At 60 years old, President Bush is healthier than a lot of men half his age. No blood-pressure medication, no cholesterol medication, 16.8% body fat and all cardio-pulmonary systems firing on all cylanders.

"Take THAT Hippy! Fit as a fiddle and you got me for two and a half MORE YEARS!"

Posted by: Gary at 11:30 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 63 words, total size 1 kb.

That's about how you could describe the waning strength of the old-time Democrat political "machine" these days. The WaPo reports on all the internal difficulties the party of Reid, Pelosi, Dean and Murtha are having in trying to ensure that they get out the vote this fall.

There's finger-pointing and sniping all around as none of the organizations - the DNC, the DCCC and the DSCC - can find unity in their approach to campaigning:

Democrats consider the 2006 elections their best chance in a decade to recapture the House, with widespread unease over Iraq and with Republicans lagging in polls. Rep. Charles B. Rangel (N.Y.), who would become chairman of the Ways and Means Committee if Democrats picked up the 15 seats needed to regain the majority, said in an interview yesterday that he will quit Congress if the party does not capitalize on an unparalleled opportunity.

Democrats' organizing has been slowed by a philosophical dispute between Dean, who argues that the party needs to rebuild its long-term infrastructure nationwide while trying to win back the House and Senate, and congressional Democrats, who want to use party resources for an all-out push this fall.

Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.), chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, is less concerned about the Dean approach than House leaders are. "We are obviously concerned," a senior Senate Democratic strategist said, but Schumer moved ahead two months ago with a plan to fortify get-out-the-vote operations in 15 states, including targeting disgruntled Republicans. Democrats sympathetic to Dean said Emanuel and Pelosi are trying to blame the DNC chief in case they do not win back the House.

"Frankly, I like our chances in States like Wyoming and Mississippi."

But there's good reason for Democrats to be concerned because the GOP "machine" - after years of ineffectiveness - has improved itself every election cycle since 2000.

Republicans are far more united in their approach, building on what both sides said worked well in 2002 and 2004. They are routing all turnout efforts through the Republican National Committee, which had $45 million in the bank -- four times as much as the DNC -- as of June 30.

The RNC runs a strategy known in political circles as the 72-hour program. It focuses on using phone calls, polling data and personal visits to identify would-be GOP voters and their top issues early in the cycle. The information is then fed into a database, allowing party leaders to flood them with pro-Republican messages through e-mail, regular mail and local volunteers. On Election Day, they receive a phone call or a visit to remind them to vote.

A GOP strategist involved in the effort said the RNC did a post-election review of every person it contacted, looking at how many times they were reached, which issues were discussed and whether they voted. This information was supplied to about 30 targeted states earlier this year, and RNC officials track the states to see whether they are reaching goals for adding new names and contacting old ones.

Both parties credit this program with putting President Bush over the top in Ohio in 2004 by exceeding GOP turnout projections in key areas.

For all their talk about this November being such a huge opportunity, the current state of the Democrat party isn't helping its chances to take advantage of it. John Hinderaker at Powerline puts it this way: "It's hard to believe that such a momentous election could turn on organizational incompetence on the part of the Democrats, but, hey--we can always hope."

Posted by: Gary at 09:45 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 686 words, total size 5 kb.

Scarlett Johansson, the girl with the golden globes, has made the top of the list for Bestest Chest.

The rising young actress, who recently announced that she has named her lovely jomblies, has become a fast favorite here at the Ex-Donkey Blog. I would actually be willing to sit through "The Island" again just to see all those scenes of her bursting out of her costumes.

h/t: AgentBedHead

Posted by: Gary at 04:20 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 78 words, total size 1 kb.

How freakin' sweet it was to have the NY Mets lay a hurtin' on the Braves this past weekend to the tune of a series sweep at Turner Field - pushing those chumps back FIFTEEN games out of first. (queue Chris "Mad Dog" Russo voice: "Oh...Baby!)

The Bravos almost had a chance in the bottom of the ninth Sunday with newly-acquired Manny "eyeball" Aybar on first with one out and Marcus Giles wiffing strike three as Paul Lo Duca throws Aybar out stealing second. SMACK!!

The best take on that last play comes from the guys at Amazin' Avenue:

"The coup-de-grace, the strike 'em out throw 'em out to end the game on Sunday, couldn't have left Booby Cox any more humiliated than if he had been personally de-pantsed on the pitcher's mound by Mr. Met himself, forced to bend over, and been given an exaggerated, rodeo-style, hat-waving dry hump while a re-enactment of Sherman's March took place in center field."

