Tuesday, March 19, AD 2024 4:33am

Political Miscellania 10\20\10

A roundup of political news less than two weeks from the midterm elections.

1.  Kentucky Fried Political Suicide-Jack Conway decided to lose the Kentucky Senate Race with a bang not a whimper.  His video resurrects a college prank pulled by Rand Paul almost three decades ago and attempts to use it to brand Paul an apostate from Christianity.  I have seen lots of ludicrous attack ads over the years but this one takes the case.  And the woman who was tied up in the prank?  Here is her take:

The woman — who was made available to me for an interview by GQ reporter Jason Zengerle in response to the Paul campaign’s denunciations of his article — said she didn’t mean to imply that she was kidnapped “in a legal sense.”

“The whole thing has been blown out of proportion,” she told me. “They didn’t force me, they didn’t make me. They were creating this drama: `We’re messing with you.'”

The woman said that much of the subsequent coverage of her allegations missed a key nuance: As a participant in a college ritual, where lines between acquiescence and victimization are often blurry, she was largely playing along with the notion that she was being forced to follow Paul’s orders.

“I went along because they were my friends,” she said. “There was an implicit degree of cooperation in the whole thing. I felt like I was being hazed.”

By all accounts the ad is backfiring big time on Conway and will probably ensure a double digit Paul victory.  Most voters understand that college students are young and often immature, at least I was,  and can act in fairly foolish ways at times as a result.  Besides, attempting to turn this into an attack on Paul’s religious faith is misplaced.  I am as confident as I can be that when Paul was tying up the coed the last thing on his mind was religion.

2.  Ohio Fried Political Suicide-Steve Driehaus is the Democrat Congressman for Ohio 1.  He doesn’t want you to see the ad above.  He is desperate because he trails his opponent Steve Chabot by double digits according to a recent poll.  He is one of the incumbent Democrat Congressmen who have been cast adrift by the Democrat party because their re-election races appear hopeless.  He is also one of the “pro-life” Democrat Congressman who voted for ObamaCare.    The Susan B. Anthony List paid for a billboard to remind the constituents of Driehaus that ObamaCare allows for public funding of abortions.  Driehaus complained to the Ohio Election Commission, claiming that the ad is misleading.  A hearing is scheduled for the end of October.  The attorneys for Driehaus strong armed the owner of the billboard not to allow the ad until the Commission has issued a ruling.  The President of the Susan B. Anthony List Marjorie Dannenfelser has stated in regard to Driehaus and his lack of familiarity with the first amendment:

The Ohio Elections Commission has allowed Steve Driehaus to achieve his strategic objective of preventing constituents from learning the truth about his vote in favor of taxpayer funding of abortion in the health care reform bill. We are disappointed and surprised that the complaint was not immediately dismissed. The fact that the health care reform bill allows for taxpayer funding of abortion has been agreed upon by every major pro-life group in the country, including National Right to Life, Americans United for Life, Focus on the Family, and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. The larger problem here is a public official’s attempt to use a criminal statue to silence legitimate debate on his record. The proper place for public policy debate is in the public square, not in an Elections Commission or criminal court. The SBA List will see this process through to the end and vigorously defend our position that the health care reform bill, supported by Steve Driehaus, allows for taxpayer funding of abortion. Moreover, we will use every vehicle possible within our First Amendment rights to communicate this message to the people of Congressman Steve Driehaus’ district between now and the hearing.

Of course by attempting to suppress the billboard, Driehaus has ensured that it has been seen by far more people over the internet and in newspaper and television stories than would have ever seen the billboard.  Brilliant.  Desperate and stupid is a poor combination in politics.

 

3.  This is C-Span and not Divorce Court-Todd Seavey, a libertarian, decided that a C-Span panel was an excellent time to go after Helen Rittelmeyer, a Catholic Conservative, who had broken up with him after a romantic relationship.  Rittelmeyer handled herself with aplomb under the onslaught  and Seavey behaved like a Triple A Grade Jerk. 

