"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross."
-- Sinclair Lewis
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Ashs & Ashs: McCain Campaign Staffer Asked To Choose Between Prison And Seeking Mental Health Treatment
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The Republicans have cranked up their dirty tricks machine into high gear and are out to sow as much discord and confusion as they can in preparation for what they hope will be the biggest election fraud in world history. See that photo above. The man on the left is Ashwin Madia a former marine who served in Iraq and is now running for Congress against a right wing extremist in Minnesota. The picture on the right? That's a doctored pic of Ash that the Republican Party has doctored to make Ash appear... "other." Is it racism? It's from the GOP. And they say they stand by their racist ad. Could we expect any less? After we saw the McCain campaign staffer, Ashley Todd claiming last week she was mutilated by a "big black man" who carved a "b" into her face. The fact that the "b" was carved by "someone" looking in a mirror tipped off the police that Ashley, like virtually all McCain supporters, is a- very stupid and b- very racist. Under gentle questioning she admitted she manufactured the whole incident.
How dare I assert that McCain and his supporters are all stupid? I forgot to mention where I got that from: Republican Fox News shill Neil Cavuto. Cavuto, one of the media's biggest advocates of Greed and Selfishness, to McCain:
Cavuto: Frankly, neither of your numbers adds up. But I’ve come to see a consistent pattern in Obama's. For the life of me, Senator Straight Talk, I see no such straight thing with yours...
You rail against big government, yet continue to push cockamamie spending plans that make a mockery of it. That's why you're losing right now, Senator McCain.
Not because you don't have the courage of your convictions. But because on economic matters, you have no convictions, period.
No convictions... ahhh... so that's why the campaign's been so erratic. And now they're just trying to blame everything on Palin. How do you blame Palin without bringing up McCain's horrendous judgment and cynicism, his penchant for gimmickry and his sloppy and apparently dangerous vetting process?
John McCain's campaign is looking for a scapegoat. It is looking for someone to blame if McCain loses on Tuesday.
And it has decided on Sarah Palin.
In recent days, a McCain “adviser” told Dana Bash of CNN: “She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone.”
Imagine not taking advice from the geniuses at the McCain campaign. What could Palin be thinking?
Also, a “top McCain adviser” told Mike Allen of Politico that Palin is “a whack job.”
Maybe she is. But who chose to put this “whack job” on the ticket? Wasn’t it John McCain? And wasn’t it his first presidential-level decision?
McCain has surrounded himself with nasty smear artists and his campaign is all about fear and smear... and disenfranchising as many voters as possible in as many battleground states as possible. That's why we've included this:
How Many Independent Candidates Will Thwart Republican Chances To Win Congressional Seats?
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Will Ron Paul get to wipe that smug smile off his face?
I don't think Chuck Baldwin and Bob Barr are going to do much damage to McCain anywhere (who, in any case, is doing plenty of damage to himself). I guess if it's really, really close in Georgia and Barr does better than anyone thinks he will, he could throw that state to Obama. The Libertarian candidate might also hurt McCain in Nevada, Pennsylvania, Colorado, maybe even Ohio. But I wouldn't count on it. And Obama isn't either. In Montana and Louisiana, on the other hand, Ron Paul is on the ballot-- on the Constitution Party and the Taxpayers Party, respectively. A few days ago, Gov Brian Schweitzer said that Paul would be the decider in Montana.
Now some down-ticket races are similar to the Montana situation. There are several where strong showings by independent candidates will decide the outcome. In the past we've written about right-wing xenophobe David Krikorian taking Republican votes from Mean Jean Schmidt in Ohio's 2nd CD, a red bastion, where Vic Wulsin is neck and neck with Mean.
Today's CQPolitics warns that there are half a dozen close congressional races where independent candidates could make the difference between the Democrat and the Republican. Two of these races hurt Democrats. In FL-13 progressive Democrat Jan Schneider is on the ballot, offering an alternative between far right extremist incumbent Vern Buchanan and conservative nominal Democratic Christine Jennings. Schneider doesn't seem to be doing much campaigning and Buchanan looks pretty safe from the lackluster, admitted Blue Dog anyway.
There's a somewhat-- but only somewhat-- similar situation in LA-06 (Baton Rouge), where extremely conservative nominal Democrat Don Cazayoux managed to win a special election with a massive turn-out in state Senator Michael Jackson's inner city district. Now Jackson is on the ballot as an independent and he could threaten Cazayoux's re-election prospects, particularly because Cazayoux has completely abandoned any pretense of support for a progressive agenda and, on crucial substantive issue, has voted with the Republicans almost twice as often as with the Democrats-- a despicable category he shares with other so-called Democrats pulled from deep of the bowels of the Republican wing of the Democratic Party, like John Barrow (GA), Travis Childers (MS), Nick Lamspon (TX), Jim Marshall (GA), Joe Donnelly (IN) and Heath Shuler (NC). Blue America even thought about supporting Jackson-- until we discovered that he's nearly as bad as Cazayoux, at least on the choice issue.
