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LBJ Did It First And Did It Best

[ Patrick Tuohey ]

Robin Carnahan has promised more anti-Blunt ads.  As consider the role the USS Cole and the attacks of September 11 have had in the Senate campaigns ads so far, its worth noting that LBJ did it best.  If you're going to go negative, go nuclear.

9/2/2010 10:36:01 AM

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Carnahan's Blazing Saddles

[ Patrick Tuohey ]

We can't really know what Robin Carnahan thinks of Missouri voters, but we can draw some conclusions from what she has said.  She has sarcastically referred to Missouri as a "mecca of progressivism" and described the state she wishes to represent in the US Senate as "just this weird swing state."  These sound an awful like the President's "cling to guns and religion" remarks widely understood to disparage conservatives.

If this is how she talks about Missourians when microphones are present, one wonders how Carnahan might explain Missouri voters to Obama when no one else is listening.  The following clip from Blazing Saddles is one possibility...

8/31/2010 10:16:16 PM

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Kansas City, How're We Doing?

[ Patrick Tuohey ]

Former New York mayor Ed Koch was famous for always asking, "How am I doing?"  Kansas City mayor Mark Funkhouser would like Kansas Citians to consider how our city is doing.

As he nears attending 100 town hall meetings since being elected four years ago, the mayor knows that Kansas Citians are not impressed with their government.  At a small gathering in his City Hall office, the mayor said "We need to move away from old tools" of economic development such as corporate bribes and toward new tools such as education and infrastructure.  He points out that Kansas City is in competition with cities in the area and around the country.  To paraphrase him, 'we need to provide our product, quality of life, at the lowest possible price, measurable in taxes and fees.'

That has been Kansas City's problem for years--it has slowly raised the price while the quality of the product has declined. 

The mayor wants Kansas Citians to engage in a discussion about taxation and economic development.  He identified four aspects of that discussion: developing Kansas City's own Chamber of Commerce (as opposed to the regional Chamber we have now); reforming the Economic Development Council; improving the leadership of the Port Authority; and collecting taxes in a manner that does not chase people out of the city.  (Today's discussion was borne out of the mayor's opposition to Trey Runnion's reappointment as Port Authority chairman.)

Unfortunately, the mayor does not feel enough members of the Council join him in this desire for a broad conversation on the city's future.  Too many of them are reactionaries tied to either big government ideologies or to organizations that depend on government for their sustenance.

This is too bad, because the mayor is right that the city is in dire need of a serious conversation about taxation.  Unfortunately, his colleagues on teh Council are not up to the task.

8/30/2010 4:33:52 PM

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The New Elitism

[ Patrick Tuohey ]

When I was in college, I remember discussion of political elitists and political populists. While the latter was generally made up of fiscally liberal social conservatives ("give me my check but don't burn the flag"), political elites were fiscally conservative and socially liberal ("I don't care what you do in your bedrooms, but don't expect me to pay for it").

Apparently, the Elitist Party didn't focus group well. The answer has been The Modern Whig Party. Seriously. The Wall Street Journal even wrote about it:

Sparking a grass-roots uprising in the center has been a frustrating task. "A moderate person tends not to be the kind of person who gets out there and marches at a rally," says party Vice Chairman Andrew Evans, a 30-year-old college student from Greenville, N.C. "They see people further to the right and further to the left making a huge ruckus. They think they don't want to be like that."

As you can see, it is tough to rally the better-than-thou crowd.  What is familiar about this 'new' movement is the infighting.

Last fall, the Modern Whigs had an unpleasant split with the Florida Whig Party over centrist purity. The Florida Whigs, who predate the Modern Whigs by a couple years, think the "Moderns" are closet Democrats. "Simultaneously confusing and hypocritical, isn't it?" the Florida Whig site says of Modern Whiggery. The Modern Whigs suspect the Florida Whigs are Republicans in Whig clothing.

The Whigs are shaping up to be a Tea Party where people actually drink tea.  No shouting, please.  Or maybe these guys are just Coffee Partiers with a degree is American history.  Only time will tell if they amount to anything.

Is there a Missouri Whig Party?  There is!

8/29/2010 5:20:20 PM

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Ask Not For Whom The Dems Poll...

[ Patrick Tuohey ]

POLITICO published a piece on Friday in which Chris Van Hollen, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) was quoted as saying, “At the end of the day, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee will look at races we can win."

The Maryland congressman explained that the committee would take a close read of polling and candidate fundraising “so we can make a determination about whether or not those campaigns can be successful.”

The House Democratic campaign arm holds a $14 million cash advantage over the National Republican Congressional Committee. But the Democrats will need to spread their dollars far and wide to defend their seats — of the 60 districts targeted for advertising by the DCCC, 54 are held by Democrats.

8/29/2010 10:03:05 AM

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