A Defensive DeNapoli Ticket Adds To GOP Drama
by Javier Manjarres
This past week, Broward GOP Vice Chairman candidate Colleen Stolberg, who is running on the DeNapoli/Stolberg slate, has come out with a lackluster email in which she is trying to run damage control for the troubling gaffe that she made at the Davie-Cooper City GOP club. Here is what was reported on Friday:
Forthcoming Broward GOP Election Could Send BREC Into The Abyss
If elected as your Chair and Vice-Chair, we are committed to following principles and goals:
GOP Unity. By focusing on our shared conservative values and what unites us rather than on what divides us, we can build a better organization. Together, we can accomplish anything. This past Election Day, we won nationwide through unity.
This bold statement was immediately called into question last night at the monthly Davie-Cooper City GOP Club when Vice-Chair candidate Colleen Stolberg was questioned as to why she was running for the position and supporting R. Lee DeNapoli for the Chairman’s position. Stolberg first stated that we needed a Chairman that did not have an ulterior motive of running for a higher office when seeking he party’s Chairmanship position- Chip LaMarca, call your office. But Stolberg let the cat out of the bag as to why she was actually running, uneasily stating that, ” I am only doing this for Richard.”
” I am only doing this for Richard.” – Colleen Stolberg
Stolberg went on to say that she knew DeNapoli well, but didn’t know the other candidate in the race, Mayor Tom Truex-who happened to be at the meeting, sitting 4 feet in front of her. Her answer as to why she was running prompted another question asking her that if she were to win, and DeNapoli were to lose, would she support Mayor Truex, or any other candidate, if he were to win?
” No, I won’t support him if he wins, I can’t support him”- Colleen Stolberg
Here is Stolberg’s disturbing and questionable defense of her previous statements:
It seems that the real question was whether I would support Tom if he won the chairmanship? The answer is yes – I support whoever our County Chairperson is and pledge to help them out as a volunteer, just like I have done for years.
If the question is whether I would want to run for Vice-Chair if Richard does not get elected, my answer is no. Richard and I are running together. I understand how BREC elections work, and that the first election of the night is for Chair. If Richard is not elected, I’d be happy to serve on a committee and volunteer for the BREC and Republican candidates, but I will not seek the Vice-Chair position. I’m sure Tom Truex or Gene Robinson or anyone else that runs for Chair can find someone else in our membership to encourage to seek this position. When I volunteer I understand the amount of hours that will be needed. When you know you are going to be putting in a lot of time you want to know that the person you are going to be working with will be on the same page as you are as far as that time commitment is concerned.
Basically, what Stolberg is saying is that, if DeNapoli loses, she will immediately quit before the votes are cast for Vice Chair. So why even run for the position, if you are not willing to work with others to begin with? It is now clear to all that Colleen Stolberg, who we all have the upmost respect for, for the years of unquestionable service to the party, is only running to support R. Lee DeNapoli’s personal agenda.
Again, is this what the DeNapoli/Stolberg slate means by , ’GOP Unity’? So, ‘GOP Unity’ only pertains to a select few of individuals that think alike and are on the ‘same page’? It is also clear that Stolberg is not fit for the position because, not only has she stated that she would quit, but that she would not serve as Vice Chair with any other Chairman other than DeNapoli. Stolberg also says that she will gladly serve on a committee and volunteer under another chairman. What that this means is,that she would be willing to take direction from someone that she doesn’t even have enough faith in to sit next to on the dais , yet still would serve under him.
To Mrs. Stolberg or whomever wrote his feable attempt of a email rebuttal, the ‘proof is in the pudding’. First of all, there is no insinuation here, the words that were uttered last Thursday night were heard by everyone in attendance, or are you saying that these words were not said? The ‘rumors’ of BREC members threatening to leave the committee if DeNapoli wins are true. From what I understand, ‘no one’ has come out to endorse or support Mayor Truex, yet-including the Shark Tank.
What the author of the email sent out by Colleen Stolberg has failed to see is, that by responding to a news post in such a defensive manner, and by having to defend and reiterate the platform being run on, the email itself with it’s content makes the case as to how much the campaign really is out of touch with the real notion of ‘GOP Unity’.
With all this uncertainty and mixed messaging coming out of the DeNapoli/Stolbert ticket, is this slate the right choice to lead the local Republican party?
Economy Adds 151,000 Jobs In October
The national unemployment rate held at 9.6 percent in October and the economy added jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In total, the economy added 151,000 jobs in October – its best performance in months.
The report is a ray of good news for the White House at the end of a week where Democrats were handed devastating losses in the midterm elections.
