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2/1/2007 7:57:11 AM

Molly Ivins 1944-2007

 When TCF started this modest attempt at punditry, a link and due props to Texas scribe Molly Ivins was the first to go up in the right column. I had long caught the political junkie jones before I was turned on to one her hilarious books on Lone Star state politics. I am but a rookie lanquishing in Triple AAA compared to the body of work she has amassed. Her sharp wit and equally preceptive insight will sorely be missed at a time when both are desperately needed in American public discourse.

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1/22/2007 2:38:26 PM

Chicago Bears Head To The Super Bowl

 The well worn cliche that Chicago is the quintessential 'sports town' may seem a backhanded compliment when you factor in the debacle that is TCF's beloved Chicago Cubs. Yet, the thrashing yesterday of the New Orlean Saints by the Chicago Bears calls for all those familair quips appropriate to describe the '06-'07 version of the 'Monsters Of The Midway'.

 TCF doubted these Bears in this very blog, giving more weight to those naysayers clogging up valuable ESPN.com server space. Our vaunted defense had lost it's bite, 'Bad Rex' was due for another visit, Devin Hester was fumble prone, our secondary was porous, etc. But mid-week I figured out that Lovie Smith and his team were probably reading the same predictions, and nothing motivates this team better than being doubted.

 I'll hold my prediction on the Super Bowl until that Saturday eve, but count me again a true believer. But, I will take away this thorough examination exercise of the very soul of this storied franchise and put it to good use come Spring Training.

 Hear that Lou Pinella?

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1/11/2007 9:21:04 PM

Potshots, Predictions and Plea Agreements

TCF thought he would clear his noggin of some of the naddering nuggets of negativism before he could possibly enjoy Nancy Pelosi Day. So here goes:


Why isn’t R. Kelly in jail yet?

Vice and Lynn Cheney blasted John Kerry for actually praising their raising of a lesbian daughter and cynically used it as a last minute campaign tactic back in ’04. Now, the social Conservatives on the right savage Mary Cheney for having a child with her lesbian lover and the White House is eerily silent.

If Hillary Clinton even hints at supporting Bush’s plan for a surge of troops in Iraq, then she’s dead to me. (Never mind….)

TCF would like now his due props for securing a seat early on the Countdown with Keith Olbermann bandwagon. The sole reason MSNBC’s ratings were up last year was because of his growing viewership. Fox News Channel is currently in freefall (down 14% last year). And, as long as CNN allows Lou Dobb’s facts-free, anti-immigrant bashing, they will continue heading in the wrong direction as well.

That Donald Trump is a real class act, ain’t he?

Tower Records has gone out of business and the word on the retail street is that Best Buy will soon get rid of selling CDs’ altogether. If you’re then forced to shop at your local Wal-Mart that will not have that CD you want in stock, it’s all your fault anyway.

Why isn’t Snopp Dogg in jail yet?

TCF predicts that a current NFL star will come out of the closet by the end of this year.

Joel Osteen has a Your Best Life Now board game. I kid you not.

My favorite album of 2006: James Hunter People Gonna Talk. Check it out!

26% percent of Hispanics voted for Republicans in the 2006 Midterms (down from 43%). Other than pointing out that the GOP’s continued immigrant bashing will further erode this support, this also puts Nevada, Arizona and Colorado in play for the Democrats in the 2008 presidential election.

You know you’re old when you accidentally voted for Pat Buchanan.

The Chicago Cubs will win the 2007 National League pennant and go to the World Series for the first time in over a half-century.

The Chicago Bears will not make it to the Super Bowl.

Why isn’t Tom DeLay in jail yet?

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12/27/2006 10:37:27 PM

Gerald Ford v. James Brown

 With the inevitable ad nauseam ruminations over the validity of President Gerald Ford’s abbreviated tenure, TCF cannot help but incite a comparative dialog given recent events.

 Who had a greater impact on American society: Gerald Ford or James Brown?

 Discuss...

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12/14/2006 10:28:58 PM

Barack Like Me

 TCF has a history with the current junior U.S. Senator/ Dem rock star from the great state of Illinois, Barack Obama. I worked on his successful Senate campaign back in 2004, but he also helped launch this fledgling little blog of mine in return. I had a photo, endorsement and link to his campaign blog site posted in the right column, at the time. And, mere hours after his keynote speech at the ’04 Democratic National Convention, this blog was well on its way to clocking in over 5,000 hits in the coming days.

 But, let me make my prognostication very clear here – Obama is running for the Vice-Presidential nomination of his party in ’08.

 And, why not? I’d bet Obama’s very wise fellow Senator Dick Durbin has urged him to strike while the irons hot. Suck up the oxygen of American voters craving for responsible, ethical leadership while John McCain sucks up to the Evangelical Right and former donors of George W. Bush. The recent Blue-state wave has now put New Mexico and Colorado in Electoral College play for 2008. Does that thus make a Sam Brownback the heir to Ronald Reagan’s legacy for the evangelical Right that has a stranglehold on the Republican Party Presidential Primary process?

 The current media obsession with Obama will do nothing but dry up all Democratic funding from also-rans like John Edwards and Tom Vilsack, and never-should’ve-rans like John Kerry and Evan Bayh. And, a Hillary/Barack ticket will probably solidify by the time (ironically) the process hits Illinois in March 2008.

 Republican operatives appearing on Chris Matthew’s Hardball can sneer about Obama’s middle name being Hussein, but remember he has vastly more legislative experience than the Govenator and Condi Rice they’d prefer to put on the Presidential ticket.

 This is why TCF believes that the coming two years of Democratic rule under Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid is of the utmost importance. If the Democrats can provide effective oversight (as pledged), thus leading to a salvageable resolution to the Iraq problem and economic fairness to American workers, the scare tactics of the presumptive Republican Presidential nominee will fall flat.

 Guess you can call it the ‘Audacity Of Hope’.

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11/15/2006 6:17:36 PM

What I Miss??

 Look. TCF knows that he has been remiss in posting anything in quite a while. But, life throws you some curves and I needed to concentrate on more pressing issues.

 That being said…

 Hell yeah, I’m happy that the Dems took back the House and Senate! I’ve thought about a gloating tour of the Freeper sites that I use to haunt, but thought that a fruitless venture, at this juncture.

 Second, the whole Lefty blogsphere has become so crowded with ditto head type pronouncements, TCF thought himself now just an echo in the crowded field of cyber pundits ready to pass judgment on the hot topic crowding the present news cycle.

 If anyone finds a Bill Richardson for President bumper sticker out there, lemme know. Otherwise, let’s roll up our sleeves and right this ship of state and prove that the coming Blue state revolution needs no Rovian spin and wedge to elect Hillary #44.
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7/25/2006 4:14:19 PM

Fear Of The Progressive Blog Planet

 In the midst of the successful launch of YearlyKos, it is of great significance that Markos Moulitsas was the first blogger ever to be called over to the couch that is Tim Russert’s Meet The Press. And Markos beat the chicken hawks, say, at Powerline to the honor because he could withstand the scrutiny of the Russert Inquisition that which Tom DeLay wisely chose to take a pass on.

 There’s a very good reason the Lefty blogsphere has become the bane of the Right’s existence from, yes, Joe Liberman, Bill O’Reilly and future Viagra spokesman Rush Limbaugh. The Right blogs speak hypocrisy in defense of the Bush administration and the Congressional Republicans. Yet, the newfound power of Liberal and Progressive blogs is the result of successfully speaking truth to power.

 The present offensive against the New York Times, for example, will play out typically, as the sound and fury of the Conservative bloviation will fail to outdistance the substantive facts and hypocritical complicity of the Bush administration itself in exposing the SWIFT program. The Right blogs and Conservative talk shows are screaming that the Times violated the Espionage Act (they didn’t), should be prosecuted for printing classified material (they can’t), and should be locked up, or better still, gassed.

 Yet, the Lefty blogs are now detailing how former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill led a group of reporters across Europe to show off the Bush administration’s success in tracking and cutting off terrorist funding. And Richard Clarke and Roger Cressy are opining in the Op-Ed pages of the New York Times on how stupid the terrorists would be not to know the SWIFT program already exists.

 The Right bloggers will soon run out of scathing, manufactured indignations where solid evidence of wrongdoing by the New York Times would otherwise perpetuate their electronic evisceration. Lurkers are fleeing from the Right bloggers for the same reason formerly staunch right wing viewers are now fleeing Fox News Channel. Chris Matthews and the rest of the inside Beltway pundits will continue to gullibly regurgitate Karl Rove’s manipulation of the news cycle as though George Bush actually has a 60% percent approval rating. In contrast, it has become apparent the only substantive facts to be found are on such reliable web portals as The Progress Report, Crooks & Liars and TPMuckraker.

 The reason George Bush and the Republicans have lost nearly all credibility with the American people can only be explained by the source with which such devastating evidence was delivered. The continued complicity of the mainstream news media may have slowed the process, yet those unflinching images from Iraq alone could not have turned the nation against this administration.

