GO, VITO, GO! FOSSELLA WANTS TO RUN AGAIN

One of my sisters lives on Staten Island. She and her husband are more Republican than Democrat and we've had our disagreements over the years. But the other day my sister told me that she-- and everyone she knows, particularly women-- have had it with their two-timin' congressman, Vito Fossella. They want him out. Vito wants to stay. The national Republican Party is not happy.

After the electoral debacles in safe red districts in Illinois, Louisiana and Mississippi, NRCC head Tom Cole (R-OK) went through a song and dance about all the reasons Republicans can expect sharp losses in November and then he added that another scandal would sink the party. On cue... Vito Fossella staggered, drunk and disorderly onto the national stage to announce that he has two families, one on Staten Island and one more conveniently located near the office. House Minority leader John Boehner (R-OH) told him to resign. He hunkered down in Staten Island with his cronies and decided to see if he could tough it out. Today's NY Times reports that his toughing it out is especially tough on the tottering GOP.

There has been nothing but silence coming from the embattled Staten Island congressman, Vito J. Fossella, regarding his plans to run for re-election this year. And that uncertainty has caused waves of concern not only among Republicans in New York City, but in Washington as well.

All signs indicate that Mr. Fossella, a Republican who was arrested in Virginia on May 1 on a drunken driving charge and then admitted to fathering a child out of wedlock, is leaning toward running for a sixth term in November. He has been telling friends and advisers that he thinks he can win. And though he canceled a fund-raiser scheduled for this past weekend, he has five or six events planned for the coming month.

...[F]or all his popularity on Staten Island, long a Republican stronghold, Mr. Fossella, 43, faces daunting obstacles. If convicted of drunken driving, he would have to serve a mandatory five-day jail sentence. His acknowledgment of an extramarital affair-- he has three children with his [legal] wife, Mary Pat-- has clearly upset many voters in his conservative-leaning district.

Boehner has been conspiring with Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan to push Fossella out of the race, a race, one of Fossella's mentors, Staten Island GOP éminence grise Guy Molinari, says won't be easy considering that 2008 “is a bad Republican year, politically, and that doesn’t help matters.” Molinari says he's sticking with Fossella and that Fossella still has a chance to be re-elected-- Staten Island isn't known for having the sharpest knives in the drawer-- but that it will cost a lot more money than usual, money the NRCC doesn't have-- and probably wouldn't give Fossella even if it did. Most local Repugs are tip-toeing around the tulips and the party is utterly paralyzed and floundering. "Even Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who has been a reliable source of campaign money and support for Mr. Fossella in the past, said he was uncertain whether he would support the congressman in a re-election campaign."

In his more recent elections, he has continued to win, but against opponents who have done increasingly well. Indeed, some Democratic leaders have said privately that they hope Mr. Fossella decides to run again, suggesting that the scandals would do nothing but help their cause.

Stephen A. Harrison, a Brooklyn lawyer who was Mr. Fossella’s Democratic opponent in 2006 and hopes to challenge him again this year, has stopped short of calling for Mr. Fossella to resign or step down after his present term. In a statement, Mr. Harrison said, “If he decides to run, the people will decide in November if his recent behavior and revelations should disqualify him from continuing in office.”

He added: “There are great issues to be debated in this campaign-- the war in Iraq, health care, the economy, the environment and energy, just to name a few. It is now my intention to get past this distraction and return to those issues.”

It remains to be seen whether the Congressional race will actually focus on those issues. For now, the attention seems to be firmly on Mr. Fossella rather than his opponents, or the issues.

Meanwhile CREW filed an ethics complaint against Fossella because he used taxpayer funds to court his illegal second wife on whirlwind tours around Europe.

VITO FOSSELLA LOSING HIS SEAT IN CONGRESS FOR ALL THE WRONG REASONS

I always thought it would take a little 2010 redraw of the Brooklyn part of Vito Fossella's mostly Staten Island-based congressional district-- pushing the Brooklyn section further east towards heavily Democratic Coney Island and Brighton Beach-- to get rid of one of the last Bush rubber stamps in the New York congressional delegation. However, the aftermath of a seemingly innocuous drunk driving arrest seems to be spelling curtains for the reactionary legislator. Fossella is becoming a household name in his own district and causing some residents to laugh and others to feel ashamed and embarrassed. Neither is especially good for what once appeared to be a likely re-election-- especially if it causes some somnolent constituents to start looking into his ultra right-wing and out-of-touch voting record, a record that panders to the corporate interests that have financed his political career, while consistently sticking it to the workers and consumers who have voted for him-- and a record that has given Bush and Cheney blank checks on Iraq and on almost every domestic issue that has made voters feel that America is on the wrong track.

Fossella was arrested last Thursday in Virginia, with a blood alcohol level of 0.17 — over twice the legal limit in the state. If found guilty, he would have to serve five days in jail, an outcome analysts said could present major political problems.

“The prospect of jail time would make it very hard for him to run again,” said Cook Political Report House analyst David Wasserman. “The difference between serving jail time and pleading down to a lesser charge makes a huge difference in Fossella’s political future.”

But Fossella’s problems don’t end there. On Monday, the New York Daily News ran a front-page story about his relationship with a “mystery woman,” Laura Fay, a retired Air Force officer who posted his bail even though Fossella’s chief of staff lives nearby.

None of this sounds too deadly, right? Dig a little deeper and you find the probems. Fossella was abusive towards the police officers and lied to them, telling them he was going to take his sick daughter to the hospital. Unless "his sick daughter" is a love child by Laura Fay, he was doing no such thing. ["Fay has a 3-year-old daughter and is a single mom. The Post quotes a 'relative' of Fay's who says the woman was 'vague' about who fathered the child.] Meanwhile, Fossella and his pal were so drunk that they were kicked out of a bar after the friend passed out. Neither was capable of driving.

I was just pondering something in Arianna Huffington's new book, Right Is Wrong, a quote from paradoxical English writer G.K. Chesterton: "If there is one thing worse than the modern weakening of major morals, it is the modern strengthening of minor morals." Fossella is guilty of both but it is less likely he will be defeated for screaming about supporting  the troops while almost always voting against the well-being of active duty military personnel and veterans. Instead-- the way Al Capone went to jail for income tax evasion instead of murder-- Fossella may well be forced out of Congress for failing "a sobriety test by reciting the alphabet wrong, swaying while standing on one leg and stumbling while trying to walk a straight line." Oh, and because "Susan Del Percio, a crisis management consultant hired after the arrest, refused to answer 'yes' or 'no' when asked if Fossella fathered Fay's daughter."

Friends in DC have been telling me all morning that the die is cast and it's "bye-bye, Vito" time in Washington. And this afternoon's Washington Post seems to reflect all that chatter.

GOP political insiders say Fossella, whose blood-alcohol content was more than twice the legal limit when he was busted at 12:15 a.m. last Thursday, stands little chance of running for reelection at this point, and their Democratic counterparts agree. Buzz on the Hill and around town Wednesday was that Fossella would be announcing sooner rather than later that he won't seek another term in what has quickly become a hotly contested seat for embattled Republicans. Fossella was not voting in the House Wednesday.

According to May 1 police report, a copy of which was obtained by the Sleuth, Fossella told police he was on his way to pick up his sick daughter at her home in Alexandria and take her to the hospital. But the next day at a news conference, Fossella said he was driving to the suburbs in the wee hours of the morning to see friends.

Fossella was specific with the arresting officer about where he was headed. He gave a street name where he said he was picking up his daughter. That street, it turns out, is the same street where retired Lt. Col. Laura Fay lives with her three-year-old daughter. Fay, according to the New York Daily News, picked up Fossella from the police station.

...GOP aides speaking on the condition of anonymity said they expected Fossella would announce imminently that he won't seek reelection.

UPDATE: VITO'S ADMITS HE'S THE DADDY

So people have more than one family in places other than Utah and Texas! Here's Fossella's press release he sent out a few minutes ago:

“I have had a relationship with Laura Fay, with whom I have a three year old daughter.

