The Good Dr. Rev. Jeremiah Wright At Your Service

The White House has released all the visitor logs from the first nine months of the President's term...just perusing the list I notice that the good Dr. Jeremiah Wright* is listed as one of those visitors from back on the 24th of March, though it doesn't appear as though me met with the Big Kahuna (at least, according to the books).

*I should note that I'm not sure if its the Jeremiah Wright that went on a public tour, but that'd be a hell of a coincidence...it appears a William Ayers also took a White House tour back in May.

A Comparison Worth Noting

So, apparently, President Obama is a failure in his duty to protect America...

Let's see, after Bush's first year in office the nation experienced the most devastating terrorist attack in global history, a yet-to-be-identified person terrorized the nation by sending anthrax through the mail system, and some crazy guy tried and failed to blow himself up on an international flight.

After Obama's first year, some crazy guy tried and failed to blow himself up on an international flight.

Bush, hero!

Obama, zero!

Yes, the world makes sense. Ultimately, some mistakes were probably made on the part of customs officials. Was there a national security briefing sent to President Obama about dangerous lapses in security at the Amsterdam airport shortly before this attempted attack? Probably not, but time will tell on that one.

Merry Christmas Boehner

Some people send a fruit basket, others, well, switch parties:

POLITICO has learned that Rep. Parker Griffith, a freshman Democrat from Alabama, will announce today that he’s switching parties to become a Republican.

According to two senior GOP aides familiar with the decision, the announcement will take place this afternoon in Griffith's district in northern Alabama.

Griffith’s party switch comes on the eve of a pivotal congressional health care vote and will send a jolt through a Democratic House Caucus that has already been unnerved by the recent retirements of a handful of members who, like Griffith, hail from districts that offer prime pickup opportunities for the GOP in 2010.

Basically, Griffith took hundreds of thousands of dollars from the DCCC and Liberals across the country, got elected, and then has spent the past 12 months undermining the Democratic party and caucus that got him elected...now he's just making it official. This doesn't represent much of a loss for the party, considering his vote was about as reliable as Lieberman's word.

It will be interesting to see what he does with the donations he's received, including a couple thousand from Nashville's Charles Robert Bone, candidate for TNDP Chair earlier this year.

Kyle Picks Up SEIU

While plumbers and pipefitters in Memphis are good gets, having the statewide SEIU, probably one of the most active unions in politics in this state, get your back is a good boost to Sen. Kyle's campaign.

“So far in the Governor’s race, the press has talked a lot about the candidates’ personalities, their fundraising, and ‘name recognition’,” [Doug Collier, President of SEIU Local 205, says] “A lot of Tennesseans are struggling in this economy and it’s time to get serious about the issues and what these candidates’ values are. Jim Kyle’s values put work over wealth and people over politics. He’s the kind of leader Tennessee needs for the next four years and we’re proud to support his campaign.”

Lord Baby Jesus Would Not Appreciate Your Judaism

Representatives in this state will never cease to amuse me in the level of their idiocy. Didn't Rep. Matlock get the GOP message that Jews (Israeli that is) are their bestest friends?

On a related, but non-partisan, note, why do people have to be such...what is the proper word here...dicks about stuff like this? OK, I realize that not everyone is down with the GLBT, and maybe even Judaism, but he got an email. I get emails I don't care for all the time, I'm not about to storm down to some office or place an angry phone call about it...just delete the frickin' thing.

Memory Lane...

Obama at the Democratic Primary Debate circa 2008:

We've got a philosophical difference which we've debated repeatedly, and that is that Senator Clinton believes the only way to achieve universal health care is to force everybody to purchase it, and my belief is the reason that people don't have it is not because they don't want it, but because they can't afford it. And so I emphasize -- (applause) -- reducing costs. And as has been noted by many observers, including Bill Clinton's former secretary of Labor, my plan does more than anybody to reduce costs, and there is nobody out there who wants health insurance who can't have it.

Now, there are legitimate arguments for why Senator Clinton and others have called for a mandate, and I'm happy to have that debate. But the notion that I am leaving 15 -- 15 million people out somehow implies that we are different in our goals of providing coverage to all Americans, and that is simply not true. We think that there's going to be a different way of getting there.

