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(Grok goes the Full Fergus with president death "jokes." I'm sure that Sununu and that Eagle publishing subsidiary blog will get right on this. - promoted by Dean Barker)
Ugh, what is with the total inability of some NH political activists to understand that joking about the deaths of prominent current, former or potential future office holders is inappropriate, in bad taste, stupid, and, frankly, creepy and weird?
The latest comes from "Skip" at Granitegrok, who in his Friday humor posting decided that it would be a big LOL to joke about Barack Obama dying in a plane crash. Well, actually, the joke is that he does not die in the plane crash, an Iowa farmer buries him, even though Obama says he is not dead, because "you know how bad that sumbitch lies".
I'm sure Ryan Williams will demand an apology and resignation straightaway:
"We have seven weeks of hard work after Tuesday," Mr. Sununu said. "I came in to clean the vermin out, then I'll leave. I'm done. Done-zo. Finished. Kaput."
I agree Sununu should leave. I suggest the following retirement activities: air and limousine travel, golfing, skiiing, and stamp collecting.
During the last year we have run a positive campaign only on the issues. Every commercial we've done, every speech I've given through August 16th has been positive to the issues or properly comparative on issues: jobs, spending, the economy - great challenges that need to be fixed.
In return, five of the last six state chairmen have written viciously negative attacks on me that were untrue. An outside group was brought in by my opponents to engage in negative advertising, which were found by the nationally-recognized and respected organization Factcheck.org to be distortions and lies.
The state party itself even reprinted and sent out the negative press release from the attack group that came into our state to hurt us.
To ask for candidates to be positive and not to recognize that some campaigns have been viciously negative for weeks is to blatantly close one's eyes to reality.
Doesn't Binnie know that the only one allowed to stage a coup on Sununu was Judd Gregg, when he cleverly installed Ayotte as the official unofficial nominee?
John DiStaso's follow up on the attack by Republican front group Americans for Job Security on Republican US Senate candidate Kelly Ayotte is fascinating for too many reasons, so I'll only pick up on a few.
http://www.unionleader.com/art...
Kelly Ayotte called AJS "shady", with a "demonstrated record for false and sleazy attacks". Two prominent NH Republican strategists, long time Sununu family intimate David Carney and Republican operative Patrick Hynes, are involved with that shady organizaton: Carney as a consultant (and former e.d. of the group), and Hynes as a board member. But when it comes to the activities of AJS in their home state, Carney and Hynes are making like Sergeant Schultz.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
Hynes denied having anything to do with the effort. Sort of. Hynes said, "The first I heard about this was in the Granite Status...I didn't have any decision making authority in this at all." Hynes loves to parse statements by Democrats, so let's parse what Hynes just said.
Dean has already posted about the announcement by Americans for Job Security that it is targeting both Kelly Ayotte and John Lynch.
AJS has always refused to disclose where it gets its money, so we can only guess about who is funneling the cash this time. However, we can lift the veil of secrecy a tiny bit, and it leads to a couple of interesting facts, which lead to some interesting speculation.
Fact 1: According to the corporate fililngs of AJS in Virginia, one of the members of the Board of Directors of AJS is Patrick Hynes, of Faux!Hampshire, the phoney "news" web site, and sometimes guest on Granitegork. Hynes also is on the payroll for Tim Pawlenty. If I were Kelly Ayotte, I would be on the phone right now to the possible 2012 presidential candidate and ask him why one of his paid PAC consultants is working against her United States senate campaign. And if I were Pawlenty, I'd be on the phone to Hynes asking him why he is making trouble for him in NH, because this kind of thing will be remembered by Ayotte supporters come 2012.
New Hampshire senate candidates Kelly Ayotte and Ovide Lamontagne, egged on by party chair John H. Sununu, encourage the President of the United States (who is popular in New Hampshire) to resign.
"Mr. Lambert's comments were disgusting, inappropriate, and offensive. That is why I, as Chairman, asked for an immediate condemnation from our State Party - and that was done. I am encouraged that so many Granite Staters of all political persuasions denounced this vicious personal attack. We are all in agreement that what Mr. Lambert said is completely reprehensible and doesn't belong in our public dialogue."
