PERRspectives: Election '06 Archives

Election '06 Archives

	Palin, Like Bush, Slanders Democrats on Terrorism With each passing day, Sarah Palin resembles more and more "George Bush in lipstick." Two days ago, she like George W. Bush in 2000 was duped by Canadian pranksters posing as foreign leaders. And today, Palin like President Bush in 2006 essentially accused her Democratic opponents of being terrorist sympathizers. Palin's slander came during a speech in Missouri. Claiming that Democrats want to slash defense spending, John McCain's running mate picked up his earlier treason charge and amplified it: "What... more Posted on November 3, 2008 \| Comments (0)

	Study: Voter ID Programs Suppress Turnout Just before November's midterm elections, a piece called "Divide, Suppress and Conquer" described the two-pronged Republican campaign strategy of mobilizing its conservative base while driving down the Democratic and independent vote. When it comes to vote suppression, a new study has found that the Republican tactics have been quite successful, indeed. In a report just presented to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University showed the impact of draconian new state voter identification laws.... more Posted on February 22, 2007 \| Comments (5)

	Bush Denies GOP Treason Label for Democrats A chastened President Bush ventured into enemy territory on Saturday to address the annual gathering of House Democrats. Obliterated in the November elections and facing both abysmal poll numbers and open rebellion over Iraq within his own party, the formerly fierce Bush with tail between his legs feigned a spirit of bipartisan cooperation: "I welcome debate at a time of war and I hope you know that. Nor do I consider a belief that if you don't happen to agree... more Posted on February 4, 2007 \| Comments (2)

	Top 10 GOP Sound Bites, 2006 Final Edition As 2006 comes to a close, the Top 10 GOP Sound Bites chart has been turned upside down. In the wake of the Republicans' midterm election nightmare and the battering of the Iraq Study Group report, a bevy of GOP favorites have fallen off the list. Nowhere is the shake-up more evident than in the declining fortunes of the Republicans' Iraq Remix LP. Smash hits with a great beat you could dance to like George Bush's thumping "Stay the Course"... more Posted on December 29, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	Bush Sinks GOP Majority Over Rumsfeld With the midterms now in the rear view mirror, history will record that President Bush committed the defining gaffe of the 2006 campaign. Try as they might, conservatives failed to turn John Kerry's clumsy "stuck in Iraq" stumble into the moment that snatched Democratic defeat from the jaws of victory. As it turns out, it was President Bush who sealed the fate of the GOP's congressional majority by offering job security for the "fantastic" Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld during the... more Posted on November 15, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	Sacrificial Sham: Bush Changes the Subject with Rumsfeld Sacking With Wednesday's post-election sacking of Donald Rumsfeld, President Bush showed once again that he's more concerned about managing the news cycle than America's national security. Facing the prospect of explaining away his party's "thumping" at the hands of the Democrats, Bush instead hoped to change the topic. The "blue wave" that swept the Republicans from Congress can in no small measure be attributed to Bush's failed presidency in general and the disaster in Iraq in particular. Exit polls revealed that... more Posted on November 9, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	Divide, Suppress and Conquer: The GOP's 25% Strategy for 2006 As Tuesday's vote approaches, Democrats are buoyantly optimistic about their prospects for retaking control of Congress. President Bush is wildly unpopular. His handling of Iraq, the election's dominant issue, is backed by less than a third of the electorate. On issue after issue, voters across the United States support Democratic positions. And in generic Congressional polls, a majority of Americans consistently prefer Democrats over Republicans. Almost none of which matters for the Republican braintrust. For the GOP, 2006 isn't a... more Posted on November 6, 2006 \| Comments (2)

	GOP Quotes of the Week, Pre-Election Edition As election day nears, the rhetorical woes of the conservative chattering classes continue unabated. From President Bush's ill-conceived Rumsfeld endorsement to Ted Haggard's boy trouble, the Republican leadership and its amen corner are providing plenty of fodder for voters. "I am a deceiver and a liar. There's a part of my life that is so repulsive and dark that I have been warring with it all of my adult life." Ted Haggard, November 5, 2006. "We don't have to debate... more Posted on November 5, 2006 \| Comments (3)

