CD 1 Democratic Primary

August 8, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The other day the Arizona Daily Star published a candidate profile piece for the CD 1 Democratic primary. Creating jobs a key factor for 2 in CD1 Dem primary. In a word, "superficial" reporting.

Thankfully the Arizona Daily Sun in Flagstaff still knows how to do political reporting to inform its readers. The Sun published the Candidates' bios, but it also published substantive reporting. Two Dems far apart in CD1 primary:

Area voters headed to the polls for the primary election in about three weeks will have a choice between two very different local Democrats running for Congress.

Both Ann Kirkpatrick and Wenona Benally Baldenegro are attorneys who live in Flagstaff. They have similar views on health policy, immigration and abortion.

But after that, their politics diverge. Asked by the Daily Sun how they would have voted (or did vote) on 30 key bills in the House dating back to late 2008, the pair had different answers on 18 of 30 issues. (See CD1 Key Bills Explained — with candidate comments – a must read).

Benally Baldenegro would have voted against expanding a copper mine east of Phoenix; Kirkpatrick introduced legislation for it.

Kirkpatrick voted against low-interest loans for homeowners wanting to make their houses more energy-efficient; Benally Baldenegro would have voted for it.

And although both Benally Baldenegro and Kirkpatrick said they grew up with guns, Kirkpatrick says "I believe it's appropriate for guns to be in the national parks," while Benally Baldenegro wrote "There is no need for people to be carrying guns in our national parks."

* * *

Kirkpatrick stuck to her record, affirming the votes she took in Congress in 2009 and 2010.

She voted against the Dodd-Frank legislation that added more oversight to the financial system.

"It goes back to: Do we need another layer of regulation, or do we need to enforce what we had? I think we need to enforce what we had," she said.

Some other votes were much less clear.

Kirkpatrick would have voted against extending Bush-era tax cuts, she said, except that extending unemployment was tied to that measure, too. She wound up supporting the tax-cut extension.

A vote to extend student loans would normally garner Kirkpatrick's support … until an amendment gutting part of the Affordable Care Act was added to it, she said.

And Kirkpatrick says she proposes measures to balance the budget and to raise taxes on the wealthy.

"I favor keeping the tax cuts for people who make $500,000 or less, and that's most of the people in our district," she said.

Out of 30 issues, Kirkpatrick wound up agreeing nearly as many times with Republicans Wade and Martin (11 votes each) as she did with Benally Baldenegro (12 votes).

Why is a right-wing independent expenditure committee supporting a Democratic candidate?

August 7, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: The American Federation for Children is a committee of mostly right-wing groups who want to advance the privatization of public schools and the expansion of voucher programs and charter schools. The American Federation for Children – SourceWatch: The American Federation for Children (AFC) is an organization with roots in Milwaukee that promotes … Read more

Manufacturing media excitement for a VP pick

August 7, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The conservative media is trying to manufacture excitement for Willard "Mittens" Romney's VP pick. Last week the idiot Drudge was fueling speculation that it would be Condoleeza Rice, the former Georg W. Bush national security adviser and Secretary of State.

This week the idiot Drudge is fueling speculation that it will be David Petraeus, currently the head of the CIA but previously the darling of conservatives for his role as Commander of the U.S. Central Command and the "surge" strategy in Iraq. Drudge’s Latest Manufactured News: The Petraeus Boom!

This manufactured B.S. from Drudge has already been shot down by the White House.

The other media speculation surrounding Romney's VP pick turns on his scheduled bus trip this week through several swing states to promote his higher taxes on America's middle class to give tax cuts to his friends in the 1% plan. It would be the perfect setting to have his new vice president nominee by his side being introduced to the country. Alas, no. Romney's upcoming bus tour probably isn't a VP rollout – Political Hotsheet:

[I]t would be kind of awkward, with so many also-rans beside them.

The Romney camp's announcement Monday that the candidate would embark on a four-day bus tour this weekend through Virginia, North Carolina, Florida and Ohio quickly raised speculation that he was getting ready to introduce his vice president.

But staff members for Ohio Sen. Rob Portman and Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, both potential vice presidential picks, soon confirmed the two politicians would be joining Romney while he was in their home states.

It would be no surprise to see Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who has stumped with Romney before and does Hispanic outreach for the campaign, to appear with Romney when the bus tour rolls through Florida on August 13. And former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty could be along for the ride in North Carolina, where he has already campaigned twice for Romney this cycle.

To have Romney parading around his new running mate with the runners-up for the job standing by would demonstrate party unity, but talk about awkward. More likely the confirmed presence of reported VP short-listers means that Team Romney is waiting until closer to the Aug. 27 party convention to announce the pick.

There is also the obvious faux pas of trying to preempt news fixation on the closing ceremonies of the London Summer Olympics on Sunday and celebrating the success of our American athletes.

The GOP politics of resentment returns

August 7, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Last week Conservative Super PAC's revived the GOP Southern Strategy of race-bailitng.

Now the Romney campaign is reviving the GOP politics of resentment towards the poor (read minorities). What's next? The revival of Ronald Reagan's mythical Cadillac driving "welfare queen" from Chicago's Southside?

Greg Sargent writes at The Plum Line, The politics of resentment makes a comeback:

The new Mitt Romney ad attacking Obama over welfare is generating a lot of chatter this morning, as it was clearly designed to do. It hits Obama for supposedly “gutting” Bill Clinton’s welfare reform bill, by “dropping work requirements.”

“Under Obama’s plan, you wouldn’t have to work,” the ad says. “They just send you your welfare check.”

The ad is highly dishonest; Steve Benen and Arthur Delaney both do a good job taking it apart. The key point is that Republican-led states — Utah and Nevada — had led the request for waivers to the work requirement in the welfare reform bill, so they could experiment with ways to do a better job shifting people from welfare to jobs. The work requirement would remain; states would have more flexibility in implementing it.

To sum up, this ad is tantamount to claiming that Republican governors want to gut welfare reform and ensure that the government just sends people a “welfare check.”

The Romney campaign appears to be investing serious money in this attack. A Dem source tells me that it is going to run at 50 percent in all of Romney’s markets. That’s a real buy.

Which raises a broader point: For an election that’s supposed to be all about the economy, the Romney campaign is suddenly leaning very hard on a more traditional politics of resentment right out of an older GOP playbook.

* * *

None of this should have been necessary by the lights of Romney’s own theory of the election. We were told for months that the Romney camp would focus relentlessly on the economy and on Obama’s mismanagement of it. Romney would win by portraying Obama as a nice guy who is just in over his head and just can’t get it done. But with the recovery remaining very, very slow but on track — and with Obama holding a small but persistent lead in national polls, and a slightly larger one in swing states — the Romney campaign has plainly decided that this won’t be enough.

Racial based politics. They just can't help themselves.

Wil Cardon campaign going dark

August 7, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Wil Cardon had said he would spend whatever it takes to defeat Jeff Flake in the GOP primary for the U.S. Senate. Apparently there is a limit to how much of his personal fortune this self-funded candidate is willing to spend. It is probably a safe bet that his internal polling is … Read more

‘It’s like Robin Hood in reverse … it’s Romney Hood’

August 7, 2012

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

President Obama mocked Mitt Romney at a campaign event Monday evening in Stamford, Connecticut, for proposing a tax plan that would require the middle-class to pay higher taxes to cover the cost of tax cuts for the wealthy:

[The independent Tax Policy Center] determined that Governor Romney’s plan would effectively raise taxes on middle-class families with children by an average of $2,000 — to pay for this tax cut. Not to reduce the deficit. Not to invest in things that grow our economy, like education or roads or basic research. He’d ask the middle class to pay more in taxes so that he could give another $250,000 tax cut to people making more than $3 million a year. (Boo.)

It’s like Robin Hood in reverse. (Laughter.) It’s Romney Hood. (Applause.)

This will be the campaign theme from now to Election Day.

Video below the fold.