By GottaLaff
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley (D) and state Sen. Scott Brown (R) won U.S. Senate primary elections in the Bay State, the Associated Press projected Tuesday night. They will face off Jan. 19 in a general election to become the permanent replacement for the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.Nobody can replace Uncle Teddy.
Go read the whole story here (the background is fascinating). Every once in a while a story like this comes along to prove that it ain't all bad out there.
YORK, Pa.—A little girl who trembled in her house as a National Guard tank rumbled past during York's chaotic 1969 race riots has grown up to become the first black mayor of the central Pennsylvania city.
Kim Bracey, 45, an energetic veteran of the struggling manufacturing city's improvement efforts will take office in January, to the delight of many African-Americans who thought they would never see a black mayor.
(snip)
Rather, Bracey will inherit a city of 40,000 that is barely able to pay its bills as it loses the manufacturing jobs that helped build it up. Poverty is becoming as entrenched as the racial animosity that led to York's deadly riots 40 years ago.
U.S. census statistics show a city in which average family income is half of Pennsylvania's, while the poverty rate for children is three times as high, at 48 percent.
One unemployed city resident, Butch Maxfield, said race is less important to Yorkers than poverty, crime and how to help the city's aimless young people.
"Everybody's poor. There's no jobs," said the 58-year-old Maxfield, who is black. "Now it's about 'what can you do for me?'"
Still, Maxfield and many others view Bracey's election as an achievement in a city that has a legacy of racial strife.
The 1960s saw a buildup of black resentment against a city administration that they said systematically ignored their community's needs and a police force that used dogs and other tough tactics to antagonize blacks.
By GottaLaff
Doug Hoffman, Conservative candidate who almost made it all the way into Congress from New York's 23rd district, has now officiailly re-conceded the race to now-Rep. Bill Owens (D-NY).I guess ACORN and the Democratic party didn't destroy America by stealing the election after all.
By GottaLaff
If you missed it, I was on the Radio Machine with the absolutely wonderful Angie Coiro (on San Francisco's progressive station Green 960) Friday night, discussing all kinds of topically topical topics.
I now have a regular radio spot with her every Friday night at 6:45 Pacific!
As Angie's special correspondent and demented sidekick Buttercup, I bring her silly stories along with serious ones every week, and whatever else happens to pop up in the week's news.
By GottaLaff
With his prospect of winning the NY-23 special election "now almost zero," Doug Hoffman (C) suggested in a letter that "ACORN, the unions and the Democratic Party" had "tampered" with results to deny him victory, the Watertown Daily Times reports.So he conceded that he un-conceded his original concession and wants to re-concede the un-concession of his concession.
Hoffman also claims he was "forced to concede" on election night.
With 42.6% of the absentee ballots counted, Hoffman still trails Rep. Bill Owens (D) by 2,832 votes.
By GottaLaff
Glenn Blech urged him to un-concede so-o-o hard. But alas, Dougie Hoffman didn't take the bait. I guess Blech is now only his quasi-mentor:
But a spokesman for Hoffman downplayed the conservative's "un-concession" Tuesday. "All that really matters is the actual count which is ongoing," said
In the interview with Beck, Hoffman acknowledged he would have to win more than 65 percent of the uncounted absentees to make up the difference - a hurdle that is unlikely to be cleared given most of those ballots were cast before the Republican in the race, Dede Scozzafava, withdrew.
So this is his concession that he's un-conceding his concession. That was so just my Moment of Zen.
By GottaLaff
I wonder how Dede Scozzafava's parents felt when they were watching the Tee Vee Machine, and a punditiot asked whether their daughter was in danger of getting "Scozzafaved."
Let's compare and contrast how she has been treated by the Dems v. the conservatives:
The conservative movement's third-party candidate, Doug Hoffman, expected her support but, she said, the newcomer accountant "had no integrity." Plus, the Democrats were so nice! They called. They sympathized. They made her feel good about tossing her support to Bill Owens, who -- with her help -- became the area's first Democratic representative in more than a century.[...]
And she warns that what happened to her will happen to candidates like her.
Flies, honey and vinegar come to mind.
Now, together, let's recall what kind of people Sarah Palin and her pals are:
She heard through friends that Palin insinuated she had been "anointed" by a "political machine" because county chairs handpicked her as the nominee. Beck denounced her as "ACORN-supported" and an "Obama-Lite Republican." Former House majority leader Dick Armey's group FreedomWorks mobilized against her. She said she heard conservative robo-calls in the district describing her as a "child killer," a "lesbian lover" and a "homo."
"It was organized," she said.
It always is.
So she dropped out. Let's tune in and see what happened next. I bet Palin called her to make sure she was okay, because she's maternal that way.
Or the conservapet, Hoffman, who was most likely very gracious:
Soon after, triumphant releases rolled out of conservative press offices. Michael Steele, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, immediately transferred the party's financial support over to Hoffman, who placed no condolence call.
"One man who did call me was Bill Owens," she said. "He didn't ask for an endorsement, he just said, 'I hope you're doing okay.' "
Oh.
So much for compassionate conservatives.
Speaking of turning names into verbs, Dede could have easily Palined, but she's hanging in there:
She sees herself as a champion of local expertise over ideological purity.
"How can Sarah Palin come out and endorse someone who can't answer some basic questions," Scozzafava asked. "Do these people even know who they are endorsing?" [...]
