WMD Blast: Taking Out the Trash

In political circles, "taking out the trash" is usually something done on Fridays, but Fridays tend to be a bit busy for me (as evidenced by no blogging at all yesterday). Taking out the trash is a euphemism for sending out a bunch of stories at once with the hopes that by "flooding the zone" (as Tom Blumer would say) a story that might get five inches of a column might get an inch instead. These are usually bad stories that an administration or campaign might not really care to have much focus on...

In my case, "taking out the trash" is just a list of links and comments that I have left over from the week. So without further adieu, here is this week's "trash."

Joseph at Plunderbund is saying that the reason why Kevin Coughlin cares so much about vouchers is that he receives contributions from owners of private schools. Joe, you wouldn't happen to think that maybe Kevin actually -- you know -- care about school choice in the same way that Ted Strickland cares about abortion even though he gets money from the pro-death lobby?

This week's reason NOT to vote for Steve Black... The "Policy Guru" writes on Steve's campaign blog:

Although our region is sweltering in temperatures near 100 degrees today, we would all do well to remember that our valiant troops in Iraq will be dealing with predicted highs of 115 degrees this week. While our troops battle insurgent groups to buy time for the Iraqi government to get its act together, the Iraqi parliament is enjoying a one month vacation. What’s wrong with this picture? Everything. We need Steve Black in Congress to challenge the Republicans’ disastrous recipe for endless war, and not another term for Jean Schmidt, a rubber-stamp for President Bush’s folly in Iraq.

I have no idea why Steve's "Policy Guru" is on about this...the Iraqi Parliament has accomplished more than the Democrat-controlled US Congress. Although, Speaker of State Nancy Pelosi did manage to name more post offices than the Iraqi Parliament...

An AP News Alert from earlier this week:

UNITED NATIONS (AP) The U.N. Security Council unanimously approves a resolution expanding the U.N. role in Iraq.

This may be the Democrat last, best hope for failure in Iraq because the UN has a miserable record at these kinds of operations.

Has Republican Leader, my Congressman and a Great American -- John Boehner -- gone off the reservation? He might have with this idea to have the federal government take over the primaries. Normally, Boehner can be counted on as a solid vote for less government intrusion... I'm not wild about the idea, Congressman...DeeCee has enough trouble managing their own votes, as you yourself witnessed last week.

Steve Hall is the Chairman of the Coshocton County Republican Party and he penned a piece for the Coshocton Tribune on Democrat freshman Zack Space that is right on target: "Space not what he claims to be"

Who are the top five people that every politico in Ohio should know? Lobbyist Robert Klaffky was asked this question in an interview with Campaigns and Elections. Kevin DeWine, Jon Husted and Bill Harris all make the list...

Rasmussen:

While America’s voters are not particularly happy with the current Republican President, the leading Democratic Presidential Candidates have no advantage over the top GOP Hopefuls when it comes to Iraq, the Economy, or Restoring the Nation’s Optimism. Democratic candidates do have an edge when it comes to the environment while the GOP candidates hold the lead on immigration.

Rasmussen has been more right than wrong about these sorts of things in the last few cycles, so I'm content to say that the statement above is probably pretty accurate as a snapshot of where America stands as of this moment. Keep the faith, my friends, we just might be about to see a Republican Resurgence...

Last, but certainly not least...

Be sure to tune in to TIB Radio tonight for the TIB All-Stars with Tom Blumer, Mark and I, live and direct, at 7PM Eastern tonight. We have a full docket of rich, bloggy internet radio goodness for you. Click the TIB Radio banner at the top of this column to acess the show. You may need to install WinAmp to play the show.