Anti-Sex Christine O'Donnell is Nothing New

We've all known women like this, right? The ones so disappointed that sex didn't lead immediately to Cinderella/June Cleaver nirvana that they turned into anti-sex scolds.

The really dangerously insane ones are the deliberately sexy ones, like O'Donnell. She's constantly sending the message: "See this, boys? You can't have it." I actually do believe that she's never masturbated, or at least not competently, because if she'd ever had DIY multiple orgasms, she couldn't inveigh against them with a straight face.

But it's worse than that, and not funny at all. As emptywheel at Firedoglake explains, O'Donnell's just the latest twist on the older-than-dirt conservative campaign against female sexual freedom:

I know Democrats are thrilled that Chris Coons, the Democratic candidate for Senate in Delaware, will be running against the kook Christine O’Donnell.

But I’m a little troubled by the treatment of O’Donnell’s anti-masturbation stance as just one more kooky proposal.

It’s not.

Rather, it’s the logical extension of the conservative assault on reproductive freedom. Sure, most conservative efforts to regulate reproduction are targeted exclusively at women (not even on their doctors). Because they bear wombs, after all, it’s a lot easier to regulate and politicize the sexual conduct of women.

But the logic is always the same–and it’s precisely the “logic” O’Donnell gave for her opposition to masturbation. (And, incidentally, the same logic the Prop 8 defenders used in their case in San Francisco.) It’s about ensuring that all sexual enjoyment–all of it–is tied to procreation within marriage.

So while she may be a nut, she’s really only advocating for the same oppressive treatment of men as mainstream Republicans advocate for women of child-bearing age.

Remember the bumper sticker of a few years ago? "Will somebody please blow George Bush so we can impeach him?"

We could make a similar plea for O'Donnell, but we probably wouldn't get any takers for that, either.

Harry Reid's Balls Are Way Bigger Than Jack Conway's

There's only one way to campaign against a crazy repug: Go on offense. Stay on offense. Double down on offense.

Harry Reid shows how it's done.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is not backing down from a strong remark he made yesterday -- that Hispanics should not be Republicans because of that party's actions blocking immigration reform.

"I don't know how anyone of Hispanic heritage could be a Republican, OK," Reid said on Tuesday. "Do I need to say more?"

The Republicans immediately took this as being a gaffe, and posted this very short video snippet online ....

Republican nominee Sharron Angle's campaign also pounced, telling Politico that "Harry Reid cannot give any good reasons why people should vote for him, so now he is turning to race and ethnicity," also adding: "Reid is desperate to change the subject from the economy, which he knows is a losing issue for him."

But in a statement this morning, Team Reid stood by it -- and dug in further by asking how anyone could be a Republican.

"Sen. Reid has long enjoyed the support of many Hispanic Republicans in Nevada and he appreciates that support. Sen. Reid's contention was simply that he doesn't understand how anyone, Hispanic or otherwise, would vote for Republican candidates because they oppose saving teachers' jobs, oppose job-creating tax incentives for small businesses, oppose investments in job-creating clean energy projects, and oppose the help for struggling, unemployed Nevadans to put food on the table and stay in their homes.

"Nevadans are suffering in this economy. Senator Reid was rightly pointing out that Republicans like Sharron Angle who oppose job-creating measures and unemployment benefits, oppose emergency aid to save 1200 Nevada teachers, and who want to wipe out critical programs like Social Security and Medicare, are part of the problem, not part of the solution."

The Reid camp also pointed out how Angle supports eliminating birthright citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants, noting her use of the term "anchor babies," and that Angle has reportedly shunned the state's Hispanic media.

Read the whole thing.

Read that statement again, Jack. You could change the names and substitute "Kentuckians" for "Nevadans" and it would work just as well against Rand Paul.

If you had balls like Harry Reid's.

Rand Paul vs. Jack Conway Before the Judges

The U.S. Senate candidates in Kentucky appeared before a meeting of Judge-Executives and other county officials Thursday. The non-debate, non-speech forum offered an opportunity for comparing and contrasting the two with neither the strictures of debate rules nor the spin of formal speeches.

Ryan Alessi has a good analysis:

Rand Paul, the Republican, said he would filibuster the budget bill unless it was balanced. And Jack Conway, the Democrat, piggybacked on Paul’s major message of reining in spending by saying he supports “pay as you go.” They gave their pitches, took some mild shots at each other and fielded several questions from local officials.

But, perhaps most importantly, they offered glimpses in both style and substance about what voters can expect to hear about this fall. Paul sought to tie Conway to national Democrats and paint him as too liberal for Kentucky. Conway calmly rebutted several of Paul’s claims but largely refrained from going on the attack.

Read the whole thing.

Losing the Last Prairie Populist

Somebody stop Byron Dorgan from retiring. I don't care how you do it, I don't care what it takes. Just make him change his mind.

