[Cross Posted at Dispassionate Liberal and Big Orange.]

Idiots like this drive me batshit crazy.  That's why I'm a Blogger For Weirauch.

Despite the Toledo Blade focusing on her eating habits, Democrat Robin Weirauch is talking about real issues, "things like the war in Iraq, the economy, and health care" that effect all of us.  I guess the media fixation on the inane (candidate cat fights and what does a vegetarian do on the rubber-chicken circuit) begins locally, long before graduating to the national megaphones.

My first question was, "Is she the real deal?"

The answer I got was a resounding, "Yes."   Robin Weirauch, running for the Fifth Congressional District in Ohio is the real deal, someone who is as sick of the rubber-stamp, Bush enabling Congress as the rest of us.

She knows it's time to end, not extend the war in Iraq and start rebuilding our own infrastructure and boost our first defenders instead of pouring more money into the bottomless pit in Baghdad.   From listening to her, she believes, as we all know, that real leaders in Congress can end this war.   I get the impression that the current leadership in Congress won't get a free ride from her like so many Blue Dogs from red districts.

And not some trite jab at his hair or the usual confusion about how a guy can live the Horatio Alger Rags-to-Riches story and still give a damn about the poor.

Red Sonya, comes right out and calls John Edwards' policies "socialist."

She notes with interest that the campaign signed on two high-profile anti-WalMart activist, one another former Deaniac and Joe Trippi buddy, Paul Blank, as well as Wake Up WalMart's chief spokesperson, Chris Kofinis.  Sonya then offers the insightful analysis that when a candidate for president speaks before 600 steelworkers, all union activists in Northeastern Ohio -- an area that still hasn't recovered from the collapse of the steel manufacturing industry in the late 70's and early 80's -- and suggests that combining environmentally responsible projects with organized labor to create millions of jobs: he must be some kinda commie.

Oh damn!  My bad.  She is indeed a lightweight political neo-con-poop.

If you can stop laughing long enough to read to the end of her in-depth foray into political theory, you'll see she not only couldn't resist the obligatory hair, um ... cut; but also takes a swipe at Elizabeth Edwards' wardrobe.

Honestly, how do people like this gain a place in our public discourse?  More to the point -- who gave this woman a gig as a radio talk show host?

In a time when our President is identified merely by one initial, "W," and the spine of the congressional Democratic leadership cannot be identified at all, I yearn for the days when 3-initial Democrats, FDR, JFK, even LBJ and the promise of RFK were something quite different than the breed in attendance today.

Democrats with Balls.

I, like so many on the left -- some far left, others only moderately so -- and even those wandering in the middle cannot express their reaction to the "Capitulation Bill" without using the word, "disappointment."  Even that word hardly seems to capture the proper emotion.

Let me be clear on one thing.  Every single Democratic presidential candidate condemns the Bush Administration for its disastrous fiscal, domestic and foreign policies.  Every single one knows Bush is a joke when he pretends to be the least bit competent on anything whatsoever.  They understand that "compassionate conservativism" is a fraud.  They all realize that the next president, who will undoubtedly be a Democratic president, faces a monumental task rehabilitating our nation's reputation in the world and economic and social rifts at home.

Nobody gets a cookie for being the "most" unlike Bush.  Everybody will do their best to correct the disastrous course of our ship of state.

All of them.

Cross-Posted

Barack Obama is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life.

WARNING: If you cannot take a critical view of Senator Obama, you'd best move along.

The Washington Post's story today, Obama Taps Two Worlds To Fill 2008 War Chest paints a picture of politics-as-usual from a politician holding himself out to be something quite the opposite.

The campaign received $50,566 from 49 lobbyists, but aides flagged the checks during initial screening and said they will return the money. Still, for hosting events and otherwise raising money, the Obama fundraising team is relying on partners in lobbying firms who are not registered for specific clients, former lobbyists who recently dropped clients and spouses of lobbyists. The strategy allows Obama's team to reach the wealthy clients of lobbying firms while technically complying with his pledge.

This isn't the first time I've come across a story that tells us that Obama is doing a reach around to abide by his stated policy to refuse any more of the PAC or lobbyist money he collected for his senate runs, yet finding a way to access the donations of the wealthy, and give them access too.  It seems that actively soliciting the spouses of lobbyists fits within his rules.

Cross-Posted, and KOS-Posted

It didn't take long for three of the most influential liberal blogs to call for the impeachment of Alberto Gonzales after the New York Times advised President Bush to (finally) dismiss the worst Attorney General since Ed Meese.  (And to be fair, Gonzo is way worse than Meese ever was.)

The Times article lays out the case against the Attorney General in no uncertain terms.  Gonzales is a disgrace.  The politically motivated US Attorney firings, the FBI illegally spying on Americans, giving the administration legal cover to engage in "kidnapping, secret detentions, abuse and torture," trashing the authority of the courts and the clearly worded meaning of laws, and undermining the electoral process itself.  He is indeed,"consigliere to Mr. Bush's imperial presidency."

MyDD's Jonathan Singer actually beat the Times to the punch, hoping impeachment hearings will force Gonzales' resignation while noting that the Senate Judiciary Committee's Ranking Member, Arlen Spector (R-PA) has had enough of the nation's top law enforcement official acting like he got his law degree out of a box of Cracker Jack.

"One day, there will be a new attorney general, maybe sooner rather than later"

Pay no attention to the following headline or the inexplicable conclusion in the lede graph stating Giuliani making strongest overall showing in the three major swing states.

The NEWS is, in a head-to-head match up against the former NY Mayor, John Edwards beats the GOP's frontrunning candidate by a larger margin than any other Democratic Party hopeful.

Polls say Giuliani does well in Ohio, other swing states: "In Ohio, the Republican Giuliani and Democratic New York Sen. Hillary Clinton are in a virtual tie, 44 percent for Clinton and 43 percent for Giuliani in the latest Quinnipiac University Poll. But Giuliani leads Clinton in both Pennsylvania and Florida.

With some 20 months to go before election day, the Ohio race is a virtual toss-up among the presumed frontrunners. Former North Carolina Democratic Sen. John Edwards narrowly edges Giuliani, 45 percent to 42 percent, while Giuliani leads Illinois Democratic Sen. Barack Obama, 44 percent to 40 percent."