Sell Dems a class in marketing/messagingDems have far BETTER narratives than the GOP.
1) most of the Tea Party candidates lose,(My reply hinted that I was somewhat less sanguine than he, and suggested that I expected him to endorse existence of Santa Claus & the Easter Bunny... he didn't object.)
2) Dem’s remain in control of both houses,
3) all three of our current local NM congressmen remain
How to Win Friends and Influence PeopleI'm pretty sure we ain't doin' it:
Pakistan halts NATO supplies to AfghanistanGreat! - we've pissed off our erstwhile Pakistani allies!
Dozens of NATO oil tankers attacked in Pakistan
O’Donnell So Fervently Pro-Truth That She Wouldn’t Lie To Nazis Asking If She Were Hiding Jews In Her HomeYep - O'Donnell is so committed to the truth that she'd have given up Jews to the Nazis!
Claremont Institute Tells TPM O'Donnell's 2002 Resume Listed Oxford University... for those of you who haven't been paying attention, TWO "professional networking" websites in O'Donnell's name have included references to her completing courses at Oxford (England) and Claremont Graduate University(California). Neither claim is true. In 2006 she claimed an undergraduate degree from Fairleigh Dickinson - also not true.
Yes, she'd give up Jews to the Nazis so's not to abuse her truth-telling conscience!Go figure.
BUT...
She's more than happy to LIE about her academic credentials in pursuit of political ambition.
AP sources: Emanuel leaving White House on FridayI'm not a student of WH "chiefs of staff", but I'm of the opinion that Emanuel has been THE WORST WH Chief of Staff EVER!
We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.[note: I claim no originality for this alternative!]
House Dems Also Punt On Upper-Income Bush Tax Cuts"Dems punt".
"The Rant" by Tom Degan: The Base's Hissy FitAs one of my occasional readers once pointed out:
"The perfect is the enemy of the good."And as my very favorite military commander said:
[Voltaire]
"A good solution applied with vigor now is better than a perfect solution applied ten minutes later."Yeah - current crop of Dems aren't all that great...
[Gen. George S. Patton]
I'm speechlessCan you spell "paranoia"?
Mature Landscaping: What's Right On What's Wrong
The Well-Armed Lamb: X : You Are Here
"No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people."Turns out this is a paraphrase of an H.L. Mencken quotation:
“No one in this world has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.”The same website that provides this reference also includes the following pertinent H.L. Mencken quotations:
“Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.”... okay, there are a lot more, but I'm getting tired...
“Religion is fundamentally opposed to everything I hold in veneration - courage, clear thinking, honesty, fairness, and above all, love of the truth.”
“Evangelical Christianity, as everyone knows, is founded upon hate, as the Christianity of Christ was founded upon love.”
“It is a sin to believe evil of others, but it is seldom a mistake.”
“The average man doesn't want to be free. He wants to be safe.”
“We must respect the other fellow's religion,but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart.”
“The truth that survives is simply the lie that is pleasantest to believe.”
“Old age ain't no place for sissies.”
“The plain truth is that I am not a fair man, and don't want to hear both sides.”
“To expect defeat is nine-tenths of defeat itself.”
- [aside: this could be the Dems' motto!]
“Complex problems have simple, easy to understand, wrong answers.”
“The worst government is the most moral. One composed of cynics is often very tolerant and humane. But when fanatics are on top there is no limit to oppression.”
“The older I grow the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom.”
“Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under.”
“I believe that all government is evil, and that trying to improve it is largely a waste of time.”
“Imagine the Creator as a stand up comedian - and at once the world becomes explicable.”
“The kind of man who wants government to adopt and enforce his ideas is always the kind of man whose ideas are idiotic.”
“The demagogue is one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots.”
“If you want peace, work for justice.”
“Men become civilized not in proportion to their willingness to believe but in proportion to their readiness to doubt.”
The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote.This replaced the original:
[17th Amendment, U.S. Constitution]
The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each state, chosen by the legislature thereof...Given the Angle (NV), Paul (KY), Miller (AK), and O'Donnell (DE) candidacies, I just might support repeal of the 17th Amendment...
[Article I, Section 3, U.S. Constitution]
No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people.
Census: 1 in 7 Americans lives in poverty... From the 1st article:
Lost Decade for Family Income
Analysts said the full blow of lost incomes was cushioned somewhat by increases in Social Security payments in 2009 as well as federal expansions of unemployment insurance, which rose substantially under the economic stimulus program.That's right - the reason things aren't worse is because of DEMOCRATIC policies that the GOP fought AGAINST tooth-and-nail!
The inflation-adjusted income of the median household—smack in the middle of the populace—fell 4.8% between 2000 and 2009, even worse than the 1970s, when median income rose 1.9% despite high unemployment and inflation. Between 2007 and 2009, incomes fell 4.2%.Why are just ordinary folks even considering voting GOP???
