Did Governor Walker Get Punked?

Posted on February 23, 2011 by fruitfly

Only a few short years after Sarah Palin got punked by a couple of radio hosts in Montreal, it appears that Governor Walker was next on the list. In 2008, Sarah Palin took a phone call she thought was France’s Prime Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, where she gushed and tried to sound intelligent. Little did she know, she was live on the air in Montreal with radio comedy duo “The Master Avengers”.

More than willing to follow in Palin’s footsteps, Mother Jones is publishing a telephone conversation between a guy identifying himself as right-wing Richie Rich financier “David Koch” who calls Governor Walker in Madison. Even while losing support from other Republican Governors throughout the country, Walker is more than willing to noodle around great ideas on his strategy to break the protests outside of his office. Amid rumors that the Capitol Police in Madison have begun to shut down wi-fi access in the capitol to prevent protesters (and consequently everybody else) access to left-wing websites, Walker brags about laying off as many state employees as quickly as he can.

Other bragging points include:

  • That statehouse GOPers were plotting to hold Democratic senators’ pay until they returned to vote on the controversial union-busting bill.
  • That Walker was looking to nail Dems on ethics violations if they took meals or lodging from union supporters.
  • That he’d take “Koch” up on this offer: “[O]nce you crush these bastards I’ll fly you out to Cali and really show you a good time.”

Radix malorum est cupiditas, 1 Timothy 6:10

Filed under: David, Democrats, GOP, Prank, Punked, Teapots, Walker | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

News Flash! A Democrat found his spine! News Flash!

Posted on January 16, 2009 by fruitfly

scooby_dooRut-roh Scooby! It would appear that Congressman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) has found his spine! In an unprecedented move on behalf of any Democrat, Congressman Conyers decided to write a spiffy little piece in the Washington Post today calling an investigation into the Bush Administration!

I know! I know! It’s incredible, don’t you think!! By the way – that thud you just heard was your jaw hitting the floor.  I heard it all the way over here, too!  It was more like a “thump” than it was a “thud”, don’t you think?

This week, I released “Reining in the Imperial Presidency,” a 486-page report detailing the abuses and excesses of the Bush administration and recommending steps to address them. Arthur Schlesinger Jr. popularized the term “imperial presidency” in the 1970s to describe an executive who had assumed more power than the Constitution allows and circumvented the checks and balances fundamental to our three-branch system of government. Until recently, the Nixon administration seemed to represent a singular embodiment of the idea. Unfortunately, it is clear that the threat of the imperial presidency lives on and, indeed, reached new heights under George W. Bush.

For seven years I’ve said this President was the embodiment of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Emperor’s New Clothes“. True to the story, I’ve always felt I was the little kid in the crowd to shout out: “Yo! That dude is naked as a jaybird!!” and nobody paid me any attention. Now that Conyers has begun calling on this “Imperial President”, I can only assume he was thinking about me.

fruitfly21Conyers complains about the needless War in Iraq (and the bullcrap that Bush threw at us to go into Iraq in the first place), the Bush Administrations warrantless wiretapping of Americans, detentions and interrogations, politicizing of the US Justice Department, ravaging our regulatory system, using signing statements to override laws and silencing whistle-blowers to name just a few. (Whew! That’s a lot of bitching!) Which I think would be scratching the surface of all the crap that Bush has done. As much as I love say that Bush is an Idiot, I have to hand it to him; He was pretty good at breaking the law (and everything else on the Planet).

Conyers lays out a three-point plan, which I think is pretty good:

First, Congress should continue to pursue its document requests and subpoenas that were stonewalled under President Bush. Doing so will make clear that no executive can forever hide its misdeeds from the public.

Second, Congress should create an independent blue-ribbon panel or similar body to investigate a host of previously unreviewable activities of the Bush administration, including its detention, interrogation and surveillance programs. Only by chronicling and confronting the past in a comprehensive, bipartisan fashion can we reclaim our moral authority and establish a credible path forward to meet the complex challenges of a post-Sept. 11 world.

Third, the new administration should conduct an independent criminal probe into whether any laws were broken in connection with these activities. Just this week, in the pages of this newspaper, a Guantanamo Bay official acknowledged that a suspect there had been “tortured” — her exact word — in apparent violation of the law. The law is the law, and, if criminal conduct occurred, those responsible — particularly those who ordered and approved the violations — must be held accountable.

That’s fairly well thought out. Conyers also notes the sensitivity of the subject matter which shows credit to his intellect:

I understand that many feel we should just move on. They worry that addressing these actions by the Bush administration will divert precious energy from the serious challenges facing our nation. I understand the power of that impulse. Indeed, I want to move on as well — there are so many things that I would rather work on than further review of Bush’s presidency. But in my view it would not be responsible to start our journey forward without first knowing exactly where we are.

We cannot rebuild the appropriate balance between the branches of government without fully understanding how that relationship has been distorted. Likewise, we cannot set an appropriate baseline for future presidential conduct without documenting and correcting the presidential excesses that have just occurred. After the Nixon imperial presidency, critical reviews such as the Church and Pike committees led to fundamental reforms that have served our nation well. Comparable steps are needed to begin the process of reining in the legacy of the Bush imperial presidency.

Nicely worded and he’s absolutely correct! And, I think the topic is dead before the Washington Post even went to press. The Republican Party will find it very difficult to let Conyers, who is chairman of the Judiciary Committee, continue on with any investigation. The Republican Party will not let Bush be investigated without crying like babies. They’ll paint the picture in the media as political revenge. However, they’ll dig themselves deeper by preventing Conyers to go on ahead and investigate. “If Clinton can be impeached for getting a hummer in the Oval Office, are you saying everything Bush has done is okay?!” You see what I mean? The logic doesn’t flow.

Lastly, I think there are some Democrats who are as thick at thieves with the GOP and the Bush Administration and I don’t think they’ll be too thrilled to see the train coming at them either. You’ll never convince me that people likeFruitFly 6 Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) were clueless about torture and rendition going on in Gitmo. Especially when it was Feinstein who lead the charge to go ahead and confirm Michael Mukasey as Attorney General without answering the simple question regarding water-boarding; “Is it torture?” The Dems are going to have a lot of difficulty protecting themselves during the investigation and they’ll be caught in the same pinch.

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Karl Rove, on the lamb; with his US Passport of course

Posted on July 11, 2008 by fruitfly

Think Progress is featuring a small YouTube piece that notes that Karl Rove has apparently skipped the country and he’s AFK (computer-talk: “Away From Keyboard”). T-Progress credits Rove’s attempt to act like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid all wrapped into one because of the newest Congressional subpoena for him to appear and answer questions about the case involving the imprisonment of Alabama’s governor Siegelman. An investigation, if I might add, isn’t expected to be completed until the end of January ’09 – even though US Attorney General Micheal Mukasey says there’s no intentional “slow-down” on the case.

Lars!! The video if you would please…!


“Thank you, Lars!!”

Now let’s speculate:

But, I digress…Wishful thinking. Knowing that he’s no longer in this country gives me small comfort for the weekend that his toilet water won’t end up in US water supply…

Congress has given Karl Rove a 5-day pass, something Karl will also ignore – of course. One has to wonder if the Democrats have any brains by demanding his immediate arrest once he’s decided to return to our shores and resume his duties for the John McCain for President campaign.

Filed under: Democrats, GOP, Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Healing

Posted on June 30, 2008 by fruitfly

I had dinner with my ‘Rents t’day. Oddly, one of the few visits we’ve had where politics aren’t argued discussed. My Mom had some treats for our dog “Little Otis” and so I followed them to their car to pick them up. This Jeep was parked next to my folks’ car and my Dad pointed to the bumper sticker and laughed at it.

… I grinned and said to my Dad: “Well, it would appear that ‘Healing’ has begun and going on swimmingly! Must be a sad day for the GOP seeing all of us “looney liberals” getting along so well, huh?!”

He sobered his heckling laughter really fast and got into the car. I kissed my Mom “good-bye”, took the treats dropped them off in my car. The folks were speeding out of the parking lot while I went back and took this picture with my cell phone.

Sorry about my thumb. I took two pictures, but this one was the only one that seemed to make it to the Verizon website. …They’re probably gonna charge me a hundred bucks for uploading the picture too….

Filed under: Democrats, Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , | Leave a comment »

John McCain: The Welfare Candidate

Posted on June 27, 2008 by fruitfly

This is Gay Pride Week. I’ve been so busy this week with GPW activities I could just scream. My husband partner is no exception; he’s complaining about his Gay Recruiting class size. This year, he has well over fifty heterosexual men who’ve decided they want to be gay, and he’s just swamped. And then there’s the night-classes for the Catholic priests he’s teaching too. Every night he has over 100 Catholic priests that he has to teach on “The Art of Seducing Alter Boys”. That Catholic church has really ramped up their battle against us, so even enticing those alter boys can be rather dicey.

It was just a week or so ago, there was a dust-up over at the John McCain campaign on the subject of Campaign Financing. McCain, according to the DNC is illegally flip-flopping on the subject by accepting those funds and then spending more than is allowed by law.

The DNC has issued:

In order to receive matching funds, John McCain signed a binding agreement with the FEC to accept spending limits and to abide by the conditions of receiving those funds. The FEC requires that any request to withdraw from the agreement must be granted by the FEC. FEC Chairman David Mason made this clear in a letter to McCain advising him that the law requires the FEC to approve his request to withdraw from his contract – a move McCain ignored and cost Mason his job.

According to past Commission rulings, the McCain campaign would not be allowed to withdraw from matching funds because it already violated a key condition for being let out of the program – pledging matching funds as collateral for a private loan.

Typical for Bush and his own private junta against justice in this country; Bush fires the FEC Chair who simply did his job. It wasn’t as if the Chair was a former attorney for the International Arabian Horse Association, screwed the pooch on that job and so Bush appointed him to be head of FEMA. Two times, Bush put David Mason up as his pick for the FEC Chair position and when Mason does his job – and Bush just fires the guy.

But I’m digressing.

What Barack Obama has done is brilliant: He’s opted out of taking $85 Million because he’s confident enough he’ll raise $300 Million before November!

There’s nothing wrong with that, is there?

Obama — at a time when Hillary Clinton was the inevitable juggernaut rolling back to the White House — said he would stay in the federal public financing system if he did win the primary fight, as long as his GOP opponent did the same. McCain agreed immediately. The system gives candidates $85 million, funded by the $3 check-off fewer and fewer taxpayers choose to pay on IRS forms. But that’s the only money candidates who take the funding can spend after the nominating conventions. They can’t use campaign contributions from private donors. Now, awash in private contributions, Obama and his strategists are beginning to back away from his pledge to rely solely on public money.

So, McCain agrees: “We’ll take the public tax payer’s money and stay within the $85 Million as prescribed by law.”

[Handshake] …and “Deal”.

Now Obama doesn’t need the funds – so “screw ’em” he says. “I can raise my own money and not limit myself to the $80-odd Million the FEC mandates.”

McCain isn’t out of the woods:

McCain, meanwhile, took out a loan last fall that saved his campaign, giving him the money he needed for a last-ditch effort to win New Hampshire. He also declared himself eligible for a different public-financing program that gives candidates matching funds, keyed to the level of their private fundraising, for primary campaigns — and imposes strict spending caps in the process. Now that his financial picture has improved, he’s announced he won’t take the primary matching funds. But the head of the Federal Election Commission (a longtime critic of McCain’s campaign finance reforms) said last week that McCain may still be locked into taking the matching funds anyway.

Ooops.

But hold the phone here… Does anybody smell the rotting fish in this story?

Let me try it this a-way:

His (Obama’s) decision makes him the first major-party candidate to opt out of the public structure for the general election campaign since it was created after the Watergate scandal more than 30 years ago. Republican John McCain, after initially saying he would consider opting out as well, said this evening he would take taxpayer financing for his campaign.

Does that help?

The hypocrisies of the GOP is far too often ignored. Take your average John Q. Dolt who proudly hails himself as a Republican and talk about the poor on the welfare system in this country. You’ll get a thirty minute lecture on the laziness of these welfare recipients. And you’ll get an extra thirty minute lecture on the black woman’s status as “welfare queens” who are producing babies just to draw bigger welfare checks.

Where was James Cayne, Pesident and CEO of Bear Stearns, during the week before that company collapsed? Cayne is a champion bridge player. On the week while his giant-sized company was on the verge of collapse; Cayne was at a Bridge Tournament in Detroit.

The US Treasury secretary Henry Paulson said about bailing out Bear Stearns:

Paulson also sought to send a calming message that the administration of President George W. Bush is on top of the turbulent situation. “The government is prepared to do what it takes” to ease turmoil in the financial system and minimize any damage to the U.S. economy, Paulson said during a series of broadcast interviews. The Fed’s intervention “was not a difficult decision. It was the right decision.“

It was the “right decision”.

Corporate welfare is rampant, and the Republicans put up a presidential nominee who’s sucking on the government’s teat and yet they won’t stop bitching about Barack Obama who does – exactly what a Republican preaches: He’ll raise his own funds, thank you very much!

Now let me get back to my responsibilities over at Gay Pride. I have some new recruits that I need to gather up from behind the roadside rests and the public toilets at the Minneapolis/St Paul International Airport. The Lesbian Liberation Army has promised my a special word on my behalf to the Supreme Bitch. I’m all excited and wonder how we’ll be rewarded for all of our hard work.

Filed under: Democrats, DNC, Gay, GLBT, GOP | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Photos from the political campaigns

Posted on May 20, 2008 by fruitfly

Frizzie McBeeGood evening, and thank you for watching Fruit Fly News. My name is Frizzie McBee.

In tonight’s Special Edition, we’ve decided to look at some of the amazing photography being collected during this year’s election campaign.

As you know, we’ve seen thousands of photographs of our candidates, both Democrat and Republican, male and female and black and white. First up, let’s look at a photo from Bozeman, MT where Senator Barack Obama was just a few days ago!

Barack Obama in Bozeman, MT

Wow! With a population of 27,000 people living in Bozeman, can we assume at least 75% of them were out that night listening to the Senator?! And the Senator was also in Billings over the weekend, can we look at a picture from that rally?

Holy crow! What an impressive crowd out there in Billings, Montana! A city of 100,000 souls, and a good majority of them all came out to hear the Illinois Senator speak! Well, good for all of them! A good looking crowd out there in Montana.

The senator has just published his fund-raising for the month of April and it seems that the Senator has raised a little over $31.3 million in April. An impressive amount of money indeed.

What happened last weekend in Oregon? Let’s take a look at how many people rallied on a sunny Sunday afternoon to hear Senator Barack Obama speak out there in Oregon….

Oh my lord..!! That’s staggering! Look at that crowd! Some have said that more than 70,000 folks showed up to hear the Senator speak. A staggering sized crowd!!

And from the Hillary Campaign, here’s an interesting photo…

…Getting kissed by some gay guy…

And we found this picture….

Woah! We didn’t see to see the Senator trying to hump that guy… The look on his face alone is worth 1,000 cattle-prods..

Let’s move on to Senator McCain’s campaign. As you all know, he’s had some difficulty raising campaign cash. The latest is that he’s raised only $18 million, a little more than half than this political rival Obama and less than second place running, Senator Hillary Clinton. Certainly, the Republican party could show more excitement and thrilling rallies than the Democrats can do.. Can we look at a McCain photo…?


Ohhh… tough break for the “Old and Mouldy” crowd!! Maybe if Senator McCain would wake them up, he might get them to dig out an extra dollar out of their pocketbooks!

Maybe he’s hypnotized all of them. …He pulled out a pocket watch and gave them a black and white spiral to stare at…

What an embarrassing crowd of Republicans. Looks like the Senator has his work cut out for him…

This is Frizzie McBee and I thank you for joining us tonight. Good night!!

Filed under: Democrats, Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Clinton/Obama Promises Offered On NAFTA: Fact? Or Fiction?

Posted on February 28, 2008 by fruitfly

clown politiciansYou shouldn’t believe everything a politician tells you. As with attorneys and meteorologists, politicians are paid to be professional liars. When Bill Clinton was running for President in 1991, he promised to over-haul the credit system and make it a little more accurate and harder to invade from outsiders. He never lifted a finger. The entire credit card system is a disaster to this day and banks are still using it to make decisions on loaning money to their customers.

In last week’s debate between Clinton and Obama, the subject was brought up on their views about NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement. Both of the Senators agreed that NAFTA would be either renegotiated or at least “reviewed”. According to the original transcripts, Clinton said:

You know, I have been a critic of NAFTA from the very beginning. I didn’t have a public position on it, because I was part of the administration, but when I started running for the Senate, I have been a critic. I’ve said it was flawed. I said that it worked in some parts of our country, and I’ve seen the results in Texas. I was in Laredo in the last couple of days. It’s the largest inland port in America now. So clearly, some parts of our country have been benefited.

She continued on:

So what I have said is that we need to have a plan to fix NAFTA. I would immediately have a trade timeout, and I would take that time to try to fix NAFTA by making it clear that we’ll have core labor and environmental standards in the agreement.

Her final thoughts on NAFTA were…

So I would hope that, again, we can get to a debate about what the real issues are and where we stand because we do need to fix NAFTA. It is not working. It was, unfortunately, heavily disadvantaging many of our industries, particularly manufacturing.

Obama stepped into the conversation, first by disagreeing with Senator Clinton’s claim she’s “always been against” NAFTA, but did offer his thoughts on the subject:

I have to say, Tim, with respect to my position on this, when I ran for the United States Senate, the Chicago Tribune, which was adamantly pro-NAFTA, noted that, in their endorsement of me, they were endorsing me despite my strong opposition to NAFTA.

And that conversation that I had with the Farm Bureau, I was not ambivalent at all. What I said was that NAFTA and other trade deals can be beneficial to the United States because I believe every U.S. worker is as productive as any worker around the world, and we can compete with anybody. And we can’t shy away from globalization. We can’t draw a moat around us. But what I did say, in that same quote, if you look at it, was that the problem is we’ve been negotiating just looking at corporate profits and what’s good for multinationals, and we haven’t been looking at what’s good for communities here in Ohio, in my home state of Illinois, and across the country.

And as president, what I want to be is an advocate on behalf of workers. Look, you know, when I go to these plants, I meet people who are proud of their jobs. They are proud of the products that they’ve created. They have built brands and profits for their companies. And when they see jobs shipped overseas and suddenly they are left not just without a job, but without health care, without a pension, and are having to look for seven-buck-an-hour jobs at the local fast-food joint, that is devastating on them, but it’s also devastating on the community. That’s not the way that we’re going to prosper as we move forward.

Sounds like we’re all in agreement with how both of our Presidential Candidates feel about NAFTA?

KOAApparently, the camp counselors from both Clinton’s and Obama’s KOA have already been dialing up the Canadians and telling their Prime Minister that they were just “joking”. You know…”kidding”! …Just “joshing around”. Says the Canadian-based CTV.com:

Barack Obama has ratcheted up his attacks on NAFTA, but a senior member of his campaign team told a Canadian official not to take his criticisms seriously, CTV News has learned.

Both Obama and Hillary Clinton have been critical of the long-standing North American Free Trade Agreement over the course of the Democratic primaries, saying that the deal has cost U.S. workers’ jobs.

Within the last month, a top staff member for Obama’s campaign telephoned Michael Wilson, Canada’s ambassador to the United States, and warned him that Obama would speak out against NAFTA, according to Canadian sources.

The staff member reassured Wilson that the criticisms would only be campaign rhetoric, and should not be taken at face value.

But Tuesday night in Ohio, where NAFTA is blamed for massive job losses, Obama said he would tell Canada and Mexico “that we will opt out unless we renegotiate the core labor and environmental standards.”

Late Wednesday, a spokesperson for the Obama campaign said the staff member’s warning to Wilson sounded implausible, but did not deny that contact had been made.

The Clinton KOA has been peeing in the same swimming hole on the topic too:

“Senator Obama does not make promises he doesn’t intend to keep,” the spokesperson said.

Low-level sources also suggested the Clinton campaign may have given a similar warning to Ottawa, but a Clinton spokesperson flatly denied the claim.

During Tuesday’s debate, she said that as president she would opt out of NAFTA “unless we renegotiate it.”

On the subject of NAFTA; it appears that the only politician that wasn’t lying about the damages it would do to those of us in the United States was Ross Perot. Perot told all of us to “listen for the giant-sucking sound of jobs headed over the border to Mexico should NAFTA be ratified.”

updated3 The NAFTA story is a hoax. According to Political Radar,

During a debate in Ohio this week, where NAFTA is blamed for job losses, both Obama and Clinton said that as president, they would opt out of the trade deal unless it could be renegotiated.

When asked about the CTV report, Obama’s said today, “It wasn’t true.”

Today Bill Burton of the Obama campaign told ABC News no senior Obama campaign representative called the Canadian embassy. “The news reports on Obama’s position on NAFTA are inaccurate and in no way represent Senator Obama’s consistent position on trade,” Burton said separately in an email.

“When Senator Obama says that he will forcefully act to make NAFTA a better deal for American workers, he means it. Both Canada and Mexico should know that, as president, Barack Obama will do what it takes to create and protect American jobs and strengthen the American economy — that includes amending NAFTA to include labor and environmental standards. We are currently reaching out to the Canadian embassy to correct this inaccuracy.”

This afternoon the Canadian embassy in Washington, D.C., sent out a press release to deny the CTV report.

“The Canadian Embassy confirms that at no time has any member of a Presidential campaign called the Canadian Ambassador or any official at the Embassy to discuss NAFTA,” the statement read. “Last night the Canadian television network CTV, falsely reported that such calls had been made. That story is untrue. Neither before nor since the Ohio debate has any presidential campaign called Ambassador Wilson or the Embassy to raise NAFTA.”

The Canadian embassy is pro actively reaching out to the campaigns “all the time,” Norton said, to try to meet with aides who might form the foreign and economic policy teams of any future administration.

“We talk about the whole range of Canada-U.S. issues which we think it’s critically important that the presidential candidates be aware of including the number of jobs that depend in the United States on Canada-U.S. trade.”

The Canadian Embassy says there are more than seven million jobs in the U.S. that depend on trade with Canada.

“We discuss our view that NAFTA has been very good for all three participating countries and has made the continent more competitive in the face of China, India, Brazil,” Norton said.

Dammit. This is what happens when your read that trash Republican “Daily-Kos” wanna-be website. I read this story originally here and here. Redstate is now pushing out the conspiracy theory that the Canadian government doesn’t want to be seen as an agency involved with US politics. Redstate is pushing this YouTube from this link:

FruitFly 6On Blogs4McCain, a blog-site where Nursing Home patients learn how to use a computer mouse and “Monitor” can sometimes mean a “tee-vee” screen, they’re publishing something completely out of touch with the Obama/NAFTA story with this (piece of crap).

I knew I should have stayed in bed this morning. It’s what I get for reading Redstate without wearing my radiation suit and UV goggles on…

Filed under: Democrats, DNC, Redstate, Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

The Democrats vs The GOP: How We Doin’ So Far?

Posted on February 11, 2008 by fruitfly

corn flakesFriends from all over the United States have told me, either on the phone or via email that the Democrats have been showing up in droves. When we went to vote, traffic was so horribly backed up, people simply pulled over on the shoulder and abandoned their vehicles. We found a back road behind a parking lot which was filling up and did the same. I’ve seen news media everywhere saying that Democrats have been showing up twice, if not three times to that of our Republican counter-parts.

But is that really true?

I spent an hour this morning swimming out there in “Dataville” and I couldn’t find anybody who’ll tell me the ratio of voting Dems to Repukes on this year’s Primaries/Caucuses.

This morning on Meet The Press, Tim Russert practically shoved Huckleberry Hound off the set after Holy Mike explained he was praying for a “Jesus sized Miracle” to win. But by the time Holy Mike got to twanging away about frying squirrels on a popcorn popper in college, the real “Jesus Miracle” was the number people who were still watching the show.

Following that fiasco of total air time, Russert pooled his buddies together to discuss the elections and how they’re going for both the Dems and the ‘Pukes. Gwen Ifle, David Brody, Chuck Todd and Dave Broder (the token GOP Whore) all had an intriguing conversation about the Obama v Clinton delegate count.

Then these words were said on MTP:

MR. RUSSERT: …And if you look at the vote count thus far in these primaries, here it is: Republicans have gotten 12.9 million votes, Democrats have gotten 19.2 votes.

It shows a little more intensity and enthusiasm for one party over another, Chuck Todd.

MR. TODD: It’s a huge problem for the Republicans. I mean, they look at these numbers, and they’re very, very nervous.

Are they really that nervous? Is Karl Rove really pulling out the remaining strands of hair from his balding scalp?

day crow crowdHow much of an effect can a 30% approval rating for a sitting US President have on primary caucuses in an election year?

  • A good friend of mine, a liberal Democrat in Atlanta: “Twice as many Dems showed up to vote as Republicans!!”
  • Another friend of mine in Montgomery, AL: “You wouldn’t believe it! Dems were everywhere voting…you couldn’t find a Republican anywhere!”
  • A friend of mine from Los Angeles: “Dude, it’s incredible. You wouldn’t believe it. EVERYBODY is voting Dem out here. It’s so knarley, ya know?!”
  • Last Friday, my best friend, a Catholic priest in southern Lousiana said while chewing on some fresh crawfish: “I think dat Hillary’s going to win Louisiana, but who dat Obama say he goin’ a-win?!” (Obama won of course; pass the hot sauce, thank you very much.)
  • Here in Minnesota, my State Senator Ann Rest said that they were expecting three times DFL’ers to show up to vote over the Minnesota GOP.

Is this all true?

It was -30F wind chill last night. Little Otis is upset because he’s bored out of his skull for lack of anything related to the outdoors and withdrawl symptoms from his addiction to squirrel poop. What a better time to give the dog a rawhide bone and get my mouse surfing?

I gave up screwing around with local Secretary of State offices. If the SOS is a Republican, you can’t find the vote-count results anywhere. If it’s a Dem, the SOS is so overly “datafied” and the research became ridiculous. Huge *.PDF files with breakdowns of precinct percentages broken down by “voters under 35” and “household incomes less than fifty dollars”.

Ugh!

I caved in and went worshiping at the Throne of Mass Media: CNN.

I tallied up all of the votes between Democrats and Republicans, regardless of which candidate they voted for, even if they were simply “undecided”.

The numbers are astounding. Including some states you’d never think. I’ve highlighted states to match the color of the party with the higher turnout. The rare GOP turn out might surprise you, or it may not.

Please note that Maine finished their primary today, and the CNN data was less than 8 minutes old when I was tallying up those totals. States where one party is TWICE or THREE TIMES the turnout as their counter-parts are highlighted in yellow. Which attracts the most of my attention.

Voter Totals are valid as of 2/11/04 (i.e. Expect updates…)

ALABAMA:
DEM: 539,743
2,672 (Uncommitted Included)
GOP: 563,822
1,252 (Uncommitted Included)

ARIZONA:
DEM: 397,642
GOP: 480,351

ARKANSAS:
DEM: 298,338
GOP: 218,897
(944 Uncommitted Included)

texansInteresting: More people from the “Old Geezer” State showed up to vote for their guy John McCain (the ultimate old geezer) than Mike Huckabee could draw from his own Hillbilly State. Perhaps the GOP voters in Arkansas decided that bribing the Huckabee’s to leave the Governors Mansion in Little Rock with that gift registry at Target and Dillards was enough. God knows what the Huckabee’s will do to take a bribe to leave the White House in four years.

