A pair of Democratic Senators will not be running this fall.

North Dakota’s Byron Dorgan made the announcement yesterday.

North Dakota Sen. Byron Dorgan stunned fellow Democrats when he decided not to seek re-election this fall and swung open a race that Republicans are convinced will help the GOP dent the Democrats’ fragile majority in the Senate.

Today Connecticut’s Christopher Dodd will announce his retirement.

Trouble-plagued Connecticut Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, who has for months been considered the most vulnerable Senate incumbent seeking re-election this year, will announce Wednesday that he is ending his bid for a sixth six-year term, a Democratic source confirmed.

Dodd will make the announcement at a press conference at his home in Connecticut.

I guess this moves Harry Reid up to the “the most vulnerable Senate incumbent” spot. Unless he wants to join the departure parade.

Ace says,

More of this. More of this. Nothing but this for the next 32 days.

The election hangs on this single issue.

The public believes Republicans caused this disaster, and we’ll lose based on that misperception.

The Democrats actually caused it — but Republicans, beginning at the top off the ticket, are inexplicably shy about saying so.

He’s right. It’s going to stay at the top for now.

UPDATE:

This one on Obama’s Acorn connection deserves a look as well.

You’ve gotta love the way the Democrats feel about their voters.

“The superdelegates were elected to vote independently. We are not rubber-stamping,” said Bob Mulholland, a DNC member and superdelegate from California.

“My state voted for Hillary Clinton in the primary, but it doesn’t mean [the superdelegates] should vote for Hillary Clinton,” said Mr. Mulholland, who is neutral in the race. “There would not be a purpose for having 796 superdelegates if their only purpose was to rubber-stamp what the 50 states did.“

I guess Sen. Dick Durbin was inspired by the jokes told by the presidential candidates. At least he sounds like he’s trying to be funny.

The Senate’s second-ranking Democrat said Saturday it’s time for Republicans to stop stonewalling and engage in “compromise and cooperation” to get the nation’s business done.

“Sadly, Republicans in Washington are determined to make this a ‘no-can-do’ Congress,” Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois said in the Democrats’ weekly radio address.

Nothing has to be done to, “make this a ‘no-can-do’ Congress”, it is what it is.

“They think the less a Democratic-led Congress achieves, the better it’s going to be for Republicans in next year’s elections,” he said.

Actually, “the less a Democratic-led Congress achieves,” the better it’s going to be for the American people.

Durbin, the Senate Democrats’ vote-counter, argued that with bipartisan cooperation Congress could move to help some of the 47 million Americans in need of health insurance.

“Democrats are committed to overriding President Bush’s veto and providing health care for 10 million American children — kids not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid and not lucky enough to have parents with health insurance,” he said.

Durbin also called for a new national energy policy, a responsible conclusion to the war in Iraq and measures to help families facing mortgage foreclosures.

Ah yes, the Democrat Definition of Bipartisan: Do it our way!

WHOOPS: I forgot to add this knee-slapper.

Although he blamed the GOP for stalling progress, he said Democrats still have been able to make a “good start” on some issues that they campaigned on in 2006 and that enabled them to regain control of the Senate.

Among the accomplishments he cited: lower taxes for working people, a higher minimum wage, tougher ethics laws and adoption of the Sept. 11 commission’s recommendations.

I thought all of that and more was supposed to be done in the first 100 seconds or something. Oh, and I’m really impressed with those tougher ethics laws (cough::William Jefferson::cough).

Please tip your server. He’ll be here all week.

Coffee, according to the women of Denmark, is to the body what the Word of the Lord is to the soul. ~ Isak Dinesen

Happy 3rd Blogiversary to:
Election Projection

Leading up to the 2006 mid-term elections and in the wake of the democrats re-taking majorities in both chambers of Congress much was made of the agenda the new leadership planned to push through. They passed the last of their “Six for ‘06″ bills yesterday. The AP headline says, House Democrats beat 100-hour clock

So, what have they accomplished?

