Mood:  silly

MSNBC Conservative: Carlson Didn't Vote For Bush, May Not Support 2008 GOP Candidate

By Mark Finkelstein

During the course of a conversation with former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense Jed Babbin on this afternoon's show, Tucker Carlson described himself as "a real conservative."

But it was just a few minutes earlier, chatting with New Republic editor-at-large Peter Beinart, that Carlson mentioned in passing that he hadn't supported President Bush for president in 2004.

When Carlson stated that he had been wrong to support the war in Iraq [and now opposes it], Beinart retorted:

"You've just made a statement which almost guarantees that you're going to have to support the Democratic candidate in 2008 because there's virtually no chance we're going to have a Republican candidate who says they were wrong to support the war in Iraq. So I congratulate you on flipping over to the other side."

Replied Carlson: "Well I doubt I'm going to support the Democratic candidate. Whether I'll support the Republican candidate is a whole separate question. I didn't last time, I may not this time."

Carlson is also on record as condemning Israel's recent attack on Hezbollah.

It's obviously possible to be a conservative without supporting George W. Bush. Conservatives rightly hold Bush's profligate spending against him, for starters. But since Carlson has told us whom he didn't vote for in 2004, perhaps he'd be willing to reveal whom he did support.

In any case, Carlson is clearly the kind of conservative MSNBC could love - one who doesn't support the incumbent Republican president and opposes the cornerstone of his foreign policy. It's the same phenomenon that explains Pat Buchanan's ubiquity on MSNBC.

UPDATE: Damian G. of conservathink has been in touch to say that in an episode of The Situation, an earlier incarnation of Carlson's current show, he said that he didn't vote for anyone for president in 2004 because he was ' fed up.'

Mark Finkelstein lives in the liberal haven of Ithaca, NY, where he hosts the award-winning TV show 'Right Angle.' View show webcasts here. Email Mark at mark@gunhill.net
News Busters ~ Mark Finkelstein ** MSNBC Conservative: Carlson Didn't Vote For Bush, May Not Support 2008 GOP Candidate

Posted by yaahoo_06iest at 11:54 PM EDT

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Mood:  party time!

Jobless Rate Dips in August

WASHINGTON -- Hiring perked up in August as employers added 128,000 jobs, pulling down the unemployment rate to 4.7 percent, sending a Labor Day message that the economic expansion still has staying power.

The latest snapshot, released by the Labor Department Friday, was a bit brighter than expected and should ease any fears that the expansion that began in late 2001 is not in danger of fizzling out.

The tally of new jobs last month was slightly stronger than the 125,000 that economists were forecasting. The nation's unemployment rate dropped down a notch from a five-month high of 4.8 percent in July. Job gains for June and July also turned out to be better than previously estimated. In June, employers boosted payrolls by 134,000 positions and in July they added another 121,000.

The report comes as the nation's work force gets ready to the Labor Day holiday and as the election season looms.

Economic conditions -- especially those where people live and work -- are likely to be on voters' minds when they go to the polls in November.

Workers' average hourly earnings edged up to $16.79 in August, a 0.1 percent increase from July. Economists were forecasting a bigger, 0.3 percent advance. While workers welcome strong wage growth, economists worry that a rapid and prolonged pickup in wages can ignite inflation fears.

Over the 12 months ending August, wages grew by a strong 3.9 percent. The last time this figure was higher was in June 2001.

The Federal Reserve on Aug. 8 decided to halt a more than two-year long rate raising campaign given the slowing economy and the cooldown in the housing market. The Fed's rate increases were aimed at keeping inflation in check. Fed policymakers expressed hoped that the slowing economy eventually would help lessen inflationary pressures.

Economists have mixed opinions about the Fed's next move on Sept. 20. Some believe the central bank will leave rates alone again, while others predict another rate increase wil be ordered to fend off inflation.

Breitbart.com ~ Associated Press ** Jobless Rate Dips in August

Posted by yaahoo_06iest at 11:38 PM EDT

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Mood:  chatty

Why the Dems Don't Get It

The descent of the Democrats into seeming madness is both frightening and puzzling. To those paying attention and of stable mind, the Democrats look something like Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner:

It is an ancient Mariner,
And he stoppeth one of three.
‘By thy long grey beard and glittering eye,
Now wherefore stopp’st thou me?

He holds him with his skinny hand,
‘There was a ship,’ quoth he.
‘Hold off!  unhand me, grey-beard loon!’ [....]
He holds him with his glittering eye--[....]

‘I fear thee, ancient Mariner!
I fear thy skinny hand!
And thou art long, and lank, and brown,
As is the ribbed sea-sand.

