Login HereThis ad from Ned Lamont makes me smile. And I thought you guys could use a grin or two this morning as well, so I'm sharing. If you haven't seen it, yet, it's worth it just for the end. Education is such an important issue -- everything that I have read as a parent (and as someone who has worked on at-risk children's issue for years) says that early intervention for at-risk kids is essential for their development. Preschool can make a huge difference for these kids -- and not just because they get two full meals when they might otherwise go hungry, or because they get to spend time with other kids in a safe, non-violent place, but also because these kids get to see, from an early age, that learning can be fun.
According to the Hartford Courant, Ned's campaign will be releasing a new ad today that hits Joe Lieberman where it counts -- right in the accountability. Tom Swan is quoted in the article, and I think his words -- and the rest of the article -- are so spot on that I wanted to share a snippet with you:
This year, Lamont has criticized Lieberman for missing hundreds of votes, many taken while he was running for president and vice president."I think this shows that Joe is a typical politician, and he will say or do anything to stay in Washington," said Tom Swan, manager of the Lamont campaign.
Lieberman is running as a petitioning candidate after losing the Democratic nomination to Lamont in a primary that focused on the war in Iraq.
Lamont, 52, is a successful cable television entrepreneur seeking statewide office for the first time. Lieberman, 64, has held state or federal office for all but two of the past 36 years....
Time for a change and then some. Can't wait to see the new ad -- David Sirota (via e-mail) tells me that it will be released this afternoon. Expect a lot of bluster from perennial fact free nag Dan Gerstein, but it's tough for Lieberman to argue that it is nasty, mean, vituperative, negative campaigning when the Lamont campaign is using Joe's own ads -- his own words in his own campaigns coming out of Joe's own mouth -- to show just how hypocritical Lieberman is, and just how far away from where he started Joe has strayed. Joe will do anything to keep his job, including running away from himself -- it's high time for a change.
BTW, I cannot resist a smack at AdNags for this crappo headline in the NYTimes: Polls Show Foley Case Is Hurting Congress' Image. Shouldn't that be Republican-Controlled Congress? Because in reading through the article, it is clear that the GOP is the focus of people's ire on this -- and on many other issues -- both Congressional Republicans and the Bush Administration.
Chris Cilizza in the WaPo makes a case that a Chris Carney ad against Don Sherwood is the best ad of this political season. Take a peek and see if you agree. Carney is currently leading Sherwood in the polls -- you can read more about Chris here, from his chat with us in September with Howie's Blue America series. (Go Chris -- he's a great guy, and he'll make a fantastic representative for his district!)
Webb and Allen debated last night in the VA Senate race -- their last debate prior to the election. Bloomberg reports this morning that Allen's so-called "worthless" stock options were actually worth some $1.1 million -- and went unreported on his required Senate filings. Um...OOPS.
The Hill has an interesting tidbit on John Laesch (more from our Blue America chats with him here and here) -- apparently he's had a surge of support due, in part, to Denny Hastert's abysmal blathering about the Foley mess.
In the days since Foley resigned, Democrat John Laesch raked in $40,000 from online contributions. He has had to reorder yard signs and install new phone lines in his campaign headquarters in Yorkville, Ill."Over the weekend, there were 20 to 30 people in the office that I’d never seen before," Laesch told The Hill. "People were coming in with a $100 check and asking for a yard sign."
Nothing like loads of people coming in for yard signs and handing over $100 campaign checks. Go John! And if you live in Laesch's district -- they could use a few more volunteers to help with all the yard sign deliveries!
DKos has a whole series of campaign updates going today. As does MyDD. And Digby has some thoughts on the GOP and "values voters" that are well worth a read.
The Republican Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee is contemplating yanking the tax-exempt status of the NCAA. Wonder what the Joe Six-Pack contingent of voters will think about that? Maybe you should ask folks with whom you tailgate the next few weekends?
E.J. Dionne has some thoughts on voting -- and voting machines -- and ensuring a fair vote. Interesting, and good to bring this into a mainstream media context in terms of accountability on this issue.
As I said this morning, it's going to come down to getting out the vote. What are you doing to help with that?
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Hi all.
Balrogs love Cheery ‘0s’ for breakfast.
