tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50915422007-02-09T00:41:04.999-05:00Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18351831724746520001noreply@blogger.comBlogger828125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5091542.post-1121916411640142552005-07-20T23:08:00.000-04:002005-07-20T23:26:51.660-04:00

As most if not all of you now know, I've joined Jerome Armstrong and Chris Bowers as a full-time blogger over at MyDD.com. That means that my posting here has come to an end. It's been over two years of blogging at DemWatch, and I've enjoyed every minute of it (well, almost). Thanks to everyone who's interacted with me, supported me, argued with me, and become a friend. You've all made it

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18351831724746520001noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5091542.post-1121651648746854312005-07-17T21:28:00.000-04:002005-07-18T15:44:32.986-04:00

The names of potential candidates for the 2008 Presidential race are steadily piling up. Here's some of what's being said... Mark Warner "Warner's the guy in the background no one knows about," Nelson said. "But as a governor, people will give him a look." While in Des Moines this weekend for the annual summer meeting of the National Governors Association, Warner is doing no active political

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18351831724746520001noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5091542.post-1121193761982697942005-07-12T14:16:00.000-04:002005-07-12T14:42:42.026-04:00

Well, there actually seem to be two strategies. The official strategy from the administration is keeping quiet. Don't say anything incriminating, even if it means contradicting the incriminating things you've already said. But the secondary strategy, currently being carried out by the Republican Noise Machine, is to dump so much dirt on the situation, no one knows which end is up. Valerie

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18351831724746520001noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5091542.post-1121007353454870292005-07-10T10:50:00.000-04:002005-07-10T10:56:01.453-04:00

Right? Newsweek's Isikoff has the story confirming that Karl Rove was Matt Cooper's source. Already, those far leftist Bush haters at dKos are urging caution, saying that a lot is riding on when Novak's column was first seen by the White House. It's an interesting premise, but I think they're just covering their asses in case this whole thing ultimately turns out not to be Rove. What is

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18351831724746520001noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5091542.post-1120828022862806722005-07-08T08:57:00.000-04:002005-07-09T10:37:18.833-04:00

Brit Hume of Fox News talking about the bombings: "I mean, my first thought when I heard -- just on a personal basis, when I heard there had been this attack and I saw the futures this morning, which were really in the tank, I thought, 'Hmmm, time to buy.' "My first thought upon reading this: "Hmmm, time for Brit Hume to get fired." Hume's monumental heartlessness might be funny if it weren't

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18351831724746520001noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5091542.post-1120795316798456612005-07-07T23:57:00.000-04:002005-07-08T00:01:56.810-04:00

This morning's coordinated terrorist attacks in London were nothing short of horrifying. Though the death toll -- in the dozens -- was far smaller than those of 9/11 or Madrid, the well-choreographed nature of these bombings, taking place in one of the most important cities in the civilized world, reminds us all that our safety from those who wish us harm is not something to be taken for granted

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18351831724746520001noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5091542.post-1120710426931643072005-07-07T00:00:00.000-04:002005-07-07T00:27:06.960-04:00

So I haven't joined many of my friends on the right and the left going cuckoo over Sandra Day O'Connor's replacement. The main reason for that is that Bush hasn't nominated anyone yet. It's a bit silly to freak out over a nominee who hasn't been nominated yet, isn't it? There will likely be two Supreme Court vacancies during the second term of the George W. Bush Presidency -- O'Connor and

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18351831724746520001noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5091542.post-1120144006150179632005-06-30T11:00:00.000-04:002005-06-30T11:06:46.156-04:00

Florida GOP Congresswoman Katherine Harris, the former Secretary of State who famously 'helped' George W. Bush during the Florida recount -- after serving as his Florida campaign co-chair, no conflict of interest there! -- is now running for Senate, surprisingly with no help from the White House. She's quite a lightning rod for her sketchy roll in the 2004 election and recount, and Rove & Co.

