Bill Clinton v. George W. Bush

It's election day, and we're still trying to feel out what's happening around the country. But for now, take a gander at this non-election-related news from the New York Post: Bubba and Dubya are going to engage in a presidential debate for the ages.[...]

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mydd/~3/1M5XJGgXllI/702

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Dee Evans: Were The Pundits Listening or Just
Covering The Election

BUZZFLASH GUEST COMMENTARY
by Dee Evans

I have always thought that there is a reason why it's easier to stand on the sidelines and cheer (or boo) than actually getting into the game.

It's interesting that the Huffington's, Schultz's and Maher's of the world (not to mention the Limbaugh's, Beck's and Hannity's) never want to put their money where their mouths are and actually run for an office...they just want to stand back and criticize those who do. These are some of the same people who sat around for 8 years while Bush and Cheney systematically tore this country apart and only woke up around year 6 to ask what was going on. Now they want to hound President Obama from Day 1 to try to make up for being MIA for the past decade.

Newsflash: If you wanted a shoot-first, ask questions later administration, then you should have voted for McCain/Palin. They were raring to go. Most of us voted for Barack Obama because of his promise to make thoughtful decisions and to have a steady hand in leading. Now the ADD crowd that claimed to have deplored so-called 'cowboy diplomacy' seems to want Obama to be a bull in a china shop.

Well, I've got news for you. We didn't vote to put a bull in a china shop, we voted to put a sane man in a nut house...and he is trying to fix it if only we will let him.  

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NY-23: Teabagger Voter Intimidation Reported

Via John Amato, the teabagger activists in NY-23 are illegally intimidating local residents at the polls.I just got off the phone with former state Democratic Chairwoman June O’Neill, who informed me the police had been called to at least two[...]

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http://news.firedoglake.com/2009/11/03/turning-ugly-in-ny-23-voter-intimidation-r
eported/

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We Knew This Was a Good Story

In our first installment of the Scott Rothstein fraud story we told you that accused Florida political power player Scott Rothstein (allegedly) made off with a $100 million in other people's money. Now it turns out he almost made off with GOP fixer[...]

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Talking-Points-Memo/~3/EFmENQR2080/we_knew_this_wa
s_a_good_story.php

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Hoffman won't denounce Limbaugh's "bestiality"
comments about Scozzafava in NY-23

video details and more

The Glenn Beck candidate wouldn't denounce Rush Limbaugh using a bestiality quote against Dede Scozzafava. That's not surprising for a phony teabagger like Hoffman.

Frank Rich had a great article about the NY-23 race on Sunday:

And Scozzafava is a mainstream conservative by New York standards; one statistical measure found her voting record slightly to the right of her fellow Republicans in the Assembly. But she has occasionally strayed from orthodoxy on social issues (abortion, same-sex marriage) and endorsed the Obama stimulus package. To the right?s Jacobins, that?s cause to send her to the guillotine.

Sure enough, bloggers trashed her as a radical leftist and ditched her for a third-party candidate they deem a ?true? conservative, an accountant and businessman named Doug Hoffman. When Gingrich dared endorse Scozzafava anyway ? as did other party potentates like John Boehner and Michael Steele ? he too was slimed. Mocking Newt?s presumed 2012 presidential ambitions, Michelle Malkin imagined him appointing Al Sharpton as secretary of education and Al Gore as ?global warming czar.? She?s quite the wit.

The wrecking crew of Kristol, Fred Thompson, Dick Armey, Michele Bachmann, The Wall Street Journal editorial page and the government-bashing Club for Growth all joined the Hoffman putsch. Then came the big enchilada: a Hoffman endorsement from Palin on her Facebook page. Such is Palin?s clout that Steve Forbes, Rick Santorum and Tim Pawlenty, the Minnesota governor (and presidential aspirant), promptly fell over one another in their Pavlovian rush to second her motion. They were joined by far-flung Republican congressmen from Kansas, Georgia, Oklahoma and California, not to mention a gaggle of state legislators from Colorado. On Fox News, Beck took up the charge, insinuating that Hoffman?s Republican opponent might be a fan of Karl Marx. Some $3 million has now been dumped into this race by outside groups.

Who exactly is the third-party maverick arousing such ardor? Hoffman doesn?t even live in the district. When he appeared before the editorial board of The Watertown Daily Times 10 days ago, he ?showed no grasp? of local issues, as the subsequent editorial put it. Hoffman complained that he should have received the questions in advance ? blissfully unaware that they had been asked by the paper in an editorial on the morning of his visit.

Last week it turned out that Hoffman?s prime attribute to the radical right ? as a take-no-prisoners fiscal conservative ? was bogus. In fact he?s on the finance committee of a hospital that happily helped itself to a $479,000 federal earmark. Then again, without the federal government largess that the tea party crowd so deplores, New York?s 23rd would be a Siberia of joblessness. The biggest local employer is the pork-dependent military base, Fort Drum.

The media is trying to frame today's election as some sort of referendum on President Obama, but NY-23 has voted Republican for decades and decades, so the real battle is between Republicans. If Owens wins, then I'd say conservatives have a real big problem. There will be a circular firing squad among Club for Growth, Limbaugh, Palin, Steele and Gingrich. Newt endorsed the moderate Republican after all, which is not the Fox flavor at the moment.

