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Page 6: Politix
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Page 4: Opinion
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Economy
TennCare faces deep budget cuts
When Tennessee launched its ideal of free health care for needy residents, the worry about how to pay for medical tests, drugs, surgeries or nursing care vanished for many people.

The relief didn't last long.

Gov. Phil Bredesen, who came into office in 2003 promising to "save" and "not dismantle" TennCare, has managed to keep it alive. But he has moved at least 300,000 people off the program rolls, limited the most expensive home care and made it tougher to get on TennCare in the first place.

Still, the program is expected to consume about 24 percent of the state finances under Bredesen's budget proposal next year,a drop from the ballooning 30 percent when he took office, but a long way from the years before TennCare when, state lawmakers remember, they dedicated about 10 percent of the budget to health care.

Now Bredesen, in his last year of office, has proposed another round of reductions that have so awakened the medical community that hospitals are suggesting taxing themselves as a political alternative.

Bredesen has driven this TennCare road before. When opponents suggested life-and-death consequences and even filed lawsuits against the state over previous changes, he moved forward anyway.

His critics say he has run the program too much like a CEO rather than an elected official administering a public health plan.

"This governor's approach has been, 'I will make cuts and fix the program later,' " said Tony Garr, executive director of the Tennessee Health Care Campaign, an advocacy group. "He forgets that he is not running a private business."

Others say it's easy to second-guess the governor, but if he hadn't pushed forward with changes, TennCare could be absorbing up to 50 percent of all the tax money coming into the state.
Posted by: Fred || 02/15/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  But, but, but if Temmessee can just hold out. Obamacare will cost us nothing! That's right, nothing at all!
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/15/2010 4:33 Comments || Top||

#2  You'ld have thunk if the MSM was doing real journalism they would have checked out the experiment here in TN or in Mass to see how "free" medical actually works. Its been expensive. Far beyound the initial estimates. The previous Repub governer tried to ram an income tax trough in his last year to pay for this. You probably didn't hear about the tax revolt that came to Nashville because of his actions. It shut the city down for a few days and gaurenteed a Democratic victory in the next election.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennessee_Tax_Revolt

Posted by: BrerRabbit || 02/15/2010 6:39 Comments || Top||

#3  expensive. Far beyound the initial estimates. That's been the rule for any government-financed health plan, Medicare, Medicaid, etc. OF COURSE the MSM slights that issue, doesn't fit the agenda.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 02/15/2010 10:53 Comments || Top||

#4  Teen Care went so far as to pay for peoples Gym memberships claiming it was physical therapy. Almost anyone could get Tenn Care at the outset. It didn't work then and it doesn't work now.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 02/15/2010 12:15 Comments || Top||

#5  The Bestest and Brightest only underestimated the cost of MediCare by 800%. And they were on America's side. So what could possibly go wrong with CommieCare?
Posted by: ed || 02/15/2010 13:03 Comments || Top||

#6  That's been the rule for any government-financed health plan,...

Fixed it for you AH.
Posted by: AlanC || 02/15/2010 14:57 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Reports: Bayh Will Not Seek Re-Election
Sen. Evan Bayh will announce Monday that he will not seek re-election, sources say. Bayh scheduled a Monday afternoon news conference to announce the decision, CNN reported and the Washington Post reported. Bayh had been under scrutiny in recent weeks, and Republicans felt that they could pick up his Senate seat. Former Sen. Dan Coats is among Republicans seeking to win that party's nomination. Bayh has held the senate seat since 1998.
Posted by: Fred || 02/15/2010 10:57 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  bump bump bump and another one bites the dust bump bump bump
Posted by: Frank G || 02/15/2010 11:04 Comments || Top||

#2  Another Democrat reads the polls.
Posted by: Kelly || 02/15/2010 11:10 Comments || Top||

#3  Ed Morrisey notes the filing deadline for the ballot is tomorrow. Heh
Posted by: Frank G || 02/15/2010 11:42 Comments || Top||

#4  Getting out while the going is good ?
Posted by: Tom-Pa || 02/15/2010 11:43 Comments || Top||

#5  According to AOS Bayh has a 20 point lead in the polls and 13 million in the warchest. Interesting he should not seek reelection.
Posted by: bman || 02/15/2010 12:03 Comments || Top||

#6  Did someone on the 'Burg mention that politicians get to keep their warchests when they retire??
Posted by: Tom-Pa || 02/15/2010 12:18 Comments || Top||

#7  Don't really wanna make it tough,I just wanna tell you that I had enough.
It might sound crazy,
But it ain't no lie,
Baby, bye, bye, Bayh!
Bye Bayh!

Posted by: Mike || 02/15/2010 12:58 Comments || Top||

#8  Evan Bayh always underperformed in his Senate elections. He won but he always had people wondering why the races were as close as they were, since the Pubs generally had a stiff opposing him.

Coats isn’t Pence but Coats was a decent Senator in his time, and his advantage today is that he can point to that time and say, “look, the country wasn’t so messed up when =I= was Senator.” That’s a good argument for the fall of 2010.

Bayh has money, a good family, a nice house in DC, and lots of friends. He was never really a Hoosier and doesn’t particularly need to be one anymore. He’s had a good run and he gets to be called ‘Senator’ for the rest of his life.

He’ll turn up. He’ll do the board thing. Perhaps he’ll be an ambassador. Perhaps he’ll get a Cabinet position — Bambi can appoint him to something to show that he “returning to the center”.

Better to walk away now than get trounced in November. There’s a lot of that going around.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/15/2010 15:02 Comments || Top||

#9  Ace has a post up saying Fred's own Md Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-hairy moled toad) is retiring as well. So where's that "permanent majority", Speaker (for now) Pelosi?
Posted by: Frank G || 02/15/2010 15:37 Comments || Top||

#10  He may be setting himself up to run as a centrist Dem Pres in 2012.
Posted by: BrerRabbit || 02/15/2010 15:41 Comments || Top||

#11  If Mikulski were to pass on the election, The Democrat would still win. Maryland is bluer than Mass.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 02/15/2010 15:46 Comments || Top||

#12  We had a republican governor. Don't be surprised if O'Malley doesn't get the boot. He is not soaring anymore. Lots of unhappy folks here in Maryland.
Posted by: Gloria || 02/15/2010 16:27 Comments || Top||

#13  I hope Bayh dropped for the reasons he said. Maybe he was tired of being part of the cesspool we called DC.
Posted by: Gloria || 02/15/2010 16:30 Comments || Top||

#14  heh heh post-Bayh procedural issues. Deadline's tomorrow and only one Donk-nut has even close to enuf signatures. It could get very messy
Posted by: Frank G || 02/15/2010 16:32 Comments || Top||

#15  Actually the news is even worse for the Democrats.
The only person who might qualify is Tamyra D'Ippolito

Here is what a comment on Firedoglake has to say:

"I live in Bloomington, Indiana-where this new candidate is from. I can tell you with 100% certainty that this woman will be CRUSHED in a general election. She would have been crushed in a primary even if Bayh had not been a factor. She is an amateur to the 3rd degree and is a bit of a laughing stock around town. She owns an Italian Restaurant that is basically open when she feels like it and the business (surprise, surprise) is going under. I have spoken with her on the phone (trying to learn more about her restaurant when it first opened) and she is a complete flake. Last Christmas eve, I called to ask her if they were going to be open, we had a brief extremely confusing conversation in which she basically said, “Maybe” and then later that day she called my house TWICE to find out why I had called. She’s currently being evicted from the building that houses her restaurant for not having paid rent in several months. Businesses fail, which is completely understandable in this economy, but to try to run for public office even while you are fighting an eviction for not paying rent? That is beyond questionable. As a long time Bloomington resident I can honestly say that I do NOT want this woman representing me."

Posted by: Frozen Al || 02/15/2010 17:14 Comments || Top||

#16  I'll order more popcorn. :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 02/15/2010 18:28 Comments || Top||

#17  even if the Mikulski rumors don't pan out - this post's pic is worth archiving.
Posted by: Frank G || 02/15/2010 18:36 Comments || Top||

#18  Wheeee!
Posted by: Iblis || 02/15/2010 19:18 Comments || Top||

#19  The picture is worth it. From the comments

whoever it is she needs to stop biting and let go of Hillary’s teat.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 02/15/2010 19:22 Comments || Top||

#20  But if D'Ippolito doesn't get her qualifying signatures in on time the Dem party apparatus gets to appoint their candidate. Let's hope those signatures show up.
Posted by: lotp || 02/15/2010 19:29 Comments || Top||

#21 
Queen - Another One Bites The Dust
Posted by: Don Vito Gluter2312 || 02/15/2010 21:59 Comments || Top||


Wisconsin Billboard Calls for Obama's Ouster
Posted by: Speling Spomong4431 || 02/15/2010 10:56 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Somebody in Wisconsin doesn't like President Barack Obama all that much.

An unnamed company has paid for a billboard along Highway 41 in Oshkosh that reads, "Impeach Obama."

The tagline says: "America's small businesses are failing; help us spread the message."

It was paid for by an unnamed company represented by Tom Wroblewski who told the AP the sentiment is that Washington politics are bad for small businesses
.
Posted by: Icerigger || 02/15/2010 11:29 Comments || Top||

#2  Perhaps its the same group that put up those Dubya, "Miss me yet??" billboards last week.
Posted by: Tom-Pa || 02/15/2010 12:23 Comments || Top||

#3  Could we wait until there's actual evidence of law-breaking before we break out the demands for impeachment? Incompetence, malignity and general wickedness can't be justly characterized as "high crimes and misdemeanors", at least not as I understand the matter.
Posted by: Mitch H. || 02/15/2010 12:45 Comments || Top||

#4  Theft of a great nation's future not enough?
Posted by: ed || 02/15/2010 12:47 Comments || Top||

#5  Thank God we still live in a country where someone can do this. Another few years of Barry and we may not have the luxury.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/15/2010 14:22 Comments || Top||

#6  Gross incompetence does not meet the standard of high crimes and misdemeanors. We'll just have to wait till 1/20/2013 (and hope for gridlock after the mid-terms).
Posted by: DMFD || 02/15/2010 16:16 Comments || Top||

#7  Actually, if Obumble issues an executive order to implement cap and tax, he's broken the law. He cannot use an executive order to create legislation - only the Congress can do that. Even the EPA's ruling that carbon dioxide is a pollutant can be contested as being based on "bad" science (the lack of evidence that increased CO2 is causing any kind of physical damage to the nation or its inhabitants. That has NOT been proven by ANYONE - it's all based on computer models that are nowhere capable of reproducing the complexity of global climate). Remember, Executive Orders can only be used to manage the executive branch of the government. Once the contents of an executive order extend beyond the executive branch, it's a breach of the powers granted to Congress and Congress alone.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 02/15/2010 16:59 Comments || Top||


Ford vows to defend Wall Street if he runs
Former Tennessee Democratic Rep. Harold Ford Jr. vowed on Sunday to defend Wall Street if he challenges Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) in this year's Democratic primary.

"I make no bones about it. New York City, New York state depend heavily on Wall Street," said Ford, currently a vice chairman and policy adviser to Wall Street firm Merrill Lynch, on NBC's "Meet the Press."

"I'm a believer the system ought to be reformed but putting a tax on banks at a time in which the recovery is as timid as it is -- 680,000 New Yorkers work in this industry," Ford said, criticizing President Barack Obama's proposal to levy a fee on the largest financial firms to recoup taxpayer bailout money given the importance of their tax dollars to "the revenue of the city and the state of New York."

"I'm not afraid nor am I ashamed to say if I run for the Senate and I win I will defend the biggest industry in my state," Ford said.

Pressed by host David Gregory to disclose the sum of his own bonus, Ford said he would -- if he decides to actually run. Ford said he's paid New York taxes on all his income made there over the last two years, and for the first time in 2009 he and his wife are filing as New York residents.

Ford said he'd make the call on whether he's running "in the next few weeks" but said he's been "encouraged" by what he's hearing from voters around the state.
Posted by: Fred || 02/15/2010 10:51 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Oooooo a listening tour!
Posted by: Frank G || 02/15/2010 11:22 Comments || Top||

#2  New York likes "celebrity carpetbaggers". Hillary, Bobby Kennedy. I don't think this guy packs the gear to pull it off. Maybe Bubba should run.
Posted by: tu3031 || 02/15/2010 11:25 Comments || Top||

#3  Harold Ford bumper sticker: "I Listen to Billionaires"
Posted by: ed || 02/15/2010 12:44 Comments || Top||


More Kennedys on deck
Rep. Patrick Kennedy's (D-R.I.) retirement may serve as a symbolic end of a political era but for those still captivated by America's version of Camelot, there's hope. The list of prospective Kennedy clan candidates, it seems, runs deep.

From Massachusetts to California, and in several states in between, there are at least a half-dozen Kennedy kin whose ambitions to serve in elected office burn with varying degrees of intensity.

A handful have already seriously considered bids during the 2010 election cycle, among them Chris Kennedy, son of Robert F. Kennedy, who mulled running for two different statewide offices in Illinois; Anthony Shriver, the son of Sargent and Eunice Shriver, who contemplated a shot at the governorship in Florida; and former Congressman Joseph Kennedy II, nephew of Ted Kennedy, who passed on a bid for his late uncle's U.S. Senate seat in the recent special election.

"You can never write them off given the advantages they bring to the process," said Darrell West, vice president of governance studies at The Brookings Institute, who authored a political biography of Patrick Kennedy.

Patrick Kennedy himself echoed that notion Friday when asked about whether his departure marked the end of the political line for his family.

"I wouldn't count us out for good, you know," he told the Boston Globe.

Still, the political licks the family has taken in recent years suggests their storied name is no longer as potent an advantage for the younger generation.

Most recently, Caroline Kennedy underwent a painful and awkward public vetting process after expressing interest in New York's then-vacant Senate seat before ultimately withdrawing her candidacy for unspecified "personal reasons" -- the culmination of an unpleasant episode that ended in recriminations between Kennedy loyalists and aides to Democratic Gov. David Paterson.

Well before that, after an eight-year run as lieutenant governor in Maryland, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend lost a 2002 gubernatorial bid in a state that had not elected a Republican governor in nearly 40 years. Townsend, the oldest of Robert Kennedy's 11 children, rose higher than any other Kennedy woman. But since her defeat, she's remained on the political sidelines.

That same year, two-term state lawmaker Mark Shriver narrowly lost a Democratic primary to Chris Van Hollen in Maryland's 8th Congressional District. Shriver is now directing a national non-profit aimed at aiding impoverished children in rural areas.

A year earlier, in 2001, Max Kennedy, a son of Robert F. Kennedy, unexpectedly dropped out of a race to replace Rep. Joe Moakley of South Boston, who died of leukemia. Although he was initially considered the favorite in the Boston-based 9th Congressional District, he ultimately told reporters he couldn't make the commitment to be away from his three children. Still, he kept the door open for a future run.

''As my father often quoted from The Song of Solomon, 'To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven,'" he said in a statement.
Posted by: Fred || 02/15/2010 10:23 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  If they do it, their campaign strategy will basically be "I'm a Kennedy!" I don't think it dazzles the rubes like it used to.
Posted by: tu3031 || 02/15/2010 11:41 Comments || Top||

#2 

“As my father often quoted from The Song of Solomon, ‘To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven,’” he said in a statement.


Um, no. The quotation is from the King James Bible translation of Ecclesiastes 3:1. The Song of Solomon is an alternative name for the Song of Songs. What are they teaching the Kennedys these days?
Posted by: Eric Jablow || 02/15/2010 11:49 Comments || Top||

#3  The national nightmare continues...
Posted by: newc || 02/15/2010 13:10 Comments || Top||

#4  Kennedys = Village Idiots = No Thanks Stay Home

Posted by: Gravinter Prince of the Antelope3830 || 02/15/2010 19:06 Comments || Top||


Poll Data: CBS News/ NYTimes:: The Tea Party Movement (2/11)
The complete poll is 'at source'
THE TEA PARTY MOVEMENT
February 5-10th, 2010

Americans who call themselves supporters of the Tea Party movement express strong levels of anger toward Washington generally, and great personal antipathy toward President Barack Obama specifically. They are more likely to call themselves Republicans than independents.

Despite those strong views, for most Americans the movement remains relatively unknown: most haven't heard of the Tea Party, and those who have are still unsure about its stances.
Later, within the data
THE TEA PARTY MOVEMENT AND AMERICANS OVERALL

A majority of Americans still say they do not know much about the Tea Party movement; more than half say they have heard not much or nothing about it.

HOW MUCH HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT TEA PARTY MOVEMENT?

A lot 18%
Some 27
Not much/none 55
OUCH
Even among those Americans who say they have heard about the Tea Party, four in ten still admit they don't know much about what it stands for.

HOW MUCH DO YOU KNOW ABOUT TEA PARTY POSITIONS?
(Among those who've heard of Tea Party)

A lot 19%
Some 41
Not much/none 40
screwed again
This poll was conducted among a random sample of 1084 adults nationwide, interviewed by telephone February 5-10, 2010. Phone numbers were dialed from random digit dial samples of both standard land-line and cell phones. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus three percentage points. The error for subgroups is higher.
This poll release conforms to the Standards of Disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls
Posted by: Tom-Pa || 02/15/2010 09:51 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Time to exercise freedom of speech and freedom of th press a bit more.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 02/15/2010 10:51 Comments || Top||

#2  Those numbers sound like they only sampled members of the MSM.
Posted by: AlanC || 02/15/2010 13:53 Comments || Top||

#3  The questions are a bit misleading. Tea Party position(s) leads people to think that there is more than the simple demand for fiscal reality that is the basis of the tea parties so the people answer that they don't know the position(s) when they actually do.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 02/15/2010 23:23 Comments || Top||


New day in Mass. politics, but same old hackerama
There's no football on television today. You have time to go online and check out the new public payrolls that were posted this week at bostonherald.com. Start with the Massachusetts Port Authority payroll. Last year, 272 Massport hacks made over 100 grand.

Talk about a hackerama. Tommy Butler, an old coatholder for retired solon and judge Michael "Flats" Flaherty - he grabbed $182,162.06 last year.

Joe Lawless, the ex-Statie who was Bill Weld's driver 20 years ago, is forgotten but not gone for $171,456.05. Think about that the next time you get into a cab at Logan and the meter says $8.50 before you even leave the curb.

Does the name Mike Greico ring a bell? Probably not, unless you're from Eastie, or City Hall. He used to work for John Nucci. Now making $123,548 at Massport. Even further back in time, Lowell Richards, an old Kevin White hack. Now pocketing $193.837.96 a year, and behind that comes the 80 percent pension.

Tommy Domenico, a payroll patriot in the Trav crew - he too has been taken care of at Massport, big time, for $117,503.12. Hey, ex-bowtied bumkisser Matt Brelis - you're making $124,338. All those years of brown-nosing Democrat hacks in the Globe really paid off big time, didn't it, Matt? Puff pieces 'R' us.

Ultimately, that's what it's all about, this Republican renaissance. Out with the old hacks, in with the new.
Posted by: Fred || 02/15/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:


Tea Party to field candidate in battle for Harry Reid's Senate seat
Sun columnist Jon Ralston is reporting that the Tea Party has qualified as a third party in Nevada and will have a candidate in the Senate race to battle for the seat held by Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Divide and conquer, huh? Did Harry pay for that or are they just stoopid?
The party has filed a Certificate of Existence but needs to get 1 percent of the electorate to vote for its candidate in November to permanently qualify, according to the report.

Ralston reported that Jon Ashjian will be the Tea Party's U.S. Senate candidate on the November ballot. Ashjian still must declare his candidacy.

There are six other third-party candidates going through the verification process to appear on the ballot as U.S. Senate candidates -- one Reform Party hopeful and five as independents, Ralston reported.

Reid's Republican challengers currently include former state Sen. Sue Lowden, former UNLV basketball star Danny Tarkanian and former state Assemblywoman Sharron Angle.

The news also comes two days after first-term Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki said he won't run for the U.S. Senate to unseat Reid. Krolicki said Thursday he will be seeking a second term as lieutenant governor.

According to the party's constitution, the Tea Party of Nevada will "promote this nation's founding principles of freedom, liberty and a small representative government. We believe that our government under both Democrat and Republican control has led to massive national debt, crushing deficits, increased taxes; while establishing a large and powerful federal government in a direct refutation of the founding ideals of America."
Posted by: Fred || 02/15/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Is this real tea party folks or a splinter trying to use the name. No one seems to know this guy Ashjian. More to be determined.
Posted by: tipover || 02/15/2010 0:24 Comments || Top||

#2  Unless the Dhimmicrats succeed in forcing bloggers to get a license in the next week, we'll know everything we need to know about Jon Ashjian.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/15/2010 9:52 Comments || Top||

#3  Unfortunate last name, makes me think "ashcan".

I'm comforted by the notable inability of third-party spoilers in New Jersey and Massachusetts to get any traction in the last two races. Even when the one in Massachusetts ran with a Kennedy last name.
Posted by: Mitch H. || 02/15/2010 10:31 Comments || Top||

#4  Check out the fellows listed as party officers in the filing. They are dead ends / ties to Reid. This looks like a false flag operation. Being followed on both instapundit and "the corner"
Posted by: Spanky Wheack7175 || 02/15/2010 19:25 Comments || Top||

#5  The problem for the media and the Donks is that there is no formal Tea Party or funding source to tie to. As such, there is no flag pole to rally around or against. Anyone can try to tag themselves with the name 'Tea Party', but unlike the other two established party organizations the population that will blindly pull the lever doesn't really exist in the movement. These are not party clones. Of course that means their ability to attract the dead and Mickey Mouse/Donald Duck et al is very restricted.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/15/2010 19:52 Comments || Top||

#6  P2K - problem is - the divide and conquer strategy is in effect. The "Tea Party" third party guy in Vegas is someone nobody's heard of. Watch to see other Astroturf tea party candididates surface to try and split the vote. Reid MUST GO DOWN
Posted by: Frank G || 02/15/2010 21:44 Comments || Top||


Jackson Lee finds herself on defensive in debate
The congresswoman who has represented Houston's 18th District has lost the respect of her fellow lawmakers, said one of two candidates challenging U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee in the March 2 Democratic primary.

"It's difficult to get things done in a place like Congress when you're repeatedly voted one of the worst people to work with," said Sean Roberts, an attorney who is challenging Jackson Lee in his first run for public office.

Roberts, 38, spoke Saturday during debates for the 18th Congressional District and the 146th state legislative district held at the SHAPE Center in Midtown and sponsored by the Harris County Council of Organizations.

Jackson Lee, who visited Haiti Friday as part of a delegation led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., arrived late to the event and did not hear Roberts' comments.

The 60-year-old congresswoman is facing her first serious Democratic primary challenge since being elected in 1994.

After the debate Jackson Lee said: "I'm saddened by the misinformation by those who were seeking to run for public office. (Roberts') statement has no credibility at all."

She emphasized that she holds a number of leadership roles in Washington.

Her other challenger, Houston City Council Member Jarvis Johnson, emphasized his roots in the community and his work with an after-school program for at-risk children.

Johnson, also 38, called for more jobs, development and educational opportunities in the district. He represents District B on the City Council, which is partially in the 18th Congressional District.

"We want to make sure that we open up the door of opportunity for the residents of the 18th District," he said.

Jackson Lee, who arrived about 15 minutes after the debate began, told the standing-room-only audience of about 100, that she had helped bring some $5 billion in federal funding to the district in her 16 years in Congress, and that she had emphasized criminal justice, health care and children's issues.
Posted by: Fred || 02/15/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Jackson Lee.....told the standing-room-only audience of about 100, that she had helped bring some $5 billion in federal funding to the district in her 16 years in Congress

Happy to see she's got her priorities well in line.
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/15/2010 4:03 Comments || Top||

#2  Jackson Lee, who arrived about 15 minutes after the debate began

Nice to see she respects her constituency.
Posted by: Mitch H. || 02/15/2010 10:33 Comments || Top||


Delahunt says he might be the next to go
US Representative William Delahunt said yesterday that he is considering retiring from his congressional seat representing the South Shore and Cape Cod, although he portrayed his deliberations as routine and said they are not related to challenges from Republicans who are energized by Scott Brown's upset victory in last month's special Senate election.

"Every election cycle, I take my time, I think it through, and I think, not about whether I can win or lose, but: 'Am I in a position to make a difference?' '' Delahunt, a Quincy Dem ocrat, said in a telephone interview. "Can I achieve what I want to achieve outside of public life?''

Delahunt, who has not faced a serious challenge since he was elected in 1996, has a campaign war chest of more than $600,000 but has not been aggressively raising money this year, according to federal records. He said he will announce in March whether he will seek reelection.

If he departs, it would signal a continued shift in New England's political landscape after the Republican Brown stunned Democrats when he won the seat held by the late Edward M. Kennedy. Kennedy's son, Patrick, said yesterday that he will be quitting his US House seat in Rhode Island.

"I have held elected office for almost 40 years,'' said Delahunt, a former prosecutor. "I understand that there is always an ebb and flow. Today you are up and tomorrow you are down. That is the rhythm of political life.''

Delahunt has held office so long that Democratic strategists said it is not clear who in his party might seek the seat if he were to retire. Some have floated the name of Therese Murray, president of the Massachusetts State Senate, who is from Plymouth. But she has recently indicated that she believes Delahunt will run and win.
Posted by: Fred || 02/15/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Nothing to do with those jailhouse calls from Alabama Congressman?
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/15/2010 4:35 Comments || Top||

#2  You need a comma in there, Besoeker. For a moment I thought he was talking to a jailed Alabama congressman.

Not that there'd be anything wrong with that ...
Posted by: Steve White || 02/15/2010 9:53 Comments || Top||

#3  "I have held elected office for almost 40 years,''

Exhibit A. In this case there is no Exhibit B.
Posted by: Halliburton - Mysterious Conspiracy Division || 02/15/2010 15:39 Comments || Top||


Support builds for Murtha's wife to take U.S. House seat
Among possible candidates to replace Rep. John Murtha, the Johnstown Democrat who died Monday, is his wife, Joyce.

"While people have been mindful that this is a difficult time for the family, many have called to suggest Joyce as the perfect person to hold her husband's seat," Murtha spokesman Matthew Mazonkey said. Murtha represented Pennsylvania's 12th Congressional District. His term expires at the end of this year.

Gov. Ed Rendell will decide when to conduct a special election for Murtha's seat. He told reporters he is leaning toward the May 18 primary to keep costs down. The state Democratic and Republican parties each would choose a nominee. Independent candidates also could enter the race.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White || 02/15/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I've never understood the "elect the wife of the dead guy" idiocy. Why not his barber? Or his secretary?
Posted by: mojo || 02/15/2010 2:55 Comments || Top||

#2  Cause the fief must stay in the family, mojo.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 02/15/2010 3:02 Comments || Top||

#3  "She would probably a very good candidate, in terms of holding the seat,"

The most important reason - hold the seat of power.
Posted by: Bobby || 02/15/2010 5:24 Comments || Top||

#4  However, no tenure. Still the lowest rep on the seniority list and the people who've been waiting in line for years are not going to 'make way for the lady'. Her ability to get pork is minimal regardless of what they think the name will carry in the district.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/15/2010 6:50 Comments || Top||

#5  Joyce M Murtha - Background You have got to do some digging through sources.

Joyce Murtha Breast Care Center seems to be her claim to fame, likely bought with your tax dollars ala John "Pork Barrel" Murtha.
Posted by: Slusosh Barnsmell6132 || 02/15/2010 7:14 Comments || Top||

#6  If mama knows where enough bodies are buried she gets the seat. Plus, she'll probably be on the ballot as Mrs. John Murtha
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 02/15/2010 7:16 Comments || Top||

#7  Americas descent into oligarchy continues.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 02/15/2010 8:21 Comments || Top||

#8  is she an ex-Marine too?
Posted by: Frank G || 02/15/2010 9:51 Comments || Top||

#9  I've never understood the "elect the wife of the dead guy" idiocy. Why not his barber? Or his secretary?

Or his mistress? Mistresses do about the same job and are usually younger and better looking.
Posted by: JFM || 02/15/2010 10:05 Comments || Top||

#10  Note to above comment. I wanted to highlight the idiocy of the whole thing
Posted by: JFM || 02/15/2010 10:06 Comments || Top||

#11  It's a venereal transmission of power, like an STD.

I suppose we ought to be grateful it isn't one of his spawn, instead, in a perverse display of primogeniture.
Posted by: Mitch H. || 02/15/2010 10:35 Comments || Top||

#12  Mistresses only do the private part of the job, JFM, not the public bits -- nor even those private bits which involve hosting his colleagues and their wives or being a guest in turn. Those are the skills necessary when one takes over the job of the deceased best beloved.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/15/2010 10:37 Comments || Top||

#13  Hey, Nimble beat me to it.
Posted by: tu3031 || 02/15/2010 11:21 Comments || Top||

#14  Can't find my copy of Shirer's The Collapse of the Third Republic, but IIRC, one of the Govt leaders had a mistress, Helene somebody, who had a lot to say about decisions that led up to France getting screwed by the Germans in 1939.
JFM, can you help me out here?
Posted by: mom || 02/15/2010 12:47 Comments || Top||

#15  That was Hélène des Portes but she was not Paul Reynaud's mistress. Say that it was his future wife (botrh were divorced) and that war first and then her death (just 10 days after the defeat) prevented that marriage.

Anyway it seems that contrarily to legend she didn't meddle in politics. For Paul Reynaud he opposed Munich, had been partisan of forming armored divisions, was against surrendering so it is unlikely that had she beeen a pacifist Mrs des Portes had ever influenced him. But on June 1940 when everything wxas going badly he was meetin g a lot of opposition in his cabinet. He resigned thinking he was the only one able to forma a cabinet and thus would be able to form one to his devotion, ie a belligerent cabinet who would have continued war in North Africa but in a kind of coup the partisans of armistice literally forced their way in the apartments of the President (they had retreated to Bordeaux) and intimidated him into nominating Marshall Petain.
Posted by: JFM || 02/15/2010 16:54 Comments || Top||

#16  The legend about the role of Mrs des Portes was very convenient both for Vichy and for de Gaulle since Paul Reynaud could be seen as an unfortunate paladin of keeping France in the war and in addition it was Reynaud who "made" de Gaulle, first by making from an obscure temporary 2 star general (aka General of Brigade, the lowest general rank in teh French Army) a secretary of state for war and later by sending him in a mission to London (where the armistice caught him). Since De Gaulle wanted to get rid of Reynaud's shade and of any debt towards him he contributed in his Memoires de Guerre to the legend of a Reynaud influenced by a defeatist mistress.
Posted by: JFM || 02/15/2010 17:17 Comments || Top||

#17  Give Joyce Murtha the Seat - Johnstown is a dead Backwater Congressional District anyway === 89K population down to 20K any day now..... Last HU...RAH !
Posted by: Daffy Speger7083 || 02/15/2010 19:01 Comments || Top||

#18  I just don't get the Democrats with their dynastic Congress fetish.
Posted by: crosspatch || 02/15/2010 20:13 Comments || Top||

#19  It goes back to the Democrats' Irish roots. A deep distrust of anyone with money (they must've stolen it) or anyone in authority (they'll steal everything and take care of their cronies at the expense of the little people). Except when it's one of their own - then it's all good.

In the Democrat party, everyone's Irish.
Posted by: Pappy || 02/15/2010 21:44 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2010-02-15
  Two al-Qaeda members arrested after clash with Mauritanian security services
Sun 2010-02-14
  Taliban leaders flee as marines hit stronghold
Sat 2010-02-13
  8 confirmed dead, 33 injured in blast at Pune bakery
Fri 2010-02-12
  Ahmadinejad hails nuke Iran on Revolution Day
Thu 2010-02-11
  US Troops Sealing Off Marjah Escape Routes
Wed 2010-02-10
  Largest Military Offensive In Afghanistan Begins
Tue 2010-02-09
  Pak Talibs confirm Hakimullah Mahsud titzup
Mon 2010-02-08
  Afghan locals flee ahead of Helmand offensive
Sun 2010-02-07
  Jamaat-ud-Dawaa vows to take Hyderabad by force
Sat 2010-02-06
  Jamaat-ud-Dawaa vows to take Kashmir by force
Fri 2010-02-05
   Danish forces free ship captured by pirates
Thu 2010-02-04
  US To Send 18,000 More Troops to Afghanistan By Spring
Wed 2010-02-03
  Aafia Siddiqui Guilty
Tue 2010-02-02
  Philippines offers MILF autonomy
Mon 2010-02-01
  Abaya Clad Boomerette Murders 40+ in Baghdad


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