castledoom.com

[Che]

Well, the Reps got their arses handed to them... on a paper plate.

Pelosi has a large majority in the House.

The Senate is on a razor's edge.

If Webb pulls it off... we will have a Dem Senate.

Also, Rummie resigned as a result of the elections.

GWB's last two years... will be a night-mare for him :twisted:

It is time to get those investigations into the WH and Pentagon
in gear.

[s_stabeler]

hell,f they can turn up enough dirt on iraq/afganstan, they could convince enouhg republicans to vote for them to actaulyl impeach Bush. on a sdie note, Blair oer here could end up on the wrong end of an impeachment, the police are trying to see if he knew enough about the laons-for-peerages scandal to prosecute him, which can onyl be done via impeachment. and if the democrats impech the vice president firts, then next in the line of sucession is the president pro tempore, elected by the senate whne the vice president is out of the chamber. and if there is no presdient pro temore? the speaker of the house of representatives, I.e. a democrat. I'm not saying it will happen, but the democrats MIGHT be able to put themselves into power.

EDIT- rumsfield has resigned, and Bush has said he will be working wiht the democrats to get legislation passed, and has said wiht leadership there comes responsibility. he might be referring to the house of representatives, but he could be admitting senate defeat.if the democrats win virginia, and it looks like they have, then they have 49 seats, with the republicans having the same amount, with 2 independants.

[Brf]

The third in line after the Vice Pres is the Speaker of the House, not the Pres Pro Tem of the Senate.

Also, "impeach" means "try for crimes", not "remove from office".

[s_stabeler]

I know it means they are tried for crimes, but if they are found guilty they are usually removed. and if the third in line is the speaker of the house,that just makes it easier for the democrats to take control of the presidency. impech & remove from office bush &cheney, and then the speaker of the house, a democrat, becomes presdient ( althouhg there is the potewntial for debate over if they are actually presdient or if they are merely empowered to acvt as president, vice residents do become president, but it doesn't say anyhting about speakers or otherwise)

[Brf]

No President has ever been removed from office after being impeached. Bush is too popular to be the first.

[s_stabeler]

I don't know.......... bush isn't exactly popular....... it's hypothetical what i wa saying anywya, and if a lot of stuff comes up, bush's alreayd low opinion ratigns might plummet even further ( I'm thinking if it was discovered that he knowingly lied about Saddam's WMD or something similar that makes voters question everything he's said)and then he could well be impeached and removed from offcie and one president was nearly removed from office 1 vote being in it. it's possible, although unlikely.

[Brf]

I didnt say Bush was popular. I said he was too popular to be removed from office.

[bannie]

s_stabeler wrote: hell,f they can turn up enough dirt on iraq/afganstan, they could convince enouhg republicans to vote for them to actaulyl impeach Bush. on a sdie note, Blair oer here could end up on the wrong end of an impeachment, the police are trying to see if he knew enough about the laons-for-peerages scandal to prosecute him, which can onyl be done via impeachment. and if the democrats impech the vice president firts, then next in the line of sucession is the president pro tempore, elected by the senate whne the vice president is out of the chamber. and if there is no presdient pro temore?


My God man, slow down


I would have to say that this had to be the most fascinating election Ive witnessed in my short time since becoming politically conscious

And Im not going to pretend Im not happy about the dems taking the house

[JuntaJoe]

The Dems won because the conservative base is displeased. Republicans can always have the majority if the voter base is willing to show up.

The Republicans lost because they didn't give their voter base what they wanted:

1) Fiscal restraint. Bush spent like crazy, even if you discount the war costs.

2) Border security. Bush kept trying to enlarge the issue while it was still in flux. If he had simply shelved the immigration issue and closed the borders then he could have fulfilled a significant element of US home security.

3) He wasted too much time on social issues without accomplishing much. Social issues are always very complex and he tried to eat the elephant in one sitting.

