Top Five

A quick rundown of the posts I have read during my travels around the series of tubes,.

- The Nation: What's up with Republican politicos getting arrested by undercover cops for soliciting sex in public restrooms?

- Think Progress: As always, Ari Fleischer is full of it.

- Crooks & Liars: Conservative activist and past this prime rocker Theodore "Ted" Nugent is a filthy draft dodger.

Except when it was time to register for the draft during the Vietnam era. By his own admission, Nugent stopped all forms of personal hygiene for a month and showed up for his draft board physical in pants caked with his own urine and feces, winning a deferment. Creative!

- Swing State Project: Democratic State Treasurer of Louisiana John Kennedy turned possible Republican Senate candidate is full of it.

- Foul Balls: Chicago Bear linebacker Lance Briggs might be in the market for a new car, yet again.

Photo of the Day

(Photo via My.Barack Obama.com)

Quote Of The Day

Rep. Rahm Emanuel:

“Alberto Gonzales is the first Attorney General who thought the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth were three different things. The President should nominate a new Attorney General whose loyalty to the Constitution is greater than his loyalty to the Republican Party.”

Top Five

A quick rundown of the posts I have read during my travels around the series of tubes,.

- The Carpetbagger Report: The Democratic Presidential candidates debated yesterday in Iowa, here the rundown.

As for winners and losers, I think Obama won the day, Richardson had his best debate yet (arguably, his only good one), Dodd got screwed (again) with far too little airtime, and Gravel looked sillier than usual.

- Talking Point Memo: Fox News Channel is raising money for Rudy Giuliani.

- Political Wire: When ask by ABC’s George Stephanopoulos about the role of prayer in his life during yesterday's Democratic debate, Rep. Dennis Kucinich said the following.

"George, I've been standing here for the last 45 minutes praying to God you were going to call on me."

- MyDD: Is the anti-gay movement fizzling?

- The Fan House: Johan Santana is good, seriously.

Photo of the Day

(Photo via My.Barack Obama.com)

We must re-engage the world in ways we haven’t in a very long time. I imagine going before the United Nations in my first year as president and saying America is back. We’re going to lead - and not just with our military but with our values and ideals. We want to work with you to defeat terror and on nuclear proliferation.

We want to work with you on Darfur, and to build schools in the Middle East that teach math and science - not just hate of America.

Quote of the Day

Republican Presidential candidate Gov. Mike Huckabee:

"The second thing, and this'll really wrangle, again, some of my Republican colleagues. Bill Clinton and Hillary went through some horrible experiences in their marriage, because of some of the reckless behavior that he has admitted he had. I'm not defending him on that — it's indefensible. But they kept their marriage together. And a lot of the Republicans who have condemned them, and who talk about their platform of family values, interestingly didn't keep their own families together."

Top Five

A quick rundown of the posts I have read during my travels around the series of tubes,.

- Washington Monthly: It seems like President Bush does not like anyone questioning this taste of cowboy outfits.

- Think Progress: As always, Senator John McCain is full of it.

It’s entertaining, in that I was the greatest critic of the initial four years, three and a half years. I came back from my first trip to Iraq and said, This is going to fail. We’ve got to change the strategy to the one we’re using now. But life isn’t fair.

- The Carpetbagger Report: A vote for Rudy Giuliani is a vote for President Bush’s failed Social Security plan.

- Political Wire: New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg won’t run for President in 2008.

- Crooks & Liars: Check out the latest example of an unhinged Conservative.

IL-14: It’s Official

Republican Dennis Hastert will no longer be my Congressmen.

Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) made it official this morning: He won't run for Congress again.

"It was a great personal privilege and honor for this former teacher and wrestling coach to have been elected and to have served the American people," the longest-serving Republican House speaker and Plano congressman said in a prepared statement.

Photo of the Day

(Photo via My.Barack Obama.com)

Barack met with Joe's wife, Norma "Duffy" Lyon, who presented Barack with the Butter O.

