Gonzales 2.0

Under questioning from the Senate Judiciary Committee, AG Muksaey had this to say about waterboarding

It wouldn't be appropriate for me to pass definitive judgment on the technique's legality.

You're the top law enforcement officer in the nation and it wouldn't be appropriate?! This is the same shit this administration always pulls when questioned. "We don't need to discuss this, everything's fine, look the other way." And then the White House and its supporters accuse those asking the questions of wasting time on frivolous inquiries. I'm sick of this administration's contempt for rule of law.

Florida Offers Some Relief

With a petty, vindictive, and exploitative mayor placing a distant third and an ignorant Baptist minister no where to be seen, the results in Florida offer some hope that the Republican party can be saved from the neocon, religious nut jobs who have held it hostage. Granted, Florida is more liberal than some but it's an important state and combined with similar recent primary results it has pushed Giuliani out, put one more nail in Huckabee's campaign, and put McCain (the most palatable of the candidates) in the lead. This should change little with Super Tuesday just around the corner, when other important states like California and New York head to the polls. We just need to shake that damn positionless Mormon.

And what the hell is wrong with the Democratic primaries? Some states get delegates but others don't because they moved up their primaries? Come on. Grow up. We ought to be encouraging the democratic process. Taking away a states delegates, as the DNC did with Michigan and Florida, does nothing but penalize the democratic process and further disenfranchise those who feel like their vote does not count.

Bush to Address Earmarks

Among the usual ra ra ra for the wars, Bush plans on addressing the issue of earmarks in his State of the Union. Bush is expected to announce that he will sign an executive order "directing agencies to ignore any future earmarks included in report language, but not in the legislation". Abolishing earmarks by itself is an admirable goal, albeit a naive one. It's how Congress works unfortunately. But this feels like a step to sabotage Congress. Like it's all part of their plan to blame the Democrats for this administration's failures. An elaborate dine and dash. Bush let the Republican Congressmen run amok with earmarks and pork when the Republicans were in power and didn't give a damn. This is a piss poor attempt to try to reverse his legacy and avoid going down as one of the worst presidents ever. I can't wait til this hypocritical piece of shit is out.

Also included in the excerpts in this hackneyed talking point, "Some may deny the surge is working, but among the terrorists there is no doubt. Al Qaeda is on the run in Iraq, and this enemy will be defeated". This coming from the same administration that for nearly four years believed that if it just kept saying such crap we would win. Crap like "the insurgency is in its final throws". I believe the surge the is working. And I'm damn glad it is. But victory in Iraq should not be based solely on a military victory. Iraq has given little indication that it is ready politically and socially to "stand up". I want to hear less about the great surge and more concrete explanations of how in the hell the Iraqis are going to cooperate politically and socially to achieve the Democratic utopia that Bush described after his first reason for going to war turned out to be bullshit lies. God he disgusts me.

Giuliani Vying for Third

The only campaign run as badly as Thompson's has to be Giuliani's and his all-in bet on Florida. Polls now show the mayor running third! How's that strategy working for you now? If you're dumb enough to listen to a campaign strategist who tells you to campaign in just one state, you don't deserve to be president. I can hear Giuliani's lisp now..."maybe if I mention 9/11 to every person I meet and in response to every question, my numbers will go back up".

Fair and Balanced Moment of the Day

Could FOX be any more reverent of Bush? The featured story is FOX's upcoming documentary "George W. Bush: Fighting to the Finish" about the hunt for bin Laden, with the following picture of him bathed in the American flag. It's disgusting.

This picture is far more appropriate.

The Phelps Clan Can Rot in Hell

The Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, KS, known for picketing soldiers' funerals with signs like "Thank God for IEDs" and "God Hates Fags", is planning to protest outside Heath Ledger's memorial service in response to Ledger's role as a gay cowboy in "Brokeback Mountain". Shirley Phelps, ignorant bitch of a daughter to the ignorant bastard Fred Phelps, said "You cannot live in defiance of God. He (Ledger) got on that big screen with a big, fat message: God is a liar and it's OK to be gay," If we thinned these people from the herd would it really be a crime? Surely it is a capital offense to be so voluntarily stupid that you're this hateful.

Oh Yeah Hunter's Out Too

Duncan Hunter, who never had a shot in hell of becoming the nominee, announced the other day that he's out. But here is what gets me: Hunter and Huckabee are nearly the same candidate and yet Huckabee is a front runner. Both are essentially Bush 2.0 with extra religious zeal. And yet one pulled way ahead. The only difference I can spot is Huckabee's support of the "Fair Tax".

Thompson Opts for More Sleep

Thompson announced today that he's out of the race, ending possibly the biggest non-starter in the history of political campaigns. He had massive support and coverage going into this and he let it all go. I would bet there has never been a candidate so completely responsible for their own failure. It was his to lose and he just didn't show up. And it probably didn't help that when he did wake up long enough to campaign he spoke in Forest Gumpisms. It'll be really interesting to see how quick his trophy wife leaves.

Delegates or Headlines?

