Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Not so breaking...

But I think my brother's getting me an autographed Paul Begala book for Chanukah.

Attorney General Eliot Spitzer announced that he has the support of 35 Mayor and Mayor-elects. That's pretty nice and should help when he creams who ever the Republicans nominate.

Someone sent my cousin the link of an anti-Ron Lewis blog but it appears the blog in question is down or not active at the moment.

Bloomberg has a poll for 2008 (FOCUS ON 06 FIRST).
The poll, which had a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points, found McCain with 44 percent of the vote followed by Clinton with 40 percent -- a statistical tie.

Carroll said McCain and Clinton were picked because they are the "dominant" frontrunners for the 2008 election and because other candidates are not as widely known. Neither McCain nor Clinton have announced they will run for the presidency.

By a margin of 36 percent to 32 percent, registered voters nationwide had a favorable opinion of Clinton, with 16 percent mixed.

Other potential Democratic candidates such as Indiana Senator Evan Bayh, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and former Virginia Governor Mark Warner "don't have the negatives that Mrs. Clinton has; on the other hand they don't have the positives either," Carroll said in a telephone interview. "There's nobody, nobody who doesn't know who Mrs. Clinton is and feel strongly about her."

Far fewer of the 1,230 voters polled from Nov. 28 to Dec. 4 disapproved of McCain -- only 11 percent -- though his mixed rating was much higher, 25 percent. Thirty-two percent said they approved of McCain.
Retired General Wes Clark had an editorial in today's New York Times. It is a much better editorial than that of Sen. Joseph Lieberman.
And we must start using America's diplomatic strength with Syria and Iran. The political weakness of Bashar al-Assad opens the door for significant Syrian concessions on controlling the border and cutting support for the jihadists. We also have to stop ignoring Tehran's meddling and begin a public dialogue on respecting Iraqi independence, which will make it far easier to get international support against the Iranians if (and when) they break their word.

Yes, our military forces are dangerously overstretched. Recruiting and retention are suffering; among retired officers, there is deep concern that the Bush administration's attitude on the treatment of detainees has jeopardized not only the safety of our troops but the moral purpose of our effort.

Still, none of this necessitates a pullout until the job is done. After the elections, we should be able to draw down by 30,000 troops from the 160,000 now there. Don't bet against our troops.

What a disaster it would be if the real winner in Iraq turned out to be Iran, a country that supports terrorism and opposes most of what we stand for. Surely, we can summon the wisdom, resources and bipartisan leadership to change the American course before it is too late.
My cousin sent me some hilarious photos. I'm forwarding those on to friends I know...may even blog them as well.

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