I just received an e-mail from the John Edwards campaign, written by John's mother Bobbi. It's very clever -- on two levels. She writes:

As a member of our campaign family, If you donate just $20.08 (for the year we'll elect my son the next president of the United States!), I'll send you Elizabeth's recipe for bread pudding, David and Judy Bonior's recipes for "Sweet Potatoes with Apples" and "Mushroom Soup," along with Joe and Kathy's recipe for "Old Fashioned Down on the Farm Country Stuffing" -- and my own special recipe for one of John's favorites, Mac n' Cheese! Click here to make a contribution and get five favorite Thanksgiving recipes!

Level one: You get something back for your donation -- that's a great selection of "comfort food" recipes and it gives you a homey, warm feeling just reading the list: Mac 'n Cheese, sweet potatoes, bread pudding.

Level two: While I have no data on this, I suspect that it's mostly women who are in charge of the family thanksgiving day menu and interested in holiday recipes. By offering the recipes, it seems like Edwards is targeting women voters, trying to take some from Hillary.

I've put a short poll below as to who chooses the Thanksgiving day recipes (not the menu)in your house:

Flailing presidential candidate Tom Tancredo met his match at a debate in New Hampshire this weekend.

Tancredo was pitching his "English only" plan, denigrating not just the U.S. but Europe.

Describing the United States as "the last best hope" for carrying on the ideals of western civilization, Republican presidential candidate Tom Tancredo called last night for an end to the nation's "bilingualization" and "Balkanization."

"I think Europe can not be counted on to help us in this endeavor," Tancredo said last night at Magdalen College in Warner. "They've already become, to a large extent, Islamicized. And that is worrisome."

Several audience members challenged him, including Siham Elhamoum, a recent college grad from Vermont [More....]

What a pathetic campaign the Democratic Presidential race has become. I could not be more disgusted by it. And the answer appears to be yes, the Obama campaign is mudslinging too:

Barack Obama has unveiled a new line of criticism against Hillary: In speeches he appears to have started to point to the allegation made in Jeff Gerth and Don Van Natta's Hillary book that the Clintons secretly formulated a 20-year-plan to deliver the presidency first to Bill, and then to Hillary. "I'm not in this race to fulfill some long-held plan or because it was owed to me," Obama said the other day. Asked if that were a reference to the Gerth allegation, an Obama spokesperson left virtually no doubt that it was, telling Newsday: "Barack Obama has not been mapping out his run for president from Washington for the last 20 years like some of his opponents."

Shame on the Obama campaign. Shame on Democrats. This race has devolved into the pettiest, stupidest most substanceless campaign I think I have ever seen from Democrats.

I have long said this. Today, I am proven right:

Senate Democrats appear ready to omit Iraq withdrawal timelines from a supplemental spending bill in hopes of clearing in December funds for the troops — but House leaders have no intentions of following suit.

Good for Speaker Pelosi and good for House Democrats. Now who do we have to worry about? The eternal capitulation leaders, Hoyer and Rahmbo. Watch out for them.

The answer appears to be yes. Responding to this Edwards ad:

the Clinton campaign said:

"If John Edwards really cared about working people, he wouldn't have taken a $500,000 salary from a hedge fund that is foreclosing on working people around the country," said Clinton campaign spokeswoman Hilarie Grey. "Sen. Edwards should spend his time talking about how he's going to help those people instead of launching ridiculous attacks against Sen. Clinton."

Empty, stupid GOP talking points from the Clinton campaign. Awful. And in case you are wondering, I remain a STRONG supporter of NAFTA and free trade. Edwards is dead wrong on NAFTA and trade. Explaining why would be good from a candidate. But if unable to do so, going to personal attacks in response is unconscionable. Shame on the Clinton campaign.

At Daily Kos, Devil's Tower misreads a question and answer from the last Democratic debate. When pressed by Wolf Blitzer to choose between US national security and human rights, Chris Dodd said:

DODD: Obviously, national security, keeping the country safe.

Devil's Tower took this to mean that Dodd would compromise the Constitution:

The job of the president is to defend the Constitution. The Constitution first, the Constitution last, the Constitution always. Nowhere is the president given one inch of leeway to consider setting aside that Constitution in exchange for an illusion of security.

Devil's Tower is mistaken. What was being referred to by the question was US posture when human rights in other countries may conflict with US national security interests. Not when the Constitution might conflict with our own security interests. It is ironic that Devil's Tower misinterprets Dodd, who has done more to fight for the restoration of habeas corpus than any other member of Congress. More.

Sunday night is usually my favorite tv night. Not tonight. The American Music Awards pre-empted the good shows and the only other thing on was football.

I tried, I really did, to get into the Music Awards show -- if not for the music, for the dresses. Both were pretty dismal. The best of the music was Sugarland doing a song with Beyonce.

It made me long for the old days, when singers had personality and belted out their songs while having fun onstage. Here's Janis, and a live version of "Piece of My Heart" -- performed in Germany in 1970 1969. Watch how she invites the audience onto the stage and how much fun she's having.

The New York Daily News explores Rudy Giuliani's use of his pals' private aircraft, including that of casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson.

The days of candidates reimbursing their pals with the cost of a commercial first-class ticket instead of the much higher cost of renting the aircraft and pilot ended in September.

Hillary and Obama never did it.

Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama accept no corporate aircraft, choosing instead to rent planes at full market cost to avoid the appearance of a conflict.

Here's the list of the owners of the planes Rudy's used:

More...

Frank Rich has a terrific column today in the New York Times on what Judith Regan could tell about Rudy Giuliani. It's also a succinct recap of the various elements of the story to date, from Bernie and Judith to Bernie and Rudy to Fox and Rudy.

Whether Ms. Regan’s charge about that unnamed Murdoch “senior executive” is true or not — her lawyers have yet to reveal the evidence — her overall message is plain. She knows a lot about Mr. Kerik, Mr. Giuliani and the Murdoch empire. And she could talk.

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Don't miss the Evidence of Misjustice segment on 60 Minutes tonight. It will air the results of a joint investigation with the Washington Post on the use of the discredited comparative bullet lead analysis technique.

Hundreds of defendants sitting in prisons nationwide have been convicted with the help of an FBI forensic tool that was discarded more than two years ago. But the FBI lab has yet to take steps to alert the affected defendants or courts, even as the window for appealing convictions is closing, a joint investigation by The Washington Post and "60 Minutes" has found.

Concerns developed over the technique in 1991. TalkLeft wrote about it in 2003 (here too.) In 2004, the National Academy of Sciences concluded the technique was bunk and the FBI stopped using it in 2005. But it has refused to release the list of the 2,500 cases in which the technique was used.

Dwight E. Adams, the now-retired FBI lab director who ended the technique, said the government has an obligation to release all the case files, to independently review the expert testimony and to alert courts to any errors that could have affected a conviction.

....The Post and "60 Minutes" identified at least 250 cases nationwide in which bullet-lead analysis was introduced, including more than a dozen in which courts have either reversed convictions or now face questions about whether innocent people were sent to prison.

More....

Our friend at the Hotline Blogometer, Conn Carroll (full disclosure, my team pummelled Conn's team in our fantasy football league last week, so I am feeling charitable), has posted his last unsubstantiated smear insightful column last week. Good luck in your future endeavors Conn. And good last column, the BCS is a joke.:

Today marks the last day of our tenure as Blogometer. So instead of inflicting someone's elses thoughts on you for the 3000th time, we'd like to share our thoughts on the most crucial issue this nation faces: the travesty that is the Bowl Championship Series. We could harp on how all of the university presidents in the major conferences are thieves and liars for propping up this sham, but instead we want to offer a solution, so here goes. The Sun Belt and Conference USA would merge into a mega conference. On Christmas Day the WAC champ would play the Mountain West champ in Las Vegas and the MAC champ would play the ConferenceUSA/SunBelt champ in Orlando. On New Years the Pac 10 and Big Ten champs would play in the Rose Bowl, the Big 12 and ACC champs would play in the Orange Bowl, the SEC and Big East champs would play in the Sugar Bowl, and the winners of the Christmas Day games would square off in the Fiesta Bowl. The following would week would feature two semi-final games and the next week would be the national champion.

Of course the upshot of all this would be an SEC national champion almost every year, but that would be fine with me. Go Gators!

It's about time Jeanine got rid of that guy.

After standing by her man as he served a federal prison sentence, admitted fathering a child with another woman and embarrassed her political campaign by telling the press she was not giving him enough attention, Jeanine F. Pirro is separating from her husband, a family spokesman said yesterday.

The split comes a year after Ms. Pirro lost her bid to become state attorney general, in a campaign that was hounded by personal concerns as the couple’s marriage troubles made headlines and Ms. Pirro acknowledged that she was under federal investigation for plotting to record her husband, Albert J. Pirro, to catch him in a suspected affair.

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