Do you remember John McCain’s bizarre re-write of the Beach Boys’ Barbara Ann into Bomb Iran ? Well, the rightward push for war with Iran seems, to me at last, to be coming to shove.

Professional Jew, war monger, neo-con Norman Podhoretz met with George Bush, Karl Rove to urge the bombing of Iran’s “nuclear facilities” and giving interviews about it to conservative outlets like The Politico and The London Times . Similarly a coterie of Cheney chums formed as “Freedom Watch” are devoting their millions to war with Iran. (See NY Times story here .

The most disturbing of these reports, is in the current
New Yorker, by Sy Hersh . This is a must-read in my view,

This is the short version; the long version is on my blog under the same title:

It looks like Alberto Gonzales won’t be Attorney General much longer. In addition, there will be considerable pressure put on George W. Bush to fire his long-time friend and top political advisor Karl Rove. And it’s all over some lies that these guys told over the perfectly legal, if politically unsavory, firing of seven federal attorneys.

The problem is, these two people should never have been in power in the first place. What’s worse, there are plenty of good reasons for getting rid of them, but those reasons didn’t seem to get headlines. It’s worse because we desperately need to stop pretending that the politically unsavory is more important than the downright un-American.

Both Rove and Gonzales have committed horrible acts that render them unfit for their jobs. But since opposition leaders didn’t bother to expose their actions as truly despicable, disgusting, and opposed to all that is good in America, Rove and Gonzales got away with it.

Until now … at least.

Karl Rove’s litany of sleaze is well documented. He planted a bug in his own campaign office, then claimed the Democrats had done it. He mastered the art of “push-polling” to discredit both Ann Richards and John McCain. He began giving Robert Novak (Valerie Plame’s “outer”) phony stories 15 years ago. He’s probably connected with various groups who have committed serious election fraud over the past several years.

There's a piece today in the Washington Times clearly intended to rally the flagging spirits of the right.

White House political strategist Karl Rove yesterday confidently predicted that the Republican Party would hold the House and the Senate in next month's elections, dismissing fallout from the sex scandal involving former Rep. Mark Foley. [...]

But Mr. Rove said Republican candidates still hold a huge cash edge over Democrats, which will give them clout in the final three weeks of the campaign.[...]

"For most Americans, particularly the marginal voters who are going to determine the outcome of the election, it started a couple weeks ago," he said. "Between now and the election, we will spend $100 million in target House and Senate races in the next 21 days."

Let's head on over to OpenSecrets and take a look at the money situation. Numbers were just released today, so now's a good time to do that anyway. The source for all numbers is here.

This is what I call political stockholm syndrome; because political post traumatic stress syndrome is not this upbeat.

[via Marist Poll :: Home]:

BEHIND THE NUMBERS:
Republican Bloomberg leads Democrat Ferrer among Democrats likely to vote this fall, 50% to 42%. Only 8% of likely Democratic voters are undecided. Mayor Bloomberg also receives substantial support among African American voters and has made inroads among Latino voters.

STRONG SUPPORT FOR MAYOR%u2019S DECISION TO GO PUBLIC WITH SUBWAY TERROR ALERT:
84% of registered voters agree with Mayor Bloomberg's decision to go public last week with the possible threat to the city%u2019s subways.

MAYOR RECEIVES HIGH MARKS FOR HIS HANDLING OF SECURITY FROM VOTERS:
81% of registered voters approve of the job the mayor has done keeping the city secure from terror attacks an increase of 10 points from a similar poll conducted two weeks ago. A majority of voters also give the mayor a "thumbs up" on his handling of crime, race relations, economic development, jobs, and the public schools.

VOTERS VIEW MAYOR BLOOMBERG AS BETTER ABLE TO HANDLE SECURITY FROM TERRORISM:
74% of New York City%u2019s registered voters think Michael Bloomberg is more likely than Fernando Ferrer as mayor to do a better job handling security from terrorism. Voters also have more confidence in Mayor Bloomberg to run the city well, to better represent New York City in Albany and Washington, to be steady and consistent on issues, to move the city forward in the next four years, to be a better leader for New York, and to unify the city and get it working together. A majority of city voters also believe Bloomberg would be more likely than Ferrer to understand the problems facing the city and represent all five boroughs. Voters are more divided over who is likely to care about people like themselves.

