Left: Private security thugs arrest a reporter after a Joe Miller town-hall event in Alaska – Right: News segment on leather-clad veterans physically intimidating a Democratic operative at an Allen West event in Florida.
“When fascism comes to America,” Sinclair Lewis supposedly predicted in 1935, “it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.” Note that the quote sets up the arrival of fascism as certain — “when,” not “if,” it comes. Watch the two videos above — both taken within the last week or so — and you may wonder if that day has finally arrived.
Pennsylvania, West Virginia, who can keep them straight? Not Sarah Palin, tweeting one of her highly-sought and overwrought endorsements for U.S. Senate candidate John Raese – to voters in the wrong state. CNN reports that, like all things Sarah does and then regrets, the tweet has been pulled from her Twitter feed.
The West Virginia Democratic Party took the opening on behalf of candidate Joe Manchin, releasing this swipe:
“With John Raese, it is easy to get confused as to where he actually lives. He may be running for Senate in West Virginia, but he really could choose to run in any of the states in which he belongs to a country club,” Chairman Larry Puccio said in the statement. “West Virginians can’t really fault Sarah Palin for getting confused – we are too.”
Virginia Thomas and her husband, Supreme Court Justice Clarence
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ obnoxious, over-privileged, tea bagger wife might have stepped in it this time. In a move that can only be explained by years of having the matter eat away at her most personal world view, Virginia “Ginni” Thomas reached out to Anita Hill. That’s “reached out” in the sense of left an out-of-the-blue vaguely malevolent message on her phone.
In a statement to CNN, Virginia “Ginni” Thomas said: “I did place a call to Ms. Hill at her office extending an olive branch to her after all these years, in hopes that we could ultimately get passed [sic] what happened so long ago. That offer still stands, I would be very happy to meet and talk with her if she would be willing to do the same. Certainly no offense was ever intended.”
Gosh, that sounds nice, doesn’t it? Ginni was just sitting around, musing on how she could set things right with anyone with whom she might be at odds, and the name “Anita Hill” came to mind. So Ginni, being the peaceable person that she is, hit the stalker speed dial for Dr. Hill’s office, and showed who was the better woman.
It’s hard to watch this video from the Alex Sink campaign and not care if she or Rick Scott is elected governor of Florida. One of the many things that bother me about Scott is how much he doesn’t get the concept of answering to the people — and if he is elected, he will be working for us, not a private corporate board. When Jeb Bush was governor, we were used to arrogance in Tallahassee but it was a different type. Rick Scott truly thinks he can tell us only what he wants to, and the rest is none of our business. It ain’t that way.
From left, the very tall Meek, the shorter Crist, and the really short Rubio
Rumors are flying in Florida after this week’s debate among the three candidates for the U.S. Senate. One scenario, put forth by the Wall St. Journal, says Democrats might be pressuring U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-Fla.) to drop out of the race, leaving only Gov. Charlie Crist and former state House Speaker Marco Rubio to duke it out.
Should Meek give his concession speech now, or wait until after the election?
With Meek’s poll numbers showing no bump after the debate, and with groups like the Florida Sierra Club offering dual endorsements of both him and Crist, Meek really has two choices: quit and lose now, or stay in and lose later.
The candidate himself, though, seems still in fighting mode. After the Sierra Club’s odd move, Meek upped the oddness quotient by refusing the endorsement. He also made it clear he’s tired of people forgetting that Charlie Crist is neither a Democrat nor a true environmentalist.
Joe, please explain how this endorsement stuff works, is it to be completely one sided. Sarah spent all morning working on a Face book post for Joe, she won’t use it, not now…Put yourself in her shoe’s Joe for one day.
— Todd Palin, in a righteously indignant (and grammatically disastrous) email to Alaska Senate candidate Joe Miller. Palin came to his wife’s defense after Miller refused to say whether Sarah was qualified to be president, and after Sarah endorsed Miller over yet another Palin enemy, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R).
