An Iowa Kind of Special

(Bonus points to anyone who knows what show the title of this post comes from)

Most of the attention being placed on Iowa these days is over how far up they're willing to move up the Iowa Caucus in order to keep it as the first contest in the nation (for those of you keeping score, it's now going to be on Halloween. Giuliani's already got his costume). But today, they made headlines for something that usually comes out of, say, Massachussetts:

A Polk County judge on Thursday struck down Iowa's law banning gay marriage.

The ruling by Judge Robert Hanson concluded that the state's prohibition on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional and he ordered the Polk County recorder to issue marriage licenses to six gay couples.

My first thought upon seeing this was, "This is great, but it'll probably be shot down on appeal, or the state legislature will try and kill it." But my friend Clonecone, who's actually from Iowa, pointed out that Iowa has a fairly liberal Supreme Court, not to mention a Democratic legislature and Governor. So this may very well stand.

And all of a sudden, gay marriage becomes a HUGE issue in the primaries. The candidates will have to discuss it in Iowa now. It's easy for the Republicans, they can just whine about how the "activist judges" are destroying the institution of marriage. Although in light of the Larry Craig scandal, they may want to be careful about how much they try to exploit this issue--that whole bit about glass houses and all.

For the Democrats, it's slightly more complicated. Say you're against it, and you piss off a good deal of your base, including a good part of the base in Iowa. Say you're for it, and you're taking a huge risk.

In a way, the timing of this does make me a little angry. This election should be about Iraq and the economy, not about God, gays, and guns. But if there was ever a time to take a stand on the issue, it's now. The Dems need to stand up for our core principles.

At 20 Paces, With Water Guns!

Earlier today, Karl Dean announced that he would issue a challenge to Bob Clement, in response to Clement's lying about Dean's stance on taxes (Dean is flatly opposed to raising the property tax. Clement, meanwhile, still hasn't said exactly how he's going to fund all of his initiatives, create all these new offices within the Metro government, and make a bid for the Olympics, all without raising taxes at all).

We now know what the challenge is:

“I am presenting a challenge to my opponent Bob Clement today to move the focus of the election from attack ads back to real issues,” Dean said. “Both my opponent and I have repeatedly said improving our schools is our top priority. What I propose is a debate on education, to be held at the Martha O’Bryan Center in the heart of Nashville. It’s time to get past stump speeches and platitudes, and talk about what we plan to actually do.”

Good. Time to stop talking about Clement's gimmick pledges and start talking about the real issues. And Clement always said that education is his number one priority. So surely he'd be willing to talk about it?

Not quite.

Clement Spokesman Ben Hall responds to word of the challenge via telephone:

“Bob Clement has participated in some fifty forums during the course of this campaign and four televised debates — two just in the last week.

Oh, so he wants to tell us ALL about education, he's just been in too many forums lately and he's TIRED!! Hey Bob, I've watched the videos of the forums, and let me tell you something...this wouldn't be that difficult. You know why?

You've repeated the exact same thing at EVERY SINGLE FORUM!

Just go to this debate, tell them all about how you feel like you're on the Endangered Species List, tell them all about how you were president of Cumberland, and be sure to use the phrase "good to great" wherever possible. Hell, if you pay for my flight, I could probably give your shpiel for you!

Clement's running on gimmicks because he knows he can't win if forced to debate the issues in public. This was a risky move on Dean's part, to be sure, but it looks like it will pay off.

(H/t Kleinheider, keeping me informed while I'm Up North)

An Oldie But a Goodie

This was an e-mail my Dad forwarded to me last summer. It explains who reads which newspapers. Enjoy!

1. The Wall Street Journal is read by the people who run the country.

2. The Washington Post is read by people who think they run the country.

3. The New York Times is read by people who think they should run the country and who are very good at crossword puzzles.

4. USA Today is read by people who think they ought to run the country but don't really understand The New York Times. They do, however, like their statistics shown in pie charts.

5. The Los Angeles Times is read by people who wouldn't mind
running the country - if they could find the time, and didn't have to
leave Southern California to do it.

6. The Boston Globe is read by people whose parents used to run the country and did a far superior job of it, thank you very much.

7. The New York Daily News is read by people who aren't too sure who's running the country and don't really care as long as they can get a seat on the train.

8. The New York Post is read by people who don't care who's running the country as long as they do something really scandalous, preferably while intoxicated.

9. The Miami Herald is read by people who are running other countries but need the baseball scores.

10. The National Enquirer is read by people trapped in line at the grocery store.

11. And, finally, the country is actually run by someone who doesn't read a newspaper at all...

Time For Another U.K. Shout-Out

Whilst reading my favourite ELITIST news source, the BBC, something occurred to me. They need a British equivalent to Lou Dobbs, because David Cameron's anti-immigration statements sound waaay too tepid:

Immigration over the past decade has been "too high" and needs to be better controlled, Conservative leader David Cameron has told the BBC's Newsnight.

People's concerns were "not because of different cultures" or the colour of someone's skin but pressure on schools, hospitals and housing, he said.

SIR, with all due respect, that's not how you do an anti-immigration rant. You're supposed to rail about how "they" are coming here and stealing our jobs and destroying our culture and refusing to assimilate. You're supposed to be rhetorical, rather than focusing on practical issues.

There is a problem here though. How exactly does he plan to "control" immigration? Immigrating to the U.K. is extremely different from immigrating to the U.S. They don't have large borders that are difficult to control at the best of times and damn near impossible to control when the people who are supposed to guard them have all been sent to Iraq.

Most of the people who come to the U.K. are not undocumented. They are people who, under the law, have every right to be there:

According to the figures released by the Office for National Statistics, the largest single group of immigrants were 121,000 arrivals from "new commonwealth" nations - principally, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka.

...

Some of the most striking figures relate to the eight Eastern European nations that joined the European Union in 2004. 80,000 people officially came from the so-called Accession Eight countries for at least a year in 2005, up more than 50% again from the 52,000 of the second half of 2004.

Under the law (and I'm greatly simplifying this), people who live in British Commonwealth countries (such as India or Pakistan), have the right to come to the UK on a special visa and generally get preference for citizenship. And the Eastern Europeans have freedom of movement within the European Union.

So either Cameron would have to revoke the right of abode entirely, which would likely destroy what's left of the Commonwealth, or he'd have to go against the entire EU. Granted, I'm sure plenty of Conservatives would be just fine with either one of those options, but the implications for the U.K. would be drastic.

Charlie Daniels for Mayor!

Seriously, I'd vote for him over Bob Clement.





And it would set an important precedent. Tim McGraw for Governor 2010!

You Don't Know Me But I'm Chris Dodd

Very interesting story this evening, via Daily Kos. It seems that Connecticut senator Chris Dodd, a longshot candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination who was immortalized in a song on The Daily Show, has received a critical endorsement that may very well keep his candidacy alive, from the International Association of Fire Fighters:

[IAFF President Harold] Schaitberger said Dodd was the candidate who had "earned their support," and that his long legislative record on labor’s behalf was the key to winning the endorsement.

Schaitberger declined to comment on why other candidates, particularly those considered to be frontrunners, came up short. He said the Democratic field was strong but added that Dodd separated himself from the others by going beyond support for their legislative agenda and being "the guy who really carries our water" dating back to 1976.

This is the first major union endorsement of this election cycle, and it's from a very powerful and influential one. And they were the one union to endorse John Kerry before the 2004 primaries. I don't know how much effect this will realistically have, but if nothing else this should help distinguish him from the bottom-dwellers in the field (Kucinich, Gravel, Biden) and put him at least into the middle tier with Bill Richardson.

I saw Dodd speak at Yearly Kos, and was thoroughly impressed. He seems like a likeable guy all around and I'd have no problem voting for him.

In addition to the IAFF, another union, the United Transportation Union, made an endorsement today, for Hillary Clinton:

"The UTU has a long history of picking winners early. Hillary will be a president that America's working families can count on. Time and again, as a United States senator, she has stood with us," UTU President Paul Thompson said in a statement.

I don't know if I'd be so quick to proclaim her the winner just yet, but this can't be good for another one of the front-runners, John Edwards. He seemed to have been counting on union support to get the nomination. With two major unions endorsing other candidates, and the national AFL-CIO deciding not to endorse anyone before the primaries, he should probably find a Plan B pretty quickly if he wants to stay in this.

[Disclaimer--I have not committed on any of the candidates just yet, and may very well just flip a coin on Super Tuesday. I'm leaning towards Obama, but I've been very impressed with Hillary's performance over the last few weeks. With the exception of Gravel and Kucinich, I'd be happy with anyone in the Democratic field.]

My Take on Larry Craig

Much has already been made today about Senator Larry Craig of Idaho being arrested for lewd conduct in a men's restroom back in June. There are questions surrounding his sexuality and the hypocrisy of a closested gay man voting against gay rights in Congress.

But there's another element to this story that hasn't been much discussed yet, and that's his excuse for why he initially pled guilty to the charges:

"At the time of this incident, I complained to the police that they were misconstruing my actions. I was not involved in any inappropriate conduct," the statement read. "I should have had the advice of counsel in resolving this matter. In hindsight, I should not have pled guilty. I was trying to handle this matter myself quickly and expeditiously."

Back up. You're telling me that you're a UNITED STATES SENATOR, you've been in Congress since 1980, and you didn't think to call your lawyer before entering in a guilty plea? Geez, even Pacman knows to do that.

Either he's too dumb to be in Congress in the first place, or he didn't think this would get out and is now lying to save himself. You can guess which one I think it is.

Also, Craig resigned yesterday from his post in the Mitt Romney campaign. I love how it took less than 24 hours for Romney to completely throw him under the bus:

Asked about Craig, Romney said, “He’s disappointed the American people.”

“Yeah, I think it reminds us of Mark Foley and Bill Clinton. I think it reminds us of the fact that people who are elected to public office continue to disappoint, and they somehow think that if they vote the right way on issues of significance or they can speak a good game, that we’ll just forgive and forget,” Romney said on CNBC’s “Kudlow & Company.”

I don't think Romney realizes it, but he just broke a fundamental Republican rule. You DO NOT compare Republican sex scandals to Bill Clinton, because we all know that what Clinton did is A MILLION BAZILLION times worse!! Republican sex scandals are supposed to be "a private matter".

UPDATE: They just made a good point on CNN--if he pled guilty but is insisting that he's not guilty, then he has in effect committed perjury. And even though he claims he's going to withdraw his guilty plea, he probably won't be able to do that unless he somehow proves he was coerced.

The Completely Unrelated Weekend Roundup

Sorry for not posting anything political lately, I haven't seen much of the news this weekend and obviously I'm not in the thick of the Nashville mayoral race right now. So here's some Completely Unrelated goodness until I get back into the loop:

--My roommates and I went to Wegman's this afternoon. Wegman's is an upstate New York grocery store chain, except that it's not so much a store as it is a slice of Heaven. But when I passed by the organic fruit, I noticed that they had the same plastic bags there to put your fruit in as they had in the rest of the produce section, these plastic bags just said "Organic" on them. Does anyone else find that to be slightly hypocritical?

--Who's seen the Viagra commercial where they're singing "Viva Viagra" to the tune of Elvis's "Viva Las Vegas"? Is that a complete and utter blasphemy on their part, or would Elvis have been amused? I can't decide.

--My Fantasy Football team totally pwns your team. I got Steve Smith, Rudi Johnson, Drew Brees, AND Vince Young. This was the first time I ever did a fantasy team, so special thanks to my little brother for walking me through it this morning.

--Read this article from The Tennessean, about how they're going to put a "premium" Belk store in Cool Springs where Parisian once was. This comment from the Belk CEO caught my eye, about how this Belk store will be different from the "moderate" stores that they have in smaller towns:

Cool Springs is clearly a premium market. We will not bring moderate brands into Cool Springs, but we will have moderate brands in a Columbia, Tenn.

Wow. That's not absolutely condescending or anything. I suppose it makes sense as a business strategy, but there's no need to trash your customer base like that. Also, what kind of brands would be in a "premium" Belk store? Belk is pretty much on the same level as Sears or JC Penny's as it is, so will a premium Belk be more like...Dillard's?

Memo to the Nordstrom owners--stop toying with us. We need you in Green Hills, now more than ever!

Making It Fake-Rain?

To anyone who reads the Tennessean--please tell me I'm not the only one who saw this headline and immediately assumed that Pacman Jones had finally hit rock bottom.

I Just Can't Win

I really can't. Up here in Ithaca, I'm seen by some as a dumb hick because I'm from Tennessee. I still sometimes get asked if I live on a farm, at which point I have to explain that Nashville is a city of over a million ("but that's ok, don't trouble your pretty Long Island head with it. Bless your heart.")

And then you get comment threads like this, where I'm accused of being elitist because I have the AUDACITY to still care about what goes on in Tennessee even though I'm at an Ivy League school.

So I just can't win. I think I'll just go back to London. I know you'll still consider me elitist for having a passport. But in London, no one cares where you're from, because regardless of your background, you're still a wanker.

To any Northerners reading this: Don't trouble your pretty Long Island head to worry about the definition of "wanker".

And to the Southerners: London is in England, not in Kentucky.

From Good to Great to Unconstitutional

After 16 hours of driving, a day and a half of work, and several trips to Bed Bath and Beyond, I'm all settled back at Cornell and ready to start classes tomorrow. My new apartment is really nice, I have a huge bedroom and a normal-people size bed for the first time in my college career. It's just been strange trying to reintegrate. I was abroad last year, so being back feels like I'm a freshman all over again.

But I wanted to turn my focus back home for a minute to address the Nashville Scene story about Bob Clement and his complete and utter disregard for the United States Constitution. I can't really expand on what Sean Braisted said about it. However, I wanted to be sure this story gets as much visibility as possible, so I posted it up on Daily Kos if you want to go take a look.

Keep it up Bob. Keep smearing and lying, just like you're doing. Lamar! Alexander thanked you for it and Karl Dean will too.

Programming Update, 8-18-07

Tomorrow morning, I start the 15 hour drive from Nashville back up to Cornell. I'm going up to an apartment where I'm just praying we'll have electricity. We definitely won't have cable for a few days...Time Warner has a monopoly up there and they can't come out until Thursday. I'm excited to go back, if for no other reason than it'll be in the 70s all next week up there :)

So I won't be posting anything until I get up there and get my act together, probably not until Tuesday or Wednesday unless something drastic happens before then.

However, I would like everyone to know that I WILL be returning to Nashville for one day only, September 11, for the election. Sean Braisted asked me, "You're coming back for one day just to wave a sign?" That, and make phone calls. I'll also have to vote, since I'm leaving before Early Voting starts and I no longer trust them to get me an absentee ballot on time (I sent in the forms two months in advance last year, didn't get my ballot until a week AFTER the election).

Have a good rest of the weekend!

Howard Gentry's Revenge, Part 2

Via Pith, both campaigns have internal polls indicating that this race is a dead heat. Clement and Dean are tied at 40%, with 20% undecided.

If you follow the conventional logic (and I realize I'm making a pretty big leap of faith here), most of Briley's votes would have gone to Dean and a significant number of Dozier's to Clement. The numbers work out if that's the case. The implication is that it's Gentry's votes that will determine this election, which is unsurprising.

Here's what I want to know though--what's it going to take for one of the media outlets in this city to pony up for a real poll? One that's independent and done through an actual political polling company as opposed to a media company? It may have been by accident, but the City Paper's SurveyUSA poll was by far the most accurate of any polls done before the runoff.

Another "Scheduling Conflict" Perhaps?

Karl Dean made an appearance at a community meeting in Joelton last night. I knew they had done a Joelton mayoral forum before the runoff so I was curious to see if they were doing another one, like the Jewish Federation did.

Apparently, this was something quite different.

Both candidates had asked if they could attend the meeting. They were both told that they were welcome to come, but only if they were willing to answer questions from the attendees. I saw the video from the last Joelton forum--they don't mess around. They have important issues in that community that need to be addressed, and they want answers.

Last night, Karl Dean showed up. Bob Clement was a no-show.

I'll let y'all make the connection.

THIS Is What a Feminist Looks Like

This installment of GoldnI The Angry Feminist comes in response to the latest "Feminisms" diary on Daily Kos. The message of this diary was that we as feminists ought to "put down the makeup and step away from the mirror".

Stop right there. Our reproductive rights are under attack. Women are still earning less than men for equal work. You have young girls in Africa and the Middle East being sexually mutilated every day, and women in those countries denied political freedom. Domestic abuse, rape, I could go on.

You're telling me that MAKEUP is a critical feminist issue? And that wearing makeup and liking things like nice shoes and handbags somehow makes you less of a feminist?

I understand the point about catering to a "chauvnistic worldview". But I don't wear makeup and stilettos to impress guys. I do it because, well, I like to. It's my choice.

I wear heels because I'm 5'4, and I hope you won't hold it against me that I don't always like being short. And they don't have to be uncomfortable, I've owned heels that I could wear all day and flats that hurt like hell.

And I like cosmetics. Putting a nice moisturizer on your face feels a lot better than having dry skin. I have a short attention span, so I enjoy changing up my appearance. I don't let it consume me, but I'm not going to deny that putting on mascara and batting my eyes doesn't give me a boost in the morning.

To me, this argument cuts to a deeper issue. There's this assumption that it has to be one or the other. You're either a "true" feminist who's "real", or you're a fake bimbo.

I remember going to the March for Women's Lives in Washington in 2004. All throughout, people kept yelling "What does a feminist look like?" and we all answered back "This is what a feminist looks like". I was there with my mother, and I'm quite sure that she reminded me to put on lip gloss before we left the hotel that morning.

There's no reason a feminist can't look like a young woman wearing high heels, a dress, and DiorShow mascara. Feminism is about choice, and about not trashing other women for their choices.

The Whole Megillah

Sorry it took me so long to get my analysis of last night's Jewish Federation forum up. I'm on shpilkes trying to get organized to go back to Ithaca (where it's a glorious 75 degrees right now).

One thing I'm curious about was how many actual Jews were there versus how many Council candidate representatives and media people were there. Seemed about even.

Sean originally mentioned this, and I have to concur, I think the biggest winner from the forum was Jerry Maynard. Everyone seemed to like his concrete education plan, and he definitely got the most applause out of all of the Council candidates. In addition, Ronnie Steine and Charlie Tygard both drew substantial crowds after the speeches.

Neither Clement nor Dean exactly made fireworks with their speeches. The biggest buzz came when Clement brought up immigration.

“We are all immigrants. We are all God’s children. But I cannot sit by and stand by and let illegals get in front of the line,” said Clement. That was met with mixed results.

It does strike me as curious that he prefaced it with the "We are all immigrants" line, which is usually a pro-immigration reform line. I've heard him say it before, but this is the first time it's been used in combination with a hard-line stance (as far as I know).

But what was REALLY curious was what happened after the speeches. They told the candidates to stand on opposite sides of the room so people could ask them questions. The meeting broke up and everyone migrated immediately....to the food. But after that, it seemed like there were a lot more people around Dean than around Clement. It could be because of where they were located...Dean was in a corner while Clement was sort of in the middle of the aisle, between where Jerry Maynard and Ronnie Steine were standing. But Clement never seemed to have more than three or four people around him at any one time. I should also note that he left at least 20 minutes before Dean did.

That Didn't Take Very Long

Seems like Harold Ford has taken my advice about us needing a break and recovered quite nicely:

The former Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Tennessee was holed up at Blue Ribbon Sushi on Sullivan Street with three blondes on Wednesday night. "They all stayed until 2 a.m. singing and dancing, and he was pretty tipsy," one onlooker snickered.

Sorry Harold, But I Think We Need a Break

I'm truly sorry that it's come to this, Congressman Ford. We had a great time last year. For a brief moment, you gave hope to Democrats in Tennessee and throughout the Southeast and made us believe that our time was finally here. Your campaign gave me my start in politics, so for that I'll always be grateful.

But there comes a time in many relationships when you realize that it's just not working out. The signs were there, but this morning I finally realized that this relationship is heading in the wrong direction. I think it's time we took a break.

This isn't easy for me, sir. Last summer and fall, I was on the blogs EVERY SINGLE DAY defending you. I believed in you, I believed in your campaign, and anyone who didn't believe be damned. I was invested emotionally and mentally in you. It was our one chance to throw off the good ol' white boy conservatives that have controlled our state politics for so long. I was ready for that new generation of leadership, and I couldn't understand why so many others said you were too conservative. "He's a moderate," I said. "And you just don't understand what it takes for a Democrat to win in Tennessee."

I have nothing against you for being a "moderate." We're a big tent party, probably more so than the Republicans. But this morning on Meet the Press, I realized that maybe you're not the "new generation of leadership." Maybe you're just the old guard wrapped in a better-looking package.

The debate between the DLC way and the "netroots" isn't necessarily a bad thing. It's always far healthier to deal with internal conflicts head-on rather than gloss them over. But on Meet the Press this morning, you told an unforgiveable lie about the netroots.

When Markos asked you to stop going on Fox News to criticize other Democrats, you responded that awful things were said on Daily Kos sometimes, and implied that the site is anti-Semitic.

Congressman Ford. I am a liberal Jew living in the South. There are anti-Semites everywhere you go, and Lord knows we've got plenty of them here in Tennessee. But I can assure you that on Daily Kos, anti-Semitic comments quickly get troll-rated and hidden. This community doesn't tolerate bigotry, and certainly not anti-Semitism. If I really believed Daily Kos was anti-Semitic, I wouldn't have posted there for a year and a half.

But for me, this cuts to a deeper issue. It's not easy to be one of the few liberal Jews in a sea of WASPs and wingnuts, and it's not easy to be the one of the few Southerners in a large Northeastern college. There have been few, if any, times in my life where I've truly felt like I "fit in" where I was. But it was on Daily Kos that I finally found acceptance and found my voice. So I can't sit by and let you slander it.

And what of you, sir? You seem to be a regular guest on Fox News, which is home to one of the biggest REAL anti-Semites in the media, Bill O'Reilly. Am I supposed to pretend like a few hidden comments made by a few anonymous people on a blog is somehow more offensive than one of the most widely-watched pundits on TV telling me to move to Israel if I don't like right-wing Christianity being shoved down my throat?

There's no way in hell I'm going to pretend that. And I can no longer pretend that you're right.

I've made up my mind--this is no longer my battle. You've got plenty of good little ground troops who will never question anything you do, you don't need me. And don't worry, I'm not going to go around on the blogs dissing you all the time now. I've got more pressing issues to deal with right now, their names are Bob Clement and Fred Thompson. But I'm through fighting your battle for you.

Let me tell you a little story. Last August, I went to one of my bosses on your campaign after spending a few hours on Daily Kos, and said "There's been a lot of negative talk on the blogs lately about the Congressman. Perhaps if he would come on Daily Kos and talk to them, it would go a long way towards clearing up some misunderstandings. They want some assurance that he won't completely sell us out if he's elected, but they want to hear that from him, not from me." I was told that it wouldn't be necessary and that it wasn't important. Maybe it wasn't at that moment, but by the time they realized that it would be a good idea, it was far too late.

