Yesterday's Politico featured a post by Manu Raju explaining how both Democratic and Republican candidates are running against the NSA's Cheney-conceived domestic spying agenda-- the NSA's Cheney-conceived domestic spying agenda that Obama has largely kept intact.
Polling indicates that Ted Cruz would be the easiest Republican for a Democratic presidential nominee to beat in 2016. That may be because he's the most extreme and radical right-winger the GOP has ever come close to nominating, or it might just be because the polls are measuring a lack of name recognition. But there is no lack of name recognition on the far right fringes.
Over the weekend, David Freedlander did a story for the Daily Beast on The New Politics of Pot: The 2014 Candidates Who Want to Legalize It. "Forget decriminalization or medical marijuana," he wrote in way of introduction.
That brand new video above is a bit of a biography of the candidate Blue America endorsed for the Maine Senate seat, Shenna Bellows. She's running against Susan Collins, a DC-oriented career-politician who is often mischaracterized by the media as a "moderate." And while she may be moderate compared to crackpots like Ted Cruz of Texas and Jefferson Beauregard Sessions of Alabama, she's pretty far right for a Maine politician. And she consistently votes with Cruz and Sessions over 90% of the time.
Since taking over from Tim Sebastian in 2006, Stephen Sackur has been the anchor for the BBC's flagship news interview show, HARDtalk, which runs four times a week. I travel a lot, so I see it a lot. Sackur has a well-deserved reputation as the voice of Establishment Group Think propaganda and for asking questions and then aggressively interrupting his guests when they attempt to answer. He's one of television's most annoying little twits and I often wonder why credible figures ever agree to be interviewed by him. Last week, he interviewed Glenn Greenwald.
And you thought all the turkeys were on the table!One turkey not on the table is James Lankford, a far right extremist representing a relatively mainstream Oklahoma City. We hope that next year Tom Guild will defeat his reelection efforts and replace him in Congress. Tom is eager to join the Congressional Progressive Caucus and his Thanksgiving message fit in pretty well with theirs, even if it was of a more personal nature.
I hope you saw the Blue America e-mail about Maine senatorial candidate Shenna Bellows yesterday. She's the former ACLU executive director who's taking on Susan Collins this cycle. Although Collins is an old fashioned mainstream conservative, who nonetheless backs her reactionary colleagues nearly all the time, the media just delights in terming her a "moderate." Just like Chris Christie.
The new letter to Blue America members earlier today is all about electing a progressive U.S. Senator in Maine, Shenna Bellows. If you contribute to Shenna, or any Blue America candidate-- any amount-- you'll be a member too… and you'll get the e-mail blasts long before they're up on our blogs.
Both of Maine's congressmembers are Democrats-- and one, Chellie Pingree, is a strong progressive leader. Last year Obama beat Romney 401,306 (56%) to 292,276 (41%) in the state. And the Democrats regained control over both Houses of the state legislature. Still, the DSCC is reluctant to take on Senator Susan Collins.
