The Midterm Elections

[fraurosena]

10 minutes ago, Ali said:

I don't think this would work for most Trump worshippers I have encountered. Education is seen as indoctrination. They are extremely narrow minded and cannot seem to hear anything contrary to their belief. I once heard one of them tell me that my child's school district was anti_Christian because spring break does  not always fall next to Easter. I pointed out that the district had no school on Good Fridays. This did not change her opinion. I have no idea how to get through to these people. They also think they are much more intelligent than they actually are - Dunning-Kruger effect.

Oh, I wasn't thinking of the BT's at all. They're essentially a lost cause in my opinion.

Frankly, a lot of people are making a big mistake in their thinking about the electorate. BT's are deemed to make up a third of it, but what people are forgetting is that a majority of two thirds therefore are NOT supporters of the current administration. What people should also remember is that there have been incredibly low turnouts at past elections, but we are seeing that the turnout at the current primary elections is much higher. The turnout in November could be very different and much higher than in previous midterms. Which in turn means that the slice of BT's in the electorate overall will only diminish. (eg. 33 out of 100 amounts to a third, but 33 out of 250 is only 13,2%)

Ergo, focussing on BT's is a waste of time and effort.

[fraurosena]

Good news!

 

[fraurosena]

 

[fraurosena]

You reap what you sow, sweetums. You reap what you sow.

Nunes blames ‘radical leftists’ for his failing re-election campaign

Quote

With his House seat no longer considered ‘safe’ by election forecasters, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) is looking for someone to blame for his failing re-election campaign.

Instead of considering that his own failures may explain his sinking campaign, Nunes is pointing the finger at the right-wing’s go-to boogeyman: “radical leftists.”

In a fundraising email sent on Saturday, Nunes whined that “radical leftists” and the mainstream media are saying “nasty things” about him, though he failed to provide examples of these “nasty things” — likely because most of them are true statements about his own actions.

The email comes just a day after the Republican-controlled House Intelligence Committee, which is led by Nunes, released the findings from its sham investigation into Russian interference. Even Nunes’ fellow Republicans admitted that the investigation was so inadequate and partisan that it undermined the credibility of the committee.

As the head of the House Intelligence Committee, Nunes was tasked with investigating Russia’s attacks on the 2016 election, as well as any potential coordination with the Trump campaign. But rather than providing oversight, he decided to run interference instead.

Nunes has spent the past year putting on an elaborate show on behalf of Trump. He became so notorious for doing the dirty work of the White House that his name even became synonymous with an embarrassing attempt by Republicans to discredit the FBI in an effort to shield Trump from scrutiny.

None of that has gone unnoticed by his constituents back in Fresno, CA. In a blistering editorial, Nunes’ hometown newspaper slammed his performance as a congressman, calling it “nothing short of embarrassing.”

“He certainly isnt representing his Central Valley constituents or Californians, who care much more about health care, jobs and, yes, protecting Dreamers than about the latest conspiracy theory,” the editorial stated. “Instead, he’s doing dirty work for House Republican leaders trying to protect President Donald Trump in the Russia investigation.”

In the last three election cycles, Nunes has won his district comfortably. In 2016, Trump won the district by a 10-point margin.

But thanks in large part to his disgraceful performance over the past year, Nunes’ district is no longer considered a “safe Republican” seat, according to top election forecaster Larry Sabato.

As Nunes struggles to keep his campaign afloat, his Democratic challenger — Fresno County Deputy District Attorney Andrew Janz — continues to have fundraising success, taking in more than $1 million in the first quarter of 2018.

Nunes can whine about “radical leftists” and the “nasty” mainstream media all he wants, but blaming his problems on imaginary boogeymen isn’t going to help him. His re-election campaign is failing because he is failing at his job.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

"In governors’ races, candidates battle over what the Democratic Party stands for"

Spoiler

AKRON, Ohio — At a breakfast with African American pastors here, Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Richard Cordray answered question after question about the “A” rating he got from the National Rifle Association when he was attorney general. But his answer on weapons like AR-15s raised eyebrows.

“Actually, if you go around the state of Ohio, there’s a lot of people who like that gun,” said Cordray, who has promised a pragmatic approach to tightening gun laws. “It’s a very popular gun.”

A half-mile away stood a billboard from the campaign of opponent Dennis Kucinich, who touts his own “F” rating from the NRA: “Protect Our Kids. Ban Assault Weapons” is its starker message.

Throughout the country, increasingly contentious primaries for governor are emerging as central battlegrounds in the broader struggle for the soul of the Democratic Party.

While House and Senate primaries have focused on electability and the goal of winning the two chambers, these state-level races are home to debates on a range of core policy questions on guns, education, health care, the economy and marijuana legalization. And unlike congressional races, where the parties’ campaign committees have intervened in primaries, there’s no national group that takes sides in choosing the nominee.

In many cases, establishment candidates and incumbents are being pulled to the left by an energized party base and surprisingly strong liberal challengers.

