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According to a press release sent out today, Daniel Biss has now outraised incumbent State Representative Beth Coulson for the third consecutive reporting period. Not only that, but he is cruising past her on several fronts that voters tend to look at when it comes to campaign fundraising. That same release provides these stats:
The reports from the first half of 2008 shows Biss outperformed Coulson by 60 percent in total money raised, more than two-to-one in money raised from individual receipts, more than three-to-one in money raised from within the 17th District, and nearly 50 percent in money raised in low dollar contributions.
Coulson did outperform Biss when it came to PAC contributions - nearly one-third of Coulson’s money came from Political Action Committees compared to Biss’s ten percent.
What jumps out at me is the 3 to 1 in-district rate since donors in-district also tend to be voters.
Mr. Biss is putting in the hard work it takes to run a campaign and stay rooted to his neighbors and community. This, in turn, bodes well for the 17th district should those folks elect him as their new State Rep this autumn.
Progress Illinois has also taken note of Mr. Biss’ work ethic.
Update: The Biss campaign now has the full press release online (PDF).
A good thing to see this week of Remembrance Day…
US Rep. Bill Foster on remembering our GIs and their families. He wants to take Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn’s Illinois program national.
Living up to our responsibility and debt to those who defend our rights and our nation is walking the walk, not just talking the talk, when it comes to “supporting our troops” … something those opposed to the Modern GI Bill would do well to remember.
To borrow a phrase from a friend who spoke yesterday during one of the nation’s countless Memorial Day ceremonies: our vets don’t want to be held up as heroes, they want to be held tight as family and friends.
All these humble men and women ask is that we remember them in our prayers and thoughts, not idly lionize them with jingoism and cliches.
The other post was getting too long to keep updating but there are two more interesting developments.
First, for those who enjoy Inside Baseball, Prairie State Blue blogger ‘bored now’ notes the manner in which the Kirk campaign went “ballistic” over Dan Seals’ overly successful gas station PR event and analyzes why this may be so (O-b-a-m-a…). It’s as good a breakdown of the raw numbers as any to date.
Second, in an irony of ironies, the Lincolnshire police chief tells the Pioneer Press that the last car to pull up for the discounted gas during the Seals event was full of (drumroll please) … Mark Kirk staffers.
Obviously this means that not all Kirk supporters thought it was a “stupid” idea or were so concerned about this legal activity being somehow portrayed as “illegal” (some of the more tame epithets Kirk’s partisans have used to smear Dan Seals).
No word on whether or not they were in a clown car.
…Couldn’t resist. 
Check out Team America and friends carrying water (or should I say “carrying gas”) over at Rich’s place while trying to spin his best baloney about Dan Seals gas price promo at a Lincolnshire station the 10th district.
Two points while TA and Co try to come up with more hollow rants opposing Seals..
- First, despite TA’s willful, partisan-induced ignorance, Mark Kirk also “gives away” things of value and material benefit to voters. There are plenty of Kirk for Congress shirts and caps on parade routes, and folks who go to his events are treated to free goodies like cookies, pop, etc.
All politicians give away items of value.
All.
- Second, a Republican in neighboring Indiana gave away gas for free — yes, for free — just last month.
Republican Luke Puckett, also a challenger just like Dan Seals, pumped free gas a month ago in South Bend while bending drivers’ ears about his plans to drill for oil in pristine natural areas of California and Alaska. (Wouldn’t weening our nation off what Pres. Bush calls an “addiction” to oil be smarter in the long run? Even if we destroyed God’s Creation to get at a few more barrels of oil, even those rigs will eventually run dry — and then what?)
There must’ve been a run on coo-coo puffs lately…
Despite the fact the bottom is pretty far down on that side of the pool, desperate con partisans are still managing to bonk their beans as they jump off the deep end to wallow in their mucky, vile hatred of Sen. Obama.
If you scroll down at that post, you’ll notice frequent critics of reality and reason such as Citizen Wells and Pat Hickey make an appearance with comments supporting the tripe.
Remember the good ol’ days of oddball but cute/fuzzy presidential sideshows? Why do the conservatives feel the need to act so blatantly desperate?
While it’s fun to joke about this sort of tinfoil hat tripe, we also have to realize that this tripe is precisely why rational people have to be just as engaged and take their right and responsibility to vote just as seriously as these wackos.
If wackos like these are the only ones talking and voting… we all end up living in the same hateful, wacko world in which they appear to be ensnared.
Markos notes that conservative partisans pushed the Rev. Wright (manufactured) controversy hot and heavy in the deep red, Deep South Mississippi 1st Congressional District special election, with the NRCC spending $1.3 million it can barely afford and other conservative 527s and PACs spending gobs more.
The conservatives’ hypocritical, borderline-racist and anti-Christian efforts to demonize a black Christian pastor had no effect.
Dem Travis Childers won the special election by a healthy margin in a Republican district that is normally R+10 and that Bush won in 2004 with 63%. That makes the Dems 3 for 3 in red seat special elections this year. The wave began with now-Cong. Bill Foster picking up former GOP Speaker Denny Hastert’s seat right here in Illinois and was followed by strongly-R open districts in Louisiana and now Mississippi also switching to Democratic hands.
As the saying goes, a lot can happen between now and November … but wow … and ouch.
We’re more than a third of the way through our fundraising to honor Pat Botterman’s legacy and more than a third toward our goal — right on track.
If you haven’t already, please donate what you can.
As if you needed a reminder of Pat’s impact on our little neck of the woods, check out the impromptu eulogies left at Capitol Fax when Rich Miller reported on his death… A lot of heartfelt mourning, for good reason, from Dems, Republicans, family and friends.
