So this is "On Message"?
Ah-nold seems pefectly happy to remain silent on budget issues, saying "voters don't care about numbers." Hello...? Didn't the number $38 billion (CA state deficit over 2 years) and $1.7 million (Issa's "I want to be governor" bucks) fuel this whole thing?

If CA voters are willing to be misled and that becomes the path to needed changes in CA, I say bring Ah-nold on. If CA voters think there is a knight coming to their rescue without dealing out painful cuts, they are deluding themselves and deserving of what they get.

Surprise, Surprise
Let's (federal) review. Bush closes energy meetings with major corporate energy interests, beats the GAO in court, loses to Judicial Review. Releases an energy policy that reads like a wish-list for big corporate energy (read oil/utilities/natural gas).

Is that creating politically fertile ground for getting an ambitious package passed? Does Sir Rove believe he can rally the base by leading the charge for big energy? He strikes me as smarter....

Whadda ya think readers? e-mail us.

Al Franken 2, FOX 0
First, the conservo-bots at FOX give Al Franken priceless media attention before his release. Then, this right-of-center network was humiliated today when:

Franken book will not be blocked

NEW YORK, Aug. 22 — A federal judge on Friday denied Fox News Channel’s request for an injunction to block humorist Al Franken’s new book, whose title mocks the Fox slogan “fair and balanced
Who's right in this case?
* 4470 responses
Al Franken
83%
Fox News
17%

U.S. DISTRICT JUDGE Denny Chin said Fox’s claim was “wholly without merit, both factually and legally.”

"The book went on sale nationally Thursday, moved up from its September rollout date because of publicity from the lawsuit. The publisher added 50,000 copies to the original run of 270,000 after the suit was filed."

Mr. Franken reports that he will now have to reconsider his attempt to trademark the term "funny".

Ouch.

A Call for Principles
So Arnorld is your guy (or someone more conservative?) what is your set of principles as CA GOP? Is it possible to constuct one? Will just anyone with any policy who can take an election be the Gov? What has become of democracy?

As Partisan as Ever
How low can you go? We seem to be finding out daily. Our democracy is in a snitty state, and its hard to tell if this is just the ugly process of millions of people trying to live together or a turning point in our democratic republic.

In politics, the weapons of last resort have become the unanimous choice at the first opportunity (See The Economist, 8.16.03 ,p.27 : Bob Graham has already mentioned impeachment for Bush; Texas and Colorado repubs accelerate the calendar by 8 years to up their representation in state legislatures - Texas democrats run to Arkansas; the culture war is waging on and it is killing us. Abortion, gays, etc are all-or-nothing issues that leave only division. The center has fallen out.

The Economist reports that the White House staff has little use for centrists - perhaps with good reason. Several national polls have the independent vote down below 10%. When 45% of the voting public is already committed, the only way you get support is to fan the fires of your political base. Get ready for some reeeeeeeeaaaally ugly politics for the next few elections. You think the can't suprise you with how low it can go? Stay tuned...

Pretend for a moment you are Ahnold, or Cruz, or etc., etc., etc.
So you just won the governorship of CA! WHOO! What will you do Ahnold/Cruz/(etc. x 132)........?

No matter who you are, Prop 13 is what it is. It limits your revenue. Other Props force your hand at spending. To top it off, you need a 2/3 majority to change the revenue/spending rules. TWO-THIRDS! That just does not happen in evenly split legilatures. It doesn't matter how many movie tickets you sold. It does not matter who you are - CA is going to be a mess for a while.

As long as the $38 billion deficit (over 2 budget years) is the target for candidates, they are all f****d, as Ozzie put it. Espcially if you take Ahnold's approach - blathering about the wonder of CA and the politicians who failed the people. He would cut taxes of all sorts, apparently. That may be great for the long-term, but short-term that pushes deficits up. Warren Buffet already said PROP 13 would have to go, but Ahnold saw the political light and quickly disagreed. No wonder Karl Rove wishes Davis could stay.....

Its like Iraq, you take it........YOU own it.

(You really want it?)

Time for Leadership
It's great to land on that carrier with a "Mission Accomplished" banner and a cowboy-flightsuit strut to announce to the surprise of nobody (except those in the Arab world who trusted Al-Jazeera) that the mightiest force in the world had toppled a tyrant. Now you own it, cowboy. What will you do with it? That's what the world has wondered since the mother of all photo-ops (much praised here at Fed.Rev.).

It appears the terrorists (whether in concert with Saddam or not) understood the international political ramifications of the US occupation better than Bush/Rummy and gang did. They are tyrants - as Bush said - so why did he underestimate the willingness of terrorists/Saddam to employ a slow "scorched-earth" policy where they sacrifice their own people and Iraq's economy to inflict damage on us. That's not out of character for a tyrant, right? Terror is the ultimate Machiavellian tactic, seeing any means as justified in its aims. Understanding your enemy is at the heart of effective planning for war - which is far more than armies meeting on the battlefield, as cowboy Bush is being painfully instructed.

Now Bush has to simply endure the consequences of his choices - especially since he argued so hard for them - not to mention the questions in some others minds about the veracity of his information and intentions. He will have to try to be "steely" and "presidential" to appear to rise above. He myopically boxed himself in by not getting UN help with security/reconstruction soon after the downfall of the regime. Now to ask would hurt his tender ego politically. Now the private charity groups are scared of the lack of security so the hunger and resentment grows worse, breeding more terror sympathizers in Iraqi streets.

More troops at this point are just more targets if they are American. No change means more of the same. W. made his bed - he can lie in it.

okay, I'll say it, I'M A GEEK
I was watching a recently aired episode of the old Battlestar Galactica. I say the "old" show because there's a new one on the way -- a "reimagined" version. I hope they've reimagined the hokey "centons" and "yahrens" and the silly, simplistic storylines of some of the episodes, but I hope they remember the basic conservative message of its producers (similar conservative messages turned up in Don Bellisario's Magnum, P.I. a few years later). The original Battlestar Galactica began with the annihilation of the 12 colonies of man after the peacefreaks signed a treaty with the untrustworthy Cylons. In 1978, this was a good lesson for the nuclear freeze pansies who never saw the evil in the Soviet Union and figured we could destroy all our weapons, plant flowers and live happily ever after. Meanwhile, the Soviets were running roughshod over central Asia, eastern Europe and central America.

In the show, reformed communist Lew Ayers played the President who scrawled his name on the hopeless peace treaty. His last words on screen, "How could I have been so terribly wrong?"

So, I'm watching this later episode called "Experiment in Terra". Following my shock at hearing John DeLancie's voice from underneath a motorcycle helmet (yep, bad props), we were treated with a story about war mongers versus the give peace a chance crowd. Turned out, the war mongers were the good guys, they were "Nationalists", and Captain Apollo gave a speech in which he instructed the simpletons by saying "We found out the hard way that the opposite of war is not peace, but very often slavery. And strength, strength alone can support freedom." Well, it would be shocking for any major television show to echo that sentiment. And two years later, President Reagan made that statement policy.

Yes, I'm a geek, and I think I've blogged about this episode before. But watching it again, I was glad that my memory of this 25 year old morality play was correct, and that the show was even more to the point than I thought. It was Chamberlain and Churchill, but without the snappy dialogue. And a space shield generated by the Galactica destroyed ICBMs before they could reach their target. Maybe "Star Wars" was the wrong title for the Strategic Defense Initiative.

Here's hoping that the reimagined Battlestar Galactica, where Starbuck and Boomer are women, gets the basic themes right while remaking a series about a people who relied on strength to secure peace, worshipped a higher power, fought the devil and were always remembering to keep faith. And let's hope they get stronger writers to execute the stories (and they may have that in Ronald D. Moore, formerly of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine).

BUSH ADOPTS INTERNET STRATEGY
Possibly with admiration for the success of Howard Dean's internet campaign, the Bush-Cheney campaign is enlisting the help of bloggers. FederalReview.com received an e-mail announcing the relaunch of the Bush camp's website, offering goodies to bloggers and stroking their egos:

Bloggers are helping to shape today’s political discourse and how the Internet is used in political campaigns. As an important voice among online activists we wanted you to be one of the first to know about the launch of the Bush-Cheney ’04 Web site at www.GeorgeWBush.com.

At 7am on Tuesday, August 19, the redesigned GeorgeWBush.com will launch with innovative new features and tools that will enable you to become a part of this campaign.

The offerings range from buttons and banners to a news feed. Good idea. With all the talk about the importance of the internet in the 2000 election, it looks like 2004 will be the election where only candidates with strong internet presence will matter. While most bloggers are html savvy, Bush-Cheney would help their cause by including block and copy code for adding buttons and links, but, alas, they just provide the pictures.

NOT AN ENDORSEMENT
I'm not taking sides (yet) on the California gubernatorial race. Well, I'm taking the Republican side but I don't know which one yet. Regardless, a reader sent us this nice bit of art.



Good work. I'd print the artist's name, but, as usual, will withhold the name unless authorized. Thanks to the artist.