Tark thinks Blacks are stupid and will vote for him because of basketball

None of us at Team Sausage Factory have had the time to blog lately, but I had to write about what went down today.

Today perennial candidate Danny Tarkanian sat down with the editorial board of the Las Vegas Review Journal for a candidate interview. Conservative activist columnist Glenn Cook tweeted some highlights, including this gem:

The video hasn’t been made available yet, but there is no reason to believe Mr Cook took Mr Tarkanian’s words out of context or fully misquoted him. And as of now, the Tarkanian campaign has only tried to cover their ass, so safe to say, he said it. As a matter of fact, according to 8 News Now investigative reporter Nathan Baca, the campaign doubled down:

I wasn’t alone in being highly offended by his “if you dribble it, they will come” remarks, and I’m only half Black.

There was a flood of tweets, lots of facebook posts and Black elected Democrats and candidates sent out a joint release demanding an apology (No word yet if any Black elected Republicans will have there say, or if any exist).

At Hispanics in Politics last month he said Black people have been fooled into voting for Democrats, and he was here to help. You know, cause us colored folk are ignorant and child-like, lacking the sophistication to make important political decisions, thus we need the helpful hand of non-Blacks to keep us on the straight and narrow.

The Tarkanian campaign truly believes that because he played basketball and his dad led many a Black man to victory, that somehow that will lead Black folk in congressional district four to vote for him.

Do Black people love basketball so damn much, they're willing to totally forget that Mr Tarkanian is an aggressive supporter of the Tea Party (the same Tea Party the NAACP* said was racist) with policy positions that rival Sharron Angle’s?

Do Black people love basketball so much that they’re willing to overlook the fact that Mr Tarkanian thinks racial profiling is effective police work?

Do Black people love basketball so much that they won't care that Mr. Tarkanian's wife complained just yesterday about people tweeting about the Voting Rights Act?

Team Tarkanian thinks that answer is yes, because again: Team Tark thinks Black people are stupid.

 -- Laura

 *Yes, the President of the Las Vegas chapter of the NAACP endorsed Danny Tarkanian, that's the campaigns #OneBlackFriend defense. But this is the same NAACP chapter who is partnering with Americans for Prosperity and the same president who does business with the chair of the Republican party. I doubt many of the members even know their president supports Tarkanian; I talked to two today who were shocked and outraged when they found out.

Blog round up suckas!!! 12/29

I love my progressive blogging community, I really do, and you should too. Check out some blog entires from this week, and add their blogs to your readers and bookmarks!

Andrew "Nerdrock" Davey at the Nevada Progressive breaks down 2012.it will be an extremely important election year for Nevada. Control of our state senate hangs in balance as well as Harry Reid's status as Senate Majority Leader.

Is it 2012 Yet?

Since hardly anything could be accomplished in Congress as our own Legislature kept kicking the can further down the road, focus turned quickly to the big election year that will begin in just 5 days in the snowy fields of Iowa. And back here in Nevada, the G-O-TEA is in full panic mode after the last R-J/8 News/UNLV poll delivered plenty of holiday cheer for President Obama and Shelley Berkley.

Desert Beacon's blog is the kind of blog other blogs aspire to be when they grow up. Her blog about the tax situation in Nevada is another example of her ability to throw out all the platitudes and partisan bullshit and get right to the point:

Nevada Tackles the T-Word

If we move beyond the No-Tax, or The We Want Something For Nothing, Crowd the questions might be focused more productively on how Nevada taxes can be structured to raise revenue while relieving the burden on small independent businesses and families. The big box retailers have been successful beating back attempts to tax their operations, and the resulting modified business tax reflects a win for the giant national franchises and a relative loss (or greater burden for) smaller independently owned businesses.

The Gleaner has long been my favorite blogger, but he is becoming more cynical and more critical of the Democratic party than any GOP operative, but he does make good points (especially the one about Harry Reid not having the need to "meddle" if the state party would take a Wellstonian approach to politics). The most amazing news for our dear Gleaner: his punchy progressive commentary is now available few times a week on My News 3's "The Agenda". He called Dean Heller "His Accidency" hahahaha.

Gleaner still has his City Life gig, check out The Year That Wasn't, his "counter-factual narratives of things that might have been."

Assemblyman and minority whip Mark Sherwood--who is extremely strange and has hilariously taken on a one-man jihad against Chuck Muth--has decided not to run again. It's funny when redistricting makes your district a little more Democratic and suddenly you discover the policies you think will help Nevada won't even get you reelected in your own district. Nevada State Employee Focus has the scoop on Sherwood retirement, as well as the Assemblyman's drag name.

The next blogger is not from Nevada, but her blog is a must read. Joy Reid writes for the Miami Herald, blogs, is the managing editor of thegrio.com and an MSNBC contributor. Her blog is pointed at Salon blogger Glenn Greenwald, but all you idealistic Ron Paul supporters need to read it. You wanna support Paul? You're accountable for everything he's about, not just the stuff you agree with:

his racist newsletter business and opposition to civil rights legislation, his desire to outlaw abortion, his extreme gun nuttery, or his belief that not only was World War II not worth fighting just to save a few (million) Jews, that the civil war wasn’t worth the lives it cost, when Abe Lincoln could have just bailed out the slave owners by having the federal government buy up the 4 million slaves still in shackles as of 1865 … thus saving 600,000 lives. He has yet to weigh in on Paul’s apparent heebie jeebies over people who, like Greenwald, are gay, including not wanting to use their bathrooms or shake their hands, and freaking out when he thinks one is coming onto him.

