Morning Quickie: It's the Economy, Stupid

Yesterday the Bush Administration was tripping over each other to congratulate themselves for the quarterly unemployment numbers; at 4.4 percent, it's a new 5 year low. And they cheered for the 92,000 of new jobs that were created during the quarter.

But if you worked for Ford, GM, AOL, Intel, or any of the hundreds of other companies large and small that laid you off and thousands of your fellow employees, ar you cheering? If you snagged one of the new jobs -- most likely at a pay grade lower than what you left -- is this the news that will make you vote for "Stay the Course?"

As President Bush and company hooray over these numbers, please remember that in 6 short years we've gone a from a budget surplus to a budget deficit of record proportions, borrowing from foreign companies (particularly China) has increased massively, we spend over $40 billion every day in Iraq (money that has no direct return on investment to the US and nothing indirect either), outsourcing of good jobs continues, the housing market is in trouble, and although the stock market cracked 12,ooo, a number of analysts feel its pace is unsustainable.

The unemployment numbers represent a national average. Across the country, what I'll call "grass-roots" unemployment -- the state of your local economy is what will impact your vote. If you're one of the thousands who lined up for 200 jobs at a candy store, or are facing seasonal unemployment, end of the year lay-offs, or a just an uncertain future, you're in the grass-roots economy. And you're more likely to vote for change.

Family Values and Values Voters

The story is just beginning to unfold, but if true, the allegations against Rev. Ted Haggard, former head of the National Association of Evangelicals, have to leave so-called "values voters" reeling.

Ted Haggard has admitted to buying meth and supposedly throwing it away. And he has admitted to contacting his accuser, a gay male escort, for a "massage," but claims he never had sex with him.

The details of Haggard's involvement with Mike Jones will become clear in time. But we need to remember that Haggard -- as part of the Evangelical inner circle -- made regular (some have described weekly) conference calls to the White House to discuss policy issues (say, an anti-gay marriage Constitutional amendment?). He was one of the high and mighty determined to bring their version good old-fashioned family values to every household in America whether we wanted it or not. To protect us from the travesty of the gay lifestyle.

Every Sunday pastors of the religious right gather their flocks to preach not just from the good book, but from the dictates of the Christian Coalition, Focus on the Family, and other similar groups. These same preachers encourage their congregations to patronize certain shops, read certain books, watch (or boycott) certain television shows, attend particular rallies, and vote for certain candidates or initiatives because as a born-again, evangelical Christian it is the moral thing to do.

How does one continue to denigrate and discriminate against homosexuals when your leader consorts with "the enemy?" How can you rail against gays and gay marriage when one of your national leaders is on the "down low?" How do you follow someone so willing to cast the first stone against others for the very same "sin" he commits?

If your political convictions are controlled by someone whose moral predilections are suspect, what do you do? Just who do you vote for when your pastor is caught with his figurative (if not literal) pants down? Is this a case of do as I say, not as I do? How do you reconcile your belief in a pastor who says gays are immoral and won't go to heaven, when he is in an illicit gay relationship? How do you follow his orders to walk the "holier than thy neighbors" path, when he goes astray? If he has violated his own tenets, how do you trust opinions and dictates of others like him? What secrets are they hiding?

Religion and politics don't mix. Like oil and water, it is difficult to keep the suspension going. Religion is a personal, private matter (no matter how public we try to make it.) Politics is public business. If Ted Haggard didn't know that before, he knows it now.

Long Day's Journey Into Election Night

Tuesday will be the longest day of the year. A long day at polling places across the country and a long night as votes are counted and recounted and contested and challenged. We may know in the early hours of Wednesday morning what the make-up of the new Congress will be.

Democrats are poised to reclaim at least the House of Representatives, if not the Senate too. If voters speak their minds about the fiasco that is Iraq, the Democrats will take over. No less a prognosticator than Stu Rothenberg sees the Dems grabbing 6 senate seats and taking over the Senate as well as the House.

