This Is How Tancredo Republicans Hope To Win The Latino Vote

Republicans shunned a debate geared towards African-American voters, most likely because they feel that battle has already been lost to Democrats. Now the minority with the fastest growing segment of the voting population are latinos. This is how some Republicans hope to entice them to stay with the GOP:



I guess being just a little PC is out of style now.

Edwards Weighs In On Republicans And Their Little Debate

Friday Linkage

Tis' the last day in November, and I hear that December is going to start off with a cold snap here in the city. Of course that does not mean that there's a lot of action going on, here's a few links to show you why.

• Californians and concerned citizens may not be able to talk directly to Dianne Feinstein about the upcoming FISA vote that may give her the chance to let the TeleCom companies off the hook, but you can certainly tell her buddy Art Torres to make the point for you.

• The GOP debate on Wednesday was like any debate hosted by CNN (it was crap) but there was one question from a military man that really shook Republicans to their anti-GLBT core.

• With Rudy's "Shag Fund" debacle in full gear, Dood Abides has rewritten "New York, New York" to fit the ex-Mayor to a tee.

• Hey guess what, Broadway is up and running again, as if it had never stopped...for 19 days. What came out of the strike again? Seems like the producers got their way...and the stagehands got some spare change thrown their way.

• While there is a Grinch on Broadway, that isn't stopping NYC's M.T.A. from playing the character as well.

Edwards Wins A GOP Convert On Live TV

John Edwards got the sweetest gift last night and it beats out anything he's done for his campaign (attending the WGA East protest, etc) this week. It didn't happen at a labor rally, a progressive meetup or anything Democratic. No, this was during the post-debate wrap-up on CNN last night.

From Crooks and Liars:

During the post-debate show last night, CNN’s Erica Hill asked her room full of undecided Republican voters for a show of hands to see if any had settled on a candidate and there was a lot of shaking heads but not one hand raised.

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But what really made the moment special was one undecided Republican voter who thought she ‘may’ have finally decided:

Sharon: “I think if the Democrats have John Edwards, I’d vote for John Edwards.” … “I had thought about Giuliani, I had thought about Mitt Romney, also Fred Thompson. I don’t care for his TV shows but you know, I thought maybe him being an actor that was just a persona and it’s not.”

Damn, thats gotta hurt for Freddie and the rest of the Republican bunch. It just goes to show that no one has really settled on a candidate over there on the right. That is because there is nothing to the eight white men on the stage. They are not in it to change America for the better, it is about winning for some...and making America less democratic for rest. Edwards actually speaks to most Americans because he is standing up for progressive principles...and like it or not, many Americans believe the same way at their core.

The Question The Republicans Will Never Answer

Okay, there are quite a few of them out there, but none as personal as this couple posted on YouTube. Their son was murdered by people with hate for those of who's sexual orientation happens to different from them. See, for the Republicans to answer a question dealing with the effects of the Christian Right's assault on gay people, it would be to detriment of their campaign to appeal to the base.

How would you answer this?

The video below has been submitted for the Republican CNN YouTube debates by a couple whose son was killed because he was gay.

We're Lynn and Pat Mulder of Auburndale, Florida. Our son Ryan was murdered in March because he was gay. We would like to ask the presidential candidates how will they work to promote the value of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender families.

Read more about the Mulder's here.

What a shame to see this evidence of hate in our country. Why people commit these crimes is both explainable (social science stuff) yet unfathomable at the same time. Being different from each other is one of the greatest attributes of our nation. Yet it still makes people act out in terrible ways.

So will Rudy, Huckabee, Thompson or Romney take this question? Nah, I doubt it. We wouldn't want to show the world how bigoted they are.

Boo On You

Republicans do not like to hear any type of truth, so when Ron Paul gets up on stage, expect an elementary response from the audience.

Circular Firing Squad, Republican Style

For as long as I can remember, Democrats were the best practitioners of shooting themselves in their political feet. Now the 08' Republican contenders are getting skilled in the game. Last night's Republican debate was a testament to how vicious Republicans can be to each other. I have to say I missed the festivities, even though I could have watched Fox News on jetBlue (why they don't have CNN or MSNBC is a little odd to me). Nevertheless, they took their turns attacking each other in spectacular form.

From The Huffington Post:

"You've just spent the last year trying to fool people about your record. I don't want you to start fooling them about mine," Arizona Sen. John McCain bluntly told Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts.

Former Sen. Fred Thompson made Giuliani his target, saying the former New York mayor supported federal funding for abortion, gun control and havens for illegal immigrants.

"He sides with Hillary Clinton on each of those issues," added Thompson, referring to the New York Democrat who leads in the polls for her party's presidential nomination.

Oooooh. Comparing him to Hillary, now that's gotta hurt. They all deserve the criticism of course. All the contenders have fatal flaws that the others just love to expose. All the better for Democrats to sit back and watch as they rake in more money and get better exposure in the press (except for Ron Paul maybe).

Republicans love to sabotage the country for their misguided ideology, if they want to use that technique on their own campaigns, more power to them!

Republican Bean Dip

Colbert compares bean dip to the Republican candidates debate on Tuesday and talks to Frank Gaffney about pulling out our money from terror-sponsoring states rather than bombing the hell out of them.

Fred Thompson Doesn't Care About Black People

Ok, the title is a little racy, but I can't help referring to Kanye West's statement about George Bush two years ago. Why would I say such a thing? Is it true? Well, maybe, maybe not. Yet his refusal to participate in a debate hosted by Tavis Smiley at Morgan State University is seen as a snub towards the African-American community. Of course, he isn't the only one, three other Republican candidates somehow have "scheduling problems" or some BS excuse not to show up. They wouldn't want their core constituencies to be offended now would they?

From The Huffington Post:

Former Tennessee Senator Fred Thomspon has become the fourth leading GOP presidential candidate to shun the PBS debate this month at a historically black college in Baltimore, the Huffington Post has learned.

The debates, moderated by Tavis Smiley, will go on as planned, despite the absence of Thompson, former mayor Rudy Giuliani, former governor Mitt Romney, and Sen. John McCain. Each campaign cited scheduling issues as the reason for their absence. Nevertheless, the rejections underscore the consistent absence of GOP candidates at minority voter forums.

"There is a pattern here," Smiley told the Huffington Post. "When you tell every black and brown request that you get throughout the primary process that 'no, there's a scheduling problem.' That's a pattern... Are we really supposed to believe that all four of these guys couldn't make it because of scheduling?"

The Republican frontrunners' snubbing of Smiley and PBS comes on the heels of their rejection of a debate sponsored by the Spanish-language network Univision (McCain was the only GOP candidate to accept that invitation). This past June, only one Republican presidential candidate, California Rep. Duncan Hunter, showed up at the convention of the National Association of Latino Elected & Appointed Officials.

So for all those "black people" out there, do not be offended, they don't care much for brown people either.

N.H. GOP Boos Brownback

Even Republicans up here for the most part do not agree with banning gay marriage. It's "Live Free Or Die" here buddy.

Canary Paul Squawks, Other GoOPers Can't Hear Him

The Republican candidates had themselves another debate last night, and when it comes to the GOP, not much was really said. The man that stands out here, Ron Paul offered some reality on the war...but no one listened. He knows their stance on the war (is part of) the reason the Republicans are going down in flames yet it seems everyone prefers the fire for fear of not looking tough.

From Yahoo News:

DURHAM, N.H. - Republican presidential contenders voiced support for the Iraq war Wednesday night despite a warning from anti-war candidate Ron Paul that they risk dragging the party down to defeat in 2008.

"Even if we lose elections, we should not lose our honor," shot back former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, "and that is more important than the Republican Party."

Huckabee was in the majority, Paul very much in the minority on a University of New Hampshire debate stage when it came to the war. The politically unpopular conflict has emerged as the dominant issue of the 2008 race for the White House.

Tough is all these busters have. No one has any real ideas. Certainly not Giuliani, definitely not Thompson and Romney just sails around on the wind with no clear principles in sight. Huckabee, who showed some promise in the Iowa straw poll, is another conservative who would rather die a gruesome political death than deal with reality.

Save for Paul, they all have this convulted notion that they have to seem stoic like their minds tell them Ronald Reagan was. The only problem with this is that Reagan was nothing that his image creators made him out to be. He was full of hot air for eight years and his ideas are just as hollow now as they were in 1980.

Daily Show Covers YearlyKos Forum And Republican Mistakes

Jon uncovers a little of Hillary's lobbying shenanigans and Sunday's Republican debate that was just, well, pitiful.

What Republicans Can Do About YouTube

All but two Republican candidates are afraid of a YouTube style debate, questions from the masses is scary I suppose. Well have no fear, the Red State Update is coming to their rescue by having a debate of their own:

All But Two GOP Candidates Shrug Off YouTube Debate

CNN wanted to bring YouTubers to the Republican candidates just as they did for the Democrats. The problem is no one is showing up. Only John McCain and Ron Paul have agreed to the debate format and that isn't saying much. None of the front runners want to face a public audience such as the YouTube community, I wonder why?

From The Washington Post:

Four days after the Democratic debate in Charleston, S.C,. more than 400 questions directed to the GOP presidential field have been uploaded on YouTube -- targeted at Republicans scheduled to get their turn at videopopulism on Sept. 17.

But so far, only Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and Rep. Ron Paul (Tex.) have agreed to participate in the debate, co-hosted by Republican Party of Florida in St. Petersburg.

"Aside from those two candidates, we haven't heard from anyone else," said Sam Feist of CNN, who's co-sponsoring the debate with the popular videosharing site.

Rudolph Giuliani and Mitt Romney, both with dozens of videos on their YouTube channels, have not signed up. Neither have the rest of the Republican candidates, including Rep. Tom Tancredo (Colo.), whose "Tancredo Takes" on his YouTube channel draw hundreds of views. Sources familiar with the Guiliani campaign said he's unlikely to participate. Kevin Madden, Romney's spokesman, said the former Massachusetts governor has seven debate invitations covering a span of 11 days in September.

Mostly the candidates claim that they already have busy schedules at that time, but Mitt Romney actually belittled the debate. He basically said he was above the questions that were aired during the Democratic debate, such as the snowman asking about global warming. Personally, it could be an Eskimo, polar bear or a puppet asking about the climatic fate of our planet, as long as the question is asked. It seems that all of them are frankly afraid of facing real questions from real people.

Howard Dean Goes On Colbert

Colbert and Dean cover the Republican debate last night on the show. Dean calls all of the Republican candidates windbags except John McCain on torture. And there is so much more:

Republicans Cheer On Their Own Demise

As I watched a clip from the Republican debate last night, the fact that the Republican party is dying was reinforced for me. When Ron Paul was on stage and asked about our foreign policy he signaled a warning for his party. He reminded them that Republicans were anti-interventionist in the past and that that type of policy needs to be revisited. Instead of cheering for him, the audience was silent until Rudy spoke out of turn and wanted to start a fight with Paul over the truths he was speaking.

See, the Republicans do not want to hear about reality. They want to think Americans can do no wrong no matter what the effects are on other countries. And if someone from within the party mentions the cause of those effects, all hell will be unleashed on that poor soul. That was what Giuliani tried to do to Ron Paul. So did Fox News and the audience at the hall last night. They tried to make him seem out of step. Well Paul gave them all another dose of truth with the response to that question.

From Crooks and Liars:

Wallace: "Congressman Paul, you're one of six house Republicans who back in 2002 voted against authorizing President Bush to use force in Iraq. Now you say we should pull our troops out. A recent poll found that 77% of Republicans dissaprove of the idea of setting a timetable for withdrawal. Are you running for the nomination of the wrong party?"

Paul: "You-you have to realize that the base of the Republican Party shrunk last year because of the war issue, so that percentage represents less people. If you look at 65-70% of the American people, they want us out of there, they want the war over."

While Paul tries to stay in step with the majority of Americans, the Republicans refuse to adhere to the realities of the day. They will cheer on the war and anyone who picks up the flag and marches deeper into battle after George Bush is gone. The only problem is that while there are quite a few Republican troops on the front line, plenty of them are deserting and their ranks are being depleted as the war in Iraq drags on.

Rachel Maddow's Campaign Asylum

Watch your step as you enter, Rachel talks about Republicans' unholy worship of Ronald Reagan. It's scary stuff:

Ten Republican Men, One Stage

The Republicans kick off their debate schedule tonight in California at 8pm EDT. The event is being held in the ever so (in)appropriate Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley. The stage is overflowing with candidates, even more so than for the Democrats.

The lineup includes the frontrunners, McCain, Giuliani and Romney. Then come the second tiers, Sen. Brownback, fmr. Governors Jim Gilmore of VA, Mike Huckabee of AR and Tommy Thompson of WI. The bottom three on the list is comprised of the military contractors' favorite Duncan Hunter, immigration nut Tom Tancredo and finally Ron Paul.

The general consensus for tonight is that no one wants to get roughed up or come out looking bad. That is especially true for the top three. All of them have serious problems with their campaigns as it is and a major hit could be particularly devastating. I'm looking for trouble from the bottom tier, especially from Tom Tancredo. The guy is trying to keep immigrants out of our country made of immigrants at all costs. Any moderate position on that will definitely draw fire from Tom.

I'm not too sure I can watch the whole thing honestly. I am going to try to listen for reasoned, principled ideas....but I feel that those type of things don't exist in the Republican party anymore. Instead, I will expect empty rhetoric, the heavy usage of fear in their responses and of course, bashing Democrats. I'll hang on till I get that nauseating feeling, then shut the thing off.