Daily Loaf

Late last week the group Voters For Peace targeted their followers to take the first three days of this working week to call the White House to oppose sending more troops to Afghanistan, because “there is still time for the American people to influence this decision!”

Not anymore.

Yesterday White House officials told members of the Washington press corps that they would send between 25,000 to 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, though as the NY Times reports, the final number remained in flux.

If the 30,000 troop increase is accurate, it would be less than the recommendation by the commander in the field there, General Stanley McChrystal.  However, there are reports that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will lean on NATO countries to pick up that additional 10,000 troop slack when meeting with foreign ministers in Brussels next week.

Good luck with that, Madam Secretary.

Liberal Democrats in Congress aren’t happy about the escalation.  This was Ohio Representative Dennis Kucinich on Hardball last night with Chris Matthews.

Meanwhile, USA Today reports that public approval of the President’s handling of the war in Afghanistan has “plummeted”.

The poll, conducted with the Gallup organization, shows 55% disapprove of his handling on the issue, with just 35% approving.  That’s a reversal of his 56% approval rating on the topic just four months ago.

The American public apparently is incredibly divided on the effort overall in Afghanistan, according to a CNN poll released yesterday, that actually showed a majority against the war, 52% to 45%.

The President’s deliberate assessment of which way to go in Afghanistan has been subject to ridicule, but also to praise. In the Washington Post Obama’s handling of the Afghanistan situation is being called “a spectacle of deliberation unlike anything seen in the White House in recent memory.”

And Britain’s Defense Secretary is also blasting Obama for his deliberate pace.

Critics have been calling this Obama’s Vietnam.  For the sake of everybody, let’s hope that’s not the case.

The Florida Democratic Party hosted its annual state conference over the weekend at a Disney resort in Lake Buena Vista.  This reporter was there for some of the events, including a debate between Dan Gelber and Dave Aronberg, the aspiring candidates to be the Party’s nominee for Attorney General next year.  I’ll be writing a separate post on that later today.

Saturday, the conference was filled with speeches from some of the party’s leaders, including the woman that so many Dems have their hopes on for next year to be the next governor, Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink.  In her address Saturday night, she lit into her possible GOP opponent next year, Bill McCollum, saying, “”A career politician like Bill McCollum only talks about jobs and growth, but a leader like me creates jobs and growth. McCollum pretends to have all the answers, a leader asks the right questions.  He puts on a performance. A leader demands performance. He measures results by the polls he takes, I measure results by the progress we make.”

Download the report here.

That’s quite possibly the strongest rhetoric employed so far by the CFO in her campaign against the current Attorney General, but if you can’t get the grass roots of your party faithful up and cheering at your state party’s convention, when can you?

I didn’t arrive at the Conference until around noon on Saturday, which meant I missed appearances by Senator Bill Nelson and Congressman Alan Grayson, who has, pardon the cliche, become a rock star with Florida Democrats after having said Republicans want sick people to “die quickly” two weeks ago.

On Saturday, he said the GOP should be called “The Selfish Party,” and the 2,000 or so delegates in the hall ate it up.

Saturday morning Senator Bill Nelson addressed the crowd, and there were many in the audience who got up when he spoke, calling out “health care now! “  In the Senate Finance Committee, of which he is a member, Nelson did vote on an amendment sponsored by New York Senator Charles Schumer, and on Saturday he told the delegates and others in attendance that “I have heard you loud and clear” on the issue.  Nelson’s Committee votes on their bill tomorrow.

As a Quinnipiac Poll released last month revealed, Florida Democrats are solidly behind a government-sponsored public health care option in any bill that ultimately comes out of the Congress this year, so it’s perhaps no surprise Nelson is getting with the program.

Yet the Democrats’ potential standard-bearer, gubernatorial candidate Sink, still has not expressed her opinion on the matter.

