The Party of Family Values Rides Again!

Parent Cafe
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<p>Don’t know about you, but I have never even HEARD of Larry Craig before his troubles–and he’s been in the senate for ??? years. Certainly wouldn’t know what he looked like. It’s hard to believe that the MN police would set up a sting merely to target this one (up until now) anonymous US senator.</p>

<p>Hadn’t heard that the cop was off duty…If you could find a cite, I’d be interested.</p>

<p>What I thought was amazing is how he tried to use his senator status as a “get out of jail free” card!</p>

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<p>The Minneapolis police are just sharpening their skills in preparation for the Republican National Convention next year.</p>

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<p>Just posted by ABC</p>

<p>Breaking News from ABCNEWS.com:</p>

<p>U.S. SEN. LARRY CRAIG’S SPOKESMAN SAYS THE IDAHO REPUBLICAN IS ‘ALL BUT CERTAIN’ HE WILL RESIGN FROM THE SENATE, THE AP REPORTS</p>

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<p>A blog by a conservative commentator :</p>

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<p>What is remarkable regarding this column about Republicans’ minority status is that the word “Iraq” is not used once, as if it has nothing to do with it. This convinces me that a significant number of those diehard 32% live in an alternative quantum universe where we have found the WMDs, won the war, captured Osama, and gas is $1.15 a gallon.</p>

<p>However, what sent a literal chill down my spine was the following:</p>

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<p>my emphasis added.</p>

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<p>^Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it?</p>

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<p>The Star Tribune here in Minneapolis/St. Paul printed a letter last Friday about the Craig situation that I found strikingly compassionate. There doesn’t seem to be a link to it, so I am reproducing it below:</p>

<p>"Most would think that I, a liberal, gay man, should be happy at Sen. Larry Craig’s humiliation. And my first reaction was ‘this is the best kind of poetic justice.’ But I just feel sad for his family, for him and for all of us.</p>

<p>"As a man from his generation, I know the loneliness and isolation one feels when growing up ‘different’ in a small rural town. I served four years in the miitary (before ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’). I made my own way in life. I have a wonderful partner of many years. My life is good. But I can’t help but think how much happier and healthier we would all be if politicians and religious leaders of all stripes would treat us all as humans instead of political fodder or money-raising devices.</p>

<p>"When the shingles fall from our eyes, all will see the truth about gay men and women. We nurse our elderly parents, celebrate our friends’ lives, work side by side with all of you, pay taxes for all children to go to school and look for meaning in our lives. Sound familiar?</p>

<p>"Being gay is really not about sex. It’s about love. I dare say the same for heterosexuals. It’s about love.</p>

<p>"It’s only when gay people are taught that we are ‘faggots,’ ‘queers,’ ‘disgusting,’ "worthless’ and so many other humiliating things that we end up as Larry Craig apparently did. Looking for sex instead of love. I’m sad because that’s the only choice he thought he had.
Ron Anderson, Minneapolis.</p>

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<p>All I know is that senator wide stances public humiliation has come at a very good time for Sen. Hillraiser. It pushes a public integrity issue right off the front pages and replaces it with a personal integrity issue.</p>

<p>Not to knock our boys in blue but how hard do you think it would have been to track confessed bunko artist and felon Norman Hsu down? And why does he get get bail set again when he skipped the first time? And why does he get bail set and his passport isn’t pulled? Surprise surprise he has apparently jumped bail again. Dis Attny Gen Jerry Brown drop the ball here or is there more to the story?</p>

<p>Meanwhile Bill is getting knocked to the ground again and again by that straw.</p>

<p>Funny the Abramof scandal was round the clock news in the main stream media for months and Norman Hsu is page 10 filler. Wonder where the story would be if his dirty money went to the other party’s candidates?</p>

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<p>No doubt the press is doing everything in its power to minimize the Hsu story.</p>

<p>It’s not going away though.</p>

<p>Hillary will never be President. </p>

<p>You can take it to the bank…of course, after she’s already been there.</p>

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<p>I know it’s your worst nightmare, isn’t it? I feel your pain.</p>

<p>You should spend a little time in New Hamphsire. The lovely wife and I went to the Hill n’ Bill Show in Portsmouth, NH on Sunday evening. The second of two rallies in the state to kick off the fall campaign. A noon rally in Concord drew 4500. The evening rally an hour away in Portsmouth drew 5000. Both numbers are larger than the audience at the nearby half empty hockey arena for the eight old white dudes in a nationally televised Republican debate.</p>

