Politics

OH-16: Jim Renacci pines for the good old days

Daily Kos — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 04:44:36 +0000

Another shining example of the mindset of today's Republican Party -- today's entry from Jim Renacci, the challenger in Ohio's 16th District, with his deep thoughts on civil rights:

ROBERT THOMPSON: What is your position in regards to addressing those concerns. And again, I’m concerned about the civil rights and the diversity of your campaign in terms of why anybody of color should be in support of you as a congressman.
RENACCI: [...] A lot of the problems you’re talking about are local issues. And I’m also a firm believer that the federal government and our Constitution was based on freedom, and was based on the freedoms that our number one goal of our military is freedom. We need to get our federal government out of the way and we need to allow our local governments to become more involved in many of the issues you’re talking about. I don’t believe these are federal issues to come down. I believe the federal government’s number one goal is to protect our freedoms. So the answer to your question is I believe a lot of things need to come back to the local level, and I believe things like you’re talking about do need to go back to the local level. And they need to be looked at in the cities. I was a mayor of my community. I think those are important ways of looking at all that. It’s not the federal government’s job.

Ah, the good old days of state's rights, fire hoses, and separate drinking fountains. How we pine for them.

Midday open thread

Daily Kos — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 04:44:30 +0000

The last US soldier to officially die in the Iraq War.
Brandon E. Maggart's wife Teresa was planning to welcome her soldier husband home to Missouri this month with a banner that said "Husband, Father, Hero." Instead, she used the words in an obituary for the Fort Lewis Army sergeant, 24, who, it turns out, officially is the last American service member to die in Iraq combat. "We had so many plans for Brandon's leave," Teresa Maggart said in the obit she wrote, "fishing, golfing, going to [son] Blake's first soccer game, going to the ocean, Seahawks & Mariners game, and of course eating at Outback...just a few of his favorite things to do..."
Unofficially? Our troops are still dying there.

9/11 widow: The media duped us on Park51.

David Axelrod says Rahm Emanuel will "make his decision in due time" about whether to run for Mayor of Chicago -- Jed Lewison

Two Near Earth Objects live up to their name today:
Objects this size may strike the earth about every 30 years, but because the planet is mostly covered by water, past impacts on this scale could have easily passed by unnoticed. A 50 foot space-rock hitting at orbital velocity would deliver about ten times the energy unleashed by the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima -- DarkSyde

No matter how you slice it, Boehner is an idiot.

Remember the last time that civil rights were left up to "local" control?

I'm finding it really hard to believe that Obama would replace Rahm with a Republican. But if Obama really wants a primary challenge in 2012, that would be a great way to fuel one. I'm chalking that talk up to mindless Beltway chatter.
Then again, never bet against a Demcorat's ability to do the idiotic in a pathetic attempt to curry conservative favor.

And a new internet meme is born:
Mr. Pollack,
re:
http://www.someguywithawebsite.com/...
Please be aware that your comments are being monitored. Like all our readers, you are free to disagree w/ my cartoons. However, should you libel and or slander me or my newspaper publicly, we will seek legal remedy. We are also in possession of previous blog entries.
Sincerely,
ML
Mike Lester
Editorial Cartoonist
Rome (Ga.) News Tribune
www.mikelester.com
The dude found a blogger's comments and archives. Brilliant detective work, wingnut cartoonist!

Try not to act too shocked: Republicans are hypocrites.
Yes, that's right, the NRCC is attacking a Democrat for voting the same way as the chairman of the NRCC.

Journalist breaks big 1,000-word story ... on Twitter.
Adam Penenberg, whose story about Glass was made famous in a book and movie, last week broke the story of a $131 million verdict against Ford Motor Co., stemming from the death of minor league baseball player Brian Cole who died in 2001 when the Ford Explorer he was in flipped over, according to the news site Gather.
Noticing that traditional news outlets were completely ignoring the story, Penenberg turned to Twitter to get the news out. He posted more than 50 tweets in two hours, creating a complete story of more than 1,000 words, explained High Position, an Internet marketing site. One of his posts even chastised journalists for their negligence: "C’mon reporters. Am I only one who thinks $131 MILLION verdict against FORD in a product liability suit is news??"

2010 may be tough, but we haven’t lost yet

Daily Kos — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 04:44:29 +0000

Rand Paul's last celebrated Paulite moneybomb brought in about $260,000. The campaign of Democrat Jack Conway aimed to beat that number in their own effort yesterday. They did so, and comfortably so: over $300,000 was raised yesterday, and the money continues to pour in.

Here at Daily Kos, almost 1,300 of you responded and gave nearly $50,000 to Conway and the rest of our Orange to Blue roster this cycle. For a year in which excitement has been hard to generate, this was a moment of big optimism.

