“A woman can take care of the family. It takes a man to provide structure, to provide stability.”
Sugar Land Congressman Tom DeLay, Time Magazine, February 23, 2004
“Tom DeLay wouldn’t be stable even if they mounted him on a tripod.”
Juanita Jean Herownself, Richmond woman
From Juanita’s, Barefoot, Pregnant, and Royally Hacked-Off
Susan DuQuesnay at Juanita’s tells us about Bud Lite, the county attorney.
You know all this outsourcing stuff you’ve been hearing about? Well, Bud invented that. No, I’m serious. He did. He got elected and then realized that he didn’t know diddle squat about law – including, but not limited to, that you stand up when addressing the judge – so he started outsourcing all his work to private lawyers. And, Commissioners let him because even they realized that he’s dumber than bean dip. And, Darlin’, you gotta be Olympic dumb for county commissioners to take notice of it.
From Tom DeLay’s Congressional district, some thoughtful words from Susan DuQuesnay at Juanita’s, The World’s Most Dangerous Beauty Salon, Inc.:
Thanks to our local Republican Party Chairman, the entire world now knows that a resolution calling on Fort Bend Republicans to “welcome people of all faiths into the Republican Party” failed. Couldn’t get a simple majority vote on that sucker. Thought it was Communistic or something.
To add heat to the humidity, another resolution stating that the Republican Party “welcomes into its membership thoughtful and conscientious individuals of diverse opinions, convictions, colors and creeds…” also failed.
I, personally, think it was the word “thoughtful” that got ‘em.
GOP.com has a web page devoted to Nancy Pelosi, Totally San Fran.
PELOSI IS WRONG ON NATIONAL SECURITY
PELOSI FAVORS HIGHER TAXES AND BIG GOVERNMENT SPENDING
SAN FRANCISCO LIBERAL, OUT OF TOUCH WITH MAINSTREAM VALUES
Link via uggabugga.
Bob Somerby sums up why McCain can’t be Kerry’s running mate — McCain is publicly supporting Bush. D’oh!
“Dick Cheney gave a speech at the Coast Guard Academy in which he vowed that Americans would fight on in Iraq. Actually he said, ‘not me, but a lot of other Americans.’ Maybe we should have a new law in this country: Anybody vowing to fight on should actually have to do some of the fighting.”
Jay Leno
“According to some reports, U.S. forces bombed a wedding party in Iraq. Apparently President Bush thought it might have been a gay wedding.”
Jay Leno
“The White House is now saying that they still do not have a timetable for when the U.S. will be out of Iraq. Although they hinted that it would be early in the Kerry administration.”
David Letterman
“John Kerry and Ralph Nader met face-to-face, it was a historic meeting. Astronomers said today their meeting actually created what is called a ‘charisma black hole.'”
Jay Leno
“You ever take a good look at Ralph Nader? Don’t you think he looks like Kerry if you left him in the dryer for couple of days?”
Jay Leno
“John Kerry met with Ralph Nader. Wouldn’t you have liked to have been a fly on the wall for that conversation? And if you had, you would have been the most charismatic thing in the room.”
David Letterman
Wonkette has a take on Kerry’s campaign slogan:
How many rough drafts do you think the Kerry team went through to come with the campaign slogan, “Let America be America again”? It takes a lot of work to boil down an entire political platform into a single phrase of such astonishing meaninglessness. We’ll give them this: It does capture the essence of Kerry’s rhetorical style — stilted, yet empty. Maybe Kerry himself provided an early version, something like, “To be sure, I would like it to be known, that who among us does not want this great country, America, to return to a state of being that country which it was and shall be again.”
Talking Points Memo by Joshua Micah Marshall
Politics is certainly a rough business. And it’s common, and understandable, that candidates will often send staffers to videotape or record their opponents’ speeches.
But we seem to have an embarrassing new low in the Illinois senate race — one that might even amount to stalking.
A very unscientific survey of historians by History News Network:
Of 415 historians who expressed a view of President Bush’s administration to this point as a success or failure, 338 classified it as a failure and 77 as a success. (Moreover, it seems likely that at least eight of those who said it is a success were being sarcastic, since seven said Bush’s presidency is only the best since Clinton’s and one named Millard Fillmore.) Twelve percent of all the historians who responded rate the current presidency the worst in all of American history, not too far behind the 19 percent who see it at this point as an overall success.
