One of my favorite songs

Goes a little something like this:

Feel I'm goin' back to Massachusetts,
Something's telling me I must go home.
And the lights all went down in Massachusetts
The day I left her standing on her own.

Tried to hitch a ride to San Francisco,
Gotta do the things I wanna do.
And the lights all went down in Massachusetts
They brought me back to see my way with you

There's more obviously, but I am thrilled now by Scott Brown's election. One well placed source on the Hill from a non-Florida politician told me that the House caucus has basically fallen in love with the video of Obama destroying the GOP from last Friday.

But, it's more than that, as some MSNBC pundits have been saying it seems like this is a new Obama. The House senses it too, Pelosi has been working lately to make sure her caucuses stand by her and is emboldened. She's been pushing Reid with Reconciliation. This strikes me as a potential goldmine for progressives. A President who is calling out his critics right back and saying: "I've adopted your ideas!" but you've abandoned me when I agree with you! essentially. He now sounds a little angry and is forcing the GOP to stop swinging and start ducking.

And the Democrats do seem to have regained some pep in their step, even on newer challenges like the Citizens United vs. FEC ruling. Donna Edwards filed a bill on this today and the Senate too is moving on this issue according to Sen. Schumer.

While they may be polling in a nervous frenzy, you still get the feeling that with some tracking polls, Obama's SOTU speech combined with the Friday Q & A, a speech in the NH-1's district with Carol Shea-Porter being challenged by Frank Guinta , that Democrats are preparing to go on the offensive. I think the DC establishment has had enough of the crazies in the Republican party (check out this insane poll of GOP'ers) and is prepared to combat them. Now, does this mean they'll hold to the middle the closer it gets to election time or will they go to the left for their base?

That's the true question and the DADT stuff is an interesting move by Obama at this time. The Democrats have better money and a bit more trust at this time. Even freshmen Congressional Representatives are faring well in the money stakes for example Nye in VA-02. Gonna be an interesting ride through the end of this year folks but it seems like Mass. was in fact the catalyst that set off this year into campaign mode. And maybe it'll be back in Massachusetts where Democrats will find they have to go home. They have to go to their base and please them as much as independents.

Fillibuster Proof Majority!

Perhaps the words the NSCC and Majority Leader like to hear the most. I'm not sure what to say after Scott Brown won last week in Massachusetts. (he'll lose, easily in 2012 when he has to run as the same time as the President's race, or he'll lose the backing of the GOP trying to survive in Mass.)

But here's my two part approach to this blog post.

1] The bad news: The DC establishment will now try to move Democrats further to the right, making the competition and legislation a battle of Crazy Right (The GOP) and to the right (Dems). I would read this as, if you'd passed the legislation Obama ran on, had gotten it out of the way and were focused on the economy, you'd never have been in this position. Whenever Democrats try to run as Republican-lite they lose. That's where the Howard Dean's and Paul Wellstone's come in have to take charge and say "No, here's what we believe in." The Democrats don't have anyone like that. The best leader they have is Nancy Pelosi. Obama has continually proven that he will waffle and concede territory on any issue. He has not stamped his foot down on any legislation and has managed to spit in the face of the left, alienate the middle and as usual annoy the right by being a Democrat. He hasn't brought change that the country wanted. Harry Reid is fighting for his political life and won't be that person either. You need a progressive/liberal leader to step up.

And the economy still sucks. Obama now has to focus on this, but of course after giving away stimulus money with no strings attached and his policies as one of my friends says "being run by Goldman Sachs" it doesn't bring too much hope to the forefront.

Health Care Reform is probably dead. The "small, popular pieces" mentioned in this politico article is the best Democrats will do now.

2] The Good News: Democrats have no buffer real or imagined anymore. Maybe this loss will be the kick up their ass they need to get their shit straight. Either the House will vote for this travesty of a bill [unlikely to pass] or their going to have to use reconciliation [likelier]. What comes out of that would probably be more liberal, seeing as how only 50 votes are needed for it to pass [Biden would be 51]. Perhaps this will focus Democrats, take out their arrogance and force them to work on policies. Maybe they'll learn they can't expect their base to be revved up to go if they call them "foolish" or "stupid". Maybe it'll get 'em to pass what they said they'd pass in Republican style "we have what we have and we'll jam it down your throats".

The problem is there's more bad news that is concrete than there is good news. Everything in the good news column is hope. And last time that didn't turn out too well.

Can't wait for the SOTU.

Orlando Sentinel rips Sink a new one

OUCH.
You know I got this link emailed to me by a friend of mine saying this article was on the mark. Sadly, it is.

I don't know much about Mike Thomas other than that he wrote this article. Remember my last blogpost (back in 2009 I gave her The Katherine Harris Total Failure to Inspire as a candidate award.) In that article I stated:

"No one likes a candidate who's too spineless to make a stand on an issue such as health care reform. No one really wants to support Alex Sink. We just see Bill McCollum on the other side and go...SINK 2010"

Well guess what ladies and gents the article goes on to complain (largely from a journalists point of view) how she has been ducking the media and being irresponsibly non committal about her positions. As Eye In Miami (who's acronym EIM is nowhere near as good as BIM, but are better at everything else) has covered before, she seems to not know what audience she's talking to. I don't know if she's taking SoFla for granted but she's been almost entirely unavailable down here and I've seen very little campaigning by her. Whereas the Gelber/Meek campaign have small resources down here expecting to cruise and State Sen. Aaronberg's campaign is having representatives go to meetings in the area, Alex Sink has rarely come down here, has no discernible staff down here.

What kind of crap campaign is this? And after seeing the New Jersey debacle why are the Florida Dem Party so high on a banker?

While I don't get paid to write this, don't get the media emails for any campaign and am generally left in the dust by campaigns (damn you) I have enough sources and friends in the state to keep me in the loop. They ALL complain she's just not reaching out to the media or for that matter, voters nearly enough.

It's gonna be a long slog.

P.S. Help out Haiti!

Update: The Sink campaign updated the website the day after the article came out knocking them for not updating. Wow.

My Annual Awards

As I do every year I plan on handing out awards. The more astute observers of this blog will say "I've never seen you give awards before". That would be true. Anyhow, these awards are prestigious, merited a lot of thought from the committee, really drove emotions through the hearts of many (mostly laughter, embarrassment and anger). Enjoy.

The Toby Flenderson- Get The Hell out of my Office Award
To the undesirable Rahm Emmanuel. You made a hard job seem like something that a manipulative ex on the rampage would be great for. You have used your powerful office to blast and ignore political opponents (Howard Dean for one) and you have used your incredible responsibility to destroy the most meaningful legislation in 50 years piece by piece until it fits the mold of your ideology- the DLC so that it helps the health care companies.

You have one of the greatest leaders in the world, a man who just became President and have made him the laughing stock and partial villain of the left and the right in America. You're essentially the George Bush of Chief of Staffs. You listened to Pres. Obama well by uniting the country and bridging the gaps between blue states and red states. Against him.

Your political malpractice took a guy with approval numbers in the 70's and 60s and he's now in the 40's. If all goes well in 3 more years he'll be in the 7's and 6s. Gotta love the Rahmster.

The Ann Coulter I'm just saying shit to sell books Award
To the beautiful, sultry, intellectually deficient, effectively in a vegetative mental state former Governor of Alaska. Sarah, you are my hero. No one else would have thought that in one year alone you would go from the biggest political threat to Democrats to the biggest political threat to Republicans. No one would have thought you'd have quit elected office to take a 2 to 7 million dollar paycheck for writing a book, where you exposed personal grudges, aired laundry publicly...... Shit, has she met Rahm Emmanuel? If she does, goodbye Todd.

But seriously she said to Newsweek[Money quote ahead!]

Being a voracious reader, I read a lot today and have read a lot growing up. And having that journalism degree, all of that, will be a great assistance for me in writing this book, talking about the challenges and the joys, balancing the work and parenting, and, in my case, work means running the state.

Yes, Sarah of 6 years to get a journalism degree at 10 universities is such a voracious reader that as we all remember from THE Katie Couric Interview she couldn't name a single darn newspaper she read. The Miami New Times [who linked to my blog this year- yeah I don't forget Kyle!] explains that while she knows "real America" she doesn't know "Latin America" which for an avid reader is interesting. She in another interview talked about wanting to relate to America without a filter. Because really, who didn't run a state and for VP of the country.

The Hillary Clinton I killed my campaign a year before the election award

This goes to Charlie Crist.
August: 25 point gap.
December: Tied

I'd write more but I'd fear I'd be held liable for the Crist staffers who are committing mass suicide or homicide or both.

The Dumb Ass Award for Democrat who stepped in the most Crap

If the Olympics are seen as the triumph of will, strength and years of hard work and dedication, then BJ Chiszar would win a gold medal and forever be an Olympian. For being a dumbass.

You know whether it was in January or March he set forth on an unmistakably erroneous path. Whether it was not allowing Democratic candidates access to the VAN, pissing off every individual he met, playing favorites with campaigns [see the March post again] or attacking local groups of college Democrats and the Florida Democratic Party and involving everyone he could think of in the dumbest chess move by a political figure in Florida since the Spaniards owned this territory you really have to hand it to him. And by "it" I mean the award for being a dumbass. I will miss him though. Really helped traffic to the site.

The Mumia Abu Jamal Award for journalist most likely to be framed and convicted for speaking truth to power award.
Matt Taibbi is either the smartest man alive or one insane writer. His blog The Smirking Chimp is clever, witty and basically all things good. The antithesis of this one. Check out his articles there on the economic collapse. This Rolling Stone Magazine writer has really ripped into major corporations, the right, the left and anyone else in between by using facts, intelligence, humor and a dose of morality. No wonder he's not in office!

Whether it be his fantastic story on Wall Street insiders or health care reform and how it was being screwed or how Obama's a huge sell out the man is fantastic.

Read the last one about Obama. Then read the first two paragraphs. Yeah, he's THAT damn good.

The Howard Dean- Politician who Says the Truth Award
Alan Grayson over the course of the last year...
1] Told Dick Cheney to Shut the Fuck Up on Hardball
2] Called Sen. Coburn Delusional
3] Called a lobbyist a K-Street Whore than provided the worst apology ever.
4] Revealed the Republican Health Care Plan
Oh and he accused his Republican opponent of being hired from Hooters and that his staff spent all their time flicking pins and watching porn, called Rush Limbaugh a has been and said VP Cheney liked to shoot old men in the face.

And that's just really the last 6 months.

The Blue Dog Democrats Knife in the Back Award
They say in politics you keep your enemy close and your friends closer. But you definitely want to handcuff the Blue Dogs and have a mirror in front of you around them at all times. The same may apply to Chairman Lydecker of the Miami Dade DEC around those that were on the emails calling for his ousting after his appointment by the Florida Democratic Party. 7 minutes after he was appointed. That might be an exaggeration. There were so many individual agendas flying around that they could have started an Office Depot. Just Taking Care of Business.

The Katherine Harris Total Failure to Inspire as a candidate award
I love Alex Sink as much as the next person (ok no one loves her other than her family and friends..and Karen Thurman) but really it's kind of hard to get behind someone with all the enthusiasm of Eeyore. No one likes a candidate who's too spineless to make a stand on an issue such as health care reform. No one really wants to support Alex Sink. We just see Bill McCollum on the other side and go...SINK 2010. If Shriver and others are out there really going to give it a go...maybe now would be a good time to jump in folks. I've talked to DEC members and leaders from across the state, and with the exception of one county, no one is actually happy about her. Activists just kind of roll their eyes. Sounds like a winning ticket.

The George Bush Katrina Level Management Award
This monumental Award goes to Harry Reid for making the Senate Democratic Caucus into a joke of a joke. Whether it be being shaken down by Max Baucus, Kent Conrad, Ben Nelson, Mary Landrieu he really has made himself and the party look like incredibly incompetent assholes who can't figure out diddly squat. And that's without talking about Sen. Lieberman (hey you have to spell LIE! to spell his name!) and the hostage situation that occurs whenever Joe-mentum decides to change course or not like a policy. But hey he's still chair of his committee.

I imagine that Sen. Reid's staff all look like this whenever a bill is being discussed.











Thank you all and I hope 2010 is a great year!

An Email From A Loyal Reader

Every once in a while I get emails from the blog-world telling me off or praising or about general things. I got this one the other day from one of the most loyal BIMians. I asked for permission and will re-post the email in its entirety below with no edits. Enjoy.

For the past week I’ve been struggling to write a post about the Senate heath care bill. I started with taking on Nate Silver and his challenge to progressives, but after reading the excellent rebuttal on FDL Action and after listening to all of the establishment Democrats bash Dr Howard Dean in an effort to discredit him and shut up the “Democratic wing of the Democratic Party”. I then decided to go a different route. Some of you may have read Governor Dean speaks for me, posted by Charles Chamberlain at Daily Kos. I want to take that a step further. Dr. Dean not only speaks for me and the progressive base but he speaks for all of us who are uninsured, or underinsured and looking into the maw of for profit insurance companies as we are about to be swallowed whole. And then I read the interview with Rahm Emanuel that insults and blows off the progressive base.

I’ve been so angry over this that I’ve been unable to think straight let alone write a cogent post. I finally decided that Dr. Dean did indeed say it best (not his exact words, but very close):

I didn’t work my ass off to elect Democrats to vote for crap legislation like this!