I’ve been to many political meetings, banquets, and bullshit sessions in the past 2-plus years. Most of the time I went simply for my own personal pleasure. Often I would get a story out of these gatherings that would pique the interest of you fine readers. Something I have never done is go to the local Representative District meetings held by either the Democrats or the Republicans. Well, I think I’ll be attending more often after the fun I had tonight.
Let me first preface this by saying I’m not at all in tune to the Democrat party’s rules on endorsements — at all. So, this entire post could be a load of bullshit. However, I just got back from the meeting and since there’s been a dearth of Mike of late, I thought I’d regale you this tale.
The Fifth Representative District (RD) Democrats met tonight to offer endorsements for the offices of lieutenant governor, New Castle County executive, insurance commissioner, and US Congress. It is my understanding that for an RD to make an endorsement, all prospective candidates should be present to offer their few minutes to give a speech. However, in the race for insurance commissioner, there was one candidate who didn’t show up. Yes, the candidate who has, of late, been covered quite a bit on this site as well as The News Journal: Gene Reed.
Now, 5th Rep. Melanie George Marshall, the eternal hottie of the House Democratic Caucus, has a voting role on the committee. She arrived on time, but from the start she made it clear she had somewhere else to be. I already know who her vote for insurance commissioner would be; she announced her support for Reed ages ago. However, there were five other individuals (I think) with a vote and I refuse to believe that with two other candidates present (Karen Weldin Stewart and Tom Savage) that they would dare consider endorsing Gene Reed. The man didn’t show up. I asked the committee at the conclusion whether Gene Reed had spoken to them some other time; he did not.
So, I wonder how much pull Rep. Melanie George Marshall has on this committee. Did it not phase anyone that Reed has been caught accepting questionable sums of money from an industry that holds contracts with the office he’s looking to lead? Something just doesn’t seem right here.
I was shopping at the local supermarket where I selected:
A half-gallon of 2% milk,
A carton of eggs,
A quart of orange juice,
A head of romaine lettuce,
A 2 lb. can of coffee, and
A 1 lb. package of bacon.
As I was unloading my items on the conveyor belt to check out, a drunk standing behind me watched as I placed the items in front of the cashier.
While the cashier was ringing up the purchases, the drunk calmly stated, “You must be single.”
I was a bit startled by this proclamation, but I was intrigued by the derelict’s intuition, since I was indeed single.
I looked at the six items on the belt and saw nothing particularly unusual about my selections that could have tipped off the drunk to my marital status.
Curiosity getting the better of me, I said: “Well, you know what, you’re absolutely right. But how on earth did you know that?”
On May 18 Jason at Delaware Liberal is hosting a fundraiser for Jack Markell, our best hope for sanity in Delaware government. Using a small portion of your tax stimulus to invest in putting a competent leader, Mr. Markell, in the highest State office will guarantee a return to better lives for Delaware citizens. Essentially, attending the fundraiser will provide an ROI (”return on investment”) far exceeding the small donation asked.
Details of the party are below:
Jason Scott and Peter Schaeffer
cordially invite you to:
The 2nd Annual Markell Pizza Party
in honor of
Jack Markell
Delaware State Treasurer
&
Candidate for Governor
Sunday, May 18th, 2008 11am to 3pm
Pleasanton Abbey
1548 Persimmontree Lane
Dover, DE 19901
Menu
Real Brick Oven Pizza
Tandor Shish Kabobs
Saffron Rice
Salads & Heavy Hors d’oeuvres
Beverages
Suggested Donation: $50 per person or $60 per family (Hay Rides)
To RSVP, please email to Ken at Kennedy@markell.org
Under Delaware law, we are allowed to accept personal, PAC, partnership and
corporate contributions not to exceed $1,200 per person.
Move over, Bill Clinton, there’s a new sheriff in town. His name is Reverend Jeremiah Wright and you’ve got absolutely nothin’ on his ego.