"My personal failings and imperfections have caused enormous pain to the people I love and I am truly sorry.

"While I understand that there will be many questions, including those about my political future, making any political decisions right now are furthest from my mind.

“Over the coming weeks and months, I will to continue to do my job and I will work hard to heal the deep wounds I have caused.”

When we were hiking this morning, I told my friend Cynthia about Fossella's foibles. "Is he gay too?" she asked. And then inquired if he was attending two churches.

FOSSELLA MESS JUST KEEPS GETTING MESSIER AND MESSIER

Will Fossella be an excuse in Mississippi tomorrow?

Inside the Beltway Republican leaders, desperate to get Fossella and the image of drunken and hypocritical Republican congressmen with multiple wives out of the news as fast as possible, are threatening Fossella with serious criminal actions if he doesn't resign and making sure he knows there will be no financial support for him from the GOP. (Over the weekend he floated trial balloons about continuing on as a member of Congress and of even running again in November, trial balloons that were bolstered by a SUSA poll that shows Staten Island constituents still support him. Democrats are praying that he stays in the race as well.) This morning CREW called for Fossella to resign; wow, they agree with Boehner!

The serious criminal action alluded to above involves Fossella's boondoggle trips to Europe with his mistress-- at taxpayer expense. This morning's NY Daily News is all over it.

Democratic and GOP congressional officials are scrutinizing Rep. Vito Fossella's mysterious and pricey January 2003 trip to France, the Daily News has learned.

He was the sole lawmaker authorized to go-- and his mistress is suspected of joining him.

The Staten Island Republican visited La Hague, France, supposedly on a "fact-finding" mission.

Lawmakers commonly visit La Hague to tour its nuclear fuel reprocessing plants, which have 6,000 people on its payroll, making it the largest employer in the region.

But "it's highly unusual for a member to go on the France trip alone, as he did," said a committee source.

Now the question is whether Fossella was less interested in nuclear power than in fueling a relationship with retired Air Force Col. Laura Fay: Last week he admitted fathering Fay's 3-year-old daughter.

...House leaders are also eying Fossella's other overseas jaunts, since Fay is known to have traveled with him on official business more than once.

Fossella could be ordered to repay taxpayers for his whopping travel expenses if they conclude he mingled pleasure with business, sources said.

Team Fossella has refused to answer questions about the France trip, despite discrepancies in his official records.

Not that Fossella is the first Republican elected official in NY with multiple families. Way back in 1987 the Republican Party County chairman of the Bronx, state Senator Guy Velella, admitted he had two families, a legal wife and 4 children in NYC and a girlfriend and child in Albany, more conveniently situated. He was re-elected several times but was finally defeated after an unrelated criminal episode came out regarding fixed contracts and other typically GOP shenanigans.

Perhaps more damaging to Fossella's determination to rescue his political career are the reports that his wife (the legal wife, Mary Pat) is going to divorce him for adultry. The longtime "family values" Republican has been living a double lie, telling each woman that she was the only one.

A close family friend said Fossella's wife was considering divorce - and if so, planned to go after the house and custody of the couple's three children.

"She's mad," said the source, who asked not to be identified. "She wants to move on."

Fossella's court appearance for his drunken driving charges, originally scheduled for today, has been postponed.


UPDATE: VITO DOESN'T LOVE ALL WOMEN-- HE HATES HIS GAY SISTER

Self-righteous prig that he is, Mr. Two-Family Values Fossella "shuns his gay sister, Victoria Fossella refusing to go to family events if she and her partner attend." A vicious homophobe bordering on mental illness, Fossella "demanded housing funds be held back from San Francisco unless it repealed its domestic partnership law" and he "voted for the Marriage Protection Amendment, a federal prohibition on gay marriage." Most repulsive of all-- and despite his sister and her partner having adopted twins-- Fossella "voted to prohibit any funding for joint adoptions by gay couples."

Vito Fossella Looking To Run Again in 2010? And What About Norm Coleman's Corruption Case?

Republicans, always and forever the America First Party, are happy as clams about Rod Blagojevich's arrest. In their dreams the worm has turned and the pendulum has swung. But if they were smart they'd forget about Blagojevich and William Jefferson and let the law take care of those two and instead concentrate of Nancy Pelosi's stubborn refusal to take hard lines on unindicted criminals like Charlie Rangel, George Bush and Dick Cheney. Rangel should have been forced out of his Ways & Means Chair months ago and Pelosi's gross dereliction of duty inherent in preventing the impeachment of Bush and Cheney makes her an accessory after the fact in their long catalogue of crimes. And over on the Senate side, I believe Ted Stevens' 7 criminal indictments were greeted not with a serious ethics investigation but with a standing ovation. There are tapes of that; none of those people applauding him should be eligible to continue serving in the Senate. Why can't Harry Reid keep that body of geezers in line?

And speaking of people who shouldn't be eligible to serve in Congress, Vito Fossella hasn't even served his 5 days in jail yet-- let alone explained why he happens to have two families, one in NY and one in northern Virginia-- and he's already serving everyone in Staten Island who will come bagels and lox. His brunch this Sunday is widely viewed as a first dip of the toe back into the addictive waters of politics for the disgraced Fossella.

[I]t seems that event organizers, including members of the Fossella family, are having difficulty getting ordinary rank-and-file Republicans to come to the 11:30 a.m. event.

"They're having trouble getting people," said source with knowledge of the event. "Apparently they're not getting enthusiasm. Don't forget, it's Christmas time. On the other hand, a lot of people might be thinking, 'What can he do for me now?'"

...The Fossellas are billing the Hilton soiree as "thank you" party for supporters, but some believe that Fossella is using the shindig as a way to gauge support for a possible run at McMahon in 2010.

If that's the case, insiders said, Fossella might be disappointed at the turnout, especially with Republicans, including elected officials, being pressed to bring along enough people to stock a table of 12.

"I'm having a hard time," admitted one Republican. "It's, like, 10 days from Christmas. People are going to be away or putting up their trees, or shopping."

Any poor attendance at the brunch should be attributed to the holiday season, he hastened to add, and shouldn't be used as a measure of Fossella's popularity.

Not every Republican sees it quite that way. In fact, the top GOP dog on Staten Island, Guy Molinari, seems to feel that Fossella's future in politics hinges on the brunch. "The bottom line is how many people show up to his event. If a lot of people show up, it would be an indication that he’s very popular and would be a formidable candidate.” With $220,000 in his election fund and a household name, Fossella is eager to challenge conservative Democratic freshman Michael McMahon in 2010. But former state Assemblyman/hot dog vendor Bob Straniere, who ran against McMahon last month and was tounced 105,128- 57,530, is less optimistic about the Republican Party's future in the Staten Isaldn/Brooklyn district. “Republicans can still succeed selectively, but the congressional seat is now lost forever,” he told yesterday's Hill.

And while we're on the subject of political corruption and investigations thereof, many outside of Minnesota are unaware that the intense vote count battle between Al Franken and Norm Coleman is taking place in the context of an FBI investigation into Coleman's corrupt behavior. One of Coleman's cronies, Nasser Kazeminy, paid the senator off, to the tune of at least $100,000, through Coleman's wife, Laurie, who has acted as a kind of moll in a crime syndicate, not unlike John Doolittle's wife and Tom Delay's wife.

Kazeminy tried improperly to send money from his company in Texas to Coleman through Coleman's wife's insurance company in Minneapolis and then forged a bogus contract in an attempt to cover-up the improprieties. Kazeminy has also been flying Coleman and his family around on private planes.

Some in Minnesota are comparing Coleman's corruption-- still in the investigation stages-- with Blagojevich's corruption, now being played out on the front pages on the nation's mass media.

In both cases, the charges are that illegal payoffs to the elected official would be masked as payment of work performed by the wife. The monetary amounts are in the same ballpark: Laurie Coleman’s company received $75,000 and was to be paid $25,000, while the salary proposed for Patricia Blagojevich ran as high as $150,000.