I fear thee and thy glittering eye,
And thy skinny hand, so brown.’--

Coleridge wove madness into his poem to show that the Ancient Mariner was still living with his albatross around his neck. It makes for wonderful poetry. But it’s not exactly comforting when one of our great national parties tries to grab voters with its skinny hand, trying to stop them in their tracks with its glittering eye and floating hair. It’s scary.

The Republicans are hardly the last word in human wisdom, but right now they are the only ones acting normal. Sure, Democrats think they are making sense, but that’s only when they talk to each other. There aren’t enough grey-beard loons in the country to win national elections. What the Dems don’t get is that they have flagrantly and repeatedly crossed a clear red line in American politics: The line between being for our country or against it.

Forget the word “patriotism.” The question is, do Democrats favor a strong and vigorous America that protects itself -- and the entire West -- against a monstrous and aggressive ideology? Americans don’t want to be in doubt about that. For the Democrats to be so completely blind to the signals they constantly send out is weird beyond words. It is self-destructive, and it degrades our political dialogue. We need sensible Democrats. As it is, the sensible ones who speak up are purged, like Joe Lieberman and Zell Miller.

The only explanation I can think of is that liberals have in their minds substituted internationalism for nationalism. They have slipped into a belief they can’t own up to.

But the plain reality is that our nation is the only vessel in which we all sink or swim. Punch a hole in the bottom and we all go down. In a nuclear age, with North Korea and the Khomeiniacs getting the Bomb, it’s not just a scare headline any more. Give enough Bombs to enough rogues with enough hate for the West, and Boom! It’s over. Back to the Dark Ages.

That’s obvious to the average voter. It’s so obvious that it’s not even worth debating. It was average Americans who spontaneously broke out a great blizzard of American flags in the months after 9/11. That was the instinctive and natural expression of our pain, the feeling that we had been personally hit by a mad and ruthless enemy -- an inhuman enemy who was willing to use utility knives to butcher female airline attendants, and then fly hundreds of innocent people into buildings filled with more than fifty thousand ordinary people. The whole barbarian piece of butchery was simply unimaginable to normal Americans. It still is.

That spontaneous flowering of flags was eloquent, solemn and silent. It did not need words, because we all understood what it meant: “We are all hurt, we are all Americans, we are all healed by acknowledging who we are. We are one.” Words were not needed.

But to liberal Democrats, the great spontaneous wave of flags in those bitter days made no sense at all. They saw it as a throwback to jack-booted Jingoism; as if they had utterly forgotten what country they were living in. To liberals, our shared destiny in the frail craft of nationhood was no longer obvious. They were afraid of those millions of little flags, because they felt excluded by them.

Internationalist Supercessionism

It can only be that the Left has absorbed a Marxist assumption about the world, and done it so completely that don’t even realize it themselves. That unconscious assumption could be called “internationalist supercessionism.” It is the idea that the nation-state is out of date. Nations are doomed, and furthermore, it’s really good that they are destined to die, because  nations will be superceded by some international body that will abolish war and create welfare and equality for all.

“Internationalist supercessionism” is a big mouthful, but it’s seems to capture what liberals really believe. In the liberal imagination it is actually good to sink the ship of state.

That never made any sense. Suppose -- just for the sake of argument -- that the whole fantasy is true, and that nation states will crumble in the best Marxist fashion and be superceded by an ideal government for all the world, a government that is good, decent, equitable, generous, honest, fair, prosperous, and gives welfare benefits for all, for ever and ever, amen. Don’t laugh. Let’s just assume it.

How do we get from here to there? By allowing Islamofascists to win in Iraq or Lebanon? By teaching multiculturalism, to discredit our own time-tested values and sabotage our survival? By hoping that Hillary brings healthcare for all, with no limits and no tough choices? As soon as you start to ask questions, the whole Tinkerbelle wish-upon-a-star fantasy becomes obvious. Even to liberals.

When the Communists were prominent -- many still are, but they don’t call themselves that anymore -- they had an answer to any questions about the ideal world to come. They were convinced that Marx had proved once and for all that nobody could answer the question, because the world would be so different in the communist future that we, with our historically limited understanding, could not even imagine it.

Shazzam! They had a wildly intellectualized way of saying “just don’t ask!” Swaddle that in a barrage of Hegelian verbiage and nobody dares to ask any more questions.

Marxism has fallen on hard times -- big sigh of relief! -- but the Left still doesn’t have any answer. It doesn’t even ask questions—- choosing instead, for example, to bury their heads in the sand in the face of an open Third-World corruptocracy at the United Nations. They need to believe. Don’t ask.

The internationalist assumption has spread, because none of the insiders raise questions; and those who raise questions are purged. That’s exactly how cults work. I think I know that, because I keep asking my liberal friends to answer simple questions, but I never get to the end of my sentence. Instead, they just keep changing the subject when I try.

