I know that our loyal readership is probably pretty angry at the slowed updates, however, I am almost finished with the work that I need to do for school. No later than Wednesday, I promise, I will be up to my old tricks, performing abortions, burning churches, being limp wristed, drinking lattes, driving hybrid, hating corporations, renouncing god, and worshiping Stalin. We'll also do the usual number of updates.

This week has been a good week to be a Democrat. John Kerry, channeling Dean, decided to go on the attack. Bush, on the defensive from a smattering of everything else, is back down in the polls, where he belongs. That coverage, mixed with new talk of John Kerry's VP choice have helped put him in the forefront of the news cycle, and new ad campaigns have been playing in swing states. We should see a new gap in the polls next week from all of this action.

Yes, even the Fox News poll.

Have a good weekend folks, keep fighting the fight.

It's becoming book of the every other week, but stop your bitching!

Arianna Huffington's new joint, "Fanatics and Fools". Check it out! A must read for any realistic progressives. We have an opportunity to change the direction of this country, and Ms. Huff tells us how it is. Go, buy now...through this link!

From the plethora of stories that I have read in the past few days, the following names have come up.

Gephardt always seems to come up first, and I'm not sure why. I've expressed my distaste for both him and a Kerry/Gep ticket. It would be too boring and insidery for Joe Average. A VP is supposed to compliment AND supplement the big gun, this ticket would do too much of the sooner. The pluses however is that he would tear apart Cheney on all fronts.

Edwards is a fan favorite, but perhaps an outside pick in reality. He is a great campaigner, possibly the next Clinton, but maybe not quite ready for Prime Time yet. I still remember a few childish antics from the debates late last year.

John McCain is probably not going to happen, and if it did, it may enrage the base. That said, this is a sure way to win the Independent vote and probably the easiest path to a victory under a unified ticket. This is the world changer, but only more likely perhaps than Bill Clinton joining the ticket.

Evan Bayh, Indiana conservative senator with an extremely high approval rating, is a good strategic choice. This guy is an up and comer, and although a bit conservative for me, could help in the rose red state of Indiana. He is the Lieberman of this year's short list, but perhaps with less schmuck factor. Bayh was seen meeting with Kerry's VP strategy crew.

Tom Vilsack, Iowa Governator supreme, has also come up quite a bit as of late. Most people don't know who the hell he is, and Iowa is not exactly the most important state. Outside pick.

Bill Richardson , New Mexico Governator supreme, would go a long way with the Hispanic vote, but this guy has some skeletons.

Ed Rendell, our own Governator, might be criminally insane, but a good guy no less.

Howard Dean could perhaps be the ultimate crowd pleaser to the base, but his name has only come up for VP in some poorly done and hardly read blogs.

Bob Graham is possibly the most repulsive campaigner this side of Cheney. Stay away.

And to the one or two people that hit the site before I updated again, you heard it here first. Specter wins, it seems, though I am still a bit skeptical with such close results. Hopefully the fight isn't over, cause any extended battle helps Hoeffel. What does this say about things? The so called Republican wing of the Republican party is a strong fighter, and all of the Specters better watch their back. For the democrats, however, a divided GOPher unit is good times. Hopefully the wingnuts will stay home in November while licking their wounds from their man Tooney losing.

It seems that the majority of remaining precincts to be counted are Tooney strongholds. This ain't over yet.

While there is a small chance that Toomey could come back in the last few precincts reporting, It seems Arlen Specter will come out bloody and bruised to take on Joe Hoeffel for Senate this November in PA. Barring a Tooney miracle of course, and possibly a recount with the results being this close, Specter is at his weakest ever. Time to come out Joe, we can win this thing.

With over 70 percent reporting back, Specter holds a razor thin lead. Not Florida thin, but the numbers keep getting closer. I have a feeling that the most pro Tooney areas would be counted last. We should know within a few hours what went down. More later.

The polls are closed here in PA, and it's looking like a dead heat. Specter or Toomey? We should know by the end of 24.
I'm not sure why I care so much about this race, I think Hoeffel stands a good chance against either of them. That said, if Specter goes down in a few minutes here, it is truly the end of an era, and the Republicans will have shifted to the far, far right as a party. It is odd, that for the first time as I can remember, Both parties are moving towards the extremes and not the center. We're in for an interesting year.

My head tells me to root for Specter, because at least with him, we don't have to worry about having both of our seats in the Senate go to wingnuts, but with that said, why not just have the real thing? I think Specter is hurting more than anyone in this newly polarized electorate, and the results will show this soon. More on it later. Also good luck to Hoeffel, who begins his spirited quest tomorrow with a cross state tour. Let's really get his name out there. Glen has already said that he would go door to door for Hoeffel if Toomey won the primary, so who else is on board?

Who to root for? My thoughts are that Hoeffel stands to win from this bitter battle, no matter who comes out on top. I think I wouldn't mind seeing Toomey win just so that the world sees that an endorsement from GWB doesn't mean shit, but that said, if I were able to vote in this primary election, I would choose Specter. Other than his jackass magic bullet fiasco, he has proven to truely be a man of the people, one of a dying breed of Republicans that does seem to give a damn.

The results, tomorrow.

John Kerry, and rightfully so might I add, has gone on the attack RE:George Bush and co. attacking his military record. It's about time! Unless there is some ultra-Jack Bauer/Alias conspiracy at work and Bush wanted Kerry to raise the issue of GWB's service again to show a new smoking gun, the VRWC is a bunch of idiots for this one. That said, the polls have been relatively static for a long long time now, so maybe it won't even matter.

I haven't seen this myself yet, but Atrios is saying that Kerry had another one of his "slips." We'll see how the media covers this one.

Atrios has been running a great campaign to point out the unfair attention that John Kerry has gotten for his pro choice stance on abortion while being a Catholic. Check it out.

I will do some more updating tonight, don't worry. I'm pretty deep into finals week and it's not looking like I'll be finished until one week from tomorrow, but I will try to stop in and update here as much as I can.

Hello everyone,
the updates will be a bit light for the next week or so, Glen and I are in the midst of finals. Take this time to check out the cause pages, and maybe suggest some more races for us to link up to.

To let John Kerry step back into the spotlight as a war hero was a rather dumb move by the Bush team. Kos speaks about it, and here is the NY times article about Kerry's newly released records. I would have thought that if there was this big of a risk for the Bush team, surely there had to be something up their sleeve, some bombshell about Kerry's Vietnam era service that could go head to head with Bush's lack of service. Not so apparently, and it's going to bite them in the ass if the media doesn't ignore this follow up story.

Honestly I'm not sure why John Kerry said his military records are available (on Meet the Press) but apparently are not, but more than that, I'm not sure how exactly the Republicans are attempting to take on a war hero over the same thing their draft dodging idiot son took a hit on earlier in the year. Let's face it, the Bush campaign is the last group of people that can criticize military service.

Why are we not winning this election in a landslide? Because the Democratic party is inept.