One difference: In the Colemans’ case, payments-- which haven’t been shown to be illegal, and whose propriety Sen. Coleman has insisted on-- were actually made, not just talked about during wiretapped conversations.

...Here are allegations concerning Laurie Coleman contained in the first of two lawsuits filed in Texas against Coleman benefactor and family friend Nasser Kazaminy and Deep Marine Technologies, Incorporated (DMT):

… Kazeminy told Mr. McKim [former CEO of DMT] that he [Kazeminy] would make sure there was paperwork to make it appear as though the payments were in connection with legitimate transactions, explaining further that Senator Coleman’s wife, Laurie, worked for the Hays Companies (”Hays”), an insurance broker in Minneapolis, and the payments could be made to Hays for insurance…

Hays provides risk management, insurance, and employee benefits consulting. It is also the employer of Senator Coleman’s wife, Laurie, who is an aspiring actress and holds no insurance licenses in the State of Texas. Kazeminy informed Messrs. McKim and [former DMT CFO B.J.] Thomas that Hays would funnel the money from DMT to Senator Coleman through the payment of compensation to his wife, Laurie, and that there was nothing to worry about. Laurie Coleman never provided any type of services or products to DMT…

Specifically, Defendants breached their fiduciary duties by: (1) directing improper payments to Hays for the benefit Senator Norm Coleman [sic] and his spouse for no legitimate business purpose …

Staten Island-- The Craziest Congressional Race Anywhere

On Saturday we explained why the much-hated Republican hot dog vendor-- hated by Republicans-- had virtually no chance of winning the Staten Island (plus a bit of Brooklyn) congressional seat that was abandoned by Bush rubber stamp Vito Fossella after he was caught with two families. We accepted that the likely next congressman would be, by default, a very conservative Democratic hack from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party, Michael McMahon.

But then there was a new and bizarre development. On Sunday, some Fossella cronies sent up a trial balloon that their man was back in the race and that the hot dog vendor was being convinced to give up his pointless place on the ballot-- in return for a judicial appointment.

"It's absolutely true," a source close to Fossella said of rumors that Fossella and his allies are quietly plotting his comeback.

Voters in the 13th Congressional District got polling calls about Fossella this weekend, the Staten Island Advance reported Sunday.

There's only one problem: The election lineup is already set.

...A candidate can only be bumped off the ballot now if they die, move out of state or are nominated to run for a judgeship.

Both Straniere and Atanasio are lawyers and eligible for the bench - and there are plenty of open races throughout the city and state.

Straniere isn't universally supported by Staten Island Republicans. He only got the party's nod after the abrupt death of Frank Powers, its first-choice pick. Even then, insiders suspected Straniere's ability to switch and run for a judgeship was part of his appeal.

With Fossella's trial scheduled for October-- right in the midst of an election campaign-- many thought this was an impossible scenario... although it is Staten Island. But then late yesterday, Fossella issued a statement saying he's not running after all.

“I am deeply humbled by the outpouring of support that I have received from people throughout the district through these difficult times, but I am not a candidate for Congress,” Mr. Fossella said in a statement released by his office. “As I have stated before, my priorities are my family and serving the people of Staten Island and Brooklyn.”

Obviously Fossella being back in Congress and him "serving the people of Staten Island and Brooklyn" are mutually exclusive. Straniere, the hot dog vendor, breathed a sigh of relief when he was informed that he could continue his hopeless run for Congress/. “I am the Republican candidate in the 13th Congressional District,” he said in an interview on Monday afternoon. “I won overwhelmingly in the Republican primary and I’m running for Congress. I have been strongly supported by the Fossella family. In fact, the congressman’s father was with me on primary night. I have no idea where these rumors come from.”

WILL VITO TRY TO STAY IN CONGRESS CLAIMING HE KNOWS MORE ABOUT FAMILIES BECAUSE HE HAS TWO?

Pressure is mounting on Fossella to resign or at least announce that he won't be seeking re-election, so that the GOP has at least a chance to hold on to the last New York City congressional district they hold. But, even as he announced that he is the father of Laura Fay's 3 year old daughter, he refused to answer any questions about his political future. The New York media is having a field day as his moralistic "Family Values" hypocrisy is exposed.

Embarrassing for the McCain campaign, of course, is the fact that Fossella is on the McCain New York Finance Committee (see below). McCain is expected to toss him off the Double Talk Express-- mouthing concern for the both families-- just as he did when Rep. Renzi was indicted. All the papers in NY, even the Times carried Fossella's terse admission:

I have had a relationship with Laura Fay, with whom I have a three-year-old daughter.

My personal failings and imperfections have caused enormous pain to the people I love and I am truly sorry.

While I understand that there will be many questions, including those about my political future, making any political decisions right now are furthest from my mind.

Over the coming weeks and months, I will to continue to do my job and I will work hard to heal the deep wounds I have caused.

The Times also points out that "Mr. Fossella, 43, was driving with a blood-alcohol level more than twice the legal limit when he was pulled over. He faces a mandatory five days in jail if convicted. The House ethics committee also could open an investigation into the matter.

...Mr. Fossella and his wife, the former Mary Patricia Rowan, have two sons and a daughter. On Wednesday, Mr. Fossella attended a confirmation ceremony for his oldest child, Dylan, at St. Clare’s Roman Catholic Church in the Great Kills neighborhood of Staten Island, before returning to Washington."

Even before Fossella finally admitted he has two families, the Daily News was tightening the noose around his political career, painting a picture of the congressman as a lothario neglecting his duties to pursue Fay (at the taxpayers' expense) and making it clear that GOP insiders want nothing to do with him.

Republican campaign officials warned donors he was a "huge problem" going into the fall elections.

Some even told donors to withhold checks to Fossella, inside sources said.

Party officials were losing confidence Fossella could hold onto his seat even if he survived fallout from his drunken-driving arrest in Alexandria, Va., last week, the sources said.

...Fay was using her married name, Shoaf, in late July 2003 when she took charge of arranging a trip to Europe for a delegation led by then-House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) to meet with war allies.

When the congressional delegation made stops in Britain, Denmark, the Netherlands and Spain, Shoaf and Fossella often disappeared together, three sources on the trip said.

"She wasn't around as much as I expected her to be," said one source on the trip. "He wasn't around much, either."

Fossella and Fay apparently missed a dinner in honor of Hastert thrown by the Welsh first minister on July 27, another source remembered.

Fay's absences in particular rankled Hastert's aides, the sources confirmed. Fay was the newly minted chief Air Force liaison officer in the House.

Click to enlarge

The Daily News is conducting a poll about Fossella's political future. You can vote and see the results here. As of 1:30PM Staten Island time:




UPDATE: BOEHNER WANTS FOSSELLA TO RESIGN

According to this morning's CQPolitics Fossella can expect no life-preserver from Minority Leader John Weepy Boehner. “I think Mr. Fossella is going to have some decisions to make over the weekend,’’ Boehner told reporters. “This is a decision between him, his family and his constituents.’’ Harsh-- and which family?

REPUBLICAN PARTY'S LATEST SPIN CYCLE-- THEY'RE AGENTS OF CHANGE

We've tried to cover the jaw-dropping spin coming from the various committees that make up the Republican Party's Inside the Beltway Establishment as they make excuse after excuse for their abysmal losing streak in the Special elections of late. We even did a little video clip, a special one. Today's Washington Post finds we're not the only ones who think the GOP should stop spinning and start a process of serious self-examination.

Most party insiders pray that they'll manage to scrape by in the GOP stronghold in northern Mississippi and can banish the unpleasant idea of any kind introspective analysis for a few more months. But even as conservative and Stepford-like a hack as Texas' Jeb Hensarling realizes a time for reckoning is upon them: "It's a time of sober reflection and, to some extent, resolve. I hope these special elections are a wake-up call."