So am I freaking out over nothing that Patty Wetterling has a rubber stamp on her web page?
If even one voter is scared away by it, it would be a shame.
Yeah, but DANGERSTEIN is like a self-immolating Schrodinger’s Cat. There’s a fifty percent chance that any time he opens his mouth, he’ll break open another poison capsule on Lieberman’s campaign.
Oh, and speaking of Don Sherwood, I just got this amusing website link via e-mail.
Evil at 4 — he is the mouthpiece that keeps on giving, isn’t he? *g*
Hope Lamont wins- but he is not a priority in this campaign. I’m spending my money on seats where the dem is within a point or two and where the win makes a difference in a vote for dem leadership. Lamont doesn’t make the cut.
That is just good, clean, positive stuff. I am quite sick of attack ads. Good job, Ned.
George Allen wins today’s prize for “gratuitous use of the troops as cover for your own ethical failings”! Via Bloomberg:
Christy Hardin Smith @ 6
Don’t get me wrong. I love Dan Gerstein as much as the next person…as long as it’s understood that the next person is Ned Lamont.
rw at 7 - I heard this morning on NPR when I was driving The Peanut to preschool that some new polling puts 10 Senate races in the “too close to call” category — way more than were anticipated at the start of this political cycle. Intersting times. Haven’t found the polling data on this as yet, but I’ll link it up if and when I do.
Balrog @ 3
I’d say yes, you’re freaking out over nothing. I wouldn’t have chosen that image in the current climate, but “stamp of approval” has a positive meaning, too (the difference between incoming and outgoing, in part.) I don’t think anyone who takes the trouble to go to her website is going to glance at that and go away without reading any further.
rwcole @ 7
i want both.
because i remember that we had a (bare) dem majority in the senate when we got the iraq war and the patriot act… and more recently 12 dem senators voted for torture, indefinite detention and kangaroo courts.
a dem majority in either (or better - both) chambers of congress is a righteous thing… but it’s not enough… we also need the dems to start representing us instead of themselves.
walk and chew gum. i think we need both….
Redd- sounds about right.
We have the original six:
Penn, RI, Montana, Mo, Tenn, and Ohio.
Then add the two dem seats that are still in play–NJ and Maryland
Then throw in Virginia ( and perhaps Arizona- although that’s a stretch) and you get ten.
Not all of em are “too close to call” though.
Arizona will almost certainly go goopers. I don’t believe dems will lose a seat (although NJ is scary)- and Pennsylvania is probably in the bag. It’s coming down to about seven races and dems need to spend big and EARLY in all (as you pointed out- the absentee ballots are rollin out NOW).
And an FDL blog news aside — we went over the 20 million unique visitors mark yesterday evening. Woo hoo! Thanks all!
an o/t heads up
Tonight HBO will be showing a documentary about the late Daniel Pearl 8pm/7pm central - narrated by Christianne Amanpour - looks good
http://www.hbo.com/docs/progra.....index.html
until factually disabused otherwise, I’m in the camp that says this wonderful young man was murdered b/c he was beginning to connect all kinds of dots on Pakistani Intel Svcs - 9/11 and AQ Khan
back to our regularly scheduled programming
Redshift @
12
Cool. Freaking out over nothing has been easier to do in the last month.
The good news is the Foley-Bounce (ick, young butts in the air) has Wetterling in a statistical dead-heat this morning.
Selise
“I want both”
Well sure- so do I- but I oversaw the capital appropriations process for a large decentralized organization and I know that the only way to win is to prioritize and focus. Otherwise you spend your money on marginal markets and your competitor kicks your ass.
Hastert: Anyone who hid page info leaves
WASHINGTON - House Speaker Dennis Hastert said Tuesday he’ll dismiss anyone on his staff found to have covered up concerns about ex-Rep. Mark Foley’s approaches to former pages.
Hastert said he huddled with his staff last week and in that, in hindsight, the situation could have been better handled. But he added that “if there is a problem, if there was a coverup, then we should find that out through the investigation process. They’ll be under oath and we’ll find out.”
