Just another Republican Party primary....

[HoyaNyr320]

A tea party Republican in Illinois has an ad claiming his opponent, incumbent Congressman Mark Kirk, is a homosexual and that it should be part of the debate. His source? A conservative talk radio host who heard "rumors" that Kirk was gay.

www.suntimes.com/news/metro/1961750,mark-kirk-gay-attack-ad-election-122809.article

I'm sure the GOP'ers on this board will be happy to know that the Illinois GOP has condemned the ad. However, I don't think this can just be chalked up as an example of the "Boz doctrine". This is the type of element the GOP will attract if it continues to support homophobic/tea party rallies.

[SSHoya]

For a brief summary of Martin-Trigona's past "legal" activities and this decision is many years old:


ftp.resource.org/courts.gov/c/F2/986/986.F2d.1384.-.91-5867.html

[theexorcist]

Dec 29, 2009 10:46:14 GMT -5 HoyaNyr320 said:

A tea party Republican in Illinois has an ad claiming his opponent, incumbent Congressman Mark Kirk, is a homosexual and that it should be part of the debate. His source? A conservative talk radio host who heard "rumors" that Kirk was gay.

www.suntimes.com/news/metro/1961750,mark-kirk-gay-attack-ad-election-122809.article

I'm sure the GOP'ers on this board will be happy to know that the Illinois GOP has condemned the ad. However, I don't think this can just be chalked up as an example of the "Boz doctrine". This is the type of element the GOP will attract if it continues to support homophobic/tea party rallies.

Why are tea parties homophobic? I assume that any protestors, regardless of gender or sexual preference, are equally as annoyed at their money getting taken away for spurious reasons.

I guarantee you that Democratic primaries are going to have happy little nutcases who think that 9/11 was some massive government conspiracy and similarly unhinged thoughts, and I won't begrudge them unless they actually win (like Cynthia McKinney, a Democrat, did). The point of primaries is to separate the wheat from the chaff by the will of the people rather than having candidates appointed by some higher body.

[Boz]

Quiet, exorcist. CNN's Rick Sanchez and the entire MSNBC lineup just got their lead story for the next five days. Don't screw that up.

I will not defend Mr. Martin....because he is indefensible (and apparently mentally unstable).

But to claim that he is emblematic or representative of the Tea Party movement is Stretch Armstrong-like in its tenuousness.

I don't see where the Boz Doctrine is inapplicable in this case.

[vcjack]

Martin is only a "tea-party" politician because that's the grassrootsy thing to be these days. Martin has no ideology, he's a political gadfly that runs for any election possible and has at times claimed to be both a Republican and a Democrat. His hallmark is getting shock attention like this little example. Now that's he's been kicked from the GOP ticket if the Club for Growth or any other non official conservative group wants to take him up, its their funeral.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Martin_(U.S._politician)

But for the serious challengers in the race, Kirk might just be the next Illinois senator. He's got a relatively clean slate, moderate, and the Democrats are in infighting turmoil that they may or may not recover from.

[thebin]

Oh let's not split hairs about whether people who toss around the word "Teaparty" actually know much about the word and the accurate use thereof. It is rather a one-word argument that makes itself as soon as you level it as long as you are in like-minded company. Like "Neo-con" or "Halliburton" or "Beta Max" before it.

[jerseyhoya34]

I would argue that the people who use the term to describe themselves know as much about it as anyone else and, in so using it, have cheapened the revolutionary experience in the name of some petty bickering, interruption of speakers at a Town Hall, and the like.

[thebin]

Dec 29, 2009 14:15:37 GMT -5 @jerseyhoya34 said:

I would argue that the people who use the term to describe themselves know as much about it as anyone else and, in so using it, have cheapened the revolutionary experience in the name of some petty bickering, interruption of speakers at a Town Hall, and the like.

That sounds about right. Although to be honest the actual Boston Tea Party was itself a rather petty and bickering affair as much as it was a brave stand. They were in disguise and drunk afterall.

[jerseyhoya34]

Dec 29, 2009 11:18:05 GMT -5 theexorcist said:

Why are tea parties homophobic? I assume that any protestors, regardless of gender or sexual preference, are equally as annoyed at their money getting taken away for spurious reasons.

I guarantee you that Democratic primaries are going to have happy little nutcases who think that 9/11 was some massive government conspiracy and similarly unhinged thoughts, and I won't begrudge them unless they actually win (like Cynthia McKinney, a Democrat, did). The point of primaries is to separate the wheat from the chaff by the will of the people rather than having candidates appointed by some higher body.

We now know that McKinney is no longer a Democrat. I think, like most Democrats, this is a positive development on balance. I hope the Republican Party will similarly thin its herd of extremists, like those who barely waited for the NW253 to land before rushing to CNN (don't know much about Hoekstra except his title, but Peter King is a bit off his gourd), who launch the birther attacks (a tall order indeed), call for preemptive war in Yemen before the intelligence is fully known (oops - those are "independents" in today's America), and the like.

Martin's comments about the other candidate's sexuality are not the heart of the matter IMO. When you go to his personal website, it reveals that he is proud of filing the first in what turned out to be a series of birther lawsuits - a dream for fans of Rule 11. Other such gems are noted below (source: mediamatters.org/research/200810070011)

1. Obama has locked his white grandmother in a closet in the name of "segregating" her.

2. Obama's birth certificate has not been found. This is, of course, false based on the nonpartisan reporting and photography that has been available for some time.

3. Unapologetic claim that he started the Obama as Muslim e-mail circus after the DNC Convention in 2004.

4. A claim that African-American judges would naturally protect Barack Obama (as opposed to the laws of the US necessarily).

To its credit, the IL Republican Party has sought to distance itself from this candidate. For the first time in a while, I do hope the purity panels find it necessary to reject this guy.

[theexorcist]

Dec 29, 2009 15:20:48 GMT -5 @jerseyhoya34 said:

Dec 29, 2009 11:18:05 GMT -5 theexorcist said:

Why are tea parties homophobic? I assume that any protestors, regardless of gender or sexual preference, are equally as annoyed at their money getting taken away for spurious reasons.

I guarantee you that Democratic primaries are going to have happy little nutcases who think that 9/11 was some massive government conspiracy and similarly unhinged thoughts, and I won't begrudge them unless they actually win (like Cynthia McKinney, a Democrat, did). The point of primaries is to separate the wheat from the chaff by the will of the people rather than having candidates appointed by some higher body.

We now know that McKinney is no longer a Democrat. I think, like most Democrats, this is a positive development on balance. I hope the Republican Party will similarly thin its herd of extremists, like those who barely waited for the NW253 to land before rushing to CNN, who launch the birther attacks (a tall order indeed), call for preemptive war in Yemen (oops - those are "independents" in today's America), and the like.

Martin's comments about the other candidate's sexuality are not the heart of the matter IMO. When you go to his personal website, it reveals that he is proud of filing the first in what turned out to be a series of birther lawsuits - a dream for fans of Rule 11. Other such gems are noted below (source: mediamatters.org/research/200810070011)

1. Obama has locked his white grandmother in a closet in the name of "segregating" her.

2. Obama's birth certificate has not been found. This is, of course, false based on the nonpartisan reporting and photography that has been available for some time.

3. Unapologetic claim that he started the Obama as Muslim e-mail circus after the DNC Convention in 2004.

4. A claim that African-American judges would naturally protect Barack Obama (as opposed to the laws of the US necessarily).

To its credit, the IL Republican Party has sought to distance itself from this Senate candidate. For the first time in a while, I do hope the purity panels find it necessary to reject this guy.

Wow.

Yes, this guy's a nut. You know it, I know it, the good Republicans of Illinois know it, he's not getting any further. If you don't want me to put some trash here about the wackiest Democratic candidate in a primary to tar your party which has just as many looneys as the Republicans do and whose , cut out the "let's list the inflammatory stuff from his website" now.

If not, we can start talking about Rep. Jefferson, who was renominated by the Democrats after the FBI found CASH IN HIS FREEZER. Or Senator Dodd, who's the Chairman of his committee, a position which was granted to him BY DEMOCRATS, despite dirty pool with lots of the same companies that helped create and expand a ponzi scheme of housing wealth. Or Representative Rangel, chair of Ways and Means (a position which was granted to him BY DEMOCRATS) who said that opponents of the President's health care proposal are doing it because they're racists, and who has been such an ethical nightmare that THE NEW YORK TIMES called upon him to resign. Or John Murtha, to whom the Democrats gave THE CHAIR of Appropriations-Defense despite his numerous conflicts of interest. Or my representative, Jim Moran, who the Democrats at least had the sense to strip of all committee responsibilities, possibly because of his repeated anti-Semitic remarks, or possibly because of his consistent conflicts of interest. Or maybe Robert Byrd, who used to be in the KU KLUX FREAKING KLAN.

Oh, and I don't know what you mean about the Yemen thing, although a former Democratic governor (who was occasionally bandied about as a VP nominee) is getting slammed for saying that the "system worked". And I don't get the "preemptive war" thing - the US has been helping the Yemenis and Saudis fight a proxy war against Iran and AQAP in Yemen for a while now, almost certainly including UAV strikes.

[jerseyhoya34]

I love how the threat was made but carried out in any event, when my post did not state anything for or against the proposition that some D candidates or elected officials are nuts, except that McKinney has moved on to greener pastures and rightly so. I leave it to the courts to deal with some of the issues - some of which are accurate (the Rangel "racist" charge is a flagrant misquote, for example, and as detrimental IMO as racism itself) - and others are being examined by the ethics committees most suited to treat them. They can then recommend punishments. Others, of course, are highly regrettable, and nobody is arguing that they weren't. Still others are politicians I would not necessarily support, Rangel being one of them. None of these, however, appears to deal with political/ideological extremism, much less on a national scale.

I think some Democrats will note and welcome the change in the IL Republican Party considering some of the junk that Alan Keyes put out there when Obama beat him.

* We can discuss Yemen in another thread if needed. My point has less to do with the obvious threat than the idea that we would take action in what would appear as a war of choice before the intelligence has been fully vetted. We have made isolated strikes in Yemen, which I support when we have credible intelligence as to targets, and I do not have reason to believe that our intelligence in those respects was not credible.

** As to Secretary Napolitano, I would note the following remark:
"We've asked citizens to be vigilant, to be alert to any possible threat. The success of this strategy was made clear by yesterday's indictment of [omitted], who may very well have succeeded in destroying American Airlines Flight Number 63..." The author - John Ashcroft - and the event - shoe bomber Richard Reid. Interestingly, President Bush waited six days to comment. I am not interested in who was right and who was wrong, other than to criticize anyone who seeks to make political gains or losses off an attempted attack, fundraises off an attempted attack, and the like. That is not the new politics I voted for, and I have generally been pleased by the Administration's response.

[kchoya]

Dec 29, 2009 16:06:53 GMT -5 @jerseyhoya34 said:

* We can discuss Yemen in another thread if needed.

Oh god, please no. Don't we already have enough topics/threads where you can make 57 posts a day, each 1,000+ words?

[akhoya0914]

We all know the Republican primary of 2010 to watch will be Linda McMahon's Senate primary, where she will layeth the smacketh down after spending $100 million on TV ads and other forms of media.