Quote of the Day

Norman Chad:

"To say the other players have little respect for (2006 Main Event champ) Jamie Gold's poker skills is like saying the North Pole is a little chilly."

Top Five

A quick rundown of the posts I have read during my travels around the series of tubes,.

- Washington Monthly: Michael Gerson is full of it.

Rove's main influence on the Republican Party has not been a series of tactical innovations but a series of strategic arguments. In this way, Rove is the opposite of a cynical political operator.

- Think Progress: Someone is walking around with a lot of money in their pockets.

- Lance Mannion:As always, TIME's Michael Duffy and MSNBC’s Chris Matthews are full of it.

In the minds of Inside the Beltway Media Types it is still 1985 and Ronald Reagan is still President.

This is how despite Bill Clinton's two terms in the White House, despite Al Gore's having won the popular vote and having the Presidency stolen out from under him by partisan and unprincipled Supreme Court justices, despite John Kerry's coming within a whisker of unseating a President who should have been re-elected in a landslide but who needed Karl Rove to steal votes for him in Ohio and Florida to stay in office, despite the shellacking the Republicans took in the 2006 elections, despite polls showing the GOP is in for a bigger drubbing come 2008, despite George W. Bush's being the most unpopular President since Herbert Hoover and the most despised since Andrew Johnson, with Richard Nixon as his only rival for either title, in other words despite the reality of the last decade and a half, Insider tools like TIME's Michael Duffy will still go on TV and blather on as if it's the Democrats who are in disarray, demoralized, and on their way to becoming a permanent, merely regional, minority party.

- Crooks & Liars: Apparently, Tony Snow can not feed this family on $168,000 salary.

- Daily Herald: Carlos Zambrano will stay with the Chicago Cubs for the foreseeable future.

Photo of the Day

(Photo via My.Barack Obama.com)

Dr. Francis Degnin, professor in the Department of Philosopy and Religion at the University of Northern Iowa, introduced the Obama family.

Michelle, Malia and Sasha walked Barack out to the podium, and Michelle introduced her husband, saying that this country doesn't just need "a change in party but a change in the way we see ourselves as Americans."

The Definition of Insanity

It has been said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Insanity can best describe US policy towards Cuba. Democratic Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut is advocating a different and more sensible approach.

I want to see the peaceful transition to democracy occur on the Island of Cuba in my life time.

That isn't going to happen if we continue the misguided policies of the last forty-six years. We must open the flood gates to contacts with the Cuban people. We must remove restrictions on the ability of Cuban Americans to provide financial assistance to their loved ones. Even small sums of money in the hands of ordinary Cuban families can serve as catalysts for private investment to gain a foothold in Cuba. [..]

For more than forty-six years, the United States has maintained an isolationist policy toward Cuba, which I believe has not achieved its intended objectives, namely to hasten a peaceful and democratic transition on the Island of Cuba. Rather, it has solidified the authoritarian control of Fidel Castro, and has adversely affected the already miserable living conditions of 11 million innocent men, women, and children on the Island.

This won’t win him votes in Florida within the Cuban community, but Senator Dodd is correct. I appalled the Senator on taking this stand while many of this counterparts running for President rather pander to Cuban community and offer anti-Castro rhetoric without any solutions.

Quote of the Day

Rep. Rahm Emanuel:

“After years of slogans and soundbites Americans deserve an even-handed assessment of conditions in Iraq. Sadly, we will only receive a snapshot from the same people who told us the mission was accomplished and the insurgency was in its last throes. We’ve spent hundreds of billions of dollars and lost thousands of lives in Iraq. An honest report from our generals and diplomats about the status of the war isn’t too much to ask.”

Top Five

A quick rundown of the posts I have read during my travels around the series of tubes,.

- Think Progress: According to Karl Rove, I’m an elite, effete snob who can’t hold a candle to President Bush and I hate common sense.

