Brian Bilbray and Carl DeMaio: San Diego’s Republican Shapeshifters

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Monday October 08, 2012 · 12:00 PM PDT

2012/10/08 · 12:00

If there’s one thing that’s been particularly consistent to campaigns of the far right in San Diego this fall, it’s the unusually desperate attempts to hide the real agenda from voters. It’s one that should be cause for optimism as long as voters pay attention, and betrays an almost impressive self-awareness from the top of the GOP that the party’s agenda has drifted well outside the mainstream.

From the special exemptions of Prop 32 to Brian Bilbray’s teetering re-election bid to Carl DeMaio’s bizarre mayoral campaign, extreme conservatives are doing everything they can to hide their record and who they are.

For the backers of Proposition 32, the deception was part of the design from the very beginning. They surveyed the political landscape and found that, unsurprisingly, nobody wants millionaires and corporations to be able to buy off our political process. Rather than abandon a wildly unpopular idea, they came up with a different plan: fake it.

withthelidoff

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Thursday October 30, 2008 · 10:34 AM PDT

2008/10/30 · 10:34

I mean this is really getting out of hand. And before it goes any further, we need to establish a few things that the Yes on 8 campaign seems not to understand.

The current state of marriage does not make the words "bride" and "groom" hate speech. Gays are not the same as unicorns. No matter what Tom McClintock thinks, gays are not dogs either. The notion- in this country of all places- that equality would be "armageddon" should be outrageous to anyone. And most certainly, eliminating human rights would not be the same as defeating Hitler. Just stop. But hey- Yes on 8: if you've got an actual point, let's hear it. No really. One that's true.

withthelidoff

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Tuesday October 28, 2008 · 5:01 PM PDT

2008/10/28 · 17:01

Andrew Sullivan notes today that one of the biggest financial supporters of the Yes on 8 campaign is Elsa Prince Broekhuizen, who has pumped $450,000 into the campaign. Broekhuizen is the mother of Blackwater founder and owner Erik Prince and Bush Pioneer Betsy DeVos. She's also quite the patron of the religious right.

withthelidoff

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Friday September 12, 2008 · 8:28 AM PDT

2008/09/12 · 08:28

Thanks to shayera for a ton of help compiling all of this

Back in 2006, Chris Bowers launched the Use It or Lose It campaign, calling on all House Democrats who were running unopposed to contribute 10% of their cash on hand to the DCCC. Finance laws allow unlimited transfers from candidates to the committee, and that money was otherwise just going to sit around collecting dust. We had far more pickup opportunities than most people had planned for, and that extra cash could have really helped out.

Shortly after, I piled on, noting that there were an additional 64 House Democrats who were facing token opposition (Republican opponent had raised $10,000 or less for the cycle). That was millions more that wasn't needed in 2006 but could have gone to pushing tight races into the win column; candidates like Larry Kissell who came up 329 votes short or Christine Jennings who lost by 373 (notwithstanding undervote questions).

withthelidoff

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Thursday September 04, 2008 · 12:49 PM PDT

2008/09/04 · 12:49

I proudly cross post at and work for the Courage Campaign

Last night, the country was officially introduced to John McCain's Vice Presidential pick, Governor Sarah Palin. She gave a speech full of vitriol, condescension and outright lies, but perhaps nothing was more shocking than her belittling insult of community organizers. Trying to minimize the work of Barack Obama, she said "I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a 'community organizer,' except that you have actual responsibilities."

Shocking. Just a quick sampling of community organizers would include Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Founding Fathers of the United States, and Jesus. Much, much further down that list would be organizations like the Courage Campaign, which exists expressly to empower online and offline grassroots activism. Because we know, like so many others, that concerted community effort is what it takes to bring about meaningful change in this country- something we could really use after eight years of Bush/McCain policy.

withthelidoff

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Tuesday August 12, 2008 · 12:19 PM PDT

2008/08/12 · 12:19

For a week now, dozens of House Republicans have been staging fake sessions on domestic drilling. The hearings haven't gotten far beyond twitter battles for the most part, except for Rep. David Davis losing his GOP primary because of ties to big oil. This apparently has not served as a lesson to anyone in this cabal though, and last night Minority Leader Boehner co-signed a fundraising email that proves the GOP can't get halfway through a basic email without embarrassing itself or through an entire email without flat out lying.

