Senator Kennedy Approves

Edward Kennedy, the liberal lion of the Senate who for so long has struggled against the reactionary Republicans and disappointing Democrats to defend the rights of working Americans, opened Friday's hearing on President-elect Obama's nominee to serve as Secretary of Labor with the enthusiasm of a man who has passed through the wilderness of the Bush-Cheney years and arrived anew on the high ground of civil society.

"This is not an ordinary hearing, because we do not live in ordinary times," the senator from Massachusetts told members of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions who had gathered for the confirmation hearing of California Congresswoman Hilda Solis. "American families are suffering in ways we haven't seen in many years. And the crisis is growing worse every day."

In remarks prepared for the Solis hearing, which the ailing senator went out of his way to chair, Kennedy said:

Every morning working families wake up to more bad news. More jobs lost. More pensions gone. More dreams that disappear.

Just this morning, we learned that we lost another 524,000 jobs last month. That is not just a number. It is families like Paula Stein's. Paula worked hard for 30 years. A year ago, she lost her job. Now she can't find work.

She struggles to pay her bills. She stopped taking her medication because she can't afford it. She almost lost her home. Paula played by the rules. She took care of her family. And now everything is gone. Her dignity. Her pride. Her life savings. All gone.

The sad fact is that Paula is not alone. There are millions more Americans just like her. Men and women who can't sleep at night. Parents who look into their children's eyes wondering if they can make it through another day.

They wonder how can we afford health care? How can we pay the rent? How can we put food on the table?

Throughout our history, Americans have come together in times of crisis. Our neighbors, our families, our communities, our churches all pitching in.

But we need leadership in our government, too. We need leaders who understand what working families are facing in today's economy.

I believe that Hilda Solis is just such a leader. She comes from a working family. Her parents sacrificed to give her greater opportunity.

Throughout her career, Hilda has given back to her community and to her nation. She has fought for working families all her life.

In the California Senate and now in Congress, she has been a voice for the voiceless with a true passion for fairness and justice. For her dedication and leadership, she received the Profile in Courage Award. No one could be more deserving of that great honor.

The task before us is great. But Hilda Solis has overcome great challenges all her life. I have no doubt that she can do it again to help our families reclaim the American dream.

Hilda, I thank you for answering the President-Elect's call to serve our country.

Solis and Kennedy are familiar with one another. In 2000, shortly after her election to Congress – in a primary where she beat a Democratic incumbent who had sided with the Clinton administration on trade issues – the senior senator was there when the junior congresswoman was presented with that John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for her pioneering work on environmental justice issues in California.

On Friday, Solis offered every indication that Kennedy – and working Americans -- would finally have an ally at the Department of Labor. Pledging to change the department so that it would – to paraphrase Obama – "once again stand up for working families," Solis told the committee that: "We need to restore the respect and integrity of those individuals in the workplace."

To do that, she told the senators, she would fight job discrimination and assure that employees "get the pay they have earned working in safe, healthy and fair workplaces."

The congresswoman's commitment to step up oversight of wage and hour laws, job safety regulations and rules covering overtime pay and pay discrimination – and her long support for legislation to remove barriers to union organizing – have made her the target for criticism from pro-business groups and the Republican National Committee.

But even Republican senators on the committee generally treated Solis with respect Friday. And Kennedy – still the master at making things happen on Capitol Hill – has left no doubt that her confirmation process will move toward a smooth and swift approval by the committee and the full Senate.

Labor unions are already celebrating.

"Hilda Solis has proven she is more than qualified to serve as Secretary of Labor," says Change to Win coalition executive director Chris Chafe. "We are confident that she will restore the U.S. Labor Department to fulfilling its original purpose -– fighting to protect workers' rights and open the door of opportunity for all Americans to achieve the American Dream."

UNITE HERE General President Bruce Raynor says: "In an extremely challenging economic crisis, Americans need a Secretary of Labor who will stand with them and help build an economy that works for all working people. Congresswoman Hilda Solis comes from a union family and has been a leader in Congress on the issues important not only to union members, and not only to the 60 million Americans who would like to form a union, but to all workers. Her values have guided her in a fight for higher wages, better benefits, safer workplaces, and equal rights. It's those values that informed her decision to sponsor the Employee Free Choice Act as a means of protecting and expanding the middle class. The legislation would give every American a shot at the American Dream."

"UNITE HERE is very proud of its history with Congresswoman Solis. At our events, she is known as an honorary shop steward--a symbol of the respect she has earned throughout our decades-long working relationship. She has walked numerous picket lines with us in Southern California. Our members have worked on every single Solis campaign. And, when she ran for Congress, UNITE HERE was the first union to endorse her," adds Raynor. "Congresswoman Solis' deep understanding of workers' issues comes from years of personal and professional experience. Her commitment to addressing those issues will help expand economic opportunity and protect workers' rights across this country."

