The Blue State

Rove's infatuation with Hillary

Hillary Clinton and Karl Rove are a match made in heaven.  The only problem is that right now the relationship is one-dimensional.  The New York Senator, and presumptive 2008 presidential candidate, said today that Rove "spends a lot of time obsessing about me."  She added, "He spends more time thinking about my political future than I do."

Karl Rove once said, "She is the dominant player on their side of the slate. Anybody whothinks that she's not going to be the candidate is kidding themselves."

First of all, not to defend Karl Rove, but the White House strategist has every reason to want the Republicans to obsess about her because she is almost certainly running for President.  The former First Lady plans to raise tens of millions of dollars, more than enough to finance three future Senate runs.  I highly doubt that she won't run for President.

But even more interesting is the fact that Rove himself is personally obsessing about her.  Is that a hint that Rove will head the campaign of the GOP nominee in 2008?  If so, by concentrating on her he might be getting a head start on the talking points.

Abortion prepares for almost certain docking at Supreme Court

(Courtesy of Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune, Cagle Cartoons)

Time Magazine has a nice article that looks at the activist wings, which are the front lines in the abortion wars.

Democrats can apply pressure on Bush on state levels

The U.S. House and Senate are not the only places where the Democrats can challenge the Bush Administration.  While it is important to win back the Legislative Branch, success on state levels might add the right about of pressure on the national government to get their act together. 

Dan Balz of the Washington Post wrote a nice piece this morning about how the Democrats are set to possibly capture back a majority of the governorships for the first time since the year 1990.  Balz put it into perspective:

Historically, shifts in power in the 50 capitals have held long-termimplications for both parties, and control of statehouses can giveparties tangible organizational advantages during presidentialelections.

According to a survey USA Poll, many of the current Republican governors are in trouble.  While grassroots Democrats are correct in donating money to Senate and House campaigns, if they live in a red state they might look to impact their governorship and help provide opposition to the President's budgetary policies that are inherently anti-states rights.

The world doesn't like Bush -- what's new?

It's polls like this that worry my generation:

For many non-American citizens, the hatred towards Bush does not transfer over to hating all Americans.  However, there is statistical proof that shows that when these numbers go down for a U.S. President, they also impact perception about America in general.  Thirty years from now I want my children to travel abroad without the fear of being kidnapped.  Is that too much to ask?  Maybe it is.

Republicans not so fond of Bush anymore

Bush's appeal to Republican voters is on the decline, according to a report today in Reuters. 

So now it's up to Howard Dean to say something stupid to get those Bush voters back.  Okay, okay, that was a low-blow.  It's amazing though that it took Evangelical conservatives five years to figure out that Bush is not a social conservative.  All he does is pander to them before elections.  Will they figure out Karl Rove's game plan this year?  Don't bet on it, especially since Bill Frist plans to do Bush a favor this June and try to pass the anti-gay marriage amendment.  The pre-election pandering is in full-swing.

Halliburton gets yet another break

It literally pays to be a company whose former CEO is now the current Vice President of the United States.  After Halliburton's stock tripled since the war, after all the money Dick Cheney still gets each year from them, and after all the money they overcharged U.S. taxpayers, the Army announced today that they will still pay the company much of the $2.4 billion that is still in dispute for their services in Iraq.  The price for taxpayers this time will be a little more than $500 million.

Let's see here: we spend more than $1 billion paying off a company still under investigation for cheating taxpayers out of money, yet we can't afford to spend only $110 million on a food services program for elderly people that live off food stamps.

And who still thinks the Republicans are the moral values party?

Bush budget would cut National Guard funding considerably

Monday's Washington Post gives us a good idea how much money will be cut from the National Guard.  Governors are fighting the measure.

Gee, there's the Dubai Ports Deal and now National Guard Cuts.  So much for Bush beating the Democrats on national security.  Those days are over.

The ethical cost of war

In January of 1961, President Dwight Eisenhower gave his farewell address and warned the country about the dangers of America turning into a military-based economy:

"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition ofunwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by themilitary-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise ofmisplaced power exists and will persist."

So far during the current Iraq war, Halliburton's stock has more than tripled.  And today, a defense contractor admitted that he paid California Republican Congressman Duke Cunningham $1 million for favorable votes in exchange for awarding his company millions of dollars worth of defense contracts.

The cost of war is not just what shows up in the national budget, but it is also correlated to the indifference of some to erode the ethical representative foundation that our government was built on.

The budget cuts are real

With the 2007 Bush budget being thrown at Congress, please do yourself a favor and get educated about what programs in your state will be affected by all the cuts in education, food stamps, Social Security and others.  Here is the 25-page list, thanks to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.  Look up your state and see.

Rating the Legislative Branch along ideological lines

The National Journal political site released its annual legislative voter ratings, ranking each Senator and House Representative from most liberal to most conservative.  As imagined, Bill Frist is more conservative than Harry Reid is liberal.  John Kerry is the 8th, not the 1st, most liberal Senator.  Democrat Bill Nelson votes more with the Republicans than he does the Democrats.  However, Republican Lincoln Chafee votes more with the Democrats than his own party.  There are some really interesting figures in here:

• Here are the Centrists -- my favorite
• Here are the far-left and far-right ideologues
• Here are the party leaders
• And go to this page to browse a whole range of categories for yourself

Gee, I wonder where Ann Coulter would end up at?