Posts Tagged: Rick Santorum

Government / Politicking — No Comments
5
Nov 08

I think the Germans have a word for this?

From the Department of Karma (KDKA via Keystone Politics):

Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum’s right to vote in Penn Hills has been challenged — and election officials will not count his absentee ballot (or that of his wife) until the matter is resolved, Allegheny County Elections Department director Mark Wolosik confirmed.Erin Vecchio, chairman of the Penn Hills School Board and chair of the Penn Hills Democratic Party, says she challenged the Santorums’ right to vote in Pennsylvania this morning because they really live in Virginia. …

Vecchio, who has had a long-running dispute with Santorum over his residency, says the former senator and his family live in “an undisclosed location” in northern Virginia and that his attempt to vote here is “voter fraud.”

Voter fraud.  It’s not just for brown people.  ACORN had no comment.   I wonder if he’s registered and voted in VA?

Pony.  Not yours.

Delco / Government / Politicking — No Comments
2
Nov 08

In defense of Nick Miccarelli [Though not an endorsement].

There’s a Democratic-sponsored attack ad that is somewhat unfair to Ridley Park native, University of Pennsylvania graduate, and Army veteran of both Iraq and Bosnia that makes somewhat unfair and groundless criticism of 26-year old baby-faced Miccarelli.

The ad, which I’ve only seen aired once on local (Delco) cable-TV hits Miccarelli for inaction regarding actions, both Congressional and Presidential that had effect on Delaware County.  The ad knocks Miccarelli for not taking action, either by advocating as leader of the College Republicans or as a campaign aid to intervene.  Of course, this is unfair.  In 2004, Miccarelli, although already a veteran, was merely 23, and serving on a variety of campaigns.  Although he made have had access to a handful of political decisionmakers, the influence of Miccarelli was essentially no more than that of the average Delco constituent.  Furthermore, the need to burnish his political resume and cultivate ideological bonafides means that he in no way could deviate from the company line.  Read more...

Journalism / News / Philadelphia / Webculture — No Comments
23
Dec 07

Rewarding Bad Behavior [Philadelphia Inquirer]

This post was prompted by Tom Ferrick’s whining and Mark Bowden’s attempt at outrageousness.  I’m not going to bother parsing their statements (Ferrick’s on Casinos aren’t bad for Philadelphia’s waterfront followed by the usual journalists’ waaaaahumbulance cries that he gets hatemail, and Bowden’s Waterboarding isn’t torture and it’s A-OK with him if it works) in current and recent columns.

Brian Tierney, in a Philly Mag interview called Press Lords 2.0 laid out his vision for Philly.com, one where it became a MySpace with User Generated Content (UCG) including those wacky Mentos-and-Coke videos, along with online content created by those in his employ in the analog properties (ie. the papers).   Read more...

Education / Election 08 / Government / News / Patriotism / Philadelphia / Philosophy / Politicking / Terror / War — 2 Comments
23
Oct 07

[Updated] College Republicans Bravely Fighting the Muslim Strawman Here so We Don’t Have To Fight Them There?

YAF George Washington University Islamo-Facism Awareness Week Parody Poster It wouldn't be Islam Awareness Week without Islamo-Facism Awareness Week.  Perennial attention-whore and ivory-tower hater David Horowitz (Rightweb), in cooperation with former-Senator Rick Santorum (Rightweb) are traversing the country to make you aware of the Phantom Muslim Menace.  Their plan brings IFAW to 26 campuses with 37 events, with a who's who of wingnuttery.  You can 'learn' more about this travesty of logic at TerrorismAwareness, as if you had no idea what terrorism is…

Those Yellow Elephants sure are keeping their heads down, though.  I see unbelievably low participation in the various IFAW-realted groups and events on Facebook.  True to form, the shrieking harpies and hardcore wingnuts are not blaming their own failed ideologies for the lack of participation, but rather the usual suspects, the librul media, the secular universities, and other terrrahrist sympathizers.  Alas, I see nothing on the RightWingFacebook stirring support either.  Kids today…

 Read more...

Daily Links — No Comments
10
Jul 07

Daily Links

Corruption / Election 04 / Government / Politicking / Terror / War — No Comments
20
Mar 07

Arlen Specter on the ‘Grassy Noll’ regarding AttorneyGate.

Arlen "Magic Bullet" Specter announced yesterday that he was seeking reelection in 2010 for his sixth-term in the US Senate.  You might be asking yourself, "Why so early?"

It seems that Arlen is throwing up a trial balloon to see what the future holds for him.  Despite being a Dirty F'ing Liberal, I voted for him in 2004, doing the political calculus that his seat on the Judiciary Committee would keep him from confirming a fundamental zealot, and as such he deserved my vote more than Jim Hoeffel.  As a result, we got John Roberts and Samuel Alito on the Supreme Court.

The most recent outrage is over "AttorneyGate".  Specter is all over this one too.

 Read more...

Uncategorized — No Comments
19
Mar 07

Oh, lookie here!

From Attytood:

Other the weekend, the good folks over at Talking Points Memo steered up to this report out of Pittsburgh, asking some hard but fair questions about the U.S. Attorney there, Mary Beth Buchanan, and her aggressive prosecutions of local Democrats.

Wonder if anyone is asking the same questions here in Philly. It's not like the U.S. Attorney here is the former campaign manager for Rick Santorum or Arlen Specter or anything…

Oh wait, he is. 

Couldn't possibly be the same Pat Meehan, could it? (From the Google cache of InsiderPA):

Pat Meehan: The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District still has to resolve his office’s long investigation into state Sen. Vince Fumo, the South Philadelphia Democratic powerbroker, and his name is mud in Philadelphia for bugging Mayor John Street’s office and still not coming up with an indictment of Street.

But he, along with Corbett, has an internal party charisma, and a fan club within the GOP, who are very strongly for him. He was campaign manager for Arlen Specter in his tough 1992 general election against Democrat Lynn Yeakel and eastern campaign manager for Rick Santorum in 1994. Not too many were in the inner circle of both of the state’s top Republicans 12 years ago. Meehan was. Later, despite a lack of criminal law experience, was elected district attorney of Delaware County with the backing of the local GOP.

Hmm… Wonder what Thomas Judge. Sr. and Charlie Sexton, Delco two GOP strongmen, had to do with that appointment?

Journalism / MSM / News / OpEd / Philadelphia / Politicking / Web 2.0 / Webculture — No Comments
5
Mar 07

Thoughts on the Tierney-owned Inquirer, Daily News, and Philly.com

Full disclosure:  I have friends who currently work for Tierney, have worked in the past (and were layed off and subsequently "temped" to avoid paying benefits). and know others who have worked there in the past.

I put a poll up PhillyFuture inquiring as to whether the collective Inky-Daily News/philly.com (hereafter referred to as the "Philly Press") have improved since Brian Tierney has taken ownership.

Personally,  my feelings are mixed.

  • I'm indifferent as to the rightward-tilt of the new talent and the Sunday Currents section.  As far as national politics are concerned, we've seen how well a Republican Majority has influenced public opinion (as being firmly against having a Republican Majority).  It remains to be seen as to how this will play out in the 2007 Philadelphia Mayors race as well as the 2008 State and Federal Election.
  • The constant pimping of condos to the wealthy (endemic of all the media, telling us how wonderfull things are for the creme of society, implying that we should aspire to their lives) seems culturaly irresponsible and ignores the majority of the Philadelphia and greater regions residents in lieu of the economically priviledged.
  • My perception is that "bought" wired stories are up as a percentage of content, and original reporting is down.  Again, this seems like an artifact of my second point.  Philadelphia is a 1/10th scale New York – the perspective of the Philly Press seems to be one that focuses on Manhattan and ignores the other boroughs, unless murders are involved.
  • The back-page-front-page seems like a good idea, but sources indicate that there are strong opinions that it may compromise some journalistic integrity – How likely would the Inky investigate an advertisers role in loan-making with local politicians and municipalities if they're a major advertiser.  This runs parallel to thoughts that the current Philly Press would NEVER have covered the Priest Abuse Scandal (as Tiernney flacked for the Archdiocese throughout that affair).
  • I'll be honest – aside from Will Bunch (online), I haven't read the DN in ages.
  • I try to link to Philly.com sources whenever appropriate, even if it's a wire story from McClatchy or the NYTimes, in the hopes of helping a local publication.  It's a shame that the reporting isn't originating here.
  • The suburbs – yeah, how about that?  Art galleries and feel good stories?  I could get that from the local paper of record, the Delco Times.  I suspect that it's the same for the other suburban counties as well.
  • Flash ads on Philly.com.  You DO realize that they annoy the crap out of people, right?
  • I'm not even upset by the rumors of the reappearance of Rick Santorum as a columnist – he'll fit in perfectly with Jonathan Last and Michael Smerconish.  I look forward to more insanity, cheerleading, and water-carrying throughout 2007-2008.
  • Web 2.0 stuff – where's the comments?  The trackbacks to the story on Technorati?  The social bookmarking links (add to reddit, digg, del.icio.us, etc.)?  How about automatically ranking stories based on those criteria?

What are your thoughts?  Do stop by the poll and vote.

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