Democrat senators top approval poll

A poll by SurveyUSA , as of January 26, 2006, should make the GOP very nervous. For example the top ten senators with the highest job approval consist of six Democrats, two RINOS and one maverick. Republicans in the top ten are Snowe (*RINO-ME) 75%, Collins (*RINO-ME) 72% -- and senate "president," John McCain71%. Pete Domenici (R-NM) and Kay Hutchison (R-TX) share the tenth spot with a 63% approval.

The bottom ten senators with the lowest ratings consist of eight Republicans and two Democrats. Two senators that deserve their low scores are Voinovich (R-OH) 49-40% and DeWine (R-OH) 47-41% The poll does not tell us whether their disapproval comes from Republicans or Democrats - I would guess from both.
A sample of some undeserved approval (in my opinion) are as follows: Salazar, the duplicitous Dem from Colorado 55% , "Jumpin" Jim Jeffords (I-VT) 66%, Roberts "sheets" Byrd, the senate's king of pork, 65% and Ted ,"water board," Kennedy 61%, Pat "leaky" Leaky (D-VT) 65% and Lindsey (would be VP ) Graham (R-SC) 60%.

Surprises, to me at least, include the following approval ratings: Frist ( R-TN) 48%, Kyl (R-AZ) 44%, Lautenberg (D-NJ) 40% and Boxer (D-CA) 48%.

The only senators with higher negatives than positives are as follows: Bunning (R-KY) 43-44%, Santorum (R-PA) 44-46%, Lautenberg (D-NJ) 40-44% and -- finally the winner of the race to the bottom - Conrad Burns (R-MT) 42-51%.

*Republicans in name only

Senate's war against free speech

The following is an excerpt from the WSJ's Opinion Journal. The entire opinion written by Brian C Anderson can be read here: Shut up, they explained.

The most imminent danger comes from campaign-finance rules, especially those spawned by the 2002 McCain-Feingold Campaign Reform Act...It's easy to see why liberals have spearheaded the nation's three-decade experiment with campaign-finance...election-law reforms obstruct the kinds of political speech--political ads and perhaps now the feisty editorializing of the new media--that escape the filter of the mainstream press and the academy, left-wing fiefdoms still regulation-free.

McCain-Feingold, the latest and scariest step down that slope, makes it a felony for corporations, nonprofit advocacy groups and labor unions to run ads that criticize...members of Congress within 60 days of a federal election, when such quintessentially political speech might actually persuade voters. It forbids political parties from soliciting or spending "soft money" contributions to publicize the principles and ideas they stand for.

Campaign-finance reform has a squeaky-clean image, but the dirty truth is that this speech-throttling legislation is partly the result of a hoax perpetrated by a handful of liberal foundations, led by the venerable Pew Charitable Trusts. New York Post reporter Ryan Sager exposed the scam when he got hold of a 2004 videotape of former Pew official Sean Treglia telling a roomful of journalists and professors how Pew and other foundations spent years bankrolling various experts,...all aimed at fooling Washington...

In Foley's view, the chilling of speech is "the necessary price we must pay in order to have an electoral system that guarantees equal opportunity for all." But when these experts pen law-review articles with titles like "Campaign Finance Laws and the Rupert Murdoch (Fox News) Problem," you know it isn't the New York Times or CBS News that they have in mind.

Without the blogosphere, Howell Raines would still be the New York Times' editor, Dan Rather would only now be retiring, and John Kerry might be president of the U.S.,...

The Bias Arizona Republic

Years ago the Arizona Republic was a conservative newspaper -- oh how it has changed.

One of it's most slanted feature is the letters to the Editors page. Not a day goes by without letters bashing Bush, bashing capitalism, bashing corporations or bashing the US Of A. The paper's defense might be that those are the only letter they receive. Wrong. I and several of my conservatives friends complain that letters refuting liberal lies are never printed.

Here are some examples of letters that make my point: one that suggests the recent face transplant would be appropriate for the two faced Bush administration (how clever) - another writer whines that the student loan program budget is being cut by Republicans, (my letter pointing out that federal programs are never cut only the rate of increase is cut never saw the light of day) - yet another lefty letter writer anguished over "corporate greed." Last I checked most jobs are created by corporation -- and millions of workers hold stock in corporations.

The latest hate letter opines:

Dump the whole bunch of 'em
Time for a bright new future for our country.
Dump Bush
Dump Cheney
Dump Frist
Dump McCain*
Dump DeLay
Dump Hastert
Dump all the
business as usual bunch...

This letter may not be published in the AZ Republic - ah, but there is always the Internet - and it damn well will be published online.

*Although the letter writer might have something here.