From Holden: If I could forget for a minute the role Katherine Harris played in disenfranchising thousands of Florida voters while installing the Worst President Ever in office I might feel sorry for her. But I can’t make that leap, so I’m delighted to see that the Republican Party chair in her home county blocked a motion to endorse Harris in the Republican senate primary. SARASOTA COUNTY — It’s no secret that Katherine Harris has struggled for most of the past 12 months to win acceptance from state and national leaders in her bid for a U.S. Senate seat. But … Continue reading Friday Morning Republican Juggernaut Update

From Holden: Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt uses his family’s “charitable” trust to avoid taxes and give himself no-interest loans. Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt and his relatives have claimed millions of dollars in tax deductions through a type of charitable foundation they created that until recently paid out very little in actual charity, tax records show. Instead, much of the foundation’s money has been invested or lent to the family’s business interests and real estate holdings, or contributed to the Leavitt family genealogical society. The Leavitts used nearly $9 million of their assets to set … Continue reading Mike Leavitt: Millionaire Tax Cheat

From Holden: The Bush Assministration takes a stand against peace and in favor of the collective punishment of innocent Lebanese civilians. The United States held the line Thursday against a quick cease-fire deal in the Middle East, increasingly isolated as world powers and the United Nations demanded an immediate end to fighting between Israel and Hezbollah militants. [snip] “We’d love to have a cease-fire,” White House spokesman Tony Snow said. “But Hezbollah has to be part of it. And at this point, there’s no indication that Hezbollah intends to lay down arms.” John Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., … Continue reading Giving War A Chance

From Holden: The Democratic Senate and Congressional Campaign Committees out-raise their Republikkkan counterparts. National Democratic Party committees closed a fundraising gap with their Republican counterparts in June, raising more money and improving their cash on hand, according to reports filed Thursday. The data is the latest sign that that neither party would hold a financial edge in this year’s contest for control of Congress. The Republican National Committee was the only one of the three party groups to best the Democrats, reporting $44.7 million in the bank compared with $10.8 million for the Democratic National Committee. But the campaign organizations … Continue reading America Votes With Its Wallet

From Scout: I watched Bush’s speech to the NAACP Convention. What an awful speech. The Gulf betweeen Bush/Republicans and the African American community was evidenced in the content of the speech and also the audience reaction. There was VERY light applause throughout the speech. He received a large applause only twice. That occured at the end when he said he would sign the reauthorization of the Civil Rights Act and people cheered and applauded when he said…..”And I understand that many African Americans distrust my political party.” Watch the reaction to that line in the video below and Bush being … Continue reading N-A-A-C-P

Regardless of whether you like his movies or not (I personally can’t fucking stand Chasing Amy and am pretty damn tired of being told what subversive genius it is), why on earth, having seen them, would you think that you could win a bitch-fight with Kevin Smith? Especially if you are Joel Siegel? Watch the train wreck unfold here. A. Continue reading Why?

Because this is a thing of beauty. A. Continue reading Happy Democrat Photo: Harkin Edition

From Holden:

In today’s gaggle it looks like Pinocchio has ceased to be a puppet and become a real live boy.

Q President Bush is condemning Hezbollah.

MR. SNOW: Yes.

Q Prime Minister Maliki of Iraq is condemning Israel.

MR. SNOW: Yes.

Q Is this a sharp break with the President?

MR. SNOW: No, it’s an expression of opinion on the part of — the Prime Minister about his views.

Q Is the opinion troubling the President?

MR. SNOW: No. The President — you’ve got to understand that Prime Minister Maliki is running a unity government and he is going to express the opinions of that government. The President is conversant with those opinions, and he is — you know, he respects it and he looks forward to talking with Prime Minister Maliki about it when Prime Minister Maliki comes to Washington next week.

[snip]

Q This could be the most significant issue facing the President right now. It’s a heck of a thing to be disagreeing about, isn’t it?

MR. SNOW: No, because the primary point of emphasis in the relations between the United States and Iraq right now is guaranteeing the security of Baghdad, and also making sure that Iraqi democracy works, and works effectively.

That’s what they spend the bulk of their time working on, and that the Prime Minister would express a contrary view is hardly new. The President speaks quite often with people and works quite often with people who disagree with him.

Q Last question on this.

MR. SNOW: Yes.

Q Is the administration at all concerned that the Prime Minister either has any ties with Hezbollah, himself, or his party has ties with Hezbollah?

MR. SNOW: No, I doubt it. I’m not aware of that, but, no, I don’t think so.

Next, Pony makes the startling claim that tax cuts for the rich help poor blacks.

Q NAACP — the President has been President for five years now, and he told them that he regretted the fact that many African Americans distrust the Republican Party. What has he done for five years to change that?

MR. SNOW: Well, for one thing, the President has done consistent outreach with African Americans. Look, this is a President, you take a look at his political career, what has George W. Bush done, he’s tried to do outreach. He understands that there was a history in which the Republican Party was seen as the active enemy of black voters in this country. It’s one of the reasons why you have such lopsided Democratic majorities.

[snip]

[H]e put together an economic program that’s designed to create jobs for Americans. You also aim tax breaks at those in the lower income levels…

[snip]

Q You just said that the majority of the President’s tax cuts have actually been geared towards lowering —

MR. SNOW: The President’s tax cuts, if you take a look at what the President has been doing — and this has been going on for a while here — is shifting the tax burden. And, as a matter of fact, if you take a look at it, again, the upper brackets are carrying more of the burden and he’s been reducing taxes. And you take it as a proportion of overall income, it is larger at the lower ends of the income scale.

And a nice follow-up.

Q And a follow-up. Bruce Gordon just gave the President a “B” for his speech. But he says at issue, really, is the follow-up. What’s next? What happens next?

MR. SNOW: Well, you’ll be hearing more. I mean, there will be some speeches —

Q Hearing or seeing?

Obsession continues, Read More…

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

From Holden: Bush at the NAACP. U.S. President George W. Bush playfully slaps U.S. Congressman Al Green (D-TX) as he greets delegates following his remarks at the annual convention at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in Washington July 20, 2006. REUTERS/Jason Reed (UNITED STATES) Email Photo Print Photo Continue reading Looks Like His Dominance Displays Have Moved Beyond Neck Rubs

From Holden: Getting better all the time. …U.S. military officials reported a 40 percent increase in the daily average of attacks in the Baghdad area. U.S. spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said there has been an average of 34 attacks a day against U.S. and Iraqi forces in the capital over the past five days. The daily average for the period June 14 until July 13 was 24 a day, he said. “We have not witnessed the reduction in violence one would have hoped for in a perfect world,” U.S. spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said at a news briefing … Continue reading I Used to Get Mad at My School

From Holden: On the heels of Rep. Katherine Harris’ claim yesterday that she is not the subject of an FBI investigation we learn that another of her former senior staffers has been asked to speak to the FBI about Harris’ association with lobbyist Mitch Wade. Continue reading Thursday Republican Juggernaut Update

From Scout: Yesterday in the Tour de France Floyd Landis completely cracked in the Alps and lost over 10 minutes on the stage and 8 minutes overall. He went from wearing Yellow to 11th place. I thought stick a fork in him, his Tour hopes are over. Well today Landis went out on a heroic break away, ended up winning the stage and climbed up to third place just 30 seconds out of 1st place. Absolutely incredible….Legendary A few days ago a French newspaper said this of Landis…”sans Panache.” Well stick a fork in that. Continue reading Unbelievable…Epic Panache

From Holden: Longest sustained increase in inflation for a decade. The Labor Department reported that the core Consumer Price Index, which does not include food and energy prices, rose by 0.3 percent in June, its fourth consecutive increase. That was a larger increase than economists expected, and represented the longest period of high inflation in the core rate since the first four months of 1995. The consensus estimate, according to a survey by Bloomberg News, was for a 0.2 percent rise in June. The core index was 2.6 percent higher last month than in June 2005, which was the biggest … Continue reading Well, At Least Inflation Is Booming

From Holden: Private funding for the killing of people after they have been born: illegal. Public funding for the killing of people after they have been born: legal. Public funding for the “killing” of frozen embryos that will never be born: illegal. Private funding for the “killing” of frozen embryos that will never be born: legal. Continue reading Bushworld

From Holden: Chimpy’s man in Iraq has a mind of his own. Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq on Wednesday forcefully denounced the Israeli attacks on Lebanon, marking a sharp break with President Bush’s position and highlighting the growing power of a Shiite Muslim identity across the Middle East. “The Israeli attacks and airstrikes are completely destroying Lebanon’s infrastructure,” Mr. Maliki said at an afternoon news conference inside the fortified Green Zone, which houses the American Embassy and the seat of the Iraqi government. “I condemn these aggressions and call on the Arab League foreign ministers’ meeting in Cairo … Continue reading Puppet Cuts His Strings

