The power of an endorsement - via Steve Benen, General Wes Clark endorses Alexi Giannoulas in the Illinois Senate race and revives an issue regarding Republican Mark Kirk's honesty:

During an endorsement of Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias on Monday, retired four-star Gen. Wesley Clark criticized Giannoulias' opponent Mark Kirk's exagerations about his military career.

"[The exagerations] are a factor in this race," Clark said[. . . ] Earlier this summer, Kirk was embarrassed by revelations that he embellished his military record.

Endorsements give a candidate a chance to frame a story - bringing in Clark not only got Clarkophiles like me to notice, it also gave Alexi a chance to hit Kirk again on his lying about his military record, through Clark's appearance and endorsement.

This is an Open Thread.

Caroline Giuliani, Harvard student and daughter of Rudy Giuliani, will be sentenced to one day of community service for stealing $100 of makeup from Sephora. If she stays out of trouble for six months, the charge will be dismissed and she won't have a permanent record. New York prosecutors say she is not receiving special treatment, that's the standard punishment for such offenses.

It's interesting that a gram of cocaine, which also costs about $100, is a felony in many states and may result a prison sentence. Even federally, while a misdemeanor, it carries a penalty of up to a year in prison. Stealing involves a third party victim. Why should a gram of cocaine carry a greater penalty than stealing? This is just another example of our misguided drug policy.

Apparently, the GOP wants all the "credit" for the Iraq Debacle. John Boehner:

“Some leaders who opposed, criticized, and fought tooth-and-nail to stop the surge strategy now proudly claim credit for the results,” Mr. Boehner’s speech said.

You want the Iraq Debacle on your list of "achievements," GOP? You got it is what Dems should say.

speaking for me only

Jay Cost tries to convince and persuade that it's health care reform, not the economy, that has led to Dems' political woes:

It would be difficult for any strong partisan to admit that such an accomplishment was so deeply unpopular. Yet the polling is pretty unequivocal on the relationship between the Democrats' fortunes and the health care bill. It was during the health care debate that the essential building block of the Democratic majority - Independent voters - began to crumble. It was evident in the generic ballot. It was evident in the President's job approval numbers. It was evident in Virginia, New Jersey, and Massachusetts.

Reconstructing the Democrats' meme, we can fairly say that the economy is a huge problem for the party. Of this, there can be no doubt. We can also say that the stalled recovery denied the Democrats a chance to win back the voters they lost over health care. But the process and passage of health care reform were crucial elements in the story. That's when the party started losing the voters it needs to retain control of the government.

I'm no fan of the health care bill but if you believe this nonsense, I have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn. I would love to think that the American People are thinking beyond their wallets, to civil liberties issues, or the intricacies of the health care debate, the wars, or even the deficit. They're not. The economy drives public opinion on all the issues. So while numbers for support for the health bill fell in August, that obviously has to do with the economy, and the lack of confidence in the Obama Administration's competence seeping over into other Obama initiatives. Yes, it's the economy, stupid.

Speaking for me only

I kid you not:

The new cast of Dancing With the Stars will be announced on Bachelor Pad tonight. I hope there's some surprises. More interesting: A new episode of Weeds.

Update: Ladies: Brandy, Jennifer Grey, Margaret Cho, Audrina Patridge (who?), Florence Henderson (Cloris redux?), Bristol Palin (looked awful on TV, awkward, ill at ease and horridly over made-up.) Yuck, let's hope the men are better choices.

Update: "Mike the Situation" (Jersey Shore), David Hasselhoff, singer Michael Bolton, Rick Fox, Kurt Warner, Kyle Massey (another who?)

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Gallup generic ballot:

Republicans lead by 51% to 41% among registered voters in Gallup weekly tracking of 2010 congressional voting preferences. The 10-percentage-point lead is the GOP's largest so far this year and is its largest in Gallup's history of tracking the midterm generic ballot for Congress.[. . .] Republicans are now twice as likely as Democrats to be "very" enthusiastic about voting, and now hold -- by one point -- the largest such advantage of the year.

Blind Obama loyalists are jumping ship:

Rather than looking helpless, the administration should just start making the argument that we have a choice between prolonged high unemployment or another big stimulus package. Make the election a referendum on that choice. Setting aside that [Obama's] delivery was uncharacteristically terrible, the president's statement on the economy today was pretty pathetic. This ain't getting it done on any level.

This is an interesting critique, but not to the point. The problem was in February 2009 when an inadequate stimulus was sold as a great progressive victory. It's late in the day now for finger pointing.

Speaking for me only

Baseball giant Roger Clemens appeared in court in D.C. today and pleaded not guilty to perjury, false statement and obstruction charges. The case boils down to:

Clemens flatly denied [to Congress]ever knowingly using banned substances, despite testimony to the contrary from former teammate Andy Pettitte and former assistant strength coach Brian McNamee.

As I've said before, this is a "he said/he said" case, proving he lied when he denied "knowingly" using steroids will be a problem, and the even bigger problem will be Congress' authority to have called him as a witness in the first place.

Paris Hilton has been charged with possession of cocaine. The complaint and police report are here. The Las Vegas Review Journal recounts events.

The prior statements of police to the media are detailed here. The official report contains yet another version of how the police found cocaine inside her purse. [More...]

A few weeks ago, I wrote about a Kevin Drum post in which he declared that in terms of enacting transforming change, President Obama was "clearly better than Carter and Clinton and quite possibly the equal of Reagan." I questioned the premise in terms of not only crediting Obama with transformative change but also crediting Reagan with having achieved it.

In an e-mail exchange with Drum, he fleshed out his argument that Reagan was transformative - stating that Reagan won the tax argument for a generation and made the case for the triumph of unfettered capitalism. Drum also mentioned Social Security reform and nuclear reduction treaties as transformative change. The last two points strike me as silly - certainly conservatives do not think of the last two as great triumphs for Reaganism. But I would like to consider the first 2. Let's discuss them on the flip.

Open Thread.

Paul Krugman:

The last time a Democrat sat in the White House, he faced a nonstop witch hunt by his political opponents. Prominent figures on the right accused Bill and Hillary Clinton of everything from drug smuggling to murder. And once Republicans took control of Congress, they subjected the Clinton administration to unrelenting harassment — at one point taking 140 hours of sworn testimony over accusations that the White House had misused its Christmas card list. Now it’s happening again — except that this time it’s even worse. [. . .] Anyone who remembered the 1990s could have predicted something like the current political craziness. [. . .] It will be an ugly scene, and it will be dangerous, too. The 1990s were a time of peace and prosperity; this is a time of neither.

Wishing away politics was never going to work. Good governance would have helped a lot. With the economy in shambles, what political card can the Dems play now? Negative branding is all I can see. Dems will need a Gingrich to play off of.

Speaking for me only