All About Timing: Both GOP Senators Endorse Marsha Blackburn
Posted on July 14, 2008 at 11:45 amFrom a Vote Marsha presser:
United States Senators Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker today announced their endorsement of Congressman Marsha Blackburn for re-election to Congress in Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District.
“I enjoy working with Marsha, who has become an effective member of Congress. I was glad to make a contribution last year in support of her re-election,” Alexander said.
Also citing her effectiveness, Sen. Corker said, “Congressman Marsha Blackburn has been an effective representative for the 7th District. Since being sworn in, I have enjoyed working with her on a number of issues and look forward to continue serving with her and focusing on ways to strengthen our state and our country.”
Rep. Blackburn is honored and humbled to have the support of the state’s distinguished Senators. “Sen. Lamar Alexander and Sen. Bob Corker represent Tennessee well and are true statesmen. I look forward to continuing to work with them in Congress to lower taxes, end wasteful spending, and descend our rights and family values,” Blackburn said.
In Compliance: TNGOP YouTube Not On Their Site — Never Was
Posted on May 21, 2008 at 8:51 amSharon Cobb wants to know why the TNGOP’s “Proud” video is still “up” after Senator Corker asked that it be removed. Post Politics contacted Senator Corker’s office this morning and was told that they would be saying “nothing new” on the subject. TNGOP’s spokesman Bill Hobbs also had no comment on the situation.
One reason the video might still be up, however, is due to semantics. The Corker statement reads as follows:
“After the Republican National Committee damaged our campaign with their infamous ‘Call Me’ ad - which we immediately denounced - we have strongly encouraged the national party and state parties to absolutely refrain from getting involved in negative personal campaigning, and we have asked the state party to remove their You Tube ad from their Web site. Republicans will be in much better shape if we spend our time focused on issues like reducing federal spending, lowering the cost of health care and creating a coherent energy policy.”
Key words here are “their website” meaning, one would assume, the TNGOP website. And sure enough, the video is not there, never was.
Linked from there? Sure. Embedded there? No. The video is on YouTube’s website, the TNGOP’s channel, yes, but YouTube’s website.
So, if you wanted to parse words, which certain folks on both sides might be inclined to do, one could say that the TNGOP is technically in compliance with Senator Corker’s directive.
UPDATE: To be clear, neither the Office of Senator Bob Corker nor the TNGOP offered up the semantic argument. That argument is merely a hypothetical conjured up by your humble blogger.
TNGOP’s Controversial Obama Video Features Former Strip Club Owner Expressing His Pride In America
Posted on May 20, 2008 at 7:58 amAndy Sher, at the end of an obligatory article on the controversy and Senatorial rebukes set off by the Tennessee Republican Party’s YouTube missive welcoming Michelle Obama to Nashville, reveals some surprising information regarding one of the “regular Americans” discussing the reasons for their pride in America in the now infamous video.
Along with other common folk, such as former state house candidate Juan Borges and a legislative staffer of state Senator Mae Beavers, one of the Americans featured in the video is a Mr. Bob Pope. Mostly known for being the namesake of many Nashville gun shows, Pope, in the early to mid 90s had a financial interest in yet another controversial business taking advantage of the constitutional liberties America provides:
One person featured in the video is Bob Pope, a Nashville-area businessman. Mr. Hobbs described Mr. Pope as a “big Second Amendment guy, runs a big gun show.”
On the GOP video, Mr. Pope, who runs Bob Pope’s Gun Shows, says, “I’m Bob Pope, and I’m proud to be an American, because mainly of the First Amendment, the right to worship God anywhere I choose to, and the Second Amendment, I get the right to keep and bear arms.”
In 1994, Mr. Pope came under criticism from state Democrats after running a full-page Nashville newspaper ad attacking statewide Democratic candidates’ stances on gun rights.
Democrats at the time contended that Mr. Pope had an ownership interest in a Nashville topless dance bar, Bob’s Gold Club. In an October 1994 interview with the then-Chattanooga Times, Mr. Pope acknowledged having a financial interest in the club.
“I am not in the direct management of it,” Mr. Pope said at the time, noting he put up money for the club four years previously as an investor.
Efforts to reach Mr. Pope on Monday through a cell phone listed on his gun show Web site were unsuccessful. Bob’s Gold Club, meanwhile, is no longer listed in telephone directories.
Asked if he had known of Mr. Pope’s 1990s’ ties to a nude dance bar, Mr. Hobbs said no.
“I’d have to know more details about the story,” Mr. Hobbs said of whether he would have used Mr. Pope in the video had he known of the connection.
While the “leave me alone” coalition has a strong history inside the Republican Party, the TNGOP has not really been known for its laissez faire attitude on moral issues.
Moderate Senators Corker and Alexander have already rebuked the state party for this video. Will this new revelation about Bob Pope lead those on the theocratic right to express their misgivings as well?
SEE ALSO:
Munday’s Mouth
Enclave
Chairman Smith, Tear Down That YouTube: Corker Calls For The TNGOP To Swallow Their “Pride”
Posted on May 19, 2008 at 5:50 pmIn the last few minutes, I received a stronger version of a statement released by Senator Bob Corker’s office in reaction to the Tennessee Republican Party’s efforts in welcoming Michelle Obama to Nashville. In the updated version, Todd Womack conveys that a request has been made by Corker’s office to take down the YouTube:
“After the Republican National Committee damaged our campaign with their infamous ‘Call Me’ ad - which we immediately denounced - we have strongly encouraged the national party and state parties to absolutely refrain from getting involved in negative personal campaigning, and we have asked the state party to remove their You Tube ad from their Web site. Republicans will be in much better shape if we spend our time focused on issues like reducing federal spending, lowering the cost of health care and creating a coherent energy policy.”
Senator Lamar Alexander has also rebuked TNGOP for their guerrilla video tactics.
The YouTube video in question, entitled “Proud”, features snippets of former Republican legislative candidates, GOP General Assembly staffers and gun show proprietors talking about why they are proud of America interspersed with clips from a Michelle Obama speech in which she declared that “for the first time” she was proud of this country based on its embrace of her husband’s candidacy.
As of this posting, the video still appears on the TNGOP’s YouTube channel.
SEE ALSO: Bill Hobbs, communications director for the TNGOP, cites the liberal media to back his claim that candidate spouses are fair game.
Tennessee’s Republican Senators Rebuke TNGOP’s Tactics [UPDATED]
Posted on at 2:56 pmThe office of Senator Bob Corker has today echoed the statements of Barack Obama regarding the Tennessee GOP’s attack on Michelle Obama.
When asked how the Senator viewed the Tennessee Republican Party’s dredging up of an old comment regarding Michelle Obama’s pride in our country and Barack Obama’s subsequent response that the TNGOP was “low class” and should “lay off his wife”, Senator Corker’s Chief of Todd Womack responded with the following statement:
“After what the Republican National Committee did to our campaign with their infamous ‘Call Me’ ad - which we immediately denounced - we have strongly encouraged the national party and state parties to absolutely refrain from getting involved in negative personal campaigning, and we have asked the state party to remove their You Tube ad from their Web site. Republicans will be in much better shape if we spend our time focused on issues like reducing federal spending, lowering the cost of health care and creating a coherent energy policy.”
These words are similar to comments made by Senator Corker in the Washington Post laying blame on the RNC’s infamous ad for putting at risk his close 2006 election campaign with Congressman Harold Ford, Jr.
The request by Corker for the state party to refrain from getting involved in this type of negative campaigning also brings to mind, of course, an earlier episode in TNGOP history.
Back in February of this year, Senator Lamar Alexander, Senator John McCain, the RNC and other prominent Republican politicians called into question another TNGOP press release on the Obama family.
The release titled “Anti-Semites for Obama” which, in addition to calling attention to Obama’s alleged “anti-semitic ties”, used Obama’s middle name in an inflammatory manner and displayed a picture of the Senator in Somali tribal wear misidentified as Muslim garb.
“Anti-Semites for Obama” was removed from the TNGOP website only after repeated calls to do so by the state’s senior Senator, Lamar Alexander.
UPDATE: A statement from Senator Lamar Alexander’s spokesman, Lee Pitts:
“There are probably better ways to communicate our pride in America, and we need to focus on those.”
UPDATE II: The Corker statement has been updated with a request for the removal of the YouTube.
Like What Ya Did There
Posted on May 16, 2008 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.”
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.
Steve Gill Would Disagree
Posted on April 21, 2008 at 11:24 amSenator Bob Corker on one of his Senate colleagues:
“I love Bernie Sanders. Bernie is a socialist, and that’s not a description; that’s a noun. I love him. He is the only socialist in the Senate.”
Time To Blame The Donuts
Posted on at 7:49 amColby Sledge reports that during an appearance at Vanderbilt University, Tom “Captain Awesome” Lee and Michael Powell, former operatives for Harold Ford, Jr. pointed to the lack of support for their man in the suburbs as the reason for their man’s loss in 2006:
During a panel that was supposed to be about how the media is covering this year’s campaign, Lee and Powell spoke pretty candidly about how Ford lost to Sen. Bob Corker because of the suburbs — particularly in Williamson and Sumner Counties, and even in areas that had previously supported Democratic candidates.
In counties around the state’s major cities, they said, their campaign lost two points from voters who supported John Kerry in 2004.
Was it really the donut counties that kept Ford from victory or was it simply that he did not, in the end, get the historic turn out from his base in West Tennessee that he needed to match the Republican stronghold of East Tennessee?
Home Invasion Or Not, A Deadline Is A Deadline
Posted on at 7:00 amChattanooga Times Free Press reporter Herman Wang finds the time to file the story he was working on when his home got invaded on the buzz of a possible Phil Bredesen Veep run as well as other Tennessee connections to the Vice-Presidential search on both sides of the aisle:
Ten Mile, Tenn., native and Washington attorney A.B. Culvahouse Jr. is consulting Sen. McCain in his vice president search, according to The Associated Press.
Other Tennessee and Georgia lawmakers offered other names they would like to see considered as vice president.
Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and Rep. Nathan Deal, R-Ga., said they favor having former presidential candidate Mitt Romney on the Republican ticket, citing his business experience and tenure as a former Massachusetts governor.
Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., said former Rep. J.C. Watts and former presidential candidate and Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson should be on Sen. McCain’s short list.
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