Global warming is real. Matt Drudge, “the Walter Cronkite of his era,” is working overtime to convince people it isn’t happening. Here’s what he put up on the Drudge Report today:

First, this is totally irrelevant. Global warming does not mean there is never going to be a cold day or a cold month somewhere on the globe. Globally, September 2006 was the 4th warmest on record.

Second, Drudge leaves out this crucial fact from the NOAA report he links to:

The January-September 2006 combined temperature is warmest on record. The previous record warm January-September happened in 2000.

In other words, according to the NOAA report Drudge cites, there has never been a warmer year in the United States so far than 2006. Amazingly, Drudge is seizing on this report to suggest that global warming isn’t real.

Rep. Don Sherwood (R-PA) had a five-year affair with a 29-year-old woman that ended in 2004 when she called 911 after Sherwood allegedly tried to strangle her. The woman has now sued Sherwood “for what she alleges were repeated beatings that seriously injured her physically and emotionally.”

Sherwood acknowledges he had an affair with the woman, but denies the allegations of abuse.

Now he is in danger of losing his seat, and has been “calling in chits” with “campaign officials and House colleagues.” He’s getting good results. The embattled congressman received about $90,000 from campaign committees and House members in the three-month period ending Oct. 1, according to his latest campaign finance report to the FEC.

– Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH): $2,000
– Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter (R-PA): $5,000
– Conference Chairwoman Deborah Pryce (R-OH): $5,000
– House Energy and Commerce Chairman Joe Barton (R-TX): $5,000
– Infrastructure Chairman Don Young (R-AK): at least $1,000
– Government Reform Chairman Tom Davis (R-VA): at least $1,000
– Rep. Richard Burr (R-NC): $5,000
– Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK): $5,000
– Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX): $5,000

In all, over 40 House conservatives contributed $1,000 or more to Sherwood in just the current quarter. But he’s just getting started. Sherwood “is expected to raise up to $400,000 at a Thursday fundraiser hosted by President Bush in Sherwood’s district.”

Rush Limbaugh interviewed Vice President Cheney on his show today. At one point, Limbaugh asked Cheney to respond to growing frustration over U.S. efforts in Iraq.

Cheney acknowledged there is a “natural level of concern out there” because fighting didn’t end “instantaneously.” (Next month, the war will have lasted longer than U.S. fighting in World War II.) Cheney then pointed to various news items to paint a positive picture of conditions in Iraq and concluded, “If you look at the general overall situation, they’re doing remarkably well.”

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On Feb. 9, 2006, House Homeland Security Chairman Peter King (R-NY) spoke at the Merrick Jewish Center in Merrick, NY. King told his constituents that “the situation [in Iraq] is more stable than you think.” He cited “bumper to bumper traffic,” shopping centers, restaurants, video stores, vendors, and hotels to conclude that being in Baghdad is “like being in Manhattan.” ThinkProgress has obtained exclusive video from a person who was at the event. Watch it:

Life in Baghdad is nothing like life in Manhattan. There have been 441 murders in New York City so far this year. In contrast, approximately 14,458 Iraqis have died in the war this year according to iCasualties, which counts casualties based on media reports. A study in the British medical journal Lancet suggests the real number may be much higher.

When they think the media aren’t watching, politicians like King are willing to grossly distort the facts on Iraq to their constituents for political purposes.

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Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) explains the Iraq war by citing Lord of the Rings: “As the hobbits are going up Mount Doom, the Eye of Mordor is being drawn somewhere else,” Santorum told a newspaper editorial board. “It’s being drawn to Iraq and it’s not being drawn to the U.S. You know what? I want to keep it on Iraq. I don’t want the Eye to come back here to the United States.”

Number of Americans who “believe the Bush Administration is telling the truth about what they knew prior to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States.” Fifty-three percent believe the Bush administration is “hiding something,” according to a new poll.

The real fly in the ointment for the Democrats this cycle has been New Jersey, which really ought to have been a safe Democratic hold. Instead, the NJ Democrats’ reputation for corruption, combined with problems with Bob Menendez as a candidate, and warm fuzzies for Tom Keane’s dad, have made it a very tight race. The latest poll has Keane at 39 percent and Menendez at 42 percent. Menendez’ narrow lead at a low level raises the question of whether or not we should think of him as an incumbent. Technically, he is, and normally an incumbent polling at 43 percent three weeks before an election is toast, lead or no lead. But Menendez has been in that seat less than a year, and lacks statewide name recognition, so maybe it’s more like an open seat in which case he seems to be doing okay.