 Those of us occupying the Lefty blogsphere are owed partial credit for what accountability has been exacted on Bush and the GOP. And the proof is as simple as just being mentioned along with the rest of the Liberal Bias Media.

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7/16/2006 12:27:44 PM

Big Box Blowback

 Whether it is local municipalities adhering to their own version of the Kyoto Treaty and setting like-minded environmental standards, many local governments are now addressing the economic disparity caused by the refusal of Congress to raise the minimum wage. And so the Chicago City Council is set to mandate wage increases for employees working for so-called ‘big box’ retailers (Wal Mart, Target) located within the city.

 In response came a veiled threat from Target to shutter all twenty-two Chicago stores arguing that the minimum set at $10.00 per hour plus $3 dollars in benefits (for stores over 90,000 square feet and annual revenues over $1 billion) would ’devastate’ the company.

 TCF would advise the Chicago alderman to go ahead and call Target’s bluff.

 Each one of Sam Walton’s offspring is a billionaire and I suspect that Target shareholders are not scraping by like most of their sales associates. This is not an attempt at redistribution of wealth, but offering hardworking people a living wage to support their families. Contrary to the expected retort from the Republicans, Target and Wal-Mart are not small businesses vulnerable to incremental labor costs. In fact, Wal Mart just saw it’s stock downgraded this week because of the adverse effect rising gasoline prices are having on the very wage earners they employ.

 Many of those benefiting economically from the one-sided ‘Bush Boom’ are purchasing second homes, while those on the other end of the spectrum are trimming household spending to fill the family car with fossil fuels. Allowing retailers like Target to escape the pains of such fiscal reverberations by keeping their labor costs artificially low is not an example of fair market forces at work. However, sacrificing only a fraction of their stock portfolio to insure that those possessing the other 99% percent of our country’s wealth keep up with inflation only seems fair.

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7/11/2006 1:25:38 AM

Got Stem Cell Research?

 If anyone is surprised that George Bush will use his first ever veto of his presidency to block Congressional support for stem cell research although an overwhelming number of Americans support it, then you do not understand fully the dynamics of off year election politics.

 Karl Rove and the RNC are counting on not enough registered voters caring about such important issues as they await the emergence or photographic proof that there truly is a Suri Cruise.

 Democrats, here is the White House handing you a wedge issue on a silver plate.

 Got Stem Cell Research?


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7/8/2006 2:24:26 AM

The End Of Gay Marriage

 TCF has long argued that civil unions were the more prudent of alternatives on the gay marriage question, and only if the gay community was hell bent on making it our first and only priority. Domestic partnership benefits, fair housing/employment measures I believe are the more pressing of issues. However, such misplaced priorities are a product of an arrogant, naïve leadership typical of an entitled American mindset that knows no sexual preference.

 The majority opinion by the New York Supreme Court against gay marriage presumed ‘societal goals’ were grounded solely in the ‘argument’ that straight parents are better than gay parents, although no studies have measured any difference in the development of such children raised alternatively, at this point. However, given that the legal setback is disappointing, TCF believes there’s finally a sliver lining to the decision.

 Those of us on the Left should now spin this as an end to this costly wedge issue and concede that, for the time being, the American people - through the independent judicial branch that reflects their values – have spoken on the issue.

 Gay Marriage may never happen in my lifetime and I really don’t care to be perfectly honest. As a gay man, I do have other priorities and causes that would improve my life, rather than focusing on having the right to have such an elusive commitment as recognizable and lawful.

 The Democratic Party needs to now move past this divisive issue insisting that there are more important matters to solve. Social Conservatives will boast that this is a major setback to the ‘Homosexual Agenda’. Yet, ask Karl Rove if he may just have lost a key part of his political arsenal come the November Mid-Terms.

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7/3/2006 8:45:06 AM

Counting Out Kerry?

 Unlike the Republican Party apparently, the Democrats tend to shoot their failed Presidential candidates and John Kerry looks as wounded as they come.

 Still, TCF is not ready to give up on a Kerry nomination in 2008 having developed a growing dislike of Hillary Clinton and the belief that John Edwards and Joe Biden show no discernable strengths

 Yes, my wish for now is another Al Gore candidacy and gauging just exactly how much arm-twisting and cajoling could possibly be needed to change his mind.

