Scott McClellan blamed the so-called liberal media, saying it was too differential to the White House, while they were selling the propaganda to go to war in Iraq.  Scott pedaled the administration's garbage as press secretary from July 2003 until April 2006.  Now he wants to profit from it. He was a weasel then, he's a weasel now.

Paul O'Neill said the administration had a plan to invade Iraq from day one, Richard Clarke backed up that claim. Mr. Clarke said the administration ignored Al Qaeda, because they were fixated on Iraq. Colin Powell said all the evidence, he presented to the UN and the reason for attacking Iraq was bogus. All these facts were dismissed. Now, Scott McClellan wants to clear his conscience by telling us George W. Bush was not well served.  When does the President of the United States stand up, and say he was taking in because, (as Matthew Dowd said in his tell-all book)he is not up to the job.  Matthew Dowd was George W. Bush's former chief strategist, so he should know. Who takes the blame for more than 4000 dead troops and 30,000 wounded?

Of course, Fox's Sean Hannity gave Karl Rove a place to state his denial. Karl Rove went onto say Scott McClellan’s book sounded like a left-wing blog.  Danna Perino called McClellan a disgruntled employee. Didn’t Scott learn the lesson?  You can lie to the FBI and a federal grand jury, and this administration will praise you, and eventually give you a pardon.  You could continue the lie and hide behind executive privilege. Tell the truth and they  will slam you from the White House press room podium, right-wing blogs and talk radio.

Scott McClellan said the administration's first week of hurricane Katrina was spent in denial, Dan Bartlett had already said that he had to show the president, a DVD of the nightly newscast before he knew the severity of the hurricane.  We now, know  Karl Rove staged the fly over, of the devastated area for a photo op to sell to Republican donors.  Karl Rove’s excuse for the president not stopping on his on his way back to Washington. The president did not want to divert resources from the rescue efforts. Funny, that does not match Dan Bartlett’s version.

So when will the two sources of the story below come forward? Are they going to wait until their book publishers, tell him it's time?

Bush 'plans Iran air strike by August'
By Muhammad Cohen

NEW YORK - The George W Bush administration plans to launch an air strike against Iran within the next two months, an informed source tells Asia Times Online, echoing other reports that have surfaced in the media in the United States recently.

http://www.atimes.com/atime...

No, not as John McCain running mate, because even though they were once good friends, these two Vietnam War veterans are different as night and day on foreign policy. Chuck Hagel has been a thorn in George W. Bush and John McCain side because of their stance on the Iraq war.  Chuck Hagel blasted McCain recently for his rhetoric on diplomacy, and exaggerating Barack Obama’s foreign policy stance.

Chuck Hagel is a conservative Republican senator from Nebraska.  He currently sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, but he will not run for his Senate reelection.  Ronald Reagan made Chuck Hagel the deputy administrator of the Veterans Administration.  He resigned that position because the director of the Veterans Administration was intent on cutting funds for the VA. Chuck Hagel is a man of principle.  When a reporter asked Mr. Hagel about the rumors of Bush going to war with Iran, the maverick Republican said “We have the power of impeachment, impeach him."

Barack Obama does not need a yes man, nor does he need another co president.  This man of principle will tell it like it is, and not how Mr. Obama wants to hear it ,or as much as he thinks Obama can process. Chuck Hagel has the stature to convince other Republicans to give Barack Obama a fighting chance.

Chuck Hagel is the  cofounder of  Vanguard Cellular ,so  he could be helpful on domestic and foreign affairs.

I'm still in favor of Barack Obama adding other prominent Republicans to his administration, as the first step in finding bipartisan solutions to the very serious problems we will be facing.  Hillary Clinton could have passed a health care plan a long time ago, but she kept insisting on her plan without input from others.  Keeping Republicans and Democrats away from the decision table made it easy for the lobbyist to use all their resources to kill her healthcare bill.

Want to stay in the party and set up the next president.  I wish the Democrats would consider Jim Webb a Republican turned Democrat, Senator from Virginia.

Change is about new ideas and new players.

In this information age, an amateur poster can claim to be a historian, climatologist, or a political guru by citing WWW.com as a reference.

I've noticed a few posters are saying we don't have a viable candidate running for president. Do they really mean, it's not who they would have chosen? 75,000 people showed up at a hot and sultry weekend rally for Barack Obama. Can we convince the people of Oregon who went to that rally, that we don't have a good candidate running for the office? Perhaps they know that we have a democracy, not a dictatorship. The president is just one human being who will have to convince congress that his course of action is the right one. It's all about the message and the messenger.

