October 19th, 2010
Wow. It’s not news when the Republican County Chairman endorses a Republican.
However, it is news when the County Democratic Party Chairman endorses a Republican candidate and resigns. Which is what Williamson County Democratic Chairman Gregory S Windham just did.
Here’s the complete text of his press release, since I can’t imagine the Williamson County Democratic Party letting his press release stay up, here it is in its entirety:
Georgetown, Texas – Recently elected Democratic Chairman, Gregory S Windham, announced his resignation from the Chairmanship today citing differences of opinion over the State and National Democratic Agenda and support of a Republican candidate as his reasons.
A Message to Democrats
It is quite apparent that many members of the Williamson County Democratic Party leadership are interested in following a more liberal national agenda than listening to the majority of their constituents here locally. As a fifth-generation Texan and longtime supporter of Conservative, Texas principles, I find myself isolated within the party ranks and unable to relay my message of fiscal responsibility, family values, free-markets, and fair play.
The divisive, rigid leadership with the State and local party have made it clear from the beginning of this term that they have no interest in my opinions; engaging in personal name calling, the marginalization of the Chair’s voice, and claiming my Texas ideals are out of touch.
I have a hatred of tyranny and contempt for its tools and being that I cannot sit down quietly and allow my mind be used for the spreading of an agenda that will further divide our citizenry, I choose now to resign as Chairman.
I give heartfelt thanks to my many supporters whose tireless work helped me get elected to this position. I am sincere in my hopes that Williamson County residents will take control of the political process from the many hand picked representatives of the left who now hold the keys to our political process.
After several opportunities to hear the candidates for State House Rep 52, I have decided to support Larry Gonzales as the next Williamson County State Representative. Larry’s experience, intelligence, and knowledge of the political process far exceed that of the Democratic candidate. He is a family man, business owner, and a gentleman willing to build bridges and represent his district rather than his party.
Texas and America are facing a perfect storm. We must work together, hand in hand, to guide our way to safe shores. The continual mockery of each others positions and platforms only deepens our internal wounds. Compromise is necessary and I urge all who have interest in Liberty and a zeal for truth to listen carefully to all opinions and, above all, practice the Golden Rule.
God Bless You and God Bless Texas
Gregory S Windham
Georgetown, Texas
I endorsed Larry Gonzales back during the runoff, and have run into him a couple of times since. He deserves your support.
Tags: Diana Maldonado, Elections, Gregory S Windham, Larry Gonzales, Texas
Posted in Democrats, Elections, Republicans | 2 Comments »
October 19th, 2010
Over at NRO’s Campaign Spot, Jim Geraghty lists a whopping 117 House races in play. His list includes all of the races I highlighted as as competitive, as well as two from my list of longshots:
- Joseph Donnelly vs. Jackie Walorski for Indiana’s second congressional district.
- Barney Frank vs. ex-Marine Sean Bielat for Massachusetts’ Fourth Congressional District.
Republicans aren’t leading all those races, and there’s no guarantee they’ll actually win the ones they are leading, and even beyond that there’s no guarantee that if they do win, it will be outside the margin of the usual Democratic fraud.
Says Geraghty:
My current assessment is in line with the conventional wisdom: Roughly 100 seats are in play under the broader definition, and it’s hard to see Republicans winning fewer than 40 of them. The ceiling depends on how angry the country is on November 2, but it is pretty darn high . . . 60? 70? 80?
The possible peak of the wave keeps getting larger…
Tags: Barney Frank, Democrats, Elections, Jackie Walorski, Jim Geraghty, Joseph Donnelly, National Review, Republicans, Sean Bielat, Voter Fraud
Posted in Democrats, Elections, Republicans, Uncategorized, Waste and Fraud | 1 Comment »
October 18th, 2010
According to Freedom’s Lighthouse. I don’t know much about them, so caveat lector.
