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I wonder if the South really appreciates Vitter's defense of them since he's been linked to hookers and diapers. I also have to wonder who had a hand in firebombing the car of Stormy Daniels' political adviser. She's Vitter's opponent for his Senate seat. Mr. Family Values and a regular customer of the D.C. Madam, Sen. David Vitter came out in defense of the south after Sen. Voinovich criticized the Republican Party for being way too Southern-fried.

Sen. George V. Voinovich, Ohio Republican, reignited the debate about the direction of the struggling party when he told a newspaper Monday that the biggest problem for Republicans right now is conservative Southerners, particularly Sens. Jim DeMint of South Carolina and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma.

"They get on TV and go 'errrr, errrrr . . .' People hear them and say, 'These people, they're Southerners,'" said Mr. Voinovich, who is not seeking re-election in 2010. "The party's being taken over by Southerners. What they hell have they got to do with Ohio?"

The hooker-loving Vitter shot back with this:

"I'm on the side of conservatives getting back to core conservative values," said Mr. Vitter, Louisiana Republican and member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. "There are a lot of us from the South who hold those values, which I think the party is supposed to be about. We strayed from them in the past few years, and that's why we performed so badly in the national elections."

...Mr. Vitter also criticized Mr. Voinovich for voting last week against a failed amendment sponsored by Mr. Vitter and Sen. John Thune, South Dakota Republican, to expand Americans' ability to carry concealed weapons.

"He's a moderate, really wishy-washy," Mr. Vitter said.

Let's see who has it right---a moderate, or a diaper dandy?



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George Voinovich is retiring from Congress next year, and I guess that means he can feel free to let a few things slip out. In this clip from CNBC, he admits what we've known all along - that opposition to the President is driving opposition to health care reform. Republicans know that if a Democratic President expands access to health care more than any time since Medicare, and lowers individual costs for most people, he will reap rewards. So their strategy, as revealed previously by internal memos and Jim "Waterloo" DeMint, is to obstruct reform to deny the President a "win", thusly turning the uninsured and the poor into pawns in a political game.

Most of Voinovich's remarks are of the fiscal scold variety, claiming that we cannot afford the cost of government (something I forget hearing from Voinovich when he voted to authorize a war in Iraq that cost three trillion dollars), but here's the key moment at around 4:25:

QUESTIONER: ...on health care, how much of this disagreement with the Administration is about the policy of health care and how to fix it, and how much of it is Republicans' obvious and understandable desire to declaw the President politically? How much of that does fit into the equation.

VOINOVICH: I think it's about 50/50, but I will tell you this...

He then claims that some Republicans want to work "on a bipartisan basis" on health care, but that's pretty much the death knell right there.

Democrats are right to jump all over this and expose the GOP as obstructionists. We've known this for some time with the record number of filibusters, but haven't gotten it out to the public. On a high-profile issue like health care, it should be radioactive to obstruct for political reasons and deny millions of people the right to have quality, affordable care.



Have Gun Will Travel II

mayorsagainstillegalguns_2f542.jpg

As I was pleased to note last night in an update, pressure from the Netroots was instrumental in getting Sens. McCaskill (D-MO) and Specter (D-PA) to come out against the Thune Amendment, an assault on federalism, personal security and the proposition that Dems might actually stand up for something.

The vote is at noon. Keep your calls coming, as we are on the cusp of wining this one and saving countless lives, not to mention shutting down a key element of the right-wing machine in DC: The NRA.

Here are your numbers once again:

Those whose minds need to be changed

Bayh (D IN) 202-224-5623

Bennet (D CO) (202) 224-5852

Collins (R ME) (202) 224-2523

Conrad (D ND) (202) 224-2043

Feingold (D WI) 202/224-5323

Hagan (D NC) 202-224-6342

Landrieu (D LA) (202)224-5824

Lincoln (D AR) (202) 224-4843

McCain (R- AZ) (202) 224-2235

Pryor (D-AR) (202) 224-2353

Reid (D – NV) 202-224-3542

Snowe (R – ME) (202) 224-5344

Udall (D – NM) 202-224-6621

Udall (D – CO) 202-224-5941

Voinovich (R- OH) (202) 224-3353

Warner (D – VA) 202-224-2023

Webb (D –VA) 202-224-4024

Those we must hold:

Kohl (D – WI) (202) 224-5653

Klobuchar (D – MN) 202-224-3244

Nelson (D - FL) 202-224-5274

UPDATE: (Nicole) The Thune Amendment, which needed 60 votes to pass, went down 58-39) Thanks to all who called. Nice to see we can beat the NRA.

Full disclosure: I have been hired to work with Mayors Against Illegal Guns on this effort, and couldn't be happier or more passionate about it.



Bolton Booed

Countdown w/o Olbermann has the video of Bolton being booed as he enters the UN. Also the segment includes reactions from Obama, Dodd, Voinovich and Kofi.

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From our UK friends, The Guardian's headline reads: "Bush bypasses Senate to install neo-con at UN"
Yellow Dog digs up this piece on Richard Holbooke's nomination. "Richard Holbrooke, who Republicans delayed for 14 months as Bill Clinton's nominee to the U.N., refused to bypass the Senate with a recess appointment, saying that it would introduce him to the world body with no credibility or authority."



A key Republican senator on Thursday questioned John Bolton's qualifications to be President Bush's U.N. ambassador, citing "serious deficiencies." Sen. George Voinovich of Ohio, who had earlier stunned Republican peers by saying he wanted to review allegations against Bolton, portrayed Bolton as “arrogant” and “bullying.” The senator said that while he would vote against the nomination in committee, he supported sending it to the full Senate for a vote...read on



Voinovich

"The United States can do better than John Bolton," Voinovich said

Should be case closed right?

"I am not so arrogant to think that I should impose my judgment and perspective (on) the U.S. position in the world community on the rest of my colleagues. We owe it to the president to give Mr. Bolton an up or down vote on the floor of the United States Senate."

It's not a question of arrogance, it's a question of qualification. What is the point of voting in these committees anyway if you recuse yourself from the process?



Voinovich cried on the Senate floor-Video

Emailer Kim: I'm watching the Bolton debate and Voinovich was crying, I'm talking actual tears here. He's afraid of what Bolton will do to further f**k up our already terrible world image and......he's afraid
that his koolaid sipping fellow republicans will vote for him tomorrow.

Emailer Mc: Pretty powerful moment, came at the end of his speech, right before Dowd's brief moment and Coleman the Chode who is on now. Definitely one of those "holy shit" moments.

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This is a better version.