In New York, actor and activist Cynthia Nixon has mounted a credible challenge to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo by arguing that he seems to “work for the Republicans” rather than govern as a Democrat. Cuomo has responded by moving to restore voting rights for parolees and signaling openness to marijuana legalization.

In Florida, where Democrats haven’t won a governor’s race since 1994, the three leading candidates spent much of a televised debate last week debating their liberal bona fides. Former congresswoman Gwen Graham, who spent her one term crafting a moderate record, defended herself against accusations that she didn’t vote closely enough with President Barack Obama. Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum and former Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine discussed how they would move the state to the left.

In Michigan, a wealthy entrepreneur entered the race and branded himself “the most progressive Democrat” on the ballot, backing statewide single-payer health care and a $15 minimum wage. Shri Thanedar now is ahead in polling and name recognition over former state senator Gretchen Whitmer, the clear favorite of party leaders and labor unions.

Colorado has a crowded field, with a congressman, former state treasurer and lieutenant governor all in the race. There, candidates aren’t battling over whether to provide universal health care but how to do it.

In similar fights last year in New Jersey and Virginia, the Democratic Party’s preferred candidates in gubernatorial races prevailed against challenges by insurgents from the left. In both cases, Democrats went on to handily best the GOP candidate.

Liberal candidates have suggested that their states can become laboratories for left-wing policy and bulwarks against Trump policy. The wide-open primaries have shown how candidates from the left can energize the party’s restive base, and the races have previewed fights in what looks to be a large field of candidates for the party’s presidential nominee in 2020.

Democrats who had not anticipated the size of the 2010 Republican wave have invested early in governors’ races. The National Democratic Redistricting Committee, which started work in 2017 to prevent Republicans from drawing most of the new maps after the next census, has raised more than $17 million to work to flip legislative chambers and governor’s mansions.

“If we elect Democrats to these seats now, we can begin to unrig the Republicans’ power on the system and restore fairness to our electoral system,” said former attorney general Eric Holder, who chairs the NDRC.

But neither the Democratic Governors Association nor the NDRC are getting involved in primaries.

In Ohio, Cordray tried to run on “kitchen table issues,” rolling out policies like free in-state tuition for some colleges, and arguing that it was pointless to run on gun-control policies that would die in the state legislature. His campaign centered on his work at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which he led from 2012 until his decision to enter the race last year. The pitch was simple: He wasn’t flashy, but he had spent years getting justice for consumers.

“What is achievable? What will actually raise the level of peoples’ lives?” Cordray said in an interview after the session with African American pastors at the Akron Family Restaurant. “People can throw things that are pie in the sky, and they don’t have to worry about how to pay for it. I think that’s irresponsible.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who first proposed the CFPB that Cordray led, came this month to Ohio to campaign for “my friend Rich.” Warren, a frequent target of President Trump, stayed away from red-meat issues and helped Cordray release a policy to combat opioid addiction.

Cordray’s style has also been a challenge with some voters. On Sunday, the Cleveland Plain-Dealer endorsed Kucinich as the candidate “most likely to challenge Statehouse inertia,” praising his style over Cordray’s laconic search for compromise.

Cordray’s backers readily concede that their candidate is not much of a backslapper.

“Let’s just face it: Rich is a nerd,” Warren said in an interview before heading to Ohio.

But while local and national Democrats had viewed Cordray as their strongest possible candidate for governor in Ohio, Kucinich argued that “the establishment” had selected a dud when the state wanted a bold shift to the left.

“The Democrats haven’t won statewide elections because they offer candidates who want to blur the differences,” said Kucinich in an interview after an LGBT event at an Akron nightclub. “If you’re so interested in being elected, why not just run as a Republican? Let the rest of us lead on banning assault weapons, on the legalization of marijuana, against the fracking of oil.”

Kucinich has been backed by Our Revolution, the political group founded by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to promote “progressive” candidates. Sanders has pledged to stay out of the race.

Kucinich has created openings for Cordray whenever the topic veered from core issues. At an early April town hall, he startled one supporter by saying that it should be “up to parents” whether children received vaccinations; when pressed, he said that the science was not settled. Two weeks ago, Cordray’s campaign attacked Kucinich for not revealing a $20,000 honorarium from a Syrian lobbying group — with “ties to the so-called 9/11 Truther movement,” as former governor Ted Strickland (D) put it.

Kucinich fought back, saying that the “cowardly, hysterical and outrageously untrue statements” reflected a panic among “State Capitol power-brokers” about his candidacy. But after a week of brutal attacks, amid early voting, Kucinich returned the money.

In an interview, asked if he enjoyed the experience of campaigning, Cordray said that he liked only the substantive aspects. “I like dealing with people,” he said. “I like hearing their stories. And I like figuring out how we can put our perspectives together to solve problems.”

During one quiet moment of the pastor breakfast, Cordray’s newest TV ad splashed onto a nearby screen. It started with an image of Barack Obama, then cut to an image of Cordray, the man Obama hired when he “needed someone to have your back.”

“There I am!” said Cordray.

 

[fraurosena]

Yes! This is my kind of optimism. Go for it, America!

