Internal Monologue

Here it is, from upyernoz at rubber hose : tip #1: be happy with the blog you have the dirty little secret of blogging is that only a limited number of people will ever be hot-shot high hitters. sure, there are things you can do to improve your chances of becoming a blog sensation (like the tips in all those other blogging tip posts). but even if you do all those things, odds are you'll never make it big. it may not be fair. but that's just the way things are. sure, blogging is a platform that can give a powerful voice to people who might not otherwise have one. but most of the time, for most people, it simply gives you a platform to write a lot of stuff that the vast majority of humanity will never read. if you can't come to terms with that, my advice to you is to stop blogging. unless you're happy with the idea of not being the next atrios, you're liable to become a twisted bitter shell of a blogger. a blogger who alternates between spamming a-listers with blas

Here's yet another example of the vast disconnect between political "conventional wisdom" and what real Americans actually think. A recent poll showed that 39% of Americans favor impeaching both Bush and Cheney . 55% are opposed, 6% are undecided/don't know. That's an enormous amount of support, given that the idea is dismissed by all the "serious" folks. Just think what those numbers would look like if the talking heads and pundits took the idea seriously. At the very least, all those who think impeachment is a "fringe" idea can be swatted over the head with this poll. And these numbers are from a polling firm with Republican roots , and were published in Human Events , which bills itself as "Leading the Conservative Movement * Since 1944". Let's get some movement on this! (HT: Heraldblog , who got it from Crooks and Liars .)

Everyone seems to be talking about how September is going to be this big time of reckoning for the Iraq occupation. I'm pretty skeptical. Kargo X thinks the September talk is pure bullshit . I might not go quite that far; there probably is a lot of pressure from Congressional Republicans (and Republican Presidential Candidates) to get Iraq off the agenda before November 2008. But I think Kargo X is probably more right than wrong. I don't have high hopes that come September a bunch of Republicans are suddenly going to be cured of Bush delusion. I think they're just trying to kick the issue down the calendar a few months.

Kevin Drum : One of the great discoveries of the Republican Party over the past decade or two is that an awful lot of the rules we take for granted are, in reality, just traditions. Like redistricting only once a decade, for example, or keeping House votes open for 15 minutes. And what Republicans have found out is that if you have the balls to do it, you can just ignore tradition and no one can stop you. It's that simple. Alberto Gonzales has learned this lesson well. Normally, cabinet officers who have been caught in multiple obvious lies have to either resign or else seriously try to defend themselves. But Gonzales realizes this is just tradition. Unless House Democrats have the votes to impeach him, he doesn't have to do anything. He can just mock them to their face and there's nothing much they can do about it. UPDATE: Sullivan links to this ...after I did. I am the most influential blogger! If only sitemeter reflected that...

Schaller explodes the myth of "the all-important political center" (HT: Pandagon ). The Republicans have figured this out (but have managed to screw things up so bad they're still in deep trouble). It would help us enormously if Democrats reprogrammed their instincts to take this reality into account.

Ouch . (HT: Feministing )

Begone from the Church, foul abortionist! Image from FOX News , who deserve to have their intellectual property ripped off because they are part of the right-wing noise machine that has done such damage to our country. Excommunication for Giuliani? That would frickin' rock . I wonder how Rudy would respond. Will it happen? Probably not, but Pope Benedict XVI has been talkin' tough on politicians who support reproductive freedom: ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (Reuters) - Pope Benedict on Wednesday warned Catholic politicians they risked excommunication from the Church and should not receive communion if they support abortion. (HT: Feministing . BTW, I wonder what kind of in-flight service you get aboard the papal plane.) Anyway, readers of this blog know that Giuliani supports abortion rights, even to the extent that he gave to Planned Parenthood mulitple times . So I think Rudy is an ideal candidate for excommunication. His divorces and adultery probably won't help him either