Todd Seavey blindsided everyone, especially ex-girlfriend Helen Rittelmeyer, when he ripped into her during a panel discussion on C-SPAN2. But no surprise, really: The blogger has been living out loud — the good, the bad, the breakups — for years.

The 40-something libertarian posted a super-exacting personal ad on his blog in 2007 (“Is your IQ, if it has been tested, significantly above average?”) A year later, he announced to readers that Rittelmeyer was his new girlfriend: “Obscenely young, wise-beyond-her-years, conservative, blogging, Catholic, New Wave-loving, monster-movie-viewing, Southern-extracted, Yale-educated, technically-libertarian person.” They bickered, broke up and reconciled — all chronicled on his blog. (The postings have disappeared from his site, but live forever via Google cache.) The two finally called it quits about a month ago.

National Review Online editor Jonah Goldberg invited Seavey and Rittelmeyer to speak on the panel because they both contributed essays to “Proud to Be Right,” his new book on young conservatives. Goldberg knew the couple had recently split, but believed they were still friendly — until Seavey unleashed on his ex about 40 minutes into the taping.

 Ah, politics, bedfellows, and I’ll let you fill in the rest. 

4.  All of our firetrucks are out and the firestation is on fire!-In every election each party has a few seats held by incumbents in Congress that are in trouble.  Usually the parties rush substantial resources to those seats and frequently save them.  That is one reason why Congress usually has a 90% re-election rate in the House.  The Democrats this year are facing an unprecedented problem with 75-100 of their seats in the House in tight races.

In the congressional district that’s home to the Kennedy family compound, a Kennedy public skating rink and a Kennedy museum, the heart of liberalism is beating uneasily.

Republican Jeff Perry is making a serious bid to take over a seat held by Democrats for nearly 40 years — and it’s just one of nearly 100 seats across the country that now appear under at least some threat of slipping away from the majority party and giving control of the U.S. House to the GOP.

At least 75 House seats — the vast majority held by Democrats — are at serious risk of changing hands, and roughly 25 more where Democrats were assumed to have the upper hand have tightened in recent weeks, raising the possibility that some could flip to the Republicans as well.

Fire brigades are only useful up to a point.  Too many fires and the ability to respond is overwhelmed, and that is precisely what is happening to the Democrats this election cycle.

5.  Electoral Triage-  As a result of the number of their House seats being challenged, the Democrats nationally are pulling out of the races of 12 incumbents where they consider the races to be hopeless:

The party is abandoning 12 House races in the upcoming November midterm elections and placing their chips on candidates they feel have a better shot at winning, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

While hedging bets is normal in the final weeks leading up to the election, Democrats are nervous about the Republicans’ widening influence, especially in traditionally safe states like Massachusetts.

“The field is essentially expanding by the day,” said Ken Spain, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee said.

An NPR poll released on Friday indicates that the Democrats could be in trouble. The survey revealed that in 58 Democrat-held “battleground districts”, 47% said they’d vote for a Republican for Congress, while just 44% said they’d vote for a Democrat.

When any political party begins abandoning races on this scale, it is a clear sign of coming electoral defeat.

6.  The Polls-The polls are basically unchanged from last week.  On the Real Clear Politics average of generic ballot Congressional polls, the Republicans enjoy a 6.9% lead.  Normally there is tightening at the end in polls in most elections, but I have yet to see it in this one.

7.  Small Donors Back Tea Party-  Tea Party backed GOP Senate candidates are awash in donations from small donors:

An analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics shows that some of the highest-profile Tea Party-supported candidates have collected significant sums of money from individuals contributing $200 or less, the Federal Election Commission’s threshold for itemized disclosure in campaign finance reports. These donors rarely account for more than 20 percent of a Senate candidate’s total fund-raising sums.

Sharron Angle, who emerged after a contentious primary as the Republican nominee against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), has raised more than $2.05 million through June 30 from individuals giving $200 or less. At that time — the date of most recent campaign finance reports — these funds accounted for 58 percent of her war chest.

In Kentucky, Rand Paul, son of failed 2008 Republican presidential candidate and 11-term Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), reported $1.6 million in contributions from small donors as of June 30, the date of his most recent campaign finance reports. This represents about 46 percent of his overall total. Paul bested Republican Secretary of State Trey Grayson, the handpicked candidate of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), in a May primary.

