Month: September 2007

Florida Democratic Party Update: Sit Tight, Trust Us

Buck Banks

I received this inane message from Florida Democratic Party Chair Karen Thurman this morning:

I hope everyone had a wonderful Labor Day Weekend. As you may have heard, on Friday and Saturday, the Democratic Presidential candidates signed a pledge to not campaign in any state, other than the four pre-authorized states (IA, NV, NH, SC), that holds its primary prior to Feb. 5, 2008. Of course, Florida’s state-run Presidential Preference Primary is scheduled for one week prior to that date. This came on the heels of a DNC Rules & Bylaws Committee meeting to penalize Florida Democrats with a 100 percent delegate reduction if our delegates are not selected on Feb. 5 or later.

This is obviously a difficult situation, but I want to assure you that your Party, Democratic Congressional Delegation, DNC members and other Democratic leaders are working hard to find a solution that is amenable to the DNC, the Chairs of the four pre-authorized states, the candidates and, most of all, Florida Democrats. We hope to be making an announcement in the coming weeks.

Until then, we strongly encourage you to keep your eyes on the prize and continue moving forward with laying the groundwork for victory in November 2008. Use that voter file, talk to your friends and neighbors, sign up to be a delegate to the state convention, and get involved. These intra-party discussions shouldn’t distract us from the real goal or let the Republicans get the upper hand. No matter which cards we’re dealt, we must deliver our state’s 27 electoral votes — and the Presidency — to the Democratic nominee. The country needs us.

Stay tuned for more information. Thank you for your hard work.

-KLT

Hear that sucking sound? It’s the Florida Democratic Party’s leadership vacuum.

Let the train wreck begin!

Big Daddy DNC Doles Out Discipline

Buck Banks

In a rare demonstration of forthrightness, the Democratic National Committee’s spokeswoman let slip how the DNC actually perceives its state counterparts while she explained why the committee was whupping up on Florida for moving its primary to Jan. 29:

‘If you don’t enact the punishment, it also sends a signal to other children that they can get away with it, too.’

Stacie Paxton, press secretary for the DNC, said Florida’s penalty is meant in part as a lesson to other states weighing earlier primary dates, and she likened the measure to schoolyard discipline. “You can say to a child, ‘You’re going to receive a punishment,’ ” she says. “But if you don’t enact the punishment, it also sends a signal to other children that they can get away with it, too.”

Of course, one could argue that the “leadership” of the Florida Democratic Party is indeed a pretty bratty bunch and about as effective as a group of third-graders. Here they are responding to the punishment news:

Florida Democrats have gone on the offensive, with top leaders denouncing the national party and threatening legal action. “We cannot go along with anything but the state-run primary set for next January,” Florida’s 10 congressional Democrats, led by Sen. Bill Nelson, said in a statement last week. “We strongly encourage all Democrats to vote for their preferred nominee in that primary, regardless of whatever penalties the DNC might enact.”

That doesn’t sound much like offense, does it? Instead, it sounds like the Fla Dems just punted.

Four More Top GOP Outings Could Be in the Offing

Jon Ponder

In the wake of closeted Sen. Larry Craig’s self-outing in an airport men’s room this summer, word from Washington says more revelations are coming about the secret sexual identities of two leading GOP senators, while two allegedly gay Republican congressmen are making headlines and drawing unwelcome attention to themselves, the timing of which could not be worse.

The senators are Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Mitch McConnell, the Senate Minority Leader, from Kentucky. More about them below but first let’s look at two allegedly closeted members of the House, representatives Patrick McHenry and David Drier, who have been in the news lately.

[…]

State, National Democratic Party Doing Their Best to Swing Florida Republican

Trish

FCD home page, showing the “news” from as recently as Aug. 29

The news for Florida Democrats gets worse by the minute — in addition to taking away our delegates, the DNC forced most candidates to sign a pledge that they will not campaign in Florida.

Anyone who says we have effective leadership at the top of the Florida Democratic party is just plain wrong

The DNC, in short, is doing everything it can think of to ensure that Florida’s electoral votes go to the Republican candidate for president in 2008.

And what is our state party doing about it?

I don’t know. The FDP’s* web site hasn’t been updated since Aug. 29 — the day before party chair Karen Thurman and her crew unsuccessfully pleaded our case in Washington. An escalating tactical war, intended to bring Florida Democrats to our knees, has been waged since with daily headlines detailing more bad news.

But instead of helping us stay on top of the situation, offering lights at ends of tunnels, and suggesting tactics Florida Democrats like me can take to help, we get stale silence.

Anyone who says we have effective leadership at the top of the Florida Democratic party is just plain wrong.

* Thanks, Anonymous, for pointing out my original acronym was wrong. If only you’d contribute something more meaningful than minutiae and uninformed jabs about me being a novice, we’d really be in business.

Update: Almost as if they read Pensito Review, the Florida Democratic Party has at last updated its web site, so we can find out almost anything we ever wanted to know about how Florida Democrats enjoyed their Labor Day picnics. Now if only they’d address our dire situation in regard to the 2008 elections…

Quote du Jour

Buck Banks

Long experience has taught us that it is dangerous in the interest of truth to suppress opinions and ideas; it has further taught us that it is foolish to imagine that we can do so. It is far easier to meet an evil in the open and defeat it in fair combat in people’s minds than to drive it underground and have no hold on it or proper approach to it. Evil flourishes far more in the shadows than in the light of day.

— Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964), Prime Minister of India

If Fred Thompson Were Running for Least Sincere Candidate, He’d Get Our Vote Hands-Down

Trish
The truck parked in Fred Thompson’s mother’s yard since his last campaign

With summer reruns ending, Fred Thompson is ready to make the surprise announcement that he’s running for president. And as a Republican, too. Who’da thunk?

The big question is, will he pull out the secret weapon this time around? Our bet is yes because it’s hard to get more jaundiced than Fred Dalton Thompson.

As we reported earlier, Fred’s been waiting for Law & Order season 18 episode reruns to end before he announces for two reasons.

One: Big, massive jowly-faced bucks.

Two: To get around the FCC’s equal time requirements.

His opponent said Thompson was actually a “Gucci- wearing, Lincoln- driving, Perrier- drinking, Grey Poupon-spreading millionaire Washington special-interest lobbyist.”

Under the equal-time rule, if a network gives time to one political candidate, it is required to provide the same amount of airtime to his or her opponents. In other words, if Thompson appeared on a “Law & Order” episode for 10 minutes during prime time, NBC would have to give Thompson’s rivals for the Republican nomination 10 minutes of prime time each.

…an NBC spokeswoman said, “If Fred Thompson formally announces his intention to run for president, NBC will not schedule any further repeats of ‘Law & Order’ featuring Mr. Thompson beyond those already scheduled, which conclude on Saturday, September 1st.”

Now that the summer season is over and Fred can begin his “real” campaign, will that red pickup truck parked in his mama’s backyard all these years be revived? It worked like a charm last time.

Early in the 1994 race, after struggling to connect with voters, Thompson decided to lease a used truck and drive around the state in what turned out to be a wildly successful effort to recast himself as a folksy man of the people.

His opponent, Democratic Rep. Jim Cooper, derided the truck as a cynical prop to deflect attention from Thompson’s inside-the-Beltway status. But Thompson was able to shake off Cooper’s suggestion that he was actually a “Gucci-wearing, Lincoln-driving, Perrier-drinking, Grey Poupon-spreading millionaire Washington special-interest lobbyist.”

Thompson ended up capturing more than 60 percent of the vote.

A Taliban truck with women about to be shot in the head at the soccer stadium

Readers of Khaled Hosseini‘s books, The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, will of course flinch when they see a red pickup. The trucks became a symbol of the Taliban, which used them to patrol for people violating their 7th century rules of conduct.

And the pickups provided ideal platforms for intimidation and enforcement. From their Land Cruisers and Hiluxes, the Taliban were ready to leap down and beat women for showing a glimpse of ankle or to lock a man in a shipping container for three weeks until his beard grew to the approved length. Or, most dismal, to drag an accused adulterer or blasphemer to the soccer stadium for execution.

Fred’s non-stump speeches to date have been all about fear, ala Bush/Cheney. So go ahead, Fred. Drive around in that red pickup. It might be the most sincere move you’ll make in your witless run for power.

Like Its Boycotts, AFA’s ‘Debate’ Will Likely Be Ineffectual

Buck Banks

Donald “The Wildman” Wildmon is touting the American Family Association’s upcoming GOP Values Voter Presidential Debate Sept. 17. Here’s how he describes it:

We’ve heard the questions from talking snowmen. We’ve gotten the crumbs that fell from Chris Matthews. Now it’s our turn. It’s time the candidates answer questions from the largest voting block in America: the values voters. Yes, the values voters.

It wasn’t supposed to be just a GOP event among the presumptive losers. Wildmon invited all candidates, Democrats and Republicans to come to Fort Lauderdale to answer real questions. Of course no Dems are coming, and the list of GOPers who have committed to the event reads like the also rans following the primaries: Huckabee, Brownback, Hunter, Paul, Tancredo and Cox.

What does Wildmon say makes this debate different?

The candidates will be asked questions related to abortion, immigration, marriage and other issues Values Voters consider important.

If you want to see where they stand on the traditional, pro-family issues, don’t miss this debate.

Whoa, there should be a wide array of differing opinions among these white guys in black suits with red ties, setting off a spirited debate among them to see who can be the most right-wing and least tolerant.

Of course, this marginal event is not being broadcast by any television network, but will be streamed live from the AFA Web site.