Let's take a look at this. Some fellow bloggers are criticizing John Kerry's lack of response, but I don't think that's the problem. Trust me, I saw him last week, and he responds. Today for example, he isn't just opposing, he is proposing some environmental changes, and I think propose at this point is exactly what he needs to do. The DNC, however, should have the heavy hitters all over the news networks responding for him, in addition to any coverage he is granted from the media. I'm not talking low level pundits, I'm talking your Clintons, Gores, Deans, Edwards, etc. Why has the DNC been lax on this?

We have basically been handed the election. The only people pleased by Bush right now are the far right wingnuts and campaign contributors. Log Cabin and RINO republicans are being bullied from the inside. People see that Bush's shortsightedness is contributing to long term hate. We've been handed three books from major insiders in the last two months with damning revelations, and not capitalized on them at all. The situation in Iraq is moving to the bad, and our guy has proposed a way out, but no one is listening. The DNC should fire its flash team and start releasing the hounds. John Kerry should pick a top hound soon. Bush can only lose this for himself so much if people don't see or understand what other choice there is.

you shouldn't expect to be out of the spotlight for too long.

Fresh off of the heels of the Clarke movement, a new credible voice moves to reveal the truth about the Bush administration and Iraq. How early were plans for this invasion laid down? Why were Saudi officials briefed before Colin Powell? Liberal Oasis has a good article on Condi's response to this from the usually compliant "Face the Nation" and more.

Alterman hits the nail on the head of something I've been trying to say for a while. Add this on to that: people that bring up Clinton when I'm trying to argue what a terrible president W is, last I checked, Clinton wasn't on the ticket this time around. It's time we got past that. Move on!

Josh Marshall has an interesting piece on the subject. The more things like this come out the more I wonder how incredibly incompetent an administration, nary the most powerful administration in the world, has to be to have done stuff like this and expected no one to find out, or worse, no one to care. This is the guy that represents us around the world. Wonder why people hate us?

I've got to say that lately the GW cartel has been out of step. It seems like since the beginning of the year, they have been putting forth new policy and programs that have been largely unpopular, very un Rovian. Mars, Gaygate, State of the Union, the flawless president, etc.. and now he is running in my home state on the Patriot Act?

I don't know that there is an issue that is more divisive to conservatives and liberals alike. This tramping of the bill of rights is universally unpopular. How do they manage to keep picking the wrong sides of all of these issues? Honestly, I'm loving it.

John Kerry is going to a place where no mainstream politician running for President has dared go before. Today, he began to criticize the Bush administration for its "sweetheart deals" with some countries (read: Saudi Arabia). After a revelation from Woodward last night that Saudi Arabian officials agreed to fix oil prices before the election to keep George Bush in office, Kerry today responded with that crushing criticism. I gotta say, I didn't expect this issue to be raised, it always seemed to be obvious to me, but on the Michael Moore side of the liberal spectrum. That said, I think this will have quite an effect. The 1-2 Clarke Woodward punch should put yet another nail in GW's political coffin.

It was pretty tough for me to get up so early, I usually don't roll around until 10:45 or so on days I have class, until the afternoon on days I don't. Not today though, I was up at an hour that I hadn't seen since high school, 6:30. I had had three hours of rest and was on the road.

After a few pit stops, I finally arrive at Pitt. They have the area gated off, so me and the crew move to get in line. It was pretty surprising, the number of people there. What Glen estimated as two thousand later was reported to be ten thousand, a stunning turnout. There are a few Bush supporters outside with signs and sticker rolls. I was pretty unhappy to find out the way the stage was set up was with two difference pools of audience, some got a certain kind of ticket and was allowed to get much closer to the stage. I didn't have the ticket, needless to say, but I am curious how you get one. Now I know my efforts haven't been big shit or anything, but I have contributed a decent amount of documented effort to the campaign, and I'm still wondering why I got the generic ticket. Does anyone know? Also thanks to Phil for emailing me back about helping out. He was on the stage behind Kerry. As we waited for the show to begin, people became a bit antsy. Just hearing people, I was afraid that most of them would leave after Bon Jovi. On to the actual rally.

The first speaker was an absolute surprise, future PA senator Joe Hoeffel. I felt kinda stupid because Glen and I screamed, a few others applauded, and most others had no clue who this guy was. Great speaker though. He introduced newly elected county commissioner, Dan Onorato, who a few more people knew. Both spoke about how we need Kerry, but the crowd at large at this point was aloof. Then, after no email Phil speaks for a bit, he announces what to some was the main event. Bon Jovi, who I didn't dislike as much as I thought I would, played three songs, and it seems only one people knew. I can't say much bad here. After this, was a short break. A few people did head out, but only a few. I moved a few steps closer and was finally able to get a clear view. After a short break and some more stock campaign music (u2 must be rolling in cash from these guys), local hero Franco Harris came out. He wasn't the best speaker, but his point stands none the less. He introduces Governor Ed Rendell, the opening act.

governor Rendell is a good guy and I am a fan. That said, I'm suprised the crazy label stuck to Dean and not him. This guy looks like he's 9 foot tall and 9 foot wide and talks like a raving maniac. After a few remarks about Bush and Kerry, it was time for the main event.

The Heinz family along with the Senator and Tom Delonge of Blink 182 come out to Hey Ya. Teresa speaks first about how this is her home, one of her sons comes out with an Ahnold/Bill Clinton impression that works the crowd, and Delonge, who's name I'm suprised isn't on the RNC webpage for calling the president illiterate, was rather popular as well. He talked about how they can't go all around the world without people pissed at him. Finally, what I had been waiting to see for months now, John Kerry is on.

His speech wasn't anything I hadn't heard before. His aura was the usual. But god damn if that man can't get me worked up. I was cheering at every applause line, the crowd was going wild, it was rather exciting. John Kerry could speak and debate the president through a wall, and I'm sure that'll come through when they actually start debating this fall. His one flaw, that he uses too many words to say things, he seems to be working on. He needs an Al Sharpton soundbyte writer on his staff to complete the circle. That said, I was impressed, and I will be at as many of these events that I can.

One last little blurb before I head out for the night, check your local listings for Meet the Press tomorrow for an hour long interview with John Kerry. See the major difference between his interview and Bush's earlier this year. Also take note, Bush's interview was taped and edited, Kerry's will be live. Enjoy.

Hey all, I will be back tomorrow with catching up on the weekend news and a review of the Kerry rally from yesterday. Unfortunately I wasn't close enough to get any good pictures, but wow, there were about 10,000 people out there, and it was a much better crowd than I had anticipated. Joe Hoeffel, Ed Rendell, I didn't dislike Bon Jovi as much as I thought I would..more tomorrow. Until then folks, have a good weekend.

Gates open tomorrow at 9am, hope to see you all there. I will report back with full coverage and hopefully some pictures, which I know you will love since there are only about 3 on the entire site here. Anyway, enjoy it if you go, and if you can't make it, watch the webcast here. I'm expecting something pretty big tomorrow, being the last day of the campus tour, and with some pretty popular special guests.

