(Mostly Stupid) News About the Election (With Updates, Some of Which are Stupid)
[Guest post by Aaron Worthing; send your tips here.]
Lots of interesting things around the web, many of them with video involved.
Lots of updates throughout. Jump to the end for a particularly sweet one involving the Alaska Senate race.
First, it’s October! And guess what? Surprise! There is a late hit on Christine O’Donnell. That would be the same O’Donnell who is getting pummeled in the polls.
I won’t link to this vile thing by Gawker, where they paid for the account of a man who claimed to have a sexless “one-night-stand” with Christine O’Donnell. You will feel dirty even reading a little of it. I think Jim Treacher has the definitive take down of the whole thing. And how bad was all this? Even NOW is upset. And I have been pretty critical of NOW, but I thought this statement was excellent. The key quote:
Today the tabloid website Gawker published an anonymous piece titled “I Had A One-Night Stand With Christine O’Donnell” that takes the routine sexual degradation of women candidates to a disgusting new low. NOW repudiates Gawker’s decision to run this piece. It operates as public sexual harassment. And like all sexual harassment, it targets not only O’Donnell, but all women contemplating stepping into the public sphere.
Right on.
Also O’Donnell has released a statement, playing the victim card for all its worth. Like Conway further in, I think she hopes this is a game changer. Lord knows, she needs it. It says:
This story is just another example of the sexism and slander that female candidates are forced to deal with. From Secretary Clinton, to Governor Palin, to soon-to-be Governor Haley, Christine’s political opponents have been willing to engage in appalling and baseless attacks — all with the aim of distracting the press from covering the real issues in this race. Even the National Organization for Women gets it, but Christine’s opponent disturbingly does not. As Chris Coons said on September 16th he would not condone personal attacks against Christine. Classless Coons goons have proven yet again to have no sense of common decency or common sense with their desperate attacks to get another rubber stamp for the Obama-Pelosi-Reid agenda. Such attacks are truly shameful, but they will not distract us from making our case to Delaware voters — and keeping the focus on Chris Coons’ record of higher taxes, increased spending, and as he has done again here, breaking his promises to the voters.
Now to be fair to Coons, I have not seen the slightest evidence that his campaign had anything to do with this. But on the other hand, I haven’t heard him condemn it yet, and his campaign blog and newsroom seem to have nothing as of this writing. Which strikes me as a mistake. Update: The Daily Caller has the obligatory Coons team condemnation.
And Prof. Jacobson is not buying the leftward condemnation of Gawker. My inclination is to buy it, but he makes a compelling argument that I am wrong.
Another Update on O’Donnell: Well, not all liberals are appalled by the Gawker article. Feministe comes out defending it by claiming that O’Donnell is hypocritical. Dave Weigel answers that charge, although maybe not specifically in response to Feministe, by saying:
I’m aware that Christine O’Donnell’s public commentary career started with her going on TV to talk about how kids shouldn’t have sex or masturbate before marriage. But not only has she never called for that behavior to be punished legally, I’m unaware of her ever coming out against the actions mentioned here — which, let’s remember are drinking, fooling around, and not having sex. There is no hypocrisy being exposed here. This is anonymous creep shaming a woman who wouldn’t sleep with him, and doing so because she’s a celebrity now.
And Professor Jacobson takes the “hypocrisy” logic to its ultimate conclusion:
Should a female who advocates teaching “safe” sex in schools be outed if she doesn’t practice safe sex? Shall we have a condom police, as well as the Gawker waxing police? Where do we draw the line on exposing female sexual engagement if “hypocrisy” is the standard?
Indeed. Hypocrisy is the fig leaf used to cover up what this really is: the desire to do anything, however low, harm your political enemies. See, e.g. the attacks on Bristol Palin.
Back to the original post…
Now that heavy stuff is out of the way, let’s get to the “funner” stuff.
First, we get the most “WTF?” moment I have seen in a debate in a long time. Bob Reilly (D-umb), a New York assemblyman decides to… um… you know nothing can really prepare you for what he does, so just watch it.
Then, um, yike, is it just me or is this a really bad campaign ad for Joe Miller? I’m pulling for you, Joe, I really am, mostly because I don’t like Murky, but wow, that is bad. And at the same time we learned that Miller lied and covered up misconduct in the past. Ugh, not good. Finally, a recent poll puts Miller really far behind, but Jim Geraghty calls that poll into serious question.
For a palate cleanser, we get Representative Betty McCollum (D-itsy), previously remembered for leaving out the words “under God” when reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, telling us al Qaeda is not a threat anymore. Well, thank God.
Meanwhile McGovern (D-flecting), last seen being wrong, was booed mercilessly for blaming Bush for the current problems this nation faces (and his party didn’t solve), in Massachusetts. Yes, really.
In other hopeful news, it looks like the infamous Conway “Aqua Buddha” ad is backfiring in Kentucky. Democrats are presently hoping there is another act of violence by Rand supporters to lift their spirits. As it is they are really glad about that woman being “stomped“, Conway calling it a “game changer.” Lovely.
On the other hand, Obama himself said it was wrong to hold Rand Paul responsible for the so-called stomper, which is a stand up thing to say.