The first part is just fun in a dance-on-their-grave sort of way. Boehner and RNC Chair Mike Duncan declare "We need to fight back and help elect Republican candidates who are committed to real reform." Kinda like in Tennessee where big oil sellout Davis went down for opposing meaningful reform? Yeah, kinda like that.

withthelidoff

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Friday April 04, 2008 · 10:17 AM PDT

2008/04/04 · 10:17

Cross posted at Calitics

So as we've established by now, Darrell Issa thinks very little of 9/11 rescue workers and would prefer that the federal government not concern itself with their welfare. Cause according to him, 9/11 is not and presumably was not a national issue. We've also established that he has no qualms about throwing federal money around on local pork as long as it benefits him directly. So the next logical question for me is "oh hey, are there any familiar names that don't mind taking Darrell Issa's money?" As you may or may not know, Darrell Issa is filthy rich. So he's spread a lot of money around on Republicans and conservative causes. So as it turns out, there are quite a lot of Republicans currently running around the Capitol funded in part by Darrell Issa (partial list):

withthelidoff

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Monday March 17, 2008 · 5:21 PM PDT

2008/03/17 · 17:21

I shared breakfast with Nick Leibham last week and discussed where he stands on a number of issues. I mostly just lobbed topics and let him talk; this is the relevant transcript edited to be a remotely reasonable length and minus fun stuff like us chatting with the waitress and our occasional divergence into non-relevant shop talk. Some parts I liked, some parts less so. But here it is. Note this is a contested primary.

withthelidoff

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Tuesday March 04, 2008 · 1:36 PM PST

2008/03/04 · 13:36

Full Disclosure: I work for the Courage Campaign

Cross posted from the Courage Campaign blog

The final results are in for Los Angeles County, with nearly 80% of the double bubble ballots ultimately being counted towards the final total. As the Whittier Daily News reports:

The count, completed Sunday, had no effect on the outcome of the primary.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton received 51 percent of the 47,153 votes that were counted. Barack Obama gained 42percent of those same ballots.

Just over 12,000 votes could not be interpreted, said Dean Logan, the acting registrar-recorder/county clerk.

Of course, as the article goes on to say, Logan began the process not expecting any of the ballots to be counted:

Logan initially believed none of the "double bubble" votes could be counted in cases where non-partisan voters had failed to fill in a bubble specifying in which party's presidential race they were casting a "crossover" ballot.

withthelidoff

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Tuesday February 05, 2008 · 2:46 PM PST

2008/02/05 · 14:46

Cross posted from Calitics

So I just got back from a McCain rally here in San Diego and aside from feeling dirty, he's definitely a bit worried about California. He brought out every gun he's got, big, little, whatever. He was introduced by Mayor Jerry Sanders, former CA SoS Bill Jones and Governor Schwarzenegger (McCain "will say 'Hasta la vista' to wasteful spending in Washington."). On stage but silent were locals such as my councilman Kevin Faulconer and County Supervisor Ron Roberts. Along for the ride on the plane and the photo ops were wife Cindy, mother Roberta, and his murderers row of pseudo-moderates: Governor Crist from Florida and Senators Richard Burr, Lindsay Graham and Joe Lieberman. They didn't say anything but they stood there very moderately.

withthelidoff

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Wednesday January 30, 2008 · 10:30 AM PST

2008/01/30 · 10:30

Drawn from CarlsbadDem's diary with permission

Last night Congressman Bilbray hosted a constituent teleforum- a sort of hybrid robocall/conference call. One of the contributors at Calitics was on the call and caught one of the more honest moments of the Congressman's recent career. The conversation turned towards a discussion over whether undocumented immigrants perform manual labor that citizens otherwise would not perform. Congressman Bilbray, needless to say, does not see this as either an excuse or a problem. All it takes is some good old fashioned American ingenuity to overcome the challenge. Or, maybe, exactly the opposite. As closely as blogger CarlsbadDem could get it down:

What those people are really saying is that we aren't producing enough unskilled, poor workers. They're saying that we aren't producing enough poverty in this country. Well, my answer is that the federal government could produce a lot of poverty if it wanted to. We spend billions on education and training. We could create our own.

withthelidoff

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Wednesday December 19, 2007 · 1:47 PM PST

2007/12/19 · 13:47

Cross posted from Calitics

Back in August, Secretary of State Debra Bowen announced that she was disallowing the majority of DRE voting machines made by Diebold and Sequoia. Part of her move in August was to require that 10% of votes in a close election (less than one half of one percent) be counted by hand. As a result of the potential "logistical nightmare" of having to count so many votes by hand, San Diego County has been pushing hard for people to vote by mail. But apparently that wasn't going quite well enough. So now the Deborah Seiler, the San Diego County Registrar of Voters, is suing Debra Bowen over the issue.

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Brian Bilbray and Carl DeMaio: San Diego’s Republican Shapeshifters

Enough is Enough: No on Prop 8

Not So Strange Bedfellows: Blackwater and Yes on 8

Use It or Lose It 2008

John McCain is Terrified of Organized Communities

GOP Can't Even Fake the Fight

Darrell Issa Hates 9/11 Heroes, Who Loves Darrell Issa's Money?

"It's a paradigm shifting election." An interview with Nick Leibham

47,153 "Double Bubble" votes have been counted in LA

Back from San Diego McCain Rally: He's Nervous

Brian Bilbray's Economic Stimulus Plan: Create Our Own Poverty

San Diego Still Hates Clean Elections, Sues Debra Bowen