Bush

The vote on Senator Lieberman's chairmanship will be held tomorrow. Even though it will take place behind closed doors and without a roll call vote, you can still make your voice heard by signing the Just Say No To Joe petition at FDL. Or, you could directly call a member of the Democratic Steering committee:

Debbie Stabenow, Michigan - Chairwoman (202) 224-4822
Harry Reid, Nevada (202) 224-3542
John Kerry, Massachusetts (202) 224-2742
Daniel Inouye, Hawaii (202) 224-3934
Robert Byrd, West Virginia (202) 224-3954
Edward Kennedy, Massachusetts (202) 224-4543
Joe Biden, Delaware (202) 224-5042
Patrick Leahy, Vermont (202) 224-4242
Chris Dodd, Connecticut (202) 224-2823
Tom Harkin, Iowa (202) 224-3254
Max Baucus, Montana (202) 224-2651
Richard Durbin, Illinois (202) 224-2152
Kent Conrad, North Dakota (202) 224-2043  read more »

In my earlier diary, Midnight De-Regulation and the Myth of A 'Center Right Nation' -- Part 1: The Environment, I presented a list of Bush Administration midnight de-regulations of environmental protections, as an example of how unpopular center-right policies really are enacted in this supposedly "center-right" nation--so unpopular that they are done quickly and stealthily in the dead of night, with as few witnesses as possible-a dead giveaway of the real popularity of such policies.  In this diary, I want shine a bit more light on the particulars of how this happens.  I'll get into that on the flip.  read more »

Beyond the sheer mendacity of the 'center-right nation' meme, there lies serious discussion of whether the election we just had is, indeed a realigning election.  The mendacious meme and the serious discussion are clearly related: if this was a realignment, then we can say, "Well, maybe it was a center-right nation, but it isn't anymore."  There's just one problem: no one can quite agree on what a realigning election is.  read more »

WASHINGTON — President Bush and President-elect Barack Obama, who was visiting the Oval Office for the first time, conducted cordial, wide-ranging talks Monday on economic and national security issues, but spokeswomen had little to say afterward.

WASHINGTON — A Republican computer consultant denied under oath Monday that he knew of any GOP effort to steal the 2004 election for President Bush by rigging Ohio's vote totals, an attorney who questioned him said.

As suspicious as I am of the motives of the conservatives jumping ship to support Obama (like Powell and Buckley), I am equally suspicious of the Cheney endorsement.  Much like Osama Bin Laden's 2004 "endorsement" of John Kerry, Cheney simply has to know how his endorsement would play.  So why do it?  All I can come up with is simple revenge.  Inside, I'll present the evidence.  read more »

LIMA, Ohio — Few Democrats venture into this Republican stronghold in northwest Ohio, where President Bush swamped John Kerry 2-1 four years ago.

AUSTIN — President Bush's political resiliency in his home state has eroded significantly over his nearly eight years in the White House, with Texans joining the rest of the nation in registering sharp disapproval of his job performance as the nation's chief executive, according to a newly released statewide poll.

DEFIANCE, Ohio — John McCain and Barack Obama seized on Thursday's latest economic reports to attack each other, with McCain calling Obama a shill for Big Oil and Obama calling his rival a clone of President Bush.

President Bush joins John McCain's efforts to create a New Deal mandate for Barack Obama, if Obama wins:

Bush touts free market as solution to economy's woes

By Jeffrey Young

The solution to repairing the damaged economy and promoting prosperity is to remain true to the principles of the free market, President Bush said Saturday.

There's also this from Palin:  read more »

Speaking at UNC Charlotte on Thursday, Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden sought to tie Republican John McCain's economic policies to those of President Bush.

This is a view from my desk on a typical day - and as you can see my gross, worn out coaster is indeed a Philadelphia Phillies coaster. I have a lot of this kind of Phillies paraphernalia around my house - from a Von Hayes brass coin, to an old Phillies fake plastic helmet, to a Pat Combs rookie card.

That's because, having grown up outside of Philadelphia, I've been a Phillies fan for my entire life...and I haven't seen them win a World Series since 1980 when I was 4 years old...and really, I didn't "see" them win it then, because I was too young to have real memories.  read more »

I have been tracking state polls since 1992.  In each election since I have found comparing what the state polls are showing against what the national polls are showing to be an enormously useful sanity check.  At times the national polls are an early indicator of trends in state polls, since state polls tend to be released a couple of days after they are completed.  At other times  they point to problems with national polling.  Such is the case now.  

This table compares the projected national results from state polls against the national polls.  I use a four day average to account the occasional day when only a few polls are released.  By the way, the numbers of the table below DO NOT include the Big Ten Polls (for reasons described on the flip).
 read more »

WASHINGTON — President Bush joined the leaders of France and the European Commission Saturday to announce that the United States would host a global summit before the end of the year to address the world's burgeoning economic crisis.

At this point four years ago, President Bush was so far ahead in the polls he pulled most of his campaign staff out of North Carolina.