The Open Thread for Saturday, July 20, 2013
Christine O’Donnell wanted her name back in the news, because, you just know she is going to run again. She is, a month or so too late in my opinion, trying to latch on to the IRS non-scandal by claiming that her federal tax filings were somehow improperly accessed by Delaware Revenue officials.
State revenue director Patrick Carter said Friday that he spoke to a Treasury Department official in December about a state investigator’s access of federal tax records in March 2010. Carter described the incident as routine, and that state officials do not believe there was any impropriety.
Carter said the tax records in question were reviewed around March 20, 2010, which is when the News Journal published an article about O’Donnell’s financial problems. State tax auditor David Smith was the official who accessed the records, Carter said. I would tend to speculate that the tax auditor reviewed O’Donnell’s returns to see if she filed a false or incorrect return in light of the news of her financial difficulties, which is what a tax auditor should do, in my opinion. But watch O’Donnell use this as a springboard to a new candidacy in 2014.
Univision TV anchor Jorge Ramos says that all House Republicans have to do is vote “against immigration reform or boycott the process… That’s enough to make your candidate lose the presidential election in the United States in 2016.” Jorge Ramos is to the American Latino community as Walter Cronkite was to America in the 60’s and 70’s.
First Read: “Whether all Republican strategists are ready to admit it or not, this is damaging to the Republican brand, especially since the Spanish-language media so aggressively covers the immigration debate. While many conservatives have convinced themselves there’s no real political penalty in killing the Senate immigration compromise (or something similar) as far as 2014 is concerned, it could leave a long-term mark. Ramos’ warning shot is something that shouldn’t be ignored and simply seen through the prism of ‘biased media.'”
Pennsylvania GOP Chairman Rob Gleason has admitted that the state’s voter ID law limited President Obama’s margin of victory in last year’s presidential election, as it was intended to.
Said Gleason: “Yeah, I think a little bit. We probably had a better election. Think about this, we cut Obama by five percent, which was big. A lot of people lost sight of that. He won, he beat McCain by 10 percent, he only beat Romney by five percent. I think that probably voter ID helped a bit in that.”
WYOMING–SENATE–REPUBLICAN PRIMARY–Harper Polling: Sen. Mike Enzi (R) 55, Liz Cheney (R) 21.
The Cheney candidacy is sure not getting the reception that Darth Vader Dick envisioned…
Jon Lovett: “Perhaps the Republican Party needs to hit rock bottom and Liz Cheney is the last shot of rail tequila before the conservative movement blacks out, wakes up and heads to a meeting.”
Michelle Cottle: “And just like that, the entire Republican establishment grabbed for the Advil and the Johnnie Walker Black.”
Utah State Senator Aaron Osmond, who is of course a Republican, wants his state’s children to be as dumb as him. “The idea of forcing children to attend school is outdated and should be scrapped in favor of a system that encourages learning by choice,” said Osdumb, excuse me, Osmond in calling for an end to compulsory education in Utah. Yeah, learning by choice. What kid or teenager will voluntarily go to school?
The O’Donnell thing will crest and recede quickly – a state tax official reviewing a file of a routine tax delinquent, eek! – but if you want to get an idea of where Christine’s constituency is strongest, check out the her Facebook page. At this writing, her post on this topic has generated 108 likes, none of whose names you will recognize. I’ve not gone through all of them, but I don’t expect that more than five could find the Charcoal Pit.
Since the whole “IRS used for for political purposes” was BS to begin with, I’m sure it will live forever in teabag fever dreams.
If you saw the original Washington Times story on O’Donnell, you might note that there was only one source the reporter actually talked to who linked O’Donnell to anything suspicious. That person, of course, was Christine O’Donnell. The person she named who supposedly told her about it was unavailable, she wouldn’t name others who told her some other stuff, and Chuck Grassley’s office confirmed it had found instances like this, but O’Donnell’s case wasn’t among the four he complained about.
So the question now is, who put up the $$$ for the $3K ball gown she wore to the White House Correspondents’ Suckfest?
will her attempting to suck the money ever stop???
TT: Better people donate to her than to another wingnut who’s actually capable of getting elected, I suppose.
She says there was a voice mail. Has anyone heard it?
No, coz the only voices she hears are in her head
Sure, COD remains a pathetic excuse, but she single handedly destroyed the Tea Party in Delaware. As for the GOP and Latinos they know they need Latinos for a national win, but their white racist base will have none of it. And much like gerrymandering the effect of voter I.D. will be short lived, we’ve had in Delaware for decades. It’s another sign of desperation from the Republicans.
Manifold – the News Journal didn’t believe her and made her produce the voicemail, which she had creepily saved.
Nuttingham: Where did you see that? Was it in a different story than the one in the Saturday TNJ?
I don’t know if they reported it, but I do know that the NJ has the voicemail.