You’d think they would have learned their lesson when they got nationwide disapproval for the Barack Hussein Obama press release back in February, but evidently not.

Here’s the lead paragraph from a news story running in the politics section at CNN:

(CNN) -- In a preview of the political onslaught Michelle Obama may face in the fall, the Tennessee Republican Party unveiled a Web video Thursday highlighting her comment that she was proud of America "for the first time in my adult life."

Jump with me for the Obama campaign's response, and more . . .

Iraq now has the fourth-highest rate of executions in the world, according to this story reported from Reuters, via Yahoo! News:

LONDON (Reuters) - Iraq's use of the death penalty has risen rapidly since it was reinstated in mid-2004 and it now ranks as the country with the fourth-highest rate of executions in the world, Amnesty International said on Friday.

The London-based human rights group said in a report that
Iraq had sentenced more than 270 people to death since sovereignty was handed back to the Iraqis by the Americans in mid-2004. Of those, at least 100 have so far been executed.

Is this the fulfillment of W's "Freedom on the March" plan? More quotes and link just ahead . . .

I don't know what happened, but for the record, I DO NOT blame Kos.

Some notes on the rally after the bump . . .

This has been mentioned in comments, but I wanted to make sure everyone knows they're invited to Sunday's rally in Nashville:

12:00 p.m. Sunday, November 5
GOTV Rally featuring Harold Ford Jr. and U.S. Senator Barack Obama
Davidson Co. Courthouse
10 Public Square Park
(Corner of 3rd & Union)
*Free & Open to the Public
*Special Guests:  Yolanda Adams, BeBe Winans & Debbie Winans)

I'll take the ol' camera and post photos later in the day.

Click to watch DeeDee on YouTube

Here in a battleground county northeast of Nashville, our county Dem Party got into a little tussle over this independently financed spot. The intention was to get intermittent Dems and moderate swings to vote straight Democratic. Jump inside for more . . .

Some background:

Notwithstanding that Tennessee law already prohibits gay marriage, Amendment 1 is a constitutional definition of marriage as one man, one woman, to wit:

The historical institution and legal contract solemnizing the relationship of one man and one woman shall be the only legally recognized marital contract in this state.

and to add interstate insult to injury:

If another state or foreign jurisdiction issues a license for persons to marry and if such marriage is prohibited in this state by the provisions of this section, then the marriage shall be void and unenforceable in this state.

Jump the broom for more . . .

This article in the NY Times is more evidence of the dissatisfaction of the GOP base.

The lead:

The bellwether state of Ohio appears to have become hostile terrain for Republicans this year, with voters there overwhelmingly saying Democrats are more likely to help create jobs and concluding by a wide margin that Republicans in the state are more prone to political corruption than are Democrats, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

There's an even better pair of graphs below the fold . . .

The lead:

Rice Received Qaeda Warning Before 9/11

By PHILIP SHENON
Published: October 2, 2006

JIDDA, Saudi Arabia, Oct. 2 -- A review of White House records has determined that George J. Tenet, then the director of central intelligence, did indeed brief Condoleezza Rice and other top officials on July 10, 2001 about looming threat from Al Qaeda, a State Department spokesman said on Monday evening.

The link

Just a few words below the fold . . .

Here's the link

Here's the lead:

MACON, Georgia (AP) -- President Bush's once-solid relationship with Southern women is on the rocks.

"I think history will show him to be the worst president since Ulysses S. Grant," said Barbara Knight, a self-described Republican since birth and the mother of three. "He's been an embarrassment."

In the heart of Dixie, comparisons to Grant, a symbol of the Union, is the worst sort of insult, especially from a Macon woman who voted for Bush in 2000 but turned away in 2004.

There it is again -- did you hear it? That's the sound of a media pile-on!

More quotes below the jump . . .

Bush 3.0 releases patch for Iraq war

Here's the lead, which looks pretty standard:

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (CNN) -- With midterm elections around the corner, President Bush on Thursday will launch a series of speeches aimed at bolstering support for what the White House calls the "single ideological struggle" against terrorism, including the increasingly unpopular Iraq war.

A few paragraphs later (and below the fold) is the subhead that tells the story.

Representative John A. Boehner won the job of House majority leader amid a post-Abramoff clamor for an overhaul of lobbying and ethics rules. But nearly six months later, the changes are still tied up in Congress.

And far from trying to put the brakes on lobbyists and the money they channel into Republican coffers, Mr. Boehner, who has portrayed his ties to Washington lobbyists as something to be proud of, has stepped on the gas.

More juicy bits below. One, two, three, jump!

Subject: Frist: Democrat Obstruction Weakens Our Borders

This morning Democrat obstruction dealt a serious blow to America's border security and to America's national security.

Several weeks ago, I introduced an "enforcement first" border security bill - the Secure America's Borders Act - that would have greatly increased the number of border security agents, that would have built physical barriers in high traffic areas and utilized remote sensors and UAVs elsewhere, that would have provided for real workplace enforcement.

But I knew that 44 Democrat Senators would use every means at their disposal to obstruct an "enforcement first" approach. And I recognized that we must deal with the 11-12 million illegal immigrants currently living in America today.

More blatant fud below the fold.

Here's the lead:

Katherine Harris Campaign Loses Core Staff

By BRENDAN FARRINGTON
Associated Press Writer

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- Katherine Harris' U.S. Senate campaign lost what was left of its core team when a top adviser, campaign manager, and communications director resigned this weekend.

Harris, a Republican congresswoman challenging incumbent Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, said Saturday she would introduce new members of her campaign early in the week.

Here's the link

Tasty quotes just ahead, past the bump.

Yesterday, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported a local woman cited in a traffic stop for a bumper sticker that read "I'm Tired of All the BUSHit," under this headline: Driver fights ticket for bumper sticker

Today, the AJC's editorial is headlined Fine, not bumper sticker, over line.

Tasty quotes below the fold:

By CHARLES J. HANLEY, AP Special Correspondent

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Exasperated, besieged by global pressure,
Saddam Hussein and top aides searched for ways in the 1990s to prove to the world they'd given up banned weapons.

"We don't have anything hidden!" the frustrated Iraqi president interjected at one meeting, transcripts show.

At another, in 1996, Saddam wondered whether U.N. inspectors would "roam
Iraq for 50 years" in a pointless hunt for weapons of mass destruction. "When is this going to end?" he asked.

More quotes and link below. Watch your step on the bump!

This morning comes his exposé of a "six-page memo from Senator Reid's office to Senate Democrats." In support of the veracity of this thing, Frist mentions the supposed (and discredited, IIRC) Democratic  plan to disenfranchise military absentee ballots.

Does anyone out in the Kososphere have some insight into the authenticity of the alleged memo (there's a reference to the Washington Times), or the game that seems to be afoot?

I see no reason not to quote the whole sorry thing, right after the jump.

The lead:

U.S. Senate candidate Katherine Harris aimed to inspire Christian activists gathered Saturday at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale.

BY BETH REINHARD

In her first major campaign swing since announcing that she would put $10 million into her U.S. Senate race, Katherine Harris got a morale boost from South Florida voters and preached the gospel to hundreds of evangelical Christians.

Some choice quotes, and the link, straight ahead.