Cheney Versus...

Via Drudge: Cheney predicts Laura Bush would beat Hillary Clinton in a presidential race.

Hey, it's just one man's opinion. But it is Cheney. Look how right he was on Iraq.

And who would beat Cheney, perhaps the most powerful VP ever, and who, with a boss is on his second term, is usually given a free pass as his party's candidate?

Judging by these numbers, I'd say this looks like a good candidate. Or maybe this. Or possibly this.

BTW, this is how Hillary does in a real poll.

For the first time, a majority of Americans say they are likely to vote for Hillary Rodham Clinton if she runs for president in 2008, according to a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll taken Friday through Sunday.

The survey shows that the New York senator and former first lady has broadened her support nationwide over the past two years, though she still provokes powerful feelings from those who oppose her.

Another Poll Bush Loses

There's this site, Mister Poll, that allows you to create and vote in all sorts of non-scientific polls.

Now, I don't really take much stock in them because well, they're non-scientific.

But it's astonishing how poorly Bush does in these polls. Take this one:

Best modern-day president:
Ronald Reagan (45%)
Bill Clinton (34%)
Jimmy Carter (9%)
Bush Two (5%)
None of them (4%)
Gerald Ford (0%)
Bush One (0%)
72 total votes

Or this one:
Choose your 10 favorite US Presidents.
16. Abraham Lincoln(Republican) (8%)
40. Ronald Reagan(Republican) (8%)
1. George Washington(No political party) (7%)
35. John F. Kennedy(Democrat) (7%)
32. Franklin Delano Roosevelt(Democrat) (6%)
3. Thomas Jefferson(Democratic-Republican) (6%)
26. Theodore Roosevelt(Republican) (6%)
33. Harry S. Truman(Democrat) (5%)
42. Bill Clinton(Democrat) (5%)
34. Dwight D. Eisenhower(Republican) (3%)
7. Andrew Jackson(Democrat) (2%)
39. Jimmy Carter(Democrat) (2%)
28. Woodrow Wilson(Democrat) (2%)
43. George W. Bush(Republican) (2%)
2. John Adams(Federalist) (2%)
6. John Quincy Adams(Democratic-Republican) (2%)
41. George Bush(Republican) (1%)
[All others get 1% or less]

Okay, he could have done worse, but for a sitting president he's doing awfully. And you can't say it's because too many liberals answered the poll - look how well Reagan did in both polls.

Was this guy ever really popular, or did Rove just convince the faithful to support him whatever their misgivings?

GOP and the Containment Theory

Supermodel Kim Alexis appeared on Hannity & Colmes to proclaim A) that she's a conservative and B) that she's the spokesmodel for a laxative. (What's up, Kim? Did the colostomy bag manufacturer not offer enough money?)

I always knew liberals had bleeding hearts.

Now I know where conservatives bleed.

Holy WMD, Batman!

If you read about politics on the 'net you've seen that photo of the Bush Administration bigwigs as the arch-villains from the Batman TV show. I was thinking about who other big Bush flunkies/allies might be represented as:

Karl Rove - Egghead
Karen Hughes - Black Widow
Scott McClellan - The minstrel
Tony Blair - Lord Fogg
Rush Limbaugh - King Tut
Paul Wolfowitz - The Bookworm
Dick Armey - Shame

The Top Ten Conservative Idiots

Always a good read!

Mickey Kaus is a liberal...

It says so Here and here and here and here and here. I could easily find more. He's called a "token liberal," "neo-liberal," "maverick liberal," and even "self-described civic liberal." Mostly by conservatives and republicans.

Can anyone show me real proof that Kaus is a liberal? Say, a clearly liberal view on say, three issues?

Anyone?

Ignorant Duck

Mallard Fillmore mocks Intelligent Design.

Bob Says: Base closings NOT non-partisan

Bob forwarded me this take on the proposed Base Closings. And I think it's on the money.

130+ base closings announced.

Base closings affecting Democratic districts as well as republicans ones.

The media says that the base closings are not political for this reason.

The media talks about how certain Repubs will fight to keep bases open.

People think, oh the soldiers will hate Repubs now for the same reason they hated Clinton.

But wait, all might not be as it seems. Next in this fight.

I predict. Repub senators will be successful in "saving" their bases and Dems will be unsuccessful. You can imagine the campaign commercials now in '06.

Repub challengers will run commercials saying how the incumbent is responsible for the economic deterioration of the town (when W has already done that. But they need another reason to blame).

Incumbent Repubs will run commercials saying how they saved the town.

Soldiers and their families will damn Dems and proclaim the sainthood of Repubs. repubs will ignore who started this thing. Voila '06 victory!

We need to be smart and know that this is coming. Don't let people forget it is Repubs suggesting this. Start now or they people will forget. Say it a million times that in the end it will be politics that affects the closures. This way we have a win-win in '06. Either what I have said will happen anyway and people will associate it with politics. It will make people sick. Or they will have to close all the bases and people will hate them for it.

If we do not jump on this now, you'll all see that this is the first shot over the bow for '06.

Them Ol' Public Library Blues

Well, they closed down the Waverly Branch of the Belmont Public Library this weekend.

Actually, they did it a while back. But they opened it this weekend for a final three-day book sale. I showed up at the opening of the sale mostly just to take a look around a the place that that fascinated, baffled, and scared me as a youth. As I was forbidden to cross streets, it was first place I could enter on my own because it was on my block. There were no other public buildings or stores, unless you count the dentist and the funeral home.

I wanted to take a look to see if any of the books I remembered from my youth were still there. If they were, they were soon dumped into paper bags by other shoppers. (The books were $1.50 each or $3.00 a bag.)

It was always a beautiful place, small but just what you want a library to be like. It was a carved out of the charming brick firehouse ( a small addition the original building was made to make a little extra room; you can see it by the slightly different bricks used). The firehouse used to be a schoolhouse, the woman presiding over the sale told me. The firemen had been petitioning for a new firehouse ever since they moved in over 80 years ago, she joked. The new firehouse will be built 1/2 the way between Waverly and Cushing Square. The old firehouse will be turned into condos, of course.

After I popped in, I visited my father for a few hours, then stopped in again before I grabbed a bus home, five minutes before they closed shop. To my surprise, there was a prominently displayed best-seller "The Price of Loyalty" about disgruntled Ex-Bush administration official Paul O'Neil, untouched by the ladies with paper bags. I bought it.

There were still people there when I left, but nobody was coming in and the library woman was announcing the sale was over.

I think I may be the last person ever to go into the Waverly Branch library to get a book.

Drudge's Non-Link

I've always liked the The Drudge Report, not for Drudge's unsourced "exclusives" but for the internet-savvy links it provides to real stories.
But one Item I clicked on surprised me.

The link was "Comedy Central Crushed by Star's Disappearance..."

But instead of getting a direct link to a story, I got a Google news search of these words:

Dave Chappelle called his bosses at the Viacom-owned cable network Comedy Central with some distressing news

The only search result was this LA Times story.

Did Drudge or an underling mess up? Or is there some reason he won't link directly to the story?

Eisenhower Does it Again

Dave Sirota found this jaw-dropping quote from Dwight "Military Industrial Complex" D. Eisenhower (select words in bold by me):

"Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are...a few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid."

The only thing I want to add to Sirota's excellent post is that Bush is not the only "Texas oil millionaire" in the White House. Don't forget his Boss, Mr. Cheney.