Paul Hackett on the Ed Schultz Show

On October 28, Paul Hackett was interviewed by Ed Schultz at a pre-election rally in Columbus, Ohio at the Plumbers and Pipefitters union hall. The following is a transcript of a large part of the interview. You can listen to the whole thing here.

Schultz: Why are you doing this? Why are you gonna run? You loved the last election so much you want to do it again?

Hackett: I'm a glutton for abuse. It's pretty straightforward. I came back from Iraq as you know, and that's what got me into the congressional race. And I look at this great country that we live in, and I believe to the core of my bones that currently our country is well on the way down the wrong path, and I'm looking around for other Americans to get up and serve, and put their country first, and put their country before their career. And I felt that way in serving in Iraq, and I felt that way in getting into the congressional race, and I feel that way now. I mean, I got a straighforward mission, and I want to help correct what is going wrong with our country, period.

Schultz: You gotta love that! (cheers heard in the background) You gotta love that.
...

Schultz: We're living in some very interesting times. We're living probably in one of the most selfish generations in the history of the country. And we're not all going to be millionaires--we're not, and we may never be--and there's folks out there who are working two and three jobs that just want a better chance for their kids. I mean it's about the kids, isn't it? What's our legacy? What are we gonna leave behind? (Applause)

Hackett: You sound like me on the stump, Ed.

Schultz: It's the truth. Every where I go, and everywhere Team Fargo goes, we see it in your eyes. There's fire in your eyes to change what's happening in America. Whether it's left, right, Republican, Democrat, the fact is, things aren't going as good as they should be. We can do better than this! And that's what I hear in your voice.

Hackett: Well, I mean it. Look, I mean we live in the greatest country in the world and here we are at the crossroads. And our generation--my generation--probably for the first time in the history of this great nation is at a point where we may leave to our kids and our grandkids an America that is not as what we received, and I don't want to see that happen.

Schultz: Well, the reason I brought up finances is because I think that people would like to do more. I think there's a lot of middle income people, and the way that politics and elections go in this country, it seems like money rules. But I maintain the fact that there's no price tag on volunteerism. And that you can get involved and you can make a difference and you can act and get after it. And that's what you're doing. You're taking the lead. Your military experience is going to help the party immensely, I think, because you can speak with credibility and experience. And I want to know, if you were in the United States Senate, and if you knew back then, what you know right now--

Hackett: Hey, I think you've already asked me that question before, Ed. At least, I've been asked that question a number of times. And I've said it, I would not have voted to go into Iraq, and unfortunately, nobody was really interested in what my politics were three years ago as we were leading up to Iraq, so I always encourage everybody who has any doubt to ask my poor wife, and ask the folks who work for me in my law practice, because they had to listen to me every day on the rant about how stupid this was. And it didn't take a lot of genius to figure out that invading Iraq was a bad idea. Because, if you listen to General Shinseki, if you listen to General Zinni, those two guys are four star generals, one in the Army, one in the Marine Corps, and they were cautioning this administration not to go into Iraq. And what did this administration do? They ignored thirty year career generals and their advice. That's what those guys do for a living--those guys are the professionals. Those are who the administration, this civilian administration, should consult when they're thinking about doing that. And what happened to them? Well, General Shinseki was retired, and General Zinni who was a Mideast envoy was, shall we say, let go.

Schultz: Paul Hackett, with us on the Ed Shultz Show. You're an attorney, I forgot about that. Hell, you could be on the Supreme Court before this is over with. (Nah, not under Bush. He's probably overqualified.)

(break)

Schultz: You were in Iraq when?

Hackett: I was in Iraq from mid-August '04 to March of this year. As a matter of fact, a year ago today (October 28) I just took over my little forward operating base outside of Fallujah.

Schultz: In your opinion, has it gotten better?

Hackett: No, not at all.

Schultz: Not at all...even with the constitutional vote?

Hackett: Yeah, I mean, hey, that's a success. But my question is, is that what the American people signed up to spend their tax dollars for, and is that what we wanted to spend 2000 lives for on the theory that we're going to spread democracy on the business end of an M16? I don't think so--I didn't. (Applause). So, if you look at what's gone on in Iraq for the past 2 1/2 years, and you look at it nonemotionally and objectively and try to ferret out the successes, the security situation today is not as good as it was six months ago, a year ago, two years ago. And the infrastructure is not as good as it was six months ago, a year ago, or two years ago, and the reason we aren't having success in fixing the infrastructure is because the security situation is so bad. And the security situation is so bad because this administration ignored the generals and their advice on what it would take to secure that country after we toppled Saddam Hussein, so we're back to where we got started.

Schultz: These guys were telling Wendy and I the other night at dinner that the intensity, the sophistication, and the organization of thes insurgents, these road side bombs that are going off, it is phenomenal how sophisticated they've gotten.

Hackett: These guys are not rookies.

Schultz: We've trained them. This event has trained them and given them a lot of knowledge, and they're only getting better at it.

Hackett: To diminish the smarts, skill, and tenacity of the insurgents that we're fighting over there is to not face reality. These folks--and they're bad SOBs--but they're good fighters and they're smart, and it doesn't do anybody any service to sort of downplay them and say silly things like "They're in their death throes" and their about defeated, it's silly. I suppose they appear to be in their death throes from the White House, but I'm not drinkin' that Kool-Aid. I was there. (Applause)

Schultz: Okay, Paul, you're on the Senate floor--what would you advocate America should do right now in Iraq?

Hackett: Here's what the president of the United States has to do. He has to face the fact that--and I'll say it this way, we as a nation made a mistake in going into Iraq, and he's got to face the fact that he's got to withdraw from Iraq, and the way he accomplishes that is to rely on the military expertise and task the generals to extricate us from Iraq...

Schultz: Starting now?

Hackett: Yeah. This is not something that's going to happen overnight, but the planning has to start now and the retrograde has to start now. Because make no mistake, whether we leave a year from now, five years from now or ten years from now, that place ain't gettin' better, and whenever we leave, that place is going to spiral out of control before it improves on its own. What has been accomplished over there to this date is as good as it's gonna get. And it's time to turn it over to the Iraqis. They want their freedom, they want their independence, it's time for them to pick up the ball and run with it and take care of themselves.

Schultz: Do you agree with that, folks? (Applause)

Hackett: Well, pouring billions of dollars of American tax dollars onto that situation, and spending more American lives ain't gonna make it better.

Schultz: Conservatives are saying that you're advocating a "cut and run" policy. They're going to say, "No we can't begin to draw down troops now, you're saying that we should draw down troops now. What about their argument saying that would only embolden the terrorists, that would only create a safe haven for them?

Hackett: They're already emboldened. I know that first hand. I don't have to go to a Powerpoint presentation at the Pentagon to know that, and the "cut and run" argument, first of all, what is the strategy? I call on the President of the United States to explain to the American people, taxpayers, those who are fighting the war over there, what the hell is the strategy? What's the goal? "Cut and run"--you know, part of that argument is, "Well, it's better to fight them over there than on our shore."

Schultz: No, no, that's not acceptable vernacular on the Ed Schultz Show from this moment on!

Hackett: Right, well, here's the answer to that, we had the righteous fight in Afganistan. You know how many troops we've got in Afganistan to fight that righteous fight? Twenty thousand--twenty thousand! That's where the fight was.

Schultz: I agree with that. And they didn't even tell us they were stripped of resources to get ready for Iraq. All right, so, if you get into the Senate, you would be an advocate for the military. I mean, don't you think that Americans need to hear that from liberals and from the Democratic party?

Hackett: How could I not be an advocate for the military? I'm part of the military, I'm one of them. And I see the "Support the Troops", guess what, brother, I am one of the troops!

