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Politics: Despite the whipping they took in Tuesday's election, congressional Democrats are moving fast on cap-and-trade and health care. Are they politically tone-deaf, or is this some kind of desperate strategy? Our guess is that Democratic leaders, having gotten a very negative message from the off-year balloting, are moving as fast as they can to pass the main big-spending items on their unpopular agenda. If they don't act now, the know their radical agenda is dead. On Thursday, Senate Democrats hustled the cap-and-trade bill out of committee without so much as a hello-and-howdy to the Republicans — knowing full well...

AP story, go to link.

No link, this was just on BOR with Laura Ingraham sitting in. Mathew Littman (a Dem strategist and speechwriter) said he'll listen to Sarah Palin when "she's on VH1 dating Flavor Flav" which is what he expects in a few years. He later said he thinks she isn't genuine, that she's a phoney.

But because the birthers insist on spreading their vile falsehoods, they continue to generate media attention. Trouble is, the mainstream news reports of the birthers have failed to answer a key question in the story: Why? Why do birthers, despite clear and convincing evidence to the contrary, still insist that Obama is not eligible to be president? To be sure, some of these folks are simply not connected to reality and share a lot with those who believe the moon landing was faked or that 9/11 was a government plot. But the simple truth is that many birthers are simply...

Democrats love to claim that you can tell the Republicans are "desperate" when their campaigns begin turning negative. However, I will just as lief say that you can tell the Democrats are desperate when the mainstream media begins turning negative. The Smear-Free Left has been incessantly screeching about John McCain's new "smear" campaign, clumsily tossing desperate and meaningless charges of "racism" around as they are historically wont to do when they have run out of creative ideas. When it comes to the art of verbal combat, liberals never did graduate from the third grade playground. Rule #1: When at a...

I'm considering voting for a major party's presidential ticket this year, for the first time in decades. As a matter of fact, it would mark the first time I've voted the top of the ticket for this particular party in my life. I've met the presidential nominee. He's got character. He's also a likeable guy -- most politicians share that asset -- though he's clearly a creature of the Senate, where respect for freedom and limited government are laughed at, deemed a handicap in "making the deal." Over the past year, though, he's run a come-from-behind Cinderella campaign that could...

A follow-up to Ed’s post last night about the Enquirer’s allegation of an affair, which metastasized via our privacy-defendin’ progressive superiors into the charge that the smoking gun lay buried in the divorce papers of Todd Palin’s former business partner, Scott Richter. Why else, after all, would Richter seek an emergency order to seal those records? Answer: Because he’s tired of him and his kid being harassed by press vultures and nutroots cranks. The liberal blogosphere was abuzz Friday with news that a friend of Sarah and Todd Palin had tried to seal his divorce records… [A] stream of journalists...

Yesterday Not WRIGHT for America questioned the impartiality of Hollis French, the liberal Democrat lawyer/state senator who is in charge of the legislative "inquiry" (read: witch hunt) into whether Governor Palin abused her power by pressuring her Public Safety Commissioner to fire a state trooper who was in a custody dispute with Palin's sister. Today we get confirmation that we were right to question Hollis French. ABC News quotes him talking about the final report of the ethics committee, which is not even due out until October 31: "It's likely to be damaging to the Governor" and "She [Palin] has...

...Irony runs through a number of these arguments, as most of them apply more to their own ticket than to the Republicans, and one in particular is just so despicable as to drop the jaw to the ground. Let’s take a tour of these, shall we? It’s a desperation pick — he didn’t make up his mind until Thursday! McCain did make his selection on Thursday, but apparently well before the Barack Obama speech that supposedly spooked him into foregoing Mitt Romney or Tim Pawlenty. What of it? When did Barack Obama make up his mind about Joe Biden? Biden...

In politics, everyone wants to be seen as a mudslinging virgin - who, like King Lear, is "more sinned against than sinning." Toward that end, Democrats have crafted the conceit that Republicans are attack dogs, while Democratic candidates are not sufficiently ruthless. After years of calling President Bush every name in the book, the left nonetheless manages to see itself as the victim in the smear game. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama knows how to play to that conceit. In a speech before a Veterans of Foreign Wars gathering in Florida on Tuesday, Obama went into woe-is-me mode as he...

UPDATE: ABC News' Ron Claiborne, traveling with the McCain campaign, reports that McCain senior adviser Charlie Black would not say whether people around McCain while he was en route to Rick Warren's forum had access to blackberries and cell phones from which they could have tipped off Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., about the questions. "There's no reason we would do that," was all Black would say, though quite obviously there is a reason.

