Tuesday’s Mini-Report

February 26, 2008

Today’s edition of quick hits.

* More discouraging economic news: “Consumer confidence plunged, the wholesale inflation rate soared, the number of homes being foreclosed jumped, home prices fell sharply and a report predicts big increases in health care costs. Consumer confidence weakened significantly as Americans worry about less-favorable business conditions and job prospects. The New York-based Conference Board says in a report released on Tuesday that its Consumer Confidence Index plunged in February to 75.0 from a revised 87.3 in January. The reading — the lowest since the index registered 64.8 in February 2003 — is far below the 83.0 analysts expected.”

* Sounds like a bad scene: “Widespread power outages were reported Tuesday from Miami to Jacksonville on Florida’s east coast and as far north as Tampa on the Gulf Coast, police and utility officials said. As many 800,000 Florida Power & Light Co. customers are without power Tuesday afternoon, the company said. Mike Stone, a Florida Department of Emergency Management spokesman, said 2 million to 3 million people were affected.” As of now, no one seems to know what caused the outage.

* Fallout from the “60 Minutes” report on the Siegelman scandal continues. Karl Rove went on (what else?) Fox News to address the scandal publicly for the first time. Rove, among other things, denied ever even knowing Republican lawyer Dana Jill Simpson. The man Bush calls “Turd Blossom” went on to scold CBS for not having interviewed him for the piece, though “60 Minutes” did speak to his attorney.

* On a related note, Simpson has an excellent idea, telling MSNBC: “Since Karl Rove has said that and he feels so good saying that, what I want him to do is go and swear before the United States Congress and swear what he’s saying is true.”

* And in still more related news: “Malfunctioning equipment blocked an Alabama TV station’s broadcast of a ’60 Minutes’ report suggesting that imprisoned former Gov. Don Siegelman was the victim of a Republican conspiracy, station officials said. After promoting the segment for days, WHNT-TV of Huntsville went black just as the report was to air Sunday night…. WHNT general manager Stan Pylant said Monday that despite what some unhappy viewers said, the problem was caused by a malfunctioning receiver at the station.” I think the phrase I’m looking for is, “Yeah, right.”

* Any time the far-right blogs wants to apologize, we’re listening: “Gen. George Casey, the Army’s chief of staff, said Tuesday he has no reason to doubt Barack Obama’s recent account by an Army captain that a rifle platoon in Afghanistan didn’t have enough soldiers or weapons. But he questioned the assertion that the shortages prevented the troops from doing their job. Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Casey said the incident would have occurred in 2003 and 2004 following the Iraq invasion. He said he remembers it as a ‘difficult time’ trying to rush armor and other equipment to the troops.”

* No matter what, Bush’s hyper-confidence is an unshakable force: “President Bush predicted Monday that voters will replace him with a Republican president who will ‘keep up the fight’ in Iraq. ‘I’m confident we’ll hold the White House in 2008,’ Bush told donors at the Republican Governors Association annual dinner, which raised a record $10.6 million for GOP gubernatorial candidates. ‘When I say I’m confident, I am so because I understand the mentality of the American people,’ Bush said.”

* Right-wing commentator Bill Cunningham, an Ohio native, appeared at an official McCain rally today, and lashed out at Obama, emphasizing his middle name and calling him a “hack, Chicago-style Daly politician.” Cunningham also, predictably, went after Hillary Clinton. McCain was not on stage for the unhinged diatribe, but distanced himself from Cunningham’s tirade after the event. “I absolutely repudiate such comments, and again I will take responsibility it will never happen again,” McCain said. “It will never happen again.” Good for him.

* Isn’t it interesting that those who know what they’re talking about are convinced the White House is wrong? Richard Clarke (former head of counterterrorism at the National Security Council), Rand Beers (former Senior Director for Combating Terrorism at the National Security Council), Lt. Gen. Don Kerrick (former Deputy National Security Advisor), and Suzanne Spaulding (former assistant general counsel at the CIA) wrote a joint letter to say that McConnell and the administration were “distorting the truth about surveillance capabilities after the lapse of the Protect America Act. The country is not ‘at greater risk,’ they write. ‘The intelligence community currently has the tools it needs to acquire surveillance of new targets and methods of communication.'”

* Florida wants to join the mess over state promotion of the Confederate Flag.

