Simon Rosenberg's "Who We Are":

Democrats need to start winning again - for the good of our country and for the health of our democracy. The Republican Party is in a position of dominance unseen in our lifetimes. Their misguided agenda threatens to put our country on a dangerous downward path. It is up to us to offer an alternative way - a vision for our country and a smart political strategy to implement it.

So did you hear that the Republican National Committee announced today that the Republican Party is changing its mascot from an elephant to a condom? They said the condom more clearly reflects the party's stance, because a condom accepts inflation, halts production, destroys the next generation, protects a bunch of pricks, and gives you a sense of security while you're actually getting screwed.

Got more? Post them :)

Sorry, I don't write like the best of them...I just want people's opinions on Iraq's Election outcomes.

Also, it's late and I'm too lazy to look it up.

After returning home to Pennsylvania, Mike Hoffman founded Iraq Veterans Against the War. "You realize that the people to blame for this are not the ones you are fighting."

The director of operations for Jim DeMint's U.S. Senate campaign has been reprimanded for derogatory remarks she made about gays and lesbians in an errant e-mail.

Ginny Allen was admonished personally Monday by the Republican nominee, who promised in a letter of apology that she would be dealt with "according to office guidelines."

Allen was not fired. Attempts to reach her for comment were unsuccessful Monday.

Lisa Hall, chairwoman of the Central Savannah River Area Rainbow Alliance, which works to raise awareness of gay and lesbian issues, in July invited both Senate campaigns to an Oct. 7 town hall meeting to discuss issues of interest to gay voters.

Democratic nominee Inez Tenenbaum promptly promised to send a representative, but after receiving no reply from the DeMint campaign, Hall sent a follow-up e-mail Monday.

Allen, apparently thinking she was forwarding the e-mail to someone inside the campaign, inadvertently replied to Hall.

"Come on, fag, give this dike a reply," Allen wrote.

DeMint sent Hall a personal letter of apology Monday for the "extremely inappropriate remarks" in the e-mail.

"Mrs. Allen's remarks do not reflect my beliefs or the character of the campaign," DeMint wrote. "I am running a positive campaign of ideas, and that includes personal respect for others."

Same guy who opposes Gay Marriage, Civil Unions, and even contractual benefits for same-sex couples.

Hall said she was "shocked" when she got the reply from Allen.

"It hurt," she said. "My parents raised me to be a Christian and not to speak hateful of anyone, even when having a disagreement with somebody."

Hall said she accepted DeMint's apology and suggested "perhaps some diversity training would be of some benefit" to Allen.

Ed Madden, a USC English professor and board member of the South Carolina Equality Coalition, a statewide gay rights organization, said Allen's e-mail "clearly says something about the climate of the DeMint office and what they think about gay and lesbian South Carolinians.

"The fact she felt comfortable sending that e-mail says a lot," he said. "I wonder if she would have been censured if the e-mail hadn't been accidentally sent."

------------
Here's some pictures of Ms. Ginny Allen.
http://www.aikengop.com/gallery/2003_03.shtml
(Fourth Picture on Left Hand Side)

http://www.aikengop.com/gallery/2004_08.shtml
(Fourth Picture On Right Hand Side)

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/politics/9759859.htm

Lee Bandy
Staff Writer

When will they ever learn?

In the mid-1980s, U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond incurred the wrath of women when he welcomed a group of feminist leaders to a meeting of the Judiciary Committee: "Why, you all are such pretty ladies. Why, if you all aren't married, you could be."

When Holly Cork was in the S.C. House from 1988 to 1992, male members often would address her as the "little lady" from Beaufort. Women were incensed.

Now, they are fuming again, this time over the way Republican U.S. Senate nominee Jim DeMint refers to his Democratic opponent, Inez Tenenbaum. He often calls her a "nice lady, but ..."

Women -- Republicans and Democrats -- are not amused.

Barbara Leonard, a GOP activist from Florence, calls it "harassment."

