The Friday Presidential ‘BushWhack’ing

TGIF… only a few weeks until the first primary of the season and the candidates are getting, shall we say, edgy...

• The candidates for both parties may want to listen closely to the results of a non-partisan Pew Hispanic Center survey that found 57% of registered Hispanic voters favor Democrats, while 23% said they favored republicans…


• Clinton is clinging to a narrow lead in New Hampshire (and Iowa)…and the numbers are getting closer with Clinton as 35%, Obama at 29%, Edwards at 17%, Richardson at 10% and the rest getting 3% or lower. ( I expect the numbers to swing more in one way or the other after the Iowa caucus on January 3rd…)


• Romney has a sizable lead in New Hampshire with 37%, McCain – who picked up a major endorsement in the state this week – is at 20%, Giuliani has 16%, Huckabee has a paltry 9% - sharp contrast from his numbers in Iowa – Paul has 8% and the so-called second-coming of Ronald Reagan, Thompson, has 4%....


• Romney gave his much-anticipated speech about his religion this week and said about Mormonism… absolutely nothing. The speech was being billed as a primer for the voters about his religion, but instead focused on the role religion should play in the presidency. (It was an absolutely brilliant display of playing the media and the voters with political hype; but will it come back to bite him in the ass? I think yes…)


• Edwards came out and said that the recently released NIE justifies his opposition to “President” Bush on Iran… personally I’m just happy a candidate knows about the NIE – hear that Huckabee???


• Not a good week for Huckabee. First his role in getting a rapist released early from prison that almost immediately raped and killed again is pushing him down. Second, his incredibly moronic lack of knowledge about the NIE is showing a LOT of people that he is NOT ready for the national stage…


• The incredibly inane and mis-calculated rumors about Obama’s ties to the Muslim world are still being talked about… why I have no idea…


• Romney fired his landscaping company this week because it hires illegal immigrants…


• Giuliani was abnormally quiet this week, seemingly because he’s letting the furor over the city paying for his affairs die down


• And have we mentioned? That the second-coming of Ronald Reagan went tin-foil hat on us earlier this week? It's true, Thompson said that Iran may have deliberately “leaked” the information on their lack of nuclear program to distract the U.S. so they could work without problems… (Um, okay?? See, he is like Reagan; he’s senile…)

December 7, 1941

Let us never forget...

The Thursday ‘BushWhack’ing

Here we go again...

• Finally reacting to the mortgage crisis here in the states, Congress and the White House have worked out a deal, which “President” Bush will announce later today, that will keep interest rates constant for five years for financially troubled homeowners. (Let’s hope it works, or this crisis will spiral further out of control…)
• “President” Bush was told back in August that Iran’s nuclear program “may be suspended”, a direct contradiction to what Bush said earlier this week. (And this should surprise us how? This is a pattern that this administration has followed since they took office; using twisted logic, lying and subterfuge to get what they want… did anyone really think that this leopard would change its stripes just because their term is ending? Hah!)
• It’s been kept pretty quiet, but have you heard that Mitt Romney’s giving a speech today where he will tackle his faith and its place in politics? (It’ so hard to express sarcasm in the written form… the speech should be interesting and will do one of two things; boost his numbers with conservative evangelicals, or sink his numbers with conservative evangelicals; stay tuned.)
• Mirroring his rise in Iowa, Barack Obama is gaining steam in New Hampshire as Hillary Clinton sees her lead shrink… and keep an eye on Edwards… and… Ron Paul, seriously???
• Blue Dog Democrats are causing havoc in both houses of Congress right now…
• Echoes of Willie Horton as Mike Huckabee is seeing his quick rise in the polls being threatened by a man named Wayne DuMond, a convicted rapist that was freed due to strong support by then Arkansas governor Huckabee. After his release, DeMond promptly raped and killed another woman.
• And have we mentioned? That a former republican congressman from New York wants Ronald Reagan carved into Mount Rushmore? It’s true; Fred Eckert has been busy trying to create an image of what the landmark would look like if Reagan’s face were carved into it. And now you can see the result online at… at… at…. I’m sorry, I can’t link to the site, I just can’t… my ethics won’t allow it… (Wow… who needs coffee when you have horrifying things like this??? At least we know it won’t happen as the stability, or lack thereof, of Mount Rushmore won’t permit any more carvings… thank God!)