You said on Meet the Press that you'd come to Netroots Nation next year. I hope you do. And I hope you'll come to your senses, and soon. Your career is just starting, there's no reason to throw it away on the DLC. If you can change your ways, then maybe I'll take you back.

But only then.

Titanic Observations

Just got back from the first Titans pre-season game, and wow was it boring! The highlight was that I'm finally old enough to yell "Hey beerman!", having turned 21 back in March. Some thoughts on the Titans, way too early in the season.

1. Kerry Collins still sucks. There's just no delicate way of putting it. He could have a receiver two feet in front of him and he'd still throw it in the wrong direction.

2. Cortland Finnegan is going to have an incredible year. Now that I said that, he'll probably have a season-ending injury in the first game.

3. When the starters came out, the score was 3-0. The one nice thing about a score like that is it shows that your defense isn't completely without hope. Then again, we were playing the Redskins...

4. We will survive without Pacman. I think.

5. My character NEVER seems to win the Kroger shopping cart race.

In conclusion, we got a taste of what could happen should Vince Young start having problems. And it's not pretty.

It's the Vision, Stupid. Just Not Yours.

(Cross-Posted at Daily Kos)

About a year ago, seeing an article like this would not have made me terribly angry. I would have been interested in hearing what an Antioch, TN pastor and self-described "conservative Democrat" has to say about the state of our party and how we can reach out to the center to win elections. I was up to my neck in the Ford campaign and believed we had a recipe for victory.

But I'm reading what this pastor has to say, and it's a recipe not for a Democratic victory, but for a complete and utter disaster. I may think of myself as a "moderate" (if that even means anything anymore), but having to read about how we as a party have to completely sell out our core values to win elections makes my blood boil.

He starts out promising enough:

Ask Presidents Gore and Kerry. The belief that brains and competence are the keys to the White House is shattered by the current holder of those keys.

Ain't that the truth. But it goes downhill from there:

Hillary Clinton will not win the South. John Edwards will not win the cultural conservatives. If Tennessee will not send a native son named Ford to the Senate, the rest of the South will not send a northerner named Obama to the White House.

The first part, I'll grant. The second part, even though I'm not an Edwards supporter, don't assume that running on an economic populist platform doesn't appeal to conservative voters.

Studying for the LSATs this summer has taught me to identify when a writer makes a leap in logic, and the point about Obama is a leap over the Grand Canyon. First of all, I'll be the first to admit that while race was a large issue, Ford had a whole host of other issues that sunk him in the end, issues that Obama has thus far avoided (not having a family name that has become synonymous with corruption in this state helps). Second of all, Ford's opponent was someone who had his own corruption issues, but who wasn't a nutcase with a million skeletons in the closet, which Obama's opponent certainly will be.

Which brings me to my next point. Pastor Alexander, you may not like our current crop of candidates, but do you have any better ideas? We all want Al Gore to get in the race, but it's not happening. Our candidates all bring a positive vision to this race, whereas the Republican candidates only bring skeletons and flip-flops.

And perhaps I'm going soft, but remind me again why it's necessary to win all the Southern states to win a presidential election? Before I go any further--I'm NOT advocating the Democratic Party cede the South to the Republicans. Jim Webb's election should be proof of why "whistling past Dixie" is bad strategy. The 50-State Strategy means the Democrats should be working to build up local and state parties EVERYWHERE. But we in the South shouldn't be so hubristic to believe that we will always swing elections.

But it's the final point in this article that really gets to me:

Democrats must admit they have been about silencing faith in the public square. They have been wrong about promoting abortion. They have been wrong to embrace illegal aliens. They have been wrong to attack traditional families and support gay marriage. Until Democrats admit they have been wrong to embrace policies that frighten those who elect them, they will continue to lose.

WHAT THE...?!!!!

This is wrong on so many levels. No one's trying to silence faith in the public square, look at how candid our candidates have been about their faith. We don't want to silence faith, we just believe it shouldn't be shoved down people's throats. Who's promoting abortion? We want to REDUCE abortions, through comprehensive sexual education and access to birth control. No one's "embracing illegal aliens", we're just well aware of the consequences that "rounding em up and deportin' em" would bring.

And 43 years ago, I'm sure someone said that Lyndon Johnson was wrong to push for the Civil Rights Act, claiming that attacking traditional white privilege and giving African-Americans full equality would scare the electorate. But it was the right thing for him to do, and it's the right thing for the Democrats now to support gay rights. Views on hot-button social issues are never static. Opinions changed on civil rights over time, just as they will change on gay rights.

The LAST thing the Democrats need to do right now is to sell out our core values. Bill Clinton and Jim Webb both proved that a Democrat can win an election, even in the South, without sacrificing what distinguishes us from the Republicans.

Furthermore, this particular election will not be about "God, gays, and guns." It may be the vision, stupid. But you know what else it is?

It's the war, stupid! It's the incompetence, the recklessness, the greed of this administration, stupid!

The one who wins this election will be the one whom the electorate thinks is best able to bring about a change from the last six and a half years. Bringing the debate down to the conservative level will hardly inspire that confidence.

Howard Gentry's Revenge

Tonight on Channel 5, outgoing Vice Mayor and third-place finisher in the mayoral election Howard Gentry tells Pat Nolan that he won't endorse anyone in the runoff, because:

[H]e doesn't want to exploit his base of voters or himself for the good of one or the other candidate.

And then the plot thickens a little bit:

He also criticizes Bob Clement's decision to open a campaign office on Jefferson Street, essentially saying that the move is too little, too late and a not-so-veiled effort to pander to black voters. In the interview, Nolan characterizes the move as "tokenism," a description Gentry doesn't argue with.

Better luck next time, Jesus, er, Clement!

He Doesn't Look a Thing Like Jesus

Via Pithy, we have Clement whining about how "Dean started it!" ("it" being negative campaigning). Clement's all mad because Dean had the AUDACITY to refer to "old politics" before the runoff, and that completely justifies Clement's Maxwell House Meltdown.

