First Door on the Left

The right wing blogosphere is all atwitter about this Reuters report…

New poll shows Clinton trails top 2008 Republicans

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton trails five top Republican presidential contenders in general election match-ups, a drop in support from this summer, according to a poll released on Monday.

Clinton’s top Democratic rivals, Barack Obama and John Edwards, still lead Republicans in hypothetical match-ups ahead of the November 4, 2008, presidential election, the survey by Zogby Interactive showed.

Clinton, a New York senator who has been at the top of the Democratic pack in national polls in the 2008 race, trails Republican candidates Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson, John McCain and Mike Huckabee by three to five percentage points in the direct matches.

I haven’t had a lot of faith in any Zogby poll since this one on November 2, 2004.

As I said in the post previous to this, I am capable of holding a grudge for a long, long time.

Zogby blows. But then, so does the right wing blogosphere. They complement one another quite well.

Al Gore visited the Oval Office today. You can read all about it here. This photograph is from that visit…

Al Gore and George W. Bush in the Oval Office

When I looked at that photo for the first time, just two words came to mind: elected and appointed. Yes, I am capable of holding a grudge for a long, long time… particularly when that grudge is a legitimate one.

This photograph would never have been taken had the man who actually won the election in November, 2000 taken office in January, 2001. What possible reason would George W. Bush ever have had to visit President Gore in the White House? He would have had none. Had his father’s friends on the Supreme Court not appointed him to the presidency, George W. would have faded into oblivion where he belongs and we most likely would never had heard from or about him again.

And what a gloriously different world we would all be living in today.

P.S. Lest you feel inclined to accuse me of being a “hater” for posting the above, let me tell you about a post I read on a right wing blog today. The actual heading on said post was “Half-Blackie Slaps Down She-Devil.” No, I’ll not dignify it with a link, but I’ll post a screen capture of it below this paragraph. Click on the thumbnail. The author was referring to this story. It isn’t too difficult to discern who the “Half-Blackie” and the “She-Devil” are. Now that is hatred.

Click to enlarge.

Another Republican Senator has chosen between service to country and money… and chose the money.

Sources: Lott to resign by end of year

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Sen. Trent Lott, R-Mississippi, intends to resign by the end of the year and join the private sector, sources tell CNN.

Lott, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, is expected to make the announcement Monday in Pascagoula, Mississippi.

A senior Republican source close to Lott said one reason for the decision is the new lobbying restrictions on former lawmakers.

A law kicks in on January 1 that forbids lawmakers from lobbying for two years after leaving office. Those who leave by the end of 2007 are covered by the previous law, which demands a wait of only one year.

Lott, the Republican whip, was elected last year to a fourth term in the Senate. His term lasts until 2012…

Lott, 66, served as Senate majority leader when Republicans controlled that body but was pushed out of the leadership post after he told a 2002 birthday gathering for former Sen. Strom Thurmond that the country would have avoided “all these problems” if Thurmond’s 1948 segregationist presidential bid had succeeded.

In this particular case, no great loss.

You win in politics by telling the people what they want to hear. You need to be careful, however. There are, amazingly enough, still a few people in the United States who are able to distinguish between a pipe dream and reality.

Huckabee: America Enslaved to Saudi Oil

WASHINGTON (AP) – Consumers are financing both sides in the war on terror because of the actions of U.S. ally Saudi Arabia, Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee said Sunday.

The former Arkansas governor made the comments following what he suggested was a muted response by the Bush administration to a Saudi court’s sentence of six months in jail and 200 lashes for a woman who was gang raped.

“The United States has been far too involved in sort of looking the other way, not only at the atrocities of human rights and violation of women,” Huckabee said on CNN’s “Late Edition.”

“Every time we put our credit card in the gas pump, we’re paying so that the Saudis get rich – filthy, obscenely rich, and that money then ends up going to funding madrassas,” schools “that train the terrorists,” said Huckabee. “America has allowed itself to become enslaved to Saudi oil. It’s absurd. It’s embarrassing.”

Huckabee said “I would make the United States energy independent within 10 years and tell the Saudis they can keep their oil just like they can keep their sand, that we won’t need either one of them.”

That’s a pretty big promise and ten years is not a very long time. Do you believe he could do it, or is this just another politician saying what he thinks we want to hear? Better yet, do you think he believes he could do it?

If indeed Mr. Huckabee does have a viable plan to pull off such an amazing feat, doesn’t he owe it to his country (as a patriot) to share that plan whether or not he is elected president?

Indiana pioneer congresswoman: I have terminal cancer

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Rep. Julia Carson, a former secretary who rose to become Indianapolis’ first African-American congresswoman, has announced she has terminal lung cancer, a newspaper reports.

