Inspire Political Discourse

Video of Blumenthal in March: "I did not serve in Viet Nam"

VIDEO: Interview With Tea Party Racist Moron Carl Paladino

Yesterday, we posted a link to a breaking story about Carl Paladino, the Tea Party gubernatorial candidate in New York.

Today, Paladino was confronted at a Buffalo, NY rally by WNYMedia on camera, and yet Paladino never answers a direct question, just babbles incoherently about how this expose is a “Democrat smear”.

Via Think Progress:

Q: Do you condemn the stuff that was forwarded in those e-mails?
PALADINO: I don’t know. I don’t know what e-mails you’re referring to specifically. I wouldn’t even know half of them if I saw them.
Q: Let’s take a look at some of them. … Is that appropriate for somebody who’s running for governor to forward to other people? It’s a very simple question.
PALADINO: Is it appropriate for the Democrats to want to smear — Q: Carl, I’m not asking about the Democrats.
PALADINO: They can hear the rumblings, okay, of something happening.
Q: What does this have to do with the Democrats?
PALADINO: Everything.

Kudos to WNYMedia.net for exposing this creep.

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Carl Paladino is a Tea Party Racist Moron

A tea party candidate for governor in New York named Carl Paladino has been forwarding around emails showing obviously racist images and jokes about the president.

Hint. There's a pimp costume, and a video of African natives dancing -- labeled "Obama Inauguration Rehearsal." [......]

I’m just waiting trepidatiously for the entire wingnut tea party to march on Washington in their pointy white hats, and declare civil war, version 2.0, using misspelled signage.

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Rodney Glassman Democratic Challenger to John McCain (or Hayworth)

A real possibility for a Democratic challenger to McCain or Hayworth, whichever one wins the primary. This guy has the creds. Via Sam Stein:

Glassman's personal story, meanwhile, is an almost absurdly weaved-together set of impressive jobs and achievements that make him all the more compelling. In an interview several months ago with the Huffington Post, he promoted himself as having grown up as a "nice Jewish boy in a Scout troop chartered by the Mormon church."

He hails from California but came to Arizona in 1997. At the age of 23, Glassman started his own non-profit group called the Glassman Foundation, which did charitable work throughout southern Arizona. He volunteered for Grijalva's congressional campaign in 2002, after which he went to D.C. to be part of the congressman's legislative staff.

His time in D.C. was limited, as he went back to Arizona to get his PhD in Arid Land resources at the University of Arizona's college of agriculture. But he kept one foot in politics, holding on to his formal duties on the congressman's staff. As if that wasn't enough for his plate, Glassman than pursued a law degree at UofA, during which a spot on the Tucson City Council opened up. Persuaded to run for the post, he left Girjalva's office and announced his candidacy. That was 2006, his second year of law school.

The actual election took place in 2007 and his admission to the Arizona Bar took place in May 2008. Still, apparently, not internally satisfied, he decided to join the Air Force to become a JAG -- a challenge in its own right, but made even harder by the fact that officials told him he had to lose 60 pounds to qualify. He did it. In six months.

It was during JAG training, Glassman says, that he first was approached about the idea of running for the Senate in 2010. A listening tour followed, during which Glassman took only $20 donations for an exploratory committee. In between, he got married. And on Tuesday, he decided he would officially run for the seat held by an Arizona icon.

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Will 2010 rival 1994 as a debacle for the Dems?

According to Time magazine, perhaps not. A summary of the reasoning behind the article:

“At a time when Republicans should be celebrating their momentum, Steele is stealing headlines — and not in a good way.

In my opinion, this will not have much of an effect. While it's fun to kick Steele and the RNC around, I don't think that their shenanigans will do much to affect the vote. Republicans aren't going to vote Democratic because of it. Although, it could affect the motivation of Republicans when they consider whether or not to vote at all in midterm elections.

Trash Talking: the health care reform bill not as unpopular as you think

At least according to Ana Marie Cox at The Wire, and she makes a very good case for her position:

I was on the phone with a Republican staffer the other day, talking about the GOP's response to the passage of health care reform legislation. He said that his side was actually pleased, not because they like the bill, obviously, but because "the public will fight back in November. It's an enormously unpopular bill and the Democrats will suffer for having supported it."