He still doesn’t get it...

Yesterday I wrote about the incredible lack of logic displayed by Bush regarding the NIE report that says Iran stopped working on their nuclear weapons program in 2003.

Yesterday I hoped that someone, anyone, in his administration, his cabinet, his house, would tell him the facts.

Didn’t happen.

This morning “President” Bush was in Nebraska and said;

“It is clear from the latest NIE that the Iranian government has more to explain about its nuclear intentions and past actions.”

Huh?

No George, the latest NIE does NOT mean that the Iranian government has more to explain… it DOES mean that your administration has more to explain on who knew what, what they knew and when they knew it.

Less than two months ago, Bush famously elicited images of another World War when he said;

“… if you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from having knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon. And I take this very -- I take the threat of Iran with a nuclear weapon very seriously.”

Of course that’s all fine and good… Iran having a nuclear weapon would be bad… but with the revelations about the NIE coming out… did Bush already know that Iran had suspended their nuclear weapons program in 2003 when he said that?And if he did, does saying what he said and banging the war-drums merit censuring or, at the most, impeachment?

And before you trolls jump up and down on me about a witch hunt, it’s not just Liberals and Democrats that are getting fed-up with Bush’s (choose one) logic and/or lack of intelligence.

Joe Scarborough had Pat Buchanan (via telephone) on MSNBC this morning to discuss the recent NIE revelations about Iran as well as Bush's sad and pathetic performance yesterday when he said he didn't find out about it until just now.

It’s safe to say that Joe and Pat are dubious about that concept, with Buchanan even suggesting that Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) needs to get back to DC and hold hearings about who knew what, and when. Buchanan also called on Biden to bring Condi Rice and Stephen Hadley before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and ask them if they knew about the NIE report, and if they had ever told Bush, and if either of those two knew about this report, and didn't tell Bush about it, they should be fired immediately…

And Buchanan wasn't the only one firing off at Bush as Scarborough said;

"We are left with only two options here. Either the President of the United States is lying to the American people about what happened during that meeting, or the President of the United States is stupid."

It seems that Joe Scarborough and Buchanan (who are no where close to Liberal about anything) has had it with this administration.

There seems to be a shift evolving with the release of the NIE… people who usually would support the president, no matter what, are realizing that he may be as off-the-chart as many of us have already said…

Stay tuned…

The Wednesday ‘BushWhack’ing

We’re digging out from snow here in Chicago-land...

• Apparently “President” Bush and Iranian President Ahmadinejad use the same kind of logic (a term I use loosely). Today Ahmadinejad called the NIE report that downgraded Iran as a nuclear threat a “declaration of victory” for the Iranian nuclear program. (What. A. Tool. Talk about stirring up a hornet’s nest. Instead of keeping his mouth shut – hard task for him – he has to spout off and get everyone riled up again… and trust me, Bush will use this to up his war-rhetoric. Sigh…)
• As an attorney, John Edwards knows when to use someone else’s problems to his advantage… and right now he’s using the Clinton-Obama spat to do just that. Will it work? Stay tuned…
• Speaking of presidential candidates; republican candidate Mitt Romney has fired the landscaping company that does work around his house because they employ illegal immigrants. (Uh-huh… um, Mitt…)
• WaPo political headline; ‘Nonprofits Become a Force in Primaries’. Crack reporting there guys…
• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is forging ahead with a $21 billion tax package that includes repealing of tax breaks for major oil companies… naturally, Bush has promised a veto (it IS going after oil companies after all) but Pelosi is committed to getting it done. (Again, signs of balls from the Democrats in Congress… let’s hope it’s a sign of things to come…)
• And have we mentioned? That former Arkansas Gov., and gop presidential candidate, Mike Huckabee has not heard of the recently released NIE? It’s true; The Politico’s David Paul Kuhn asked Huckabee what he thought of the new NIE, Huckabee’s response? He hasn’t heard of it. We’re talking about a PRESIDENTIAL candidate, who is lobbying to be in charge of this country, and despite the report being constantly in the news this week – the man has not heard of it… at all… come on now people, do we really want another person like this in the White House????

Here we go again...

“President” Bush held his first presser in seven weeks this morning in order to not only admonish Congress for not seeing things the way he does (few people who walk upright do).

But the press corps would have none of that nonsense and turned the conference into a chat about the new National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) that says that Iran halted its nuclear weapons program four years ago in 2003.

Most people (clarifier: most people with a working brain) would look upon that news as severely undermining the Bush(whacked) Administration's argument that Iran poses an imminent peril to the world and that ignoring the threat could lead to World War III… remember, I said people with a working brain.

Mr. Bush begs to differ, saying this morning;

“Look, Iran was dangerous. Iran is dangerous. And Iran will be dangerous if they have the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon.”

Um… okay… by that logic, wouldn’t a physics grad student armed with the internet also be “dangerous”??

The Bush(whacked) Administration also claims that it has new, “secret” information about Iran's weapons program, and that that information differs from the public NIE that was just released, and… and… why does all of this sound familiar?

.....

Oh, right… Iraq… WMD’s… right… must have blocked that out of my mind. Speaking of blocking things out… one has to wonder when Bush became aware of the NIE’s contents. Well, according to the man himself, he was “made aware of the NIE last week. In August, I think it was Mike McConnell came in and said, we have some new information. He didn't tell me what the information was; he did tell me it was going to take a while to analyze...And it wasn't until last week that I was briefed on the NIE that is now public.”

Huh… so let me get this straight… a few months ago, someone said something about some new information about the number one threat to the world, and they didn't tell the leader of the free world what that information was…

Wow… that seems highly unlikely, doesn’t it?

Thankfully, there are apparently still some members of the press that use their brains, and one of them seemed as perplexed as I;

REPORTER: Mr. President, thank you. Just to follow, I understand what you're saying about when you were informed about the NIE. Are you saying at no point while the rhetoric was escalating, as "World War III" was making it into conversation, at no point nobody from your intelligence team or your administration was saying, maybe you want to back it down a little bit?
THE PRESIDENT: No, nobody ever told me that.

Wait a minute… let’s see what National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley had to say yesterday about the NIE;

“One, when the President was told that we had some additional information, he was basically told: stand down; needs to be evaluated; we'll come to you and tell you what we think it means. So this was basically -- as we said, this is information that came in the last few months, and the intelligence community spent a lot time to get on top of it.”

Now I’m confused… Hadley says Bush was told, Bush says he wasn’t told… but maybe he was, and he just forgot…

Honestly, how does this man walk upright?

The Tuesday ‘BushWhack’ing

As we gird for a possible winter storm here in Chicagoland, here’s today’s Daily Whacking…

• Happy Hanukkah to all of TBWA’s Jewish friends, mazel tov!
• Iran said today that the Bush administration must “pay the price” for what it called “lies” concerning Tehran's nuclear program… (this should end well. Anyone know the number to Bombshelters-R-Us?)
• According to the New Hampshire Union Leader, republican presidential candidate “John McCain is the man to lead America.” (Um… okay... and the fact that he’s down in most polls is a good barometer of that, right?)
• “President” Bush is having a presser right now. He’s “pressuring” congress on spending and funding the Iraq war… he also just said that the NIE released yesterday regarding Iran is a “warning signal”… a warning signal to what exactly???
• It was only a matter of time… With his rise in the polls, Mike Huckabee is no longer flying under the radar and his past policies are coming under intense scrutiny… drastic drop in the polls in four, three, two…
• Sen. Clinton’s mud-slinging at Sen. Obama that he’s wanted to be president since Kindergarten is not having the effect her campaign thought it would. (My opinion; whomever it was in her campaign that thought this was a good strategy needs to be fired on the spot. Even the most un-knowing political novice could have seen that this was a bad idea and totally irrelevant to anything going on today. Dumb. Ass.)
• And have we mentioned? That a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll shows that terrorism and ‘social issues’ aren’t deciding factors for a majority of voters anymore? Contrary to the 2004 election that saw those issues as a driving force in the presidential race, the primary issues are now the economy and healthcare, with 52% of Americans saying those are the most important issues to them in choosing a president, compared with 34% who cite terrorism and social and moral issues as the driving factor. On the surface that seems to favor the Democrats, but only time will tell what this means for the 2008 election. As always, stay tuned…

Desperately seeking... desperation??