“If they did cover something up, then they should not continue to have their jobs. But I didn’t think anybody at any time in my office did anything wrong,” Hastert told a news conference in Aurora, Ill.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....ress_pages
I remember back during the Dean Campaign, when he made the observation that if you ask any Kindergarden teacher they could tell you the two or three children in their class that would end up in jail when they grew up…
Head Start has always been a great and cost effective program.
Cozumel @ 19
File this crap next to Cluster’s ‘Anyone who outed a CIA agent will be fired’.
Empty words from empty heads.
Here’s a classic. Hastert “huddles” with his staff and draws the conclusion that things could have been handled better- but he ain’t gonna fire anyone unless they get pinched by the ethics committee.
This is the Clusterfuck “I can’t manage my own function cause there’s an investigation goin on” strategy. Stinks. If Hastert has any reason to believe that some of his people kept information from him- they should go TODAY.
Actually, I am all for yanking the tax-exempt status of the NCAA. And all churches that do anything that can be construed as in kind political donations.
Christy–
Howie Klein is interested in publishing a long comment posted here by Edward Teller about Diane Benson, Democratic candidate for Congress in Alaska.
I forwarded ET’s long and impassioned comment about the odious Abramoff-tainted Don Young-R and why Diane Benson-D would be a far superior choice.
While I am working in concert :) with P…M…, I do not have any contact information for him. Can you help connect ET with Howie?
Thanks so much!
Christy Hardin Smith @ 11
I was reading yesterday (can’t remember where) about the NRSC shifting funding to a few “firewall” races (TN and MO, I think.) It made me glad all over again that we kept a Democratic governor here in VA, and either control or strong Democratic presence in all the bodies that govern voting. The article gave the impression that states where they could better influence voting were a major factor in their decision, so I’m willing to bet that’s part of the reason we (fortunately) didn’t make the list.
The polls sure do lead one to feel a bit more positive about the upcoming election. How do we make sure that evotes are not flipped? Having poll watchers helps on a lot of fronts, but not that one. Ohio was Blackwell’ed and we need to make sure that it doesn’t happen again. That is the only possible explanation for Cheney’s confidence about holding both Houses.
OR’s vote-by-mail ballots go out 10/21!
rwcole @
7
rwcole,
If that strategy had prevailed in the primaries, Lamont wouldn’t be in the final. Gov. Dean’s 50-state strategy is reaping serious rewards every time Denny Hastert wanders blithely out to a microphone to explain how none of this is his fault.
Lamont is closing, and so are other races. In Alaska, Don Young has outspent Diane Benson by about 40 to one at this point, and she is approaching margin of error territory in a race where a few bucks thrown her way could equal 20x the leverage in some of the big races. egregious has set up an actblue page for some races - including Diane Benson’s - here:
http://www.actblue.com/page/egregious
or, if you’re set up for paypal, here’s Diane Benson’s campaign home page:
http://bensonforcongress.com/
And, if we can get Diane elected, here’s who we throw out of the arena of abused power:
Beginning in 1999, Young became involved with Abramoff in scams designed to bilk Americans into believing that products produced under slave labor-like conditions in the Mariana Islands were “Made in the USA.” Young, as chairman of the House Resources Committee, had oversight responsibilities over working conditions in the Mariana and Marshall Islands. In spite of this responsibility, Young neglected to raise questions regarding working conditions in either Island group while touring the Pacific Ocean territories on trips subsidized or arranged by Abramoff.
Young has never been confronted on his failure to take action on labor abuses in the Marianas at that time which included forced prostitution and abortion, harsh working conditions, a rapidly growing narcotics trade and illegal garnishment of employee wages. Throughout the period of Young’s stewardship over the islands, working conditions worsened as sweatshops erected there replaced the American textile and clothing industry one shop at a time.
Chinese crime boss and sweatshop owner Tan Siu Lin was able to launder money through Abramoff to a number of GOP legislators and committees at the same time the US Interior Department was issuing reports to Young about horrendous working conditions and the growth of organized crime at Tan family-owned businesses in the Marianas. There is no evidence that Young or his staff responded to continuing reports of horrendous conditions at the Pacific islands sweatshops.
On January 4, 1999, Abramoff was hired to represent the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Abramoff’s main mission was to stop legislation pending in Congress, which would have raised costs of clothing manufacture by the Tan family and other clothing manufacture interests there.
