Bush failed at everything he touched, but he has one great success now to point to in his declining years. He succeeded in becoming the worst President ever. Beyond that, he succeeded in wrecking a thriving economy, a fiscal surplus, a major American city, and just for frosting has lost two wars. Heckuva job, Bushie.

Hey Eli!
Chimpy dreams of having Nixonian numbers, has to look up to see them.

Dubya has probably inspired more superlatives than any other president in history.

Start using Bob Casey’s great “That’s not a maverick – that’s a sidekick” line, or variations thereof.

IT’S A CONTEST

“What do I have to do to become as popular as Nixon???”

I don’t think even a successful appearance on the MTV Video Music Awards could save him at this point.

IT’S A CONTEST“

“that’s not change, that’s strange”

“that’s not integrity, that’s depravity”

It’s astonishing; but I knew this day was coming, when George W. Bush would be looking up at Nixon.

“No honor, just thieves.”

He’ll even end up on a lower level of Hell.

“that’s not momentous, that’s preposterous”

Daily tracking polls are now all out- three of four show a one point gain in Obama’s lead- the fourth shows no change….

The Palin debate apparently HURT McCain a bit….so much for winks as vote getters.

yum

Pickles and “yeah, it’s Jenna” were at a Book Fair and appeared on C-Span this morning. She was asked if she and her husband would write books once out of office, and she started to dive in with the old “Oh, yes!”, followed by “not making any promises.”

No-one could have anticipated that winking ability was not on Americans’ list of essential VP qualifications.

have to keep the comic book selves filled.

that wink is not really a flirt, that wink is an “insiders” wink.

“I know something and now you know it too”

that’s what that wink is

It’d be like OJ’s “here’s what I would have done if I were the killer” book…

Great post, Eli! Don’cha just love it! Just when they thought they could come out from under that Iraq rock…

Thanks, Ann! Pretending that Teh Surge was a success doesn’t really help them now…

I’m amazed that 20% still think Ws a good prez. And they call every morning on the R line on WJ.

The depressing thing is that every single one of them will vote.

I wonder if this means that experts like Chuck Todd will stop saying that “the President’s approval rating is in the thirties.” Has not been so for some time, and likely will not return to such.

I have a link I watch for poll information, http://www.electoral-vote.com/ and I just saw Texas turn pink. That means “weak republican”!! The democrates are registering here in Texas in hugh numbers. Don’t be surprised if Texas goes for Obama in November. We’re working hard on the ground here.

If Obama and Biden can successfully tie the Dubyatross around the ancient mariner’s neck, and downticket Democrats can do the same to their opponents, they will be wildly successful.

The trick is never to refer to Bush. The policies of the past eight years are “Republican” policies and “Conservative policies inherited form Ronald Reagan.” We need to return to the American policies that rescued us from the previous Republican meltdown in 1929.

Make November 4th a referendum on the Bush administration, and 2006 will look like a love tap.

With McCain giving up in Michigan, the presidential race is over.

I know Obama’s campaign can’t say or think that, but I don’t work for them, and don’t worry — they don’t call me for advise or counsel.

(FWIW, as a prognosticator, I was convinced the race would be “Gore vs. Thompson”, but I’m not letting that little detail stop me!)

What the tailwind of the economic collapse has brought is the real possibility of 60 senate seats, which was previously unthinkable.

This should be the stealth part of Democratic efforts going forward, because it would eliminate the need for this ‘reach across the aisle’ crap; Obama wouldn’t have any excuse for not running with his stated agenda.

I also think it would make for a much better health care package.

hasn’t texas been democratic till recently?

let’s hope they come home, they look embarrassed to be red

Don’t tell Rich Lowry that. He thought the link was her secret code to tell him to meet her in the park after dark so they could fool around.

More fool he.

So does McHoover still have a shot at winning this race?

Isn’t there some way to prohibit Dubya from profiting from his crimes? Shouldn’t any profits from his books go to Iraqi war orphans? Perhaps someone could get an injunction like the Goldmans did against OJ.

They’ve always looked up to Nixon as a role model. Dirty tricks, slush funds, erased tapes (emails). . .