To reiterate, Pat often dug deep into his own pockets to help keep the local Wheeling Township Democratic Organization up and running. That group’s office (shared with the Palatine Twp Dems) is the only permanent Democratic office in the purpling Chicago northwest suburbs and it’s used by a variety of campaigns and groups as a way to touch base and keep organized.
Your donation — small or large — will help keep it going. Please contribute now.
Want to know more about Pat and his life’s work? Glad you asked…
- Here is the local Daily Herald’s obituary on Pat Botterman.
- Sun-Times columnist Mark Brown also reviewed Pat’s career (via the affable Frank Coconate, scroll down to March 12, 2008).
- State Representative John Fritchey gives us his take on Pat’s work.
- E-man gives us a tear-jerker take on his experiences working with Pat in the campaign trenches.
- And a few more comments about Pat via the Hyer Standard blog.
Keep that legacy of hard-nosed determination and personal integrity going, with your donation in Pat’s memory.
Earlier posts in this series…
- Wheeling Dems donor drive - 50 state strategy in action
- Wheeling Dems donor drive - Aloha Friday
- Hey, did you hear the one about the fundraiser?
Friends’ posts supporting this donor drive…
(c/p Daily Kos)
I headed over to IL-66 GOP State Rep candidate Chris Prochno’s “Conversations with Christine” meet-n-greet earlier this morning.
She informed me that in my “Local on the 8s” post from a few days ago I mistakenly wrote that she had voted herself a pay raise as a village trustee.
In reality, the vote was on whether or not future board members would receive the raise. The first group eligible would be those village trustees elected in the Spring of 2009.
The mistake was all mine and I sincerely apologize. (And I did also apologize to her in person.)
It’s a pretty embarrassing boo-boo given this blog is intended mainly to counter right-wing conservatives’ errors, doncha think?
In other, slightly related news, she also mentioned that there was recently a “coffee” in Elk Grove and of the residents that came to talk with her and others the pay raise vote was not even an issue. Glad to hear it.
(Again, full disclosure, I’ve known her opponent Mark Walker for a number years and am supporting him in this race.)
We blew past our original goal of $250 within one day.
With 8 days left to go, the new goal is $750. Please consider donating to the Wheeling Township Dems today.
I introduced the Wheeling Township Dems Donor Drive online yesterday as a way to honor my friend and well-known Illinois Dem “operative” Pat Botterman.
Wow, one day down and only 9 to go and already the Wheeling Dems Donor Drive is off to a great start. That, of course, is thanks in no small part to the wonderful help of local activist and Botterman Alum Aaron Krager over at Faithfully Liberal who set up a goal of $250 over the next ten days.
He is already more than halfway there in 24 hours. He might have to bump that bar up at this rate! Please help bust through that modest goal with your own donation – large or small.
And, Aloha Friday! One of those contributions came from as far away as Hawai’i.
Why are we doing this? To honor the legacy and generosity of Mr. Pat Botterman whose alternately described with phrases like hard-working, integrity of the highest order, patriot to his core, a class act, bulldogged and tough-minded … or, if you were not in his good graces … Darth Vader, jerk, major league @#%&!*, and more such well-earned epithets from all the “right” people.
How’d Pat earn such high regard? Less than a year before his untimely passing, Sun-Times columnist Steve Brown explained….
Steering [Alderman Bernie] Stone to victory was Mike Noonan, who emerged as one of the premiere local political consultants for Regular Democrats by piloting Lisa Madigan’s first campaign for attorney general.
Directing Waguespack’s historic upset of Ald. Ted Matlak was Patrick Botterman, who has made his mark in Illinois politics by running the campaigns of independent-minded candidates willing to take on the Democratic establishment.
In essence, Noonan is Mr. Inside in Cook County Democratic circles while Botterman is Mr. Outside.
What they share is a nuts-and bolts knowledge of winning elections, knowledge that each gained while working in the trenches.
(h/t YDD at Illinoize, I couldn’t find that Brown column online at the Sun-Times site anymore)
Please consider adding your contribution to honor Pat. $5 to $50 to $250… or more, it all helps!
Earlier posts in this series…
Friends’ posts supporting this donor drive…
(c/p at Daily Kos)
Check out conservative strategist Dan “The Saddest Clown” Proft at about 2:50 into this Chicago Tonight interview with WTTW’s Carol Marin.
Ms. Marin had asked Mr. Proft and Chicago legal eagle and Daily Kos contributor Georgia Logothetis about the effect of the blogosphere in relation to traditional media. Ms. Logothetis stated that the left blogosphere had acted as a fact-checking foiling the traditional media’s meme that the Democratic presidential race was somehow close when, in fact, it was mathematically near impossible for Sen. Clinton to overtake Sen. Obama’s pledged delegate count.
Here’s Mr. Proft’s response to the notion that the blogosphere was playing the part of fact-checker to the traditional media’s meme that the Dem primary season was ‘a close race’:
I mean Barack Obama? Until last night, he hadn’t won a primary in about three months. Err, yeah. Since… since Super Tuesday.
He was trying to say that the media got it right because Clinton was indeed somehow “close”… But perhaps Mr. Proft needs his own fact checker.
Some facts…
Super Tuesday was February 5th, 2008.
This Chicago Tonight interview was May 7th, 2008.
Barack Obama won the delegate count in 13 primaries and caucuses in the three months since Super Tuesday.
What’s that? Thirteen wins?
“…Err, yeah. Since… since Super Tuesday.”
(You want to get uber-technical and point out that Mr. Proft said only that Obama hadn’t won a “primary”? Fine. It’s still a a fallacy since among those 13 states he won there were several primaries, including one right next door in Wisconsin a full two weeks after Super Tuesday.)
