The Midterm Elections

[47of74]

Then there's this smarmy fuck in Wisconsin..

Quote

A Republican running for the Senate in Wisconsin on Wednesday questioned the "cognitive thought process" of veterans who align with the Democratic Party.

Kevin Nicholson, himself a Marine Corps veteran, suggested during a radio interview on the "Steve Scaffidi Show" on Wisconsin's WTMJ that the mere act of joining the military is fundamentally conservative.

"And just because some people that don't call themselves conservatives and don't always act conservative do something conservative — like, let's talk about John Kerry— and signed up to serve this country, that doesn't mean that that's not a conservative thing to fundamentally protect and defend the Constitution," he said in the interview, highlighted by CNN.

Nicholson argued that voting for Democratic candidates, on the other hand, makes little sense for veterans, because the party had "rejected the Constitution."

This pisses me off.  He can go fuck himself as far as I'm concerned. 

[AmazonGrace]

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

[GreyhoundFan]

"Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is sending 671,000 families an election-year check. Democrats call it bribery."

Spoiler

Starting May 15, parents in Wisconsin can log on to a state-run website, answer a few questions and sign up to get checks worth $100 per child.

To Gov. Scott Walker (R), who drove the one-time tax payout into law, it's a chance to turn a state budget surplus into a bonus for parents who could use extra cash. To his critics, who note that Walker is a few months away from a tough reelection bid, it looks like campaign-year bribery of the up to 671,000 families who could receive checks.

And to independent economists, it's a mystifying piece of tax policy that has no clear long-term economic purpose and few, if any, recent comparable examples, given that tax breaks are traditionally incorporated for tax filing season — not in the months before an election.

“This is really weird. I have never heard of anything like this,” said Richard Auxier, who tracks state tax policy for the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan think tank.

Scott Drenkard, a tax expert at the Tax Foundation, a right-leaning think tank, was also puzzled.

“This is definitely odd and unique. I haven’t seen anything like it before," he said. "It’s political catnip, but it’s hard to see how it improves economic outcomes.”

Walker says his universal child tax credit, to be paid out of a state budget surplus, reflects years of prudent fiscal stewardship since his ascension to the governor's mansion in 2011 and offers meaningful relief for cash-strapped families. Families can sign up to have their checks mailed to their homes or deposited directly into their bank accounts.

“A couple hundred dollars more in the family budget could really make a difference, particularly when getting ready for the next school year,” Walker said in a news release. “We are giving this money back to the hard-working taxpayers because it is their money to begin with.”

To critics, Walker's tax break looks like a brazen publicity stunt by a vulnerable incumbent at a time when Democrats appear to have political momentum.

“It's literally a guy saying, 'I'm Scott Walker running for reelection, have some money!' " said Mandela Barnes, a Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor in Wisconsin. “Everyone I've talked to sees it as a blatant payoff.”

The tax credit is expected to cost about $122 million, as an estimated 671,000 families and their 1.22 million children in the state qualify for the program.

The legislation also created a “back to school” sales tax holiday, waiving the state's 5 percent sales tax for the first five days of August on some purchases of schools supplies, clothing and computers.

Walker's approval ratings have held relatively steady, but the governor has warned that a “blue wave” fueled by greater liberal enthusiasm could crash over the state GOP this fall.

“Tonight's results show that we are at risk of a #bluewave" in Wisconsin, Walker tweeted April 3 after a liberal won a Wisconsin state Supreme Court seat. On Jan. 17, after a Democrat won a state senate race, Walker wrote: "WAKE UP CALL: Can't presume that voters know we are getting positive things done in Wisconsin."

Walker's tax break is notably unlike the Republican-backed tax law that passed Congress this past fall. The proponents of that overhaul say it has increased take-home pay by changing the withholding tables but acknowledge that taxpayers might not notice the new rates until they file their federal tax returns in 2019, months after Republican lawmakers face voters in the midterm elections this fall.

By contrast, Wisconsin families can sign up to claim Walker's tax cut starting May 15 and have until July 2 to do so. The state has set up a website advertising the program and Walker's role in advancing the credit. Had Walker gone the more conventional route of offering a child tax credit through state income taxes, it would have taken effect in 2019 — after the election.

