Tag: Elections

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Getting Smarter on Impeachment

Trish

Much as my fellow Pensito Reviewers will probably disagree with me, I have to pitch in with those who say Democrats are overreaching on this censuring and impeaching stuff. The plain, simple reality is that Republicans control both houses, and cows will climb trees before they go along with such moves.

Our best bet is to retake the Senate and House this year. When we’re in the catbird seat, look out Bush. Until then, we’re just venting, and venting is what the weak and powerless do. Don’t waste energy going after Bush. I’m not saying to give Bush a free pass, but that we should use his every misdeed as evidence to convince our fellow voters to throw the bums out. After we do that, we can have a little talk with the Boy King.

Frist! Frist! Frist!

Jon Ponder

Sen. Dr. Bill Frist of Tennessee, the Republican Majority Leader, won the presidential straw poll at the GOP frat party this weekend in Memphis — yes, that Memphis, the one in Tennessee.

Senator Frist won with 37 percent of the total vote and it was a great display of Party unity and grassroots energy for 06.

Second place went to Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, and Sen. Bill Allen of Virginia was third. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the nominal frontrunner, came in fourth.

I hope the Republicans nominate Dr. Frist in 2008. Democrats would have a field day over his involvement in the Terri Schiavo matter, when he diagnosed imminent recovery for a woman who’d been brain dead for almost 20 years — by viewing her on videotape.

Frist’s main problem is he is a Bush stooge who was annointed majority leader by the White House political office in 2002 when Sen. Trent Lott flamed out. The Bush presidency is going to be a long slo-mo train wreck from here on out, and the next Republican nominee will have no choice be to run away from the Bush presidency.

Frist has been complicit with President Bush by using his leadership position to rubberstamp the the administration’s failed policies. Bush wouldn’t have been able to get away with dereliction of duty on Katrina, illegal domestic spying and going to war based on a pack of lies without Dr. Frist’s enabling.

Here’s an email Frist sent to supporters this morning:

The Southern Republican Leadership Conference in Memphis this weekend was a tremendous success. With over 1800 people representing 26 states, 19 speakers and a number of very interesting seminars, VOLPAC was happy to participate in this Republican Party building activity.

Thought you would also be interested to know that Hotline conducted the first straw poll for the 08 Presidential Primary and Senator Frist won with 37 percent of the total vote and it was a great display of Party unity and grassroots energy for 06.

Run, Bill, run!

Next Texas Governor Might Hold a Grudge Against DeLay

Trish

Texas politics is so interesting, it’s easy to see why George W. Bush hopped a taxpayer-funded plane home to vote today. Consider the governor’s race.

Former U.S. Rep. Chris Bell appears to have easily won the Democratic primary. Were Bell to take the governor’s mansion this fall, it would be a particularly sweet victory, since he was knocked from office after only one term by Tom DeLay’s nefarious redistricting scheme, currently up for review by the Supreme Court.

If Bell does win, he’ll have to face these challengers:

  • Republican Gov. Rick Perry, long rumored to be involved in extramarital affairs with people of both genders, and signer of the state’s Defense of Marriage Act.
  • Carole Keeton Strayhorn, better known as White House Spokestool Scott McClellan’s mom. Yes, she’s had more husbands than just Scottie’s dad, but then, that’s why we need to defend marriage. She’s running not as a Republican, but as an Independent.
  • A Libertarian named James Werner out of Austin.
  • Our favorite perennial candidate: Kinky Friedman, former rock star and very bad mystery writer. Friedman, for the younger PR readers out there, once toured the country with Bob Dylan and a band called the Texas Jewboys, which had a hit, “Asshole from El Paso.”

Kinky brings up another interesting Texas political fact. When Gov. Perry signed a bill banning same-sex marriage in 2005, he invited religious leaders for a photo op, including a “rabbi” of the Jews for Jesus variety as the representative for real Jews. He was later forced to apologize.

The day might not be far off when he’ll have to do more than say he’s sorry — he might have to pack his bag and get on down the road.

While Texans Vote His Fate, DeLay Hits on Lobbyists

Trish

Texans could vote to end the reign of Tom DeLay today. Let’s all send good vibes their way.

How is DeLay spending what could be the day that ends his reign? Like all the others: trying to get more money from lobbyists

Meanwhile, how is Tom spending this day? Pretty much like all his other days in office: trying to get more money from lobbyists.

DeLay, a Houston-area Republican, faces three opponents in the Republican primary.

It’s his first election since being forced out of his job as House majority leader amid corruption and campaign finance scandals…

DeLay won’t be campaigning Tuesday, a spokeswoman said he’ll be casting votes. He’ll also be attending a Washington fundraiser being held by lobbyists.