It’s a lengthy, detailed (with charts, no less) essay.
And, to be honest, NewMexiKen would not link to this if it documented the opposite. I like corroborating my own assessment.
From the St. Petersburg Times —
It sounds like something from the 2000 presidential election: an absentee ballot isn’t counted because it isn’t filled out properly. And the disenfranchised voter, Katherine Harris, is no stranger to election debacles.
Harris, who as Florida’s secretary of state oversaw the presidential recount, forgot to sign her absentee ballot when she voted in Longboat Key’s local election March 9.
“I feel terrible,” Harris, now a member of Congress, said Friday. “It’s a mistake. I regret it.”
From the York Daily Record —
Well, at least you have to give the Bush campaign points for aplomb. When it shoots itself in the foot, it does so with a tank, not some little pistol.
It’s no secret that President Bush badly needs to win Pennsylvania for re-election. Neither is it a secret that he pretty much has the York County vote locked up.
But last week’s campaign ad gaffe probably didn’t help his cause here.
Workers at United Defense in West Manchester Township are feeling a little left out — hurt that the Bush campaign seems to have forgotten their contributions to the figurative war on terrorism and the literal war in Iraq.
A $10 million ad blitz in Michigan (another crucial swing state for the president) criticized presumptive Democratic nominee John Kerry for votes against various weapons systems. An ad that ran in Detroit claimed Kerry voted against the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, a tank-like weapon that saw extensive action in Iraq.
The ad said the vehicle was “made in Michigan,” and campaign spokespeople stood in front of the General Dynamics headquarters there asking if Kerry cared about the site’s 1,200 jobs.
Wrong state.
Wrong company.
While General Dynamics makes some fine weapons systems, it doesn’t manufacture the Bradley.
Any York countian can tell you it’s made right here in West Manchester Township by 910 United Defense workers.
Link via Eschaton.
A lengthy, but revealing and amusing profile of John McCain in The Washington Post.
Adam Nagourney reports on the increasing importance of Arizona and Colorado in the presidential campaign.
The broad map, including such unusual additions as Arizona, Colorado and Louisiana as well as the traditionally contested states like Ohio, is partly the result of the vast amount of money each candidate has raised and their decision to quit a campaign finance system that would put a ceiling on their spending. That has allowed Mr. Bush and Mr. Kerry to spend – and experiment – in states they might otherwise have been forced to ignore, campaign aides said.
The new map also reflects demographic shifts that have put places like Arizona, a nominally Republican state, in play because of its growing Hispanic population, as well as polling that has found an increasing number of states that are nearly evenly divided.
Read more and check out the great graphics (link in sidebar of Times article).
Story from The New York Times —
President Bush will be going to three college commencements in coming weeks — but not those of his twin daughters, Barbara and Jenna.
Mr. Bush and his wife, Laura, said they did not want to subject other families to the disruptions of a presidential visit when Barbara Bush graduates from Yale University on May 24 in New Haven and Jenna Bush graduates from the University of Texas on May 22 in Austin.
Mr. Bush turned down an invitation to speak at the Texas ceremony. But he will give a commencement address at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and at Concordia University in Mequon, Wis.
You don’t suppose this has anything to do with Connecticut and Texas not being in play and that Colorado, Louisiana and Wisconsin are “battleground states,” do you? [Colorado has come into play, though technically not one of the “battleground states.”]
Thanks to Jesus’ General for the pointer.
Good profile of Bill Richardson in The New York Times Magazine.
Someone by the name of Steve Sailer commented on NewMexiKen’s entry Average IQ by state and how they voted in 2000. Mr. Sailer, who appears to have Googled to find all web sites that mention “average IQ by state,” seems very earnest. He not only wants to make certain we know the IQ thing was a hoax, but that furthermore Democrats are phonies for promoting data like this after “having constantly denounced IQ tests as meaningless, biased, and evil incarnate.”
Get a life Mr. Sailer. I think we all knew it was joke. As NewMexiKen said, how could you determine a state’s average IQ? Besides the chart was obviously wrong about New Mexico. I just thought it was a good excuse to tell the old Max Rafferty story.
