Motley Moose – Archive

(Written by an American expat living in the European Union)

Edited and republished at the request of readers.

In New Hampshire, a GOP state Rep. Steve Vaillancourt poses as the dapper don turned self appointed defacto beauty pageant judge. Pronounces Democratic incumbent Ann McLane Kuster “as ugly as sin” and therefore too ugly to win!! But in saying so, he says he hopes he hasn’t offended sin!! So it is the GOP tries to WIN UGLY AGAIN. By turning this congressional race into his own private circus where in he hoists his ageism and sexist pronouncements on us in a orgy bordering on a misogynistic theater of the absurd!!

Steve Vaillancourt, a Republican state representative for New Hampshire attempts to turn the New Hampshire’s 2nd district congressional race into his own personal defacto beauty pageant wherein he acts as the self-appointed judge, wherein he pronounces in his judgement that the determining factor in the race will come down to the matter of his judgement that incumbent Democratic state Rep. Ann McLane Kuster is “as ugly as sin” and cannot win. In a continuation of his sexist remarks, he goes on to shockingly say that drag queens even look better than her and in doing so tries to create what may only be seen as a circus-like beauty pageant atmosphere to grab headlines in yet another desperate Republican bid to win ugly.

58 year old Rep. Ann McLane Kuster is the Democratic incumbent for the New Hampshire 2nd congressional district who is running for re-election against her Republican opponent 31 year old Marilinda Garcia.

New Hampshire State Rep. Steve Vaillancourt wrote a long blog post predicting the outcome of the race in the state’s 2nd Congressional District on one factor: incumbent Democratic Rep. Ann McLane Kuster’s looks.

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“Let’s be honest. Does anyone not believe that Congressman Annie Kuster is as UGLY AS SIN? AND I HOPE I HAVEN’T OFFENDED SIN,” Vaillancourt wrote on NH Insider, a New Hampshire politics blog.

By contrast, he wrote, Kuster’s Republican challenger, State Rep. Marilinda Garcia, is “one of the most attractive women on the political scene anywhere, not so attractive as to be intimidating [sic], but truly attractive.”

At first glance most progressives on it’s face would not take Rep. Steve Vaillancourt seriously. However, in the face of this type of sexism if we do not take his behavior seriously, we do so at our peril because it isn’t possible to let this type of behavior go on unanswered. In fact the simple truth is this gives new meaning to the charge that Republicans are quite prepared to win ugly if need be but win at all costs by going negative.

So where is the backlash? Why Mr and Mrs Progressive America do we tolerate this type of hatred from the GOP from a guy whose conceit knows no end. In proclaiming himself as a type of defacto self-appointed beauty pageant judge turning a congressional race into his own private circus and theater of the absurd, whereupon he hoists his ageism and sexist pronouncements on us in a clear case where if these were two male candidates it wouldn’t even be possible to have such a vacuous conversation in a congressional campaign where real people have real problems that we can ill afford to have hi-jacked by the GOP election circus agenda. In a disgraceful showing of ageism and sexism which initially was not repudiated by either State Rep. Marilinda Garcia or the GOP party, both of them initially were prepared to profit from their silence while they were waiting to see what effect this may have (if any) on the latest polling numbers. Having waited and first profited from it for 3 days, Rep. Garcia finally came out and repudiated Rep. Vaillancourt’s remarks as sexist. In doing so, Rep. Garcia in good GOP form is a day late and a dollar short as usual.

“How ugly is Annie Kuster?” he begins. By the end of the story, he concludes, “By now you probably know why I think of Annie Kuster whenever I walk by Mados; sad to say, but the drag queens are more attractive than Annie Kuster….not that there’s anything wrong with that.”…… “Annie Kuster looks more like a drag queen than most men in drag,” he concludes.

Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ne…

In America today we have real problems: 40 million people without access to medical care, 45 million people on food stamps, 130 million people who don’t have any dental coverage. Millions more unemployed and homeless. Can we really afford to stand by and let GOP supporters turn congressional elections into a circus by their sad and poor behavior, and therein their own personal theater of the absurd?