Conservatives Trash Karl Rove After He Insists O'Donnell Says 'Nutty Things'Maybe this election will be more fun than I'd anticipated.
While I will defend any American's First Amendment Rights, our generals in the field tell us that the men and women defending those rights would be endangered as a result of this stunt. If this group insists on going forward, I would hope that members of the media will not reward them with what they crave most: news coverage.I even like his use of the word "stunt"!
U.S. Soldiers Allegedly Killed Afghan Civilians, Kept Body Parts As TrophiesMore from McClatchy: Stryker brigade soldiers allegedly kept 'trophy' body parts.
Curtis M. Wong
First Posted: 09- 9-10
A dozen U.S. soldiers are charged with organizing a secret "kill team" which allegedly murdered Afghan civilians at random and cut fingers and other body parts from corpses as trophies, according to new documents released by the U.S. military.
Exclusive: Whistleblower Claims Many U.S. Interpreters Can't Speak Afghan LanguagesThanks again, W!
Says Translators Failed Language Tests, Were Still Embedded With US Troops In Afghanistan
By MATTHEW MOSK, BRIAN ROSS and JOSEPH RHEE
Sept. 8, 2010
More than one quarter of the translators working alongside American soldiers in Afghanistan failed language proficiency exams but were sent onto the battlefield anyway, according to a former employee of the company that holds contracts worth up to $1.4 billion to supply interpreters to the U.S. Army.
...
[Paul] Funk outlined his claims in a whistleblower lawsuit unsealed earlier this year against Mission Essential Personnel, saying the company turned a blind eye to cheating on language exams taken over the phone and hired applicants even though they failed to meet the language standards set by the Army and spelled out in the company's contract. He alleges that 28 percent of the linguists hired between November 2007 and June 2008 failed to meet the government's language requirements.
...
"There are many cases where soldiers have gone out into the field and have spoken to elders [who] handed messages to the interpreter that a possible ambush three miles up the road would occur. The interpreter cannot read the message and they are attacked," Funk said. "We're talking about soldiers lives here."
If party leadership is Palin's most viable path to the White House, we can all breathe easily. It's too late for Sarah Palin to remake herself as the natural leader of the Republican Party. She's not even the undisputed head of the conservative wing of the GOP.... and here the only thing giving me hope for 2012 was the prospect of a Palin/Beck GOP ticket!
...
I doubt Palin will ever run for office again. She clearly prefers being a celebrity without portfolio.
[radio talk-show host, Bill] MANDERS: You know I talk often about this oath that they give and it is to defend the Constitution and all that. But one of the things that is very important to me in this oath that they give is that they will defend against foreign and domestic enemies.Hmmm... domestic enemies & home-grown enemies in the walls of the Senate and the Congress?
[Nev. Rep. candidate for U.S. Senate, Sharron] ANGLE: Yes. Yes.
MANDERS: We have domestic enemies. We have home-born homegrown enemies in our system. And I for one think we have some of those enemies in the walls of the Senate and the Congress.
ANGLE: Yes. I think you're right, Bill.
[The Plum Line, By Greg Sargent, August 24, 2010; emphasis added]
ABC NEWS: Do we have enemies of the country inside the walls of Congress?Oh - she's talking about folks who are "not friends of the free market system".
ANGLE: Certainly people who pass these kinds of policies -- Obamacare, cap and trade, stimulus, bailout -- they're certainly not friends to the free market system.
[The Plum Line By Greg Sargent, September 7, 2010; emphasis added]
establishing justice,But not one word about the free-market system.
ensuring domestic tranquility,
providing for the common defense,
promoting the general welfare,
and
securing the blessings of liberty to ourselves & our posterity.
A stroll down memory laneToday?
Mullah Omar tells Afghans Taliban are winningYep: Mullah Omar is still at large, nine years after W promised,
"They will try to hide, they will try to avoid the United States and our allies - but we're not going to let them. They run to the hills; they find holes to get in. And we will do whatever it takes to smoke them out and get them running, and we'll get them."
Pressure rises on pastor who wants to burn QuranFirst let me be clear: I think this fundie pastor's plan is abhorrent.
By MITCH STACY, Associated Press Writer
7 Sep 2010
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The government turned up the pressure Tuesday on the head of a small Florida church who plans to burn copies of the Quran on Sept. 11, warning him that doing so could endanger U.S. troops and Americans everywhere.
Fewer Young Voters See Themselves as DemocratsWhy can't Dems communicate?
"If a person can't communicate, the least he can do is to shut up!"Reference #2:
[Tom Lehrer]
White House considering major tax breaks for businesses, sources sayRecall: U.S. corporations today have more cash-on-hand than at any time since WWII.
By Lori Montgomery
Thursday, September 2, 2010; 6:23 PM
Washington Post
With the recovery faltering less than two months before the November congressional elections, President Obama's economic team is considering another big dose of stimulus in the form of tax breaks for businesses - potentially worth hundreds of billions of dollars, according to two people familiar with the talks.