Global warming discussions often end as political disagreements. I like to break down the subject in the smaller workable pieces. Is the polar bear becoming extinct? Recently, our government, put the polar bear on the endangered species list. Is the government in on the conspiracy or just being incompetent? Is the warmer Arctic water causing the polar bears to swim longer distances for their food? Is the warmer Arctic waters, causing some of the bears prey to move to cooler waters? Are the glaciers melting? Can you look someone in the eye and say for certain Al Gore is benefiting from a hoax, and completely dismiss the fact that oil companies want reports of man-made warming to disappear?

We have two presidential candidates with sincere and different opinions on foreign policy. John McCain wants us to believe that the present policy is working, but needs a little more time, and we will benefit by his approach. Mr. Obama believes that McCain's has a failed policy of the past, and we should use more carrots and sticks to achieve our objective, rather than constant war. Mr. McCain has an excellent foreign policy resume, but in our system of government the voters will choose the message and the messenger.

I do find it ironic that those that engage in keyboard wars of the forum take their complaint to the Victoria Advocate claiming "Everyone is out of step but Willy." If we were all in agreement, would there be a need for a forum?

Finally, Republicans and Democrats are listening to the voters. James Carville famously said, "It's the economy stupid." Americans tuned out the far left views of Dennis Kucinich (big government giveaways) and the far out solutions of Ron Paul.  Voters turned up in record numbers, because they know this election is very important. They tuned out the gimmick of a gas tax holiday; because they know pandering is not a solution. It was reassuring when the voters of North Carolina and Indiana did not think the Jeremiah Wright issue was important enough not to vote for Barack Obama, now West Virginia, needs some help in that area. Perhaps Barack Obama will plant, Bill and Hillary in that state.

The Democrats have picked up three consecutive conservative House seats, not because the Democratic Party is so great, it's because when the GOP was in power that did not provide the solutions. The Democrats are merely renting that congressional district. I heard Ed Rowlings and Pat Buchanan say that the Republican Party needs to focus on the needs of middle-class down, rather than talk about a capital gains tax, or they will be trounced in November. They can still stick to the smaller government, cut spending, and defense funding platform of old without losing voters. The voters do not want to hear what we are going to do for the corporations; rather what we can do for the middle class.

This election not about liberals, conservatives, Democrats or Republicans, because 82% of Americans think this country is going in the wrong direction, so that dissatisfaction runs across party and ideological lines. This new multicultural country is a mixture of thoughts, beliefs and voting preferences. When this election is over; that blue state/ red state map will have to be modified because most of it will be colored purple.Our Representatives will not be able to hide behind party or ideology;they will have to actually listen to all the people and come up with a solution.

When I opened my AARP Bulletin May addition (pg3), I noticed a chart titled "How things change"

(1) Unemployment was 4.5% in 2007 in 2008 it is 5.1%.

(2) A barrel of oil was $64 in 2007 and in 2008 it is more than $115.

(3)  People's confidence in a secure retirement was at 41%, today it is at 29%.

This very short list did not include the war in Iraq, rising health care costs, social security, Medicaid, and the cost of higher education. Do we really want to make this election about Jeremiah Wright, Reverend Hagee, elitism, or the gas tax holiday?  The social issues will not die because they have a venue on hate radio, Hannity & Colmes and Hard Ball with Chris Matthews.  Almost forgot, Keith Olbermann will do his part.  I can imagine tonight,Keith will show an old vid clip of Bill O'Reilly's having a tirade, when he was on "Inside Edition."

Can we afford a major health care program?  Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) said this issue would not come up in 2009, because we simply cannot afford it.  Perhaps that is why Barack Obama scaled down his version of universal health care to children this time with no mandates. He ,said he would pay for it by, repealing the 2001 Bush tax cuts. John McCain is supporting Health Savings Accounts, which are portable, but not affordable for most. His first plan did not include pre-existing conditions. John McCain’s plan offers a $5000 refundable tax credit, but as of yet he cannot answer how he would pay for them.What McCain left out. • Workers would be taxed on the value of any employer-paid health benefits, partially offsetting the $5,000 credit for those now covered by such plans.

• Experts say a tax credit plan like this would likely cause companies to reduce or eliminate health benefits for their employees.

http://www.factcheck.org/mc...

