Sen. Reid's Challenger Sharron Angle To Reporters: "Shhh!"

Politicians who do not like to be held accountable to the people they wish to represent would be well advised not to air their grievances in public. Unfortunately for the candidacy of Sharron Angle, a Republican from Nevada, she forgot (or perhaps never learned) how to use common sense. Instead of taking the questions of Nevadans, she proposed a different way of being held up to scrutiny in the Silver State.

From TPM:

"We needed to have the press be our friend," Angle said in an interview that aired on Fox over the weekend.

"Wait a minute. Hold on a second. To be your friend?" said a disbelieving Carl Cameron. Before Angle could fully answer, he added: "That sounds naive." Apparently this was too much for even him.

"Well, no," said Angle. "We wanted them to ask the questions we want to answer so that they report the news the way we want it to be reported."

Cameron's face may have shown disbelief, but only because Fox likes to keep these friendly relationships on the down low....at least when it comes to admitting it. Fox has a long history of proving their allegiance to the Republican party.

As for Angle....well her actions are simply idiotic. Her numbers, once strong and promising for her quest to oust the Democratic Senate Majority Leader, have tanked quite precipitously. I presume comments like this will just keep moving her in the downward spiral she now inhabits.

How Not To Win Over The Latino Vote

Across the country and specifically in the Southwest, capturing the Latino vote is increasingly important for any politician. Listening to and offering solutions that meet their needs is essential to gaining the trust of the fastest growing ethnic groups in America. Over on the GOP side, that advice doesn't seem to be taken to heart. Of course, if you are working to elect Republicans, make sure to not expose your true feelings on the matter, or you could find yourself out of a job.

From USA Today:

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The spokeswoman for the Republican Party in Nevada's most populous county was removed from her post Saturday, after she said the Democratic Party made black people "dependent on the government."

Didi Lima, the Clark County GOP communications director, also was removed from her volunteer role as a Hispanic community liaison for Republican John McCain's presidential campaign over the remarks made earlier in the day while working at a McCain campaign booth.

"We don't want (Hispanics) to become the new African-American community," Lima told The Associated Press. "And that's what the Democratic Party is going to do to them, create more programs and give them handouts, food stamps and checks for this and checks for that. We don't want that."

"I'm very much afraid that the Democratic Party is going to do the same thing that they did with the African-American culture and make them all dependent on the government and we don't want that," she said.

First some advice for Didi Lima, if I were you I'd avoid black people at all costs. That has to be one of the dumbest things I've ever heard and if you said it in front of the group you are addressing, you should start running and move fast. Now that you are out of a job, perhaps you could help these guys out and start selling waffles.

As for Hispanics, I believe as a group people would rather vote for the party that wants to give them a hand up and a fair society to live in just like the rest of us. For some odd reason, people generally do not vote for the party that likes to take away their civil liberties, including the one that gives all Americans the right to vote.

Stewart Blasts The Media...And Bill Clinton

Of course, both deserved his ire equally:

Edwards Jokes While Campaign Takes Third In Nevada

I don't think that even John was expecting to get five percent of the caucus in Nevada this past weekend. While he continues to add a few delegates here and there and probably will take in small numbers through the primary season, at least he can keep a sense of humor about it:

The Nevada Gold Rush Of 2008

Miners found the Comstock Lode back in the 1860s and the rush to settle parts of Nevada went forth from there, but in 2008 the rush will be made by candidates looking for voters and delegates instead of the precious silver found near Virginia City. Nevada will be holding their caucus next Saturday and it is considered the next crucial test for the Democrats since Michigan was stripped of their delegates last year for moving too far up the primary schedule.

In response the candidates are moving en masse to the state to beef up their statewide organization, from Reno in the north to Las Vegas in the south. One of the big battles for union endorsements was won by Obama today from the Culinary Workers and the local S.E.I.U. That means he'll have crucial support from the union boots on the ground for the next ten days. The Service Employees International had a lot of internal dispute on whether to go with Obama or Edwards, but the momentum of Obama had to be a clear cut reason on why to not go with the most pro-labor candidate. Picking Obama shows they want to be rid of Hillary, a strictly political move in my mind instead of one based on principle.

Obama needed that boost in the press today after last night's let down. The spark from Clinton last night could be a dangerous one looking down the road of the primary calendar, so he'll need to get another victory soon if he wants to get the press of his back. It is insane that there is so much focus on these individual races since we do have 48 states to go, but unfortunately we live in a society that the press dictates a horse race mentality. Hopefully we can stop them soon, but for now we just need to get the best candidate nominated for the Democrats. I'm not saying it's Obama (actually I believe it is Edwards) but it definitely isn't Hillary.

Pimps For Paul

I don't know if the Republican-Libertarian will start a Pimps for Paul link on the campaign website, but the endorsement from Dennis Hof is certainly making headlines. After hearing what Paul had to say in person, the owner of the infamous Bunny Ranch is set to raise money for the Republican dark horse. He'll be calling on his bunnies to do the same.

From The Reno Gazette-Journal:

After sitting through a 20-minute press conference with Paul, Hof vowed to put up a collection box outside the door of his Moonlight Bunny Ranch brothel to take up contributions for the candidate who he says, "Makes a lot of sense, doesn't he?"

"I'll do it today," he said. "I'll get all the Bunnies together and we can raise him some money. I'll put up a collection box outside the door. They can drop in $1 dollar, $5 dollar contributions. What a great way for the working girls to support Ron Paul. It's just the right thing to do."

Paul's campaign was surprised to see Hof, flanked by two prostitutes, emerge from a limousine outside of Lawlor Events Center this morning. They arrived with MSNBC journalist Tucker Carlson, who has been traveling with Paul for a piece he's writing for the New Republic. (Carlson stopped to pose with Brooke Taylor above. Photo by James Ball, RGJ)

"Dennis Hof is a good friend of mine, so when we got to Nevada I decided to call him up and see if he wanted to come check this guy out," Carlson said.

Hmm, Carlson is a good friend of Hof's? That isn't too surprising I guess, Carlson can go wherever he pleases to get his rocks off. That's none of my business, just something to think about, thats all.

Back to Paul, his spokesman sees no problem in accepting the money. I wouldn't know why anyone would want to bring it up, especially when you look at where the other candidates get their cash from. It isn't the most set-upon endorsement someone could get, but hey, it's news nonetheless.

One Last Thing About CNN's Nevada Debate

I seriously do not understand how the traditional media gets to spin their circus show debate any which way they please. Everyone with a mic and a camera are saying that Hillary won the debate, especially CNN. At least the chief MSNBC political hack Chris Matthews had a couple of progressive viewpoints told on his show that refute the unconventional wisdom.

From Crooks and Liars:

Download (125) | Play (140) Download (136) | Play (71) (h/t Heather)

Tweety had progressive radio giants Mark Green and Ed Schultz on to talk about Hillary’s big win at the debate in Las Vegas Thursday night and apparently Schultz didn’t get the memo.

Schultz: “I think all this postmortem of this debate about how wonderful Hillary is a bridge too far. I think it’s a sad day when a candidate has to start saying well its mud-slinging if you point out what my voting record is.” … “CNN, and especially Wolf, I think they were bending over for Hillary big-time last night.”

Ed also went on to make several other good points too that went against what’s become conventional wisdom regarding who “won” the debate. I’m not saying Hillary did poorly, because it surely was an improvement over her last debate in Philly and clearly she owned the audience all night who were quick to come to her defense to boo Edwards and Obama when each tried to attack her record, but she had a lot of help from CNN too. Not only was the network completely unfair in the amount of time they gave to most of the other candidates, they also were caught planting a softball question from the audience specifically for her to end the night that they had to admit to and then they followed that by having James Carville and David Gergen featured on their post-debate show, both of whom had previously held positions in her husband’s administration and Carville is currently listed as an “informal advisor” to her campaign. That’s quite a coup for any campaign to pull off and should be cause for anyone to re-evaluate the entire evening. Quite frankly, if Hillary won the debate, then any record of the win deserves an asterisk beside it.

So I’m wondering. Who do you think won the debate?

I personally think we all lost. No one really won the debate, because it wasn't a debate. Our democracy is being pulled asunder by the cable news networks so that they can create a narrative that sells their "product." Hillary may have won some points in the horse race, but that is exactly what it is, a horse race. This is not a public forum where voters can choose a candidate based on real issues.

Diamonds, Pearls And CNN's Manipulations

This is one of the serious questions that CNN had Maria Luisa ask Senator Clinton. How embarrassing for the network when it turned out that they forced her to use that instead of the original pre-approved question that she had come up with by herself.

Enough With These Damn Debates

I've complained before and I'll complain again about these faux debates that the networks host for candidates to come on to pomp and preen. Last time it was Tim Russert and MSNBC that got the blame for ridiculous questions, now its Wolf Blitzer and CNN. These people are all the same, its really revolting. To them it is about entertainment for entertainment's sake, not asking real questions to inform the voting public. It is people like Wolf Blitzer and Tim Russert that help to undermine our democracy, slowly but surely.

Matthew Yglesias nails it:

As ever, it's really striking to observe the difference between the audience-generated questions and the journalist-generated questions. Wolf Blitzer's main interest is in asking questions designed to put Democrats on the wrong side of public opinion, even if those questions are about things like driver's licenses or "merit pay" for teachers that aren't really under federal purview. Efforts to reframe those questions by putting those topics in the larger context of immigration policy more generally or education more generally are derided as cowardly dodges. The point, after all, is to force a choice -- piss off an interest group, or say something that could be used in a GOP attack ad.

The real people, by contrast, ask about problems in their lives. The mother of an individual ready reserve member wants to know about Iran policy. The mother of an active duty soldier wants to know about military pay versus pay for military contractors. An Arab-American wants to know about racial profiling. Then the candidates explain what they think about these issues.

The voters are curious and want to learn where the candidates stand. Blitzer doesn't care about informing the public about the issues -- he actually objects when candidates try to explain their views on broad immigration policy issues -- he's just interested in trying to embarrass the candidates.

Perhaps we can try a citizen's style debate. Let the candidates have at it on YouTube, maybe that kid who interviewed Mike Gravel in his dorm room wants a second shot at fame. Seriously anyone can do better than Wolf or Tim.