Talk about having your bad night, politically speaking.

Incumbent Arizona Governor Jan Brewer engaged Democratic candidate and Attorney General Terry Goddard in a debate Wednesday night. She began the evening by freezing like a deer in the television headlights when asked to recite a perfunctory, self-laudatory greeting. That alone is talk of the political world today: a gubernatorial candidate that couldn’t manage her own opening statement.

Perhaps she hadn’t done enough to embarrass herself.

During the debate, Goddard called on Brewer to recant a lie she had told, one meant to drive up the hysteria surrounding the evil immigrants and the destruction of her precious Arizona: they had been killing and beheading people out in the desert. Goddard correctly pointed out that it was absolutely false and that it made Arizona look like a haven for lurid violence. Brewer just ignored the call.

Until she got confronted by the press after the sorry event. Christina Boomer from ABC 15, among others, confronted her: Why haven’t you admitted the beheadings never happened? The press were in agreement — it’s not a trivial matter, do you really still believe the rumor to be true? Oops, now Brewer was stuck.

Or was she?

Naw, no problem.

Back in the old days, politicians were much more in agreement about things like this . . the public were always owed the truth. It was so universally embraced as a political tenet that even a single lie, especially left unaddressed, could easily and justifiably derail a candidacy. A politician’s scrupulous honesty might have been the one thing that both parties demanded from their people, with almost no exception.

Times have changed. Jan Brewer doesn’t owe you a thing.

Here comes the worst introduction to a debate by a major national politician I can remember.

Sure, all sorts of people, the mortals, will geek in the middle of a debate when they’re trying to recall certain facts, numbers and statistics. When an opponent attacks, sometimes you might frustratingly freeze while searching for the vital ammo you need to fight back. All the pressure, the lights, the cameras, the endless amounts of esoteric info — they take their toll.

But the intro?! Your own self-prepared statement?

She couldn’t manage “Hello, my name is Jan Brewer, and I fight for the people of Arizona”? Or “Arizona is a leader in business, technology and innovation”?

A professional politician can’t begin with anything better than this? . .

“I have, uh . . . . . . . . . . done so much, and I just cannot believe that we have changed everything since I be-ha-come your governor in the last 600 days. Arizona has been brought back from its abyss. We have cut the budget, we have balanced the budget, and we are moving forward. And we have done everything that we could possibly do . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . *laugh* . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . We have, uh . . . . did what was right for Arizona. I will tell you that I have really did the very best that anyone could do. We have pushed back hard against the federal government, we have filed suit against Obama healthcare, and, and, we have passed Senate Bill 1070, and we will continue to do what’s right for Arizona. I ask for your vote, thank you.”

“I have really did the best that anyone can do”? That’s the person that will end up as Governor of Arizona? C’mon, being Governor is a very big deal — governorships are where Presidents are born. Governor Ronald Reagan, Governor Jimmy Carter, Governor Bill Clinton, Governor George W. Bush.

It’s one thing to end up in the office by default, but to be voted in by the citizens? Jan Brewer? Wow.

Wow. What a p.r. master.

Nevada’s Tea Party right-wing Senate candidate, Sharron Angle, finally pops up in big media. She’s been dodging reporters and writers and TV people and internet sources and everybody on the planet because she’s a laughable whackjob whose public numbers are doing a Titanic now that her clownish personal views are known. Let’s abolish Social Security, Medicare, the Department of Education and fluoridation of your tap water, good ideas all.

Here, she finally sits down for an interview with a friendly face, Fox’s Carl Cameron. Carl asks her about her recent allergies to media, to which she rebounds with about as good a 25 seconds of ‘WTF?‘ as you’ll get.

The impersonation is spot on. The combination of animal self-assurance and prideful clod-hopping down the simplest path to a rout invokes Dwight Schrute in oblivious glory. The lack of awareness is nothing to be ashamed of, no, it’s a killer feature of the overall Angle nature. Albeit a disturbingly, psychotically grinning and head-bobbing nature.

Sharron Angle will just do what Sharron Angle will do. For example, if you, say, try to use her personal views, once proudly laid out for all to see on her former website, against her in a political campaign and the tactic begins to work, you will be accosted with lawsuits. You must be stopped from being effective. That’s what Sharron Angle will do. It’s not about Sharron Angle, it’s about Sharron Angle simply winning.

Speaking of which, help out Carl, here, Sharron — why were you having such a bad time dealing with the media? What were you trying to do?

[grin] Well . . .

1.) We had to transform the media into friends.
2.) SO that they would ask the questions we wanted them to ask.
3.) SO that we could get the answers out that made us look good.
4.) SO that we could lobby the audiences to go to Sharron Angle dot com.
5.) SO that they would donate at Sharron Angle dot com.
6.) LIKE your listeners, who can go to Sharron Angle dot com.

A Senate campaign’s pretty simple, really:

Ran across this guy on Wonkette. He is an actual Republican Senate candidate in Kentucky, so his dreams are being shattered as we speak.

His name is Gurley L. Martin and he has plenty of stuff to tell you. So there’s his website, where his 3 page ‘Intent to File’ paperwork is chocked full of dust-and-cobweb crazy things. Like how America ran off the rails . . back in 1928 (he remembers). He also says that any legislation that fills more than 46 pages of 8.5 by 11 inch paper (12 point font type) should be deemed unacceptable and unconstitutional. And, of course, he says Obama is not the legit Commander in Chief: “Note this: there R more of US, than there IS of U! U will C — hoping 4 change — in U!” Or something like that, it’s not easy to transcribe musty whackadoodle. There’s more of that in his handbills, if you care to look.

But the clips are the thing. At some point, Kentuckians actually got a few of the candidates together at a small forum where they took turns answering questions, or some such silly thing. This first one, Gurley recalls a “rape — ist” getting hanged in 11,000 B.C. And . . he wasn’t even black. Which, of course, means that it’s the black candidate’s turn to come to the podium:

Wow indeed. The other candidates presumably answered nonsense with nonsense and then moved on to the next question. His turn again, Gurley gets back up and returns to what now appears to be his earliest and fondest memory, the execution. Oh, and incidentally, he likes women and cars, but, no, he’s neither raped nor stolen any of them. To which, as if to answer the call of the loneliest whip-poor-will, a single person applauds. Then he gives a shout out to Go-Daddy (seriously), says “nookyooluss”, and then, having announced that he’s going to trounce everybody, turns around to stare down his lesser foes, arms outstretched, like . . “EAT IT BITCHEZ.” Here:

There is also a less triumphant version of Gurley as well. Here‘s a video where a real, serious debate between the Senate candidates gets underway and state troopers have to haul the old coot off. “MY NAME IS GURLEY MARTIN!!“

No offense to our sexy pink-tittied pals . .

May 18, 2010

Newt Gingrich calls Obamunism a threat equal to former Nazis and Soviets
By Arlen Williams

From his new book, To Save America, as Chris Wallace confronts Gingrich with his own words:

“The secular-socialist machine represents as great a threat to America as Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union once did.”

Nazi-precipitated World War II killed 55 million people. The Soviet Union subjugated 300 million, killing millions and millions more. Obama’s a level threat. Totally.

Overall, one suspects the media will try to ignore a statement such as this, for as long as they can. That is because, whether they believe, or understand it, or not, they know it will resonate. They know it is detrimental to their cause, for Americans to hear such a thing from the former Speaker of the House. It threatens the “fundamental transformation” and the machine.

Two things seem clear: 1. Speaker Gingrich wants America saved from this threat, 2. he wants to be president.

Two things seem clear: 1. Speaker Gingrich wants to demagogue a path to the Oval Office. 2. He’s a fucking moron. Hey — remember the time he lobbied America to take out a North Korean missile launch with a laser?

French in uproar over oral sex anti-smoking posters

. . A campaign to discourage young people from Smoking
shows male and female teenagers kneeling in front of a man, as if being forced to have oral sex. A cigarette takes the place of the man’s sexual organ. The caption reads: “Smoking is to be a slave to tobacco.”

The advertising agency behind the posters says only a shock campaign can halt the rise in smoking amongst 13 to 15-year-olds in France . .

Came across this at StarkReports:

This is difficult to write. My grandfather suffered through dementia for the last 15 years of his life. It’s never easy to talk about, and in politics, it’s particularly difficult because of all the potential for cheap-shot concern-trolling…

But there’s a dirty little secret everyone is keeping in Pennsylvania and Washington. It isn’t difficult to puzzle it out for yourself; in fact, given the circumstances, it’s probably difficult to avoid developing nagging suspicions. But there are a lot of stories being told off the record and in hushed whispers. Tonight, I’ve decided to stop whispering and come forward with my own.

Mike is talking about Arlen Specter.

. . In the basement of the Russell Senate office building, there is a subway that ferries Senators and staff to and from the Capitol. Senator Spector was making his way over to the Capitol to cast a vote when I caught up with him and asked if he had decided to support or oppose the Bernanke nomination. He said he hadn’t decided. I asked him if he knew that Bernanke had said he was less concerned about unemployment than inflation. Specter answered gruffly that he was still making up his mind. Then he walked over to a call-button for the subway and pressed it several times.

The subway was already in the station.

It’s not like you can hide a subway.

The guard behind us yelled to the Senator, “Senator, he’s right there!” The driver of the subway yelled to the Senator, “Senator, I’m right here!” Specter continued to press the button for another coupla seconds before suddenly realizing the subway was already in the station and boarding.

A week ago, Specter inexplicably wandered up onto a ‘stage’ that his opponent was currently addressing a crowd from:

Arlen Specter’s Kanye West Moment

After refusing to debate his opponent and insisting on strict rules for tonight’s Senate forum with Joe Sestak Sen. Arlen Specter stormed the stage while the Congressman was speaking and seemingly tried to confront and/or intimidate him while he was speaking at the Pennsylvania Progressive Summit…

Obviously standing just off the ballroom listening not only to the questions but to Joe Sestak’s responses he cheated on the format. Then for some very strange reason he bounded for the stage and mounted it. Was he having a senior moment, was he trying to throw Sestak off his game on live TV or was he deliberately trying to sabotage what was a finely organized event?

Saturday, after winning the Pennsylvania State Democratic committee endorsement, he couldn’t recall the name of a Pennsylvania Senator he wanted to call out:

LANCASTER, Pa. — Even as he accepted the resounding backing of the Pennsylvania Democratic state committee here Saturday, party-switching Sen. Arlen Specter’s vulnerability was on vivid display as he botched the name of a key Democratic officeholder in his acceptance speech.

“I’ll be fighting hard for the entire Democratic ticket. Sen. Andy — Andy —” Specter said, before pausing briefly, squinting his eyes.

“From Chester County,” he continued, losing his train of thought after clinching an emphatic 229-72 Senate endorsement vote from party regulars just minutes earlier.

“Dinniman,” the crowd responded almost in unison, referring to the state senator who represents West Chester. One committee member seated in the audience dropped his head and shook it.

The President can start with these, but he’ll still need a hell of a lot more . . .

Plouffe stepping up role as adviser to White House

David Plouffe, the man who managed President Barack Obama’s campaign, will be taking on an expanded role as an outside adviser to the White House, according to sources familiar with the plan, a move that comes just days after a stunning defeat for Democrats in a Massachusetts Senate special election…

After managing Obama’s successful primary and general election races, Plouffe chose not to go into the White House — as so many of his campaign colleagues did — but rather return to the private sector and focus on writing his memoir of the campaign called “The Audacity to Win”. The book was released on November 3, 2009.

“The ad’s full transcript is available here.”

I’m Andy Martin, Republican candidate for United States Senator. I approved this message because Illinois Republicans deserve the truth about their candidates.

I have over forty years of experience and integrity fighting corruption, and fighting for the truth in politics.

I helped expose many of Barack Obama’s lies in 2008.

Today, I am fighting for the facts about Mark Kirk. Illinois Republican leader Jack Roeser says there is a, ‘solid rumor that Kirk is a homosexual.’ Roeser suggests that Kirk is part of a Republican Party homosexual club. Lake County Illinois Republican leader Ray True says Kirk has surrounded himself with homosexuals.

Mark Kirk should tell Republican voters the truth.

I’m Andy Martin a Republican you can trust for U.S. Senator.

Please vote for Andy Martin.

Paid for by Illinois Republicans for Andy Martin.

I’ve been asking myself the nearly unaskable: if Sarah Palin became President, as she clearly wants to be, what will America then become? What will it look like?

I found a year-old article in Salon that addresses the question. It details the tribulations of a Baptist minister, Howard Bess, in a town near to Palin’s Wasilla who had a number of run-ins with the aggressive Mayor and her evangelist cohort. She is a religious extremist, rigid and intolerant, and she does not keep her beliefs to herself. Ever.

If you like the local crank who seeks to ban gay-tolerant books from the library, take over the local hospital board and ban abortions, and take over the local school board and install the ‘teaching’ of Creationism, you’ll just love her as President of the United States. Otherwise, her heaven makes for your hell.

The pastor who clashed with Palin
Baptist minister Howard Bess, who wrote a book Palin wanted banned and who fought her on abortion and gay rights, says the country should fear her election.
Monday, Sep 15, 2008

WASILLA, Alaska — The Wasilla Assembly of God, the evangelical church where Sarah Palin came of age, was still charged with excitement on Sunday over Palin’s sudden ascendance…

It confirmed, they said, that God was making use of Wasilla. “She will take our message to the world!” rejoiced an Assembly of God youth ministry leader, as the church band rocked the high-vaulted wooden building with its electric gospel.

That is what scares the Rev. Howard Bess. A retired American Baptist minister who pastors a small congregation in nearby Palmer, Wasilla’s twin town in Alaska’s Matanuska Valley, Bess has been tangling with Palin and her fellow evangelical activists ever since she was a Wasilla City Council member in the 1990s…

“She scares me,” said Bess. “She’s Jerry Falwell with a pretty face.

“At this point, people in this country don’t grasp what this person is all about. The key to understanding Sarah Palin is understanding her radical theology.”…

The retired minister moved to the Mat-Su Valley with his wife, Darlene, in 1987, after his outspoken defense of gay rights at Baptist churches in the Santa Barbara, Calif., area and Anchorage landed him in trouble with church officials. In the Mat-Su Valley, Bess plunged into community activism, helping launch an assortment of projects, from an arts council to a shelter for the mentally disabled.

Inevitably, his work brought him into conflict with Palin and other highly politicized Christian fundamentalists in the valley. “Things got very intense around here in the ’90s — the culture war was very hot here,” Bess said. “The evangelicals were trying to take over the valley. They took over the school board, the community hospital board, even the local electric utility. And Sarah Palin was in the direct center of all these culture battles, along with the churches she belonged to.”

Bess’ first run-in with Palin’s religious forces came when he decided to write his book, “Pastor, I Am Gay.” The book was the result of a theological journey that began in the 1970s when Bess was asked for guidance by a closeted homosexual in his Santa Barbara congregation…

In his book, Bess suggests that gays have a divine mission. “Look back at the life of our Lord Jesus. He was misunderstood, deserted, unjustly accused, and cruelly killed. Yet we all confess that it was the will of God, for by his wounds we are healed … Could it be that the homosexual, obedient to the will of God, might be the church’s modern day healer-messiah?”

When it was published in 1995, Bess’ book caused an immediate storm in the Mat-Su Valley, an evangelical stronghold dotted with storefront churches. Conservative ministers targeted the book, and the only bookstore in the valley that dared to stock it — Shalom Christian Books and Gifts – soon dropped it after the owner was barraged with angry phone calls. The Frontiersman, the local newspaper that ran a column by Bess for seven years, fired him and ran a vicious cartoon that suggested even drooling child molesters would be welcomed by Bess’ church.

And after she became mayor of Wasilla, according to Bess, Sarah Palin tried to get rid of his book from the local library. Palin now denies that she wanted to censor library books, but Bess insists that his book was on a “hit list” targeted by Palin. “I’m as certain of that as I am that I’m sitting here. This is a small town, we all know each other. People in city government have confirmed to me what Sarah was trying to do.”

Continue Reading »

If I wake up early enough tomorrow, stay tuned for an eventual ‘Lou Dobbs = Sarah Palin’ post because the parallels are obvious (sure).

Such a pompous fool. The guy doesn’t have a political party, but he thinks he can be President. Because what he does have is…television.

‘Mr. Independent’ mulls White House bid

…Less than two weeks after announcing his departure from the cable network—and following a series of interviews in which Dobbs encouraged speculation about his political plans—the anchorman known to fans as “Mr. Independent” finally made his presidential ambitions explicit on former Sen. Fred Thompson’s radio show Monday.

Asked if he might make a run at the White House in 2012, Dobbs answered flatly: “Yes is the answer.”

“I’m going to be talking some more with some folks who want me to listen in the next few weeks,” Dobbs told Thompson. “Right now I’m fortunate to have a number of wonderful options.”…

Lou Dobbs spoke to Fred Thompson? Just how do cattle communicate?

Did I mention that Lou Dobbs is a miserable liar?