I suspect this was prompted insofar as the story was starting to become about him, and not Lambert.
But whatever. This statement is ultimately for the good, for everyone involved.
This is an interesting story about Sununu's remarks to a group of New England Republicans over the weekend.
http://www.projo.com/news/poli...
Note he wants to rub Democrats noses in "it" on every issue, no matter how trivial.
Also, he says Democrats did not win on issues, but because our mechanics are better. As one of the mechanics, I would like to agree with him 100%, but that would be wrong - if your car is a lemon, it doesn't matter what the mechanics do. He is in a state of denial.
Last, he is still ranting about the San Francisco agenda:
New Hampshire's GOP chairman criticized Democrats about raising money from "radical billionaires" and pushing their "San Francisco agenda."
He is very grumpy about that San Francisco agenda. I think someone must have told him to stop talking about it, because we haven't heard him mention it in a few months, but I can see it is still bothering him!
...few people would call C. Boyden Gray a radical in any sense of the word. He's a lifelong Republican and the former White House counsel under President George H. W. Bush. Two decades ago, he became the father of the cap-and-trade system that's been used ever since to control acid rain.
..."I remember [then-White House Chief of Staff] John Sununu blew up, and he said, 'My God, you're going to strangle America,' and I said, 'No, John, calm down,' and he calmed down - and the rest is history," he says.
Cap and trade was a success on all fronts, Gray says. "It turned out to be even cheaper than I had anticipated. We were thinking $1,500 a ton - it turned out to be less than $300 a ton to control these emissions. I called it an almost near-miracle, but in retrospect, it wasn't all that surprising."
I think what is particularly textbook about this summary is in capturing how in US national media culture, legitimate policy struggles are only allowed to occur between moderate and radical Republicans. Despite Democrats' owning the White House and both chambers of Congress, and despite the almost total absence of moderate Republicans in 2009, the traditional media still behaves this way. Sigh.
The problem with being a stealth candidate is that it only works with a cleared path to the nomination. This, from Roll Call (subs. only) is downright comical (emphases mine):
Although most Republicans only had kind words to say about the telegenic Ayotte, even her supporters had a hard time describing her political leanings. Meanwhile, several other Republicans are considering running for the Senate and could force a divisive primary that wouldn't be decided until just a few months before the winner will face the likely Democratic nominee, Rep. Paul Hodes.
Ayotte supporter and former state Sen. Bob Clegg (R) worked regularly with her when they were in office, but he was at a loss when asked to pinpoint where he thought she would fall on the political spectrum.
Of course, being primaried by Lamontagne and others (Bass?) could help with the whole campaigning thing:
"She certainly didn't turn people off and make them run away," said the operative. "I think a lot of people looked at it and said, 'OK, it's a good starting point. Let's see what comes next.'"
...Another neutral Republican operative in New Hampshire - who also declined to speak on the record - said that many people think Ayotte is not a good public speaker, plus her fundraising prowess is uncertain.
And as for John H. Sununu, could there be a party chairman anywhere in the country less enthusiastic about a DC anointed, NRSC approved senate candidate? I'm not going to quote more, since it would go beyond fair use, but let's just say this is yet another Ayotte article where Sununu feels necessary to point out that there will be a primary, that others want to run. But this time he goes even further, especially noting that he knows Ovide better than Ayotte, having talked to him "many times."
Republicans cheered the [JUA] decision as rightful but didn't immediately offer up their ideas of their own.
From the sidelines, former governor John Sununu declined to offer any suggestions. "I never would have put the state in such a precarious position by building a budget based on such a foolhardy gambit," he said. "This was extremely risky. This was a wing and a prayer."
But what would Sununu do from this point forward? "That's his problem," he said.
Meanwhile, how dare those House Democrats revive their crazy ideas about having the well-to-do pay their fair share?
House Finance Chairwoman Marjorie Smith of Durham noted that House budget-writers had passed two taxes that didn't make the final cut for the budget: a tax on estates worth more than $2 million and another on capital gains over $5,000. Together they would bring in about $85 million. House Ways and Means Chairwoman Susan Almy of Lebanon seconded that in a phone message this week.
