daily reality check

Rep. Tom DeLay appeared on ”Meet the Press” yesterday determined to end the year with a bang, not a whimper. He called the war in Iraq ”exciting,” and compared Democrats to morons, hippies and (gasp!) the French. …

REP. DeLAY: You know, the Democrats want to balance the budget by raising spending and raising taxes. The Soviet Union had a balanced budget.

Apparently sensing he hadn’t gone far enough with his comparisons to morons, hippies and the French, DeLay kicked his rhetoric into a higher gear later in the show and compared Democrats to communists because they’re pushing for a balanced budget. …

[E]mploying false economic logic and engaging in bitter name-calling has been a hallmark of 2003. President Bush promised in his inaugural address to “change the tone in Washington,” and he has – under the Bush administration, things have transformed from typical partisan bickering to outright political garbage-throwing.

Anyone who opposed the president’s ill-planned rush to war was labeled a traitor.

Anyone who dared question the president’s overstatements of intelligence information was labeled a traitor and a wimp.

Anyone who opposed tax cuts was labeled a tax-and-spend liberal. And a traitor.

And the list goes on.

Duhbya’s single greatest lie may have been “I am a uniter, not a divider.”

This is from www.bushrecall.org (part of moveon.org, I think). On the lighter side, be sure to check out the clever “Lord of the Right Wing” animation — http://flash.bushrecall.org/ (thanks to MR). mjh

Bush Goal on Deficit Draws Skepticism By ALAN FRAM

President Bush’s goal of cutting in half a projected $500 billion federal deficit within five years is being dismissed as too timid by conservatives, unachievable by analysts and laughable by Democrats. …

The goal is backed by many Republicans, but conservatives want a bolder move against the record deficits and big spending increases the administration has run up.

”It’s a rather anemic goal, actually,” said Stephen Moore, president of the conservative Club for Growth. ”We should be talking about how to balance the budget.” …

”Given the current makeup of Congress and the incumbent in the White House,” halving the red ink in half is ”fanciful,” said Robert Reischauer, former Congressional Budget Office director and president of the Urban Institute.

They also say Bush’s goal distracts from the country’s real budgetary crisis: the crunch that will occur at decade’s end when the aging baby boom generation begins relying on Social Security, Medicare and other programs.

”The smokescreen here is the short-term deficit,” said Robert Bixby, executive director of the bipartisan Concord Coalition, which lobbies for balanced budgets.

NPR : Pose a Question for a Presidential Candidate

On Tuesday, Jan. 6, the Democratic candidates for the White House will gather in Des Moines, Iowa, for the only radio debate of the presidential election season. NPR’s Neal Conan will act as moderator. Talk of the Nation invites you to join in.

We ask that you send one specific question for one specific candidate to election@npr.org. Send it soon — we’d like to include you in the public radio presidential debate.

NPR : The 2004 Democratic Presidential Candidates, The Morning Edition Interviews

Lying Media Bastards-We’re Just Working Till the Day We Decide We’ve Had Enough…

Bush: What’s the Difference- from a 12/16/03 interview:

DIANE SAWYER: But stated as a hard fact, that there were weapons of mass destruction, as opposed to the possibility that he could move to acquire those weapons still —

GEORGE W. BUSH: So what’s the difference?

Can I trade in my president for someone who knows the difference between real and imaginary please?

Welcome to uComics Web Site featuring Tom the Dancing Bug — The Best Comic Site In The Universe!

I’m passing on LMB’s recommendation for this comic: “Revisionist Comics”. mjh

Democrats Trail in Polls, Battling Self-Inflicted Wounds

Since Hussein’s capture – and Dean’s statement that it would not make the country safer or alter his views about the war – those rivals have attacked Dean in an effort to shake up a race that had seemed to be sliding away from them. Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) accused Dean of crouching in “his own spider hole of denial,” Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) said Dean had shown he lacked “the judgment to be president” and Rep. Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.) accused Dean of “playing politics with foreign policy.”

There is no evidence that any of this has thus far had much impact on the voters choosing the Democratic nominee in a swift succession of primaries and caucuses that begin next month.

I respect your right to campaign and appreciate many of the points each of you has contributed. However, in 6 months, 8 of you will not be the nominee.

My concern at the moment is how vicious the sparring has become. Most of you are helping Karl Rove write his campaign. All he will have to do is play footage of one or all of you saying this or that candidate is unqualified, unworthy, unelectable. You will look like fools and make all the Democrats look like fools.

As a group, we should be crafting an effective attack on George Bush — he is the one who must lose in November, 2004. Any word you say that does not contribute to defeating Bush is wasted breath. Any attack you make on another nominee undermines us all. Stop it. If you can’t sell yourself as yourself, you can’t win and we all lose. If you can’t unite the Democrats, you can’t win!

Find a way to campaign that does not divide Democrats — we must be united. Find a way to campaign that does not alienate independents and those oh-so-few moderate Republicans. Find a way to campaign that does not make Bush & Rove’s job easier. If you can’t treat your fellow Democrats decently, there is no hope for this party.

mjh
Mark Justice Hinton
dumpbush@mjhinton.com
http://www.mjhinton.com/blogs/
http://www.mjhinton.com/dumpbush/