Original Signal - Transmitting Politics

The Raw Story

Obama risks trap with Ahmadinejad letter, analysts warn: Obama risks trap with Ahmadinejad letter, analysts warn

McCain to stump for once-'reprehensible' Republican: McCain to stump for once-reprehensible Republican

Turley: Bush move 'almost sign of contempt' for 2008 results: Soon...: Turley: Bush move almost sign of contempt for 2008 results: Soon...

Bush could block subpoenas after departure: Bush could block subpoenas after departure

Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens now losing by 814 votes; Franken-Coleman recount to last for another month: Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens now losing by 814 votes; Franken-Coleman recount to last for another month

New Bush rule 'kicks Patriot Act foes right in the teeth': New Bush rule kicks Patriot Act foes right in the teeth

Iraq vet may replace Obama in Senate: Iraq vet may replace Obama in Senate

Idaho students chant 'assassinate Obama': Idaho students chant assassinate Obama

GOPers rethink 'socialism': GOPers rethink socialism

Helen Thomas back at work: Helen Thomas back at work

Conservatives already at war with Obama: Conservatives already at war with Obama

Obama could revoke secrecy orders protecting Bush records: Obama could revoke secrecy orders protecting Bush records

Nat'l press ignoring small-town racism?: The big papers print it all, right?Well, theyve certainly published their share of pro-Obama op-eds, front-page stories about the war in Afghanistan, and maps that show how all the rural red counties turned blue last Tuesday. Subscribers love reading about

Catholic Church cuts off ACORN funding: CNN) -- The Roman Catholic Church is cutting off funds to the community organizing group ACORN, citing complaints over its voter registration drives in the November 4 election as part of the reason.

Credit card debt forgiveness nixed: WASHINGTON ï¿½ Federal bank regulators have rejected a request by banks and consumer advocates for a program to let lenders forgive huge portions of credit card debt.The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency rejected the request for a special

Acid attack blinds Afghan student: Eight schoolgirls are targeted; teachers and residents rattled.

Hendrix's drummer Mitchell dies: Mitch Mitchell, the British drummer in the seminal 1960s band the Jimi Hendrix Experience, has been found dead in his US hotel room, authorities say.The 61-year-old was discovered in the Benson Hotel in Portland, Oregon, in the early hours of

Marrow transplant may have cured AIDS: BERLIN (AP) -- An American man who suffered from AIDS appears to have been cured of the disease 20 months after receiving a targeted bone marrow transplant normally used to fight leukemia, his doctors said...

Wall Street: Stocks fall on jobs data: NEW YORK Wall Street had a calmer start to trading Thursday, with stocks moderately lower after three straight days of declines. Investors appeared to take in stride a government report showing a larger-than-expected jump in unemployment claims.

10,000 gays march on NYC Mormon church: Activists rally at NYC Mormon temple to protest Calif. gay-marriage ban.

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Daily Kos

Just a reminder on that MN Senate seat...: As Scout Finch pointed out in yesterdays Midday Open Thread, the ultimate arbiter of the Minnesota Senate election (and indeed every Senate election) is... the Senate itself. So heres a little reminder of what looms in the background of the

New national security team takes a bow: As announced earlier, Barack Obama rolled out his new national security team this morning in a press conference in Chicago. Via press release, here are his prepared remarks: Good morning. Last week, we announced our economic team, which is working

Another RNC Candidate: Republicans just dont get it. Katon Dawson, the chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party, the latest candidate to throw his hat into the ring to become the next head of the Republican National Committee, is disappointed that his party

Obama Set To Announce Security Team: According to several reports, Senator Clinton will be in Chicago today to be formally named as the nominee for Secretary of State. According to Beth Fouhy with the AP, the Obama team negotiated with Bill Clinton to set the following

Cheers and Jeers: Monday: From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE... Morning Eve Recommended diaries goddess nyceve graduated from Barnard College (Columbia University), where she majored in Economics. She spends some of her time learning about the healthcare crisis first-hand at a hospital in Manhattan,

Your Abbreviated Pundit Round-up: Monday... time to go back to work, pundits. Paul Krugman: The idea that tight fiscal policy when the economy is depressed actually reduces private investment isn’t just a hypothetical argument: it’s exactly what happened in two important episodes in history.

Open Thread and Diary Rescue: Tonights rescue team is dadanation, grog, HansScholl, jlms qkw, sunspark says, and vcmvo2, with srkp23 editing. A Siegel writes in detail about the need for legislation to be passed like, H.R. 3021 the 21st Century Green High-Performing Public School Facilities

Next Year's Model: 2010 Races, Florida through Kansas: In the second installment of our look at coming 2010 races, we look at potentially hot races in Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Kansas. Florida The Sunshine State ought to have one of the most exciting, highest-profile,

Midday Open Thread: The U.S. Senate could intervene in the Minnesota election. Ultimately, the Senate has complete authority to determine who was elected, Washington University political scientist Steven Smith told the broadcaster, citing the canvassing boards decision this week to disallow disputed absentee

Polls and The Election – A Revisit: This is a good day to reflect and look back (theres a winter advisory here in CT), as we move into the holidays and look to January 20th and beyond (is Bush still here? Damn.) One of the hot topics

Can the GOP Find the 97 Electoral Votes It Needs?: John McCain pieced together just 173 electoral votes this year. Thats the 8th-worst showing by a Republican since 1916. (Interestingly, all seven weaker GOP showings came at the hands of just three men: FDR, LBJ and Bill Clinton.) To win

Recession And Children's Health Care – A Revisit: Ten months ago, we wrote this piece because we were concerned about what might be coming down the road. Like hurricanes and pandemics, recessions are inevitable, and preparing for them makes more sense than ignoring them. But how to prepare?

