This is what Barack Obama said in his defense:

"I've said it's a terrorist organization [Hamas] and we should not negotiate with them unless they recognize Israel, renounce violence, and unless they are willing to abide by previous accords between the Palestinians and the Israelis. So for him[John McCain] to toss out comments like that I think is an example of him losing his bearings as he pursues this nomination. We don't need name calling in this debate." (link)

Increasingly, Senator John McMad, the presumptive GOP candidate for President, is being exposed as a pathologically angry person unfit to be in the Senate much less serve as President of the United States. Therefore, any poll results now showing McCain running neck and neck with Obama and Clinton can be dismissed as irrelevant. The media has yet to turn their attention with any serious and prolonged scrutiny to Sen. McNasty’s record of menacing and assaultive behavior. Besides, they have been diverted weightier issues of presidential qualifications and suitability like Barack Obama’s lapel pins (or lack thereof) and his use of words like "bitter" and "cling."

More news of success from the barely regulated, semi-private and "superior" education system:

Nearly half of the charter schools in Texas have incorrectly reported student attendance, resulting in $26 million in undeserved payments that the state is trying to recover, according to state records.

"Nearly half" in Texas is no small number. It's "93 of the 211 charter operators," 20% of which, apparently, took the money and ran:

The Texas Education Agency probably will never recover at least $9 million of the debt because 20 schools went out of business before repaying the state.

Oh, Lord, we have another reckless GOP macho running for President:

"Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) may be the presumptive GOP nominee for president, but, by his own wishes, he is not being protected by the Secret Service." The Hill reports.

"He has not requested protection," Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan told a congressional subcommittee this morning. "We have no involvement at this point."

I recently had an e-mail exchange with David Horowitz about one of his blog entries on Cindy Sheehan. It ended with an exchange in which he made the incredible claim that the Bush administration never cited Iraq possessing WMD as part of its justification for invading Iraq. I responded to the claim and didn't hear from Mr. Horowitz again. The complete exchange is below and it is also posted on my blog Delaware Watch. (more below)

Yet another horror story about Roberts:

>>On another topic, Roberts, who was nominated as a justice by President Bush last month, advised the White House [during the Reagan administration] to strike language from a description of a housing bill that referred to the "fundamental right to be free from discrimination." He said that "there of course is no such right." <<

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050819/ap_on_go_su_co/roberts_19;_ylt=AtzyRfiXUhGocAgPXSkiis5uCM0A;_ylu =X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

I can't believe the Democrats in the Senate plan to roll over on this guy. Pray tell, why?

I wasn't able to listen to Mike Gallagher's program yesterday, but from what I understand he never once mentioned that he and his minions shouted "We don't care" to Cindy Sheehan. Apparently, he alleged that they merely sang some patriotic songs, prayed and made supportive comments about Bush. From the impression I got from several people who listened to the program yesterday, I would characterize Gallagher protest as a quaint but hardly objectionable event. Again, there was no mention of chanting, "We don't care" to Cindy Sheehan who lost her son in Iraq.

This account accords with Gallagher's official account posted the day after his protest. In response to "bloggers" who claimed that Gallagher's protest was "as an attempt to harass [sic] and bully Cindy Sheehan," he describes their actions as following (more below):

Rightwing Radio Shock Jock and frequent guest on Fox News Mike Gallagher today organized a counter-protest that will occur this evening in Crawford Texas at 6:00 p.m.:

http://www.mikeonline.com/

No doubt Gallagher organized the event hastily in order to offset any counterdemonstrations to his.  I'm sure that FOX got a heads up and will probably cover the PR event.  His express goal is to get more counter-protestors than Sheen has protestors.  Of course, Gallagher won't stay there for the month of August like Sheehan is doing because it might muss his hair and he only wants a quick publicity shot in the arm. (more below)

Sen. Lindsey Graham on the Mike Gallager Show just said that the compromise allows an up or down vote on eight judges and one judge will be voted down...not because that is part of the deal but because some republicans don't like the judge.  

He also added that if the Dems filibuster a Supreme Court nominee, he and other Repubs will go nuclear.  The deal would be off.  Kaput.

What was gained except a little time?
 

Check this ad out.  

http://www.boreme.com/bm/APR05/a/channel4-election-virals/fr.htm

It's quite effective. I love the way it works by analogy and insight. It's indirection allows viewers to take part in drawing the desired political conclusion.  Ads in the USA tend to come straight at you (often they can be preachy); as such they can put people on the defensive.   This ad works on a bad one-night-stand scenario, so it would never go over in the USA.  We are far too puritanical for an ad like this one.

But ads that work on analogy and indirection are worth considering.  