It’s very strange. Here are very intelligent people, living in unprecedented prosperity and security in the most freedom-loving nation on earth. Yet they are obsessed with an otherworldly dream, so that their lives are filled with passionate loves and hates. They love whoever sings their dream song, and they hate anybody who doesn’t. The Left loved Kennedy and hated Nixon with a deadly hatred. They hated Eisenhower and loved Adlai Stevenson. Today they love Hillary and hate Bush. It’s all very black and white. There are the Children of Light and the Children of Darkness, and that’s all there’s to it.

It is as if liberals are too frail, too weak to think freely about some of the most important questions in the world. Skeptical questions seem to hurt their feelings. My liberal friends seem thrive on warm social groups that confirm their beliefs. Nationally, they have converted a gloriously argumentative newspaper industry into dull conformity, after the invention of television made an intellectual monopoly possible. Vibrant intellectual institutions like Harvard University have been degraded into places where the president gets fired, simply for asking questions.

I believe that’s what happened to the Democrats. They have become intellectually hollow, allowing themselves to drift into cult-like, otherworldly fantasies. Just by shutting out questions, by controlling the national narrative, they have turned a viable political party into an empty shell, interested only in winning power and privilege, but unable to tell the voters why they deserve to win.

What keeps the Democrats alive at all is their ability to control  the discourse, the public narrative Americans are supposed to tell themselves. Question that politically correct monopoly, and the emptiness at the heart of the Left becomes obvious. The cry of today’s Left is “Don’t make me think!”

Let’s hope they get better soon.

The American Thinker ~ James Lewis ** Why the Dems Don't Get It

Posted by yaahoo_06iest at 11:24 PM EDT

Updated: Saturday, 2 September 2006 11:28 PM EDT

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Mood:  surprised

Woman Orders Bears Out of Her Kitchen

VAIL, Colo. -- A 72-year-old woman making pot roast in her kitchen discovered uninvited guests in her home Thursday: a bear and her cub.

The unidentified woman walked into the kitchen and found the bear standing six feet away, apparently surprising it, Vail police Sgt. Dan Torgerson said. The bear hissed at her and swatted her chest and arm, giving her some minor scratches. The woman then scared it off by yelling and clapping her hands.

Torgerson said the bear hissed again and then left through a side door.

"If the bear was trying to hurt her, it very easily could have," he said. "I think it was just surprised."

The woman then found a cub in her house and she pushed it out the door, Torgerson said.

That bear and cub are believed to be the same ones that entered another home and ate food off the kitchen counter. The owners refused to let wildlife officials set traps for bears in their homes.

No trash had been left outside at either home but a trash can was found outside on another street and it had apparently been rummaged through by a bear. That resident was cited.

Randy Hampton, a spokesman for the Colorado Division of Wildlife, said the bear has learned how to get food from humans and has taught its cub. If captured, he said the bear would be euthanized and its cub euthanized or relocated.

Encounters between humans and bears are more common as bears feed to prepare for hibernation during the winter. Right now bears spend about 20 hours a day eating about 20,000 calories -- the equivalent of nearly 20 Big Mac meals.

Information from: Vale Daily
WTOP 103.5-FM News ~ Associated Press ** Woman Orders Bears Out of Her Kitchen

Posted by yaahoo_06iest at 10:49 PM EDT

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Mood:  suave

A modest plan for saving the country. Thanks in advance for the applause

 By (Libtard) Garrison Keillor

It's the best part of summer, the long lovely passage into fall. A procession of lazy golden days that my sandy-haired, gap-toothed little girl has been painting, small abstract masterpieces in tempera and crayon and glitter, reminiscent of Franz Kline or Willem de Kooning (his early glitter period). She put a sign out front, "Art for Sale," and charged 25 cents per painting. Cheap at the price.

A teacher gave her this freedom to sit unselfconsciously and put paint on paper. A gentle 6-foot-8 guy named Matt who taught art at her preschool. Her swimming teachers gave her freedom from fear of water. So much that has made this summer a pleasure for her I trace to specific teachers, and so it's painful to hear about public education sinking all around us. A high school math class of 42! Everybody knows you can't teach math to 42 kids at once, kids doped up on sugar and soda, sleepy kids, Hmong kids, African-American kids who think scholarship is white bread. The classroom smells bad because the custodial staff has been cut back. The teacher is shelling out $900 a month for health insurance, one-third of his take-home. Meanwhile, he must whip his pupils into shape to pass the federal No Child Left Untested program. This is insanity, the legacy of Republicans and their tax-cutting and their hostility to secular institutions.

Last spring I taught a college writing course and had the privilege of hanging out with people in their early 20s, an inspirational experience in return for which I tried to harass them about spelling and grammar and structure. My interest in being 21 again is less than my interest in having a frontal lobotomy, but the wit and passion and good-heartedness of these kids, which they try to conceal under their exquisite cool, are the hope of this country. You have to advocate for young people, or else what are we here for?