No Dark Cloud without a Darker Lining: President Elect Obama wasnt alone in seeing the economic collapse as a final judgment on the effectiveness of conservative fiscal policies. The idea that the personal greed of executives, the profit motive of corporations, and the overall health of society

Your Abbreviated Pundit Round-up: Sundays are a great day to abbreviate. Tom Friedman: If Iraq can keep improving — still uncertain — and become a place where Kurds, Sunnis and Shiites can write their own social contract and live together with a modicum of

Sunday Talk - A Tryptophan Down Memory Lane: Id like to begin this edition of Sunday Talk by giving thanks to the hosts who came before me — Al Rodgers, Newsie8200, and Sam Loomis. Thanks. Now that thats taken care of, I want to say one word to

Open Thread and Diary Rescue: This evenings Rescue Rangers are jlms qkw, grog, dadanation, srkp23, and sunspark says, with watercarrier4diogenes at the editors desk Tonights diaries cover a variety of interesting issues not covered by the traditional media (tm Kos) with the kind of research,

Murdoch "Despises" Falafel Bill O'Reilly?: Michael Calderone: In Michael Wolff’s forthcoming biography of Rupert Murdoch, The Man Who Owns The News, the author writes that the media mogul has seemed to turn away lately from his cable news network, and isn’t fond its top-rated personality,

Welcome to the Party: A blue collar man came home from a long day’s work to find his idealistic daughter had dropped in while doing some local community organizing. Like so many others in his income bracket, he considered himself to be a God

Western Guvs Take Lead on New Energy Policy: Recognizing the key role western states are going to take in the nations potential energy revolution, the Western Governors are weighing in with their recommendations for the Obama administrations national energy policy, and for action that should be taken in

Congress to ready legislation for Obama: Looks like it will be a matter of ready, set, go when Barack Obama is sworn in: WASHINGTON — Democratic Congressional leaders and the nascent Obama administration are moving quickly to assert control over federal policy, aiming to have economic,

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Think Progress

Palin Recycles Old Stump Speech In Georgia, But Replaces ‘McCain’ With ‘Chambliss’: Today, Gov. Sarah Palin traveled to Georgia to campaign for Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R), who faces a tough runoff election tomorrow against Democratic challenger Jim Martin. In the first of four stops today, in Augusta, Palin told the crowd, “The

Leahy: ‘Torture will be a major issue’; ‘All that’s going to be reviewed.’: During a press conference today, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, echoed President-elect Obama’s vow to end torture and pledged to continue investigating the Bush administration’s torture policies. “All that is going to be reviewed,” he

NBER: U.S. economy in recession since December 2007.: The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) announced today that the U.S. economy has been in recession since December 2007. NBER’s Business Cycle Dating Committee — “which maintains a chronology of the beginning and ending dates of U.S. recessions” —

Obama: ‘I Believe That 16 Months Is The Right Time Frame’ For Getting Out Of Iraq: At a press conference today where President-elect Barack Obama announced his national security team, a reporter asked Obama if he still intended to “withdraw all U.S. forces from Iraq in 16 months after Inauguration.” “I believe that 16 months is

Fox News shut out again at Obama press conference.: Fishbowl DC has been keeping tabs of which media outlets have been allowed to ask a question at President-elect Barack Obama’s five press conferences so far. They report Fox News is 0-5. “Questions instead went to such outlets as ABC,

Bush admits ‘I was unprepared for war.’: In an interview with ABC News that will air tonight, President Bush admits that he was unprepared to be Commander-in-Chief when he was elected:“I think I was unprepared for war,” Bush told ABC News’ Charlie Gibson in an interview airing

Note to CNN: There is no Assistant Secretary of State for African American Affairs.: A CNN chyron from this morning’s press conference:Susan Rice, the Obama administration’s new U.N. Ambassador, was not the “Assistant Secretary of State for African American Affairs.” There is no such position at the State Department. From 1997-2001, Susan Rice was

Obama trying to avoid picking intel officials associated with Bush’s policies.: The Wall Street Journal reports that Obama is “moving more slowly on his intelligence picks in an attempt to find experienced officials who aren’t associated with the Bush administration’s controversial interrogation policies.” After former CIA official John Brennan withdrew his

Bush to receive first-ever International Medal of Peace.: To mark World AIDS Day, Saddelback Pastor Rick Warren is hosting a Civil Forum on Global Health at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. Warren will present President Bush with the first “International Medal of PEACE” from the Global PEACE Coalition

ThinkFast: December 1, 2008: Later today, President-elect Barack Obama will name some members of his national security team. The appointments will reportedly mark “a sweeping shift of priorities and resources” by greatly expanding a “corps of diplomats and aid workers that, in the vision

Former interrogator slams torture: Torture has cost nearly as many lives as 9/11.: In a Washington Post op-ed today, a former Special Operations interrogator who worked in Iraq in 2006 sharply criticizes American torture techniques as ineffective and dangerous. “Torture and abuse cost American lives,” he writes:I learned in Iraq that the No.

Will: Economic Crisis May Only Be ‘A Financial Problem,’ ‘Rest Of Economy Is Doing Rather(...): Today on ABC’s This Week roundtable, conservative columnist George Will claimed it is possible that the economy may only be suffering from a “financial problem” while the rest of the economy is performing “rather well”:WILL: All will be forgiven if

Bush’s last-minute rule gutting worker protections may violate his own guidelines.: The Labor Department is attempting to complete a rule which “would add a step to the lengthy process of developing standards to protect workers’ health” and would thus make it more difficult to regulate toxic substances and chemicals that affect

Chambliss Still Unsure If Economy Is In Recession, Misstates ‘Technical Defintion’ Of A Rec(...): This morning of Fox News Sunday, host Chris Wallace asked Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) about a statement he made in July when he argued that the U.S. economy “may not be in a recession.” Wallace played a recording of Chambliss

