from Wisconsin: "Mubarak for Governor" signs

According to the Associated Press, the legislators in the "Wisconsin Assembly have agreed to a deal that will limit further debate on a bill taking away collective bargaining rights for public workers and lead to a vote on the measure later Thursday," possibly as early as noon.

Meanwhile, the Chief of Police in Madison is asking the governor to explain "troubling" and "unsettling" statements the loose-lipped rookie Governor made while he thought he was on the phone with billionaire David Koch.

"I find it very unsettling and troubling that anyone would consider creating safety risks for our citizens and law enforcement officers. Our department works hard dialoging with those who are exercising their First Amendment right, those from both sides of the issue, to make sure we are doing everything we can to ensure they can demonstrate safely."

Police Chief Noble Wray
Madison, WI
Wisconsin State Journal, 24 Feb 2011

"There are a lot of folks out there who say, ‘It doesn't impact me, I'm not a union guy, I'm not a teacher, I'm not a civil servant.' Let me tell you how it does matter to you. Wages are going down in this country for everybody. When you destroy unions there will be no standard at all, nobody left to negotiate decent jobs for the middle class..."

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders
Statement, 23 Feb 2011

"I would like to hear more of an explanation from Governor Walker as to what exactly was being considered, and to what degree it was discussed by his cabinet members."

Police Chief Noble Wray
Madison, WI
Wisconsin State Journal, 24 Feb 2011

The Chief has some legitimate questions, and the rest of the cheeseheads are coming up with some really great signs at the Madison protests, don't you think?

Political Correspondent Thomas Hayes is a former Congressional Campaign Manager; he's a journalist, photo/videographer, entrepreneur, and communications consultant who contributes regularly on topics ranging from economics and politics to culture and community, who incidentally stands in solidarity with the citizens and workers in Wisconsin refusing to let their Governor's self-created budget "crisis" and new spending priorities be re-cast as a reason to undermine contractual obligations and collective bargaining agreements.

You can follow Tom as @kabiu on twitter. Tweet

Government of the fat-cats, by the fat-cats, and for the fat-cats?

This is the United States of America, founded on the principle that there's both a wrong way and a "more perfect" way for government to act.

We have regulations controlling immigration, restricting tobacco and alcohol sales, establishing speed limits, and prohibiting the use of dangerous materials such as lead paint. We embrace regulations about what can’t be in our drinking water, and insuring we have the freedom to practice religion unfettered by the preferences of government agencies or the whims of men.

Not every decision is clear and simple. Our constitution was built deliberately to allow for clarifications and changes over time by wise men who had some notion of the limits on their own forecasting abilities. We've been trying to make good laws - good government regulations - and improve the bad ones ever since.

We have laws about everything from voter registration to verifying the safety & efficacy of drugs because we know we can’t simply trust everybody to do the right thing if there’s no judge or referee. Somehow the GOP has been persuaded to slow down the process of reforming Wall Street’s greedy, self-serving behaviors.

We know what happened when we let them call the shots; deregulation served a few very well indeed, while what trickled down to the rest of us was unemployment, foreclosures, and the destruction of the value of the largest asset most working Americans have, their home -- after we'd been encouraged to use it as a way to get credit to fuel corporate profits.

GOP strategists are now stalling reforms in the Senate, by asserting that we need economic analysis before "rushed rule-making." Where were they before the financial crisis in the late summer of 2008 and the resulting recession? I can tell you one thing, they weren't listening to the then-junior Senator from Illinois, who had written letters to the powers that be about what he saw as the looming mortgage lending crisis, but their hindsight may have factored that in.

Enough is enough. Wall Street needs reform if it's to create wealth for the nation instead of for itself. Congress may not get the new laws perfect on the first pass, but that's not news. If all the GOP has is questions, if they can't grasp the risks in leaving the system broken, I say let them step back; it's time to stop spouting sound bites while impeding progress and solutions.

Thomas Hayes is an entrepreneur, former Congressional Campaign Manager, strategist, journalist, and photographer who contributes regularly to a host of web sites on topics ranging from economics and politics to culture and community, who incidentally stands in solidarity with the citizens and workers in Wisconsin refusing to let their Governor's self-created budget "crisis" and new spending priorities be re-cast as a reason to undermine contractual obligations and collective bargaining agreements.

You can follow him as @kabiu on twitter. Tweet

GOP suddenly pro-Earmark (or is that pro-Pork, perhaps?)

