Thursday AM Mashup (1/7/10)

I have to admit that I hate to see Chris Dodd step down as the legitimate Democratic senator from Connecticut (his statement is here), but doing so allows that state’s attorney general Dem Richard Blumenthal to immediately enter and take control of that contest over teabagger Rob Simmons, former World Wrestling Entertainment head (with husband Vince) Linda McMahon, and Peter Schiff (here).

Despite some of the cozy business with AIG and Countrywide (made into a media sensation by the Murdoch Street Journal, among others), it’s safe to say that Dodd was one of the best friends progressives ever had (evidence is here).

But of all of the Dodd moments, this video captures one which may be my personal favorite (God, Bill Orally is such a toad - as if anyone is going to "change channels" after his "Oooga Booga!" warning).



Congratulations on a great career, Sen. Dodd – all the best.

(And by the way, for anyone who thinks the sky is falling all over the Dems only, this “Fix” article from Chris Cillizza of The Washington Post reminds us that, as of last Friday, 14 current Repug House seats are in play as opposed to 10 Democratic seats. And in the Senate, as noted here, Dodd and Byron Dorgan are but two Dems leaving, possibly to be joined by Blanche Lincoln based on this, while five Repugs are departing, and they would be Bond, Brownback, Bunning, Martinez and Voinovich.)

And speaking of political races (which will gradually become a hotter and hotter topic), it seems that we have another Repug entering the primary to win the right to run against incumbent Patrick Murphy for the 8th District U.S. House seat (here)…

Ira Hoffman, who runs a financial company, is the fifth candidate to vie for the Republican nomination.

The Solebury Club, a health club in Buckingham, is not the typical place one would announce his candidacy for Congress.

…

During a speech in front of family, friends - and a bunch of workout zealots - Hoffman criticized "the lack of fiscal accountability and the overreach of the federal government that is already threatening our constitutional rights and freedoms" and took aim at Patrick Murphy, the two-term Democratic incumbent.

"Mr. Murphy represents whatever Nancy Pelosi tells him to represent," said Hoffman, a 22-year county resident. "I will represent the people and their interests and not the special interests."

I’m not going to waste my time at this point noting yet again that Patrick has voted against Democratic budgets and also voted in favor of gun rights and expressed support for tort reform, with the latter two being particularly odious staples of wingnut orthodoxy. I’ll just let Hoffman and his playmates thrash each other and focus on the survivor of what is looking like more and more of a debacle every day (with, believe it or not, a probable sixth candidate likely to announce a bid this Saturday, as the Courier Times tells us).

And why stop there, I ask? Let’s make it a “lucky seven.” And I’ve got just the person to run.

How about it, Jay Russell? You managed to royally frack up the Bucks County Commissioners contest back in ’07, as noted here. Why not do the same thing to the Repug U.S. Congressional primary?

Or are you going to pass it up because you won’t be able to do a favor for Jim Cawley and Charley Martin in the bargain?

Update 1/15/10: Aside from the ridiculously benign treatment the teabaggers get in this New York Times article, the "takeaway" for me here is that there are nine Repugs vying for the right to oppose Patrick Murphy (and as noted, it would be 10 if Jay Russell declared also - no word on whether or not Mikey Fitzpatrick was one of the participants).

Finally, while I waited once more in a doctor’s office and/or hospital to tend to my recent medical need, I happened upon the most recent issue of Time Magazine and discovered the latest bit of Beltway punditry from Joe Klein here, castigating those baaad liberal bloggers once more for refusing to settle for three-quarters of a loaf on health care reform and steadfastly supporting the public option instead.

Klein kept beating the drum about how 30 million more people will be covered under the legislation that will hopefully one day emerge from Congress and make its way to President Obama’s desk, but otherwise, he really didn’t bother to constructively address the issues about the legislation raised by Dr. Dean, among others. And since I’ve already posted my brains out about this topic, I’m not really inclined to do that myself, nor will I choose to address yet more moronic faux equivalency by Klein and his pals between right-wing and left-wing bloggers (besides, I have to be cautious about too many keystrokes at the moment).

However, this stunningly idiotic excerpt from Klein really needs to be addressed…

The denizens of the left blogosphere consider themselves the Democratic Party's base. But they are not. For Democrats, as opposed to Republicans, the wing is not the base; the legions of loyal African Americans, union members, Jews, women and Latinos are. In the end, the sillier left-village practitioners are stoking the same populist exaggeration — the idea that Washington is controlled by crooks and sellouts — that conservative strategists like Bill Kristol believe will bring the Republicans back to power. The perversity of this is beyond comprehension.

Really?

Who the hell do you think has been primarily responsible from turning the Democrats into a bunch of perennial election losers into winners (and yes, the groups Klein mentioned definitely do play and have played roles, and Democrats have also been aided in no small way by the impact of incompetent Repug non-governance)?

Do you honestly think we would be where we are if we relied exclusively on accommodationist, triangulationist DLC LOSERS for the past three years or so (and speaking of which, how funny is it that their supposedly ideal candidate is contemplating another run, as noted here)?

Ordinarily I would shy away from “blowing the horn,” so to speak, about what left-wing bloggers overall have accomplished during this time, but given Klein’s insulting remarks, I feel I must do so.

This post from Chris Bowers states that bloggers raised over a million dollars for Dem candidates in ’04, and this states, among other things, that the so-called liberal blogosphere was “spectacularly effective” during the 2006 congressional campaign (the analysis of a conservative site, by the way, the hat tip for which goes to Outside The Beltway, another right-wing site).

And to get an idea of the left blogosphere’s impact in ’08, this tells us that Act Blue raised at least two million dollars (more on Act Blue here). Pretty nice work for a group that doesn’t belong to the Democratic “base,” wouldn’t you say?

We’re not going anywhere, Klein. You and your “brie-and-white-wine, please-pass-the-sweet-and-sour-shrimp” fellow stenographers will eventually grasp that fact.

And you’d better damn believe that our money is as good as yours.

(Also, I keep forgetting to note that I posted stuff here also.)

Update 1/15/10: More nice work by people from '09 who apparently are not part of Klein's Democratic "base" is noted here.