Roadblock Blog

U.S. policy can't discourage plucky, lying oil stooge/Senate candidate
Bob Schaffer's, claim that he didn't receive any discouragement from selling out American interests in Iraq by negotiating oil contracts with local governments (as opposed to the Iraqi national government) is being contradicted by the documented evidence.

But Joe Lieberman will be there...
Neither Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) nor Susan Collins (R-Maine) will be attending the Republican National Convention in St. Paul. It also appears that Gordon Smith (R-Oregon) will not show. Obviously, showing support for GOP presidential candidate John McCain is not a high priority for the embattled incumbents. So much for Republican solidarity.

Why Republicans make you spend twice as much at the pump.

Having utterly discredited itself on national security, the economy, morality and every other conceivable issue, The Republican Party is purposefully permitting the inflation of gas prices in the hope of making domestic drilling a winning campaign issue. Speculation, perhaps more than actual demand, has caused the dramatic increase in fuel costs since February as institutional investors -- not those who intend to use petroleum -- now account for 73% of all crude oil trading contracts. Even the oil companies think the market has drastically over-valued the price of oil, yet Roadblock Republicans just voted against legislation to curb such market manipulation.

Al Franken, seriously.
Norm Coleman rolled out the bowlers in a second campaign ad attacking Al Franken. Unfortunately, it's another gutterball that's not funny, ridicules the "regular folks" with whom he is trying to connect, and provides the erstwhile satirist Franken with the opportunity to score with a substantive, statesman-like response:

Mitch McConnell taxes credibility
Mitch McConnell's first attack ad attempts to suggest that Bruce Lunsford is responsible for high gas prices in Kentucky even though Lunsford is for a windfall profits tax on Big Oil to pay for a gas tax holiday while McConnell himself has accepted tens of thousands of dollars from the petroleum industry and thinks that oil rigs are "pretty". Lunsford explained the root of McConnell spurious assertion in a Courier Journal Op-Ed.

Dolly Partisan?
Senator John Cornyn issued a press release urging Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to pass legislation to shore-up South Texas levees just hours before Dolly hit the region.

Sweet 16
With just over 100 days until November 4, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chair Chuck Schumer lists 16 Republican-held seats as competitive!

A Vitter Pill
Louisiana Senate candidate John Kennedy (no relation or remote similarity) has put himself in the awkward position of criticizing the values of Republican Mayor Mike Bloomberg, a supporter of incumbent Mary Landrieu, even as Kennedy accepts considerable support from Senator David Vitter.

And this little piggy got none
Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) has raised $15 million so far for this year's election, much of it from special interests. Bruce Lunsford has put $3 million of his own money into his campaign to oust the incumbent obstructionist. Yet, McConnell is accusing Lunsford of trying to buy the election.

Shall we just assume that pro-Collins letters come from her campaign?
Turn Maine Blue has found a letter to the editor supporting Susan Collins (R-Maine) from the Co-Chair of Educators for Collins. The problem: the writer doesn't disclose her affiliation. This brings the total number of pro-Collins letters to the editor written by Republican Party higher-ups or leaders of Collins-friendly organizations to over nine in the past two months without any references as to the writers' affiliations.

With friends like that...
Norm Coleman (R-Minnesota) has released a new attack ad against Democratic challenger Al Franken, which coincidentally implies that Coleman's Republican colleague, Brian Davis, running for the House seat in the 1st District of Minnesota, is unfit for Congress. Oops!

Aren't Texans supposed to know stuff about oil?
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) claims on his website that the U.S. only imports one third of the oil it consumes, then attacks Democratic opponent Rick Noriega for offering an energy plan which would increase our dependence on foreign oil above 33% (but below the actual current figure of close to 70%).

If I lied on my job application I'd be fired
Republican running for Senate from Virginia, Jim Gilmore, has disclosed false information on his financial disclosure form. The disclosure he submitted says that he is on the board of New Hampshire-based Windmill International, a veterans contract group, when in fact he is on the board of Virginia-based Windmill International, a company whose chairman is embroiled in legal battles concerning defrauding the U.S. government for Iraq contracts.

Devil's advocate
Pat Roberts (R-Kansas) stands up for what he believes in. He's against protecting our veterans, affordable drugs, renewable energy, and lean national spending.