Think John McCain did pretty well in last evening's Saddleback Civil Forum on Presidency hosted by the Rev. Rick Warren? You're not the only one. The Obama campaign thinks he did well too -- so good, in fact, that they think he might have cheated. And on this morning's "Meet the Press," Andrea Mitchell wasted no time floating the Obama campaign's "private" concern:

Apparently, the Chicago media have decided that the meme for the 2008 general election is going to be that anyone who doesn't vote for Barack Obama is a racist because this is the second editorial (that I've seen, anyway) in Chicago stating such a theory. Last week the Daily Herald voiced the assumption and this week it's the Sun-Times with the volatile Andrew Greeley taking up the cause of ridding the world of racism one Obama vote at a time. Beginning with some meaningless banter where he throws around the names of a few Greek philosophers to sound erudite, Greeley...

McClellan To Testify Before House WASHINGTON (AP) ― President Bush's former spokesman, Scott McClellan, will testify before a House committee next week about whether Vice President Dick Cheney ordered him to make misleading public statements about the leaking of CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity. McClellan will testify publicly and under oath before the House Judiciary Committee on June 20 about the White House's role in the leak and its response, his attorneys, Michael and Jane Tigar, said on Monday. In his new book, "What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception," McClellan said he was misled...

Search the Internet for "Bush Lied" products, and you will find sites that offer more than a thousand designs. The basic "Bush Lied, People Died" bumper sticker is only the beginning. Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence, set out to provide the official foundation for what has become not only a thriving business but, more important, an article of faith among millions of Americans. And in releasing a committee report Thursday, he claimed to have accomplished his mission, though he did not use the L-word. "In making the case for war, the administration...

Yes, that's right boys and girls. The report that many politco-geeks have been waiting YEARS to read, has finally been released; the Senate Intelligence Committee's Investigative Report on Pre-War Intelligence About Saddam's Iraq. We've waited FIVE YEARS for clear evidence that Bush lied, and what do we get....(insert Price Is Right style drum roll here): A report that is purely political and partisanand a report that has nothing to do with Iraq, but looks at Bush Administration officials who had "talks" w Iran before the war, but failed to go through CIA and State Dept channels. Several things strike me...

en. John McCain (R-Ariz.) spent Friday on the defensive from rival Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) after mistakenly saying the United States had drawn down its troops in Iraq to pre-buildup levels...

Former White House Aide's Revelations Make Out Case for Obstruction of Justice by Rove and Libby in Valerie Plame Case (Washington, DC) Today Congressman Robert Wexler (D-FL) called for former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan to appear before the House Judiciary Committee to testify under oath regarding the devastating revelations made in his new book on the Bush Administration’s deliberate efforts to mislead the American people into the Iraq War. “The admissions made by Scott McClellan in his new book are earth-shattering and allege facts to establish that Karl Rove and Scooter Libby – and possibly Vice President Cheney...

A few weeks ago, the New York Times tried to manufacture a McCain land deal scandal and today it’s the Washington Post’s turn. The front-page headline of Post staff writer Matthew Mosk’s story is titled “McCain Pushed Land Swap that Benefits Backer.� It says McCain negotiated a land swap to allow Arizona rancher Fred Ruskin to exchange his checkerboard of property located in the Prescott National Forest for an equal piece of continuous federal land that was later sold for development. Mainly because the developer, Steven A. Betts, who purchased the land from Ruskin is a donor to McCain’s presidential...

Can a presidential candidate justify a long and friendly relationship with someone who, back in the 1970s, extolled violence and committed crimes in the name of a radical ideology -- and who has never shown remorse or admitted error? When the candidate in question is Barack Obama, John McCain says no. But when the candidate in question is John McCain, he's not so sure. Obama has been justly criticized for his ties to former Weather Underground member Bill Ayers, who in 1995 hosted a campaign event for Obama and in 2001 gave him a $200 contribution. The two have also...

BORED by those endless replays of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright? If so, go directly to YouTube, search for “John Hagee Roman Church Hitler,” and be recharged by a fresh jolt of clerical jive. What you’ll find is a white televangelist, the Rev. John Hagee, lecturing in front of an enormous diorama. Wielding a pointer, he pokes at the image of a woman with Pamela Anderson-sized breasts, her hand raising a golden chalice. The woman is “the Great Whore,” Mr. Hagee explains, and she is drinking “the blood of the Jewish people.” That’s because the Great Whore represents “the Roman Church,”...

