Posts Tagged ‘politics’

Morning Joe: Sarah Palin? Who’s that?

Posted: August 16, 2010 by datechguy in elections, internet/free speech, media, opinion/news, politics
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We knew the Mosque issue was going to be all over the news.

Morning Joe has been a shield in front of the president all Morning vocally defending the president without hesitation on the NY Mosque issue.

But defense is not enough so they decided to counterattack, however Who they choose to attack says a lot about what they think.

This weekend on on Facebook Sarah Palin said this:

Mr. President, should they or should they not build a mosque steps away from where radical Islamists killed 3000 people? Please tell us your position. We all know that they have the right to do it, but should they? And, no, this is not above your pay grade. If those who wish to build this Ground Zero mosque are sincerely interested in encouraging positive “cross-cultural engagement” and dialogue to show a moderate and tolerant face of Islam, then why haven’t they recognized that the decision to build a mosque at this particular location is doing just the opposite? Mr. President, why aren’t you encouraging the mosque developers to accept Governor Paterson’s generous offer of assistance in finding a new location for the mosque on state land if they move it away from Ground Zero? Why haven’t they jumped at this offer? Why are they apparently so set on building a mosque steps from what you have described, in agreement with me, as “hallowed ground”? I believe these are legitimate questions to ask.

A clear, lucid statement from one of the leading contenders if not THE leading contender for the Republican Nomination in 2012. A person who was on a National Ticket just 2 years ago.

Normally Sarah Palin means views and hits so naturally they would be injecting her whenever possible…

…but this statement would win votes, so we can’t have that.

Instead they are going after Newt Gingrich for saying it is like “putting a Swastika next to the Holocaust museum” (they don’t manage to quote him saying: “There should be no mosque near Ground Zero in New York so long as there are no churches or synagogues in Saudi Arabia.” too many people would get that), and are touting him both as a voice of intolerance and as the republican front runner.

Let’s cut to the chase. Newt Gingrich is no more going to be the Republican nominee in 2012 that I am. These people know this, but pretend otherwise.

This is simply political cover, cover for Obama’s statements and covering up Sarah Palin’s statements so a weak White House doesn’t have to respond.

Sarah Palin asks President Obama a question he would like to ignore

Posted: August 15, 2010 by datechguy in opinion/news
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about the Ground Zero Mosque:

Mr. President, should they or should they not build a mosque steps away from where radical Islamists killed 3000 people? Please tell us your position. We all know that they have the right to do it, but should they? And, no, this is not above your pay grade. If those who wish to build this Ground Zero mosque are sincerely interested in encouraging positive “cross-cultural engagement” and dialogue to show a moderate and tolerant face of Islam, then why haven’t they recognized that the decision to build a mosque at this particular location is doing just the opposite? Mr. President, why aren’t you encouraging the mosque developers to accept Governor Paterson’s generous offer of assistance in finding a new location for the mosque on state land if they move it away from Ground Zero? Why haven’t they jumped at this offer? Why are they apparently so set on building a mosque steps from what you have described, in agreement with me, as “hallowed ground”? I believe these are legitimate questions to ask.

I would suggest that Democratic Candidates prepare to answer that question too, because each one will be asked it, and not all places in the US vote as Ann Arbor does.

In one respect it might help them. A lot of candidates need to put some distance between this administration and themselves and here is one way to do so.

Memeorandum thread here

My latest Examiner Article A tale of two districts and Two Newspapers 

Posted: August 13, 2010 by datechguy in congress, elections, examiner columns, politics
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…compares the two districts Ma-01 and Ca36 and their candidates Bill Gunn in Ma01 and Mattie Fein in CA36 and the respective coverage or lack thereof in the local papers in the communities they serve:

This year however there are some similarities. The economic slowdown is affecting the families of Southern California just as much as the workers of the Bay State and in both districts, indeed all over the country candidates are emerging to challenge the status quo.

In CA36 Republican Mattie Fein has taken up the mantle. In Ma01 Republican Bill Gunn is mounting the challenge. Their situations are similar.

But it is the differences that that tell the real story.

When local newspapers are less interested in reporting their local news then bloggers 3000 miles away you know you have a problem.

Stacy has a brief blub at the American Spectator and Ed Driscoll gives advice to A whopper jr Newsweek.

Faux candidates, everything old is new again

Posted: August 10, 2010 by datechguy in elections, opinion/news, politics, tea parties
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There have been quite a few stories about faux tea party candidates being financed by Democrats to try to hurt Republican vote this fall:

Tea Party activists in New Jersey, Michigan, California, Florida and other states are suddenly seeing registered “Tea Party” independent candidates appear on the ballot and they don’t know these candidates. As they dig into the information available on public records (donations, nominating signatures, etc.) they are finding Democrat ties to these fake Tea Party candidates. Aside from challenges over just who can use the label Tea Party on the ballot, there appears little that can be done legally to stop these fake candidates.

Hearing about these things it brought to mind page 107 of Tip O’Neill’s autobiography and the story of his first race for congress:

Given the way politics worked in those days, I guess it was inevitable that the race soon developed into an ethnic battle between the Italians and the Irish. The district was approximately 40 % Irish and 35% Italian, with the rest made up of many different groups

So what do you do when the chips are down. Well in 1952 this is what you did:

Leo Diehl, my lifelong friend from the state house , took an active role in the campaign, and to help divide the Italian vote he brought in a candidate named Chris Carolina, who ran as a favor to us. LoPresti’s people had already pulled the same stunt on me with a fellow named Casey.

But Casey wasn’t Tip’s biggest problem, it was another unknown with an interesting name:

“See that fellow over there?” He (Paul Feeney) said, pointing to a stranger on the other side of Beacon Street. “Believe it or not, his name is John F. Kennedy, and he’s one of the guys running against you . Nobody knows him, but with a name like that he could cause you a lot of problems. Let’s go over and say hello.”

Somehow Feeney managed to talk Kennedy into withdrawing then and there and even had a withdrawal slip handy for him to sign. Tip had this to say:

I realized later that if Paul Feeney hadn’t pushed John Kennedy to get out, I would have lost the election. By 1952 after Jack Kennedy had served three terms in the House, the Kennedy name was so strong in our district that John Kennedy–who was not, of course, a “real” Kennedy—would have siphoned off many of the votes.

Remember both Tip & LoPresti were democrats and just a few years ago the only reason why Democrats were not exposed for fixing a delegation election in 1948 O’Neill dropping his plans to go to the Ballot Law Commission after was Paul Dever warned him:

“The party is already in bad shape. If we show people we’re a bunch of thieves, it will destroy us. In the name of party unity, please drop this fight.”(p55)

So this is a bit of democratic history. Not illegal (like the stolen ’48 delegate election) but a tactic that has been in the playbook for years. There are two choices as to what to do. Dean Chambers has one:

What can and should be done in every instance of the fakers, is for the Real Tea Party groups to out them as the fakes they are and inform their supporters to NOT be fooled by the imposters. And in addition to and while doing that, they should educate the public on the trickery Democrats are willing to use to FOOL the public into electing their candidates again. It’s more than time for the public to learn their lesson. Knowing this, are you still going to vote for the Democrats again?

This is certainly an option, daylight is the best disinfectant and in an internet age it is not possible to hide such things, but said daylight will not stop such a candidate from getting votes that would go Republican.

The other option of course is the Turnabout is fair play game, we can help get signatures for Green party candidates to take votes away from democrats. They will scream bloody murder but when the screaming is done it will still mean votes that would go to democrats

All perfectly legal. Using the same tactics as your foes is very Jacksonian. If they want a dirty fight, lets give them one, dirty but legal.

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