Former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio has raised a staggering $4.6 million from individuals giving $200 or less — or about 36 percent of his war chest — as of Aug. 4, the date of his most recent campaign finance filings. Support from these donors helped Rubio gain momentum and push Gov. Charlie Crist out of the Republican U.S. Senate primary.  Now, Crist continues to run for the seat as an independent, and Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-Fla.) is running as the choice of the Democratic Party.

Cash is always welcome in politics, but even more important is the sign of enthusiasm.  A lot of people of modest resources sending money to a candidate is almost always a sign of public enthusiasm for a candidate, or a group of candidates, and is another sign that this is an anti-Democrat wave election.

8.  The VFW endorsed who!?!-The Veterans of Foreign Wars, VFW, was founded by veterans returning from the Spanish American War, who wished to distinguish themselves from the veteran groups set up by Union and Confederate veterans.  Along with the American Legion, set up by veterans after World War I, the VFW has remained one of the two largest veterans’ groups.  Most veterans tend to be politically conservative, and therefore VFW members around the nation reacted with fury when they learned that a political action committee of the VFW had endorsed many left-wing Democrats around the nation, including the odious Senator Barbara Boxer.  The VFW has now dissolved the political action committee.

9.  Live blogging election night- I will be live-blogging the election here at TAC on election night on November 2 beginning at 6:00 PM Central Standard Time.  I hope commenters, contributors and readers will stop by to share observations, information, humor and insights on what should be a historic election.

Update:  I am pleased to say that the thread to this post has entered the TAC Hall of Fame.  The official TAC Hall of Fame cockatiel has sung the fanfare, and the thread will be preserved for posterity.

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Jay Anderson
Wednesday, October 20, AD 2010 6:46am

I’m guessing the Seavey-Rittelmeyer relationship didn’t last because it’s awfully difficult to carry on an adult relationship with a 40-year-old guy who still lives in his mother’s basement.

As I’ve noted on other occasions, libertarianism is an ideology for the unserious and the childless. Most serious people “graduate” from libertarianism roughly about the same time they graduate from college.

Henry Karlson
Henry Karlson
Wednesday, October 20, AD 2010 7:10am

“I’m guessing the Seavey-Rittelmeyer relationship didn’t last because it’s awfully difficult to carry on an adult relationship with a 40-year-old guy who still lives in his mother’s basement.”

Such family values! Such respect for the traditional family!

T. Shaw
T. Shaw
Wednesday, October 20, AD 2010 7:41am

Among desperate (for re-election) statesmen truth, facts, realities, history are weapons. And they are putty in their hands. They use them to assassinate the opposition, or to construct a fabrication, to win at all costs and do good as they see it. And whatever they need to distort or omit is justified by their purity of intentions – and they always have the purest of intentions!

From ‘Epitaphs of the War; 1914 – 1918’; R. Kipling

A DEAD STATESMAN
I could not dig: I dared not rob:
Therefore I lied to please the mob.
Now all my lies are proved untrue
And I must face the men I slew.
What tale shall serve me here among
Mine angry and defrauded young?

2. There is no such animal as a pro-life democrat.

Blackadder
Wednesday, October 20, AD 2010 7:42am

Thankfully not all libertarians are like Mr. Seavey. After listening to the C-SPAN panel, I caught this episode of Blogginheads (cause there’s not a lot to do in my Mom’s basement) with socially conservative libertarian Tim Carney. Here is a relevant excerpt.

JohnH
JohnH
Wednesday, October 20, AD 2010 9:59am

There is no such animal as a pro-life democrat.

I am related to and friends with many of these “animals”, many of whom are deeply involved in pro-life work as well as political issues (such as assisting the Prop 8 campaign in California.) So, yes, they do exist.

c matt
c matt
Wednesday, October 20, AD 2010 11:19am

There are pro-life Democrats. What are rare to the point of extinction are Pro-Life Democrat politicians, at least at the national level.