Clearly, Lugar was driving the committee to vote on Bolton.  He probably got his marching orders from the White House.

But after Voinovich stated that he would vote against Bolton, Lugar still wanted to press ahead w/ the vote, which would have meant that Bolton wouldn't be recommended by the committee.  Why did Lugar still want to hold the vote?

Could it be that he too secretly dislikes Bolton and didn't mind the prospect of seeing him go down in flames?  

This appeared in the Wilmington News Journal:

On Mideast trip, Carper meets with Israelis, Palestinians

03/29/2005

>>Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., spent Easter in Israel with one of his sons, part of a four-day trip sponsored by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Carper spokeswoman Emily Fowlie said. The trip is designed to give Carper insight into the peace process in the region, security threats and Israel's plan to withdraw from Gaza....<<

http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/local/2005/03/29arounddelaware.html

He went on a trip to Israel w/ one of his sons (?) "sponsored" by AIPAC?  "Sponsored" sounds like "paid for."  Did they pay for Carper AND his son?

This sounds highly questionable.

Can politicians accepet gifts of trips from PACs for themselves and (maybe in this case) their children?

Special Report. The GOP's many Talons
Did White House S&M ring order special videos from Abu Ghraib?

February 23, 2005--There are interesting connections between the White House credentialed Talon News Service, owned by Houston-based GOP activist Bobby Eberle, Jr., and two other "Talon" entities. One is investment and management company Talon LLC of Detroit, co-founded by Michael T. Timmis, a major contributor to conservative Republican causes. Talon Equity Partners LLC is an adjunct of Talon LLC. The other GOP-connected "Talon" firm is Talon LLC of Houston, a "special purpose entity" established by the now defunct GOP bankroller, Enron.

Company's Work in Iraq Profited Bush's Uncle
William H.T. 'Bucky' Bush earned $450,000 on stock options with defense contractor ESSI.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/la-na-bucky23feb23,0,2285985.story
____________

Now, why isn't this a HUGE scandal especially since not one stockpile of WMD were found?  

Former Daschle Campaign Spokesman Says Media Was Aware Jeff Gannon Had Told Lies About His Identity As Far Back as the Summer of 2003
By ADVOCATE STAFF

You might have thought the strange saga of Jeff Gannon was a recent development, a story whose genesis is not so deep in the murky annals of Washington political history, but, in fact, only about four weeks old, when John Aravosis of America Blog discovered that Gannon has moonlighted as a male escort.

Well, you'd be wrong.

According to Dan Pfeiffer, former spokesman for Tom Daschle--the U.S. Senate Minority Leader until his defeat in the 2004 general election--Jeff Gannon's use of assumed identities was information available to the media as far back as the summer of 2003.

It was then, more than a year and a half ago, that Pfeiffer received an e-mail from someone claiming to be a citizen of South Dakota, wanting to know the Daschle campaign's reaction to a story by "Jeff Gannon."

You've got to check this out.  There is no smear too low for these religo-fascists:

http://www.bibleprophecyrevealed.us/2001/demonpicture.html

Apparently, since the devil appeared between both Bradley and Gore, he had no preference.  Perhaps the lesson is any democratic could serve the devil equally well.

If so, then the devil is an idiot because I think Bradley would have beaten Bush easily.  

Is this President George Bush speaking?  

>>Bush Open to Talks on Raising Payroll Tax Cap
Wed Feb 16, 2005 01:05 PM ET

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (Reuters) - President Bush suggested in an interview published on Wednesday he may be open to negotiation on the issue of allowing more income to become subject to Social Security payroll taxes.

Currently, all income up to $90,000 is subject to the 12.4 percent payroll tax, which is split evenly between employers and employees.
Bush was asked in a newspaper roundtable interview on Tuesday whether he was open to raising the $90,000 cap. He said he would rule out an increase in the tax rate but said he was open other ideas.

"The one thing I'm not open-minded about is raising the payroll tax rate, and all the other issues are on the table and that's important for people to know," Bush was quoted as saying in the Birmingham News, which attended the round-table with five other newspapers.

Senator Boxer made the following claim during now Sec. of State Rice's confirmation hearing:

>>SEN. BARBARA BOXER (D-CA): ....I hope that you'll consider what colleagues have said on both sides of the aisle about a lack of consistency in our foreign policy. For example, Senator Dodd at one point said we were in trouble in Latin America. And I would say, having come back from a six-day conference with Senator Lugar, bipartisan, on Central and South America, it's true because they don't sense a consistency. As Senator Chafee points out, you praise Uribe for democracy even though we were told at this conference that he's trying to pass a law which would forbid sitting governors and sitting senators from running against him....<<

http://faculty.sxu.edu/~kirstein/boxer_ricesecofstate.html