Elections 2008: December 2007 Archives

While this thought is from a post on immigration, it's really a broader indictment of the Democratic estabilshment:

The Democrats are advised by people whose imaginations stalled back in 1980 when they woke up one morning and discovered that a lot of angry white guys wouldn't vote for a party that allowed black people in it. The highly successful Democratic politics they've run over the past 25 years have been devoted to getting them back. (And it's worked out very well, you must admit. Why fix what ain't broke, eh?)
And, of course, the political candidates themselves have signed on to the "don't make trouble" strategy so they'll be happy to ape even the most heinous GOP talking points if it will keep them from having to take even the slightest risk. (That's what the Democratic consultants term "winning a mandate.")

Beyond a doubt, these are the people who are managing such exciting candidates such as Mary Landrieu and Hillary Clinton, and both Edwards and Obama have their share of this winning attitude in their organizations as well.

There's a line from "The West Wing," where, when meeting with a less-liberal Democratic Party consultant, the consultant turns to Communications Director Toby Ziegler and says, "Do you think I'm Satan?"

Toby replies, "No, you're the guy who goes in to the 7-Eleven to get Satan a pack of cigarettes."

It's time we rid ourselves of Satan's errand boys and the candidates who emply them.

...if he's given to progressive causes:

I watch the Food Network pretty often, as cooking is one of my hobbies. I decided to look around at opensecrets.org, which chronicles political donations, to see if any of the prominent TV chefs are into political giving. Mario Batali gave $1,000 to John Edwards this year. Grazie, Mario! Rachel Ray gave $2,000 in 2006 to Mark Warner's Forward Together PAC. Cool. Bobby Flay evidently is another good guy, having contributed to Mark Green's campaign in 1998. Ina Garten gave to John Kerry in 2004 and the DNC in 1998, bless her heart. Michael Chiarello contributed to Democratic Congressman Mike Thompson in 1998. I also was pleased to find that Julia Child donated to John Kerry when she was alive. (I could tell she was a classy lady.) Alice Waters gave to Hillary this year, so props to her as well. Some of the chefs with very common last names (Lee, Miller, Goldman, and the like) were hard to search for, but I was pleased not to find any evidence of treason readily apparent at the Food Network.

h/t dKos diarist bluehawaii, who posted this information as a comment to a diary written by boofdah.

I've been struggling for weeks to find a way to vocalize just why it is that I don't like Hillary's campaign. I think Ezra just did it for me:

When the rationale for your campaign is that you're the frontrunner with the experience to win, losing your lead in the polls doesn't only put you in second place, it actually shreds the argument for your candidacy. What we're beginning to see here is how underdeveloped the arguments for Clinton were when separated from her aura of inevitability.

That's it for me. It's all about, I'm Hillary, and it's my turn to be President now. When compared to Rudy! and the fun bunch, it's a no-brainer, but I would prefer someone with a message and an idea of what they want to do once they move into 1600 Pennsylvania. (Thanks to Dr. Black for pointing this post out.)

I have to admit, I was very non-plussed when I heard that Gilda Reed was running Bobby Jindal's seat in Congress. LA-01 is so white-bread and redneck that I didn't give her much of a chance. Hey, I'm all for tilting at windmills, but this windmill is the size of the Empire State Building.

Then I met Gilda (who is also a Kossack) at our NOLA Kossacks meet-up last week, and she pointed out something very important to me: she is running in a closed primary.

That's right, starting in 2008, Louisiana goes back to separate Republican and Democratic primaries. Instead of Reed being one Democrat running against four or five Republicans, those candidates have to slug it out amongst themselves, then run against the winner of the Democratic primary (presumably Reed) in the general election.

That changes things a good bit.

When presented with a choice between your typical East Jefferson (parish) Republican and a person of Gilda Reed's qualifications and beliefs, people who would have simply picked one of the Republicans might change their minds.

• The soccer mom whose 14-year old might get drafted by Republicans will think twice.
• The Catholic who believes in social justice will think twice.
• The victims of the Federal Flood will think twice.
• The retired union worker will pause.

All of a sudden, the windmill that is LA-01 isn't so tall anymore.

So, NOLA Kossacks, let's talk about how we're going to help Gilda. We know now from New Orleans' experience with NetRoots Nation that we really can't expect all that much but lip service from the dKos community at large unless we step up for Gilda.

It's time to step up.

I've created a blog, supportgildareed.yatpundit.com, which I would like to be a multi-author/community effort to drum up support for Gilda among metro New Orleans bloggers. Please go there and comment, or drop me a note at edward@ebranley.com and give me your e-mail so we can start a true netroots movement for Gilda.

Let's get moving!

Mike Huckabee edition:

The U.S. shouldn't try to kill Saddam Hussein in Iraq, Mike Huckabee declared when he first ran for office. No women in combat anywhere. No gays in the military. No contributions in politics to candidates more than a year before an election. His statements are among 229 answers Huckabee offered as a 36-year-old Texarkana pastor during his first run for political office in 1992. In that unsuccessful race against Sen. Dale Bumpers, Huckabee offered himself as a social conservative and listed "moral decay" as one of the top problems facing the country.

OK, a redneck governor spewing redneck-ed-ness is no big surprise. That he would want to soften the tone of some of these statements is no big surprise, either. But the stupid! It burns!

Earlier this year, Huckabee said, "Nobody's going to find some YouTube moments of me saying something radically different than what I'm saying today."

No, Mike. We know you're a redneck and a knuckle-dragger. Which is why you won't be the second President from Arkansas.

But at least he's taking a stand:

EDWARDS STATEMENT ON HUD PLAN TO BEGIN DEMOLISHING PUBLIC HOUSING IN NEW ORLEANS THIS WEEK Chapel Hill, North Carolina – Senator John Edwards today called on HUD to reverse its plan to begin demolishing public housing in New Orleans this week and urged the New Orleans City Council to stand strong in defending housing for city residents. Edwards said in a statement: “There is a housing crisis in New Orleans today – the result of government policies that have failed the people of the Gulf since Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma. Rents have doubled, families are being evicted from FEMA trailers and now the current administration is now trying to make a bad situation worse. “I am calling on HUD to postpone its plans to destroy affordable public housing until replacement housing is ready. Knocking down historic and livable housing today that withstood the winds of Katrina with the bulldozers of Bush is counterproductive to the goal of giving residents a home to which to return. Decentralizing poverty by encouraging new mixed-income income makes a lot of sense – I’ve proposed creating 1 million new housing vouchers to do exactly that. But eliminating housing where people could live in a city where a desperate shortage of shelter exists makes no sense at all. “I urge the City Council to reject the demolition permits HUD needs for its plan to destroy hope for current and displaced New Orleans residents.”

Wouldn't it be nice if two sitting senators could make a joint statement, pointing out all the things they could do to HUD to make their lives miserable, should they allow the demolitions to go forward? Hmmmmmm....