Happy Halloween

Post Debate Analysis

well...it was an interesting, sometimes odd, debate this evening on msnbc.

i thought brian williams did a nice job of showing that his five nights behind the big desk has given him a wide range of information from which to mine questions.

tim russert continued to use quotes and statistics from the candidates themselves to frame his questions.

so who won? conventional wisdom says as long as hillary clinton doesn't make any major stumbles, she wins. but did she stumble? did obama draw the blood he promised in the times over the weekend?

let's break it down.

edwards wins
i think that was pretty clear... at least from my standpoint. he took the chris matthews approach and drew clear distinctions between himself and the front runner: hillary clinton.

his attacks were strong.... his distinctions clear.

he hammered and hammered and hammered away at clinton and took any spotlight away from obama.

will the attacks hurt him or help him?

i think his constant return to the theme of clinton's "double talk" may resonate. especially after something unforeseen happened with just a few moments remaining in the debate.

hillary stumbles
it was a simple question. only two minutes or so left in the debate. russert asked my girl about governor spitzer's plan to issue driver's license to illegal immigrants in new york. she said she supported his idea...or it seemed like a good plan.

then chris dodd went off....

then it happened. hillary backtracked and said she wouldn't necessarily support it.

why? why, hillary? you had this thing in the bag.....

edwards immediately pounced and said she just gave two different answers in a matter of two minutes. "double talk."

hillary had fended off attack after attack so well all night... she was particularly strong early in the evening. but as howard fineman of newsweek pointed out: she "came off like a politician."

a clinton stumble...... well, fuck me.

biden covered her ass a bit in the post analysis on msnbc saying she was clearly not decisive but held off on calling it "double talk."

amazing....

obama attacks...kinda
his attacks were there...but they were subtle. he had a particularly strong moment when he called out hillary to release all correspondence between she and bill clinton during his presidency from the clinton archives. he said we're coming out of the most secretive administration in history. americans want transparency. he also said if she's running on her experience in the white house as first lady - why not release the records?

it was a good point......

best line
no big surprise....joe biden. during a series of answers to a question about rudy giuliani doubting the experience of clinton and the other dem candidates.... biden said nobody is less experienced to run the country than bush but rudy giuliani.

then his great line: "rudy giuliani...there's only three things he mentions in a sentence: a noun and a verb and 9/11."

perfect.

most bizarre moment, i
first off...who knew shirley maclaine was a godmother to one of dennis kucinich's children? secondly, in all seriousness, russert asked kucinich about an episode maclaine recounts in her new book that he saw a UFO and it was a deeply moving experience for him.

kucinich? yep....he saw it. freely admits it.

jesus...the man can't win.

most bizarre moment, ii
bill richardson defended hillary. he said other candidates were acting "holier than thou" and the attacks were boardering on personal. he said he trusts hillary...but he disagrees with her on big issues.

that's where the debate should be, argues bill. save the attacks for the republicans... keep the democratic debate positive.

well done, sir. i hope you get the v.p. job (if obama doesn't want it).

best spontaneous moment
when asked if he believes in life beyond earth, obama chuckled and then said, "i don't know... but i do know there's life here on earth." and then went on about how we need to take care of people in the united states that have been ignored too long.

it was a strong moment... one of his best.

quick hits

• the first question went to obama - directly asking him about his plans to attack clinton.
• the next twenty minutes were spent on obama and edwards attacking hillary and she fighting them off.
• dodd also got in on attacking hillary. she handled it great...very strong in her answers.
• i still think hillary has the best body language. she's engaged when others answer. she nods and shakes her head. she smiles. i think it shows a great deal of confidence.
• the first question posed to bill richardson was 21 minutes into the debate.
• first question to kucinich? 22 minutes in.
• where was that ole kook, mike gravel?
• kucinich mentioned impeaching bush 3 times throughout the night.
• kucinich is very passionate about HR-676.
• bill richardson, bless him, just doesn't handle lightening rounds very well.
• this was clearly dodd's best performance in a debate.
• chris matthews clearly does not like hillary clinton and it's really starting to piss me off.

i'll probably have more later but, for now, i'm exhausted.

hillary...you're still my girl. now go clear up your stance on driver's licenses for illegal immigrants.

a state's issue.... causing hill to stumble....

who knew?

e.

Democratic Debate Drinking Game

you've been waiting for it... and here it is. at long last! my democratic debate drinking game. each player will need to pick a candidate. more than one person can pick the same candidate, but you should pick the candidate you plan to support.

first, however, i think we should set this thing up with some perspective.

recent polls

the latest la times/bloomberg national poll of democratic voters places clinton in the lead with 48% of the vote. obama trails with only 17% of the vote and edwards continues to bring up the rear with only 13%.

please note: obama is 31 points behind hillary.

the most recent university of iowa poll shows the potential voting in iowa as follows:

clinton 29%
obama 27%
edwards 20%
richardson 7%

richardson just can't seem to find any traction... but i think edwards is actually sliding in the must win state of iowa. the poll has a +/- of 5.5% but that still puts edwards out of even a statistical tie.

obama may be tracking up in the polls, but clinton does seem to be holding a slight lead.

gloves off?

perhaps this is why barack obama gave an interview to the new york times over the weekend where he promised to take off the gloves and start attacking hillary.

of course, he said the same thing back in august (i think) to the washington post.

i'm not sure attacking hillary now and abandoning his "politics of hope" will help at this point. doesn't it all just look desperate?

in fact....hill's camp has hit back to most attacks by edwards and obama by pointing out the desperation by the two camps who have appeared to stall in the polling.

i mean....let's look at edwards. he has attacked and attacked and attacked my girl. especially on lobbyist money. but as holly bailey of newsweek points out: "well, he's been saying this for months and it hasn't helped him in the numbers, poll-wise."

true, holly. so true.

so what does obama hope to gain? will this not turn off his NPR-listening supporters? is it too "politics as usual" for his crowd?

and will edwards possibly start attacking obama to try and take his legs out from underneath him? why shouldn't he go after both candidates leading him in the polls?

or will tonight be another all-against-one with everyone teaming up against hillary?

the media is practically begging for obama to attack hillary and draw blood? but will he ever land a real body blow?

and with that..... let's get to the game!

democratic debate drinking game rules

you may want to go ahead and call in sick for tomorrow now. i doubt tonight will be pretty. it's the first real debate everyone will be paying attention to and the candidates should be pulling out their full arsenal.

after all, only 65 days until iowa.

okay....once each person has picked their candidate... they must take a drink whenever the candidate uses any of the following words or phrases. it's that simple. your candidate utters these words, you chug my lovelies.

lets play!

hillary clinton: "leadership," "experience" or "girl."

any of these words....you drink, my fellow hillary supporters.

barack obama: "judgement" or any reference to hillary's vote on iraq or iran.

hell, you could probably get sloshed on the word "judgement" alone.

john edwards: "coal mine," "lobbyist" or any direct attack on hillary.

again...at the rate he's going: you could just go with "lobbyist."

bill richardson: "governor" or "as a governor i've done it."

or any discussion that "change and experience" come as a package with him. it might be fun to drink anytime he looks confused, as well.

joe biden: "truth" or "honest" (as in, "let's be honest" or "let me tell you the truth.")

you can also play for any time he goes off on troops dying and how he'll never vote to cut off funding as long as one american soldier is on the ground in iraq. you could also play with any mention of "body armor."

chris dodd: "here."

if you've ever heard the connecticut senator talk...trust me: you can get drunk simply playing with the word "here." the man uses it like punctuation. listen closely. you could get drunk after one answer from senator dodd when he's really worked up.

dennis kucinich: any time he finishes an answer with "that's what you'll get with a kucinich administration. thank you."

or any time he makes a joke about finally getting a question.

mike gravel: "follow the money."

and really...any time he goes off on some unintelligible answer....just drink. if you're voting for gravel, you're probably drunk anyway.

once the debate is over...you argue over who won. by now you should be well tanked so it should be a lot of fun. whoever is the last person standing or not in tears... wins!

enjoy.... and please: don't drink and drive.

leave that up to the cast of 'lost.'

e.

'Press' Catch-Up

where does all the time go......?

i can't seem to get anything done these days... of course, being out of commission most of the weekend working off a hangover didn't help much. but jesus...those manhattans made it all worth it.

let's back track for a moment, shall we? i have found meet the press very interesting the past couple of sundays.

october 21, 2007

tim had a "ladies panel." some very smart women, including two of my favorites - joanna kearns goodwin and judy woodruff, spent much of the time talking about the democratic race for the nomination....most notably: hillary clinton.

woodruff pointed out that women are central to hillary's strategy. she spent much of the week reaching out to women voters who are still not quite on board with her. highlighting her role as a mother and the difficulties (and strength) she showed throughout the clinton/lewinsky affair as a wife and a woman.

(interesting side note: bill maher mentioned that christians should support hillary more because she displays true christian values...including forgiveness. that word was "forgiveness" - please christians....look into it.)

but goodwin also talked about hill's time with bill in the white house as eight years of learning from mistakes and knowing better than to repeat them. "then her experience is untouchable," j.k. said. "who else sat in the white house for eight years and learned from what went wrong?"

good point....

goodwin also mentioned the possible ground swell that could push women to vote for hillary when they think of the historical implications. women may turn out to vote for the first woman president... so they can tell their daughters... "i did this. i voted for the first woman president."

she does go on to say that the history of that vote "may take greater hold in the general election."

of course, there was also the wicked witch of the GOP on panel: kate o'bierne. christ that woman gives me a rash. but she had this interesting tidbit that i think speaks strongly to the republican field for president. the republicans are counting on hill to enthuse the party since the candidates are not.

well, no shit.

oh - and please note: while much was made of the hillary/barack contest.... john "hope is on the way" edwards was not mentioned until 22 minutes into the show. and....it was just a passing drop of his name. no discussion. ouch.

meet the press quote of the week - 10.21.07

but the greatest moment....the moment from the october 21st show that gets the distinction this week was almost a throw-away line. you had to be paying attention.

allow me to put it in context.

ole hag o'bierne was pontificating about the republican dilemma and how the party's core feels about the candidates and rudy in particular. and she said that the conservative, religious base may ultimately vote for giuliani because, well, rudy "doesn't share our values, but he shares our enemies."

and then joanna kearns goodwin breaks out with our quote of the week: "we hate together."

goddamn if that doesn't just perfectly sum up the republican party.

brava, j.k.

runner-up

stephen colbert was also on press for a very amusing discussion on his bid in south carolina for president. as he put it: "i don't want to be president. i want to run for president."

but how perfect was his comment: "i'm for realer than sam brownback."

october 28, 2007

the first half of the show was dedicated to the "meet the candidates" series with chris "not a chance in hell" dodd. i like the man...but he's registering at 0% in the polls. colbert and kucinich are ahead of him.

but.... bill safire of the times was on with his office pool for the '08 election. interesting predictions of likely presidential and vice presidential nomination combinations.

if obama wins the nod, safire predicts dianne feinstein will be his running mate. love that!

if giuliani is the GOP presidential nominee....fred thompson will be his v.p. candidate. hmmm...

mccain will run with condi rice (huh?). and romney would run with general petreaus (or is it betray us?).

all very interesting predictions.

but if hillary wins the nod, predicts safire: rahm emanuel will be her veep candidate over obama or richardson. interesting... but i don't see it.

he says richardson cannot be her v.p. because of his strong anti-war stance and his desire to bring troops home immediately. "i don't think she can cross that bridge with him," says safire. but he points out that hill and rahm are the "hawkish side" of the democratic party.

(side note: i heard virginia senator jim webb's name floated around as a good v.p. candidate for hillary today... actually - any dem candidate. i like it, i have to say.)

but that does bring us to our....

meet the press quote of the week - 10.28.07

bill safire said if there's a clinton/emanuel ticket, their bumper sticker should be:

"invade & bomb with hillary and rahm."

priceless........ i hate the implications - but that shit's good.

enjoy the debate tomorrow night.....

e.

Happy Birthday, Mrs. President

happy birthday, hillary....

you turn sixty today and you look fabulous.

i hope this year finds all of your dreams fulfilled....so that you may fulfill all of our dreams.

hillary '08.

e.

Too Good Not To Mention

on tuesday, ole flip flop romney was giving a speech in south carolina when he confused the name of the september 11th mastermind with the name of a democrat running for president.

said mitt: “actually, just look at what osama — barack obama said just yesterday. barack obama calling on radicals, jihadists of all different types, to come together in iraq. that is the battlefield."

kevin madden, a romney campaign spokesman, said it was merely a "brief mix up."

“governor romney simply misspoke," he said. "he was referring to the recently released audiotape of osama bin laden and misspoke when referencing his name."

but now for the good part......

bill burton, a spokesman for the obama camp, simply replied:

apparently, mitt romney can switch names just as casually as he switches positions.

i love this man....

point obama.

e.

I Just Have To Say...

i looooove this weather.

midday monday a wonderful thing occurred. autumn came to houston.

as my loyal readers understand.....i experienced an early taste of fall when i made my trip to the midwest late september. fall never begins so early for texas.

i was spoiled.... miserable back in the houston humidity.

now....the days have spent their time barely in the 70's. a crisp autumn breeze assisting with the season. nights have been in the 50's.... maybe even the 40's.

it's amazing.... i have been experiencing an odd sense of melancholia as of late. perhaps post coital birthday blues.... a reflective state i couldn't shake....

but this weather. this glorious, cooler weather. what most texans would call "cold" weather (although - those of us with yankee blood coursing through our veins know better), has broken the spell and reawakened me.

most people love the spring and summer.... but give me cold, overcast days and i'm a happy man.

i want to write..... i want to snuggle into my cold bed at night and read.....

this is the time of year i start becoming my most productive, i think.

perhaps it's odd that a person with so many hang-ups about death craves the season when nature dies or goes to sleep.....

but what can i say? i'm a man of contradictions.....

how else can you explain my love of football?

e.