According to Citizens Against Government Waste, during the last time Republicans controlled Congress (which started in 1994, based on the "Contract With America") there were about 1300 earmarks for nearly $8 billion - at a time when we had a budget surplus under the Clinton administration. Then by the final year of GOP control a decade later (2005) their were 10 times as many earmarks totaling over $27 billion, and a record budget deficit - which the elite pundits are still trying to blame on Obama.

You can learn more about the man the Democrats call the “Prince of Pork” -- GOP Congressman Hal Rogers (KY-05) -- as he takes over chairmanship of the House Appropriations Committee by reading various articles online; he's brought so much money for Kentucky that they've renamed the former Daniel Boone Parkway the Hal Rogers Parkway.

Citizens Against Government Waste named Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY) their "Porker of the Month" in August, somehow without mentioning the word nepotism.

“Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) today named Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) August Porker of the Month for sponsoring legislation that could give federal funding to his daughter’s nonprofit organization, which promotes overseas wildlife protection for cheetahs.”

It's probably a coincidence that his daughter is the Grants Administrator of the Cheetah Conservation Fund.

But there's good news.  This sort of spending (millions to a fund based in Namibia) won't lead to bigger government. It's just $5 million a year to a non-government agency based overseas.

Look, I'm not saying conservation and cheetahs aren't important, it's just a question of priorities.  The GOP voted down a one-time payment of $250 to Senior Citizens... but that's another story.  My point is, it's about priorities, and once they capture a majority naturally the GOP priorities have changed to ensure their donors will help them get re-elected.

At least they haven't flip-flopped on tax-breaks for the rich.

I know, right?

Thomas Hayes is an entrepreneur, journalist, political strategist, and photographer who recently worked as the Campaign Manager on the Madore For Congress campaign in Minnesota's 2nd District. He contributes regularly to a host of other web sites on topics ranging from economics and politics to culture and community.

One week later - NOT a post-mortem for Democrats

Democrats took a shellacking, and it's partly my fault -- not because I took time away from journalism to help manage a Congressional Campaign against an incumbent Republican in Minnesota's Second Congressional District, rather because I failed to engage more people in the process.

Look, both major parties have a collection of loyal supporters who consistently identify as a Democrat or a Republican, and many of them turn out reliably to vote even in non-Presidential elections. Polls prior to November revealed Democrats were dis-spirited, Republicans were angry, and those coveted swing-voters (and the capital "I" Independents) had largely lost their enthusiasm.

It wasn't about facts, of course, it was about spin. Logic would suggest (if not mandate) more voters would align with Democrats - Obama had wrenched the economy out of a death-spiral, lowered taxes for most people, lowered the deficit, lowered the troop presence in Iraq, started the process of restoring the cost-benefit ratio of our health care system, and jobs were finally being created faster than they were getting lost.

Meanwhile, the media gave play to every story blaming the state of the economy on Democrats or the White House (hey, they didn't say they believed the story-teller, they just reported that's what was being said, right?) and let the Republican talking points about lower taxes creating jobs echo over and over even though that correlation has been dis-proven repeatedly: it certainly hadn't done so while Bush was in office for 8 years (but hey, the media never said they believed that, or talked about the wealth-gap, and they even let a few people point out that demand is the more logical driver of job-creation, but lots of photogenic people with convincing smiles and voices were talking about how taxes and uncertainty kept rich guys from wanting to hire people. They "covered" what was being "said" right?)

Bush oversaw record growth in government? Well, obviously that's the Democrats fault for caving in, don't they know how to run a filibuster? I mean, big government is bad, right? Unless it provides for our military defense, or social security, or Federal disaster recovery funds, or interstate highways, or border patrols and immigration enforcement, or keeping our toys from being painted with lead, or.... oh never mind.

Earmarks, we all know earmarks are bad, right? They account for nearly 1% of the Federal budget, and if there's one thing we know it's that if we all had 1% more of our money that goes to taxes we'd be just fine now, right? Not so much?

The point is: voting is not about logic. Advertisers have known that logic lets us rationalize our choices for centuries, and modern politicians have long understood there are two fundamentally different parts of holding elected office: there's the campaign - which doesn't remotely test the skills necessary to govern, that's the GETTING into the office part though - and then there's the rest of it, the actual wielding of power while in office.  Successful politicians master both, although there's no one "right" way to do either.

