The Bizarro World Of GOP Politics

You practically need a Venn Diagram to follow this one:

Republicans are taking a page out of the Democrats’ tried-and-tested playbook: They’re trying to dent Sen. Arlen Specter’s popularity among Democrats in Pennsylvania by tying him to former President Bush.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee is launching about 100,000 robo-calls to registered Democrats in Pennsylvania, reminding voters of Specter’s relationship with the former president.

“I’ve recorded this message…to help you welcome your newest Republican senator, Arlen Specter,” a narrator on the call says. “We wanted to make sure that we properly introduced him to you.”

The phone call then features audio from Bush’s endorsement of Specter during his competitive 2004 GOP primary against Toomey.

“I’m here to say it as plainly as I can, Arlen Specter is the right man for the United States Senate,” Bush says in the robo-call. "I can count on this man -- see that's important. He's a firm ally when it matters most."

This, to my knowledge, is the first time Republicans have invoked former President Bush to engender a negative reaction. But since it worked so well for Democrats in 2006 and 2008, why not give it a try?

And this is hilarious:

[GOP] Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s appearance at a Michigan county Republican Party event was scrapped this week after the county chairwoman said that hosting the moderate Utah governor would mean abandoning the party's conservative principles.

Kent County Republican Party Chairwoman Joanne Voorhees abruptly canceled the party fundraiser scheduled for Saturday.

"The voters want and expect us to stand on principle and return to our roots. Unfortunately, by holding an event with Governor Huntsman, we would be doing the exact opposite," Voorhees wrote in an e-mail quoted in The Grand Rapids Press .

Voorhees did not specify which issues she felt were contrary to the party's principles and did not return messages left at the party headquarters and on her cell phone.

The group Campaign for Michigan Families praised the cancellation, attributing it to Huntsman's support of civil unions, and urged the Oakland and Kalamazoo county parties, where Huntsman is also scheduled to speak this weekend, to do the same. * * *

A recent poll showed that only 20% of voters in this country now identify themselves as Republican, and I remember thinking to myself, "well, that can't be right." Now I'm not so sure (and neither is at least one prominent Republican).

By the way, I think this GOP congresswoman has a great last name, given that she appears to be right of Hitler (and before you send me angry comments about how I compared someone to Hitler, be advised that I am making no such comparison -- I'm saying that she's "right of Hitler").

Sweet!

Senator Specter is switching parties (h/t Slic[k]):

Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter will switch his party affiliation from Republican to Democrat and announced today that he will run in 2010 as a Democrat, according to a statement he released this morning.

Specter's decision would give Democrats a 60 seat filibuster proof majority in the Senate assuming Democrat Al Franken is eventually sworn in as the next senator from Minnesota. (Former senator Norm Coleman is appealing Franken's victory in the state Supreme Court.)

"I have decided to run for re-election in 2010 in the Democratic primary," said Specter in a statement. "I am ready, willing and anxious to take on all comers and have my candidacy for re-election determined in a general election." * * *

And The Official Rock Song For The State Of Oklahoma Is . . .

. . . "Do You Realize??" by The Flaming Lips.

Members of the American Taliban did their God-Damndest to stop this from happening, but to no avail:

Oklahoma lawmakers who voted against making a Flaming Lips tune the official state rock song represent a minority of "small-minded religious wackos," the band's lead singer says.

Most state House members voted for a resolution recognizing 2002's "Do You Realize??," but conservatives who said they were offended by the band's clothing and language mustered enough votes to keep it from being adopted.

"Me, I just say look, it's a little minority of some small-minded religious wackos who think they can tell people what kind of T-shirts and what kind of music they can listen to, and the smart, rational, reasonable people of Oklahoma are never going to buy into that," frontman Wayne Coyne told Tulsa World in an interview Friday.

Gov. Brad Henry resolved the issue by announcing he would sign an executive order proclaiming "Do You Realize??" the official rock song of Oklahoma. The song earned more than half of the 21,000 votes cast in an online contest. . . .

Vegas During Recession-Time

Linda and I recently returned from three nights in Vegas. Joining us were Attorneys Todd, Erika, and Lauri (because we were going to need plenty of legal advice before the trip was over).

We had a great time. Linda had a successful shopping weekend, and I gambled about five hours a day while there. We also spent a lot of time by the pool enjoying the 80-degree weather. I wanted to take it a little easier this trip by not staying up all night on the first evening like I always do, and I (sort of) succeeded -- I actually went to bed at 4 am on Friday morning, the earliest I've ever hit the rack on the first night in Vegas.

Our suite had a kitchen, so we loaded up with booze, mixer, and food and ended up eating several meals in the room and enjoying many refills of Todd's signature drink: vodka with cranberry juice and margarita mix. But we did go out for a great meal at Bar Charlie located inside The Palazzo. Nice choice there, Todd.

I was curious to see if Vegas was showing any outward signs of the recession, and we noticed a few things. Some of the down escalators were turned off in an apparent attempt to save on the electric bill. We also noticed that some casinos didn't have as many tables opened as they normally would. On Thursday night, Todd, Erika, and I wanted to play blackjack together at Treasure Island, but all the active tables were full and we couldn't find any empty tables with ready-to-go dealers.

We eventually found a table at The Mirage, where Erika and I immediately went on a tear. I was way up for awhile, but then lost most of my winnings and walked away with only about $50 in profit. I played Blackjack a couple more times on the trip, but enjoyed no further success.

One thing struck me while I was playing that game -- I didn't see any tables that paid 3-2 on blackjacks. Now I haven't played a lot of twenty-one over the years, but I'm pretty sure 3-2 is the traditional payout. Every table we played, however, only paid 6-5 for a blackjack. Another sign of the times, perhaps.

But the thing I noticed most of all as far as the recession is concerned was the cheap craps. Last year, Casino Royale had three dollar craps tables on Thursday evening only, then $5 tables on Friday through Sunday. But this year, it had three dollar craps tables all weekend long, so I spent most of my gambling time there.

Todd and I played craps for awhile at about 3 am on Friday morning. I had just ran out of chips -- and was down $100 -- when he showed up at the table, so I bought in for another $60. I ended up doubling my $60 before we called it quits, which meant I only lost about $40 for the overall session. Todd also won money in what I'm pretty sure was his first winning craps session ever.

I couldn't really get much else going, though. On Friday afternoon, a lady next to me went on a nice long roll which netted me around $300, but I was already down about $100 for that session when her roll started. The dice went fairly cold after that, but I still only lost about $200 for the weekend. Erika had a good night on Thursday evening/Friday morning, winning about $250 playing blackjack.

I didn't play any hold 'em, which was odd because I recently started playing poker again in part to get ready for this trip. But I've played a lot of cards here at home recently, and I never get to play craps, so the $3 craps tables left me with no real interest in playing poker on this particular trip. Todd and Erika didn't play any hold 'em either. Maybe next time.

Why It Sucks To Be An Extreme Right-Wing Republican These Days

What's so wonderful is watching Republican congressmen saying, "But this will cost jobs!" The very same Republican congressmen who were denouncing the stimulus, saying government spending never creates jobs, but cutting defense spending costs jobs. It's wonderful.

-- Paul Krugman

Weak

Radical right-wing extremist governors are quickly discovering that, when it comes to stimulus money, all politics is local:

The list of governors threatening to decline federal stimulus money last month read like a list of Republicans considering running for president in 2012: Govs. Mark Sanford, Bobby Jindal and Sarah Palin led the anti-stimulus charge.

But what began with a bang is ending with something closer to a whimper. All three of those governors have been forced to scale back their expectations, to varying degrees, as the push of conservative philosophy gave way to the pull of political reality.

All three found that praise from the conservative movement in Washington meant nothing to furious state legislators of both parties. And in the end, along with other conservative Republican governors, the three submitted letters in recent days asking to be eligible for federal funds, a spokesman for the White House Office of Management and Budget confirmed.

Quote Of The Week

"That reminds me of the famous story about Squeaky the Chicago Mouse. It seems that Squeaky was floating on his back along the Chicago River one day. Approaching the Michigan Avenue lift bridge, he called out: Raise the bridge! I have an erection!"

-- Roger Ebert, responding to Bill O'Reilly's recent assertion that he (O'Reilly) has "more power than any politician."

Kumar Goes To . . . The White House

Kal Penn, of Harold and Kumar fame, is giving up acting for the time being and going to work for Obama:

Actor Kal Penn, who stumped around the country for the Obama presidential campaign, is going to leave Hollywood to work in the Obama White House, EW.Com is reporting. The White House confirmed to the Chicago Sun-Times that Penn is joining the Obama administration. * * *

Penn told EW: "I'm going to be the associate director in the White House office of public liaison. They do outreach with the American public and with different organizations. They're basically the front door of the White House. They take out all of the red tape that falls between the general public and the White House. It's similar to what I was doing on the campaign."

Penn is also a regular on the TV show House, but he'll be leaving that show to work for Obama:

[PENN] "The ultimate irony, of course, is that I love being on House. There's not a smarter group of people that I've been surrounded by in television. So I thought about it for a very long time before I went and talked to David and Katie."

"What was that conversation like?"

PENN: "We had a very long discussion. And I remember David saying, 'Are you telling me that you're unhappy with the show and that you want to leave so you can go off and do a different show?' And I was like, 'Not at all. I'm actually saying the exact opposite, which is I'm having an incredible time, but there's something aching in me to do something completely different and take a break from the acting thing for a while.' And with their blessing, we were able to work it out."

They should work Penn's departure from House into an episode -- his character could announce that he's leaving to work in politcs, and Dr. House can then respond by saying, "you're an idiot."

UPDATE: I guess I should have watched House last night (spoiler alert if you happened to have Tivo'd that episode and haven't watched it yet).

The Ted Stevens Situation Just Keeps Getting Funnier

The Alaska Republican party wants Sen. Mark Begich (D-AK) to resign. Begich defeated the evil Ted Stevens last November, but Attorney General Eric Holder is now asking the judge to drop the charges against Stevens because of prosecutorial misconduct by Justice Department lawyers working for the Bush Regime.

This is one strange political story. Stevens was convicted as the result of a prosecution conducted by attorneys working for George W. Bush, and now Obama's AG is asking for the charges to be dropped. Weird.