Erstwhile Governor of New Hampshire, John "Rip Van" Sununu recently kicked off his "I hate New Hampshire" tour by publicly campaigning against our state. Like his son John E. Sununu, who lost his Senate seat last fall, "Rip Van" Sununu hasn't been in the halls of power in some time and he's not happy about it. Unhappy that his family is out of power and New Hampshire is thriving under Governor Lynch's leadership, "Rip Van" Sununu has been taking his anger out on the Granite State.
CONCORD - On one of the many stops of his "I hate New Hampshire" tour, John "Rip Van" Sununu sat down to an editorial board with the Concord Monitor and reportedly spent his time railing against the Granite State. Sununu claimed that the quality of life in New Hampshire had been diminished in recent years but didn't offer any empirical evidence to back up his assessment. Then, just days after Sununu's tirade against New Hampshire at the Monitor, the Annie E. Casey Foundation released its ranking of the best places to raise children and for the fourth time in five years our state was ranked number one. So, why is the former Governor so set on tearing down New Hampshire?
Since Sununu's time in the corner office, our state has flourished. Here are just a few examples of why it's great to live in the Granite State today:
* Personal income has more than doubled, from an average of $20,512 in 1990 to $41,512 in 2007
* Our state still has one of the lowest tax burdens in the nation
* Our population has grown significantly in the last decade, spurring tens of thousands of new home sales
* Our population is better educated, with nearly ten percent more Granite Staters holding bachelors degrees than they did in 1990
* Our environment has become a priority for our elected leaders, with a commitment to increase the use of renewable energy sources to 25 percent by 2025
* Our state has finally lived up to its "live free or die" motto, with the passage of marriage equality, strong anti-discrimination laws, and the repeal of anti-choice statutes
* Our state has one of the lowest crime rates in the nation
* Our state was once again named the best place to raise children
"Over the last two decades, New Hampshire has grown into a place where individual liberty and prosperity thrive. Just because his family is no longer running the show doesn't mean Mr. Sununu should spend his time tearing down our state. New Hampshire has changed in the last twenty years and its time that Mr. Sununu stop romanticizing the past and start appreciating all our state has to offer," said Victoria Bonney, Communications Director at the New Hampshire Democratic Party.
(Posted by Victoria Bonney, Communications Director at the New Hampshire Democratic Party)
NHDP Chairs past and present came out swinging against Papa Sununu's latest temper tantrum. Two examples:
Ray (Monitor):
What did Sununu and Republican leaders do during the budget process? They called for unspecified cuts at the 11th hour, which would have shifted costs to municipalities and increased local property taxes by over $100 million dollars. This kind of irresponsible behavior should come as no surprise from Sununu's party - after all, he raised taxes significantly during his tenure as governor to pay for a 27.5 percent increase in state spending.
Kathy (UL):
There also is a significant difference in attitude on issues relating to the environment. Mr. Sununu is still arguing that climate change is a "phony crisis" based on bad science. Jeanne Shaheen signed the Clean Power Act, requiring reductions in pollutants, such as mercury and carbon dioxide. John Lynch worked to ban the burning of toxic construction debris in our state and to increase the use of renewable energy sources to 25 percent by 2025.
Y'all know I have my moments with the gov - particularly on pledge politics.
But on balance - there's no question which party moved our state forward in recent history. I mean, the other team offered us Craig Benson.
John H. Sununu is so busy legacy hunting, he doesn't mind if it means impugning the character of a Supreme Court Justice, himself perhaps the least impugnable public figure of our time:
Sununu prefaced the story [of his role in souter's appointment] by recounting the scene at a party he held for three new judges he had appointed to the superior court when he was governor in the 1980s. Sununu addresses the crowd about "what it takes to be a judge in New Hampshire: good character, intelligent and all these wonderful little platitudes. And I look over and all three of them are about that high or shorter," he said, bringing his had up to his eyebrow. "So I say, in New Hampshire you can't be any taller than the governor. And everybody laughs, ha-ha-ha-ha, and I go back to my office."
After the party, Sununu said, staffers asked him if he'd noticed what had happened after that joke. He said he had, everybody laughs. "They say 'No! Every lawyer in the room went [bends his knees],' " Sununu said.
"That anecdote is a very, very significant lesson on the perils of appointing judges. Because all their life they effectively walk around crouched to suit the formula that will achieve their ambition," Sununu said. "So David Souter had very conservative decisions as a (New Hampshire) Supreme Court judge. In his interviews, he knew that George Bush was looking for a conservative judge, and gave everybody that impression. It came down to David Souter versus Edith Jones. I frankly supported Edith Jones, because I thought the president would get great credit for supporting a second woman to the court."
Here's an account from Time in 1990:
Nor had many on the G.O.P.'s right wing. They would have preferred an outspoken champion of their cause, like Federal Appeals Court Judge Edith Jones of Texas, a law-and-order advocate who was the President's second choice. But they take comfort from the fact that Bush's pick has the strong backing of White House chief of staff John Sununu, a former Governor of New Hampshire who appointed Souter to the state supreme court in 1983. Says one senior Republican: "There's been a lot of wink-wink, nod-nod among conservatives who think Souter is Sununu's guy and therefore can be trusted."
...After Souter was contacted at his office in Concord, he made three calls in quick succession to Rudman. The first was to tell Rudman the news. Then Souter quickly phoned again, inquiring whether it was possible to fly to Washington directly from Manchester, N.H. ("This is not a guy who travels a lot," says Rudman.) Souter called a third time to add that at the White House he would not discuss how he might rule in future cases. "They ought to know that beforehand," Souter insisted. "It might save all of us a lot of time."
Look, if right-wingers want to lament Souter's record, go for it. (He's a judicial, not a political conservative, but I don't expect them to get that difference in meaning anyway.)
But to imply that he somehow hid his liberal leanings in order to become a Supreme Court Justice under a Republican president is an insult of the highest order when directed at someone like David Souter, who has spent his entire career, from what I have read of him, guided by keeping politics out of the courtroom.
It's also especially galling that a man who threatened to make New Hampshire known to America as the home of abusers of taxpayer money is trying to burnish the historical record in his favor at the expense of another man who may very well go down in American history as the most shining example of the traditional, thoughtful, frugal character of our state.
Hard to know what Papa Sununu's up to here, but it looks like he's not taking Judd's coup of the NHGOP lying down. Maybe this is his way of getting the BassMaster to run?
Ayotte has said she won't be making any comments on where she stands on specific issues until she officially announces a campaign, but her state party chairman, John H. Sununu, said he believes she's a down-the-line conservative.
"I think she's much more conservative than the press has made her out to be. She's pretty conservative on the social issues, and she's extremely conservative on the fiscal issues," Sununu said in an interview with POLITICO.
...Asked if she opposed abortion rights, Sununu said: "I believe so. I don't think I've ever seen a formal statement on her part, but having known her over the years, that's my perception."
"For more than ten years, Kelly Ayotte has made significant contributions to the State of New Hampshire through her work at the Attorney General's office. As the first female Attorney General in New Hampshire history, Kelly was appointed first by a Republican Governor and then reappointed by a Democratic Governor, a bipartisan testament to her credentials and effectiveness in the office. Kelly's steadfast commitment to promoting law enforcement efforts and ensuring the safety of everyone has helped to keep New Hampshire a great place to live and raise a family. We thank her for her efforts on behalf of the Granite State."
John H. Sununu on Kelly Ayotte's quitting:
"Kelly Ayotte's announcement further demonstrates that our party has many outstanding Republicans interested in running for office in 2010."
The emerging skirmish between the Sununu Dynasty and Every Day is Judd Gregg Day is getting to be popcorn-worthy. Pindell:
Over the weekend Gregg told the Concord Monitor that "Sununu obviously the person who should have the first shot at the seat."
On the radio Gregg said he probably misspoke on that comment, but that Sununu "has a unique situation and he will be a strong senator again. That doesn't mean he is the only person to be considered."
He also spoke well of Attorney General Kelly Ayotte as a potential candidate.
