Sunday, October 22, 2006
We had a great weekend camping over in the Porcupine State Park, located in the UP of Michigan...Tomorrow,itz the McLaughlin Group!!!! Plus at the end of the hour I will hand back Test #2...on Tuesday, we can discuss the test, etc...Below is a brief recap of the issues discussed on the McLaughlin Group last week

Issue #2: Roughing Up Rummy
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was asked by a reporter if he bore any responsibility for what has gone wrong in Iraq, or is it all General Casey's fault? Rumsfeld snapped back: “Oh, this is a question that gets asked every time there's a press conference. You know, "Give me all your sevens. Tell us what you've done wrong." Why do we have to keep going through this? Of course I bear responsibility. My Lord, I'm secretary of Defense. Write it down. Quote it. You can bank it.”

Issue #3: Family Values
"The term has been a registered trademark of the GOP for years, a bludgeon against Democrats who, by implication, oppose families and have no values. Like most political language, it's a code. Family values means the pol in question has God on speed-dial, and the pol can be counted upon to oppose gun control and the so-called homosexual agenda and abortion, while pushing schools to teach, as Tina Fey once put it, Adam and Eve rode to church on dinosaurs. For all its policy implications, though, family values has always had a larger meaning. It was an implicit promise to white, non-ethnic, rural or suburban-dwelling, church-going Christian moms and dads that the party would always do the right thing." So wrote Leonard Pitts, Jr. in his column in the Miami Herald.

Issue #1: You Make Me “il”
North Korea has sent tremors throughout the world. It announced that it had exploded its first nuclear bomb in an underground site some 250 miles northeast of Pyongyang. The detonation was weak, registering a low 4.2 on the Richter scale, with only one kiloton of explosive force, so anemic as to leave some scientists to believe that the blast was faulty. President George Bush deplored the test and said the U.S. reserves its options: “The United States remains committed to diplomacy. The United States also reserves all options to defend our friends and our interests in the region against the threats from North Korea.”

Issue #4: It's the Economy Still, Stupid
Despite the sea of troubles threatening to capsize Republican control of Congress in the midterm elections, there is one bright spot on the GOP horizon: the economy. Democrats want us to think that we're heading into a recession because of plunging home prices and high oil prices. Well, baloney. Energy prices are plummeting. Interest rates have leveled off. A soft landing for housing is likely. Unemployment is down. And the deficit forecast was cut in half. Despite this plethora of positive news, a Washington Post/ABC poll shows, by a 17-point margin, voters trust Democrats over Republicans to handle the economy.

Issue #2 continued....Course Correction
“If the plan is now not working, the plan that's in place isn't working, America needs to adjust. I completely agree,” so said President George Bush in a Rose Garden press conference about the White House’s Iraq policy. It was a watershed moment. Staying the course is out. Correcting the course is in. And the degree of correction is like north versus south. General George Casey, the U.S. top commander in Iraq, gave the reason for the reversal: “We shouldn't try to sugar-coat this. The levels of violence over the last few weeks are as high as they have been.” The Brits also want to pull out.