For reasons that escape logical thinking, especially that of the Obama campaign, the good reverend couldn’t see fit to leave well enough alone. Rather than show an ounce of humility or respect for his congregant (and a generous contributor to his church) and wait until…I don’t know…November 5th to defend himself, he agreed to be interviewed by Bill Moyer. OK, fine, he wanted to set the record straight. How much harm could come of that? You’d think that would have been enough to massage his bruised ego, but no. No. He had to follow that interview up with a speech to the NAACP in Detroit, where he mocked the accents of JFK and Lyndon Johnson in some kind of a lame comparison to Ebonics, and another one this morning to the National Press Club during which he waxed poetic about reconciliation while he attacked whites for being racist. Pretty ironic from where I’m sitting.
Those two speeches, during which he made absolutely no attempt to tone down his rhetoric, evidently weren’t enough to make him feel vindicated. With a team of black church leaders in the audience applauding and cheering his every crazy word, he participated in an awkward Q&A session where he strutted about like a peacock and gave perhaps the most divisive answers he could have given. With each crazy sentiment he expressed, the church leaders would burst into boisterous applause and/or laughter, causing the host of the session to ask several times for quiet. He wasted no time throwing Obama under the bus, first by accusing him of doing what he had to do “as a politician” then of accusing him of not attending church on a regular basis. It was, without a doubt, the last thing the Obama campaign wanted or needed at this point in the game.
Like it or not, the Reverend Wright’s attitude and conduct will be considered very off-putting to many voters. As a Hillary supporter, I can’t say I was entirely disappointed; however, as a citizen who is looking at the very real possibility that Barack Obama will be my next president, I am very concerned that the senator seems to lack the sense and the courage to completely separate himself from this lunatic who clearly has no interest in helping him get elected.
“As boating season approaches, the Bush administration wants to enlist the country’s 80 million recreational boaters to help reduce the chances that a small boat could deliver a nuclear or radiological bomb somewhere along the country’s 95,000 miles of coastline and inland waterways.” LINK.
Oh good. 80 million drunk rednecks looking for an excuse to show a little bravado, but with absolutely no training and limited intelligence. Speaking of which, does the State of Texas allow this guy to operate a motor vehicle on public roads?
My sister meets the end of her college career in three weeks and she’s ready to go out with a bang. Capping off a significant senior year, in which she was named producer of Hofstra University’s late-night program “Thursday Night Live” and completing a documentary that saw her interviewing most of the Cast of “Saturday Night Live,” my sister will tonight co-produce an annual telethon in the hopes of raising funds for a student who was murdered several years ago.
Even if you’re not in the Long Island region, you can live stream the telethon via Hofstra’s Streaming Video site. If you’d like to donate money, you may be able to select from a bunch of premium gifts donated by local and regional businesses. The telethon raised $4600 last year and they’re hoping to break $5000 this year. Pre-pledged donations are already well over $1000. If you’d like to donate, click here.
I had to steal this from the below wRONg Williams post by Intercourse. Tell us how you really feel, Al!
If she’s playing footsie with Reed, it probably means Reed is the new go-to guy for getting this done. Should it happen because Matt Denn decided to take a taxpayer-paid vacation (which is all the Lt. Gov. job is; if it required work, do you think Ted Blunt would be interested in the job?) instead of standing by his post, he won’t get my vote.
Today’s editorial by wRONg in the NJ regarding Copeland and Lee reached a high point: “I haven’t seen Republicans this upbeat since their own Donna Lee Williams decided not seek re-election as insurance commissioner.”
More good news. Rumors of Donna Lee hovering around the Gene gReed Insurance Commissioner campaign carry as much weight as her left thigh. Has one of the embarrasments of the GOP switched sides?
I am seriously considering the idea of starting a cleaning business so I woke up this morning with a plan to time myself cleaning my entire house single-handedly. Good times…good times. I was still in my pajamas contemplating my course of action when Mat’s friend, Tim McBride, called to see if I was going to be attending this morning’s Markell/Carney debate. Evidently, Carney had managed to drum up quite a few supporters and the Markell supporters were extremely outnumbered. So, rather than begin my time trial, I quickly got ready and scooted off to Wilmington to support my candidate.
