I'MMA LET YOU FINISH
Tena,
Registration-free access to WaPo, courtesy of TBogg:
name: tblogg@hotmail.com
password: noonan
You're doing a great job by the way. Keep up the good work.
Just the other day, we forced George W. Bush to sing "I'm a Little Teapot" in a diaper before we gave him money, just because we could.
Ha! I'm still reading, and let me tell you in no uncertain terms that if I had sumpfn to say I would comment. Just try and stop me! You and your little dog, too!
When do we get the ruby slippers? I want to go home.
I saw something about that on Crossfire with Novakula and McKinney, The Dems ate it up and turned the attack around and confused poor bewildered bobby
I want to wear ruby slippers to a frogmarch, then click my heels together three times...
Getcha boobies heah!
(º)(º)
Red-hot boobies!
If you want to read the Post, use this login:
id: bitemesallyquinn
login: bitemesally
btw, you're a 28 year old female ceo in charge of a government / military business based in new york...
Oops - that login should be:
id:bitemesallyquinn@yahoo.com
login: bitemesally
Beth - thanks, it really is nice to think I might not be too disappointing to the Atrios regulars. Though I know everyone is counting the seconds until the master returns, because I am, too.
Commenting is ever so much more fun than feeding the monster is.
Pretty bad week for Unca Karl. Some how, and I don't know how, the same evil negative poloticking doesn't work twice. or three or four times. This has got to be confusing for him. I predict Bush approval ratings in the low 30's by the end of the summer.
I hope Edwards get the nom if Dean can't recover. Kerry really is an ugly dude.
Missed tbogg's post... but my login won't clog someone's email box (that they actually use)!
I'm just glad to see the gaggle/Heathers/Kool Kids/op-ed pages actually calling the Bush campaign (and by extension, Bush himself) on the inconsistencies that we've all been living with for the past three years with nary a peep from anybody but Jon Stewart (and the "blogosphere," of course).
Beth and Dave
thanks for the log ins
Don't the Bush editorials reflecting reality usually appear in the Post on Saturdays? Wonder who the weekend editor is...
Pretty bad week for Unca Karl. Some how, and I don't know how, the same evil negative poloticking doesn't work twice. or three or four times. This has got to be confusing for him. I predict Bush approval ratings in the low 30's by the end of the summer.
Yup. Classic hubris.
Kerry is not ugly. He is "Lincolnesque."
Anyway what we need is good brain in the WH, not a pretty face.
Though I know everyone is counting the seconds until the master returns, because I am, too.
Sounds like projection there, Tena. If I were in your place, wrestling with new software, dealing with a flood of e-mails and trying to keep the blog moving all at the same time, I'd be counting the seconds too. No doubt there's plenty of screaming and hair-pulling going on backstage, but from out here in the audience, it looks like a class act.
So this is where Dems are, this is as low as we have gotten, "nyah, nyah, he's not as bad as Bush!" What a statement of what has become of the Dem Party....sad.
Yeah, Kerry is not as bad as Bush --whoohoo-- he's just raised more money from paid lobbyists than any other senator over the past 15 years.
For some reason, the fact that Kerry is "not as bad as Bush" doesn't fill me with the warm fuzzies that other Dems seem to be enjoying...
OT, but confirmation that the sharks smell blood:
Scott McClellan finally lost it Friday, according to White House reporters. He doesn’t see it that way.
The White House press secretary had kept his cool all week as reporters pounced on him about President George Bush’s 1970s service in the National Guard. Facing perhaps his toughest week as press secretary, McClellan got testy Tuesday under questioning by CBS correspondent John Roberts during the televised briefing. He then blew up at old pro Helen Thomas during the private “gaggle” for reporters on Friday.
Thomas had gotten a tip that Bush might have been absent from duty in Alabama because he was performing court-ordered community service in Texas in 1972. She asked McClellan if that was accurate.
According to reporters in the press room, McClellan got red-faced and became so angry, it looked to some as if he were ready to pounce. He characterized the question as coming from “gutter politics.”
