Friday Roundup: Things Are Tough All Over

The GOP has problems.

Kuff tells us the motion to vacate is Coming Soon. KVUE has a readable version of the 60,000 pages from the Craddick fishing trip lawsuit. And it wasn't just in Texas that Republicans encountered some difficulty.

House Minority Leader John Boehner cried a little on the floor of the House. Not too long after, a sparrow pooped a little on the President. I don't mean to encourage that sort of foolishness as reporting, but man. What a tough news cycle.

Speaking of tough news cycles, how would you like to be Giuliani this week? First you get these poll results that have the audacity to claim you might not be a sure thing because of the tiny issue that you are ideologically separated from pretty much your entire party, and then the media starts warming up to Ron Paul for some reason. Doesn't being America's Mayor buy you any slack these days?

Things aren't great for Democrats either. There's been a great deal of wailing and gnashing of teeth about the Iraq War funding bill having shed the timetables for withdrawal, and much of the wailing and gnashing is coming from the Left of the Left. A stroll through the diaries at DailyKos provides the astute reader with: unlimited outrage and feelings of betrayal; several calls for primary challengers for Senators that voted for the new version of the bill; and even warnings that maybe some of the Democratic voters who delivered unto them a majority are actually independents, and don't you forget it.

Ben Smith at the Politico astutely observes that, on the aforementioned bill, Obama and Clinton voted no (in that order), and Biden voted yes. Make of that what you will.

I had been really wanting to turn this into its own bit, but I haven't had the time, so I include it here. Clinton has thrown open the doors of her campaign to The People! And The People have the opportunity to make some very important decisions about her campaign for America's future! Like what her campaign song will be!

Hillary's list of potential campaign songs includes:

Round One Winners:

* Suddenly I See - KT Tunstall
* Rock This Country! - Shania Twain
* Beautiful Day - U2
* Get Ready - The Temptations
* I'm a Believer - Smashmouth

Top Write-In Suggestions:

* Are You Gonna Go My Way - Lenny Kravitz
* Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now - McFadden & Whitehead
* Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic - The Police
* You and I - Celine Dion
* The Best - Tina Turner

There could have been some better choices here. No Al Green? Nothing by Akon? How about "So Says I" by The Shins, or "Transformer" by Gnarls Barkley? You could even go with the theme from The Boondocks, by Asheru. "I am the stone that the builder refused" works on many levels.So does having 99 Problems.

Speaking of Clinton, these kinds of news stories can't be helping: apparently, one of her top advisors is Mark Penn, who also happens to have a contract pushing the niceties of coal, and pushing for giant corporations in general. I look at that and I think to myself that everyone has to make a living — but most people won't see it that way.

About a month ago, Steven Bollinger called me up from Snyder and said that he'd gotten a phone poll call from Congressman Mike Conaway. He is a Republican's Republican, and Snyder (as well as the rest of District 11) isn't the sort of place where I would imagine an incumbent would need to run polls so far out. I thought about it for a few minutes, wondered why, and then promptly forgot all about it. Max Lazer has a possible reason at BOR, in the revelation that a Democrat is getting into the race. Dr. Vincent's website is, at the very least, pretty slick. He also has a Freedom Eagle, which I am unabashedly in favor of.