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

[GreyhoundFan]

"Meet the little-known ‘big fish’ megadonor setting the tone for GOP primary races"

Spoiler

Behind just about every divisive Senate Republican primary this year, an amiable Midwestern businessman is bankrolling the candidate who claims to be the most hard-charging, anti-establishment conservative in the race.

Richard Uihlein, a wealthy shipping-supplies magnate from Illinois who shuns the spotlight, has risen to become one of the most powerful — and disruptive — GOP donors in the country.

For years, Uihlein has given money to isolated races in the service of his anti-union, free-market and small-government views. But he has dramatically increased his giving this cycle, pouring $21 million into races from Montana to West Virginia to ensure more conservative victories in the upcoming midterm elections, Federal Election Commission records show.

The beneficiaries of Uihlein’s largesse include upstart candidates such as Mississippi state Sen. Chris McDaniel, who has made preserving the Confederate symbol in the state flag a centerpiece of his campaign for U.S. Senate. Uihlein gave tens of thousands of dollars to support failed Senate hopeful Roy Moore (R) in Alabama, doubling down even after multiple women accused Moore of unwanted sexual advances toward them when they were in their teens, FEC records show.

“Dick does believe in the underdog and likes to give people a chance no one else would,” said John Tillman, a friend and chief executive of the Illinois Policy Institute, a conservative think tank funded by Uihlein. “He believes in building mechanisms of accountability for lawmakers. And too often, that means holding Republicans accountable when they fail to put taxpayers first.”

Early checks, big influence

Uihlein wields a unique influence in the age of big-money politics, by jumping in early in the primaries in an effort to clear the field in competitive Republican primaries. Unlike other prolific GOP donors who tend to sit out the primaries, Uihlein is making his mark early — and without much fanfare — to advance his preferred Republican candidate.

Uihlein’s checks come in amounts once unheard of for individual donations to a single race. In addition to giving direct contributions to candidates’ campaigns, he donates to super PACs working to boost their candidacies and edge out primary opponents by blanketing local TV markets with advertising.

“Dick Uihlein is kind of setting the tone for these primary races and shaping the contours of what the anti-establishment conservative donors follow,” said one Republican consultant who requested anonymity because he has represented candidates who oppose Uihlein’s efforts. “He seems to be the big fish right now.”

And yet Uihlein, 72, cuts an understated figure, personally avoiding the spotlight and saying little publicly. Neither Uihlein nor his Pleasant Prairie, Wis.-based company, Uline, one of the nation’s largest packaging and shipping-supply sellers, has a media representative. Requests for an interview through an informal family representative and the company were not answered.

Uihlein has described his conservative priorities as “freedom of speech, limited government, sanctity of life and, also, Second Amendment rights,” according to recent court testimony.

His wife, Liz, the company president and a political donor in her own right, has been more forthcoming about the couple’s political views in a regular column she writes in the company’s catalogue, which features packing tape, shrink wrap and hundreds of types of shipping boxes. Recent notes have warned on the danger of Chinese competition, the negative health effects of marijuana use and the detriments of the Federal Reserve’s low interest rate policy.

“Dick and I love reading newspapers and when we watch TV news, the channel is mostly set on Fox News,” she wrote.

Uihlein’s rise as a power player in the GOP has been greeted warily among Republican leaders, who are facing tough odds this fall against energized Democrats in midterm races across the country.

He has helped buoy some establishment-favored figures seen as more electable in general elections, such as Missouri Senate candidate Josh Hawley, who is seeking to unseat Sen. Claire McCaskill (D). But he is also scrambling the political order in unpredictable ways, as when he favored Kevin Nicholson in Wisconsin, a Republican aiming to take on Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D) this fall.

Nicholson, a former Democratic activist, was deemed a long-shot candidate until Uihlein gave him a fighting chance by pouring at least $3.5 million into his campaign, FEC records show.

“We have a primary because the guy who was a Democrat a few years ago found a billionaire backer,” said Alex Conant, a strategist for Wisconsin Next PAC, which is supporting state Sen. Leah Vukmir (R) in the race. “Without his backing Nicholson, Leah would be the presumptive nominee and the party would be working in unison to defeat Sen. Baldwin.”

All the while, the couple is testing the limits of what wealthy donors can do since the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which opened the doors for unlimited political spending by rich donors.

Uihlein was a modest donor to Illinois and Wisconsin candidates until the 2010 election, when he began contributing at least six figures per year to back state issues and candidates.

Of the more than $55 million the Uihleins gave to federal campaigns and groups over the past decade, $22 million came during the 2016 election alone, Federal Election Commission filings show, reflecting their recent surge in participation. They are on track to spend even more this cycle.

Uihlein has also stepped up his donations to conservative causes through the Ed Uihlein Family Foundation, named after his father, giving more than $45 million since 2007, according to Internal Revenue Service filings.

Uihlein was not an early supporter of Trump but came around after his preferred candidates, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, dropped out of the contest for the GOP presidential nomination.

He has continued to be one of the president’s top supporters, attending the inauguration in a black baseball cap that read “01.20.17 just can’t wait” and continuing to give hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Republican National Committee.