- Oliver Willis: As a candidate for President Mitt ‘Pretty’ Romney is against stem cell research, but as a private citizen Romney is for anything that make him richer.

- The Carpetbagger Report: Newt Gingrich declares war against illegal immigrants.

Gingrich said that the “war here at home” against illegal immigrants is “even more deadly than the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

- MyDD: Rudy Giuliani is curse the day Youtube was born.

- The Fan House: With friends like these…

The Howard Wolfson’s ‘Broken Record’ Routine

When ever Senator Obama emphasizes a contrast in between himself and Senator Clinton, Howard Wolfson (Clinton campaign spokesman) continually repeats the same statement with little variation, if any.

"It's unfortunate that Senator Obama is turning away from the politics of hope and employing attack politics instead.

Situation Room, CNN, 7/26/07:

"Well, I think that's unfortunate. It certainly doesn't represent the politics of hope. I don't what kind of politics it represents, but I don't think it's what Democratic primary voters are looking for"

Not to be outdone by her campaign spokesman, Senator Clinton has also used the same line.

"What ever happened to the politics of hope?"

It’s a great line to use against Senator Obama. The Clinton campaign has set it up if Senator Obama even dares to draw differences between himself and Senator Clinton; he is contradicting one of this main campaign themes. To the Clinton campaign Senator Obama’s ‘politics of hope’ message means one should not criticize anyone, especially Senator Clinton, because if you do you don’t represent the new kind of politics. I have to credit the Clinton campaign on distorting meaning of the politics of hope.

The pundits, the pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States; Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats. But I’ve got news for them, too. We worship an "awesome God" in the Blue States, and we don’t like federal agents poking around in our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States and yes, we’ve got some gay friends in the Red States. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and there are patriots who supported the war in Iraq. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America.

In the end -- In the end -- In the end, that’s what this election is about. Do we participate in a politics of cynicism or do we participate in a politics of hope?

-- Barack Obama, 2004 DNC Keynote Address

Senator Obama pointing out key distinctions between this campaign rivals and himself does not contradict his message of politics of hope, no matter how much Howard Wolfson ties to claim otherwise.

Just Imagine

Atrios:

Imagine if the Bush administration had gone into Iraq, found a nuclear arsenal, the ponies had a appeared, happy fun time Democracy spread through the Middle East like wildfire, 6 months and a few billion bucks later we mostly got the hell out of there, having to wade through piles of rose petals on the way out, and a grateful Iraqi population lived happily ever after in their secular pro-Israel, pro-US Democracy.

Just imagine.

Now imagine just how marginalized all of the war opponents would have been? Imagine how none of these people would've ever appeared on the teevee again, having been proved so fucking wrong that none of them were ever welcome back as participants in our mainstream public discourse again.

Oh wait, that part isn't hard to imagine, because even though they weren't proved fucking wrong it's already the case.

Indeed.

The media still continues to invite discredited war supporters on their television shows as wise men of Washington and portray Iraq war opponents as hippies who are unserious people.

Quote of the Day

Rep. David Obey:

“He’s one sneaky, lying S.O.B., to put it bluntly. He’s the most authoritarian attorney general in the history of the republic. He’s the most dangerous. I never thought I’d long for the days of John Ashcroft.”

Top Five

A quick rundown of the posts I have read during my travels around the series of tubes,.

- The Plank: Fred Barnes really, really love him some Karl Rove.

"Rove is the greatest political mind of his generation and probably of any generation."

- Sirotablog: As always, Michael Barone is full of it.

- Think Progress: Fox News Channel’s lame attempt of imitating the Daily Show has failed.

What the right-wing failed to grasp is Jon Stewart is funny not because he spins falsehoods but because he tells the truth.

- Open Left: Telling voters that you are a Democrat is a good first step.

- Crooks & Liars: I’m not going to say this often, but I agree with Laura Ingraham.

Once Again, Obama is Right.