2 Republicans to Call it Quits?

cnn is reporting this morning that illinois congressman, and former speaker of the house, dennis hastert will choose not to serve out the remainder of his term and resign his position early.

denny was the longest-serving speaker of the house in republican history. he held that post from january of 1999 until november of 2006 when he simply could not ride out the embarrassment of the mark foley scandal.

msnbc is also reporting this morning that senator sam brownback (r-kansas) will drop out of the republican race for president this friday.

the GOP field has already seen one casualty with former wisconsin governor tommy thompson dropping out earlier this year.

no word yet on any real pulse from fred thompson....

e.

Dick, I Mean, Rick Perry Endorses Rudy

governor rick perry, number one asshole from the lone star state, today endorsed rudy "i spent more time at ground zero" giuliani in his bid for potus.

perry's endorsement is rudy' first from a sitting governor.

first read reports:

Perry cited the former mayor’s success in reducing crime and cutting spending during his tenure, in addition to his preparedness in dealing with terrorism, as reasons for supporting him.

i find it interesting that all these conservatives are jumping on the rudy bandwagon..... perhaps i overestimated how much rudy's social views would effect republican voters.

i truly think they find rudy in the best position to stop hillary in the general election.

what's most interesting is how much rudy is trying to paint himself as a true "red" republican during this primary season when all indicators point to his image as a "non-republican" that helps him in the general election with moderates and independents.

will his positioning hurt him if he makes it to the general election? hill seems to be roping in a lot of moderates and independents herself.

new cnn/opinion research poll
since this conversation has turned into a rudy/hill discussion, why not discuss some new poll numbers that came out yesterday?

rudy has increased his lead over second place fred thompson in the most recent numbers. but not because he's going up in the polls, but because the pick-up truck knight is sliding in the polls.

september numbers saw rudy leading at 28% with fred at his heels with 27%. mccain and mitt finished out the poll at 15% and 11%, respectively.

the october poll numbers show rudy down a point at 27% but fred tanking, now with only 19% of the vote (mccain 17% and romney 13%). perhaps fred is rethinking his lackadaisical approach to campaigning....?

meanwhile...in the blue corner:

hillary lead obama 46% to 23% in september. edwards was bringing up the rear with 16% of the vote. the october numbers show hillary continuing her ascent.

in yet another poll...hillary is higher than 50% with 51% of the vote. barack dropped slightly to 21% and edwards still can't get his engine started at 15%.

i believe there are now three polls where hillary has garnered greater than 50% of the vote... with eight candidates in the race.... that's an amazing number.

quickly: 64% of poll respondents think hillary will get the democratic nomination (obama 16%, edwards 5%) and giuliani will get the republican nod (rudy 50%, mccain 13%, thompson 11%, romney 9%).

when asked who will win the presidency? hillary scores 45% of the vote with only 16% of the vote thinking rudy will triumph.

this is a good primary season.

e.

Conservatives Are Assholes

have you been paying attention to the news lately? i'm not sure what's up with the republicans as of late.... but they seem to be going out of their way to be real assholes lately.

i mean... i'm used to them being dicks. but what's going on?

maybe they know they don't have a shot in hell of winning the white house in 2008 nor capitol hill. so maybe they're going for broke...?

but jesus..... what the hell?

fuck the children

president bush in an unashamed "fuck you" to the children in this country decided to veto a bipartisan bill that would expand SCHIP (state children's health insurance programs) to a wider number of poor children.

"they make too much money," forty-three argues.

well, excuse the shit out of us.....

now. ask any of my friends - i hate the little fuckers. children annoy the shit out of me and they're not much good unless they can mix a mean cocktail.... but i would never be enough of a dick to deny them health insurance.

in a response to why he vetoed the bill, W offered this:

my job is a decision-making job, and as a result, i make a lot of decisions... [i'm here] to explain the philosophy behind some of the decisions i’ve made.

and they say the days of lincoln and douglas are dead.....

so....let me get this straight: you can spend over $460 BILLION on the war in iraq.... but you can't spare $35 billion for children?

sick children.....?

you dick.

oh....but wait. it gets better.....

in response to bush's veto the dems allowed a child on SCHIP to deliver the democratic radio response. graeme frost is a 12 year old that spent a week in a coma after a 2004 SUV crash. his sister's injuries were even worse.

the dems decided to put a face on bush's veto and what did the conservatives do?

they swift-boated the little bugger!

conservative bloggers everywhere have dug deep, deep, deep into the life of graeme frost and published just about every bit of money the family has..... i'm pretty sure they found out how much they spent on toilet paper last month.

they're attempting to paint the family as rich and well beyond the need of government assistance. one blogger went so far as to include that the parent's wedding was announced in the new york times!

well, then yes... surely they have too much money. those fucking liberal bastards... the new york times, no less!

that must've really pissed off the conservatives... maybe if it had been a rupert murdoch how-to-lower-the-public-discourse-even-further-by-creating-more-intellectually-insulting-reality-shows-where-we-pimp-out-our-mates kind of announcement? or maybe just the post?

at any rate... what fuckers. attacking a 12-year old to assist your soulless leader. have they really no shame? at long last, fuckers, have you no sense of decency?

the grand asshole

some people never disappoint.....

i'm pretty sure this story got some press back when it first happened.... but no one could talk about it too much while the case was still underway.

remember shawn hornbeck? the missouri kid that was kidnapped for 4 years when the police finally found him while searching for another kidnapped boy. he was being held by michael devlin who has now plead guilty to 80 counts of child abduction and molestation.

well, back when this all came out... that grand asshole, bill o'reilly, made some rather sweet comments about shawn.

"there was an element here that this kid liked about his circumstance," bill-o said. he goes on to say that shawn had "more fun" with his abductor than his parents and that he probably liked not having to attend school. when greta said "some kids like school" bill quickly replied: "well, i don't believe this kid did."

because they were such close fucking friends....

bill o'reilly.... tonight's worst. person. in the world!

i mean....can you believe this shit? implying that shawn hornbeck, at age eleven, liked being held prisoner, molested and pleading for his life.

why, bill, you piece of human waste.

the parents of shawn hornbeck now want an apology from o'reilly... now that the case is over we can talk about everything. but wait for it....

bill-o is saying he doesn't want to put the kid through anything further now that this awful nightmare is behind him.

unanimously please: FUCK YOU, BILL!

speaking of cunts....

have you heard about ann coulter.....?

ann was on the donny deutsch show promoting her most recent book of instructions on how to be a soulless slag when the she suggested the united states would be a better place without jews and that they should be perfected into christians.

ann....mahmoud. mahmoud....ann. may you both rot in hell (if there is such a place, which there probably isn't.... so fuck you both anyway).

when deutsch attempted to give her an out she replied, "no, we just want jews to be perfected, as they say. ... that's what christianity is."

really....? can i get a ruling on that?

i mean.... i hate christians as much as the next person.... but i give them a bit more credit than this douche bag. and with the complete understanding that there's a whole conservative following out there that eats up every pearl of shit ann pinches out and they believe this whole-heartedly.

and really..... that's why conservatives are assholes.

can i get an "amen"?

e.

p.s. meet the press quote of the week

my grandest apologies, o' loyal readers.... but bill cosby was tim's guest for the entire hour this sunday and....in all honesty....i just couldn't listen to the man for an entire hour.

forgive me. i promise to be better next week.

