Does Mary Landrieu Still Live With Her Parents, Or Has a Tea Party Senate Candidate Decided That It's Easier to Knock a Competitor Out on a Lame Technicality?
This one snuck up on us today.... We remember the good, old days - when you ran for office, paid your entry fee, participated in a Primary, and if you lost, you went away until the next time. If the past couple years has taught us anything, it's that politics is attracting a bunch of crybabies.....
Our first recollection of when it hit the crapper was the Great Financial Disclosure fiasco of South Carolina in 2012, when improper filing cost almost 200 candidates statewide to have to drop out. Not that it really had anything to do with whether any of them really should have been denied entry - it just made it 50 times harder,with no time to do it...Thanks again, Jake Knotts. Well, 2014 has seen the childlike sideways entry into trying to win an election go into hyperdrive......
First, we had Chris McDaniel cry foul after the people who were sleeping in the first Primary finally got up and voted for Thad Cochran in the runoff. By the way, his complaint finally was thrown out yesterday - for filing late. Then after the SCGOP held their Senate Primary, Thomas Ravenel, late of Southern Charm fame, enters as a write-in candidate for Lindsey Graham's seat. It was pretty obvious that Ravenel had been planning a run for sometime, but knowing that he had NO CHANCE of beating Graham, he has gone the other route. So far, Ravenel has failed to catch fire in a way to win, though whether he can syphon enough Tea Party votes to make Graham lose to Brad Hutto remains to be seen. If his goal was to win, he got some bad advice......
Now, we give you Rob Maness. He's the Tea Party choice for US Senate in Louisiana, currently held by Mary Landrieu. She's running for a fourth term, and her family's political history is almost as well-known as Gumbo and The Saints..... Like most Tea Party entries this year, Maness is laying spoiler. But, like most things they do, Louisiana plays the primary differently. They don't have party primaries - all the candidates run together, and the top two move on to the finals. In a state like Looosiana, Maness could possibly, but not probably, make it to the General Election. So, in a move that can be best described as a desperate hope at catching political lightning in a bottle - but more correctly, it's a stunt - Maness sued to have Landrieu taken off the ballot, because..............wait for it............... she's not a Louisiana resident. Give us a minute, while we take a break to laugh our asses off.
OK, we're back. Hold on........... HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! Sorry. Apparently, Landrieu doesn't own a home in Louisiana. Her house is in DC. On her disclosure form, her parents house in Nawlins is her home. Splitting hairs a bit here, aren't we. If this were Hillary Clinton just moving into town and running for Senate, maybe Maness' complaint would have merit. But living in the real world, we understand that $174k doesn't pay for a pad in both DC and New Orleans - at least not a decent place. If Maness is trying to point out that Landrieu has emplanted herself in Washington, rather than her home state, he's right. But, tell us something we don't know. Most Senators have a place there. If I were working in DC for six years, I'd buy a place too. She's been there 18. To us,it seems like she's doing the fiscally responsible thing, and hanging with Mom & Pop Pop. So, our answer to the complaint is 'Yeah, But'.......... However, like most Tea Party plans, it's shortsighted and ultimately, it will fail...........
Let us explain. There are three candidates: Landrieu, Maness, and GOP establishment candidate Bill Cassidy. Now suppose by some strange twist of fate, in a world where up is down, down is up, and Tea Party pixie dust snows everywhere, that Landrieu ACTUALLY was taken off the ballot. What is left? Right Wing Maness and Centrist Cassidy. In a state where Democrats still make up close to half of the votes, who do you think they will vote for? Oh wait........ since Landrieu isn't on the ballot, everyone will stay home. Just try to restrict the number of voters, and maybe they can steal a Senate seat. Nah. Gunnah. Happuh.......... Democrats will show up - there are still Congressional seats, and probably stuff that matters more to them - like Sheriff and Dogcatcher. All signs point to fail.
It's another example of the Tea Party's Scorched Earth policy. They don't care what people think, how they look in doing what they do, or even if they lose. If they can point to at least one trivial thing that they got, they consider it a victory. And they wonder why Democrats attack them whenever they get a chance. Good Luck with this one, Col. Rob!
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