From Scout: 33% approval rating for Bush in a new CBS News poll which is his lowest in CBS News polls. 71% say the direction of the country is on the wrong track which is the highest number EVER in a CBS News poll. 31% approval for Bush in handling the economy 30% approval of Bush’s handling of Iraq. 17% approval for Bush in handling gas prices. 8% say Bush has a clear plan for keeping gas prices down. Continue reading 33%

From Holden:

Jeebus, what is Little Scottie doing in the James S. Brady Briefing Room a full week after he was fired announced his resignation? Other than being beaten about the head and shoulders with Chimpy’s stuffed codpiece, I mean.

Q Scott, given the current situation in Iraq, what the President described today as “havoc” —

MR. McCLELLAN: As what?

Q Havoc, he used the word havoc today, could he, would he possibly stand under a sign that says “Mission Accomplished” today as he did three years ago?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, Peter, I think that there are some Democrats that refuse to recognize the important milestone achieved by the formation of a national unity government. And there is an effort simply to distract attention away from the real progress that is being made by misrepresenting and distorting the past. And that really does nothing to help advance our goal of achieving victory in Iraq.

Q Scott, simple yes or no question, could the President stand under a sign that says —

MR. McCLELLAN: No, see, this is — this is a way that —

Q It has nothing to do with Democrats.

MR. McCLELLAN: Sure it does.

Q I’m asking you, based on a reporter’s curiosity, could he stand under a sign again that says, “Mission Accomplished”?

MR. McCLELLAN: Now, Peter, Democrats have tried to raise this issue, and, like I said, misrepresenting and distorting the past —

Q This is not —

MR. McCLELLAN: — which is what they’re doing, does nothing to advance the goal of victory in Iraq.

Q I mean, it’s a historical fact that we’re all taking notice of —

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I think the focus ought to be on achieving victory in Iraq and the progress that’s being made, and that’s where it is. And you know exactly the Democrats are trying to distort the past.

Q Let me ask it another way: Has the mission been accomplished?

MR. McCLELLAN: Next question.

Q Has the mission been accomplished?

MR. McCLELLAN: We’re on the way to accomplishing the mission and achieving victory.

Whoooo-boy, more Scottie beating below. Click Read More…

Continue reading “Today on Holden’s Obsession with the Gaggle”

From Holden: Karl Rove busts a move. AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari Continue reading Be Very Afraid

From Tena: From today’s Dallas Morning News: Obedience is required Re: “Christians ask: Can you love thy neighbor but deport him too?” Friday news story. I was amazed at the responses from religious organizations. Obedience to the laws of your government is, in fact, obedience to God. Matthew 22:21 states: “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s.” We have laws that were enacted by our government; the Christian thing to do is to obey them. God gives us government and leaders, and all are within his will. Obedience is required regardless of how passionate we feel about the … Continue reading When did this become orthodoxy?

From Holden: Confirmation: Former spy Mike Scheuer, who spent six years as head of the CIA’s Osama bin Laden unit, told an Australian television interviewer the Bush administration received detailed intelligence about Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s training camp in Iraq well before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. Scheuer claimed that a July 2002 plan to destroy the camp lapsed because the United States did not want to “give the Europeans the impression we were gunslingers,” The Age newspaper reported. “Almost every day we sent a package to the White House that had overhead imagery of the house he was staying in,” … Continue reading What Was Old Is Now New Again

From Holden: Funny, Bloated Addict did not mention his plea bargin on today’s show (at least not during the bit I caught). Rush Limbaugh must submit to random drug tests under an agreement filed Monday that will dismiss a prescription fraud charge against the conservative commentator after 18 months if he complies with the terms. He also must continue treatment for his acknowledged addiction to painkillers and he cannot own a gun. [snip] The Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office may revoke or modify the deal if Limbaugh violates the terms, according to the agreement. Continue reading Bathroom Rush

This is the lineup for Chicago’s immigration rallies, courtesy of the the Trib. I like the speakers. I like the speakers a whole lot. Downtown: 10 a.m. — Two feeder marches will head toward Union Park, where a larger crowd will assemble to begin its march to Grant Park. The feeder marches will start at Milwaukee and Ashland Avenues on the North Side and Ashland Avenue and 19th Street on the South Side. 10:45 a.m. — At Union Park, scheduled speakers include U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) and state Sen. Miguel del Valle (D-Chicago). 12 … Continue reading Huzzah, Democrats

From Holden: One out of five enrollees in Chimpy’s new Medicare drug program are paying more now than before this boondoggle was passed. They’re paying more for their drugs, perhaps as little as $1 per prescription, but often thousands of dollars a year. Some buy on credit without knowing how they’ll pay it off. Others scrimp on food and utilities or rely on the charity of family and friends. When things get really bad, they space out their pills or injections, risking medical setbacks. They lose weight or swell up or get nauseated. Some wind up in emergency rooms. They … Continue reading The Medicare Debacle

The bullshit isn’t surprising me anymore: The Justice Department report also included an annual update on the number of warrants that the department had obtained through the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, a secret federal court for intelligence and terrorism investigations. Applications for electronic surveillance and physical search warrants — which almost always are approved by the court — rose to 2,074 in 2005, compared with 1,758 in 2004. Last year’s total was more than double the number sought in 2000. That court is the tribunal that the Bush administration has been bypassing in a warrantless domestic surveillance program since shortly … Continue reading The World Is Upside Down

From Holden: And Bill Frist thinks he’s going to be president? The Senate Republican plan to mail $100 checks to voters to ease the burden of high gasoline prices is eliciting more scorn than gratitude from the very people it was intended to help. Aides for several Republican senators reported a surge of calls and e-mail messages from constituents ridiculing the rebate as a paltry and transparent effort to pander to voters before the midterm elections in November. [snip] Angry constituents have asked, “Do you think we are prostitutes? Do you think you can buy us?” said another Republican senator’s … Continue reading Paging Nelson Muntz

From Holden: As Chimpy’s poll numbers continue their free-fall and the Republikkkans lose both the Senate and the House the falling out among these theives will be quite tasty indeed. [Colin] Powell, in an interview broadcast Sunday in London, said he gave the advice to now retired Gen. Tommy Franks, who developed and executed the Iraq invasion plan, and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld while the president was present. “I made the case to General Franks and Secretary Rumsfeld before the president that I was not sure we had enough troops,” Powell said in an interview on Britain’s ITV television. … Continue reading Condi vs. Colin

Billmon: The light entertainment at these events is also supposed to reflect the same spirit of forced good cheer, to the point where even matters of deadly seriousness — things that in other countries might cause governments to fall — are treated like inside jokes, as with Shrub’s looking-for-the-missing-WMDs-under-the-couch routine. Ha ha ha. We’re all friends here! The underlying message, never stated or even acknowledged, is that there are no disputes that can’t be resolved within the cozy confines of our “democratic” (oligarchic) system. Friends don’t send friends to jail — or smash their presses or abolish their political parties … Continue reading Don’t Spoil The Party