AZ Congressional Delegation

Sen. Jeff Flake digs his hole deeper

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

FlakeAs the Arizona Republic correctly noted a couple of weeks ago, Flake urges victims to continue gun control fight: "Gun violence victims said they were not impressed with Jeff Flake’s political
posturing, and accused him of trying to appease voters from both sides
of the gun control debate without risking retribution from the National
Rifle Association."

Sen. Jeff Flake is back to his old ways, playing the media villagers for fools with his political posturing, trying to have it both ways. In Turnaround, Flake Says He’s Open To Expanding Background Checks:

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) told CNN
he's open to expanding background checks if the Manchin-Toomey
legislation is modified to be more accommodating for Internet sales
between friends.

Flake said he'd consider voting for the bill if the requirement is
altered to ensure that a gun owner may sell a firearm to a friend
without an FBI check after exchanging text-messages or emails or posting
on Facebook. The senator fretted that as currently written, the bill
may deem that a commercial transaction and require a background check.

The legislation generally exempts background checks for private gun sales between friends and family.

Flake recently took a beating in the press
after obfuscating his position on background checks with the mother of a
shooting victim who was slain in Aurora, Colo. He admitted his vote
against the bill harmed his poll numbers.

Rep.Trent Franks still fancies himself ‘Mayor’ of Washington, D.C.

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

When Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) is not channeling Joe McCarthy with his Islamophobia conspiracy theories about how the Council on American Islamic Relations tried to plant "spies" in the national security apparatus, House Republicans accuse Muslim group of trying to plant spies, or claiming that African-Americans were better off under slavery than they are today (why? Because "abortion!"), or declaring that President Obama is one of the most dangerous enemies facing America today and "an enemy of humanity", or threatening to impeach President Obama over his refusal to defend the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act, this Christian Right anti-gay, anti-abortion zealot fancies himself the "Mayor" of Washington, D.C., proposing to outlaw the constitutional right to a safe abortion in the District.

As the Washington Post editoiralized last year, The House tramples again on the District's rights:

THE ISSUES ADMITTEDLY are not normally
the domain of a member of Congress. But D.C. residents who wanted to
discuss problems of city potholes, rat infestations and broken
streetlights with Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) were trying to make an
important point. If Mr. Franks is so interested in running the affairs
of District residents, as evidenced by his effort to restrict their abortion rights, then let him deal with all the other issues of local government.

No surprise that Mr. Franks locked his doors to last week’s protest by D.C. Vote and turned off his phones.
Nor is it any surprise that his noxious bill to restrict the
constitutional rights of women in the nation’s capital is likely to
advance. It’s pretty clear that the rights or wishes of D.C. residents
matter little on Capitol Hill, particularly to members of the House
Republican majority.

Sen. Jeff Flake now owns the dubious title of most disliked senator

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

In just three short months in the U.S. Senate, our boy Jeff Flake has managed to dethrone the Septegenarian Ninja Turtle, Mitch McConnell, as the most disliked senator among Americans. Getting caught lying to a grieving mother who lost her son to gun violence will do that. The Atlantic Wire reports, How Jeff Flake Became the Most Unpopular Senator in America:

Public Policy Polling, in their latest survey on the fallout of the recent vote on gun legislation, explains just how much people don't like Mr. Flake:

FlakeJust 32% of voters
approve of him to 51% who disapprove and that -19 net approval rating
makes him the most unpopular sitting Senator we've polled on, taking
that label from Mitch McConnell.

Since December, it was hard to imagine anyone unseating McConnell because, according to PPP and
despite the Kentucky Senator's internal numbers, the Senate Minority
Leader was always' the old curmudgeon who represented the laughable state of America's hatred toward Congress.

* * *

So what happened to the junior Senator from Arizona? According to
PPP's polling, conducted April 25-26 in the aftermath of the gun vote
that killed legislation on background checks, it's blowback — Democrats
and independent voters have really flaked on Flake:

FlakePoll

Down with Drones: Protest at Ft. Huachuca Today

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by Pamela Powers Hannley Southern Arizona peace activists have organized a anti-drone protest outside of Fort Huachuca today, Monday, April 29. Drones are a big deal in Southern Arizona. Ft. Huachuca, Davis-Monthan, Raytheon, the University of Arizona, and Cochise College– all have a piece of the military industrial complex's drone pie, and if our esteemed … Read more

Flake in the Rewrite

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Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell was a key legislative aide to Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. From 1989 to 1991, he served as senior advisor to Senator Moynihan. From 1992 to 1993, he was staff director of the United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, then chaired by Senator Moynihan. From 1993 to 1995, he was staff director of the United States Senate Committee on Finance, once again under Senator Moynihan’s chairmanship. O'Donnell has a deep respect for the history of the U.S. Senate and knows its institutional norms.

In his Rewrite segment on Tuesday, Lawrence O'Donnell heaped much-deserved opprobrium on Sens. Max  Baucus (D-MT) and Jeff Flake (R-AZ) for their cowardly votes last week to filibuster to death consideration of the Manchin-Toomey background checks amendment.