10/19: You're On The Same Team Guys

Stories from both sides of the blogosphere today demonstrate that neither party is going to harness the capabilities of the 'sphere without a few growing pains. On the right, conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh is talking about an Instapundit post title "GOP pre-mortem" for the 3rd consecutive day. While Rush has heaped praise on other right bloggers, there's definitely a disconnect between Limbaugh and Instapundit made worse by the fact that neither seems to regularly read the other. On the left, Chris Bowers at MyDD is pushing for all 45 unopposed House Dems to distribute all $26+ mil. of their CoH to competitive races this fall. This may be a fabulous idea, but we can't imagine the cash will be easily parted with.

BLOGGERS VS. BELTWAY: Hey, Big Spender!

DailyKos' founder Markos Moulitsas looks at DCCC reports that "the DCCC is likely to go deep into debt, perhaps topping the $11 million deficit it racked up in 2004" in order to "pick up 40 or more seats." Markos comments: "I like that the committee will go into debt. The DNC is going to borrow $5-10 million to assist the DSCC's efforts to take the Senate. Democrats are getting a bit cocky and looking to land a knockout blow -- one that would almost reverse the current makeup of the House, from a 15-seat deficit to a 15-seat advantage."

MyDD's Chris Bowers is less happy about the news: "This is a risky gamble, one that I have to say I don't like very much. If we come up short in any of these races, then that will be money the DNC could have spent on continuing to hire organizers in all fifty states. ... We will also have to pay back some debt after the election, instead of immediately working on 2008. Both of these are drags on our long-term goals."

MyDD's Jonathan Singer, however, loved the idea: "Let's Borrow Big Bucks for a Majority ... It's a very good sign that the DCCC is considering borrowing against the future in order to try to make full use of this opportunity."

BLOGGERS VS. BELTWAY II: Luco Brazi Only Wanted Ten Percent

"Amidst all of this talk about taking out loans to fund key races" MyDD's Chris Bowers, writing in a Daily Kos diary, tallied up the CoH numbers for the 45 Dems with no opponent and found $26,288,418 as if 9/30. At MyDD Bowers asks readers to call all 45 unchallenged Dems and ask them to transfer "all of their money to the DCCC in large lumps and / or to competitive Democratic campaigns at $2,100 a pop." Kos comments: "I'd be happy if they ponied up just half of that idle cash"

BLOGGERS VS. BELTWAY III: Bigger Than EMILY's List

DailyKos' founder Markos Moulitsas explains that with "$11.8 million raised this cycle" if "ActBlue wasn't a pass through PAC, it would be the largest Democratic PAC in the country in candidate contributions." Kos continues: "If our little Netroots list was a standalone PAC, it would rank 17th or so for the largest disbursements to federal candidates. The way to lessen the impact of narrow interest groups is to promote people-powered funding of candidates. And ActBlue has made that possible."

BLOGGERS VS. BELTWAY IV: O Ye Of Little Faith

MyDD's Jonathan Singer looks at Hotline On Call (go team!) reports on increased K Street giving to Dems and highlights Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) spokesman Brendan Daly's insistence that corporate donors "understand our agenda" and "that is the agenda they can expect should Democrats take the majority." Singer isn't so sure: "I wish I had the same faith in Democratic leaders that Mr. Daly has. I really do. I wish I could believe that these special interests, which have fought against many of the core progressive tenets of the Democratic Party at least the last decade and realistically even longer, are simply trying to get on the good side of the next leaders of the House and won't be able to co-opt the Democratic leadership to their side come January."

LANDSCAPE: No Curbing This Enthusiasm

Writing at TPM Cafe, Dem pollster Stan Greenberg looks at polling showing "Democratic base voters are 20 points more likely than Republican base voters to say they are 'enthusiastic' about this election." Greenberg announces that his new poll shows the pro-Dem shift "is driven by a greatly increased anger about Iraq." Greenberg concludes: "These moments come once or twice in a political life time. ... We have the chance to build a comparable majority, which will impact politics for the next decade."

MyDD's Chris Bowers notes that Dems are not quite over the hump yet in the Senate. Bowers looks at poll averages in 13 races highlighting the five closest races including TN, MO, VA, AZ, and CT. Bowers has Dems picking up between 4-6 seats and projects a 50-48-2 Senate finish.

CT SEN: We Get It, Lefty Bloggers Love Alan Schlesinger

Under the header, "Debate Train to Crazy Town" MyDD's Matt Stoller has a lengthy recap of 10/18's debate between Sen. Joe Lieberman (I), cable exec Ned Lamont (D), gambler Alan Schlesinger (R), and two other people. Highlights include:

• What has happened is that Joe Lieberman competed in a Democratic primary, lost, and is now competing in a Republican primary, and is losing again.
• [T]here are a lot of parallels between Alan Schlesinger and Ross Perot. Both are charismatic, and both tap into a xenophobic and charming right-wing populist streak in the American electorate focusing on closed borders and the insolvency of entitlements.
• Fortunately, Alan Schlesinger just shattered the status quo here and injected a sense of fun, making this race what it's needed to be for awhile, a friggin' carnival.
• Republicans and conservative unaffiliated voters are now torn between their heads and their hearts, because Schlesinger really delivered, once again.

Other debate reax:

• Lamont's official blogger Tim Tagaris at Daily Kos: "The buzz is back, folks. The carnival-like atmosphere has returned to the race and our team is all kinds of fired up, poised to bring this race home." Tagaris also notes: "Joe Lieberman's tracker is now tracking Alan Schlesinger as well."
• DailyKos' founder Markos Moulitsas chimes in: "I love the framing that "Lieberman lost the Democratic primary, now he's losing the Republican primary" because it happens to be true. Joe needs Republican voters. If Schlesinger picks up another 10 percent of support, gets into the 15-20 percent range, then Lieberman is toast."
• Pachacutec at firedoglake: "Alan Schlesinger owned Loser Joe again. Hard. Drew blood. Stephen Colbert, please have him on your show. I asked you once nicely. Don't make me get nasty!"
• unofficial Lamont Blog: "Emerging consensus this time: Lieberman was alone onstage in defending Bush's war, Ned took Joe to task on Social Security and energy as well, Schlesinger was a big story again."

Stoller also has video of Lamont from the debate and of Schlesinger afterwards.

MD SEN: Can They Keep This Macaca Alive?

Writing about Rep. Steny Hoyer's (MD-03) 10/15 use of the word "slavishly" to describe LG Michael Steele (R) RCP Blog's Tom Bevan is "not sure if Steele is going to get any mileage out of this or not - but he's certainly trying. In that case, he might as well respond to Hoyer the same way D'Amato did to Abrams back in 1992: write a letter saying that "only when the political damage became too great did you offer an apology. I neither forgive nor excuse your behavior."

For her part, Michelle Malkin "was prepared to write that Hoyer had gotten a bad rap" until she "read more about the context of his remarks and Hoyer's past history of race-based insults against Steele. Hoyer didn't just innocently use the word in ordinary conversation. He employed it during a comedy routine in front of a crowd of mostly black business owners."

Instapundit isn't sure "slavish" is a racist taunt but notes: "unlike "macaca" at least we all know what the word means." MeanwhileTownhall's Mary Katharine Ham notes "He's also gonna require 183 more mentions in the Washington Post. No, seriously, he's 183 behind "Macaca," and there are only three weeks left in the campaign. Get on it!" FinallyPower Line's Paul Mirengoff sees nothing out of the ordinary: "Come on. This word is used all the time in politics to attack those who support a particular line. Let's not draw any inferences from ordinary usage of the English language."

MT SEN: But Does Rove Have A Secret Plan To Defeat Tester?

Manyleftybloggers are laughing at Sen. Conrad Burns insistence that Pres. Bush has a plan for Iraq but that " he's not gonna tell everybody in the whole world. And if you wanna go out and spar for a fight or you gonna tell your enemy what your plan is." DailyKos' founder Markos Moulitsas quips: "It would also be nice if Bush and Burns shared their secret plan for Iraq with the generals trying to hold things together in that misbegotten hellhole."

Also Left in the West shares doubts about the MSU-Billings poll but still concludes: "If we can believe the MSU-B poll was done in a sound way, 46-35 is huge."

NJ SEN: The Artful Dodger

Atrios posts "hilarious" video of State Sen. Tom Kean Jr. (R) dodging "23 Iraq questions."

PA SEN: No Mention Of Mordor Here

Sen. Rick Santorum (R) guest blogged at Captain's Quarters 10/18: "If you want to keep your taxes low, defeat the Islamofascist threat to our freedom, and restore sanity to our judicial system by appointing judges who won't re-write the Constitution every chance they get...then my victory in Pennsylvania will help protect you and your family from the radical left seeking to seize control of the United States Senate this November."

VA SEN: Dueling Presidents...Is That Like Dueling Banjos But Different?

Ex-Navy Sec. James Webb's (D) Netroots Coordinator and Raising Kaine founder Lowell Feld notes: "Tomorrow, we'll have dueling Presidents in Virginia: Bill Clinton for Jim Webb, and George W. Bush for George Allen." Feld asks: "Who's more popular, Clinton or Bush? According to a poll conducted for CNN in May 2006 ... a strong majority of respondents said President Clinton outperformed Bush on a host of issues."

Also at Raising Kaine, Feld explains why Allen hates Polar Bears, and phriendlyjaimeclaims "Kinky Porn Loving Adulterers" love Allen.

On the right, Townhall's Mary Katharine Ham celebrates an Allen endorsement from the "African-American Paper" The Richmond Voice. Ham remembers: "In case you're wondering about their track record, the Voice endorsed Democrat Tim Kaine over Kilgore for governor last year."

The official AllenHQ links to a Washington Times refutation of a Webb ad on Allen's stock option reporting and posts pics from the Veterans of Foreign Wars endorsement of Allen.

CLINTON: Russell Shaw Hasn't MovedOn

The Huffington Post's Russell Shaw does not "begrudge anyone's right to believe in what they believe in" but wonders "how much of Hillary's cross-wearing is consultant-driven, as opposed to driven more by belief." Shaw adds: "I also happen to wonder how this symbolic display of her faith squares with the almost irrefutable fact that she ignored her husband's multiple adulterous episodes in her quest to be close to power- and then gain some for herself."

OBAMA: Who Knew TAPPED Had So Many Racist Readers?

TAPPED's Ezra Klein forwards an email from a reader:

I just voted absentee, straight Democrat. That being said I assure you I will never vote for a woman nor a black for president and I am not alone. If Hillary/Obama ran they probably could not even carry all the blue states and certainly not the South. Perhaps after we are taken over by the Mexicans voting will change.

Elsewhere on the left Talk Left's Big Tent Democrat attacks Sen. Barack Obama's (D-IL) "bipartisan silliness" and TAPPED's Charles Pierce warns Obama that Joe Klein "man-crushes" can go south quickly.

TERROR POLITICS: Well, If Wiki Says It's True ...

Tigerhawk compares what Pres. Bush actually said in response to George Stephanpoulos Iraq/vietnam question ("There's certainly a stepped-up level of violence, and we're heading into an election.") to Think Progress' summary: "President Bush is right to finally admit that violence in Iraq has reached a tipping point, and that the U.S. is not winning the war as he has claimed." Tigerhawk argues Bush "merely agreed that there was an appropriate comparison to be made between the Tet offensive and the violence we are seeing in Iraq today. I agree." Tigerhawk then quotes Wikipedia on the Tet offensive: "The Tet Offensive is frequently seen as an example of the value of propaganda, media influence and popular opinion in the pursuit of military objectives." Tigerhawk concludes: " In that one regard, Iraq is dangerously similar to Vietnam, which fact the mainstream media would know if the typical editor read military history instead of the journalism pretending to be history that fills the bestseller lists."

Also in GWOT news, at The Huffington Post, womans' studies prof. Francine Busby (D) announces that her campaign received "250 copies of 'Iraq for Sale' from a generous donor" and will be passing them out to precinct captains "to help organize Get Out The Vote efforts." Busby on the movie: "This film shines a bright light on how Congress abdicated its vital role in holding President Bush accountable for the conduct of this costly and wasteful distraction from the war on terrorism."

And in the tin-foil hat department, Talking Points Memo reader RT wonders: " At some point, in the vast TPM Media empire, you need to start taking bets on when the OBL video will be released. I'm thinking the Friday morning before the election." Josh Marshall responds: "Sounds right to me. Clearly, Osama can't keep a regular video taping operation going while he's on the run or living in that duplex in Quetta or the brownstone in Karachi. But he does seem to be able to put out video clips at key moments on the Jihadist version of youtube. So when does it drop?"

BLOGGERS VS. MSM: Ron Burgundy Has A Radio Show?

Samablog claims conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh has "declared war on the blogosphere, going to far as to declare that it was not the blogosphere that did in Trent Lott, but the MSM and the left. Today's broadcast may mark a formal break between the Internet and talk radio. yesterday he derisively referred to "that Instapundit guy."

Instapundit-readers/Limbaugh listeners heard a different story:

• Keith Waldrop: "Limbaugh is not singling you out. He is merely using the term "pre-mortem" as a lightning rod or example of the things he's hearing in the blogosphere that bother him. He's hitting on the issue for a third day which is much his style. I believe he genuinely would like you to respond in kind."
• Jack Lillywhite: "His point is that whatever mistakes the GOP has made - they are still the only (of the two) party that represents the values and long term objectives (i.e. Supreme court makeover) of conservatives. That is his main rant. Not your pre-mortem. Although I do think Rush has always had a problem with the "creeping libertarianism" of the conservative perspective.
• Mary Evans: "Rush credited bloggers on his show today, and made a point to say he was not criticizing you. I just went to Rob Sama's site and read what he said. He either has a grudge against Rush or did not listen to what Rush said in full."

Instapundit links to a transcript of Rush's monologue and writes: "I think the GOP has been failing to exercise the kind of self-discipline that a party with a slim majority that wants to stay in the majority needs to exercise, especially if the stakes are as high as Limbaugh says they are. Because if the future of Western civilization is at stake, you shouldn't blow your credibility on pork and pocket-stuffing."

Other righty bloggers also noted "America's Anchorman" kind words for them. Townhall's Hugh Hewitt: "My inbox is full of e-mails alerting me to Rush's kind comments about this blog during today's show. That's like a sub designer getting a compliment from Rickover." Power Line's Scott Johnson: "We join our friend Hugh Hewitt (from whom I've borrowed the heading) in thanking Rush Limbaugh for his kind mention of us today on his show."

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Keep It Simple, Silly

Townhall's Mary Katharine Ham launched her first vlog 10/18, taking on Sen. Harry Reid's (D-NV) Las Vegas, NV land deal. Ham writes: "My take is that things like this don't really stick, electorally speaking, no matter how wrong they are, unless they're really simple. This is not really simple, but maybe the stick figures will help. Please enjoy."

LEST WE FORGET: How Would Yoda Spin?

While arguing that The Military Commissions Act "fundamentally" changed the US by killing "freedom in the middle of the night" Cenk Uygur at The Huffington Post illustrates how today's MSM would have covered the Galactic Civil War:

Here's neutral: The Jedi rebels say the Death Star is a peril to the universe, but Darth Vader assures the universe that the empire is trying to protect us from the insurgent terrorists that seek to do us harm.

Here's objective: It's called the Death Star. Its objective is complete control. Darth Vader's tactics are brutal and dictatorial.

But, of course, it's even worse. The headline today would read: Vader Says He Will Keep Us Safe.