Josh Marshall gets the goods on the Republican plan to attempt to morph "Nuclear Option" into "Constitutional Option" via a Republican Senate Committee Talking Points Memo [PDF].

The GOP strategy for bamboozling the American People with linguistic tricks has been working quietly --- and working very effectively! --- for years. Now, however, that there is an actual opposition media (yes, that "Liberal Media" you've heard so much about is actually beginning to come into existance...even if it's out here, built from the ragtag blogosphere) one wonders how much longer they'll be able to get away with such tricks.

They were busted in the Schiavo case, and it looks like they're busted in the "Nuclear Option" case. For that, and many other reasons, it looks like the GOP Hucksters may be in more long and short term trouble than they realize yet.

That's just speculation on our part, of course. And yes, we're of the eternally optimistic sort still. But we believe we're seeing some signs written on the wall that The Force is not with the GOP these days. We believe we're seeing an Empire, if not yet crumbling, then beginning to show its potentially fatal cracks. Stay tuned...

"Tom DeLay is the most effective leader the House has seen in 50 years."

So said U.S. Congressman Tom Feeney (R-FL) of his very good friend, and mutual backscratcher, Tom DeLay (R-TX) outside of last week's exciting "Conservative Movement Salutes Tom DeLay" event!

And no wonder! Between all the cold, hold cash money that Feeney's received from DeLay, and all the money and voting support Feeney's given right back in return, it looks like the two Toms are birds of a feather! We certainly hope they're not jailbirds of a feather someday! Yee-Ouch! That certainly wouldn't be very helpful to the "Conservative" movement!

Feeney's been there for DeLay all along and nothing's gonna stop him now!

That's why Mr. Feeney was one of the few Congressmen willing to talk to reporters --- outloud, and right there in public yet! --- at the big "Salute to Delay" last week. That's why Feeney was more than happy to go on that important trip to play golf in Scotland with DeLay (apparently paid for by lobbyists)...Hell, they're even champs when it comes to redistricting their own states to help themselves get elected!

Is there anything these two can't do together when they set their minds to it?!

And just in case you weren't certain how close the two Toms actually are...The Public Campaign Action Fund was nice enough to recently compile a list of "DeLay Rankings" showing which Congressmen and women are closest to Tom DeLay and deepest inside of his pocket. And guess who came out on top of the entire U.S. House of Representatives?!

That's right! Our man, Feeney's #1! Waytago Tom! You've done it again!

(Thanks American Woman, Jaime, and Jesse of Stakeholder for their contributions to this salute!)

Late last week, the good John Conyers posted a fun (and very smart) piece headlined "The GOP's Attack On Voting Rights" over at TomPaine.com. Presumably his article was in reply to Russ Baker's attempt --- published the week before at TomPaine.com --- to tamp down the ever-growing cries of foul in Election 2004 and the need for true Electoral Reform in this country.

Election Reformers being no dolts and well used to subtle smoke-screens, trojan horses and deflections by now, quite a few enlightening letters to the editor were published over there as well last week in reply to Baker's article. Those letters also followed a quick reply/clarification/CYA column by TP's Executive Editor, Alexandra Walker.

Conyers' piece uses a bunch of Harper's Index-like numbers to cut through the crap and outline the very real and very major assaults now being mounted by the Right against American freedom and democracy. Read the whole thing. Here's a couple grafs of particular note to BRAD BLOG readers...

UPDATE: Oliver T. Dawshed also delivers a helpful reply to Baker's article in his letter that was not published at TomPaine.com. Amongst the information in his rebuttal:

It's our first full day back in the homeland trenches today after being on the road for the last month and a half. It's good to be back, especially as there have been so many things we've wanted to be able to work on over the past several weeks which have been nearly impossible to accomplish from the road. We look forward to getting back to the hardcore investigative grind very soon!

Along with the month and a half on the road doing various speaking engagements, important meetings and accomplishing other super-secret missions (fruits of which will appear later), someone decided to drop an opportunity to do a weekly radio show on us during that same period. All of which make a difficult job (keeping up with BRAD BLOG and Velvet Revolution duties on the fly) all the much more difficult.

