N.J. Senator Lautenberg, Dies; Cory Booker Wins

[QueEx]

N.J. Senator Lautenberg, Dies

Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., dies at 89
​

​

Lautenberg (D-N.J.) speaks at a statewide town meeting in
memory of Rutgers student Tyler Clementi Wednesday, Oct.
6, 2010, at the Rutgers University Student Center in New
Brunswick, N.J.

​

Sen. Frank Lautenberg, a World War II veteran who served nearly three decades in the Senate, died early Monday morning in New York at 89.

The New Jersey Democrat — the oldest member of the Senate — had been ill and was a rarely seen presence in Washington in recent months. He died from complications of viral pneumonia, his office said in a statement.

Lautenberg’s death marks the end of an era on Capitol Hill and in the Senate in particular. Lautenberg was the last World War II veteran in the Senate, the final one of 115 senators to serve in that conflict, according to Senate records. Rep. Ralph Hall (R-Texas) is now the remaining World War II veteran in Congress.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) can appoint a replacement for Lautenberg, meaning Senate Democrats lose a reliable vote as they take on tough issues like immigration reform this summer.

However, there is some question over whether Christie’s appointment would face a special election in November — as Democrats claim — or would serve out the remainder of Lautenberg’s term. Democrats are expected to file a legal challenge on this issue in New Jersey.

Lautenberg served two separate stints in the Senate: from 1982 to 2000, and from 2003 until his death this week.

Lautenberg had many legislative accomplishments during his Senate tenure, including boosting transportation funding and championing a ban on smoking on airplanes. He authored the 1984 law that set the minimum drinking age at 21, and also pushed to lower the legal blood-alcohol limit to 0.08 percent.

The New Jersey Democrat was also a key player in efforts to impose new gun control laws. One of his last appearances in the Senate was in April to vote in favor of a bill to expand background checks for gun sales. That measure failed to win Senate approval.

Before serving in Washington, Lautenberg was successful in the private sector. He was the chief executive officer at the payroll giant ADP, and he amassed a personal fortune worth tens of millions of dollars.

Lautenberg announced in February that he would not seek reelection in 2014. High-profile Newark Mayor Cory Booker is seeking the seat, although other Democrats also want to run.

Lautenberg’s Senate career was marked — or in many ways, guided — by his vicious personal feud with former Democratic Sen. Robert Torricelli of New Jersey. To say the two men hated each other would be an understatement. Torricelli once threatened to remove Lautenberg’s testicles during a closed-door meeting of Senate Democrats, bringing condemnation from fellow Democrats.
​

SOURCE

 

[QueEx]

Re: N.J. Senator Lautenberg, Dies

Chris Christie has broad sway
over Frank Lautenberg succession​

​

Christie can decide to appoint someone or call a special election. | AP Photo​

Within hours of Sen. Frank Lautenberg’s passing, Democrats, Republicans and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s office were poring over the state’s labyrinthian election laws to figure out what comes next.

The short answer? No one agrees.

Despite the fact that politicians on both sides of the aisle have been preparing for the possibility of Lautenberg passing away before his term ended in 2014, the issue is very much unresolved.

What is clear is that Christie has fairly broad discretion both about whether to appoint someone at all and whether to call a special election.

Christie can appoint a temporary placeholder but doesn’t have to. If he does, his top choice right now would be state Sen. Joe Kyrillos, a longtime friend of the governor who held the Bible the day Christie took the oath in 1995 as a freeholder in Morris County.

A second-rung option would be Tom Kean Jr., a state lawmaker and son of the former governor, Tom Kean Sr., who is a Christie political mentor. (To that end, at least one New Jersey political insider raised the idea that Christie could appoint Kean Sr., who would clearly be a placeholder and have no interest in staying on longer term).

Rumors have abounded for months that Christie was considering appointing Cory Booker, the Newark mayor who battled with Lautenberg allies when he made clear he was interested in the seat. Such an appointment would come after Booker took a pass on challenging Christie for governor. However, sources close to both men have insisted this scenario makes no sense for either of them.

Democrats are privately hoping Christie appoints someone who becomes a political albatross for him, as he looks set to coast to reelection in a few months against little-known Democratic state Sen. Barbara Buono.

Even beyond the politics of appointees, things get tricky. Lautenberg passed away a day before the next scheduled Democratic primary — June 4. There are conflicting laws about whether that means a special election would be held in November, when Christie is up for reelection, or whether an election would wait until next year, when a full-term successor to Lautenberg will be chosen regardless.