Schultz: Do you think that Democrats have an image problem with the military?

Hackett: Well, they have a bit of an image problem. They need to get schooled up on how to speak to the military, because so frequently the language that they use doesn't really cut in to the military. You know, when you call Marines soldiers, when you call sailors soldiers, you know, with the young bucks out there on the carriers, and on the ground over there, you're not being heard when you don't speak the language, and it diminishes your credibility. So, I say as constructive criticism to Democrats, we've got to learn to speak the language. And we've got to be willing to serve, even if we want to be critical. Because, look, at the end of the day, we're Americans first, we're Americans before we're Republicans or Democrats, and we've got to stay focused on that.

(break)

Schultz: All right, Mr. Hackett, you're not a one-issue candidate, are you? God bless you for the military. What's next on your list?

Hackett: Well, I think number one on the list is the economy and saving the middle class of America.

Schultz: You got that right. (Applaluse)

Hackett: You know it's funny that you ask me that question, because when I started my congressional race, that was the only thing that I was talking about was the economy and the middle class, that we're exporting to China and India. And then pretty soon everybody kind of caught on that I'd been to Iraq, and I suddenly was labeled the Iraq war vet who comes back and runs for congress. The two are related, obviously, when you consider the amount of money we're spending over in Iraq, and how that money could probably be better used here in the United States.

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Monday Comics

Infinite Wisdom
Hogan's Heroes
Piss Poor Priorities
Veterans' Day
Girlie Man
DLC Strategy
Theory of Evolution
Abandon Ship
Just Grounds
Revisionist History
The Impossible Dream
Desperate Housewives
Virtual Reality
Personal Parental Responsibility

And my favorite for today: Lost In Translation



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Moral values bumper stickers

Driving home the other day, I found myself behind a car with several "religious right" themed bumper stickers. One of them read "Marriage is 1 man and 1 woman--so says GOD". Um, then don't have same sex marriage in *your* church. What does that have to do with our secular laws?

The same car *also* had "I vote pro-life" bumper stickers, one in English and one in Spanish. That really bugged me, because there is no opportunity I can think of where people are able to vote just on that one issue. What it really means, is I vote for candidates who make their opposition to abortion a major part of their platforms. Those same candidates often stand for any number of things that are decidedly NOT pro-life.

Anyway, that ticked me off enough, and stuck in my head long enough, that I was motivated to make this:



In keeping with Howard Dean's message that the Democratic party's values are America's values (expressed again yesterday in his appearance on Meet the Press) what other bumper stickers have you seen? What slogans do you think would be effective?

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Transcript: Howard Dean on 'Meet the Press'

Here is the transcript from Howard's appearance on the Nov. 13th edition of "Meet the Press"

MR. RUSSERT: And we are back.
Governor Dean, welcome back to MEET THE PRESS.

DR. HOWARD DEAN: Thanks for having me on, Tim.

MR. RUSSERT: On Friday you heard the speech I played for Ken Mehlman. The president of the United States said that Democrats are sending the wrong signal to the enemy with their criticisms of prewar intelligence and his conduct of the war.

DR. DEAN: I think Democrats always have to stand up and tell the truth and that's what we're doing. The truth is that the president misled America when he sent us to war. They did--he even didn't tell the truth in the speech he gave. First of all, think there were a lot of veterans were kind of upset that the president chose their day to make a partisan speech. Secondly, the president didn't even tell the truth in his speech. He said that the Senate had the same intelligence that everybody else did. That was not true. He withheld some intelligence. Then he said the commissions all said that what he had done in the lead-up up to the war was fine.

MR. RUSSERT: What did he withhold?

DR. DEAN: He withheld--he knew, he knew that there was no connection between Saddam and 9/11 and he insisted on trying to make that case to the American people.

MR. RUSSERT: But he never said Saddam was involved in September 11.

DR. DEAN: He never actually came out and said just that. But in every speech he gave during the campaign and afterwards, he left the impression. He left the impression with 65 percent of the American people, who agreed that Saddam had something to do with 9/11. It made that--it was dishonest, what he did.

MR. RUSSERT: Aren't the Democrats, though, trying to have it both ways? They voted for the war-- Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, John Edwards--and now, it's not going well. So they're saying, well, the president misled us. They had access to the National Intelligence Estimate, and in that National Intelligence Estimate, there were caveats from the State Department particularly, about the quality of the intelligence. But they still voted for the war.

DR. DEAN: Tim, first of all, I didn't have--maybe that's why I was against the war, maybe because I didn't have access to the corrupted intelligence. The intelligence was corrupted, not just because of the incompetence of the CIA; it was corrupted because it was being changed around before it was presented to Congress. Stuff was taken out and not presented. All of this business about weapons of mass destruction, there was significant and substantial evidence passed from the CIA and the State Department to, perhaps, the office of the vice president--we don't know just where--in the White House that said, "There is a strong body of opinion that says they don't have a nuclear program, nor do they have weapons of mass destruction." And that intelligence was not given to the Congress of the United States.



MR. RUSSERT: It was in the National Intelligence Estimate, as a caveat by the State Department.

DR. DEAN: It was, a very small one, but the actual caveat that the White House got were much, much greater. And the deputy to Colin Powell, Lawrence Wilkerson, just said so. He just came out and said so.

MR. RUSSERT: Let me...

DR. DEAN: There's ample--now that the cracks are really beginning to appear in this corrupt administration that we have running this country, now they're all running for their own and they're beginning to stand up and say, "This is what really happened." Honest Republicans are coming forward in this administration and saying, "This is what really happened in the lead-up to the war, and the president was not truthful with the American people."

But the president's not just not truthful with the American people. I saw Ken on here talking about the deficit. The truth is, they're concealing the size of the deficit, as well. Iraq is not on the books. The money they take out of Social Security is not on the books. This is an administration that has a fundamental problem telling the truth.

MR. RUSSERT: We'll get to the deficit, but I want to stay on Iraq for a second because, in order to maintain credibility or regain credibility on the war, should Democrats, like John Edwards did this morning, step forward and say, "I was wrong to vote for the war"?

DR. DEAN: I thought what John Edwards did was very courageous. It's always hard to admit that you're wrong.

MR. RUSSERT: Should Hillary Clinton and John Kerry and others say, "Based on what I know today, I would not have voted for the war"?

DR. DEAN: John--my impression was that John Kerry did say that. I think what Senator Clinton had said--that there would have been no vote had the truth been told in the beginning. There would never have been a vote on this war. I can't tell individual Democrats what to do, but I'll tell you one thing we are going to do: We're going to tell the truth. The best thing that the Democratic Party and that America can do is tell the truth to the world. We used to be the most--I saw the figures that you had up during your interview with King Abdullah about what people think of us in Jordan. That didn't used to be the truth, the facts. Six or eight years ago when the Democrats were in control, we made mistakes, but we told the truth about to our allies and we told the truth to the American people about the things that mattered.

MR. RUSSERT: George Bush says, knowing what he knows today, even though we didn't find weapons of mass destruction, even though we weren't greeted as "liberators," he would still have gone forward with the war in Iraq. Do you believe the intellectually honest position for the Democrats is to say, now, "Based on what we know now, we should not have gone to war with Iraq"?

DR. DEAN: All I can tell you is what my position in the campaign was. I believed that what we--that Saddam Hussein was a problem, that he had used in the past weapons of mass destruction. That's indisputable. I also did not believe the White House was telling the truth, and my position was, of course we need to deal with Saddam Hussein, but we don't need to cost ourselves the lives of 2,056 brave American soldiers in order to do it.