Former Bush adviser: Obama’s cabinet is ‘much less ideological than George Bush’s cabinet.’: On ABC’s This Week today, former Bush strategist Matthew Dowd marveled at President-elect Barack Obama’s cabinet choices, saying that Obama will have “one of the most pragmatic, least ideological cabinets that we’ve seen in a long time.” Dowd noted that

Kristol Calls On Bush To Pardon Torturers And Wiretappers, Reward Them With Medal Of Freedom: In his new Weekly Standard column, right-wing pundit Bill Kristol lays out a to-do list for President Bush before he leaves office. He urges Bush to deliver speeches “reminding Americans of our successes fighting the war on terror.” Kristol dreams,

Report: Murdoch ‘absolutely despises’ Bill O’Reilly; Ailes ‘loathes him.’: In a forthcoming biography of Rupert Murdoch entitled “The Man Who Owns The News,” author Michael Wolff reports that the Fox News bosses have no fondness for Bill O’Reilly but are willing to tolerate him for his ratings:“It is not

Rove: We Don’t Need A Change In Our Health Care System: In an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal today, Karl Rove applauds Barack Obama’s appointment of a “first-rate economic team,” cheering the selections of Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, National Economic Council director Lawrence Summers, Council of Economic Advisers chief Christina

Dionne: ‘Obama’s Bush Doctrine.’: The Washington Post’s E.J. Dionne argues, “In electing Barack Obama, the country traded the foreign policy of the second President Bush for the foreign policy of the first President Bush.” Noting Obama’s willingness to heed the advice of Defense Secretary

Ex-defense contractor drops hints of another major corruption scandal.: Mitchell Wade, the corrupt former lobbyist who plead guilty in 2006 to bribing former Rep. Duke Cunningham (R-CA), is reportedly assisting “the government in investigating five other members of Congress,” according to a memorandum filed on Wednesday. The 42-page sentencing

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Little Green Footballs

Iowahawk: It Takes a Village of the Damned: Admit it — you thought about this movie too when you saw the creepy Obama kids.

Gallup Daily Tracking Poll: Obama Up By 11: The latest Gallup daily tracking poll: Obama’s Lead Expands to 11 Over McCain.

Script Kiddies in Trouble: Note to script kiddies: it’s probably not a good idea to break into a vice presidential candidate’s email account. Lawmaker’s son indicted in Palin e-mail hacking.WASHINGTON – A federal grand jury has indicted the son of a Democratic Tennessee state

Video: The Complete Second Presidential Debate: Here’s the complete 90-minute presidential debate, via C-SPAN.

LGF Reaches Six Million Comments!: It took less than seven months to get from five million comments to the milestone we reached early this morning—comment number six million. Woo hoo!Comment #6,000,000 was posted by “Equable,” who broke through the barrier with an appropriate sound effect.

Poll: Who Won?: A silly Internet poll asking a simple question:

Presidential Debate Thread 5, the Wrap-Up: John McCain needed to hit a home run tonight. Did he?

Presidential Debate Thread 4, with Live Video: Yet another debate thread...

Presidential Debate Thread 3, with Live Video: Another thread for the debate...

Presidential Debate Thread 2, with Live Video: Another thread for the debate...

Presidential Debate Thread 1: This political battle of wits is about to begin. Here’s the embedded live video feed from C-SPAN; we’ll see how their bandwidth holds up tonight (it crapped out in the Palin-Biden debate). CNN also has a live feed here.McCain is

Pre-Debate Thread 2, with Live Streaming: So far this C-SPAN live stream is working very well at Lizard HQ. Let’s hope it doesn’t bog down too much when the debate kicks off.UPDATE at 10/7/08 5:07:17 pm:Allen Forkum (of the lamented cartoon duo Cox and Forkum) emailed

Video: Obama Spokesman Admits Obama Knew About Ayers: What got into Time Magazine’s Mark Halperin? A journalist asking persistent questions about The One? This will never do.(Hat tip: Allah P.)

Simon: Blacklisting Myself: Roger Simon has a new book coming out in January, and he emails that it says nice things about yours truly—but not-so-nice things about Tinseltown: Blacklisting Myself: Memoir of a Hollywood Apostate in the Age of Terror: Roger L. Simon.More

US Shelves Iran Diplomatic Outpost: Last weekend the Bush administration quietly abandoned plans to send diplomats to Iran.WASHINGTON - The Bush administration has shelved plans to set up a diplomatic outpost in Iran, in part over fears it could affect the U.S. presidential race or

Bayefsky: Focus, People: We seem to have forgotten something: Focus, People.Since the time of Hitler, civilization has never been so close to the brink of total catastrophe. This American election will decide whether civilization as we know it will survive. As much as

Obama Was Not Ignorant About William Ayers: Barack Obama’s claims that he had no idea about William Ayers’ violent, radical history are simply false: Was Obama Ignorant About Bill Ayers? Of Course Not.Videos: The Ayers connection; Update: Obama doesn’t read newspapers?William Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn were very

GOP: The Obama Ayers Relationship: The GOP’s William Ayers portfolio.

Sarah Palin vs. The Moonbats of Southern California: LGF operative Ringo the Gringo was at Sarah Palin’s appearance at the Home Depot tennis center in Carson, California, and so were a few hundred screeching SoCal moonbats: Sarah Palin Visits Southern California on October 4, 2008.

Pat Condell Won't Back Down: Pat Condell has a few words for the people who got YouTube to ban his last video, and a bit of a clarification on his views about the religious apartheid kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

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Crooks and Liars

Ted Nugent loves him some Malkin and says a "Conservative revolution is brewing": The Republican party is in shambles and wingnut/washed up rocker Ted Nugent knows just how to fix the party.Make no mistake, conservative values and ideologies are embraced by Americans. The polls all indicate Americans

Mike's Blog Roundup: Faithful Progressive: Is the Civil War really over after all? Only ten percent of white voters in Alabama voted for Obama Connecting.the.Dots: Changing deck chairs on the Titanic. Now that the Republicans have handed us a socialist agenda, and branded Obama

Palin: Bringing up associations with extremists fine for thee, not for me: Download | Play Download | PlaySarah Palin was really good at talking out both sides of her mouth during her interview with

John McCain Visits The Tonight Show: Download | Play Download | PlayThe Tonight Show Nov. 11, 2008: John McCain does his first interview since losing the Presidential election.