There are more reasons to feel motivated to fight --

Rather than capitulate, Obama has decided to oppose the extension of tax cuts for the richest Americans. Its a much needed populist position for progressives who wanted Democrats to be Democrats in the run-up to this election.

Gallup's outlier generic congressional ballot poll (the one with the GOP +10) has been supplanted by a new one showing a 46-46 tie. Democrats still face a challenging environment, but heading into this contest tied (or slightly behind) gives us room to improve. Being down 10 would be disastrous.

Individual state-by-state races show that we remain competitive in challenging territory. The DCCC's poll dump yesterday was designed, in large part, to show that the sky hadn't fallen. Yes, we'll suffer big losses, but if the GOP isn't running away with, say, AL-02 against a freshman Democrat in a district that McCain won 63-36, then perhaps Speaker John Boehner isn't a done deal yet.

Back to Kentucky, we still have a real race:

Ophthalmologist Rand Paul (R) and state Attorney General Jack Conway (D) are in a statistical tie in the Kentucky Senate race, according to a new survey conducted by a Democratic pollster.
Paul takes 48 percent to 45 percent for Conway in the poll, which was conducted for the Kentucky Leadership Council by John Anzalone.
The poll shows voters are concerned about Paul's public statements, including one in which he appeared to dismiss the state's problems with drugs. Neaely six in ten voters (59 percent) agreed that Paul "says things that bother and concern me."

PPP will be going into the field in Kentucky in the next couple of days, and we'll have fresh numbers for you early next week. Needless to say, we can win this.

And here's the bottom line -- despite what's happening in Alaska and Delaware, there's an uneasy truce (more like a cold war) between the old GOP establishment and the teabagging crowd. The establishment hates that the teabaggers have already cost them easy victories in Nevada, Kentucky, and Alaska, but they appreciate the activist energy, which they hope proves a net plus.

But if the GOP comes up short, and fails to take either chamber of Congress, it will be considered a crushing defeat for the bad guys. And then, that cold, simmering war will become an active one -- with the GOP elders noting (rightly) that their candidates would've done away with Harry Reid and other Democrats, and the teabaggers arguing that Republicans failed because they weren't conservative enough.

That's a show that none of us should want to miss, and should provide plenty of motivation to GOTV this fall. Things are tough, but the game ain't over yet. In fact, we've got plenty of time to fight and fight hard.

As always, giving to our Orange to Blue candidates is a great place to start. And then see what you can do for your local Democrats. This year, without exception, there's a competitive race reasonably close to you.

AK-Sen: New tactic for Murkowski?

Daily Kos — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 04:44:28 +0000

Roll Call is reporting that Lisa Murkowski is considering a write-in campaign [sub. req.] and could announce a decision as soon as tomorrow.

Running as a write-in candidate appears to be Murkowski’s last remaining option. The Senate Republican Conference Vice Chairwoman met with Libertarian Party nominee David Haase on Tuesday to discuss taking his spot on the ballot, but according to a party spokesman, even if Haase dropped out, the party’s executive board — which last week voted against allowing Murkowski on the ballot — does not appear amenable to changing its decision.
Should Murkowski pull the trigger on a write-in campaign, GOP sources say she would face opposition from the National Republican Senatorial Committee. The NRSC endorsed Joe Miller immediately after Murkowski conceded the primary, and the GOP committee intends to stick with the Fairbanks attorney and provide him with the full weight of its backing.

Given how Miller handled the whole post-primary, pre-Murkowski concession period, in which he repeatedly attacked Cornyn and the NRSC as "national types" interfering in his race, it'll be interesting to see just how deep into this Cornyn is going to be willing to go for Miller.

The last Senate candidate to win a write-in campaign was Strom Thurmond in 1954. A handful of House candidates have won write-in campaigns, but it would be a tough route to victory and a lot of really motivated Murkowski voters.

DE-Sen: Teabaggers scramble for O’Donnell in last week

Daily Kos — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 04:44:28 +0000

Teabaggers are doing everything they can to hand the Delaware Senate seat to the Democrats this year.

The Tea Party Express says it’s only begun to fight in Delaware’s Republican Senate primary – and is promising a flurry of ads, direct mail, a pair of rallies and even a radiothon on behalf of underdog Christine O’Donnell over the coming days.
Despite aggressive push-back from the state party and a fresh poll calling into question her general election viability, the same national tea party group that helped propel candidates in Nevada and Alaska reiterated its commitment to O’Donnell on Tuesday, noting it has only spent a quarter of the resources it plans to deploy on her behalf.

The Republican front-runner, Rep. Mike Castle, would be the favorite in the general election. And after seeing Lisa Murkowski go down in Alaska, he's not taking the primary for granted.

