Also posted at my blog.

I'm writing this in response to Kos's latest blog post about Geraldine Ferraro's continued bid to become the Phil Gramm of Team Hillary.

Dear Geraldine: Shut up already.  

Note to Senator McCain: If you want to win an election, don't ever, EVER say "I would rather lose a political campaign." Specifically, don't say this, especially in relation to Iraq:

This is a clear choice that the American people have. I had the courage and the judgment to say I would rather lose a political campaign than lose a war. It seems to me that Obama would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign.

Crossposted to my humble blog.

I didn't watch the debate last night and it does not sound like I missed much.  Anyway, even though I missed it, I thought you could use some help.  Here is a list of things voters don't care about.  You might find it helpful in planning your next debate:

All the wingnutospheric fawning over Yosemite Mitt reminds me of junior high school girls fawning over KEWL! HAWT! SEXAY! ninth-grade boys.  The boys in question may be crappy students who don't do much except fill space on the school baseball team.  But somehow, they've managed to convince others of their kewlness and budding BMOC potential.  They're the kinds of guys that make you look back decades later and say, "EW!  What was I thinking?  He was really gross!"

Cross-posted at my blog.

The following comes from Newsbusters.org, a right-wing site dedicated to "exposing and combating liberal media bias."  And when they're not doing that, they're searching for ritual Satanic cults, alligators in the New York City sewers, and WMDs in Iraq.  

Also posted at my blog.

Amidst the discussion of Geneva Conventions, waterboarding, Gitmo, and whether 'Merica really should be the "good guy" on the world stage, there's one scenario none of the torture defenders and faux patriots want to consider.

Suppose an innocent person ends up in Gitmo?  

Modified from my blog.

American progressives flinch at the words "centrism" and "centrist."  Seriously, who can blame them?  Centrism conjures up images of Liberdems displaying their naked butt cheeks to Fox News "analysts," screaming "THANK YOU SIR MAY I HAVE ANOTHER?!?"  Centrism is generally agreed to be a lousy strategy, unless you're one of those lame-ass consultants paid according to how many elections you lose for the Democratic party.  

But is it really?  Does "centrist" have to be synonymous with "right-wing Bush brown-noser"?  Is centrism really the problem?  Or is the definition of centrism the problem?  Does "Blue Dog" absolutely have to equal "Bush Dog"?

I don't believe so.  

Adapted somewhat from my blog.

Rudy Giuliani is desperate.  That's the only explanation I have for why he'd take out a ad lambasting Hillary Clinton over a MoveOn ad.  This is an obvious diversionary tactic.  Rudy knows that he's not exactly Mr. Popularity with NYC's firefighters and cops.  He knows this because a lot of them turned their backs to him when he was reading the names of the dead on 9/11.

Meanwhile, perhaps he could explain why he's acting all chummy with wingnuts who keep predicting more terrorist attacks.  

Cross-posted to my blog.

Today's nugget of comedy gold is brought to you by Stephen Sabludowsky of the Bayou Buzz in Louisiana.  Somewhere, in their cozy home offices, the superstars of the wingnutosphere must be quaking, as they contemplate this upstart from the Deep South (home of Bubba, damn it!) and imagine how their rhetorical skills and laundry lists of talking points can possibly can possibly top an article titled...drum roll please...Feingold's Iraq Censorship Resolution Is Bad Policy.  

Cross-posted over at my blog.

In 1994, the American Psychiatric Association published the fourth edition of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Good little book editor that I am, I remember when at least two psychology books I was working on had to get a big do-over because of DSM-IV.  Boy, was that fun.  Especially changing the index.

Hopefully, when the APA gets around to the DSM-V, some new mental disorders will be added.  I'd like to suggest one for consideration: McCain's Disease.  

(This is also at my blog, albiet in less detail.)

Well, it looks like socialism, the welfare state, socialized medicine, and all those things righties have been warning you about are already here in America.  In fact, they're right on Long Island, where the members of assorted county boards receive free health benefits for life--even though they're part timers who in some cases work one or two days a month.

Can you say "socialism for the rich"?  I knew you could!

Cross-posted at my blog.

I know; I can't think of Santorum as an auteur, either.  Anyway, Li'l Ricky is yet another ex-politician who will. not. go. away.  Not only is he blathering on Fox News and leading a think tank program on "America's enemies," he's going into movies.  

Cross-posted at my blog.

Dear President Bush,

I hope you live a long, long time. You deserve it. I hope you manage to outlive even your vice president--and I don't mean "outlive him until 2008."

I'm aware that you are obsessed with having a legacy. Don't worry, Mr. President. You will have a legacy. And I hope you live for another 40-50 years, just so you can see what that legacy is.

Cross-posted at my blog.

The funniest thing about the fallout from Coulter's blathering is the hand-wringing and moaning that followed it from the right wing.  Yes, the Reich Wing is shocked, shocked, that their favorite pundit would use a homophobic slur during a lecture.  They were willing to let her get away with calling Middle Easterners "ragheads" at last year's CPAC gathering.  And years before, they happily basked in her radioactive presence as she suggested that John Walker Lindh be killed "in order to physically intimidate liberals, by making them realize that they can be killed, too."  

But now, things have changed.  The left wing is now--help!--laughing.  At their favorite pinup.  At a squirming Mitt Romney, who now has to denounce the same person he happily introduced to CPAC's eager audience.  At dismayed right-wing bloggers, who're signing petitions telling CPAC not to invite Crazy Annie anymore.  Because now the avatar of today's conservative movement has made herself a laughingstock--and that is why they want to distance themselves from her.

I'm sure the armchair soldiers are feeling all warm and patriotic after a day or so of frothing over a mangled joke, told by a senator who doesn't have much of a future in comedy.  But facts are facts, and actions speak as loudly as words...especially when it comes to which politicians really support the troops.

Cross-posted this at a silly blog.

When I was a little girl, watching cartoon reruns in the early morning hours before school, Bugs Bunny was my hero.  Saturday morning was the time for "Yogi Bear's Laffalympics" and "Scooby-Doo" spinoffs, but Yogi and Scooby could never match Bugs for cleverness and cool.  

Cross posted to my silly little blog

I can't take credit for the term "Coulter Republican."  However, the term deserves to replace "Goldwater Republican" or "Reagan Republican" in the political lexicon.  It represents a form of conservatism that has nothing to do with all those things Goldwater believed in--you know, restraint, small government, balanced budgets, and the like.  Those Republicans are nearly gone.  The Coulter Republicans are those who follow a set of talking points and stick to it.  They never met a straw man they didn't like and never met a dissenting voice undeserving of their contempt.  

Cross posted at my silly little blog.

When coming up with talking points, keep them clear, simple, and to the point.  Frank Luntz could tell you that.  For all the thinking, brainstorming, and focus-grouping, it's pretty easy to come up with a slogan to get behind.  In fact, here's a perfect slogan:

Democrats will get the job done.

That's it.  Nothing fancy.  No gimmicks.  No bullshit.