His radio commentary for August 27th begins “Senator Kennedy’s death had barely hit the news before”………………………..With that intro former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee scores another point for the Republicans in their tour de force performance on health care fear mongering .Huckabee  shows the kind of smarmy crassness that he can deliver with a smile on his face or a tear on his cheek .A real pro. Its just the modern day Republican party unplugged,live and without scruples.

We certainly can and should respectively recognize his years of advocacy and work for the things that he truly believed in. But there is no good reason to rush through a giant, unread bill that would transform American health care and impact every citizen. But easily the worst reason to do it is in the name of someone who, perhaps inadvertently, gave us the most shining example of why this particular bill is so bad.

It was President Obama himself who suggested that seniors who don’t have as long to live might want to just consider taking a pain pill instead of getting an expensive operation to cure them. Yet when Sen. Kennedy was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer at 77, did he give up on life and go home to take pain pills and die? Of course not. He freely did what most of us would do. He choose an expensive operation and painful follow up treatments. He saw his work as vitally important and so he fought for every minute he could stay on this earth doing it. He would be a very fortunate man if his heroic last few months were what future generations remember him most for.

http://washingtonindependent.c…

Listen to the entire performance here http://radio.mikehuckabee.com/…

I was away for a good chunk of the week, and then spent the rest catching up at work, so I’ve not been following everything as well as I might, but a few stories caught my eye.  

First, the not so stupid.  According to the Reformer, even people who support Vermont Yankee are concerned about Exenus (which I, personally, think should be called “Exodus” since it’s Entergy’s escape route).  According to the reformer:

“Decision makers are looking at (Enexus) and are less confident in what Entergy is trying to do,” said Rep. Virginia Milkey, D-Brattleboro.

Even those in favor of Yankee’s continued operation, the Enexus spin off is of major concern.

“I’m not comfortable with that yet,” said Rep. Richard Hube, R-Londonderry. “You’ve got to have the resources and the capability to fulfill your part of the contract.”

You read that right.  Even Rick Hube gets it.

The photo, by the way, is of a Broad Winged Hawk, which was just hanging out on a utility wire off rte 12 yesterday.  I pulled over, got a LOT of photos of it, kept waiting for it to fly off, and it just hang out there.  I’ll post another later.

After the jump, we get to the stupid, and there’s a whole lot of it.

Among the stupid: Vermont Tiger, on Vermont Tiger:

Early the next morning Vermonttiger.com, sent press and politicians into a frenzy when it reported that the rumor of an appointment was bogus, but Douglas was going to make a major political announcement that would change the political landscape.  Vermonttiger stopped an inch short of saying Douglas would not seek reelection, but it was clear they had the story.

See, they didn’t say it was going to happen, but it’s “clear” that in their heart of hearts, they knew it was coming.  Is there such a thing as a cranial enema?

Among the other stupid?

Per VPR, Douglas says Dubie would be most qualified Republican to succeed him.  Draw your own conclusions.

Also from VPR, a Whistleblower says FairPoint faked its readiness to take charge.  This is quite a story actually.  It looks like Fairpoint managed to fake out regulators by writing a computer program to simulate good performance.  Heckof a job, private contractors acting as regulators!

Tom Salmon sells us out.  Not a real surprise, but even so:

(Kinzel) State Auditor Tom Salmon is also weighing his options, and if he runs, he says he would bring a very different economic point of view to the Democratic race because he thinks Douglas has done a good job managing the state’s finances:

(Salmon) “The state needs to have a sound financial future and the path that he has been on regarding that has been one that needs to be instituted whether it’s a Democrat, Republican or Progressive………so I’m going to be very watchful of the debate and the candidates to ensure that that is on front dashboard so to speak.”

(Kinzel) Salmon says he’s concerned that the Democratic Party is drifting too far to the left on fiscal issues and he hopes to revitalize the moderate wing of the party.

But here’s my vote for one of the stupidest things I’ve read in a long time.  The Rutland Herald has a piece called Caledonia Fair officials fret over pigs’ health.  What’s wrong?  Are pigs in trouble?

No.

But you can probably guess where this is going:

…Officials at Vermont’s oldest fair, which runs through Sunday, have decided to take no chance, banning all swine from the Lyndonville event.

“The perception that swine flu was transmitted between pigs and human is why we did this. In reality, we know there’s no transmission between pigs and humans,” said Fair President Dick Lawrence.

Jim Tucker, president of the International Association of Fairs and Expositions, said he doesn’t know of any other fair in North America where pigs are unwelcome. He said most fairs will go on as usual, stressing personal hygiene.

