As someone who comes from a business background, I find this Oh So Amusing. The Free Enterprise Fund is now heavily bankrolling Joe LIEberman. And who would they be?
Free Enterprise Fund is a free market advocacy group founded by Stephen Moore… Free Enterprise Fund is an "action" think tank on fiscal issues, but also uses some of its energies and funds to counter the efforts of those who oppose their cause (see Ronnie Earl and MoveOn.org campaigns).
Stephen Moore. Former head of the Club for Growth. The ones who were trying to knock off Lincoln Chafee because he was a big tax'n'spend kinda guy, right? Because they're all about low taxes, they're anti-government spending with a passion, yes? True "movement conservatives."
Let's have us a look-see at the latest available rankings from the National Taxpayers Union of US Senators. Lincoln Chafee earns himself a C- with a score of 49%. Based on that, the Club for Growth launched a full-on jihad against Chafee that almost succeeded in seeing him beaten in the primary by Steve Laffey, had not the NRSC pulled big resources out of key battleground states like Tennessee, Ohio and Missouri (where GOP candidates are now fighting for their lives — and ironicaly the NRSC has pretty much given up on Rhode Island).
And where does GOP Joe stand with regard to the NTU rankings? He earns himself an "F", with a 14% rating. Lincoln Chafee is practically Grover Norquist next to Lieberman when it comes to respecting the values that the Club for Growth purports to uphold.
Meanwhile, the Republican anti-tax candidate, Alan Schlessinger, languishes with no GOP support whatsoever. I tried to ask the question the other day as to how the anti-tax'n'spend crowd could sit by and watch the GOP sabotage a true fiscal conservative like Schlessinger in favor of a guy Brent Bozell called "one of the biggest spenders in Congress" and got no satisfying answer. The plain and simple truth of the matter is that in supporting Joe, who openly brags about the earmarks he has bagged for Connecticut, Stephen Moore and those who profess to be for smaller government and lower taxes are simply banging that drum in the service of authoritarian cultism, and they will gladly abandon that — and any other principle whatsoever – when Karl Rove snaps his fingers.
But as Digby has long argued — what else is new.
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First
God hates hypocrites!
So what will it take to get Reid and Schumer to recognize that they’re enabling the GOP by not coming out against Joe? (Not that I expect Joe to do anything other than supporting the GOoPers when it counts, and claiming he’s a Dem when the voters complain, two-faced lying #$%^&* that he is.)
Follow the money, everyone!
I’ve been out of town for a few days, and when I started catching up on the threads, I was surprised by the pessimistic tone about Lamont. The latest poll I’ve seen (Hartford Courant)shows him down by 8 which is up by 3 from the previous poll I saw. I live in OR which gives Bush the lowest approval rating in the country (yea!) but Connecticut is only one point behind us. And with 85% of the country rating the Iraq war as the most important issue, I just can’t see how Lieberass is going to win. The establishment (Democratic) doesn’t seem to have gathered around Lamont, but I still hope the will of the people will prevail, and I think a Lamont win is essential to show the influence of netroots.
Twisted Martini @ 2
Well that would be everybody. No, I believe God loves hypocrites.
But He sure does have a thing for TRUTH and JUSTICE.
‘Anti-tax’ ideology is just another lucrative empty-rhetoric racket Republiclown party hacks use to fleece the gullible suckers who comprise their non-millionaire base, just like televangelism.
Gooperism is a pretty simple philosophy. Taxes are bad- small goverment is good- America is blessed among nations and “God” has three syllables.
It’s pronounced “GAW-aw-od”
Or . . .
It could be that the Free Enterprise Fund, the Club for Growth, and similar groups suspect that Joe would caucus with the Republicans if reelected, thus helping to insure a “favorable climate” in the Senate with a Republican majority.
And even if Republicans lose the senate, or if Joe caucuses with the Dems, Joe would be a damn sight closer to their way of thinking than Ned Lamont. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” That’s Joe, according to his big money donors.
