Thought for the Day

In all the coverage of Karl Rove's new (self servingly false) book, I have not seen a single mention that he is largely the one responsible for the modern Republican hostility and the current dysfunctional state of our politics.

More than anyone else, he's the one that designed the hate machine.

There's a slight hope....

Before he's really even started campaigning, ex-Houston Mayor Bill White only trails Texas Gov Rick Perry 43-49.

We're still in Texas, so any Dem would face an uphill battle for statewide office, but that is in the ballpark... at least enough to offer a little hope.

It's good to be in power

Amidst a Politico piece recounting the GOP's fundraising woes,

Overall, the Democratic Party committees combined have outraised their Republican counterparts significantly, bringing in $442,885,585 since last January, compared with $255,000,681 for the respective GOP committees. The Democrats’ $51 million in cash is also significantly larger than the Republicans’ $34 million.

.

Thought for the Day

There have been alot of (obviously self-motivated) "leaked" stories about how the White House should have more closely followed Rahm Emanuel's strategy on healthcare in the last week with a couple even mentioning "all that he gave up to take the post and the discontent implying idea that Emanuel never planned to serve more than two years.

Obama doesn't seem one who would take well to self serving extra narratives from subordinates with their own motivations. I gotta wonder how that's playing behind closed doors.

...but then again, Emanuel was a Clinton guy, so this may be second nature.....

Palin

A collection of celebrity sites describe with disgust the Palin entourage's visit to the Oscar's swag room.

Depleted Uranium in Fallujah

The US government has papers claiming that depleted uranium munitions are safe, but there have always been questions about exposure.

Fallujah was the first urban conflict where massive amounts of depleted uranium ordinance was used and the anecdotal reports like this one from the BBC have been indicating higher birth defect rates.

We really need to wait to see real data, but it is certainly a floating concern.

(Depleted uranium is the stuff left over after raw uranium is processed in centrifuges to isolate out the more active bits for nuclear bombs. There's tons of it for each bomb built. The military likes it for munitions because it is extremely dense, giving it the incredible penetrating power to punch through armor.

In theory, it's borderline radioactive safe, but there have always been questions, especially since it tends to partially vaporize in some penetrator applications leaving depleted uranium dust across the battlefield area.)

Never write it down

Alot of furor over this GOP "internal" guide to fundraising they presented to a meeting of their top outside bundlers. (Politico, WaPo)

You know, if you're going to be cynical jackasses about the folks who are helping you out, for gods' sake, don't write it down.

(Another black eye/gaffe for the Michael Steele RNC. Maybe they're pressing because their fundraising has been so poor?))

Romney launches bid

Just pointing out that Mitt Romney has released his book and is making the major media rounds, Letterman, The View, etc....

Texas

On the bright side, Bill White (who I really like) has a better shot, although I'm certainly not holding my breath.

Rove's book

Political books tend to have two basic tenors. 1) The score settling tell all or 2) Attempts to rewrite or reframe the unpopular.

The AP has the first blurbs I've seen from a new Karl Rove book, and it seems he's quite strongly in the latter category.

Rove depicts Bush as a courageous and resolute leader whose conduct in office was forever shaped by the Sept. 11 attacks. He calls Bush's achievements over two terms "impressive, durable and significant" and says many of the controversies that weakened his presidency were falsehoods perpetuated by political opponents.

(PS. It even spins in the headline. The headline is, "Rove admits to error on Iraq as Bush strategist," but the "error" he cites is not confronting Bush critics hard enough.

Not exactly what I had in mind.)

It's on you, bitches

Obama writes a (very public) letter to Congressional Republicans saying he wants ton include some of their ideas in the healthcare bill.

If it gains traction, that kinda leaves their opposition in a spot. They had been against any bill supposedly on the basis that it was not bipartisan. Now, politically at least, their being given something that is.

So, where do they spin to make sure Americans don't get health coverage?

I'm voting in Texas today.....

We'll see.

Later: I'm sorry. I tried.

More pressure than Bunning thought

Sen Jim Bunning put a single Senator hold on what should have been an unemployment benefits extension. I don't think he expected the coverage he has gotten, and it's getting to him.

He flipped off an ABC producer.

(Milbank has a playful summary of Bunning's day.)

Later: When the light really shone on him, Bunning backed down.

It didn't take Harold Ford too long...

Harold Ford finally gave up the very ill advised idea to try to carpet bag the NY Senator's race, but what made me laugh is how quickly (and well paid) he landed.

He drops his Senate bid on Monday, and on Thursday he's scheduled to give a well compensated speech to the Bermuda International Business Association's annual Bermuda meeting.

What's going on?

'm sorry, folks. I got nothin'. Ever since that damned health summit, it seems like there's been no political news. It's like everybody structured around that, and when it passed without incident, nobody had anything else planned.

Maybe later.

Stray thought

I remember as a kid watching some piece of crap made for TV movie about "the big one" earthquake hitting Southern California.

In that fictional worst case scenario, it was a magnitude 9.0.