...it's not dark yet, but it's gettin' there...
i caught some of the John Bolton hearing today on CSPAN. i couldn't get over that brain trust we elected as our junior senator, Barbara Boxer. Of course her speechifying was ridiculous, that goes without saying. But when she wasn't on, Boxer seemed to be chewing continuously, like a fucking cow. Did anyone else notice this? She absolutely was not paying attention, and she kept looking around the room and working that cud, whatever it was. What an embarrassment to the State of California.
Amen.
Posted by: shelly on Apr. 12, 2005Well put. But take heart, you could live in Massachusetts, where things are so fucked up they find the ex-wife on Comm. Ave, drunk, lying on the sidewalk in the rain:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7334983/
I feel sorry for Joan, she was (back in the day) too smart and beautiful to be tied down to that carnival. She lacked Jackie's killer instinct to get the fuck out at the right time.
Posted by: Jason O. on Apr. 12, 2005based on annika's brief discourse....
i logged onto c-span......
good ol' boy bidden was in a discussion with carl ford.
to paraphrase.....
never have so many been paid so much to do next to nothing about so very little .....
i am amazed/impressed that annika could watch that long.
i could not.
has not bidden previously publicly stated "he would give bolton a fair hearing prior to voting against him"?
talk about fair & balanced......
I'm obviously a huge Boxer fan (less enthralled with DiFi,of course.) I have been for years, since she was a congresswoman in Marin County. Every four years, the right thinks she's vulnerable, and every time, she wins -- by increasingly large margins. She handled Jones by double-digits, and even carried some places that Bush won (San Bernadino County voted for Bush and Boxer, for example).
Like it or not, Californians dig her. (Hey, I had to take away one positive from the November debacle.)
Posted by: Hugo on Apr. 12, 2005The Republicans can't mount a viable candidate for Senator. Arnold won't run, because since Pete Wilson, senator is considered to be a lower office than governor. If Sonny Bono were still alive, he'd probably have a better chance than some of the others who have run recently. But only against Boxer; Feinstein is probably unbeatable.
If Boxer ever were defeated, she could join the board of directors of a bank; she has banking experience (heh heh heh).
Posted by: Ontario Emperor on Apr. 12, 2005Good thing you've embraced the nitwittery of Wymens Studies Hugo. One suspects that the rigor of poly sci might kick yo ass.
Boxer has never had a real opponent. Cali voter registration makes a statewide R a dumb money bet unless you have a name candidate, ala Condi, and why would SHE want the job. Even that goat blower Huffington couldn't buy a seat with the most expensive senate race in history. Good thing too, because I like my liberal assholes to have a D behind their name.
Posted by: Casca on Apr. 12, 2005The reason Boxer keeps winning is because the national republican party has given up on California. i was told, by someone in the California Party, that the nationals won't finance our candidates because "California doesn't deliver." So it's a self fulfilling prophesy.
i think McClintock could have been competetive against Boxer, but he had no interest in running, perhaps because he knew he wouldn't have gotten RNC support, other than lip service. Hugo's probably right about Arnold, but i also don't think he'd be interested in a legislative office. He's an executive kinda guy.
Re-districting could help. California is at heart a conservative state (don't laugh. look at how we vote on propositions and in the recall). If we could prove to the national party that we're worth the trouble, by cleaning up our own legislature, we might have a chance at throwing Boxer out on her ass someday.
Posted by: annie on Apr. 12, 2005Anni, it doesn't work that way. Races are run by caucuses, and caucuses are made up of the party members of the body they represent. To get the US Senate Republican Caucus to put money in a race, they're looking at what they can accomplish with that money. You're the caucus chairman. How many races do you want to be competitive in? The max of course, so you look to see how you can best utilize your money. California is a moneypit. Let the D's hold it.
I love that the D's are represented by the likes of Boxer, Feinstein, Clinton. They are the face of their party. At some point shrews wear out their welcome.
Posted by: Casca on Apr. 12, 2005Annika:
The Republican Party was irrelevant in Minnesota for many years just as it is in California now.
In 1998, Bill Cooper, a businessman, started rebuilding the party piece by piece. 4 years later another businessman, Ron Eibensteiner, took over and built upon what Bill Cooper started.
Today the Republican Party is the dominant party in Minnesota. We have the governorship, the state legislature and are three seats away from controlling the Senate.
One person can completely turn the fortunes of a political party around but it takes a leader.
from the opinion journal:
Great Orators of the Democratic Party
"One man with courage makes a majority."--Andrew Jackson
"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."--Franklin Roosevelt
"The buck stops here."--Harry Truman
"Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."--John Kennedy
"You can dance around it, you can run away from it, you can put perfume on it, but the bottom line is the bottom line."--Barbara Boxer