Controversial candidates

Allies of Uihlein paint a picture of a thoughtful and likable man who cares profoundly for his country.

“Dick is more interested in seeing people who will be good leaders, principled leaders and it’s more out of a deep care for the country,” said David McIntosh, president of Club for Growth, whose super PAC arm received at least $11 million since 2010 from Uihlein. “Every time I’ve talked to him, he has talked about how he really wants our country to be successful and have good leaders.”

But the causes and candidates Uihlein supports at times bring an edge to their politics, capturing headlines with their controversial statements about homosexuality and the Confederate flag.

In supporting Moore in Alabama, Uihlein backed a candidate who believed the U.S. Constitution was subservient to “God’s law” and promoted the impeachment of judges who approved of same-sex marriage.

His backing of Moore has made at least one of his candidates uniquely vulnerable. In Illinois, state Rep. Jim Durkin (R), the House minority leader, struck back at a Uihlein-backed primary challenger by responding with a TV spot claiming his opponent “teamed up with a child predator’s $100,000 donor.”

Uihlein gave $500,000 in 2016 to a minister in Minnesota, Bradlee Dean, who argues that judges who have strayed from biblical teaching around marriage are “magnifying lawlessness” and replacing “liberty with licentiousness.”

This spring, Uihlein was the primary backer of the gubernatorial campaign of Jeanne Ives, who ran an ad that cast actors as a transgender woman, a pro-immigration anarchist protester, a pink-hat-wearing feminist and a black Chicago teacher — all thanking the incumbent governor for fulfilling their priorities.

“Thank you, for signing legislation that lets me use the girls’ bathroom,” said the deep-voiced actor wearing a dress and holding a purse. “Thank you, for having all Illinois families pay for my abortion,” said the woman in the pink hat.

Uihlein gave her $2.5 million, state campaign finance filings show.

Particular target: Unions

Few issues, however, appear to have energized him more than dismantling the influence of labor unions.

Uihlein made his first major mark on the anti-union fight in Wisconsin in 2011, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to defend state senators in aggressive recall campaigns over their votes to end collective bargaining for public employees.

That fight also marked the beginning of a friendship between Scott Walker and Uihlein, who was charmed by the Wisconsin governor over a dinner meeting at the Uihleins’ home. He became an instrumental supporter of the governor’s campaign against public unions.

In recent years, Uihlein underwrote a fight against public-employee unions in Illinois that has become one of the most consequential labor cases to reach the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court in February heard arguments in Janus v. AFSCME, on whether it is unconstitutional to require state government workers to pay union dues even when they decide not to join.

Mark Janus, the lead plaintiff in the case and a state employee who argued that the mandatory union fee violated his free-speech rights, is represented by the Illinois Policy Institute, which Uihlein has funded for many years.

If the case is decided in Janus’s favor, it could gut the coffers of public-employee unions, an influential arm of the American labor movement.

Another Uihlein project has focused on creating conservative-leaning news sources.

One of his major charitable targets, Think Freely Media, funds websites and newspapers that mix local reporting with conservative political opinion. The sites have local names such as Lake County Gazette or McHenry Times.

As the Chicago Tribune reported, a separate political committee funded by Uihlein disclosed paying a group funded by Think Freely to republish “newspapers” with articles about the key candidates that could be mailed to targeted voters.

Tillman, who also founded Think Freely, said Uihlein is guided by his commitment to conservative principles and to effecting change through the candidates and causes he supports.

“He is pragmatic and realistic about every investment he makes, whether it’s in policy, politics or charitable giving,” Tillman said.

I hope he keeps getting tarred with the Roy Moore brush.

[AmazonGrace]

Grimm threatened to throw a reporter off a balcony. Now he's running.

[AmazonGrace]

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

[fraurosena]

3 hours ago, AmazonGrace said:

 

I thought at first that the comment was about that face, and I wanted to give a 'haha' upvote. But damn, it's about GOP operatives acting as Green Party candidates, just to siphon away votes from Democrats so they won't win and the GOP can stay in power. What sneaky, underhand trickery!

I'm glad this is getting exposed before the elections, but wish it was more blatantly obvious rather than the above comment suggests.

[Cartmann99]

A wee bit of backstory before the tweet for those who need a refresher:

Once upon a time, there was a wealthy man in West Virginia who owned a coal mine. He didn't properly follow safety regulations at the mine, and as a result of this, there was an accident at the mine that killed 29 miners. Don Blankenship, the owner of the mine, served one year in prison for his crimes. He's out of prison now, and would like to be West Virginia's next senator.

The ad from the linked article has since been removed from Blankenship's Facebook page, but it was a real ad from his campaign.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[fraurosena]

Huh. You mean they weren't before?

Crimes are no longer a disqualification for Republican candidates

Quote

Former New York congressman Michael Grimm is a felon who has admitted to hiring undocumented workers, hiding $900,000 from tax authorities and making false statements under oath. To hear him tell it, that’s a reason Staten Island Republicans should vote him back into office.

