Countertop gives an update:
Folks, get ready for a knock down drag out. and remember, politics makes STRANGE bedfellows. The “shall not be infringed†crowd can go to hell. For now, no matter their past views,
Remember, this fight started over primary challenges launched against John Dingell by Nancy Pelosi because of his ability to kill gun control bills.
Frankly, no matter wjat they did in the past or do in the future, I’m treating everyone on the Dingell Whip team as a friend of the 2nd Amendment.
I’d urge your support too.
A press release from Dingell’s office follows. I hope he comes out on top.
The “shall not be infringed†crowd can go to hell.
Should I take that as an invitation to not be involved?
So be it.
No, I think he’s suggesting that a lot of anti-gun guys are going to defend Dingell for their own reasons, and that we shouldn’t freak out about it. Given the fact that he lives a sentence dangling, I’m going to guess he posted this rather hastily.
Alright–I’ll climb down off my high horse . . . for now.
The two Illinois Reps. he named, Jesse Jackson, Jr. and Bobby Rush, are definitely gun banning zealots, but I agree that that’s not really at issue here.
I’m not sure what I can do to “support” them in their campaigning for Dingell, though.
Just writing them thanking them for supporting Dingell as chair, I would think is about all you can do. I’m certainly not going to advocate real support in any other substantive fashion for Jesse Jackson Jr. :)
Just writing them thanking them for supporting Dingell as chair, I would think is about all you can do.
I can manage that much easily enough.
I’m certainly not going to advocate real support in any other substantive fashion for Jesse Jackson Jr. :)
We tend to have some disagreements, but if you started urging strong support for JJJ, I would have to give up on you.
Waxman is a scary ideological witch-hunter. Kafkaesque.
I’m not sure that our bottom-list gal F-rated anti-gunner Tauscher is anything but canon fodder, or even a plant – except she may have no love for Waxman either, and she may simply trade blows against the old, traditional enemy – the hate between LA-LA SoCal and the NorCal BayAryans.
Yeah, I put that up as soon as I got the email.
There were some typos, and a half finished sentence. Thats what you get blogging from a blackberry while racing through the streets of downtown DC trying to get to the hospital (Father In Law had some medical issues this week).
As for support – yes, it means what I said earlier – politics sometimes makes strange bedfellows. And if you can send a word of thanks to these folks – even if they are gun bigots – thats fine cause their support of Dingell is (in my mind at least) directly supporting the 2nd Amendment.
If you reach out to them, just don’t mention guns. Simply thank them for their support of Chairman Dingell’s long record of leadership.
Dirt –
Ultimatly, lots of this is a battle of which model you prefer. Chairmenship by Seniority or by fiat of the Speaker. Its also a battle between unions and liberals. The AFL vs SEIU. The auto industry vs the environmentalists.
Dingell’s been around forever, he has lots of allies. And he’s helped many members of the Congressional Black Caucus rise to positions of leadership. Many of those same CBC leaders owe their power to their long tenure in Congress, and while Waxman’s certainly been around forever, what Pelosi is trying to do undermines all their power by making seniority worthless and instead shoring it up in the hands of a San Francisco Liberal.
And after what happened with Prop 8 in California – I probably don’t need to weigh in on the implications within the black community of cementing all of Congress’s power in the hands of a super rich white liberal from San Francisco.
I guess I should also add, if one of these guys isn’t your congresscritter, don’t worry about supporting them – just don’t draw any conclusion of Dingell’s intent in aligning with them.