Last Call

We've downgraded what a huge success means for Teabaggers these days.  Instead of pretending 70,000 is two million, we're down to pretending 4,000 is a massive, country-changing event.

You know what really was a country-changing event?  Nearly 65 million people voted for Obama in 2008.

Have a nice day.

That Domestic Terrorism Problem We Have

It's funny.  The same folks willing to condemn the entire Muslim world for the the actions of one man at Fort Hood are dead silent when it comes to a non-Muslim right-wing anti-government bombmaker in Cleveland.

Following a pipe bomb explosion Monday night, police and federal law enforcement officials are trying to figure why a Center Avenue man turned his apartment into a bomb factory.

Police said no charges have been filed against Mark Campano, 56. Police found 30 completed pipe bombs in his apartment along with components to make more, plus 17 guns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

Campano is in an Akron hospital with injuries received when one of the bombs exploded.

As police and federal authorities puzzle over Campano's past and what he planned to do with the bombs, a former neighbor said Campano often railed against the government.

Barbara Vachon lived next door to Campano at the Center Park Place Apartments for several years and said he was a big reason she moved.

"He was always trying to get me and another neighbor to listen to anti-government tapes and watch anti-government videos," said Vachon. "I would never watch them. He was some kind of radical, and he didn't believe in the government."

She said there were other warnings.

"There were a few times I heard minor explosions from outside the apartment building, and he would scream that he had hurt himself," she said. "I never knew what he was up to."

Vachon said Campano seemed to be most active at night.

"There was a steady stream of creepy visitors going in and out of his apartment," she said.

If Campano were a Muslim, well, as Dave Neiwert says,

...we'd be getting talk-show panels on Hannity featuring Michelle Malkin ranting at length about the threat of Islamic jihad, blah blah blah. Not to mention chatty discussion on Fox and Friends and Morning Joe. 

But instead, because he's just a white anti-government extremist, hey, let's just give it a big shrug.

More on the case here and here.

Do check out the Campano case, and keep in mind the Wingers love to pretend that there's no such thing as right-wing domestic terrorism in the US.

Mind The Gap, Lads

Steve Benen notes the latest Daily Kos/Research 2000 poll has good and bad news for the Dems:

The latest Research 2000 poll for Daily Kos included the usual question on the generic congressional ballot, with Dems still enjoying a modest edge over Republicans, 37% to 32%, with 31% unsure. Democratic numbers were strongest in the Northeast (53% Dems, 7% GOP), and Republican numbers were strongest in the South (51% GOP, 21% Dems).

That's the good news.

But this poll added a new question to the mix to measure voter enthusiasm: "In the 2010 Congressional elections will you definitely vote, probably vote, not likely vote, or definitely will not vote?" The overall results aren't nearly as interesting as the partisan breakdown.
Among self-identified Republican voters, 81% are either "definitely" voting next year or "probably" voting, while 14% are "not likely" to vote or will "definitely" not vote.

Among self-identified Independent voters, 65% are either "definitely" voting next year or "probably" voting, while 23% are "not likely" to vote or will "definitely" not vote.

And among self-identified Democratic voters, 56% are either "definitely" voting next year or "probably" voting, while 40% are "not likely" to vote or will "definitely" not vote.

And that's the bad, bad news for the Dems in 2010.  The solution of course is to pass the legislation promised:

Finish health care. Pass a jobs bill. Finish the climate bill. Re-regulate the financial industry. Finish the education bill. Pick up immigration reform. Repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." It's ambitious, but a Democratic Congress and a Democratic president can prove to the country that they know how to tackle the issues that matter and know how to get things done.

The R2K/Daily Kos poll shouldn't cause panic among Democratic leaders; it should serve as a wake-up call.

But will it?  More than ever, the Dems need to pass real legislation.  More than ever, the GOP will try to stop them.  Unless the Dems deliver, the GOP will be back.

On The Road Again

I'm heading back from my vacation and I'll be on the road until this evening, so if you have any stories to flag or discuss, let's hear it.

How was your Thanksgiving?  It's an open thread.

Secret Service's Not-So-Secret Screwup

With evidence last night that last Tuesday evening's party crashers at the White House state dinner actually met with President Obama, I honestly find myself thinking two things:

1) America actually owes the Salahis a debt of gratitude for exposing this security lapse.  Considering this President has been under more death threats than any other in modern history to the point where it cannot fill its duties outside of protecting the President, this lapse here may have just saved the President's life in the future.

2) It takes staggering incompetence of such an earth-rattling magnitude, in this case on the part of Secret Service director Mark Sullivan, to make me agree with the Hot Air gang, but it is imperative that heads must roll in the USSS on this one, up to and including Sullivan.  With all due respect to the Service and the men and women who serve our country in this capacity, 99.9% is not good enough.  The honorable thing is to tender your resignation, sir.

StupidiNews, Weekend Edition!

• Russian officials believe a terrorist explosion may have derailed a Moscow express train that killed 26 people.
• Tiger Woods has been released from the hospital after a car crash yesterday, but many questions remain for the sport of golf.
• Thousands of Americans are still out of work and are getting subsidized COBRA insurance, which expires for many in December.
• At least one group is buying London's luxury homes again:  British bankers having a record year.
• The DOJ is fighting a losing battle against unmarked and counterfeit computer chips for the U.S. military.