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6/28/2006 10:59:21 AM

Best Of The Left Wing Media

TCF is still a bit miffed that the local Air America Radio outlet in Chicago (WCPT AM 850) only broadcasts from dawn to dusk. And from its onset, the daily lineup was but a sausage-fest from the droning of Jerry Springer in the midday to the pompous blow-hardedness of Ed Shultz in drive time. Only because of current daylight savings time can you actually hear Randi Rhodes starting at 5pm, and Rachel Maddow is worth waiting for the signal to kick in at 6 am.

But, were it not for WCPT running a ‘best of’ on Saturday mornings, I never would’ve discovered The Stephanie Miller Show.

Stephanie and her sidekicks have best thing going in terms of progressive talk radio in this country. They do not delve into the policy wonk end of the pool like an Al Franken. Yet do equal justice by delving into ’Right Wing World’ with scathing and hilarious results.

I highly recommend you sample some of the show on Stephanie’s blog, as TCF actually considers moving to the Seventh ring of Hell called Madison, Wisconsin to hear her show everyday on my clock radio.

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6/25/2006 9:06:00 AM

TCF's Conspiracy Corner

Things TCF will believe until the ongoing investigation has been completed and/or the irrefutable visual evidence set to Elvis Presley’s Mystery Train has been posted on YouTube:

Is it really necessary to have Blue Collar Comedy on two television networks?

Look at the map of states that have arbitrarily raised their own minimum wage and the ones that have not are all Red states.

Come the March 2008 Illinois Primary, TCF knows he will not be voting for Hillary Clinton in the Democratic Presidential Primary. Which makes me more tempted to ask for a Republican ballot and vote for either Bill Frist or George Allen.

In defending his ‘fag’ slurs against Sun-Times’ sports columnist Jay Marriotti, Chicago White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen cited his wife’s ‘friends’, going to a Madonna concert and attending a WNBA game as examples of his gay-friendliness.

TCF may be a gay man, but even The Lake House is too much of a ‘chick film’ for me.

Some say she is crazy to leave The View, but don’t tell me Star Jones is not talented enough to get her own TV show!

Don’t put it past Karl Rove that the sudden death of Zarqawi was not timed to coincide with Bush’s War Cabinet/surprise visit to Iraq photo-op.

I’m a die-hard Chicago Cubs fan. And, TCF hates the fact that conservative George Will is too.

Hillary Clinton will not be the Democratic Presidential nominee in 2008.

The far right Conservative’s demonization of immigration will result in putting the formerly solid Red states of Arizona and Texas in play, in ’08.

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6/8/2006 12:40:39 PM

An Email From John Kerry

Dear TCF,

Over at their posh headquarters on First Street -- just a few blocks from the U.S. Capitol -- they’re sitting around scratching their heads. They just had to spend over $5 million in national GOP money to hold on to the California House seat vacated by Randy "Duke" Cunningham.

They eked out a "victory" by pouring in close to $100 for every vote cast in favor of their candidate -- in a district so Republican, they shouldn’t have had to lift a finger.

Looking ahead to 435 House races, 33 Senate races, and hundreds of state and local contests, the strategists at Republican Party headquarters know that their $100 a vote formula just doesn’t work.

They can’t buy their way out of this one.

There aren’t enough heavy-hitting Bush Pioneers left on the planet to help 2006 GOP candidates overcome their Iraq mistakes, their Katrina incompetence, and their miserable record of failure on everything from homeland security to health care to the environment.


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6/4/2006 2:31:19 AM

The Mid Term Predictor

 Although an increasing number within the GOP are privately predicting the House will change hands in November, there are still many more political pundits inside and outside the Beltway hedging their bets against, such pessimism based solely on solidly registered Republican Congressional districts (gerrymandered or otherwise) and the accepted talking point that the Dems have no message. (Quoting Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio ‘the good news is the Democrats have no message, the bad news is they may not need one’.)

 It’s very well possible to maintain such a mindset if, like the Vice-President, all the televisions are preset to Fox News before your arrival. And no matter how many times you link to the DNC website, those on the Right will purposely mistake the stated ‘message’ as just more ‘Bush Bashing’. Tip O’Neil’s adage still applies, that ‘…all politics is local’. Yet, Chris Matthews will not venture beyond his isolated cable perch to size up the impressive slate of Congressional candidates Rahm Emmanuel has assembled, just as the significance of the ‘Fighting Dems’ will be lost on partisan Republicans.

 So we will look to the results of the California 50th Congressional runoff this coming Tuesday as the bellwether of what we are to expect this coming November. Count on a win by Democrat Francine Busby to be more than reducing the count to 14 seats for the Democrats to regain the House, but the start of a revolution.


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