One last point I want to make on the health care front. I admire the fact that Senator Clinton tried to bring about health care reform back in 1993. She deserves credit for that. (Applause.) But I -- I've said before I think she did it in the wrong way because it wasn't just the fact that the insurance companies and the drug companies were battling her -- and no doubt they were -- it was also that Senator Clinton and the administration went behind closed doors, excluded the participation even of Democratic members of Congress who had slightly different ideas than the ones that Senator Clinton had put forward.

And as a consequence, it was much more difficult to get Congress to cooperate.

And I've said that I'm going to do things differently. I think we have to open up the process, everybody has to have a seat the table, and most importantly, the American people have to be involved and educated about how this change is going to be brought about.

The point is this: We can have great plans, but if we don't change how the politics is working in Washington, then neither of our plans are going to happen and we're going to be four years from now debating once again how we're going to bring universal health care to this country.

Ummm...yeah...not really working out as well as we had hoped, is it there. We are now looking down the barrel at a $800bn plan that has the mandate he so eloquently argued against in his campaign, he's joined Big Pharma in stopping drug re-importation, and all of this involving of Congress crap has led to one person, who campaigned vigorously for the GOP candidate, controlling the fate of millions of Americans as well as the Democratic party's electoral fate in 2010.

I'm starting to see the merit of what Lamar Alexander talked about a couple months ago...scrapping the mega bill in favor of lots of little ones that limit an insurance company's ability to drop coverage, deny coverage, etc...then use budget reconciliation to pass the subsidies and perhaps a public option of some sort.

Its absolutely ridiculous that people like Howard Dean are being pissed on by the White House for, gosh, arguing for the same God damned things you talked about in your campaign, while Joe Lieberman is being courted and thanked for agreeing to simply vote TO END DEBATE on a bill which is more conservative than the crap he's supported and proposed over his career in the Senate. Seriously folks, he was the 2000 Democratic VP nominee, and he's being less of a team player than a freaking socialist whose willing to put his many differences aside in order to help push through a bill. My guess is that if Sanders or some other liberal in the Senate says they aren't going to vote for Liebercare, the White House won't be so kind and friendly to them as they are with Ol' Joe.

Andy Sere Makes The GOP Proud

In the off chance someone from the press followed Andy Sere's link to this website after he sent out an email with a post of mine in order to attack Roy Herron, here is the clarification I printed that same day:

Point of clarification, I was a bit groggy this morning and misinterpreted what Sen. Herron said...if you are wondering why the Senate record does not list Sen. Herron's "Nay" vote, it is because he had the Clerk adjust his record to not having voted (apparently along with a few other Senators), rather than an Aye, Nay, or PNV.

In regards to the Employee Free Choice Act, Sen. Herron never took a firm position for or against, except in committee, where he voted in favor of a resolution against the "card check" provision that has since been dropped by Congress.

Just wanted to clarify the record in case anyone out there doesn't know that Andy Sere is a gay-baiting lying piece of shit.

Republicans Celebrate Potential Dem Deployment

Republicans in the House are celebrating the possibility that Rep. John Mark Windle, a Major in the Tennessee National Guard, might get deployed overseas, thus depriving Democrats of a vote for Speaker in 2011.

While I appreciate the honesty in Republicans gloating over this in a public forum, might it provide an opportunity for a vote to amend the rules to allow members of the legislature to vote by proxy on that matter? Even if they couldn't pass it, having the Republicans vote to disenfranchise legislators doing their duty overseas probably wouldn't look to great.

US House: Dems Screwed Addition

Well, if it wasn't going to be hard enough to hold the seats we had with Tanner retiring, the announcement from Bart Gordon that he is saying "Peace!" to the US House increases exponentially the chance that Republicans will be able to pick up one, or both, of those seats.

With Gordon's announcement, it makes it all but assured that Sen. Jim Tracy will jump into the race for the 6th Congressional district, with no clear heir apparent on the Democratic side to run for this district.

