Huckleberries Online

Weekend Wild Card — 10.30-31.10

Oct. 31, 2010 1:20 a.m. • 26 comments

We need to deal with Halloween this weekend before we get to the 2010 Election Day. Which, if the polls are right, could prove scary for Democrats who are hoping against hope to hang onto the House of Representatives and possibly Congress. Congressman Walt Minnick might be nervous this weekend, too — with the late surge by Republican Raul Labrador in a state that could tilt even further red if that’s possible. So don’t go wearing a Sarah Palin mask to your jittery Democrat friends place. You might not be appreciated. Now, for your Wild Card …

26 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

EndlessLosses on October 30 at 7:46 a.m.
DFO writes: “Congressman Walt Minnick might be nervous this weekend, too — with the late surge by Republican Raul Labrador in a state that could tilt even further red if that’s possible.”

This is laughable. Most of my Democrat friends don’t even realize that Minnick was once a Republican (still is in my opinion). Simply put, the difference between Labrador and Minnick is in party name only.
Gary D Rhodes on October 30 at 8:01 a.m.
If Minnick would have come out decisively for total repeal of Obamacare, he would have been able to keep his seat.
Eman on October 30 at 10:19 a.m.
Interesting, no post on Mr English and his continual 15 year on the job winging it.
Overlooking quite a sum of money that was supposed to be returned saying it fell through the cracks, WOW.
Listen I know it’s complicated but sheeesh after 15 years, this is ridiculous.
Todays article deserves some discussion. Yes?
stacyp on October 30 at 1:56 p.m.
Last minute campaigning appears to be in full swing today. Just received a knock and a ring at the door (which I ignored), along with some Nilson/Ketchum campaign lit and an “Official Republican Ballot”. Fantastic fire-starting stuff.
poolman on October 30 at 2:06 p.m.
Wow I just looked at my calendar and noticed that Election Day is next Tuesday. Has it been an entire year since the disputed MK / DG five vote election? Seems like it was only yesterday…

People -please get out and VOTE!!!
IDHound on October 30 at 7:14 p.m.
Just wonderin’….

If Jennifer & Ben were Benifer, and Brad & Angelina are Brangelina, whatever are we to call Jai & Phil?
hhuseland on October 30 at 7:55 p.m.
Considering that Oregon is plying on national TV tonight, and further considering how many S/R reporters are Oregon Alumnus, It will take armageddon to make the paper tomorrow am.
chatterbox on October 30 at 9:47 p.m.
@IDHound:

P.J. ?

Nah! Too Comfy.
chatterbox on October 30 at 9:47 p.m.
@IDHound:

P.J. ?

Nah. Too Comfy.
chatterbox on October 30 at 9:48 p.m.
Oops. Sorry.
Cindy_H on October 30 at 9:57 p.m.
Jai + Phil= Phail ?
Phil + Jai = Jail ?
chatterbox on October 30 at 10:22 p.m.
I like “jail”. Not for me, mind you. But for the phirst half of the dynamic duo.
Gary D Rhodes on October 31 at 7:12 a.m.
From Jon Stewart’s closing speech.

“Not being able to distinguish between real racists and Tea Partiers or real bigots and Juan Williams and Rick Sanchez is an insult, not only to those people but to the racists themselves who have put in the exhausting effort it takes to hate—just as the inability to distinguish terrorists from Muslims makes us less safe not more.

Because the image of Americans that is reflected back to us by our political and media process is false.

Why would you work with Marxists actively subverting our Constitution or racists and homophobes who see no one’s humanity but their own?

Because we know instinctively as a people that if we are to get through the darkness and back into the light we have to work together.

Sanity will always be and has always been in the eye of the beholder. To see you here today and the kind of people that you are has restored mine. Thank you.”
BethB on October 31 at 8:43 a.m.
Thanks Gary, for posting. I also really liked Jon Stewart’s analogy to necessary traffic jams as we approach tunnels - (paraphrasing) you go, then I go, you go, then I go, regardless of bumper sticker. And it is only the occasional jerk who drives on the shoulder to cut in line. We don’t let that guy define the rest of us - much less give him a cable show.

Here’s an excellent article on the whole Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear - and yes, the Peace Crazy Love Train was great!

http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/feature/2010/10/30/restore_sanity_television/index.html

Also, one memorable sign: “I believe in Sanity Claus”
Phaedrus on October 31 at 11:01 a.m.
This is interesting:

Associated Press changes story after Labrador campaign misleads media

Boise, ID - The Raul Labrador campaign sent out a media advisory on Friday inviting people to tag along and report on their candidate as he knocked doors in Eagle, ID. The release said Labrador was going “door to door” beginning at 9:30 AM on Saturday.

The Associated Press reported on the event, and posted a story on the wire that said Labrador on Saturday “walked from home-to-home in an Eagle neighborhood he represents as part of District 14 in the Idaho Legislature.” You can read that version of the story here.

Late yesterday evening, the Minnick for Congress campaign received from another member of the media an email exchange involving Labrador spokesman Phil Hardy. Here is the full text of Hardy’s message:
“I don’t think he’s [Labrador] going to actually do the door to door; he’s dying but we can’t let people know. It’s going to be his wife and kids and our volunteers. But we wanted the media to think this is what he was definitely doing. It’s the traditional thing to do. The only way he will actually do this for a minute is if the freaking AP tell us they are going to come out. They never do anything positive for us. Can you keep a little secret for us?”