It's a new era boys. Kudos to Omar Minaya for putting together such a fantastic team. Is it October yet?

Posted by: Gary at 03:00 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 192 words, total size 1 kb.

I almost hesitate to put this post under the category of "music", but those of us who are...ahem...old enough to remember can look back fondly on that fateful day in 1981 when the world of media completely changed.

Frankly, for me, MTV died before it even hit its 10th birthday. About the time I got out of college, I recall turning it on and noticing a distinct change in MTV. Soon it was filled with MTV news, reality shows and rap (thank you sooooo much, Viacom). The "M" in "MTV" that originally stood for "music" now can be substituted with "mind-numbing" or "moronic". And they've done their very best to wear their politic leanings on their sleeves with whole "Rock The Vote/Vote Or Die" crap. No thanks.

Click.

Pretty much everybody knows that the very first video the network aired was "Video Killed The Radio Star" by The Buggles. Impress you friends today with the knowledge of what the second video shown was: Pat Benetar's "You Better Run".

Posted by: Gary at 02:10 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 176 words, total size 1 kb.

MA Sen. John "I was almost President before I wasn't" Kerry headed to Iowa to shore up early support for his expected 2008 Presidential bid.

Unfortunately for Kerry he was only able to round up enough senior citizens for a rousing game of Mahjong.

And the reason most of them look a little pissed off is that they didn't get the buffet lunch they were promised.

Posted by: Gary at 01:38 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 82 words, total size 1 kb.

For some time now, I've been getting quite a bit of comment spam. It started out small - a handful here, maybe a dozen or so there - and it was just something that I dealt with as a minor inconvenience.

But lately, the spambots have become intolerable. For those of you not familiar with comment spam (you're lucky), this is when advertisers send spambots out to post hyperlinks onto websites, usually through commenting systems and sometimes through trackbacks. The object is to generate a higher google rank by increasing the number of links back to their site.

The big ones these days are for online gaming and mail-order boner pills. I refuse to let this site be used by these freaking parasites. This past weekend I got nearly four hundred of them and I had to go and delete them all (a frustratingly tedious process).

Movable Type seems to be particularly vulnerable to comment spam, though trackbacks have not really been a problem. The administrator of the MuNu community server is close to a fix but in the meantime I have made the decision to turn off the comments function until I have at least an ETA for that to become reality.

To those who have left comments in the past - particularly the frequent flyers - I apologize but I have too little time on my hands to deal with this crap.

I'll post updates as to the status of the fix, but in the meantime I ask you to bear with me. I encourage you to share your thoughts via e-mail (replace **AT** with @) in the alternative. Thanks.

Posted by: Gary at 11:00 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 278 words, total size 2 kb.

This week's RINO carnival hosted by evolution:the next step.

Posted by: Gary at 07:00 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 13 words, total size 1 kb.

That's the number of comment spams I come home to after a weekend away. This is beyond ridiculous. I've made the decision to shut off comments for the time being. I just can't deal with this shit anymore.

I need sleep.

Posted by: Gary at 09:38 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 43 words, total size 1 kb.

Soon to be released on DVD. Special features include:

Deleted scenes from when Snow Miser allowed his brother Heat Miser to take over the North Pole for a day!

"Oh, some like it hot. But I like it REALLY hot!"

Posted by: Gary at 04:10 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 56 words, total size 1 kb.

1 Already have this DVD pre-ordered.

Posted by: Skye at July 27, 2006 09:31 PM (VURPg)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

Honestly, if you were going to steal someone's identity, wouldn't you pick someone with a personality?

Posted by: Gary at 11:02 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 28 words, total size 1 kb.

Rep. John "Cut and Run" Murtha will be out stumping for 41 Congressional Democrats this fall!

Unfortunately, he's probably going to focus on districts where he'll be preaching to the choir. But if there are any swing districts on the list this is awesome news.

But some Democrats, particularly centrist lawmakers who support [Democratic Minority Whip Steny] Hoyer, question whether Murtha can be helpful in many races that their party needs to win if they are to capture control of the House.