After the party was devastated and demoralized by shocking defeats in overwhelmingly Republican districts in Illinois and Louisiana NRCC chairman Tom Cole (R-OK) blamed the low calibre of Republican candidates, although not as a way of looking in the mirror and examining how extreme the party has become or how out of sync their positions are from the aspirations and judgments of everyday Americans. He mentioned that the party is out of money and that if they had another big messy scandal in the headlines they'd be sunk.

As if on cue, within days, the tale of Staten Island's hypocritical congressman Vito Fossella starts unfolding like a soap opera on TV. "Just when Republicans thought they had seen everything, Rep. Vito Fossella (R-N.Y.) admitted Thursday that he has a 3-year-old daughter from a long-running extramarital affair with a retired Air Force officer. Fossella, who is married and has three young children at home in Staten Island, is also facing drunken-driving charges in Virginia. GOP strategists are debating whether he should resign or announce that he will not seek reelection in November. Fossella's resignation [expected this week] would mean another special election, this one in the nation's most expensive media market."

If they lose Tuesday in Mississippi it will clearly be because they haven't learned anything at all from watching which way the wind is blowing. The NRCC and right-wing front groups are still pouring millions of dollars into the campaign to poison the atmosphere with irrelevant filth about Reverend Jeremiah Wright, as though that is going to make up for Republican policies that have wrecked the economy and left us stranded in a no-win war in Iraq.

Independent analysts agree that a loss Tuesday would leave Republicans with no excuses. They blamed poor candidates in races in Louisiana and Illinois, where the GOP lost a special election for the seat long held by former House speaker J. Dennis Hastert.

"The Republicans would be ignoring reality if they try to explain away this race," said Nathan Gonzales, political editor of the Rothenberg Political Report.
Since 1994, Republican Roger Wicker has been reelected to his House seat with between 63 and 79 percent of the vote.

But with Wicker appointed to the Senate to fill the seat vacated by Trent Lott, who retired, Republicans are having difficulty unifying behind Greg Davis, the mayor of Southaven, a Memphis suburb in the northwest corner of the 1st District. Davis beat a Republican from the eastern portion of the district in the March primary. That win puts Davis on the ballot in November, whether he wins or loses this week's special election.

Democrat Travis Childers, a court officer in Prentiss County, came within a few hundred votes of outright victory in the first round of special-election balloting April 22, prompting national Republicans to send out an SOS for Tuesday's runoff. Davis, the NRCC and conservative allies have flooded the airwaves with a multimillion-dollar campaign that tries to negatively tie Childers to Pelosi and Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.).

This is the second special election this month in which House Republicans have tried to turn the race into a referendum on a Democratic candidate's ties to Obama. The strategy was unsuccessful in Louisiana, but Republicans view the Mississippi district as more receptive because it is slightly more conservative and has fewer African American voters.

But while Tom Cole doubles down on the negative campaigning and puts the whole bankroll of Rev. Wright, less extremist minds within the party realize it's a strategy with little hope for success.

Tom Davis, who chaired the NRCC for four years, said he doubts the effectiveness of the anti-Obama strategy because of the contrast between the consistently unpopular Bush and the likely Democratic nominee.

"When Bush tries to articulate a vision," Davis said, pausing to choose his words carefully, "he will butcher the Gettysburg Address. Obama, he will make an A&P grocery list sing."
House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), in a private meeting with Republicans on Tuesday, admitted the limitations of the anti-Obama strategy and tried to sell his troops on an Obama-like message of "change" as their only hope for success.

"We can't win SOLELY by tying our opponents to Barack Obama and his liberal views. We also have to prove Republicans are agents of change," Boehner told his colleagues, according to talking points prepared by his staff and provided to the Post.

With the party's presidential nominee having rubber stamped every significant agenda item on the Bush-Cheney agenda, spinning the GOP into agents of change isn't likely to get much traction, not even in northern Mississippi. And the Republican congressional leadership will have a difficult time transforming the GOP image as the party of obstruction and rubber stamp docility for a hated and failed president into one that stands for any kind of acceptable change-- unless they can convince people that more war, more deregulation, more greed and avarice, more corruption and more divisiveness is the kind of change they're looking for. Sounds like a tough row to hoe. GOP professional propagandists share, at least to some extent, the myopia of the party's leaders. "The political environment isn't as bad as it was in 2006 when Republicans lost both houses of Congress and a lot more," writes the cloistered and clueless Fred Barnes in the Weekly Standard. Still he has to admit that "more than 80 percent of Americans believe the nation is heading in the wrong direction. Democrats have steadily maintained the 10 percentage point lead in voter preference they gained two years ago. And President Bush's job performance rating is stuck in the low 30s, a level of unpopularity that weakens the Republican case for holding the White House in 2008." Maybe what they need to do is listen to a little Velvet Underground, something I suspect not many of them were doing back in the 60's and 70's.




UPDATE: IS ROY BLUNT TRYING TO SABOTAGE McCAIN? OR IS HE JUST STUPID?

Think Progress found a major discrepancy between two McCain surrogates, Mitt Romney and Roy Blunt. Both were in CNN's Late Edition this morning-- but with very different messages about what NcCain would be if-- God forbid-- he ever got to the White House. Romney claims McCain will be a big change from the failed and hated policies of the Bush Regime. Blunt, perhaps more honest than Willard would ever be, admits that McCain is just the same snake oil in another vial:

BLITZER: So it would be in effect a third Bush term when it came to pro-growth tax policies?

BLUNT: It would be. I think it would be. And I think that’s a good thing.

The World Does Not Begin And End With Sarah Palin-- Sure She's Corrupt But She's Just Like So Many Other Slimy Political Hacks

"When racism comes to America, it'll be wrapped in bacon and wearing lipstick."

The headlines may be filled with the latest Palin story-- not the son who cut the school bus breaks and kept getting busted on drug charges and not the daughter who slept with half the guys in town, but Sarah's own multiple examples of stealing from the public purse.

Ms. Palin received a “per diem” expense allowance for 312 nights she spent at her home in Wasilla, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday.

The $60-a-day allowance is available for state employees when traveling on official state business to cover meals and other sundry expenses. Ms. Palin’s per diems, which included some charges for partial days, totaled $17,059, from Dec. 4, 2006, when she took office, through June 30, 2008, the most recent data available, according to Sharon Leighow, a spokeswoman for the governor’s office. Ms. Palin’s salary is $125,000 a year.

Ms. Palin was able to receive the allotment while she was at home because her official “duty station” is listed as Juneau, the state capital, aides said. That allowed Ms. Palin to file for per diems while she was working out of her Anchorage office and commuting from her home about 45 miles away in Wasilla. Juneau is nearly 600 miles away.

The practice of billing for staying at home seems to be unusual. Many officials said it would not be allowed in their states, including California, Pennsylvania and South Carolina, as well as other jurisdictions. On the federal level, officials said members of Congress do not get per diem allowances for routine home visits.

And, of course, it isn't just the NY Times giving us the real scoop on this crooked hack. The biggest newspaper in Alaska, the Anchorage Daily News pointed out today that her and the rest of the trashy family weren't suffering with Ramen noodles while she could access taxpayer's money. They claim the myth the McCain camp has manufactured for her-- that she's a maverick and a pork-fighting watchdog, is wearing very thin very fast. Normally the state of Alaska pays for meals for the governor and the first family when they are in Juneau.

In Palin's case, the state is also paying for at least some meals when she's staying in Wasilla. Like other state officials, she's entitled to $60 a day "per diem" for food and incidentals, such as tips, while traveling on state business. State rules say that if your job stations you in Juneau or Anchorage, but you live in another part of the state, you can still get the meal money when visiting your hometown, said Linda Perez, director of administrative services for the governor.

...The last governor from Southcentral Alaska was Tony Knowles, who said he leased out his Anchorage home while in office.

"When you're living at home, you don't pay yourself for living at home," Knowles, a Democrat, said in an interview Tuesday. "And if you use a technicality to get around that rule so you can get paid for it, it's not right."