Jane, thanks so much for highlighting this:
OT, scarecrow had something prior to the first debate, on Joe taking credit for electricity generating/cost issues that he didn’t deserve. IIRC, scarecrow mentioned, the campaign decided not to use it. I only bring it up in case the terrain has changed wrt its possible effectiveness.
I just cracked open the fortune cookie that came with my chinese lunch… it reads:
“Discontent is the first step in the progress of a man or a nation.”
Ain’t that the truth brother.
-Monk
Joe’s an insurance policy. Even if dems win the senate- if Joe is on the judiciary committee- Clusterfuck’s appointees will still get to the floor.
Of course these “anti-tax” groups are inconsistent in their advocacy.
They want to keep the kleptocrats in power — it’s all about greed, not principle of any sort. Whoever will keep the spigot flowing (the spigot siphoning the U.S. Treasury into fat-cats’ pockets) is the person they’ll support.
Doesn’t matter if the person being supported doesn’t vote their way all the time — a la Lieberliar — as long as the candidate will enable the REAL kleptocratic powers to keep their death grip on the Treasury purse. And THAT the Lieberliar does in spades.
Oops- Joe isn’t on the judiciary- never mind.
The Democratic party – both national and state – have been played for chumps by Lieberman. Everyone was tiptoeing on egg shells, so afraid to anger Joey and make him go the other way.
Now Joe has thrown the entire CT Dem party under the bus – attacking Atty Gen Blumenthal on down about their position in opposition to Bush’s energy bill – the same one Lieberman voted for. He’s thrown the Dem national leadership under the bus by taking money hand over fist from Republicans – including the founders of the Swiftboaters.
How you feeling now, Clinton? Still feel like the CT race is no big deal because there are two Dems running for the Senate?
So, what are you going to do about it, Clinton? Dodd has seen the light and is campaigning with Lamont. It would be great if the Dem caucus would make it clear that Lieberman will not have seniority – now – when it can do Lamont some good.
Lieberman has gone relentlessly and viciously negative – it is disgusting. The next four weeks are going to be horrendous – and the national Dem party better not stand on the sidelines.
OT with apologies.
Balrog pointed me to this article from the NY Sun via rawstory after I made fun of Jim Baker’s and Lee Hamilton’s uninformative appearance on the NewsHour yesterday on behalf of the Iraq Study Group. To understand any product they are likely to produce, it’s important to realize who they are. Lee Hamilton can best be described as an example of a middle of the road elder statesman Democrat. He is not a firebrand. Jim Baker has been called the consigliere of the Bush family. He is essentially part of the family and is particularly close to the old don, Bush 41 but he keeps up his contacts with the Sonny of this piece, Bush 43, and helped put in the fix for the young don during the 2000 Florida recount. You can see the asymmetry. Hamilton has no particular agenda. Jim Baker does.
On the NewsHour, Hamilton and Baker stressed that they had come to no conclusions yet and would not issue their report until after the elections. With the Sun article in mind, it would be more accurate to say that they have not formally “finalized” their recommendations but most of their work has been done.
They have “ruled out the prospect of victory for America” in Iraq. No kidding. I admit I am not impressed by such a statement of the obvious, one which could have been made anytime in the last 2 1/2 years and probably from the beginning.
According to the article, the Group has come up with two scenarios.
http://www.rawstory.com/showar…..icle/41371
Stability First is an extension of current policy. One of Maliki’s first acts was a security crackdown in Baghdad (which failed). A second attempt to secure the capital using American troops is now under way (and has been equally unsuccessful). At the same time, we have ceded most of Anbar province to the insurgents. The rationale behind Stability First as far as I can tell is this. Kurdistan and the South are seen as relatively stable. Compared to the vastness of Anbar, Baghdad is a much smaller area to defend and patrol. Given its history, location and population, it is the only strategically important part of central Iraq worth holding. The Sunnis/insurgents can have the rest but if they want any access to future oil revenues they will have to pipe down and play along. Democracy which wasn’t making much headway anyway will be dumped for security. This plan would require internal redeployment of US forces to fewer, larger, more easily defended positions and could, in fact, give political cover to the fulfillment of the neocon dream of permanent Iraqi bases. There are problems with this plan. The most important is that it ignores the reality on the ground which is a civil war. The conflict has evolved. It is no longer simply insurgents against the US occupation and the successor Iraqi government. It is Sunni against Shia with Kurdish participation. Nor is there a single insurgency so who exactly is there to negotiate with and can they keep any deal that is made? Just as the insurgency is fractured there are also questions about Shia unity and the potential for conflict in the South. This plan strikes me as about 3 1/2 years out of date.
