Taking a Break

The Election of 2008 is over (at least in states excluding Georgia and Minnesota) and the Liberal Messiah will be inaugurated in only two months and one day. America will see how much "Change" there will be in Washington with the liberals and ex-Clinton cronies in charge. If Obama, Pelosi, and Reid tilt the country toward the left in the next two years, look for some right-sided changes in the next Congressional elections.

The one redeeming outcome of the election was the new Republican majorities in both houses of the Tennessee General Assembly. It will be glorious fun to see Democrat boss Jimmy Naifeh relegated to a common representative's seat on the House floor rather than the lofty pedestal he has occupied the past 17 years. I'm sure he won't find the view quite as nice as he enjoyed before.

With the holidays coming up, I'll be taking a respite from politics for a little while. I'll be working on other writing projects that I've put aside during the campaigns. But when I start getting angry at the politicians and talking back to the radio and television again, I'll be back to vent a little frustration at the left-wing wackos and Obamaniacs making news.

Take care, and remember not to take it all so seriously. :)

Tennessee "A Deeper Shade of Red"

It looks like the ridiculous press releases and gimmicky cow costumes couldn't keep Tennessee Democrats in control of the General Assembly after all. While the Liberal Messiah's capture of the presidency was disheartening, the blow has been cushioned somewhat by new Republican majorities in the state house and senate this Election Night.

From the state GOP:

Tennessee turned a deeper shade of red Tuesday as Republican victories in state legislative races increased the party’s majority in the state Senate and gave Republicans a majority in the state House for the first time since 1968.

For the first time since Reconstruction, Republicans hold a majority in both houses of the Tennessee General Assembly.

“The election of a Republican majority in the General Assembly is historic in its own right, and even more so given the strong Democratic tide across much of the country,” said Robin Smith, Chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party. “Our victories send a national message that Republican values still resonate with mainstream America. The power of a consistent conservative Republican message - low taxes, small government and respect for life - once again demonstrated its power to attract a majority.”

Republicans held a majority in the state House for two years after the 1968 election, but had not held a majority in the state Senate since Reconstruction until the 2006 election.

“We are indebted to our great volunteers across Tennessee and to the people of Tennessee for this historic achievement,” Smith said.

So long, Jimmy Naifeh! So sorry, Jim Kyle! Your stolen election doesn't mean a thing, Tim Barnes!

Hallelujah!!!

Don't Allow the Stolen Election to Stand!

Voters in Montgomery, Cheatham, and Houston counties will have an important decision to make today. It's true the presidential election itself is important, but I would argue the one between State Senator Rosalind Kurita and Tim Barnes is important for another reason.

It comes down to what's right and what's wrong.

• Is it right for a political party, after deciding to allow the voters to select their nominee, to change the result simply because they don't like who was elected?
• Is it right that taxpayers should fund an election that a political party has the power to overturn?

I argue that it is wrong what the Tennessee Democrat Party did to Senator Kurita and the voters of Montgomery, Cheatham, and Houston counties should not tolerate it. If they do it once and get away with it, what is to stop them--or any political party--from doing it again?

The party will argue that they had the right to overturn the primary election citing hearsay voting irregularities that allegedly occurred at polling places. And according to state law, they do have the authority to do it. But it doesn't make it right what they did. The law should be amended that if parties take such action in future primaries, the party should refund the costs of the election to the affected counties. Otherwise why have a taxpayer-funded election in the first place? Nominate candidates in a smoke-filled room they way they used to if the party is unwilling to abide by the will of the voters.

Through moral and ethical eyes, the Tennessee Democrat Party did indeed steal the election that had been won by Senator Kurita, which makes Tim Barnes a very willing accomplice by accepting the nomination in this fashion. "I reject the word 'stolen,'" he recently remarked. But it is what it is, and voters should not stand for the injustice.

Democrats and Republicans should agree that it wasn't right in a democratic election. Please take the extra time to write in KURITA on your ballot.

No TDP Press Release Sunday

Day 5 has ended without a ridiculous press release from Gray Sasser and the Tennessee Democrat Party.

Surely there will be something tomorrow; the streak can't last this long. Can it?

No TDP Press Release Friday

Day 3 has ended without a ridiculous press release from Gray Sasser and the Tennessee Democrat Party. Hallelujah!

I was very surprised we were not graced with something creative for Halloween.

But we did have the retraction of a political ad under threat of legal action that was sponsored by them.

No TDP Press Release Wednesday

Day 1 without a ridiculous press release by Gray Sasser and the Tennessee Democrat Party.

Let's try for two, gentlemen.