That’s amazing and awesome news. Even if Obama doesn’t win there, it bodes very well for Rick Noriega and the congressional races.

(FWIW, as a prognosticator, I was convinced the race would be “Gore vs. Thompson”, but I’m not letting that little detail stop me!)

Yep. Been there.

How about “Republican legacy of failure”?

you know, you’re right.

hasn’t texas been democratic till recently?

Texas was “Democratic” in the same sense as much of the South has been “Democratic” the last couple of decades – mainly as a residual effect from the old days.

Yep, can’t argue with that. Wish I’d thought of it.

Where’s David Broder when you need him? I am waiting with bated breath to learn how the shrub’s latest poll number is a statistical outlier. The heartland is never wrong.

Speaking of which I have a colleague who has been trapped in Broderland since the late 70s, and insists on trying to convince me (as of Thursday) that the election is still McCain’s to lose. He’s a Lieberman Democrat from Westport, and thinks Chris Shays is a closet liberal.

I won’t be looking to anything political outside of my house for a Love Tap.
But, I agree with everything else you say.
The approval numbers seem to mirror what I’m hearing the citizens say — CSPAN, NPR, THE LAKE and so we shall hope that this connection between what hasn’t worked for 8 years and what McCain/Palin will bring will dawn on even those who don’t want to imagine that.

The effective destruction of the Republic Party would represent the only positive thing coming from the Bush years.

Looking up to Nixon -> Looking up AT Nixon

Um, we don’t want the old racist southern Ds who turned R after Civil Rights bill was passed, just like LJ predicted.

“Now that his popularity has hit rock bottom, it can only go up.”

Oh, I don’t know. I think he could become about as popular as Nixon by doing what Nixon did — resigning.

Redefining the bottom has been their hidden mission all along. OK, I get it.

I haven’t looked at any TX polls, but I find it hard to believe that Obama isn’t within 7 or 8 percentage points of Obama. We will know for sure if in three weeks he makes a descent on Dallas. First things first of course: he’s got to nail down VA and OH, but if he has 7 to 8 point leads there going into October 25, he can take the fight to TX and AZ. If he culd get within 3 points of winning in TX it would pull in a lot of downticket Dems.

Early yesterday afternoon, straight-talking John McCain voted for the bailout bill. By yesterday evening, straight-talking John McCain was recommending that President Bush veto the bailout bill. Do these sudden reversals of position both the straight talker? Or is he mentally incapable of remembering in the evening how he voted during the day?

That isn’t a joke! It is something that the electorate must consider when casting their votes.

The neocons may have detroyed the R party, but they are still very intact themselves. A lot of it is inbreeding–they marry each other and inculcate their children into the cult. But they also have a structure of publications and think tanks that holds them together when they are not in power. They will be a factor in both parties for a long time to come. Can’t have a “peace” dept as long as the neocons are intact. Meaning all impt pols need to behave militaristic and belligerent to avoid being attacked by the far right.

I don’t know about that. Could go lower.
I’m watching the end of The Phantom of the Opera and he’s singing Past the point of no return…
Why do you think that his numbers can’t go lower?

He could also force McCain into spending his limited campaign funds in a state that’s usually a lock for Republicans.

You’ve said that several times in the past and I don’t understand it. It people switch to the Democratic Party it seems to me that’s a good thing.

When I was out canvassing this morning, I met a neighbor who had just gotten her citizenship yesterday. She’s from Austria, and she’s lived here for twenty years, but this administration finally made her go out and do it.

She said there were seventy people at her citizenship ceremony, one of three that day, and everyone registered to vote immediately afterwards.

Even after all the things the Bushies have done to undermine what made it great, things like that remind me of why I still love this country!

And if Obama were any other candidate, we should expect that to be pointed out in the next debate. But I expect Obama will keep to his prior trajectory.

I was channeling a possible Broder column, hence the quotes. Although I personally think it would be pretty hard for him to go much lower than 19%. There will always be a core population of right-wing crazies who think he’s Jesus.

only if Cheney goes first.

