Category: Alabama

Like Ronald Reagan Said

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Remember this guy from the Doug Hoffman NY-23 campaign?

Yates Walker? Sound familiar? Perhaps you remember him from an article in the The American Spectator:

Yates Walker ate breakfast in the Blue Moon Café on Main Street in Saranac Lake, New York, on the morning of November 4, and delivered an after-action report on the battle that had just been fought in the upstate 23rd District.
“We took a CPA from 9 percent to 46 percent in two and a half weeks,” said Walker, a young veteran of the 82nd Airborne Division who had been hired 18 days earlier to work on Doug Hoffman’s congressional campaign staff. “I couldn’t be prouder.”
He fell 5,000 votes short of defeating Democrat Bill Owens, but Hoffman’s surprising surge in the closing weeks of the three-way special election in upstate New York had, in Walker’s words, turned the bespectacled accountant into “an electric symbol of conservatism.” . . .

Not bad for a last-minute deadline blitz in the Buffalo airport. And maybe if you remember Yates Walker, you also remember the first time you ever heard of filmmaker Ladd Ehlinger Jr.:

I laughed, I cried, it was better than Cats

In which case you may also remember when I was a guest on Ladd’s radio show during my April visit to Huntsville, Alabama.

Perhaps, then, you may be asking yourself, whatever happened to those guys? Yates Walker became campaign manager for Rick Barber — whose campaign I covered during a February trip to Alabama — and it just so happens that Ladd Ehlinger recently produced an ad for the Barber campaign:

Which I posted Sunday night in the Hot Air Green Room, and which became an overnight viral YouTube sensation and so, when Allahpundit blogged about it today maybe you’d think . . .

Well, certainly there would be no basis for inferring that there were anything other than coincidental associations involved. These things just happen, y’know?

“You can accomplish much if you don’t care who gets the credit.”
— Ronald Reagan

Credit? Nah. Some cash might be nice, but I don’t need any credit. However, if you don’t want to give me cash, maybe you should give some to . . .

RICK BARBER FOR U.S. CONGRESS

Barber Makes AL-2 GOP Runoff

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Tea Party candidate Rick Barber was outspent 7-to-1 by the GOP establishment’s choice Martha Roby in Alabama’s 2nd District Republican primary but was able to force the Montgomery councilwoman to a runoff.

Roby got 48 percent in Tuesday’s primary — less than the majority needed to avoid a July 13 runoff — while Barber got 28 percent and state school board member Stephanie Bell got 21 percent.

“This experience has been thrilling, overwhelming, exhilarating, but, most of all, humbling,” Barber said in a statement. “When I entered this race, nearly all of the pundits were saying that I had no chance. To force a runoff with an opponent who had national endorsements behind her is just amazing.”

Barber noted that Roby, backed by the National Republican Congressional Committee, had spent more than $500,000 on her campaign.

“Throughout the campaign, we’ve been broke . . . We’re not intimidated by Martha’s money,” said Barber, a former Marine.

“Being forced into a runoff won’t help Roby’s image on the campaign trail,” Congressional Quarterly commented, adding that Roby “had been a highly touted candidate.”

Now the Republicans have a six-week campaign for the runoff, with the winner to face “Blue Dog” Democrat Rep. Bobby Bright in November.

UPDATE: Elsewhere in the Alabama primary, Rep. Artur Davis lost his bid to become the state’s first black governor, losing the Democratic primary to agriculture commissioner Ron Sparks. In the GOP gubernatorial primary, Bradley Byrne advanced to the runoff, but a recount may be needed to determine whether Byrnes’ runoff opponent is Robert Bentley or Tim James.

In the 5th District GOP primary, party-switching Rep. Parker Griffith was defeated by Madison County commissioner Mo Brooks. Former Navy pilot Les Phillip placed third.

Dale Peterson, whose get-tough ad made him an Internet hero, finished third in the GOP primary for agriculture commissioner.

State attorney general Troy King lost the GOP primary to challenger Luther Strange.

VIDEO: A Mosque at Ground Zero?

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Another great ad from Alabama, this one from 2nd District Republican candidate Rick Barber:

Excerpts:

“We weren’t attack by a nation. We weren’t attacked by ‘terror.’ We were attacked by Islamic jihadists. . . . Jihad threatens our freedom, our families and our way of life. . . . Islamic jihadist pose a clear and present danger to American freedom and to the very existence of the state of Israel. . . . Now Muslims want to build a mosque just two blocks from where the World Trade Center once stood. When’s the grand opening of this Ground Zero mosque? September 11, 2011. This is unacceptable. There is a difference between tolerance and surrender. . . . If we don’t start electing leaders who recognize the enemy, call them by name and stand up against them, then surrendering is exactly what we are doing.”

The Alabama primary is June 1. To learn more, visit his Web site:

RICK BARBER for U.S. CONGRESS

VIDEO: Les Phillip Swore to Defend Against ‘Enemies, Foreign and Domestic’

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Wonder who he has in mind on the domestic front? Here’s the Republican candidate for Congress in Alabama’s Fifth District:

Marc Ambinder predicts that this will be the political ad everyone will be talking about this week. The transcript:

This is the story of two young men.
One fell in with left wing radicals.
The other immigrated to America.
While one played with terrorists and allowed his America-hating pastor to baptize his children, the other joined the Navy to defend his country.
I love America, but President Obama is ashamed of it. I’m going to Congress to help stop him from destroying our nation. And they’re not going to call me a racist.
I’m Les Phillip and I took an oath to defend this country against enemies, foreign and domestic. And I approve this message.

Do you approve this message? Let him know:

LES PHILLIP for U.S. CONGRESS

UPDATE: Now a Memeorandum thread. One of my friends on Twitter said, “I don’t know what’s in the Alabama water but they need to bottle it and pass it to the rest of the us.” This ad was produced by Ladd Ehlinger Jr., who also produced the Dale Peterson ad, which may have just lost its status as Best Political Ad Evah!

UPDATE II: In April, I covered the 5th District Republican candidates’ forum in Huntsville. The primary is June 1 — a week from Tuesday. It’s a tough three-way contest for the GOP nomination, and there will likely be a runoff, which would be held July 13.

VIDEO: Best Ad Ever Produced for Agriculture Commissioner

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Ag Commissioner? Who ever heard of a great ad for Ag Commissioner? Welcome to Alabama, son! And say hello to Dale Peterson:

The Winchester sort of makes it, huh?

UPDATE: Adrien Chen at Gawker can’t bring himself to give me a hat-tip for being the first to blog about “The Most American Thing Ever Made,” but I’ll count this as one more uncredited mitzvah for the Clown Prince of the Right-Wing Blogosphere.

UPDATE II: I’ll get re-Tweeted by Alyssa Milano before I ever get so much as a hat-tip from Allahpundit. He’s like the Red Baron to my Snoopy, y’know?

UPDATE III: OK, Peterson’s got the Conservative Lesbian vote. Now all he needs is to be denounced by Rachel Maddow and he’ll catapult to stardom — winning me a case of Coronas in the process. (Politics is a lot more interesting when you’ve got bets riding on the outcome.)

By the way, here’s how I got aced out of full credit for my role in this viral phenomenon: Independent film producer Ladd Ehlinger Jr. e-mailed it to me, I blogged it at 11:08 EDT and Tweeted it:

@DaveWeigel VIDEO: Best Ad Ever Produced for Agriculture Commissioner: http://bit.ly/cBPloZ [] @FilmLadd is Alabama’s John Ford!

Ladd then re-Tweeted, which must have been how Chen picked it up for Gawker, then via RSS to Allahpundit, etc., etc.

Although I don’t do the atavistic blood-vengeance enemies-list thing — it’s too much hassle to keep track of all the people who’ve screwed me over — I must occasionally point out how I get screwed over, just so that my peers in the Chopped-Liver-Sphere know that they’re not alone.

Solidarity is very important in the Legion of the Doomed. Otherwise, we might become even more demoralized than we already are.

UPDATE IV: Weasel Zippers gives me no linky-love. Jim Hoft and Erick Erickson give me none either, but there’s a Memeorandum thread now, and I’m linked by The Lonely Conservative, Mind Numbed Robot and Bob Belvedere at Camp of the Saints. Welcome to the Legion of the Doomed.

Tim James And The Mother Tongue

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by Smitty (via Forward Focus Media)

Disclaimer: I have no really strong opinion on language. For some, English is a Very Big Deal. Given that what we speak is a collision of Norman French and Anglo-Saxon, plus anything else that sounded good and didn’t move fast enough, I have trouble sorting the language issue very high on the list. In a few hundred years, when English has absorbed significant Spanish, I daresay there shan’t be much fuss.

But it’s a big deal now:

And I appear to be amongst the narrow 4%:

Americans continue to overwhelmingly believe that English should be the official language of the United States and reject by sizable margins the idea that such a move is racist or a violation of free speech.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 87% of Adults favor making English the nation’s official language. This is the highest level of support yet but in line with what voters have been saying for several years. Just nine percent (9%) disagree.

Fine, make it the official language. However, it’s more significant to me that the Federal government remain Federal than calling it a Federal government vice der Bund.

Hopefully Tim James is as successful in Alabama as Bob McDonnell has been here in Virgnia.

Alabama Update: When Will Tim James Send a Dozen Roses to Rachel Maddow?

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In mid-April, polls indicated Tim James was in third place in the Alabama gubernatorial primary. Then he released his “This Is Alabama, We Speak English” TV ad, Rachel Maddow went berserk, the New York Times condemned James and . . . Well, did I mention that this an Alabama Republican primary?

James garnered 26 percent of the vote in the May 3-4 poll of 600 likely Alabama Republican Primary voters.  Moore had 21 percent, Byrne polled at 20 percent, and 24 percent of likely voters remain undecided.  Robert Bentley stands at 7 percent. 

An Alabama source explained tonight, “We got $10 million worth of free media out of that ad.” Tell ’em again, Tim:

And don’t forget to send Rachel those roses.

Alabama AG Troy King Acts Tough On Crime. Corruption? Not So Much

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Nice “America’s Most Wanted” imitation here by the suspiciously gambling-friendly attorney general Troy King:

Unlike John Walsh, however, Troy King has been the target of a federal investigation, and this new TV ad raises a question: Where did those cop cars come from? If those are Alabama police cars . . . well, the state law is quite clear on such issues:

Section 36-12-61 —
Use, etc., of state-owned property for promotion or advancement of interests of candidates for public office. It shall be unlawful for any officer or employee of the State of Alabama to use or to permit to be used any state-owned property of any character or description, including stationery, stamps, office equipment, office supplies, automobiles or any other property used by him, in his custody or under his control for the promotion or advancement of the interest of any candidate for the nomination or election to any public office of the State of Alabama.

Section 36-25-5 —
Use of official position or office for personal gain. (c) No public official or public employee shall use or cause to be
used equipment, facilities, time, materials, human labor, or other public property under his or her discretion or control for the private benefit or business benefit of the public official, public employee, any other person, or principal campaign committee as defined in Section 17-22A-2, which would materially affect his or her financial
interest, except as otherwise provided by law or as provided pursuant to a lawful employment agreement regulated by agency policy. Provided, however, nothing in this subsection shall be deemed to limit or otherwise prohibit communication between public officials or public employees and eleemosynary or membership organizations or such
organizations communicating with public officials or public employees.

(Acts 1939, No. 657, p. 1031, §1; Code 1940, T. 41, §147(1).)

Sources in Alabama who’ve seen the ad say it was shot in Montgomery, but they’re not sure whether the police cars are Montgomery P.D. or not. If you do a freeze-frame and look closely — and some folks in Alabama have looked very closely indeed — there are no state, county or municipal markings on the cars. But these may have been purposely obscured in post-production.

Suspicions of corruption have been haunting the AG’s office fo months. The situation in Florida — where allegations of GOP corruption have become a potentially damaging scandal — shows the danger for Alabama Republicans of stuff like this. The FBI has been all over Montgomery lately and Republicans have to wonder what will happen if the Justice Department waits until after the June 1 primary to start issuing indictments and making arrests.

UPDATE: Linked at Riehl World View.