I keep running into retirees in their mid-50s, free to collect seashells and write bad poetry and shoot video of the Grand Canyon, and goody for them, but they're not the future.

My college kids are graduating with a 20-pound ball of debt chained to their ankles.

That's not right and you know it.

This country is squashing its young. We're sending them to die in a war we don't believe in anymore. We're cheating them so we can offer tax relief to the rich. And we're stealing from them so that old gaffers like me, who want to live forever, can go in for an MRI if we have a headache.

A society that pays for MRIs for headaches and can't pay teachers a decent wage has made a dreadful choice. But health care costs are ballooning, eating away at the economy.

The boomers are getting to an age where their knees need replacing and their hearts need a quadruple bypass--which they feel entitled to--but our children aren't entitled to a damn thing. Any goombah with a PhD in education can strip away French and German, music and art, dumb down the social sciences, offer Britney Spears instead of Shakespeare, and there is nothing the kid can do except hang out in the library, which is being cut back too.

This week we mark the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the Current Occupant's line, "You're doing a heckuva job," which already is in common usage, a joke, a euphemism for utter ineptitude. It's sure to wind up in "Bartlett's Quotations," a summation of his occupancy.

Annual interest on the national debt now exceeds all government welfare programs combined. We'll be in Iraq for years to come. Hard choices need to be made, and given the situation we're in, I think we must bite the bullet and say no more health care for card-carrying Republicans. It just doesn't make sense to invest in longevity for people who don't believe in the future. Let them try faith-based medicine, let them pray for their arteries to be reamed and their hips to be restored, and leave science to the rest of us.

Cutting out health care to one-third of the population--the folks with Bush-Cheney bumper stickers, who still believe the man is doing a heckuva job--will save enough money to pay off the national debt, not a bad legacy for Republicans. As Scrooge said, let them die and reduce the surplus population. In return, we can offer them a reduction in the estate tax.

All in favor, blow your nose.

Garrison Keillor is an author and radio host of "A Prairie Home Companion."
(Origional story requires registration)
Chicago Tribune ~ Garrison Keillor ** A modest plan for saving the country

Has anyone else noticed how often the leftwingers invoke the death wish for their opponents who argue from reasoned opinions? The last paragraph is of course, the pure leftist love, tolerance, and compassion we have come to expect. Can you imagine what the response would be from the media if Rush wrote an article like this?

Posted by yaahoo_06iest at 1:57 AM EDT

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Mood:  bright

Spending provides cheer on US economy

US consumers delivered good news to the economy on Thursday, as data for July showed spending on goods and services was growing more quickly than at any time this year.

Meanwhile, tame inflation over the month made an interest rate increase by the Federal Reserve in September increasingly unlikely.

Personal spending rose by 0.8 per cent last month, twice the June rate, a report published by the Commerce Deparment said, boosted by incentives for car sales. Personal income grew by 0.5 per cent, with disposable income up 0.7 per cent. Inflation rose by a smaller-than-expected 0.1 per cent, or an annualised 2.4 per cent.

At its current rate, inflation exceeds the Fed’s imposed limits of 1-2 per cent. However, the July rise, the smallest this year, combined with signs of weakness in residential housing, supports the view that the Fed is unlikely to raise rates in the immediate future.

“The chances of a September rate hike continue to recede - although that doesn’t mean that we can yet declare that the Fed is done hiking for good,” said Nigel Gault, US economist at Global Insight.

The data drove some analysts to bump up their economic growth and consumption expectations for the rest of the year, although most were still forecasting a slowing in the economy in the longer term. Recent data have shown consumers’ confidence in the strength of the economy waning.

“Today’s solid income and consumption figures through July ... continue to buck forecasts of a broad slowdown in the US economy, though a modest slowdown in growth remains a best guess,” said Mike Englund, an analyst at Action Economics.

Retail sales for August showed some evidence of weakness, with discretionary spending down slightly, but were robust overall.

Financial Times ~ Daniel Pimlott ** Spending provides cheer on US economy

Posted by yaahoo_06iest at 1:23 AM EDT

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Mood:  d'oh

Air America Radio Finances, Associated Press

FRAYED WIRES

Ca$h- Starved Air America Struggles To Pay AP

Air America Radio is apparently so broke that it is now struggling just to pay for basic news services, the Radio Equalizer has exclusively learned.

Locked into a contract for Associated Press wire services until next year, the much- hyped but floundering liberal talk radio network has recently attempted to negotiate for revised terms, including temporarily disconnecting certain elements of its AP coverage until it can theoretically resume full payments in 2007.

Perhaps al- Reuters could offer to fill the void, free of charge?

