Tag: Campaign 2010

Epic Fail: Race-Baiter Breitbart Keynotes Tea Bagger ‘Diversity’ Rally – Even Whites Fail to Show

Jon Ponder

Tea Baggers held a “Uni-Tea” (get it?) rally in Philadelphia last weekend for which the main draw was Andrew Breitbart, the newest racist phenom in tea baggery since, well, two weeks ago when Mark Williams was forced to resign from the Tea Party Express, the Republican Party group that astroturfed the tea party bus tours, after he exposed his own virulent racism in his infamous “Colored People” letter.

So, hosting a rally against racism that starred Breitbart, the David Duke of new media — how do you think that worked out?

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CA Gov: Whitman Has Spent Nearly $100 Mil – $500k Per Day – to Buy Governor’s Office

Jon Ponder

Los Angeles Times:

$531,378.

That’s the amount of money Meg Whitman spent per day on her gubernatorial campaign from May 23 to June 30.

Just to put that in some perspective: Democrat Jerry Brown has spend a little more than $377,000 total since Jan. 1. Though to be fair, labor groups did spend about $4 million on Brown’s behalf from the end of May through June.

Whitman has now spent $99.7 million on her race since she first formed an exploratory committee in 2009.

That’s right. Meg Whitman is spending more per day than Jerry Brown’s campaign has spent period.

G.O.-Tea Party on the Run: RNC Cancels Fundraiser with Racist Provocateur Breitbart

Jon Ponder
I think it’s safe to say the RNC is rescheduling its Breitbart fundraiser for either the 12th of Never or possibly the 14th of Not-Gonna-Happen.

Yesterday I described the Brieitbart rules of political warfare as simple: If your side is on offense, you are winning. If you’re on defense, you’re losing. I suggested that recent events — a Fox News admission that its deceptive coverage of the Shirley Sherrod scandal was inept, the Friday night announcement of the resignation of Republican astroturfer Mark “Colored People” Williams from Tea Party Express and the media silence of tea bagger candidates Rand Paul and Sharron Angle — were all signs of the GO-Tea Party’s new defensive crouch. Now comes this.

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CO Gov: Tancredo Enters Race, Could Toss Election to Democrat John Hickenlooper

Jon Ponder

Tancredo
Tancredo
Ken Rudin:

You should get out of the race for governor, former Rep. Tom Tancredo (R) told Colorado Republicans Scott McInnis and Dan Maes last week, if polls show that you can’t beat Democratic candidate John Hickenlooper in the November election. And if you don’t, I’m going to run as a third-party candidate.

McInnis and Maes, battling each other in the Aug. 10 primary, refused. Today … Tancredo joins the race as a candidate of the American Constitution Party.

Of course, Tancredo — who served in the House as a Republican for five terms and sought his party’s presidential nomination in 2008 on an anti-illegal immigration platform — has to first register with his new party. But that’s just a formality.

McInnis, a former congressman who had been his party’s frontrunner for gov., has been under a barrage of criticism over plagiarism charges… Once upon a time, back when Bill Ritter (D) decided to retire, Republicans were confidently predicting they would take back the governorship. But between the McInnis woes and the increasing negativity in the Senate contest between Jane Norton and Ken Buck … the opportunities for GOP gains in both contests are in jeopardy.

RNC Beverly Hills Fundraiser to Feature Race-Baiting Tea Bagger Andrew Breitbart

Jon Ponder

Beverly Wilshire Hotel, viewed from the north on Rodeo Drive
Beverly Wilshire Hotel, viewed looking south on Rodeo Drive
Talking Points Memo has obtained an invitation being circulated by Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele for a fundraising event in Beverly Hills next month that will feature Andrew Breitbart, the right-wing propagandist behind the doctored videos in the ACORN and Shirley Sherrod scandals:

invitation-rnc-breitbart-eventThe fundraising event, billed as an “Election Countdown,” will take place from August 12-14 in Beverly Hills, California, and will also feature other politicians such as California Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, and Nevada Republican gubernatorial nominee Brian Sandoval. Steele and Breitbart are scheduled to co-headline a welcome reception on the first evening, August 12…

RNC spokesman Doug Heye confirmed to TPMDC that the event is going on, but declined to comment further on the nature of fundraising events…

The Four Seasons hotel company, which owns the Beverly Wilshire, has also confirmed to TPMDC that the event is booked for those days, but was unable to confirm a guest list.

I guess the RNC figures, what the heck, we weren’t going to get votes from blacks and others who oppose racism in California anyway, so why not bring out the David Duke of new media to raise money for the party in the heart of the Southern California liberal enclave.

(And it’s fitting somehow that the event will be held in the hotel that was the setting for “Pretty Woman,” the Disney movie that sent a powerful message to young girls that all they had to do to find fulfillment in life was become a street whore and and then fall in love with a wealthy john.)

It will be interesting to see how the city fathers and mothers of Beverly Hills deal with their city being tarred by association with an event featuring a notorious racist, not to mention the protest rally that is sure to be scheduled for the street in front of the hotel, at Wilshire Boulevard and Rodeo Drive, on August 12.

Florida’s Dropping Unemployment Rate Should Benefit Democrats But It Won’t

Trish

CharlieBikersAn announcement that Florida’s jobless rate, among the highest in the nation, fell for the third straight month should be good news for Florida’s elected officials. But for those running for the next office, what’s good for the state can be bad for campaigns.

Speculation is whether the news benefits Democrats, who share party affiliation with Pres. Obama, or Republicans, who have done less than nothing to facilitate a recovery, unless you consider holding your breath and stomping your feet, “facilitating.” But Florida’s Gov. Charlie Crist is neither fish nor fowl thanks to a recent move to “No Party Affiliation,” making him the true beneficiary of the drop from the March high of 12.3 percent to June’s still high but better 11.4.