Democrats may end up suing over the conflicting statutes, multiple sources said. Christie aides did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

State Democratic Party Chairman John Wisniewski told POLITICO that he considers the law fairly clear.

“The governor gets to appoint [to fill the vacancy], that’s clear,” he said. And what we expet as Democrats is that he will hold a special election this November … that is the most recent pronouncement by the state Legislature on the issue, and that is the law that should be followed.”

He added, “Most people will tell you there are two statutes that say potentially different things. And the most recent of the two call for a special election [in November].”

Republicans, meanwhile, are likelier to prefer the election be held next year, giving them time to pick a candidate in a state that is still blue, who could then fundraise and build name recognition.
​

FULL ARTICLE

 

[Costanza]

Re: N.J. Senator Lautenberg, Dies

The fate of nations and millions of families, the course of history, could be forever altered by the death of an old man 95% of Americans could not name or identify. If he lived another four to six months, that could be a difference maker.

 

[QueEx]

Re: N.J. Senator Lautenberg, Dies

The fate of nations and millions of families, the course of history, could be forever altered by the death of an old man 95% of Americans could not name or identify. If he lived another four to six months, that could be a difference maker.

A close friend makes a similar argument/comparison with the retirement of Justice Thurgood Marshall in June, 1991 at age 82. The argument goes: had Thurgood not retired when he did, allowing George H.W. Bush to nominate and the Senate to confirm Uncle Clarence, the Supreme Court and the course of a lot of things in this country, including the Supreme Court's interference/decision in Bush v. Gore, would have been drastically different -- as less than a year of Thurgood's retirement, Bill Clinton ascended to the presidency.

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​

 

[thoughtone]

Re: N.J. Senator Lautenberg, Dies

 

[QueEx]

Re: N.J. Senator Lautenberg, Dies

Ya think ???. Do you believe, all things political considered, that Christie could do that without harm to himself ???

 

[thoughtone]

Re: N.J. Senator Lautenberg, Dies

Ya think ???. Do you believe, all things political considered, that Christie could do that without harm to himself ???

I'm not sure if you are familiar with the Northeast, being from the deep south. New Jersey is a center left state. Christie had to cozy up to President Obama in order to boost his political viability. If he is thinking about 2016, could you think of a better political move?

 

[Costanza]

Re: N.J. Senator Lautenberg, Dies

A close friend makes a similar argument/comparison with the retirement of Justice Thurgood Marshall in June, 1991 at age 82. The argument goes: had Thurgood not retired when he did, allowing George H.W. Bush to nominate and the Senate to confirm Uncle Clarence, the Supreme Court and the course of a lot of things in this country, including the Supreme Court's interference/decision in Bush v. Gore, would have been drastically different -- as less than a year of Thurgood's retirement, Bill Clinton ascended to the presidency.

Interesting. Seems he wanted to retire in the Reagan years and just couldn't hold out any more, dying 15 months after leaving the court.

He even purposed a Weekend At Thurgood's scenario in case he died under Reagan.

It would have been huge if he held on another two years. That would have meant three nominations under Clinton's first term. Instead, it likely produced a second Bush presidency. It's impossible to reconstruct history with certainty but without Marshall's retirement and the negative consequences of it, there's likely no black president elected in 2008.

Guess life is just quirky that way.

 

[QueEx]

Re: N.J. Senator Lautenberg, Dies

Interesting. Seems he wanted to retire in the Reagan years and just couldn't hold out any more, dying 15 months after leaving the court.

He even purposed a Weekend At Thurgood's scenario in case he died under Reagan.

It would have been huge if he held on another two years. That would have meant three nominations under Clinton's first term. Instead, it likely produced a second Bush presidency. It's impossible to reconstruct history with certainty but without Marshall's retirement and the negative consequences of it, there's likely no black president elected in 2008.

Guess life is just quirky that way.

That was my thought, he had probably just reached the end of his line; and he just couldn't hold out, anymore. I believe that Thurgood had earned the rest -- though my friend still holds the view that he "sold out." I respect his view, but respectfully disagree.

I agree that life is often quirky and there is no telling how things would have turned out, but I do believe, somehow, it would have been different; for better or for worse.

 

[QueEx]

Re: N.J. Senator Lautenberg, Dies

I'm not sure if you are familiar with the Northeast, being from the deep south. New Jersey is a center left state. Christie had to cozy up to President Obama in order to boost his political viability. If he is thinking about 2016, could you think of a better political move?

I was speaking in jest. I have some familiarity with the Northeast, having lived in the region several years at the behest of my rich uncle, Sam. Whatever the reason for Christie's Sandy embrace of Obama, it was a good move for Jersey state politics. But, the motivation for the Sandy embrace notwithstanding, do you think it holds in the presidential primaries where some fellow republican will later argue that appointing Booker shows he's too liberal for large swaths of the republican base?

 

[thoughtone]

Re: N.J. Senator Lautenberg, Dies

I was speaking in jest. I have some familiarity with the Northeast, having lived in the region several years at the behest of my rich uncle, Sam. Whatever the reason for Christie's Sandy embrace of Obama, it was a good move for Jersey state politics. But, the motivation for the Sandy embrace notwithstanding, do you think it holds in the presidential primaries where some fellow republican will later argue that appointing Booker shows he's too liberal for large swaths of the republican base?

Name the so called conservative republican that won the republican presidential nomination.

Despite the media hype, the republican party is a corporatist party nationally and despite Booker's imaging, he has signs of being a corporatist too.

 

[QueEx]

Re: N.J. Senator Lautenberg, Dies

Name the so called conservative republican that won the republican presidential nomination.

Despite the media hype, the republican party is a corporatist party nationally and despite Booker's imaging, he has signs of being a corporatist too.

Well, guess Christie has no concerns . . .

 

[Costanza]

Re: N.J. Senator Lautenberg, Dies

That was my thought, he had probably just reached the end of his line; and he just couldn't hold out, anymore. I believe that Thurgood had earned the rest -- though my friend still holds the view that he "sold out." I respect his view, but respectfully disagree.

The seeds of that thought were with me as I started looking into it... Part of me feels a man of his stature has a responsibility to hang on but that part was greatly outweighed by the reasonable part that says:

1) He obviously had valid concerns, dying in 15 months. If he lived 10-15 years, it's harder to excuse.

2) Clinton getting elected was far from sure-- certainly the oddest election of my life as a Reagan baby. Marshall might have even been an unintended force propelling Bush to a second term.

It's too extreme to call Marshall a sell-out when acting could've produced a worse outcome and he was on the verge of death.

I agree that life is often quirky and there is no telling how things would have turned out, but I do believe, somehow, it would have been different; for better or for worse.

Different is definite.

 

[Costanza]

Re: N.J. Senator Lautenberg, Dies

Name the so called conservative republican that won the republican presidential nomination.

Despite the media hype, the republican party is a corporatist party nationally and despite Booker's imaging, he has signs of being a corporatist too.

I'll judge them based as what they ran as rather than your purity test. So Mitt Romney, with McCain and Bush before him.

 

[QueEx]

Re: N.J. Senator Lautenberg, Dies

Anyone notice the "gyrations" Rubio is going through with that immigration bill ???

As he bends, twists and contorts to placate the farther-right: giving-in to higher, stronger, longer fences; and higher, steeper and more and more difficult pathways to citizenship -- the less his bill appeals to those whom he seeks to conquer for his party and less and less it looks like he will have that "Signature Piece" of a bill that he can waive about saying "see what I got done" !!!

 

[QueEx]

Re: N.J. Senator Lautenberg, Dies

Chris Christie’s Bum Rush
Republicans are scrambling. ​

Governor Chris Christie’s decision to hold an August primary for New Jersey’s special Senate election has infuriated Garden State Republicans, since it leaves only two rushed months for contenders to raise money and campaign.

Behind the scenes, candidates are declining to run, donors are wary, and operatives say the seat is out of reach.

“He burned us,” says a New Jersey Republican consultant. “He could have appointed a senator to stay through 2014. Instead, he gave us a weird little primary during beach season.”

Many of the Republicans who have been mentioned as possible candidates, such as state senator Tom Kean Jr., lieutenant governor Kim Guadagno, and state senator Joe Kyrillos, are privately telling their friends that they probably won’t run.

On Wednesday, state senator Michael Doherty, a prominent backer of Ron Paul’s presidential campaign, decided to sit out the race, owing to the compressed calendar. State senator Kevin O’Toole, a popular New Jersey lawmaker, did the same. “If the special election was in November 2014, instead of October, it’d be a different situation,” O’Toole says in a phone interview. “That said, I fully support the governor.”

“If you’re not ready to launch a statewide campaign, it’s a difficult proposition,” explains John Bennett, a former New Jersey state senator and a member of the state Republican committee. “Right now, the cost factor is a deterrent for a lot of people.”​

So is the filing deadline, which comes less than a week after Christie’s announcement. If you want to run, you have to have your petition, along with 1,000 signatures, submitted by June 10.

