Clinton Losing Her Grip in PA?

According to today’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

The Public Policy poll gives Mr. Obama a 45-43 lead over Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. Just two-and-half weeks ago, a poll by the same organization showed Mrs. Clinton with a 26-point lead. That poll was taken at the height of the controversy over Mr. Obama’s pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Dean Deban, president of Public Policy Polling, said the new results “could be an indication that Democrats in [Pennsylvania] think it’s time to wrap things up.” The new poll surveyed 1,224 likely Democratic voters on March 21 and April 1. The survey’s margin of error is plus or minus 2.8 percent.

This conflicts with the latest Quinnipiac poll, which gives Clinton a 9 point lead, but that poll also shows her lead as shrinking by three points since their last poll two weeks earlier.

Does Nader = 4 More Years of Neocon Rule?

Today, Ralph Nader announced he is, yet again, throwing his hat into the Presidential ring. I welcome his voice in the political dialog, but I dread his candidacy. Anyone who thinks Nader is harmless is not paying attention. Given the certainty that Nader has zero chance of victory, his candidacy can serve only to pull votes away from the Democratic party nominee.

Bush Tops ‘Most Admired’ Poll?

USAToday reveals the results of a new Gallup poll indicating that George W. Bush is the most admired man on planet Earth. Tempering these impressive results is the fact that the pollsters questioned only 1011 people, of which only 10% chose Bush. It is implicit, but not stated, that Gallup polled only Bush family and cronies, and members of the House of Saud.

Interestingly, the USAToday headline is factually wrong. The article indicates that Bush was actually third on the list overall, beaten by Hillary Clinton (18%) and Oprah Winfrey (16%). Perhaps the editors of USAToday are trying to puff up George Bush for political reasons, or perhaps they are presenting an intentionally provocative headline in order to sell “news”, or perhaps they consider women to be of a secondary class. Who knows?

The Candidate Match Game

USA Today has created an interesting exercise that can offer perhaps surprising insights into candidate preferences. It’s an interactive tool that asks you to answer a series of questions and allows you to apply a weighting to different categories, and then tells you which presidential candidates most closely match you. I guess it’s a political e-Harmony.

I know, I know, it’s simplistic, failing to offer all nuance, and leaving out important questions. Even so, it’s still an interesting exercise.

Who’s up to give it a try and then post your results? No fair “cheating” to get the result that matches your expectation. Try not to look at the candidate heads moving up and down, so you don’t necessarily know the impact of your answers on the results until the exercise is done.

Gloom, Despair, and Agony on Me

USA Today reports that nearly twice as many people believe in heaven and hell than in evolution.

The same people offered their wit and wisdom in the Comments section of today’s article about Ron Paul smacking down Mike Huckabee for his ad invoking Jesus, and with “accidental” lighting giving the image of a cross behind him. At least there was no accidental halo. But I digress.

Of Huckabee and the Great Pumpkin

Mike Huckabee, in his new campaign ad timed for the holiday season, states “what really matters is the celebration of the birth of Christ and being with our family and our friends.

Well, Huck is half right. But which half?

 

Raggedy Ann Redux

Posted without comment.

McCain not Able

It’s hard to decide which is more outragous: one of the many idiotic statements by US presidential hopeful John McCain, the typically narrowminded slant of the mainstream media report on his comments, or the pathetic clarification offered by McCain’s camp.

Dubya’s Diabolical “Disgust” Directs More Money to MoveOn

I got the following in my email today and felt it was important enough to share verbatim. The commentary from Iraq vets is particularly moving in contrast to the verbal feces coming from the chickenhawk brigade.

If the gay bar fits, you must acquit…

Larry Craig has hired high profile attorney Billy Martin, also famed as defender of canine assassinator Michael Vick. Martin has produced a unique “gay bar” defense for Craig to enable him to reverse his guilty plea for his arrest in a Minneapolis airport self-loather cruising sting. Interviewed by CNN today, Martin explained the logic as follows:

“I think the senator had just gone under a tremendous interview with the Idaho Statesman [newspaper], where he was undergoing an investigation for being gay. They were walking around Washington and other cities with photographs in gay bars. They were embarrassing him. He had just gone to an interview where he had put to sleep… put to rest any argument that he was gay and they were going to publish this article. He stepped in that bathroom shortly after that interview and I know the pressure, the stress, as well as the panic from what this could do, did not have him thinking clearly and he waived his Constitutional rights, and we’re asking that that be reversed.”

So let me get this, uh, straight. According to his attorney:

• Larry Craig has assured a nervous public that he is not gay and “doesn’t do those things”, but
• Larry Craig has been photographed in gay bars in multiple cities, and
• Stressed from the revelation of the photographs, Larry then visited the airport men’s room, and coincidentally was framed by a cop claiming Craig solicited sex from him, and
• Craig, failing to “think clearly” for a two month period afterward, pleaded guilty.

Well, we can all thank god that he’s not gay. Stupid beyond belief, yes. Cowardly, yes. Panicky, yes. But definitely not gay. What a relief to self-respecting gay people everywhere.

Classy Bush: “We’re kicking ass.”

“We’re kicking ass,” Bush said to Australia Deputy Prime Minister Mark Vaile on Tuesday, after the deputy prime minister inquired about his trip to Iraq.

He is one charming monkey. Surely all Americans are proud.

From CNN.

Gorn’s Position Statement: “9/11 Truth”

On this blog, you will read many opinions about the “9/11 Truth” conspiracy theories. You will not see much countervailing opinion. In all cases this information should be understood as opinion and not fact. The focus of the information presented by “9/11 Truth” will be, often, of a technical nature, and thus difficult for the lay citizen to confirm with assurance, and potentially misleading without context. The emotion of the subject yields a particular level of risk. This is my position on the subject and is the opinion of the author only, and not any other TPZoo member.

WaterClosetGate Update: Republicans Eating Their Own

A collection of CNN snippets over the evolution of the Larry Craig WaterClosetGate scandal reveals a state of confusion as Republicans struggle with the desire to eat one another alive. He should resign! He should fight! He’s a disgrace! He’s been framed! Craig is bad but Vitter is worse! No, Craig is worse than Vitter! And up is down, and down is up, and the carousel goes round and round…

‘Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Friday called Craig’s conduct “unforgivable” and acknowledged that many in his caucus believe Craig should resign.’

‘Sen. John McCain, a GOP presidential candidate, has called Craig’s case “disgraceful.” Another Republican senator, Norm Coleman of Minnesota, has said Craig pleaded guilty to “a crime involving conduct unbecoming a senator.”‘

Bush Floats Trial Balloon for Iraq Pullout?

AP reports that in comments made Monday during his brief stop in Iraq, George Bush floated the notion of reducing troops in Iraq.

“Gen. Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker tell me if the kind of success we’re now seeing continues, it will be possible to maintain the same level of security with fewer American forces.”

Bush further clarified his remark by suggesting that any reduction made on his watch will not be of the “cut and run” variety. Bush created new bumper sticker slogans in his speech, equating his pullout with “Strength and Success”, and his opponents’ with “Fear and Failure”.

“Those [force reduction] decisions will be based on a calm assessment by our military commanders on the conditions on the ground, not reaction by Washington politicians to poll results in the media,” said Bush. “In other words, when we begin to draw down troops from Iraq, it will be from a position of strength and success, not from the position of fear and failure.”

This rhetorical strategy is reminiscent of Nixon’s “peace with honor” pullout from Vietnam.

An Embassy the Size of the Vatican

From the London Times:

“Baghdad is a city
of ruins – of burnt-out homes, of shops wrecked by suicide bombs, of the crumbling shells of Saddam-era palaces and ministries destroyed by smart bombs in the US invasion of 2003.

There is one notable exception. It is probably the only big new building project in the capital in the past four years. It is the new US Embassy on the west bank of the Tigris which the contractors will transfer to the US Government officially today.”

This 104 acre, $600,000,000 fortress makes a statement about American priorities and intentions.

Bush War: Longest in US History?

The occupation of Iraq is now in its 5th year, tied for third longest war in the history of the United States. Presently tied with the First Barbary War, the American Civil War, and World War II, the Iraq occupation will be in sole possession of third place by next March, three years shy of the Revolutionary War and half the distance to the Vietnam Conflict.

Because George W. Bush has vowed that America will stay in Iraq as long as he is president, and it likely will take at least a full year to accomplish the extraction, Dubya’s war has a chance to take second place behind only Vietnam unless Congress terminates funding.

Some have argued that the Iraq occupation does not qualify as a war because war was never formally declared. Some conservatives have countered that position by pointing out that the Persian Gulf War conducted by Bush Sr. was never officially concluded. The enemy regime remained in power with coalition forces enforcing no-fly zones upon Iraq. With this point of view, the current occupation is really part of the same war, and the Iraq war is still going strong at 17 years – far longer than any other American war.

Duration of American Wars (rounded up, in years)

17, Iraq Conflict (to date), beginning with Persian Gulf War
12, Vietnam Conflict
9, American Revolutionary War
7, Global War on Terror (to date), beginning with Sept 11, 2001
5, Iraq Occupation (to date)
5, First Barbary War
5, American Civil War
5, World War II
4, War of 1812
4, Philippine Insurrection
4, Korean Conflict
3, Kosovo Conflict
3, Mexican-American War
3, Somali Civil War
2, World War I
2, Bosnian Conflict
2, Invasion of Panama
1, Second Barbary War
1, Spanish-American War
1, Persian Gulf War
1, Invasion of Grenada