And while many on the left are claiming that this assault was Nazi-like, Rep. Tim Spear of North Carolina manages to praise Nazis himself. He put out an ad attempting to say he would support our troops, using footage from WWII. Small problem, however, he used a picture of German soldiers. Heh.
Meanwhile, in the Colorado Senate race, Michael Bennet (D-uh) tried to pretty much script an entire interview on a radio station. To the radio station’s credit, they refused.
Also, what do you get when you shoot Obama’s cap and trade bill with a gun? A federal investigation. Enjoy it, Manchen!
And of course there is the Joy Behar/Sharon Angle fued. It goes like this. Angle produced an add that liberals claim is racist because it dares to show illegal aliens who are Hispanic. Mmmkay. So Behar called her a b*tch. Angle’s donations then spiked and Angle decided to rub it in Behar’s face by sending her flowers and a note thanking her for helping her donations. Big Hollywood calls it classy, but I call it a “smiling f— you.” Mind you, I approve, but let’s call it what it is. So Behar responds by saying “I would like to point out that those flowers were picked by illegal immigrants & they’re not voting for you, b*tch.”
I would like to point out that illegal immigrants can’t vote, b*tch.
(Pardon the language, but frankly the joke was too good to resist.)
Or maybe they can in Chicago. While Illinois has been screwing up military ballots so that many of the men and women serving our country might not be able to vote in midterms, by contrast, people in jail are getting their absentee ballots hand-delivered to them:
Meanwhile, the Chicago Board of Elections hand-delivers ballots to inmates in Cook County Jail. The board doesn’t even wait for the inmates to apply — it brings the applications with the ballots! More than 2,600 inmates have cast ballots — strikingly similar to the 2,600 soldiers who will likely not receive a ballot for Tuesday’s election.
So discriminating against our soldiers in favor of crooks? But of course, my dear.
Update: The Chicago Board of Election Commissioners disputes the story.
Meanwhile, remember when Alex Sink (D-imwit) cheated during a debate by getting a text message? Well, now she is claiming she thought it might be from family. And Cnn proves that this claim is a lie.
In another scandal, Barbara Boxer’s campaign was caught soliciting teachers to recruit their students to help in the Boxer campaign. They have since apologized in a very mealy mouthed fashion.
Meanwhile Big Government gives us Phil Hare’s “Year of Foolishness” Revisited. It’s a lot more than just saying he doesn’t care about the constitution, or the idea that it’s a myth to say we can’t spend any more. A lot more.
And finally Rudy Guiliani might be considering another run for president in 2012.
Update: Correction made. Thanks Ges.
Update: An effort by Lisa Murkowski to increase her chances to win seems to have backfired. As you know, Murky was defeated by Joe Miller in the primary but chose to run as a write in. Of course she has one really huge barrier winning: her challenging-to-spell last name. She previously urged the election board to accept entries like “Lisa” and “Lisa M.” as meaning her, which in the second case, I guess it is not unreasonable. Then she convinced the Alaska Division of Elections to give out lists of write in candidates. This approach was eventually approved by the Alaskan Supreme Court: “The lists can be shown to voters who request them, the high court ruled, but candidates’ party affiliation must be removed.”
So then some radio host says to his listeners, more or less, “Hey, why don’t a bunch of regular people, my listeners, go and register as official write in candidates?” And they did, well over one hundred of them. You can read the list, here. Now there are several Lisas and at least one other “Lisa M.” (its her middle name) and a few Polish-sounding names that end in “ski.” So this might actually have set her back. Heh.
I wonder if calling her “Murky” would count?
Also, we have been learning that Bill Clinton tried to get Kendrick Meek to drop out of the race for Florida Senate last week, to throw the race to Crist.
There is a very convoluted conspiracy theory that the military ballot screw-up in Illinois was part of a plan to fiddle with all absentee ballots. It is convoluted that I can’t follow the story but, if you know anything about Chicago politics, it’s probably true.
Brian Faughnan writes in to offer a deeply disturbing theory: “A GOP veteran of Chicago politics suggests that the Dems ‘screwed up’ that absentee-ballot campaign on purpose. He suggests that the plan was to ensure that lots of ballots are fouled, to force a showdown over whether to count tens of thousands of ballots that can’t be verified. He sees it as a way to insert vote fraud into the process in a massive way.”
Mike K (568408) — 10/29/2010 @ 9:21 amUm… I know pictures can lie. But I’m pretty sure that Alex Sink is a woman. Unlike Dominique De Villepin, who is a man.
I know. It’s hard these days to sort them out. But the pictures help.
Gesundheit (cfa313) — 10/29/2010 @ 9:27 amGawker is unremittingly vile, they were the ones who posted the Palin emails on their site, the
ian cormac (6709ab) — 10/29/2010 @ 9:28 amF D poll is so woefully oversampled, as is the Hays
poll on Miller, which is as bad as the Dewey Truman
one in ’48
Gez
er, thanks for the correction.
