If "Mission Accomplished", then WHY are we putting MORE troops into Iraq?

Remember that?

With the US death toll in Iraq passing 100 this month and mid-term elections just days away, the Pentagon said the US force in Iraq has grown to 150,000 troops, the biggest it has been since January.

A Pentagon spokesman attributed the growth to overlapping unit rotations, but it came amid surging violence that so far this month has claimed the lives of 101 US troops and many more Iraqis.

"Several units are transitioning out as several are transitioning in," said Lieutenant Colonel Mark Ballesteros, who said that as of Monday the number of US troops in Iraq was 150,000.

A Pentagon official, who asked not to be named, said the US Army's 4th Infantry Division was near the end of its year-long rotation.

US commanders in the past have timed the overlap of troop rotations to increase the US military presence during Iraqi elections and other critical milestones in the political process.

The increase this time follows the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which US military officials anticipated would bring higher levels of violence, and comes just ahead of the November 7 congressional elections in the United States.

Pentagon officials, echoing Vice President Dick Cheney, have expressed concern in recent days that Al-Qaeda is trying to step up the violence in Iraq to influence the outcome of the US vote.

Eric Ruff, the Pentagon press secretary, said he did not know why US troops levels were climbing.

"This is news to me," Ruff told reporters. "Talk to MNF-I (Multi-National Forces-Iraq). That's General Casey's decision."

The increase is noteworthy because US troop strength in Iraq is only 10,000 under the all-time high of about 160,000 reported in January after the Iraqi elections.

It had fallen to as low as 127,000 in June when US commanders still believed they could make troop cuts this year.

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More Mud

For weeks now the e-mails have been arriving daily, sometimes hourly, from the Republican State Committee of Pennsylvania.

State GOP leaders, like their Democratic counterparts, are burning up cyberspace in the countdown to the Nov. 7 election, using the electronic medium to woo voters. No problem there. Every candidate deserves to be heard. It's the bedrock of democracy.

But what I do have a problem with is the snarky tone of many of the messages clogging my in-box, specifically the mean-spirited name-calling.

Gov. Rendell is regularly referred to as "Fast Eddie," as though he were a loan shark with a cigar in his teeth. "Fast Eddie wants to raise our taxes again," a recent release begins. "Fast Eddie still up to his old tricks," a headline in another blares.

State Treasurer Bob Casey Jr., the Democrat trying to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, is always "Bobby" or "Bobby Jr.," an attempt to diminish the candidate and paint him as a political lightweight barely capable of wiping his own nose, riding the coattails of his famous father, former Gov. Bob Casey.

For the record, Bob Casey Jr. does not go by "Bobby" or "Junior," not even among family and close friends. The nickname "Bobby" is the creation of the state GOP to belittle and denigrate.

The issue is not that Santorum's opponent has a name which can be shortened to sound like a little boy's.

The issue is that not only has Santorum has enabled the lying neoconservative regime which has gotten us into a costly quagmire in Iraq, but he has also made PA the butt of late-night comedian jokes with his bizarre utterances. So, now we have Casey, a sensible moderate, and this is the best they can do. Playground schoolboy bully stuff.

Shameful.

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Weldon Sinks to New Lows

In both polls and in his own campaign's integrity and ethics, apparently:

E-mails recently forwarded to the Justice Department by a government watchdog group describe alleged efforts by staff of Congressman Curt Weldon of Pennsylvania to call Navy employees for information and negative statements about his Democratic opponent, retired Rear Admiral Joe Sestak. Two e-mails that were forwarded to the Sestak campaign by one current and one former Pentagon employee appear to detail guidance from superiors to staff not to speak with Weldon's office should it call soliciting information about Sestak; Weldon’s office is described in one e-mail as “calling everyone and his brother” in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (OPNAV) about Sestak. A third e-mail written by a defense contractor to the Sestak campaign says that he had been told that Weldon's office had allegedly compiled a “hit list” of defense contractors whose officers had donated to the Sestak campaign, of which he was one, and suggested "retribution" against them. The e-mails were provided to The American Prospect by the Sestak campaign.

The Prospect has confirmed the authenticity of two of the three e-mails, speaking directly with their authors. The Sestak campaign is protecting the identity of the sender of the third e-mail, who it says is an active-duty Pentagon employee.

The Prospect has also interviewed a fourth person, Christine Fox, president of the Center for Naval Analyses, a federally funded research and development organization where Sestak briefly worked after retiring from the Navy; Fox confirms the authenticity of the e-mail written by her and forwarded by a third party to the Sestak campaign describing Weldon's office as "calling everyone and his brother” in OPNAV. But Fox downplays the e-mail, saying that her own e-mail encouraging staff at her organization CNA not to talk about Sestak with Weldon's office was preemptive in nature, based on a tip she heard at a Navy staff meeting at the Pentagon.