Hillary Clinton’s campaign is getting desperate.

Her lead is shrinking and signs are pointing to a Dean-esque like breakdown in her campaign… and one need only look at her campaign’s latest salvo against Barack Obama as evidence.

First they tried to use Obama's donations to other Democrats as a campaign issue (Norman Hsu seen hiding in the corner, pot heard calling kettle black) but since that didn’t work, the campaign decided to delve earlier into his life… and found something… something from his VERY early years that contradicts his recent overtures that he hasn’t always planned on running for president.

In Boston last week, Senator Obama said: "I'm not running to fulfill some long held plans or because I think it's open to me." Well, that got the Hillary Camp all aflutter, from HillaryHub.com;

“Senator Obama’s comment today is fundamentally at odds with what his teachers, family, classmates and staff have said about his plans to run for president. Senator Obama’s campaign rhetoric is getting in the way of his reality.”

Um… okay, what was the dastardly thing Obama said… let’s go to Obama’s Harvard Law School classmate Christine Spurell for that; “It was clear to me from the day I met him that he was thinking about politics.”

He was… thinking about politics… um, ok… what else you got Clinton camp? What’s that you said, 15 years ago, Sen. Obama told his brother-in-law he might someday think about running for president?

Ooooookayyyyy… he said he would maybe run for office… possibly even President.

Wow, that’s fascinating isn’t it? Is that all you got? It isn’t? What’s that you say? You say the Obama-plan was put into effect long before law school?

Kindergarten to be precise, that’s when Obama wrote an essay titled 'I Want to Become President'

(An essay? In Kindergarten?)

He repeated this evil plan years later, third grade to be exact, when he wrote another essay entitled “I Want To Be a President.”

Well, that’s it then… we can’t vote for him… after all, he didn’t remember that he wrote essays before he was ten about his desire to become president…he didn’t remember that a law school classmate often thought that Obama would get into politics… he didn’t remember that he once told his brother-in-law that he might run for office someday…

This is what is being considered big news from Clinton’s campaign now…attempts to connect essays and conversation remembrances to reasons Obama shouldn’t win the nomination?

Christ, everyone wanted to be president in Kindergarten… it was that or a professional baseball player, ballerina or actor…

But Obama’s desire to be a president as early as five is enough fodder for the Clinton camp to attack.

Let’s get something straight, I am neither a Clinton fan nor an Obama fan (I have not yet made up my mind about the candidates, and won’t until closer to primary day… regardless of what comes out of the Twin Ego States) but this move is both sad, pathetic… and childish…

Obama’s camp isn’t allowing the inane arguments deter them, in fact they’re using them to their advantage. Obama spokesman Bill Burton responded to the charges with some humor, saying;

“I'm sure tomorrow they'll attack him for being a flip-flopper because he told his second grade teacher he wanted to be an astronaut.”

Clinton’s campaign needs to reign themselves in, or they could destroy their chances as quickly as one poorly-timed yell could…

The Monday ‘BushWhack’ing

Another start to another week in the beginning of another month… with the year coming quickly to an end…. I don’t know what I’m trying to say here…

• Venezuelan voters narrowly rejected President Hugo Chavez's wish to stand for re-election indefinitely… (this should end well…)
• The Larry Craig gay-sex scandal is NOT going away… 4 8 men have now come forward claiming they had “encounters” with Craig during his political career… (This is not going to go away any time soon, so the time for Craig to either acknowledge this or jump ship is fast approaching, so stay tuned…)
• republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is going to try to “reassure” voters about his Mormon faith. The gop “frontrunner” is expected to make a speech in Texas later this week regarding religious freedom and will bring up his Mormonism as some voters are (incorrectly I think) having an issue with a Mormon running for president. (I don’t like Romney, but it has NOTHING to do with his religion. A primary reason this country was founded was religious freedom, and to say that a certain religion shouldn’t be elected president is not only inane, but also hypocritical… especially since we currently have a man in the White House who said God told him to run for president. Call me silly, but I think the ONLY thing we should measure a politician by should be, I don’t know, their POLITICAL standings…)
• As they return today for a short session, many think that Congress will (supposedly) be very busy this month with bills, legislation or debate on taxes, Iraq war funds, farm subsidies and domestic wiretapping on the agenda… and “President” Bush wants Congress to finish things quickly… assumedly so he can get his ass to Crawford even earlier than usual. (this should be an interesting abbreviated session… some Democrats are finally starting to grow a pair and seem to be girding up for battles over some things, but I’ll be more convinced when I see it…)
• And have we mentioned? That the Food and Drug Administration is underfunded and understaffed? It’s true, and an advisory panel to the FDA has written a report that says the underfunding and understaffing is “putting U.S. consumers at risk” relating to food and drug safety… (This isn’t new… we heard about this a few weeks ago and— what’s that? That was the CPSC?? Oh right… well, with this administration we should all know that any department that doesn’t have anything to do with Iraq is going to be underfunded… how else would they pay for the war?)