* And tonight in Ohio, Obama and Clinton will meet for what may very well be the last debate of the 2008 primary season. I’m not going to be able to stay up, but savor it — we probably won’t see another debate until the fall.

Anything to add? Consider this an end-of-the-day open thread.

CB, you’ve worked hard, you’re probably not feeling 100% yet, and you’ve earned an evening off. We’ll watch the debate, so you don’t have to. 🙂

“When I say I’m confident, I am so because I understand the mentality of the American people,” Bush said. As I recall, he also predicted that the Republicans would do well in the 2006 elections.

There’s nothing worse than a dummy who thinks that he’s actually smart.

  • After CB’s lengthy acknowledgement of all the bad financial news at the top of this post, he forgot to mention that the dollar has also dropped to record lows against the euro and other international currencies. This, however, is great news for American exports, the bad news is we exported most of our exportable products manufacturing to Chinese factories a while ago. Oops! Bushian conservative economics strikes again!

    Bill Cunningham is so pissed that McCain repudiated his nasty little warm-up rant that he says he’s now going to vote for Clinton. What comedy the right wing is.

    “‘When I say I’m confident, I am so because I understand the mentality of the American people,’ Bush said.” You can just hear the hearts sinking in the audience after that profound Bushism.

  • McCain said. “It will never happen again.”

    Yeah, but be nice to have supports put out the negative messages while retaining plausible deniability for yourself. It’s only taking the high road if those on the low road aren’t marching to your orders.

  • Sheesh Benen, ya slacker, you only posted 12 seperate articles today. And you’re too tired for the debate? Seriously, as the good Okie said, we’ll watch it so you don’t have too.

    The only thing that gives me pause about Bush’s certainty he’ll be replaced by a Republican is we all know Diebold and the other machines, so we have to ensure such a huge GE turnout that no one can steal it. And then there is always that incredibly scary “October Suprise” that they might hope would swing the election their way. Cornered, maddened animals will do anything.

  • …but be nice to have supports… -doubtful

    WTH? I’m going home.

    …must be nice to have supporters…

  • “Malfunctioning equipment blocked an Alabama TV station’s broadcast of a ‘60 Minutes’ report…

    Yeah, right. Just like the malfunctioning voting machines in Ohio.

    How convienient.

  • “‘When I say I’m confident, I am so because I understand the mentality of the American people,’ Bush said.’ ”

    “You can just hear the hearts sinking in the audience after that profound Bushism”.

    Well, petorado, I bet the audience – hand-picked good, stupid Republicans all – ate up the “Bushism”. Nothing, not even a live boy/dead girl found in Bush’s bed, could dishearten his base. They’ve stuck with him through thick and thin and will go down proclaiming what a great President he was.

    Dee Loralei, I don’t really think Diebold can change the elections. IF it had been possible, the Republicans would have done so in the 2006 elections. But, we have to have a HUGE GE turnout, anyway!

  • Florida. Apparently a nuclear plant shut down and is being brough back up. They said it was not safety related. They expect power back in a couple of hours.
    http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5571486.html

    Alabama. Wow, how lucky can a TV station get. It’s ‘receivers’ go out at the exact same time a piece comes on that is in the station owner’s best interest to keep off the air. It’s a fricken miracle.

    Rove. I am sorry but the word of a political operative, Dana Jill Simpson, is about as creditable as Rove’s. She was right their with them, but now, after Siegelman is in jail, she wants to come clean. Whatever.

    McCain. “I absolutely repudiate such comments, and again I will take responsibility it will never happen again,” McCain said. “It will never happen again.” – haha, very funny, anyone else think this is pure non-sense ?

    Bush. “I’m confident we’ll hold the White House in 2008” This coming from the same meathead who also claimed, “they will great us as liberators”, “the war will pay for itself”, and “mission accomplished”.

    With Bush proclaiming our defeat, I expect a win of monumental proportions.

  • ***I’m confident we’ll hold the White House in 2008***

    With Pelosi running the House, I’ll have to agree with “the chief thief” that he’ll hold the WH in 2008. 2009, however, is an entirely different matter.

    Mr. Benen, just dial into any NPR station if you want to kick back and listen to the debate. Radio is still a good source of information, y’know.

    The charge of Gen. Casey being “a phony soldier” will begin in 5…4…3….

