The Rand Paul Love Revolution is getting side-tracked. It appears that the KKK and the neo-Nazis are fund-raising for him. Even Republican bloggers are demanding he return the funds and the GOP denounce the white supremacists like they did with David Duke in the past. So far, just crickets. Even worse people are reprinting the tweets from white supremo Don Black that Ron Paul asked him to raise funds for his son. Having been defended as a neophyte politician and not racist because of his libertarianism, it appears that Rand Paul has a record of actually campaigning around the country on repealing the Civil Rights Act. His spokesperson used to play for a heavy metal band out of Bowling Green,Ohio and tweeted on Martin Luther King Day "Happy Ni**er Day". He hasn't been heard of in days. Maybe Alan Greenspan, the world's best known libertarian, came come to Rand's defense.
Hapless Harry Reid looks like he will have fun this November. The Chicken Lady has plummeted in the polls and teabagger Sharon Angle is emerging as the GOP front-runner. Angle was voted the worst member of the Nevada Assembly in 1999 and in 2005. She told Politico ,"They ( the Democrats) missed the pulse of the nation. There is a new tide of conservatism sweeping the nation."
Her campaign platform should certainly raise a few eye-brows. She will cut billions and billions from the federal government. She will build nuclear reactors within Yucca Mountains. She will abolish the income tax and replace it with a flat tax. She will abolish Social Security and Medicare. She will defund Obamacare. She will ban all abortions. She will pull the United States out of the United Nations. She will get rid of the Department of Energy and the Education Department. She will get rid of all limits to campaign financing. In heavily Hispanic Nevada, she advocates adopting a tough Arizona-type immigration law.
Eric Massa, the deposed Democratic congressman accused of sexually harassing male staffers and the star of the Glenn Beck Holy Hour, told Esquire that Dick Cheney met with Generals at the Pentagon and advocated a military coup against President Obama. He also said that Cheney tried to recruit General Petraeus to be the Republican nominee in 2012. Probably all true even though Massa is coo-coo for cocoa puffs.
Richard Blumenthal, who once had a monstrous lead in the Connecticut Senate race, apparently still has a huge lead in the race, even after he apologized for "mis-speaking about his military service in Vietnam". Polls indicate he has anywhere between a 3 point (Rasmussen) to 15 point lead (Public Policy).
The RNC isn't doing so hot. At the end of April, it had $12.5 milion cash on hand. The average from 2002-2006 was $40 million. For the by-election in 2006, for example, they averaged $46 million in the bank each month. The DNC has $15 million. Usually, Republicans compensated for their lack of numbers with their bankroll. Unless Karl Rove's secret Republican Party is producing the big bucks, there will be a liquidity problem come Fall.
The Baked Alaskan charges that President Obama is in the pocket of the oil industry. So far this year, the oil industry has donated $12.8 million to candidates, 71% were to Republicans. In 2008, they contributed 77% of their campaign pledges to Republicans and over 2/3rds of their Presidential contributions to the McCain/Palin ticket. Also heard from the Quittah from Wasilla was that Obama's criticizing BP was "un-American." The previous week she said that Obama's problem with the oil spill was not going with an American company.
Another Republican in South Carolina, who won the party's nomination for Congress, is being beat up by the GOP leaders. They happen to find out that he is likely to be indicted soon.
Jan Brewer, the Governor of Arizona, has requested predator drones from the federal government to hunt down illegals.
A blogger at the Dailykos outlined a possible strategy for Democrats this fall. The blogger said that Democrats must get the most extreme positions of Republican candidates on record and make them defend them in public. We have not seen such extreme positions since the 1960s.
Which raises the issue of how could the John Birch Society survive and even thrive after the death of Communism? Today's new Republican candidates' policy positions are straight out of the John Birch Society.
If you want a hint at how slanted Rasmussen's polling is these days, he had Rand Paul with a 25% lead over the Democrat Jack Conway the night after the primary, even though all other polls had Rand 1% ahead.
35,000 New Jersey citizens protested the obliteration of the state's educational system by Governor Christie. Half the crowd of the so-called teabaggers' first rally in Washington,D.C. But there was scant news coverage.
Showing posts with label Richard Blumenthal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Richard Blumenthal. Show all posts
Monday, May 24, 2010
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Tarballs in Key West
This has been a rough year for my favorite places. Volcanos in Iceland, earthquake in Haiti, and now tarballs in Key West as the oil spill makes its way into the Gulf Stream. The oil spill is now bigger than Delaware and Rhode Island combined and is now producing several Valdez' every few days. It will soon rank as the biggest enviromental disaster in American history.
Early reports from the primary in Kentucky have Rand Paul campaign workers being arrested for intimidation and several complaints about vote-buying. It's beginning to sound like Iraq, where the recount showed that Maliki didn't win as he had asserted. So far we don't have a clue what will happen either in Baghdad or Kentucky.
Loved the Republican attempt to block the Obama Administration from helping to bail out the Europeans. The whole point was to ensure that the Eurozone would have sufficient dollars. If it stopped trading in dollars, we would all be back in the soup again with a freeze in the financial markets.
Conservatives are all up in arms again because Donald Trump's Miss America pageant chose Rima Fakih as the new Miss America. Rima is a Muslim. You would think having a Muslim woman act in a liberated Western way might be inspiring. But No. Donald Trump obviously has gone pinko and embraced the politically correct. Especially vindictive have been the women conservative pundits like Michelle Malkin, who complained about any Arab ( actually a Lebanese woman of both Muslim and Christian descent) winning. Daniel Pipes noticed that Muslim women have also won beauty pageants in Europe, indicating a creeping political correctness. I guess Pipes misses Bess Myerson, who actually was a lovely person. The Christian right was upset because Rima Fakih supported health insurance for contraceptives and was against the Arizona immigration law. Egged on by the conservatives, Fox dug out the fact that Ms. Fakih won a Stripper contest in her native Detroit, although she kept her clothes on. This contrasted with born-again darling Carrie Parjean, who made eight sex videos before she won her contest. Another conservative woman columnist complained that Rima Fakih supported Hezbollah and that she had goons that harassed any of her critics--who mysteriously just appeared within a week. since no one knew who she was.
John McCain obviously is up against the wall. He fired his campaign manager and the person who advised him to cut the "Fix the Danged Fence" commercial which led to national ridicule.
Clunk, Clunk, Clunk, the financial reform bill is heading to an end. At this rate, it will be stronger than the bill as originally proposed. Still outstanding is the issue of derivative trading. Senator Dorgan on the Democratic side has threatened to filibuster if it's not to his satisfaction. Dorgan has some street cred on this because he valiantly fought to kill the repeal of the Glass-Stegall bill during the 1990s. As imperfect as it has to be, the bill will be the most dramatic reform of our financial system since the Depression. Senator Kaufman of Delaware still is balking about provisions concerning the size of American banks. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
What will the primaries today indicate about our political life? Who knows? I'm tired of all the do-or-die rhetoric on every election and every bill. Will Obama be crippled if Specter loses? The RNC has already sent out a press release, saying that Obama is already weak because there have been primary challengers against Democratic incumbents. The question will be how many Republican incumbents go down because of the teabaggers.
Contra Charlie Cook, I believe Burr in North Carolina will be vulnerable in November against Elaine Marshall (in all probability). Republicans are still asking what Burr has done in the Senate. I couldn't tell you. I also think that the Democrats have a solid chance against Rand Paul. Remember this is Paul's first race for a political position. Do you want to risk having a novice in the Senate? There are a few more surprises I'll write about as we get closer to November.
The Democrats may have blown a Senate seat in Connecticut. Attorney-General Richard Blumenthal was a lock on the seat against World Wrestling Federation's Linda McMahon. As Attorney-General, he has leading the nearest Republican by 66 to 34. The New York Times reported today at length and on the front-page that Blumenthal lied about his military service and having been in Vietnam. This is so bizarre because no one was voting for him because of his service. Now the question is whether the Democrats have time to find a suitable candidate.
Jonathan Alter's new book on Obama's first year in the Presidency details how Obama was the only one in his Administration who wanted to tackle Health Reform in his first year and how Rahm Emmanuel fought to have Obama embrace a more incremental strategy. Also Alter details how the military establishment "tested" Obama and actually were insubordinate. Alter said the confrontation was perhaps the most heated since Truman fired MacArthur.
Our distinguished Attorney-General "The Cooch" looks like he is under federation investigation because he received about $200,000 from a military non-profit for his campaign funds.
Fast Eddie Rendell was on Rachel Maddow urging Democrats to make Republicans the issue and tagging them with the teabaggers. He said that the positives from the stimulus, healthcare reform and financial reform will only gardually dawn on voters because the conservative fog machine was successful in spinning them--for now. He talked about the stimulus actually having saved or created 50,000 jobs in Pensylvania alone. He also pointed to the fact that Republicans can kiss off the Hispanic vote for the next two elections because of the Arizona fiasco. He said he shut down talk of similar legislation in Pennsylvania by coming out and saying he would veto it.
Montana Governor Schweitzer was also on last week. He had been one of my favorites for Obama's VP choice. He downplayed the teabaggers, who just get up in the morning and e-mail each other, and said that if you just focus of governing--keep bad guys in jail, provide healthcare for the neediest and make sure education is fully funded--you'll be alright. That advice seems to have taken with some of the Democratic incumbents at the state level, who are exhibiting a calm (fatalistic?) about the upcoming elections.
Rand Paul came up with a new innovation in American politics. He wants to outlaw the Disabilities Act and have local government decide whether the disabled should have rights.
Also contra Cook, I believe Chuck Grassley in Iowa is going to have trouble being re-elected. People in Iowa have gotten wise to his bragging about what part of the health reform bill was his creation--he voted against it--and his taking credit for the stimulus projects in the state--he voted against it.
And Today is the re-release of Exiles on Main Street. Which leaves me with this puzzle for you: Who is a better role model--Keith Richards or Bristol Palin?
Early reports from the primary in Kentucky have Rand Paul campaign workers being arrested for intimidation and several complaints about vote-buying. It's beginning to sound like Iraq, where the recount showed that Maliki didn't win as he had asserted. So far we don't have a clue what will happen either in Baghdad or Kentucky.
Loved the Republican attempt to block the Obama Administration from helping to bail out the Europeans. The whole point was to ensure that the Eurozone would have sufficient dollars. If it stopped trading in dollars, we would all be back in the soup again with a freeze in the financial markets.
Conservatives are all up in arms again because Donald Trump's Miss America pageant chose Rima Fakih as the new Miss America. Rima is a Muslim. You would think having a Muslim woman act in a liberated Western way might be inspiring. But No. Donald Trump obviously has gone pinko and embraced the politically correct. Especially vindictive have been the women conservative pundits like Michelle Malkin, who complained about any Arab ( actually a Lebanese woman of both Muslim and Christian descent) winning. Daniel Pipes noticed that Muslim women have also won beauty pageants in Europe, indicating a creeping political correctness. I guess Pipes misses Bess Myerson, who actually was a lovely person. The Christian right was upset because Rima Fakih supported health insurance for contraceptives and was against the Arizona immigration law. Egged on by the conservatives, Fox dug out the fact that Ms. Fakih won a Stripper contest in her native Detroit, although she kept her clothes on. This contrasted with born-again darling Carrie Parjean, who made eight sex videos before she won her contest. Another conservative woman columnist complained that Rima Fakih supported Hezbollah and that she had goons that harassed any of her critics--who mysteriously just appeared within a week. since no one knew who she was.
John McCain obviously is up against the wall. He fired his campaign manager and the person who advised him to cut the "Fix the Danged Fence" commercial which led to national ridicule.
Clunk, Clunk, Clunk, the financial reform bill is heading to an end. At this rate, it will be stronger than the bill as originally proposed. Still outstanding is the issue of derivative trading. Senator Dorgan on the Democratic side has threatened to filibuster if it's not to his satisfaction. Dorgan has some street cred on this because he valiantly fought to kill the repeal of the Glass-Stegall bill during the 1990s. As imperfect as it has to be, the bill will be the most dramatic reform of our financial system since the Depression. Senator Kaufman of Delaware still is balking about provisions concerning the size of American banks. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
What will the primaries today indicate about our political life? Who knows? I'm tired of all the do-or-die rhetoric on every election and every bill. Will Obama be crippled if Specter loses? The RNC has already sent out a press release, saying that Obama is already weak because there have been primary challengers against Democratic incumbents. The question will be how many Republican incumbents go down because of the teabaggers.
Contra Charlie Cook, I believe Burr in North Carolina will be vulnerable in November against Elaine Marshall (in all probability). Republicans are still asking what Burr has done in the Senate. I couldn't tell you. I also think that the Democrats have a solid chance against Rand Paul. Remember this is Paul's first race for a political position. Do you want to risk having a novice in the Senate? There are a few more surprises I'll write about as we get closer to November.
The Democrats may have blown a Senate seat in Connecticut. Attorney-General Richard Blumenthal was a lock on the seat against World Wrestling Federation's Linda McMahon. As Attorney-General, he has leading the nearest Republican by 66 to 34. The New York Times reported today at length and on the front-page that Blumenthal lied about his military service and having been in Vietnam. This is so bizarre because no one was voting for him because of his service. Now the question is whether the Democrats have time to find a suitable candidate.
Jonathan Alter's new book on Obama's first year in the Presidency details how Obama was the only one in his Administration who wanted to tackle Health Reform in his first year and how Rahm Emmanuel fought to have Obama embrace a more incremental strategy. Also Alter details how the military establishment "tested" Obama and actually were insubordinate. Alter said the confrontation was perhaps the most heated since Truman fired MacArthur.
Our distinguished Attorney-General "The Cooch" looks like he is under federation investigation because he received about $200,000 from a military non-profit for his campaign funds.
Fast Eddie Rendell was on Rachel Maddow urging Democrats to make Republicans the issue and tagging them with the teabaggers. He said that the positives from the stimulus, healthcare reform and financial reform will only gardually dawn on voters because the conservative fog machine was successful in spinning them--for now. He talked about the stimulus actually having saved or created 50,000 jobs in Pensylvania alone. He also pointed to the fact that Republicans can kiss off the Hispanic vote for the next two elections because of the Arizona fiasco. He said he shut down talk of similar legislation in Pennsylvania by coming out and saying he would veto it.
Montana Governor Schweitzer was also on last week. He had been one of my favorites for Obama's VP choice. He downplayed the teabaggers, who just get up in the morning and e-mail each other, and said that if you just focus of governing--keep bad guys in jail, provide healthcare for the neediest and make sure education is fully funded--you'll be alright. That advice seems to have taken with some of the Democratic incumbents at the state level, who are exhibiting a calm (fatalistic?) about the upcoming elections.
Rand Paul came up with a new innovation in American politics. He wants to outlaw the Disabilities Act and have local government decide whether the disabled should have rights.
Also contra Cook, I believe Chuck Grassley in Iowa is going to have trouble being re-elected. People in Iowa have gotten wise to his bragging about what part of the health reform bill was his creation--he voted against it--and his taking credit for the stimulus projects in the state--he voted against it.
And Today is the re-release of Exiles on Main Street. Which leaves me with this puzzle for you: Who is a better role model--Keith Richards or Bristol Palin?
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