Good news from Georgia:

U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney is headed to a runoff against a relatively unknown challenger in a Democratic primary she was expected to win with ease.

HT to Vodkapundit, who reports “a very quiet, low turnout election, particularly compared to 2004.“.

That won’t be the situation here in Memphis, where we have more races and more candidates on the ballot than at any time in the history of the county. This primary is critical to conservatives because we could lose control of the county.

Technorati Tags: Moonbat Cynthia McKinney,
Extremist Moonbats,
People that give Moonbats a Bad Name,
Georgia Politics.

Politics

Do you give money to the Sierra Club? If you do, you’re putting Democrats in office! The Sierra Club is planning on putting between five and ten million dollars into competitive state races this year.

What makes a liberal a liberal? Mark Goldblatt weighs in and he’s right on the money. [I know, I was one!]

Think Hillary can win? John Hawkins doesn’t, and lists The Top 8 Reasons Why Hillary Clinton Is a Weaker Candidate Than People Think.

Meanwhile, Condoleezza Rice is more popular than you’d think:

When Esquire asked American men who they would invite from a list of 14 notable women to a dinner party, they chose Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice – over such stars as Julia Roberts, Jennifer Aniston and Jessica Simpson.

Dinner with Condi? Sign me up!

Technorati Tags: Sierra Club,
Looney Left Wing Organizations,
Charity,
Liberals,
Progressives,
Moonbats,
Hillary Clinton,
Condoleezza Rice.

You’ve read about the tributes that congressmen make: to heroic citizens, kids that excel in academics or sports, and so on. The hometown paper prints the tribute or the congressman sends it out in letters to constituents.

John Stossel reports that these tributes never really happen, even though they appear in the Congressional Record.

But wait, there’s more! Verbiage is not only invented, it is actually changed:

A congressman once got angry with a colleague and exclaimed, “You’re trying to shut me off? You better not do that, ma’am. . . . Who do you think you are?”

You didn’t read that in the Congressional Record. The Congressman or his staff had the Record print his comments this way: “I will say to the gentle lady for whom I have the greatest respect . . .”

The law says the Record must be “substantially a verbatim report.” Congressmen use the word “substantially” to print their lies. …

Of course, it would be embarrassing to actually stand in front of my colleagues and talk about Ted Nugent’s archery, so I’ll just make it seem as if I did. To make it extra convincing, I’ll use phrases like, “Mr. Speaker, I rise today . . . ” The additions cost taxpayers millions, but so what? They don’t cost me anything.

The waste calculates out to almost $675 a page.

And I thought that it was just the MSM that lied to us.

I guess that I should quit being shocked at findings like this, but then again I hope that I never get so cynical that I come to expect this of our elected servants. Because deep down, I am still a bit of an idealist.

Technorati Tags: Congressional Record,
Politics.

An appeals court has upheld a ruling that threw out a felony conspiracy charge against Tom DeLay. Still pending are charges of money-laundering and another conspiracy charge.

District Attorney Ronnie Earle said his office would review the ruling before deciding whether to continue the fabricated witch hunt appeal to yet a higher court.

I was going to comment on this ruling but can’t beat what LDotter JLoophole said:

Let me get this straight.

White male republican. Commits no crime, but was accused of one, so is basically forced to leave.

Black female democrat. Assaults a police officer, punching him when he does his job. Dozens of witnesses. Continues to keep her political position.

Ah yes, things that make you go “Hmmm”.

Rhymes with Right predicts:

I’ve no doubt that the rest of the charges will be easily refuted in court – and that the misconduct that has plagued this prosecution will lead to professional sanctions against the rogue prosecutor.

While I believe that Prosecutor Ronnie Earle is doing the legal version of a Mary Mapes, I have little hope of him ever being held accountable for it. As Rob at Say Anything points out:

When all’s said and done it will come out that the Democrat Prosecutor was using his office to smear his political foes. He tried and failed to remove Texas Senator Kay Baily Hutchinson. In fact when it finally came to trial he had to admit that he did not have a case.

But Election Law points to a Houston Chronicle article that suggests that DeLay may be involved in, or at least connected to, a phone-jamming scandal in New Hampshire.

What Election Law does not point out is that the H.Chron. is a liberal rag that has it in for DeLay — a fact made clear when reading how the article is written. [Come on, it starts out with, "Tom DeLay isn't involved in every Republican scandal, although it's easy to see how you could get that idea." Sheesh!]

Yet journalists continue to wonder why people are turning to alternative sources for news and punditry.

Technorati Tags: DeLay,
Tom DeLay,
Ronnie Earle.

Bill Frist’s wife, Karyn, is arranging a birthday surprise for her husband:

I’m planning to surprise him on his birthday and instead of him looking at the headlines in the Washington Post that morning, he’ll be reading his “Birthday Album,” filled with birthday wishes from friends in Tennessee and from all across the country

Go here to add your birthday wish, although one wonders how secret this will be seeing as the collection site is on Frist’s own PAC website. Still, how often does a Senate Majority Leader spend on the internet?

At least, by the letter he sent to Obama, which begins:

I would like to apologize to you for assuming that your private assurances to me regarding your desire to cooperate in our efforts to negotiate bipartisan lobbying reform legislation were sincere.

HT to Donald Sensing

Technorati Tags: McCain,
Obama.

The Red inland and Blue coast holds true even in the microcosm of nutty California:

California is increasingly politically divided between an inland “red” state and a coastal “blue” state, according to a Field Institute study analyzing 15 years of election trends. …

Coastal voters – in 20 counties from San Diego to Del Norte – favor Democratic candidates by sweeping margins while California’s 38 in-land counties overwhelmingly favor Republicans.

Maybe it’s something in the water.

Technorati Tags: Red Blue,
California,
California Politics.

I took an online Zogby poll this morning. I do these every once in a while because (1) it gives some insight as to what pollsters are looking at (and thus what the media and politicians are concerned with, and from there what gets put into the American psyche) and (2) I get some fairly interesting newsletters from Zogby in return.

This morning’s poll asked:

What do you think should be the number one priority for the next congress?

• War in Iraq
• Economy
• Social security reform
• Scandals/ethics
• Environment
• US foreign policy
• Homeland security
• Tax reform
• Federal budget deficit
• Off-shoring of jobs
• Poverty
• Racial divide in the US
• Health care
• Illegal immigration
• Nothing/not sure
• Other-Specify

What is missing from this list? What domestic issue has fallen so far off the radar that it doesn’t even merit consideration?

Education.

Poverty is on the list, but if all our children were educated then poverty would be massively reduced, if not virtually eliminated.

Off-shoring of jobs is on the list, but if all our children were educated then we would be off-shoring our talent to help the developing world.

Racism is on the list, but if all our children were educated then a great deal of the causes of racism would be eliminated. Education is the key to true equal opportunity. And as the economic, political and academic segments of our society become integrated, racism melts away. The culture of victimization could not survive. There would be no more resentment from taxpayers for supporting a growing welfare state. Most importantly, you do not hate those who work work with, who help you be successful in your career, who live next to you and whose children play with yours.

If all our children were educated then the black family could grow strong again. Educated fathers tend to stay married, regardless of race. Educated girls have ambition, not babies, regardless of race.

If all our children were educated then crime would plummet. Tax revenues would be raised hand over fist. Everyone would have health care that they choose, not that the government tries to provide.

Some may say I’m being racist by stating things in a stereotypical manner. Some may say I’m oversimplifying. But none can sway me from the position that we are cheating our children and weakening our country’s future because we are failing to address this problem.

Ann Coulter rips on the GOP. Money quote:

If Republicans were one-tenth as rough with the congressman who wants to withdraw troops in the middle of a war as they are on a congresswoman who calls it cowardly to withdraw troops in the middle of a war, we might have a functioning Republican Party.

101 members of Congress and 137 lobbyists, former government officials and other political insiders were polled with some not very surpising results:

1. Of the 89 Democrats who responded, 45 percent picked Obama, the Senate’s only black member, as the politician that has the greatest potential to become president in 20 years.
2. The second most popular choice by Democrats was “Don’t Know”, at 13 percent.
3. Of the 89 Republicans who responded, 35 percent picked Sen. Joe Lieberman, as the Democrat in Congress they most admire.
4. The second choice of Republicans was blonde-in-the-pond Sen. Edward Kennedy, at 6 percent.
5. Arizona Sen. John McCain was named the most popular Republican senator among Democrats.

I go on the record here and now, if 2008 comes down to McCain vs. Lieberman for president, I’m voting Democrat. If it’s McCain vs. Hillary, I’m writing in “AlphaPatriot”.

And you can take that to the bank.