Two things that stuck out at me from this article:

"But what do we mean by old? You know, I remember in old Nashville, you didn't have to lock your door at night. I remember in old Nashville, we didn't have traffic jams. I remember in old Nashville, we had discipline in our schools."

Also in old Nashville, if you were black, you had to use separate bathrooms and weren't allowed to sit at the lunch counter. Also in old Nashville, if you were Jewish, you couldn't join the country club or several other social organizations (oh, wait...). But I digress. The important thing to remember here is that Bob Clement is apparently Jesus:

Clement also was asked how his runoff campaign is going.

“Really fine,” he said, “You know, it's called 40 days and 40 nights. I remember reading in the Bible there's another fellow who did that once upon a time, Jesus Christ, and he was tempted by the devil three times.

First of all, I dare him to bring this up at the Jewish Federation forum on Monday. Tell us what you really think, Bob! Exactly how many times CAN you try to resurrect yourself before God says enough? And if Clement loses, does that mean we Jews will be blamed for killing him?

Nosh for thought.

UPDATE: Kleinheider has a Simpsons clip that I think sums this up very nicely.

The Non-Campaign That Keeps On Giving

Via Kleinheider, this story of a lawyer who tried to confuse Fred Thompson supporters looking for this website by buying the domain name "www.imwithfred2008.com" and linking it to a faux KKK site, with links to other white supremacist websites.

The work of the Giuliani or Romney campaigns, trying to discredit the non-candidate before he even gets in the race? No, unfortunately, this time it was one of our own:

Actually, it turns out that a Mr. Henry Reynolds in the same zip code working as an attorney has a small record of political donations -- but in another direction:

4/6/2005 - $500, MoveOn.org

9/22/2004 - $500, DNC Services

4/5/2004 - $250, John Kerry

If this turns out to be true, this guy ought to be ashamed. We're better than that. When we Democrats and progressives sink to the level of the O'Reillys and Malkins and Coulters of the world, and let the debate be dragged down to that level...we lose, every time. There's plenty of dirt out there you could use against Thompson, but this is a disgusting, salacious smear.

And besides, if this guy thought he would help the Dems by smearing Thompson like this, well guess what? You just opened the door for a whole lot more dirt to be thrown right back at us.

UPDATE: As Southern Beale points out in Kleinheider's comment section, three donations to liberal causes don't necessarily prove strong Democratic ties. Granted, but inevitably that's how it will look.

It's Just a Theory, After All

My quote of the week comes from the Fred Thompson campaign, describing what exactly all these exits from their campaign mean:

Fred Thompson's pre-campaign effort underwent what a spokeswoman termed "an evolution, not a shakeup"

The Christian Coalition is not going to be happy about this. Evolution is "just a theory", and all other theories need to be explored before you insist that it truly is evolution. For example, Bill Lacy's hiring could have been the work of an Intelligent Designer. And the disintegration of the Thompson campaign could indicate that the Designer is angry and looking to smite someone.

Speaking of the DLC...

Did you know that Bob Clement is a member of it, or at least he was while in he was in Congress? It doesn't quite fit with the whole populist thing.

No Snowmen in this Debate, Unfortunately

Our onetime Senate candidate and former TN-09 Congressman Harold Ford Jr. will be debating Blog-God Kos on Meet The Press on Sunday.

First of all, to those of you who know me...if I'm not answering my phone on Sunday afternoon, it's because I've gone into hiding to avoid the fallout over this. Hopefully I won't need to, but you never know.

I know hindsight is always 50/50, but I'm far more torn about this now than I was last year. This time last year, if Kos or anyone else in the liberal blogosphere had said something against Ford, I would have immediately gone on the attack (as LeftWingCracker can attest) about how they "just didn't understand" our political situation here, and how getting a Dem into that seat was the most important thing, and how Ford really was more progressive than he was being made to look.

I still believe that (at least I still believe the first two points, not so sure about the third one anymore), but at the same time I know Kos is right about how caving to the Republicans and using right-wing talking points doesn't win elections.

I almost don't know if I want to watch this on Sunday. I probably will watch just out of morbid fascination (for the same reason I'll watch Pacman wrestle on Thursday, you know you want to watch the train wreck), and just not root for anyone in particular to "win". But 2008 is not just a question of whether "the netroots" or "the DLC centrists" will prevail in the Democratic Party. That's way too simplistic of a narrative, because both voices have a role to play in taking back the White House.

NOT a Shande

Get out the bagels and the blintzes, and maybe a little lox while you're at it, the candidates are coming!

Candidates in the runoff elections for mayor and Metro Council at-large seats are expected at a forum the Jewish Federation of Nashville is hosting Monday, Aug. 13. The event is scheduled for 7-8:30 p.m. at the Gordon Jewish Community Center, 801 Percy Warner Blvd.

I'm just verklempt that the two goys are going to schlep all the way out to Bellevue to talk to us. What chutzpah!

YearlyKos Wrap-Up

Finally made it home from YearlyKos, with my luggage to boot! YearlyKos may have been only slightly less geeky than a Star Trek convention, but I had the time of my life. As you can see, I got to meet the Blog-God, Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, and even got my picture taken with him on Friday night. And let me tell you, his baby girl is quite possibly the most beautiful baby I've ever seen.

It was just so great finally getting to meet the people I always talk to online in real life. Matt, Elise, Terry, Andy, Shayera, Page, Kath--I'm so glad I got to meet you all. And Tony too, even though he just fears the change that any mention of John Edwards will bring.

On Saturday, they had a big forum for the presidential candidates (the lighting in there was really bad, sorry about that):



From left, Richardson, Dodd, the moderators, Edwards, Hillary, Obama, and Kucinich. I couldn't get Gravel in the picture, a real shande for sure. I thought all three front-runners did extremely well, and I was especially pleased that Richardson admitted that he "screwed up" when he said he'd appoint Supreme Court Justices like Byron White. I can honestly say that I could vote for any candidate on that stage, except perhaps for Gravel and Kucinich. Kucinich started with the whole "there's no difference between Democrats and Republicans", and anyone who starts with that gets no respect from me.