Aaron Worthing (e7d72e) — 10/29/2010 @ 9:42 amNOW initially refused to condemn Gawker piece, only did so after furor grew too strong to ignore:
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/now-refuses-comment-on-gawkers-christine-odonnell-sex-smear-106140473.html
East Coast Chris (ded5f2) — 10/29/2010 @ 9:49 amMonmouth has he withing 10, TCJ has it at 6, but nowhere the FD’s 21 point lunacy
ian cormac (6709ab) — 10/29/2010 @ 9:51 amThe thing I found odd about the Gawker piece on O’Donnell is that, even if I take everything in it as true, I don’t care, and I don’t understand what it has to do with her capacity to do the job.
Similarly, I don’t quite get the sexism/slander response – the piece wasn’t slanderous in my mind. It was just irrelevant.
aphrael (9802d6) — 10/29/2010 @ 9:54 amEast coast
yeah, legal insurrection mentioned that.
ian
i have zero trust in the polls right now. they are too crazy and too often slanted toward dems.
Aaron Worthing (e7d72e) — 10/29/2010 @ 9:54 amOn the Boxer thing, I see the point, but I also think that any high school government/civics teacher should be willing to give students credit for volunteer work for any campaign, on any side of the aisle. Sure, Boxer shouldn’t be soliciting it – but it’s not clear from that letter if she is; her campaign claims to be responding to solicitations from teachers.
Those teachers should, however, be soliciting all six candidates, rather than just one.
aphrael (9802d6) — 10/29/2010 @ 9:56 am“I also think that any high school government/civics teacher should be willing to give students credit for volunteer work for any campaign, on any side of the aisle.”
aphrael – Then the obvious way to respond by the Boxer campaign is not to discuss how tough a race she is in, but to provide names and contact information for all six campaigns. D’oh!
daleyrocks (940075) — 10/29/2010 @ 10:07 amaph
as for the issue of o’donnell and defamation, well, that depends on what the truth is. the fact he was paid for his story doesn’t make it more trustworthy, that’s for sure.
but i don’t believe i have seen this kind of degradation generally aimed at men. the closest i can think of is publicizing nude photos of brown. which might actually have helped him.
There is just a unique level of hatred aimed at sexy conservative women. its really quite stunning.
Aaron Worthing (e7d72e) — 10/29/2010 @ 10:13 amComment by aphrael — 10/29/2010 @ 9:56 am
This could also go a long way to completion of the “required” Public Service needed for graduation in many districts –
AD-RtR/OS! (1808fa) — 10/29/2010 @ 10:16 amas long as it is completely voluntary, without any direction from the schools (unlikely).
A.W. – You forgot the news about Democrats hating on black candidates. It came out yesterday that Bill Clinton and the White House tried to get Kendrick Meek to drop out of the Florida Senate race in favor of flip flop opportunist Charlie Christ. After what they did to Roland Burris and Alvin Greene, not to mention what they do to conservative black candidates, draw your own conclusions.
daleyrocks (940075) — 10/29/2010 @ 10:16 amdaley…wasn’t there a prominant Black politician in NY State that the Clinton’s edged aside for a favored White Pol in a past Gov’s race?
AD-RtR/OS! (1808fa) — 10/29/2010 @ 10:18 amAD – I believe they tried to convince Paterson to announce he would not run again and also asked Ford to stay out of the way.
daleyrocks (940075) — 10/29/2010 @ 10:21 amA.W. – Also today, I believe the USCCR issued a draft report concluding political appointees were involved in dismissing charges in the Black Panther case and that the DOJ was involved in a cover up of activities surrounding the case and racially biased enforcement of voting laws. Just sayin.
daleyrocks (940075) — 10/29/2010 @ 10:24 amDaley
well, let’s face it, greene is such a sad sack candidate, you can’t blame them for trying to get him out of office. but i will probably add in something like that later.
Believe you me, there is not enough hours of the day to cover even just the stupid stuff on the campaign trail.
Aaron Worthing (e7d72e) — 10/29/2010 @ 10:29 amDaley
also if you have a link to that report on the black panther case, i would love to see it.
Aaron Worthing (e7d72e) — 10/29/2010 @ 10:29 amMy heart honestly goes out to O’donnell’s family.
People confuse O’Donnell for some amazingly horrible candidate, but at very worst, some of her interviews and problems expose the possibility she’s a lot like some people already in high office. I don’t like this aspects, but they do not make O’donnell some kind of legitimate target for this horrible behavior. The many people behind this paid smear had to truly hate O’donnell, or simply lack a soul, to treat a person to that smear.
They hate her because she expresses legitimate opinions. I hear people justify this smear because of O’Donnell’s religion. She has repeatedly said she isn’t trying to push that on us, but rather wants the feds not to push anything on us. Paranoid bigots insist her religion makes her a legitimate target for the very worst. The National Organization for Women repeatedly and pointedly refused to take a stand, until everyone else had.
Rambles McBlatherstein (b54cdc) — 10/29/2010 @ 10:37 amDaleyrocks – I agree, responding back with contact information about all six campaigns would have been a classy way to respond.
aphrael (e0cdc9) — 10/29/2010 @ 10:39 amAaron – but again, even if everything is true, it amounts to nothing interesting or remarkable.