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PA Voter Registration Trends favor Dems/Independents

Pennsylvania Democrats will head into the midterm elections with a 600,000 edge among registered voters after out-gaining Republicans by some 50,000 in the past year.

The tally slightly widens the advantage Democrats had in the 2004 presidential election, when the state rolls reached a record 8.4 million registered voters and Democrats outnumbered Republicans by 580,000. The overall number fell substantially immediately after the election as the rolls were purged of inactive voters. Through Monday, the state had tallied 8.2 million registered voters.

This year's ballot features one of the most closely watched Senate races in the country, a gubernatorial election and — in several districts — tight congressional contests that could swing the balance in the U.S. House of Representatives. Both parties say they expect record turnouts for a midterm election.

Contributed by Alice Fling

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2006 Dynamic Echoes 1994

Terry Madonna, co-author of this piece, has spoken to our group on several occasions. The article makes the case that although most mid-term elections revolve around more local issues, this one, like 1994, is national in focus.

Something to bear in mind as we speak to the voters these last two weeks.

The tale begins in 1994, the last time the mid-term elections were largely nationalized in American politics; we can say the 1994 elections were nationalized because voters were primarily motivated by their judgments about federal issues and national politics.

The “nationalization” of congressional elections is infrequent in mid-term elections. In the more typical or “normal” mid-term, voters cast their ballots on the basis of how well their own local member of Congress is performing or on the basis of some state issue--rather than on the basis of some overriding national or international issue. This is what Tip O’Neil’s maxim really means; most of the time, voters tend to vote nationally but think locally.

But when an election becomes nationalized, it has profound significance for both national and state politics. The old rules and trite formulations no longer apply in trying to understand or analyze the election.

As historians are well aware, parallels with the past are never perfect, but sometimes they provide important clues to future events. And nowhere is this truer than with the current parallels being drawn between the 1994 midterm elections and the one currently underway. In both situations, presidents had low approval ratings, scandals were attached to the congressional majority, and nagging national issues made the voters ripe for change.

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Sobering Assessment of Iraq

No matter what President Bush says, the question is not whether America can win in Iraq. The only question is whether the United States can extricate itself without leaving behind an unending civil war that will spread more chaos and suffering throughout the Middle East, while spawning terrorism across the globe.

The prospect of what happens after an American pullout haunts the debate on Iraq. The administration, for all its hints about new strategies and timetables, is obviously hoping to slog along for two more years and dump the problem on Mr. Bush's successor. This fall's election debates have educated very few voters because neither side is prepared to be honest about the terrible consequences of military withdrawal and the very long odds against success if American troops remain.

This page opposed a needlessly hurried and unilateral invasion, even before it became apparent that the Bush administration was unprepared to do the job properly. But after it happened, we believed that America should stay and try to clean up the mess it had made - as long as there was any conceivable road to success.

That road is vanishing. Today we want to describe a strategy for containing the disaster as much as humanly possible. It is hardly a recipe for triumph. Americans can only look back in wonder on the days when the Bush administration believed that success would turn Iraq into a stable, wealthy democracy - a model to strike fear into the region's autocrats while inspiring a new generation of democrats. Even last fall, the White House was dividing its strategy into a series of victorious outcomes, with the short-term goal of an Iraq "making steady progress in fighting terrorists." The medium term had Iraq taking the lead in "providing its own security" and "on its way to achieving its economic potential," with the ultimate outcome being a "peaceful, united, stable and secure" nation.

If an American military occupation could ever have achieved those goals, that opportunity is gone. It is very clear that even with the best American effort, Iraq will remain at war with itself for years to come, its government weak and deeply divided, and its economy battered and still dependent on outside aid. The most the United States can do now is to try to build up Iraq's security forces so they can contain the fighting - so it neither devours Iraqi society nor spills over to Iraq's neighbors - and give Iraq's leaders a start toward the political framework they would need if they chose to try to keep their country whole.

Click on the title link to read the entire piece. IMO, William Rivers Pitt is one of the best and most thoughtful op/ed writers working today.

--Article contributed by Alice Fling

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Registered Independents breaking towards the Democratic Candidates

Not a bad development for those of our group, given how many Registered Independents we have here in Ox-Grove Area.

The new poll underscores how much of a drag the war threatens to be on Republican candidates in competitive races. With debate underway in Washington about possible course changes in Iraq, Americans cite the war as the most important issue in determining their vote next month more often than any other issue, and those who do favor Democrats over Republicans by 76 percent to 21 percent.

Independents are poised to play a pivotal role in next month's elections because Democrats and Republicans are basically united behind candidates of their own parties. Ninety-five percent of Democrats said they will support Democratic candidates for the House, while slightly fewer Republicans, 88 percent, said they plan to vote for their party's candidates.

The independent voters surveyed said they plan to support Democratic candidates over Republicans by roughly 2 to 1 -- 59 percent to 31 percent -- the largest margin in any Post-ABC News poll this year. Forty-five percent said it would be good if Democrats recaptured the House majority, while 10 percent said it would not be. The rest said it would not matter.