The results of the Nevada Democratic caucuses present an interesting question: Who really won, Hillary or Obama? While Obama picked up 13 delegates to Hillary's 12, news headlines gave the victory to Hillary for winning the "delegate equivalent". In an age in which people rely on headlines and soundbites rather than read into the meat of a story, I would argue the victory goes to Hillary, especially since she is presenting herself as a candidate who stumbled in the beginning but has since "found her voice" thus allowing her to regain the confidence of the American people and regain the momentum. The public wants a quick decision and news outlets gave it to them. Furthermore, in the wake of the 2000 elections, in which Bush won the presidency despite the popular vote, there may be a particular sensitivity to the will of the people, particularly among Democrats.

God's Forgetting About Huckabee

According to the Baptist preacher it is God's desire that he become president. With recent losses in New Hampshire, Michigan, and most recently South Carolina, it would appear that God is forgetting about his intolerant, ignorant, bigot of a child. Unfortunately he is still in the running, which still presents a sad commentary on the state of the Republican Party and its shift to the religious right.

Rewrite The Constitution?!

News of Huckabee's recent remarks regarding the rewriting of the Constitution are beginning to surface. At a campaign rally he argued that the document should be rewritten to reflect Christian values. And what's worse is that people were cheering their stupid heads off.

I'm so infuriated I don't know where to begin. This is supposed to be a free and tolerant country with a separation of church and state. We criticize and mock theocratic countries like Iran and yet we have a front runner who is an intolerant, ignorant evangelical minister! There is no defense for his remarks, though many supporters will try. In fact Huckabee did try, or rather the prick tried to dismiss the notion he suggested amending the Constitution.

I am praying he drops like rock, as he should. The America I believe in would not have this bastard as one of two candidates vying for the most powerful office in the world. Not even today's warped Republican party could support this. The mainstream news outlets have not run with the story yet but soon hopefully. And as if this is not enough to disqualify him, stories portraying a vindictive and unethical governor are very slowly surfacing. They can't come soon enough.

MSM

I try not to listen to the lard-filled ignorance that is Limbaugh, but I caught a couple minutes of him the other day during one of his rants against the mainstream media, which by some biased logic does not include FOX. Anyway, he was deriding the news outlets for declaring Romney and Rudy as being on their last breathes. FOX's headline reads..."Romney's Last Stand?" 2008 Hopeful Makes Final Plea". CNN, NBC, and the rest are stating the obvious. Rudy and Romney really are about dead. They need victories soon. And what strategist told Giuliani, who was widely predicted to be the Republican nominee, that he should only campaign in Florida? That has kept him out of the spotlight and therefore out of people's minds. At times I think he dropped out.

McCain/Clinton Win New Hampshire

I would almost be happy about McCain's win if it were not for the fact that he has pandered to the religious right. And Falwell of all people! It's like selling your soul to the devil. He's still probably the best Republican candidate out there. My hope is that he's merely giving lip service to the religious right.

But I couldn't be happier about Rudy's and Thompson's nose dives. Rudy has exploited 9/11 almost since 9/12. And Thompson was doomed from the beginning. He approached this like he did the Senate. He woke up long enough to be heard and then went back to sleep. I'm guessing his trophy wife is pissed as hell. As for Clinton, I guess there is crying on the campaign trail. There are so many things and so many people wrong with this election. It's one giant freak show. What the hell is happening to politics in this country?

Clinton's Attempt to Be Human

Clinton was on CNN last night explaining that she does in fact feel things. This was in response to a question concerning her emotional "breakdown" on Monday night in Portsmouth, which she says proves she has emotions. Whew! Check that one off the list. The woman spent some time in the White House, knows how to handle the "Republican attack machine" (despite crying over campaign pressures), and has emotions. Moving on people.

I can't help but feel the whole thing was calculated, as if she and her staff sat down and said "Obama pulls on people's heartstrings and emotions, but most think you're an emotional blackhole, so if you ever get the chance to shed a tear go for it". It feels like a shameless attempt to get back in the race. The woman has criticized her opponents for trying to marginalize her as a woman and then she goes and cries? Yeah that should make everyone think you belong. Man or woman, it doesn't matter. Just like in baseball, there's no crying on the campaign trail. It's weakness. Period.

What Has The Country Come To?

Last night's Iowa caucus results were devastating. The fact that a minister, who is so clearly biased towards Christianity and intolerant of other faiths and so clearly ignorant in the way only an evangelical minister could be, could so overwhelmingly take a state is extremely disconcerting, especially after seven years of Bush's religion-infused government. I know that's Iowa and that it's just one state, but it's significant momentum going into the other primaries, which follow so closely to one another it makes it difficult for other candidates to catch up. I hate nearly all of the Republican candidates, but for God's sake a minister! We might elect an intolerant minister to run the land of the free?

Although the Democrat race was much closer, Obama's 38% to Edwards' 30% is still a large margin of victory for a man who has the least experience and the most naivety of anyone in the Democrat field. I think the Democrat voters electing Obama are so overcome by their desire for change that they've been swept away by Obama's celebrity as the black outsider bent on solving all of the world's problems in just eight years. If it comes down to Obama versus Huckabee, I think the swing voters, of which there are a huge number, will disproportionately swing to Huckabee as the "safer", more practical choice. This is completely FUBAR.