Maybe this is my social liberalism coming out, but … how could this report cause someone to vote against her or decide not to vote? In my social circle it would be odd behavior, but not so odd as to be a black mark against them … and it’s irrelevant to someone’s ability to do a professional job, which is what we’re considering when we vote for candidates: can they do the job, and will they do the job in the way that we want them to?
I mean, it’s just bizarre to me that the people responsible for the thing think it could hurt O’Donnell electorally, or that the O’Donnell people think that it’s slanderous (which implies that they think it could hurt her).
I felt the same way about Conway’s Aqua Buddha ad.
aphrael (e0cdc9) — 10/29/2010 @ 10:42 amWe even have the Congressional Black Caucus supporting a white Democrat running against Republican Lt. Col. Allen West in Florida.
Some chump (4c6c0c) — 10/29/2010 @ 10:47 amhttp://www.progressforpoland.com/artykul/statement-of-the-chicago-election-board-in-response-to-erroneous-reports-on-military-overseas-ballots-and-pre-trial-detainees
Aaron,
VOR2 (c9795e) — 10/29/2010 @ 10:47 amThe link above contradicts the information what was reported in your link.
VOR2 – The issue of the late military ballots reported locally which I recall seeing was from the downstate and other than Cook County as the article you link states, some of which were defiantly late and lied about the matter.
daleyrocks (940075) — 10/29/2010 @ 11:01 am“Believe you me, there is not enough hours of the day to cover even just the stupid stuff on the campaign trail.”
A.W. – I was in no way trying to be critical. I just thought I could helpfully point a few additional matters out while I savor the tears of my liberal friends.
daleyrocks (940075) — 10/29/2010 @ 11:04 amDaleyrocks,
VOR2 (c9795e) — 10/29/2010 @ 11:08 amI was more focused on the part about the ballots being delivered to inmates.
Fortunately it appears that the ballots have been sent to the military people albeit late. Having used absentee ballots much of the time I was active duty I never like seeing bufoonery in getting them to the mil personnel.
Daley
Don’t worry, i wasn’t like offended or anything.
VOR
I’ll look into it. but that is not the first source on the story.
Aaron Worthing (e7d72e) — 10/29/2010 @ 11:15 amA.W. – Hot Air now has a link up to the USCCR report on the Black Panther case.
daleyrocks (940075) — 10/29/2010 @ 11:21 amComment by Some chump — 10/29/2010 @ 10:47 am
No “authentic” Black could ever be a Republican and/or Conservative.
AD-RtR/OS! (1808fa) — 10/29/2010 @ 11:22 am“..has a link up to the
AD-RtR/OS! (1808fa) — 10/29/2010 @ 11:24 amUSCCRUSCRC report on the Black Panther case..
FTFY!
“(Mostly Stupid) news about the Election“…
Well, what do you expect from the “credentialed, not educated“?
AD-RtR/OS! (1808fa) — 10/29/2010 @ 11:27 amA.W. – Hans Spakovsky also had a nice affidavit to the commission yesterday outlining the misleading testimony of the Deputy Chief of the Voting Section and debunking the community-based reality’s long-held talking point that the Bush Administration did not give a crap about enforcing the integrity of elections. It’s a very good read.
daleyrocks (940075) — 10/29/2010 @ 11:28 amAaron, Sorry – I didn’t intend that to be a snarky correction (@2). I just thought it was funny.
When I saw the post about all the funny stuff going on in the elections, I hoped maybe there’d be some more hilarious video of Alvin Greene. (Which probably proves that I have a sick streak of cruelty in me somewhere.) Unfortunately, that military ballots thing – compared to the ballots for inmates thing – really makes my blood boil.
Gesundheit (cfa313) — 10/29/2010 @ 11:29 amGez
trust me, i don’t offend easily.
Aaron Worthing (e7d72e) — 10/29/2010 @ 11:37 amAD – CCR, CRC, I think I have Credence hardwired. Oldtimers disease. Thanks.
daleyrocks (940075) — 10/29/2010 @ 11:41 amMiller-Murkowski update (courtesy of Rush)…
With the decision by the Federal Courts that the “Write-In List” is OK, the AK Elections Commission has had to deal with around 100 submissions for listing as write-in candidate for Tuesday’s election for Senator.
AD-RtR/OS! (1808fa) — 10/29/2010 @ 11:42 amMurkowski wants voters to have a list, now they have it, and her name is buried in a blizzard.
Couldn’t happen to a nicer …….
Ad
right ahead of you. see the update. its even worse for her than your comment suggests.
Aaron Worthing (e7d72e) — 10/29/2010 @ 11:45 amDaley
you’re not the only one into CCR. so was the last S.C. justice Rehnquist.
http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=11865150436154650434&q=fogerty+v.+fantasy+records&hl=en&as_sdt=80000000000002#%5B3%5D
see footnote number 2.
Aaron Worthing (e7d72e) — 10/29/2010 @ 11:46 amYou need to donate to the Tea Party
W (9df40f) — 10/29/2010 @ 12:11 pmWhew! I was beginning to wonder why the dearth of cheap shots against O’Donnell during Mr. P’s absence. Thanks for keeping that flame burning!