I failed to engage or electrify enough voters in my area; so the cable-TV watching middle class, convinced to vote by a carefully-crafted message laden with buzzwords focus-tested by so-called Conservative strategists that Obama and his "agenda" were leading the country to ruin, elected Republicans in droves in Minnesota.

Remember 2000, when we elected Bush? He was the sort of guy people thought they'd like to have a beer with. Now Minnesota voters face a recount for the Governor because they were reassured by a guy who tried to lower drunk-driving penalties after he got cited for that very offence, because he's told them the $6 BILLION deficit our current (Republican) governor proclaimed as a crisis is mostly just an accounting and spending problem... although he can't explain just how that's going to work, but it's very, very reassuring that somebody knows it can be fixed if voters just trust Republicans.

Post-mortem? No, if there was logic in the outcome of the November 2nd elections it might rise to that level; from here on the ground in Minnesota, looking at the numbers, and the facts, it's a wake-up call for Democrats: they were out-strategized. (Yes, I know, I made that word up. You're one of those logical people, aren't you?) Worse yet, there were voices they could have heeded.

Voters were, in a word, hoodwinked. Democratic politicians lost ground by losing lots of elections to a bunch of slick, experienced, successful Used Country Salesmen. And right here in Minnesota, it's partly my fault.

Thomas Hayes is an entrepreneur, journalist, political strategist, and photographer who recently worked as the Campaign Manager on the Madore For Congress campaign in Minnesota's 2nd District. He contributes regularly to a host of other web sites on topics ranging from economics and politics to culture and community. He'll be more active again here at Zennie's now, unless maybe there's a vote recount in an important election in Minnesota.  Oh, wait...

茶分心 - Tea Party Distraction

Many of the pundits and commentators have been speculating, uttering for public consumption variations on a disingenuous theme: the Tea Party threatens to undermine the grand old Republican party. Are you falling for it? Nothing could lead you further from the truth.

Ask what motivates those who echo this "conventional wisdom"

In the case of most employed in the media the answer is simple enough, they seek attention because their producers use ratings as the primary metric - corporate media thrives on advertising revenues, which rise and fall with ratings. Relatively few fans realize credibility takes a back seat to celebrity -- logic is overwhelmed by the profit motives of the "business" of news coverage.

The goal of an expert political commentator has some of that same need for attention, interwoven with the complex agendas of using their pulpit to at once distract and mislead their opponents, hopefully to such an extent they become depressed and disenfranchised, while inspiring and energizing those who contribute to their party's success via both votes and on-going media "success."

Consider the two major factions

In the case of a political strategist the goals, at least, are clear even though the strategies and tactics often defy attempts by the pundits to explain, let alone forecast.  The political strategist cares not - the pundits are a tool, and persuading them to portray the process in a way that conveys advantage to the strategist's cause doesn't require the understanding and consent of the media, although that willingness to play along (as the Fox network is generally charged with doing during the previous administration) has obvious benefits.

Both major parties seek to expand their influence and control. Since voters often forego logic when deciding who to empower, the original goal of a political party has to bow, at least in part, to pragmatic reliance on persuasion to preserve their bureaucratic turf.

The Democrats would be delighted if more people accept that the Tea Party signals the decline of the GOP no matter what the party strategists may or may not believe.  The Republicans party's goal is to use the coverage to suggest that either the mood of the country is more right-leaning than it was as the electorate swung from supporting Bush administration initiatives to sweeping Obama and Democrats into office, or that voters who feel that way are shrugging off their lethargy and energized enough to matter nationwide in the looming elections - although we hear over and over that all politics are local.

What does the Tea Party represent?

The Tea Party ideology may have had legitimate, grassroots origins, but it's now a tool of right-wing strategists who spread the story of their concern that it attracts extremists and all manner of unsavory and under-educated bigots while disingenuously stressing the threat to the GOP if Republicans don't accommodate and react. The appeararnce of a growing third party movement even further to the right than the Republicans sets up the GOP strategists to market their candidates as "middle of the road" moderates in the political spectrum. Brilliant not simply as strategic ploy, but also because it's lately become impossible to continue winning votes by touting the GOP brand as compassionate,  fiscally conservative, or good for small business interests.

On most ballots in November, though, there will only be Democrats and Republicans; the GOP will have invested in looking sensible and middle-of-the-road in their coordinated advertising campaigns while many Democrats will rely on voters to make the logical choices.  Logically, of course, more voters are aligned with what Democrats have accomplished and Democratic candidates advocate. But compared to the media coverage of Tea Party rallies replete with misspelled signs and hats festooned with tea bags the Republicans will seem close to most voter's self-image: sensible and moderate.

