Day: August 7, 2006

You know what’s happening right now? Thousands of bloggers are looking at news photos right now…wondering.

Think all Democrats like Hillary? Think again.

Dick Bennett has been polling New Hampshire voters for 30 years. And he’s never seen anything like it. 

“Lying b**** . . . shrew . . . Machiavellian . . . evil, power-mad witch . . . the ultimate self-serving politician.”

No prizes for guessing which presidential front-runner drew these remarks in focus groups. But these weren’t Republicans talking about Hillary Clinton. They weren’t even independents. These were ordinary, grass-roots Democrats. People who identified themselves as “likely” voters in the pivotal state’s Democratic primary. And, behind closed doors, this is what nearly half of them are saying.

“I was amazed,” says Bennett. “I thought there might be some negatives, but I didn’t know it would be as strong as this. It’s stunning, the similarities between the Republicans and the Democrats, the comments they have about her.”

Bennett goes on to say that he’s never seen so many New Hampshire voters show so much hatred towards a member of their own party. Nothing comes close.

Hillary’s team had no comment.

Heh.

Martin Peretz, editor-in-chief of The New Republic.

Ned Lamont is Karl Rove’s dream come true. If he, and others of his stripe, carry the day, the Democratic party will lose the future, and deservedly.

He’s right.

The culprit? That darned ‘No Fly’ list.

A Boston-bound American Airlines jet with 240 passengers and 13 crew aboard returned to London’s Heathrow airport on Monday over a security issue, but there was no threat to the aircraft, the company said.

An airline spokeswoman did not give details, but a U.S. Department of Homeland Security official said a male passenger on the flight had matched a name on a U.S. “no-fly” list.

“Flight AA109 … is returning to Heathrow airport due to a potential security issue that needs to be resolved in London,” the airline said in a statement. “There is no threat to the aircraft.”

An American Airlines spokeswoman later told Reuters in London that the incident was now closed.

I work with a guy whose name was on the ‘No Fly’ list. No, he isn’t a terrorist, nor has he ever been one. Yet, he’d often get held up at airport counters until his name was cleared. The whole thing makes me wonder how effective the list is. How is it maintained? How often is it updated, filtered, added to, revised?