"There is a lot of us who consider ourselves Republicans, of the Party of Lincoln," she said, her face now flush. "If they don't want us with them, we're going to work against them."
By GottaLaff
If you missed it:
I was on the Radio Machine with the absolutely wonderful Angie Coiro (on San Francisco's progressive station Green 960) Friday night, discussing these posts:
Three Percenters: "Attempt to further oppress us at your peril"...
Twitter post: "I think Nidal Hasan is an absolute hero"...
Definition of stupid: Brag about election-related vandalism on Twitter, plus these appalling photos.
If you missed the Big News, I now have a regular radio spot with her every Friday night at 6:45 Pacific!
As Angie's special correspondent and demented sidekick Buttercup, I bring her one silly story and one serious one every week, or whatever else happens to pop up in the week's news.
By GottaLaff
Shep's partisan attitude didn't strike me as all that Sheppy, but hey... fun stuff anyway:
(via)
By GottaLaff
In early summer, pollster David Petts showed Virginia gubernatorial candidate Creigh Deeds (D) how he could the win the general election.Great advice! Wow! Who could ever imagine that Deeds would lose by moving to the right and disassociating himself from a popular president?
The advice in the memo obtained by Politico: "Go negative on the Republican nominee, capitalize on his natural advantage with independents, and be wary of two fellow Democrats -- incumbent Gov. Tim Kaine and President Barack Obama."
By GottaLaff
Politico notes that "lost amid the Republican euphoria surrounding Tuesday's elections is this inconvenient fact: The GOP just got its clock cleaned, again, in another high-stakes House special election."
"It shouldn't have come as a surprise, since Republicans have lost 20 of the past 29 House special elections, dating back to January 2003. And in perhaps the most worrisome aspect of the trend, the GOP lost its fifth consecutive competitive special election in Republican-friendly territory."
By GottaLaff
Yes, they actually labeled it a "News Alert!!!!"
How moronic do you have to be to falsely quote Robert Gibbs, whose every word is transcribed, video'd, recorded, and memorized?
Gibbs never said the president watched the documentary last night. He was asked that question but replied that he didn’t know.
He was asked if the president watched the returns. To that, Gibbs replied that the president was not sitting in front of the TV watching them.
On the topic of the documentary, Gibbs was asked if the president liked it. He replied that Obama had seen it before and did enjoy it.
Of course, that's all it took for the minions to dutifully follow ClusterFox's lead. The lie made its way to right wing sites and it's out there now. Retractions and corrections are meaningless once the cycle begins, and Fox and friends know it.
H/t: Ellen
Especially true when you consider how Creigh Deeds kept Obama at bay for the longest time.
"I think as the Blue Dogs welcome their new colleague Congressman Owens and remind themselves that he's the first Democrat to hold that seat in 140 years, since Ulysses S. Grant, and that he campaigned on the Obama program, they'll have to say, 'You know what, we're onto something here if we stick with the program...'"
-- White House political advisor David Axelrod, in an interview on MSNBC.
By GottaLaff
It gets even better, so please go read the rest here.In a disappointing defeat for advocates of freedom, choice and limited government everywhere, voters in Maine overturned a state law allowing Mainers to choose who they marry. Who's to blame for the failure of civil rights advocates to curb the state's intrusion into Maine's homes and bedrooms? The short answer is the group Stand for Marriage Maine. The long answer is that proponents of same-sex marriage failed to garner the support of their fellow freedom-loving, limited-government cohorts in the National Rifle Association (NRA) and 912 Project.
If we allow the government to tell us which sex we are allowed to marry can state-arranged marriages be far off?
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By GottaLaff
By GottaLaff
Peace and quiet, except in the mind of the conservative candidate. See my previous post.Capt. Michael Branch of the Plattsburgh City Police Department said the incident wasn’t criminal mischief, but rather a tire-meets-bottle affair. “This was not a tire slashing—this was some guy who drove over a bottle and cut his tire,” Branch said.
The police captain added that he had personally driven past all of Plattsburgh’s polling places and found “no disorder, no crowds, nothing going on. Peace and quiet here in Plattsburgh.”
By GottaLaff
Six in 10 New Jersey voters said Tuesday that President Obama had no effect on their vote in this off-year gubernatorial election, according to early CNN Exit Poll data. [...]When asked if Obama had an effect on their vote, 60 percent responded he was not a factor, 20 percent said their vote was meant to express opposition to him, and 19 percent said it was to support him.
Why is Deeds behind? "Deeds doesn't support President Obama," said some younger voters, per Rep. Jim Moran (D-Virginia) on The Ed Show just now.
By GottaLaff
This is getting ridiculous. ANOTHER UPDATE:
Anton Troianovski of the Wall Street Journal followed up with the Plattsburgh police on this, and was told that the volunteer actually damaged his tire on a broken bottle. I asked Hoffman campaign manager Dan Tripp about this–he said he had no comment because the campaign had not heard this yet.Guess Hoffman owes ACORN an apology, huh? (see update below)
“There are reports that they’re bringing in the troops and they’re bringing in ACORN,” said Hoffman. “I think the Democrats are doing anything they possibly can to steal this election away from the 23rd district.”Then he backtracked by saying the police were still investigating. But not before he blamed the dreaded ACORN and evil Democrats for slashing his tires and stealing the election.
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