Thomas, who has covered every president since Dwight Eisenhower and now writes a column for Hearst, was not fazed. “I think they are getting pretty nervous about this,” she said Friday afternoon. “I’ve learned over the years that when you put out records, it often leads to more questions.”
Some questions are out of bounds, McClellan told The Washingtonian: “Helen was asking about trashy rumors. There’s a difference between trashy rumors and journalism. I will not dignify them from the podium...”
The confrontation created talk among White House correspondents as to whether McClellan could stand the pressure as it builds during the 2004 campaign season.
“Scott is trashing reporters for asking questions,” says one veteran correspondent. “He’s dissipating the goodwill he had for not being Ari Fleischer. He’s proving to be as testy and disdainful as Ari...”
Go, Helen, go!!!
Sorry, the link for that story is:
http://tinyurl.com/2dxef
AnneW - it's not about Kerry "not being as bad as Bush." It's about the inherent fallacy of a line of criticism which the cricic could not withstand, and in fact, is more guilty of than the accused.
It's like the Grand Dragon of the KKK calling someone else - anyone else - racist. It's just stupid.
I didn't write this post to defend Kerry for his fundraising as much as to try (in my own little way) to take the wind out of the sails of the Bush campaign's "Kerry's all about special interests, so by virtue of the black/white world we live in, we are not!" meme.
But yasonyacky, that's exactly what I feel when Kerry gives his stump line about getting the special interests out of Washington.
It's the same galling hypocrisy, just on a smaller scale. Sorry, can't see that as a victory.
barely hanging on Democrat....
Anyway what we need is good brain in the WH, not a pretty face.
I absolutely agree. But I think it has an influence on the majority of impassive voters. Lots of people on blogs are thoughtful and study the issues. Most people on election day are influenced by less tangible things. Look at the huge popularity of Reagan. He was not the brightest bulb on the planet but people liked him. Edwards seems more approachable than Kerry and st this point there's not a lot of policy difference among any of the Dem candidates. In my dreams I would like Dean to get it and kick some mighty ass. The rest seem pretty much same old same old.
ABB - whatever. Kucinich is my man but I'm a Green and he's an ugly dude too.
It's the same galling --
ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...
Let's see, Dave has no trouble with lies and hypocrisy, unless they come from Rethugs?
But yasonyacky, that's exactly what I feel when Kerry gives his stump line about getting the special interests out of Washington.
Guess who took the least amount of special interest money of all of the candidates in the Democratic primaries?
That's right (and this was a surprise to me as well), John Kerry.
Is our Republicans learning?
AnneW,
Believe me, I feel your pain. I went into mourning for a few days when it finally sunk in that -- barring a miracle -- Dean was out and Kerry was in. I would have loved to have had a white knight as our champion, but when the dragon's at the door, even a gray knight looks pretty good. Let's first get rid of that dragon. We can worry about castle repair later.
http://bugmenot.com/ for free reg's to most sites
AnneW - How dare you dissent while dave is on patrol! The nerve!
Sorry Old Hat, I believe you're wrong about that. It was Howard Dean, http://www.opensecrets.org/presi...sp?
ID=N00025663
Any Democrat who doesn't vote for the nominee is a backward bedwetting child who deserves what they get from 4 more years of Bush.
Tenna
You are doing a great job!
And remember, you are just running a blog. Pity your poor country, it's being run by an idiot!
And remember, you are just running a blog. Pity your poor country, it's being run by an idiot!
sally
well, I'd say she's doing better in ~1 day than aWol has in 3+ years
AnneW, are you related to sumwon?
We have some serious issues, foreign and domestic, that are going to have to be addressed once georgie gets the boot. Campaign finance reform just isn't that important right now.
Dean is really looking like he's done, and I'm sorry about that. Unfortunately, there were plenty of others who just didn't see him the way some of us did. Get over it, and decide what you can do to make a difference in November.
