It has all come down to this. As I am sure you all know, here in New Jersey Election Day is next Tuesday, November 3rd. So, right now, Jon Corzine and Loretta Weinberg need our help during this final stretch run. Your support and hard work could make the difference in one of the most important races in the country, and in the most important gubernatorial race I have seen in my lifetime.
This election is simply too important for anyone to sit on the sidelines. In tough times, Governor Corzine is standing up for New Jersey's families. He's worked hard to provide healthcare coverage for more children and protect property tax rebates for seniors and working families. Governor Corzine's investments in health care, green technology and education have shown that he is the leader New Jersey needs to get us through these difficult times.
The Corzine campaign just posted some delicious raw footage of Chris Christie standing up for his boo, George W. Bush. Before Bush was universally reviled (even by Republicans) as the worst president ever, a Mission Accomplished, skyrocketing deficit, no WMD's, Hurricane Katrina, village missing idiot abject failure, Chris Christie used to have a picture of himself and W. up in his office. Palsy walsy. You won't find that photo on Christie's website now. But there it is at the top of the video.
There was always something too snuggly about that cozy Bush circle that Christie wedged his way into. It was a circle jerk of patronage, political maneuvering and get-rich arrangements, but Christie's always denied that he got - or kept - his job on anything but his own merit. The reality is Christie raised googobs of cash for Bush, and in return got lifted from obscurity (and his own failure to win Freeholder re-election in maybe the most Republican place on Earth, Morris County) and plopped down gently at the US Attorney's office by benefactors way more powerful than he was. The kind of people that must be paid back. Once he was there, he used his office to go after Bob Menendez to boost Tom Kean Jr.'s failing campaign, prosecuted a suspiciously high number of Democrats, showered fellow Bush buddy John Ashcroft with a humongous contract, showed his political loyalty, and got rewarded, including campaign coaching from Karl Rove, a hugely unethical move - US Attorneys aren't supposed to even dream of partisan politics or political considerations, and the Justice Dept. expressly forbids it.
But to listen to him tell it himself, he knew which side his bread was buttered on. Watch:
Anybody who receives a political appointment -- I am a political appointee -- there's going to be some measure of politics involved with that appointment.
New Jersey would be a huge prize if the GOP can take it. So, Christie's got to be bringing President Bush in to tour the state with him sometime the next couple weeks. After all, Corzine's got Obama, Biden, Bill Clinton and even Caroline Kennedy - and that's just this week. With Christie's regard for Bush that high, you got to figure Christie saving him for crunch time.
I'd actually go to that. That could be fun. They're both such party animals.
I really appreciate getting press releases from Republican Assemblymen John Amodeo and Vince Polistina, but what's up with this one?
AMODEO AND POLISTINA: IT WILL TAKE NEW JERSEY A LONG TIME TO FIND ITS "LOST DECADE"
RUTGERS REPORT SAYS IT WILL TAKE EIGHT YEARS TO REGAIN THE JOBS LOST DURING CURRENT RECESSION
I too resent the fact that the entire Obama administration will be devoted to repairing the Bush "43" economic disaster, but if they had any shame at all, Republicans wouldn't bring up the lost decade.
So, I'm clearing out my inbox after a long week, and I stumble upon the latest viral email - a list of new would-be Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavors created for George W. Bush (in response to B&J's real "Yes Pecan!" flavor made for Obama). Some of my favorites:
- WMDelicious
- Death by Chocolate... and Torture
- Grape Depression
- Housing Crunch
and, of course, the irresistable:
- Good Riddance You Lousy Motherf_____... Swirl
(The rest of the Bush list is below the fold.)
So, what does this have to do with New Jersey you ask? Well, nothing. But, a list like this could get you wondering ... what if Ben & Jerry's had New Jersey politics flavors? What might they taste like?
Your New Jersey political flavor ideas in the comments would be sweet. Sweet like Joe Ferriero's double dipped chocolate chip indictmint.