Some of the punditry are saying that George Bush has spent too much money too fast, and basically gained nothing from it. Not to say I told you so...well yeah actually I did. Ol' W has blown half of his pre convention advertising budget in a little over a month, and polls show him even or slighty behind Senator Kerry. All for naught buddy boy. That will teach you to not start unnecessary wars without having a way out.

John Kerry on the other hand is ready to ramp up his advertising effort to define himself to the voters. He has raised an unexpectedly high amount of money since wrapping up the nomination, and only spent about a quarter of what Bush has on advertisements thus far.

Flip Flops? Not really..

Here is a good article on John Kerry's voting record in the Senate. It goes on to give explanations for any "out of character" votes and describes Kerry's consistency. There are many floor quotes from the Senator as well. A good bit on the voted for it voted against it Iraq thing, it actually explains that action pretty well, and it makes sense to me. Give it a read.

The following events take place in real time from the day of April 15 to November 2. George Bush has been preparing for this time since his slim and shady victory in 2000. A new democratic heir to the throne, John Kerry, has risen from the roller coaster primary dust to take Bush on. The story up to this point:

The time, is April 2003. George Bush continues to enjoy extremely high approval ratings as he nears the end of "combat" stages of the Iraq war. The public overwhelmingly backed the military action, as they believed that they were in immediate danger. Democrats, meanwhile, considered Bush to be unbeatable coming off of the 2002 republican mandate. They struggle to find a strong candidate within a pool of no name candidates after their biggest faces, Al Gore and Hillary Clinton, decide against running.

Flash forward to June 2003. The American public is growing increasingly weary with our presence in Iraq, and reasons for being there. George Bush's numbers still look good for re-election, but the slumping economy and continued questions about the war on terror begin to dog him and his aura of unbeatability. Democrats, although still afraid to break out with criticism against the extremely popular President, begin to find their voice. There are 9 democratic candidates for President: Bob Graham, Dick Gephardt, John Edwards, Carol Mosely Braun, Al Sharpton, Dennis Kucinich, Howard Dean, John Kerry, and early front runner and VP candidate under Al Gore, Joe Leibermann. A 10th candidate, Wesley Clark, was being pushed to run by both grassroots supporters and DNC brass alike. He joined the race later on in the year.

We move now to December 2003. Howard Dean has stunned the country by becoming the odds on favorite to win the Democratic nomination. An Al Gore endorsement puts him along his way, only to begin to become a bit tainted with continued gaffes and missteps. Wes Clark is considered his only real opponent, as well as a fan favorite to be on a 1-2 team with Dean. Dick Gephardt is considered an outside shot. John Kerry and John Edwards were in danger of becoming also rans. The rest of the candidates remain second tier. Howard Dean's message of complete political reform resonates with many, as he smashes fundraising records and gained incredible media coverage and popularity, as well as gives the democratic party a backbone, with unabashed criticism at President Bush. The President, meanwhile, began to feel the effects of democratic pounding. Still viewed as a favorite, he tried to remain above the fray.

January/February 2004. Engaging in an ad war with Dick Gephardt mixed with media saturation of "I have a scream," Howard Dean's ship sunk in Iowa, with a disappointing third. John Kerry and John Edwards, with their incredible come from behind results, became the new race. Dean, after so much excitement near the end of 2003, was only able to come up with one primary victory. His home state of Vermont, in a largely symbolic vote, gave Dean many delegates weeks after he dropped out of the race.

March 2004. John Kerry wins 9 out of 10 races on super Tuesday, and forces his last viable opponent from the race, effectively clinching the Democratic nomination. George Bush, suddenly beatable and being dogged by a growing insurgency in Iraq, quickly responds with an attempt to define Kerry as a crazy liberal. The attempts are undercut by new interest in the 9-11 commission, and revelations that George Bush didn't pay enough attention to the terror threat prior to the horiffic attacks of September 2001.

The Present: George Bush's 40 plus million dollar ad blitz has failed. More of the polled public, although not being familiar with Kerry, choose him over Bush. An economy showing slight signs of recovery are not enough to combat George Bush's lack of plans in Iraq, and faltering support for his conduct as a president and in the area of foreign policy. The candidates are neck in neck, with Kerry having nowhere to go but up. Both sides struggle to define the race. Welcome to 200 days.

What will happen in these 200 days? What issue will frame the debate in this election? Will the economy continue to rebound in the short term? Will the Bush deficit play a pivotal role? Will Iraq continue to dwindle into chaos? Will John Kerry be able to warm up and define himself to voters? Who will be his vice presidential choice and how will it effect the race? Stay tuned folks, we're in for a ride.

The financial mess that George Bush has put our country in will hurt the United States economy, as well as greatly damage the world economy. People that fear taxes, watch out: George is probably going to have to raise them.

This is what happens when you let the most god awful iteration of a political party take charge in both the legislative and executive branches of government.

Just how large is the debt? Keep in mind that this estimate does not include costs for everyone's favorite unnecessary war. And this guy is a conservative! Maybe spending is the compassionate part.

On day three of his campus tour, John Kerry continues to impress. Today, Kerry reiterated his plan for fully funded higher education in exchange for national service. It is refreshing to see a politician speaking to this constituency, as we are often ignored. As for the plan itself, it is an all around winner, one that will get more people involved in both national service and higher education, which to me, is a win win situation. Kerry even explains how this can be paid for without putting any of the burden on taxpayers, which is by shifting money from a windfall that banks get by doing student loans.

At the same rally, John Kerry addressed the President's lack of substance in his speech last night. Not only did George Bush preempt 24, he did it basically to politic and stump. Now its on at the same damn time as the Sopranos and Alias, but I digress. John Kerry called for a "smarter way" in Iraq, one that eases the burden on the United States military and taxpayers by introducing the United Nations. This is a smart move because not only does he now have more substance in his plan than the sitting "we're going in the right direction" president, but it echoes the sentiment of the population. Kerry says it doesn't have to be this way, and never did, and he is 100 percent correct.

Today, President George W. Bush gave a rare speech with a Q and A session afterwards. The speech, only the third in Bush's term, centered mostly on assuming damage control mode RE:Iraq after a few weeks of deadly fighting and declining support for the war. The questions were a bit more broad in scope, including an inquiry to the President on whether or not he had made any mistakes or failures during his tenure. Karlbot activated, and of course, he suddenly blocked out the war in Iraq, his economic plan, his space manifest destiny, the anti-gay amendment, and of course, ignoring warnings before 9-11.

When asked if he felt any responsibility for 9-11 or if he wanted to apologize to the families, he sidestepped and said in retrospect, he wished the Department of Homeland Security was in place. Let's not forget to mention that the Department was a democratic idea that George Bush opposed and subsequently took credit for.

Looking at the first stories on the speech, the media isn't exactly giving it rave reviews. George Bush, as usual, came off as a pompous moron who is incredibly disconnected with the American public, and on top of that, is afraid to admit his wrongdoings. The best part of the speech by far was his magic tie.

CBS is for old people anyway, they couldn't handle the Gipper's homophobia. He's gonna be on Rushmore one day!!
congratulations on beating FOX for the Jefferson Muzzle award for suppressing free speech.