On February 21, 1999, Young visited the Marshall Islands. As soon as he returned to Washington, DC, Young killed House Resolution 730, which called for the implementation of US labor laws in the Marshalls.
The one thing Patty has going for her right now is her passion is coming through. She is a wonderful person but a bit flat on the campaign trial in large speaking situations. But now Patty has found ‘her groove.’ Just keep on despite the termendous flow of money ads against her.
i spent sunday afternoon volunteering in charlie brown’s (CA-04) office where they handed me several sheets of republican voters to call. too late to make my escape, i plunged ahead.
avg age of voters was 75, and they broke down three ways: people automatically voting along party lines, men disgusted with doolittle but unwilling to vote dem, and women who seemed to be geuinely leaning towards voting for charlie.
my conversations hammered home this is all about turn out. turn out. turn out.
Denny cribbed from W at his presser today. Classic Plamegate doublespeak — the man can’t manage his own staff, and he can’t figure out if anybody covered up.
Anytime the guy at the center of the coverup uses the word “coverup” in his own presser, things are not good for him (cf. Nixon, Richard, “crook”)
========
Had Enough?
========
ET!
Contact Howie Klein!!!
HowieKlein at aol dot com
[madly waving arms]
See also egr comment at 24.
Father Bong used to say: “A groove is just like a rut - only not as deep.”
:-)
I’m working at the poll during the general election.
Balrog @ 17
And it’s only going to get worse in the next month. Keep in mind that almost all of these races are going to tighten up, and it’s nothing to freak out about. It’s not a real shift in the voters, it’s just more and more of them paying attention as the election approaches, but the media will ignore that and call it like a horse race. Try to ignore them; keep in mind that it shouldn’t make any difference to what you’re going to do anyway.
And the corollary (to echo Christy from the last post) is that in a lot of these races we’re not as far ahead as we think we are. So keep our optimism but temper it, ignore the horse race, and keep playing like we’re ten points behind, all the way up to Election Day.
Mr. Campbell Brown (CPA spokesbot Dan Senor) mentions Bill Clinton FIVE TIMES in his rebuttal to “Emerald City” in the WaPo, discussing the bipartisan nature of CPA staffing.
Apparently, there’s nothing the GOP can’t blame on The Clenis, even W’s own bungled Iraq Occupation.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....01036.html
Christy Hardin Smith @ 11
My favorite source for polling info is Pollster.com. Mark Blumenthal (a/k/a Mystery Pollster) moved his blog to them earlier this year, and they carry good non-partisan analysis as well as data on lots of polls in every race. They include not only the bottom line results, but info on the polling methodology, trend lines (last five/ten polls), and good academic discussions of why polls come to differing results (click on the Pollster Blog tab for the discussions).
On their list of 12 “hot races” for the Senate, they include Arizona, Connecticut, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Virginia, and Washington.
Christy Hardin Smith @
15
congrats! nice milestone.
Eek sorry about posting an actual email, without separating it into thing dot com :o
rwcole @ 22
Exactly. The question that needs to be asked over and over again is the same one that W hid from in Plamegate — “Why do you need some outside investigation to tell you whether your own staff covered this up? Can’t you just ask them? We’re not talking about the cops picking up suspects off the street, this is about whether you fire your employees for misconduct.”
punaise @ 37
Hmmm, I wonder if some of those unique visitors would be willing to hit the paypal donate button toward the top on the right and send some scratch for Marcy Wheeler’s book project?
rat bastahd @ 26
I have to disagree. Remember, “creating an air of inevitability” is one of the central Rovian tactics.
Will they try to suppress and interfere with the vote? Definitely. But is Cheney actually as confident as he claims? I don’t think he’d be campaigning in Wyoming if he was.
imm: Hmmm, I wonder if some of those unique visitors would be willing to hit the paypal donate button toward the top on the right and send some scratch for Marcy Wheeler’s book project?
BTW - As a unique visitor (with the emphasis on unique), I still want to donate, but need snail mail addy. Anyone know if anything has been set up yet?
Hey gang, be sure to check and see if there’s an event near you with which you can help.