"Swing" is a measurement used by handicappers and political scientists to measure political movement of a constituency from one election to another. In this map and subsequent discussion, the swing for a county equals ((% Obama '08 - % Mccain '08) - (% Kerry '04 - % Bush '04))/2.
Below the fold, I examine Obama's performance region by region.
After the bruising the Republican Party took in the 2006 election cycle, a tight-knit core of right-wing operatives and donors loyal to George W. Bush and Karl Rove came up with a plan: organize a well-funded, "independent" political organization to sell the American people on the virtues of the Iraq War. This organization, known as Freedom's Watch, has since become the single most reliably pro-Bush organization in the country, demagoguing issues from immigration to Social Security privatization.
Hot on the heels of Bush's multi-million dollar rescue operation for Leonard Lance and Chris Myers, the White House has clearly put the word out that getting Lance elected is one of their top priorities. Who knows what's they're going to come up with next. Lance can try to weasel his way out of it, but the proof is undeniable at this point -- George W. Bush and Karl Rove want nothing more than for folks like Leonard Lance to be elected to Congress to protect their legacy. They know that electing people like Linda Stender means that their dreams of permanent majorities rubber-stamping policies from Social Security privatization to endless war in the Middle East will come to an end.
To help us respond to the coming right-wing onslaught, please consider making a contribution to the campaign at LindaStenderForCongress.com/Contribute. And if you aren't in a position to contribute, sign up to get involved with the campaign at LindaStenderForCongress.com/GetInvolved/Volunteer. You can help us immediately by knocking on doors, making phone calls, and letting your friends, neighbors, and family in the 7th district know that real change isn't going to come from the same tired Bush team in Washington and their handpicked candidates across the country. It's going to come when we elect more people like Linda Stender to Congress.
promoted to show how we like our elected officials to talk -- huntsu
Here is Senator Bob Menendez's statement:
"Since last weekend, the American people and we in Congress have sent a strong message to President Bush, rejecting a no-strings-attached, blank-check Wall Street bailout. It seems as if that message has at least partially been received, judging by the president's speech and our meeting with Secretary Paulson and Chairman Bernanke earlier. While I am somewhat more optimistic that we can pass the right kind of legislation than I was after yesterday's Banking Committee hearing, it is clear that there are a few issues of great interest to taxpayers and homeowners that the president still is not addressing. Oversight to protect taxpayers and limitations on CEO compensation are steps forward, but I didn't hear any mention of helping homeowners or additionally protecting taxpayers by having equity in the companies we help. As I have said before, we cannot be stampeded into passing a $700 billion plan without first ensuring that it is the right plan for taxpayers and homeowners, and we are not there yet.
"I would also add that while there are some constructive ways in which the presidential candidates can be helpful, injecting presidential politics into the heat of these negotiations at this late hour would only serve to distract from the critical task at hand. Senator McCain simply cannot expect to swoop in at the last minute without any real knowledge of the negotiations and expect to take credit for any potential deal that may be struck."
Santa Claus might not be coming to town till December... But George W. Bush is coming this Monday. And he is bringing a bag full of goodies for The Real Leonard Lance, since he's been such a good little boy trying to ensure his third term and legacy.
By inviting Bush in to help his campaign raise money from deep-pocketed right-wing Republicans, Lance is delivering a real slap in the face to New Jersey's families. Instead of fighting for the change we need, Leonard Lance is standing with the president whose policies have failed our nation.
The Real Leonard Lance and his fellow Bush Republicans have tried to hide this fundraiser from the public (just as Bush and Cheney tried to hide their secret dealings with oil companies). And that makes sense. Wouldn't you be embarrassed to stand with arguably the worst president in our nation's history? Wouldn't you be ashamed to stand with a president who has turned record surpluses into record deficits, awarded tax breaks for Big Oil while we pay more at the pump, and squandered 3 trillion on a war in Iraq that should never have been waged?
So, it's understandable that Lance is trying to bring Air Force One in under the radar. Let's not forget Bush's historic unpopularity. Just last week, the Fairleigh Dickinson-PublicMind poll put Bush's approval ratings in New Jersey at an anemic 22%. And poll director Peter Woolley told the AP it was no surprise Lance was hiding the event, adding "everybody handles an unpopular president with hospital gloves on." (The AP story is on our website here.)