Expect President Bush and VP Cheney to present some new terror threat -- probably happening on Friday -- elevating the "threat" level to DefCon Catastrophic; they'll also announce the arrest of the number two man in Al Qaeda in Iraq; and showcase some project to demonstrate rebuilding of the country. But remember, they will also ignore the looming (if not already active) civil war there, the increasing targeting of US troops, and ineptitude of the so-called government they've installed there. But voters won't be fooled.

If voters do nothing more than vote their emotions -- not consciences, but emotions -- on Iraq, the Republicans are not going to fare well. No matter which side of the philosophical debate you support, for or against the war, it is nearly impossible to look at the numbers of service members killed last month, look at the faces as they are remembered on the evening news, look at their families grieving and not feel that enough of this carnage is enough. If "stay the course" means more coffins and more wounded, voters will just say no.

Tuesday the Senate and House will change hands. Tuesday will be the end of "stay the course."

Stay the Course, Rumsfeld and Cheney Jobs Safe

VP Dick Cheney and Defense Sec'y Donald Rumsfeld can each breathe a small sigh of relief. Their jobs are safe for now. President Bush has given Rumsfeld the "thumbs-up" sign despite calls for his resignation from both Republicans and Democrats. And Cheney gets a big vote of confidence too in spite of the Iraq quagmire he helped create.

It seems that the new Bush Administration strategy of renaming the "stay the course" policy into "modify to win" doesn't apply to Rumsfeld or Cheney. The sobering casualty list for October reports 105 US military personnel dead and 700+ wounded. In one long, sad month families and friends in cities large and small have said farewell to flag-draped coffins. They have rushed to the bedsides of their injured, and prepared for the weeks and months and years of rehabilitation.

Not Bush or Cheney or Rumsfeld have offered anything other than lip service to changing Iraq policy. And while firing Rumsfeld or removing Cheney would not directly prevent another war death, it would be something more tangible than the doublespeak we're being served.

President Bush has always planned for this debacle to be inherited by the next president. So in his mind there is no need to remove the incompetent architects of this mess. They can all stay the course until January of 2009, and then ride into the sunset, convinced that they brought stability to the Middle East, routed the terrorists, and made the world a safer place.

They didn't.

"Sorry" always seems to be the hardest word.

Sen. John Kerry, (D. MA) just apologized for his misstatement made on Monday. Thanks, John for finally coming to your senses and realizing nobody -- and I mean nobody, nowhere -- got your joke. That was lesson one.

Lesson two -- and the more important one, the one that politicians everywhere seem to be too hard-headed to learn whether by personal experience or by example -- is fix problems right away. Nip it in the bud. Avoidance only makes your problems last longer. Had Mr. Kerry simply apologized right away this whole fiasco would have fizzled away quickly.

Now the best thing for Mr. Kerry to do is lay low until after the election. If he continues to speak out or campaign for any other Democrat he will continue to fuel this thing and do more damage to Democrats running for election. Silence until after November 7 is his penance.

Hey, John Kerry! Please SHUT UP!

For an educated man, John Kerry can say some dumb things. At the wrong time. To the wrong people. And compounds his errors with his "explanations."

A classic is the oft quoted, "I voted against it, before I voted for it." Now we have a new one:

''You know, education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. If you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."

Mr. Kerry was speaking at Pasadena City College to a group of students (who are clearly visible standing near him at the podium). And there is no reference to President Bush or anyone else in the Bush Administration to link them to the so-called joke. Kerry's reference is to the students about studying hard so that they can avoid having to enlist in the military because their other life options are limited.

Like so many of the students in Kerry's audience. these soldiers, marines, seamen, and airmen are young men and women, who are serving in this war to earn money for college, to put food on the table for their young families back home, to learn new skills and find new directions for their lives. Some of these young people don't come from families with the means to send their kids off to college -- even one as affordable as PCC. (Tuition and fees there range from $8400 to $13,ooo for nine months. Serving two or four year enlistments in the Army would cover part if not all of those expenses.)

Hispanics, African-Americans and other minorities know that service in the military can provide a leg up in the civilian world. The military was desegregated long before much of mainstream business in the north and south. But let us not paint too rosy a picture here, without reminding ourselves -- and Mr. Kerry especially -- that the military draft grabs far more young minorities who cannot apply for deferments, extensions, or other favors to avoid service. And in wartime, he who cannot pay for someone else to take his place at the front line finds himself facing insurgents, IEDs, snipers, kidnappers, suicide bombers and other potentially life threatening agents.

Mr. Kerry would like for people to think he meant Mr. Bush is dumb and his dumb policies are what got us stuck in Iraq. However Mr. Kerry lacks the ability to speak straight-forwardly. And his "smart mouth" gets him in trouble time after time. Further, instead of just saying, "Boy did I just say something really stupid and insensitive. I'm very. very sorry," he compounds the gaffe by trying to dance around it and spin it into something else.

Mr. Kerry, I'm a Liberal Democrat and I am asking you -- no, begging you -- to please shut up. You are not helping. Don't try to explain this anymore. Don't campaign for any Democrats, no matter how dire their races are. Go home, close the door behind you, draw the blinds, pull the shades and hide under your bed until November 8. I'll apologize for you:

Senator John F. Kerry, (D-MA) would like to apologize for the callous and insensitive remarks he made on Monday while speaking at Pasadena City College in California. Mr. Kerry erroneously suggested that students who don't study hard and achieve in school end up in (the military) in Iraq. That was simply a wrong characterization of the makeup of the US armed forces. He is extremely sorry for the remarks. What he meant to say was... um, well nobody really cares what he meant to say. Mr. Kerry has been sent home by the DNC where he is to remain until well after the election. Mr. Kerry is no longer allowed to speak to anyone except for his immediate family within the confines of his home. Again, the Democratic Party and loyal Democrats everywhere extend their apologies and unabashed support to the fine men and women of the US military. Thank you.

Republican Party Games: When I Said... You Heard....

Everyone in the Bush Administration -- all of those who support it are playing a new party game (or is that Party game?) called "When I Said (Fill in the Blank), You Heard... This week's version ends with "stay the course."

To play with your friends, just follow along:

President Bush: When I said "Dick Cheney's gonna shave a horse," you heard "Dick Cheney said 'Stay the course.'"

Dick Cheney: When I said "Tony Snow's got a rock hard torso," you heard "Tony Snow said, 'Stay the course, even more so.'"

Tony Snow: When I said "It's hard to play golf in Scottish gorse," you heard "Karl Rove said, 'Stay the course.'"

Karl Rove: When I said "I was Woodward's secret source," you heard "Condi Rice said, 'Stay the course.'"

Condi Rice: When I said "He's pretty cute as far as Lords go," you heard "Donald Rumsfeld said, 'Stay the course, bro.'"

Donald Rumsfeld: When I said "Stay the course, I meant it. So just back off!"

Defeat Heather Wilson (R-New Mexico)

The Heather Wilson versus Patricia Madrid smackdown has been one of the nastiest campaigns I've ever seen. Perhaps not the absolute nastiest, but it is comfortably in my Top Ten. It will probably take most of us awhile to recover from this one. But as I prepare to cast my paper ballot, I'll let you know that Heather Wilson will not get my vote.

If her dismal record in Congress weren't enough to make me finally scream "Uncle!" the constant negativity of her campaign would. But I'm rejecting her based on her record. You can count on Heather Wilson to parrot the Bush Administration's talking points to the letter. I find no independent thinking or leadership in her record. For someone who is a military vet as she so constantly reminds us, her eagerness to "stay the course" is disturbing.

Any time voters decide to unseat an incumbent, we find ourselves second-guessing that decision. Patricia Madrid may turn out to be no better a choice to send to Washington. And her debate skills may need to be honed. But I'm willing to give her a chance. She is a new voice, a different voice that may be heard above the partisan din in DC. And as an opponent of the Iraq War, Madrid is willing to say what Wilson won't: the time has come to get out of Baghdad.

This year Patricia Madrid is the correct choice for U.S. Representative. First District, New Mexico.