Kmareka Headlines: June 6, 2007

Ron Paul on Jon Stewart: Republican Man of Principle If you don’t know who Ron Paul is, it might be time to find out. He’s one of the most vocal Republican critics of the President’s fiscal as well as military policies, and he’s running for President. Sheldon’s for Hillary — Whitehouse Picks [...]

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WINGNUTIA IS TARGETING REPUBLICAN BUSH
SUPPORTERS-- FOR EXTINCTION

As you know, the extreme end of the Republican base-- what the Greed-wing calls the "Know Nothings"-- are having a fit over Bush's immigration bill and, along with Tancredo, are threatening to sabotage the re-election campaigns of any Republican who votes in favor of Bush's bill. Their tactics are beginning to work as former supports have been peeled away one by one from some of the amendments. Saxby Chamberpot (R-GA), who not only has the hard-core right of his party boo-ing and hissing at him at his own state convention, but now has a Democratic opponent to the right of him on several issues, particularly immigration, was the first to abandon the Good Ship McCain/Bush. Judd Gregg (R-NH), who was called out big time last night at the GOP "debate," also ran off with his tail between his legs (taking Sununu with him).

Today there were two votes that the xenophobes were watching closely. One was the Cornyn Amendment, designed to derail the whole project. Most of the Democrats were joined by the few remaining Bush loyalists to defeat Cornyn's bill. These Republicans are all marked for political extermination by the extreme right:
Richard Lugar (IN)
Poor crazy old Pete Domenici (NM)
already loathed Chuck Hagel (NE)
lately fallen from grace Jon Kyl (AZ)
never trusted Snarlin' Arlen (PA)
almost as untrusted George Voinovich (OH)
closet queen Larry Craig (ID)
closet queen and McCain cabinet hopeful/mini-me Lindsey Graham (SC)
Mel Martinez (FL)
John McCain (AZ)

And Coburn didn't vote, which has them pissed off. Those are the ones who they're really going to go after. (I just heard Lou Dobbs running his mouth about it too.) But some of the wingnuts also are calling for jihad against Republicans who voted for a Kennedy amendment that they say gives cover to what they call "amnesty supporters." The Republicans in this crowd include some who are precariously facing their constituents next November and desperately need every wingnut vote they can get. Aside from the ones mentioned above, this batch includes:
Norm Coleman (MN)
Susan Collins (ME)
Lisa Murkowski (AK)
Olympia Snowe (ME)
Ted Stevens (AK)
John Warner (VA)

Oh, and speaking of Dobbs, he just announced that 97% of the people taking part in his CNN poll today disagreed with senators like McCain who are trying to create conventional wisdom that says "this flawed immigration bill is better than no bill." A more serious poll by Rasmussen is also bad news for Bush and McCain.

Public support for the Senate immigration reform bill has slipped a bit over the past week. A Rasmussen Reports poll conducted Monday and Tuesday night found that just 23% of voters now support the bill while 50% are opposed. Last week, 26% supported the Senate bill while 48% were opposed.

In the face of public opposition, some supporters of the legislation have argued that the compromise may not be perfect but doing something is better than doing nothing. Voters have a different view--a solid plurality believes it would be better for the country to pass no bill at this time rather than letting the Senate compromise become law.

Forty-nine percent (49%) of voters prefer no bill over the Senate bill. Just 32% prefer the legislative compromise over inaction.

For those in Congress who believe that passing the Senate bill will get the issue behind them, the data suggests otherwise.

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http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2007/06/wingnutia-is-targeting-republican-bus
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U.S. Iraq Ambassador Ryan Crocker: I Dont See An
End Game In Sight

In recent days, the White House has begun a public campaign to rally the American public around “a lengthy U.S. troop presence in Iraq like the one in South Korea,” where U.S. troops have been stationed for 50 years. President Bush offered the Iraq-South Korea comparison late last month, and Press Secretary Tony Snow confirmed [...]

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http://thinkprogress.org/2007/06/06/crocker-iraq-end-game/

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William The Bloody Kristol pouts over Bushs lack
of loyalty

The Weekly Standard:Will Bush pardon Libby? Apparently not–even if it means a man who worked closely with him and sought tirelessly to do what was right for the country goes to prison. Bush spokeswoman Dana Perino, noting that the appeals process was underway, said, “Given that and in keeping with what we [...]

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http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/06/06/william-the-bloody-kristol-pouts-over-bu
shs-lack-of-loyalty/

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Hysteria!!!!!

Occurring so close in time to our little episode in Joan Crawford-style mania and given the regularity of similar events, it amazes more with every day that passes that anyone in this country manages to get a damned thing done:

ASHLAND -- In a scene reminiscent of the Cartoon Network bomb scare that paralyzed the Boston area in January, police shut down a strip mall yesterday in this small western suburb after employees at a Bank of America branch mistook a botched fax for a bomb threat.