Obviously, Leonard Lance knows the risk involved with inviting George W. Bush to the Garden State. But, he's weighed this risk against the need to fill his campaign coffers in light of his message turning off folks all across the 7th District. So, he is taking a calculated gamble by bringing in the unpopular President to drum up some much-needed cold, hard cash.
He's trying to hide the association, but really, why should he? Because the Real Leonard Lance's record marches in lock-step with the directives coming out of the White House. The Real Leonard Lance supports the failed Bush agenda and would go to Washington to simply offer more of the same. The Real Leonard Lance says nothing about tax breaks for Big Oil and votes to ship jobs overseas. The Real Leonard Lance opposes "artificial" timelines for withdrawal in Iraq, while we continue to spend $10 billion a month. And the Real Leonard Lance voted for the biggest budgets in state history that saddled New Jersey in debt and created the financial crisis we're in today. All the while, this self-styled "fiscal conservative" voted to raise his own pay 40%.
The Real Leonard Lance knows we want and need real change. And he knows voters are learning that he is doing all he can do to secure a third term for Bush. And that's why he was hoping you wouldn't find out about next week's fundraiser with President Bush.
One of the good things about growing older is that we have the chance to learn from our mistakes. I wonder if Democrats in Congress will ever learn how George W. Bush operates. I'd like to think Senators Lautenberg and Menendez learned something from their vote for the Military Commissions Act, but as far as I can tell, they and their colleagues in Congress sit idly by while telecom immunity is pushed through by Republicans. It's the same story all over again. As for what pardoning illegal acts and approving courts with pre-determined outcomes gets us, I recommend this remarkable interview with George W. Bush:
Look at how Menendez and Lautenberg -- yes, and Rob Andrews and all six Republicans -- let Bush say Congress approved his crimes. As Glen Greenwald notes, Republicans are already boasting they won on telecom immunity. Pathetic, and our Democrats in New Jersey, however they officially vote, let it happen again and again.
As Bush says, "We passed a Law." Again, and again.
21 days from today, New Jersey voters will vote on whether or not to have the state spend $45 million a year for the next 10 years on stem cell research. The funding would go toward advancing medical treatments and attracting leading scientists and research companies to the state.
The New Jersey for Hope political committee is a group of citizen activists, medical professionals, and elected officials who have come together for the purpose of advocating the passage of the public Stem Cell Ballot Question.
Today we are asking anyone who believes in the promise of stem cell research, who knows that Everybody Knows Somebody who could benefit from the promise of stem cell research, to support our campaign.
Support the campaign in New Jersey by contributing $21 today by visiting our website: www.njforhope.org.
Voting YES offers the best hope we have today for treating and curing diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, diabetes, heart disease and cancer.
Stem cells also hold great promise in addressing spinal cord injuries and birth defects. Scientists are making tremendous progress. We want to do everything we can to support this research.
George Bush and his band of Radical Republicans will stop at nothing to preserve their narrow and immoral agenda. They showed that when they attacked Michael J. Fox during the Missouri stem cell campaign, or a 12-year old who had the gall to benefit from a government administered health care program, or soldiers who dared to speak the truth about the debacle in Iraq.
And in New Jersey, it's happening again. Disgusting lies, distortions and misrepresentations are being made by people who claim to support life but would just as soon see others suffer and die from diseases and injuries for which treatments and cures could be just around the corner.
The progressive movement has created great momentum in California and Missouri with pro-cure victories at the ballot box. The Radical Right sees the New Jersey initiative as an opportunity to halt our progress and validate the George Bush extremist agenda.
Please support us today so we can keep moving forward towards groundbreaking treatments and cures.