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Close to Home, Part II--the Immigration Conflation Conflagration

I was driving home from work today on Rt. 1, and noticed a few new political signs inviting me to visit "CaseyforAmnesty.com" and saying (in scary looking black and red) that umpteeen million illegal immigrants were counting on him.

So, I took a look.

Wow. And a sad, sad, sick, sordid, sorry site it is, too. Not to mention, it's paid for by the Santorum campaign.

Click on the title link to read an article outlining the more nuanced differences between the candidates.

Senator Specter, simply put, supports the same bill as Casey said he would have voted for had he been a sitting senator at the time--a bill that Santorum voted "NO" for. Both Casey and Specter, being reasonable sorts, recognize that it's not an ultimate solution to a difficult problem with many competing interests, but feel that it is important to begin addressing the situation sooner rather than later. It may very well be that there could be a better bill, but you notice that Santorum's little hit-man website doesn't bother to tell you that the other (and far more popular) Republican Senator from our state SUPPORTED it.

Senator Spector, in case you are scoring this one along at home, supports Senator Santorum's re-election bid as a fellow Republican would be expected to do.

And how does our Junior Senator repay our Senior Senator's support? By using a bill Specter SUPPORTS to distort Casey's view on immigration.

Hey, Senator Specter, here's mud in your eye.

This is obviously an issue that is of keen interest to Ox-Grove area residents. You cannot live here and not understand that a large part of our local economy and southern Chester County agriculture and industries are sustained by immigrants from Mexico and Latin America. This is an issue that deserves more serious consideration, and a balanced, nuanced approach.

There is little evidence on the face of it that Senator Santorum is capable of anything of the sort.

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Closer to Home--Our PA-13 House Race Finally Gets Some Press

Replying to a set of questions posed Friday, Hershey said that the two biggest issues facing voters in the 13th District is over-development and rising property taxes. "We have an influx of residential development -- especially in London Grove -- which eats up our open space, congests our roads and drives up our property taxes." He said he has worked with municipalities to get them the tools they need to control development and preserve open space. He also supported the property tax relief plan that was passed by the state legislature this year.

Rising property taxes is a major problem for farmers too, and Hershey said he has supported conservation measures which provides tax incentives for farmers who preserve their land.

Aware of the problem of odor control at large mushroom composting operations in his district, Hershey secured a $250,000 state grant for the Chester County Conservation District to research ways to reduce odor.

"The composting businesses have a responsibility to be good neighbors with the rest of the community. It is important that they utilize technology to control the odors produced by composting. I was the first public official to call for all new composting operations to be conducted indoors (such as the bunkers now in use by some composters)."

Houghton is running on a platform of curbing rising school taxes by protecting open space, farmland and watersheds. He says that growth must occur in a sensible planned fashion. Residential growth creates the need for new schools. As chairman of the board of supervisors, he said he fought to keep residential development out of the Agricultural Preservation District. He also would like to increase state funding of education. The state currently contributes only 36 percent of the cost to educate one student, one of the lowest rates in the country. He also supports more commercial development to ease the burden on homeowners.

I received the mailing from Art Hershey, and I found it very interesting that he is using the Open Space initiative successes which were bipartisan in nature from our township and others to hitch his wagon to. Tom Houghton campaigned tirelessly last year for the re-election as Supervisor of one of the architects of the East Nottingham Township Open Space initiative, and if he was not able to do more in his OWN township in the relatively short amount of time he has held the office, it is certainly NOT due a lack of commitment on his part to using Open Space initiatives to balance the needs of farmers and residents who want to maintain some Open Spaces and slow down the rate of development.

Further, lack of jobs and employment on this end of the county is going to eventually strangle us if gas prices rise again and stay high. We need more jobs here. The plan to add more commercial space is much-needed. We are rapidly becoming a commuter community.

Yes, Art Hershey at least paid lip service to support of the East Nottingham Township Open Space Initiative in 2004, when it passed here in Nottingham Township by a handful of votes. But his own biggest supporters at the polling place were telling everyone not to vote for it. I was there and I saw it with my own two eyes and ears.

No one township supervisor has the power to determine the growth rate of their township in an area which is undergoing rapid development and change such as Southern Chester County--all you can do is try your best to control and manage the growth--so Hershey's mailing was full of distortions, if not outright lies.

Should this type of unethical campaigning be rewarded with more votes??

Hershey refuses to meet his challenger--now THAT is shocking arrogance!

"In the past, Hershey has appeared at Meet the Candidate forums held by retirement communities, but this year he has been ‘too busy’ to attend," Schoell said.

Hershey’s campaign manager, John Scarpato, said the reason for the state representative’s absence is that he is very busy.

"He has the responsibilities of a sitting legislator," Scarpato said. "That cuts out three days a week. He has been contacting voters directly."

