Friday Reads: Strange Things Afoot
Posted: December 5, 2014 Filed under: morning reads 62 CommentsGood Morning!
Well, it’s not the Ciricle K, but there’s a lot of odd things going on right now in the Landrieu / Cassidy race. Yes. I’m going local again and it’s all for a lost or good cause and what looks like my last stand in Louisiana. We’ve been Koch’d to death already. I can’t take any more.
First, Cassidy has fled to the safety of John Boehner’s arms after being constantly questioned about what looks like payroll fraud at his part time job at LSU’s HSC. Tiger Beat on the Potomac thinks he’s so far ahead in the race that he basically skipped out on appearances with Rick Santorum and Reince Preibus. I think he doesn’t want to answer any more questions and look as lame as he appeared on the Monday Night debate. Every time he opens his mouth, it’s basically yet another audition opportunity for a remake of Clueless. I still couldn’t believe how completely unprepared he seemed for that one debate.
Here’s how lopsided Louisiana’s Senate runoff is: Bill Cassidy is so far ahead that he’s not in the state campaigning. Two days before the election.
While Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu hustles across the Bayou State ahead of Saturday’s runoff, the Republican congressman is in Washington this week, voting on legislation and debating how to keep the government from shutting down. His press operation appears to be nonexistent.Cassidy is the overwhelming favorite to win this weekend, and he’s acted in the final weeks like a football team trying to run down the clock. He’s run a surprisingly low-profile campaign, trying to keep the race a referendum on the incumbent, who received just 42 percent of the vote in last month’s primary.
Cassidy skipped an appearance that he was supposed to make with former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) on Wednesday night in Shreveport, sending his wife, Laura, in his place. Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus is campaigning solo in the state Thursday.
Landrieu has an aggressive schedule with stops on Thursday in Grambling, Minden, Shreveport and Lake Charles. The last two days she was in Gretna, Hammond, Baton Rouge, New Roads, Vidalia and Monroe.
Cassidy told POLITICO off the House chamber during a round of votes Thursday afternoon that he will be in Lake Charles on Friday with Sen.-elect Joni Ernst (R-Iowa). Then he will drive across southern Louisiana and finish up in Jefferson Parish.
Mary’s Obituary is already being written by District Insiders.
Mary Landrieu is dead, and everyone knows it but Mary Landrieu.
The senior senator from Louisiana, a diminutive blond woman with a round, youthful face, is standing under a green canopy in the middle of an airfield. The canopy reads, “City of Hammond, Too Lovely to Litter.” There is frustration in her voice as she repeats, yet again, the message nobody seems to be hearing. “The national race is over,” she says. “This race is clearly now about what’s in Louisiana’s best interest.”
Landrieu’s death was foretold on November 4, when any remaining hope Democrats might have had that their candidates’ individual qualities could overcome voters’ hostility to the president was washed away in a national Republican wave of unexpected proportions. Though Landrieu was also on the ballot that day, thanks to Louisiana’s quirky election laws, it was only the first round—an all-parties primary featuring four Democrats, three Republicans, and a Libertarian. Landrieu got 42 percent of the vote; Bill Cassidy, a physician and Republican congressman, got 41 percent. Now the two of them are pitted head-to-head in a runoff election Saturday.
It is the last Senate contest of 2014 to be decided, a lingering loose end, a hangnail of an election that—now that Republicans have already won the Senate majority—will affect practically no one, except Mary Landrieu and her constituents.
Since the primary, Landrieu has undergone a series of humiliations. First, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee announced it would not spend any money supporting her in the runoff. Landrieu’s campaign was already practically broke, and in the weeks following the primary more than 90 percent of the television ads Louisiana voters saw were from Cassidy or groups supporting him.
Then, in a last-ditch attempt to demonstrate her clout in the Senate, Landrieu—who describes herself as “a strong supporter of the oil and gas industry”—persuaded Harry Reid, the outgoing Senate majority leader, to hold a vote on a bill to build the Keystone XL oil pipeline. She spent several days pleading with her Democratic colleagues to vote for it. On November 18, every Republican and 14 Democratic senators supported the bill. It fell short by a single vote. “FAIL MARY,” declared a Politico headline.