“Claiming it midyear is a real departure from how we usually interact with the tax system,” said Elaine Maag, another tax expert at the Tax Policy Center. “It’s very difficult to understand the policy rationale here. There’s not some crisis in Wisconsin where people need cash today, as opposed to when they were filing their returns a few months ago.”

Tax experts said the only similar recent tax break that came to mind was in 2014, when New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) pushed through a more targeted, three-year tax package aimed at middle-class families ahead of his reelection bid, according to Meg Wiehe, a tax expert at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. At the time, Cuomo faced fierce criticism from New York Republicans that he was unfairly manipulating the tax system for partisan ends since checks were mailed directly to taxpayers that year.

Walker says he has cut state taxes since 2011 by more than $8 billion. Unemployment in the state has dipped below 3 percent amid strong business investment. But Democrats say the state's rainy day fund remains depleted and that the governor has done little to alleviate income inequality or poverty.

Walker's office noted that three Democrats, including a state senator, voted for the legislation, which passed the state Senate on a 17-to-15 vote.

“Returning surpluses to taxpayers is what the governor has stated he would do, and he is doing it,” said Amy Hasenberg, a spokeswoman for Walker. "The opposition has politicized what was a bipartisan vote for returning the surplus to taxpayers.”

State Rep. Jason Fields (D), whose district includes part of Milwaukee, said he voted for the package because his constituents could use the money from the state. He said he thought Walker's opponents should not overestimate the payout's potential impact on the election.

“Nobody will vote or not vote for the governor over $100,” Fields said.

 

[candygirl200413]

Are you sometimes like wow corruption is happening rapidly in today's society and yet no one is trying to fix (re: congress) cause they are sucking with the repugs in power.

[AmazonGrace]

Everyman Mitt : 

 

[onekidanddone]

2 hours ago, AmazonGrace said:

Everyman Mitt : 

Sweet Rufus! Is everybody buying and studying Rosetta Stone: Trump word salad edition?

 

ETA: And I bet he puts yellow mustard on that hotdog and not that fancy stuff Obama likes.

[smittykins]

Or--horror of horrors--KETCHUP! 

[Flossie]

On 5/3/2018 at 4:52 PM, GreyhoundFan said:

"Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is sending 671,000 families an election-year check. Democrats call it bribery."

  Hide contents

Starting May 15, parents in Wisconsin can log on to a state-run website, answer a few questions and sign up to get checks worth $100 per child.

To Gov. Scott Walker (R), who drove the one-time tax payout into law, it's a chance to turn a state budget surplus into a bonus for parents who could use extra cash. To his critics, who note that Walker is a few months away from a tough reelection bid, it looks like campaign-year bribery of the up to 671,000 families who could receive checks.

And to independent economists, it's a mystifying piece of tax policy that has no clear long-term economic purpose and few, if any, recent comparable examples, given that tax breaks are traditionally incorporated for tax filing season — not in the months before an election.

“This is really weird. I have never heard of anything like this,” said Richard Auxier, who tracks state tax policy for the Tax Policy Center, a nonpartisan think tank.

Scott Drenkard, a tax expert at the Tax Foundation, a right-leaning think tank, was also puzzled.

“This is definitely odd and unique. I haven’t seen anything like it before," he said. "It’s political catnip, but it’s hard to see how it improves economic outcomes.”

Walker says his universal child tax credit, to be paid out of a state budget surplus, reflects years of prudent fiscal stewardship since his ascension to the governor's mansion in 2011 and offers meaningful relief for cash-strapped families. Families can sign up to have their checks mailed to their homes or deposited directly into their bank accounts.

“A couple hundred dollars more in the family budget could really make a difference, particularly when getting ready for the next school year,” Walker said in a news release. “We are giving this money back to the hard-working taxpayers because it is their money to begin with.”

To critics, Walker's tax break looks like a brazen publicity stunt by a vulnerable incumbent at a time when Democrats appear to have political momentum.

“It's literally a guy saying, 'I'm Scott Walker running for reelection, have some money!' " said Mandela Barnes, a Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor in Wisconsin. “Everyone I've talked to sees it as a blatant payoff.”

The tax credit is expected to cost about $122 million, as an estimated 671,000 families and their 1.22 million children in the state qualify for the program.

The legislation also created a “back to school” sales tax holiday, waiving the state's 5 percent sales tax for the first five days of August on some purchases of schools supplies, clothing and computers.

Walker's approval ratings have held relatively steady, but the governor has warned that a “blue wave” fueled by greater liberal enthusiasm could crash over the state GOP this fall.

“Tonight's results show that we are at risk of a #bluewave" in Wisconsin, Walker tweeted April 3 after a liberal won a Wisconsin state Supreme Court seat. On Jan. 17, after a Democrat won a state senate race, Walker wrote: "WAKE UP CALL: Can't presume that voters know we are getting positive things done in Wisconsin."

Walker's tax break is notably unlike the Republican-backed tax law that passed Congress this past fall. The proponents of that overhaul say it has increased take-home pay by changing the withholding tables but acknowledge that taxpayers might not notice the new rates until they file their federal tax returns in 2019, months after Republican lawmakers face voters in the midterm elections this fall.

By contrast, Wisconsin families can sign up to claim Walker's tax cut starting May 15 and have until July 2 to do so. The state has set up a website advertising the program and Walker's role in advancing the credit. Had Walker gone the more conventional route of offering a child tax credit through state income taxes, it would have taken effect in 2019 — after the election.

“Claiming it midyear is a real departure from how we usually interact with the tax system,” said Elaine Maag, another tax expert at the Tax Policy Center. “It’s very difficult to understand the policy rationale here. There’s not some crisis in Wisconsin where people need cash today, as opposed to when they were filing their returns a few months ago.”

Tax experts said the only similar recent tax break that came to mind was in 2014, when New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) pushed through a more targeted, three-year tax package aimed at middle-class families ahead of his reelection bid, according to Meg Wiehe, a tax expert at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. At the time, Cuomo faced fierce criticism from New York Republicans that he was unfairly manipulating the tax system for partisan ends since checks were mailed directly to taxpayers that year.

Walker says he has cut state taxes since 2011 by more than $8 billion. Unemployment in the state has dipped below 3 percent amid strong business investment. But Democrats say the state's rainy day fund remains depleted and that the governor has done little to alleviate income inequality or poverty.

Walker's office noted that three Democrats, including a state senator, voted for the legislation, which passed the state Senate on a 17-to-15 vote.

“Returning surpluses to taxpayers is what the governor has stated he would do, and he is doing it,” said Amy Hasenberg, a spokeswoman for Walker. "The opposition has politicized what was a bipartisan vote for returning the surplus to taxpayers.”

State Rep. Jason Fields (D), whose district includes part of Milwaukee, said he voted for the package because his constituents could use the money from the state. He said he thought Walker's opponents should not overestimate the payout's potential impact on the election.

“Nobody will vote or not vote for the governor over $100,” Fields said.

 

Any chance that Democrats sign up for the money and then donate it to the Democratic runners?

[AmazonGrace]

 

[onekidanddone]

11 hours ago, AmazonGrace said:

 

Too little too late. The GOP created and fostered this cluster fuck. Can't un-ring a bell. I hope when the blue wave hits it takes them all down.

[fraurosena]

Everybody should heed his words, don't you think?

Paul Ryan Warns If Republicans Lose House, Cover-ups Will End

Quote

Paul Ryan appeared at a financial conference to warn that, if Democrats win control of either the House or the Senate in the November elections, “you’ll have gridlock, you’ll have subpoenas.” The gridlock part is true, but it is basically the case already. The Republican legislative agenda has come to a halt, and neither the party nor even its intellectual class has any ideas about which kinds of bills they ought to pass.

What really would change with Democratic control of a chamber is the subpoena part. But it’s worth spelling out just what it is Ryan is warning will happen — and what, by implication, he is confessing.

Ryan’s House has been run essentially as a subordinate arm of the Trump administration. Ryan and his party have quashed votes to compel release of Donald Trump’s tax returns, and they have used their investigative power not to oversee the presidency but to harass and intimidate the Department of Justice into falling into line behind the president’s whims, to the point where the acting attorney general had to bluntly accuse House Republicans of trying to “extort” him. Trump and his family have used their power to enrich themselves personally, with no hearings or oversight whatsoever from the House. His Cabinet members have likewise misspent funds and abused their authority without any accountability from the committees that are putatively tasked with the job.

Paul Ryan doesn’t like to talk about this part of his job, because he cherishes his reputation as an idea maven. But Ryan has played an invaluable role covering up and enabling Trump administration scandals. When he says his party needs to keep control of the House to prevent subpoenas, he is both promising the cover-ups will continue if his party keeps its control of government, and expressing his clear belief that he opposes any level of independent oversight of the Executive branch.

[fraurosena]

Well this is a great step in the right -- democratic -- direction!

Connecticut passes bill giving electoral votes to presidential candidate who wins popular vote

Quote

The Connecticut state Senate on Saturday voted in favor of a measure to give the state’s electoral votes to the presidential candidate who wins the popular vote.

The move puts the state in a position to become the 11th, in addition to Washington, D.C., to join an interstate compact to pool their electoral college votes for the candidate who wins the popular vote.

The state Senate voted 21-14 in favor of the bill, with the support of three GOP lawmakers, The Guardian reported. The measure passed the state House on a 77-73 vote last month. Democratic Gov. Dannel Malloy is expected to sign the legislation, according to the report.

With the addition of Connecticut’s seven electoral votes, the compact would have 172 in total. For the compact to go into effect nationally, it would need 270 electoral votes – the number needed for a candidate to win the presidency.

The nationwide effort to form the compact gained traction after former President George W. Bush won the election without winning the popular vote, and has revived after the 2016 election.

President Trump won the Electoral College, but Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

"Republicans whose jobs once seemed safe are struggling for a 2018 survival strategy"

Spoiler

SALISBURY, N.C. — Republican Rep. Ted Budd opened the calendar on his iPhone during a campaign day last week to reveal a jam-packed schedule — wake up at 4:55 a.m., breakfast with veterans, an opioid discussion in another county — and yet he was worried that it wasn’t enough.

“I’m getting nervous because of the white space I see,” said Budd, pointing to the few blank lines on the schedule.

Across the country, dozens of House Republicans who previously coasted to victory are for the first time facing credible and well-financed Democratic opponents — and working furiously to find a strategy for survival.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) delivered a stern message last month to the rank and file after a surprisingly narrow special election win in a reliably Republican Arizona district: Wake up, because Democrats are motivated.

Many newly vulnerable Republicans represent suburban communities such as Budd’s, where Donald Trump won in 2016 but has since lost popularity.

Budd is one of two GOP incumbents in this region of North Carolina being targeted by Democrats, with pollsters and independent handicappers saying the races could be competitive.

The two GOP incumbents have adopted slightly different strategies for self-preservation, largely out of necessity.

While Budd has been able to focus on the general election by talking at times about how he has bucked his party, Rep. Robert Pittenger has been grappling with a bitter Republican challenge ahead of Tuesday’s primary election here that has led him to move to the right in ways likely to complicate his message to voters in the fall.

Democrats had largely ignored the districts in this decade after Republicans redrew the state’s congressional boundaries to their advantage. Budd’s district, which stretches from Democratic-leaning Greensboro to the northern suburbs of Charlotte, backed Trump by 9 percentage points. Voters in Pittenger’s district, which rolls from Charlotte nearly to the state’s coastline, supported the president by almost 12 points.

In 2016, Budd and Pittenger survived primaries, then sailed to victory over Democrats who raised less than $100,000. This election, Democrats recruited Kathy Manning, a philanthropist and longtime party donor who has raised $1.3 million to Budd’s $832,690. Dan McCready, a business executive and veteran, has raised $1.9 million to Pittenger’s $1.1 million.

Recent moves show that Republicans see these two districts as emblematic of their larger problems.

In April, Vice President Pence shared a stage with Pittenger during a visit to Charlotte. The Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned with House GOP leadership, has added Budd’s race to its $50 million midterm ad buy.

Budd and Pittenger are running as allies of the president but not counting on him or the national party to come up with a campaign message.

Budd, 46, who’s backed by the conservative Club for Growth and won his first term in 2016 by promising to “turn Washington, D.C., inside out,” is pitching himself as a hard-working outsider.

He is also talking about the benefits of bipartisanship, though he is a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, which often pressures the party’s leadership to maintain ideological purity on many issues.

At one point last week, he sought to assure a shelter operator seeking more money to help victims of human trafficking by saying: “Ninety-four percent of the bills that are passed through the House are bipartisan. That doesn’t get reported a lot because it’s not exciting.”

Manning, who had been recruited before and declined, described herself as a worried member of the community. “This is a district that’s been very badly hurt, and since Trump’s been elected, it hasn’t seen dramatic improvement,” she said after addressing voters at a barbecue-sandwich meet-and-greet.

Budd, meanwhile, describes a country on the right track, but far from healed.

At a meeting with school superintendents, Budd, a gun store owner, nodded as law enforcement officials talked about “hardening” schools, but he did not mention arming teachers — a position advanced by the National Rifle Association, which supports him.

At the veterans’ breakfast, Budd promoted legislation to help those who served and suggested using health providers outside the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide some care, a shift toward privatization favored by conservatives.

Budd said he’d also built support with voters by breaking with his party’s leadership — when he could. He pointed to the $1.3 trillion spending bill, known in congressional parlance as the “omnibus.”

“They know where I’m going to differ from them; on the omnibus, we’re going to disagree on that,” he said. “I’ve never had any issue in the 16 months I’ve been in Congress where more people have thanked me more for voting no than on the omnibus. It’s fiscally irresponsible.”

For the 69-year old Pittenger, the hotly contested primary has drained his resources and forced him to accentuate his conservative bona fides — developments that are likely to make his general election campaign more difficult.

Leaflets show Pittenger with Trump, while his GOP rival, conservative pastor Mark Harris, has used a photo of his speech at a 2016 Trump rally.

Pittenger bought his first ads in December — a radio spot that put the congressman at the center of the culture war, describing him as a bulwark against liberals.

“They burn our flag, disrespect our national anthem and criticize the celebration of American freedom,” said a narrator in the ad. “They even refuse to say Merry Christmas.”

In an interview, Harris argued that Pittenger would be the weaker candidate in November, an incumbent who had voted for the spending bill.

“The swamp that Trump wants to drain still has a lot of critters in it,” Harris said.

As he shook hands outside a Charlotte polling station, where Republican turnout during early voting ahead of the Tuesday primary was spotty, Pittenger defended his vote for the spending bill, saying he had cast it to protect military funding. It was the same argument the president made when he signed the bill.

Voters in the district’s rural counties, said Pittenger, had “a love affair” with the president. Like them, he thought Trump was making history; the question, he said, was whether his Democratic opponent could fool them.

“Dan McCready has support from Tom Steyer and from antifa,” said Pittenger, referring to the billionaire pushing for Trump’s impeachment and the collection of anti-fascist militant groups. “I’m told — I need to check this out — that he has support from George Soros, too. I’m not going to let the public be blindsided and let this guy make himself over into something different from what he really is.”

Steyer has pledged to spend at least $1 million on young-voter turnout in Pittenger’s and Budd’s districts through his political organization, NextGen. Soros, the liberal donor who is a favorite rhetorical target for conservatives, has not been involved in the campaign, though one of his foundations has donated to the group Indivisible, which is backing many Democratic candidates including McCready.

McCready, 34, laughed when told about how Pittenger had described him, and he emphasized that unlike some Democrats, he was even running on retaining parts of the tax cut.

“I believe in country over party,” he said. “I do think there are some steps in the right direction in regard to the tax bill that was passed, particularly in regards to making American business more competitive. But it did not do enough for the middle class.”

A few hours after speaking to The Washington Post, Pittenger amended his critique of the likely Democratic nominee; through a spokesman, he said McCready had been endorsed by Indivisible, not antifa groups.