"It's sexist," says Gretchen Monroe, a Sumter Democrat and college English professor.

Women, generally, find it condescending, patronizing and demeaning.

"He is trying to diminish her," said USC political scientist Betty Glad.

...

"It's transparent strategy to suggest that a candidate -- solely because she is a woman -- isn't qualified to represent South Carolina in the U.S. Senate," she says. "Most South Carolina men have sense enough not to make South Carolina women mad."

---------------------- Jim's been trying hard to win some women voters away from Inez, considering that women are the swing voters in the S.C. Election. If Jim loses support of this block of voters, he can kiss this race good bye.

http://cnn.aimtoday.cnn.com/news/story.jsp?photoid=/cp/news/top/i/mcdonalds200.jpg&floc=FF-APO-1 120&idq=/ff/story/0001%2F20040920%2F1645922370.htm&sc=1120

Pedro Garza, 19; Joshua Hackey, 19; and Nathaniel Hackey, 21; were arrested Saturday on felony charges of making and discharging a destructive device. The older Hackey is in the Army and his brother is in the Coast Guard, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said.

``One of the guys said they got a bad milkshake, and they played a prank on them,'' sheriff's Maj. Sammy Taylor said.

Investigators say the men mixed toilet bowl cleaner and aluminum foil in a plastic soda bottle as they sat at a table Friday evening near the restaurant's restrooms. They then capped the bottle, put it on the table and left before it exploded at 10:45 p.m. Friday. A customer sitting 10 feet away wasn't hit by the splashing chemicals.

``The toilet bowl cleaner has an acid base,'' Taylor said. ``It can burn your skin and put your eyes out.''

Contact Info:
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR are written by readers of the newspaper. They should be no more than 250 words and include the writer's name, address and daytime telephone number to allow for verification. Letters can be sent via e-mail at Letters@TheItem.com. or submitted via telephone by calling 774-1205.

Actually this might not be the dumbest editorial ever...I expect more crap from them come Election.
 

they shouldn't get their hopes up too much.

http://www.thestate.com/mld/state/2004/07/30/news/politics/9278268.htm

Excerpt:

Carol Butler has resigned as manager of Inez Tenenbaum's U.S. Senate campaign.

Butler's last day will be Monday.

Aides cited irreconcilable differences between the Democratic candidate and her campaign manager.

"As in most any campaign, business or organization, there are obvious differences about issues," said campaign spokeswoman Kay Packett. "Sometimes, those differences can be resolved. Sometimes, they can't."

Packett, who will be acting campaign manager, declined to elaborate on those differences.

In Charleston, where she was campaigning, Tenenbaum said, "In the last 100 days of a campaign, there are different issues and management styles that one needs."

Tenenbaum didn't elaborate but praised Butler, saying she did a "wonderful job."

:End Excerpt.

I think those differences has to do with Inez Tenenbaum trying to distance herself from the National Democratic Party. Butler may have wanted to embrace the Democratic Party (take advantage of the media exposure if Inez had attended the Democratic Convention in Boston and had a speaking role), John Kerry/John Edwards (has not invited them to campaign/raise funds for her in the state), and run left of center of DeMint, rather than move right towards DeMint. Just speculations by a few people, so take it with a grain of salt.

This maybe a good thing or bad, since well Kerry switched campaign managers in the middle of the primary.

Note:
Carol Butler was recommended to Inez Tenenbaum by the DSCC, since she had helped then U.S. (Michigan) Representative, Debbie Stabenow - Democrat, unseat then U.S (Republican) Senator (Michigan) Spencer Abraham.

First elected to Congress in 1982, John Spratt is the Assistant to the Democratic Leader, one of the top ten leaders of the 435-member U.S. House of Representatives. He is also the Ranking Member on the Budget Committee and a negotiator of the Balanced Budget Agreement of 1997. In addition, he is the second-ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee. He co-chairs the Textile Caucus and the Bearing Caucus.

I haven't met a Republican who had any harsh words to say about Spratt. Many South Carolinians love him for all the things he has done for us and our communities.

