Monday evening open thread

Coming to you live from the balmy midwest :-) I understand it's going to get down to single digits here in the next few days. Glad I brought the lambskin coat. Read the rest of this post...

Oh, yeah, NOW they realize they don't like him

From AFP:

The president's popularity has also fallen, from 55 percent in November to 49 percent now, according to the poll.

"Bush is the first incumbent president to have an approval rating below 50 percent one month after winning re-election," CNN said.

On Iraq, 47 percent of Americans say the situation in the war-wracked country has worsened during the past year, while 20 percent say it has improved.

The article also notes that a majority of Americans want Rumsfeld gone. Read the rest of this post...

More "holiday" cheer from Fearless Leader

Why does President Bush hate Christmas?

As UrbanLenny noted in the comments, check out the URL of the White House "holiday" page on their Web site: http://www.whitehouse.gov/holiday/. I guess the president is embarrassed of celebrating "Christmas." :-)

Then be sure to visit this page on the White House Web site to see President Bush's "holiday" card.

With the religious right so up in arms over folks afraid of calling this holiday "Christmas," it's nice to see the president doing exactly what the religious right chastizes the rest of us for doing.



Read the rest of this post...

Progress in the States..including a Party Switch in Maine

While everyone in D.C. continues to bemoan the national elections, Democrats made progress on election day at the state level in blue and red states.

Colorado and Montana showed that Democrats can win in the west. In Massachusetts, Republican Governor (and potential 2008 contender) Mitt Romney raised and spent $3 million to defeat Democrats using the gay marriage issue. Instead, Republicans hold fewer seats than at any time since the 1860s. In New York, Democrats picked up 3 seats in the Republican controlled State Senate and a fourth seat is still up in the air.

Over the past couple weeks, there has been more positive news. In Virginia, a Democrat picked up the seat in the House of Delegates that was vacated by Thelma Drake who succeeded the notorious Ed Schrock. Democrat Paula Miller won the December 14th special election by 92 votes.

In Maine, a Republican State Senator switched from Republican to Democrat according to the Associated Press. Looks like there was no room for him in his party. He was too moderate.

AUGUSTA — Sen. Arthur Mayo of Bath, newly re-elected to a second term, said Tuesday he had switched his party registration from Republican to Democrat. "It's a change in affiliation. It's not a change in philosophy," said Mayo, whose move across the political aisle boosts the Democratic Senate majority in the new Legislature to 19-16.

Characterizing himself as a longtime "liberal Republican," Mayo said "it has been increasingly difficult in the Senate Republican caucus" for someone of his political persuasion.

He said he believed the Republican Senate bloc has "moved to the right" and that at least some of his GOP colleagues had become uncomfortable with his voting and stances on some issues.

There is hope for progressives in the real world, that is, outside the beltway. National Democratic leaders and, especially the consulting class, should take a page or two from the work at the state level. Read the rest of this post...

Why does Bush hate Christmas

With all the mania on the right over the banning of "Merry Christmas" - going so far as to boycott stores that say Happy Holidays instead - check out what Dear Leader said at the beginning of his press conference today.

If someone on the left with money were smart (ha, I made myself laugh with that one), they'd launch a boycott of the White House over Bush having gone "all PC" over "Merry Christmas." Read the rest of this post...

Bush: More Hot Air

I love this story in the New York Times about a UN conference on the clear and present danger of global warming. Bush, of course, refused to sign off on the Kyoto Protocol or even take the opportunity when more than a hundred nations were poised to act and come up with a plan that the U.S. could agree on. Now, when we're merely OBSERVING a discussion on that accord and what's next, Bush spitefully blocks efforts for other nations to begin more substantive discussions. In other words, we don't want to take part and we don't want any of YOU to take part either.

"This is a new low for the United States, not just to pull out, but to block other countries from moving ahead on their own path," said Jeff Fiedler, an observer representing the Washington-based Natural Resources Defense Council, to the NYTimes. "It's almost spiteful to say, 'You can't move ahead without us.' If you're not going to lead, then get out of the way."

Needless to say, the rest of the world is annoyed.

But you haven't heard the best part yet. The one action that Bush DID support was Saudi Arabia's demand that it be paid a lot of money for any switch by nations from environment-destroying oil to other forms of energy!

"Delegations and observer groups also criticized what they described as an effort led by Saudi Arabia and supported by the United States to hamper approval of so-called adaptation assistance. That term refers to payments that richer countries would make, mostly to poor, low-lying island countries to help them cope with the impacts of climate change," reports the NYTimes.

"But the issue was complicated by Saudi Arabia's insistence that the aid include compensation to oil-producing countries for any fall in revenues that may result from the reduction in the use of carbon fuels. The European Union, which had announced its intention to provide $400 million a year to an assistance fund, strongly opposed any such provision."

Can you imagine? Saudi Arabia keeps more than half its population enslaved, with a small minority living in inimaginable luxury and does nothing to improve the lot of its nation with money literally pouring in for generations. And they want to be compensated if the world turns its back on oil for safer, cleaner, renewable energy sources? Astonishing.

Read the rest of this post...

Congress may be alive again

I'm not holding my breath, but it'd be nice if this story is true - namely, that Congress may finally fight back in Bush's second term. Read the rest of this post...

Monday morning open thread

High of 24 in DC today. Man. Read the rest of this post...