Author: Trish

GOP Hypocrisy Blows the Top Off the Bottle with Martinez Appointment

Trish

The Republican attack on Florida governor candidate U.S. Rep. Jim Davis consisted of slamming him for campaigning. A TV ad was played nonstop for weeks, depicting an empty chair whizzing around Washington, while a Florida tourist family (with vaguely Ohioan accents) trails behind. “Do you think we’ll see him next time, Dad?” the son asks. “I don’t know, son. I just don’t know.”

Martinez was chosen in large part because he’s Cuban, and the Republicans did almost as badly with Latino voters this time as they did with African-Americans

Davis missed votes, we were told. He was too busy with politics to do the work we sent him to Washington to do. Wonder if the GOP will be trotting those ads out in 2008, when Florida Sen. Mel Martinez is running the Republican National Committee?

Doubt it. Predictably, Martinez’s split shift workday is being hailed not as a callous ditching of responsibility, as was Davis’s campaigning, but a big ol’ plus for Florida.

“It’s awesome for Florida. It says a great deal about this state and its strength,” said Republican Party of Florida chairwoman Carole Jean Jordan.

…Martinez, who will keep his Senate seat, will bring that much more attention to a state that is already considered to be a top prize in presidential politics.

Oh come on. Martinez was chosen in large part because he’s Cuban, and the Republicans did almost as badly with Latino voters this time as they did with African-Americans. While 8 percent of all voters were Latino, only 26 percent to 42 percent (it’s an estimate) of them voted Repug.

…Florida Democrats noted that their party won the Hispanic vote in last week’s election for the first time in three decades.

“This reflects the renewed emphasis by Democrats in using multimedia communications to win support from the fastest growing community in the United States, as well as Hispanic support for finding real solutions to raising the minimum wage, affordable health care and the war in Iraq,” said Florida Democratic Party executive director Luis Navarro in a statement.

It also shows Republicans are doing something wrong.

Mel was one of the chairs of the Bush campaign in 2000, helping Katherine Harris in her strategy to keep the votes from being accurately counted. He has been consistently rewarded for his nefarious deeds while Harris has been treated like the embarrassment she is.

But at least one analyst noticed Mel already had a job when he took on his new one.

…the duel role will be difficult, said [Poltical Scientist Matthew] Corrigan.

“Being a senator is a full-time job, so is taking on the RNC. I think it is a serious challenge,” he said. “How he balances those roles is an important question.”

It’s also a question not nearly enough people are asking.

But He Meant It In a Good Way

Trish

I don’t even know anybody in Mississippi, and I’m insulted by what U.S. Charles Rangel (D-NY) said.

Rangel, a Democrat, was quoted in The New York Times on Thursday saying: “Mississippi gets more than their fair share back in federal money, but who the hell wants to live in Mississippi?”

Rangel said he didn’t intend to insult the state…

Obviously.

Maybe Rangel needs to get out more. He could come south and listen to some live blues and maybe even eat a fried catfish. But let us know when you’re coming, Charlie, so we can all peel our “We don’t care how you do it in New York” bumper stickers off our cars.

He Wasn’t Lying Then, He’s Lying Now

Trish

You heard it here first.

I don’t think Bush was lying when he told reporters last week that Rumsfeld was here to stay. I think he was lying when he told reporters this week that he was planning to get rid of him all along.

I mean, come on, since when has Bush/Rove ever been careful not to do something that would impact an election, the justification he gave for not announcing Rumsfeld’s departure sooner?

Think about it. If Bush had done as “fine” as he expected, do you think for one minute he’d have gotten rid of Rummy?

And the reason why is I didn’t want to inject a major decision about this war in the final days of a campaign…

And so [Rumsfeld] and I both agreed in our meeting yesterday that it was appropriate that I accept his resignation. And so the decision was made — actually, I thought we were going to do fine yesterday.

