Sunday, September 7, 2008

And the award for "Best Title" goes to:

"If John McCain is the Straight Talk Express, then John Kerry was the Supersonic Truth Train".

The article isn't actually about JK, but absolutely worth a read.

posted by democrafty @ 8:01 AM   Comments Off

Thursday, September 4, 2008

O'Reilly Fan Busted

And not just for picking the wrong damn candidate in the Mass Dem Primary.

From Wicked Local:


Belmont, Mass. -

Police arrested a 34-year-old Belmont man, who claimed to be the campaign manager for a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate Sunday night. But it turns out, he was only one of hundreds of volunteers, and did not have any staff position with Ed O’Reilly’s campaign, according to a statement from O’Reilly spokesman Benjamin Richard.

Matthew Sullivan, of 121 Hammond Road in Belmont, was arrested for operating under the influence (third offense), unregistered motor vehicle and uninsured motor vehicle shortly after a car accident on Massachusetts Avenue.

When arresting officer Brian Fennelly reportedly approached the vehicle, Sullivan allegedly misspoke addressing the patrolman as “osifer.”

Sullivan allegedly ran into the back of a tractor-trailer near Nicola’s Pizza around 7 p.m., Sunday, and then got out of his car and threatened the truck driver. Sullivan failed field sobriety tests and refused a chemical test.

Though police listed Sullivan’s occupation as campaign manager on his booking sheet, there is no record of O’Reilly’s campaign making a payment to him yet this year. Sullivan is also not listed as receiving any payments or making any contributions in the 2007 year-end report filed with the Federal Elections Commission.

In August, Sullivan wrote a letter to the Belmont Citizen Herald that criticized Kerry for not debating O’Reilly, his Democratic primary opponent.

According to a 2006 letter Sullivan wrote to the Citizen Herald, he also worked on Mitt Romney’s run for governor, ran for the School Committee in 2003, and became a Town Meeting member his senior year of high school.

This spring, Sullivan wrote a letter to the Watertown Tab, criticizing that paper for its coverage of Gov. Counsel Marilyn Devaney, who this summer was ordered to write a letter of apology to a Waltham beauty store clerk whom she threw a bag of merchandise at.

Sullivan, who did not return a phone call Tuesday, is no longer a Town Meeting member.

According to the arrest report, Sullivan was on his way to a campaign meeting for a prospective state senator when he rear-ended the truck.

O’Reilly is challenging Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., in the Sept. 16 Democratic primary.

posted by democrafty @ 8:51 PM   Comments Off

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Preachergate, Part Deux?

Yesterday, when I read up on Sarah Palin's church and her whackjob extremist beliefs, I couldn't get too worked up about it.

After all, we were treated to such a healthy dose of "God Hates John Kerry!" in 2004, it's easy to get complacent. Was I surprised to read that: During the 2004 election season, he praised President Bush's performance during a debate with Sen. John Kerry, then offered a not-so-subtle message about his personal candidate preferences. "I'm not going tell you who to vote for, but if you vote for this particular person, I question your salvation. I'm sorry." Kalnins added: "If every Christian will vote righteously, it would be a landslide every time"?

Or that Kalnins asserted, "I hate criticisms towards the President," he said, "because it's like criticisms towards the pastor — it's almost like, it's not going to get you anywhere, you know, except for hell. That's what it'll get you"?

No. Not really.

But then I thought about all the stupid, unnecessary hubbub surrounding Jeremiah Wright earlier this year, and I thought, well, frak it. Let's all get good and annoyed!

In our PC universe, it's tempting to think that the separation of church and state is a good way to keep everyone happy and un-offended. It's easier to forget the bigger truth - religion and politics muck eachother up something terrible!

Divine right? Un-American. Manifest Destiny? Un-American. The humility-eschewing rise to fame that is becoming a political candidate? Un-Christian. Favoring the will of the majority over the Will of God? Un-Christian.

And so on, and so on, and so on.

It's interesting - and I'm not using that word in a snarky way; it really does interest me - that Americans are faced with a choice on Sunday mornings: attend church, or watch political talk shows. And with reports coming from right and left (mostly right) about what is actually discussed in churches, these two options don't seem so conflictual after all.

Being more of a Meet the Press woman, I'm not about to lament the fact that politics seem to be, well, winning, if you want to think of church and state as any sort of contest. (And I don't, but it seems headed that way.) But I do want to point out that the very insertion of religion into politics by the religious community seems to be the main contributor.

So, is it appropriate to question the judgment, if not the salvation, of a person of faith who focuses more on a couple of elections than all of eternity? I'm hoping it's a question that will get as much play as Rev. Wright's unique speaking style, but I'm not too optimistic.

posted by democrafty @ 11:31 AM   Comments Off