Other memorable moments--on Saturday night, they had several comedians perform before Markos gave the keynote. One comedienne was Iranian, and the one who performed after her was Jewish. The Jewish comedienne said that "Any time a Muslim and a Jew share a stage, a terrorist loses its wings". That immediately went on Facebook.

One final anecdote, because I can't resist a chance to tie this whole experience back into what's happening locally. On my way to McCormick on Saturday morning, the taxi driver asked me where I was from, I said Nashville, and asked where he was from. He said Ethiopia, then pointed to the radio and said "This music, this is our country music in Ethiopia!"

It sounds cliche, but Nashville is definitely an international brand. And we need leadership that's going to go forward and continue to boost that brand, rather than looking back.

And on that note, I'm going to see if we can't get YearlyKos (or "Netroots Nation" as it will be called now) to come to Nashville next year!

I REALLY Hate O'Hare

So I was going to do a big wrap-up post on YearlyKos once I got home Sunday night, but I'm not home yet. My flight got cancelled so I'm writing this from the O'Hare Hilton. I just knew that this trip had gone way too smoothly. I can't do a whole big thing on my phone, so look for it sometime tomorrow.

Yearly Kos Day 1

I'm at Yearly Kos, at a panel learning how to build a progressive youth movement. One of the groups represented is ForwardMontana, and they have tshirts that say "God, Gays, and Guns--Love em All!" Best. Slogan. EVER!!!

Live Blog Part 2

8:40: Having problems woh original post, Dean now up by 45 votes.

8:50: Gentry concedes. Gentry supporters--yall ran a great campaign and you should be very proud.
also, looks like Megan Barry is close to 10%.

9:04: Clement making victory speech. Good to great yo.
Also, Mazel Tov to Vice Mayor Diane Neighbors!

9:07: Clement takes a swipe at Dean. Geez, that didn't take him very long to go negative.

9:13: Wow. If there was any doubt over whether or not Clement learned his lesson from 2002, this should erase it. Has he no decency?

9:22: Dean says we're a great city now. Zing!
Promises to run positive campaign.

10:10: I'm back home now, on a real computer. Well, I guess everyone's predictions were wrong, but the SUSA poll turned out to not be an outlier. It's been a crazy day, and I'm exhausted. Congratulations to Karl Dean, Diane Neighbors, Emily Evans, Carter Todd, and whoever else ends up on the Council. And Clement--you may want to think twice before running yet another negative campaign. Just sayin'.

To the Briley, Gentry, and even the Dozier supporters--You all ran great campaigns and kept this race civil and positive so far. And Vice Mayor Gentry--you deserved to make the runoff, in my opinion.

I'm off to Chicago in the morning. Looks like this whole mishegoss is just beginning.

Election Night Live-Blog

6:25 P.M.: The polls are closing in 35 minutes, and I'll be heading over to Adventure Science Center in about ten. From what I'm hearing, turnout will clear 100,000, but it's still going to be light. I feel like if you had any sort of stake in this race, you voted early. But we'll see. Check this post for updates throughout the next few hours

7:13: The museum won't let me use my computer on their wireless. This may very well be the first live-blog done via iPhone.

7:20: 3.5% in, Dean 26.3%, Clement 24.4, followed by Gentry, Dozier, and Briley. Interestingly, Tisdale is beating Eaton.

7:29: They just announced the early voting totals. Dean 26, Clement 24, Gentry 21, Dozier 16, Briley 11

7:42: It just occurred to me that the last time I was here, this place was called Cumberland Science Museum. Damn.

7:49: Wow that was fast. 76% in, Dean up by 1

8:05: Dean and Clement basically tied at 24. Also, Carter Todd appears to have won District 34. Yay.

8:29: Dean and Clement still tied. Briley and Dozier are done I think. Waiting to see what happens to Gentry. Also, finally got to meet Kleinheider :)

8:35: Dozier concedes.

A Shande far di Goyim

Y'all wouldn't believe the tsuris I'm having today. I've been up since 5:30 this morning and I'm chalishing right now. I'm on shpilkes waiting for the polls to close and the results to come in, and for this whole mishegoss to end (or start, depending on who makes the runoff). So I didn't even notice what was funny about that mensch Sean's post until that maven Kleinheider pointed it out.

Sean:

Some more endorsements came out recently, this time, from an informal group of power players who call themselves the "Breakfast Fressers"; Avi Poster, Tom Negri, Ted Feldman, Tom Loventhal, Ron Rossmann, Jonah Rabinowitz, Ted Helm, Bob Tuke, Jose Gonzalez, and others …

Kleinheider:

All that can be surmised is that they are all “power players” and also love the first meal of the day. The word “fresser” is a Yiddish word meaning “glutton” and many of the surnames on Braisted’s list of members do catch the ear as members of God’s Chosen People.

And I didn't even catch the Yiddish word, even though I knew what it meant. I'm surely a shande for my whole mishpoche.

All these endorsements are meshuggah, and since they didn't endorse anyone in the mayor's race, it's all farblondzeht. Does it even mean bupkis?

Sorry to be kvetching but I'm about to plotz.

Nu?

Bonus points to anyone who can understand this post without having to go look up any of the words.

Programming Update

Since I started this blog a week ago, I've gotten close to 400 visits and over 600 different page views. How many of those came from people related to me I'm not sure, but thank you to everyone for taking the time to read what I have to say.

Just a quick programming update for the next few days. I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow during the day or where exactly I'll be, so I may or may not post anything. However, starting tomorrow night around 7, I will be with the Dean campaign (Election Night Party--Adventure Science Museum, 7 p.m., if you're interested), and I will be live-blogging the results as they come in.