John Lewis Endorses Clinton

from msnbc's first read:

...the Clinton camp pick[ed] up a key endorsement from civil-rights leader Rep. John Lewis (D). In a statement posted on the Clinton campaign's Web site, Lewis says, “I have looked at all the candidates, and I believe that Hillary Clinton is the best prepared to lead this country at a time when we are in desperate need of strong leadership. She will restore a greater sense of community in America, and reclaim our standing in the world.”

That Lewis would endorse Clinton over Obama -- the first African-American with a legitimate chance of winning the Dem nomination -- is a blow to the Illinois senator's campaign.

and an update:

Rep. John Lewis (D), a leader in the Civil Rights movement, endorsed Hillary Clinton today here at Paschal's Restaurant. "I believe Hillary Clinton will be a strong leader," he said. "I am convinced that with Hillary Clinton as president, no one will be left out or left behind."

"I am so grateful and I feel so blessed and profoundly honored to be standing here with one of the people I admire most," Clinton said in accepting the endorsement. She called Lewis a hero and said she saw her campaign as a continuation of his life's work.

The New York senator also took the opportunity the congratulate Al Gore on his Nobel Peace prize win.

e.

Triple Crown

first the oscar... then an emmy. but today will be the brightest jewel in his crown.

al gore has won the nobel peace prize. yea!

gore shares the prize with the u.n.'s intergovernmental panel on climate change for their crusade to spread awareness of man-made climate change and actions we can all take to help counteract it.

about gore the committee wrote:

"his strong commitment, reflected in political activity, lectures, films and books, has strengthened the struggle against climate change. he is probably the single individual who has done most to create greater worldwide understanding of the measures that need to be adopted."

gore released a statement that said "i am deeply honored to receive the nobel peace prize. we face a true planetary emergency. the climate crisis is not a political issue, it is a moral and spiritual challenge to all of humanity."

bravo, al. and congratulations.

so....does this mean anything for the presidential primary race?

ummm...that's a discussion for another time.

e.

Thoughts on 34

i approached turning 34 today with an odd mix of emotions. at once disinterested, i was also oddly disconcerted.

i admit that 34 is not a momentous event. it's not turning 30 and it's not 35. i'm thankful that i'm not yet classified as "pushing 40" but i did find the occasion a reason to reflect.

i certainly had hoped by now that i would be in new york city.... if not having my plays produced at least working towards that goal.

and i find i have little time (nor energy) in my current situation......

certainly work plays a large factor and i'm most assuredly not happy in my job these days.

i continue to be eternally single... still waiting for the day that i may actually find love.

so i think on my life so far and i seem to only find disappointment. unanswered goals and dreams.

but then i look harder.....

the work i'm doing is good work. it's not motivated through selfishness (although the paycheck is nice) and i enjoy that my work may....in some respect....add to the greater good.

i am surrounded by a tremendous group of friends.... they mean far more to me than i fathom a partner ever could.....

my friends sally, steven & wolf took me to see the alley's production of 'arsenic and old lace' tonight. as my friend sally says, "it was a hoot." it could obviously never match the hilarity of the cary grant film but i had never seen it on stage and i was delighted.

is it a major piece of theatre? no.... but for a treat on my birthday..... and as a part of ushering in the halloween season..... i couldn't ask for more.

and now i'm home.... alone, yes. but comforted by the life i have created for me in this place.... the place i've long wanted to leave yet a place that has been surprisingly good to me.

several productions of my pieces... including two in recent years. ten minutes only, yes. but pieces of mine. out there.

and i'd be remiss not to mention my family.... far more supporting than i may have ever expected. a family that not only "accepts me" (what an idiotic phrase, really) but truly cares for me and loves me.

as the final minutes of my 34th birthday come to a close.... i do look at my life with a great sense of disillusionment and disappointment.

but at 34 i'm also smart enough to be thankful for what i do have.

and that ain't half bad......

e.

More Politics? Why Not...

fred's big debut

well, fred thompson had his official coming out party this afternoon by attending his first republican debate.

how was he....?

as roger simon put it: he wasn’t terrible. he wasn’t great. he was just “eh.”

there were no "soviet union" remarks or dismissives of the terri schiavo case.... instead, thompson was simply overshadowed by the bickering between rudy and romney.

just about everything i've read and watched gave the debate to rudy.... but chuck todd points out that the format favors both giuliani and romney in the first place. but when asked who up there looked like they could go head to head against hillary...? the answer was clear: rudy.

"romney is playing to the conservative head," chuck says. "rudy is playing to the conservative gut."

while fred stumbled at the beginning and had a nice remark about the race being "pretty boring" before he showed up.... rudy was smart enough to attack hillary and romney at the same time.

romney....for his part....said he would have to check with his attorneys before attacking iran's nuclear facilities.

um....mitt? a couple of points of fact: 1) the GOP cheers when you want to increase the amount of torture at gitmo. no need to be delicate. they want you to blow the shit out of iran.... 2) lawyers? really? you're bringing up lawyers in a room full of republicans? did you not see the attacks against edwards in 2004?

anyway.... nothing spectacular really. so let's look at poll numbers instead!

new hampshire & south carolina

i've been talking a lot about iowa the past several days. and i always seem to allude to hillary's strength in other primary states. how 'bout some specifics?

a cnn poll conducted by the university of new hampshire shows hillary waaaaaay out front with 41% of the vote. her closest rival: obama at 19%. the remainder of the field: edwards 11%, gore 7%, richardson 6% and on and on......

a cnn/opinion research poll shows clinton also ahead in south carolina with 39% of the respondents. obama comes in second, again, with 25% and edwards comes in at 15%.

so...you see why barack and johnny boy need to win iowa. if they can get something going there.... maybe it will snowball through tsunami tuesday.

but hill is looking formidable.

oh....but could we PLEASE stop with all the inevitability talk? as al michaels and john madden might say... let's not put the kibosh on my girl.

michigan

well....i wasn't going to talk about michigan tonight, but why not?

the wolverine state has decided to move up its democratic primary before the cutoff point set down by the dnc of february 5th. this has upset the powers that be.

while all of the dems have already pledged not to campaign in michigan... five have now moved to have their names removed from the primary ballot: obama, edwards, richardson, biden and kucinich.

biden is calling the michigan primary a "beauty contest" and trying to limit its impact.... especially with the majority of candidates out. but if no one is campaigning in the first place, why the more extreme move?

bill schneider of cnn explains: "if there's no campaign, the candidate most likely to win michigan is hillary clinton. her democratic rivals don't want a clinton victory in michigan to count. they want iowa and new hampshire, where they have a better chance of stopping clinton, to count more."

but what does this mean down the road....? i mean, florida is in the same predicament. do we as a party want two pivotal states pissed at the dems once we move into the general election?

now...i'm all for protecting the history of iowa, new hampshire and south carolina going first. but why do these states get so much say in presidential politics?

well, apparently, they take it all very seriously.... spending most weekends during primary season out with notepads, taking notes, listening to the candidates.... would other states put so much effort into it?

not sure... so let's say for the sake of history and tradition for now.

back to michigan..... schneider goes on to say that hillary may benefit from even a non-competitive win in michigan for no other reason than "it will earn her a lot of good will in michigan if the state schedules a later caucus to pick its delegates."

i guess bill is saying.... it's still all very fluid. it could all still change.

but now that we're into the regular season..... there's never a dull moment.

e.

Keep An Eye On:

october 12th..... this friday the nobel peace prize winner is announced and a lot of people think former vice president and democratic candidate for president, al gore, has a real chance of taking it home.

newsweek has an interesting article discussing the possibility of whether or not it could convince gore to jump into the presidential race.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21192478/site/newsweek/

think about it:

"oh, you want to bring peace to the middle east? nobel peace prize...."

"bring unity back to the united states? unity to the world.... nobel peace prize."

it's one helluva credential......

my friend salsez and i used to dream of gore entering the race.... but is it too late? has the time passed?

look at fred thompson.... his recent non-starter status would suggest september was too late. but then again....he's not exciting the republicans the way they hoped.

gore would excite.... a peace prize under his belt. his campaign to help stop global warming. and let's not count out the number of dems who think gore was screwed by the high court in 2000.

personally.... i think it's too late. sorry, al. i loves ya, i do. but i'm 100% behind hill these days and i don't need a spoiler. i think it could have a backlash effect..... many voters think it might simply be too late.

then again.... in previous years, nobody even paid attention to politics before september. so does the different animal the primary season has become in this open season change the rules?

and on that note.... i'd like to say that i don't think this type of primary race will become a familiar site. a lot of people seem to think this is the future of politics.... campaigning two years out.

remember: there is no presumptive candidate this year. no vice president that wants to run (thank allah). both sides are wide open.... it's been a looooooong time since that has happened.

it's exciting. and it's cracked the system wide open.

so don't get used to it.... but it is a lot of fun for us political junkies. lately - it's like heroin.... but i'm still able to work.

as for gore.... good luck this friday. you deserve it. but maybe pass on the presidential politics this year. i'm sure hillary will find a place for you in her administration.

as they say... it's all good.

peace.

e.

Weekend Quick Hits

well....there was a lot of good stuff this weekend and i'm all a bit tuckered out. but let's see how much of the good stuff we can get through, shall we....?


new poll numbers
always a great place to start.

the latest ap/ipsos poll of the 2008 democratic candidates has senator clinton leading the pack with 46% of the vote. she's followed way behind by senator obama at 23% and john edwards at 11%.

it's not the 53% she has in the abc/post poll...but it's still a 23% lead over barack.

the same ap poll has rudy continuing his lead in the GOP race with 27% followed by thompson at 23%, mccain at 13% and romney holding on at 11%.

speaking of ap polls
louisiana state university received every #1 vote cast in the ap college ball poll this weekend. after southen cal's stunning loss to stanford on saturday, however, how could they not be?

my second sister-in-law kelly (also the second kelly), graduated from lsu. so i'm happy.... not crazy about their caged tiger.... but that's another entry.

texas lost to oklahoma at this year's red river rivalry.... so the fucking sooners are back in the top ten but texas is still in the top 25 coming in at #23.

i like to include that for my aggie readers who want to say they're better than texas. you beat fucking osu.... who hasn't beaten oklahoma state? anyway.... texas a&m.....? nowhere in the top 25.

but i digress.....

the des moines register poll
yes, my fellow political junkies.... my lovelies. this is the big one. this is the most revered poll in the run up to the iowa caucuses (scheduled january 3rd, officially, by the way).

while the audacity of obama does lead in another iowa poll, the register shows hillary topping the list with 29%. "hope is on the way" follows with 23% and obama has appeared to stall out at 22%.

the poll has a plus or minus of 5 points, i believe.... so that does put hillary out above a statistical tie.

john harwood uttered what i've been hearing on every political show and reading in every poltical post over the past week: "if [hillary] wins in iowa, the democratic race ends that night."

edwards and obama have to win iowa. but even if hillary comes in second - she can still pull off the nomination. john and barack.... it's iowa or nothing.

and everyone..... EVERYONE seems to be harping on this "dean, dean, dean" bullshit.... yes, howard dean was way ahead in 2004. but so what?

that was a different campaign. bush hadn't driven the american dollar down to equal the canadian dollar in worth at that point. think about that... the canadian dollar is worth the same as a fucking american dollar. what has bush done to us....?

electability is still a big factor, yes.... but we have a great field... i think people will be voting more from their gut this year. and hillary seems to be the favorite.

quickly....on the republican side: the des moines register has flip-flop in the lead at 29% with fizzled out fred at 18%, i heart huckabee third at 12% (good for him), "ground zero" giuliani at 11% and the straight talk express pulling in last at 7%.

well, shit.....
i got side-tracked for a bit and had to watch the end of the dallas-buffalo game. after five intercepted passes off of golden boy romo (two resulting in touchdowns). a touchdown return on a kick off..... somehow.... somehow.... the bills still managed to lose in the last two seconds. field goal by dallas. final score: 25-24, dallas. jesus - buffalo just can't win.....

i'll hear it from my dad tomorrow.....

but hey - you know who loves the bills? tim russert.

meet the press quote of the week -or - let's talk about hillary
i'm happy to report that some very smart people have obviously been reading me and have picked up on my fear of hillary's non-answers.

despite the fact that hillary "broke the political sound barrier at 50%," as maggie carlson put it.... her stunning ability to dance around most answers has really begun to catch the eyes of the press corps.

ted koppel talked about being wary of "handlers" and that even they can overdo it.

i say let hillary be hillary. i stumbled across a great bit today where hill had stopped in a cafe and was drinking out of a pepsi cup. a gentleman from the press asked her: "diet or regular?" hill quickly came back: "ice tea. unsweetened." then after a pause: "news flash!"

the woman is funny. let her be herself....... if not, well, as our quote from david broder of the washington post says: "i believe if mrs. clinton sticks to her position of not saying anything about any subject, she will pay a price for that."

be yourself, hill. i saw you here in houston and you were flawless. have confidence in yourself and speak out.....

give 'em hell, hill....

other football musings
my houston texans beat miami this week to move ahead a 3-2 team. first time in franchise history. miami now drops to 0-5. ouch.

the boys looked..... ummmmm.... okay. but really - it was all kris brown. my little hottie in the compact package kicked three field goals over 50-yards long. the final, and game-winning kick, from 57 yards.

as all houston fans have been muttering: thank god for kris brown. and i don't even believe in god!

the packers fell apart in the second half of last night's game to lose to the bears. i love both of those teams...but i was cheering on my brett. who....as it turns out....shares a birthday with me. huh.

anyway...the packers fall to 4-1 which only leaves three undefeated teams in the nfl: indy, new england.... and please just kill me: the cowboys.

next week houston faces jacksonville. i want to say that we've won just about every competition against the jags. which is good... jack del rio just pisses me off. he looks like such a shithole.

but i digress.....

e.

p.s.

thank you to all my friends & readers.... i have officially topped over 100 visits to my blog. makes a fag feel proud.....

