Around the Horn Friday: Wayne Smith Cash-in Edition
The departure of Wayne Smith this week dominated several of the local blogs. Some of the best coverage was by First State Politics. Let it never be said that I don’t give credit when it is due. Of course, Dave is also calling in the reinforcements. This could be a fun election. Hopefully it is another chance to vote against Republicans. Lucky Claymonters.
On the other wingnut website, the only thing that I could really endorse was Hube’s coverage of a well placed spelling error at the Snooze Journal.
Blue State Rising has a piece that was spun off of a WNJ story earlier in the week. The most highly bribed wined-and-dined lobbied House member is Terry Spence. Terry, can you hook a brother up for the Police reunion concert?
Over at Delaware Grapevine, it is all Wayne Smith, all the time.
Dana is covering the implications of sex change for a Largo, FL official. Good thing I keep my equipment in the refrigerator next to the pickles (Mrs. Geek’s orders).
Donviti has a story on why Rudy is worse than Bush. At least Bush was signed up for the military (I’m just sayin’).
Mike at Down with Absolutes is taking it personally that Wayne Smith is leaving.
Karmic Jay is going on vacation or something… Somewhat mysteriously he doesn’t know when he will be back…
Kavips gets all Lettermanesque on the stock markets’ jitters.
Kilroy is nuts. He is the only one who could possibly say in the same breath that John Kowalko caused Wayne Smith to resign AND say that it proves that Kowalko is a rookie…
Over at MeritBoundAlley, Joe is talking about how we kill people that kill people. We call that modeling behavior.
M.O.T. Newbie seems to still be hung over from the beers we had together last weekend.
Nancy at Delaware Way has an exhaustive list of the dubious “accomplishments” of Wayne Smith.
Tags: Around the Horn
Great round up. I liked this bit on the special election from Grapevine.
As loyal as the district has been to Smith, sticking with him since 1990, it veered Democratic for both president and governor in 2004, going with John F. Kerry and Ruth Ann Minner.
Delaware is chock-full of Republican office-holders whose districts have blued up since they first took office, but who hang on simply due to voter inertia and the DSM (DIPstream Media). This is why a Dem would win an open election for Castle’s seat. Dems simply need to focus on candidate recruitment to keep winning. The Republican message simply isn’t taking hold among Delaware voters – for the forseeable future Dems’ worst enemy is themselves.
When has the Dems worst enemy not been Dems? The entire republican agenda is patently ludicrous and the conservative republican agenda is more so.
Guys like Smith and Adkins should have been laughed off the public stage early on. Democratic Party sloth and self-satisfaction are the only explanations for Republican gains in the 90’s up through Bush.
I like traditional Republicans as an opposition minority. Republican principles have failed at governing, but Democrats need a strong Republican minority to check liberal excesses.
I’ll bet you pine for the good old days of the old cold war too.
To be honest, I don’t blame you. As a colleague of mine once said, “The cold war? That was PEACE!”
…was it something I said?
I have a nice post up that is a reply to Tyler Nixon’s defense of Newt that I would much rather highlight 🙂
as always thanks for the nod.
Tommywonk has a post up about the redaction by energy production proposals:
“All of the companies chose to redact some financial information from their proposals, which are available here. Some of the information being withheld from the public is essential to evaluating the proposals”
we got a hot one over at my place. Tyler Nixon has gone rabid!
Chill out, donviti… in the end it doeesn’t matter where the discussion takes place. As Tommywonk pointed out previously, Delaware bloggers are unique in that both sides link to each other and participate in each other’s discussions. It doesn’t matter where you pop up, you are still building your brand by participating.
By the way, yours is the most underrated blog in Delaware. I read it every day. Nice work!
anon,
thanks for the props. If you have read enough of me then you may be aware I am slightly sarcastic….and to counter my own point I should be aware that my sarcasm doesn’t seem to transcend 100% of the time in print or whatever you call it when it is on a blog….type?
but again
tyler nixon is rabid, rabid I say!
woooohoooooooooo
so to clarify my clear as mud point….
I was f’ing around about my posts over there. The irony being of course that this is an around the horn post with intentions of getting it’s readers to check out other readers.
Haha, sure sure donviti. I am foaming at the mouth.
Gosh I am so happy I was rope-a-doped into feeling bad for you because no one would comment on your blog….even about your own post. Nevertheless I am glad I could assist with your getting anyone to pay attention to your blog. Good luck with it.
Your comments over here really make my visit seem so worthwhile now and, of course, not at all “personal”. I will be back to visit you real soon, for some more scintillating commentary. Now, hold your breath.
(Cripes, what was I thinking?)
Happy sunny Friday y’all!
next time you want to defend Newt Gingrich or any other corrupt politician feel free to Tyler.
You can play the “Clinton” card all you want but the only thing you could defend about Newt was that he didn’t cheat on his wife, whoops, wives.
Nevermind the ethics charges, the Fox/Murdoch deal or the draft dodging but hey I will concede to the fact that he didn’t cheat on his wives just divorced them.
What an outstanding Christian….
Thanks for the pity visit. Now feel free to go defend Tom Delay
Keep the slurry flowing, Donviti. You have no grasp on any facts, so we will just have to leave it with you repeating your laundry list of fantasy.
Incidentally, I think even liberals in here will attest to how much I detest Tom Delay and everything he did. But go ahead and start some slurry about how I defend Delay, maybe you can get people to start believing that invention too.
So for now I will stand by the FACT that he was charged with an ethics violation while the Republicans were in the majority.
I will agree to your point that every thing else is a rumor, even though Newt hasn’t sued anyone for slander regarding the wives thing or the deferment thingy.
But you must be right about that aso I will bow to you and leave it at that.
I know, I know but he DIDN’T cheat on his wives. You can also put me on record for saying I know you can’t stand the Bugman.
Have a nice weekend.
The link below is obviously written by someone who supports Newt but 1) it is contemporaneous with the final resolution of these much-touted “ethics charges” (’99ish) and 2) it is factually accurate, whether you agree with the politics of the author or not.
http://www.rightgrrl.com/carolyn/newt.html
It reflects what incredibly vindictive and trumped-up shite these “charges” were, from Dave Bonior – one of the most nasty Newt-haters of the disempowered Dems of the 104th Congress.
The college course in question was called “Renewing American Civilization” and I watched a number of the sessions on DC public television while working for Newt in ’95.
As someone who has spent most of my life involved in politics and earned a Government degree from Georgetwn Univ. I know what constitutes a “partisan” program or content. I would just as quickly identify it in a Republican as a Democrat.
Newt’s course was absolutely non-partisan. It was purely a discourse on ideas, principles, philosophy, and the rich civic history of what he called a uniquely American civilization.
It was about civic renewal and good leadership in the public sector. I learned a helluva lot from it, inspired to promote ideas above all and, in fact, motivated to work against their becoming entangled in partisanship and personalities. It was a message that absolutely was universal, not partisan in either direction. The most “partisan” it could be called would be “pro-American”, at least in my asessment.
This is why it almost makes me sick to my stomach to hear Gingrich being slandered by smear-mongers and those who choose to be purposefully uninformed, spreading the “big lie” with bogus not even half-rumors. Worse is when it comes with a vicious, spiteful, angry bile. Again, it makes me sick because I know damn well with my own eyes and my integrity on the line what is the truth of the matter, politics and party aside.
I say all of this because working for Newr really showed me what a honking, screaching, nasty, noisy spin machine (of the Clintons or whoever) can do to grind up the truth into a lot of really nasty, self-propagating, and persistent lies about an individual or even valid political proposals.
I sat in the House Office Bldg day after day trying to answer and talk to angry callers literally saying things like “You better not take away my social security, I got a letter saying this was going to be done”…or “I heard a [White House] official say you were going to do it”. I could not believe the lies of which the Clinton/Democratic spin machine was capable.
I despise the Clintons because this is their legacy. They NEVER could stand to lose and would do anything to win. Even though Newt, after 18 years doing battle in the House, gave a rip about the Clintons or their powertrip agenda he bested them at the purported height of their power drunkenness. He disrputed their rapture and they really became vile over it.
I do not believe Newt ever envisioned the bludgeoning this would mean for him, without respect to any of the ideas or proposals he had worked to put before the American people. In other words, Gingrich was too focused on effecting change and reform to realize he was going to be destroyed by the Clintons in their incessantly base public image manipulation, of both themselves and others. (Does this ring true to anyone? Aren’t they still up to it now, with even a decent guy like Obama?)
Anyway, this is my gut word on all of this. You can take it or leave it. I have problems with Newt ideologically and on a number of fronts in recent years.
This is not about supporting him or even defending him, really. For me it is about the goddamn truth for once, since I was literally there to see it. It is about taking a goddamn meat axe to the nasty politics the Clintons have injected into the mix, whether practiced by them or anyone else, then and NOW. Newt paid the highest price for this engineered nastiness…and as we can see, he still does.
As far as fat Bubba’s unwitting self-description about the “politics of personal destruction”, it was something he knew all too well when it was visited on him. After all he was the master of it.
We need to end this kind of corrosive personalized soap-opera garbage, even if it means dumping the whole lot on both sides of the aisle until the poison is out of the system.
I have to say that so far I am VERY IMPRESSED WITH THE CONGRESSIOAL DEMOCRATS IN HOW THEY HAVE REMAINED SUBSTANTIVE AND HARD AT WORK. But also Bush and the Republicans have not really gone on the attack…certainly nothing like Clinton and the Democrats went on the war path against the new Republican majority in ’95-96.
It would have been nice had we, in 1995, been given some good faith and breathing room, but who cares now any way. I just hope it doesn’t turn nasty again. Contention is fine, just not nastiness.
Donviti – if you can’t check the facts and even listen to someone (me) who, in many ways, was a first-hand witness then I really feel like you wasted my time and treated me, even on a personal level, like some kind of side show.
You don’t have yield a thing about Newt, but may I suggest you find something positive or constructive to say about someone, anyone for every 50 nasty things you say about the slew of public figures you can’t stand?
Even at that rate I think you might stack up the positives quickly. That would be something.
I repeat
tyler is rabid!
Donviti – if you can’t check the facts and even listen to someone (me) who, in many ways, was a first-hand witness then I really feel like you wasted my time and treated me, even on a personal level, like some kind of side show
are you saying you watched him have sex? cause that is just weird man, so Okay Newt didn’t cheat he just let his pals watch….
annnnnddddddddddd ooooooooonnnnnnnneeeeeee moooooreee thing:
So the ethics thing is made up too?
seems more like you are defending Newt b/c you hate the Clintons…..
and I’m done this time..I swear.
I know you may not believe me but I enjoyed this “discussion” not in a sadistic way either.
Thanks Donviti, you have finally found TPN’s soft spot – it’s Newt.
(Just kidding, TPN!)
Hah, yes I do appreciate Newt. People who lynch him can be sure to get my Irish up. But never my goad.
What can I say? I admire the handful of people through my life who inspired me to be involved, to think for myself, and to work for progress.
Newt definitely gets these accolades from me, irrespective of the fact that I no longer share many of his present views.
Ultimately Newt is at his best as a professor, he would say so. I think all of us remember and respect the teachers who touched somehow on our best instincts, frail and human as that teacher might be in other ways.
I think any of us would hate to see them trashed. Especially when you know it is utter and total rubbish.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is a fine example of a hijacked thread.
Every one is worrying about Wayne’s departure and I wish him the best.
Remember this fact, he will be working on Health Care, the number one domestic issue in the US.
That is the story not Newt Gingrich or Bill Clinton who both were brilliant men in their respective parties.
Dr. Nick and anon got it right – dems are a dems worst enemy. The grapevine says James Tiberius? Bowers is the republican candidate. ANyone know anything about him? Does anyone know about these Dems: Brady – Legislator cum Lobbyist (now cum Candidate?) or Morrison very liberal Ardenite or Colantono former candidate against Smith. Everyone is down on the Lobbyists now, so how could Brady be good idea? Oh, right its the dems. It’s a really Rep. District so how could a Liberal woman from Arden be a good idea? Oh, right its the dems. (although that would be my prefernce – the irony of replacing Wayne Smith with a liberal woman). And Colantono lost once so how could that be a good idea? Oh right… At leat he already knows the district. What the dems really need is another Biden to run. Is thereone in the district?
Mike – can a thread be rejacked?
And who is Tyler Nixon ranting on every blog in Delaware? At least Mike Protak is not verbose!
Sorry for not meeting your attention span requirements.
Oh and forgive me for not understanding just exactly what it is you are trying to babble above. Can you find me an online translator? I don’t read gibberish well.
(I think I would rather err by being verbose than by being just plain incomprehensible.)
Cheers!
Jim Bowers is a superb individual, married father of four and a sales exec with Verizon.
Jim was Vice Chair of Brandywine Region for a few years. I always thought of him as a common sense gent with a good foundation on many issues and a great temperament.
I wish him the best.
Tyler,
I honestly wish you had your own blog, because when you are all over the Delaware blogosphere, I feel like I might miss a good post that I would read completely.
I usually don’t have the time to digest your verbosity and debate team logic. I’m not berating you because I think that you are logical and long winded, just making a pithy observation.
It’s unfortunate you chose to treat me like one of the miscreants who labeled you rabid.
Slainte’
Mike,
Thanks for the info. Sounds OK. I usually vote Democratic, but will cross party lines like a Delawarean for a good candidate. Wayne was too conservative socially for my taste, is his neighbor Bowers cut from the same cloth?
Fair enough. Point taken.
I am passionate about all this stuff so, admittedly, can get carried away. I care enough to weigh in, warts and all…verbose as it can be. It that makes me rabid I guess I will just have to foam away.
I am sorry it bothered you or anyone else, but also disappointed that form draws more response than substance. If you don’t have time for it, don’t read it. It’s why we have scroll bars.
Debate team logic, though? Come on.
Good suggestion about starting a blog. I have considered it. Delaware has great blogs and I sincerely appreciate the outlet I have in them. So why crowd the field?
In fairness, I think I will just set a word limit on myself from here.