WaPo speaks to Rand Paul victim

The WaPo has some damaging information for Rand Paul. It's called THE TRUTH. The lady that was victimized/hazed/whatever spoke to the Washington Post about the ad.

The woman, who again asked for anonymity because she's a clinical psychologist who works with former members of the military, including Tea Partyers, said she was surprised that Paul is still refusing to acknowlege his past views and the college antics they spawned.

"My whole point in sharing [the episode] was that Randy used to be a different person with different views that have radically changed, and he's not acknowledging that," she told me. "That is why I shared it in the first place."

She added that his college years and views should raise questions "as to how genuine he is about his beliefs now. I have a hard time seeing how someone who espouses beliefs that he used to would turn around and become a conservative Christian."

She confirmed the ad's accuracy, and wondered aloud why Paul doesn't just admit what occured and move on.

"Yes, he was in a secret society, yes, he mocked religion, yes, the whole Aqua Buddha thing happened," she said. "There was a different side to him at one time and he's pretending that it never existed. If he would just acknowledge it, it would all go away and it wouldn't matter anymore."[...]

She concluded: "If he would just acknowledge that he had been a prankful and crazy college kid who at one point in time shared some different views, I think that would diffuse the whole thing."

Hat tip to Joe.

That controversial ad...

Listen, I'm not saying it was right or wrong to air that ad but the facts are facts: Rand Paul has never denied doing what he has been alleged to have done. In watching last night's debate, the origainal ad, and the response ad, I did not see where Jack Conway attacked Rand Paul's religious beliefs. What I did see was Jack Conway legitimately attacking what Rand Paul did while in college.

How is it any different than when reporters asked then-Governor Bill Clinton, a candidate for president at the time, if he ever inhaled or smoked pot?

To the critics of this ad, I ask that question: Would you have criticized reporters that asked such a thing to Clinton at the time? It's a fair question.

If Rand Paul refuses to debate Jack Conway next week, it's because Rand Paul is a chicken and a coward.

Here's the link to the story from Page One this past August.

Meghan McCain has it right...

Meghan McCain got it right when she appeared on ABC's Sunday political show, This Week.

US senator John McCain's daughter said today that Delaware Senate nominee Christine O'Donnell, a Tea Party favourite, is "seen as a nut job".

Christine O'Donnell "is making a mockery of running for public office", Meghan McCain said of her father's fellow Republican, who recently ran an ad declaring: "I'm not a witch."

Appearing on ABC's This Week, McCain said O'Donnell, who won the Senate nomination in Delaware, "has no real history, no real success in any kind of business".

"And what that sends to my generation is (the message that) one day, you can just wake up and run for Senate, no matter how [much of a] lack of experience you have," said McCain, 26, author of the new book, Dirty Sexy Politics.[...]

"It scares me for a lot of reasons, and I just know in my group of friends, it just turns people off, because she's seen as a nut job," McCain said.

Herald-Leader endorses Jack Conway

The Herald-Leader endorses Jack Conway for the United States Senate.

A stark contrast in choices faces Kentucky voters in this year's U.S. Senate campaign between Attorney General Jack Conway and Bowling Green ophthalmologist Rand Paul — both of whom the Herald-Leader endorsed in the primary.

Conway is a moderate Democrat who has built a commendable record of public service in a relatively short period of time.

As a staffer for former Gov. Paul Patton, Conway was involved in drafting the late 1990s reform of Kentucky's higher education system. He also helped rewrite the state's criminal justice code. His record as attorney general includes significant success in fighting Medicaid fraud and cyber-crime. He has also been a strong advocate for Kentucky's utility consumers.

Conway has a clear understanding of the issues confronting this state and nation. Although we disagree with him on some details of energy legislation and extending the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans, he presents a cogent, understandable defense of his position.

Most important, perhaps, Conway "gets" the benefits Kentucky derives from the federal government. He knows federal aid is important to dealing with the pressing problem of drug abuse and the trafficking and other crimes that accompany it. He understands that agricultural subsidies aren't just handouts to farmers, but also include school nutrition programs. He realizes the value Pell grants have in educating Kentucky's youth.

And Conway has a plan for turning what is now a jobless economic recovery into a job-creating recovery. He calls it a "hometown tax credit." It would give a tax break to small and medium-sized businesses for each new job they add. He would cap the cost to the federal government at $30 billion and pay for it by closing offshore tax loopholes.[...]

So, the stark choice for Kentucky voters is this: a moderate Democrat who understands Kentucky's problems and needs and has a plan for creating jobs versus an ideologue Republican/Tea Partier with no record, no understanding of the state and a chain saw for a plan.

By far, Jack Conway stands as the better prepared candidate to serve the best interests of Kentucky in the U.S. Senate.

Kentucky figures Spurrier out, beats South Carolina 31-28

With two huge interceptions and a fumble recovery on a punt return, Kentucky finally beat a Steve Spurrier-coached team and ended a ten-game losing streak to South Carolina.

In Joker We Trust.

Quote of the Day

"As the Attorney General, I'm always amused to get lecture in constitutional law from a self-certified opthamologist."
--Jack Conway in a debate against Rand Paul in Paducah, KY, October 14, 2010

Hardball coming to Louisville

Hardball with Chris Matthews will be in Louisville on Monday. They will be taping at the University of Louisville campus. Unfortunately, I can't find much information on it outside of Jack Conway appearing on the program.

Republicans want to impeach Obama?!?

Are you serious? The Republicans want to impeach President Obama?!? On what grounds?!?

Hear me now and believe me later: If Republicans win and maintain control of the House of Representatives, they are going to impeach President Obama. They won’t do it right away. And they won’t succeed in removing Obama. (You need 67 Senate votes.) But if Obama wins a second term, the House will vote to impeach him before he leaves office.[...]

A December poll found that 35 percent of Republicans already favor impeaching Obama, with just 48 percent opposed and the balance undecided. That is a large base of support to impeach Obama for literally anything at all.

Once Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Matt Drudge, and the like collectively decide that this or that incident represents an intolerable abuse of power by the Obama administration, the conservative base will go from supporting impeachment to demanding it. At that point, the acquiescence of the House GOP would become inevitable. Since Obama took office, whatever willingness the party establishment had to resist the impulses of its base has been submerged beneath a wave of right-wing primary challenges.

Will the right wing ever stop?!?

The elites

News that does not appear to be good comes via Taegon:

Mark Halperin: "With the exception of core Obama Administration loyalists, most politically engaged elites have reached the same conclusions: the White House is in over its head, isolated, insular, arrogant and clueless about how to get along with or persuade members of Congress, the media, the business community or working-class voters. This view is held by Fox News pundits, executives and anchors at the major old-media outlets, reporters who cover the White House, Democratic and Republican congressional leaders and governors, many Democratic business people and lawyers who raised big money for Obama in 2008, and even some members of the Administration just beyond the inner circle."

Nobody told Rand...

Nobody told Rand Paul that Republicans are notorious for saying one thing when it comes to family values and then completely doing the opposite.

I agree with Joe that Rand is going to backfire completely on his comments today.

Told of Clinton's comments by reporters at a campaign stop in Shelbyville on Monday afternoon, Paul responded by saying Clinton was "less than honorable."

"I'm not sure I would trust a guy who had had sexual relations with an intern," Paul said of Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky. "I mean, do you think he's an honorable person?

"They complain they want all these workplace rules. Do you think there ought to be a law against having, using the prerogatives of your position and your power, of your job, to have relations with an intern? I think that's disgusting. It gets to the point where we discount what he says. He showed himself less than honorable in office."

Case in point: Rand Paul brought in Sarah Palin for a fundraiser. Need I say more?

Moreover, Rand Paul says he would not accept contributions from senators that voted for the Wall Street bailouts. Next thing you know, he accepts their money.

And where the hell does Rand Paul believe he can attack Jack Conway on how Jack would have voted in 2002 for Iraq? When Jack made those comments in 2002, he was making them based on the known intelligence at the time. It was only AFTER the fact that Americans found out that Bush made up intelligence.

And when President Clinton did lie, no one died.

Jack Conway and Bill Clinton rally at UK

Sadly, I could not be there but Joe has video posted.

Jack Conway:




Bill Clinton:

Sorkin responds...

Aaron Sorkin responded to a commenter at comedy writer Ken Levine's blog with regards to the female characters in The Social Network. Good stuff.

Jewish Republicans afraid of Tea Party...

This article brings music to my ears. Why? It shows that Jewish Republicans are scared of the Tea Party uprising that is taking place within the Republican Party.

As the Tea Party wave sweeps across the nation’s political waters, Jewish Republicans are increasingly worried that the movement could wash away their hopes of winning over Jewish voters — even as leaders of the insurgency talk about expanded outreach to minorities, including Jews.

"The idea of the Tea Parties scares the hell out of the Jewish community, and I can’t tell you it’s unjustifiable in some cases,” said Fred Zeidman, a longtime Jewish Republican leader in Texas. “There are some candidates out there that are clearly unqualified; whether or not that hurts us, we just don’t know.”

So unqualified that the Republican Jewish Coalition, the central address for Jewish GOP activists, will not support some high-profile Republican candidates with Tea Party connections, starting with Delaware Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell.

Republican sources insist the problem is one of perception and media spin focusing on a handful of candidates with less-than-stellar credentials and a penchant for sometimes outrageous statements.[...]

“The Tea Party movement gives a public face to the fact that all moderation has been driven out of the Republican Party of today,” said David Harris, president of the National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC). “Inevitably, that just further drives away Jewish support.”[...]

Jews tend to be “rational, policy-oriented voters,” said Colby College political scientist L. Sandy Maisel, “and the Tea Party candidates generally do not fit into that category. It’s very clear Jews don’t go for anti-intellectual politics, which is what we’re seeing in a lot of states.”

On Israel, some Tea Party candidates have made strong statements of support, and there’s little evidence of hostility to the Jewish state in the emerging movement.

But the Tea Parties are overwhelmingly domestic in focus, with hints of traditional American isolationism — not surprising in a nation that’s been at war for the past nine years. Opposition to all foreign aid is a strong undercurrent in some campaigns, most notably the Senate campaign of GOP nominee Rand Paul in Kentucky.[...]

If the Tea Party continues to advance as a force in the GOP, “even many Jews who have moved in the direction of the Republicans will shift back to the Democrats,” said Colby College’s Maisel.

When I worked on reaching out to Jews in Florida during the 2008 [Obama] campaign, the single most effective communications strategy we had was talking to people about Sarah Palin,” said Mik Moore, public policy director for the Jewish Funds for Justice (and a Jewish Week board member). “She represented everything Jewish voters don’t like in terms of her qualifications for the job, her anti-intellectualism, her railing against ‘coastal elites’ as not being real Americans. And she is now widely seen as one of the leaders of the Tea Party.”[...]

While conceding that some Tea Party Republicans will get little Jewish support, he denied that that the insurgent movement will cut into Jewish Republican votes except in a few instances — including the Delaware and Kentucky Senate races where the RJC has taken the unusual step of refusing to endorse Tea Party-affiliated GOP nominees who he said are “clearly out of the mainstream.”

Just read the article.

Rick Sanchez...

The Forward has an editorial on the recent Rick Sanchez fiasco.

The self-immolation of former CNN anchor Rick Sanchez, fired October 1 after delivering a lengthy anti-Semitic rant during a radio interview, offers a depressing reminder of how terribly routine the public maligning of Jews has become in 21st-century America.

Perhaps it should not shock us that an educated individual in this day and age can still believe that Jews exercise some sort of malign, collective control over much of the media, as Sanchez asserted September 30 on Sirius Satellite Radio. Even so, it is alarming to learn that a mainstream network news anchor thinks it is acceptable to say so on the air. It is chilling, and chastening, to hear him laugh in mocking disbelief at the notion that Jews could be called a vulnerable minority. Something has changed.

As recently as a decade ago, open talk of Jewish conspiracies was understood to be taboo in polite society. In the perilous world of post-9/11 America, however, it is commonplace to hear ex-presidents and college deans rail defiantly against a shadowy, all-powerful Israel lobby that subverts the national interest. At some point, the line between policy critique and conspiracy-mongering disappears. Sanchez reached that point.

Sanchez’s defenders claim he fell victim to the bullying of this same powerful Jewish cabal. They claim the Jewish lobby stifles all criticism of itself, while bigots of every other stripe are permitted to rant away undisturbed. This would come as a surprise to Don Imus, the radio jock whose national program was canceled in 2007 after he insulted an all-black girls’ basketball team.

Cal Thomas on Secretariat

With Secretariat opening this weekend, it seemed appropriate that columnist Cal Thomas pen an article on the movie--WHICH WAS REALLY GOOD AND I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU SEE. Here's an excerpt:

Now we are in the midst of another national funk and there is a new cultural rescue boat coming just in time to save us from the flood of our current depression. It is a film called “Secretariat” and it is far more than entertainment; it is the artistic equivalent of a caffeine jolt, a Red Bull for the spirit.

The story of the 1973 Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing winner, “Secretariat” is “The Blind Side” meets “Chariots of Fire” meets “National Velvet.” It is “Annie” on four legs. It is not only a story about a powerful thoroughbred, but also the story of Penny Chenery Tweedy (played magnificently by Diane Lane with a strong supporting cast led by the hilarious John Malkovich). In the film, Tweedy refuses to take “no” and “can’t do” and “no one has ever done this before” as final answers.

Overcoming blatant sexism and condescension from a parade of men, along with opposition from her brother and the doubts of her husband, Penny has faith that her horse — Secretariat — can do what no horse had done in 25 years (and no other horse has done since “Affirmed” in 1978): win the Kentucky Derby and both the Preakness and Belmont Stakes, the latter by an astounding and unsurpassed 31 lengths.

“Secretariat” is one of those feel good movies Hollywood makes every now and then to remind us it does not have amnesia about real American values and what at least Middle America — sometimes derisively referred to as flyover territory — craves.

The sound team should get an Oscar, as should Lane, Malkovich and director Randall Wallace, whose previous films include “Braveheart,” “Pearl Harbor” and “The Man in the Iron Mask.” The film also deserves an Oscar nomination for best picture. Cinematographer Dean Semler’s close-ups make the audience feel as though it is riding the horse. The editing by John Wright is first-rate.

Critics of the formulaic and often violent and sex-drenched films that are the norm for Hollywood these days should support “Secretariat” by taking themselves and family members to see it. Nothing guarantees more films of this kind than to see it among the top grossing movies in Variety magazine.

If you are in a funk over the current state of political and economic affairs, you will come away feeling better after seeing “Secretariat.” You will also believe that you can overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles in your own life with the kind of determination and grit displayed by Penny Tweedy. Run, don’t walk to the nearest multiplex. Spread the word. You’ll believe again that anything is possible for Americans and America. “Secretariat” opens nationwide on Oct. 8.

Interesting...

Tony Curtis embraced his Jewish heritage late in life.

Roy "Doc" Halladay throws first postseason no-hitter since 1956!

Doc Halladay threw a no-hitter against the Cincinnati Reds tonight. It was the first post-season no-hitter since Don Larsen's perfect game in 1956.

I know many Reds fans read the blog but give Doc credit. He's a very good pitcher and no doubt, he is a Hall of Famer.

Halladay threw a perfect game on May 29, 2010.

Rahm has a soft side...

David Brooks has a nice op-ed on Rahm Emanuel.

By now everyone has an image of Rahm Emanuel. He’s the profanity-spewing political street-fighter. He’s the guy who once sent a dead fish to a political opponent. This past week, “Saturday Night Live” spoofed him as an abrasive pit bull. “On Friday, the White House released Rahm Emanuel back into the wild,” Seth Meyers joked during “Weekend Update.”

This image doesn’t square with the guy I’ve covered for the past decade. I began interviewing Emanuel when he was in the House, while he was building the Democratic majority. Then when he moved to the Obama White House, I was one of the many people on his long, long call list. He’d call a few times a week. The calls lasted from 45 seconds to two minutes, enough time for him to tout some speech or policy initiative, answer a question and then be off.

Every conversation, short or long, was a headlong rush. Rahm is always passionately promoting some policy idea. In Congress during the Bush era, he was pushing programs to boost America’s saving rate (which actually would have been a good thing in that debt-fueled decade). Over the past couple years he’s been boosting community colleges, education reform, innovation and job-creation schemes.

He’s like an urban cowboy poking his herd of cattle with a stick. Every head in the herd gets a poke every day. He’s willing to be a relentless noodge to keep the herd moving in the right direction.

In my experience, Rahm’s reputation for profanity and rage is vastly overstated. On several occasions I thought I was finally going to see him on the rampage. In March 2009, I wrote a column arguing that Obama was not the fiscal moderate he pretended to be. Rahm asked me to stop by his office that afternoon. I came wearing my asbestos underwear, but Rahm calmly made his case with graphs and charts.[...]

Over all, Rahm is a warmhearted Machiavellian. On the one hand, he is a professional strategist. He surveys the landscape and figures out how he can push or maneuver people into getting what he wants. He ran a disciplined White House.

On the other hand, he is not one of these cold-eyed tacticians who is always hedging his bets. He’s not one of these butter-wouldn’t-melt-in-his-mouth guys.

Any smart pat of butter would spot him at 100 yards and flee. That’s because Rahm is completely in touch with his affections and aversions. He knows who and what he loves — Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, the city of Chicago — and there is nothing hedged about his devotion to those things. He may be a professional tactician, but he speaks the language of loyalty and commitment, not the language of calculations and self-interest.

I’m writing this appreciation of Rahm because success has a way of depersonalizing its beneficiaries. From the moment kids are asked to subdue their passions in order to get straight As to the time they arrive at a company and are asked to work 70 hours a week climbing the ladder, people have an incentive to suppress their passions and prune their souls.

That’s especially true in Washington, a town with more than its fair share of former hall monitors, a place where politicians engage in these pantomime gestures of faux friendship and become promotable, hollowed-out caricatures of themselves.

But Rahm has somehow managed to remain true to his whole and florid self. He’s managed to preserve the patois of Chicago, the earthy freneticism of his Augie March upbringing.

He made some big mistakes: Trying to use the financial crisis as an opportunity to do everything at once. He can sometimes be harsh. But he has generally lived up to his ample heart. He gave up the chance to be speaker of the House because of his affection for Obama. He gave up the chief of staff job and returned to Chicago because that city is in his bones.

Vanessa Bayer's Miley Cyrus Show steals show

If you watch Saturday Night Live this weekend, you saw Vanessa Bayer's spot-on impression of teen sensation Miley Cyrus.

The Miley Cyrus Show was the first post-monologue sketch. Bryan Cranston played Kentucky native Billy Ray Cyrus. Interestingly enough, Johnny Depp was the guest (not the real one, Paul Brittain played him).

Rahm Emanuel Mayoral Race Update

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that former Congressman and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel has been putting a campaign team together.

Staff news first: Pete Giangreco is signed on as the direct mail consultant--though he will bring a wider portfolio to the campaign. Giangreco is a veteran of scores local, state and campaigns and was a key member of the Obama presidential campaign team. Giangreco is also advising Illinois Democratic Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias.

The manager will be Scott Fairchild. Fairchild bio...

Scott Fairchild has worked for Congressman Patrick Murphy (PA-08) since May of
2006. He is currently his Chief of Staff. Fairchild managed Murphy's first re-elect and his challenger race back in 2006. Additionally, he was a Senior Advisor to the Bill Foster for Congress campaign waged to reclaim Speaker Hastert's seat in 2008. After winning that race he helped manage Foster's transition to Congress.

AKPD--David Axelrod's old firm--will be the main consultants handling media and other matters. As I reported earlier, AKPD vice president of political affairs, Buffy Wicks--one of the nation's top grass roots organizers--a veteran of the Obama presidential campaign--will be a player on the Emanuel campaign.