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TN-09: Up-to-the-Minute Live Action Team Coverage

by: Crisitunity

Thu Aug 07, 2008 at 12:14 AM EDT


In the last few hours since we last checked in on the race in TN-09 (where the primary is tomorrow):

* Nikki Tinker was declared Worst Person in the World by Keith Olbermann. (If anyone can recall any other Democrat receiving this, um, honor, please let us know in the comments!)

* Nikki Tinker, or at least her ad, was condemned by EMILY's List, who had previously endorsed her.

EMILY's List president Ellen Malcolm issued a statement Wednesday evening condemning Tinker's most recent ad.  The group, which endorses Democratic women who favor abortion rights, has been Tinker's most prominent backer.

"We were shocked to see the recent ads run by the Nikki Tinker for Congress campaign. We believe the ads are offensive and divisive,"

(The ad has been scrubbed from YouTube by the Tinker campaign; unfortunately, the embed below no longer works.)

* Steve Cohen forcibly removed a cameraman from his house who had barged in uninvited to Cohen's hastily-called news conference at Cohen's house to address the religion-baiting ad... and the cameraman is allegedly pressing 'assault' charges. (Video from the local Memphis Fox affiliate is available here: http://www.myfoxmemphis.com/my... The cameraman is an Armenian-American activist and documentary filmmaker who has been stalking Cohen all week; he's not officially affiliated with the Tinker camp, but Armenian groups have given more than $30K to the Tinker campaign because of Cohen's opposition to the bill to call the World War I-era slaughter of Armenians genocide (and thus infuriate Turkey).

Small legalistic note: there's a big difference between some sorehead pressing charges, and the county DA actually following through on them (which I guess we'll find out about that tomorrow). The video shows Cohen escorting the guy out the door with hand firmly on his arm and giving him a shove out the door for good measure; since the cameraman was essentially trespassing, this isn't likely to amount to anything.

Also (h/t to BruinKid): the documentarian, Peter Musurlian, was previously a GOP operative, working as the district director for Carlos Moorhead, who until 1996 represented the Pasadena-area district now represented by Adam Schiff.

* UPDATE (Thursday morning): Barack Obama issued a statement condemning the ad (although not Tinker by name).

"These incendiary and personal attacks have no place in our politics, and will do nothing to help the good people of Tennessee," Obama said in a statement. "It's time to turn the page on a politics driven by negativity and division so that we can come together to lift up our communities and our country."
Crisitunity :: TN-09: Up-to-the-Minute Live Action Team Coverage
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TN-09: Up-to-the-Minute Live Action Team Coverage | 28 comments
hmm, hmm
I'm Armenian-American, and I think Tinker has gone off the deep-end and am HEAVILY rooting for Cohen to win.

That cameraman looks to have crossed completely crossed the line and Cohen's opponents have completely lost it.

But that's not a reason to put the word genocide in quotation marks. What happened in 1915 was a genocide that many countries in the world - and more than a dozen of American states - have recognized as such. And this is also an issue in the presidential campaign and most Armenian groups are backing OBAMA.

I agree that it was a genocide.
But given that sovereignty over Kirkuk is a fault-line on which the Iraqi civil war could reignite, I'm not sure a Congressional Resolution recognizing the genocide is the most imperative piece of legislation at the moment...
[ Parent ]
read my next comment
as i said there, it's one debate to be had whether the resolution was a good idea or not in terms of the political risk it carried.

that argument does not involve one over whether 1915 was a genocide, and thus there is no need to put the word in "" when we talk as private citizens.

[ Parent ]
also
The argument many used against the recognition bill in the fall was that it would infuriate Turkey and thus Congress shouldn't do it. Even if you feel that way, that argument has nothing to do with holding that the 1915 events were not a genocide and therefore I don't see why you as a private citizen would have to put the word in quotation marks.
Errrrrrrr...........Um, sorry dude.
This is one of those awkward moments in blogging.
[ Parent ]
Not meant
to diminish it, just to indicate that the nature of the word was what was at issue in the debate. But I removed them.
[ Parent ]
thanks, i appreciate it
apart from that, i did feel very embarrassed when i first read  about Armenian-Americans joining in this harassment campaign against Cohen. pretty pathetic.  
[ Parent ]
I already
put too many 'things' in 'quotation marks' as it is. It's a side effect of being a 'cynical' member of 'Generation X.' It's just our 'way' of maintaining 'ironic distance' from everything.
[ Parent ]
You also seem to love
The single quotation marks. Some British blood in your family tree? :)
[ Parent ]
I assume that was sarcasm.


Bill Posey is not half-alligator...and is outclassed by Davy Crockett anyway: http://www.washingtonmonthly.c...
[ Parent ]
Yep
Mayflower stock, no less. 400 years of keeping all emotions at arm's length, on this continent alone!
[ Parent ]
Didn't a Democratic state senator from Illinois get a Worst before?
If I remember correctly, she told an Atheist who was testifying before the Illinois Senate was harming children because of his beliefs.

Your go-to source for great sarcasm
Yes. But it gets more complicated.
First, it was Monique Davis.  She's an Illinois state representative, though, not a state senator.  This was from April 8, 2008.

Two days later, however, Olbermann reported that she called the atheist Rob Sherman to apologize, saying the shooting deaths of two Chicago high school kids the day of the hearing had affected her, and that she unfairly took it out on him.  He accepted her apology.

So the story seemed to be over.  Until... April 14, when Keith awarded Sherman Worst Person in the World honors.  Looks like this atheist, in Illinois, mind you, refers to blacks as "Negros".  Ugh.


