Tag Archives: Blogosphere

Kavips Beats Clatworthy on the Basics

Kavips does a great job making the affirmative case for Katz in the 4ths SD. Having said that – I’ll quote Kavips beating up on Clatworthy, because Kavips beats up on Clatworthy in a way that all “dead horse” republicans need to be beaten.

The dead-horse republican platform still beaten by Clatworthy, that one of stressing no taxes, is a misnomer.. Everyone knows that if you grow your economy by funding your appetite on debt, you will soon be out of money… Eventually, some day, you have to pay it back… Of course when you do, not only do you have to pay back the money that you borrowed, but you also pay back the interest on that deal as well. In other words you have to pay interest ON TOP OF all the goods and services you currently use and are paying for as you go… Even if you wanted your state to keep its expenditures at current levels, repair roads, fix schools, etc, you would have to slash necessary goods and services, Since no one can function without basic government services, roads, schools, etc., taxes inevitably will be raised… So just how seriously can we take his pledge to cut taxes?

Oh,…. but Republicans don’t cut taxes…Correct, they just defer taxes down the road, perhaps giving it to one’s children to make up the payments. If you didn’t believe it before, you should by now based on what we have all witnessed done to our national debt over the last 8 years….

Voting for Republicans just makes no fiscal sense whatsoever.

DEwind: The Week That Was October 13th

We had a lot of local coverage over the last week at Delaware Liberal, no doubt the most political coverage in Delaware blogs.

First on our local political coverage is our series of interviews with Delaware candidates:

On Friday, liberalgeek wrapped up the goings on about Workforce Housing. Please read as there are two important meetings regarding Workforce Housing this week.

Jason gives his overs/unders for many of the local election and slams Delaware’s MSM for falling for Bill Lee’s misleading press release.

Over the three weeks prior to election day, Delaware Liberal is taking a strong look at the candidacy of John Clatworthy for the State Senate District #4. We are wondering, no concerned, about Clatworthy’s socially conservative ideals that he has not be forthcoming about. You can read the following posts:

On Delaware Watch, Steven Crockett wrote a great post about Senator Biden and his concern for working families.

The Yetman family is still facing foreclosure. This family may yet be out on the streets if their mortgage company will not cooperate. It will not be because Senator Joe Biden did not intervene on their behalf. It will not be because Biden does not care. 

Dana writes about Karen Hartley-Nagel’s sad attempt for taking credit for Bluewater.

Speaking about getting called out on Bluewater, Charles Copeland tried to take credit and got called out by Tommywonk and kavips. Tommywonk writes:

Charlie Copeland is hoping that voters will somehow forget his prolonged opposition to the Bluewater Wind project, despite the record to the contrary. 

Kavips covers another political forum. I, for one, cannot wait until Nov. 4th. Here’s Kavips take on Bill Lee’s visit.

Markell couldn’t make it, another engagement previously arranged. But Bill Lee could….. almost… He staggered up to the podium, after putting a hand on Matt Denn’s sturdy shoulder to keep from falling in his lap. ( no, no, it wasn’t THAT… he tripped on the carpet! ) lol Lee is no Jack Markell. I got the impression Lee was like a prom date that said yes, knowing the outcome wasn’t going to be pretty. He’s a nice guy, but is not up to running a state.. We’ve had eight years of that.. (nice guy not up to running a state). He got some flack from one member of the audience for when he said “he didn’t care if he was running for governor” implying win or lose, it didn’t matter to him…”How can anyone take your run for office seriously, after hearing a statement like that?” Bill laughed it off.. :”it’s good for Delaware if I don’t care” he said… huh? (what he was trying to say was that someone who cared deeply would try dirty tricks to make sure they one, but not he, since he didn’t care, dirty tricks were not in his agenda… just bringing up Markell’s Nextel Lawsuit…) Bottom line, Republicans should have left both the governors and Lieutenant Governors spots blank this year, considering the damage those two candidate may do to their party… But watching it made me realize that in politics everyone is a nice guy… our job is to elect the smarter nice guy, or the nice guys who are selfless, instead of selfish…. 

Kilroy continues pimping Copeland for Lt. Governor here and here and here. More enjoyable was Kilroy’s piece about having dinner with Tyler Nixon.

Please welcome Lower Slower Delaware to the liberal Delaware fold.  Good luck fighting the fight. 

Copeland Gets The Wind Knocked Out Of Him

Patricia Gearity writes in today’s New Journal about Copeland’s dubious claims for helping Bluewater Wind offshore project get approved.

Charles Copeland voted against H.B. 6 in April 2006. A year later, he opposed the Bluewater Wind proposal. In December, he opposed the first wind contract. Six months later, Copeland voted for the second wind contract, but only after Delmarva Power approved it, 93 percent of Delawareans approved it, and Copeland had announced his candidacy for lieutenant governor. Charlie Copeland was no cheerleader for offshore wind. That is obvious from the record.

Tommywonk and kavips do a good job at calling Copeland out.

On Political Civility

Could you imagine a US Presidential campaign where one side said of another that by winning their opponent “were radicals who would murder their opponents, burn churches, and destroy the country”? How about a loser in a Presidential election that calls his opponent, “Judas of the West”? Maybe a political operative that would forge a letter to a foreign government and said government’s response would destroy a President? Or, most famously, a handful of men try to spy on their opponents and get caught destroying the man they supported?

Sadly, a lack of civility in American political discourse has been the norm in our history and not just a recent addition in our troubled times. Though sometimes it just doesn’t seem that way. In Reconcilable Differences, Ronald Brownstein writes:

From the final years of Bill Clinton’s presidency through Bush’s two bruising terms, American politics has been polarized as sharply as at any point in the past century. Party-line voting in Congress hasn’t been so prevalent since the days of William McKinley and Theodore Roose­velt. In the history of modern polling, Republican and Democratic voters have never held such disparate views of a president’s job performance as they do of Bush’s.

But as the 2008 Presidential Campaign comes to a close, we are once again examining how we got to this place and, more importantly, how we get out of it. Over the past few days, I hope one has seen on Delaware Liberal (we’re having internal debates as well) an examination of our political discourse.

But what is civilitiy? And what is meant by political civility?

Continue reading →

Steve Newton gives the Delaware Blogosphere a spanking

If you haven’t read Steve’s post over at Delaware Libertarian you should. And even though it’s obvious he doesn’t have a horse in this race he makes some valid points. Now allow me to add a few of my own.

Has this election season become overly divisive? Yes. I won’t argue with that point, instead I’ll try and analyze what makes this year more impassioned than 2000 and 2004.

We can start with Obama, but we’re not going to end there. And that’s problem number one. Despite all the labeling (empty suit, the “One”, Messiah) most Obama supporters can see past their candidate to the issues. The fact we receive absolutely no credit for understanding the issues and are constantly accused of hero worship and kool-aid drinking is a major source of conflict.  These terms, which have been used since day one, are insulting and pretty much shut down the possibility of civil debate.  Which I’m beginning to think is the point of these attacks.

Continue reading →

DEwind: The Week That Was October 6th

Watch Delaware Liberal’s last part of our interview with Delaware’s next governor, Jack Markell. Also, we interview Democratic candidate for Insurance Commissioner, Karen Weldin Stewart.

Delawonk points out that Delaware ranks a dismal 46 out of the 50 states on its campaign finance disclosure laws. This needs to be addressed by our next governor prior to the next election cycle.

Also at Delawonk, Mark blasts the Lee-Copeland campaigns for lacking ideas in their most recent foray, the DNREC.

Casual observers might be tempted to believe that this prop means they want to reorganize the agency.

It doesn’t.

It means that the Lee/Copeland campaign is so bereft of ideas, so lacking in real meaningful proposals that they have taken to scribbling on amateurishly crafted placards in an attempt to resonate with voters.

I’d have more respect for these guys if they were all sizzle and no steak (like some other campaigns), but no sizzle and no steak — come on!

Delaware’s Republican Gubernatorial campaign is showing itself to be a microcosm of the Republican Presidential campaign. What do you do when your campaign is void of ideas and issues? Work out a smear campaign. Tom Noyes at Tommywonk writes:

In a losing campaign, there comes a time when a candidate faces the decision of whether to go negative. I’ve been involved in winning and losing campaigns, and I am pleased to say that the candidates I have worked with never chose to get nasty. I have seen the impulse to start slinging mud restrained by candidates’ better angels, as well as the cold reality that it probably wouldn’t make any difference. It’s one thing for a hockey player to start checking harder or for a lineman to grab his opponent’s jersey in a close contest. But it’s another thing to get dirty when the game is effectively out of reach.

The slow, agaonizing death of the Reagan Republican Party is not a pretty sight.

While on the Markell-Lee contest, Delaware Watch reminds us of the issues.

Kilroy continues “to call” the Lt. Governor race for Copeland despite a look at the facts: 53.2% Matt Denn (D), 38.6% Charlie Copeland (R). Is it me or does this smell like an endorsement? You decide.

Let’s face it, having disappointments coming from both parties Democrat and Republicans. As for Delaware I think have a Democrat Governor and a Republican Lt. Governor might just be the balance needed

Delmar DustPan, That’s Elbert and What A Smell? got together to interview the candidates for Delaware’s 40th Representative District Biff Lee and Barb Hudson: Part I, Part II and Part III. The interview starts with a question regarding gun control. Why is it that wingnuts are more concerned about the 2nd Amendment rather than the 1st Amendment? (May God have mercy on my soul for opening up this can of worms). One of the last questions is most telling about the current political environment today.

for Barb Hudson:
This is a question many Democrats are asking in the national election, so lets bring it down to the local level. If it’s questionable for a potential Vice President, with all the amenities of that office, then how can you (in a much smaller state position), be expected to efficiently, share time between your teaching job in Delmar, the State House and your day to day family / home requirements?

Hudson: I have found that people who are productive and are involved in many things are the people who you can depend on and generally work harder at what they do. If for any reason I am not efficiently fulfilling either position, I will retire/resign my teaching position so that I can concentrate on my duties as State Representative.

Elbert: For my clarification on the last question regarding balancing your many responsibilities, would I assume that you would continue to teach while serving in Dover?

Hudson: I actually have not made a decision about continuing to teach or not. I will evaluate the situation if I win. I will also need to discuss options with the Delmar administration. As I stated, if I do decide to continue teaching and either job suffers as a result of trying to do both-then I would definitely retire from teaching.

Good luck Barb.

Over at the Delaware Libertarian, State Representative Republican candidate for the 4th District Tyler Nixon lampoons Mayor Baker’s Hope Commission saying, “The ongoing negligence and lurching nonfeasance of many entrenched public officials only exacerbate our public safety challenges.” If you can get past Nixon’s partisan bickering, you’ll find an interesting read. Also, The Delaware Curmudgeon points us to a Comcast interview with Tyler Nixon.

Regarding other state races, The Delaware Curmedugeon directs us to Ed Osborne’s scorecard on Eminent Domain for the upcoming election. I just wonder how fair and balanced the scorecard is with so many Democratic candidates’ grades “Not Available”.

The Mourning Constitutional’s Brian Shields endorses Mark Anthony Parks for Delaware’s Congressional seat. I guess Brian just ignores the odd Citizen’s Rule Book Parks links to.

Karen Hartley-Nagle continues her uphill climb against entrenched Bushite Mike Castle. Is anyone paying attention to the Congressional campaign other than Delaware Liberal and Delaware Way?

Unlike Steve Newton’s view of kavips, DL and others, I enjoy my daily reading of kavips. You should to. Interestingly enough, I feel Newton blasts the left much harder than he did the right. If it talks like a Republican, walks like a Republican, thinks like a Republican, it is a Republican.