But, I replied, what about the most recent polling? The USA Today poll, that showed 48 percent of respondents think of the bill as "a good first step"? Or the ABC/Washington Post poll that showed a more voters -- (40 percent) -- say that their representative's vote on the legislation will make "no difference" in who they support in the fall than say it will be a positive or a negative? Or the CBS poll that showed a five point bump in favor of the bill after passage? Or the second ABC/WP poll that showed that Congressional Democrats and Nancy Pelosi got steady in their approval ratings among after it passed?

Be sure to read the entire article.......there is much more to it than what I quoted, and it will help you to bolster your arguments with the naysayers/proponents of "I hate the bill so I'll claim that everyone else does too, and because of all this hate, Democrats are gonna lose big in the midterms".  Heh.

Obama tells Republicans to "go for it" on running on repeal

In Iowa today.

Will Republican oppostion to health care reform hurt them in November?

The Republicans have threatened to repeal the health care reform bill one piece at a time. 13 attorneys general, all Republicans, have filed a lawsuit against the federal government to exempt their states from health care reform.

Health care now becomes a policy story rather than a legislative sausage-grinding story. Tales of death panels and warnings about losing your doctor can now be falsified. (That's what happened to the early scare stories about Social Security and Medicare.) And Republicans who denounce the program and promise to repeal it will no longer be bashing an abstraction. They will be proposing to take away existing, tangible benefits. [.....]

Former Bush Speechwriter, David Frum, on the Republican HCR Waterloo

George W. Bush's former speechwriter, David Frum, on the passage of the health care reform bill:

“Conservatives and Republicans today suffered their most crushing legislative defeat since the 1960s.

 

It’s hard to exaggerate the magnitude of the disaster. Conservatives may cheer themselves that they’ll compensate for today’s expected vote with a big win in the November 2010 elections.

 

No illusions please: This bill will not be repealed. Even if Republicans scored a 1994 style landslide in November, how many votes could we muster to re-open the “doughnut hole” and charge seniors more for prescription drugs? How many votes to re-allow insurers to rescind policies when they discover a pre-existing condition? How many votes to banish 25 year olds from their parents’ insurance coverage? And even if the votes were there – would President Obama sign such a repeal?

 

We followed the most radical voices in the party and the movement, and they led us to abject and irreversible defeat.

 

So today’s defeat for free-market economics and Republican values is a huge win for the conservative entertainment industry. Their listeners and viewers will now be even more enraged, even more frustrated, even more disappointed in everybody except the responsibility-free talkers on television and radio. For them, it’s mission accomplished. For the cause they purport to represent, it’s Waterloo all right: ours. [.....]

US Automakers Return to Washington - Daily Political News Round-Up - Thursday, December 4, 2008

 

►Wingnut Alert: A number of lawsuits have been filed, challenging the citizenship of the president-elect. This is, of course, ridiculous, and has been proven to be untrue. Does anything stop the wingnuts? Tomorrow, one of these lawsuits will be discussed by the Supreme Court, who will turn it down.

“The justices of the U.S. Supreme Court will tomorrow discuss whether or not it should take up the case of Leo C. Donofrio, Applicant, v. Nina Mitchell Wells, New Jersey Secretary of State, a case that challenges the citizenship of President-elect Obama.
After the Justices meet -- and assuredly decline to hear the matter -- the anti-Obama activists supporting the case will hold a vigil near the steps of the highest Court in the land.”  Jake Tapper - ABC News

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►Doom and gloom economic predictions from Krugman and O'Neill. Former Treasury secretary, Paul O'Neill, on the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Daily Political News Round-Up - Wednesday, December 3, 2008

►John Brennan forced out of consideration for CIA director by the Obama team, thanks in large part to liberal bloggers.

“Former CIA official John Brennan, once considered the top choice to serve as CIA director in President-elect Barack Obama's administration, was pressured by the Obama transition team to pull his name from consideration, according to friends and former intelligence associates.
Brennan's withdrawal, offered in a Nov. 25 letter to Obama, came after liberal bloggers mounted an opposition campaign against his possible appointment.”  NPR

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►Wingnut Alert: Senate leadership to craft legislation that will clear the wingnut hurdle to Hillary Clinton's appointment as Secretary of State. Bolding is mine.

“the Senate leadership is working to craft legislation that will make it possible for her to take the post despite a Constitutional clause saying that members of Congress are ineligible to take an appointed post if the salary for the post in question has increased while the member was in elected office.

The Senate's efforts, which would cut the Secretary of State's salary back to what it was when Hillary was reelected to her current term, come in response to a declaration yesterday by the winger group Judicial Watch that the Constitution blocks her from serving.”  TPM