Vaillancourt as a six term member of the New Hampshire House of  Representatives has a rich controversial history. Which includes the fact that as we can see here in this you tube video link which shows Vaillancourt had to apologize for uttering the the Nazi salute “Sieg Heil,” on the floor of the New Hampshire House in a heated moment back on May 15, 2012 as reported by the Chicago Tribune.

http://articles.chicagotribune…

(Here are some words of wisdom from MAnn Coulter.)

The sad truth is it seems like in every election someone, somewhere is always playing to the lowest base instinct of the male GOP base, in their position on objectifying women. As for Mr Vaillancourt one can only wonder in all honesty what he is prepared to say if Hillary Clinton or other female progressive candidates run in November 2016 in federal and statewide elections. It seems that we better all sit down and buckle our seatbelts, because the 2016 election cycle is likely to be the most expensive and dirtiest elections in American history. Thanks in no small part to people like Mr Vaillancourt playing to the lowest base instincts of the male GOP electorate.

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(Cross posted by author from the Daily Kos)

Since Obama’s victory in 2008 our politics seems more polarised and contentious than any time in recent memory.  The 2010 midterm elections amplified the divisions and created the context for a bitterly fought presidential election on perilously narrow margins:

Americans aren’t just evenly divided in the 2012 election; they’re practically fleeing the political middle.

Towards the end of the Wisconsin recall election this year, we saw something striking happen: Not only were there very few undecided voters in the weeks before Election Day, but the vast majority of people were strongly for or strongly against Gov. Scott Walker (R), with very few people lukewarm on either side.

The same thing is happening in the presidential race.

Aaron Blake – The Incredibly Polarized American Electorate Washington Post 30 Oct 12

Click through on Mark Newman’s excellent county map of 2008 above to see that Obama was right, we aren’t a nation of red states and blue states.  However we are divided throughout the nation into increasingly inflexible and adamant local bastions with little apparent common ground and discrete sources of inspiration and information.  What little dialogue we have has largely devolved to polemics and issue-baiting as if two divergent, incompatible cultures are emerging; yet we share legislatures and infrastructure almost everywhere.

Five days to go and after a week of nail-biting, media horse-racing and a deadly storm which it seems we weathered as best we could there are some good signs for the Obama campaign.

Florida and Virginia, all but out of the game a week ago by consistent but narrow margins, are back on the menu:

Florida, North Carolina and Virginia, which once looked like they were slipping more into the Romney orbit, have pulled back to essentially even-money contests.

The seven jump ball states with a total of 94 electoral votes are Colorado (9), Florida (29), Iowa (6), New Hampshire (4), North Carolina (15), Ohio (18), and Virginia (13).

Charlie Cook – Chance of Split Electoral-Popular Vote Very Real National Journal 30 Oct 12

Recent polling in both states, while marginal, shows an occasional Obama lead:

Quinnipiac University, on behalf of CBS and the NY Times, stuck a dagger in Romney’s Ohio hopes by showing President Barack Obama up 50-45, as well as a one-point lead in Florida and two-point lead in Virginia.

Kos – Obama’s crazy good polling day Daily Kos 31 Oct 12

This is an improvement, though well within the margin of error.  Keep the faith Mooses, this is close but Romney has failed to move the needle in the past ten days and time is running out.  He’s in Florida tomorrow if that is any indication of the state of his internal polling.

We have no idea what internal polling is showing the respective campaigns but we can try to guess.  Chait suggests the GOP has been conning the media with Romney’s momentum and it seems it was working in spite of a small pre-debate lift for Obama.  The substance of the debate isn’t the issue at this point but thank goodness its behind us with a tailwind:

Romney only has two weeks left to move the needle two points in Ohio, Nevada and Iowa, or Wisconsin and any other tilt-Obama state, and relitigating the facts and memes from last night’s debate are assured to take up at least a couple of critical days. If Romney’s deficit in Ohio is larger than one or two points, then that’s a real lost opportunity. Of course, if the Romney campaign believes they have already brought the race back to a dead-heat in Ohio, losing three days worth of lost comeback isn’t terrible – so long as the president doesn’t outright make gains as a result of the debate.

Nate Cohn – Extraordinarily Tight Race With Fourteen Days To Go New Republic 23 Oct 12

Besides agonising over the next Ohio or other state poll guessing the internals is the only game in town.

Warning: I’m going full Godwin’s Law right from the start.

During the middle of the 20th Century, the world watched as the German people were led into a disastrous multi-front war. Rational people have struggled to understand how the German public could have been led down the path to war and genocide.  More than sixty years later it is still hard to believe it all happened.

These quotes offer an explanation about how a seemingly rational, modern populace could have descended into such madness.

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” – Joseph Goebbels

“It is not truth that matters, but victory” – Adolph Hitler

“The victor will never be asked if he told the truth.” – Adolph Hitler

“Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it” – Adolph Hitler

“Through clever and constant application of propaganda, people can be made to see paradise as hell, and also the other way round, to consider the most wretched sort of life as paradise.” – Adolph Hitler

When I look around at the political climate in this country leading up to the 2010 elections, I am struck by how successfully the GOP has managed to mislead the American populace. I have come to the sad conclusion that the real difference between the Republicans and Democrats can be explained by the quotes above.

The Democrats looked at the disaster of the 1930’s and 40’s and came to the conclusion that we must always be on guard against this happening in America. The GOP looked at the same disaster and saw a road map to electoral success. How else to explain the shouts of socialism, death panels, trickledown economics, or the Iraq war?

What GOP lie of 2010 bugs you the most?

Today’s weather was bearable, for February in Michigan. The temperature was around 27°F and the air was calm when Al and I headed out for our walk. Our neighbor, Beau, who you met in an earlier diary, must have been craning his neck to see us as soon as possible. He practically sprinted out of his house before we even reached his driveway. Something was obviously up.

I’ve known Beau for a few months now, ever since he moved here from Mississippi. I know him well enough to recognize when he’s wearing a smug grin. It didn’t take long to find out what had put it there.

This is going to be a very short diary. I just received an email from the DSCC declaring victory in MN for Al Franken.

Here is the text of the email.

This will be a thread for compiling election results in the Presidential race.

Add observations you find in the comments and they will be reflected in this diary.

Obama won 63% of the voters nationwide who were concerned about Iraq.  Who wins the Commander in Chief debate, you say?

Poll Closing Time Map

EV Count, CNN:  Obama – 207    McCain – 135

EV Count, FOX:  Obama – 220    McCain – 141

EV Count, MSNBC:  Obama – 207    McCain – 142

8:30 – CNN – NH for Obama

8:33 – MSNBC – AL for McCain

8:35 – MSNBC – GA for McCain

8:42 – CNN calls PA for Obama

9:00 – CNN – WI, MN, RI, for Obama

9:00 – CNN – ND, WY – for McCain

9:22 – CNN Ohio goes for Obama!!!!!!!!!

9:31 – CNN – NM called for Obama

11:00 – everyone calls VA for Obama

MSNBC calls the Election!!!!!

In with the good air.  Out with the bad.

Ommmmmmm.

There seems to be a disconnect between the way the pundits and the politically active class saw the debate and the way the average viewer saw it.

Since I’m in the politically active class, I definitely had a different take on it than the other people who were watching it with me. McCain exceeded my expectations, given his actions of late on the campaign trail. Obama, on the other hand, came across as the man I’ve come to respect and admire over the long course of this election cycle. I fell into a trap, because of those views.

Because Obama came across the way I expected, he gained no points from me for performance, while McCain did better than expected. This boosted McCain in my view. Uncommitted voters saw it differently.

Parsing the CBS post-debate poll (pdf) of uncommitted voters shows some interesting findings.