The AP did not respond to a Radio Equalizer press inquiry on the status of Air America's contract.

Use of a wire service, especially the AP's, is an essential element of any broadcast company's newsroom operations. Only the smallest radio stations in the country might attempt to function without one, but even that is not common.

Without the AP or another network feed, anchors are placed in a terrible position where they must improvise newscasts without running afoul of copyright laws and other restrictions. In monitoring recent Air America newscasts, there has been a notable absence of audio cuts and identification of the sources of reports. Why that is the case is not clear, but it does make for a rather odd- sounding news break.

And at Air America's website, news updates are written more in the style of a blog, with links to various reports, including some at Yahoo.com that feature AP coverage. But that kind of indirect linking doesn't require one to subscribe to the wire service.

If Air America is in fact having trouble paying the Associated Press, where does that leave other creditors and vendors? After all, the AP wire couldn't possibly be considered one of the company's biggest monthly expenses. In addition, AAR's news is sponsored by the SEIU labor union, under a long- term deal. Why doesn't the SEIU money directly cover the AP's cost?

The other big question raised by this news is what has become of the money from George Soros, Rob Glaser and others.

Have Franken and Rhodes really sucked it all up so soon? If we find out what happened to all of that lefty dough, we'll let you know.

Thanks to Dave Pierre at Newsbusters for linking to this story today.

AP photoshops: David A Lunde for the Radio Equalizer
The Radio Equalizer ~ Brian Maloney ** Frayed Wires, Ca$h- Starved Air America Struggles To Pay AP

Mike Malloy Fired, Air America Radio, New York City Ratings

MORE TURMOIL

Malloy Fired, New Questions Emerge

Hot- headed extremist Mike Malloy says he's been unexpectedly fired by Air America Radio, according to his website and a posting by his producer / wife Kathy at the Democratic Underground. Apparently, he's already done his last show for the network (hat tip to Boston's "Raccoon Radio" Bob).

So far, AAR hasn't updated its program schedule, but that's no surprise: it also still lists Janeane Garofalo, who left some time ago.

Since recent indications were that Malloy would survive the liberal talk radio network's dramatic downsizing, this news further sheds light on the turmoil that has enveloped the floundering operation. Mike, who uses an ancient photo of himself on his website, was expected to move with Air America to its new and smaller flagship station in New York, WWRL- AM. So what is going on now?

Though Malloy and wife Kathy weren't being paid much by Air America, very little of its programming schedule outside of Franken, Rhodes and a couple of others now appears to be avoiding the chopping block.

Malloy's angry style and rhetoric have mostly been ignored by the media, with the exception of a couple of particularly extreme moments. One occurred when he lashed out at a conservative group that politely invited him to broadcast from their convention, calling them "neo- nazis".

And earlier this year, Malloy's idea of being a "team player" was to threaten our inside sources at the network.

And as for numbers, Malloy wasn't generating any: in the spring 2006 Arbitron survey, his combined (adults 25-54) ratings stood at a pathetic 0.5 share in New York City, compared to a 2.1 for rival Lionel on WOR 710 AM and 2.2 for the just- cancelled John Batchelor on WABC. For Malloy, that represented a drop of 29% over the previous ratings period.

What Mike did have, however, was a hard- core cult following by some of Air America's most politically extreme listeners. Apparently, the network felt that wasn't a demographic worth maintaining.

The bigger question, of course, is why the inner turmoil at the network continues unabated. Programming decisions seem to change by the day, with a scorecard needed to keep track of them.

With so many internal managers having recently departed from AAR's New York headquarters, who is now calling the shots, other than Jim Wiggett in San Francisco and Rob Glaser in Seattle?

UPDATE: a reader emails this:

Brian,
Great job on your blog- I never miss it.

Regarding Mike Mallory's firing, maybe it's coincidence, but pretty much at the beginning of subbing for Randi Rhodes Tuesday, Malloy was ripping on "the suits" at Air America and their move to the new station in New York.

As I was listening, I was thinking, "wow, he could really p*ss off the bosses with his rant". I'm guessing he did. hehe

Again, just my two bits based on what I heard.
Keep up the great work.
E F

E F, this might explain why Malloy was ripped right out of the middle of a fill- in stint for Randi Rhodes. Another host abruptly replaced him mid- week.

UPDATE: the ratings information above is at best misleading, as WLIB began airing ABC Radio's Satellite Sisters in Malloy's timeslot earlier this year. The crappy numbers mentioned belong to them, not to Malloy. Beyond New York, it's hard to tell just how many stations were running his show. He did well in Portland, Oregon, (over a 6 share in the evenings on KPOJ) but not in Los Angeles, where his late night slot generated only a 0.1 share (adults 25-54).

