Ennui the People

With the exhaustion that the brutality national politics produce, I think a group of call center workers in Indiana (a great story at Talking Points Memo), who reportedly chose to walk off the job rather than make incendiary phone calls, have the right idea. If politicians won't knock off the negativism, it's up to us to say "enough is enough" where lowest-common-denominator campaigning is concerned. We deserve politics that respect our higher natures than use fear tactics to scare up the vote.

This election has seen a record amount of fund-raising, not a small portion of which has been used to stoke the fires of damnation for both John McCain and Barack
Obama. Character assassination is a pointless exercise and tells us very little that we can use to make an informed vote.

I wonder what would happen if, at political rallies, the crowd walked away when politicians "go negative" against their opponents or swore off television stations that run ads by political action committees?

Way to go you Hoosier call center workers, Missouri may be the "Show Me" state, but you led us all by setting a good example.

So Are They Gathering Facts or Not?

WH spokesperson, Dana Perino, does yeoperson's work of deflecting as this Talking Points Memo compilation shows.

Cookie Crumbs

Did Cookie Krongard know about brother Buzzy and Blackwater? Will Cookie crumble? Will Henry Waxman wax philosophical? Tune in to Congress's "As the Stomach Turns"

Since this time, Buzzy Krongard has quit Blackwater's advisory board, but will State Department Inspector General Howard "Cookie" Krongard rescind his recusal from Blackwater investigations?

TPM writes: "I'd like to be able to answer that question, but unfortunately it'll take a little while. During the pre-Thanksgiving rush to leave town, the Office of the Inspector General's press operation is in the hands of Terry Heide, who normally handles congressional affairs for the OIG. When I called Heide and posed the question, she replied, "The OIG has no further comments on anything related to Mr. Krongard's situation." Attempts at a follow-up were repelled by an instruction that there was "no need to call us back, because we have no comment." Click."

Mukasey's Future Murkier

How's the confirmation vote For AG-designate Michael Mukasey looking? Talking Points Memo reports so far that nine senators are walking away from Mukasey.