An August primary also means low turnout, which will likely benefit a conservative candidate. Christie’s allies in the capital, many of whom are centrists, aren’t eager to take part in a potentially messy clash with tea-party activists.

The prospect of fighting a rough-and tumble primary campaign, only to have to face off in October against a well-financed Democrat, such as Newark mayor Cory Booker or Congressman Frank Pallone, is another reason for the hesitation.


BUT, Enter Steve Lonegan. As skittish Republicans consider their options, the former Bogota mayor is collecting signatures and putting together a campaign. His aides say that Christie, to their surprise, has given them an unprecedented opening.

In an interview on Wednesday, Lonegan told National Review that he believes he is poised to win the Republican Senate nomination, and wondered aloud whether he’ll have competition.

“I’ll rise to the occasion,” said Lonegan, a former Americans for Prosperity adviser who has twice run unsuccessfully for governor. “If some moderate Republican gets in, then so be it, but I’m confident that I can galvanize the grassroots.”

But for now, the field beyond Lonegan remains empty. Kyrillos and Tom Kean Jr. haven’t officially bowed out of consideration, but sources close to both say they’re leaning against it. Assemblyman Jon Bramnick, a Christie ally, has made calls to power brokers about a run, but he remains undecided.

“In October, it could very well be Lonegan against Booker, which would just be a disaster for the party,” says a Trenton insider. “He’s New Jersey’s version of Christine O’Donnell.”​

Other New Jersey Republicans are more blasé about the Senate race. The real focus in the state, as ever, is on the gubernatorial race and the state-legislature races. Since the GOP hasn’t won a Senate race for years, there’s a tendency to shrug it off.

“All of the money is going toward the state races,” says a Republican donor close to Christie. “If people are donating, they’re donating to the governor. If there’s any real money in this race, it’ll have to come from Washington, D.C.”

Back at the state capitol, sources close to Christie say the outcry is misplaced. They argue that the October special-election date actually benefits the GOP, since the nominee will be able to carve out a singular campaign focused on national issues.

But the fury toward Christie, at least among conservatives hoping to win a Senate seat in New Jersey for the first time since 1972, may linger long after the special election. Some of them are pleased with Lonegan’s candidacy, but many were hoping that a bigger, more electable name would run.

“We’ll remember how Christie made this impossible,” says Seth Grossman, a former Atlantic County freeholder. “He chose to survive by moving the Senate race away from his own race, which has sucked the life out of our party.”

— Robert Costa is National Review’s Washington editor.

​

SOURCE

 

[Greed]

Lautenberg's son blasts 'show horse' Booker as family endorses Pallone

Lautenberg's son blasts 'show horse' Booker as family endorses Pallone
By Alexandra Jaffe
07/08/13 03:25 PM ET

The family of the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) on Monday endorsed Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D) in the New Jersey Senate race and criticized front-runner Cory Booker (D) as a glory-seeking "show horse" who lacks their father's work ethic.

"My father was known as a workhorse, not a show horse," Josh Lautenberg, the late senator's son, told The Hill.

"He lived every moment through his last days to serve the people of New Jersey, and that is something that is so important to him. But he [saw] Cory as a show horse, not a workhorse, something that, in his guts, bothered him."

The Lautenberg family's endorsement is likely to come with help on the campaign trail. Josh Lautenberg said he and possibly his sisters could stump for Pallone at the end of July or early August.

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box...autenberg-family-endorses-pallone-over-booker
Follow us: @thehill on Twitter | TheHill on Facebook

 

[Costanza]

Re: Lautenberg's son blasts 'show horse' Booker as family endorses Pallone

The fate of nations and millions of families, the course of history, could be forever altered by the death of an old man 95% of Americans could not name or identify. If he lived another four to six months, that could be a difference maker.

A close friend makes a similar argument/comparison with the retirement of Justice Thurgood Marshall in June, 1991 at age 82. The argument goes: had Thurgood not retired when he did, allowing George H.W. Bush to nominate and the Senate to confirm Uncle Clarence, the Supreme Court and the course of a lot of things in this country, including the Supreme Court's interference/decision in Bush v. Gore, would have been drastically different -- as less than a year of Thurgood's retirement, Bill Clinton ascended to the presidency.

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​

On the subject...