Preventative care is the answer, no matter how we get to affordable health insurance. Why should heart surgery cost $70,000 in Abilene Texas and $40,000 in San Antonio?  As I have said many times status quo is not the answer.

I see where Kay Bailey Hutchison and the Republican Party are making their final push for drilling in ANWR.  They have been trying since 1995. Jeb Bush and the Republicans have made the coast of Florida, untouchable for years. This is more of a political issue, than a sensible solution. Barack Obama said a leader must tell the country, what they need to hear' not only what they want to hear. We must conserve, use public transportation, and government agencies must include hybrids in their next purchase. Finally, we must raise the CAFE standards, because the unstable Middle East and high grass prices are here to stay, so staying on fossil fuels should not be an option.

Cut Social Security benefits or raise taxes? John McCain vowed he would not raise taxes. Don't really know if he wants to cut benefits, but we will see in the debates. Barack Obama is on record ,saying he would raise the cap on social security taxes from the current $102,000 to about $200,000 but he would not cut benefits. Many options out there to make social security solvent, but it must be solved in a bipartisan way, because both sides must sell the solution.

I, believe we can all agree that Washington is the problem, and we must tear down the way, have been doing business, brick by brick, and start all over. It starts with public financing to limit the lobbyist influence, and find a way to reduce the partisan bickering. If Barack Obama is elected, I hope he would consider Republicans like Chuck Hagel, for key positions in his administration.

I believe if we have a Democratic administration, we would get rid of the protecting the Bush/ Cheney legacy solution to the war in Iraq. Republicans and Democrats would come together to find a sensible solution.

 I can't believe Obama is not using the supreme court justice issue. About 55% of the electorate are women. John McCain recently said he would appoint justices like Roberts & Alito which is code for "We will now have enough to overturn "Roe v Wade"....Maybe Obama is saving it for later.

It seems to me, that the so called left wing media won't be happy until they start a full scale race riot. It started for me this morning, on MSNBC's “Morning Joe.”  It’s driving me crazy, having to agree with Pat Buchanan over David Shuster about the comments Bill Clinton made in West Virginia.  Bill Clinton said something like this "If all you vote overwhelmingly for Hillary she will win" David Shuster said it was code, for Barack Obama cannot win the white vote.  Pat Buchanan said Bill Clinton was merely saying Hillary can still win if she wins the most of the remaining states.  Earlier, the Morning Joe’s panel was discussing the AP story about Hillary getting the hard working white vote.  This topic left their black guests Tiki Barber and John Ridley shaking their head, not believing what was going on.  John Ridley said the part about "hard-working white voters might be a problem like; Obama’s bitter remarks.  I'm not picking on MSNBC, because I'm sure the other networks are doing the exact same thing.

I've been a political junkie for years, but now the media has me stumped. Why is the Catholic voting preference, an exit poll question? Why is the Catholic vote important in Pennsylvania and Ohio and not in Brownsville, Texas or Los Angeles, California?  MSNBC's Chris Matthews says its code for white Reagan Democrats.  This is a year change, so get rid of Reagan Democrats, yellow dog Democrats, and latte drinking Democrats and just go with Democrats. Too many labels to keep up with.

I am amazed as to how quickly John McCain can change his mind (flip-flop).  Jon Stewart asked McCain about his remarks saying Hamas favored Obama and McCain said he, was just repeating the words of the Hamas leader.  Then Jon asked "When did we decide the words of a Hamas leader are so important?"  Jon went onto say Al Qaeda, Hamas and other terrorist groups said the words and actions of George W. Bush's inspire them and it helps recruiting. John McCain immediately said we cannot pay attention to the words of a group that hates us for our freedoms.  The media should cover this man and repeat the results, because this man is a walking gaffe waiting to happen.  Perhaps CNN and MSNBC can follow the story about John McCain not voting for George W. Bush in the 2000 election.  The Washington Post, New York Times, and Los Angeles Times are reporting that witnesses are backing up Arianna Huffington’s (proprietor of left-leaning blog Huffington Post) version that John McCain told her he did not vote for George Bush in 2000, despite John McCain’s denial.  Why is this so important? If true it will knock another wheel off the straight talk express, and alienate the base.

Perhaps this race thing will blow over and we can have a presidential race on the views and issues of John McCain and Barrack Obama.

“Happy Mother’s Day” to any mom reading this blog.

I lost my mom last year, so I know how extra important a mom is to the family.

