Login HereRick Jacobs and the Courage Campaign are currently fighting the "Presidential Election Reform Act" in California, which -- if it passes -- would give up at least 20 of California's current "winner take all" electoral college votes to Republicans in 2008. The lawyers behind the ad are Bob Perry's swift boat lawyers. Which should safely put it in "say no more" territory, but if that's not enough:
Bell, McAndrews & Hiltachk is one of the most politically involved law firms in the state. According to a news story on its Web site, Bell keeps a life-sized cardboard image of President Bush in his office. Federal records show the firm does legal work for a host of political committees, most with Republican or business ties.
Republicans have the strangest fetishes. Really.
On Monday there's going to be a conference call at 4pm PT/7pm ET with Bradley Whitford that is open to anyone. You can RSVP at the Courage Campaign's website.
(The YouTube above was shot by D-Day and Dante at Steve Audio's blogtopia* party a couple of weeks ago. And yes, Skippy coined that phrase.)
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Uno?
Jane!
Jane, you’re my hero. Just thought I’d tell you that.
CocoaBeach @ 3
Me too, This is OT but can you ask your senator why he’s not marching in Jena, LA. Isn’t Lieberliar for civil rights? Sorry to be OT but I’m on a rant.
just in case: where can we turn the tables?
The electorate seems to know the score. The problem? Get the Democratic Party to shape up. And get the voters to the voting booths.
Rove is winning.
Thanks Jane!
love the video.
My party is getting the crap kicked out of itself by Rove. Who am I angry with? Pelosi, Reid, Hillary Clinton, the DlC and many others.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 6
nonsense, he’s gone from government now. He no longer has anything to do with anything, doncha know
Levin is another sell out. My party needs to speak with one voice.
What a freaking week. Dems getting smacked around every which way. This is some depressing stuff.
ok smooth this out for me… the electoral votes can be split? i thought the person winning the state earned all the electoral votes of that state??
Mz. Hamsher, just posted this thread link to the squeal pages of KPIG.com.
It will go other places, too . . . that I frequent.
Great ad, BTW, thanks for sharing it with us here.
Time to get THIS word out, now.
Expose them for who they are.
BTW, someone from Rick’s Courage Campaign should contact KVMR, Grass Valley, CA and make sure THEIR news folks are covering this to date.
KPFA in Berkeley . . . also 1240Am in Sacto and Christine Craft could use a call from YOU Mz. Hamsher, to say thanks for covering it to date and asking she continue to cover it . . . Randi Rhodes, Ed Schulz, all the OTHER progressive voices of the CA airwaves and internet steams . . .
Lemme know what I could to to help on THIS one. I’m in Sacto. I have some time to spare for PR/Publicity on this . . .
Want to support the troops? Bring them the hell home.
I hope no one minds, beings that it’s Friday night and all
Jingo: Clapton Santana
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAf3gqdCrDs
Jane, how are you feeling? Are you back home and with doggies?
yeah even sen leahy was a letdown this week…
the times do seem to remind me of those pictures where you had to find the image hidden in the main picture.
not that hard once i got my eye in.
fraank luuntzy is a case.
came to Aust with his you beaut word picker machine.
the first word to be spotted is the word(tah dah!)
manufactured
this word in Aust has connotations of
fraud or untrustworthy.
it has been used in conjunction with the name of the leader of the non right-wing opposition party.
there is an election very soon.
well well!
Silly rabbit, tricks are for pigs.
Democrats. You are really fucking up.
Loo Hoo. @ 10
Maybe they should go back to talking about inherent contempt and subpoenas? Seems that’s the only way they gonna find any success.
juslin @ 12
In CA, presently, the electorals are NOT split.
But the law firm as indicated above is putting a ballot measure together for the primary vote, which in CA is what, Jan? Or Feb?
If it PASSES, the electoral votes WILL be split, and cost the dem’s about 22 or so votes, the same aboumt (more or less) that Ohio delivered to steal a previe national election.
There are proposals in more than a few states to do this same thing . . . what’s heinious about it is that it comes along as a strategy here and there, and is NOT implemented as a nation wide standard. Obvious Rethug Fuckery, as it were.
CA really needs to step it up on this one.
I am beginning to think Chris Dodd would make the best president. I wish he had more of a chance to shine.
I’ve seen Bradely Whitford on Bill Maher a few times. I really like him. He’s well spoken and level headed. He cuts right through the crap and gets his point made.
This is an issue for democrats everywhere. I get the emails from the Courage Campaign, and I will contribute. This is national.
Bell keeps a life-sized cardboard image of President Bush in his office.
Reminds me of when, about four months ago, I walked into the office of the U.S. Bankruptcy Trustee for the S.D. of Indiana with a question. I opened the door and was confronted with dual, framed pictures of George W. Bush and Alberto Gonzales. So I immediately put my file down on the counter, walked to the middle of the room, and flipped a fine, high double bird at the photos. The lady gave me the stink-eye, but answered my question.
Right after I walked out, i realized that I had another question, so…. walked back in and did it all again.
That lady had no sense of humor at all.
I left a message at the DCCC today saying no more money for you, I will give to individual candidates and MoveOn.
juslin @ 17
They set themselves up to fail. A bunch of votes that were designed to fail and to extract no price from their Republicans for their failure. And then the gratuitous vote against MoveOn. If there was a plan, a strategy, or a message in any of it beyond the desire to appear stupid I have no idea what it was. They ended up looking weak and pissing off their base. Way to go, Democrats.
dipper @ 22
He’s definitely my favorite of the Democratic candidates, and the only one who seems to be *trying* to lead on anything. But he just can’t get any traction - I don’t think the media finds him very interesting.
Democrats. You keep on the way you’re working and enough voters might think; why vote? What’s the use. Just enough may stay home to throw the election in 2008 to the Republicans. You disgust me.
There are two groups laughing at us. The GOP and the DLC.
Hugh @ 27
I don’t get it and I’m through racking my brain over it.
JPL @ 4
Then again, someone should ask Landrieu how she likes taking it in the rear from HoJo(re: Katrina hearings).
A Re-Post: but the best way, IMO, to get even and not go mad.
Rules #1 - 200,000,000 For Effective Liberal Politics
by tristero
Following up on Digby’s recent post, I’d like to remind everyone how the system, like it or not, works. It’s quite simple.
If you’re mad at the Democrats who denounced MoveOn, do something about it. Give MoveOn money. If you plan to donate to individual political campaigns, give the money to those campaigns through MoveOn (or an equivalent group).
(snip)
Does this sound like a shakedown? Well, yes. But remember, we’re the reality-based folks and like it or not, you’ll have to pay for good government. And if we don’t pay, there never will be even a hope of election reform that helps curb the shakedown. Ever.
Hullabaloo
larue @ 13
Christine’s on vacation for a few weeks
Hopefully she’ll be back soon
Eli @ 28
apparently Obama and Clinton are the only two candidates being considered by the punditocracy and MSM
And when was the last time you heard the Democrts taking on Blackwater?
“Imagine a universe where a man can gun down women and children anytime he pleases, knowing he will never be brought to justice. A place where morality is null and void, and arbitrary killing is the rule. A place that has been imagined hitherto only in nightmarish dystopian fiction, like “1984,” or in fevered passages from Dostoevsky—or which existed during the Holocaust and Stalinist purges and the Dark Ages. Well, that universe exists today. It is called Iraq. And the man who made it possible is George W. Bush.”
Even the Levin Reed fails again. With fewer democrats than last time.
Check out the Senators who didn’t vote:
Bennett (R-UT)
Boxer (D-CA)
Domenici (R-NM)
Durbin (D-IL)
Lott (R-MS)
Sanders (I-VT)
juslin @ 12
IIRC, Nebraska and Maine split the electoral votes by Congressional district but as they are both small states (population wise), it hasn’t been an issue.
The CA proposal would have the winner of the overall state vote receive two votes (representing the senate seats and all the rest of the votes would go to the winners of the individual congressional district. If CA chose to amend their constitution to do this, it would be legal, just as it would be legal if Florida and Texas and every other state chose to do this. But trying to do it alone as these a** wipes are doing is just a move to snake the election again and make it that much more difficult for a Dem candidate to win the Presidency.
Good for you, Jayt!
Oklahoma kiddo @ 30
Has anyone asked Reid why he even let this crap up for a vote?
And I can hear all the ‘don’t do the circular firing squad’ bitsters. The Democrats are better on domestic issues. Very true. But if you have all these wars going on, there’s no money left for domestic spending.
There’s been so much gerrymandering in the southern states that it would be a predetermined outcome and it sounds as though CA is the same. The repubs are running out of issues to run on so this might be a last ditch effort.
Take a hike, peacelover.
Loo Hoo. @ 44
?
looking back on today 50 years from now
lots of sincere people
some sense of the decline and fall of the USA
little sense of the decline of the arts
lots of distractions
separation of individuals one from the other
Joe Klein’s conscience @ 41
Funny you should mention that! I think that is one of the questions that they went over on KO. I doubt we could find a more ineffectual bunch if we tried!
Elliott @ 45
The mods were fast as usual. Nothing to see here. Move along. ;})
Elliott @ 45
37
dakine01 @ 48
okeedokee :)
I was feeling this huge sense of mental exhaustion when I got home a little while ago. This has been a very depressing week. Now, we don’t get MSNBC at my house, so I never got to actually SEE Keith Olbermann’s “performance” last night. I read the transcript this morning and realized this was powerful stuff — but until I actually WATCHED it, I did not get the whole effect. All that was missing at the end was a Sousa march - what an incredibly passionate, angry, intelligent, clever skewering of Bush and Co. And a great history lesson for those of us unfamiliar with the Doug McArthur/Truman thing. Really got my heart going, there.
john in sacramento @ 35
Thanks John, didn’t listen lately . . . are you involved with any of this locally, like you are in other organizing efforts?
Joe Klein’s conscience @ 40
It is part of the failure of the Democratic leadership that question should even come up. They should be communicating clearly and often with their base about exactly what they are doing and how they wish to do it, and of course what we want. As it is, figuring out what they are doing is harder to guess than Kreminology and reading tealeaves ever was.
Loo Hoo. @ 49
you’re pretty influential ;)
Loo Hoo, anything in the local pres about Issa being a target?
Has anyone asked Reid why he even let this crap up for a vote?
because he doesn’t know what the fuck he’s doing?
I wish he had the balls to take the entire defense appropriations bill off the table - wait for the Repubs to bring it forward, and then turn the 60 vote bill-bomb on them.
Of course, I’m parliamentary-impaired, so maybe this isn’t possible. But, you’d think a former boxer would have a *little* fight in him.
Loo Hoo. @ 45
All I can say is see Jane at DWT..
DWT
Loo Hoo. @ 45
freeperlover’s more like it
The Republicans are not not the problem. My party is.
Oklahoma kiddo @ 58
Obviously there should be only one ‘not’.
Loo Hoo. @ 38
Someone is suggesting we (me and her) go for a short swim, and think.
There is a one-wat street I have wached that looks like this: The Democrats in Washington do not see Republicans as the enemy; IMO, they seem to think them more as disagreeable business partners. OTOH, the Republicans see the Democrats as enemies to be destroyed. Of course there are exceptions and degrees, but at the strategic level, that’s how it looks to me.
Thanks, Jane.
That CA maneuver stinks.
I would have loved to be a fly on the wall at that party!
Just checked out the SteveAudio link you gave.
Mickey Kaus was there?! So funny. And, lol, that is quite a shirt Howie is wearing. A total departure from the “hoodie”. ;)
Hugh? No skewering of the News Hour this week? I don’t watch because you do..)
Benmajim Chaneles is down in the next thread talking about his day in Jena. It’s great if anybody has questions that they want to pose.
Hi Lolo!
Dodd voted Nay on Reid/Finegold?Eli @ 29
Chris Dodd voted Nay today on Reid/Feingold????
Hi RonD!!!
Valley Girl @ 63
Yeah, I sent a memo to all the guys that Hawaiian, or in Howies’ case, Thai, shirts were mandatory.
It was a great party. We timed it so Jane could be there. And yes, Kaus was there. He writes some infuriating stuff, but he really is a funny, charming guy.
The new British empire? UK plans to annex south Atlantic
Britain is preparing territorial claims on tens of thousands of square miles of the Atlantic Ocean floor around the Falklands, Ascension Island and Rockall in the hope of annexing potentially lucrative gas, mineral and oil fields, the Guardian has learned.
lolo @ 67
He said he was not voting for anything that did not have firm deadlines for withdrawal. No votes for “bills” that were smokescreens and wish lists.
From Jane’s first link
Hmmmm, there’s something about them. I know that name (thinking….)
Karl Rove is extremely active these days.
Elliott @ 53
Nothing that I’ve seen, although I know a person willing to run against him. I want to see a debate among those willing to take him on, just to make sure I’m willing to work for him/her. It will be a long shot, but I’m hoping someone from SDSU or SDS or someone will have the skills.
There is this from Calitics on someone running against Bilbray (read Cunningham) from the 50th. Don’t know much yet on this.
Busby Set to Endorse Leibham in CA-50
by: Lucas O’Connor
Fri Sep 21, 2007 at 15:37:24 PM PDT
Got a tip that sometime in the very near future, Francine Busby will be announcing her endorsement of Nick Leibham for the Democratic nomination in the 50th district. The field has been slowly clearing for a while now, with Michael Wray opting against a run and John Lee Evans running for School Board. Steve Schechter has also filed FEC paperwork to run in the district, but this endorsement would line up the one major recognizable Democratic face in the district behind Leibham. Putting to rest any remaining speculation that she might run again, much of the drama is likely over in the primary, leaving now more than a year of Bilbray-hunting. The district has a Partisan Voter Index of R 5, but Charlie Cook considers the district competitive more than 13 months out, rating it yesterday as Likely Republican in his new Competitive House Race Chart.
Joe Lieberman is also very active these days.
RonD @ 62
I agree with this corolary: That even those GOP members of Congress who remember a more “collegial” time, when people could and would work together to get things done…they are being blungeoned over the head by Cheney et al. with threats that if they do not “toe the line”, the RNC will put someone up against them, fund them hugely, and they will be destroyed. I really do think that there are people there who are finding it difficult to live with this..but who are frankly afraid of what their party would do to them if they broke ranks. I think those people whould do a Jeffers and change parties.
Loo Hoo. @ 73
Thanks for all that, Loo Hoo
I love to hate Issa and his hearing haircut.
lolo @ 59
Yes, lolo. Via Think Progress:
UPDATE:Dodd explains his switch in a press release, which states that “he will only support legislation on Iraq that contains a firm and enforceable timetable for redeploying U.S. troops as well as an enforceable cut off of funds for future combat operations in Iraq.”
Why in the world is Newt Gingrich and Tom DeLay still getting air time?
Eureka Springs @ 63
I didn’t listen closely. Brooks was off. Shields was insipid and was it Rich Lowry on for Brooks.
You can listen to or read them here:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb.....09-21.html
Thanks, Shields
Both Lowry and Shields condemn the MoveOn ad. Dopes. Shields says Americans don’t like people making fun of someone’s name. Did Shields just leave grade school? Nothing about Petraeus being Bush’s sockpuppet, his cooked statistics, or dishonest testimony. Really a mannikin would be more insightful and represent liberals better than Shields.
Lowry is conservative but is less obnoxious than Brooks.
SteveAudio @ 68
Are you sure that was a Thai shirt? Okay, maybe it was a Thai knock-off of an Hawaiian or CA shirt. Cuz I don’t remember palms like those in Thailand.
oh, p.s. I was getting worried. I emailed you , and you did not respond. I thought maybe someone at the party had told you I was a bad person and a total nutcase, or summin like that! ;)
Eli upstairs in a Rather lather
Valley Girl @ 81
Howie told me he had bought it in Thailand.
I must have missed the email, sorry! I’ll check back and find it.
Thanks LooHoo
I was shocked to see Dodd’s vote. That explanation makes sense. Please do all you can to get rid of Issa. He’s a ratbastard!
lolo
Very OT, but we may be about to learn why we haven’t seen or heard from Judy Nathan, our wannabe First Lady. She’s been kept under deep cover (like blankets thrown over her head while she’s hustled into SUVs) but we might have our chance soon at getting to know Judy.
Tip: she’s as nuts as Rudy. Think of Pam from Atlas Shrugged. A match made in heaven!
Clearly, the leadership of the Democratic Party, so well-exemplified here, yesterday, in the person of Senator Gary Hart, regard us as dim-witted and impractical. More broadly, the leading lights of the party dismiss us as fools and have even attacked some among us (and, by extension, all of us) as dangerously disrespectful, counter-productive, unthinking dolts who simply do not grasp the superior vista, from whose majestic heights of celebrity and sober judgment, our betters may survey the ruins of society. Let us waste little time and resource on such Wisdoms.
Better that we seek, now, to educate those whose enforced ignorance might be lifted. In truth, of necessity, it will be the people as a whole, as many as may come to understand the true nature and actual reality of our times, who must insist upon change; not those accustomed to comfort and acclaim.
john in sacramento @ 72
I knew I’ve heard of these guys. They’re mini KKKarl Roves
Links from Sourcewatch
Wow, that’s weird how the filters work. I didn’t think I said any bad words in my 87. My 57 was a comment on a rude commenter not the subject of their comment and that went through
Hmmm
john in sacramento @ 88
John- We’re not seeing anything that was caught by the filters. Did we miss something?
hey, thanks for the link jane, and, if i failed to mention it earlier this month, it was great to see you at steveaudio’s bash!
Ann in AZ @ 21
Yes!
I think the main problem with the Dems is that they let the Republicans and the DLC define what “strength” means, and then the best they can do is a kind of “Me, too!” strength, or the even more stupid pre-emptive cave-in, as with the Lieberman resolution on Iran, where the Democrats fell all over themselves trying to show how big and strong they were, by trying to bully Iran and warn it to shape up.
I think the Democrats could change the Republican-authored, publicly shared image of weakness if they would just go toe to toe with Bush on those issues (such as the War) where the public has had enough of the bullying tactics of Bush & Cheney. You just can’t build a reputation for being strong by me-too-ism. You build it by standing up for what is right, even (or especially) when it seems unpopular.
Showing strength by standing up to Bush on the war ought to be easy, because it is what most of the public wants. The Dems should just follow the lead of Dodd and Edwards: No timelines? No funding! No excuses!
Bob in HI
skippy @ 90
And great seeing you there, too, skippy!
Hugh @ 28
It looks to me like the Dems have decided on the tactic of posturing from now until next year’s elections. Rather than having the guts to follow Dodd and Edwards (No timelines? No Funding! No excuses!), instead they are holding lots of votes allowing Dems to vote against the war, and forcing Republicans to vote for it, with both eyes fixed on 2008, and no real expectation that any of their votes will pass. Denying funding unless Bush agrees to pulling troops is the strongest weapon they have.
Bob in HI
SteveAudio- ygm
Valley Girl @ 94
as do you!
snap
dodd is my candidate - the MSM may not give him a chance but i feel he’ll come on strong as the campaign gets rolling
Have anyone told the wingnuts this proposal is unconstitutional?
Article II, section 1 of the US Constitution says:
Note - “as the legislature thereof may direct”!
Not the people, not via referendum. The Legislature!
Note too, in Bush v Gore in 2000, Scalia, Rehnquist and Thomas listed in their justifications to shut down recounts in FL the argument that this section assigns to the state Legislature authority to decide how electors are selected, and not the FL Supreme Court, therefore the FL SC could not order recounts or award the electoral votes. Only the legislature can do so. Additionally, while I don’t recall the specific case, back in 1925 or so, a USSC case ruled a state referendum had no bearing on electoral votes, as the Constitution assigns that power ONLY to the state’s legislature.
So unless the CA Legislature changes the process (which is what NE and ME did), this whole thing is an unconstitutional exercise in futility!
speaking of gooper fetishes
Frank Luntz has a model of an electric chair in his foyer and for parties with his little friends he puts in a doll of the democrat du jour
and we are uncivil
Zoomie @ 98
That hasn’t stopped various things from passing the Roberts SCOTUS. So we have to beat this one on the ground. Plus, since the legislature created the initiative process, it can be argued that things passed by the ballot come from the legislature, at least that’s what a couple Constitutional scholars have asserted.
Jane, thanks for putting this up, and for participating in it, too!
Jane are these folks non-partisan? Because if they’re tied to the Democrats I’ll not participate, nor donate, nor air a news report on their actions. Dems get no more support from me in any form or fashion. If these folks are doing this for the state, fine, I’ll back them 100-percent. If they’re doing it with Dem money, no go.
The problem with legal challenges is that, at the end of the day, the Republicans have five Party hacks on the Supreme Court.