Rick Santorum

I was actually at the Capitol late last week and, ironically, being just steps from the Senate floor, I missed much of what was said in the final days of the 109th Congress and am just now catching up… Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) -- head of the do-nothing Republican Senate -- took to the chamber's floor on Thursday to tick off a list of nine legislative accomplishments made by the GOP in the last Congress. Here are some of Frist's proudest moments:

"We passed legislation securing the right to prayer in U.S. military academies.

As expected, the custom rubber-stamp graphic gets an encore today as the Senate rubber-stamped Smirk's choice to head the Pentagon, Robert Gates, by a 95-2 vote. Interestingly, the two dissenting voices came from the right side of the aisle, Sen.'s Jim Bunning (R-KY) and Ricky "Man-on Dog" Santorum (R-PA), because they saw Iraq Study Group alumni Robert Gates as too willing to talk with Iran and Syria in trying to solve the Iraqnam Quagmire...

Gates Confirmed As Secretary of Defense (AP) - The Senate voted overwhelmingly Wed. to confirm Robert Gates as defense secretary, with Democrats and Republicans portraying him as the man who will help overhaul pResident Bush's Iraq policies. The 95-2 vote was a victory of sorts for Bush, who named Gates to replace Donald H. Rumsfeld at the Pentagon on Nov. 8, a day after voters gave Democrats control of Congress for next year.... (more)

theBlueHighwayman says: Rummy and England at work in the Bunker

November Elections are less than eight weeks away and the boys over at the White House are playing the Nazi card. Here’s Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld and Deputy Secretary of Defense England in a secret photo discussing Iraq. Well, with a little help from Photoshop of course but I just thought it would be fun to return the “Nazi Sympathizer” complement. Rummy does look handsome wearing the Iron Cross. I say if the uniform fits wear it and a number of other Republicans could wear it as well. Some people might think this is over the edge but hell this is where the Republicans want to go this election. We’re all considered Al Quada by the CONservatives anyway.

By Bob Geiger

As I reported last week -- though it took a week longer than I expected -- Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) was successful at forcing the issue of stem cell research onto the Senate agenda and debate begins today on three pieces of stem-cell related legislation.

The Senate will consider H.R. 810, the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, which will "amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for human embryonic stem cell research." The House bill, passed well over a year ago and allowed by Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) to languish in the Senate, would permit federal funding for research using stem cells derived from embryos originally created for fertility treatments and that were expressly donated by patients.

But beware, as H.R. 810 will come to the floor along with two companion bills -- both by the "Opus Dei Boys" Rick Santorum (R-PA) and Sam Brownback (R-KS) -- which, if passed, will water down some features of the main bill.

You can get greater detail about all three bills and the ramifications of this week's Senate debate in my article from last week.

Stay tuned…

You can reach Bob Geiger at geiger.bob@gmail.com

It's no suprise that Rick Santorum is trailing Bob Casey by 20 points in the latest poll. That's because Santorum just can't stop lying, whether the topic is where he lives or why we're in Iraq.

This morning, Santorum told Don Imus that Saddam was training terrorists from "all over the region" at a training camp in Iraq. Imus was appropriately skeptical, saying Saddam's only real link to terrorism was sending money to the families of Palestinian suicide bombers. But Santorum insisted Saddam trained terrorists in Iraqi training camps.

This is one of the last rightwing "zombie lies" about Iraq, so here's the truth (courtesy of Media Matters) about Salman Pak: