Worst. President. Ever

[Insert your caption here.] Read the rest of this post...

Car Bombs Kill Four U.S. Soldiers in Iraq

Another beautiful day in the neighborhood. Read the rest of this post...

Good NYT profile of Bush

It's ridiculously long, though. But worth plodding through. Perhaps you guys can quote the best snippets in the comments and I can repost Read the rest of this post...

Bush uses weekly radio address to gay-bait Kerry, plead for re-election

A few problems here.

1. What is the president doing using his weekly radio address for campaign-related activities? Where is that address recorded, using who's money? I always thought this was a presidential function and not a campaign function?

2. And more importantly, suddenly, for the first time in months, Bush is suddenly discussing gay issues? This man has avoided them like the plague since the constitutional amendment went down in flames this summer. This means that the Bush campaign has decided to use that last-ditch issue, gay-baiting, to attack Kerry. Put in the context of Marygate, it's clear that the brouhaha over Mary Cheney was part of that same strategy. Bush decided it was time to play the gay card, and he is. Read the rest of this post...

Real Time with Bill Maher talks about Mary Cheney

Very interesting interchange on Bill Maher last night about the whole Mary Cheney issue. I know some of you might think that this issue should just go away. I don't. Here's why. First from Bill:

But my question about that whole flap, this this the Republicans are very angry. Dick Cheney said, "I'm an angry father." If it's not shameful to be gay, why are their panties in a bunch about this? I mean, they talk about her like she's some retarded monster they have chained in the attic, you know.

Jim Rogan was up to bat for the Republicans and he argued that because John Kerry brought it up at the debate, the Republicans saw it as a "concerted effort" to bring Mary Cheney into the campaign and it wasn't "appropriate."

Jesse Jackson's reply was that "gay relationships and marriage have been used as such a dividing line on who is righteous and who's a sinner."

To which, my hero, Bill Maher replied:

And it is an issue. They made it an issue. It's an issue in this election. Don't talk about my daughter who we are trying to discriminate against in a constitutional amendment.

And stepping up for the "Hollywood liberals" Alanis Morissette just crystallized the entire argument about Mary Cheney down to this:

It's an issue of character too. It's begging the question to people, what kind of a father, what kind of an administration would have someone in their family that is gay and have these opposing views of that person's rights and that person's future and that person's opportunity.

There you go folks. That's it, that's the kind of people Bush and Cheney are. You know how we laugh and joke sometimes that someone would run over their own mother if they had to if they want something bad enough? Well, it's coming true right in the middle of this election.

But it's not funny.

Bush and Cheney want to win this election badly enough that they are willing to sell out the Vice President's daughter. Please tell me, what more does it take? Dick Cheney is willing to sell his daughter's civil rights INTO SLAVERY to get elected. What more does it take, what more does anyone need to know? Read the rest of this post...

Bush campaign planning to launch recount right after election

How's this for a positive optimistic message to send America. I just got an email from the Bush campaign this morning asking me to donate money to "prepare for the recount." The best part is that they claim that in 2000 it was all of us who tried to "steal" the election.

In 2000, I was in Florida for the recount and remember the attacks we had to fend off in order to protect the result of a fair election from the efforts to steal it.

But more important is what this email reveals. Bush is preparing to challenge the results of this election. He's preparing, as his own campaign says in this email, for "the" recount. I for one don't want another recount. I don't want candidates who are actively planning in advance to use recounts to question the election. George Bush is planning to put us through the same turmoil we went through four years ago.

Wonder how the public will feel about that if they get wind of it now BEFORE the election? Read the rest of this post...

I'm beaten into submission

The repeated theft of Kerry signs on my street is just too much for me to handle. I've now seen the light, indeed, the error of my ways. I'm willing to concede every important argument to the Christian warriors for furious george, whose resolve is so admirable and just that laws regarding theft and trespassing simply shouldn't apply here. To appease the mighty sign warriors:

So what if there were no WMD's -- Iraq is free.
So what if we've lost jobs over 4 years -- we're creating some now.
So what if you have no health insurance -- your taxes are lower.
So what if oil is $55 a barrel -- it doesn't affect the economy.
So what if there isn't a real coalition in Iraq -- he forgot Poland.
So what if he lost all the debates -- being president is hard work.

Seriously, can I have my sign back now?
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Enough troops in Iraq, huh?

Now isn't this interesting. Despite claims by the administration that everything is fine and our troop levels are fine, they have formally asked the UK to send troops in to Baghdad to hold down the fort while the US tries to end the fighting in trouble spots around Iraq. So far the Brits have said "no" to getting involved in the US offensive but moving British troops into Baghdad means that they would come under US authority. That will surely go down well with the British public. Will the little lapdog Blair jump for a bone or will he actually turn down this request and let Bush make it on his own?
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Coalition of the Maybe Not, we'll have to think about it more

What a blow to the international coalition. Armenia is balking on sending 50 troops (yes, fifty as in five and zero) to Iraq. They were about to move ahead of Palau and Tonga in troop deployments but they now want to think about it. Some coalition, huh?

Armenia may be poor and in need of money but apparently they aren't that desperate.
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Greenspan must go as well

The man who looked like a genious in the 1990s is looking like a sad and pathetic old man in recent years. Tax cuts for the wealthiest? Great, he says. Deficits for generations? No problem. Now he's repeating the nonsense that the high price of oil is no problem and it won't have a negative impact on the economy. I would love to know what exactly he sees in his crystal ball that says the prices will not stay high. Sure new technologies will help and sure we need to move to new energy sources but who the hell does he think is running the show in Washington? The man at the helm is an oil man, surrounded by other oil people who have yet to seriously pitch energy conservation or new energy sources.

We all talk about Bush being nuts or ill but let's take a look at Greenspan. Bush lives in a fantasty world regarding Iraq and the economy and Greenspan has his head in the clouds with our current energy problem as well as the state of the economy. Take your pom-poms and go home, Alan. You are well overdue for retirement.
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