Oh, I’m going to miss this campaign. I visitedKatherine Harris’s campaign website this afternoon to see if she had posted any post-debate remarks. I found none, so I decided to peruse her photo gallery. Here’s what I found under the heading, “Broward County Young Republican Club Meeting”. I know there are many retirees in Florida, but this is ridiculous. Continue reading Your Tuesday Afternoon Republican Juggernaut Update

Neither canFrank Lautenberg. Two federal agencies are investigating whether the Bush administration tried to block government scientists from speaking freely about global warming and censor their research, a senator said Wednesday. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (news, bio, voting record), D-N.J., said he was informed that the inspectors general for the Commerce Department and NASA had begun “coordinated, sweeping investigations of the Bush administration’s censorship and suppression” of federal research into global warming. [snip] He said the investigations “will uncover internal documents and agency correspondence that may expose widespread misconduct.” He added, “Taxpayers do not fund scientific research so the Bush White … Continue reading I Can’t Wait Until We Control The Senate

Wouldn’t it be cool ifKatherine Harris and Ann Coulter wound up as cellmates? Federal investigators have interviewed at least two more former chiefs of staff to U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris as part of a federal inquiry into her relationship with a convicted defense contractor. Dan Berger and Ben McKay, who both worked for Harris in her first term and are now lobbyists in Washington, confirmed the interviews this week and said it was their understanding all congressional staff would likely be questioned. The two spoke separately to three investigators from the FBI and the Defense Department in Washington several weeks … Continue reading Juggernaut Update II: FBI Breathing Down Her Neck

Get a load of this freshCBS News/New York Times poll. Bush Job Approval Rating: 34% (unchanged), 58% disapprove. Generic Ballot: “Would you vote for the Republican candidate or the Democratic candidate in your district?” Democrat: 52% Republican: 34% Bush Handling of Foreign Policy: 31% approve, 58% disapprove Bush Handling of the Economy: 38% approve, 54% disapprove Bush Handling of Iraq: 39% approve, 64% disapprove Bush Handling of Terrorism: 44% approve (all-time low), 44% disapprove Saddle up the ponies! Continue reading Chimpy Mired at 34% Approval

“Yes, Tim, I had both of them done.” Joe Burbank, Orlando Sentinel By all accounts last night’sFlorida Senatorial debate between Sen. Bill Nelson and Rep. Katherine Harris was a draw. But it seems to me that Nelson came out on top on at least two key issues. [Tim] Russert, the host of NBC’s Meet the Press, also asked both candidates whether they would have voted for a war resolution today, knowing that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction. Saying ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to war? Nelson said he would not. Harris would not answer the question, insisting that there would … Continue reading Juggernaut Update I: The Final Debate

Jobless claims surge. The number of U.S. workers applying for jobless benefits rose by an unexpectedly large 18,000 last week to 327,000, but remains at levels that still point to a relatively healthy jobs market, government data showed Thursday. The latest figures from the Labor Department cover the week ending Oct. 28 and mark the highest claims since the July 8 week, when they were 334,000. The numbers compare with Wall Street forecasts for claims of 310,000. Claims for the prior week were revised to 309,000 from an initially reported 308,000 applications for aid. A Labor Department official said there … Continue reading Let’s Talk About The Economy

Time to open a big ole can ofcomeuppance on Coulter’s narrow ass. Conservative columnist Ann Coulter has refused to cooperate in an investigation into whether she voted in the wrong precinct, so the case will probably be turned over to prosecutors, Palm Beach County’s elections chief said Wednesday. Elections Supervisor Arthur Anderson said his office has been looking into the matter for nearly nine months, and he would turn over the case to the state attorney’s office by Friday. Continue reading Jail le Skank!

Yesterday. I bring greetings to the good folks of the Flathead Valley from President George W. Bush. That’s all they have left, the residents of Flathead Valley. Continue reading Cheney Addresses The Base

New column’s up: Looking back, the whole Dixie Chicks controversy now just seems absurd. People say what Maines said all the time now, and hardly anyone blinks. That’s something we should keep in mind the next time a wave of outrage sweeps the country: The hatefest might sound fun at the time, but in three years, you might wind up feeling silly, with nothing but a pile of busted albums to show for it. A. Continue reading Chicks

Thank the diety for thejudiciary branch. A federal judge on Tuesday ordered Attorney General Greg Abbott to stop prosecuting Texans who help elderly and disabled voters cast their mail-in ballots. The Texas Democratic Party sued Abbott and Secretary of State Roger Williams, arguing that the Republican officials are using state law to suppress minority and elderly voters. The Democrats claimed that the part of the state law they were using violates federal law. “Attorney General Greg Abbott has shamefully abused a technicality in the law to unfairly target minorities and seniors, creating an atmosphere of fear and intimidation in certain … Continue reading Judge Halts Republikkkan Voter Intimidation In Texas

GodDAMN, that Karl Rove is aclever son-of-a-bitch! Stocks turned mixed Wednesday after a report that manufacturing growth in October was the slowest in more than three years. The Institute for Supply Management, a private research group, reported weakness across the U.S. manufacturing sector. New orders, production and prices fell, while hiring was up. Treasurys rallied on the weak numbers and the dollar fell. Data on the housing market also bolstered fears of an economic slowdown. Pending home sales for September, fell 1.1 percent, down 13.6 percent from a year earlier. September residential construction spending also fell 1.1 percent, the sixth … Continue reading Let’s Talk About The Economy

In today’sgaggle we learn that what’s required of a Democratic Senator is not required of a Republikkkkan Vice President…

Q Tony, last week the Vice President — when we went after the Vice President on exactly what he said, nobody said, I didn’t mean to say that. The Vice President didn’t say that.

