From whatChimpy said during today’s presser I take it that he has given up on creating a democracy in Iraq. The ultimate victory in Iraq, which is a government that can sustain itself, govern itself, and defend itself, depends upon the Iraqi citizens and the Iraqi government doing the hard work necessary to protect their country. [And later…] I am confident we will succeed. I am confident we’ll succeed in Iraq. And the reason I’m confident we’ll succeed in Iraq is because the Iraqis want to succeed in Iraq. The ultimate victory in Iraq, which is a government that can … Continue reading Democracy No Longer In The Definition

There was quite a bit of angst expressed on the left side of the blogosphere prior to the New Jersey decision on couples’ benefits. Yet the big, bad, bold headline on the front page of my newspaper this morning reads… Iraq Spurns a US Timetable Leader Disallows Raid on Shiite Area The second-runner-up for my attention this morning is… Bush ‘Not Satisfied’ With War Then way over on the far left side is a much smaller headline… NJ Gets Closer to Civil Unions Wow, that Karl Rove is a genius, huh? Scheduling a presser on Iraq when Bill Frist is … Continue reading The October Surpise That Wasn’t

You trust these guys to run your country? Continue reading The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight

It’s a start. HELD: Denying committed same-sex couples the financial and social benefits and privileges given to their married heterosexual counterparts bears no substantial relationship to a legitimate governmental purpose. The Court holds that under the equal protection guarantee of Article I, Paragraph 1 of the New Jersey Constitution, committed samesex couples must be afforded on equal terms the same rights and benefits enjoyed by opposite-sex couples under the civil marriage statutes. The name to be given to the statutory scheme that provides full rights and benefits to samesex couples, whether marriage or some other term, is a matter left … Continue reading The Circle, Unbroken

Ninety-one so far in October, the highest number of American soldiers and Marines killed in Iraq since October 2005’s 96. At this rate should blow by that mark before the end of the week, then you will have to look back to January 2005’s 107 dead to find a deadlier month. And then there’sthis. BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq’s Shi’ite prime minister pledged on Wednesday to crack down on illegal militias but criticised a U.S. raid on a Shi’ite militia stronghold that killed at least four people. [snip] The U.S. military said Iraqi special forces backed by U.S. air strikes conducted … Continue reading 91

Bring on the song: Conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh yesterday attacked actor Michael J. Fox, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease, for inserting his voice into the U.S. Senate campaign in Missouri. Limbaugh suggested that Fox was “acting” in a commercial where he’s shown shaking while endorsing the importance of stem cell research. “He is exaggerating the effects of the disease,” Limbaugh told listeners yesterday, encouraging them to go online to watch Fox’s commercial, which first aired Saturday in St. Louis during a World Series game. “He’s moving all around and shaking and it’s purely an act.” The Kosdiary … Continue reading Pushed You Down Deep In Our Souls For Too Long

Oh, my. This has more to do with Jebbie’s anointed successor than it does our dear Katherine, however she isin the mix. A young rising star in the Republican Party has boasted to witnesses of his sexual relationship with Charlie Crist, the frontrunner in the Florida governor’s race who has repeatedly denied that he is gay. The GOP staffer, 21-year-old Jason Wetherington, told friends at separate social functions in August that he had sex with Crist, according to two credible and independent sources who heard Wetherington make the claim first-hand. Wetherington, who recently worked as a field director for U.S. … Continue reading Your Wednesday Afternoon Republican Juggernaut Update

He’s got it. Kevin Lamarque/Reuters REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque Karl Rove is a genius. Continue reading A Bad Case of “Presser-Puss”

HEL-lo! When he ran against [Sen. Bill] Frist in the 1994 GOP primary, [Republican senate candidate Bob] Corker was called “pond scum” by Frist campaign manager Tom Perdue for airing an ad that suggested Frist had dodged the draft. Continue reading Stick A Corker In It

You have to wonder how many times that poor little dog has been kicked. I guess on the upside he does get to advise the president on his Iraq policy. REUTERS/Mike Theiler Continue reading Pity Barney

Just two weeks before we claim the majority in the House and Henry Waxman can go after thewar profiteers. Overhead costs have consumed more than half the budget of some reconstruction projects in Iraq, according to a government estimate released Tuesday, leaving far less money than expected to provide the oil, water and electricity needed to improve the lives of Iraqis. The report by a federal oversight agency provides the first official estimate that in some cases, more money is being spent on things like housing and feeding employees, completing paperwork and providing security than on actual construction. In some … Continue reading Cheney Gives Good [Over]Head

The Independent examines the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll and finds much to like. Independent voters are flocking to the Democrats ahead of next month’s mid-term congressional elections, strengthening the prospect of a resounding victory by the party in the House of Representatives, and boosting hopes that it could capture the Senate as well. According to a poll in yesterday’s Washington Post, self-proclaimed independents – who account for a third or so of the electorate – say they will vote for Democrats rather than Republicans in their congressional district by a margin of 59 per cent to 31, usually citing … Continue reading Independent Ponies

Poor Katherine Harris. Try as she might, she continues tosink in the polls and she’s dragging the rest of the Florida GOP with her. In the Florida Senate race, Democratic incumbent U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson has widened an already strong lead over his Republican challenger, U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris, to 64 – 29 percent among likely voters, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. Seven percent remain undecided and 10 percent of those who name a candidate say they might change their mind by Election Day. This compares to a 61 – 33 percent Sen. Nelson lead in an … Continue reading Your Wednesday Morning Republican Juggernaut Update