Think about it. If Bush had done as “fine” as he expected, do you think for one minute he’d have gotten rid of Rummy? Hell no. He’d have stayed the course with maniacal glee, tacking that boat right over a tsunami without a backward glance.

On the other hand, if they had realized how fed up we all were with his conduct of the war (among other things), do you really believe he wouldn’t have rushed to dump Rumsfeld? Think how differently the election would have gone if he had. People would have taken it as a sign of hope that things were going to change, and that maybe the Republicans aren’t such bad fellows after all. And they would have softened on throwing the bastards out.

He blew it but he wasn’t lying then, he’s lying now.

That’s my take. So what do you think?

First Mehlman, Next Karl Rove?

Trish

Somebody measure the drapes in Karl Rove’s office. It didn’t take long for Georgie’s vexation at his party’s sorry showing in the midterm elections to manifest. First Rumsfeld was gone and now Ken Mehlman has gotten the ax. Yes, the Republican National Committee’s chair is outta there at the end of the year.

No one’s pointing a finger at the guy who was really in charge of all the losing strategies. Yes, I’m talking about Turd Blossom himself, Karl Rove

And while rumors abound about both men — Mehlman being pretty much known to be gay and Rumsfeld’s head supposedly on the chopping block for at least a week before his “resignation” was “accepted” — no one’s pointing a finger at the guy who was really in charge of all the losing strategies. Yes, I’m talking about Turd Blossom himself, Karl Rove.

Karl has shown the pressure lately. After Florida Governor candidate, now Governor-elect, Charlie Crist failed to attend a rally with the President in his honor just before the election, Karl was feeling it. One moment of Rovian pique was even immortalized by Crist’s campaign workers at a victory party.

…dozens of campaign staff then arrived wearing black T-shirts that said “Ask George LeMieux.”

…Asked [earlier] by CNN why Crist wouldn’t appear with the president at an election eve rally in Pensacola, a miffed Rove snapped that the reporter should ask George LeMieux.

LeMieux was Crist’s campaign manager.

Mehlman was hand-picked and cultivated by Rove, so his failure and subsequent exit can’t be good news for Karl.

A protege of Bush’s top political adviser, Karl Rove, Mehlman became RNC chairman after managing Bush’s re-election campaign in 2004, when the president won re-election and Republicans expanded their majorities in the House and the Senate…Before that campaign, he served as White House political director under Rove.

Bush’s comment to reporters post-election speaks volumes about his current feelings toward the man who more than likely took a fall for Bush in the Valerie Plame affair.

Bush also got in a dig at his trusted top political adviser, Karl Rove. Rove is widely credited with Bush’s presidential victories in 2000 and 2004 and GOP gains in the 2002 congressional elections. As recently as last week, Rove predicted Republicans would retain both House and Senate.

“I obviously was working harder in the campaign than he was,” said Bush…

Ha ha, funny. Unless you’re Karl Rove, and then there’s a big sweat stain spreading under both your arms. People contrast George with his little brother, Jeb, finding the elder sibling more affable, down to earth, etc. (Not me, of course, but people.) Jeb has always made it abundantly clear he’s a conniving, nasty, petulant asshole who will take you out if you cross him. But I think this trait, inherited from Mom’s side of the family, is present in all the offspring.

And Karl Rove should be putting his affairs in order.

Bush Really Asking for Do-Over?

Trish

Borowitz joked in his column today that Bush would beg for a do-over by firing Rumsfeld.

The White House just scheduled a 1 p.m. Eastern time news conference with a major announcement by Bush. Hmmmm. Wonder what it will be?

In the wee hours of the morning after American voters swept his party from power, President George W. Bush made an extraordinary appearance on national television to ask the national electorate for a “do-over.”

Millions of viewers were tuned into televised Election Night coverage when Mr. Bush, using the nation’s Emergency Broadcasting System, interrupted those telecasts to make a direct appeal to the American people…

Mr. Bush said that if the American people would grant him a do-over, he would gladly fire Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, referring to his longtime Cabinet member as “that loser.”