    And about that “Florida” thingie—how old would someone have to be, in order to qualify the pedagogical statement of “educational programs run by Sons of Confederate Veterans”—given that their “sperm donors” would have been in a war that ended about 143 years ago? I thought Disney closed their “Florida cartoon character studio” down several years ago….

  • And you’re too tired for the debate? Seriously, as the good Okie said, we’ll watch it so you don’t have too.

    Okay Dee and Okie, if we can get Mr. Carpetbagger to open a thread for you, how about some live blog-commenting?

  • Bush also looked into Putin’s soul. His instincts, and understanding, are faulty, to be kind.

    The only true battle in Florida during the Civil War (Ocean Pond in Feb. 1864) was a Confederate victory. Of course the captured black soldiers (the 54th Massachusetts was there), including officers, were sent to Andersonville. Something to be proud of, Rep. Brown.

    Fats Domino is 80 today. Remember him on the roof after Katrina? We need some uplifting news.

  • Florida outage not so bad. I’m in Miami and the nuclear plant shut down automatically because of a problem elsewhere. Sounds like all the electrical safety systems worked pretty good. Biggest problem was people trapped in non-working elevators. Not so good was the school systems. Couldn’t get a handle on what to do. Parents pick up kids, don’t pick up kids, “soft” lock-down, kids go home, kids stay at school…… Power came back on in most areas (I’m 10 miles south of downtown) pretty quickly. The payoff was Pinera Breads. It’s a chain restaurant where I was eating. When the power went out they said take some bakery goods or it gets thrown out. They were pulling people off the streets to get rid of inventory since they bake fresh every day.

  • Anything to add? Consider this an end-of-the-day open thread.

    The Odd Triple – “The Times of London follows the money in the journalistic tradition of Watergate and finds a strange connection between Tony Rezko, Barack Obama, and Nadhmi Auchi. The latter, one of Britain’s richest men, has a long history of shady financial dealings as well as numerous connections to Saddam Hussein, who he helped to power. According to the Times, Auchi sent a lot of money to Rezko just before his wife bought property adjacent to the Obamas in a land deal that has already raised a lot of eyebrows…”

    Mansion ‘mistake’ piles the pressure on Barack Obama

    BTW, Nadhmi Auchi born in Iraq…

  • Seaberry – … and Nadhmi Auchi knows a guy who knows a guy who knows Kevin Bacon! Man, I love this game!

    Of course the Bushies have numerous connections to both Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. Small world.

  • More discouraging economic news: “Consumer confidence plunged, the wholesale inflation rate soared, the number of homes being foreclosed jumped, home prices fell sharply and a report predicts big increases in health care costs. Consumer confidence weakened significantly as Americans worry about less-favorable business conditions and job prospects. The New York-based Conference Board says in a report released on Tuesday that its Consumer Confidence Index plunged in February to 75.0 from a revised 87.3 in January. The reading — the lowest since the index registered 64.8 in February 2003 — is far below the 83.0 analysts expected.”

    Yes, for those getting whacked, this is bad news. But at a larger level, the fact that the bill has now come due for 8 years of Republican “voodoo economics” and fiscal mismanagement in2008, with the Perpetrator-in-Chief still in office where he can face the blame, with the Responsible Party in a place where the voters can punish the guilty, is a very, very good thing.

  • Jim said This will be drip, drip, drip throughout this election season and it will cost us democrats this election.

    You almost sound gleeful, Turdblossom Jr. And you still can’t spell better than a 5th grader.

  • Florida wants to join the mess over state promotion of the Confederate Flag.

    Never doubt the ability of unreconstructed traitors to descend to the proper level of ignorant stupidity. Must be all that inbreeding among the hillbillies up in the panhandle.

  • Call it what you will those are the facts just read them.

    PS I don’t need a masters degree to be smarter than most Obama supporters Tom

    Common sense takes you alot further.

    I retired at 41 how you doing, I lived in a $400,000 home in a golf community that is paid for, hows that for not being able to spell.

  • Edo (11)—if CB turns in early, why not simply “hijack” this “open thread” and use it as the debate thread?

    Jim—your lack of writing skills, when applied to the extrinsic need for a tiny little employment detail called a job resume, would prove your claims to success a lie of disastrous proportions. You “lived” in a $400,000 home in a golf community? Where was that exactly—the service garage for the golf-carts? Last time I checked housing-prices in golf communities, a nice “house” ran at least $750K—and condos weren’t all that much cheaper. So, you’re what—probably just pretending to be 41 years old, camped out at a computer in mommy’s basement, and trolling the blogosphere with a generous supply of cheap beer? Please—at least come up with a more convincing pile of bovine excrement….

