Everyday more bad news arrives for the Republicans.
Things are especially bleak in Ohio. In November, they lost the Governor’s mansion to Ted Strickland and Bob Ney’s 18th District to Zach Space. Then Rep. Deborah Pryce (OH-15) announced her retirement and Rep. Paul Gillmor (OH-05) unexpectedly died. Now word comes that Rep. Ralph Regula (OH-16) will announce his retirement tomorrow. And things can definitely get worse. Rumors persist that Dave Hobson (OH-07) and Steve Chabot (OH-01) are considering retirement. The damage could even extend into the second district where Mean Jean Schmidt is in danger of losing a primary to Phil Heimlich, a former Hamilton Co. commissioner. Although…that outcome might actually help the GOP keep the seat in the face of a strong challenge from Victoria Wulsin.
The Democrats have some other recruiting triumphs to celebrate. Tom Feeney (FL-24) is one of those Republicans that went golfing in Scotland at Jack Abramoff’s expense. He was saved in 2006 by the fact that his opponent was a kind of wacky conspiracy theorist. This time he will face Suzanne Kosmas, a former state representative.
Meanwhile, former Alaska House Minority Leader Ethan Berkowitz has announced a run for Rep. Don Young’s seat. The ethically challenged Don Young is weak now, but he’ll be weaker still after he gets done fighting off a primary challenge from former mayor of Kodiak Island Borough Gabrielle LaDoux.
And the possibility of completely wiping the Republicans of Minnesota out of their congressional delegation has become real with the retirement of Jim Ramstad in the 3rd District, the entry of Iraq War Veteran Steve Sarvi in the 2nd District, and the entry of El Tinklenberg into the 6th.
In New Mexico it is possible that both Republican congresspeople will leave their seats open to compete in the senate primary to replace Pete Domenici. And, while I actually believe in Don Wiviott and hope he wins the Democratic primary, the Dems may score a more solid recruit in New Mexico Lt. Gov. Diane Denish. We do need more women in Congress, so…
If you want to hear some balancing news…you know something good on the Republican side?
Sorry. Out of luck.
So triumphalist tonight, Booman. Good new to hear though.
FL-24. Clint Curtis. He accused the Republicans of voting fraud involving electronic voting machines.
Wooo! Some conspiracy. Who’da thunk up something like that wacky idea?
Can we retire “conspiracy theory” as a term used in civil discourse? How about “Curtis alleged a criminal conspiracy to hack electronic voting machines…” or some such thing? Right about now people branded conspiracy theorists have a better track record than the people writing op-eds at the Washington Post. I have no idea if Curtis was a good candidate or if his allegations were true, but these days “conspiracy theorist” too often means “thinking about things I’m too afraid to think about.” Using the term says more about the user of the term than the target of the epithet.
but he is a conspiracy theorist. His whole campaign was built on his theory of a conspiracy to mess with the voting machines and his allegation that he was fired for his role in it. I read his stuff because I was interested in all allegations of voter fraud and I don’t find him very credible. In any case, he was caricatured quite successfully as a disgruntled man with a vendetta.
“Disgruntled man with a vendetta” works for me. Or “bad candidate”.
This points towards why I resent the term, from Wiki:
“In an early essay by Daniel Pipes “adapted from a study prepared for the CIA”, Pipes attempts to pin down what beliefs distinguish ‘the conspiracy mentality’ from ‘more conventional patterns of thought’: appearances deceive; conspiracies drive history; nothing is haphazard; the enemy always gains; power, fame, money, and sex account for all…”
Maybe it’s just that I’d prefer you not use the terminology and belief system of the Daniel Pipeses of the world when you dismiss someone. After all, we know that appearances never deceive, conspiracies never drive history, everything is haphazard (that’s why all those assassinations were done by lone nuts, it was all random)… Not sure of his other points, but power and money do seem to have a lot to do with things.
I can list plenty of scandals over my life where the CIA’s never more than a few steps away. It’s just nice to know that Iran-contra and any number of other things were random events.
There is a reason why racists use slanderous names for racial and ethnic targets. It is to belittle them, to lessen their value. I’ve had plenty of conversations over my with racists who claimed the ultimate justification, “Well, he is a N—–!” The term “conspiracy theorist” began being used in earnest in the press regarding researchers looking into the JFK assassination. It was necessary for the people in power to diminish people who questioned the official version of events as fruitcakes wearing tinfoil hats so that the general population wouldn’t believe them.
Please don’t help Daniel Pipes et al quash people who question power.
My point was to dismiss him.
I wouldn’t be holding my breath there. Nor for VA-01. If we win one of the two, it would be big, big, big.
MA-05 we should win going away. Right now, Tsongas is up by 10.