The Official "COUNTDOWN TO THE END OF THE NIGHTMARE" Thread

[BroncoBuff]

50 ...

[ClevelandBronco]

I'm guessing days until the election.

[Atlas]

Hopefully we'll have a bunch new Congressmen and Senators when all is said and done.

[Spider]

I just hope we elect good Democrats , not a bunch of spineless shít heels ......
I do like Webb running against Allen , thats a tough Democrat .......
thats what we need old fashion hard assed Dems .........

[W*GS]

Given the incumbent re-election rates, it's unlikely that more than a handful of seats will change hands from one party to the other.

[Crushaholic]

W*GS is right about the incumbent rate. All you Democrats who are hoping for a change should wait until 2008. There is much more of a chance the next president will be Democrat than Congress.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

There is much more of a chance the next president will be Democrat than Congress.

If the Dems don't take back both houses in November it will be more a result of the usual republican swift boating and dirty trickery than an expression of the will of the people. All you have to do is look at the polls indicating that the majority trust the Dems over the republic-cons on practically every issue of importance to the average voter.

[epicSocialism4tw]

If the Dems don't take back both houses in November it will be more a result of the usual republican swift boating and dirty trickery than an expression of the will of the people. All you have to do is look at the polls indicating that the majority trust the Dems over the republic-cons on practically every issue of importance to the average voter.

LABF, can you personally tell us how dirty trickery led to the current situation in the houses without adding a conspiracy theory?

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

LABF, can you personally tell us how dirty trickery led to the current situation in the houses without adding a conspiracy theory?

That would be a challenge insofar as a "conspiracy theory" = "any presentation of information that deviates from the BushCo-sanctioned version of events or WH script" where you're concerned.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

But, as always, I'll oblige you anyway...

They Died So Republicans Could Take the Senate

Richard Nixon authorized the Watergate burglary and subsequent cover-up to advance his own political ambitions. Because Nixon's lies were done for the craven purpose of getting and holding political power, his lies - in the minds of the majority of the members of Congress - were elevated to the level of impeachable "high crimes and misdemeanors."

Bill Clinton had sex in the White House with Monica Lewinsky, but Congress concluded he'd lied about it to maintain political power. Another impeachable crime.

The real scandal of the Downing Street Memos, with the greatest potential to leave the Bush presidency in permanent disgrace, is their implication that lies may have been put forward to help Bush, Republicans, and Blair politically. If Bush lied to gain and keep political power, precedent suggests he and his collaborators in the administration may even be vulnerable to impeachment.

Conservatives say the Bush claims of WMD and "mushroom clouds" were a "lie of ignorance." Condoleezza Rice periodically does the talk-show circuit and repeats the "lie of ignorance" myth. "The entire world thought Saddam had WMD," she and other Bush representatives suggest over and over again. "We had bad intelligence."

This is a lie to cover up a more damaging lie. "The entire world" was, in fact, watching and listening to Hans Blix, who was telling us that he couldn't find any evidence of WMD - or any other sort of threat - in Iraq. Most of our allies were convinced that Saddam did not have WMD, or that if he did have some small stockpiles left they were so insignificant and degraded that they were irrelevant. This is why the only permanent member of the UN Security Council to join us in attacking Iraq was Blair's UK: China, France, and Russia didn't believe Iraq represented a threat to them, to us, or even to its neighbors.

Nonetheless, Bush keeps trying to push this lie-to-cover-up-a-lie. In his June 19, 2005 radio address, he suggested that the Saudis who flew the planes into the World Trade Center were actually Iraqis. "We went to war because we were attacked," he said, hoping Americans' memories are short.

US media pundits, knowing the "WMD lie" and the "Saddam attacked us" lie for what they are, mostly suggest that Bush's use of WMD and terrorism to justify invading Iraq was a "lie of convenience." The implicit assumption is that Bush did this because of a "greater good"; that even though he lied, he was doing so to advance America's interests. This helps pundits to feel like they're part of an in-crowd elite who know what's best for America, even if they can't tell the children - er - citizens.

The "lie of convenience" is based on the neocon argument that the US needed a "footprint" in the Middle East to both secure our oil supplies and provide military security to Israel. But it ignores the many nations in the region where we now have military bases (some huge), the power and ability of our navy, and the power of Israel's military. And it doesn't explain how our getting bogged down in Iraq could possibly advance our interests at home or around the world.

Often included in the "lie of convenience" mix is the PNAC suggestion that for America to be safe, we must forcefully project military power all over the world and hold decisive control of the world's largest oil supplies. This flies in the face of most of America's history, starting with George Washington's farewell address warning against "foreign entanglements." It's not only un-American, but is the assumption used throughout history to justify empires, and in every single case has ended up bleeding dry those empires, consigning them to painful contraction or total collapse.

And neither the "lie of convenience" nor the "lie of ignorance" were demonstrably the reasons why Bush invaded Iraq.

So why then did George W. Bush lie us into invading and occupying Iraq?

We know that Bush wanted to massively cut taxes on his corporate sponsors and people, like himself, with substantial inherited fortunes. He wanted to weaken government protections of the environment, children, the poor, the elderly, the ozone layer, and our nation's forests. He wanted his oil-rig and mining-interest friends to have more access to public lands.

We know he wanted to undo Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal by stripping the American workplace (particularly government and schools) of unions, rolling back "socialist" unemployment and Social Security programs, and eliminating SEC and tort restraints on predatory corporate behavior. He'd even campaigned on this platform - particularly Social Security privatization - back in 1978 when he unsuccessfully ran for Congress from Texas.

We know he wanted to increase the police power of the federal government, gut the First and Fourth Amendments, and thus create a "safe and orderly nation" of people under constant surveillance, who never question those in power.

We know he wanted to give billions of our tax dollars to churches he approved of, and bring their leaders into the halls of government. He wanted to pass laws incorporating religious dogma about when human life begins, what is appropriate sexuality, and free churches to use tax-exempt dollars to influence politics.

It was an ambitious agenda. In order to bring about this neoconservative paradise, Bush knew he'd need considerable political capital. And that kind of capital didn't come from his being selected as President by the Supreme Court.

Such political capital - such raw political power - would only come, he believed, by his becoming a "war president."

Bush wasn't the first to realize how war strengthened a president in power, although the Founders saw it as a danger rather than an opportunity.

On April 20, 1795, James Madison wrote, "Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes. And armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few."

Reflecting on war's impact on the Executive Branch of government, Madison continued his letter about the dangerous and intoxicating power of war for a president.

"In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive [President] is extended," he wrote. "Its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force of the people. The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war...and in the degeneracy of manners and morals, engendered by both.

"No nation," he concluded, "could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare."

But freedom wasn't the goal of George W. Bush or his neoconservative Republican colleagues. It was political power. And they were willing to lie us into a war to achieve it.

Writer Russ Baker noted in October, 2004, that Mickey Herskowitz, the man Bush had originally hired to write his autobiography ("A Charge To Keep: My Journey To The White House"), told Baker that George Bush was planning his Iraq invasion - to seize and hold political power for himself and the Republican Party - during his first presidential election campaign.

"He was thinking about invading Iraq in 1999," Herskowitz told Baker. "It was on his mind. He [Bush] said to me: 'One of the keys to being seen as a great leader is to be seen as a commander-in-chief.' And he said, 'My father had all this political capital built up when he drove the Iraqis out of Kuwait and he wasted it.' He said, 'If I have a chance to invade, if I had that much capital, I'm not going to waste it. I'm going to get everything passed that I want to get passed and I'm going to have a successful presidency."

Bush lied, and Americans died. And continue to die. But politically - at least so far - it has worked out well for Bush.

It was a lie of political expediency, with the war resolution carefully timed just before the 2002 elections to help the Republicans take back the Senate.

It was echoed and amplified and repeated over and over again to help him and other Republicans get elected in 2004.

It wasn't a war for oil - cheap oil was just a useful secondary benefit.

It wasn't a war against terrorism - that was just a convenient excuse.

It wasn't a war to enrich Bush's and Cheney's cronies - those were just pleasant by-products.

It wasn't a war to show Poppy Bush that Junior was more of a man than him - that was just a personal bonus for Dubya.

It was, pure and simple, well planned years in advance, a war to solidify Bush and the Republican Party's political capital.

It was a war for political power. That had to be first. Everything else - oil, profits, ongoing PATRIOT Act powers, easy manipulation of the media - all could only come if political power was seized and held through at least two decisive election cycles.

The Bush administration lied us into an invasion to get and keep political power. It's that simple.

The same reason Richard Nixon authorized Watergate and then lied about the cover-up. The same reason Nixon lied about his "secret plan" to get out of Vietnam.

When Americans - and the US media - finally realize that Bush's lie was just to get "political capital," to increase the "discretionary power of the President" so he could undo Roosevelt's New Deal and seal power across all three branches of government for his Party, they will turn on him and his Republican co-conspirators.

If it comes out in the open before the election of 2006, Republicans could even lose the House and the Senate, which would virtually guarantee investigations of the many other crimes of the Bush administration. (For example, "bribery" is one of two crimes cited in the Constitution as grounds for impeachment - and the Big Pharma/Medicaid and Big Tobacco/lawsuit settlement cases may qualify.)

Probably the only two things that could slow down the American electorate's growing realization of the magnitude and horror of Bush's political lies would be another attack on America or a new Bush-led war into Syria, Iran, or North Korea.

Bush has already shown, by lying us into Iraq, that he's at least capable of the latter. As Jefferson wrote in a letter to James Madison on February 8th 1776, "It should ever be held in mind that insult and war are the consequences of a lack of respectability in the national character."

And already the cons are working the talk-show circuit, threatening the US with a new attack, and recommending we strike now at Iran or Syria. "Be afraid. Be aggressive. Give us more political power."

But if Jefferson was right when he said that the best defense of democracy was an informed electorate, there is still a small window of opportunity for the American press to do the job they've been so carefully avoiding these past five years.

Instead of just reporting that the Downing Street Minutes and memos exist, they can highlight them against the timeline of Bush repeatedly lying during those days before the war. They can quote him saying that he had no plans for war, was working toward peace, and only wanted Congressional authorization to avoid a war, and point out that this was all after - months after - his administration had told the British that war was a sure thing.

Lying, in other words, to get us to go along with an invasion that would cement in Republican control of the Congress and the White House, and, thus, also the courts. Lying for nothing more than "political capital."

Let us hope our Fourth Estate is up to the task.

- Thom Hartmann

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0620-22.htm

[BroncoBuff]

http://img362.imageshack.us/img362/8274/numberpw9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)








..

[BroncoBuff]

But, as always, I'll oblige you anyway...

They Died So Republicans Could Take the Senate

Richard Nixon authorized the Watergate burglary and subsequent cover-up to advance his own political ambitions. Because Nixon's lies were done for the craven purpose of getting and holding political power, his lies - in the minds of the majority of the members of Congress - were elevated to the level of impeachable "high crimes and misdemeanors."

Let us hope our Fourth Estate is up to the task.

- Thom Hartmann

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0620-22.htm

What a great article ... I was engrossed. Then I saw "Thom Hartmann."

a-HA!

Listen to him every day. Smartest man in all of the media imo.

Can't say I have much appetite for the "impeachment bandwagon," though ... I don't mind the process ... but what if it actually succeeds?


... President :devil: ?!

[W*GS]

If the Dems don't take back both houses in November it will be more a result of the usual republican swift boating and dirty trickery than an expression of the will of the people. All you have to do is look at the polls indicating that the majority trust the Dems over the republic-cons on practically every issue of importance to the average voter.

There's a difference between the Democrats-in-general and the specific candidate each of us could vote for - the people-as-a-whole may trust the Democrats-as-a-whole more, but the individual candidates may not get enough votes in their races to win.

Get it?

[bendog]

I thought this was about bushii's terms. The 90s seemed like a blur. This is a visit to the dentist. It's not all bad, cause I thought seeing my kid grow would be a blur, and it has been sort of. Anything to make the time last longer is a good, in a way.

[Crushaholic]

I made it through 8 years of Clinton, so you guys can make it through 8 years of Bush. I know you can do it...:thumbsup:

[Bronco_Beerslug]

I made it through 8 years of Clinton, so you guys can make it through 8 years of Bush. I know you can do it...:thumbsup:We might but thousands of Americans haven't with thousands more maimed for life.

[BroncoBuff]

It's not all bad, cause I thought seeing my kid grow would be a blur, and it has been sort of. Anything to make the time last longer is a good, in a way.

That is FANTASTIC, dog!

Talk about finding an honest-to-goodnes silver lining ... "this nighmare dragging on and on - taking forever - has a silver lining of there seeming to be more time to watch my kid grow."

Freaking priceless! You are hereby awarded the "FIRST ANNUAL OrangeMane DALE CARNEGIE AWARD" for making the best out of a bad situation ... CONGRATULATIONS!
http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/2726/orangemanesmallbb5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[BroncoBuff]

I made it through 8 years of Clinton, so you guys can make it through 8 years of Bush. I know you can do it...:thumbsup:

You're truly sight-impaired if you think these are somehow equivalent experiences ...

You should start a 'short-bus rider' thread.

[ant1999e]

If the Dems don't take back both houses in November it will be more a result of the usual republican swift boating and dirty trickery than an expression of the will of the people. All you have to do is look at the polls indicating that the majority trust the Dems over the republic-cons on practically every issue of importance to the average voter.

Already making up excuses for your failure. Thats funny. Maybe if you guys come up with some solutions instead of just pointing the finger it would help you.

[ant1999e]

You're truly sight-impaired if you think these are somehow equivalent experiences ...

You should start a 'short-bus rider' thread.

Personal attacks. Real mature. :thumbs:

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Already making up excuses for your failure. Thats funny.

Already making excuses for your party's electoral dirty tricks, eh?

Wait - you've been doing that since 2000.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

We might but thousands of Americans haven't with thousands more maimed for life.

Yep.

Funny how he overlooked this critical distinction, isn't it?

[BroncoBuff]

Personal attacks. Real mature. :thumbs:

Well, if the bus fits .... ;D





























http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/7021/numberam9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[ClevelandBronco]

Well, if the bus fits .... ;D





























http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/7021/numberam9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Do we really have to suffer through the parade of fonts and the colors? Isn't it enough that we'll just give up a few seats?

A peaceful transfer of power is one thing. Needless visual assualt is just beyond the pale...

[fido]

What a great article ... I was engrossed. Then I saw "Thom Hartmann."

a-HA!

Listen to him every day. Smartest man in all of the media imo.

Can't say I have much appetite for the "impeachment bandwagon," though ... I don't mind the process ... but what if it actually succeeds?


... President :devil: ?!

that would put cheney in.......

:flush:

[BroncoBuff]

Do we really have to suffer through the parade of fonts and the colors? Isn't it enough that we'll just give up a few seats?

A peaceful transfer of power is one thing. Needless visual assualt is just beyond the pale...

If you don't like it, then why did you repeat by quoting me? :ouwknow:

Allright, I'll grant you the "48" was a bit too large, but .... how about this? A day early, but I think we can all agree ....



http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/589/47zi4.jpg (http://imageshack.us) . . .

