AP documents the massive discrepancies in the Cheney shooting story

The Associated Press takes a close look at all the discrepancies in the Cheney story. They document the inconsistencies in all areas of the story including Blame, Drinking, Victim's Condition, License, Disclosure, and Telling Washington. Check them all out, but here's Drinking:

Although there is no evidence that beer impaired Cheney's judgment, initial denials that he had consumed alcohol were wrong.

"No one was drinking," Armstrong said at the outset. "No, zero, zippo." She said the hunters washed down lunch with Dr Pepper. Later, she qualified her comments and said beer might have been in the cooler but she did not think anyone drank any.

The investigating officer from the Kenedy County sheriff's department, after interviewing Whittington in the hospital, reported that the victim "explained foremost there was no alcohol during the hunt."

Authorities did not investigate the accident until the next day. The Texas Parks and Wildlife accident report, dated two days after the shooting, checked "No" on the question of whether Cheney appeared under the influence of intoxicants. It did not address whether the hunters had been drinking at all. (The report also included a diagram depicting Whittington's wounds on the wrong side of his body.)

Cheney acknowledged Wednesday, "I had a beer at lunch" several hours before the group's afternoon hunt, asserting "nobody was under the influence."

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Where are the Democratic Back Benchers?

Via Atrios, the Washington Post has an interesting article about the Gingrich/GOP rise to power. It didn't just happen in 1994, they had a plan:

Back in 1992, seven upstart Republican freshmen forced real change in the House of Representatives.

Egged on by a more senior revolutionary, Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), these feisty newcomers exploited the House Bank and Post Office scandals unfolding on the watch of a longtime Democratic majority. The GOP lawmakers even posed for a poster, a macho black-and-white group shot. "The Gang of Seven," the caption read. "We closed the House Bank. We're changing Congress. Join the fight."

Gingrich and his gang played politics every day. They were relentless. The authors, Chuck Todd and Elizabeth Wilner, ask a key question: "Where is the Democrats' Gang of Seven?"

The answer, we all know, is that there isn't one. The Democrats don't have a back benchers strategy. Too many Democratic offices on the hill will smugly tell us that they don't do politics, they do policy. Ha. The bottom line is that unless the Democrats figure out how to do politics, they'll never enact any policy.

There are many smart, savvy, ambitious Democratic members of Congress. Hopefully, some of them will read today's Post article and look back at some of the strategies employed by Gingrich and the gang. The authors note that the Gingrich success was a process that required a longer term strategy:

The overlooked part of the 1994 revolution is that this landmark in our modern political landscape took time. There were GOP rumblings in the 1990 budget wars, followed by the 1990 election of some dynamic Republican freshmen. A message of change doesn't bring success overnight; it takes cultivation and cajoling, badgering and bludgeoning and a joyfully rebellious spirit that House Democrats appear to sorely lack.

There are Democrats with a rebellious spirit, they just have to rebel. The blogosphere sure would welcome it. And, remember, in the end, they called Newt the Speaker. Read the rest of this post...

Blogger is back

Quick update....We've been told blogger is fixed and so far, that seems to be true. Very exciting that the post below is still there. However, all of the posts since yesterday have apparently been lost. Grrr. Because there were some great posts and some super comments and threads that are just gone. Gone.

Anyway, thanks for your patience. Read the rest of this post...

Right wingers are turning on Robertson

The right wingers have finally figured out former Republican Presidential candidate Pat Robertson does them harm, so they're trying to ditch him. That'll be tough, though, because Robertson is one of them, just like Ann Coulter. The GOP owns Robertson and his words. Just like they own the hate speech of Coulter:

Fellow conservative religious leaders have expressed concern and even open criticism over Pat Robertson's habit of shooting from the hip on his daily religious news-and-talk television program, "The 700 Club."

The Christian Coalition founder and former GOP presidential candidate has said American agents should assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and suggested that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's stroke was divine retribution for pulling Israel out of the Gaza Strip.

Some observers say Robertson, who'll turn 76 next month, courts controversy as a strategy to stay recognizable and keep his followers mobilized. Others say he remains important to the evangelical movement that he helped create when he established the Virginia Beach-based Christian Broadcasting Network in 1960 - but he needs to stop damaging it with his words.

And, don't forget, Robertson does have a huge following...and they love what he says. Also, we can never forget that Robertson is a GOPer and represents them. Read the rest of this post...