Born Free (42bb30) — 10/29/2010 @ 12:15 pmYelverton is obsessed with being teabagged.
JD (d71546) — 10/29/2010 @ 12:21 pmBorn
What cheap shot? Yes, i mention a prominent cheap shot at O’Donnell, but in order to denounce it. I couldn’t be clearer on that point.
The worst thing i say about her is i think she is hoping this will help her. Sorry, but i am cynical about all politicians. i am sure she had 5 minutes of “wtf” and normal human reaction, before they started figuring out how to use this to their advantage.
But mostly i am saying this was wrong and unfair, and sexist.
Aaron Worthing (e7d72e) — 10/29/2010 @ 12:24 pmJD – Willie is a sack licker from way back.
daleyrocks (940075) — 10/29/2010 @ 12:26 pmAW, about that “vote cast for ‘Lisa M.’ counts for Moocowski” thing… I saw the write-in list. There’s a Lisa M. on the list, and it ain’t Meekorski. Riehl has the list of names.
John Hitchcock (9e8ad9) — 10/29/2010 @ 12:39 pmHow about it doesn’t seem remotely true, now it derives from an earlier piece of trawling by the Daily Beast’s ‘Rebecca Dana,
ian cormac (6709ab) — 10/29/2010 @ 12:48 pmI think Willie the racist hilljack teabaggee should start commenting under girls names again.
JD (3daffb) — 10/29/2010 @ 12:49 pmI’m not normally inclined to sympathize with Christine O’Donnell, but the Gawker travesty made me feel a great deal of sympathy for her. Denton’s decision to publish this non-news is viciousness, pure and simple. And as for the indiscreet little creep who sold the story, there simply aren’t words to describe the contempt he’s earned.
This kind of thing deserves to be condemned, no matter where you are on the political spectrum.
Angeleno (193c25) — 10/29/2010 @ 1:03 pmAaron,
It has a response from the board of elections which states
Your link was dated 26 Oct and the one I pointed out was 27 Oct and contained the official response to those stories. Would be interesting to know where investors.com is getting the 2600 number from.
VOR2 (c9795e) — 10/29/2010 @ 1:29 pm“Would be interesting to know where investors.com is getting the 2600 number from.”
VOR2 – Somebody probably messed up and gave out the right number.
daleyrocks (940075) — 10/29/2010 @ 3:08 pmSpecially seeing how Gawker has continued to ‘double down’ on the stupid, trying to try to justify that drive by slam.
ian cormac (6709ab) — 10/29/2010 @ 3:09 pmI am in full agreement with Professor Jacobson: I don’t buy it.
NOW has had two years of witnessing horrible misogynistic attacks against Palin, on a regular basis and they kept their loyal-to-the-left mouths shut. The revealed themselves to be just a political arm of the Democratic party and the protections of women dependent on the litmus test(s) of abortion rights and whether the woman in question was a D or R.
And let’s not forget their tacit silence on Roman Polanski until after they were scourged by the public for their hypocrisy. And yet ironically, immediately condemned the Teabow commercial during the Super Bowl.
They are an irrelevant moribund group of hypocritical hags and I’m glad to see Prof. Jacobson remain ever shrewd and observant.
Did I mention NOW and Bill Clinton?
Dana (8ba2fb) — 10/29/2010 @ 3:30 pm“Similarly, I don’t quite get the sexism/slander response – the piece wasn’t slanderous in my mind. It was just irrelevant.”
I thought it was pretty awful, and with really no news value. We already know she has a nutty side, and on plenty of relevant matters.
Although I had not heard of this “born again virgin” phenomenon. I knew of “technical virgin” but not “born again.” But this is a poor vehicle to educate people on that.
imdw (8bb588) — 10/29/2010 @ 3:57 pmJust a note: it should be “Rudy” Giuliani, not “Rudi.” But either way, it’s not going to be “President” Giuliani.
(I supported Rudy for president in 2008, but I think it became clear that the Republican primary electorate was not going to do so; he didn’t even stay in the race until Super Tuesday. Furthermore, the fact that Rudy didn’t run for governor or either of the two NY senate seats up this year, any of which he had a better chance of winning than the presidency, suggests to me that he probably isn’t actually going to run for president in 2012.)
Joshua (9ede0e) — 10/29/2010 @ 4:35 pmDisgusting.
Oh wait, it’s the troll.
Anyway, no one reasonable believes this account’s specific claims. Some guy sold a story about a famous person he met, and he probably made almost all of it up.
Lefties trying to make this some kind of discussion of sexual hypocrisy or weird ideas such as virginity are just pretending this pose makes their rolling around in filth less piggish.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 10/29/2010 @ 4:39 pmjosh
thanks, fixed.
