Day: November 27, 2007

Maybe I Will Get to Vote for Kucinich After All

Buck Banks

As a registered Independent in Florida, I don’t get to vote in either the Democratic or Republican primaries — not that it would mean anything if I could. But if I could it would mean that I would at least have the opportunity of voting for Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich before his campaign gets ground to dust by the Clinton-Obama-Edwards juggernaut. Not that I necessarily would, but I might could, as they say up in North Carolina.

But even if Kucinich gets the snot kicked out of him in the primary, I might still get to vote for him in a third-party bid. National Journal columnist Craig Crawford sees a potentially potent third-party ticket of Kucinich and Republican presidential candidate Texas Rep. Ron Paul. Crawford even gins up some hints from the candidates themselves:

Kucinich is not a fierce partisan for the Democratic Party: ‘I don’t buy into that stuff.’

“I hear that a lot, but I haven’t really thought about it,” the Ohio congressman said of talk about running with his House colleague from Texas. “I like Ron Paul. He’s a real patriot. He and I will be working together in a lot of circumstances.”

Kucinich added that he is not a fierce partisan for the Democratic Party. “I don’t buy into that stuff,” he said. And he noted that in many lopsided House votes he and Paul often stand together against their parties — sometimes by themselves. “Kucinich-Paul. You’ll find that on more than a few roll calls.”

Both men are party outsiders — Paul ran on the Libertarian ticket in 1988 — but they also have significant differences in beliefs, Crawford notes:

While Kucinich’s pro-government philosophy and Paul’s libertarian credo might not mix at all levels, they are both passionately against the war in Iraq and dedicated to restoring congressional power under the Constitution.

But what adds some credibility to the possibility is Crawford’s conclusion about the two scrappy outsiders:

Running together in an independent effort would garner a lot more attention than continuing their party bids long after others have locked up the nominations.

Larry Flynt Confirms That Trent Lott ‘Has Been a Target’

Jon Ponder

Here’s an interesting development in the increasingly heated speculation about what led Sen. Trent Lott to announce his resignation from the Senate yesterday.

On Larry Flynt’s website, Flynt has posted an excerpt from PageOneQ, a Washington-based website that has a record of accurately identifying closeted Republican politicians:

“Once upon a time,” writes Big Head DC [another Washington-based website], “there was a twentysomething boy-next-door type with reddish blond hair and a brillantly white smile.”

This boy-next-door is male escort Benjamin Nicholas, whose blog, 15 Minutes, helped him make some connections in business and politics.

One of these connections is rumored to be [Trent Lott, who is] rumored to have planned a resignation by the end of this year to avoid being scandalized by Hustler publisher Larry Flynt. Flynt had, back in June, offered cash rewards for substantiated accounts of sexual liaisons with elected officials.

To which Larry Flynt responds:

HUSTLER Magazine has received numerous inquiries regarding the involvement of Larry Flynt and HUSTLER in the resignation of Trent Lott. Senator Lott has been the target of an ongoing HUSTLER investigation for some time now, due to confidential information that we have received.

Meanwhile, at Huffington Post, the idea that Lott had any sort of relationship with Benjamin Nicholas is “put to bed” by none other than Nicholas himself:

[…]

Red Cross Fires CEO, a Former Bush Official, Over ‘Improper’ Relationship

Jon Ponder

The American Red Cross announced it has fired its president and CEO, Mark Everson, because he conducted an improper “personal relationship” with a subordinate employee.

According to the Associated Press, “the Red Cross asked for and received Everson’s resignation, effective immediately, after learning of the relationship.”

Everson and his wife, Nanette, have two children. The employee was not identified by the Red Cross or in early media reports but is presumed to be female.

Everson served in the George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan administrations:

In 2003, he was nominated by George Bush to be commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service. He was confirmed by the GOP-controlled Senate in May of that year. Prior to that he served as deputy director of Bush’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB). He also served as chairman of the President’s Management Council. During the Clinton years, Everson worked in the private sector, but in the 1980s, he served in the Reagan administration. As deputy commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, he oversaw Reagan’s program of granting amnesty to illegal immigrants.

Another example of good ol’ family values, Republican style.