The awkwardness of their positions was evident in the reactions from Crist’s rivals for the Florida Senate seat. If things are going badly, it must be the governor’s fault. If they’re going well…hmmm.

The winner is… Gov. Charlie Crist, NPA

“There are clear signs that we’re moving from recession to recovery, but growth is fragile and much more work needs to be done,” Meek said on Friday.

Republican candidate Marco Rubio has harped on the loss of jobs in Florida while lambasting efforts by President Obama and Governor Charlie Crist, an independent candidate for the Senate, to stimulate the economy.

If the rate continues to drop, Crist looks better and better. All the heat he took from Republicans for accepting federal stimulus funding will seem more like what it was — blustering and posturing at the expense of residents who need work. If the rate even holds steady, Crist can still take credit for moving the needle. Rubio has less to criticize (although a lack of facts hasn’t stopped a Republican from being critical yet), and Meek will be stuck with his, “good but could be better” line.

Irony on Parade: Tea Party Hotheads Turn on One of the Men Who Invented Them

Trish

RickScott
Rick Scott, the light of crazy ablaze in his eyes
Be careful what you provoke, Tea Party exploiters. Florida governor hopeful Rick Scott recently discovered it’s one thing to gin up the teabagging crowds, and something else to be on the receiving end of all that anger.

Scott made millions as CEO of Columbia/HCA. The hospital chain founded by the Frist family (as in former Senate majority leader Bill Frist) swallowed competitors in the ’90s by dictating terms to suppliers. They’d merge with most of the hospitals in a given area, then tell vendors how much they wanted to pay for products. If a vendor balked, they simply switched to a lower bidder, leaving the first one with nobody to sell to. One of the repercussions of this strategy was the trend toward labor outsourcing by American companies, with medical product suppliers moving facilities to Mexico in order to meet pricing demands.

A “shouting, finger-pointing” crowd demands an explanation

Columbia was found guilty in 2000 of bilking Medicare and Medicaid in a massive, concerted, company-wide fraud effort under Scott. The chain was fined $1.7 billion, the largest penalty ever, and Scott was forced to resign or face criminal charges. He soon bounced back, founding the Solantic chain of urgent care clinics, which mainly serves the uninsured. Scott and several confederates have been the big bucks behind the so-called “astroturf” (meaning it looks like grassroots but it isn’t) opposition to health care reform.

Which brings us to the ironic position in which he recently found himself at a Tea Party gathering on the campaign trail.

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CA Gov: $91 Mil Later, 3 Months Before Vote, GOP’s Whitman Trails Jerry Brown in Polls

Jon Ponder

Whitman at what was billed as a news conference at the Oakland docks, reacting to reporters' outrage after learning she was renegging on her promise to take their questions
Whitman at what she had billed as a news conference, reacting to reporters' outrage after learning she was reneging on her promise to take their questions
She’s in ‘Deep, Deep Trouble,’ Says Brown

To win the Republican primary for California governor this year, former eBay exec Meg Whitman burned through at least $80 million of her own money. After a particularly nasty primary campaign against State Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, however, voters were so turned off that turnout was only 25 percent — the lowest in 96 years — which meant that winning the nomination ended up costing Whitman $90 per vote.

Meanwhile, Jerry Brown, the state’s attorney general and former two-term governor, ran virtually unopposed in the Democratic Party, and spent next to nothing on his campaign.

In the month or so since the primary, Whitman has spent another $11 million, including $6 million on the sort of bloody buzz-saw negative advertising against Brown that is usually reserved for the final weeks of a campaign. And again, the Brown campaign has spent next to nothing on advertising (although a union group has anti-Whitman ads up).

So where does all that leave Whitman in the polls?

Six points behind, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.

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Reagan Raised Taxes At Least 7 Times, Including the Biggest Corporate Tax Hike Ever

Jon Ponder

Republican former Sen. Alan Simpson — who was a friend of Pres. Ronald Reagan and who was conservative enough to be elected to the Senate three times by voters in Wyoming, Dick Cheney’s home state — is fed up by what the called the “myths and misconceptions and the distortions” about Reagan’s record on raising taxes.

Simpson, who serves on the federal commission charged with finding solutions to lowering the national debt, spoke out during a recent public hearing.

Transcript:

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Schwarzenegger’s Failure Provides a Cautionary Tale about Electing Novices in Times of Crisis

Jon Ponder

Scharzenegger, in cockier times
Scharzenegger, in cockier times
It’s true that Arnold Schwarzenegger will be leaving Sacramento in disgrace in January, and the Washington Post gets it right that the genesis of his failure lies in the fact that he was a political novice and outsider — just like the current Republican candidate to take his place:

After nearly six years in office, Schwarzenegger has few friends left in either party. The state budget deficit hovers around $20 billion; his approval rating has sunk below 25 percent.

“We thought he was going to be a great governor, but he has been a great disappointment,” said Geneviève M. Clavreul, a Republican activist.

As candidates in races across the country try to position themselves as the politician with the least political experience, Schwarzenegger’s troubles in California illustrate some of the possible downsides of outsiderdom. Like Whitman, the GOP’s candidate for governor, and Fiorina, the party’s Senate nominee, Schwarzenegger came to office as a non-politician who would solve problems with unconventional ideas.

He had some successes, but the movie star stumbled as he tried to navigate the state’s political establishment, with its touchy egos and endless compromises. He floundered as he tried to tame the state’s runaway budget and push through ambitious reforms such as universal health care.

“Touchy egos?” — please. This man spent his career in Hollywood, where dealing with egomaniacs is the price of admission. And while Schwarzenegger may not be “touchy,” he is saddled with an over-sized ego himself — where do you think he got the foolish notion that he could govern California?

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