Teamsters President James Hoffa noted with delight that the nominee is "the daughter of a Teamster" and added: "Solis' commitment to America's workers comes from her roots growing up in a middle-class home, and she has made it her mission to improve the lives of working men and women who are fighting for the American Dream. Now more than ever, workers in this country need a friend like Solis at the Labor Department, an agency that has been a greater friend to corporations in the last eight years than the workers it was founded to protect. The Teamsters Union is confident that Solis will restore the agency to its original mission."

Comments (44)

1. what? a secretary of ANYTHING that is something other than a detatched duty corporate plant whose sole purpose is to obfuscate and refuse to enforce any law that benefits anyone other than the wealthiest rightwing campaign donor class???

   jeez! when's the last time THAT happened???

   Posted by ibbleblibble at 01/09/2009 @ 1:00pm

2. PLEASE!!!!!

   KENNEDY AGAIN? "Edward Kennedy, the liberal lion of the Senate who for so long has struggled against the reactionary Republicans and disappointing Democrats to defend the rights of working Americans, opened Friday's hearing on President-elect Obama's nominee to .."

   Here is another view of Kennedy and who he is...

   wake up!!!

   Quite a legacy!!!

   The Last of The Kennedy Dynasty.

   As soon as cancer was found, I noticed the immediate attempt at canonization of old Teddy by the main stream media. They are saying what a "great American" he is. I say, let's get a couple things clear & not twist the facts to change the real history.

   1. He was caught cheating at Harvard when he attended it. He was expelled twice, once for cheating on a test, and once for paying a classmate to cheat for him.

   2. While expelled, Kennedy enlisted in the Army, but mistakenly signed up for four years instead of two. Oops, the man can't count to four. His father, Joseph P. Kennedy, former U.S. Ambassador to England (a step up from bootlegging liquor into the U.S. from Canada during prohibition), pulled the necessary strings to have his enlistment shortened to two years, and to ensure that he served in Europe, not Korea, where a war was aging. No preferential treatment for him like "he" charged President Bush received.

   3. Kennedy was assigned to Paris , never advanced beyond the rank of Private, and returned to Harvard upon being discharged. Imagine a person of his "education" NEVER advancing past the rank of Private.

   4. While attending law school at the University of Virginia, he was cited for reckless driving four times, including once when he was clocked driving 90 miles per hour in a residential neighborhood with his headlights off after dark.

   Posted by YourJomamma at 01/09/2009 @ 1:02pm

3. cont....

   4. While attending law school at the University of Virginia, he was cited for reckless driving four times, including once when he was clocked driving 90 miles per hour in a residential neighborhood with his headlights off after dark. Yet his Virginia driver's license was never revoked. Coincidentally, he passed the bar exam in 1959, amazing!!!

   5. In 1964, he was seriously injured in a plane crash, and hospitalized for several months. Test results done by the hospital at the time he was admitted had shown he was legally intoxicated. The results of those tests remained a "state secret" until in the 1980's when the report was unsealed. Didn't hear about that from the unbiased media, did we?

   6. On July 19, 1969, Kennedy attended a party on Chappaquiddick Island in Massachusetts . At about 11:00 PM, he borrowed his chauffeur's keys to his Oldsmobile limousine, and offered to give a ride home to Mary Jo Kopechne, a campaign worker. Leaving the island via an unlit bridge with no guard rail, Kennedy steered the car off the bridge, flipped, and into Poucha Pond.

   7. He swam to shore and walked back to the party, after passing several houses and a fire station. Then two friends returned with him to the scene of the accident. According to their later testimony, they told him what he already knew, that he was required by law to immediately report the accident to the authorities. Instead Kennedy made his way to his hotel, called his lawyer, and went to sleep. Kennedy called the police the next morning and by then the wreck had already been discovered. Before dying, Kopechne had scratched at the upholstered floor above her head in the upside- down car. The Kennedy family began "calling in favors", ensuring that any inquiry would be contained. Her corpse was

   Posted by YourJomamma at 01/09/2009 @ 1:02pm

4. cont... was whisked out-of- state to her family, before an autopsy could be conducted. Further details are uncertain, but after the accident Kennedy says he repeatedly dove under the water trying to rescue Kopechne, and he didn't call police because he was in a state of shock. It is widely assumed Kennedy was drunk, and he held off calling police in hopes that his family could fix the problem overnight. Since the accident,Kennedy's "political enemies" have referred to him as the distinguished Senator from Chappaquiddick. He pled guilty to leaving the scene of an accident, and was given a SUSPENDED SENTENCE OF TWO MONTHS. Kopechne's family received a small payout ?from the Kennedy's insurance policy, and never sued. There was later an effort to have her body exhumed and autopsied, but her family successfully fought against this in court, and Kennedy's family paid their attorney's bills... a "token of friendship"?

   8. Kennedy has held his Senate seat for more than forty years,but considering his longevity, his accomplishments seem scant. He authored or argued for legislation that ensured a variety of civil rights, increased the minimum wage in 1981, made access to health care easier for the indigent, and funded Meals on Wheels for fixed- income seniors and is widely held as the "standard-bearer for liberalism". In his very first Senate role, he was the floor manager for the bill that turned U.S. immigration policy upside down and opened the floodgate for immigrants from third world countries.

   9. Since that time, he has been the prime instigator and author of every expansion of and increase in immigration, up to and including the latest attempt to grant amnesty to illegal aliens. Not to mention the Pious grilling he gave the last two Supreme Court Nominees, as if

   Posted by YourJomamma at 01/09/2009 @ 1:04pm

5. cont..

   he were the standard bearer for the nation in matters of right. What a pompous ass.

   10. He is known around Washington as a public drunk, loud, boisterous and very disrespectful to ladies. JERK is a better description than "great American".

   Let's not allow the spin doctors make this jerk a hero -- how quickly the American public forgets what his real legacy is...

   Enough with the Kennedys....

   Including Caroline...who suddently went from Caroline Strossberg to...Caroline Kennedy...

   Enough of Kennedys, Clintons, and Bushes....

   and Nichols apparently.

   Posted by YourJomamma at 01/09/2009 @ 1:06pm

6. Posted by YourJomamma at 01/09/2009 @ 1:02pm

   Okay, so let me get this straight, MAAACH....attacking Kennedy for -

   1. being a son of privelege and a part of a dynastic political family.

   2. not being that smart.

   3. getting a cushy assignment during his stint in the military.

   4. being a party animal.

   5. being a partisan ideologue

   and 6. pushing for immigration reform.

   Sounds like he would have been perfectly qualified to be the 43rd President to me, JM.

   Posted by Mask at 01/09/2009 @ 1:18pm

7. Attacking no one..

   Just wondering why people like Nichols CONSTANTLY push people like Kennedy down our throats when he should be in jail...

   and yet he is ever calling for Bush/Cheney, or anyone else on the right to be put in jail..

   YOU figure out why some of us are sick of Nichols ignoring warts he finds tolerable and pointing out the splinter in the eyes of others he politicaly hates..

   I didn't cut and paste an "attack"...

   I pasted facts already out there...maybe Nichols didn't know about the real Kennedy...so I am just helping and informing like he does in his articles everyday about everything and anything on the right for us...and I do it free.

   Posted by YourJomamma at 01/09/2009 @ 1:26pm

8. Sounds like he would have been perfectly qualified to be the 43rd President to me, JM.

   Posted by Mask at 01/09/2009 @ 1:18pm | ignore this person | warn this person

   HAR HAR HAR!!!

   Posted by ibbleblibble at 01/09/2009 @ 1:37pm

9. Ibble,

   I can understand the hunour, especially these days and our new incoming Admin...but Kennedy...all of them...

   you have to admit..if you had been in that Oldsmobile that day, we been hearing from you every 2 nd thursday during visiting hours...not in the Senate where you have read or writtn a bill in 30 years..but pickled yourself while your money is safe and sound away from taxman ...

   and to push him as some kind of a lion!! He is the Moral equivelent of a disease...

   Posted by YourJomamma at 01/09/2009 @ 1:50pm

10. 1. being a son of privelege and a part of a dynastic political family.

    2. not being that smart.

    3. getting a cushy assignment during his stint in the military.

    4. being a party animal.

    5. being a partisan ideologue

    and 6. pushing for immigration reform.

    Posted by Mask at 01/09/2009 @ 1:18pm

    1) My problems with Kennedy isn't that he's the son of privilege, it that he used that privlege to coast through life scoring maximun pussy. (Anybody remember the famouse airial picture in Playboy of Ted screwing some bimbo on his boat with the caption "Apparently the good senator has changed his position on off-shore drilling."

    2) He's plenty smart, but overly arrogant about it.

    3) I resent his hypocrisy about his cushy stint.

    4) Obviously the connection is to Bush. The distinction here is that Kennedy is an unrepentant party animal. Bush should have wised up long before his 40th birthday, but at least he got it then. Kennedy is still nothing more than a fratboy who inherited a shitload of family money.

    5 & 6) I've go no problem with him being a politician.

    7) I'm probably going to get banned again for this.

    Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 01/09/2009 @ 2:28pm

11. Posted by YourJomamma at 01/09/2009 @ 1:50pm

    Yet, MAASCH, we see little of you taking to task the still-existant devotees of Dubya on the same things. SJCHER, LVLIB, a few others still big Bush fans...as much as Mr Nichols is of Kennedy....

    yet you are oddly silent in critiques of them???

    Posted by Mask at 01/09/2009 @ 2:54pm

12. I have the Nation to take Bush to task..

    And you know where I stand on Bush. Both of them.

    Posted by YourJomamma at 01/09/2009 @ 3:01pm

13. Posted by Darin_the_Big_Fat_Troll at 01/09/2009 @ 2:28pm

    Darin,

    1. Your view on men of power using their position to score hot babes is most interesting...and will be even more interesting next discussion of ...Limbaugh....or Newt Gingrich.

