Will Slavery Become An Issue In The Colorado Senate Race?

Chip off the ole block

Some Republicans have gone all the way back to before the Republican Party was founded. That Republican Party was all about abolition of slavery. That was Abe Lincoln's Republican Party. But if I were to tell you that today there are Republicans who would like to bring back slavery you would probably think I was just crazy. But then you probably don't know anything about the GOP candidate for Senate in Colorado, Bob Schaffer.

Schaffer may be trying to identify himself with Bush, McCain and the whole GOP catastrophe that has been the American government for the past seven and a half years by loudly proclaiming that he isn't going to the St. Paul Hate Fest next month. But that doesn't unglue him from his dogmatic adherence to their hate-filled and failed ideology-- nor from his own dubious "service" in Congress from 1998 to 2003. The highlight of that episode was his fabulous para-sailing excursion-- compliments of his pal Jack Abramoff-- to the Mariannas. Schaffer and his wife went on an all-expenses-paid vacation to the Marianas Islands to, he claimed, get a first hand look at the near slave labor conditions of factories in those American colonies. Abramoff, who represented the factory owners, paid for it all and Schaffer and the Mrs. had a grand old time and then declared everything at the slave labor factories was kosher. Isn't that, after all, the way it's supposed to work under a Republican regime?

Just before boarding a plane to the Mariana Islands in 1999, then-Congressman Bob Schaffer announced he was embarking on a fact-finding mission to get to the bottom of repeated allegations of labor abuse in the American protectorate.

"I plan to walk right into those factories and living quarters to see for myself what conditions exist," Schaffer said in a news release in August of that year.

What he didn't say was that the trip was partly arranged by the firm of now-jailed lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who represented textile factory owners fighting congressional efforts to reform labor and immigration laws on the islands and who was being handsomely paid to keep the islands' cherished exemptions.

Schaffer and his wife stayed for free at a palm-studded beach resort and, besides factories, also toured historical sites and met with clients of Preston-Gates, Abramoff's firm, according to a copy of the trip's agenda archived in Schaffer's congressional papers.

He left believing that allegations of widespread abuse were largely unfounded-- blaming them on Big Labor's efforts to shut down a booming textile industry allowed to use the "Made in USA" label but dependent on tens of thousands of imported workers.

Ahhhh... the free market and it's champions! To this day Schaffer describes the Marianas as a "model" system that he would like to see imported into mainland U.S.A. although "it links him to what Abramoff later boasted was an incredibly successful lobbying effort to quash reform by cashing in on ties to key House Republicans, including those on the House Resources Committee, on which Schaffer sat." Instead of sharing a prison cell with Abramoff-- for every briber, after all, there is a bribee-- Schaffer is going to the voters of Colorado and asking them to send him to the U.S. Senate to represent them.

I don't know when this will be pulled down but sooner or later computer whiz John McCain is going to surf over to Justin Schaffer's Facebook page and call his daddy-- Colorado Republican Senate candidate on McCain's ticket-- and make him take it down. Sure, Republican ideology aspires to the re-introduction of slavery, just like Schaffer said when he got back from the Mariannas. But you're not supposed to tell the voters/perspective slaves that you're for this! And young Schaffer... well take a look at some of the images on what he calls the SchafferFamilyValues page (http://schafferfamilyvalues.com/). Like this:



These are the kinds of family values Bob Schaffer has instilled in his son? He links to his son's website from his own campaign site. He even uses this kid in his campaign commercials. Young Schaffer's family values is all about anti-Semitism, racism, sexism and homophobia. Apparently, young Schaffer gets all worked up over gays:

THE CAMPAIGN FINANCE SYSTEM IS DESTROYING DEMOCRACY

No wild fans of Kansas Democratic Senate candidate Jim Slattery around here; don't look for him on the Blue America endorsement page, even if each of us hopes he beats craven and useless incumbent, Bush rubber stamp Pat Roberts. And speaking of craven... Roberts must be plenty worried about this race because he's already launched a costly negative ad campaign slamming Slattery as a lobbyist. And Slattery is a lobbyist, a shameful and repulsive profession, which in my opinion, makes someone unfit for public trust. But not as unfit as someone who already has public trust-- an elected official, like Pat Roberts-- who takes bribes (AKA- "contributions") from lobbyists and votes for special interests rather than for the interests of his constituents.