Open Thread: Open Thread below...

C&L's Late Nite Music Club: Mitch Mitchell RIP: I met Mitch in LA a couple of times through some music friends, but that was a long time ago. RIP.Mitch Mitchell, drummer for the legendary Jimi Hendrix Experience of the 1960s and the groups last surviving member, was found

Report: Obama To Stand Up For Iraq Withdrawal: TPMs Josh Marshall asks Why Gates? Tuesday.Gareth Porter at IPS has been talking to (anonymous, as ever) Obama transition team folks who tell him that the chances of Robert Gates staying on as SecDef "are now about 10 percent". The

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Common Dreams

National Security Experts Grim on Terror War: National Security Experts Grim on Terror War

Study: Prison Population on the Rise: Study: Prison Population on the Rise

Lebanon Slides Towards Civil War as Anniversary of Hariri's Murder Looms: Lebanon Slides Towards Civil War as Anniversary of Hariris Murder Looms

Britain and US: Worst of Wealthy Nations for Children: Britain and US: Worst of Wealthy Nations for Children

US Briefing on Iran Discredits the Official Line: US Briefing on Iran Discredits the Official Line

Doubts Raised on Linking of Iran to US Deaths in Iraq: Doubts Raised on Linking of Iran to US Deaths in Iraq

Korea Deal Marks Big Victory for Realists: Korea Deal Marks Big Victory for Realists

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Michelle Malkin

Obama’s Missouri Goon Squad plays the victim: They are the thugs Obamas been waiting for.

Crap sandwich, crap numbers: “We just wanted to choose a really large number.”

Fannie, Freddie get federal grand jury subpoenas: The crony pseudocapitalists at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been served federal grand jury subpoenas. Read the rest »

Kill the bailout: The House floor debate is on: No cash for trash.

Hensarling: “If we lose our ability to fail, we will soon lose our ability to succeed.”: I cannot in good conscious support this legislation.

And now: L.A. $5 billion housing plan: Si, se puede.

“Buy my s**tpile, Henry”: Full of it.

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The Washington Monthly

Holder is aware of our laws and traditions: HOLDER IS AWARE OF OUR LAWS AND TRADITIONS.... At this mornings press conference in Chicago, I suspect most eyes were on Hillary Clinton. Thats certainly understandable -- shes a national political powerhouse poised to become the presidents most prestigious cabinet...

An official recession: AN OFFICIAL RECESSION.... The announcement was only a matter of time. The National Bureau of Economic Research said Monday that the U.S. has been in a recession since December 2007, making official what most Americans have already believed about the...

Bush says he was 'unprepared for war': BUSH SAYS HE WAS UNPREPARED FOR WAR.... Weve heard Bush express some various regrets in recent years, but I think this one is a first. Looking back on his eight years in the White House, President George W. Bush pinpointed...

Cabinet presser: CABINET PRESSER Barack Obama held his fourth press conference in seven days this morning, introducing his national security team. As expected, Hillary Clinton will be Secretary of State, Robert Gates will stay on as Defense Secretary, Eric Holder will be...

Monday's campaign round-up: MONDAYS CAMPAIGN ROUND-UP....Todays installment of campaign-related news items that wouldnt generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers. * After a procedural setback last week on counting absentee ballots, Al Frankens chances of victory...

International man of 'peace'?: INTERNATIONAL MAN OF PEACE?.... Mike Allen reported this morning, Pastor Rick Warren will present President George W. Bush with the first International Medal of PEACE from the Global PEACE Coalition in recognition of his contribution to the fight against HIV/AIDS...

Say goodbye to the Hummer?: SAY GOODBYE TO THE HUMMER?.... Rick Wagoner, CEO of General Motors, has a plan on how hed proceed to help secure a government rescue plan. It includes shedding some GM brands. GM is studying eliminating brands, with Pontiac and Saab...

Why CNN is hosting a 'newspaper summit': WHY CNN IS HOSTING A NEWSPAPER SUMMIT.... This should be interesting. CNN, in the afterglow of an election season of record ratings for cable news, is elbowing in on a new line of business: catering to financially strained newspapers looking...

Dysfunction on the Hill: DYSFUNCTION ON THE HILL.... We knew, shortly after Democrats reclaimed the congressional majority in 2006, that governing might be a little, shall we say, tricky. The Bush White House didnt really have a policy agenda, and even if it did,...

Torture doesn't work, redux: TORTURE DOESNT WORK, REDUX.... One would like to think that the debate over torture policies is over. Torture doesnt work, its illegal, it undermines our global standing, and its fundamentally, morally repugnant. And yet, the argument persists. The leader of...

Change we can believe in: CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN.... Hilzoy mentioned this overnight, but its worth re-emphasizing, since its likely to be todays big story. At 10:40 a.m., the president-elect will introduce the leaders of his national security team, and while they come from...

The Next FEMA: THE NEXT FEMA.... The Washington Post reported the other day that the incoming Obama administration has been scrutinizing the beleaguered Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and plans to give it a faceleft. It was a reminder that Obama, on top...

Tanta: Tanta From the NYT (via Calculated Risk): The blogger Tanta, an influential voice on the mortgage collapse, died Sunday morning in Columbus, Ohio. Tanta, who wrote for Calculated Risk, a finance and economics blog, was a pseudonym for Doris Dungey,...

Shifting Resources: Shifting Resources From the NYT: When President-elect Barack Obama introduces his national security team on Monday, it will include two veteran cold warriors and a political rival whose records are all more hawkish than that of the new president who...

Auto Industry Bleg: Auto Industry Bleg Ive been trying to understand the problems of the auto industry, and on a couple of points I cant quite seem to figure out whats going on. So I thought: why not ask? (1) A quote from...

Senators who move to the cabinet: SENATORS WHO MOVE TO THE CABINET.... Much has been made of the fact that sitting senators have very rarely won the presidency. Barack Obama is the first since JFK 48 years ago, and only the third in American history, following...

McCaffrey: MCCAFFREY.... David Barstow had a devastating New York Times piece back in April, documenting the practice of retired U.S. generals appearing on the major cable networks as independent media analysts, while they were simultaneously working for defense contractors, and repeating...

Republicans' 'McCarthy gene': REPUBLICANS MCCARTHY GENE.... The story of Barry Goldwaters 1964 campaign serving as the catalyst of the modern conservative movement, which reshaped the Republican Party, is well known. But Neal Gabler presents an interesting idea today, arguing that the real father...

Jindal's future: JINDALS FUTURE.... The Washington Post has an interesting item today on Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindals (R) recent swing through Iowa, apparently the first step towards the 37-year-old governors 2012 presidential campaign. As has been apparent for quite a while, the...

Obama and the brass: OBAMA AND THE BRASS.... During the last two Democratic administrations, there was obvious tension between the presidents and the military leaders in the Pentagon. As Mark Kleiman noted, Under Carter and Clinton, not only the military but the civilian bureaucracies...

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Wonkette

JIM GIBBONS DIVORCE INSANITY: America's worst ...: JIM GIBBONS DIVORCE INSANITY: Americas worst governor and alcoholic adulterous sex-assaulter crook Jim Gibbons and his power-crazed wife Dawn are finally getting the divorce everybody always knew...

Scott McClellan Can't Ruin George Bush Junior's Day: The great George W. Bush delivered the commencement address at Colorados Air Force Academy today, the same day that his former hobbit slave was publicizing mean books about him. Here he is this...

John McCain's Biggest Fan: 'Your Name': Ooh looky its another Kustomized Kampaign Trinket for you, the reader! For just $250, you can show the world that YOUR NAME totally supports JOHN MCCAIN. But are there any names or phrases that...

Even Little-Girl Hillary Was A Conniving Monster: We usually dont like to encourage the comedy YouTube jokes because none of them are funny, or its something you can watch on the TeeVee, later, on your sofa or whatever, eating your carry out....

Scott McClellan's A Big Hit!: SEE WHAT EVERYONES SAYING ABOUT SCOTT MCCLELLANS NEW #1 BOOK, GEORGE BUSH JR. MADE VAGUE ERRORS!I would think if he harbored such deep feelings about things he wouldnt have and shouldnt have...

Your Wonkette Is Moving, Tonight!: Hello Peoples! Remember that whole thing about your Wonkette getting a new home, and all that? Well, it is still true — and tonight, Wonkette will suffer the miracle of transmigration. What...

BARRY OBAMA'S RACIST POETRY: "Under water ...: BARRY OBAMAS RACIST POETRY: Under water grottos, caverns/ Filled with apes/ That eat figs./ Stepping on the figs/ That the apes/ Eat, they crunch./ The apes howl, bare/ Their fangs, dance,/ Tumble...

McCain Fundraiser Tour Fails Its Way Through Mormon World Capital: Ever since John McCain pissed all over Mitt Romney in a debate, and even before then, Mormons havent taken kindly to the foul-mouthed, unhandsome, twice-married atheist grumpus. So its no surprise...

Karl Rove Calls Scott McClellan Gay Woodsman: Wonkette comical typos operative Ron sends us this screen shot of a CNN.com article in which Karl Rove lets slip a revelation of his own about terrible snitch Scott McClellan. McClellans syntax in...

Clinton-Press Relationship Is More Dysfunctional Than Your Tragic Marriage: Hillary Clinton continued the Enfranchisement Tour 2k8 today in South Dakota, which is fully franchised and will likely go for Obama on June 3 but doesnt matter. While there she visited the only...

Dunkin' Donuts Nixes Terrorist Rachael Ray Ad: Remember when those nuts on the right, Michelle Malkin and Charles Johnson, condemned beloved fast food bakery Dunkin Donuts for letting teevee chef Rachael Ray wear a Palestinian scarf in this ad?...

Dana Perino Confused By Most Things, But Specifically McClellan's Criticism: The White House has issued a Papal Bull in response to former press secretary Scott McClellans new book, in which he makes bland accusations about the Bush administration like they may not have...

'MY FIRZT VOTE IN MY WHOLE EFFEN LIFE ..AND ITZ FOR HILLARY': Way back in the early 1990s, America learned the hard way that strange e-mails from people with AOL e-mail addresses like krazi hott lucey are not hott even if they are krazi. In other words,...

John McCain Gets No Love From Hollywood: John McCain is doing his best to romance The Hollywoods, but he has found few wealthy gay liberals willing to listen to his uplifting message of war without end. As a result, he has only been able to...

Barack Obama To Puerto Rico: I'm Mexican, Too!: Heres Barry Obamas latest pitch to the Puerto Ricans, which he delivers in their native language. He seems to be mentioning, once again, that he was born on an island too. And then he says that...

Kwame Kilpatrick Vetoes His Own Removal: Things havent gotten much better since we last checked in on Kwame Kilpatrick, the comical mayor of Detroit and a leading contender for Barack Obamas black vice presidency. You may recall that his...

Somebody Got An Obama Tattoo On His/Her Leg!: Hey people, if you are in the Fort Wayne, Indiana area, you might stop by Studio 13 Creative Skin Design and ask Ryan Hadley for one of these sweet Barack Obama tattoos. Now GO GO GO, FIND US PHOTOS...

Brave Anti-O'Reilly Crusader Fired: Remember Barry Nolan, the cable news guy who courageously took a stand against some backwater TV organization giving Bill OReilly a prize for working once in the greater Boston metropolitan area?...

Poisoning The Well: New regulations make it harder than ever to go bankrupt these days — but that hasnt stopped many hard-working Americans from rising to the challenge. A U.S. businessman says...

Bush Propagandist Complains Of Bush Propaganda: Scott McClellan, one of approximately 200 Bush Administration spokesmen since 2001, left the White House a few years ago. During his tenure, he lied about Iraq, Katrina, Terror, and whatever else was...

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Talking Points Memo

Walking a Fine Line: The Pentagon confirms to TPM Election Central that military officials told the Obama campaign he could not visit Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany yesterday with campaign aides in tow because that would violate DOD regs. We informed the Obama

Last Chance: Todays the deadline for applications for our Fall cycle TPM internship. Find all the details here.

Election Central Morning Roundup: CQ changes its ratings on 14 House races -- 12 in the direction of the Dem. That and the days other political news in the TPM Election Central Morning Roundup.

No title: Confessore in the Times ...Four Spitzer administration officials violated the states ethics law when they used the State Police last summer to gather travel documents they hoped would tarnish Joseph L. Bruno, then the State Senate majority leader, according to

An Ominous Growth: In the post immediately below I referred to Obamas audition for the role of head of state/commander-in-chief. And as a potential wartime president and in the rhetorical universe were now living in, this CINC test is inevitable and important for

Long Term: After it became clear that Obamas trip through the Middle East was not only error-free but wildly successful (because of Malikis gambit), theres been a third wave of press chatter and fretting to the effect that Obamas trip may now

Heartening: According to this post by Matt Stoller at OpenLeft, every major Democratic senate challenger this year (judged by very expansive criteria) supports Net Neutrality.

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Power Line

Beyond category: Macleans hails Mark Steyn as the new Bing Crosby. Mark earns the appelation in connection with Its a Marshmallow World, the single he recorded with his old pal Jessica Martin. Mark is selling the single for $1.00 together with his

William Katz: Tina Fey, Kingmaker: Occasional contributor Bill Katz holds down the fort at Urgent Agenda This morning he considers the intersection of show business and politics in the recent election:We do it after every election. We try to gauge the impact that Hollywood, and

From Hollywood to Bollywood: Andrew Breitbart writes:On the evening of Nov. 26, the biggest names in Bollywood walked the red carpet at the Bombay premiere of The President Is

A Culture of Weakness: We may never fully understand how ten armed men were able to terrorize a city of 19 million, but this is at least part of the explanation:In the first wave of the attacks, two young gunmen armed with assault rifles

It's honeymoon time and long may it last: Karen DeYoung of the Washington Post reports that Adm Michael Mullen, chairman of the joint chiefs, felt very good, very positive about his initial meeting with Barck Obama. That one-on-one encounter lasted 45 minutes.Mullen has every incentive to give a

Ambiguous tea-leaves, Part Two: Victor Davis Hanson detects in Barack Obamas early personnel decisions the outline of one of most profound bait-and-switch campaigns in our political history, predicated on the mass appeal of a magnetic leader rather than any principles per se. In this

Muslims "Worry About Image": Thats what the Associated Press says. Somehow, it seems like weve been down this road before:Muslims from the Middle East to Britain and Austria condemned Sunday the Mumbai shooting rampage by suspected

Ambiguous tea-leaves: Melanie Phillips takes little comfort from Obamas centrist appointments. In this post, she makes what I think is an indisputable point -- the president-elects selection of Hillary Clinton, Rahm Emanuel, Robert Gates, Jim Jones, etc. is consistent with either of

The message from Mumbai: Melanie Phillips takes a look at the atrocities committed in Mumbai and finds that they told us very clearly a number of things. Here is one message that should be hard to mistake: Doctors working in a hospital where all

Black Friday: We have finally entered (I think) what must be historys longest- and most eagerly-awaited recession. News reports and commentary have been so relentlessly negative for so long that it is easy to lose sight of the actual performance of the

"In the ranks of honour": Ron Radosh is the superb historian and author of The Rosenberg File (with Joyce Milton) and, most recently, Red Star Over Hollywood: The Film Colonys Long Romance with the Left (with Allis Radosh). Radosh now presides over his own aptly

Thinking about Mumbai: India's test, part 2: Our favorite State Department correspondent writes to comment:Excellent post on India. Too few people think clearly on India because were not used to dealing with them. I just wanted to comment on one small thing in the below paragraph:Meanwhile the

Why has Obama avoided the Georgia race?: The runoff between incumbent Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss and Democratic contender Jim Martin takes place this Tuesday. Barack Obama has avoided appearing in Georgia on behalf of Martin. Turnout is always a challenge in a runoff election. Obamas appearance would

A question for football fans: The Washington Redskins have a situation with their offensive line that to me raises an interesting question. The situation, probably not unique to the Redskins, is this: our starting right tackle, veteran Jon Jansen, is considered an excellent run-blocker but

Moderately misguided: Im a bit surprised by the equanimity, at a minimum, with which many conservatives have greeted Obamas decision to appoint the likes of Hillary Clinton, Tom Daschle, and Rahm Emanuel to key positions in his administration. But I probably shouldnt

Somebody Get Me A Gun: This post should be read in conjunction with the one immediately below. It describes a microcosm of Indias failure to defend itself aggressively against Islamic terrorism. The hero of the story is Sebastian DSouza, a picture editor at the Mumbai

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Eschaton

High And Low: This is a decent article about the Italian Market, which is in my neighborhood. Struggle is to keep it thriving while still maintaining a mix of both upmarket and downmarket offerings.Decent photo gallery.

