Henry Waxman

Dee
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They don't announce her as a conservative and for the last two months she has tried to make it seem like she was a centrist ie her "Independent Women's Forum". MediaMatters did an article onn her because she has tried to sell herself as someone that is middle of the road when the truth is her whole board is made up of WingNuts and if you read her articles on her website she is a wingnut deluxe! And the problem is if people think she is a centrist and then she blasts Obama over something they are likely to believe she doesn't have a bias thus making her opinion more credible

SG - I'm sorry I realize now that I've known who she was before she started as a regular and I've always known the independent women's forum was a right wing front. See what happens when your world is inside the belt way. You think everything is national.
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I always thought they were trying out one black pundit after another and after Buchanan dissed Kelly Goss (told her to shut-up and Rachel had to chastise him) they pretty much settled on Michele. I think they thought that if she was black she had to be a Barack supporter and nothing else mattered.
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Kind of like CNN and Amy Holmes always claiming to be an independent -- and clearly a right winger. but every show they needed someone black on the screen even though she was not an Obama supporter. It was pathetic.

By the way Markos from dailykos represented for the blogosphere today on MSNBC!
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Dee
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You know Amy Holmes is a part of that IWF too right?

SG

Yeah now but she used to work for Frist (speech writer) so she's a wingnut through and through.

One of the most lucrative positions in D.C. is to be a token black conservative. J.C. Watts lately seems to be chafing at the concept to his credit. He genuinely is concerned about conservative ideas and getting african-americans attracted to the GOP. He is on the outs in other words.
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He is not on tv as much as Ron Christie. Christie knows not to bite the hand that feeds him.

trifecta
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To JC Watts credit he has been chaffing for quite awhile now. I think if he thought he could do it without looking like a sellout he would totally jump ship to the Democrats. But because he took so much guff for being a Republican and fought back against any and everyone who called him an Uncle Tom I think he just couldnt bring himself to change affiliations. What I am really waiting on is for Steele to run for RNC chairman and then get embarrased to see how many of the few black folks they have stay with the party. By the way I don't know how many of you guys know anything about the Boondocks cartoon but there is a character called Uncle Rukus that exemplifies the mentality of some black folks for real. I personally know a few Uncle Rukuses personally. To give you an idea watch this clip
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Warning, gratuituous use of the N word. And yes the cartoon is made by a black man. Aaron McGruder.
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Goodness knows. KT will be chatting with me and Jay Rosen, in Second LIfe, shortly.

http://inworldstudios.com/vs/

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/virtuallyspeaking

SG -- you're phucking hilarious. I remember when Steele was running here for Lt. governor and they put six foot cut out photos at all of the black polling places in PG county. I guess they wanted to remind everyone he was black as if that was enough to make difference the same way that they tried to replace Hillary with Palin. -- They focus a lot on experience and I can't figure out why because they don't learn from it.
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What's funny is when Steele was at the state of the black union and he tried to make a case for black Republicans he was trying to be down saying that when push comes to shove nothing trumps race. Of course, when all this race baiting was going on I did hear him challenge his party about it. The one thing you can say about Colin Powell is at least he stood up for this just like he stood up for affirmative action at one of their conventions.
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But truthfully, if you are starting out in politics in DC the competition is so fierce, that if integrity is not your strong suit, then you might find that the road to the top of the operative world is a little easier and faster to navigate as a black Republican than a Democrat.

Dee
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Is it true that Steele actually had homeless people handing out flyers that said he was a democrat? I have a feeling that its an urban myth but I just wanted to know for sure

KT -- I couldn't tell if you were channeling the Sopranos or SI's Peter King in your headline. Having covered the hill since the Fillmore adminstration (I joke, I joke), do you see this as a significant shift inside the beltway?
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What does this tell you about Pelsoi's ability and power as speaker? Is Steny Hoyer still hovering closely in the background, or does she have a wider base of support now from the democratic caucus?

Slight correction needed, KT. Dingell has not served as chairman since 1981, simply because the Republicans controlled the House from 1995 until 2007. Dingell has been the committee's top Democrat since 1981, but when the GOP had control he was ranking minority member, not chair.

Dee, Republicans never let integrity get in their way in the pursuit of power or public office. If they have any it's a value add; not a prerequisite.

KT
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I am listening to you on jayackroyds program and I just wanted to mention something that I had to learn about interviews. People always used to jump on uhms and uhhs that interviewees would use as fillers, but the most popular new filler is "you know". I have the WORST habit of saying "you know" over and over again and I never caught it until I started getting the tapes of my interviews so I could critique them. Now most people don't get in a tizzy about it anyway but I am just saying you might want to request tapes of all your TV and radio appearances so you can critique yourself and sharpen your knife. The substance is off the charts by the way.

SG -- I think he probably used homeless people to give out fliers but he probably didn't claim to be a Democrat when he was Lt. Governor. Of course when he ran for the senate he didn't emphasize that he was a member of the GOP. In fact, that strategy was used again this year and a number of folks running for congress called themselves independent voices and such. They were Republicans period.

I feel a guilty happiness that real issues are at the forefront. Happy not to be hearing the Repubs social/moral/summer patriot preachiness, guilty that it required a serious mess for our country to refocus.

Dee and sg, eher's a link to the Steele thing:
"the flier read, "Ehrlich-Steele Democrats," and underneath it announced: "These are OUR Choices.""
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/cats/michael_steele/

Dee
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It was supposedly when he ran for the Senate. Supposedly it was this big scandal but since you never heard of it I will bet it didnt happen

sg, I beat you to the punch, and it did happen.

sg, can you point me towards jay's interview with KT?

wvng
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Going by this flier does this mean that Michael Steele did not get the RNC chair or has it even been decided yet?

Totally off topic, but "Sarah Palin pardons turkey, while others are being slaughtered, on camera, behind her." (AmericaBlog)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8DTSPzU0RI
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It just never ends.

By the way Dee
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Did you see Rachel Maddow's disgust at watching Harry Reid gush over Ted Stevens today? I HATE that she was off on Tuesday night

sgw, that was two years ago. For repuglicans, that kind of behavior isn't a bug, it's a feature. Just ask Palin and her pardoned turkey.
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And keep hitting refresh over at Rachel's, waiting for the web videoas.