(If I were a betting man, I can almost assure you we'll see one on Halloween. One warning us about those scary Republicans! Ooooooooooo!)

Too Bad Tim Barnes Wasn't Punished for Stealing an Election

Timmy Barnes, loser of the Democrat primary for Senate District 22 but their candidate nonetheless, was slapped on the wrist by the Tennessee Ethics Commission to the tune of $50 for failing to file his campaign's financial information on time.

The candidate lamented:

"We thought that it had been filed online, but it did not go through," Barnes said. "By the time we got it filed, it was two days late. They specified it was technical violation, not an ethical violation."

Not like that whole stolen election thing, right?

This is an excellent opportunity to remind voters of Montgomery, Cheatham, and Houston counties that they should write in the name of Rosalind Kurita for state senate. It's true she's not a Republican, but thanks to the Tennessee Democrat Party, she's not one of them either.

Keep Bringing Up the Tennessee Income Tax!

Gray Sasser and the Tennessee Democrat Party are at it again. Once again they are rearing the ugly specter of a state income tax to try and whip up votes for their legislative candidates and working in a little revisionist history at the same time.

TDP snoops discovered that former Gov. Don Sundquist recently donated funds from his political action committee Majority Tennessee PAC to several Republican house and senate candidates. The funds were old campaign contributions and Sundquist hasn't been a candidate since his second term as governor ended in 2003.

Sasser awkwardly attempts to use Sundquist's contributions to accuse the recipients of hypocrisy in their opposition to a state income tax:

"'This is yet another example of candidates like Dolores Gresham, Ken Yager and Vance Dennis saying one thing on the campaign trail and then doing another in real life,'" said Democratic Party Chairman Gray Sasser. “They run around their districts claiming they’re against the income tax. Then they turn around and pad their pockets with Don Sundquist’s leftover campaign cash.'

Sasser added: 'We can draw either one of two conclusions: Either they support the income tax, or they’re hypocrites. Either way, Tennessee voters deserve to know the truth.'

Sasser and the TDP are practicing revisionist history, trying to place themselves above the fray that was the income tax revolt of 2001 and 2002. I can't argue with their contention that Gov. Sundquist was the leading proponent of the tax. But to label him as the "father of the income tax plan"--as Sasser does--is preposterous.

There were plenty of surrogates for the income tax. I hate to break it to you Gray, but most were Democrats. At the time, Democrats controlled both houses and thus controlled the agenda. Remember the leadership roles Bob Rochelle (in the senate) and Jimmy Naifeh (in the house) played in trying to ram it through the General Assemby?

Oh, that's right. I forget that Democrats have selective memory loss.

When you keep bringing up the income tax debacle, Gray, you're only reminding voters of the role your party played in the whole mess and only hurting your own party.

In that case, keep bringing it up! Let's have another press release! Real soon!

Tennessee Democrats: Look at the Cow, Not Randy Camp

In a burst of creativity, the Tennessee Democrat Party and their venerable leader, Gray Sasser, have recruited a cow to stalk Delores Gresham, Republican candidate for Senate District 26.

As if voters in southwest Tennessee haven't already been inundated with campaign signs and television ads, now they must contend with a Democrat operative dressed as Bessie the cow littering the countryside with "No-Grant Pledge" leaflets.

This is their innovative ploy to draw attention to the fact that Mrs. Gresham's husband received $26,850 in taxpayer-funded farm grants as part of the Tennessee Agricultural Enhancement Program while she was a state representative. The program was initiated by Democrat Gov. Phil Bredesen to help state farmers and yes, Mrs. Gresham's husband is a farmer. As long as Mr. Gresham applied for the grants just like any other farmer would with no preferential treatment, there's nothing at all wrong with it. Can Gray Sasser prove he didn't?

So now we have Bessie flaunting a Democrat-produced "No-Grant Pledge" that the Democrat candidate, Randy Camp, has signed but Mrs. Gresham has not. It states that if elected, the undersigned candidates would not accept funds from the Tennessee Agricultural Enhancement Program or any other state-funded grants.

Want to know why Camp was so eager to sign this propoganda? Because he's not a farmer! It's easy for a lawyer and a politician to disavow farm grants when it has nothing to do with what he does for a living.

The Gresham family are farmers, and we all know that family farms across the country are struggling to keep the family tradition going. We need them and frankly they could use the extra bit of government help. It's disingenuous for the Tennessee Democrat Party to flaunt Camp's signature on a document that would be detremential to Mrs. Gresham's family's livelihood.

Of course this is just a sideshow by Gray Sasser to divert voter attention away from his own candidate Camp, an admitted adulterer for twenty years. Anyone who cannot be faithful to his spouse cannot be trusted as a public servant. Period.