Katherine Harris Says Campaign is A-OK as She Cancels Stops and Grabs a Bus with Sean Hannity

Trish

While her U.S. Senate campaign rains down in chunks around her head, Florida U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris proves she can be as untethered to reality as the man she put in the Oval Office.

At the same time she cancelled campaign stops in Southwest Florida, Harris placed a conference call to supporters telling them things are so great, she�s practically picking out wallpaper for her new office.

She said television talk show host Sean Hannity is planning a Florida bus tour with her. “The campaign is really off to the races,” Harris said.

�Harris described a campaign on a roll and gaining momentum daily. She said prominent politicians, such as U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., hosted a fundraising event for her in Washington last week, proof all is well.

Back in the real world, evidence that Harris accepted bribes from the same defense contractor as California’s Rep. Duke Cunningham (whose new address is c/o Federal Prison, Taft, Calif.) continues to erode her already tenuous GOP support.

“She can’t hide and expect this to go away,” said David Johnson, a Republican political consultant�

Harris’ campaign staff declined to comment and gave no explanation of why Harris canceled the trip. They did not say how many other events were taken off her schedule.

Trying to avoid reporters is the hands-on favorite possible explanation. Harris has always had a poor relationship with the press, accusing it of doctoring live T.V. coverage during the 2000 presidential election swindle so that her makeup looked bad.

Once again, she claims the only problem is journalists.

“There is nothing to it except for the press trying to be negative.”

Yeah, that. And bribery.

[…]

Credit Where It’s Due: Bush Says Osama Helped Him Win in 2004

Trish

Loyal to the end: A new book says Bush credited Osama bin Laden for helping him win the 2004 election, but stops just short of saying Bush asked his old family pal to do it. CNN reports that Bush felt like the tape, released the Friday before Election Day Tuesday, was a little slice of serendipity for himself and his handlers.

“I thought it was going to help,” Bush said

Bush said there were “enormous amounts of discussion” inside his campaign about the 15-minute tape, which he called “an interesting entry by our enemy” into the presidential race.

Bush’s comments in the Washington newspaper were excerpts from the new book “Strategery” by Bill Sammon, a longtime White House correspondent.

“What does it mean? Is it going to help? Is it going to hurt?” Bush told Sammon of the bin Laden tapes…

“I thought it was going to help,” Bush said.

“I thought it would help remind people that if bin Laden doesn’t want Bush to be the president, something must be right with Bush.”

Not that anyone would attempt to manipulate the voters by tugging on those fear strings, or by issuing a deluge of elevated threat level warnings as the election approached about acts and people that never proved to have any substance.

Florida Republicans Up the Ante on Gay Marriage Ban

Trish

Having lost any claim to national defense (aka homeland security), fiscal responsibility, and limited government as core Republican values, Florida GOoPers are still hanging on to brand identity in one area: homophobia.

By many accounts the marriage amendment stands to mobilize religious conservatives who would likely vote Republican. Lee…said that has nothing to do with his supporting the party financing the effort

After sinking $150,000 of the $193,000 raised to put a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage before the voters this year, the Florida Republican Party is digging deeper. They’re throwing another $150,000 at the failed initiative.

Determined to get a gay marriage ban on the ballot for Florida voters, the state Republican Party has doubled its initial investment in the effort to $300,000.

State Senate President Tom Lee said the additional $150,000 came after Florida4marriage.org, the political committee working to amend the state Constitution, failed to get enough signatures in time to qualify for the 2006 ballot…

“I supported it because I know it’s an important issue to Republicans. I know it may not be more important than tax cuts, it may not be more important than property rights or whatever, but it is an element, just as the sanctity of life issues are an element of importance of our party,” Lee said.

Since gay marriage is already outlawed by the Florida legislature, Democrats think that what Lee really means is, “This is the only way we can get anyone who would vote for us to the polls.”

“It looks like they’re afraid they can’t win on the issues that actually matter to Floridians – issues like port security, offshore drilling, prescription drugs and class size reduction,” [State Democratic Party spokesman Mark Bubriski] said.

By many accounts the marriage amendment stands to mobilize religious conservatives who would likely vote Republican. Lee is running for chief financial officer but said that has nothing to do with his supporting the party financing the effort.

No doubt he’s just concerned that his own marriage will fall apart if gays are allowed to marry. Let’s see, there’s a law against it, now they want an amendment barring it…what next? A proclamation from the governor? Or how about statutes in all 67 Florida counties? Yeah, that’ll turn out the base!