• 1/9 – Bolster terrorism-fighting efforts with more cargo inspections. A good idea on the surface, but I will have to see the actual implementation.
• 1/10 – Raise the federal minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour over 26 months. A really bad idea that will have the net result of hurting those it’s supposed to help. As a “bonus” it will probably hurt small businesses as well.
• 1/11 – Expand government-financed embryonic stem cell research. The President has promised to veto this bill. And he should.
• 1/12 – Make the government bargain directly with drug companies with the aim of reducing prices of prescriptions for Medicare beneficiaries. My bold. Once again the dems prove their love of big government and disdain for free markets. This one also faces the veto pen.
• 1/17 – Lower interest rates on federally subsidized student loans from 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent in stages over five years at a cost to taxpayers of $6 billion. Reaching into our pockets again.
• 1/18 – Slap a “conservation fee” on oil and gas taken from deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico; scrap nearly $6 billion worth of oil industry tax breaks enacted by Congress in recent years; and seek to recoup royalties lost to the government because of an Interior Department error in leases issued in the late 1990s. Another example of their total misunderstanding of basic economic realities. It sounds good to say that you are going to get this $6 billion dollars from “Big Oil”, but of course they’re not. A good portion of that is going to show up at the pump.

At the end of this magical 100 hours we have accomplished one major task: We will be able to answer the question from the Capitol One ad, “What’s in your wallet?” Very soon the answer will be, “not very much.”

You make good coffee . . . You’re a slob, but you make good coffee. ~ Cher, in Moonstruck

Iowa Voice (Brian) Get Ready For That Tax Increase

What kills me is that people are actually surprised by this move. We warned you before the elections what was going to happen, and within a matter of days, it has already started to come true.

Flopping Aces (Curt) Democrats Plan To Dig Deep Into Your Wallet The Democrats are threatening to pull funding for our troops who are risking everything for this country while at the same time they are planning to dig deep, very deep into your wallets.

But at least the Republicans were taught a lesson huh?

Don Surber Eco snobbery

The elitism of the Global Warming Chicken Littles has bugged me almost as much as their high-pressure sales techniques (if we wait for proof, it will be too late). Al Gore note only inherited his daddy’s Senate seat but his oil well as well. Oops, did I let out that little secret?

Well, let’s have some coffee and then take a swim. ~ Johnny Weissmuller

Happy 1st Blogiversary to
Blue Crab Boulevard

Blue Crab Boulevard (Gaius) You Say It’s Your Birthday

But it has been a heck of a ride so far. There have been highs and lows, good days and bad, some posts I am proud of and some not worth re-reading. A work in progress, indeed.

[Gaius does a great job and is amazingly prolific. Go on by and wish him a Happy Blogiversary. Jim]

Blogs for Bush (Mark Noonan) War and Politics

With the release of the Reid/Pelosi letter calling for an end to the campaign in Iraq (the exact phrase used was, “it is time to bring the war to a close”), we have our political marker from the Democrats: President Bush and the GOP are to admit that Iraq is lost, admit defeat, come home and take the blame. It is nice to finally have all this cleared up – though it would have been useful for the American people to have such a definitive statement from the Democratic leadership prior to the 2006 elections in order to make a fully informed decision.

Sister Toldjah The Dem push for cut and run ‘officially’ begins

Prior to the election, Democrats hid from the American people their true position on Iraq by merely stating that it was time for a “change” in Iraq. You didn’t hear prominent Dem after promiment Dem suggesting that we pull out this year. There’s a reason for that. They didn’t want the masses to know.

Faultline USA Vote for The Blogger’s Halo Award [I am honored to be a nominee, but would suggest several of the others as being more deserving. Jim]

A mathematician is a machine for turning coffee into theorems. ~ Alfred Renyi

Blue Crab Boulevard (Gaius) Border War

Now about that fence. Critics say we shouldn’t build one. Perhaps they’re right. It’s looking like time to build some forts instead. Allah asks why the unit retreated. How much do you want to bet they were ordered to pull back and refused permission to return fire? I got a five here.