As you read this, the proverbial stuff continues to hit the fan in Iraq. Sadr set to become a martyr. Russia's contractor to pull out. Where do we go from here?

Kos thinks cut and run is on the way. We shall see in the coming weeks how the Bush admin. will deal with its slipping popularity.

We are preempting 24 to hear the idiot son do damage control on Iraq? Now this thing to get him out of office has become more than a mission. They moved it to Sunday at 9! I'm going to have to set up 40 VCRs! Goddamn FOX promised that the rest of 24's season would not be interrupted! They wonder why it can't find an audience. I should have expected it from the network that ruined the Family Guy, Futurama, etc etc..

To hell with American Idol while I'm at it.

Again, anyone in the Pittsburgh area on Friday, there will be a Kerry rally @ Pitt main campus. Doors open at 9 am, the event, I believe, starts at 11 am. It is the final day of Kerry's campus tour, so I would expect a rather important policy speech.

Speaking of Kerry's campus tour, this is a pretty good idea. Kerry, while portraying himself as a man of the people, is staying out of the range of Bush shooting himself in the foot. While Kerry is out parading his college tax credit program, Bush is on the defensive from Iraq fallout and slipping poll numbers. Kerry does remain topical however, throwing in only soundbytes of criticism on Iraq. He is striking a perfect balance at this time, and the negative ads from Bush seemed to have had no effect. While he is at it, he gets to echo a view that quite a few in the US hold: bring internationalism to Iraq. All in all, this month will be a good one for John Kerry politically, one that may firmly put John Kerry as the front runner for President in November.

New polls this week show a steep decline in support for President Bush in general and against John Kerry. A week of Iraq plunging into chaos plus the return of John Kerry to the scene has put the Senator well ahead in most recent polls.

A year ago, this guy was unbeatable.


Kos brought up an interesting point last night. It seems he got into rant mode about the same time that I did. John Edwards wanted to bring America back together. Howard Dean wanted to reform the democratic party. Why is John Kerry running? The obvious answer is that he thinks..and I know.. that he can do a better job than Bush. That answer isn't good enough for the public, and honestly, my vote for Kerry is still about 55 percent a vote against Bush. This is more of a personality issue than his actual policy, which for the most part, does well. I do like John Kerry, and I am excited about our prospects (now we even have a chance at the Senate), but we should be landsliding Bush in the polls. We need an American public friendly soundbyte slogan, one that paints the positives of the Kerry plan, not the old Bring It on. We aren't in the primaries anymore Dorothy.

Why is John Kerry afraid of his liberal roots? Fiscal Discipline as a top campaign theme? Civil Unions? Lowering the corporate tax? Further enhancing tax cuts to the lower class? Not supporting an increase in gas taxes? Some of his themes reek of think tanks and focus groups, two terrors that have plagued corporate politics as of late.

I think we should have a balanced budget, but social programs should come before further enhancing middle class tax cuts that are already quite excessive. The rich should have to handle the majority of the taxes, because they make the most, and make far more than they need. That, however, is not an excuse to totally remove the burden from the middle class. Why do we pay far fewer in taxes than most industrial countries? It's because not only do these countries care more about their people, but because the ugly truth you don't hear is that by not letting the government handle some programs such as health care, we pay far more with inflation and bureaucratic costs. Where is the education campaign? This theme of have it both ways is a good way to get nowhere.

No gas tax? This is laziness on our government and media's part in letting taxes have a negative connotation, especially on the unusually high gas prices. True, a gas tax is regressive because all people pay the same percent, but let's look at it. First, the people that want to drive the SUVS and bigger cars would pay more because they eat more gas. If that isn't the case, SUVs would be driven and purchased less, as would our reliance on gas, and a la our reliance on middle eastern oil. The money would stimulate our economy, put money into severely underfunded social programs, move us toward energy independence with money towards fuel efficiency research, so on and so forth. The truth that the American People don't want to hear is that our gas is and has been subsidized for a long time. We pay far less than we should for it, and it shows, for our small population accounting for over 30 percent of the world's energy consumption.

John Kerry should have a heart to heart with the American people. We have grown so accustomed to having it both ways. We want to have our low prices and no unions at wal mart, but get angry when John Average's job gets shipped to India. Kerry should say, flat out, that it is a choice we as a country need to make. Which do you want?

The entry workers of the country deserve a living wage. 5.15 an hour is anemic compared to even when the law was enacted. That hourly pay would be over 8 dollars now if adjusted for inflation. Has the wage inflated with it? No. Should John Kerry be on it? Yeah.

Civil Unions are a cop out. Kerry should come out for full marriage rights. I understand that baby steps are how things get done, but Kerry himself has come out in favor of Marriage as between a man and a woman..if he admitted that it was a baby step in the right direction, we would have more common ground on this divisive issue.

Senator Kerry has some important decisions to make. He has an opportunity to run his campaign like no other before: one that listens to it's constituents. He can run on a platform of educating voters on the intricacies of government, and the choices before them. Kerry can show the voting public what a real leader is, and take strong, clear positions, but not strong enough that they can't be modified if circumstances warrant. "Steady leadership in times of change" is an idiotic slogan; change, by definition, demands adaptation. Kerry has this opportunity to take the ball because we currently have a President who has taken our country in the most wrong direction in our history. Don't get me wrong, the most nuanced Kerry position is better than any Bush position, and I defy anyone to find an example that would make me retract that statement. I fully support the candidacy of John Kerry for this presidential election, and I do think we will win. That said, we can make a difference in the way things are done this time around. A dishonest, out of touch moron runs the White House, so why aren't we polling in a landslide? Because John Kerry's nuanced positions of appeasement don't appease too many.

This isn't new, but no less relevant.

Ralph Nader, as it turns out, is just as bad as your average Washington insider. His self-righteous moralist holier than thou rhetoric doesn't hold up to some of his own actions. Check it out.

I really believe in most of the things that Ralph Nader claims to stand for, but if some of this is true, who can you trust?
If some of this is true, I would go as far as to say that his run may be a deliberate attempt to split the progressive vote. Say it ain't so, someone give me some proof otherwise.

Ralph has done a world of good, and yes, the two corporate parties do have a stranglehold on the election, and yes, he and anyone else that wants to run should be able to, but damn Ralph, don't you see how important this one is?

The root site of the above link has dirt on pretty much every candidate since 96, with a few very thin dirt, including John Kerry surprisingly. Check it out. It's a rather non-partisan site with some muck on candidates from all sides of the political spectrum.

John Kerry will soon be widening his criticism of the Bushonomics. While he should have been doing this from the start, it is kind of a shame that he has to do this because the short attention span public is coming off of a good month for jobs that has still left GW quite far in the hole. The result is a truer index of the effects of Bush economic policy, aka the "how does it benefit my campaign donors" plan.
At any rate, I welcome the more well rounded critique. This upcoming week looks to be a pivotal week for either side. George Bush is occupied with negative news from Iraq and the 9-11 commission and John Kerry needs to capitalize on Bush's failure to define him. Let's see how it goes.

