Seriously Mary

SO MAD AT YOU RIGHT NOW!!!

Ryan at the Daily Kingfish has helpfully pointed out why you may be so quick to betray your supporters and the working families of Louisiana on lowering health insurance costs.

You have taken north of $600,000 from the insurance industry and you have broken an explicit campaign promise when you supported a pledge calling for a public option to lower costs.

I feel totally betrayed. You represent me not them.

Chris Bowers at Open Left is insinuating that you're a bigger obstacle to affordable healthcare than Rush Limbaugh.

You know what? As of now, it appears he's right.

Surely, a lot of progressives from other states are making calls to Mary's office about this but she needs to hear it from her constituents.

I'm going to call again tomorrow. This is unacceptable.

I am calling her in D.C. at (202)224-5824.

I am calling her in New Orleans at (504) 589-2427.

Dear Senator Landrieu,

Please Mary Landrieu!

Don't sell out working Louisianians, don't flip-flop on the Employee Free Choice Act.

Make sure Senator Landrieu knows you'll be holding her accountable for this vote and tell her to vote yes.

Here's the info for her various offices:

Washington, DC 724 Hart Senate Building United States Senate Washington, DC 20510 Voice: (202)224-5824 Fax:(202) 224-9735 Email Senator Landrieu
New Orleans Hale Boggs Federal Building 500 Poydras Street Room 1005 New Orleans, LA 70130 Voice: (504) 589-2427 Fax:(504) 589-4023		Baton Rouge Room 326, Federal Building 707 Florida Street Baton Rouge, LA 70801 Voice: (225) 389-0395 Fax:(225) 389-0660
Shreveport U.S. Courthouse 300 Fannin Street Room 2240 Shreveport, LA 71101 Voice: (318) 676-3085 Fax:(318) 676-3100		Lake Charles Hibernia Tower One Lakeshore Drive Suite 1260 Lake Charles, LA 70629 Voice: (337) 436-6650 Fax:(337) 439-3762

Idiots

Senator Claire McCaskill throws down.




Dems gotta stay fired up like this for all of the important issues. (Hat tip: Al Giordano, who then highlights the new Obama plan to address the Senator's concerns.)

Effin A-Hole For Senate in Texas

"Roger Williams is the guy standing next to you at the sporting event or at the beginning of the local Rotary club meeting, who still gets a tear in his eye when he hears the National Anthem."

I dare you to read his whole intro. Platitudes for days, hilariously bland.

"People who have heard Roger speak will attest to his infectious enthusiasm, his belief that America’s best days remain ahead of her and only a defeatist attitude among her people can bring America down."

Vitter Clinging to the Fringe

The Senate overwhelming passed SCHIP today, a bill that would provide healthcare coverage to children. Seems pretty open-and-shut to me. Is there a single good reason why a 21st century industrial democracy wouldn't want to provide health coverage to little kids?

Senator David Vitter, bastion of Christian morality, apparently doesn't believe that our society has an obligation to provide for the basic health of children. He voted nay.

This was not a straight party line vote.

The following Republicans were reasonable enough to consider health care coverage for kids to be a societal imperative: Specter (PA), Luger (IN), Collins (ME), Snowe (ME), Martinez (FL), Murkowski (AK), Hutchinson (TX), Alexander (TN), and Corker (TN).

Even Bob Corker voted for the damn thing!

It was definitely going to pass, what would have been the harm for Vitter to tack on a 'yay' vote?

Why does Vitty hate Louisiana's children?

Harry Reid: Just step away from the camera

He's like a political cutter, he gets some unhealthy rush out of bad media. He seems to have no foresight, no backbone, and a knack for covering gaffes with other gaffes.

He's the perfect Bush-era Democrat. But these are new times and we need a new leader in the Senate.

Jame Hamsher has other plans.

Of course Burris was going to get seated. We all knew this. All of us.

Not a fight worth picking. He's 71 and there's an election in two years. Just sit the man and get this BS to the back pages where it belongs.

Jeez Reid's an idiot.