Now, no one gives Landrieu much of a chance. “She’s going to lose—it’s just a matter of how much,” Bernie Pinsonat, a pollster who works for both Republicans and Democrats, tells me. (Pinsonat began as a Democratic pollster, but that is no longer much of a viable occupation in this state.) Elliott Stonecipher, a Shreveport-based political analyst, adds: “She’ll have trouble doing better than the 42 percent she got in the primary, and it could be worse than that.” Many observers question Landrieu’s campaign strategy, from her muddled message to the way she has allocated her funds. But, says Bob Mann, a former Democratic staffer who now writes a newspaper column and teaches at Louisiana State University, “She could be the best swimmer in the world, and it wouldn’t matter. The tide is just too strong.”
Still, Landrieu must go through the motions. She must play out the string. “I am fighting hard until the end,” she announces in Hammond, surrounded by several local mayors and state legislators and a couple of dozen supporters. December in Louisiana: sunny and 80 degrees. Outside the canopy, a man and a woman with six platinum-blond children are waving a sign that says, “Babies are a blessing. Choose life.” They are handing out pro-Cassidy literature. On the other side of the canopy, a woman is holding a Sierra Club sign that says, “Keep the Frack Out of My Water.” (Landrieu is pro-fracking.)
Landrieu approaches a pair of grandmotherly women in Democratic Party T-shirts and puts her arm around one of them. They’ve been making phone calls on her behalf, and she wants to know if the word is getting out—are people starting to see that this race isn’t about the national parties, but about the local matters Landrieu wants it to be about? Has anything changed since the primary?
“I haven’t seen any change,” says Jeanne Voorhees, a 72-year-old with a cross necklace. Bernadette Powell, who is 68 and moved to this part of the state when she lost her New Orleans house in Hurricane Katrina, tells Landrieu she thinks she spent too much time in this week’s debate haranguing Cassidy about a late-breaking scandal involving his Louisiana State paycheck.
“Focus on your record! Your record is good!” Powell tells Landrieu.
“You would think people would be focused on that,” Landrieu says, shaking her head, “but it’s tough.”
Pimp and Rape Barn owner James O’Keefe–who frequently masquerades as a “journalist”–has been parading 
around Landrieu’s offices with a camera harassing people. The New Orleans Twitterarti have been having a bit of fun with him. How many folks will want to go down his rabbit hole?
O’Keefe and creepy friend Gavin McInnes have been stalking Mary and the rest of us for some time. I mean really, he’s already on parole for breaking into her office. Don’t we get some kind of notice when sexual predators are around?
After Nadia sent the rape barn email, she says James published a response on Project Veritas’ website, then deleted it. Nadia writes that it contained images of documents from James’ legal battle with Isabel Santa, the former Project Veritas member who warned CNN reporter Abbie Boudreau about James’ plan to trap and sexually humiliate her on a “love boat.” Apparently Project Veritas fired Isabel after the ordeal; her lawyer argued that this treatment could qualify as “wrongful termination, negligent misrepresentation, fraud, harassment, negligence, conspiracy and detrimental reliance,” and ended up with a $20,000 settlement. Nadia saved the documents and published them on her blog.
In the words of blogger Lamar White, “What if I told you that the guy who orchestrated Cassidy’s employment arrangement with LSU actually quit his job for two weeks in order to begin drawing his pension? And then he was rehired? What if his pension was $20,000 A MONTH? ” Yes. Double Bill was mentored by a stellar double dipper. I’m actually beginning to think the Cassidy candidacy was all about getting him to a place where he’d have to resign so Bobby Jindal could appoint Tony Perkins as a Senator. Could any one find a worse candidate than this man?
In a real bizarre turn of events, Landrieu has been dissing Maria Cantwell for being a greenie.