“I’m sure Mr. Murtha is going to be traveling extensively, but I bet you he won’t be going to Blue Dog districts,” one lawmaker said, referring to members of the caucus of centrist Democrats from the South. “I can’t imagine that he will be very welcome in many Blue Dog districts.”

The lawmaker said that while Murtha has a centrist record on many issues, voters would be most aware of his strong position against the war, which could alienate swing voters in states Bush won. The lawmaker noted that Democrats need to capture districts in those so-called red states.

A centrist Democratic candidate who requested anonymity to protect his relationships with Murtha allies said he turned down an offer for Murtha to come to his district.

Many CT Democrats (the foaming-at-the-mouth, Bush-hating variety) will be thrilled, no doubt. But the rest of us (especially Independents) will say "Hey, isn't that the goofball who proposed a full troop withdrawal and then voted against his own proposal?"

The article in The Hill also speculates that he has another reason for being so high-profile:

Murtha may be calculating that he needs to do more to help candidates if he is to counter HoyerÂ’s prolific fundraising for Democrats over years. Hoyer has given $770,000 to Democratic candidates this election cycle, more than any other lawmaker, his aides say. He has also raised $2 million for candidates this cycle, they add.

If Democrats win the House in November, freshmen could determine who becomes majority leader. One Democratic candidate who said Murtha offered to come into his district said the senior Pennsylvanian is doing “spadework for his run to majority leader.”

“Why else would he be wanting to come into districts like mine?” the candidate said, noting that President Bush carried it by more than 10 points in 2000 and 2004.

Posted by: Gary at 09:40 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 458 words, total size 3 kb.

A new CBS/NYT Poll (ahem) finds six in ten respondents believe that foreign leaders do not respect President Bush.

To be honest, you can probably count me among them. And that's a good thing.

Why, you ask? Because it means he's looking out for our interests, not theirs. And that's one of the many reasons I voted for him.

Honestly, what real benefit does the U.S. obtain from having it's President respected by foreign leaders? A boost to our national self-esteem? Whoop-de-do. Here's a news flash: most of the world hates us regardless of who is our President. It's derived from envy. The difference nowadays is that the expression of that hatred is more visible.

The U.S. is damned whatever it does. So allow me to quote Markos Moulitsas Zuniga: "Screw them."

Posted by: Gary at 08:52 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 136 words, total size 1 kb.

How can you go wrong with a post that identifies Kos as Saruman? Check out Matt Maynard's insightful answer to a question posed by Hugh Hewitt.

Posted by: Gary at 04:15 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 34 words, total size 1 kb.

I see a cover-up here:

A 52-year-old man who complained that he felt sick after riding a roller coaster at Busch Gardens died about two hours later in a hospital, park officials said Tuesday.

BUSH LIED!!! BUSH LIED!!!

Posted by: Gary at 04:05 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 73 words, total size 1 kb.

Have you ever seen sunglasses that big before (that weren't on Elton John's face, that is)?

Wonder how they'd feel on my face.

Posted by: Gary at 01:37 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 35 words, total size 1 kb.

1 Gary, yfbil just said that you are a pig! A funny pig, but a PIG nonetheless!

Posted by: Georgia Girl at July 26, 2006 09:13 PM (EvFfn)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

OK, new poll time. Pick the winner of the August 8th CT Democrat Senate Primary - Joe Lieberman or Ned Lamont. Go vote in the sidebar.

I'll leave it open through the end of the day on August 7th.

As for the McCain watch poll, the numbers were pretty similar to the last one with the major difference being that the "I Would Rather Vote Democrat Than See McCain Become President" category increasing from 4.7% to 13.3%.

Posted by: Gary at 11:21 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 83 words, total size 1 kb.

Mother Sheehan spotted with her butt parked outside the Iraqi embassy yesterday:

"Diet starts Monday!"

If Cindy the Moonbat keeps this "fasting" up she's going to look like Chris Farley as "Cindy, the Gap Girl".

h/t: Michelle Malkin

Posted by: Gary at 09:30 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 54 words, total size 1 kb.

"And we Democrats must remain united, and...ahem...Ifyay Ehay OsesLay, e'sHay Onyay IsHay Ownyay...et itGay?"

Posted by: Gary at 03:53 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 18 words, total size 1 kb.

According to The Hill.

Go be completely shallow and check out the list, which is made up mostly of staffers. And there's definitely some major babe-itute among the ladies.

Posted by: Gary at 02:15 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 43 words, total size 1 kb.