David Broder peed his pants again in a Washington Post op-ed May 8 saying the Dems should fold on the nuclear option.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/22/AR2005042201322.html

His argument goes like this. "Look, you guys, the Republicans really mean it. They're going to end the filibuster. Please, Please, Please, back down, so they won't do it and destroy the Senate."

Broder and the other cozy Beltway pundits like their Democrats beaten down and in the minority.

A federal judge slapped a restraining order May 5 on the sex ed curriculum in dark blue Montgomery County, Maryland.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/05/AR2005050501189_pf.html

Judge Alexander Williams Jr., a Clinton appointee by the way, bought the line of organized neo-Christian bigots that the curriculum promotes "the homosexual lifestyle."

While the neo-Christian bigots were highly organized, there was not a progressive, or human rights advocate in sight. The school board had to shoulder this fight all by themselves.

Once again, E.J. Dionne hits it on the head in his column today in The Washington Post.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45305-2005Apr11.html

Dionne says House Republicans are planning to vote this week on repealing the estate tax permanently. He calls this the "Paris Hilton tax cut" because it would benefit the wealthiest.

Instead, Dionne says, the estate tax could be reformed to eliminate 99 percent of current taxpayers, and yet the top one percent could pay enough to shore up part of the Social Security Trust Fund.

What's this though about Democrats wanting to "compromise" with Republicans on the estate tax? Who are these guys? Whoever they are they need to know that this kind of behavior is not appreciated by real Democrats, and they will suffer consequences. Dionne says Republicans are trying to "sucker" Democrats into a deal. Let's see who the real Democrats are on this and get rid of the false Democrats who just sell us out at every turn. The relevant paragraphs are below the fold.

Don't look now, but the Dems are preparing to sell out on Social Security.

See this story promoted by Gadflyer Joshua Holland:

http://www.hillnews.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/033005/dems.html

Apparently Sen. Max Baucus (D-Montana)is among the leaders in the backstabbing. He is the same one who sold the party down the river on Bush's tax cuts, and Medicare. Robert Rubin's in on it too, apparently.

Don't let them do it.

From the Gadflyer, p://gadflyer.com/flytrap/index.php?Week=200507#1503

"...when it comes to mindless regurgitation of the Washington conventional wisdom, nobody holds a candle to Cokie Roberts."

I've almost given up debunking the ridiculous conventional wisdom around Howard Dean becoming DNC chair - that he's a radical leftist, that his victory has something to do with the party "moving to the left," etc. As I wrote here, "The real reason Dean is assumed to be such a radical is that the national press corps has a fixed image of what a Democrat is supposed to be: meek, uncertain, accommodating, afraid of Republicans, unwilling to stand up for his or her beliefs. When a candidate comes along demonstrating evidence of a spine, the conclusion is that he must be some kind of ideological extremist.

Judith Miller, Matthew Cooper, and the other "journalists" who are protecting the White House leaker of Valerie Plame's name should rot in jail.

These people are hiding behind to the First Amendment to protect a powerful person who was trying to destroy a whistleblower.

If they were trying to protect the whistleblower, then everyone should go to the mat for them. The First Amendment was intended to protect the weak against the powerful, not to enable the powerful to manipulate the press to fend off whistleblowers.

From www.liberaloasis.com

We are not seeing the Beltway Dems take LiberalOasis' suggestion from last week to attempt to force the intel reform bill onto the House floor with a discharge petition.

This is a shame. Dems need to assert their relevance, not just on this issue, but to set the tone for the next four years.

However, according to CNN's Inside Politics, Dems are looking to keep the pressure on to get the bill passed. That's a possible positive.

But if their moves are strictly bipartisan in nature (as CNN's reporting suggested), they'll be missing a big opportunity.

Go see http://www.liberaloasis.com/

How 'Bout This Guy For DNC Chair?

Here's Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. on CNN's Late Edition:

Democrats need to focus on two areas: message and organization.

We must take the time to create and articulate guiding principles that withstand the test of time.

And not just see this process as every two years and then four years and six-year election cycles.

With all the attention paid to Teresa Heinz Kerry's botox injections, I took a look at Laura Bush's picture from yesterday's victory celebration and realized she's had some work done herself. http://www.post-gazette.com/

Look at the puffy, wrinkle-free face. A fifty-something person does not have a face like that naturally.

In addition, look how taut her neck is. A dead give-away for a face-lift.

From http://mathewgross.com/blog/

 How to Steal an Election

Forget Diebold; this is how it works.

You send letters to newly registered voters in Democratic districts. Letters that come back as undeliverable are used to form a list. You send 8,000 lawyers to every polling place armed with that list. When a newly registered (black) voter shows up to vote, you challenge their registration. In Ohio, the poll worker makes the final decision as to whether the challenged voter can cast a ballot. The poll worker is a hard-core GOP partisan. The poll worker says no; the voter is sent home. Frustrated eligible voters in line give up because it's taking forever, and more Democratic voters decide to leave without casting ballots. Repeat until George Bush is President.

Coming soon to an election near you.
Mathew Gross at 04:30 PM on October 26, 2004

Bush is on the Attack today. Yesterday, too. Go look at the Politics-AP in Yahoo News http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=index2&cid=536 . The first three stories about Bush's various attacks. For Kerry, it just says he is in Milwaukee.

Bush's attacks yesterday on Kerry's health plan were as effective as they were false and misleading. Kerry was pushing stem cell research, a secondary issue in my opinion.

Kerry's not landing the punches, but Bush is. Is this more Shrumian punch-pulling?

I have been trying to go to Eric Alterman's site at MSNBC for two days now and I get the message that my computer is unable to load the requested page. Is this just me, or is his site disabled?

Maybe MSNBC has gone even more into whoredom and found a reason to give Eric the axe.

Kos has a link to Eric on the Blogroll. Go there and try to open the page. I would be curious to know if everyone is having the same problem.