“It’s almost identical to what the president has been going through,” Grimm says of the federal investigation that led to his imprisonment. “It’s not an accident that under the Obama administration the Justice Department was used politically. And that is all starting to come out.”

Grimm has uncovered a new reality in the constantly changing world of Republican politics: Criminal convictions, once seen as career-enders, are no longer disqualifying. In the era of President Trump, even time spent in prison can be turned into a positive talking point, demonstrating a candidate’s battle scars in a broader fight against what he perceives as liberal corruption.

In a startling shift from “law-and-order Republicans,” Trump has attacked some branches of law enforcement, especially those pursuing white-collar malfeasance, as his allies and former campaign officials are ensnared in various investigations.

Following his lead, Republican Senate candidates with criminal convictions in West Virginia and Arizona have cast themselves as victims of the Obama administration’s legal overreach. Another former Trump adviser who has pleaded guilty to a felony has also become an in-demand surrogate, as Republicans jump at the chance to show their opposition to special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign.

“Here’s a general rule of thumb: Lawmakers should not be law breakers,” said Susan Del Percio, a New York GOP consultant who advised Grimm in 2010 but opposes his candidacy. “I guess it’s a different political norm we are facing today.”

Former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to a felony count of lying to the FBI, has become an unexpected star on the Republican campaign trail, with a planned appearance May 6 in Montana for Senate candidate Troy Downing. He plans to shoot skeet, dine with donors and hold a rally in the state, where select VIPs will be offered a chance to take their picture with him.

A retired Army general, Flynn faces up to five years in prison after he admitted to making false statements about his contacts with Russian officials and his work for the government of Turkey. “It is time to stand up for our #American Heroes,” Downing wrote when he announced the event, shortly after Trump sent out a tweet suggesting again that the Justice Department had treated Flynn unfairly.

In West Virginia, former coal baron Don Blankenship, who calls himself “Trumpier than Trump,” has advertised heavily about what he says is the injustice of his misdemeanor conviction for conspiring to violate mine safety laws, which sent him to prison for a year. Echoing Trump, Blankenship casts himself as a “political prisoner” who was targeted unfairly by the Obama administration after an explosion at one of his mines killed 29 people.

In Arizona, former Maricopa County sheriff Joe Arpaio is campaigning for Senate, with respectable fundraising and poll numbers, after receiving a pardon from Trump for his conviction on a misdemeanor contempt of court charge for his failure to follow a judicial order to curtail his immigration enforcement efforts.

Arpaio has compared his prosecution, which he considers politically motivated, to Republican claims that the Obama administration improperly sought warrants to monitor officials connected to the Trump campaign.

“It’s not something that has affected my campaign,” Arpaio said of his conviction, noting that a recent Magellan Strategies poll found him running second in a three-person race with a 67 percent favorable rating among Republican primary voters.

The campaigns are playing out in the shadow of a public effort by Trump and his allies to discredit the Justice Department’s investigation of the 2016 election. Trump has called it a “total witch hunt” and called Mueller’s investigators “the most biased group of people.”

The message is getting through to Trump supporters. A recent NPR-PBS NewsHour-Marist poll found declining support for Mueller and his investigation among Republicans. In the second week of April, 55 percent of Republicans said the investigation was “not fair,” up from 46 percent in March. The same poll found 56 percent of Republicans thought the FBI was biased against the president.

“The whole world changed when Attorney General (Loretta) Lynch met on the tarmac with former president (Bill) Clinton,” said Michael Caputo, a former adviser to Trump who has been helping the Grimm campaign, referring to the encounter during the inquiry into Hillary Clinton’s use of private emails for business. “The lines between politics and law enforcement have been blurred for a decade, but they are absolutely indistinguishable now.”

In California, Republican candidate Omar Navarro, 29, who is running against Rep. Maxine Waters (D), has invited Arpaio and Flynn to fundraisers on his behalf, saying both drew large crowds and enabled him to raise more money.

“When I knock doors, and I knock a lot of different doors and meet a lot of people, and they will see Flynn on my endorsement or they will see Arpaio,” he said. “A lot of people will say that guy was unfairly prosecuted.”

Navarro has legal troubles of his own. He recently pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge related to placing a tracking device on his wife’s car without her knowledge. He said local prosecutors moved forward with their case even after his wife said she did not object to the device, which he says was intended to protect the car against theft.

“I’m not hear to complain about who has done me wrong, or how unfairly I have been treated or how unfair the entire process has been,” Flynn said at the start of his remarks for Navarro, getting sympathetic laughs from the crowd. “You know, it is what it is.”

Grimm says if he is elected, he will use his experience to become a “credible voice” in Congress to denounce what he and Trump both call political bias in the Justice Department, particularly in the investigation by Mueller. Early polls in the congressional district that also encompasses a slice of Brooklyn suggests the argument has legs. His opponent, incumbent Rep. Daniel Donovan (R-N.Y.) says he expects the primary fight against Grimm will be tighter than any race he has run.

Donovan, a former federal prosecutor, rejected Grimm’s comparison of his situation to Trump’s.