So it's been both a fruitful period, and an extremely difficult --- and frequently frustrating --- one all at the same time.

It'll likely take some time to get caught up and fully back to speed here. (Even the month and a half worth of accumulated snail mail is a carbon-based mountain that needs climbing! Including a number of snail-mail donations --- thanks! --- which have yet to be processed!)

There are a number of items that we haven't been able to post over the last several days (at least) which are worthy of your attention. Some have been pointed to by the eagle-eyed BRAD BLOG commenters already, but several deserve a higher profile as full-fledged blog items in and of themselves. Several others we had hoped to discuss on the radio show last Saturday but had to dump due to lost time caused by technical problems. So we'll be posting some of those "catch-up" items shortly even if they are not quite as timely as we like to be here.

As well, there are several tasks at Velvet Revolution that need our immediate attention to boot. Concerning the "Divestiture for Democracy" campaign and other notable projects which haven't been able to receive the attention they require due to lack of both time and resources. So watch for some new information over there as we work to get caught up over there as well.

Oh, and it looks like Microsoft has made some internal changes to IE that has caused for some odd formatting to the blog in some cases. We'll need time to figure out how they messed things up, and what, if anything, we can do about it! Just what we needed right about now!

Thanks for your continuing support and patience as we crank back up to full speed over the next week or two. Slowly, but surely, we'll get there. So much corruption, so much progress made fighting it, but so little time, "staff" and resources to get it all out here into the sunlight where it needs to be. Nonetheless, onward and upward...as best and as quickly as we can.

And thanks again, as well, to Winter Patriot for his diligence in keeping things rolling here when we were not able to! We're glad to hear that he is just fine and was simply unavailable to run Saturday's Night's BRAD SHOW Open Thread. Apparently he told us in advance, but that news seemingly was one of too many things which dropped through the cracks. The BRAD BLOG "staff" has been fully reprimanded for their failure do note that in advance, and a top-to-bottom review of such policies here will be conducted shortly by the FBI's former-director Robert Mueller, Jeff Gannon, Judith Miller and the entire NEWSWEEK Editorial Board to ensure such failures never occur again.

Looks like we made it! Winter Patriot? Where are you?

RAW STORY has the complete letter signed by 51 members of the U.S. House of Representatives. It begins like this:

We don't care what the MSM does (or doesn't) report. The drumbeat will not stop. The truth is on our side. Truth always wins out over lies. Eventually. Stay tuned...

Just one of several stories from the past week that we're only now getting time to link up (having been furiously driving across country over the past week).

This one from Miami-Herald:

ES&S and their "computer glitches" strike again.

Any of you political and MSM ostriches out there realize this is a story yet?

Made it back (finally!) to the Left Coast! Safe and sound! And it looks like we've found a studio for this weekend's show! So, barring any surprises between now and Saturday 7pm ET (4pm PT), we'll be up and on the air with another exciting LIVE episode of The BRAD SHOW via RAW RADIO!

GUESTS CURRENTLY TO INCLUDE:

As always, subject to change as events warrant...

Please plan on tuning in LIVE Saturday Evening! And tell a few friends while you're at it! We need you all to spread the word high and low!

{Guest Blogged by Jaime}

Brad is cooling his jets in the ever famous undisclosed location. He is currently incapable of access to the "internets" so I am transcribing a message from him directly to you.

John Conyers will appear on our good friend, Don Grady's Louisiana Live today at 3pm CT. You can listen online here.

As I'll be on the road at that time and won't be able to listen, if anyone can grab and record to .MP3 it'd be appreciated!

This morning's explosive item at the new Huffington Post by NBC/HBO's Jim Lampley stating that the November Election was the "biggest crime in the history of the nation" has apparently touched a nerve.

The Sports Announcer cum Political Commentator's deftly on-target blog item (covered by BRAD BLOG earlier today) --- in which he aptly suggested that what happened last November was bigger than Watergate --- was met with a limp-wristed rejoinder from Rightwinger Byron York also at the Post. York attacked Lampley's sports book metaphor as weak by using a silly comparison to the oddsmakers' take on last weekend's Kentucky Derby.

York then went on to attempt a futher rebuttal to Lampley with powerful statements such as...

