Give Jill your money

My contribution to Democrat Jill Derby (NV-02):
$

More info on Jill Derby here. Thanks :-) Read the rest of this post...

Conservative icon Richard Vigeurie says GOP offers conservative voters nothing this election, Democratic House may help cut back on spending

Richard Viguerie is commonly considered the father of direct mail marketing. He is one of "the" gurus of the entire conservative movement, going back decades.

Note that in this email he just sent to his list he not only blasts the Republicans, in shockingly harsh language, as offering voters nothing, he also says that it would probably be better if the Dems wont back one house of Congress.

And one final, very telling point. Viguerie provides a list of issues the GOP must focus on in order to win back ec economic and social conservatives - yet he doesn't mention one single social issue of concern to those who are commonly considered "social conservatives," the religious right. Abortion and gays are missing totally from his list. So are school prayer, the Ten Commandments, flag burning and pretty much every other issue the religious right cares and screams about.

We are witnessing the beginnings of a Republican civil war that is very much at odds with the current GOP leadership and the religious right.

Here's a portion of Viguerie's email (read the entire email/release here):

Richard A. Viguerie, Chairman of ConservativeHQ.com, warned Republicans that scare tactics against Democrats will not succeed in increasing social or economic conservative voters on Election Day.

“The big-spending, high-deficit, morally-deficient Republican Party hasn’t anything to offer conservatives except Halloween scare tactics about the Democrats. But since the GOP majority in Congress has engaged in an unprecedented spending spree, conservatives know that Democrats cannot be any worse and that divided government may lead to less spending,” Viguerie said.

“And conservatives have learned that, while Republicans sometimes provide significant symbolism on social issues, in truth, many of them have a disdain for values voters,” he added.

“Trying to frighten conservatives by yelling ‘Nancy Pelosi’ and ‘Harry Reid’ won’t work this time."

Read the rest of this post...

Bush: "There's some kind of reward during Ramadan for violence"

What's the reward for being a bigot? Interview needs to be read to be believed. Read the rest of this post...

Limbaugh physically mocked Parkinson's patients

What the media didn't show, but Keith Olbermann did, was that Rush Limbaugh didn't just make fun of people who suffer from Parkinson's, he even threw in a little physical comedy to show how funny people are who have Parkinson's.

The question remains whether Republicans Jim Talent (MO), Michael Steele (MD), and Mark Green (WI) are going to publicly demand that Limbaugh apologize to the innocent Americans he mocked on their behalf.

You can watch the ten second snippet of Limbaugh mocking the movements of people with Parkinson's here, and then check out the longer video of the Keith Olbermann segment I got this from via Crooks and Liars. The clip below contains two separate times during his broadcast during which Limbaugh mocked people with Parkinson's.

Read the rest of this post...

We just passed $50,000 in fundraising for Democratic candidates over the past week

Wow. Ok, I'm impressed. You guys have donated over $50,000 to Democratic candidates over the past week. That is some serious money when you're talking House races in rural districts, which is exactly the races we've chosen. Today, as you know, we're trying to help Democrat Jill Derby of Nevada. She is tied in the polls, and a full 20% of the electorate in her district is undecided. That means they are not happy with the Republicans since this is traditionally a way-red district. I had said I wanted to raise $10k for Jill today, but apparently we're already almost there and it's only 5pm on the east coast. So, here's my challenge. Let's try for $20,000 by midnight. I know it's a lot, but Jill is a great candidate and, as Jill so kindly posted in her own comment in the comments, you can adopt a precinct for her get-out-the-vote effort for only $50 a precinct. That's how far your money goes, only $50 gets out the vote in one precinct.

So please continue to give, and thanks. This is pretty cool. JOHN

My contribution to Democrat Jill Derby (NV-02):
$

Read the rest of this post...

Mark Foley scandal grows - Former House Clerk says GOP Rep. Kolbe was a problem as well, apparently this was known for years

So now we have a potential cover-up of two GOP members of Congress who were "overly-friendl" with Pages.