[ClevelandBronco]

If you don't like it, then why did you repeat by quoting me? :ouwknow:

Allright, I'll grant you the "48" was a bit too large, but .... how about this? A day early, but I think we can all agree ....



http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/589/47zi4.jpg (http://imageshack.us) . . .

47 days until the "Lynch"ing?

[Crushaholic]

The bad thing is that we might have to put these people counting on a major change in Congress on suicide watch in 48 days. I know I'm Republican, but I've looked at this objectively and I honestly don't see the Democrats uniting to win back the Capitol. Who knows? We'll see if they are serious about it this next month...

[alkemical]

X amount of days till the next crook comes in.

[BroncoBuff]

I've looked at this objectively and I honestly don't see the Democrats uniting to win back the Capitol. Who knows? We'll see if they are serious about it this next month...

‹(•¿•)› ?!?!


You "looked at this objectively"?! The Chris Matthews Show "Matthews Meter" - a poll of 12 of their broad spectrum of panelists - ran 11-1 that the Dems get the House back. Even the mental patient Sean Hannity has basically acknowledged this. The House is a faite accompli, friend ...

The Senate appears doubtful, though. 'Maccaca' is still ahead of Jim Webb in Virginia despite clear evidence that he's a racist ... and even the lunatic 'Stepford-Senator' Rick Santorum appears to be catching up to his challenger. And despite what you've heard about Ned Lamont, it's a longshot he'll beat Lieberman in November.



PLEASE NOTE:

The program, "COUNTDOWN with BRONCOBUFF" has gotten ahead of itself (I wonder why? )

"47" applies to this WEDNESDAY, 9/20. So there will be no "46" until Thursday. Sorry about that. See the cashier on your way out for your refund.





.

[alkemical]

santorum = greg stillman (book/movie/tv show - deadzone)

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

The bad thing is that we might have to put these people counting on a major change in Congress on suicide watch in 48 days. I know I'm Republican, but I've looked at this objectively and I honestly don't see the Democrats uniting to win back the Capitol. Who knows? We'll see if they are serious about it this next month...

I'm not counting on squat.

I agree with you: I don't see much evidence that the Dems want to win. They're too afraid of offending someone to act like an opposition party.

[bronco610]

I dont want dem. or rep. they are all crooks. Any body who thinks this 2 party system of the good ol boy networks is going to fix the problems in America is dreaming.

[BroncoBuff]

Any body who thinks this 2 party system of the good ol boy networks is going to fix the problems in America is dreaming.

The U.S. political system is not Baskin-Robbins ... but at least we can choose between Chocolate and Vanilla.










(the Democrats are chocolate)

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Major Problems At Polls Feared

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/16/AR2006091600885.html

By Dan Balz and Zachary A. Goldfarb
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, September 17, 2006; Page A01

An overhaul in how states and localities record votes and administer elections since the Florida recount battle six years ago has created conditions that could trigger a repeat -- this time on a national scale -- of last week's Election Day debacle in the Maryland suburbs, election experts said.

In the Nov. 7 election, more than 80 percent of voters will use electronic voting machines, and a third of all precincts this year are using the technology for the first time. The changes are part of a national wave, prompted by the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002 and numerous revisions of state laws, that led to the replacement of outdated voting machines with computer-based electronic machines, along with centralized databases of registered voters and other steps to refine the administration of elections.

But in Maryland last Tuesday, a combination of human blunders and technological glitches caused long lines and delays in vote-counting. The problems, which followed ones earlier this year in Ohio, Illinois and several other states, have contributed to doubts among some experts about whether the new systems are reliable and whether election officials are adequately prepared to use them.

In a polarized political climate, in which elections are routinely marked by litigation and allegations of incompetent administration or outright tampering, some worry that voting problems could cast a Florida-style shadow over this fall's midterm elections.

Continued at link

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

And somehow, the glitches will all favor Republicans.

Just by chance. Coincidence. Nothing to see here citizen.

What are you doing here?

Go away now.

You aren't supposed to be here.

[bronco610]

The U.S. political system is not Baskin-Robbins ... but at least we can choose between Chocolate and Vanilla.







(the Democrats are chocolate)

So Buff Ive been reading your posts for some time and it does seem that you know your political abc's. I just want one person to tell me how voting democrat across the board is going to fix our jobs, crime, and family values better than the republicans or vice versa.

[ClevelandBronco]

I doubt this will really play into the midterms, but:

http://www.galluppoll.com/content/?ci=24601

Bush Job Approval Up to 44%

"Highest approval rating so far this year

by Joseph Carroll

GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

PRINCETON, NJ -- A new USA Today/Gallup poll finds George W. Bush's job approval rating is now at 44%, which is an improvement compared with the public's assessment of his performance in recent months. Bush's job approval ratings have been fluid in recent weeks, measuring as high as 42% in mid-August, but dropping back to 39% earlier this month. The current 44% approval rating is his highest rating so far this year. The last time Bush's approval rating was at this level (or higher) was in late September 2005, when 45% of Americans approved of Bush. In recent months, Bush's approval ratings have hovered around 40%, fluctuating between 36% and 42% from June through early September."

Check the link for the rest of the story, if you're so inclined.

I'm not convinced that this be enough to cause LABF to refer to us as "the 44% who still support the Bush Crime Family," but he'll have to deal with it one way or another.

I'll just sit back and wait for his excuses.

I see that he's already charging that the election will be stolen. You have to love the conspiracy angle. It always plays well with certain crowds.

[BroncoBuff]

So Buff Ive been reading your posts for some time and it does seem that you know your political abc's. I just want one person to tell me how voting democrat across the board is going to fix our jobs, crime, and family values better than the republicans or vice versa.

Actually, I am NOT a "straight Democrat party line" voter 610 ... and I do not think they have all the answers. In fact, I'm on record around here believing Rudy Giuliani would be a good president, and that there are few if any greater living Americans than Colin Powell.

This "COUNTDOWN" is not to the end of 'Republicans' per se, but to the end of the choking, exclusionary, unprecedented 3-way grip on the government by THESE Republicans - t h i s . p a r t i c u l a r . g r o u p - this Cheney-Bush-Feith-Wolfowitz-Rumsfeld-Rove-Libby-Addington group of Republicans - who have slashed and scythed such a wide swath of toxic damage to our nation and its interests, that it might never be healed. Imho, they are the worst, most divisive, power-mad, unaccountable, insecure, paranoid, fiscally corrupt, diplomatically inept and governmentally incompetent group ever.


ROLL CALL of FAILURES (abridged edition):


THE BUDGET FIASCO - Bush has been in 5y9m now - and his unprecedented double-majority in congress has existed for 3y9m. When Bush arrived in office, the government books actually had a BUDGET SURPLUS (left to them by whomever was in office before them ) Now? Our country has its largest budget deficit ever, and largest as % of GDP since WWII. Angry Republicans - bent on a sick 'revenge' after decades in the minority - have looted the United States treasury with an Abramoff-Delay-styled spending spree that would make even the most pampered and selfish 16 year-old gum-popping cheerleader with an no-limited platinum card set loose in the Mall of America on a long weekend blush. And Bush has done ZERO to regulate this "looting of the treasury" - he's done ZERO to protect the fiscal solvency of these United States. He did not veto the "bridge to nowhere," he did not veto the feeding frenzy of Republican 'earmark' spending - he did not veto anything except stem cell research.
FAILING TO CATCH BIN-LADEN - I wish Kerry had run on this issue to the virtual exclusion of all others. Bush's failure - a "Commander-in-Chief" type failure - to vigorously pursue the criminals who "knocked down these buildings," after he said "Dead or Alive." The failure of Bush to press and press and press in Tora Bora in Jan/Feb '02 allowed OBL to hide. Many former CIA (Roger Cressey) and military claim we couldda had him, had sufficient resources been brought to bear. If we had crushed him then and there, Al Quaeda, per se, prolly wouldda been delegated to the dustbin of history .... a flash (big flash) in the pan. But OBL survived, and is now a folk hero to a quarter of the Earth's population. Al Quada has exploded in size, and is here to stay. What a cruel irony that Bush actually benefits from mentioning 9/11. He should be impeached JUST FOR giving Osama a pass ... and he should be ashamed that we have been made impotent by failing to catch OBL ... and instead turning our attention and resources exclusively to ...
THE IRAQ WAR - Even forgetting the issues of 'doctored intelligence,' our planning for the post-war occupation was chimp-like in its ignorance to detail and shortness of attention span. Now it's a "Quagmire" ... a "Fiasco" (both titles of books about the war) that we have no clue on how to turn around. Rumsfeld listens to no man as he makes foolhardy seat-of-the-pants decisions that cost lives. Civilian war profiteering is on a staggering scale, with literally billions (much of it in cold hard cash) are missing completely. The civil unrest and lawless atmosphere is a magnet for terrorist groups - and recent reports say that western Iraq has now become a virtual terrorist training nation, no law enforcement and no government or US military precense. But rather than listen to advice and ideas on how to proceed, Bushco has committed the greatest sin of all perhaps: smearing good, couragous, knowledgable and honorable Americans like Shinseki, Jack Murtha and Max Cleland. The shame of it all.


And these are by no means just Democrat arguments ... in fact, the TOP THREE CONSERVATIVE ICONS in America agree:
George Will - In his own words, he "yells from the mountaintop" that the fiscal irresponsibility and ravenous, gluttonous appetite for pork shown by this Republican Congress "would embarrass even the most impolite barnyard gathering of hogs at the trough." - paraphrasing him from a recent "This Week."
Pat Buchanan - Has stated in no uncertain terms that the Iraqi War is the greatest American policy blunder - foreign or domestic - since WWII. (And, though a bit unrelated, has called for the impeachment of Bush for failing to maintain our nation's border integrity in his current amazon #2 bestseller "State of Emergency")
William F. Buckley - Has -ahh- generously opined, as it were, that the -ahhh- cabal in power, if you will, should best be labelled with an unique sobriquet, one that would do -ahhh- no further tarnish to the cherished appellation under which these veritable -ahhh- Republicans now assembled there-under. Seriously - he said once that this Congress and Bushco should go by a name other than "Republican".





:USA: A Graphic Representation of Recent PRESIDENTS and NEAR PRESIDENTS on a FOREIGN/DOMESTIC POLICY CONTINUUM:
http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/3814/itip1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Graphic: Insomnia Enetrprises


Ronald Reagan - Reagan would have never ever ever ever - attacked Iraq. (And we know as a FACT that Bush 41 wouldn't have either). Reagan, howver you felt about his policies, largely made Americans feel proud of themselves and proud of their country - a pride that a great many Americns (me included) have lost for the first time ever since Bush came into office. And Reagan was humble. When he found out that arms were traded for hostages, he took personal responsibility in a televised address ... (I wonder when Bush will do that) And Reagan listened to others. People all over the world respected the man. And Reagan was a leader in budget restraint. He.was.a.leader.period. His steep hikes in military spending caused moderate (in comparison) deficits, and he did invade Grenada, but he wouldda never ceded budget responsibility to an irresponsible Congress, and NEVER wouldda invaded Iraq.
Richard Nixon - By today's standards, Nixon was a democrat. Yes, that's right, a Democrat. Nixon started the food stamps program for the poor, funded NASA's space shuttle, formed the Environmental Protection Agency, and he courted the opinions, respected the ideas, and listened to the words and suggestions of opposing parties and even the least-friendly nations. He was a raging paranoid - no doubt - he was caught red-handed in illegal and abominable behavior covering up a third-rate burglary carried out by a WH-linked political hit-squad, and he caused a constitutional crisis by attempting to fire Archibald Cox, the "Patrick Fitgerald" special prosecutor who was investigating him ... but nobody died. And he did end - however criminally belatedly - the Vietnam war (after which btw - every one of his warnings came true, as the Viet Cong overran the South just as the last of our choppers left the ground). Nixon greatly respected individual rights - especially for a candidate who ran on an anti-crime platform. He routinely dialogued with the Russians (SALT was him), and he opened the door to China. BTW - a great number of Chinese still remember his trip, and formed lifelong positive feelings toward the USA because of it. Now THAT is a legacy. (If you're immediate reaction to that was to think "who cares what the Chinese think," then you are might be a George Bush styled, closed-minded, self-righteous xenophobe who believes every man woman and child on Earth is just yearning for "our brand of freedom." It DOES matter what other nations and other peoples think of us. We are all on the same planet. Somebody - I think Rohirrim - has a much more comprehensive review of why Nixon was a good president.


~

There you have it, bronco610 .... that, in a nutshell ::) ... is why I cannot WAIT until November 7. Once they are the majority party in the House, Democrat Chairpersons in every committee will finally be able to undertake the most SACRED OF ALL FUNCTIONS of the three-branch system of government put into place by our Founding Fathers .... OVERSIGHT, aka CHECKS and BALANCES. We will finally have hearings, subpoena documnets and compel testimony on a wide range of issues. Because the Republicans were in power in both chambers, they have stonewalled - refused to investigate - to OVERSEE - most of the major issues of the day: Iraq war, civilian war profiteering, torture, 9/11 refoms, Katrina, Abramoff/lobbying corruption, domestic wiretapping, Diebold election-tinkering, and on and on and on and on and on. Some may turn out like Plamegate, and not be centered in the WH. That's fine - just let the light shine!



FINALLY! There.Shall.Be.Oversight.



Sleep well, Messers Madison, Jefferson, Hamilton and Monroe ... 47 days and counting.

.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

I'm not convinced that this be enough to cause LABF to refer to us as "the 44% who still support the Bush Crime Family," but he'll have to deal with it one way or another.

I'll just sit back and wait for his excuses.

How about sitting back and waiting for some more perspective?


PRESIDENT BUSH – Overall Job Rating in recent news media/nonpartisan national polls


Survey Dates Approve Disapprove Unsure Approve minus Disapprove


.USA Today/Gallup 9/15-17/06 44 51 5 -7


FOX/Opinion Dynamics LV 9/12-13/06 40 49 10 -9


AP-Ipsos * 9/11-13/06 39 60 -21


NBC/Wall Street Journal RV 9/8-11/06 42 53 5 -11


Gallup 9/7-10/06 39 56 5 -17


Pew 9/6-10/06 37 53 10 -16


ABC 9/5-7/06 42 55 3 -13


CNN 8/30 - 9/2/06 41 55 4 -14


FOX/Opinion Dynamics RV 8/29-30/06 38 56 6 -18


Cook/RT Strategies RV 8/25-27/06 39 55 6 -16


Newsweek 8/24-25/06 36 56 8 -20


Time 8/22-24/06 38 57 6 -19


Quinnipiac RV 8/17-23/06 39 53 8 -14


CBS/New York Times 8/17-21/06 36 57 7 -21


CNN 8/18-20/06 42 57 1 -15


USA Today/Gallup 8/18-20/06 42 54 4 -12


Diageo/Hotline RV 8/17-20/06 39 58 4 -19


CBS 8/11-13/06 36 57 7 -21


Pew 8/9-13/06 37 54 9 -17


Newsweek 8/10-11/06 38 55 7 -17

http://www.pollingreport.com/BushJob.htm

Also, as of 9/19, Bush only enjoys a (very slight) positive net approval rating in five states: Idaho, Mississippi, Nebraska, Texas, and Wyoming.

http://www.surveyusa.com/50State2006/50StateBushApproval060919State.htm

I see that he's already charging that the election will be stolen. You have to love the conspiracy angle. It always plays well with certain crowds.