Aaron Worthing (f97997) — 10/29/2010 @ 5:22 pmHe would have been fine, as a Presidential candidate, I mean you had Romney who might have well been in the wps, he disavowed his previous
ian cormac (6709ab) — 10/29/2010 @ 5:28 pmrecord, Huckabee, good god, Paul. they also turned their nose at Thompson
Meanwhile Murkowski has forced the leading Talk Radio host in Alaska off the air by threat of a lawsuit, but I never saw Rove, aim anywhere as much
ian cormac (6709ab) — 10/29/2010 @ 5:30 pmcontempt at her, and the NRSC ratified this kamikazi
move, by not pushing her out of the chairmanship
I would like to point out that illegal immigrants can’t vote, b*tch.
If only that were true.
maclave (1db6c5) — 10/29/2010 @ 5:35 pmhttp://www.alaskadispatch.com/blogs/political-animal/7331-talk-radio-host-off-the-air-after-rallying-listeners-to-run-for-senate
ian cormac (6709ab) — 10/29/2010 @ 5:52 pmian, rudy was my favorite, but I somewhat regret that, since he’s very weak on gun rights. Fred would have been great, but it just didn’t work out.
Every single one of our candidates lost, and Mccain didn’t really win so much as persist. Ugh.
Palin’s better than all of them, Fred included. Which is more an indictment of them than an endorsement of Palin.
That radio host being terminated shows some real ruthlessness in Murky’s many wealthy jackass backers. Every 5 minutes another angry Murkowski backer makes a phone call for some sleazy purpose, never willing to admit they do it on Lisa’s behalf.
I like his solution to the court decision. If there’s a list of write-ins, there’s no effective deadline to register, no real primary system, and it’s simply a breakdown of the system to accommodate a very special crook.
I hope thousands of people register now. Confusing the voters is not OK, but breaking the system to give special benefits to Lisa isn’t either.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 10/29/2010 @ 6:19 pmI know of one of the writeins, he actually came up with this Animal House type scheme. I’ve had my difference with Fagan, in part because he has a pikachu like attitude, toward a certain candidate
ian cormac (6709ab) — 10/29/2010 @ 6:29 pmbut it is unexcusable to force him out like that.
You’re right. There’s no excuse. Lisa doesn’t respect the will of primary voters, or the right to speak freely.
I noticed this Lisa mouthpiece insisted Fagan was Miller’s mouthpiece… that kind of comment doesn’t happen automatically. I still don’t get why recent Miller news would hurt his campaign so much (and I’m usually very pessimistic about conservatives and scandals). But anyhow, Alaska can decide for itself what kind of state it wants to be.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 10/29/2010 @ 6:45 pmIf the application is from someone who is convicted between the date they requested the ballot and election day,
That would be more reassuring if anyone thought they kept track of felony convictions.
On the other side of the coin–this is Cook County Jail, not a state prison. Which means a substantial number of inmates fall into two categories: people doing time for a misdemeanor charge and people who did not or were not allowed to bond out while awaiting trial. I’m sure a significant number in both categories have felony convictions from previous offenses, but those who don’t have felony convictions would be eligible to vote, and have every right to receive an absentee ballot.
kishnevi (07cf78) — 10/29/2010 @ 7:02 pmHey, the cunt Behar was right.
Michael Ejercito (249c90) — 10/29/2010 @ 7:03 pmWhere is the NAACP on this?
Michael Ejercito (249c90) — 10/29/2010 @ 7:05 pmThe last poll by Dittman, in 2006, before she won the Governor’s election had her within 2 points and she won by 8, that gives you a flavor of how accurate those polls, are
ian cormac (6709ab) — 10/29/2010 @ 7:11 pmand in other election related stupidity, I got to hang up on both Barack Obama and Bill Clinton today.
True they were only robocalls, but I did get to hang up on them.
(And, in one of those things that can happen only in Miami, I got a spam text message this evening for a Haitian presidential candidate. It was part Kreyol and part English.)
kishnevi (07cf78) — 10/29/2010 @ 7:12 pmI’m jealous. Well, no, not really.
You’d think it would be nice next week when this is over, but the real in-fighting shall commence.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 10/29/2010 @ 7:29 pmkishnevi:
That’s far more exciting than politics in my area. Everyone knows how we vote so we don’t get any calls.
DRJ (d43dcd) — 10/29/2010 @ 7:40 pm“I got to hang up on both Barack Obama and Bill Clinton today.”
I’ve been savoring my desperate emails from Barack and Joe Biden through OFA.
daleyrocks (940075) — 10/29/2010 @ 7:49 pmAaron,
I just finished reading this entire post and links (I got sidetracked by your NOW/O’donnell links) and I just want to say this is a great post. Thank you for taking the time to put this together.
It’s like a massive collection of the stupid and profane – and what’s most troubling is how many of them seek to represent us. The picking’ seem mighty slim these days.
Too bad Charlie Sheen isn’t running for anything. He’d fit right in with this group.
Dana (8ba2fb) — 10/29/2010 @ 7:53 pmEveryone knows how we vote so we don’t get any calls.