But this morning CREW, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, reminds us that Sarah Palin is far from an anomaly. Like her running mate, Mr. Keating Five, she fits right into the sleazy image of DC. CREW just released their latest list of The 20 Most Corrupt Members of Congress-- except there were so many they had to include 24. On this year's list of 24, at least half are under investigation and/or already indicted: Ken Calvert (R-CA), John Doolittle (R-CA), Tom Feeney (R-FL), Vito Fossella (R-NY), William Jefferson (D-LA), Jerry Lewis (R-CA), Alan Mollohan (D-WV), Gary Miller (R-CA), Tim Murphy (R-PA), Rick Renzi (R-AZ), Don Young (R-AK) and Ted Stevens (R-AK). So far two who look like among the most likely to wind up in prison for a long time, have announced their retirements from Congress, John Doolittle and Rick Renzi, as has Congressman Vito Fossella, who was pulled over for driving drunk and wound up admitting that he has two families, one back on Staten Island and one closer to her DC office.

Melanie Sloan from CREW was pretty hard: "With soaring gas prices, a housing market in crisis, rising unemployment, and a nation at war, elected officials should be prioritizing their constituents' needs over their own self-interests. Unfortunately, the members of Congress listed in CREW's Most Corrupt report have decided that their personal needs are paramount to those they represent. This report holds them accountable for those choices."

And this year's losers are:

• Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL)
• Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA)
• John T. Doolittle (R-CA)
• Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL)
• Rep. Vito J. Fossella (R-NY)
• Rep. William J. Jefferson (D-LA)
• Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-LA)
• Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA)
• Rep. Daniel Lipinski (D-IL)
• Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
• Rep. Gary G. Miller (R-CA)
• Rep. Alan B. Mollohan (D-WV)
• Rep. Timothy F. Murphy (R-PA)
• Rep. John P. Murtha (D-PA)
• Rep. Steve Pearce (R-NM)
• Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-NY)
• Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ)
• Rep. Harold Rogers (R-KY)
• Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK)
• Rep. Don Young (R-AK)

Dishonorable mentions

• Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)
• Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN)
• Rep. Laura Richardson (D-CA)
• Rep. Michael Turner (R-OH)

And if Palin doesn't work out...

Meanwhile, that still leaves us to answer the question everyone in America wants answered-- is Sarah Palin garbage? Did you think the Republicans could rise to the occasion of actually finding something even worse than Bush and Cheney to thrust down our throats? Did you think your fellow countrymen could be persuaded to swallow it?




UPDATE: CONSERVATIVE ANDREW SULLIVAN IS DISILLUSIONED WITH McCAIN IN A VERY DEEP WAY

Short version: McCain is unworthy of the respect you would give one of the homeless veterans he has consistently voted to deprive of human dignity. Slightly longer version: Rove and his disciples are driving the Double Talk Express and McCain doesn't care what they do as long as he can win. "On core moral issues, where this man knew what the right thing was, and had to pick between good and evil, he chose evil." And he's been on this shameful road for years now; not a surprise for many, but earth-shattering for poor Sullivan. Full version: here.

CAN WE HEAR A FEW BARS OF "ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST" IN HONOR OF VITO FOSSELLA

As we predicted last week, he isn't going to resign before July, which would give Governor Paterson an opportunity to call a special election. Instead he'll just resign after that (or maybe stick it out until January)-- and, of course, not run in November. He sat down with the Staten Island Advance and explained that he won't be seeking a sixth term. "After a great deal of consideration, I have made the decision not to seek re-election to the United States House of Representatives this November. This choice was an extremely difficult one, balanced between my dedication to service to our great nation and the need to concentrate on healing the wounds that I have caused to my wife and family." He doesn't mention which wife or which family.

This morning's NY Times speculates that the pressure he was getting from panic-stricken Republicans in Washington was too much for him to resist. John Boehner has already picked a successor, Staten Island D.A., Daniel M. Donovan

Mr. Fossella’s decision comes just before the Staten Island Republican Party’s executive committee is to interview candidates for office-- a meeting set for Wednesday. It also comes a few weeks before candidates for office in the fall are required to begin collecting signatures for petitions to be eligible to run.

The decision also sends tremors through the Republican Party on Staten Island, as it seeks to find a replacement on the party’s ballot for Mr. Fossella in November.

Another potential Republican candidate is state Senator Andrew D. Lanza, a longtime friend of Mr. Fossella’s. But Mr. Lanza would face intense pressure from Republican leaders in Albany, who are highly reluctant to see anything that might weaken their already slim majority in Albany.

Two Democrats are seeking the congressional seat: Stephen A. Harrison, a Brooklyn lawyer who fared better than previous opponents, winning 43 percent of the vote. The other is City Councilman Domenic M. Recchia Jr.

For years, Mr. Fossella has presented himself as a family-values moderate Republican. He has also been a strong supporter of President Bush and Vice President Cheney.

But the Congressman has been criticized by Democrats, who contend that his continued support of the war in Iraq has put him out of touch with the district.

Furthermore, they say, Staten Island has been hit hard by the nation’s mortgage crisis and health care has deteriorated.

The NY Daily News has a juicier version of the story and, unlike the Old Gray Lady, mentions "love child" and the "love junkets" and includes a photo of his other wife.

Of pals at the Albany Project have all the details of the Democrats and Republicans tossing their hats into the ring now that Fossella has admitted it's over.

TWO INTERESTING PRIMARIES IN NYC-- STATEN ISLAND AND BEDFORD STUYVESANT

Ever since the inebriated only NYC GOP congressman, Vito Fossella, from Staten Island, was pulled over in Virginia and started painfully unraveling his very sordid life in public-- yes, he's the pro-family values Republican with two families, one back home (the official one) and one in Virginia (closer to the office)-- it has looked likely that New York Democrats might turn a 4th red seat blue in November. With Eric Massa, Jon Powers and Dan Maffei all ready to join next year's freshman class, suddenly Steve Harrison was looking like a contender. Just this morning, in fact, Congressional Quarterly changed it's rating from No Clear Favorite to Democrat Favored.

John Boehner, who forced Fossella to declare he wouldn't run again, tried inserting his own candidate but he was turned down-- 4 times. The GOP got stuck with a political nonentity, Frank Powers, a self-funder with an influential wife... and a son, also named Frank Powers, who said he would run against him-- and then the senior Powers died on June 22. With the primary coming up Sept. 9, GOP leaders have all but given up trying to find a consensus candidate. The Brooklyn Republican Boss, Ed Eaton, is backing another rich, retired investment banker Paul Atanasio, but Staten Island Republicans, who have more say-so in the selection, aren't getting on board, partially because Atanasio lives in Brooklyn and not State Island but also because he isn't even a registered Republican, but a member of the Conservative Party.

Brooklyn political consultant Gerry O’Brien, who works with clients from both major parties, said Republicans’ recruiting problems all but assured Democrats would win the 13th District in November.

“It’s flabbergasting. That’s the only word I can think of. It is as if they seem intent on serving this seat up to Democrats on a silver platter with chocolate mints around the edge,” O’Brien said.

Not so fast, though. The Democrats have their own battle for the nomination going on. It isn't between Brooklyn and Staten Island parties though. Both have endorsed conservative Democratic insider City Councilman Michael McMahon. In fact, he's so conservative that he went to the Conservative Party and asked for their endorsement-- and nearly got it! But even though Harrison had been endorsed by Chuck Schumer early on and even though Harrison had come closer to beating Fossella in 2006 than any other challenger had previously, the insidious DCCC declared McMahon their preferred candidate.

Democrats had put the 13th District on their prospective target list after the 2006 election, when underfunded candidate Stephen Harrison held Fossella to 57 percent, the lowest vote share of his congressional career. They wasted no time in ramping up their takeover effort after Fossella, then still a heavy favorite to win re-election, saw his House career disintegrated by scandal.

The national party quickly coalesced behind McMahon, even though Harrison, a lawyer, has entered the September Democratic primary and argues he earned the shot by taking on the reputedly unbeatable Fossella last time. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee announced it has reserved $2.1 million in New York City television time for the race and has added McMahon to its “Red to Blue” programs for candidates running competitive bids for Republican-held seats.

McMahon has the backing from the Democratic Establishment. Harrison, on the other hand, is on the right side of all the important issues. It should be an interesting primary battle. The Republicans' dilemma is worse. Hot dog vendor Robert Straniere, who is detested by the Republican power-structure, has tossed his hat into the ring. Staten Island longtime GOP political boss, Guy Molinari, "described Mr. Straniere’s chances of being supported by the Republican leadership as 'impossible.' He said that Mr. Straniere 'would not be at all acceptable to the Republican Party. I would speculate that 98 percent of the Republican County Committee would say, "No dice." They would rather vote for a Democrat than for Straniere.'” Especially a right-of-center Democrat like McMahon.

But picking between a Democrat who is likely to vote with the Republicans on key issues next year and one who is underfunded and would have more trouble picking up disgruntled Republican voters, isn't the only problem NYC Democrats are facing. There is a serious challenge in another part of Brooklyn, a very different part of Brooklyn. Yesterday's NY Times focused on the insurgent primary against shady Bedford Stuyvesant/Ft Greene incumbent Edolphus Towns, a corporate shill for Big Pharma and telecoms and one of the notorious CAFTA-15. He's another Al Wynn in terms of voting for The Man both on the bankruptcy bill that has devastated his own constituents and on the estate tax, which is basically fine for people who have hundreds of millions of dollars but not too good for inner city working and middle class families. The Times story doesn't mention any of Towns' many flaws-- a corporate-oriented Democrat in one of the-- if not the-- most Democratic districts in the U.S. (PVI is an astounding D+41.) Instead the Times focuses on Towns' ill-advised support for Hillary Clinton over Obama, something he shared with virtually every other Democratic elected official in New York City.

Brooklyn’s 10th Congressional District, home to more African-Americans than any other in New York, gave Senator Barack Obama his highest margin of victory in the state. But the district’s longtime congressman, Edolphus Towns, did not share his constituency’s preference for Mr. Obama. Now some of those voters are pushing to oust him.

“His decision not to back Obama shows he is out of touch with his constituents,” said N. Chandler, a former city corrections officer who lives in Bedford-Stuyvesant and who had supported Mr. Towns in the past. “And I think the people of this district are ready for a change.”

...An emerging young black political class is seeking to assert the neighborhood’s power against what it sees as an older establishment, based in Harlem, that has long exercised disproportionate influence in New York. The younger Democratic activists link... Mr. Towns, the son of a North Carolina sharecropper and a 25-year veteran in Congress, to that structure.

Mr. Towns cannot afford to take the challenge lightly. Two years ago, he won with less than 50 percent of the vote in a three-way race. The man who is running against him now, Kevin Powell, is a community organizer who has the backing of celebrities like the comedian Dave Chappelle, who is scheduled to headline a fund-raiser for Mr. Powell. [He was on the first season of MTV's The Real World back in 1992, "the brooding, angst-ridden young black man with the hi-top fade" and then went on to be a star journalist for Vibe Magazine.]

Jordan Thomas, who led the organization Brooklyn for Barack, and Arthur Leopold, a fund-raiser for the Obama campaign, are backing Mr. Powell, as are several Democratic clubs, including the Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats, in part because of members’ disappointment after Mr. Towns backed Mrs. Clinton.

The Times does its readers a disservice to imply that the whole reason for the battle is because of Towns' support for Hillary in the primary. As City Limits explains, there are plenty of reasons for dissatisfaction with Towns in Brooklyn. And plenty of reasons for enthusiasm for Powell.

If elected, he would become the first and the most identifiable member of the hip-hop generation ever to serve in the U.S. Congress. On national issues, both Powell and Towns oppose the war in Iraq and support a single-payer healthcare system. But while campaigning on Memorial Day, Powell told practically every resident he encountered about the catalyst for his candidacy: The incumbent’s "absent and ineffective advocacy" on a host of local needs. "What we need in Congress from this district, as we enter a new presidential administration and a new decade, is active leadership that deals with the concerns of regular working-class people," he says.

...[C]ritics charge that Towns has become increasingly disconnected in recent years from the constituents he has represented since 1983, citing everything from his apparent failure to follow through on a once-promised effort to help enact a federal empowerment zone for the borough, to his endorsement of U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton during the Democratic presidential primary in a district that heavily favors Obama. "Two years ago, there was already a great deal of dissatisfaction" with Towns, says former Assemblyman Green, who now teaches education policy at Medgar Evers College and plans to withhold his endorsement until the petition signing process concludes July 10. "I don’t think that he’s made up any ground toward improving his relations with the overall community."

Staten Island Primary Pitting Conservative Emanuel-Backed Semi-Democrat Against Progressive Steve Harrison, Heating Up

Chuck Schumer is all about change

The New York State primary is September 9. There aren't many contests we're watching aside from Jon Powers battle against kooky Republican-in-Democratic-clothes, Jack Davis in NY-26, a district stretching from the Buffalo city limits to the Rochester city limits. But there is one more congressional district where the primary is crucial, the Staten Island/Brooklyn district where corrupt Republican Vito Fossella was forced to retire after being caught with two families. I was born in the Brooklyn part of the district and my sister currently lives in the Staten Island part.

In 2006, Brooklyn attorney Steve Harrison challenged Fossella and drew an impressive 43% of the vote. It's the best any Democrat has ever done against Fossella-- and Harrison had no institutional help whatsoever. Fossella spent $1,639,598 on the raise. Harrison spent less than $5,000. Perhaps if brain surgeon Rahm Emanuel had given Harrison a tenth of that $4,556,495 he wasted on Tammy Duckworth in Illinois Steve would have made up the 13,250 vote deficit and won. In any case he seems to have impressed a number of Democrats so much that when he declared he would run against Fossella again, there was a great deal of support. Even NY's senior senator, Chuck Schumer endorsed him, telling his constituents, "I want Stephen Harrison in Washington with me, to fight for the people of Staten Island and Brooklyn. He will not be a rubberstamp, rather he will truly represent his constituents’ interests, on everything from protecting our country to protecting the rights of working families."

But then Fossella got sloppy and got caught and... well, got read out of the GOP. And the race got interesting. Suddenly Democratic Party bosses saw an opportunity to pick up a seat-- and if there was a chance for an actual victory... well the hell with Schumer's happy talk about no rubberstamps. They wanted one-- one who they could count on to not go off and think for himself and work for his constituents' interests instead of the special interests that fund the political racket Inside the Beltway. In steps Emanuel and his team and suddenly Harrison is pushed aside and the inevitable winner is... ultra conservative Staten Island City Councilman, Michael McMahon, the ultimate hack. The Staten Island Conservative Party, which endorses his City Council races, was so impressed with his bellicose pro-war rhetoric that they wanted to endorse him over the Republican. The state party cracked the whip and they didn't.

Monday the NY Times followed the lead of Emanuel, the DCCC and the whole rotten political Insider Establishment and endorsed McMahon. Hillary endorsed McMahon the week before. And somewhere along the way, so did... Schumer. But Harrison-- like John Hall, Carol Shea-Porter, Jerry McNerney, Jon Tester in 2006-- is not buying into the "inevitability" meme the Insiders have sold to the media. He's staying in the race. He's been relying on grassroots organizations-- rather than party bosses-- for endorsements. Both the local and the national Progressive Democrats of America picked him, as did the 504 Democratic Club and the Stonewall Democratic Club of NYC and several Democratic clubs in both Brooklyn and Staten Island. So did Democrats.com and the Democratic Advancement PAC, both of which, like Blue America, work to elect progressives to office. But today Steve's campaign has a major announcement-- an endorsement from the National Organization for Women (NOW). It was an easy endorsement. The conservative McMahon is anti-choice. "NOW PAC is pleased to endorse Steve Harrison for the U.S. House of Representatives from New York," said NOW Political Action Committee Chair Kim Gandy. "We look forward to voters in Staten Island and Brooklyn sending a strong supporter of women's rights to Washington. Steve has the values we need to improve the lives of women and families in this country."