The Tea Party is now, above all else and quite regardless of the beliefs and goals of its founders or participants, an excellent marketing tool to reposition and re-brand the GOP in advance of the 2010 general elections.

Thomas Hayes is an entrepreneur, Democratic Campaign Manager, journalist, and photographer who contributes regularly to a host of web sites on topics ranging from economics and politics to culture and community.

GOP bid for earmark backfires, Shelby embarasses Congressional Republicans

It was amazing to many to learn recently that it was one Senator, Alabama's Richard Shelby, on a quest for a massive earmark for his home state, that was able to suspend all progress in filling key leadership roles in many government agencies.

No wonder some in the GOP lament government effectiveness as unattainable: their own party is preventing many key agencies from having leaders. Americans were stunned to learn that the objections weren't based on qualifications, or even philosophical differences, but were simply a partisan ploy that amounted to demanding a kick-back for Alabama.

There's nothing inherently wrong about earmarks.  They allow for quick resolutions to funding decisions that don't require much, if any, debate. They can be used to replace a fallen bridge, or abused to fund a pork-barrel project that benefits a key constituent or city... but Shelby's audacity has backfired, and he's walking back from his stand after embarrassing his party -- later claiming it was just to get attention.

Well done, Senator; you've drawn attention. The President threatened to take a page out of the former administration's strategy book. Your bluff has been called, and people around the country are starting to call your petulant, obstructionist Grand Old Party the Republi-can'ts.

President Obama's statement following action by the Senate to confirm twenty-seven nominees reveals he's getting tougher dealing with Republicans playing political games at the expense of the citizens of the USA:

"Today, the United States Senate confirmed 27 of my high-level nominees, many of whom had been awaiting a vote for months.At the beginning of the week, a staggering 63 nominees had been stalled in the Senate because one or more senators placed a hold on their nomination. In most cases, these holds have had nothing to do with the nominee’s qualifications or even political views, and these nominees have already received broad, bipartisan support in the committee process.

Instead, many holds were motivated by a desire to leverage projects for a Senator’s state or simply to frustrate progress. It is precisely these kinds of tactics that enrage the American people.

And so on Tuesday, I told Senator McConnell that if Republican senators did not release these holds, I would exercise my authority to fill critically-needed positions in the federal government temporarily through the use of recess appointments. This is a rare but not unprecedented step that many other presidents have taken. Since that meeting, I am gratified that Republican senators have responded by releasing many of these holds and allowing 29 nominees to receive a vote in the Senate.

While this is a good first step, there are still dozens of nominees on hold who deserve a similar vote, and I will be looking for action from the Senate when it returns from recess. If they do not act, I reserve the right to use my recess appointment authority in the future."

Thomas Hayes is an entrepreneur, journalist, and political analyst who contributes regularly to a host of web sites on topics ranging from economics and politics to culture and community.

Republican Congressman Joe Wilson yells "You Lie" to President Obama

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UPATE: Joe Wilson is Top Trend on Twitter, and getting slammed, too.

Some are asking who was the person yelling "You Lie" out to the President as he explained that illegal aliens would not receive health care

According to the Huffington Post, That person's Republican Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina. I personally thought his outburst, which caused Democrats on the other side of the congressional aisle to boo, was very disrespectful and marks a period of less than classy discourse and behavior.

The bottom line is that it's not part of the heath care reform proposal.

On CNN's Larry King, Senator John McCain said it was totally disrespectful and that Wilson should apologize immediately.

Swing and a miss for Rep. Michelle Bachmann's health care forum - Tom Hayes

Minnesota’s 6th district congressional Representative, Michelle Bachmann, missed a golden opportunity this afternoon to step back from the partisan talking points and rumor-mongering before an overflow crowd at her town hall meeting in a Junior High School auditorium in Lake Elmo. Fresh from criticism that she had been much too quick to depart an event earlier in the week in St. Cloud, Bachmann responded to virtually every question or comment from the crowd with long-winded recitations of her already familiar litany: that the U.S. has the best health care system in the world despite outcomes surpassed by many other nations, and that the government would be interfering in and controlling medical decisions in some vast bureaucracy that was somehow worse than the actuarial and profit-driven bureaucrats at insurance companies who already countermand medical orders.

