The New York Times reports Democratic leaders in the House & Senate are slowing their push for voting machine reform.

Under pressure from state and local officials, as well as from lobbyists for the disabled, House leaders now advocate putting off the most sweeping changes until 2012, four years later than planned.

Overhauling voting systems before next year’s presidential election had once been a top Democratic priority, primarily to allow greater accountability and be certain that all votes registered on computerized touch-screen systems were counted. But state and local elections officials told Congress they could not make the changes in time for the balloting in November 2008, particularly in light of the extra workload involved in preparing for next year’s much-earlier presidential primary season.

I have to say imho that this is a pretty big sham. We are coming up on eight years since the voting problems of November 1999. Knowing that every person who is eligible can vote and that their votes are counted should pretty much be priority #1 in a democracy. The Democrats have been calling for this reform since November 99 and now that they are in power they seem ready and willing to just toss it off.

In a democracy there should be no time, energy or technological excuse for something that the nation thought was worked out in the late 1700’s and is vital to our entire way of life. It might not make us all happy because it isn’t the tech happy, instant gratification system everyone wants BUT if we cannot get this worked out we should simply go back to a paper system (or perhaps the basic Voter machine system we have here in NYS) and have people mark off their choice and then have secured lock boxes those ballots fall into.

This is pretty darn ridiculous.

Peggy Noonan discusses Robert Novak’s new memoir and notes the following from his stories and those like it she has read about Washington in the 1950’s:

Washington in the 1950s was a pretty wonderful place to be. It seems in almost everyone’s memoirs, certainly this one, to have been the last time Washington was fun. It was “shabbier and less pretentious” than today, but it was also an easier place, a more human one, in part, apparently, because everyone in the White House, on the Hill, and in the newspaper bureaus was drunk. (In fact, that would explain the ’50s, wouldn’t it?) In the Washington young Mr. Novak enters, senators plot over whiskey and cigars; reporters knock back scotches while trading tidbits at the press-club bar; lunches with sources begin with doubles; the senate majority leader is soused in the lobby, singing to himself. Beehived women chain-smoke with the boys and listen to their tales of woe.

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The Blotter is reporting on some “edgy” online videos that have sprung up anonymously which trash GOP candidates.

The Daily Background blog noted the ads had been posted to several online forums by a MySpace account which appeared to belong to an employee of the Washington, D.C. political advertising firm Stevens, Reed, Curcio and Potholm. The firm gained prominence in 2004 by producing ads for the group “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth,” attacking Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry for allegedly lying about his war record.

The firm now works for Sen. John McCain’s presidential campaign. Executives there told ABCNews neither the firm nor its employee was involved in creating or disseminating the ads.

“This is a complete fabrication and a hoax,” firm partners Rick Reed, Paul Curcio and Erik Potholm told ABCNews.com in an e-mailed statement. “No one at SRCP was involved in the creation or production of these ads or the personal content created and posted on MySpace which is attributed to one of our employees.”

A campaign spokeswoman for McCain told ABCNews.com neither the candidate nor his team had any knowledge of the videos.

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OH-EIGHT (D): OBAMA’S JABS AT HRC

Obama: Strong Women Made Him Pro-Choice

Candidates Shift as G.O.P. Field Alters

Records Show Ex-Senator�s Work for Family Planning Unit

McCain Meets Allies on the Hill

McCain aide says fundraising plan ‘fell through the floor’

Is Elizabeth Edwards the Voice of the Campaign?

McCain, Edwards slip in New Hampshire poll

Spoof: John Edwards Vows To End All Bad Things By 2011

Giuliani Stacks Campaign Staff With a Who�s Who Of Mideast Hawks

Giuliani tops all presidential candidates in N.J. donations

Opinion: If McCain leaves a hole, can Giuliani fill it?

Giuliani repeats pledge to name ’strict constructionist’ judges

Fun Campaign Fundraising Facts to Share

Forbes ‘08 Tracker: July

OH-EIGHT (R): SHIFTING CW

McCain, N.H. Republicans find Bush’s unpopularity a heavy burden

I consider myself a reasonably intelligent person. I read a good deal, I like to discuss issues, I am pretty open to differing opinions. With that said there is one thing I cannot wrap my head around.

Right now the Democrats are urging for some kind of timetable concerning Iraq. The latest report today was that the Pentagon has rebuked Sen. Clinton over her request for the Pentagon to start working on withdrawal plans. Those in the Pentagon as well as the administration argue that any talk of a date for withdrawal bolsters the enemy. Their logic is that if terrorists know the United States will leave they simply have to hold out until that date in order to achieve their objectives.

Here is my ignorance on the issue. Don’t the people of Iraq and therefore our enemies already know we are going to leave? Don’t you usually leave at some point after a war? Whether it is two weeks, two months, two years, two decades, two centuries, sooner or later and we all hope sooner, the United States has to move on.

So if our ultimate objective is to head out of there, shouldn’t we at least come up with some kind of plan for doing it with reasonable benchmarks?

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