So, I post this morning on the Edwards scum, I'm out most of the day, and come back to this. Classic. When I made a reference to Edwards' obsession with Ann in the previous post, I did so because I couldn't imagine them going after her again when it has become painfully clear how pathetic both he and his wife have become. Well, i was wrong, which does happen, albeit rarely. Obviously, they must need money. Edwards, in fact, has cleared out his Nevada operation because they're short on cash. And now he attacks Coulter because he's void of ideas....

When it comes to investigating Dems, the MSM is all Moveon.org. But when a Republican is potentially in the crosshairs, the liberal media suddenly goes Eliot Ness . . . Take the New York Times editorial of this morning, Mr. Rove Gets Out of Town, which amounts to an extended plea to Democrats to investigate Karl Rove on matters sundry. Huffs the Times:The American public needs to understand the full story of how this White House — with Mr. Rove pulling many of the strings — has spent the last six and a half years improperly and dangerously politicizing the...

REESEVILLE, WI -- Sen. Russ Feingold began holding listening sessions in every Wisconsin county 14 years ago in order to ensure that he was responsive to the needs of his constituents. The more time the Democratic U.S. senator spends in Washington, the more he appreciates another fringe benefit of his visits home. "I come home every weekend and I do these meetings, and I talk to people and I go to the store, to the health club, and I get the feeling that I'm NOT completely crazy," Feingold said. "Unless we ALL are."And I don't think we are." Rebuked by...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Senate Democrats said Thursday they planned to subpoena President Bush's top political aide, Karl Rove, and also called for a special counsel to investigate whether Attorney General Alberto Gonzales committed perjury.

The House Judiciary Committee, in a straight party-line vote, approved a contempt resolution against White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten and former White House Counsel Harriet Miers, setting up a constitutional battle between the Bush administration and Congress over executive privilege. After several hours of skirmishing over whether to send a contempt resolution to the House floor, the committee voted by a 22-17 margin to approve the measure. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other Democratic leaders will now have to decide if and when to hold a vote by the full House on the resolution. A vote could take...

WASHINGTON - House Democrats told no-show witness Harriet Miers on Friday that she could soon be held in contempt as they issued the Republican National Committee a new subpoena for White House e-mails. The deadline for replies from both: Tuesday. Miers, President Bush's former legal counsel who a day earlier defied a subpoena to appear before the House Judiciary Committee, could be held in criminal contempt of Congress if she fails to notify the panel by Tuesday that she has changed her mind and will appear, according to a letter sent to her attorney by Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich....

The Globe's disclosure this week that Mitt Romney put his Irish setter into a dog carrier on the roof of his station wagon for a 12-hour trip to Ontario in 1983 has become a surprising flashpoint in the presidential campaign. TIME.com has been flooded with more than 200 comments from readers complaining of animal cruelty, YouTube viewers have posted videos, and hundreds of blogs are brimming with opinions. For some, the story has become an occasion to consider larger issues of ethics and animal abuse. Romney, who has built an image as a strong manager, is now facing concerns about...

Dems push Gonzales 'no-confidence' vote By LAURIE KELLMAN, Associated Press Writer 8 minutes ago WASHINGTON - Senate Democrats blistered Attorney General Alberto Gonzales Monday with debate on a "no-confidence" resolution, but President Bush and fellow Republicans shrugged it all off as a waste of time. No one predicted that the resolution would survive its test vote late in the day. But neither did Republicans or Democrats rush to defend Bush's longtime friend after he alienated even the White House's staunchest allies on a host of controversies — from the bungled firings of eight federal prosecutors to the handling of wiretapping...

A new documentary about Arnold Schwarzenegger could hit screens soon. Former Variety scribe Dan Cox directed the project about "Arnold Schwarzenegger's life in all its sordid glory," as the film's website says about the governor's "fascinating and humorous" life story. The movie, "Running With Arnold," includes interviews with Arianna Huffington, Democratic Party Chairman Art Torres and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, according to producer Mike Gabrawy. Judging from the trailer, the movie will be edgy but not a vicious attack on Schwarzenegger.

"Path to 9/11" Web Address Hijacked Get a load of this one. The left is using every dirty trick and sneaky internet ploy in the book to shut down ABC’s The Path to 9/11, and here’s the latest. Someone anonymously registered the domain name pathto911.com and installed a redirect that takes visitors looking for information on the movie to the Democratic Party’s anti-ABC page. (Hat tip: Robin.) Here’s the genuine web site: ABC.com: The Path to 9/11.

Party has 'covenant' with voters on bills, House speaker says Alabama Democrats barnstormed the state Tuesday promising bills that would require Bible classes in public schools, remove the sales tax on food, and other popular causes including tougher immigration laws and stricter reporting requirements for lobbyist spending on politicians. A leading Republican, though, said the proposals sound like GOP issues. House Speaker Seth Hammett, D-Andalusia, led the group in a jet chartered by the state House and Senate Democratic caucuses. The fly-around comes three months before the general election featuring some tight races. Hammett said the Alabama Legislative Democratic Leadership...

