republican party

On Saturday, March 22, Congressman Patrick McHenry insulted the troops by berating a guard working in the Green Zone.
On Friday, April 4th, McHenry endangered the troops by posting a video on his website that gave actual distances of how close rockets came to hitting the building that lawmakers were sleeping in.
On Sunday, April 6, a Colonel and two other troops were killed in the U.S. Embassy's fitness facility Sunday when a mortar round crashed into the building.

Pentagon tells lawmaker not to air Green Zone video again
By Lisa Zagaroli | McClatchy Newspapers

Originally posted at Scrutiny Hooligans, this post touches on each of the three candidates in the race for NC-11's Republican Congressional candidate nomination.

Next Thursday, March 27th, I'll be one of the panelists asking questions of the three Republican candidates for NC-11's Congressional seat. The debate will take place at Asheville's URTV studios. There will be two other panelists, both, I assume of the Republican persuasion. The 90 minute debate duration means I'll get to ask three, maybe four, questions. I've got a couple cooked up already, and I'm looking for more good ideas.

That's where you come in.

An Asheville conservative contacted me last week to ask if I'd be interested in a unique opportunity. City Councilman and Congressional candidate Carl Mumpower had the idea that he'd like to have this Hooligan on the moderators' panel at the next Republican Congressional Candidate debate. People talked to people, and candidates John Armor and Spence Campbell agreed to take the plunge. After I spoke with the newly elected Buncombe County Republican Party Chair to ensure there weren't any hidden rules or restrictions, I said I'd do it.

The debate will take place in the URTV (public access) studio in Asheville on March 27th from 2pm to 3:30pm. There will be three or four panelists asking questions of the candidates. I'll be one of them. It will be recorded then played on URTV and available at Google Video.

It's a good political move for Mumpower to invite me. He's running as the straight-answers to tough questions candidate, so inviting a liberal blogger bolsters his tough guy cred. Armor isn't afraid to answer any questions either, so we'll see if he can swipe some of Carl's patina. Spence, I imagine, had no choice but to say yes (after saying, "Gordon who?") once the other two were on board.

In addition to being good for Carl, inviting someone from the opposite end of the political spectrum is good for democracy. I hope this move will encourage broader debates in all future contests. I realize that, to some extent, I'm serving as a useful fool for the Republicans, but their aims don't bother me and can be part of strengthening and adding integrity to this Congressional race.

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It's been a torturous time for North Carolina's 11th District Republicans since disgraced former Congressman Charles Taylor's ignominious defeat in 2006. Wacky Chad Nesbitt tried to take over the Buncombe Party, forcing the end of a libertarian coup. The Henderson County webmaster resigned very publicly. A chorus of voices rose up to criticize The Lump for playing coy over whether he would run again for the Congressional seat. Taylor himself, safely bunkered at his Transylvania compound, was silent as the grave for over a year. Strong potential candidates like Jeff Hunt and Tom Apodaca withdrew their names from consideration in part because of Taylor's intransigence.

Today there are three candidates in the running for the Republican nomination: An intellectual libertarian, a rigid ideologue, and a squishy Party man. The head of the redundantly named Henderson County Republican Men's Club wants to see more of the Party apparatus get involved in putting the candidates out before the public in the same way they did in late November.

The GOP's district Chair, Stephen Duncan, isn't too interested in making that sort of thing happen,

"There are individuals who feel there are different ways of doing things," Duncan said.

NC Democratic Party Chair Jerry Meek wants to know. And so do I. Tel Opinion Research is known for push polling which is asking questions that are designed to dish dirt on the opposition. As well, many pollsters stay in business by designing polls that will tell their candidate (the customer) what he wants to hear.

Let's see the science behind that absurd poll whose results you released yesterday, Mr. Man.

Ever wonder where all these repressed Republican sex offenders learn how to be so repressed and offensive? Well, I'm starting to get the impression that their training comes from the finest conservative institutions of higher learning.

While Congressman Pat McHenry was a student there in the late 1990s, Belmont Abbey College officials knowingly hired as head of its theology department an accused sex offender who had been relieved of his Massachusetts responsibilities. When confronted by the press they lied about it.

Is the Republican Party a breeding ground for sexual deviants? I don't have the answer to these questions. Perhaps one or both institutions are just attracting men already predisposed to sex crimes.

But don't you think it's time society started having this conversation? When you look at the list of Republican-related criminal behavior compiled at Basket of Puppies, it seems cops should just start profiling any male R and save on the tedious investigation process.

Two weeks ago at Pat Go Bye Bye I posed the question "What's with Republicans and their repressed sex drives?" In response, I got the following email from a conservative independent who gave me permission to reprint it without attribution:

Ashvegas caught the final post at the Henderson County GOP website.  Dennis Justice, who says he's run the site for seven years, has had it with disgraced former Congressman Charles Taylor's coy antics, and he's quitting.

"Effective immediately, I am resigning as webmaster of the Henderson County Republican Website."

NC-11 Republicans, so long held together by Charles Taylor's lumpy glue, have spun apart in recent months. With the prospect of facing a popular one-term incumbent, the Republicans have fractured into Stompers, Takeoverers, Taylor acolytes, and anti-Taylor rank-and-file. There's so much sniping going on in public and private that it can be hard to keep up. Thankfully, Mr. Justice gives us an insider's look into their self-inflicted suffering:

I will, under zero circumstances, vote for Charles Taylor if he is the Republican nominee for Congress in 2008. His insulting non-answer to the party when expressly asked whether he would run or not against Congressman Heath Shuler is not acceptable. Congressman Shuler had entered the race in July 2005, and certainly we should know by now if Taylor would run. Several possible candidates with gravitas are considering running and are held hostage out of respect that is honestly not deserved, much like Brett Favre holds the Green Bay Packers hostage the last four years hinting he might retire, but never actually committing.

So, I wake up this morning, and the headline in the Sanford Herald screams, "Political disorganization: Lee GOP loses recognition over failure to file paperwork." Beautiful, huh? I had noticed that our local GOP was in some trouble; hell, I've met its members.