Sinbad is Tested and Ready
ArchPundit
Really, go read it from him
2008
Ouch
Rumor is Eliot Spitzer is stepping down for involvement in a prostitution ring. While the details need to emerge, that is the only reasonable thing to do if he was prosecuting such operations while engaging in the behavior.
Update: Weird statement. Don’t see how he doesn’t resign. And he should.
Oberweis’ Extreme Immigration Record
What’s most interesting about the Illinois-14 race is that hardcore immigration opponents lost again and with one of their standout candidates.
In 2002, Oberweis’ criticism of Bush’s immigration stance essentially made him persona non-grata to the national party and that relationship didn’t improve with the 2004 race. The difference this year was that Hastert shepherded him through the national party because of the bad blood between Hastert and Lauzen.
Oberweis staked out the hardcore send back 12 million people immediately and no exceptions kind of policy and not only embraced the position, but embraced fairly radical anti-immigrant activist organizations.
Most amazing is that John McCain, long a reasonable voice on the immigration debate embraced Oberweis as McCain’s flip flop to the dark side of several issues continues.
Oberweis is a Board of Director for NumbersUSA which is one of the leading right wing anti-immigration groups.
He’s spoken at Illinois Minutemen meetings such as this one on May 6, 2006 mntmn017.wav
And despite railing on the businesses using undocumented workers, Oberweis Dairy never wondered why the company cleaning for them could afford to do the work they were doing. Turns out the contractor were paying below minimum wage for undocumented workers.
In his hubris, he made one of the funniest political commercials ever, which was also filled with falsehoods:
[kml_flashembed movie="http://youtube.com/v/Nst-aXvdrR4" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
Now, his son decided to sue the DCCC for pointing out the story about hiring a contractor that paid undocumented workers under the minimum wage:
[kml_flashembed movie="http://youtube.com/v/r08qdqN_fbk" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
Daily Dolt: WATB Bill Pascoe
The tactics used against Oberweiss, a successful investment banker and dairyman who has lost two primary bids for U.S. Senator and one for governor, were “outrageous,” according to Oberweiss campaign spokesman and strategist Bill Pascoe. Recalling his past as campaign manager for Republican Bret Schundler for governor of New Jersey and in earlier Illinois campaigns, Pascoe told me today: “Even for a guy who took his hits in the politics of New Jersey and Chicago, this was too much.”
He was referring to the leaflets that blanketed the 14th District days before the balloting claiming that Oberweis’ strong stand on border security in past campaigns is directly related to the increase in hate crimes “by 35% nationally.” The brochure by the “Latino Neighbors Against Hate Crimes” also pointed out that according to Justice Department statistics, more than 58% of hate crimes are committed against Latinos.
“For someone to claim that Jim Oberweis’s strong position on securing the border in his past campaigns has contributed to hate crimes is sick,” said Pascoe, whom I spoke to as he headed home from the headquarters of his candidate, “Try doing a search for this ‘Latino Neighbors Against Hate Crimes’ — it doesn’t come up on Google and is not registered with the Federal Election Commission or the state of Illinois. Go figure.”
Yes, it’s an illegal flyer. However, it’s also something that happens in most major Congressional races so the crocodile tears are silly. Especially for a guy who brags about his experience under Lee Atwater in 1988.
Let’s see some of Pascoe’s previous work though to show how much bullshit he’s shovelling:
“John Murtha still doesn’t get it. If he had had his way, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi would still be alive this afternoon, plotting to murder more innocent Americans, Iraqis, Jordanians, and Kurds – and anyone else who got in the way of his
During the gubernatorial primary, Pascoe sometimes showed some Atwaterish aggression. In one news release, he called Schundler’s opponent, former Rep. Bob Franks, a “milquetoast homunculus,” (translation: a “timid dwarf”). Franks is now Schundler’s co-campaign chairman.
Bill Pascoe: early adherent to Truthiness:
First, understand why your opponent has problems with significant elements of his base, and drive wedges where you can, to the maximum extent possible; second, recognize that it is not your campaign’s job to tell the objective truth, it’s your campaign’s job to tell the version of the truth that puts your opponent in the worst light possible (it’s his campaign’s job, after all, to do the same to you); third, don’t get suckered into the trap of only talking about issues the media says are important – instead, choose the issue matrix over which you want to wage war, and stick to it no matter what; and fourth, if need be, if you can’t make a legitimate argument against your opponent on a key issue, use your opponent’s party’s position on the issue as the battleground, and wrap it around his neck. Make him pay for the sins of his party. Guilt by association still works, so don’t be shy in exploiting it.
Additionally, the Oberweis camp was critical of Kane County Republican Chairman Dennis Wiggins for accepting a paid position with Lauzen’s campaign. Oberweis spokesman Bill Pascoe called for Wiggins’ resignation from the Kane Republicans, but Wiggins declined, choosing instead to take a leave of absence until after the primary election.
Pascoe accused Wiggins of “(selling) himself to the highest bidder,” a statement which upset both Lauzen and Wiggins.
Pascoe messed with the one guy no one in Illinois would ever mess with, Abraham Lincoln:
Should Murtha be Hanged?
A recent example is an appearance by Diana Irey, the Republican candidate running against Rep. Murtha, a leading critic of Bush’s war policy. She said at a news conference May 24, at the National Press Club in Washington DC, that Murtha’s comments and actions “are not that of a patriot” but “serve to aid and comfort our enemy.” And as if those words weren’t strong enough, she added:
Diana Irey: Our 16th President once said, and I quote: ‘Congressmen who willfully take action during wartime that damage morale and undermine the military are saboteurs, and should be arrested, exiled or hanged.’
After savoring the applause of her partisan audience, Irey went on to make clear that she wasn’t actually advocating hanging Murtha, saying that “Lincoln’s remedy” was too extreme for him.
A Bogus Quote
But in fact it isn’t “Lincoln’s remedy” at all. The sentence she attributed to Lincoln is the brainchild of J. Michael Waller, a conservative scholar who wrote an article for Insight magazine that appeared Dec. 23, 2003 under the headline, “Democrats Usher in An Age of Treason.” He started his article with the quote, adding, “that’s what President Abraham Lincoln said during the War Between the States.”
The blogosphere has a description for people like Pascoe who cannot take it, but dish it out just fine:
That Bump You Felt the Bus Hit is Oberweis
Republican strategists downplayed the importance of the race, insisting that Oberweis’s past runs for office had badly damaged him in the eyes of voters. Oberweis, who owns a chain of dairies throughout the state, ran unsuccessfully for the Senate in 2002 and 2004, and governor in 2006. His previous primary campaigns were knock down, drag out affairs as was his primary win over state Sen. Chris Lauzen (R) earlier this year — races that left his image among voters seriously tarnished.
The great thing–Oberweis won’t step aside. He’ll push through any criticism and even if RNCC bails on him for the general, he’ll keep up his vanity candidacy.
One More Superdelegate for Obama
FOSTER:
Thanks Obama and lets this zinger go — “For those of you following the election closely, there’s one more pledged superdelagate today.”
A minor personal note
OneMan is a great guy and I’m sorry he was part of the losing team–he’s got a lot of class.
Foster Wins!
Via Rich
| U.S. House – District 14 – Special General | |
| Illinois – 558 of 568 Precincts Reporting – 98% |
| Name | Party | Votes | Vote % | |
 |
Foster , Bill | Dem | 50,451 | 52% |
| Oberweis , Jim | GOP | 45,741 | 48% |
Bill Foster will be a great Congressman, congrats to him and his family who are some of the nicest people I’ve ever met.
On the flip side, it couldn’t happen to a nicer two guys than Jim Oberweis and Bill Pascoe. And we still have to go through this one more time in the fall.
Stay Classy Jim
Why he is so beloved by everyone:
The latest in the bickering between Foster, a physicist with a doctorate from Harvard University, and Oberweis, a millionaire dairy businessman, is video footage showing Oberweis mocking the speech of his rival during a taping of NBC5’s “City Desk” last week. “I’m so nervous,” Oberweis said while pretending to stutter and with Foster seated beside him.
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/RTc_JGAuTqg" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
Damn, Even Illinois Lege Staff Know Better Than This
Who the hell is running the House GOP Caucus in DC?
Lee Daniels?
From: Lillibridge, Matthew
To: [redacted]@mail.house.gov; [redacted]@voinovich.senate.gov; [redacted]@brown.senate.gov; [other names redacted]
Sent: Fri Mar 07 13:04:29 2008
Subject: FW: Phone bankingMatthew J. Lillibridge
Congressman Steve Chabot (OH-01)
129 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Phone: (202) 225-2216
Fax: (202) 225-3012
To sign up for Congressman Chabot’s Newsletter, Click Here http://www.house.gov/…
—–Original Message—–
From: [redacted]
Sent: Friday, March 07, 2008 12:12 PM
To: Lillibridge, Matthew; [other names redacted]
Subject: Phone bankingA last minute plea, if you have interns sitting around today, please send them over to the RNC room B2 to phone bank for Oberweis in IL-14. Staff, etc. will be making calls all day up until 9 tonight. The phone bank will open tommorrow (Election day) at 9am and end at 7pm.
Feel free to forward to friends on the Hill etc.