From The Nation:

Few senators in either party have more steadily challenged the entrenched powers that be than Byron Dorgan, the North Dakota Democrat who traced his political roots to the proudly radical Non-Partisan League that challenged corporate power and big banks in the early years of the 20th century.

The loss of Dorgan, who on Tuesday made a surprise announcement that he would not seek a fourth term this year, is an exceptionally serious one for Democrats. The party will have a hard time holding Dorgan's seat in a state that has not backed a Democrat for president since 1964.

But it is an even greater loss for progressives.

Unlike Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd, the other surprise Democratic retiree, the North Dakotan was never really comfortable with the insider politics of Washington.

Dorgan was one of the last of the old-school populists of the Upper Midwest, and he took his history seriously. In North Dakota, the Democratic Party is officially named the Democratic-Non-Partisan League Party -- in recognition of the merger of the proudly radical NPL into the Democratic fold in 1956 -- a fact that North Dakota's senior senator never forgot. And never let anyone else forget.

In keeping with the NPL's anti-corporate traditions, Dorgan was one of the few senators who fully understood the necessity of challenging economic royalists and business monopolies and duopolies.

It was not just his prescient opposition in 1999 to the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, which saw the North Dakotan decry the elimination of banking regulations by saying: "I want to sound a warning call today about this legislation. I think this legislation is just fundamentally terrible."

On issue after issue, Dorgan challenged the consolidation of economic power in the hands of a few corporations.

He was especially outspoken on the issue of concentrated media ownership, emerging in recent years as one of the most determined congressional critics of big media.

But I will never forget Dorgan remarkable appearance at the "Rally for Rural America" that the late Senator Paul Wellstone, D-Minnesota, organized outside the U.S. Capitol in March, 2000.

There were plenty of outstanding speakers that day -- including Wellstone -- but no one captured the passionate populist mood so well as Dorgan. The senator from North Dakota loved ripped corporate agribusiness and the crowd -- thick with members of the North Dakota Farmers Union -- loved him for it.

We Dorgan raised the old NPL solidarity call -- "We'll Stick, We'll Win" -- the assembled farm families roared their echo to the senator's cry. And it seemed for a moment at least that progressive populism was on the march once more.

Dorgan's January, 2011, retirement will set him on a course of writing speaking, teaching and --undoubtedly -- agitating.

He'll remain a vibrant player in our poitical life -- perhaps as a populist campaigner, perhaps as an Obama administration appointee working on farm and food issues.

But the Senate will be less for Dorgan's absence. No senator in recent times -- with the possible exception of South Carolina's Fritz Hollings -- was so able to channel the populist rage of William Jennings Bryan into the debates of the 21st century.

The Senate's gone straight downhill since we lost Paul Wellstone seven years ago, and I don't want to think how much worse it can get without Dorgan.

Shorter Mongiardo Campaign: Dan's a Redneck, Not a Fag!

UPDATE, 6:45 a.m.Jim Pence's Hillbilly Report has great video of Conway's announcement and the endorsements.

Jack Conway's campaign for Jim Bunning's U.S. Senate seat next year is all of about 10 minutes old, and he's already won the Democratic Primary, 13 months early.

The campaign of Lt. Gov. Dan Mongiardo officially jumped the shark today with campaign consultant Kim Gevedon's insane comments to Politico.

Four of Kentucky's five most powerful Democratic politicians (actually the four most powerful if you don't count DINO and cowardly waste of oxygen Governor Steve Beshear) endorsed Conway this afternoon, and Gevedon's response was to bash them as effete commies.

Conway kicked off his campaign at a rally in Louisville this afternoon, and appeared alongside some of the state party’s leading figures: Reps. Ben Chandler, John Yarmuth, state Auditor Crit Luallen, and state House Speaker Greg Stumbo.

(Mongiardo notably received an endorsement from the state's Democratic governor, Steve Beshear.)

But in an interview with POLITICO, Mongiardo’s consultant Kim Geveden dismissed the endorsements as coming from a bunch of effete elitists.

“They’re all buddies, they’re good friends. Daniel doesn’t run in their social circle,” Geveden said. “Daniel is a sportsman, a hunter and a fisherman… Daniel doesn’t play golf, he’s not the part of that social crowd, he never has been, and he never will be.”

He added that Mongiardo would be courting the support of “ordinary Kentuckians, who work every day to make ends meet.”

Media Czech translates:

That's right folks. Dan Mongiardo is a FISHERMAN! A HUNTER! And A SPORTSMAN! He's A MANLY MAN, WHO DOES MANLY MAN THINGS! Ben Chandler, the most popular Democrat in the ENTIRE STATE, is an effete PUSSY! Did I mention that Dan Mongiardo KILLS THINGS! He KILLS them DEAD! Nobody likes Crit Luallen! She has a fucking VAGINA, for christ's sake!

I take it that it's been a really rough day in the Mongiardo campaign. Perhaps flask-inducing bad, judging by this quote.

Yes, this will be a FUN campaign.

Or a bloody slaughter. The only question left is whether Conway's double-digit win over Mongiardo in the primary will be bigger than Conway's double-digit win over Bunning in the general.

Cross-posted at They Gave Us A Republic ....

Senate DINOs Announce Plan to Destroy Obama's Presidency

Because there is really no other way to describe this.

Roll Call reports that a group of 15-20 “moderate” Senate Democrats — boosted by their success in “paring down the more than $900 billion economic stimulus bill to $787 billion” — plans to “formally announce next week that it is aligning as a loose coalition or working group focused on deficit reduction and fiscal responsibility”:

Led by Sens. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), members said early press reports of their meetings were mischaracterized as an opposition group to President Barack Obama’s agenda and budget. But they acknowledge that they are seeking to restrain the influence of party liberals in the White House and on Capitol Hill. […]

[Nebraska Sen. Ben] Nelson said the moderate bloc is modeled after the Blue Dogs, but that the realities of the Senate prevent them from being as organized or unified as the House group, which regularly wins concessions from House Democratic leaders.

But as one anonymous Democratic senator told Roll Call, “Once you decide to be part of a bloc that is completely dislocated from the main [Democratic] caucus interests, you’ve not only separated yourself, you’ve also burned a lot of bridges.” Politico previously explained the possible implications of such a group, writing, “If the moderate Democrats in the Senate are willing to work with moderate Republicans…they will negate the White House’s ability to portray opposition…as partisan obstructionism.”

Kevin Drum pours fiery sarcasm on their asses:

ThinkProgress glosses a Roll Call story today telling us that Evan Bayh is spearheading a group of 15-20 Democratic senators "seeking to restrain the influence of party liberals in the White House and on Capitol Hill."

And it's about time, isn't it? We've now gone nearly a full two months without Democrats forming a circular firing squad designed to bring down a Democratic president and prove that Democrats can't actually get anything done. I say, that's two months too long.

But at least a bunch of senators will get to preen a bit about how they managed to water down progressive legislation and get the White House to beg them for their votes. And that's what public service is all about, isn't it?

Steven Benen reminds us that Matt Yglesias nailed the pathetic psychology behind DINO treason.

A couple of weeks ago, Matt Yglesias had a great item explaining how "moderate" Democrats like Bayh view the policymaking process.

[T]he key legislative players aren't reasonable, moderate people they're "reasonable" "Senate moderates." A "Senate moderate" is someone who takes his party's proposals, objects to them, waters them down a bit, and then congratulates himself on a job well done. Which is great if his party's proposals are unduly immoderate. But it's big-time trouble if his party puts a reasonable, moderate agenda on the table.

After all, you don't maintain the painstakingly achieved Nelson/Bayh "Senate moderate" brand by clapping politely. You need to bitch and moan and be quoted in inside-baseball only media outlets that none of your constituents pay attention to, and hold conferences and have meetings at the White House where people hold your hands. You need to be praised by the opposition party, and extract your pound of flesh from the proposal. Then when it looks like it might go down to defeat, you can vote for the somewhat-watered-down version and be the hero who saved the day and nobody will mention that you saved the day from yourself.

But you really do need to do that stuff. You can't just say "well, this is a reasonable proposal so I'll back it." Then your moderate license gets taken away.

The answer, then, is for President Obama to readjust his approach to negotiating.

The president seems to believe in honesty -- work hard to create sound ideas, and then encourage reasonable lawmakers to vote for them. What nonsense. Obama apparently needs to high-ball every proposal so Bayh and the Blue Dogs can water them down to "reasonable" levels and feel good about themselves.

Stomping on their necks until they scream for mercy works for me, but I'm not as subtle as the President.

More importantly, even if President Obama manages to co-opt the Baby Liebermans long enough to get universal health care, carbon caps and a second stimulus passed, the Ungrateful Bastards Caucus will remain in office unless we vote them out.

Yes, we know it can be done, because it has been done. Just two years ago, DINO extraordinaire Al Wynn was ousted in the Maryland Congressional Democratic primary by novice and Proud Liberal Donna Edwards, who went on to win the general election.

Progressive groups specifically targeted Wynn because of his conservative, un-Democratic positions, and Edward ran on a specifically DINO-killing platform.

That success led to the formation of Accountability Now, dedicated to recruiting and supporting primary election opposition to "Democrats" in Congress who are more beholden to corporate interests and Beltway groupthink than to their constituents.

I'd say announcing your intention of stopping President Obama from rebuilding a nation destroyed by three decades of criminal corporate greed pretty much qualifies Bayh's Senate Blue Dogs as Accountability Now targets.

Read about Accountability Now's plans for the 2010 elections here. Join the good fight today.

Cross-posted at They Gave Us A Republic.