"Believe me, I feel your pain. I went into mourning for a few days when it finally sunk in that -- barring a miracle -- Dean was out and Kerry was in. I would have loved to have had a white knight as our champion, but when the dragon's at the door, even a gray knight looks pretty good. Let's first get rid of that dragon. We can worry about castle repair later."
so good, it had to be repeated
If Kerry gets in we go back to being America, warts and all. If the Busheviki prevail we will turn into Yugoslavia, financial implosion and perpetual war
Tena, you've become the Queen of Links! 
AnneW, are you related to sumwon?
Oh, I think they're close... very, very close... you might even have trouble telling them apart, they're so close!
Good job, Tena!
Here is a story that will not
">shock you:
Citing an exemption to federal ethics regulations, the White House says the financial disclosure statements filed by the [WMD intelligence] commission's nine members will remain confidential because they are not being paid for their work.
[snip]
But experts said the White House's refusal to make public the commission's business links may fuel questions about its independence and taint its investigation into one of the Bush administration's biggest potential political vulnerabilities: the quality of intelligence used to justify the Iraq war and other issues involving unconventional weapons.
[snip]
"This is a critical commission, and if the White House is going to withhold basic information about its members that should be made public, that's a shame," said Bill Allison, a spokesman for the Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit group in Washington that tracks government ethics issues.
"The point of a financial disclosure form is that it's supposed to be disclosed," Mr. Allison said. "This completely defeats the purpose. You're starting from a position of bad faith."
Inprincipled The bio of George W. Bush
AnneW -
What is your opinion about the Skull & Bones?
Holden, I don't know enough to make an informed comment. I am awaiting Kevin Phillips book on the American Dynasty partly because I hear he addresses S&B, and coming from a moderate (reformed) insider Repub, I am curious on his take on it.
Your question feels like a set up.(?) What do you think about S&B's?
AnneW -
That was a sumwon test.
Congratulations, you passed.
Dave, why don't you discuss with me straight up rather than resort to insults? I know you're very cool and all, but show me--
Does anyone have an LA Times login?
pie - "campaign finance just isn't that important right now."
Sorry, but I have to disagree. If you want to know how we got stuck with the disgrace that's sitting in the White House right now, campaign finance, i.e. buying officials, is the reason why. I was worried when they even chose this sock puppet as the one to back, because to me it said: "we're not even gonna pretend like we aren't calling the shots anymore. We can run a complete moron and with the amount of money we put behind him, win." It was the shot across the bow warning that the corporations had finally decided to get rid of this pesky democracy once and for all. Any problem we have, trace it back and it all winds up with big money special interests and the politicians they buy.
That having been said, we'll still be better off with ABB, though not nearly as well off as we would be had someone who was financed by us won the nomination (Howard Dean). Which IMO, is why the corporate media conglomerates worked so hard to knock him off first thing out of the gate. A politician who they don't own is the biggest threat to their continued takeover of our country.
Thanks Tena!
Clearly the weekend WAPO editors are not Steno Sue & the Girls on the Bus. There must be other women there w/ power.
AnneW, you describe yourself as a "barely hanging on Democrat." I'm curious -- were you to "fall of", where would you drop? Republican? Green? Off the political landscape entirely?
I'm interested in reading your response.
Speaking of special interest: Howard Dean got a lot of money from special interest too. But I bet not anymore. Front-runner status must have it's privileges, I guess.
Overall, the Bush campaign raised just over $131 million in 2003 and had $99 million in the bank at the end of last year, according to reports filed with the FEC last week. So far, the president has raised almost $30 million more than all the democratic candidates combined. The president raised amounts at a rate of $577,000 a day. In contrast, former Vermont Governor Howard Dean raised $67,000 a day, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., brought in $64,000 a day and Sen. John Edwards, D-NC, averaged $45,000 a day.
With some of his largest donations for the quarter coming from Microsoft ($20,313), IBM ($14,387) and Compaq ($8,247), Dean showed he does not only raise money on the Internet but from Internet-related companies.
The top career patron to Dean's campaign continues to be Time Warner ($73,000) and University of California ($45,000). Dean, whose drop in the polls and fundraising took place after his disclosures, also received large contributions from financial services contributors like Citigroup ($10,280), Morgan Stanley Dean Witter ($8,796) and UBS AG ($8,781) late in 2003.