The Tennessee Democrat Party is a joke. From ridiculous press releases to stolen primaries to volunteers parading in cow costumes, how can voters take this collection of goofballs seriously?

UPDATE: Here's the Democrat operative parading as Bessie the cow. Utterly ridiculous.

Why Have An Election at All?

Gail Kerr with the Tennessean offers her take on Sen. Rosalind Kurita's stolen election for Tennessee Senate District 22. She makes the same point I do: why have taxpayers fund a political party's primary if the party can change the result at its discretion? Mindboggling.

It's no surprise that all the recent endorsements but two made by the editorial staff of the Tennessean are Democratic incumbents or candidates. (The first exception being incumbent Republican Susan Lynn for House District 57, though it was buffered with the comment that "this newspaper disagrees with Lynn on several issues.") The next exception was Rosalind Kurita, meaning that experience trumped partisanship for a change.

With early voting beginning yesterday, I would encourage voters in Montgomery, Cheatham, and Houston counties to write in Sen. Kurita's name on the ballot. If you're not sure how, ask a polling person for assistance.





Send the Tennessee Democratic Party a clear message that it cannot change the outcome of an election and dismiss the will of the people.

It may be legal in Tennessee, but it isn't right.

Who Will Steal the Election? TIM BARNES!

Who will steal the election? Tim Barnes!

Rosalind Kurita's Stolen Election Lawsuit Thrown Out

Sen. Rosalind Kurita suffered a setback this afternoon in her bid to regain the Democratic nomination for Tennessee Senate District 22. U.S. District Court Judge Robert Echols rejected her assertions that her name should be placed back on the ballot and that the state law governing primary elections be ruled unconstitutional.

"The state statute allows the State Primary Board the final decision of selecting its party nominee if a primary election is contested,” Echols wrote.

It's expected that she will appeal the decision.

Rosalind Kurita Ads

Sen. Rosalind Kurita has two new ads that are running on cable television in Montgomery, Cheatham, and Houston counties. They help explain how voters can write her name in on November 4. I encourage voters in these counties to support Sen. Kurita and send the Tennessee Democratic Party a clear message that they can't constrain your voice and make the loser their hand-picked candidate.

Fellow Senators Support Rosalind Kurita

Seven Republican colleagues of Tennessee state senator Rosalind Kurita will host a fundraiser for her write-in campaign for Senate District 22 in Nashville on October 1. Randy McNally of Oak Ridge; Bill Ketron of Murfreesboro; Steve Southerland of Morristown; Tim Burchett of Knoxville; Mae Beavers of Mt. Juliet; Jamie Woodson of Knoxville; and Rusty Crowe of Johnson City offered to host the $500-per-person event and Kurita accepted.

"You can just genuinely say that I got a raw deal, and they just want to reach out and help me," she told the Tennessean. "It's not about one party, it's about the process."

I'm glad Republicans are helping Senator Kurita fight back against the state Democratic bosses. We may not completely agree with everything she believes (her pro-abortion stance is one I have a problem with), but it was wrong what the Tennessee Democratic Party did to her and the primary election. It sets a dangerous precedent when a political party can disregard the votes of the American people simply because they don't like the outcome. Even the Memphis Commercial Appeal agrees. (One Clarksville voter believes what the Democrats did will backfire on them in November.)

Mark Brown, spokesman for the senate Democratic caucus, smugly retorted: "We're not surprised that Republican senators are holding a fundraiser for Ron Ramsey's hand-picked candidate." We're surprised a Democrat has the audacity to call Rosalind Kurita a "hand-picked candidate" when Tim Barnes is nothing but a hand-picked candidate!

Where in Memphis is Larry Miller?

David Vinciarelli, an independent candidate for Tennessee House District 88 (which includes North Memphis, Frayser, and parts of Bartlett), has filed a lawsuit against his Democratic opponent and incumbent Larry Miller. He claims that Miller no longer lives in the district he represents and should be disqualified from the race.

The 16-year state representative gives his residence as 784 Ayers on his voter registration card, yet his driver's license, motor vehicle registration, and campaign finance report shows his home to be 1778 Overton Park, which is in District 89. The Ayers residence, a brick duplex with windows boarded up and valued at $38,000, isn't even owned by Miller; the Overton Park home, a two-story residence bought four years ago and valued at $280,000, is owned by him. His "neighbors" on Ayers weren't even aware that their state representative lived there. "No I never heard of that til you said something," one neighbor told a Memphis station WREG TV reporter. He did make a trip through the neighborhood telling constituents that he planned to put a campaign office at the duplex, but only after the lawsuit came about.