When discussing why NOW didn't follow along with all the other outfits that allow Emanuel to call the shots, Shirley Ranz, chair of the local NOW PAC, said “We were impressed with Steve Harrison’s grasp of and support of our core issues:  constitutional equality for women, reproductive rights, equal economic opportunity, stopping violence against women and ending gender and sexual orientation discrimination.” The NOW endorsement follows an endorsement from Gloria Steinem.

The Secretary of the local NOW chapter explained that “McMahon is a political conservative who opposed choice when his vote counted in NYC Council. We cannot support someone who waivers in his support of our issues to placate his RTL constituency. They have the Republicans for that. Who will speak for women; Steve Harrison!”

Last month a Times story pointed out the stark contrast between the right-wing McMahon from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party and the progressive Harrison. If voters want more of the kinds of corporatist Bush agenda McMahon is the man; for real change, only Harrison fits the bill.

Political labels aside, there are stark differences between the two. Mr. Harrison opposes capital punishment, while Mr. McMahon supports it. The councilman favors nearly all means of addressing the nation’s energy problems, including offshore drilling, something Mr. Harrison opposes. Mr. McMahon supported Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s ultimately unsuccessful congestion pricing plan, while Mr. Harrison opposed it.

On the Iraq war, Mr. Harrison has demanded an immediate withdrawal of American troops, while Mr. McMahon said he supported “a responsible redeployment of our troops in Iraq.”

Mr. Harrison described his opponent as a Johnny-come-lately who entered the race only after Mr. Fossella announced that he would not run for re-election. “I’ve been doing this for the better part of two years,” Mr. Harrison added.

“We have some real differences between us,” Mr. Harrison said in an interview on Friday. “We have a real grass-roots campaign going on and he has support mainly from party officials. He has more money. But most of it came from PACs in Washington.”

Despite Mr. Harrison’s strong showing in 2006, virtually all of the Democratic establishment has endorsed Mr. McMahon, from local officials to Senator Charles E. Schumer and the Democratic members of Congress from New York City. And Representative Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, broke with a longstanding tradition of not taking sides in a primary and also endorsed Mr. McMahon.

"Longstanding tradition?" Emanuel controls the Democratic congressional caucus' media efforts. You can imagine him getting away with that with some hick in bumfuck. But Jonathan P. Hicks bought it for the NY Times. Congratulations Mr. Hick, you win a free subscription to DownWithTyranny.

Staten Island GOP Goes Into Civil War Mode

Manhattan hot dog vendor refuses to move to Staten Island until voters there send him to DC to live

I think I've written more about the Staten Island/Brooklyn district (NY-13) more than almost any district in the country-- mostly because it's just the most comic and tragic. That link will take you to all the posts so I don't have to go through the whole story again about Vito Fossella getting drunk and exposing the fact that he has two families, one in Staten Island and one closer to the DC office and how he was forced to retire and then how the Stalinists from both political party hierarchies tried inserting their own candidates. And then there was this whole mess with a Republican father-son dispute and then the father died and now... well now, the 5 Republican Party bosses sat down in a room and pulled the much-hated hot dog vendor, Robert Straniere, out of a hat and anointed him "candidate." End of story? No way! Staten Island éminence grise, Guy Molinari is ready for a fight.

Four years after he was rejected by the Staten Island Republican organization and by South Shore GOP voters for another term in the state Legislature, former Assemblyman Robert Straniere is the Republican Party pick to run for the House seat being vacated by Rep. Vito Fossella.

Straniere was tabbed by a five-member GOP committee on vacancies last night to replace the late Frank Powers as the party designee for the bi-borough seat. Straniere is now set to battle Dr. Jamshad Wyne, the GOP finance chairman, in a Sept. 9 party primary.

...The Straniere move also drew an acid response from former GOP Borough President Guy Molinari, a longtime Straniere foe.

"I'm terribly outraged by the actions of the committee on vacancies," said Molinari, who already has pledged to work to remove borough GOP chairman John Friscia and other party leaders when they are up for re-election next year. "They couldn't have made a worse mistake. The party was already in desperate shape. They've all but buried it."

Party members and others also have expressed concern about Straniere's real estate and business dealings.

"Two words that strike me: Ethics and morality," said Molinari. "There have been so many questions raised about ethics in government over the last few months, the last thing we could have expected is to see someone put up for office with serious ethical concerns. That's mystifying."

Maybe people in the district would take Straniere more seriously if he lived there. He prefers the glitz of Manhattan-- and was even living there while he was representing State Island in the State Assembly! After that came out, he was defeated in a GOP primary. Now he says that if he wins the election he'll move back to Staten Island. Molinari told the NY Times that he isn't the only prominent Republican that will work for Staniere's defeat. "This man was a candidate for various offices for 20 years, and he brought nothing but grief to the Republican Party. We threw him out of office and got him off of Staten Island. And we don’t want him back.”

What Happens To "Conservatives" Who Supported Bush's Wall Street Bailout Bill?

Different clubs, same mindset

There's been a lot of rumble lately about how angry teabaggers-- the GOP electoral base-- turned on Senator Robert Bennett (R-UT) and ended his political career because of his support for George W. Bush's no-strings-attached Wall Street bailout bill in the fall of 2008. But Bennett was hardly alone among Republican senators giving their Wall Street campaign donors a big fat wet kiss with our tax money. In fact, most Republican senators, 34 of them, voted for it. There's some speculation that the unprecedented drubbing inflicted on Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson Tuesday was largely-- and correctly-- because he was perceived as McConnell's boy and that the overwhelming anti-Grayson vote that saddled the GOP with the unelectable kook Rand Paul, was an anti-McConnell vote. Remember, McConnell didn't just vote for the bailout, he, along with Jon Kyl, Lamar Alexander and Richard Burr, made sure it passed.

Another race that played out badly for a Republican incumbent Tuesday, one who had taken massive-- if thinly veiled-- bribes from the financial sector ($6.4 million), was in Pennsylvania. There 29 year Republican Senator Arlen Specter had been driven out of the GOP after voting for Bush's bailout, tried to seek re-election as a Democrat and was soundly rejected by Democrats in every county in the Commonwealth save three. Among the Republicans who are into the most peril in the November general election are bailout supporters Richard Burr (NC), Chuck Grassley (IA) and John McCain (AZ). Several other bailout supporters-- George Voinovich (OH), Mel Martinez (FL), Kit Bond (MO), Chuck Hagel (NE), and Judd Gregg (NH)-- have retired or are retiring rather than face angry voters.

Things are even more dismal for Republicans bailout supporters in the House. Please recall that when the bill was first voted on, September 29, 2008, Bush was only able to muster 65 Republicans and the bill failed 228-205. Between bribes (called sweeteners) and brute force (applied by bailout advocates John Boehner, Eric Cantor, Pete Sessions and Paul Ryan) when the bill was voted on the next week, it passed 263-171, with 91 Republicans voting in favor. Many have already retired or gone down to defeat.

The first Republican to see his career evaporate because of his support of the no-strings-bailout was Chris Cannon (R-UT), replaced by extreme teabagger Jason Chaffetz, almost immediately after the vote. But Cannon is far from the only Republican House member who lost his seat-- or retired or is retiring now-- after voting for the bailout. Others include:

Barbara Cubin (WY)
Tom Davis (VA)- defeated in a bid for higher office
Vern Ehlers (MI)- retiring this year, afraid to face the voters
Mike Ferguson (NJ)
Vito Fossella (NY)
Wayne Gilchrest (MD)
Dave Hobson (OH)
Joe Knollenberg (MI)
Randy Kuhl (NY)
Ray LaHood (IL)
Jim McCrery (LA)
John McHugh (NY)
Chip Pickering (MS)
Jon Porter (NV)
George Radanovich (CA) -retiring this year, afraid to face the voters
Jim Ramstad (MN)
Ralph Regula (OH)
Tom Reynolds (NY)
Jim Saxton (NJ)
John Shadegg (AZ) -retiring this year, afraid to face the voters
Chris Shays (CT)
Tom Tancredo (CO)- defeated in a bid for higher office
Jim Walsh (NY)
Dave Weldon (FL)
Jerry Weller (IL)
Heather Wilson (NM)- defeated in a bid for higher office

Going into the general election, there are a great many Republicans in a great deal of trouble. Bailout champions currently looking to go on to higher office who are getting blowback for putting their Wall Street cronies ahead of their constituents are Gresham Barrett (SC), Roy Blunt (MO), John Boozman (AR)-- who will really get pounded if anti-bail out Democrat Bill Halter is his opponent instead of bailout queen Blanche Lincoln-- Mike Castle (DE), Mary Fallin (OK), Vito Fossella (NY, on the comeback trail in his mind), Pete Hoekstra (MI), Mark Kirk (IL), Adam Putnam (FL), Paul Ryan (WI), Zach Wamp (TN). Kind of tough for the GOP to claim that they are the party against bailouts when the absolute worst bailout ever was supported by every single House member running for senator or governor or, in Putnam's case, state agriculture commissioner.

And then there are the one's who want to keep their seats. The five California Republican incumbents most likely to lose their seats are Mary Bono Mack, the hated nemesis of all West Coast teabaggers, Ken Calvert, David Dreier, John Campbell, and Dan Lungren, three bailout proponents going into an election cycle with contempt and fervent opposition from the Republican base. Bono Mack and perhaps Calvert will each be hard-pressed to survive their June 8th primaries. Of course, to be fair, it isn't only California Republican incumbents who sold out their constituents for their Wall Street benefactors. Blue Dog Jane Harman-- who calls herself "the best Republican in the Democratic Party" (although not so much this close to an election)-- is likely to lose her primary to Marcy Winograd June 8th. Last night I asked Marcy how she would have handled the request-- even pressure-- swirling around the financial sector problems that led to Bush's bailout. Noting that Harman, the wealthiest Democratic member of the House, didn't reveal-- let alone recuse herself when she voted for the bailout (of her own portfolio)-- that she owned millions of dollars in Goldman Sachs investments-- Marcy didn't back away from drawing the clear distinctions between herself and the incumbent from a policy perspective:

"Before bailing out Wall Street, Congress should have bailed out the American people who were victimized by predatory lenders selling bad loans. Any bail out should have been tied to a moratorium on foreclosures and a 'First Right to Rent' rule, requiring banks to offer homeowners facing foreclosures a chance to rent their homes at market value.

"Had the government included in the bail-out low interest loans for such homeowners, we would not be facing massive foreclosures, blighted neighborhoods, lower property values, and county coffers starved for money for social services. Instead, Washington politicians turned their backs on struggling homeowners and turned over the keys to our treasury to the same institutions that engineered our economic decline. All of this came at lightening speed, at a dizzying pace, with little time for thought or reflection or for demands that the recipients of the bail-outs funnel money back into local economies, into low-interest loans for small businesses, the most vulnerable to collapse.  

"It was a lousy deal, one with no strings attached, that was sealed overnight. When dawn came and we looked around, Wall Street was still an unregulated casino. Had I been in Congress, not only would I have taken to the floor to argue for a foreclosure freeze but also for a return to regulation and limits on how big banks could become. No bank should hold more than 10% of our national deposits.
Otherwise we're back to square one, with banks too big too fail calling the shots on Capitol Hill.

Of course, needless to say, this isn't just a California problem for conservatives like Ken Calvert, Dan Lungren and Jane Harman either. Charlie Dent in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley is almost surely going to lose his seat over his extremely inglorious role in the bailout, as will Bob Inglis in South Carolina.

But what about Boehner, the architect of the whole operation to pass the bill after it had failed on September 29? Blue America is backing a straight-arrow West Point grad who's running for the western Ohio seat Boehner has been occupying for almost two decades of intense golf playing, Justin Coussoule. He has a very different perspective than Boehner on Wall Street bailouts and his whole campaign is about giving a hand to regular working families instead of special interests. He's what you'd call a Main Street Democrat to Boehner's Wall Street Republican. Justin:

"To those millions who are rightfully angered by the bail out of Wall Street banks and financial institutions who violated our trust and created an economic disaster for American families, they should be reminded that the bail out was George Bush's and John Boehner twisted arms to pass the bill for his friends on Wall Street.

"Although a response while our nation stood at the edge of economic collapse may have been necessary, a bail out without transparency, accountability and safeguards for American families was inexcusable. But 'Bail Out Boehner' chose to protect his friends on Wall Street and stiff working families, leaving them to pick up the tab."

Both Justin Coussoule and Marcy Winograd have been endorsed by Blue America. Marcy is fighting a Democratic corporate shill, Jane Harman, and Justin is fighting a Republican one, the aforementioned John Boehner, who spent one day out of three last year golfing and who was handsomely paid for his services to the financial sector, which has lavished $3,533,714 towards advancing his political career. Please consider contributing what you can to both Marcy and Justin-- on the same ActBlue page.

I'M AGAINST MARRIAGE-- EXCEPT FOR PEOPLE WHO WANT TO GET MARRIED

I thought gays who wanted to enlist in the military were nuts but I certainly supported their right to be as do what they felt they had to do or wanted to do. Same with marriage. I never could quite understand why people desired to go voluntarily into that prison, especially not gays who had such an ironclad excuse. (I can't remember all the time I told guys that I would love to marry them if only... Oh, yeah, if only it was for a week.) But whether someone is straight or gay, it should be their own choice, certainly not the government's. So, as ruinful as this may be to my old conceptions of a gay lifestyle as part of an outlaw, or at least a bohemian, culture, I'm genuinely happy for all the lesbians and delusional gay males-- yes, yes, I apologize-- who want to tie themselves in knots. The California Supreme Court, in a 4-3 ruling by the mostly Republican judges, overturned the ban on gay marriage. The San Francisco Chronicle:

Gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to marry in California, the state Supreme Court said today in a historic ruling that could be repudiated by the voters in November.

In a 4-3 decision, the justices said the state's ban on same-sex marriage violates the "fundamental constitutional right to form a family relationship." The ruling is likely to flood county courthouses with applications from couples newly eligible to marry when the decision takes effect in 30 days.

Republican groups are already hysterical and organizing a referendum that would amend the state's constitution. Twenty-seven states have already passed constitutional amendments to prohibit gay marriage. They'll be disappointed with their governor's statement today. Schwarzenegger: "I respect the Court’s decision and as Governor, I will uphold its ruling.  Also, as I have said in the past, I will not support an amendment to the constitution that would overturn this state Supreme Court ruling.” 

The coming last-ditch battle with wingnuts and hate-obsessed religionist fanatics reminds me of Vito Fossella's sick and miserable existence. The Republican Family Values hypocrite had two families, one on Staten Island and on near the office. While building a shameful and totally cynical political career on his professed devotion to "family values" (and, of course, virulent homophobia), Fossella has been very pointedly trying to destroy the lives of his own gay family. He has a lesbian sister who, with her partner, has adopted twins. Fossella has sought to make adoption by gay couples illegal. More relevant to today's California ruling, in the recent past Fossella has "demanded housing funds be held back from San Francisco unless it repealed its domestic partnership law." I guess this is ratcheted up a bit now-- although he appears to have enough of his own problems now so that he may not be putting too much energy into harassing gay families.


UPDATE: BEST ANALYSIS

Glenn's got a great in-depth look at what the ruling means-- and doesn't mean-- over at Salon... with 5 updates (mostly about the blind anger and ignorance on the far right)!