In addition, the Radio Equalizer has heard that at least some of Malloy's stations were caught off guard by his firing, having not received the customary notice of his show's cancellation. At least one affiliate was scrambling Wednesday to make other plans at the last minute.

Old Picture, Like Rats: David A Lunde for the Radio Equalizer
The Radio Equalizer ~ Brian Maloney ** More Turmoil, Malloy Fired, New Questions Emerge

Posted by yaahoo_06iest at 12:53 AM EDT

Updated: Friday, 1 September 2006 12:59 AM EDT

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Mood:  chatty

A Republican Grows in D.C.

Young Tony Williams runs for city council.

Tony Williams, the 26-year-old son of NPR correspondent and Fox News contributor Juan Williams, is cut from the same cloth as the older Williams in some ways, but definitely not in others. Father and son both hold heterodox opinions on matters of race, for instance, but the younger Williams is--gasp--a Republican. He even spent a summer working in Strom Thurmond's office. And now the young iconoclast is making a run for office, campaigning for a seat on Washington's city council, where Democrats occupy 11 of the 13 seats.

Williams is running as a small-government conservative, hailing the virtues of small businesses and promoting tax breaks for entrepreneurs, homeowners, and renters. President Bush's concept of an ownership society gets high marks in his book. He says he detests inefficient bureaucracy and aims to ensure that tax dollars flow directly where they are needed, to failing schools, job training programs, and housing loan initiatives for city workers.

Currently, Williams is the only Republican running. Three Demo crats are vying for their party's nomination in a September primary, and one independent is already in the race. Williams has received support from Republicans across the District and former city council members John Ray and William Lightfoot. Of course many potential supporters view a council seat in the District as all but unwinnable for a Republican candidate, which can make fundraising difficult. But Williams is hoping to persuade the party establishment that investing now in local minority candidates will pay dividends in the long run.

At the D.C. Young Republicans' monthly happy hour on Capitol Hill last week, Williams mixed and mingled with a crowd of about 50 or 60, talking about his key issues and soliciting volunteers. D.C. Young Republicans' Kris Hammond says that Williams has one of the "best coordinated" campaigns, and that he hopes it will help build the party's presence in D.C. Hammond believes a number of local Republicans register as Demo crats to avoid wasting their votes. Longtime resident and D.C. Republican Committee member Nelson Rimensnyder declares that Williams "has the best shot of any Republican since 1975."

Williams emphatically defends the Republican party on the issue of civil rights. He cites the actions of a Republican-dominated Congress in furthering the fight for civil rights, and also the party's emphasis on a strong work ethic. Democrats "offered a lot of benefits to the African-American community . . . whereas the Republican party said well . . . you're not going to automatically move into the middle class. . . . The American dream doesn't work like that, you have to work hard and take some individual responsibility." He says he respects civil rights leaders such as Marion Barry and Julian Bond, but argues that the District has seen the "huge African-American upper class and . . . middle class . . . dwindle" because Democrats have "ignored those doctrines of personal responsibility."

Williams got his start in politics working as a page on Capitol Hill for the late Sen. Strom Thurmond, who also hired him for the summer as an intern coordinator. He's "forever grateful" to Thurmond for the opportunity, says Williams. After college, he worked in the Department of Veterans' Affairs as a speechwriter and policy adviser before joining Sen. Norm Coleman's staff, where he worked on issues relating to small businesses, the budget, and telecommunications. His Hill experience impressed upon Williams the paramount importance of a sound budget and the unmatched role small businesses play in invigorating the economy. He states plainly, "If the budget works, everything works; if the budget doesn't work, nothing works."

Williams's platform focuses on schools and development. He favors vouchers (a controversial position in the District) and charter schools, but says reforming and improving the public school system would be one of his first orders of business on the council. As a real estate investor (he owns two apartments and a parking lot in Ward 6), Williams is familiar with the plight of current residents being pushed out of their neighborhoods by developers. Developers do "a lot of good work," says Williams. Still, he worries about the delicate balance between attracting builders to invest in blighted areas and keeping prices affordable for current residents.

Every evening Williams canvasses a portion of Ward 6, which covers Capitol Hill and a chunk of the Southeast quadrant, talking with residents and handing out campaign literature. Last Thursday, working the waterfront area, he was polished and polite, introducing himself as the Republican candidate for city council, which tended to draw sour faces. But as the candidate explained his ideas for improving schools, safety, and the general welfare of the community, people opened up to him and told him about their frustrations and concerns. Williams hopes that his early campaigning will make a difference. He reports that his website always receives a late-evening bump in traffic after he's been out distributing pamphlets.

When it comes to fiscal issues, Williams says he is "one hundred percent" conservative. He's disgusted that "our government has grown so large." On national security, he also calls himself a conservative, but he hedges on the war in Iraq. And on social issues, he calls himself a "Northern Republican," adding that public officials should have moral standards and act as role model citizens, but not legislate morality.

He names Ronald Reagan, a "politician that spoke to my heart," as one of his political heroes. His other heroes include Thurgood Marshall and Edward R. Murrow, as well as his mother, upon whom he bestows the title of "public servant" for her dedicated career as a social worker, and his grandfather, who worked on the Panama Canal and trained boxers in order to save enough money to transport his family to America.

Williams has the support of several prominent conservatives. Radio talk show host and commentator Armstrong Williams, a longtime family friend and Tony's godfather, praises Tony's public-spiritedness and says his godson "always had a commitment to service and people."

On The Net: Ward 6 for Tony Williams
Whitney Blake is an editorial assistant at The Weekly Standard.
The Weekly Standard ~ Whitney Blake ** A Republican Grows in D.C.

Posted by yaahoo_06iest at 3:44 PM EDT

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Mood:  d'oh

Congressman Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) in his office on Capitol Hill >>>>> 

Why the Democrats Are Worrying About Money

Despite their lead in the polls, congressional Democrats are concerned, and even feuding, about whether they will have enough cash to take back the House this fall

2006 Democrats have been leading in the polls for months now, but that doesn't mean everyone in the party is feeling so comfortable about their chances of regaining the House in November.

Rahm Emanuel, the Chicago congressman in charge of getting House Democrats elected, has already been in a months-long feud with Howard Dean, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, complaining that Dean isn't spending enough of the DNC's money on this year's congressional races. But now Emanuel is expanding his fight with other groups in his own party, blasting George Soros and MoveOn.org, two key sources of campaign cash for liberal candidates in 2004, for not spending enough money so far in 2006.

Noting that MoveOn.org had run ads in four key congressional races earlier this summer and then stopped, Emanuel told the New York Daily News "they literally moved on. The election is in November, and they moved on in June. What is going on here? I don't get it. I'm bewildered." On Soros, Emanuel said "he says his No. 1 priority is taking back the House. I say, 'Okay, I'm into that. So what are we going to do?'"

Both Soros and MoveOn.org sharply defended themselves, with MoveOn Washington director Tom Matzzie telling TIME regarding Emanuel's remarks that "it's really in poor taste, it shows no class and its not not going to help Democrats get elected." (MoveOn says it stopped running ads in the earlier districts because Emanuel's Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is now involved in those races so they've focused their efforts on other places where ads by Democratic groups aren't running.)

But the flare-up underscores one of the Democrats' biggest worries about this fall's elections: money. Top party officials are fretting that the GOP will dominate the ad wars in September and October. "My greatest fear is there will be a wall of money coming in at the end," said David Plouffe, a Democratic strategist working on some of the House campaigns. House Democrats actually have almost the same amount of money as House Republicans, $33 million to $34 million, but the Republican National Committee has $43 million, compared to $11 million for Dean's DNC.

And GOP interest groups are putting in big ad buys as well. Democratic congressional officials were concerned earlier this month when the Chamber of Commerce starting running thousands of dollars in ads in key districts, praising several vulnerable GOP incumbents such as U.S. Rep. Thelma Drake of the Virginia Beach area, for their support of the Medicare prescription drug benefit; the Democratic challengers in those races couldn't respond, hoping to save their money for the end of the year. In fact, for all Emanuel's criticism, one of the few liberal groups actually running ads is MoveOn.org, which currently has spots up in a handful of congressional districts, attacking Republicans like Charlie Bass of New Hampshire for their support of the Iraq war. MoveOn.org has so far spent more than $2 million on ads in House races, although this still pales in comparison to the GOP-supporting Chamber of Commerce, which has already spent a combined $10 million on House and Senate races.

Looking at key individual races only highlights the problems the Democrats have as they try to up pick the 15 seats the party must gain to take control of the House. In the suburbs of Philadelphia, according to the last campaign finance filing, Democratic challenger Patrick Murphy had $960,000, compared to $2 million for Republican incumbent Mike Fitzpatrick. In a district near Denver, Democratic challenger Ed Perlmutter had raised $250,000, compared to $1.2 million for Rick O'Donnell. If an anti-incumbent wave hits, heavily underfunded Democrats could still win, but party officials think money that allows GOP candidates to bombard races with either positive or negative ads could be the difference. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi has spent much of August on a 25-city fundraising tour, raising $5 million for the party.

But even if they can raise enough money, the Dems continue to worry that, as in 2002 and 2004, the GOP might beat them in getting core supporters to the polls. This has become the latest issue in the battle between Dean and other Democratic officials, who are worried Dean won't put enough money or the right people to win the "ground game" in key races. Emanuel has reportedly reached out to Michael Whouley, a veteran organizer who was a key strategist in John Kerry's come-from-behind victory in the Iowa caucuses in 2004, to help Democrats with turnout. And when people approach Pelosi for autographs on her road trips, she's been imploring them to knock on doors in support of their local candidates.