Redeploy and Contain is a “phased” withdrawal. Bush et al will not like this because even though the name is different it is the Murtha plan and the essence of the Kerry Amendment. It is also not the Establishment Democratic plan of the Levin Amendment. It is a scheduled redeployment over the horizon but still in region with the ability to project power externally back into Iraq. This is what the future will eventually look like I think because “Stay the course” and “Stay the course lite” aka Stability First won’t work. At some point, we will leave and both we and the Iraqis will have to deal with the consequences of that departure. This will mean managing the chaos as best we can from the outside and regionally and not directly in the line of fire as we are currently doing.
And now, according to Lieberman spokesperson, Sherry Brown, Lieberman no longer refers to the Democratic Party as democratic — it is now Democrat Party — any more reasons to think this guy is not a pure blooded Republican?
heh.
Lou Dobbs in LA, “on assignment”. Yeah, he’s doing a book tour, but I much prefer to think he’s in town to catch Donita’s show.
Hugh, thanks for a terrific, extremely accessible summary.
naschkatze @ 5
Because the Lieberman campaign is adept at whispering in the ear of Jennifer Medina and other reporters, saying that the Lamont campaign is on its last legs. And like the mindless idiots they are – the national MSM just repeats Lieberman’s GOP talking points. Plus – it makes a more interesting story – doesn’t it? A resurrection story – Lieberman rises from the ashes. I call B*ll sh*t!!!
Fortunately, the CT papers have gotten wise and there are a number of articles and oped pieces in the past few days about what a liar Joe is and stressing that the Dems are idiots if they think Joe will be one of them, after all the support and money he’s gotten from the Republican party.
My hope is that he is so disgusting, and aligns with so many slimely characters (Cheney being one), that the intelligent unaffiliated and moderate Republicans will think twice about voting for “moderate” Joe. And I do hope the Dem party – both in CT and nationally – wakes up and smells the coffee. Because Rove et al are rolling on the floor laughing at how the Dems have played right into Rove’s strategy in CT.
we just have to get the money out of elections forever when we win in November.
forever!
Joe has shit in his messkit wrt Democrats.
The Repubs can have him. Let them have to be the ones watching him out of the corner of their eye.
Once a traitor……
The club for growth wants low taxes on business they could care less if Joe brings home the pork with taxes collected from the little people. What they like about Joe is corporate welfare. Joe’s squashing of anything the drug indusrty finds competetive keeps the industry profitable. Unfortunately everytime somebody dies because they can’t afford their medicine ITS JOE’S (and a few others) FAULT! Everytime Joe gets another campaign contrabution from the drug industry a Devil in Hell gets his wings! What is really sad is that the richest nation on earth is dropping as far as lifespan is concerned. I’m sure that when Satan heard this fact he was well pleased with his tool/pawn on earth.
John Casper @
20
Absolutely. I do however, have one small quibble;
“he keeps up his contacts with the Sonny of this piece, Bush 43″
It’s Fredo, not Sonny. Nitpicking, I know, but it’s important to be accurate. :)
rwcole #9 –
That’s how you pronounce it in Texas, yes?
To which one might also say,
FUH-uh-UH-uck.
Hugh @
17
Hugh, nice followup. I thought I’d posted yet another tempting but useless link.
Cheers.