Mary Landrieu, Call James Webb

This is exactly the type of "risk" our recently reelected Senator should be taking. GOP hegemony on all issues related to crime, law, and order is dependent upon linguistic device - not policy.

Louisiana's criminal justice system is beyond broken. Forging a path to addressing some of the problems would be Mary Landrieu's greatest accomplishment as an elected official.

As a conservative Democrat, Mary Landrieu could do a lot to 'mainstream' criminal justice reform.

Not only does she have the seniority and centrist gravitas to be listened to by red state colleagues wary of the political risks of advocating for CJ reform, but she'd be well-positioned to earn credit for any successes that come down the road.

With six whole years before her next reelection campaign, she has enough political capital to invest in actual progress. I can't think of a better issue on which to take an unexpectedly bold stance.

Senator Laughingstock (R), Louisiana

I know this quote has been highlighted throughout the New Orleans blogosphere and the rest of the country but I was just on the phone with my dad and he was asking me about what I thought about how our Senator killed the bailout.

I said I had to read this to him and I did, verbatim:

Morgan Johnson, president of the United Auto Workers local representing General Motors workers in Shreveport, said Friday that Sen. David Vitter's role in blocking an auto bailout indicates "he's chosen to play Russian roulette" with Louisiana jobs and the national economy.

"I don't know what Sen. Vitter has against GM or the United Auto Workers or the entire domestic auto industry; whatever it is, whatever he thinks we've done, it's time for him to forgive us, just like Sen. Vitter has asked the citizens of Louisiana to forgive him, " said Johnson, president of Local 2166. Otherwise, Johnson said of Vitter, it would appear, "He'd rather pay a prostitute than pay auto workers."

There was immediate laughter, then a weird silence, then a lot more laughter.

Morgan Johnson, you should get a promotion out of this. How 'bout you and me get jobs with Rep. Charlie Melancon?

Seriously, I still cannot believe that Vitty had the nerve to step out on this thing. It's not like he's Corker from Tennessee or Shelby in Alabama, who are both clearly beholden to the interests of the foreign auto makers.

We actually have GM jobs here in Louisiana. I can just picture the campaign ads now:

Forget his personal indiscretions, David Vitter has accomplished a lot for the state of Louisiana. He killed a bill that would have saved hundreds of factory jobs in Shreveport. So as you can see, he's still just as effective at stomping the little guy as he was before his credibility was rocked by a sex scandal.

Because of the way the GOP has made gains here in Louisiana and because of Sen. Vitter's ability to shrink away from the bright lights, I was actually starting to think that he might have a chance at reelection.

Not no more. This was the nail in the coffin.

Corker: Bush and UAW In Cahoots

One of the theories coming out of the failure of the auto bailout in the Senate is that when Dick Cheney met with Senate Republicans last week and imparted the administration's commitment to saving the big three, he was essentially freeing them to vote as they'd like. Why would the Senate GOP take it as a chance to breakout? Because Cheney's posturing basically confirmed that the administration would step in and use the TARP to help the auto industry if Senators refused to vote for cloture.

Senate Republicans from the South ended up whipping enough votes together to kill the bill, apparently because organized labor had refused to accept a definitive date by which their members' middle class salaries would be drawn and quartered. Another sticking point for holdout Republicans was that they wanted the blue collar employees of the Big 3 to agree to a salary reduction to the same levels as foreign manufacturers, whereas there was some degree of bipartisan support for a language that required salary reduction to "competitive" levels.

The GOP holdouts then went on a PR blitz to explain why the bill failed, funneling all blame squarely onto the shoulders of the UAW. Countdown obtained a GOP talking points memo that illustrates their view of this battle as a critical part of a larger war against organized labor.

This is the democrats first opportunity to payoff organized labor after the election. This is a precursor to card check and other items. Republicans should stand firm and take their first shot against organized labor, instead of taking their first blow from it.

For me, it's pretty difficult to picture organized labor being able to pitch the passage of the bill as any kind of victory, given the massive wage and benefits cuts they'd agreed to, but I guess that's beside the point now.

