Antonin Scalia: "There is no right to secede"

By GottaLaff

Thank you, Markos, thank you... for linking to this:

(click on image to enlarge)

The Tea Tantrumers and Ricky the Seceder will be so disappointed

Joe Lieberman's 2006 Campaign To Pay $50,000 Fine

I remember reading about this when it was going on, and it was obviously paying for votes. I'm sorry he didn't get fined more.

U.S. Sen. Joseph Lieberman's campaign will pay a $50,000 penalty to settle allegations of improper petty cash payments made to workers during a hard-fought race in 2006 for the U.S. Senate.

The agreement between the Federal Election Commission and the Lieberman camp stems from a complaint filed by the campaign of Ned Lamont, Lieberman's opponent. Lamont beat Lieberman in the Democratic primary, but Lieberman won the general election after running as an independent.

"It is a pretty significant penalty," Lamont's campaign manager, Tom Swan, said Monday.

Swan had asked the Federal Election Commission to review about $350,0000 in cash expenditures Lieberman reported as stipends paid to workers in the two weeks before the Democratic primary. The money was used for about 1,000 canvassers in the campaign's get-out-the-vote efforts, documents show.

McCain 510 Electoral Votes, Obama 28

By GottaLaff

Don't panic. That title refers to a SurveyUSA map of two years ago:

Exactly two years ago, SurveyUSA completed interviews with 600 voters in every state (30,000 total interviews), asking them how they would vote in a 2008 Presidential Election between John McCain and Barack Obama. Based on those interviews, SurveyUSA was able to report that:

In November 2006, Obama carried …

1. His home state of Illinois.
2. His birth state of Hawaii.
3. The District of Columbia.

In November 2006, Obama got 28 total electoral votes.

In November 2006, John McCain carried 48 states, and rolled up 510 electoral votes.

That was then. This is now. Yes we will.

H/t: Ashen Shard

2006 back story: Revelations on Gramm-pa McCain v. Barack Obama

By GottaLaff

I hate to simply link without much explanation, but this really deserves more than I can fit here. Essentially, the "rivalry" between Grammps and Obama goes back to when the former was setting himself up for a presidential run, making sure the latter was firmly and pre-emptively put in his place.

At the time Obama's star was definitely rising and I remember thinking this old guy is mad as hell that he is being shown-up by this "young upstart". Perhaps it was even more calculated than that. Certainly in 2006 McCain already had this election in mind and the word presidential was being applied to Senator Obama. I felt at the time it was a preemptive smear, trying to knock Obama down a few pegs before he became too much of a threat. [...]

I didn't remember Obama's reply but upon reading it all I could think was how consistent it was with the sort of campaign he has run. Unfortunately it would seem McCain has been consistent as well.

Check out the link and relive the early days, when the bile was just beginning to rise.

And Josh Marshall responds to the above e-mail from one of his readers:

You can really see the kernel of this campaign's psychodrama (in more than one sense of the word) in this first exchange.

In order: Obama's February 2006 letter: Link. Grammps' response: Link. Josh Marshall's 2006 analysis: Link.

2006 Democratic research document on Sarah Palin

By GottaLaff

Some of the details as stated in the 2006 Democratic research document:

* Palin Is Too Socially Conservative for Libertarian Alaska. Palin is a strong conservative — something she repeated throughout her primary campaign but now seems to try to back off from. She is not only pro-life but is involved with — and even steered tax money toward — organizations that give misleading information on abortion. [...] Palin also supported a flat tax, an idea even Bob Dole thought was absurd.

* Palin’s Management Style is to Bully and Demand Political Loyalty. [Sound familiar?] Palin’s tenure as mayor of Wasilla was marred by tremendous staff turnover, first when she fired most of the top staff — including the city’s librarian — because she questioned their loyalty, and then later when staff quit because of her micromanaging style. Wasilla even lost the opportunity to hire a police chief because he said the job seemed too political.

* Palin’s Not Ready for Primetime. Palin argues that she was the mayor of the fastest growing city in Alaska. While that may be true, Wasilla’s population is still 1 percent of the rest of the state of Alaska.

* Palin Signed Ordinance to Issue $15 Million in General Obligation Bonds and Increase the Sales Tax From 2 to 2.5 percent. [...] In 2002, Palin signed an ordinance putting the higher sales tax into effect. [Ordinance 01-55 (am),12/10/2001; Ordinance 02-14 (sub), 4/8/2002; Ordinance 02-49, 8/12/02]

* Palin Called Herself “Such a Weasel” for Not Having a Firm Stand on the Property Tax Cap. [...] Palin acknowledged that she was sounding quite the politician. ‘I am so sorry I’m such a weasel,’ she said.” [Anchorage Daily News, 10/8/00]

* Palin Asked City Librarian About Censoring Books, Insisted It Was ‘Rhetorical.’ In 1996, according to the Frontiersman, Wasilla’s library director Mary Ellen Emmons said Palin asked her outright if she could live with censorship of library books. Emmons said, “This is different than a normal book-selection procedure or a book-challenge policy. … She was asking me how I would deal with her saying a book can’t be in the library.” Palin said in response, “Many issues were discussed, both rhetorical and realistic in nature.” [Frontiersman, 12/18/96]

* Wasilla’s Pension Was Only Funded at 73 Percent When Palin Left, as Opposed to Almost Completely When She Became Mayor. [Wasilla Comprehensive Annual Financial Report 2003, page 29; Wasilla Comprehensive Annual Financial Report 1996, page 45]

* Palin Supported Penalties for Using Skateboards on Public or Private Property in Wasilla. “Beginning Oct. 15 — after the expected opening of the $233,000 Wasilla Skate Park — skaters will be breaking the law if they use their skateboards, in-line skates, bicycles, scooters (or any other recreational, non-motorized wheeled device) on public or private property where signs are posted forbidding their use.” [Frontiersman, 9/18/98]

* Palin Went to See Ivana Trump at Costco, Saying Alaska was So Desperate for “Any Semblance of Glamour and Culture.” “Sarah Palin, a commercial fisherman from Wasilla, told her husband on Tuesday she was driving to Anchorage to shop at Costco. Instead, she headed straight for Ivana. [Anchorage Daily News, 4/3/96]

* Documents Show While Mayor Palin Had Thank You Notes to Campaign Donors Printed by Her Assistant on City Time and Arranged Campaign Travel from Her Office. “The Voice of the Times, a separate editorial section within the opinion pages of the Daily News, made the original public records request that produced many of the documents that Murkowski’s campaign handed out Thursday, including a stack of telephone records, e-mails — such as a campaign note from her mayor e-mail address to Ruedrich — and invoices from Wasilla City Hall. The documents appear to show, for example, that on one occasion Palin arranged campaign travel from the mayor’s office. On another, her city administrative assistant printed thank-you notes to campaign donors. The administrative assistant, Mary Bixby, said in brief interview with the Daily News in late July that she was directed to perform those tasks while on the clock for the city.” For any mistakes she did make, Palin said, “I apologize.” [Anchorage Daily News, 8/18/06]

* Palin Made a Bet With Her Husband About Whether Murkowski Would Get Into the Race — the Loser Had to Get a Tattoo. [Anchorage Daily News, 5/26/06]

* Palin Obtained a Business License for Marketing and Consulting, Saying that She Wanted To Line Up Her Ducks if She Chose to Pursue It. “Asked about the business registered under her name, Palin said, ‘Rouge Cou, it’s a classy way of saying redneck. ...” [Anchorage Daily News, 6/8/05]