ROFL!

Yeah - what was I thinking? The republicans would never try to steal an election.

That court case Kathy Harris and ChoicePoint lost (the case in which these crooks admitted they illegally purged thousands of names from the voter rolls in Florida) was just a figment of our collective imagination (just the conga line of GOP crooks, e.g., DeLay, Abramoff, Libby, Cunningham, Ney, et al, we've all been watching.)

[BroncoBuff]

http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/176/numberjr5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Atlas]

http://z.about.com/d/atheism/1/7/i/0/3/Crush-Godless-Liberals-e.jpg

[BroncoBuff]

:USA: A Graphic Representation of Recent PRESIDENTS and NEAR PRESIDENTS on a FOREIGN/DOMESTIC POLICY CONTINUUM:
http://img179.imageshack.us/img179/3814/itip1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Graphic: Insomnia Enetrprises

It took me 30 minutes to create this graphic from scratch last night.
Now I want SOMEONE to say something nice about it ... RIGHT NOW! ::)

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

It took me 30 minutes to create this graphic from scratch last night.
Now I want SOMEONE to say something nice about it ... RIGHT NOW! ::)

Pure genius!

We're not worthy. :notworthy

[BroncoBuff]

Pure genius!
We're not worthy. :notworthy
FINALLY - THE ARTISTIC RECOGNITION I DESERVE!!!

... "I'd like to thank the Academy ..." ;D







http://img239.imageshack.us/img239/5315/45nw4.png (http://imageshack.us)







.

[Crushaholic]

It took me 30 minutes to create this graphic from scratch last night.
Now I want SOMEONE to say something nice about it ... RIGHT NOW! ::)

OK...how about, Kerry's not president...:thumbsup: :wiggle:

[BroncoBuff]

I said "OR NEAR-PRESIDENTS"! Uhh

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

OK...how about, Kerry's not president...:thumbsup: :wiggle:

He's probably a more legitimate president than Bush at this stage of the game.

[Crushaholic]

I said "OR NEAR-PRESIDENTS"! Uhh

I caught that. You just said to say something good about your graphic...:wave:

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

On the "COUNTDOWN TO THE END OF THE NIGHTMARE"...

The Tidal Wave Heading Straight For the Hall of Mirrors

By David Sirota

There are times every now and again where you just have to step back
and behold the absurdity of it all. You have to step back from the
day-to-day trench wars and just marvel at how entrenched power really
is in this, the country where we still cling to Horatio Alger fables
or "anyone can grow up to be president" myths. What I find
particularly fascinating is the intricacy and careful calibration of
the propaganda system that holds this whole structure up. Like a hall
of mirrors, our political debate is, in every way, designed to
perpetuate the status quo. But no hall of mirrors can withstand the
impact of a big enough tidal wave, which is why those inside the hall
are freaking out.

Consider, for a moment, the frothing, fulminating bile now being spit
from the highest reaches of Washington, D.C.'s media establishment. A
few months ago, we saw one major columnist at the largest newspaper
in the world say voters should not have the right to decide elections
in America anymore. Not only was he not shunned for his screed, he
continues to appear regularly on television as an objective,
god-fearing patriotic American. Soon after that, in the face of polls
showing the vast majority of Americans oppose the Iraq War, a top
Washington blowhard from one of the largest television networks in
the country appeared on TV to label every Democrat who has questioned
the war "as weak, Jane Fonda-type Democrats."

But really, that was only the beginning. Since then, as voter
discontent with the war, stagnating wages, job outsourcing and the
general direction of the country has escalated, Washington has
battoned the hatches, and gone from spitting bile to firing tank
ordnance at the oncoming battalions of ordinary people who, goddamned
them, dare to think they should be able to have some say in their own
country. Washington Post columnist David Broder - the so-called dean
of the Washington press corps - called voters who want change
"elitist insurgents" - a not-so-subtle attempt to conflate American
voters with terrorists. Then there was my personal favorite - David
Brooks sitting there in his pink shirt in Northwest Washington
telling the country "Don't Worry, Be Happy." Brooks breathed a sigh
of relief that "the Clintonite centrists are reasserting their
intellectual, financial and political supremacy" and that Hillary
Clinton gave a speech that scholars at the fringe-right-wing American
Enterprise institute "called remarkably centrist." Thank god, said
Brooks, that the "renegades who rail against the establishment are
being eclipsed by the canny establishmentarians" because, according
to him, "They're the ones who know how to use the levers of
government to get things done." Ah yes, with war raging in the
Mideast, poverty rising in America, people struggling to pay their
bills, Clinton-backed free trade deals shipping jobs overseas - thank
the lord that the same old crew was supposedly reasserting itself
because that record shows "they know how to get things done."

He's not 100 percent wrong, of course - these people do know "how to
get things done" - but only exclusively for the fat cats who pay to
get a seat at the table - the fat cats that people like David Brooks
feel most comfortable with; the fat cats that way too many Democratic
officials are more than happy to go brag to reporters about shaking
down even as they deride the GOP's culture of corruption.

Incredibly, however, none of the establishment's old tricks seem to
be working anymore. All of the Jedi mind tricks, all of the false
storylines, all of the Clockwork Orange-style indoctrination efforts
just don't seem to be sticking. And that's why it's gotten so ugly of
late.

Today, we see David Broder quite literally losing control of his
faculties on the pages of the Washington Post. You can almost see the
veins popping out of that shiny white forehead you've gotten so used
to seeing on Meet the Press. Like the bad, overdone stereotype of the
crotchety senior who is angry that the world around him is changing,
Broder declares that there needs to be "a new movement in this
country" to "resist "the extremist elements in American society." Who
are these extremists? Why, people who use the Internet to politically
organize and engage. Yes, according to Broder, "bloggers" are the
moral equivalent of "doctrinaire religious extremists" - yet again,
another not-so-subtle effort to portray anyone who dares to excercize
their democratic rights as an Osama bin Laden supporter. He then fires
off a screed about various politicians such as Rep. Sherrod Brown. He
calls him "a loud advocate of protectionist policies that offer a
false hope of solving our trade and job problems." Right, becaue in
David Broder's cloistered world, the "free" trade deals Brown has
opposed have done such wonders for places like Ohio. In David
Broder's world, those hundreds of thousands of blue collar workers
who have been thrown out onto the street thanks to NAFTA and China
PNTR are the filth of the earth that high and mighty elite Washington
journalists like him cannot be bothered with. In David Broder's world,
any request for our trade pacts to include restrictions on child
slavery, environmental degradation, and pharmaceutical industry
profiteering off desperately poor people, positively un-American.
Why? Because David Broder lives in a place where all of these
critical issues are merely just more fodder and gossip for a
newspaper column - not real challenges in his life, nor in the life
of the people he spends his time with in the Washington Beltway.

At the very least, Broder realizes that the American public is
outraged at the twisted moral compass that govern him and his
buddies. That's why he is freaking out. But there are still some who
are prancing around, spewing happy talk, making a fast buck, totally
unaware of what's really going on out here in the real world, and
perhaps even more insulting, totally unconcerned about their own
naked hypocrisy. For instance, just this week, we see former Treasury
Secretary Robert Rubin, now the head of Citigroup, standing on a stage
with a straight face and holding a seminar about the best ways to
alleviate international poverty. That this man was the top architect
of the international trade policies that have exacerbated both
domestic and international poverty is an afterthought. That this same
man holding this seminar still refuses to acknowledge the culpability
of the trade policies he has jammed down the world's throat is not to
be mentioned. All that matters to the fawning media and political
establishment is that this much-worshipped moneyman is on stage
saying we need to help poor people. It makes you wonder if at some
point soon, we'll be seeing Jack Abramoff holding a seminar on ethics
and morals in the political arena. Simultaneously, courageous
reformers like Sen. Byron Dorgan (D) who has written a serious,
bestselling book about how to really fix our economic policies are
shoved to the side, barely getting mentioned in the press, while
financial-industry-hack-turned-congressmen Rahm Emanuel and his buddy
Bruce Reed who heads a corporate front group are given oodles of press
attention for publishing a barely-selling pamphlet of warmed-over
hollow talking points perpetuating the status quo and reinforcing
negative stereotypes about those who want real change.

At this same conference, we see images of New York Times columnist
Thomas Friedman laughing it up with Pakistani dictator Pervez
Musharraf. That's right, the columnist who piously champions his
supposed commitment to spreading democracy is happily, publicly
hamming it up with a brutal central Asian dictator. Ah yes, because
it's all just so goddamned hilarious to a New York Times columnist
who can sit back in his 12,000 square foot Bethesda mansion, count
his $2 billion family fortune, tell the world how much he really
truly cares about freedom, push American soldiers into the Baghdad
shooting gallery, advocate destructive trade policies that he brags
about not having even read, and blaming Americans whose economic
lives have been decimated by those trade policies for not better
educating themselves. It's all just so goddamned funny for Tom
Friedman, because he gets to do all that, yet still also gets to ham
it up every few weeks on national television with Tim Russert, and
gets to be on stage with his good friend Bill Clinton and pretend to
be serious.

Of course, Clinton, who convened the conference that featured Rubin
and Friedman, was recently the recipient of a 20,000 word New Yorker
article that was the journalistic equivalent of what Monica Lewinsky
did to him in those steamy Oval Office days. In the article, New
Yorker editor David Remnick proclaims from the mountaintop Clinton's
supposed devotion to solving the African AIDS crisis, but never once
- not once - bothers to take a moment in between lavish banquets and
Cheney exchanges to actually ask Clinton why, if he was so
committed to stopping this awful plague, he insisted on passing trade
deals that included provisions specifically designed to allow
pharmaceutical companies to inflate AIDS drug prices in the
developing world? But then, if you are David Remnick and all that
really gives you a professional hard-on is getting to eat barbeque in
Bill Clinton's private apartment in his palatial presidential library,
why would you ask such a question? Because really, the only ones who
care about the answer to such a question are the millions of
impoverished peasants who were never able to afford AIDS medications
thanks to those trade provisions - and those aren't the people David
Remnick hangs out with or is writing for.

The same disconnection from reality is prevalent among many
politicians - which might explain why some of them now are reacting
so angrily to the fact that yes, they do have to face voters for
reelection. Take Joe Lieberman. When confronted with the fact that he
skipped more than half of all U.S. Senate votes on the Iraq War and
most of the votes on the destructive Medicare bill so as to attend
fundraisers for himself, he angrily claimed there is a moral
equivalence between him as a full-time, $160,000-a-year U.S. Senator
skipping decisions on the most pressing national security and health
care questions in American history, and his opponent missing 6 votes
on a part-time town council 15 years ago. He also says with a
straight face that the reason he worked so hard to stop health care
reform in the 1990s was because he cared about small business - but
then he conveniently forgets to mention that he authored legislation
to raise taxes on small business health benefits.

Then there is Rep. Nancy Johnson (R) who is now airing television ads
saying that asking President Bush to obtain search warrants after he's
wiretapped phones as the law requires would dangerously slow down the
original wiretapping. Put another way, she's actually asking
audiences to quite literally believe that the basic laws of space and
time do not exist. Meanwhile, chickenhawks who refused to serve in the
military when they had the chance continue to sit comfortably in their
Washington think tank offices and transform their sick insecurities of
personal weakness and frailty into screams for more American soldiers
to be sent to die in Iraq.

What you see here, folks, is that all of it - the elections, the
public policies, the future of the country - is one big joke to the
people in power, and they are willing to lie, cheat and distort
anything to protect the integrity of that joke they are so happily
enjoying. They don't want anyone asking questions of them. They don't
want anyone thinking they have a right to use democracy to change
things. They are fat and happy and putting the pedal to the metal in
their sleek sports car on the great American highway overpass - and
anyone who tries to slow them down, run them off the road or make
them just glance at the blight below gets the big, road-raged middle
finger.

When I get up everyday at 5:30am to start working, it is still dark
out. I read through the clips and digest the daily does of ever-more
raw hatred coming from our nation's capital and directed at the
majority of Americans. Then I try to have some breakfast without
feeling totally demoralized. But as I look out on the darkness
outside, I always remind myself of the famous parable: "It is always
darkest before the dawn." Win or lose, November 7th isn't going to
change everything. But win or lose, it's clear that things are
already changing. The rising anger coming from the halls of power are
a reflection of the establishment's deep understanding that change is
coming. The screams from the angry pundits and the desperate
politicians and the paying-to-play lobbyists are like the early
warning sirens at a beach. And just over the horizon, they see that
tidal wave coming.

http://www.workingforchange.com/blog/index.cfm?mode=entry&entry=D11B1C17-E0C3-F090-A39EAC874F54E7D0

[Rohirrim]

Excellent piece. Hope it's true.

[BroncoBuff]

http://img86.imageshack.us/img86/2505/36lt6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Excellent piece. Hope it's true.

:thumbsup:

Hopefully this Foley thing (and the attendant GOP coverup) will finally convince people that this republican culture of corruption in Washington needs to go.

[BroncoBuff]

http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/3427/numberus8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[BroncoBuff]

http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/2165/33lu2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[BroncoBuff]

http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/3387/32bs3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

This Font HERE ^^^ is actually named after our buddy. It's called "DomCasual"

In his honor ... displayed here in Bronco Navy Blue.

[BroncoBuff]

http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/9715/31gr7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[BroncoBuff]

http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/1238/30yu4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

In honor of our first win of the year .... GOLDEN BUFFALO GOLD!

[BroncoBuff]

http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/7272/29bt9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

I'm actually quite serious about this whole idea ... it's more than fuin, colorful fonts to me. This nightmare - and I really mean NIGHTMARE - simply must end soon. I can hardly wait these last 29 days...

[BroncoBuff]

http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/4765/28pt5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[BroncoBuff]

http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/2793/countdowngr6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

I have now twice been chided for falling behind in this countdown.
Rest assured it shall not happen again!

Just to prove it - this font ^^^ is called "Countdown."

[BroncoBuff]

http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/8158/tatumzx3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Ask not for whom Tatum tolls, Republicans ...


He tolls for thee, Santorum ...

and thee, Talent ....

and thee, Tom Kean Jr....

and thee, Conrad Burns ....

and most resoudningly so for thee, George Allen.



.

[Atlas]

http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/2793/countdowngr6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

I have now twice been chided for falling behind in this countdown.
Rest assured it shall not happen again!

Just to prove it - this font ^^^ is called "Countdown."

Slacker. I know Cobert would never fall behind. You should be ashamed.

[Rohirrim]

Slacker. I know Cobert would never fall behind. You should be ashamed.

Who cares about that. Let's answer the truly important question of our day, "Where's Kyla!?"

[BroncoBuff]

http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/3089/25zv4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Spider]

good Chance Trauner wins the wyomin spot from barb Cubin ........somthing unheard of 6 months ago .......... But as several in wyoming have pointed out she isnt running on her record , but attacking Trauner cause he lives near Jackson hole and is a new yorker .............

