by TChris

Katherine Harris, as quoted in the Florida Baptist Witness:

Separation of church and state is "a lie we have been told," Harris said in the interview, published Thursday, saying separating religion and politics is "wrong because God is the one who chooses our rulers."

"If you're not electing Christians, then in essence you are going to legislate sin," Harris said.

Here's Katherine Harris "clarifying" her stated belief that there should be a religious test for public office, and that the Establish Clause of the First Amendment is a lie:

"My comments were specifically directed toward a Christian group," said Harris ....

Yes, we know they were. That's hardly an excuse. Does this mean Harris would have advocated electing members of a different faith if she'd been speaking to representatives of that faith?

Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) says the Republican party is in trouble for the fall elections and has lost its way.

"Where is the fiscal responsibility of the party I joined in '68? Where is the international engagement of the party I joined -- fair, free trade, individual responsibility, not building a bigger government, but building a smaller government?"

"I think we've lost our way," Hagel said. "And I think the Republicans are going to be in some jeopardy for that and will be held accountable."

Crooks and Liars has the video of Hagel on Fox News Sunday, in which he reiterates his belief that the U.S. should start withdrawing troops from Iraq within 6 months.

Hagel also said Bush went too far with his warrantless NSA spying.

by Last Night in Little Rock

The NSA wiretapping case decided Thursday; ACLU v. NSA, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 57338 (E.D. Mich. August 17, 2006); which was mentioned by me as a "resounding defeat" for the government, on the order of the Gitmo case; Hamdan v. Rumsfeld; is getting interesting play from President and the media.

The GOP rhetoric is starting to sound like "if you are for the Constitution, you are for the terrorists." How low can we sink?

Update: Sen. Allen's campaign manager Dick Wadhams may have sunk the Senator. Macaca isn't a name for Siddarth's haircut since he doesn't have a mohawk, see original post below -- it's a name for a monkey with a mohawk. The Macaca monkey of Indonesia has a mohawk.

Sulawesi Macaques are covered with black hair that mixes with white on their shoulders and arms. Their most distinguishing feature is a short ruff of coarse hair on the top of the head that sticks straight up.

*******
Original Post:

What was Senator George Allen thinking today when at a campaign stop, he taunted a young university student of Indian descent who was filming Allen for rival James Webb's campaign, calling him "Macaca?

(Guest Post by Big Tent Democrat)

For the past two and one half years, the Left blogs have been severe in their criticism of Senator Joe Lieberman's brand of "bipartisanship." When Ned Lamont launched his challenge to Lieberman, the Left blogs came under severe attack for their strident support of Lamont. In July, I wrote:

[S]ome in the Media do not think kindly of the Netroots involvement. That David Brooks flails in ridiculous terms against Netroots involvement in Democratic primaries and in favor of an apparently saintly Lieberman, is not surprising nor troublesome really. After all, he is a Republican.

But when Democrats like Jon Chait object one has to wonder what is going on here. . . . [Chait wrote:]

The Wall St. Journal (free link) reports on the latest Harris Poll.

When asked whom they would vote for "if elections for Congress were held today," 45% of U.S. adults said they would vote for the Democratic candidate and 30% would vote for the Republican, the Harris Interactive poll shows. In a similar poll in April, 41% supported a Democratic candidate for Congress and 37% supported a Republican.

The margin is even greater for women voters:

Joe Lieberman, puppet of the Bush Administration.

"If we just pick up like Ned Lamont wants us to do, get out by a date certain, it will be taken as a tremendous victory by the same people who wanted to blow up these planes in this plot hatched in England," Mr. Lieberman said at a campaign event in Waterbury, Conn. "It will strengthen them, and they will strike again."

In 1994, Newt Gingrich's plan was to foist a Contract on America on us, instilling the fear of crime in the heart of every American. In 2006, Lieberman thinks he can propel himself to victory by cementing the fear of terrorism in the heart of every Amercian.

