We are gonna loose.

OK I will expand due to my respect for MyDD's "no one line diaries policy."

Basically, the Dems in DC don't want to make hay out of things that will satisfy the base (ie. Censure, etc.) because this will only paint local candidates as crazy lefties.

Apparently, lots of the local candidates don't want the DC dems to do crazy lefty things because they fear being painted as crazy lefties and then they will loose.

However, they are also concerned about turnout. And you can't get turnout without getting the base fired up. And you can't get the base fired up without throwing them some nice red meat once in a while.

Sounds like a catch 22. Right?

Wrong. Because no matter what any DC or local Dem does, the Repugnican counterpart will in fact call them a crazy lefty Michael Moore lover.

So, by not gathering together in DC for things that are important to the base, like Republicans do. They will drastically affect their turnout, which in turn will help them loose the election.

So it shouldn't be news to anyone's eyes 'round here, but we have our 341st failure of Republican leadership, Medicare Part D a.k.a. "How to make Health Care Costs Skyrocket and blame it on the Democrats <- (Warning Possible Lieberman attack point).

Republicans whip some Democrats to vote for a plan to benefit only the Health Care Industry at the cost of usurping our Senrior citizens, the "Greatest Generation," of their vital life sustaining chemicals.

Glibbly, they smile, already co-opting the media into muddying up Democrats with the Abramoff rag, dusting off their shoulders in the process.

Anyway, I digress. So it seems that every story you hear that is negative about Medicare Part D, is followed by commentary by none other than Scotti Doo's Broski. Commentary which always concludes with something to the effect that "Medicare is filling 1 million prescriptions daily." (Cue the Canned Applause) YEAY! whistle

So how does 1 million prescriptions fare in today's Medicare? Does it fulfill the demand? Or is it like Oil, where a handful of people seem to have their own version of "supply and demand."

(Hache Tchip to Xpatriated Texan for the research.)

CNN is calling it:

New Jersey Gov.-elect Jon Corzine will name Rep. Robert Menendez, chairman of the Democratic Caucus, as his successor in the U.S. Senate, multiple New Jersey Democratic sources told CNN Wednesday.

Menendez will serve the remaining year of Corzine's Senate term in 2006 while launching his own campaign for a full six-year term, the sources said.

Menendez was chosen over a handful of other Democrats being considered for the appointment, including Rep. Robert Andrews and Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., the sources said.

"I think it is a good move," said one Democratic source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "He has the statewide infrastructure in place. He has got the money, the fire in the belly -- and he will win."

A Corzine spokeswoman, Ivette Mendez, described any discussion of the appointment as "speculative" and noted that "your sources do not speak for Jon Corzine."

A Menendez spokesman refused comment.

NPR had perhaps one of the finest more decent analyses of the Bullshit Speech (part 1 of 3) which has been plastered all over the fuckin' airwaves since it aired.  The Weekly Standard's Reuel Marc Gerecht, and The New Yorker's George Packer faced off with Robert Segel playing the part of moderator. Ok faceoff is not a good description for these NPR segments that are supposed to parrot similar things that would happen on Cable news, but you get the drift.

One of the highlights included an agreement of both Gerecht and Packer on this idea of rather large disparities in the number of Iraqi troops. This number has been historically connected to more caveats than the WMDs Iraq was stockpiling during the last decade.

Rough Transcript:

Packer: Well the number 120 battalions, I think the president used the figure, 212,000 troops. The problem is that number, was given quite a while ago by Sec. Rumsfeld and back then it was obviously an inflated number... Now we are back up to that. I don't if that is the number or not. The problem is they have lost credibility in those numbers... IOW Earlier numbers were just fantasies, they were numbers thrown out by Paul Bremer and Don Rumsfeld... in order to convince the public that the Iraqi forces were coming on line very quickly. Here we are 2.5 years later, we reach the numbers again, or probably for the first time. They may very well be credible and accurate. The problem is, you can't cry success so many times ... and have the public believe you.

Reuel:  I agree with most of that... I think Sec. Rumsfeld and CENTCOM... has done everybody a disservice by floating numbers that have no basis in reality... by this time it seems almost dishonest.

Bob Segel then goes on to hope for a 15% bounce in the Iraq favorability ratings due to this speech. Laughable point on its face, it would have to be a bitch of a speech to do that. Although the wall to wall coverage (as if the speech was Bush's Gettysburg address) may very well make that number an attainable goal.

But the numbers. What are the numbers?

Sunday talkers tried to spin last week's election results into some sort of ominous sign for George Bush and House Republicans come 2006. Some of the Sunday talkers went so far as to say that the Corzine campaign focused on linking Doug Forrester to George Bush (citing this ad). On the surface, and in the beltway, there may very well be some sort of "Bush effect" to the Republican losses in VA, NJ, and CA. While I can't speak for the other states, I can speak for NJ. The NJ campaign despite Doug Forrester's fiercest attempts to the contrary, focused on issues relevant to New Jerseyans. After all, where in the Bush agenda lie property taxes, corruption, and affordable cost of living? Ignoring the obvious joke that can come of this question, the beltway talkers missed the fact that Forrester had never achieved the magical 50% barrier in the polls. As a candidate, he waffled on issue after issue, his tax plan was pie-in-the-sky, promises without substance abounded, in short... Doug Forrester didn't loose because of George Bush, Doug Forrester lost because of Doug Forrester.

For the masochists who are not content with 5 word headlines. Enjoy reading the thousands of words I amassed to describe why Doug Forrester's dismal view of New Jersey's affinity for business is in a word...

WRONG

Debate available online at WBGO.org and on the radio in tri-state metropolitan area at Jazz 88.3 FM

It begins at 8 p.m.

A good rundown of Forrester's lies thus far below the fold...

It begins at 8 p.m. The panelists will be from the radio station --news director Doug Doyle, afternoon anchor Andrew Meyer and Statehouse reporter Eugene Sonn.

It is also available live online at WBGO.org.


(hat tip to the Trail Mix)

Wonder what Forrester will flip flop on tonight?  Last time he flip flopped on Stem Cells.  

Prediction:  Tonight he embraces Sam Alito as Supreme Court nominee... without actually embracing him by name.