A new ad from U.S. Senate candidate Gov. Charlie Crist (Fla.-NPA) spotlights the questionable spending practices of self-proclaimed fiscal conservative Tea Party Republican opponent Marco Rubio. The ad focuses on Rubio’s credit card problems, which should be leading Florida news but, since the talking points aren’t matching up to Rubio’s golden boy image, seem so far to be non-issues.
Jeanette C. Dousdebes-Rubio
We’d like some answers about Rubio’s spending habits, and in particular, to find out if the reason he fought so hard to keep his full credit card records from becoming public is because of all the travel they show for his legislative aide, healthcare lobbyist Amber Stoner. Stoner, as has been noted, had a habit while Rubio served in the Florida House of either accompanying him or arriving in the same cities and resorts as he did within a day. We’d also like to see if Rubio’s wife, former cheerleader Jeanette C. Dousdebes-Rubio, joined the pair on those trips.
The fundraising goal of American Crossroads, the “Super PAC” led by Karl Rove whose major donors will not be revealed, thanks to disclosure filing deadlines, until after the midterm election. American Crossroads is one of at least a dozen such rightwing groups, which solicit donations from multinational corporations under the terms of the “Citizens United” Supreme Court decision.
16 PointsMargin in Democrat Chris Coons’ 55-39 percent lead over GOP tea party candidate Christine O’Donnell, in the latest CNN/Time poll. The poll also found that if Republican Rep. Mike Castle were the nominee, the results would be flipped, with 55 percent for Castle and 37 percent for Coons.
Pundits say that Trump’s $5,000 midterm bribe was an overreach,
And they agree that if lies were a crime, he’d be impeached.
Despite all the dividend promises he’s made,
The fact is, not one has ever been paid,
So even before the midterms, he already owes us $8,000* each.
*$5000 stimulus checks via “DOGE dividend”; $2000 stimulus checks via a “tariff dividend”; $1000-plus checks via “savings” from expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies
“The man is afraid of the voice of the people and that the people understand and know what he’s doing. He’s trying to stifle the ability of journalists to let the people of America know what’s really going on with their government.”
— “Kamala Harris called President Donald Trump’s ban of CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House ‘absolutely abhorrent,’” The Wrap reports.
“Not one of them is trained in technical skills. Not one research PhD, as opposed to China, where half the cabinet is science and technology PhDs. We’re led by grifters and fools.”
— Columbia professor Jeffrey Sachs, on X, on President Trump’s 35-person cabinet.
“Mr. President, some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far… The same Hispanics who helped you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today.”
— Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL), breaking with President Trump in a direct-to-camera video.
“Donald Trump made over a thousand stock sales and purchases worth between $79m and $270m in July,” The Guardian reports. “His two largest sales were of Amazon and Microsoft stock, selling between $5m and $25m each on 20 July. That same day, he also sold up to $5m worth of Oracle and Costco stock, $500,000 to $1m in Nvidia, and bought up to $5m worth of shares in Intuit and Salesforce, among dozens of other transactions.”
“The unprecedented spate of mid-decade redistricting for the U.S. House has changed the congressional districts for one-tenth of Americans and significantly altered the makeup of at least one-fifth of districts, according to a new study,” the Associated Press reports.
A new Fox News Poll finds 71% of voters think the Trump administration lacks a clear strategy for ending the Iran War, including 95% of Democrats, 83% of independents, and 43% of Republicans. Sixty percent say U.S. military action against Iran was the wrong decision, while just 37% say it was right.
“The Trump administration last year spent $9.5 billion on paid administrative leave for federal workers as part of its plan to shrink the government and save taxpayers money, according to a new estimate by a congressional watchdog,” CNN reports.
Reuters has documented at least 470 targets of retribution under Trump’s leadership – from federal employees and prosecutors to universities and media outlets. The list illuminates the sweeping effort by the president and his administration to punish dissent and reshape the government.