We’re phonebanking and handing out yard signs this evening, in advance of a gubernatorial debate event. Nothing quite like drinking beers with your fellow progressive peeps while booing the Repug candidate when he opens his mouth. Good fun.
Lots of folks gathering to watch Iraq for Sale, too — take an indie voter who’s on the fence with you to a viewing.
OT - heads up that in addition to the HBO piece on Danny Pearl(Vale) tonight, Frontline will be having a piece titled, “The Enemy Within” that looks to be fantastic, and next week will have a piece that runs hand in hand with the “Emerald City” topics on CPA activities (many of these are also covered in Assassins Gate)
Dr. Bong #42 — snail mail addy up underneath the link to PayPal at the right side of this website.
nice Teddy
Redshift, I certainly don’t find it inevitable, but one must wonder. I believe 100% that the vote was stolen in FL in 2000 and in OH in 2004, and I would bet there were other instances which flew under the radar.
I find myself wondering if there is line (for instance, specific poll #’s) that would indicate too much risk of vote-flipping.
If the polls are this wide-open will be people question the result if the GOP somehow hangs on? I think it’s a question worthy of being asked. At what point will we the people say “NO freaking way!”?
Peter, Pretty good list- although I think Minnesota, Washington, and Arizona may be decided.
egregious @
31
I did last week and told him I needed more time to get a strong positive profile of Diane Benson together. He said that that was OK.
She’s been up in Fairbanks since Thursday afternoon, where tomorrow the Borough assembly is voting to demand the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld. I’m going to be sitting down today with Kris Pierce, Diane’s campaign manager to finish the profile. I’m hoping to be in touch with Howie somehow around 3:00 p.m. PDT.
thanks!
Rayne @45
*blushing*
Thanks!
anybody see Bob Bennet on tweety yesterday ???
find the transcript
Bob Bennet slaughtered the hasterbaters
provided a good description of what an independent investigation, and said he told repulicritters the same thing
Dr. Bong @
42
Upper right hand of the web page just below the paypal buttons will be found:
Snail Mail
The Fire Dog Lake Company
1001 Bridgeway
Suite 122
Sausalito, CA 94965
Harrison-Fossella Debate
Click
http://www.silive.com/news/adv.....thispage=3
immanentize @ 40
been there…done that!
Bob Bennett on Tweety - video
go here, scroll down, just under Richardson photo under “legal fallout of Foley Scandal”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/
Ed*ard Teller @ 49
We’ve got to stop meeting like this.
I liked Ned’s education ad and I think the new one is gonna be great. I just have one question. Are these TV ads or Blogads?
I went by the county office to sign up to volunteer on Election Day. They said they were covered for now, but they took my name if something changes.
So thanks FDL’ers, if not this year then the next election.
dratty at 57 — these are TV spots, I believe. Tim Tagaris (of the Lamont campaign blog) uploaded this one to YouTube for sharing it around online, if I remember correctly.
egregious @
56
Off to work! Wind blew ALL the leaves off yesterday - blew 50 knots, gusting 80. The temp got up into the mid-60s in places around Anchorage. A magnificent Chinook.
I just visited Ned’s site to see if the ad was up yet and although it wasn’t they did have a new radio ad up, that will make you smile.
rwcole, Pollster.com agrees with you. I think they label them “hot races” in terms of interest, not necessarily in terms of closeness.
Looking at the detailed info on those twelve Senate races, four of them are within 3 points or less: MO, NJ, OH and TN. AZ (Kyl) and WA (Cantwell) both seem safe for the incumbents, with 9 point leads. MN is the same for the Dems with newcomer Klobucher 11 to replace Dayton.
PA looks good to flip, with Casey at 10. RI also looks good to switch with Whitehouse running 6, as does MT with Tester also 6. The report for VA shows Allen 6, but the last 3 polls they have posted there are on 10/1 and 10/2, and a lot has happened in the last week in VA. And then there’s CT, which has all the pollsters trying to figure out how to create a model for a unique situation. (They show Joe 9, for what it’s worth.)
That puts things at 3 seats remaining where they are, 3 new Dem seats, five seats up in the air (4 R, 1 D) - and Connecticut.