Newt's plan was unsuccessful when it came to crime issues. Lieberman won't fare any better.

by TChris

The outcome of a democratic primary should be of no official concern to the Republican administration, but Dick Cheney used Ned Lamont's defeat of Joe Lieberman to argue that Democrats support al Qaeda.

Dick Cheney ... went so far as to suggest that the ouster of Mr. Lieberman might encourage "al Qaeda types." "It's an unfortunate development, I think, from the standpoint of the Democratic Party, to see a man like Lieberman pushed aside because of his willingness to support an aggressive posture in terms of our national security strategy,'' Mr. Cheney said in a telephone interview with news service reporters.

Playing the fear card worked for awhile, but the game has changed. The majority of Americans oppose the war. Tell us, Mr. VP, are all those folks giving aid and comfort to "al Qaeda types"?

The AP reported this afternoon that Joe Lieberman fired his top staffers and asked the rest to resign:

Lieberman said that he fired his campaign manager and spokesman, and asked for the resignations of his campaign staff.

"We did not answer, adequately answer, the distortions of my record on Iraq and my relationship with George Bush, that the Lamont campaign put out," said Lieberman, though he said he did not blame campaign workers.

Is Karl Rove going to suggest replacements? Maybe not, as Lieberman's campaign is now denying today's earlier report that Rove called to offer help.

Dan Gerstein called from the Lieberman campaign to say the above account from another Lieberman adviser is not accurate. While confirming that Rove called Lieberman, he added: "Rove made a personal call, no help was offered, and we are not interested regardless." A senior White House official also says that the account is "not accurate."

Update: The Carpetbagger Report says not all the departures were at the behest of Lieberman. Some of the staff decided to leave weeks ago if Lieberman lost to Lamont and left the Democratic party.

While most major Democrats today came out in support of Ned Lamont now that he has won the Connecticut primary, one Senator who has promised to support Joe Lieberman in the past is staying silent...Ken Salazar. According to the Denver Post:

Salazar said in July he'd back Lieberman as an independent candidate if he lost the Democratic primary to challenger Ted Lamont. Lamont did win, but Salazar by late this afternoon had not reaffirmed that support, instead issuing a statement saying that he was disappointed by the primary outcome....Salazar's spokesman, Drew Nannis, said Salazar needed to talk to Lieberman before saying what he'd do.

The Grand Junction Sentinel, however, reports that Salazar told the paper he plans to stick with supporting Lieberman.

Salazar did, however, express his thoughts as to why Lieberman lost:

Predictably, the mainstream media is focusing on the effect of the netroots. From Time Magazine:

Now that it has played a major role in helping to defeat Joe Lieberman in the Connecticut Senate primary Tuesday, the Netroots' moment has finally arrived.....in Tuesday's Democratic primary, the bloggers didn't just get a win, but a victory no one could have expected even four months ago.

What the magazine is missing:

The netroots is much larger than bloggers. It includes grass roots activists, organizations like MoveOn and more. The reporter kind of gets it a few paragraphs down:

Lieberman is on tv now giving his concession speech. He's mad. He's going to run as an independent.

Reversing the thread, newer results on top:

All that's left is Joe's concession speech. Congratulations, Ned Lamont.

11:02 pm. It's over. Lamont has a 10,000 vote lead with only 35 precincts out. It's too late Joe. As to why the MSM isn't reporting it, I was just told by someone who knows these things, "The MSM has been very timid about calling races since 2000, but it's tradition to wait for the loser to concede ... We may have a sore loser on our hands."

713 of 748 Precincts Reporting - 95.32%
Lamont, Ned Dem 138,836 51.92
Lieberman, Joe Dem 128,566 48.08

10:56 pm : No way can Lieberman win now, why won't the media say so? I'm ready for the Lieberman concession speech. Greta breaks her promise, she went the whole hour without declaring a winner in the race. Lieberman needs 79% of the remaining precincts to win, just about impossible.

706 of 748 Precincts Reporting - 94.39%
Lamont, Ned Dem 136,353 51.73
Lieberman, Joe Dem 127,249 48.27