Jay Quick, an independent whose name makes him sound like he's a member of the Justice League of AmericaJim may be thinking of Johnny Quick, who is in fact, at least in the post-Crisis DC Universe, a member of the Crime Syndicate of America, sworn enemies of the Justice League.|W|P|115705666964607485|W|P|This Is Me Being a Smart Alec Fanboy|W|P|prezelski@aol.com
Del port. macaco, voz del Congo, que designa una especie de mona.For the monolingual among you, this translates as "From Portugese macaco, Congolese term meaning monkey." The dictionary goes on to detail that a term derived from this meaning is used in Chile and Cuba to mean "ugly and deformed" and another definition meaning, well, a species of monkey. Go figure. Well, I guess that doesn't work. Tory commentator Tony Blankely also now claims that it is a word for clown in Italian. Unfortunately, I had to fire the only Italian speaker on my staff after he said unkind words about Zinedine Zidane's mother, so I can't run this one down. But, if either of these are true, why hasn't George Allen used them as one of the half-dozen or so excuses that he has presented? Heck, this could have flown a lot better than the silly "it's because he's got a Mohawk" excuse. Dude, that ain't a mohawk. It is more like a fade. But, I can't blame you for being unhip, you are Republican, after all.|W|P|115673319855026555|W|P|Stepping in the Macaca|W|P|prezelski@aol.com
By the way, Hayworth's opponent has no record of support for Israel and probably couldn't find it on a map until deciding to run for Congress.Well, funny that Mr. Simon brings it up. Harry Mitchell has been to Israel: touring the old city, visiting the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, visiting historical sites such as Masada and even meeting leaders like Shimon Peres. This was back in 2005, before he considered a run for congress. On the other hand, Hayworth hasn't made any official visits to Israel. The thing that I find interesting is that Simon seems to set the bar rather low for what, in his words, a "friend" to the Jewish community is. He seems to be arguing that all one has to do to be a "friend" is to support the policies of the State of Israel. Hard for me as a Catholic to pick out who are good friends to the Jewish community, but I would think that "friends" would mean folks who, when given the chance, use their position to oppose anti-semitism. Hayworth has been given numerous chances to do so as a congressman, but seems to have passed them up. For example, when Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas visited the White House, a letter was circulated among house members asking that the President urge Abbas to stop allowing the promotion of anti-semetic ideology in Palestinian schools and media. Members of congress, including Democrats and Republicans, signed the letter. Hayworth's signature is not there. Another letter was circulated asking Kofi Annan to take more action against global anti-semitism. Raúl Grijalva found time to sign it, Hayworth didn't. Hayworth also had a chance to co-sponsor the Global Anti-Semitism Awareness Act. 35 members saw fit to put their names on this bill, but Hayworth did not. Jeff Flake and Rick Renzi put their names on the Global Anti-Semitism Review Act of 2004, but Hayworth couldn't be bothered. As I've said numerous times, Hayworth is not an anti-semite. However, it is disingenuous to say that he stood-up against anti-semitism, when he has passed up these chances to do so, especially because he isn't exactly shy about talking about other issues that concern him.|W|P|115651785340653174|W|P|We Say "Love Your Brother," Well, We Don't Literally Say It, Well, We Don't Really Say It At All|W|P|prezelski@aol.com
As matters currently stand, Democrats should take over at least four seats without trouble -- including the seat of former Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.). These Democrat takeovers would include political comebacks by two former congressmen -- Baron Hill (D-Ind.) and Ken Lucas (D-Ky.) -- and the loss of Rep. Jim Kolbe's (R-Ariz.) seat, whose primary is not yet settled.The most interesting thing about this is that it seems he is down on the Republicans' chances no matter who gets nominated. NB - Credit Where Credit Is Due Department: I was tipped off to this from an entry on AZ Congress Watch.|W|P|115644971484305998|W|P|"Lord of Darkness" Sees Bleak Future for Republican CD-8 Nominee|W|P|prezelski@aol.com
Gabrielle Giffords: 45% Patty Weiss: 27% Jeff Latas: 6% Alex Rodriguez: 1% Bill Johnson: 1% Francine Schacter: 1% Undecided: 20%Republicans:
Randy Graf: 36% Steve Huffman: 13% Mike Hellon: 10% Mike Jenkins: 1% Frank Antenori: 1% Undecided: 39%I don't know who this "Undecided" person is, but he is kicking Latas's ass and is beating Graf too. Seriously though, I thought that Graf and Hellon would be doing better on the Republican side, and I thought that Rodriguez would be doing better too. That is all the comment I will make for now. Better for lettin' y'all ruminate. I'm sure I'll be recieving press releases from the campaigns soon. 'Cept from Huffman. I hear that he has been shy about media the last couple of days. The Weekly will be posting more details this afternoon when the full edition hits this here internet.|W|P|115636426197231511|W|P|CD 8 Polling Numbers Straight from the Wick Newspaperin' Empire|W|P|prezelski@aol.com
Gabrielle Giffords: 37 (62%)/32 (71%) Alex Rodriguez: 11 (18%)/7 (16%) Patty Weiss: 6 (10%)/4 (9%) Francine Shacter: 3 (5%)/1 (2%) Jeff Latas: 3 (5%)/1 (2%) Bill Johnson: 0 (0%)/0 (0%)The only candidate that actively tried to bring out supporters was Rodriguez. Latas's campaign had a sort of boycott of the event.|W|P|115612476316004805|W|P|The Results Only Matter If My Guy Won|W|P|prezelski@aol.com
Believe it or not, that's the insinuation of the Jewish News of Greater Phoenix, the Arizona Democratic Party, the Arizona Republic, and countless blogosphere crackpots, some of whom have lumped Hayworth in with Malibu meshuga Mel Gibson and Gibson's tequila-fueled tirade against matzo-munchers worldwide. Hayworth's far more sober sin was quoting famed auto titan Henry Ford in Hayworth's tome Whatever It Takes: Illegal Immigration, Border Security and the War on Terror, which Hayworth penned with his chief of staff Joe Eule.I'm hoping that I am not what Lemons considers a "blogosphere crackpot." Crackpot or no, I went back and checked the Democratic Party's press releases, and found nothing accusing Hayworth of anti-semitism. I also checked through the various blogs that wrote about this, and only one, Down With Tyranny!, (the name suggests a certain distance from quiet, polite discussion of the issues) refers to Hayworth and his publisher as fascists, but not anti-semites. The Jewish News article that he refers to is an editorial that includes the following:
We're not saying that Hayworth is anti-Semitic - only that he should choose his heroes more carefully.Looking back on my writing on the topic, you will see that I said something similar. Also, I couldn't find anything comparing Hayworth to Mel Gibson. Hayworth may like the comparison though. He'd be thinking Mad Max, we'd be thinking Chicken Run. Besides, we all know that Hayworth is not an anti-semite. His best friend is Jack Abramoff, after all.|W|P|115592156771916827|W|P|I'm a Crackpot|W|P|prezelski@aol.com
A new rule: nobody can criticize a politician that they haven't met. That may be a good rule for this blog. I'll look into it. Yes, the original letter had Ron Drake's cell-phone number printed. I decided to cut Drake a break and not re-print the number. Putting up numbers like that on the internet doesn't seem like the brightest idea Drake's campaign has had. I went through the archives, and found the offending letter. By the way, the West Valley View's letter page makes this here portion of the blogosphere look like the Paul Duke years on Washington Week in Review. Before reading through the letters, I had no idea there was a large portion of our political class that are "Hezboliberals" (funny when you understand what the word Hezbollah actually means), or that Hillary Clinton secretly supports terrorism because Anderson Cooper is gay (I found that logic hard to follow). The folks on our side don't seem to be much better. In a longer letter, nay, rant, from frequent letter writer Compton regarding what he sees as an apparent secret neo-con plot to supress turn-out in Arizona, this was what he said about Drake:Editor: My name is Ronny Drake. I am the son of Ron Drake, a candidate for the 7th Congressional District in Arizona. I have never responded personally to [David Compton's] letters, though I have read them all. I would never knock the freedom of speech, nor would I dare infringe on it. But, Mr. Compton, I just want all of your "loyal" readers to know that you have never spoken to my dad, nor have you ever tried to contact him personally. Writing letters to your local newspaper is your only method of action. Please Dave, call him at his campaign cell phone at 520-***-****. Anyone who has dealt with my dad over the past six years knows he has never avoided a response. He would love to hear any suggestions you might have. So there, I challenge you, in front of anyone reading this to actually try and do something instead of just complaining. But, I also guarantee if David doesn't try to call my dad or e-mail him I will let you know. I am sick and tired of reading his trash about my dad. You can be anti-Republican all you want, but you have no right to bad-mouth someone you have never met. People disagree with politicians all the time, people probably disagree with some of my dad's points of view, but he makes himself available to anyone who has questions or comments and has always kept an open mind and an open office door. I encourage anyone who is interested to call him or check out http://www.drake4congress.com/. Ronny Drake Avondale