Rep. Miller won't talk about the lawsuit to the Memphis media but tells the Memphis Commercial Appeal "there's complexity there" in the residency question. He claims the lawsuit is politically motivated. Vinciarelli believes it's simply a matter of telling the truth. "The law says you have to live in your district that you're representing," he told the Commercial Appeal. "He's basically fooling his constituents."

Residency can be a sticky issue, most recently brought up in 2005 when another Memphis Democrat, scandalous former state senator John Ford, claimed two residences, neither one being in his district! The senate responded by passing legislation that prohibited representatives from claiming a business location as a residence. An attorney with the Tennessee Attorney General's office believes the point is moot until Election Day, when a candidate must officially live in the district.

If there is no specific criteria given that a candidate for public office must live a certain amount of time at their listed residence, there certainly should be. It would seem like common sense, but then again when has politics made sense?

Tim Barnes "Looking to the Future" and Wanting Voters to Forget His Stolen Election

Tim Barnes is a forward-thinking Democrat: he wants voters of Tennessee Senate District 22 "looking to the future" and not at how he got his party's nomination for state senator.

Of course he wouldn't say it in so many words, but it's certainly what he's thinking. Look past the fact that he lost the Democratic primary to incumbent Rosalind Kurita; chose not to seek a recount but to protest to the Tennessee Democratic Party's Executive Committee; and sought to throw out the votes and void the outcome. Look past the fact that he nominated himself to fill the vacancy rather than recuse himself from the process and sees no reason to be ashamed of the way he got it. "I'd be honored to receive the nomination in this way," he said beforehand. Look past all that and you have the handpicked nominee of 65 Democrats who met at a Clarksville hotel rather than 8,935 voters who took the time to go to the polls. Of course he would rather "talk about things I can do to help the people of the 22nd Senate District," as he said at a press conference on Friday.

Barnes admitted there could have been a second primary held, "but there was not time to have another primary," he claimed. "The only other option was to have this process...After that process I was overwhelmingly named the nominee."

Responding to her opponent's desire to move forward, Rosalind Kurita told the Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle: "I'm sure that Mr. Barnes would like to change the subject. The subject is that in America, we don't steal elections."

Tennessee Democrats Show Their True Colors

It's a fact that's true not only in the presidential election but in Tennessee politics as well: Democrats will do anything to gain or retain power. They will turn on their own members if they dare to cross party lines and work with the other side--like Rosalind Kurita--while claiming to be a party of "change" that wants bipartisanship and cooperation.

Tim Barnes is proud of his stolen election and is basking in the glory of his party's political thievery. He's living in a fantasy world where there is nothing out of the ordinary about his coronation and he acts like the candidate who won the election that wasn't bogus. Choosing to disregard his own actions (which included voting for himself at the so-called "nominating convention"), he told The Tennessean: "At some point I think she'll probably accept that she's going to have to take responsibility for her own actions."

What it came down to was Republicans who had no candidate to support in Senate District 22 voted for Kurita instead of Barnes. There's no law in Tennessee against crossing party lines and voting in the other party's primary. Democrats are hypocrites if they think they're above doing such a thing in a Republican primary. State Democratic leaders didn't want Rosalind Kurita back in the state senate, so they came up with the excuse of an "incurably uncertain" election to overturn the will of some 9,000 voters.

Barnes' supporters were only too happy to belittle Senator Kurita's supporters in attendance after his coronation. According to The Tennessean:

Shortly after Democratic executives nominated Tim Barnes for the 22nd District state Senate seat, one woman stood outside the Riverview Inn with her mouth duct-taped shut.

Her shirt read, "You silenced 9,000 votes."

A Barnes supporter offered the woman a Tim Barnes sticker to put over her mouth, then placed it over his own mouth and stood next to her, seemingly mocking her, before walking away.

The Barnes supporter is a perfect example of the Tennessee Democratic Party: arrogant, belittling, mocking. They will turn on you in a heartbeat if you don't think like they do and support who they want you to support. They have this unreasonable lock on the hearts and minds of some Tennesseans that because someone's granddaddy was a Democrat, they have to be one too. And the Tennessee Democratic Party knows it and they take advantage of it in every election.

Rosalind Kurita will fight this injustice at the ballot box through a write-in campaign as an independent candidate while exploring her legal options in court. "This is America--you just don't steal an election, and that's why I'm doing a write-in candidacy," she told the Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle.

I encourage Republican and independent voters in Cheatham, Houston, and Montgomery counties as well as any Democrat who respects the democratic election process and truly believes every vote counts to make the extra effort and write in Mrs. Kurita's name for state senate on November 4. Show the Tennessee Democratic Party that they cannot control our country's political system for their own power grab.