I envy you. Every election season, I start to contemplate voting for the candidate with the fewest commercials and robocalls.
kishnevi (07cf78) — 10/29/2010 @ 8:16 pmHere’s a partial list of Alaska write-in candidates:
Lisa M. Lackey (Republican) – Write-in
Marjorie L. Landis-Beck (Non-Affiliated) – Write-in
Lynette A. Largent (Non-Affiliated) – Write-in
Brian G. Leon (Non-Affiliated) – Write-in
Kevin S. Luce (Non-Affiliated) – Write-in
David D. March (Republican) – Write-in
Deanna M. March (Non-Affiliated) – Write-in
Lyn Marcum (Non-Affiliated) – Write-in
Paul Markstrom (Non-Affiliated) – Write-in
Edward D. Martin, Jr. (Non-Affiliated) – Write-in
The whole list can be seen at Riehl World View.
So, if someone actually writes in “Lisa M.” that does not guarantee Lizzy Mickeymouseki will be credited with that vote.
John Hitchcock (9e8ad9) — 10/29/2010 @ 8:34 pmJohn exactly what i was saying.
They can’t, legally, pretend that “Lisa M” refers to murky. not now.
and as rasmussen himself pointed out on o’reilly tonight, it is really hard to poll with a write in. So bluntly, i have no idea what will happen next tuesday, except that a republican will probably win. 🙂
But i would prefer to see her go packing.
Dana
That wasn’t my goal, but that is an excellent point.
And like i said a few times, this probably isn’t all of it. i don’t think there is enough hours in the day.
Aaron Worthing (f97997) — 10/29/2010 @ 8:46 pmThat Lisa has a shot, as a write-in, blows my mind. I guess if it were a two-way race things would be a little different.
I wonder how much money Lisa M. Lackey could make for dropping out? More disturbingly, I wonder how many of the same people who schemed and fired Fagan are currently scheming to get her fired.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 10/29/2010 @ 8:54 pmPalin comes out swinging. (Palin is much more palatable in writing…)
Lisa, are you going to shut down my Facebook page for writing this?
Dan Fagan has not always agreed with me, but I will gladly defend his right to speak freely on his radio show, which he has often used to criticize me. In fact, Fagan has actually used his radio show to attack and insult me, my husband, my children, and my family in just about every way possible. He was especially insulting to my son, who left for a war zone to defend Fagan’s right to attack our family. But when I was his governor, I never would have dreamed of threatening his right to free speech. I support him in this fight because this D.C. Beltway thuggery, as exemplified by Lisa Murkowski’s latest threat, is ruining our country. The powers that be want ordinary Americans to sit down and shut up and let the ruling class ride us right off the debt cliff we’re heading towards with Obama, Pelosi, and Reid steering the nation’s car. We can’t let them. Now is the time to put aside our past differences and stand up to the establishment powers.
This whole episode confirms again why we need to elect Joe Miller. Lisa, you can sue me if you want (you won’t be the first). But I will not be intimidated from speaking my mind. Your intimidation just empowered us liberty-loving Alaskans. Are you really that out of touch?
Dana (8ba2fb) — 10/29/2010 @ 9:08 pmPalin’s got a point. She took all kinds of hate from every direction, and the worst she did back was to speak back in various ways.
If Joe Miller did something like Lisa just did (and yes, she is responsible), I would never support him again. How many of Lisa’s supporters feel the same way? If you can’t tolerate free speech, you’re not fit to lead.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 10/29/2010 @ 9:24 pmDana, thanks for that. I really should actually read palin’s facebook page. she has been rocking that thing, hasn’t she?
Anyway, i have a post coming on that. there is another, idiotic angle to all of this. she is playing the “dyslexic” card. As a dyslexic, i am offended.
Aaron Worthing (f97997) — 10/29/2010 @ 9:26 pmAs I said, Aaron, I find Palin much more palatable in writing. Her fractured syntax coupled with her near-shrill pitch is like nails on a chalkboard for me, so being able to read her thoughts and views affords me a painless opportunity to learn more about her as well as become more convinced of her soundness. But every time she opens her mouth…
Dana (8ba2fb) — 10/29/2010 @ 9:39 pmAlmost as good as Palin, on twitter, not understanding someone else’s tweet.
imdw (c982ed) — 10/30/2010 @ 3:44 amDana,
VOR2 (decff0) — 10/30/2010 @ 5:38 amI’ve seen some articles that say that Palin has or had someone contracted to pen some of the tweets and FB postings.
The only way she convinces the skeptics imo is to actually “go into enemy territory” and meet the press on a regular basis. She could suck up a lot of the oxygen from other potential runners and if she were the real deal (substance and charisma) she might just become inevitable.
Of course the downside is that the substance may not be there.
She is the real deal, there is no doubt, but more often we see with the press, look at the Blitzer/
ian cormac (6709ab) — 10/30/2010 @ 5:55 amKaribjian debate, it’s meeting ‘the stupid
or the self interested’ partisans, As usual VOR, you are misinformed, and you pretend you are more
aware then you are.
Ian,
I don’t pretend to be anything. I raised a couple of points. Is it too much to expect someone who may be considering a run at the presidency to prove it. You go on about partisans but it is a two way street. I could call you a self interested partisan on her side but I don’t.
When you make an emotional investment in someone who you want to run and win as you appear to have done with Palin it can cloud objectivity. They are all politicians – nothing more and nothing less.