  • Jim Translation: I retired at the age of forty-one. How are you doing financially? I live in a $400,000 home in a golf community, which is fully paid for. How’s that for not being able to spell?

    Not that I’m some grammar wizard, but please. Even I have standards and spelling is the least of your problems. Try punctuation and work from there. BTW, people are never impressed by these kind of boosts, which they generally translate as meaning that you live in your mother’s basement. Or if they were charitable, they’d think you lived in your mom’s $400k home. Sorry.

    As for Rezko, where’s the drip drip you’re referring to? I read the article, and all it mentions is that Obama’s name might come up for having received a campaign contribution which he’s now given away to charity. Is that really something that will sink his campaign? You’re a very ill man.

  • Call it what you will those are the facts just read them.

    Read them again.

    Obama’s name wasn’t mentioned in the trial, there’s just the possiblity that it might be mentioned in the future. And if it is mentioned, it’ll be about a contribution that’s long ago been turned over to charity. Oooooooh, scary.

    Try again, Ken Starr.

  • Re Rezko:

    It looks pretty clear that Rezko hoped to buy Obama. It also looks like Obama should have completely distanced himself from Rezko from the start. Beyond that, there’s not much of a story. Rezko might have wanted to buy Obama, but there’s no evidence that Obama gave him anything in return (unless someone wants to make a big deal out of an internship for a business associate.)

    I think the story about Hillary loaning her campaign $5 million has raised more eyebrows than the entire Rezko story has. Add her unwillingness to release her tax returns, and we have much more to worry about politically with Clinton than Obama.

    And for whatever its worth, $400,000 won’t buy enough of a home for anyone to be going around acting superior to others.

  • Jim @ #20:

    Re: your argument that it doesn’t matter that you can’t spell, because you have money.

    You are the victim of a common Republican misperception: that having money means that you are smart. Only a really dumb person would believe that. My Exhibit A: George W. Bush.

    I rest my case.

  • Apparentally not many of you know much about real estate around Tampa, FL I wasn’t making a statement about owning a home in a golf community as being superior. My point was that I retired at 41 (1992) and came to FL and bought a home on a golf course. Because according to Tom Cleaver if you don’t spell properly your opinions don’t count.

    If you read that comment about the whole Rezco thing I was making a point that Whitewater was just a failed land deal and look at the investigations that that brought us. $40 billion later and nothing.

    And that was my point that the republicans are going to use this whether there is anything there or not.

  • #27

    thats not what I was saying at all

    Tom Cleaver is the one that keeps bringing up the spelling thing and that comment was ment for his sarcastic A&&

  • But Jim, the Rezco thing doesn’t even come close to anything at the level of the Whitewater non-scandal. There isn’t even the appearance that Obama did anything wrong. Yet you’re not only suggesting that this is going to sink Obama, but seem to be gloating about it. Pretty weird.

  • Shorter Jim: “Look at me, losers! I’m smarter and richer than you!”

    Could you possibly be any more of a typical internet troll? Here’s a tip: believing in lies and misreading court reports makes you *dumber* than us, not smarter. And nobody here is going to believe your stories about your amazing wealth either; you just aren’t credible.

    It’s amusing that my 5-year-old son comes across as more intelligent and mature than you.

  • Bio the point I am trying to make is that the rethugs don’t need the truth to run smear campaigns and if Rezco is in the news for the next 8 months whether there is anything there doesn’t matter to the rethugs.

  • Jim, I think this is what people are referring to — your comment at #20.

    PS I don’t need a masters degree to be smarter than most Obama supporters Tom

  • “Gen. George Casey, the Army’s chief of staff, said Tuesday he has no reason to doubt Barack Obama’s recent account by an Army captain that a rifle platoon in Afghanistan didn’t have enough soldiers or weapons. But he questioned the assertion that the shortages prevented the troops from doing their job.”

    Not necessarily that they were prevented from doing their job, but that they were put into a situation where they were forced to scrounge for crew served weapons that worked, and have one soldier have to do the job of two or three.

    It’s amazing that the country that provided for 16 million servicemembers over 60 years ago can’t even ensure that the current 500,000-level army has enough fucking spare parts to keep some Mk.19s operational.

