Bad News For McCain and Hillary

Via Think Progress:

A new USA Today/Gallup poll found that 63 percent of Americans say “the United States made a mistake in sending troops to Iraq, a new high mark by one percentage point.” Gallup notes that “majority opposition to the Iraq war is basically cemented.”

McCain's going to have an uphill fight convincing Americans that the Iraq Invasion and occupation was/is a good thing. Good luck with that, Senator.

And this is interesting:

Talk show host Rush Limbaugh is sparking controversy again after he made comments calling for riots in Denver during the Democratic National Convention this summer.

He said the riots would ensure a Democrat is not elected as president, and his listeners have a responsibility to make sure it happens.

"Riots in Denver, the Democrat Convention would see to it that we don't elect Democrats," Limbaugh said during Wednesday's radio broadcast. He then went on to say that's the best thing that could happen to the country.

My advice to Limbaugh is that he should reduce his daily drug intake down to just a single shoe box full of Oxycontin, because I'm pretty sure that inciting a riot is still a crime in this country.

Vegas Trip 2008: Oh The Humanity

"Vegas is getting more difficult for me every year. When I first visited that town about 15 years ago, I had no problem staying up most of the night and operating on four hours of sleep a day. Not anymore."

Harold's Blog, Vegas Trip 2006, November 22, 2006.

I guess that I had forgotten how difficult it is for me to party in Las Vegas like I used to, but the trip I just got back from was the hardest one for me yet.

Don't get me wrong -- the trip was an absolute blast, and the stretch from Thursday night to Friday evening was one of the most enjoyable 24-hour periods I've spent in that town.

Dan and I arrived in Las Vegas at about 9:00 pm on Thursday evening (Dan rented a town car for the trip from the airport, something I highly recommend because it enabled us to stop at a grocery store and load up for the weekend). We met Ray at the suite at about 10:00, and then proceeded to drink and gamble until about 6:00 am on Friday morning, then got three hours of sleep, and then started partying again at about 9:00 am.

After breakfast, we hung out in the pool for a couple hours drinking beer into the early afternoon (the temperature hit the mid-80s each day we were there), then went to the cigar bar at Caesar's for a good smoke and a few mojitos, then followed that with delicious deli sandwiches at Stage Deli, and then went to Fat Tuesdays and each drank one of their really strong drinks -- you know, the ones they serve to men who want to get drunk fast.

After resting up back at the hotel for a bit, we had a great craps run over at Casino Royale -- the shooter held the dice for about a half hour before sevening out -- and then closed out Friday evening by going back to the cigar bar to celebrate our craps victory with another cigar and a few more mojitos.

It was a killer day, but it completely wasted me and Dan for Saturday. Ray somehow managed to rally on Saturday morning -- he hung out at the Flamingo's adult pool for several hours, but Dan and I really didn't get going until later that afternoon/evening, when Dan had a winning poker session, I had a winning craps session (I actually managed to put together a decent roll, hitting eight numbers or so before I rolled a seven), and then the three of us went to the dinner buffet at Bellagio, which was gluttonous and great.

We had huge plans to gamble on Saturday evening, but I ended up going to bed early as did Ray. Dan stayed up a little later and watched poker on television, which I thought was hysterical because we were in Las Vegas and there was probably 1000 active poker tables within a 1/2 mile of us, but at least he was doing something. I was asleep.

Ray had to catch a flight on Sunday morning, but Dan and I had a later flight so we hit the craps tables at Casino Royale and got crushed. We then limped over to the poker room at the Flamingo and I managed to win some money -- and Dan broke even -- before we had to go to the airport.

It was a super fun trip, and none of us lost a lot of money overall at the tables and I even won about $300 or so for the trip. But I am so tired today that I can barely stand. I've said this before and I'll say it again: I'm convinced that the best way to do Vegas would be to do four nights and three full days, with the middle full day simply being a day of rest (i.e., no drinking, lots of hot-tubbing, eating well, relaxing by the pool, very little gambling, that kind of a day).

Anyway, that's my plan for next year. Of course, another way to approach Vegas would be to simply get a good night's sleep on the first night, but I've never been able to do that. I've always stayed up all night on that first evening, and I don't think that will ever change.

Debate Aftermath

I did not watch the Hillary/Obama debate last night, and from what I'm reading on the internets, I picked a good debate to miss.

But I did watch some excerpts from it, and then read some analysis, and this piece by Michael Grunwald of TIME Magazine is particularly good because Grunwald presents his debate analysis in the context of Obama's risky campaign approach, namely, his gamble that Americans are tired of manufactured issues (e.g., Dukakis in a tank, Kerry eating swiss cheese, George HW Bush looking at his watch during a debate etc.) being the driving force in our politics when the problems we are currently facing as a country are so horrendous:

Last night at the National Constitution Center, at a Democratic debate that was hyped by ABC as a discussion of serious constitutional issues, America got to see exactly what Obama was complaining about. At a time of foreign wars, economic collapse and environmental peril, the cringe-worthy first half of the debate focused on such crucial matters as Senator Obama's comments about rural bitterness, his former pastor, an obscure sixties radical with whom he was allegedly "friendly," and the burning constitutional question of why he doesn't wear an American flag pin on his lapel — with a single detour into Senator Hillary Clinton's yarn about sniper fire in Tuzla. Apparently, Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos ran out of time before they could ask Obama why he's such a lousy bowler.

Grunwald also mentions the hysterical story about Obama's aide trying to stop Barack from asking for dijon mustard at TJI Fridays (I wonder if Obama ordered Freedom Fries with that burger?).

The moderators of last night's debate (who, by the way, were reportedly booed by the audience) are still living in the era where it matters what type of condiment politicians use on their hamburgers, and so are Bill and Hillary Clinton. Obama's trying to rise above that. I guess time will tell if his strategy will succeed, but I do think things are so bad right now that people will respond to this message. Indeed, the fact that Obama hasn't really been hurt by the Rev. Wright "scandal" or the "bitter" scandal seems to indicate that his campaign strategy might actually be working.

Well, enough of this political talk -- I'm off to Vegas for three days of craps, poker, and laying around by the pool.

Most People Already Know This . . .

. . . but it is still interesting:

President Bush often argues that history will vindicate him. So he can't be pleased with an informal survey of 109 professional historians conducted by the History News Network. It found that 98 percent of them believe that Bush's presidency has been a failure, while only about 2 percent see it as a success. Not only that, more than 61 percent of the historians say the current presidency is the worst in American history. In 2004, only 11.6 percent of the historians rated Bush's presidency in last place. Among the reasons given for his low ratings: invading Iraq, "tax breaks for the rich," and alienating many nations around the world. Bush supporters counter that professional historians today tend to be liberal and that it's too early to assess how his policies will turn out.

So it is the position of these Bush supporters that 98% of historians are liberal? Wow.

Dead Time For Gonzo

I guess he told one too many lies under oath:

Alberto R. Gonzales, like many others recently unemployed, has discovered how difficult it can be to find a new job. Mr. Gonzales, the former attorney general, who was forced to resign last year, has been unable to interest law firms in adding his name to their roster, Washington lawyers and his associates said in recent interviews.

He has, through friends, put out inquiries, they said, and has not found any takers. What makes Mr. Gonzales’s case extraordinary is that former attorneys general, the government’s chief lawyer, are typically highly sought. * * *

Quote Of The Week

"[Obama] is doing everything he can to win in Pennsylvania. And if he doesn't win, it will be a significant defeat for him."

Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson, quoted in the Chicago Tribune (Hillary used to have a huge lead in Pennsylvania, but now her lead has shrunk to single digits).

Works For Me

This is fitting:

Looking to honor the forty-third President of the United States of America, George W. Bush, the recently formed Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco is looking to change the name of the Oceanside Wastewater Treatment Facility. It seems the group would like to rename the SF Zoo adjacent facility to the "George W Bush Sewage Plant."

Obama Closing The Gap In Pennsylvania (With Update)

From Talking Points Memo:

Rasmussen is just out with its latest poll, showing Hillary's lead in Pennsylvania is down to 5 points.

In the same poll a week ago, it was a 10-point spread.

Late Update: SurveyUSA also has new Pennsylvania poll out, showing Hillary with a still-healthy 12-point lead, although that, too, is down, from 19 points in the last poll.

UPDATE: Check out this Gallup survey:

The survey was conducted March 24-27, interviewing a nationally representative sample of 1,005 Gallup Panel members. Democrats were asked whether Clinton or Obama has the better chance of defeating McCain in November: 59% say Obama does; 30% say Clinton. Republicans were asked whether McCain has a better chance of defeating Clinton or Obama on Election Day. Sixty-four percent say McCain has a better chance of beating Clinton, compared with only 22% choosing Obama, meaning Republicans view Obama as the more formidable candidate.

It's no wonder right-wing assholes like Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh want Hillary to get the Democratic nomination.