UPDATE: It didn't take Phil Bredesen long to fall into line with other state Democratic leaders in their support for illegitimate candidate Tim Barnes. They're hosting a $500-per-person fundraiser on his behalf in Clarksville September 29. I hope Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey and other state Republican leaders and independent-minded Democrats unwilling to be led like sheep by the Democratic bosses will do their part to support Sen. Kurita and help her fight for her seat.

Tennessee Democrats Steal Election from Rosalind Kurita

As I stated in Monday's post on Sarah Palin, for a political party that preaches inclusiveness, Democrats can be a hateful bunch. Now one of their own, Rosalind Kurita, knows how it feels to have a vindictive Tennessee Democratic Party out to get her.

The two-term state senator represents District 22 comprised of Cheatham, Houston, and Montgomery counties. She was re-elected to a third term on August 7, fighting off a challenge from within her own party by Clarksville attorney Tim Barnes with a meager 19-vote advantage. There is no Republican candidate, so the winner got the seat. A victory is a victory no matter the margin. At least that's how democracy used to work before the Democrats ruled otherwise.

On September 13, the state Democratic Executive Committee decreed that voters in District 22 shouldn't decide which Democrat would represent them and voided the election. This was done despite the fact that the election had been certified by the county election commissions and the Tennessee secretary of state and was official. The party of "every vote counts" certainly doesn't think so when things don't work out the way they like. Executive committee members from Cheatham, Houston, and Montgomery counties will meet today to decide which Democrat they prefer as Gov. Phil Bredesen, supposedly the leader of the state party, stands off to the side and lets it happen.

(It's interesting that Democrats didn't question the election of Ophelia Ford a few years ago, which was ripe with voting irregularities and dead voters.)

The reason state Democrats are hijacking a certified election is because Kurita committed the unpardonable sin: she crossed party lines and helped vote out a politician who had been speaker and lieutenant governor for far too long, John Wilder, giving Republicans control of the speaker's podium for the first time since Reconstruction.

"I voted my conscience, and that's more important than party line," Kurita explained. "We're individuals up here." Tennessee Democrats hate that sort of thing. She was rewarded by new speaker Ron Ramsey with the position of speaker pro tempore (one her fellow Democrats never gave her), making her the highest ranking woman in state government. Whether by design or circumstance, she faced no Republican opposition for re-election. Despite their rhetoric that Republicans and Democrats should reach across party lines and cooperate, that's not what Democrats really want. What they want is to maintain their stranglehold on the General Assembly and continue their good ol' boy way of doing things in Nashville without Republicans standing in their way.

State Democratic leaders turned their back on Rosalind Kurita after twelve years of service in the senate and promoted the candidacy of Tim Barnes in the August primary to get back at her. When the result wasn't to their liking, they claimed voting irregularities and blamed Republicans for encouraging their members to vote for Kurita. (Like Democrats have never done it in Republican primaries. What hypocrisy!)

Now Democrats will chose a Democrat they like. Tim Barnes will take it any way he can get it. "I'd be honored to receive the nomination in this way," he unabashedly told the Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle yesterday. Nothing like having a political office dropped in your lap, I suppose. He has shaken enough hands and slapped enough backs among members of the three county executive committees to feel good about his chances. He will likely be "honored" with a free pass to Nashville even though he lost the election.

Needless to say, state Democratic leaders have shot themselves in the foot with this debacle and liberal bloggers across the state such as Left Wing Cracker, Sharon Cobb, and Newscoma are letting them have it. "What the Democratic Party of Tennessee did to Kurita was very undemocratic," wrote Sharon Cobb, speaking for most of her fellow liberal bloggers. It's refreshing--and fun--to see Democrats coming out against their own party.

Kurita will fight for her senate seat as a write-in candidate in the November election apparently as an independent. "My people in my counties deserve to be able to elect their own senator," she said. "The fact is, they elected me, and I'm not going to quit on them...I am going to fight this. I'm not going to let this election be stolen." Good for her. Tim Barnes or whoever is picked tonight shouldn't get a free ride just because the Democratic Party chooses to override the will of the people and change the outcome of an election. "When somebody steals an election," added Kurita, "they're capable of anything."

P.S.: On a related note, liberal blogger Silence Isn't Golden writes a fitting eulogy for the Tennessee Democratic Party and their future. Let's hope he is indeed a soothsayer in this case. Tennessee has been in the grip of the Democratic Good Ol' Boys far too long. Start with Jimmy Naifeh and let's work our way down.