Senator Bob Corker from Tennessee appears to have spearheaded bill negotiation for the Republicans. He went on Face the Nation yesterday and pitted blame squarely on the shoulders of the UAW, but with an interesting new twist.

Corker: They (UAW) knew the White House had these TARP funds and there was really no reason for them to agree to this.

Scheiffer: So they had gotten word from the White House that they were going to do it anyway and that's what killed the deal in the Senate?

Corker: Well, they knew they had the funds. I'm not blaming the White House but they knew that the White House had funds that they could put forth without any strings.

Carl Levin tried to cut in but Schieffer went to a break.

Seems kind of ridiculous to me that Corker would offer that the White House had been sending signals to the UAW about this thing. Seems like it's a lot more likely that the Republican White House was talking to their own Republican Senators about their intention to use the TARP, so that Southern Republicans could use the vote to score media points against organized labor for later use. Just saying.

Ass Backwards

Those arguing against the auto industry loan are losing me. The rationale for inaction seems far flimsier than that for intervention.

I don't see how Hooverite do-nothingness stops the job loss.

I mean, even NPR just cut 7% of it's workforce. If someone as brilliant as Farai Chideya is losing her job, what hope do I have of finding one myself?

And given that we dropped $700 billion without really blinking, why all the sudden hangups on this $15 billion?

Don't tell me Cao's election signals a national mandate for laissez-faire crisis management.
I'd venture to say that New Orleans isn't really such a big fan of that.

David Vitter's impassioned resurrection of Herbert Hoover's economic recovery policy makes no sense.

And if he thinks this will win him brownie points with voters for his reelection campaign, perhaps he might first want to readjust his vocabulary.

Vitter Sore About "Ass Backward" Bailout?

Tread very carefully.

There's going to be a lot of reminiscing:



And Josh Marshall is awfully polite by our standards.

You're going down.

Interesting to see him step out in front of cameras like this.

Vitter Maintains Friendships

There have been rumblings about the possibility of a tough primary challenge for Senator Vitter in 2010. It appears, however, that he's not having much trouble retaining support among other high profile Louisiana officials.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 9TH, 6:00 ‐ 8:00 PM
101 Constitution NW, 9th Floor Balcony, Washington, DC

General Admission- $1000 Pac /Individual

VIP- $5000 Pac / $4600 Individual, (Includes Private Reception and Photo with Governor Jindal and Senator Vitter from 6:00 ‐ 6:30 PM)

==

CO‐HOSTS:

Senator J. Bennett Johnston
Congressman Jim McCrery
Congressman Rodney Alexander
Congressman Charles Boustany
Congressman Steve Scalise
Congressman Bob Livingston
Congressman Billy Tauzin
Congressman Jimmy Hayes
Congressman John Cooksey
Congressman Henson Moore
Congressman Clyde Holloway
Congressman‐Elect Bill Cassidy

Billed "Mardi Gras in December," this private fundraiser is NOT to be confused with the annual D.C. Mardi Gras ball that occurs each January sponsored by the Mystic Krewe of Louisiana. In 2007, David Vitter, after months of reeling from a sex scandal, emerged to organize the ball and choose that year's king, his close ally Boysie Bollinger.

Again, it's important to make this difference clear. The Mardi Gras in December ball is a private fundraiser where David Vitter will appeal for campaign donations from an elite collection of businessmen and socialites. The Washington Mardi Gras ball is a private event where Louisiana politicians mingle with an elite collection of lobbyists, businessmen, and socialites.

The T-P once wrote about the ground rules for that event:

Sponsors pay $7,500 each and receive private booths on the raised perimeter of the oval ballroom underneath large banners bearing their names. They also get 40 tickets to hand out as they wish.

The extremely different private Vitter fundraiser is considerably more expensive as a singular GA ticket costs $1000 by itself.

I Hate Joe Lieberman

But removing him as head of the Homeland Security and Government Reform Committee does not represent a punishment. It's a governance decision. He's subscribes to a repudiated foreign policy ideology that does not square with that of the new administration. He never once held hearings to investigate how the Bush administration handled 'government reform.' He should stand down and let someone more effective take the job.

