Thursday, June 08, 2006
Bolton, Inhofe, and Bilbray
John Bolton is the most incompetent ambassador to the U.N. that I can ever remember. I’ve mentioned him several times before on my blog, and, regrettably, I must mention him again. He recently threatened the U.N. with retaliation when the #2 official at the U.N. dared to criticize the “unchecked UN-bashing” in the United States, complaining that it is even making it hard for the U.N. to refurbish its headquarters, and pointing out that the only government not fully supporting the project is the United States.
I tire of this rage-filled recess appointment excuse for an ambassador tossing threats around in the U.N., bullying other nations, and in general being as undiplomatic a diplomat as has ever represented the United States. I would also like to remind readers that he had the full support of the republican caucus.
Senator Inhofe has finally reared his ugly head. I have opined vociferously in the past about the quality of senators sent to Washington from the states of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska, and just two days ago I was wondering when Inhofe would join Coburn, Cornyn, Roberts, Brownback, and Hagel. Inhofe’s opinion of homosexuality is not subtle, ladies and gentleman. He clearly thinks homosexuality is some kind of disgrace.
David Corn cites a piece by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities that shows the cost of the estate tax cuts, if made permanent. The answer: over $300 billion through 2016 and almost $800 billion through 2021. But, sure, we don’t need that money. We’re just ass-over-teakettle in debt.
It’s official: the GOP has retained the Dukester’s seat. I was listening to Ed Schultz today and I have never heard him this angry.
Easy, democrats, easy. David Corn, Arianna Huffington, and Schultz are all wailing that the culture of corruption line doesn’t work. Abandon the plan! Run for the escape pods!
Not so fast. Republicans outnumbered democrats by 14% in the district, and they outspent democrats by 2-to-1: $10 million to $5 million. In exchange for that, Bilbray took the seat by about 5% of the vote.
So they outspent democrats 2-to-1 and, in exchange, lost about 9% of their edge.
Take my word for it, if republicans lose 9% of their electoral edge come November Nancy Pelosi will be the next speaker. Not all democrats will be running in districts where the last republican House member recently went to jail, but neither will they be outspent 2-to-1 in a district where democrats are 14% less of the electorate.
Rick Jacobs writes a piece on this here. Bilbray will face another election in November.
Still, I sympathize with Schultz’s anger. The DNC should have hammered money into this race. This race is a bellwether, like Paul Hackett’s race for Ohio’s 2nd district, but more so: the outgoing representative in Hackett’s race wasn’t convicted of bribery. Democrats should have won it to show the media and the country that the culture of corruption line works. Subtleties like what percentage you lost by are lost on most people in America. The right will heckle others in the country for months with the outcome of this race, without mentioning the variables.
We’re talking about Brain Bilbray here: a former lobbyist, and advocate of the Bajagua Project LLC while he was in office. He took campaign donations from the firm and, in return, crafted a bill to force the State Department to renegotiate with Mexico to allow for one of the firm’s projects. When he left the House he went to lobby for, among others, the Bajagua Project. Busby should have beaten him like a rented mule with those facts.
# posted by BitterHarvest @ 3:18 PM 
