Month: May 2013

GOP Will Have to Lose Another Campaign to Learn from the Last One

Buck Banks

They know they have a political problem–that’s obvious. But I don’t think they’ve come to grips with the fundamental issue, which is their governing philosophy. I think they’re going to have to lose one more.

— Will Marshall of the Progressive Policy Institute, quoted by The Atlantic, on whether the Republican Party learned lessons from its defeat in 2012.

Murkowski: Palin Not Connected with Alaska

Buck Banks

I think there are a lot of outside interests that would like to see Sarah Palin in some form of elected office. Most in Alaska recognize our former governor is really not involved in or engaged in the state anymore, that she’s moved to other interests. In order for you to represent the state of Alaska, you’ve got to be in the state.

— Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), telling The Hill not to expect a Senate bid from Sarah Palin because she’s not really connected to Alaska anymore.

FBI Enters Investigation into Corruption Probe of Tea Party Leader Michele Bachmann

Jon Ponder

Late last week, the Minneapolis Post and other outlets reported that the FBI has now joined the investigation into alleged corrupt activities by Tea Party Caucus Chairperson Michele Bachmann during her failed presidential campaign last year:

The FBI joins the Office of Congressional Ethics, the Federal Elections Commission and an Iowa state Senate ethics committee in probing whether Bachmann’s presidential campaign paid an Iowa state senator from her MichelePAC, a fund that should not have been used for campaign expenses, and whether the state senator stole the email list of an Iowa home-school group from another Bachmann staffer, Barbara Hekki, prior to the Iowa caucuses in January, 2012.

Andy Parrish, former Bachmann chief of staff and one of the directors of Bachmann’s Iowa GOP presidential campaign, will be interviewed by the FBI, according to his attorney, John Gilmore.

“I can confirm that Andy Parrish has been contacted by the FBI for a scheduled interview next week,” Gilmore said. “He will cooperate fully.”

[…]

IRS Official Takes the Fifth

Buck Banks

Because I’m asserting my right not to testify I know people will assume I’ve done something wrong. I have not. One of the basic rights of the Fifth Amendment is to protect innocent individuals and that’s the protection I’m invoking today, thank you.

— IRS official Lois Lerner, quoted by the Washington Post, in a prepared statement before the House Oversight and Government Affairs Committee.

Tennesseans’ Views on Gay Marriage Shifting

Buck Banks

49%

Of Tennesseans support gay marriage or civil unions while 46% are opposed to both, according to a new Vanderbilt University poll in Tennessee. The results suggest a marked shift in Tennesseans’ views since 2006, when 81% of voters approved an amendment to the state constitution defining marriage between one man and one woman as “the only legally recognized marital contract” in the state.

Virginia Lawmaker Said Planned Parenthood Worse than the KKK

Buck Banks

The Democrat Party has created an unholy alliance between certain so-called civil rights leaders and Planned Parenthood, which has killed unborn black babies by the tens of millions. Planned Parenthood has been far more lethal to black lives than the KKK ever was.

— Virginia Lt. Gov. nominee E.W. Jackson, in a video posted last year, compared Planned Parenthood to the Ku Klux Klan and bemoaned black voters’ “slavish devotion” to the Democratic Party, Politico reports.