    I thought we were at war.

  • Jim: You disgust me. Not only are you a lair, you are a bad liar. You quite clearly *did* write that in #20, and no amount of republican-style spinning and hand waving on your part can change that.

    Again, amusing that my 5-year-old comes across as more intelligent and mature than you are. He knows better than to lie at all, let alone so obviously.

  • 9:32 pm—Clinton just effectively blamed the net loss in NY jobs (in contrast to her campaign promise in 2000 to create 200,000 new jobs for the state) on “I thought Al Gore was going to be president.” Talk about your tunnel-vision hind-sight….

    9:35—Obama cites that “experience should not be defined only by Washington experience….”

  • Dee Loralei, I don’t really think Diebold can change the elections. IF it had been possible, the Republicans would have done so in the 2006 elections. But, we have to have a HUGE GE turnout, anyway!

    @#8

    I hope you are right. But, did it ever occur to you that these guys are smart, very smart. Look at all they have been able to get away with so far. And maybe, just maybe, they let the 2006 mid-terms go the people’s way so that people like you would no longer suspect them of stealing elections. Your guard goes down, you think they are no longer capable, and then, viola, they steal the MUCH more important 2008 Presidential election, holding onto and expanding Executive power, and using the very argument that you put forth to parry accusations that the ’08 election had been stolen via vote flipping, etc. (See Blackbox.org). They will convincingly say that they didn’t cheat to win in ’08 (cuz they would have stolen ’06 too, if they could have). Since they didn’t steal it in ’06, then there is NO WAY they could steal it in ’08. Right?) Don’t put it past them.

  • Edo, First break. Contentious a indepth debate. Both show how well they know the lacunae. She keeps throwing punches, he keeps deflecting. She brought up SNL again, wasn’t funny.

  • Final Notice: Yea that was my fear about the Dem win in 06. And they also learned they had to set their default vote flipping much higher also. Especially with the primary turnout we’ve had this season. That’s why I said we must have huge turnout in Nov.

  • I’m listening to the “break” news via WKSU. They’re reporting that Clinton will be spending much of her time over the next week just in Ohio—which leads me to believe that she may be moving into one of her “it’s-irrelevant” modes as regards Texas. They’re still playing the WKYC poll showing her lead in Ohio down to 6 points.

    And now, back to the debate….

  • Re the debate: what network is it on? I can’t find it so assume it’s MSNBC, which my cable doesn’t carry. Grrrrrr…

  • Nevermind. MSNBC it is…

    Hannah, ticked she can’t get MSNBC, mostly because she’d like to see Keith O!

  • Jim @32 – How is this going to cost us the election? Look, Whitewater and all the other non-scandals were covered in great detail throughout Clinton’s first term, and he didn’t have any trouble with Dole. And while the Repubs kept the heat on throughout both terms, all the way to impeachment, Bill remained popular and could have won a third term if he was allowed to. I’m not sure why anyone thinks Republican attacks are very effective, because history keeps showing otherwise. It wasn’t attacks that lost us the last two elections; it was election theft. If anything, the attacks make them look worse.

    And again, Rezco is only remotely connected to Obama and there’s not even a non-scandal here. It’s one thing for people to suggest you’ve done something wrong but can’t prove it. But nobody can even suggest that Obama did anything wrong. I hope this is the best they can come up with, as it ain’t going nowhere.

  • Lee #45, thanks. I’m reading the NYT live blog that libra #41 suggested. (Thanks libra). Sounds like a pretty good matchup tonight. Does it seem as contentious on TV as the summary reads?

  • Yea, was contentious. And in depth. She made blows, he deflected. KO said it was a game of feild goals and not enough for her to win. Icky Mathews said it was low scoring like a hockey game and bo-ring. And they argued about National Health Care like we’ve had it for 50 years. God that man has ADD

  • Steve @42 – I’m in Texas and just blogged earlier today about how I’m seeing and hearing Obama ads at least once a day or so, but have yet to see or hear any Hillary ads. Of course, I generally don’t watch much TV and even then limit it mostly to HBO movies, so maybe I’m missing something. But I saw two different Obama ads during one rerun of the Simpsons I just watched; so you can kind of guess at what demographic he’s going for. Pretty good spots too. All positive and definitely of the type that could convince an undecided. But again, nothing from Hillary.

