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Inspired Casting: Laura Dern to Play Katherine Harris

Trish

We told you about the HBO feature film about the aftermath of the 2000 election, titled “Recount.” More cast members are being named and some of the choices make a lot of sense.

Kevin Spacey, Laura Dern, Ed Begley Jr., Denis Leary, John Hurt, Tom Wilkinson and Bob Balaban will star in HBO’s Recount, sources close to the production confirmed on Monday.

Spacey will play Ron Klain, former chief of staff to Al Gore, while Dern will portray Katherine Harris, Florida’s secretary of state, who certified that George W. Bush won the state during the closely contested 2000 presidential election.

Recount, which starts filming in Jacksonville next month, takes place during the five weeks between the 2000 election and the U.S. Supreme Court 5-4 decision that ended the Florida recounts. Jacksonville will stand in for numerous locations around Florida.

Balaban will play Ben Ginsberg, lead attorney for the Bush/Cheney camp. Begley will play David Boies, lead attorney for Gore.

Wilkinson will play James Baker, the secretary of state for George H.W. Bush, an advisor to George W. Bush during the recount. John Hurt will play Warren Christopher, secretary of state for Bill Clinton, who advised Gore.

Denis Leary will be Michael Wouley, Gore’s chief field operative.

Jay Roach, who directed the Meet the Parents and Austin Powers franchises, will direct. Executive producers are Paula Weinstein, Sydney Pollack, Len Amato and Roach. The film was written by Danny Strong.

Laura Dern was so likable in Jurassic Park(s) that it should be a challenge for her to play America’s most famous nutcase.

The roles of Poppy and Laura Bush are still open, we’ve noted. Both Bush and Gore have been cast although the actors playing them have not yet been publicly named.

Romney Shows He Read the Republican Playbook

Trish

Mitt Romney’s comments about the civilian killings by the Blackwater private security guards sound kind of familiar. Romney’s counterterrorism advisor, Cofer Black, is vice chair of Blackwater USA.

“I think the allegations are very serious indeed and that there is an investigation which is under way,” Romney told reporters in his first public comment on the case. “I don’t want to prejudge what will happen from the investigation, but if the investigations go through in a legitimate and appropriate way, then I would expect an appropriate response.”

Hmmm, that’s rings a bell. Especially the “prejudge” part. Where have I heard that before?

“I have instructed every member of my staff to fully cooperate in this investigation,” Bush told reporters after a Cabinet meeting at the White House.

“I also will not prejudge the investigation based on media reports. We’re in the midst of an ongoing investigation, and I will be more than happy to comment further once the investigation is completed.”

Yeah, that’s it! Bush talking about Rove and the CIA leak scandal.

No one will ever accuse Mitt Romney of original thinking but isn’t it funny how Republicans have complete confidence in the courts and the judicial process until they’re found out, or until they disagree with a ruling?

Why You Should Care About Florida’s Primary

Trish

You might already know the facts, but here they are again: Florida’s majority Republican legislature passed a bill earlier this year changing the state’s primary to Jan. 29. This placed the Florida election ahead of Iowa, South Carolina, Nevada, and good old New Hampshire, which is a violation of both Republican and Democratic party rules.

The Republican National Committee (RNC) punished Florida by taking away half its delegates to the 2008 Republican convention. The Democratic National Committee (DNC) took away all Florida’s delegates and made the Democratic frontrunners sign a pledge not to campaign in Florida. The pledge does not prohibit fund-raising.

Before, it looked like all Democrats needed to do to win in 2008 was show up — but we can’t even do that right

The DNC offered Florida Democratic party leaders a deal: if you nullify the results of the statewide Jan. 29 primary and hold party caucuses, pay-per-vote straw polls like Iowa, or some other behind-the-scenes event with extremely limited participation on Feb. 5, we will forgive you.

FDP leaders, wisely, went with “no deal.” They argue correctly that there is more for Florida voters to decide on Jan. 29 than just presidential preference, and besides, your average voter (like me) doesn’t agree that his or her vote should be tossed in favor of those from Democratic party insiders.

Here’s why you should care. The DNC, in refusing to allow candidates to campaign in Florida, is throwing the 2008 election to the Republicans. Picture it: months of TV spots with Rudy and Mitt telling Florida voters why we should love them, but also increasingly hammering away at Hillary, Barack, and John. Headlines like, “Thompson Eats Fried Gator Tail at Rotary Picnic” and “McCain Tours Military Base.”

And on the Democratic side? Silence, broken only the occasional dive for dollars at private parties.

“You’re going to continue to see Republican candidates coming to Florida, shaking hands, listening to voters,” said Erin Van Sickle, a Florida Republican Party spokeswoman.

Said Merle Black, a political scientist at Emory University and expert on Southern politics: “It’s a huge power struggle within the Democratic Party that cannot help the party’s candidates in Florida.

“But having nobody come to Florida, that’s theater of the absurd,” he added.

The fourth biggest state in the country, always a toss-up, is abandoned — no, handed on a silver platter — to the Republicans. And why? Because national Democrats have their panties in a wad over something Florida Democrats can’t change: the legislatively mandated election date.

If there was ever a time for the DNC to get its head out of its ass, the time is now. As Ben Weaver, North Florida Regional Director for the Florida Young Democrats, noted, before it looked like all Democrats needed to do to win in 2008 was show up. And we can’t even do that right!

Frustration with the DNC, and the candidates who fear losing its funding, is high.

Republicans have been aggressively mobilizing and courting Florida voters, while Democratic candidates have been wary of doing anything to antagonize party leaders in those early nominating states.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson’s campaign even refused recently to send a letter of greeting to a Jackson County Democratic picnic for fear of violating his pledge to the four early states.

And all the front-runners, even those who originally accepted, have now declined invitations to the state party convention in Orlando at the end of October.

But Weaver, and quite a few others, are betting that Florida will get its delegates back even if the DNC rigidly stays the course, as they say they will. He thinks that on the first day of the national convention the front-runner will reinstate our 210 delegates in a show of party unity. I hope it won’t be too late by then, that too many Floridians will have only heard the GOP’s side of things for so long that they’ve tuned out whatever last-minute campaigning the Democrats engage in. If so, Howard Dean can take the credit for blowing it — again.

If They Weren’t Republicans, I’d Feel Sorry for Them

Buck Banks

Seems the news from the GOP side of the aisle just keeps getting better and better or worse and worse, depending on your orientation:

Top Republicans are privately bracing for the possibility that they could lose additional House seats in next year’s elections as a result of untimely retirements, ongoing scandals and unexpectedly gloomy fundraising forecasts, according to several members and aides.

It seems every day brings more bad news for Republicans. As Politico first reported Friday, House Majority Leader John Boehner and his campaign chief, Oklahoma Rep. Tom Cole, are at war over campaign tactics and operations. Boehner is demanding a major shake-up at the National Republican Congressional Committee.

If the election were held this November, Republicans would be in for a disastrous result.

And besides being morally bankrupt as a political party, the National Republican Congressional Committee, which is charged with getting GOPers elected to Congress, is literally broke. As in having more debt than cash.

At the end of August, the National Republican Congressional Committee reported only $1.6 million cash on hand, with $4 million in debt. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, by comparison, had banked over $22 million, with only $3 million in debt.

Of course, a popular Republican presidential candidate could pull in the big bucks and help hold some jeopardized congressional seats, but the key word there is “popular.” Unfortunately for the Repugs, a recent Mason-Dixon poll found that Undecided is running neck and neck with Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani. That’s not going to energize the base.

A popular incumbent president could also be of some fundraising use to the GOP, but George W. Bush has become a pariah to his party, and is widely hated by Democrats and Republicans alike.

“If the election were held this November, Republicans would be in for a disastrous result,” said Cook Political Report House analyst David Wasserman. “The thinking goes: It will have to be another cycle before Republicans get their act together.”

Excuse me for being gleeful, but it looks bad for the Republicans. The only downside is that it looks good for the Democrats, who have shown they don’t know what to do with a majority when they get one. And they’d rather circle up for a firing squad than loosen their stupid rules on primary dates. Too bad it’s probably going to take another election cycle before the Dems get their act together, too.

Ahmadinejad: ‘We Don’t Have Homosexuals’ in Iran – Same Country That Executed Two Gay Teens in 2005

Jon Ponder


Iranian Pres. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaking today at Columbia University:

“In Iran, we don’t have homosexuals like in your country. We don’t have that in our country. In Iran, we do not have this phenomenon. I do not know who has told you that we have it.”

July 2005:

Three weeks ago, two Iranian teenagers who had been imprisoned and mercilessly beaten, were finally executed by hanging in Iran for the crime of sex with another male, indeed, apparently it now seems within the context of a committed relationship. At that time, … The young guys, one of whom was under the age of 18 at the time of the execution and both of whom were under 18 at the time of their arrest, underwent more than a year in prison and were subjected to 228 lashes of a whip, before Iran robbed them of their young lives on Tuesday, July 19, 2005.

The teenagers, Mahmoud Asgari and Ayaz Marhoni (yes, these two human beings had names), still call to me from their graves. I can hear their plaintive cries that we shall forget them and their deaths will be for naught.

Bush: Saddam Hussein Killed Nelson Mandela

Trish

What is Bush on?

In a speech defending his administration’s Iraq policy, Mr Bush said former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s brutality had made it impossible to unite the country.

Bush: “Mandela’s dead because Saddam Hussein killed all the Mandelas.”

“I heard somebody say, ‘Where’s Mandela?’,” he said.

“Well, Mandela’s dead because Saddam Hussein killed all the Mandelas.”

The bizarre gaffe was made in a press conference in Washington yesterday.

Mandela became South Africa’s first black president in 1994. He won a Nobel Peace Prize for preaching racial harmony and guiding the nation into the post-apartheid era.

References to his death – Mandela is now 89 and increasingly frail – are seen as insensitive in South Africa.

Ya think? I imagine they’d be seen as insensitive anywhere, not to mention too stupid to contemplate

We already told you about the delusional antics of our president during his recent visit to Southeast Asia and Australia. We also postulated that Bush has advanced Lyme Disease, which causes brain fog and psychosis. But even we are becoming alarmed. This is getting way beyond just mispronouncing “nuclear.”

The Week magazine noted another mysterious Bush mistake.

He talked of the danger of terrorist groups such as “Jenna Islaaanah Nia,” which no one had ever head of (one can only assume that meant Jemaah Islamiyah).

The leader of the Indonesian terror group Jemaah Islamiyah, Abu Dujana, was arrested in June in connection with the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings, along with more recent attacks. But hey, Bush knows someone named Jenna and it sounds a lot like that.

The Week also quoted the Sydney Morning Herald’s Annabel Crabb about Bush’s public speaking meltdowns in her country.

One could almost sense the craning CIA sharpshooters wearily exchanging their live rounds for tranquilizer darts.

“Time to get the big guy out of there, Hank?”

“Roger that, Chuck.”

If only it were that easy.

HBO Will Relive 2000 Recount

Trish

HBO has chosen Jacksonville for the main location of its big screen feature, “Recount,” based on the 2000 presidential election and rumored to be staring Kevin Spacey and William Hurt.

Droves of local amateurs answered the call for extras.

“I’m not sure, but I think they cast me as a Democrat. Honestly, I’d rather be Green Party.”

A number of scenes in the movie involve crowd shots of protesters and will require thousands of voting-age extras, Davidson said. Senior citizens and college-age extras are in high demand for the shoot.

Lara Randall said she and her friend Melissa Lamanna learned of the open call online…

“It was a positive experience,” Randall said. “I’m not sure, but I think they cast me as a Democrat. Honestly, I’d rather be Green Party.”

And there’s one of the problems, but don’t get me started.

Speaking of casting, two roles are still open.

Representatives from Martini Shot [Casting] also have been actively looking for look-alikes to portray the major political figures from the 2000 presidential race. Davidson said they’ve found actors for George Bush and Al Gore, but they’re still trying to find some for Laura Bush and George Bush Sr.

Anyone got any suggestions on who could play the Lauratron or Poppy?

Breaking: Florida Democrats Tell DNC “Screw You”

Trish

That cheer you hear is Florida Democrats receiving some good news. At long last, state party leaders are showing signs of intelligent life. They are announcing today that they will tell the DNC they are not coming up with work-arounds for the national leaders’ sanction of Florida’s Jan. 29 presidential preference primary.

Instead of spending millions of dollars to hold caucuses, straw votes, or whatever else it would take to please Howard Dean & Co., they are doing the right thing and encouraging Florida Democrats to vote in our state’s authentic election. From a party email and new web site:

You should care about Florida’s situation even if you aren’t in Florida

…your Party’s leaders have chosen overwhelmingly to reaffirm our strong commitment to fully participating in the state-run Democratic Presidential Primary on January 29, 2008, despite the penalties from the Democratic National Committee.

There will be no other primary. Florida Democrats absolutely must vote on January 29th. We make this election matter. Not the DNC, not the delegates, not the candidates, but Florida Democrats like you and me voting together. We make it count.

Stating which candidate they like best isn’t the only issue on the ballot for Florida voters. A new tax plan that would starve local governments into cutting social services, law enforcement, and public works is also in play. Democratic voters can’t sit this one out, although many would if they thought they were not also helping select the party’s presidential candidate.

I’m planning a post on why you should care about Florida’s situation even if you aren’t in Florida. For now, trust me. This all matters.

I’ve been critical of FDC leader Karen Thurman for a number of reasons and I don’t expect that to change. But I have to give the devil her due on this one. Thanks, Karen, for getting it right!

O’Reilly Goes to Harlem, Finds It Suprisingly Similar to America

Jon Ponder

Billo’s narrative about a recent trip to Harlem offers keen insight into the rightwing’s inner monologue on race:

You know, I was up in Harlem a few weeks ago, and I actually had dinner with Al Sharpton, who is a very, very interesting guy. And he comes on The Factor a lot, and then I treated him to dinner, because he’s made himself available to us, and I felt that I wanted to take him up there.

Note the adverb: He actually had dinner with Sharpton, which translates as “believe it or not, I had dinner with a liberal, and an African-American liberal, at that.” But the takeaway point: Bill paid for dinner.

And we went to Sylvia’s, a very famous restaurant in Harlem. I had a great time, and all the people up there are tremendously respectful.

Not just some dive nobody’s heard of. Bill went to one of the most famous restaurants in the African American universe.

They all watch The Factor. You know, when Sharpton and I walked in, it was like a big commotion and everything, but everybody was very nice.

Bill would have us believe that Sylvia’s was packed with Fox News watchers, but what he probably couldn’t imagine is that black people have cable television and may have seen him in his almost nightly presentation as Keith Olbermann’s “Worst Person in the World,” or in any number of other shows where he is mocked and lampooned.

And I couldn’t get over the fact that there was no difference between Sylvia’s restaurant and any other restaurant in New York City. I mean, it was exactly the same, even though it’s run by blacks, primarily black patronship. It was the same, and that’s really what this society’s all about now here in the U.S.A. There’s no difference. There’s no difference. There may be a cultural entertainment — people may gravitate toward different cultural entertainment, but you go down to Little Italy, and you’re gonna have that. It has nothing to do with the color of anybody’s skin.

Is Bill O’Reilly truly as unsophisticated as he comes off here, or is this part of his everyman shtick? If he’s reporting his true impressions here, it appears he experienced more than a little trepidation in advance of his visit.

What is truly revelatory here is the fact that O’Reilly is so out of tune with his own prejudices that he would broadcast them to his audience without a trace of irony or self-deprecation.

GOP Big City Mayor Comes Out As Human, Changes Stance on Gay Marriage

Jon Ponder

The Republican mayor of San Diego — the last remaining large city in California with a conservative base — changed his position on gay marriage last week:

“In the end, I couldn’t look any of them in the face and tell them that their relationships, their very lives, were any less meaningful than the marriage I share with my wife, Rana.”
Jerry Sanders, Mayor of San Diego (R)

A tearful Mayor Jerry Sanders made a dramatic shift yesterday, explaining that he can no longer oppose same-sex marriages because he does not want to deny justice to people like his daughter, who is a lesbian.

Joined at a late afternoon news conference by his wife, Rana Sampson, the San Diego mayor announced he will back a City Council decision to support same-sex marriage before the state Supreme Court, where California’s ban on it awaits review.

“I decided to lead with my heart, which is probably obvious at the moment,” said Sanders, moments before he revealed his daughter’s sexual orientation.

The mayor’s new stance marked a reversal of his pledge Tuesday to use his veto power to block the council’s move. At the time, he repeated his preference for civil unions, partnerships between same-sex couples that offer some but not all of the legal protections given to those who marry.

Describing what led to his decision, Sanders referred to friends and staffers who are gay, as well as his daughter:

“In the end, I couldn’t look any of them in the face and tell them that their relationships, their very lives, were any less meaningful than the marriage I share with my wife, Rana,” said Sanders, who quickly thanked reporters and dashed from the room.

San Diego has a population of 1.26 million, and is the second largest city in California and the eighth largest city in the United States. It is home to a large population of military retirees, which explains its large number of Republican voters, but it has a sizable gay community, as well:

Nearly 62,000 San Diegans are part of households led by a same-sex couple, according to a U.S. Census Bureau survey conducted two years ago.

Sanders is a former police chief who won a hard-fought election two years ago in the wake of multiple GOP scandals in San Diego County, including bribery charges against Rep. Duke Cunningham and a sleazy case in which the acting mayor and a city council member, both Republicans, were sent to prison for conspiring to ease restrictions on strip clubs.

Sanders’ principled position stands in stark contrast with Vice Pres. Dick Cheney, who also has a gay daughter, but who has won election based in no small part on an anti-gay agenda.

With new elections underway, Sanders’ change of heart may well cost him the election but, unlike the vice president, he will leave office with his his personal integrity intact.