Also in Minnesota-- and also bad news for the far right Republican-- the Independence Party is running David Dillon for the seat being abandoned by mainstream conservative Jim Ramstad. The GOP has nominated a far right extremist, Erik Paulsen, to try holding the seat against progressive war vet Ashwin Madia. The latest polling shows Dillon with 8% of the vote-- crucial, since Madia is only leading the wingnut by 3 points.
In NJ-07 another mainstream conservative, Mike Ferguson, is retiring and, again, the GOP is trying to insert a far right extremist in his place, Leonard Lance. Democratic state Rep. Linda Stender is running ahead of Lance, at least partly because of the vigorous and well-financed campaign by ex-Republican Michael Hsing. Hsing will draw moderate Republicans away from Lance.
Meanwhile, a far bigger factor is coming into play that independents: "McCain Drag", or reverse coattails, on down-ticket races. McCain has already proven himself a disaster for GOP House candidates in special elections in red districts of Illinois, Louisiana and Mississippi, all of whom were beaten by Democrats. Bush rubber stamp Chris Shays has been successful in distorting his record enough to trick many independents in CT-04 into thinking he wasn't a Bush clone. Now he's trying to persuade them that he's down with Obama, who is polling 20 points ahead of McCain in the district.
But progressive Democrat Jim Himes is looking like the man to finally put an end to Shays' disgraceful and dishonest political career.
McCain's non-existent coattails run counter to the initial conventional wisdom that said his moderate style and crossover appeal would lift Republican candidates down ballot. That's just not the case two weeks out from Election Day.
...A big wave for Obama might be too much of a burden for Republican congressional candidates to bear at a time when they are already saddled with an unpopular Republican president and an unpopular Republican brand.
An old friend of mine in Connecticut even told me that Shays is telling supporters there not to put up McCain lawn signs if they have Shays lawn signs in their yards, lest he be any further McTainted as the McCain campaign co-chair. In fact, Shays doesn't even have a McCain sign up in his own front yard!
One more note on congressional races today: when Blue America endorsed progressive Democrat Annette Taddeo over reactionary Bush rubber stamp Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Annette was down by 31 points. The DCCC told us it was a hopeless race and one of the chairs of the Red to Blue Committee even refused to endorse her and was tacitly supporting her pal Ros-Lehtinen. A greta dela has changed since then and Annette has continued chipping away at Ros-Lehtinen's credibility-- and her lead. The latest polling from Miami-Dade:
Recent polling in the 18th Congressional District shows that Annette Taddeo (D) is now within striking distance of the incumbent Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R). Taddeo has significantly cut Ros-Lehtinen’s lead since the benchmark polling in June. Currently, Taddeo trails by 7 points (48% to 41%) while in June, Ros-Lehtinen led by 31 points (58% to 27%).2 Ros-Lehtinen’s re-elect numbers have also dropped, with a majority (56%) of the voters now planning on replacing or considering replacing her.
Taddeo’s gains reflect aggressive campaigning since June, resulting in an increase in Taddeo’s name recognition from 14% to 63%. Moreover, the climate in the district has become more favorable to a Democrat for a number of reasons. First, Barack Obama now leads John McCain 47% to 45%, coming back from a 10-point deficit in June. Second, Democrats are making historic gains in voter registration throughout south Florida, and in the 18th Congressional District in particular. In just two years, the Republican advantage over the Democrats in the 18th CD has dropped from 22,000 to less than 2,000,3 making this area a prime spot for a Democratic takeover.
Other key highlights from the poll include:
∑ Ros-Lehtinen’s favorables have declined while her unfavorables have increased. Moreover, because she is so well known in the district (94% are familiar with her) Ros-Lehtinen has very little room to grow her support, while Annette Taddeo is in a far better position to become better known to the electorate.
∑ Key issues such as bringing change to Washington are more likely to be associated with Taddeo than Ros-Lehtinen.
∑ Of the undecided voters who were then asked to whom they were leaning, 78% went to Taddeo and only 22% to Ros-Lehtinen.
Oh, and that Red to Blue chairperson who refused to support Annette? She donated $10,000 to the campaign and has given up on Ros-Lehtinen entirely. Now if we can just get the DCCC to include Annette in the Miami-Dade ads they're running for Raul Martinez and Joe Garcia... Who knows? But Annette can certainly use some help in continuing to close that shrinking gap. It will be money well-spent!
Ashwin Madia Blog Day In Minnesota-- Let's Show Some Solidarity
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When 9-term Republican Congressman Jim Ramstad (MN-03) decided to pack it in and retire from politics this year, he was doing a favor for the residents of the Hennepin County suburbs surrounding the twin cities. Ramstad isn't some kind of radical right extremist like bizarre neighbors John Kline and Michele Bachmann; he's a mainstream conservative in a moderate blue-trending district (PVI- R+1). Bush managed to win the district with 51% of the vote in 2004; in a rematch today he'd be lucky to break 30%. Ramstad's would-be successor, Erik Paulsen, is not a mainstream conservative; he's a far right extremist more in the Kline/Bachmann mold. Hennepin County Democrats/DFLers have nominated a far more suitable candidate, Ashwin Madia.