<p>It was nuts on Sunday. The line formed about 3:00 pm and stretched around a city block. They opened the gates about 6:00 to the rally site on a blocked off city street in front of a picturesque church steeple. Bill and Hillary took the stage about 7:00 – Bill for a ten minute introduction, Hillary for 35 minutes of her new stump speech unveiled that day. I’m too old to stand for five hours like sardines! But, it’s not often you get to see two Presidents at the same show.</p>

<p>Afterwards, they signed autographs, shook hands, and kissed babies for about 45 minutes. President Clinton autographed my copy of his autobiography.</p>

<p>Democrats are really enthusiastic in New Hampshire right now. They wiped out the Republicans in 2006, taking back both Congressional seats and both houses of the state legislature (for the first time in 100 years). Republican Senator John Sununu is going down in 2008 at the hands of former governor (and Kennedy School of Gov. Fellow) Jeanne Shaheen. While the Clintons are drawing 5000, the Republicans are working crowds of 50 at VFW lodges or visiting lobster restaurants at dinner hour to find some hands to shake.</p>

<p>The Clinton campaign is a serious piece of work. Before the rally, they handed out “homemade” signs and had their video guy do artistic zoom shots of kids and mothers holding the signs. These showed up in a new TV commercial in NH two days later. What a coincidence! The three signs just happened to be a perfect match for the script of the ad:</p>

<p>1) End the War
2) Universal healthcare
3) Change to Alternative Energy</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.hillaryclinton.com/video/52.aspx[/url]”>http://www.hillaryclinton.com/video/52.aspx&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>The entire national media was the rally. The campaign had tables set up with wi-fi internet connections and food to feed the media beast.</p>

<p>A few photos we took:</p>

<p>ttp://s218.■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■/albums/cc14/hwc<em>1000/?action=view&current=IMG</em>2354.jpg</p>

<p><a href=“Photo Storage”>Photo Storage;

<p><a href=“Photo Storage”>Photo Storage;

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<p>ID,</p>

<p>My 15 year old daughter and her friend were at the Bill and Hill show in Portsmouth. (They can’t vote.) The last time D saw Bill Clinton was when she was a few months old. He gave the commencement speech at a Voc Tech when he was President. We happened to be at a baseball game across the street at the time. He got out of the car and shook hands with everyone. Big brother was on the local news with the President. Pretty cool for a first grader. (Now he is a college senior!)</p>

<p>…One advantage(?) of living in NH. You get to see all the candidates. A lot!</p>

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<p><a href=“Creative Jobs :: Careers for Graphic Designers, Copywriters, Social Media Managers, Proof Readers and More.”>Creative Jobs :: Careers for Graphic Designers, Copywriters, Social Media Managers, Proof Readers and More.;

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<p>Well, some people are interested in those “eight old white dudes in a nationally televised Republican debate.”</p>

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<p>Speaking of Hsu, at least some Democrats are showing real backbone!</p>

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<a href=“HeadlineAlley”>HeadlineAlley;

<p>Wow, that’s what I call taking a stand.</p>

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<p>This made me laugh!!</p>

<p>But I think there is some truth in that the police are probably doing their part in cleaning up the city before a big, nationally televised event. I’m sure that they are also working on cleaning out prostitutes and homeless (if any exist) in the area where the convention will be held.</p>

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<p>Apparently, they caught Hsu this morning in Colorado. Stay tuned…</p>

<p>And now it’s nine old white dudes again since F. Thompson is now ‘officially’ in the hunt.</p>

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<p>Here’s a hint to all the single men out there. If you are looking to meet women your age (teens to grannies), Clinton rallies are the place to be! The women’s vote is a key to understanding the dynamics of this election. Although, I was most surprised by the number of men in the crowd.</p>

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<p>Yeah. We had been keeping an eye out for opportunities. We would have gone to see Obama on Monday if we had known it wasn’t going to be packed and requiring another 5 hours on our feet. If I had had any idea that the hockey arena at UNH was going to be empty for the Republican debate, I would have gone to that, too. On the Democratic side, you can’t get near one of those debates unless you are connected.</p>