Katherine Harris is Named as “Representative A” in Cunningham Bribe Case

Trish

Over one year ago, PR reported on U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris (R-Stolen Elections) trying to divest herself of the same illegal contributions which former California Representative Duke Cunningham is going to jail for accepting.

“The congressman who got the most money is going to prison,” McLaughlin said. “The one who got the second-most money wants to be a senator. I would hope voters would look at that”

If you missed it the first time around, Harris took somewhere near $50,000, funneled through employees of defense contractor MZM Inc., whose employees also favored Duke.

After the employees complained about coercion, Harris offered — in the style of the DeLay-linked — to return the payola. Now the horse manootey is hitting the fan, and Harris’ new name is in legal circles is “Rep. A.”

Harris’ campaign attempted to return the campaign contributions to MZM employees but never received a response, the release said.

Harris acknowledged having contact with Wade and his firm…

Cunningham, a Vietnam veteran who represented a southern California district, resigned from Congress in November and pleaded guilty to accepting $2.4 million in bribes from Wade and MZM in exchange for help securing Pentagon contracts. Cunningham faces up to 10 years in prison.

In Wade’s guilty plea on Friday, the court document stated “Representative A” received $46,000 in “illegal contributions” from employees and spouses at Wade’s firm.

Harris is “Representative A.”

[…]

Stop the GOP from Fixing Elections – Vote Absentee

Jon Ponder

Here is some very interesting strategic thinking that was sent to us from reader B.A.:

Voting by absentee ballot leaves a paper trail that makes it harder for Republicans to steal elections.

I don’t know about the rest of the “progressive Democrat” world, but I for one am sick and tired of losing these “fixed” elections to the Rethuglicans. I believe it is a given that wherever electronic voting machines (Diebold especially) are used that the votes are being manipulated to insure Rethuglican victories. It is furthermore clear that these machines ARE going to be used in many states despite their proven flaws – witness California’s move to reinstate the machine before their proper testing was concluded. I have made a similar post on Bradblog with the hopes of inspiring affirmative action by the electorate to make SURE every vote is counted.

There is only one way to defeat this tactic: absentee ballots!

Think about it; speak about it with others. By voting by absentee ballot you guarantee that the election cannot be fixed as there will be a “hard paper” trail of ballots that are easily counted, recounted, and counted again to assure an honest accounting and a fair election.

Many State legislators, for whatever reasons, insist on using these machines, and, while I cannot and will not impugn the honesty of every state voting regulatory authority, there are certainly ones from the past I would both question and impugn, i.e. Florida 2000 and Ohio 2004.

[…]

Poll: Bush Inspires Voters — To Vote Against Him

Buck Banks

Voting for regime change: Tired of George W. Bush’s lies, hubris, bullying, nonreading and the sound of his voice, Americans are ready to cast their votes to get rid of him and his corrupt cronies and toadies in Congress.

The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press finds:

Nine months before the midterm elections, the Democrats hold a sizable lead in the congressional horse race and an advantage on most major issues. Democrats lead by 50 percent-41 percent among registered voters in the test ballot, which is little changed from last September (52 percent-40 percent).

While retaining a huge advantage on traditional party strengths like the environment and health care, Democrats also are seen as better able to handle the economy (by 46 percent-36 percent) and reform the federal government (42 percent-29 percent). Terrorism, and to a lesser extent crime, remain the GOP’s only strong issues among 12 tested in the survey.

More registered voters see their congressional choice as a vote ‘against’ Bush
  • More registered voters see their congressional choice as a vote “against” Bush. Currently, 31 percent say they view their ballot as a vote against the president, compared with 18 percent who say they see it as a vote for the president. In February 2002, just 9 percent of voters said they were voting ‘against’ Bush, while 34 percent said they were voting “for” the president.
  • Democrats have advantage on issues, but not leadership. Slightly more Americans say the GOP has better political leaders (by 41 percent-37 percent).
  • Majority says congressional corruption is nothing new. Six-in-ten say these problems are no different than in the past, compared with 36 percent who believe that corruption is more common today. By 31 percent to 14 percent, more people say the Republican Party has greater involvement than the Democratic Party in congressional corruption. But fully a third (34 percent) volunteer that both parties are equally involved in corruption.
  • A growing number says health care system needs repair. About a third (32 percent) think the health care system should be completely rebuilt, up from 21 percent a year ago; another 46 percent say the health care system needs major changes.
  • Public satisfaction with the news media has rebounded. Currently 59 percent express a favorable opinion of the news media, up from 43 percent in December 2004. In addition, a solid majority (56 percent) says it is more important for the news media to report stories they feel are in the national interest, while just 34 percent believe it is more important for the government to censor news stories on national security grounds. In February 2003, somewhat fewer (50 percent) backed the media’s right to report.