Representatives from the League of Women Voters, the organization that has been setting up candidate debates this fall, said they have not been able to get an agreement with Hershey to participate. Scarpato said he had recently been in contact with the group and asked the organization to provide dates that could work for a possible debate.

Hershey attended a Meet the Candidates night at Ware Presbyterian Village in Oxford when he was running against Nancy Cox back in 2001, according to Ware resident Ben Ribaudo.

This year, when his office was contacted, officials were told that "scheduling would not permit him to participate." Ribaudo said he tried to get Houghton to appear because "half was better than none." But Houghton’s office was late getting back to him.

Houghton’s campaign office said that Jenner’s Pond Retirement Community tried to schedule a Meet the Candidate night with both candidates, but once again Hershey said he was too busy to attend.

Maybe he doesn't want to face questions about why he is misleading his constituents about Tom Houghton's support for Open Space and Smart Development.



This is the Tom Houghton '06 Website--If you want to know where Tom stands on issues important to the residents of our district, this is the place to go.

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Molly Ivins on Complacency

If you're like me, you've enjoyed many of Molly's columns through the years, whether you've always agreed with her or not. She has some cautionary words for those who might be so heartened by recent polls as to think that there's no need to keep pushing and working hard these last few weeks, because a Democratic House and/or Senate is a stone cold mortal lock (as our favorite local WIP Sports guy and celebrated misogynist, Howard Eskin, might say):

Stunning coincidence. The verdict in the long-running trial of Saddam Hussein in Iraq is now due two days before our congressional elections in November. Astounding. How ineffable.

Sometimes you know the Republicans have just lost the rag completely. This week, Dick Cheney said to Rush Limbaugh regarding the Iraqi government, “If you look at the general, overall situation, they’re doing remarkably well.” The vice president also acknowledged there’s some concern because the war wasn’t over “instantaneously.” We have now been in Iraq just one month shy of the entire time it took us to fight World War II. Seventy Americans dead so far in October. Electricity in Iraq this year hit its lowest levels since the war started.

What infuriates me about this is the lying. Why can’t they level with us? Just on the general, overall situation.

Put me in the depressive Dems camp. We always look good going into the last two weeks, until we get hit with that wall of Republican money (though I do think Ohio is beyond political recall at this point for the R’s). Of course, both sides always complain about unfair advertising, but I must admit that almost all political advertising strikes me as ludicrous and I don’t notice the D’s looking simon-pure. A little shading, a little emphasis here and there—I’m hard to shock on political ads, but I do get more than miffed when they take the truth and just stand it on its head.
......

Let’s start with the easy end, the Senate. From the book “Off Center” by Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson, as recently quoted by Eric Alterman in his blog: “The mismatch between popular votes and electoral outcomes is even more striking in the Senate. Combining the last three Senate elections, Democrats have actually won 2.5 million more votes than Republicans. Yet now they hold only 44 seats in that 100-person chamber because Republicans dominate the less populous states that are so heavily overrepresented in the Senate. As journalist Hendrik Hertzberg (of the New Yorker) notes, if you treat each senator as representing half that state’s population, then the Senate’s 55 Republicans currently represent 131 million people, while the 44 Democrats represent 161 million people.”

OK, we all know about the small-state advantage in the Senate. How did the People’s House get so far out of fair? Paul Krugman explains: “The key point is that African-Americans, who overwhelmingly vote Democratic, are highly concentrated in a few districts. This means that in close elections many Democratic votes are, as political analysts say, wasted—they simply add to huge majorities in a small number of districts, while the more widely spread Republican vote allows the GOP to win by narrower margins in a larger number of districts.”

...

So how come I’m not thrilled? Because I watched this happen two years ago—same rejection of the Iraq war, same disgust with Bush and Co., same understanding that Republicans are for the rich, period, same polls showing D’s with the lead going right into Election Day. And the same geographic gerrymander and same wall of money in the last two weeks. I’m not close to calling this election, and I’m sure not into celebrating anything yet.

I agree. Keep stuffing those envelopes, dropping that literature, talking to your friends and neighbors, and writing those letters. It's not over 'til it's over.

Karen L.

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Down the Rabbit Hole with Rick

Embattled U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum said America has avoided a second terrorist attack for five years because the "Eye of Mordor" has instead been drawn to Iraq.


Santorum used the analogy from one of his favorite books, J.R.R. Tolkien's 1950s fantasy classic, "Lord of the Rings," to put an increasingly unpopular war in Iraq into terms any school kid could easily understand.

"As the hobbits are going up Mount Doom, the Eye of Mordor is being drawn somewhere else," Santorum said, describing the tool the evil Lord Sauron used in search of the magical ring that would consolidate his power over Middle-earth.

"It's being drawn to Iraq and it's not being drawn to the U.S.," he continued. "You know what? I want to keep it on Iraq. I don't want the Eye to come back here to the United States."