Justice Ginsburg Won’t Bow To Liberal Pressure To Retire Before 2016

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said that she'll resist any pressure from liberals to retire from the bench so that President Barack Obama may nominate her replacement before the November 2016 presidential elections, Reuters reported Thursday.

"It really has to be, ‘Am I equipped to do the job?'" Ginsburg told Reuters in an interview Tuesday. "I was so pleased that this year I couldn't see that I was slipping in any respect."

Ginsburg, 80, said her new "model" was Justice John Paul Stevens, who retired after almost 35 years on the bench at 90 years old, according to Reuters.

In an interview with The New Yorker earlier this year, Ginsburg said she wouldn't be stepping down in 2013.

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/justice-ginsburg-wont-bow-to-liberal-pressure-to



She better be posturing...

 

[thoughtone]

Re: Lautenberg's son blasts 'show horse' Booker as family endorses Pallone

Lautenberg's son blasts 'show horse' Booker as family endorses Pallone
By Alexandra Jaffe
07/08/13 03:25 PM ET

The family of the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) on Monday endorsed Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D) in the New Jersey Senate race and criticized front-runner Cory Booker (D) as a glory-seeking "show horse" who lacks their father's work ethic.

"My father was known as a workhorse, not a show horse," Josh Lautenberg, the late senator's son, told The Hill.

"He lived every moment through his last days to serve the people of New Jersey, and that is something that is so important to him. But he [saw] Cory as a show horse, not a workhorse, something that, in his guts, bothered him."

The Lautenberg family's endorsement is likely to come with help on the campaign trail. Josh Lautenberg said he and possibly his sisters could stump for Pallone at the end of July or early August.

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box...autenberg-family-endorses-pallone-over-booker
Follow us: @thehill on Twitter | TheHill on Facebook

Isn't this what the Clinton supporters did before President Obama won the nomination?

 

[thoughtone]

Re: N.J. Senator Lautenberg, Dies

I'll judge them based as what they ran as rather than your purity test. So Mitt Romney, with McCain and Bush before him.

Judge them on their past records as a whole. That's how they attract money from the big money donors who most definitely want their interests catered to foremost.

 

[Greed]

Re: Lautenberg's son blasts 'show horse' Booker as family endorses Pallone

Isn't this what the Clinton supporters did before President Obama won the nomination?

Maybe, but it's not Pallone supporters doing it. The Lautenberg family calling Booker lazy and without substance is gratuitous. They didn't talk-up Pallone in the family statment, they did this for the sole purpose of breaking down Booker.

But of course you give them the benefit of the doubt. If a Republican had used the "lazy" buzzword, or questioned Booker's integrity and accomplishments, you would have five threads on it while bumping five more.

 

[QueEx]

Re: Lautenberg's son blasts 'show horse' Booker as family endorses Pallone

I have to thank you for posting the Lautenberg family piece above. I was waiting for the other shoe to drop, the endorsement of Pallone, but when that didn't come immediately, the piece escaped me.

I don't know what, if any, response the Booker campaign or black people in the area in general have made to their statements, but I think the Lautenberg's family's innuendo is reprehensible and worthy of rebuke whether made by democrat or republican, but especially because it was made by a democrat.

Another reason why I'm not especially partisan. When it comes to us and them, they tend to make choices, irrespective of the party, that tend not to be in my/our best interest.

 

[thoughtone]

Re: Lautenberg's son blasts 'show horse' Booker as family endorses Pallone

Maybe, but it's not Pallone supporters doing it. The Lautenberg family calling Booker lazy and without substance is gratuitous. They didn't talk-up Pallone in the family statment, they did this for the sole purpose of breaking down Booker.

But of course you give them the benefit of the doubt. If a Republican had used the "lazy" buzzword, or questioned Booker's integrity and accomplishments, you would have five threads on it while bumping five more.

No, that would be you giving the right a pass. Remember you chastising me for pointing out the attempted placation of the Black voter by the republicans for putting up a statue of Fredrick Douglass?

It was Bill Clinton, not their supporters. Get the facts straight. I know it's difficult for you.

source: ABC News

Bill Clinton: Obama Played Race Card On Me

ABC News’ Rick Klein Reports: Bill Clinton accused Barack Obama’s campaign of "playing the race card on me" and told a Philadelphia radio station that the Obama campaign took his Jesse Jackson comment and "twisted it for political purposes."

And as the interview concluded, Clinton turned to an associate and said, "I don’t think I should take any s–t from anybody on that, do you?"