Rep. Mike Castle (R-DE) and the Tea Party Express purchased more air time last night for what's shaping up to be a nasty run up to next Tuesday's primary.
Castle bought another 1,000 gross ratings points in the Salisbury, MD, market, which covers southern DE, according to a Dem source who monitors ad buying. That cost him $75K.
The Tea Party Express, which is doing the bidding of Christine O'Donnell (R), purchased 427 gross ratings points on cable only in the Salisbury market. That cost them $32K.
Both ad buys start today and run through primary day next Tuesday.
The ad buy brings Castle's total spent on the air in the primary to about $250K. Hotline On Call reported last week that Castle purchased about $180K of air time.

Meanwhile, the GOP establishment is freaked out about the potential primary upset, and has employed the Wall Street Journal to beat the shit out of O'Donnell.

A two-time loser statewide, Ms. O'Donnell has a history of financial troubles and recently told the Weekly Standard her home and office were vandalized, though she hadn't reported it to police. She recently accused a conservative local talk radio host that he had been "paid off" by Mr. Castle's supporters after he asked her tough questions.
So GOP primary voters must decide if they want to vote for Mr. Castle, a moderate who would help Republicans organize the Senate and who opposed ObamaCare but who will give them heartburn on some issue in the future. Or they can vote their heart even if it means giving up a Senate seat.

The odds are with Mike Castle, but they were also with Lisa Murkowski in Alaska. The GOP establishment won't get caught off guard in Delaware, but whether their increased vigilance is enough to stave off the latest teabagger revolt will be ultimately determined next Tuesday.

Root hard for O'Donnell.

TX-Gov: Still close

Daily Kos — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 04:44:27 +0000

Public Policy Polling. 9/2-6. Likely voters. MoE 4.2% (no trendlines)

Rick Perry (R) 48
Bill White (D) 42

The race is confounding the major trends we're seeing in most contests across the country. White is winning independents 53-34. Republicans have the lead with them most everywhere else. White's winning 82% of Democrats while Perry's getting 77% of Republicans. Republican voters are more unified than Democrats most everywhere else. But there are a lot more GOP voters than Dems in Texas so Perry's still ahead anyway.
At 50% a majority of Texans disapprove of the job Perry's doing with only 39% giving him good marks. Democrats dislike him (85%) a whole lot more than Republicans like him (63%) and independents split against him by a 25/64 margin.

This comes in the heels of a poll (PDF) by a Republican outfit which had Perry up by just 42-41.

I don't need to explain how big taking the Texas governorship would be, particularly in this climate. It would be a narrative buster, and some much needed evidence that Texas' demographic changes are leading to the long-predicted leftward drift of the state.

KY-Sen: More on that Rand Paul concern troll saga

Daily Kos — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 04:44:27 +0000

It's been quite amusing watching the Paul campaign try to handle the fallout from its staffer who got caught posing as a progressive on Daily Kos to dampen enthusiasm for Jack Conway's moneybomb yesterday.

This morning, Paul-ville released what they believed to have been exculpatory evidence: a comment submitted to their website by someone using the name of the concern troll staffer.

The Paul campaign discovered this when the same person appears to have submitted this ludicrous comment through their website's online form:
Your Name Tom Kubica
Email Tom@randpaul2010.com
Subject Replacement
Category Social Networking
Message I was discovered and banned at DailyKos. I suggest we immediately pull in all of our covert operatives. I'll need someone to replace me at Daily Kos as well.
The IP address associated with the comment, 38.97.124.170, locates the poster in Framingham, Mass. The real Kubica -- who goes, Howard said, by Thomas, not Tom -- is based in Bowling Green.

Of course, anybody could have submitted that comment (including Kubica himself, using IP spoofing or masking techniques), but Paul-ville argued it was proof that the concern troll must have been somebody from outside the campaign and that it cleared their campaign of any involvement. A Paul spokesman insisted to Huffington Post that it proved they were the victim.

"This phony," wrote Paul aide Gary Howard in an e-mail to the Huffington Post on Wednesday morning. "The person is not our intern, someone used our intern's info from his LinkedIn page to pose as him on Kos and post stuff. He even sent us an email through our website email form pretending to get 'caught' working for us."

Uh, yeah...that's real strong proof. Except, as I pointed out above, the web form submission tells us nothing. Anyone could have submitted that note. Moreover, Howard's assertion about somebody having used Kubica's LinkedIn page makes no sense -- Kubica's LinkedIn page had nothing to do with how we identified the user as Kubica. (However, it did lead us to connect him with the Rand Paul campaign.)

Here's the story in brief: we determined Kubica's identity because he registered at Daily Kos using the same e-mail address that he used to author an online petition. From there, we found his LinkedIn page, on which he stated his role with the Rand Paul campaign. We then verified his employment status with Paul's campaign.