We're finally listed on yahoo..right up top too:)

It's surreal to be listed right below the heavy hitters..kos, eschaton, talking points, even AS. I've been reading those blogs for quite a while, and while they are the best of the best (along with in my humble opinion, political wire), have finally etched out my own little place here after a year of saying i was going to do it. Anyways, on to the rant.

As it turns out, we do negotiate with terrorists when it benefits George Bush politically. Where do we go from here, what do we do now? I'm not saying that offering a cease fire is a bad thing, but it just goes to show the do as I say, not as I do rhetoric vs action of this bunch of liars.

Friday dump or not, I don't think this one will go away as easy as Bush wants it to. Sir, if this is true then why were you worried about overseas threats? Why no mention or attention to Al Qaida before 9-11? I backed away from Glen's theory that George Bush let this happen, and while I don't think that is 100 percent accurate either, I think it was a matter of not paying enough attention. To sum it up, we need a guy who is not an idiot in the White House. Which brings me to my first fundraising pitch of the new iteration of the left times.

See the thing on the right side of the screen where it says Kerry Core? Click on that and contribute anything you can afford. It'll be worth it come November. All funds are processed through John Kerry's site. We don't see any of the action at all, the Kerry Core is basically just a symbol of where John Kerry's money comes from, and we'd like to make our dent in the upcoming win in November.

Take a look. I'm surprised that this got dumped on a Friday (should i be?) but I have a feeling considering the political climate that it just might stick. Pants on fire comes to mind.

Well folks, the latest AP poll has been released and our two contenders are in a statistical dead heat. John Kerry gets 45 percent and GW gets 46, with Nader getting 6. Analyze it you say? Well what this tells me is that either nothing is changing anything or Bush's attack ads combined with Kerry criticism and Iraq are negating each other. That said, this looks good for Kerry, because those 6 percent of people who say Nader are mostly unlikely to actually vote for him, instead getting cold feet and turning to Kerry in the voting booth. Again, and as always, a poll this early in the game doesn't mean much.

Not getting as much airplay from that very same poll:

country headed in wrong direction: 57 percent
Disapprove of Bush as President: 50 percent
Disapprove of Bush on economy: 53 percent
Disapprove of Bush on domestic issues: 53 percent
Disapprove of Bush on foreign policy and terrorism(registered voters): 47 percent
Disapprove of Bush on foreign policy: 56 percent
Disapprove of Bush on war on terrorism: 47 percent
Which party do you want to see control congress: D(47), R (43)


This is almost a majority on all fronts against Bush, even with the supposedly recovering economy. This all tells me that both candidates are going to actually have to debate issues in order to gain or lose any ground. We're in it for the long haul folks.

Looks like the media won't let the Rice testimony go without spin. As you read earlier, I didn't think that the testimony did much either way, but it seems some of the people who should have the most say on the matter don't think she answered the questions she needed to. More here.

This somehow got buried today, but President Clinton actually spoke to the commission today shortly after Condi left, calling the commission meeting "constructive." GW, take note on the lack of Al Gore holding his hand. You could use that lesson.

This little gem basically happened in my own back yard. How did I miss this? Crazy Stuff!

Put this one in the "when bad Saturday Night Live sketch comes to life" department..

The good folks at the Center for American Progress have done an in depth debunking of the claims of our National Security Advisor in front of the 9-11 commission.

Richard Clarke also shows how his claims were in fact boosted by the Rice testimony.
Enjoy.

Finally today, someone is being charged with manipulating prices in the California energy crisis. The soft on corporate crime Bush syndicate is trying to weaken that stack with this latest move. What is the punishment? As high as 2 million dollars. Tough for a billion dollar industry.

We should do a spin of the Willie Horton with Ken Lay as the star.

Clear Channel decided to permanently drop the popular Howard Stern show in the face of hefty fines from the FCC. Howard has made use of his last month on air to call out Bush for what he is: a wingnut. Howard Stern and the subsequent decision to make him a martyr could have further energized an already united Democratic race, and his 8 million listeners, usually Republican or non voters, could make the difference in a close election, especially when called upon by someone with as much clout as Stern. Hopefully he will find a way to keep the show going, or at the very least remain in the news in the coming months.

I don't know which side I believe on this one as to why Stern is getting the boot. For one, it is pretty convenient that as soon as he turns on Bush he gets pulled from swing states, including my own home Pittsburgh market, but right after Janet Jackson at the Super Bowl, it was like wingnut crazy. All that said, Stern has been doing this stuff for years and he just finally gets pulled after pulling his own support for Iraq and the President? Hopefully the facts on this will come to light. Even if he really did get gonzed for indecency, he has already attained martyrdom in the court of public opinion.

Good thing our President has so much extra time on his hands while his war descends into chaos. A true leader he is!

Meanwhile, on the other side and already sounding more intelligent than our leader is John Kerry with some advice. Why isn't this situation the other way around? At the very least Bush could have been fundraising at a security dinner or something, but come on, hunters and fishermen? I suppose Karl Rove wants our fearless leader to turn the other cheek when things aren't doing so well in any particular situation.

First, Kos has a good update on some 9-11 widows appearance on Hardball.

Condi Rice has landed. Once again, the Bushies are so afraid to apologize for their mistake, that they use careful wording and political run rounding to more or less dodge certain questions. "I am quite certain that ...President did not push anyone to twist the facts." plausible deniability. She also claims that Bush understood the threat. Something tells me that If he did, and they had been paying attention, something may not have happened. Ah, we'll see how the media spins this. If the Hardball mentioned above is any indication, Bush is in for a bad trip.

It seems that our administration is the last country on the planet to not realize what kind of long term damage our worthless Iraq invasion will do. That said, these countries decisions (or campaign promises) to pull out completely is not just. Granted, it's our mess, but you guys were there too, you're all guilty by association. Australia and Spain, I agree that we need to get the UN involved again, but I actually think that leaving at this point would be even more shortsighted than our initial decision to go in. It would act as yet another catalyst to terrorist recruitment, as hatred of the western world grows more and more. How do we go and address the root of the problem rather than the symptom? At this point, George Bush has done a great deal of damage, but his shortsightedness can be overcome, and probably without being seen as pushovers. John Kerry first and foremost, needs to will out in Iraq, go back to the UN and get them involved, continue a global intelligence operation, and attack terrorists more with technology. Then, we extend the olive branch. We need a truly even handed policy in Middle East. Our one sided support of Israel hasn't worked out too well. Next, we move toward energy independence and away from being owned by Saudi oil. Finally, not using our military for personal vendetta is probably a good word of advice to John Kerry. It doesn't get us anywhere.

While Condi prepares to testify, the Bush administration has failed to produce documents from the Clinton administration that were requested by the committee. What do they have to hide? Bush's faltering campaign could hinge on what is uncovered in these investigations, and all politics aside, don't the American people, after having to live in near constant fear from vague threats, deserve full disclosure? I won't even get into why Bush and Cheney can't testify alone and under oath. Those that say this is the most secretive presidency of all time are correct. Mobilize folks, let's give them the boot.