Making a campaign stop and enjoying another interrupted breakfast at Pamela’s P&G Diner Tuesday morning in downtown Pittsburgh, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., was asked to respond to Clinton.

The Democratic nomination frontrunner seemed confused by the comments.

"So, former President Clinton dismissed my victory in South Carolina as being similar to Jesse Jackson and he is suggesting that somehow I had something to do with it," Obama said laughing, "Ok, well, you better ask him what he meant by that. I have no idea what he meant. These are words that came out of his mouth, not out of mine."

Watch the VIDEO HERE.

And at President Clinton’s first polling stop in Pittsburgh, he too appeared unwilling to discuss the incident.

"No, no, no, that’s not what I said," Clinton told a reporter who asked about the radio comments, "You always follow me around and play these little games. And I am not going to play your games today. This is a day about election day, go back and see what the question was and what my answer was. You have mischaracterized it just to get a another cheap story to divert the American people from the real urgent issues before us, and I choose not to play your game today."

Watch the
VIDEO HERE.

Clinton was talking to station WHYY about the fallout over his comparison of Obama’s South Carolina primary victory with the support of black Democrats to Jesse Jackson’s primary wins. Those comments were portrayed by critics as an attempt to highlight Obama’s race.

The former president fumed on Monday that it was Obama’s campaign that injected the race issue.

"I think that they played the race card on me. And we now know, from memos from the campaign and everything that they planned to do it all along," Bill Clinton said in a telephone interview with WHYY’s Susan Phillips. "I was stating a fact, and it’s still a fact."

The former president says the comment was "used out of context and twisted for political purposes by the Obama camapign."

Clinton goes on to say that "you have to really go some place to play the race card on me." He lists a number of his accomplishments on behalf of African Americans, inexplicably putting the fact that he has "an office in Harlem" at the top of the list.

Clinton’s outburst began when Phillips asked the President how he feels about one Philadelphia official who says she switched her support after interpreting Clinton’s remarks in South Carolina as an attempt to marginalize Obama as "the black candidate."

Clearly, Clinton seems frustrated by the question or the suggestion by anyone – either the reporter or the Philadelphia official whom she quoted – that he was somehow making a negative statement about Obama (or Jesse Jackson) based on their race.

His frustration comes through towards the end of the recording when, apparently unaware that he was still on the line, Clinton asks whoever is with him, "I don’t think I should take any s–t from anybody on that, do you?"

Listen to Clinton on WHYY by clicking here.

 

[Greed]

Re: Lautenberg's son blasts 'show horse' Booker as family endorses Pallone

No, that would be you giving the right a pass. Remember you chastising me for pointing out the attempted placation of the Black voter by the republicans for putting up a statue of Fredrick Douglass?

It was Bill Clinton, not their supporters. Get the facts straight. I know it's difficult for you.

What fact didn't I get straight? You said, "Isn't this what the Clinton supporters did before President Obama won the nomination?" I said "Maybe," then I proceeded to talk about the subject while you're pursuing a redirection.

White Republicans don't respect black people, white Democrats don't respect black people. Neither one is ashamed to let you know. The only problem is some black folks' refusal to see. Not blindness but an actual effort not to know.

 

[thoughtone]

Re: Lautenberg's son blasts 'show horse' Booker as family endorses Pallone

What fact didn't I get straight? You said, "Isn't this what the Clinton supporters did before President Obama won the nomination?" I said "Maybe," then I proceeded to talk about the subject while you're pursuing a redirection.

White Republicans don't respect black people, white Democrats don't respect black people. Neither one is ashamed to let you know. The only problem is some black folks' refusal to see. Not blindness but an actual effort not to know.

And so called "Black" conservatives don't respect "Black" people.

Right Clarence?

 

[Greed]

Re: Lautenberg's son blasts 'show horse' Booker as family endorses Pallone

And so called "Black" conservatives don't respect "Black" people.

Right Clarence?

A black person, not aligned with your favorite group of white people, is not your enemy.

 

[thoughtone]

Re: Lautenberg's son blasts 'show horse' Booker as family endorses Pallone

A black person, not aligned with your favorite group of white people, is not your enemy.

The voting for the voting rights act is aligned with my favorite people?

 

[Greed]

Re: Lautenberg's son blasts 'show horse' Booker as family endorses Pallone

The voting for the voting rights act is aligned with my favorite people?

Really? In 2006, the VRA in the form that you covet, was passed by a majority Republican House by a vote of 390-33, a majority Republican Senate by a vote of 98-0, and signed by a Republican President a week later.