Chicago people, go seethis team sometime. I was at the Chicago/St. Louis match last Sunday, and it was awesome. Just as much violence as hockey, but with fishnets. It made me want to dye my hair blue again and take up roller skating. A. Continue reading Sports Fun

Pony Blow must be off campaigning for Republikkkans while on the public dime again, astoday’s gaggle was handled by third-stringer Tony Fratto, seen below. Who the fuck is Tony Fratto, you ask? Fratto is aformer lobbyist who went to work for the Bush Campaign in September of 2000. He also pulled a stint asRick Santorum’s press flack. He was made aDeputy Press Secretary at the White House in Septemeber of this year after holding a similar post in the Department of the Treasury. Fratto had the Pony Blow Don’t Know™ schtick down pat today… Q Tony, Boca Raton, I believe, … Continue reading Today on Holden’s Obsession with the Gaggle

Okay, I spend a lot of time withthese nutballs, because their spelling amuses me and I like their hardcore dedication to their delusions. Plus there’s more dissent than at LGF, not that that’s saying much. But every once in a while they just severelycreep me the fuck out: Support the troops? Pshaw! Read theFreepers rant and rail against Kevin Tillman, an Iraq and Afghanistan veteran (and brother of Pat), now that he’s come out against the war. They rant against him for taking money for his article from TruthDig (which they speculate is a “Soros front group”) and speculate he … Continue reading Freepi

REUTERS/Wilfredo Lee/Pool Most everyone who has been following the race between Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson and Republikkkan challenger Katherine Harris agrees that Harris needed a strong showing in last night’s debate in order to chip away at Nelson’s 20 to 30 point lead in the polls. It didn’t happen. [A]fter fielding an hour’s worth of questions from journalists and each other, the Republican congresswoman wound up agreeing with the Democratic incumbent about as often as she differed with him. Withdraw troops from Iraq? Neither favored the idea. Create a national fund to manage disasters? Nelson said it was his brainchild, … Continue reading Juggernaut Update: Debate Edition

Poor Florida continues topay for its mistake. Drivers and airline passengers at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport could run into delays this afternoon as President Bush plans to visit South Florida to attend a GOP reception in Boca Raton. Air Force One is scheduled to touch down mid-afternoon — just before evening rush hour. The airfield will be shut down for 15 minutes until the president’s plane lands and again before he departs this evening. [snip] Although specific details of the president’s travel route haven’t been revealed due to security concerns, Bush will likely head north along Interstate 95 and return … Continue reading Traffic Jam Courtesy of Your President

Ending a week away from thegaggle, it’s nice to see the normally subservient press corps making Pony Blow squirm as the Assministration endeavors to back-track on Iraq.

After years of loudly claiming that setting a timetable for progress in Iraq would be a “recipe for disaster” and only serve to “embolden the terrorists” (seehere, here, andhere for example) Pony sez timetables are just peachy, and they have loved them all along.

Q The Times story reported that top generals and Ambassador Khalilzad were crafting a timetable of sorts for disarming militia. Do you dispute the story —

MR. SNOW: No, the Iraqis themselves have set a timetable for trying to disarm the militia. They want to do so by the end of the year.

Q That’s not what the Times is reporting —

MR. SNOW: I know. What the Times was reporting I think reflects the ongoing efforts of the joint committee. But the United States has not said, this is a date.

Q There’s no crafting of a timetable going on right now among top generals?

MR. SNOW: I am sure that there is a crafting of timetables going on, drafting of goals —

Q To disarm the militia?

MR. SNOW: To work toward disarming the militia. That is something —

Q Can you give us a sense of what that might be?

MR. SNOW: No.

Q Why not?

MR. SNOW: Holden among other things, I don’t know what it is, if there is such a thing. And secondly, that is a topic of cooperation between the two sides.

[snip]

Q You talk about them setting up benchmarks, and you’re telling us there’s nothing new here with these markers.

MR. SNOW: Yes.

Q Have they met all the benchmarks? Or have they missed benchmarks?

MR. SNOW: I don’t know. I don’t know.

Q And I’m assuming they missed some benchmarks, which is, perhaps, why the President, the other day in the interview with George Stephanopoulos, said he wouldn’t take any dawdling. Now, you keep saying the Iraqi government is doing a fine job, saying the right things, going forward. The President said he wouldn’t stand for any dawdling. Where does that come from?

MR. SNOW: I think you can — the two statements are reconcilable. Look, I don’t want to say whether they did or didn’t make benchmarks because I don’t know. But it would be reasonable to assume that there are things that don’t work out as planned and, therefore, what you do is adjust.

Obsession continues, click on.

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

Shit, who knew it wasso many? Continue reading 35,000 In The Gulag

Karl Rove may want to extend that firewall of his toArizona. After having led by twenty points and more, [Republican Senator Jon] Kyl now leads Democrat challenger Jim Pederson by just nine, 51% to 42%. Continue reading Firewall

A smattering ofnew polls were released last night showing Chimpy’s job approval improving somewhat in one, staying roughly the same in two others, and falling like a rock in a fourth. CNN Approve: 39 (+3) Disapprove: 58 (-3) USA Today/Gallup Approve: 37 (unchanged) Disapprove: 58 (-1) ABC/Washington Post Approve: 37 (-2) Disapprove: 60 (unchanged) Cook/RT Strategies Approve: 37 (-4) Disapprove: 53 (+7) Continue reading Pollapalooza