Again, New Jerseyans vote for Hope in just 21 days. Please consider contributing $21 today to our campaign to fund stem cell research by visiting www.njforhope.org
Think of elections that have been lost by a narrow margin-what would we give to have a chance to change that? We don't want to look back on New Jersey, the day after the election, and say, it might have been. We almost got half a billion for research-almost? Not good enough for so many who are depending on the treatments and cures that will come from stem cell research
There are 21 days until the vote: let us use those days. We can make sure our stem cell research supporters know what is at stake, and rouse the State to turn out and vote, this coming November 6th, and stand up for stem cells!
Also, be sure to read a profoundly moving Op-Ed authored by Carl Riccio, a longtime stem cell research advocate and a hero to New Jersey residents who favor stem cell research, that ran in last Sunday's Bergen Record. In it, Carl makes a compelling argument for Voting YES on November 6th and what is at stake for Carl and all of us.
CNN is reporting the hilarious news that President Bush is actually comparing Iraq to Vietnam - and, no, the comparison isn't that he "didn't fight in either place":
Whatever your position in that debate, one unmistakable legacy of Vietnam is that the price of America's withdrawal was paid by millions of innocent citizens, whose agonies would add to our vocabulary new terms like 'boat people,' 're-education camps' and 'killing fields,' " the president said.
We'll move beyond the hypocrisy of a man who hid behind his father's influence to stay out of Vietnam lecturing the American people on the results of ending that war - but I'll say it is something akin to hearing Jeffrey Dahmer talk about the pleasures of vegetarianism - and look at the bad historical reasoning he is exhibiting.
But there's good news - someone else is going to put their hand up the President's butt. Dick Cheney gets to take over as President-for-a-day (which is technically a demotion for him). Looks like the Commander Guy is going to need a new superhero name:
Someone should tell Duchess (Mike) Fergie that this ship has sailed - and he doesn't want to be the last rat wearing a pirate hat.
Only 21% approve of Bush's "handling" of the economy and 20% approve of his "handling" of Iraq. Somehow, 47% say they approve of his "mis-under-handling" of the "war on terror" - which means that 26% of those who approve of the war on terror understand that Iraq isn't part of it. 59% approve of a withdrawal from Iraq in the next six months.
Move over Mr. 17 - Mr. 43 is on his way into your territory.
The papers filed in Superior Court in Mercer County by the Attorney General's Office say "The contents of the requested e-mail exchanges are either entirely private, or contain exchanges of information ... that are protected from disclosure by the long-standing executive privilege."
So this is the if my 1st argument doesn't work, then my 2nd reason is sure to fly rationale. Sorta like the President is doing when all his other excuses don't work, he claims executive privilege.
To me, this story would have gone away after the union negotiation if he didn't keep the issue alive by refusing to disclose the emails. Now it looks like he's hiding something even if he is just defending the power of his office. If you voluntarily give up privileged information, I don't see how you give up the privilege altogether in the future. It's like declassifying information that is classified. It doesn't mean that all other classified information has to be made public.
So what are your thoughts? Should the emails be made public? Should he invoke privilege? And how is this different than what the President is doing, because I think we're gonna see a reversal of roles where D's defend Corzine while R's attack, instead of R's defending Bush while D's attack. I want to defend Corzine, I'm just having a hard time and maybe you can help.
In early 1999, a recently-elected New Jersey state senator made her way to a high profile meeting with then-governor George W. Bush, cementing a deal for future support between both candidates. Sen. Diane Allen (R-NJ-07) met with Bush in a meeting that Time magazine covered then. To her credit, she was meeting with the presidential contender partly to defend a woman's right to choose, but the former newscaster turned politician
left [the] meeting convinced that Bush would not make the fight against abortion a feature of his campaign.
From this point on, Allen became an avid and important ally of Bush and his family.
Recently, Democratic state senate candidate Richard Dennison has received some criticism from politicsnj for attempting to connect Allen with Bush, but I think that evidence shows Dennison is right about Allen being a pro-Bush Republican. After the 1999 meeting, there were numerous times when Allen interacted with Bush and his allies, from Allen hiring Brian Donahue, a Bush-Cheney state campaign manager, for her own failed 2002 U.S. senate campaign to her appearance at a 2004 Republican convention for Pres. Bush. From the latter, she made a rather odd statement about the Bush twins and their father, claiming,
"You want reality. And the Bush girls certainly give you reality," she said, and chuckled, "just like their daddy."