Has Senator Pat been doing that? Let's take a look. A member of the Agriculture Committee, Roberts has been the recipient of over a million dollars from the agricultural industry in their attempts-- usually successful-- to get him to represent their special interests over the interests of non-industrialized family farmers, not to mention consumers. You name the industry: Commercial Banks ($422,424)-- he's also a deregulation fanatic on the Senate Finance Committee-- Oil & Gas ($324,900), Securities & Investments ($251,862), Insurance ($230,192), Big Pharma ($165,477)... Roberts always has his hand out and is always, always, always voting to wreck the regulatory system that protects workers and consumers and investors from the corporate predators who hire the lobbyists who pay him off. Otherwise it's a lovely ad. (Oh, and in case you were wondering, the Big Telecom giants lavished Roberts with $14,250 this year alone and he dutifully voted to shred the U.S. Constitution for them this week-- permitting warrantless wiretaps and retroactive immunity for corporate criminals. Go lobbyists!)

Roberts is hardly the only member of Congress who accepts massive bribes from lobbyists and corporate donors and then votes for their special interests. That's the way the obscenely wealth have rigged the political system to work for them-- and against the great unwashed masses (the rest of us). And Congress writes its own rules, carefully defining its members' crude criminal practices as permissible. Bribery is only bribery if... a masked man give sit to you in small denominations in cash... and you hide it in your refrigerator.

Just today the Louisville Courier-Journal reported that Mitch McConnell (R-Big Business) raised over $3 million dollars in the last 3 months for his campaign, for a total of $15 million so far. As of April 30. McConnell had scooped up over $27,000,000 in contributions, much of it from special interests with business before the Senate. The Finace/Insurance and Real Estate sector-- which has gotten, with McConnell's toxic leadership, the deregulation they've been so lusting after for since FDR reined them in after they caused the Great Depression-- has given him $4,147,334. And in return we have a severe Recession-- according to out of touch Republicans only in our minds-- heading straight towards a Depression, with runaway inflation, spiraling unemployment, a gutted out middle class, rampant outsourcing (a McConnell hallmark), a collapsing housing market impacting the rest of the economy, and a health care system that has gone from the envy of the planet to decidedly third rate... for non-millionaires and members of Congress. McConnell's contributors have certainly gotten their money's worth from him.

Of course, McConnell's bribers know full well that his corrupt and reactionary Democratic opponent would be no less of a willing servant to their whims and demands. Right now he doesn't need their money because he's already put $2.1 million of his own bread into the campaign. One of Lunsford's spokespersons pointed out that it's "easy to rake in special-interest cash when you've been doing their bidding for 24 years in the Senate. The big oil companies alone have given McConnell over $650,000 in campaign contributions over the years. Kentucky cannot afford another six years of McConnell's misplaced loyalties. He is not on our side. It's time for change."

Change meaning what? Going from a corrupt Republic taking corporate bribes to a corrupt Democrat taking corporate bribes. That isn't change. Change would be no corporate bribes... period. Anyone who wants to donate to a candidate should be allowed to donate... anonymously.

Would McConnell have been so eager to sell out the Constitution and allow the Telecoms to get away with their criminal activities if they hadn't paid him off with hefty donations totaling over $20,000 this year alone? Or would have Susan Collins if they didn't give her $35,850? Ted Stevens, who raked in $41,400? Gordon Smith, who sold us out for $27,750? Would Rahm Emanuel have joined the Republicans and dragged dozens of Democrats along with him for this disgraceful piece of infamy if the Telecoms hadn't bought him off with $49,950 this year?

And what about Norm Coleman? This Bush rubber stamp has scooped up nearly as much as McConnell from corporate interests. Since he began his miserable political career in the late 80s, he's taken in over $23,000,000 in "donations." Today's Star Tribune reports that Coleman and his Democratic opponent, Al Franken, are running neck-and-neck in the fundraising race, each having taken in over $2 million in the last quarter. The first comment on the story summed up the real issue, one left untouched by the Star Tribune:

Coleman gets his money from rich donors across the country at exclusive events. Al Franken gets the majority of his money from Minnesotans who contribute 10 dollars at a time. Sure, Franken does have some supporters that come from out of state, but not like the ones Norm Coleman has. Coleman works for big oil, the pharmaceutical companies, and special interest groups. Al works for the people.

Is it true? Of the over $13 million Coleman has hoovered up in the current cycle, he's taken the lion's share from special interests with business before the Senate: Real Estate ($610,137), Securities & Investments ($567,750), Insurance ($288,324), Commercial Banks ($226,400), Big Pharma ($203,717), Big Oil ($88,550). Is it just a coincidence that Coleman always votes for what these industries want, regardless of how detrimental it is to working families back in Minnesota? Do you think Minnesotans want the government wiretapping citizens at will without a court order? Coleman does-- or doesn't care-- but this year alone the Big Telecoms gave him $7,700.

When he was in the House, Bob Schaffer was known as someone who would accept money from anyone and sell his vote cheap for any corporate special interest. Now that he's trying to get into the Senate, Big Business is rallying to his banner. Big Oil has given him more money this year than any other candidate who is not currently in Congress, $114.15, more than almost all sitting members of the Senate. He's their boy. And Sam Stein's story at Huff Po today goes a long way towards explaining why:

At the same time that he was officially a candidate for the United States Senate, Colorado Republican Bob Schaffer was helping to arrange a major oil deal in the Kurdish region of Iraq that government officials said would damage U.S. interests in that country.

Schaffer has claimed that he was unaware that the company he was aiding, Aspect Energy, was undermining American policy by pursuing an oil contract in Kurdistan. But a review of press reports from that time period suggests that such an explanation is either highly unlikely or downright disingenuous.

..."Four years before Bob Schaffer went to Kurdistan, he voted to authorize the Iraq War where he had to have learned about the conflict between the Kurds and the Iraqi central government," said Tara Trujillo, spokeswoman for Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mark Udall. "Two months before Bob Schaffer went to Kurdistan to negotiate an oil contract, the Kurds threatened to separate from Iraq because of oil... One month before Aspect Energy signed the deal, the U.S. State Department officials also told the press that these types of oil deals would counter our national security interests. How could Bob Schaffer not know? It's not that Bob Schaffer didn't know his actions would undermine the fragile situation in Iraq, it's that he didn't care."

I don't especially mean to single out corrupt politicians like Bob Schaffer (R-CO), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Bruce Lunsford (D-KY), Norm Coleman (R-MN)-- although I once ran against him for class secretary and although we tied and served as co-secretaries of our elementary school class in Brooklyn, he was a dirty little cheat even back then-- Pat Roberts (R-KS), or even Rahm Emanuel (D-IL). Instead I want to point out that the system is hopelessly corrupt-- by design-- and that democracy is impossible with the billions of corporate dollars being shoveled into political pockets on behalf of special interests.

These days members of Congress not only use the "donations" to buy ads and pay for lawn signs. They hire their wives and children and pay them large sums of money, in effect taking money from donors and putting it directly into their personal living conditions. They spend millions of campaign donations for defending themselves in court against corruption charges, as Ted Stevens (R-AK), Don Young (R-AK), Jerry Lewis (R-CA), John Doolittle (R-CA) and dozens of others have done. Congress has proven that it cannot regulate itself. A nonpartisan commission should have the job, not Nancy Pelosi, not Rahm Emanuel, not Steny Hoyer, not Tom DeLay, not John Boehner, not Roy Blunt... This is too important to be left to politicians.

ABRAMOFF NEVER BROUGHT SCHAFFER TO WATCH ANY FORCED ABORTIONS WHILE HE WAS PARASAILING IN THE MARIANAS

Bob Schaffer investigates forced abortions... by parasailing

From the very beginning of the whole Tom DeLay-Jack Abramoff Marianas scandal, the part that never made sense to me is how the hypocrites of the religionist right never got angry about the forced abortions. I mean we always see them overlooking things like slavery-- but forced abortions perpetrated by Republican leaders...? And it wasn't only Tom DeLay and John Doolittle who were complicit in this. Fortunately, the Colorado campaign for the open U.S. Senate seat has shined a spotlight on the scandal again because one of the candidates, Republican Bob Schaffer, was a congressman in 1999 and went on one of the Abramoff-sponsored junkets to the Marianas (ostensibly to "investigate," although apparently to parasail and enjoy the water sports with his wife). He then came back to DC and reported that the Northern Marianas were a paradise and we should import their labor laws here to the mainland.

Finally, according to this morning's Denver Post, one of the anti-choice groups has gotten its dander up. Although Schaffer points out that they never scheduled a chance for him to view a forced abortion while he was... investigating, "Colorado Right to Life accused Schaffer of closing his eyes to reports from Chinese workers on the islands about forced abortions."