The growth was particularly robust in the private sector, which added 159,000 jobs.
Government employment, a sector that had been shedding jobs quickly as temporary census workers completed their assignments, remained steady in October.
The total number of employed people, 14.8 million, also changed very little in October.
The report comes a month too late for Democrats. In the last jobs report before the midterms released in early October, the unemployment rate held steady but the economy continued to shed 95,000 jobs. Republicans were relentless throughout the campaign in pointing to the jobs reports as signs that the Democrats’ economic proposals were not working.
‘There’s Still Time,’ Obama Adds Late Hour Radio Calls
After four radio interviews from the Oval Office today, President Obama added two last minute calls just hours before some of the first polls closings.
Political Punch
Osama bin Laden jumps on the bandwagon, adds his own threat to France over burqa ban
It’s been done. Indeed, there has been a general rise in the number of threats against France, and counterterror activity in response to them.
Those in the West who would object to the burqa ban as “causing” this round of threats by “radicalizing” Muslims are submitting to the jihadist mindset that the ban is as severe a provocation as they claim, and that attacks are the logical or even natural response to being so “provoked.”
But consider the set of priorities. Think of all the “human rights” one could strive for in the name of a just society. Which one did the jihadists pick? The “right” of a woman (assuming it’s even her choice) to shroud her face in public in the name of Islamic piety, with all of the symbolism the burqa and niqab carry for Islamic supremacism, and the utter subjugation and objectification of women.
“Bin Laden threatens to launch terrorist attacks in France over move to ban burkas,” from the Daily Mail, October 27 (thanks to all who sent this in):
Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden threatens in a new audio tape to kill French citizens to avenge their country’s support for the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan and a new law that will ban face-covering Muslim veils.
In the tape, obtained by satellite television station Al-Jazeera and then posted on its website on Wednesday, Bin Laden said France was aiding the Americans in the killing of Muslim women and children in an apparent reference to the war in Afghanistan.
He said the kidnapping of five French citizens in the African nation of Niger last month was a reaction to what he called France’s oppression of Muslims.
‘How can it be right that you participate in the occupation of our lands, support the Americans in the killing of our women and children and yet want to live in peace and security?’ said Bin Laden, addressing the French.
‘It is a simple and clear equation: As you kill, you will be killed. As you capture, you will be captured. And as you threaten our security, your security will be threatened….
Or, as we ban burqas and niqabs, apparently we’ll be in line for all of the above: killing, capturing, and threats. Quite the proportionate response there, Osama.
The Spew: Joy Behar adds another conservative “bitch” to her hate list
I’m already a member of the club.
So is Sarah Palin.
And so is Michele Bachmann.
Now, Joy “If you disagree with me, you’re a BITCH!” Behar is trashing GOP Nevada senate candidate Sharron Angle as a “bitch” who is “going to hell” because of her staunch opposition to illegal immigration and the cult of multiculturalism. You will get a headache after watching this, but it’s worth watching — not just for Behar’s antics, but for the polite tittering and showbiz-as-usual camaraderie of Behar’s spew mates as they watch their foul-mouthed friend go off:
So much for civility and tolerance and Emmy Award-winning intelligent debate, eh?
Stay classy, er, ladies harridans.
White House adds another Ohio campaign stop, Strickland aide says
Columbus, Ohio (CNN) – The White House has added yet another campaign stop in Ohio on the final weekend before Election Day, as the hotly-contested race between Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland and his Republican challenger John Kasich comes down to the wire.
Vice President Joe Biden will appear with Strickland in Toledo on Sunday night, a Strickland campaign source told CNN.
That’s on top of a high-profile Halloween rally on Sunday afternoon headlined by Biden and President Barack Obama – a Cleveland stop designed to gin up excitement among the Democratic base.
The latest Biden appearance will be his third in northeast Ohio since the summer.
The White House has lavished attention on Ohio – Obama drew a crowd of 35,000 in Columbus last week, and his top political adviser, David Plouffe, recently campaigned with Strickland – a reminder of the central role the Buckeye State will play in Obama’s own re-election campaign.
Obama won the state’s 20 electoral votes in 2008, and Strickland recently deemed Ohio the “firewall” for Obama’s re-election chances.
DeMint announces bill to strip NPR of federal funding; Update: Cantor adds option to YouCut
Inevitable.
This was inevitable, in more ways than one. Jim DeMint has announced that he will introduce a bill to strip all funding from NPR and PBS: Conservative Republican Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina today announced plans to introduce legislation stripping federal funding from National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service. The move comes […]
Obama adds $3 trillion to national debt in less than 2 years
Change!