Senator Obama is the change candidate in this Presidential election. While this Republican counterparts continue their “Who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?" routine, Democrat Barack Obama consistently speaks the truth in which everyday people understand and the old wise men of Washington who persist on supporting President Bush failed policies fail to comprehend.

Obama's rival campaigns buzzed about his statement uttered Monday during a campaign stop in New Hampshire when he was asked about his plan to move troops into Afghanistan.

"We've got to get the job done there and that requires us to have enough troops so that we're not just air-raiding villages and killing civilians, which is causing enormous problems there,"Obama said.

Senator Obama's campaign rivals and the media are trying to spin this as another foreign-policy flap, but the facts are on Obama side.

A check of the facts shows that Western forces have been killing civilians at a faster rate than the insurgents.

The U.S. and NATO say they don’t have civilian casualty figures, but The Associated Press has been keeping count based on figures from Afghan and international officials. Tracking civilian deaths is a difficult task because they often occur in remote and dangerous areas that are difficult to reach and verify.

As of Aug. 1, the AP count shows that while militants killed 231 civilians in attacks in 2007, Western forces killed 286. Another 20 were killed in crossfire that can’t be attributed to one party.

Once again, Senator Obama is right.

The failed policies of President Bush and this supporters had allowed the Taliban and al-Qaeda to regroup in Afghanistan and tribal areas of Pakistan. Senator Obama won’t continue failed policies of wise old men of Washington.

Photo the Day

(Photo via My.Barack Obama.Com)

I won’t get another chance to vote against ...

… disgrace former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert.

CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery reports exclusively sources say that they expect Hastert to announce he will not seek re-election next year.

The 14th Congressional District of Illinois is still a very Republican district, but it is still a winnable seat The Illinois Republican party is at a weaken state and I doubt 2008 Republican Presidential candidate will have any coattails in Illinois. Congressional Republicans lackluster campaign war chest is going to force them to play defense rather than helping Republicans running in open seats. There main concern is going to be defending their incumbents from well-funded Democratic challengers.

On the Democratic side, the disarray in the state Democratic Party will not affect Congressional races. The top of the Democratic ticket is going to be strong with Senator Durbin running for re-election and possibility of Senator Obama leading the ticket as the Democratic nominee for President.

I’m looking forward for a strongly contested Democratic primary.

Top Five

A quick rundown of the posts I have read during my travels around the series of tubes,.

- Think Progress: One of these days, I’m going to have to read Moby Dick.

In an interview today, Karl Rove said, “I’m realistic enough to understand that the subpoenas are going to keep flying my way. I’m Moby Dick and we’ve got three or four members of Congress who are trying to cast themselves in the part of Captain Ahab — so they’re going to keep coming.”

- Oliver Willis: Yes, my friends Liberals can be as stupid as their Conservatives counterparts

- The Carpetbagger Report: As always, Human Events (conservative political magazine) and Lou Dobbs of CNN are full of it.

- Digby: Chris Matthews is creepy. Seriously, he had a female guest on this show to discuss an important topic and he starts to hit on her. I guess Chris want to prove that he also like women after all of this well-documented man crushes.

- AmericaBlog: Rather than following the typical route of blaming your misdeeds on drugs or alcohol abuse and going to rehab, Republican state Rep. Bob Allen of Florida has decided he has done nothing wrong. These people are shameless.

With Friends Like These…

... Who needs enemies.

When Will Heaton went to work for Rep. Robert W. Ney in 2001, he was 23 years old and still in awe of the members of Congress he had come to know years earlier as a congressional page. Within six months, the Ohio Republican promoted the fresh-faced neophyte to be the youngest chief of staff in Congress. [..]

Last summer, Heaton began secretly recording his conversations with the six-term congressman, according to documents filed in court last week by the government and Heaton's lawyers. Heaton taped numerous phone calls and wore a hidden wire to a 2 1/2 -hour, face-to-face meeting with Ney that provided "exceptionally important" help to the FBI's investigation of Abramoff.

