This is only a test

I just checked... (4.00 / 1)

142k when he first made his smiley ask...

And at 7:23 A.M. this morning?

$146,695.00

Grabbed the image for shits and giggles. Wonder if he is still smiling since he didn't he didn't even come close to busting through the 150k mark?

Meanwhile? Rep. Grayson made over $70,000 in his final push last night, last I checked.

Dems should take note: It pays to have a spine...



Drinking Liberally in New Milford
ePluribus Media

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by: Connecticut Man1 @ Thu Oct 01, 2009 at 11:33:24 AM UTC

unfortunately (4.00 / 1)

It seems to me that what the corporate Dems are likely to learn from Grayson is "what to say to get money," not "how to listen to your constituents" or "how to stand up for what you believe in the face of BS" or "Multitasking in the 21st century:  making policy while using your conscience". They aren't wired for having anything more than an M.O. in a number of cases; conscience is so messy.

Ned Lamont in his conscience-driven anti-war stance led the way . . . for them to all discover their inner "antiwar" selves, soon enough to help them in the election.  So that got them through one election.  Next Obama showed them the magic word was "change".  So they tried that on.  Not real extensive change  or anything-- just change we can believe in (like: do you believe in Santa Claus?  Even though you can't see him, he is real).

Still at war, just not quite the same war situation; as far as change I can believe in, count me grateful to be  hurtling toward the abyss not now at 120 mph but rather at a slower mph, but all in all would be even more grateful for an actual change in direction and M.O.)

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by: greenpeas @ Thu Oct 01, 2009 at 12:03:40 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Eh...I don't see many other Alan Graysons on the horizon (4.00 / 1)

Anthony Weiner in New York has said some valuable things on single-payer, and Chellie Pingree up in Maine has been bold about who's really calling the shots in Washington (not the taxpayers, of course). Maxine Waters too. But mostly it's steady as she goes, don't rock the boat down there.

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by: Scarce @ Thu Oct 01, 2009 at 12:12:53 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

scared people (4.00 / 1)

No, scarce, the others are not to be found at present.  I may be wrong that they will eventually appear, but clearly, to see them now would require the presence of actual evidence of leadership qualities other than a title of office.  Quite a few people in Congress are not leaders (and apparently gang membership would be better preparation for some of the baloney principled members who might be leaders currently face), and the "advice" they follow (as their beard stroking advisors tell them with straight faces) is based on polls, (hmm, is that the sum total of a bunch of reactions from  unimaginative people who spend their lives reacting to life,  obtained on the fly when said reactors grabbed the phone and opined to some minimum wage telephone caller who reached them while they were in the middle of doing something else?).

This system is apparently likely to produce a "win" on election day, but policy guidance wise, IMHO it is fatally flawed at this moment in history, as it is almost guaranteed not to enable the leaders to take bold steps in a new direction and take the country with them, to do things like deal with climate change or the infrastructural issue of health care reform and its impact on the country's attractiveness as a place to live and work (to the kinds of minds who can help us solve the problems we face).  

The skill set of following what polls and corporate paymasters call you to do is not the skill set required to see writing on the wall, read it, and respond to it in a timely way.  IF it were, we would have been dealing with this decades ago in a serious way.

In general the middle manager corporate yum-yum mentality is perfect characterwise for donors who want to provide them with lots of money and reduce risk of not getting what they "paid for".   They won't pay to herd cats, e.g.

In January 2006, Ned Lamont was a lonely guy in a room full [NOT so full] of anti war Democratic elected officials.  My how that changed over the course of that election, at least in the three card monte public relations sense.  Everyone wanted to jump on that bandwagon wanted to get them a  piece of that pie. As we know, the mouth and the hand did not always match.

I guess we will have to wait and see if Grayson raises enough money and enough attention/air time to make the sheep think they should follow suit and that the voters other than the unwashed lefty types were not kidding in 2008, they really DO want change... and then let the parrots begin and let the deck chairs shift.

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by: greenpeas @ Thu Oct 01, 2009 at 16:06:39 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Money will be a real issue for Simmons (4.00 / 1)

With his opponents already on the air, or soon to be, the temptation to spend more money than he can afford early on will be a clear and present danger. There is also the nagging suspicion that he'll have to knock out these other contenders at the GOP convention next May. If this lingers into the summer primary when things really get expensive he'd probably have to rely on out-of-state Republican money to compete against a well-funded Chris Dodd who will likely have in the $10-15mil range to fend off any challenger.

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by: Scarce @ Thu Oct 01, 2009 at 12:07:43 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

so will the smile (4.00 / 1)

be an issue, that is.  Since I am not from his district, he is only known to me as the guy who lost his Cong. seat to Courtney.

He is very unattractive and unappealing if the video is any example.  Kind of creepy actually.

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by: greenpeas @ Thu Oct 01, 2009 at 16:12:25 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

When one of the others pulls close (4.00 / 2)

That candidate will surely try to "swift boat" Simmons using his "little torture problem".

Simmons believes his biggest strength is his service in Vietnam and he speaks of it every chance he gets.The fact he was a CIA spook and actually tortured people was considered off the table when he was running for Congress unapposed on the Republican side but as this race tightens,which it will,the mud is going to fly.

Simmons emntire life has been about playing dirty and thinking rules are for chumps.If the others want the nomination they're going to have to throw mud as well or better than they recieve it.

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by: ctkeith @ Thu Oct 01, 2009 at 15:45:49 PM UTC

Spook Simmons (0.00 / 0)

Don't underestimate this bas+ard. Defeating him in 06 was a tough fight. It took a coalition of Labor, Peace&Justice groups, Move On and some of LaMont's supporters doing double duty. Right down to the wire and still we only prevailed by 100 votes. And that was with a Democratic wave nationwide.
Let's hope that he has some serious challengers in the primary that will cut the legs out from under him. It would be good if we can keep Simmons bloody record out front as much as possible.
Mo matter how you feel about Chris Dood, Simmons is way worse.

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by: CV @ Mon Oct 05, 2009 at 12:17:25 PM UTC

[ Parent ]