Anyone heard from Lincoln Davis lately?

Update:

All is not lost yet. Former TNDP Communications Director Wade Munday has thrown his pirate hat in the ring. Mr. Munday has expressed a desire to run on a platform of reconciliation between the US and Pirates oversees.

Going Rogue, Knoxville Style

ACK has a write up of Stacey Campfield's candidacy for State Senate, and concludes that he is running against the grain by ignoring the will of the big wigs by trying to move up in the political world. But really, is Campfield all that unique?

Yes, he is the only consistent blogger of the legislature, often posting error filled tirades against Democrats in the legislature, and sometimes his fellow Republicans. But with the addition of Brian Kelsey to the Senate lot, Campfield wouldn't be all that lonely in the department of overly dramatic orthodox conservatives. For the "powers that be," Stacey would be a reliable vote for GOP budgets and a Republican Speaker, and that is pretty much the only thing the political caucuses care about.

My bet is that if Campfield is the GOP nominee, there wouldn't be a single high profile State Republican to come out against him. While, granted, he probably wouldn't be doing a whole lot of joint events with Haslam, he's not so repugnant to the political class that they'd risk a Dem being elected to that seat just to spite the bomb-thrower from Knoxville.

Department of Required Watching...

...wouldn't it be great if science classes in public schools are started with this video?

Department of Bullshit

Apparently, allowing stores that already sell alcohol fermented from barley, rice, wheat, and malt, to sell alcohol fermented from grapes, will lead to death, destruction, and hooligans passed out in strangers driveways:

Pamela Erickson, president of the temperance group Public Action Management, testified during the second day of hearings on the legislation, which has failed three straight years in the face of opposition from an unlikely partnership of liquor stores and churches.

“I don’t think you could make a big change like that without increasing consumption and social problems,” Erickson said. “I know a lot of people say 33 states sell wine in grocery stores and they don’t have problems. Well believe me, we do have problems.”

In one state, she said, “Street drinkers came and they littered the neighborhood. I had an employee who lived in that area, and he had to literally move bodies of alcoholics who had passed out in his driveway in order to drive his children to work, and these people would be shouting obscenities to him and his children. … You’re just bound to have more problems with street drinking if you radically increase the outlets for this particular product.”

First off, I wanna hear more about this guy and where his driveway was located. My initial reaction is this woman is nothing but a balls-to-the-walls lying......but perhaps we should withhold judgment just yet.

Either way, me doubts these people were loaded on Pinot Noir. In all likelihood, their drunken asshatery (if it ever actually happened) was probably caused by beer and liquor.

Hopey McChangey

After seeing all the stuff out there, I just had a few things to point out.

1) Obama was never a pacifist. Never claimed to be a pacifist.

2) Obama has always, throughout his campaign, been hawkish on Afghanistan and Pakistan as the central fronts on the War on Al-Qaeda.

3) Obama promised during the campaign to increase troop levels in Afghanistan.

You can be ticked off/disappointed about his decision to prolong the war and increase troop levels, but you shouldn't be surprised.

And Then There Were Three

The race to be the Democratic nominee has narrowed further as longshot hopeful Ward Cammack realized that shot was just a bit too long, and dropped out of contention.

“This campaign stood strong for a year because of the enthusiastic supporters and our mutual belief in Tennessee becoming the primary global renewable energy leader,” Cammack said. “Tennessee has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to lead not only other states, but other countries. And I challenge the remaining candidates to make that a reality.”

While polls show he had little support to divvy up to the other candidates, the narrowing of the race might allow McMillan or Kyle to break away as people start to pay closer attention to the race.

Holiday Bash with Steve Turner

Its getting to be that time of year...no, I'm not talking about those quaint holidays, I'm talking about the end of the bi-annual off-year fundraising reporting deadline! Celebrate in style by supporting Steve Turner's bid to give District 58 a quality representative, this Friday at The Garden Brunch Cafe.



If you can't attend the party, be sure to give a little online.

Dept. of Are You Fucking Kidding Me?

If there is an emoticon for being incredulous, picture it here...

Politico has a rather lengthy piece in which they chronicle the various Republicans who are hurt and upset that Al Franken had the temerity to introduce a bill that would strip members of the military-industrial complex of their contracts if they have provisions which prevent their employees from suing them in instances of rape.

“I think it would be helpful for Sen. Franken to come forward and say, ‘I’m not suggesting that anybody who votes for my amendment is indifferent to crimes against women or anybody else,’” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who voted against the amendment. “What’s going on politically with the amendment Sen. Franken can’t control, but I think it would be helpful for him personally to just let the rest of us know that’s the views of others — not him.”

Rrriiiggghhhttt....this coming from the party that created the goddamn PATRIOT act. Yeah, I don't remember Republicans rushing to the cameras to say, "you know, just because someone votes against the PATRIOT act, doesn't meant they aren't a patriot."

About That War Chest...

It will be interesting to see what Sen. Herron does with his Gubernatorial funds. He can't spend them on a Congressional race. So will he transfer those fund to the Senate Caucus to help retain or gain new seats? Will he give that money back to his contributors with a polite nudge to give it back to his Congressional campaign? Or will he horde it in the chance that his Congressional bid doesn't pan out and he needs it for some state race in the future?

Wedding Crashers 2 : The State Dinner

For the love of God, why is this still a story? ABC News has an extensive report on whether or not the Salahi's received an official White House invite. They show emails which indicate they were in the process of trying to get said invite, but nothing definitive had ever gone through.

Quite frankly, I'm shocked as to why this is a major story. These people went through the proper security screening that all other attendees went through, but their name apparently wasn't on the list. They didn't sneak in, from what I can tell, they walked through the front door.

Did someone make a boo-boo? Apparently, but so what? Thousands of people whose names don't appear on a list get to shake hands with the President in a rope-line, they just happened to do it with expensive evening wear on. Was the President in any more danger because they mingled in the same crowd?

In the pantheon of concerns about the President's safety, I'm much more worried about one of those nutbag GOP Congress-critters "Going Rouge" than I am about some wealthy socialite getting into a White House function without having given the appropriate donation to the DNC to get a proper invite.

The Inherent Power of Republicans...

...they are entirely unencumbered by truth or fact.

The NRCC is jumping out hard against Roy Herron's embryonic campaign to be the next Congressman for the 8th district, coming up with a litany of proposals Herron supposedly supports:

Roy Herron’s 23-year Nashville record is a veritable smorgasbord of Obama-style liberalism. Herron has championed a state income tax, a disastrous government healthcare system, card check and the ‘stimulus’ that failed struggling Tennesseans. With his gubernatorial bid circling the drain, he’s embarked on a quixotic quest to take his job-killing agenda national.

Now, we'll forgive the "he's a liberal" canard, because its a subjective statement and we know that the modern GOP considers anyone to the left of the Taliban to be "liberal".

Herron did support a version of an income tax which eliminated that Hall income tax in favor of an income tax on people making over 100 grand a year (200K for couples).

But Herron as a champion for card check? Since when? Back when Herron first announced his campaign for Governor, he was having to defend his votes against a resolution opposing card check. He eventually waffled a bit on the issue, having the Clerk erase his vote against the measure, but he never came out in favor of it, rather he simply said he wasn't informed enough to make a decision.

Herron may not be a Lincoln Davis style Democrat, but he's hardly Steve Cohen either...

What The ???

Well, this is a bit of a bombshell for the Democratic party in Tennessee. After 22 years of serving the 8th District, John Tanner has decided to call it quits, and as a result Roy Herron has announced he'll be dropping out of the Governor's race to run for Congress.

Herron will be going up against a well-to-do farmer and Christian singer, who hasn't really had much in the way of political experience, but has been able to tap the funds of his friends, and now will be one of the top-tier candidates for the NRCC.

This is likely to be one of the most contested elections in the country, and while Tanner probably had a good shot at winning re-election, Herron's candidacy is far less certain given the general malaise of the Democratic voting base this year.

As for the Governors race, this move edges out one of McWherter's top competitors, potentially boosting the candidacies of Kyle or McMillan.