A nice, resounding bitch-slapping for Joe Klein

You know Joe (how did this dipshit ever get a paying gig?) Klein. No? Okay...go to your dictionary and look up the word moron, and that's his picture in the inset.

He recently took to the pages of Time and jumped up and down, screaming about FISA and how Democrats are rushing to give terrorists special rights and goody-bags that rival those given out at the Oscars.

Today, Rep. Rush Holt took to the epages of HuffPo and smacked him up side his empty head.

Jeebus, would these wingnuts just give it up already? Do they really think that in the information age, their bullshit is going to fly by unchallenged? Cuz those days are gone. And it isn't my problem if they are deep in denial. In fact, I quite enjoy the smell of roast wingnut. Pass the marshmallows and lets have S'mores...

It's beginning to look like "blue" skies and smooth sailing...

The GOP continues to flounder. I continue to find much heartfelt glee in this fact, and do not apologize for it. I never claimed to be non-partisan. I am an unapologetic Liberal Democrat.

Faced with Democrats running fundraising circles around Republicans -the DCCC has raised $56.6 million and has $29.2 million at its disposal, while the NRCC is sucking hind tit, having raised only $40.7 million, and showing a cash balance of $2.5 million. Faced with people not willing to bankroll losers, the lord high mucky-mucks of the GOP have resorted to recruiting obscenely wealthy individuals to run for office who can funnel millions of their own dollars into desperate efforts to buy seats. “National Republicans are in disarray, forcing them to recruit inexperienced and unprepared self-funders,” said Doug Thornell, a spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

But the news gets better for Democrats. Democrats now hold more Governor's mansions, and that gap looks like it is going to widen. While the Democrats might not make the magic number 60 in the Senate, they are likely to get close enough that they can strongarm moderate Republicans into backing off on their obstructionist ways. If five or more seats flip, that will likely serve as a wake-up call to some of the obstreperous jackasses in Class III and Class I, and their own sense of political self-survival will kick in.

In Virginia, the magic eight ball says that Mark Warner is going to take the seat being vacated by John Warner. The seats being vacated by Domenici (N.M.) and Stevens (AK) have a good shot of going to Democrats, if for no other reason than to teach the party a lesson - the Republican candidates are going to have the foul stench of their corrupt predecessors wafting behind them. Bob Kerry is likely to replace the retiring Chuck Hagel in Nebraska, Sununu is vulnerable in New Hampshire. Graham in South Carolina might prove vulnerable because he has lashed himself so tightly to aWol and his pet war. Kentucky is likely to Ditch Mitch, Larry Craig's seat just about has to go to a Democrat, Elizabeth Dole is vulnerable, and the seat held by Gordon Smith is all but assured to flip, possibly to Portland mayor Speaker of the Oregon House Jeff Merkley, although there is still a tough Democratic primary to get through. Whoever wins it will unseat Gordon.

[P.S. Thanks to all you Oregon readers for correcting me on this point - I know better than to blog while buzzing on Robitussin and Benadryl...I lived in the Willamette Valley for a bit in the 90's and to be perfectly honest, I am echoing a friend who is a Merkley backer. To hear her tell it, he is unopposed in the primary, and I'm firing off an email, since echoing her sentiment got my fanny handed to me. I'll look a bit closer and actually dedicate a post to the Democratic primary out there to show my contrition.]

And the outlook is even more dismal in the house, where unexpected retirements have dealt setbacks to the Republican pipedream of retaking the house. And I am left to savor the schaddenfreude and hum a happy tune...

Talking about troop levels

On Monday, the agreement was struck between the United States and Iraq that the U.N. mandated occupation of that beleaguered nation should end in December 2008, and that any continued troop presence beyond that time be subject to negotiations between the two governments that will take place in the upcoming summer months. The agreement was signed by both Maliki and Bush in a teleconference on Monday.

In Iraq, Maliki will be able to spin it as Iraq beginning to show a modicum of independence, while in Washington, Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the NSC, waved off the development, saying he was confident that an agreement would be reached that would authorize continuing the American occupation.

The agreement signed yesterday could potentially set some limits on American troop levels and in what capacity the American military could operate inside Iraq.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Iraqi officials will use the new agreement to set the number of U.S. troops that will remain in the country and their mission. He described the U.S.-Iraq military relationship as "very bumpy over the last three to four years."

Zebari said the new negotiations will provide benefits for both countries.

For Iraq, he said, "it means a clear definition of the relationship and also some security guarantees that the U.S. will protect the political system and constitution until we build our forces and troops.

For the U.S., he said, "it will be a way to do the drawdown and troop reduction and to relieve the pressure back home."

I'm not overly optimistic that this actually, you know, means anything.

Everyone knows that the Maliki government is going to negotiate the deal that aWol will demand. His government is a U.S. backed puppet regime, and it would not exist without the U.S. military presence. He may not be happy about the American military in his country, but he has already done the exile bit and will play along to avoid either exile or assassination. And I am cynical enough to believe that the deal the petulant [p]resident negotiates will be contingent on who the nominees are and who is polling ahead.