"The pro-life movement will no longer give a pass to candidates like Bob Schaffer who look the other way when Chinese women are forced to abort their children," said Steve Curtis, spokesman for the group and former chairman of the Colorado Republican Party.

"At best Schaffer was negligent investigating coerced abortion in the Mariana Islands," he said. "Worse, he has voted for permanent normal trade relations with China, rewarding the regime that forces women to abort their children."

Schaffer, who visited the Marianas in 1999 while in Congress, said allegations of forced abortions were among the things he looked into on that trip.

"I absolutely did not look the other way on this issue," Schaffer said, saying he interviewed "dozens" of workers and met with local religious leaders about the topic.

A 1998 report by the U.S. Office of Insular Affairs found squalid living conditions for foreign workers in the Marianas.

A statement given to investigators from a Chinese woman showed what happened to workers who got pregnant.
"According to Miss Y, if the company found out a worker became pregnant, they would fire her and return her to China where she would be 'forced to have an abortion.' Knowing this, workers who became pregnant either tried to self abort or find someone in Saipan to perform the abortion. Some women ran away and hid so they didn't have to have an abortion."

"I found the reports credible," Schaffer said. "I've not seen them refuted."

Schaffer said during his visit he tried to determine how often abortions occurred.

"In five days, I did not observe a forced abortion or meet anybody who had any knowledge of them," he said, adding that no subsequent examples were ever brought to him.

Maybe the poor women didn't have the money to join the parasailing expeditions. Schaffer returned from the Marianas and said everyone was happy and smiling. The man is unfit for public office. In fact, he should be forced to disgorge the bribes he took from Abramoff for painting the rosy picture and misleading his colleagues and his constituents. Bob Schaffer is a disgrace.

EVEN CHENEY'S TRIP TO COLORADO FAILS TO MOVE THE DISCUSSION OFF SCHAFFER'S MARIANNAS SCANDAL

No photos of Cheney and Schaffer together were allowed so... I'm sure Schaffer LOVES this one

A couple of days ago we talked a little about the ex-congressman Bob Schaffer's junket to the Mariannas. Since then, Schaffer and his vicious attack dog campaign manager Dick Wadhams, have been in full lockdown, peeping out just long enough to hurl epithets at the Denver Post for exposing Schaffer's ties to Abramoff and the Culture of Corruption. Not even a fundraiser by Darth Cheney for Colorado millionaires-- complete with protesters and arrests-- could move the discussion away from Schaffer's corruption. And man, is Schaffer ever traumatized!

Senate candidate Bob Schaffer brushed off questions today about his dealings with labor reform in the Northern Mariana Islands when he was a congressman and instead reveled in big-time party support he received with a fundraising visit by Vice President Dick Cheney.

...Asked during a press conference following Cheney's visit about Denver Post reports that link him to an effort by jailed lobbyist Jack Abramoff to quash labor reform in the Mariana Islands in 1999, Schaffer was visibly angry.

"I am really disgusted with the tone and tenor and direction of the Denver Post stories. I have had no contact with the individuals in the story, particularly Jack Abramoff," Schaffer said. "It's a matter of fiction. That's all I'm going to say about it."

Schaffer went to the Northern Mariana Islands as part of a trip partially arranged by Abramoff's firm. He visited textile factories which were the target of a class-action lawsuit alleging abuses of workers. Abramoff had been hired by factory owners and island officials to stave off attempts at reform.

In a recent interview with the Post, Schaffer cited the island's guest-worker program as a "model" that could be followed in overhauling U.S. immigration policy.

Schaffer campaign manager Dick Wadhams said today there is room for a legitimate discussion on that point. The U.S. Department of Labor cited the factories for more than 1,000 safety violations in the late 1990s.

After deflecting one question about his Mariana involvement, Schaffer turned back to his impressions of the Vice President's visit.

He said in a private conversation he had with Cheney, Cheney told him he was impressed with the growth and construction he saw from the window of his limousine as he traveled a short distance from the airport to a private reception for donors to Schaffer's campaign. Schaffer said he told the Vice President the energy industry is having a very positive impact on the area.

Protesters lined part of the Vice President's route waving signs and holding out hands painted red to symbolize Cheney's part in the Iraq War.

Even Democratic attacks on Cheney and Schaffer for their ties to Big Oil and rising gas prices came as kind of a respite from the non-stop barrage over Schaffer's role in the Culture of Corruption. Can you imagine when this sounds like a relief?