Good stuff. Very persuasive. I don't know much about York other than he writes for National Review and appears on Fox News all the time, but there is ample evidence that he is also a small gray-haired poodle --- for one thing, speaking from memory, I believe that I remember seeing him take a leak at a fire hydrant near our house. One time. Somewhere.

As to the Kentucky Derby silliness, Lampley himself pushed back with another post later in the day to embarrass York on that point, prove that he's no featherweight on this Election 2004 business and to demonstrate clearly that York is in way over his head on this matter.

We hope at least that Lampley tossed York a nice chew toy and gave him a warm pat on the head when he was done.

Not one to miss out on a good Election Irregularity Brouhaha wherever it may rear its ugly head, Celebrity Congressman John Conyers' showed up ringside at Huffington Post today as well to offer his well-experienced two-cents on today's main event!

We welcome this new spat and apologize for the bad boxing metaphors! But if that's what it takes to get folks to take notice, especially during May Sweeps, then we're happy to ring the bell for ROUND 3!

On a related note, we are attempting to reach Lampley to discuss it all on this weekend's BRAD SHOW presuming we make it back to the Left Coast in time, and can find a homebase broadcast studio! If Lampley himself reads this item before we are able to track him down, please let it be known he may contact us at our Email Address to discuss it!

We'd also be keenly interested in discussing another thought or two with him concerning this statement in his latest answer to York...

The BRAD BLOG has been hot on the trail and committed to that very "investigative process" he speaks of since the early morning hours of November 3rd. We'd like very much to discuss an idea or two with Lampley if he is able to contact us. Or vice versa.

And finally...while we've given so much coverage (and free links) to the well-funded start-up Huffington Post today...We'll add that this well-underfunded blog does not appear on her Blogroll! But certainly should! (As should RAW STORY for that matter who has similarly been a key player in that same "investigative process" for months!) Please feel free to let Arianna know via the only address we've so far been able to find to contact her: Scoop@HuffingtonPost.com.

This is a difficult story to follow blow-by-blow as we're currently on the road for 10 or so hours per day for the next few as we head back Westward across the fruited plains...So our thanks to those readers who have sent us links to help follow the day's action as we're otherwise putting pedal to metal!

UPDATE 5/11/05: Robert A. George pours some fuel on the "Lampley-York Smackdown", though --- unsurprisingly, by now --- takes shots at the good guys tactics/character as opposed to his argument. And Arianna features the entire brouhaha from her front page teaser column. Keep making noise...

UPDATE AGAIN 5/11/05: This morning, York tries to get out of the corner he's backed himself into by playing the already long-discredited "Even the Exit Pollsters admit they were wrong" card. Apparently, he hasn't been told that the Exit Pollsters own report has been entirely rebuked and debunked some time ago [PDF]. Get with it, York! You're losing big time on points as ROUND 3 begins, you're gonna need to punch harder than that!

Arianna's new Huffington Post looks to be making news right out of the gate!

In a stunning blog item this morning headlined "The Biggest Story of Our Lives" from ABC NBC/HBO Sports' Jim Lampley --- one which would almost certainly make front page headlines were we not all currently living in Bizzarro World --- the sportscaster cum blogger speaks of the word on the 2004 Election from the Vegas books on November 2nd:

Wow. Lampley continues in no uncertain terms about what went on, urging his Huffington Post colleagues to end the media blackout on this once and for all!

Holy smokes..."Developing"...we'd guess!...

Interestingly enough, however, Huffington Post itself doesn't even bother to feature this post from its front page...

CORRECTION: The original version of this post identified Lampley as being with ABC Sports. He is now with NBC and HBO if we understand his impressive bio correctly. We regret the error, and as well are attempting to contact Lampley to appear on this weekend's BRAD SHOW if we can figure out how to reach him. He may contact us at our email address if he reads this before we find him.

UPDATE: Round 2, featuring Byron York of the National Review, John Conyers of the U.S. Congress, and, of course, Lampley, is right here.

An excellent article just out from June's The American Prospect suggests that Congressman Bob Ney (R-OH), one of the sponsors of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) is now under Dept. of Justice investigation for his ties to lobbyist Jack Abramoff and the money received from the Tigua Indian tribe to finance a golf trip, like Tom Delays, to Scotland.