A source close to former House Clerk Jeff Trandahl told ABC News that Arizona Congressman Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.) was one of a small number of "problem members" of Congress who page program supervisors complained spent too much time socializing with pages, taking them to dinner or sporting events outside of official duties.

Read the rest of this post...

Iraq misadventure crippling democracy development in greater Middle East

Earlier this week, I wrote, "Hard to imagine that an administration could single-handedly ruin the Freedom brand for the Middle East and the developing world, but I think this one has done it." I wrote it almost as an aside to the post's focus on the collapse of civil society in Iraq, but the idea is brought into stark relief by a revealing article in today's Washington Post.

The piece definitely doesn't bury the lede, beginning bluntly with awful news for anyone who supports democracy:

Horror at the bloodshed accompanying the U.S. effort to bring democracy to Iraq has accomplished what human rights activists, analysts and others say Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had been unable to do by himself: silence public demands for democratic reforms here.

This debacle isn't just ruining Iraq, it's serving as an object lesson for use by autocracies and tyrants throughout the region. Reformers now have no credibility -- to ruin the legitimacy of any democratic reform efforts, all the old guard has to do is say, "So you want it to be like our neighbor, Iraq?" And even people who would otherwise favor liberal reform are having second thoughts.

"If democracy brings such chaos in the region, and especially the destruction of society, as it did in Iraq and in Lebanon, it's absolutely normal, and I think it's absolutely a wise position from the people to be afraid to imagine how it would be in Syria," Amiralay said. "I think that people at the end said, 'Well, it is better to keep this government. We know them, and we don't want to go to this civil war, and to live this apocalyptic image of change, with civil war and sectarianism and blood.'"

I'm a big fan of democracy (note the difference between "democracy" and "holding elections"), and I'm in favor of democracy promotion (note the difference between "promotion" and "forcible implementation"). When leaders are accountable to their people, it's harder for those leaders to blame all of their nations' ills on outside influences (e.g., the infidel West), and additionally, I think self-determination is an inherent good, one that is a foundation of our nation.

Contrary to such a goal, the Bush administration is ruining that ideal for an entire region in a war that not only harms our foreign policy but also makes us less safe, proving once again that the rhetoric of freedom and democracy doesn't match the policies that are now solidifying autocracies. Read the rest of this post...

In 5 days, your donations won't matter - give now before it's too late

My contribution to Democrat Jill Derby (NV-02):
$

UPDATE: Nevada Democrat Jill Derby just weighed in to the comments to thank folks for helping her out. Very classy.



After Monday or so, your monetary donations to the various Democratic campaigns won't matter. It will be too late for the campaigns to use the money to buy ads right before the election, taking place on November 7.

That doesn't mean they can't use your donations to pay their costs, staff salaries, rent, but if you really want to impact the elections with your donations, help them buy ads, get out the vote, you need to give between now and Monday.

Which brings me to Democrat Jill Derby of Nevada, today's candidate on the blog. We've only fundraised for 4 candidates so far this week, and we may - may - add one more tomorrow. That's it.

Other than that, we're going to put up a final list of several more candidates you should consider donating to over the weekend - close campaigns in which even a relatively small donation can make a big difference in helping the campaign do advertising, etc. But we aren't going to be posting 435 more races for you to go to. There are only five more giving days left, this is it.

So if you're going to give, please give now. Don't wait. Another $50 today, and then another $100 or $200 this weekend spread around the various final candidates we post, won't break a lot of us. But it will make a huge difference to these campaigns. Joe has been talking to various campaigns around the country - they're shocked when they see $2,000 has been raised, forget about the $23,000 you all raised for Angie Paccione in Colorado.

For some, a couple hundred bucks, or even fifty more bucks, is more than they can afford, and that's fine - do not give if you don't have the cash. There are other ways you can help. You can help phone bank and help the campaigns in lots of other ways (we'll be posting volunteer links as well). But for a lot of us, another $200 or $300 isn't going to make a very large dent in our budgets. And those are the folks I'm asking to consider giving to Jill today, and then to several of the folks we post tomorrow.

So please open up your wallets and give today to Democrat Jill Derby running for the US House from Nevada. She is pro-choice, glbt-friendly; her opponent is a far-right, abortion-banning, gay-baiting, Bush-loving clone, and Jill is tied in the latest poll. Even more telling, 20%of voters are still undecided. That's huge for any district, but in a solidly Republican district like hers, that means a lot of voters are very, very unhappy with the Republicans and are considering either not voting or giving the Democratic candidate a chance.

That means Jill can woo those voters if she can get her message out to them. And the way she gets that message out is via TV and radio ads that you help her buy.

The GOP has only given $20,000 or so to her opponent, that's nothing. We gave more than that to Angie Paccione in Colorado. So please open up your wallets, if you can, and help Jill Derby. We are talking about taking back the House of Representatives and finally putting a stop to George Bush, Dick Cheney and the Republican war on everything our country used to believe in.

Your fifty bucks matters. Your 500 bucks matters even more. Your 2,000 bucks, well, a few of you have given that to several candidates, and you simply rock. You've already raised $4,000 for Jill just today. Let's make it $10,000 by midnight. Thanks so much, JOHN

My contribution to Jill: $

Read the rest of this post...

Vote for Corker, he's whiter

Bob Corker, the Aryan Nation Republican candidate for US Senate from Tennessee, is now running ads about his African-American opponent Harold Ford and playing jungle drums in the background every time Ford's name is mentioned. And, as TPM Election Central notes, this time Corker can't blame the racist ad on Ken Mehlman and the Republican National Committee - this is one of Corker's own ads.

I was a bit surprised not seeing the usual GOP gay-bashing election ads this month, the stuff that always comes up the month before the election, since homophobia is usually the bigotry of choice for Republicans wanting to get out the vote. But this year is different. For some reason the GOP has decided to ignore the gays, and even Latinos, and go back to their tried and true traditional old racism.

It's rather shocking, and telling as to not just how desperate the Republicans are in the face of a Democratic tidal wive, but also how far the Republican party has not come in terms of dealing with its racist past.

You can listen to the ad here. Read the rest of this post...

Republican US House candidate from Kentucky calls on Rumsfeld to resign. What do the other Republican House candidates have to say about that?

Good question to ask your Republican challenger: Republican US House member Ann Northrup (R-KY) called this week on Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to resign after having so botched the war in Iraq. Do you agree with Rep. Northrup that Rumsfeld should resign, or do you agree with President Bush that Rumsfeld has done a great job in Iraq? Read the rest of this post...

John Kerry to give $500,000 more to Dem campaigns

Good for him. Sure it took some public humiliation to get him to pony up, but he did finally pony up, and that's great. Evan Bayh (D-IN), however, still is being a Scrooge, as is Marty Meehan (D-MA). Apparently they don't believe a Democratic majority is very important.

More from the Boston Globe:

Kerry and Senator Edward M. Kennedy both said they were giving $500,000 each to national Democratic committees, while Representative Edward Markey of Malden said he was giving $100,000 and Representative Michael Capuano of Somerville said he was giving $50,000.

But Representative Martin Meehan of Lowell, who has more cash on hand than any other member of the US House -- $4.9 million -- is abiding by his decision not to give any more cash directly from his campaign to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, according to spokesman Sandra Salstrom.

I wonder if anybody is going to launch a campaign to take Meehan's committee seats away from him if and when the Dems take back the House without his help?

Now contact the other members of Congress who aren't doing their fair share. Read the rest of this post...

Victim of assault by Jim Gibbons, Congressman and Nevada's GOP candidate for Governor, claims pressure and bribe attempt

Nevada is becoming one of the epicenters of GOP scandals. Congressman Jim Gibbons, the GOP candidate for Governor, has a couple going on. The incident over the alleged assault just keeps on giving. Yesterday, the woman at the center of the controversy had a press conference. There's a new twist every day:

The Las Vegas woman who has accused Republican gubernatorial candidate Jim Gibbons of assaulting her said Wednesday that she dropped charges against him the next day because people connected to his campaign had threatened her, pressured her and tried to buy her silence.