The neocons know that they cannot afford to let this happen and they are taking every measure to distract, confuse, intimidate, restrict, and abuse every possible dissenting voter against this administration. In addition, certain office holder's districts have been targeted for this chicanery including that represented by Congressman Raul Grijalva. Be assured that Ron Drake is the "neocon's man" in this district.That was it,the sum total of the "personal" attack on Ronny's father. That really ain't much. If he and his family can't handle that, it's no wonder he's been so scarce on the campaign trail.|W|P|115583640956782787|W|P|Junior to Epistolarian: Don't Say Bad Things About My Daddy!|W|P|prezelski@aol.com
The Dixie Chicks said they were embarrassed he was from Texas. I'm embarrassed George Bush is from the United States. He's an idiot. He's enormously incompetent on both the domestic and international scenes.What is most interesting was that this remark prompted Joe Scarborough to have a segment on his show entitled "Is the President an 'Idiot'?" Scarborough's answer seemed to be, "sort of." Geez, if a partisan hack like Scarborough is willing to entertain this notion, it's no wonder these guys are in trouble. I'm looking for the press to ask Howe Gelb and various surviving members of Chuck Wagon and the Wheels and the Lewallen Brothers for their political thoughts too.|W|P|115574175488303904|W|P|You're No Good, Baby You're No Good (Sorry...It's So Easy)|W|P|prezelski@aol.com
They have a personal agenda. They believe that somehow by ingratiating themselves to these people they'll vote for them.Um, okay Don. I realize that your previous career of arranging forks for gubernatorial dinners may not have totally prepared you for this, so here is a little civics lesson: Illegal aliens cannot vote. Nope. Not for John McCain, not for Jeff Flake, and certainly not for Jim Kolbe, who is not even running for re-election. Now, there has been an ongoing unfortunate theme on the part of some members of your party to assume that any significant Hispanic support for a candidate automatically means that non-citizens are illegally voting for them. I have yet to see the people who state this actually give any evidence of such things, and it is, to state it as charitably as I can, borderline racist. Should the governor, between now and then, decide to join a convent or tour with a re-united Concrete Blonde (it would only make sense) and you become elected, you will find that the state is full of Hispanic citizens (the ones you seem to call "these people"), some of whom have roots here going back even further than the Goldwaters. And yes, they can vote.|W|P|115550980489032497|W|P|Don Also Wants to Keep the Muslims from Taking All the Good Ham|W|P|prezelski@aol.com
Polls show that Americans are dissatisfied with the performance of the President and of Congress. Are you pleased or displeased with the performance of your political party's leaders in Washington? On some issues I have been displeased, on others pleased. For example, I was strongly displeased with House leadership and strongly critical of them when they tried to change the rules to protect one of their own from ethical scrutiny (I was eventually victorious). On the other hand, I am pleased that they have been very receptive to many of my requests on behalf of my constituents, which has allowed me to come through on many important projects for Arizona. I would also point out that opinion polls show that Americans are just as negative toward Democrats and they are Republicans. I can understand why many Americans have a negative view of Washington. I have a negative view of Washington. But I also have a positive view of America and its people, and I trust Arizona voters to do the right thing in November. There will be plenty of negative attacks this election season, and they are smart enough to see through the nonsense. They know I will always put them first. I am honored to serve them in Washington and I ask for their vote.Sounds great. Then again, I think Fantastic Four comics are great too. You know what? They don't have much to do with reality. Maybe Hayworth has been spending too much time reading through old copies of the Dearborn Independent to remember his actual record on ethics issues. For example, even though he now says he was "strongly critical" about the rules change to protect Tom Delay (a name he wisely neglects to mention), Hayworth voted for the rule change, and only changed his mind two weeks later when he and other members reversed the vote after public pressure. Hayworth was also part of a later effort to allow indicted members to retain leadership posts, another effort to protect Delay's authority. He backed down, but admitted that it was because the ensuing storm would have detracted from the rest of the Republican agenda. Throughout this whole period, Hayworth had made numerous public appearances defending Delay, but never once was he ever "strongly critical." Well, at least until now.|W|P|115522325972391818|W|P|J. D. Hayworth: Our Newest Ethics Maven!|W|P|prezelski@aol.com