4) He tried to make too many people happy about the war. War, by definition, is painful to at least one player. He should have handed off more control earlier OR gone for the jugular. B-52's carpet bombing the Sunni Triangle comes to mind. He tried to have a "nice" war. Tough luck, it never happens. Do the deed, do it right hard, and finish it off!


Most people dislike the current Democrat leadership because it's too beholdened to the far liberal elements. The few consevative style Democrats inside Washington are few and far between. Same could be said for moderate Democrats as well.

No one likes the George Soros-Nancy Pilosi style in the Democratic party. But they won anyway. They won because they honored their hard left voting base and the Republicans didn't. Moderates had nothing of substance offered to them and neither did the far right base.

What Washington Republicans don't understand is that while the "corporate" wing is dominant in Washington, it is not the dominant sect outside the beltway. This happened to Hoover, Eisenhower, Bush Sr., and now his son. Only Reagan and Nixon pulled off the true conservative stance that connected with middle America voters after secondary elections.

Republicans can't do a centrist platform. That's because the only centrist Republican group IS the corporate group. They either need to embrace the Goldwater/Reagan method or begin building a corporate-free centrist base totally from scratch. Surprisingly, the opportunity exists for such a group right now. You have people like Elizabeth Dole, Newt Gengrich, and Rudy Guliani who have name recognition and not sleeping with the Fortune 500. We'll see if the party takes a hint from this fiasco and tries to build that new platform and voter base.

The Democrats can do this pretty easy if they can stuff a sock in the Soros money spigot and toss Dean out on his ear. If old Willy can tell his wife that it was his way and not hers that can grab the prize then Bill could back Barak Obama and 2008 would be sealed tighter than a drum.

But the old saying goes is that the Democrats never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. The Republicans rightly fear a man of Obama's intellect and charisma. He's not a rocket scientist only because he didn't choose to take up that trade. But the Democratic party only views him as a whip hand at best.

Chances are they will hamstring Obama in favor of Hillary and we'll get some cookie cutter corporate Republican in again by a razor thin margin.



Both parties have the tools and people in place to make the changes needed to divest themselves of the Beltway mentality and get a leader/philosophy that the people will rally around. But will either party have the brass ones to make the hard changes?

Well, I'm not holding my breath for 2 years to find out. :roll:

[JuntaJoe]

JuntaJoe wrote: We'll see if the party takes a hint from this fiasco and tries to build that new platform and voter base.


Hmmm.......


Mehlman to step down from RNC post

Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, whose party lost both chambers of Congress in the midterm elections, will step down from his post when his two-year term ends in January, GOP officials said Thursday.

The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because Mehlman had not yet made his intentions public.

Brian Jones, an RNC spokesman, declined to comment beyond saying that an announcement about Mehlman's future with the party would be made in the days ahead.

Democrats won control of the House and Senate on Tuesday by capitalizing on voter frustration with President Bush, the war in Iraq and the scandal-scarred Congress. Democrats also took a majority of governors' posts and gained a decisive edge in state legislatures.

The officials said Mehlman made the decision not to run for a second term more than a month or two ago — well before the election.

During his tenure, Mehlman, 40, traveled extensively to promote the Republican agenda. When he became chairman in January 2005, he said he hoped to tighten the GOP's grip on power in Washington.

"Nothing is permanent in politics," he said then. "The goal is how do you — both in the short term and the long term — do things to make it sustainable?"

Mehlman also said then that he hoped to expand the GOP base and help Bush enact his agenda.

Last year, Mehlman told NAACP members that the Republican Party was wrong for ignoring the black vote for decades and said he hoped the groups could restore their historic bond.

"Some Republicans gave up on winning the African-American vote, looking the other way or trying to benefit politically from racial polarization," Mehlman said at the NAACP convention. "I come here as Republican chairman to tell you we were wrong."

A protege of Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove, Mehlman became RNC chairman after managing Bush's re-election campaign in 2004, when the president won re-election and Republicans expanded their majorities in the House and the Senate.