[SPfloppy]

The nightmare will not end for Dems and liberal supporters of the democratic party. It will split. watch and see. GOP supporters will be unhappy because they lost the house but Libs will still gripe that they were screwed by another obvious election fix. Nobody will be happy completely when this is over. Both sides want the whole thing and it ain't gonna happen. I personnaly would like to see My state carried by a Rep. (texas by the way) after that I really don't give a $#it. It would serve everyone right if it went down that way. Bush wouldn' t be able to counr on his agenda's getting pushed threw, and Dems would still be left without the power they so desperately want. Nothing will be accomplished until the next prsident. My hope is pinned on Mcain.

[defenseman]

The nightmare will not end for Dems and liberal supporters of the democratic party. It will split. watch and see. GOP supporters will be unhappy because they lost the house but Libs will still gripe that they were screwed by another obvious election fix. Nobody will be happy completely when this is over. Both sides want the whole thing and it ain't gonna happen. I personnaly would like to see My state carried by a Rep. (texas by the way) after that I really don't give a $#it. It would serve everyone right if it went down that way. Bush wouldn' t be able to counr on his agenda's getting pushed threw, and Dems would still be left without the power they so desperately want. Nothing will be accomplished until the next prsident. My hope is pinned on Mcain.

The republicans are going to have to move quickly to get a split. It'll be tight, gauranteed. They'll redirect their efforts to ensure of a split most likely. The dems? They are sitting tight right now, the less they say the better off they'll be...dman

[Spider]

The nightmare will not end for Dems and liberal supporters of the democratic party. It will split. watch and see. GOP supporters will be unhappy because they lost the house but Libs will still gripe that they were screwed by another obvious election fix. Nobody will be happy completely when this is over. Both sides want the whole thing and it ain't gonna happen. I personnaly would like to see My state carried by a Rep. (texas by the way) after that I really don't give a $#it. It would serve everyone right if it went down that way. Bush wouldn' t be able to counr on his agenda's getting pushed threw, and Dems would still be left without the power they so desperately want. Nothing will be accomplished until the next prsident. My hope is pinned on Mcain.

every Dem I know wants a split ...we want Checks and balances ,we dont want to rule America , we want the Goverment the founding Fathers gave us , you have to admit , Before 1994 ( and the contract on America), our Goverment was on track , we had it pretty good .......

[BroncoBuff]

Shutdown Election ...
http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/739/champbaileyqa0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
24 Days 'til the Turnover!

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Shutdown Election ...
http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/739/champbaileyqa0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
24 Days 'til the Turnover!

I like that! :thumbsup:

[SteveTensi13]

The dems? They are sitting tight right now, the less they say the better off they'll be...dman

Comparisons to Terrell Owens are in order!!

[Florida_Bronco]

If the Dems don't take back both houses in November it will be more a result of the usual republican swift boating and dirty trickery than an expression of the will of the people. All you have to do is look at the polls indicating that the majority trust the Dems over the republic-cons on practically every issue of importance to the average voter.

Do you honestly look at all democrats as good honest people and all republicans are evil???

[Spider]

Do you honestly look at all democrats as good honest people and all republicans are evil???
I do ...;D

[BroncoBuff]

Maybe not "all" and "all" .... but definitely "most" and "most."

Look what their pork-snarfing earmarks did to the federal budget! They took their unprecedented 2-house + WH majority .... and they looted the United States treasury.

Duke Cunningham and Bob Ney are just the tip of the iceberg ....

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Maybe not "all" and "all" .... but definitely "most" and "most."

Look what their pork-snarfing earmarks did to the federal budget! They took their unprecedented 2-house + WH majority .... and they looted the United States treasury.

Duke Cunningham and Bob Ney are just the tip of the iceberg ....

Bingo.

You beat me to the punch. :D

Florida Bronco is trying to frame the issue as an "all or nothing" proposition. That way, he doesn't have to compare actual score cards.

[Florida_Bronco]

Florida Bronco is trying to frame the issue as an "all or nothing" proposition. That way, he doesn't have to compare actual score cards.

Not at all, I was asking a question about your beliefs based on the posts I've seen you make in this forum, so try not to turn this into something it's not.

[Florida_Bronco]

Maybe not "all" and "all" .... but definitely "most" and "most."

Look what their pork-snarfing earmarks did to the federal budget! They took their unprecedented 2-house + WH majority .... and they looted the United States treasury.

Duke Cunningham and Bob Ney are just the tip of the iceberg ....

I dislike most politicians and think most of them are worthless scumbags...so what does that make me? :)

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Not at all, I was asking a question about your beliefs based on the posts I've seen you make in this forum, so try not to turn this into something it's not.

If your question is truly legit, then my answer is no.

Perhaps you just haven't read enough of my posts here.

Check out my comments re: LBJ sometime.

[Florida_Bronco]

If your question is truly legit, then my answer is no.

Perhaps you just haven't read enough of my posts here.

Check out my comments re: LBJ sometime.

It was a legit question, I have honestly never seen you say anything positive about a republican. I'm not saying you haven't, just that I have never seen it...but I'll take your word for it. :approve:

Yeah, I haven't read alot of posts here. I only visit this forum once in awhile and hardly ever post in it.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

It was a legit question, I have honestly never seen you say anything positive about a republican. I'm not saying you haven't, just that I have never seen it...but I'll take your word for it. :approve:

Yeah, I haven't read alot of posts here. I only visit this forum once in awhile and hardly ever post in it.

Now is hardly the time to be trying to find something positive to say about the current crop of republicans in office.

It would be like saying, "yeah, I know Ted Bundy was a despicable human being, but can't you find something positive about him?"

[BroncoBuff]

http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/5913/jordanwhite5xm0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

We shall be free .... in twenty-three

I think Rod Stewart sang it best ....
"People Get Ready ... for the train to Jordan ...
Picking up passengers from coast to coast ..."

[BroncoBuff]

http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/7784/22he2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

This font is called "GHOST" .... like the GOP chances to keep the House.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

"You ain't lackin' in confidence, I'll give you that."
http://www.chez.com/nous6/p11684yq20n.jpg

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Why Republicans Should Vote Democratic in November

We are less than a month away from what is arguably be the most important mid-term election in half a century. Voters will be faced with a tough choice. Should they continue letting Republicans control both houses of Congress, or put Democrats in charge of one or both?

Republicans have controlled both the executive and legislative branches of government for six years. So, there's little mystery in what they believe and what policies they support:

Taxes: GOP tax cuts benefit Americans in direct proportion to how much they earn. The more you earn, the more the GOP's tax cuts benefit them. The less they earn, the less they get out of them. Republicans argue that's just the way it should be, that it's unfair to ding the rich for a disproportionate share of the nation's upkeep. And - though they won't say so right out loud - Republicans believe -- but would never admit it) that, since the poor contribute less to society, they should get less from society.

The Bush administration and Congress have scaled back programs that aid the poor to help pay for $600 billion in tax breaks that went primarily to those who earn more than $288,800 a year....To offset the loss of the tax revenue, the administration has amassed record federal deficits and trimmed social spending....The affected programs -- job training, housing, higher education and an array of social services -- provide safety nets for the poor. Many programs are critical elements in welfare-to-work initiatives and were already badly underfunded.

http://www.detnews.com/2004/specialreport/0409/26/a01-284666.htm

Foreign Policy: The GOP reduced American foreign policy to a simple, in-your-face, formula: "It's our way, or the highway." Nice, if they could get away with it. The trouble is they can't, and they didn't. Our traditional allies around the world were offended. (Duh) And, while they not as strong as we are, they have retaliated by going passive aggressive on us when we turned to them for help when "the highway," turned out longer and rougher than US smartypants Neocons figured.

WASHINGTON - The national security adviser under the first President Bush says the current president acted contemptuously toward NATO and Europe after Sept. 11 and is trying to cooperate now out of desperation to "rescue a failing venture" in Iraq and Afghanistan.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1016-04.htm

Science: If they agree with scientific studies, they embrace them. If they don't agree, or their big-business contributors don't like the findings, they dismiss and/or suppress such findings. Like Big Tobacco before them, the GOP fights back with their own "science," which, remarkably, produces results that support the political/social/religious beliefs of their conservative base. Global warming, the Morning After pill, stem cell research, evolution - all highly suspect as far as the GOP base - and their science-for-hire researchers -- are concerned. (If the Vatican had hired it's own astronomers rather than just jailing Galileo, we might still be teaching that the sun and all the planets orbit the earth.)

What sort of pluperfect arrogance prompts a scientifically illiterate MBA to reject the considered conclusions of 2000 world-class scientists, and then, to arrange the ouster of the scientist in charge of the intergovernmental panel that came to those conclusions?...Be advised, my fellow Americans, that this very arrogance resides in the Chief Executive of our Republic - or perhaps more correctly, among those who sponsor and "advise" that Chief Executive....But you knew that already, didn't you? To be sure, George Bush's indifference to informed scientific opinion is no secret. However, the extent of this indifference is not fully appreciated, even less the serious implications thereof.

http://gadfly.igc.org/liberal/fantasyland.htm

Iraq: Need I say more?

Human Rights: Republicans believe that human rights are conditional. They believe that some humans can, under certain circumstances, be mistreated in the name of national security. They reject the term "torture," preferring the Orwellian, "Aggressive Interrogation Techniques." And, they claim to be completely comfortable that these techniques are not cruel or a violation of international human rights - though they are apparently not comfortable enough with the techniques they authorized to describe them.

"Can't the United States see that when we allow someone to be tortured by our agents, it is not only the victim and the perpetrator who are corrupted, but also everyone who looked away and said they did not know, everyone who consented tacitly to that outrage so they could sleep a little safer at night, all the citizens who did not march in the streets by the millions to demand the resignation of whoever suggested, even whispered, that torture is inevitable in our day and age, that we must embrace its darkness? Are we so morally sick, so deaf and dumb and blind, that we do not understand this? Are we so fearful, so in love with our own security and steeped in our own pain, that we are really willing to let people be tortured in the name of America?"

- Ariel Dorfman, a Chilean-American writer, professor at Duke University, author of "Death and The Maiden"

On the other hand voters have the Democrats. While we are now painfully aware of what the Republicans stand for, we have no idea what Democrats have up their sleeves. We don't know how they plan on getting us out of Iraq without making things worse. We don't know how, or even if, they would roll back the Bush tax cuts. We don't know if they would buck the US Chamber of Commerce and raise the minimum wage to a livable wage and index it to inflation. We don't know if they would seriously tackle our energy problems, by slapping down automakers, doubling CAFE standards over the next decade, and funding a Manhattan Project for energy independence, whose goal would be to have us entirely off oil by 2020.

I have no doubt such a platform would sweep Democrats to victory in this time and sweep them into the White House in 2008. But don't hold your breath. Democrats are notorious scardycats. Rather than risk taking a straight line position on a hot issue, they hedge their - which they call "triangulating." By the time they fine-tune their position enough to touch all those bases there's very little there in it any longer.

Democrats have been AWOL from the fight for right for a decade now. We miss them. American workers have suffered, the poor have suffered, our national defense has suffered, our fiscal health has never been worse. At least "tax and spend Democrats," understood you had to "tax" before you spent. Clinton understood that, raised taxes on those who benefited most from society and balanced the budget. Republicans did just the opposite and have left us, your kids and their kids saddled with biggest credit card bill in the history of mankind.

So what are voters to do on November 7?

Vote Democratic. Why?

Because voting Republican sends a message. It means saying okay to tax cuts that have benefited the wrong people. It means two more years of inaction on greenhouse gas emissions. It means no real pressure on automakers to more quickly switch to cleaner technologies. It means more international isolation. It means critical policies being decided and driven by junk science. It means fewer reproductive rights for women. It means further erosion of constitutional rights, more right-wing judges on the federal bench.. and.. well, you get the point. As the old saying goes, "Keep doin' what you been doin' and you'll keep getting' what you got."

One more thing. I know a lot of people who voted for Bush are now having second thoughts. They don't like Democrats and have never voted for one of those critters. But they also don't like that Republicans have doubled our federal debt.. increasing it by $4 trillion in just six years:

http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/

And while they may have supported Bush's invasion of Iraq, but are appalled by his incompetence that have gotten so many people killed for what is increasingly looking like nothing.

So reach out to the Republicans in your family and circle of friends. Encourage them to do something they never dreamed they would do... vote straight Democrat on November 7.

When they balk, and most will, explain that they are not voting for Democrats, but for the restoration of American democracy. Explain to them them that if Democrats get the House and/or the Senate genuine oversight of the executive branch will return to the legislative branch. The GOP Congress has avoided genuine oversight like the plague, giving the executive branch far more power than our founders intended. Simply put an unsupervised executive branch is un-American. I don't know exactly how to describe American governance over the last six years of GOP rule. It would be hysterical to call it a dictatorship. Maybe it's been more a kind of monarchy.

Whatever it's been, it sure as hell hasn't been a representative democracy.

Which is why even Republicans should vote Democratic this November. Even those who, after all this, still believe in President Bush's policies are just and right and defendable, then they should not be afraid to subject them to Democracy's crucible - congressional debate and oversight - genuine debate and oversight.

Also tell them that you agree with them about the empty suits calling themselves Democrats. And how potentially entertaining it could be to give two years during which they can't just talk, but have to either sh*t or get off the pot. Hey, I'd like to watch that show myself.

http://www.newsforreal.com/

[SoCalBronco]

Latest polling info: Dems need net takeover of 6 seats.

MISSOURI SENATE
Rasmussen 10/12 500 LV
Talent (R) 45 (INC.)
McCaskill (D) 44

NEW JERSEY
Rasmussen 10-11 500 LV
Menendez (D) 44 (INC.- formerly Corzine seat)
Kean (R) 40

OHIO
Rasmussen 10/12 500 LV
Brown (D) 48
DeWine (R) 42 (INC.)

TENNESSEE
Rasmussen 10/11 500 LV
Ford (D) 48
Corker (R) 46 (INC.- Frist)

VIRGINIA
Rasmussen 10/12 500 LV
Allen (R) 49 (INC.)
Webb (D) 46

MARYLAND
Rasmussen 10/10 500 LV
Cardin (D) 53 (INC.)
Steele (R) 44

MONTANA
Rasmussen 10/11 500 LV
Tester (D) 50
Burns (R) 44 (INC.)

PENNSYLVANIA
Morning Call 10/03-10/08 511 LV
Casey (D) 46
Santorum (R) 41 (INC.)

MINNESOTA
Star Tribune 818 LV 10/6-10/11
Klobuchar (D) 55 (INC.-Dayton)
Kennedy (R) 34

MICHIGAN
DFP 10/8-10/11 643 LV
Stabenow (D) 48 (INC.)
Bouchard (R) 35

WASHINGTON
SurveyUSA 10/13-10/15 848 LV
Cantwell (D) 51 (INC.)
McGavick (R) 43

CONNECTICUT
SurveyUSA 10/8-10/10 572 LV
Lieberman (I) 53 (INC.)
Lamont (D) 40

RHODE ISLAND
Rasmussen 10/04 500 LV
Whitehouse (D) 51
Chafee (R) 42 (INC.)