With McCain giving up in Michigan, the presidential race is over.

I would agree except for the possibility of a late-October surprise and the fickleness of the electorate, as witnessed via McCain’s jump to the lead following Palin’s ridiculous acceptance speech in Saint Paul.

I hope McCain limits his coming massivly negative campaign to just a few states because I don’t want to see his lies.

You would welcome racists into the D party? I, for one, would not. I have enough trouble with the blue dogs.

He was for it before he was agin it before he was foraginit.

Makes perfect sense in McCainworld.

The bill got all porked up so McHorseshit has changed his mind (after he cancelled his campaign and flew in to help refine it by loading it up with pork).

I just had a thought;

could you imagine if bush had resigned a year or two ago?

he would be able to say he would have kept the economy together and his base would have believed him

his approval rating would have soared

Got it. Thanks for the “clarification”. Sometimes I forget to turn on my Liberal Left “Filter”. :)

My greatest fear is that they will successfully game the system once again by their efforts to eliminate voters in 19 states, as I saw a few days ago! We can’t let that happen! There has to be a way to stop it, since we can see it coming!

I was also tickled to hear that Al Franken is now ahead of Norm Coleman, I think it was by double digits!

I live in PA, and I’m frickin’ bombarded. Feh.

“If Obama and Biden can successfully tie the Dubyatross around the ancient mariner’s neck, and downticket Democrats can do the same to their opponents, they will be wildly successful.”

While that is no doubt true, it says nothing about the plight of Americans from the middle-class down, whose prosperity is likely to continue to diminish as the not-so-evil party consolidates its rule and corruption.

I’m told that Obama’s advisors include a number of folks who might be classified as neocons. Certainly, Hillary’s foreign policy team also included people, e.g., O’Hanlon, whom I’d consider neocon but whom the media call “liberal.”

He couldn’t bring himself to resign and miss out on two years of bike rides around the White House.

If they were racists why would they come over to the Dem Party in the first place? You make them sound like something you might step in on the sidewalk.

Yeah, I worry about that too. Thankfully, OH has a Democratic governor and SOS, and FL’s governor is pretty honest for a Republican.

Yeah, but that’s what we thought when he hit the Alan Keyes level, too. I think the sports-fan “don’t want to be associated with a loser” mentality may be starting to eat away at the cultish worship. Plus if the wingnut welfare press and radio really push the “conservatism never fails, therefore Bush isn’t really a conservative” line, it could make some of the base start choosing between those two tribes.

Not seeing any here in CA.

You betcha.

Won’t comment further as I’m keeping mum on Obama criticism today. Number of noses out of joint here.

I think it’s possible to be racist and still recognize that Bush & the Republicans have made a complete and total mess of things.

Yeah, I think the only way Dubya loses any more points from Crazy Base Land is if they start seeing him as too liberal.

*shudder*

That is so the image of George W. Bush.
Woke up every morning and all he wanted to do was ride his bicycle round and round.

Prior to civil rights racists were in the D party (anti-Lincoln). I don’t know the circumstances under which they might consider switching back, presumably not during an Obama term, but stranger things have happened.

If the Republics lose the racists that means the end of Nixon’s southern strategy.

While that is no doubt true, it says nothing about the plight of Americans from the middle-class down, whose prosperity is likely to continue to diminish as the not-so-evil party consolidates its rule and corruption.

We will never win until we shred the reputation of Saint Ronald and restore FDR to his rightful place in the public mind. The current crash (aka “meltdown”) is a direct result of Reagan restoring Warren G Harding, which led to the Great Depression of the 1930s. The albatross must be hung around Reagan’s neck, and then it’ll sink the whole damn lot, including the Blue Dogs.

Now, the chandelier is coming down and setting fire to the place. Wow. It’s just like real life.
I love Opera…
And, ECon…I saw a very few comments about that. When you say number, you don’t mean a significant amount or maybe I missed a bunch. I very well could have.

OK, I state the obvious. The historical parallel is so strong I can’t resist.

The Obama campaign isn’t taking that stuff lying down. They’re challenging vote suppression efforts early on, and there’s a massive election protection effort all over. All lawyers and law students are encouraged to go to the website and sign up to help out.

I would agree except for the possibility of a late-October surprise and the fickleness of the electorate, as witnessed via McCain’s jump to the lead following Palin’s ridiculous acceptance speech in Saint Paul.

As I wrote downstairs somewhere, the pooch is so screwed that Bin Laden in handcuffs wouldn’t win it for them, and, God forbid, an attack of some sort would only reinforce the neglect of the last eight years.

Bush is effectively out of office in 4 weeks. How great is that!

He’s always struck me as someone who sees the presidency as some kind of reality show prize. He loves all the perks – the cool stuff, the personal chef, meeting famous people – but hates and resents the responsibilities and work.

As a Floridian, I assure you that Crist is about as honest as any Republican.

In one of his Crist’s recent tricks to help wreck the public school system, he pimps a Property Tax Amendment whereby the portion for school tax would be eliminated and replaced with grossly insufficient funding to be figured out later.

This, he spearheaded and has been fighting to keep on the Nov 4 ballot. Seems its unconstitutional. There is legal wrangling.

Won’t comment further as I’m keeping mum on Obama criticism today. Number of noses out of joint here.

Sigh! I’ve been there but was never quite so considerate of others.

No, that was meant to be a causality error. Dubya’s popularity emulates Nixon’s because his methodology emulates Nixon’s.

And be worshiped, don’t forget! The thing he always wants out of anything he does is for people to express their gratitude.

I’ll exhale on January 20, 2009. Not before.

Oops, causality ARROW. Freudian slip…

As I wrote downstairs somewhere, the pooch is so screwed that Bin Laden in handcuffs wouldn’t win it for them

I do believe capturing bin laden right now would hurt mccain’s chances, it would look all too dicive

Crap. I seem to remember him doing a couple of admirable things – didn’t he restore voting rights for ex-cons or something else positive and voting-related?

well I for one will be happy to throw dead flowers and melamine candy at his motorcade on his way out.

If the Republics lose the racists that means the end of Nixon’s southern strategy.

On Friday, NPR had an interview with someone who admitted being racist for years, but is considering voting for Obama.

Never mind if he does or not, the fact he could bring himself to even say that speaks volumes about the trouble McBush is in.

divisive?

Yeah, I think the only way Dubya loses any more points from Crazy Base Land is if they start seeing him as too liberal.

That’s already going on: “Too much government spending under Bush.”

why, whut’d I say?

oh

damn, I miss edit

Yes, understood. I just get excited when the two names are mentioned in the same sentence. Can’t resist emphasizing the point.

Lucky you’re so cute, huh? :)

LOL!

As a Floridian too, I agree. It’s awful, man. School funding get worse? I shudder to think about it. In my school district, class trips are -as of nor- cancelled. No money for gas for the buses. I shit you not. See, as hackworth and our other floridians know, this state gets almost all its revenue from the sales tax (smart huh?). There is no income tax. I’m an economic ignoramus but i understand this: When there is an economic downturn, people here, like everywhere, spend less, ergo less sales tax revenues. On top of that, we count on the coffers getting filled up with sales tax revenues from tourists spending money like drunken sailors. Shitty economy? No tourists.
People here are alarmed, pissed and scared. Palin’s Hee-Haw bullshit did not go over. It’s really fucked up here and it works to Obama’s advantage. Hackworth, you think there might be a 2000-esque election day meltdown here?

And maybe some of the tomatoes that got killed in an early frost.

Making state revenue principally dependent on sales tax does not seem like a very good idea in the era of tax-free ecommerce…

I’ll exhale on January 20, 2009. Not before.

Hey, I get where you’re coming from; I don’t relax at the end of a horror movie until the credits roll and the lights come on, either.

But think about it; after Nov. 4th, Bush won’t be able to talk with a foreign leader without hearing “Yeah, but what does Obama think?”.

Go ahead, allow your mind to go there.

It’s very refreshing.

