Day: June 6, 2006

Did George Bush Really “Explore Alternative Lifestyles?”

Trish

Boy, have we been getting some interesting email since Editor-in-Chief Jon asked you to send in your own candidates for his list of hypocritical Republicans who disrespect marriage by fornicating with people to whom they are not.

Some of the most interesting are allegations that Monkeyboy is himself gay, or at least that he tried to be back in college, when he stayed so messed up he could have eaten babies and not remembered it later, save for the pacifier dangling from his lips.

Bush on tape: “I’m not going to kick gays, because I’m a sinner.”

The idea that Georgie might himself be of questionable heterosexuality would explain a lot, according to the emailers. Jeff Gannon, for one thing. Flirting with the Canadian prime minister’s press secretary, for another.

“Well, you got a pretty face,” he told the surprised Mr. Reid. He wasn’t done. “You got a pretty face,” he said again. “You’re a good-looking guy. Better looking than my Scott anyway.”

But what really leaps to mind is when Bush, so uncharacteristically, was supposedly caught on tape doing the right thing. Remember when his old pal Doug Wead appeared with recordings from when W. was still Texas governor, where he discussed his impending run for the White House? Why did Bush for once refuse to whip up the base?

Mr. Bush appeared most worried that Christian conservatives would object to his determination not to criticize gay people. “I think he wants me to attack homosexuals,” Mr. Bush said after meeting James Robison, a prominent evangelical minister in Texas.

But Mr. Bush said he did not intend to change his position. He said he told Mr. Robison: “Look, James, I got to tell you two things right off the bat. One, I’m not going to kick gays, because I’m a sinner. How can I differentiate sin?”

Um, I think that’s only one thing, W., but how exactly did you mean it? Really intriguing…

Newspaper Sues to See 2008 Republican National Convention Bid

Trish

Update: The Tampa Tribune is now reporting that the cost of the convention will be $124 million, with about $85 million coming from public sources. Florida Gov. Jeb Bush will be honorary chair.

The Tampa Tribune had to sue to see the city’s bid to host the 2008 Republican convention. And even though the city — which had outsourced the bid work to the Tampa Bay Convention & Visitors Bureau — caved, they still didn’t exactly throw open the gates to the information.

The Tribune’s lawsuit, filed in Hillsborough County Circuit Court, states that Tampa delegated to the visitors bureau the governmental function of preparing the bid and, therefore, the bid is a public record.

Dianne Jacob, senior vice president of marketing for the bureau, said the bid is in a 2.5-inch-thick binder. The bureau will allow reporters to view the document but not photocopy it.

“That’s just our policy,” Jacob said.

What would there be to hide in the bid? If you answered, “Republicans trying to bill the taxpayers for another lavish party,” go to the head of the class. St. Petersburg Times:

According to supporting documents from the city, the convention would cost the city and other governments $12.7-million in direct expenses and in-kind services.

A majority of the expense would be for security, including $5.5-million for police and $3.7-million for barricades.

Tampa is competing with three other cities for this “honor” — Cleveland, Minneapolis, and New York. Tampa was first runner-up for the 2004 convention. New York’s smarm factor, however, was irresistible to Rove and the other 2004 puppet masters, who envisioned Bush wrapping himself in a flag atop smoldering World Trade Center rubble. But rarely are conventions held in the same city twice in a row, especially when New York is becoming more associated with Hillary Clinton.

Republicans stole the 2004 election with help from Ohio’s secretary of state, Kenneth Blackwell, so Cleveland might well be rewarded this time.

“It comes down to Ohio and Florida because they’re the battleground states,” [chairman of the Ohio Republican Party Robert] Bennett said.

Florida’s got one thing Ohio doesn’t, though — hurricanes, especially in September, when the convention is set. And how would it look if Republicans had to evacuate, just as they’re practicing their speeches on the lack of proof of global warming?

Republican Consultant Needs to Consult Dictionary on Meaning of “Integrity”

Trish

File this under, “Too Good to Pass Up,” right next to, “Shots We Just Have to Take.”

A prominent Republican consultant is facing a huge $950,000 in fines for violating Florida election laws. He has admitted misusing an issues-oriented political organization — known under Florida law as an “electioneering communication organization — which is not allowed to ask for votes.

And the name of the sham grassroots group? The Committee to Restore Integrity in Politics. Miami Herald:

Rocky Pennington, chairman of the Committee to Restore Integrity in Politics…is well-known in political circles as both a campaign consultant for the Republican Party of Florida and Republican candidates as well as being the owner of a direct-mail firm in Clearwater…

Pennington’s committee spent more than $300,000 with Pennington’s direct-mail firm to send two fliers in October 2004 to nearly 500,000 voters urging them to vote against the amendment being pushed by South Florida dog and horse tracks…

The money for the committee’s effort came almost entirely from companies that offer cruises-to-nowhere that feature gambling, including $475,000 from Palm Beach Casino Line…

In a separate case against Pennington, the commission also ruled there is probable cause that the same committee broke the law when it also paid for fliers urging voters to defeat an amendment to the city charter of Fort Myers.