The tone was set early on, when despite the moderators admonitions that the only topic open to discussion was health care, Ms. Bachmann launched into such a long-winded, wandering opening statement that the crowd grew restless. The session was obviously scripted to limit both the questions/comments and her need to respond, complete with a Texas congressman who also responded to virtually every question, yet evidently hadn’t gotten the “death panels” talking points from Bachmann’s staff. If the Congresswoman was really interested in hearing from her constituents she might have talked less, but alas like so many D.C.-based politicians she relied on posturing at length and repeatedly for the media and her base after paying lip-service to listening as the lines of questioners grew restless.

Ms. Bachmann had the chance to reach out to those looking for real information, she even repeated her recent notion that there would have to be a “safety net” for those without insurance (divining how this differs from a public option is left as an exercise for the voter, evidently,) after assuring the crowd that everybody wants the system reformed. Then, however, she resorted to amateurish theatrics (at least we didn’t see the Grassley dragon) and cheer-leading for unsupported assertions while cherry-picking points to assure her already-confirmed supporters that she wouldn’t let taxes on their children reach 80-90% to pay for reform (which she is in favor of, make no mistake about it) without addressing what she would do, or even suggest, to improve matters. All in all, while her base was delighted with the Obama-bashing, for the vast majority of those in attendance, including the dozens who couldn’t ask their questions, or thought they might hear ideas about how to address the skyrocketing costs of health care insurance, it was a waste of time.

The one accomplishment was the ratcheting up of polarization, in utter contrast to the Representative’s stated goal of attaining a bi-partisan solution. She lacks the rhetorical polish, and the quick familiarity with the facts, that her wingman (Congressman Burgess, R-TX, a self-described “McCain surrogate”) displayed, which made her look under-prepared, if not outright insecure. From the outset it was clear that the crowd was split, and while the majority were Bachmann loyalists that didn’t mute the opposition, which roared their own approval as one questioner started out by declaring she’d turned him from a Reagan voter into a Democratic (DFL) activist.

One has to marvel at the staunch GOP line regarding government ineptitude coming from those who have controlled the White House for such a large fraction of the last quarter century, at times complete with majorities in the Congress. Still, it’s clear that Ms. Bachmann spares little time for examining her positions logically; perhaps it’s all that special interest money she gets that keeps her aiming partisan criticism at the very institution that writes her paycheck, provides for a very generous retirement, and – ironically enough – provides and pays for her health care insurance plan.

Gov Mark Sanford's affair - feel sorry for him

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I've got to admit, I'm not a fan of South Carolina Republican Governor Mark Sanford and mainly because of his refusal to use the stimulus money to help the people of his state and due to his constant "I'm better than you" approach to President Obama. I'd hoped Sanford would get what's coming to him. I was more than a little annoyed that Sanford allowed himself to be considered a 2012 Presidential candidate just for going against President Obama and nothing else (in fact the GOP's really lacking in leaders, ya know?) and hoped he'd trip.

Well, he did.

When the news about Sanford's disappearance came out, I assumed he just flew the coup, but when I learned that his wife had not got a call from him, I tweeted NBC's David Gregory - who was conversing about the matter on Twitter - that it smelled like an affair.

Bingo, I was right.

But I've got no joy in from seeing this latest train wreck this week. Earlier, on Monday, we had Perez Hilton's video meltdown and Sanford's press conference was Wednesday. While Sanford didn't tell anyone to go do something with themselves, given the gravity of what he did, the people he hurt who trusted him, and his wife, it was every bit the train wreck we saw.

But I feel sorry for him.

I do because of his honest presentation. I mean he just plain said, "Look, I screwed up. I hurt people and I'm sorry." He also explained that the affair was last year and he and his mistress Maria - with a name like and living in Brazil she's got to be a looker - have known each other for eight years. Yes, Sanford was critical of President Clinton during the Lewinsky matter. Yes, Sanford's reportedly not well-liked by some of his associates. But he was well-liked enough to become governor of South Carolina.

The only part of Sanford's press conference that bothered me was the statement "I spent five days crying." Well, come on, Governor Sanford was crying because he was leaving his mistress and all that fun you he had and returning to a life that he's not happy with. Look, he missed his four boys on Father's Day! What does that say?

Sanford is a man with a lot of issue to work out, but heck we all have them. I really do hope he gets a chance to right his ship without dire consequences. If there's anything we've learned from all these media show train wrecks, it's that no one's perfect and I get no joy in learning this about anyone.

