Mayday PAC will support indie for KS senate if supporters donate $200K by Monday http://t.co/JrTIAKJPxS pic.twitter.com/gZG7jIENss
— Cory Doctorow (@doctorow) October 11, 2014
From the BoingBoing link:
…”We are now considering entering one final race. All eyes are on the Kansas Senate race. Greg Orman is an Independent — not a Republican, not a Democrat — and he could decide who controls the Senate. He is actively campaigning as a reformer against an entrenched incumbent who has taken millions from special interests.
Should we do this? If we raise $200,000 by Monday at 11:59pm, we will be in a place to firmly say: Yes, we’re in.”
Brian continues, “To me (and I have no inside knowledge of the board’s decisions – I’m just a volunteer at this point) – this seems to be a test of whether or not Mayday PAC supporters think it is worth the risk of devoting resources an independent candidate, albeit one that is slightly ahead in the polls and which FiveThirtyEight gives a ’67 percent chance’ of Orman winning.”…
I’ll admit I’m suspicious of Lessig’s “non-partisan” PAC, because I don’t trust the GOP to be honest about a funding disarmament treaty. (And that’s even about from my reservations about “independent” Greg Orman.) But maybe that’s just me?
jake the antisoshul soshulist
When did Corey Doctorow get involved in electoral politics?
I assume that is the same one as the S-F writer.
Baud
Where’s No Labels? Orman literally has no label.
Iowa Old Lady
@jake the antisoshul soshulist: Corey’s one of the Boing Boing editors and has always had a strong interest in politics as they affect net issues. He worked for the EFF. I didn’t know he was working on races this cycle though. He’s Canadian, but maybe that doesn’t matter.
Tommy
@jake the antisoshul soshulist: I’ve been reading BoingBoing daily since before blogs were called …. well blogs and therefore read Corey daily. Clearly he is a successful SF writer, but on BoingBoing he can take a much more political stance. Mostly related to things like privacy (long, long before Snowden).
I can’t say I’ve ever seen him get as involved as he was in the post included here, but he has political views and he often expresses them on BoingBoing. He is not shy to tell you what he thinks and slam folks on the far right that are shit all stupid (like on evolution for just one example he was written about many times).
Another Holocene Human
Isn’t Lessig all about his ego? It’s super late in the game, but by bandwagoning he might convince a few low info “serious” people for a while that he has more pull and clout and a constituency that he actually lacks.
Mike R.
Oh, you’re not alone. Anybody who can’t decide which side has the country’s best interests at heart doesn’t even deserve consideration and certainly should never be trusted.
Corner Stone
@Mike R.:
I’m no fan of Orman, he bugs the shit outta me on pretty much every level. But there’s no way he’d beat the R in Kansas running as a D. Maybe it takes a flip flopping who knows? kinda politician to take down the R.
I think it will be interesting to see Pat Roberts get taken down. How much worse, if any, can Orman be at this point?
Botsplainer
@Iowa Old Lady:
Fuck. A tech libertarian.
I hate tech libertarians…
That means that there is a not zero chance that Orman caucuses R.
Another Holocene Human
@jake the antisoshul soshulist: As others have said, Cory Doctorow has been involved in blogging and politics and blogging politics as long as he’s been writing.
Not to be confused with the Other Doctorow, E.L.
Ragtime is supposed to be a good book but I can’t get past the horrible, smarmy, lies-about-race-so-we-can-sleep-at-night, sponsored by FORD™ Motor Company musical.
Which has terrible music.
Seriously, a musical–a musical–called Ragtime has a book that is an insult to ragtime.
Ugh.
Another Holocene Human
Great, now I have the main theme from Ragtime stuck in my head. THANKS
OBAMACORY DOCTOROW.max
I’ll admit I’m suspicious of Lessig’s “non-partisan” PAC, because I don’t trust the GOP to be honest about a funding disarmament treaty. (And that’s even about from my reservations about “independent” Greg Orman.) But maybe that’s just me?
Seconded. I do not see where Orman has made any promises regarding campaign finance or ‘privacy’ issues, or the NSA for that matter. He has also promised to represent Kansans as Kansans so I’m not seeing how he’s going to get away from ‘special interests’.
Honestly this sounds like Lessig trying to get Orman’s cred (???) to stick to his PAC rather than the other way around.
max
[‘Very odd.’]
Another Holocene Human
@Mike R.: Because as a wise man once said, it doesn’t suffice to get all thinking people on your side–you need a majority.
ETA: on further reading maybe you were referring to Lessig’s PAC, in which case I think the side they’re on is their side. Which is fine, as nobody is obligated to sign onto the “aggrandize some selfish but not RW conservative upper middle class lucky duckies who think their every cognitive fart is pure gold”.
mdblanche
@Baud:
…whereas No Labels is literally nothing but a label.
Baud
@mdblanche:
You speak the truth. I looked up their webpage once. Vacuous as can be.
BGinCHI
At least Orman has nice sideburns.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
Speaking of political tastelessness, I saw a pickup truck with a driver’s side bumper sticker: DOUCHE. The “O” is of course the campaign style “O.” I found a cafe press joint that sells them – I looked mainly to be certain I’d actually seen what I thought I’d seen. The truck appears to live about .75 mi from me. I have been mature enough not to key it during the night season. Yet. Kidding, mostly.
Yatsuno
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): At this point it’s sore loserdom. Not worth the ticket for the keying at this point.
Tommy
@Another Holocene Human:
The first time I recall him getting pretty political was when I first started reading BoingBoing. Maybe around 2002/2003. Back then many politicians and even the media “elite”, as blogging took off, were saying bloggers didn’t have the same rights/protections a journalist at say the Washington Post or the Bumpkin Gazette had. Because they were just some dude in their parents basement.* Not really a journalist.
He would have none of that. As many other noted bloggers at that time did as well. So you can have somebody like Markos or John with sites like they have today. Pretty amazing (or many actually it isn’t) there was a time where people (many people if I recall correctly) thought the concept of a site like Daily Kos or Ballon Juice was a bad idea that didn’t even deserve much protection.
*I really think this is where that stereotype came from.
Tree With Water
Why I’m convinced the democratic party can seize the political high ground and effect change for the better, even in the face corporate-idiot wind media, if it gets serious about doing so.
Senator Warren, from an interview posted today at Salon.com.
“..There are these core differences that are about equality and opportunity. It can’t be that we don’t make a clear distinction. If we fail to make that distinction, then shame on us. That is my bottom line on this.
You know, during the Senate race that I was in — I mean, I was a first-time candidate, I’d never done this before — the thing that scared me the most was that the race wouldn’t be about the core differences between my opponent and me. I wanted people to understand where I stood on investments in the future, investments in education and research that help us build a future. Where I stood on the minimum wage and equal pay. And where he stood on the other side. The point was not to blur the differences and to run to some mythical middle where we agreed with each other. The point was to say that, here are really big differences between the two of us. Voters have a chance to make a choice..”.
p.a.
@Corner Stone: In Kansas it may be a fact that no one with a D can win. In other states it may be that the Dem. state organization is too calcified to allow talent up the ladder. A big problem with I’s is they by definition have to be independently wealthy to have any chance against party organizations. And they never seem to be progressive, and usually appear to be egocentric dolts.
mdblanche
@Mike R.: An undecided voter is someone who when given a choice between Italian and tire rims and anthrax for dinner can’t make up their mind.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
The super fun thing about moving from our current apartment is that we have a steep staircase to the street and no elevator. So if you have a dolly full of boxes but no straps, you get to load the dolly in the apartment, wheel it to the stairs, hand-carry each box down the stairs, and put them back on the dolly at the bottom.
The super fun thing about our new apartment is that they’re doing massive street construction right in front of our building so we can’t park on the street, and U-Haul’s cargo vans are about 1 inch to tall to clear the parking garage. But at least there’s an elevator so we could carry 5 boxes at a time from the alley through the parking garage to the elevator.
Who’s jealous yet? ?
Southern Beale
Ebola fear hits Tennessee.
Sigh.
Corner Stone
@p.a.: Bernie Sanders is an egocentric dolt but I’d take quite a few more of him if possible.
Regarding the calcification of talent, yeah, trust me. I’ve seen that for the D party in TX for the last 20+ years.
Corner Stone
@Mnemosyne (iPhone):
Buy some freaking straps. They cost less than $20.
Villago Delenda Est
I don’t trust this “independent” Orman in Kansas. “Independents” are most typically Rethugs too embarrassed to be associated with the contemporary GOP which is only slightly to the left of the John Birch Society…open racists and royalists. Think the hedge fund scum of “No Labels” and “Third Way”…every last one of which is in need of a tumbrel ride.
Villago Delenda Est
@Botsplainer: Tech glibertarians are the most stupid and gullible of the lot.
They owe their entire livelihood to the government they hate. The IT sector would not exist if it was not for government R&D.
Tommy
@Villago Delenda Est: And either do I. Outside of somebody like Bernie Sanders, I am willing to bet all of those running as Independents this year will look at the election results, stick their finger in the air, see how the numbers break down, and go with the party that holds the Senate.
By doing this they can leverage who they caucus with for better committee assignments. Those in power have larger budgets and bigger staffs. Let’s face it that is what will happen. No way an Independent will caucus with the Democrats if the Republicans hold the majority and the other way around.
Well outside of Sanders.
Yatsuno
@Villago Delenda Est: He used to be a Democrat. But blah blah reasons he left the party. I don’t know anything about his current positions but he’s riding the anti-Brownback wave as hard as he can. And if Roberts loses good riddance.
SWMBO
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): I saw (before Obama was reelected) a bumper sticker that said “They ALL make me miss Carter”. My mom wanted one but when I went looking, all I could find was anti Obama stickers.
PurpleGirl
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): When I moved into the Co-Op, I went from a 4-story walk-up to 18-story with an elevator. The moving guys put boxes on their backs with straps under the boxes which they then held over their shoulders to go down the stairs. Much easier on the new site with the elevators.
Tree With Water
@Villago Delenda Est: I disagree, and welcome what seems to be a trend of independents getting elected. No doubt bird brains of every political stripe can hit the electoral lottery, but people who vote usually wise up soon enough. And if they don’t, that’s the person they want.
And even if more and more independents do get elected to congress, they couldn’t possibly foul that nest any more than it already has been fouled, could they?
Corner Stone
@Tommy:
What does, “and the other way around” mean?
Botsplainer
@Southern Beale:
Dipshit conservative Tennessee rednecks in the middle of nowhere.
Can we please have some FEMA reeducation camps?
Gretchen
Orman briefly considered running as a Democrat last time around. The Democrats leaned on their own candidate to drop out to give Orman a clear shot. I don’t think there’s any doubt that he’d be better than Pat Roberts, whose entire campaign platform is that he’s against everything Obama is for, and all his ads say Orman will be a vote for Obama. I saw lots of Orman signs when out driving around today, and just one Roberts. I think the Conservatives are disappointed not to get their teabagger, and the whole “he doesn’t even have a residence here” hurt Roberts. The moderates are all disgusted with the mess Brownback has made of the state, and especially education funding. I’m hoping both Republicans on both ends of the spectrum will stay home. Meanwhile, there are floods of negative ads in the Governor’s race. The Dem was in a strip club when it was raided when he was an unmarried 26-year old. He said he was there with his boss, who was the lawyer for the club owner. Police report sounded like Davis was in a private room with a stripper when the raid went down. There is some question of Brownback allies leaking documents they got access to that weren’t supposed to be public. The airwaves here are ugly, ugly, ugly, all about drugs and strippers, and parents are upset about having to explain what strippers are to their kids. Floods of Koch money trying to keep their boys in. And our Dem Congressional candidate’s ads references Kevin Yoder skinny-dipping in the Sea of Gallilee.
Tommy
@Corner Stone: An Independent won’t caucus with the Republicans if the Democrats hold the majority.
My fear is that one Independent could decide who is the majority. I think the election(s) are going to be that close. I just believe Nate Silver. He has been right so many times that even though many seem to think the Republicans are going to win more seats than he is projecting, until he is wrong I will put my “faith” in him.
So literally it could come down to one Independent to break the “tie.” That would suck in so many ways I don’t have words for it.
Botsplainer
@Villago Delenda Est:
“I did it all on my own. All the coding. All the porn surfing. All the Bitcoin mining. All the cosplay and masturbation, since women won’t look at me except to sneer ‘no fucking way, you dweeb'”.
Micheline
@Gretchen: Are Kansans that prudish?
Corner Stone
@Tommy: That’s what I thought but I couldn’t envision an elected I caucusing with the R’s in any event. More likely Manchin would flip before King or Orman would vote for an R Leader. Just IMO.
Corner Stone
@Botsplainer:
Stay out of my My Little Pony diary!!
Anoniminous
@Tommy:
Polls show control of the Senate is a toss up. Given the lousy election climate that’s as good as we can expect. Now it’s all about how many Democrats can be persuaded to get off their lazy asses and vote.
Tommy
@Corner Stone:
And that as well. Even if we hold the Senate, if it is by a seat or two, well not so sure by the time Congress is back in session we will still hold him. There will be a lot of arm twisting, or should I maybe say perks on the table for somebody to deflect to the Republicans.
Southern Beale
Remember when all those Republicans said they really weren’t wackadoodles when they voted for McCain or the Tea Party, they just thought “divided government” was a good idea?
That was cute.
lamh36
Have the Dems heard anything about Orman caucusing with Dems, either behind closed doors or otherwise? aside from the fact a dem can’t win! I thought that was the main reason why dem candidate dropped out.
lamh36
speaking of Senate races, say what you will about Mary Landrieu but she sure does know how to play regional politics.
Man she is really trying to get black folk to the polls in November cause she knows she needs them to come out. last week it was the “keg-stand” incident at LSU, now this…
Mary Landrieu “wobbles” at Southern tailgate — youtube.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNHWwcMBD-M
FYI for the these unfamiliar with it, “the wobble” is a VERY popular dance in the South across the line.
AMinNC
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): Rather than keying, I’d take a Sharpie and write “I am a Big Old” just before the bumper sticker begins.
But, hey, that’s just me.
Bill Arnold
@Tommy:
Defections are not a one-way thing though; recent examples of R->D include Jim Jeffords, Arlen Specter. (Jeffords became indy, caucused with Ds, IIRC). I assume (without evidence, since this would necessarily be secret) that the remaining centrist Republicans are cultivated by Ds for possible change of party loyalty.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@AMinNC: Ooh, I like that. Or maybe “driving this” underneath.
mdblanche
@Bill Arnold: Except there aren’t any centrist Republicans left in the Senate. Collins is about the only one left who ever might have deserved the title, but I can’t think of anything she’s done to keep it since 2009 at the latest.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Botsplainer:
Kind of reminds me of something seen on texts from last night:
Corner Stone
@mdblanche:
IMO, she deserves more scorn and derision than the straight out wackadoodle Senators. She put the pretty face on a lot of ugly, nasty, bullshit and sold it to the MSM. Who, of course, really lapped it up.
I really wish Gilda Radner was still with us. She could give a devastating impersonation of either of the Ladies of Maine and make it hurt.
SiubhanDuinne
Say what you will about Cory Doctorow, but he gave his daughter an awesome name:
Poesy Emmeline Fibonacci Nautilus Taylor Doctorow
jake the antisoshul soshulist
I have read some of his books. I do not bother Boing Boing and it does not bother me. I suspected his political stance would be techy-libertarian.
joel hanes
@Another Holocene Human:
E.L. Doctorow’s earlier work, Loon Lake, is IMHO better than Ragtime,
and is free of the associations that bug you. Recommended.
joel hanes
@Another Holocene Human:
Isn’t Lessig all about his ego?
I think not.
And causes aren’t responsible for the people who advance them.
Lessig’s earlier work on digital copyright was superb, and essential
mdblanche
@Corner Stone: Agreed. And the worst part is she can do it all in complete electoral safety because the voters of Maine are the common clay of the new East.
Botsplainer
@Corner Stone:
My Little Brony?
I think there’s a documentary out there.
FlipYrWhig
My prediction is that Orman wins and does not caucus with either side. By remaining truly “independent” in an otherwise 50-50 Senate he suddenly gains all kinds of power that a junior senator in either party would never have. And if Pressler wins in South Dakota, same thing. Then my more far-fetched prediction is that Manchin and Murkowski join them. Because together they’d become the Anthony Kennedys of the Senate, the swing vote that determines the outcome of everything.
Corner Stone
@Botsplainer: Oh, you know, the usual. A little bondage, a little bestiality … nuns, Bronies, enemas … nothing weird!
Botsplainer
Jesus, no matter how many times I explain it to the dog when we’re out walking, the whitetail deer do not want to play with him, be his friend, or want to get caught.
It’s a shame I hate venison, because even with my shitty bow skills I could get at least one a day in my yard by showing the minimum of patience.
Corner Stone
@Botsplainer:
I’ve kind of lost my taste for it, even backstrap. I’ll still take as much deer sausage as anyone wants to give me though.
Botsplainer
@Corner Stone:
I feel like I almost know Rex.
Botsplainer
@Corner Stone:
I had backstrap in milk once and liked it. Most of the time, it’s gamey.
Wife and daughters liked venison roast back when I was gagging at the taste. I quit bothering years ago.
Warren Terra
Lessig has a great CV and has done excellent work and had good ideas. That said, he is a political moron of the first order and should be kept away from almost all issues not having to do with copyright or Internet access. He demonstrated this beyond all doubt in his brief flirtation with elective office a few years back, and amply since then. I don’t think he’s consciously ego-mad or seeking personal fame, but he is convinced he has all the answers, even on topics he’s plainly neither researched nor even considered. Don’t encourage him.
BTW, most of this applies to Cory Doctorow, too.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Botsplainer: Layla doesn’t have much interest in playing with deer since she tried to chase a doe out of the back yard and the doe declined, with an attitude similar to “do you not understand the physics of size?” Last week she was lounging at the top of the yard and quietly watched 3 does and 4 fawns trek through the yard that backs up to ours right next to the fenceline. Then they started trotting, and she was still quiet, but when the unauthorized dog that was free ranging behind them (hence the trotting) appeared, she was a snarling mass of turf defending bitch.
MattF
…aaand that ‘expert’ you see on Russian TV:
http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-media-professor-haag-dubious-credentials/26632541.html
does not, apparently, actually exist. I guess there’s some profound insight into the Slavic soul here that I’m missing, but I find this hilarious. Via University Diaries.
burnspbesq
@Villago Delenda Est:
I don’t either, but the alternative is six more years of Pat Roberts. You OK with that?
GHayduke (formerly lojasmo)
@Tommy:
You mean he cared about privacy when there was a white republican in the WH? Unheard of.
KCIvey
The reason conservative Dems probably won’t switch sides is that Democratic prospects look much better in the 2016 election. Betraying your party for 2 years in the majority only to go back to the minority doesn’t seem worth it.
I was a big fan of Lessig’s work on copyright, but I’m not so sure about him since he’s turned to politics. Mayday PAC unfortunately seems too much like the latest incarnation of the No Labels / Unity08 / Americans Elect foolishness.
rikyrah
@Botsplainer:
it’s an interesting documentary
Botsplainer
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
The previous Best Dog Ever lost several inches of tail while out chasing deer. As near as we could guess, he whirled and got it caught in the fork of a tree (we found it).
He was a big guy, about 110 lbs, and ripped loose to chase, leaving a bunch of hide and hair in the fork. We had little idea where all the blood was coming from until we noticed a sip lid four to six inches of assorted tailbone and muscle. The vet amputated 8 inches of tail.
JPL
@Botsplainer: Poor pup.
Bill Murray
Mayday PAC has put in $1 Million behind Rick Weiland in South Dakota who is a pretty solid liberal in the McGovern Abourezk vein
Botsplainer
@JPL:
It was like he never noticed that he was hurt as he walked around the house wagging his tail and flinging blood. He was really hairy, it took a while to figure out.
Steeplejack
@MattF:
I’d like to hear Bob in Portland weigh in before I make a decision.
Stuck in Brownbackistan
@Micheline:
Are Kansans that prudish? Some are. The “strip club” ad is really GOTV, an attempt to give the low-info-prudes who know everyone is mad at Brownback, but don’t really know why, a reason to go to the polls and vote for him anyway.
This has been an interesting election season in my piece of Kansas. Roberts and Brownback (with assists from the Kochs) are essentially running against Obama. Orman is slamming Roberts for “decades of inaction” on illegal immigration. (Don’t expect any support from him on amnesty, if such a miracle were to make it past the House.) Kevin Yoder is getting slammed for skinny-dipping in Israel while on a junket a few years ago. Meanwhile, Yoder is now pretending to be an independent-minded “no more automatic pensions for Representatives” outsider. (He’s been a chameleon as far back as his college days, so at least he’s consistent.) Even my state representative is claiming not to be the brain-dead ALEC-voting lackey she has been to date.
For reasons that essentially come down to laziness, I’m still a registered Republican. For the first time in 30 years, I’m receiving GOTV phone calls. They are scared. I have to wonder if Brownback has negative coattails…..
Bill Arnold
@mdblanche:
I think the focus would be on would be S. Collins, L. Murkowski (and maybe M. Kirk?). The Senate Democrats are already a (small c) conservative bunch on average, and flipping from radical R to conservative D (or conservative I, caucusing with D) is at least something that can be talked about.
(I hadn’t seen these govtrack graphs before; worth a glance: https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/lisa_murkowski/300075)
Bill Arnold
@FlipYrWhig:
We have something like that in the NY State Senate – the “Independent Democratic Conference”. They have a power sharing agreement with the Republicans. (They’ve recently agreed to start working with Democrats instead; I haven’t been following it.)
(edit: background can be read in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_State_Senate. There was a defection of State Senate Democrats a couple of years previously too.)
docg
Interesting fact. Of the last 10 Kansas governors, 5 have been Republicans, 5 Democrats.
Gretchen
@Micheline: It’s not that they’re that prudish. It’s that they’re sick of Brownback’s mess, and having him flood their tv’s with strippers and ugly ads isn’t making them like him better.
Gretchen
@lamh36: I don’t think the Dems would have pressured their own candidate to get out if they weren’t pretty confident that he’d be on their side.
Gretchen
@Stuck in Brownbackistan: I’m a registered Democrat and I’m getting calls from Roberts, including a couple of robocalls from Mitt Romney. I went to my daughter’s tonight and found that the Yoder campaign planted a sign in her yard, after it was dark out, with a little note saying she asked for one. This is the second person I know who got an unrequested Yoder sign. Meanwhile, the Democratic office was out of Paul Davis for Governor signs, except a few Republican for Davis signs that they were limiting to one to a comer. A lady who wanted a bunch for her neighborhood was turned down because there weren’t enough. I’m hoping for negative coattails.
Morbo
@SiubhanDuinne: It beats Miller Lyte McConaughey, but only just.
PJ
@Warren Terra: “Excellent work” if you consider justifying the destruction of the rights of working people to be good work. He’s been a stooge of the tech industry for years.