    One of my readers in Dallas mentioned that he’s seen ads from both, but more from Obama. Perhaps she’s not even going to bother with the college-educated types here in Austin, I don’t know. Overall, I’m not sure if this is because Hillary has given up on Texas, or if it’s because she just doesn’t have the cash to do what Obama’s doing. This is all so weird, as I’m not sure I’ve seen lots of ads during a presidential primary before.

  • Chris Matthews is a dickhead. I listened to him for about 10 seconds before turning the channel. I always feel like i need a shower after listening to him.

  • DoctorBio, I read somewhere that Sen Clinton was going to be spending most of this week in Ohio, so she may be writing off Texas.

  • A few observations:

    Clinton didn’t mention Vermont once in the debate. So now, not only do states lost on election disappear from her “victory speeches,” but now, states she is going to lose cease to exist too:

    “And I will do whatever I can here in Ohio, in Texas, Rhode Island, in the states to come making that case.”

    I hope this is her last debate ever. Not because I can’t stand her mien and voice, although that is true enough, but because after 35 years of experience and 20 debates she closed with this cliche:

    And they deserve somebody who gets up in that White House and goes to bat for them. And that’s what I will do.

    That really is the perfect close for her desperation and vulgarity.
    She is an eyesore. Bang the gong please…

  • I watched the whole debate. Every word. I thought that Hillary was outstanding. But she wasn’t quite as good as Obama. On my card, it’s Obama in a fifteen round decision.

    Continuing the boxing metaphor, Hillary need an early knockout to change the momentum of the campaign. It didn’t happen. Obama took everything Hillary threw at him, and he gave as good as he got. Better, perhaps.

    But Hillary didn’t exactly throw the kitchen sink, did she? She didn’t go negative on Obama at all except when Timmy forced her to. All she did was make a very effective case about why she should be president. I thought Obama’s case was better.

    Seven days from right now, Hillary will be composing her speech announcing the suspension of her campaign.

  • I got interrupted and missed some of broadcast, but I thought I saw something interesting in the way that Clinton came out swinging and Obama not only deflected the blows, but seemed to counter punch in a way that calmed her down a bit. He dealt with her “celestial choirs” clip like an adult might deal with a kid’s temper tantrum, and gave her an out — which she took. Her answer to her tax returns was a bomb. And while it seemed she’d score on the Farrakhan thing, by conceding the point he scored one himself, making her comment look a bit like nitpicking (even though it wasn’t). I can’t believe she still brings up her experience with health care considering it was such a disaster. Bottom line, she didn’t pull off the near impossible task she had coming in. All IMHO, of course.

  • Hill: HEALTHCARE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE IN THE ENTIRE FUCKING WORLD and I am really sorry about my Iraq war vote.

    Obama by a mile!

  • FYI, MSNBC has the entire debate available on their website. Or so it says. I’m checking it out now.

  • This is the quote from Clinton that will end her Ohio opportunity:

    ***You know, I have been a critic of NAFTA from the very beginning. I didn’t have a public position on it because I was part of the administration.***

    She stumped for NAFTA in 1993. She roadtripped through border states—especially Texas—for NAFTA in 1996. She stood before European business leaders in Davox Switzerland on November 1, 1998 to thank them for their support for NAFTA.

    Two words in every sentence of the above paragraph prove Clinton’s quote to be an outright lie: “for NAFTA.”

    She has claimed—repeatedly, and on the record—that she has “35 years of experience.” Those years include her 8 years as First Lady—and her “First-Lady Years” include all the times that she went outside the privacy of the WH and into the public eye.

    For NAFTA.

    Say it with me now, boys and girls: FOR NAFTA….

  • I’m glad McCain repudiated Willie Cunningham. Part of me has the same thought as other doubters – he gets to have Willie say the incendiary stuff and then take the high road… but on the other hand, the coverage is focused on McCain’s statement that he won’t tolerate this style – I think that’s what’s going to be remembered. It’s an improvement from his non-reaction to “how do we beat the bitch?”

    However, if you want to be dismayed, go to the comments on the story at cincinnati.com, where there’s a whole lot of support for the dirtball (and anger at McCain). I grew up in Cincinnati, so it’s depressing to have yet another national black eye. McCain is taking a bit of chance on pissing off the mouth-breathers… so good for him.

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