    (BTW, I believe Sen. Kennedy was single at the time and has been divorced ONCE and re-married ONCE....while the former Speaker is on divorce THREE and marriage THREE....and you just starting praying (A) I don't save your post and (B) Gingrich is the GOP nominee in 2012....heheh)

    2. How is he "arrogant" about being smart?

    3. You mean donning a flight suit for a photo-op on a carrier as President, when you flew "combat missions over West Texas" when the real war was going on?

    4. So Bush "comes to Christ" in middle age, makes NO specific mention of what sins he committed, and he's in the clear...but Kennedy isn't living in a monastery in his 50s and HE's the "fratboy who inherited a shitload of family money"?????

    7. They don't ban hypocrisy...it's better to expose it.

    Posted by Mask at 01/09/2009 @ 3:04pm

14. And my interest is not taking LVL to task..

    it is taking to task those I disagree with 110%..and the Nation is the format..there are true believers here, as there are on conservative sites...I know those sites and I agree with them, so I go to where I meet people with whom I dont agree...like you...:)

    You never answered my question on an earlier post..

    What do you think of the Franken election and recount process?

    Posted by YourJomamma at 01/09/2009 @ 3:10pm

15. And you opinion of Kennedy?

    Posted by YourJomamma at 01/09/2009 @ 3:11pm

16. MAASCH--

    1. He asked for a recount and won. I am quite sure if there was a chance (and a chance to help Coleman and the Republican Party) that it was truly fraudulent, that Bush would have launched the Dept. of Justice at it.

    He didn't.

    I'm also sure that to block any filibuster-busting, that the RNC would be pouring cash into a private investigation of the votes and vote counting, to try to block Franken from being named the winner.

    They aren't.

    The sum total of opposition to Franken being declared the winner are right-wing bloggers and Drudge.

    That's telling.

    2. Kennedy's a politician. And you can attack him on his positions...quite easily if you like.

    But after Dubya's "mis-spent youth" (which lasted into his 40s)....Gingrich's two divorces and three marriages.....Limbaugh's three....and throw in the likes of Larry Craig and Mark Foley....etc....etc....etc....

    character attacks come off a bit...one-sided.

    Posted by Mask at 01/09/2009 @ 3:32pm

17. character attacks come off a bit...one-sided.

    Posted by Mask at 01/09/2009 @ 3:32pm

    Bad marraiges and a pain killer addiction is equivalent to murder by neglect going drunk off a bridge to you?

    Posted by YourJomamma at 01/09/2009 @ 3:58pm

18. Kennedy was instrumental in getting the 1965 Immigration Bill passed. The one that he said would have no impact on our culture, nor result in large numbers of unskilled workers coming here, nor require any increase in government assistance. When questioned about it 40 years later, he says he may have been a little in error, but not to worry! What I can't figure out is why do the people of Massachusetts hate the rest of the USA so much that they keep inflicting us with this jerk for decade after decade!

    Posted by sntauri at 01/09/2009 @ 4:48pm

19. But after Dubya's "mis-spent youth" (which lasted into his 40s)....Gingrich's two divorces and three marriages.....Limbaugh's three....and throw in the likes of Larry Craig and Mark Foley....etc....etc....etc....

    character attacks come off a bit...one-sided.

    Posted by Mask at 01/09/2009 @ 3:32pm

    Well, it's better then getting impeached or going to jail.

    Posted by ACook at 01/09/2009 @ 7:10pm

20. " But after Dubya's "mis-spent youth" (which lasted into his 40s)....Gingrich's two divorces and three marriages.....Limbaugh's three....and throw in the likes of Larry Craig and Mark Foley....etc....etc....etc....

    character attacks come off a bit...one-sided.

    Posted by Mask at 01/09/2009 @ 3:32pm |

    Ok MAsk,

    For every Kennedy I will give you a Bush...Kennedy still loses..

    f For every Foley I will give you a Barney Frank...both are nauseating for a myriad of reasons...the visual alone can make anyone toss his cookies...

    For every Larry Craig I will give you a Clinton...think he ever got something out of a bath room?

    And that aint the point..to compare one side for another...

    Nichols is parading Kennedy around with a child like worship syndrome...I only pointed out the obvious he seems to have missed...

    And we have not covered Bush short comings here at the Nation ad nauseum? Without Bush KVH would be out of business.

    The article is about Kennedy...not others who" might be bad too nonsense."

    Posted by YourJomamma at 01/09/2009 @ 9:44pm

21. W was filmed picking his nose at a Rangers game. Digging up to the 2nd knuckle, rolling it and wiping on his pants. Class act all the way!

    Posted by koroviev at 01/10/2009 @ 12:40am

22. Posted by YourJomamma at 01/09/2009 @ 9:44pm | ignore this person | warn this person

    .

    Republican activist and former chairman of the Christian County Republicans Royce Fessenden pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree child molestation and one count of second-degree statutory sodomy.

