tennessee political pulse

Post election post mortem potpourri

2006-11-08T13:12:00.000-08:00

Biggest loser on the national scene with Tennessee roots?
Bill Frist.
He went to Washington in the mid 90s as a man promising to usher in an era of change, reform and bipartisanship.
He leaves Washington as a wounded political animal, tangled up in the trappings of power, with a nasty partisan tenure as his legacy.
Strangest convergence of national and local politics in Tennessee?Republican state senator Tim Burchett doing a voiceover for an automated phone call paid for by a right wing Chicago-based 527 organization. In the voiceover Burchett trumps up allegations that U.S. Senate candidate Harold Ford jr. is for government seizures of property owned by private citizens and small businessmen. Time and post-election disclosure will tell us if Burchett was paid for his hatchet job.
Biggest winner(s) on the national scene with Tennessee roots?Congressmen Jim Cooper and John Tanner, along with the other members of the "Blue Dog" coalition in the U.S. House. The Blue Dogs - fiscal conservatives who are fighting for more truthful and open accounting of our federal tax dollars - saw their ranks increase to as many as 47 members with gains across the nation. The Blue Dogs may become the tail that wags the leadership dog with key swing votes on important issues to come.
Worst call on campaign yard signs in Nashville?Republican Bob Krumm, who got trounced by incumbent state senator Doug Henry in the state's 21st district race. Krumm's yard signs simply read "Vote Bob State Senate." Memo to Krumm - when you run as an unknown with a common first name, you might consider using your last name on your yard signs.
Most creative and innovative approach to reporting election night returns in Nashville?The partnership between WKRN Channel 2 and The NashvillePost.com.
Post political journalist Ken Whitehouse, local pundit/mover/shaker James Weaver, local pr/GOP operative Kevin Phillips and a team of Ch. 2 producers operated an election war room, crunching results numbers precinct by precinct across the state, and feeding the info to a panel of pundits. The pundits - led by tv veterans Bob Mueller and Neil Orne - broadcast results and analysis via the local ABC affiliate channel, a comcast cable channel, local radio station WLAC, as well as Ch.2's blog. I was ugly window dressing to the whole affair (yea, I was the rotund bald guy without the tie sitting on the set like a drunk Budda whose name was misspelled on camera). Damn shame to ruin a good panel like radio man Steve Gill and the City Paper's Clint Brewer with the likes of me. But I have to say that it was damn cool to watch up close the unique media partnership - broadcast and web - push out news and spin in non-stop streaming fashion using both traditional and non-traditional means.
Most shameful display of political soothsaying in Tennessee?Any media outlet that paid for shitty polling, only to report the shitty polling results as gospel.
Most moving display of representative democracy at work in my neck of the woods?
The small band of citizens who waited patiently - some for up to 6 hours after the polls closed in an East Nashville precinct - to exercise their right to vote. As the midnight hour approached, when a citizen would step away from a voting machine after casting a ballot, the others remaining in line would cheer and applaud. The local poll workers (also heroes in my book for keeping the faith) ran out of "I Voted" stickers and resorted to handing out homemade "I Voted" stickers to the voting faithful.
Most fun mouthing off about politics this election cycle from a Tennessee perspective - even if no one is listening or paying attention?tennesseepoliticalpulse.com

Come on man...she's right behind you!

2006-11-03T11:57:00.000-08:00

GOP State Senator Bill Ketron is facing a tough challenge from democrat Vince Springer.
Ketron - who's already been spanked for claiming his taxpayer-funded legislative office as his campaign address - has a few campaign finance watchers scratching their heads over an apparent lack of candor displayed in his recent campaign contributor disclosure.
Seems Ketron's experienced a brain fart over background concerning some select donors to his campaign.
Instead of full disclosure on the forms, he pled the 5th by stating that he didn't really know who they were but made the "best effort" at trying to find out.
The mystery donors?
Well...there's the entire "Haslam" clan - Haslam as in big oil $$...Haslam as in HUGE donor to GOP candidates from the White House to the state house for more than a generation.
Oh yea...that Haslam clan.
Hmmm...brain fart or concern about open ties to big oil $$ this election cycle?
And then there's that ever mysterious donor Diane Black...as in fellow GOP state senator Diane Black...as in she sits right freaking behind you in the durn Senate chamber Diane Black.
Oh yea...that Diane Black.
Hmmm...brain fart or concern over ties to a right-winger from another part of the state?

Tennessee TV news anchors practicing modern day "Tasseography"?

2006-11-01T09:46:00.000-08:00

Say what?
For the Google-impaired, "tasseography" is the practice of reading tea leaves in a tea cup to predict outcomes in life.
For the past two days I've watched and listened to a fair share of Tennessee news anchors repeat an assertion made by a flawed CNN poll about where things stand in the Tennessee U.S. Senate race.
In fact, if you take those very same news anchors, dim the TV studio lights overhead, fire up a candle in front of them, and ask them to wave their hands over a tea cup, we could be watching modern day "tasseography" in action via our TV sets.
I've yet to hear an on air media personality tell the whole story behind the flawed CNN poll. You could argue its because of newscast time limitations, but I suspect the blame lies more with a lack of understanding of how polling actually works.
Here's what's not being said - Opinion Research - the polling firm hired by CNN - did zero preliminary voter identification before it polled in our state. In fact, all they did was to simply set their system to randomly dial Tennessee phone numbers, asking the person who answered if they were registered to vote, and then if they said they were registered to vote, whether or not they planned to vote in this election. Based on affirmative answers - made up or real - to both questions Opinion Research determined that their system had in fact captured a likely voter resulting in what they claim is a true reading of where things stand in our U.S. Senate race.
Opinion Research's approach is akin to having one grade schooler ask another grade schooler if so-and-so really "likes me"...check yes or no. And not all that much more advanced than waiting for a floating clump of tea leaves in your tea cup to form the outline of a recognizable figure that symbolizes an outcome in life.
Legitimate pollsters for both parties work off lists of voters whose voting history has been analyzed to death to identify true "likely voters." The end result is that people who have a history of doing what they say they do get polled, not people who say they do but don't.
Why is this distinction important? If a pollster or news outlet declares "likely voters" believe this or that - they should be certain that "likely voters" actually believe this or that.
In the final days before the Election, voters are paying close attention to what the candidates are doing and saying, and more often than not, these same voters are relying on news outlets to help them understand what's going on.
Instead of practicing "tasseography," our local media owe it to their viewers and listeners to carefully dissect any information they are being fed before attempting to distill and broadcast it.
As an aside - not that it has any relevance to anything I just wrote - in my tea cup this morning tea leaves formed the figure of a shoe - the symbol of change coming for the better.

Election Day clarification from comedian Jon Stewart

2006-11-01T09:43:00.000-08:00

"Election Day is always the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. This is because having it on the first Thursday after the second Saturday in November would be silly."

Once again, Coop raises the Bar

2006-10-27T12:08:00.000-07:00

While the GOP has been busy shoveling shit onto the airwaves, Nashville's congressman - Jim Cooper - has been focused on substance.
Coop gave a speech earlier in the year to the Nashville Bar Association that outlined serious concerns about the White House's attempts to aggressively claim the powers of the other branches of federal government. Never one to mince words, Coop condemned "congressional bipartisan underperformance," noting that "White House overreaching would not be possible without congressional complicity and negligence."
The speech apparently has resonated with constitutional scholars nationwide. This week Coop received a top award by the American Bar Association for his insight and grasp of these important constitutional concerns that impact the very heart and soul of our representative democracy.
Now if we can just put Coop in the majority this election, ensuring that we see more of his intellect at work for our nation!

October surprise?

2006-10-27T11:04:00.000-07:00

A couple of months ago a handful of national reporters chronicled comments by Bush advisor Karl Rove that he remained confident about the GOP chances of retaining control of Congress, in part, he said, because an October surprise was planned.
Election day is 11 days away. So where's the October surprise?
Could be it's already in play. Could be it's already in play, but it's NOT playing out as planned.
If that's the case, let's consider some possible tactics put into play this month that might NOT be achieving desired results for the GOP.
The drop in gas prices?
A mere coincidence that prices dropped dramatically for the first time this year the very month before the the election? Maybe. But if not, this week's reported 3rd quarter multi-billion dollar profits for the oil companies stands to re-ignite the embers of consumer anger over the lack of a consistent and coherent policy on energy by the GOP leadership in the White House and Congress.
Progress in Iraq?
The most significant October development that was not likely forseen by Rove and Co. - the largest U.S. troop body count for a single month since the alleged war on terror began.
Aggressive airwave attack directed by Rove and the RNC in key races?
The controversial RNC funded tv attack on Harold Ford Jr. - involving racial undertones and lies about Ford - that we now know was produced by Rove protege Scott Howell has ended up backfiring on Bob Corker's campaign and the GOP overall. One of Howell's GOP clients - Sen. John McCain - is denouncing the pathetic hatchet job done on Ford, as is Corker and Corker campaign manager Tom Ingram. Problem for Corker and Co. is that Tennessee voters are proving they are just too damn smart to buy Corker's embarassing attempt at plausible deniability.
October surprise?
There's still time for one. But my sense is that there will be no significant surprises at this late stage, including how the GOP fares on Election Day.

Yo "Angry" - fire the dude who made you debate Rochelle

2006-10-26T08:07:00.000-07:00

Here's some free, unsolicited advice for state senator Mae "Angry" Beavers - "fire the person in your posse who suggested you debate challenger Bob Rochelle."
And while you're at it Mae, "go ahead and demote the person who prepped you for it(I'd recommend sticking them on one of your campaign's midnight Rochelle yard sign de-placement drive-bys out around Tuckers Crossroad)."
Folks...I tried watching the debate last night...really I did. But I admit to having been challenged to stay tuned to it - what with all of "Angry's" paper shuffling, her serious rapid eye blinking (remember what Freud said about rapid eye blinking?), and her rambling over dead issues like the state income tax.
Rochelle on the other hand was calm, cool, collected and knowledgable. Unlike "Angry", Rochelle did not have to rely on notecards with talking points or copies of documents to make a point.
My take on the event - "Angry" came off looking like the bumbling, fumbling ineffective bureaucrat she has become. Last night she offered no evidence that she's done anything concrete during her tenure in office to help schools, improve access to health care or address other pressing issues facing Tennessee families.
Zero - nada.
All she offered up were baseless negative attacks on her opponent that reflect what the GOP across the state and the nation have come to represent this election cycle.
Nuff said.

A war without end?

2006-10-23T08:37:00.000-07:00

This factoid passed along by an observant reader of this blog...President Bush's so-called war on terror has dragged on longer than World War II - including both the European and Pacific campaigns.

The Corker motto - "Believe as I say - not as I do"

2006-10-23T08:18:00.000-07:00

Bob Corker has publicly denounced the latest RNC tv ad that takes cheap shots at Harold Ford Jr. - which uses actors to play the roles of everyone from a porn pusher to a "scantily clad" blonde woman who winks at the camera. Critics have declared that the ad reflects all that is wrong with politics today - unfounded personal attacks with zero substance and no regard for issues that matters to Tennesseans.
Feeling the heat, Corker's campaign manager de jour Tom Ingram was quoted as saying that the ad does not reflect "the kind of campaign we are running."
But while the Corker posse talks nice, facts tell a different story.
Speaking on CNN Sunday, Ron Brownstein, a respected political reporter veteran for the LA Times, commented that the same RNC operative who stated that the RNC would not take the controversial ad off the air (despite alleged pleas from Ingram) "is the very same person that travels and talks to press on Bob Corker's behalf every day."
Brownstein's assessment - "the whole thing looks a little disingenuous."
Amen bro.

Mr. Ed pisses away what remains of his credibility

2006-10-18T14:14:00.000-07:00

How sad.
Ed Bryant, who raised his stock among many on both sides of the political aisle for speaking his mind and the truth about the real Bob Corker during the GOP primary, now appears in a tv spot endorsing Corker for the Senate.
He'll soon discover how much credibility can be pissed away in 30 seconds on tv.
BTW - I guess Bryant's re-entry into the political game makes him fair game for any reporters who might ask him if intends to return the $$ he got while in the primary race from alleged wanna-be-Internet porn star Craig Schelske.

A TN GOP candidate got some $$ from an alleged wanna-be Internet porn star

2006-10-17T11:27:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend - as local media scrambled to cover the scandal involving Sara Evans and her soon-to-be ex-husband Craig Schelske - state GOP party honcho Chris Devaney was quoted in the Tennessean as saying that Schelske's conservative political PAC had made no contributions to the state party.
What Devaney failed to mention - a mere oversight perhaps - is that according to the FEC's online campaign finance disclosures, as recent as March of this year, Craig PAC - headed by the alleged wanna-be Internet porn star - had made two contributions totaling $4,200 to the failed senate bid of GOP candidate Ed Bryant.
Does anyone care? Probably not since Bryant is yesterday's news.
But I find this information to be important if we are to understand the influence this dude was trying to have on our state's political landscape.

Bob Got Mail

2006-10-17T10:40:00.000-07:00

Email records for ex-Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker released under an open records request show that Corker was not afraid to use his taxpayer funded, city hall email account while on the public dole to get updates on Freeliant - one of his private sector business investments. He also used his city hall email account to schedule meetings with business partners, and to make calls on behalf of and pass along contacts he'd developed as Mayor on to Freeliant.
Corker's misuse of the city's email account comes days after news got out that Freeliant got $3 million from Delta Capital Management, a Memphis-based venture capital fund. Delta Capital got the business under Corker to manage the city's pension fund.
Corker's mouthpiece says their candidate did nothing wrong. His mouthpiece said
Corker's involvement with Freeliant was as a "passive investor."
Passive - smassive.
Smart voters who are fed up with the Corkers of the world who see public office as a means to a personal financial gain end see it otherwise.

Those flashing blue lights were no police escort for Bryson

2006-10-13T08:35:00.000-07:00

If you happened to be driving down West End Avenue in Nashville yesterday afternoon and noticed the Metro police cruiser - blue lights flashing - snuggled up next to Jim Bryson's campaign bus, you might have wondered if the candidate had hired a police escort to get him through traffic.
Not a chance.
The cruiser in question had stopped to ticket Bryson's bus for illegal parking.
According to an eyewitness the size of Bryson's bus - the candidate likes to call it his big bus (yea I know...there's lots of speculation about why Bryson seems fixated on size comparisons...)- did not obviously intimidate this particular officer.
No word on the size of the fine his campaign was slapped with.

Seismic shockwaves are coming out of East Tennessee

2006-10-12T08:27:00.000-07:00

Today conservative political analyst Frank Cagle has endorsed Harold Ford Jr. for the U.S. Senate. Cagle's endorsement was published in today's edition of the Metro Pulse, a Knoxville alternative weekly.
Cagle's endorsement of Ford is guaranteed to send seismic shockwaves throughout GOP political ranks in East Tennessee and across the state.
Cagle's conservative GOP roots are undeniable, and his action today underscores the climate of chaos in the state GOP that's been created by Bob Corker's campaign.
In his endorsement, Cagle states that Ford is an independent voice who will "shake up" things in Washington while Corker "is not a change agent...he's establishment to the core."
Not one to mince words, Cagle states that a "Corker vote rewards big government conservatives, other criminals, perverts."
In a parting jab to Corker's new campaign manager Tom Ingram, Cagle writes that GOP voters should not think that a vote for Ford is a sign of "not showing party loyalty." He goes on to write that "Corker's campaign manager Tom Ingram will be voting for Democratic Governor Phil Bredesen in the same election...if it doesn't bother Corker, it shouldn't bother you."

John Reed - A great man with many great passions

2006-10-12T07:34:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow (October 13) a friend and former colleague of mine - John Reed - will be honored in a memorial service at Christ Church in downtown Nashville. Just yesterday, John lost his hard fought battle with pancreatic cancer.
My personal respect for John aside, it only seems fitting that a small glimpse of John's great legacy be shared here in this blog. For those of you who didn't know John or his work, he was hands down the strongest advocate I ever met of the First Amendment and open government, having spent much of his professional career and virtually all of his political capital for years fighting for stronger open records laws and against any attempt to silence free speech.
I saw John a few weeks ago at a lunch reunion in his honor of some of his former Ingram Group colleagues. While seated next to him, I shared with him a little about what my company was doing on the web front. While John always made known his adversion to most things technical, I could tell that John - a true champion of free speech - understood and appreciated the awesome power of voice and opinion that the Internet has to offer.
I once read that a great man is a man of great passions. John was a great man because he had many great passions in life - some were personal...his wife Ann, his daughters Lindsey and Jessica; fishing a quiet stream or deep waters; a Nantucket sunrise and sunset and all the time in between...and others more public...upholding and protecting the First Amendment; challenging anyone, regardless of who they were or what power or influence they wielded, who would dare undermine the principles of free speech; and trying his best to encourage others to join in his cause.
I will miss John, but I know his legacy is so great that it will live on in the hearts and minds of everyone he touched during his 59 years on this earth.

Corker's "Delta mud lump"

2006-10-11T11:25:00.000-07:00

Some years ago a friend of mine who grew up in the Mississippi Delta region told me about a little known - but ever present - geologic phenonmenon known as a "Delta mud lump." In short, a "mud lump" is a mound of clay that builds up in Gulf water areas around the mouth of the Mississippi River, rising unexpectedly from the water to lift a ship while spewing a noxious gas. When a ship hits a Delta mud lump, my friend told me, it's never a pretty sight.
Today Bob Corker had his own version of a Delta mud lump appear suddenly in the form of a stinging expose in the Memphis Commercial Appeal. The article focused on a cozy relationship Corker had with a Memphis-based investment firm called Delta Capital Management.
The story (click here to read for yourself) has put Corker on the defensive over allegations that as Mayor of Chattanooga he helped his friends at Delta - with whom he once had financial relationships with - garner a huge chunk of the City's pension fund to invest in start up ventures.
All this is more bad news for Corker whose campaign seems to be stuck in a perpetual defensive tailspin going into the final days before the election.
Worse yet, the story comes on the heels of a series of other revelations and allegations in recent weeks over how Corker used his public office to further his personal financial gain, and while Corker maintains his insistence on refusing to fully disclose sources of income to the public.
How much worse can things get for Corker?
It's anyone's guess.
But I can't think of anyone I know - Dem or Repub - who doesn't see Corker's as a campaign in total chaos.

Will Beavers plead the 5th to voters?

2006-10-03T12:10:00.000-07:00

My uncle used to say that "when it comes to the good stuff...you just can't make it up...that's what makes it so good."
An example of this has come to light in the 17th district state senate race.
Democratic challenger Bob Rochelle has gone up with an ad produced by Fletcher, Rowley, Chao, Riddle (click here to view) that smokes GOP incumbent Mae Beavers over a stunt she pulled when she apparently lied about her legal residence on campaign disclosure documents and voter registration.
Politics can be a nasty business, but Rochelle's camp didn't make this one up.
Beavers' shenanigans are real and well documented.
So how will Beavers respond?
According to the ad Beavers' pled the 5th when first confronted by authorities.
We'll see if she continues to plead the 5th to voters as this hard hitting ad gains traction.

My friend Tom Ingram ain't God

2006-10-02T08:55:00.000-07:00

If any of you reading this post doesn't like the fact that I am involved in politics in Tennessee, don't blame me, blame Tom Ingram.
Nearly a generation ago while looking to my next move having served my time in D.C. working for Al Gore, I ran into Tom Ingram and he invited me to return to Nashville, join his firm and put down roots.
If it wasn't for Tom Ingram and the opportunity he gave me, I probably would have ended up being someone else's pain in the ass in another state, in another place.
While I wouldn't claim to be a close drinking buddy of Tom's, I did spend some quality time over many years seeing from the inside of projects how Tom thinks and works, which is why I frankly respect the hell out of him. He's got smarts and he is THE master Jedi of message.
That said, I still believe camp Corker has pinned too much hope on what even Tom Ingram can do to turn around their failing campaign.
At this stage the problem is way more fundamental than message.
With just days to go before early voting begins, the problem is that voters don't like Corker's character and everything he stands for.
New messages (even a red pickup truck prop in an ad) will not be enough to convince voters that Corker is to be trusted.
Corker's still refusing to come clean about his sources of income.
Corker's unsuccessfully dodged questions about his use of influence as Mayor to engineer a sweetheart land deal for one of companies.
Corker's been busted for using illegal aliens on a project of his in Memphis.
Corker's even lied in a recent tv spot to his mother about his record as Mayor fighting crime.
Tom Ingram may be the best the GOP has to offer when it comes to message.
But my friend Tom Ingram ain't God, and only God at this stage can change this candidate's character and then convince voters that the change is for real.

Wonder how many Chattanooga police officers and firefighters you could squeeze into Corker's 30-room mansion?

2006-09-28T11:58:00.001-07:00

A new campaign ad in the Tennessee senate race informs voters that man of the people Bob Corker is anything but. A 10,000 square foot, 30-room mansion...net worth of $200 million...owner of six SUVs.
The key message in the ad though is not simply Corker's high roller lifestyle. Success in and of itself is the American dream.
The key message is that while serving as Mayor of Chattanooga millionaire Corker froze the pay of the city's police and firefighters but took three pay raises himself.
The question in the new ad is dead on target - "as senator, who do you think he'll look out for?"

"The low road" is already litttered with Corker campaign trash

2006-09-25T07:55:00.000-07:00

On the same day Bob Corker's Senate campaign emails out a Chattanooga News Free Press editorial that claims Harold Ford Jr. is taking "the low road" by pointing out in a tv ad that Corker's construction company got popped by INS for allowing illegal immigrants to work on one of their construction jobs, word is that Corker's camp has begun a "push poll" attack in select counties that mirrors what was done by George Bush's camp against John McCain in the 2000 presidential campaign. In this instance the caller asks a serious of questions meant to plant unrelated and unsubstantiated negative impressions about Ford disguised as legitimate survey questions.
Anyone taking "the low road" at this point would find it already littered with Corker campaign trash.

Ok..since you asked...

2006-09-22T08:21:00.000-07:00

Some who read this blog (btw, if you read this blog you should consider other hobbies to entertain yourself) have asked me off line why I care a lick about the Mae Beavers - Bob Rochelle state senate race now in full bloom (see my earlier posts about Angry Beavers).
There have actually been FOUR reasons why I care about the 17th Senatorial District race:
1. I am a graduate of Watertown High...yup...a Wilson Countian...not by birth but by pedigree
2. I used to work at Lebanon's WCOR radio station...yup...gospel DJ while going to MTSU...obviously they didn't bother to do background checks on religious broadcasters in those days
3. I still have family scattered about Wilson County and they keep me posted from time to time on what's up in political circles
4. I love politics in general
Now I have a FIFTH reason:
A right wing blogger named Mark Rose has become the open wide Beavers mouth in the proverbial blogsphere and this week has begun pushing out bogus "internal polling #s" from the Beavers camp that he claims shows Beavers ahead in the race.
Rose opens wider by saying that because the Rochelle camp won't share their internal polling #s with him, that proves that Beavers is ahead and Rochelle is desperate.
Yea, right.
Let's see class...anyone care to weigh in on why they think Rochelle's camp should share internal strategic information with a right winger blogger who is a self-professed "hack" for Beavers?
I'll go out on a limb here and make some bold assumptions.
No matter how loud Rose screams for Rochelle's camp to dilvulge strategy and internal info to him, Rochelle's camp will not listen to or oblige him.
No matter how loud Rose screams that their refusal to do so sends a message to voters that Rochelle is losing, Rochelle's camp will still not listen to or oblige him.
My bet is that Bob Rochelle is going to continue to run his campaign on his terms and not let the Angry Beavers posse run it for him.
But hey, what do I know?

So what's a candidate to do?

2006-09-22T07:17:00.000-07:00

On the one hand Bob Corker wants voters to take him seriously when he says he's tough on illegal immigrants. But now he's facing very public facts that illegals once worked on one of his construction projects in Memphis. The facts surrounding the hiring of illegals is well documented (unlike the dudes who did the work for Corker on the project).
Harold Ford, Jr. takes the posture that employers who hire illegals should be held responsible. Corker seems to be a tad soft on that argument.
So what's a candidate to do?
Seems to me Corker's got three options:
- act as if no one is paying attention, and hope to God that no one is paying attention
- fess up to the facts and ask for forgiveness from voters
- attack Ford for being "a liberal" and try like hell to change the subject.
Any guesses on what option Corker will take?

Wow...that was easy!

2006-09-21T15:09:00.000-07:00

Bob Corker - who has up to now refused to make public his federal income tax returns, raising questions about what he's hiding from voters - yesterday told a radio audience listening to WGOW's Live and Local show that he would release his FULL tax returns to the station if they wanted him to. He said - "The 1040 says exactly how much I've made and if you'd like me to I'll send it over here and give you a schedule all the back to 1976."
MEMO TO CORKER CAMP: A PDF VERSION OF CORKER'S ENTIRE TAX RETURNS WOULD BE EASIEST TO CIRCULATE. NEED MY EMAIL ADDRESS?

Can I get an amen?

2006-09-21T14:59:00.000-07:00

In today's Chattanoogan.com, Bob Corker's former rector The Reverend Dr. H. Hunter Huckaby, Jr. writes that his former parishioner's refusal to debate Harold Ford Jr. on NBC's Meet The Presss "raises serious doubts as to Mr. Corker's ability to represent the people of Tennessee." The Reverend goes on to write that "Mr. Corker's reason for refusing, namely that he wants to devote more time to campaigning in Tennessee, is a flimsy and transparent excuse."

WTF was Bryson thinking?

2006-09-21T14:21:00.000-07:00

Rule #1 in politics - if you ain't funny, don't try to be.
If Jim Bryson's goal in rolling out his one and only campaign tv ad was to earn a late night gig on Nashville's Channel 19 - the community access channel - then he succeeded. But he wanted Tennessee voters - voters who are looking to strong, competent leaders to run our state - to take him seriously, then he completely missed his own big bus.
My,my how the mighty of ego do fall.

Last time I checked Corker's the only former mayor running for the U.S. Senate around here

2006-09-15T09:02:00.000-07:00

Bob Corker's camp, forced to defend his record as Mayor against the backdrop of a new democratic party ad that spotlights the failures of Chattanooga's emergency 911 call system on his watch, today began circulating a Nashville City Paper editorial that points out that other Tennessee cities have also suffered from breakdowns in their 911 call systems. The City Paper made an editorial stretch that because it has been a problem elsewhere, raising the issue in this U.S. Senate race with Corker is somehow off base. The City Paper even suggested that raising this important issue calls into question Democrats' values.
What a load of horseshit! A failure is a failure is a failure. Just cause someone else screwed up on their watch does not make Corker's screw up any less a failure.
The way I see it the problem did happen on Corker's watch, and since Corker is the only former mayor of a Tennessee city running for the U.S. Senate, the issue must be raised and Corker must be held accountable.
Here's what's ultimately at stake:
If Corker screwed up as Mayor, just imagine what he would do as a U.S. Senator.

Beaver alert

2006-09-13T13:07:00.000-07:00

When I wrote the post about mae "angry" beavers and her hissy fit last year demanding a bigger office and other choice committee perks and appointments and threatening to resign and abandon her constituents if she didn't get her way, I didn't realize just how desperate she might get in her re-election bid this go around. That is, until I stumbled across a blog post by mark a. rose who shared info on her democratic opponent Bob Rochelle that rose attributed back to angry beavers.
I responded directly to rose's blog, but in the event that my comment never makes it to the front end of his blog...here you go:
- rose said angry beavers is claiming that rochelle is speaking out of both sides of his mouth when he criticizes rising gasoline prices since he supported state gas tax increases when he previously served in the state senate...the truth is rochelle is right to criticize big oil companies who are raping the american public with price hikes designed to feed record corporate profits...he was also right to support increases in the state gas tax to pay for better roads that help to create better jobs for Tennessee...huge difference...no conflicting message here
- rose said angry beavers is claiming that rochelle is on the payroll of all 3 utility districts in his neck of the woods, hinting that this is a sin...the truth is that rochelle's law firm does some legal work for only one of the utility districts...not a sin, and certainly not what she claims it is...rose added that angry beavers claims rochelle is profiting from being the legal counsel for the joint economic development board back home...the truth is that rochelle is a "volunteer" attorney helping the board...volunteer as in "unpaid"
- rose ends his post by stating that angry beavers claims rochelle took cash from an indicted lobbyist in a previous campaign...the truth is that rochelle fully disclosed any and all contributions to every one of his races in accordance with state election laws, and that the contribution she references was not cash, but a check, which was disclosed and was made to rochelle's campaign years before the lobbyist got in trouble with the law.
So why would angry beavers stoop so low as to feed garbage and baseless lies to a blogger instead of being more forthright and above boards with her attacks? Did she really count on the blogger revealing her as the source of this trash? Hmmm...let's see...maybe she has nothing else to say to voters that would really matter in her race. Maybe she is so desperate at this late stage in the election cycle that she will say or do anything to win her re-election.
On that point, we'll just have to leave it up to voters in her senate district to speak their mind on angry beavers' brand of politics.

Corker's "Hail Mary" doomed to fail

2006-09-13T12:28:00.000-07:00

I was not surprised to see Bob Corker's camp call in reinforcements from the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee (RSCC) with negative ads designed to counter Harold Ford Jr.'s barrage of upbeat, powerful ads on issues that seem to be connecting with Tennessee voters - national security and education. After all, this week the Washington Post had an insightful piece about how the RNC and its tangled web of "committees" plans on spending virtually every remaining cent they have left on targeted negative ads aimed at tearing down Democrats, rather than talking about real issues. They clearly have embraced the old "if you ain't got nothing to say, just spit" philosophy.
But the timing of Corker's tactics to go so deep down the negative path only made more sense to me after hearing the results of a recent succession of statewide big sample polls - one internal by Ford's people and one independent of any camp (WBIR-TV)- that shows the Senate race in a virtual dead heat, with Ford given the edge in growing favorability by voters across the board.
While the desperation from Corker's camp is obvious even to the most novice of pundits or armchair analysts, and while their strategy to distort and attack Ford so viciously is textbook GOP, I do wonder if Corker's gurus understand that every baseless negative attack they make only serves to increase voters' negative perceptions of their GOP candidate. The stats in both recent polls clearly show a steady climb in Corker's negatives since July, and upping the anty with more negative attacks from Corker and his GOP consortium of committees will only fuel the climb.
Maybe this approach is Corker's attempt at a "Hail Mary" of sorts. He's heading into the fourth quarter (35 days away from the start of early voting), he has no momentum, his gameplan is not gaining him any ground...so, he decides to go for broke. Throw principle and dignity to the wind, and hope voters will forgive him later.
Granted this approach has worked for some in the past. But given the serious distain voters have this political cycle with "more of the same" and "politics as usual," I'd characterize Corker's "Hail Mary" as a bad call in anyone's playbook.

Do voters really want to re-elect "Angry Beavers"?

2006-09-11T10:56:00.000-07:00

While surfing news archives the other day I stumbled across a priceless article that chronicled a pathetic hissy fit just last year by GOP state senator Mae Beavers. It got me thinking - can I still get by with labeling her "Angry Beavers"? Is there a statute of limitations after a few months on spotlighting the absurd behavior of an elected official?
Beavers is running for her political life this November against a strong, well-financed and definitely "on message" and "on point" Democratic opponent Bob Rochelle. In the event the people of the 17th senatorial district (Wilson, Sumner, Clay, Smith, Dekalb, Cannon counties) have forgotten (or more likely tried like hell to get the image of "Angry Beavers" out of their proverbial minds), I offer up this just last year archival morsel to remind them once again of the character embedded in the very soul of their GOP candidate choice.
Back in early 2005 Beavers threatened to quit the state senate just before the start of a legislative session because - I am not making this up folks, really...no...really I'm not - she did not get the plum committee assignments she expected and because she did not get a bigger senate office.
While I do adhere to the "size does matter" philosophy for most things in life, size of one senate office shouldn't matter to those we elect to serve our interests in the General Assembly.
In defense of her "hissy-ness" and threats to abandon her constituents in the middle of her senatorial term, "Angry Beavers" was quoted in the Lebanon Democrat (1/18/05) as saying that her seniority earned her the privileges she believed she deserved.
Fast forward to 2006 - just a few weeks before voters in the 17th senatorial district go back to vote again on who would best serve their interests in the General Assembly.
Seems to me the question is clear - does an elected official who threatened to abandon their post and turn her back on her constituents in the middle of her senate term days before the start of an important legislative session just because she believed her seniority in the legislature meant she should have a bigger office and plum assignments deserve their support?
Seems to me "Angry Beavers" thinking then - and I assume her thinking today - re-defines the term "cut and run."

And another thing...

2006-08-30T12:57:00.000-07:00

If Lamar Alexander recognized the importance of debating his democratic opponent in Jackson, Tennessee in the heat of his contested U.S. Senate race, why won't Bob Corker? I figure the only reason why Corker is dodging a debate with Harold Ford Jr. in Jackson is that he's afraid he'll get tangled up in his own web of lies in front of over a millions swing voters in rural West Tennessee. Sadly, the loser in all this are voters who deserve to see and hear the candidates without the cover of slick, scripted tv commercials.

Corker dodges debates with Ford in Tri Cities, Knoxville and Jackson

2006-08-29T12:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Bob Corker announced that he would NOT debate Harold Ford Jr. in either the Tri-Cities area, Knoxville or Jackson, and would NOT appear in any statewide televised debates under any circumstance.
Corker's decision to dodge a public debate with Ford in these areas, coupled with his continued stance against making public his income tax returns and his lawyer's recent efforts to seal court documents surrounding Corker's involvement in a shady land deal while he was Mayor of Chattanooga, begs the obvious question - "just what is Bob Corker so afraid of?"

A "site' for sore eyes

2006-08-28T12:18:00.000-07:00

This website needs no introduction - only a tip to pump up the volume on your computer:
Jim Bryson website

How to prep for that annoying pre-election deposition

2006-08-28T11:09:00.000-07:00

Last week Bob Corker "received a subpoena" to testify on October 18th. He'll face allegations that under Corker the Mayor's watch, Wal-Mart developers were granted permission to build a construction road without City Council approval through a popular protected wetlands area. One of Corker's businesses closed on the land sale for Wal-Mart's development for a cool $4.66 million just weeks after the easement was granted by the Corker administration. Undue influence by then-Mayor Corker for personal gain?
Corker's lawyers have tried to seal court documents and keep a lid publicly on the whole squirrely land deal. This action in and of itself is an interesting tact to take as Corker tries to win the support of voters who are skeptical of politicians in general, and more so of those who try to keep the truth away from the public's reach.
Understanding the magnitude of this ever important deposition to Corker's political future, I offer these following sources/tips to help Corker with his performance on the witness stand.

One website offering reasonable deposition tips can be found at: http://adrr.com
This site has a section entitled "SURVIVING A DEPOSITION" in which the deposed is advised on "How To Think For A Deposition", "How To Be Calm For A Deposition", and "How To Dress For A Deposition." The site advises the deposed to expect lawyers to be "either nice or nasty." Funny, I can't recall ever meeting a "nice" lawyer.
There is one tip on this site that Corker must have already taken to heart - "do not give anything away actively, passively or interactively, by what you do, what you say or how you act."

Another website offers an entirely different slant on how to survive a deposition:
www.luckymojo.com
This site suggest use of five major families of witchcraft or magic spells for use in court cases...they are:
beef tongue spells
freezer spells
dressing clothes and carrying a mojo bag in court
little john to chew spells
honey jar spells; and
recital of psalms for court cases

Come October 18th, let's all wish Corker the best as he takes the proverbial witness stand and tells the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help him God.

Another black eye for the Tennessee GOP

2006-08-25T10:30:00.000-07:00

nashvillepost.com's Ken Whitehouse just broke a story minutes ago about the arrest of Shirley Ward, president of the Tennessee Federation of Republican Women, by the TBI for voter fraud. Ward, according to Whitehouse, turned herself in to authorities who are charging her with voter fraud stemming from allegations that she knowingly voted in the wrong district in a Tipton County Commission race to influence the outcome of that race.
Ward's arrest is problematic for the GOP across the state on numerous fronts - primarily at the grassroots level. To have the president of a prominent statewide Republican activist group arrested for voter fraud will no doubt sting throughout the ranks of the Tennessee GOP. The impression on voters who read and hear of the arrest and subsequent stories about the allegations of voter fraud will be anything but positive. Those same voters will begin going to the polls to vote in less than eight weeks. The arrest may also be an embarrassment to Ward's son, Jeff, who heads TeamGOP.org and who recently endorsed Bob Corker for the U.S. Senate.

"I know nothing...noTHING!"

2006-08-25T09:49:00.000-07:00

This week the Republican National Committee fessed up to hiring a voter registration group that has been banned from Wal-Mart stores across Tennessee for "failing to meet the retailer's standards of nonpartisanship."
The group - Liberty Consultants - was paid by GOP operative Nathan Sproul to corral Wal-Mart shoppers and sign up Republicans to vote. Former Sproul workers reported that in 2004 they used similar tactics and were told to sign up only Republicans, and to walk away from people who might support Democrats. Reports have circulated that some completed Democratic voter registration forms collected by the group were actually thrown away or ripped up Sproul operatives.
Harrassing Wal-Mart shoppers to vote Republican is a tad cheezy, but what really caught my attention was the fact that the Tennessee Republican Party claims they had "no prior knowledge" of any such RNC funded voter registration drive in its own backyard. According to the state GOP's executive director Chris Devaney (aka Sgt. Shultz of Hogan's Heroes fame), the party was surprised to learn of all this. "I know nothing...noTHING!"
Sure. Yea. Right.
Why should I expect that the head of the Tennessee Republican party (....or anyone of any stature within the entire Republican party organization across all 95 counties) would have ANY knowledge whatsoever of a massive multi-million dollar, multi-location cordinated GOP voter registration within our state that is funded and directed by the national republican party?
Silly me.

Lost in limbo?

2006-08-24T17:29:00.000-07:00

Help me out here. No really.
The last time I checked Nashville still doesn't have a new federal courthouse to replace the current aging one. But we do have a name for it.
I remember back in '01 U.S. Sen. Bill Frist boasted at having secured $20.7 million or so of our tax dollars to begin the process of designing and building the new courthouse. I even vaguely recall that some firm had been chosen to design it.
From that point on things are a little fuzzy.
Last month I read in Congress Daily that the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee decided to name the "still ain't built" federal courthouse in Nashville after Frist as a trade off forged by the committee after Senate Transportation-Treasury Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Kit Bond (R-Mo) denied Frist's latest request for more tax dollars to actually build it. Glad to see our Republican Senate leaders with such a firm grasp on priorities.
I might have missed other news or developments on this since then (I admit to being out of cell and web range for a couple of weeks), but unless something else happened I suppose this means Nashville's new federal courthouse - though named after Frist - remains in budget limbo.

Is the party over yet?

2006-08-24T15:30:00.000-07:00

Today Bob Corker is celebrating his 54th birthday with a party in Chattanooga.
Tonight, after the candles have been blown out and the celebration ends, Corker will likely head home and reflect on how his day has gone.
In keeping with that sentiment, permit me to offer my own assessment of where things seem to stand with respect to what's probably most on Corker's mind these days - his U.S. Senate election prospects:
- New internal tracking by respected Ford pollster Pete Brodnitz shows Ford up by 2 percentage points over Bob Corker among Tennessee voters, and shows Corker's negatives climbing by 10 percentage points since Corker went on the air with his $6 million pro-Bob tv ad blitz, while Ford's favorables went up from 47% to 55%.
- 47% of Tennessee voters are unfavorable toward President Bush...the same President Bush that Corker is bringing in to campaign for him next week ("welcome to Tennessee Mr. President...things have changed a little since you last graced us with your presence").
- Ford is getting credit for running "one of the smartest campaigns of the year" by major national political analysts, who credit Ford's energy, his straight talk and his refreshing message.
- The National Education Association Fund for Children and Public Education today endorsed Ford (following on the heels of the Tennessee teacher organization) stating that Ford "clearly understands the problems facing public schools and has a proven record in support of the issues facing education."
- Ford came off a major bus tour across parts of Tennessee last week that saw hundreds of grass roots supporters turn out in areas of the state once believed to be Republican strongholds.
- Despite an endorsement from a D.C.-based national right to life group, Corker got snubbed this week by Tennessee's Right To Life activists who refuse to support him (even though he is the GOP nominee) because they are angry over over Corker's flip flopping record on abortion.
- Corker's lawyer filed a motion on primary election day to hide details of all of developer Corker's land deals...his campaign said "the actions taken were completely ethical and consistent with the public good," not "sneaky."
- One such land deal that occured when Corker was Mayor of Chattanooga is now starting to raise eyebrows...it seems Mayor Corker decided to have public lands paved for a development project with ties to developer Corker.
With all that to absorb, I suspect Corker might end up having a tough time tonight catching on some much needed sleep.
I further suspect that Corker might even wonder if the proverbial party was already over, even before tonight's celebration.

"He was a good 'un"

2006-08-21T08:09:00.000-07:00

This morning I learned via a radio report (later confirmed by a telephone call) of the death of Larry Trail, a former Tennessee state senator who hailed from Rutherford and Cannon counties. While I've experienced my fair share of having to deal with the death of friends, hearing about Larry's passing hit me a bit harder than most.
Some years ago I was introduced to Larry by a mutual friend. At that time, Larry was in need of some political advice as he pondered a first time run for an open state senate seat. We bonded from the get go - a political hack and a pig-headed, straight talking, tenacious candidate.
The traits I respected the most in Larry were traits that drove most people around him nuts. He relished a good argument. In the heat of a campaign, he would spend a lot of time (some said too much time) questioning all of the advice he was being given. Not because he believed he was any smarter, but because Larry was the kind of guy who wasn't about to buy into anything unless he understood it (and even then, he still might not buy it). If you planned on getting Larry the candidate to embrace a political strategy, you better damn well have done your homework. Same held true for Larry the state senator. Just ask lobbyists or senate leadership what they remember most about Larry. What you'll hear is that Larry had an annoying tendacy to insist on reading and understanding every word of every piece of legislation he was asked to vote on. He even invited me once to put the word out to all my lobbyist friends that they better not ask him for his vote unless they can make a good case for it. Larry also didn't mind ruffling feathers in committee hearings by asking tough, pointed (and often leading) questions of important people regardless of their standing.
While there were plenty of political and policy points over which Larry and I disagreed, there was so much more to Larry as a person that I liked. He respected and appreciated the law and enjoyed finding ways to use it or change it to help average working people. He loved his wife. He had a hearty laugh (though careful not to have one at someone's expense). And most important to me on a personal level, he found a way to dis-engage from all the craziness by losing himself in mundane chores on his farm in Cannon County. For all his complaining about not enough time in a day, Larry always perked up a bit when he talked carving out time on his farm.
While sadly it was a farm accident that ultimately caused Larry's death (he was in a serious tractor mishap at the age of 12 that cost him the partial use of one of his hands and caused him severe internal scarring that didn't heal right), I suspect it was his connection to his farm throughout his life that gave him the balance he needed when the pressures of running a law practice, fighting legislative battles, and dealing with the rough and tumble of politics got to him.
Finding balance in life and having that special place to get away from all the craziness is something I still seek most days.
People like Larry - the candidate or the state senator - are hard to find in and around politics these days. His star, though characterized by some as more of a shooting star at legislative plaza, burned undeniably bright while he served in office.
It was an honor and a privilege for me to have known Larry and to have worked with him briefly.
Our mutual friend summed up Larry best in our call this morning - "he was a good 'un."

And I thought I might have missed something

2006-08-17T08:34:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago today I skipped town and unplugged both cell and Internet connections to get a little R&R.

I returned to discover the following:

Millionaire Bob Corker - who self-funded the bulk of his negative TV blitz/admitted to not paying taxes a few years back/and raised taxes while Mayor of Chattanooga - is refusing to release his complete federal tax returns saying no self respecting Tennessean really wants to know details of his financial situation. Is there something buried in the tax returns Corker's afraid will come to light?

Washington lobbyist hater Bob Corker - remember the self-funded TV ad attacks on both Ed Bryant and Van Hilleary for being lobbyists - is embracing the endorsement of lobbyist Hilleary. Guess this means Coker now has a running buddy for his trips up K Street to shake down D.C. lobbyists for more $$.

Bob Corker is actually going to have President Bush - think ballooning federal deficits/out of control government spending/deep divisions within his own Party over immigration/a civil war in Iraq/growing crises throughout the Middle East - campaign for him on August 30. Sign me up to get a copy of the Corker-Bush shake/howdy photo for my political scrapbook.

Whew. It's a good thing I didn't miss anything important.

Well shut my mouth.

2006-07-28T14:08:00.000-07:00

In another life I used to try to spin Brooks Jackson, a reporter for AP, the Wall Street Journal and CNN. Jackson is no fan of/nor is he an easy mark for/ political spin. He's been covering politics for years, but more importantly he understands "how" the game is played.
Jackson is director of Annenberg Political Fact Check, an arm of the Annenberg Public Policy Center which is based out of the University of Pennsylvania. Annenberg Political Fact Check is nonpartisan, not for profit, and is committed to reducing "deception and confusion in U.S. Politics."
This week Annenberg Political Fact Check called Bob Corker's recent ad that attacks GOP rivals to be "grossly misleading." The group went on to say that, with respect to Corker's arguments in defense of misleading statements about Ed Bryant and Van Hilleary, "we find that(Corker's)logic faulty, to put matters charitably."
Corker can spin his latest lies and logic behind his lies all he wants, but the simple truth is he ain't being truthful.

Fill Er Up Mr. Corker?

2006-07-26T07:48:00.000-07:00

Bob Corker - according to the Commercial Appeal this am - was getting his campaign tank filled this week with big oil $$ at an event in Washington hosted by the Independent Petroleum Association.
This raises three questions:
Q1. Bob has attacked his primary opponents for being lobbyists. If they had been big oil lobbyists, would he have treated them differently?
Q2,3. Bob has not taken a strong position on big oil profits like his democratic opponent Harold Ford Jr. Wonder if he will - assuming he's still in the race post-August 3rd, and if he does, might his taking big oil $$ while slamming big oil be considered hypocrisy?

A tangled mess of messages

2006-07-21T05:15:00.000-07:00

In 2004 Bob Corker declared that he did not intend to spend his own money in his U.S. Senate bid. He said then - and has said up until about a week ago - that he was counting on strong grass roots support from Republicans across Tennessee to finance his campaign.

Yesterday Corker disclosed that he had spent every penny raised for his primary election and that he had been "forced" to deposit an additional $1.745 million of his personal fortune in recent weeks to keep his campaign afloat.

Who forced him to write a personal check? According to Corker its the two primary opponents he claims have no real support and who pose no real threat to his "commanding" lead in the polls.

The spin from Camp Corker was that the attacks by "Mr. Ed" and "Van Dame" were distorting Corker's "record," and that the extra cash was needed to "set the record straight."

I admire a good spin, but this political yarn is one tangled mess of messages.

Let's try to untangle it a bit.

Back then....
- Camp Corker bragged about money "pouring in from grassroot Republicans."
- Camp Corker launched a massive TV blitz months ahead of his primary opponents.
- His two primary opponents finally went up on TV with low budget, weak message ads in select markets.
- Camp Corker consistently boasted of a strong, steady lead over his primary opponents in the polls.

But now...
- Camp Corker divides the Republican party further by ignoring earlier pledges and viciously turning on his primary opponents, attacking them by name in a new ad.
- We learn that this vicious attack ad is being funded out of Corker's own personal pocket since his alleged "grassroots" well has run dry so early.
- Camp Corker says he was "forced" into "setting the record straight" in these final days before the primary election because his primary opponents' attacks seem to be getting traction.
- Camp Corker sheepishly confirms that their man dumped a wad of personal cash into campaign coffers on July 14 to keep the campaign afloat.
- Corker continues to pound the pavement and lobbyist doors on K Street in Washington for more "grassroots Republican" cash.
- And just this week a new Knoxville News Sentinel poll shows the primary race tightening between Corker and "Mr. Ed."

So what does all this tell us? Here's my take.

Corker's commanding lead over his primary opponents reflects name recognition with shallow "grass" roots.

Corker's internal polling shows voters - Dems as well as GOPers - are unsettled over his flip flopping record on issues like abortion, taxes, pay raises, immigration, etc.

Corker's efforts at pulling the GOP behind him were getting zero traction (outside of the high brow biz crowd) so he's decided to throw caution to the wind by turning on the two primary opponents whose bases he will need to win a general election.

Despite his best efforts to suck $$ from DC lobbyists, he's not had much success there.

Will Corker continue to divide the GOP further by maintaining his personal attacks against his fellow Republican primary opponents. Yup.

Will Corker continue to have to drop his own $$ into his coffers at the risk of appearing to "buy his nomination." Yup.

Will this all continue to be a tangled mess for Bob. Yup.

Reshuffling the GOP dance card

2006-07-19T13:19:00.000-07:00

It's been no surprise to hear and see "Mr. Ed" Bryant and "Van dame" Hilleary go at Bob Corker for being a Democrat in GOP clothing. After all, the facts are on their side when it comes to Corker's pro-choice/pro-life election year conversions, not to mention his tendancy to trash talk taxes while raising them as Mayor.
But what's up with Corker's new TV spot attacking his primary opponents by name?
Corker - the candidate who presumably has left his two primary opponents eating dust as he raced ahead of them in recent polls - has unleashed a buffet of attacks on Bryant and Hilleary.
The new Corker spot levels a series of body slams on the two for allowing illegal aliens to invade our homeland, for raising their own pay as members of Congress and for being registered lobbyists.
It seems strange that Corker would take this tact, given the fact that his own camp claims they have the primary all locked up. Attacks like these don't exactly sit well with primary opponents you may need on your side post-primary, especially opponents who represent a wing of your own party you will need to court as a prospective general election nominee.
Also, it seems the new Corker attacks serve to lay open Corker's own vulnerabilities as a potential general election nominee.
Wanna talk illegal immigrants Bob? Remember your company's hiring of illegals to build an apartment complex in Memphis?
Wanna talk pay raises Bob? Remember raising your own pay as Mayor of Chattanooga when budgets were tight?
Wanna talk registered lobbyists Bob? Remember hustling $$ from Washington's K Street lobbyists to pay for the very TV spots that now slam lobbyists?
The new Corker ad ends with a line about "career politicians." Hmm...let's see...a few years serving as Gov. Don "State Income Tax" Sundquist chief fiscal advisor; time spent as Mayor of Chattanooga; time spent running for the U.S. Senate against Bill Frist...guess the word "career" must have some time served benchmark.
Has Corker's multi-million TV, direct mail blitz paid off? We'll know in just a couple of weeks.
Has Corker burned some bridges with the pro-life, conservative wing of his own Party? That depends on Bryant and Hilleary. If they stand by their right wing convictions and want to preserve any credibility or dignity they may possess coming out this contested primary, then the answer is "no way" can Corker expect them to come to his side if he were to become the GOP nominee.
But just when I think I have the partners picked out for this GOP primary dance, the dancers either trip or reshuffle their dance cards.

The Corker Chicks in happier times

2006-07-17T08:25:00.000-07:00

Here's a not so clear photo image of the Chattanooga chicken (he's the chick on the right) snapped outside the Knoxville GOP debate hours before his run in with a Corker staffer at an early voting site in Chattanooga.

There's more to this Corker chicken tale

2006-07-16T04:05:00.000-07:00

Early voting for most campaigns is chance to test drive GOTV (Get Out The Vote) operations. Some camps by now have identified voters they know to be inclined to vote for their candidate, so they use the occasion to get them to the polls early to cast their votes. Early voting also affords campaigns the opportunity to do some last minute politicking using volunteers or paid staff to "gently" remind voters walking into the polling places to vote for their candidate.
On Friday in Chattanooga, however, the early voting fanfare got a bit ugly and physical between a staffer for Bob Corker and an unidentifed kid in a chicken suit outside the Hamilton County election commission.
According to an account Friday in the chattanoogan.com a Corker campaign staffer - Bryan Shannon - claims he was "assaulted" by a kid in a chicken suit early Friday as Shannon worked the early voting polling place. Shannon said he was assaulted as he innocently attempted to snap a photo of a kid dressed like a chicken who was holding a sign critizing Corker for being too chicken to debate the other Republican primary candidates in his home town of Chattanooga. The chattanoogan.com reported that Shannon claimed he attempted to snap the photo while standing in front of the chicken's car - engine running, chicken behind the wheel. Shannon went on to say that the chicken tried three times to run him over before speeding away. Shannon said he suffered some minor injuries that required some outpatient treatment later at Erlanger Hospital.
On the surface the story seems mildy plausible - innocent man run over by kid in chicken suit for merely trying to snap a photo.
But it just doesn't add up in my mind:
- Shannon, who, according to the chattanoogan.com, stands 6'3", is no small fry. Rumored to be a close confidente of Corker's campaign manager Todd Mitchell, in all likelihood, Shannon was asked to work this key polling place to ensure that nothing goes wrong in Corker's political backyard.
- The chicken shows up on Shannon's watch holding a sign for all the world to see that ridicules Shannon's candidate. Might Shannon be inclined to do something more than merely snap a picture of the chicken?
- Judging by the way the chattanoogan.com story was written, apparently Shannon mustered up the strength - in the midst of nursing his assault wounds - to speed dial select media to tell his side of things before any official police accounts had been reported.
- Also, why would a kid dressed as a chicken be camera shy? Just the night before - at Thursday's GOP primary debate in Knoxville - three kids in chicken suits (representing the three areas of the state where Corker has refused to debate his GOP primary opponents) happily posed for photos for anyone willing to take them.
- And finally, if you wanted to "innocently" take someone photo who happened to sitting in a car with the engine running, would you stand in front of the car, or would you be better off (and maybe even get a better shot) standing out of harm's way beside the driver's window? Seems to me anyone standing in front of a vehicle driven by a kid in a chicken suit was looking for something more to happen than to snap a photo.
All this to say, I was not there and have no clue what really happened.
But I do suspect that there is more to this story, and I for one can't wait to read the official Chattanooga police report that should contain eyewitness accounts of what really happened.

Vampire bunny cameo in campaign mail piece

2006-07-12T05:22:00.000-07:00

I couldn't resist sharing an observation about a campaign mail piece that has made its way to my desk this week. It's a piece sent out by a candidate running for state representative in the upper cumberland region of the state.
The mail piece from Chuck Womack - a local Cookeville doctor - combines positives about himself ("doctor who has cared for all our families") with sharp attacks on his two opponents ("power hungry has-been politician"; "lawyer for the debt collector"). But that's not what caught my eye.
In a photo alongside the statement that Womack is the "doctor who cared for all our families" sits Womack with a sweet faced little girl in his lap, listening intently as the candidate reads from the book "Bunnicula."

That's right...Bunnicula...as in vampire bunny (Bunny meets Dracula) that sucks the juice out of vegetables and terrorizes the family pets. Titles from the "Bunnicula" series of books include "It Came From Beneath The Bed", "Nighty-Nightmare" and my personal favorite - "The Celery Stalks At Midnight."
For what it's worth, I might have chosen a different children's book title to showcase on a campaign mail piece - perhaps something more apropos like "Oh, the Places You'll Go."

To "V" or not to "V"

2006-07-11T12:37:00.000-07:00

As the candidates head into the home stretch - early voting starts in two days - for the August primary, I respectfully remind the three stooges running in the GOP U.S. Senate primary of the importance of being clear about what they mean when they say what they say.
Case in point - Ed Bryant (let's call him stooge #1) is questioning the "electability" of Bob Corker (let's call him stooge #2) claiming that stooge #2's flip flops on core right wing litmus tests such as abortion, taxes and immigration are liabilities going into the November general election.
Stooge #1 said "we cannot have a neutered Republican" like stooge #2 as the GOP standard bearer in the general election.
Stooge #2 had his campaign director (let's call him stooge #2's sidekick) call stooge #1's attack on stooge #2's manhood "desperate."
Van Hilleary (stooge #3 and a true soprano in his own right) said through a female spokesperson that there is no way for voters some days to distinguish stooge #2's record from the democratic nominee's - an embrace of sorts of stooge #1's "neutered" point.
Stooges #1 and #3's points are valid with respect to stooge #2's flip flop record of service. The flip flops - pro choice, then pro life; raises taxes, then rails against taxes - are well documented.
But all this back and forth raises an even more fundamental question - could stooge #1 have made the same strong point about stooge #2 without using the "neutered" analogy? Would the soundbite have had the same "bite" if stooge #1 had used the analogy of a "vasectomy" instead?
Let's study the facts.
On "neutering":
- my few seconds of exhaustive Google research today turned up the fact that "neutering" is just a fancy word for castration, which is performed on pets to prevent breeding and aggressiveness
- my exhaustive research also showed that "neutering" has side effects that may include bloating and lack of interest in any exercise
- clearly stooge #1 does not want to see stooge #2 breed or be aggressive, and he might even enjoy watching stooge #2 blow up like a pig on the campaign trail
- and even a male chimp can see that castration has got to be THE most painful procedure, not to mention the post-procedure humilation of having no "cajones".
On "vasectomy":
- things are snipped but it ain't castration
- it does prevent breeding
- stooge #2 might still be aggressive
- stooge #2 would not necessarily blow up like a pig and may still want to exercise
- the procedure is considered more humane
- stooge #2 keeps his "cajones"
Conclusion? It would appear based on the facts that stooge #1 was probably justified in referring to stooge #2 as a "neutered" Republican.
The overwhelming factor I did not reference in the above mentioned facts - but which actually holds more weight on stooge #1's behalf than anything Google can produce - is that calling stooge #2 a "neutered Republican" is a better soundbite and...is...well...funny.
Think about it - do you really think any blog or media outlet would have deemed newsworthy the claim of stooge #1 that stooge #2 has had a "vasectomy?"

The "Cash Room" takes center stage

2006-07-10T06:09:00.000-07:00

The U.S. Treasury Department gets a new Secretary today - Henry M. Paulson.
Paulson, who has an estimated net worth of $700 million, was just awarded an $18.7 million cash bonus for half a year of work as the outgoing chief executive of Goldman Sachs Group.
In 2004, Paulson earned the title of Bush Pioneer. The Pioneers are an elite group of GOP donors who raised $100,000 for Bush's presidential campaigns in order to wear an official Pioneer badge. Another Bush Pioneer who just last week garnered headlines was the now deceased Kenneth Lay of Enron fame.
Today's swearing in of Paulson will be administered by Bush in the Treasury Building's ornate "Cash Room" where the public once could cash government checks, exchange new money for old, redeem silver certificates and gold certificates, and sell U.S. Treasury bonds. Now used primarily as a backdrop for ceremonies, the Cash Room has now become center stage under Bush for a different sort of redemption.
Nashville's congressman Jim Cooper used the occasion of today's swearing in of Paulson to renew his call on the Treasury/Administration to be more forthright and transparent in its reporting of the federal deficits. It's no secret that Bush's Treasury has used a kind of accounting method over the past six years that allows for under reporting of the size of the deficits.
While I certainly can't help but agree with Coop's call for more straight forward, honest disclosure of how bad things really are at Treasury, part of me thinks I may not be able to stomach knowing more than I already do.

Paper or plastic?

2006-06-23T07:41:00.000-07:00

This week I took a trip to the Davidson County Election Commission office to see a demonstration of the new voting machines that will be rolled out and plugged in all over the county in time for the upcoming August primary.
As always the staff at the Election Commission were courteous. In fact, when I showed up unannounced and asked for a demonstration of the new machine they were accomodating and responsive.
That aside, my gut says there may be (underscore "may") a train wreck a'coming.
Voters...meet the new ES&S iVotronic.
If you have been exposed to touch screen computer technology you'll find the system fairly easy to navigate - with one minor exception. Because of the size of the August ballot in Davidson County, voters may be forced to scroll through as many as 15 screens of ballot boxes.
That's right - 15 screens of races.
This stark reality may give new meaning to the term "down ballot" race.
Remember this confusing comedic bit - "Who's on first?? What's on second?? I don't know. Third base."
If you have not been exposed to touch screen computer technology...well...may I suggest paper instead of plastic?
Imagine someone with limited exposure to this technology trying to navigate 15 screen pages of information - not to menition having to read and closely follow the navigational directives that will appear on each screen as they surf the system?
There are also other issues to be resolved by July 14, such as privacy while you vote. I understand there is some discussion at the commission about having voters be positioned with their backs to walls as they work at the very open air designed machines.
My hope is that the commission will make a concerted effort to notify all registered voters as to what they can expect when they arrive to vote at the polling places in the coming weeks. It might also make sense for the respective political parties to notify their constituencies of the new technology and offer tips and assistance of some sort to voters who might be adverse to this technology.
While I'm not afraid to use the new system, you can bet I'll be asking for a paper ballot when I show up to vote just to save time (unless there is no one else in line ahead of me).

Now you see it. Now you don't.

2006-06-17T04:22:00.000-07:00

Hyprocrisy among the current crop of GOP candidates on the subject of campaign fundraising is nothing new. Bob Corker attacking Harold Ford Jr. for accepting contributions from people outside Tennessee while Corker himself hustles for $$ on Washington's K Street to fund his race here is yesterday's news.
But this week another verse to the GOP hypocrisy chorus was revealed by Tennessee Democratic Party Chair Bob Tuke. Seems yet another outside GOP political fund is doing business on behalf of the GOP here, playing an even higher stakes game of hide and go seek.
You can go to go4truth.com to read all the necessary supporting documentation, but here's the story in a nutshell.
Two political entities have been set up called the Tennessee Leader Victory Fund and the Tennessee U.S. Senate Victory Fund. The Tennessee Leader Victory Fund is a joint venture with Saint Frist's Volunteer PAC, the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) and a fund called the Tennessee Republican Senate Nominee General Election Committee. The objective of all these entities is to sell influence, access and a piece of the political action to conservative-minded donors, regardless of where they hail from.
The game is played this way:
Donor X from outside Tennessee contributes to the various entites. The entities transfer the $$ to the NRSC, which in turn targets the $$ to be spent in support of the GOP nominee for the U.S. Senate race here in Tennessee.
(It is worth noting from a previous post that the NRSC has undergone a recent personnel shakeup due to the fact that its previous political director has been convicted of ties to an illegal phone jamming scam involving former TN GOP chair Tommy Hopper. Can you say tangled web?)
To date over $400,000 has already been transferred from one of these two "Tennessee" entities to the NRSC and you can bet it every penny will be spent here in Tennessee supporting the GOP U.S. Senate nominee.
Why would the GOP playing this game? Simple. Making it hard to follow the $$ gives donors protection from watchful eyes.
Is it really legal? Apparently. After all the treasurer of the "Tennessee" Leader Victory Fund is Thomas Maxwell III, an east coaster identified in a NYT story in 2003 as the "compliance officer" for the NRSC. Maxwell is also the tied to the Tennessee U.S. Senate Victory Fund.
Is it transparent to most voters? Anything but.
Will the shell game really play out here in Tennessee between now and November? Count on it.
The real question though (that remains unanswered) is whether or not Tennessee media covering the races here will call the GOP's bluff when they accuse Tennessee Democratic candidates of raising and spending $$ from people outside our state.

Corker sucks a girl's face

2006-06-14T14:50:00.000-07:00

Ok class. Let's go over this again.
If you are a candidate for a major federal office, and you are running on a conservative family values platform, should you pay attention to what your children are doing on the Internet?
Anyone? Anyone?
Wonkette does it again.
Julia Corker - daughter of senate candidate Bob Corker - is featured on facebook.com in a lip lock with another girl and joining in an interesting underwear dance. (type in bob corker in the search box on the wonkette blog to see the post)

He's been framed

2006-06-09T14:53:00.000-07:00

Hats off to our military for taking out most wanted terrorist scum Abu Musab al-zarqawi. But lest we overlook the small things that make for the staging of good news - a sharp salute to the folks that managed to get this massive image of a very dead Zarqawi so beautifully framed within hours of his killing. Now that's what I call service.

Corker - maybe you should have pulled a Groucho instead

2006-06-09T13:33:00.000-07:00

Bob Corker should have followed the wisdom of Groucho Marx - when pressed by reporters for a truthful answer on the issue of his hiring illegal aliens to work on a Tennessee construction project he should have said "quote me as saying I was mis-quoted."
He should have, but he didn't. Instead, Corker's camp, including the candidate, went on record giving five different answers over five days about his knowledge of the incident to reporters. The most recent being a total admission of guilt on the matter.
Click here to see an interesting post (What is Bob "The Fraud" Corker Hiding?) outlining Corker's bizarre five for five strategy.
Maybe Corker thinks that giving multiple answers will lull reporters and ultimately voters into some sort of spin trance.
Fat chance.
The immigration issue is a hot button and any candidate like Corker who dodges the truth about their respective record is going to get torched.

Bryson Enlists Support Of Unemployed Comedian

2006-06-09T04:43:00.000-07:00

Jim Bryson unveiled the new symbol of his campaign to be taken seriously as a contender in this year's Governor's race. The symbol - a pitiful excuse for a bear.
That's right, you heard me - a bear.
Facing the realities of zero name recognition, no clear campaign message, an opponent who happens to be one of the most popular bipartisan Governors in our state's history...and with fewer than 93 business days remaining before voters start voting early in this race, Bryson has clearly taken his campaign to a new level (did I say a higher level?).
Bryson hired a bear - but not just any bear.
Sources inside the Bryson camp tell me the bear is actually a frustrated comedian who, after some recent career setbacks that involve being laid off by a control freak frog after he was discovered having an affair with a prima donna pig, approached Bryson with a "convincing schtick." My sources say Bryson, who too has struggled of late to find any audience willing to buy his schtick, was sympathetic of the bear's plight.

Officially, Bryson has had no comment on his decision to hire the bear. After the bear's pathetic debut this week on the campaign trail (word is he ran away from reporters who attempted to question him at his first political event), Bryson's campaign aides began attempting to shift the responsibility and blame for hiring the bear to the Tennessee Republican Party.
Well, point all the fingers you want Mr. Bryson. I know better than to believe that seasoned campaign veterans like GOP state party executive director Chris Devaney would be behind such a stupid publicity stunt.

Frist Spawn Makes Fashion Statement

2006-06-06T08:26:00.000-07:00

This entry requires little or no editorial comment on my part (I love it when a subject just speaks for itself). It does underscore the important question all politicians -regardless of party affiliation - need to ask themselves -- "what will my kids be up to on the Internet while I'm out campaigning for higher office?"
Click here to wonkette, then search on blog for Jonathan Frist: Beer Wrangler.

Online photo gallery and diary of Corker uncovered

2006-05-25T13:35:00.000-07:00

The buzz on the street about Corker's online photo gallery and diary:
"Riveting."
"I'm speechless."
"Each photo and diary entry pulls you in deeper."
"I wanted to, but simply couldn't bring myself to look away."

Remember, you saw it first here:
Corker's Online Photo Gallery and Diary

Former Tennessee GOP Chair Tommy Hopper Linked To Illegal GOP Phone Scam?

2006-05-21T19:54:00.000-07:00

Here's a Tennessee political trivia question for you - name the controversial former Tennessee Republican Party executive director who went on to serve as the controversial chair of the Tennessee GOP during the 1992 election cycle.
The answer - Tommy Hopper.
Back in those days political junkies couldn't pick up a newspaper anywhere in the state without being subjected to Hopper's spin to the right and his tough talk on Democrats who dared challenge Republicans at any level.
So you'd think since the Tennessee political media couldn't get enough of Hopper back then, they'd be all over the latest stories circulating in Washington about Hopper - specifically his involvement as co-founder of a company that's been part of an investigation into illegal phone-jamming tactics used against Democrats in New Hampshire during the 2002 elections.
According to reports, it seems Hopper, who currently advises GOP candidates as President of a firm called "Margin Of Victory Partners" based in Jackson, Tennessee, went into business with Haley Barbour, the current Governor of Mississippi, Edward Mathias, the managing director of The Carlyle Group, and other powerful GOP interests, to launch a venture called GOP Marketplace. In 2000 GOP Marketplace rolled out a service called the Republican Teleservice Exchange.
Word is that just last week (May 17th), the former Republican National Committee (RNC) and National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) political director James Tobin was sentenced to 10 months in prison, 2 years probation and a $10,000 fine for his role in jamming Democratic Get-Out-The-Vote phone lines on the 2002 Election Day in New Hampshire. It seems that the New Hampshire Republican State Committee hired GOP Marketplace back then to jam the phone lines.
Furthermore, it's been reported that NRSC has to date spent more than $3 million in legal fees to get Tobin off the hook.
Ironically, current NRSC head Ken Mehlman, who came to Tennessee recently to question Democratic candidates' ethics and values, has had little to say about why the NRSC has continued to try to use legal resources to protect Tobin and defend the work of GOP Marketplace, except to say that the decision to spend the $$ on legal fees was made before he took over.
What's not been reported is what fate awaits the others involved in GOP Marketplace; Tommy Hopper in particular. Perhaps the issue will go no further, and those investigating have been satisfied with Tobin's conviction.
Unfortunately, since none of the Tennessee political media I follow has bothered to cover any aspect this unfolding story (correct me if I wrong here friends), junkies like me have been left to forage the web for tidbits of information circulating on this.
I wonder how many GOP candidates currently use or have recently used Hopper's services through GOP Marketplace (if it even exists today?) or Margin Of Victory Partners? If there are any in Tennessee (a scan of current financial disclosures should reveal this), did any work include phone tactics? And if so, what kind of tactics?
Also, I'm curious as to whether any of this will impact Hopper's reported high level national security clearance he obtained back in 2002 for providing pro bono consultation to the U.S. Marshals Service (I honestly couldn't make this stuff up if I tried!!).
I don't know about you, but all this leaves me hungry for more information.

Oh no he didn't!...Corker serves himself up once again as the main course for hungry opposition

2006-05-18T08:07:00.000-07:00

Fire up the grill and bring out the BBQ sauce, Bob Corker is once again offering himself up as the main course for this primary season's politician pig roast.
Today I heard Bob Corker's newest radio ad in which his record as Chattanooga Mayor is portrayed as that of a true fiscal conservative, and in which his campaign goes so far as to actually fabricate an issue about congressional pay raises.
Both claims are total bullshit, and it will be interesting to see if any of the political press covering the Senate race will have the huevos to call him on it.
The radio ad (I hear a portion of the text is also running as a TV spot) opens up with news that "the federal debt hit an all-time high this quarter," and that "Congress voted again to raise their pay."
The debt part is right, but Congressional pay raise issue is a straw man issue. Congress has not voted to raise its pay, period. In fact, raises for members of congress are automatic and are linked to whatever the standard cost of living raises are for a certain level of federal employees.
While the debt issue is real, what makes this assertion in a Corker ad laughable is that as Mayor, Corker raised Chattanooga's long term debt ceiling through the roof to record levels. Furthermore,(as I have posted before) Corker has given himself multiple pay raises as Mayor. Talk about calling the kettle black!
The ad goes on to claim that as Mayor, Corker kept campaign promises, controlling government spending and keeping property taxes low.
Again, I call bullshit on the man!
When Corker was Mayor he raised property taxes, while giving himself multiple pay increases, and while holding back on funds for much needed emergency 911 (I also posted on this before).
Pushing the envelope in tight political races is par for the course. But making up issues to run against and lying about your record in office merely makes Corker the preferred dish for his hungry opposition.

Corker's Last Stand? - The Battle Of The Little Big Man

2006-05-11T17:13:00.000-07:00

This June marks the 130th anniversary of one of the most stunning defeats for the U.S. Army - the total extermination of Lt. Col. George Armstong Custer's 7th regiment at the Little Big Horn River.
The once invincible, mighty Custer - golden boy warrior of the powerful U.S. Army - was outfoxed and outgunned by an enemy whose strength he greatly underestimated.
Fast forward to 2006 and the U.S. Senate race in Tennessee.
This time the proud boastful warrior on the battlefield is Bob Corker - awash with $$ and backed by a growing number of powerful Washington lobbyists and special interests.
Much attention has been given lately to Corker's mighty warchest, and recently Corker himself even bragged of his "surge" in public opinion polls - testament he claims to his growing popularity among GOP party faithful. Indeed, on the surface it would appear that Corker has become the Little Big Man to be reckoned with.
But behind the headlines and Corker's political posturing lies the prospect of a more tragic ending to Corker's political aspirations.
Consider Corker's poll spin.
This week Corker laid claim that his 19% showing in a recent statewide poll of likely GOP voters marks "a surge" in popularity and demonstrates a strong return on his investment of hundreds of thousands of dollars in recent weeks in statewide TV ads, a flood of direct mail pieces and automated phone calls.
His spin on the 19% is that this # shows he has room to grow in popularity. Room to grow, certainly. But 19% also means he's got lots of ground to cover with less than 7 weeks remaining before the start of early voting for the August primary, and less than 12 weeks before election day.
Corker claims he has time and $$ to close this wide gap in popularity between him and his GOP rivals. Anything is possible. But let's get real - closing that big a gap will only likely occur if his GOP rivals were to stop campaigning altogether and disappear from the political radar screen. That ain't going to happen.
Now consider Corker's $$ spin.
Corker has personally spent a huge amount of time in recent weeks stalking Washington lobbysts and special interest PACs. Last night, according to web postings, Corker even went so far as to attend a fundraiser in DC hosted by a lobbyist with reported ties to organized labor. Why would Corker run the risk of further exposing himself to ridicule, charges of hyprocisy and left-leanings tendancies by his GOP rivals? Maybe it's a sign that his primary warchest is running a bit thin.
You see the warchest Corker touts includes $$ that under federal campaign finance laws can only be spent in the general election, not the primary.
How much primary $$ and how general $$ does his warchest include? I honestly don't know, having not had the time to dig deeper into his financial records. But I do know from years of experience that odds are he will be prohibited by law from spending a sizeable portion of his warchest between now and August 3rd.
All this begs the question - does Corker have what he will need to spend what it will take to close the gap in 7 to 12 weeks?
You can count on his GOP rivals continuing to hold their fire until June when you can expect them to launch a full scale assault on the Little Big Man.
Here's how I see it - if Bob Corker is not ahead in the polls (forget more minor surges) by early June, chances are he may never be. Corker may wake up in early June to find that his arsenal is running low on ammo, his previous shots have missed their mark and he is completely surrounded by the enemy, with no where to go but down for a final count.
I can't predict with certainty that this all will play out as I imagine, but experience has taught me that history does have a strange way of repeating itself.

Bill Frist and Anna Nicole Smith

2006-05-05T09:12:00.000-07:00

He's at it again. Bill Frist, once the fresh face for change for the GOP, now the poster child for the very Washington he vowed to change.
Word is the NRSC - da vinci code for "mean ass partisan mo-fos" - is set to attack Harold Ford Jr. again for what they label as lavish campaign spending. You know NRSC - the National Republican Senatorial Committee that was retooled by the distinguished senator from Tennessee into an even nastier, more partisan, more beholding to unsavory corporate interests version of its earlier ugly self. The very same NRSC which Frist still directs and influences to attack and engage in races that are of interest to the distinguished senator from Tennessee.
According to recent expenditure reports of THE VOLUNTEER PAC - more da vinci code for "Frist personal slush fund" - Frist should be vewy, vewy careful about attacking anyone for their spending habits.
That's cause according to VOLPAC disclosures the distinguished senator from Tennessee loves to be pampered...and I ain't talking "let's give old Billy a back rub" kind of pampering. We're talking pampering like he's Anna Nicole Smith.
Consider limo rides (we called it cruising back in high school) around D.C. to the tune of $13,692; or consider a $897 dinner at the Cosmos Club in D.C. (sure hope Frist got a doggy bag with that one); or consider $14,579 in hotel overnights at the Four Seasons in Miami, the Regency and Waldorf Astoria in NYC, and the Willard Hotel in D.C.. Ironically, legend has it that the Willard birthed the term lobbyists for the special interest cats who hung out in the hotel lobby to corner and bribe politicians back in the mid 1800s. Guess history has a way of repeating itself.
But to me the most eye-opening expenditures by Frist through VOLPAC are the private jets provided and paid for by pharmaceuticals and oil companies to the tune of $39,723.
You know those drug companies and oil companies who sell us over-priced medicine and gas prices?
Seems to me what we have here is a classic case of I can because I am.
In his view, Frist can take $$$$$$ and be wined and dined by the very corporate interests who are pillaging the pocketbooks of average folk, can move around the country with an entourage and stay in luxury hotels and be flown in private jets, because he is after all the Majority Leader.
Frist may think he's figured out how to game the system to his personal and political advantage, but sooner or later Frist, VOLPAC and the NRSC will all stand in judgment before voters for what they do, how they do what they do, and for what they have come to represent in truth.

Marsha Gets Spanked

2006-04-28T08:15:00.000-07:00

GOP congresswoman Marsha Blackburn got spanked by the Federal Election Commission for under reporting campaign contributions to her campaign committee to the tune of more than $61,000 and for failing to report expenditures by her campaign fund of more than $50,000. The $1,500 fine was the focus of an article in the Commercial Appeal (4/25/06).
It was the CA that earlier wrote about excessive contributions from her political action committee - Wedge PAC (ouch)- to her campaign committee, and campaign expenditures to her son-in-law lobbyist.
Blackburn has refused to comment on Wedge PAC (ouch) and the recent FEC fine.

Frist falls behind whorecast

2006-04-27T06:53:00.000-07:00

In today's iTunes podcast rankings, iFrist has dropped to #66 in popularity behind a host of other podcast collections, including Instapundit (featuring an interview with Harold Ford Jr.), Clarkcast (featuring gen. wesley clark), australia talks back and whorecast.

Van Hilleary as Optimus Prime

2006-04-27T06:35:00.000-07:00

Today's Chattanooga News Free Press reports that GOP senate candidate Van Hilleary has $7,600 on hand in his Tennessee Leadership PAC "set up in the wake of the Jack Abramhoff scandal to raise and donate money for charity."
The CNFP reports that the PAC was "announced in January as a way to collect money for charity because Mr. Hilleary could not return money given by Mr. Abramhoff or the American Indian tribal clients he represented."
Hilleary's campaign has said that the PAC will make donations to the American Indian College Fund based in Denver. PAC treasurer J. Sam Daniels of Charlotte, North Carolina, said that the PAC has raised $7,600 and already sent a contribution to the Fund. However, in today's story the CNFP quotes a spokesperson for the Fund who denies having received any $$ from Hilleary's PAC.
Who's zooming who? It's anyone's guess.
But in the event that donations do not in fact ever make it to the American Indian College Fund from Hilleary's PAC, I offer up the following suggestion:
This week there's an auction on EBay of some awesome vintage transformer action figures. At a going bid of $45 for one of the cooler transformer characters - Optimus Prime - Hilleary could take his $7,600 and buy 168 of these figures to hand out to Tennessee voters - sending a not-so-subtle message that he'll say or do anyhing to get elected, even if it means transforming the truth in the process.

Go forth and multiply....especially if you are Democrats.

2006-04-25T14:21:00.000-07:00

In the interest of fairness (ok, get off the floor and stop laughing) I offer the following sites for those political junkies who keep visiting my blog or emailing me in the middle of the night because they are lonely and get no dates because they are damned political junkies.

democraticmatch.com - their slogan is a quote they attribute to Robert Kennedy, Jr. "80% of Republicans are just Democrats who don't know what's going on."

conservativematch.com - their slogan is "sweethearts, not bleeding hearts."

Go forth and multiply.

If Bush now says we're screwed on the energy front then we must really be...well, screwed.

2006-04-25T10:49:00.000-07:00

President Bush today announced that we are in for a long summer of energy shortages and rising gas prices. Bush's prediction for the summer comes less than 30 days before the summer kicks off for most American families, once again proving his knack for planning ahead.
Among the many revelations by the President today were the following:
- we must stop price gouging at the gas pumps, and states should do something about that
- we probably need to stop stockpiling oil for emergencies since we are in the middle of a f-ing crisis
- gas prices are going to remain high
- oil companies should invest in alternative fuel sources and build new refineries.
The President added that his tax breaks for the profit-rich oil companies might need to be reconsidered.
Meanwhile on the Tennessee political front, GOP Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn declared that the current energy crisis is the fault of environmentalists who complained about drilling in environmentally sensitive areas of our nation (check out guerillawomentn.blogspot.com for a copy of Marsha-Marsha's release).
God, tell me this is just a bad dream.

Fox News delivers bad news on its President

2006-04-20T20:45:00.000-07:00

Latest Fox News poll:
33 percent of Americans approve of the job Bush is doing.
66 percent of Republicans approve, down from 84 percent this time last year.
Nuff said.

Time to bid New Hampshire and Iowa aloha

2006-04-20T19:07:00.000-07:00

In 1988 Al Gore, four years into his first term as Tennessee's U.S. Senator, ran for president. To a pundit all assumed that Gore's prospects at capturing the democratic nomination fell somewhere between none and no flipping way. But that didn't stop the candidate and his woefully unseasoned political team (including yours truly) from believing that we would prove the pundits wrong.
The strategy was simple - endure the frigid political climates of New Hampshire and Iowa, rank high in some of the southern state primaries that followed, and reap the benefits of a strong southern slingshot showing into the Midwest states and beyond.
The strategy - while it looked good on paper - never panned out and by April 1988 we were heading back to the Hill, Gore to celebrate his 40th birthday and all of us to return full-time to our Senatorial duties.
Within days of Gore's pullout, our entire campaign effort was relegated to the status of a single footnote in the back pages of presidential campaign history.
That is, all but one episode.
On the day of the Iowa caucuses during the '88 nomination run, Gore and his core political team convinced a sizeable contingency of national media to abandon coverage of the Iowa meetings and join us on a campaign swing through the sunny South. While Iowans, candidates and media endured near zero temperatures and blistering snowstorms to gather in and around caucus meetings across their state, our candidate jogged in shorts and a t-shirt on a Florida beach in front of our media contingency who themselves got into the spirit of the southern swing by decking out in short sleeve shirts and sneakers.
As expected, Gore got clobbered in Iowa, but his actions raised a question that today still remains unanswered - why do we insist on forcing candidates, media and voters to conduct their winter presidential campaign business in states that have some of the worst winter weather in the nation?
This week a group of Democratic leaders have been gathered in New Orleans pleading on behalf of 11 states and the District of Columbia for greater relevance in the democratic nomination process. The reported common theme in all pitches to members of the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee has been that states with greater racial, ethnic and economic diversity deserve equal or higher standing in the nominee selection process than New Hampshire or Iowa.
Almost overlooked in all the debate has been the plea of delegates from the state of Hawaii - who have once again raised that unanswered question of 1988 - why doesn't the party conduct its winter business in sunnier, warmer climates?
Reports are that the Hawaiians made the case that warmer weather would have a positive effect on all of the democratic candidates' outlook. You can take that point even further by making the asumption that candidates who campaign in more pleasant weather are likely to be more civil to one another.
At the end of the day, while I would love to see change, I am not yet convinced that the party will abandon its tired old traditions of making its candidates battle for survival on the frozen tundras of Iowa and New Hampshire as Gore did in 1988. But I for one am certainly warming up to the idea of an early winter Hawaiian primary.
Pupule baby!

Bring back Powell?

2006-04-18T13:13:00.000-07:00

Harold Ford Jr. may be on to something. In today's Kingsport Times, Ford, during a campaign swing through Carter County in upper ET, reportedly renewed his call for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to resign, but added that he would support former Secretary of State Colin Powell as a replacement. Powell has obvious strong military and diplomatic credentials.

A sinking ship...well, you can finish the rest...

2006-04-18T13:02:00.000-07:00

The Washington Post reports (4/17/06) that "anger at Bush may hurt the GOP at the polls." According to the latest WAPO-ABC News poll, 47 percent of voters "strongly" disapprove of Bush's job performance, with only 20 percent who said they "strongly approve."
The Post goes on to state that in 2002 - the last go around of midterm elections for the Bush Administration - the President had 42 percent of voters strongly approving of him, compared to 18 percent in strong opposition.
What a difference a war with no end in sight, a few extra hundreds of billions of dollars added to the federal deficit, a raising of the debt ceiling, a White House scandal over CIA-related leaks, and some serious snafus over homeland security can have on one's public persona.
Arguably, no one can be certain of what this means for the November elections.
But if a rising tide lifts all boats, one might assume the opposite is true.

A footnote on Mohammed Cartoons

2006-04-14T14:07:00.000-07:00

This week the Nashville Scene published an article about a blog called Mohammed Cartoons that was created by Nashvillian Bill Hobbs, which, for a brief period of time, was linked to the Bryson for Governor blog. I initially wrote here about Mohammed Cartoons - how I discovered the blog, how and why I found it offensive, and in my postings I raised questions about whether Belmont University - Hobbs employer -and GOP gubernatorial candidate Jim Bryson had opinions about the offensive blog.
This morning nashvillepost.com moved a story about Belmont and Hobbs parting ways. This afternoon I got a call from a reporter at the Tennessean asking questions about the whole affair.
I directed the Tennessean reporter to go to this blog and read for herself the exchange that occured a few days ago on the matter. I added the notion that we bloggers operate in something of a fish bowl, and as such we can be and should be held accountable for what we write and with whom we associate on our blogs. Within a few minutes of her call to me, the reporter and I parted ways.
But on my way home, having left the office a bit early to join my family on this Good Friday, something happened that made me call back the Tennessean reporter to offer a footnote to our earlier conversation.
As I pulled into my multi-racial, multi-cultural subdivision in West Nashville, I drove past a small group of children whom I know to be members of several Muslim neighborhood families playing in a yard up the street from my home. One of the children, a young girl, waved at me and smiled. In an instant it became clear to me why I had written as I did about the blog Mohammed Cartoons.
I called the Tennessean reporter to tell her that had I not pointed out the insensitivity of the blog, I would have had trouble facing my neighbors; the children and their parents who walk our sidewalks each day and call out in friendship at every opportunity. "Shame on me," I told the reporter, "if I hadn't taken a stand on this matter."
I don't know if Hobbs and Belmont parted ways because of Mohammed Cartoons. I don't know if Hobbs removed himself from Bryson's blog team because of Mohammed Cartoons. But I do know why I did what I did, and I feel better for having done it.

Bush's White House bully pulpit can't silence even the softest voice of a Blountville 7th grader

2006-04-14T11:38:00.000-07:00

This week Harold Ford Jr. traveled the state in a brightly colored bus, making stops in towns and cities from Mountain City to Memphis. News reports indicated that whereever he traveled, Ford was greeted by throngs of supporters and curious onlookers. Speeches were made, factories were toured, hands were shaken and the energy and excitement of it all was electric.
But at a stop at Blountville Middle School in East Tennessee, the spotlight shifted from candidate Ford to a soft spoken 7th grader. In a school assembly this child bravely raised her hand and posed a question that transcended the politics of the moment. Her question was simple - why can't our troops come home from Iraq?
Witnesses say the exchange visibly moved Ford. The child, it turns out, has a father serving in the Tennessee National Guard - a father who is on his second tour of duty in Iraq. Ford didn't just address the question, he embraced it. In that school room in East Tennessee the sentiments and concerns of both child and Congressman were as one - whatever's being done to bring resolution to the conflict, whatever's being done to support the troops and their families back home is simply not enough. Ford's response to the child was clear - as a nation we can, we should, and we will do more.
As fate would have it, the day Ford's caravan was making its way out of Blountville a group of retired U.S. military generals were stepping forward in Washington to raise similar concerns about failed Iraq policies and misguided leadership at the helm of the Defense Department. Like Ford, the generals had begun calling on Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to step down. In order to rethink and redirect our failed strategies in Iraq and Afganistan, Ford has argued that new leadership at the helm is clearly needed.
In response to Ford's and the generals' call for Rumsfeld's resignation, President Bush rejected any and all calls for new policies, new strategies or new direction. Bush proclaimed - with the sort of arrogant tenor that has come to typify this Administration - that Rumsfeld's "energetic and steady leadership is exactly what is needed at this critical period."
But try as he may, this week the President - even using his White House bully pulpit to project a loud and defiant tone - could not silence the voice of a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, and could not silence even the softest voice of a Blountville 7th grader. Come election day this November, their's and the other voices of those Tennessee families with loved ones serving over there will be heard.

Wake up and smell the red ink

2006-04-13T10:01:00.000-07:00

I can remember the smell of fresh ink from the handouts that rolled off the mimeograph machine at Agnes Cotton Elementary School. The smell had a distinctive and somewhat alluring odor (at least to an eight year old kid).
I got the same sensation this morning reading David Broder's column in the Washington Post. Ok, maybe it wasn't necessarily that distinctive, alluring odor, but I certainly smelled the red ink dripping from his every written word.
The red ink Broder wrote about comes not from an elementary school principal's office but from the Financial Report of the U.S. Government, a document brought to Broder's attention by our own 5th District Congressman Jim Cooper.
You know Cooper - that ubber geeky, super smart fiscal conservative Democrat who is forever going on and on and on about the dangers and pitfalls of deficit spending and the federal debt.
Before you scroll ahead in search of a lighter, more entertaining post, please give me your undivided attention - for just one minute.
This stuff of which Broder writes and of which Cooper speaks is some serious shit (that's deep doo-doo for you more family-oriented browsers).
Broder writes that the official financial report on our government - which Cooper notes is so hard to find in DC you could make a bundle selling a copy of it on EBay these days - shows that the federal deficit is(with apologies to my more hip-speak daughter) like way too totally under reported. Cooper points out to Broder that instead of our federal budget deficit for 2005 being a depressing $319 billion as reported by the White House and Treasury Secretary John Snow, it's actually more along the lines of a "make you want to jump out a freaking window" $760 billion.
A hundred billion here, a hundred billion there, who really cares you ask?
Aside from the fact that we citizens are only getting half the story from people we are told to trust with our tax dollars, our federal government is spending like they actually have any money to spend, with promises to return money to taxpayers that they don't have to give back.
Here's the street line on all this - we ain't just broke, we are flat busted...we ain't just in debt, we are drowning in debt...and the future ain't bright so take off the shades.
Sadly, aside from a handful of congressional fiscal watchdogs - Cooper being a leader of that small pack - no one - other than a now enlightened David Broder seems to want to talk about it, much less actually face up to it.
Read Broder's column today.
Tell someone you care about to read it too.
Maybe, just maybe, if we start paying attention to Cooper on this stuff, and maybe, just maybe if we all took it a bit more seriously, we might become a little more enlightened ourselves and force our lazy ass elected officials to do something about it.

Marsha suffers the consequences of some major political wedgies

2006-04-12T11:48:00.000-07:00

This week's "Tuesday's Message" email from Tennessee Democratic Party chair Bob Tuke features an item on yet another round of campaign finance woes for Tennessee Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn.
It seems the Memphis Commercial Appeal last week reported that Wedge PAC - Blackburn's ill-named political slush fund - had exceeded legal contribution limits back on December 30, 2005 when it gave her campaign $5,000. What's worse, Tuke writes, is that the improper contribution to Blackburn's campaign came from her lobbyist son-in-law Paul J. Ketchel III, who at the time was treasurer of Wedge PAC (dude it really hurts everytime I write the word "wedge").
Last week's story follows media reports earlier this year on the goings on of Ketchel's firm Political Concepts LLC. Political Concepts has received payments from both Wedge PAC (ouch) and the Blackburn For Congress committee to the tune of more than $123,000. What's more is that Political Concepts, at the time it received $$ from Blackburn's political accounts, was listed as an "inactive" corporation by the state of Tennessee for failing to file an annual report. The company was reinstated only after Ketchel filed the required paperwork in response to media inquiries.
It was also revealed earlier this year that Blackburn's campaign committee paid $9,497 to her daughter and son-in-law for travel reimbursement, computer equipment and other expenses. Blackburn's daughter Mary Ketchel is listed as a director of Blackburn's campaign committee.
But if all that is not enough to make your head spin - here's another political wedgie to endure(this one I rate on the level of an "atomic wedgie" -- the kind of wedgie where you find that your drawers have been pulled up clean over the top of your spinning head!):
Wedge PAC (ouch), according to fecwatch.org, was busy last year handing out $$ that Blackburn raised to fund numerous GOP congressional candidates in other states, including GOP Congressman Rick Renzi of Arizona. Renzi was the target of a major FEC audit in 2004 for a series of violations - from misstatments of financial activity, failure to itemize contributions, failure to disclose transfers and failure to disclosure the names and employers of contributors. Sadly, as one might expect from a GOP-controlled Congress, no actions have been taken against Renzi.
Enough already.
Marsha will be busy digging those wedgies out for some time to come.

Let the chips fall where they may

2006-04-11T18:58:00.000-07:00

Who can resist the obvious metaphors?
GOP senate candidate Van Hilleary - Mr. Indian Casino himself - is rolling the dice with the start of his "official announcement swing" through Tennessee. Mind you, Van's been a candidate for months now, but it ain't official until he does the "official announcement swing."
Missing from Van's announcement swing road show this go around will be Van's long time friend and political confidente Jack Abramhoff. You remember "Black Jack" Abramhoff don't you? The infamous D.C. gaming lobbyist turned convicted felon. The dapper dean of GOP K Street lobbyists who recently was forced to trade in his Brooks Brothers pin stripes for prison stripes.
Van and Black Jack go back a ways. Since the mid-1990s Black Jack has made considerable $$ contributions to Van's various political coffers to the tune of $18,250. Much of the funds came to Van via a host of Black Jack's Indian tribe clients seeking political support for their gambling operations. Abramhoff even personally gave Van contributions totalling $1,750; certainly enough $$ to have earned Abramhoff a front row seat for Van's mmost recent "official announcement swing." But alas, Abramhoff's sentencing judge must not have seen the value in granting a reprieve to permit Abramhoff to join Van for his "official announcement swing" in Tennessee. Just think of all the missed grip-and-grin photo opportunities! After all, Black Jack loves getting his picture made with politicians he bankrolled.
So why the fuss now over Van, Abramhoff and Indian gambling interests?
It's about the hypocrisy stupid.
Van Hilleary, in an attempt to woo the faction of GOP primary voters who are opposed to gambling on moral grounds, has been boldly stating of late that he is "staunchly opposed" to the evils of all gambling. His spokeswoman has even gone on record declaring that Van has always, and will forever opposed gambling on moral grounds.
Oh really? Perhaps she's not playing with a full deck (there I go again!).
The facts are that Van Hilleary as a Congressman voted IN FAVOR of Indian gambling interests not once, but at least twice, in 1999 and again in 2001.
And then there are those Indian tribe contributions I referenced earlier.
So what is Van to do about all this on his "official announcement swing" through Tennessee?
Dodge the issue of course.
But just because a politician like Van wants to avoid facing the truths of his record doesn't mean he can't - or shouldn't - be held accountable.
Van, it's time to put all your cards on the table and let the chips fall where they may.

Embedded truths

2006-04-10T21:11:00.000-07:00

Regardless of where you stand on the matter of a continued U.S. role in Iraq, I strongly recommend you take some time to check out the Brookings Institution's online April 10, 2006 Iraq Index. The Index is a study of brain numbing variables of post-Saddam-Iraq.
For me, what jumped out of the pages of stats were two categories of data - info that offers some insight into the backgrounds of those American soldiers who have been killed in Iraq; as well as info on insurgency growth that conflicts with all I've heard and read coming out of the Pentagon.
For example...
Since March 19, 2003 through April 1, 2006 more American soldiers who are Hispanic/Latino have been killed than of any ethnic group other than Caucasian.
Also since the start of the war, more American soldiers age 22 or younger have been killed than any other single age group.
The study further shows that of the American soldiers killed, 40.5% came from suburbs, 33.3% from rural areas and 26.2% from large cities.
For me personally, learning a bit more about the demographics of our troops killed - other than the reporting of numbers of troops killed - makes it more hauntingly real.
Equally disturbing to me were the Index charts that indicate that in 2005 alone 23,500 insurgents had been killed or detained in Iraq. I find it disturbing because Pentagon officials last year were reported to have estimated that there were approximately 20,000 insurgents in Iraq. Somehow the math doesn't quite add up - if more insurgents had been killed or detained than were reportedly in existence, then it would stand to reason that there is no insurgency problem anymore in Iraq. But the Index goes on to show a steady rise in the number of insurgency attacks in Iraq since 2004.
All this to say that I'm convinced that embedded in the mountains of data on the variables of post-Saddam Iraq lie truths about the war that have yet to be told.

Strange days indeed

2006-04-07T19:06:00.000-07:00

You gotta wonder sometimes if our foreign enemies just shake their heads in disbelief at how nutty we are at managing our own affairs.
Consider this news release I found buried deep in an obscure defense contractor's corporate website: Dateline April 6, 2006 -- IAP Worldwide Services, Inc., working as a subcontractor to another firm, was awarded a major federal contract to provide logistical support, materials management, supply, equipment readiness and maintenance for the Army Reserve and National Guard units.
On February 6, 2006, just two months earlier, President George W. Bush released his FY 2007 budget proposing to cut federal funds for those very same Army Reserve and National Guard units. W's budget proposal would in effect fund 17,100 fewer Army National Guard and 5,000 fewer Army Reserve personnel than is required by law, forcing the military to shift funds from other defense resources to maintain our troop levels.
Sitting on IAP's Board is none other than George Herbert Walker Bush's former Vice President Dan Quayle.
Strange days indeed.

Stan, Bryson and Hobbs

2006-04-07T11:48:00.000-07:00

In case you missed GOP gubernatorial candidate Jim Bryson's chief blogger Bill Hobbs' Mohammed Cartoons blog site before he removed it as a link off the pro-Bryson blog, you might consider going on line to catch last night's episode of South Park.
South Park character Stan, like Hobbs, was defending showing the cartoons. Wonder if Bryson's camp can get Stan to endorse his race?

Pull the plug on "Part Deux"

2006-04-07T05:19:00.000-07:00

On April 5 Bob Corker's Senate campaign announced the release of "Part Two" of his "Blueprint for Tennessee."
I recall a few years settling in to watch my rented copy of the movie "Hot Shots! Part Deux." I thought the first "Hot Shots!" movie was funny, although lacking in any redeeming intellectual or social value. It took real life political characters and put them in ridiculously unbelievable settings and situations. I figured the sequel would be no dumber than the first.
I was wrong.
Corker's first version of his "Blueprint for Tennessee" made me laugh, while lacking in any redeeming intellectual or social value. It attempted to put Corker in a different, more thoughtful light. Knowing something of his record I found it all to be a rather ridiculously unbelievable stretch. In it Corker outlined four principles that he claims are his guiding lights: job growth, smaller government, security, family values. What's so comical about the first "Blueprint" is the fact that each of the four principles totally collide (I mean major train wreck) with the reality of Corker's record.
You remember Corker's record...
- he was one of the principal architects of the Sundquist budget fiascos that prompted that Governor to push for a state income tax
- he was in the Sundquist inner circle hanging with some of the other Sundquist knuckleheads who partied with state dollars and state contracts like it was 1999
- he was Mayor of Chattanooga when the city's unemployment rate went up
- he was the Mayor who raised his salary at the same time he raised local taxes
- he was the Mayor who refused to fund critical 911 emergency positions
- he was the Mayor who pissed away millions in federal $$ to support the city's 911 emergency system
- he was Mayor when the city's long term debt increased by millions of dollars
- and more recently he was candidate who supported Bush's giveaway of our major seaports to foreign interests.
I could go on, but my point's been made.
In this week's unveiling of "Part Deux" of the "Blueprint," Corker's states that he plans to take his proven approach to controlling spending and managing tax dollars to Washington.
Washington is already crowded with politicians who got there on the promise to control spending, only to become clones of the idiots who are breaking the bank and mortgaging our nation. With Corker's record as a point of reference, we can already see past the promises toward an ugly reality.
At some point in the "Hot Shots!" escapade, someone in Hollywood got smart and pulled the plug on any more sequels.
Someone in Tennessee needs to advise Corker to do the same.

Bryson's blogging team pulls Mohammed Cartoons off the site

2006-04-05T14:28:00.000-07:00

It appears that the Jim Bryson for Governor Blogger team has removed their link to the distasteful Mohammed Cartoons site from their candidate blog. Glad to see that they saw the error of their ways.
But moments before they took it down I took a screen shot of the site, just in case their memories of the whole embarrasing episode failed them.
As my uncle used to say - "see you in the funny papers!"

Jim Bryson, Jesus and a Mohammed cartoon

2006-04-05T10:28:00.000-07:00

This week State Senator Jim Bryson announced that he's running for the republican nomination to face incumbent Governor Phil Bredesen. Bryson's announcement statement and subsequent comments to the media were sprinkled with use of the words "faith" and "prayer."
At the same time Bryson's announcement was occuring, a different launch was underway on the web - the launch of a new blog called Bryson For Governor Blog. This blog is founded and edited by Bill Hobbs, an editor and news writer on the marketing and communications staff at Belmont University and a local blogger whose been promoting various GOP political propaganda for several years.
It's not surprising that Hobbs would be tapped by Bryson to be his chief flackie in the blogsphere. The blog says it has no ties to the candidate, but those of us who have been around the barn a few times know better.
None of this is news by any stretch of the imagination. Except for an astounding discovery I made while peering through the Bryson blog portal.
When you visit the Bryson blog you will see where Hobbs is listed as founder and editor. There is also a listing of contributors to the blog and first on the list is B-Ho. If you click on B-Ho you will see a list of other Bill Hobbs sites and blogs.
One of the sites listed as Hobbs site is called mohammed cartoons. If you click through it you will find a bizzare page with the heading Draw Mohammed that spotlights a stick drawing of the Prophet Mohammed holding a bomb. The cartoon is entitled "Mohammend Blows."
Under the cartoon Hobbs issues an invite to "exercise your right to free expression by drawing pictures of Islam's Prophet Mohammed". He ends the post with the phrase "Here's my first mo-toon." All this was posted at 12:40 pm, on Friday, February 24, 2006.
I've know Hobbs for many years and while we never see eye to eye on the issues, I've generally found him to be fairly reasonable to deal with.
But Hobbs has shown me a darker side to his mind with his insensitive, moronic site.
I have no quarrel with a person's right to free speech, but as a Christian I believe this kind of expression goes against all the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament.
This prompts me to want to ask candidate "man of faith" Jim Bryson if he condones this kind of distasteful insensitivity to people of other faiths; and it also prompts me to want to contact Bob Fisher, the president of Belmont University, to inquire if he too believes this kind of expression is in line with the University's mission to promote and uphold Christian values.
If Jim Bryson wants to continue to use Hobbs and his blog followers to spread his message, so be it. But if he does, he better be prepared to deal with the political consequences.

Ronnie and daddy would be proud of Bob

2006-03-31T16:03:00.000-08:00

This week Bob Corker attacked his GOP senate primary rivals.
On January 20, 2006, in a story in the Rogersville Review, Corker declared "he would follow what former President Ronald Reagan referred to as the 'eleventh commandment,' by not attacking Republican opponents as well as advice from his own father."

A peek under Corker's mayoral skirt

2006-03-31T15:45:00.000-08:00

It's clearly become open season on Bob Corker in Chattanooga this week. So much for the candidate having a firm grip on his base there.
Check out this story today in the Chattanoogan:
chattonoogan.com
Pay close attention to the quotes from city leaders who recall seeing Corker neglect his mayoral duties to campaign for the US Senate; their concerns over fiscal mismanagement; their take on the 911 fiasco; and their particularly revealing account of Corker dropping a dirty bomb on the executive director of the Westside Development Corporation in front of a cadre of stunned witnesses.

Can't stand the heat in your campaign kitchen? Start some fires elsewhere.

2006-03-31T11:56:00.000-08:00

He started the week learning that his losing streak had continued over the weekend in GOP grassroot polls around the state.
He woke up midweek to a breaking 911 emergency scandal in his own political backyard.
Everywhere he looked he saw his likely democratic opponent Harold Ford Jr. being interviewed on substantive policy issues.
What is Bob Corker to do?
Step 1. - abandon earlier promises of staying positive and launch an attack on his GOP primary rivals.
Step 2. - dodge media calls about the 911 scandal, and instruct your political director to deny that any 911 problems ever existed in Chattanooga.
Step 3. - buy a shitload of paid media slots and tee up an ad campaign to tout the same conservative principles that everyone - Democrats and Republicans alike - have been calling into question.
Problems he may encounter in taking these steps?
1. Promising not to go negative and then going ballistic on his rivals doesn't sit well with voters. Not to mention the fact that attacking rivals for taking $$ as DC lobbyists while he wines and dines DC lobbyists for their $$ raises eyebrows.
2. The media is digging up facts that point to a serious 911 problem under his watch as Mayor - translation: the story has legs.
3. Spending so much $$ this early in the primary season sends a signal of desperation, not to much the fact that he is spending so much $$ this early in the primary season.
Things have been heating up in the Corker campaign kitchen this week. So why wouldn't he try to start fires elsewhere. A word of warning - sometimes the end result is that the candidate himself gets burned in the process.

Bob Corker's got some "splainin" to do

2006-03-31T10:39:00.000-08:00

Check out bobuncorkered

The orange ink and middle finger amendment

2006-03-31T03:28:00.000-08:00

Later today, the Knox county election commission will vote on how best to respond to a Tennessee Supreme Court ruling that has put the fate of two-thirds of the incumbent county commissioners running for re-election there in legal limbo.
No one appears to have a handle on what action would best preserve the integrity of the election process for county races which are already underway.
The only certainty is that as the election commission debates, lawyers in the room will be using blackberries to communicate strategies on who they will sue next.
The mood right now is tense. When the commission gathers at 4 pm eastern time today you can be certain that blood pressures will be at an all time high.
So here's my advice to election commissioners on how to survive today's shoot out at the Knox-Co corral - someone should crack a joke. Not anything off color mind you. I'm thinking something more in line with the issue at hand.
For example, what if someone on the commission were to offer an off-the-wall amendment for consideration. Like recommending the current election be put off another three weeks in order to have time to secure a million gallons of orange ink. Once secured, the ink would distributed to polling places around the county in time for the next election go around. The amendment would require voters as they vote to dip their finger - let's go with the middle finger to make it even funnier - in the orange ink. On their way out of the polling places, voters would also be encouraged to display their middle fingers to other voters in line, to poll workers and to local TV news cameras while reporters are doing their standup stories about election day turnout.
One can only smile at the thought of local TV news directors worrying over whether or not to blur the middle fingers being displayed out of concern for offending their local viewers.
"Hey junior, come quick. The fellers on TV are flipping us off in big orange!"
I realize this election stuff is serious business. I know that the future of many candidates hang in the balance with today's vote, and that there are all sorts of complex legal issues to resolve. And I totally get that if the right decisions are not made, Knox County may experience what Bill Murray once predicted in the movie Ghostbusters - a situation so desperate you'll even have "cats and dogs living in sin."
But hell, even Lon Cheney, that most sinister and gloomy actor of the early 20th century, did a movie called "Laugh Clown, Laugh."

It's about the followership stupid

2006-03-30T16:15:00.000-08:00

Tennessee political flashback - September 30, 2002.
Van Hilleary - now running for the U.S. Senate, then running for Governor.
In a rare moment of eloquence, Hilleary said during a debate:
"The first thing a leader needs to be is to be able to follow. Followership needs to be learned by a leader before they become a leader because then you can emphathize with those who you purport to lead."
My son's pet hamster couldn't have said it any better.

Someone please turn back on the lights in Hendersonville

2006-03-30T10:19:00.000-08:00

Back in 476 AD a period known as the "Dark Ages" began in Europe. The civilizations of Greece and Rome had fallen, and in their place had risen generations of narrow-minded leaders who governed on the principles of hate and destruction while wrapping themselves in the cloak of Christianity.
For many years now our state has made great strides in putting aside past racial, ethnic and religious biases to achieve the goals of prosperity and enlightment.
But today a leader among us has emerged as one who reflects a Dark Ages mindset.
Her name is Debra Maggart, and she is a Republican state represenative from Hendersonville in Sumner County.
Earlier this week Maggart went on Nashville TV (Newschannel5.com 3/27/06) to stand by her earlier claims that gay couples adopt children for the purpose of having someone to molest. Her remarks were almost too grotesque to take seriously, but we as citizens must do so.
Anyone who would damn souls with such reckless disregard for the truth has no business being in a position of power in our society. For Rep. Maggart to make such claims while wrapping herself in the cloak of Christianity is an insult to those of us who believe that the teachings of Christ were of love, tolerance and kindness toward your fellow man.
The only step citizens must take in this instance is to reject the kind of darkness Maggart's thinking can bring over a commmunity and its people.
Someone please turn back on the lights in Hendersonville and expose Maggart for what she really is - a hatemonger who - if left unchecked - will usher in an era of dark times for Sumner County.

Miracle Mayor Bob didn't answer the phone

2006-03-30T04:37:00.000-08:00

According to accounts in an article published in this morning's Chattanooga News Free Press, Senate candidate Bob Corker, while Mayor of Chattanooga, "thwarted efforts to improve 911 communications" by refusing to adequately fund key communications positions. The charges were leveled by retired Chattanooga police chief Jimmie Dotson.
According to Dotson, his department spent "many hours battling with the Corker administration" to get funding needed to address the growing problem of unanswered 911 calls.
Corker, who dodged a reporter's call on the matter, had his Senate campaign political director Todd Womack respond by saying he "did not recall Mr. Dotson requesting more 911 employees."
The Times Free Press reports that both the former deputy police chief and former police department budget director recall Dotson pushing for more personnel to handle the increase in unanswered 911 calls during Corker's tenure as Mayor.
According to the newspaper, records show "the number of unanswered calls rose steadily during his four years as Mayor."
Ed Bryant, one of Corker's rival GOP primary opponents, released a statement questioning "whether he (Corker) did all he could to fix the problem or if he allowed the city's emergency call system to lapse into 911 'dial-a-prayer.'"
Don't be surprised to see a campaign theme emerging in this year's hotly contested GOP Senate primary - Bob Corker's so-called "miracle deeds" as Mayor of Chattanooga are in fact little more than "sleight of hand."

A life lesson from Governor Bredesen and my 9-year old daughter

2006-03-28T04:42:00.000-08:00

Last night while Governor Bredesen was rolling out his Cover Tennessee initiative to the General Assembly, I was seated at a restaurant on Elliston Place with my wife and 9-year old daughter MaryKathryn waiting for a legislator friend to join us. Until my friend from the Hill arrived, MaryKathryn wouldn't speak to me, and when she did glance at me, tears would well up in her eyes. She was angry because in an earlier moment of misdirected frustration over where to sit I snapped at our waitress, dressing her down in front of the other patrons.
This morning as my daughter was eating her breakfast I sat down and apologized for my outburst. Her response was direct and to the point - "Daddy, she was doing the best she could, and you always tell me that we should give people who work hard a chance."
After my talk with with MaryKathryn, I read through emails about the Governor's speech on Cover Tennessee. In similar clarity the Governor outlined a vision of giving Tennesseans who work for small busineses and who are self-employed a chance at better health and an opportunity to share in the American dream.
In his every word I heard the echo of my own voice to my children - lecturing them on how owning something makes someone personally responsible, and on how we as citizens have a responsibility to work together to give people who are trying their best a fighting chance.
By promoting a portable plan the Governor is giving working Tennesseans ownership of their health. By promoting an affordable plan, hundreds of thousands of our fellow citizens - even total strangers like the young woman working at the restaurant on Elliston Place - can have access to basic health care services.
The Governor was smart to set boundaries on his vision - no new government entitlement program. What he proposes is more of an equally shared responsiblity between individuals, small business employers and the government.
Much will be written and debated on the finer points of the Governor's ideas, but I personally will not forget the life lesson I learned from MaryKathryn. At the end of the day, she and Governor Bredesen are right - we should put aside our selfish tendancies and do what we can to give people who deserve it a fighting chance.

We all knew the day would come...

2006-03-27T11:50:00.000-08:00

when the Democrats would stand as the strong voice of fiscal reason and responsibility, and the GOP would be exposed as the party of bankruptcy-style management of our tax dollars.
See today's Nashville City Paper op-ed by Harold Ford, Jr., Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, on balancing our federal budget. This go around, the Democrats are the only party in the Tennessee U.S. Senate race to field candidates who have a solid record in support of balanced budgets and true fiscal conservative values.

Derailing Thomas The Tank Engine

2006-03-27T08:20:00.000-08:00

I have a friend whose son loves watching Thomas The Tank Engine. The storyline is easy to follow - Thomas and his hommies are train engines that always manage to go in the right direction with the help of Sir Topham Hatt, the railhouse manager.
Today I read an article in Time Magazine (3/26/06) that got me thinking about Thomas and his friends.
Not too long ago the GOP seemed to be operating in Thomas' world - with a clear sense of direction and a steady hand at the railhouse helm. But somewhere along the way their plans jumped track.
President Bush - the GOP's Sir Topham Hatt - is steering Republican trains toward certain derailment. According to Time, 3 in 5 Americans today believe our nation is headed in the wrong direction.
Most GOP candidates, including those locked in a tough U.S. Senate primary fight in Tennessee, will have to figure out between now and Election Day how to position themselves against the backdrop of a series of Republican-engineered fiascos - the Republican ethics scandals, the GOP's failure to curb government spending, the rollout of a confusing GOP prescription drug plan for seniors, and the Republican's conflicted postures over national security and the war in Iraq.
According to the Time article, GOP candidates this year are seriously conflicted - do they run with or against the President? Imagine Thomas and his friends turning their collective cabooses on Sir Topham Hatt.
In the end GOP candidates should not expect voters in their own party - much less Independent/swing voters - to climb aboard their campaign trains if all they have have to offer are the failed principles and policies of their own party's railhouse manager.

I hate myself already

2006-03-25T04:55:00.000-08:00

This election cycle I've decided to campaign against Mike Kopp.
Not me personally, but a Republican goob named Mike Kopp running for the State Senate in Colorado.
I'm not going to campaign against Mike Kopp because I care what goes on in Colorado. I have never been to Colorado. I can't snow ski worth a damn - bunny slopes scare the shit out of me; ski suits make me feel fatter than I already am; and it just seems too damn cold to visit.
But thanks to a blog comment posted by idava, I was made aware that Mike Kopp is a right wing nut running for office. Apparently Kopp's candidacy is part of strategy by the GOP to take back the Colorado legislature.
As dear Miss Pickett in D.C. (my landlord way back when) was fond of saying - "we'll just have none of that now, will we?"
I don't normally disclose strategy but I figure it would do no harm since the race is thousands of miles away from here.
So here goes.
Strategy step 1) I will indentity the Democratic opponent to Mike Kopp.
Strategy step 2) I will contribute an amount equal to the cost of doing one piece of direct mail to a single voter in Colorado.
Strategy step 3) I will offer to the Democratic candidate a suggestion to use my name in a testmonial format in the direct mail piece to be sent to the voter of their choosing ("I can only afford to underwrite the cost of one mail piece, so choose well" I will say).
Strategy step 4) The message I will draft and offer for my testimonial will be something along the lines of "I'm Mike Kopp, and I ask you not to vote for Mike Kopp. Why? Because I know Mike Kopp is a right wing nut case, and even Mike Kopp doesn't like that fact. So please vote for the other guy. The preceding message was paid for by Mike Kopp."
That's pretty much it.
Try it yourself. Google your name is see if you too are a right wing nut job running for something somewhere, and then get involved.
Who said one individual can't make a difference in politics anymore?

Republicans' early attacks on Ford a sign of "GOP jitters" over the U.S. Senate race

2006-03-23T19:02:00.000-08:00

This week's issue of Newsweek features an article by Jonathan Darman with a headline that pretty much sums up where things stand in the race to replace U.S. Bill Frist.
The headline (and subhead)read: "The Senate: Digging For Dirt In Dixie - One sign of the GOP jitters: Republicans are already going negative on a black candidate running in Tennessee."
The story focuses on the fact that the GOP has - in unprecedented fashion - pushed up their standard timeline for going negative with the creation and promotion of a negative web site attacking democratic candidate Harold Ford, Jr. Darman writes that "the very existence of the site reveals something about the Republicans: they are so worried about Ford's candidacy they're going negative five months before the primary."
Darmon adds that with Ford's moderate record and star appeal, "they (the GOP) have reason for concern."

Calling "Joey" out

2006-03-23T18:13:00.000-08:00

A few postings ago I threatened to call out the clowns who attempted to spread baseless rumors that 5th District Congressman Jim Cooper might not run for re-election. Unfortunately with every election cycle, a handful of clueless politico-wannabes will surface with whisper campaigns designed to make people think they're in the know.
In my earlier posting I confirmed that to the contrary Coop is running hard again and that his plan is to continue to serve the people of his district.
The rumor seemed to dry up, so I figured that was the end of that nonsense.
That was until I heard from friends who overheard earlier this week a young enebreated wannabe named "Joey" spin a wild tale about Coop suffering from an undisclosed illness. "Joey" - between shots and belches - claimed that Coop would not be able to serve any longer because of it.
Turns out this "Joey" fellow is reportedly the campaign manager for Davidson County court clerk candidate John Arriola. Knowing John Arriola, I figure when John gets wind of the horseshit his campaign manager is spreading about Coop, he'll do the right thing and move swiftly to shut him down.
Coop, who works out regularly, has reportedly taken up kickboxing as part of his regimen. Healthy in every respect, Coop is clearly in campaign running shape.
My advice to "Joey" would be to steer clear of Coop between now and election day. Word has it that Coop's got a mean knee strike-front kick combo.

MEMO TO STATE GOP: Tennessee voters across the board want Bredesen to stay.

2006-03-22T05:01:00.000-08:00

Every year I make a New Year's resolution to lose weight and grow hair. By March of that same new year I end up calling my resolution for what it is - a losing proposition.
So too should the state GOP in March 2006 with regard to the Tennessee Governor's race.
All the posturing and the parading of possible GOP gubernatorial candidates cannot mask the truth - Bredesen will win re-election this year.
Why am I so confident about this?
Back in 2002, I worked in a congressional race and witnessed first hand the handiwork of a sharp pollster named Fred Yang who has a knack for dead-on accuracy when it comes to calling political races. Yang, who was also Bredesen's pollster last go around, is at it again.
Yesterday my sticky fingers nabbed a copy of a March 21st internal polling memo from Yang to Governor Bredesen. Yang was reporting on the results of a statewide poll of 600 likely Tennessee voters taken last week - between March 15 - 19. The survey was vintage Yang - a full bodied, across the board representative sampling of the state by region, race and other key demographics (not your run of the mill, cheap ass, lazy, random calling type survey).
Yang's core findings - Bredesen is in the strongest possible position going into the election season - ranked as the most popular elected official in the state by far - with a 63% positive rating and a 16% negative rating.
At this point my GOP friends may want to "look away" and start humming the chorus to Dixie instead of reading further.
Yang also documented Bredesen's support to be strongly bi-partisan and very deep-seated -- with a 68% positive rating among Independents and a 56% positive rating from Republicans.
Yang's memo went further looking at job performance - where Bredesen was rated by two thirds (65%) of Tennesseans as doing an excellent or good job.
WARNING TO GOP FRIENDS: You really, really don't want to read this next line.
The results also showed Bredesen garnering support from two thirds of voters in GOP stronghold regions such as the Knoxville area.
Yang's memo concludes with the most amazing stat - in 2002, two thirds of Tennesseans felt the state was heading in the wrong direction (remember Sundquist?). Today half of the electorate (50%) say Tennessee is now on the right track.
Yang's conclusion - "voters across Tennessee now feel confident that the state has finally turned the corner and is making progress in dealing with important issues."
All this to say, Governor Bredesen is in office to stay.

Bob The Explorer

2006-03-20T12:23:00.000-08:00

What do Amerigo Vespucci, Ferdinand Magellan, Leif Erickson (not the teen idol), Henry The Navigator and Bob Clement have in common? Can you say famous explorers?
In case you missed it, back on February 14th - the same day I was try to wrestle other deadbeat husbands for the last box of chocolates in the candy aisle at Kroger on my way home to spend Valentine's Day with my sweet wife - Bob Clement sent out a news release declaring that he had formed an "exploratory committee" to help him decide whether or not to run for Mayor of Nashville. The news hit Nashville like a change in the weather - few really cared and no one who did care was surprised by it.
Filing "the necessary papers to form an exploratory committee" is like buying a pair of very expensive running shoes - everyone expects you to put them on and enter a race sooner or later. Calling it "exploratory" simply adds to the suspense. When will the candidate actually try on the sneakers? When will he start running the race? And what if they don't fit - will he take them back and trade them for a nice comfortable pair of house slippers?
I'm betting Bob plans to run for Mayor of Nashville (how's that for going out on a limb?), but I do have questions.
For one, Clement asked Larry Woods, one of the Nashville's smarter politicos, to be the chair of the "exploratory committee." Does this make him chief scout for the exploratory team? The Larry Woods I know is known more for getting stuff done than for riding around looking for the next place to pitch camp.
And what about the other members of Bob the Explorer's "exploratory committee?" Who are they? Can anyone cook? I hope for Bob's sake he names a good cook to his explorer team - history will show that hunger led many explorations to a disastrous ending. And I hope Bob the Explorer has a good map - every explorer needs to have a sense of where they are going.
The race is not until 2007, but look for Bob the Explorer to eventually try on the running shoes this year and to officially declare his candidacy. Even though it's important to our city's future, I'm afraid when he does officially announce the challenge Bob will face will be getting voters to pay attention. After all, like most folks, I tend to spend most days like I did this past Valentine's Day - trying in vain to dig myself out of a personal hole.

Getting civil with Fred Thompson

2006-03-19T10:27:00.000-08:00

It was the morning of July 4, 1995. I had shown up at a Middle Tennessee boat dock with my wife Stacey and toddler son Logan at the invitation of Dale Gish, a friend who owned a massive yacht (think Greek tycoon-ish). Gish had asked us to join his family, along with "a couple of other friends," to take an all day cruise up the Cumberland River, ending the day watching the fireworks from his boat in downtown Nashville. It was a welcome break for me, having spent some time trying to sort out my life after enduring a long, unsuccessful U.S. Senate campaign working for Jim Cooper a few months before.
We got settled on the upper deck with Gish to began the long, slow journey down the River. After we pulled away from shore, the two friends Gish spoke of emerged from a lower observation deck that I had not yet explored. The friends were a lovely young woman and Fred Thompson, Tennessee's newly sworn in U.S. Senator.
Gish, not realizing the significance and timing of the union, introduced me to Fred and his date. For a brief moment - although it seemed like hours - Fred and I just stood face to face, staring at one another. Both were certainly not anticipating the encounter - not there, not then. But in typical Fred Thompson fashion, his facial expression turned from disbelief into a broad shit-eating grin. He stretched his hand out toward me and blurted to Gish, "I know this fella all too well."
As fate would have it, I had spent most of my waking hours during the previous 18 months attacking Fred Thompson in the public arena (on TV, radio and in print), doing all I could to tarnish his reputation as an actor, lawyer, lobbyist and politician.
Shortly after the introduction, Fred invited me to settle into an area of the boat where we could talk. I recall him saying something to the effect that "if we're going to be stuck on this damn boat together for the next 12 hours, we should at least try to be civil about it all."
During our chat we recounted some details of the 1994 race, including some of my more pointed attacks on him ("Gucci-wearing, Lincoln-driving, cigar-smoking, two-bit actor turned D.C. lobbyist who will say and do anything to get elected" was clearly one of his favorites). As only Fred Thompson could do, he managed to take an otherwise potentially volatile encounter and turn it into a pleasant - almost bonding - exchange with a recognized political arch enemy.
While I still hold fast to my belief that the better, more qualified man - Jim Cooper - lost that race, I do see why Howard Baker, the epitome of political civility, would be urging the White House to consider bringing in Fred Thompson to be the President's chief of staff.
At a time of great turmoil in Washington - from strained Administration-congressional relations to free-falling public support for virtually all of Bush's initiatives - a little dose of Fred Thompson might be good for ails the White House.
While I doubt - if he brought in Fred Thompson - that I would have any newfound respect for President Bush and all he represents, Bush would be making a smart political move having Fred Thompson help steer his ship.
I can see Fred now working his magic, pulling together a group of angry congressional leaders, sitting them down, and saying through a broad shit-eating grin..."since we're going to be stuck together in office another 24 months with this President, we at least try to be civil about it all."

Governor, I hope you didn't drink the water!

2006-03-17T07:39:00.000-08:00

I think it was great that Governor Bredesen went to Iraq and Afganistan to visit with our Tennessee national guard troops. His going was good for troop morale and is certainly consistent with his fight to preserve funding for the Tennessee units.
But I hope while he was visiting the bases he didn't drink the water.
What's wrong with the water you ask?
This week, according to U.S. Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND), the Pentagon's Inspector General has begun an investigation into allegations that Halliburton - operating within the scope of one of its infamous no-bid federal military contracts - may not have properly managed the water purification system for our troops that it was commissioned to handle.
Expecting our troops to tolerate unpurified water drawn from the Euphrates River (no, this ain't the Garden of Eden anymore) is asking too much. Paying a multi-national corporation billions to do a job they didn't do is just plain wrong.

Shoveling Snow's Shit In DC

2006-03-17T07:15:00.000-08:00

Someone shut U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow up already.
On the heels of yesterday's vote in the U.S. Senate to raise the federal debt limit by another $781 Billion, John Snow (who last week was accused by fiscal conservatives in Congress for under reporting the federal deficit by a few hundred billion dollars) released a statement applauding Congress for "protecting the full faith and credit of the United States" (Washington Post 3/17/06).
Does Snow really see what the Senate did as an achievement of a proud fiscal milestone? Need we remind Snow that - with this vote - his boss - President Bush - has achieved a milestone of his own - holding the distinction of having raised the debt limit more than all previous 42 U.S. Presidents combined.

GOP sentences America to debtor's prison

2006-03-16T08:36:00.000-08:00

Today the GOP-controlled U.S. Senate, under the leadership of majority leader (and ex-fiscal conservative) Bill Frist, will likely vote to raise our country's debt limit at the request of the GOP-controlled White House by another $781 billion. This increase is on top of repeated debt limit increases under this Administration that to date total more than $3 trillion.
President Bush has promised time and again to pay down the debt, but his words and actions don't match up. For perspective, in Democratic President Clinton's last term in office the debt limit was not increased at all.
Why does this matter to average Joes like you and me?
Aside from the fact that federal spending under GOP leadership is out of control, and that none of us want to leave our kids and their great, great grandchildren saddled with this kind of debt, the effect of this is that we have planted a FOR SALE sign on our nation's shores, inviting foreign interests to buy our debt, thereby sentencing America to what amounts to a modern day global debtor's prison.
Consider these facts (unfortunately, this is merely a snapshot of the whole dismal picture):
- we currently owe Japan $668 billion
- we currently owe China $260 billion
- we currently owe the UK $240 billion
- we currently owe South Korea $60 billion.
Hell, we even owe Carribean banking centers over $100 billion!
At the end of the day, how can we as a nation maintain some global independence and do what we have to do to protect our national interests when we are in debt to foreign interests?
Message to voters - the GOP does not reflect American values of sound financial stewardship. Their continued neglect of conservative fiscal management principle must end.