Gay Marriage Issue Will Revive The GOP

 

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Gay Marriage: the act of a man marrying a man or a woman marrying a woman will be the issue that revives the Republican Party.

Consider that for the first time, more Americans - including myself - support Gay Marriage than oppose it 49 percent to 46 percent according to the latest Washington Post / ABC Poll. But that near 50-50 split is common in many polls and shows that as the idea becomes more mainstream there's a healthy opposition to it.

We saw this recently in the comments by Miss California Carrie Prejean who said she believes marriage should be between a man and a woman and who parlayed her new fame into a gig working as a spokesperson for the National Organization for Marriage, while angering famous blogger Perez Hilton, who fired off a nasty retort using the "B-word."

That's the shape of things to come, but let's see where we really are because the media can make it seem as if Gay Marriage is already the norm, but it's not. As of November 2008, 29 states passed constitutional amendments barring the recognition of same sex marriage, so the majority of states still don't back it, even as Maine and New Hampshire seem set to approve it.

See, rather than becoming less of a wedge issue, it's more so.

As more people speak in favor of it, we have more who speak against it, and that's the political dynamic that could hurt us democrats.

We could have an election contest pitting two Black candidates, one Democrat and pro Gay Marriage, the other Republican and not, but basically having the same positions as his more liberal challenger. The way society is moving the GOP candidate could win. Recognition of this is already starting to split the Democratic Party, but the overriding economic problems are the glue that binds us for now. But for how long?

The real issue is the civil right of a person to marry who they want, not sexual orientation.

Look, about half the women I've dated said they were lesbian and still slept with me. Some of them are now married to men and have kids!

On top of that, we have websites like Ashley Madison.com that encourage married couples to cheat on each other!

It all spells one big anarchnistic, me-ism mess. My prediction is that over the next 25 years this hyper-fluidity in relationships will give way to a desire for something predictable.

But the road to that place will be rocky, with political groups, lawsuits charging sexual abandonment, and a newly revived GOP.

Buckle up!

DFA & MoveOn provide incentive for GOP to let Franken be seated

By now you've read or heard that despite Al Franken winning the court case, the GOP intends to keep him out of the Senate. The folks at Democracy for America and MoveOn came up with a great idea, and some of you will already have read the note from Charles Chamberlain, the Political Director of Democracy for America:

DC Republicans have plenty of incentive to keep Al Franken from being seated. So DFA found a way to flip the incentive. They're teaming up with a brand new partner, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC), to launch the "Dollar a Day to Make Norm Go Away" Campaign.

If thousands of people donate just $1 a day every day that Norm Coleman refuses to concede, then dragging it out doesn't seem like a good idea for the GOP anymore.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP

All the donations will go to directly to the PCCC - the new group formed by former MoveOn and their partners to help bold progressive candidates run effective campaigns and win.

“After a seven-week trial, 1,717 exhibits, 142 witnesses and 19,181 pages of pleadings, motions and briefs, the trial court left little doubt about its decision,” writes the St. Paul Pioneer Press’ Rachel E. Stassen Berger.

“Point by point, the judges dissected Coleman's case in their 56-page decision Monday. Point by point, they dismissed it. The double-counting Coleman alleged existed during the recount? Unproven, the judges wrote. Coleman's objection to using an Election Day count in lieu of lost ballots from a Minneapolis precinct? Dismissed, the judges declared. His complaints that the state voter-registration system was not up-to-date and was flawed? No, they wrote, it's ‘trustworthy.’"

The GOP is prolonging the fight for political reasons, but former Senator Norm Coleman's participation is disenfranchsing the voters of Minnesota who are served by one Senator during this pointless posturing. I'm not sure Coleman feels he has any choice, but I know I do.

Obama Pick Eric Holder’s AG Nomination Approved, GOP Caves In: 17 to 2

Judiciary Panel Approves Holder’s Nomination - The Caucus Blog - NYTimes.com: “The Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday overwhelmingly approved, and sent to the full Senate, the nomination of Eric Holder Jr. to be the nation’s 82nd attorney general.

The committee vote was 17 to 2, with most Republicans supporting the nomination of Mr. Holder to head the Department of Justice. The two Republicans who opposed the nomination were Senator John Cornyn of Texas and Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma.”

- YEAH! Now, Eric Holder and Tony West as Assistant AG for Civil Rights can get to work on making sure human rights laws are followed in America. Meanwhile the GOP has been swooned by Obama. I know their constituents are saying "Give Obama a chance" otherwise they would not have voted so overwhelmingly for Holder.