Argh.

Argh.

Argh.

Okay, time to calm down with photos:

Ahh…. much better now.

Via the House of LeMay:

With the announcement of Governor Jim Douglas's decision not to run for re-election next year, the political eyes of Vermont are averted to the state's Northeast Queendom and the political future of Beaver Pond mayor, Bibs Fisk.

What is spurring this anticipated step-up for Fisk is her recent change in appearance (left).  It appears she's been influenced by another woman who was once a small town mayor, elected her state's governor, and has since gone on to national recognition. 

When asked his opinion on the possibility of Fisk replacing his boss, administration secretary Neil Lunderville… said, “Gov. Douglas has not told me my opinion yet.” 

[…] The League of Drag Queen Voters has not issued a statement of support for any candidate.

Unclear which Party's ballot Fisk would appear on. Hopefully all of them.

 Find out more information here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kasich

UPDATE:

Man this guy is going all out with his ad blitz for GOP Gov Race… 

I would have had a hard time believing this if I hadn't heard it. Mike Steele is an obvious dope, and he proves it here.

It's a story from NPR this morning, and I listened to it on my way to work. Steve Inskeep is interviewing Michael Steele about health care, and it's obvious that Steele doesn't understand the leading health care reform proposal, but he knows he doesn't like it.

Among other things, Inskeep pins him down on the clear contradiction between his steadfast opposition to a public option and his demagogic “Old People's Bill of Rights” and its fervent demand that we keep our hands off Medicare.

Probably my favorite part of it, though, was when Steele gets totally irate at having his position described as “nuanced”.

INSKEEP: Mr. Chairman, I respect that you feel that I'm doing a dance here. I just want you to know that as a citizen, I'm a little confused by the positions you take because you're giving me a very nice nuanced position here.

Mr. STEELE: …not reality?

Finally, Steve has to tell him that “nuanced” isn't a bad thing.

INSKEEP: I'm not saying nuanced is a bad thing, sir.

INSKEEP: Maybe we're getting hung up on the word nuance. Maybe I should say complicated. Do you find it challenging to get into this complicated debate and explain things to people in a way that it's honest to the facts and still very clear and doesn't just kind of scare people with soundbites?

This was great work. You really should listen to the whole thing.

Now that Douglas has announced that he isn't running for reelection, do you think we could elect a governor who actually believes in Vermont and the opportunities this beautiful state provides?

Although he was elected on the slogan of Jim=Jobs, he's missed no opportunity to tell potential employers how bad it is to do business in Vermont. I guess that's why he always wants to pay them big bucks to come here.

What we've seen in just the last couple of weeks, though, is that there are employers who actually think this is a good place to do business, and will come to Vermont, or stay here, without being bribed to do it.

Exhibit A is Green Mountain Coffee Roasters. Just to refresh everybody's recollection, the story here is that earlier in the year we had the Douglas Agency of Commerce talking about how GMCR was all set to move out of state, to Tennesee or someplace. Solution? Throw money at them. 

So what happened? We know the story: a couple of weeks ago they announced they're staying in Vermont. 

Then there's Nokian Tires. (By the way, when I started buying their tires they were called “Nokia”. Does anyone know why the change?) In case you missed it, since it didn't get a tremendous amount of coverage, Nokian Tires is moving its U.S. corporate headquarters here to Vermont. 

The move is designed to be “closer to our customers,” Jari Lepisto, president of Nokian Tyres' U.S. operations said in a phone interview Tuesday evening.

“We'd like to be in a place where there is winter,” he said, noting in Tennessee “they only have snow once a year.”

And get this:

Dave Mace, spokesman for the Agency of Commerce and Community Development, said state officials were not involved in bringing Nokian to Vermont. Nokian did not approach the state for tax incentives and none were offered, he said.

In other words, we had a corporation who isn't asking for money, but is interested in the unique advantages of our unique state.

We've discussed it around here before, but it bears repeating: badmouthing the state, so that you have to bribe companies to come here and do business, might not be the best approach to economic development.

Maybe our next Democratic governor will have a better idea of the value of Vermont for its people and businesses.

From the Democratic Governor’s Association:

The Democratic Governors Association is moving Vermont into its top tier of targeted 2010 pickup races, as Governor Jim Douglas announced his retirement today.

[…] “The Democratic candidates running for this open seat have long records of public service to the people of Vermont,” (DGA Executive Director Nathan) Daschle said. “With such strong leaders in this race, we have an excellent opportunity to win back Vermont’s governorship. As a top-tier pickup opportunity for our organization, we are committed to ensuring that a Democrat wins this race in 2010. Our political program will dedicate the same attention and day-to-day involvement that other top-tier states such as Florida and California receive.”

This is no small potatoes. The DGA is bringing in more money than it ever has, raising $11.6 million in the first half of 2009. The urgency and high level of funding is not just simply the Bush-backlash zeitgeist, it reflects the reality that Governors elected in 2010 will be overseeing the all-important redistricting process. That’s not an issue at the federal level in Vermont, given our at-large seat, but it makes all the difference for the composition of the state legislature. Simply put, this is the worst cycle imaginable for an entrenched incumbent Governor to opt out, at least as far as his or her party is concerned.

With the promise of financial support from national Dems (the kind of support lacking in past contests), the argument will be made that our primary is not helpful, given that it will lock up the DGA money until September. The fact is, though, that it empowers a vigorous primary as it promises significant support in the key stretch for whichever Democrat gets the nod, effectively nullifying one of the most significant arguments against a contested primary (that they won’t have money left over to beat the Republican). Combined with our 1000 Vermonters for Change Facebook project, which will be primed to deliver $100,000 to the primary winner, the Democratic candidate should be in a strong financial position for the General Election.

Jim Douglas will not run for reelection.

WHY – No one likes to end their political career with a concession speech on a Tuesday evening in November. Particularly after spending almost four decades in public life. Douglas has already spent thousands of the dollars he’d raised for a re-election effort on polling this year, and he obviously did not like what those polls told him.

WHY ANNOUNCE NOW — If he did not, whichever Republican loses to Deb Markowitz or Doug Racine (or possibly another Democrat for that matter) will complain that Jim Douglas did not give the GOP enough time to ramp up a campaign.  Now Mr. Douglas has insulated himself from criticism from whichever Republican looses the race next November.

Mr. Douglas had extremely low reelect numbers going into last year’s election. He was reelected because he was effectively unchallenged, not because his leadership – such that it is – had been reaffirmed by voters.

 The Symington campaign (3+ / 0-)

Recommended by:

   mataliandy, kestrel9000, itzik shpitzik

was the absolute worst campaign I have ever witnessed. It somehow managed to be awful without being in the least bit amusing; that is hard to pull off.

The weak in courage is strong in cunning-William Blake

by beltane on Thu Aug 27, 2009 at 11:54:26 AM EDT

We can’t afford it. There is no excuse for anything less than a decisive victory this time.

Open Thread starts now.  Let’s hear it.

[UPDATE 2, 11:15 a.m. Governor Jim Douglas has in fact announced that he will not be seeking re-election in 2010. Further, he declared that he had no plans to run for any federal or statewide office, shutting down speculation regarding potential presidential, vice-presidential, or congressional ambitions. — NanuqFC]

[UPDATE – ed.] Governor Jim Douglas will announce at 11:00 this morning that he will NOT be running for re-election in 2010.

More as it becomes available. If true, it certainly raises the question of other, federal political ambitions.

Important to note that this is not a game of media telephone going on – this is for real. Near as can be told, all the media sources making the announcement (including GMD) did so independently, from their own sources. That puts this well beyond the rumor category.

(NOTE: Fairness announcement – Despite the time stamp, Totten at Blurt did come up with this first by a few minutes…. sometimes GMD timestamps are a little screwy.)

Nah, we don’t know nuthin. Republicans rarely leak us any good gossip. Yes, upon announcement of a big hush-hush mystery press conference from our Chief Executive planned for this morning, the speculation that cropped up immediately was that Douglas was leaving his job for some sort of post in the Obama Administration, but that notion was apparently dismissed quickly.

Is he just announcing his re-election bid for Governor? Mmmmnnnyeah, could be wabbit, but for Republican gossip, its not a bad idea to check in with Republicans. Here’s what the Republican website (oh…sorry…“non-partisan”… Wa-hahahaha!… thats a good one…. gets me every time…) Vermont Tiger has to say:

Will Governor Douglas be leaving Montpelier for Washington D.C.?

Short answer: No.

Still … the news will be big and its political reverberations, lasting.

But that is as far out on this limb as we are willing to go.

So, do they know what’s up? That’s certainly the message they’re trying to send. So let’s take them at their… implication, at any rate. “Big” news? “Reverberations?” And on the matter of going to DC, no is only the “short answer?”

Seems like the message being sent by the Republican Tiger is that Mr. Douglas may be running for US House or Senate.

But maybe they don’t know what they’re talking about and Douglas is going to announce something completely different. My theory after the flip…