United They Stand....Not So Much

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Does John McCain approve of these tactics employed by Kenny Hulshof's minions at the Missouri GOP, and why hasn't the media asked that question?

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Missouri ProVote Introduces House of Hypocrites, Part II

The folks from Missouri ProVote --vigilant observers of the contortions performed by legislators who try to pretend as though they support health care when they are constantly voting against it-- have released a new report that calls out hypocritical members of the Missouri House.

The report notes that 72 members of the House Republican caucus promised to "revisit" the Missouri Medicaid program by voting in favor of SB 577, which claimed to repair some of the 2005 Medicaid cuts, but then went on in the 2008 session to vote against funding for dental and vision coverage upgrades promised by SB 577.  Those same legislators had voted in favor of larger tax breaks for the wealthy in 2007.


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The Unpopular Crowd

It kind of stinks to be a Republican these days what with having to defend George Bush, Matt Blunt and Vito Fossella.  But even given the national trends the Missouri GOP has to buck, the latest polling data has to take all the air out of their lungs.
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New York Times Covers Republican Attempt to Keep Law-Abiding, Registered Voters from Voting

Front page story on Missouri.

Voter ID Battle Shifts to Proof of Citizenship
By IAN URBINA

The battle over voting rights will expand this week as lawmakers in Missouri are expected to support a proposed constitutional amendment to enable election officials to require proof of citizenship from anyone registering to vote.

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Secretary Carnahan Stands up for Voters

Today, our courageous Secretary of State Robin Carnahan penned a guest column about protecting the right to vote for the Huffington post.  Read the whole thing here:

Elections Can't Really be Fair, Free and Accurate if Eligible Voters Can't Vote

RC

GOP Theme Day

Boy, the news stories today appear to contain a theme.  State Treasurer Sarah Steelman and Deputy Manager/Campaign State Treasurer Doug Gaston misused state money to pay Gaston and then lied about it.  Governor Blunt's office misused state resource for campaign purpose again yesterday after Jeff Harris had the audacity to be interviewed by reporters about Blun  Story Continued »

AmericaBlog on Republican attempt to take away rights of law-abiding citizens


From AmericaBlog:
The whole country saw the real world implications of Indiana's tough new voter ID law on Tuesday. A group of 80 and 90 year old nuns were stopped from voting.

A similar bill is under consideration in Missouri -- again. That state's Supreme Court already struck down a previous effort to restrict voters in 2006. But the Republicans never stop.

This time, the nuns in Missouri aren't sitting back...  Story Continued »

Recording of Martin by Eckersley Raises Even More Questions About Administration's Story

What to say about Tony Messenger's story today about Scott Eckersley's recording of the conversation with Ed Martin during which Eckersley was informed he'd been fired?  It's hard to do it justice via description, so here's an excerpt:

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Legislators Squeal on Fee Increase for Records; Contract for Team Andy Client at Heart of Battle

Yesterday saw a couple news stories about how GOP legislators have grown livid about the increase in fees for driving records charged by the Blunt Department of Revenue.  From the KC Star:

A new fee structure for Missouri motor vehicle and driver records has insurance companies enraged and a lawmaker promising action in the waning days of the legislative session.

The state Department of Revenue on May 1 raised the fee to $7 per record and has said it would not provide a bulk discount to companies that use the data for things such as calculating insurance rates. That means companies now must pay about $28 million for the entire database.

The story notes that the fee increase pushed through by the Blunt Department of Revenue represents a 300,000% increase in the fee previously charged.  We get more clues about why from the AP's story:

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Republicans Continue to Push Bill to Disenfranchise Elderly, Poor, Disabled Voters and Nuns

 

This afternoon, the Missouri House of Representatives Republican leadership continues to try and push through a bill to change the constitution to allow for overly-restrictive election reforms to keep certain eligible voters from voting.


Secrets or No Secrets, the Damage Is Done

Like Mike Hendricks, I've often wondered what it is Matt Blunt had in his emails that he seems so intent on hiding at all costs.  In fact, I've even posted here about it and suggested that the finding out what was in those emails was the "most important" question.  Hendricks spends his entire column today asking the same thing:

What secret Blunt and his top aides want to protect, we still don’t know. But keeping it from becoming public was and continues to be all-important. ...

Just what is Blunt trying to hide by refusing to turn over the e-mail tapes that those two bureaucrats refused to destroy?

Certainly not the fact that his administration engaged in a cover-up of something. That we’ve known for months.

Now, as I said, I'm as guilty as anyone of focusing in on the nature of the documents hidden instead of the hiding itself.  But something about reading Hendricks' explicit formulation (and apparent endorsement) of that concept in print makes me suspect that I've been very wrong to do so.

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Roe wades into deep water with rookie foray into statewide issue campaigns

Jeff Roe could learn a thing or two from former client Mike Huckabee.

When asked earlier this year why he wouldn't quit his long shot presidential campaign, Huckabee replied that the only way to guarantee a loss would be to quit the race.

But that's just what Roe did with his rookie foray into statewide ballot measure campaigns.  Story Continued »

Henchmen? Really?

Who knew?  Apparently, The Source is still an active blog.  I long ago stopped checking it, but a friend of mine pointed out that Jeff Roe wrote another of his screeds attacking me today.

I normally wouldn't bother to comment, as I treasure Jeff's disdain for me as a testament to my good character.

However, his comments today are worthy of a response.  In his most recent post, he refers to "Roy Temple and his henchmen." 

That is way out of line.  Henchmen?  Really?

That is profoundly unfair. 

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