Republican candidate Chip Saltsman Distributes Racist Obama song

More at TheHill.com: “RNC candidate Chip Saltsman’s Christmas greeting to committee members includes a music CD with lyrics from a song called “Barack the Magic Negro,” first played on Rush Limbaugh’s popular radio show.

Saltsman, a personal friend of conservative satirist Paul Shanklin, sent a 41-track CD along with a note to national committee members. ”

-- And the Republicans wonder why they lost the election?

Was Mike Connell Killed? White House Scandal Tied To Connell?

The Internet is abuzz with the news of the death of the GOP's main web guru Mike Connell, who died in the crash of his plane on December 18th.  He was flying alone.


Raw Story is one of several blogs that have covered the accident and speculate that his death may not have been accidental:  

“Since early this decade, top Internet ‘gurus’ in Ohio have been coordinating web services with their GOP counterparts in Chattanooga, wiring up a major hub that in 2004, first served as a conduit for Ohio's live election night results,” researchers at ePluribus Media wrote.

A few months after this revelation, when a scandal erupted surrounding the firing of US Attorneys for reasons of White House policy, other researchers found that the gwb43 domain used by members of the White House staff to evade freedom of information laws by sending emails outside of official White House channels was hosted on those same SmarTech servers.

Given that the Bush White House used SmarTech servers to send and receive email, the use of one of those servers in tabulating Ohio’s election returns has raised eyebrows. Ohio gave Bush the decisive margin in the Electoral College to secure his reelection in 2004.

IT expert Stephen Spoonamore says the SmartTech server could have functioned as a routing point for malicious activity and remains a weakness in electronic voting tabulation.

"...I have reason to believe that the alternate accounts were used to communicate with US Attorneys involved in political prosecutions, like that of Don Siegelman," said RAW STORY's Investigative News Editor, Larisa Alexandrovna, on her personal blog Saturday morning . "This is what I have been working on to prove for over a year. In fact, it was through following the Siegelman-Rove trail that I found evidence leading to Connell. That is how I became aware of him. Mike was getting ready to talk. He was frightened.

This video from Guerilla News Network and the one below it from This Week In Fascism says that some sources claim that Bush Administration aide Karl Rove may have threatened Connell's life or may have threatened to blow the whistle on his wife for alleged lobbying violations if he told others of his involvement in an alleged scheme to take vote for Al Gore and for Senator John Kerry and transfer them to then-Governor and later President George W. Bush in the 00 and 04 elections.  






This video reports that Ohio lawyers asked for protection for Mike Connell from Rove on July 28th 2008.






Whatever the truth here, it's clear that Rove may have been involved in the "taking down" of several high level Democrats and the "choking off" of donations to Democrats in the South. We have the work of Laurisa Alexandrovna at Raw Story to thank for this. I'm just learning of this story, so I will get more up to speed on it.


In my view this is just as important as the Rod Blagojevich scandal. In fact, it's more important. Why the mainstream media would pay more attention to that story than this one is beyond me.

Bailout’s critics? Republicans from states with foreign automakers | Muckety.com - See the news

Bailout’s toughest critics were Republicans from states with foreign automakers | Muckety.com - See the news: “Richard Shelby of Alabama, the senior Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, for instance, took a particularly harsh tone with auto executives, suggesting their restructuring bids “are not a serious set of plans.”

Since the 1990s, Alabama has won three assembly plants, from Honda, Mercedes-Benz and Hyundai, and an engine plant by Toyota.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who slammed the bailout plan Thursday, has a Toyota plant in Georgetown.

And Bob Corker of Tennessee, who played a starring role in efforts to broker a last-minute Senate compromise Thursday, has the American headquarters of Japan’s Nissan, several Nissan plants and a planned factory by Volkswagon in his state.

But Corker’s compromise effort collapsed after the United Auto Workers refused to accept Corker’s insistence of wage and benefit concessions in 2009 to create parity with workers at U.S. factories owned by Toyota, Nissan, Hyundai and other foreign companies.

“We offered any date in the year 2009 - any date - any date, just when will we actually get there,” Corker said on the Senate floor after his proposed deal collapsed.”

GOP Conservatives For Barack Obama

Many Republicans are coming over to the side of Senator Barack Obama and Senator Joe Biden and in this video some of them explain why. Personally, I think Governor Palin really wants to be an Obama supporter. (Thanks to Andrew Sullivan for spotting this video.)