I'm with Obama, I don't think it makes sense to just boot this guy from the whole caucus. That seems asinine.

But he can't keep that committee chairman ship. He certainly can't hold us ransom for it.

He can stay in the caucus if he wants but he's got to give something to get something. That's what compromise is.

And if he can't handle that then I say good riddance.

Schlep on over to the fundagelicals and see how they treat you.





Lieberman update:

Whenever I hear him talk, his voice... it sounds like he's gargling a spoonful of bitters and trying to force words out from around the back of whichever cheek or air pocket he's hiding the bitters. And because the bitters is so, well, bitter, he's tearing up a little bit.

Lieberman update:

Obama's on the loose and he's not holding grudges.

Kennedy campaign stalks Senator Landrieu, discovers she's a human being

Apparently Mary Landrieu buys groceries!

For some reason, the JNK campaign is criticizing Mary Landrieu for her choice of grocery stores and that she's in Washington D.C. instead of Louisiana.

Why wouldn't he just condemn the creepy stalking?

Won't this desperate bullshit backfire for Kennedy?

The Head Pelican don't like and neither do I.

More:

Rasmussen, which always seems to have temperate polling numbers, gives Mary Landrieu a comfortable ten point lead.

On Republicans Running Against Obama in Louisiana

Jeffrey makes some good points about state Republicans running against Obama in their campaigns against local Democrats that have mostly never met Barack Obama or don't vote anything like him. (Including a the tasteless invocation of Reverend Wright in a political ad against the conservative Democrat Jim Harlan)

Jeffrey is right not to assume that this is a 'losing strategy' though I'm not sure which liberals are making that argument.

He is also right to assume that the identical and simultaneous strategies of Steve the Sleaze and the Neely Weather vane reflect some degree of coordination.

It is very possible that Scalise and Kennedy will see their electoral prospects improve based on this guilt by peripheral association smear campaign.

But this is unmistakably a desperate strategy. The Kennedy campaign is in awful shape and Scalise is looking in the rear view mirror at the fast-approaching and well-financed Jim Harlan. They don't have positive messages. They don't want to defend their past positions. They don't want to discuss the state of the nation. They don't want to debate the merits of their current policy positions. If they attempt to engage their opponents on any of these substantive things, the best they can hope for is a draw - as good as a loss given the momentum in each of the respective campaigns.

With nothing to run on and plenty to run from, the Kennedy and Scalise campaigns are forced to dig deeper and deeper into the depths of their sleazy souls in order to find mud sticky enough to stay on the minds of voters when they go to the polls.

Maybe attaching their opponent to Obama will work and maybe it won't.
Neither the Scalise and Kennedy campaigns know either.

The only calculation they've made is that they can't afford not to try it.

State GOP Pointlessly Threatens Own Membership

I really don't see the point here:

With more than two dozen prominent Republicans publicly backing incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu over her GOP opponent, state Treasurer John Kennedy, the state Republican Party is considering ways to discipline Republican officials who endorse Democrats, the head of the state party said Saturday.

When high-profile elected Republicans endorse Democrats, it "sends the message that we are not united," state GOP Chairman Roger Villere said. "It confuses the Republican message. . . . We are not looking to punish people, but we don't want this to develop into a trend."

Speaking with reporters after the quarterly meeting of the party's governing body, Villere said several party leaders want to adopt a formal mechanism to censure GOP officials who break with the party's candidates. He said passing a resolution "without teeth" simply to sanction a Republican who backs a Democrat, as party leaders have in the past, "doesn't make sense."

This is really rich stuff from Villere. Which confuses the Republican message more?

1. Is it that high level GOP officials endorsed Mary Landrieu?
2. Or is it that the feckless state GOP leaderships couldn't find anyone willing to run against her until the criminal rogue Karl Rove convinced a Democrat to switch parties and totally reverse nearly every major position he's held for the last decade or so?

Aren't conservative activists pretty unenthusiastic about the Kennedy campaign? Aren't they more frustrated with the professional GOP establishment that put him forth than with the popularly elected officials that have logically determined that the Kennedy campaign is a lost cause not worth spending money or time on?