We all knew pitching was going to be a problem, but after some poor early showings, Shawn Chacon, Doug Brocaili, Geoff Gary, Jose Valverde, Oscar Villarreal, and Wesley Wright have done a decent job lately. Roy Oswald showed some good signs of being the Roy of old ,but he is currently leading the league in home runs given up. Brandon Backe needs to settle down and he will be ok.  This year, our pitchers do not have to be lights out, because the new Astros are an explosive offensive team.

Astros fans have a new name for the power trio: Lance Berkman, Carlos Lee, and Miguel Tejada.  BLT   B= (bacon) Berkman L=Carlos Lee (lettuce) T=Miguel Tejada (tomato)

These three have been doing most of the damage with their bats, with occasional help from Hunter Pence and Kazuo Matsui.

This team has speed with center fielder Michael Bourn and second baseman Kazuo Matsui at the top, power in the middle with BLT, and no slouches with the bat at the bottom of the order.

Don't print the World Series tickets yet, but this current Houston Astros team is fun to watch again.

Barack Obama is the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. When NBC's Tim Russert calls a primary for Barack Obama,its over. You can use the Clinton matrix and count the, Florida and Michigan votes and delegates but mathematically Barack Obama still wins. Obama's 14 point North Carolina win, negated Hillary's Pennsylvania win and her two point squeaker in Indianapolis is too little too late. Can you imagine her asking the money people for more cash?

It's my guess, back room deals are being made as we speak, like taking on the Clinton campaign debt, seating the Florida and Michigan delegates, hiring some of Clinton's staff.and possibly considering a Clinton supporter for vice president. Hillary will continue campaigning in West Virginia and Kentucky, but will tone down her anti-Obama rhetoric. Hillary is expected to win West Virginia and Kentucky, where she will bow out graciously, in the next two weeks with pride left intact. Hillary fought the good fight, now she can take some time off, and comeback to use all that energy to make Barack Obama the next president of the United States.

Barack Obama weathered a bad month of setbacks, but unfortunately 33% to 35% of Hillary supporters say they will vote for John McCain, if she is the not the nominee. Four months is forever, in a presidential campaign plenty of time, for the Obama charm, to unite the Democratic party.

The GOP is going to tailor their ads on issues like Jeremiah Wright, elitism and Bill Ayers, because what else can they run on. John McCain is obviously weak on economics, and that was the number one issue in the primaries. Running on the policies of George W. Bush is an albatross around McCain's neck that he won't be able to shake without upsetting his base.Didn't take long ,this morning Fox and Friend's Steve Doocey rolled out (William Ayers standing on the flag)linking it to Barack Obama's 1995 association on a charity board with Ayers.And Fox wonders why the Democrats boycott them. They don't even pretend to be "Fair and Balanced."

Barack Obama will continue the formalities of campaign stumps, but that back room is thinking about vice presidential choices, like John Edwards, Sam Nunn, Bill Richardson, and Ed Rendell.

I finally watched the four-part Bill O'Reilly- Hillary Clinton face-offs, because for the most part the so-called left wing media gave it good reviews.  I was disappointed because it was the same old thing, O’Reilly boasting that as a millionaire his taxes would be raised and his insistence that torture works.  Hillary was Hillary, saying what she wanted and how she wanted., The pundits seem to think that she made some inroads with some right wingers ,because by appearing on O’Reilly showed she had guts.  This is the same crowd that likes the toughness of Bill O'Reilly and George W. Bush.  Competence is not high on their list. Say what you mean, and say it often. Just keep it simple

 Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace was a little more interesting. Howard Dean was his guest and I'm sure Chris did not get the results he wanted. Chris Wallace started the interview by asking Howard Dean, why the Democrats were distorting John McCain's 100 years in Iraq remarks. Remember; this is the network that gave the Swift boaters endless coverage, even after the Department of Defense put up John Kerry's medals and the military version of events on their website.  This is the same network that played Obama is a Muslim card and Chris Wallace is complaining about a 527 ad  Yes ,I know what John McCain meant, but  I also know his analogy does not make sense.  First the Sunnis and Shia have been at odds for over a thousand years, and we have no reason to believe that they will resolve their differences anytime soon, so our troops will always be in the middle with a target on their back.  I served in South Korea in 1966, and could actually spend my leave time in the capital city Seoul in my civvies and unarmed.  Since I volunteered, my first choice was Germany (you see how far that got me) because of its closeness to other European countries made it a great tour, if you had to go overseas.  Since Israel remains the big target and Iran, Syria, and Saudi Arabia remain neighbors; Iraq will always be dangerous duty.