CALIFORNIA:
DEM: 4,541,,082
GOP: 2,293,212

COLORADO:
DEM: 119,184
(1253 Uncommitted Included)
GOP: 55,845

CONNECTICUT:
DEM: 350,595
GOP: 150,159

DC (District of Columibia):
DEM: 113,157
GOP: 5,711

Note: Only GOP congressional staffers bothered to show up to vote here. I can imagine the GOP Polling “Holes” were vacant with an occasional voter strolling in every other hour or so… This GOP turnout was pathetic!

DELAWARE:
DEM: 95,979
GOP: 50,062

FLORIDA:
DEM: 1,684,390
GOP: 1,864,350

I found Florida interesting. Floridians knew their delegates were banned by the DNC. Yet, they went out and voted anyway. And they still ran short by about 180,000 Republicans.

GEORGIA:
DEM: 1,046,485
GOP: 954,462

HAWAI’I: updated3
DEM: 37,247
(65 Uncommitted)
GOP: The Repukes hold their Primary on 5/18 (like we cared).

IDAHO:
DEM: 21,224
(552 Uncommitted Included)
GOP: The Repukes hold their Primary on 5/27 (like we care).

ILLINOIS:
DEM: 2,958,268
GOP: 885,009

KANSAS:
DEM: 36,695
(8 Uncommitted Included)
GOP: 19,133
(84 Uncommitted Included)

LOUISIANA:
DEM: 357,547
GOP: 156,101

Noted: Most all of the Southern states, the Dems seem to have found their voice! Louisiana, rare to be twice that of the turnout to that of the ‘Pukes, but not uncommon to be such a high turnout!

MAINE: (To be updated, obviously)
DEM: 3,200
(17 Uncommitted Included)
GOP: 2,410

MARYLAND:
DEM: 723,407
GOP: 277,162

MASSACHUSETTS:
DEM: 1,244,133
(7,766 “No Preference” Included)
GOP: 496,171
(1875 “No Preference” Included)

MICHIGAN:
DEM: 593,837
(237,762 Uncommitted Included)
GOP: 867,271
(18106 Uncommitted Included)

Ralph NaderAnother interesting voter turnout. Michigan’s delegates were also banned and yet the Dems showed up anyway; 273,000 less than their Repuke neighbors.

MINNESOTA:
DFL: 213,249
GOP: 62,857
Constitution Party: 82

Interesting note for Minnesota: The Greens and the Independents didn’t vote. They either voted for a Dem or a ‘Puke, but there’s no votes cast for an Independent or a Greenie. (See ya later Ralphie!!!)

UPDATE: Grace Kelly over at MnBlue politely informed me that the Greenies and the Indies don’t vote until later. I stand corrected but there’s no damned way I’m pullin’ down my digi-graphic of Ralphie. He’s so HOT!!

(Please read the COMMENTS for more information.)

MISSOURI:
DEM: 823,376
(3,133 Uncommitted Votes Included)
GOP: 433,749
(2,083 Uncommitted Votes Included)
LIB: 2056
(963 Uncommitted Votes Included)

NEBRASKA:
DEM: 38,481
(99 Uncommitted Votes Included)
GOP: The ‘Pukes hold their Primary on 5/13 (like we care).

NEVADA:
DEM: 10,560
(31 Uncommitted Included)
GOP: 44,324

AND FOR CHRISSAKES! IT’S PRONOUNCED: NE-VA-DA!!

I’m sick and tired of y’all mispronouncing it!

NEW HAMPHSIRE:
DEM: 284,104
GOP: 233,381

NEW JERSEY:
DEM: 1,109,369
GOP: 556,855

Vote! Or we’ll call Tony Soprano on ya.

NEW MEXICO: (What’s up with Gov. Bill Richardson’s backyard in Counting Votes, anyway?)
DEM: 139,869
(413 Uncommitted Included)
GOP: (The Repukes have their Primary on June 8…Like we care)

NEW YORK:
DEM: 1,721,265
GOP: 602,747
(18,566 voting for Rotten Rudy Giuliani Included)

Like Huckabee, New Yorkers ignoring Rudy like that was a crushing embarrassment. Not only did New Yorkers say to Rudy; “No!”, they said “HELL F%$#$ NO!”

NORTH DAKOTA:
DEM: 18,856
GOP: 9,743

Not quite twice the number of Dems! But; “Ooooh..! So close!” As conservative as NoDaks tend to be, this is a remarkable turnout.

OKLAHOMA:
DEM: 401,230
GOP: 329,843

SOUTH CAROLINA:
DEM: 530,322
GOP: 442,918

TENNESSEE:
DEM: 614,096
(3,123 Uncommitted Included)
GOP: 547,614
(1812 Uncommitted Included)

UTAH:
DEM: 122,617
GOP: 283,759

VIRGINIA:
DEM: 964,701
GOP: 479,644

WASHINGTON:
DEM: 31,984
(363 Uncommitted Included)
GOP: 13,475
(1729 Uncommitted Included)

WISCONSIN: updated3
DEM: 1,099,624
(860 Uninstructed Included)
GOP: 403,437
(850 Uninstructed Included)

I counted 22 states in which the more voters showed up for the Dems than for the ‘Pukes. I would say the Dems are doing pretty well this year. And as we progress our final year of the Village Idiot sitting in the Oval Office and Dick Cheney keeps burning down restrooms, in the Vice Presidents office and government offices all over Washington DC, more of us are going to be fed up with the GOP’s “Disaster Platform”.

I would tend to believe Chuck Todd in the fact that the GOP is extremely nervous. The NRCC, the financial spinal-column for the upcoming GOP election, is bracing for the news of many years of financial looting going back many many years. As well as they should be:

The NRCC’s accounting problems were discussed during two high-level conference calls between senior GOP lawmakers on Friday and Monday night, according to Republicans briefed on the calls.

“There is a sense that this could be very damaging to the committee,” said a Republican insider close to the GOP leadership.

The precise details of the suspected accounting irregularities and their possible fallout are not entirely clear. NRCC officials and top GOP leaders are being tight-lipped in large part because the FBI is investigating the matter. An outside lawyer advising members and staff has warned everyone at the committee to keep quiet.

FruitFly 6Do I think we’re doing better than the ‘Pukes?! Definitely! Even in spite of the growing debate within the DNC about Super Delegates and Obama v Clinton is a whole lot better than what the GOP is facing. The DNC isn’t broke, under investigations, rife with scandals and filled with corruption. The GOP could only pray for a complex issue like a brokered convention.

Filed under: Democrats, GOP, Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

President Bush’s newest (dis)-approval numbers

Posted on January 15, 2008 by fruitfly

Nazi MickeyDoes anybody remember when ABC (a.k.a. Mickey Mouse Television) aired that show “Path to 9-11” in 2006? There was all of this controversy from within the Democratic National Committee who urged progressives and liberals to write nasty-grams to ABC Chief Robert Iger to keep that piece of propaganda piece off the air. Especially when the movie essentially blamed the Democrats in Congress (?!!) for 9-11. And being a month and a half away from the upcoming election, that really pissed off the Progressives and the Liberals. Everybody screamed and ballyhooed complete with pictures of Mickey Mouse sporting an Adolf Hitler mustache. The propaganda puff-piece didn’t seem to work however: The Dems, of course, gained control of Congress and the Republicans are still bitching and whining about a “liberal media bias”…of course.

Well, now the Mickey Channel has some bad news for the neo-Nazi’s, the likes of Ann Coulter and Michelle Malkin:

The latest GW Bush poll numbers from Mickey Mouse tee-vee!!

Nazy Mickey…And trust me folks, it ain’t looking good for King George, his wife Pickles, or for Pluto, Goofy and the Country Bear Jamboree. Although I’m sure it was painful for the producers of the “Path to 9-11” (especially after their stupid propaganda film didn’t do them any good anyway), Americans simply do not like George…nor the neo-Nazi flag that his minions are currently goose stepping and saluting.

Are we ready boys and girls?!

Let’s go!

Job Approval: Just 32 percent of Americans now approve of the way Bush is handling his job, while 66 percent disapprove.

Even with a slight reduction in violence in Iraq:

64 percent say the war was not worth fighting, 2 points from its high.

Republican boys and girls might want to look away… this could get ugly for some.

77 percent in this ABC News/Washington Post poll say the country is headed off on the wrong track — the most since the federal government shut down in a deeply unpopular budget battle in early 1996.

Three post-World War II presidents have gone lower than Bush in overall approval:

    • Jimmy Carter (28 percent)
      • Richard Nixon (24 percent)
      • Harry Truman (22 percent)

          But after three straight years in the doghouse, Bush is just two months away from Truman’s record of 38 months without majority approval — far beyond any other.

          Intensity of sentiment, moreover, remains very heavily against the president.

          Fifty-one percent strongly disapprove of his work overall, while just 16 percent strongly approve — strongly negative by better than a 3-1 ratio.

          On the Economy:

          Economic trouble almost always damages an incumbent president, and it’s been brewing for months. Consumer confidence as measured weekly by ABC News grew worse in each quarter of 2007. In November, 69 percent of Americans said a recession was at least somewhat likely in the next year. And in this poll the economy has surpassed the Iraq War as the most important issue to voters in the 2008 presidential campaign.

          8 percent now approve of how Bush is handling the economy, down 6 points in the last month and down from 40 percent in June.

          But it’s not the housing or credit markets but other economic concerns that Americans cite as their families’ main economic problems:

            • 24 % cite health care costs
              • 23 % rising prices
              • 16% on the price of gasoline
              • 12% on taxes

                Notice that the number one issue is a topic that Republicans completely ignore while the last item is a topic Republicans promote as a “top issue”. The opposite is true of the Democrats: Health care is vitality important to the Democrats platform. Is it any wonder why the Democrats are hauling in loads of cash while the Republicans are starved for it?

                On “Getting Ahead” (no dirty-thoughts please)

                All told, just 21 percent say they’re “getting ahead” financially, while 17 percent say they’re falling behind (actually a bit fewer than the 23 percent who say so in fall 2006). Most, six in 10, say they’re earning just enough to maintain their standard of living.

                That’s Mickey-speak translated as: Over half of Americans say they’re barely hanging on, Baby.

                In a country where getting ahead is the American dream, just holding steady doesn’t do it.

                • Among those who are getting ahead financially, 60 percent say the country is headed in the wrong direction (they have other concerns, including the war).
                • Among those who are just maintaining, far more, 79 percent, say the country’s going the wrong way.
                • And among those falling behind, “wrong direction” peaks at 89 percent.

                On “Iraq” (drum-roll please…)

                  • 30 percent approve of how he’s handling the war in Iraq (2 points from his low, and again strong disapprovers outnumber strong approvers by 3-1.
                  • 54 percent remain skeptical the U.S. is making significant progress restoring civil order there.

                    Of those who support the War in Iraq (those Republicans who are going to vote for McCain, Romney, Huckabee and “Rotten Rudy” Giuliani)

                      • 69 percent approve of Bush’s work in office
                        • 52 percent say the country’s headed down the wrong track

                          Among those who disapprove of the war,

                            • Bush’s approval rating is 12 percent;
                              • “wrong track,” 91 percent.

                                Aye yi yi!! That smarts! Especially when over half the country is skeptical about this war already – 91% think this war is nothing but crap!

                                The effect of an unpopular war on presidential approval has been seen before. Johnson’s approval dropped year-to-year as the nation became enmeshed in Vietnam, from 66 percent in 1965 to 51 percent in 1966 and 42 percent in 1968, when he chose not to run for re-election. Bush’s approval has followed a similar path — just a longer one.

                                Bush v LBJ

                                On the “Party”!! (That’s the “neo-con party” of Nazi’s of course)

                                There’s been political damage beyond the president; his party has suffered as well. After decades of gradual growth, the Republican Party finally achieved parity with the Democrats in 2003, when, on average across the year, precisely equal numbers of Americans identified themselves with either party — 31 percent Democrats, 31 percent Republicans (with the rest independents).

                                But that changed after 2003 — the year the United States invaded Iraq. Since then Republican self-identification has moved back down, to an average of 25 percent across 2007 — its lowest year long average since 1984.

                                Party ID

                                <GASP!> Bush’s Presidency has thrown the GOP back to the early Eighties?! Ronald Ray-gun must be rolling in his grave! This is more terrifying than a ride on the Pirates of the Caribbean..! Can you imagine what the “liberal press” is saying right now?!

                                On Groups:

                                Bush is at career lows in approval in three groups as well as overall — among liberals (9 percent approve of his work), moderates (24 percent) and independents — the center of American politics — among whom just 25 percent approve.

                                His ratings are far higher among his core supporters, Republicans and conservatives, with 68 percent and 55 percent approval, respectively. But even those are well below his career averages in these groups, 86 percent and 71 percent. Beyond liberals, disapproval of Bush peaks among Democrats, African-Americans and strong opponents of the Iraq war.

                                The most interesting statement in the four page report is the last sentence:

                                The president’s low overall ratings fuel one other result, perhaps an obvious one: 79% percent of Americans say his successor should take the nation in a different direction.

                                Obviously this should be of the most important interest to all of the GOP candidates up there. Mitt Romney preaches “change” but doesn’t explain how to define that word. Likewise with Huckabee and “Rotten Rudy” Giuliani; they preach “change” but they’re not defining.

                                Their candidate gaining popularity recently is (POW and tortured) Senator John McCain. He’s the one who compromised with the president by letting Bush continue on torturing Guantanamo detainees which makes him nothing but a stinking hypocrite.  But I digress…again. McCain doesn’t even bother talking about “change”. He promotes staying in Iraq for up to 100 years if necessary and thinks Bush is doing a mighty fine job.

                                If you’d rather read the article with the graph charts, massive amounts of numbered charts and clarifications of what questions were asked (and the demographics of the people polled), you can click the PDF here. The charts on this blog belong to the original ABC report published in the PDF. Otherwise, you can roll a joint, make yourself a JD-n-coke and enjoy what I’ve supplied here. (Just don’t tell the cops about your stash, like I did once. Spent the entire Fourth of July weekend in jail.)

                                FruitFlyNow there’s only one logical conclusion to all of this gibberish: If the Evangelicals believe God Almighty reached down from Heaven and hand-picked George W Bush to be our President, our Commander in Chief… Then we’re in a hell of a lot of trouble.

                                Filed under: Democrats, DNC, GOP, Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

                                New Hampshire Independant Voters Breaking Toward the Dems?!!

                                Posted on January 8, 2008 by fruitfly

                                donkeyThis can’t be good news for the G-Uh-Oh-Pee.. From by way of Buzzflash, I found that ABC News (Mickey Mouse News) is reporting that voter-turnout for the Dems is not only overwhelming in numbers, but they’re running out of ballots!! Predictions are that the Dems are turning 1 1/2 times that of the Republicans!

                                Check this out:

                                ABC News’ Karen Travers Reports: New Hampshire Deputy Secretary of State Dave Scanlan told ABC News that turnout among primary voters today is “absolutely huge” — and there are concerns about running out of ballots in towns like Portsmouth, Keene, Hudson and Pelham.

                                “Turnout is absolutely huge and towns are starting to get concerned that they may not have enough ballots,” Scanlan said. “We are working on those issues. Everything else seems to be going smoothly.”

                                Scanlan said that the Secretary of State’s office is sending additional ballots to Portsmouth and Keene (traditionally Democratic strongholds), Hudson (Republican leaning with significant numbers of independents) and Pelham (large number of independents).

                                This beginning to smell like Iowa Version 2.0!! The bad news for the Republicans continue:

                                According to Scanlan, the ballot strain seems to be on Democratic ballots, which suggests that the undeclared voters are breaking for the Democratic primary. New Hampshire Secretary of State William Gardner predicted that 90,000 undeclared voters would vote in the Democratic primary compared to 60,000 voting in the Republican primary.

                                Deputy Secretary Scanlan said based on a formula anticipating higher turnout, they printed additional ballots, but in most cases towns will go “right down to the wire with ballots they need.” The extra ballots will be insurance ballots in most places so election officials have a comfort level.

                                Scanlan said reports from polling places show that turnout hasscooby been steady and high though the morning but typically high activity periods will be lunch and after work.

                                No Scoobie Snacks for the GOP’s mutts tonight!

                                I can’t wait for Ann Coulter to go out on Fox and tell their viewers FruitFlythat New Hampshire needs to be perfected. And it’ll be Michelle Malkin who’ll whip out her digi-cam and snap photos of all of the Dems in their homes getting ready to leave to go vote.

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