Democrats Should Keep Their 15% Approval Rating in Mind: With Fewer Republicans Around, They're in the Hot Seat

Before they get too carried away, the Democrats need to keep their approval rating in mind. As of a CBS poll from last week, Congressional job approval stands at 15%, which is half of what President Bush's is.

And with fewer Republicans around to blame, and a Democrat preparing to move into the White House on January 20th, the Dems will be squarely in the hot seat.

It will be interesting to see if they succumb to the same pressure that the Republicans did, with one-party in control of the Congress and the White House.

If anything, the Democrats are even more vulnerable, as their party is a sewn-together coalition of competing factions. There's a few triggers that we've already seen will cause the Democratic Party to splinter; remember when Pelosi and Reid decided to knuckle under to President Bush and his war budget last year? The anti-war Democrats nearly rioted in the aisles.

We'll see how this goes.

ATF Breaks Up Skinhead Ring That Wanted to Go After Obama; This is a Small Taste of Things to Come

The government announced today that it was charging two skinheads with plotting to kill Senator Obama and dozens of others in a blaze of hatred and gunfire. It's likely that this is the tip of the iceberg, and other plots are being planned.

The skinheads fully expected to be killed in the attempt to gun down Obama in a drive-by suicide attack. Luckily they were stopped before they could carry out this plot.

I hope that, regardless of the way the election goes, that the President stays alive and healthy for the entire term.

Presidential Candidates Need to Get the Hell Out of Dodge: Their Presence at White House Didn't Help Matters

Talks aimed at alleviating the U.S. financial crisis ended in failure, with both sides blaming the other. And the presence of the presidential candidates didn't aid the summit in finding a solution to Wall Street's Folly.

They need to get OUT of Washington and put some distance between themselves and the ongoing fiasco at the White House. And McCain needs to get it in gear and quit wasting time on pointless political gestures. He needs to show up at that debate tomorrow night and give Obama what-for, or risk becoming a has-been former presidential candidate.

What a stupid stunt!

Pelosi Made a Fool Out of Herself on Her Mideast Trip: Her Lack of Understanding of Israeli/Syrian Relations Really Showed

I am of the opinion that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's recent trip to the Middle East was a unmitigated fiasco.

House Speaker Pelosi not only carried our nasty internal politics onto the world stage for all to see, but her short-lived foray into international relations proved that she needs to practice her listening skills, her sensitivity to the needs of our allies, and the way she expresses her views to foreign leaders.

Not only did she misunderstand Israel's point of view, but she didn't listen to them, then misrepresented their views (publicly) to the Syrian government. She did make a clarification later on, but it was too little, too late.

Israeli Prime Minister Olmert issued a statement and corrected our wayward goodwill ambassador.

Nice going, Speaker Pelosi. Next time, stay home and run the House--as you were elected to do. And that goes for Congressional Republicans, too, who have met with Syria's leadership on less-publicized trips recently.

Democrats Shouldn't Limit U.S. Military Mission in Iraq: Very Bad Move in the Making

The latest Democratic proposal for Iraq has the scope of the U.S. military's role reduced to fighting al-Qaeda terrorists, training the Iraqi security forces, and helping Iraq to secure it's borders.

A question for the Democratic brain trusts in Washington before they even think of moving forward on this legislation:

How does one identify an al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) member? They won't be wearing name badges or wearing black t-shirts with big lettering that identify them as a member of that particular group. Last time anyone checked, they wear civilian clothing.

If they limit the U.S. military to fighting AQI alone, what about Ansar al-Islam, the Mahdi Army, the Tawhad and Khalid bin Al Walid Brigade, Al-Istikhbarat al-Askariyya, Fedayeen Saddam, Izz al-Din al-Qassam Forces/Hamas members, plus the dozens of local insurgent groups who are striking at U.S. targets in Iraq?

To attempt to bind the hands of our troops is a very bad idea. That has already happened through political mismanagement of the war through November of last year; this would be an even bigger mistake.

That's not even bringing up the constitutional issues that will arise between Congress and the White House if Congress attempts to circumvent Article 2, Section 2 of the Constitution.

If they want to revise their 2002 vote on the war, they can have at it.

But attempting to micromanage the war by binding the hands of the military in what it can and cannot do in Iraq is an overreach of Congress on one hand, and a grave mistake on the other.

Is Anyone Out There REALLY Surprised That Hillary is Exploring Running for President in 2008?

Hillary Clinton's exploring whether or not to run for President in 2008 should come as no surprise to anyone. She was running the moment she and Bill checked out of the White House in 2001.

And even if she says she's not interested in running in 2008, she's already said that (then changed her mind.) She isn't officially out of the running until AFTER the primaries are held and the Democrats have their elected nominee.

It is a stated goal of this blog to campaign against HRC should she run. Remember--if SHE gets into the White House, we'll get HIM again, too.