	Kerry's Failed Joke, Bush's Sick Humor John Kerry's failed "stuck in Iraq" joke once again highlighted the Massachusetts Senator's uncanny ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. But as George Bush, Dick Cheney and their amen corner try to make hay at Kerry's expense to help the GOP's flagging midterm prospects, they should take care that Americans not be reminded of the President's own sick sense of humor. After all, Bush's jokes usually come at our expense. A sense of humor has always been... more Posted on November 1, 2006 \| Comments (4)

	Abramoff: The Gift That Keeps on Giving While all eyes have been focused on the collateral damage from the FoleyGate scandal on Republicans' midterm prospects, convicted GOP uber lobbyist Jack Abramoff continues to be the gift that keeps on giving for Democrats. A flurry of stories over the past two weeks highlighted the Abramoff taint that keeps spreading across Republican ranks in Congress and the White House. GOP nerves no doubt grew more agitated with the news that Jack will be ensconced in the nearby federal prison... more Posted on November 1, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	The GOP Plays the Race Card in Tennessee In one of the least surprising developments of the 2006 mid-term election, the Republican National Committee is turning to the race card early and often. Nowhere is the GOP's race-baiting more prominent than in Tennessee, where an RNC ad titled "Call Me" depicts African-American Democrat Harold Ford as a Mandingo playboy debauching the white women of the South. The RNC effort to help its candidate Bob Corker is no doubt designed to conjure up memories of Lily Belle in Neil... more Posted on October 30, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	Jim Webb and the Pornographers of the Right With the truth about his neo-Confederate proclivities and stock swindles putting his Virginia Senate reelection bid in doubt, Republican George Allen turned to fiction to smear his opponent, Vietnam War hero Jim Webb. Citing disturbing content from Webb's combat novels (one of which, "Fields of Fire," appears on the Marine Corps' recommended reading list), Allen and his amen corner have implied that Webb is a misogynist, pedophile or worse. As it turns out, poorly crafted, soft-core pornography seems to be... more Posted on October 29, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	Hutchison Backs Iraq Partition, Endorses Clinton Balkans Policy With the looming midterm elections and the imminent report from James Baker's Iraq Study Group facing them like a double-barreled shotgun, Congressional Republicans are beginning to cut and run on President Bush's failed Iraq strategy. In recent days, Senators Chuck Hagel (R-NE) and John Warner (R-VA) have garnered most of the attention with their critiques of a "stay the course" policy that has left Iraq "drifting sideways." But it is Kay Bailey Hutchison from the President's home state of Texas... more Posted on October 20, 2006 \| Comments (2)

	Republican Quotes of the Week The Republican implosion over Iraq, the Foley scandal and the North Korean nuclear crisis has produced yet anothe bumper crop of conservative quotes, quips and catastrophes. A small sampling from the talking heads of the right: "He [Rumsfeld] leads in a way that the good Lord tells him is best for our country." Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Peter Pace, October 19, 2006. "House Democrats plot to establish a Department of Peace, raise your taxes, and minimize penalties for crack... more Posted on October 20, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	Top 10 GOP Sound Bites, FoleyGate Edition The last two weeks have produced a dramatic shake-up in the Top 10 GOP Sound Bite list. The exploding Mark Foley scandal, the disintegration of Iraq and the new terrorist detainee legislation sent a bevy of Republican ditties racing up the charts. Meanwhile, some old conservative standards have fallen by the way side. Soon-to-be former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert now has three smash hits at the top of the charts. Hastert's hard-rocking cut "(Democrats) Pamper the Terrorists" from... more Posted on October 19, 2006 \| Comments (2)

	Mark Warner Bails on '08 White House Race My email in-box this morning contained one of the more surprising political developments of recent weeks. Former Virginia Governor Mark Warner, one of the early front-runners in the 2008 Democratic White House race, has decided not to run for president. The unanswered question is: why? The email missive from Warner's Forward Together PAC offered only platitudes and pablum for the Governor's premature withdrawal: I have decided not to run for President. This past weekend, my family and I went to... more Posted on October 12, 2006 \| Comments (2)

	GOP Ads We'd Like to See While the past week may not have been kind to the Republican Party, the events of the last several days need not spell doom for the GOP during the upcoming mid-term elections. After all, Karl Rove, Ken Mehlman and the Republican braintrust will not allow the Foley scandal, the explosive allegations in the new Bob Woodward book, the latest Abramoff developments or the downward spiral in Iraq to redefine the GOP. To help the Republicans extricate themselves from their current... more Posted on October 4, 2006 \| Comments (5)