But in a fundraising email sent last week, Pittenger’s campaign wrote that “while McCready will campaign as a centrist­ conservative, he is already supported and endorsed by leftists and Pelosi friends Tom Steyer and George Soros as well as unapologetic violence activists, Antifa.”

The Democrat intended to use that kind of rhetoric to frame Pittenger as out of touch with the district — and embarrassing. “He’s most well known for his racist comments,” said McCready, referring to a 2016 interview in which the congressman said that rioters in Charlotte hated white people “because white people are successful and they’re not.”

Pittenger said anyone who resurrected that quote in a campaign was being unfair. He was quoting an activist, he said.

In 2016, the controversy over that quote quickly dissipated, and Pittenger won easily. “I run like I’m behind every single year,” he said.

 

[Cartmann99]

Quote

Ex-convict and coal baron Don Blankenship has lost his bid for the Republican Senate nomination in West Virginia.

CNN projects he will place third, behind Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and Rep. Evan Jenkins, in the race to take on Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin in the fall. It's unclear who will win the nomination.

"We are conceding the election," Blankenship said.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/08/politics/polls-close-west-virginia-indiana/index.html

Thank you West Virginia for not voting for that jackass.

[JMarie]

There's another Pence.  Yikes!

https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/08/politics/greg-pence-indiana-congress-race/index.html

Quote

Vice President Mike Pence's older brother, Greg Pence, has won the Republican nomination for his congressional bid in Indiana, CNN projects.

The seat, which was vacated due to Rep. Luke Messer's Senate run, represents parts of rural eastern Indiana, and was previously held by Mike Pence.

Greg Pence had never before run for office. He serves as the finance chairman of Messer's Senate campaign.

Mike Pence tweeted congratulations to his brother Tuesday evening.

"Congratulations to my brother @GregPenceIN on his big primary win tonight in #IN06! He's making Hoosiers & the Pence family proud. Good luck in November!" he wrote.

The eldest of six Pence siblings and the owner of antique malls in southern Indiana, Greg Pence is also part of his brother's inner circle, CNN previously reported.

Republicans have described their dynamic as one in which Greg Pence is blunt and candid with his brother -- though not usually about policy -- and is often part of a very small circle of those closest to Mike Pence who are consulted and deeply involved in major decisions, along with the vice president's wife, Karen Pence.

 

[AmazonGrace]

Cocaine Mitch sends his regards 

 

[fraurosena]

  Way to go Ohio!

 

[GreyhoundFan]

"The Daily 202: Primary results confirm 2018 is a terrible year to be a House Republican"

Spoiler

THE BIG IDEA: Republican members of the House fared especially poorly Tuesday in primaries across four states, offering fresh evidence that this fall will bring another change election and a new batch of outsiders promising to shake up Washington.

North Carolina Rep. Robert Pittenger was felled by former Baptist pastor Mark Harris despite a massive spending advantage, an outcome that caught D.C. Republicans off guard. Harris portrayed the third-term lawmaker as a creature of “the swamp” and relentlessly hammered him over his March vote for the $1.3 trillion spending bill. Pittenger is the first incumbent of either party to be forced out of Congress this year.

In the primary to take on Indiana Sen. Joe Donnelly (D), wealthy businessman Mike Braun won an upset over two GOP congressmen, Todd Rokita and Luke Messer, who have been rivals since college and spent months beating the tar out of each other.

In West Virginia, Rep. Evan Jenkins (R) lost to state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey in the primary to challenge Sen. Joe Manchin (D). The ex-convict Don Blankenship, who garnered so much attention in recent days, finished in third place – averting another national GOP nightmare a la Roy Moore.

In Ohio, support for Rep. Jim Renacci (R) was surprisingly soft in the primary to challenge Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown. Despite being endorsed by President Trump, who recorded a robo-call on his behalf and appeared alongside him at a recent event, the congressman could only garner 47 percent against four unknown candidates.

That’s five GOP members who will not return to the House next year.

Having “congressman” on a resume is not just a liability for Republicans in this environment. Dennis Kucinich, who served 16 years in the House and ran for president in 2008, lost the Democratic primary for governor in Ohio to Richard Cordray, who ran the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau until last November.

