There may have been nuttier than Mosley-Braun. Plus she actually won. C’mon, maybe someone from California or New York?
Well, Sharpton ran for the New York Democratic Senate nomination a few times, but never won. Bizarrely enough, there was a moment in the 1992 primary race when he seemed like the stable and sane one for staying largely above the mud slinging and infighting among Robert Abrams, Geraldine Ferraro and Elizabeth Holtzman, his competitors for the nomination (against Al D’Amato for the Republicans). I think that was the point when he went from Tawana Brawley demagogue to someone with actual political repectability. That and wearing suit suits rather than sweat-suits.
He’s still pretty darn nutty, though (among his other execrable qualities).
Let’s see some quotes, people!
Daniel
Hey, Arnold, please remember that she WON the election and was a senator.
She was not nominated. She won the primaries and won the general election.
Keyes is the bad wet dream of about 8 conservative people in the state Republican party.
By the Way… I saw Keyes on the news think it was last weekend at an anti-gay marriage rally. He stated that gay marriage leads to gay adoption, which will “inevitably” lead to incest because the children don’t know who their parents are.
Apparently all hetero adoptions come with a family tree attached.
Unless this works differently where she’s from, her party nominated her after she won the nomination. So she qualifies for our little game–qualifies even better than Keyes, who didn’t so much win the nomination as get it by default, after every single other Republican politician in the country turned it down.
So c’mon–let’s here her nuttiness, so that we can compare the nuttiest Republican candidate to the nuttiest Democratic candidate! Of course, if you think you’ve got a nuttier Dem who qualifies, we can hear that too.
Daniel
You’ve GOT to be fucking kidding me.
Bad year for the Repubs as far as hiding their nutjobs goes. They’ve got the sitting senator in Kentucky who appears to be going senile, Coburn in Oklahoma saying that he belives abortion doctors should get the death penalty, the SC candidate who said he doesn’t belive gays or single moms should be teachers, and guy running on a eugenics platform in Tennesse (who unlike the other candidates, isn’t being endorsed by the Repub party.)
Not saying that the Dems don’t have thier nutjobs as well, they just seem to reigning them in a little better this year.
Ms. Mosely-Braun is not generally nutty. I think that she showed poor judgement in regards to her trip to Nigeria, but she was a good senator, and as far as I know she served well as ambassador too. Her responses to my letters were always relevant and showed that someone had payed attention to what I wrote and not just to send back a form letter. I would still vote for her over many, many others-- Obama being one the few who I would chose over her. She spoke well in her campaign speeches last Spring. I think we would have heard more of her on the news if she were actually spewing nutty stuff. Who pays attention to a sane candidate that doesn’t have a real chance?
I submit that she is not in the same category as Keyes, or Al Sharpton. What particularly makes you say she is nutty?
It strikes me that allowing the opposition to run unopposed for a Senate seat would be an indefensible strategy for the leadership of the state party apparatus. I mean, letting the other party have an obviously safe HR seat, of which there are 435 nationwide, is one thing. but a Senate seat? Particularly one that is about to change columns? They have no choice but to put up at least a token candidate.
The Illinois Republican Party leadership found themselves in an extremely unenviable position when Ryan dropped out of the race. That, coupled with Barak Obama’s star-making moment at the DNC, made it nearly untenable. I would not be surprised if there is some quiet realignment of the positions of power after November 2. Alan Keyes was undeniably a B-list choice, even when the candidacy was offered to him. In hindsight, they would likely have made him C- or D-list.
And there’s enough crazy loons here in Maryland too so you can just keep him!
“If the marketplace had its druthers, you’d have slavery and children doing labor.”
—Sen. Carol Moseley-Braun (D-Ill.), addressing the National Association of Black Journalists, July 3
In 1993, Senator Carol Moseley-Braun (D-Ill.) demanded her “fundamental right to freedom from insult” from Senator Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) because he whistled “Dixie”
Nope. Couldn’t find a news link – I saw him on TV – but here’s something from Neil Steinburg’s column:
Republican Senator Michael Crapo is running unopposed in Idaho.
Okay, NOW we’re getting somewhere! Can you provide cites where we can read these quotes in context?
The first one I agree with: if the marketplace were unfettered (i.e., had its druthers), you very likely WOULD find people selling themselves into slavery; the fact that people can’t do that is a limitation on the sorts of contracts that folks are allowed to enter into. Similarly, brutal child labor was common in the industrial era until laws were specifically enacted to limit this aspect of the market. I’m not sure what you find to be nutty about that quote.
As for her fundamental right to freedom from insult, I’d like to read that in context.
Daniel
So tell me, gobear, was it the marketplace that caused child labor laws to be enacted?
OK, you get that one.
Bill Moyers did a piece on this and he interviewed moderate Republicans, Neo-conservatives, and Log Cabin Republicans.
The Neo-conservatives make no bones about the fact that they intend to drive the moderates from the party-they even have a name for them-RINO’s.
I had bookmarked the web site that called for RINO hunts in various districts but I’m too stupid to be able to find it today.
A Log Cabin Republican was explaining that he believed there was room for them all under the same umbrella.
I looked at my husband and said “He’s a fool for not realizing that if the Neo-con’s gain control, he’ll be purged.”
Those were my precise words and sure enough, when the Neo-con was asked how his party would accomodate the Log Cabin faction he stared into the camera, smiled and said “We won’t have to because when we are in power, he’ll be purged.”
[quote=Braun]
“If the marketplace had its druthers, you’d have slavery and children doing labor.”
[quote]
I agree with this. Guess I’m a nutjob to.
Fundemental freedom from insult is deffinately silly though.
Rename your football team the Colts, or he goes right back to you on 11-3!
That the free market necessarily leads to slavery and child labopr is a tad farfetched. YMMV.
[quote]
Sorry, that “freedom from insult” citation was lifted verbatim from a right-wing site, but I’ll see if I can find a better source.
Besdies, isn’t it heartening that the nuttiest Democrat I can find pales (as it were ) in comparison to the pecan-studded Stuckey’s nutbar that is Alan Keyes?
Who was the blue guy a few years back?