In her first public comments on the circumstances that have put her at the center of the scandal that has dominated the run-up to the election, Chrissy Mazzeo said at a news conference Wednesday that she was telling the truth when she said that Gibbons had assaulted her and that she gladly would take a lie detector test.

The article is interesting and tawdry -- not exactly what a candidate wants floating around 12 days before an election. Gibbons got himself in to this mess. He has no one else to blame. Read the rest of this post...

The GOP Florida governor candidate is not gay, really. I mean it.

More on the rumor that dare that not speak its name. Read the rest of this post...

Nevada Republican Jon Porter refuses to release records to prove he didn't make illegal fundraising calls from office - new email evidence arises

And not only is there a former staffer alleging that Porter broke the law, but the newspaper now has internal staff emails that back up the charge.

Las Vegas Sun:

Rep. Jon Porter refused Tuesday to release phone records or copies of his daily schedule, even though his office says the documents would disprove charges by a former aide that the congressman made dozens of illegal fundraising calls from his government offices....

Porter is seeking his third term in Washington as representative of Nevada's 3rd Congressional District, which includes most Las Vegas suburbs. He is locked in a tight race with Democrat Tessa Hafen, a former press secretary for Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev .

The Cook Political Report, a respected Washington analytical newsletter, now rates the race as a tossup - a change from the "leaning Republican" classification it has held much of the year.

Read the rest of this post...

Thursday Morning Open Thread

Bush is making Iraq the issue. For months, we've been hearing that if Iraq is the issue, the GOP loses. So, their leader is undermining the Republican candidates. Yesterday, Bush said he's accountable for the problems in Iraq. The Republicans on the Hill have blindly followed Bush -- and never held him accountable.

Iraq is the issue:

The U.S. military on Thursday announced the deaths of five U.S. troops in fighting in Iraq, raising to 96 the number of American forces killed this month.

The four Marines and one Navy sailor all died in fighting in Anbar province, a hotbed of the Sunni insurgency against U.S. troops and their Iraqi government allies.

The 96 deaths is the highest monthly total since October 2005, when the same number of American forces were killed.

Staying the course has deadly consequences. Read the rest of this post...

Today's candidate is Democrat Jill Derby of Nevada

Democrat Jill Derby is running for the US House in an open seat vacated by GOP Rep. Jim Gibbons who is running for Governor. Gibbons is also the guy involved in multiple scandals, including his allegedly having attacked a woman in a parking lot last week and now having employed an illegal immigrant while publicly railing against, you guessed it, illegal immigrants. And in the latest scandal, his wife is now facing questions about possibly perjury.

This race should be a slam dunk for the GOP, it's not.

According to the Congressional Quarterly, the race only "leans Republican" - which is just this side of a toss-up. CQ notes that "Local observers say Derby has done a good job of crafting a centrist and grass-roots image that is palatable in the district, and has benefited from the national trend that seems to go against Republicans."

According to the Las Vegas Sun:

"Polls show Nevada's 2nd Congressional District, an open seat, in a statistical dead heat despite Republicans' 48,000-voter registration advantage. Democrat Jill Derby, a university regent and rancher's daughter who jokes about cowpies in her ads, has tried to woo rural voters away from Republican Secretary of State Dean Heller."

Jill Derby has $184,000 in cash on hand, her Republican opponent, Dean Heller, has $280,000. In the grand scheme of things, that's pretty close. And the House Republicans have only spent $21,286 on this race, which isn't much. That means it's a race in which your support can really make a difference.

Derby wants to see a new direction in Iraq, wants to increase the minimum wage, is against privatizing social security, pro-choice, and she was endorsed by Nevada Impact as lgbt-friendly.

The GOP candidate, Heller, is anti-choice and believes that stopping gay marriage is one of the top issues he faces. He's also in favor of privatizing social security and supports George Bush's view on Iraq. You get the picture.

Jill is the real deal, and has a real chance in a rural district where a small amount of money goes a long way. Let's show Jill Derby some love. Thanks.

My contribution: $

Read the rest of this post...

Major new Washington Post front page story on George Allen's history with racism

I only hope that this kind of reputation hurts, rather than helps, a Republican. Read the rest of this post...