And to threaten retaliation now, in October?

Wouldn't it have made more sense to bully the caucus into supporting Kennedy when, I dunno, they announced the guy's candidacy?

Meanwhile, the biggest irony of the Villere threat is that the message your average Louisiana voter gets as a reader is:

A lot of Republicans aren't happy with John Kennedy. They're not united. Most of the Republicans I voted for are actually endorsing Mary Landrieu. She must be pretty centrist and effective after all.

I really don't think the Landrieu is liberal meme resonates with the general electorate any more than it does with the facts, particularly with weather vane John Kennedy as the supposed alternative.

--

And this doesn't even begin to explore what Villere means when he speaks of "the Republican message." Perhaps someone could ask him exactly what the Republican message or platform is these days because I'm not sure he knows.


UPDATE:

Adrastos has a great recap of Neely Kennedy's abysmal debate performance last night.

Is Mr. Villere absolutely positive that he won't be voting for Mary Landrieu himself?

A Senate Candidate With Balls

I don't think this crosses the line. Would I feel the same way if the party affiliations were flipped? I'm not sure.

Those Speech-Giving, Convention-Having, Truth-Telling, Liberal Elitists

They have some nerve pointing out the obvious to the voters of America. It's as if they think people are so stupid that some of them might actually still vote for John McCain after seeing the GOP's true colors on full display for the last eight years.

Seriously though, I think this convention has been excellent and relegated the GOP talking heads to either jumping on board with their sincere praise or flailing helplessly with rumors of discord between the Clinton camp and the Obamas. And they look like fools stoking up those divisions because the speeches by the Clintons were perfect. Had they heaped on any more praise or been any more strident in their calls for the election of Barack Obama, they would have been ripped apart for going over-the-top or for mocking the nominee. Mission accomplished by the Clintons.

I was not disappointed one bit with the Big Dog's speech. Oyster highlighted his favorite parts. I can see why President Clinton wanted so badly to go into the economy during his speech. There was a lot of buzz early in the week about Bill not being happy with his speech topic or whatever. I think this was a load of bull. Do you think the Obama camp, after all the work that's been done to heal the primary wounds, went to Bill Clinton and told him what he had to talk about? Did people expect the Obama camp to be so stupid that when Bill Clinton came to say 'I'm going to absolutely roast the GOP on the economy during my speech,' he was told no?

Totally worth watching.

For all the talk about the wounds of Clinton supporters not being sufficiently heeled after the primary campaign, what about all the insults absorbed by Obama supporters after the borderline Rovian campaign run by the Hillary camp?

I'm generally not a holder of grudges but I lost a lot of respect for the Clintons during the primary season.

They needed to earn back that respect from me as a young Obama supporter just as much as the Obama camp needed to heel wounds with the Clintons. That wasn't the dominant media storyline but it's true.

Anyways, both Bill and Hillary's speeches were superb and really castrated the media make-believe over the seriousness of the supposed rift. Was there supposed to be some sort of armed coup? Give me a break.

The Clintons praised Obama, they praised his ideas, they went after McCain, and they excoriated his agenda. They challenged the Democrats to propel Senator Obama to the Presidency.

I'm ready.

--

Hillary Clinton's best line: "Was it really just about me?"

Bill Clinton's best line:

It was really more of a moment. Go see Oyster's highlights. I think it came at the end of Oyster's orange. President Clinton speaks to "the example the Republicans have set" and absolutely roasts them.

American workers have given us consistently rising productivity. They've worked harder and produced more. What did they get in return? Declining wages, less than ¼ as many new jobs as in the previous eight years, smaller health care and pension benefits, rising poverty and the biggest increase in income inequality since the 1920s. American families by the millions are struggling with soaring health care costs and declining coverage.