Either the man was lying or he’s a complete dunce.
Watch Mr. Proft for yourself:
Why did well-respected Chicago telejournalist Carol Marin not call him out?
Surely she knew about the primaries and caucuses in Louisiana, Nebraska, Washington state, the US Virgin Islands, Maine, Washington DC, Maryland, Virginia, Hawaii, Wisconsin, Vermont, Wyoming, and Mississippi…
And will Mr. Proft be asked back to Chicago Tonight … or any other self-respecting media outlet for that matter?
Only time will tell.
But one thing is for certain. No matter how poetic Mr. Proft’s spin and fibs, nobody’s “fearful” of such dim-wittedness.
PS Dan: the garden’s doing fine, thank you very much. How are your cats and sock puppets?
(h/t Illinois Review “Conservative vs Liberal on Chicago Tonight”)
In 10 days, the Wheeling and Palatine Township Democrats will be hosting a joint fundraiser (PDF) to help cover costs for keeping the only Democratic office in the northwest suburbs up and running.
The Wheeling Dems in particular will also be awarding the First Annual Pat Botterman Leadership Award to honor the legacy of the late, great Wheeling Township Committeman who died suddenly on March 10th.
Over the next 10 days, leading up to the brunch fundraiser, I’ll be asking folks to help out the Wheeling Dems with a wee bit of a virtual fundraiser. Keeping that Dem office open as an organizing base is important in the purpling, but still red, Chicago northwest suburbs … especially in this election year. It’s a true application of the DNC’s 50 state strategy to cover all the bases.
Please donate what you can now through the secure Wheeling Dems ActBlue page.
For those unfamiliar, Pat Botterman was a good friend to many, many people — Republican, Dem and apolitical alike. He was a pit bull on the campaign trail, burning the midnight oil and applying plenty of elbow grease for the candidates he worked for. He was also a mentor and networker par excellence, as his “alumni club” of former interns and volunteers, now campaign managers and field directors spread from coast to coast, will attest.
His most recent campaign was one with which the “netroots” are quite familiar — managing the Mark Pera for Congress primary campaign. Before that, he also helped elect Democratic State Senator Dan Kotowski to a northwest suburban seat that had been held by Republicans for nearly a century and a half. Pat knew both defeat and victory (more often defeat given his penchant for the underdog) and as one of his friends noted after his passing, he was even-keeled in both.
Above all, he was a patriot dedicated to improving his (and our) country, state and communities and he did it with more integrity in his pinky than some in politics have in their whole selves.
His funeral and wake featured a line out the door of literally hundreds of friends and family… pols, activists and volunteers… first responders, GIs and work-a-day union guys and gals… and was decorated with floral arrangements from the likes of “Obama for America” and more.
But now, two months on, the guy who more often than not paid the bills for the local party out of his own pocket is gone — looking on from above, probably embarrassed as all get out that people are making such a fuss.
Will you help out to keep the Wheeling Dems going in this important election year? Even contributions as little as $5, $10 or $25 will go far with group that picked up Pat’s penny-stretching habits long ago. Your contribution will be much appreciated.
Miss ya, buddy.
(c/p Daily Kos)
I’ve been meaning to put up some info local to the northwest suburbs but haven’t had the chance to do so til now. So, here are eight points about local goings-on over the past few weeks.
Newt Gingrich has some advice for worried, “shellshocked” Republican incumbents in Congress:
In a piece published in Human Events, the Republicans’ onetime captain, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, warned his old colleagues that they face “real disaster” on Election Day unless they move immediately to “chart a bold course of real reform” for the country.
Does he mean this “bold course of real reform“?
Because, in all honesty, just because he’s calling his ideas ’something brand new’, Sen. McCain’s only offering 4 more years of the same (or 100 years, depending on who you ask). …Except for the ribs. The bbq ribs are new.
The following is a press release from the Pete Gutzmer for State Senate campaign. Pete is a firefighter having a second go against Matt Murphy in Illinois 27th Senate district (northwest suburbs).
Pete goes after Matt’s support for rolling back the road- and infrastructure-funding gas tax.
(I know both Pete and Matt. I’m volunteering a bit for Pete. Good guys, both.)
Sun-Times News Group columnist Kristen McQueary, generally regarding as hard-nosed but fair-minded, dives into Martin Ozinga III’s “lucrative” contracts with the city of Chicago and other government agencies. She also takes a gander at his and his company’s big bucks donations to Democratic candidates and groups.
Given his donor history it is a bit surprising that Mr. Ozinga is the Republican candidate for Congress in the open Illinois 11th, not the Dem:
…Ozinga has given Gov. Rod Blagojevich at least $20,000, including a $10,000 donation in 2005 during a fundraising luncheon.
Ozinga has opened his checkbook for gubernatorial candidates, Chicago aldermen, Mayor Richard Daley, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District officials and city ward organizations.
His company, Ozinga Bros., holds a lucrative and powerful position as the sole provider of concrete for city of Chicago projects.
McQueary asks the question on many folks’ minds regarding this replacement candidate…
Can a person with those ties, landing those deals, floating in that stratosphere, stay clean?
And then offers us her take as someone reporting day in and day out on those insiders…
After 40 minutes, I wasn’t entirely convinced. For railing against the system, Ozinga is doing pretty well within it [...]
But I wasn’t unconvinced either. [...]