The Star's story was not so much a "gotcha" as it was a display of some ignorance about the legislative process. Late night "first readings" to a near empty chamber are a means that the majority often uses to "expedite the process", in other words, to limit debate and stiffle public scrutiny. With more space, I could go into great detail about the State Constitution's requirements for three readings, and the rules and traditions of the legislature. Suffice it to say, a procedural motion like a quorum call can delay this process, sometimes even forcing an issue to fester in the open over a weekend. That's what Senator Giffords did. In other words, the ad is hardly a "total fabrication". At worst, it is an over-simplification of an arcane process that the Star does not fully understand. None of us can expect a 30 second ad to explain all this. Making a quorum call like this, incidentally, takes a bit of courage. Gumming up the works is not something that goes unpunishedby the majority leadership.He was able to pull a similar stunt to block a bill on cable television regulation last session. Unfortunately, they brought the bill back this year. (By the way, the charge that one person threw out that Tom is part of some Giffords spin machine is absolutely ridiculous. They don't run with the same crowd in Phoenix, and he certainly isn't as close to her as I am. Just because Tom and I look alike, doesn't mean we have the same friends.) Over at Espresso Pundit, he's saying that he can't find the articles refered to in the article. I guess he is trying to imply that the articles don't actually exist. A friend tracked both of them down and sent me copies, they don't seem to be posted anywhere. One article was an AP article entitled "Dems Delay Introduction of GOP Budget Bills" by Paul Davenport, dated May 12, 2003:
A Democratic senator whose party was left out of budget talks used a procedural tactic to delay formal introduction of Republican legislative leaders' latest plan. The GOP leaders had planned to introduce their multi-bill package during brief evening floor sessions of the House and Senate, but the attempt was thwarted when Sen. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Tucson, made a motion that triggered a requirement that a majority of the Senate be in attendance.The other article is quoted in the ad to describe the bill; it is a Republic article entitled "Budget Foe Set to Head to Australia; Trip May Stall Plan for Weeks" by Patterson's favorite reporters Robbie Sherwood and Chip Scutari on May 20th. The article in question was about Sen. Linda Binder, who also opposed the same budget bill:
But she said Monday that her more conservative colleagues are out of touch with most of Arizona in their zeal to cut early-childhood education grants, funding for community health centers and long-term care for the elderly. She also reportedly demanded that the Legislature pass key non-budget bills, including proposals to build university research labs and to expand Phoenix Civic Plaza.And by the way, Giffords, legislative Democrats and the Governor, along with moderate Republicans like Binder and Slade Mead were able to put up enough road blocks to force a comprimise on the budget.|W|P|115517524706904483|W|P|A Bit of a Response|W|P|prezelski@aol.com
On Tuesday, the message sent by Connecticut voters was loud and clear. They want change, and they want Ned Lamont to represent them in the U.S. Senate, voting for Ned by a 52% - 48% margin over Senator Joe Lieberman in the Democratic primary. You see, despite what Joe Lieberman believes, invading Iraq and diverting our attention away from Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden is not being strong on national security. Blind allegiance to George W. Bush and his failed "stay the course" strategy is not being strong on national security. And no, Senator Lieberman, no matter how you demonize your opponents, there is no "antisecurity wing" of the Democratic Party. Indeed, Connecticut Democrats recognized all of this, and yesterday they chose Ned Lamont as their nominee for the U.S. Senate. Now, I hope you'll join me in supporting Ned as he heads into the general election this November. Stand with Connecticut Democrats. Send a message to Joe Lieberman to end his Independent