It’s crunch time, people!
freepatriot (51), I saw that. Bennett said if he took the job he would have to be guaranteed independence, hire his own investigators, and write a report on his findings. He sounded as if he is applying for the job.
TPM Poll Tracker at the “Election Central” branch of Josh Marshall’s operation is another good site for polling data. In contrast to Pollster.com, TPM-PT has only bottom line data, and links to general media articles or the pollster’s press release for discussion of the poll and/or race. You can pull up the data on individual races, but there’s no direct info on methodology and you have to do all the integration on your own to identify trends. On the other hand, they are faster to put up new polling data than Pollster.com.
Christy: The Chris Carney ad is a powerful one, for sure. On a side note…after Carney’s ad includes the phrases from the lawsuit, “Repeatedly choking” and “attempting to strangle,” I’m wondering how wise it is for Sherwood to say in his answer spot (Freudian slip?) that he’ll “continue to fight”…
Here is a link to 133 catalogued political tv adds by party.
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/politicalads/
I dislike Joe Lieberman. However, I think you are using too much of this site’s capital in your battle to unseat him.
I think this site’s capital would be better spent on the Virginia, Tennessee and Ohio Senate races. Democratic victories in those tight races would make more of a difference to our nation’s future.
headline at AmericaBlog.com:
and this, from yesterday:
Okay, this is for you, old gold@76.
What does the word “urge” mean in the paragraph below? Thanks!
Regarding George Allen: Congressional rules require senators to disclose to the Senate all deferred compensation, such as stock options. The rules also urge senators to avoid taking any official action that could benefit them financially or appear to do so.
rat bastahd @ 47
I generally agree. Part of the reason why this is such a big issue is not just that someone might be messing with the vote, but that people need to have confidence in the vote. Even if there’s no malfeasance, “pretty accurate most of the time, but there’s no way to check to be sure” doesn’t cut it.
I suspect in a lot of areas that’s the only thing that’s keeping them in check. Even if they could manipulate the votes and win everywhere the voting process is controlled by the GOP (which we know is technically possible with Diebold, at least), they only do small shifts because they can’t afford to have it proven. They can’t know at what level they’d have a revolution on their hands that would destroy the GOP, so they don’t take too much of a risk.
My column ran in the Meriden (CT) Record Journal today (10/10/06). Since you can’t get it without an e-subscription, I am posting it here in its entirety. Meriden, as everyone knows, is Ned Lamont Ground Zero.
Let’s keep tossing Holy Joe an anvil on the Foley Gate story, shall we?
Moral Compass?
by Alan Bisbort
Holy Toledo, Batman! “Holy” Joe Lieberman is defending a man who allowed a sex predator to run wild in Congress! In any other year, a story like this—the decade-long predation of teenage boys by a high-ranking legislator, Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL)— would be too far-fetched even for Howard Stern or Mad magazine. But there it is. Just as it was during “MonicaGate,” when the media went on a 24/7 frenzy of Monica and Bill, it is now Mark and Denny. Since Republicans and non-Democrats (like Joe) can’t hide from it, they’re trying to spin the story into a pretzel, yet it turns out to be a boomerang.
Sen. Lieberman, the man who has spent his career lecturing Hollywood about sex and violence in movies, the man who called for his one-time party’s president to resign over a sex scandal, is running interference for Dennis Hastert. Here’s the highest-ranking Republican in Congress—Speaker of the House for crying out loud!— offering one unbelievable excuse after another, each contradicting the last, about why he did nothing to stop a known predator from preying on teenage boys. And here’s “Holy Joe” Lieberman covering for him.
On Thursday, Lieberman told reporters in Torrington, “this thing is spinning out of control, it’s become another partisan frenzy in Washington, that’s the wrong way to go at it.” Calling for a full investigation and asking the man responsible to resign is the “wrong way to go about it”?! What would Holy Joe propose? Have Hastert stay after school and write, “I Will Not Protect Pedophiles” on the blackboard 100 times? When the reaction to Lieberman’s spin proved harsh, his campaign manager dug the hole deeper by referring to this decade-long pattern of abuse as “an incident,” and likening it to a “partisan food-fight.”