ARIZONA
Behavior Res. Ctr. 9/26-10/3 625 LV
Kyl (R) 45 (INC.)
Pederson (D) 36

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Projected New Senate: 50 Democrats 49 Republicans 1 tie

http://www.electoral-vote.com/

[BroncoBuff]

Projected New Senate: 50 Democrats 49 Republicans 1 tie
http://www.electoral-vote.com/


What about Lieberman? 1 Independent ... plus, isn't Bernie Sanders an independent? He split from the Chimp in Year 1.Menendez in NJ
McCaskill in MO
Ford in TN
These are the tough ones. And I read a in-depth historical study about how polls skew HEAVILY in favor of African-American candidates ... but the votes have never equaled the polling. So Ford might not be in as good a place as it seems.

Looks like Ned Lamont and Jim Webb are both toast, though ... George Allen starts his TV blitz this Wednesday - with a 5-point lead.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

No new Senate polls today. However, the New York Times has an interesting story about the Senate races. Effectively, the NRSC has abandoned Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island as lost causes and are putting all their money into Missouri, Tennessee, and Virginia (and maybe New Jersey). If New Jersey comes home to the Democrats (which hasn't elected a Republican senator in 30 years) best case for the GOP is a Republican Senate 51-49. Worst case for the GOP is Democratic control 52-48 (barring a category 5 political hurricane). I basically agree with their analysis. Virginia, Tennesse, and Missouri are the key states now.

http://www.electoral-vote.com/

[BroncoBuff]

LABF .... Sanders and (now) Lieberman are both independent Senators.

(or is Sanders a Rep?)


*EDIT* By "Rep" ... I meant "Representative. I thought he might be in the House instead of the Senate.

[SoCalBronco]

LABS .... Sanders and (now) Lieberman are both independent Senators.

(or is Sanders a Rep?)

Bernie Sanders is most definitely not a Republican.

He's to the left of Barbara Boxer. He's a socialist, but has always identified himself as an Independent.

[alkemical]

isn't it an oxymoron to be an independant socialist?

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

LABS .... Sanders and (now) Lieberman are both independent Senators.

(or is Sanders a Rep?)

No, BroncoBluff, Sanders isn't a rethug.

[BroncoBuff]

No, BroncoBluff, Sanders isn't a rethug.

What's with the attitude? All I said was that the list on that site neglected to include INDEPENDENTS .... like Lieberman and Sanders.

*edit*
NO!! I meant a RERESENTATIVE! - not Republican. I thought maybe Sanders was in The House of REP-resentatives and not the Senate. I know he's an independent .... he's on Thom Hartmann every week.

I'll send you a REP explaining how my REP differs from your REP ...

[BroncoBuff]

http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/4117/21jo3.png (http://imageshack.us)

[BroncoBuff]

Now ... which Republican bolted to become and independent shortly after the Chimp took office? Something about a veteran's bill signing ceremony that he wasn't invited to?

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

What's with the attitude?

That should be my line.


LABS ....

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Now ... which Republican bolted to become and independent shortly after the Chimp took office? Something about a veteran's bill signing ceremony that he wasn't invited to?

You thinking of Jeffords?

http://jeffords.senate.gov/

[SoCalBronco]

http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/4117/21jo3.png (http://imageshack.us)

When you get to 17, ill post a DJ college jersey for you, Senator. :)

[BroncoBuff]

RIGHT ON, SoCal!! We're building Momentum here! :thumbsup:











If I had said no, you wouldda sicked your "U" boyz on me, wouldn'y you? :(

[BroncoBuff]

You thinking of Jeffords?

http://jeffords.senate.gov/

That's him ... they're from the same state I think.

But why doesn't that site count him and Lieberman?


And Sanders is a Rep(resentative) - the only one from Vermont, an Independent.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

That's him ... they're from the same state I think.

But why doesn't that site count him and Lieberman?


And Sanders is a Rep(resentative) - the only one from Vermont, an Independent.

Sanders is a Democrat.

Is Jeffords running again?

Didn't the Dems tell Joementum he could have his old gig back?

[alkemical]

broncobuff - i still dont' understand your "rep"

[bendog]

Sanders is an independent and socialist (not that that's illegal or subject to waterboarding .. . unless you're a true believer in bushii)

btw, I found this interesting. LABF may have posted it already. If so, I'm sorry and please don't rat me out to TJ for spamming.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2006/06/revenge_of_the_walmart_voters.html

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Sanders is an independent and socialist (not that that's illegal or subject to waterboarding .. . unless you're a true believer in bushii)

That's interesting - this poll has him listed as a Dem:

http://www.electoral-vote.com/

LABF may have posted it already. If so, I'm sorry and please don't rat me out to TJ for spamming.


:laugh:

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

'Katrina' Heads for GOP House

by Charlie Cook, GOP 'strategerist'

This is without question the worst political situation for the GOP since Watergate. A 30-seat gain for Democrats is more likely to occur than a 15-seat gain, the minimum that would tip the majority. The chances of that number going higher are also strong, unless something occurs that fundamentally changes the dynamic of this election. This is what Republican strategists' nightmares look like.

It is very ugly for Republicans.

http://www.cookpolitical.com/overview/default.php

http://www.bartcop.com/hastert-oj-simpson.jpg

[BroncoBuff]

Where do you get those things?


They're pretty funny .... is Hatch a closeted gay?

[BroncoBuff]

It's a repeat, but what the heck...his number came up:

http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/174/bellhb3.png (http://imageshack.us)

Ask not for whom the BELL tolls, Republicans ...

It tolls for thee, Santorum ...
and thee, Talent ....
and thee Chafee ....
and thee Corker ....
and thee, Tom Kean Jr....
and thee, Conrad Burns ....
and most resoudningly so for thee, George Allen.

.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

It's a repeat, but what the heck...his number came up:

Ask not for whom the BELL tolls, Republicans ...

It tolls for thee, Santorum ...
and thee, Talent ....
and thee Chafee ....
and thee Corker ....
and thee, Tom Kean Jr....
and thee, Conrad Burns ....
and most resoudningly so for thee, George Allen.

.

:laugh: :~ohyah!:

[BroncoBuff]

Just so everybody knows - if you're reading this - ALL ARE FREE to post the new day's number if you like ('20' is for Wed, Oct.18).

SoCal has 17 covered, but everybody is free .... we can even double post.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Just so everybody knows - if you're reading this - ALL ARE FREE to post the new day's number if you like ('20' is for Wed, Oct.18).

SoCal has 17 covered, but everybody is free .... we can even double post.

20 more days of < $3 gallon gas.

Remember to top off that tank.

http://www.bartcop.com/fb-655000-dead.jpg

http://freewayblogger.blogspot.com/

[BroncoBuff]

Hey G.O.P:

http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/8984/19wp8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

We've got nothin' in common ...

We can't talk at all ...

Don't take me along

When you slide on down .....

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Hey G.O.P:

http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/8984/19wp8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

We've got nothin' in common ...

We can't talk at all ...

Don't take me along

When you slide on down .....

:)

If you listen you can hear it
It's the laughter in the street
It's the motion in the music
And the fire beneath your feet
All the signs are right this time
You don't have to try so very hard
If you live in this world
You're feelin' the change of the guard

[BroncoBuff]

nice ..... quien?

[Rohirrim]

Steely Dan. ;D

[Florida_Bronco]

20 more days of < $3 gallon gas.

Man it sucks for you people in California. I'm paying about $1.98 right now.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Man it sucks for you people in California. I'm paying about $1.98 right now.

$1.98?

Get outta town!

[Florida_Bronco]

$1.98?

Get outta town!

$1.98 is the cheapest in my area...about 5 miles away. Everything else is hovering right around $2.02-2.05 but still dropping.

[BroncoBuff]

Riddle Me This:


Q: Where does Mark Foley draw the line when it comes to his social life?

A: We'll have the answer - Tonight at Midnight

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Riddle Me This:


Q: Where does Mark Foley draw the line when it comes to his social life?

A: We'll have the answer - Tonight at Midnight

What happens tonight at midnight?

http://www.bartcop.com/commandant-bush2.jpg

[baja]

Fresh disasters at the polls -- and new evidence from an industry insider -- prove that electronic voting machines can't be trusted
ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7  
>>Post your thoughts about the threats to fair voting, in the National Affairs blog. Plus, read Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s "Was the 2004 Election Stolen?" -- his report on Republican methods for keeping more than 350,000 Ohio voters from casting ballots or having their votes counted.
The debacle of the 2000 presidential election made it all too apparent to most Americans that our electoral system is broken. And private-sector entrepreneurs were quick to offer a fix: Touch-screen voting machines, promised the industry and its lobbyists, would make voting as easy and reliable as withdrawing cash from an ATM. Congress, always ready with funds for needy industries, swiftly authorized $3.9 billion to upgrade the nation's election systems - with much of the money devoted to installing electronic voting machines in each of America's 180,000 precincts. But as midterm elections approach this November, electronic voting machines are making things worse instead of better. Studies have demonstrated that hackers can easily rig the technology to fix an election - and across the country this year, faulty equipment and lax security have repeatedly undermined election primaries. In Tarrant County, Texas, electronic machines counted some ballots as many as six times, recording 100,000 more votes than were actually cast. In San Diego, poll workers took machines home for unsupervised "sleepovers" before the vote, leaving the equipment vulnerable to tampering. And in Ohio - where, as I recently reported in "Was the 2004 Election Stolen?" [RS 1002], dirty tricks may have cost John Kerry the presidency - a government report uncovered large and unexplained discrepancies in vote totals recorded by machines in Cuyahoga County.
Even worse, many electronic machines don't produce a paper record that can be recounted when equipment malfunctions - an omission that practically invites malicious tampering. "Every board of election has staff members with the technological ability to fix an election," Ion Sancho, an election supervisor in Leon County, Florida, told me. "Even one corrupt staffer can throw an election. Without paper records, it could happen under my nose and there is no way I'd ever find out about it. With a few key people in the right places, it would be possible to throw a presidential election."
Chris Hood remembers the day in July 2002 that he began to question what was really going on in Georgia. An African-American whose parents fought for voting rights in the South during the 1960s, Hood was proud to be working as a consultant for Diebold Election Systems, helping the company promote its new electronic voting machines. During the presidential election two years earlier, more than 94,000 paper ballots had gone uncounted in Georgia - almost double the national average - and Secretary of State Cathy Cox was under pressure to make sure every vote was recorded properly.
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7  
Email Print

[baja]

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/10432334/was_the_2004_election_stolen

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Fresh disasters at the polls -- and new evidence from an industry insider -- prove that electronic voting machines can't be trusted...

Which explains why Chucklenuts and Turd Blossom are sporting their usual "what - me worry?" demeanors.

[SoCalBronco]

Per BroncoBuff's request,

http://collegejersey.com/store/catalog/umc109b.jpg

....DAYS TILL ELECTION DAY!

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Kansas Republicans turn Democrat

"In a state that voted nearly 2 to 1 for President Bush in 2004, nine former Republicans will be on the November ballot as Democrats. Among them is Mark Parkinson, a former chairman of the Kansas Republican Party, who changed parties to run for lieutenant governor with the popular Democratic governor, Kathleen Sebelius.

"I'd reached a breaking point," Parkinson said, preparing for a rally in Wichita alongside Sebelius. "I want to work on relevant issues and not on a lot of things that don't matter.""

http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/nation/15803887.htm

[BroncoBuff]

Per BroncoBuff's request,

http://collegejersey.com/store/catalog/umc109b.jpg

....DAYS TILL ELECTION DAY!

That is so cool! Dee ... Jay .... U!

[SoCalBronco]

Hey Senator...haven't seen you in a few days....we were getting worried there.

I hope all is well up there in Massachusetts...err Seattle.

[BroncoBuff]

What happens tonight at midnight?

I was outta thge loop for 3 days, but the answer to this riddle wouldda happened:

Riddle Me This:

Q: Where does Mark Foley draw the line when it comes to his social life?
A: We'll have the answer - Tonight at Midnight
18

[BroncoBuff]

Hey Senator...haven't seen you in a few days....we were getting worried there.

I hope all is well up there in Massachusetts...err Seattle.

Everything's fine ... except out new 250 GB HDD has been a major pain to get going.

It says something that when you're gone for 3 days people wonder ... :sunshine:

[BroncoBuff]

http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/6439/16xg9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[W*GS]

Sanders is a Democrat.

Sanders is a commie. You two share one mind.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Things are looking pretty bleak for W*GS and his GOP.

Good thing they still have Diebold on their side, eh?

White House bracing for loss of Congress

By TOM RAUM, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 9 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - The White House is bracing for guerrilla warfare on the homefront politically if Republicans lose control of the House, the Senate or both — and with it, the president's ability to shape and dominate the national agenda.

Republicans are battling to keep control of Congress. But polls and analysts in both parties increasingly suggest Democrats will capture the House and possibly the Senate on Election Day Nov. 7.

Democrats need a 15-seat pickup to regain the House and a gain of six seats to claim the Senate.

Everything could change overnight for President Bush, who has governed for most of the past six years with a Republican Congress and with little support from Democrats.

"Every session you change the way you do business with the Congress. And you test the mood of the Congress, find out what their appetite will be. But it doesn't change your priorities," the president told ABC News.

Former President Clinton had to deal with the Democrats' loss of control of Congress in 1994. But Clinton had something Bush does not: six more years to regain his footing.

Bush has barely over two years left. The loss of either house in voting next month could hasten Bush's descent into a lame-duck presidency.

"If he loses one house here, President Bush will enter the last two years very wounded," said David Gergen, a former White House adviser who served in the administrations of Presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton.

"He will have the capacity to say no to Democratic legislation, but he won't have the capacity to say yes to his own legislation," said Gergen, who teaches at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.

Democratic victories essentially could block Bush's remaining agenda and usher in a period of intense partisan bickering over nearly every measure to come before Congress.

Loss of either chamber also could subject his administration to endless congressional inquiries and investigations.

The president and chief political strategist Karl Rove last week expressed renewed confidence of retaining both House and Senate; others are not so upbeat.

"All of our numbers look pretty bad and there's no question that there's a jet stream in our face," said House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio.

Furthermore, some of Bush's fighting in the trenches is likely to be with fellow Republicans as they seek to find a new standard bearer for 2008 — and distance themselves from an unpopular war, the unpopular president who waged it, and congressional scandals that include inappropriate e-mails to House pages from ex-Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla.

"There's no question that the Republican coalition is stressed over the way Washington has been handling fiscal matters, the Foley affair, the
Iraq war," said GOP consultant Scott Reed. "All of these are coming together at the same time."

Already, Republicans are showing divisions on Iraq policy. Fresh skepticism has come from Senate Armed Services Chairman John Warner of Virginia, Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, a longtime Bush family loyalist.

If Republicans lose their majorities, it will be that much harder for Bush to hold together already splintering GOP cohesion on Iraq.

Bush has been quoted by journalist Bob Woodward as saying, "I'll stay in Iraq even if the only support I have left is from my wife and my dog." A Democratic takeover and Republican defections could make that day seem closer.