The rest of Fox News Sunday was an attempt to toot their own horn without all the facts.  Chris Wallace, Brit Hume, Bill Kristol and Juan Williams tried to make it appear that the Democrats are clamoring to go on Fox news because it’s number one.  First the Democrats did not debate on Fox, yet they increased their numbers of new Democrats.  Over 27 million primary voters have voted for either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama far outnumbering the GOP's voters.  The Democratic primary is at its tail end, so it is now convenient for the Democrats to get the free airtime and possibly get more votes by going on Fox... A gain for both parties because Fox News Sundays trails the other Sunday talk shows in ratings.  Of course, Chris Wallace failed to tell its audience about this spitting contest with MoveOn.Org (527) and the Daily Kos (blog), because the latter convinced the Democratic candidates not to debate on Fox?  This was a big embarrassment for Fox and they are seeking their revenge.  The boycott has ended.  The same can be said for Bill O'Reilly because he is now making a personal; going after the CEO of GE for its ties with Iran (GE severed its ties with Iran in 2005) because he is not willing to go after NBC's Keith Olbermann. The countdown with Keith Olbermann regularly mocks Bill O'Reilly and makes him the “Worse Person of World.” This gets under Billo’s skin because MSNBC will not make Keith stop,

Some posters think I am plugging MSNBC, because I reference a quote or two from that network.  Not so, when I first started posting the editor would always ask us to cite our references, so we would not appear to be plagiarizing and it would give the readers a source to see the full context.  I continue to do that ,because I’ve been using this Ronald Reagan quote for a long time "Trust but verify"

It's funny, to see how some posters genuinely think that the Jeremiah Wright incident is the worst scandal since Watergate. Some posters have even compared Jeremiah Wright to the KKK ,leaving out some very important facts, Jeremiah Wright, nor have his congregation .burned, bombed, or terrorized white people.They don't even talk about doing that. Some of the posters, crying racism have made much worse racist statements in this forum.Don't make me cut and paste them. In fact they live for this,they will do everything in their power to keep the Jerimiah Wright bashing going.. Nationally, the right-wing activist are trying to paint this charismatic, knowledgeable, Democratic front runner as Al Sharpton. CNN's looks at Fox's ratings (they are leading the charge) so they follow suit. MSNBC also wants a small share of those viewers. Advertisers demand it. The story has made it past Thursday, so the topic will make all the Sunday talk shows. In fact Obama will be the guest of Tim Russert on Meet the Press.

Barack Obama has now convinced 84% of American that he is not a Muslim, but after rejecting and denouncing the rhetoric of Louis Farrakhan, the bar has been raised to include a complete and angry separation from his pastor of 20 years. Then if he gets too angry, he will be portrayed as an angry black man. No one really knows if Barack Obama was a regular churchgoer. They are assuming, because Barack Obama said Jeremiah Wright was his spiritual adviser. Why does anyone need a spiritual adviser?

The American electorate is so fickle, according to Joe Scarborough. He said Hillary Clinton would win the swing states (Ohio and Pennsylvania) because she mentions protecting the second amendment. Think about that. Isn't that what Barack Obama meant in his bitter remark? The middle class, Ohio and Pennsylvania are hurting for jobs, healthcare and education and they think Hillary Clinton is a strong gun rights advocate?She won that state because she drank some shots and pretended to be Annie Oakley?Barack Obama lost because he bowled the 37, told the truth, but did not phrase it properly? And we want to teach the world democracy!

Okay, let's forget about the war in Iraq, our soldiers committing suicide at an alarming rate, the 50 ongoing scandals of the Bush administration, and the issue of global warming, because it is not as sexy as a Jeremiah Wright scandal. Jeremiah Wright has a lecture coming up, so this news event will have the Natalee Holloway coverage all the way to the general election.

I saw little bit of coverage of this tragedy last night on the Verdict with Dan Abrams, since the so called mainstream is not covering it and it goes without saying Fox won't cover it.The jailing of a Democratic governor for political reasons.Did the fact that former Democratic governor of Alabama Don Siegelman went to prison on trumped up charges by Karl Rove and his operatives ,get the lead story? No, now Karl will appear before Congress, if he does not have to take an oath and his testimony cannot be recorded in any fashion. That's the same deal Mr. Rove wanted in the US Attorney scandal. What is it about the oath and and transcripts.

I know, the fact that I am blogging about this makes me just as guilty.Maybe ,but I am not affecting a presidential election, and I am blogging in protest.