MR. RUSSERT: The issue, I think, confronting Democrats is that they're afraid of being perceived as soft on national security and defense issues. I showed you the 16 issues where people agreed with the Democrats. There are still a couple where people overwhelmingly think the Republicans are the better party. Here's two: Strong national defense--look at those numbers: 43 Republican, 22 Democrats. War on terror, 35-26. The Democrats are perceived as the weaker party on those kinds of issues. And that's why they voted for the war when it was popular, it's being suggested. And now, when the war is not popular, they're trying to back off their position.


DR. DEAN: We need to make sure that we can--look, I know what those numbers are, and I think that's a big problem for the Democrats. We need to--we need to make the American people understand that we are strong on defense, and that the strength of our position on defense is not just that we'll support a robust and muscular foreign policy. It's that we'll tell the truth. Telling the truth has a lot to do with defending America. If people don't believe you--if 80 percent of the people in Jordan, which is one of our most important allies, don't believe us, then we've got a bigger defense problem with Zarqawi than we do if people--if we become once again, as we have been in the past, the moral beacon for the rest of the world. And that's what we need to do. So a strong defense policy--we do need a strong defense policy. We need to make it clear that Democrats will stand up for America and pull the trigger in defense of America, but we fundamentally first need to tell the truth so we're believable again.

MR. RUSSERT: The other issue that the Republicans still have the upper hand with Democrats, strong moral values; 35 percent see the Republicans are better on that issue. Only 18 percent of Democrats. And maybe that's why we're hearing radio ads like this that the Tim Kaine, Democratic gubernatorial candidate and governor-elect in Virginia, ran for his campaign. Let's listen.

(Audiotape, Tim Kaine for governor advertisement):

MR. TIM KAINE: The Bible teaches us we can accomplish great things when we work together. I'm Tim Kaine and I've devoted my life to bringing people together to get things done. ... I'm conservative on personal responsibility, character, family and the sanctity of life. These are my values, and that's what I believe.

(End audiotape)

MR. RUSSERT: And then John Kerry, last week, talking about the budget, said it was immoral; "There is not anywhere in the three-year ministry of Jesus Christ, anything that remotely suggests--not one miracle, not one parable, not one utterance--that says you ought to cut children's health care or take money from the poorest people in our nation to give it to the wealthiest people in our nation."

Are the Democrats now trying to embrace Christ, embrace moral values, because they see themselves on the wrong side of that issue?

DR. DEAN: Well, first of all, there's a fair number of Jewish Democrats who I don't think are going to embrace Christ. But I think we all embrace the teachings of morality and of embracing people and of tolerance and of inclusion. And what I encourage people to do, I was--we played a big role in Tim Kaine's campaign. It was a great campaign. He was a wonderful candidate. We funneled a lot of money into the party to try to be helpful and so forth. And he is a great candidate for America in the terms of how he campaigned. He spoke of his faith. I don't think that people who are not comfortable speaking about their faith should speak about their faith.
But I think we all should speak about our values. I think one of the mistakes we've made is to not understand that most Americans believe that moral values include making sure that kids don't go to bed hungry at night. The Republicans are cutting the school lunch program. We want to make sure that everybody in America has health insurance. That's a moral value. The Republicans are kicking people off their health care. So there is a--we win when we debate about moral values. We ought to talk about our values. Tim Kaine did it. I don't think that's the only reason he won, but that's certainly one of them.



MR. RUSSERT: But the Pew Research Foundation found in a poll of your strongest activists, that 59 percent of those strong Dean activists seldom or never went to church. Can the Democratic Party hold on to its secular base and still have its more prominent candidates talking about faith and religion?

DR. DEAN: I am a Democrat because of my moral values, because I believe that we can't leave anybody behind, because I believe that what happened in New Orleans was appalling, because people died based frankly on their gender--excuse me, on their race, their age and their economic status. We need to do a better job, including everybody. Even evangelical Christians, who people associate with the hard right, that's not always true. Evangelical Christians are out there now pushing strong environmental issues. Why? Because it is in their faith that they take care of the resources that God gave them. There is enormous commonality. Democrats should not be afraid to speak about moral values. We are the party of America's values. (Way to go, Howard!)

MR. RUSSERT: Picking up on what Ken Mehlman said about Michael Steele, the African-American Republican candidate in Maryland, being called an Uncle Tom, the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee seeking his credit report. Should you not...

DR. DEAN: I don't like that stuff, and I--now, look, the Republicans have a long history of saying that those things happened. And they may or may not have. So if that happened, it's not right. But I didn't hear Ken condemning the chairman of the Maryland party when he called me an anti-Semite. So let's try to up--speaking of moral values, let's have a better tone in our political campaigns. Because the truth is, the other thing that Time Kaine's race showed is that the person with the better tone and the more positive agenda won, and I like to see voters exercising their rights in that way.

MR. RUSSERT: But the workers on the campaign committee who sought his credit report have been dismissed.

DR. DEAN: They should have been. Absolutely, they should have been. I don't like that kind of stuff.

MR. RUSSERT: Could on either side?

DR. DEAN: On either side.

MR. RUSSERT: Let's talk about the Democrats and some of the polling data. Congressional Democrats have the same priorities as you: yes, 26 percent; no, 54 percent. So the Democrats aren't perceived as the answer. And look at this, Chairman Dean. We asked independent voters: Do you believe that Democrats have a clear message, a vision for the future? Fifty-two percent of independent swing voters say no. One in four Democrats say you have no clear vision, no agenda, no clear message. Joe Trippi, your former campaign manager said, "Obviously, the results" from Election Night "are great for us Democrats. But given the GOP's problems, the tightness of the results suggest that people aren't happy with either party right now. Democrats have got to push an alternative agenda."

DR. DEAN: We have an alternative agenda. We made it very clear. We want a strong national security based on telling the truth to our people at home, our soldiers and our allies. We want jobs in America that'll stay in America, and we believe that renewable energy is one of the areas where we can do that. We want a health-care system that covers everybody, just like 36 other countries in the world. We want a strong public education system. And most of all, we want honesty back in government. I think that's a pretty good agenda.



MR. RUSSERT: But those are words that will appeal to people. But when you go behind them, for example, what is the Democratic position on Iraq? Should we withdraw troops now? What do the Democrats stand for?

DR. DEAN: Tim, first of all, we don't control the House, the Senate or the White House. We have plenty of time to show Americans what our agenda is and we will long before the '06 elections.

MR. RUSSERT: But there's no Democratic plan on Social Security. There's no Democratic plan on the deficit problem. There's no specifics. They say, "Well, we want a strong Social Security. We want to reduce the deficit. We want health care for everyone," but there's no plan how to pay for it.

DR. DEAN: Right now it's not our job to give out specifics. We have no control in the House. We have no control in the Senate. It's our job is to stop this administration, this corrupt and incompetent administration, from doing more damage to America. And that's what we're going to do. We're doing our best. Look at the trouble they're having putting together a budget. Why is that? Because there's still a few moderate Republicans left who don't think it's OK to cut school lunch programs, who don't think it's OK to do some of the appalling things that they're doing in their budget. I saw a show last night which showed a young African-American man in California at the UC of Davis who hoped to go to law school. The Republicans want to cut $14 billion out of higher education so this kid can't go to law school. We're going to do better than that, and together, America can do better than that.

MR. RUSSERT: But is it enough for you to say to the country, "Trust us, the other guy's no good. We'll do better, but we're not going to tell you specifically how we're going to deal with Iraq."

DR. DEAN: We will. When the time comes, we will do that.

MR. RUSSERT: When's the time going to come?

DR. DEAN: The time is fast-approaching. And I outlined the broad outlines of our agenda. We're going to have specific plans in all of these areas.

