The Spencerian

Almost Friday Baby I'm a Bad Man Edition

by Benjamin J. Kirby

The politics of the United States Defense budget has always fascinated me.  It's enormous almost beyond comprehension, but it is also kind of untouchable.  After all, what national-level politician wants to appear weak on defense?

Well, Meteor Blades over at DailyKos has a must-read post on the ridiculousness of the Romney Defense plan.

... [the] Romney plan would pile an additional $2.1 trillion onto Pentagon spending over the next decade if the extra percentage of GDP were added gradually. If his plan were in place right now, it would add $100 billion to the 2013 budget, a boost of 20 percent to core Pentagon spending, and $2.3 trillion over 10 years.

Be sure to check out the graphic, too.

You know, I thought the Republican Party was in its fiscally conservative heyday.  

Where's a tea party freak when you need one?

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Speaking of Romney, someone lightly tweaked me for my post late yesterday in which I said that the timing of the presidential remarks around gay marriage were not at all an accident precipitated by the Vice President's apparent gaffe.  The proof, they way, was in the Vice President's apology to President Obama today.  

Vice President Biden apologized to President Obama on Wednesday morning for saying he supported same-sex marriage before the administration had planned to, White House officials said.

Obama said he understood, saying he knew Biden had spoken from the heart, according to the officials.

Hey, boss.  Sorry I said a thing you were going to say, anyway...?

Yeah, sure.  You spoke from the heart.

What?  No, come on.  Come on.  There will be a back story told here some day -- well into Obama's second term, I'm sure -- and it will have a great deal to do with backing Romney into a box, and the Washington Post padlocking it with the story which broke earlier about Romney assaulting a classmate when he was in high school.

That's right.  Assault.  Which, I shouldn't have to remind you, is a crime.  

I literally dare you to defy me or the term.  You don't hold a kid down because you think he's gay and then cut all his hair off with scissors and call it a "prank." 

Back to Obama and Biden for a minute.  Question for you: why did we read about the apology between these two men in the Post?  The conversations between the President and Vice President are probably some of the most privileged in the world, maybe the most.  Their details -- even their subject matter -- wouldn't be leaked to the media without a specific purpose in mind.

I think the specific purpose was that the President's comments on gay marriage played better than they even imagined -- they certainly did with respect to giving Romney and Republicans another bad day -- and this apology keeps it on the front burner just a bit longer.  

And, not for nothing, it's starting to look like not only is Mitt Romney an out-of-touch, directionless, robot, but apparently he's pretty much a bad guy, too. 

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And speaking of bad guys, I know you'll find this hard to believe, but the hospital grifter Governor's chief of staff -- gasp! -- bent the rules!

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If I had any musical talent whatsoever, I would play the guitar.  Because it's cool as hell.  And I would do everything in my power to play exactly like the late Duane Allman.

If I could sing -- even a little bit, even some, even just a touch -- it would be exactly like Paul Rodgers.

Laugh at me if you will.  You never know, though.  I may just take singing lessons and start up a band.

I'd invite you to our first concert, but because you laughed at me, I'm not so sure you're welcome, now.  

Yeah, you just stay home.  You're nothing but bad company.

Also, PS: what the hell is that before the video starts?

Almost Friday I Don't Know Stuff Edition

by Benjamin J. Kirby

There is a lot going on, and I'm behind on my reading.  It is not the fault of any one thing.  I've just got a lot going on.  

At work, things are getting interesting.  I've been asked to do a follow-up presentation on social media to an influential Tampa Bay-area group.  I have been invited to a leadership symposium to discuss social media in a few months, and I'm really looking forward to that.  I sit on the board of a prestigious national organization, and they've asked me to serve on the executive committee as Secretary (the vote on that is pending).  There are things happening day-to-day which frustrate me, but long-term, a lot of fascinating, even fun stuff is in the works.  

Read back three our four or five posts and you'll see how things have been here at home.  Finn is still on stand-by.  We're scheduled for induction next week, so one way or the other... 

We still miss Conan terribly.  But it's getting easier with each passing day.  Or we're just getting used to not having him here.  

Anyway, all of that -- and more -- means I'm sort of plugging in and out of the scene, back and forth.  So here's some stuff kind of on my list (but not necessarily absorbed yet).

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First, there's this promising Salon piece on Tucker Carlson.  I don't know why, but I particularly dislike Tucker Carlson.  

Maybe it's just because he doesn't ever seem to go away.

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Yeah, the Obama interview in Rolling Stone is on the list.

I told you I'm behind.

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I've got to learn about CISPA.  Doesn't look good.

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The U.S. Senate race in Utah is not one I'd normally watch, but having met Senator Hatch a number of years ago, I might take more of an interest in this primary.

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I need to dig a little deeper here, too, but I'd venture to say A.) Vern Buchanan is lying, and B.) he's worried about his chances in November.

Neither of those things should surprise you.

Vern Buchanan 22 points up on Keith Fitzgerald?  I don't think so.

Florida-wide, Romney's only up on Obama by two, 47-45, I'm sure well within the margin of error.  

Congressional job approval is something like -64.  A generic U.S. Congressional ballot only has Republicans over Democrats 44.4% to 41.2%.

22 points?  You're trying to tell me that the richest -- and most corrupt -- Member of Congress is up on his opponent by 22 points?  