The Weekly Rewind

EDITOR'S NOTE: I honestly don't know what happened... I posted TWR on Saturday... and it never materialized on the tubes... and it doesn't show up on Blogger... it's almost like (puts tinfoil hat on), someone took it... someone who doesn't like our views on politics.... hmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Okay, another week has ended, so have a healthy portion of a thing we like to call; The Weekly Rewind.

Applaud: to the memory of former Rep. Henry Hyde (R-IL). While his approach to politics may make you want to pull your hair out, piss you off or simply aggravate you, the man was an intelligent and compassionate (for some) man who many, in both parties, hold in high regard. Good luck in the next life sir…

Heckle: to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who I think is starting to truly lose it. He’s offering up a scolding of his fellow judges this week while defending his silence on the bench, saying; “My colleagues should shut up! I think that they should ask questions, but I don’t think that for judging, and for what we are doing, all those questions are necessary.” (Um… yes they are… you’re a fucking Supreme Court justice… one of the most powerful judges in the world, and you don’t think you should ask a lot of questions when hearing a case???? Get off the bench you dumbass…)

Applaud: to Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) for saying that he will act to impeach “President” Bush if he bombs Iran without the approval of congress. Said Biden; “The President has no authority to unilaterally attack Iran and if he does, as foreign relations committee chairman, I will move to impeach.” (Too bad no Democrat had those kinds of balls when the ramp-up to Iraq was happening… oh that’s right, it wasn’t an election year…)

Heckle: to blatantly pandering for votes. In the last few weeks, Mitt Romney has been trying to portray himself as a hard-liner on immigration, saying at this week’s debate, “[W]e should say if you’re here illegally, you should not be here.” That’s not a surprise, he is a republican after all. Yet in an interview on Tuesday with the Tampa Tribune editorial board he revealed; “I can tell you my inclination would be to say as many Cubans as want to come here should come in,” […] “In my opinion, the more (Cubans) the merrier.” (Huh… Now I’m sure his love of all things Cuban had nothing to do with him being in Florida, a state that just-so-happens to have a VERY STRONG Cuban-American community... yeah; no pandering there…)

Applaud: to former Bush White House COS Andrew Card (yes, you read that right, we’re applauding him). Earlier this week, conservative Tool-For-Life, CTFL, Karl Rove asserted that it was Congress that pushed the Bush(whacked) Administration into war with Iraq (give me a break)… but earlier this week, Card appeared on MSNBC’s Morning Joe and nicely discredited Rove’s argument, saying that it was the Democrats who pushed Bush into war, and that sometimes Rove’s “mouth gets ahead of his brain”… (Besides succinctly putting into words what a LOT of others have thought, Card’s comments show just how far Rove’s status has fallen. There was a time, not too long ago, that Rove was untouchable and teflon-coated. That time is gone…)

Heckle: to Ann Coulter. I could just as easily say it’s due on general principles alone, but I have to mention her suggestion that she should be the new White House press secretary for the last six months of Bush’s reign of terror term… ewwwwwww. I don’t think there’s enough disinfectant to clean out her stench after the six months is up…

Applaud: to Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE)… wow, we may achieve a record with the most applauds for republicans in one Rewind. Earlier this week Hagel addressed the Council on Foreign Relations, and called the Bush White House one of the most “incompetent” in history, saying; “I have to say this is one of the most arrogant, incompetent administrations I’ve ever seen or ever read about.” (Nicely said Chuck, succinctly put…)

