Our linkfest taking you to websites of varying opinions in an attempt to give you a menu, not a one flavor political dish. Links do not necessarily reflect the opinion of TMV or its writers.
INTERNET FRIENDS FINALLY MEET: As some may know, I’m on a trip that has taken me from San Diego to La Grange, Texas, to Houston, Texas, to Hamden, CT, to Kennett Square, PA, to Philalelphia, PA and two days ago to Newark, Delaware where I finally got to meet Shaun Mullen, a longtime former newsaper journalist, former newspaper editor and author who used to write on TMV and who contributes as a Guest Voice columnist.
We had never met. And it was fun: it felt as if we had known each other forever.
Here’s an account of the dinner by Shaun Mullen.
PS: He’s wrong: I really look like Brad Pitt. But I’m in the witness protection program in disguise.
Christine O’Donnell Is “The Wingnuts’ New Queen” according to Daily Beast/CNN analyist John Avlon. Here’s a small part of what he writes:
The anti-masturbation video, the financial turmoil, the gay-baiting—Tea Party serial campaigner Christine O’Donnell has no real chance of winning a general election. But her Delaware primary win is a dire warning to centrists everywhere.
Move over, Sharron Angle, there’s a new queen of the Wingnuts. And if anyone should be celebrating, it’s Democrats.
In nominating Christine O’Donnell over Mike Castle in Delaware’s closed partisan primary, Republicans have put forward a manifestly irresponsible candidate who will lose in November—depriving them of a realistic shot at the Senate majority and the satisfaction of winning Joe Biden’s seat. In the process, the Tea Party has compromised its core message of fiscal conservative libertarianism by elevating a social conservative activist who can’t balance her own checkbook and has spent most of her life arguing against the expansion of individual freedom.
O’Donnell’s victory reinforces the message of a party that is intent on burning down the big tent, with ideological activists RINO hunting on the basis of social issues alone and making the Democrats’ uphill battle just a little bit easier. Independents won’t vote for candidates like O’Donnell—extremists are always their own side’s worst enemy.
He goes into considerable detail, then concludes:
In contrast to O’Donnell, Castle was uniquely suited to picking up Biden’s Senate seat. As the longest-serving congressman in Delaware history, he had a demonstrated to ability to win Republican, independent, and Democratic votes. But that key strength was turned on its head in a closed partisan primary. It did not matter that he had cut income taxes three times as governor and balanced the budget eight years in a row. It did not matter that he voted against the stimulus bill and health care. He was pro-choice. He was one of the few GOP congressmen to stand up to the Birthers at last summer’s town halls.
Castle was respected even by the conservative colleagues with whom he often disagreed on policy. And polls showed that he was an easy GOP pickup in a Democratic-leaning state precisely because of his principled centrism. Now, barring a write-in campaign, Mike Castle’s four-decade-long career in public service is over. He deserved better than this ugly, ignominious end. But the real loss is the Republican Party’s, which has hung out an unwelcome sign to any remaining centrist supporter. Now it will be forced to confront the costs that come with the conservative populist forces it has unleashed.
Avlon is correct. To some former Republicans and former proud RINOS like yours truly, O’Donnell is the antithesis of the kind of candidate we could support and if a party essentially puts itself on her wavelength they have tuned us out. Where will those voters go? (Stay tuned..) Read Avlon’s post in its entirety.
PLAY THE TWILIGHT ZONE THEME: It turns out O’Donnell wanted Bill Clinton investated for killing Vince Foster. (Exactly how did those allegations pushed by some talk radio hosts, blogs and emails pan out by the way? Just asking..)
TO KEEP IT INTO CONTEXT RealClearPolitics offers four things you should know about Delaware. THE NEW GERMANY: It’s becoming a global power.
O’DONNELL AND DEMOCRATIC OPPONENT CHRIS COONS FACE OFF and she holds her own. Prediction: with the megabucks she’ll receive from conservative groups and talk show listeners who (again) follow their favorite talk show hosts’ directives to donate, she will be well funded. Remember that conventional wisdom is sometimes wrong.
ANOTHER GOPER WHO IS THE ANTHITHESIS TO WHAT MOST MODERATES AND CENTRISTS WANT is Jim DeMint who now says his goal in the Senate is to create “complete gridlock.” And there you have it. The idea is to paralyze the government and its programs (a REALLY great idea in this economy with so many people hurting — unless your’e a talk show host who has a private jet or a well-fed Senator who eats bean soup in the Senate dining room and has…you betchya…a government health care plan.)
ARE MANY INCLUDING KARL ROVE MISUNDERSTANDING THE TEA PARTY MOVEMENT? Glenn Greenwald, in a post that will surprise even his conservative critics who feel they know what he’s going to write before he writes it, offers this must-read analysis.
AND NOW THE TEA PARTY IS TRAVELING: It’s moving to Australia.
BACK TO THE PRESENT: The Republicans prepare a new “Contract With America.” (A tip: If it contains a line about how America needs to read up on Kenya before it understands Barack Obama you’ll know who wrote it..
THE BUCKLEY RULE OR THE LIMBAUGH RULE? The late, great William F. Buckley said the rule was to vote for the conservative who could win. The big, rich Rush Limbaugh says vote for the most conservative. (Rush lambasted Karl Rove for blasting O’Donnell and for not instead talking instead about Democrats such as the year-long-dead dead Ted Kennedy and ONE DAY LATER Rove made an about face — which again shows you who the real power in the GOP is today: someone obsessively fixated on partisanship and ideological purity. Exactly what does that say about the prospects for bipartisanship in the future?) Some thoughts on the Buckley Rule and the Limbaugh rule on Powerline HERE.
GETTING TOUGHER WITH CHINA: The U.S. has stepped up its criticism of China policies.
A FORMER SPANISH PRIME MINISTER BLASTS THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION OVER ITS POLICIES ON ISRAEL: José María Aznar also warns of a ‘very non-kosher’ relationship between Iran and Venezuela.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.