Reality and Hating America

I can't believe this! The fact that a Senator would say this is downright disrespectful towards our armed forces. You didn't hear? Earlier this week one of the weak, French-loving, blame America first, weakling liberals on Capitol Hill had this to say:

"Things aren't getting better; they're getting worse. The White House is completely disconnected from reality,"

"It's like they're just making it up as they go along. The reality is that we're losing in Iraq."

If Senator Chuck Hagel thinks he can say these kinds of thi-

...

Chuck Hagel? Republican from Nebraska?

He hates America?

How many times do you think that the above quotes from Senator Hagel will be shown on Fox News? How many times will Rush say that he's disgusted with this weakling? Odds are that there won't be much controversy over what Hagel recently said, but what if he were a Democrat? He would automatically hate America, not value the lives of our soldiers, and would be showing disrespect to our Commander in Chief.

Iraq is a very complex situation right now: they're a sovereign state, but still depend on a foreign power for national defense. They have a democratically elected government of Iraqis that's targeted by Iraqis. Building a nation is hard work as President Bush has said in the past, and I completely agree with him. This country isn't going to be stable overnight, or a couple of years; maybe that's why he was so against "nation building" in the 2000 election. Hagel is right, the administration cannot continually to declare "Mission Accomplished" with less extravaganse and photo-ops every of month since the election, otherwise a credibility gap will continue to grow.

Saying that we are "losing" in Iraq is a slippery slope. When combating the insurgency and domestic terrorism in Iraq it's hard to tell when we are winning and losing. When bombings and attacks increase it appears that things are getting worse. As of lately it appears that things are getting worse, but since I don't work for the DoD I don't really know. I just hope our soldiers can find the insurgents before they strike, that Iraqi security forces get trained faster, and that our soldiers can leave a country that can keep itself together as soon as possible.

So does Senator Hagel hate America?

Nope.

He just wants a lot of soldiers on their way home safe with a job accomplished

Unfortunately he knows the reality is different than what the administration says

Well at least they can rely on that Rep from North Carolina who wanted to rename french fries freedom fries.

Oh wait...

-Logan

Pavich for Congress

Check out the site of the new 11th District Democratic candidate - www.pavichforcongress.com

Worst state ever, and polling numbers

While listening to the radio earlier today I heard that Browns TE Kellen Winslow suffered lacerations to his kidney as a result of his motorcycle accident in the off-season. That's a major set back for the Browns, since this guy will have played maybe 2 games in his first two seasons now. Ohio is a tough place to be, the Browns are bad, the Indians suck, and your state blew the election. Ouch

New polling numbers of US Senators were released by Survey USA and how suprising, Barack Obama leads the nation in favorable ratings.

Some members of the GOP look vulnerable however (First number is approve, second is disapprove):

Mike Dewing (Oh) - 44 43 - Maybe things in Ohio will be better!
Rick Santorum (Pa) - 45 44 - Casey has his number
Jim Talent (Mo) - 48 38 - This seat is definitely in play
Conrad Burns (Mt) - 50 42 - Definitely a blue tide in Montana
Lincoln Chafee (RI) - 53 39 - Numbers are ok, but he's in a solid blue state
John Cornyn (Tx)- 40 36 - We can dream right?

"Other than telling us how to live, think, marry, pray, vote,invest, educate our children and, now, die, I think the Republicans havedone a fine job of getting government out of our personal lives."
- from the Oregonian (?, I lost the link)

How Scandalous

From the Carpetbagger Report :


I'd like to point out what we've learned about the Bush White House -- not since January 2001, but from just this week.

The Bush White House let a former lobbyist for the American Petroleum Institute re-write a government report on global warming, editing out scientific conclusions he didn't like.
Bush's Interior Department offered to overpay a wealthy Republican donor for oil and gas rights on Everglades land that the government apparently already owns, overruling the advice of career officials.

The Pentagon's inspector general released a report on a lucrative Air Force contract for Boeing that cost too much for planes the military didn't want. Bush, who has enjoyed generous campaign contributions from Boeing, was involved with the contract, personally asking White House aides to work out the deal and dispatching Chief of Staff Andrew Card to participate in the contract negotiations. When the inspector general's report came out, 45 sections were deleted by the White House counsel's office to obscure what several sources described as references to the Bush gang's involvement in the lease negotiations and its interaction with Boeing.

Documents from the U.S. State Department published this week show that the president backed away from the Kyoto global warming treaty after being pressured by ExxonMobil, the world's most powerful oil company, and other industries.

Bush officials at the Justice Department inexplicably decided to reduce its settle request with the tobacco industry from $130 billion to $10 billion, and urged government witnesses to soften their recommendations about sanctions.Again, these stories were published just this week -- and the week's not over yet. Just as importantly, this isn't a particularly unusual week by Bush standards.