From Holden: A couple of Republican Juggernaut-related stories for your Thursday morning. Uno: LeRoy Collins Jr. has millions of Florida voters to reach if he wants to beat front-runner Katherine Harris for the Republican bid for U.S. Senate. At a campaign event on Wednesday morning he managed to reach one. His former U.S. Naval Academy classmate Roger Betts arrived 30 minutes before the 11 a.m. campaign speech at Punta Gorda Isles civic center. Betts had only just heard of the event from a friend, but quickly took charge. There was no American flag in the room — so he got … Continue reading Seven Degrees of Katherine Harris

From Holden: Homebuilder confidence falls to an 11-year low. Confidence among U.S. homebuilders dropped to an 11-year low this month amid a glut of unsold homes and rising mortgage rates. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo’s index of builder confidence declined to 42, the lowest since April 1995, from 46 in May, the Washington-based association said today. A number below 50 means pessimists outnumber optimists. Industry groups say home sales will fall in 2006 for the first time in six years, and builders such as KB Home are cutting profit forecasts. The drop in confidence, along with declining housing … Continue reading The Bubble Pops

From Holden: Chimpy gets a measley 34% approval rating in the new Harris poll. President Bush’s job-approval ratings have changed little from June, according to a recent Harris Interactive poll. Of 1,002 U.S. adults surveyed in a telephone poll, 34% said Mr. Bush is doing an “excellent or pretty good” job as president, up a tick from 33% in June. By comparison, 65% of Americans said Mr. Bush is doing an “only fair or poor” job, down from 67% last month. With midterm elections less than four months away, the poll also asked respondents whether they would choose a Democratic … Continue reading We Don’t Like Him

From Holden: With all the corruption in Gayle Norton’s Department of the Interior a canned buffalo hunt on a billionaire’s ranch (as well as more than $3,000 in taxidermy services) provided to an Interior Department official on the heels of a Department decision that benefitted the ranch owner seems like small potatoes. A senior Interior Department official was awarded his own buffalo to hunt on a billionaire’s ranch a month before his office designated Houston as a port for exotic wildlife, a move that benefited the ranch owner. The involvement of the official, David Smith, “was inappropriate and violated the … Continue reading Shuffle Off to Buffalo

From Holden: Yes, even here in liberal Austin, Texas, the city catered to Bush Assministration bubble-maintanence efforts – pre-9/11! The City of Austin violated the free speech and assembly rights of a group of protesters in 2001 when police kept them away from the Governor’s Mansion during a visit by President Bush, a judge ruled Wednesday. District Judge Gisela Triana ruled after a three-day trial that the city discriminated against members of the Democracy Coalition based on their opposition to Bush. [snip] About 40 members of the coalition, which formed after Bush won the presidency in 2000, had arrived at … Continue reading My Hometown

From Scout: Tom Lasseter of McClatchy Newspapers (formerly Knight Ridder) has a good article on Bush’s failing strategy in Iraq. Here are a few parts… BAGHDAD, Iraq – Despite the addition of almost 100,000 U.S.-trained Iraqi troops in the past year, American efforts to pacify central Iraq and the capital appear to be failing, challenging a central assumption behind the U.S. strategy in Iraq: that training more Iraqi security forces will allow American troops to start going home. The number of trained Iraqi soldiers and police grew from an estimated 168,670 in June 2005 to some 264,600 this June. Yet … Continue reading Failing Strategy

Tells Israel to back off: VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – The Vatican on Friday strongly deplored Israel’s strikes on Lebanon, saying they were “an attack” on a sovereign and free nation. Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano said Pope Benedict and his aides were very worried that the developments in the Middle East risked degenerating into “a conflict with international repercussions.” “In particular, the Holy See deplores right now the attack on Lebanon, a free and sovereign nation, and assures its closeness to these people who already have suffered so much to defend their independence,” he told Vatican Radio. What … Continue reading Vatican

November’s gonna blow One of the reasons, I am pessimistic about November is that I don’t see Democrats turning out in huge numbers in the contests we’ve had so far. Democrats are so afraid to lead and inspire, that rank and file Democrats are unmotivated to turn out. Because even though everything the Republicans have touched has turned out flatter than hammered shit So we’ve got Israel attacking Lebanon. Israel attacking Palestine. Hezbollah attacking Israel. Palestinians attacking Israel. Israel threatening to attack Syria and Iran. Iran meddling in Iraq. The US meddling in Iraq. Lots of terrorists and insurgents targetting … Continue reading Ar Megiddo

From Holden:

Today Pony Blow explained the veto process.

