What is it with these guys?

I was listening to a radio broadcast a couple of days ago, and Bob Barr was talking about being selected to lead the Libertarian Party. Y'all know that Bob used to be a Republican, and one of the reactionary right, nationally. So it was no surprise when he referred to the "Democrat party." Not Democratic, of course, but Democrat.

This got me thinking, again, about the Rs saying Democrat instead of Democratic. This first popped up on my radar just a couple of years ago. I thought it was a new thing. However, I've talked to many Idaho Rs, and they pretty routinely refer to the Democrat party. The term has worked itself thoroughly into the R body politic, so I'm guessing this reference has been around long enough for it to become widespread.

So I wonder, why? Why have the Rs chosen to unilaterally change the name of their opponent, a name that has been around since 1792? What possible reason could they have?

Do they object to the term, thinking that Democrats aren't democratic? Please. Do they think it somehow confers an electoral advantage on the D party? Again, please. The term, as used to identify the party of Thomas Jefferson, has been so ubiquitous as to be without connotation and therefore incapable of conferring an advantage.

What seems the most likely is that Rush, or Newt, or someone able to lead opinion, started to say Democrat party just to tweak the Ds. It's just a way to annoy Ds. And so the R party has come to this; refusing to use a time-honored traditional name, refusing to respect the opponent's self-chosen name, all for the sake of a childish jab. Yeah, I think that's about right.

Because, really, what else do they have? The morality of Larry Craig and Ted Stevens? The energy policy of Dick Cheney and $4.00/gallon gasoline? You've heard the saying: "If the facts are against you, argue the law. If the law is against you, argue the facts. If both are against you, attack your opponent." Well, just have a look at John McCain's talking points lately. He and the R party have no rational policy any more, so all that's left is to attack the opponent.

So from now on I revel in hearing "Democrat party," because it reminds me of how hollow and silly the Republican party is. And if I start hearing R party leaders saying "Democratic party," I'll start to worry, because it might be signalling their return to relevance.

LaRocco within striking distance?

Kos at DailyKos commissioned a poll by Research 2000, a nonpartisan and respected pollster, that shows Jim Risch at 42% with LaRocco 10 points behind at 32%. Rammel had 5%, and Undecided had 17%. Obviously, with that many undecideds, LaRocco has a shot at it.

The wild card, pun intended, is Rex Rammell. Pretty much all of his support pulls from Risch. He's raised some $400k so far, though I think that is mostly from himself, but in Idaho that's enough to make an impact. If he can connect with the reactionary right, and his fellow LDS, he might be able to pull in enough votes to really sting Risch. 5% by itself has to hurt. LaRocco's got a long way to go, but 10 points isn't that big a difference. Lessee, depressed R voters due to Bush and to McCain's lack of popularity, Dem energy due to Obama and Bush, energized young voters, all indicate that LaRocco has a chance.

Kevin Reichert commented on it here. Eye on Boise has it here. Red State Rebels here.

*** End of Senate race comment

Switching gears, this a rare echo post for this blog. I don't often pile onto stories that others have reported. First, I don't blog at work (I'm off half of today) and the full timers and folks who do blog at work are always way ahead of me. By the time I get to it, it's old. Also, given my fairly low readership, and that most who read my blog read RSR and the others who get right on the news, I doubt me posting an echo story has much effect. Just so you know.

Who's zoomin' who?

Bryan Fischer has recently slammed Planned Parenthood for racism. Although Fischer jumps on any controversy to keep himself in the public eye, he does seem to have a deep and long-lasting dislike of PP, no doubt over the abortion issue. You probably recall the flap. Somebody called PP and got the person who answered the phone to agree to accept a donation to abort an African-American baby. The Statesman's story is here. In criticising PP, Fischer wrote:

Said IVA Executive Director Bryan Fischer, “It turns out that blatant racism is alive and well in Idaho, but it’s not coming from the Aryan Nation types – it’s coming from way-left organizations like Idaho’s own Planned Parenthood.”

And

Fischer concluded, “Idaho didn’t have room for Richard Butler and shouldn’t have room for Planned Parenthood.”