This is a guy who won't even release his own tax returns.

Keith did:

“I am releasing my personal tax returns because I believe the public has the right to know where and how politicians earn their income. For decades, special interests groups have lobbied Congress to create a complicated, loophole ridden tax code that protects the profits and bonuses of powerful corporations over middle class families and seniors.”

I just refuse to believe the guy who is transparent is down 22 points to the guy who is, well, under multiple investigations.

Of course, I don't really have to.  In first quarter fundraising numbers, Keith outraised Vern Buchanan, the fundraising head of the National Repulican Congressional Committee, which is charged with, well, fundraising for Republican Congressional candidates.  

Keith's campaign received more than 1,500 individual contributions with an average contribution of $136.  Money talks.  Vern's bullshit poll numbers can take a walk.

But don't forget: Vern really is, like, the richest Member of Congress.  He can throw a boatload of cash at this race, and he will.  So go donate to Keith's campaign, as much as you can spare.

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It's almost Friday.

Almost Friday Just Take a Minute Edition

by Benjamin J. Kirby

Long day.  Going in to a long day tomorrow.  Might be a long weekend. 

This'll just take a minute.

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The North Koreans fired a rocket -- they said it was only a simple rocket, but most folks understand it was a almost assuredly a test of whether or not they have the capacity to fire a nuclear device long-range -- and it broke apart and fell into the sea.

This is actually bad news for the Obama Administration, which hoped to engage in a series of talks with the North Koreans before they did something stupid.  

Couple of quick thoughts: one, I wonder if this nudges the campaign 2012 conversation towards foreign affairs, even a little bit, which would be the first time it happened since Romney became the de facto nominee.  In that sense, it would be good for Obama, because he's going to be hard to beat on that front.

The other is, if the rocket failed that spectacularly, perhaps new leader Kim Jong Un and his advisors will reconsider engaging the west in useful talks.  Politics aside, that would be best for everyone.

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Does anyone know what's wrong with RNC Chairman Reince Priebus?

Caterpillars?  Really?

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I know what's wrong with Congressman Allen West: dude is crazy as a shit house rat. 

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And finally, what's wrong with the Catholic League?  This is one messed up tweet.  But we continue to see how the lines of this campaign will be drawn.  I think the outcome will be fairly clear, don't you?

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I read this piece on John Edwards and how alone he is this morning in the Washington Post.

I wish I hadn't read it, because it made me feel bad for him, and I'm not sure he deserves my sympathy.  

And still... you're human before you're a political hack.  They guy screwed it all up.  Too far, too fast.  Too much, too soon.  

To others who have long known Edwards or worked with him, nothing was sudden about his downfall. Several trace their disappointment with him as far back as the aftermath of his winning 1998 Senate campaign. Soon, they concluded that he was on a climb that would not include them. In time, the Hunter scandal merely felt to them like the zenith of this trajectory.

“Some people who knew him told me, ‘You don’t know him well enough, but by then I had drunk the Kool-Aid . . . ,” remembers Gary Pearce, a longtime North Carolina Democratic consultant and a strategist in Edwards’s ’98 Senate campaign who eventually had a falling out with Edwards and Elizabeth. “He went too far, too fast. He forgot about North Carolina. . . . We saw each other after the campaign. It was like a month after he’d entered office. He asked, ‘How do I get on Al Gore’s short list for vice president [in 2000]?’ He had a lot of disappointed supporters here who felt their interests had been totally ignored. They felt betrayed.”

Al friggin' Gore's short list?  Come on.  

You sort of hope he can work things out personally, and you sincerely hope that the price he paid politically -- and in the public eye generally -- serves as a warning for future leaders.

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Put this on, kick back with cold root beer and the woman you love, watch the sunset and see if you can find a reason to be unhappy.

It's almost Friday.

Almost Friday The Good With The Bad Edition

by Benjamin J. Kirby

Really glad to see Adam Tebrugge running for State House in District 71, against incumbent Republican Jim Boyd.

"I'm very concerned about the influence of money on political decisions," said Tebrugge, a Sarasota resident.

"Just for instance, if we look at Representative (Jim) Boyd's contributors, he's receiving an awful lot of money from the insurance companies and from the phosphate companies."

Tebrugge, who has a law office in Bradenton, said his campaign would concentrate on receiving donations from individual citizens, "so that I will be free of undue influence from companies like that."

Adam lost a close race for Public Defender in 2008.  He's a smart guy, and will make a great public servant.  Lord knows the Florida House needs a guy like Adam.

He's got a blog site up, and no way to donate electronically, but help him out if you can.  Send your donation to:

Campaign to Elect Adam Tebrugge
Post Office Box 770
Bradenton, Florida   34206

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Texts from Hillary.

Inspired by this...

Image via Roger Simon, POLITICO

...one of my new favorite political photos.  There's no getting around the badassery.

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I'd like to ask you a question: What's wrong with Harvard University?  

Once again, Mitt Romney has attempted to launch an attack on President Obama saying, "We have a president, who I think is is a nice guy, but he spent too much time at Harvard, perhaps."  

You know what I'd do to be able to get a degree from Harvard?  Just about anything.  Wouldn't most folks?  I mean, it's the greatest school in the country, and probably the world (better than Oxford?  Maybe not, but then again, what do I know).  

