Day: September 5, 2006

Florida’s Dark Days Could Be Over: The Boring Guy and the Possibly Gay Guy are Ahead in the Governor’s Races

Trish

No matter what, if U.S. Rep. Jim Davis (the boring guy) and Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist (the possibly gay guy) continue to maintain the leads they have now in the governor’s primaries, Florida will be so much better off soon that we will all dance in the streets for the rest of the week!

Here’s some background on the race, but it appears there are blue skies ahead for the Sunshine State, because either of the two finalists are so much better than Jeb that I might wet my pants. Thanks, Florida voters, for helping get us out of this nightmare!

P.S. Yes, Katherine Harris is winning the Repiglican primary.

P.P.S. And pro-life extremist Randall Terry’s getting stomped!

Going to walk the dog. Will update in a little while…

Update: Tom Gallagher has conceded the Republican primary to Charlie Crist in the governor’s race. In what will hopefully represent a trend repeated nationwide this fall, the St. Petersburg Times described how the two candidates conducted their campaigns, and how Gallagher’s style is so two years ago.

Crist ran as someone who champions consumer causes and [Jeb] Bush’s policies – at least when it came to crime, taxes and education. But he wasn’t afraid to step out of line with the governor on some issues.

He questioned Bush’s decision to intervene in the Terri Schiavo right-to-die case and said that he won’t try to change the class size limits that the governor tried and failed to put back on the ballot.

“All I want to be is the people’s governor and they should rest assured that if they elect me in November, no one will fight harder for the people than Charlie Crist,” he said. “This is a time when we need all of Florida to come together – Republicans, Democrats and independents.”

Gallagher lost despite positioning himself to come across almost exactly the same as Bush all the way down the line, abandoning a more moderate stance on social issues he had the last time he ran for governor for far-right positions opposing all abortions, gay marriage and adoption and stem cell research. He also promised to outlaw billboards for adult businesses like strip clubs.

Update: Harris has 49% of the Republican vote, splitting the remaining votes with her three challengers. So she won the primary, and will go on to try to unseat U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in November. Yeah, right.

Quote du Jour

Buck Banks

Who would be cleared by their Un-American Committees? Not Washington, who was a rebel. Not Jefferson, who wrote that all men are created equal and whose motto was ‘rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.’ Not Garrison, who publicly burned the Constitution. Not Lincoln, who admonished us to have malice toward none, charity toward all. Not Justice Holmes, who said that our Constitution is an experiment and that while that experiement is being made ‘we should be eternally vigilant against attempts to check the expression of opinions that we loathe and believe to be fraught with death.’

— Henry Steele Commager (1902-1998), American educator

GOP Starts ‘Security September’ Campaign Today – Control of Congress in November All But Assured

Jon Ponder
“From homeland security to national security to border security, House Republicans will focus first and foremost on addressing the safety and security needs of the American people throughout the month of September.”
— House Majority Leader John Boehner

Be afraid: Despite an increasing number of reports of polls indicating that the Democrats could take back the House and Senate on November 7, we all know that the likelihood that Republicans will lose control of either body is extremely remote.

We have seen that the GOP will lie, cheat and steal to win an election. The stakes could not be higher this year. If the Dems take either house, they will quickly catch up on the proctological oversight of the administration that the Republican majority has let slide. If the Dems take both houses, Bush will only have the courts he has packed with rightwingers to protect him and his cronies.

Over the past five years, Republicans have instilled a fear of terrorists into the American “psyche,” as Pres. Bush calls it. He and his message team — Cheney and Rumsfeld, primarily — use fear in the public mind like a lever to manipulate voters to do their will.

When things go wrong, as appears to be the case now, Republicans play the “terror card” and the public snaps to.Predictably, then, the GOP is launching its fall election campaign theme for this year on the day after Labor Day:

With GOP control of the House and Senate hanging in the balance in the November midterm elections, Republican leaders want to use the monthlong session that begins today when Congress reconvenes to press what has traditionally been their biggest advantage over Democrats: national security.

House Majority Leader John A. Boehner issued a statement last week emphasizing the theme Republicans plan to hammer. In fact, he reminded voters four times in one sentence.

“From homeland security to national security to border security, House Republicans will focus first and foremost on addressing the safety and security needs of the American people throughout the month of September,” Boehner said.

What sort of leader deploys campaigns to ratchet up fear in order to manipulate and intimidate his citizens? What sort of regime needs a pliant media to reinforce the myth that it is trustworthy and competent?

What we need now is a leader who can credibly remind us, as FDR assured Americans during the Great Depression, that fear only serves to weaken us — that the American tradition is to stand tall even as bombs are exploding, to take out our enemies fair and square and to be benevolent to our enemies in defeat.

Where can we find a leader like that?

Maybe It Sounds More Convincing in Spanish

Buck Banks

Radio free Hialeah: Katherine Harris took her campaign for the U.S. Senate to the Miami Hispanic community over the weekend. She even aired a new Spanish-language commercial on local radio. Who knew she has so many Spanish Republican supporters? Here’s a translation, courtesy the Palm Beach Post:

NARRATOR: Attention Republicans! Next Tuesday, we can move one step closer to electing our second Republican United States Senator in Florida.

Katherine Harris is a gutsy woman who’s fought for Republican values during her entire life and won.

Katherine Harris is a leader, hard-working and believes in family values, but most of all she is loyal. And that is why the following Republican leaders have endorsed her. Senator Mel Martinez, Congresswoman Illeana Ros-Lehtinen, Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart, Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart, the United States’ first Cuban-American House Speaker Marco Rubio, and many other Republican officials.

Katherine Harris is the true Republican candidate who has always been loyal to our community, our state, our president, George W. Bush, and our Republican values.

Katherine Harris with #11 on the ballot!

This advertisement is paid for by Friends of Katherine Harris. I am Katherine Harris and I approve this message.

Jews and Moonies Encourage Muslims to Turn On Each Other

Buck Banks

Ecumenical collaboration: Friday afternoon I received a press release from a PR firm that caught my attention. It was from a woman with a Jewish name working for a PR agency with two Jewish names that promotes Jewish and ecumenical causes, and it was about an op-ed piece written by the United State’s first Muslim ambassador and printed in the pages of the Washington Times, which is owned and operated by the Rev. Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church. It started this way:

Hello,

I thought you might be interested in this op-ed written by the first Muslim U.S. ambassador M. Osman Siddique wherein he calls on American Muslims to serve as sentries in their own communities in order to safeguard America and to protect Islam from being co-opted by extremists. It appeared in the Washington Times this morning . If you have any questions feel free to contact Rabinowitz/Dorf Communications.

Sincerely,

Jessica Rosenbaum
Rabinowitz/Dorf Communications

I read the piece, then wrote back to ask why I had been chosen to receive this weirdly ecumenical essay. As of today, I still have not heard from Rosenbaum, Rabinowitz or Dorf.

It’s strange to consider the provenance of the press release and one wonders what all these folks are really trying to accomplish. Do you really believe that these folks are trying to protect Islam from being “co-opted by extremists?” I think Siddique might actually be sincere, if misguided, but the Jews and the Moonies? Hmmmm ….

Siddique obviously is being used as a tool, and the cynics behind this piece of propaganda certainly don’t have Islam’s best interest at heart. Here are some excerpts. Read the whole thing here.

I am embarrassed when I read the names of the terrorists in the newspaper. What must non-Muslims think when some criminal claiming to act in the name of Islam and bearing the same name as the Prophet Muhammad is arrested?

I am also embarrassed that not all American Muslims do all they can to expose those in our community who would commit mayhem or would give succor in any way to those who would cause harm. Too many American Muslims hold back from publicly speaking out against extremist ideologies that threaten us all because they fear being stigmatized by their coreligionists for cooperating with security agencies.

Why is this? In part it is because some Muslim immigrants are relatively recent arrivals from nations in which security forces were corrupt and could not be trusted. Some shy from cooperation because of their immigration status or the status of those around them. Still others hold back because they disagree strongly with American foreign policy. They truly believe that the current administration is fighting a war against Islam under the guise of fighting terrorism. Regrettably, this sentiment is widespread among Muslims, more so abroad but to a substantial degree in America as well.

Our government may act incompetently and unwisely. But I’m confident that it holds no animosity toward Muslims simply because they are Muslims. Sadly, it is Muslims who perpetrate most of the worst terrorist attacks today. As we approach the fifth anniversary of September 11, this reality must be acknowledged by all Muslims.

Oh wait, now I see — the idea here is to get the good Muslims to rat out the bad ones!

If Muslims are to gain the full confidence of non-Muslim Americans they must come forward whenever they sense an extremist presence in their midst. If anything, we must go the extra mile in these suspicious times.
…

It’s often said that freedom is never cheap. For American Muslims, the price we must pay is taking responsibility for serving as sentries in our community. Our primary communal allegiance must be to the nation in which we thrive.

In no way do I mean to imply that the American Muslim community is ridden with potential terrorists or that extremist ideologies dominate. But we fool no one, and certainly not ourselves, if we fail to admit that within our ranks are at least some individuals who have the potential to turn on America.

There is no better time to act on this truth than the fifth anniversary of September 11.

So good Muslims — and you know who you are — get out there next Monday and report to the U.S. authorities all the bad or merely suspicious Muslims. Or use the opportunity to get even with your Muslim neighbors you simply don’t like.

Allah, Yaweh, Rev. Moon and George Bush will thank you for it.