NBC First Read - Bush flubs PA town name, heading to Haggard country [View All]

[Democrat 4 Ever]

campaigning for influence peddling Rep. Jim Gibbons, Air Force One knocks out runway lights in Nevada, government post how to build a bomb on the "internets" - man does Chucklenuts have some bad mojo going on. This would be fricking hilarious if this dumbass didn't have the launch codes.

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First Read: The day in politics by NBC News for NBC News
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Four days left... President Bush's final campaign swing, now on day two, already seems marked by big and small awkward moments ranging from his flubbing the name of Shanksville, PA yesterday to a series of events in Ted Haggard's home state tomorrow.

Yesterday as Bush campaigned in Nevada, a software entrepreneur who is suing his former business partner issued a statement detailing influence-peddling charges against the former partner and Rep. Jim Gibbons, the GOP nominee for governor. Gibbons denies the claims. And tomorrow, Bush is scheduled to spend the day in Colorado, home base of White House adviser Haggard, who has resigned from his stewardship of the National Association of Evangelicals in the face of accusations that he paid for sex with a male prostitute. Indeed, Vice President Cheney is actually in Colorado today for a welcome-home rally with troops at Fort Carson and a rally in Colorado Springs, the seat of prominent Christian conservatives such as Haggard and Focus on the Family's James Dobson.

Bush's day yesterday also included: a reference to Shanksville, PA, site of the United Flight 93 crash on September 11, as Lancaster, PA, per NBC's Kelly O'Donnell; a rare stumble at the top of the steps of Air Force One, per the pool report; and some incident in which Air Force One apparently knocked out the runway lights when it took off from the Elko, NV airport, per NBC's David Gregory.

But in a more worrisome awkward moment, the GOP's respite from bad news on Iraq that came courtesy of Sen. John Kerry (D) appears to have ended. The latest incident which could undermine the party's advantage over Democrats on national security is a New York Times report that the federal government put up a website on Iraqi war documents in hopes of proving that Saddam Hussein had WMD, and that the documents provide a guide to building an atom bomb.

For more: The latest edition of First Read is available now at http://www.FirstRead.MSNBC.com !
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