Allen tackle victim Mike Stark to Washington Post: Who you callin’ a heckler?

And no, Stark says, there wasn’t any heckling or yelling before Allen staffers started pushing and shoving him.

Some brief thoughts on Kerry.

Whatever Kerry meant to say, it provided plenty of grist for feigned outrage from Republicans. It certainly didn’t sound good. But I take it as a given that it was a botched jab at President Bush because I don’t believe a bunch of Republicans who never served in the military have more respect for the military than a Democrat who did. But that’s life. Republicans are looking for everything they can get. Fine.

But it’s important not to forget one thing. John Kerry isn’t the Democratic party. And this election isn’t about John Kerry. It’s about Iraq. It’s about the man who’s actually president, the man whose policies have led to the disaster the country is facing. George W. Bush.

This whole national drama we’re involved in is about the president’s continued refusal to accept responsibility, or more properly speaking, accountability for anything. He wants the policies and politics of the country to proceed along as if his policies hadn’t already led us into disaster after disaster. That’s what this election is about, not the 2004 election or anything else.

Everything that’s not about that is a distraction.

TPM Reader BR checks in from Texas …

So now, according to Bush, anyone who votes for a Democrat is voting for the terrorists. And law-abiding citizens get manhandled or arrested for questioning officials at public events—or addressing Dick Cheney in a Colorado mall.

This isn’t the country I know and love. It’s gone to a very dark place, not one I care to visit, let alone inhabit.

I’m an old-fashioned romantic, I guess—or maybe just old. But my favorite political story, probably apocryphal, is of the little old lady who was polled in one of the Eisenhower-Stevenson races in the 50s. Who, she was asked, would she vote for. “Why, I’m not going to vote,” she replied.
“Why on earth would you not vote?” asked the pollster.
“Well,” she replied, “Mr. Eisenhower and Mr. Stevenson are both fine gentlemen, and the country will be in good hands either way.”

Would that we could still feel that way. And that our leaders, elected or selected, could treat us with a little respect.

Six more days.

Not good for Rep. Sweeney (R-NY). Not good at all (from the Albany Times Union) …

The wife of U.S. Rep. John Sweeney called police last December to complain her husband was “knocking her around” during a late-night argument at the couple’s home, according to a document obtained last week by the Times Union.

The emergency call to a police dispatcher triggered a visit to the couple’s residence by a state trooper from Clifton Park, who filed a domestic incident report after noting that the congressman had scratches on his face, the document states. No criminal charges were filed.

Gaia M. Sweeney, 36, told a trooper that her husband had grabbed her by the neck and was pushing her around the house, according to the document.

Creeping Sherwoodism?

It’s time for the closing argument. The issue of the day may be Iraq. I think it is. But an issue isn’t an argument. An argument brings the issues together and motivates action. So what’s the argument? What should candidates and surrogates be saying at campaign stops this week?

I think it comes down to this. Beyond the incompetence, the bungled policies and the lies (which are plenty bad enough), where the country finds itself is a situation in which the leadership of the country either can’t see, or won’t see, or most likely wants to pretend not to see what a growing majority of the country clearly can see.

It’s most clear, most visible in Iraq. Though there’s a bit less consensus on whether it was a mistake from the outset, there’s an overwhelming consensus among Americans today that Iraq has become a disaster for the United States and that it’s not going to get better on the course we’re now on.

But the president just says, No. Sure, there are a few bumps along the way. But fundamentally it was a good idea, we’re doing the right thing and we’re on the right track. No matter what however many people tell him, that’s what his gut tells him so it’s full speed ahead. He’s going to stay the course right over the cliff.

In America, political action in Washington usually tracks fairly closely with public opinion, even though the voters only get a real bite at the apple every two years. But it doesn’t have to be that way. The people in charge can pretty much ignore what people think and say. For the two years between elections, they’re close to invulnerable.

And that’s the closer in this election. How do you think Iraq has gone? How do you think Congress is doing its job? How did you think Katrina was handled? Different people are going to have different hot button issues. But across the board I think what we’re seeing in the country is that sense of disconnect — things are seriously off course but the folks in charge won’t admit it and don’t know what to do about it.

So to voters I think the pitch is, think back over the last two years. You only have one chance to go on record with your verdict. Thumbs up or thumbs down. One chance before you have to go back and sit in the stands again for another two years.

Are you on board with what’s happening? Or do you want to go on record saying things have to change? One chance.

And if you give the thumbs up, how will you feel when you wake up on November 8th?

The NY Daily News has the Rep. Sweeney (R-NY) spousal abuse story.

Judge rules in favor of the Denver Three (folks kicked out of Bush Social Security event for not being true believers).

Excerpts from the Sweeney domestic violence 911 call (as reported by the Albany Times-Union) …

Sweeney’s wife, Gaia, placed the emergency call to a police dispatcher in Saratoga County at 12:55 a.m. on Dec. 2, according to the document.

“Female caller stating her husband is knocking her around the house,” a dispatcher wrote. “Then she stated `Here it comes, are you ready?’ and disconnected the call. Upon call-back, the husband stated no problem … asked the wife if she wanted to talk. Wife (caller) then got on the phone and stated that she’s fine and that she’s drunk. Caller sounded intoxicated. She advised that she was endangered for a moment, but everything is fine.”

A short time later officer Scott W. Gunsel arrived at the Sweeney home.

The police report obtained by the Times Union indicates that Scott W. Gunsel, a trooper assigned to Clifton Park, responded to the couple’s home along a cul-de-sac in a tidily kept neighborhood near the center of town. It is routine for police agencies to check residences from where 911 or other emergency calls have been made, even if callers say everything is fine or that the call was made in error.

Gunsel wrote in a blotter entry that he found the couple separated and calm when he arrived at the home that night. Under common police practice, the document lists Gaia Sweeney as a “victim” and Sweeney as a “suspect.”

“Complainant stated that she and husband got into verbal argument that turned a little physical by her being grabbed by the neck and pushed around the house,” Gunsel wrote in the narrative portion of the blotter entry, according to the document. “Suspect had scratches on face. Both parties refused medical attention. Complainant removed to friend’s house for the evening … refused any type of prosicution (sic) arrest.”

Is there some disconnect in this clause: “got into verbal argument that turned a little physical by her being grabbed by the neck and pushed around the house”?

The Daily News has more.

Comity in CIA leak case moves the Libby trial forward. That and other news of the day in today’s Daily Muck.

TPM Reader JF on JK …

OK, so JK has once again demonstrated how his lack of verbal discipline can cause serious problems in a campaign. It may be best for Democrats to just toss him overboard and weather this storm…(sorry)…but two very positive things can come from what was very probably (based on his history) a botched joke:

1) Senator Kerry has likely diminished his own chances for retaking the Democratic Presidential Nomination in ’08, with this indelible reminder of how not-ready-for-prime-time he is. And much more
importantly…

2) The Senator has unintentionally triggered one heck of an overreaction by Bush & Co., which Dems ought to seize upon. This is perhaps the best example of what this administration has done again
and again since 9/11 — exploiting our troops in a time of war for political gain. It’s time they are called on it, in strong, clear terms.

When a majority of the public demands accountability for the Iraq fiasco, does the Bush Administration answer responsibly, with a strategy for success? No, they ignore the well-being of our troops, instead climbing on their backs, using Americans’ love and admiration for our fighting men and women as a cheap wedge to divide the country. These politicians are exploiting the very danger that they have irresponsibly placed our troops in – to score cheap political points in the week before an election.

We’ve all seen this before. Rather than admit their incompetence they hide behind the generals, exploiting their honor and respect for the chain of command to claim a false endorsement of the Pentagon’s misguided plans. In this atmosphere of lies and manipulation, no serious dialogue about how to fix the Iraq debacle can take place — leading inevitably to the senseless loss of MORE American lives.
This is not the principled leadership of true patriots who respect the US military.

It is frankly despicable – the worst display of a craven and desperate attempt to cling to power. They and all those who parrot them should be ashamed.

(The fact that they are shameless explains why this election has turned into a national referendum on their kind of faux-patriot politics.)

TPM Reader ST from up north …

So Kerry makes a botched joke and the media take their cue from the Repubs and wonder aloud if he’s cost the Dems their chances at winning the Congress back.

Yet Bush can come out a couple days earlier and make the direct statement that if “Democrats get elected – terrorists win” and that barely causes a ripple?

Up here in Canada, if a sitting Prime Minister or heck, an opposition politician had made that statement about voting for the other party, the backlash would have been ferocious – not just in the media but the general public. Is this part of the media believing you need to show more deference to the President and its office?

And finally from TPM Reader DS …

I have talked to many people out here in sunny optimistic California who are getting nervous over JK’s comments. The phone calls are from people sounding uncomfortable who were sounded fired up to get out the vote. It isn’t just the comments but his unwillingness to understand how they sound to anyone who is CURRENTLY involved with the military. Please let our candidates speak for themselves. JK is coming off like a sore loser personalizing a debate on Iraq trying to make it about him and Bush again. I am a loyal supporter and it didn’t sound like a joke it, it sounded like JK was saying dumb people serve their country and the elites don’t have to. Please let’s keep the focus on that disaster in Iraq and our great local candidates.

Please apologize for how it sounded to so many of us – not for what you said and sit down – you are not inspiring anyone except Rove.

Please don’t kill the momentum — JK isn’t running but he can help lose this great opportunity.

Okay, enough of this. Back to what and who this race is about.