The Deportation Of Criminal Aliens
Posted on May 16, 2008 at 2:20 pmTim “Over The Top” Chavez lumps in two completely different types of Republicans and their support of a rather mild form of immigration restrictionism in a post containing this line:
The 287(g) deportation program in Nashville has produced some of the most inhumane treatment of people in this nation since the Civil Rights movement days and the internment of Japanese-American families during World War II.
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Photos Of Democrats
Posted on at 1:54 pmR. Neal has an extensive report on Knox County’s Truman Day.
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Harold Ford, Jr. To Meet The Press
Posted on at 1:38 pmJohn Rodgers reports that Junior has parlayed his new gig on cable into a guest appearance in “the show.”
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Compare And Contrast
Posted on at 1:28 pmBrendan Loy compares maps showing superdelegate strength with those showing primary strength and notices some similarities.
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Killing The Disease With More Disease
Posted on at 1:23 pmBruce Barry begs to differ with some fundamental premises in Fred Thompson’s latest blogging efforts:
Let me see if I have this right, F-man: Eight years of a staunchly anti-liberal, anti-secular administration (abetted by six years of an obsequious Congress) yields unrestrained growth of government, a ravaging of the separation of powers and a willful disregard for civil liberties, and you think liberalization and secularization are the paramount threats to freedom and government efficiency? So what are they putting in the water up there on Planet Delusion?
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Conservative Democrat Fights Doesn’t Want To Fight Fair
Posted on at 12:38 pmJim Tomasik cites Democratic Congressman Dan Boren of Oklahoma as a model in his quest to defeat Congressman Marsha Blackburn:
Is it not a little odd that a Democrat congressman supports the FairTax which is born out of capitalism while our Republican Marsha Blackburn supports a flat income tax that is born from socialism?
As we learned last Tuesday with Mississippi’s special election, Republicans do not own conservative thinking.
I implore Congressman Blackburn to Co-sponsor the FairTax act bill HR-25.
Marsha Blackburn tells the Republican machine that the Mississippi special election should be a wake up call to Republicans in Washington DC. Republicans are now worried about their message. Maybe they should start worrying about conservative democrats making the GOP irrelevant.
Wake up Marsha.
I am a conservative democrat running for Congress against Blackburn. I, like Dan Boren, want to take the burden of government off the backs of small businesses.
What Part Of Red China Are You From Anyway?
Posted on at 12:24 pmRutherford County’s Blue Raider Station provides us some clips from Murfreesboro police officers and public officials on plans to ban fireworks in Nashville’s growing exurb metropolis.
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Never Again, Not Here
Posted on at 12:20 pmJust because California has legalized gay marriage doesn’t mean Bill Hobbs is ready to raise the white flag in the culture wars:
But that doesn’t mean there aren’t liberals in Tennessee would very much like to legalize gay marriage. State Rep. Sherry Jones, D-Nashville, told The Tennessean, “I don’t think the people in this state have come around that far yet.
Tennessee’s constitution not only doesn’t recognize gay marriage, it explicitly rejects same-sex marriages from other states or countries, calling them “void and unenforceable in this state.” Twenty-six other states have similar laws.
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Frankly, He Doesn’t Give A Damn
Posted on at 12:17 pmDavid Oatney does not appreciate Senator Mike Williams use of his legislative postal privileges:
Now Mike Williams sends out what amounts to a campaign tract and uses our money for it since he can’t raise his own.
The Last Day Of The Legislative Session Is Tuesday
Posted on at 12:11 pmAt least that’s what leaders are saying. Reporter Cara Kumari, she’s not so sure:
Both the House and the Senate are due back in session on Tuesday at 9:00am. They swear up and down that this going to be the last day…but then again, both Naifeh and Ramsey were sure on Monday that they would have the budget passed yesterday.
You Gotta Know Your History, Son
Posted on at 12:09 pmSean Braisted has a large-type beef with folks comparing Barack Obama with Adlai Stevenson:
I was telling some friends last night, my biggest pet peeve is historical references that have no basis in history.
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Like What Ya Did There
Posted on at 12:05 pmThe Tennessee Democratic Part deftly melds Bob Corker’s admissions about his 2006 Senate campaign with the actions of the Tennessee Republican Party yesterday in a nifty little release:
Sen. Bob Corker today dubbed his own 2006 campaign advertisements against U.S. Rep. Harold Ford, Jr. “grotesque.” Now, do the junior and senior senators from Tennessee have the courage to halt the Tennessee Republican Party’s deplorable tactics asked Tennessee Democratic Party Chairman Gray Sasser.