And here's the longer version: the registration e-mail was pnkrck15@cox.net. We verified the authenticity of the address at the time of registration. In April, an online petition was posted using that e-mail address using the handle "TomKBert," and TomKbert is the handle Thomas Kubica uses on gmail. Moreover, Thomas Kubica was one of the 29 people who signed the petition on the same day it was created. (Those 29 people signed the petition within a span of 6 hours.) Just in case that doesn't make it clear, the petition called for a redesign of the Campaign for Liberty website (dubbed 'C4L' in the petition) -- and Kubica (including in his alternate handle of tkubic46) frequently touts Campaign for Liberty and 'C4L' (for example, here and here).

Despite this clear trail of evidence, the Paul campaign is standing by Kubica. I suppose that's their right -- Kubica didn't violate any laws, he just violated our community standards, and as a result was outed. And who knows? Maybe this will give his career in conservative politics a boost. After all, Karl Rove didn't exactly have a clean track record as a young political operative, and look where it got him.

As a final thought: remember that the concern troll's goal was to dampen enthusiasm for Jack Conway. The best way to get revenge: contribute to Conway's campaign.

Update: Shhh, keep this one quiet, don't let anybody know, but there's a new poll from CNN out today...and it shows the race all tied up at 46 each!

Late afternoon/early evening open thread

Daily Kos — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 04:44:26 +0000

NV-Sen: Even Republican CEOs oppose Angle’s extremism

Daily Kos — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 04:44:26 +0000

AP:

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- MGM Resorts International Chief Executive Officer Jim Murren says Sharron Angle's election to the U.S. Senate would hurt Nevada's already struggling economy.
Murren said Tuesday that Angle's comment that the company's CityCenter development injured other businesses in Nevada was disappointing and perplexing. He questions how a U.S. Senate candidate could have such a "poor" understanding of business and economics.
Murren is a Republican who supports Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

You may recall that earlier in the campaign, Angle criticized Reid for helping the CityCenter project, a move that saved thousands of jobs. She also pledged to not help create jobs in Nevada if she's elected to the U.S. Senate.

People ask me, what are you going to do to develop jobs in your state? Well that's not my job as a U.S. Senator.

Angle's strange view on job creation -- that it's not a Senator's responsibility to be an advocate for their state's economy -- is a perfect example of why she won't ever have the honor of serving Nevada in the U.S. Senate. Don't take my word for it -- just listen to Republicans like Jim Murren.

Insurers blame Affordable Care Act for premium increases

Daily Kos — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 04:44:25 +0000

And, of course, the Wall Street Journal is more than happy to publish their screed:

Health insurers say they plan to raise premiums for some Americans as a direct result of the health overhaul in coming weeks, complicating Democrats' efforts to trumpet their signature achievement before the midterm elections.
Aetna Inc., some BlueCross BlueShield plans and other smaller carriers have asked for premium increases of between 1% and 9% to pay for extra benefits required under the law, according to filings with state regulators.
These and other insurers say Congress's landmark refashioning of U.S. health coverage, which passed in March after a brutal fight, is causing them to pass on more costs to consumers than Democrats predicted.

Right. Because they certainly wouldn't have been jacking up premiums if insurance reform had never happened. Because the last thing insurance companies do is exploit their captive market to maximize profits. The White House responds:

We knew this would happen, which is why the President called on insurance companies not to use the Affordable Care Act as an excuse to implement unreasonable premium increases. In fact, when one insurance company in the State of Washington was called out for telling its beneficiaries that rate increases were due to the Affordable Care Act, that company agreed to issue a new letter clarifying the reasons for the increase.
The premium increases discussed today – many of which were planned before the Affordable Care Act was even signed into law– demonstrate that reform came at a critical time. In fact, consumers have faced unreasonable double digit premium increases for more than a decade, including employer-sponsored plans where premiums have more than doubled since 2000.
The most recent round of premium increase announcements are at odds with a number of health care cost related projections. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that medical inflation is currently projected to be 3.2 percent this year. Similarly, The Kaiser Family Foundationconcluded that family premiums were rising only 3 percent for this year. Finally, we estimate that any potential premium impact from the new consumer protections and increased quality provisions under the Affordable Care Act will be minimal – no more than 1-2 percent -- which will be further offset by other out of pocket savings implemented in the law.

I don't think there's a soul who paid any attention to this process who didn't know this would happen, which is one of the reasons the seat the insurers had at the negotiation table was problematic to so many. That the insurers were operating in good faith was more than many could swallow, and now that suspicion is justified. They were going to raise premiums regardless, because that's what they do. This way they get to raise premiums and get to blame it the law they tried so hard to kill.

So I wonder how Reid is doing on securing that promised public option vote?