So I'd love to have gone to Harvard.  I didn't.  And I never will.  And I'd probably do back-flips around the world if one or both of my kids got in to Harvard.  I'd probably stop the back-flips when I figured out how much it costs.  

Anyway, this seems like a dumb attack.  I get it -- Harvards' all elite, and Obama is elitist.  Right, right.  Sure.  

But here's the main problem with Romney's attack: Romney spent more time studying there than Obama.  Romney has two degrees from Harvard (an MBA and a law degree), Obama just has one (a law degree).  

It gets worse, according to the ThinkProgress people (this is actually my favorite part):

Romney has previously attacked Obama for taking advice from the “Harvard faculty lounge,” even though one of Romney’s top economic advisers is Harvard professor Greg Mankiw.

Romney has also taken at least $32,000 in contributions from Harvard faculty and administrators.

The guy's campaign ought to have the Harvard logo on it, for crying out loud.

I know that it's Job One of Team Mittens to paint Obama as an out-of-touch elitist.  I've already commented on how the Obama Campaign is doing great work on framing Obama as a very normal, average guy -- and it's working.

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This one's for my friend Laura Jane.  Big Wilco fan.

It's almost Friday.

Good stuff. I should listen these guys more often.

Almost Friday Party on the Left, Party on the Right Edition

God, you mean the whole Etch-a-Sketch thing is real?  I swear to you, I thought it was a joke.

“I think you hit a reset button for the fall campaign,” Eric Fehrnstrom, a longtime adviser to Mr. Romney, said in response to a question about pivoting to a matchup with Mr. Obama and appealing to moderate swing voters. “Everything changes. It’s almost like an Etch A Sketch. You can kind of shake it up and restart all over again.”

The reference to a children’s drawing toy that erases the last image with a simple shake immediately fed attacks from Mr. Romney’s rivals that he was an untrustworthy standard-bearer for the conservative cause.

Dude, what were you thinking?  And on the day Jeb Bush endorses your candidate?  

You know, Jeb was everyone's dark-horse choice in this deal, so to have his endorsement should have been a huge thing.  And now it's ruined.  Wow.

It's almost too painful to watch.

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I didn't think John Edwards could sink any further.

Former Sen. John Edwards is denying a report that he used the services of a call girl employed by accused Soccer Mom Madam Anna Gristina while he was running for President.

The woman told investigators that Edwards paid her for sex during a 2007 visit to New York to raise money for his failed White House bid, DNAinfo reported Thursday.

Sadly for everyone, I was wrong.

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I got a great email from Nina Hayden the other day.  She's running for Congress in what will be the new 13th Congressional District -- that's now up here in Pinellas, against the trillion-term incumbent, Bill Young.  

I was 14 when I received a most unexpected present.

On a cold Christmas morning in Maryland, my two sisters and I bounded down the stairs.  Instead of finding wrapped gifts sitting under the Christmas tree, we discovered that our parents had different plans for us on that holiday morning.  We quickly got into the family car and drove 30 minutes into Washington, D.C., where we spent the day feeding the hungry and the homeless at a shelter in our nation’s capital.  My parents were hard-working people who showed me the importance of service.  That Christmas morning, I saw what happens when Americans lose their jobs, lose their homes, and struggle to provide for their families.

I saw how just those few hours we gave made a huge difference in the lives of struggling families.

I'm running for Congress because I know our district needs a loyal, committed Democrat who will fight for the economic security of working Americans.  Our district needs to send a Democrat to Washington that represents you, understands you,and will work hard for what matters most to American families.

There are a lot of people who run for office, and too many of them never explain why.  I'm glad Nina sent this email -- and I hope you can help her, if you can.

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I got another great email from a guy named Steve Israel.  He's a Congressman from New York, and he happens to be the Chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.  He was writing me about Keith:

As Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee I have a simple job: win the 25 seats we need to win the House Majority.

That’s why I’m writing to you today. The House is in play and our path to the Majority runs through Florida.  If we want to win the Speaker’s gavel from the Republicans, we must defeat Florida Republican Congressman Vern Buchanan and elect Keith Fitzgerald. 

Keith has set a goal of raising $9,750 before the critical March 31st Federal Election Commission deadline to show he has what it takes to win. 

The media and political world will be closely watching Keith’s fundraising totals so it’s important he have a strong showing in the first big deadline of 2012. 

Can I count on you to make a generous donation of $25 or more by March 31st? 

Keith’s opponent, Vern Buchanan, is a top lieutenant of Speaker John Boehner and Leader Eric Cantor. Buchanan, Cantor, and Boehner keep making the wrong choices -- repeatedly choosing to protect tax breaks for millionaires instead of protecting Medicare for seniors. 

Not only does Congressman Buchanan march in lockstep with Boehner and Cantor, he is now under investigation by the FBI, IRS, a federal grand jury and the House Ethics Committee.  How can you protect seniors on Medicare when you are spending your time protecting yourself from multiple investigations? 

Keith Fitzgerald is a problem-solver who will fight to create jobs, strengthen the middle class, protect Medicare, and reignite the American dream. 

I'm so glad to see the DCCC and the gang in Washington going to work for Keith Fitzgerald.