Benefits of Being Gay & A Vegetarian

1. i don't have to worry about meat recalls.

after more than 21.7 million pounds of ground beef were recalled on september 25th, topps meat company is closing its doors. topps, one of the country’s largest manufacturers of frozen hamburgers, announced today it was going out of business. last months' recall was the second largest recall of beef in this country's history.

e. coli contaminated meat from topps has been reported in pennsylvania, new jersey, new york, connecticut, maine, florida, indiana and ohio.

man, i'm glad i don't eat meat.

of course, there was that pesky spinach scare..................

2. i don't have rugrats that suck on lead-painted toys.

i've been looking around for certain numbers but there have been so many recalls over the past several months that i just don't know where to begin. millions upon millions of toys have been recalled due to high levels of lead contained in the paint. especially that pretty, red paint.

and hit most of all.... something called "thomas and friends." i have no idea. i think thomas is a train. or a conductor. something. i'm pretty sure he's red.

and i don't mean a communist......

apparently after the initial toy recall, bonus gifts were sent out for little timmy and tammy to suck on when it turned out.... shock! lead in those choo-choo's too.

kids can't catch a break......

but i say "good!" selfish, little bastards...... get off your cell phones, stop sucking on epileptic seizure elmo and fetch me a cocktail.

thank allah, i'm gay......

do you think that line will upset mahmoud? do you really think he thinks iran is homo-free? no wonder the republicans want to invade.... a land without homosexuals! but then who will give 'em a reach around in the mensroom?

our server is down at the office. can you tell?

fuck me, i'm bored..........

e.

GOP Update - or - Why I Love Them So

secrets & lies

the ny times is reporting that shortly after gonzo came to lead the justice department in february of 2005, a secret document was circulated that permitted "an expansive endorsement of the harshest interrogation techniques ever used by the central intelligence agency."

according the the times:

the new opinion...for the first time provided explicit authorization to barrage terror suspects with a combination of painful physical and psychological tactics, including head-slapping, simulated drowning and frigid temperatures.

...

the classified opinions, never previously disclosed, are a hidden legacy of president bush’s second term and mr. gonzales’s tenure at the justice department, where he moved quickly to align it with the white house after a 2004 rebellion by staff lawyers that had thrown policies on surveillance and detention into turmoil.

that W is a real fucker....

this one will have legs, my friends. mark my words.

happy feet

senator larry "wide stance" craig (r-idaho) was once again denied pleasure today. a minnesota jugde denied craig's request that his guilty plea be withdrawn. for those of you who may not remember (but really, how could you not?), craig had plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct as a result of his tap, tap, tapping in a minneapolis airport mensroom.

he's such a naughty, nasty, dirty, little boy.......

hennepin county district judge charles porter ruled that the guilty plea was entered "accurately, voluntarily and intelligently." i.e. too little, too late.

from cnn:

in a sharply worded, 27-page order, the judge found the idaho republican had freely given his plea after extensive discussions with prosecutors and after waiving his right to an attorney.

"The defendant, a career politician with a college education, is of at least above-average intelligence," porter wrote. "he knew what he was saying, reading and signing."

back to his beard in idaho, i guess.....

on a side note: congressional republicans canceled a press conference they had planned for today because they knew every question would concern craig.

you can run..... but you can't hide.

oh, snap! update: just read that larry craig has vowed to serve out his current term in the senate and not resign. good, good, good.... stay in the senate. stay in the news. make the GOP squirm.

craig is the best thing to happen to the republicans since jim jeffords!

domenici's degeneration

the AP is reporting that senator domenici intends to announce that he suffers from "frontotemporal lobar degeneration, a progressive disease that in some forms can cause dysfunction in the parts of the brain important for organization, decision-making and control of mood and behavior."

in domenici's prepared statement, the senator will say:

the progress of this disease is apparently erratic and unpredictable. it may well be that seven years from now, it will be stable. on the other hand, it may also be that the disease will have incapacitated me. i am not willing to take a chance that the people who have so honored me with their trust for 40 years might not be served as well as they deserve in the united states senate.

of course, there's also that big cloud of controversy surrounding his involvement with the firing of prosecutor david iglesias.

but ya know..... this excuse flies too.

another side note: dems dream candidate to replace domenici in the senate? governor bill richardson. of course, his camp says he's dedicated to winning the white house. but - well - let's be honest with one another.

of course, i was somewhat predicting richardson would be hill's candidate for veep. especially since she and barack don't seem to get along.

then again....my ideal ticket: clinton/obama 2008.

i'm just saying.....

anyway - keep up the good work, republicans. you're making 2008 look all shiny and bright for the dems.

e.

More From the ABC/Post Poll

you guys know how much i love polls..... and the most recent abc/washington post poll has focused heavily on a potential head-to-head contest between two yankees fans: hillary vs. rudy.

but be patient, my fellow political junkies. let's break down the parties first. and remember, these are national numbers.

the dems

when asked if the democratic primary were held today, who would they vote for.... a MAJORITY (for the first time - a full majority) said they would vote for hillary: 53%. that is an amazing number. obama continues to fall at 20% and no-go edwards stands at 13%. this means hillary holds a commanding 33 point lead over barack. 40 points over johnny boy.

and i know the polls in iowa are much closer....but people do love to back a winner.

and they've also asked the all important question of electability. let's remember that dean was leading all the polls in 2004 until kerry suddenly seemed more electable.

so when asked which democrat has the best chance of being elected president, a whopping 57% said my girl hillary. (put that in your pipe and smoke it, doubters....) obama actually scores lower than edwards at 16% and 20%, respectively.

so why is obama having such a hard time.....? everyone predicted such a soaring ascent in the polls once he announced in springfield. in all honesty....when i noticed no major bump after people got to know him, i thought he was in trouble.

now...i'm not saying he's out of it. but he is limiting his chance for success with his "politics of hope." at some point.... he'll need to attack hillary. and by name.

but will that knock him down from his pedestal? and is he, ultimately, "too national public radio" for the general public (as chris matthews put it)?

the struggling GOP

in the republican field... giuliani holds the lead at 50%. mccain trails at 15%, thompson continues to prove himself as a non-starter with 13% and flip-flop trails behind them all at 6%.

interesting..... i think fred waited too long and his lackadaisical attitude is simply not exciting the GOP. and what does this do to my romney prediction......?

