In case you have any doubt Democrats are just as capable as the Republicans as choking on their own hubris in just a few short years, check this out (via memeorandum):
West Palm Beach Congressman Tim Mahoney (D-FL), whose predecessor resigned in the wake of a sex scandal, agreed to a $121,000 payment to a former mistress who worked on his staff and was threatening to sue him, according to current and former members of his staff who have been briefed on the settlement, which involved Mahoney and his campaign committee.
Senior Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives, including Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL), the chair of the Democratic Caucus, have been working with Mahoney to keep the matter from hurting his re-election campaign, the Mahoney staffers said.
A spokesperson for Emanuel denies that account, but said Emanuel did confront Mahoney “upon hearing a rumor” about an affair in 2007 and “told him he was in public life and had a responsibility to act accordingly.” The spokesperson added that it was a “private conversation” that had nothing to do with Mahoney’s re-election prospects.
Emanuel’s spokesperson said Emanual had not had any further contacts with Mahoney on the subject and did not know the woman involved worked on Mahoney’s Congressional staff until informed by ABC News.
So cut him loose, Rahm. Now.
Jon H
"So cut him loose, Rahm. Now."
Could be difficult at this point – he’d probably stay on the ballot, so the Dems might be stuck with him.
Punchy
underage boys vs. high-priced hooker (lets call her what she is)? it’s a wash. let’s get an Indy in there to start fondling underage hookers and go for the trifecta.
Tim C.
Yeah, were stuck but he shouldn’t get a dime of party money and it wouldn’t hurt any for Rahm and company to publicly point out that they don’t need his sorry behind in the caucus.
Llelldorin
The folks over at Daily Kos are already prepping a target for his back for primary season 2010. He chose the wrong party to pull that in, frankly. We invented the damned circular firing squad.
calipygian
West Palm Beach must be one non-stop, anything goes Roman orgy.
I’m moving there tomorrow.
D. Mason
He needs to ask for a refund on his hush money.
That One - Cain
He has betrayed the party. He will pay. [queue scary music] He might as well consider his political career over starting now. Loser!
cain
Elvis Elvisberg
Wait a minute, why should he be cut loose?
This is a private matter, right? He paid his own money in a settlement suit?
*actually RTFA*
also promised the woman, Patricia Allen, a $50,000 a year job for two years at the agency that handles his campaign advertising, the staffers said.
Oh.
Yeah, adios, dude I’ve never heard of.
Dennis - SGMM
Hmmm, wonder how she’s going to list that job on her résumé.
The Moar You Know
I might point out that David Vitter and Larry Craig are still serving proudly, with no disciplinary action taken against either one of them by their party. The media? Deafening silence as regards either one of them.
Let a Democrat transgress and the outrage-o-meter pegs at 110%. The story won’t die for weeks. The media will paint this as a crippling blow for Obama and the entire party.
Somewhere, Karl Rove is unzipping his second wetsuit, sweatily laughing as he watches this story unfold on Fox.
Double standard, anyone?
t jasper parnell
Cut him loose and cut this climate change denier loose. The Democrats ought clean house and move forward in a reality based way.
The Grand Panjandrum
C’mon Cole! I posted this in a previous thread. Wassup? You still picking on me and forcing me to vote for McCain? Jesus! I feel like Rodney Fucking Dangerfield. (I know I already voted for Obama but I thought I’d see what it feels like to be a WATB posting over at one of the VRWC blogs.)
But, now being serious, yes he should be drummed out of the party. What makes this particularly egregious is that he began this affair while running against Foley. What the hell is going on down in Florida? I just hope we don’t have a Goat Story coming out soon.
The Moar You Know
The standard is that overused old saw "executive assistant". There are many modern variations but they all fall along the same lines.
Tom Ames
You can call it "a circular firing squad" if you like, but I’d rather cast the targeting of sleaze-bags like this as "demanding accountability from our representatives."
Kos is right that we don’t need more Democrats, we need more and better Democrats. The loss of the occasional house seat is a small price to pay for reminding our reps that party loyalty is given only to those who exhibit good behavior.
Dennis - SGMM
Well, fancy that. When I was with the Seventh Fleet I met a lot of executive assistants on Liberty.
That One - Cain
Naw, he’s strapping on a third wetsuit and getting some extra dildos, it’s going to be a wild party with wet suits, dildos, priests and blow in the basement of Karl Rove’s house They’re going to party like it’s 1999!
cain
That One - Cain
As I’ve said before, they need to fear us not their party leaders or anybody else. Because collectively, we have the money and influence to push them aside.
cain
demimondian
Uh, yeah, about that.
Ask Incertus — you’re likely to be disappointed.
Paul in Boca
Not really. West Palm is where all the domestic help lives for the wealthy people who live on the island of Palm Beach. And the island inhabitants are all rich and Republican. Remember, this is where Rush lives. The Donald, too.
That One - Cain
I guess Oxycotin is pretty cheap there huh?
cain
Jon H
"Hmmm, wonder how she’s going to list that job on her résumé."
What? She can just say she worked on his staff.
Comrade Jake
A little off-topic, but Marc Ambinder is reporting on the "big news" that Team McCain is jumping all over in Obama’s speech today:
I can’t wait for McCain to point this out in the debate, only to have Obama point out that the difference between McCain’s tax cuts for corporations and his own is that Obama’s are for jobs generated inside the US, as opposed to those shipped overseas.
Once again, one of these campaigns is playing chess, and the other one is working its way up to Chutes & Ladders.
burnspbesq
Dear Tom Ames,
With all due respect, actually Kos is dead fucking wrong, and so is every self-proclaimed progressive Democrat who thinks like that.
The worst Democrat is better than the best Republican.
The Democrats run Blue Dogs in those districts because no one to the left of the Blue Dogs would have a prayer of winning.
It’s important that Obama be able to govern, and that requires the biggest possible Democratic majorities. This is no time to be playing stupid, self-defeating "perfect is the enemy of good" games.
Oh, and one last thing.
Progressives need the Democratic Party far more than the Democratic Party needs progressives. It’s possible for a center-right party to win in this country. It is not possible for a progressive party to win in this country. Think I’m wrong? Bolt the Democratic Party, start a progressive party, and see where that gets you.
Dennis - SGMM
His bill for batteries must be enormous.
RML
He needs to go. What a waste of time and the public’s trust.
demimondian
@burnspbesq: burnspbesq, concern troll, or just troll?
Either way, EPIC PALIN. The alleged person in question needs to spend some time under its bridge.
Shygetz
@Jon H: Jon H wins, one internets.
SamFromUtah
@That One – Cain: I guess Oxycotin is pretty cheap there huh?
It doesn’t need to be. That is, for some, the whole point of being rich.
dslak
@burnspbesq: How is Kos wrong? He’s saying that "more Democrats" isn’t enough, not that there aren’t prudential reasons for preferring them.
The fact is, however, that the worst excesses of the Bush administration would not have been possible without the acquiescence of many of the Democrats currently in Congress. Many of these same Democrats will probably change their tune on deference to the president in the same way the GOP does once their party is no longer occupying the White House.
Martin
Not to mention small business vs. large…
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
bzzzzt – wrong.
This is the exact same tune the GOP hummed to itself as it was merrily marching down the path to perdition.
"We are always better than the other side"
+
cognitive bias
+
the ends justify the means
=
race to the bottom.
It would be nice if Dems could learn from the mistakes of the GOP so as not to risk repeating them. Lesson #1 is we are responsible for keeping our own house clean. This is about behavior, not ideology.
Comrade Incertus
He was going to be tough to keep in that seat anyway, and he basically pissed away his chances of holding on to it no matter what Rahm or anyone else wants to do. We don’t have to cut him loose–he’s gone anyway. I’d prefer it if he just suspended his campaign and conceded right now, but if he just loses, I’m fine with that as well.
burnspbesq
dslak,
The simple truth is that the country isn’t where progressives seem to have convinced themselves it is, and it isn’t likely to go there any time soon. The effects of forty years of Republican demagoguery aren’t cured overnight.
To cite only one hypothetical example, do you sincerely believe that John Hall could win in Heath Shuler’s district? If you sincerely believe that, then I respectfully submit that you are seriously delusional.
I wish it were otherwise, but denying reality is rarely a winning strategy.
When y’all actually beat someone like Jane Harman in a primary, then let’s talk. Until then, I prefer that Obama be able to govern.
Comrade Incertus
@burnspbesq: The worst Democrat is better than the best Republican.
Just to add to what others have said, no thanks. We won’t miss this seat. We’re going to pick up others and pick them up with better Democrats this cycle, and in the meantime, we’ll have a chance to prove to the voters in that district that we don’t play the same bullshit that Republicans do.
qi4all
Don’t want to appear to be condoning this type of behavior, but these allegations have not been substantiated yet. The recording did not have anything intimating an improper sexual relationship and Mahoney has asked for a Congressional Ethics investigation.
If it is found that he did have an improper relationship, then by all means, cut him loose. Innocent until proven guilty.
burnspbesq
demimondian,
If disagreeing with you when you’re wrong makes me a troll, then call me Rumplestiltskin, and don’t try to cross my bridge without paying the toll.
burnspbesq
Comrade Incertus,
Just sayin.’ Slippery slope. And you won’t like what you find at the bottom.
KevinD
Once again, I’m proud to be a Palm Beach County resident.
It’s always something.
Comrade Stuck
Fuck it , let him go. That’s a wingnut district anyway, at least mostly. I think he barks with the Blue dogs anyway, and the fewer of those wankers, the better. Otherwise I wouldn’t care if the guy had an Atomic dick and used it with abandon. But this is America, land of Prudish Pie.
t jasper parnell
@burnspbesq:
This is wrong, I would argue. The claim that the country is not ready rests on an implicit assumption that that which has not happened cannot happen. One could, without much difficulty, make the claim that the country is not ready for a relatively young and unknown black man to be president; yet the claim, so the polls tell us, is wrong. We have no idea if progressive candidates, who make progressive arguments about the economy, etc, will or would be successful in place a, b, or c, as no one has yet tried.
Comrade The Other Steve
I don’t have a problem with an affair so much as I have a problem with the $121,000.
It’s just sexist. If I slept with Nancy Pelosi I don’t think I’d get near that much money, and I’m really really really good looking… which based on the pictures I’ve seen thus far you cannot say about this woman Mahoney slept with.
Equal pay for equal work I say!
demimondian
As a genuine logician, with a sheep-skin and everything, let me be the first to tell you that any statement, no matter how ludicrous, follows from a false premise. Thus, from your premise (that "disagreeing with [me] when [I’m] wrong makes [you] a troll") I can adduce a variety of statements, some true — that you’re a troll, for instance — and others false — that you’re a Democrat, or even vaguely in favor of the success of Democrats.
Back under your rock, thing.
gbear
That’s kind of an odd number. I wonder what that last $1000 bought?
Comrade Warren Terra
Obviously I don’t care about Mahoney’s sex life, but an affair with a staff member is wrong in so many ways, as is the hush money. We’re stuck with him since it’s October 2008, but of course it dind’t used to be three weeks from the election. The critical questions are:
(1) When did his staffers learn (other than the one in question, of course)? Would it have been better for them to serve their legislative visions by forcing him to walk away early enough, rather than to show personal loyalty?
(2) When did Rahm, the DCCC, and other Congressional Democrats know? If early enough, shouldn’t they have let his career sleep with the fishes proactively, so that he could be replaced smoothly?
(3) Will the DCCC or the DNC lift a finger for this schmuck?
dslak
@burnspbesq: Of course there are districts where more centrist Democrats stand a better chance of winning than more liberal ones, but their chances can still be improved by better campaign strategies and riding on coattails.
The fact is that any Democrat is going to be accused by their Republican challenger of being a far-left radical unless they can defuse the abortion/God/guns trifecta. The Blue Dog strategy assumes that culture war issues can be removed from consideration by surrendering on them. That route is not always the necessary one for winning in some districts, and in ones where it’s not, people ought to support more progressive candidates in the primaries versus centrists.
burnspbesq
t jasper parnell,
Fair enough. Your hypothesis is testable in 2010. We’ll see who is right.
MobiusKlein
$121,000.
$121,000.
$121,000.
Congress-folk don’t find that money under their beds.
$121,000.
$121,000.
$121,000.
A guy who can blow $121,000 on hush money has no place in Congress, D or R.
burnspbesq
demimondian:
Whatever.
demimondian
@dslak: You say
I say the dependent clause which starts "unless" is another false hypothesis. Any Republican is going to create that issue. Remember Max Cleland? As blue a Blue Dog as any out there, and he was turned into OBL.
In this case, remember that Robert Wexler is the congressman from Boca, from a district which abuts Mahoney’s. Boca has a less naturally Democratic population than WPB, yet Wexler consistently does well. The troll who’s posting this junk is hoping that none of us know that.
t jasper parnell
@burnspbesq:
Only if "we" start now. Cut the bad, i.e., non-progressive, dems, loose and take a stand on bread and butter issues now. No more Clintonian mending but not ending. IMHO
dslak
Hence why I said "defuse" rather than "forestall."
Considering the number and variety of districts, some strategies are going to work better than others in a given district. Burns’ argument seems to be that, if a district has a history of voting for conservative Republicans, only the Blue Dog strategy can deliver it for the Democrats. That certainly is not always the case, but it would be good to see the stats on either side before I took a strong position either way.
Comrade The Other Steve
Originally it was $110,000, but there was a 10% sales and use tax.
Xenos
@Dennis – SGMM:
You weren’t in the 7th fleet on Liberty in Mombasa in 1987, were you? I consider myself lucky to have survived that season, just as an innocent college kid. The executive assistants were quite, er, aggressive marketers.
burnspbesq
Troll? Junk?
I must have missed the meeting when you were put in charge of deciding what views can and cannot be expressed on this site.
Not a Democrat?
It’s a bad idea to argue with someone who knows what’s in the paper trail when you don’t. In this case, the paper trail is an unbroken string of registrations as a Democrat going back to my 18th birthday. If you are less than 34 years old, I’ve been voting in Democratic primaries since before you were born.
Apology accepted.
burnspbesq
dslak:
Not exactly. I don’t believe that the Blue Dog strategy is the only strategy that can work. I simply observe that it is the only strategy with a history of working. I have no objection to trying other strategies; but it appears that I am less confident than some of y’all that those other strategies will work.
Conservatively Liberal
On target. Toss the guy an anchor and shove him overboard, it’s over for him. The party should turn its back because they don’t need a Vitter in their ranks. If Democrats are going to lead they damn well better clean up the shop first. Nothing kills a party faster than claiming the high road while being on the low road to bribes, mistresses and other ethical/criminal violations.
If they want to lead us then they better do it ethically and legally or get the fuck out of the way.
Comrade Desert Hussein Rat
FWIW, I’d be happy to cut Rahm Emanuel loose at the same time. Vastly overrated as a member of the Democratic leadership, particularly in his own mind.
dslak
I suspect the foundation of the disagreement here is what you mean by "working."
BombIranForChrist
Yeah, I think if the Dems think that the liberal bloggers are going to suck earnestly on the big horn like the conservative bloggers did with the Bushies, they are very much mistaken.
I want corruption out of government. All of it. And if the Dems can’t do it, I will work to bury them too.
t jasper parnell
Bingo.
gwangung
No, but you definitely missed the class for "Calling a Twit a Twit."
Act like a fool, you get called one. Shouldn’t bother you, ’cause it’s easy enough to disprove through subsequent behavior.
gwangung
Seconded.
Eric U.
sad thing is, Rahm Emanuel appears to be in a very safe seat, and he also seems to be indistinguishable from a blue dog. I’m conflicted about this guy, he took a REpublican seat, if he can hold it, what can we really do about it? We can’t even get rid of the guy with the cash in the freezer.
And Kos supports Blue dogs in republican seats, I think it would be crazy not to do so. I have to say I’ve never been happier than when Rick Boucher became my congressman. He’ll drive you crazy with his blue doggieness, until you think of the republican piece of crap he replaces.
Rosali
Foley is tan, rested, and aching for a comeback.
Dennis - SGMM
@Xenos:
Sorry I missed it . I was out well before ’87. As for aggressive marketing, two words: Olongopo City.
Comrade Incertus
@BombIranForChrist:
That’s probably because progressives don’t have a horn to suck earnestly on the way conservatives do. We’re able to be purer because we don’t have nearly the options to sell out that the conservatives do.
kommrade jakevich
Should be interesting to see what the GOP does. On the one hand I’m sure they’d love to wave this around, especially if the man has ever been within 500 yards of Obama. On the other hand, it might be hard to do that without calling attention to Mark "Turn the Page" Foley.
Ew.
TheFountainHead
I wish we could get people’s sex lives out of politics. I mean really. Unless you’re in "dead girl/live boy" territory, who the fuck should get to throw the first stone?
Paddy
Hi John,
I’m curious as to what made you change affiliation from the wingnuts to the moonbats. I went thru the same epiphany in 2004 due to the war, the Schiavo case and gay marriage. I was just wondering what your tipping point was/is?
Conservatively Liberal
rAmen.
OT but still within the "BZZZZT. Wrong Answer" category:
Some of the Propping Uup McCain’s Ass members (literally) have taken up residence at RedState. In a FP post where
Mini MeErick Erickson is lamenting the position the goopers are finding themselves in, a puma posted this:You can bet #2 is as disgusting as its number indicates. Disgusting. Someone joined RedState and posted this in response:
It is clear that Moe moderated the expletive. The puma was defended, which is no surprise. I think a B-J regular here spilled something on the floor at RedState:
If that was you D. Mason, kudos and excellent use of a short term existence in the slime pit there. Now go shower. ;)
Edit: Oh, and that someone there was so offended with your post that they had to
callwhine for a "clean up".Excellent jab! :)
demimondian
You lose. I’ve been voting longer than you can image — Hell, I voted for Clinton in his first run for *Governor*. But don’t start letting the facts get in your way now.
Chickening out loses in politics. Mahoney is a Dem on many votes, to be sure, but he is worth next to nothing if the compromises he requires in order to be that Dem vote are more expensive than the votes he delivers. Frankly, if it’s going to cost me FISA and torture and that ghastly "rescue" package to keep him, then I *don’t* want him. I can get those with a Republican Congress, after all.
Politics is about power. There are two ways to create that power: back winners that you like, and oppose people you don’t like. So long as the Democratic party believes that I will put electing Dems ahead of what I believe in, they’ll be every bit as responsive to me as the R’s have been to their socon base — that is to say, not at all.
I will work for the Dems when the alternative is genuinely worse, but Tim Mahoney doesn’t meet that requirement.
Geeno
Yeah – I DO look to a certain level of conduct for Dems – at minimum, don’t put your party on defense and expect that they’ll bail your ass out.
kommrade jakevich
Uh. I thought the PUMAs were all superbad pro-women’s power blow out the glass ceiling with a rocket propelled grenade types (not that there’s anything wrong with that). But her handle identifies her as someone’s wife and she can’t post something because her husband won’t let her.
All righty then.
Actually 2. sounds like it could involve wetsuits, dildos and a specially trained goat.
dslak
But a Blue Dog can’t win running against the Republicans!
dslak
Sounds like the contents of myiq’s closet.
demimondian
This isn’t about the affair, in my eyes. It’s about Mahoney’s behavior after his former paramour dumped him; the abusive and bullying behavior in which he engaged, and then the outright bribery with which that was followed, are the problem to me, not the sleeping around.
demimondian
@dslak: is on fire this evening.
Comrade Kevin
Anyone see David Frum on the Rachel Maddow show?
What an ass.
Dennis - SGMM
Would it have anything to do with the fact that she can suck a golf ball through fifty feet of garden hose?
TheFountainHead
Frum? An ass? Say it ain’t so!
Wini
@Comrade Kevin: Yes. What an egomaniacal ass.
Eric U.
McCain says "we’ve got them just where we want them"
TheFountainHead
OT: Suck it, Philly!
kommrade jakevich
He’ll bite Obama’s legs orf!
Conservatively Liberal
She says that he is serving overseas, so I guess she is unleashed yet still restrained…lol
She was called out by Erick in the thread and lamely says that she was hoping for some scandal to take Obama down. Someone pointed out that while they accept her answer it doesn’t jibe with the idea that #2 is so bad that it can’t be mentioned yet #1 (a terrorist attack) can, so it follows logic that the second scenario must be worse than first.
A scandal is not worse than a terrorist attack yet her answer to Erick’s callout seems to have satisfied his low threshold for credibility on any given subject so the post is "Approved by RedState.
It truly is the deaf, dumb and blind leading the deaf, dumb and blind over there at RedState.
Fulcanelli
@Comrade Kevin: I saw it and agree.
Frum/Fail
That was about the testiest I’ve seen her get with anyone yet. She played it close to the vest, but you could see she wanted to wipe that stupid look off his face, especially when he cracked about her show’s negativity.
Sooner or later she’s gonna bust her mojo cherry on some right-wing fool and nail his head to a tree, then skin him like an eel. Frum is a worthless tool.
Can’t wait for it…
Comrade Kevin
@Fulcanelli:
Yup. If Frum wants to elevate the discourse, perhaps he should start with his own team.
TheFountainHead
Sometimes being a Dodger fan isn’t just about the Stadium and the Dodger Dogs.
Fulcanelli
@kommrade jakevich: After McCain’s F-Troop inspired "battle plan" for the stock market meltdown/bailout fiasco anyone care to imagine what he’d do as a result of another real terrorist attack on US soil? Suit up and crash another plane in Iran? Christ, I hope we don’t have to endure that…
Patrick
As I understand Barack’s new proposals, Mahoney may be eligible for a tax credit for creating a brand-new job right here in America.
Brachiator
@t jasper parnell:
"Uggh! Progressive. Good. Non-Progressive. Bad. Arrgh!"
And how is this different from a conservative wingnut?
I will accept that many progressives’ hearts are in the right place. But this is not enough.
Prove to me that you have a good, workable idea, and outline the means that it can be implemented, and I will throw time, money and votes your way.
Anything else is just noise to be filtered out and ignored.
demimondian
It’s more like the Club for Growth, and there’s nothing with that. The problem with the CfG is what they stand for, not that they stand for it.
Tom Ames
Tom Ames
burnspbesq, I sympathize mightily with your point, but disagree: we should allow no room in the Democratic party for corrupt and/or criminal members. If all it takes to be a Democrat is calling yourself one, I don’t see how we can put together any lasting movement for reform.
Also, there are counter-examples to your claim. I believe that Lincoln Chaffee is better than both Joe Lieberman and Zell Miller, for example. And I think he’d be better to work with in a Democratic congress.
In this, it’s not a matter of left vs. right, but of maintaining some minimal standards of behavior. And I think that being put in the position where you have to defend Mahoney makes you less effective. Let him go, and his seat if necessary. We can make it up elsewhere.
(FTR, I didn’t read your response as "concern-trolling" at all. I just assumed that you didn’t agree with my earlier stated position.)
Jody
As a former John Edwards supporter I agree with you completely, John. People are people and no party affiliation is going to cure that.
Kelly
Man I feel sorry for burnspbesq in this thread.
History is shaping up to repeat itself pretty quickly. How soon until Daily Kos invents the "progressive" equivalent to RINO?
harlana pepper
Please. When Larry Craig and David Vitter resign their Senate seats, I’ll be glad to revisit this issue.
John
This is not the blue dog strategy at all. The Blue Dogs are divided on cultural issues – many of them are pro-choice, and I’d guess that some are anti-gun.
What defines the Blue Dogs, actually, is being to the right on economics – they’re deficit hawks, and so forth. Many of them are also culturally conservative, but that’s not actually what the Blue Dogs are about, as a group. They’re about being friendly to big business so they can get money from business to stay in office.