Daily Archives: January 4, 2008

John Edwards Speaking Saturday (tomorrow afternoon) in Lebanon NH

This is a brief follow up to my prior diary regarding canvassing on Saturday (tomorrow) morning across the bridge from White River Junction, VT.

Canvassers are still needed/welcome/appreciated and to all of you who are already planning to be in Lebanon tomorrow, thank you for volunteering.  I can't wait to see the GMD crowd thread out into voter rich Lebanon neighborhoods.

I am really excited to say that John Edwards will be speaking in Lebanon at 1:00 p.m.

The details are:

Saturday January 5th at 1:15 pm
Lebanon “Fighting for our Families” Town Hall w/ John Edwards and his parents Bobbie and Wallace Edwards
Lebanon High School
195 Hanover St.
Lebanon, NH

Hope you will be there.

JohnEdwards.com

sláinte,

 — cl

THE FIRST VERMONT PRESIDENTIAL STRAW POLL (for links to the candidates exploratory committees, refer to the diary on the right-hand column)!!! If the 2008 Vermont Democratic Presidential Primary were

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Theodore M. Riehle, Jr. (Dec. 20, 1924 – Dec. 31, 2007)

( – promoted by odum)

When you drive up and down Vermont’s roads and scenic byways, you have Theodore M. Riehle, Jr. to thank for the beautiful views.

http://mulishbehavior.blogspot…

Mr. Riehle was a Vermont Republican who, in 1968, authored the legislation forbidding billboards on Vermont highways. Although controversial at the time, the bill passed thanks to a different breed of Republican. At the time, Mr. Riehle and other environmentally conscious Republicans were in the vanguard of environmental thinking and stewardship. While not as far reaching in terms of size and scope as Act 250 – Vermont’s landmark planning and development law (signed into law by former Gov. Deane C. Davis, also a Republican in 1970) – it is hard to think of anyone who has had as much impact on what we see (or DON’T see) as we drive around the state than Mr. Riehle.

Mr. Riehle died peacefully after a brief illness on New Year’s Eve. To be sure, the billboard law was not his only accomplishment, but it may be what he is best known for – read his obituary for more about the man.

All in all, not a bad legacy.

What’s the VT Neo-confederate movement been up to lately?

(I know this isn't everyone's cup of tea, but it's got a bit of relevance here, considering the history with GMD. Plus it's a nice distraction from Iowa overload.)

crossposted at five before chaos.

What, besides languishing in obscurity? Not a heck of a lot. But apparently, Second Vermont Republic's Thomas “Obviously a Good Confederate” Naylor isn't getting his “neo-con” fix enough from his recent appearances on hate talk radio. He has two events planned next week, that exemplifies the strategy that did them in last year…play nice with the lefties as though nothing's wrong, while sucking up to neo-Confederates simultaneously. More below the jump.

As Rowley at VT Secession tells us, SVR has two events scheduled on January 15th, as part of his “Vermont Independence Day” celebration. The first is a banquet in Montpelier with the theme, “The Vermont Village Green: Alternative to Empire.” This one has a few speakers, including Kirkpatrick Sale (winner of an SPLC award that I'll get to in a minute), and is obviously in the vein of the sympathies of left-leaning Vermonters, whom they were able to successfully exploit until last year.

As Rowley points out, last year's event was promoted and sponsored by its sister organization, Vermont Commons. The Commons also took a beating last year with its digging in in its heels in support of Naylor. This year, they're nowhere to be seen in regards to the event. In fact, the only other promotion of this event is over at the white-supremacist Vanguard News Network site by someone listing their location as “Mount Zion – Jew York Shitty” (I'm not linking to them). Simultaneously, Naylor is also hosting a 2-day “North-South Secession Summit” in Charlotte:

The North-South Secession Summit meeting will include senior representatives from the Middlebury Institute, the League of the South, the Southern National Congress, and the Second Vermont Republic. Recognizing that the American Empire is immoral, illegal, unsustainable, ungovernable, and unfixable, these secessionists have called for the peaceful dissolution of the United States of America. Through a “Genteel Revolution” they hope to help save America and the rest of the world from the American Empire.

Yeah, who better to save us from the American Empire than a bunch of Neo-Confederate hacks led by a guy who swears he's not a racist but seems incredibly comfortable around them? And a big congrats to Naylor's co-conspirator Kirkpatrick Sale, of the Middlebury Institute. Sale was the recipient of one of the Southern Poverty Law Center's Hatewatch's “1st Annual Smackdown Awards”:

7. Weirdest Political Alliance Award The honors here go to Kirkpatrick Sale, director of the New York-based Middlebury Institute, dedicated to secessionism. Known for decades as a left-wing intellectual, Sale last year buddied up to the white supremacist League of the South (LOS) — a group that opposes racial intermarriage, defends segregation, and calls for a return to “European cultural hegemony” in the South — to the point of actually co-sponsoring the Oct. 3-4 Second North American Secessionist Convention in Tennessee with the LOS. Now, the left-right love affair promoted by Sale has turned positively torrid, with a “North-South Secession Summit” planned for January. Attending will be top officials of the Middlebury Institute, LOS, the Southern National Congress, and the Second Vermont Republic, to seek “the peaceful dissolution” of the United States.

One really has to wonder what keeps these people even bothering in Vermont, having very little, if any, support. As it's been pointed out before by odum, perhaps due to our high percentage of white people here in VT, it's a lot easier for these people to fly under the radar.

Magnetic Ribbons Now in Party Flavors!

I may be late to the game on this one, but today noticed for the first time a Christmas themed “Pray for Our Troops” car ribbon.

What’s next, “Happy New Year” ribbons sporting both “2008” and “5 Years and Counting”?  

And it’s Obama for Round One

UPDATE: Lots of analysis this morning, but the long and the short is this: Obama brought in new voters and won with them (with Clinton in second among that group), which is interesting because that trick never works. Among returning caucus-goers, Edwards led, meaning the predictions of many were spot on: had the turnout been at traditional levels, it may well have been Edwards’. If its not just a one-time thing, and all the independents and first-time voters show up in the Democratic primary in NH, that’s a trend that’ll scare the begeezus out of Republicans…

So Iowa is playing out the way many were expecting in recent days, and in light of the Des Moines Register poll. The big question now is who comes in second. It’ll be a photo finish between Edwards and Clinton, but the bragging rights matter, especially for Edwards. Edwards needs to be able to lay claim to second place to stay in this, even though his overall chances just took a big hit (despite the fact that Iowa doles out its delegates proportionate to the vote).

Clinton, however, will stay viable with a third place finish, if for no other reason than the fact that the media primary narrative has been all about her. If she’s top two, that narrative stays more or less the same, but with her as the new underdog. If she’s in third, it’s all about voters’ rejection of her. In any event, the media story will still be about her, and therefore, she’ll still be a player.

Progressives who have put their hopes on Edwards as the only viable candidate who has clearly and unequivocally embraced their values should take heart: Clinton lost. That is no small thing, and it likely means that – when the dust settles – the worst-case scenario, with all its previous inevitability, is hopefully in the past. As with Dean, Iowa Dems flirted with the unapologetic lefty, but went for the one they thought would be most appealing to the center and shallow right – and it is significant for the Party and the nation that they did not decide that that person was Hillary Clinton.

Iowa Caucus Night Cool-down Lap: Which Superhero is YOUR Candidate?

Yeesh. It’s getting a little hot in here. Let’s dial it down a bit, eh? Here’s my personal favorite nonsense from Comedy Central’s Indecision2008 website from September. Once again, demonstrating their hardcore geek cred, CC has a list of which comic-book superheroes most resemble which candidates. This is probably mildly amusing if you’re not a hopeless geek – but its way damn funny if you are!

Here are the big three Dems as a teaser, but the rest are just as funny (if not funnier):


Hillary Clinton = She-Hulk
Trained as a lawyer, can kick pretty much any guy’s ass, marriage to Man-Wolf was probably a mistake.


John Edwards = Robin/Nightwing
Kinda just worked better as a sidekick.


Barack Obama = Black Lightning
Energetic…?

Check ’em all out, if it’s your kinda thing. Here’s one more, just for kicks:


Mike Gravel = Wolverine
Intense, outdoorsy misanthrope from the Great White North with little memory of his past — possibly insane.