Did you vote Republican that year since they must be your favorite people by your criteria?

 

[QueEx]

Re: Lautenberg's son blasts 'show horse' Booker as family endorses Pallone

A black person, not aligned with <s>your favorite group of white</s> people with whom I might agree, is not your enemy.

I would agree with the statement, as revised.

But even as revised, Clarence is not only an enemy of the best interest of black people "as of course, I perceive them" but he is a larger enemy, of himself.

But, that's just my opinion.

 

[Greed]

Re: Lautenberg's son blasts 'show horse' Booker as family endorses Pallone

This is the Clarence Thomas with whom I identify with on issues.

Thomas is fighting a one-man battle to wean black people off white dependence. He's losing because some black people don't know they are sucklings and the rest are fine with it.

 

[thoughtone]

Re: Lautenberg's son blasts 'show horse' Booker as family endorses Pallone

This is the Clarence Thomas with whom I identify with on issues.

Thomas is fighting a one-man battle to wean black people off white dependence. He's losing because some black people don't know they are sucklings and the rest are fine with it.

Here is a person that benefited from affirmative action, yet he thinks it's time, as claimed by Greed to wean us off of whites.

I wonder who Thomas he is married to?

 

[Greed]

Re: Lautenberg's son blasts 'show horse' Booker as family endorses Pallone

Here is a person that benefited from affirmative action, yet he thinks it's time, as claimed by Greed to wean us off of whites.

I wonder who Thomas he is married to?

Yes, he "benefited" from affirmative action. However, it was a detriment because it undermined every action he took. When he embraced it, he lacked credibility with white people. When he rejected it, he lacked credibility with black people. Affirmative action has not necessarily been a net benefit on his life.

Also, Thomas married to a white women isn't a contradiction to black independence. That was a relationship he chose, the most optimal version of black-white relations. Forcing white people, who hate you, to engage in an economic transaction or relying on white people for food stamps is more of a backwards step to black independence than a black man having a white wife.

 

[Greed]

Re: Lautenberg's son blasts 'show horse' Booker as family endorses Pallone

Lautenberg's son blasts 'show horse' Booker as family endorses Pallone
By Alexandra Jaffe
07/08/13 03:25 PM ET

I think the fact that Pallone has almost no chance of winning makes this worse by showing how truly unnecessary the attack was.

Will the Lautenbergs endorsed the Republican in the general election?

Poll: Booker cruising, Pallone and Holt stuck in neutral in NJ Senate race
By Alexandra Jaffe - 07/16/13 10:27 AM ET

The two Democratic congressmen challenging Newark Mayor Cory Booker in the party's New Jersey Senate primary have failed to make a dent in the front-runner's wide lead, according to a new poll of the race.

With less than a month to go before the Aug. 13 primary, a new Monmouth University poll shows Booker has the support of 49 percent of likely Democratic voters. Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. trails nearly 40 points behind with 12 percent, and Rep. Rush Holt has 8 percent.

A fourth candidate, New Jersey Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver, has 3 percent.

Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box...able-lead-in-democratic-primary#ixzz2ZIt0PsZk
Follow us: @thehill on Twitter | TheHill on Facebook

 

[thoughtone]

Re: N.J. Senator Lautenberg, Dies

source: NBC News


Booker aims to shake up Washington

Newark Mayor and U.S. Senate candidate Cory Booker greets supporters during a campaign rally on August 12, 2013 in Newark, New Jersey. ​

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NEWARK, N.J. — Newark Mayor Cory Booker took another step toward Washington Tuesday. And to hear him tell it, the nation's capital should brace itself should he prevail in his campaign to be New Jersey’s next senator.

"I don't want to just go down there and become a part of the system. I want to change it and create change for real people," Booker said in an interview on Monday. "There's in some ways a lack of imagination on a lot of people's parts."

Booker easily won the Democratic nomination in a special election to replace the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg and is a heavy favorite against Republican Steve Lonegan in the October general election..

If he wins, Booker would arrive at the senate armed with a social media army that includes 1.4 million Twitter followers and a drive to shake up the system – like a Democratic version of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

New Jersey residents deserve "a hands on, pragmatic, change agent in Washington and in New Jersey, and that's what I look forward to being," Booker said. "My record is for finding unique ways for bringing people together and disrupting broken systems, disrupting status quo."