“If I don’t get back there as a senior member of the committee,” said Landrieu, “we’re gonna have a woman who I like very much, [but] I’m not sure Louisiana’s going to think very much of a senator from Washington state who’s all for windmills and alternative energy, and doesn’t support the oil and gas industry! That’s who’s gonna take my place as head of this committee.”
She was talking about Washington Senator Maria Cantwell, a third-term Democrat from a far less conservative state. At 9:39 Pacific time—minutes after Landrieu said this—subscribers to Cantwell’s donor list got an e-mail asking them to help out a friend.
While a conservative PAC has been dissing her as taking too much money from the oil and gas industry. We’ve seen really lopsided numbers of ads the last week.
Groups backing Landrieu have aired just 100 television ads on her behalf since the Nov. 4 primary. Conservative organizations, meanwhile, have run about 6,000 commercials for Cassidy, according to the The Center for Public Integrity. The election is Saturday.
Anyway, I’m going to try to make some last ditch efforts for her tonight and tomorrow. I still can say one thing for sure. I don’t want to be here for another big hurricane with Vitter and Cassidy being the major politicos around. The state will be drowned for certain.
One last nail in the coffin for me was announced by UNO where more faculty and programs are being cut. What can I possibly say about a state that’s more willing to subsidize the salary of Tom Cruise than rebuild it’s one major public urban university?
I just don’t think I can take any more of this. What’s on your reading and blogging list today?
peej
Carissa
bostonboomer
ecocatwoman
mablue2
Mama Lopez
peggysue22
quixote
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
I feel your pain, Dakinikat. On top of LA probably being stuck with Cassidy, it seems as if Mary Landrieu is been rapidly morphing into a Republican.
It’s not doing her any good. The only thing the majority of white people are motivated by is hating Obama.
Just like here. The Dems talking about A bad campaign by Davis are fully aware that Ann Richards would have been beaten just as badly. They just need to have a circular firing squad and get rid of Battleground TX so they can grab more money for local consultants. Fortunately, Battleground TX isn’t going away.
That’s good to know.
Speaking of morphing into a Republican! I don’t think Landrieu shouldn’t be holding up one of my Senators — Cantwell — “who’s all for windmills and alternative energy, and doesn’t support the oil and gas industry!” as an example of who not to be. Wind farms provide jobs and energy. They’re not the perfect answer, but if wind turbines break you don’t have oil spills.
http://www.awea.org/Resources/state.aspx?ItemNumber=5179
The Cleveland PD officer who shot and killed Tamir Rice had a troubling past (see Thursday post), but I didn’t know when I wrote it that his partner was, if anything, more unfit for duty than the shooter.
Cleveland paid out $100,000 to woman involving excessive force lawsuit against officer in Tamir Rice shooting
Well, holy shit…what a perfect team they made.
Phoenix Police Kill Unarmed Black Man After Mistaking Pill Bottle for Gun
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/12/phoenix-police-kill-unarmed-black-man.html
Another horrible story about a fucked up cop. Can’t help but wonder if their training is this bad or if they’re just killers at heart?
I think that the pay is so bad now a days, the only people who get into law enforcement are the loser wannabe assholes…it gives them a chance to wave a gun around and pretend it is a big dick…which is what they are probably lacking in the first place. Sorry. All this really pisses me off. That. And also there is this:
Rolling Stone backs off U.Va. rape story – Fredericksburg.com: Transportation
Rape story unravels: Rolling Stone says trust in UVA source ‘misplaced’ | Fox News
UVA Anger Focused on Rolling Stone After Rape Story Discredited – Businessweek
I mean…wtf?
Um . . . the rape story hasn’t been discredited.
I know that is what I mean You would think from these stories that it was. Like you mentioned earlier, what is really disgusting is that the press is saying it has been discredited when it hasn’t.
I know. I wasn’t directing that comment at you–I knew what you meant.
Yeah, sorry…see I thought you would know what I meant. 😉 lol
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/people-in-nature/201412/why-i-can-t-breathe-will-be-the-meme-the-decade
That’s an excellent article. I think all of us at some time have felt the “I can’t breathe” emotion. We really need to change our sick society in a lot of ways and corralling the police is a good start.