	New Reports Highlight Housing Market Woes Two new reports this week served to highlight the central role of the housing market in the U.S. economy and in driving the living standards of Americans. Coming on the same day the Dow reached an all-time high, the housing data is not good. On Tuesday, the Census Bureau reported that Americans have become "house poor," dramatically increasing the percentage of their incomes dedicated to housing. Americans now spend 21% of their incomes on housing, up from under 19% as... more Posted on October 3, 2006 \| Comments (2)

	A Sad Week for Black Republicans Like the spotted owl or the Pacific sea otter, Black Republicans are something of an endangered species. This week, a select group of African-American conservatives and their GOP allies showed why. On Monday, the National Black Republican Association (NBRA) debuted ads declaring that Democrats started the Ku Klux Klan and that Martin Luther King Junior was a member of the GOP. While no evidence apparently supports the group's claim that King was a Republican, the Klan's roots in the post-Civil... more Posted on September 22, 2006 \| Comments (2)

	George Allen Not Kosher Virginia Senator George Allen has once again confirmed the wisdom of the old aphorism that when stuck in a hole, stop digging. Just days after the "Macacagate" episode highlighted Allen's neo-Confederate proclivities, his ham-handed response to revelations of his Jewish ancestry put Allen in hot water. During his September 18 debate with Democrat Jim Webb, a bitter Allen reacted angrily to reporter Peggy Fox's question about his Jewish roots. Perhaps sensing that stories of his grandfather (and namesake) Felix' Jewish... more Posted on September 20, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	The Amazing Race Card There's an old saying that a gaffe is what results when a politician inadvertently tells the truth. By that standard, then, the Republican Party must be confessing its deeply held beliefs when it comes to race. After all, despicable racial slurs like Arnold Schwarzenegger's lecture on black and Latino blood and George Allen's MacacaGate are only the latest signs that racial bigotry is not the exception in the GOP, but perhaps the rule itself. Bush League Racism The rot starts... more Posted on September 13, 2006 \| Comments (5)

	Republican Quotes Du Jour The fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks and primary politics have helped to once again bring out the worst from the mouths of the right. Featuring fear-mongering, the politics of the pulpit and outright racism, here are the latest mantras from the leading lights of the Republican Party. "I wonder if [Democrats] they're more interested in protecting the terrorists than protecting the American people." House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), September 12, 2006. "I know Iraq is a mess... more Posted on September 13, 2006 \| Comments (6)

	ABC Slams New Iraq Documentary, Ignores Own 9/11 Right-Wing Fantasy With this weekend's upcoming mockumentary "The Path to 9/11," Disney and ABC are breaking dangerous new ground in the conservative propaganda war. Even as the ABC network follows in the footsteps of Mel Gibson and The Passion of the Christ in "mobilizing the base," ABC News on Sunday declared Robert Greenwald's new documentary "Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers" a left-wing hatchet job "produced like a political campaign." A pre-election salvo designed to pin the blame for the September 11... more Posted on September 5, 2006 \| Comments (5)

	Troubling Trends on Americans' Incomes Despite grandiose claims from the White House regarding the strength of the U.S. economy, a flood of new data helps explain Americans' continued feelings of insecurity. While the unemployment rate (4.7%), GDP growth (2.9%) and productivity gains (2.3%)look impressive, below the surface the picture for wages and income grows bleaker still. Whether the incumbent Republicans pay a price in November for that dismal performance remains to seen. The disturbing trends for Americans' incomes are beyond dispute. Since President Bush took... more Posted on September 4, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	God, Guatemalans and Other GOP Gaffes Just days after Senator George Allen's MacacaGate scandal, the Republican Party continued to offer a cornucopia of egregious gaffes and uproarious utterances. In Montana, Senator Conrad Burns lived up to his recent claim that he could "self-destruct in one sentence." Just weeks after attacking out-of-state firefighters who came to the aid of Montana, the Senator belittled the "nice little Guatemalan man" who does work on the Burns' house. Perhaps joking about Hugo's green card might earn Burn's a ticket back... more Posted on August 27, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	George Allen's Family Affair By now, Perrspectives readers have grown familiar with the surprising neo-Confederate tendencies of Virginia Senator and presidential aspirant George Allen. (His abiding love of the CSA flag and the heritage of the ante bellum South are all the more surprising, given that Allen was born and raised in Southern California.) Today, the New Republic's Ryan Lizza offers a deeper glimpse of Allen the thug and redneck as a young man, courtesy of the Senator's own sister. In 2000, Allen's sister... more Posted on August 23, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	George Allen in Black and White Virginia Senator and 2008 GOP presidential hopeful George Allen continued to burnish his neo-Confederate credentials this week. During a reelection campaign event in front of an all white audience, Allen singled out Jim Webb campaign volunteer and U.S. citizen S.R. Sidarth as a "macaca." In his apology, Allen feigned ignorance of the meaning of the term, a North African racial slur likely not unknown to Allen's Tunisian mother. This sad episode is just the latest chapter in Allen's lifelong romance... more Posted on August 20, 2006 \| Comments (3)

