Random Political Thoughts for a Wednesday Afternoon

It’s Wednesday, we all know what that means… time for TBWA’s patented (not really, but doesn’t it sound nice?) Random Political Thoughts for a Wednesday Afternoon… and here we go…

Buh-bye. The former head of the Christian Coaltion, Ralph Reed, lost his bid for the Republican nomination for Georgia’s Lt. Governor. And when I say lost, I mean a huge, embarassing, demoralizing, liberal-enjoyable, defeat. Apparently people couldn’t forgive Reed for his brief career as a lobbyist with ties to… can you guess? That’s right; Jack “Black Hat” Abramoff. (This is funny stuff… poster-boy for the “Religious Right” gets smackdowned like he was God’s whipping boy. It brings a smile to my face…)

Where’s mine? A new GAO report has reveealed that the Departemtn of Homeland Security wasterd hundreds of thousand of dollars last years on iPods, designer clothing and other frivalous crap. The reason? “Poor training, lax oversight and rampant confusion.” (Nice… way to keep us safe there guys! Let me guess, the iPod is for keeping yourself updated on terror alert levels, right? Thank God for podcasts… if you couldn’t tell; that was sarcasm.)

About time. After years of stiffing them, it seems as though “President” Bush is finally ready to end his boycott of the NAACP’s Annual Convention. Supposedly, though I’ll believe it when I see it, he will give (possibly) a speech to the group on Thursday. (As I said earlier, I’ll believe it when I see it. Though how can he not speak to them? His approval numbers are hovering near Nixonian-levels, and his numbers (along with the rest of the GOP) with African-Americans are in the toilet, so he essentially has to appear this year, lest his numbers get any lower)

Aye, there’s the rub. By now I’m sure we’ve all seen the the video and we’ve all seen the photographs… but it’s such a bizare occurance, we have to mention it again. Bush has been acting like a fraternity boy throughout the G8 Summit, and he crossed a line the other day when he decided to give a shoulder massage to German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The LA Times said she smiled afterwards, but that isn’t true… especially if you look at the pictures. (And for the Conservatives who argue that Bill Clinton did far worse, that has never been proven. With Bush, there is enough physical evidence that no one can deny he did it.)

Everyone else wants it, but I don’t care. Despite the fact that the Senate voted to lift restrictions on federally funded human embryonic stem cell research earlier this week, “President” Bush and his cronies are vowing a veto. White House press tool Tony Snow stated that Bush was “honor-bound” to block the bill (whatever the hell that means) and that the veto would be “pretty swift”. (The bill would give millions of dollars for possible life-saving medical research, though the fight to ease the restrictions has been a long and difficult one). Add to that the erroneous comments made by Karl “I’m the tool belt of the White House Tools” Rove and you have a White House that is proving, once again, that they do what they want, and don’t give a rat’s ass what the citizens of this country want. (This is sad and pathetic. The majority of American citizens, Liberal and conservative, want this bill passed, and yet this administration is doing what they do best; running to the extreme right. Many pundits are saying this will hurt the GOP’s chances in November more than anything else… let’s hope they’re right)

What? Me worry? It’s official, we have Alfred E. Neumann in charge of our country. Liberals (except for pseudo-liberal Joe Lieberman) have always had disdain for Bush and his policies, foreign and domestic. But now, things are starting to get worse within the GOP as Dubya faces a quickly-rising backlash over his handling of foreign affairs. Conservative pundits are beginning to say publicly that Bush is acting with “timidity and confusion” in regards to Iran and North Korea as well as the current crisis between Israel and Hezbollah. (Hmmmmm… it seems as though some conservatives are beginning to see Bush for what he truly is. A man determined to right the wrongs and embarrassments of his Daddy (Iraq) and ignore everything else. I’m sorry, but haven’t we Liberals been saying that for years? Ah, screw it, welcome to the club guys, we’ve had jackets made…)

This week, on the soap opera that is the Katherine Harris senate campaign. Last week she lost, again, more of her senior campaign staff. Now comes word that Justice Department officials have contacted Rep. Katherine Harris (R-FL) and “requested information” from her office as they investigate a bribery case. Harris confirmed earlier this week that she is, indeed, involved in the case (a case that has already landed one member of Congress in prison… hellooooo Mr. Cunningham) But in true Harris fashion (meaning she refuses to accept reality) she released a statement (and with the massive turnover in her campaign, one has to truly wonder if she, herself, wrote the statement) that said she is cooperating fully but is not a target of the bribery investigation. (Katherine Harris. Pure. Comedy. Gold.)

Gratuitous op-ed plug of the week Not so much an op-ed piece, but rather an incredibly well-written and intelligent diary from one of the “Front Pagers” at Daily Kos. It’s about stem cell research and the stem cell bill, written by Kos’ resident science/health expert; DarkSyde. Please read it HERE.

Brooking’s Findings. The Brookings Institute performed an analysis of 13 American cities and found that our country’s working poor pay (a lot) more than moderate- and high-income households do for everyday essentials. (The administrations caring for the working poor can be described in three words: sad and pathetic)

More military worries. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker has expressed worries that the Army won’t be able to repair vital equipment fast enough because supplemental budget requests have been “too little, too late.” (Aren’t conservatives supposed to care more about the military than Liberals? That’s what I always hear from the likes of Ann “Plagirsm is my life” Coulter and Michelle “I’d sell-out my mother to gain more readers” Malkin… but here we have evidence that they, seemingly, don’t. Again, sad and pathetic…)

Take ‘em as you will…