I've gotta say I'm still stuck on the new war on pornography. Even above perverts, this won't fare well with free speech/privacy concerned conservatives and well..pretty much everyone but the religious right. I'd be willing to say this may even anger some of them, cause lets face it, those guys look at porn. This new war on porn isn't even referring to the Rick Santorum brand of man on dog action, they want everything down to showtime late night single x material. This could get interesting. The most backwards morons of all time strike again. What the hell are they thinking, and the more important question: What's next?

From the people that brought you the "War on Drugs" and the "War on Terrorism" comes the final chapter in the stunning "war on vague labels" trilogy:

A GOPher production in conjunction with Ashcroft/Ultracon studios presents: The "War on Pornography." I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried folks. Ah on to the drill...Instead of investing in port security or anything else of any importance, the Bush administration is spending millions to wage a new war on pornography. If they were looking for a way to piss everyone off that wasn't from the religious fringe right, this is a good way to do it. Even the Nascar people won't be too happy about this one. Well at least if it's profitable, we may get the "War on Evolution" or my personal favorite, the "War on independent thought." Waiting to be greenlit in a country you probably live in, November 2004.

Ralph, Ralph, Ralph..you and I may not agree on much as of late, but I think you hit the nail on the head. Ralph Nader is calling for the impeachment of President Bush on the grounds of misleading the public in the run up to the Iraq war. Let's face it, we did in fact do that very deed to our last President for far less of an offense. Let's face it, Bill Clinton did lie under oath, and was wrong to do so. That said, George Bush's "exaggeration" (read:lies) concerning the run up to and making the case for the Iraq war has cost us 600 American lives, or standing in the world, plunged a country into chaos, and done wonders for terrorism recruitment in the Middle East. W's vendetta is not connected to or a part of, and in fact a diversion from the war on terror. Iraq was never an immediate threat to our country. We aren't going to find any weapons of mass destruction. The only thing we are finding is ourselves in a mess. The American public has come around to these facts, and W can not hide much longer.

I hope against hope that we can find some way out of this in which everyone wins, but every day that goes by closes the window more and more on that possibility. In the light of recent events in Iraq, it might be time to reassess our strategy. George Bush, for what appears to be strictly political reasons, is sticking to his original transfer date of June 30, while it seems clear that the country is not ready. Inside the Bush house, it seems to me that they will do anything to salvage their re-election campaign, and cut and run doesn't seem to be off the table. Iraq is simply nowhere near ready to stand on their feet without us..they are damn near descending into chaos with us there. The media isn't giving Bush a free pass this time either, he's used the get out of jail card one too many times. He has truely and finally come through on his campaign promise to be a uniter.

Democratic candidate John Kerry today called for a return to fiscal responsibility in government spending, and vowed to scale back his own programs to make headway toward a balanced budget a priority. Isn't it amazing that someone so socially conservative, we're talking fringe right here, in George Bush can be such a cut-tax and spend liberal when it comes to money issues? We're talking record deficits and spending, and it's a hole that can't be closed with even more tax cuts, like George Bush wishes. Face it W, even gutting social security, Medicare, education, and other vital social programs, your tax cuts (that really only benefit people who don't need them) are absurd. What's sad is that our deficit projection does not even include the ever expensive cost of war in Iraq. John Kerry, you have a tough way ahead of you, but I believe you can be the man to bring us back to spending sanity. Capping spending on everything but education and security spending is a good start.

Post this one to the biggest surprise of the year department: Rupert Murdoch, of Fox and with that, Fox News, supports President Bush! I never saw this one coming folks.

"Let us rid ourselves of the fiction that low oil prices are somehow good for the United States." Said this mystery congressperson, in 1986 while introducing legislation that would have sharply raised the prices of oil, and subesquently gasoline. Who was this pinko-commie democrat? Current Vice President Dick Cheney. This comes to light after Bush/Cheney are trying to saddle John Kerry with legislation from the mid 90s that would have increased the gas tax 50 cents, one that John Kerry did not introduce. Who's the hypocrite flip flopper? Enjoy that one folks, it will catch fire soon. If only someone had a soundbyte.....

Thanks to Atrios and Kos for the enlightment there.

Two weeks of downtime has taken its toll for future President Kerry in Florida. The sitting President now leads Kerry 51-43 in this important battleground state, however all signs point to the state being very fluid. I honestly don't see these numbers as being very important quite yet, and national polls show a different trend with Kerry gaining ground, so lets see where these go in the coming weeks for a more accurate picture of voting.

Another more important poll, done by the Pew research group, shows that a clear majority of people, 53 percent, now believe that George Bush is not doing a good job in Iraq. Now I don't think the March job numbers will really stick, but could it be that the very things Bush and Kerry were ready to run on will up and switch? With 20 plus American troops killed in Iraq since this weekend, it is a possibility. Perhaps more damning for Bush from the very same poll, his job approval is at an anemic 43 percent, with 47 disapproving. Why don't they ever come to me with these polls?

Ralph Nader was unable to make the ballot in what would have been one of the easiest states to do so in oregon. he came up 250 plus signatures short of the requirement, and is opting for a time and money consuming last ditch effort to get so many signatures in a three month period to get back on the ballot. Between this and his flimsy support, he has an uphill battle to wage.

Finally for this post, I added a register to vote box on the left side of your screen. If anyone here is actually not registered to vote and will be at least 18 by November, get on it NOW. Also, I apologize for the lack of links within posts, but it is a bit difficult to do on the old Blogger interface with the mac. I promise when I am back updating from home tomorrow, there will be links.

The battle of Arlen Specter v Pat Toomey for the PA senator race is a tough one to take sides on. Normally I wouldn't care about a Republican primary, but an especially vulnerable Specter combined with a strong Democratic candidate Joe Hoeffel has me interested. Kos even has this one listed near the top of the possible Senate seats to switch parties. Why the situation then? Well, Pat Toomey would probably be an easier target and a win for Joe Hoeffel, however we run the risk of having a senator somewhere to the right of Attila the Hun that makes Rick "man on dog" Santorum look like a civil rights union leader. Arlen Specter would be a somewhat tougher task, considering his moderate record, and honestly he's not a bad guy, but I would rather see it go to a Democrat any day. All that said, if Specter does trump wingnut Toomey in the primary, he will come out significantly weakened and possibly have a hard time moving back to the center to do battle with Hoeffel. Do we root for the risky one or the safe bet? It's win-sorta win vs win-disaster. The primary is in a few weeks. This race, next to Barack Obama's near sure victory in Illinois and the Colorado situation could mean we regain a majority in the senate under President Kerry.

Speaking of President Kerry, the wear and tear from staying out of the spotlight recently is starting to show up in polls. While it's nothing to be alarmed about for us yet, we should jump on it. The new ad at Kerry's website is a good sign that they are back on the ball. It's a good ad too, probably the best I've seen out of Senator Kerry so far this campaign. For anyone in PA as I am, I was notified that Kerry will be at a rally at Pitt on April 16th, probably in the afternoon. I'll see you there.

President Bush is claiming not to have had information on the morning of 9-11 to know about a possible attack. This contradicts the numerous reports from just about everyone ever, so I won't get into this new lie. I hate to speculate on what exactly could have happened if Clarke and company were not ignored in the first half of 2001. Perhaps we wouldn't have had a pretext to invade a completely unrelated personal vendetta.

Speaking of the unelected President and company, the cartel will be vetting the 9-11 commission's report before it is released publicly, and thus possibly pushing that release back until after the election. If this isn't the most overtly political move since...well since a while ago, then I don't know what is. Someone, and I don't mean someone that hosts a comedy central fake news show, needs to take them to task. Speaking of taking them to task, we need to jump on that. Example:

At work the other night, and thankfully I wasn't directly involved, I was standing behind a co-worker who was waiting on someone. This coworker was pretty sick and his voice was hoarse. So the lady asks him why, and he responds:
"I've been pretty sick, I've had to work both of my jobs the last few days to pay my bills."
"You shouldn't have to do that, you should be able to pay your bills." said the lady.
"At least you still have your job and it's not in India." said the lady's husband.
At this point I thought, wow, is PA really as swing as they claim?.....back to the conversation
"Haha, you're right there." said the coworker.
"You can't blame Bush for that." said the lady
As I wince from biting my tongue to keep my job, I wonder what the hell brought that up. Do I turn around with my Kerry pin?
"Alright Alright," said my coworker, apparently biting his tongue too.
"Clinton made NAFTA right, it was Clinton." said the Lady
"India isn't in North America." replied coworker.
"I don't think you can blame anything on any one person, it's more complex, a ripple effect." replied the lady, one sentence from assigning NAFTA and my friend's job situation to Clinton.
"Do you go to college?" asked the lady.
"I have three degrees." replied the coworker (mind you at a minimum wage starting job.)
"That's why you think like that, they instill that kind of thinking in you in college." said the lady as she walked out the door.

The moral of the story, folks is that education results in liberalism, and thus, should be abolished. Also in the guide to conservative thinking, at last resort, blame Clinton. He did, after all, lie.

Let's begin to take these morons on. Had I known that I would be able to keep it civil, I would have jumped in, but in case the situation comes out outside of your work. Tell them Bush is a liar. If they reply that "well, Clinton lied..and under oath!!," ask them how many people died from it. If they say that you are being unpatriotic, ask them how our country was founded in the first place. If they say "well, I don't care, I got my tax cut!," tell them that the funding for their school, roads, and precious gasoline got cut with it. If they say "But GW is a man of God, and God wants him to win," find out what paper they read, because I have been trying to find this God endorsement of Bush. If they say "But they're going to take away my gun," tell them they are a moron.

Surprise Surprise, America catches on. The strange thing is that it took them nearly 3 years to do it. To me, George Bush's "compassionate" label had always been a fake, but finally, America has removed the wool from it's eyes and seen the light. George Bush does not, will not, has not, and never will give a damn about the common man. If you make less than 200,000 a year and are not a Bush ranger or pioneer, you might as well not exist. If you really think the 15 dollars you save out of each check is enough to cover your local school closing due to underfunding, or even paved roads, think about how much your average elite have and have more saves. The rich get richer under W, and the poor go next to global warming. If he wins again, we might as well assume the middle class will be gutted.

The second huge surprise of the day. Bush, stubborn? No, you couldn't mean the tax cut thing or turning the other cheek on the economy or that whole false pretenses war without an admittance of wrongdoing. Sunday news is just full of crazy stuff this week, slandering our great president.

Are we really safer now?The illusive "Government" has shed some light on possible plots to attack our transit systems, a la Madrid, this summer. If we had a government with any kind of foresight, we wouldn't be in this mess. Iraq is a mistake. The fact that we're stuck there now leaves us unsafe here at home. While the reports used as sources for this threat are uncorroberated, the administration should pat itself on the back for its ability to make the public scared shitless.

Speaking of our wonderful administration, why do they need to testify together? Cheney's hand not long enough to fit up W's ass from outside? Seriously though, this is a shame. Shouldn't the leader of the free world be confident enough to speak by himself? God forbid under oath and in public. Don't blame me, I voted for the guy that won.

Colin, where have you been? We've known this for a while. For a guy that I respected, your conduct has been disgraceful, and your doctrine of war has been a complete failure. Good riddance in November.

New poll numbers make me all warm and fuzzy. So what if I'm addicted to them. The latest batch, courtesy CBS, is good news for us. One thing that I still don't understand is that there is a 36 percent group of people that believe that Saddam is linked to 9-11, and an even bigger number that consider Iraq to be part of the war on terror. Let's level here folks, these people have their heads up their asses. Tricky Dick Cheney himself has said the first isn't true. As for the latter, I think we'll see more and more evidence against that as time goes by. Us on the liberal side have been in the know for quite a while. Anyways, the polls show almost a uniform decline in all Bush numbers, and a marked decline in security numbers for the Pres. Senator Kerry, jump on these weaknesses and show em how you could do it better.


Bush outspends us 2-1.
I actually think that's probably around the ratio we need, because not only do we have the edge on issues, but Bush's pockets suddenly aren't so deep. Add 527s into the mix, and we can either match or exceed this juggernaut.

A pat on the back to Barack Obama, future Ill. Senator, for raising the bar. We could all take a lesson from him.

Finally for today, Nancy Pelosi is urging John Kerry to pick a VP. Other than my impatience, I think this would be a good idea because it's free press, it's more boots and supporters on the ground, it's more funds raised, it's another guy to be our attack dog. Get at it, and not Gep!

I notice that a lot of people on my side are a bit worried about John Kerry's relative obscurity since winning the nomination. I think this is part of a deliberate strategy to not get in the way of the President shooting himself in the foot. While they blow their load and use all the attack and dirty tricks they have, John Kerry is quietly raising money and making low key appearances. While the September 11th commission goes on, and new stories are released every day to the detriment of Bush's security record, John Kerry is traveling around the nation for both public and fundraising events. Now, in a few months when the Bush administration has completely blown its load and their best jabs, as well as possibly be forced back into fundraising mode, John Kerry gets center stage to define himself and put a magnifying glass under the spotlight left by 911 and so, and take direct aim at George Bush.

Face it, for having not been in the spotlight much, we have broken fundraising records, we have only slightly declined in the polls, and the anti Bush sentiment that has unified the party is still hard at work. We've got nowhere to go but up, and as the attack ads and new revelations on Bush prove that he has nowhere to go but down.

Isn't it amazing that while a congressional committee has to be formed to ask about why the administration lowballed their estimates for Medicare while John Kerry's health care plan is discovered to cost less than originally reported?

Meanwhile, President Cousin Eddie is touting his policies as the reason for the small burst in hiring in March. Last I checked, you're still pretty far in the red.

We need a law against single issue/uninformed voters. Someone I work with will not vote Democrat because he lives with the paranoia that John Kerry wants his gun. Not only is this stupid, but considering he works with me at a god damn video store, John Kerry would clearly benefit him, even if he did want his gun. Which he doesn't. We have let the republicans hijack issues for far too long. Why shouldn't we take them to task on issues where we come out on top? The environment perhaps? Fuel efficiency? Campaign finance and election reform? Energy Independence? You don't hear too much about those because no one will raise the issue. Even with all that said, I still think we are stronger on the traditional Republican issues, such as defense. Would you rather pick the guy that will think about stuff, or the reactionary. Religion? Last I checked, they don't make you register Republican if you go to church, and God didn't endorse GW. Jesus was a communist! If he would support anyone, it would be Nader or Kerry. It's amazing that the party that stands as far away from bible stances on some issues has taken religion for its own. Think about it..help your fellow man. Does that sound like a republican idea? The communist mantra is even included in Acts. If we could get the truth out about these things, the three people at work wouldn't feel so compelled to vote elephant without a second thought. If you all could see where I live, you'd see that there really aren't any people that would benefit from republican policy. So let's get out the word. The time is right, the energy is ripe.

Have a nice weekend everyone. Thanks for keeping us afloat for this first week of transition and format fanangling. Glen will be blogging beginning this weekend, for anyone that wondered where he has been.

A nightcap note, I've decided to put the blog front and center, because it really is the meat and potatoes of the site. Enjoy.

Finally, the fight for a paper trail in E-Voting systems has gained some traction. Yahoo has a story about it on its front page. This shouldn't even be a question after the 2000 fiasco, but alas, the republicans are in power. They say that no matter what we do, we will never have a 100 percent accurate vote count. I don't believe that. Do you? Especially with Diebold, the company that makes these machines, run by a staunch Bush operative. I think that once this story gets some publicity, the government will have to act and require a paper trail, because honestly I don't see any citizen that would be against this.

The latest story from Iraq does not fare well for the Bush administration. They can't get a break lately, but the pictures of the four citizens being mutilated are sure to further knock an already unpopular war. If the situation doesn't change drastically there, or the economy doesn't change drastically here, there is no way we will get four more years of Bush.

The latest Bush ad, "Troubling," assails Sen. Kerry further on the tax issue. For the truth about these, check out this link. It's easy to cherry pick and take votes out of context on a 20 year senator, but what is amazing is that with Bush, you don't have to cherry pick to see how awful of a president he has been. The only reason he even remains viable is the monetary advantage, one the Dems are closing in on. My take is that we are going to win and win big, we can't rest. Everyone needs to keep up on their local news outlets and not be afraid to keep them in line anytime they support a misleading statement concerning John Kerry. If we can keep up this unity and enthusiasm, we will coast to victory.

"They're Wrong, They're Wrong!!" - Sean Hannity, giving a highly researched and factually backed review of Air America Radio.

"Bill O'Reilly...is an embarrassment to my side." - G. Gordon Liddy on Norville

Well, day two of the revolution is here. I'm listening to the Unfiltered show @ air America with hosts Lizz Winstead, creator of the Daily Show, and Chuck D, political activist and the man that made Public Enemy. I do like this station, however I must say that we need to take more of a Bizzaro Rush blitz rather than an Alan Colmes blitz. A lot of this, while preaching to the choir, is plagued with some of the same issues that cost us elections. Too soft spoken, too nice, yet so right. Keep listening folks, I think this will be around. We need another star like perhaps Howard Stern, if it has been long enough to welcome him into the fold.

John Kerry, so soon after his first break, is now taking another. After a shoulder injury, surgery will keep him off the trail for a few days, but this time, it seems some surrogates are there to pick up the pieces. Rumor has it that Gephardt is at the top of the short list for veep. WHY? If this is true, I won't be able to see the logic. Dick Gephardt has nothing to counter the perceived weaknesses of John Kerry. Aside from being on the correct side on the issues, he really can't offer anything electoral, personality-wise, or political. I have stayed away from making a pick for my dream team, other than to say McCain would be the easy way to win. Here, now, you hear it first, my dream team. My first choice is the fan favorite John Edwards, beating out Wes Clark by a neck. I like both of these guys very much, but John Edwards quickly nullifies the personality shortcomings of John Kerry, along with being popular amongst the people. Not to mention we need to groom for when Kerry is finished in 2012. Wes Clark has the edge on national security and other political weaknesses of Kerry, but electorally has nothing to offer. I also like Bill Richardson or any woman that is not Hillary Clinton. Not that I don't love Hill, but she is just too damn polarizing. Ed Rendell is a good guy, but I just don't want him to leave here in PA. Howard Dean would do a good job of energizing the base, but turn away swing votes. So there you have it.

Today the story broke that ole Condi was set to give a speech on 9-11 concerning the future of defense of America. She was prepared to mention OBL, tie Saddam in, and nip it in the bud. Damn, I guess I've been wrong all along. Or not, the truth of the matter is that the speech was set to talk about the moron Star Wars program, and had no mention of Islamic and international terror. I love it, every time Kerry has to step out for a moment, the Bushies face a new tough blow. How are they going to spin this? I see all of this having a plummeting effect on the Bush numbers, on both approval and security. Folks from here on the bottom, it's lookin good.

Just when I get comfortable, Bush has taken over my home state of Pennsylvania, and the election is thrown back into grey area. New polls show him ahead 46-40 against John Kerry. The silver lining here is that Bush's numbers have not gone up. This has only changed the amount of undecideds, and goes to show that Bush doesn't have a lot of room to grow. PA, being one of the hardest hit states from Bushonomics, is likely to bounce around all the way to November. As of most recent polls, Kerry would take Ohio and Florida, Bush would take PA, and most other states would remain the same as from the last election. Of course it is senseless to speculate based on polls at this point, with the election so far away. All that said, I can't believe that so many people haven't made up their mind yet. Even worse than that, I can't believe that so many people would be swayed by the Bush ads without doing any research in this age of information at your fingertips.

Good Luck to Air America Radio. Today, they successfully launched to much fanfare with only a few glitches. I am listening to the repeat of the Randi Rhodes show, and he sounds a lot different from his days as a guitarist for Ozzy. Seriously though, you are off to a good start, now sign up some more big names, more big affiliates, and keep up the good work.

Friday April 16th, I will be in Washington DC to watch Crossfire. Here's to hoping I get Carville and Carlson. During my trip, I also plan on visiting Kerry HQ and punching people in the face on K street. Of course the actual purpose for this trip has nothing to do with any of that stuff, but hopefully I can sneak out of that conference on Friday at 4. The hotel I will be in is 5 minutes from GWU where Crossfire is shot. I can make it.

Finally I am seeing some Kerry surrogates defending him on the tele. Keep it up, and let's get some bigger guns out there. Al Gore, Bill Clinton, Hill Clinton, I want to see your asses on CNN. As good of people as Bill Richardson, Ed Rendell, Tom Daschle and Donna Brazile are, they just don't have the talking power that the big guns have.

George Bush and crew just doesn't learn from their mistakes! Just two short days after ending Condigate, they are at it again, now stonewalling a commission to investigate their lies about the new Medicare bill. I would have thought they would have just let someone take the fall and avoid risking another naughty news cycle.

That's all for now folks.