Minnesota bloggers are out raising funds for Ashwin today. It's Ashwin Media Blog Day. He deserves a hand-- and in a race that the polls show neck and neck, a hand is just what he needs. The Greenberg Quinlan Rosner poll of March 12 shows Ash and Paulson in a statistical dead heat. Right-wing PACs, Big Pharma, commercial banks, the Insurance Industry have all been pouring money into Paulson's campaign. Ash has managed to pretty much keep up thanks to grassroots and netroots efforts on his behalf. Paulson's biggest donor: Target Corp. Ash's: ActBlue.
A few weeks ago I spent some time on the phone with Ashwin and I was very impressed by an idealistic young man with a sharp mind a good solid sense of reality. The former Iraq-based Marine has strong leadership qualities that made me think he's not going to be a rubber stamp for devious Democratic Party bosses like Rahm Emanuel or Steny Hoyer. He'll be his own man, an independent voice for the folks who elect him. He was good on all the progressive issues I ask candidates about. But one surprised me-- his strong and outspoken support for equal rights for all Americans, including gays. Many Democrats, forever fearful of hate-filled Republicans and their media allies, skirt around "gay marriage" and wimp out, like Obama, with support for civil unions. Ashwin supports equality, not separate-but-equal formulations to appease bigots. Here's a statement he sent me after we got off the phone:
Ever since the start of my campaign, I have been reaching out to members of the LGBT community in Minnesota. That’s because I strongly believe in full equal rights for all lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans.
As a Marine Corps lawyer who served in Iraq, I was one of first attorneys to successfully defend a gay Marine from discrimination in the military. It wasn’t easy to stand in front of a jury made up of other U.S. Marines and argue against the military's bigoted and shameful "don't ask, don't tell" policy, but I was more than willing to do so. I would I would be proud to serve alongside anyone brave enough to put on the uniform.
As someone with a brother who is gay, I would advocate passionately for passage of a federal hate crimes law that recognizes the disproportionate number of threats on a daily basis faced by members of the LGBT community. Existing law already extends legal protections for a number of vulnerable minority communities. Every day that we do not have this protection, LGBT individuals remain at risk.
I support same-sex marriage and full equality under the law. Civil unions fall short and seem to be a way for politicians to avoid recognizing all people as equal.
Lastly, it is unacceptable that our nation continues to allow a form of discrimination to exist in the workplace based on a characteristic that is just as inherent as sex, race, or disability. I support efforts to prohibit job discrimination.
I’m running for an open seat which had been held by a moderate Republican. But my opponent, State Representative Erik Paulsen, has been a vehement opponent of equal rights for LGBT Minnesotans for more than a decade. He led the fight in 2004, and again in 2006, to write discrimination into the Minnesota state constitution. He even voted to prevent equal benefits from being provided to domestic partners of state employees even though many of Minnesota’s largest employers already have policies that promote equality.
I have been endorsed by the Human Rights Campaign and by Minnesota’s Stonewall DFL (Democrats). I hope you will consider supporting my campaign in the coming days and weeks. We need pragmatic problem solving not people who put their political ideology ahead of principles. It’s time for a few more patriots in Congress and a few less politicians.
This is the kind of leadership Americans need in a post-Bush era. Forget how you feel about gay rights for a moment. And, instead, think about how you feel about a candidate talking this way. You like? Here's the joint Minnesota bloggers ActBlue page-- and here's your introduction to Ash:
May I recommend a post Ashwin did for today's Hill in which he slaps the taste out of arch-hypocrit Joe Liberman's mouth? Again, this is the kind of leader we need in Congress.
Today, the Republican Party announced that the loudest defender of status quo policies on Iraq, Senator Joe Lieberman, will be a prominent speaker at the Republican National Convention in my home state of Minnesota. Senator Lieberman and I do have one thing in common. We’ve both changed political parties. I left the Republican Party in 2002 after it replaced “balance our budget” with “borrow and spend” and after we started a war without a plan for success; a war we did not need.
With all respect to Senator Lieberman, talking tough about Iraq is not brave. Bravery is not demonstrated through words but instead through action.
I served for four years in the Marine Corps. While stationed in Baghdad, I worked with U.S. military and civilian officials, European Union and United Nations representatives and Iraqi judicial officers to build the Iraqi legal system. I was not a hero but I served with many heroes, some of the bravest people I’ve ever seen in my whole life. I saw bravery from my fellow Marines. I also worked with Iraqi judges who risked their lives every morning just to come to work.
It’s time for a little more bravery in Washington.
This war has cost us $600 billion so far with another $10 billion added to the tab every month. That’s in addition to a $9 trillion debt caused by reckless spending and irresponsible borrowing, making it harder for Minnesota’s families to afford gas, food and medicine.
Restoring fiscal responsibility includes a new direction for our foreign policy. That’s why I support a strategic and gradual withdrawal from Iraq that is done in a safe and responsible way.
There are a quite a few folks like me down at VFW Post 425 in Hopkins, Minnesota, where I’m a Member. And there’s millions more of us across the country who know that real patriotism means more than just bumper stickers, slogans, and cheers at a convention.
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