A LEADING US Republican Senator has sparked a furore for his use of a pejorative term to refer to an Asian man of Indian descent, a US newspaper has reported. The Washington Post reported that Senator George Allen, who is running for re-election to his Senate seat representing the southern state of Virginia, has apologised for what his opponent's campaign said were demeaning and insensitive comments. In remarks on Friday at campaign rally in Virginia, Senator Allen reportedly referred to the Indian-American man - a volunteer with the Senate campaign of his Democratic opponent - as a "macaca". Macaca is...

RICHMOND, Aug. 14 -- Virginia Sen. George Allen (R) apologized Monday for what his opponent's campaign said were demeaning and insensitive comments the senator made to a 20-year-old volunteer of Indian descent. At a campaign rally in southwest Virginia on Friday, Allen repeatedly called a volunteer for Democrat James Webb "macaca." During the speech in Breaks, near the Kentucky border, Allen began by saying that he was "going to run this campaign on positive, constructive ideas" and then pointed at S.R. Sidarth in the crowd. "This fellow here, over here with the yellow shirt, macaca, or whatever his name is....

RICHMOND, Virginia (AP) -- A volunteer of Indian descent working for Democrat Jim Webb's U.S. Senate campaign said Monday he felt insulted when Sen. George Allen called him a name that sounded like "Macaca" during a rally in western Virginia. S.R. Sidarth, 20, spent last week following Allen's "listening tour" and filming the appearances for the Webb campaign, which distributed a video clip of Friday's appearance to reporters. "This fellow over here with the yellow shirt -- Macaca or whatever his name is -- he's with my opponent," Allen said. "He's following us around everywhere." Macaca is a term associated...

Democrat James Webb's Senate campaign accused Sen. George Allen (R) of making demeaning comments Friday to a 20-year-old Webb volunteer of Indian descent. S.R. Sidarth, a senior at the University of Virginia, had been trailing Allen with a video camera to document his travels and speeches for the Webb campaign. During a campaign speech Friday in Breaks, Virginia, near the Kentucky border, Allen singled out Sidarth and called him a word that sounded like "Macaca." "This fellow here over here with the yellow shirt, Macaca, or whatever his name is. He's with my opponent. He's following us around everywhere. And...

Desperate Dems are trying to change their stripes and get your vote. Don't believe them "Could you give me some reasons why libertarians might want to vote for you?" I could tell my question startled Connecticut Democrat Ned Lamont, who's running against Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.), the war hawk and culture nanny par excellence. We were standing in Lamont's room at the Washington Hilton, the site of the Campaign for America's Future 2006 Take Back America conference. (Someone missed an opportunity for synergy by not booking the American Values suite.) As long as I was a hurdle for the candidate...

Enron's Ties to Bush Run Deep Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean issued the following statement after the guilty verdicts of Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling for their involvement in the Enron scandal: "Today's guilty verdicts are another victory against the Republican culture of corruption that led President Bush’s buddy Ken Lay, Jeffrey Skilling, Jack Abramoff, Representative Tom Delay and others to believe that they were above the law. The Enron scandal epitomizes the pay-to-play politics that has enveloped the Bush White House and Republican-controlled Congress. Ken Lay was defrauding his employees and investors but he had no problem keeping...

Editorial Round Up: Bush's Chronic Pattern of Misleading the American People Editorial boards across the country have a number of questions about President Bush's secret NSA program to create the largest database "ever assembled in the world" to collect the phone records of "tens of millions of Americans." [USA Today, 5/11/06] While the Bush Administration initially assured Americans that the NSA was focused only on international calls, this is clearly not the case. Unfortunately, this is not the first time this Administration has said one thing and the American people have found out later that they've done another. Editorial boards...

A liberal group plans to launch an advertising campaign Wednesday attacking Focus on the Family founder James Dobson for what it says are his ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The Campaign to Defend the Constitution says Dobson's opposition to an Indian casino in Louisiana helped competing tribal casinos that were represented by Abramoff, who has pleaded guilty to fraud and bribery. Dobson has denied knowingly helping Abramoff, and Focus officials said some facts cited by the group are incorrect. The campaign will feature radio and TV spots as well as an ad in The New York Times targeting Dobson...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President Dick Cheney should publicly explain his shooting of a Texas lawyer in a hunting accident, top congressional Democrats said on Wednesday after a White House meeting that included Cheney. Cheney has been publicly silent since he sprayed Harry Whittington with birdshot during a quail-hunting trip to Texas last Saturday.