	Homegrown Terrorism in the U.S. and Europe This week's revelations surrounding the UK terror plot targeting U.S. bound airliners once again focused attention on the phenomenon of "homegrown terrorism." As with last year's 7/7 "Underground Bombers," the Heathrow suspects are virtually all British residents, with most UK citizens and many second-generation Pakistani immigrants. And just as in the aftermath of last November's street riots in France, a flood of analysis seeks to explain the threat of radical Islamic extremism in Europe and its relative absence in the... more Posted on August 13, 2006 \| Comments (4)

	Delay, Ney Ballot Blunders Baffle GOP As the mid-term elections near, convicted Republican hyper lobbyist Jack Abramoff may well be the gift that keeps on giving for Democrats. Even as the GOP rushes to drop its Abramoff-tainted candidates from ballots in Ohio and Texas, its political problems only build. In Ohio, six-term Republican Representative and Abramoff golfing buddy Bob Ney dropped out of his race against surging Democratic challenger Zack Space. But State Senator Joy Padgett, Ney's hand-picked successor, may be ineligible to run under Ohio... more Posted on August 8, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	The Avenging Angel Smites Burns, Bolton and Steele The Avenging Angel, punisher of the rascals of the right, had yet another busy week delivering payback. Out in Big Sky country, GOP Montana Senator Conrad Burns found himself in hot water this week for insulting firefighters who had been battling blazes in his state. In the midst of a tough reelection bid against Democrat and rancher John Tester, Burns heaped scorn on the visiting Augusta Hotshots from Virginia, telling them they had "done a poor job" and "should have... more Posted on July 30, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	George Allen's Flag Desecration As the Washington Post reports today, the already bitter Virginia Senate race between incumbent George Allen and Democrat Jim Webb is getting downright nasty. Watching his lead dwindle and his 2008 presidential hopes put in peril, the Vietnam-era freeloader Allen is attacking the patriotism of the Vietnam war hero Webb over the former Navy Secretary's refusal to join Allen in backing a constitutional amendment banning flag desecration. Ironically, it is the Confederate Flag George Allen seems most concerned about it.... more Posted on July 13, 2006 \| Comments (6)

	Bush Stem Cell Veto Threat is Dems' Opportunity In an interview with the Denver Post editorial board, Karl Rove signaled that President Bush would use the first veto of his presidency to block Congressional stem cell legislation. For Democrats, that veto threat could be just what the doctor ordered. In a nutshell, Bush's 2006 base-baiting, red meat strategy could well backfire when it comes to stem cell research. In May 2005, 50 Republicans joined a united Democratic block in passing the bi-partisan Castle-Degette bill by 238-194. (The House... more Posted on July 10, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	New Web Resources for Progressives The Perrspectives Resource Center has just been expanded with updated news, magazines, blogs, election information, data sources, polls, think tanks and other tools for Democrats and progressives of all stripes. The Resource Center also features a document library including the latest news, reports, legal documents and other essential materials for a host of Bush administration and Republican scandals. NSA domestic spying, the Valerie Plame affair, Iraq WMD intelligence manipulation, Jack Abramoff and Tom Delay, it's all there. Visit the Resource... more Posted on July 10, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	All Opposed, Say Ney Republican Congressman Bob Ney of Ohio's 18th district may be among the most vulnerable GOP incumbents in this fall's mid-term elections. Already facing a stiff challenge from Democrat Zack Space, Ney's deep involvement with imprisoned Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff has put his reelection to a 7th term very much at risk. And the bad news only got worse for Ney this week. Matthew Parker, the director of Ney's congressional district office, was subpoenaed as part of the Justice Department's probe... more Posted on July 3, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	Iraqi PM, U.S. Commander: Cut and Run Just days after President Bush and his Republican allies in Congress lambasted their Democratic opponents for supposedly wanting to "cut and run" in Iraq, the Iraqi government and American military leadership in Baghdad essentially endorsed the Democratic position to set a timeline to draw down U.S. troops. As Newsweek first reported on Saturday, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki endorsed a timetable for American withdrawal as part of 28-point national reconciliation plan submitted to the Iraqi parliament today. While Maliki proposed... more Posted on June 25, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	The Republican Rap Sheet This weekend, Democrats in Congress moved quickly to oust Louisiana Representative William Jefferson from his seat on the powerful House Way and Means Committee. Facing strong opposition from the Congressional Black Caucus, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi showed that Democrats would be quick to punish ethical transgressors within their ranks. The contrast with the Republican culture of corruption could not more stark. Jefferson, who housed $90,000 in cold cash from a Nigerian bagman in his freezer, is the exception that proves... more Posted on June 20, 2006 \| Comments (4)

	Contest: What Does "GOP" Stand For? With the November mid-term elections rapidly approaching, Democrats are trying to counter the perception, fostered by the Republican media machine, that their party doesn't stand for anything. But what does the GOP stand for? That's for you to answer in the Perrspectives "What Does GOP Stand For?" Contest. The contest is simple. Tell us what you think the three-letter acronym "GOP" now stands for. With the one-time budget balancers now the budget busters and the isolationists now nation builders, what... more Posted on June 16, 2006 \| Comments (120)

	No Comfort for Bush on the Economy Nothing seems to frustrate the White House and the Republican leadership more than their abysmal poll numbers on the economy at a time of booming GDP and a resurgent job market. It is, they claim, all about the war. But as I wrote in the "Bush League Economy," the issue for the President and the GOP isn't the Iraq war overshadowing a robust economy, but the growing insecurity most Americans experience daily with surging energy prices, spiraling health care costs,... more Posted on May 19, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	Poll: Double Win for Bush on NSA Phone Records A new poll from the Washington Post suggests that the President Bush may be winning a double victory with his illegal NSA domestic surveillance programs. Americans seem willing to buy the White House's "tough on terrorism" hype at the expense of the law and their own civil liberties. And as an added ironic bonus, the President gets another opportunity to decry leaks that supposedly jeopardize national security. Surprisingly, the poll data show Americans even more content with revelations over government... more Posted on May 12, 2006 \| Comments (4)

	Bush Picking a Fight Over Hayden As predicted, President Bush nominated Air Force General Michael V. Hayden to replace Porter Goss as head of the CIA. And while the Hayden nomination brings with it a growing laundry list of problems, that's just fine with President Bush. After all, a fight is exactly what the Bush White House wants right now. The smallest stumbling block comes from the President's own allies. House Intel chief Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) expressed concerns over putting a military person in charge of... more Posted on May 8, 2006 \| Comments (2)

	That's a Big No: Bush, Gas Prices and the Polls With gasoline prices skyrocketing around the country, a spate of opinion polls show that President Bush is running on empty with the American people. The new CNN/Gallup/USA Today survey puts Bush's approval rating at a dismal 32%. Perhaps even more glaring, a staggering 69% of respondents claimed that gas prices constituted a financial hardship. But if Bush is being punished for high energy costs, he has only himself to blame. This May 7, 2001 response by then press secretary Ari... more Posted on April 24, 2006 \| Comments (3)