“The president has never been indicted, the president didn’t perjure himself under oath, the president hasn’t confessed to a federal crime,” Donovan said about Grimm’s argument. “I put my record up against his, quote, record.” (In court documents, Grimm admitted to making false statements under oath in a deposition, not perjury, which has a different burden of proof under the law.)

Grimm, a former FBI agent, does not dispute the facts that led to his guilty plea, which arose from his operation and part-ownership of a Manhattan restaurant.

But he argues on the campaign trail that the decision by the FBI and federal prosecutors to seek his conviction was a political act, meant to remove him from Congress. He said he should have faced a civil penalty, instead.

Grimm says only some convicted criminals have a justification to run in a Republican primary.

“You can’t say a guy that was an ax murderer can use this,” he said. “It has to be that you only were criminalized because of the politicization of the Justice Department.”

Yes, you really need to vote for criminals and miscreants! The Justice Department is politicized, ya'll, so the best thing to do is vote for murderers and wife-beaters, child-molesters and puppy killers! 

[Cartmann99]

Reading about Michael Grimm just gave me a political flashback. Does anyone remember the 1991 gubernatorial race in Louisiana? The unofficial slogan of "Vote for the crook. It's important"?

Quick and dirty, the governor's race had come down to Democrat Edwin Edwards and Republican David Duke. Edwards was corrupt, but he wasn't a white supremacist like Duke and 61% of the voters decided they did not want Duke representing their state. Trivia note: both men eventually wound up serving prison terms, and both made another run at public office. 

On a personal note, I happened to be visiting some people I knew in East Texas around this time, and we decided to drive over to Louisiana to have breakfast one morning. We went to this little hole-in-the-wall place in a small town in the northern part of Louisiana. A big table full of regulars was eating their breakfast near us, and one of the men announced to the table that he thought "that David Duke had some good ideas". 

Every state has its share of nutters.

[GreyhoundFan]

Blankenship is getting even crazier: "‘Cocaine Mitch’: This West Virginia Senate GOP candidate takes anti-establishment politics off the rails"

Spoiler

Don Blankenship could be on his way to becoming a study in how anti-establishment politics can backfire, even in the zenith of anti-establishment politics.

The West Virginia GOP Senate candidate is launching a war against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to try to win his primary next week, but in the process he could be hurting his election chances more than he helps himself.

On Monday, a week before the GOP primary, Blankenship ran an ad calling McConnell “Cocaine Mitch.” To the viewers of that ad, Blankenship gave absolutely no context — letting people infer why a candidate for U.S. Senate would give an opponent such a moniker.

In a follow-up news release that he posted on his Facebook page, Blankenship linked to a 2014 report in the left-leaning Nation magazine that drugs were once found on a shipping vessel owned by McConnell's in-laws.

For the past few weeks, Blankenship — one of three main candidates vying to take on Sen. Joe Manchin III (D) in  November — has lobbed extremely personal, race-driven insults at McConnell's family. He seems to have an obsession with McConnell's family, particularly his wife, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao.

Last week, he accused McConnell of having a conflict of interest in governing because his wife's father is a “wealthy China person.” He later told Politico that Chao is “from China, so we have to be really concerned that we are in truth.” (Fact check: Chao immigrated to the United States as a child from Taiwan, which China claims is part of China but functions largely as an independent country. It's complicated.)

We see where Blankenship is trying to go with all this. Campaigning as a foil to the Republican establishment can be smart politics in Republican primaries, especially in the Trump era.

President Trump successfully ran as a foil to The Way Washington Works, including Republicans. And when Congress's approval rating stands at 18 percent, according to an April Gallup survey, it makes sense that Republican candidates for Congress would try to copy that format.

In fact, it's a given in Republican and Democratic circles right now that some candidates will campaign against their leaders because that's what they have to say to win, not because they really mean it.

But Blankenship is different. His war with the top Republican in the Senate seems to tip over the line of smart politics into dumb politics.

At some point, there's a diminishing return to the McConnell attacks. Sure, he's staking himself out as the anti-McConnell guy in the primary, but his attacks are so high-profile, he risks being known only for that. Do primary voters in West Virginia know who the Senate majority leader is, let alone his wife?

Plus, McConnell is certainly taking note. The only thing he's said publicly is to describe Blankenship's “wealthy China person” slam as “ridiculous.” Behind the scenes, McConnell is clearly maneuvering to make sure Blankenship loses Tuesday's primary.

He didn't just write a check against Blankenship. Politico reports McConnell allies created an entire super PAC that spent at least $1.3 million on TV ads attacking Blankenship.

McConnell's going for the throat, too: His allied super PAC points out in ads that Blankenship is a convicted criminal. Blankenship, a former coal baron, just finished a year in prison after an explosion at one of his mines killed 29 people. He was convicted on a misdemeanor for conspiring to violate mine safety laws.

“Don Blankenship was about the money,” one of the McConnell-allied ads says. “West Virginia families paid the price.”