Our good friend, Tom Feeney, by the way, was also on one of those Scotland Golf Trips. Just thought it worth mentioning.

The Prospect article outlines in detail in how Ney had used Christopher Dodd (D-CT), without Dodd's knowledge, to suggest that the two of them would be able to add a rider to HAVA which would be favorable to the Tigua Indian tribe. Of course, Dodd never seems to have been a party to any of this.

Ney, who chairs the House Administration Committee, recently held hearings on the Ohio Election 2004 mess during which --- as originally reported by BRAD BLOG --- he invited friends from the phony GOP front group calling themselves the American Center for Voting Rights to testify, and yet the Prospect article reports that he claims to have been fooled by an Abramoff front group in relation to the trips he was purchased:

That "Florida gambling cruise line" which led to an apparent "gangland-style" hit was Suncruz, as reported in excrutiating detail in a Washington Post piece last week.

As is the norm these days, Ney is attempting to deny knowing who actually paid for the trip, yet the Prospect reports:

And finally --- even after Ney knew full well that Dodd wanted nothing to do with the Indian Tribe legislation --- he invited members of the tribe to the Capitol for a meeting to thank them for the trip, and to act as if he was still hoping to pass their dead-in-the-water legislation:

Using Dodd as a scapegoat for the legislation would was never to have been placed in HAVA, Ney then claims to have been willing to "let election reform die" in retaliation:

How filthy can these guys get? Stay tuned...

(Hat tip Jesse over at Stakeholder for the link tip!)

Scurrying across this great land of ours. Homeward bound. Finally. Will pop in here as time allows throughout the week, though that may not be much. We'll see...

The great BRAD BLOG Guest Bloggers will fill gaps as needed here, and we'll look forward to getting back to business in full by next week.

If the Democracy/Radio Gods are with us (and we can find our new Left Coast Homebase!) we'll be back on the air this Saturday with another LIVE show! Guest list, etc. to come as the week rolls on. Hopefully we'll find our new broadcast home, because we've already got some amazing guests pencilled in! Details soon!

The archives from last week's show are now online at BradShow.com - including the original unaired first half of the fourth hour (during which some strange technical glitch pre-empted us with a rerun of ourselves! Go figure!) So go hear what you missed there, which includes the awesome Bright Eyes tune from the Leno show. Justice Through Music has also posted a higher quality version of that video as well!

Also...if you missed the second hour with John Conyer's General Counsel, Ted Kalo [MP3], you may wish to give that one a listen as well...I think he may actually have made a bit of news around the :36 minute mark. Give it a listen and let us know what you think...I believe it was a great hour in any case!

UPDATE: Fixed the incorrect link to the Ted Kalo interview above. Had it as "third hour" and then pointed to the first! Should have been second, and so it has been corrected! Thanks CoreyK for pointing out my error!

Not much time to take this one apart properly, but New York Times' Adam Cohen today holds bloggers up to ethical standards which, he argues, ought to equal the high standards of those in the MSM.

While we agree with much of his thesis in general, one wonders if he ought to be throwing such stones from inside the Times' own fragile glass house.

This finger-wagging quote --- "Information should be verified before it is printed" --- amongst others, strikes one as more than just a tad ironic coming from the paper who allowed buckets of front page ink for Judith Miller to post un-verified information which helped march the world directly into a (so far) endless war.

Ms. Miller still works at --- and presumably collects a handsome salary from --- New York Times in the bargain. As she doesn't seem to have been held up to any particular set of ethics in the bargain, wouldn't Cohen's criticism be better directed homeward right about now?

Blogs, it seems, in Cohen's article are all tossed into the same ethically-challenged, non-journalistic barrel. All of us, apparently, require an "ethical upgrade" in Cohen's condescending opinion. True, we suppose, in as much as it would be appropriate for us to criticize the Times themselves for "reporting" done by super-market tabloids such as Weekly World News.

By way of example, here's just one graf from Cohen's piece:

Message to Mr. Cohen and the other MSM'ers apparently now beginning to defend their turf by entering into the "then they fight you" phase of Gandhi's famous quote: "Physician, heal thyself!"