“TNGOP Chairwoman Robin Smith and company have tarnished the reputation of the entire state with their grotesque political attacks: they have perpetuated lies about a candidate’s religion, they have attacked a candidate’s wife, they have equated the war in Iraq to a religious crusade, and they have defied the request of Senator Lamar Alexander to remove at least one of those claims from their website,” Sasser continued.
“It’s high time for Senators Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander to put a stop to the Tennessee Republican Party’s shameful tactics; they are beneath the dignity of voters- Republicans, Democrats, and Independents- in the state of Tennessee.”
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Meeting Michelle
Posted on at 11:23 amNashvillest has an exclusive report from yesterday’s closed to media fundraiser featuring Michelle Obama:
Thursday, March 15th Mrs.Obama appeared at a fundraiser for her husband, Senator and presidential hopeful Barack Obama right here in Nashville, TN. A small crowd of roughly 100 people, including 2 undecided superdelegates, arrived at a private West Nashville residence to greet Mrs. Obama in support of her husband’s campaign and to hear her remarks.
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Open Season On Cindy McCain?
Posted on at 10:43 amThe Southern Beale thinks the Tennessee Republican Party may have opened a can of worms criticizing Michelle Obama:
So, let’s get this straight. Michelle Obama made a remark at a speech that quite obviously wasn’t supposed to be taken literally. Still it causes massive pearl-clutching among the flag-wavers and pin-wearers on the right who demand empty displays of patriotism to reaffirm their belief we are the greatest nation evah.
Cindy McCain is a drug addict who supported her habit with narcotics theft. Our nation’s prisons are full of men and women who have done less. Yet because she is rich and powerful she gets off scott-free.
And no one in the media will mention this because the Republicans will say candidates’ spouses are off limits.
Vietnam Jungle Boots Optional
Posted on at 10:31 amBob Tuke invites bloggers to join him on a leg of his “march” on Saturday, May 17, 2008 at 9:30 a.m.:
Bob is continuing his march across Tennessee in his hometown of Nashville. Last week’s march in Memphis was a tremendous success, and Bob would like to extend a special invitation to local bloggers to join him on the first leg of his Nashville march, which will begin in front of Municipal Auditorium, up the northern face of Capitol Hill, and down the Walk of Counties at Bicentennial Mall State Park (Total distance: 1.25 miles). Bob will make remarks and answer questions during the march.
Please contact Chris Song at chris@tukefortennessee.com if you are planning to attend.
Tuke began his “march” on May 10 in Memphis starting at the Mississippi River and ending at Cordova. Now all of a sudden he will be in Nashville tomorrow? Cordova is 200 miles away. Did Tuke walk 200 miles in seven days? That’s a about a marathon a day.
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Your Moment Of Inflammatory Partisanship
Posted on at 10:15 amGoldnI wants to know why John McCain hates Israel.
Certified Gangster
Posted on at 10:11 amKen Whitehouse has a great news analysis regarding the Sounds management upheaval. My favorite part: revisiting Bill Purcell’s Tony Soprano moment.
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Gun Nuts Don’t Feel Like They Have One To Their Head
Posted on at 9:54 amInstapundit reports bad news for Republican from the NRA Convention in Louisville:
Ten years ago, gun rights were under siege. Now the two Democratic presidential candidates are bending over backward to try to paint themselves as pro-gun. It’s a lie, of course. But it’s a lie that shows where the political balance of power, er, lies on this issue. The Democrats are electing new members of Congress, too — but, again, they’re running as pro-gun. People here, I think, feel like they’ve got the momentum regardless of what happens in November.
That’s bad news for the Republicans, in a way. Scared gun-rights people vote Republican, and work hard to get Republican candidates elected. Confident gun-rights people figure that they can force Democrats to protect their rights, too.
Blog Post Title Of The Day
Posted on at 9:52 amMichael Brendan Dougherty breaks it down.
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The Kelsey Stands Alone
Posted on at 9:42 amAdam Groves shares the news of Rep. Brian Kelsey lone vote against lowering the eligible GPA for students seeking lottery scholarships:
State Rep. Brian Kelsey was the only vote against the state’s comprehensive education bill which both lowers GPA requirements for students to retain their lottery scholarships. The measure sponsored by Education Chairman Les Winningham, a Huntsville Democrat, was approved 92-1. The House version keeps the GPA requirement at 2.75, while the Senate version only allows the lower GPA for one additional year past the freshman year. State Rep. Brian Kelsey on why he was the lone no-vote: “If we’re going to have the best and brightest, then we need to keep the standards high.”
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Going Against The Way Things Go Down
Posted on at 9:25 amKatie Allison Granju wonders whether Bill Hobbs is making a mess of things by mixing his roles as insurgent neoconservative blogger with that of of his day job — Communications Director of the Tennessee Republican Party:
My guess is that state GOP insiders are getting increasingly uncomfortable with this stuff. After all, everyone knows there’s a role inside political parties and campaigns for the Karl Rove guy - that guy who quietly and stealthily drops the bombs on behalf of the party or campaign, without getting party leaders’ hands too dirty by tying their names directly to the attacks. But that guy generally keeps a very low profile. You probably don’t know his name, or even where his office is located. He’s the party hitman, and like all good hitmen, he keeps his head down and moves through crowds unnoticed.
Bill Hobbs certainly breaks the mold of the traditional party spokesman and there is no doubt that he has his detractors who hold true to the old ways but there is one thing you must admire about Hobbs: his stubborn resistance to conformity.
Let’s face it, most of us, in the face of criticism, when confronted by the disdain of the “powers that be”, will back down. We will relent. We will conform. We will adapt to the wishes of those more powerful than us.
Even if we believe we are doing right, even if we are confident that the path we have chosen is the one of ultimate success, that twinge of doubt along with the cacophony of criticism will cause our confidence to wilt. We will go with the flow, we will not buck. We will convince ourselves that the reward is simply not worth the risk.
There is a well-worn, traditional way to be a party spokesman. We all know what it is. Bill Hobbs knows what it is. But Hobbs, he has a different way. And when people tell him he is doing it wrong and that he cannot go against the “way things work” he says, “Screw that mess” and follows his own path.
Say what you want about the man’s ideology, say what you want about the man’s tactics, both of which may be abhorrent to you but what you cannot say is that the man lacks courage. Bill Hobbs has looked into the face of adversity and power and risked annihilation because he believes he has a job to do and he’s gonna do it, no matter what anyone says.
How many amongst us have done that? Not many, I imagine.
SEE ALSO:
Newscoma
Enclave
Crone Speaks
Southern Beale
Corker For Veep?
Posted on at 8:04 amTommy Oliver, a conservative critic of the Senator during the 2006 Republican primary, says why not:
I doubt that McCain will be calling Senator Corker to be his running mate anytime soon, since Corker has been extremely critical of the Senator from AZ from time to time, but if things don’t work out in 2008 for Republicans, Corker is a man that they should give a long look towards in 2012 as a possible candidate. He has business credentials that are almost as strong as Mitt Romney’s, as he was a self made multi million dollar CEO of the largest construction company in Tennessee, which he expanded into a successful real estate business. He has executive experience in running a government, and was successful. While mayor of Chattanooga from 2001 to 2005, he cleaned up the city. He also served as the Commissioner of Finance and Administration for Tennessee from 1995-2001. By 2012, He will have spent six years as a Senator, and is establishing the conservative voting record to brag about. He will have had experience in both the legislative and executive branch to match, and since he was elected, he’s been talking so much sense conservatively that Fred Thompson would be proud. Lastly, he’s still only fifty-three, and could be around for a while.
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Senator Bob Corker Calls His 2006 Campaign Ads “Grotesque”
Posted on at 7:27 amE.J. Dionne catches Senator Bob Corker in a candid, reflective mood while reminiscing about his 2006 campaign against Harold Ford, Jr.:
Facing a tough contest against Harold Ford Jr., a young, telegenic African American congressman, Corker says he watched his campaign flounder as his consultants ran television ads that tried to paint his opponent, a moderately conservative Democrat, as a “liberal.”
“They were grotesque,” Corker said of his own commercials in an interview this week. “It was just the same old stuff.” By contrast, he said, Ford’s spots were “fresh and refreshing.”
Corker, the former mayor of Chattanooga, called in new consultants and switched to a more positive campaign. “We kept the race about Tennessee,” he said. “We focused on my life, on who I was as a person.” Independent voters who had been attracted to Ford started moving Corker’s way.
Yet the national party almost blew the race near the end, Corker said, by running an ad that many saw as racist. The commercial, aired without Corker’s knowledge, included a young, blonde, white actress declaring that she had met Ford “at the Playboy party.” It ended with her whispering the words: “Harold, call me.”
Corker was furious, and not just because his six-point lead melted into a four-point deficit. The party eventually pulled the radioactive ad, and Corker won narrowly. The senator has advised Republican colleagues in tough races this year to resist national party ads that mention their opponents.
Hold Your Horses
Posted on at 7:18 amChris Sanders praises California for recognizing gay marriage but is not naive about the reality of it happening here in Tennessee:
Most of the direct effects of the California Supreme Court’s ruling overturning the state’s same-sex marriage ban have taken the form of raising awareness of the issue. That’s probably about as far as things can go. By statute and by constitutional amendment, marriage in Tennessee is going to be between a man and a woman for the foreseeable future, as it will be in many states.
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Leatherwood Calls “North American Union” Fears A “Legitimate Concern”
Posted on at 7:15 amAlphaPatriot has an extensive report from Tom Leatherwood’s speech before a meeting of the Tennessee Firearm Association in Memphis. Leatherwood is a Republican 7th District challenger to Congressman Marsha Blackburn:
Questioner cited NAFTA, CAFTA, the UN, and asked if Leatherwood was familiar with the North American Union concept. Leatherwood responded that this is a legitimate concern. He cited the example of boiling a frog one degree at a time, which is what he said is happening to our sovereignty and our liberty, “one ill-advised law and bad treaty at a time”. He said that the people have to get involved, and they have been quiet too long. He believes that we are just a few short years away from going from the greatest country in the world to just another has-been country. On the other hand, Leatherwood feels the same energy that was present in 1992 when he beat a 27-year incumbent and again in 1994 when Republicans took Congress.
Leatherwood said that we need strict constitutionalists on the Supreme Court to strip away freedom-eroding laws and return us to the concepts on which this country was founded.
Tennessee U.S. Senate Candidate Willing To Sacrifice Senate Majority Leader Over Nuclear Power
Posted on at 7:02 amDemocratic U.S. Senate candidate Mike Padgett is apparently not afraid to take maverick stances and buck his own party when he needs to. According to Joe Lance, Padgett believes in nuclear power and also believes in taking on the Democratic Majority Leader in order to create workable plans for its expansion:
He also indicated a preference to keep nuclear power at the forefront of our ongoing plans—and not a little distaste for Nevada Senator Harry Reid’s efforts to keep radioactive by-products from being deposited under Yucca Mountain. “This issue is bigger than Harry Reid; it’s the nation. If it takes the (elimination) of a man of my own party [from the Senate],” he flatly declared, “then we don’t have a choice.”
Yucca Mountain, a ridge line in the south-central part of the U.S. state of Nevada, is located in a desert on federal land adjacent to the Nevada Test Site in Nye County, Nevada.
Senator Harry Reid of Nevada opposes the Yucca Mountain Repository, a U.S. Department of Energy deep geological repository storage facility for spent nuclear reactor fuel and other radioactive waste, which sits on the land. Since he has become Majority Leader, Reid has used his considerable power to block any progress in nuclear waste storage at the Repository.
Mike Padgett, a former Knox County Clerk, is running against Former Tennessee Democratic Party Chair Bob Tuke and five other candidates in the Democratic primary in order to face off against Senator Lamar Alexander in the fall.
UPDATE: The Padgett campaign issues a clarifying statement on the candidate’s views regarding Yucca Mountain and Senator Harry Reid:
“Nuclear power is but one of our energy options, and it shouldn’t be ruled out as long as it is economical and safe, U.S. Senate Candidate Mike Padgett said Friday.
“But a big part of the safety question is how to dispose of the waste, and I don’t feel like Yucca Mountain should be off the table,” Padgett said. “I respectfully disagree with Leader Harry Reid on this, but that is a far cry from calling for his head.
“As we try to do what’s best for the American people, there’s always room for respectful debate among Democrats, and I look forward to being part of that debate and to working with Senator Reid.”
SEE ALSO:
Vibinc
Like A Comic Book
Posted on at 6:36 amAndrew Sullivan asks: “Did McCain Make Obama Possible?”
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Institutional Knowledge Not Necessarily Trickling Down
Posted on at 6:30 amMike Jameson tells the City Paper that rookie city councilman have to fend for themselves their first days on the council for the most part:
Jameson said it’s a more helpful group of Council members as opposed to when he came aboard.
“I walked in and thought some of these guys who I admired are going to put their arm around me, belly up to the bar and say, ‘This is how things work,’” Jameson said. “It’s a sad state of affairs, but that’s not how things go. I had a friend in the state Legislature who expected the same treatment and never got it. The older [members] may not be so interested in you learning what he knows and outshining him.”
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Gun To The Head
Posted on at 6:22 amRep. Rob Briley wonders how “voluntary” the Governor’s buyouts of state employees are really gonna be:
Gov. Bredesen has said if he does not get enough volunteers, mandatory layoffs will be required. That prompted Rep. Rob Briley, D-Nashville, to question if the plan is being done “really with a gun to your head,” a suggestion rejected both by a top Bredesen administration official and some senior House Democrats.
MORE: John Rodgers
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Big Brother Deferred
Posted on at 6:17 amJim Grinstead reports:
The Real ID Act was supposed to be in force May 11, but all 50 states and the District of Columbia were given extensions to comply. That’s despite action on the part of 17 state legislatures to say they won’t approve the law, even if the federal government foots the bill.
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