(emphasis added)
After being represented by Congressman Jerry “Most Corrupt” Weller and subsequently being abandoned by him as he retires to spend more time with his family (and perhaps his Central American land deals), Illinoisans in the 11th district are likely weary of anyone with a whiff of corruption near them. This is likely why Republicans are twisting themselves into pretzels trying to tie Sen. Debbie Halvorson (the actual Dem candidate) to Gov. Rod Blagojevich. In light of Mr. Ozinga’s past support for Blago, that spin doesn’t quite wash.
Ms. McQueary spent 40 minutes talking with Mr. Ozinga about his ties to the Machine. Voters now have 6 months…
(h/t Poodle Walker)
The Illinois Republican Party’s too-cute-by-half Bloggin on Blago Blog declares that “Voters won’t forget that Halvorson chose Blagojevich over them.”
Perhaps voters will also not forget that Sen. Halvorson’s hand-picked GOP opponent Martin Ozinga III has given nearly $25 grand to Blago, generous donations he now apparently regrets.
Will IRP also blog on Blago-backer Ozinga’s choice to support Blagojevich?
While they’re at it they can explain just how he may have gotten some of that money that he donated to Democrats.
…And maybe then they can also blog on Ozinga’s Obama-like logo.
Let’s hope this attempt to curtail pay-to-play politics makes it through the process now that there’s light at the end of the tunnel. And, let’s hope that Gov. Public Official A signs it. HB0824 is another great step in what should be a series (in a perfect world) of efforts to codify some common sense ethics.
All the House and Senate members who cooperated on this and all the other interested leaders — Dan Hynes and Cindi Canary get a shout-out from Rep. Fritchey — ought to hold their heads a bit higher today.
Get it passed. Get the guv to sign it. And then … accept our thanks.
The pioneering late Mayor Harold Washington is a political hero to ArchPundit and as such he has been respectfully recognizing the 25th anniversary of his swearing in as Chicago’s first black mayor.
His most recent post on the topic reveals his own personal experiences growing up in a variety of American locales — some with overt and systemic racism prevalent, some with it more subdued and hidden — and also plays off the famous Molly Ivins quote:
Once you figure out they are lying to you about race, you start to question everything.
True enough today as it was when first she wrote it.
Arch’s other posts on the topic include:
I’ll be “copying and pasting” more later on a related note…
As my poodle pal Archpundit and several others noted many moons ago, there are plenty of reasonable items on which the State House could move to impeach Gov. Rod Blagojevich — not the least of which were the guv’s direct circumventions of the Legislature to implement his programs, without Lege approval for the fund moves he made.
Fast forward to this month, and Prairie State denizens are being treated to new allegations of corruption regarding Public Official A, his campaign fund, and pay-to-play politics whereby large donors were rewarded with state jobs.
We’ve also been unwilling audience members for a legislative kabuki theater between the House and Senate over a recall amendment which would allow voters to “recall” a sitting statewide officer. The House passed such a bill but the Senate put a hostile sponsor on it and bottled it up.
I’ve said over and over that I’m no fan of recall. For one thing, the California example turned into a circus fueled by partisan funding (it doesn’t matter which partisan side of the aisle — it was still an expensive, distracting, debilitating circus). For another, our state has a more formal recall measure: It’s called impeachment. And some independent Dem House members are in fact moving toward that option.
Whatever the personality politics involved, the main intent of the House recall bill that is now tabled in the Senate is to allow citizens to have a say in removing a Constitutional officer. Fair enough.
But why not work on a bill that would allow regular citizens vote to force the House and Senate to hold
impeachment proceedings? Or put a matter of impeachment directly to the State Supreme Court?
That would give citizens the right to have a direct say in the process, but uses an already existing Constitutional measure to do so.
Want an additional filter on it? Make it dependent on receiving a majority or supermajority of lege districts instead of just a straight-up popular vote…
But enough of the reactionary “recall” stuff. That’s a Pandora’s Box that our state has lived without since 1818 and as bad as our current governor is he’s no reason to open it up now.
Want to give the people a say?
Let us vote to have the lege debate Articles of Impeachment.
Con partisans are positively giddy claiming that Sen. Obama is somehow “whining” about Wednesday night’s True Hollywood Story - “On Stage” … “debate”. (Methinks they need to get their mock-o-meters checked. Making fun of how odious that Reality TV programming was is not the same as “whining”.)
Would conservative complainers like Anne Leary, John Ruberry and Dan Curry be saying the “hard questions” needed to be answered had it been Sen. John McCain … and if he had been asked a litany of Heathers fodder such as:
- McCain’s role in Keating 5
- when the violence will end in Iraq in order for the proposed 100 (or million, take your pick) years of American deployment to begin
- “Bomb-bomb-bomb-Iran“
- the blonde lobbyist, Vicki Iseman, riding on McCain’s “straight talk” bus
- McCain’s divorce from his injured first wife (who remained true to him as he was held as a POW) and affair before his divorce
- why would John McCain’s Florida co-chair offer $20 to perform oral sex on another man
- Keating 5
- Pastors Parsley and Hagee and their anti-Catholic, pro-Armageddon preaching and why McCain would specifically seek out endorsements from such men
- why did he wear a bulletproof vest and require a large military escort (replete with gunship helos) while declaring a Baghdadi market that has seen many horrific bombings (including within days of his visit) was just jim dandy
- the blonde lobbyist riding on his bus
- Keating 5
- tax cuts for the wealthy while mainstream Americans (the other 90% of us) are struggling
- the blonde lobbyist riding on his bus
- why McCain caved on unAmerican torture
- is McCain Episcopalian or Baptist and why switch if switch he did
- the blonde lobbyist riding on his bus vis a vis McCain’s reputation as a skirt-chaser
- McCain’s record of coziness to lobbyists in contrast to his media persona as a straight talker
- McCain’s relationship with conservative pastors who blamed 9/11 and Katrina on Americans, thus making them anti-America conservatives
- the patriotism of conservative pastors who blamed 9/11 and Katrina on Americans
- is McCain an elitist because he married into a $100 million fortune
- his current wife’s past drug habit
- why Americans should vote for someone like McCain who admits he doesn’t know much about economics and, of all people to advise him, turned to the architect of much of the nation’s current credit woes, especially during a widespread downturn
- would John McCain consider Florida State Rep. Bob Allen for VP
- the blonde lobbyist riding on his bus
My hunch is conservative partisans would be hopping mad. In fact, we’d likely be hearing weeks’ worth of “Woe is me, the mean media is soooo snively and (gasp) lib’rul…”
Their concern would likely be especially acute if some of the questions were initially raised a day or two before in an interview the supposedly neutral moderator had with, say, Sam Seder or Rachel Maddow. Seeing as how former Clinton White House staffer George Stephanopolous apparently got some of his “debate” questions in his interviews with conservative pundits Sean Hannity and Steve Malzberg I’m sure Curry, Ruberry and Leary would be fine with a debate moderator using questions verbatim from Rachel Maddow.