It didn’t used to be this way. Historically, House members have been perceived by voters as being the most qualified for promotion to the upper chamber. Many Republican senators came over from across the Capitol. And the presumptive GOP nominees for Senate in Arizona (Martha McSally), North Dakota (Kevin Cramer) and Tennessee (Marsha Blackburn) are currently in the House.

But the restive Republican base has been increasingly conditioned to hate Washington and everyone who is a part of it. These trends have been supercharged in the Trump era.

Even Washington insiders now run against Washington. Morrisey ran unsuccessfully for Congress in New Jersey in 2000. Before moving to West Virginia, he spent years in D.C. as a lobbyist for pharmaceutical and health-care companies. (His wife remains a lobbyist.) Yet he’s been running commercials that depict a mountain crushing the U.S. Capitol.

Braun, who has a more legitimate claim to run against “the swamp,” spent more than $5 million of his own money on ads that attacked his opponents as career politicians. During their debates, the two congressmen wore suits and ties. Braun showed up in open-collared shirts without even a sports coat. In one especially effective Web video, Braun walked around his home town with cardboard cutouts of Rokita and Messer asking people on the street to try telling them apart:

... < video >

This tried-and-true playbook has proved effective. Braun is following in the footsteps of outsider GOP businessmen like Sens. David Perdue in Georgia and Ron Johnson in Wisconsin, who toppled better-known and more established political figures. Also like Braun, Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) won her seat in 2012 because the two GOP front-runners trained their fire on each other and thus created an opening for a third candidate.

“That Trump’s election, along with Republican control of Congress, did not fully satisfy voter frustration remains a defining feature of the party,” Michael Scherer observes. “In late 2017, 19 percent of Republicans told Pew Research Center that they were ‘angry’ at the federal government, down from 33 percent at the end of the Obama presidency. But the number remains more than twice as high as the 9 percent of Republicans who said they were angry in President George W. Bush’s second term. Even for naturally upbeat candidates, frustration and anger have become the dominant emotion they must appeal to for the Republican base. GOP consultants nationwide have been telling even their mild-mannered candidates to turn up their fury on the trail.”

-- Pittenger’s defeat in North Carolina will ensure that sitting congressmen work even harder to distance themselves from Washington during upcoming primaries. It also increases the odds that Democrats can pick up his Charlotte-area seat. “Harris will now face Dan McCready, a veteran and former Republican who easily won the Democratic nomination in the district,” David Weigel reports. “According to the last FEC filings from both campaigns, McCready had $1.2 million for the general election; Harris had a little over $70,000. Democrats were also buoyed by the turnout in the district, which had been drawn to elect a Republican and which had backed Trump over Hillary Clinton by 11.6 points. Just 35,494 votes were cast in the Republican primary, while 45,660 votes were cast in McCready’s [noncompetitive] primary.”

-- But if last night’s results embolden House Democrats, they should worry Senate Democrats. Braun’s victory could be bad news for Donnelly since he is an outsider who voted as a Democrat until as recently as 2012. He might have less baggage than the two members of Congress.

If Blankenship had won in the West Virginia, that race would have been off the map. But Morrisey can beat Manchin. And there were some red flags in the incumbent’s noncompetitive primary: Three in 10 Democrats voted for a no-name activist over Manchin, who was also weaker than expected in coal country. (Trump won Indiana by 19 points and West Virginia by 42 points in 2016.)

To be fair, national Democrats have said privately for some time that Jenkins posed much more of a threat to Manchin in a general election than Morrisey. Their internal polls show that hitting the GOP nominee for his past as a lobbyist -- especially vis-à-vis the opioid crisis – will be potent. A Democratic super PAC even funneled money into the state during the past few weeks to run attack ads against Jenkins because party strategists were concerned about him.

-- In their primaries, Democrats mostly followed their heads over their hearts – prioritizing electability over purity. “Kucinich’s run was seen as a test of whether Democrats would back left-wing candidates against the ‘establishment.’ But in Ohio and other states, the party’s left fell short as better-funded candidates easily won their primaries,” Weigel notes. “In Indiana’s 2nd District, a health-care executive and former Republican named Mel Hall defeated candidates who backed a ‘Medicare for All’ single-payer health-care system. In West Virginia’s 3rd District, state Sen. Richard Ojeda (D) romped to a win — even after telling primary voters that he had backed Trump in 2016. And in North Carolina’s 9th and 13th districts, moderate Democrats won landslides over more left-wing challengers.”

-- Dynasty watch: Vice President Pence’s older brother Greg Pence won the Republican primary in Indiana’s 6th District, a safely red district.

-- Five Republican state legislators in North Carolina also went down to primary challenges, as did a Democrat who faced allegations of sexual harassment. One had misidentified herself as a nurse and called the students who walked out after the Parkland shooting “Tide Pod eaters.”

-- 2018 really is shaping up to be another year of the woman. “There were 20 open Democratic House primaries with women on the ballot Tuesday night, and voters selected a female nominee in 17 of them,” Politico notes.

-- Rachel Crooks, one of at least 19 women who have publicly accused Trump of sexual assault, won an uncontested primary for a seat in the Ohio state House. The 35-year-old Democrat will face an incumbent Republican outside Toledo in a district Trump carried but that Barack Obama won twice. Crooks alleges that in 2006, when she was a 22-year-old receptionist who worked at Trump Tower, the president kissed her on the lips. Trump has dismissed all his accusers as liars.

-- Finally, one of the biggest winners last night was Mitch McConnell. Blankenship persistently ripped into the Senate majority leader on the stump and on the air. He branded him “Cocaine Mitch” in his ads, a reference to a drug bust on a ship owned by a company his father-in-law started. McConnell allies funneled money into West Virginia through a group they called Mountain Families PAC to saturate the airwaves with anti-Blankenship ads. The Kentuckian also persuaded Trump during a phone call over the weekend to attack Blankenship on Twitter.

McConnell has a wry sense of humor that most folks don’t appreciate. He’s been answering his phone by saying “Cocaine Mitch” in the past few days. And he got the last laugh last night. After Blankenship conceded, the leader’s political team tweeted out this picture:

... < tweet shown in @AmazonGrace's post above >

... < more tweets >

 

[47of74]

This guy would have my vote...

Quote

A Democratic congressional candidate is out with a new TV ad using far more explicit language than the usual political spot.

“Fuck the NRA,” Pat Davis says in the 15-second ad. “Their pro-gun policies have resulted in dead children, dead mothers and dead fathers.”

Davis’ ad ran around 12:30 p.m. local time on KRQE, the local CBS affiliate in Albuquerque. The station’s general manager, Bill Anderson, explained that the ad would run with the profanity because the station is not allowed to censor political spots. But the station also planned to run a warning beforehand.

“We received a request for airtime from a legitimate federal candidate for office, and according to federal election rules, we are required to give him the same accessas his opponents,” he said. “This station, by law, is not permitted to censor or in any way edit this commercial.”

Here's the ad;

Can't wait for the various displays of reich wing pearl clutching over this. 

And yes, indeed.  Fuck them. 

[Cartmann99]

23 hours ago, 47of74 said:

This guy would have my vote...

Here's the ad;

Can't wait for the various displays of reich wing pearl clutching over this. 

And yes, indeed.  Fuck them. 

The FCC has the power to punish broadcast television and radio stations who put material out on the public airwaves deemed to be obscene, indecent, or profane, but the warning that the Albuquerque station showed before the ad says they can't censor the ad. So, what happens when viewers complain to the FCC because little Bobby heard the word 'fuck' while sucking down his SpaghettiOs?

Relevant section of the FCC's website:

https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/obscene-indecent-and-profane-broadcasts

The FCC needs to issue a statement that addresses the situation of a political ad that has content that would normally result in them punishing the television or radio station for broadcasting it over the public airwaves.

Has Sarah Palin had a meltdown over this yet, or is one of her relatives in jail again?

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

[Cartmann99]

4 hours ago, AmazonGrace said:

 

Has hell frozen over? I agree with Paul Ryan!

*looks closer*

Oh, he said asset instead of ass.

Nevermind.

[AmazonGrace]

The Pro Life party has new Pro Life ideas