I’m still woozy from pain meds after having some oral surgery today, so forgive me if I don’t make sense, but I just heard on the news that the police are blaming Eric Garner for contributing to his death because he was overweight and in poor health.
Yes, and it’s not just cops.
Yeah, I heard that too. The racist here in Banjoville are saying it too…along with the fact that he shouldn’t have been selling non-taxed cigarettes. Because you know, if he wasn’t breaking the law he would be alive today.
Decline and fall: Emperor Jindal as the ancient Romans might have seen him
http://thelensnola.org/2014/12/05/decline-and-fall-emperor-jindal-as-the-ancient-romans-might-have-seen-him/
All of us locals have been discussing that Atlanta article and a Salon one too that basically says Southern Democrats are extinct now unless they are black Southern Democrats from Black Districts. John Breaux and others have been saying that they have to go ahead and be moderate and try to win, but I’m not sure if anything is retrievable with that strategy any more because all the Repubs did this election was say Democrat official = Obama = BAD. It’s like the promise of electing white Republicans who would continually tell them they were superior to black people is all they care about. Reminds me of the old LBJ quote.
LBJ in 1960: “If you can convince the lowest white man that he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket.”
LBJ was a very smart politician!
Agreed.
Wish there was a “like” button for this!
That is so fucking true Dak.
And now for something really important – the chocolate chip cookie and its history! 🙂 I know it’s O/T, but I found the article so interesting, well written, not depressing and thought I would share it since I can’t share the cookies in cyberspace.
Goddess bless Ruth Wakefield!
Our system is fubar.
gawker: Why Should Anyone “Respect” the Law?
Matt Taibbi with a great take on the overall problem.
Rolling Stone: The Police in America Are Becoming Illegitimate
Bill Cassidy for US Senate:
http://commoncts.blogspot.com/2014/12/bill-cassidy-for-us-senate.html
Wow. Those are pretty powerful and pretty great examples of why the guy should go back to being a liver specialist instead of bringing nationwide embarrassment to the state. You really that racist that you consider those ramblings a reason to vote for him? Hope you don’t ever have another natural disaster in your neck of the swamps because you’re never going to get any help from any where again. That guy couldn’t charm a mouse out of snake’s mouth let alone anything from Mitch McConnell like relief for anything. The only thing he’s going to be is a reliable vote for the richest of the rich in this country.
Remeber the guy who was recently accidentally shot in the dark hallway.
NY Daily News: Rookie NYPD cop who shot unarmed black man texted union reps before radioing for help: report
Not just an insecure, violence-loving, shoot 1st & ask questions later cop, but a real jerk on top of all his other slimy qualities. Really bad type for police work.
http://live.huffingtonpost.com/r/segment/rolling-stone-uva-rape-case-/5474b8a42b8c2ad1d1000419
MORE on the UVA rape story apology on Rolling Stone.
Reading that WaPo story which brought this on, it seems like a laundering of loads of anonymous frat bro quotes which doesn’t prove anything much. A faulty memory on the part of a gang rape survivor should not be a surprise, I assume it would be the norm.
I haven’t read the stories yet, but I’m just about finished with the book by Liz Securro, who was gang raped at a rush party in 1984 in the same frat as the one in the RS story. Her experience was so similar to the one in the story RS is supposedly “apologizing” for. I’m just sick about this, and I don’t know if I can read the “apology” articles.
Supposedly RS has “new information,” but they don’t say what it is. Are we talking about tiny inconsistencies in the story of a person who was drugged and traumatized? Until I know what the “new information” is, I’m reserving judgment. Why should I take the word of the editor of RS or a bunch of fraternity guys?
The local news did some interviews at UVA. An anti-sexual assault group is holding a candlelight vigil in support of victims, including Jackie, so that women are not discouraged from reporting sexual assault in light of these recent developments.
A couple of students said exactly what you referred to above, that any trauma expert will tell you that memories of trauma victims very often differ on small details as a result of what they experienced. This does not mean she wasn’t gang raped.
