Grand Old Clusterfuck
Well, just when you think the Republicans in this state can't get any dumber - there's this. Some dimwit is mounting a primary challenge to Roscoe Bartlett. So in the same cycle that Republicans are trying to unseat Mikulski, this clown and Bartlett are going to suck up a million dollars between them.

This abortion follows on the heels of a bold move by the state party to RECRUIT another candidate to run in the 3rd District. So there will be two Republicans competing for the honor of being disemboweled by Ben Cardin. What is with these people?

I'm going to start compiling a list of the Republican elected officials appointed to high-paying state jobs by Ehrlich. What a bunch of yokels. After O'Malley gets elected governor, this will all be a bad dream.

Marc

Who you callin' chicken?
In what could be described as one of the most absurd things ever, Pamela Anderson is going to urge a boycott of KFC because they refuse to meet with her so she can discuss the way they treat their chickens. She's going to be making the announcement for a boycott on her weekly radio show.
A taste:

"If they won't meet with us, we're taking our case to the children." The source says that PETA will start handing out what they're calling "Buckets of Blood" in front of KFC outlets across the country. "They'll look like KFC's buckets of chicken, and will contain things like mutilated, gory chickens," says the source. "We gave kids `Unhappy Meals' at McDonald's and Burger King crowns with animals impaled on the points when they wouldn't meet with us. After those kids started screaming, both McDonald's and Burger King got reasonable."

Now that's finger-lickin' good.

Tony

Padre Pricetag
I'm glad to see some uniform discussion back on this blog. It's been a couple of days. I like those new Padres unis, I think the sand idea for road games is fresh and I even like this new logo, surf and all. (In case you're curious, the Padres begin play in PETCO Park next year, hence the new duds.) But why not go back to the old brown and yellow and have that chubby Franciscan swinging a bat? Old School baseball uniforms and hats, particularly that Padres look, are extremely popular. I keep waiting for one of these teams to cash in on this by going retro whole hog. Then again, if that stuff is going to sell anyway, the creation of a new uniform and new logo makes for even more stuff to buy.

(By the way, did you happen to notice who's modeling those new Padres threads?)

Tony

Obligatory Redskins Post
I can't help it, they're like a gruesome car wreck. Anyway, another story in the Post with tons of quotes from people around the league talking about the running joke that is Steve Spurrier's offense. Tell it, Tre Johnson:

I'd rather, as an offensive lineman, be able to dictate tempo to the defense, and the running game does that. You're being aggressive and getting after the defense that way. You're not doing that if you throw the ball 50 times. You take the power out of your offensive line. They're just a wall instead of a vehicle of attack. There's no chance of you establishing the line of scrimmage because you're always backpedaling.

Nothing Succeeds Like Failure
Skins extend Vinny Cerrato's contract.

Marc

The Other Shoe
Hot on the heels of the drop in unemployment claims and the gaudy 7.2% 3Q GDP figure comes this economic news. There was a gain of 126,000 jobs in October, and a revised figure of 160,000 jobs gained in August and September.

Marc

Addendum:
Get the straight dope from a certain hardworking government agency.

Paris Says Sand Is In!
The Padres rolled out their new look today. Very clean and almost traditional except the road unis are a 'sand' color that is very nice (and they included an alternate dark jersey, but what are you gonna do?).

Marc

Go west, young man, and blog
Wow, what a blog-stravaganza yesterday. Truly blog-licious. Anyway, a quick question: Has anyone else noticed that the ads on the top of our blog are almost always either sports or politics related in some ways? Does anyone know anything about this? Does it have to do with our on-blog content?

Howard Dean looks to be picking up some major union endorsements next week. It looks like the service workers and the government workers are going to get behind him. They're among the two biggest (if not the two biggest) AFL-CIO members. I don't think it means much in terms of voters taking a cue from the endorsement, but these groups are going to have massive get-out-the-vote operations already on the ground. The impact of this will be felt largely in Iowa, where Dean is already starting to make a run at Gephardt. With the man-power this brings into Iowa, a caucus state where victory requires boots on the ground, this could be a windfall. Perhaps the beginning of the end for the other candidates?

Yesterday's Broder piece adds yet another dimension to the Democratic primary contest. With the front-loading of the schedule, (an idea, Broder points out, that can be pinned on Democratic Party Chairman and your friend and mine Terry McAuliffe), and the relative low national profile of the candidates (including Dean), Dems face the probability of choosing a candidate by March that the rest of the country knows almost nothing about. Yet again, another uphill fight for the Democrats.

Read Norman Chad's take on the BCS. Why? Because I told you too, and I'd never steer you wrong, baby. What? Ah, baby, don't give me that look. You know I don't mean these things I do, just sometimes I get so crazy inside, I...I don't what to do. I'm sorry Kevin Nealon.

In local rube news, Allegany County's flirtation with gambling made news in the Post the other day. Some lawmakers are focusing on turning Rocky Gap into a full-scale casino rather than have slots at the proposed racetrack.

While you're slummin' it, check out the Times-News webpage. You'll have to register first, but once you do check out the article on the front page concerning a suspected arson at FSU. Also, if you're still in the mood, read the editorial section. Look for Tom Marsh's latest School Board tirade, and a mother infuriated that waiting periods aren't required for paintball guns. Also, check the October section for the letter to the editor from the owner of Crab Alley regarding his infamous T-Shirts.

And finally, in peaked-with-Dana-Carvey-news, Dave Matthews will be on SNL this weekend and Al Sharpton will be taking a rocket to the moon with Astronaut Jones in early December.

That's all for now,
Good Night, and Good News,
Tony

Kevin Nealon, I'm back.

Counter-Reformation
There's been a small stink over this article in the Boston Globe about the conservative Catholic conspiracy. Here's a zing from the subject of the article, Father C. John McCloskey:

There's a name for Catholics who dissent from church teachings. They're called Protestants.

This guy has baptized Bork and Novak, among others.

Marc

Jane, You Ignorant Slut
I really do have work that I have to do today, but let's face it, this is what gets my blood pumping.

First, with bad news seemingly pouring out of Iraq everyday, I think Dean may have a chance to compete on foreign policy. It will depend on his advisors and if he is able to go toe to toe with Bush on foreign policy in the fall debates. I think Dean's willingness to discuss Saudia Arabia, as Marc alluded to, is also a good first step toward making the foreign policy issue less of a give away for Bush.

(Sidebar Question: Will Bush debate anybody this year? It's not his strong suit, and he knows it. Although he performed well in 2000, he did so with very little expectation. Now, he's going to be expected to be informed, nuanced and articulate. Bush will have to prove that his four years in the White House have forged in him the gravitas that he's banking on to make him untouchable in terms of foreign policy.)

Marc, your original post today suggested that Dean was backing away from an unpopular position (in the party, at least) when he attempted to apologize and clarify his confederate flag comment. That, however, does not seem to me to be the case. Dean's campaign seems bent, wisely I think, on shifting focus away from cultural values and on to the economy. I think Dean wants poor people to vote for him because he offers a progressive economic agenda (including health care reform, job creation and education reform), despite many voters misgivings about the Democratic party's fairly liberal stance on social issues. The inherent flaw with his wording, however, was the choice of a symbol so divisive that it thrust cultural values into the forefront of the discussion, exactly where Dean didn't want them to be. I think his comment was a political gaffe, but I don't think it does any damage to his overall policy initiatives or strategy.

True, Dean is quite a bit different from the majority of southern voters, but I don't think he needs to bend his social views to their liking. Like Clinton did in 1992, Dean must prevent his social values from becoming an obstacle in the minds of those poor, white southern voters who might vote for him otherwise. Clinton did not, nor did he pretend to, share a lot of cultural values with most southern, white voters. What he did do is downplay his differences and exaggerate his similarities. And this must be the Dean strategy. Dean has a good start due to his glowing NRA record and refusal to rescind his comment that rural states do not need the same gun-control laws as urban states do, a comment many Democrats found obliquely racist.

Clinton did not win the South on cultural issues. What he did do, and what Dean must do, is refuse to lose the South on cultural issues.

Tony

Au Contraire, Mon Frere
T-Bone sez:

Democrats cannot and should not intend to compete for the south by appealing to cultural values

Obviously, Bill Clinton's primary issue in '92 was the economy, but he knew that he had to send signals to Southern whites that he wasn't just a dope-smoking Harvard hippie - he was also the first white-trash president since Andy Jackson.

First, you have the Ricky Rector case, where Clinton presided over the execution of a retard. For those of you who don't remember, Rector tried unsuccessfully to kill himself, and was left with an IQ around 65. Before being led to his execution, he left the pie from his last meal "for later". Second, there was the Sister Souljah affair, where Clinton bashed a black female rapper who had made anti-white comments, humiliating Jesse Jackson in the process. Even Bush the Elder knew this. When running in 1988, he professed a love for pork rinds. Not bad for a Yalie.

I'm not saying Dean should come out against affirmative action, but a few token gestures might be enough to offset his pot-smoking, draft-dodging, Yale-educated, Aspen-skiing, know-it-all Yankee, son-of-a-stockbroker image. The lunatic fringe of the Democratic party isn't going anywhere. Those feminist types didn't take long to ditch their principles and defend Clinton, and neither did the blacks abandon our "first black president".

I think there is an opening on the foriegn policy front. Maybe Dean could criticize Bush on his dealings with Saudi Arabia. Stand a bunch of Muslim bigwigs behind him and call them terrorists. He's got to do something, because he's looking at carrying 6 or 7 states at this point.

Marc

Dean's Southern Strategy
I had only intended to blog once today, but I feel I should respnd to today's Marc post.

First, while Dean did apologize for his remarks, or more specifically his poor choice of imagery, he did not express regret for the original sentiment behind the quote. As I blogged about yesterday, I don't think Dean was intending to warm his way into the hearts of southern voters by appealing to their cultural values, as Marc intimated in his post. If he attempted this he would alienate not only the traditional base of the Democratic party, but also large segments of his grass-roots organization. His attempt, it appeared to me, was to show to southern voters who have traditionally voted Democratic, but have been casting their ballots for Republicans in the recent past, that they should once again make their decisions based on financial, rather than cultural issues. If it's true that these voters no longer share economic priorities with the Democratic party, then Dean's strategy is moot and the South will probably be lost to the Dems forever. However, what Dean earnestly believes, and what he's been trying to say for the last few days, is that poor, white, southerners still share economic priorities with the Democratic party. Dean is hopeful that it's enough to sway their votes, but that remains to be seen. In fact, Dean may be placing false hope on a sour economy that seems to be turning itself around before our eyes, but if the economy fails to sustain growth, then Dean will still have a dog in the fight over southern votes.

I think Dean's Tallahassee comments, although painfully devoid of subtlety, were right on. The South has always been conservative, but if the Democrats are to have any chance in the south, they will need to convince voters to think with their wallets, as Bill Clinton did in 1992. Democrats cannot and should not intend to compete for the south by appealing to cultural values, and think I Dean is acutely aware of this. He knows that it is a fight that will tear at the very fabric of not only his campaign, but the party itself. The Democratic Party's success in the past has always been tied to uniting divergent segments of the population (including rural and urban poor blacks and whites, organized labor, liberals etc.) through economic issues, regardless of their varied stances on cultural values. What it will probably all come down to, as it so often does, is the economy. If the economy is weak and joblessness is still a problem, then voters will be more likely to vote Democratic regardless of their cultural views. If it stays strong, then the focus of the campaign is going to be on foreign policy and cultural values. If this happens, the Democrats will have an awfully tough time cobbling together enough states to forge an electoral victory.

Tony

You're In, Chief
T-Bone, your question made it, although it wasn't really answered:

Baltimore, Md.: You have received considerable rebukes over the past few days regarding your comments about southern voters. Putting aside your poor choice of imagery, it seems to me that you were right. I agree that the Democratic Party must make serious efforts to bring back into the fold disaffected poor, souther, white voters who have traditionaly shared the economic priorities of the Democratic Party. My question is: how do you intend to do this?

Howard Dean: I believe that although I should not have used the symbol of the Confederate flag that the thrust of our strategy is the right thrust. We have to get people to focus on what we have in common in the South and elsewhere in this country. We have to stop the Republicans from dividing us on issues like race and abortion and guns and start focusing on the need for jobs, healthcare and education. that is the way to bring southern white voters back to the Democrats.

Marc

Deany-boppers
A small post today. There may be more coming this afternoon, but I have (gasp) actual work that I have to do today. A Reminder:Dean's going to be online for a chat at washingtonpost.com. I wrote a question in yesterday regarding his recent comments concerning his "Southern Strategy." If he answers it, I'll let you know.

Only one link today. A Washington Post piece on Dean and his flirting with the idea of eschewing federal matching funds and thus lifting federaly-mandated campaign spending caps. I think there are only gains to be had if he forgoes the federal matching funds. Remember, if Dean does manage to get the nomination (a fight that's proving as bloody and expensive as any in recent memory) he'll have to face a virtually unscathed, popular president with a truckload of available cash and untapped reserves that we can't even fathom. Plus, he's got Karl Rove, Diabolical Genius at his disposal. While there are potential gains to be made in accepting the caps and forcing Campaign Fiance Reform on the table, the pitfalls in such a strategy are numerous. For one, I don't think Campaign Finance Reform is going to play a major role in the upcoming campaign, no matter what one candidate does. Second, any political hay Dean manages to make out of accepting spending caps will be significantly outweighed by the inferior financial position he'll place himself in as compared to Bush. Dean's going to need money, money and more money if he ever hopes to compete in November. And it will prove vital that he's unencumbered in his spending.

Peace & Love,
Tony

They Don't Really Need Those Votes, Anyway
Well, it looks like Dean has been dragged back into the fold. He almost apologized for his Confederate flag comment, saying

Many people in the African-American community have supported what I said in the past few days because they understand what this is about. But some have not, and to those I deeply regret the pain that I may have caused.

In other southern news, while in Florida this week, Dean unloaded this turd:

Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean told a Tallahassee audience today that southerners have to quit basing their votes on "race, guns, God and gays."

He forgot to tell people with jobs to quit basing their votes on "income, Social Security, Medicare, and capital gains taxes". It would also help the Dems if Americans who don't like being murdered stopped basing their votes on "Pentagon, World Trade Center, Bali, USS Cole, Kenyan/Tanzanian embassies, World Trade Center the first time..."

You can't bitch about how stupid the electorate is and then hope to win their vote, especially if you are a New York Yalie talking to Southerners.

The fact is, the South is socially conservative - you can either appeal to that (as Dean started to try to do), or preserve your ideological purity and lose like Al Gore. It is a shame for you poor mislead Democrats out there that your party has decided it can do without half the country. As one Florida columnist summed it up:

Gephardt, Dean, Lieberman and Kerry probably needn't waste too much time trying to court the Southern pickup crowd. Most I've seen - with American or Confederate flags on them - also have another sticker on their bumpers. It's red, white and blue and says: Bush.

Marc

Leon Awards, Lifetime Achievement Division
Emmitt Smith, the proverbial diamond in the trash, has said he wouldn't mind sharing playing time with Marcel Shipp. The only thing Emmitt should be sharing is the bench - he is averaging 3.0 yards a carry, compared to Shipp's 4.4.

In Redskins news, slow-footed malcontent Bruce Smith met the Ol' Ballcoach to bellyache about his missed start. Let's look at the numbers, shall we?
Tackles - 8
Sacks - 2
Bruce Smith is lucky he has a job. As to the meeting, it sounded like Spurrier engaged in some serious Russ-speak: he sort of told Smith he would start (cool beans!), then later said it would be up to the defensive coaches (I'll have to talk to Kim). Hail to the Bengals!

Marc