Before that campaign, he served as White House political director under Rove. In 2000, he served as national field director for Bush's first presidential campaign, charged with coordinating the efforts of GOP leaders in every state.

Previous to that, he worked on Capitol Hill and practiced environmental law in Washington. Mehlman, a Baltimore native, is a graduate of Harvard Law School and Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa.

Copyright © 2006 The Associated Press.

[JuntaJoe]

Steele interested in heading RNC

By BRIAN WITTE, Associated Press Writer 42 minutes ago

Republican Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, who lost his race for a Senate seat, expressed interest Sunday in becoming chairman of the Republican National Committee.

"I have not had any conversations directly with the White House yet on this," Steele told C-SPAN.

Ken Mehlman, the current chairman, is stepping down when his two-year term ends in January. Mehlman made a point of emphasizing outreach to black voters and helped recruit Steele for the Maryland race.

Steele, who lost to Democratic Rep. Benjamin Cardin (news, bio, voting record) by a margin of 55 percent to 44 percent of the vote, said he believed it was time for the GOP to rethink its views in wake of losing both chambers of Congress in last week's midterm elections, which he described as a "tsunami." Steele said the electorate "was very clear."

"They expected the administration and the party to step up and speak to particular issues and, failing that, there would be heck to pay — and we paid," Steele said.

Steele said he wasn't sure when an announcement would be made on who will be the new committee chair.

Steele was head of the Maryland Republican Party before being elected lieutenant governor in 2002 as the first black candidate elected statewide in Maryland. His term as lieutenant governor will end in January.

Steele also explained why he largely avoided mentioning his party affiliation while campaigning. In a state where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans 2-1, Steele said it was obvious what party he belonged to and there was no need to "rub it in your face."

"In a state like Maryland, there was an opportunity to move away from the labels and really try to dig beyond, you know, being a Republican or Democrat, red state or blue state," Steele said. "In fact, that's what people are sick of. I think we saw the results on Tuesday just how sick they are."

Copyright © 2006 The Associated Press.

[JuntaJoe]

Giuliani takes step toward '08 bid

Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, a moderate Republican best known for his stewardship of the city after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, has taken the first step in a 2008 presidential bid.

The former mayor filed papers to create the Rudy Giuliani Presidential Exploratory Committee, Inc., establishing a New York-based panel that would allow him to raise money to explore a White House run and travel the country.

The four-page filing, obtained by The Associated Press, lists the purpose of the non-profit corporation "to conduct federal 'testing the waters' activity under the Federal Election Campaign Act for Rudy Giuliani."

The paperwork, dated last Friday, is signed by Bobby Burchfield, a partner at the DC-based law firm of McDermott Will & Emery, a firm that handles political work.

Giuliani spokeswoman Sunny Mindel declined to comment.

One potential rival for the GOP nomination, Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record) of Arizona, said Sunday he was taking the initial step of setting up an exploratory committee.

Under federal election law, an exploratory committee allows an individual to travel and gauge the level of support for a candidacy without formally declaring themselves a candidate and adhering to all the federal rules of fundraising. An individual who spends money only to test the waters — but not to campaign for office — does not have to register as a candidate under the election law.

The GOP field is expected to grow with Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Sen. Bill Frist (news, bio, voting record) of Tennessee, Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and New York Gov. George Pataki expected to join the presidential fray.

Democratic Gov. Tom Vilsack of Iowa has filed to establish a full-blown campaign committee and will make a more formal announcement of his candidacy later this month.

Giuliani was widely praised for leading the city during and after the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. He has said for months that he would wait until the end of the 2006 elections to decide whether to embark on a White House bid.

The former mayor is a moderate who supports gun control, same-sex civil unions, embryonic stem-cell research and abortion rights — stands that would put him at odds with the majority of the GOP conservative base.

Giuliani has tried to sidestep those differences and offered strong praise for President Bush at the 2004 GOP convention in New York.