MJAndrew
MJAndrew
Wednesday, October 20, AD 2010 4:06pm

According to this, Conway has cut Paul’s lead in half since the “Aqua Buddha” ad started running. While I think the ad is preposterous and infantile, it doesn’t seem that was political suicide. In fact, in may end up being political homicide.

MJAndrew
MJAndrew
Wednesday, October 20, AD 2010 5:10pm

As a former resident of California, I am very interested in how the Boxer/Fiorina race plays out. I would like to see Boxer ousted (and everyone can tell Deb that I am biased in this case!).

Henry Karlson
Henry Karlson
Thursday, October 21, AD 2010 2:44am

Donald

Once again, you mock the traditional family.

Henry Karlson
Henry Karlson
Thursday, October 21, AD 2010 5:27am

Donald

You seem to ignore traditional family values. You mock them.

DarwinCatholic
Thursday, October 21, AD 2010 7:34am

Once again, you mock the traditional family.

To my knowledge, it is quite traditional to look askance at a grown (indeed, middle-aged) man who despite no disability lives off his parents rather than being a support to them. Indeed, this is all the more the case among those who have maintained that traditional understanding that just as it is the duty of parents to be a support to their children in their youth, it is the duty of children to be a support to parents in their old age.

Living with one’s relatives as an active support is certainly not to be mocked, but having a hobby rather than a job at age forty is — except among the idle rich, who can be mocked for that instead.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Thursday, October 21, AD 2010 8:21am

having a hobby rather than a job at age forty is — except among the idle rich, who can be mocked for that instead.

I think the video identifies Seavey with the American Council on Science and Health, an advocacy group. One might raise the possibility that his current living situation is intended to be temporary and derived from a recent dismissal. (From looking at him I would guess his age is closer to fifty than forty, but perhaps my vanity requires that).

Blackadder
Thursday, October 21, AD 2010 8:49am

Art,

I don’t think Seavey actually lives in his Mom’s basement. That’s just a stereotype about libertarians in general.

Henry Karlson
Henry Karlson
Thursday, October 21, AD 2010 8:50am

DarwinCatholic

What was mocked is that he lived at home with his mother. Living in the same home as one’s parents is quite traditional — many families have been known to live together in a multi-generational home until modern times, where the family has been deconstructed. Again, it is rather peculiar for people who claim to be “pro-family” mock people who are with their family (in whatever capacity).

Morning's Minion
Thursday, October 21, AD 2010 9:19am

Two points.

First, I don’t care about Paul’s infantile behavior. I do care that he is an acolyte of Ayn Rand, which is msot certainly not compatible with Christianity.

Second, Donald’s liberalism comes through again. Living with one’s parents is a sign of virtue, a sign of real family values, not the atomistic nuclear family (a recent invention of the individualistic west) that are held to such esteem around here.

John Henry
Thursday, October 21, AD 2010 9:25am

What was mocked is that he lived at home with his mother.

Not “with his mother.” In his mother’s basement. It’s not mocking the family or inter-generational living arrangements to point out that middle-aged men should generally be financially self-sufficient (and ‘living in his mother’s basement’ in our culture is short-hand for ‘still financially supported by his parents’). This ideal of course can be modified for unfortunate economic circumstances or short transition periods (for example, I moved back in with my parents for about six weeks – with a wife and child, no less – several years ago. And that’s when I started blogging…(j/k) ). In any case, the ideal of middle-aged financial independence from one’s parents is hardly an attack on the family.

Paul Zummo
Admin
Thursday, October 21, AD 2010 9:26am

Really guys? An otherwise self-reliant 40-year old man living with his parents – not because he’s assisting them or because has some traditional concept of the nuclear family – but because he’s incapable of making it on his own, is a “sign of virtue?”

There is a reason there’s no parody site of Vox-Nova. It provides the self-parody in spades.

Henry Karlson
Henry Karlson
Thursday, October 21, AD 2010 9:31am

And here you see, folks, the promotion of individualism instead of interdependence, how everyone must make it on their own, instead of as families. This is an incredible assault on traditional family values.

Paul Zummo
Admin
Thursday, October 21, AD 2010 9:40am

I will note that, to echo what John Henry said, sometimes stuff happens and people are forced into temporary living arrangements due to short-term economic setbacks. I’m sure Seavey wasn’t thrilled to have move back home (assuming he had to move back and hasn’t been there all along). But to act like he’s a paragon example of the traditional family for so doing is a bit farcical.

John Henry
Thursday, October 21, AD 2010 9:50am

BA wrote: I don’t think Seavey actually lives in his Mom’s basement. That’s just a stereotype about libertarians in general.

I think the stereotype is as amusing as the next guy, but Jay was joking, right? Seavey obviously has some emotional maturity issues – the clip was painfully awkward – but I also assume he doesn’t actually live in his mom’s basement (uh, not that there’s anything wrong with that per se, for our more sensitive readers).

Paul Zummo
Admin
Thursday, October 21, AD 2010 10:06am

I think the stereotype is as amusing as the next guy, but Jay was joking, right?

Wow, so we’ve basically been debating something which isn’t an actual fact. Yikes.

Paul Zummo
Admin
Thursday, October 21, AD 2010 10:08am

Yeah, I think perhaps this is what happens when we take things a bit too literally. Jay, this is all your fault. 🙂

John Henry
Thursday, October 21, AD 2010 10:10am

Well, I think Jay made a joke. Then Henry took the joke seriously, and suggested it was an attack on the traditional family and all that is right in the world. Then we’ve basically been responding to Henry by saying that criticizing someone for living in their mother’s basement =/ criticizing the family. As usual, we haven’t really gotten anywhere, but, yeah, we’ve been debating whether Henry’s criticism of Jay’s joke was valid.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Thursday, October 21, AD 2010 10:22am

In regard to a 40 year old man of normal intellect and health living in his Mommy’s basement, if it is liberal to consider that to be a disgrace, then just call me bleeding hemophiliac heart Don!

There are bachelors in this world. It is a truncated life, but not a dishonorable one. It is also correllated with, but not identified with, antecedent personal deficiencies.

There are also problems in this world in the realm of eldercare, and when you do not have a family and your siblings do, the hands on tasks are yours, like it or lump it. The most practical solution may involve living in a piece of real estate on which the mortgage has been paid off because the house was purchased in 1970.

I have not a clue as to what Todd Seavey’s domestic situation actually is and there came a point in that graceless exercise of his where I could not watch anymore. That having been said, it does not require much imagination to conceive of circumstances where a middle-aged man might be living with his mother because it was necessary for them both. I have known men who had to live that life.

jonathanjones02
jonathanjones02
Thursday, October 21, AD 2010 10:25am

Yikes.

Anyway, the nuclear family is atomistic? Compared to the old (sadly passed) Italian model maybe it is (and I do want grandparents and cousins around my kids as much as possible), but it is not inherently atomistic. In fact, the nuclear family is a reflection of the Trinity itself, as many become one in spirit and flesh. The nuclear family is the very foundation of a good society.

The concept of one man, one woman, and children for life is our greatest shared heritage, and a source of spiritual health, wealth, and cultural continuity.

This “Western invention” deserves to be held in high esteem, and it is not opposed at all to close relationships with other family members.

Jay Anderson
Thursday, October 21, AD 2010 10:27am

Yes, it was joke. LOL!

I was dogging the guy on both his obvious emotional immaturity and on his libertarianism. As BA points out, libertarians are often stereotyped as guys living in their mom’s basement smoking pot and reading porn.

But reading the comments in response has been a riot. LOL! Literally, LMAO! Please keep it up.

RL
RL
Thursday, October 21, AD 2010 12:43pm

Amazing. Simply amazing. Beyond words.

Art Deco
Art Deco
Thursday, October 21, AD 2010 12:53pm

And here you see, folks, the promotion of individualism instead of interdependence, how everyone must make it on their own, instead of as families. This is an incredible assault on traditional family values.

Whether you live in a stem family or not or whether your cousins are around the corner or on the other side of the continent, generally it is the middle-aged men in a nuclear, stem, or extended family who bear the brunt of doing the earning, not septuagenarian women.

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