From THE HILL:
It was a bittersweet night for Democrats as they won a House special election but saw one senator fall and another incumbent go to a runoff.
Meanwhile Republicans saw their favored Senate candidate lose in Kentucky to a darling of the Tea Party movement.
Most of all, Tuesday’s primaries were another sign of the anti-incumbent mood that has swept the nation and has lawmakers worried about their futures.
Bittersweet? Seriously?
Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.), who took down five-term Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.), called his victory “a win for the people, over the establishment, over the status quo, even over Washington, D.C.”
…snip…
The Obama administration’s political operation failed to clear the field in Pennsylvania for Specter, whose three-decade Senate career was ended by Sestak – a candidate many in Washington felt can’t win statewide in the general election.
And many outside of Washington (like me) feel that Sestak has a better chance of winning than Specter would have.
In Arkansas the White House wasn’t able to convince its union allies or progressive groups to back away from supporting Lt. Gov. Bill Halter’s (D) challenge to Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.). After she failed to win a majority in the primary, Lincoln has to campaign through a June 8 runoff while the GOP nominee, Rep. John Boozman (R-Ark.), readies for the general election.
“After a vicious primary battle, incumbent Senator Blanche Lincoln’s Democrat party bosses in Washington were unable to drag her across the finish line” John Cornyn (Texas), chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said in a statement.
John Giant Head Coryn, why don’t you go back to Easter Island where you’ll blend right in?
Halter’s candidacy was backed by Democratic-allied groups such as MoveOn.org and the AFL-CIO who were angered by Lincoln’s perceived rejection of the Obama administration’s agenda.
…snip…
“Working families all over the state of Arkansas have sent a clear message: they will not stand up for those who fail to stand for them. What Senator Lincoln learned tonight and what elected leaders all around this country should note is that the days of ‘business as usual’ are over,” SEIU President Mary Kay Henry said in a statement.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka vowed to press on and defeat Lincoln in the June 8 runoff.
…snip…
Still, Democrats are optimistic about their chances of holding the House after winning a hard-fought special election for the late Rep. John Murtha’s Pennsylvania House seat. Former Murtha staffer Mark Critz (D) defeated businessman Tim Burns (R) by almost 10 points despite low approval ratings for President Barack Obama in the district.
Republicans had billed the race as a referendum on national Democrats.
No comment from Giant Head on that race?
“Nancy Pelosi is holding fundraisers for him, the Vice President Joe Biden was here and Bill Clinton is coming to the district so this is extremely important because people know that a vote for Mark Critz is a vote for the Pelosi-Obama agenda,” Burns told Fox News shortly before the vote.
It was a harsh loss for the National Republican Congressional Committee who spent close to $1 million supporting Burns’ campaign.
…snip…
But the Senate primaries in Arkansas and Pennsylvania show there is discontent among voters with the party’s leadership. The Democratic establishment went firmly for the Specter in Pennsylvania. Obama helped him raise money, appeared in his TV commercials and lent his voice to a robocall. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spent money on Specter’s behalf in the weeks leading up to the election.
T.J. Rooney, chairman of the state party, campaigned with the senator in the final days, while Gov. Ed Rendell and Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-Pa.) rallied supporters in and around Philadelphia to get out in support of Specter.
…snip…
The Republican rank and file sent a similar message of discontent in Kentucky, opting to nominate the Paul ahead of the GOP-establishment backed Trey Grayson.
Grayson, the secretary of state, had the support of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and former Vice President Dick Cheney while Paul was backed by Tea Party groups and Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.).
HYSTERICAL RAISINS 
“John Giant Head Coryn, why don’t you go back to Easter Island where you’ll blend right in?”
His noggin’s that huge? Honestly, I never noticed before. Now, I can’t get the image of a bunch of statues of heads of GOP leaders staring out to sea out of my head.
then i guess this won’t help. seriously, i’m surprised the rethugs haven’t used his forehead as a billboard.
LMAO! I’d forgotten about that one.
Since you’re pulling posts out of the archives, could you link to the post with Chris Chocola as Count Chocula? I’m having trouble finding it. It’s in response to this article.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/19/AR2010051902754.html
With friends like the Club for Growth, the GOP hardly needs enemies.
your wish is my command. thanks for the link to the article. i may use that.
Thank you and glad to be of service!
😀
Specter really needed to be retired. At the risk of sounding ageist, 80 years old is too damned old. He looks like death warmed over. Plus he is a turncoat, jumped the GOP ship to save his political career.
As for the one guy winning of the tea party ilk- good I hope the have just enough success to splinter the GOP party.
Go tea party! (grimace).
i don’t understand why people like arlen specter don’t retire and walk away with a little bit of dignity. maybe the fight is what keeps him going.
the tea party bullshit is just that, bullshit. the reason rand paul won is because his father has a dedicated following. if his name was randal paulson, he would not have gotten all the free publicity. i hope the still-thinking rethuglicans recognize him for the extremist that he is.
I really don’t get it. What is it with us humans? We are never, ever satisfied. Whoever is in office, we want out … Whoever is out of office, we want in. It’s like a demented game of Musical Chairs …
hey jaliya! what a nice surprise. 😀 it’s been ages since you commented over here.
how funny that you said it’s like demented musical chairs, because i almost titled this post musical chairs, but i couldn’t think of a clever way to twist it. if only demented had occurred to me. i don’t think that we the people are the ones who are fickle. our issues pretty much stay the same. it’s the politicians who stop being who they say they are when they get elected. something happens to them when they stay too long in the bubble.
Listen to the Rand interview with Maddow and this guy doesn’t have a clue. When asked if he would support the Civil Rights Act he goes off on this diatribe about how race problems ended in Boston in 1840! Odd thing is, I clearly recall my late father telling me about being in Philly in 1943 being re-assigned after his destroyer USS Worden had been sunk in the Aluetian campaign. He told me that he witnessed the transit strike where white drivers and motormen absolutely refused to allow the “coloreds” operate any buses or street cars. Old dad saw the US Army guys with rifles and fixed bayonets that protected the poor guys from the white peckerwoods. No Rand, there are no race problems in America. We just need smaller government and some more tax cuts.
now we see what happens when a fruitcake like ron paul raises children. 😯 of course, randal is now saying that it’s everyone else’s fault for misinterpreting what he said. everybody is sooooo stoooopid!!!
Biden’s 3rd Grade Essay – “My Fu%k#ng Summer Vacation” shows a disturbing history of rude behaviour and vulgarity. The story by SPN is at:
http://spnheadlines.blogspot.com/2010/03/biden-3rd-grade-essay-fukng-summer_28.html
Keep smiling! 🙂
WTF? Don’t forget Dick Cheney dropped the f-bomb and is old enough to know better too! Anyway, Arlen Specter was one of our state senators whose long history as a Repug didn’t help, then a Sestak ad that showed Dubya saying Arlen was his man, and showing Arlen saying ‘I’m turning Democrat to keep my job’ didn’t help either. He does look bad in the ad, and he did have brain cancer and a tumor removed that did take a toll on him and his appearance. Specter did have some good points on his web site as a Democrat, but Sestak is a young Vice Admiral and that won over alot of people.
Now, as for Rand Paul, anybody who voted for him needs their eyes and head examined! He wants to end Social Security, make Medicare patients have a $2,000 deductible, he doesn’t want Medicare payments to physicians lowered one iota, and that crap about the Civil Rights Act just shows he’s a Tea Party Racist through and through! What an asshole!
maybe some kentucky voters were bamboozled when they voted for rand paul in the primary, but now the mask is off, and his wingnuttiness is there for all to see. if they vote for him again, then we know what the measure of the people of kentucky is.
The buzz going around today is his opponent in the primary never made a fuss about his idiotic positions because they are not a problem for the hard boiled gopers, This is also the reason the big newspaper wouldn’t endorse either one of them. It’s going to get real interesting soon.
i think his opponent was afraid to piss off the teabaggers. that’s why yertle mcconnell won’t say anything bad about rand paul.
Now Ron Paul is saying that mean liberal pwess got my widdle Rand all flustered and that’s why widdle Rand got all confwused and said wat he did about the Civil Rights Act. Oh, please! The noose doesn’t hang far from the family tree in the ideology section, I’m sure!
he canceled his appearance on meet the press this sunday. i think princess sarah is his campaign manager. the formula: say something incredibly stupid, blame the press, refuse to go on any news shows, except those on friendly faux (not that those are news shows).