While the Senate has been difficult for Bush, even with GOP control, the House for most of his presidency has delivered for him. That could be about to change.

The White House traditionally loses seats in midterm congressional races. The most recent exception was 2002, when Bush's party picked up seats.

Many Democrats see the upcoming elections as a mirror image of 1994, with the parties reversed.

Then, Republicans rallied behind firebrand Rep. Newt Gingrich of Georgia, announced a "Contract with America," and stormed to victory, seizing both House and Senate from Democrats.

It was a huge blow to Clinton, made worse by the lavish and almost-presidential reception Gingrich received around Washington as he was inaugurated as House speaker.

Doug Schoen, Clinton's pollster then, said those times were bleak, including Clinton's baleful insistence to reporters in early 1995 that "the president is relevant."

But Clinton soon figured out how to enhance his relevance and influence, reaching out to Republicans on some of their own issues, such as welfare law overhaul and "talking about the common good," said Schoen. Clinton went on to easily win re-election in 1996.

But Schoen said he doubts Bush can do the same: "After 9-11, except for a brief period, he's governed from the right. There's so much bitterness and division, it's going to be tougher for him to do it than perhaps it was for Clinton."

Some of Bush's sharpest critics would rise to top positions with a Democratic takeover.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., probably would become speaker. Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., a foe of extending Bush tax cuts, would become chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee.

Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, who has sponsored legislation calling for steps that could open the way to Bush's impeachment, would lead the Judiciary Committee.

If Democrats win the Senate, Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada — one of the most outspoken of all Bush critics — probably would ascend to majority leader.

The Republican Party chairman, Ken Mehlman, even raises the specter of a leadership troika of Pelosi, Reid and Democratic party chief
Howard Dean, in GOP fundraising mailings to Republicans.

Bush, in his own get-out-the-vote appeal, told Republicans: "The consequences of not succeeding this fall are dire for our agenda for America."

Bush even suggested last week that insurgents in Iraq were stepping up their violence in a bid to influence the elections.

Polls in 2006 show a more dramatic tilt toward the Democrats than polling in 1994 showed a tilt toward Republicans. But redistricting has made far fewer congressional districts competitive.

A Democratic takeover of one or more chambers would all but guarantee that Bush would not get his Social Security overhaul or further tax cuts through Congress.

One Bush initiative that actually might see improved chances is his immigration proposal for a "guest worker" program. That actually has more Democratic than Republican support.

Stephen Wayne, a professor of government at Georgetown University, said a loss of House or Senate would cripple Bush domestically — but might actually give him more room to find a way out of Iraq.

"Were he to choose to moderate the course in Iraq, the Democrats would say, `I told you so' and the Republicans would say, `Thank you,'" said Wayne.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061023/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_losing_congress

[BroncoBuff]

What psychological problem has befallen the Republicans?

http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/1470/13hh8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[BroncoBuff]

It says something that when you're gone for 3 days people wonder ... :sunshine:

This time nobody even noticed ....

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

13 more days of < $3 gas.

[BroncoBuff]

http://img56.imageshack.us/img56/1540/12hf7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[BroncoBuff]

http://img56.imageshack.us/img56/1888/professorprimatesp3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[BroncoBuff]

http://img56.imageshack.us/img56/1044/11hb8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

http://img56.imageshack.us/img56/1888/professorprimatesp3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Where'd you get that picture of Larry King?

:D

[SoCalBronco]

http://lp.imageg.net/prod?set=key[name],value[STAAL]&set=key[number],value[11]&set=key[displaysize],value[220]&load=url[http://chains.imageg.net/graphics/dynamic/chains/pG01-2098459_customback.chain]

DAYS TILL ELECTION DAY!

[BroncoBuff]

Where'd you get that picture of Larry King?

:D

Heydensmom put that fuuny pic in my User Note: http://www.orangemane.com/BB/usernote.php?u=3763

[BroncoBuff]

http://lp.imageg.net/prod?set=key[name],value[STAAL]&set=key[number],value[11]&set=key[displaysize],value[220]&load=url[http://chains.imageg.net/graphics/dynamic/chains/pG01-2098459_customback.chain]

DAYS TILL ELECTION DAY!

THAT'S what I'm talking about!

[SoCalBronco]

Good news for LABF, BroncoBuff and the other Dems on this forum....Rasmussen has a new poll out showing Webb up by 5 in VA, although there is a bit of a question since its a weekend poll. Still, that's a definite positive for you guys after they had Allen up by 2,3 last week.

[Bronco_Beerslug]

Good news for LABF, BroncoBuff and the other Dems on this forum....Rasmussen has a new poll out showing Webb up by 5 in VA, although there is a bit of a question since its a weekend poll. Still, that's a definite positive for you guys after they had Allen up by 2,3 last week.
That's good news no matter who you are or what party you favor.

Somebody's falling down on the job here, where's the number?

[SoCalBronco]

That's good news no matter who you are or what party you favor.

Somebody's falling down on the job here, where's the number?

Number? I assume that means you want a link to the poll numbers.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2006/senate/va/virginia_senate_race-14.html

[Bronco_Beerslug]

Number? I assume that means you want a link to the poll numbers.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2006/senate/va/virginia_senate_race-14.html

No, I was talking about THE number :) Buff has falling down on the job. Isn't #9 the number for today?

[SoCalBronco]

No, I was talking about THE number :) Buff has falling down on the job. Isn't #9 the number for today?

Yep.

http://media.scout.com/Media/Image/30/305677.jpg

DAYS TILL ELECTION DAY!!

[Dagmar]

http://chuckcurrie.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/jesusbushweb.JPG

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

http://chuckcurrie.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/jesusbushweb.JPG

:laugh: ^5

[BroncoBuff]

No, I was talking about THE number :) Buff has falling down on the job. Isn't #9 the number for today?

Yeha, I been swamped the past couple weeks ...

... and this thread isn't exactly rocket science, you know ::)

http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/321/8zk1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

;D

[BroncoBuff]

http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/6067/7yn6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[BroncoBuff]

blame-deflecting
rich-man-pandering
super-rich-salivating
bill-of-rights - bashing
terrorist-baiting
war-profiteering
crony-appointing
gay-bashing
human rights-trampling
court-packing
jesus-pushing
election-rigging
instant-messaging
teen-page-hounding
closet-dwelling
swift-boating
dirty-tricking
child-sexing
e-mailing
bribe-taking
bribe-giving
bribe-forgiving
junket-taking
defense-porking
napkin-pricing
lockheed-pandering
disease-mocking
stay-the-course-ing
draft-dodging
chicken-hawking
legacy-trashing
reputation-tarnishing

*GASP*

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Yes! :thumbsup:

Buff is on a roll and kicking much ass.

[baja]

You forgot Planet warming

[baja]

And treaty breaking

[baja]

And tower bombing

http://www.supportthetruth.com/hill.php

[BroncoBuff]

I wanted to add all that Baja, but I got an error message:
ERROR: Your Post has exceeded the maximum number of
inconvenient truths. Please continue in another posting


I wanted to add:
Bridge-to-nowhere-building

[baja]

nation building

[BroncoBuff]

http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/5412/jaycutlerqu5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)...

The future's so bright .... we gotta wear SHADES!









(the whole country that is)

[gunns]

http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/5412/jaycutlerqu5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)...

The future's so bright .... we gotta wear SHADES!











(the whole country that is)

And let's hope for those last 6 days he keeps on the campaign trail.

Do you think President Bush's campaigning efforts will help or hurt most GOP candidates in these midterm elections? * 13965 responses

Help. Bush can only boost the Republican cause.
13%

Hurt. Bush is proving to be a drag on many Republican candidates.
84%

I can't decide.
2.8%

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15506389/

[BroncoBuff]

Excellent poll, gunns.... do you watch MSNBC or just their website?




(and EXCELLENT Adopt-a-Bronco. Anthony was my son before the formal adoption process began. Are you treating him well?)

[BroncoBuff]

http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/9171/5nq3mb3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

It looks like the Democrats will pick up about 25 seats in the House ... and if Menedez can hold on in New Jersey, it'll come down to: Tennessee, Missouri and Virginia. Dems need 2 out of these 3 for a 50-49 majority (with Lieberman the Independent).


I'm predicting: WIN: Missouri, LOSS: Virginia, Tennessee.

A 50-49-1 Republican majority.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

I'm predicting: WIN: Missouri, LOSS: Virginia, Tennessee.

A 50-49-1 Republican majority.

Projected New Senate: 50 Democrats 49 Republicans 1 tie

http://www.electoral-vote.com/Nov02.png

Projected New House*: 241 Democrats 193 Republicans 1 Tie

http://www.electoral-vote.com/

[baja]

Is George Bush suffering from a degenerative disease?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pw4Bhmm22xo&NR

[Rohirrim]

Yesterday, Bush went to Elko, Nevada and Dallas. His circle of influence is getting awful small. I noticed he didn't take the short trip from the WH to Maryland or NJ, where his party is holding on by their fingernails. Why? Because he was dis-invited.

So he's left getting out the vote in Elko. :thumbs:

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Yesterday, Bush went to Elko, Nevada and Dallas. His circle of influence is getting awful small. I noticed he didn't take the short trip from the WH to Maryland or NJ, where his party is holding on by their fingernails. Why? Because he was dis-invited.

So he's left getting out the vote in Elko. :thumbs:

ROFL!

[BroncoBuff]

YOUR CHOICE! Either of the "fours" you pick means ....

http://img56.imageshack.us/img56/5303/44bz3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Just Four Days Left in this Nightmare ...

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

http://www.bartcop.com/rove-math.jpg

[BroncoBuff]

R.I.P. NASCAR Intimidator...
http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/3189/3dalefz4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

... you too, G.O.P. Intimidators

[BroncoBuff]

http://img165.imageshack.us/img165/6811/2kd6.png (http://imageshack.us)

Get your pruning shears ready ....

just TWO DAYS 'til we cut away the deadwood.

[BroncoBuff]

CAPTION THIS:




http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/3373/2monkeysbi4.png (http://imageshack.us)

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Remember to top off those gas tanks.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Projected New Senate: 51 Democrats 49 Republicans

http://www.electoral-vote.com/

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Projected New House: 239 Democrats 196 Republicans

http://www.electoral-vote.com/

[BroncoBuff]

I can't believe we'll win Missouri and Virginia. I'm thinking just one.

So, if Tester holds on against Burns in Montana, it's 50-50 (counting Lieberman as Dem)

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

I can't believe we'll win Missouri and Virginia. I'm thinking just one.

So, if Tester holds on against Burns in Montana, it's 50-50 (counting Lieberman as Dem)

That would suck insofar as Big Dick would make it 51-50 rethugs.

[baja]

i will be content with only a Dem house as long as real investigations are funded to study and disclose to the American people the long list of misdeeds perpetrated
on the country and it's Constitution.

[Play2win]

Yeah, like impeachment.

[baja]

Yeah, like impeachment.

i will settle for politically neutered and publicly despised (as a result of the findings).

[Play2win]

Impeachment is just a charge or an accusation. I wouldn't mind it if the Senate didn't confirm it (though that would be nice, though), but the impeachment alone would really send the pendulum in a needed different direction.

[W*GS]

Impeachment is off the table because of Murtha.

[baja]

Impeachment is just a charge or an accusation. I wouldn't mind it if the Senate didn't confirm it (though that would be nice, though), but the impeachment alone would really send the pendulum in a needed different direction.

The tide has already turned against this administration one by one all the silent voices have begun speaking out and the flood gates have just started to open. There will be a shiit storm of outrage coming, why it has taken so long is what I have found so disconcerting.

[Play2win]

The tide has already turned against this administration one by one all the silent voices have begun speaking out and the flood gates have just started to open. There will be a shiit storm of outrage coming, why it has taken so long is what I have found so disconcerting.

God, I only hope. Why does it always take something monumental to wake people the phuck up?


-on a side note, if you type "P-H-U-C-K" the automatic censor makes it: pink puppy belli

Is that some crazy sh!t or what...

[SoCalBronco]

I think the races are really tightening now...especially in the Senate.

Burns has pulled to within 1 of Tester in Montana. It has been said by some commentators that if he were within 3 in the period right before election day, he would win because the Montana GOP has a much better GOTV effort. I expect Burns to win.

McCaskill and Talent remain tied, I think McCaskill is ahead by 1 in the latest poll. I expect McCaskill to hold on by the slimmest of margins and unseat Sen. Talent.

Steele has pulled to within 3 points of Ben Cardin in Maryland....perhaps those endorsements by the powerful black leaders in Prince Georges County are helping him out a little. I still can't see Steele winning though, it would be nice, but I just can't see it.

It seems to be a consensus now that Corker will win in Tennessee, as there have been several polls out in the last few days saying he was ahead by 10 and one out today having him ahead by 4. There is a Democratic poll out having Ford up 6, though.

I saw a poll this morning saying Chafee was in a statistical tie with Whitehouse in RI...I don't quite believe that because he was down by like 10 a week ago....that has to be an outlier of some sort.

Virginia will go down to the wire.....the Republican GOTV superiority should help Allen, but I still think Webb will pull it out by 1% or slightly less.

[Arkie]

McCaskill and Talent are bashing the pink puppy belli out of each other on the Springfield networks that I get.

[SoCalBronco]

Republicans Cut Democratic Lead in Campaign's Final Days
Democrats Hold 47%-43% Lead Among Likely Voters

Released: November 5, 2006

Navigate this report
Summary of Findings
About this Survey
Detailed Demographic Tables
Topline Questionnaire

Summary of Findings

A nationwide Pew Research Center survey finds voting intentions shifting in the direction of Republican congressional candidates in the final days of the 2006 midterm campaign. The new survey finds a growing percentage of likely voters saying they will vote for GOP candidates. However, the Democrats still hold a 48% to 40% lead among registered voters, and a modest lead of 47%-43% among likely voters.

The narrowing of the Democratic lead raises questions about whether the party will win a large enough share of the popular vote to recapture control of the House of Representatives. The relationship between a party's share of the popular vote and the number of seats it wins is less certain than it once was, in large part because of the increasing prevalence of safe seat redistricting. As a result, forecasting seat gains from national surveys has become more difficult.

The survey suggests that the judgment of undecided voters will be crucial to the outcome of many congressional races this year. As many as 19% of voters now only lean to a candidate or are flatly undecided. The Democrats hold a 44% to 35% lead among committed voters. But the race is more even among voters who are less strongly committed to a candidate; those who only lean to a candidate divide almost evenly between Republicans and Democrats (5% lean Republican/4% lean Democrat).

Republican gains in the new poll reflect a number of late-breaking trends. First, Republicans have become more engaged and enthused in the election than they had been in September and October. While Democrats continue to express greater enthusiasm about voting than do Republicans, as many Republican voters (64%) as Democratic voters (62%) now say they are giving quite a lot of thought to the election. About a month ago, Democratic voters were considerably more likely than GOP voters to say they were giving a lot of thought to the election (by 59%-50%). As a result, Republicans now register a greater likelihood of voting than do Democrats, as is typical in mid-term elections.