Deja Vu in Florida Again

Trish

Can you say, “irony?” I though you could. If you had to pick a district in Florida where voting was most under suspicion,” wouldn’t you pick U.S. House District 13, the seat most recently occupied by — wait for it — Katherine Harris?

Supervisor of Elections Kathy Dent couldn’t explain why 8,000 to 10,000 fewer people voted in the congressional race

Republican Vern Buchanan was clinging to a 368-vote edge over Democrat Christine Jennings for the 13th Congressional District early this morning…

The results were loaded with controversy as nearly 13 percent of all ballots cast in Sarasota didn’t include a choice for Congress. That difference, and scattered reports of difficulty finding the race on Sarasota’s touchscreen ballots, raised concerns about under-votes in the race.

Supervisor of Elections Kathy Dent couldn’t explain why 8,000 to 10,000 fewer people voted in the congressional race than in other high-profile races for governor, attorney general or U.S. Senate. But she said nothing mechanical went wrong with the county’s $4.7 million touchscreen voting machine system…

Throughout the day voters complained that touchscreen voting machines were not registering votes for Jennings properly.

Wait, it gets better.

Buchanan is an ultra-rich car dealer who defeated Tramm Hudson in the Republican primary. You would have thought Buchanan — despite pumping over $2.1 million of his own money into his campaign — would be at a disadvantage because of pesky fraud allegations in a sealed lawsuit. But Hudson was the guy who said blacks can’t swim. You decide.

Buchanan was also one of the few Republicans desperate enough to welcome heavy support from both Dufus Bush and his popular wife, the Lauratron 4000.

Until campaigning for Buchanan, Pres. Bush’s only other visit to Sarasota was on Sept. 11, 2001, when he read the book, “My Pet Goat,” with Sarasota school children, largely without moving his lips. They were just getting to the good part when the news came about the Twin Towers, which explains why another nine minutes went by before our hero returned to his presidential duties of being shuttled back and forth above flyover country.

But I digress.

We’ll keep you posted on how it all comes out, but something tells us Buchanan will maintain his amazing victory. After all, it’s District 13. Not that we’re superstitious, but we’d call Karl Rove in for one of those cleansing ceremonies with a priest before Buchanan unpacks in Harris’ old office.

And Montana Makes Six

Trish

The actual numbers from the Montana Senate race, as of 8 a.m. Eastern time are:

Democrat Tester: 168,121
Rebpublican Burns: 165,008

The Montana Secretary of State’s website doesn’t say what percent of votes that represents.

Meanwhile, Montana’s News Channel 8 shows more results.

…we’re still waiting for final numbers from Yellowstone and Gallatin counties.

The numbers are still trickling in, and Sen. Burns is now within a percentage point of Tester. Vote tallies have been delayed by equipment glitches, high turnout and a recount in Yellowstone County.

The newest numbers show that with 91% of state’s precincts reporting, Tester is leading Burns 174,045 to 172,392.

Yellowstone is the state’s biggest county and the recount is still in process.

And Virginia Makes Five

Trish

The actual numbers from the Virginia Senate race, as of 8 a.m. Eastern time are:

Democrat Webb: 1,170,686
Rebpublican Macaca: 1,162,327

That’s with 2,437 of 2,443 precincts, or 99.75%, reporting.

Webb gave his victory speech at 1 a.m. this morning, although some counties had gone home and will not finish counting until…any minute now. Allen has not conceded but he might as well.

And for those who are not tired to count, that makes five Senate seats won by Dems, which means unless the Repugs think of something underhanded quick, we will rule the House and the Senate.

I Feel Ill

Trish

Charlie Crist is giving his victory speech, and so far he’s thanked his sisters, which he always does as a way to show himself embracing females on the stage; Jeb Bush, whom he called — and I’m not making this up — “the world’s” greatest governor (note to Crist’s handlers — explain international political systems to the newbie); and mother-frickin’ Pres. Bush, whom he called a brave leader. I can’t stand it.