Well, Geoff has been doing some reading and has found some of Fischer's writings that move him off the moral high ground for accusing others of racism.

But if immigration policies allow newcomers to fundamentally alter the cultural values that have made America the envy of the world, and results in the Balkanization of American society instead of preserving its unity, not only will our children and grandchildren suffer as a result, we will lose our capacity to carry out the unique redemptive purpose God has assigned to our people.

It is my judgment that uncontrolled immigration is threatening our national unity, fundamentally altering the DNA of our culture, and dimming the light of our "city on a hill."

Thus I believe that regaining a sure and secure control of our borders as the first order of business is sound public policy for many reasons. Uncontrolled immigration not only threatens our national security, our national identity, our public health and our national stability, it also interferes with our ability to carry out God's redemptive purpose.(emphasis added)

Words like "unity" and "DNA" serve as code words. If you were of a mind to, you could read this as saying we have to preserve the purity of our race.

h/t Geoff the Gadfly

It's a classic

Check this out. Serephin hits a snarky homer with this video. And demonstrates some killer video skills. And reveals Risch's disdain for us lefty bloggers.

Update: I decided to refer any traffic I might get over to 43rd State Blues, so I linked it instead of embedding it.

Still alive

I've been traveling and have some travel in my future, and what with prepping for travel and recovering from it, I haven't had much time to post.

I've been thinking about the little dust-up we had that started with Dan Popkey saying he was paying too much attention to the wingers. I then "took a shot" at Adam, according to Kevin Richert, and Adam responded, sort of accusing me of being a cranky old man who's telling him to get off my lawn. And misconstruing my point.

But anyway, since I asserted the Adam and Bryan Fischer are to the right of mainstream Idaho, I'm trying to find examples of the Idaho mainstream. Dennis Mansfield seems to be moving more toward the middle, though his strict views on abortion aren't mainstream.

Back in, '90 or '92, the Idaho legislature passed some strict abortion law. I don't have the specifics at hand. Anyway, the next election saw Idaho Democrats get half of the Senate seats. My conclusion; Idaho's mainstream isn't wild about highly restrictive abortion laws.

So, if you have any suggestions about other mainstream bloggers, please let me know. Perhaps if we can point Richert to additional sources for his "Other Voices" we might hear less from Adam and Bryan.

Advice for Popkey

Chris referred me to the piece by Dan Popkey about Fischer and Swindell feeding off the media, and vice versa. I'm glad to see Popkey, and perhaps the Statesman, wake up to how they're being used and how it benefits Swindell and Fischer.

Adam is pretty worked up over it, and rehashes the tired Ten Commandments monuments thing here and tries to take on Popkey here. Adam writes things like

The ultimate reason the city removed the monument was because it does not believe there is a place for the acknowledgment of God in the public square.

And

It can be hard to put yourself in a victim class if you’re a white male
liberal journalist, but Dan Popkey managed to do that today.

I'll give Adam credit for being diligent about having an opinion on everything, for being a prolific blogger, and for building what seems to be a much visited website. He certainly gets way more traffic than this site. What I won't give him credit for is thoughtful analysis. Hyperbole is more the order for Adam. Can you really say what motivated "the city?" Since the monument was moved to a much higher traffic area, is it really true "the city" thinks there is no place for God in public?

As I've written, I think Adam became politically aware at the zenith of the influence of the religious right, a group he is proudly square in the middle of. Part of their reactionary world view is that they are a persecuted minority - victims - that must battle the forces of secularism. He is young enough that he doesn't see the zenith as the peak; he doesn't have sufficient political experience to put it into context. Also, he's been raised in the hothouse environment, for reactionaries, of Idaho and until recently, Montana. So, I think that unless Adam develops more perspective he's destined to feel bitter and oppressed. He doesn't know he's had a great run and now it's time for the pendulum to swing back.

This shows up in his references to "liberals." That term is just code language that allows the right, or used to allow the right, to negatively define someone. However, it has become meaningless with overuse. Anyone who doesn't agree with a reactionary is a liberal. John McCain, fer crying out loud, is a liberal.

Popkey closed out his piece with this:

I'll try to pay more attention to those quietly occupying the middle ground and be more skeptical of those making the clamor on the fringes. If you have an idea for me, please let me know.

Okay, great. Here's my idea for Popkey. Read the Unequivocal Notion and the Mountain Goat Report and follow some of their issues. They might have some lefty positions on a few things, but it's mostly standard progressive issues.

Oh, and please, tell Kevin Richert that he ought to give Adam his own column or find somebody else to quote. Richert once said he quotes Adam so much because the Idaho right is a vast wasteland of rational thought, er, no, sorry, that's not it, it's because the right has such a small presence on the blogosphere and he has few choices. Well, the constant appearance of Adam on the Statesman's op-ed page is giving him credence (that I don't think he deserves) as the reporting on Fischer's and Swindell's activities is giving them.

Update: DFO at HBO also frequently, too frequently in my opinion, quotes Adam. If there are no other voices, maybe it's because he's a minority position. Such frequent quoting makes him and his views look more mainstream.

Idaho Values Alliance

Given Bryan Fischer's money woes we've heard so much about lately - he has to pay Boise City's legal fees for the Ten Commandment monument fight - it's appropriate to have a look at IVA's financial picture. The most recent info I can get is from 2006, though as you'll see below the report was filed August 2007. (Click any picture to enlarge.)



The IVA received $89,116 in donations and earnings.



The one next is a bit more interesting. Note the more than doubling of total assets, from $10,539 to $27,807. I have no idea what the assets are.



About the time the report was filed listing the doubling of assets, the IVA also amended its articles of incorporation, deleting Article XI.



What is the pesky Article XI that they deleted? Article XI provided that upon dissolution, all assets will be donated to another non-profit. Having deleted that Article, Fischer is no longer bound to donate the assets if the IVA folds.



It's doubtful to me that Fischer will be able to convert the IVA's assets to his personal use, but I'm not sure. BTW, Fischer lists the IVA as his full time job, 40 hours a week. He pays himself a livable salary, but he's not getting rich.



All in all, it appears the Fischer should be able to pay the legal expenses he's been ordered to pay.

Update: Upon further examination, it looks like the $17k asset increase in 2006 was simply contributions not spent, i.e., banked. That was 2 years ago, but it still indicates the Fischer ought to have the $$$ to pay Boise without unduly worrying that someone's going to take his house.

Also, now I'm really curious about his appeal for donations to pay off the city. Does he still have this cash balance? If so, his appeal begins to look opportunistic.

New air traffic control tower

Been out by the airport lately? If so, you can't miss the new tower being built. It's being built on the National Guard side of the airport. To give a sense of the height, the two buildings on the left are aircraft hangers.

Is his heart in it?

A quick look at Risch's web site shows under upcoming events only one event; the Festival on the Falls in Idaho Falls, on July 4. One upcoming event, in the past.

Have a look at the opening page of his website. I think the bright orange Donate button dominates the picture, and is a bit tacky. At least let people into the site before asking for money.

Clark v McCain

Wes Clark pointed out that John McCain's military experience isn't, by itself, an automatic qualifier for President. I've watched Clark both saying it originally and then standing up for what he said, and his point is valid. He rightfully praises McCain's service, his suffering as a POW, and his sacrifices, and I honor McCain for these things as well, but I agree with Clark.

Military service doesn't necessarily qualify a person for President. It gives a helpful understanding of the military that someone who hasn't served won't have, and I'd prefer our President to have military service, but it's not a deal breaker. More relevant is what specific experiences in service does a person have, and how do they relate to holding office.

Anyway, I've read a couple of opinions that Clark is bugged by McCain because Clark was a grunt in Vietnam while McCain was a flyboy. Here's one such opinion. I don't know what's motivating Clark, but I'll tell ya, that feeling does exist. In fact, I've seen the mini-poster below hanging in lots of Army offices and cubicles and it always makes me laugh. (Click to enlarge)