I had my fingers crossed
Things are getting confusing for Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky). He said we'd get out of Iraq if the Iraqis wanted us to leave and now Prime Minister Maliki is calling for U.S. withdrawal. What, oh, what will Mitch do now?

Guess those photo-ops in the workplace were meant to be ironic
Susan Collins (R-Maine) is being supported with big money from anti-union groups.

We're going to subsidize the heck out of them
Sen. John Sununu (R-New Hampshire) thinks, as does every Republican up for reelection this year it seems, that more drilling is the solution to our energy woes. This despite the fact that Big Oil is spending its record profits on stock buybacks - Exxon spending $8.8 billion on them in the first quarter of 2008 alone.

Scandal-plagued money is still green, ain't it
John Cornyn (R-Texas) has received political donations in the past from known associates of Jack Abramoff, which he has refused to return, even after learning where the money came from.

If you've been around here, you've seen me rail against the GOP for the way they try to throw sand into the gears of the Senate to try to grind business to a halt. Or as close to it as they can.

Here's the back story: the Senate was set up to be the more deliberative body, and over the decades and centuries, it has evolved a series of arcane rules giving power to single Senators and a minority to keep things from being railroaded through the Senate. One way this is done is the rules around a 'hold,' where one Senator can object to unanimous consent and force the Senate to debate a measure. It's a good thing in theory because it gives a single Senator the chance to bring an issue to public light and keep things from passing noiselessly and unnoticed. However, in a modern world, and with today's GOP, it has turned into a weapon of legislative destruction.

There are many, many bills that the Senate takes up that are completely non-controversial, things that no one objects to - that don't have a huge effect on the workings of our country - and the way the Senate deals with them is through unanimous consent. The complexity of modern government has gotten to the point where the Senate has to deal with so many bills that the calendar of the Senate has gotten so packed there is literally not enough time to cover everything. Doing non-controversial bills with unanimous consent is the only way to get everything done.

But, when one party doesn't want to get things done ... well, you can see where there would be a problem.

The FBI's Million Most Wanted
Because of a bloated government terror-watch list, Ted Stevens' (R-Alaska) wife, Catherine Stevens, has a hard time flying.

The astroturf is always greener...
We've flagged a piece of pro-Norm Coleman (R-Minnesota) astroturf. A letter supportive of the candidate was recently written for the Bemidji Pioneer by Barbara Zentek, who is also the treasurer of the Beltrami County Republican Party of Minnesota.

I'm a leader on this bill and on the opposition to it
John Sununu (R-New Hampshire) claims to be a leader fighting for more funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which brings affordable heating oil to poorer families. As recently as six months ago, he voted to cut funding for LIHEAP.

How does Gordon Smith afford a $1.4 million set of golf clubs?
Gordon Smith (R-Gordon Smith) cuts taxes for wealthy guys like himself. He's voted numerous times against cutting taxes for working class families, who would spend the extra money on frivilous things like food.

Drilling makes cents
In order to cut gas prices, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) has proposed drilling in the ANWR region of Alaska, a move which could cost millions and the EIA says could cut gas prices by up to 3 cents per gallon starting in 2027.

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain
Surprise, Surprise! Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) is holding up a bill in the Senate that would establish more ethical guidelines for establishing presidential libraries. Could it be that Stevens doesn't want the public scrutinizing corruption on high.

Revisionist history
Pat Roberts (R-Kansas) jumped on the bandwagon, voting to override the President's veto of the recent Medicare bill. Roberts' voting record, however, shows that in non-election years, the Senator is no friend to Medicare.

Imagine if the Cat in the Hat had just left the children with his mess
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) is blaming his opponent, Democrat Bruce Lunsford, for high prices at the pump, despite McConnell having voted against a number of measures that might have curbed the rising price of gasoline.

Don't copy me!
Norm Coleman (R-Minnesota) came out swinging at a proposal by Democratic Senate candidate Al Franken concerning union voting, a measure which Norm Coleman supported while he was mayor of St. Paul.

There is no spoon
Democrat running for Senate, Jeanne Shaheen, has outraised Republican incumbent, John Sununu (R-New Hampshire), by almost 50% this past quarter. In response, New Hampshire GOP pundits are claiming victory for Sununu.