[ Parent ]
Oh yeah, that's right
I remember watching all that and just shaking my head at both of them throughout the entire time...

Your go-to source for great sarcasm
[ Parent ]
I can't take credit for that.
I got it from raatz at DailyKos.  I just figured it was imperative the SSP crowd knew about the guy's history.  I'm writing all this up for the Bruin Dems blog right now too.

Interesting side note: between Moorhead and Schiff, the Congressman who represented that district was James Rogan, who was one of the 13 House managers in the Clinton impeachment trial.  And that job basically cost him his House seat in 2000, and Schiff's held it ever since.

Rogan
To be fair, Rogan barely won his two terms in the first place, as that area was (perhaps still is) growing bluer by the day.  I think Moorehead was okay because he was entrenched, but when he retired it was just a matter of time before the Dems took over.  I remember reading a great quote in the NY Times (I think) about the Rogan/Schiff race in 2000:  "The only part of our district that's gaining Republicans is Forest Lawn."  Ouch!
[ Parent ]
Blueing of CA-29 area
  That area (including Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena CA) has become more Democratic partially because of the increase in the Armenian-American community. A lot of the older (in the sense of having been in this country longer) parts of the Armenian community tended to lean Republican (such as Musurlian and more famously former CA Gov. George Deukmejian). The newer Armenian immigrants vote more like other immigrant communities, which is to say more Democratic. We now have a  Armenian-American state Assemblymember, Paul Krekorian, who is a progressive Democrat (in AD-43). The other blueing factors in the area include the large amount of people in the entertainment industry that have moved into the area and the ever-increasing Latino community. The immigrants and children of immigrants have turned away from the GOP especially since the mid-90s after Proposition 187. That measure helped Gov. Pete Wilson (Deukmejian's successor) get reelected in 1994 but hurt the Repubs since. Up until the mid-90s that area elected all Republicans to the Congress and Legislature, now there are  all Democratic districts there. IIRC Musurlian ran unsuccessfully for Assembly in one of the election years and didn't even get the GOP nomination.  
[ Parent ]
EMILY's List
They backed off fro Tinker way too late for this to have any meaning. Between this and their kamikaze dive for Hillary, they have done themselves a lot of damage this year.
Agreed


Follow the elections in Georgia at the 2010 Georgia Race Tracker.
[ Parent ]
Democratic "Worst Person"
Olberman gave the "award" on March 31, 2008 to PA Governor Ed Rendell for praising Fox News's primary coverage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

So that's at least one.

Tinker
I personally hope that Niki Tinker looses big time. We complain when we are the victims of negative attacks, but when we do it ourselves, we immediately ignore that fact. Tinker has shown a disregard for the party and the state and district that she wants to represent. She is nothing more than a greedy politician who seeks power for herself on behalf of others. Rep. Cohen is a great man who fits the district extremely well. His politics are in line with his constituents and he sticks to his word. Tinker must loose otherwise I would encourage Cohen to run as an Independent!  
Tinker is a disgrace
I'd go out on a limb and say that this is the most important primary race for us this cycle (close second was Donna Edwards' awesome victory in MD). Tinker has run an absolutely trashy campaign from start to finish, and would have an abysmal DLC-Ford Jr.-Blue Dog voting record in Congress.

Steve Cohen is a solid progressive, a VAST improvement over Ford and is needed in Congress. He's got to win!

Tinker is a disgrace
I'd go out on a limb and say that this is the most important primary race for us this cycle (close second was Donna Edwards' awesome victory in MD). Tinker has run an absolutely trashy campaign from start to finish, and would have an abysmal DLC-Ford Jr.-Blue Dog voting record in Congress.

Steve Cohen is a solid progressive, a VAST improvement over Ford and is needed in Congress. He's got to win!

only a close second?
I'd say a far second!  At least Al Wynn was a generally honorable person about it.

We REALLY need to win this now to show that we as a party are above this kind of crap.

Bill Posey is not half-alligator...and is outclassed by Davy Crockett anyway: http://www.washingtonmonthly.c...

[ Parent ]
billyray smells something fishy
why are y'all saying this fella was harassing him?  if anything cohen looked like an absolute lunatic and did a big amateur-hour type meltdown in front of live rolling cameras - the guy was just standing there and wanted to ask him a few questions according to the news story

not exactly my idea of what a Congressman should be or conduct him/herself

the better question is why is cohen so up in arms over this man and this genocide thing?  

for christ's sake cohen just had that slavery bill pass which was pretty offensive style pandering if you ask me - right before the primary and all - how come nobody is accusing him of dirty tactics?

come on it's politics y'all let's all take a big breadth

There's a big difference
Slavery was an institution in THIS country, its roots directly traced to millions of decendents still living in this country today.

The Armenian Genocide was also a horrible atrocity.  But it occured halfway around the world, not here in our own country.  Sorry, but passing a bill directly attacking another country (a strong ally and the only moderate Muslim country in the Middle East nonetheless) is a bad idea at this time.  Especially so considering how easily Turkey could destabilize Northern Iraq if they decided to.

[ Parent ]
billyray still smells fish
but passing that slavery bill right before his own election - that is really obvious that it is pandering
So maybe it is
His constituency is overwhelmingly African-American.  Even if this measure has no real power to change anything I'm sure it matters to African-Americans.
[ Parent ]
TN-09: Up-to-the-Minute Live Action Team Coverage | 28 comments

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