MR. RUSSERT: This year?

DR. DEAN: In 2006.

MR. RUSSERT: The Supreme Court...

DR. DEAN: Yes.

MR. RUSSERT: ...the president has nominated Sam Alito to the Supreme Court. Should the Democrats in the Senate--there's only 45 of them, but if they stayed together as a block...

DR. DEAN: Right.

MR. RUSSERT: ...they could filibuster and prevent Judge Alito from going to the Supreme Court. Should they?

DR. DEAN: I must say I rarely read editorials and I rarely agree with the ones I read. But The New York Times ran an editorial today which I think is very instructive for the Democratic Party. This could be a defining moment. Judge Alito is a hard-working man, a good family man, but his opinions are well outside the mainstream of American public opinion. He condones a strip-search of a 10-year-old when the police had no such warrant or indication to do so. He condoned the crafting of an all-white jury to hear a black defendant's case by a prosecutor. He condoned the states not having to listen to the Family Medical Leave Act. He condoned government interference in private family matters and family decision- making. This is well outside the mainstream of where Americans are. I think the Democrats are going to have to think long and hard as the hearings progress about whether we should support him. There's some grave questions about him, and I do hope that they will stick together.

MR. RUSSERT: If you were a senator, you would vote no?

DR. DEAN: I'm not going to make that--if I were a senator, I would not tell you that now, because I believe in listening to all the evidence first. But I think there's some deeply, deeply concerning things about Judge Alito's views on intrusion into personal family rights. We think those discussions are family matters, not government matters, standing up for working people in terms of Family Leave, allowing the police power to allow 10-year-olds to be strip-searched. These things are deeply, deeply concerning.

MR. RUSSERT: Do you believe the Democrats should keep on the table the possibility of a filibuster?

DR. DEAN: Absolutely. Of course we should.

MR. RUSSERT: Joe Biden, the Democrat from Delaware, said Judge Alito deserves an up or down vote.

DR. DEAN: I think Joe Biden has his own right to make that opinion. He's an elected senator. All I ask is the Democrats stick together under the leadership of Harry Reid and Pat Leahy, who is the senior man on that committee.



MR. RUSSERT: When Bill Clinton was president, he nominated two people to the Supreme Court, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, who was general counsel for the ACLU part of her career, and Stephen Breyer, who worked for Ted Kennedy. And look at these votes, Dr. Dean, overwhelmingly approved, 96-to-3 and 87-to-9. Republicans, even though they disagreed philosophically with those two liberal jurists, said the president has nominated them and we'll support them because he won the election and he has a right to put people on the bench who reflect his judicial philosophy. Why shouldn't the Democrats have the same respect for President Bush's outcome?

DR. DEAN: Well, that is, in truth, not what the Republicans did. In those particular cases, they made those votes. They stonewalled hundreds of judicial appointees that Bill Clinton made, hundreds of them that never came up. They wouldn't even take them up. The Republicans wouldn't even give Harriet Miers a right to an up or down vote. How dare they make a case for an up or down vote on Judge Alito?

MR. RUSSERT: But they did support those liberal jurists.

DR. DEAN: I don't care who they supported. They killed hundreds of nominations in the Supreme Court. That is the most hypocritical nonsense. As you know, hypocrisy is a feature of Washington's life daily. That is nonsense. They get no credit for voting for Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Justice Breyer after killing hundreds of Clinton nominations and killing Harriet Miers. How dare they have--I saw an ad the other day. How dare they have an ad saying, "We want an up or down vote on Judge Alito" when they wouldn't give one to Harriet Miers?

MR. RUSSERT: Money, the mother's milk of politics, as it's been referred to, here's The Washington Post article. "The Democratic National Committee under Howard Dean is losing the fund-raising race against the Republicans by nearly 2 to 1 ..." The article goes on to say that "the Republicans have raised $83.5 million, the Democrats just $42 million."
What is wrong with your fund-raising operations?

DR. DEAN: Nothing. It's going great. We just broke the record with six weeks to go for fund-raising during the off year, and we didn't even have the ability to raise soft money to do it. We have paid operatives in 38 out of 50 states. We will be in 50 states by the end of the year. We just won two really important gubernatorial elections and managed to deep-six all of Governor Schwarzenegger's initiatives in California. I'd say we're having a pretty good year.

MR. RUSSERT: But if you're being outgunned 2-to1 in the 2006 elections, how can you possibly succeed?

DR. DEAN: We did last time. We were outgunned 3-to-1.

MR. RUSSERT: And so you don't...

DR. DEAN: This is an improvement in our position. You going to...

MR. RUSSERT: Some Democrats say it's troublesome, that there should be red sirens flashing.

DR. DEAN: Well, yeah, you know, you--I saw that article. I generally don't traffic in gossip and
I try not to. The facts are, we've done much better than we have in the past. We're continuing to do better. We're making great progress. Terry pledged $5 million to Tim Kaine's campaign. We were able to deliver that and he was able to win. What counts is the wins and losses. How...

MR. RUSSERT: Can you recapture the--both the U.S. Senate and the House?

DR. DEAN: Yes, we can and we will because I don't--there's a lot of stuff about well, redistricting makes it impossible. The truth is when the American people want real change, they' ll have it and this time they're going to get real change.

MR. RUSSERT: To be continued. Dr. Howard Dean, thank you for your views.

DR. DEAN: Thank you, Tim.

I've already written an LTE to the Washington Post about the story on Democratic fundraising that was on the front page of yesterday's paper. I hope it will get published. But be absolutely sure that the timing was no coincidence.

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"OUR JOB IS TO STOP THIS CORRUPT AND INCOMPETENT ADMINISTRATION FROM DOING MORE DAMAGE TO AMERICA ... AND THAT'S WHAT WE'RE GONNA DO!"

- GOV. HOWARD DEAN

You may not have been a Deaniac, or Dean Democrat, but this fellow, former Governor Howard Dean and Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, is well worth the salary he's paid.

"When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary"... to kick some fascist corporate-owned immoral ReThuglican butts, he's your man!

I'm sure there will be a transcript available if you didn't see him live, but Howard was excellent under 'withering fire' from Tim Russert on Meet the Press.

He is more comfortable in his skin than ever before, makes fewer slight bobbles in his answers, and can point back to his stands during the '04 Primary without undercutting Democrats in office. ( If it did, it would be their own faults.)

More than anything he exudes leadership in a clear thinking manner. He has not lost his sense of humor, and that smile... crushies delight!!

Pointing out the hypocricy of the ReThuglican flip-flopping on the notion of an 'up-or-down' vote on Supreme Court nominee ScAlito, when their own base refused to allow a vote on Ms. Meirs, was brilliant.

When asked about recovering the Congress, he made me as proud as pie. He nails my favorite lead-in saying of his, and the focus of his 'points' to the 'People' today with... " 'The TRUTH is'... that when the American people want real change they'll have it, and this time they're gonna get real change."

Call me limited but i'm stuck on... GO HOWARD! SPEAK THE TRUTH!! TAKE BACK AMERICA!!

-deaniac in GA

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Word For The Week

Originally posted at The Underground Railroad

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Are you ready to die? We usually don't think about death in those stark terms, but everyone needs to ask themselves if they are ready to die because death can come knocking at the most unexpected and inopportune times. We generally see death as something that we'll have to deal with a long time from know, somewhere in the distant future, but as the people of Amman, Jordan found out this past week, death can come upon you like a thief in the night while you are sleeping peacefully. As Yitzhak Rabin found out death can come knocking when you are on the verge of your greatest accomplishment. And as far too many drivers have found out, death can come at any moment when you are driving your car, so the question of the hour is, "Are you ready to face death?"