Not content to go gently into that good night (instead running for President again), Sen. John Kerry (D.-Mass.) wants to filibuster Judge Samuel Alito’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. This quest seems likely to fail, but the desperation of Alito’s Senate opponents highlights just how politicized the Supreme Court has become. Leftists’ passion is alight even though Roe v. Wade will be safe regardless, since five remaining members of the court have clearly supported Roe in the past. However, the replacement of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor with Alito will almost certainly yield some results for the pro-life cause. As...

Bush: I Am Not A Crook January 26, 2006 Email this Print this Blog this Washington, DC - At today's news conference, President Bush was asked whether his explanation about his domestic spying program was comparable to President Nixon's assertion that, "When the President does it, that means that it is not illegal." This quote from President Nixon in 1977 first resurfaced in a Democratic National Committee web video that was released on January 6, 2006. "Democrats believe that we should spy on terrorists and aggressively fight the War on Terror," said Democratic National Committee Press Secretary Josh Earnest. "We...

Dear Senators, The Senate must reject President Bush's attempt to reward right-wing special interests by nominating Judge Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court of the United States. Alito's record as an ideological activist would make his confirmation a threat to civil rights protections, reproductive and privacy rights, environmental protections, religious liberty, and laws safeguarding workers. I urge you to vote not to confirm Samuel Alito to a lifetime position on the Supreme Court of the United States.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) took its campaign equating factory-farm animals to Holocaust victims to the streets of Los Angeles this week with a protest in front of the Simon Wiesenthal Center Tuesday at noon (see story on page 12). The protest speaks to PETA’s well-earned reputation for disordered priorities and its utter lack of sensitivity in promoting its cause, whatever the merits of that cause are. For the record, I am all for treating animals ethically and humanely. But PETA’s exploitative campaign that expropriates photographs of starving victims of the Holocaust in Nazi concentration camps and...

NANCY PELOSI, the Democratic leader in the House, sounded like an Old Testament prophet recently when she denounced the Republican budget for its "injustice and immorality" and urged her colleagues to cast their no votes "as an act of worship" during this religious season. This, apparently, is what the Democrats had in mind when they vowed after President Bush's re-election to reclaim religious voters for their party. In the House, they set up a Democratic Faith Working Group. Senator Harry Reid, the minority leader, created a Web site called Word to the Faithful. And Democratic officials began holding conferences with...

You may or may not believe in Santa Claus, but we suspect you don't think it was Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer who delivered that 8.7% rise in holiday sales over last year, as reported this week by MasterCard. Though the economy has grown steadily through the year, the Democrats have tried to throw soot on the growth story by constantly saying that median incomes are falling. Judging by these holiday sales, somebody must have money. We suspect it is not possible for "the rich" by themselves to cause sales of flat-screen TVs, laptop computers, digital cameras and other electronics to...

by Mark Finkelstein December 26, 2005 - 19:37 Anyone who thought Hardball with Chris Matthews couldn't get any more antagonistic to the Bush administration should have checked out the show with Norah O'Donnell substituting tonight. Not that Matthews is exactly Mr. Fair & Balanced, but Norah didn't even bother to nod in the direction of even-handedness. Her first panel, comprised of two lawyers, were in to discuss the Plame matter. Both fell over each other in agreeing that it was absolutely inescapable that Karl Rove would be indicted. Even that wasn't quite enough to satisfy Norah, as she avidly inquired...

'Leaky' Leahy Leads Push for Spy Probe Sen. Pat "Leaky" Leahy is leading the push by Senate Democrats to investigate the Bush administration's terrorist surveillance operation, saying over the weekend that the probe should be expanded to include allegations that the National Security Agency gained access to some of the country's main telephone arteries. "As far as Congressional investigations are concerned," Leahy told the New York Times on Christmas Day, "these new revelations can only multiply and intensify the growing list of questions and concerns about the warrantless surveillance of Americans." The Vermont Democrat's aggressive posture comes despite his own...

WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney has called for "strong and robust" presidential powers, saying executive authority was eroded during the Watergate and Vietnam eras. Some lawmakers objected that President Bush's decision to spy on Americans to foil terrorists showed he was flexing more muscle than the Constitution allows. At the same time, a Michigan congressman called for an impeachment inquiry. The revelations of Bush's four-year-old order approving domestic surveillance without court warrants has spurred a fiery debate over the balance of power between the White House, Congress and the judiciary. "I believe in a strong, robust executive authority and...