In a final day of get-out-the-vote campaigning on Monday, Booker displayed the range that's allowed him to move easily from the streets of Newark to the boardrooms of Silicon Valley. He started at a Jewish community center in Cherry Hill, where he spoke to the crowd in Hebrew (he started studying Jewish culture while he was a student at Oxford University).

Then he talked for half an hour at a Baptist church in Trenton, where the pastor introduced him as his brother. He capped the day with a lengthy, off-the-cuff speech to hometown voters in Newark that was part political rally and part sermon.

"You can't just hope for change, or pray for change - you've got to work for change," he said to cheers.

Introducing the mayor at his Newark rally was actress Eva Longoria, who summed Booker's career this way: "Whether he's pulling people out of burning buildings or shoveling somebody's driveway or going on a hunger strike, the reputation he has is because of how much he cares about people," Longoria said.

Outside of Newark, Booker doesn't seem to have supporters — he has fans. “I've been a fan of Cory since…” was a common refrain during earlier events throughout the day.

"I've been a fan of Cory since I saw him campaign with Obama," said one young supporter.

"I've been a fan of Cory Booker since he first ran for mayor of Newark," said a Terri Tauber, chairwoman of the Summit Democratic Committee.

If Booker does win, he'll be one of the most famous faces in the halls of Congress and hold a much larger megaphone than most of his 99 colleagues.

He's friends with President Barack Obama — and with Republican Gov. Chris Christie, a potential 2016 presidential candidate. His Twitter folliwng is larger than all of the current Senate leadership combined. (Sen. John McCain, the former 2008 presidential nominee, has more followers than Booker does.)

As mayor of Newark, Booker has used social media and connections with top philanthropists and technology luminaries to build a national profile — and fundraising base — that's allowed him to help both the city he leads and his own bottom line.

That reality has led to wide speculation that he isn't just interested in being senator from New Jersey.

Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker discusses whether he would release certain financial records should he become that state's Democratic Senate nominee.
<!-- end20007843 -->
"I asked him, Cory, do you want to run for president?" Longoria said as she introduced him Monday night. "And he said, 'Eva, I want to change the world, and I will do that with whatever position I hold.'"

It's that kind of talk that separates Booker from the other candidates he's running against — and it's drew criticism from opponents who suggested that he's more worried about nurturing his ambitions and celebrity friendships than he is about serving his constituents in New Jersey.

Leading that charge is the family of the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg, whose seat Booker would fill if he wins.

"He's welcome to promote his public personality and go on television shows and give commencement speeches and so forth. I don't think that's what New Jerseyans are looking for in their senator. I don't think that qualifies him to succeed Frank Lautenberg," Holt, the New Jersey congressman, told NBC News in an interview before the polls closed Tuesday.

“Frank Lautenberg followed three fundamental principles as New Jersey’s U.S. Senator: stay true to his progressive values, put New Jersey first, and be a workhorse, not a show horse," the Lautenberg family said in a statement endorsing one of Booker's opponents, Rep. Frank Pallone.

Booker defends his celebrity status, saying that all the attention has benefited his city.

"Before I became mayor, Newark's reputation nationally was crime and corruption," Booker said. "And what we were able to do is really change -- forget my brand -- change the brand of the city of Newark."

"I will go anywhere, meet with anyone, famous or not, if you have ideas," he said.

But whether Washington is a place Booker can change is still an open question. He would be walking into a Congress that's one of the most polarized in history -- and into a Senate that cherishes seniority and tradition, where longtime members often bristle when newer faces buck the system or win the press coverage.

Booker says he plans to try to make friends.

"You should always lead with love, lead with kindness, and just be good and decent to people. I'm not one of those firebrands that throws Molotov cocktails at people and the like," he said when asked if he expected a warm reception from possible Senate colleagues.

And if not? Well, he says that confrontational junior senators are making big marks nowadays.

"Elizabeth Warren, to Rand Paul," Booker said, "and Ted Cruz."
__

Clarification: This story has been updated to reflect that Booker also named Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren as an example of a junior senator with a high profile.

 

[thoughtone]

Re: Lautenberg's son blasts 'show horse' Booker as family endorses Pallone

Really? In 2006, the VRA in the form that you covet, was passed by a majority Republican House by a vote of 390-33, a majority Republican Senate by a vote of 98-0, and signed by a Republican President a week later.

Did you vote Republican that year since they must be your favorite people by your criteria?

Interesting, so you think the VRA should not be coveted?


I don't know about 2006, but in 2013, republican appointed Uncle Clarence was the deciding vote to allow racists to re-live their glory days of white supremacy. Did you vote republican that year?