Last week, Gingrich became one of a small handful of conservatives who endorsed Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava (R) in her bid to fill Army Secretary John McHugh's now-vacant House seat. As a result, conservative bloggers said Gingrich had eliminated himself from contention for the GOP's presidential nomination in 2012.

And the wingnut bloggers attacked Gingrich over it too.

Right-wing bloggers have recently attacked Newt Gingrich for endorsing Republican Dede Scozzafava over Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman in the special election to fill Army Secretary John McHugh's (R-NY) vacated congressional seat. On her blog, Michelle Malkin said "no thanks" to the possibility of a Gingrich 2012 presidential run, noting that he is the "most prominent GOP endorser of [the] radical leftist NY-23 congressional candidate," while at RedState.com, Erick Erickson reportedly wrote -- before removing the post -- that Gingrich "stands athwart history and pees on the legacy of 1994."

Hoffman doesn't even live or know anything about the district he's running in, but for teabaggers, that doesn't matter. Knowledge is a liability for the teabagger movement.

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VA-Gov: Why we're getting blown out today

Ben Tribbett explains what happened:

In Virginia this year, one poll showed the percentage of the likely electorate under the age of 30 falling 70% from 2008–and the African American share of the vote falling 39% from 2008! That’s why virtually every poll has shown today’s likely electorate as having voted for John McCain by double digits over Barack Obama in Virginia last year–despite Virginia having voted almost exactly the reverse.

Unfortunately for us, the Deeds campaign freaked out and read these polls wrong over the summer. Instead of attempting to energize more young and minority voters to the polls to make the electorate more representative of Virginia–they began running a campaign targeted to the people already planning to vote. Creigh began bashing federal Democratic priorities like "Cap and Trade" and health care reform to appeal to the conservatives that were headed to the polls.

And every time he did it, polls indicated turnout shriveled even further among Democrats and progressive voters–making the electorate even older, whiter, and more conservative. To which Creigh responded to by bashing federal Democrats more–which resulted in even more progressives becoming disengaged. Over and over, the cycle continued. Over the last six weeks, PPP polls indicated the share of the electorate that identified as Democrats declined from 38% to 31%. In other words almost one out of every five self-identified Democrats planning to vote on Labor Day has since then looked at Creigh Deeds and his conservative message, and decided they weren’t voting. Ouch!

2010 will be a base election. The party best able to turn out its core voters has the best chance of winning. If Democrats want to see a repeat of Virginia at the national level next year, then they should cave to Blue Dogs and the media nabobs and water down reform efforts (whether in energy, health care, financial services, or immigration).

The further Right Deeds moved, the further his poll numbers collapsed. The correlation is clear, even if the Blue Dogs argue the opposite.

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GOP health bill: Insurers can ignore all of the
consumer protection laws and restrictions on rate changes.

The new GOP health care plan expands “coverage” and “choice” by permitting health insurers to sell policies across state lines. Under the Republican proposal, the insurer can choose a ‘primary state’ “whose covered laws shall govern the health insurance issuer” and can change states “upon renewal of the policy.” Page 129 requires a “health insurance issuer” to “provide the following notice” informing consumers in so-called ’secondary states’ that the policy is “not subject to all of the consumer protection laws or restrictions on rate changes of the state.” Here is the notice, as it is described in the legislation:

The GOP is conceding the progressive argument. Specifically, it is admitting that insurance companies would have little incentive to continue doing business under certain state rules which ?require that companies issue coverage to all new customers and not set higher rates for people who are already sick.? Instead, companies could chose a state with scarce regulations and sell policies that don’t provide mental health parity, cancer screenings, or abide by regulations that limit the rates that can be charged to higher-cost consumers. This way, plans can attract the healthiest applicants and detract the sick.

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The thrill is gone.

Hip Hop Mike is happier than a house slave at an Antebellum dance tonight. Can't say I blame him. Looks like a clean sweep for the rethugs in Virginia ,and poor John Corzine is running for his political life in Jersey. The folks in Jersey might just be stuck with Chris Christie, the republican, for the next four years. (That's if he doesn't eat half of the state by then.)
But fear not Obamaholics, don't listen to the pundits, this is not a referendum on your boy. A-merry-cans still like him personally. They are just a little skittish about his policies right now. Make no mistake folks; without a movement to rally around, or a charismatic leader to lead them, people in this country who vote to the left of most issues are just never motivated to come out and vote. It's why I wouldn't be surprised to see the rethugs win everything in sight tonight. Throw in the fact that these are off year elections, and we still have a bad economy (thank you frat boy) and no one should be surprised.
Still, having said all of that, you Negroes in states like Virginia and New Jersey who didn't vote today should be ashamed of yourselves. Politics isn't about your gut emotions like your church, it's about issues. But field, what difference does it make? To some poor guy working at a dead end job and trying to feed a family on $10 an hour, it doesn't matter whether it's Corzine or Christie. Three or four years form now he will still be in the same dead end job. This is the political reality in A-merry-ca, field; the system is rigged.
Yes, but what about "Yes we can"? What about "Hope"? What about "We are the change that we have been waiting for"? Was it all just talk? Folks just caught up in the emotion of some awesome speeches? His O ness came to jersey stumping for Corzine, and the people came out to see him, but you just knew in your heart that they weren't going to come out and vote. They never do.
Only if his O ness himself was at the top of the ticket could their votes have been counted on. So what field, why should they have vote for Corzine? Look at all the corruption from democrats in New Jersey over the past few months. Yes, but you won't be hearing that from the folks over at Radio Rwanda and their minions. This will be all about the tea party movement and the real A-merry-ca rejecting that big government, Obama, and his power grab for our health care system.
Here in Philly we have a very important race to replace our current District Attorney and the voting was today. I guarantee you that we probably had a turnout of about 10% of the eligible voters. Yet, Joe Citizen will will be crying about the DA's office for one reason or another about a year from now. Sorry, don't want to hear it, vote next time.
This just in: The AP is reporting that Christie is the winner in Jersey!
O man, it's time to pull out the ear plugs.