Captain’s Quarters (Ed Morrissey) The Tax Line In The Sand

It looks like the Republicans have found their theme for the next two years of Democratic control of Congress. A slew of press releases from the GOP yesterday focused on the spectre of tax-raising by Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and their controlling caucuses. Meanwhile, Mitt Romney became the first top-level Republican primary candidate to sign the Tax Pledge, joining most of the Republican caucuses in Congress:

Blogs for Bush (Mark Noonan) The New Congress: First Impressions

As to the Democrats – an amazing amount of arrogance, especially from Pelosi and Rangel. They seem to think that they can dictate policy to the White House. If nothing else, it will be fun over the next few months to watch as they get put in their place by political reality.

Flopping Aces (Curt) Jamil Hussein Found?

As many of us have said from the beginning, finding Jamil Hussein will not make this story go away. Actually it makes it better since we can now question him on how he has been able to report on stories all across Baghdad. On why no other witnesses can be found other then three who will not go on record, everyone else says it didn’t happen. On why there is no record of any bodies going to a morgue or hospital as the AP reported. On why no family of the victims can be found nor can the vicims be identified.

In the Bullpen (Chad Evans) Iranians Captured in Iraq were Intelligence Officers

On BBC’s ‘Newsnight’ program, a British official said five Iranians detained in Iraq in late December were senior intelligence officers, rather than members of the Revolutionary Guard as suggested by the leader of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NICR). However, the two aren’t mutually exclusive.

I believe humans get a lot done, not because we’re smart, but because we have thumbs so we can make coffee. ~ Flash Rosenberg

Blogs for Bush (Mark Noonan) The Democrats Are Coming, The Democrats Are Coming!

Today is the Day of the Democrat…they’ll take over Congress and, well, pretty much waste their time for 100 hours as they shove through bills which will die or be heavily modified in the Senate, where Democrats require at least 9 GOPers to go along with anything they want to do….and, of course, they need President Bush’s approval for every action, because there is no way the Democrats will cobble together 2/3 majorities to over-ride a veto.

Captain’s Quarters (Ed Morrissey) The Point Of No Return

If Shelmerdine wanted to use up prime advertising space on his vehicle to support Bush or Kerry, that’s his right. It only makes a difference in our current system because we’ve created a behemoth of an oversight system that forces a series of artificial categories for contributions and spending, all of it hypocritical and most of it an offense to the notion of free speech and free political activity.

Sister Toldjah More Democratic broken promises — [In their own words. Go look at the quotes. It's an extensive list. Jim]

In The Bullpen (Chad Evans) Ahmadinejad: UN Resolution ‘has no validity’

Iran President Mahmoud Adhmadinejad told a crowd the UN resolution against his nation’s nuclear program “has no validity” because the United States was the main power behind the resolution, or at least according to Ahmadinejad. Taking an aside to speak directly to the United States, Ahmadinejad said “I want you to know that the Iranian nation has humiliated you many times, and it will humiliate you in future.”

The coffee is prepared in such a way that it makes those who drink it witty: at least there is not a single soul who, on quitting the house, does not believe himself four times wittier that when he entered it. ~ Charles de Secondat Montesquieu

Happy 2nd Blogiversary to
Likelihood of Confusion
and A Happy 1st Blogiversary to
My Michigan Connection

Dr. Sanity (Pat Santy) REDISTRIBUTING POVERTY

It is economic freedom that is the true cure for poverty. Not taxes. Not regulation. Not government control of the economy and redistribution of wealth; but capitalism. And, it is important to note that economic freedom is unachievable without political freedom. That is the link between poverty and governance. It is not enough to have a superficial form of democracy like the Palestinians, Iranians or the Venezuelans. The proof of a free country is more than just getting to vote for various thugs and criminals once in a while. It is in being able to pursue your own, individual goals and happiness freely without interference or contrary demands from the state.