Then again, as Mr. Ruberry’s excuse-making declares, those lines of questions also get to a more fundamental query, “Does he have good judgment?” … at least in a push-polling, rumor-mongering kind of way.
If the media is going to buy into these conservative partisans’ character-assassination-as-legit-campaign-tool efforts (and, indeed, further that cause by chewing up and regurgitating opponents’ tired and old attacks for half of a debate) then Sen. McCain ought to answer “tough questions” that have little or nothing to do with what the American people actually care about.
–
As an aside… I wonder how long it’ll be before we’re back to being told by these same con partisans that the media is too soft on Sen. Obama.
–
(adapted from a shorter DKos comment; h/t to smintheus and georgia10 for their ABC sideshow “debate” synopsis as reference)
First this week we had McLean County Recorder and myopic hyperpartisan Lee Newcom ranting and wailing over at the increasingly shrill (if that’s possible) Illinois Review about terrorism related to Republican County Chairs in the 11th district who have yet to slate an opponent for the open seat against Dem State Senator Debbie Halvorson. Mr. Newcom’s worry was that if Sen. Halvorson gets a free pass to the seat then there will be one less vote in favor of shredding the Constitution (Mr. Newcom is apparently appalled by our Constitution’s 4th Amendment).
His screed was literally oozing with outright lies about Sen. Halvorson and excuse-making for actions our conservative President took to compel telephone companies to break the law. Of Mr. Newcom I wrote, “Whereas Mr. Newcom odiously and otiosely yelps that candidate Halvorson ‘aids the terrorists’ with absolutely no evidence that this person who isn’t even in Congress yet actually is somehow helping terrorists, it’s telling that his rant (and the rants of those like him) actually does in fact help our conservative president trample our own Constitution just that much more.”
Today, we have another screeching rant from a different conservative partisan. This time it’s Warner Todd Huston writing at ilgopnet.com that Congresswoman Melissa Bean is somehow “against free speech” because she is advocating for regulation of those contemptible and annoying political robocalls. Rep. Bean’s legislation is likely in response to the allegedly illegal massive robocalling operation that the failed Republican National Congressional Campaign put into practice in 2006 in an effort to bamboozle millions of voters across the country.
All Rep. Bean wants to do is regulate the hours those calls can be made, limit how many times in a row the automated calls can be made to the same phone number and try to ensure veracity and honesty in what is said in those calls by having the callers be clearly identitified on both caller id and also at the start of the message. Hers is simply an effort at instilling some modicum of decency to political robocalling discourse.
This is what irks an uber-partisan like Mr. Huston?
Why would Mr. Huston be against common courtesy, truth and openness? What is he afraid of?
But, like Mr. Newcom’s non sequitor filled waterworks about terrorists, Mr. Huston’s vacuous claptrap compares Rep. Bean’s efforts to — get this — brutal Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe.
And he’s proud of his idiocy: “Yes, you heard me right. I just said that US Congressman Melissa Bean is beginning to act like the murdering tyrant, Robert Mugabe.”
Whether or not her legislation will be effective (if it’s even passed and signed) remains to be seen — but there’s hardly anything sinister about wanting to raise the bar of political debate in this country. And, if anything, Mr. Huston’s nonsensical BS provides spot-on evidence of the need to take a national chill pill, robocalls and unhinged comparisons to dictators included.
Review this front-page, top-of-the-fold headline in today’s Tribu carefully:
Democrat
debate is
a slugfest
Now, I could see “Democrats’ debate…” or “Democratic debate” but unless the Dai Tribu is going to start dropping all its derivational suffixes as some sort of funky new standard, there’s a headline writer that needs to retake 3rd grade English. I understand their editorial page is staunchly and historically conservative (even endorsing George W. Bush not once, but twice), but there’s no need to start taking writing style tips from the RNC.
For that matter, I’m not sure which debate Tribu reporters Mike Dorning and Christi Parsons watched but most of the rest of America — including a healthy sampling of their fellow journalists (Washington Post, Phila. Daily News, Editor & Publisher, and more) — were rather disgusted when they tuned in thinking they would see a debate but instead were treated to a weak display of Reality TV meets All My Children, with a dash of True Hollywood Story for good measure.
Lee Newcom wails that Republican County Chairs in the 11th District are complicit in aiding and abetting terrorists because they’ve neglected to replace dropout Tim Balderman for the seat Rep. “Most Corrupt Politicians” Weller is vacating.
Apparently in Mr. Newcom’s bizarro mind, giving 11th District Democratic candidate and current State Senator Debbie Halvorson a free pass is akin to funding al Quaida (something Ronald Reagan did all through the 80s as it was, so perhaps aiding and abetting terrorists really is par for the GOP course).
But what on earth does the lack of candidate slating from Republican County Chairs in north-central Illinois have to do with … terrorists?!
According to Mr. Newcom, if State Sen. Halvorson is elected to Congress, she may be one more vote for Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s progressive agenda.
That agenda currently includes not giving the likes of AT&T and other big telcos a free pass since we now know they broke the law and allowed Pres. George “Peeping Tom” to illegally wiretap domestic phones without warrants and without so much as even probable cause. They literally scooped up every single phone call they could without regard to your privacy or mine (or Mr. Newcom’s, for that matter).
This is what’s become known as the FISA Fight in Washington. FISA stands for Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the key word being “foreign”. FISA has many parts, but in the main it (1) allows US spy agencies to tap into foreign phones, data, etc. but (2) forbids US spy agencies from tapping into domestic phones, data, etc. unless they obtain specific warrants based on probable cause (remember that underlined phrase, it’s an oldy but a goody from the year 1791).
You may have heard of a panel of judges in DC called the FISA Court. This is the court that decides whether or not there is probable cause to wiretap domestic calls for suspected terrorist activity, etc. Over the 30 or so years this court has been in existence, it had been approving warrants at an incredibly high rate (99%) and spies even had the opportunity to retroactively seek a warrant within a few days if the need was urgent (libertarians can’t stand the FISA Court).
Why the Bush Administration felt a need to ignore this Constitutionally-based court, which clearly bends over backwards to give great latitude to our spies, is unclear. And why Mr. Newcom and other Republican partisans are churning out so many excuses, apologies, and distractions in this fight for the very integrity of our Constitution is really unclear.
The Republican partisans, instead of actually being worried about our country and her citizens, are up in arms because they want to give AT&T and the like retroactive immunity because they broke the law (because Pres. Bush told them to). Republicans are throwing the kitchen sink into this fight squealing that Dems are in league with terrorists, trial lawyers, etc. It’s really quite bizarre to see them flail around so. (I previously wrote on FISA a few weeks ago, so consider that post a bit of a primer if you are unfamiliar.)
Now, Mr. Newcom is the elected Recorder in McLean County, Illinois. I’d venture to guess that when he was sworn into office he raised his right hand and swore (or affirmed) to uphold, among other things, the Constitution of the United States of America.
One of the parts of that Constitution is the 4th Amendment. It’s a short amendment, written over 200 years ago as part of the Bill of Rights, so maybe — just maybe — Mr. Newcom overlooked it.
Let me repeat it for him:
Amendment IV (1791)
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
(emphasis added)
It’s not too difficult to understand, but apparently those partisan blinders Mr. Newcom is wearing have kept him from actually reading that sentence in our Constitution.
If he had, he’d know what an ass he’s making of himself by complaining that Republicans are giving comfort to terrorists because they’re possibly giving a Dem candidate a free pass which might give the Congressional Democratic majority one more vote toward … upholding our Constitution (gasp!).
Upholding our Constitution? Yes, by not allowing this current conservative administration or any future administration to continue to violate the 4th Amendment’s demand for probable cause and warrants based on such.
I will say that if Mr. Newcom is truly concerned about terrorists, the US Government can still tap terrorists that are overseas. That never changed.
I wonder if Mr. Newcom knows how to tie his shoes… or if instead he blames velcro on, say, Pinochet perhaps. Makes as much sense as his latest spin-cycle rant against … well, against, something.
Get a grip, Mr. Newcom.
PS: Whereas Mr. Newcom odiously and otiosely yelps that candidate Halvorson “aids the terrorists” with absolutely no evidence that this person who isn’t even in Congress yet actually is somehow helping terrorists, it’s telling that his rant (and the rants of those like him) actually does in fact help our conservative president trample our own Constitution just that much more.
It has famously been said that liberty in exchange for security offers neither…. Placing partisan fealty ahead of citizenship to nation and loyalty to our Constitution, as Mr. Newcom does, is even worse.
Shame on you, Lee “Constitution Shredder” Newcom. Try pledging allegiance to our flag instead of a herd of elephants.
They apparently enjoy playing Rhetorical Twister™ by Milton Bradley.
By now most folks have heard what Sen. Obama said about folks being bitter because they are frustrated by the lack of progress in this country as more and more jobs get shipped overseas and the jobs that remain cover relatively less and less (all while the true elitists, fat cat CEOs, engorge themselves on ever larger “compensation packages”).
Now, that would leave most people “bitter”, especially after so many years (and presidencies) with it continuously happening.
But apparently, for both conservative Marathon Pundit and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, calling a spade a spade somehow means you’re “elitist.”
What don’t they get? Obama is clearly saying that people are ticked off at not being listened to by Washington … and so instead folks give up on economic issues (because they’re being overlooked and ignored) and turn to other issues where they think they may be heard.
Of course, far be it from a conservative partisan like Marathon Pundit to actually even try to understand that — not when his guy in the Oval Office runs around telling moms who work three jobs just to make ends meet for their kids that that situation is “fantastic.”
By the way, this whole Sideshow Bob act by all the reactionaries from Marathon Pundit to Senators ‘Four More Years’ McCain and Clinton is exactly why the economic plight of middle America gets overlooked. These partisans would rather make up some BS about elitism to try and score cheap political points instead of actually talking about strategies to alleviate the burden on parents who are forced to work three jobs just to take care of the kids they hardly ever see because they’re constantly working….
In order to rust over the Democrats’ image as the party of the working guys and gals, conservative partisans take to calling them names like “effete elitists” and “latte liberals” or whatever silly alliteration they can come up with to pull the wool over folks’ eyes. By the way, those “conservative partisans”? They’d be the gated community fat cats earning those $60 million compensation packages and their sweep-under-rug artists like Marathon Pundit, in other words, the actual “elitists” in this scenario.
When did stating the obvious become “elitist” and ignoring suffering become “fantastic”?
Must be something in the coffee, because apparently it’s not in the orange juice.
UPDATE: Hugo notes in comments I’ve neglected to post or link Sen. Obama’s original remarks from the April 6th funder. Here they are via Huffington Post (audio is available at that HuffPo link):
OBAMA: So, it depends on where you are, but I think it’s fair to say that the places where we are going to have to do the most work are the places where people feel most cynical about government. The people are mis-appre…I think they’re misunderstanding why the demographics in our, in this contest have broken out as they are. Because everybody just ascribes it to ‘white working-class don’t wanna work — don’t wanna vote for the black guy.’ That’s…there were intimations of that in an article in the Sunday New York Times today - kind of implies that it’s sort of a race thing.
Here’s how it is: in a lot of these communities in big industrial states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, people have been beaten down so long, and they feel so betrayed by government, and when they hear a pitch that is premised on not being cynical about government, then a part of them just doesn’t buy it. And when it’s delivered by — it’s true that when it’s delivered by a 46-year-old black man named Barack Obama (laugher), then that adds another layer of skepticism (laughter).But — so the questions you’re most likely to get about me, ‘Well, what is this guy going to do for me? What’s the concrete thing?’ What they wanna hear is — so, we’ll give you talking points about what we’re proposing — close tax loopholes, roll back, you know, the tax cuts for the top 1 percent. Obama’s gonna give tax breaks to middle-class folks and we’re gonna provide health care for every American. So we’ll go down a series of talking points.
But the truth is, is that, our challenge is to get people persuaded that we can make progress when there’s not evidence of that in their daily lives. You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. So it’s not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.
Um, now these are in some communities, you know. I think what you’ll find is, is that people of every background — there are gonna be a mix of people, you can go in the toughest neighborhoods, you know working-class lunch-pail folks, you’ll find Obama enthusiasts. And you can go into places where you think I’d be very strong and people will just be skeptical. The important thing is that you show up and you’re doing what you’re doing.
I’ve emphasized the portions that get clipped for the soundbites. The bold portion is the full paragraph from which the most oft used quote is taken. The underline is the small portion that gets replayed over and over.
Perhaps someone who thinks these comments reflect an “elitist” attitude could explain the “elitism” in these words. Perhaps they could also explain why they don’t understand that Sen. Obama was talking about the pain many folks in middle America are going through in this latest economic downturn…
UPDATE 2: Former Secretary of Labor (under Pres. Bill Clinton no less) Robert Reich crystallizes what Obama (and I) are trying to say. So why is the media more focused on the hackneyed he-said-she-said instead of the root causes of the problem?
Must be nice to be born with a silver hockey stick in your mouth…
Rich Miller noted over at CapFax this morning that Steve ‘the Toadstool‘ Greenberg toes the ever-shrinking-minority Republican line on Iraq:
“The Islamic people, the Iraqi people, are just like us,” Greenberg said. “And it’s our job to lift them up.”
Well, actually, we don’t generally have Catholics and Lutherans and Baptists setting up roadside bombs and shooting at each other unlike, say, Sunnis and Shia in Iraq.
And whatever happened to Republicans being against welfare? Why is it ok to “lift up” Iraqis (to the tune of $340+ million a day) but looking out for actual Americans isn’t?
What’s that you say? College-dropout Steve Greenberg didn’t mention “lifting up Americans”?
Actually, he did as commenters at CapFax pointed out:
One [student] asked whether the government should help small businesses compete against super-sized retail chains such as Wal-Mart. Small business owners need to “suck it up,” Greenberg said, and create niches for themselves …
Iraqis? We have to lift them up instead of taking off those million-dollar training wheels.
Ma and Pa down the street, who have to shutter their shop and lay off a handful of local neighbors? They can suck it… (up).
First, he couldn’t decide if he wanted to waste his millions trying to buy a seat for Senate or Congress.
Then, Mr. Greenberg couldn’t stop worrying about Kosovo and Serbia instead of Johnsburg and Roselle.
Later, he rails against a fundraiser hosted by an American woman and her foreign-born husband (an ambassador, no less) with an anti-immigrant screed beyond the pale of even modern raucous campaigning.
Now, he’s telling us we have to take care of Iraqis (already a heckuva mess thanks to failed conservative policy) rather than looking out for our own neighbors who have to close their stores as a result of other failed conservative policies protecting Big Biz on the backs of the largest employer in America — small businesses.
Good luck with that.
… Say, how did honest conservatives allow their values and philosophy to become so twisted and contorted by these partisan parrots?
I was born (literally) and raised in DuPage County. I saw the county turn from a few suburbs with a lot of farmfields to a few farms engulfed by suburban cookie-cutter homes. My high school even had a working farm right behind it when I started. By the time I graduated those fields were sprouting houses.
This press release from the Lisle Township Democrats in DuPage is a good sign:
Democratic Committeemen Wanted in Lisle Township
Help elect Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton as the next President of the United States! The Lisle Township Regular Democratic organization is actively working to build the grassroots of the Democratic Party by recruiting precinct committeemen. “We cannot elect candidates, whether they are running for President, Congress, or the County Board, without committeemen in our precincts,” commented Doug Higgins, Chair of the Lisle Township Regular Democratic Organization. “They talk to their neighbors about the important issues impacting all of us. They are the eyes and ears of democracy.”