Has Kerry's stuff too and Bush's special interest at the link.
BTW: Ralph Nader is going to run.
Campaign glance
Billings Gazette, MT - 11 hours ago
... Howard Dean has 11 percent in the poll, conducted Wednesday and Thursday.
• LIKELY TO RUN: Ralph Nader's doing it again. Four ...
Campaign Notebook: Nader candidacy expected
Seattle Times, WA - 12 hours ago
WASHINGTON — Former Green Party candidate Ralph Nader is poised to declare thathe will seek the presidency again this year, this time as an independent and ...
I meant to say this earlier -- great job, Tena.
Letter to the editor today in Washington Post?
George Will repeats the liberal myth that Ralph Nader -- rather than George W. Bush -- cost Al Gore the 2000 election [op-ed, Feb. 5]. The facts show otherwise:
• Sixty-two percent of Nader's voters were Republicans, independents, third-party voters and nonvoters.
Nader is a moderate? Hey, I can buy that.
Jennifer, yes, it's important, but on my list of concerns right now, not at the top. A successful candidate still needs money to win.
I'm too cynical; I don't know if we can ever control the amount of influence that's part of politics. People always seem to find ways around obstacles.
Perhaps big-money interests learned that a sock-puppet is a bad choice for prez. Certainly Halliburton etc. have benefitted here, but how many others have not?
And all the money in the world is not going to buy Bush the presidency this time.
Great job Tena. Keep it up. Also, Kevin Phillips was on CSPAN's Washington Journal Friday and was fantastic. I'm not sure if the interview is on their web site but it was really informative.
Fuck me, but I don't see much to like about Kerry (and I never really cared for Clinton), but if the lesser of two evils argument is bugging you, I have two words for you dumb cunts:
Ralph Nader
-end transmission
Amigo, too early to say where i would "drop off" to, if I drop off...natural fit would be the Greens, but i really like Dean and will see what direction he will take.
I see the logic to try and change the party from within, as long and ardous journey as that would be. However, it has become ever more clear, that the Dem party has no interest in de-corporatizing. Until then, we will have no significant changes in our energy policies, healthcare, defense spending, etc.
After the DNC's role in derailing Dean, they will certainly not see a dime from me.
I will (likely) vote for the nominee, if not simply to say you can't blame Kerry's loss on me (he is a very weak opponent to Bush).
But until I see some leadership from the DNC on electoral issues (the electronic voting machines), media regulation, and standing FOR things rather running defense to the GOP agenda, my money will go to targeted candidates and groups.
Boy, don't these ring true...
"Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives."
John Stuart Mill
"The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness."
J. K. Galbraith
"All conservatives are such from personal defects. They have been effeminated by position or nature, born halt and blind, through luxury of their parents, and can only, like invalids, act on the defensive."
Ralph Waldo Emerson
"A conservative is a man who is too cowardly to fight and too fat to run."
Elbert Hubbard
A thoughtful reply, AnneW. Thanks.
Fooling around and enabling your cookies? Ooh, that sounds dirty.
mdl
pie - agreed that at this particular moment, it's not at the top of the list, and yes, until things change, the only guys who can win are those who play the game. Unless someone like Dean can win with the small donations strategy (and yes Cheryl, Dean did take some special interest money, but stack up what he took vs. what any of the rest of them have taken, and there's no comparison. $10,000 from Microsoft is not a big deal when you consider that an individual can give $2,000 - or when you tick off the list of Bush $100,000 "Pioneers".)
But here are some things that will never get fixed as long as corporate money runs the show:
Health care
Energy policy
Environmental policy
Prescription drug coverage
Corporate welfare
Regressive tax policy
And probably just about any other issue you can name to boot. So it's never unimportant and in fact, should be the number 1 issue in each and every campaign, because without it, nothing else is going anywhere.
According to reporters in the press room, McClellan got red-faced and became so angry, it looked to some as if he were ready to pounce. He characterized the question as coming from “gutter politics.”