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It’s human nature to wonder what other people look like naked, especially celebrities. Artist Daniel Edwards takes this impulse to the next level, sculpting lifesize statues of nude celebrities in provocative poses. His latest piece features Angelina Jolie naked while breastfeeding twins in the recommended “football hold.” Read the rest of this entry »

When actors play real-life, well-known people, they either set themselves up for Oscars (Sean Penn as Harvey Milk) or ridicule (Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes). Consider these two casting coups: Anne Hathaway as Judy Garland in the Weinsteins’ Get Happy: The Life of Judy Garland and Julianne Moore as Hillary Clinton in Special Relationship (by Peter Morgan of The Queen and Frost/Nixon fame), with Dennis Quaid as Bill. Hathaway’s Oscars duet with Hugh Jackman showed she could sing, and she did some Garland-worthy scenery-chewing in Rachel Getting Married, but Moore seems a little too ethereal to play a tough customer like Hillary. (Quaid, however, can do devilish charm in his sleep, so his Bill should be fun even if it means he probably can’t show off his abs like he does in every movie he’s ever done.) Anyone want to bet on who’s going to rock and who’s going to flop?

Here’s a compelling animation of the U.S. Airways Hudson River crash. Stay tuned for the end, where the passengers are revealed to be the cast of The Sims.

• Michael Steele apologizes to Rush, making Limbaugh the defacto leader of the Republican Party.
• R.I.P. The Dow Jones Industrial Average.
• Is this a Depression? What the hell is a “Depression,” anyway?
• How dangerous and out of control was the Bush Administration?
• Where in the world is Hillary Clinton?
• “Scientists make HIV strain that can infect monkeys.” What did the monkeys ever do to us?
• New iMacs today?
• The Bucs learn a thing or two about Karma.

This may qualify as the dumbest thing I have ever posted in this space. Yet, somehow I am charmed. Ladies and gentlemen, I present Obama’s Elf.

• High hopes in Florida for Obama’s foreclosure plan.
• Hillary takes it to them in Asia.

• Read the rest of this entry »

Obama’s first day in office was a success. Business was done. Executive Orders were released. A BS church ceremony was attended. I didn’t think about Bush all day. Damn, now I ruined it.

• Caroline Kennedy pulls out of the race to be appointed to Hillary’s old Senate seat.
• Barack Obama is sworn in … again. (Just to be safe.)

Click below for more news.

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As W. continues his farewell tour, here’s one stop not on the actual itinerary.

Bush Tours America To Survey Damage Caused By His Disastrous Presidency

• Obama has dinner at George Will’s house. I bet they talked a lot about baseball.
• Hillary gets grilled at her confirmation hearing.

Lots more news after the jump …

Read the rest of this entry »

I don’t normally post sports clips, but for this one I’ll make an exception. From the Pittsburgh-New England game from last weekend, here is Steelers safety Ryan Clark absolutely demolishing Patties wide receiver Wes Welker. (Expect a fine to be handed down by the NFL any second now.) Give Wes some props; he managed to walk off under his own power.

• Republican Saxby Chambliss wins in Georgia’s Senate runoff.
• Jeb Bush for Senate?
• The Big Three return to Washington for another round of begging.
• The new Secretary of State might not even be eligible for the office.
• Pinellas Hope’s plan for wood shelters for the homeless hits a permit snag.
• Plaxico Burress suspended for the season by the NY Giants.
• Wallace/Howard.
• Jet lag is so 20th century.

Ralph Nader ran for president again this year. Ralph Nader barely registered at the polls again this year. I blame Triumph The Insult Comic Dog.

• Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
• Mayor Rick Baker set to march in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
• Hillary’s people made up Obama’s initial offer of Secretary of State.
• Florida’s ban on gay adoption overturned in court.
• And the word of the year is: Bailout.
• Barbara Bush (the old one) checks into the hospital.
• Helpful suggestions for making political conversation at the dinner table on Thursday.
• Meet the new quarterback, same as the old quarterback.

I was originally going to go with the hilarious “nobody wants to shake Bush’s hand” video from a few days ago, but then I saw Sarah Palin soon to be infamous Turkey Interview. Warning! This gets kind of gross.

• Attorney General Michael Mukasey collapses while on stage in D.C.
• The stock market collapses in late-day trading in New York.
• How you feel about telecom immunity now, Barack?
• Hillary announcement after Thanksgiving?
• I hope you already sold your Citibank stock.
• Hal Steinbrenner takes control.
• Surprised by the NFL season? You’re not the only one.
• The New York Times doesn’t like Chinese Democracy as much as Rolling Stone does.
• … but its release will get you a free Dr. Pepper!
• Fred Thompson is going back to a job with unlimited power, willing young girls, and all the money you want. (No, he’s not going back to the US Senate)
• “Taxes are anathema.”
• The answer to this question is: No.
• I’m surprised to not find Irwin Mainway’s “Bag o’ glass” on this list.
• RIP Ybor City the nightclub district.
• The time has come to forge a real “liberal media.”

Turns out that President-Elect Barack Obama can still pack ‘em in post-election. His appearance Sunday on 60 Minutes netted the news show its highest ratings in nine years.

• Can Bill’s dealings derail Hillary’s appointment as Secretary of State?
• Who’s driving that supertanker? Somali pirates, of course.
• Congress is back in session. Woo!
  
• Checking in on the Franken-Coleman recount.
• After 18 years and multiple studies, it turns out Gulf War Syndrome is real.
• “Save the Ybor chickens.”
• Does the future of the Rays include Tampa Bay? Signs point to no.
• …and their ticket prices are going up, if just slightly.
• As newspapers die, there is an alternative.
• A whole lotta “burrowing” going on in Washington.
• Inauguration tickets, by the numbers.
• John Lennon was not a very nice man; he consoled himself on Richard Nixon’s 1972 election night by banging a woman he picked up at Jerry Rubin’s apartment while his friends and wife listened from an adjacent room.
• No Flash for the iPhone. Ever.

The new James Bond flick Quantum of Solace hits theaters today and it’s said to be action-packed. Check out the CL review here, and get your game face on with the video for the theme song, performed by Alicia Keys and Jack White.

• Could it be: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton?
• No bailout for the auto industry … for now.
• Believe it or not, the Democrats still have an outside shot at a filibuster-proof 60-seat Senate majority.
• Weekend TV Alert: Obama on 60 Minutes Sunday.
• Wanna play some Blackjack?
• Osama just keeps hanging on.
• Angelina Jolie plans her escape from Hollywood.
• R.I.P. Mitch Mitchell.

Rough weekend for Sarah Palin. First, the Troopergate report concluded Palin abused her power as governor. Then the VILF was greeted by a wave of boos in Philly while dropping the puck at Saturday’s game against the Rangers. The lunatics still love her, though.

• Busy week ahead for McCain: Preps a can of whoop-ass for Wednesday night, then plans to square things with Dave on Thursday.
• The Clintons stump for Obama with Joe Biden in Pennsylvania.
• Strange tales from a Tampa McCain/Palin meet-up.
• A little good news: The price of gas is plunging.
• Rays vs Sox today at 4:30 p.m. If you missed game 2 Saturday, you missed one of the greatest sporting events in Tampa history.
• For those who thought the old stars and bars at the I-4/I-75 junction wasn’t quite big enough …
• The Bucs look strong while beating the snot out of the Panthers.
• R.I.P.: Dennis the manatee.

Last night was Hillary’s big moment, and she rose to the occasion with a good speech that celebrated her own accomplishments, built up Obama and tore down John McCain.

• Check out our live blog of Hillary’s speech over at The Political Whore.
• If you’re a democrat, and you identify with the people Maureen Dowd is writing about, please kill yourself. With your “Nobama” button if possible.
• Shut up talking heads, we’re trying to watch the convention!
• It’s Blair vs. Beckner in November.
• The LPGA adopts English as its official language. What, too many people getting smacked in the head after failing to respond to a call of “Cuatro!”?
• Tropical Storm Gustav hangs out in Haiti.
• Dr. Dre’s son turns up dead, autopsy to take weeks.
• Michael Phelps is a sore winner.

No, not that phone call. Although one wonders whether Hillary had the news texted to her, too. Maybe Joe Biden called her himself. “Hillary! Hillary! Pick up, it’s me, Joe! Guess what?”