The 12-year Republican senator from Pennsylvania said he's "a big Lord of the Rings fan." He's read the first of the series, "The Hobbit" to his children (he has six).

But spokesman for Democratic opponent Bob Casey Jr. questioned the appropriateness of the analogy.

"You have to really question the judgment of a U.S. Senator who compares the war in Iraq to a fantasy book," said Casey spokesman Larry Smar. "This is just like when he said Kim Jong Il isn't a threat because he just wants to 'watch NBA basketball.'"

According to a Patriot-News editorial, Santorum said the North Korea dictator "doesn't want to die; he wants to watch NBA basketball" as a reason for why Iran is the bigger nuclear threat.

Faced with a no-fantasy re-election battle, his toughest yet, against Democratic challenger and state Treasurer Bob Casey Jr., Santorum has been positioning himself as strong on national security.

What, no Ents?

And it's not like the orcs were being kept from fighting a Civil War under the iron fist of Sauron.

What a cruddy analogy, and as a Tolkien Geek, I'm utterly dismayed.

Perhaps if we are going to go the geek route, the Star Trek: Next Generation Prime Directive should have been better taken under consideration:

As the right of each sentient species to live in accordance with its normal cultural evolution is considered sacred, no Star Fleet personnel may interfere with the healthy development of alien life and culture. Such interference includes the introduction of superior knowledge, strength, or technology to a world whose society is incapable of handling such advantages wisely. Star Fleet personnel may not violate this Prime Directive, even to save their lives and/or their ship unless they are acting to right an earlier violation or an accidental contamination of said culture. This directive takes precedence over any and all other considerations, and carries with it the highest moral
obligation.

Nah, that's not right, either....

Fiction is great and it inspires us and makes us think, but let's live in the real world. People are picking body parts of women and children out of the rubble in Baghdad on a daily basis because of the instability and civil war there, and I don't think that Tolkien has much to say about that.

Maybe it would be better to heed the words of Sun-Tzu.....

"If you know the enemy, and know yourself, you need not fear the results of a hundred battles".



But we didn't really know the enemy, did we?

Representative Jo Ann Davis, a Virginia Republican who heads a House intelligence subcommittee charged with overseeing the C.I.A.’s performance in recruiting Islamic spies and analyzing information, was similarly dumbfounded when I asked her if she knew the difference between Sunnis and Shiites.

“Do I?” she asked me. A look of concentration came over her face. “You know, I should.” She took a stab at it: “It’s a difference in their fundamental religious beliefs. The Sunni are more radical than the Shia. Or vice versa. But I think it’s the Sunnis who’re more radical than the Shia.”

Did she know which branch Al Qaeda’s leaders follow?

“Al Qaeda is the one that’s most radical, so I think they’re Sunni,” she replied. “I may be wrong, but I think that’s right.”

Did she think that it was important, I asked, for members of Congress charged with oversight of the intelligence agencies, to know the answer to such questions, so they can cut through officials’ puffery when they came up to the Hill?

“Oh, I think it’s very important,” said Ms. Davis, “because Al Qaeda’s whole reason for being is based on their beliefs. And you’ve got to understand, and to know your enemy.”

It’s not all so grimly humorous. Some agency officials and members of Congress have easily handled my “gotcha” question. But as I keep asking it around Capitol Hill and the agencies, I get more and more blank stares. Too many officials in charge of the war on terrorism just don’t care to learn much, if anything, about the enemy we’re fighting. And that’s enough to keep anybody up at night.

Good gawd.

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Fascinating Graphic on How Young People Pick Their Party

This is a very interesting graphic which shows how the Presidential Administration in office when one is 20 has a very strong effect on the party affiliation chosen.

The chart plots data on the current party identification of Americans compiled from more than 23,000 Americans surveyed by the Pew Research Center during 2006. With that many cases, the Pew pollsters were able to tabulate a result for party identification (including independent "leaners") for each birth year and plot the results. What results is a remarkable picture of the politics in play as each age group emerged into adulthood. The most Republican cohorts are those who came of age during the administrations of popular Republicans: Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. In contrast, the current crop of 18-24 year olds, according to the Pew Research center data, is the most Democratic leaning group in the population.

Click on the subject line to read the entire article....

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Final Casey/Santorum Debate

PHILADELPHIA — U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum and state Treasurer Bob Casey Jr. were a little more polite to each other than when they met Thursday in Pittsburgh.

However, in their final debate Monday, they continued to show sharp differences on issues from Social Security to the environment, even if they covered little new ground and mostly relied on tried and true campaign themes.

To Casey, Santorum remained a proponent of Bush administration policies that don’t work.

“On one side, you have a candidate who’s the candidate of the status quo, stay the course, more of the same. That’s Sen. Santorum. I represent the position of change and moving this country in a new direction with an agenda for middle-class families,” said Casey, a Scranton Democrat.

To Santorum, Casey remained the candidate running on his famous governor father’s name who offers no specific answers to the nation’s great problems.

“I’ve worked hard to try to make a difference,” said Santorum, a Penn Hills Republican. “There are projects and there are things that I’ve done all over the state. Why? Because I had to earn this job.

“It’s not a job I inherited because of my last name.”

Irony much, Rick? I mean, does anyone really still think that the current occupant of the White House would be there if his last name was Dudley? (apologies in advance to anyone whose last name is Dudley--it's just that I'm fairly certain that there's been no notable US President or Senator of that name)

In the meantime, the Philly Inquirer stuck a knife in our hearts this morning with their endorsement of Joe Pitts. I mean sure, the guy isn't having his homes and offices raided by the FBI like Curt Weldon, and he isn't a mealy-mouthed, Swiftboating prevaricator like Mike Fitzpatrick, and he hasn't inspired a website called "GIVE IT BACK, JIM"...like Jim Gerlach, but surely in a "throw the bums out" mood, it would make sense to endorse an intelligent, progressive challenger to a congressman who has been a rubberstamp for Bush.

Ah well....that's fair and balanced for you, I guess.

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Even Bush 41 Cabinet Members Have Lost Confidence in the Dubya Administration

I never thought I'd be nostalgic for the George Herbert Walker Administration, but I am. Apparently, many of Bush I's former cabinet members and advisors feel the same.

Indeed, one of the worst-kept secrets in Bush World is the dismay, in some cases disdain, harbored by many senior aides of the former President toward the administration of his son - 41 and 43, as many call them, political shorthand that refers to their numerical places in American presidential history.

For five years, the 41s have bit their collective tongues as, they complain, the 43s ignored their counsel. But as the war in Iraq has worsened and public support for the current administration has tanked, loyalists of the elder Bush have found it impossible to suppress their disillusionment - particularly their belief that many of 43's policies are a stick in the eye of his father.

"Forty-three has now repudiated everything 41 stands for, and still he won't say a word," a key member of the elder Bush alumni said. "Personally, I think he's dying inside."

To 41 loyalists, the bill of indictment is voluminous. Some alleged 43 has betrayed his father's middle-of-the-road philosophy by governing as a divider, not the uniter he promised in the 2000 campaign. Others, like former 41 speechwriter Curt Smith, argue 43 isn't conservative enough.

Pennsylvania's sensible, moderate Republicans seem to be in agreement with a lot of these sentiments, if polling in the more hotly-contested races is any indication. It would be nice if some of that would spill over into our US House race and benefit Democratic Candidate Lois Herr, who is a pragmatic centrist where all key policy interests are concerned.

Joe Pitts votes in lockstep with the Bush 43 administration, and can no longer be classed as a "moderate".

--Karen L.

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National Republican Groups Giving Rick the Bird?

National Republican leaders remain hopeful that U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum can turn around his struggling campaign, but they might have already written off the Pennsylvania race to Democrat Robert P. Casey Jr., if their checkbooks are any indication.

Neither the National Republican Committee nor the National Republican Senatorial Committee has reserved time at Pennsylvania television stations for "independent expenditure" ads supporting Santorum, R-Pa. Neither committee has spent any money on such ads for Santorum, the GOP's No. 3 leader in the Senate.

Independent expenditures are advertisements done without the knowledge or approval of a candidate's campaign.

And the Republican Governors Association seems to be in the process of throwing Swann under the train:

The Republican Governors Association is targeting gubernatorial campaigns in six states for a get-out-the-vote effort on Nov. 7.

But Pennsylvania isn't one of them. The GOP group is focusing on races for governor in Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Michigan and Oregon.

Republicans will pay for airfare and hotel lodging for volunteers willing to travel to one of those states to work on Election Day, turning out voters for the Republican candidate for governor.

Does this mean that national Republicans have given up on Pennsylvania gubernatorial hopeful Lynn Swann, who has consistently trailed by double digits in his race against incumbent Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell?

Harrisburg-based pollster and political analyst Michael Young thinks it does.

"It's an indication they have pulled the plug, that the air is coming out of the balloon for Swann and Republicans in Pennsylvania," he said.

On a personal level, I feel a bit sorry for Lynn Swann, who seems a nice-enough and very sincere fellow. But my sense of this race has always been that Swann is the proverbial "tomato can" you send in to fight the Champ. Hey, call me cynical, but it strikes me the Republicans wanted to get credit for backing an African-American candidate, but so far, it's in a state where there is no shot at winning. The Swann campaign seems half-hearted at best on the part of the national party.

Same thing, Maryland Senate Races. Well--let's see what happens in the races and perhaps I will have some words to eat.

Submitted by Karen L

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YouTube Hardball Clip of Casey vs. Santorum

Hardball commentators (save one) agree Santorum lost his cool.

Click on the thread title to watch the clip and the commentary.

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Garrison Keillor on the Torture Bill

Article submitted by Alice Fling

The U.S. Senate, in all its splendor and majesty, has decided that an "enemy combatant" is any non-citizen whom the president says is an enemy combatant, including your Korean greengrocer or your Swedish grandmother or your Czech au pair, and can be arrested and held for as long as authorities wish without any right of appeal to a court of law to examine the matter. If your college kid were to be arrested in Bangkok or Cairo, suspected of "crimes against the state" and held in prison, you'd assume that an American foreign service officer would be able to speak to your kid and arrange for a lawyer, but this may not be true anymore. Be forewarned.
The Senate also decided it's up to the president to decide whether it's OK to make these enemies stand naked in cold rooms for a couple days in blinding light and be beaten by interrogators. This is now purely a bureaucratic matter: The plenipotentiary stamps the file "enemy combatants" and throws the poor schnooks into prison and at his leisure he tries them by any sort of kangaroo court he wishes to assemble and they have no right to see the evidence against them, and there is no appeal. This was passed by 65 senators and will now be signed by Mr. Bush, put into effect, and in due course be thrown out by the courts.
It's good that Barry Goldwater is dead because this would have killed him. Go back to the Senate of 1964 - Goldwater, Dirksen, Russell, McCarthy, Javits, Morse, Fulbright - and you won't find more than 10 votes for it.
None of the men and women who voted for this bill has any right to speak in public about the rule of law anymore, or to take a high moral view of the Third Reich, or to wax poetic about the American Idea. Mark their names. Any institution of higher learning that grants honorary degrees to these people forfeits its honor. Alexander, Allard, Allen, Bennett, Bond, Brownback, Bunning, Burns, Burr, Carper, Chambliss, Coburn, Cochran, Coleman, Collins, Cornyn, Craig, Crapo, DeMint, DeWine, Dole, Domenici, Ensign, Enzi, Frist, Graham, Grassley, Gregg, Hagel, Hatch, Hutchison, Inhofe, Isakson, Johnson, Kyl, Landrieu, Lautenberg, Lieberman, Lott, Lugar, Martinez, McCain, McConnell, Menendez, Murkowski, Nelson of Florida, Nelson of Nebraska, Pryor, Roberts, Rockefeller, Salazar, Santorum, Sessions, Shelby, Smith, Specter, Stabenow, Stevens, Sununu, Talent, Thomas, Thune, Vitter, Voinovich, Warner.
To paraphrase Sir Walter Scott: Mark their names and mark them well. For them, no minstrel raptures swell. High though their titles, proud their name, boundless their wealth as wish can claim, these wretched figures shall go down to the vile dust from whence they sprung, unwept, unhonored and unsung.
Three Republican senators made a show of opposing the bill and, after they'd collected all the praise they could get, they quickly folded. Why be a hero when you can be fairly sure that the Court will dispose of this piece of garbage.

Really a pity this isn't a bigger issue than the Foley scandal, but you know what they say--sex sells, sex sells, sex sells....

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Casey/Santorum Debate --Thurs, Oct. 12

But the contest gets a twist today because Bob Casey Jr. is actually scheduled to debate Santorum in Pittsburgh this afternoon, their first since a Labor Day weekend clash on NBC's "Meet the Press."

The taped debate will air statewide on the Pennsylvania Cable Network at 9 tonight, repeating at 10:30 p.m.

Question is whether it stokes the embers of what feels like a fading Republican incumbency or seals the deal for the Democratic challenger.

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How do you solve a problem like Korea?

If you are running for relection, apparently, the way you solve it is by blaming the other side.

On Sunday, North Korea said it conducted its first-ever nuclear test.

"The Bush administration has for several years been in a state of denial about the growing challenge of North Korea, and has too often tried to downplay the issue or change the subject," said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

"We had the opportunity to stop North Korea from increasing its nuclear power, but George Bush went to sleep at the switch while he pursued his narrow agenda in Iraq," added Sen. Bob Menendez, a Democrat in a tough campaign in New Jersey.

Republicans, in turn, sought to deflect the criticism by lodging some of their own. They voiced their frequent claim that Democrats are weak on security - and dredged up Democratic votes they said illustrated their point.

House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, accused Democrats of standing in the way of work on a missile defense program. "It is now clear that such a position would weaken America's national defense and put Americans in danger," he said.

"Sherrod Brown's far left national security positions more troubling in light of North Korean missile test," the Senate Republicans' campaign committee said in a release that claims Brown voted a dozen times since 1993 to cut funding for ballistic missile defense.

Mindful of the tricky political subtext, some Republicans issued more carefully worded statements or refrained from attacking Democrats altogether.

GOP Sen. Rick Santorum, facing a bitter re-election battle, said in a barely veiled reference to Democrats - "North Korea's actions cause great concern. This is no time for inexperienced, weak leaders

We've got to do better than this. While Rick's schtick is disingenuous considering his "experienced" lot have had SIX years to address it and have only managed to preside over a steadily growing nuclear weapons threat from that beleaguered nation, this is a subject that really requires the grownups of both parties to take charge.

Just look at these photos--

Photos taken by a Russian Web Designer of North Korea.

Place is a ticking time bomb in many, many ways.

Submitted by Karen L.

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Primordial Ooze--From Whence Comest Mud to Sling

This is an interesting look at how political focus groups help campaigns decide which mud will stick...

talked to Mark Campbell, Gerlach's campaign manager, and he confirmed that his operation had used the focus group. He said other Democratic and Republican campaign committees used focus groups as well.

As Campbell explained, with a finite amount of money and time, campaigns need to "pinpoint" the most effective issues.

Frankly, I wonder why the Gerlach campaign felt it needed to pinpoint. It has been doing mailings for a while, going after Murphy on a variety of issues.

Of the 15 or so mailings I have seen, all but two rake Murphy over the coals. The other two promote positives about Gerlach.

One of my favorites is a mailing that tells us that "extremist Lois Murphy has promised to raise taxes and accept a pay raise if elected."

Now, I ask you, how many candidates do you know who run on the platform of raising their own pay?

It turns out this is a Gerlach campaign take on a Murphy statement that promised she would not accept any increase in pay if elected to Congress until it passed a law to raise the minimum wage.

So much mud to throw, so little time.

Lois Murphy?

Extremist!!???

It would be nice to think that candidates who took the high road would get credit for it from voters at the polls. When will voters decide they've had enough of this sort of thing?

Article forwarded by Alice Fling, with added comments by Karen L.

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The Coffeehouse Is Open

Pull up a chair, have a cup of your hot or cold beverage of choice, and tell us what's on your mind now that the election is less than one month away!

Why No Polling in Our District?

All the other southeast PA House races are getting a great deal of attention nationally, and from pollers.

Changing dynamic
Democrats are aiming to pick up at least 15 seats next month to capture control of the House of Representatives. Issues of war and terrorism have reinforced longer-term demographic trends to make these historically Republican communities a target-rich environment for the challengers.

The forces that produced this new competitiveness pose a threat to Republican control of both chambers of Congress. Sen. Rick Santorum won these communities six years ago. Now he is in a pitched battle to retain their support, one that could determine whether he will get a chance to seek the number two Republican Senate leadership spot in the next Congress.

"All three are competitive,'' said Matt Kerbel, a political science professor at Villanova University. "The Philadelphia suburbs are turning blue."

It's great that other districts are considered competitive and are the subject of so much attention and scrutiny, but I believe that our district is JUST as competitive as the races to oust Reps. Gerlach, Weldon, and Fitzpatrick. Why would our voters be so different from theirs?

But unless we get some polling data, how can we know? It's important to keep up the energy level even though we aren't getting the publicity here that the other races have generated.

Real Clear Politics Polling Data on House Races

In good news, though, the most recent Rasmussen Poll has Casey leading Santorum by a WHOPPING 13%!

submitted by Karen L.

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The Blueing of the 'Burbs

This article summarizes the growing disenchantment on the part of moderate Republicans, as well as the increasing numbers of registered Democrats, in the formerly republican stronghold counties outside Philadelphia. We can certainly pat ourselves on the back a little for contributing to those voter registration numbers.

DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (AP) - Growing disenchantment over the Iraq war is proving the great equalizer in many areas, blurring traditional social and demographic distinctions that made it easy to paint sections of the electoral map red or blue.

Take the well-off Philadelphia suburbs, bastions of sidewalk cafes and million-dollar-plus homes. Here, Ginny McGovern, a mother of two and a nutrition therapist, no longer considers herself the lone Democratic voice among a chorus of Republicans.

McGovern said she and her neighbors now are singing from the same page - at least on issues such as the war, spending and President Bush.

"I think they were all for Bush in the beginning, but I think now they've kind of changed their tune a little bit," said McGovern, 42. "It doesn't matter if they're Republican or Democrat, they all think it's unnecessary."


(AP) Attorney Matt Meyer and wife Inger, both 36, with daughter Astrid walk in downtown in Doylestown,...
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The wealthy Philadelphia suburbs historically have been a Republican stronghold, but recent shifts in voter registration and voting patterns have moved the region toward the Democrats.

This summer, for the first time since the state began keeping registration records in 1934, slightly more than 49 percent of voters in the four-county region listed their affiliation as Republican.

In 1990, 63 percent of voters in Bucks, Montgomery, Delaware and Chester counties were Republicans. Since then, Democratic registration has increased 7 percent to more than one-third of voters while the number of independent and minor party members doubled to 14 percent.

Whether the registration shift coupled with unhappiness with the president, the war and the country's direction translates into Democratic wins in three GOP-held seats and the competitive Senate race is the million-dollar question.

Hopefully, this will translate into a Lois Herr victory. The Casey campaign also considers the suburban Philadelphia counties a key to winning in November.

Submitted by Karen L.

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