Paul said that to live is Christ and to die is gain. So long as we breathe in and breath out, we who call ourselves Christians have a job to do, namely to advance the cause of Christ, to seek the Kingdom of God, to facilitate the reconciliation of the world back to God. We are to let our light so shine that men might see our good works and glorify God in heaven. Are you ready to stand before God and give an account of your stewardship? Is it truly "Christ" for you to live or is it all about self-satisfaction? When death comes knocking on your door are you prepared to look death in the face and smile right back?

Not only do we need to have the vertical relationship in order, but we must have our horizontal relationships in order as well, for the two are intricately connected. How many times have we heard about people going to funerals and lamenting the fact they they never told the deceased how they really felt about them? How many times have we heard about people mourning because they never restored their relationship with the deceased? How many times have we heard about people grieving over the person that they were going to call next week in order to forgive them and ask forgiveness of them?

Tomorrow is not promised.

All that you have is right now - yesterday is a canceled check and tomorrow is a promissory note, but today is cash-in-hand - what are you going to do with it? We who call ourselves Christians have been called to spread the good news of Jesus Christ to every nation, tongue, and tribe. We who call ourselves Christians have been elected to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and comfort the sick and imprisoned. We who call ourselves Christians have been set apart to establish redemptive relationships with our friends, neighbors, and acquaintances such that one day they may say, "What must I do to be saved?"

This is the day that the Lord has made - what are you going to do with your day? Could you stand before Jesus Christ today and give an account of your stewardship of all that He has given you, or are you hiding your talents in the ground? If you are indeed ready to stand before Jesus - if you have your oil ready - then like Paul said, to die is gain. However, if you are not ready then there will be weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth. As the old folks used to say, "Get right Church and let's go home."

Choose this day whom you will serve, because tomorrow is not promised.

May the LORD bless you and keep you;
May the LORD make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you;
And may the LORD,
Who wants you to get with Him today,
My He turn His face toward you and give you peace.

Democratic Party Rises From Ashes In Stephentown

From The Press, the community newspaper of East Rensselaer County in New York.

Andrew White’s quest to reestablish the Democratic Party in Stephentown, begun about a year and a half ago, appears to have borne some fruit. Former Elections Commissioner Tom Wade said then that he had worked with White before he became the new Chairman of the Town Democratic Committee and knew him to be a person who sets goals and accomplishes them.

Yes, that's *our* Andrew C. White. Kudos to Andrew. Sweet, chocolatey Kudos. Mmmmmmm!

To read a fun entry about Homer Simpson in which he is describe as a "post-modern philosopher of the Millennial period" check out his entry in the Uncyclopedia. To read the rest of the article about Andrew's quest to revitalize his local Democratic party, click here.

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The Blue State Brothers

Jim even has the right sideburns for this. ;-)


From the overnight thread:

Here's a test of the Blues/Dean Brothers. (click) They fit pretty well. I'm going to try to put together a parody of the actual movie poster tomorrow.
Demetrius

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Dalai Lama on D.C. voting rights

I saw this headline on the main page of Yahoo News this morning: Dalai Lama Needles U.S. over democratic rights. My first thought, of course, was, "Which ones?" There is so much to criticize right now, and so many areas where the U.S. falls short, in spite of its current insistence that it is ordained to bring democracy to other countries. Well, it turns out it was about Washington D.C.'s lack of Representatives or Senators. A student at a school in the capital city asked the exiled Tibetan leader what he would do if his citizens were deprived such a privilege.

The 70-year-old leader pondered for a while and shot back the same question to Bernard Igbedian, a 17-year-old pupil of Booker T. Washington Public Charter School for Technical Arts.

When Igbedian said he saw no reason for the denial of voting rights, the Dalai Lama, himself battling Chinese authorities for greater autonomy for Tibetans, said the people should speak up and find out why.

"Then you should find out. If there are sufficient reasons, we have to think more carefully, but if there is no reason, then shout," the maroon-robed leader told the student, drawing laughter among the 200 odd students and visitors.

Sounds like a downright Howardly idear. ;-)

He said he wondered why a "small pocket" of people living in the world's "champion of democracy, liberty and freedom" lacked full voting rights and representation in Congress.

"Quite strange, quite strange," he remarked, drawing further laughter.

In related news: China unhappy with Bush-Dalai Lama talks. Seems like Bush is in one of those "can't win for losing" spots. Awww. All I can think to say is "It's about freaking time!" He's been able to skate by with this "master of low expectations" scam for way too long.

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Advance Questions for Special MViMV Guest Blog

On Monday, November 14th, 8-9:30 PM EST, Dolores Huerta of United Farm Workers of America--Cofounder and First Vice President Emeritus--will participate in a Conversations with the Cabinet. Conversations with the Cabinet is part of a regular phone conference series hosted by the Backbone Campaign. This special bilingual event is a collaboration between the Backbone Campaign, My Vote is My Voice (MViMV), and Latinos for America (LFA).

While the mother of 11 children, 14 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, Dolores has been an inspirational leader of the American civil rights movement, the labor movement through "La Causa" (the farmworkers’ cause), the Chicano movement, and women’s rights. Advocating for farm worker rights, Dolores has been arrested twenty-two times for non-violent peaceful union activities.

If you wish to ask a question of Dolores, please post your question at the MViMV Blog and those questions will be asked during the phone conversation. Answers will be posted during or shortly after the phone conversation. Questions are being accepted in English and Spanish.

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A Matter of Life or Death

Teri Mills is a longtime Democracy For America community member. Her guest column on health care appears on Blog for America on Fridays and she blogs at nationalnurse.blogspot.com.

Next Tuesday, November 15th, Libya's Supreme Court will rule on whether to overturn an execution order of five Bulgarian nurses and one Palestinian physician who were convicted last year of deliberately infecting more than 400 children at a hospital in Benghazi with the HIV virus. At least 40 of those infected died of AIDS.

Since their arrests seven years ago, the nurses and physician have been subjected to repeated torture to force their confessions of this crime. These health care workers have always maintained their innocence, declaring they had been tortured with daily beatings, sexual assault, and electric shocks by the police in order to obtain their confessions.

As the press and others investigated, they learned the HIV virus was most likely transmitted to these children because of poor hygienic conditions in the hospital, not because of intentional acts by their caregivers. Nursing leaders across the United States including the Center for Nursing Advocacy and the American Nurses Association are taking note, calling for the immediate release of these nurses and physician to their home countries. All nurses, physicians, and health care providers should be fearful of this precedent because it is often necessary to have close contact with our patients in order to provide them with the best outcomes for their well being.

Many countries are rushing to organize humanitarian aid such as medical equipment, medications and treatments for the infected children as a means of resolving the dispute. Even the President has issued a strong statement asking that the nurses and physician be freed. Negotiations have been reported by Reuters quoting Arab diplomatic sources close to the Libyan government as saying the nurses and physician would be asked to pay compensation to a special fund and a charitable organization run by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's son, Saif al-Islam as a compromise solution.

With little time remaining before the appeal, we are being asked to add our voices with those calling for release of these workers, who have been so unfairly accused. To learn where to send your letter, visit the website the Center for Nursing Advocacy has set up on the behalf of freeing these health care providers. I hope you will join me today in writing your letter, because truly this is a matter of life or death.