The Lisle Township Democrats have tripled in numbers over the last two years. Residents of Lisle, Woodridge, Naperville,and Downers Grove, who live in the township, are invited to join in the growing movement by representing their neighborhood. Change doesn’t start in Washington, DC. It starts in your own backyard. The precinct committeemen:
- attends township meetings to share ideas and communicate about issues facing his or her precinct
- informs neighbors of upcoming elections
- participates in the party organization at the county level
- communicates local issues back to the county party
- helps to recruit candidates to run for office
- works with the township to recruit election judges
- makes a difference in our county!
The DuPage Democratic Party is working to end the one party rule that has neglected a range of issues. They are stepping forward to hold elected officials accountable. Lisle Township was one of the leading Democratic Townships in the February 5th primary, where a majority of voters voted Democratic. After this record-breaking election, the Democratic Party is reaching out to residents to build the grassroots of the party.
If you are interested in representing your precinct within the township contact Troy Swanson at lisle71dem@gmail.com
Now if only they can get some donkeys for the Wheaton July 4th Parade and recruit a blue version of David John “Pooper Scooper” Diersen….
Say, while we’re on the topic, the DuPage Democrats also have a brand spankin’ new website that’ll knock your socks off. Check it out.
A month ago my good friend Pat Botterman passed away, sending his many family and friends into a state of shock. The pain of our loss will never completely disappear but as it slowly fades life does go on in all its myriad ways.
Among his many other roles, Pat was our local Wheeling Township Democratic Committeeman — one of the most unthankful yet demanding voluntary positions in any political organization.
While there was some lack of clarity as to just how to proceed, the Cook County Democratic Party does have a set of bylaws by which it runs itself. The local Dem executive committee followed those bylaws and named Pat’s “sidekick” and friend Kathleen Sances to the position. In addition to helping Pat on various campaigns in the area, Kathleen had also been helping him run the local office and led the township party’s canvassing and GOTV efforts.
Even Rep. Dan Lipinski voted to uphold the 4th Amendment today. Thank you to all 213 patriotic Congressmen who believe our 4th Amendment is working just fine.
For those of you not aware of the FISA issue, please be aware that essentially the Republicans seem to think our nation will be crushed by a flood of terrorists and lawyers (can’t forget the lawyers) unless Congress allows the White House to evade the 4th Amendment by wantonly tapping into your steamy phone calls about groceries and hair appointments through AT&T and other Big Telcos…
Oh, and since those Big Telcos (except Qwest, which then magically ran into all sorts of business problems as Administration Departments started to turn screws) already did this illegal activity before the Congress found out about it, the Republicans want to give them retroactive immunity for breaking the law.
As for those 197 Congressmen who voted the wrong way (including, unfortunately, my own Rep. Kirk), please go back and re-read the Fourth Amendment of our United States Constitution. It’s been around since 1791, so it should be rather familiar.
Should be.
If you also believe in our 4th Amendment, please express your gratitude with a phone call to a few of those 213 patriots, esp. those from Illinois…
House switchboard (202) 224-312
You can also donate to help them stave off the spinmeisters who think shredding our Constitution and tossing out red herrings about lawyers is somehow related to national security.
Illinois delegation voting for the Constitution (notice they’re all patriotic Dems):
- Bean, Melissa L., Illinois, 8th
- Costello, Jerry, Illinois, 12th
- Davis, Danny K., Illinois, 7th
- Emanuel, Rahm, Illinois, 5th
- Gutierrez, Luis, Illinois, 4th
- Foster, Bill, Illinois, 14th
- Hare, Phil, Illinois, 17th
- Jackson Jr., Jesse L., Illinois, 2nd
- Lipinski, Daniel, Illinois, 3rd
- Schakowsky, Jan, Illinois, 9th
And go ahead and spank those that voted to trample our Constitution (notice they’re all members of the Grand Old Party, which has clearly lost its way):
- Biggert, Judy, Illinois, 13th
- Johnson, Timothy V., Illinois, 15th
- Kirk, Mark, Illinois, 10th
- Manzullo, Donald, Illinois, 16th
- Roskam, Peter J., Illinois, 6th
- Shimkus, John, Illinois, 19th
(Ray LaHood, Bobby Rush and Jerry Weller did not vote.)
I’m in shock. From the Herald:
Harper College trustee and Wheeling Township Democrat Committeeman Patrick Botterman died of a massive heart attack Monday.
Pat had literally just emailed me yesterday morning about helping him out on a project.
While he could be a bulldog he was a good man; and worked his tail off for the underdogs and the little guys. I’m speechless.
He will be missed, even by those who didn’t know him but were impacted by his hard work, his dedication and above all, his integrity. Whether you agreed with him or not, you always knew he’d be straight as an arrow with you.
God Bless the Botterman family and all of Pat’s many, many friends as we grieve. We lost a true patriot yesterday.
Update: Rich Miller has some info and Rep. John Fritchey offers us this eloquent eulogy.
Update 2: E Man and Yoda recall their colorful experiences with Botter Boy. Both their stories are like so many others’ — there is quite the Botterman Alumni Club out there.
Update 3: I’ve changed the site header for the next few days. Yes, Botterman was that special.
Update 4: The Arlington Heights Post reports:
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be given to the Harper College Educational Foundation (note Patrick Botterman Scholarship Fund), 1200 W. Algonquin Road, Palatine.
You may also donate directly online at the Harper College Educational Foundation Botterman Scholarship Fund.