Both Bob Schaffer and Dick Cheney have a long history of supporting Big Oil over their constituents, and then receiving large paychecks from Big Oil in return. After six years in Congress supporting Big Oil, including voting to give them $28 million in tax cuts, Bob Schaffer cashed in his favors for a six-figure job as an oil and gas executive. So far, Schaffer’s big oil paychecks have totaled nearly $1 million. Cheney continues to receive a seven-figure Big Oil paycheck from Halliburton -- even while serving as Vice-President.

Cheney-- whose stay in Colorado was a two-hour hit and run-- was holed up in a private residence chosen for one reason: it's proximity to the airport. He charged $150 per person, $500 per couple, a kind of Republican Marriage Penalty. No one was permitted to photograph Cheney and Schaffer together.

One progressive blogger, Eli over at Multi Medium suggested the only way to get the press on to another topic would be for Cheney to shoot Schaffer in the face and just go for the sympathy vote.


UPDATE: LEADERSHIP FOR JACK ABRAMOFF, NOT COLORADO

This is a really good TV spot that puts exactly the right focus on corrupt wingnut Bob Schaffer:

BOB SCHAFFER REMINISCES ABOUT HIS FABULOUS TRIP TO THE MARIANNAS

Rep. Schaffer investigating slave labor in the Mariannas

No politician who has ever gotten free skybox tickets, a free dinner, a free corporate airplane ride, nice gifts for the family or fat contributions would ever admit that these little "perks" have in any way influenced his or her policies or votes. John McCain, for example, has made a career out of stuffing millions of dollars of contributions and perks from people with business before the committees he headed, up his ass while loudly and self-righteously decrying the pernicious influence of cash on the political system and on politicians less incorruptible than himself (apparently everyone). Sometimes you get the idea he isn't running against a Democrat at all, but against corrupt Alaska Republicans Ted Stevens and Don Young, the Bridge to Nowhere being a theme in every speech McCain has made in the past 2 years. But today it isn't McCain's, Stevens' or Young's disgraceful relationships with lobbyists and bribery we're going to look at, but a close ally of all three of them, Bob Schaffer (R-CO), a former far right congressman.

Why bother with a former congressman and why today? Bob Schaffer is the GOP nominee for the open Senate seat in Colorado and today's expose in the Denver Post is making today the worst day of the campaign so far. Today's Post examines, in some depth, the startling relationship between then-congressman Schaffer and the king of the Culture of Corruption, now jailed Jack Abramoff. Except for the lurid details, the story itself is pretty commonplace. Schaffer and his wife went on an all-expenses-paid vacation to the Marianas Islands to, he claimed, get a first hand look at the near slave labor conditions of factories in those American colonies. Abramoff, who represented the factory owners, paid for it all and Schaffer and the Mrs. had a grand old time and then declared everything at the slave labor factories was kosher. Isn't that, after all, the way it's supposed to work under a Republican regime?

Just before boarding a plane to the Mariana Islands in 1999, then-Congressman Bob Schaffer announced he was embarking on a fact-finding mission to get to the bottom of repeated allegations of labor abuse in the American protectorate.

"I plan to walk right into those factories and living quarters to see for myself what conditions exist," Schaffer said in a news release in August of that year.

What he didn't say was that the trip was partly arranged by the firm of now-jailed lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who represented textile factory owners fighting congressional efforts to reform labor and immigration laws on the islands and who was being handsomely paid to keep the islands' cherished exemptions.

Schaffer and his wife stayed for free at a palm-studded beach resort and, besides factories, also toured historical sites and met with clients of Preston-Gates, Abramoff's firm, according to a copy of the trip's agenda archived in Schaffer's congressional papers.

He left believing that allegations of widespread abuse were largely unfounded-- blaming them on Big Labor's efforts to shut down a booming textile industry allowed to use the "Made in USA" label but dependent on tens of thousands of imported workers.

Ahhhh... the free market and it's champions! To this day Schaffer describes the Marianas as a "model" system that he would like to see imported into mainland U.S.A. although "it links him to what Abramoff later boasted was an incredibly successful lobbying effort to quash reform by cashing in on ties to key House Republicans, including those on the House Resources Committee, on which Schaffer sat." Instead of sharing a prison cell with Abramoff-- for every briber, after all, there is a bribee-- Schaffer is going to the voters of Colorado and asking them to send him to the U.S. Senate to represent them.

