We need more like you before you say GoodBayh

Senator Bayh has a well earned reputation as a moderate. It's unfortunate that he feels he can no longer fight the power of partisanship.

Or perhaps he is planning on making at run at the Presidency in 2012. Not that I'd blame him as President Obama has done little to impress me. Before anyone who might actually reads this sends their slings and arrows, note: I didn't say President Obama has been awful. I do, however, still think it's amateur hour at 1600.

Click on the title of this post for the OpEd in the NY Times.

Let's get excited about 2008!

Hey! What the? Where did all those tomatoes and empty beer cans come from?

I'm not gonna get all crazy and really start talking about the 2008 National Elections. To be sure you are getting pummeled with this on a daily basis...Hillary, Obama, Rudy...Gah!

Anyway, I pass on some news about Ron Paul(R)- Texas. I've mentioned him here before. I really don't think he will be around next Summer but he is going to make the mainstream dog and pony show candidates start actually saying something.

Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, the outspoken libertarian White House hopeful often dismissed by his rivals and the punditocracy as a fringe candidate, was all smiles Wednesday as he bandied about the first-in-the-nation primary state, New Hampshire.

"It's pretty exciting!" he told ABC News.

Long treated at debates as the cantankerous old uncle you don't want to get started talking about the gold standard, Paul had big news. Announcing a relatively astounding haul -- $5.1 million -- in the fundraising quarter that ended Sunday, Paul is knocking on the door of the top-tier candidates in the race.more

File under: Scumbag politicians getting their come uppance.

Alaska lawmakers lose political clout By LARRY MARGASAK, Associated Press Writer
Tue Aug 14, 6:55 PM ET

When he was a keeper of the federal purse strings, Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska told another Republican senator who opposed the infamous "bridge to nowhere," "I don't threaten people. I promise people."

His home-state GOP colleague, Rep. Don Young, was not to be outdone. Last month he told a fellow House member who opposed education money for native Alaskans: "There is always another day when those who bite will be killed, too, and I am very good at that. Those that bite me will be bitten back."

Stevens and Young may not be promising, threatening or biting anymore, now that both are under federal investigation.

The investigations — and a questionable land deal that entangled the third member of Alaska's congressional delegation — also may have ended a modern-day gold rush that sent billions of federal dollars to the state.

Alaska's entire delegation is under an ethical cloud, something congressional historians say is unprecedented:

• Stevens is contending with an extraordinary FBI and IRS raid on his Girdwood, Alaska, home and a probe into his dealings with businessmen who oversaw remodeling of the house.

• Young is the subject of a federal investigation that includes his campaign finance practices, and he has been chided by the leaders of his own party for his threatening comments. He was left off a House-Senate conference on an annual water resources bill that he had handled as a committee chairman.

• Sen. Lisa Murkowski announced that she and her husband will sell back an undeveloped piece of riverfront property after a complaint to the Senate's ethics committee alleged the purchase was a sweetheart deal.(full text)

Bravo, Amen, Can I Get A Witness, and Everything Else...

Yeah, it's been a while since I have posted, but this rang especially true with me:



I'm the bleeding heart around here, so of course I agree.

Congressional Oversight

Break is over! Back to work!

Obama Inches Toward 2008 Run, Says Public `Hungry' For Change

By Heidi Przybyla

Dec. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Senator Barack Obama inched closer to a presidential run with his first visit to New Hampshire, home of the inaugural primary election in the campaign for the White House.

Obama, who went to the Granite State yesterday to headline a Democratic Party victory celebration, told reporters that ``people are very hungry'' for leadership that moves beyond the ``small and petty slash-and-burn politics that we've seen over the past several years.''

Speaking later to a sold-out crowd at the Radisson Hotel in Manchester, the Illinois Democrat outlined an agenda that includes universal health care, a new energy strategy that takes advantage of alternative sources of fuel, fiscal responsibility and a national security policy that is ``tough and smart.''

Buzz around an Obama run has intensified since he said in October that he is considering seeking the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008. He plans to make a decision in early- to mid-January.Full Text

Okay, okay, I know, argh! The dust has barely settled from the mid-terms! Well, this is the political climate we live in. Until, there is full public and no private funding for these elections these people have to declare really early so that they can start funding their campaigns.

Now, should Obama run? I have no idea. I do know that if he is going to run, he needs to do it in 2008. By 2012 he will either not be a Senator anymore or will be a "Senator". Huh, what? You ask. It is rare that anyone has a large majority in the Senate and most Senators tend to be more pragmatic than their House counterparts. So, the longer one is in the Senate the risk is greater that you can be painted a "flip flopper." John Kerry on line 1. Unfortunately, most Americans don't understand the difference hence he either runs now or most likely forfeits any chance at a nomination down the road.

Ok You Idiots

It's all over. As soon as you sober up from your victory celebrations, get to work and start earning your office.

And get off of my TV!