Thursday, November 02, 2006

Numbers, We Got Numbers

Numbers, We Got Numbers

KCCI says: Culver 50, Nussle 45. Also leads for Leonard Boswell and Mike Mauro.

Missed this a couple weeks ago but Survey USA has the Bush approval ratings; W's support is literally hiding in the mountains (UT, ID, MT, WY). Translated into electoral votes, that's 15.

Of course that's assuming he wasn't running against a nitwit like John Kerry. I hate to comment on The Comment Controversy but I will. This is all about All Your Base: it doesn't PERSUADE people, because it's incredibly bloody obvious the guy just pulled a Dan Quayle potatoe. (Anyone else remember when Bush Sr. meant to say he and Reagan had had success and he said "we've had sex"?)

But this oops gives the talk radio hosts and red meat rhetoricians something to rant about, to motivate an audience that's already made up its mind. The fact that they've latched onto something this lame, that they're making an argument this ludicrous, is a sign of their desperation.




But my party isn't off the hook; deliberate statements are far more important than verbal stumbles. From the inbox, Janelle Rettig writes:

The Iowa Democratic Party has paid for and sent out a mailing that talks about "voting your values." It was sent to independents in Rep. Mark Davitt's race, but likely was sent into other races.

Page three of the mailing says "Davitt Supports Traditional Marriage -- Mark Davitt supports the Iowa law that guarantees that marriage in Iowa will only be between a man and a woman." This issue is immediately followed by "Protecting Children from Sexual Predators." Want to bet the tying together of the two topics was intentional? Karl Rove couldn't have done better. It's disgusting for the Iowa Democrats to feed the fires of untruths as it relates to gay people and child molesters.

The Iowa Democratic Platform calls for complete civil rights for GLBT people and "Equal marital rights for all consenting adults regardless of sexual orientation or gender identification." If these are the stated principles of the Iowa Democratic Party, how can the Party fund such mean and damaging mailings scapegoating gay and lesbian people?

I personally am quite disturbed that the Iowa Democratic Party has asked GLBTA people to step up and contribute more, volunteer more, be more involved, then they turn around and use our love and relationships to divide us. Furthermore, they have done it with money we likely helped raise.

You may know that The Iowa Republican Party recently sent a similar piece of garbage into Jim Leach's district attacking Dave Loebsack. At least in that mailing the GOP was honest about their agenda of discrimination. The Democrats tie gay folks and pedophiles into the same topic. I've been working hard to hold the GOP accountable for their mailing and now we have to hold the Democrats to the same standard.

It is wrong for Democrats or Republicans to try to win races by pushing discrimination against anyone. Shame on the Democrats for following into the game of destroying people and pitting people against each other to win races.


Janelle and her partner Robin have been working extremely hard for Democrats up and down the ticket, and she has expressed strong support (combined with constructive criticism) for Chet Culver in a recent heated discussion on the Iowa City listservs. No Iowan deserves a cheap shot like this.






ARRRRRRRR! T' scurvy landlubbers at t' Des Moines Register finally write a story about Cap'n James Hill, t' Pirate candidate for Congress!

Hill, 42, acknowledges that there is an underlying reason to his campaign- a desire to write a book about his experience running for office and maybe even get himself a job as journalist.

Hill will continue his campaign through next week even though he seems a lot more like Don Quixote than Jean Lafitte, the gentleman pirate of New Orleans who helped save the United States in the War of 1812.


That Onion article the other day saying the Republicans were putting all the party's money into just one race? Here's a REAL poll: "In Arizona's 5th congressional district, a new SurveyUSA poll finds Harry Mitchell (D) inching ahead of Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R-AZ). Mitchell leads 48% to 46%..."

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