OT: New Glenzilla up, and opens:

There are few things that make political coverage more unbearable — and more distorting — than The David Brooks Syndrome: the extremely patronizing and ill-informed pretense, shared by media and right-wing elites alike, that they can study the Little Common People like zoo animals, and then translate and give voice to their simple-minded and ignorant though good-hearted, salt-of-the-earth perspectives. Rarely has this mentality been so transparent as in the wake of the Biden-Palin debate, as pundits and right-wing polemicists like Brooks, Peggy Noonan and Rich “Starbursts” Lowry rushed forward to proclaim giddily that Regular Americans would love Sarah Palin and this love could even help McCain win, despite — or, really, because of — her vapid, content-free telegenic presence.

[…]

But think about it; after Nov. 4th, Bush won’t be able to talk with a foreign leader without hearing “Yeah, but what does Obama think?”.

I love it. What a concept!

How could he possibly overlook Broder?

Set aside an egg a week, they’ll be ripe by Inauguration Day

The trouble with Glenzilla is that he minces words. *g*

‘zactly. I’m not happy with some of the victory lappin’ I’m seeing. He pulled outta MI? We’re supposed to win MI. I know it’s good news. I know things look pretty good. But he still has to pick up a Bush state or 2. PA is still close. Negative, nasty barrage comming. Two debates and Barack wasn’t exactly great in the first one. Lot can still happen. All in all, i’d rather be us than them. When the focus turns to polls, polls, polls and you’re drifting down, it usually only gets worse.

Waste of good eggs. Flowers die and tomatoes already dead. No need for other ammunition.

It’s assinine in the extreme.

But Floridians, being Floridians (my apologies to the progressive Floridians around here) will not elect state reps with the sense to propose an income tax.

Didja here KO tell Lowry to keep his masturbation to himself? Has George Will written anything post-debate. I don’t think he’d be so easily impressed.

Howie upstairs with Blue America and AL-03 candidate Josh Segall.

You’re kidding right?!! The juxtaposition of his morning opinion to his evening recommendation is a direct result of trying to be on both sides of the issue! It’s what happens when you try to be all things to all people! And, of course, we should remember Lincoln: You can fool some of the people all of the time, and you can fool all of the people some of the time. But (unfortunately for McShame!) you cannot fool all of the people all of the time!

“Please sit back from the TV, sir.”

November 5th, 2008. National Dancing In The Streets Day

Philadelphia PA,
Baltimore and DC now …

There’ll be music, sweet music, there’ll be music everywhere.

we’re over 100? Ok. I call OT.

Watch FOX a little and well, watching anything you can see the GOP is comming from here– The whole economic mess is all the Democrats fault. Because they pushed governmemt programs which helped so many minorities buy homes who couldn’t afford them, this defaults, thus the mortgage crisis, thus the whole economic crisis. All the while John McCain was sounding the alarm by co-sponsoring a bill which had already died in committee.

Now, I read somewhere that defaulted home loans to minorites from gov’t program were far below those of private lenders. True? Comments? Any links. I think this is important because I think you’ll hear it all over the dial tomorrow.

Thanks in advance.

Does this help?

http://ncrc.org/index.php?opti…..;Itemid=80

Of all the dumb shit he’s said this year, that was probably the dumbest shittest. Palin probably understands.

Nope. Doesn’t “help.” It’s great!!!! Exactly what i was looking for. I hope the Obama surrogates call them on this bullshit. Coulter was spewing it today on Covuto. The racism of this whole line of bullshity is pretty subtle as Republican campaign racism goes.

You da man, Eli!

FL Poll Worker (R) informs me of this: She went to a poll worker class. No one can vote without matching address on voter rolls. Driver License and another form of ID required. Address must match voter roll list. Foreclosures can prevent a bonafide citizen resident from voting. The ballot is long and convoluted with many ammendments on the back of it. This will slow the process in favor of Republicans. Republican poll workers often “help” old or disabled people inside the voting booth.

*Two* forms of ID to cast a vote? Jebus.

Yup. I’ve heard that except I thought they only check 1 ID. The ballot is idiotic. It’s like the SATs. If you mark it with the wrong pen or don’t color in the circle right your vote might not count. It’s time consuming. factor in HUGE turnout. It’s gonna be a mess. I’m in Orange County. where you at?

I think We’ll see a ‘contraction’ of the Republican Party – which will always be associated with Bush – as more and more constituent groups Reject Bush via the Proxy of McCain and Palin leading up to the Election.

Imvho, Bush is headed for Global War Crimes Charges – including the most heinous of them all: Torture of Fellow Human Beings. He’s going to become the Stigma of All That Went Wrong With America.

By the time of the Election, I would expect the Only Hangers-On to the Republican Brand will be:

- McCain and the Lobbyists
- the Extremists and Kooks
- All the Bush People Whose Hands are Dirty

So, in simple terms, the Republican Party is Imploding before Our Very Eyes. None of Them wants to Own Their Failure, and most are Jumping Ship.

All that will be left with the ‘Party of Lincoln’ at the End, will be those whose Narratives Include Cataclysmic Endings.

And They’ll be the ones who Really Do Drive the Republican Brand off the Cliff…

Bush is busy- working on his pardon list- no time to think about polls.

The Dems weren’t the ones setting interest rates or pushing easy money via the Fed. That was Mr. Greenspan who was the mayo on the GOP shit sandwich that had Reagan/Bush on one side, Bush/Cheney on the other, and Bubba/Gore as the filling.

If it hadn’t been for deregulation of the S&Ls in 83 followed by the first Bush’s bailout, followed by the lack of investigations into wrongdoing by the previous GOP administrations a la Bubba (can’t we all just get along), and then the repeal of Glass-Steagall (again, thanx to DLCer Bubba), to be completed by Greenspan’s cheerleading for Bush’s tax cuts for the rich leading into unsustainable budget deficits and now this complete meltdown, we wouldn’t be quite as close to financial Armageddon.

But anyone familiar with Marxist theory knows that this is where capitalism has to go. Workers are nothing more than inputs like raw materials to capitalists. We’re expendable and if you think the Democrats, no matter how progressive they sounded to get elected, are going to side with the people against their puppetmasters, well, wake up and start cleaning your rifles and stockpiling ammo.

I dread 4 November because legally everything is in place for these people to just take over the country. An executive order signed at 2 a.m. and we wake up to a squad of soldiers ar every single polling place in America. It can happen here, all the legal niceties have already been put in place just like in Nazi Germany.

I personally can’t wait to see a few people so I can say I told you so.

McHoover is hoping that if he takes both sides of every issue, voters will only notice that he was “with em”.

He has filled his staff with people who have the most cynical view of voter intelligence ever- hope they aren’t right.

November 5th, 2008. National Dancing In The Streets Day

Thanks for that!

Hope the idea catches on.

I have always shown my driver license only. The poll volunteer tells me that they told her two forms of ID are required. Also heres a sticker to share with your friends:

A poll worker will ask this question: “Are you still residing at this address?”

The wrong anwser will exclude you from voting without a provisional ballot. Those are the ones that get left in the back of poll workers’ vehicles to be “counted” later.

I say, Goddess’ speed to you! Thank you for all you are doing on the ground in TEXAS.

It might go global, actually.

Hey, come on upstairs! There’s a DEMOCRAT from ALABAMA! (heh, and you thought that there weren’t any to find there!)

Volusia County – always ends up barely blue in spite of massive efforts by Republican poll workers, election supervisor and staff.

If only they cared as much about the potential for electronic fraud of hundreds or thousands of votes as they did about the potential for voter fraud on the individual single-vote level.

It might will go global, actually.

Thought about it and made a slight correction.

What would be even better is the world’s longest conga line –

“Bush is outta office! (kick left)
“Bush is outta office! (kick right)

Oh, the parties!

Inflatable, “anatomically correct” Sarah Palin dolls would sell quite well among “Conservatives” right now.

November 5th, 2008. National Dancing In The Streets Day

Philadelphia PA,
Baltimore and DC now …

… Can’t forget The Motor City ..

There’ll be music, sweet music, there’ll be music everywhere.