TW3 — and the GOP

May 14th, 2008

That Was The Week That Was … sad business, cyclone and all — Cyclone Daffodil, no less. If giving it such a name was designed to appease the Wind Gods … it didn’t work. The snip of info on how the junta is handling this will piss you off. But then, we lived through Katrina — we’re already pissed off.

John Edwards took 7% of the vote last night in W. Virginia; there’s speculation that he will throw his chip to Obama tonight, whose camp has announced a major endorsement. Meanwhile, Hillary took ownership of the state by 67% [and there was evidently some shenanigans going on at the polls ... well, duh!]

Still, Obama got three more Super D’s today along with a nod from NARAL Pro-Choice; Hillary’s camp, evidently blindsided on that one, commented with surprise. He now needs only 17 more pledged delegates to have the majority … which won’t stop Hil as she picks up Kentucky and waits to see if he will implode, arguing that the white people are in her pocket [cynical at least, hubristic at best ... the Blue does not carry West Virginia, and 7% going to a guy out of the race since February means they're not so hot on women either.] I don’t begrudge her the rest of the states, at this point — her moment to be selfless came and went — this has been an egocentric campaign for awhile now. Those who passionately want her deserve to cast their vote.

The truly stunning event of last evening was ANOTHER long-held GOP seat going to a Dem, this one in Mississippi … this was the third to cut into their sacred power-holdings and the second race marred by Pub ads including the Rev. Wright sound-bite [soundly ignored by voters.]

The Dubby’s done ‘em in, kids — big time. The Pub’s are beside themselves with angst, now — couldn’t happen to a nicer group of toadies. I’ve added a couple of articles below Harpers; this is worth a big grin of satisfaction. A BIG one!

Jude

HARPER’S WEEKLY REVIEW
May 13, 2008

The military junta in Myanmar put the official death toll
from last week’s Cyclone Nargis (Urdu for “daffodil”) at
28,458, while foreign observers, taking into account that
heavy rains were expected to continue, with malaria,
tuberculosis, cholera, typhoid, and dysentery to follow,
expected that as many as 100,000 people would die. Before
distributing foreign-aid packages, the junta re-labeled
them with the names of its generals; a referendum on a new
constitution that will perpetuate the junta’s rule was not
delayed. “Let’s go cast a vote,” sang two female pop
vocalists on state-run television. “With sincere thoughts
for happy days, let’s go cast a vote.” John Goodyear, whom
Senator John McCain had chosen to manage this year’s
Republican convention and who once managed public
relations for the Myanmar junta, stepped down, and one in
four Republicans voted against McCain in primaries in
North Carolina and Indiana. Senator Barack Obama crushed
Senator Hillary Clinton in the North Carolina Democratic
primary, lost by a small margin in Indiana, and then took
the lead in pledged superdelegates. Clinton pointed out
that she still enjoys support from hard workers and white
people. “A woman is like a teabag,” she said, quoting
Eleanor Roosevelt. “You never know how strong she is until
she’s in hot water.” One hundred seventy-eight House
Republicans voted against a resolution “celebrating the
role of mothers in the United States,” and Yup’ik-speaking
voters in Alaska demanded better bilingual election
materials, citing a 2002 ballot in which “natural gas” had
been rendered as “this gas in the stomach.”

U.S. military reports on the interrogation of four
captured Shia militia members concluded that Hezbollah was
training small groups of Iraqi insurgents in Iran. John
Bolton, ex-ambassador to the United Nations, said that
attacking Iran was “really the most prudent thing to do”;
the Iraqi government said that it would conduct its own
inquiry. “We do not want to start a conflict with Iran,”
said Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh. “We need
our own government documentation of this interference, not
from the Americans, not from the media.” The U.S.-backed
government of Lebanon tried to dismantle Hezbollah’s
extensive telecommunications network there, and Hezbollah
temporarily seized half of Beirut. “The hand that touches
the weapons of the resistance,” said Hezbollah leader
Hassan Nasrallah, “will be cut off.” One Wing, a bald
eagle that lost its other wing in the 1989 Exxon Valdez
oil spill, died of a heart tumor, shortly after the death
of its mate, The Old Witch; three northern elephant seals
were found shot in the head, lying in pools of blood, in
San Simeon, California, near the Hearst castle. Oil
exceeded $125 a barrel. Refined french-fry grease was 32
cents per pound, up 20 cents from 2006.

The FBI raided the headquarters of the Office of Special
Counsel, a federal watchdog agency charged with protecting
government whistleblowers, and the home of its director,
Scott J. Bloch, after Bloch was accused of destroying
evidence on government computers. David S. Addington, Vice
President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, was subpoenaed by
the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution,
Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties, and the Humane Society
of Mercer County, Pennsylvania, increased to $1,500 its
reward for information about the torture and murder of a
ten-year-old blind pony named Kahlua. DNA tests revealed
that a skull long thought to be that of German playwright
Friedrich Schiller was not his. “Such an exact double,”
said anthropologist Ursula Wittwer-Backofen, “couldn’t
have got into the coffin just by accident.” Three
home-schooled teenagers in Texas were accused of digging
up the corpse of an 11-year-old boy and smoking pot out of
the skull. “He regurgitated in his plate of food when I
asked him about it,” a policeman said of one of the
boys. “So I knew there was some truth to the story.”
Mildred Loving, a black woman whose 1958 marriage to a
white man led the Supreme Court to declare bans on
interracial marriage unconstitutional, died at age 68, and
two women in Denver, Colorado, were found guilty of
trespassing after they refused to leave the office of a
county clerk who denied them a marriage license. “They
held hands as long as they could,” said Rev. Michael
Morran, who was there to conduct the ceremony, “until the
officers put their hands in handcuffs and led them away.”
Pop country singer Eddy Arnold, known for such hits as
“Make the World Go Away,” died just days before his
ninetieth birthday. “He died,” said Grand Ole Opry star
Jim Ed Brown, “of a broken heart.”

– Sam Stark
http://harpers.org/archive/2008/05/WeeklyReview2008-05-13

Childers victory gives Dems a third straight takeover
Aaron Blake, TheHill
05/13/08

Democrat Travis Childers won Tuesday’s Mississippi special election runoff for Sen. Roger Wicker’s (R) former House seat, handing Democrats the biggest of their three special election takeovers this cycle and sending a listless GOP further into a state of disarray.

Childers led GOP candidate Greg Davis 53-47 with more than 90 percent of precincts reporting. Turnout increased substantially over the 67,000 voters who cast ballots in the April 22 open special election, with more than 100,000 voting in the runoff.

Childers, who beat Davis 49-46 three weeks ago but came up just shy of a race-ending majority, joins new Democratic Reps. Bill Foster (Ill.) and Don Cazayoux (La.) to give Democrats a trifecta of upsets in conservative House districts over the last two months.

The loss could send shockwaves through the Republican Party, where murmurs about a leadership shakeup have become more and more audible.

Democrats are backing up the assertion that they remain on the offensive in the cycle following a 30-seat gain, which has historically not been the case after a “wave” election.

Wicker’s former district voted 62 percent for President Bush in 2004 and, by that measure, is one of the most conservative seats Democrats have taken from the GOP over the last 18 months, including the 2006 election.

“After three consecutive special election defeats in districts President Bush twice won easily, it is abundantly clear the American people have turned their back and shut the door on the special interest-driven agenda of the Republican Party,” said the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.). “There is no district that is safe for Republican candidates because President Bush’s failed policies have hurt every community in America.”

Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), issued a somber and self-reflective statement following the loss, saying Republicans were “disappointed” and that they need to prepare to run against Democrats campaigning as conservatives.

“Though the Democrats’ task will be more difficult in a November election, the fact is they have pulled off two special election victories with this strategy” in Louisiana and Mississippi “and it should be a concern to all Republicans,” Cole said.

Cole added that “the political environment is such that voters remain pessimistic about the direction of the country and the Republican Party in general. Therefore, Republicans must undertake bold efforts to define a forward-looking agenda that offers the kind of positive change voters are looking for. This is something we can do in cooperation with our presidential nominee, but time is short.”

Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said the result should serve as a “wake-up call” to Republican candidates around the country.

Childers, the longtime Prentiss County Chancery Clerk, campaigned as a conservative Democrat and overcame GOP efforts to tie him to more liberal elements of the Democratic Party, including presidential frontrunner Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.).

Republicans brought out the big guns toward the end of the race, including a visit from Vice President Dick Cheney on Monday in Davis’s home county of Desoto, where the GOP candidate serves as mayor of the Memphis suburb Southaven.

Despite Cheney’s visit, Childers actually made headway in Davis’s home county, more than doubling his vote from three weeks ago and partially thwarting a sizeable rise in turnout there. About 7,500 more voters cast ballots, according to unofficial results, with Childers drawing about 3,000 of them.

Childers drew about 2,000 of the 12,500 votes in Desoto in April.

Davis and Childers will square off again in November, as they have already been elected their parties’ general election nominees.

Republicans cried foul Tuesday after the DCCC circulated a flier stating Davis wanted a statue of Ku Klux Klan organizer Nathan Bedford Forrest moved to his home city.

Davis’s campaign disputed this and pointed to a 2005 Memphis Commercial Appeal article that states he was willing to accept a statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, while another mayor would accept the Forrest statue. A later New York Times article stated Davis had welcomed the Forrest statue.

Both national party House committees plugged more than $1 million into the race, and spending by the candidates and outside groups like GOP-backing Freedom’s Watch pushed the race over $5 million total.

The NRCC’s investment was particularly painful given its stark cash disadvantage with less than six months to go until the November election.

The NRCC had just $7.2 million in the bank as of March 31. It spent $1.3 million in Mississippi.

The Democratic majority in the House has now expanded to 236-199. ++

The Bell Tolls For Thee, GOP
Houston Chronicle
5/14/2008

As a follow-up to yesterday’s post on the special Congressional election in Mississippi, the results are complete, Democrat Travis Childers defeated Republican Greg Davis by a 54% to 46% margin last night.

As I mentioned yesterday, the Republicans old tactics of screaming “liberal” and trying to tie Childers to Barack Obama didn’t work. In fact the association with Obama had just the opposite effect, it increased the turnout of black voters and assured Davis’ defeat. Back to the drawing board GOP.

As an example of Republican thinking, they brought in Dick Cheney and Trent Lott to make last-minute pitches for Davis. What was the result of those endorsements? Turnout in heavily Republican precincts was down. More brilliant strategy. For more details on spending and campaign tactics read this at Swing State (thanks eljefebob).

Tom Cole, head of the National Republican Congressional Committee, couldn’t spin this one away, issuing this statement:

“We are disappointed in tonight’s election results. Though the NRCC, RNC and Mississippi Republicans made a major effort to retain this seat, we came up short.”

But then proving the old axiom that stupid is as stupid does he added this:

“Republicans must be prepared to campaign against Democrat challengers who are running as conservatives, even as they try to join a liberal Democrat majority.”

Librul, librul, librul, don’t you guys get it by now, it doesn’t work any more, sheeesh. Then in what might be considered the understatement of the millennia, Cole said this:

“The political environment is such that voters remain pessimistic about the direction of the country and the Republican Party in general. Therefore, Republicans must undertake bold efforts to define a forward looking agenda that offers the kind of positive change voters are looking for.”

Pessimistic about the direction of the country and the Party in general? Gee Tom, do you think? What was your first clue? Maybe it was the poll that showed 80% of the country thinks we’re off the track.

But wait, there’s more from the Mensa members of the GOP. House Republicans have unveiled their new strategy for the fall campaign. From the New York Times:

“In a memo to be sent to Republican members today, the leadership hints at a new slogan building on the change message that has already been shown to have political resonance with a public unhappy with the nation’s direction.

It looks like Republicans will counter the Democratic push for change from the years of the Bush administration with their own pledge to deliver, drum roll please, “the change you deserve.” The first element of the party agenda developed over the past few months by the leadership and select party members will focus on family issues.”

So, after months of ridiculing Barack Obama for his message of change as just a meaningless, feel-good line, the House Republicans in all their originality have come up with the theme of “the change you deserve.” Is it any wonder they face a Democratic landslide in November?

One more thing, apparently the GOP research people are brain-dead as well. The words “the change you deserve” is the marketing slogan for Effexor, an anti-depressant drug.

‘Nuff said. ++

“So keep fightin’ for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don’t you forget to have fun doin’ it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin’ ass and celebratin’ the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was.”
~ Molly Ivins, 1944 - 2007

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Entry Filed under: Political Waves