Happy reading :)

--

Laura

Where the heck have we been?

Yuck! I can't believe there hasn't been an update for three months. Might be something to think about when writing out those New Years resolutions.

The last blog was about Governor Brian Sandoval's endorsement of Rick Perry. With the Iowa caucuses just a few days away, that choice still looks like an enormous blunder. Perry has flip-flopped and flapped on abortion, released an anti-gay 30 ad (where he's hilariously wearing the same jacket as Enis, the closest gay cowboy from the movie Brokeback Mountain) and is now battling Rick Santorum--the ex senator from Pennsylvania who lost his reelection in 2006 BY 18 POINTS--for fourth place in Iowa.

That information has nothing to do with the intent of this entry, I just felt like pointing out Sandoval's endorsement failure :)

Anyway, a blog round up is on its way.

Governor 'Sunny' endorses unethical, ineffective governor of Texas

Tonight was supposed to be Mark Amodei's night, but that all changed this afternoon when Governor Brian Sandoval announced he was endorsing Texas Governor Rick Perry in the Republican presidential primary.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who was a little surprised. As the highest ranking Republican in the state, it's kind of bitchy to step on what's supposed to be a fellow Republican's good news night. And many of Nevada's Republican elected officials (and activists) have already glommed onto Mitt Romney.

And no, Sandoval endorsing Perry had nothing to do with Perry being the chair of the Republican Governor's Association because Perry was not chair while Sandoval was running for office in 2010. And even if he was, Mitt Romney was chair of the RGA when Sarah Palin was elected governor of Alaska in 2006. Quite a bit of RGA resources were devoted to the race (some illegally) and Mitt even traveled to Alaska to meet with Palin. How did she repay him? By voting for Mike Huckabee in the 2008 Republican primary and taking several swipes at poor Mittens this go around. Being RGA chair has little to do with loyalty later on.

But what's more important is who exactly has Governor Sandoval just endorsed. The press release Sandoval sent out was full of GOP talking points that would probably get a "pants on fire" from one of those fact-checking websites.

So who is the real Rick Perry? Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington rated Perry as one of 11 governors "who pride their self-interests over their states'." Describing Perry as "unethical" and "incompetent".

What did Perry do that's so bad? Take a look:



[And just a side note, on CREW's list is Haley Barbour and Mark Sanford, RGA co-chairs when Sandoval was ran in 2010, and Sandoval's predecessor Jim Gibbons.]

And another great website, meetrickperry.com gives a rundown of Perry's achievements that Sandoval thought worthy of endorsing:



The insider game of what Sandoval's endorsement means--what it means for Perry, what it means for Nevada and what is means for Romney--is inconsequential. The questions that should be asked are what does Brian Sandoval want for Nevada? His endorsement shows he wants the federal government to make it rain on Nevada. Brian Sandoval wants Nevadans to be employed but only at or slightly above minimum wage jobs with no benefits. Brian Sandoval wants to kill Nevadans who break the law, including juveniles and the mentally disabled. Brian Sandoval wants to force your tween to be vaccinated but won't allow your family to make their own decisions when it comes to family planning.

Brian Sandoval didn't endorse Rick Perry because they're buddies. He endorsed him because he felt his policies and record as governor of Texas would be good for the United States. If that doesn't have you second-guessing the "Governor Sunny" persona, you're hopeless.

--

Yep, I spelled governor wrong

Joan Walsh needs a reminder

Joan Walsh, former editor of Salon and MSNBC contributer, has been in a lot of trouble lately. From her embrace of the 'Professional Left', to trying to subdue and beat back Black Obama supporters and openly howling that someone (re: Hillary Clinton) would've been a better president than Obama.

This week she whined that it was the Obama campaign who "accused" the Clintons of attacks during the 2007/08 Democratic primary.

Miss Joan, no one has to "accuse" anyone of anything. Attacks on Obama's religion and teenage drug use are easily traced back to the Clinton campaign.

Lets take a trip down memory lane:

Hillary Clinton's campaign passes around this photo of then-Senator Barack Obama in traditional Somali clothing:


Hillary Clinton campaign co-chair accuses Obama of dealing drugs:


Hillary Clinton says Obama is not a Muslim "as far as I know."


Hillary Clinton campaign advisor accuses Barack Obama of being an affirmative action candidate:


Keith Olbermann had to put together a Special Comment to try and put a lid on the Clinton campaign dirty tricks:


Yes Joan, that's your girl, Hillary Clinton.

--
ETA: The original blog said Joan worked for The Nation, it's actually Salon. Thanks to Joan for pointing it out. I guess i'm on the list of mulattoes who disappoint her. At least I'm in good company :)

We Made the List!

A few weeks ago we asked you to vote for us in Washington Post blogger Chris Cillizza's "Best State-Based Political Blog" contest.

He was compiling a list of the best political blogs in each state. We asked you to vote for us, and you came through, we made the list!



Thank you for your support and readership. Chris, Derek and I try our best to provide regular updates while juggling our "real" jobs and other obligations. We hope to have The Sausage Factory show back up and running real soon too.

Stay tuned!

Twitter spam accounts for dummies

If you're going to create a fake account to mock Democratic candidates, don't use your own personal information in the profile.




http://twitter.com/youth4shelley



http://twitter.com/hipstervative