Ornery Dem

I tried to ignore the dustup over the hiring of Ben Domenech at the Washington Post. You see, Ben has a new blog over at WaPo. He calls it 'Red America'. Part of me understands, but doesn't appreciate, the twisted, lazy logic of the Post which leads them to bend over backwards to appear " fair & balanced". It's the classic, yet flawed he-said she-said logic that leads them to fail at their jobs every single day of the week. You see, to them they are offering a balance to Dan Froomkin's 'White House Briefing'. But, to me Dan Froomkin argues from a principled rather than a partisan perspective. This 'Red America' dimwit is nothing more than a political hack, worse than toe jam. I think I know the difference when I see it. I'm pretty sure that Froomkin will be equally critical of the next Democratic president if he or she is as much of an idiot has Bush and his minion.

So, in order to really achieve this elusive 50/50 balance (did you know that all arguments, positions and policies were created equal? I didn't know, but I digress) they should now hire a partisan Democrat left-wing nutcase.

I really wasn't going to talk about it because I'm not surprised. The people making decisions are scared little idiots. The folks on the left, I felt, are wasting time and energy even thinking about something like this when we have elections to win November and I'm pretty damn sure this issue will not be on anyone's radar.

But, damn if I don't love an easy kill as much as the next fellow. It seems that Mr. Domenech had the nerve, gaul, audacity and stupidity to call Coretta Scott King a communist -- and he said this during the time we were mourning her death.

Domenech on President Bush's trip to the funeral of Coretta Scott King (HuffingtonPost via TheNewsBlog):

The President visits the funeral of a Communist

And phones in a message to the March for Life.



I think we can get a little pissed about this.

That's the Republican way - grace and class all the way. I pretty much assume all Republicans are racist little fucks, but I also thought they had learned to keep that shit to themselves. This little fucker needs to go. There is no way on God's green earth I will EVER read or reference the Washington Post so long as they choose to employ an unqualified, racist little fuck-face shit who has the nerve to call the Kings communist for daring to demand equality. Josh has more on him?

TallkingPointsMemo:

You see, it turns out the Domenech family came in for a number of Bush administration appointments. Not only Ben, but Ben's dad, Doug, who was White House liaison to the Department of Interior.



Or to put it more colloquially, White House guy to make sure Jack Abramoff got what he wanted with the Indians and the Pacific Island stuff.



Wayne Smith was the point man for Indian casino policy at the Department of Interior. He ended up having kind of a rough ride over at Interior. And, according to Smith, as reported last year in the Denver Post, Domenech told him "we had to pay attention to [Jack] Abramoff, because otherwise the religious right and (Ralph) Reed are going to come up and bite us, and our whole base will go crazy. They will light up our phones, shut down our phone lines."



According to Smith, Domenech was the conduit for Abramoff operative Italia Federici. Said Smith: "Doug would come down and say, 'Italia called and Jack wants this' That's how it all happened internally."



Probably not the last fun quote from these quarters.

Ahhh, Jack Abramoff, the gift that keeps on giving.

That should be enough to take this little bitch out, right? Can take more than a few days and front page highlight of his own words, right?

Let's do it.

The Washington Post

Washington Post ombudsman: ombudsman@washpost.com

202-334-7582

Post e-mail directory

The Washington Post

1150 15th St. NW

Washington, DC 20071

Update: MyDD, DailyKos have more

Technorati Tags: Ben Domenech, Corretta Scott King, Red America, Republican Racists, Republicans, Washington Post

I'm sitting here listening to the President of the United States, leader of the free world -- most powerful man on the face of the earth. You know what? That man is an idiot. A jackass. A 5-Year old. He utilizes a logic which leads him to do the opposite of what he thinks his enemy wants him to do. See, he is ultimately concerned with defeating "the enemy" whomever he perceives that to be. Democrats are the enemy. The press is the enemy. Osama bin Laden is the enemy. In any given situation he will do the exact opposite of what they want, regardless of the value of the action.