Oh, Jane. The reason these guys support Lieberman is because they’ve figured him out. Yes, Joe brags about the earmarks and other federal dollars he’s brought to Connecticut, but when Connecticut is ranked between 49th and 50th in getting a return on its federal tax dollars, it’s easy so see why this group thinks Joe is just perfect. They’d like nothing better than a politician who can convince his constituents that he brings federal spending to their state, but then fails to deliver his/their share. If every Senator were that bad at this, this group would be thrilled. ;>)
Joe claims to be one thing, but the facts show he’s another. And that’s now showing up on every issue.
John Casper: the energy issue you mentioned may come up again, because the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) just denied the CT AG’s request to change the pricing system for the wholesale market in Connecticut. But my guess is that no one will sort this out, because the AG misuderstood the economics, and for once, FERC did the right thing — rare lately. I don’t see how either Joe or Ned can explain this, let alone use it. But I’m watching.
Dab from CT. Do you have a cite for Lieberman attacking the AG on the energy bill? I’d like to know what the basis was. It may be the issue John C was discussing above, but if it’s something new, I’d like to know. Thanks for the heads up.
angie @ 22
I agree. It’s job one along with recovering habeus corpus. I put those before impeaching Bush, outlawing torture, and getting out of Iraq…… I hope with more revelations about Abramoff after midterms that the GOP will be under enormous pressure to pass campaign finance reform.
Rayne @ 26
As in “Where’s my Fuh-uh-UH-ucking faith-based thing”?
Junya and the Bible: A Letter to Junya
Bustednuckles @
23
Agreed. This could end up being a ‘cut off your nose to spite your face’ moment for the Thugs. You want him? He’s yours!
Still rather see Ned win.
Just as importantly, Stephen Moore and the FEF have to carry the water this time for Karl, because Norquist and his other anti-tax group, Americans for Tax Reform, are now under the scope and are probably going to be piked soon.
It’s a damned shell game; they simply pull another 501(c)something out of their pocket and dump money into it.
Just wish the DoJ would catch on that this also applies to stuff other than political campaigning.
PeteCO — heh. Funny.
Actually, it’s used more commonly as an expression of wonderment, at least among the East Texans I used to work with in the not-distant-enough past.
Where people in the Midwest might say, “Wow,” or “I’ll be damned,” this particular class of Texans would reach into their bag of extra syllables and sprinkle some into the F-bomb.
Or “Gaw-uh-AWd,”, or “DA-a-AMn, Billy Bob, yew don’ SA-ay!”
Mad Dogs, that was awesome, the slavery stuff in particular. The Vatican, Pius IX, was officially neutral in the U.S. Civil War, although it was no secret he wanted the Confederacy to win. Wealthy Roman Catholic slave owners, in places like New Orleans, were big contributors.
OT, FWIW, stoning as far as I know, consisted of throwing someone of a cliff or the top of a building, like the Temple. They were less likely to run away after hitting the ground, so you could finish them off with stones.
Rayne @ 34,
Does Rove actually come from TX? I imagine he’s adding all kinds of extra syllables lately.
Rove = YOU-tah ha
PeteCO — You know, he might be trying to cut out all those vowel-enriched extra syllables in his diet, what with skipping groups like Heritage Foundation or TownHall to carry the water in regards to Lieberman.
Went to F.E.F. this time, for example, instead of A.T.R.
Would love to see him in a position to utter nothing but vowel sounds, preferably before Election Day.
Mad Dogs
That’s hysterical. There’s also the injunction to kill all witches which proves the existence of witches because how could you kill them if they don’t exist?
OT Your daily gas and oil prices
Average price for regular gasoline 10/13/06 in 50 states and DC
$3.00 plus 1 state
$2.90 plus 0 states
$2.80 plus 0 state
$2.70 plus 1 states
$2.60 plus 2 states
$2.50 plus 4 states
$2.40 plus 5 states
$2.30 plus 4 states
$2.20 plus 13 states
$2.10 plus 16 states
$2.00 plus 5 states
Average national price: $2.250, down $.001 from yesterday
Down 58.7 cents from same time last year.
