All Spin Zone: The economic outlook is so bleak, some economists are looking for a bunker to hide in. But what do economists know? Chimpy is is upbeat about the economy, though I'm sure he'd be amenable to more tax cuts...and he's not the only one living in a fool's paradise.

Wall Street Jackass: Sage advice

Beggars Can Be Choosers: Iowa shows how Iraq war support remains toxic for candidates, though apparently, the "surging" St. McCain doesn't think so.

Blorgable: Year of the web: 10 strangest political moments of 2007

CQ Politics: Voter ID court challenges expected to have a big impact on the 2008 elections.

Watchdog Blog: The House Ethics Committee parties on

The Galloping Beaver: $$$ vs. Political "Alliances"

Open Left: Acceptable sexism and racism

Grits for Breakfast: A look at what Grits thought were the important stories when the year began, and where they are now.

Booman Tribune: Naomi C. Earp is evil

Echidne of the Snakes: Texas "pole tax" taking effect in 2008

Hendrik Hertzberg: The right to bear arms

Bush was asked at a White House press conference last week if he would consider a “goodwill mission to restore the country’s good name abroad.” The president said, “That’s what I do during my presidency. I go around spreading goodwill and talking about the importance of spreading freedom and peace.”

Apparently, he meant it. Yes, the president is planning some road-trips.

President George W. Bush’s diplomatic passport will acquire a slew of new country stamps during his final year in office as he tries to rebuild the U.S.’s international standing and create a foreign-policy legacy beyond Iraq.

The president plans trips to the Middle East, Africa, Asia and South America, which would make 2008 his busiest year abroad. While his major domestic initiatives may get stalled by a Democratic majority in Congress and the gridlock caused by election-year politics, he still has an opportunity to exert his influence overseas. […]

While the president will strive to strengthen alliances, it won’t come at the expense of continuing to prosecute the war on terror, said Jim Jeffrey, the deputy White House national security adviser.

“We want to be well-perceived in the world,” Jeffrey said in an interview. “But more importantly, we want to formulate policies that will protect the American people.”

With all due respect to the White House, maybe we’ll be “well-perceived in the world” if the president stays home and changes his policies, instead of traveling abroad and keeping his existing policies?

PBS's NOW:

How does a democracy decide to wage war? At 8:30 pm (check local
listings) on Friday, December 7 - the very day Pearl Harbor was attacked
by Japanese warplanes 66 years ago - David Brancaccio interviews
filmmakers Ken Burns and Lynn Novick and the Rev. James Forbes Jr. about
Burns and Novick's epic World War II documentary "The War". Looking to
the past as a mirror to the present, the four discuss how the waging of
war intersects with our notion of democracy.

"It's incumbent upon a democratic society to evaluate what the
arithmetic is -- the cost of war," Burns tells the group.

See the full show on the NOW website

In addition, in a web-exclusive interview, NOW speaks to BeliefNet's Dan Gilgoff, who shares his insight into the effect of Mitt Romney's speech on religion, the role of faith in the 2008 presidential race, and how America's faithful are reacting. And take note, all you Ron Paul fans: NOW is focusing on Paul and his campaign next week.

"John and Hank have decided not to communicate for an entire year except through video blogs, and they don't mind if you watch them do it."

A lovely [War on?] Christmas Rant from half of the Brotherhood 2.0 web project, which also includes a popular forum complete with an election 2008 thread.

Open Thread below.

This is Bob Morris from the eco-Leftie Politics in the Zeros - it ranges from antiwar to global warming - guest-blogging today.

Deer Hunting With Jesus is subtitled "Dispatches from America's Class War." The author, who grew up redneck and became a "godless commie", wonders how the Right got the votes of poor whites. Maybe because the Left was asleep? His #1 advice - stop preaching about guns.

Breakthrough favors government spending of $50 billion a year for 10 years developing better, cleaner sources of energy and transportation because private enterprise and reducing energy use can't do it all.

Greviously injured in WWII, his life was saved by a doctor who survived the Armenian genocide. He was the first senator to bring forth a resolution to recognize the genocide. His name may surprise you.

The subslime mortgage debacle is metastasizing into a worldwide credit crisis that some say could trigger a systemic financial meltdown, no joke.

Former House member Cynthia McKinney wants the Green Party 2008 presidential nomination.

Send those tips to bob (at) polizeros (dot) com.

Download | play Download | play (h/t Scarce)

As has been widely reported this week, Daily Kos’ Markos Moulitsas will be a contributor to Newsweek, helping offer commentary on the 2008 presidential election.

Predictably, the announcement was not well received among conservative bloggers, but the more striking reaction came from NPR’s Juan Williams in an interview last night.

“[T]he fact is that he’s not a journalist in terms of someone who knows how to do reporting, someone who reflects balance in what he portrays. To the contrary, he engages in the kind of hyperbole and extreme statements that’s represented by that crass and, I think, offensive statement he made about those dead people.

“But you know what? I think that’s just what’s going on in journalism. I think that, you know, there’s more and more opinion, less and less people who know how to do the job. All you’ve got to do is shout, say something on the blog that offends and attacks the other side, and suddenly, you have the credentials, and you’re said to be a journalist. I think it’s a great lie.”

Juan Williams said this while answering questions from Sean Hannity, during an interview on Fox News. The irony was apparently lost on the host, the guest, and the audience. What a shame.

On a related note, will Williams have similar criticism of Karl Rove -- who's been hired as Kos' counterbalance at Newsweek?

Greetings and salutations, sirens and scalawags. Melissa McEwan, Professional Not-Phyllis Schlafly at your service once again, coming to you live from the Annual Convention of Women Who Value Personal Autonomy and Frequent Hairstyle Changes. My conference schedule is full of Not Being Ann Coulter and Not Being Bay Buchanan, so I'll get right down to business:

Libby reports on the epidemic of suicide among war veterans, especially those just home from Iraq.

Jon Swift had no idea that that the world of competitive Bridge is a hotbed of anti-American sentiment.

Molly Ivors has issues with the latest pile of poop MoDo calls a column. Bean has the same problem. Don't we all? And won't we, until Her Majesty of the Anti-Feminist Jackassery just goes away?

Elle, PhD finds yet another reason to dislike David Vitter—and this time it doesn't have anything to do with the hooker who's a doppelganger for his wife.

Konagod says he's old enough to remember when a billion dollars was a sh*tload of money. (Don't let his youthful exuberance fool you. He's old enough to remember when a billion dollars was two sh*tloads of money.)

The Dark Wraith wants to know how you feel about the Democrats. (Right now, "I am very disappointed in the Democrats; however, even though I think, overall, they're a bunch of spineless cowards, at least they're my spineless cowards, so I'll support them in the 2008 elections because anything is better than letting the Republicans get control, again." is winning.) Creature says he's been burned one too many times. Yeah, I've been feeling a little scalded myself.

And some Quick Hits: Dare We Hope? … Keep Your Church out of Our State … Quirks and Quarks … Joe's joe v. Jane's joe … and it's Nap Time for Dick!

Seeya tomorrow! If you've got any hot tips, email me at shakespeares_sister at Comcast dot net.

For the last several decades, as nearly all political observers know, the two broad coalitions that make up the Republican Party are business interests (tax cuts, minimal regulation, free trade) and social/religious conservatives (anti-abortion, anti-gay, anti-church-state separation, pro-gun). The two didn’t necessarily have much in common, but they were under the same GOP tent, and they tried not to step on each other’s toes.

A front-page WSJ piece explained that half of that coalition is dejected and looking elsewhere.

The Republican Party, known since the late 19th century as the party of business, is losing its lock on that title.

New evidence suggests a potentially historic shift in the Republican Party’s identity — what strategists call its “brand.” The votes of many disgruntled fiscal conservatives and other lapsed Republicans are now up for grabs, which could alter U.S. politics in the 2008 elections and beyond.

Some business leaders are drifting away from the party because of the war in Iraq, the growing federal debt and a conservative social agenda they don’t share. In manufacturing sectors such as the auto industry, some Republicans want direct government help with soaring health-care costs, which Republicans in Washington have been reluctant to provide. And some business people want more government action on global warming, arguing that a bolder plan is not only inevitable, but could spur new industries.

It couldn’t have happened to a more appropriate group of people.

Via The Times Picayune:

Sen. David Vitter, R-La., earmarked $100,000 in a spending bill for a Louisiana Christian group that has challenged the teaching of Darwinian evolution in the public school system and to which he has political ties.

The money is included in the labor, health and education financing bill for fiscal 2008 and specifies payment to the Louisiana Family Forum "to develop a plan to promote better science education."

The earmark appears to be the latest salvo in a decades-long battle over science education in Louisiana, in which some Christian groups have opposed the teaching of evolution and, more recently, have pushed to have it prominently labeled as a theory with other alternatives presented. Educators and others have decried the movement as a backdoor effort to inject religious teachings into the classroom.

The nonprofit Louisiana Family Forum, launched in Baton Rouge in 1999 by former state Rep. Tony Perkins, has in recent years taken the lead in promoting "origins science," which includes the possibility of divine intervention in the creation of the universe.

The group's stated mission is to "persuasively present biblical principles in the centers of influence on issues affecting the family through research, communication and networking." Until recently, its Web site contained a "battle plan to combat evolution," which called the theory a "dangerous" concept that "has no place in the classroom." The document was removed after a reporter's inquiry. Read full article here...

The Republican senator may have the support of the majority of his hypocritical party, but he isn't out of the woods yet. Please contact your Senators and tell them to say no to Vitter's intentional violation of the separation between Church and State and demand the earmark be removed from the bill. Remember to be polite.