First House Pickup Of The Night

Suzanne Kosmas takes FL-24 over Tom Feeney. Feeney was the Speaker of the Florida House in 2000 and one of the villains of the recount (he said that regardless of the recount, he would just authorize the House to give the electors to Bush). He was tied up with Abramoff, too, and he actually ran an ad apologizing for his conduct. This is not the purging of a moderate.

...And now Alan Grayson defeats Rick Keller. This one is great. Grayson is a better Democrat, a guy who went after fraudulent defense contractors who were wasting taxpayer dollars in Iraq. He's a bold progressive. He's going to be a leader in Congress.


Here's Grayson on the Bush Administration:

I'm running because I'm fed up with the government mismanagement, the Bush administration's shameless pandering to war profiteers. I think they set out on a deliberate course to make this war good for the people who were their friends. And I want to try to hold them accountable when I'm in Congress. When I'm in Congress... the Bush administration's worst nightmare is going to be me with subpoena power because I know everything that they've done, and I'm going to hold them accountable for it.

Matt Stoller: But wait wait, let me just interrupt you there, the Bush administration's gone in 2009.

Alan Grayson: Oh but all the people they set up as the new kings and queens of America are still around. What Eisenhower said, that we need to fear the military industrial compex, has become true because they have manufactured a five year war that they want to perpetuate for a generation or even a century so that they can keep lining the pockets of their friends, the war whores.

Matt Stoller: So, people are going to say, let bygones be bygones, or let's have some sort of truth and reconciliation commission, what do you think needs to happen?

Alan Grayson: We don't need truth and reconciliation, we need punishment. We need people to be held accountable for all the mistakes that they made that have screwed us up in this war and screwed us up in this economy. The economy is falling apart, the chickens are coming home to roost. You cannot spend $10,000 for every man, woman, and child in America for a war that never should have taken place in the first place.

Matt Stoller: But be specific, what do you mean by punishment?

Alan Grayson: We'll put people in prison. We'll take away the thing that they care about the most, their money. They stole, they hurt the troops, they killed people, they hurt the taxpayers year after year and they've destroyed this economy. They're not going to get off scot-free.

Matt Stoller: Who's 'they'?

Alan Grayson: The people who have been running this government and their assistants who have been running companies like Halliburton. Think about it, we have a Vice President who was the head of Hallburton, who got a $23 million parting gift from them when he became Vice President. And he was the one who instigated this war and made Halliburton the largest army contractor in existence.

Awesome.

Total Sleaze - Not Just For John McCain Anymore!

I've been focused on the ugliness of the McCain campaign and their attack ads, mailers and robocalls. But I don't want to discount the efforts of any of his GOP allies.

Like Rep. Tom Feeney, who claims that his opponent Suzanne Kosmas basically let Mohammed Atta into the country in his latest ad ("She wanted driver's licenses for illegals and terrorists.")

Or Rep. Scott Garrett, who connects his opponent, Dennis Shulman, to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Please note: Shulman is a RABBI.

Or Sen. Elizabeth Dole, whose latest mailer claims that her opponent Kay Hagan will force the Boy Scouts to go all gay.

I don't think there isn't a place for contrast advertising. Here's a very tough one - and a good one - from Judy Baker:



The difference is that Baker's ad connects her opponent to the very real consequences of his policies, whereas these other mailers simply use fear to distract and divide - fear of terrorists, fear of Muslims, fear of homosexuals.

I guess that when you're bracing for a blowout, fear is all you've got left.

Voter displeasure with the war and economy, coupled with Sen. Barack Obama's popularity, has the House GOP running for cover. Even though polls have shown that Americans don't like congressional Democrats any more, a new internal GOP tally of House races suggests a Democratic rout that could keep the Republicans in the minority for decades. A document provided to Washington Whispers from a House GOP official shows that they could lose a net 34 seats. That means the Democrats would have a 270-165 advantage in the 111th Congress. In the Senate, Republicans expect to lose also but to keep up to 44 seats, ensuring their ability to stage a filibuster.

Republican Candidate FAIL

Rule #1: running an ad apologizing for your involvement with a convicted criminal isn't the best way to kick off your campaign.

"Five years ago, when I was first elected to Congress I was invited on trip to Scotland. I found out later that it was paid for by a corrupt lobbyist. It was a rookie mistake and I did everything I could to make it right. I reported it to the ethics committee and I paid the money back. I embarrassed myself, I embarrassed you and for that, I'm very sorry. I'm Tom Feeney and I approve this message because public service means about being honest, even when you make a mistake."

I don't entirely see how admitting to something five years after the fact equals "being honest." It would also be better if you mentioned Jack Abramoff's name. Tom Feeney must be really feeling the heat.

But he's George Washington compared to Cynthia Lummis:

The press secretary for Republican U.S. House candidate Cynthia Lummis appears to have called in to a news conference held by her rival — using a fake name and identifying herself as a supporter of the Democrat.

The press secretary, Rachael Seidenschnur, acknowledged calling in to Tuesday's news conference and asking candidate Gary Trauner a question regarding U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. But Seidenschnur denied using a fake name and said she did not identify herself as a Trauner supporter.

But an audio recording by The Associated Press shows the only caller to the news conference who asked about Pelosi identified herself as a Trauner supporter named "Sierra."

"I have a question," the caller said. "This is Sierra. I'm just a supporter. I was curious about whether Mr. Trauner supports, or if he'd been in the House, would have voted for Nancy Pelosi's and the rest of the Democrats' energy bill this past week."

That's just embarrassing.

Culture of Corruption Update

The Ted Stevens investigation appears to be expanding, as a colleague who puts together a fishing tournament for Stevens (which ends up being a giant fundraiser from corporate interests) testified before a grand jury this week. Meanwhile, Tom Feeney, a Representative from Florida who is implicated in the Abramoff case, is on the fundraising trail - for his legal bills. My favorite part is when his spokeswoman explains how Feeney is "looking forward to a successful fundraising season." So are his lawyers.

(as a side note, ABC's The Blotter apparently doesn't let you copy and paste text anymore, which is silly, because you can do so through their RSS reader. I don't understand this attempt at protectiveness in a fundamentally unsecure medium like the Internet. Plus, fair-use excerpting leads more people to link to you, consequently giving you more traffic. How stupid.)

More Congressmen Who Aren't Real Conservatives

Rep. Tom Feeney of Florida:

The FBI has asked U.S. Rep. Tom Feeney for information about his dealings with Jack Abramoff as part of its ongoing investigation into the lobbyist convicted of defrauding clients.

FBI agent Kevin Luebke refused to say whether Feeney, a Republican from the Orlando area, is under federal investigation.

Federal agents also have asked the St. Petersburg Times for an email sent to the newspaper by Feeney's office describing a golfing trip the congressman took with Abramoff to Scotland in 2003.

Rep. Don "Bridge To Nowhere" Young of Alaska:

Yet another shoe drops in the Jack Abramoff investigation. A former aide to Rep. Don Young (R-AK), Mark Zachares, looks set to plead guilty to corruption charges.

The Justice Department filed a criminal information today on Zachares, laying out the facts to which he'll be pleading guilty. You can read it here. A plea hearing has been scheduled for tomorrow.

According to the document, Zachares and Abramoff had what they called their "two year plan": Zacheres would work for Abramoff on the inside, taking advantage of his congressional position to throw business Abramoff's way, and eventually, when Zachares left Congress, Abramoff would reward him. As the information reads: Abramoff "would 'credit' Zachares with the 'business' Zachares... referred or developed for Abramoff's firm, and would ultimately employ Zachares as a lobbyist credited 'with business,' warranting a high annual salary."

'Course, we already knew Young wasn't a real conservative because last week he hired a lawyer to defend himself from this imminent charges.

Man, with all of these Republicans in office who aren't real conservatives, maybe this isn't a conservative country after all!