"It doesn't matter what the media does to ridicule him or misinterpret him or defeat him. They ridiculed Winston Churchill. They belittled Ronald Reagan. But like President Bush, they were optimists. Leaders need to be optimists. Their vision is beyond the present, and it's set on a future of real peace and security," Giuliani said.

"Some call it stubbornness. I call it principled leadership."

In 2006, the Giuliani brand remained strong. He headlined fundraisers for Republican candidates nationwide and his travel has done little to deny 2008 ambitions. During a visit earlier this month to Columbia, S.C., Giuliani dodged the question: "There's a chance, but that's after this election is over."

He then left South Carolina for New Hampshire, site of the nation's first primary and another GOP fundraiser.

Giuliani enjoys strong name recognition and a recent AP-AOL News poll conducted in late October found that among Republicans Giuliani was essentially tied with Condoleezza Rice and McCain on who they would most like to see elected president in 2008.

Rice has insisted that she will not run.

Giuliani, who was in his final months as New York City mayor when a pair of planes crashed into the World Trade Center's towers, became a national hero. Within hours of the attack, the mayor was visiting the site, caked in dust and walking through the chaos — a moment replayed repeatedly on television.

Assuming the role of "America's Mayor" and Time Magazine's Person of the Year for 2001, Giuliani remained an in-demand speaker and GOP fundraiser. He was the first Republican to lead New York in decades, had cut crime and redeveloped rundown parts of the city.

He was a former U.S. attorney, leading campaigns against organized crime and corruption. He spent two years as the Justice Department's No. 3 post, overseeing all U.S. attorneys, the Drug Enforcement Agency and the U.S. Marshals Service. The Brooklyn native was first elected New York's mayor in 1993.

Giuliani eyed a run for the U.S. Senate in 2000, but ended that bid while battling prostate cancer and a made-for-tabloids divorce from television star Donna Hanover. The messy divorce and his relationship with Judith Nathan also made his campaign against Hillary Rodham Clinton all the more difficult.

Long before the Sept. 11 attacks, the mayor cultivated a kind of celebrity status. He made a cameo on "Seinfeld" in 1993 and "Mad About You" the next year. He hosted Saturday Night Live in 1997 and followed up with other cameos. And in 2002, he was a presenter at MTV's Video Music Awards.

Copyright © 2006 The Associated Press.

[crispybacon]

Giuliani for the win. 'Nough said.
________
Iolite vaporizer review

[JuntaJoe]

crispybacon wrote: Giuliani for the win. 'Nough said.

Did you know that Giuliani is pro gun control?

[bannie]

I do now

[ExarKun]

that Obama guy though is getting on my nervers, I mean he comes out of left field here in IL, just cause some republican guy tried to force his wife into sex acts, so Oboma gets it, then he is everywhere.

Sorry just personal rant on how this guy is everywhere and in poltics wise he was practicly a nobody one day then everyone loves him, not saying he isn't good it just strikes from left field and catches me by suprise.

[crispybacon]

We'll see what happens. He's on top of the world, but then he'll probably ruin it by going for President in '08 instead of 2012 or later.

And for the record, even though Giuliani supports gun control, I have to say I'm for him based on what he did to NYC while he was in office. If you ever walked through before he was mayor, you can see the difference.
________
SC2 REPLAY

[JuntaJoe]

Bush taps Florida senator to chair RNC

President Bush tapped Florida Sen. Mel Martinez, a prominent Hispanic who served in the Cabinet, to assume the high-profile post of Republican National Committee general chairman.

One week after heavy midterm losses, Martinez said Tuesday he would strive to foster "a tone of civility" for the party as it faces the challenge of a wide-open presidential race in 2008 and a push to recapture control of Congress.

Martinez, 60, will remain in the Senate when he takes the reins of the RNC in January. The first-term senator will be the face of the party, focusing on fundraising, outreach and travel to promote the GOP agenda.

"He's going to be an excellent spokesman for our party," Bush said in announcing his support for Martinez in an Oval Office meeting with reporters.

The announcement comes days after Republicans suffered stinging defeats at the polls, losing control of the House and Senate. The party also lost support of Hispanic voters who had backed Bush two years ago.

Mike Duncan, the RNC's current general counsel and a former party treasurer, will be chairman and will be put in charge of running the everyday operations at the party's Capitol Hill headquarters. His co-chair will be Jo Ann Davidson, who has been No. 2 in the party hierarchy.

The current party chairman, Ken Mehlman, is leaving his post in January at the end of his two-year term.

"Ken Mehlman did a whale of a job as the chairman of the Republican Party," Bush said. "It's been a joy working with him. I appreciate the fact you went to neighborhoods where Republicans have never been."

Mehlman sought out the support of African-Americans in an effort to expand the party.

Speaking afterward with reporters, Martinez said he told the president in discussing the job "that I was not going to be an attack dog. And I don't intend to. And I wasn't asked to."

He promised to work for "a tone of civility as we discuss our differences and as we challenge each other with big ideas about what the future of this nation ought to be."

Martinez said Republicans would be a "respectful minority on the Hill."

Martinez and Duncan will be responsible for leading the RNC during Bush's final two years in office and throughout the presidential election cycle. Martinez noted that splitting the chairmanship in two is not new, noting that President Reagan in the 1980s selected Sen. Paul Laxalt of Nevada to be general chairman while Frank Fahrenkopf was chairman.

President Clinton initially had Sen. Christopher Dodd (news, bio, voting record) of Connecticut and Don Fowler share the Democratic Party role in the same fashion.

Martinez said he had talked to Laxalt earlier Tuesday and planned to talk to him again.

The first-term senator has been a strong supporter of the president — particularly on the issue of comprehensive immigration reform that includes a guest-worker program — and one of the more politically savvy Republican senators.

Asked how he could reunite the party on the divisive issue of immigration, Martinez acknowledged, "It's going to be tough."

Martinez is of Cuban descent. His parents put him on a plane when he was 15 and sent him to the United States. Bush noted Martinez's past, saying he "represents what I believe our party stands for. ... He worked hard, starting with little, and ended up being here" in the Senate.

Martinez served as Bush's secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 2001-03, when he resigned to run for the Senate seat left open by Democratic Sen. Bob Graham (news, bio, voting record)'s retirement.

Democrats ridiculed the appointment.

"Like dumping Donald Rumsfeld (as defense secretary) after seeing the effect of the war in Iraq on GOP electoral fortunes, the White House appointment of Mel Martinez as the chair of the RNC reflects the failure of Republicans to win in 2006," said Luis Navarro, the executive director of the Florida Democratic Party.

Martinez must be elected by the Republican National Committee, but with the president's endorsement he was not expected to be challenged.

Martinez told reporters: "I think our party has been always long on ideas, and I think (in) this election ... we became a little tired or maybe a little timid about our ideas. I think we need to go back to the boldness of the past. ... And I think if we do that, we can begin to set the table for the '08 candidates."

Mehlman, asked what he planned to do next, said, "I'm going to take a little time and think about it." He added that he did not intend to get involved with any particular GOP presidential candidate at this stage.

Copyright © 2006 The Associated Press

[JuntaJoe]

Obama launches White House bid

Sen. Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) launched a presidential campaign Tuesday that would make him the first black to occupy the White House, and immediately tried to turn his political inexperience into an asset with voters seeking change.

The freshman Illinois senator — and top contender for the Democratic nomination — said the past six years have left the country in a precarious place and he promoted himself as the standard-bearer for a new kind of politics.

"Our leaders in Washington seem incapable of working together in a practical, commonsense way," Obama said in a video posted on his Web site. "Politics has become so bitter and partisan, so gummed up by money and influence, that we can't tackle the big problems that demand solutions. And that's what we have to change first."