Highest recorded national average price: $3.057 9/5/2005
Highest average price: Hawaii $3.020
Lowest average price: Missouri $2.035
http://www.fuelgaugereport.com/sbsavg.asp
Nymex Crude Future $58.57, up $.71
Dated Brent Spot $58.70, up $.58
WTI Cushing Spot $58.57, up $.71
The decline in gas prices continues to slow. Oil markets have a minor reaction to the blast of cold weather in the Midwest but are mostly marking time.
scarecrow – from the Daily Cup of Joe – on the Lamont blog…
“Joe Lieberman’s campaign late yesterday attacked Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and the entire bipartisan Connecticut congressional delegation, claiming in a statement that they are supposedly lying about provisions in the Bush Energy Bill that eliminate Connecticut’s right to protect Long Island Sound. Specifically, Lieberman issued a statement claiming the Bush Energy bill “does nothing to hurt Connecticut’s ability to protect the Sound” and that such factual statements are “a myth” being peddled by people “in a desperate attempt to hurt Joe with voters who care about the environment.”
Except that not just Ned Lamont, but Connecticut’s congressional delegation, Attorney General Blumenthal, and even Gov. Rell all agree with this “myth.”
http://nedlamont.com/truthabou…..delegation
Curt Weldon under investigation
http://www.realcities.com/mld/…..754123.htm
Rayne @ 38
Hopefully he’ll be rendered speechless on Nov. 8th.
this is a fine article to spotlight! I’ll get some of the National media – anybody in CT that wants to get the local media?
Millineryman @ 41
Wow. Jail is perfect for that scum.
Drip, drip. So many corrupt Repubs, so few jails. They drive the country like they stole it, don’t they?
Of course he’ll do less time than some kid who stole a jalopy to go on a joy ride.
MadDog Briliant we can’t live the literal word of the bible on such things as slavery we have as a society decided that well… the bible is wrong. Now all we have to do is use your joke on the U.S Consitituion (there is a similar passege on slavery) and mock Justice Scalia, Thomas and the rest of the strict Constructionalists of the U.S Consitituion. Every Democratic canidate for president when asked about their Supreme Court choices should say anyone but a Scalia Strict Constructionalist (meaning they support the principle of states rights except when it could give Gore the election). Principles and Laws should be applied EQUALLY to everyone! Even if the judge DOES NOT LIKE IT. Integretity is proved when people place the law/rules above their OWN INTERESTS! Our current Supreme Court has less integrity than a City of Chicago Alderman!
OfT from the AP via Forbes Shimkus Says GOP Mishandled Page Scandal
Bold is mine.
My hope is that the Ethics Committee will note that there’s apparently no documentation. IMO, that is serious evidence of criminal negligence. They made no attempt to determine the ages of the pages, or whether sex had taken place. It certainly sounds as though Foley went to great extremes in some cases to skirt the letter of the law. Hastert, Boehner, and Reynolds, however, have made clear that they didn’t know that. They’ve wrapped themselves in the “dummy defense.” That doesn’t work when you’re Foley’s supervisor and Foley is the page’s supervisor. It was their job to investigate. The fact that they did not, may be criminal under Federal Sexual Harrasment guidelines.
Wrt sexual harrasment, or any other potentially felony investigation, their responsibility was to DOCUMENT the allegations.
The reason they didn’t document was imo twofold; they knew the allegations were true, and they didn’t want to lose Foley’s fundraising abilities in wealthy Palm Beach.
Urban Pirate @ 44
Good for Joe Sestak. It will be quite exciting to see that district turn blue.
new thread: “What me worry?”
Millineryman @ 41
Weldon has ties to Borislav Milosevic! Pass it on!
egregious- May I just say how inspiring you are? You have such a kind heart.
Forget about arguing whether Iraq is in a civil war.
We are there.
People who tell you to go to hell when you want to go to a doctor?
People who tell you go to hell if you want to get a college education?
People who tell you go to hell find your own apartment?
I think I’ll just go to hell.