No Papers Needed to Read This Blog!
Francine Busby appears to have managed to save defeat from the jaws of victory. Throughout the weekend the perfect summer weather was repeatedly interrupted by newscasts featuring Busby’s lethal "misspoken" comment. Busby and Bilbray had up until this point been pretty close in the polls. But this should tip the balance to Bilbray, who has run on the issue of ’stopping illegal immigration’ since Day 1. The Republicans are closing with this issue and moderate voters concerned about immigration will in all likelihood flock to Bilbray in droves.
But the fun that has been the 50th is now being usurped by the drama in the 51st District where Republican Jim Galley has reportedly engaged in bigamy. I’m sure the allegations of abuse and defaulting on child support payments won’t help him either. Meanwhile, minor Democrat candidate Danny Ramirez says more-credible-but-still-going-to-lose Democrat Juan Vargas tried to bribe him with the hope of getting Ramirez to drop out. Bob Filner appears to have mastered yet another campaign victory as his opponents are decimated, one-by-one.
In the Bruce Thompson-Bill Horn race for Supervisor, Horn has wisely decided to deflect attention away from his personal life issues and turn the race into a referendum on whether Bruce Thompson wants to help illegal immigrants. Seriously, the Horn mailer actually does accuse Thompson of "Helping Illegal Immigrants."
There was never enough “native” Democratic support in CD-50 to elect Busby without help. Bilbray provided a lot of it with his complete lack of credibility as a conservative and generally incompetent campaign. But with Busby’s truly amazing both feet-up-to-the-knees-in-mouth-simutaneously contortionist trick over the weekend, she’ll need even more help now. Still possible, but -mw
Comment by mw — June 5, 2006 @ 10:16 pm
Ok, I am an html incompetent. Last sentence was supposed to read:
Still possible, but King and Griffith will have to pull more Bilbray support than seems likely. -mw
Comment by mw — June 5, 2006 @ 10:23 pm
I never know about these last minute attacks. News, especially in San Diego, travels slowly. Have most people tuned out the poltical ads by now? I don’t know what’s going to happen, though I remain very pleased with the idea that a Dem is competitive in the 50th. Not within 10 points competitive but within 5 points competitive. If she wins, the GOP will be devastated. If she loses, the GOP spends way too much money on a close race.
Comment by Jim — June 5, 2006 @ 10:38 pm
This wasn’t an “attack” it was actual news covered by the U-T Nctimes and on Television. People on the street are talking about it, and its bad for Busby. Personally, I think she was going to lose anyway, but this was the last nail in the coffin. If nothing else it got people focused on the exact wrong issue in the run-up to the election (immigration) instead of the one she wanted everyone focused on (corruption). Focus is everything, and if the race is about immigration in the end, then Busby is in trouble.
Comment by Cross Tabs — June 5, 2006 @ 11:04 pm
Seemed like this event (busby’s gaffe) was in heavy radio play, but I suspect the McCain endorsement playing on non-politics stations will have more of an effect on the election.
What is really amusing is how many people believe they will be voting for Bilbray on Tuesday, but do not live in his district (anymore)…I’ve encountered more than a dozen folks in Coronado and a few in Point Loma who are (or were) certain they would be voting for Bilbray.
Comment by MP — June 5, 2006 @ 11:06 pm
Most people I work with (self-identified conservatives or libertarians) hadn’t heard of Busby’s “gaffe” (i.e. a simple statement taken WAYYYyy out of context)…
the water cooler conversations were all about college commencement ceremonies and of the gay marriage amendment being another disgusting GOP ploy to rally the extremist base because they’re losing their moderates in droves.
Sadly, we have a lot more members of the extremist base here than I am comfortable with. These hard-liners monitor all immigration-related buzz with a passion, especially when it involves their own district. So any of these people who were originally planning to vote for the Minutemen-endorsed candidate might pull a sacrifice bunt on their candidate to push Bilbray over Busby.
And all because Busby was saying that you don’t need any papers to help with her campaign.
Unfortunately, the UT is a conservative paper, and the link Administrator provided to their coverage of the incident shows their editorial bias in their “reporting”.
Her full quote, buried in the middle of the article, is “Everybody can help, yeah, absolutely, you can all help. You don’t need papers for voting, you don’t need to be a registered voter to help.”
The UT lead paragraph is: “If an election can turn on a sentence, this could be the one: “You don’t need papers for voting.””
Shouldn’t that at least say “if an election can turn on a sentence fragment…? Or at least a sound byte?
Ridiculous.
Comment by Nik — June 5, 2006 @ 11:17 pm
With illegal immigration having dropped into San Diego County by around 90% in the last decade (according to figures from the Dept. of Homeland Security), it’s amazing to a Central San Diegan like me how North County has made the issue of illegal immigration apparently the ONLY issue upon which our government representatives should be judged.
No interest in running the government well, in not running up incredible deficits, in not preparing for inevitable disasters, in creating globally-competitive graduates in our schools, in making sure pharmaceutical and oil companies are acting in society’s best interest, or in GETTING RID of corrupt politicians in both parties…
Amazing that the folks in North County are just going to hold their nose and vote a former Congressman and former lobbyist (even for a company he wrote a sole-source contract for) into office again…. Why not just try someone that’s NOT already sold out?
I think the same could also be said about people like Filner, but, yikes, Bilbray is the BEST option? Yikes….
Comment by BajaguaWatcher — June 5, 2006 @ 11:40 pm
Have you seen the NC Times’ endorsement?
Hah!(crossing my fingers on the HTML)
Comment by Narched — June 5, 2006 @ 11:47 pm
Bajagua watcher, no offense, but I don’t think we should be listening to you on what “important issues” are. Weren’t you the one up in arms about how Bajagua was going to torpedo Bilbray’s candidacy just a month and a half ago? How’d that work out for you?
Comment by Cross Tabs — June 5, 2006 @ 11:52 pm
Like I stated on a prior post, if Busby dosen’t have a coach with her she should do us all a favor and keep her mouth shut. If it’s not scripted I truly beleve she dosen’t know what she is talking about. Polosi, Fienstin what a joke Rep and Ind hate both of them, where is Busby going to get those cross-over votes?? I’m glad the election is over, hopefully the Durfee’s and Busby’s will just fade away and we can get qualfied leadership in the SD area.
Comment by disappointed Dem — June 6, 2006 @ 12:18 am
…single issue voting is the result of short attention spans, poor civics/politics education and the general apathy for anything that doesn’t make the general population afraid to unreasonable levels.
Busby lacks all of the things I expect a politician to have…most notably a solid connection from her brain to her mouth. The job of a politician is not just having the right positions on issues or being the smartest…its about being able to convince others (the 434 other member of the house for instance) that your bill/amendment/etc should be passed (or rejected if thats your position). Busby hasn’t got it. Instead of saying she isn’t a Washington insider, she might as well say “I don’t play well with others”.
My point? Whatever she said, or meant to say, was foolish and a demonstration that when it comes to politics and leadership, she isn’t ready to go pro. Every time I’ve heard her speak or debate, the answers seemed scripted, if she wants to be someone’s dummy, she should do a vaudeville act, not run for Congress.
Considering the candidate and demographics, democrats should be proud of the showing in the 50th, it was much closer than it should have been. If you don’t start with the right horse, winning only happens when the other horse falls.
Busby tried to get cross-over votes with her McCain ads…that got pretty well trashed when McCain blasted her and put out ads for Bilbray. She also tried to eliminate the need for cross-overs with her ads for the 3rd party candidate, which I find to be very disturbing. Such overt manipulation of the system, and many people don’t even realize what is happening. I’m just wondering if the next step is for one of the major parties to recruit an independant/3rd party candidate on the opposite side and help them get on the ballot in all the “battle ground” states? I guess it would be fair for the Dem’s to do this when the Republicans are using things like Gay Marriage amendments to enflame their base and bring them out to the polls.
Comment by MP — June 6, 2006 @ 1:09 am
“And all because Busby was saying that you don’t need any papers to help with her campaign.”
So, at best, Busby advocates hiring illegal aliens, at worst she wants them to vote. She is terminally stupid. And she is terminating the Democratic Party here in San Diego County.
If we had a brain and weren’t Busbyized we would have run Chris Young. Are they going to keep throwing good money after bad and keep on running Busby after she loses tomorrow? Stick a fork in her she’s done.
The question is, are we done? Are we ready to just fade away or will we finally decide to select better candidates, like Chris Young? Are we like Busby, just too dumb?
Comment by Wonky — June 6, 2006 @ 3:40 am
Wonky, wonky, wonky. NO. “At worst” is irrelevant because only an idiot with an agenda would willfully ignore the fact that she got tongue-tied and corrected herself. And “at best,” or as any neutral observer would call it, “THE TRUTH,” is that she said you don’t need to be a registered voter to help with a campaign. Duh!
Maybe this is news to some of you, but there are Latino people in this country LEGALLY! Both citizens and LEGAL non-citizens (yes there is such a thing!) who can’t register to vote but who, of course, can help with campaigns.
There is sooooo nothing to see here. Spin it all you want to pump up the base, but anyone with a remotely sincere interpretation of it will see that she slipped then gave the sentence she meant all along, “you don’t need to be a registered voter to help.”
Comment by yeah right — June 6, 2006 @ 5:42 am
If Busby’s comments lead to anything, its that more conservatives might, might, go out and vote for Bilbray (I wonder where Bilbray stands on Bush’s issue of the day, gay marriage) . But as for undecideds, it went over without a second glance. We’ll see of course, how it all turns out. I don’t think it made much of a difference.
Comment by Jim — June 6, 2006 @ 5:55 am
She didn’t misspeak she got caught telling the truth.
Busby- You don’t need papers for voting (Video) & Xtra audio
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5f9vbngizSI
Tale a look. It has extra audio.
Comment by Jim Daugherty — June 6, 2006 @ 7:34 am
Hello Everyone,
Thank you all for your active interest and participation. I would like to weigh in on this if I may.
I have personally listened to the recording several times. I think it is crystal clear that it was simply a mistake in word choice. There are legitmate reasons to disagree with or criticize Ms. Busby on the issues, but I do not believe this is one of them. It was an honest mistake. Unfortunately her correction was just slightly more clear than the mistaken words, but an attempt at correcting herself none the less. Regardless of the outcome, Francine, Brian, Paul, William, good luck and best wishes in the election today! In my estimation you are all wonderful people. Time to VOTE! What a privilege! Isn’t America awesome?!!
Wishing you bloggers all the best,
Chris Young
Comment by Chris Young — June 6, 2006 @ 2:55 pm
This kinga of gaffe is unacceptable in a potential jr. congresswoman, but is the norm for the President of the USA !
Comment by xfire — June 6, 2006 @ 3:55 pm
wtf? Eric Roach is on the Republican Primary ballot for CA-50? I thought he said he wasn’t running?
Comment by Nik — June 6, 2006 @ 4:06 pm
One last thing — Busby’s being criticized for telling some potential voters… the truth??
Anyone criticizing her for “soliciting illegals to vote for her” is being absolutely dishonest and disgusting.
Do you need papers to vote? I voted bright and early this morning. I sure as shit didn’t have to show anything. Did you?
Could it possibly be that you’re making a profoundly racist association between hispanics and undocumented (illegal) residents?
Comment by Nik — June 6, 2006 @ 4:12 pm
As always, the Union Dubloon does this city a great disservice by filtering the news through the small-town GOP press releases. If they ever dealt fairly with a topic from start to finish they might get something accomplished.
Remember - even though the Dubloon got the Pulitzer, the North County Times broke the original Duke Cunningham corruption story.
Comment by Steverino — June 6, 2006 @ 4:16 pm
“Anyone criticizing her for “soliciting illegals to vote for her” is being absolutely dishonest” - nik
True, but naive. In the last days of a campaign every weapon will be used, and Busby sharpened and handed the Republicans a nice long knife to use on her.
I’d like to think that voters are smart enough to see through this type of baseless attack for the meaningless gaffe that it was. I’d like to think so, but I don’t.
Back to the NCT endorsement, these lines struck me:”
Bilbray knows how to get things done on Capitol Hill, and equally important, he knows the right people… the North County Times endorses Brian Bilbray, a proven leader who can hit the ground running in Washington, D.C.”
The words are pretty typical of what you will find in any MSM endoresement, but it still seems odd to me that “knowing the right people” and “how to get things done on Capital Hill” are more important than oh … “smarts”, “integrity”, how about “issues”? It occurs to me that this sentiment is functionally equivalent to saying “Vote for Bilbray because he can bring home the pork to District 50.”
As I said, nothing unusual here, pretty typical endorsement. Just business as usual. Any wonder that in 5 years of a single party (allegedly conservative) Republican controlled government we actually have spending, entitlements, government growth, pork and deficits that “exceed LBJ’s Great Society Vietnam years?
Comment by mw — June 6, 2006 @ 4:50 pm
sigh … html fubar again. Meant to link that last sentence.
…spending, entitlements, government growth, pork and deficits that exceed LBJ’s Great Society Vietnam years?
Comment by mw — June 6, 2006 @ 4:57 pm
MW: I fully expect campaigns to use misleading and out-of-context sound bytes, especially in “crunch time”. But we are not campaigners. We are supposed to be regular citizens having honest conversations.
When people blindly post stupid campaign talking points and dishonest spin, it cheapens the debate and tarnishes the whole point of having this site in the first place.
Comment by Nik — June 6, 2006 @ 5:43 pm
Jim Daugherty, are you the same jimbaugh who got banned from FR? If so, I met you in 2000 when you did your audio; I was banned quite a while ago (same reason).
Comment by miriam — June 6, 2006 @ 6:01 pm
Our poll shows Bruce ( dad) winning by 35 points.
Comment by Thomson Strategies — June 6, 2006 @ 6:27 pm
Busby’s “misspoken” comment just makes me more aware of how similar she is to our fine president: The total inability to address a crowd with out a pre-written and overly practiced script, the total lack of knowledge about what the real issues facing Americans are, the complete disregard for ethics in her own campaign while continuing to promote ethics reform. Oh yes, she is exactly what we need in congress- a Bush Juniorett. Well maybe if she wins she will take Jess Durfee with her and then San Diego can have some REAL Democratic representation at last.
Comment by Smart democrat — June 6, 2006 @ 8:13 pm
man, your schtick gets really old, you know that?
Comment by Nik — June 6, 2006 @ 9:19 pm
Right back atcha nik.
Comment by Smart democrat — June 6, 2006 @ 9:21 pm
Well, at least you spelled Jess Durfee’s name right. Oh, and the Central Committee is always looking for new members to be alternates, so why don’t you put your money where your mouth is and show up to the next meeting. I’m sure they’d love to hear from you “Smart democrat”.
Comment by Jim — June 6, 2006 @ 9:37 pm
Cross Tabs…how’d the “bajagua fiasco” work out for me?? I guess people like you really don’t care that politicians — in this case both Filner and Bilbray — steer Federal contracts toward people that give them campaign contributions. Yeah, that one really hurts me…
I read your comments with respect usually because they tend to be thoughtful, but I guess I was wrong. Why don’t you read your words again. Obviously you care more about whether a person has an (R) in front of their party affiliation more than you do if they are serving a community well.
Yeah…guess no one should care about things like globally competitive graduates, or that deficits are putting a strain on our economy and our ability for Federal funds to help our State and local community services, etc. etc… — only lunatics like me that care about how people like Bilbray cross the line and get their first lobbying contract from a company he pushed a $200 million sole source agreement with four months earlier — yeah, people like me shouldn’t be listened to.
As for Bajagua…if there’s more to it, then I guess someone will eventually dig it up and take people to task. Let’s just hope we don’t end up with another Cunningham-like problem in the 50th. If we do, it’s because people like Cross Tabs don’t think such ethics in government (at least for Republicans) are important. Grand standing, sounds bites, the “issue of the day” and an (R) next to their party affiliation are apparently all that matter…..
Comment by BajaguaWatcher — June 6, 2006 @ 9:39 pm
Don’t forget that IOKIYAR to run for Congress in a district where you don’t even live.
Comment by Nik — June 6, 2006 @ 10:30 pm
Nik, the person who asked the question of Busby said he was in the country illegally. Her response, caught on tape, was directly to him. The first thing out of her mouth was you don’t have to have papers to vote and you don’t have to be registered to help.
It smacks of her encouraging voter fraud despite whatever she “really” meant to say. Busby was dumb to have said it at all. Busby is not mentally quick enough, nor does she have adequate grasp of concepts, to think on her feet. Did you hear her on Hedgecock? She hadn’t read the McCain bill– which she supports– and she didn’t even have one of her staff review it. There’s no one on her campaign who can find the abstract of the bill and explain it to her in small enough words for her to be able to answer a simple question when they knew she was going on air with Hedgecock? After she made that comment? Only an idiot wouldn’t have figured out he was going to ask her about immigration. It was embarassing listening to her fumble around. She was an embarassment to our party. Truly an embarassment. The ONLY reason I listened was because she was going to be on. She never fails to disappoint.
We HAVE TO pick better candidates! We simply must stop throwing whoever is sitting around the Democratic clubs onto the ballot. It’s ridiculous and dumb. We are going to lose this district when we should have walked into office and it is solely because the local Democratic Party chose a very BAD candidate in Francine Busby. She doesn’t have charisma, she isn’t very bright, she hasn’t worked in 20 years and she makes bad decisions (anyone remember her first commericals?). A better candidate would win. The fault lies directly with the choice of candidate and sits on the shoulders of the sd county democratic party officials.
I see even Chris Young is spouting the party line. I bet she wouldn’t have made that kind of stupid mistake. And she took on Hedgecock and came away making Hedgecock say ON AIR he used to be more moderate.
We have to pick better candidates. We are losing when we shouldn’t.
Wonky
Comment by wonky — June 6, 2006 @ 11:39 pm
Well, I have no idea how this race is going to turn out (we’ll all know soon), but I suspect this thread is far over-playing one so-called gaffe. Sure, a super-close election can be decided by such things, and this may well be that close.
But elections–even close ones–are usually decided on far more fundamental questions than what someone said on the last weekend. Voters really aren’t quite as narrow-minded and easily swayed late as pundits like to assume. Pundits are in the news business. They have an interest in making the stories they report and comment on seem more important than they might actually be!
Comment by Matthew Shugart — June 7, 2006 @ 1:35 am
Do you remember Dukakis in the tank? How about Howard Dean yelling? The list goes on.
Comment by wonky — June 7, 2006 @ 1:48 am
Hart with Donna Rice on the Monkey Business
Comment by wonky — June 7, 2006 @ 1:51 am
Relative to tonights results…if the pundits are right and this is an extremely low turn out…that would be very sad.
As immigration reform is the biggest issue (according to the polls) and Bilbray and Busby have clearly articulated their positions; Busby w/McCain and the Senate
Bilbray w/the House Republicans and standup Demos
The election for the short term represents a very clear choice of two options.
No surprise I voted for Bilbray! That said, I hope the pundits are wrong and we don’t yet again cede our electoral power to the minority who vote.
San Diego…get off your duff next time or strap in and take it!
Comment by Bill Boyer — June 7, 2006 @ 2:49 am
Things are not looking good for Democratic “landslide in November” hopes:
John Kerry in 2004 in CD 50: 44 %
Francine Busby in 2006: 45 %
(46.4 % of precincts reporting)
Comment by the other DC guy — June 7, 2006 @ 7:01 am
To quote that noted political pundit Yogi Berra …
“It’s Deja Vu all over again.”
See you at the same time, same station, with the same players, and the same result, next November.
Of course, as long as we as a country keep voting for single party control of the Federal Government, we can also expect the same big government spending and growth, the same pork-barrel feeding at the public trough, the same incompetent cronyism in important agencies, the same arrogance and bad decision-making in foreign policy.
But perhaps I am wrong. Perhaps things will be diifferent now. As I am sure all right thinking Americans must agree, that with our soldiers dying in a quagmire in Iraq, wild runaway pork-barrel spending, adding a trillion dollars of new entitlements to a bankrupt system, mind-numbing deficits piled higher every day on the backs of our children, out of control borders, impotence in the face of nukes in the hands of madmen in Iran and North Korea, and incompetent cronies running Homeland security … All brought to us courtesy of five plus years of single party Republican control in Washington … We can all get behind what is really important now - an unpassable Constitutional Amendment in order to stop two fifty year old lesbians from getting married in San Francisco.
Divided Government in Better Government.
Comment by mw — June 7, 2006 @ 12:28 pm
ALL HAIL BILL HORN!!!!!!!
It makes me giggle to think I get to watch you guys complain about him for at least another four years.
Oh this is too good… good job, Bruce. Gooooooood job. I’ll be sure to pick up your book, “Campaigning by Not Campaigning: The Bruce Thompson Story” as soon as I can make my way up to Fallbrook.
Thanks for the memories, guys.
Comment by Bill Horn Worshipper — June 7, 2006 @ 1:12 pm
mw, if we Democrats were genuinely interested in making changes we would offer voters a candidate they not only could have voted for, but would have turned out for.
When we put up someone who is from the local clubs what else do you expect? When we lose a seat that was ours for the taking we have to take the responsibility for putting up a bad candidate. This is our fault. We had a good candidate, but the local party went with Busby instead. The local party has given us more Republicans. A good candidate brings voters out. A bad candidate keeps them home. The choice of candidate was everything and they blew it.
Comment by Wonky — June 7, 2006 @ 1:14 pm
How much did it end up costing for Bill Horn to keep his seat? The paper I read said Horn spent 220K while developers threw in another 160K.
Comment by Drained — June 7, 2006 @ 3:38 pm
If you read Freakonomics, a wonderful book by economist Steven Levitt, he writes:
“Here’s the surprise: the amount of money spent by the candidates hardly matters at all. A winning candidate can cut his spending in half and lose only 1 percent of the vote…What matters really for a candidate is not how much you spend; what matters is who you are.”
Ca-ca-click-click-Booyeah!
Thanks everyone, for voting for Horn. I know he as well as his staff thanks you for your support. He couldn’t have won it without you. Hugs.
Comment by Bill Horn Worshipper — June 7, 2006 @ 4:20 pm
Will someone please tell Busby to do what is best for the Dem party and step aside. Once, twice, three and soon to be four times a loser. Dems should be outraged if one more cent is spent on her campain. The results of yesterday’s election was so predictable, 44% is just what the non-wacks predicted, it is the same as she got in April and same as two years ago. 44% is the Dem base that come out to vote every time. What the local Dem party/committee did do was run a canidate that had ZERO appeal to get the remaining Dems out to vote and garner no cross-over votes. Busby calls herself exactly what she is and always will be, a soccer mom.
One thing that wasen’t predictable about the election is Chris Young with nearly 5000 votes, WOW. Zero campaining since April and she takes 5000 votes from Busby. Was this our canidate we should have been behind? Obviously it was, educated, life long Dem, knowledge on the issues, cross-over appeal, attractive. Someone in Washington better grab hold of this girl. Attending Dem meetings, hand shaking and back slapping isn’t the way to chose a canidate. Come on people, get out of the dark ages. It’s time we look at someone’s qualfications and appeal. Busby looks like she can make a killer apple pie but can she hold her own in congress? NO. Young, 15 years in banking, lawyer, QUALFIED.
We really blew it, our local Dem leadership has failed us. I will be calling the Dem party today to ask them what happened and to switch all monies and support to Chris Young.
Comment by disappointed Dem — June 7, 2006 @ 5:22 pm
“Will someone please tell Busby to do what is best for the Dem party and step aside. ”
Seconded.
But, not my district, so I don’t count.
Still, she clearly had her chance.
Definition of Insanity: Doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results. -mw
Comment by mw — June 7, 2006 @ 5:38 pm
A practical question, can Chris Young run even if people wanted her to? She lost the primary.
Comment by yeah right — June 7, 2006 @ 5:41 pm
Young can only run as the Democrat if Busby dies. I’m not sure who gets the power to name the Democratic nominee in that situation (and after some date Busby stays on the ballot even if deceased).
(See all the news stories about Gallegly’s attempt to withdraw his candidate filing — and in this case it’s not just the paperwork that needs to be withdrawn, but the vote of the Democratic party members yesterday.)
This is not a threat of any kind, simply information meant to point out the continued absurdidy of one frequent commenters’ posts. Perhaps instead of posting so often that commenter should actually get out and convince some voters.
Comment by the other DC guy — June 7, 2006 @ 6:41 pm
Another candidate (Chris Young) could run if Busby dropped her pride and realized that as a four time loser she should step down. I am really hoping that the Democratic Committees of San Diego will realize their mistakes and pull funding from Busby. Then perhaps she will be forced to drop out of the November election.
On another note, I would like to join Disappointed Dem in congratulating Chris Young on her excellent outcome last night. I don’t think she even put any signs out for this election. By word of mouth and campaign website alone, Chris Young was able to pull over 10% of the Democratic vote. Just imagine what she could have done with some actual funding.
Comment by Smart democrat — June 7, 2006 @ 7:05 pm
Out of curiosity, did either Smart or Disappointed vote for Busby in the run-off?
You guys seem so anti-Busby that I wouldn’t be surprised if you voted against her in the run-off and for Young in the Primary.
Keep in mind that Busby scored 15K more votes in the run-off than she did in the Dem primary. That means she got at least 10K votes of non-Dem crossovers (assuming all 5K Young votes went to Busby in the run-off).
That’s a pretty nice number, but still disappoints me.
Comment by Nik — June 7, 2006 @ 8:58 pm
Nik et al,
It is not that I am anti-Busby. She seems like a genuinely nice person - just NOT worth spending millions over and risking the check and balance restoration our country is desperate for. There is much more to be disappointed about. Busby got 60,010 votes on April 11th. After 6 weeks and $2.5 million dollars later, she convinced 4500 of them that they shouldn’t vote for her again. (She got 55,587 yesterday). The % went up but the number of voters declined. That speaks volumes about her lack of appeal. If she could have merely convinced the same people to vote for her a second time, she would have come within 300 votes of victory. All she needed to do was maintain, plus inspire 300 new votes with her millions. There was a pool of 105,000 Dems that could have come out to vote for her yesterday. If the primary election numbers are any indication, she got less than 43% of Dems to bother to show up for her. She wasn’t even appealing enough to half of her own base to win.
You can be as angry and condescending as you like, Nik. I have always been brutally honest here. The numbers don’t lie. As Democrats we ignore these realities at our own peril as a viable party. Just because its ugly, it isn’t less true.
By the way, I checked with the registrar of voters. Young qualifies as a write in candidate and if Busby withdraws, the democratic party has the right of substitution. SOOOO…Does the party fit the definition of insanity? Do we keep doing the same thing over and over and expect different results? Bilbray was an easy target and our local leadership blew it AND Morrow’s seat went unchallenged as well.
This is not leadership and I am not willing to let those our party is supposed to care for and represent suffer by pretending like “it was close” or this was “the best a Dem can do here.” Bullshit. There are too many issues and too many people truly suffering for ANY Dem in good conscience to take on that kind of victim mentality bullshit! Get tough and get smart or get beat!!! Those are our choices as Dems!
Comment by Smart democrat — June 7, 2006 @ 9:57 pm
And by the way, no Nik. It is NOT a nice number.
Comment by Smart democrat — June 7, 2006 @ 9:59 pm
Oh, also, who are you going to accuse me of being this time? Make it good!
Comment by Smart democrat — June 7, 2006 @ 10:00 pm
yeah right - Chris Young can run if Francine Busby steps down. Of course, I don’t expect Francine, the mental giant that she is to actually do the right thing for the Democratic Party.
Comment by Wonky — June 7, 2006 @ 10:27 pm
Sorry Ms. Young, but California elections law is clear:
Elections Code, Section 8803. No vacancy on the ballot for a general election shall be filled except if the candidate dies and that fact has been ascertained by the officer charged with the duty of printing the ballots at least 68 days before the date of the next ensuing general election.
Short of Busby’s death, Young’s name CANNOT appear on the November ballot.
Time to give it up.
Comment by the other DC guy — June 7, 2006 @ 10:46 pm
DC guy, there are other ways for Busby to step down, for example, perhaps someone on her campaign did something illegal in furtherance of her campaign. Busby would then be forced to resign immediately.
Has Chris Young posted again somewhere else? Or are you being funny? I only saw the one post from her.
Comment by Wonky — June 7, 2006 @ 11:11 pm
Bilbray wins Cunningham’s seat ( all politics IS local )
I have stated many times here that all politics is local. Not heeding my advice, the Democrats have very openly and vocally made this year’s races a referendum on Bush, again. The early result? Brian Bilbray defeated Francine Busby for
Trackback by Moonage Political Webdream — June 8, 2006 @ 1:41 pm
There simply is NO WAY for Busby to “resign,” even if she wanted to do so. Not even campaign law violations by Busby personally (say, using government computers to design a campaign website?) would lead to her removal from the ballot.
Only fraudulent voting in the primary election in numbers so large that the fraud changed the outcome of the Democratic Primary election would lead a judge to order her off the ballot (even in that case Busby could not “resign”). (Perhaps Young should have spent more time getting votes than posting here.)
Even if Busby announces her “resignation” and requests not to appear on the ballot, the Registrar has to leave her name on the ballot, just as everyone who ran in the Special Election primary appeared on the June primary ballot — they could not, even if they wanted to, remove their names.
The law is clear. It’s over!
Comment by the other DC guy — June 8, 2006 @ 6:29 pm
So… how soon before Rep Jerry Lewis (R-CA) is indicted?
Comment by Nik — June 8, 2006 @ 10:10 pm
DC Guy,
Are you sure about that? As I understand it, an illegal act that subverts the electoral process by the candidate or the campaign under her direction doesn’t have to rise to the level of altering the outcome. And it isn’t actually a resignation, it would be as if she never ran, so it wouldn’t be a vacancy.
Because this is the second time you’ve posted it, I called the Young campaign to find out what her other handle is so I could read her stuff, but and she hasn’t posted on here other than the post above.
Comment by wonky — June 9, 2006 @ 1:43 am
We need term limits for congress. Unbelievable. Lewis is cut from the same mold as Cunningham. And when I use the term mold, I mean fungus.
But the real question is: How will the Democrats blow this one?
We’ve blown it with Cunningham’s old seat by running the wrong candidate, sweet though she is. How will we screw this up?
How many congressional seats that were or will be ours for the taking will we give away this time?
Now Greg Cox’s wife is mayor in Chula Vista. She lobbied her husband and his employees for development in the county. Now she is mayor and those same clients that want to redevelop downtown Chula Vista.
How did we completely blow that? By putting that numbskull with the car and the bodyguard in as mayor. Of course he was voted out.
We’re just hopeless. Truly hopeless. When we give Republicans seats, they take them. When they give us seats, we give them back.
Comment by wonky — June 9, 2006 @ 2:03 am
I think Democrats are cute little things. A whole country is screaming for a vigorous new direction in leadership, yet Dems can’t help but throw up their hands, look to the sky and say, “Lord, not me! I can’t do this without Clinton!”
Comment by An Independent Independent — June 9, 2006 @ 3:06 pm
Wonky–Cox is not the Mayor. She is now in a run off with Padilla. Maybe you should stop complaining and get off your ass and go help.
Comment by Dan — June 9, 2006 @ 4:47 pm
Where should I go help? With the guy who had to have an SUV and a bodyguard on the city dime? I am disgusted with both choices. That’s who I should help? I helped Filner and Ramirez.
Comment by wonky — June 10, 2006 @ 1:36 am
When in doubt go with the Democrat. Trust me…you will be REALLY upset if we get a conservative rep.
Comment by Dan — June 11, 2006 @ 3:41 pm
Puhleeeeeeze. Between the GOP Mayberry Machiavellians that run this city and the hackable Diebold optical scanners, Busby never had a chance.
Comment by pb — June 12, 2006 @ 1:43 am
Diebold op scan rpt
Comment by pb — June 12, 2006 @ 1:49 am
Busby never had a chance because she was woefully inadequate as a candidate. If you would argue Bilbray WAS NOT a good candidate as well…given the choice of two less than stellar candidates, people will go with their party’s guy or the guy with more experience. In this case, both formulas skew to Bilbray over Busby.
Busby got roughly the same % of votes in all 3 of her “major” elections, a pretty consistent trend. Did Busby do anything different for the June election than she did for the April one? Didn’t seem like it to me, at least nothing significnat. She continued the same culture of corruption rhetoric (which she sells poorly), refering to Bilbray as “lobbyist Bilbray”…using terrible tv ads all spinning the same message. She tried to get a coattail effect from McCain, which was a decent try, but probably hurt her in the end (with McCain’s ads for Bilbray and statements in the press).
In general, the GOP does campaign strategy better than the DNC, they successfully made this race a single issue vote…amnesty or no amnesty. They started during the April campaigns, and carried it into June with momentum and help from the reactions in the hispanic communities…mostly outside the 50th and unable to vote for Busby in a variety of other ways. Every time there was an immigrant rights story on the news, it played to the GoP’s interested, it rallied people who could vote for Bilbray and rallied people who could not vote for Busby.
Any campaign that gets so focused on a single issue is bad for the people, and they need to demand more or the “GOP Machine” will continue to do things like this. (And they are smart to do so.) Of course with the “Safe districts” so locked down in so many states…does it really matter?. I don’t see how the people are adequetly represented when districts are gerrymandered to protect incumbents, how is this situation NOT unconstitutional?
Every day I lean closer to wishing we had regional multi-member districts…ie the san diego region would get 5 seats…top 5 vote getters win. Offices are located semi-equidistant from each other, top vote getter picks which office they serve from, 2nd chooses next, etc…
But it’s ok, because the Supremes shocked many allowing a case to be retried based on DNA evidence.
House v. Bell
Comment by MP — June 12, 2006 @ 5:59 pm
Any campaign that gets so focused on a single issue is bad for the people
Like, uh… immigration? What exactly was Bilbray’s plan again, other than to trash Busby for not being “tough” enough?
It’s clear that the carpetbagger only had a plan for the campaign, not for the office.
Comment by Nik — June 12, 2006 @ 9:52 pm
MP..
Salient and pithy. Well done. You were spot on about culture of corruption. Chris Young stated repeatedly the culture of corruption campaign was an insult to moderate and conservative voters. It was also good to read somebody else thinks Busby was/is a terrible candidate. The DNC doesn’t just need a better overall game plan, they need to stop choosing candidates from the inbred gene pool; i.e., from only those people haunting the Democratic clubs. There was another choice, Chris Young, and she would have been an absolutely great candidate, but they froze her out for Busby. This colossal blunder is the local Democratic Party’s responsibility to shoulder, especially Durfee and the North County Clubs. The local Democratic Party blew it outright by selecting the vastly weaker candidate, Busby.
Busby made it to the Daily Show. Jon Stewart played her clip where she says “You don’t need papers to vote.” It was part of his ongoing bit about how dumb Democrats are and how we blow our opportunities.
Comment by wonky — June 13, 2006 @ 12:23 am
Having met Ms. Young several times and seen her debate, I did think she had the makings of a good candidate…but a truely suitable candidate would have mounted a fundraising and name id increasing campaign much sooner and stronger. You can’t just blame the dncc…in reality they probably did the smartest thing, getting behind the one candidate with some ID already built and a fundraising network already in place. The step they missed was developing her as a candidate or teaching her to keep her mouth shut when she isnt reading from a script (like our president and his dad.)
The question is…why arent these “democratic clubs” breeding better candidates? Why are there not veteran democrats grooming up and comers for these campaigns? It isnt like the special election in the 50th was a shocker, we all saw it coming long ago…Why didnt the DNCC send some of their best people out here to work on and work with several candidates telling them they would be doing so (working with multiple candidates) and would support the one they felt had the best chance of winning after X weeks….call it DNCC Survivor…film it and use it make some money as well as educate future candidates! Hold on, i need to patent this idea!
Comment by mp — June 13, 2006 @ 12:51 am
Both parties suffer the ills of in-breeding. “Get along at any price” seems to carry the sway of the money and the attention of party power brokers.
We used to make fun of “back room deals”, cigar filled clandestine meetings, Mayor Daley (the 1st) etc. We thought we were so enlightened (comparitively). Now the deal is done in the politcal-speak of the day. Outsiders are kept out and Insiders sing the psalm as written by the “Roves” and Carville’s of the world.
Both parties treat the electorate as ignorant and manipulatable..they get away with this because while individually we are smart, collectively we can’t pool an opposition to the status quo.
I pray for an orator of sufficent acumen to gather just enough money to get the outsider ball rolling…Roach tried, Hauf tried as did others.
I guess we need just a bit more bile handed to us as manna for the masses until we finally say enough…hopefully we have not grown so accustom to the taste.
Comment by Bill Boyer — June 13, 2006 @ 2:54 am
Eric Roach proved name id isn’t all that relevant. Getting behind a bad candidate with name id isn’t very bright. Hell, why not Donna Fry? She has name recognition. But in a moderate to conservative district, Fry’s name recognition harms her. Same with Busby, her name recognition among the moderate to conervative voters needed for crossover was one of a liberal. It was her reputation loooong before Bilbray started calling her one.
Busby IS like Bush! But with one massive difference, Busby doesn’t have charisma and GW does.
I definitely think DNCC Survivor is worth patenting.
Comment by wonky — June 13, 2006 @ 4:28 am
“collectively we can’t pool an opposition to the status quo.”
Amen brother
Comment by wonky — June 13, 2006 @ 4:29 am
Vote for Pedro
A year or two ago, a low budget dead-pan comedy became a Cult Hit…Napoleon Dynamite. It was neither a historical documentary about the famous French General, nor had anything to do with explosives. It was a story about the mundane existence of a kind-hearted teen whose adolescent awkwardness guised a genuine good nature despite the tribulation of ordinary existence in Nowhereville. The film culminates in a electoral contest between the “in” cheerleader-type and the films anti-heroes’ friend “Pedro”. The low reactor “Napoleon” transforms into a comparative sensation as the advocate for his buddy Pedro whose flatline demeanor earns him the vote as the “do no harm” candidate for the student body Presidency.
It occurred to me (as I was forced to watch this film at my son’s insistence)…that the film was chock full of political relevance. Much like our heroic duo in the film…Our political landscape has morphed from a morbid antithesis of idolatry into the elevation of do-the-least harm March of the Political Manikins.
The formula seems to be;
Sing your partys’ psalms regardless of how inane
Avoid any PC gaffes as to err is inhumane
Find the least definitive answer to the most direct questions
The country is in sell-out mode with empty headed zombies inking the deeds;
We are too afraid of the teachers union to enact scholastic accountability
So; we have to raise the H1B visa quotas so that business can import skilled labor
We are too afraid of the potential future Hispanic vote
So; we fail to engage Border Security, even at a time of war
We are too afraid of Big Business and their need for cheap labor
So; our President fails to enforce the laws he has sworn to uphold
We are too afraid of terrorists
So; We cede our civil rights so that we can be protected by the State
We are too afraid to cut any programs, i.e. reduce SSI COLA increases or any other program
So; we pass the burden of debt to the next generation at a cool 9 trillion.
We are too afraid of China to engage the issues of consequence
So; we sentence The Republic of China to assimilation, the future of Oil to ever increasing prices, and our few remaining domestic manufacturers to a tactical disadvantage.
We are too afraid of Big Oil
So; we allow the market to be manipulated and cede any rights as consumers
we have too much self doubt to strive for a better future
So; we cowardly try to mitigate the pace of our demise
So, let’s just get it over with….Vote for Pedro
Comment by Bill Boyer — June 13, 2006 @ 5:20 am
I think alot of people thought GWB was the do no harm candidate in 2000….boy did they miss the boat!
Please do not suggest Bush has charisma…people may sympathizes with him, but that isnt the same thing as charisma. Charisma allows you to convince people you are right and they are wrong through getting people to listen to things they otherwise would not. People sympathize with Bush’s dimwitted projections…Clinton, JFK, Hitler, Reagan…they had charisma, they were powerful public speakers and leaders people of varied political beliefs rallied behind. Did everyone agree with them? Of course not…but even some of the folks that disagreed with them went along with their plans.
Bush has turned being inept into an art form, the “minor” follies became so common the media stopped paying attention to him…he misuses or mispronounces words and no one bats an eye…maybe this was part of Rove’s brilliant strategy, maybe it is just dumb luck…but it sure as hell is effective.
I used to watch alot of his speeches, but I found that while his father was generally incapable of delivering speeches properly, Dubbya just doesnt put any effort into it, I think its because he figured out it helps him in the long run. If you can lower expectations enough, you can make it alot easier to get things done.
One of the guys on 1170am has several times in the couple weeks called college/university educations bad, a waste of time, dumbing down of society, etc…what idiocy is this? You want to tell students to be leary of professors with political agendas, fine…you want to tell students to make sure they read about all sides of an issue, good…but don’t trash college as a whole. If this guy would think about what he is saying he would realize that it isnt the schools or professors at fault, but the parents, families, communities that produce the students. If by 18 years of age (avg incoming freshman to college) you have not yet learned that there is more than 1 side to an issue, that no one’s word is gospel, that it is up to you to make sure YOU get the full breadth of the issue…that isnt the colleges fault. Having recently finished my degree, I will admit i had a few overtly liberal professors, but the majority of my professors were very good about presenting the issue fairly from both sides and letting the students work out the answers. I also had a couple overtly conservative professors, who I found to be far worse than the liberals, the liberals encouraged additional readings, for and against…the conservative professors tell you they are right and everything else is crap (at least in my experience.).
Some how, I came out of school as a left-leaning indy who believes in the basic precepts of the republican party (Though it does not practice these precepts at all)…less government, fewer laws, lower taxes, leave the choice to the individuals and local governments. If the GOP finds its way back to that ground, I’d declare republican, but its looking like i have a better chance of finding democrats with backbone.
Roach, Hauf, et al…their campaigns were flawed from the begining, they had no messages that really seperated themselves from each other, no reason to elect X over Y…had one of those “wealthy true conservatives” ran without the others, they would have had an excellent chance, provided they spent their money wiser than Roach did. Personally I found Roach to be a very scary candidate…he spoke only on a couple of issues, all border and family…I get nervous when republicans talk about family values because this is not something you can legislate…you cannot legally force or encourage people to have good morals. What you can do is restrict the rights of people who are minding their own business and want no part of you your prescribed theory of family values.
I liked Hauf early on, just didnt seem like his campaign went anywhere, he was out done on TV 5 to 1…didnt hear his ads much on the radio, didnt see him on the news…it was all Roach, Bilbray, Busby….and Bilbray spent a fraction of the money…By April 1, I was certian Bilbray was the most likely R to be able to win out, and Roach was the only R who would give Busby a chance to win (you want to get the liberal base motivated, put a mormon preaching family values on the ballot). Everyone else was a non-factor. Well that Bill Boyer guy, he was looking very strong for the $3200 he spent…his $/vote ratio was pretty damn strong.
I should probably stop posting and ranting.
Comment by mp — June 13, 2006 @ 7:06 am
http://sandiegopolitics.blogsome.com
The new BLOG!!!!!!!!!!!
Comment by Crash — June 13, 2006 @ 7:57 pm
It’s kind of a reading comprehension test, if there is more than one meaning for a word, the context points the reader in the direction of the word’s meaning. I used the word “charisma” to mean “personal magnetism or charm.” I did not use it to mean the ability to sway the masses. The context clearly defines this for the reader.
Reading my post in context, a reader with good reading skills would have understood that I was comparing Busby with Bush, who are both empty suits, and not galvanzing world leaders. See how the context points toward which definition to use?
Bush has personal magentism and charm. He is the guy with whom people wanted to have a beer; whereas, no one watched Busby’s television ads and wanted to have a beer or glass of wine with her.
What person with an IQ over 40 would have ever even remotely considered a beer swilling coke junkie, who tanked his sports team, and abandoned his national guard post would be a “do no harm” candidate? Absent his charisma, a voter would have to be comatose, mentally incompetent or completely zonked out of their mind. But then, we know voters don’t actually the research candidates.
Schwarzenegger just pushed through and signed $37 billion worth of bond projects into law. A bond project is a future promise to pay those who buy the bonds. This means taxes will go up in the future to meet the obligation. He’s a Republican.
The house, the senate, the oval office and now the judiciary of the U.S. are completely controlled by Republicans. We have a nine trillion dollar deficit. It did not come from SSI. The deficit is from Republican earmark (pork barrel) spending for corporations and Iraqi war costs (Halliburton).
It is the loss of our checks and balances that has created this problem. That and the Republicans in power have the dual problem of being consumed with greed while also being profoundly inept in terms of representing their constiutents. (Democrats also are consumed with greed and just as ineffective, but there are less of them, and they get voted out.) Fortunately constituents don’t investigate. Wave a flag and Republican constituents are happy campers.
To put it in a different way, my little college graduate, it means YOUR great, great grandchildren will still be paying taxes to cover this debt. Go hug a Republican today. They voted for them, they keep them in power, they are responsible.
In this two party system, not voting or a vote for an independent or other candidate is a vote for the winner. It is sad, a tragedy even, but it is reality.
Comment by Wonky — June 17, 2006 @ 11:01 pm
…wow. Your definition of charisma is terrible. Empathy and association does NOT equate to charisma. Can Empathy and association occur with charisma, sure, often the do, but getting empathic support or associative support is not in the same ballpark as charisma. Bush doesn’t draw people in, he just doesn’t put people off the way his opponents did. He hasd a better campaign which got their message out far better than the opposition did. It is easier to lose votes than to gain them, Bush was very good about not losing votes. Swaying the masses…or the individuals is charisma. There is nothing charismatic about Busby or Bush, for that matter, nothing empathetic or associative about Busby, she was the democratic nominee and got the democratic votes. No massive spikes in turnout, no crossover appeal. Her message at debates comes out of a can…
If Bush has ANY charisma, he would not have an approval rating in the sub-40 range. Even when Clinton was at his lowest, with stories of blowjobs and crooked land deals filling the airwaves, he did not sink this low.
I’ve been writing speeches for almost 15 years, I’ve seen both Bush and his father speak, I’ve seen Gore, Clinton, Dole, Bill Gates, a bunch of Senators and Congressmen…of all of them, Bush Sr had the least charisma, W is better than his dad, but thats like saying a turtle is faster than a slug. Gore when he was VP gave them both a challenge though…his last year or so as VP and thereafter he has gotten considerably better…though not during his own campaign speeches.
Earmarks are not a unique issue to Republicans, please don’t push them out there like they are. Yes, with Republicans in control of all branches, the defict exploded, saddle them with that. The Democrats can share the blame for the situation we are in…here in California the Dem controlled legislature made a deal with the Reps to create the safe districts that keep the same old fools in office. Thats right, they worked together to screw the people. In Texas the Republican legislature did it on their own, screwing dem’s as much as possible, the CA Dem’s thought that was either a) too risky or b) wouldnt provide as much safety since they could have been attacked by the Republicans for it. Both efforts are disgusting, but Dem’s need to learn that when they do the awful things the Republicans do, they can’t use those things to raise money and campaign on.
As for Bush being a “Beer swilling coke junkie..etcetc…”. None of that really mattered because the campaigns for the democrats against him were both weak and lacking strong candidates. The list of errors made by Democrats in 00 and 04 are massive…Why was Kerry’s nominating convention held in a place he could recieve nearly no benefit? Kerry won MA 62-37…more importantly, none of the states around MA were in play, all were Democratic projected wins from the begining. Move the convention to a battleground state (OH? MN? CO?) or even a likely Republican state and you can generate support in many forms just by being there…you can create volunteer organizations right out of the convention and send them out into their nearby cities and towns…even if you lose that state, you are likely to generate fundraising and free media you otherwise wouldnt have received. Where will the Dem’s pick for the 08 nominating convention? probably somewhere foolish again. Ill laugh if its New York. If I was making the call RIGHT NOW, I would probably have Colorado at the top of my list, followed by Ohio and Florida, though I would strongly consider proposals from Arkansas and West Virginia. WV would be an excellent site, and turn out very beneficial if Mark Warner ends up on the ticket.
Back in 2000, the “negatives” of Bush were boring stories…he did coke when he was younger…he didnt have much success with the Rangers…he bailed on the NG…none of it was presented with any bite. Gore on the other hand…scared the hell out of people with money (environmental/regulation issues), and generally ran a haphazard campaign (With 3 major changes of significant amounts of his staff). Even a novice campaigner will tell you that in a 1 year campaign it is difficult to overcome ONE major change in your campaign staff…he did it 3 times…all 3 did their damnedest to run away from Clinton, who was at the time phenomenally popular with Dems and had some crossover appeal on his own.
Also, thanks for explaining to me how bonds work, I wasn’t quite sure how much of a disrespectful person I was dealing with until I got to that part. When you say the Governor signed off on those Bonds…you do realize they passed through the Democratic legislature, correct? Pushed through and Passed…translates to…the democratic majority agreed with him that it was a good idea. The alternatives are a) the democratic majority is stupid and didn’t know what it was signing up for (you should explain how bonds work to them!), b) the Democratic majority is corrupt and the Governator bought them off or c) in a tactical manuever sure to backfire, the Dem’s decided to sign off so their candidate for Gov can campaign against the Governator on those bonds. I’m sure there are other unflattering options, the point is, either the dem’s think it is good for California, or they are not worthy of their seats in the legislature.
While I agree with your generalization that in the current 2-party system it CAN BE beneficial to the opposing side to vote for a 3rd party candidate…it CAN ALSO be beneficial to vote for that 3rd party if it gets them a certain ballot slot next time out…in a state like California where you know the Dem is going to win the Presidential, voting for the 3rd party can get them a secured ballot slot for the next cycle in a state where it is fairly expensive to attain.
Personally I am hoping both parties implode, it is about time we washed our hands of these organizations that have lost their focus and direction. Maybe it will be a 3rd party rising up with stellar candidates, maybe it will be one or both of the parties splitting…some sort of political (r)evolution needs to occur. There are some good candidates out there, many of them will lose due to constraints of the current system (gerrymandered districts, incumbent advantages, opponent attacks and divisive primaries.). Some may suceed. One upset I am hoping for is Pete Ashdown v Orrin Hatch for Utah Senate. (http://www.pashdown.org/) — Utah is a fairly red state and Hatch has been in the Senate a long time (1976 I think?), but it would be nice to see someone more intouch with 2006 America win that seat.
If you want to focus on Busby as a (weak) candidate or Bush’s presidency, you arent going to get anywhere this election cycle. Busby will get the same 44-45% of the vote and lose in November, Bush will still be President after the elections. Find someway you can help out today…contribute to something you can effect change upon. There are many other races that could be competitive here locally and tons of battlegrounds nationwide, pick one and volunteer. If you already do this, I applaud your efforts (And anyone who participates, on either side), and apologize for the condescending message.
Also, I would like to mention that some people (on both sides) feel it is best to vote for their parties nominee even when they believe that person to be an idiot (its better than the other party getting the seat, etc), and in many cases, specifically on the individual basis, that may be true. In the wide view, and the long term, that creates some of the problems we have today, on both state and national levels. If democrats really want to send a message in the 50th district, in November, none of them will vote for Busby. Demand a better candidate, if Bilbray wins with 90% of the vote, it doesn’t make him any more the seat holder than if he won with 47%. What it will say is that the Dem’s of the 50th demand a serious candidate worthy of their votes. Voting for the Republican may not be the answer, but not voting in that race is always an option. I try to vote for the most intelligent and capable person who I agree with on as much as possible, and more imporantly, I can understand why they believe what they do on the things we disagree on. That is key, they have to be willing and able to justify their positions (at least on the majority of significant and pertinent issues).
Comment by mp — June 18, 2006 @ 7:02 am
My definition of charisma is from a dictionary. Your disagreement with the definition would be better directed at the editors of Webster.
Clinton’s magnetism is not an equivalency to Bush’s charisma. (Two different words, two different meanings) Clinton also had sex appeal which Bush does not have. Charisma and sex appeal are not the same either. Just because Bush doesn’t draw you or me in doesn’t mean he didn’t draw people in while he was campaigning. He did. And very true, Gore and Kerry both put people off.
What you say about Busby is accurate. Actually, that is usually my point, local Democrats choose friends who haunt the clubs instead of finding good, qualified candidates. In the 50th Democrats had another choice, Chris Young, a highly qualified candidate who even appealed to Republicans but instead the local Democrats in power went with Busby because they knew her from the clubs. That is why we lose. Our local Democrats in power can’t tell their a** from their elbow. And they won’t step down. They won’t step aside and they actually flat out refuse to hear from other candidates and potential candidates if they are not someone they know from the clubs. They are ridiculous. Then the National comes in and follows the locals around because they don’t do their own research or work. It’s hopeless.
I agree with you on gerrymandering. However, anonymous earmarks are not unique to Republicans, just unbelievably, outrageously, shamelessly abused and passed by this Republican Congress and Administration.
I also agree with you the culture of corruption campaign was stupid and foolish. Not only are Democrats not so innocent, this campaign also insults every voter who voted for a Republican. It’s just dumb. By the way, it was Chris Young, the other Democratic candidate I mentioned above, who explained how it insulted the voters. She refused to use it or acknowledge it and she was punished heavily by the local Democratic party for refusing to toe the line.
As for Kerry’s mistakes, the answer is Democrats only like to be around their friends. It’s a fatal flaw. What Dems did that was really dumb in 00 and 04 was how they played Bush’s bad acts. His bad acts are a referendum on his character. As a younger man he did drugs and drove intoxicated which means he was completely willing to break the law and place other’s lives at risk. Bush has behaved exactly as he did in the past, he thumbs his nose at the law and places other’s lives at risk. “The Decider” has made zero moral refinements to his character. That was what the Dems should have campaigned on, his character, but they didn’t because they are too timid.
By the way, that’s quite a euphemism, describing how Bush demolished the Rangers as “not having much success.” Too funny. Then, in your world view, Iraq must be a skirmish. With the Rangers, a 300 million dollar team, Bush spent money like water, and tanked them, sound familiar? Eight trillion dollar deficit? Iraq war costs? Bush’s character has not changed one iota.
Okay, you’ve got your panties in a twist because I explained bonds to you? There was nothing in your previous writings that indicated you understood them. There was however, a reference to Republicans having less government and lower taxes. Schwarzenegger, who could have behaved like the fairy tale Republicans pretend to be and veto the bonds package, instead signed it into law just recently. But, you did not write anything indicating you knew how Republicans were actually behaving in terms of more taxes and more government right here in California. And, isn’t it expected of Democrats to push through bonds packages? Isn’t infra-structure, and libraries, and education what we are known for? The Dems in power in California would have done this bonds package a long time ago but Scwarzenegger would not have signed it. He is only signing it now because he wants to retake the seat.
Do you remember Hatch asking all those prurient questions for Thomas’ confirmation hearing? That man has issues. He is truly a freak. Good luck in Utah, Mormons are known for following the older white males.
Of course Busby will lose in November. It was a foregone conclusion she would not win even one of these 3 elections because she is a weak candidate. The local Democratic party is responsible directly for these losses because they chose the weakest of all possible candidates.
I don’t think asking anyone not to vote is ever a very good idea.
Here’s an idea that might work: let’s only tax the voters of the winning party. This way, after elections people will keep switching parties and then vote against the party for which they are registered. You’ll have a third and fourth party system within two election cycles. Once voters even out enough trying to hedge their bets, we can make all seats two year seats with term limits. It will destroy the current power structure.
Comment by wonky — June 20, 2006 @ 5:58 pm
Bush is hardly the first person to invest heavy money in talent that disappeared or never materialized. You come off like a bitter fan when you blast him for that. He was never a brilliant baseball scout and yes there are conclusions you could draw from that (poor judge of character and potential…) but it is hardly something that could be tied around his ankle and sunk him with. As far as baseball management goes, at least he TRIED to improve the team, was willing to spend money, etc…Florida has twice sold of all of their world series talent AFTER the fans bought in for season tickets. Pittsburg’s payroll is so small…there is an entire starting lineup of guys in the league making more than the combined total of the Pirates roster. San Diego pulled the post WS appearance sell off a few years back…dumped talent right after we signed up for a new stadium…Tampa Bay has guys in their starting lineup that wouldnt even make triple A in most organizations. I think Bush is a moron, a nutjob of the Evangelical christian right. His savvy (or lack of) as a baseball man has nothing to do with that.
Your tax plan is silly on so many levels, especially in CA where people can register No Declared Party. Term limits are terrible. The thought is that it will prevent corruption, the reality is it will prevent good people from serving their country/state/people equally. Make the system more open and transparent, yes, good. Forbid good people from participating more than 4 or 6 years…nay.
I’ve suggested we convert to a regional multi-member district system…eliminating the gerrymandering issue (for Congress anyway). A region such as San Diego would get their 4 or 5 seats…a dozen or so people would run, likely from 3-6 parties, and the top 4 or 5 would go to Represent the region. Put district offices somewhat equidistant apart, and let the top vote getter pick first and so on… Each is responsible for the entire region, but is more accessible to the particular area around their office.
Was there anything I said previously that indicated I did not understand bonds? It really isnt that complex a concept…a dollar today to be paid back with 3 tomorrow…
I have said before that the Republican Party has lost its direction, the precept of smaller government and lower taxes is long gone. They still campaign on tax cuts, but they are really only interested in cutting taxes on the wealthy and the dead. The Governator was never really a Republican, he pretended to be one for a little while, now he is pretty solidly in the realm of Independence. One thing he has not had thus far is a capable staff. Last year he hired a democrat to be his CoS if I’m not mistaken? Prop 77 was his chance to make big changes and he blew the campaign, the democrats owned him with Judge Wapner. Was 77 the best solution to gerrymandering? I really don’t know, I’ve yet to hear a solution that truely protects the people and restores the power of their votes.
Young refused to be a loyal member of the party and thus they refused the nomination…big shocker. She needed to do it on her own, be bold and take her pitch to the people. She has no one to blame but herself. It is a hard system, but others do it, lesser people have done it. I like her, I think she would have made a great candidate in that race, but she didn’t do the work. Busby had a big headstart and Young did nothing to get into the race with her. On the other side, Bill Hauf was in the same boat, I found him to be extremely intelligent and capable (far more so than Roach), but he never really got engaged in the race until it was over.
I hope Young spends the next 12-15 months preparing for a real campaign to win the democratic nomination in 08, rather than just giving up now. If she has no intention of running in 08, she should help find someone who will, and be ready to point and say “this is the guy.”
I don’t think it was a foregone conclusion Busby would lose all three times (though i dont disagree she is/was/will be an incredibly weak candidate). She could have won on April 11th, and even had a chance on June 6th…but she campaigned poorly, her tv ads were horrible and thus she got the same results every time out. The other side made many mistakes (and many of them not the fault of the Bilbray campaign itself), and she failed to capitalize on all of them. Then she lobbed up a big fat pitch by trying to associate herself with John McCain who stepped to the plate for Bilbray and hit one that hasnt landed yet. It wasn’t a terrible gamble on her part at that point in all honesty, there was a chance it could be a big winner for her, but the odds were very much against her.
Associating the Rangers with Iraq is just sad by the way…he really was trying to win in Texas, for good and honorable reasons, he was just bad at it. In Iraq…well thats just greed, certainly no honor there. Very few people died as a result of the Rangers sucking (Though I’m sure some of those horrid seasons had fatalities). This guy has done enough stupid and terrible things that directly link to his Presidency, there is no need to dig up unrelated things from his past. It isn’t like he can run again so you need campaign material. You might want to start making a list about Jeb though, might come in handy around 2010-11.
Comment by mp — June 20, 2006 @ 7:56 pm
Nice look
Nice
Trackback by Nice — October 22, 2006 @ 11:26 pm
zenwire.com News update on:
Francine Busby concedes defeat & Jerry Sanders’ nomination of Alan Bersin for the executive committee position.
It is shameful that San Diego have not pursued the carpetbagger’s story early on in this election, and perhaps could make this race closer and more representative of the change that is on the minds of Americans all across our country. And it is a crying shame that the iron grips of gerrymanderng and the twisted logic perverting our conservative values, have managed again to suppress the underlying hopes & thoughts of average San Diegans. There is too much at stake in San Diego for change to come easily from half-hearted will. Francine gave us our only hope, because we so deeply want change, but the fabric of San Diego is not to be…and the carpetbagger story will be swept under the rug with the crimson stain of Duke Cunningham’s deeds now firmly embroidered into it. Rise up San Diegans, for it will take a lot more, than what was needed to re-take the Senate.
Read more about the corruption in San Diego
And try this Slapping Hall of Shame where you can Slap the heck out of Bush, Dennis Hastert, Mark Foley, Newt, Ann Coulter and Joe Lieberman at zenwired.com
Comment by zenseeker — November 17, 2006 @ 11:29 pm
Bilbray wins Cunningham’s seat ( all politics IS local )
I have stated many times here that all politics is local. Not heeding my advice, the Democrats have very openly and vocally made this year’s races a referendum on Bush, again. The early result? Brian Bilbray defeated Francine Busby for the 50t…
Trackback by Moonage Political Webdream — June 14, 2007 @ 2:02 pm
Local politics grows up.. to a National level. ahh Bush..democrats are gonna be with him ..lol..
The early results?? Depends who manipulate it..Brian Bilbray defeated Francine Busby for the 50t… Nah.. this time its gonna be the opposite..
Comment by Conservative News — August 14, 2007 @ 9:12 am
The big swinging dicks of politics lama, pope, kohemeni, jinato, singh, chavez, moon and bush.
Comment by Roger — August 27, 2007 @ 12:35 am
these are some crazy pictures of hillary
http://www.kogo.com/cc-common/sandiego/morecrazyphotos/morecrazy.html
Comment by Jake — January 31, 2008 @ 9:40 pm
Will be visiting San Diego for the next 4 days…..can’t wait.
- AP
Pasadena, CA
www.proctorformayor.com
Comment by AP — May 23, 2008 @ 1:58 pm