    Republican parole board officer and former legislator George C. (Chris) Ortloff pleaded guilty to attempting to lure 11- and 12-year-old girls to have sex with him.

    Republican legislative aide Robert R. Groezinger was arrested for possessing child pornography.

    Republican legislator Robert A. McKee pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography.

    Republican legislator Scott Muschany was charged with molesting a 14-year old girl.

    Republican chief of staff Eric Feltner pleaded guilty to showing pornography to a 13-year old girl.

    Republican presidential campaign official Matthew Joseph Elliott was convicted of sexual exploitation of a child.

    Republican Party Chairman Donald Fleischman was charged with two counts of child enticement, two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a child and a single charge of exposing himself to a child.

    Republican prosecutor John David Roy Atchison was arrested for soliciting sex from a 5-year old girl, then killed himself three weeks later. At the time of his arrest, Atchison was an "assistant U.S. attorney" appointed by President Bush's attorney general.

    Republican city councilman John Bryan killed himself after police began investigating allegations that he had molested three girls, including two of his adopted daughters, ages 12 and 15.

    Republican legislator Ted Klaudt was charged with raping girls under the age of 16.

    Posted by Lillian at 01/10/2009 @ 02:27am

23. Republican city councilman Joseph Monteleone Jr. was found guilty of fondling underage girls.

    Republican congressional aide Jeffrey Nielsen was arrested for having sex with a 14-year old boy.

    Republican County Commissioner Patrick Lee McGuire surrendered to police after allegedly molesting girls between the ages of 8 and 13.

    Republican prosecutor Larry Corrigan was arrested for soliciting sex from 13-year old girls.

    Republican Mayor Jeffrey Kyle Randall was sentenced to 275 days in jail for molesting two boys -- ages ten and 12 -- during a six-year period.

    Republican County Board Candidate Brent Schepp was charged with molesting a 14-year old girl and killed himself three days later.

    Republican Congressman Mark Foley abruptly resigned from Congress after "sexually explicit" emails surfaced showing him flirting with a 16-year old boy.

    Republican executive Randall Casseday of the conservative Washington Times newspaper pleaded guilty to soliciting sex from a 13-year old girl on the internet.

    Republican chairman of the Oregon Christian Coalition Lou Beres confessed to molesting a 13-year old girl.

    Republican County Constable Larry Dale Floyd pleaded guilty to charges of soliciting sex from an 8-year old girl. Floyd has repeatedly won elections for Denton County, Texas, constable.

    Republican judge Mark Pazuhanich pleaded no contest to fondling a 10-year old girl and was sentenced to 10 years probation.

    Republican Party leader Bobby Stumbo was arrested for having sex with a 5-year old boy.

    Republican petition drive manager Tom Randall pleaded guilty to molesting two girls under the age of 14, one of them the daughter of an associate in the petition business.

    Posted by Lillian at 01/10/2009 @ 02:27am

24. Republican County Chairman Armando Tebano pleaded guilty to fondling a 14-year-old girl.

    Republican teacher and former city councilman John Collins pleaded guilty to sexually molesting 13 and 14 year old girls.

    Republican campaign worker Mark Seidensticker is a convicted child molester.

    Republican Mayor Philip Giordano is serving a 37-year sentence in federal prison for sexually abusing 8- and 10-year old girls.

    Republican Mayor Tom Adams was arrested for distributing child pornography over the internet.

    Republican Mayor John Gosek was arrested on charges of soliciting sex from two 15-year old girls.

    Republican County Commissioner David Swartz pleaded guilty to molesting two girls under the age of 11 and was sentenced to 8 years in prison.

    Republican legislator Edison Misla Aldarondo was sentenced to 10 years in prison for raping his daughter between the ages of 9 and 17.

    Republican Committeeman John R. Curtin was convicted of molesting an underage teenage boy and sentenced to serve six to 18 months in prison.

    Republican anti-abortion activist Howard Scott Heldreth is a convicted child rapist in Florida.

    Republican zoning supervisor, Boy Scout leader and Lutheran church president Dennis L. Rader pleaded guilty to performing a sexual act on an 11-year old girl he murdered.

    Republican anti-abortion activist Nicholas Morency pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography on his computer and offering a bounty to anybody who murders an abortion doctor.

    Republican campaign consultant Tom Shortridge was sentenced to three years probation for taking nude photographs of a 15-year old girl.

    Republican racist pedophile and United States Senator Strom Thurmond had sex with a 15-year old black girl which produced a child.

    Posted by Lillian at 01/10/2009 @ 02:29am

25. Republican pastor Mike Hintz, whom George W. Bush commended during the 2004 presidential campaign, surrendered to police after admitting to a sexual affair with a female juvenile.

    Republican legislator Peter Dibble pleaded no contest to having an inappropriate relationship with a 13-year-old girl.

    Republican advertising consultant Carey Lee Cramer was sentenced to six years in prison for molesting two 8-year old girls, one of whom appeared in an anti-Gore television commercial.

    Republican fundraiser Lawrence E. King, Jr. organized child sex parties at the White House during the 1980s.

    Republican lobbyist Craig J. Spence organized child sex parties at the White House during the 1980s.

    Republican Congressman Donald "Buz" Lukens was found guilty of having sex with a female minor and sentenced to one month in jail.

    Republican fundraiser Richard A. Delgaudio was found guilty of child porn charges and paying two teenage girls to pose for sexual photos.

    Republican activist Mark A. Grethen convicted on six counts of sex crimes involving children.

    Republican campaign chairman Randal David Ankeney pleaded guilty to attempted sexual assault on a child and was arrested again five years later on the same charge.

    Republican Congressman Dan Crane had sex with a female minor working as a congressional page.

    Republican activist and Christian Coalition leader Beverly Russell admitted to an incestuous relationship with his step daughter.

    Republican Judge Ronald C. Kline pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography on his home computer.

    Republican congressman and anti-gay activist Robert Bauman was charged with having sex with a 16-year-old boy he picked up at a gay bar.

    Posted by Lillian at 01/10/2009 @ 02:31am

26. Republican Committee Chairman Jeffrey Patti was arrested for distributing a video clip of a 5-year-old girl being raped.

    Republican activist Marty Glickman (a.k.a. "Republican Marty"), was taken into custody by Florida police on four counts of unlawful sexual activity with an underage girl and one count of delivering the drug LSD.

    Republican legislative aide Howard L. Brooks was charged with molesting a 12-year old boy and possession of child pornography.

    Republican Senate candidate John Hathaway was accused of having sex with his 12-year old baby sitter and withdrew his candidacy after the allegations were reported in the media.

    Republican preacher Stephen White, who demanded a return to traditional values, was sentenced prison after offering $20 to a 14-year-old boy for permission to perform oral sex on him.

    Republican talk show host Jon Matthews pleaded guilty to exposing his genitals to an 11 year old girl.

    Republican anti-gay activist Earl "Butch" Kimmerling was sentenced to 40 years in prison for molesting an 8-year old girl after he attempted to stop a gay couple from adopting her.

    Republican Party leader Paul Ingram pleaded guilty to six counts of raping his daughters and served 14 years in federal prison.

    Republican election board official Kevin Coan was sentenced to two years probation for soliciting sex over the internet from a 14-year old girl.

    Republican politician Andrew Buhr was charged with two counts of first degree sodomy with a 13-year old boy.

    Republican legislator Keith Westmoreland was arrested on seven felony counts of lewd and lascivious exhibition to girls under the age of 16 (i.e. exposing himself to children).

    Posted by Lillian at 01/10/2009 @ 02:32am

27. Republican anti-abortion activist John Allen Burt was found guilty of molesting a 15-year old girl.

    Republican County Councilman Keola Childs pleaded guilty to molesting a male child.

    Republican activist John Butler was charged with criminal sexual assault on a teenage girl.

    Republican candidate Richard Gardner admitted to molesting his two daughters.

    Republican Councilman and former Marine Jack W. Gardner was convicted of molesting a 13-year old girl.

    Republican County Commissioner Merrill Robert Barter pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual contact and assault on a teenage boy.

    Republican City Councilman Fred C. Smeltzer, Jr. pleaded no contest to raping a 15 year-old girl and served 6-months in prison.

    Republican activist Parker J. Bena pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography on his home computer and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison and fined $18,000.

    Republican parole board officer and former Colorado state representative, Larry Jack Schwarz, was fired after child pornography was found in his possession.

    Republican strategist and Citadel Military College graduate Robin Vanderwall was convicted in Virginia on five counts of soliciting sex from boys and girls over the internet.

    Republican city councilman Mark Harris, who is described as a "good military man" and "church goer," was convicted of repeatedly having sex with an 11-year-old girl and sentenced to 12 years in prison.

    Republican businessman Jon Grunseth withdrew his candidacy for Minnesota governor after allegations surfaced that he went swimming in the nude with four underage girls, including his daughter.

    Republican campaign worker, police officer and self-proclaimed reverend Steve Aiken was convicted of having sex with two underage girls.

    Posted by Lillian at 01/10/2009 @ 02:32am

28. Republican director of the "Young Republican Federation" Nicholas Elizondo molested his 6-year old daughter and was sentenced to six years in prison.

    Republican president of the New York City Housing Development Corp. Russell Harding pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography on his computer.

    Republican benefactor of conservative Christian groups, Richard A. Dasen Sr., was found guilty of raping a 15-year old girl. Dasen, 62, who is married with grown children and several grandchildren, has allegedly told police that over the past decade he paid more than $1 million to have sex with a large number of young women.

    Republican Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld authorized the rape of children in Iraqi prisons in order to humiliate their parents into providing information about the anti-American insurgency.

    Posted by Lillian at 01/10/2009 @ 02:33am

29. Oh, and Republican Neal Horsley, who admitted on The Alam Colmes Show, having sex with farm animals.

    .

