Take the Democratic Loyalty Quiz. It's got some humorous choices. I scored a 9 out of 10:

You are a pure, unabashed, die-hard Democratic loyalist. You are appalled by the way Republicans are turning America into a theocratic, corpo-fascist police state, and you'd gladly walk through a furnace in a gasoline suit to elect a Democratic president. In your view, there is no higher form of patriotism than defending America against the Republican Party and every intolerant, puritanical, imperialistic, greed-mongering, Constitution-shredding ideal for which it stands.

[Via Ralph at Colorado Soapblox.]

“Drinking Liberally,” the meetup for liberals that has met with pretty good success across the country is coming to Denver beginning this Wednesday. You can meet and commiserate with your fellow liberals over a beer or drink. Soapblox Colorado has the details.

It's at 7:30pm at Mario’s Double Daughter’s Salotto, 1632 Market St., Denver.

Pat Robertson's tv appearance in which he called for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is resonating throughout the blogosphere. Check out:

• Sideshow
• Think Progress
• Crooks and Liars wonders if Robertson committed a crime.
• Norwegianity
• Pudentilla at Skippy
• Media Matters has more on Robertson.

by TChris

By taking a reasonable position regarding stem cell research, Sen. Frist alienated the extremists he needs to support his presidential aspirations. As TalkLeft noted here, Frist hoped to bring them back into his fold by advocating the teaching of Intelligent Design in public schools. Frist's desire to placate the extremists may nonetheless be doomed to failure, given his inability to elicit a kind word from Trent Lott:

Asked Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press" whether Frist, who challenged and succeeded Lott as Senate majority leader in 2002, has the character to be president, Lott paused before answering.

"I think I'd have to think about that," said Lott, R-Miss.

(Why anyone thinks Lott is a fit person to be commenting on the subject of character is another question.)

by TChris

TalkLeft reported yesterday that four misdemeanor charges were filed against Gov. Taft of Ohio. Those charges were presumably the result of negotiations, given the governor's decision to enter "no contest" pleas to the charges today.

His no-contest plea wraps up the case less than 24 hours after Taft became the first Ohio governor charged with a crime. He was fined the maximum $1,000 for each of four misdemeanor counts. As expected, no jail time was ordered. The charges had carried a maximum sentence of six months on each count.

One day between charging and conviction serves the political strategy of getting this mess out of the press, but Taft's decision to accept the convictions makes it difficult for him to continue his argument that his failure to disclose a variety of gifts, "including dinners, golf games and professional hockey tickets over four years," was accidental.

Update (TL): Crooks and Liars has a video of Taft's apology.

Ohio Governor Taft is the first sitting Ohio Governor to be charged with a crime while holding the office. He was charged today with four misdemeanors for failing to report rounds of golf he received as gifts.

The charges were outlined at a press conference this afternoon with Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien and Columbus City Attorney Richard C. Pfeiffer Jr. If convicted on the first-degree misdemeanor charges, Taft faces a maximum fine of $1,000 and up to six months in jail on each count.

Taft's lawyer says the omissions and errors were inadvertant. Following the story: Grow Ohio and Hypothetically Speaking. The latter has been on this for weeks and has been doing a great job.

Capitol Hill Blue has a pretty scary commentary on Bush. It begins:

Buy beleaguered, overworked White House aides enough drinks and they tell a sordid tale of an administration under siege, beset by bitter staff infighting and led by a man whose mood swings suggest paranoia bordering on schizophrenia.

They describe a President whose public persona masks an angry, obscenity-spouting man who berates staff, unleashes tirades against those who disagree with him and ends meetings in the Oval Office with “get out of here!”

It goes downhill (for Bush) from there. Thoughts?

Indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff's lawyer, Neal Sonnett, tells the Daily Business Review that his client is a victim in the charged fraud.

Miami attorney Neal Sonnett, who represents Abramoff, said the longtime Republican lobbyist who formerly worked for Greenberg Traurig, the Miami-based law firm, was a "victim." "All I can tell you is that Jack understood that he was involved in a legitimate business deal, and he was not involved in the negotiations, was not even present at the closing," Sonnett said in an interview Friday.

"He only signed documents that were faxed to him with assurances that everything was in proper order," Sonnett said. "So I think Jack was as much as victim as anybody else in this case, perhaps more because now he has to defend himself against criminal charges for something that he did not do."

Sonnett also says that Abramoff is not cooperating with the feds in the Indian tribes investigation:

The President should know better than to speak without a teleprompter and prepared script by now. His off-the-cuff comments show his true nature. Leaving for a bike ride at the ranch today,

Bush said he is aware of the anti-war sentiments of Cindy Sheehan and others who have joined her protest near the Bush ranch. "But whether it be here or in Washington or anywhere else, there's somebody who has got something to say to the president, that's part of the job," Bush said on the ranch. "And I think it's important for me to be thoughtful and sensitive to those who have got something to say."

"But," he added, "I think it's also important for me to go on with my life, to keep a balanced life."

One of the curious things about the Jack Abramoff arrest was the differing reports on Thursday: The Miami Herald reported the FBI was looking to arrest him in Baltimore; co-defendant Kidan was allowed to self-surrender; Abramoff was later arrested and jailed in Los Angeles.

Michael Isikoff at Newsweek has this report:

The justice department played hardball last week with former superlobbyist Jack Abramoff, in part because of concerns he might flee to Israel. Hours before Abramoff was indicted on fraud charges in Miami last Thursday, FBI agents tried to arrest him at his Maryland home. But he'd already left for Los Angeles. Agents tracked him down on his cell phone and ordered him to surrender to the local FBI office. When Abramoff did, later that day, he was handcuffed, thrown into jail, then released last Friday on a $2.2 million bond.

The Washington Post reports former lobbyist Jack Abramoff was arrested in Los Angeles late this afternoon on the Florida Indictment we mentioned yesterday. His co-defendant, Adam Kidan of New York, will surrender in Florida today.

Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff and a business partner were indicted by federal grand jury in Fort Lauderdale on Thursday, charged with five counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy in their purchase of a fleet of Florida gambling boats from a businessman who was later killed in a gangland-style hit.

Abramoff, 46, was arrested in Los Angeles in the late afternoon and was expected to be taken before a U.S. magistrate there on Friday. He was indicted along with Adam Kidan, the former owner of the Dial-a-Mattress franchise in Washington. Kidan, 41, of New York City, will surrender to the FBI here by Friday morning, his attorney, Martin I. Jaffe, said in a written statement.

It sounds like Kidan cooperated, thinking he could talk his way out of an Indictment, and failed.

Former big-time lobbyist Jack Abramoff was indicted by a Fort Lauderdale federal grand jury today on charges he and Adam Kidan, who also was indicted, schemed "to defraud two lenders in a $147.5 million purchase of SunCruz Casinos."

Josh Marshall has been following the case. Washington Post report here.