Even before he started attacking McConnell's wife, Republicans in Washington were rooting against Blankenship. They did NOT want a convicted criminal to win the primary for one of their most competitive general elections. But they also arguably didn't need to rain down more than $1 million of attack ads on Blankenship at the last minute.

Blankenship had been leading the race early on, but as recently as last week he started slipping in the polls. A recent Fox News poll showed him in third place among likely GOP primary voters, behind Rep. Evan Jenkins (25 percent) and West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey (21 percent). Blankenship came in at 16 percent.

Washington Republicans following the race say that Blankenship started falling as soon as his opponents had enough money to go on TV and introduce themselves to voters. (Blankenship, spending his own money, was up on TV for four or five months before anyone else.)

“I don't think Blankenship is as much of a concern as he was a few weeks ago” for the party, said a Washington-based Republican strategist last week.

But just in case, Blankenship seems intent on doing everything he can to make sure that Washington Republicans make sure he loses Tuesday. If he does, we can probably point back to his extreme attacks on McConnell as one reason.

 

[AmazonGrace]

The Dems hold on to a Florida swingseat http://floridapolitics.com/archives/262556-blue-wave-continues-javier-fernandez-defeats-andrew-vargas-in-hd-114-special

[Cartmann99]

 Don Blankenship ad where he talks about arresting Hilary Clinton:

 

[fraurosena]

Good grief. That bleach-blond-haired man just above the maga-hat is Dutch right-winger Geert Wilders!

 

[AmazonGrace]

I'll obsruct justice much better than my opponents

[GreyhoundFan]

"Georgia governor candidate aims gun at teen in campaign ad. ‘Get over it,’ he tells critics."

Spoiler

Political candidates have long appeared with guns in campaign ads — holding guns, firing guns, and even assembling guns blindfolded. Earlier this month, Georgia gubernatorial candidate Hunter Hill aired an ad showing him loading an assault rifle. The video title? “Liberals won’t like this.”

Now, a new ad in the race for Georgia governor — in which a candidate points a gun at a teenager — did not sit well with some Georgians. After all, it aired just one state away from the Florida high school where 17 people were killed in a mass shooting

In the campaign ad, Brian Kemp, Georgia’s secretary of state, sits in a room surrounded by firearms — handguns on a table to his right, rifles on the table in front of him, and what appear to be two AR-15-style guns leaning on the wall behind him. Across his lap he holds a double-barrel shotgun, cleaning it off as he speaks into the camera. Next to him sits a young man in khakis and a tucked-in flannel shirt.

“I’m Brian Kemp, this is Jake, a young man interested in one of my daughters,” he says, motioning to the teenager next to him. “Yes, sir,” Jake responds, looking nervous as he fidgets with his fingers.

“Jake asked why I was running for governor,” Kemp says. Prompted by the candidate, Jake proceeds to list off the reasons from memory — to cap government spending, to “take a chain saw to regulations,” and to “make Georgia number-one for small business.”

“And two things if you’re going to date one of my daughters?” Kemp asks the young man. “Respect,” Jake responds, and “a healthy appreciation for the Second Amendment, sir.”

Kemp then closes the gun, as if it was ready to fire, pointing it toward the teenager.

“We’re going to get along just fine,” Kemp says, as the young man grins anxiously.

To Kemp’s supporters, the campaign ad is a lighthearted portrayal of a protective, gun-wielding Southern father vetting a potential suitor for one of his daughters. But to many viewers, the ad for a Georgia gubernatorial candidate came across as intimidating and a  particularly bad example of how to handle a shotgun safely.

The ad, which was posted on Kemp’s campaign social media accounts and aired on local television stations, prompted backlash from viewers.

Many people, including numerous gun owners, took to social media to criticize Kemp’s handling of a potentially loaded firearm. “Since when is it okay for an adult to hold a weapon on a minor, ever? Are you crazy?” one comment on YouTube read.

“I get the frenzy to be the most ‘pro-gun’ guy in the race, but he’s breaking the first two rules of gun safety: treat every gun as if it’s loaded and don’t point a gun at anything or anyone you don’t intend to kill,” another observer wrote on Facebook.

The National Law Enforcement Partnership to Prevent Gun Violence wrote that the ad “delivers a message perpetuating domestic violence and misogyny while modeling egregiously unsafe behavior.” One YouTube commentator wrote that the ad is “almost symbolic” in light of the teenagers speaking out about gun violence following the Parkland shooting.

“It’s like hey kid you don’t have a say in what happens because I get to decide who pulls the trigger,” the observer wrote.

“This is either brilliant satire or one of the most absurd political ads in history,” wrote another viewer on YouTube.

Many viewers sent messages to local television stations, such as 11 Alive, asking them to stop airing the ad. “Made me and my family very uncomfortable,” one person wrote. “We are gun owners and we are outraged,” said another. The station said it was not allowed to take down political ads under Federal Communications Commission rules.

Kemp appeared to shrug off the criticism, almost reveling in it. “I’m conservative, folks. Get over it!” he tweeted.

“He loves his daughters, values our 2nd Amendment rights, and will be an unapologetic fighter for our families as Georgia’s next governor,” Ryan Mahoney, Kemp for Governor spokesman, said in a statement to 11 Alive.