Despite the critique by some Democrats that in 2002 and 2004 the party lost because they didn't have a clear message, Democratic officials are much less concerned about the party's proposals than about money and mobilizing voters.

After months of discussions, the Democrats came up with their campaign platform "A New Direction for America" last month and many candidates are now pushing some of the ideas in it, such as increasing the minimum wage, reversing President Bush's policy on stem cell research and making college tuition tax deductible.

The internal discussions that shaped the document included bringing in a bunch of corporate consultants who helped Democrats structure the plan. Jack Trout, a Connecticut marketing expert who has helped IBM and Burger King, said the party should define its message in terms of clearly "differentiating" themselves from the GOP, a term nearly every Democratic lawmaker is now using.

The opening line of the Democrats' agenda -- "Congressional Democrats believe America should work for everyone, not just those at the top" -- is a message Trout promoted constantly in conference calls and in meetings, while Democrats picked six issues, rather than five or seven, at the urging of software entrepreneur John Cullinane, who has been consulting with House Democrats since 2004. ("Seven is too many, five is too few" he says.)

Still, the marketing experts weren't all that happy with the final product. Trout said "they tend to do a lot of laundry listing," while George Lakoff, a University of California professor of linguistics whom Democrats brought in to talk about their use of language, said "it doesn't get to the deepest values and principles behind what the Democrats believe."

Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold, who is considering a 2008 presidential run, was even less impressed. He called the Democrats' proposal on Iraq, which asks President Bush to start withdrawing troops from Iraq this year, "weak tea." In a meeting with TIME reporters earlier this month, Feingold said "running out the clock, this is so much what the Democrats are trying to do. They're going to play it safe." He called for a much bolder agenda from the party, including a universal health care plan, full withdrawal of troops from Iraq this year and a commitment to stop any attempt to ban gay marriage. In fact, Democrats wouldn't have to look too far for some bolder ideas. Emanuel, along with another former Clinton White House adviser, Bruce Reed, just released a book called The Plan that calls for universal national service, requiring that every job come with a 401(k) plan, and expanding the army by 100,000 troops.

But the agenda satisfied the Democrats' overriding goal: offer something that didn't give the Republicans much to shoot at, but wouldn't allow the GOP to say its rivals have no ideas. Democrats believe the lesson from 1994 -- when the Republicans put out a 10-point plan for governing called "The Contract With America" and won huge margins that gave them control of the House and the Senate -- wasn't that the Contract helped the GOP get elected: most voters hadn't heard of the Republican plan when they cast their ballots. Democrats say, that like 1994, an anti-incumbency feeling exists all over their country, and they need to keep voters focused on what President Bush and the Republicans have done wrong. So Democrats eschewed a big health care plan, for example, because they worried it would reinforce the Republican critique of Democrats as the "tax and spend" party. "Eighty percent of our message is negative," one party strategist said.

Time.com ~ Perry Bacon JR. ** Why the Democrats Are Worrying About Money

Posted by yaahoo_06iest at 3:09 PM EDT

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Mood:  loud

National Guardsman Brutally Attacked In Pierce County

PARKLAND, Wash. -- The Pierce County Sheriff's Department is searching for five people who allegedly attacked a uniformed National Guardsmen walking along 138th Street in Parkland Tuesday afternoon.

The soldier was walking to a convenience store when a sport utility vehicle pulled up alongside him and the driver asked if he was in the military and if he had been in any action.

The driver then got out of the vehicle, displayed a gun and shouted insults at the victim. Four other suspects exited the vehicle and knocked the soldier down, punching and kicking him.

“And during the assault the suspects called him a baby killer. At that point they got into the car and drove off and left him on the side of the road,” Detective Ed Troyer with the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department told KIRO 7 Eyewitness News.

The suspects were driving a black Chevy Suburban-type SUV.

“This is something new for us, we have not had military people assaulted because they were in the military or somebody's opposition to a war or whatever,” Troyer said.

The driver is described as a white male, 25-30 years old, 5 feet 10 inches tall, heavy build, short blond hair, wearing a black T-shirt and jeans, and armed with a handgun.

The vehicle's passengers are described as white males, 20-25 years old. Some of the suspects wore red baseball hats and red sweatshirts during the attack.

The Pierce County Sheriff's Department is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and charging of the individuals involved. Informants can call 253-591-5959, and callers will remain anonymous.

Video: Uniformed National Guardsman Attacked
KIRO-TV.com ** National Guardsman Brutally Attacked In Pierce County

Posted by yaahoo_06iest at 2:29 PM EDT

Updated: Thursday, 31 August 2006 2:40 PM EDT

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