Frustrated shop owners said the branch overreacted to the strange fax, which turned out to be an in-house marketing document sent by the bank's corporate office.

"The women at the bank should have handled it a little better," said Nick Markos, owner of Townhouse Pizza and Roast Beef, who estimated that he had lost $1,000 to $1,200 because of the lunch-hour evacuation. "She blew it all out of proportion, and all of us business owners had to pay for it."

A day-care center with about 30 children and more than a dozen small businesses in Ledgemere Plaza on Eliot Street were evacuated for about three hours after bank branch managers received a fax with images of a crude timer and a hand lighting a bomb, Ashland police Chief Scott Rohmer said. Bank employees told police a suspicious package had arrived around the same time, elevating their fears.

Bank security personnel later determined that a fax machine at the corporate office left off the text alerting employees to Small Business Commitment Week in June, including the words, "The Countdown Begins," above the bomb.

"It was not a communication that was ever meant to be distributed to customers or anyone externally, and the fax machine malfunctioned, so when it came out of the fax machine, it looked suspicious," Bank of America spokesman Ernesto Anguilla said.

Anguilla said that branches across the Northeast received the distorted fax and that while other branches also evacuated, none saw law enforcement response as extensive as in Ashland.

Via, and speaking of getting things done, the same site also points to this very useful productivity blog.

I second that. Just make sure that whatever it is you do, it isn't GETTING HYSTERICAL.

Thank you for your attention.

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http://powerofnarrative.blogspot.com/2007/06/hysteria.html

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Senator Cheney

It may be a little hasty and perhaps even ghoulish to talk about the politics surrounding the death of Wyoming Republican Senator Craig Thomas, but given the fact that a replacement for Thomas will be chosen in the next two to three weeks and the[...]

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our own Jessica Valenti on Colbert

Just in case you missed it, here's Jessica, summarizing feminism and charming Colbert--five minutes to make you proud to be a feminist.

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Bush losing support from GOP base, which explains
why GOP Prez candidates are distancing themselves

As we gleefully noted this morning, George Bush took a beating from the GOP candidates last night. Republicans tend to stick together -- even in the bad times. But, it starts to make sense with the revelations that Bush is losing support from the GOP base -- including the coveted "white evangelical Protestants." Now, that would be the base that Bush and Karl Rove worked so hard to please for the past six years. But, they're not happy with their President these days.

Via Froomkin:

A new poll by the Pew Research Center finds Bush's approval rating at an all-time low of 29 percent. Furthermore, Pew reports: "For the first time in Pew Research Center polling, disapproval of President Bush's job performance outnumbers approval by more than two-to-one (61% disapprove, 29% approve). Bush's job approval is down six points from April, and is three points below the previous low measured in November and December of 2006.

"The decline in Bush's support is most notable among Republicans. Just under two-thirds (65%) of Republicans approve of the President's performance today, down from 77% in April. This drop is apparent among both the conservative and moderate wings of the party. The proportion of conservative Republicans giving a positive rating declined 12 points to an all-time low of 74%. The proportion of moderate and liberal Republicans giving a positive rating fell 11 points (to 52%), also an all-time low."

Even white evangelical Protestants are now as likely to disapprove of Bush as approve.

And there's this tidbit from Political Wire:

From the latest Evans-Novak Political Report: "Just when it seemed that President George W. Bush's stock could go no lower with his political base, he dropped down a little more with the sentencing of Scooter Libby. Bush's reluctance to pardon Libby compares with his stubborn support of Atty. Gen. Alberto Gonzales. It is hard to exaggerate the extent of Republican discontent with the President."

We started to see some of that Republican discontent last night from the GOP candidates. The GOP base was like Bush's protective political shield. If he can't rely on them, he's really got no friends.

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Americablog/~3/122726246/bush-losing-support-from-
gop-base-which.html

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Faith

Ross writes: I understand that atheists and agnostics have a vested interest in arguing that all religious beliefs are equally absurd - that there's no difference between believing n the God of Abraham and the flying spaghetti monster, say, or...[...]

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http://ezraklein.typepad.com/blog/2007/06/faith.html

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Reality on Planet Broder

Atrios puts things as succinctly as possible:

It was six months ago today that the all-important Iraq Study Group report was released. For a meditation on its importance, I give you Dean Broder:

Whatever the final impact of the Iraq Study Group report being issued today, for the 10 commission members this was an exhilarating experience, a demonstration of genuine bipartisanship that they hope will serve as an example to the broader political world.

He later wrote:

Bush will reject it at his peril.

And then after Bush rejected it, wrote:

It may seem perverse to suggest that, at the very moment the House of Representatives is repudiating his policy in Iraq, President Bush is poised for a political comeback. But don't be astonished if that is the case.

Since its release, approximately 585 US troops have died.

And, of course, people without their heads up their luncheon club asses are not astonished to learn that Bush's "political comeback" has instead turned into his lowest approval ratings ever.

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http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/122649130/6413

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