Read The Full Article:
http://field-negro.blogspot.com/2009/11/thrill-is-gone.html

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Roger Stone: I Hired PI To Investigate Biz
Partner And Accused Fraudster Scott Rothstein

Roger Stone told TPMmuckraker in an interview today that he retained a private investigator last year to scrutinize the activities of Scott Rothstein, Stone's onetime business partner who is now being accused of a $100 million fraud involving his south Florida law firm.

"Why would one need two Rolls Royces?" asks the legendary GOP operator (and TPM favorite). "Why would you need the hard top when you have the convertible?"

"Roughly one year ago, Rothstein's profligate spending -- on luxury cars, real estate, watches, charitable and political donations -- it just reached a level that no longer made sense. So I retained a private investigator, Adam Mangino," Stone told us from Ohio, where he is working election day. "He came back with two pieces of advice: 'I don't know where the money is coming from, but I do know the money is not his.' It was at that point that I asked Rothstein to dissolve the company."

Founded in 2006, Rothstein and Stone's consulting firm was called RRA Consulting and was based at the offices of law firm Rothstein, Rosenfeldt and Adler in Fort Lauderdale. Both Stone and Rothstein's offices were on the 16th floor of Fort Lauderdale's landmark Las Olas City Centre, where Stone still maintains a secondary office.

But Stone says the consulting business never had any clients and never opened a bank account. He was surprised to learn that RRA Consulting's status is listed as "active" in state business records because, he says, he and Rothstein previously agreed to kill the firm. (It should be noted that Stone was quoted in a 2008 newspaper article suggesting that he had in fact done work for RRA.)

The South Florida Business Journal reported in 2008 that the origins of the "Stone alliance grew out of Rothstein's involvement with Republican Party fundraising for Gov. Charlie Crist."

But, about six months ago, Stone tells us, he and Rothstein butted heads over that very issue when Stone criticized Crist, a Rothstein friend and beneficiary of the attorney's hefty campaign contributions.

Rothstein, Rosenfeldt and Adler was hosting The Stone Zone, home of Stone's "political punditry and observation," but, as Stone puts it:

"Scott was unhappy with my criticism of Charlie Crist. He asked to censor me, I refused to be censored, and therefore they declined the sponsorship." RRA stopped paying Web hosting fees for The Stone Zee.

Rothstein was hugely active in state politics, mostly on the Republican side, according to Stone. And the conduit for much of that activity was Crist, now a candidate for U.S. Senate.

"Rothstein was a reliable check for the Republican state committee. Crist would lean on him to give money to the Republican Party of Florida," Stone says. "Crist would lean on him to give money to Mel Martinez, which is like raising money for a dead body."

But, Stone adds, he always had his suspicions about Rothstein's high-flying lifestyle.

"He had neither the business acumen nor the wherewithal to make this amount of money, honestly. Rothstein could not read a balance sheet, he did not know how."

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Voter Fraud -- Or Just A Case Of Mistaken
Identity

Some conservatives are proudly showing off what they claim is a real live case of voter fraud today. Election Journal and Red State are both trumpeting this 30-second video of a young voter in New Jersey telling the tale of his stolen vote.

Election Journal, which last year released a widely-played video of the New Black Panthers supposedly scaring voters from the polls, posted the video this afternoon under the title "Concerns over absentee ballots realized."

In it, the voter says he gave his name to election officials, only to find that he had already voted.

"I walk in there, tell them my name and it says that I have a mail thing, someone sent it in the mail. But I never sent mine in the mail, so I had to file a provisional in order to be able vote," says the voter, who identifies himself as Mark Allen of Galloway, N.J.

The video has also been touted by Red State as, if not proof, then vindication of their claims that the Democrats rigged the New Jersey race via lax absentee-voting laws.

There are a few possible explanations for Allen's trouble, assuming he was telling the truth. One, he was a victim of fraud.

Two, there was a simple clerical error. The second explanation is more plausible when you consider that Mark Allen is a rather common name. It's easy to imagine an official receiving the absentee ballot of another Mark Allen and checking off the wrong one.

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