Then he pivots emotionally, getting angrier while still preserving an appropriate enthusiasm, showing that authenticity that have the GOP fits for so many years. He brought down his finger and said with an inflection that suggested he was gritting his teeth in outrage:

I will never forget the parents of children with autism and other severe conditions who told me on the campaign trail that they couldn't afford health care and couldn't qualify their kids for Medicaid unless they quit work or got a divorce. Are these the family values the Republicans are so proud of? What about the military families pushed to the breaking point by unprecedented multiple deployments? What about the assault on science and the defense of torture? What about the war on unions and the unlimited favors for the well connected? What about Katrina and cronyism?

America can do better than that. And Barack Obama will.

But first we have to elect him.

That crescendo was perfect. Here's the video, the passage in discussion hits at around the 11 minute mark.



And of course, Jeffrey is right about the line about "Katrina and cronyism." I'm happy with it, not just because it was placed to get a big audience pop, but because it is a catchall that implicates Ray Nagin (an unequivocal embarrassment to national democrats) as a friend of the Bush administration just as much as it does Halliburton and the Shaw Group.

===

The DNC box score thus far:

Home Runs: Michelle Obama, Sasha Obama, Malia Obama, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, and John Kerry.

Josh Marshall is also all about John Kerry's speech. It was excellent.

Key line: "Are you kidding me folks?"

Watch it:




There were late rumors of Kerry maybe being vetted as an Obama veep. I think the Biden choice is better but Kerry would have been pretty compelling given how toughened he has become. John Kerry is a good Democrat. In 2016 when Tim Kaine or one of the Udall boys from out west or Donna Edwards (if we're lucky) is the Democratic nominee for President, he or she could pick John Kerry as the 'experienced attack dog' running mate.


A Double Down the Line: Joe Biden

The life story telling went well. The family photo ops went well. The delivery was solid. It just wasn't as well-written as some of the others. Biden just got called up off the bench, it's hard to get a good swing on the ball when you've been riding the pine. So Biden took the pitch he was given and went the opposite way, blooping one over the first baseman's head and hustling into second base. I have full confidence in Joe Biden's talent. He'll be swinging a hot bat the whole rest of the summer and will be batting cleanup by the World Series this October.

Strike Outs: The DNC farm system.

The rookie call ups were nervous. Mark Warner can give a good speech and the substance within probably works well in centrist swing Virginia. But as the key note, there wasn't so much to wow over. Brian Schwietzer showed some promise out of Montana but needs some more seasoning. I expected more polish from Missouri's Claire McCaskill.

It's not as if the DNC is devoid of young talent. I would have enjoyed to seeing Udall out of Colorado or Udall out of New Mexico. Rep. Donna Edwards out of Maryland brought down the house at Netroots Nation; I would have loved to have seen her get in a few swings at the DNC. What about giving a shot to a few long-shot Senate candidates from this cycle that maybe could use some cash. We're really threatening to get 60 in the Senate. Why not give Noriega from Texas an opportunity to close the gap on Cornyn. Or what about Allen in Maine? Or Cowboy Kleeb from Nebraska? Or Rice from Oklahoma? Or Hagan from North Carolina? Look how close the Dems are to 60 in the Senate. They just need to push a little bit harder to get there and they could have used the convention pulpit to help out in Oregon, Maine, North Carolina, Texas, etc.

Also it would have been nice to have a John Edwards speech at this thing. Too bad he blew that for us.

Landrieu Landslide? It's the WCBF Bounce!

Pollster.com no longer considers Louisiana to be a Senate toss-up. In fact, it doesn't even just lean toward Senator Landrieu, as the polls indicate "strong" support. Ditto electoral-vote.com.

The latest poll from Rasmussen indicates that the effective Senator Landrieu has opened up a sixteen!! point advantage over serial candidate John N. Kennedy, tapped personally for this race by Karl Rove.

It would seem that Kennedy's strategy of cribbing notes from wikipedia, parroting patently false and locally insulting right wing talking points, and holding sparsely attended campaign events is failing to resonate amongst voters.

--

The truth is that these polls and poll watchers are simply catching up to trends already identified here at We Could Be Famous.

Kennedy Supporters As Confused As Their Candidate?

Are John N. Kennedy supporters as confused about what their candidate is running for as I am?




It's nothing compared to their confused stances against social security as a public asset, against increasing the minimum wage, and against a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq.