AZ Congressional Delegation

Matt Salmon announces his retirement from Congress: Let the political battle royal begin

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By Craig McDermott, crossposted from Random Musings

On Thursday, Congressman Matt Salmon announced that he will not be seeking reelection to Congress in 2016.

This wasn’t a sudden move – senior Salmon staffers have been looking for, and finding, soft landing spots for  weeks now, and his announcement was followed quickly by an endorsement of Andy Biggs, president of the Arizona State Senate, to be his replacement.

While the Biggs endorsement was (presumably) an attempt to preempt a primary battle for the safe R seat, there are a number of Rs looking at the race, or at least being speculated about for the race.

From AZCentral.com, written by Rebekah L. Sanders –

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The GOP embraces ‘Trumpism,’ the new American fascism

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Donald Trump rolled over his GOP competitors in the Nevada Caucus on Tuesday for his third consecutive win.

Screenshot from 2016-02-24 13:01:05

This sets up “Super Tuesday” aka the “SEC Primary” on Tuesday, March 1.

Screenshot from 2016-02-11 13:01:08

According to the RealClearPolitics averaging of state polls, Donald Trump currently leads in Alabama, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Virginia, and Vermont. Ted “Calgary” Cruz has a narrow lead in his home state of Texas, and in Arkansas. The caucuses in Alaska, Colorado. and North Dakota do not have any recent polling.

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#TPP

Anti-TPP Rally at McSally’s Office on Friday, Feb 19

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Don’t get so caught up with the Presidential Primaries and the SCOTUS speculation that you forget about the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) deal that is still on the table in the Congress. This Friday, there will be an anti-TPP rally at Congresswoman Martha McSally’s office. Come on down! Bring your signs and enthusiasm. Here are a … Read more

Top Two Primary intends to demolish Democrats in AZ

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Crossposted from DemocraticDiva.com

StopTop2

As I drove home Wednesday evening I caught the tail end of a recorded segment on the radio about the Top Two Primary initiative. I heard a man telling KJZZ host Steve Goldstein (I’m paraphrasing) about how Democrats have little power in state government so Hispanic voters would do well to stop aligning themselves with them. I rolled my eyes and continued on but I saw this summary of the interview when I got home:

Arizona’s Latino community is gravitating away from either major political party.

Those were the findings of a recent survey by an organization hoping to reform elections in the state.

About 40 percent of Latinos in Arizona are Independent, a trend that becomes even more pronounced among millennials. According to the survey, more than 75 percent of respondents said Latinos should register as Independent and eschew the established parties. This is good news for supporters of a ballot initiative that would allow independents to run in the primary.

Danny Ortega is a co-chair of the Open and Honest Elections Coalition.

He said Latinos, who were once loyal to democrats, are increasingly disillusioned with the party’s inability to make meaningful progress on immigration, education and other issues.

“They don’t see the party as effective, number one,” Ortega said. “Number two, every state office is controlled by Republicans. The legislature is controlled by Republicans, and so Latinos don’t feel like they are part of the end game.”

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Congress wraps up appropriations, goes home for the holidays

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Remember just a few short weeks ago when Tea-Publicans were apoplectic over highly edited videos from an anti-abortion group attempting to smear Planned Parenthood, and the GOP House Freedom Caucus vowed that they would shut down the government if Planned Parenthood was not immediately defunded?

monstersAnd remember these same Teabaggers threatening to shut down the federal government over Syrian war refugees being allowed to enter the country after the terrorist attack in Paris, because they were all pissing their pants in fear,  terrified of monsters under their bed?

Yeah, that never happened.  to Paraphrase from the Bard’s MacBeth:

A Teabagger is but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

Always remember that everything Teabaggers do is about providing grist for the Mighty Wurlitzer of the right-wing noise machine of the conservative media entertainment complex, and to pick the pockets of the rubes foolish enough to believe what these grifters tell them. They only vote against a bill when they are assured that there are enough votes for passage, so they can safely proclaim how they voted against the bill (without any consequences). It is all just a con game.

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