On allegations that she requested that unofficial Jon Corzine ally Chris Daggett drop out of the New Jersey race, the former governor replied:
So, to the good people of New Jersey, please know that Daggett’s claims are false. I’ve never even suggested he should drop out of the race.
…wait for it, wait for it…
But, come to think of it…
Ouch. You want to keep playing, Daggett?
Moe Lane
(H/T: Hot Air Headlines.)
Crossposted to RedState.
[FURTHER UPDATE] Welcome, Instapundit readers. Note the petition below.
[UPDATE]: Thanks to Randy Mastro and RedState’s Francis Cianfrocca – who will have a lot more to say about these races – here’s the petition cataloging said skulduggery; and you will not find it dull reading. (If you’re having trouble reading it, try here.)
It’s not that our opponents are geniuses at skulduggery. It’s that they’re unaccustomed to being challenged on it. When they do, they make mistakes. [Witness this latest from NYC for an example:]
A City Council hopeful won’t cough up documents related to whether the Working Families Party is scamming the campaign finance system — because the case could involve “criminal liability,” according to documents released yesterday.
The bombshell development was revealed at a court hearing where lawyers for the WFP and the campaign of Staten Island candidate Debi Rose tried to get a suit against them tossed.
Former Giuliani administration Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro, the lawyer opposing the Rose campaign, called it an “extraordinary development.”
The suit itself – I’m working to get a copy of it sent to me – alleges that WFP (which is, of course, a front for ACORN) is violating campaign finance laws by having WFP front group Data and Field Services provide “canvassing and other services for [City Council candidate Debi] Rose in her primary campaign against [current Conservative candidate* Ken] Mitchell for which the firm received far less than the market value.” In that context, trying to avoid financial disclosure on the grounds of possible self-incrimination is at the very least eyebrow-raising; which is why they tried to walk back on it before 24 hours had passed. It should also be noted that the Rose race in Staten Island is not the only one where this sort of thing went on; Queens City Council candidate James Van Bramer is likewise heavily involved with WFP/Data & Field Services, as this diary from the Daily Kos (of all places) makes clear. I’m sure that his campaign is watching this case unfold with great interest.
The moral here? Well, aside from the obvious one of “ACORN taints everything that it touches,” it’s this: one-party rule makes people stupid. And stupid people make mistakes. Keep that in mind the next time you’re trying to decide whether or not to fight City Hall.
Moe Lane
*Who is actually a Democrat. Welcome to New York fusion politics.
Crossposted to RedState.
As in, how to shout out a warning without… actually shouting out a warning. In this case, he’s getting just a little worried about his fellow Democrats turning out. To put his findings in handy table form:
| Voters | Percent | ||||||||
| Estimated | % R | % D | R 2009 | R 2008 | D 2009 | D 2008 | R | D | |
| VA | 2.000 | 48% | 44% | 0.960 | 1.725 | 0.880 | 1.960 | 56% | 45% |
| NJ | 2.200 | 44% | 51% | 0.970 | 1.610 | 1.120 | 2.220 | 60% | 50% |
The voter numbers are in millions, and the percentage at the end represents the percentage of McCain/Obama voters of 2008 that PPP expects to vote in the 2009 elections. While this is not-precisely-horrible news for Corzine*, it’s not good news at all for the Democrats next year:
Maybe those numbers will improve some over the weekend- and Creigh Deeds and Jon Corzine certainly aren’t the best candidates- but if that pattern continues on into next year Republicans will win back the House.
The reason why is because there are a lot more Democrats in Congressional Districts that McCain won than vice versa: and there quite a few Democrats in districts that Obama didn’t actually win by all that much. It’s going to be interesting to see how the state legislature races in NJ and VA play out this year; the results might possibly be even more of a harbinger than those of the governors races…
Moe Lane
*It would be good news, if more people actually liked Jon Corzine. Or at least didn’t despise him.
Crossposted to RedState.
#1 of Cracked.com’s “The World of Tomorrow (If The Internet Disappeared Today)”
Check out the whole thing. Continue reading It’s the last one that’s so true.
(h/t: Instapundit) California’s come up with another way to ensure that when the state finally crashes, it’s really going to crash:
California to withhold a bigger chunk of paychecks
The amount goes up 10% on Sunday as Sacramento borrows from taxpayers. Technically, it’s not an income tax increase: You’ll get the money back eventually.Reporting from Los Angeles and Sacramento – Starting Sunday, cash-strapped California will dig deeper into the pocketbooks of wage earners — holding back 10% more than it already does in state income taxes just as the biggest shopping season of the year kicks into gear.
Technically, it’s not a tax increase, even though it may feel like one when your next paycheck arrives. As part of a bundle of budget patches adopted in the summer, the state is taking more money now in withholding, even though workers’ annual tax bills won’t change.
If I ever become a convert to Objectivism, it’ll be because of California: that state seems determined to ignore the elementary fiscal rule of Don’t spend money that you don’t have, you idjits. I realize that this sounds like a simplistic solution to what is a very complicated problem, but so is Robbing Peter to Pay Paul. Except that in this case it’s more like Robbing Peter and Paul while telling them that they’ll be getting the money back. Unless they need to make the robbing permanent. Which they probably will, because they got away with it in the first place, right?
I admit that this is harder to memorize.
Moe Lane
PS: Another bit of elementary fiscal wisdom: It is absurd to think that you can transfer 1.8 billion in funding from things that generate wealth (business) to things that consume it (government) without it having an effect on the larger economy. I mention this because said wisdom has unaccountably eluded everybody defending this policy as being not being all that bad.
PPS: Hey, do you know that a top Californian state official – Lt. Governor John Garamendi – is actually within the reach of at least one CD’s worth of voters? He is, he is. If you live in CA-10, by all means: show your disapproval by voting for David Harmer on Tuesday.
Crossposted to RedState.
OK, one hokey thing.
Which ends tomorrow, of course.
Hey, worth a shot.
A very taut film by a clever director who knew when to get out of the way and let the audience go ahead and scare itself. There’s a Paramount executive out there right now who is basking in the insane amount of profit that this film is going to gather for the studio. As a horror flick, it’s good; as a horror flick done on a $15,000 budget it’s freaking insanely good. It’s not perfect – there’s a couple of holes in the plot, and the ending I saw may be the weakest of the three – but it’s worth going to see in theaters.
This doesn’t count as hokey… what? Oh, yes, by all means, get yourself comfortable, not to mention a glass of something. We can wait.
Ready?
Enjoy.
Moe Lane
PS: Here’s Christopher Walken’s version.
PPS: Not the MP3: The Raven and Other Poems
…regarding the Jason Shih drug bust: the fact that a Jason Shih of Paramus was on the Democrats’ payroll in 2006 (H/T: JammieWearingFool). Complete coincidence. Couldn’t possibly be the same person. There must be thousands of Jason Shihs in New Jersey.
Actually, no, deja vu isn’t really the right reaction to this.
Crossposted to RedState.
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