Uh-Oh

Expect the Republican hysteria to reach a fever pitch before election day. They're in real trouble, they're scared shitless, and everyone's a target.

Republicans Losing Ground with U.S. Women

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Women voters, notably married moms, are turning away from the ruling Republican Party in the run-up to US legislative elections due, in part, to dissatisfaction with the Iraq war and domestic issues.

Polls and analysts say that unlike the 2002 and 2004 elections, when terrorism concerns and other security-related issues drove many women to support
President George W. Bush and his Republican Party, these factors are no longer playing a key role.

"Women voters are turning more Democratic now than they were four years ago," Carroll Doherty, associate director of the Pew Research Center in Washington, told AFP. "Four years ago Republicans were running about even with Democrats among women, but now you see a big gain for the Democrats among women."

A poll conducted by the Pew Center in early October had 55 percent of women voters expressing support for the Democratic Party as opposed to 34 percent for the Republican Party.

"Women are very down on the Iraq war and their view of the president is also eroding," Doherty said. "Men are still pretty divided over the president but women disapprove of him two to one."

For Bush, who has prided himself in saying that his middle initial stands for women, the slipping support could spell trouble on election day as his party seeks to hang on to its majority in Congress and grapples with a series of corruption and ethics scandals.

So, people finally figured it out- "W" does not stand for "Women."

But wait, there's more!

Black Voters to Remain Loyal to Democrats

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Republicans have been stymied in their efforts to woo African-American support and black voters are expected to constitute the Democrats' most loyal voting bloc in upcoming US elections.

After the 2004 presidential election, Republicans stepped up their efforts to recruit blacks, heartened by returns that showed that George W. Bush had garnered a surprisingly high proportion of the African-American vote.

But rather than making continued gains, polls show Republican retrenchment in the black community. A survey a year ago by the Wall Street Journal found Bush's support had sunk to a stunning two percent -- an all-time low.

When black Americans go to the polls in congressional elections on November 7, "my guess is that it is going to be a typical African-American vote, which is going to be 10 percent for the Republican and 90 percent for the Democratic candidate," said David Bositis of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

And the phones light up at Diebold! How long do you think voters in highly African-American populated districts are going to have to wait to vote this time?

But wait, there's more!

Dispirited, Angry US Electorate Going to the Polls

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US voters go to the polls in congressional elections next month divided between dispirited backers of President George W. Bush's Republican Party and Democrats eager to register their anger.

"(Americans) are unhappy about lots of things," said Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics. "They believe the country is on the wrong track."

The strength of public dissatisfaction is so great that the Republicans are bracing for a potential election night disaster on November 7, when 435 seats in the House of Representatives and one-third of the 100 seats in the Senate are at stake.

"When you talk to Republican pollsters and strategists, the nicest word you can come up with is 'despondent,'" said National Journal columnist Charlie Cook. "This is going to be really bad."

We can only hope.

But the economy is going great! Bush said so! That's enough to keep Republicans in office, right?

Well... if you're in the top 1%, the economy is great. And 1% of the vote ain't gonna keep the Bushies in office, folks.

Meanwhile, a little more "Rubbing it in the Face of the Have-Nots":

Luxury Travel by Bush Officials Totals 1.5 Million Dollars

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A top Democratic lawmaker called for a clampdown on luxury travel by administration officials, whom he said have taken scores of trips aboard private jets at taxpayers' expense.

Representative Henry Waxman alleged that US President George W. Bush's cabinet officials and agency heads have taken 125 such trips aboard private jets, helicopters and other aircraft since 2001.

Waxman's office analyzed data provided by 14 departments and agencies, 10 of which reported travel aboard leased or chartered private aircraft at taxpayers' expense.

I can't imagine why Americans are so dissatisfied.

If there's still a Republican majority after this election, there had better be some serious investigations into these voting machines.

(Yo-ho, yo-ho, a cross-post's life for me...)