Orwell missed the date...

but only by 20 years.

Zogby

Some of the best news yet...

"The post convention bounce for Bush is over and his biggest hurdle is among undecided voters who give him a 31 percent positive job performance rating and a 69 percent negative rating. Only 13 percent of undecided voters feel that the president deserves re-election (his lowest yet)."

Thanks to Liberal Oasis for finding this.

Was Bush wired?

I stayed away from the "Bush was wired" story from the first debate because it seemed ridiculous and a low blow. I still think it's unlikely, but this Salon story makes it sound more credible.

Quote of the Day

From Just My 2, A blog that used the same template as me....

"Al Gore has described these presidential debates as a job interview with the American people," Cheney said. "I've learned over the years that when somebody embellishes their resume in a job interview, you don't hire them."

Cheney lied in his interview. Let's fire him.

Ann Coulter

Because women can be douchebags too.

An arrest in the Plame affair...

Here's the info. Why Judith Miller and not Robert Novak instead?

The Bush Administration is Unraveling

Frank Rich at the New York Times has some good thoughts about why the Bush Administration is looking more and more unnerved. It's happening to Cheney. It's happening to Condi. And it's happening, most of all, to little 43.

Bush can't live up to his father, who in turn, couldn't live up to his father. And this is making Bush mad. Real mad. He can't control his own spin. No one else in the administration seems to be doing anything to help.

After 4 years of having the media in the palm of their hands, their game isn't working anymore. And worse, for them, the anger is showing, and it's not flattering.

Did I mention Cheney is a liar?

Just in case you forgot, here.

Let the disenfranchisement begin...

From Michigan.

UPDATE: South Dakota, too.

And thoughts from New York Times.

Dubya stands for Wimp

From MSNBC:

Bush even offered an explanation for the scowls and grimaces he displayed during the presidential debate last week in Miami when Kerry criticized nearly every action the president has taken on national security, taxes, education and health care.

“You hear all that, you can understand why somebody would make a face,” the president said.

Nice try, Wimp.

Good day for Democrats....

Look. No WMD. We already knew that. Bush (sort of) admits that. But it's good for that to be in the headlines the day after the VP debate. It fits into the "Cheney is a pathological liar" story.

We are winning the post debate spin war too. Cheney met Edwards at least three times before the debate and has only presided over the Senate on 2 Tuesdays (he might go to Reupublican Caucus meetings more than that, which Edwards wouldn't have attended). Even better, Edwards has presided over the Senate on as many Tuesdays as Cheney. Hillary Clinton has presided more often than Cheney.

Throw this into the pot with Cheney's whopper about never claiming a connection between Al Qaeda and Iraq, and bring to a boil. Lets get Cheney like the Repubs got Gore in 2000.

The $200 billion pricetag

Pandagon has the best take I've seen on this one.

In defense of Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

So I made a simple rule for myself that I would only use this blog to expose the truth about the Bush administration and its allies, at least until after the election. I have no intention to use this to talk about entertainment or sports or anything else, at least until November 3rd.

I'm about to write about NASCAR. A sport I don't even watch. But bear with me. I'll bring this back around to bash Bush by the end.

Before I get to NASCAR, and as long as I'm off topic, I want to give a shout out to my St. Louis Cardinals who kicked some Dodger ass yesterday.

OK. NASCAR. So Dale Earnhardt, Jr. gets fined $10,000 for saying "shit" on tv. Here is the context. "It don't mean shit right now. Daddy's won here 10 times," he says, speaking of his victory at Talladega Superspeedway.

Come on. $10,000? For a word everyone's heard before? Yeah, I'm sorry kids had to hear it and I suppose it's not appropriate for a family atmosphere. But $10,000? Geez. It's pretty clear it's something Dale said in the heat of the moment of victory with no malicious intent.

Not only that, but he lost 25 Nextel Cup points, which (I don't know much about NASCAR) apparently might cause him to lose the Cup after a few more races when the winner is determined. For saying "shit," he might lose the big prize? As I said, I don't follow NASCAR, but I do believe in the integrity of sports, and believe winners should be determined by competition, not by events off the field.

Here's where I bring it back to Bush: It's obvious that this is an extension of "Nipplegate." NASCAR never would have instituted the fines if the administration hadn't pushed for ridiculous FCC fines after the Super Bowl. It's also clear that this administration could give a rat's ass about free speech. Look at the Patriot Act. Look at "Free Speech Zones" at all the president's public appearances. Look at Howard Stern.

The administration is obviously afraid that free speech will lead to questioning of their policies. This is why they hold so few press conferences. This is why they crack down on who's allowed to get into their own campaign events. This is why ridiculous rules about "no direct questions" were written into the debate rules. In the first debate, when Kerry was able to put him on the defensive anyway, it's clear Bush has no answers, which is why he goes through such pains to stifle the questions. And equate people who question his policies with terrorists.

Given what's going on in Iraq, it's sometimes easy to forget what's happening to civil liberties at home. We need to remember what's happening here as well.

Edwards vs. Predator, I mean Cheney

No knockout punches thrown. It was pretty much a draw. It might be spun as a Cheney win because the media likes to be perceived as "fair," and declaring Cheney the winner sort of balances out the Bush train wreck last week. And I will concede that Edwards could have done some things better.

But, Cheney made alot of goofs. Lets start with the big one...

"I have not suggested there's a connection between Iraq and 9/11."

Kos has the goods on this one. I say the DNC should use Cheney's debate quote and the Meet the Press footage in an ad.

The next one... Cheney claims he never met Edwards before the debate. Thanks again to Kos, there's a photo to suggest otherwise.

Next up... Factcheck.com. I'm sure George Soros is glad that Cheney is pushing his anti-Bush message, too. Cheney probably meant to point people to Factcheck.org, a website that I can't get through to at the moment, but had a story about Bush's misleading statements about Kerry's health plan last night. Brilliant, Cheney, Brilliant.

Those are the doozies, but there are other issues....

Why didn't Cheney say a word about Israel when this was a direct question during the debate?
How does he defend the President's support of a Federal Marraige Amendment when he says himself that states should make the decisions?
Why didn't he respond adequately to questions about Halliburton?
Why the hell are higher aspirations a hindrance to the vice presidency? Did he support George Bush as vice president under Reagan?

That's a start. I might have more later.

Rumsfeld

Liar. Atrios caught him red-handed.

O'Reilly. Flip Flopper.

Media Matters has the goods.

UPDATE: O'Reilly another fun O'Reilly story from Media Matters today... He takes a cheap shot at the French and belittles Clinton's diplomatic skills all in one shot.

Wolfowitz on Cheney...

This really bothers me. From the Washington Post:

• Glad we cleared that up: In its November issue, Esquire magazine poses the question all of Washington demands an answer to: Is Dick Cheney a neoconservative? "No," Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz tells the mag. "Cheney can't be a neocon. He isn't Jewish."

This isn't the first I've heard of the assertion that neo-cons have to be Jewish, but it bothers me alot. I'm Jewish. I hate neo-cons. And I don't want Wolfowitz making any more stupid quotes like this that might be misinterpreted to imply that us Jews are inherently warmongerers. It doesn't surprise me if Wolfowitz is a religious zealot. But I don't want him bringing religion into the public sphere, especially if it's going to bring any sort of ill will toward the rest of the Jewish community.

Because I'm not Drudge....

I'll give you a correction. Looks like Scalia might not be the orgy boy we once imagined.

Paul Bremer....

seems to think Bush botched the war in Iraq. What's he trying to say? Bush didn't think this through? Bremer says we didn't have enough troops to secure the peace, and this has led to violence and looting.

But don't you see, Bremer? We had plenty of troops to secure the oil.

A little more about Poland

They're withdrawing their troops. Bush will try to blame this on Kerry. Would they leave the coalition if Kerry hadn't forgotten them?

Look at this map....

and ask yourself.... why is Bush so optimistic?

Here it is. Thank you, Rising Hegemon.

Gallup poll... dead heat

The Gallup poll, as you may know, now has the race at a dead heat.

Also of siginficance, Bush's approval rating is about to slip below 50% once again, and his DISapproval rating has climbed to 48%.

Click here for more.