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Dr. Word says: Romney is no master of the “elegantly stated” statement
September 21, 2012
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by David Safier Dr. Word thinks Mitt Romney is being too hard on himself when he maintains his 47 percent comments were "not elegantly stated" because he "was speaking off the cuff." His cuffs are permanently soiled and threadbare, whether his words are prepared or spontaneous. Witness the wording of Romney's attempt to respin his … Read more
More on Prop. 204
September 21, 2012
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by David Safier For anyone who wants a clear explanation of the nine state ballot measures we're voting on along with sensible suggestions for how to vote, check out Craig's post right below this one. Shorter Craig: Yes on Prop. 204; No on everything else. I write a monthly column for the Explorer. Here's my … Read more
Arizona Ballot Propositions 2012
September 20, 2012
By Craig McDermott, cross-posted from Random Musings
Mike Bryan wrote a post on this very topic a few months ago, but he invited the other writers here to weigh in on the subject. Here is my contribution.
At last count (and subject to change, depending on court rulings), Arizona voters will be considering nine ballot questions in November. While I've pretty much decided how I'm going to vote ("no" on all questions except for Proposition 204), a look at each question is merited. I'll be taking a position on each measure and stating why I hold that position. However, I urge all readers to read and study the propositions for themselves and cast their votes based on what they think is best for the state.
First, some resources –
The League of Women Voters of Arizona ballot proposition guide is here – English/Spanish.
The Arizona Secretary of State's webpage for its proposition publicity pamphlet is here.
Michael Bryan of Blog for Arizona offers a thorough and well-written guide here.
The first two are neutral (though cynic that I am, if I was only discussing the AZSOS' guide, the word "ostensibly" would be used to modify "neutral"); Mike Bryan openly takes positions on the measures. I disagree with a couple of those positions, but on those questions, there isn't a "good" position, just a "less bad" one.
On to the questions –
West Wing ‘walk & talk’ web ad for MI Supreme Court race
September 20, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
From The Last Word blog: A handful of actors from the Emmy award-winning TV series West Wing reprised their roles in a campaign ad for the real-life sister of Mary McCormack, a.k.a Deputy National Security advisor Kate Harper. This is some heavy hitter advertising for a down ballot judicial race. 'West Wing' reunites to walk and talk the vote:
Bridget Mary McCormack is running for Michigan state Supreme Court. In a sketch littered with inside jokes, The West Wing team came together to bring attention to the not-so-sexy issue of filling out the non-partisan section of the voting ballot. This is how Michigan and 14 other states select their supreme court justices. As Bradley Whitford, who reprised his role as Josh Lyman, explains, “In non-partisan elections all across America, voters are leaving part of their ballot blank. And they don’t even know it.”
So who is Bridget Mary McCormack? According to the ad, she's a "married mother of four, dean at Michigan law. Bridget has spent her entire career fighting for justice for ordinary people for families with sick kids. For families of domestic violence. She's fought to free innocent men and women and get the actual criminals behind bars."
And in a TV-turned-reality twist, McCormack's husband, Steve Croley, currently works in the real West Wing as deputy counsel in the White House Counsel's Office.
Video below the fold.
Gabby, Mark, UA and the Endeavour
September 20, 2012
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by David Safier Dylan Smith has terrific coverage at the Tucson Sentinel of the fly-over of the space shuttle Endeavor. A group of stills at top right, a video at the bottom, and a story in between. This kind of thing usually doesn't mean that much to me, but in this one special instance, it … Read more
Old, fat white guys
September 20, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Seriously? The Tucson Weekly has a blog post about how hate radio host Jon Justice has his knickers in a twist and is clutching his pearls over a statement that Rep. Ron Barber made that the GOP is "essentially a bunch of white guys." Oh the horrors! Ron Barber Said Something Dumb … Read more
Insurrectionist Tea-Publicans: It’s all Obama’s fault!
September 20, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
When Abraham Lincoln ran for president in 1860, he ran on a promise of preserving the Union. The Republican platform in 1860 denounced threats of disunion as avowals of treason.
During the interegnum between Lincoln's election victory in November 1860 and his Inauguration in March 1861, seven southern states voted for acts of secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America. On April 12, 1861, Confederate forces fired upon Fort Sumter, South Carolina, the first shots of the Civil War. Lincoln called for a volunteer army from each state to recapture Fort Sumter, and four more southern states voted for acts of secession and joined the Confederacy.
All of this occurred within the first two months of Lincoln's presidency. So was Lincoln a failure because he failed to preserve the Union as he had promised during his campaign in 1860?
That is how the modern-day Tea-Publican Party, no longer the "Party of Lincoln," would attack Lincoln today if he was running for reelection. It was all his fault that insurrectionists engaged in an act of sedition against the United States. "Lincoln didn't preserve the Union!"
This is the proper historical context in which to consider the latest right-wing noise machine media attack on President Obama. Obama promised to change the tone in Washington during his 2008 campaign. It is all his fault that Tea-Publican insurrectionists engaged in an act of sedition against the United States. "Obama didn't change the tone in Washington!"
On January 20, 2009 Republican Leaders in Congress literally conspired to
sabotage and undermine the U.S. Economy, already in a free-fall at the time, during President Obama's
Inauguration. You can read about it in Robert Draper's new book, "Do Not Ask What Good We Do: Inside the U.S. House of Representatives." Robert Draper Book: GOP's Anti-Obama Campaign Started Night Of Inauguration – The Huffington Post. The Tea-Publican insurrectionists engaged in an act of sedition against the United States on Obama's day one.
So what has the right-wing noise machine all worked up today? A supposed Obama "gaffe" that he said at the Univision town hall: “The most important lesson I’ve learned is that you can’t change Washington from the inside.” Greg Sargent explains, Obama’s latest `gaffe’: Vowing to engage more Americans in the political process:
Republicans and conservatives are pouncing. Mitt Romney slammed Obama over the remarks today, arguing that he has thrown in the “white flag of surrender.” So it’s now a real story.
Tea-Publicans filibuster the bipartisan Veterans Job Corps bill
September 20, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Their Obama Derangement Syndrome has reached such a fevered pitch that Tea-Publicans in the U.S. Senate, some of whom participated in drafting this bipartisan veterans jobs bill, voted against the very bill they helped to draft with a GOP filibuster. They are insane, and this is unforgiveable. Vet jobs bill knocked out in Senate:
Legislation to put veterans to work preserving and restoring national parks and other federal, state and local lands was defeated Wednesday afternoon when Senate Republicans successfully blocked the bill’s advance with a budgetary point of order.
The largely party-line Senate vote of 58-40 fell two votes short of the three-fifths majority needed to overcome the procedural objection. Republicans said the Veterans Job Corps bill violated the Budget Control Act by adding a new program that would increase the deficit. [$1 billion price tag for the program over five years, i.e., $200 million per year — pocket change in Washington.]
[These are the same people who would readily add $5 trillion to the deficit over the next decade by making the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans permanent.]
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Democrats charged that Republican opposition stemmed from a refusal to support an initiative that originated in the White House. The corps, loosely based on the Civilian Conservation Corps created during the Great Depression, would employ veterans in conservation, resource management and historic preservation projects on public lands. The legislation would also provide for hiring veterans as police officers and firefighters.
Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said the measure would have “sailed” through the Senate in past years but had been derailed by partisanship. “Blocking a veterans’ jobs bill is a new low,” he said in a statement.
