Murphy - Johnson Debate

ctblogger has the video up from the Murphy - Johnson Debate:

Although I videotaped the event (with the help of the great Spazeboy), one really needed to be part of the audience and experience the reactions from the crowd as Nancy Johnson told lie after lie after lie. The responses from the crowd ranged from moans and groans to a woman standing up, saying "I can't take anymore of her bullshit," and walking out of the auditorium. The look of disbelief on everyone's faces including some Nancy Johnson volunteers was unreal.

Like a kid getting every present he wanted on Christmas Day, Murphy not only outperformed Johnson, he easily debunked every one of her claims, and clearly won over the crowd with his detailed outlined proposals which he would bring to Washington if elected Congressman.

Why is it that all of these GOP candidates go limp when they have all of their lies exposed by hard facts? Does anyone really want a limp Johnson in Congress?

(There has to be a Foley Joke in there somewhere? Put it in the comments if you think of it... lol:)

Rell: Selling Out CT to Big Apple Buyers

It is bad enough when you see the list of companies that have contracts with the State of Connecticut that are also MAJOR donors to the Rell campaign, something Rell claims she has never done... But today we see that Rell was selling out Connecticut to Big Apple buyers intent on gaining more influence on our States business than she will ever give to regular Nutmeggers.

About 75 people attended the $1,000-per-person reception Thursday evening, said Rell's campaign spokesman, Rich Harris.

Like many of Rell's other fundraising breakfasts, luncheons and receptions, the event was closed to the press. The reception was also not mentioned on Rell's campaign website.

Republican Rell influence peddling? Oh no! Never!

What do you have to hide, Jodi, that you can't let the press into these buyouts of our State?

For a full understanding of influence peddling see Republican criminal/super-lobbyist Jack Abrahmoff, criminal Republican Randy "Duke" Cunningham, criminal Republican Bob Ney, or likely criminal Republican Curt Weldon.

OR, of course, you could just look at Rell's mentor, disgraced Republican and former Governor Rowland to know how that scam works:

Her showing at the Garde Arts Center in New London won't hurt her with voters relieved that this steady-as-she-goes matron is not John G. Rowland, her glib predecessor and former political teammate whose greediness landed him in jail.

But a few gaffes in an otherwise OK performance are what viewers are talking about.

Late in the debate, Mrs. Rell pulled a George W. Bush when considering whether she made any mistakes in office. She didn't name any - though surely she could have wished, for just one thing, that the state Department of Transportation had kept an eye on the contractor who installed hundreds of faulty drains on I-84.

"I'm Jodi Rell, and I am perfect BUT please ignore the skeletons in my closet!"

Good lord!

Rell = GOP + Bush + Rowland + $$$ wasted + incompetent

That is basic math for republican politics...

Shays, Kolbe, Foley: More Weird Republican Sex

BranfordBoy at My Left Nutmeg asks about Shays sanity:

"Looks like Chris Shays really, really, really wants to lose. How else can you explain this insanity from the Wednesday debate?"

Shays: Then the next question is, well what has the US done? Well it has been accused of doing torture. That's what it's been accused of. Now I've seen what happened in Abu Ghraib, and Abu Ghraib was not torture, it was outrageous, outrageous involvement of National Guard troops from Maryland who were involved in a sex ring and they took pictures of soldiers who were naked. And they did other things that were just outrageous. But it wasn't torture.

It's difficult though how the dialogue in the rest of the world about that when you have news media all around the world saying we're torturing people. The bottom line for me is this. We follow the Geneva Convention period. That's what we do.

Matthew Gertz has the video

I think the insanity results because all republicans ever think about is sex.


BUT why do republicans have such freakin' weird ideas of what sex is supposed to be?

Republican Mark Foley is one example, and Republican Kolbe may very well be another example:

From NBC news:

Federal prosecutors in Arizona have opened a preliminary investigation of a camping trip Congressman Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., took 10 years ago that included two teenage congressional pages, a Justice Department spokesman told NBC News. NBC News first reported on the camping and rafting trip on Tuesday.

Kolbe's office denies anything "improper" happened.

More NBC:

NBC News interviewed several people who were on the trip, and their accounts vary. One participant, who requested anonymity, said he was uncomfortable with the attention Kolbe paid to one of the former pages. He was "creeped out by it," he said, adding that there was a lot of "fawning, petting and touching" on the teenager's arms, shoulders and back by Kolbe.

--- Joe in DC at AMERICAblog

Is the GOP setting their standard for all of our childrens futures?

If they are, then our kids are truely all fucked if the GOP remains in power.

GOP - Jack Abramoff Influence-Peddling Scandal

The investigation into the GOP - Jack Abramoff influence-peddling scandal starts to show some results:

Standing before Judge Ellen S. Huvelle, Ney pleaded guilty to conspiracy and making false statements. He acknowledged taking money, gifts and favors in return for official actions on behalf of Abramoff and his clients.

The 52-year-old lawmaker faces a maximum of 10 years in prison. Huvelle said prosecutors had agreed to recommend a term of 27 months, and said federal guidelines suggest a fine of between $5,000 and $60,000.

Despite his guilty pleas, Ney did not resign his seat in Congress. His lawyer, Mark Touhey, told the judge he would do so before sentencing on Jan. 19. Under the Constitution, he'll be gone before then. His term expires when the new Congress is sworn in at noon on Jan. 3.

The GOP had this to say AFTER Ney plead guilty:

House Republican leaders vowed Friday to expel convicted Rep. Bob Ney "as our first order of business" after the elections unless he resigns.

Given the fact that House Republican leaders like Hastert, Reynolds, Boehner, and others are all too busy trying to cover-up their culpability in the Foley scandal you can understand why they won't have time to boot Ney just yet.

I find it intereting that they wait until after their members are found guilty in a court of law to boot members of the corrupt GOP that should have already been under investigation by republican Doc Hasting's committee at the very least for ethical violations, if not for criminal violations.

Of course I always forget the fact that republicans don't investigate other republicans. They just cover-up for eachother and hope the MSM, and the rest of America, don't ask the questions that need to be asked and dig a little into the real facts.

The real facts: Every stinking GOP candidate, in the White House, the Senate, and especially the House, are responsible for allowing, sometimes encouraging, and often participating in actions that show that they believe GOP members are above the law.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely...

Echoes of Conspiracy Theories

Echoes of the conspiracy theory concerning the
Reagan-Bush era Congress Callboy Scandal:

Trandahl's name comes up in three accounts of confrontations between lawmakers and Foley over his reported approaches to underage pages dating back to at least 2001. It's not surprising, since as Clerk Trandahl, a Republican appointee, was a member of the Page Board and exercised day-to-day oversight of the page program.

Now, he's lawyered up with Cono Namorato, until recently the former head of the IRS office of professional responsibility and before that counsel to former Clinton Administration HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros, who resigned and pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of lying to the FBI about hush money payments to his mistress.

--- Andrew Zajac at the Chicago Tribune's Swamp Blog

Why would Trandahl need a lawyer that specialized in hush money payments to mistresses? Naaaaah... Who would believe the Foley cover-up would be about prostitutes on Capitol Hill, never mind the possibility of young boys being involved? (I may read conspiracy theories for fun... Doesn't mean I believe them all;)


This whole Foley thing is getting a little too weird with how many GOP politicians and staffers that knew all about it for so long. I keep waiting for another republican to pop up from behind the grassy knoll...

X-posted at The Booman Tribune
and at My Left Nutmeg