And A 2002 Republican senate challenger described Allen thusly
Diane Allen's television experience showed last night a deliberate, methodical message, which was "I'm behind President Bush all the way."
In sum, she attended his conventions, sought Bush out before he became the Republican presidential nominee, hired one of his state campaign managers, hired the same fundraising and event company as Bush, and even stated before that she would vote in favor of authorizing the invasion of Iraq. It must have been quite a surprise to the president, then, when one of his biggest supporters in N.J. was not amongst the guests at the 30 May fundraiser. Bush probably even has one of his idiotic nicknames that he gives to close friends and the press reserved for Allie, but she reneged from making a public showing with a politician whom she sought out in 1999 and has maintained a close relationship with ever since. In fact, there is probably no other politician in the state that has had such a close relationship with the president and his neoconservative coterie, yet she left her political partner alone on the dance floor, so to speak.
When George II blew into New Jersey last week for a bit of money-grubbing on behalf of the state's hapless GOP, his minions charged only five grand for a picture with the prez. That's chimp change compared to what suckers got charged last year at similar events, and a fraction of the dough Team Chimpy charged at the two Republican national conventions. Frankly, I'm surprised they could find anybody addled enough to pay even that much. Considering that Bush's unpopularity did a lot to undercut Doug Forrester's gubernatorial campiagn last year, I'm surprised the boy emperor didn't have to pay people to stand next to him.
When President Bush travels to New Jersey this week to raise money for the state's Republican Party, he'll be entering a political disaster zone.
Not since Watergate have New Jersey Republicans endured such a painful losing streak.
Well if this is a disaster zone, then the GOP survivors seem to be attempting to hide under any debris they can find. With just 2 days remaining before the big bash, we have 2 confirmed attendees out of 146 possible candidates and electeds the State Committee is tracking. Four people are listed as unsure/maybe and now 11 have said no/have a conflict. Maybe the rest of the people forgot to charge their phone or aren't checking their messages.
So if your President were coming to town and you were going to bail, what would be your best excuse to give? Junior has already used the stuck in traffic excuse with this administration. Also, lets see if we can get a few more of these people on the record before they sneak in and out of the back door without their consituents knowing. You can see who's on the record and get contact information by viewing the GOP Report Card. It's also not to early to see where your Congressman is standing going into '08.
Come to the State House in Trenton, Saturday, April 28th, 1-4 pm, where we're spelling out: I - M - P - E - A - C - H! Events like this are happening throughout the USA on National Impeach Day! We're asking everyone who comes to wear blue and help form a human mural of our I-word on the street in front of the capitol. This historic event is to tell our legislature and governor that we want the Resolution to Impeach Bush and Cheney introduced and passed now! We'll have speakers and even a plane towing a banner that gets the message out to thousands more across the state.
The State Police are kindly providing a parking area for 200 cars, and there are additional lots nearby. The rally itself takes place in front of the State House at 125 West State Street, Trenton, New Jersey 08608.
When was the last time you gathered petition signatures and people actually lined up to sign their names? That's what happened at Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School on Thursday after former Congresswoman Elizabeth Holtzman finished presenting the case for Bush and Cheney's impeachment. Holtzman didn't merely say the "I" word, she trumpeted it loud and clear as only a seasoned, passionate prosecutor could. Had her remarks been the closing arguments of a trial, and audience members the jury, an immediate verdict to convict would have been reached without anyone leaving their seats!
Holtzman, a graduate of Harvard Law School, sat on the House Judiciary Committee during the Nixon impeachment hearings, and wrote one of the articles of impeachment. One of the points she stressed was that it took a groundswell of public outrage for Congress to initiate proceedings against him. Bush and Cheney have already egregiously violated their oaths of office and our laws: what further damage to lives and our system of government must they do before this Congress rises up to stop them? As Holtzman writes in her February 12, 2007 article in "The Nation" linked at the end of this diary:
