I'll be in Dana Point on Friday to track down Mitt Romney as he hits up the big Orange County Republican donors for money. So how about you? It would be great if we had a Southern California group that tracks down these Presidential hopefuls as they visit the super-rich donors and spend time with them, and it would be even BETTER if this group were to ask these candidates why they don't talk to all the rest of us about their plan to get out of Iraq, or about their plan to provide health care coverage to the 47 MILLION PEOPLE in this nation who have none, or simply why they spend all this time with a select few when ALL OF US plan to be voting next February as well...
Here are some wild and wonderful stories from behind the Orange Curtain, and across the Land of the OC, that will make you laugh, cry, and scratch your head in total disbelief:
- Flip-flop Romney! So you still don't believe me when I tell you that Mitt Romney is not a "true believing" conservative? Then go over to The Liberal OC, and see what Dan has to say about our favorite GOP Presidential contender!
- Do the other four OC Supes want to "cut and run" from Santa Ana? Art Pedroza is now worried that a couple OC Supervisors are seriously considering moving the county seat from Santa Ana to Irvine. And what would happen to the Santa Ana Civic Center, where the county operates presently? Go see Orange Juice for more.
- Overheated and Absurd? Unfortunately, my friend Jubal/Matt Cunningham at OC Blog would rather dismiss all of us as hotheads than to discuss the real problems of the 241 Extension to Trestles. So am I being "overheated and absurd" by presenting some disturbing facts about how the 241 Extension to Trestles wouldn't ease South County traffic even as it destroys one of the last pristine beaches in SoCal?
Here are some wild and wonderful stories from behind the Orange Curtain, and direct from our friends at the Orange County GOP, that will make you laugh, cry, and scratch your head in total disbelief:
- "I Think I Can!" Yes, Trung Nguyen really thinks he "Can" Nguyen win this election, so much so that he's having his friend Can Nguyen file a lawsuit to overturn Janet Nguyen's win in the special election. Don't believe me? Well, go over and see Chris Prevatt's latest piece in The Liberal OC!
- Yes, Van Tran Can! Still, I wonder just how much of this "strategery" is really Trung's, and how much he is relying on Darth Schroeder and Lord Van Tran. Wait, are you wondering about that, too? OK, so let's both pay a visit to Art Pedroza at Orange Juice, where he's answering all our deepest and darkest questions about the Great Darth and Lord Van.
- No, you can't (smoke, that is)! In today's Register, I noticed that Irvine is now moving to ban smoking in all its parks...
Including the soon-to-be-opened Great Park! Good for them, as this will make it easier for them to keep those parks as lovely and clean and oh so inviting as ever. : )
- "What Can We Do About Janet?" That's what our other four lovely supes were asking themselves yesterday... And yes, Jubal/Matt Cunningham has all the video from yesterday's OC Board of Supes meeting at OC Blog.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney returned to his native state of Michigan on Tuesday to kick off his bid officially for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination.
Romney evoked memories of his father, former Michigan Gov. George Romney, as he spoke from the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn. His presidential bid comes 40 years after his late father made an unsuccessful run for the GOP nomination in 1968.[...]
"Innovation and transformation have been at the heart of America's success," Romney said. "If there ever was a time when innovation and transformation were needed in government, it is now."
OK, so I'm feeling tired today...
And I still have so many things to do...
So here's a new weekend tradition that I'm starting here...
Yes, I'm starting it just for you! SURREAL OC WEEKEND!
- He's free! Finally free! My friend Art Pedroza at Orange Juice has finally LIBERATED HIMSELF FROM THE ORANGE COUNTY REPUBLICAN PARTY!! The OC GOP should really mourn his leaving, because he was actually trying to HELP THEM in Central County. Oh yes, and we Dems should probably take heed to what he says, and make sure that we never make the same mistakes that the OC GOP has made:
I wrote this week about what the O.C. GOP could do to rebuild in central O.C. - and predictably Tim Whitacre [linkiesfor a littlehistory] came on anonymously and asked why I was revealing Central Committee secrets. He's right. What he and his cronies do ought to be kept secret - or the public might gag to death when they read about it.
I also wrote about my disappointment with the apparent election of Mexican hater Trung Nguyen [link] - and the doom that is coming when he teams up with Chris Norby and John Moorlach [link]. And predictably I got ripped by all sorts of anon GOP posters - and by [Red County/OC Blog Master] Cunningham himself...
My fellow Democrats, this is not just a warning to Republicans. This should also be a warning to us. Let's never allow machine politics blind us from connecting with our communities. Let's never, ever make the same mistakes that the Republicans have made.
- How would you feel if you were arrested in Costa Mesa for not having your ID? Wingnut Mayor Allan Mansoor says that he is arresting undocumented workers in order to rid Costa Mesa of "dangerous criminals". But how does a poor man riding a bicycle on the wrong side of the street qualify as a "dangerous criminal"? And who is now filling his job?
- Romney, Romney, Romney! So why is Presidential Hopeful Mitt Romney so popular in GOP elite circles here, even as the rest of the country casts doubt as to whether Romney has the right stuff. A guest poster at Red County/OC Blog suggests that it may be because "Romney's biggest financial supporter in O.C. also employs the county party chairman". No wonder why my friend Art Pedroza is leaving that lame party.
And last, but certainly not least, follow me after the flip...
Last night we were treated to a health care "plan" that would reward those who have shitty health insurance, punish the middle-class union workers who've bargained for better health insurance, and keep the private insurance industry afloat in the process. Ruth Marcus thinks that this actual reading of the evidence of the plan is unfair.
If George W. Bush proposes something, it must be bad. Such is the knee-jerk state of partisan suspiciousness that when the president actually endorses a tax increase -- a tax increase that would primarily hit the well-off, no less -- Democrats still howl.
....Listening to Democratic reaction to Bush's new health insurance proposal, you get the sense that if Bush picked a plank right out of the Democratic platform -- if he introduced Hillarycare itself -- and stuck it in his State of the Union address, Democrats would churn out press releases denouncing it.
Kevin Drum and Jonathan Cohn do away with this nonsense so easily that it's not worth taking an extra swipe, showing that Bush's plan is actually an attempt to preserve the health insurance industry and allow it to offer less and less services to their customers. But there is an important issue in here that needs to be addressed, that I seem to keep coming back to in this health care debate.
Republicans who say the words "universal health care" do have the effect of pushing the debate in a more progressive direction, and setting out universal coverage as the desired goal. But IT'S NOT ENOUGH for them to be lionized for doing something that human dignity and a basic belief in humanity demands.
OK, so Ahhnuld the Governator is now calling for universal health care in California. Isn't this good news? Isn't this what we've been calling for all along? After all, isn't this universal coverage?