—Teri Mills, RN, MS, ANP
Democracy for Oregon

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Friday Comics

Soldier (flash)
Doggone Man
Outsourcing
Condi's Smoking Gun
Worthless
Improper Frame
Youth In Asia
Terminated
Pirates of the Potomac
Sheeple
Self-Mutilation
Nosferatu
Random Mutation

And my favorite for today: Attention Deficit Disorder



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Howard Dean on The Situation Room

For anyone else who, like me, missed seeing Howard Dean on The Situation Room last night, here is the transcript of that segment from CNN:

Democrats are savoring their off-year election victories this week. And they're now eagerly looking ahead to next year's key congressional elections. That's what they say. After the votes were in, I spoke with the former presidential candidate and current Democratic National Committee chairman, Howard Dean. I asked him if he's worried about the possibility that his party could blow this opportunity before next November.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HOWARD DEAN, CHAIRMAN, DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE: It's always out there. The Republicans are really battling this headwind of corruption and incompetence and Iraq and all these budget problems and jobs, high oil prices. They got their work cut out for us. What we need to do is come across with a message that people will appreciate.

One is that we can do better in America if we're together. And we will be. Two, we need a healthcare system that will work for everybody. We want jobs that will stay in America if we're going to have a strong public education system. If we stick with that message and reach out to people and talk about our values, we'll be the majority party 2006.

BLITZER: Here in THE SITUATION ROOM, I interviewed New Mexico's governor, Bill Richardson. Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. BILL RICHARDSON (D), NEW MEXICO: What we need to do as Democrats is we have to enunciate positive policies. We can't be negative on the president. There's plenty of problems that the Republicans have caused. At the same time, unless we as Democrats have a policy on national security, on Iraq, on defense, on healthcare, on making our schools better, on a lot of national issues, the public's going to stay where it is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Do you think he makes a good point there?

DEAN: I think we need to have a positive message. We're going to have jobs that stay in America. A big energy policy. Reducing our enormous fuel plans. Secondly, we're going to have a health care system that will cover everybody. Like all 40 other industrialized countries.

BLITZER: Let me ask a question on healthcare, how do you plan on doing with the Republicans in control of the House, the Senate, the White House. How are the democrats going to make that happen?

DEAN: That's why Americans need to put Democrats back in the Congress and the White House. So we can make that happen. We we're going lay out a positive agenda. And if people like it they'll support us, just like they supported Tim Kaine and Jon Corzine.

BLITZER: Here's the new "Washington Post" ABC News poll that you saw a lot of bad numbers for the president. When it comes to a party with strong leaders only 35 percent of those who responded say Democrats had a party with strong leaders, 51 percent thought the Republicans have strong leaders. That seems to be a serious problem that the Democratic party has.

DEAN: I don't think it's a serious problem. We have planned to do deal with that. And I think we'll win in the end because the Republicans don't have any leadership. They led us in the wrong direction; strong leaders harming America is not a prescription for a winning message.

We're going to do some fundamentally different things. We're going to have to put ethics back in Congress again and ethics in our government again. Second thing we're going to do is talk about the values that we hold as Democrats. We think it's a moral value that kids don't go to bed hungry at night. We think it's a moral value that if you work hard, you have health insurance and a pension that you can look forward to.

Fundamental changes in America. We're going the wrong direction in this country. I think we can go in the right direction.

BLITZER: You want to maintain the governorships in New Jersey and Virginia. But New York City, arguably the most Democratic city in the country, the bluest city in the country, Bloomberg gets almost 60 percent of the vote, the Republican. Fernando Ferrer, 39 percent of the vote. What happens in a big city like New York?

DEAN: Well, first of all he spent $100 million; that buys a lot of votes. I think Mike spent about $147 per vote. Second is a great quote I saw in an AP story that said, "I don't really think he's a real Republican. If he was, I couldn't really vote for him in good conscience." And I think there are a lot people in New York that haven't figured out that Mike's a Republican yet.

BLITZER: So you're not worried about the trend in New York City that he gets reelected, the Republican?

DEAN: No. I think the most important election -- there are two really important elections. Obviously, Jon Corzine a great person and he's going to be a great governor. From the national point of new, having George Bush land in Virginia 24 hours before the election and having Tim Kaine win overwhelmingly is a big national message, not just a local message. And defeating all of Governor Schwarzenegger's initiatives of California, people are sick of what's going in California. They're frankly sick of what's going on in Washington. They want a change and we're going to give them the change in 2006.

BLITZER: Listen to what Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas said on Monday on the Senate floor. Because I keep hearing this from other republicans. Raising, in effect, the patriotism of Democrats. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R), TEXAS: Merely venting angry without proposing alternative solutions is not the work of serious people. It's a sad commentary on our public discourse, when politicians seek to use the sacrifice of our men and women in uniform to advance a political agenda.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Senator Pat Roberts, Republican of Kansas made basically the same point. And other Republicans are raising that now. How worried are you that they're coming after you, you Democrats and raising this issue of you're undermining the moral, you're endangering the troops by raising questions about the war in Iraq?

DEAN: There's only one person that's endanger to the troops and that was the president when he sent them to war without telling the truth to the American people.

They have some nerve with some 256 brave Americans dead to even begin to speak like that and they ought to be ashamed of themselves.

The truth is, the Democratic Party is never going to send troops aboard without equipping them properly before they go. It's a disgrace, for troops families to have to have bake sales to raise the money to buy the adequate equipment to protect them.

Frankly the people who are running this war from the White House, don't know what they're doing. Most of them haven't served a day in their life, in uniform abroad. We shouldn't be there. We are there now. It's going to be up to the Democrats to figure out how to get out of there in one piece and saving the respect of the United States of America. We will respect not just the United States of America; we'll respect the troops and we'll do it. First of all, by telling the troops and telling their parents why they're going, in an honest way.

BLITZER: We're out of time, Governor. Thanks very much for joining us.

DEAN: Thanks very much.

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This is from the left coaster. Says it better than I could.

Thank You, California Nurses

Before anyone forgets amid the euphoria of batting around Arnold’s political testicles with badminton rackets this morning, I would like to say a special thank you to the California Nurses Association.

Only 18 months ago Arnold was considered to be unbeatable for 2006. Being the rank corporatist Republican liar that he is, he told the nurses that their extremely hard-won patient ratios meant nothing to him. They, the law and their patients would suffer and die as he lied about heisting the money.

Some lines are just never crossed—the risks are so horrifying one just never goes there. Like lying to your wife, the consequences are going to be nuclear and leave nasty scars (assuming one survives), no matter how stupidly one rationalizes the act. Arnold is a novice and a dumbass, so I guess it isn’t surprising, really, that he thought he could cross nurses over their patients.

It simply didn’t matter that Arnie was hugely popular, that most analysts thought he could get away with it, or that organized labor had not won a big fight in a while. The nurses knew damn well a thief had come in, stolen what they had worked a generation for and was laughing as he gave them the finger across the street. Get out the mattresses and die going down, if it means that, for something like this could never stand.

They dogged him relentlessly at every public appearance, becoming a great story picked up over the country. They aired commercials, got on the news cycle agenda with creative tactics and relentlessly messed with the Arnold message machine. They got into his head and knocked him down, and when he was there they stepped on his neck until the results came in.

Along the way a lot of other people stepped up, encouraged by the results. It gained momentum and this morning that odious lying Republican cretin is politically crippled.

Read the rest, here.

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Pat Robertson's mean, scary god

Yes, Pat, I used lower case intentionally. The god you talk about all the time--the one you appeal to, threaten people with, and squint your eyes and pray to on television is small god. He is a petty thug of a god, undeserving of a capital G. Your god reminds me of the caricature shown in Monty Python's Holy Grail movie.

I must admit, though, that I occasionally wish I could make myself believe in a god that relied so heavily on vengeance in dealing with sinners. Bush would be toast, I'm sure. And, if I believed in such a god, I'd pray that he strike you mute, so that you would be unable to say things like this in his name...

Robertson tells Dover, PA citizens, after the election: "Don't turn to God if you need help"

On today's 700 Club, Rev. Pat Robertson took the opportunity to strongly rebuke voters in Dover, PA who removed from office school board members who supported teaching faith-based "intelligent design" and instead elected Democrats who opposed bringing up the possibility of a Creator in the school system's science curriculum.

Rev. Robertson warned the people of Dover that God might forsake the town because of the vote.

"I'd like to say to the good citizens of Dover. If there is a disaster in your area, don't turn to God, you just rejected Him from your city. And don't wonder why He hasn't helped you when problems begin, if they begin. I'm not saying they will, but if they do, just remember, you just voted God out of your city. And if that's the case, don't ask for His help because he might not be there."

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Liberal Church Audited for Anti War Stance

I don't have much to add here as far as my own words/content, but I felt it was important to share this before too much time passed, so here you go...

Liberal Church Audited for Anti War Stance

Here's the web site of All Saints Church, with more on this subject. Here's the action taken by Linda in Cincinnati, including the information you need if you'd like to help challenge the double standard that is evident here. (Apparently politics from the pulpit are only a problem when they are *liberal* politics.)

Linda*in*Cincinnati wrote on November 8, 2005 12:13 PM:

I am sitting here on hold at
1 877 829 5500
The tax exempt line at the IRS.

I posed a couple of questions to them and I have now been transferred 3 times and now I'm holding on an eternal music loop.

Question 1
Are they telling me an anti war service at a church is considered political and tied to an election (because that is the law with separation of church and state). I thought people of all policital parties could be for peace and it didn't tie it to an election.

so, 2nd questions,

2. Are they telling me they will now investigate and pull churches tax exempt status if they ARE involved in elections. Because I have a list of churches from Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee and Virginia that I would like to give them for the IRS to pull their tax exempt status for influencing and threatening their members to specifically vote a particular way in an election.

I assume that is why I have now been on hold for at least 15 minutes.

Linda*in*Cincinnati wrote on November 8, 2005 12:51 PM:
OK,

The good news.

I spoke with a very nice gentleman at the IRS named Mike. He said he AGREED that the churches pushed the envelope on the last election and overstepped their 503C status.

He said I can write a letter in support of the Church that is being investigated for their Anti War Service (which he agreed if that is all they did, nothing against their 503C status was done) to the same place I am asking churches to be investigated for violating their 503C status by getting involved in an election.

Here you go folks. TAKE ACTION. THis is what you've been waiting for. If you know of a church that was directing people to vote a specific way on an election file a complaint, give as much detail about the institution and mail it to.

Exam Referral
E O IRS-Capital EO Classification
4910 DAL
1100 Commerce St.
Dallas, TX 75242-1198

Give complete details. You will stay confidential and do not have to give your name and phone number if you don't want, but is reccomended.

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Thursday Comics

Swine Flu
Van Pelted
Kinder, Gentler Gouging
Had Me At 'Hell No!'
Truth In Advertising
Racism, Poverty, Inequality
Just Like America
Suprématie Blanche
And Liberty For None
Da Comrade
Ties That Bind
J. Edgar Cheney
Branding Campaign

And my favorite for today: Liar, Liar, Prisoner On Fire



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Pro Choice

On my drive to the vet's yesterday morning with a very ill cat, I for once ejected the tape. My driving tapes are all stained glass bluegrass (WAMU, taped by a friend who lives in D.C. ~~ ironic it's impossible to get bluegrass on the radio here) and the first song that came up was Angle Band. Not wanting to think about anyone's eternal home at that moment, I turned the tape off. So I heard the gardening guy, next state over, being asked why the caller's grandmother's iris will no longer bloom. He was advised to lift all the rhizomes, cut out the hearts, and leave only the new shoots, and then to re-dig the whole bed, mixing in all kinds of good flower vitamins, then re-lay the young sprouts, and just barely cover them with soil. Iris like light. And while he was about it, he was told to check his shade. It was likely there was more of it now than when the original bed was planted.

Clearly one has a choice: flowers or trees.

Sunlight or shade. Both are lovely. Both desired.

But you can't have both in the same space.

Choose.


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Enough is Enough

DNC Chair & fearless leader Howard Dean sent this e-mail today.

Last night was a sign of change to come. Democrats swept governor's races in New Jersey and Virginia -- a state George Bush won by 8 percent a year ago. These victories are proof that when Democrats have strong candidates and a strong agenda, we win. Voters in those states made a conscious choice to reject the Republican culture of corruption and their slash and burn politics.

They are not alone. We've all had enough -- enough of Republican incompetence, arrogance and corruption. We saw it in Virginia and New Jersey, we saw it on the Senate floor last week when Democratic Leader Harry Reid demanded accountability on Iraq, and we will see it every day from now until our country is put back on track. Democrats are ready to lead.

To celebrate the Democratic victories in Virginia and New Jersey yesterday, we will send a special "Enough is Enough" bumper sticker to everyone who contributes $25 or more in the next three days. Make your contribution now:

http://www.democrats.org/enoughisenough

The DNC invested $5 million in Virginia ahead of this election. It was $5 million not just for Tim Kaine, but for candidates up and down the ballot. It was $5 million not just for 2005, but for building a permanent Democratic infrastructure for the future.

We saw the first dividends last night. But these are not short term investments, and each one of us must take responsibility for building our party.

It's not business as usual for the Democratic Party. It's the day after the election, but our organization will stay in place and our work continues. We have a 50-state grassroots organizing strategy and we are committed to reaching and empowering every Democrat in every single precinct of every single state.

Taking this model nationwide is a multimillion-dollar commitment that is unprecedented for our party. All this work depends on you -- and you can support it by making a contribution now:

http://www.democrats.org/enoughisenough

Thank you for all that you have done -- but don't stop now, because this is just the beginning.

Governor Howard Dean, M.D.

P.S. -- In less than a week the work of the next year will begin with over 750 Organizing Kickoff meetings happening in neighborhoods across the country. You can learn more here: http://www.democrats.org/organizingkickoff.

Don't wait! Order your bumper sticker today -- operators are standing by.

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Wednesday Cartoons

Kwame Won!
Moderate Republican
Fair & Balanced
Beep! Beep!
Feels Your Pain
Torture Exemptions
Until A Democratic Presidency
Kettle-->Pot
Religious Intolerance
Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité
Whites Only
Noblesse Oblige
Mixed Marriages
Infidelity
Cutting His Losses

And my favorite for today: F Alito



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Happy Birthday, TeaTimeTim!

Major bummer about the Reform Ohio Now amendments going down. There would be so much more cause for celebration if Ohioans hadn't voted like a bunch of ignorant monkeys who don't know better. But regardless, your blog family sends the warmest birthday wishes.



Here's the Blog Family Birthday Calendar jc maintains. Happy Birthday a day early to ChrisNYC.

And, for anyone who doesn't know, there's a very special birthday coming up on November 17.

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Where Inner space Meets Cyberspace

By Subway Serenade

In my two previous posts, I discussed Fractal Geometry and its relationship to the eventual ascent of our species to Son Of Man. Today I would like to talk about the actual nuts and bolts of this ascent.

My generation has grown from watching crude Kine scopes of Milton Berle and The Twilight Zone, to watching our grandchildren play computer games with astounding interactive graphics that make me think, "Thirty five years ago you needed really good acid to see this kind of stuff!"

