A Question for Certain Kentucky "Democratic" Candidates and Their Supporters

After the Obama effigy hung from a tree at UK, the most disgusting, depressing and infuriating spectacle in Kentucky this election has been candidates calling themselves Democrats pretending they don't belong to the same party as Barack Obama.

Richly Deserving Loser David Boswell was one of the first to display his racist cowardice by answering a question about endorsing Obama with:

"I am proud to be a Democrat."

As I wrote then:

Kentucky's Second District may poll conservative - although that may also be an artifact of not having a real Democratic choice for the past 15 years - but does Boswell really think rejecting his own party's Presidential Nominee is going to endear him to Second District Democrats?

I don't actually think Boswell thinks much at all, which is only one of many reasons I am not at all upset that he lost.

But Boswell is not the only one. From local candidates who set up tables at county fairs as far as they could get from the Democratic Party booths festooned with those oh-so-dangerous Obama signs, to Governor Beshear, who could not have been less enthusastic about Obama if he'd endorsed McCain, it was endemic.

Could the refusal of the Kentucky Democratic Party to support the only two Democratic candidates challenging repug Congressional incumbents have anything to do with the fact that both of those courageous Real Democrats endorsed Barack Obama? Is the KDP's slobbering all over scumbucket Boswell a clue?

Yes, even Boswell performed better in his district than Barack Obama did, and let's hope that's a comfort to Boswell as he watches Brett Guthrie pack to move to a U.S. Capitol now wholly owned and operated by Barack Obama.

Notice that the two Kentucky Democrats who won their Congressional races are also the only two Democratic candidates who endorsed Barack Obama - and did it before the Kentucky primary. Yes, John Yarmuth and Ben Chandler are strong incumbents who were likely to win re-election regardless of their Obama endorsement, but if they felt so safe, why make an endorsement that in May was significantly risky?

Maybe they're both way smarter than they look. Or maybe they're Real Democrats. Even DINO Extraordinaire Ben Chandler.

So here's my question for Kentucky Democratic Candidates who turned their backs on Barack Obama:

Are you fucking proud of yourselves?

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

There's more: "A Question for Certain Kentucky "Democratic" Candidates and Their Supporters" >>

KDP Defrauding Dem Challenger Heather Ryan

Oh, I do love piling on, so I'm adding my voice to David Shankula and R Democrat at BlueGrassRoots and Barefoot and Progressive.

The Kentucky Democratic Party is crowning a year of non-stop fuckups with a fundraising email that falsely implies it supports a candidate to whom it has consistently refused to give a thin dime or short minute of support.

(Apologies to Shankula for quoting his entire post, but it's so tightly and powerfully written I can't edit it.)

Several months ago, Ms. Ryan entered the race against Ed (Whitfield) in a district the state's Democratic Party had entirely conceded. Since then, the Democratic Party of this state has had very, very little use for Ms. Ryan and her campaign. Until now.

Earlier this week, Exxon Eddie Whitfield refused to debate Ms. Ryan. His cowardice garnered statewide coverage and a good dose of national attention.

After having done nothing for Heather Ryan's campaign for months, (KDP Chair Jennifer) Moore and the KDP now wish to capitalize on her success as a candidate.

(The best stuff after the jump.)

Jennifer Moore's e-mail is below. It recounts Ms. Ryan's triumph, Mr. Whitfield's cowardice and the sad state of our state's news media. She writes all of this simply to request money. For the state party.

Money the state party has shown no desire to share with their own Congressional candidate.

I call on Jennifer Moore to pledge $10,000 of the KDP's money to the Heather Ryan campaign immediately.

And I call on Democrats across the state to not give this Party one more cent until Ms. Moore has pledged to do what is right.

It is not right for the party to use and abuse the candidates it has forsaken. This is our party, and until our party starts representing our interests and our candidates, it shouldn't get another penny.

In the meantime, as we wait for Ms. Moore's response, please make a donation to Heather Ryan's campaign.

Lord knows the KDP won't.

Here's the fundraising email from the Chair of the KDP. Read it and weep.

Breaking with their long standing tradition of not allowing candidates who choose not to debate to appear on the air in any manner, Kentucky Educational Television (KET), has decided to make an exception for 1st District Congressman Ed Whitfield.

Whitfield, who has refused to discuss the issues facing voters in the 1st District in any forum that has included Democratic challenger Heather Ryan, will be allowed by KET to present what amounts to an unedited campaign commercial following Ryan's appearance in which she'll take questions from the press.

This is another example of Ed Whitfield's lack of accountability. More importantly, the decision by KET to accept Whitfield's demand has effectively taken away a valuable opportunity for voters to decide; and they have set a precedent that will likely result in elected officials refusing to face the press and their constituents in favor of a recorded message of their choosing.

Please call KET at 859-258-7000 to let them know how you feel about their decision.

Sincerely,
Jennifer A. Moore
Chair, Kentucky Democratic Party

P.S. Help support the long campaign ahead. You can make a one-time contribution or join our new PLEDGE TO WIN program, where you can make an automatic monthly contribution using your credit or debit card.

A commenter at BlueGrassRoots says refusing to donate to the KDP would deny funds to "excellent candidates across the state." Really? Name three. (Silence) Name one. (Crickets.) Precisely. The KDP has reserved what little it actually has to give to candidates for washed-up hacks like convicted felon Carroll Hubbard ($14,000).

Contributing money to the KDP is buying drinks for an alcoholic and then handing him the car keys.

Donate directly to Heather Ryan's campaign here.

Donate directly to another Real Democrat being ignored by the KDP, Michael Kelley, here.

Cross-posted at Blue in the Bluegrass.

There's more: "KDP Defrauding Dem Challenger Heather Ryan" >>

Real Republican Trouncing Dino in KY Open Seat Race

One of these decades, the Kentucky Democratic Party is going to learn that
running DINOs against real republicans never, ever works.

But none of us will ever live to see it.

Republican Guthrie Positioned to Hold Open House Seat in KY2 for GOP: In an election for US House of Representatives in Kentucky's 2nd Congressional District today, 10/17/08, to fill the open seat of retiring incumbent Republican Ron Lewis, Republican Brett Guthrie defeats Democrat David Boswell 51% to 42%, according to this exclusive WHAS-TV new poll conducted by SurveyUSA.

Compared to an identical SurveyUSA poll released three weeks ago, Guthrie is up 2 points; Boswell is down 1. This 3-point net gain for Guthrie comes at a time when many Republicans across the country were losing ground and Democrats were benefiting from Obama coattails. No such evidence in KY2.

Three times as many Democrats cross-over to vote for the Republican as Republicans who cross-over to vote for the Democrat. Guthrie leads by 10 points among men, by 7 among women. Among voters age 18 to 49, Guthrie leads by 13; among voters 50+, Guthrie leads by 4.

Boswell's a racist, misogynistic punk, but the real blame here for losing an open seat in a landslide Democratic year belongs to the Kentucky Democratic Party and the national Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, for choosing to support a non-Democrat like Boswell over Real Democrats like Heather Ryan, KY-1 and Michael Kelley, KY-4.

Support the candidates who share your values. And do not send a thin dime or volunteer a short minute for anti-Democratic frauds like the KDP and the DCCC.

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

There's more: "Real Republican Trouncing Dino in KY Open Seat Race" >>

Kentucky Primary Will Determine Future of State Party

On Thursday, four former Kentucky governors endorsed Senator Hillary Clinton in Tuesday's presidential primary.

There are, however, six living former Democratic governors in Kentucky, and one of the two who have not endorsed Clinton is Martha Layne Collins, Kentucky's only female governor. The other is Brereton Jones, who is the one of the six who is closest to current governor Steve Beshear.

None of which matters to the presidential primary, but all of which matters a great deal to the outcome of the current battle for the Kentucky Democratic Party.

Stephen Shepard started off the speculation on BlueGrassRoots with a plea for Beshear and Kentucky's other super delegates to unite the party by endorsing Barack Obama.

Obama represents the future: a new kind of post-partisan politics that could be revolutionary for Kentucky. After yet another gridlocked legislative session, this is exactly the kind of change in tone that Kentucky must emulate.

(SNIP)

If Beshear wishes to lead Kentucky to a progressive future, then he must take a stand and stop this inward firing squad, uniting our Democratic party under a common banner. Let our Kentucky motto become our rallying cry: United We Stand, Divided We Fall.

Media Czech at Barefoot and Progressive called on Beshear to use an Obama endorsement to break away from the Jerry Lundergan-led Loser Faction of the state democratic party.

Whereas the Lundergan-Governors John Y. Brown and Paul Patton are falling in line between the eventual-loser Hillary Clinton, there is a great opportunity for Steve Beshear to step away from the old guard of Lundercrooks and take a step towards the future of the Democratic Party: Barack Obama.

Many have credited the failure of the current legislative session to Beshear surrounding himself with the old guard Democrats. Wouldn't it send a great message if he turned his back on this crowd and joined the new vanguard of Democrats along with John Yarmuth, Ben Chandler and Dan Mongiardo?

How about it Steve? Would you like to join and score big points with the new wave of Democrats all over this state that reject the Lundergan-era Good ole' boys?

And Ben Ray of What's Required Kentucky clarifies what's at stake.

There are two groups of democrats in Kentucky, and they’re silently doing nothing less than fighting over the soul of the Kentucky Democratic Party–on one hand, you have Lundergan and his old guard, ready to run conservative Democrats all over the state again, and let the RPK resume running us into the ground. The Democrats that depend on party machinery. The Democrats that, when called on to turn out for their presidential candidate, couldn’t muster 1,000 people on a Friday night.

Then there’s the younger generation. The Democrats still seeking a voice in the party. The Democrats that will proudly run on a progressive platform, because they know that even if the voters disagree with them, the respect they earn can win votes in a hostile district. The Democrats that are mastering organizing themselves outside of the party patronage machine, because the machine won’t stand up for what they believe in. The Democrats that, when they knew their candidate was coming to town, showed up on a Monday afternoon in numbers so overwhelming that they had to be turned away by the thousands.

There are more of the first type of Democrats. But they’ve already lost their battle– Hillary Clinton will not, despite the political firepower on her Kentucky Steering Committee, win the nomination. She may lose it right here in the Bluegrass. And so, our uncommitted superdelegates have a choice: they can back a losing candidate, and show that they’re still in the shadow of the party of old, still taking orders from Jerry Lundergan despite his no longer holding the chair, and deal a dangerous blow to the active base of the party…or…they can step out of the shadow. They can complete the break from the horror of machine politics. They can lead the party.

This is, ultimately, what superdelegates are for– when the people are making a bad decision, they can step out from the crowd and make clear that they believe in something different. Something better. To let the vote determine your actions as a superdelegate, as a leader of your party, is not only a cop-out, it’s intellectually lazy. Governor Beshear, Mrs. Moore, Mr. Smith, you have a duty to the KDP to lead us, not merely go along with with the popular opinion because it’s the safe and expedient thing to do. You know what you have to do.

Since Wednesday, there has been a huge CNN truck parked in front of the Kentucky capitol. We hear the CNN folks were not pleased to discover that the Governor is on vacation this week and won't be available for interviews until Monday.

So they've been interviewing everybody they can find with something to say about Senator Clinton's likely plans after winning Kentucky on Tuesday, even though nobody really knows anything.

Cross-posted at Blue in the Bluegrass.

There's more: "Kentucky Primary Will Determine Future of State Party" >>

Can't Take Your Eyes Off the Bastards For a Second

Both the Courier and the Herald are reporting that the Kentucky Democratic Party will deploy election observers to polling places throughout the state on November 6.

Joe Gerth at the Courier writes:

Democrats are planning to put "challengers" in precincts throughout Kentucky on election day -- but not to fulfill their traditional role of rooting out ineligible voters.

Instead, the party will use an army of lawyers and other monitors in an effort to make sure voting isn't being suppressed and to report any problems at the polls.

Suppressing the vote through polling-place intimidation is exactly the illegal stunt republiscum tried to pull in Louisville in 2003. They got caught because they were so stupid, they assigned white challengers from the suburbs to urban precincts with heavy minority registration.

Which makes it all the more hilarious that republiscum fuhrer Jack Richardson is now getting on his high horse about Democratic poll observers.

(More after the jump.)

Jefferson County Republican Chairman Jack Richardson, who was criticized in 2003 after ordering GOP challengers into western Louisville precincts in an effort to stop suspected vote fraud, said the Democrats are operating under a double standard.

"I wonder if the (American Civil Liberties Union) will file suit against them?" he asked.

The ACLU challenged the 2003 Republican effort in court but ultimately lost its attempt to block the party from using challengers.

(SNIP)

Robert Kellar, a spokesman for the state Democratic Party, said challengers will not question the bona fides of any voter and will merely serve as observers and note-takers.

He said the challengers would be placed strategically around the state, largely in Democratic districts where the party has focused its get-out-the-vote efforts.

There's some heavy history the dems are swimming upstream against here. For a hundred years after Reconstruction, Democrats in the south used every type of intimidation to keep African-Americans away from the polls - from poll taxes and literacy tests to castration, hanging and burning alive.

It's now the repugs who are the racist intimidators, of course, but that doesn't erase the past. Let's hope KDP Chair Jonathan Miller treads carefully in this.

On a brighter note, this kind of polling-place observation by Democrats is precisely what is needed to put a stop to the endless whining by repugs about "voter fraud."

For those who need a short explanation, there is no such thing as widespread "voter fraud" - people pretending to be somebody else in order to vote in a precinct not their own. Republiscum claim Democrats send armies of illegal voters to the polls to vote fraudulently. They use that lie to justify "security" tactics that intimidate poor and minority voters from voting.

There is, however, extremely widespread election fraud practiced almost exclusively by repugs. This ranges from "purging" voter rolls of everyone who is not white, rich and registered republican, to giving white, republican precincts more than enough voting machines and minority, Democratic precincts nowhere near enough machines, to getting your BFF the CEO of Diebold the contract for programming electronic voting machines.

The point is that Democrats have been playing electoral tiddlywinks while the repugs are playing three-dimensional chess, and it's far past time to fight back.

Putting Democratic observers at polling places vulnerable to repug dirty tricks is an excellent first step.

Cross-posted at BlueGrassRoots.

There's more: "Can't Take Your Eyes Off the Bastards For a Second" >>