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18351831724746520001noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5091542.post-1119841882195489182005-06-26T22:32:00.000-04:002005-06-26T23:11:22.296-04:00

When the upper echelon of the GOP is getting this desperate, you know they must be in their, ahem, last throes. See, I thought guys like Rove and Cheney were just lying bastards when it came to us non-Republicans. Boy, how wrong I was. Today on CNN, Cheney went after Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel, a fellow Republican. From QWQ at dKos... Since 9/11, we've had people like Chuck Hagel and other

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18351831724746520001noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5091542.post-1119545118012030132005-06-23T11:50:00.000-04:002005-06-23T23:51:39.833-04:00

Marshall Wittmann is calling for Rove to apologize. Apparently, so are a number of Democratic Senators, like Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid. But an apology doesn't go far enough. Karl Rove must be forcibly ejected from the White House. You may be asking yourself, what the hell is he talking about? Here's what Karl Rove had to say last night about the response of Democrats to the 9/11 attacks.

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18351831724746520001noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5091542.post-1119299469954012542005-06-20T15:32:00.000-04:002005-06-20T16:31:10.030-04:00

The move is done. The unpacking is underway. The cable has not yet been installed and that means no internet. Continue to expect few updates from me for the next week or so. To my loyal readers who keep checking the site, thank you so much. Okay... here's some info for you. State of 2008 Joe Biden's running for President. I have something of a soft spot for Biden. Why? I have no idea.

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18351831724746520001noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5091542.post-1118988970112504912005-06-17T01:56:00.000-04:002005-06-17T02:16:10.120-04:00

Wow, it's been a while. I was crazy busy at work. I was on vacation. Now I'm moving into a new home. Pretty good reasons for not posting to DemWatch, if I do say so myself. Things should start to get back to normal shortly, but let me just get a few thoughts in while I'm here. 1. Dick Durbin. The GOP outrage over Senator Durbin's comments is such baloney. Durbin said that the things in

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18351831724746520001noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5091542.post-1117602790156087842005-05-31T23:59:00.000-04:002005-06-01T01:13:10.213-04:00

I don't typically get into state politics. Of course, being a Democrat in New Jersey, it's a hard topic not to get into. As many of you probably remember, I was fully in support of a Jon Corzine run for Drumthwacket while the tears were still drying in the McGreevey saga. If anything is going to get me seriously blogging the state governor's race, it's the inanity of the Schundler/Forrester

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18351831724746520001noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5091542.post-1117214215109223072005-05-27T12:57:00.000-04:002005-05-30T22:54:53.303-04:00

I used to think it was a shame that the party poobahs got to set the primary schedule. But now that the media has officially deemed themselves worthy of pushing up the primaries by a full three-and-a-half-years, the party leaders don't bother me so much. I mean, was it really too much to ask for the media to not have started polling on the 2008 primaries while the 2004 general election campaign

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18351831724746520001noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5091542.post-1116907532692593042005-05-23T23:18:00.000-04:002005-05-24T00:05:32.760-04:00

Quite a few progressive bloggers are unhappy about this one. I think that's sort of misguided and unrealistic. At the end of the day, this wasn't about a few right-wing judges. This was about the future of the Senate. For all of the possible outcomes, this one -- accepting Owen, Brown, and Pryor only, while saving the filibuster -- is the least bad. But I am happy to report that it seems

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18351831724746520001noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5091542.post-1116886188408445252005-05-23T17:51:00.000-04:002005-05-23T18:09:48.433-04:00

Overreach, overreach, overreach. It's been my mantra since November 2. The ruling GOP, with both houses of Congress and the White House in their pockets, was bound to go to far. Little did I know how far they'd go and how fast. Whether it was Schiavo, Social Security privatization, or absurdist defenses of everything from torture to the galactic Empire of 'Star Wars', the leadership of

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18351831724746520001noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5091542.post-1116479128949929212005-05-19T00:30:00.000-04:002005-05-19T01:05:28.956-04:00