Heckle: to mixed-messages… or in other words, republican strategy. When Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi traveled to Syria earlier this year, conservatives across the country berated her diplomatic efforts… but now, when “President” Bush welcomes Syria’s president with open arms and a hug, conservatives across the country praise the move… I would say more, but conservatives wouldn’t understand…

Applaud: to the news that a sixth republican senator announced they were stepping down this election cycle. This time coming in the form of one-time majority leader (my how the mighty have fallen) Trent Lott (r-MS), who announced this past Monday that he plans to resign before the end of the year… (good riddance…)

Heckle: to speaking before all the facts are in. It’s fairly well-known that violence has dropped a bit in Iraq this month, but US military commanders, along with other Iraq experts, are walking a fine line and have weary to begin declaring victory as Iraq is still “going nowhere” in political terms… but that hasn’t stopped cheerleaders John McCain (r-AZ) and Joe Lieberman (I r -CT), from declaring victory… the two of them are so blind by Bush’s spin and rhetoric, that any intelligent person is going to ignore anything and everything they say about the war… except the tools that continue voting for these empty shirts…

It's like a chess game...

In an example of strategic genius, Judiciary Committee Chairman Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) declared yesterday that “President” Bush was in no way involved with the 9 US Attorney firings… as the White House has long maintained.

In that case... the pretense of Executive privilege is out the window, which means that Karl Rove, Josh Bolten, Sarah Taylor and her assistant Scott Jennings can no longer avoid giving their full and honest testimony… as well as turning over all documents relating to the firings.

At last! A Democrat is showing some balls…

Said Leahy;

“The president's lack of involvement in these firings — by his own account and that of many others — calls into question any claim of executive privilege.”

So Leahy is now free to order them to comply, immediately, with the Judiciary Committee's subpoenas or they will be held in contempt… legal contempt mind you, as they are held in personal contempt by an incredibly large number of people already…

From Leahy's website;

“I hereby rule that those claims are not legally valid to excuse current and former White House employees from appearing, testifying and producing documents related to this investigation. Accordingly, I direct Mr. Bolten, Mr. Rove, Ms. Taylor and Mr. Jennings to comply immediately with the Committees subpoenas by producing documents and testifying or face possible contempt citations.”

YES!

Now I realize that some people, myself included, have been asking why this wasn't done months ago when Subpoenas were issued on June 13th and July 26th.

I don’t have an answer for that… and as of right now, I honestly don’t care. It’s better late than never, and now we get to see how the White House will react to this news.

Your turn White House…

The Friday Presidential ‘BushWhack’ing

• It’s not news, it’s CNN with the banner headline; “Operatives gear up for below-the-belt sucker punches” (After reading the article, it seems the main point is that political ads can be vicious and the internet has expanded their reach... that’s some mighty-fine journalism work there Lou…)
• Rudy Giuliani says that the Poltico.com’s report on his accounting of security expenses while mayor of New York is a “hit job.” (Welcome to the world of politics Rudy…)
  Fred Thompson’s campaign released the first attack ad this week, aimed directly at Mitt Romney’s abortion stance and Mike Huckabee’s tax ideas…it has so-far fallen on deaf ears…
• Barack Obama had a hush-hush meeting with New York City mayor Mike Bloomberg this morning… and neither side is telling us what the meeting was about…
• Speaking of Obama, some campaign donations are under scrutiny for allegedly funneling funds to key primary states. Naturally his campaign says it complied with the law, but stay tuned…
• Hillary Clinton has a comfortable poll lead in Florida, with 51% of Democratic primary voters choosing her over the rest of the field, but some pundits think that may change after Iowa and New Hampshire have their say… (here we go again, giving WAY too much credit, credence, and backing to the voters in TWO states… when will we learn??)
• Mike Huckabee has the endorsement of Chuck Norris… uh-huh. I would say something snarky, but I don’t want Norris showing up at my door ready to give me a roundhouse kick…

The Thursday ‘BushWhack’ing

Another day closer to not only the end of the week, but the end of the month; where did November go?

