Weird

I read this and... well, check this out:

THE PRESIDENCY OF GEORGE W. Bush has three years yet to run, but this season of scandal and disillusionment is an opportune moment for conservatives to start thinking seriously about the post-Bush era--and particularly how to fashion a domestic policy from the wreckage of Bush-style, big-government conservatism. Thanks to the abiding weakness of the Democratic party, Republicans haven't yet paid a political price for insider-friendly appropriation bills, Medicare boondoggles, or the smog of semi-corruption rising from the party's cozy relationship with KStreet. But even if the GOP's majority survives the next election cycle, conservatives shouldn't kid themselves: President Bush's domestic policy looks less and less like a visionary twist on traditional conservatism, and more and more like an evolutionary dead end.

And THAT is from the Weekly Standard... how the f@#k did that get by Bill Kristol?? Weird.

They Just Never Learn

File Under: "Man of the People"

"Alaska governor gets jet over public objections"

Ho ho, hilarious: the Republicans in Alaska bought themselves a sweet plane for "official business" and folks are none too happy:

Critics have dubbed it "Bald Ego," "Murky's Turkey" and "Incontinental Airlines," but Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski finally has the sleek executive jet he says he and other state officials need.

The $2.6 million Westwind aircraft, equipped with a leather sofa, burgundy carpeting and a flush toilet, arrived this week in Anchorage and will replace a no-frills turboprop used by previous Alaska governors for official business.

Critics say Murkowski's jet is unusable in much of rural Alaska, where runways are too short and made of gravel or nonexistent.

Murkowski press secretary Becky Hultberg defended the purchase, saying the Republican governor believes that "this is an aircraft that Alaska needs as one of the most aviation-dependent states in the nation."

He continued: "I mean come on people, Frank Murkowski can't be see in a turboprop anymore... what kind of message does that send to the terrorists?"

This issue is tailor made for election time.

Alito 101

Nina Totenberg has a great report this morning on what Sam Alito's judicial history is all about over on NPR's Morning Edition. Well worth the listen to get up to speed on the man & his thinking.

Pat attention, there will be a quiz.

New Found Respect

TiVo it if you can, but last night's interview of Cokie Roberts on the Colbert Report was the proverbial "breath of fresh air"... Cokie has been in and around DC her whole life and she gave her assessment of it's current state: "Mega-nasty."

It should also be up on their web site soon enough (later today?).

Smitting

File Under: 'religious' Terror

What a dick:

Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson warned residents of a rural Pennsylvania town Thursday that disaster may strike there because they "voted God out of your city" by ousting school board members who favored teaching intelligent design.

All eight Dover, Pa., school board members up for re-election were defeated Tuesday after trying to introduce "intelligent design" — the belief that the universe is so complex that it must have been created by a higher power — as an alternative to the theory of evolution.

"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," Robertson said on the Christian Broadcasting Network's "700 Club."

You know what Pat? If your god is that petty then I'm pretty sure he isn't the god that Jesus was talking about. See folks, Pat's 'god' is the god (or 'gods' as the case might be) of the OLD Testament and not the all-loving father of the New that Christians are supposed to fallow.

Dear Pat, if your god is so threatened by Evolution he shouldn't have left all that evidence behind. Dick.

Anyone Else Want Their Money Back?

Personally I think this is the campaign that we should start: to demand Arnold re-pay the citizens of California the money he squandered on that silly 'special' election.

"The people said, 'Initiatives are fine, but you know, go and work it out with the legislators,'" he said. "It was the law of supply and demand: There was plenty of supply of initiatives, but not the demand."

And he still doesn't get it: we elect people to do this work so we don't have to, the real problem is that (a) you just don't know how to play nicely with others and (b) you're not used to being told 'NO.' That said, pay us back.

The Big Story?

The Abramoff juggernaut continues to rollon and roll up prominent Republicans. Could this possibly reach the President? If this story in the New York Times will make those rumors about the Lincoln bedroom seem quaint.

Interesting take by Joe Klein on the 'Perils of the Permanent Campaign' in Time about how the Bush administrations political machine has set up his 2nd term to abject failure. Worth the read. But is it too good to be true? It certainly is an interesting analysis, but an animal is never more dangerous than when cornered.

So Happy

So Arnold got blanked. Amazing. But he's still defiant. You would have thought that he'd won big based on his speech... And that's the spin from many quarters: Californian's want reform & bipartisanship and Arnold will work to acheive it (although clearly he does not agree with the electorate), and, from Republican 'strategists' you get that Arnold was never really a Republican and his agenda was never 'conservative.'

You know what? If he woud stop calling his 'opponents' names that would be a pretty good start.

Super busy... more to come.

VOTE

That's it today: Vote. It's that simple.

My advice? NO on anything Schwarzenegger supports and that is 74 thru 77. Also on 78 (nice try drug companies) and yes on 79, 80 and Y.

If you don't vote? You get what you deserve so don't complain.

The Key

Over at the Daily Kos they've pulled some quotes from the Chris Matthews show, and I would like you to focus on this bit:

Matthews: Sam, you were [around during] Watergate, I want you to talk about this. They've got kind of a gangrene setting in here. They've got the vice president being touched by this, clearly, because of the indictment language. We've got Scooter Libby gone, basically. Karl Rove still under investigation. Can the president amputate now or has it already gotten to him? Can he separate himself from all this mess by just a couple firings and then move on?

[snip: Sam Donaldson doesn't say anything interesting... ]

Newsweek's Howard Fineman: But he doesn't want to repair it. He doesn't want to repair it.

Matthews: Why?

Fineman: Because George W. Bush is the guy who's going to stick with these people. These are the people he came with...

Matthews: But he'd like to be more trusted, wouldn't he?

Fineman: He's gonna try to fight his way out...

Oh lucky us... now Bush et al., are Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kids. Oy.