If not, Kerry-Edwards is a great choice as well :).

Good stuff! :)

http://www.thestate.com/mld/state/news/opinion/8973792.htm

From the AP article:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=6&u=/ap/20040621/ap_on_el_pr/presi dents_ap_poll

Most Americans say Ronald Reagan (news - web sites), who died this month, will be remembered as a better president than Bill Clinton (news - web sites), who is trying to improve his image with a new autobiography, according to an Associated Press poll.

Seven in 10 say history will judge Reagan superior, based on the survey conducted one week after the Republican icon's state funeral and nonstop media coverage focused not only on the ceremonies marking his death at age 93 but a lifetime of achievements from Hollywood to the White House.

Why? Because all of Dean's hard work will be wasted if George W. Bush gets re-elected. Dean came into this race not to change the course of politics, but that he was pissed off at what George W. Bush was doing while reading the newspaper. There's more to this election than just Dean (there's lost jobs, invasion of our rights, growing Anti-American feeling across the world, more soldiers dying, Iraq becoming unstable, dividing us over gay marriage, abortion, race, etc., and many more)...do you expect change if that dipshit gets re-elected again and we can expect a power grab from the Republicans leading us to a one party state (as if we don't live in one now). How can you enact change then? (Jeb Bush 2008?) Will you just sit back and read all negative news and just complain once Bush gets re-elected (and enacts ? I respect Dean and I'll support him no matter what he does, but once the nominee is picked, be it Kerry, expect me to do everything to get him in office. I expect the same thing from Dean as well. I don't think Dean would sit home and waste his vote and watch George W. Bush get re-elected. If he can't get Bush out of office himself, he rather have someone else to take his place.

You can call me a sellout or whatever, but I'm thinking about my family and the world I want them to live in...I can't picture that world with Bush in the picture.
 

My thoughts on the whole thing...the pro-war candidate won...what does that mean? Maybe Dean and Clark and the rest should of backed the war. Wouldn't of made a goddamn difference I see...since people voted...hell I don't even know why people voted for Kerry. It's sickening to think that the majority of people who hate Bush...hate him because of the war...and now we vote for a guy who voted for the war as well and gloated (yes remember the Saddam gloat..yep). I dunno I don't have the enthusiasm anymore...maybe it's Kerry's speeches...every time he speaks my family just changes the channel... also I can't rally around a candidate that voted for the Iraq  war (NCLB, Patriot Act, etc. AND THIS IS THE GUY WHO'S GOING TO REPRESENT US?!)and most importantly can't even inspire it's base. It just plain sucks being a Democrat! How can Kerry make the same case as Dean and Clark can about WMDs and imminent threat...he would look beyond stupid by saying..."I made a bad choice." Kerry can't really make the case since if Kerry thought Iraq was an imminent threat and had WMDs...George W. Bush can use the same goddamn excuse. That he THOUGHT they had some...GUESS NOT! Ugh...just pisses me off...Kerry isn't getting a damn thing from me besides a vote. I guess its more than nothing. Time to start thinking about how to handle just in case we get another 4 more years of Bush.

I'm anything but Bush. So the Dems can go ahead and throw a can of corn against Bush and I'll still vote for it. Going to change to Independent after November...can't stomach this crap...we got some of the best candidates that actually motivated the Democratic base...and we plan on nominating the the one that makes us all stay home and think of 4 more years of Bush. END OF RANT

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=676&ncid=676&e=3&u=/usatoday/2004012 1/ts_usatoday/armysnewbattlesigningupsoldiers

...
Anderson, the Times Plaza commander, says it is harder to get young people to see the opportunities the Army can provide when they are barraged with daily death tolls from Iraq.

But the battalion commander, Lt. Col. John Gillette, says, "Concern about being a casualty, that happens just as much when we're not at war as when we are."He says recruiters note that a person could be killed by a criminal or a drunken driver. Plus, it takes at least six months before an enlistee could be in a unit and possibly sent overseas.