A little more background on Sharron Angle …
For at least six years in the 1990s before she held statewide elective office, Angle was a member of the little-known Independent American Party, a right-wing party that combines elements of Ron Paul’s doctrinaire libertarianism — pro-gun, anti-tax, anti-bureaucracy, pro-states’ rights — with Christian social conservatism and fear of the “North American Union” and other forms of “global government.” The small party attracted considerable controversy in 1994 when it took out a newspaper ad titled “Consequences of Sodomy: Ruin of a Nation,” which suggested HIV could spread through the water.
Jon Stewart, on Alvin Greene: Most senators don’t sexually harass college girls until they’re elected. Watch.
According to TPM Reader JH, the Vitter breakthrough is more significant than even I understood …
I think your analysis on David Vitter is spot on but you dont realize how transformation this is.
That David Vitter maintains a 20 point lead over Charlie Melancon is a significant moment in our nation’s politics. Just as only Nixon could have gone to China and only Clinton could have reformed welfare, so too can only a family-values, conservative break down that barrier preventing politicians from openly cavorting with prostitutes.
My sense has been that Rep. Mark Kirk’s (R) exaggerations of his military service have been right on the borderline of real significance. But this sounds like a bigger deal. The Pentagon has twice had to caution him about not politicking when he’s on active duty. And before they let him go to Afghanistan they made him sign a statement acknowledging that he knew he had to avoid all political activity when he was there.
I think it’s fair to say that it’s probably hard for a sitting member of Congress to completely turn off the politics dial. But Kirk’s made his continued Navy Reserve service a centerpiece of his campaign. So it doesn’t seem too much to ask.
Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC) says Republicans were behind the three ‘mystery’ candidates down in South Carolina last week — including uber-mystery candidate Alvin Greene. And in at least one of those cases he seems to be right.
So how exactly did Preston Grisham, a longtime campaign operative for Rep. Joe “You Lie!” Wilson (R-SC), come to work for the guy running against Clyburn in his Democratic primary? Christina Bellantoni got him on the phone to hear his story. “It wasn’t my idea to work for him as any way to raise mischief, it was just to help a level-headed, good guy,” Grisham tells TPM.
There’s yet more news today that Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) is still holding big double digit leads over Democratic challenger Charles Melancon (D-LA). He’s got a 20 point lead over the perfectly respectable and presumably faithful Melancon. On the one hand, that’s bad news for the Democrats. To put it mildly. But it’s also a chilling development for congressional chastity and fidelity in general. Basically, if Vitter pays no price for frequenting prostitutes in multiple jurisdictions — not even a close race, let alone a defeat — you have to imagine that other senators will be stepping out in a big way, maybe even in public with various prostitutes and escorts.
I don’t who he is. But this guy on Twitter asks a good semi-rhetorical question about the man of the hour — DIY bin Laden Hunter Gary Brooks Faulkner. “How long before this wanna be inglourious basterd is headlining Tea Parties?”
West Virginia state Rep. Mike Oliverio ran a Tea Party backed insurgent primary campaign against veteran Rep. and close Pelosi ally Allan Mollohan and won. He wouldn’t even promise that he’d vote for Pelosi for Speaker. But now everyone’s friends again and the DCCC is help fund his campaign.
A new battleground poll, commissioned by NPR and run by Glen Bolger and Stan Greenberg, paints a really dire picture for Democrats going into November. It’s not a conventional poll. It’s not national. They polled in 70 districts considered most likely to boot incumbents this fall, 60 of which are currently held by Democrats. (Many of these are seats where Dems either held on or picked up seats while John McCain was winning the district.) Read More
A 52 year-old American construction worker has been detained in northern Pakistan armed with a pistol and a 40-inch sword while allegedly trying to hunt down and kill Osama bin Laden.