Among the races BattleSwarm has previously covered, they show the following incumbent Democrats losing:
- Suzanne Kosmas (FL 24)
- Trent Van Haaften (IN 8 ) (not an incumbent, running for Brad Ellsworth’s open seat)
- Gary McDowell (MI 1) (not an incumbent, running for Bart Stupak‘s open seat)
- Steve Driehaus (OH 1)
- Kathy Dahlkemper (PA 3)
- Paul Kanjorski (PA 11)
- Chet Edwards (TX 17)
- Ciro Rodriguez (TX 23)
So, all eight of the vulnerable democrats I profiled here are currently down as GOP flips.
Further, Charles Wilson (OH 6) is rated as a tossup.
Again, I’m not that familiar with the source, so take this with a grain of salt, and just another data point on how high the tidal wave might reach.
Tags: Bart Stupak, Charles Wilson (Ohio), Chet Edwards, Ciro Rodriguez, Democrats, Elections, Gary McDowell, Kathy Dahlkemper, Paul Kanjorski, Republicans, Suzanne Kosmas, Trent Van Haaften
Posted in Democrats, Elections, Republicans, Texas | 1 Comment »
October 18th, 2010
No, really, I want to know. And though I have donated to Rodriguez’s opponent Francisco Canseco (more coverage of the race here), I don’t mean that in an ominous, scary voice-over attack ad sort of way. I’m genuinely curious.
I believe that this is the Mel Sykes in question. He seems to be involved in Asbestos and mesothelioma litigation, among other things.
Looking through that list of Rodriguez contributors, a lot of the donations are pretty typical for an incumbent Democratic congressman. Lots of donations from local business leaders, plus lots of money from DC lobbyists, such as:
And, of course, lots of money from unions.
Those I all understand. Those are fairly typical Democratic incumbent donations. But Sykes seems to be an actual litigator rather than a lobbyist. And according to Rodriguez’s official congressional website:
Today Congressman Rodriguez serves on the House Committee on Appropriations where he sits on the Homeland Security; Transportation, Housing & Urban Development & Related Agencies; and Legislative Branch Subcommittees. He also sits on the House Committee on Veterans Affairs where he is a member of the Subcommittee on Health and the Subcommittee on Assistance & Memorial Affairs. Congressman Rodriguez remains a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) where he serves as the Chair of the Taskforce on Agriculture and Rural Communities.
Maybe I’m just ignorant of the inner workings of some of those committees, but none seem directly related to mesothelioma or general litigation, which would (I believe) fall under the purview of the Committee on Education and Labor’s Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee and the House Judiciary Committee, neither of which Rodriguez appears to be on.
Granted, trail lawyers (like Big Labor) love Democratic incumbents. But why the donations from this particular Maryland lawyer to Ciro Rodriguez? If you have any idea, post below or email me.
(One of the most disappointing things about pursuing Rodrigeuz’s donor list is the fact that former Republican congressman and current lobbyist Jack Fields gave him $2,000, a sad example of William F. Buckley’s aphorism that “By the time one of our people get into a position of power, they’re no longer one of our people.”)
Tags: Amador Dean Aguillen, Andrew Quinn, Charles W. Stenholm, Ciro Rodriguez, Francisco "Quico" Canseco, Jack Fields, Margaret Hession, Mark T. Gillman, Mel Sykes, Mickey Ibarra, Nancy Pelosi, ObamaCare, Patton Boggs LLP, Penelope S. Farthing, Strategic Marketing Innovations
Posted in Democrats, Economics, Elections, ObamaCare, Republicans | 1 Comment »
October 18th, 2010
The king of creating jobs, that is. “More than half of the net new jobs in the U.S. during the past 12 months were created in the Lone Star State.”
Funny what happens when you have:
- No state income tax
- Right to work laws
- No out-of-control public employee unions
- Conservative Republicans in charges of the Governor’s mansion, the House, and the Senate
- Which have actually constrained the growth of government during boom times
- A requirement by law to balance the budget
- Regulations that encourage private enterprise rather than punish it
- A healthy disdain for Political Correctness
- A thriving high tech sector
- Warm weather
- Natural ports
Some might think the last three are the most important factors, but California has all those as well, and their economy is biting the moose hard.
For a more detailed breakdown of of why Texas is kicking California’s ass (and not just at football), read this Arduin, Laffer & Moore report put out by the Texas Public Policy Foundation. Notice, for example, that Texas has lower taxes in every single category except sale tax (where the two are close to even)…and California is still broke! You can’t tax your way to prosperity.
Liberal policies don’t fail because of bad luck, or because of some sinister conservative conspiracy to make them fail. Liberal policies fail because the liberal ideas behind them are wrong.
Reality, it seems, has a free market bias.
Tags: California, Economics, economy, jobs, Republicans, Texas, unions
Posted in Democrats, Economics, Republicans, Texas | 1 Comment »
October 14th, 2010
A few days ago I covered a handful of the most competitive House races. With tides moving so strongly against the Democrats, now would be a good time to look at some House races that Republicans might view as hopeless in any other year.
But this year, all bets are off.
So here are some long-shot campaigns for the seats of particularly egregious incumbent House Democrats that just might fall the GOP’s way in this election:
- Jerry Costello of Illinois vs. Teri Newman for Illinois 12th Congressional District. (Teri, here’s a free hint: Auto-running movies with sound on your website isn’t going to win you any votes.) Costello is a Stupak bloc flip-flopper who voted for the Stimulus, but against TARP and Cap-and-Trade.
- Joseph Donnelly vs. Jackie Walorski for Indiana’s second congressional district. Donnelly is another Stupak bloc flip-flopper, and also voted for TARP and the Stimulus, but against ObamaCare. Walorski has been endorsed by Sarah Palin, so she might well have more money and attention than others on this list.
- Lloyd Doggett vs. Dr. Donna Campbell for the Texas 25th congressional district. Having endured having old liberal warhorse Lloyd Doggett as my Representative back when I still lived within the confines of The People’s Republic of Austin, I would be delighted to see a Republican take Doggett out. Doggett voted against TARP, but for the Stimulus, Cap-and-Trade, and ObamaCare. One issue in the campaign is Doggett’s writing language into federal law to deprive Texas of almost a billion dollars in federal education funds. In this Human Events piece on the race, Campbell notes that Doggett “voted 98% of the time with Nancy Pelosi. And him getting in again, is one more vote that keeps Pelosi in.”
- Barney Frank vs. ex-Marine Sean Bielat for Massachusetts’ Fourth Congressional District. Frank is as much responsible as anyone in the House for helping create the current recession by his steadfast opposition to tightening regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac at the same time he was having an affair with Fannie Mae executive Herb Moses. Frank, as you would expect, has a perfect liberal record in voting for TARP, the Stimulus, Cap-and-Trade, and ObamaCare. Here’s a Wall Street Journal piece on the race.
- Charlie Rangel vs. Michael Faulkner for New York’s 15th congressional district. Rangel is, of course, a corrupt scumbag. (The question of whether he’s the most corrupt scumbag in the House I’ll leave as an exercise for the reader.) Like Al Sharpton, he has a certain amount of venomous charm. Unlike Sharpton, he’s actually been elected. Like Frank, Rangel has a perfect liberal record in voting for TARP, the Stimulus, Cap-and-Trade, and ObamaCare. Faulkner has a good bit of name recognition from being a former New York Jets football player. The differences between Faulkner and Rangel are legion (not least of which is my working assumption that Faulkner isn’t a corrupt scumbag), but one of particular local interest may play a role if this race becomes the upset of all upsets: Rangel supports the Ground Zero Mosque while Faulkner opposes it. Polling for the race is non-existent (Democrats outnumber Republicans 15-1), but at least some observers think it might be more competitive than expected.
Remember, in 1994 no one expected Speaker of the House Tom Foley’s race to be even remotely competitive, but George Nethercutt still beat him, and there are some observers who say it could very well be much worse for Democrats this year than 1994. If that’s the case, then it’s a good bet one or more of the Republican candidates listed above will pull off an upset.
Tags: Barney Frank, Bart Stupak, Cap-and-Trade, corrupt scumbags, corruption, Democrats, Donna Campbell, Elections, Fannie Mae, Freddy Mac, George Nethercutt, Ground Zero Mosque, Herb Moses, Human Events, Illinois, Indiana, Jackie Walorski, Jerry Costello, Joesph Donnelly, Lloyd Doggett, Massachusetts, ObamaCare, Sarah Palin, Sean Bielat, Stimulus, Stupak, TARP, Teri Newman, Texas, Tom Foley
Posted in Austin, Democrats, Economics, Elections, ObamaCare, Regulation, Republicans, Texas, Waste and Fraud | 3 Comments »
October 14th, 2010
Imagine that. Ordinary Americans thinking they know what’s better for themselves than their political betters. Has someone informed The New York Times of this heresy?
And yes, that’s the actual Gallup Poll headline, not an Iowahawk parody of a Gallup Poll headline.
Tags: Gallup, polls
Posted in Democrats, Economics, Media Watch | No Comments »
October 13th, 2010
Number of people in Rep. Jim Oberstar’s Minnesota Eighth Congressional District: 614,935
Number of individuals in his District who donated to Oberstar’s election campaign this year: 1
I’ve long thought that limiting campaign contributions to in-district or in-state might radically cut down on special interest abuse, and Rep. Oberstar is now the poster-child for that notion.
(BTW, Oberstar racked up a perfect liberal 4×4 record by voting for for TARP, the Stimulus, Cap-and Trade and ObamaCare.)
(Hat tip: Powerline.)
Tags: Democrats, Elections, Minnesota
Posted in Democrats, Elections, ObamaCare, Waste and Fraud | 2 Comments »
October 13th, 2010
Though I’m going to be concentrating heavily on election coverage the next three weeks, the rest of the world doesn’t stop just because the U.S. is having an election. Here’s a roundup of this week’s problems with Jihad, Islamists, Sharia, Islam, and the Middle East in general. (You might also have noticed that I’ve added a Foreign Policy/Jihad links section.)
So here’s a week’s worth of (mostly depressing) developments:
- Michael Totten notes (by way of the the Gloria Foundation) that The Muslim Brotherhood has declared war on the United States. (If you’re not familiar with the Muslim Brotherhood, they are, if not Patient Zero, then Patient One or Two of the modern Islamist movement, founded in Egypt in 1928 by Hassan al-Banna.) Here’s the text of the declaration via MEMRI. As Totten notes, the Muslim Brotherhood has “one hundred times more activists than al-Qaida.”
- The Jawa Report on a homegrown Jihadi who recently defected to al Qaeda in Yemen.
- Advice Goddess Amy Alkon recently got in touch on Facebook via a mutual (non-political) friend. (Yes, I’m on Facebook. No, I don’t take friend requests from people I don’t already have some sort of personal connection to, which excludes most political figures; as one friend put it, “I don’t friend anyone on Facebook who couldn’t pick me out of a police lineup.” I also don’t post political links on my Facebook feed. What would be the point?) Anyway, she’s been doing a lot of coverage on the Jihad front. This week she links the complete text of this Geert Wilders speech that’s well worth reading.
- Thinking of eating at a Washington, DC restaurant? Congratulations: you’re now a Jihad target.
- Not this week, but I only recently became aware of the honor killings of Amina and Sarah Said, teenage sisters, by their own father in Irving, Texas. Updated: Dwight emailed to note that not only was the father/killer Yaser Said still at large, but that he’s been featured on America’s Most Wanted.
Tags: al Qaeda, America's Most Wanted, Amy Alkon, Facebook, Geert Wilders, honor killing, Irving, Jawa Report, Jihad, MEMRI, Michael Totten, Muslim Brotherhood, Texas, Yaser Said, Yemen
Posted in Crime, Jihad, Texas | 1 Comment »
October 12th, 2010
I’m not sure if you noticed, but National Review Online has put up a new blog, Battle ’10, for this year’s elections. It’s well worth checking out if you want to follow various races. (And I’m not saying that just because they linked to me.)
Tags: Elections
Posted in Democrats, Elections, Media Watch | No Comments »