I hope you can help him, too.

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It's almost Friday.

Almost Friday Old Heart Edition

by Benjamin J. Kirby

It hasn’t gotten a lot of play in the regular media rotation, but one of the larger underlying themes of this election year is, aside from redistricting, laws and challenges to laws in various states around voting.  It’s certainly happened here in Florida, where the DOJ has challenged Florida’s voting laws.

So with that in mind, it’s a major turn of events that Texas is challenging the Voting Rights Act.  This could go to the U.S. Supreme Court before Election Day this year.

Texas filed an amended complaint today [UPDATE, actually Tuesday] in its action to overcome the US Department of Justice’s objection to its voter identification law. The complaint now says that the Voting Rights Act section 5, as amended in 2006, “exceeds the enumerated powers of Congress and conflicts with Article IV of the Constitution and the Tenth Amendment.”

This is a very big deal.  I had expected South Carolina to do this in its own challenge to DOJ denial of preclearance of its voter id law.  For some reason, South Carolina did not do so; nor did Texas in its initial complaint.

A very big deal, indeed.

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For all the problems facing the sorry bunch contending for the GOP presidential nomination, including the increasing prospect of a brokered convention, we are reminded that it won’t all be paths of rose petals and the wind at his back for President Obama, either. From the HuffingtonPost, it looks like the makings our own convention problem in the form of the issue of gay marriage:

An unexpected surge in support to place same-sex marriage on the Democratic Party platform at the August convention has energized LGBT advocates and complicated an already delicate situation facing President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign.

In the past month, almost half of all Democratic senators, several of Obama's national campaign co-chairs, the House Minority Leader and the chairman of the Democratic convention, among others, have said they support adding marriage equality to the platform. Were this the position that the president held, such proclamations would not be a problem. But Obama says he is still publicly “evolving” on marriage equality. And the wave of support to make it a component of his convention has both surprised aides and set off a private push to keep emotions and expectations in check.

Look, Jim Messina, the Obama/Biden 2012 top dog, is right. The convention delegates haven’t even been chosen yet.   “There's a process,” he said, “and the DNC will go through that, and we will have a platform.”

Good and true answer – for now. September will be here before you know it.  And we’ll all be watching.

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These people are mentally ill.  That’s all there is to it.

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Admit it: even you don't know what the hell they're talking about anymore (Puerto Ricans speaking Spanish?  What?).

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But at least they're finally up-front about being racist assholes. 

It’s almost Friday.

No looking back.

The past is far behind.

Broken-down heart’s a time machine.

Almost Friday How She Takes My Breath Away Edition

by Benjamin J. Kirby

Happy International Women's Day!

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Just a total random thought: I am sort of expecting more fireworks in the next couple of months as the GOP contenders -- such as they are -- continue to slog it out.  

I'm just sort of basing this on gut instinct, but I think someone else is getting in.  I sort of want to say Sarah Palin.  I've had this nagging dream lately about one of the drop-outs actually getting back in.  Herman Cain? Michele Bachmann?  

By the way, I'm practically counting on a third-party run from Ron Paul.

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This is a must read from my blogging colleague Inkberries over at Beach Peanuts on the "parent trigger" bill up in the Florida Senate tomorrow.  It's as thorough a read on what amounts to a fairly complicated issue as I've found.  Go check it out. 

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Good for Republican Congressman Timothy Johnson of Illinois, proving that there are still reasonable Republicans as he denounced Grover Norquist's crazy anti-tax pledge.

“I would never in a million years have considered this as some kind of a locked-in-granite pledge. Frankly, I didn’t even remember it. That shows you how obscure it was to me,” Johnson said.

“My understanding was then, as I remember it, and certainly now, is that nobody could possibly ever in a million years, in their wildest imagination, expect you to sign something that was right before a primary election and then you’d be locked in on that position the whole rest of your career. Particularly something like taxes and particularly when the national debt 10 and a half years ago was $6 trillion and now it’s going to be $17 trillion.”[...]

Democrats, Republicans -- doesn't matter.  Of course you have to be flexible in this business.  It's running the country.  It's trillions of dollars.  Things are going to change.

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Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute.  Wait.  Wait.

Wait.

Are you telling me... Barack Obama is... black?

Woah.  Man.

Next thing you know, you're going to tell me he was born in America.  

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It's almost Friday.

Almost Friday I Made a Lot of Mistakes Edition

by Benjamin J. Kirby

Hm, so what were foreign policy geniuses Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie advising the eventual GOP nominee to do again just the other day?  Oh, yeah: run against President Obama on his foreign policy "weaknesses".  You know, basically march us to war against Iran and North Korea.

How's that going to go for them now, do you think?

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Speaking of foreign affairs, I probably normally would've ignored this since I think Glenn Greenwald is kind of a blowhard and an asshole, but since it involves my old boss, General Barry McCaffrey (I worked under him when he was the Drug Czar), I'm kind of fascinated. 

The bottom line is McCaffrey briefed a bunch of high-level executives at NBC -- where he serves as one of their on-air experts, if I'm not mistaken -- on potential war with Iran.  (You can actually download the presentation on his website, here.)

To be honest, I'm still not sure what Glenn's beef is.  Yes, McCaffrey's piece suggests there's a pretty good likelihood of war in Iran or something worse ("something worse" being nuclear strikes between Israel and Iran).  

