Category: Elections

Do Not Send Money to These Bush Blue Dogs

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One of the things Tim Mahoney and Allen Boyd, both of Florida, won’t do is endorse Barack Obama for president.

These are both folks who have received lots of support from the Democratic grass roots, Mahoney is in Mark “Just as soon as I get to the end of the page” Foley’s old seat following the sex scandal, and when the time comes for them to do little things, like endorse the Democrat, or in Mahoney’s case, criticize John McCain for opposing Mahoney’s own insurance relief bill, they just don’t have the guts.

Screw them.

Zimbabwe: Mbeki “Loses” Letters from, Tsvangirai, Courts Rule Against ZANU-PF

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A letter has reached the South African newspapers from Morgan Tsvangirai pleading with Thabo Mbeki to do something, and his office claims to have “never received the letter”.

Simply disgraceful.

The courts in Zimbabwe actually seem to be doing their jobs though, ordering the release of a jailed opposition MP, and reversing the police ban on rallies, though this may not help much with ZANU-PF thugs using violence to disrupt the rallies.

It’s no wonder that Human Rights Watch is calling for intervention.

California Gay Marriage Amendment May Also Bans Straight Marriage

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Looks like the Talibaptists may have screwed up, bit time:

Should voters approve the measure, Cruz said, offering another potential outcome, it could inadvertently affect traditional marriages. That’s because the amendment would undo only part of the court’s decision — allowing gay couples to marry — but not the rest, which says that same-sex couples cannot be recognized differently than opposite-sex couples, he said.

“If you’ve got those two rules — that you can’t let them marry, but you can’t give different options to gay and straight couples — then one possible outcome, if the amendment were to pass, is that no one could get married in California,” Cruz said.

Oopsie.

Dems Hold Lead in Polls in Alaska

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The last time that Alaska was truly competitive for Democrats was shortly after I left, at age 6, in 1968, and now we have polls showing Begich leading Stevens and Berkowitz beating Young, and both the Republicans are incumbents, albeit fantastically corrupt ones.

Mark Begich (51%) – Ted Stevens (44%)
Eathan Berkowitz (58) – Don Young (38%)

I think that the good people of Alaska realize that these guys are an embarrassment.

SEIU Establishes $10M Political Punishment Fund

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The Bush Blue Dog Democratic Caucus has spent too much time presenting only lip service to Democratic party goals. This move by the SEIU (scroll down) is a good start on dealing with the guys who forget the people what brung them after the elections:

In a move likely to upset some Democrats, the delegates approved an “accountability plan” in which the union would spend $10 million to pressure or punish political candidates who made pro-worker, pro-union promises, but broke them after being elected.

The union’s leaders cite a primary last February in which the service employees played an instrumental role in defeating Representative Albert Wynn, Democrat of Maryland, because the union thought he was favoring business over workers.

Al Franken Gets DFL Party Endorsement for Senate

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He got the required 60% on the first ballot. There is still a primary in September, but absent a dead girl/live boy* revelation, he is the nominee.

I guess that this decade is all about him, Al Franken.

Here’s hoping that he kicks that phony Norm Coleman, who is proof of that old adage, “If you can’t fool all of the people all of the time, you should start breeding them for stupidity.”†

*Edwin Edwards, when discovering that he would be facing David Duke in the Louisiana governor’s race, said that the the only way that he would lose were if he were, “caught in bed with a dead girl or a live boy”.
†Dave Sim, in his comic book Cerebus, some time around issue 20.

Zimbabwe Seems to Be Getting Worst

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Tsvangirai was detained again, the currency crash inflation problem is accelerating, the Mugabe government has banned opposition rallies, and the so called “war veterans” threatened to burn diplomats alive.

Helen Zille, leader of South Africa’s opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, has called for President Thabo Mbeki to speak out over what is going on in Zimbabwe.

Won’t happen. Mbeki won’t ever say a word against Mugabe, for reasons that are not clear to me.

Zimbabwe: Tsvangirai Arrested, then Released and NGOs Targeted

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Morgan Tsvangirai was stopped at a road block by Zimbabwean security forces, and held for 8 hours before being released.

He had been charged with, “drawing a big crowd”…I’m not joking here.

So we clearly have an official policy of disruption and intimidation of his campaign.

Additionally, the government has ordered CARE and other NGOs to cease operations, likely for 2 reasons: They don’t want witnesses, and if the government is the only entity allowed to supply aid, it becomes easier to use this aid as a weapon.

Bush Dog Going After Lautenberg on Age in NJ Senate Primary

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I hope that Lautenberg wins, because Robert Andrews is a real faux Democrat, but it was forseeable that Lautenberg’s age would be an issue on this. He’s 84 years old.

Why the cleared the field for him, leaving only a right wing puke who aggressively lobbied for votes for every Bush war resolution, voted on behalf of big pharma, against unions in trade deals, for “defense contractor sweetheart deals for retiring military officers”, and against rolling back the Bush tax cuts. (see here)

Lautenberg is a bit too old for the Senate, and Andrews is way too evil for the Senate.

Lovely choice for NJ Dems today.

Rasmussen has Lautenberg with a significant lead, but still under 50%, which is worrying.

What Publius Said

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Whatever you think of the candidates, Publius is spot on when he says that this primary season has shown that the current nominating process is completely broken.

In previous years, where you were left with what was effectively one candidate standing by the time the primaries were half over, never stressed the current system, and now that we have two very closely matched candidates, it’s showing its problems.

His first suggestion, that Iowa & New Hampshire get their “first in the nation” ticket pulled, is a good start, and probably fixes more than anything else, because it gives all the states a chance to be relevant and receive attention.

As to “rotating regional calendar”, I favor the rotating, but the regional thing I’m not so sure about. You want an opportunity for low dollar candidates to compete early.

He also suggests dumping caucuses entirely, but I’m ambivalent on this. You have to have the opportunity to measure the activist response, because these people are going to be the foot soldiers of the election.

As to killing the Superdelegates, I agree. It’s clear that they don’t work.

I would add that the option of adding some sort of “first past the post/winner take all aspect”, even if it’s only a portion of the delegates per congressional district, would be a good idea.