is, they are not trying to make a statement,'' Ms. Matalin said. "There are other reasons to be politically active besides your sexual orientation. That is not her raison d'être."

And that, my friends, is why Mary is a big fat traitor. Hell, I'm beginning to think her dad is more pro-gay than she. Read the rest of this post...

HETERO Cheney daughter speaking at convention, NOT Mary

From the Chicago Trib:

Speaking of the gay equality movement... What about Mary? Mary Cheney, that is. She's the gay daughter of vice president Dick and his wife, Lynne.

Lynne Cheney and one of her two daughters are on the roster of top Republican wives and offspring listed as speakers at Monday's "W Stands for Women Forum." But notably absent from that list is Mary Cheney.

Meanwhile -- how retro -- all the married women are listed as "Mrs.": Mrs. Barbara Bush, Mrs. Liz Cheney Perry (the Cheney's other daughter); Mrs. Doro Bush Koch (President Bush the First's only daughter; sister of the current president). Also listed, the president's twin 22-year-old twin daughters, Barbara and Jenna, who everyone wants to meet, or at least eyeball this convention week.

Yep, ALL the straight Bush-Cheney women are talking, but not Mary. Gosh I hope she's proud of what she's doing. Read the rest of this post...

Gay Republicans fighting back at the convention

Two interesting articles about how gay Republicans are fighting back at the convention, and Pataki, among others, has been egging them on. Interestingly, Giuliani was NOT mentioned as someone giving them support.

LA Times 1

LA Times 2 Read the rest of this post...

Tucker Carlson blasts Bush for hiding on 9/11

From Daily Kos, a piece about Tucker Carlson and his blunt remarks about Bush running and hiding most of the day on 9/11.

I could not agree with it any more and have been saying this since 9/11. As much as I may have disliked and still dislike Guiliani (Bush = Churchill? Get a grip pal) he was the only voice of America on 9/11. Operation Flight Suit boy was a coward, no bones about it, as he hid away in a bunker in the middle of the US. It's time to take the gloves off on this issue because this is the cornerstone of his campaign. On 9/11 Bush dicked around for those famous seven minutes and then he wet his pants and hid leaving the country and the world wondering what was happening. If Rudy thinks that is what Churchill or even Reagan would have done, call the men in white jackets because there is no way in hell either (or Clinton or Bush I) would have hid out sucking his thumb. What an embarassment it was.

Bush ran to Nebraska and cowered in fear. This issue needs to be pounded home every day until the election. Bush hid. He showed his colors and they were yellow.

Here's what Carlson said:

... The attacks initially made me sorry I voted for him. For most of that day, as my wife and children stayed inside our house listening to the roar of fighter jets overhead, and black smoke from the Pentagon hovered above our neighborhood, Bush failed to return to Washington. My family sat unprotected a few miles from the scene of a terrorist attack; Bush hid in a bunker on some faraway military base.

It infuriated me, as did the subsequent excuses from White House spokesman. There was a risk in coming back, they said. There was a risk in coming back, they said. Of course there was. That's the point: Leaders must take risks, sometimes physical ones. Bush should have elbowed his Secret Service detail out of the way and returned in a display of fearlessness to his nation's capital. I found it distressingly revealing that he didn't.

As Kos notes:

But as Carlson says, the incident was revealing. Just as Kerry's heroism half a world away is revealing. There's a reason the Swift Boat Liars are going after the story so hard. Kerry turned his boat into the danger he faced.

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Two little Hitlers

I'm pretty sure these are the two guys who Sheri Dow, the woman doing the GOP convention invocation, thinks are an evil akin to Hitler. (Thanks to reader James for finding this link.)

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"Shadowy struggle within Bush administration"

Forget about the shadowy whatevers that Bush is talking about because the seriously shadowy business is going on right under his nose. Let's remember that this guy is promoting himself as a strong leader in times of trouble yet he's taken us into a war in Iraq that is a complete mess with no end in sight and he has rogue teams and moles operating in the Pentagon under his watch. The new Washington Monthly article "Iran-Contra II?" sheds new light on a few facts that have been previously dismissed by Rummy and others. Who's buying the "chance encounter" nonsense story? These people have zero credibility left.

...the FBI is looking with renewed interest at an unauthorized back-channel between Iranian dissidents and advisers in Feith's office, which more-senior
administration officials first tried in vain to shut down and then later attempted to cover up.

The administration's reluctance to disclose these details seems clear: the DoD-Ghorbanifar meetings suggest the possibility that a rogue faction at the Pentagon was trying to work outside normal US foreign policy channels to advance a "regime change" agenda not approved by the president's foreign policy principals or even the president himself.

The Agency believes Ghorbanifar is a serial "fabricator" and forbids its officers from having anything to do with him. Moreover, why were mid-level Pentagon officials organizing meetings with a foreign intelligence agency behind the back of the CIA -- a clear breach of US government protocol?

Newsday broke the original story about the secret Ghorbanifar channel. Faced with the disclosure, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld acknowledged the December, 2001 meeting but dismissed it as routine and unimportant. Later that day, another senior Defense official acknowledged the second meeting, in Paris, June, 2003, but insisted that it was the result of a "chance encounter" between Ghorbanifar and a Pentagon official.

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