MR. SNOW: Here’s how it works — because I know a lot of you have questions. There will be no photographers, no ceremony. What the President will do is, in his office, he will sign a veto message, he will hand it to a clerk, who will convey to a clerk of the House, and then you go through the formalities of announcing a message from the President and, at some point, the House will vote on the veto.

Q Is there a reason why he’s not having photographers in, at least?

MR. SNOW: Because he doesn’t feel it’s appropriate. He’s signing a veto.

Q Is that true of all vetoes? I mean, he’s never vetoed anything.

MR. SNOW: Well, then I guess we don’t have a precedent, do we?

Sounds like the Assministration is pretty confident about this veto, no?

Er, um, no. No, they are not confident at all, as evidenced by this snippy exchange later in the gaggle.

Q Is the President concerned that his veto of the stem cell bill is going to hurt Republicans running in fall elections?

MR. SNOW: Not a bit.

Q He doesn’t feel as though it will hurt?

MR. SNOW: No.

Q Why not?

MR. SNOW: And I’ll tell you what, it’s worth pointing out one thing — actually several things on stem cells.

[snip]

Q But it often appears in some of the reporting and some of the discussion out there that the President is holding back scientific progress.

MR. SNOW: Wrong.

Q How do you —

MR. SNOW: You’re just flat wrong. Just flat wrong. I mean, that is basically an attempt to substitute an insult for an argument. I’ve given you the argument and I’ve rebutted the insult.

Obsession Continues, Read More…

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

From Holden: Sweet. It doesn’t look good for Republican Senator Lincoln Chafee, whose support has gone from bad to worse in the latest Rasmussen Reports election poll of Rhode Island’s U.S. Senate race. Chafee now earns just 41% of the statewide vote and trails Democratic challenger Sheldon Whitehouse by five percentage points. In June, with 44% support, Chafee was a bare two points ahead of Whitehouse; in April he had scraped a three-point advantage. Chafee continues to be challenged for the Republican nomination by Cranston Mayor Steve Laffey as Republicans show their disaffection with the incumbent. Now trailing Whitehouse 29% … Continue reading Linc Chafee In Deep Shit

From Holden: It’s strange how Israel’s attack on Lebanon has moved Lou Dobbs to the left of Josh Marshall. While the United States provides about $2.5 billion in military and economic aid to Israel each year, U.S. aid to Lebanon amounts to no more than $40 million. This despite the fact that the per capita GDP of Israel is among the highest in the world at $24,600, nearly four times as high as Lebanon’s GDP per capita of $6,200. Lebanon’s lack of wealth is matched by the Palestinians — three out of every four Palestinians live below the poverty line. … Continue reading Israel Turns Political Discourse Upside-Down

From Holden: The Labor Department announces the largest one-year increase in inflation since early 2002. Retail prices in June showed no signs of reversing their upward trend, the government reported today. Economists said the figures would make it easier for the Federal Reserve to justify further interest-rate increases. The Labor Department said that the Consumer Price Index rose 0.2 percent in June, a more moderate pace than the 0.4 percent rise reported in May. The overall June rise was in line with forecasts, but the closely watched “core rate” — gauging a subset of the index that excludes food and … Continue reading Hope You Got At Least A 2.6% Raise Last Year

From Holden: Sounds like The Hammer is going broke. Tom DeLay is slowly draining his money from his cancelled re-election campaign in order to pay for legal defense relating to investigations and indictments. The former majority leader has shelled out $1.7 million on legal fees over the last two years, leaving him with only $641,000 in campaign reserves. [snip] DeLay spent $500,000 in the first quarter of 2006 alone financing a legal team consisting of lawyers from nine different law firms. Should DeLay run, he will be faced with the dilemma of financing a campaign with anemic funds and paying … Continue reading Let’s Host A Pitty Party for Tom DeLay

From Holden: So what’s up with Katherine Harris these days? Well, despite the fact that her former chief campaign advisor was recently grilled for two hours by the FBI concerning the illegal donations she accepted from Mitchell Wade, Rep. Harris says she is not under investigation. U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris denied Tuesday that she is a target of a federal probe involving Mitchell Wade, despite reports that authorities questioned a former key political consultants about her dealings with the corrupt defense contractor. Harris issued a statement after reports Tuesday that Ed Rollins, a political strategist who previously worked for her … Continue reading Your Wednesday Juggernaut Update