It’s now clear to everyone, Democrat, Republican, Green, unaffiliated. Joe Lieberman has lost his moral compass. The only force driving him is political desperation. He, like Hastert, is a man who’s been in office too long and succumbed to the moral relativism of political power. Joe Must Go. For the children, if for nobody else. Our children are being molested in Congress and killed in Iraq for a war that Joe Lieberman STILL supports.
What about Rep. Nancy Johnson? Where does she stand on Foley and Hastert? Her Web site barely mentions the scandal. Instead, its top item claims that Chris Murphy, her Democratic opponent, would “raise taxes $70 billion.” That’s what desperation will do. Just make up a number, any number, put a “billion” in front of it and claim your opponent is in favor of it. But if one looks at Nancy’s own record, she has Rubber-Stamped bill after bill for an administration that has run up the highest deficit in American history. They’ve gone beyond billons, into the trillions now. Thus, getting lectured about taxes by someone with a record like hers is like getting lectured on morality by Newt Gingrich or Matt Drudge.
Here’s Nancy’s statement on FoleyGate: “It would be reprehensible if any Republican leader intentionally covered up the full facts of the case, and it would be equally reprehensible if Democrat leaders sat on this information for a year in order to release it 30 days before an election.” Note the attempt to rope the Democrats into this story. Pathetic, isn’t it? Let’s get one thing straight: FoleyGate is 100% pure Republican. It was perpetrated by Republicans. It happened on the Republican watch. It was lied about and covered up by Republicans. To try to rope anyone else into it is to prove, just as Lieberman has proven, that Nancy Johnson has lost her moral compass.
Too bad for Joe and Denny and Nancy. Americans don’t need politicians or pundits to interpret this story for them. Joe Six-Pack and Jane Soccer-Mom get this one. Their own children are at stake. In the latest SurveyUSA poll released Friday, 63% of Americans are saying that Hastert should resign. Holy Toledo, Batman. I don’t think we’re in Kansas, or Ohio, or Connecticut any more.
Alan Bisbort is a former member of the Cheshire Environment Commission. His latest book is “When You Read This, They Will Have Killed Me” (Carroll & Graf)
Review Finds Mistakes On 5,100 Absentee Ballots
Board Of Elections To Send Reprinted Ballots To Voters
CLEVELAND: The review was prompted by last week’s discovery that 1,500 ballots in Ohio’s 7th House District race listed the wrong party affiliations for the candidates.
http://www.newsnet5.com/politi.....etail.html
1,299 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND…
ccmask:
Don’t feed the trolls, don’t engage ‘em, don’t acknowledge ‘em … let ‘em hang out like the ridiculous caricatures of sentient humans they are.
KEEP THE FAITH AND LET ‘EM MAKE FOOLS OF THEMSELVES!!
Alan Bisbort– major, humongous kudos to you sir!
i freak out about the rethugs stealing the election with the diebold machines. Does anyone remember hearing about the Georgia elections and how diebold put patches in the machines and they were rigged? wish more would come out about that.
old gold at 67 — I disagree, due to the fact that de facto Republican Joe Lieberman has been providing faux “bi partisan” cover for GOP talking points for the last few years on each and every talk show he could foist himself onto…and then some. Which I why I wrote about the race today and will continue to do so — Joe Lieberman is a boil that needs lancing — for the good of the Democratic party as well as to break the stranglehold of lack of accountability that the Bush Administration and the GOP in Congress has had in Washington the last few years.
We also spend a buttload of our “political capital” on races all over the country that a lot of other sites ignored until the last few weeks — John Laesch, Chris Carney, Victoria Wulsin, we supported all of them before their races tightened up because it was the right thing to do — and our Blue America work happens every single Wednesday and Saturday, every single week. We have also worked hard to produce commercials independently for Blue America candidates that we want to win — and we are financing ads in support of a few of them in some tight districts where it could make a difference.
We work our asses off for Democrats in races all over America every freaking week — and have done so for months and months. So you’ll pardon me if I get a little irritated at someone lecturing me on how to spend the hours and hours of work that I do on this blog the way THEY want me to spend it. I get little enough sleep as it is, and you don’t even want to know about the pile of laundry I have to work through this afternoon…try clicking on the Blue America topic and the Citizen Action topic for starters as to the work we have been doing for months on end, and then tell me we aren’t doing enough.