	Health Care Monopolies and the Massachusetts Model Last week, Massachusetts Governor and 2008 GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney signed legislation mandating that all residents of the Commonwealth acquire health insurance. But while many analysts are lauding the Romney blueprint, a new American Medical Association report on the entrenchment of health insurance monopolies shows one of the many pitfalls of the Massachusetts model. On its face, the Massachusetts law seems like an innovative approach to providing health care coverage for all. Akin to auto insurance, all residents must... more Posted on April 18, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	Katherine Harris Down 30% On this Saturday before Easter, one resurrection that looks increasingly unlikely is that of Katherine Harris. In a new poll from Ramsussen, the Florida Congresswoman and doyenne of electoral deceit finds herself trailing incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson by a staggering 30% in their Senate race. Harris' ill-fated Senate run was stillborn almost from conception. As I noted previously, the national GOP shunned her polarizing campaign from the start. In February, the trial of Duke Cunningham bagman Mitchell Wade revealed that... more Posted on April 15, 2006 \| Comments (4)

	Republican Terms Unlimited In 1994, the GOP rode the Contract with America and its call for term limits to an overwhelming victory in the midterm elections. Newt Gingrich, the architect of the '94 Republican Revolution, saw the term limits pledge as an essential ingredient to retaking the House. But in 1991, Gingrich called terms limits "a terrible idea." To no one's surprise, many of his Republican colleagues who took the pledge now agree with him. As CQPolitics reports, Tennessee Representative Zach Wamp and... more Posted on April 14, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	Banana Republicans in Ohio Kenneth Blackwell, the Secretary of State and gubernatorial hopeful, has added his name to the long list of Ohio Republicans smote by the Avenging Angel. It was revealed that Blackwell, a central villain in voter suppression by the GOP during the 2004 election, bought stock in electronic voting machine vendor and GOP cash cow Diebold. Meanwhile, the man he's trying to displace, Robert Taft, may be disbarred for ethics violations involving CoinGate's Tom Noe. And Ohioans thought the Cuyahoga River... more Posted on April 12, 2006 \| Comments (0)

	A Conversation with Jerome Armstrong and Markos Moulitsas Zuniga Jerome Armstrong (founder of MyDD) and Markos Moulitsas Zuniga (of DailyKos fame) are bringing their "Crashing the Gate" book tour to my home town of Portland. Their PDX itinerary on April 9th and 10th concludes with an event Monday evening to help Rob Brading unseat Oregon House Speaker Karen Minnis. Earlier this week, I had chance to catch up with Jerome and Markos in advance of their upcoming Portland trip. We discussed their book, the state of the Democratic Party... more Posted on April 5, 2006 \| Comments (5)

	Delay to Resign The Galveston County Daily News is reporting that Tom Delay will resign his seat this spring or summer. Coming just days after the guilty plea of his former aide Tony Rudy in the Abramoff affair, Delay has apparently decided not only to drop out of his reelection race, but to resign altogether. Delay cited troubling poll numbers as driving his decision. More likely, the collective weight of the Abramoff, Buckham, and TRMPAC scandals brought the Hammer down, so to speak.... more Posted on April 3, 2006 \| Comments (2)

	Brand W and the Midterm Elections Facing dismal poll ratings and the potential loss of both the House and Senate, the Republican National Committee appears set with its 2006 mid-term election strategy. Call it "Brand W." That is the central message in a memo from GOP pollster Jan van Lohuizen to RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman. Acknowledging the GOP's current challenges, van Lohuizen says the key to maintaining Republican control of Congress is reenergizing and mobilizing the Party's dispirited base. To do that, the memo claims, the... more Posted on March 29, 2006 \| Comments (2)

	Poll Watch: Bush and GOP Spiral Downward The latest wave of public opinion polls shows that President Bush's downward spiral continues unabated. The Wall Street Journal reports that Bush's approval rating has plummeted to 37%, with CNN coming in at 36%, a precipitous 10% drop from January. And while a comparatively upbeat Washington Post survey from March 6th put the President at a 41% approval rating, a devastating assessment from the Pew Research Center showed Bush at only 33%, the lowest mark of his presidency. There can... more Posted on March 16, 2006 \| Comments (2)

	Harris Stays In Refusing to bow to the inevitable, Republican Congresswoman and 2000 GOP recount heroine Katherine Harris is staying in the 2006 Florida Senate race. Sidestepping a major address planned for this evening, Harris instead used the friendly confines of the Fox Hannity and Colmes program to declare her intent to continue her quixotic campaign the Democratic incumbent, Bill Nelson: "I'm staying. I'm in this race. I'm going to win. I'm going to put everything on the line." Ms. Harris may put... more Posted on March 15, 2006 \| Comments (2)