Obama filed paperwork forming a presidential exploratory committee that allows him to raise money and put together a campaign structure. He is expected to announce a full-fledged candidacy on Feb. 10 in Springfield, Ill., where he can tout his experience in the state legislature and tap into the legacy of hometown hero Abraham Lincoln.

Obama's soft-spoken appeal on the stump, his unique background, his opposition to the Iraq war and his fresh face set him apart in a competitive race that also is expected to include front-runner Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York.

Obama has uncommon political talents, drawing adoring crowds even among the studious voters in New Hampshire during a much-hyped visit there last month. His star has risen on the force of his personality and message of hope — helped along by celebrity endorsements from the likes of Oprah Winfrey, billionaire investor Warren Buffett and actors Matt Damon and Edward Norton.

"I certainly didn't expect to find myself in this position a year ago," said Obama, who added that as he talked to Americans about a possible presidential campaign, "I've been struck by how hungry we all are for a different kind of politics."

The 45-year-old has few accomplishments on the national stage after serving little more than two years in the Senate. But at a time when many voters say they are unhappy with the direction of the country, a lack of experience in the nation's capital may not be a liability.

"The decisions that have been made in Washington these past six years, and the problems that have been ignored, have put our country in a precarious place," Obama said.

He said people are struggling financially, dependence on foreign oil threatens the environment and national security and "we're still mired in a tragic and costly war that should have never been waged."

Clinton is expected to announce her presidential campaign within days, but her spokesman said there would be no comment on Obama's decision from the Clinton camp. Back from Iraq, she abruptly canceled a Capitol Hill news conference minutes after word of Obama's announcement, citing the unavailability of a New York congressman to participate.

Other Democrats who have announced a campaign or exploratory committee are 2004 vice presidential nominee John Edwards, former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd and Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich. Sens. John Kerry of Massachusetts and Joe Biden of Delaware and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson also are considering a run.

Obama's decision was relatively low-key after months of hype, with no speech or media appearance to accompany his online announcement. He said he will discuss a presidential campaign with people around the country before his Feb. 10 event, and he wasted no time calling key activists Tuesday.

New Hampshire lobbyist Jim Demers talked with Obama for about five minutes. "He is extremely pumped and excited that this campaign is coming together," said Demers, who accompanied Obama on his visit to the state last month.

Obama's quick rise to national prominence began with his keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention and his election to the Senate that year. He's written two best-selling autobiographies — "The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream" and "Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance."

Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, where his parents met while studying at the University of Hawaii. His father was black and from Kenya; his mother, white and from Wichita, Kan.

Obama's parents divorced when he was two and his father returned to Kenya. His mother later married an Indonesian student and the family moved to Jakarta. Obama returned to Hawaii when he was 10 to live with his maternal grandparents.

He graduated from Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was the first African-American elected editor of the Harvard Law Review. Obama settled in Chicago, where he joined a law firm, helped local churches establish job training programs and met his future wife, Michelle Robinson. They have two daughters, Malia and Sasha.

In 1996, he was elected to the Illinois state Senate, where he earned a reputation as a consensus-building Democrat who was strongly liberal on social and economic issues, backing gay rights, abortion rights, gun control, universal health care and tax breaks for the poor.

The retirement of Republican Sen. Peter Fitzgerald of Illinois in 2004 drew a raft of candidates to the Democratic primary, but Obama easily outdistanced his competitors. He was virtually assured of victory in the general election when the designated Republican candidate was forced from the race by scandal late in the election.

Obama insisted during the 2004 campaign and through his first year in the Senate that he had no intention of running for president, but by late 2006 his public statements had begun to leave open that possibility.

___

On the Net:

http://www.barackobama.com

Copyright © 2007 The Associated Press.

[s_stabeler]

so it's going to be a firts either way if the democrats win the netx presidential election, what with either a balck or a woma standing. personally, i say hilary clinton, but onyl as I dont' know if oblama has enough experiance of politics to be able to avoid the big oil companies and other special interest groups. while hilary clinton is a veteran senator.