<p>I recommend taking advantage of the opportunity to go to a candidate’s rally somewhere. It’s really interesting to talk to the people in line and see the process unfiltered through the media lens. At least in New Hampshire, it’s surprising how well informed the people are about the candidates. </p>

<p>I also recommend trying to watch the C-Span broadcasts of complete stump speeches for each candidate. It’s the only way to really get a feel for each candidate. The two or three quotes the media pulls out of each speech isn’t enough. C-SPAN has streaming video of the Clinton and Obama rallies from New Hampshire last weekend on their website. These are key events because both candidates unveiled new stump speeches marking their strategies for the fall sprint. Obama went the big speech Teleprompter route trying to capture the rhetoric of his famous convention speech. Clinton’s speech was interesting for two reasons: it laid out the argument that change is just rhetoric without the ability to get things done and (except for the obligatory Bush/Cheney attacks) it reached out to Republicans.</p>

<p>Hill 'n Bill Show in Concord:</p>

<p>rtsp://video.c-span.org/archive/c08/c08<em>090407</em>clinton.rm</p>

<p>Michele and Barack in Manchester:</p>

<p>rtsp://video.c-span.org/archive/c08/c08<em>090307</em>obama.rm</p>

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<p>“The entire national media was the rally. The campaign had tables set up with wi-fi internet connections and food to feed the media beast.”</p>

<p>And how much Chinese money did it take to pay for all that? Yes the SEIU, NEA, and AFSCME bould turn out 5,000 bodies to watch Democratic ice melt.</p>

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<p>No Chinese money needed. Enthusiasm among Democrats, both in terms of attention to candidates and donations of money, are much higher than among the Republicans. In fact, as far as money calls, the Dems are slapping the Republicans around like (pauses to flip through GOP phrase book) a female character from Grand Theft Auto. The RSCC and the RCCC are in deep doo doo and only the RNC’s advantage over the DNC–though much lower than by historical standards–is keeping them even in the Dems rear view mirror overall.</p>

<p>Republicans who think otherwise should leave their enclaves now and then.</p>

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<p>Mmm. Keep counting your chickens. They will surely hatch.</p>

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<p>And also to you. I got numbers. What do you have, besides fantasy?</p>

<p>Whaddaya want? Fundraising numbers? Percentage of each party satisfied with their candidates? Demographic trends on party identification from a GOP source (Rassmussen)? Trends on GOP approval among women, Hispanics, and younger voters by another GOP source (Fabrizio)? Trends on independent voters (Rassmussen et al.)? State match-ups for leading contenders? </p>

<p>Oh…wait…I forgot. Karl Rove said that Republicans create the reality. Never mind.</p>

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<p>We spent three hours standing in line with a young woman from New Hampshire (a special needs classroom teacher), her son in a stroller, her husband, and at least one set of grandparents. She had been to see all the candidates who address education issues – a house party with 20 people to hear John Edwards, an Obama event, and meet n’ greets with several of the second tier candidates. She liked all of the candidates and appreciated what they offered, but was settling in on Clinton for the same reasons as most of her supporters: the strength, experience, and intelligence to be an effective leader and chip away at some important issues. Overall, I think it’s the desire for President who can string together fifteen minutes of intelligent fact-based discussion and not try to bamboozle the public with pie-in-the-sky pandering. Underlying the whole thing is the desire to be part of a history making election. As Republican strategist David Hill wrote this week:</p>

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<p>As for money, I don’t think the Clinton rally was extravagent or terribly costly. It just was very well organized with the attention to detail that you would expect from a big league campaign team that’s been through the playoffs and won two SuperBowls. The biggest cost was the security. Two secret service teams (each Clinton has their own), the entire Portsmouth police department, and every bomb-sniffing dog in the state of New Hampshire.</p>

<p>I think they more than covered it with their little fundraising gambit this week. On Tuesday, the million people who have given their e-mail addresses received an e-mail from “Hillary Clinton” inviting them to lunch with her at her house in Washington and “she’d pick up the groceries”. One winner to be drawn from the names of everyone contributing by Friday at midnight. OK, not a bad little promotion. Then, on Thursday morning, an e-mail from “Bill Clinton” arrives asking if “it would be OK if I join you and Hillary for lunch?” By this morning, with 12 hours left to go, they had already pocketed $600,000 from people wanting a shot at lunch with Hill 'n Bill at their Washington house. Slick. Very slick.</p>