Featured Stories
Goldwater endorses Dr. Richard Carmona
August 29, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Nice way to start the general election campaign. Goldwater endorsed Dr. Richard Carmona for U.S. Senate. Joanne Goldwater, the eldest daughter of late-Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater, that is. Press release from the Carmona for U.S. Senate campaign: Joanne Goldwater, members of Goldwater family endorse Rich CarmonaGoldwaters say Carmona will serve Arizona over ideology … Read more
AZ09
August 29, 2012
by
Posted by Bob Lord It was jubliant at the Sinema primary party last night, as well it should have been. She ran a solid race and won easily, despite being outspent heavily in the closing weeks. (Disclosure: I've supported Sinema's campaign). Kyrsten's victory speech in my mind struck the right tone, heavily emphasizing the craziness, … Read more
Takeaways from the primaries
August 29, 2012
by
by David Safier A few random thoughts about some of the primary elections: Raul Grivalva won big! Yeah, we all knew it was gonna happen, but it still feels good to see it on paper. Russell Pearce lost substantially! Proving in Arizona, it is possible to be too right wing, too beligerent and too much … Read more
Gov. George Wallace in a dress says President Obama is pandering, race-baiting for Latino vote
August 28, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie: Our Gov. George Wallace in a dress, Jan Brewer, can barely contain her contempt for that Black man in the White House, President Obama. Today, Brewer: Obama Pandering, Race-Baiting For Latino Vote: As Republicans continue their struggle to win over Latino voters, few party members have embodied the party’s image problem with … Read more
Gabriela Saucedo Mercer and religious bigotry McCarthyism
August 28, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Oh no. Someone has been spending way too much time hanging out with Rep. Trent Franks, and wants to join him in his religious bigotry McCarthyism.
CD 3 Tea-Publican candidate Gabriela Saucedo Mercer hates on "Middle Easterners." She does know "those people" includes Israeli Jews, right? Gabriela Saucedo Mercer: We don’t want Middle Easterners in U.S. | TPMMuckraker:
In an interview with a conservative website earlier this year, Saucedo Mercer talked in depth about her views on immigration. A Mexican immigrant herself who became a U.S. citizen, she said the issue was important because people from places other than Mexico were among those coming across the border illegally.
“That includes Chinese, Middle Easterners,” she said. “If you know Middle Easterners, a lot of them, they look Mexican or they look, you know, like a lot of people in South America, dark skin, dark hair, brown eyes. And they mix. They mix in."
“And those people, their only goal in life is to, to cause harm to the United States. So why do we want them here, either legally or illegally? When they come across the border, besides the trash that they leave behind, the drug smuggling, the killings, the beheadings. I mean, you are seeing stuff. It’s a war out there.”
* * *
She has been endorsed by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R), who is scheduled to attend a fundraiser for Saucedo Mercer on Sept. 12 in Tucson. She was also facing attacks from the campaign of Rep. Raul Grijalva, the Democrat she is trying to unseat.
Before the primary polls even closed, Grijalva’s campaign posted a video to YouTube highlighting Mercer’s comments. It [is] titled “The Real Gabriela Mercer – We Don’t Want Middle Easterners” and dated on Monday.
Saucedo Mercer gave the interview originally to a conservative website called Western Free Press, but it went almost unnoticed until now.
Video below the fold.
A perfect Republican story
August 28, 2012
by
by David Safier This story is so satirically rich, it could have been made up by The Onion, but it's not. The report comes from the Ohio Plain Dealer. Romney held a rally August 14 in a coal mining area in Ohio. Hundreds of coal miners attended to show their . . . Not their … Read more
An interesting charter-voucher connection
August 28, 2012
by
by David Safier In one sense, the push for charter schools was a necessary middle step by the conservative "education reform" movement in the push for private school vouchers. First privatize a bit with charter schools to get people used to the idea of using taxpayer dollars to fund privately run schools (It was hoped … Read more
D.C. Circuit Court rules unanimously that Texas redistricting intentionally discriminates against Latinos
August 28, 2012
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
In a major victory for the Obama administration's Justice Department, voting rights advocates, and for the rule of law, a panel of the D.C. Circuit Court ruled unanimously today that the Texas redistricting plan crafted by the Tea-Publican dominated Texas legislature intentionally discriminates against Latinos in violation of the Voting Rights Act. You're shocked, I'm sure. Federal Court: GOP’s Texas Redistricting Plan Intentionally Discriminated Against Hispanics | TPMMuckraker:
A redistricting plan signed by Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) intentionally discriminated against Hispanic voters, a three-judge panel unanimously ruled Tuesday. The judges found that seats belonging to white incumbent members of Congress were protected under the plan while districts belonging to incumbent minorities were targeted for changes.
The court was “persuaded by the totality of the evidence that the plan was enacted with discriminatory intent,” according to the ruling. There was “sufficient evidence to conclude that the Congressional Plan was motivated, at least in part, by discriminatory intent,” the court found.
All three judges said they were overwhelmed with the amount of evidence showing the law was intentionally discriminatory, writing in a footnote that parties “have provided more evidence of discriminatory intent than we have space, or need, to address here.”
All three redistricting plans — for Texas’ congressional delegation, its state House of Representatives and the state Senate — were blocked by the federal court. The Supreme Court had earlier ruled that interim maps drawn by a federal court were invalid.
The panel of three judges found that “surgery” had been performed on congressional districts belonging to minority members of Congress while no such alterations were made to districts belonging to incumbent white members of Congress.
“Anglo district boundaries were redrawn to include particular country clubs and, in one case, the school belonging to the incumbent’s grandchildren,” the judges wrote.
That country club reference is tied to Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), who chairs the House Oversight Committee that oversees the Justice Department.
You can read the opinion here (there was a partial dissent by Judge Griffith as to one district, who wrote most of the majority opinion as well).