The Republicans also have made major gains, in a relatively short time period, among independent voters. Since early this year, the Democratic advantage in the generic House ballot has been built largely on a solid lead among independents. As recently as mid-October, 47% of independent voters said they were voting for the Democratic candidate in their district, compared with 29% who favored the Republican. Currently, Democrats lead by 44%-33% among independent voters.

Notably, President Bush's political standing has improved in the final week before the election. Bush's job approval rating among registered voters has risen from 37% in early October, to 41% in the current survey. Mirroring the GOP's gains among independent voters, Bush's rating among this crucial group of swing voters now stands at 35%, its highest point this year.

The final pre-election survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted among 2,369 registered voters from Nov. 1-4, finds that voter appraisals of the national economy also have improved. In the current poll, 44% rate it as excellent or good, compared with 36% who held that view in mid-October. Republicans and independents have a much better view of the economy than they did just a few weeks ago. Among independent voters, 41% rate the economy as good or excellent, compared with 29% in mid-October.

In addition, Sen. John Kerry's "botched joke" about the war in Iraq attracted enormous attention. Fully 84% of voters say they have heard a lot or a little about Kerry's remarks ­ with 60% saying they have heard a lot. By comparison, just 26% say they have heard a lot about President Bush's statement that he will keep Donald Rumsfeld as secretary of defense until he leaves office in 2009. Most voters say Kerry's statement is not a serious consideration in their vote, but 18% of independent voters say it did raise serious doubts about voting for a Democratic candidate.



GOP Voters More Engaged


For months, Democrats have expressed more interest in the election and enthusiasm about voting than have Republicans. The 'enthusiasm gap' was dramatic in Pew surveys in early October (18 points) and late October (17 points).

These differences have narrowed considerably. About half of Democratic voters (51%) say they are more enthusiastic than usual about voting, little change from Pew's two previous surveys. By contrast, 42% of Republicans say they are more enthusiastic about voting; that is fewer than the percentage of Democrats more enthused about going to vote, but 10 points higher than just a few weeks ago.

Moreover, Republicans have gained ground in recent weeks on measures aimed at assessing a voter's likelihood of voting. So while Pew polls in early October and mid-October showed virtually no change in the Democratic advantage between all voters and those most likely to turn out, the current survey shows the Democrats' eight-point lead among all registered voters narrowing considerably among likely voters. In this regard, the current campaign more closely resembles previous midterm elections since 1994, when Republicans also fared better among likely voters than among all registered voters.


Party Control a Major Factor


While Republicans have become more engaged in the campaign in recent weeks, an increasing number also say that the issue of which party controls Congress will be a factor in their vote. Currently, 65% of Republicans say partisan control of Congress is a factor in their vote, up from 58% in early October and 54% in June. The percentage of Democrats who view partisan control of Congress a factor in their vote has remained more stable; 73% say that, up slightly from early October, but largely unchanged from June.

Compared to past campaigns, many more voters, regardless of party affiliation, say partisan control of Congress matters in their vote. Fully 61% of registered voters now express this view; fewer than half did so in November 2002 (48%) and November 1998 (46%).


Iraq Still Top Issue


The situation in Iraq remains the top issue of the midterm elections. Roughly half of voters (48%) cite the situation in Iraq as either the most important (or second most important) issue in their vote. Roughly four-in-ten (42%) cite the economy as a major issue in their vote, while 35% say health care. These opinions have changed very little over the past month.

The situation in Iraq is by far the top issue for Democrats (60%). About half of independents (46%) cite Iraq as an important issue in their vote, but 41% mention the economy and 36% health care. Among Republicans, comparable percentages view terrorism (41%), the economy (41%), and the situation in Iraq (38%) as the top issue in their vote. Immigration is a much more important issue for Republicans (31%) ­ and independents (26%) ­ than it is for Democrats (15%).


Interest High, But More 'Mud-Slinging'


The overall level of voter interest in this campaign is much higher than it has been for recent midterms. Fully 61% of voters say they have given a lot of thought to the election, while 33% say they have followed campaign news very closely. This far surpasses interest in the 2002 and the 1998 campaigns, and even the historic 1994 election, when the Republicans gained control of Congress.

At the same time, more voters feel that this election season has seen more "mud-slinging" than past elections. Overall, 65% of voters ­ 72% of those who live in congressional districts with competitive contests ­ say this campaign has been marred by more negative campaigning than in past elections; only about half of voters expressed this opinion at the end of the 2002 (51%) and 1998 (52%) midterms.

This is one issue on which there is little partisan division. Two-thirds of independents (67%), and nearly as many Democrats (65%) and Republicans (65%), say there has been more negative campaigning than in past elections.


Most Voters Have Been Contacted


Roughly six-in-ten voters (58%) say they have been contacted by candidates or political groups, either over the phone, in person, or by email. That represents a modest increase from early October (49%). Somewhat more Republicans (63%) than independents (58%) or Democrats (54%) say they have been contacted by campaigns. One-in-five Democrats (20%) say they have been urged to vote for a Democratic candidate. About the same number of Republicans (21%) say they have been urged to vote for one of their party's candidates; more Republicans than Democrats volunteer that they have been encouraged to vote for both GOP and Democratic candidates (19% vs. 14%).


GOP Gloom Increases


All year, Democrats have been much more bullish than the Republicans regarding their party's electoral prospects. The gap has widened in the campaign's final days. Fully 72% of Democratic voters say they think the Democratic Party will do better this year than it has in recent elections, up slightly from last month.

Meanwhile, more Republican voters feel the party will do worse than it has in recent elections (29% now vs. 21% last month). A plurality of GOP voters (48%) say the party will fare about the same as it has in recent elections, while just 17% think the Republican Party will do better than it has in recent years.

Navigate this report
Summary of Findings
About this Survey
Detailed Demographic Tables
Topline Questionnaire

http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=295

[BroncoBuff]

http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/1786/1elammh0.png (http://imageshack.us)
The Finish Line is in Sight!

[BroncoBuff]

Burns has pulled to within 1 of Tester in Montana. It has been said by some commentators that if he were within 3 in the period right before election day, he would win because the Montana GOP has a much better GOTV effort. I expect Burns to win.
What a shameful victory that would be ... Conrad Burns was an Abramoff Pet, and he's so very out of touch with modern America. Did you see any of his ridiculous comments in last week's debates? I'll bet he and Ted "the Internet is a set of tubes" Stevens are best buddies.

But next to Santorum (who's a corpse) - and Allen (who's a dunce) - Burns is the one I really wanna see go ... It's so funny that Santorum and Allen were on the GOP short list for 2008! :~ohyah!:

McCaskill and Talent remain tied, I think McCaskill is ahead by 1 in the latest poll. I expect McCaskill to hold on by the slimmest of margins and unseat Sen. Talent.
Missouri's GOTV is first-rate for the Republicans .... but McCaskill will hold on I think.

Steele has pulled to within 3 points of Ben Cardin in Maryland....perhaps those endorsements by the powerful black leaders in Prince Georges County are helping him out a little. I still can't see Steele winning though, it would be nice, but I just can't see it.
Steele has signs made up that said Steeles/Democrat .... :spit: ... (he used to be a Democrat) That's prolly why he's closed the gap a bit. ;D

It seems to be a consensus now that Corker will win in Tennessee.
Unless God's in the mood for a miracle, Ford is toast. Itr's the only battleground seat the GOP can count on holding.

I saw a poll this morning saying Chafee was in a statistical tie with Whitehouse in RI...I don't quite believe that because he was down by like 10 a week ago....that has to be an outlier of some sort.
Chafee may as well be a Democrat - it won't bother me if he wins. I've read he was considering changing parties - to Democrat.

Virginia will go down to the wire.....the Republican GOTV superiority should help Allen, but I still think Webb will pull it out by 1% or slightly less.
"Dear Lord, if you smite George Allen, I will build several churches in your honor. :homer:

You didn't mention how Bob Menendez has pulled away from Tom Kean, Jr. in NJ ... that's the only Dem Senate seat that was in jeopardy. All the rest (above) are GOP seats.

[SoCalBronco]

You didn't mention how Bob Menendez has pulled away from Tom Kean, Jr. in NJ ... that's the only Dem Senate seat that was in jeopardy. All the rest (above) are GOP seats.

Yep, Menendez looks like he is going to hold on...ive seen him up by 3 in some of the latest polls and up by around 8 in others. We poured in about 5 million recently in the pricey TV markets for him, it does not seem to be making much difference if any at all. At this point, Steele looks like a better bet then Kean for a surprise upset.

BTW, Gallup came out with the following polls this evening:

Whitehouse 48-45
SoCal's comment: This confirms that it is tightening in RI...still not going to be enough for Chafee though.

Corker 49-46
SoCal's comment: This sounds about right, although I think he is up by a smidgen more than 3, but certainly not the 10 that ive seen in a few polls. Corker should win by about 52-47.

Cardin 47-44
SoCal's comment: This also sounds about right, it is tightening there, Steele is pulling in black votes. I still don't think it quite will be enough for him...its asking alot, he's done a great job as a candidate, but he'll come up a tad short. Keep an eye on his share of the black vote in the early parts of the evening, if it is around or slightly above 30, he might just do it. I expect though, Cardin to hold him off....barely.

McCaskill 46-45
SoCal's comment: This sounds about right as well. Not good for Talent, as generally the undecideds break for the challenger. The incumbent's share has to be greater than 45..where it is....hopefully the GOTV makes up the difference. This has litigation written all over it though. This race is going to be THE race.

Allen, 49-46
SoCal's comment: I think Webb is probably ahead by 2% or so, so this poll is a little bit different. I don't quite buy this one, although it is still in the MOE. Most of the stuff ive seen in the last day or two have it a little different, this might be an outlier. Certainly, Allen isn't out of it, but I don't think he is ahead 3, i think he is a bit behind. And even though it is VA, the Dems GOTV in last year's Governor's race outdid us, so that should help Webb as well. I expect him to win by about 2-3.

Tester, 50-41

SoCal's comment: I don't buy this one bit. Everything is pointing to the contrary. Definitely an outlier. I still expect Burns to pull it out by 2 percent.

[BroncoBuff]

Couple things about factors that "don't poll":

1) Black Candidate "tax": They say a black candidate scores 4% higher in polls than on election day - because the secret ballot cloaks semi-racism. And I don't know what the deal is with that poll, SoCal ... I thought Corker was up double-digits.

2) Inumbent drag: They say an incumbent who can't poll higher than 45% (in a 2-person race) will lose a point or two on election day. No less authorities than James Carville and George Will referred to this today. That stokes me on the Webb-Allen, Burns-Tester and Talent-McCaskill races.

Only prollem is - this factor had me ready for a John Kerry vistory two years ago ... and (to our nation's eternal disgrace), it didn't happen.

[SoCalBronco]

Couple things about factors that "don't poll":

1) Black Candidate "tax": They say a black candidate scores 4% higher in polls than on election day - because the secret ballot cloaks semi-racism. And I don't know what the deal is with that poll, SoCal ... I thought Corker was up double-digits.

2) Inumbent drag: They say an incumbent who can't poll higher than 45% (in a 2-person race) will lose a point or two on election day. No less authorities than James Carville and George Will referred to this today. That stokes me on the Webb-Allen, Burns-Tester and Talent-McCaskill races.

Only prollem is - this factor had me ready for a John Kerry vistory two years ago ... and (to our nation's eternal disgrace), it didn't happen.

Yeah, I mentioned point #2 in my post above. However, I have heard though that Talent's internals are looking "fantastic".

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

http://www.bettybowers.com/graphics/wwjw.gif

[SoCalBronco]

Two polls coming out late today....Talent up 1 in MO (Rasmussen), Webb up 8 in VA (SurveyUSA).

[BroncoBuff]

Webb up 8? Wow....


For you election watchers, I heard Chris Matthews say for some reason I don't recall now, the Virginia results will be in early Tuesday. Maybe start at 4 or 5 Pacific Time.

[BroncoBuff]

ZERO!


Now our nation can get back
to normal ... those quaint ideas
called "checks and balances."

I'm breathing much better now,
thank you.

I just wonder how many generations
it will take to pay off the Republicans'
looting of the Treasury.




One more thing ....











MADE YOU LOOK!

[spdirty]

I moved 6 months ago. Now Im in district f'ing 1. ****!!!!!!!!! I'm like 200 feet away from district 6. Bunch of crap. I don't even know who in the hell DeGette is running against!!! F'ing District 1. Now the only votes of mine that will even mean anything are the stupid loser vote for the loser Both Ways Bob and the ballot initiatives. Well, time to vote. Go Diebold!!!

[defenseman]

i will be content with only a Dem house as long as real investigations are funded to study and disclose to the American people the long list of misdeeds perpetrated
on the country and it's Constitution.

they'll back off , trust me on that one....dman

[defenseman]

Two polls coming out late today....Talent up 1 in MO (Rasmussen), Webb up 8 in VA (SurveyUSA).

The polls, have lost their importance, it's election day. Get out there and vote folks.:thumbsup: Even exit polls, depending on who is taking the poll, it can be tainted depending on who is taking the them. Time to count em up, and figure out who the winner of each race is.....I'm sure the media will screw this up though, I'm betting on a race getting called too early two times and the culprit with egg on their face....again...dman

[Rohirrim]

I moved 6 months ago. Now Im in district f'ing 1. ****!!!!!!!!! I'm like 200 feet away from district 6. Bunch of crap. I don't even know who in the hell DeGette is running against!!! F'ing District 1. Now the only votes of mine that will even mean anything are the stupid loser vote for the loser Both Ways Bob and the ballot initiatives. Well, time to vote. Go Diebold!!!

Diane Degette is a wonderful person. Some very good friends of ours, a gay couple, were childhood friends of hers. Hopefully, after today they'll finally be able to tie the knot. We met her at a party last year. Really fine person. Instead of those right wing bastions (like Colorado Springs) where people must hide their sexuality and lead tortured lives, in District One, they favor acceptance of others and the idea that we live in a social community where all are welcomed on their own merits. Welcome to the neighborhood. :rofl:

[spdirty]

Diane Degette is a wonderful person. Some very good friends of ours, a gay couple, were childhood friends of hers. Hopefully, after today they'll finally be able to tie the knot. We met her at a party last year. Really fine person. Instead of those right wing bastions (like Colorado Springs) where people must hide their sexuality and lead tortured lives, in District One, they favor acceptance of others and the idea that we live in a social community where all are welcomed on their own merits. Welcome to the neighborhood. :rofl:

Yeah, your lucky you live in the "intolerant of undocumented workers in District 6." Please tell me you voted for the Republican that the Bush Administration hates and who the RNC won't support. I had to vote for Thomas Kelley of the Green Party. Thought about writing in Roland Chicas but what good would that do? Voted for the more tolerant Green Party guy just because Im tolerant like that.

I need to move back to Evergreen. F this place.

[spdirty]

Oh, I almost forgot. Your gonna love this Ro. Right outside my polling place there were like 50 Yes on I posters hangin on power poles and signs. Unbelievable.