• The gop presidential candidates staged their YouTube debate last night and, not surprisingly, it was a slug-fest between Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani… with a good dose of attacks towards Fred Thompson, Ron Paul and even Mike Huckabee thrown in for good measure…
• Things are getting a tad ridiculous… rumors are swirling around the internets that say Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) is a “Muslim plant” and part of a conspiracy against America… wow, and I thought the accusations of Nancy Reagan using a Ouija board were surreal; this beats it…
• Earlier this week, former President Bill Clinton mentioned that he was against the Iraq war from the start… apparently confused as to which Clinton is running for president, this has caused conservatives to question his claims… (Last time I checked, Hillary was running for President, and not Bill; so this is news… why??)
• Sen. Chuck Hagel (r-NE) addressed the Council on Foreign Relations yesterday and said of the Bush White House; “I have to say this is one of the most arrogant, incompetent administrations I’ve ever seen or ever read about…” (I’m gonna say ouch for the administration. You know things are REALLY BAD when politicians within your own party start saying things like that…)
• And have we mentioned? That gop presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani expensed his affairs to the taxpayers of New York City? According to the Politico's Ben Smith, Giuliani “billed obscure city agencies for tens of thousands of dollars in security expenses amassed during the time when he was beginning an extramarital relationship with future wife Judith Nathan in the Hamptons…” (Nice… for a party that supposedly places family values on such a pedestal, isn’t it a wonder that one of the frontrunners for their nomination acted in such a way. If this was Bill Clinton, the republicans would have been like the villagers with Frankenstein’s monster, pitchforks and torches at the ready…)

Another one?

They’re falling like flies as yet another White House adviser is resigning. This time it’s director of the National Economic Council, the White House’s top economic adviser, Allan Hubbard, who resigned today and will be replaced by deputy Keith Hennessey.

This is the latest in a plethora of White House (and gop) departures that comes as “President” Bush winds-down his tenure in office. And considering that Hubbard’s resignation comes at a very difficult time for the country and, to a lesser-extent, the Bush(whacked) Administration.

The country is facing a crisis in the mortgage industry that has not only led to an increase in housing foreclosures but has triggered jittery global stock and currency markets… add to that the skyrocketing costs of Oil (for no other reason than Marie Osmond didn’t win Dancing with the Stars last night)… the economy is swirling the toilet.

And even looking beyond Hubbard’s departure from an economic view, a post I was reading on Daily Kos brought up an excellent point: After Karl Rove decided to leave the White House, an article in the Wall Street Journal (new motto: now with more Rupert) COS Joshua Bolten told senior aides that if they stayed past Labor Day (September) they would be obliged to remain through the end of the president's term in January 2009.

Um, don’t look now Josh, but that’s not happening...

Which leads to an interesting question; does Bolton have any real control in the White House? Or is this “ship” going along without a pilot or navigator? And if that’s the case, what the hell is going to happen between now and January 20, 2009?

The Wednesday ‘BushWhack’ing

It’s Wednesday, time for another dollop of political snark and information:

• Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf stepped down from his position as army chief today…(Riiiiiight… I’m sure he did…I’m sure he won’t have any control of the army now, uh-huh…)
• The gop presidential candidates have their YouTube debate tonight. I advise you watch, as I’m sure it’s going to be a good show, especially since all of them will be attacking each other and not the Democrats…
• Either there’s been some true and significant progress or it’s spin from the White House, but the Israelis and the Palestinians have agreed on a framework for peace talks… that’s great news, but for the White House to say that Bush is responsible is spin and not fact. What exactly did Bush do besides butchering names in an address?? If he actually did something, fine, let’s hear what he did… but if all you’re going to say is that Bush is the driving force behind the compromise; I ain’t buying it…
• Is it possible that some republican senators are growing some balls regarding Iraq???
• At the same time the republican presidential candidates are starting to get more aggressive with their party-opponents, the Democrats are doing the same. Primarily the war of words has been between Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama, but I have a feeling it will soon encompass all of the candidates… except Mike Gravel… who I think is still in the race…
• And have we mentioned? That “President” Bush is still WAY unpopular? It’s true; a new Pew Research poll shows Bush’s popularity at 30% (his previous low in this poll was 33% a few months ago) and, regardless of a gradual lessening of violence in Iraq, the American public remains “committed to bringing U.S. troops home.”