Find Joe where you find the GOP, at the tail end of the page.
FDL does spend an awful lot of time on the Lamont campaign — it’s just another thing that makes us here the kewl kidz of the Toobz…
old gold @ 67
Your concern is noted.
Fortunately, there is more than one blog in the world, and it’s not necessary for every one of them to focus on the same races. That’s one of the big advantages of the blogosphere over traditional campaign organizations and their “top-tier” races. Another is the ability of the hosts to learn about a race in depth and give us the benefit of that knowledge, rather than jumping to each “important” race and giving us little more than a “Heh. Indeed.” link.
As a Virginian, I’m just fine with the focus here. The direction of the country depends on more than what letter is after the winning candidate’s name, and some of us can walk and chew gum at the same time.
Christy Hardin Smith @ 15
Congratulations, Christy and Jane!
old gold:
Start. Your. Own. Fucking. Blog. You. Don’t. Have. To. Read. This. One. When. You. Write. Me. A. Paycheck. You. Can. Tell. Me. What. To. Do. Thank. You.
(PS - What Christy said, more nicely than what I’m saying.)
Dr. Bong #50 — oh, no blushing necessary. I didn’t see it myself for a while, until others had noted it. Very glad you’re a “co-investor” in our cool open source self-publishing project.
1,299 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND…
Citizen Harden Smith:
Take a breath, look out the window at the birds in the feeder, hug yer child and let others take care of the trolls…I’m afraid yer gunna have a stroke! We need you focused on spearheadin’ the information phalanx … let members of your community watch yer back.
And speakin’ of Ned Lamont…what do your sources say about gettin’ heavy-hittin Democrats into Connecticut before it’s too late? The Big Dog and Mrs. Dog could do some good and clean some a the triangulation shit from their images.
KEEP THE FAITH, WE GOTCHER BACK!!
OT — egads, Jackie Calmes at WSJ is now speculating on the 2008 races. “Dodd tests campaign waters for 2008“, says the link from RSS feed.
Pachacutec @ 81
Could you slow down next time? I was having trouble keeping up.
/snark *g*
Speaking of the Virginia race: I’m considering asking George Felix Allen if he might give those “worthless” stock options to me - I could certainly use that $1,100,000 …
lurkers’r'us
all the diebold in the world can not save them this time - without drawing scrutiny from even the most comatose in MSM
the polling gaps are now too wide to cover w/ usual 3- 5 points voting booth hijinks - I ask everyone again to be aware of the other tentacles of Rove’s vote suppression octopus -
OT, btw Pach: congrats to your Mets. How about an Oakland v. NY World Series?
This Just In -
Sharpton lays the smack down on Joe -
(via TPM/Greg Sargent)
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.c.....010299.php
1,299 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND…
Pachacutec and Punaise:
Trust me, no one in the national league includin’ the Mets wanna have ANYthing ta do with Detroit OR Oakland.
KEEP THE FAITH IN GOD AND THE AMERICAN LEAGUE!!!
Go Tigers!!! To finally be in the play-offs after 18 years is sweet enough, to beat the Yankees…Frosting on the cake baby!
Any Californians (or anyone else) wanna put some campaign money on the line? I’ll give to your candidate if the A’s win, you’ll give to Carol Voisin (OR-2) if the Tigers win. Let me know.
Christy Hardin Smith @
15
WOO HOO & THANKS & CONGRATS to YOU & JANE & the whole FDL team for leading by doing day in and day out.
I know Alex Jones is sensationalistic (and probably did not go to Broadcasting schcool). If you are interested Foley-gate, Wayne Madsen will be on Alex Jones radio show (listen on prisonplanet.com) in 15 minutes or so.
Christy Hardin Smith @
15
We better not make too much noise about this, or Google might buy you out!
Look, I respect this blog. I agree with you on Lieberman. I simply think your political capital would be better spent on the other races.
Why? Because the most important thing that could happen in this election cycle would be for the Democrats to become the majority party in the Senate. This, much more than control of the House, would allow for meaningful investgative hearings and influence over judicial appointments.
The key to this happening is in the Virginia, Tennessee and Ohio Senate races.