So far, I’m not hearing anything about the University backing away from this.
I haven’t read anything to make me question the larger allegation at all.
I’m glad I’m not alone. The woman who wrote the book I just finished reading had a very similar experience to the one described by “Jackie.”
On the other hand, an NBC 12 reporter, Curt Autry, is gloating on his FB page about the fact that “the story is unraveling” just like he said it would.
https://www.facebook.com/CurtAutryNBC12?fref=nf
Goes to show you, Richmond is changing but it still has a long way to go.
It really sounds like the old boy network is working overtime on this … the huffington post link is an interview that includes Amanda Marcotte …I got it from her
I couldn’t watch it. Does Marcotte go along with the party line? If so, I’ll never read anything by her again.
I have been looking for one simple undisputed fact which disproves the claim of the victim. There are a lot of questions and niggling, perhaps, errors but nothing dispositive that I have found. The WaPo story just takes the frat boys at their word that they are telling the truth.
For instance, they publish as fact that no “frat party” was held on the day of the rape. Then at the bottom of the article they say no records of “frat parties” were kept for 2012. How the fuck is that not just a “he said” statement reported as truth?
The WaPo story says that Jackie changed her story. At first it was 5 men, then later 7. She could have heard rumors about the number of perpetrators.
In Liz Securro’s book she describes how she was given a “special drink” and became woozy and so uncoordinated she couldn’t walk well. She recalled being raped by a man who was prosecuted 20 years later and went to jail. He confessed.
Once the police and prosecutor started investigating, they learned she had actually been raped by 3 men, and the one who confessed was the third. She had been raped twice while completely unconscious. Liz had always wondered, because she had heard rumors on campus of a “gang rape” that happened at the frat party, and knew they must be talking about her.
They were unable to prosecute the other two perpetrators, but Liz did get some approximation of justice and felt proud of standing up for herself.
Rolling Stone may know something the WaPo didn’t publish. What a mess.
I can’t read them either BB, so if you do let us know more.
This appears to be the totality of the Fraternities actual rebuttal to the Rolling Stone story.
To me that doesn’t dispute the victim’s allegiations except around the edges.
The WaPo located the man that supposedly took Jackie to the frat party and he claims not to have ever dated her. He was not a member of Phi Kappa Psi. He did work with her at the swimming pool as a lifeguard.
Perhaps this rape happened at a different house? It’s not surprising that Jackie’s memories would be confused, but Sabrina Erdeley should probably have tried to make sure that party had taken place at the Phi Psi house.
The WaPo was incorrect in their claim that Jackie stated that the people who raped her were rushees of the frat. She said she didn’t know who most of them were.
Ooops! This is getting really messy. The WaPo deleted the claim that the man did not know Jackie, and they didn’t make note of a correction to the story!
This is so pathetic. The Washington Post must have an unknown interest in this story cause their reporting is a fucking mess. Most people seem to taking them at face value though which is a big mistake!
Fuck me! It’s a new meme that the RS story was debunked, which is a complete lie!
Rolling Stone scapegoats rape victim, makes matters worse, by Alexandra Brodsky
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/rolling-stone-scapegoats-rape-victim-makes-matters-worse
Irin Carmon on the RS “abdication of responsibility.”
http://www.msnbc.com/the-reid-report/watch/rolling-stone-sex-assault-story-questioned-367733315842
That poor, poor girl (the UVA rape victim). Now she gets to be raped by the media, by the public… Yeesh. One of the ‘objections’ that I read is that if she was really bloody and hurt badly, her friends offered really bad advice (not to see a doctor/get help) and noone would do that. Oh yea? A friend 17-18 would be able to evaluate wounds? Would be able to separate their own feelings? Would be mature enough to know what was a ‘bad’ wound, and what needed a bandaid? Come on.
I am so angry and disgusted, I don’t know what to do except weep.
https://twitter.com/RealLifeKaz/status/541028069708804096
Well, as if we needed more of it, this is confirmation that Jeb is running.