Good thing ol' Tom scrapped his silly Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention for the Dell Theory of Conflict Prevention. Whereas the original theory held that no two nations with McDonalds franchises would go to war with one another, the new theory is that nations with positions in major multinational corporate supply chains will also be less likely to go to war. The above photo was taken

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18351831724746520001noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5091542.post-1116133661818793302005-05-15T00:51:00.000-04:002005-05-15T01:07:41.826-04:00

Really? Really? GOP Senate Leader Bill Frist made the unfortunate decision on Friday to go shoe shopping. Why was this decision unfortunate? Well, for starters, the shoe store happens to be just downstairs from the anti-privatization group Americans United to Protect Social Security. According to Josh Marshall (who's even got photos!), the staff was able to pull together an on-the-spot

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18351831724746520001noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5091542.post-1116012484034589632005-05-13T14:48:00.000-04:002005-05-13T15:28:04.113-04:00

Rather than try to get my head around every base closure recommendation just announced by the Department of Defense, let me just deal specifically with one base that isn't too far from where I live: Fort Monmouth. Unlike some other Democrats, I'm not going to slam the Bush administration and the Republican-run House and Senate for daring to streamline the military. It's something that needs to

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18351831724746520001noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5091542.post-1115988418662735122005-05-13T08:31:00.000-04:002005-05-13T08:46:58.673-04:00

Who woulda' thunk it? Hillary and Newt. Newt and Hillary. Ten years ago, if you predicted that they'd be all buddy-buddy, talking productively about reforming health care, you'd have been laughed out of the room. While I'm not expecting Newt to endorse Hillary in 2008 -- in fact, they very well could wind up running against each other -- he is doing a lot to bolster her reputation as a

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18351831724746520001noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5091542.post-1115917148682839952005-05-12T12:34:00.000-04:002005-05-12T23:56:19.733-04:00

Pat Buchanan has ignited considerable controversy over his column defending President Bush's comments that World War II was not necessarily worth the price we paid, since America didn't immediately pivot from fighting the Germans to going to war with the Soviets. Bush is clearly getting off the hook for this one because the American media just doesn't think he's smart enough to consider what

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18351831724746520001noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5091542.post-1115875894818502952005-05-12T00:23:00.000-04:002005-05-12T01:31:35.383-04:00

Well, I'll be damned. According to SurveyUSA's most recent gubernatorial approval numbers, for all we hear about Democrats being so out of touch with 'mainstream Americans', Democratic governors are doing just fine in red states. For Republican governors, however, the reverse does not necessarily hold true. As you can see from the table above, there are 12 Democratic governors of states that

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18351831724746520001noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5091542.post-1115513401720689742005-05-07T20:12:00.000-04:002005-05-07T20:50:02.260-04:00

It never ceases to amaze me the ways the GOP tries to change the rules to suit their goals. The filibuster shouldn't be applied to judges. To qualify for overtime, you can't make more than $20,000 a year. For tax cuts, if you make $100,000 a year, you're middle class. For Social Security, if you make $100,000 a year, you're rich. The list goes on and on and on. Take Attorney General Alberto

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18351831724746520001noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5091542.post-1115244020627587792005-05-04T17:30:00.000-04:002005-05-04T18:11:36.846-04:00

In 2004, there were a number of cool little internet tools candidates and campaigns used to their advantage. The most obvious was MeetUp, of course, but by the fall, the political scene had bled well into Friendster and MySpace as well. It was only a matter of time before politicians found another website to exploit for fun and political profit. The blue ribbon goes to Indiana Senator Evan

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18351831724746520001noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5091542.post-1114779560973095882005-04-29T08:46:00.000-04:002005-04-29T18:00:42.610-04:00

Hey Mr. President, I have an idea. Since privatization flopped, how about you propose massive benefit cuts. That should be really popular! The Washington Post, sounding snarky, but probably not intentionally... With virtually every Democrat, as well as many Republicans, opposed to his plan for private investment accounts, Bush sought to shift the focus of the Social Security debate to a new

Scotthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18351831724746520001noreply@blogger.com