presidency

John Edwards:

Two years after his hopes for a Democratic takeover of the White House were narrowly dashed, former vice presidential nominee John Edwards said Thursday that he is making another run at the presidency.

Edwards - who is calling for cuts in poverty, global warming and troops in Iraq - scheduled his kickoff in New Orleans, still devastated from last year's Hurricane Katrina. He chose the site to highlight his signature concern of the economic disparity that divides America.

"I'm here to announce I'm a candidate for president of the United States," Edwards sold NBC's "Today Show" Thursday, one of three back-to-back interviews by the candidate on morning news shows. "I've reached my own conclusion this is the best way to serve my country."

I have been waiting for this news, and couldn't be happier (unless of course Gore decides to run). What would make this perfect is if Obama decided he would run with Edwards (think of an Edwards/Obama ticket). That could very well be possible, considering the number of activities they have been doing together latley. It would also ease the fears of people saying "Obama doesn't have enough experience" and keep the Obama support with Edwards. That ticket would pretty much secure a Democratic White House in 2009.

There is a lot of talk going on right now about Michael Steele and what his future holds. There has been talk of him joining Bush's cabinet and even talk that he might replace Ken Mehlman.

With all that speculation, there seems to be something missing. We have another out of work politician that has been loved by the Bush family. What about Ken Blackwell? Blackwell served in Bush 41's administration and is unemployed come first of the year.

Considering all the troubles going on with HUD right now and their secretary, I am wondering if this will become the new job from Blackwell. He did serve as under-secretary for HUD from 1989-1990. True Bush could really scare us and end up appointing him to succeed John Bolton. Blackwell also has experience at the UN, serving as our ambassador to the Human Rights Commission from 1992-1993.

So will Bush come to the rescue of the man who gave him the Presidency in 2004? I am really expecting to see this.

Oh yeah - the days of wishing for the 30's are now here:

President Bush’s job-approval rating has fallen to its lowest mark of his presidency, according to a new Harris Interactive poll. Of 1,003 U.S. adults surveyed in a telephone poll, 29% think Mr. Bush is doing an “excellent or pretty good” job as president, down from 35% in April and significantly lower than 43% in January.

Roughly one-quarter of U.S. adults say “things in the country are going in the right direction,” while 69% say “things have pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track.” This trend has declined every month since January, when 33% said the nation was heading in the right direction. Iraq remains a key concern for the general public, as 28% of Americans said they consider Iraq to be one of the top two most important issues the government should address, up from 23% in April. The immigration debate also prompted 16% of Americans to consider it a top issue, down from 19% last month, but still sharply higher from 4% in March.

Look out Nixon - Bush is out to beat you now.

That is precisely what the administration, the GOP and its mouthpieces would say if a Democrat was talking about this:

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter said Thursday he is considering legislation to cut off funding for the Bush administration's secret domestic wiretapping program until he gets satisfactory answers about it from the White House.

"Institutionally, the presidency is walking all over Congress at the moment," Specter, R-Pa., told the panel. "If we are to maintain our institutional prerogative, that may be the only way we can do it."

Specter said he had informed President Bush about his intention and that he has attracted several potential co-sponsors. He said he's become increasingly frustrated in trying to elicit information about the program from senior White House officials at several public hearings.

The amendment amounted to a warning to the White House from a powerful but frustrated Senate chairman.

Now I agree with Specter's assessment of the situation but I can not agree with him making it. The problem is that Specter is playing politics on this. When he had Gonzalez before him to testify he should have sworn him in. Instead he turned a blind eye to our Constitution and put faith in his "party", the party of corruption. In turn there are now numerous questions from Gonzalez's session that are unclear and possibly answered falsely. If Specter means what he is saying then he will reopen those hearings, call all the top officials from the DOJ and NSA in and swear every single one in. Wake up - this is only the very basis of our nation we are talking about.

Georgia10 is asking for the help of everyone to make a quick phone call and try to muster support for Feingold's resolution. I am getting ready to do it and ask that you do the same. It is time Bush gets censured. He is in the final years of his Presidency and things will most likely get worse.

Jane also has much more on this important day in our democracy.

This Thanksgiving can be considered one of irony. The holiday is to celebrate
the friendship between the pilgrims and Indians which of course turned into us
taking the land from the Indians and giving them a life time of repression.

This Thanksgiving is a little different though. It is almost a turn around.
While some of the tribes today have been still screwed by members of this
government and their buddies, some are now getting payback. That payback is
coming from Michael Scanlon and the cooperation he is giving the Justice
Department in going after the ones who screwed our current native Americans out
of millions. That is justice and it is sweet.

We can also be thankful this year that we do not have to face George Bush
getting re-elected to office. While we have three years left of the most
incompetent leader, we will make sure his remaining time in office is hell.

We find out news this week that Bush was told ten days after the September 11
attacks he was informed Saddam had no ties to the attack. With our continues
fight and pushing to hold our leaders accountable, this is a milestone in
finding out the true reason for attacking Iraq. That is very promising news that
I am thankful for.

The biggest thing I am thankful for is the extension of Fitzmas this year.
Bush is now looking at a dark cloud hanging over the remainder of his Presidency
as we wonder and find out who in his administration disclosed classified
information. The prosecution of a traitor against our great nation is something
to be extremely thankful for but until that time we can rest assured that
traitor is scared and hiding.

President Bush decided to run his mouth again, ridiculing Iran’s government
and election process. The problem now is that if backfired on him. Read what was
said in this
AP article:

Iran's spy chief used just two words to respond to White House ridicule of
last week's presidential election: "Thank you." His sarcasm was barely hidden.
The backfire on Washington was more evident.

The sharp barbs from President Bush were widely seen in Iran as damaging to
pro-reform groups because the comments appeared to have boosted turnout among
hard-liners in Friday's election — with the result being that an
ultraconservative now is in a two-way showdown for the presidency.

"I say to Bush: `Thank you,'" quipped Intelligence Minister Ali Yunesi. "He
motivated people to vote in retaliation."

Seems that President Bush is so worried about fixing other countries, however
he sees fit, yet he can not even worry about his own country. This is sadly
enough, just the latest example of how Bush is further alienating the United
States from the rest of the world. In a time when he says he is trying to
promote world piece, he continues to cause more turmoil than good.

Perhaps this is President Bush’s new way of trying to get us into a war. Iran
was one of his so called “axis of evils”, and our troops are just right over the
border. The only problem is we can not handle another war. We are already
fighting two wars with no apparent end in sight. Another war is going to do
nothing but create further anti-American views in the world, and increase our
chances for attack.