[Arkie]

http://www.bettybowers.com/graphics/wwjw.gif

That's Jake Plummer, dude.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

The nightmare is almost over...

http://www.bartcop.com/2006-reasons-montage3.jpg

[BroncoBuff]

The nightmare is almost over...

http://www.bartcop.com/2006-reasons-montage3.jpg

I'm breathing more easily now .... Tester looks precarious, but solid.

And Allen is GONE! Ha!

[Bronco_Beerslug]

I'm breathing more easily now .... Tester looks precarious, but solid.

And Allen is GONE! Ha!
Great work in this thread Buff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! http://www.digital-inn.de/images/smilies/anims/1.gif

[defenseman]

I'm breathing more easily now .... Tester looks precarious, but solid.

And Allen is GONE! Ha!

It'll get recounted. You never know...dman

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

It'll get recounted. You never know...dman

Doesn't look good for your Grandiose Old Party. :D

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Great work in this thread Buff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! http://www.digital-inn.de/images/smilies/anims/1.gif

Yep.

Kudos to my man Buff: He remained optimistic to the end, and he was rewarded.

:thumbsup:

[Dagmar]

The House and Senate. All that is left is the White House and we'll have that back soon.

[gunns]

The House and Senate. All that is left is the White House and we'll have that back soon.

I'd love a moderate President and a President with at least half a brain that doesn't surround himself with communistic cronies. But I don't know that I want one party in control ever again. I live in Utah where we have had no checks and balances for almost 30 years. We've seen some of the same questionable moves by our government that we've seen for the last 6 years, yet the sheep here still haven't learned. It's damn scary.

[BroncoBuff]

Great work in this thread Buff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! http://www.digital-inn.de/images/smilies/anims/1.gif
Yep.

Kudos to my man Buff: He remained optimistic to the end, and he was rewarded.

Thanks guys ... but it's the country and the people who've been rewarded.

And, while I started this this Countdown at "50 Days," let's face it - LABF does much of the heavy lifting for us around here, plowing the way for this kind of thread. We may object to the coarse-ness of his "plow" from time to time, but he has leveled the ground to let us walk in with threads like this one, and get serious attention.

I think the faith I showed was not in the American electorate - I figured they were smart enough to recognize the arrogance and incompetence of unchecked GOP power ... the real faith I had was in the electoral SYSTEM. I was scared sh!tless about Diebold and the potentials for election fraud, and I just couldn't believe such fraud was possible. You may still think '00 and '04 were stolen elections - but this week proved to me anyway that our electorl system is substantially sound. Thank God for that too ... because without fair elections, all is lost.

I am so impressed with the campaigns by the closest Democrat winners - Jon Tester and Jim Webb. Both (Tester mostly) - largely avoided negative campaigns.

I'm sad about Tammy Duckworth in Illinois, but especially about my vote for Rep here. Darcy Burner ran a pretty clean campaign - most of her ads were biographical. The DNC ran some Reichert=Bush ads, but Darcy stayed clean - and it looks like she'll lose by a hair when the recount is finished. A shame, because Raichert did thow mud - here's a YouTube Reichert attack ad (http://youtube.com/watch?v=iIckBuwf8nw).

BTW- Darcy is a real doll. If she wins, she'll be the only "do-able" congressperson ever (http://www.flickr.com/photos/80423571@N00) :~ohyah!:)

[W*GS]

Thanks guys ... but it's the country and the people who've been rewarded.

Sneer.

I was scared sh!tless about Diebold and the potentials for election fraud, and I just couldn't believe such fraud was possible. You may still think '00 and '04 were stolen elections - but this week proved to me anyway that our electorl system is substantially sound.

If you think the problems and frauds of 2000 and 2004 are magically gone, you're wrong.

As long as your beloved Demopublicans are in power, the system is fine. That's a pathetic attitude.

[alkemical]

Wags,

Sometimes i feel it's useless to try to point out the fact that indeed they are the same party really.

[freak6]

I never thought it was possible to take back both houses. I am amazed. I am might just have to go to Quantico afterall.

[BroncoBuff]

If you think the problems and frauds of 2000 and 2004 are magically gone, you're wrong.

As long as your beloved Demopublicans are in power, the system is fine. That's a pathetic attitude.

You missed the word "substantially" in my post. Or maybe you don't understand what it means ... click here: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/substantially

You know, W*GS, adult education can be a very rewarding thing. You should think about it.

[W*GS]

You missed the word "substantially" in my post. Or maybe you don't understand what it means ...

As long as your Demopublicans "win" (and we lose regardless), vote fraud isn't a concern to you.

I wouldn't be surprised if there were just as many problems this time around as last time - but you don't care.

[BroncoBuff]

No, I do care ... I've said many times that without election integrity - all is lost.

Are you just blathering here, or have there been problems?



BTW - Laura Ingraham should go to jail for advocating her listeners swamp the DNC office with calls on election day ... and there were GOP "robo-calls" in Missouri and Maryland on election eve and day. Do you know of any DEMOCRAT voter intimidation or wrongdoing? I sincerely would like to know.

[W*GS]

No, I do care ... I've said many times that without election integrity - all is lost.

All was lost long ago, then, as manipulating elections is as American as apple pie.

Are you just blathering here, or have there been problems?

Ask the lefty bloggers - they were all in a dither in 2000 and 2004, but since "their" wing of the Statist Party "won" this time around, they'll not utter a peep. Perhaps the proto-fascist bloggers on the right will have something to say, but I doubt it.

Neither the Left nor the Right is the least bit interested in looking into the system that keeps them in power.

[Bronco_Beerslug]

Ask the lefty bloggers - they were all in a dither in 2000 and 2004, but since "their" wing of the Statist Party "won" this time around, they'll not utter a peep. Perhaps the proto-fascist bloggers on the right will have something to say, but I doubt it.

Neither the Left nor the Right is the least bit interested in looking into the system that keeps them in power.
You're entering the realm of Errant these days.

Unlike the last national elections, there were no widespread reports of voters getting shut out at the polls and exit polls were DEAD on this time.

You're also a hypocrite when it comes to claiming to be a Libertarian. You never b****ed one tenth as much when the Republican majority was running the country into the ground.

Or, maybe your problem is the party LABF supports won this election and you just can't handle that aspect?

The more I think about this aspect for all your bitching the more it makes sense. LABF was vindicated (in a sense) in this election and you really can't handle that can you?

[BroncoBuff]

You're entering the realm of Errant these days.

Unlike the last national elections, there were no widespread reports of voters getting shut out at the polls and exit polls were DEAD on this time.

I agree with Alvin Lee here, W*GS .... either put up or ... stop whining.

[W*GS]

Unlike the last national elections, there were no widespread reports of voters getting shut out at the polls

Absence of evidence (so far) doesn't mean evidence of absence.

We already know of the deep flaws in the system, but since "your" wing of the Statist Party "won", you don't care one whit.

and exit polls were DEAD on this time.

This attachment to polls is most touching.

[Bronco_Beerslug]

Absence of evidence (so far) doesn't mean evidence of absence.
We already know of the deep flaws in the system, but since "your" wing of the Statist Party "won", you don't care one whit.
This attachment to polls is most touching.
Read my edited post.

[W*GS]

I agree with Alvin Lee here, W*GS .... either put up or ... stop whining.

http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/44341/44341.html

[Bronco_Beerslug]

http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/44341/44341.html

You're citing a blog site with a total of a approximately a hundred posts as what?

[W*GS]

You're also a hypocrite when it comes to claiming to be a Libertarian. You never b****ed one tenth as much when the Republican majority was running the country into the ground.

What do you need me for when you guys were doing such a fine job?

Besides, your wing of the Statist Party was, and still is, digging the hole shoulder-to-shoulder with the "other" guys.

LABF was vindicated (in a sense) in this election and you really can't handle that can you?

94% of the scumbags in the House are still there; what "vindication" is that? Like I said earlier, we went from ketchup to catsup - no real change of any kind. We're all still screwed - and what I find (by turns) amusing and irritating is that you guys think otherwise.

[W*GS]

You're citing a blog site with a total of a approximately a hundred posts as what?

Problems with the voting process.

These are the same folks that were held up as paragons of civic virtue last time around; are they now immaterial because you favor the "result" this time?

[Bronco_Beerslug]

What do you need me for when you guys were doing such a fine job?

What kind of movies do you like to watch W*GS? What kind of music do you listen to?

Problems with the voting process.
These are the same folks that were held up as paragons of civic virtue last time around; are they now immaterial because you favor the "result" this time?
How many times have I used blog sites as reference? If you find numerous questions, links and stories in national media outlets let me know.

[W*GS]

What kind of movies do you like to watch W*GS? What kind of music do you listen to?

The relevance being?

How many times have I used blog sites as reference? If you find numerous questions, links and stories in national media outlets let me know.

When the MSM truly investigates the political system, monkeys will fly out your ass.

[Bronco_Beerslug]

The relevance being?Curiosity. Are you a classical, rock, jazz, country hiphop listener? What kind of movies do you watch or do you?


When the MSM truly investigates the political system, monkeys will fly out your ass.MSM didn't investigate all the reports of the 2004 problems but they reported them.

[W*GS]

Curiosity. Are you a classical, rock, jazz, country hiphop listener? What kind of movies do you watch or do you?

I'm not interested in answering. None of that matters in the slightest, anyway.

MSM didn't investigate all the reports of the 2004 problems but they reported them.

Given the MSM's biases, I wouldn't hold your breath. They know what side the bread gets buttered on.

[BroncoBuff]

http://www.bbvforums.org/forums/messages/44341/44341.html

Alright, I've read through that bored (er ... board), and I think we're talking about two different things. The great majority of those stories are either 1) individual, atypical stories about slow and/or unskilled poll workers, or 2) rumors heard on TV.

I'm all for election reform, but there's not much there, W*GS.

[spdirty]

http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/3089/25zv4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

bump.

[BroncoBuff]

You're very clever, aren't you?

Problem is, the REAL nightmares: War, recession, Wall Street bailouts and economic collapse ... all that ended in 2008 ;D

[Arkie]

Wags,

Sometimes i feel it's useless to try to point out the fact that indeed they are the same party really.

Four years later, and it couldn't be more true.

[Arkie]

You're very clever, aren't you?

Problem is, the REAL nightmares: War, recession, Wall Street bailouts and economic collapse ... all that ended in 2008 ;D

War is the only thing you mentioned that was a nightmare in 2006. The real nightmares are just beginning. US soldiers are still shooting, killing, and dying in Iraq. The ongoing war in Afghanistan is the longest war in US history. Too bad we couldn't get Ron Paul, the peace candidate, elected. I don't think the recession is over, and we are still piling on record deficits. The government/wall street connection is still a moral hazard. In 1929, all the mainstream experts were saying the economic collapse was over too. Overall, I would say that the outlook is more depressing in 2010 than it was in 2006.

[BroncoBuff]

Might agree with that, Mr. Showboat ... but the economic meltdown is a wholly-owned catastrophe of the Republican party. Or very nearly ... they held all power between '01 and '07,

Very disappointed Obama hasn't yanked us out of Afghanistan, though. When will people learn, you don't make friends by invading, attacking and shooting people? You kill some peaceful guy's family and/or friends, for reasons he doesn't understand, and he might just join up with the jihadists. Add one more to the list. That's just psychology 101.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Might agree with that, Mr. Showboat ... but the economic meltdown is a wholly-owned catastrophe of the Republican party. Or very nearly ... they held all power between '01 and '07...

Yep.

When the crisis struck, the republi-cons (including those who frequent this forum) couldn't distance themselves from that 'R' fast enough.

As Chris Matthews put it, they were "taking off their uniforms."

Even now, republican candidates often don't acknowledge their party affiliation in TV ads.

Very disappointed Obama hasn't yanked us out of Afghanistan...

Me too - he's turned out to be another LBJ on that front.

In his defense, however, he probably understood that no candidate who was serious about withdrawal was going to get elected.

No president since JFK has stood up to the military industrial complex.

[gunns]

The Real Nightmare ended in 2009, another is coming upon us. Except for the detriment to the country, this should be hilarious.

[epicSocialism4tw]

You're very clever, aren't you?

Problem is, the REAL nightmares: War, recession, Wall Street bailouts and economic collapse ... all that ended in 2008 ;D

Seriously? Hilarious!

Have you been in a cave since Obama was elected?

We are still at war.

Our recession has deepened, and employment has gone up.

Obama has wasted countless stimulus dollars on programs that did not resurrect the economy, but instead made it worse...losing jobs steadily.

[spdirty]

Shutdown Election ...
http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/739/champbaileyqa0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
24 Days 'til the Turnover!
a day late but oh well.

[spdirty]

and 23.

[Florida_Bronco]

You're very clever, aren't you?

Problem is, the REAL nightmares: War, recession, Wall Street bailouts and economic collapse ... all that ended in 2008 ;D

We could have had a real nightmare on our hands had the old geezer and his bimbo won.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

We could have had a real nightmare on our hands had the old geezer and his bimbo won.

True that.

At least Obama bought us some time.

Gramps and Bible Spice would have laid on the accelerator.

For the repigs, it's a race to the bottom.

Their slogan should be "our team can break the economy faster than yours can fix it."

[spdirty]

http://cdn3.ioffer.com/img/item/166/923/389/dQu6.jpg

[spdirty]

thanks buff...tomorrow is gonna be real good.:~ohyah!:

[epicSocialism4tw]

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_F_58-aaBFWc/S4QBEhbTplI/AAAAAAAABbA/YieTi_gT0Yk/s320/2010+SKOL+Auction+Photos+009.jpg

[BroncoBuff]

http://cdn3.ioffer.com/img/item/166/923/389/dQu6.jpg

We shall be free .... in twenty-three

"People Get Ready for the train to Jordan ...
Picking up passengers from coast to coast ..."

[BroncoBuff]

C'mon Skill ... gotta have that caption. If you're gonna use 'em, use all the art.

Actually, I wasn't kidding there, this is clever. Four years later, too.

[Rohirrim]

There's a new nightmare. It's called Citizens United vs. the Federal Election Commission. And this one is just getting started:

Hundreds of millions of secret dollars are pouring into congressional and state races in this election cycle. The Koch brothers (whose personal fortunes grew by $5 billion last year) appear to be behind some of it, Karl Rove has rounded up other multimillionaires to fund right-wing candidates, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is funneling corporate dollars from around the world into congressional races, and Rupert Murdoch is evidently spending heavily.

No one knows for sure where this flood of money is coming from because it's all secret.

But you can safely assume its purpose is not to help America's stranded middle class, working class, and poor. It's to pad the nests of the rich, stop all reform, and deregulate big corporations and Wall Street -- already more powerful than since the late 19th century when the lackeys of robber barons literally deposited sacks of cash on the desks of friendly legislators.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-reich/the-secret-bigmoney-takeo_b_754938.html

Here's the sales pitch the Chamber of Commerce is using in foreign countries like China, Saudi Arabia and India: If you don't join us and donate money to stop the Democrats, they might get into office and adopt new policies that not only keep jobs in the U.S., but might even bring back some of the jobs that are now in your countries.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

^ Yikes!

<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/iQE0pfBAYQ8?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/iQE0pfBAYQ8?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>