In an email to supporters, Kemp said the “overreaction is insane but I’m not surprised,” according to the Gwinnett Daily Post. He painted critics as liberal “activists.”

“Most are offended by my arsenal of firearms,” Kemp told supporters. “Others think I’m being too protective of my daughters. Some are questioning the legitimacy of my Southern drawl and a liberal lawyer/blogger is even considering a criminal investigation.”

He may have been referring to former Georgia state lawmaker LaDawn Jones (D), who wrote a blog post accusing Kemp of simulating a crime on television.

“As a prosecutor, I prosecuted dozens of individuals, who pulled out a weapon and pointed it at someone with the intent to cause fear in that person,” she wrote. Intentionally pointing or aiming a gun or pistol at another without legal justification is a misdemeanor under Georgia law, even if the weapon is not loaded.

But many observers came out in support of Kemp’s ad, calling it “hilarious” and “clever.” Others argued that Kemp was not clearly pointing the shotgun directly at the teenager.

“A politician who doesn’t feel the need to do things the ‘politically correct’ way and stands for his beliefs, despite knowing that masses of our soft society will be offended,” wrote one YouTube observer. “I’m sold!”

“Great commercial. Mockingly blasts through today’s hyper-PC nonsense,” another person wrote.

Georgia’s primary is on May 22. A poll released Friday by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution/Channel 2 Action News shows Kemp in second place in the race with 10 percent of respondents supporting him, behind his Republican rival Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, with 41 percent.

You couldn't make this shit up.

[fraurosena]

The moral decrepitude of the GOP is nauseating.

GOP candidate for governor faces backlash for aiming gun at teen in ad

Quote

Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, a Republican candidate for governor, took things too far with a local TV advertisement meant to showcase his support for gun ownership.

The spot, which came out last week and aired on Atlanta’s NBC 11Alive, depicted Kemp pointing a shotgun at “Jake,” a teenage boy interested in dating one of his daughters. Jake is made to rattle off Kemp’s platform for governor, and then to promise to show “respect” and “a healthy appreciation for the Second Amendment,” after which Kemp says, “We’re gonna get along just fine.” The ad ends by panning across framed pictures of teenage girls implied to be Kemp’s daughters.

Unfortunately for Kemp, the ad has provoked widespread outrage.

“In an ad showcasing his qualifications to serve as Georgia’s Governor, Brian Kemp threatens to shoot a teenage boy if he tries to have sex with his daughters,”  Moms Demand Action founder Shannon Watts wrote on Twitter. “This recurring and uniquely American “joke” is tiresome.”

“What the heck is wrong with you @BrianKempGA?” tweeted veteran advocate group VoteVets. “As veterans, many of us have had to fire a weapon at another person. It is no joke. Nor is the idea of shooting High School kids, especially now. Yet, you joke about both. Take this garbage off the air.”

Meanwhile, as the Hill reports, angry viewers have flooded 11Alive with complaints. “Holy cow, are we in the Wild West and propagating a gun culture?” said one person.

“I am a conservative who believes in the 2nd amendment but this commercial makes me want to vote for the other side,” said another.

On Monday, faced with backlash, 11Alive stated that the ad could not be altered due to FCC regulations.

Seven Republicans have filed to run in Georgia to replace retiring Gov. Nathan Deal. And Kemp is not the only candidate running on an extreme anti-gun-control stance.

One other candidate is Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, who recently blocked a tax break for Delta Air Lines because they stopped offering discounts to NRA members. Another is former State Sen. Hunter Hill, who released an ad of himself toting various guns, promising to loosen age limits and permit requirements.

Any politician willing to point a gun at a teenager, even as a joke, deserves a high level of scrutiny.

And we did it again, @GreyhoundFan 

[Cartmann99]

3 hours ago, AmazonGrace said:

I'll obsruct justice much better than my opponents

Did you catch the bit about making English our official language? I'm having serious political flashbacks this week. 

[GreyhoundFan]

 

[Cartmann99]

4 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

Kemp appeared to shrug off the criticism, almost reveling in it. “I’m conservative, folks. Get over it!” he tweeted.

 

4 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

In an email to supporters, Kemp said the “overreaction is insane but I’m not surprised,” according to the Gwinnett Daily Post. He painted critics as liberal “activists.”

 

4 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

“Most are offended by my arsenal of firearms,” Kemp told supporters. “Others think I’m being too protective of my daughters. Some are questioning the legitimacy of my Southern drawl and a liberal lawyer/blogger is even considering a criminal investigation.”

 

4 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

“A politician who doesn’t feel the need to do things the ‘politically correct’ way and stands for his beliefs, despite knowing that masses of our soft society will be offended,” wrote one YouTube observer. “I’m sold!”

“Great commercial. Mockingly blasts through today’s hyper-PC nonsense,” another person wrote

So, Brian Kemp and his supporters believe that people should be free to express themselves in the manner that they see fit, and when someone says something offensive we all need to just shrug it off.

 

That's not shrugging, Brian.