Quote of the Day

The full text of John Edwards' statement on the departure of Karl Rove.

“Goodbye, good riddance.”

Indeed.

Photo of the Day

(Photo via GQ)

Ryan Lizza profiles Senator Obama and this campaign for the Presidency in GQ.

“Movement without organization,” he says, “without policy, without plans, will dissipate. Howard Dean, one could argue, back in 2004 helped to engineer a movement, a movement in opposition to the war. But there wasn’t a structure there and a set of policies and plans that would then lead to governance.”

He leans forward and becomes more animated as he speaks. “One of the dangers of movements is that they always want to be completely pure and have everything their way. But politics is about governing and making compromises. And so sometimes folks who come into politics with a movement mentality can be disappointed.”

Give it a read.

So, what size of Flip-Flops does Rudy wear?

They must be a size 14 or so.

Pretty soon Rudy Giuliani is going to catch up to John McCain and Mitt Romney in the flip-flops department.

A New Kind of Politics

Senator Obama:

“Karl Rove was an architect of a political strategy that has left the country more divided, the special interests more powerful, and the American people more shut out from their government than any time in memory. But to build a new kind of politics, it will take more than the departure of a man or even an Administration that constructed the old –- it will take a movement of everyday Americans committed to changing Washington and reclaiming their government.”

Karl Rove to Resign

(Photo via Chicago Tribune)

The architect calls it quits.

Karl Rove, the architect of President Bush's two national campaigns and his most prominent adviser through 6-1/2 tumultuous years in the White House, announced today that he will resign at the end of the month, and associates said he plans to leave politics behind, for now at least.

Kevin Drum:

It doesn't really matter. History will judge Rove a colossal failure, a man who never understood how to govern and, for all his immense knowledge of polls and politics, never really understood the times he lived in. It was 9/11 that both made and broke the Bush presidency, not some kind of mystical McKinley-esque realignment. Rove was blind to that, and blind to the way Bush should have governed after 9/11. His one-track mind, in which every problem is solved by wielding the biggest, nastiest partisan club you can lift, just couldn't adapt. It's fitting that he insisted on making even his final act as calculatedly partisan as he could, announcing his resignation not through the White House press office, but in an interview with the editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page. Sic transit, Karl.

Karl Rove was more clever and shameless than a genius while many of this political opponents were inept or feeble. In 2002, a partisan court gifted this candidate the Presidency and in 2002 he used 9/11 and the Iraq war to club a weak-kneed Democratic Party to defeat. During the 2004 Presidential election, Karl Rove used shameless methods in smearing a war hero. Behind the scenes Karl Rove tired to turn the whole Government into an arm of the Republican Party, as an example the Justice Department scandals.

For Karl Rove it was never about furthering Conservative principles rather it was getting Bush elected and winning some Congressional seats. Secondary, was cementing the GOP as the majority party for years to come. Karl Rove achieved this first goal, but he failed in this second.

Top Five

A quick rundown of the posts I have read during my travels around the series of tubes,.

- The Plank: Further prove that President Bush was never really a great guy. It was just a Karl Rove spin that the media ate up.

- Think Progress: Margaret Carlson on Meet the Press rips Rudy Giuliani.

The walk in the Baghdad market and the visit to Jerry Falwell. I think he’s lost that to people, even like Giuliani, who by the way, made a huge mistake this week, saying that he spent more time at ground zero than the 9/11 rescue workers. And it made me see that Giuliani now believes his own rhetoric. And that he practically, maybe there was a third tower he kept from falling.

- Political Wire: After a sixth place finish in the Ames Straw Poll in Iowa, Republican Tommy Thompson calls it quits.

- Matthew Yglesias:The latest example of the liberal media at work.

