Super Inside Joke
ArchPundit
The guy in lower right hand pic in Claypool’s latest e-mail looks far too happy for an election day. He might even have gotten some sleep.
March 2006
What Are My Endorsements
Since I didn’t get the lot up here’s the short version
The big three: Shore, Claypool, Sullivan. My reasons have been clear for a couple weeks.
10th CD: Seals–he’s for real and seems to be getting a hell of a reception. Nothing bad about Zane at all though.
Treasurer: Mangieri–not of a fan of the untested rich guys. Yes, Mangieri is more conservative, but it’s a non-ideological position.
Governor: Blagojevich—Eisendrath isn’t a serious candidate. I’m not a huge fan of the Governor, but he’s better than a vanity candidate and he’s starting to show a little bit of discipline. All Kids deserves a vote if nothing else.
6th–start the flames, Duckworth. This is a hard decision, but while I think all three would make a great Member of Congress, Tammy is closer to me ideologically on most issues and runs the most disciplined campaign.
Lindy was a close second, much closer than I would have predicted, but ultimately, he couldn’t convince me he could be mean enough in a general election with Roskam. I’m probably closer to him on parental notification (though I’d still have some opt outs for others close to the pregnant girl in question). The other issue is O’Hare. I strongly respect how Lindy came to his conclusion, but ultimately, I’m on the other side. This is a case where he framed the issue far better than other opponents and other politicians would have been smart to listen to him.
Christine is great, but ultimately more liberal than I am and I’m deeply concerned about the campaign discipline. With the exception of Austin Mayor, one thing to note is that in advocating for Christine, much of the netroots push alienated many more people than those advocates might understand. AM did a good job addressing issues and substantive reasons and didn’t whine. If you want to see a way to advocate for a candidate without alienating others, Austin Mayor did it well.
Good luck to all, I’ll be happy when this is over and I can support whomever wins.
One Thing About Lindy
Most Democrats aren’t familiar with Evangelical language–it’s distinct compared to even many of the, for lack of a better word, establishment churches. I can listen to a Bush speech and pick up about half of the references–one of the vital things evangelicals such as Lindy provide is translation into that frame.
Not surprisingly, I started to pick up on the differences by talking to liberal, some radical, evangelicals in Nicaragua and then noticed the same terms and phrases showing up in Republican language.
He’s very good at that and more than that, he can teach Democrats how to think about many issues in a different frame.
Site Issues
It was down last night when I tried to update–if that occurs today, archpundit.blogspot.com is the back-up, but I doubt I’ll need it.
That said, my apologies to Lindy Scott who I didn’t get any of his interview up. It has taught me a lesson that future interviews will be podcasts with analysis on the blog. It’s just too much for one person to keep up postings and do the transcribing.
Lindy’s interview was great–he’s a different kind of a candidate in a good way. While I expect talking points, he gives thoughtful answers, but easily digestable. Usually academics (speaking as one finishing his training) tend to lose their point, Lindy is very disciplined and a great guy. I hope that if he doesn’t win today, he’ll stay active as his voice is something Democrats desperately need.
Anyway, that means I didn’t get my endorsements done and a bunch of other posts.
Darin on more Sierra Club Endorsements
Mildly amusing comments with even Bill Baar calling out some nuttiness (meant in good humor Bill)
Tonight–IRN Radio
I’ll be doing commentary on the primary on Illinois Radio Network–short bits mostly towards the :45 past the hour. A list of stations is available on the site–it’s kind of cool because I grew up listening to the reports on WJBC. Anyway, I’ll be blogging all night and probably talking back and forth with Eric, Rich and a bunch of others so be sure to keep up here and feel free to drop me a line if you have something interesting.
Open Thread–not 6th CD Related
Tell me what’s going on out there….
(this is stuck at the top so go down for other new material)
Open Thread 6th CD
Have the flame war hear
(down one more for new stuff
It’s a Zorn Day
Zorn addresses the Stroger situation.
It is sad that John Stroger has a serious stroke and having seen my grandparents after similar events, I feel sympathy for them and as a personal matter, it’s tragic.
However, that shouldn’t obscure the fact that John Stroger, by the doctors’ reports, will never return to actively govern Cook County and he won’t be in a position to run for reelection in the general election. Voting for him is voting for the Central Committee choosing a good candidate. Is that something Democrats trust?
Back to the Undisclosed Location
There’s out of touch and then there’s batshit crazy out of touch
SCHIEFFER: Mr. Vice President, all along the government has been very optimistic. You remain optimistic, but I remember when you were saying we’d be greeted as liberators. You played down the insurgency. Ten months ago you said it was in its last throes. Do you believe that these optimistic
statements may be one of the reasons people seem to be more skeptical in this
country about whether we ought to be in Iraq?Vice Pres. CHENEY: No. I think it’s–it has less to do with statements
we’ve made–which I think were basically accurate and reflect reality–then it
does the fact that there’s a constant sort of perception, if you will, that’s
created because what’s newsworthy is the car bomb in Baghdad. It’s not all
the work that went on that day in 15 other provinces in terms of making
progress towards rebuilding Iraq.The facts are pretty straightforward. The Iraqis met every single political
deadline that’s been set for them. They haven’t missed a single one. They
took over in terms of sovereignty 21 months ago. They held national elections
the following January. They wrote a constitution, one of the best
constitutions in that part of the world. They held a referendum on it last
October, and last December had turn out of about 78 percent in terms of the
election. And now we’re putting together a government which they’ll have
formed up here shortly on the security front.
‘ “It is unfortunate that we are in civil war. We are losing each day as an average 50 to 60 people throughout the country, if not more.
“If this is not civil war, then God knows what civil war is.” . . .
Iraq is moving towards the “point of no return”, he said, when the country would fragment.
“It will not only fall apart but sectarianism will spread throughout the region, and even Europe and the US will not be spared the violence that results…,” he said.
Baghdad Bob and Dick Cheney–peas in a pod.
What’s most troubling about this is that as long as Cheney is this delusional there won’t be any effective strategy for Iraq let alone one that might eventually get us out.