	The Decline and Coming Fall of Katherine Harris Last week, I wrote about the tough times for the Florida's doyenne of electoral deceit, Katherine Harris. Already badly trailing in her Senate race to unseat Democrat Bill Nelson, revelations a week ago showed that Harris accepted $32,000 in illegal campaign contributions from Duke Cunningham sugar daddy, defense contractor MZM. Now comes the latest chapter in the decline and fall of Katherine Harris. On March 1, the Sarasota Herald Tribune reported that former Harris scheduler Mona Tate Yost left her... more Posted on March 5, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	GOP Scandals Converge in Texas Redistricting Case On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear a case that brings together three simmering Republican scandals. The GOP's unprecedented Congressional gerrymandering, Tom Delay's ethical failings and the Department of Justice's gutting of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 will be among the story lines as the Roberts Court takes on the 2003 Texas redistricting cases. On its face, the Texas cases concern the constitutionality of a new Congressional district map put in place by Texas Republicans in 2003. Coming only... more Posted on February 27, 2006 \| Comments (1)

	From Bad to Worse for Katherine Harris Things just keep going from bad to worse for Katherine Harris. The GOP's 2000 Florida recount heroine is facing almost certain defeat in her upcoming 2006 Senate race, a campaign her one-time Republican backers in DC pulled out all the stops to prevent. Now comes the news that Harris accepted $32,000 in illegal campaign contributions from Duke Cunningham's bagman, Mitchell Wade of defense contractor MZM. Michael Crowley in The New Republic details Harris' fall from grace among national Republicans. Celebrated... more Posted on February 25, 2006 \| Comments (4)

	Predicting the Democrats' Slogan in '06 The Hill is reporting that the Democratic Party may have settled on a slogan for the 2006 mid-term elections. The Democratic tag line being explored is "Together, America Can Do Better" or "Together We Can Do Better." Even at this early date, I can say that I wholeheartedly approve. Why? Because I suggested the exact same slogan to the Kerry campaign on July 14, 2004. In a memo titled "The Pessimism Gap", I argued over a year ago that the... more Posted on October 25, 2005 \| Comments (1)

	Team America: Making Lakoff Work for Democrats George Lakoff's advice for Democrats in Don't Think of An Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate continues to be the focus of much discussion within the left-of-center blogosphere. In the last week, while Perrspectives took Lakoff to task, Matthew Yglesias praised Democratic efforts to stop President Bush on Social Security as an example of successful Lakoffian "framing." Meanwhile, Marc Cooper in his book review in The Atlantic thundered against Lakoff's "neuroscientific hooey." And just today, DailyKos has called... more Posted on March 6, 2005 \| Comments (1)

	Framed: Lakoff's Dubious Speech Therapy for Democrats In the wake of November?s disaster for Democrats, liberals and progressives of all stripes have been seeking guidance and comfort in the work of cognitive scientist and linguist George Lakoff. All the rage among Democrats, his book Don?t Think of An Elephant has introduced the term ?framing? into the daily lexicon of political animals. For devastated Democrats trying to plot their return from the wilderness, Lakoff has taken on almost mythic status. And that?s probably not a good thing. While... more Posted on March 1, 2005 \| Comments (4)

	Less Than the Sum of Our Parts As Democrats wallow in the mire of Tuesday's electoral devastation, many are looking for silver linings in the clouds of the Republican trouncing. From record turnout, new voter registration, impressive fundraising, and the proliferation of liberal 527's, many progressives are finding solace. Comforting as that might be during this time of mourning for progressives, this search for palliatives misses the real point of Tuesday's disaster and obscures the hard work we have to do. That is, Democrats fundamentally have neither... more Posted on November 4, 2004 \| Comments (1)

	Five Lessons Learned: The Donkey Gets Its Ass Kicked While the Ohio saga may linger for some days, it's abundantly clear that the Democrats have suffered a devastating defeat. Bush has his mandate, the GOP owns Congress and the governorships, and the Supreme Court is only a matter of time. Let the recriminations begin. Progressives will no doubt cite a host of factors, from Kerry's wooden personality, the unshakable flip-flopper label, the Swift Boat slanders, "voted for it before I voted against it", among others. But these are questions... more Posted on November 3, 2004 \| Comments (29)