Just this week I was watching my friend playing with a very complex military style flight/battle simulator. It fully presented the illusion of being at the central point inside a sphere, allowing the player to "fly" (read "think") in any direction. When I asked what the age range of the game was, he said his eight year old nephew was on the game's third level. It actually made me wonder why such knowledge isn't considered subversive. I would figure folks would realize that for children to be using such complex graphic interfaces, there would be profound effects on both their dream states, as well as those parts of the brain where imagination happens. Nor do they realize that constant exposure to these graphic interfaces could eventually produce expansions
in awareness quite similar to those that occurred in the days when "Virtual Reality" came in sugar cubes.

Folks may recall, a few years ago, when several hundred children in Japan became ill while watching an episode of "Pokemon." The cause was linked to their watching a certain graphic sequence in the animation that was then removed from the episode. This should have been a heads up to the world. It certainly was for me. In the animated film "Madagascar" Alex the Lion gets shot with a tranquilizer and some of his hallucination is a 4th dimensional graphic generated by a computer.

What happens when five year olds imagine a 4th dimension?

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It's Déja Vu All Over Again

I guess it's too much to expect that Election Day would go smoothly.

Tim Tagaris (via Kos) reports on voting machine problems in Ohio.

Here in the Commonwealth of Virginia, things have not gone very smoothly, either--

Furious with Virginia - The moral of the story is, if you move, don't count on DMV forwarding your change of address to the Board of Elections.

Diebold Cheating in Virginia - With 23 systems in use throughout the Commonwealth, this may be a more frequent occurrence.

If the Phone Rings, Today, DON'T ANSWER IT! - Perhaps the fines for violating election law should be a bit higher.

Intrade currently has the odds in favor of Tim Kaine, who leads with a bid of 74 with Kilgore at 25.

At a GOTV rally for Kilgore last night in Richmond, Bush said, "I know a man of character and of integrity, and he's standing right next to me, and that's Jerry Kilgore.

"The thing I like about this fella is he's from Virginia and he grew up on a farm," Bush continued. "That means he's a down-to-earth person. He doesn't have a lot of fancy airs, a person who knows how the common man thinks."

And we all know that Farmer Bush is such a good judge of character, too. We'll know tonight if he helped Kaine or Kilgore.

There are no exit polls today so we'll have to wait to hear the results tonight.

UPDATE: The reports keep coming in--

Voter Fraud in Los Angeles County


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Tuesday's Comics

Beignets
Strategery Guy
Yo Cuz!
Statue Of BDSM
Patriot Games
White Supremacy
Phuq Alito
War On Poverty
Clone Troopers
Choose Life
Caveat Emptor
Cognitive Dissonance

And my favorite for today: Let Them Eat Beignets



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Intelligent (tasty?) Design in Schools

Interesting Kos diary by Six Degrees of Aaron about the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster

Back in June, Bobby Henderson contact numerous school boards that were pushing "Intelligent Design" into the classroom. Sadly, my local school board was contacted. Well, Bobby has just secured a book deal that will produce a book in February.

Bobby's letter (below the flip) is funny!!! It makes IDers look like the fools they are. In our recent school board, a friend and I brought up the theory of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. The board member that is really pushing ID was ticked to no end. People laughed and laughed. The Chairman tabled the issue till next month's meeting - guess what we are going to bring up. I suggest the same for others that are fighting ID.

More here. Also, see the Open Letter to the Kansas School Board, which is cc'd to other school boards including (*cringe*) Ohio's.



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MViMV Guest Blog

Tonight from 8pm-9pm EST on the My Vote is My Voice Blog

http://blog.myvoteismyvoice.com/

FairVote Communications Director, Ryan O'Donnell, will discuss electoral problems caused by hurricane Katrina, such as displaced voters and absentee ballot difficulties.

Monday Comics

Only In The Comics
Detroit Lions' Postgame Analysis
Karmic Relief
Leak Probe
The Other White Meat

And my favorite for today: Theory Of Devolution



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Reform Ohio Now--GOTV

I just got a call yesterday from Jared, a volunteer for Reform Ohio Now. Given that we've been bombarded with calls and mailers from the anti people, I was certainly glad for that. I just looked up their web site, and am passing the details along for anyone who can use them.

Make calls to Ohio voters Tuesday!

Election day is Tuesday. With a huge number of Ohioans still undecided, we can be victorious if we do an amazing job of getting out the vote, but every phone call counts. We need volunteers to make calls on Tuesday for Issues 2, 3, 4 & 5--no experience necessary!

The earlier you can make your calls during the day on Tuesday, the better! If you can't call during the day on Tuesday, we can still use your help Monday night. Just check the boxes below indicating when you're free.

We're asking everyone to commit to reaching 25 "yes" voters.

It couldn't be simpler:

• A RON staffmember will email you your call list and call script ASAP.
• You'll be calling to urge people to vote YES on Issues 2, 3, 4 & 5--your call script will tell you exactly what to say
• Each call will average less than 5 minutes
• You can make your calls anytime Tuesday before the hour you choose below.

Details here

And here's a pic from yesterday's rally.


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Al Gore in 2008, Whether He Wants It Or Not

Courtesy of Maryscott O'Connor's recommended Kos diary

I thought perhaps I ought to make the case for Gore, but frankly, if you don't get it, nothing I say will make a difference. I'm tired of repeating the obvious.

I saw a pickup truck with a Hillary in '08 sticker next to the Impeach Bush one. Granted, Hillary would be better than Bush. Then again, a demonically possessed sock puppet would be better than Bush.

All the evidence you need to know Gore is the man for '08 lies in his speeches over the past two years.

Click here for the rest of the diary, and here for the Draft Al Gore petition.

Here is a recent op-ed by Al Gore: The climate crisis and the need for leadership, and here is the story of his role in the airlifting of nearly 300 Katrina survivors to his home state of Tennessee. And finally, if you missed it before, you really should check out Al Gore's remarks at the We Media conference.



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Word For The Week

(Originally posted at The Underground Railroad)

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For the last few months I have been looking for a new job with no success. A little while ago someone mentioned to me that if I was a Republican then I probably would have been hooked up with a job a long time ago, to which I responded that while that may be true, the 30 pieces of silver just wasn't worth it. I mention this to raise this question: what is your price? It is said that every man has a price, that there is a set of circumstances where a man will do whatever you want him to do, so what is your price?

For Judas Iscariot it was 30 pieces of silver. For 30 pieces of silver he betrayed innocent blood to those who sought to kill Jesus. For 30 pieces of silver he turned his back on the One who loved him despite knowing that Judas would betray Him. For 30 pieces of silver Judas forfeited his place in the Kingdom of God.

What is your price?

What would it take for you to deny Jesus? What would it take for you to turn your back on the Lord? What would it take for you to sell out? These are questions with which I have been wrestling myself - should I just chuck this whole ministry thing and focus on stacking papers and looking out for me and mine? Should I give up on this political stuff and just look out for myself? Should I simply curse God and die? What is my price? What would cause me to forsake everything that I know and love? What is my 30 pieces of silver?

What's yours?

I have decided that I will stand firm - come hail or high water I shall not be moved from the firm foundation upon which I stand. Come famine, pestilence or starvation I will stand firm on the solid rock that is Christ Jesus my Lord. No matter what else happens I will proclaim the Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation of men's souls. I will advance the Kingdom of God by feeding the hungry, giving water to the thirsty, clothing the naked, comforting the sick, and visiting the imprisoned. And I will stand firm against those who have a form of Godliness but deny the power thereof, those who claim to be Christ's disciples yet bear no fruit, those who vote Republican in His name and in His name cast out homosexuals and oppose many abortions, yet may well hear Jesus say in that Day, "I never knew you - depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!" I may well end up standing alone, but I will indeed stand.

How about you?

May The LORD bless you and keep you;
May the LORD make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you;
And may the LORD,
Who implores you to reject your 30 pieces of silver,
My He turn His face toward you and give you peace.

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