Thursday is New Jobless Day: Holy crap:The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits rose last week to 516,000, the highest level since the weeks following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, the Labor Department reported on Thursday....Continuing claims reached 3.897 million for

Not Applying For An Obama Administration Job: Reasons fairly obvious:A seven-page questionnaire being sent by the office of President-elect Barack Obama to those seeking cabinet and other high-ranking posts may be the most extensive — some say invasive — application ever.The questionnaire includes 63 requests for personal

Costume And Lair: I dont wear pajamas, though admit that despite having an office I often work in the basement because thats where the big screen teevee is. And I luv me some big screen Chris Matthews.

Morning Thread: Tequila shots at the bar.

Mornin': Why doesnt the right-wing care that a crazy messianic foreigner has poured billions of dollars into destroying America?I guess if they didnt hear it on Fox, they dont know....Signed,Not Atrios

Overnight: Rock on.

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THREE HEADED MONSTER

Gerald Ford 1913-2006: Former President Gerald Ford passed away on December 26, 2006. We would like to take the time to reflect on this man who had

The First 100 Hours: Democratic leaders in the House have promised to pass several items on their legislative agenda in their first 100 hours in power. Potential items

Will Frederick Kagan's December 14, 2006, "Choosing Victory: A Plan for Success in Iraq" be the(...): Will Frederick Kagans December 14, 2006, Choosing Victory: A Plan for Success in Iraq be the option that President Bush pursues? If so, should

Are the Holocaust deniers something we should be concerned with?: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has convened approximately 70 researchers such as ex-Klansman David Duke to discuss their doubts about the extent of the Holocaust,

Where do we stand now with regard to Iraq?: There has been a flurry of diplomatic efforts in recent weeks to end the violence in Iraq. With the naming of a new defense

Dear Mahmoud,: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sent a letter to the American people. Here is your chance to respond.MRB:Dear President Ahmadinejad and Noble Iranians,Thank you for

Are Republicans happy or disappointed that Rep. Pelosi decided Rep. Hastings would not be Chair(...): Even before the election results were final, Republicans began voicing their outrage at the possibility that Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., might become Chairman of

What role should Iran and Syria play in a post war Iraq ?: With the Bush administration being pushed toward a regional resolution to the war in Iraq, the question becomes what role, if any, should Iran

What should US economic policy be toward Asia?: With President Bush wrapping up his latest Asian tour, should any changes be made to US economic policy in regard to Asia, or are

What do we do about Iran's impending nuclear capability ?: President Bush has mainly been talking about economic and diplomatic isolation, however, the administration is also leaving open the option of military action. The

Can Lady Liberty's message be the same in an age of Islamic extremists ?: Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless,

Is Europe lost already?: With a history of lax immigration policies and emphasis on tolerance, has Europe already been lost to radical Islam? Is the United States headed

Which Presidential hopefuls are in the best position for 2008? Which ones are not ?: With the midterm elections behind us now, which candidates are best positioned for a Presidential run in 2008, and whose Presidential aspirations may have

2006 Election Post Mortem: The real question today is not just who won which race, but what the election results mean for each one of us and the

Exercise your right to vote !: Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a

Time to predict the outcome of the November 2006 election: Each of us will now set forth our respective predictions of the final overall outcome of tomorrows election. We will also predict the specific

Is going Negative a Positive ?: In the last few days before the election it seems like there are no political campaigns left that have not gone negative. The research

Can Barack Obama be elected President ?: In his victory speech, Senator Barack Obama said regarding his long shot candidacy... (When I announced my campaign) at the time, as many of

Should Iraq be Partitioned ?: President Bushs position is that partition as a solution in Iraq is a non-starter. Nevertheless, the idea of partition being part of the solution

Kerry gaffe: November gift ?: You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be

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AMERICAblog

Obama making phone calls on behalf of Lieberman: Not like theres anything more important that Obama could be spending his energies on. From Roll Call (no link, subscription only):Support for Lieberman appears to have been growing since Obama began making calls to several top Democrats to discuss the

McCain surrogate Lieberman also campaigned for Norm Coleman: I linked to this article in this mornings open thread, but thought it warranted its own post. Last month, Joe Lieberman was aggressively undermining the Democrats campaign against Norm Coleman. That race is set for a recount and Joes pals

Marriott or Sarah Palin? You decide: Apparently, Marriott is so flustered over the gay communitys outrage over the passage of Prop 8 in Utah, and the spontaneous anger that has been directed at Marriott as one of the largest, if not the largest, Mormon-run business in

No oversight of $700 billion bailout: "it's a mess.": This shouldnt be a surprise. The Bush administration provided no oversight of Iraq. No oversight of the economy. No oversight of the country. So, this shouldnt be a surprise:In the six weeks since lawmakers approved the Treasurys massive bailout of

Thursday Morning Open Thread: Good morning.Late last night, we found out that Mark Begich has moved into the lead against Ted Stevens in the Alaska Senate race -- by 814 votes. There are still some votes to be counted, but this is looking good.

Cuomo asks Bank of America for bonus details: This ought to be interesting and I hope more subpoenas to other banks are in the works. Using public money to enrich the people who dragged down the global economy is unacceptable. From Reuters:New York states attorney general, Andrew Cuomo,

Bush prepares G20 lecture on "principles of free market": Ha. Yet another reason why the Republicans were crushed. They still have no idea how badly they botched the economy and they still think that the unregulated free market is what we all need to have in order to be

Germany officially in recession: Theres more where that came from. The UK is (officially) predicting a short, hard recession and while Id like to believe it, I dont see it. The UK has been bubbling over with even more personal debt than the US

Retail economy in China points towards slowdown: Its becoming more obvious why Beijing launched a massive program to ramp up infrastructure construction. The rescue plan makes sense, but will it be enough? From Reuters:A retrenchment in Chinese consumption would mark a sudden and, for the global economy,

GOP luminaries squirm when asked about Sarah Palin's qualifications: From the LA Times blog:So, then came the follow-up question: Would you have been comfortable with Palin serving as president?After an enormously pregnant but pro-life pause, , whod been mentioned as a prime VP pick himself, said it was McCain’s

In Alaska, Democrat Begich is now ahead of Felon Stevens by 814: As of 7:33 PM Alaska Time, Democrat Mark Begich had increased his lead over Ted Stevens to 814 votes. A couple hours ago, Begich was up by 3 votes. When the day started, before the counting of absentees and early

Credit crisis may cost more than 10% of GDP: Republican economics at work. Business received everything they wanted including superstar salaries to schmucks while slashing benefits for employees. Howd it all work out?Credit losses from the financial crisis may exceed even dire estimates of $1.4 trillion, or more than

Cinemark CEO gave $9,999 to anti-gay Prop 8 bigots: Cinemark. 2700 screens in 13 countries in North and South America. Its CEO, Alan Stock, gave $9,999 to the anti-gay bigots running Prop 8 in California. Time to avoid this

The French really hate Americans: And they dont even try to hide it.One minute before the guns fell silent on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, World War I took its last American victim.Henry Gunther was hit by

Home values decline for 7 straight quarters: The Republican policies speak for themselves, again.Home values in the United States posted their seventh consecutive quarterly decline, with nearly one-third of Americans who sold in the past year losing money, real estate website Zillow.com said Wednesday.Home values fell 9.7

In Alaska, as votes are counted "Mark Begich gaining ground against incumbent Sen. Ted Stevens": UPDATE: Begich just pulled ahead of Stevens.Still a lot of votes to be counted in Alaskas Senate race, but the early numbers look good. From the Anchorage Daily News: Its just getting started, but early results from this afternoons ballot

KKK initiation ends in murder of inductee: This is a bizarre and very disturbing story from Louisiana. The KKK is apparently recruiting. But, one recent recruit didnt make it. She was murdered: A Tulsa, Okla., woman who traveled to Louisiana to join the Ku Klux Klan was

Finally some good news: With all the bad news this past week (oh how quickly an election passes), finally some good news to report. Obama has chosen Jesse Lee to be in charge of online communications for the transition. And thats great. Jesse is

How Harry Reid is about to kill our 60-seat majority: We tend to be big Harry Reid fans here at AMERICAblog.Today, not so much.Harry Reid is about to kill any chance Democrats have at getting a 60-seat majority in the Senate. The irony is that Reid is accomplishing this by

Dear Senate Democrats, Watch this video of Joe Lieberman.: Every Democrat on the Hill needs to watch this video compiled by Jed. Watch Joe Lieberman say:- The real ticket for change this year is the McCain/Palin ticket.- Im not going to go to that convention, the Republican convention, and

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TPMCafe

Sorting and Consensus: My thanks to Bill, TPM, and all the book club contributors and readers this week. This weekend, share a copy of Bills book with your favorite political opponent. Its readable, funny, and enlightening, and you will feel smarter,

Should universities profit from secret deals with credit card companies?: In 2002, the Ohio State alumni association, acting with the universitys approval, signed a contract to give MBNA the email addresses, mail addresses and phone numbers for 55,000 undergraduate students in exchange for a guaranteed minimum-payment and credit-card royalties from

Should we let communities "be themselves"?: No description.

Maybe It Should Be Obama-Clinton After All: I know we are supposed to ignore the polls -- especially when we dont like what they tell us -- but I cant. And they dont look especially good. Despite a disastrous month of July, John McCain is still only

McCain: The Foam on the Surge: The Columbus Dispatch has an interview with John McCain yesterday, in the course of which he doubled down on his bet that the only thing he has to say is smear itself:I will repeat my statement again, that would rather

World writes open letter to McCain: EARTH, July 25, 2008 -- The entire world drafted an open letter to Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) today, asking him to drop out of the U.S. presidential race and concede the presidency to Senator Barack Obama (D-Illinois).Ordinarily we do not

The Ticking Clock: I have been following along with great interest. I think The Big Sort is one of the most important books to come along in a while, not just because of its analysis of American politics but for its

Today at Cafe: Jonathan Taplin digs into some peculiar military spending and Todd Gitlin takes a rummage through American history. At the Book Club, Bill Bishop explores the strong link between lifestyle and political choice while Walker Smith takes a step back: What

Counter-terrorism F-16's: The Bush administrations decision to move $230 million of the counter-terrorism funding Congress had approved for Pakistan to pay for upgrades to their Air Forces F-16 fleet is beginning to raise hackles in Congress. Since the Pakistanis refuse to use

"Our People Are Not Afraid": Rummaging through American history, I just stumbled on this, from Franklin Roosevelts 9th State of the Union Address, January 6, 1942:If any of our enemies, from Europe or from Asia, attempt long-range raids by suicide squadrons of bombing planes, they

Empowered To Sort Myself: Three major trends are driving the consumer marketplace, and, indeed, society at large. Purpose. Well-being. And empowerment. It is the latter that is most important for the big sort described by Bill Bishop.People now have access to information

McCain Gets Another Pass: On ABC World News Tonight, David Wright to John McCain:It sometimes seems, as an outside observer, that both of you guys sometimes get stuck in the past. Senator Obamas kinda stuck in 2003 and whether the war was a good

The Silent Revolution: A demographer at the University of Michigan measured family formation patterns in the U.S. and noticed an interesting correlation. The states with the largest percentage of people who had cohabitated before marriage voted for John Kerry in 04.

There Used to Be a Ballpark Here: Years ago, Frank Sinatra sang a song essentially in tribute to the sense of loss created by the Brooklyn Dodgers moving to Los Angeles. It was about sense of community, sense of being part of a group. Bill

Obama's Overseas Success: What's His Secret?: I think I have read every word Barack Obama uttered on his visits to Israel and Palestine and Im struck by his ability to navigate this tricky issue with such dexterity. After all, everybody is just waiting for him to

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