VOR2 (decff0) — 10/30/2010 @ 6:09 amWho are the arbiters the ones that certified that Obama, and before him, Clinton, and before him Carter were the geniuses. Whereas Bush or Reagan and Nixon were evil and stupid, who still entertain
ian cormac (6709ab) — 10/30/2010 @ 6:38 amthe idea that Brown will not sink California into the briny depths
This was the thing, about that Gainey interview that some of you, trumpeted so loudly, where were
ian cormac (6709ab) — 10/30/2010 @ 6:45 amthe issues, like the fact that Castle voted to gag any inconvenient opponent, like Lisa is doing now,
or sell out your nation’s future under cap n trade, both of which Coons still would readily do, that he would drive into jail, if there was interference with a Zoning decision
The Gawker story strikes me as strange: what kind of man writes a story in which he admits that he can’t get it up?
The mystified Dana (bd7e62) — 10/30/2010 @ 9:45 amDana
One who wishes to remain anonymous, i suppose.
Aaron Worthing (f97997) — 10/30/2010 @ 9:58 amVOR2-
I agree, Palin is a rotten candidate. Having been a successful mayor and incredibly popular governor means nothing. Having won the respect of people you bargained with/against means nothing. Being able to defeat the entrenched political interests of your own party means nothing. Living out your pro-life convictions means nothing.
Playing basketball means nothing (unless “they” say it does- but we won’t go into that stereotype land any farther.) And, of course, being able to gut a moose means nothing, because at the White House they serve caviar, not moose or caribou. (When they did commercial fishing, it wasn’t for sturgeon).
So, I am going to enthusiastically vote for someone that can defeat the self-interested of both parties and have the support of over 75% of their constituency. Yeah, that’s the person I’m going to vote for. And even if they haven’t had the exective experience of running their own lemonade stand, that won’t be a problem, because we know running a successful campaign is de novo and de facto proof of being able to lead.
Heck, I’ll vote for you, VOR2, if you can meet those qualifications.
MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 10/30/2010 @ 10:05 amI think that Joe Miller vs Todd Palin email spat showed that Sarah is writing her facebook posts herself, actually. And this is believable. Palin is pretty intelligent.
Part of the proof she’s intelligent is that she’s not showing up on Katie Couric’s show. You say she should, but I completely disagree. She doesn’t have to be some kind of badass harridan conservative pwning the left on their own programs, and I don’t really think a true conservative has any hope of doing that. They have the ability to edit, and they will not grant some special deal to Palin about this.
So she has completely turned politics on its ear with her facebook and her (incredibly annoying) tweets.
I think this is exactly what people asked her to do a couple years ago. She’s talking about important policies all the time, right? This is something like the homework.
Is she my ideal? Not even close. But I don’t think Mitch Daniels can beat her.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 10/30/2010 @ 10:10 amMitch would make a very good Veep to Palin, just as Cheney was to GW – someone who knows where the bodies in DC are buried, or should be.
AD-RtR/OS! (f2f112) — 10/30/2010 @ 10:24 amHilarious that the troll ridicules Palin for allegedly not understanding someone else’s tweet … when we have examples of Obama not understanding how to read his own teleprompter.
Unbelievable that Democrats still try to maintain this theme of how stupid Republicans are, after putting Joe Biden into the Vice Presidency.
SPQR (26be8b) — 10/30/2010 @ 10:26 amHe would, but I know how annoying it is to Palin fans to hear people say she should be Romney’s VP, so I avoid that kind of idea. I also think Daniels doing good where he is now. I’m not sure Mitch would give up a productive state administration to be a VP, but he would be a huge asset in a White House again. He’d also make a great president. IMO, he would make a better President than Palin would, though I just don’t see how Palin loses the primary.
One huge factor to being a good president is managing the chaos. It’s such a tough job with constant challenges surprising you every day. There’s a reason Rahm quit as Chief of Staff… Obama has been terrible at leaving ideology for a moment to handle reality. Obama seems to hate being at the White House, and I think this is why.
It’s a stark warning against selecting anything short of an exceptional leader. The few insights I’ve had into Palin’s management (such as Todd’s email, or the resignation) is that she can be overwhelmed like Obama has. I still like Palin a lot, but I hope she can manage unfair chaos.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 10/30/2010 @ 10:48 amMD, the comparisons to Obama whenever Palin is criticized are one of my biggest pet peeves about her more ardent fans. That approach seems to imply that the critic just had to have been an Obama supporter.
VOR2 (6c87a3) — 10/30/2010 @ 8:20 pmThere are other people that I think would be better presidents.
It is only my opinion but I think that Obama and Palin are two of the more unqualified people for the office. Could Palin win the nomination? Sure there is the chance. Would I be a loyal party member and support her in that event? Yes and without the “yeah but” grumblings the people who didn’t really like McCain demonstrated
But do I think that she has any kind of realistic chance of pulling off an upset. No I don’t. She has a solid base of supporters but polls show 67% of people don’t think she should be president.
Do I think a Facebook/Fox only strategy is going to win over the skeptics. No, I don’t.
I just wonder how this works. But the health of each person depends on this thing.
rząd (07d1ff) — 6/22/2011 @ 2:32 am