    OK John, you said you there was a bad Dem for every bad Repub.

    I showed you a few...

    ...your turn now.

    (Oh, and make sure to check your facts this time, because quite a few of your Ted Kennedy 'facts' turned out to be quite bogus.)

    Posted by Lillian at 01/10/2009 @ 02:38am

30. Yeah, I think LILLIAN pretty much ended the argument....MAASCH, RIO/RED, ACOOK.

    Posted by Mask at 01/10/2009 @ 09:29am

31. The article is about Kennedy...not others who" might be bad too nonsense."

    Posted by YourJomamma at 01/09/2009 @ 9:44pm | ignore this person | warn this person

    Lil,

    read above..this article was about the wonder that is T Kennedy....not your list of repub failures...

    I am sure we can all name dems ones too..

    But neither list was the popint...

    Kennedy down our throats as a wonderful example is the issue...

    Jesus Mary and Joseph...simople points always miss with most here...and we enmd up with the laundry list of "yeah, but what about your side?"' Right from the play ground.

    Should have known better than to mention Teddys real side...especially here at the home of the blinders on 24 / 7.

    Posted by YourJomamma at 01/10/2009 @ 11:57am

32. Right. The only impact Lillian's post can claim is that moral corruption doesn't inhere exclusively in members of either party. If people went looking, they could almost certainly find equally long lists of Dems. Though certainly convenient and impressive (where did the list come from? also, the thing about rumsfeld, source?), it seems to be a diversion from the Kennedy discussion, and on that discussion, I find the paucity of response fascinating.

    Posted by Thrawn at 01/10/2009 @ 12:07pm

33. >> Edward Kennedy, the liberal lion of the Senate who for so long has struggled against the reactionary Republicans <<

    That sounds like a spoof of lefty jargon.

    Teddy the lion is your quintessential limousine liberal. Heir to hundreds of millions, he drives drunk, kills people, lies through his teeth, gets special treatment from the law, but is adored by front line proletarians like Nichols.

    He has a terrific voice and a good head of hair, that is true, but the only "wilderness" Teddy the lion ever roamed was in detox.

    In fairness, he might have spent his entire life as a playboy, but hasn't. Amid his dissipation he has found time for genuine work. Those oasis of tall palms, grown largely by an excellent staff, are meant to overshadow the mess in his early life.

    I am not sure about how brave Teddy the lion is. You can't be more conventionally in liberal Massachusetts than he. Has he ever shown any genuine daring? What has he ever championed that was not popular? Yes, being empty headed has left him plenty of room to be good hearted.

    Posted by Hugo_Pirovano at 01/10/2009 @ 2:07pm

34. MAASCH:

    The point is, you are a hypocrite. You never seriously admit that those you support are just as fallible as many (most?) Dems are. You automatically presume a gloss of honesty and forthrightness to those with whose beliefs you most readily agree, yet you presume the exact opposite of anyone with whom you disagree.

    Something is a little off here. Now, I will be the last person here to defend any Democrat, whatsoever... but honestly, over the past few years since I started reading and writing at the Nation, you have shown to be one of (if not the most) doggedly partisan posters here. There is no equanimity in your posts, no fairness, no equal treatment. While I could sit here and make endless comments about this, and even point to a fair number of examples to support my post here, the bottom line is, I don't need to. Everyone knows it, even you know it, I would venture to guess.

    So instead of hammering you on the obvious, I am going to ask you to consider trying to be even-handed, regardless of how difficult it proves to be. Once you look at everyone through the same optic, instead of allowing your ideological views to color your presumptions, and therefore your thought process and judgment.

    Posted by jorcheim at 01/10/2009 @ 4:11pm

35. Nichols is parading Kennedy around with a child like worship syndrome...

    Posted by YourJomamma at 01/09/2009 @ 9:44pm | ignore this person | warn this person

    .

    Really John?

    See, other than the mere mention of his name and using the label 'liberal lion', I find virtually no evidence that Nichols did any such thing.

    However, you went completely apoplectic, and cut and pasted directly from one of your favorite hate sites a laundry list that's been circulating since it was announced that Kennedy had cancer (and that, as I pointed out, is chock full of inaccuracies).

    And, while old Ted certainly has a lot of ugliness in his past, only the most blindly partisan would claim that he hasn't had an absolultely stellar carrer in serfvice to his constituency.

    In fact, judging by the reaction of you and your soul-mates at the far-right fringe, I'd say it's pretty obvious that the real reason you dislike him so much is preceisely because he HAS been so effective in service to liberal causes.

    Posted by Lillian at 01/10/2009 @ 5:25pm

36. Teddy the lion is your quintessential limousine liberal.

    Posted by Hugo_Pirovano at 01/10/2009 @ 2:07pm | ignore this person | warn this person

    .

    What exactly IS a 'limousine liberal' Hugo?

    Because if we add the word "neocons to this...

    "Heir to hundreds of millions, he drives drunk, kills people, lies through his teeth, gets special treatment from the law, but is adored by front line"...

    ...we seem to have a perfect description of George Bush!

    (And, come to think of it, most top Republicans as well!)

    Posted by Lillian at 01/10/2009 @ 5:29pm

37. Teddy the lion is your quintessential limousine liberal.

    Posted by Hugo_Pirovano at 01/10/2009 @ 2:07pm | ignore this person | warn this person

    .

    And by the way, What is it with you wing-nuts and the term 'limousine liberal'?

    I mean, it's pretty obvious that the polar opposite would be the "'Marie Antoinette' Conservative" - who has all the SAME wealth, privileges, special treatment, and whatever - yet exhibits a complete and total disdain for the 'mere regular people' and couldn't give a...'rodent's rear end'...what happens to ANY of them.

    Do you actually think that's BETTER Hugo?!?

    Posted by Lillian at 01/10/2009 @ 5:41pm

38. Mask at 09:29am said:

    >>Yeah, I think LILLIAN pretty much ended the argument... <<

    What argument?

    You think Lillian has proved, with her lists that Republicans are more likely than Democrats to be child molesters, rapists, pederasts and sexual perverts than Democrats?

    If you really think Lillian's lists are not a despicable hat trick, but amount to a fair argument that should convince a reasonable person, say so.

    Incidentally, do you also think Catholics have a greater penchant than Protestants, in that direction, because of certain lists of priests?

    Lillian's mentality and method is the raw sewage of generic bigotry.

    Posted by Hugo_Pirovano at 01/10/2009 @ 5:45pm

39. Lil,

    "However, you went completely apoplectic, and cut and pasted directly from one of your favorite hate sites a laundry list that's been circulating since it was announced that Kennedy had cancer (and that, as I pointed out, is chock full of inaccuracies). "

    I received this in an email long ago and thought it great...

    and the sad part is it is true.

    Posted by YourJomamma at 01/10/2009 @ 5:46pm

40. I received this in an email long ago and thought it great...

    and the sad part is it is true.

    Posted by YourJomamma at 01/10/2009 @ 5:46pm | ignore this person | warn this person

    .

    Oh Jeez John...again?

    It doesn't surprise anyone that you'd repost that kind of crap but after the last time you brought one of those here and had it completely debunked...

    ...I am surprised at your lack of embarassment.

    Posted by Lillian at 01/10/2009 @ 9:23pm

41. BTW John, before you claim "it is true"...

    ...you might want to at least check the facts.

    (Or do you make a habit of accepting the bile spewed in anonymous email spams on blind faith as long as the sentiments expressed track with your own.)

    Posted by Lillian at 01/10/2009 @ 9:27pm

42. Lillian at 9:23pm and 9:27 wrote:

    >> It doesn't surprise anyone that you'd repost that kind of crap but after the last time you brought one of those here and had it completely debunked... ...I am surprised at your lack of embarassment... ...you might want to at least check the facts. <<

    That from a Lillian who posted several lists suggesting Republicans are inclined to crminal sexual perversity.

    You are down on all fours with the Nazi, Julius Streicher.

    His paper, Der Stuermer, specialized in sensational, weekly accounts of criminal violations of German women by sexually deviant Jews. The stories were so vulgar and stupid that even Nazis like Goering and Goebbels demanded Streicher's removal, but Hitler loved him. But at Nuremberg, for inciting Germans to see Jews as subhuman and evil, they hanged him.

    Your lists show you reveling in that genre of vile and crazy defamation and malice.

    Yet you can stand, hand on hips and pretend to look down in indignation at "favorite hate site crap".

    Down into your hole you reptile.

    Posted by Hugo_Pirovano at 01/11/2009 @ 1:21pm

43. Your lists show you reveling in that genre of vile and crazy defamation and malice.

    Posted by Hugo_Pirovano at 01/11/2009 @ 1:21pm | ignore this person | warn this person

    .

    "...vile and crazy defamation and malice"...would be like this Hugo...

    "You are down on all fours with the Nazi, Julius Streicher."

    Posted by Lillian at 01/12/2009 @ 2:48pm

44. Lillian at 2:48pm

    You problem, Lillian is that I am not slandering you as a swinish traducer, like Julius Streicher.

    I am pointing to the several lists You posted on this board, lists which have the specific and unequivocally aim of saying, Republicans are inclined to sexual deviancy, rape child abuse and sex crimes.

    That was exactly Streicher's method in Der Stuermer. His forte was listing Jews accused of disgusting sex crimes against innocent, German women. All you did was change the identification of the villains from Jews to Republicans.

    Pointing this out does not make me guilty of defamation or ofmalicious slander. It does not put me on all fours with you, though I have shown you in in the act, on all fours with Streicher.

    That is not how the game works, Fraulein.

    You are one of the more twisted and vicious and shameless posters around.

    You even muster righteous indignation to accuse others of cutting and pasting from hate sites.

    Posted by Hugo_Pirovano at 01/12/2009 @ 5:20pm