The 69-year-old former City-County Council member and state senator told the Indianapolis Star on Saturday that she had been on a leave of absence since September to seek treatment and rehabilitation for a leg infection.

“Then the second shoe fell — heavily,” Carson told the paper in a brief written statement. “My doctor discovered lung cancer. It had gone into remission years before, but it was back with a terminal vengeance.”

Representing the Hoosier State’s 7th District since 1997, Carson opposed the Iraq war resolution in 2002 and worked to honor historic civil rights figure Rosa Parks. Fellow Democrats praised her as a bright personality who successfully fought against abuse of the welfare system.

Our thoughts and best wishes are with Representative Carson and her family.

John Howard has lost his bid for reelection in Australia. I love the way The New York Times reported the story, if for no other reason than it pissed off a whole lot of rabid righties….

Bush Ally Defeated in Australia

SYDNEY, Australia, Nov. 24 — Australia’s prime minister, John Howard, one of President Bush’s staunchest allies in Asia, suffered a comprehensive defeat at the hands of the electorate on Saturday, as his Liberal Party-led coalition lost its majority in Parliament.

He will be replaced by Kevin Rudd, the Labor Party leader and a former diplomat. “Today Australia looks to the future,” Mr. Rudd told a cheering crowd in his home state of Queensland. “Today the Australian people have decided that we as a nation will move forward.”

Mr. Howard’s defeat, after 11 years in power, follows that of José María Aznar of Spain, who also backed the United States-led invasion of Iraq, and political setbacks for Tony Blair of Britain.

I love it when rabid righties get pissed off. Absolutely makes my day.

Though I must admit that I, too, was unaware that Australia is part of Asia.

Here’s this week’s collection of the best political and editorial cartoons. Enjoy. Remember to click on any that you want to view full size. (New: “slide show” of cartoons now available. Pay attention to the navigation menu that will appear at the bottom of your browser window when you click on a cartoon.)

Hope you survived the malls!

As always, our thanks to the talented cartoonists who help us smile through the pain.

What time did you hit the stores this morning?

Retail Desperation on Display in Early Hours

Bleary-eyed shoppers descended on suburban malls and downtown shopping centers across the country this morning in an annual retail ritual that appeared to break records for consumer sleep deprivation.

Several major chains, like J.C. Penney and Kohl’s, opened at 4 a.m., an hour earlier than last year, dangling half-price discounts and coupons offering $10 off to lure customers out of bed.

Most discount chains, like Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Circuit City, Target, Toys R Us and Sears, opened at 5 a.m., with department stores such as Macy’s waiting until 6 a.m. and Saks Fifth Avenue holding off until 7 a.m.

The extreme hours highlight how desperate stores are to win over consumers this holiday season, which is expected to be the weakest in five years because of rising energy prices, falling home values and a tight credit market.

After the attacks on September 11, 2001 George W. Bush told us all to go shopping. So get out there and do your part for your country! You’ve got plastic, don’t you? Remember, as long as you have plastic, you have money. Max out those credit cards. Do it for the good old U.S. of A.

So… how was your Turkey Day?

Ours was nice. We spent it with friends. A good meal, a good football game (Cowboys are now 10-1 for the first time in the history of the franchise) and good conversation.

Perhaps next year we can all be together.

Besides being Thanksgiving, today was also the 44th anniversary of the assassination of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Anybody over the age of 50 can probably tell you exactly where they were and what they were doing on November 22, 1963. I know I can. Anyway, I could not let the day pass without some small tribute…

An excellent commentary by McClatchy Newspaper’s Joseph L. Galloway today: “Good riddance to them all.”

An excerpt:

What we’ve witnessed and endured during seven long years of the Bush presidency is the inevitable consequence of bringing vicious and unprincipled but successful political campaigners — attack dogs — into top White House jobs.

The idea that a political campaign should address any and all criticism by going for the throats of those who dare to question it may work on election day but it doesn’t work, or shouldn’t, when the full weight and power of the federal government is put behind it.

We are a better people and this is a better country than that, and this is why, when it’s weighed and judged, the Bush presidency will be found to have perverted not only our system but also the very principles on which our nation was founded…

It will be a good day when they are gone, and good riddance to them all.

Amen to that.

Take a few minutes and read the entire column. It’s worth your time.

Then think about this: George W. Bush is Bush Lite when compared to Rudy Giuliani. If you want another four years (at least) of cronyism, lies, secrecy, imperialism, hubris and cut-throat politics, then Giuliani’s you’re guy. If you just want four more years of incompetence, then any Republican will do.