Captain’s Quarters (Ed Morrissey) This Is Not Your Father’s Democratic Majority

Expect, then, to see earmark reform and clean government to take a back seat to subpoenas and hearings. The Democrats will be unable to unite long enough to do much of anything else, and this Congress will do less legislatively than any in recent memory.

Right Wing News (John Hawkins) The Twenty Most Annoying Liberals In The United States: The 2006 Edition

Honorable Mentions: Associated Press, The Democratic Underground, Dylan Avery, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Steven Colbert, John Conyers, Howard Dean, Al Franken, Glenn Greenwald, Ted Kennedy, Jane Hamsher, Seymour Hersh, The Huffington Post, Jesse MacBeth, Bill Maher, Chris Matthews, Michael Moore, Ray Nagin, Reuters, Michael Schiavo, John Stewart, & Joe Wilson. [As these are only the honorable mentions, you know the list has to be really annoying. Jim]

No coffee can be good in the mouth that does not first send a sweet offering of odour to the nostrils. ~ Henry Ward Beecher

Happy 2nd Blogiversary to
Cursed by a Classical Education

Captain’s Quarters (Ed Morrissey) New Iran Policy Toughens Sanctions — “Condoleezza Rice will have a new tool in her pocket in the showdown with Iran over its nuclear ambitions. The Senate quietly passed a new Iran policy on Saturday, one which President Bush is expected to sign, that allows for sanctions on any business that supports Iran’s nuclear or advanced weapons programs. When she travels to Cairo tomorrow, Rice intends on unveiling the implications of the new policy in an attempt to further isolate Teheran:”

Blogs for Bush (Matt Margolis) Allegations and the Media — “It’s become commonplace for anti-Bush “bombshell” books/movies/reports to come out in advance of an election. Bob Woodward’s latest book, State of Denial, appears to be this year’s hot item in that category.”

Blue Crab Boulevard Vote For Me, I’m A Failure! — “Marsha Mercer, writing in the Richmond Times Dispatch analyzes the bizarre campaign message the Congressional Democrats are sending. It boils down to. “we’re failures, so send us back to Capitol Hill”.”

The Jawa Report (Dr. Rusty Shackleford) (Original Vids) Atta and al Qaeda Videos Released — “The Jawa Report has obtained the full length video of Mohammed Atta and other of the 9/11 conspirators as reported in the major media. You can watch the full video below in five parts or post them to your own website using Google video.”

The drink that comforteth the brain and heart and helpeth digestion. ~ Sir Francis Bacon

Happy 1st Blogiversary to:
Dry Bones Blog

Captain’s Quarters (Ed Morrissey) Doubling Down — “George Bush signaled yesterday that he will continue to fight for his judicial nominations. He sent the Senate the names of five judges previously nominated for appellate court positions, including at least one whom the Democrats had threatened to filibuster:”

Flopping Aces (Wordsmith) The “Big Myth” — “Ok…now this is one of those “big lies” that the mainstream media pushes….kind of like the 16 words in the President’s State of the Union Address. I have never been led to believe that Iraq/Saddam attacked us on 9/11 by the Bush Administration. And yet, this is what many of the critics keep telling us.”

GOP Bloggers (Mark Noonan) The Fractured Democratic Party — “Emanuel represents raw political power, Dean represents raw political emotion – and if things go smash as I expect them to for the Democrats this November, then look for their to be a major fight between the two sides – a fight which could permanently wreck the Democratic Party.”

In The Bullpen (Chad Evans) List of Proposed Sanctions Upon Iran — “In terms of what Iranian leaders have told the public relating to the nation’s supposed full cooperation with the IAEA and a transparent nuclear program, the NYT reports the IAEA report likely will shed some light on just how false those statements are.”