You know, I get it. I understand wanting to stick it to the other guy, but when you are the President of the United States, leader of the free world -- most powerful man on the face of the earth shouldn't your objective be to do what ever is best for the country? If the Democrats say, with a partisan twinkle in their eye, the sky is blue and not red are you really going to insist that the sky is purple? I wouldn't. Bush would. "The enemy" wants us to get out of Iraq, so we'll stay in Iraq. How about an analytical cost-benefit analysis instead of a oppositions-desire analysis?

It just doesn't make any sense that this man is president. My dog approaches problems with more logic.

Technorati Tags: Bush, Press Conference

V is 43 today. She is still gorgeous. Random, I know. But, I love her!!!!!

ж Meanwhile, I read somewhere recently that she has booked one of the lead roles for ABC's upcoming pilot, UGLY BETTY. I haven't been able to verify it with Variety or Hollywood Reporter, but I'm hoping its true.

ж She will also be at the March of Dimes 2006 WalkeAmerica event on Sunday, April 30 at Lincoln Center [PlanetVanessa]

Technorati Tags: Ugly Betty, Vanessa Williams

blogger is screwing up. will not let me on to the site. wonder if i can still post?

Katherine Harris has finally put an end to all the recent speculation surrounding her bid to replace Senator Bill Nelson of Florida. Some thought she might drop out of the race given her poor showing in the polls (Nelson leads Harris 20% points in the polls) and receipt of nearly $50,000 in illegal donations from MZM Inc..

That would be enough to send any sane politician running for the hills. But, we mustn't forget that this bitch is crazy. She had the balls to steal the 2000 Presidential election for Dumbass so why would she shy away from this battle.

ABC News:

U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris plans to spend $10 million of her inheritance in her race to unseat Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, she announced Wednesday night.



Her campaign has had difficulties since last summer. GOP leaders in Washington sought a primary opponent for her, believing her role in securing President Bush's 537-vote victory would galvanize Democrats and independents against her.



The lack of party support led to lower-than-expected campaign contributions. Harris began the year trailing Nelson in fundraising, $8 million to $1 million.

So, this bitch is going to spend her entire inheritance ($10 million) on a race that is sure to end in failure? Hmmm....Who is counting the votes? Maybe she knows something we don't.

Technorati Tags: Katherine Harris, Senate

I ruffled more than a few feathers yesterday when I railed against Russ Feingold's blatant, self-serving political stunt yesterday.  I argued that the domestic spying issue may be intellectually important and all that jazz, but that it really isn't an issue that the American people will ever care about until we are able to prove that it has been used for political or nefarious ends.

Oh how they moaned and groaned yesterday about how I am nothing more than a Republican who is afraid to hold the administration accountable for "trashing" the Constitution.  

Blah, blah, blah.  Cry me a river.  I'm not interested in wasting time talking about things that don't advance our agenda.  The domestic spying story isn't going anywhere because it doesn't directly impact the lives of most Americans.

The Google snooping story, however, does hit people in the gut right away:

The Bush administration will renew its effort to find out what people have been looking for on Google Inc.'s Internet-leading search engine, continuing a legal showdown over how much of the Web's vast databases should be shared with the government.

Here we have the Bush administration trying to snoop directly in to our home computers. THIS is something that people get right away. How many Americans  do you think have searched for something in Google that they probably don't want anyone else knowing about? 80% 90% of computer owners?

Most people are not the political/news junkies that most of us are.  They don't have time for it.   Thus, it will be stories like this that penetrate the  demands of everyday life.

Although the Justice Department says it doesn't want any personal information now, a victory over Google in the case would likely encourage far more invasive requests in the future, said University of Connecticut law professor Paul Schiff Berman, who specializes in Internet law.

"The erosion of privacy tends to happen incrementally," Berman said. "While no one intrusion may seem that big, over the course of the next decade or two, you might end up in a place as a society where you never thought you would be."

For me, this gets more directly at the privacy concerns we all share.  The NSA domestic spying question has already been successfully framed by the White House.  This Google madness is ripe for the taking.

Technorati Tags: Censure, Domestic Spying, Google, Russ Feingold

I love my brothers and sisters on the far left. I really do. If you catch me on the right day I might even join in on a hate-filled rant. But, I'm much more of a pragmatist (and more moderate politically) than many of my political siblings. They call that cautious and weak. I call it determined and smart. Passion is a weapon to be wielded strategically and purposefully. If you are passionate about everything (Dean) or the wrong things (Kerry) you end of looking crazy (Dean) or lame (Kerry).

Yesterday I got in to a very amusing (and probably heated for someone) conversation over at DailyKos about Russ Feingold's lame political stunt. Most of the folks over there thought Russ made a bold political move and the Democrats were lame and weak for not following Big Russ' lead. I thought Russ was playing political tricks, never expected the resolution to come to a vote and just wanted to get some more cred with the lefty blogs. Russ got egg on his face when Frist, in a rare politically adroit move, called the bluff.

I love the passion of my friends over at DailyKos, but they aren't the most strategic thinkers in world. They think, for instance, that all we need is passion and conviction to win elections. Isn't that cute? They still dream of Howard Dean. Now me, a ornery democrat who prefers winning over anything and everything, never like Howard Dean. Even before the scream I thought the guy was a nut. He was rejected in the primaries folks. So, why are they still holding on to that pipe dream? I just don't get it.

Well, I'm preaching a different song here. I am a Democrat who values winning over almost everything else because unless we control the Congress or White House we are irrelevant. The party in power sets the agenda in our American democracy. So, we need to win elections to advance any vision. What the folks on the far left fail to understand is that passion will never be enough. There are not enough people in either base to actually win an election. So, we need to find ways to reach out to new voters without completely abandoning our principles and base.

And, yes, we do have important principles that we care about passionately. For instance, we believe a woman should have autonomy over her own body. But, we also believe that we need to do everything we can to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies in our country. And, we also believe that it is possible to be a good Democrat and disagree with the majority of us on this issue. What we can agree on, however, and what we can work on together is on finding ways to reduce unwanted pregnancies.

Common sense solutions. Localized selection of candidates.

Technorati Tags: DailyKos, Democrats, Liberals, Moderates, politics, Ornery Democrat

The Republicans at the White House are so convinced that they need a woman to run against Hillary Clinton that they have completely failed to understand some of the basics of Republican politics in New York.

NYTimes:

Ms. McFarland could have trouble winning over conservatives. Though she has been reserved so far in detailing her platform, she did share a position paper with a political consultant, John McLaughlin, when she was considering running for the House of Representatives.



Mr. McLaughlin, who now works for Mr. Spencer, has made public the document, which was first obtained by The New York Post. In it, Ms. McFarland describes herself as "a liberal Republican in the Giuliani/McCain/Pataki mold" who believes "in a woman's right to choose, stem cell research and full civil rights for gays."



In an interview Monday, Michael R. Long, chairman of the Conservative Party, said, "I think her memo really knocks her out of the box for any consideration for a Conservative Party endorsement."

A "Liberal Republican"? What were they thinking? I know they were thinking that KT would be viable in the general election with these positions., but what were they thinking with regard to the Republican primary? John Spencer is too ornery and self-centered to 'take one for the team'. Anyway, KT can give up this pipe dream of hers to build upon her 20 years experience as a stay at home mom. John Spencer will get the Republican nomination. Hillary Clinton will waste little money dispensing of him and will be in an enviable position for the '08 presidential primaries.

Technorati Tags: Clinton, Hillary Clinton, KT McFarland, Senate

How low can the jackass President go?

USAToday/Gallup:

The latest results show only 36% of those polled saying they "approve" of the way Bush is handling his job. Bush's previous low was 37%, set last November.



Sixty percent of those polled said they "disapprove" of Bush's performance. That matches an all-time worst rating hit last November and again two weeks ago.



Democrats have their biggest advantage since 1992 when poll respondents are asked if they favor Democratic or Republican congressional candidates. The spread: Democrats over Republicans 55% — 39%, a 16-percentage-point gap.

So, 36% of the American people are certifiable idiots? What, exactly, do they think is going so well I wonder? Maybe it is like what Wanda Sykes says re Bush's approval:

...makes sense to me, because he pretty much did everything I expected him to do. The economy is in the toilet. We're at war, and everything is on fire. He's met all my expectations. I have no complaints. He's right on target in my book.

Technorati Tags: Bush, poll

Ned Lamont makes his primary challenge to Joe Lieberman official.

Give him hell, Ned.

Technorati Tags: Democrats, Ned Lamont, Joe Lieberman

This should be interesting. I bet Feingold did not expect this. It is not clear to me the political impact of a vote for or against censure. I just think this entire thing is so stupid. Why mess around with such a stunt when we don't know the political impact and we are so close to an election.

Bad, Feingold. Bad.

ABCNews:

Former Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle, accusing the GOP of spreading a message of fear, says he is considering a 2008 presidential bid.



"I haven't ruled anything out or anything in at this point," Daschle said in an interview Saturday night after a hometown dinner in his honor.

Uhh....No. Get over yourself, dude.

Technorati Tags: Democrats, Tom Daschle

I'm not a fan of Russ Feingold. I don't like that he panders to the some of the more extreme elements of the party with cheap stunts. His latest stunt designed to rile the base, calling for a censure of President Bush over the domestic spying scandal, is a waste of time. He knows that the measure isn't going anywhere. He's just putting it out there for publicity and to rack up more points with the extreme left.

ABC:

A liberal Democrat and potential White House contender is proposing censuring President Bush for authorizing domestic eavesdropping, saying the White House misled Americans about its legality.



"The president has broken the law and, in some way, he must be held accountable," Sen. Russ Feingold (news, bio, voting record), D-Wis., told The Associated Press in an interview.

Don't get me wrong. I think the president needs to be held accountable, but I think that comes in the November elections. Let's have our revenge then and there. Once we have control of one of the bodies of congress we will be able to run them all out of town with the mere threat of real hearings.

Technorati Tags: Democrats, Censure, Russ Feingold

Southern Republican Leadership Conference results:

• Senator Bill Frist 36.9%


• Governor Mitt Romney 14.4%


• Senator George Allen 10.3%


• President Bush (write in) 10.3%


• Senator John McCain 4.6%


• Governor Mike Huckabee 3.8%

Second choices were...

• None 24.1%


• Allen 18.4%


• Romney 12.0%


• Giuliani 10.8%


• McCain 10.6%


• Bush 7.0%


• Huckabee 4.0%


• Gingrich 3.4%

So, the race is on to replace GWB on the Republican side. These results somewhat misleading as there is an oversampling of voters from TN. There is no clear heir since Cheney isn't up to the task (and has an approval rating of 18% LOL). John McCain and Rudy Giuliani are the presumed front-runners. I'm surprised that Romney shows up so well. He must be working very hard behind the scenes.

Technorati Tags: Straw Poll, Republicans, SRLC

for electing their first female president.

IHT:

Michelle Bachelet, a Socialist, pediatrician, and former political prisoner and exile, has been inaugurated as the first woman to be president of Chile, the culmination of its long and painful journey from repression and dictatorship to democracy.



Though six other women have served as presidents of Latin American countries, Bachelet, a single mother of three, is the first on the continent to be elected who is not the widow of a political leader and has built a career on her own.

Now, why is it so hard to imagine a female president for America?..or a non-religious person for that matter (Bachelet is s self-described agnostic and "promised" to uphold the constitution instead of swearing on a bible.). She has appointed 10 men and 10 women to her cabinet thus far and promises gender parity for all her appointments.

Technorati Tags: Chile, Michelle Bachlet, Presidential Election