During the ninety full minutes of last night's lively Republican Debate on Fox "News" from Orlando, the word "Bush" was used only twice by the candidates. One time each by Ron Paul and then Fred Thompson.

The Fox "News" anchors used the word five times.

Everyone else? Apparently never heard of him.

(On the other hand, as Arlen Parsa notes, Hillary was mentioned some 34 times.)

A few of our other quick, amusing and/or notable observations and video clips follow...

This is interesting. In a "blind bio poll" of Republican voters, conducted by Zogby, Ward Casscells polled as well as both Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson.

Who the hell is Ward Casscells? Some guy who's not even running for anything. But apparently Republican respondents liked his bio as much as they like Rudy, Fred, and all the rest, according to a new Zogby poll out today...

This is somewhat amusing.

Describing himself (without apparent intended irony) as "we, real people," former exceedingly powerful Republican House Majority Leader Dick Armey stammers and stumbles through a quick video pitch (seen at right) to members of his FreedomWorks mailing list for the awkwardly named "Pick Dick Armey’s YouTube Flick Contest."

The premise, if we're understanding the seemingly drunk Armey correctly, is for "normal" people to decide what question they will allow Armey to ask for them, on video, for the upcoming Republican CNN/YouTube debate. Or something.

It would seem the point of such a debate is for actual "we, real people" to submit questions without the help of bloated former Texas power brokers like Armey. So we'll hope that his question, whatever it ends up being, gets no preferential treatment from CNN, who selected a few dozen from among thousands submitted for the Dem version of their YouTube debate a couple of months ago.

That is, if he can even get through such a question. What really leaves us chortling aloud here, is that old Dick apparently couldn't get through his 48 second pitch without flubbing it up, several times, making this video funnier with each viewing. Hope you real people will enjoy it as much as we did.

Blogged by Brad from the Show Me State...

Looks like the Republican National Committee is getting a particularly early start in their attempts to steal next year's election. And from the looks of Paul Kiel's report on the deceptive RNC letter sent to a life-long Democratic voter in the Show Me State, once again Missouri may be ground zero in 2008.

All of which is swell, because we happen to be in Missouri this week, and plan to speak to folks in St. Louis next Thursday at an event sponsored by Missourians for Honest Elections (yes, there still are a few, including MO SoS Robin Carnahan, whose office contacted us to chat a bit yesterday upon seeing we'd be in town). We'll be causing trouble in Thor Hearne Country, firing up the troops, and taking questions, after a showing of Dorothy Fadiman's superb documentary Stealing America: Vote by Vote (which we're told is being submitted for Academy Award nomination).

See Kiel's story for the details on the GOP's latest efforts to game democracy and fool voters, instead of impressing them with actual ideas and policy, as that's what this quick item was meant to be about. But otherwise, if you're in or near St. Louis, please stop by Eliot Church in Kirkwood next Thursday night! More details are available here.

Guest blogged by David Edwards of Veredictum.com

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We posted this video from ABC's This Week at Crooks and Liars yesterday. If you are a fan of DNC Chairman Howard Dean then you'll enjoy this video. For those that get physically sick at the sight of DeLay, you might want to skip the first 5 minutes.

Outgoing, indicted and disgraced Republican Rep. Tom DeLay spews the same hate-filled attacks on Democrats that we've heard for several years now. DeLay still manages to brandish the freshest Republican talking points.

Most notable was DeLay's attack on John Conyers' concerns that President Bush may have committed impeachable offenses. The Republicans believe that they can motivate their party to get out to the polls in November to save their favorite President from certain doom if the Democrats take control.

Howard Dean largely ignores DeLay's bluster. Chairman Dean has really improved the focus and delivery of his message. Dean doesn't dodge the tough questions. He delivers clear answers, straight talk and real hope the the American people. Having DeLay and Dean on the same segment really exposes the great disparity in the quality of their character.

Would Republicans actually do this?

So does that sound like the Republicans? The same group who called South Carolina voters during the 2000 primary to ask what they thought of John McCain fathering a black out-of-wedlock baby? Oh, yes. It sounds a lot like them. Gillespie's inability to deny it, of course, seals the deal. Your Republican Party: Anything to Win.

(If anyone finds a scanned graphic of that mail, please let me know!)

FOX News Primetime Convention Speech Coverage

Courtesy of Media Matters

FOX News Primetime Convention Speech Coverage

Courtesy of Media Matters

They're falling apart over there! Even five minutes listening to Rush lets on that these guys are really worried!

Bout time, boyz!

Now should they be worried? In my opinion, John F. Kerry is none too scary. He's perfectly capable of screwing the entire pooch before this is all said and done with. It's not John F. Kerry the GOP needs to worry about. It's George W. Bush! And they should have been worried about him for the past four years!

Unfortunately, the GOP is soooo tied up with the idea of hanging onto power, instead of simply Governing, that they have blindly followed wherever Bush has blindly led them for the last four years. And yes, I say "four" not "three" since that would include the year that they foolishly destroyed John McCain to allow Bush to become their nominee.

It's their bed. They are now sleeping in it.

Enjoy what's left of Bush's tenure, boyz. Or, hope for Kerry to fumble - which seems to be the only hope you have left at this point. Which means you've still got plenty of hope!