And...?  I don't necessarily see the presentation as march us to war, which is what I suspect the problem may be.  

Now, over at TPM, the suggestion (more clearly) is that McCaffrey in some way could benefit from a war with Iran (benefit financially, that is -- his son, an Army Colonel, is currently serving in Afghanistan.  They reference a New York Times piece from David Barstow in 2008:

On NBC and in other public forums, General McCaffrey has consistently advocated wartime policies and spending priorities that are in line with his corporate interests. But those interests are not described to NBC’s viewers. He is held out as a dispassionate expert, not someone who helps companies win contracts related to the wars he discusses on television.

Well, that is a problem.  For sure.

It really is hard to imagine that wear hearing the drumbeats for war again, when we just closed the book on Iraq (more or less), and were trying to wind down in Afghanistan.  

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I wanted to take a minute to salute my blogging colleague Peter Schorsch at Saint Petersblog for leading the clarion call to keep the Saint Petersburg postmark.  I've been counseled by other friends that this is a community-building issue, a real point of pride, and that unlike my decision to comment on the name change of the St. Petersburg Times to the Tampa Bay Times, I'm better off letting this one go. 

Very well.  My sincere congratulations to Peter, and the community of Saint Petersburg. 

But I will leave you with two bits to consider: the first is this: postmarks do not a community make, and all the residents of St. Petersburg better get used to it.  Fast.  The postmark along with the entire U.S. Postal Service, as Peter and the rest of us well know, is dying a slow, painful, public and truly awful death, almost wholly because of the Internet.  

As Emily Nipps reported in her previous article on the postmark issue:

The changes will happen sometime after mid May, when the U.S. Postal Service begins a nationwide consolidation of mail processing and distribution centers. The St. Petersburg center, a 174,000-square-foot building at 3135 First Ave. N, as well as Lakeland's center, will be closing and moving their operations to the Tampa distribution center.

[snip]

Thursday's announcement to consolidate mail processing and distribution centers nationwide came after the Postal Service studied 211 centers and decided 183 of them should close to cut costs. A second study is taking place, looking at the possible closure of more centers.

 ...close to cut costs.  The consolidation of the postmark amounted to moving a building to Tampa simply to cut costs.  

But since Peter was victorious in his advocacy efforts -- for now -- it's neither here nor there.  

My second point is this: 

There were 2,186 homeless students in Pinellas County for the 2009-2010 school year.  That's a 17% increase from the previous year.  And it's getting worse state-wide.  

28,821 children in Pinellas County live in poverty.  

In Florida, a child dies before his or her first birthday every 5 hours.  That's nearly five children in the extra day it takes your non-St. Petersburg-postmarked mail to get from your house to its destination.

Pinellas County has the highest rate of prescription drug abuse in the state.  In 2010, a Pinellas County resident died every 36 hours with oxycodone either present or the cause of death.  

Pinellas County has the highest removal rate of children from the home in the state of Florida.  (Embarrassingly for us, things are better in Miami.)

And some data on a different sort of stamp...

Food stamps -- that old reliable GOP boogeyman -- saw a 36% increase in Pinellas County household usage from 2009-2010.

Now let's have a conversation about community. 

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I fell in love again.  

The lights go out and I can't be saved.

It's almost Friday.

Almost Friday Get Going Edition

by Benjamin J. Kirby

It has been a horrible few days for journalists and journalism at large.  

Earlier this month, New York Times reporter Anthony Shadid died while reporting in Syria.  This week, American journalist Marie Colvin died, along with a French photographer named Remi Ochlik, covering the same conflict.   

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Evidently Rick Santorum "lost" the GOP debate last night.  But I'd argue that by virtue of the fact that the Republicans even had twenty debates, they're all losers.  

Mitt Romney, who was always going to win the GOP nomination, came off as a sort of default winner (more like a non-loser, if there is such a thing; think of it this way: he didn't make the honor roll, he got a certificate of attendance.).  I still think it'll be Romney, but at this point, we're all just measuring out how ugly the win is going to be for him (Jed Lewison at DailyKos gives you a good example of how debates like the one last night end up hurting Romney more than they help him).

Of course, just because Rick Santorum lost -- or whatever -- the debate, doesn't mean he's not still swinging.  This well-done ad is devastating...

...and could just about be cribbed by the advertising folks at the DNC or the Obama Campaign, or whoever needs it.

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This is just awful: seven Marines are dead after two helicopters collided in Arizona.  It's a stark reminder that the work of our military is almost always dangerous, even when they're not in a battle zone.

Our thoughts are with the families and loved ones of the fallen.

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Alex Sink is floating the idea of a rematch between her and the hospital grifter Governor in 2014.  She apparently "regrets" her defeat to him in 2010, which seems like a dumb thing to say.  You don't "regret" things unless you did something stupid or thoughtless or mean or wrong.  Or you ran a shitty campaign not against the near-convict opposite you but against the sitting President of the United States who has just passed the largest legislative agenda in a generation.  

I've covered this ground before, and I'll have more on this later, but it would be awful for state-wide Democrats in Florida if Alex Sink ran again.  

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It's almost Friday.

Almost Friday Get Yourself Back Home Edition

by Benjamin J. Kirby

Rick Santorum's sugar daddy, Mister Freeze, has been abducted by Martian bandits sky-high on peyote and forced at gunpoint to make this outrageous statement, live on MSNBC's air:

It's clearly a cry for help.

In the meantime, hey, how great is it that I get to use this graphic again?

Anyway, there you have it, America: the thoughts from the number one super-pac donor to the Republican front-runner for the presidential nomination, Rick Santorum.

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In the real world, the good economic news continues: weekly jobless claims fall to a four-year low.

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Nobody really talks about it much anymore, but I'd venture to say we're living in the Golden Age of Campaign Data, and this Slate article about the Obama campaign's database consolidation plan (kind of) backs me up:

This year, however, as part of a project code-named Narwhal, Obama’s team is working to link once completely separate repositories of information so that every fact gathered about a voter is available to every arm of the campaign. Such information-sharing would allow the person who crafts a provocative email about contraception to send it only to women with whom canvassers have personally discussed reproductive views or whom data-mining targeters have pinpointed as likely to be friendly to Obama’s views on the issue.

Brilliant.

It's the kind of stuff that older campaign dorks like me daydream about.

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Duncan has been gone most of this week, and she's back tomorrow night.  I can't wait to have her home, safe with me, where she belongs.

It's almost Friday.

Almost Friday Marvelous Night Edition

I don't know North Carolina politics, despite having been born there, but this can't be good news for Democrats.  From the News & Observer:

Gov. Bev Perdue is expected to announce today that she will not seek a second term as governor,  two sources close to the Democrat's campaign tell The News & Observer.

Perdue is expected to make an announcement this afternoon, a N.C. Democratic Party spokesman said. Her campaign aides began telling top Democrats in the past 24 hours. Perdue campaign spokesman Marc Farinella could not be reached for comment.

Her departure sets up a scramble at the top of the Democratic ticket, about 15 weeks before the May primary election. A number of Democrats instantly rise to the short list of potential replacements but all face an uphill battle against likely Republican nominee Pat McCrory, the former longtime Charlotte mayor who matched Perdue's fundraising in this election cycle and sits with $2 million in the bank.

North Carolina was one of those great Obama '08 states.  Wonder what this means going forward. 

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And unfortunately for Democrats, the hits just keep on coming in North Carolina.  Rep. Brad Miller got redistricted out of his seat.  You can read his unusually honest statement here.

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Congratulations to Congressman Barney Frank!

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Welcome to Tampa, Mrs. Obama.

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Yes, I'm still on the Newt Gingrich going to the moon deal.

It's almost Friday.

Almost Friday Modern Life Edition

One of the many reasons I was hoping Rick Santorum would somehow stay in the background of the epic disaster that is the GOP primary is that his presence will inevitably place abortion in the minds of voters this election year, and not in a good, constructive way.  Not that abortion as a political conversation is ever usually a good thing, but Santorum himself, with his extremist ideology and inflammatory rhetoric makes it particularly ugly, especially those who have had an abortion.

Well, he hasn't stayed in the background, and because of who he is and what he stands for, people will talk about abortion.  Sides will be taken.  Again.  Those who say they are against it will inevitably use inflammatory language, like "culture of life," and "baby killers."  

I can't stand it.  What I can't stand worse are guys like Santorum who pretty much owe their entire careers to the shameless exploitation of the differences of how people feel about abortion.  He does all of this in the name of his religion -- Catholicism -- which makes it even worse.

As for Democrats and liberals, we have made the whole thing worse by essentially ignoring it as an issue for the last four decades and allowing conservatives and extremists like Santorum to control the language around what amounts to a medical procedure, a private act between a doctor and a woman.  It's as if Roe v. Wade became law in 1973, and that was it.  It has only been in the last decade or so that pro-choice advocacy groups have perfected the (true) message that this is as much about empowering women to make quality, well-informed choices around their own medical care and their own lives as anything else.    

The offense Democrats and liberals continue to make -- and we do it in a number of policy arenas -- is to accept the terms of the debate (the "war" if we agree that's what the Culture War really is; given that doctors who provide these controversial medical services are being shot and killed, I think the language of war is applicable).  This is a medical issue, a personal medical issue.  Medical issues, we should know by now, are as individual as we are.  The sixteen year-old raped by her father and impregnated is simply a different case than a woman who had casual sex.  Those cases are different than the woman who faces medical complications and must make a tragic choice to terminate pregnancy or risk her own life (a heartbreaking choice Rick Santorum characterizes as "phony").

Personally, I'm tired of hearing the oft-repeated claim of Republicans and conservative people that they support a culture of life.  These ideologues have no claim to the mantel of "life," certainly not when a sitting president who also happened to be the top Republican in the nation declared a disastrous war of choice in Iraq which resulted in thousands of dead American soldiers, and even more Iraqi civilians.  And if that's not enough -- and I'm not sure I want to exist in the world where it's not -- then applauding executions ought to be.  If you want to see someone "pro-life" double down on death (or make you question our common humanity), ask them what a woman should do with a pregnancy which poses a risk to her health if she's uninsured. 

Look, it's hard to talk about individuals when it comes to federal law (which is what Roe v. Wade is) and something which we talk about in a national context.  But this is our path to reconciliation with our brothers and sisters on the other side of this issue.  

And that is just what we have to do -- we have to overcome this division.  We have to say more than just "I am pro-choice," or "I'm pro-life."  I hate to use the language of marketing on an issue as sensitive as this, but we need to change the narrative.  

I know.  It seems like a dumb thing to say.  And maybe it is.  But until something changes, we're going to keep people like Rick Santorum in political business.  From my view, that is terrible news.

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And this is exactly the kind of thing I'm talking about.  

Here in Florida, Republican State Rep. Charles Van Zant of Palatka has already filed a bill for the session which starts next week which would completely outlaw abortion.

House Bill 1151 would create the “Florida for Life Act,” a law that would essentially outlaw all abortions in direct defiance of legal abortion rights in the U.S.

According to a summary, the bill would prohibit “induced abortions,” the operation of a facility that provides abortions, the termination of any pregnancy “unless specified conditions are met.”

Van Zant’s bill (.pdf) states that “the Legislature acknowledges that all persons are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, and that first among these is their right to life.”

Forget any pretense about either the sanctity of life or women's health: this is just terrible public policy.  Federal law trumps state law, and when this mockery of democracy passes through our idiot legislature, it'll eventually be overturned in court.  We can only hope that in overturning it, the judge has the presence of mind to note it for the waste of time and resources that it was.  

And it will be a colossal waste of time in a session which is supposed to be dominated by Congressional redistricting and a state budget that remains troubled at best.  

Will anybody even bother to ask what an architect from Palatka is doing filing legislation which could make felons (the maximum sentence would be life in prison; how's that for a "culture of life"?) out of doctors who perform perfectly legal medical procedures?  Van Zant is not a medical doctor.  And he is not a woman.  

It's a reasonable guess that the only thing informing his ill-advised decision to file this legislation is his attendance at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary where he received a Master of Divinity, his attendance at the Western Baptist Theological Seminary in Havana, Cuba, and the fact that he is a Republican.  This bill -- which even a native of Palatka must know is doomed to failure -- is driven by nothing but politics.   

The only thing more embarrassing than this legislation is the number of other Florida legislators who have filed similar legislation this year.  And the only thing more embarrassing than that is that we keep electing these pathetic goobers year after painful year.  

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It's almost Friday.

Almost Friday Beat Version Edition

Thug Congressman Vern Buchanan is as awful and corrupt as they come -- literally.  Looks like the House Ethics panel is extending their investigation into his shady dealings and campaign shenanigans.

No word on how the Justice Department investigation is moving along.

Just this week, the Federal Election Commission came out with a scathing report against Buchanan, questioning his credibility and pretty much called him out as a crook.  The idea that the report "exonerated" him, which he said after it was produced, is ridiculous.

The FEC came "close to supporting a finding" that Buchanan broke the law -- they were worried about the credibility of one of their witnesses.

Look, if you want a Congressman who isn't as corrupt and crooked as Vern Buchanan, then go support Keith Fitzgerald for Congress.  

Go Fitz Go!

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Someone told me about Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner commenting on the body of the First Lady.  

I swear to you, I thought it was a joke.  I thought someone was yanking my chain.

"She lectures us on eating right while she has a large posterior herself."

Remember when people used to resign in shame?  Those were the good old days. 

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I told you Jeb Bush wasn't running for president.

Not that I needed my point proved, but it was proved today when Big Daddy Bush -- President George H.W. Bush, that is -- endorsed Mitt Romney.

Bush and his wife, Barbara, said that if their son, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, did not run, then they would back Romney in November 2010 on CNN. "We like Mitt Romney. We know him well and like him very much," he said.

You're telling me that Jeb Bush's father -- a guy as connected enough to the Republican Party to be a former President of the United States himself -- is going to endorse Mitt Romney, then promptly revoke his endorsment when his son gets in the race?  

Time to get out of dreamland, you goofballs.

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I don't know what the world of the near-term future looks like for my children, and I desperately want to.  

My guess, though, is that we'll see a lot more things like this from people like Louis C.K., who gave away most of his $1 million in earnings from a comedy special he sold for five bucks on the Internet.  

You can agree or disagree with what he did and how he did it.  I'm not sure the mechanics of it are the point -- the point is that he did something different.  And he did it on his own terms.  

You might call it a localization of capitalism.  

I'm not sure I fully understand it, but I think I like it.  And it may well be the future.

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Falling down.  All the way down.

It's almost Friday.

I first heard this version of this particular song from The Primitives in 1989.  I was eighteen years old, at Curry College in Milton, Mass., just outside of Boston.  

This song came over the radio, and I damn near went insane.  It was shit-hot rock and roll, mean and fast, and totally and blessedly new to my ears.  I grew up on an eclectic mix of The Beatles, Jimmy Buffett, The Eagles, and a lot of other stuff, not to mention the fact that the 80s, my formative years, were a low point for popular music.  

At Curry, I heard a lot of new old stuff, like Bob Dylan and The Byrds and other things I'd just never managed to explore before college.  It was this music though -- this and so much more, from the likes of U2, R.E.M., Love and Rockets, The Smithereens -- that lit a fire with me.  

The flame is still burning.   

Never heard anything like it before, and I don't suppose I've heard anything like it since.  

Almost Friday The Truth and the Lie Edition

Another shooting at Virginia Tech.

This is just awful.

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Former Illinois Governor and media carnival side-show freak Rod Blagojevich got 14 year in prison.  You know, the political corruption was bad.  Trying to sell a U.S. Senate seat -- that's just disgusting, immoral, indeed corrupt.  But it was Blagojevich's goofy in-your-face media whoring that drove me nuts.  

Good riddance.

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Speaking of things not moral, I'm a little bit surprised this didn't get a bit more coverage than it did (though kudos to The Root for their coverage): an aide to former Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich was found guilty of election fraud for suppressing the African American vote using robocalls that lied.  Hey, everybody -- no need to sweat this whole 2010 election.  Best thing you can do is stay home!

This case was a slam dunk. Paul Schurick, the campaign manager, admitted that he had authorized the consulting firm run by notorious Baltimore election guru Julius Henson to allow the phone calls. Henson, who is black, has been known for campaign tactics that skate close to the line. He has worked for both Democrats and Republicans.

His robocall plan appears to have been advanced in response to the now routine concern of Republicans seeking office in states with a large black voting bloc: how to avoid high black-voter turnout on Election Day. The question the campaign's political director sent in an email to Schurick on Election Day stated the concern succinctly: "What does [Henson] need to make [Baltimore] city turnout stay low?" The answer was provided by Henson and approved by Schurick, who read the text of the proposed call before authorizing it.

Earlier in the year, the campaign had rejected a proposal by Henson to use robocalls statewide. According to Schurick, the campaign had originally hoped to "woo" crossover black voters. But on Election Day, when it became clear that the plan had failed, Schurick authorized the calls. 

I hate this kind of shit.  Look, I get that campaigns can get down and dirty.  Totally understand that.  But this crosses all kinds of lines, and there ought to be greater outrage.  

After all, do you think this is just an isolated incident?

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I'm not gonna lie.  

It's almost Friday.

Almost Friday I'm Just Outta School Edition

Tonight is Duncan's very last class before she graduates with her MPA (Master's in Public Administration) from University of South Florida next Friday.  

I'm so proud of her, I could burst.

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So, will Newt Gingrich be the nominee?  

Who knows.  

And honestly, at this point, who cares.  The field of Republican presidential wannabe-contenders has been such a parade of marginal clowns and intellectually bankrupt goofballs, it's hard to take the rise of Gingrich as anything more than just another trial balloon, floated by the Republican base who just can't stomach Romney.

Look at the polling.  You can see the Republicans casting about -- Bachmann, then Perry, then Cain, brief flutters of Paul.  And now it's Gingrich.

Frankly, of all of them, I hope they end up going with Gingrich.  The man can't help himself.  His latest is vintage Gingrich: poor children have no working habits.  And that's from FOX News, ya'll.

Here's what Johnathan Capehart at the Post had to say about it:

Newt Gingrich, the know-it-all former Speaker of the House who now rides atop the polls for the Republican nomination for president, has been shooting his mouth off lately. He called himself a celebrity who makes $60,000 a speech. Another favorite is, “I helped Ronald Reagan and Jack Kemp develop supply side economics.  I helped lead the effort to defeat communism in the Congress.” I didn’t realize communism in Congress was an issue, but I digress.

...defeat communism in Congress.  Get ready for a lot more of that should we be burdened with Nominee Gingrich, folks.

From the FOX News report:

GOP hopeful Newt Gingrich defended his stance against certain child labor laws during a campaign stop in Iowa Thursday, saying that children born into poverty aren't accustomed to working unless it involves crime.

I'm going to clip more of that, but I just need to stop here and highlight this, make sure you get it: the man defended his stance against child labor laws.  This is it, America -- this is what it comes down to: the other political party in this country saying we should just put kids to work.

Continuing...

"Really poor children, in really poor neighborhoods have no habits of working and have nobody around them who works so they have no habit of showing up on Monday," Gingrich claimed.

"They have no habit of staying all day, they have no habit of I do this and you give me cash unless it is illegal," he added.

The former House Speaker's comments come weeks after he came under fire for saying laws preventing child labor in America were "truly stupid" and suggested that schools fire janitors and replace them with working class students.

Fire janitors. 

Replace them with "working class students."  They probably don't have a "habit of staying all day" because they're using their food stamps to go to Hawaii.  

That's right: 

"Remember, this is the best food stamp president in history. So more Americans today get food stamps than before. And we now give it away as cash -- you don't get food stamps. You get a credit card, and the credit card can be used for anything. We have people who take their food stamp money and use it to go to Hawaii. They give food stamps now to millionaires because, after all, don't you want to be compassionate? You know, the Obama model: isn't there somebody you'd like to give money to this week. That's why we're now going to help bailout Italy because we haven't bailed out enough people this week, the president thought let's write another check. After all, we have so much extra money."

Newt Gingrich, friends and neighbors.  Surging in the polls.

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It's not all crazy people.

In Massachusetts, Elizabeth Warren is pulling ahead of Scott Brown in the polls.  That's good news.

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I know this may be some sort of blasphemy, but I'm really like Guy Raz during the week on NPR while Michelle Norris is on hiatus.

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In a world gone crazy, everything seems hazy.

It's almost Friday.