but let's get to the good stuff.

hillary clinton vs. rudy giuliani

earlier this year hillary topped rudy just barely at 49% to 47% in the abc/post poll. she has since widened that gap.....now beating giuliani 51% to 43%.

ooooh. i like that sensation.......

in fact, when asked respondents if they would be committed backers, 30% said they would "definitely" support clinton. only 17% said they would "definitely" support giuliani.

and the break down between parties is even more interesting. for hillary: 60% of dems, 21% of independents and 5% of republicans would definitely support. for rudy: 5% of dems (so they're even) but only 14% of indies and only a mere 39% of republicans.

that can't be good...... who will excite the GOP base? so sad.....

finally.... i want to talk about those voters who would NOT, under any circumstance, vote for hill or rudy. 44% said they would never vote for rudy. a touch worse than the 41% that would not vote for hill. those numbers show a majority, at least, would consider voting for either candidate. a good sign.

other interesting numbers

pulling quotes directly from the survey:

To most Americans, Bill Clinton looks good in retrospect: Sixty-six percent in this poll approve of the way he handled the job, while just 32 percent disapprove. And among those approvers [is that a word, dan balz?], seven in 10 favor his wife over Giuliani in their hypothetical match-up.

so nix the concerns about another clinton in the white house.

This doesn’t mean most people expect a Hillary Clinton presidency to be a replay of her husband’s; 67 percent say they’d expect her to take the presidency in a different direction, and the vast majority of them say that’s a good thing. (Notably, moreover, among the 27 percent who think a Hillary Clinton presidency would represent a resumption of her husband’s two terms, nearly half say that would be a good thing.)

again....a very encouraging sign.

one last bad sign for the struggling GOP
quoting the survey:

While Clinton if nominated has the most "definite" voters, at 30 percent, only two candidates are ruled out by majorities of Americans: Republicans Mitt Romney – 57 percent say they definitely would not support him for president – and Fred Thompson, ruled out by 54 percent.

again...does not bold well for my mitt prediction. to see the entire polling results, follow this link:

http://abcnews.go.com/images/Politics/1046a308GeneralElection.pdf

meanwhile, go hillary!

e.

Domenici to Depart

breaking this evening: senator pete domenici (r-new mexico) is set to announce he will not seek a seventh term when his sixth ends next year. domenici has served in the senate for 35 years and is one of the most senior republicans in congress.

as chris cillizza of the post reports in "the fix":

domenici has struggled with health problems over the last several years and has been dogged by questions about the role he may have played in the firing of u.s. attorney david c. iglesias in albuquerque. as a result, he had long been rumored as a potential retirement. domenici's senate office did not return a call this afternoon, but sources close to the senator say he will fly home to new mexico tomorrow to make the announcement that he is retiring.

with domenici's retirement looming, he makes the fourth republican to jump the GOP sinking ship this year. earlier this year, republican senators john warner (virginia), chuck hagel (nebraska) and wayne allard (colorado) also announced plans to not seek re-election.

do you think bush and the remainder of the GOP field might be getting the hint?

the party has lost its way. no more are the days of reagan (thank buddah). but hey..... what we got ain't any better.

by the way.... domenici was one of the republicans to condemn bush's iraq war policy earlier this year. hmmm......... there appears to be a trend.

oh....and for those keeping score at home: republicans must now defend 22 of the 34 senate seats in 2008. the dems only have 12 seats up for re-election.....

i'm feeling better already.....

e.

Post Vacation Catch-Up

it was not an easy ten days, my lovelies.... little time for news. no time to blog. my parents still have dial-up, for chrissakes.

but i'm back.... and there's a shitload to talk about. where to begin?

the grand ole party hates black people

or they at least have written them off as being worthy of inclusion. only 6 out of the ten GOP contenders for president bothered to show up at the tavis smiley forum on minority issues the other week. the top four contenders were those absent: giuliani, romney, thompson and mccain. they all claim scheduling conflicts.

but as buchanan pointed out... african american voters only make up ten percent of the electorate. only about 10% of that 10% vote republican. so why show up?

it's just insulting all around............. and embarrassing all around to the GOP. shit, even bush spoke out about it. and we know he doesn't care about black people. just ask kanye west.

what's most surprising in this....despite pat's reasoning..... bush won ohio in 2004 in large part because of the 16% african american vote he carried. that 16% won him the election.

who is running these campaigns? at least attempt to be competitive.

"well, he's not standing here"

perhaps the best moment during last wednesday's democratic debate in new hampshire came when that ole rascal tim russert surprised hillary with a quote from her hubby bill about a possible exception to using torture. she answered per her convictions. when russert revealed the speaker of the quote, hillary's response:

"well, he's not standing here right now."

"so there's a disagreement?" russert pressed.

"well...." hillary demured. "i'll talk to him later."

it was a beautiful moment and the one most discussed from the debate. my only concern for hillary: she needs to start being more direct in her answers. people are starting to really take notice and you can only dance around topics so long. i know she's afraid of pigeon-holing herself before the general election.... but people are tired of non-answers. we get enough of that from republicans.

giving props where props are due

i know john "hope is on the way" edwards has become my favorite punching bag as of late... but he did have a brilliant moment on wednesday. when discussing hillary's vote to list the iranian military as a terrorist entity (why the FUCK did you do that, hill?), johnny boy talked about the danger of conceding any territory to bush that might lead to more possible conflicts in the future.

quoting edwards:

we learned a very different lesson from that. ... what I learned in my vote on iraq was you cannot give this president the authority and you can't even give him the first step in that authority because he cannot be trusted.

amen, and bravo.

january 1, 2013

not one of the three front runners in the democratic field would promise to have all combat troops out of iraq by january 1, 2013 (the start of their second term). kiddies, i'm afraid we're in it for the long haul.

third quarter dollars

for the first time, senator clinton has out raised superstar barack obama. with estimated third quarter earnings being reported this week, obama raised $19 million in primary cash. a very impressive number.

hillary raised $22 million.

for the first time ever, hillary's individual number of new donors also topped obama's.

up, up and away........

on the GOP side, well, it's pretty pathetic really:

flip flop romney raised $10 million. "i spent more time at ground zero" giuliani raised $9 million. and fizzlin' out fred thompson raised only $8 million in his first quarter of official fundraising. mccain only raised $5 million.

perhaps the biggest surprise? texan congressman and all around anarchist ron paul raised $3 million. that is more than other, considered more serious candidates: biden, dodd and huckabee.

great obama quote

again...in the spirit of giving props where props are due:

some now seek to rewrite history. they argue that they weren't really voting for war, they were voting for inspectors. or they were voting for diplomacy... you need to ask those who voted for the war how can you give the president a blank check and then act surprised when he cashes it?"

it's a great quote... but why is he so hesitant to name clinton by name? or even edwards? he's real tough on the campaign trail... but then sits on the back burner during debates. it's possible obama's campaign of hope has limited what he can do in terms of attacking other democratic candidates and really distinguishing himself from the rest of the field.

i know the attacks have hurt edwards.... and you have to be careful with them. but at some point - he needs to be more forceful if he wants to take this thing.

the forgotten war

the media is reporting that overall violent attacks in iraq were down in the month of september. violent attacks are up 20% in afghanistan. the highest since the war began.

just thought you should know....

