EJ Dione asks for someone to step up to save the Republican Party and the nation for each other.

Jeb Bush.

Because, um… Bush saves?

“This is an interesting book.
Elephantman.
It’s about Human Animal Hybrids.,
You know, like George W Bush.”

Er.  Funny that Bush-comment, but it’s 20 freaking 14 now.  Jeb is next in line.
Also, does this mean Spiderman a comic book about Human Insect Hybrids?

The Elusive State of Jefferson, Peter Laufer

While the “Proclamation of Independence” was being posted around Jefferson and handed out at the armed roadblocks, something called the Northern Counties Anti-Jefferson Committee reacted with their own handbills and press releases, distributed anonymously in Yrkea from a secret basement headquarters in Dunsmuir, a basement that was equipped with a printing press.  The opposition argued that the statehood movement was misguided.  The secret committee was, in fact, a gang of high school students who decided to attack the Jefferson promoters just for the fun of it.  Nevertheless their arguments were added to serious sounding newspaper accounts of the rebellion.  Years later, one of the gang exposed their plot.  Robert D Stone, a graduate of the Dansmuir High School class of 1943, explained that he and his cohorts called off their campaign “due to the fragile nature of pre-1940 automobiles, the price of gasoline, nubile Dunsmuir girls, and homework.”

Nikki Matson of the Natural Law Party received…

627 votes.

More specifically, the Results

Maria Carl                            REP           17987
  Jonathan Tade Williams                REP           16950

  Pamela Pugh Smith                     DEM           22667
  Casandra E. Ulbrich                   DEM           21336
  Kimberly Moore                        LIB            1941

  Gregory Scott Stempfle                LIB            1201
  John Adams                            UST            1654
  Karen Adams                           UST            1275

  Sherry A. Wells                       GRN             921
  Nikki Mattson                         NLP             621

In the US House, Michael Burgess received… 1,673 votes.

He doesn’t seem to be into Transcendental Meditation… but this isn’t the same party as 2000 when it was upending Pat Buchanan, or even 2004 when it was amusing Dennis Kucinich.

Part One:  Simpsons … The Critic
Part Two:  Simpsons … The Family Guy
Part Three:  Simspsons … Futurama

The latter two came out a mere month apart, so I suppose next up is Bob Burger’s in two weeks.

A decade ago, I saw a bemoaning somewhere on the Internet someone commenting on the sad shape of the Simpsons with “Last night, the episode was about Homer’s transformation into a Pie-related Superhero” further commenting that this was like a bad issue of the comic book series.

There was a Simpsons Futurama comic book cross-over.

“This election is not only a repudiation of Obama, but also the Clintons, and what the people are seeing is there is no difference between the Clinton Democrats and the Obama Democrats.”

So goes Rand Paul (paraphrasing here) upon the victory of Mitch McConnell in particular, and Republicans in general, posturing himself with the right now considered “inevitable” (but who knows?) Democratic nomination of Hillary Clinton and his sights on the Republican nomination.

“Rand Paul,” asks the NBC News guy, “today your father tweeted… ‘Republicans have Senate means NeoCon Win means NeoCon War means Boots on the Ground.” (again, paraphrase, but you get the idea).  The caveat of “You don’t speak for your father, but –” and then the issue of Republican foreign policy splits and “What do you see as the Republican Brand moving forward?” (Brand… take a swig of your favorite alcoholic beverage when political pundits bring up party branding.)

“The Republican Party will be reaching out and attracting people with earrings and without earrings, with tattoos and without tattoos.”

Rand Paul, picking up the mantle form his father — and tilling the same following he picked up from his father back when he was tilling the same media sphere — you know, pre-Senate nomination… Alex Jones and the like… and dodging the question as the Republicans move forward to align behind… oh… Jeb Bush?

On the eve of a Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mcconell.  There’s much debate on what that means… one minority report shrugging “gridlock is gridlock whether the two houses in Congress are united or not”, the two sides of the equation in party terms musing about this tidbit and that tidbit.

Or, gridlock out of the way… Areas of agreement with Republicans and disagreements with Democorats ... Free Trade!

Instead, he quickly became known as one of the Senate’s most left-leaning members. For instance, while Wyden in 2011 supported free trade agreements with South Korea, Panama and Colombia – not surprising given Oregon’s dependence upon trade – Merkley opposed them.

The comedy of a map for the racially polarized electorate in the South.  Skip to Georgia.  See if Michelle Nunn can sneak up over 50 percent, lest a run-off go by way of 2008, where a three point Republican advantage in November turned into a route in December.

Amanda Swafford is the third party candidate.  Libertarian.  We’re watching the third party candidate there and in Louisiana, where in the jungle primary system… so we have a bunch of weird candidates whose weirdness seems to be mostly that their political party didn’t tap them.

Whatever happens in Oregon with marijuana, Oregonians may decide to skip over the bureaucratic stupidity plaguing Washington and take a trip to Guam.

Without suggesting the validity of the causes either way, the cause of labeling genetically modified foods has, roughly the same hurdle to cross as the cause against fluoridation — to convince the broad public of its mainstream validity as not some posturing from crunchy granola types — the added burden is that it’s broader electorate, state-wide with a smaller percentage of said crunchy granolas and their neighbors.

It’s where a past effort had a voters’ guide statement from Jimmy Carter against — and how can you oppose the Peanut Farmer Nuclear Scientist Man who brought Egypt and Israel together?

To that end, it is comical, the television ads.  Happy earnest voice over.  Does the deed of batting back the “already label organics” with “not everyone can afford” statement.  Brings it into worldwide context (competing against the map of the no said showing all the states not with this label).  Quotes one editorial about the weakness in the “no” argument from, all papers, the Portland Mercury, without mention that the paper came out against.  And then there’s the list of all the “newspapers all across the state” who have endorsed the measure…

Four.  Apparently they found for newspapers all across the state.  One is from Eugene.

We’re going to be sucking on green corn for a while longer.

Monica Wehby shows us the the standard black and white image of the grainy, unflattering Jeff Merkley.  The voice snarls.  “Senator Jeff Merkley is a bad man.”  Fade to black.  Next shot.  Color, brightly lit.  Monica Wehby is walking down a hospital hallway, smiling and nodding with clipboard in hand at patients and / or co-workers.  The voice sparkles.  “But Monica Wehby has a different approach.”

And then, last screen, small image of Monica Wehby.  “I’m Monica Wehby, and I approve this message.”

The latest round of Jeff Merkley ads?  All very vacuuous.  Issue free.  Insulting, really.  He’s playing ping-pong in the garage with the kids.  The ball flies past him, because… well, he’s human, see, and that’s just how human he is.

And then the mailed out fliers, long the domain of these under the radar get to one targeted public and miss the general public messages and attacks…  So...

Campaign mailers can also tell you when a race is essentially over.
One that hit mailboxes last week came from the Humane Society Legislative Fund. On one side is the smiling face of Oregon’s junior U.S. senator. On the other, a blissfully sleeping golden retriever puppy.
“Rise & Shine,” reads the mailer. “Help animals by voting for Jeff Merkley!”

Attack the puppy, Monica Wehby.

And you know… in an alternate universe, the Oregon Republican Party’s gubernatorial and Senate candidates would be reversed, so … you know… the Republican Party might then have a chance against the Incumbent Democratic Governor (hilarious endorsement by the Willamette Week which spends an entire article ripping him to shreds, and then coming out with essentially “And Dennis Richardson sucks even more… vote for Kitzhaber.”)  instead of no chance in both races.