Karl Rove, senior advisor to George W. Bush, is making headlines again, and that is fortunate for Progressives. Recall Rove's words of June 22d, spoken in a ballroom in Midtown Manhattan: "Conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 in the attacks and prepared for war; liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers. I don't know about you, but moderation and restraint is not what I felt when I watched the twin towers crumble to the ground, a side of the Pentagon destroyed, and almost 3,000 of our fellow citizens perish in flames and rubble." Progressives, especially in New York, were justifiably outraged at Manly Man Rove's claims to heroism, given that he spent 9/11 itself criss-crossing the country in search of safety, and has no previous record of heroism to fall back on, either. In fact, one NYC Progressive group, New Democratic Majority, has put up a web site that examines Rove's actions that day in meticulous detail, www.americanson911.org . The picture that emerges of Rove is not that manly, to put it with more politeness than seems warranted.

But as noted, Rove is in the headlines over another issue, the outing of Valerie Plame. The White House is not commenting, which is in stark contrast to their earlier, emphatic denials of any role by anyone there. Rove's lawyer is issuing carefully worded non-denials of culpability that rely on a very narrow reading of the statute violated by the outing, such as the ludicrous claim that Rove had not named her, just described her as Joseph Wilson's CIA wife to reporters.

Does it depend on what the meaning of name is?

Take a step back for a moment and consider what this tawdry episode tells us about Karl Rove's character. He attacked the wife of a political enemy, ruining her career and potentially putting her life in danger. Not the enemy himself, mind you - just his wife.

In times past, it was considered dishonorable for a man to attack a woman; that's where the old saw about “women and children first” comes from when a ship begins to sink. Men who did not adhere to this rigid ideal of honor were considered infamous; in the 20th century, notably, only totalitarian regimes visited revenge on the families of their enemies.

Not only is Karl Rove not a hero, just playing one at right-wing fundraisers; his pear-shaped body, soft hands and pudgy face will tell you that. No, Karl Rove is much, much worse: Karl Rove is a bitch. He is Bush's bitch, retained to slip a dagger ever so skillfully in the back of any enemy. His is the androgynous evil of a Lucrezia Borgia, the kind that employs whispered poisons and hidden stilettos. Rove fancies himself the Clausewitz of the radical right; he is, in fact, more akin to Catherine de Medici: a seasoned wielder of deceit and corruption. Perhaps now, exposed to all the world for what he is, his career will end; but one need only look at his master to know the answer to that.

In the 1980's, the elected President Bush tried denegrating the ACLU as a way of gaining votes during a debate with Dukakis. The result was that the ACLU had a HUGE boost to their membership in the month following Bush's stupid comment.

Last week, Karl Rove, servant of the dubiously elected little Bush, tried to gain political points by denegrating MoveOn.org (or at least that is what Fox News claims). To me what is worse is that he exploited the memories of our 9/11 dead to do this. I am so disgusted with the Republican misuse of 9/11. My outrage at Rove and Bush knows no bounds. And I am increasingly disgusted with NY Republicans like Bloomberg and Pataki and Fossella who don't stand up for our city against the Republican exploitation of our 9/11 dead. The absolute best way we can show Rove what we think of his comments is to turn this into a massive fundraising boon for MoveOn.org.

From MoveOn.org's PAC:

Polls show that Americans are losing patience with the Republican leadership's radical agenda, making three of their top leaders vulnerable to defeat in 2006. This week's critical fundraising deadline is a terrific opportunity to stand up to these extremists and support the courageous Democrats taking them on.

Rep. Tom DeLay is the worst, from his corrupt politics, to his threats against judges, to his exploitation of Terri Schiavo's personal tragedy. Former Rep. Nick Lampson, a leader on education and labor, is a strong challenger.

Sen. Rick Santorum, number three in the Senate Republican leadership and key in enforcing their hard-right message, is nearly as bad as DeLay and is THE most vulnerable Republican senator. And everyone remembers Rep. Katherine Harris, the former Florida election official who helped secure George W. Bush's 2000 election--she's now running for Senate.

It's early in the election cycle, but in politics, early money often makes all the difference. Please support Lampson and the other strong Democratic candidates in opposing these radical Republicans today. In order to beat the contribution deadline, we need your donation by tomorrow (Tuesday) night! Click here to chip in:

DeLay, Santorum, and Harris have all demonstrated their allegiance to big business and fringe groups: