The Past Week: March 8-14, 2009 (Alaska Rivalry? Palin/Murkowski; Franken vs.Colemen=Bush vs. Gore?; China Gearing Up for It’s Own Second Stimulus Package; Sen. Gregg’s Parting Shot)

~~By InsightAnalytical-GRL

Here are a few items that you may have missed during the past week as you basked in all the stock market “gains”…

Looks like there’s another star from Alaska who is making some waves in D.C. Lisa Murkowski, who’s father lost to Sarah Palin in the primary election as he tried for re-election as  governor in 2006, is being called a “powerhouse” in the Senate. (One of the charges leveled at Frank Murkowski was that he appointed his daughter to the Senate after he was elected governor.)  From the AP:

Alaska’s Murkowski a new ‘powerhouse’ in Senate

Only in her first full term, Murkowski is Alaska’s senior senator and the top Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, a crucial role for her oil-producing state. She serves on the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee and is the only woman among eight men on the Senate GOP’s leadership team.

“I can’t think of anybody in recent years in the Senate who has gone further faster than Lisa Murkowski,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. “Alaska has a new powerhouse already.”

SNIP

…Even with her climb to power, Murkowski is dogged by an unspoken rivalry with Gov. Sarah Palin, the GOP’s vice presidential nominee in 2008 who defeated Murkowski’s father in a hard-fought primary in 2006.

Murkowski is up for re-election in 2010, and pundits from Washington to Alaska have focused on a possible primary challenge by Palin, a possible presidential contender in 2012. Palin, whose term as governor ends next year, has not announced her plans.

SNIP

While she supports increased oil and gas drilling, Murkowski is more moderate than many other GOP senators, Begich said. Murkowski supported a fair-pay act for women and an expansion of children’s health insurance, both Democratic priorities.

While both women deny the talk of rivalry, even going so far as to write a joint opinion piece with the title “We’re not rivals; we’re in partnership for Alaska,” rumors persist.  Palin’s term as governor ends next year and Murkowski is up for re-election in 2010 and there is speculation that Palin might mount a primary challenge to Murkowski.  Should be interesting…

And doesn’t it seem that the GOP powers in D.C. may be closing ranks around Murkowski over Palin?

***

If you’re wondering what’s going on with the Franken-Coleman Senate seat battle, here’s the latest update:

Politco.com reported on Friday that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is urging a fight all the way to the Supreme Court:

Franken holds a 225-vote lead after a hand recount of ballots cast in November. But Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) suggested Friday that Coleman’s fight to hold on to his Minnesota Senate seat may still be in its nascent stages.

“This could end up in federal court based on the allegations of the Coleman campaign that there has not been a consistent manner of counting votes county by county,” McConnell said. “I don’t know where this ends.”

Guess what case they are citing?  Remember the one that was supposed to be a “one-time only” decision?

McConnell said that Coleman’s team seems to have been laying the groundwork for a federal appeals challenge by citing the 2000 Supreme Court case in Bush v. Gore, which ended the Florida recount. McConnell argued that the equal protection clause of the Constitution ensures that each county should use similar standards in counting its ballots, which the Coleman campaign asserts was not done in Minnesota.

“We all remember Bush v. Gore,” McConnell said.

***

Guess who else has a second stimulus package ready to roll? From Xinhua News Agency/China Views:

Premier: China ready to roll out new stimulus package if needed

BEIJING, March 13 (Xinhua) — China has prepared plans to cope with even bigger difficulties amid the financial crisis and is ready to put forward new stimulus package at any time, said Premier Wen Jiabao here Friday.

SNIP

“We are ready to put forward new stimulus policies at any time,” Wen said.

China rolled out a 4-trillion-yuan (585.5 billion U.S. dollars) two-year stimulus package last year, for which the central government has pledged 1.18 trillion yuan.

Wen said Friday the 1.18 trillion yuan from the central government was totally new investment.

The package included huge government investment, tax reform, industrial restructuring, scientific innovation, social welfare and promoting employment.

Apart from the 4-trillion-yuan package, China will cut tax by 600 billion yuan, raise the old-age pension for retired workers, hike the salaries of 12 million teachers, increase farmers’ income and provide more subsidies for them.

The country also plans to spend 850 billion yuan on reforming the health care sector within three years.

“These investment is not included in the 4-trillion-yuan stimulus package,” Wen said.

All investment plans in the massive stimulus package have been fully debated, and would be open for public supervision, he said.

He said the stimulus package included many new projects, such as the housing projects for low-income urban residents.

MORE

Dollars, yuans…it’s beginning to sound all the same…

***

VIA Chicago Correspondent Leslie:

Here’s the quote of the week from Sen. Gregg, the Republican who bailed as Commerce Secretary:

From the end of the article a MSNBC’s First Read:

“Gregg questioned why any foreign country would continue to buy up U.S. debt: “Because if I’m in the international marketplace, and I’m looking at this budget, I’m saying to myself, ‘Where’s the discipline? Where’s the containment?’ There isn’t any.”

In his withdrawal statement last month, Gregg said, “I expect there will be many issues and initiatives where I can and will work to assure the success of the president’s proposals.”

The budget doesn’t appear to be one of them.”

***

THE PAST WEEK

*By American Lassie

Saturday Sanity: The Antidote to the Madness (March 14, 2009) (Lost Dog; Budding; Pruned Grapes; A Robin Visits; Clouds Around Town; Biker Chic) Pics!

Obama on the Border: The Language Shift & Plan to Use Executive Orders–Tying It All Together (Security, Trade, Immigration )

Mexico Plans World’s Third Largest Seaport, Will Impact U.S. Ports on West Coast; Citigroup to Help Finance? (Updated 1X More on TARP $$ Going Overseas)

What’s Going On North of the Border: The Canadian Economy and Stimulus Plan

An Old Hand Comments on the Current Fix We’re In With Obama the “Post Turtle”

*THE PROPOSED NORTH AMERICAN COMMUNITY/NORTH AMERICAN UNION: 2010 Is Just Around the Corner

The Past Week: March 1-7, 2009 (More on Sinclair Lewis; Canada-EU Free Trade?; China Eyeing the Big Three Automakers’ “Juicy Bits”?; Palin’s “Troopergate” Foe Winds Up In Obama Administration)

Why Chris Matthews Has Nothing to Worry About…

~~By InsightAnalytical-GRL

(Disclaimer: I swear that I had NOTHING to do with the 2001 piece quoted below. Really. I mean it. Just like I had nothing to do with it when it first appeared at Buzzflash (when it was still a safe site…)

If you’re wondering why it’s been awfully quiet on the “Chris Matthews for Senate” campaign front, I think I know the answer.

No, it’s not the holidays or the Caroline Kennedy saga, or the Illinois Senate Show featuring Blago and Burris. (Sounds like a vaudeville team, doesn’t it?)

Nope, ever since Ed Rendell’s brain went into waves of post-election synapse malfunction, it’s been quiet in Tweetie-land for other reasons.

As you will recall, dear reader, Eloquent Ed for Hillary morphed into an Obamacrat and has become a fan of fan, namely Matthews, who felt that tingle up his leg during the primary season. As Politico’s “The Scorecard” blog reported on December 12, 2008, Rendell slobbered:

“I don’t really know if he has made up his own decision…..he would be the strongest Democratic candidate without any doubt because he is so well known, because of his ability to raise money around the nation, he would be a strong candidate but Arlen Specter is very tough to beat in a general election cause he’s had a bond with suburban Democrats, Philadelphia Democrats, and he does very well with independent and those moderate Republicans.”

The above, of course, is true ObamaAnalysis, since it’s all about money and celebrity, with no facts at all about Matthews checkered life as a talk show host or political experience with Tip O’Neill.  But Rendell isn’t really just “analyzing”…his “longtime political consultant, Neil Oxman,” has been having little chats with Matthews, so Rendell is knee-deep in this particular Senate seat game.

In the Obama Universe, where there is never any vetting, Matthews seems to fit the bill as a celebrity candidate…he’s sort of like the “Al Franken of Philadephia,” I guess.

Ah, but this quiet time hides something that has been around for years.  In fact, I happened to find this obscure piece from 2001 that gives us a hint of something in Matthews’ past that might ordinarily cause concern. But these are not ordinary times; raising questions is so old school!  Anyway,  here’s the EXCLUSIVE!

CHRIS MATTHEWS TO UNDERGO PSYCHIATRIC TREATMENT

WASHINGTON February 10, 2001 — MSNBC political talk show host and San Franscisco Chronicle columnist Chris Matthews is reportedly preparing to enter a private psychiatric hospital on the advice of close family and friends.

Undisclosed sources report that Matthews, the tow-haired host seen on the hour-long “Hardball” program, has inexplicably started screaming at the top of his lungs.

“We don’t know what’s gotten into him,” one puzzled staffer stated. “With the exit of President Clinton, Chris has just lost it. It’s as if he’s been on drugs and now is being forced to go off them cold turkey. He’s just trying to hold on by digging up anything he can find about Clinton.”

Other sources close to the situation thinks the Clinton departure is only part of the story. “Chris is facing off against Fox’s Bill O’Reilly, who is losing it more and more often,” said a Hardball producer. “Chris feels that to compete, he has to raise the volume and get more into the faces of his guests.”

Matthews, who once worked for Democrat House Leader Tip O’Neill and calls himself a Democrat, seems to have undergone a marked personality change, according to a close family friend. “He seems to have studied the GOP playbook carefully and it’s taken over his brain. And, on top of that, he seems to be echoing the teachings of the Pope a lot more.”

“I’m afraid that if he has Peggy Noonan on as a guest one more time, he will be lost forever.”

Other associates fear that Matthews will have a stroke if his shouting continues unabated. “The blood vessels on his forehead are already bulging in an alarming manner and he’s beginning to stutter. We had hoped that by pitting him against James Carville he would have come to his senses and realized that he couldn’t compete at this level of aggression indefinitely. But it’s apparent that Chris can no longer see reality and we may have to cut the show back to its original half hour in order to control the situation,” commented a MSNBC executive.

Since 2001 there have been some changes, of course. Peggy Noonan concentrates her bloviating elsewhere these days. There’s a new Pope. And Matthews is no longer up against O’Reilly; he’s onfor an hour at 5 and 7 pm ET now, which is still a high-pressure schedule.  Sure, he’s opposite Shepherd Smith on the FOX Report at 5 and Hannity at 7…but at least he’s no longer being clobbered in the ratings by O’Reilly. But showing up to bestow his “deep thoughts” twice a night, all that serious, objective analysis, and taking on all those astute guests can’t help but be stressful.  For this sensitive and sincere man, this true patriot…a run for the Senate might bring welcome relief from the rigors of being a political talker.

So, it seems apparent to me that Matthews is guarding his health carefully since the “leak” about his possible Senate run.  And now, under the wing of  Ed Rendell, OUWT  (Obama Under Wraps Team) and the media, which will rally around one of their very own, that 2001 piece will probably be permanently banished down the memory hole.   It might take an awful lot of work at MSNBC to destroy the years of video tape of “Hardball” in  the vault, but I’m sure the committment is there!  OUWT will certainly be out in full force preparing us for the next media creation to hit the Senate!

The Past Week: Recaps and Random Thoughts, October 19-25 (McCain Rally in Mesilla, NM (with pics) (Updated 1X including Clinton Rally–”Optimistic but not yet confident”); Ayers circa 1974; “Pre-Counts”–the New Horse Pucky; Messing with Military Votes; Bill Clinton, Even You’re Irritating Me Now; “Grieving”)

~~Posted by InsightAnalytical-GRL

OK, I have to say this: the video of the McCain rally yesterday afternoon is incredibly BAD! I can’t believe how bad the quality is! I’ve never seen anything done so poorly for any other candidate who has visited the Las Cruces area!  Last week, they printed the wrong address of the McCain headquarters (gave Obama’s twice), now this!  The video is heavily edited and lasts only about 3 minutes. Now, maybe they’ve “improved” it, but as of the time when I put this post together, it was just terrible!

I didn’t go to the rally because I had a gardening workshop I had signed up for…but, since it was only about two blocks from the Plaza, I managed to get a few pics as I left.  The police had blocked off all approaches except for one a few blocks up the Avenida de Mesilla and since it was a ticketed event and I didn’t have a ticket, I didn’t bother walking up that far.

However, I ran into a “Democrat for McCain,” a lovely woman who told me she was “scared to death” of Obama. I chatted with couple of the policemen manning the barricades… one of the told me outright that he thought Obama was a liar.

Here are a couple of the pics I got.  The huge flag was hanging on the side of the plaza and it appears from the video that the stage was in front of the flag.

Usually, rallies are held with the San Albino’s church as the backdrop (you can see the top of the steeple to the right in the middle picture), but yesterday things were shifted so the background was 90 degrees to the “left” along the far side of the plaza. There was a backdrop reading “Country First” immediately in back of the speakers, and the flag was suspended behind that.  Departing Sen. Domenici introduced McCain.  McCain had a good line at the start of the video…that “Obama is more interested in controlling wealth than creating it.”

Let’s see if the Sun-News deigns to put the entire McCain speech up like they did for Obama on Memorial Day.  Or, let’s see if they have interviews with attendees in a later article.  I don’t expect much, because this rag endorsed Obama last week…full of hesitations, but they endorsed him nonetheless. SHAME ON THE LAS CRUCES SUN-NEWS!!! And, I’ll have to see if Hillary Clinton’s rally for Obama further down south gets a lot more coverage and if Obama’s night rally in Albuquerque gets big play as late as Monday. (See story below in the “posts” section.)

UPDATE on the coverage (Sunday AM):

At the website, the same crummy, short video but with an expanded story with some more meaty quotes from McCain.

In the print editon of the Sun-News–”BATTLEGROUND” screaming along the top of the page, with a big sticker for the Renaissance ArtsFaire plunked over part of the picture of McCain and most of the caption! Below the stories on McCain, the story “Clinton Stumps for Obama in Sunland Park.”  Continuing on page 9, on the left the stories on McCain, on the right at the top, Clinton’s name highlighted with a big picture of her and a shot of women supporters. On page 6 a story titled “Southern NM in the Spotlight as Race Tightens” with a pic of McCain and one of Obama and Bill Richardson (can’t let a day go by without Obama in the picture!).  Next to it on Page 7 a story titled “Average Joes Have Mixed Feelings on Wealth” by the AP with charts and a title “Most Americans under 15% tax rate.”

In the story on Clinton–(which reported a crowd of about 2,600–there was NO estimate for the McCain crowd, although 2,500 tickets were supposedly available and the story referred to “thousands” in a caption of a small picture)–she is quoted as saying: “I want you to support Barack Obama as hard as you supported me.” Later in the story she pushed for a “filibuster-proof majority” but the report also had these interesting comments:

Clinton in Sunland Park on Saturday nonetheless cautioned the faithful to avoid complacency, fearing that leads Obama and the congressional hopefuls have built could slip away in the final days of the campaign.

“Ten days is a long time in a presidential election. All sorts of things can happen,” she said.

“Clinton described herself as optimistic about Democratic wins on Nov. 4, but not yet confident that all will go as planned.”

***

In case you missed the latest in the Wiliam Ayers saga, here are a couple of links for stories on Prairie Fire: The Poltics of Revolutionary Anti-Imperialism , written and published in 1974 by Ayers on the Weather Underground and the story about the office Obama and Ayers shared.

***

Last week I griped about Early Voting (see the 3rd story in the “Posts” section) and on Wednesday I actually heard a news story on the radio about how Obama was leading in the early voting by a large margin…30%, 27% were the numbers bandied about depending on the “poll.”  Of course, there was no real poll and this story that was up at The Hill discusses how the numbers are put together.

So now the media works its magic buy discussing “pre-counts” as if they ARE the election results? Is this the voting equivalent of “pre-owned” that really means “used” when it applies to cars?  Remember we weren’t supposed to get a call on an election on the TV before California had voted? Remember how we were all aghast that Bush’s cousin at FOX News declared Bush the winner of FL and the entire meme changed in 2000? Why is this “reporting” on Early Voting now ACCEPTABLE?  In the distant past, we at least we had SOME respect for the idea of not doing things that influenced an election–like creating a “report” on Early Voting obviously meant to push the idea that one candidate is “inevitable.”

***

Now, here’s a job for ACORN! Making sure everyone gets a chance to vote! Over at Edge of Forever, we saw this story this week (The link to the original Marc Ambinder story is here.):

Military votes tossed out in Virginia

Oh…they were tossed on a “technicality”–the voters did NOTHING WRONG!

Fairfax general registrar Rokey Suleman said Thursday that he has had to reject some of the ballots because of a Virginia law passed in 2002. That law — then called Senate Bill 113, sponsored by then state Sen. Bill Bolling — requires that when an overseas citizen wants to request an absentee ballot and cast a vote with the same paperwork, it requires not only a witness signature but also the current address of the witness.

Apparently, the ballots themselves were not changed for the new requirements

The McCain campaign said there’s not even a space for the witness to list an address. Suleman agreed; he said the federal document was changed in recent years and the space for the witness address was removed. But the Virginia law hasn’t changed.

A Democrat is the “registrar of voters” in VA…he thinks this whole thing “stinks”…but the law is the law?

And whither WesClark, who practically lived in Virginia campaigning for Kaine…and has a residence in Alexandria, I believe.   Not a peep from him on this?

And the big question is–When do we get a uniform voting law in this country? Meanwhile,  John Conyers cancelled a September session of the committee that has been working on “preparing” for the 2008 election…I’d say there’s been a lot of heel-dragging on assuring a fair vote this election, from BOTH sides.

***

Out of the blue (no pun intended) I got a missive from Bill Clinton this week on behalf of HillPac. It was about raising money for a few downticket candidates, including Al Franken, and efforts to win a veto-proof Congress.

I don’t have to tell you how important this election is to our country. But I do want to tell you one thing that will make a tremendous difference for Barack Obama and Joe Biden as we go forward: A filibuster-proof Democratic Senate majority working by their side.

(SNIP)

I know that these three races are critically important to her — and they should be to you, too.

I don’t think it will surprise you that Hillary and I talk about the Senate races all the time. After all, she’ll be working every day with the winners next year.

Well, Bill, the last thing I want is a Democratic Congress and Barack Obama in the Oval Office. I never thought I’d say something like that, but that’s the way it is this year.  And Bill…tell Hillary to get off the Obama bandwagon, especially the one here in my backyard at the same time McCain is campaigning.  Let Obama show up in person here with us little folks down here in southern NM!

***

You can say the next item is about something you’ve seen before. In fact, you have, since all of here at IA have written about this is some shape or form over the past weeks. But, this particular piece posted at Savage Politics takes a different approach as it reflects on all the reasons why we feel so bad about what’s going on in this country. Here’s an excerpt:

GRIEVING

by Lab,
Guest Contributor

Over the past several days, while I have been purposefully alone with my thoughts, I have felt a heaviness of heart and have been filled with an overwhelming sense of nothing but pure, unadulterated shock and dismay at what I have been seeing in our country. In those quiet moments, away from the television and internet, I’ve been overcome, at times, with a deep sense of pain and hurt that’s almost indescribable. The closest I can come to explaining what I feel is Grief. I am grieving for our country.

I am grieved when the national media is concerned about Sarah Palin dropping her g’s when she talks, is completely unmoved by the fact that the man who would lead our country hasn’t been made to tell the American people why he chose to be friends with, write blurbs for, attend panels with, sit in a church pew, for 20 long years listening to, took money from, represented in court, and paid campaign cash to all kinds of people who have either hated America all of their known lives or have actually bombed its symbols. That grieves me….MORE

***

On happier note, in the garden this week:  The mustard is now about 3 inches high and the arugula,  pak choi, and swiss chard seeds have sprouted! I picked the last tomato from the pot on the patio and I put up tomato preserves, which are yummy!  And I’m going to do another batch in a couple of day since I still have tons of green (and ripe) tomatoes hanging around on the counter.

THIS WEEK’S POSTS

*By Lisabona

**By American Lassie

***By kenosha Marge

*A SPECIAL POST: As the Violence of Obama’s Followers Escalates, A Former Resident of Communist Romania Expresses Her Fears about Obama and What is Happening to Our Country

BREAKING: Hillary Clinton in So. NM the SAME TIME as McCain, as Obama is in ABQ (Sat. 10/25)

**It’s Time to Decide, Folks

Celebrating 100,000 Hits with the PUMA Dames at InsightAnalytical! (Featuring Dog Testimonials and Recipes for Disaster/Democracy)

On the Ground in NM: Biden/Richardson/Endorsement Punch Hits So. NM; Big Early Voting Turnout; BREAKING: McCain May Be Here on Saturday (UPDATE 1X–McCain CONFIRMED for Sat. Rally, S. NM)

***Oh No, Poor Joe (Joe the Plumber Meets the Ghost of Joe McCarthy)

The Past Week: Recaps & Random Thoughts, October 12-18 (A Fond Farewell; Polls and Polling Methods; Odinga Video; Fitzerald, Clintons, RICO?; Body Language and Obama the Hypnotist; Chicago; Greens!…3-Parter on ‘Independent Thinking’)