I should probably preface this by saying that I am a member of Women for Markell (a fundraising group). As a member of the group, I have had the opportunity to get to know Jack and his wife, Carla, over the past few months and I can’t express how impressed I am with both of them. They are two of the most down-to-earth people I have ever met. Even though I am involved with the Markell campaign, I can also say I like John Carney. While I don’t know him very well, he came to our home last September to address a group of about 30 members of the Young Democrats Movement . He was extremely gracious and polite; a genuinely nice guy. Jack Markell had spoken to the group a few months prior to that and had developed a bit of a fan base. I’m certain Carney knew that many of the YDM members (including Mat) were actively involved with Jack’s campaign when he spoke to them, but he was still willing to come which I think says a lot about his character.
This morning’s debate was hosted by the Interfaith Coalition which consists of religious leaders from various churches and denominations across the city. Audience members were given forms on which they could ask the candidates questions. Most of the questions were about the prison system, health care, education and jobs. Carney evidently spends a lot of time “rolling up his sleeves”, a phrase he used quite often; however, most of the sleeve-rolling seems to have been done on blue-ribbon commissions during fact-finding missions. He spent a lot of time talking about his first-hand knowledge of the issues because of his involvement as chair or co-chair of many of those commissions, but I didn’t hear too much of what had actually been accomplished beyond gathering statistics.
Markell spent a lot of his time speaking about the importance of the community working together to improve society as a whole. It takes a village, if you will. He supports creating educational programs for children as young as three years old so that they are ahead of the curve when they enter kindergarten. He believes that there is no limit to what children with strong mentors at home and in the community can do with their lives. He spoke of two boys that he and his wife have mentored over the past six years and the difference it has made for both the boys and the Markell’s. (Carney spoke of a child he mentored as well and the impact it had on both Carney and the “little guy”). Markell believes that strong education and a strong community are important aspects of reducing crime and improving society as a whole.
In terms of addressing crime and recidivism, Markell spoke of ensuring that inmates were properly rehabilitated – including drug/alcohol counseling and education – so that when they are released, they can begin to rebuild their lives in a productive manner. Carney expressed similar sentiments and added something about prisoners knocking you over the head and stealing your pocketbook (or something to that effect) if they were not properly rehabilitated. That was an interesting visual. Almost as vivid as when he described how he can hear gunshots in the distance when he walks his dog in his neighborhood at 19th and Broom. Hmmm.
At the end of the day, both Markell and Carney are good guys. The state would do well with either of them at the helm. However, Markell definitely has better plans for how to improve our state and a much more innovative vision for our future.
This came in my email via the Contact Form at the top of the page. All I can say is…WTF? Is this a battle royale beginning to brew between Republican US Senate candidates Tim Smith and Christine O’Donnell? Fight hard, kids, cause either of you’s gonna lose in November. Enjoy this fascinating screed:
Does God endorse Tim Smith?
What’s the story with this guy Tim Smith? According to another DE blog, Tim
Smith keeps claiming that God told him to run for the US Senate against Biden.
Well, that wouldn’t be so unusual. But what’s really weird is that –
according to the buzz — all the conservatives in Sussex County actually believe
it. Many of the the delegates to the Republican convention from Sussex, many of
those who were Christine O’Donnell’s campaign in 2006, are all convinced that
God has commanded them to support Tim Smith. They dare not vote for Christine
O’Donnell or God will strike them dead.
But it gets even weirder than that. The two “prophets” whom Tim Smith is
claiming support him, deny it! Sheila Price and Sandy something say Tim Smith
is twisting their words, they never meant anything about Tim Smith, they don’t
think Tim Smith is qualified to run for office just yet (later on, but not now),
and that their “prophesy” has absolutely nothing to do with Tim Smith.
The two lady prophets said that Biden will fall and “the sons of God will
arise.” Apparently Tim Smith thinks that that has to mean him because he is a
man and Christine is a woman.
But the prophets say, heck no, “the sons of God” is just a generic term and
does not mean male or female. What they said has nothing to do with Tim Smith,
they say.
A politician manipulating people to get support? Well, okay… But why are
all these people FALLING for it?
Didn’t any of them just go ASK these two women?
I mean I could say God told me to walk across Africa. But to have a hundred
people all follow me slavishly would be amazingly.
I’m no fan of Barack Obama, but I actually feel bad for him. For reasons that escape me, just when Pastor-gate was starting to die down, the good Rev. Wright decided to come out of the woodwork and give an interview with Bill Moyers that will be aired tonight on PBS.
I can understand the man wanting to defend himself and his church; I just don’t know why he couldn’t wait until November. Is there something I’m missing? Is he promoting a book or something? Or is it purely ego-driven?
I’ve heard a lot about the good works of the Trinity United Church of Christ. While their charitable work is commendable, I don’t think it’s much different than the work done by churches around the country and the world. It’s what churches do. For Rev. Wright and others to try to somehow sweep his inappropriate comments under the rug with a broom of good deeds is kind of like slicing someone’s back with a machete and offering a band-aid.
From where I’m sitting, his greatest sin was not as much about the words he spoke as it was about the audience to which he spoke them. There is no denying there is blood on our country’s hands for the sin of slavery. That said, there is absolutely nothing we can do to change what has been done. Our country needs to work together to move forward in a healthy, productive way and make sure that nothing like that ever happens again. That progress will not occur until both black and white resentment begin to subside. Regardless of whether his sentiments are justified or based in fact, he speaks them to a largely lower-income segment of Chicago’s African-American population. How is telling his congregation that the white man is the cause of their problems going to do anything but fuel resentment? How is that going to improve their situations? I’m sure he’s given thousands of sermons. Maybe the rest of them were about unity and forgiveness (you know, like Jesus talked about). Maybe the snippets we’ve all seen are just an anomaly. Either way, he’s not doing his congregation or Barack Obama any favors by rehashing the story.
You see, Minister Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam is a well-documented Jew-hater. Then-mayor of Philadelphia, Ed Rendell, spoke at a Nation gathering 11 years ago. Ed Rendell supports Hillary Clinton. Ergo, Hillary Clinton hates Jews.
Or, you could use your own fucking brains (unlike the NCGOP) and come to your own conclusions.
Exit polls in yesterday’s Pennsylvania primary showed that, while 69% of Obama’s voters would support Clinton, only 52% of Clinton’s voters would support Obama. If you’re wondering why the figures are so lopsided, you need look no further than the progressive blogs for an answer.
I check the Huffington Post religiously. Not to read the articles or to be impressed with any real, hard-hitting journalism, but to see how they’re going to demonize Hillary on any given day. Sometimes it’s with a particularly unflattering picture, sometimes it’s with a misleading headline, sometimes it’s with a damaging 15-year old quote they’ve dusted off as proof that Obama’s rubber and she’s glue. Sometimes it’s a little bit of all of it – a veritable cornucopia of mudslinging from the most rabid, most vocal fans of The One That Will Unite Us.
As offensive as the media’s twitterpation for Obama is, it pales in comparison with the viciousness and vitriol coming from his supporters. Here’s a little sampling of the comments and the attitude that have pushed me and so many other Hillary supporters away from Barack Obama:
S1mon: …think of her as the unkillable cockroach: just as hardy, but not at all welcome.
Cowboylove: … a terribly flawed candidate who is admittedly a pathological liar and who has benefitted to the tune of 109 million dollars from influence peddling.
Jimbo62: … It is truly disgusting what the Clintons have done to our party. They should be kicked completely out of the party after this. Lieberman needs a couple of friends, why don’t Hillary and Bill join him in his “Nowhere Party.”
Desmirl:… WARMONGER Hillary can’t raise cash from rank and file democrats because we know what low-lifes the Clintons are…
Happycat:… Speaking of “fat asses” have you checked out Hillary’s lately? She tries to keep it covered up w/one of her cheesy pants suits, but it still sticks out.
NelsonR… Republicans will lose to Obama but with Hillary, that divisive obnoxious chronistic human, they can beat her.
Suzyku…Hillary, nasty, negative, liar #1 and her nasty cohorts need to back off. She says she’s running for “us”, another lie, she’s running for HER, for HER EGO, for HER DYNASTY. She has a sense of entitlement. It’s time for her to go back under her rock!
Bgack… Old grumpy, stubborn and angry females is your answer. They are really used to the my way or the highway political mentality Hillary represents (like Bush!).
I have but one question – how is Barack Obama going to unite the country when this is the level of toxicity being offered by his own supporters? Kumbaya, my ass.
Is it OK to like the French again? Because I’m really digging on this awesome French song, called “La Poupee qui Fait Non” by singer Michel Polnareff. This is a 90s re-do of his song that was ubiquitous in France back in the 60s.
Lately I’ve really been digging music with a melodic bent. And this song is just, well, awesome. Ten years ago I could’ve translated it word-for-word, but that talent is long gone. Enjoy.
A lot has been made of Barack Obama’s refusal to wear a flag pin on his lapel. On the one hand, it seems like such a silly thing for the MSM and the electorate to worry about in the face of all of the serious issues we face. On the other hand, Obama is digging his heels in when he should probably just put one on. It makes me think of the most sound parenting advice I’ve ever received – pick your battles.
Over the weekend I heard an old 10,000 Maniacs song that got me thinking about my own relationship with the flag…
“So now does your heart pitter-pat with a patriotic sound when you see the stripes of Old Glory waving?”
When I was a kid I said the Pledge of Allegiance with about the same gusto as I mustered up when I said the prayer before dinner (an Italian version of “Bless us o Lord and these Thy gifts…). It was nothing more than a bridge between chatting it up with my friends in homeroom and starting the first class that stood between me and recess.
It wasn’t until 9/11 that the flag took on a different meaning for me. I went from indifference to reverence in a flash. I remember being at a Phillies game a couple of weeks after 9/11 and choking back tears as we all cheered a man with a huge flag doing laps around the stands. Lee Greenwood would sing and I would hold my lighter in the air and sway back and forth. Well, not really, but you get the picture.
Then GWB went and screwed it all up. Within less than a year I went from gushing with pride to saying “aboot” so people would think I was Canadian. I found myself involuntarily rolling my eyes whenever I heard the national anthem. I felt genuine contempt for people whose constant parroting of the Bush hot-button words – freedom and democracy – cheapened their relevance. They took what made our nation the envy of others and quickly turned it into a source of ridicule and shame.
All of a sudden, just when I had almost convinced myself that there was absolutely no hope for redemption, something weird happened. A little over a year ago, politicians I genuinely respected started to announce their intentions to run for president. Bill Richardson (thump), Joe Biden (thump-thump), John Edwards (thump-thump), Mike Gravel (ummm), Barack Obama (an African American! thump-thump), and Hillary Clinton (a woman!! thump-thump, thump-thump). The diversity of the Democratic candidates made me feel good about the future for the first time in years.
Is it just me, or did the presidential race start a lot earlier this time around than it normally does? It seems like a lifetime ago that they threw their hats into the ring. There have been 21 debates in the Democratic primary alone. While we all have a bit of primary fatigue and while it’s been an especially difficult and stressful journey for Hillary supporters, the race has been a welcome distraction from an absolutely hideous piece of our nation’s history. I’ve often wondered if the almost frenzied news coverage of the election isn’t, in part, because we are all so anxious to just be done with the Bush administration. We’d all rather concentrate on Hillary’s latest gaffe or Obama’s miserable debate performance than think about the mess that greets whomever is (un)lucky enough to pick up where King George leaves off.
All of a sudden I’m starting to feel a little better about our wonderful country. And it is wonderful. Yes, there’s room for improvement. Corporations are entirely too embroiled in our government, our healthcare system is a mess and thousands of our citizens go hungry every night. Yet, with all of our pitfalls, people die every day just trying to get to our borders. They desperately want what we take for granted - the chance to achieve just about anything we set out to do if we’re willing to work hard and be tenacious. To not appreciate that is the epitome of shamelessness.
In a few months we’ll elect a new president and our great nation can begin to heal. At the end of the day, while we all have our favorites, any of the three – McCain, Clinton or Obama – will be a welcome relief. Just after 9/11, Bush addressed the nation and talked of America’s resilience. It is the one thing he said during his entire presidency with which I agree wholeheartedly. We are strong and resilient. Our economy will bounce back, our good standing in the world will be restored, and our citizens will once again feel good about our great country.
So, to answer Natalie Merchant’s question – yes, my heart is beginning to pitter-pat again. Finally.
Looks like the ladies Liz Allen and Karen Hartley-Nagle have an interesting line up of guests for this month’s edition of “In-Depth Delaware.” Tune in tomorrow on Comcast Channel 28 at 3 pm to check out political opinions from high school students and college students in Delaware.
First half-hour — High School: Mat Marshall, Read Scott, and Tim McBride from the Young Democrats’ Movement.
Second half-hour — College: Allie Scheer of the University of Delaware College Democrats, Phil Davis from Delaware State (he was instrumental in getting Michelle Obama to visit the Dover campus), and Ezra Temko, who just won a seat on Newark’s City Council (and he’s the youngest elected official in Delaware).
Subjects will include Iraq, the economy, education, and the environment.
According to most accounts, Barack Obama had a pretty weak showing in Wednesday night’s debate. He appeared to be caught a bit off-guard by the litany of questions about, well…things he didn’t want to talk about anymore. Objection, Your Honor, asked and answered.
I’m not surprised that he wasn’t better prepared for the onslaught; hot-seat occupant is hardly a role he has had to grow accustomed to – especially in a debate setting. Couple the tone of the debate with ABC’s pesky no-applause rule and you’ve got a veritable recipe for disaster for a candidate whose entire candidacy is built on feel-good promises made in saccharine sound bites met with rousing rounds of applause followed by chanting followed by more feel-good promises and so on and so on.
Obama supporters shouldn’t get too upset about his performance, though, as most of the post-debate coverage I saw was spent lambasting ABC for their choice of questions. Not to mention, Team Obama got a new talking point out of it. The First 45 Minutes of The Debate didn’t get our country any closer to solving the health care crisis or the mortgage crisis or the high cost of energy or – god forbid - the war in Iraq, but, c’mon, it was the 21st freaking debate. How many more times do you really want to hear them ramble on about the infinitesimal differences in their policies? How many more times do you really want to hear about how she’s ready to serve on day one? How many more times do you really want to hear him talk about how, in lieu of experience and readiness, he’s going to come armed with awesome judgment on day one? I don’t know about you guys, but if I have to listen to one more snippet from either of their stupid stump speeches, I may actually sprain my eyeballs from all of the rolling and I don’t know if my insurance will cover that.
It’s a personality contest at this point. And by “personality contest”, I mean “boxing match”. It’s about which of the two of them can get the bloodiest and still be standing in the end. My money’s on Hillary, but that doesn’t count for anything because Democrats are driven by their hearts. It’s the best and the worst thing about our party. Rather than take the strongest fighter, we’ll pick the bloody mess up off the mat, brush him off, bandage him up and send him back into the ring with an even stronger opponent – a cage fighter.
Rather than attack ABC, Obama and his supporters should be thanking them. They gave him just a little sampling of what awaits him in the general election. While kind, gentle Democrats may not have the stomach for a vicious cage fight, Republicans get all atwitter just thinking about it and they’re foaming at the mouth at the prospect of running against a novice like Obama. He best get some bobbing and weaving practice in before November. Maybe Hillary can give him a few pointers.