Hey, don’t worry about it. Phil Hare says that danger from a rapidly-increasing national debt is just a myth. Look how well Greece is doing! New numbers posted today on the Treasury Department website show the National Debt has increased by more than $ 3 trillion since President Obama took office. The National Debt stood at […]
Sharron Angle Adds Insult To Injury With New Racially-Tinged Immigration Ad
Last week, I reported that Sharron Angle’s (R) own spokesperson slammed the Nevada senatorial candidate’s vicious immigration ad which fallaciously portrayed opponent Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) as being the “best friend an illegal alien ever had.” The racial overtones of the ad were so offensive that chairwoman of the Nevada Republican Hispanic Caucus and Angle spokesperson, Tibi Ellis, stated “I condemned this type of propaganda, no matter who is running them, where they blame Mexicans as the only problem and where they attack them as the only source of illegal immigration.”
Ellis may have an even bigger problem with Angle’s latest racially-tinged ad which goes after Reid and his support of undocumented students. The ad includes the offensive footage of menacing men with flashlights walking along a fence that was featured in her first ad. However, it also adds new images of scowling Latino men as the narrator proclaims, “and now Harry Reid is fighting for a program that would give preferred college tuition rates to none other than illegal aliens.” The image is juxtaposed against a photo of white college graduates in their graduation robes. At the end, the narrator asks, “What does Harry Reid have against you?”
Watch it:
The ad appears to be vaguely referencing the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act which Reid attached to the defense reauthorization bill last month as an amendment. The DREAM Act wouldn’t give undocumented students special tuition rates, but it would eliminate a federal provision that penalizes states that provide in-state tuition without regard to immigration status. Angle’s ad doesn’t mention that it would also allow certain undocumented immigrant youth who were brought to the U.S. by their parents at a young age to eventually obtain legal permanent status by enlisting in the military or attending a university. A June 2010 national poll of 1,008 adults revealed that 70 percent of voters support the DREAM Act, across party lines.
Reid’s campaign released a fact check and a statement on the ad saying, “despicably, Angle’s new ad ramps up her use of incendiary imagery to appeal to Nevadans’ worst fears, while using the exact same thoroughly-debunked lies from her first two ads – lies that independent analysts and fact-checkers have called out as false.”
Angle isn’t the only Republican candidate to employ offensive images that reinforce negative anti-Latino stereotypes. Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) used the same exact photo in one of his own attack ads:
Meanwhile, the DREAMers, as they call themselves, look a lot more like the innocent graduates in Angle’s ad than the intimidating “illegal aliens”:
As I pointed out last week, Angle is simultaneously airing offensive ads while reportedly “courting endorsements from Hispanic leaders and has plans to air Spanish-language ads.”
Joe Miller Adds The Minimum Wage To The Long List of Things He Thinks Are Unconstitutional
There’s only three things Joe Miller likes in a sentence: a noun, a verb, and “unconstitutional.” After previously claiming that Social Security, Medicare, and unemployment benefits violate the Constitution, the Alaska GOP Senate candidate has added a new item to the long list of uncontroversial laws he thinks are unconstitutional — the federal minimum wage:
We asked him, for example, if there should be a federally mandated minimum wage, something that has existed since Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938.
So there should not be a federal minimum wage?
“There should not be,” Miller answered. “That is not within the scope of the powers that are given to the federal government.”
Watch it:
Joe Miller would do well to actually read the Constitution before he pretends to know what it says. The Constitution gives Congress the power “[t]o regulate commerce…among the several states,” a power which even ultraconservative Justice Antonin Scalia agrees gives Congress broad authority to regulate “economic activity.” Moreover, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the first federal minimum wage law in a 1941 decision called United States v. Darby.
That decision did not just uphold the minimum wage, it also expressly overruled an egregious 1918 decision striking down federal child labor laws. Darby therefore provides a frightening window into just what America would look like if it were ever ruled by Joe Miller’s twisted constitution. If Congress lacks the power to enact the basic employment laws like the minimum wage, then it also lacks the power to enact other fundamental labor protections such as regulating child labor.
Indeed, as a recent Center for American Progress report explains, Joe Miller’s “tenther” vision of the Constitution was briefly imposed on the country during the late 19th and early 20th Century. As a result, monopolies were left unchecked. Child labor was routinely exploited. Workers were left with no bargaining power against their employers — yet, somehow, laws protecting management were typically upheld.
Sadly, Mr. Noun, Verb and Unconstitutional doesn’t seem to care about this history. He’s so wrapped up in his mythical vision of what the Constitution should mean, he forgot to ask whether that mythology would cause grave harm to the country.