Whoa!

You have to love these numbers

From the Washington Post:

"Six in ten respondents said Bush and GOP leaders are not making good progress on the nation's problems; of those, 67 percent blamed the president and Republicans while 13 percent blamed congressional Democrats. For the first time, a majority, 55 percent, also said Bush has done more to divide the country than to unite it."

"More people said they would look at a candidate other than their sitting congressmen than at any point in nearly eight years. For the first time since April, 2001, Democrats (46 percent) were trusted more than Republicans (41 percent) to cope with the nation's problems"

"A plurality said Bush is doing worse in his second term than in his first, and 58 percent said he is not concentrating on the things that matter most to them -- the worst showing Bush has had in this measure in Post polls."

The balance of power is shifting back to us. 2006 may or may not be similar to 1994, but we're definitely going to gain some seats in both chambers. We need to make this election about us and not them. We need a contract with America of our own. One that says
WE will fully fund scientific research for cures
WE will increase Special Forces in the hunt for terrorists
WE will respect individual privacy
WE will reduce the birth tax and monstrous deficit
WE will follow the Powell doctrine
WE will make sure every child in this nation has health care
WE will allow small businesses to buy into our government's health care system
WE will increase the minimum wage to help the impoverished and students make money they need
WE will provide tax benefits to keep American jobs here and support worker re-training
WE will not play Retirement Roulette and cut Social Security benefits

Time to gear up for another fight. It's time to take back this country. Let's work hard to make our values known, and go after people who have voted Republican in the past and got screwed. 2004 was a bad election year for this party, but there's more parity in Politics than the NFL. 2004 was an awful year followed by a great draft: in Illinois we have Barack Obama and Melissa Bean. Nationwide we have several incredible bloggers, Jim Wallis, and Howard Dean shooting his mouth off but raising money and getting things together state by state. Look out, we're coming
-Logan

Howard Dean and always breaking even

When I first saw the video of Howard Dean yelling "You have the power" to the crowd at the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner I felt like I was in a locker room at half time of the Super Bowl. It was an adrenaline rush for the underdogs. It pumped me up more than any high school pep rally I ever attended (but then again the Cross Country team was never the centerpiece of any pep rally, with the possible exception being York HS). Here was the guy who gave our party a spine long before John Kerry mopped the floor with Bush in the first debate. "You have the power" So simple, yet so inspirational. It was democracy in a nutshell. That Howard Dean really has a way with words.... well, sometimes.

Politicians can get into big trouble for saying statements that can be classified as the following: the blunt truth, pandering to the far sides of the spectrum, or cheap shots. Howard Dean drew some fire when he said that he wanted to be the candidate of the guy with a Confederate flag on the back of his truck. Now I completely agree with that, but there's a better way of saying that the Democratic party needs to get the votes of White, Lower middle class Southern males without invoking imagery of one of the most painful periods of our past which also particularly upsets a lot of our base voters. We're the party of the middle class, but how many people who watch the Blue Collar Comedy tour pulled the lever for John Kerry?

So this past week when Dean seemed to accuse Republicans of not making an honest living it totally took the spotlight from a great point he made a minute earlier; that we need to make voting easier and that having to wait in line for 8 hours( or 4 hours, in ISU's case) is an injustice and stifles turnout among working folks. We need reform in that area, because we don't need "big" government, or "small" government. We need a government that works as hard as the people of this country, and gets things done.

Howard Dean makes a great point, but then makes a gaffe that will be played on Fox News for the next week. It's great that we have a feisty leader who can straight talk, but for every great point he makes, he makes another that just makes you shake your head
- Logan

Summer Update

Hey Right-Wing nutjobs... stop bashing Deep Throat, that means you O'Reilly, I've got my eye on you Robertson
From Political Wire:

"In a strange footnote to history, Richard M. Nixon unwittingly testified on behalf of Deep Throat in a federal court trial in October 1980 -- six years after Nixon was forced to resign as president because of his involvement in the Watergate scandal," the Washington Post reports."Nixon, then a private citizen, testified that he believed that at the time the FBI director and his deputies had direct authorization from the president to order break-ins in the interest of national security."


"I feel real good about the session. My only regret is it has to end now,"
- Gov. Blago after getting a budget deal done...quickly this time.


Good news:

May was a rough Month for Bush's approval ratings


Ap Dis Date
ARG 43 51 5/18
NBC 47 47 5/16
Pew 43 50 5/15T
ime 46 47 5/12
Mean 44.8 48.8


Good Quote:
"When they make Jesus pro-rich, pro-war and only pro-American, then they have stolen my faith in the public arena, and it's time to take it back," says Jim Wallis, founder of Sojourners

A religious left is a beautiful thing