From Wonkette:
America’s greatness is defined by the treatment of our enemies. And if we came to Iraq to install a regime, or just replace one authoritarian regime with another that’s not quite so bad, it’s not worth the sacrifice of over 700 American lives.It’s kind of refreshing to see the Democrats finally take advantage of an issue where they can unapologetically take the high ground, really let loose on the president for the damage he’s done to the country’s standing in international circles and for how he’s hurt the causes of liberty and democracy in general. They might really turn the tide of the election. Oh, sorry. That’s a quote from John McCain.
Over at John Kerry ’04, they’re promoting Health Care Week.
“President Bush apologized on TV to Iraqi prisoners. I don’t know if the apology was sincere, because at the end, he says, ‘I’m George Bush and I approve of this naked pyramid.’ ”
— Craig Kilborn
“As you know it’s May sweeps — which is a real dilemma for the Bush White House. Do they bring out Osama now or wait until November?”
— Jay Leno
“President Bush is on a bus tour right now, visiting small towns in Michigan and Ohio, because he says, and I quote, ‘I find it really fun to go to a place where people don’t expect the president to come.’ So the next place he’s going — a bookstore.”
— Jay Leno
“The prisoner scandal is yet another election year problem for President Bush. And, with the economy still struggling, combat operations in Iraq dragging on, and the 9-11 hearings revealing damning information, even an opponent of limited political skill should be able to capitalize on those problems. The Democrats, however, chose to nominate John Kerry.”
— Jon Stewart
“Insiders have begun voicing serious concerns about how he’s conducting his campaign. One aide told the New York Times that while Bush’s message of ‘steady leadership’ has remained consistent, Kerry has gone through six different messages in the 18 months he’s been running, including, at one particularly desperate juncture, ‘Kerry: Health care jobs for the troops’ environment.’ ”
— Jon Stewart
“John Kerry spent the day reading to preschoolers … and the kids said Kerry actually lacked warmth and failed to articulate a clear message. … And then, Bush also read to preschoolers and he raised over $3 million.”
— David Letterman
“President Bush said John Kerry is on both sides of every issue. And Kerry replied, ‘No, I’m not … but there is some truth to that.’ ”
— Craig Kilborn
Designs on the White House has a contest to select eight Kerry campaign T-shirts.
1. Best Pro-Kerry Shirt (positive spin, no mention of Bush)
2. Best Anti-Bush Shirt (negative spin, must mention Bush)
3. Best Issue Shirt – Domestic
4. Best Issue Shirt – Foreign
5. Funniest Shirt
6. Best Retro Shirt
7. Best Get Out The Vote Shirt
8. Most stylish / Most likely to be featured on Queer Eye*
This chart has been bandied about the blogosphere for several days. NewMexiKen thought about linking it before, but decided against. First, how is this sort of thing determined — a state’s average IQ? Second — well, you’ll see. I am a resident of New Mexico.
[Update November 4, 2004: See also here.]
Reminds me of when right-wing California Superintendent of Schools Max Rafferty lost to Alan Cranston for the U.S. Senate. Rafferty left California sometime after for a job in Alabama. Word was his move from California to Alabama raised the average IQ of both states 10 points.
Al Franken and Bob Somerby were discussing Kerry’s wounds and Bush’s National Guard service a little while ago on The O’Franken Factor.
Enough already.
NewMexiKen is precisely halfway between the age of Kerry (60) and Bush (nearing 58). I wouldn’t want to be evaluated on who I was or what I said more than three decades ago. They shouldn’t be either. It’s about who they are now and going forward.
Focus guys, focus.
At Not Geniuses.com Matt Singer tells us:
So, at a debate over Same Sex Marriage last night here on campus, the President of the College Republican Federation of Montana made a rather specious, offensive comment. After the President of the College Dems said that only one amendment had ever been made to the Constitution to restrict rights (prohibition) and it has proven a horrible idea and needed to be repealed, Jake Eaton, the CR guy, said that the 13th Amendment, which prohibits slavery (for those of you who are unaware), was a limitation on his rights.
Roger Ailes brings us up to date on:
John Ramsey, who was investigated by local Colorado authorities following the murder of his daughter, Jon-Benet, but never charged with any crime, is running for state legislative office in Michigan. As a Republican.
His campaign manger says Ramsey may need to run campaign commercials on recent developments that reportedly have exonerated him of the crime. Sounds like a real vote-getter to me. His campaign will focus on the five Es — economic issues, education, the enivornment and exculpatory evidence.
