The Los Angeles Times (subscription requied) reports that evangelical programs on Capitol Hill attempt "to mold a new generation of leaders who will answer not to voters, but to God": "Nearly every Monday for six months, as many as a dozen congressional aides — many of them aspiring politicians — have gathered over takeout dinners to mine the Bible for … Read More
Below 40 And Dropping
This poll from American Research Group is the first non-partisan poll I’ve seen where Bush’s approval rating goes below 40%. I expect to see more. Overall, 36% of Americans say that they approve of the way George W. Bush is handling his job as president, 58% disapprove, and 6% are undecided. Bush job approval Approve Disapprove Undecided Aug 2005 36% … Read More
Democracy In Iraq – For Men Only?
It is now common knowledge that the new Iraqi Constitution will be grounded in Islamic law which, as everyone knows, spells bad news for the women of Iraq. Most of them will actually have been better off under the secular regime of Saddam Hussein where they enjoyed western-style equality for more than 40 years. What do the neo-cons say about … Read More
Swiftboating Sheehan Fails To Pay Off
Frank Rich: THIS summer in Crawford, the White House went to this playbook once too often. When Mr. Bush’s motorcade left a grieving mother in the dust to speed on to a fund-raiser, that was one fat-cat party too far. The strategy of fighting a war without shared national sacrifice has at last backfired, just as the strategy of Swift … Read More
Why Is Today Different From Any Other Day?
Bush is #1! Today he passes Reagan’s record for most vacation days! Yaaaay! It took Reagan, who was much older, 8 years to reach his personal best of 355 days. Bush did it in only 4 years, 7 months! And his August vacation isn’t half over yet! [Source] Now watch this drive!
Frist Gets On His Knees And Begs Forgiveness From The Religious Right
From MSNBC: Frist voices support for ‘intelligent design’ Senator encourages teaching of faith-based theory alongside evolution Uh-oh. Someone’s upset he wasn’t invited to Justice Sunday II. Echoing similar comments from President Bush, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said “intelligent design” should be taught in public schools alongside evolution. Frist, a Republican from Tennessee, spoke to a Rotary Club meeting Friday … Read More
Republicans Nervous, And With Good Reason
The NY Times: A stream of bad news out of Iraq, echoed at home by polls that show growing impatience with the war and rising disapproval of President Bush’s Iraq policies, is stirring political concern in Republican circles, party officials said Wednesday. They are referring to Republican party officials, as in: "There is just no enthusiasm for this war,” said … Read More
Ann Coulter: The Gift That Keeps On Giving
I love her: To expiate the pain of losing her firstborn son in the Iraq war, Cindy Sheehan decided to cheer herself up by engaging in Stalinist agitprop outside President Bush’s Crawford ranch. I don’t think she went to Crawford to "cheer herself up". But note that we’re only one sentence in, and we have more amature psychology from the … Read More
Lessons Not Learned
Paul Begala is talking here about the smears of the right wing against Sheehan (although it is hard to tell). He’s nailed it: It seems to me the American people never really forgave the Democrats for being right about Vietnam. The left was right, of course, about Vietnam. Even my CNN colleague Bob Novak, who was extraordinarily hawkish on Vietnam, … Read More
The Chickenhawk Counterargument
TBogg examines one neo-con’s attempt to defuse the chickenhawk meme: Rusty at The Jawa Report attempted a statistical study on chickenhawkedness and didn’t get enough reponses to make a valid judgement…so he went and make a wholly unsupportable one anyway: An oft heard accusation is that of chickenhawk being leveled at supporters of the Iraq War who have no prior … Read More
Can Dish It Out But . . .
… can’t take it, apparently. It has been 10 days since I first posted on Cindy Sheehan, and after sticking my neck out and taking massive amounts of ongoing abuse and ridicule for giving her the scrutiny she deserves, I am more than happy to let others pick up the slack. Then she links to others who continue continue slamming … Read More
Sheehan Bigger Than Schiavo
From Blogometer (a good daily resource by the way): Each time this week we’ve visited Technorati, the popular blog search engine, the "Top Searches This Hour" feature has placed "Cindy Sheehan" at the very top. At one point this a.m., "Sheehan" was also #5. The Blogometer is trying to remember the last time this happened, but no person or event … Read More
Bush Administration Ignored The State Department About Lack Of Post-War Planning
No doubt because the State Department primarily deals with diplomacy, and the Bushies don’t do no pansy-ass diplomacy. One month before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, three State Department bureau chiefs warned of “serious planning gaps for post-conflict public security and humanitarian assistance” in a secret memorandum prepared for a superior. The State Department officials, who had been discussing the … Read More
Chickenhawk Wankers
Staff Sgt. Jason Rivera, 26, a Marine recruiter in Pittsburgh, went to the home of a high school student who had expressed interest in joining the Marine Reserve to talk to his parents. It was a large home in a well-to-do suburb north of the city. Two American flags adorned the yard. The prospect’s mom greeted him wearing an American … Read More
Now, Watch This Drive
Vacationus interruptus: How could President Bush be cavorting around on a long vacation with American troops struggling with a spiraling crisis in Iraq? Wasn’t he worried that his vacation activities might send a frivolous signal at a time when he had put so many young Americans in harm’s way? "I’m determined that life goes on," Mr. Bush said stubbornly. That … Read More