The Minnick campaign forwarded the message to the Associated Press, and last night the story was changed. All references to Labrador’s door-knocking were removed. You can read the final version of the story here.

“This duplicity and deceptiveness just days before a monumental election shows the troubling lack of character from a candidate and campaign that will do anything to win,” Minnick for Congress spokesman John Foster said. “To deliberately mislead and manipulate the media in the final weekend before the election raises yet again the question of whether we can really trust Raul Labrador.”
McGruber on October 31 at 11:47 a.m.
Is this for real? Phil Hardy is stupid enough to say those things in an email and Labrador is stupid enough to think in today’s political climate someone wouldn’t notice he didn’t knock on a single door after doing a press release to that effect?

He’s “dying?”, what the heck does that mean? Literally or figuratively?

Wednesday can’t get here quick enough for me.
Bent on October 31 at 12:38 p.m.
Man, now they are shouting themselves down too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5OSC3BgmUA
Phaedrus on October 31 at 1:32 p.m.
Bent, how is that different from the Tea Party hecklers screaming and shouting down Republicans at last year’s health care town halls? Curious what difference you see between the two scenarios.
BethB on October 31 at 1:45 p.m.
Bent - huh? did you even watch the video before you posted the link? there was a small group that wanted funding for global AIDs - were audible as the president talked, yes - he pointed out what he was doing in that respect - the rest of the crowd burst out with “O-BA-MA” repeatedly - hardly “turning on themselves”

The Patriots Network headline (linking to FOX News), saying “heckled” rather than “supported,” probably is what misled you.

Here’s a news story on what you posted: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/126663-obama-fires-back-at-aids-protesters-tells-them-to-hassle-gop

to the extent that you might be concerned about people shouting down their own people - here are just three examples of tea partiers heckling Republcans:

Rick Scott, Florida Republican candidate for governor, at a tea party rally, asked repeatedly where the “deposition” is - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CMtQOQTAyU&feature=related

Sen. John Cornyn, in Austin, Texas - called a “traitor” and “the problem” - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i92zmYCd81s&feature=player_embedded

Gresham Barrett (R) - repeatedly shouting “go home!” for six minutes - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QsY2r7HbTM

and to the extent that you believe that a handful of people should be treated as representing the majority, regardless of party - well, I suggest you listen to Jon Stewart’s concluding speech at yesterday’s rally: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXmbzLI3pnk
BethB on October 31 at 1:46 p.m.
Oops. Sorry Phaedrus. Didn’t see your post before I posted mine…
Bent on October 31 at 2:52 p.m.
@ Phaedrus… no difference at all. The partisans are equally insane on both sides of the Isle, and I have feeling that this election is going to change a thing….

@Beth… I saw the video and I read a couple of stories on it. There were actually two groups shouting him down before his supporters started shouting them down…

It is really disgusting … political dialouge in this country has devolved into shouting matches.
joebu on October 31 at 3:53 p.m.
There’s some swing voters who attend St. George in Post Falls who may now be voting D Tuesday — following one of the masses today, the cars in the parking lot had fliers on their windows from a pro-life group extolling the advantages of Labrador. The buzz at the post-mass coffee gathering was this stunt may have had opposite effect. Using a church as a place to campaign is a cheap, maybe even an illegal move. Shoving litter on everyone’s windshield where they aren’t there to say “no thanks” isn’t real bright either. Plus since it was a rainy day, you saw a lot of obviously enthused people trying to peel off a soaked gray blob from their windshield. Oh, and don’t forget the bold assumption that just because the Catholic Church maintains a strong pro-life position, therefore everyone who attends in Post Falls just has to be strongly pro-life and ready to vote for Raul. I’m not saying how I’m voting but I will say, well done, Labrador supporters.
Phaedrus on October 31 at 5:10 p.m.
@ Joe Butler, this is a Rally Right tactic. The legality or ethics of their tactics doesn’t matter to them. I guess we should be grateful that they aren’t assassinating abortion providers.

I wonder why they don’t distribute “Thou Shalt Not Steal” literature to protest Phil Hart the Timber Thief?
JIMMYMAC on October 31 at 11:03 p.m.
On ESPN College Basketball Final Four and National Champions Segment this weekend:

Len Elmore: Well, my Final Four picks are Duke, Michigan State, Kansas State, and Gonzaga. And my national champion, as you guys pelt me or test my insanity or sanity [is Gonzaga]—but I think Gonzaga is one of those teams that has been dancing around the edges for a long time under Mark Few. They’ve got size; they’ve got experience; and, y’know, they’re playing a tough schedule early in the season where they’ll play some of these teams. Possibly Duke, certainly Kansas State. I think that’ll test ‘em, but it’ll also forge them. And with national sentiment after what happened with Butler last year, I think momentum goes to that “mid-major” Gonzaga.

Jay Bilas: You are now the mayor of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.
iamyou on November 01 at 6:20 a.m.
WOW
Fliers on windshields, candidates walking or not, Catholics who are not pro-life. Unbelievable duplicity and deceptiveness. Unbelievable attempt to come up with a story ………..
and Joe, I can’t believe St George’s Catholics are goofy enough to change candidates because someone (must have been a crazy teapartyer, get out the noose, Mabel) chose to put a flier on their windshield. I have a little more faith in folks intelligence than the Democrats have.
Gary D Rhodes on November 01 at 8:54 a.m.
JMac, after last weak-end’s local football games, I’m ready for some hoops.

Go Zags!

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About this blog

D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.