$190 billion

the bush administration has asked congress for another $190 billion for the iraq war.

wow.

a new abc/washington post poll asked if congress should approve this latest request? 27% said yes. an overwhelming 67% of americans think they should not.

the poll also asks the all important job approval ratings.

while bush's approval rating stands at 33% (equal to its lowest point in this poll), congress continues to bottom out with an approval rating of only 29%.

what's behind this number? 55% of respondents feel the democrats in congress have not gone far enough in opposing the war.

i've heard a lot of talk about democrats wanting leaders in washington. they may or may not understand that the dems do not have enough votes to end the war.... but at least lead the discussion. bob herbert of the ny times said it was time for the democrats to stand up. he describes the dems as a "timid party."

make some noise, nancy and harry! hold votes. make the GOP accountable. do something. anything. just show us you're trying and you understand our frustration.

don't just make calls to clear channel. which brings us to....

comedian rush limbaugh

to steal a title from keith olbermann. ole blow hard limbaugh is in a heap of trouble after he called iraqi war vets who have returned to speak out against the war "phony soldiers."

and before anyone wants to defend rush... if there's nothing wrong with what he said - why did he edit out the phrase before it was rebroadcast on armed forces radio? as general wesley clark said: "he knew he made a mistake."

don't attack the soldiers, rush.... your party doesn't like it. nobody likes it. have we learned nothing from "nappy, headed hos"?

what really amazes me is watching the pundits dance around the question of "phony soldiers" vs. "general patraeus or general betray us."

that uber-dunce heidi harris made the comment that she's upset harry reid would take time on the floor of the senate to condemn limbaugh's comments. that she pays for that time....

well..... what about john cornyn and moveon.org? he introduced a goddamn senate resolution to condemn the patraeus ad.

of course....ask a democrat if what limbaugh said is wrong in attacking a soldier... was the moveon ad wrong in attacking an acting general. dems dance pretty well, too.

in the spirit of nonpartisanship. which i think is bullshit - but there ya go.

as ted rall once wrote.... we don't vote in candidates to be bipartisan. we vote in people because they hold our views and we want them to fight for them.

iowa

newsweek has some interesting poll numbers out. we'll take them one party at a time.

2008 iowa causus - republicans

all republican voters break down as follows: romney 25%, thompson 16%, giuliani 15%, mccain 7% (my, how the mighty have fallen) and huckabee 6%.

of likely caucus voters: romney 24%, thompson 16%, giuliani 13%, mccain 9% and huckabee tops mccain at 12%.

dan balz of the washington post describes any type of support for a republican candidate in iowa as "soft." he also agrees with me that there's an interesting potential for huckabee in iowa. a lot of people reference the high howard dean numbers before he bombed out in iowa and want to make that argument for the dems. but why not the republicans? could huckabee be the spoiler? he performs very well in debates. he's a true christian conservative and thompson has not skyrocketed as people had hoped. he also scored very high in the straw poll.

however....having said all this. i'm about ready to put my GOP prediction in print. i think it will be romney for president. but i'm not ready to quite stand by that statement 100%. not quite yet.

pat buchanan thinks somebody will have to take down romney and only rudy will have the cash to do it. thompson's only shot it in south carolina. if he doesn't win there - he's out.

2008 iowa causus - democrats

the breakdown for all democratic voters have clinton leading at 31% with obama at 25%, edwards at 21% and richardson bringing up the rear at 6%.

funny side story: my dad decided not to watch the debate last wednesday... not the majority of it, anyway. when i told him that richardson continued to make his grand, verbal mistakes and referred to barack obama as the "n" word.... i thought he had ignored me. but no.... he believed me. just goes to show what a verbal fuckup richardson can be. even a richardson supporter thought he was dumb enough to use the "n" word. ugh....

likely caucus voters is much more interesting. clinton drops to 24%. obama wins at 28%. edward remains steady at about 22% and richardson rises to 10%.

it's really interesting that obama leads with likely voters. as i've said several times before: iowa is the basket edwards has placed all his eggs. if he doesn't win iowa - he's out. but could obama win?

balz made an interesting point that bill clinton never had to run in iowa in 1992. harkin was running for president so everyone skipped the iowa caucus. so the clintons never really developed a network in iowa the way they did in new hampshire. and, according to balz, there's not a great affection for hillary in iowa the way there is in n.h.

david gregory of nbc news says "this should really show people that this is still a race and not hillary clinton running away with it."

yes....she is WAAAAAAAAY ahead in all national polls. (by the way - she's polling way ahead of the entire race in arkansas - dems and republicans alike. even against arkansas governor huckabee.) but you have to win those early states.

which brings us to.....

meet the press quote of the week

yes, yes...... i have been neglectful of my meet the press. two sundays ago - too busy in chicago. the sunday before that... prepping for my vacation.

but i return with a surprising choice. i never thought i'd see the day i would quote this gentleman, but i already have once or twice in this entry... so why not give him the grand honor?

i can't stand the man's politics.... but there's no arguing his political savvy.

this week's quote comes from former GOP candidate for president and current msnbc pundit, pat buchanan. allow me to preface this with his belief...and i tend to agree.... that obama has to win iowa or it's over. apparently, he agrees with michelle on this one. i would argue that edwards is in the same boat. says pat:

if hillary wins [iowa], she rolls right through new hampshire and the game is over. hillary is in the finals. these two are fighting to get into the semifinals, or get into the finals. and i don't think edwards, if he wins, can go the distance. i do think obama can go the distance but he can't get beat in iowa.

what's happened to my texans?

i know they're riddled with injuries.... ahman green is out. andre johnson is out.... but we looked like shit on sunday against atlanta. we lost to an 0-3 team! this week... we face miami. an 0-4 team.

please don't let the texans give miami their first W.

i hope our injured players are back.... and our defense can regain their mojo. the once hopeful playoff dreams are quickly fading from my friends (and from me). show us you got what it takes......

besides.....my dad's team is 4-0. i can't take his cowboys winning much longer. he gloats.

my boyfriend

by the way.... jake is hurt in carolina so david carr started for him on sunday. three sacks. lost the game.

come to mamele. i'll make it all better......

e.

Back In The Saddle Again

yes, my lovelies... i'm back after a long hiatus.

i found this recreation of my trek through the midwest with my dear friend sally: little rock and a pilgrimage to pay our respects at the clinton library. wrigley field and the art institute of chicago. my birthplace. my grandparents’ final resting place. a winery in wisconsin with a riesling i actually liked. getting kicked out of an apple orchard.

and much, much more…. all in ten days time.

ask me about it sometime…. i’ll tell you all about it. until then….

it’s good to be back.

e.