Ron Brownstein focuses some attention on the much-neglected subject of hard-right opposition to any hints of reasonableness on the part of Republican Party politicians. When Joe Lieberman faced a primary challenge for the sin of relentlessly supporting a catastrophically failed policy, the political establishment reacted as if this was the End Times. Now that Chuck Hagel is facing a primary challenge for the sin of mildly gesturing toward the idea that maybe we should avoid catastrophically failed policy, nobody seems to care.

- Sportable: Madden 2008 preview.

Quote of the Day

Republican Mike Huckabee in his speech before the Ames Straw Poll.

"Let me make it very clear today, I’m not the best-funded candidate in America. I can’t buy you. I can’t even rent you."

On a related note …

Winner Mitt Romney has not said how much he spent. The reporting in this Washington Post article suggests at least $2 million and possibly more than twice that much. Assuming $2 million for 4,516 votes, that's $442.87 per vote. But it could top $1,000.

Photo of the Day

(Photo via My.Barack Obama.com)

Here's Barack at a Town Hall at Rancho High School in North Las Vegas.

Top Five

A quick rundown of the posts I have read during my travels around the series of tubes,.

- Think Progress: The Conservative media agrees with Stu Bykofsky, another 9/11 is good for America.

- Southern Poverty Law Center: Can you be an anti-immigration activist without being racist? The logical answer is yes, but most of the anti-immigration activists choose not too.

- The Carpetbagger Report: What came first the chicken or the egg? On a related note, is this man crazy because he listens to Rush every day or did Rush make him crazy?

- Election Central: If you question Rudy Giuliani performance relating to 9/11 then you don’t understand terrorism, according a Giuliani’s loyalist.

- Political Wire: Senator Biden rules out Secretary of State post in a Democratic administration.

"I promise you, I don’t want to be secretary of State. If I did, this is certainly not the best way to go about it. I’m going to be taking sharper and sharper exceptions with my colleagues. And it won’t be easy to then turn around and ask to be secretary of State.

I personally will rule out any Democratic Presidential candidate who even thinks of offering the post of Secretary of State to Senator Biden.

Top Five

A quick rundown of the posts I have read during my travels around the series of tubes,.

- Think Progress: It is become clear that numerous members of Congress don’t understand or refuse to read the Constitution. Or in the case of Republican Rep. Bill Sali you’re just a bigot.

- Think Progress: MSNBC’s Chris Matthews continues this school girl crush for President Bush and this swagger.

- Eschaton: For the sake of unity Stu Bykofsky calls for another 9/11.

ONE MONTH from The Anniversary, I'm thinking another 9/11 would help America.

I’m all for unity but, what Stu Bykofsky wants is no dissent in the American political process.

- The Carpetbagger Report: As always, Rudy Giuliani is full of it.

- Sportable:Chicago Bears preview.

On paper, the Bears are one of the top teams in the NFC. One thing they’ll need to be weary of is the “Super Bowl Losers” curse. In the last six years, just one Super Bowl loser has qualified for the playoffs the following year. But the Bears should find themselves back in the hunt, thanks to the piss-poor NFC North. Watch out for that schedule though. The Bears open up with three straight playoff teams: @ San Diego, Kansas City and Dallas.

Top Five

A quick rundown of the posts I have read during my travels around the series of tubes,.

- The Carpetbagger Report: Congressional Democrats want to strength the GI Bill and the Republicans ...

The Bush administration opposes a Democratic effort to restore full educational benefits for returning veterans, according to an official’s comments last week.

It’s no longer shocking that Republicans are against supporting the troops.

- The Hill: Run. Newt. Run.

Citing Howard Dean’s downfall in 2004, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) on Tuesday said it’s not too late for candidates to jump into the presidential race this fall and win their party’s nomination.

- Talking Points Memo: Mitt ‘Pretty’ Romney’s sons should not be travel in the same Winnebago while serving our great Nation.

- Crooks & Liars: Apparently, it is too soon for DLC golden boy and failed Senate Candidate Harold Ford, Jr. to say who has been wrong about Iraq.

- Fan House: Now, this is a type of football practice I can deal with.