And then on Friday morning, I'm going up to Chicago for YearlyKos. As counter-intuitive as this may sound for a blogger convention, I don't think I want to haul my computer around all weekend. So I may or may not post anything this weekend, but I'll have the full details when I get back on Sunday.

My final endorsements for tomorrow:
Mayor--Karl Dean
Vice Mayor--Diane Neighbors
Council District 34--Carter Todd
Council At Large--Brady Banks, Megan Barry, Jerry Maynard, Richard Exton, Ronnie Steine

Happy voting!

Final Predictions

Since everyone else is making a prediction about how the results will break down tomorrow night I will too:

Dean--26%
Clement--21%
Gentry--20%
Dozier--16%
Briley--16%
Eaton/Other--1%

This being said, although I don't see Clement slipping that far behind Dean, I really hope Roger's prediction is more accurate.

Also, I loved his analysis of who's backing the candidates:

Bob Clement:

Strong suits: Anyone who was on social security while he was a congressman; old-time Nashville Democrats; people who think Nashville’s best days were somewhere in the mid-1970s; businesspeople who don’t understand which way the wind is blowing

Buck Dozier:

Strong suits: Church of Christ members; people who think the most important vote in their life was the one they made against horse racing 20 years ago; people who would prefer fewer gays and Mexicans hanging around the area; some police; many firefighters; Republican voters who think they’re somehow voting for a Republican because–let’s face it–Davidson County Republicans are pretty easily duped

Steve Cohen on Daily Kos

Congressman Steve Cohen, TN-09, has posted a diary on Daily Kos letting us know that he has signed onto the resolution to impeach Alberto Gonzales:

Yesterday I added my name to Rep. Inslee’s resolution (H.RES.589) to investigate whether Attorney General Gonzales should be impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors. I am a member of the House Judiciary Committee, which is the Committee that prepares articles of impeachment.

I realize many of you have been following the ongoing developments concerning the potential impeachment of AG Gonzales. As my staff and I research the specific grounds on which to impeach him, I welcome your input.

He's a real asset to the state of Tennessee, not to mention a real mensch. Good for him.

Lincoln Davis, "Pro-War Democrat"?

I saw this diary up on Daily Kos this morning, referencing an article from yesterday on Politico. The diarist lives in TN-04, represented by Congressman Lincoln Davis, and was very angry by what Davis had to say about centrist Democrats and war in general:

"If we become the anti-war party, that's not beneficial to Democrats in 2008," Davis said. "Bill Clinton ordered our troops and worked with NATO in Bosnia," he continued. "That's the kind of pro-war Democrat that we ought to be: the war that we fight wisely, the ones that we engage in wisely."

First of all, what the hell is a pro-war Democrat? It ain't Bill Clinton, that's for sure. It's not like he was itching to go into the Balkans the way Bush was itching to finish Daddy's job in Iraq. Clinton went in, as part of a multilateral NATO force (as Davis says), in order to stop both the genocide and the Balkans war from spreading even further. That's not being pro-war, that's an example of using war as a last result in foreign policy and doing it correctly. There's a big difference between having a proactive foreign policy and having an aggressive one.

The diarist goes on to say that they understand the importance of having a Dem majority in Congress, but doesn't understand why voting for Lincoln Davis should have to be part of that.

And frankly, even though I've been known to back more "moderate" candidates in the name of the Democratic Party (Harold Ford, Bredesen, etc), I completely agree with the diarist here.

That's because Lincoln Davis is not a "moderate." He's a flat-out conservative who just happens to have a (D) next to their name.

Look at the 2006 ratings from the American Conservative Union. All of our Republican representatives have anywhere from high-80s to high-90s lifetime ratings from the ACU, the highest being Marsha Marsha Marsha! Blackburn with 97%. Now look at Lincoln Davis--66.3% lifetime, including 80% in 2006! Since his first election to Congress, he's voted with the conservatives on the "crucial issues" just under 2/3 of the time. There were several Republicans on that list who had a lower ACU rating than he did. In addition to the votes on Iraq, he voted against the stem-cell bill! Even our Republican Senators had the sense to support that.

I'm certainly not saying we need ideological purity in the Democratic Party. This is coming from someone who loves Harold Ford and LOVES Jim Cooper, both "moderates". We're not Republicans, we don't do litmus tests. But there has to be a line somewhere, and I think Lincoln Davis has crossed it.

This is also interesting in the context of a possible Davis gubernatorial run. Does he honestly think he'd win a Democratic primary after this? If Harold Ford runs, he'd crush Davis. Bill Purcell probably would too if he decided to run. And Tim McGraw certainly would as well.

If nothing else, this does make for some 2010 drama.

Holiday Candles

Those of you who read what I write but don't know me that well probably think I harp on the whole issue of being Jewish. I really don't in real life, I promise. It's just that these stories seem to be falling into my lap lately.

Here's an LTE from today's Tennessean about the possibility of having a menorah display on the riverfront at the holidays along with a Christmas tree:

The Parks and Recreation Department will soon entertain several requests, including erecting a menorah at Riverfront Park alongside our holiday tree. I feel it’s a long overdue request and support it (“Davidson County: Menorah on the River,” July 29).

We need a “holiday candle” to accompany our “holiday tree.”

So of course I'm all for this. Hanukkah isn't a major holiday in the grand scheme of things, but it's been hyped up due to its proximity to Christmas. It would be an awfully nice gesture on the city's part and a recognition of the city's growing diversity.

At Cornell, one of the Jewish student groups always puts up a menorah ice sculpture in Collegetown, the neighborhood right off campus with an incredibly original name. The nice thing about Ithaca is that you can make an ice sculpture in December and it won't melt until sometime in March.

But I do hope the writer was joking about the "holiday candle" thing. If the city were actually to do that, I'd have to go all Bill O'Reilly on someone. I try to be politically correct, but that's obsessive. Christmas Tree and Menorah, people!