2007

I’m Only a Little Bit Behind

Rudy offers up the best case for him–he’ll lose by less:

As evidence for the claim that he is the Democrats’ “worst nightmare,” the Giuliani campaign points to calculations by Real Clear Politics showing that in head-to-head matchups in national polls, Hillary Clinton is an average of four points ahead of Giuliani but nine points ahead of Fred Thompson and 11.7 points ahead of Mitt Romney.

A typical supporter makes it all so clear:

Giuliani’s successes as mayor of New York City, especially his performance immediately after the World Trade Center bombings in 2001, was a popular subject at the gathering.

“It was a toilet and now it’s not,” said Rita Thompson, who on this year’s 9/11 protested a Muslim parade in Manhattan. “How could (Michael) Bloomberg let that go on?” she wondered of the current mayor. “You can bet Giuliani wouldn’t have.”

Here’s a description of the parade:

Hundreds of Muslims chanted and waved flags from around the globe as they marched Sunday in the 22nd annual American Muslim Day Parade. About 20 protesters shouted anti-Muslim slogans from behind police barricades along Manhattan’s Madison Avenue and sought to link the marchers to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. A member of the parade organizing committee, Dr. Hafiz Ur Rehman, a pediatrician from Bay Shore, said the marchers condemned the 2001 attacks.

“We are law-abiding citizens, and we want the people of New York to know that Muslims are part and parcel of the landscape,” he said. “The motto of this parade is that Islam holds human dignity high. And that is what we want to demonstrate.”

The parade was accompanied by a strong police presence. Before setting off, marchers laid down blue plastic ground coverings and prayed, the women behind the men.

Facing east, they alternately stood, knelt and touched foreheads to the ground. Marching behind banners representing Afghan, Bangladeshi and Indonesian community groups, they chanted more Muslim prayers along the 16-block parade route.

Police kept the marchers separate from the protesters, who shouted “God bless America” and “No more 9/11s!”

Protest leader Joe Kaufman, of Coral Springs, Fla., said parade organizers included groups that support Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that the U.S. government considers a terrorist organization. “We believe that this parade is a threat to New York City and a danger to national security,” he said.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg did not attend the parade, but a statement of support from him was read from a podium.

Parade-goer Khalilah Shabazz, of Newark, N.J., said the event was “beautiful.” “We’re all Muslims,” she said. “We’re all one big family. Just loving each other. Just pure love.”

How could Bloomberg allow it? Because they are Americans.

$30 By September 30

It’s that time–time to give to the candidates who need your help.  For the primaries I’ll be concentrating on Mark Pera here at ArchPundit, though I also have some other picks on the fundraising page.  Click below to go to my Illinois page for 2008 and donate to Mark Pera. It’s not a lot, but it is when combined together.

We are in a crucial race in IL-03. I want to chart a new direction for this district, to bring progressive, responsive Democratic leadership to this Congressional seat. The current Congressman – Dan Lipinski – is completely out of touch with voters and we can’t allow him to serve another term.

$30 by Sept. 30

I’m laying down a challenge which I know we can meet. Our goal is to raise more than $20,000 on ActBlue in the 13 days before September 30th.

To get there, all we need is a $30 donation from 50 people each of the next 13 days. That breaks down to about $1,500 per day.

To meet this goal, we’re officially starting a new fundraising campaign today:

Let me tell you why we’re doing this. Our campaign has picked up in recent weeks and its gaining momentum every day, but an important mile marker is coming up quickly for us.

On September 30th we file an updated, quarterly Campaign Finance Report with the Federal Election Commission.

That extra $20,000 will demonstrate that we have the support we need to win on February 5th. This money will be used specifically to help broadcast our message on cable TV – something which will be essential if we are to spread the word about our campaign.
This upcoming reporting deadline provides us with a tremendous opportunity to say, “It’s Time for A Change,” and provides you with an opportunity to make an investment in this campaign to realize change.

Your commitment is something I take seriously because I value hard work. Everything my wife Leslie and I have accomplished in our careers was earned through dedication and sacrifice.

This campaign is going to be a collaborative effort on the part of many people. We can’t accomplish our goal without everyone getting together to commit – to dedicate time and money – to our campaign.

Sincerely,


Mark

Mark Pera for Congress
(708) 579-2834
mark@Pera08.com

Weller, Still Not Answering Questions

I guess it makes sense, the announced opposition is underwhelming.

Right now there appears to not be a serious candidate who can take on Weller, but letting these issues just swim around in the press in a very, very bad Republican year isn’t wise.

From the Trib article:

Instead, Weller issued an e-mail statement through a spokesman: “Mrs. Weller is often asked to play a role in improving rural health care and fighting poverty in her native country. Friends encouraged her to set up this type of organization for this purpose. The congressman thought it was a good idea too.”

So thoughtful of her after attempting to return her father to power after he did the following to the country’s rural people:


The former dictator, who governed Guatemala from March 1982 to August 1983, is facing legal action in Guatemala for human rights crimes committed during his time in office, considered the bloodiest period of the 1960-1996 armed conflict that left more than 200,000 — mainly rural indigenous people — dead, including 50,000 victims of forced disappearance.

She didn’t just try to return him to power, her father was on the ballot with her again as a candidate for the National Assembly and won. She will serve her next term with her father because as a member of the Guatemalan Congress, he has immunity from civil and criminal accountability for his crimes. And Jerry Weller was down in Guatemala helping.

Isn’t the fact that a Member of the US Congress was working to gain a legislative seat for a genocidal dictator enough to be a scandal? Yeah, I know…

St. Louis DKos Meet-up Tuesday September 18th

A group of Missourians who attended Yearlykos 2007 last month has organized a follow-up meeting in St. Louis on Tuesday, September 18th. If you are 1) a progressive Democrat and 2) a blogger, commenter, lurker, candidate for office, and/or elected official, you are welcome to attend!The details:

Date: Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Place: The Royale at 3132 S. Kingshighway
Time: 6:30 pm until ???

About the location: The Royale is a nice, relaxing bar where you can also get a good, decently priced meal if you can’t grab some food beforehand. It was actually profiled on the Food Network show “Recipe for Success” when it opened. It’s also a hangout for local politicians and activists – Jeff Smith kicked off his state senate campaign there, for example.

If you’re in the St. Louis area, please join us. It will be a good chance to meet fellow progressives face-to-face and have a little fun. See you on the 18th!

Meet Daniel Bliss at the Chicago DKos Meet-up

Chicago Kossacks, on Thursday, September 20th, we are having a Chicago DK Meetup at the Blue Agave.  The guest of honor is fellow Kossack and candidate for the Illinois State House District 17, Daniel Biss!!  Daniel is a true people-powered candidate, having reached as high as #2 on the Actblue fundraising list, behind only John Edwards for a week.  His campaign kick-off rally several weeks back was attended by over 150 people!  Standing room only!

As alivingston’s diary says, the details on the event are as follows:

Date:  Thursday, September 20
Time:  8:00 pm
Place:  Blue Agave, raised level (this has been reserved)
Address:  just off intersection of State and Maple.
(Not to complicate, but two addresses are given since it’s an intersection)
1 West Maple Street, Chicago IL, 60610
1050 N. State Street, Chicago IL, 60610
Blue Agave phone: 312.335.8900

I should add that this is just a couple of blocks east of the clark and division Red Line stop.

Daniel’s a great candidate, and if you haven’t met him, you should come on out.

If you’ve never been to a DKos Meetup, you definitely should come out.  Your fellow Kossacks are great people.

If you’ve never volunteered for a campaign, this is your chance!

I’d also like to add that we are working on lining up candidates for more meetups over the next couple of weeks.  I don’t want to name names, as nothing is confirmed yet, but if we get them all, it’ll make for some great meetups!

Alivingston also said (in the comments) that we have confirmed a candidate for October 4!  Mark Pera will be there!

There is NO cost to attend, and it’s a cash bar if you want anything to eat or drink.

Oh My, Some Folks Do Not Belong On Television

Dan Lipinski being one of them:

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With leadership like that, Iraq should be over in….a few dozen years.

Substantively, the entire deal is a joke. Kirk holds up the magical power point that tells us, well, nothing:

The PowerPoint is designed to give the impression of significant movement to reduce forces, while not doing that. The only pullout dated on the graph is the pullout for next summer which has to happen since we don’t have the troops. The steady decline of troops and the time axis being equally spread out is designed to distort the viewer’s perception of what is going on implying that the further draw down will occur roughly at the same pace while close examination shows there is no time scale on the axis.

If you want to end this war, you have to stop the funding of the war. These two are pushing a plan that only requires the current surge to end and calling it the Iraq Study Group plan that called for a draw down of troops before the surge. Returning to that level of troops does not implement the Iraq Study Group, it ignores it.

This is a blank check and a profile in cowardice. And some bizarre TV.

Chicago Tonight Apparently Thinks It Needs to Equate 9-11 with Iraq

Dandy, your liberal media at work:
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Brackett mentions that there is a controversy over whether 9-11 and Iraq are related. There is no controversy. They are not. None of the claims regarding 9-11 and Iraq have any supporting evidence. But thanks for playing.

The Point I’ve Been Making about Planned Parenthood in Aurora

From the previous post:

On legal grounds, Aurora’s implied claim that it was somehow misled are even less persuasive, PP/CA argues. It cites a 2001 federal case in New Hampshire that parallels the Aurora situation, in which the court issued an injunction blocking the city of Manchester, N.H. from preventing the opening of a Planned Parenthood clinic after public criticism.

In that case, the court noted: “If the issuing authority was ‘misled’ as to the identity of the prospective tenant who would be providing medical services at the site, that identity would have been irrelevant to any impartial decision … {T]hat the proposed tenant proposed to engage in constitutionally protected activities in providing medical services – such as providing abortion and contraception counseling and services – would have been equally irrelevant.”

The identity of the tenant is irrelevant to zoning. There are some minor exceptions related to slumlords and repeat violators, but those are not applicable in this case. Aurora cannot legally do anything about the new clinic as the property is zoned for that kind of use. In fact, if they put too much of a burden on Planned Parenthood during the review, they could be liable.