-----------------------------
Since McClellan is in the gutter with his political masters, he should know. Darn! If only I still steaming stogie butt to flick down on him!
For some reason, the fact that Kerry is "not as bad as Bush" doesn't fill me with the warm fuzzies that other Dems seem to be enjoying...
AnneW
Anne, it's got nothing to do with warm fuzzies. It is vitally important to get Bush and his crew of madmen out of the White House before it's too late. If I have to put up with John Kerry to do it, I will.
I tried to sign up using a bogus email and password
eatme@eatme.com
password: eatmehard
Guess what?
Someone was already using it????????
Ya think someone was doing the same thing I was?
Huh?
Huh?
MYOB'
.
AnneW - the portion of the WaPo editorial I found most helpful in this regard -
And, since Mr. Bush brought it up, it's worth remembering that Mr. Kerry actually has some bona fides in the area of campaign finance ethics. He swore off checks from political action committees during his Senate races. He supported the McCain-Feingold legislation to end big soft-money checks to political parties -- which Mr. Bush's party did its best to kill and which the president only reluctantly signed. While the Bush administration fights to keep secret the activities of its energy task force, Mr. Kerry has promised to release the records of his meetings with lobbyists during his time in office.
Nader's running AGAIN? And so are the Greens.
Say hello to 4 more years of Hitler.
L.A. times? use my id
pa oops. no can do. i use the same thing for everything.
i didn't make a WHOLE nother person for WP.
USA out of Iraq.
Surrender now. Kerry knows how.
Regarding the Washington Post's new registration policy: nothing in their agreement states that you have to tell them the truth. They think I'm 70 years old and retired.
The "brazen display of political chutzpah" by the Bush campaign accusing John Kerry of being "an 'unprincipled' collector of special-interest cash," via a "video e-mailed Thursday night to 6 million supporters," is brazen indeed, but in the light of Nader's imminent candidacy it seems more calculated as a maneuver having long term benefits that out-weigh the blatant hypocrisy recognized in the short term.
It's impossible to believe that the GOP political machine would be so naive to use this issue to contrast Bush with Kerry, or to call into question Kerry's sincerity regarding his frequent attacks on the power of corporate interests, since the issue diminishes Bush far more than Kerry when closely examined. There must be more behind this attack than what appears only as a self inflicted wound.
I suggest that Republican covert support of Ralph Nader and foreknowledge of his imminent decision to run for president inspired the video e-mail, the intention of which is to put Kerry in the same league as the shameless Bush with regard to corporate interests and exploit inevitable Nader accusations that there is no difference between the two major parties with regard to his central issue, corrupt corporate power over elected officials. This tactic also inoculates Bush against coming to mind first and foremost during Nader's general attacks on the political establishment being beholden to corporate interests, while at the same time peels off, into Nader's camp, would be Kerry voters who, when once again vividly reminded, are sickened by the overt bribery engaged in by corporations and lobbyists, an issue that Nader undoubtedly will make the cornerstone of his campaign. The ideas expressed in the video are tailor made for Nader's mind-set and become unavoidable for him to address, the result being Bush as the only real beneficiary of Nader's anti-corporate argument, in that, Republicans hope a portion of the progressive vote disillusioned by Nader's rhetoric will desert Kerry, as they did Gore in 2000.
Another indictator of the above design is, why has the GOP e-mailed this to 6 million supporters, as in, preaching to the choir? Is the e-mail tantamount to the distribution of a GOP talking point that is to be incessantly echoed? Or, is the well publicized release of the video e-mail merely a vehicle to get into the public forum Kerry's vulnerability on the issue before Nader declares his candidacy and invariably starts assailing corporate interests that infest Washington?
By painting Kerry with the same brush as Bush with regard to being corrupted by corporate interests, the GOP is hijacking a major portion of Nader's platform to be used as a tool that can only reduce Kerry's support, leaving Bush's support wholly intact since Republicans are brazenly in the pocket of corporations and their supporters don't seem to care one whit as they feel it's their due as the ruling class.
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