MR. SNOW: No, but you said, what did you mean to say; why did you say it? And, again —

Q Haven’t had a clarification on it.

MR. SNOW: You did. The Vice President actually talked with reporters about it.

[snip]

Q But basically, when you cited the Vice President before as an example, what he said last week about a dunk in the water, some human rights groups interpret that to mean, the Vice President — they interpret it that the Vice President was condoning water boarding and that he was condoning torture. The Vice President came out, spoke to reporters, and said, that’s absolutely not what I meant. He never apologized to anyone if they took it wrong, or anything like that. And you basically said, look, people took it the wrong way, he did not condone that. John Kerry is now saying, that’s not what I meant. Why won’t you take him at his word, like you wanted the Vice President —

MR. SNOW: I’ll tell you what I did, is I actually took the Vice President at his word and recited it verbatim.

Or a fatHolden racist talkradio host suffering from erectile disfunction.

Q Tony, two questions. First, we haven’t heard Rush Limbaugh apologize directly to Michael J. Fox, but the President has accepted his apology. Why is that acceptable and John Kerry’s comments today —

MR. SNOW: A couple of things: Number one, Rush Limbaugh is not the head of a political party, nor was he a former presidential nominee. The second thing he said, if I got it wrong, I apologize. That’s what he said, so he’s saying that if the facts were wrong —

[snip]

Q The President sat for an interview with Rush Limbaugh today. Why hasn’t he called on Rush Limbaugh to make that same kind of apology to people who have Parkinson’s disease?

MR. SNOW: Because, again, he’s made the — Rush Limbaugh has made his comments — I love the diversion, but we’re talking about — there is a difference between — okay, the apology came. Rush has said, if I got it wrong, I apologize. So he’s asking — he’s saying if he got the statement of the facts wrong, he apologizes.

Obsession continues…

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

Fromthis series of photos. Continue reading President Bush Confers With RNC Chair Ken Mehlman

The Air Force needsan emergency influx of $50 billion to cover transportation costs of the victims of Chimpy’s Vanity War. The U.S. Air Force is asking the Pentagon’s leadership for a staggering $50 billion in emergency funding for fiscal 2007 — an amount equal to nearly half its annual budget, defense analyst Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute said on Tuesday. [snip] [A] source familiar with the Air Force plans said the extra funds would help pay to transport growing numbers of U.S. soldiers being killed and wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. Continue reading Must Be John Kerry’s Fault

Hot chicks. Yeah, I have a thing for Pre-New Caprica Starbuck’s hair.

Spoilers inside. Click “comments” or “Read More.”

Continue reading “Does Laura Roslin Have to Airlock a Bitch? Galactica Thread”

Another ratjumps ship. [E]yebrows popped up last week when none other than Richard Perle , former Reagan assistant secretary of defense, former Bush brain-truster on the Defense Policy Board, and a key promoter of the war to find Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, blistered the administration as “dysfunctional” when it comes to stopping someone from bringing “a nuclear weapon or even nuclear material into the United States.” [snip] “I think we have an administration today that is dysfunctional,” Perle said. “And if it can’t get itself together to organize a serious program for finding nuclear material on its way to … Continue reading Perles Before Swine

The latestNBC News/Wall Street Journal Poll shows stability as Chimpy’s job approval rating rises an insignificant 1% to 39%. The final pre-election NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll suggests that Democrats continue to have a significant advantage heading into the midterms that take place exactly one week from Tuesday. They hold a 15-point lead — tied for the largest ever in the survey — over Republicans in voters’ preference for control of Congress. President George W. Bush’s approval rating remains mired below 40 percent. And more than 60 percent feel less confident that the war in Iraq will come to a … Continue reading NBC/WSJ: No Change

The finaldebate between Florida senate candidatesBen Bill Nelson and Katherine Harris will be held tonight. As this is Harris’ last chance to make a dent in Nelson’s 30-point lead I expect it to be entertaining. Meanwhile, BanjoBoy makes a bold prediction: Katherine Harris will be destroyed at the polls next week. Ya’ think? Continue reading Your Wednesday Morning Republican Juggernaut Update

The rats are abandoning the sinking ship known as theRepublikkkan Party. In the final full month before Election 2006, the number of people identifying themselves as Republicans has fallen to its lowest level since we began reporting this measure of partisan trends in January 2004. As a result, Democrats have their biggest net advantage of the past two campaign cycles. In October, just 31.5% of Americans considered themselves Republicans. That’s a startling decline of nearly six percentage points from 37.2% two years ago. It’s also down nearly a full point from last month. Democrats have also lost a little ground … Continue reading Party Affiliation

This sounds like a nice place to work: None of us has taken any significant profit, even as the paper has steadily become more profitable. We’ve invested virtually all profits in added equipment and personnel. When we took over, the paper issued 20 paychecks every two weeks; now we write 53, including part-timers. We are running this paper the way news people think a paper should be operated, steadily improving it journalistically and technically. Our town seems to appreciate what we’re doing, too. Not only are we selling far more papers now, but new advertisers are coming to us steadily. … Continue reading Sign Me Up