"Don't make me bring the OG Claire McCaskill out here."

"Just act right."

Funny! And poignant. Who knew the GOP and the Wu Tang Clan were actually the same people? Have you ever seen them in the same room? There you go.

.

"A woman voting for the GOP is like a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders!"

And how.

Republican women: A minority in a minority, by Erika Lovley, Politico via Yahoo! News.

Women make up almost 51 percent of the U.S. population but less than 10 percent of the House and Senate GOP — a gender disconnect that could make the Republicans’ climb back to power even steeper than it would be otherwise.

Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) notices that she’s part of a shrinking minority every time she heads to the Senate floor for a vote.

Republican women in the House say they feel the problem — literally — when their male colleagues nudge them to the front of GOP press conferences to break up the solid lines of middle-aged white men in neckties.

Indeed, Rep. Kay Granger — the first and only Republican woman to represent Texas in the House — says Republican women have to work to make sure they’re even represented at public events in the first place. "We pass the word to make sure we're there at this ceremony or that photo-op, because there are fewer of us and we're spread more thinly," Granger said. "We're working in a very successful manner, and we want to make sure that’s shown."

I would like to be in a photo-op!

While Palin provided a high-profile role model for Republican women thinking of running for office, her experience was a double-edged sword. Lawmakers say the rough treatment Palin received showcased the nastiness of modern campaigns and underscored the notion that women are susceptible to the charge that they’ve been picked to run because they’re a good demographic fit — and not because they’re the most qualified.

Yes, the rough treatment that Sarah Palin received during the 2008 Presidential campaign. No one else received rough treatment. No one else at all.

But the pool is shallow. State legislatures, which often serve as feeders for Congress, are also seeing fewer Republican women step up to the plate. Meanwhile, Democratic training outlets such EMILY’s List have been well-organized and highly successful at recruiting, while Republican womens' groups, such as the National Federation of Republican Women and the Wish List, say they are bracing for another tough election cycle.

. . . "If you believe that a more centrist position for the Republican Party would bring about more success and bring more voters back, then women would help make that happen," [said Debbie Walsh, director of Rutgers University’s Center for American Women and Politics]. "Women bring a voice of moderation that could pull them back to the party."

The Republican Party should focus on bringing in moderate people, not simply matching the Democratic Party by getting more women, or by putting a white lady and a black guy in high-profile leadership positions.

.

"Joe, we've decided to send you instead."

Bush invites McCain, Obama to White House meeting, by Jennifer Loven, AP via Yahoo! News.

With extraordinary stakes on the line, President Bush invited both men vying to succeed him and key congressional leaders to a White House meeting to hammer out a massive financial rescue plan. The president also was appealing directly to Americans in a prime-time address Wednesday to help push his tough-sell bailout into reality . . .

. . . not long before his planned 12-minute address to the nation from the grand East Room, Bush took the unusual step of calling Democrat Barack Obama to invite him to the White House for the meeting on Thursday, said presidential spokeswoman Dana Perino. The White House said the presidential invitation was also extended to Republican John McCain and to Republican and Democratic leaders from Capitol Hill.

I can only imagine getting that card in the mail, and then pondering how to RSVP. Considering the lengths that the Republican party has taken over the past two years to distance George W. Bush from the 2008 Presidential campaign, this public invitation must be causing John McCain to poop his pants.
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Your Republican Party Today

Bush calls for expansion of spy law, by Deb Riechmann, AP via Yahoo! News

President Bush said Wednesday he wants Congress to expand and make permanent a law that temporarily gives the government more power to eavesdrop without warrants on suspected foreign terrorists...

Under the new law, the government can eavesdrop without a court order on communications conducted by a person reasonably believed to be outside the U.S., even if an American is on one end of the conversation — so long as that American is not the intended focus or target of the surveillance...

Sen. Jay Rockefeller, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said lawmakers understand the need to update the law, but also the need to protect the rights and liberties of Americans.

"For over five years, the president carried out a warrantless surveillance program that ignored the law and the role of court oversight," Rockefeller said. "Today, the president continues to seek unchecked surveillance powers that many of us in Congress cannot support. The fact is, the Protect America Act did provide authority for collection, but it did not include sufficient protections for Americans. There's no reason we can't do both."

Senate blocks bill on Iraq combat tours, by Anne Flaherty, AP via Yahoo! News.

Democrats' efforts to challenge President Bush's Iraq policies were dealt a demoralizing blow Wednesday in the Senate after they failed to scrape together enough support to guarantee troops more time at home...

[Democratic Senator Jim Webb's] legislation would have required that troops spend as much time at home training with their units as they spend deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan. Members of the National Guard or Reserve would be guaranteed three years at home before being sent back.

Most Army soldiers now spend about 15 months in combat with 12 months home.

"In blocking this bipartisan bill, Republicans have once again demonstrated that they are more committed to protecting the president than protecting our troops," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

FYI, about an hour ago, the second story was labeled something like, "GOP blocks bill to give troops more time at home." Why the duplicitously fair and balanced change, Yahoo?

Treason and Torture: Republicans in the 00s

From YouTube, Torture Applause and "Double Guantanamo":




From QuizLaw, George W. Bush: Patriot, by Dustin:

President Bush spared I. Lewis Libby Jr. from prison Monday, commuting his two-and-a-half-year sentence while leaving intact his conviction for perjury and obstruction of justice in the C.I.A. leak case...

..."it means that the Libster’s appeal will march on, and that he can continue to plead the 5th, heh heh. He cain’t say shit, heh heh. By the time them’s appeals are exhausted, Cheney’ll be dead. Smart, huh? I saw it on an episode of "Matlock"...

For those of you readers who still yourselves "Republicans"...why? How can you identify with the actions of this party? I really do want to know. Please think, then post your comments.

Another Tuesday without Gilmore Girls

As I opened my internet browser this evening, I noticed the following stories on Yahoo! News:

Bush plans to veto stem cell bill

Army considers longer combat tours again

The third headline down was

NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg leaves GOP.

Hmm. I wonder if those stories are related. I wonder if any other Republicans will follow. I wonder what's taking them so long.

#

In funnier news, I LOLed at this post on Defamer: Me: A Real Hollywood Director; You: Hot, Smart, Willing To Believe I'm A Real Director. Yet another example of the quality individuals you will find on Craig's List. Ladies, before start sending in your headshots, the director is looking for a dude. Non-crazy gentlemen, feel free:

director needs a (fake) date for a (real) movie premiere - m4m - 33 As bizarre as this sounds, I am looking for a date for a movie premiere...

...Here are the requirements. You are:

1. not insane
2. between 25 and 40 (give and take a year or two)
3. reasonably intelligent
4. good looking
5. not an actor who is going to try and use this as a networking opportunity (ok to be an actor - but again, not insane)
6. clean (well groomed) and sober (not a drunk or an addict)
7. willing to go along with the charade for the fun of it
8. not crazy...

...Please reply with a picture (to weed out crazies and freaks - although you can't always tell)...

Ha ha! My favorite comments:

SusanDeylite says:

Obviously, it's the premiere for "Transformers".

nojo says:

Fox News is going to have a field day with this latest Michael Moore revelation.

and

bedofnails says:

HBO is taking this Medellin/Billy Walsh thing to new levels.