Friday, July 30, 2010
Arkansas Politics Lincoln riles her base
Posted by Max Brantley on Fri, Jul 30, 2010 at 3:07 PM
Some think Sen. Blanche Lincoln can't win re-election period. She certainly can't win without a strong black vote. So she doesn't need stories like this — black legislators who are understandably angry that President Obama promised $1.5 billion to Lincoln for farm aid while giving the shaft to black farmers who've been waiting for years for justice and a $1.2 settlement for years of government discrimination.
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Comments (14)
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Be sure to read some of the comments on the article from The Hill to which Max linked. As Paul Krugman pointed out this morning, those are the kind of folks the Democratic leadership and Obama Administration are dreaming of working with!
I'm confused why the BC is upset.
The funding for the farmers in the Pigford suit was in the war supplemental bill that was filibustered by R's last week. I think they then pulled the funding (like every time the Senate has tried to get the past amount funded) from the bill since the R's seem to think that the Feds should not pay a judgment against it from a lawsuit that they lost.
BUT the emergency funding for farmers was also pulled from the Small Business Bill so that Republicans might (they won't no matter that the Dems give them) vote for it.
I'm so tired of my tax dollars being redistributed to farmers in back room deals.
How does a farmer double his income? He puts in another mailbox.
T/Y for the heads-up Snapback. You tend to forget the extent of ignorance and ignorants out there.
"I don’t forget who I represent,” Lincoln told The Hill. “I’m willing to stand up to my caucus and everybody else to remind them who I represent. And I do represent farmers. Blanche
Think they misquoted her. It should have been either "represent white farmer and rich farmers."
How about we just trade out Blank Lincoln for John Laney Gray...Green Party in November...we tried Red, we tried Blue but maybe it's time for Green to stand for YOU!
Dr Bill Harrison's Women's Clinic in Fayetteville enjoyed a large turn-out of supporters today in celebration of his many years providing gynecologist service to area women.
Many forget Dr Harrison, in addition to being an abortion provider, also delivered thousands of NWA youngsters.
Dr Harrison is retiring due to leukemia.
He told us a few months ago about his years of wearing a bullet-proof vest, of going to sleep with a pistol under his pillow and having his clinic and car searched for bombs while trying to protect his family from Jesus' followers. Those are the folks who have no problem with American bombs blowing the fetuses out of women's wombs in Iraq and Afghanistan but an elective abortion over here is cause for bombing a home or medical clinic.
KFSM has the video story.
http://www.kfsm.com/news/kfsm-news-fayette…
Everybody has their hands in Uncle Sam's pockets for something or other and they want everyone's hands out but their own.
A little inaccurate on a couple fronts, mouse. The government settled the original suit. What happened was the court only allowed a narrow window for claims, and the vast majority of the eligible black farmers failed to submit in time. So they kicked it around for years, and finally reopened the claims process in the 2008 Farm Bill. But the bill only appropriated $100 million; they're trying to add $1.15 billion, plus $3.4 billion for the Native Americans in a separate discrimination case. Also, the Senate has in fact passed the money once; it was part of the Jobs II bill, as was the disaster money. But the Senate Repubs didn't like what the House added to Jobs II and wouldn't pass it again.
We progressives don't have much to choose from. The Democratic incumbent has not voted consistent with the values we hold. Her Republican challenger doesn't have the values we hold. If the incumbent wins, we can expect her to join other DINOs who do things we dislike. If the Republican wins, we can expect him to oppose things we like and advocate things we disapprove. The Green Party offers a candidate most progressives neigher know nor consider acceptable.
Bottom line: Lincoln can't win re-election without our support. We can't gain a better Senator whether she is re-elected or not. Although Max believes we are better off with Lincoln re-elected than with her Republican opponent, that seems like deciding on alternative forms of poison and hoping for better health. Not much hope or likelihood for "progress" in such a choice. Just more poison no matter what label is on the medicine bottle.
Progressives know poison when we see it, and are unwilling to keep drinking it merely to uphold the partisan interests of incumbents in any party. If Lincoln is defeated, it will be because she and the Obama administration chose the status quo over "change we can believe in." We still believe things need to change, still believe in supporting candidates committed to making change happen, and should not allow ourselves to politically be brain-washed or bullied into supporting someone who has resisted the change we seek merely and who is making no effort to pass legislation to change policies and conditions we dislike.
Author Archives
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Event Calendar
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Re: Mike Huckabee lie about Obama? We report, you decide
Here's a clue, Orville:
http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb2008…- on February 10, 2012
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Re: Obama administration guarantees free contraception
"I suggest that you talk to the Administrator of Medicare because he also agrees with…
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Re: Thank goodness, it's Friday
Outlier, your friend is rich beyond most folks' wildest dreams to have you. Zelda, shame…
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