RACIST COLLEGE REPUBLICAN PRESIDENT ADAM LADUCA STEPS DOWN - CALLED KING A FRAUD

You know, the more I see stories like this, the less faith I have in America.  What bothers me about this story of Adam LaDuca is that he's 21 years old and so this racist view is a reflection of his parents.

ALLENTOWN, Pa. – The leader of a statewide group of college Republicans has been forced to resign after posting racially insensitive comments about Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama on the Internet.

Adam LaDuca, 21, the former executive director of the Pennsylvania Federation of College Republicans, wrote on his Facebook page in late July that Obama has "a pair of lips so large he could float half of Cuba to the shores of Miami (and probably would.)"

LaDuca, who previously had called Martin Luther King Jr. a "pariah" and a "fraud," also wrote: "And man, if sayin' someone has large lips is a racial slur, then we're ALL in trouble."

The College Republicans asked LaDuca to resign after his remarks were publicized by the Pennsylvania Progressive, a blog written by a Democratic committeeman from Berks County. The group announced LaDuca's resignation on its Web site Friday.

John McCain Reportedly Shoved Woman In Wheelchair in 1996

We still get report after report on examples of Senator John McCain's temper. Here's another one:

In 1992, McCain sparred with Dolores Alfond, the chairwoman of the National Alliance of Families for the Return of America's Missing Servicemen and Women, at a Senate hearing. McCain's prosecutor-like questioning of Alfond — available on YouTube — left her in tears.

Four years later, at her group's Washington conference, about 25 members went to a Senate office building, hoping to meet with McCain. As they stood in the hall, McCain and an aide walked by.

Six people present have written statements describing what they saw. According to the accounts, McCain waved his hand to shoo away Jeannette Jenkins, whose cousin was last seen in South Vietnam in 1970, causing her to hit a wall.

As McCain continued walking, Jane Duke Gaylor, the mother of another missing serviceman, approached the senator. Gaylor, in a wheelchair equipped with portable oxygen, stretched her arms toward McCain.

"McCain stopped, glared at her, raised his left arm ready to strike her, composed himself and pushed the wheelchair away from him," according to Eleanor Apodaca, the sister of an Air Force captain missing since 1967.

The there's the famous "Fuck You" Incident, described in this video:





CNN has this segment on his temper:


 

Sarah Palin Earmark Queen Left Wasilla $20 Million In Debt

Crooks and Liars has this new report debunking the idea that Alaska Governor and GOP VP Candidate Sarah Palin is a fiscal reformer and dislikes earmarks.  Indeed, Governor Palin took $20 million in earmarks when she was Mayor of Wasilla, Alaska.  

Here's the rest:

In 2000, Sarah Palin, as mayor of the Alaskan town of Wasilla, hired a Washington lobbyist to secure federal earmarks for her community.

This is not totally atypical in her state. Alaska’s government receives more money per capita in federal earmark money than any other state, despite being the only state in the union with no income tax and no sales tax. They fund their government primarily with petroleum money, and recently distributed oil profits to its citizens in the form of rebate checks.

But even in her heavily earmarked state, Sarah Palin was the earmark queen.

From 2000 to 2003, she secured over $27 million in earmarks, averaging $6.7 million in federal money every year for her town of about 6,700 people. …(read on)

As mayor, Sarah Palin managed to secure a thousand dollars a year per person in her city in earmarks, yet…

When Palin left office in 2002, Wasilla had “racked up nearly $20 million in long-term debt,” or roughly$3,000 of debt per resident. …(more)

Asked in 1996, her first year in office, about her ability to “effectively run” the city, Palin claimed:

“It’s not rocket science,” Palin said, “It’s $6 million and 53 employees.”

Palin Angers Community Organizers, Who Ask For Applogy

A new blog expresses how much community organizers are upset with the speech of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.  Here's some of the text from a new blog called "Community Organizers Fight Back":

Organizers demand apology from Alaska governor, say “we’re working to clean up your mess!”

Community organizers across America, taken aback by a series of attacks from Republican leaders at the GOP convention in St. Paul, came together today to defend their work organizing Americans who have been left behind by unemployment, lack of health insurance and the national housing crisis.  The organizers demanded an apology from Alaska Governor Sarah Palin for her statement that community organizers have no “actual responsibilities” and launched a web site, http://organizersfightback.wordpress.com, to defend themselves against Republican attacks.

I'll say it again:  attacking community organizers, some of whom register people to vote, was just plain dumb.