So what is this "model" system would like to import to Colorado and the rest of the U.S.-- his explicit declaration? Schaffer claims he saw lots of shiny happy workers. He says they were smiling when he came in from a hard day of parasailing to "investigate" a factory. And whatever brouhaha there was, was simply the doing on those evil commie labor organizers-- the ones the Colombian government knows how to take care of. But even the Department of Labor couldn't back up Schaffer's and DeLay's and Abramoff's shameless bullshit on behalf of the factory owners. (Abramoff was paid $11 million to deliver congressional votes like those of Congressman Schaffer and he bragged that he was able to stop human rights legislation "cold" in the Republican-controlled House.)

At heart of the issue is the islands' massive textile industry, which is exempted from the U.S. minimum wage as well as most American immigration laws. The Northern Marianas economy is built on thousands of workers from China, the Philippines and Bangladesh, some of whom pay labor recruiters as much as $7,000 to land a job on U.S. soil.

A class-action lawsuit filed the year Schaffer toured the islands alleged that many of those workers lived in slum conditions, housed seven to a room in barracks surrounded by barbed wire designed to keep the workers in. Workers in some factories labored 12 hours a day, seven days a week, the suit alleged-- without pay if they fell behind set quotas.

A U.S. Interior Department investigation found that pregnant workers were forced to get illegal abortions or lose their jobs. Some were recruited for factories but forced into the sex trade instead.

The islands' factories were cited by the U.S. Department of Labor more than 1,000 times for safety violations in the late 1990s.

Josh at TPM puts Schaffer's junket to the Mariannas and his bizarre claims that we need to import their purely fascist economic system to the U.S. into some political context.


UPDATE: SCHAFFER'S PANTIES IN A MAJOR BUNCH

Schaffer and his attack dog campaign manager, Dick Wadhams, flipped out over the charges against Shaffer and Wadhams, typically, said the Post is guilty of "character assassination." A follow-up story this morning makes it clear that Schaffer more than endorsed the GOP's pawn-- and Abramoff employer-- in the Mariannas.

At two key moments in the political life of Benigno Fitial-- governor of the Northern Mariana Islands and a powerful former ally of now-jailed lobbyist Jack Abramoff-- then-Congressman Bob Schaffer was among several Republican U.S lawmakers who stepped in to lend their support, according to a copy of advertisements posted on a national blog and another obtained by the Denver Post.

The first was in 1999, when Fitial, who supported the islands' garment industry, was preparing an underdog run for House speaker of the Commonwealth Legislature. The second came two years later, when Fitial was running for governor of the islands.

The two instances, in which Schaffer endorsed Fitial in ads in island newspapers, show that Schaffer has had close and enduring ties with key politicians on the American protectorate, extending relationships he developed while on a fact-finding mission there in August 1999. They also show that Schaffer was part of a concerted and public campaign by Republicans on the House Committee on Natural Resources to boost Fitial's public career when he became key to extending a multimillion-dollar lobbying contract for Abramoff from the island's government.

COLORADO AND SAN DIEGO REPUBLICANS HAVE TO SETTLE FOR LESSER CANDIDATES IN A TOUGH YEAR

With highly unpopular Colorado extremist Wayne Allard choosing retirement over certain defeat in a re-election bid, it looked like Republicans were uniting behind a relatively mainstream conservative in former Congressman Scott McInnis. Today word comes down that McInnis "may" have changed his mind, opening the door for hard-right radical loon Bob Schaffer to try for the Senate again. (He was already rejected by Colorado voters in 2004.)

This morning's Denver Post  examines the possible reasons McInnis, whose nickname is "McLobbyist," probably won't run. "Not only does the national political environment still show voter dissatisfaction with Republicans, but GOP backers have paused at some of McInnis' past political decisions and current status as a lobbyist. Additionally, former Sen. Bill Armstrong, known as the 'godfather' of the state GOP, isn't backing him, and has thrown his support behind former U.S. Rep. Bob Schaffer..."

Schaffer and Armstrong are both pawns of the religionist right and are totally under the control of James Dobson. Both are also pets of the Greed and Selfishness wing of the GOP, represented by the anti-American Club for Growth. It will be virtually impossible for a candidate as far to the right as Schaffer to capture enough independent and moderate votes to win a statewide election.

And the Republicans in the House have some bad news too. Instead of having entrencher wheeler-dealer Duncan Hunter holding on to California's 52nd CD, they're going to have to make due with his 30 year old son, who is not a resident of California and who is likely to be challenged by other right-wingers in a bitter primary before facing a Democrat.