campaign for CT Senate. As a Democrat, I respect the will of the Connecticut Democratic voters and their decision to make Ned Lamont their nominee. Even before the election results came in on Tuesday, Ned Lamont showed his respect for the voters by committing to abide by the Democratic primary result and support whoever won. Joe Lieberman, on the other hand, began collecting petition signatures to run as an Independent several weeks ago while concurrently running in the Democratic primary. In short, he wanted to have his cake and eat it too. Despite his efforts to appear on the November ballot as an Independent, I held out hope that Joe would withdraw from the Connecticut Senate race after the primary votes were counted. Unfortunately, Joe has announced his candidacy as an Independent candidate, running against Ned, the Democratic nominee. Today, I ask you to email Joe Lieberman. Urge him to respect the will of Connecticut Democrats and end his Independent candidacy for CT Senate. In 2000, the presence of a third party candidate, Ralph Nader, no doubt played a role in the defeat of Vice President Gore and Joe Lieberman. Now Joe Lieberman is risking our party's claim on his Senate seat by running as a third party candidate himself. Recent news reports detail the GOP's interest in supporting such an effort. It's time to draw a line. I committed myself to supporting the Democratic nominee for the US Senate in Connecticut, and I ask you to do likewise. Because too much is at stake with our troubles abroad and at home, we cannot play games this Election Day. That's why I call on all loyal Democrats to join me in urging Senator Lieberman to drop his bid for the Senate as an Independent and endorse the duly nominated Democrat. We should thank him for his service and invite him to stay active, or even run again someday, but as a party we cannot let Joe Lieberman be this year's Ralph Nader. Email Joe Lieberman. Encourage him to do the right thing, withdraw from the Connecticut Senate race, and focus his efforts on electing Democrats across America. The 2006 elections represent a real crossroads for America. We must unify our efforts to stop George Bush's radical agenda and end this one-party government. I hope Senator Lieberman will join us in this critical fight for our nation's future. Sincerely, Wes Clark|W|P|115515557396147783|W|P|Wes Clark on Ned Lamont|W|P|prezelski@aol.com
Check out this tidbit about J. D. Hayworth from Harry Mitchell's website: He has said he would not rule out possibly forcing the "mass deportation" of 12 million people. [Source: The Arizona Republic, Sept. 1, 2005; "Whatever it Takes," by J. D. Hayworth and Joseph J. Eule] Does Hayworth ever use the words "mass deportation?" Of course not. Harry just made it up. But the source looks really good. After all, Harry points to the Arizona Republic and Hayworth's own book. The fact that those sources don't discuss "mass deportation" is beside the point. At least it's beside the point to Harry.As it turned out, the September 1, 2005 issue of the Republic did, in fact, run an article in which Hayworth refused to rule out mass deportation. The Mitchell campaign contacted Greg Patterson over at Espresso Pundit, and to his credit, he took down the post. The question that the correspondent who brought this up for me was: is this really enough? My answer is that I am not sure. The concern is that the wrong facts had already been imprinted in cyberspace and quoted elsewhere. Well, that would happen under the system that I use too. It is also a helpful to point out that even Slate magazine gets grief for its bend-over-backwards correction policies. There really are no established rules for this sort of thing. The lack of editors, deadlines and policies is the strength of blogging, but also can be its weakness.|W|P|115512999100766595|W|P|The Editors Regret the Error|W|P|prezelski@aol.com
Note:Democrats- I don't need to hear your sniveling complaints. Remember you are the ones that started this redirector tactic and I am sorry you have the candidate you do. That is your problem. But he has money.But, I'm not snivelling...I'm not...I'm not. By the way, the "re-director" tactic has been used for quite sometime. I even remember the George Bush campaign buying "Bushsucks.org" out from under the folks that had it and using it as a redirect to their own site. But, please, make this a campaign issue. It will interest a whole eight or nine people. And another thing, what you did wasn't a re-direct. Just so you know. CORRECTION: I was mistaken in the original post. Although the various "Pederson" domain names had been purchased by a Republican, the Goldwater redirect name had been registered anonymously through a service often used by cybersquatters.|W|P|115455759151511168|W|P|Gosh, I Don't Even Know Why We Bother|W|P|prezelski@aol.com