Carl Paladino steps in more dog poop. He says:

"That's not how God created us," Paladino said of being gay, "and that's not the example that we should be showing our children." ....."I don't want [children] to be brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is an equally valid and successful option," he said.

On the other hand, Paladino says:

"My feelings on homosexuality are unequivocal; I have absolutely no problem with it whatsoever. My only reservation is marriage."

And, Paladino insists, "he would recruit gays to serve in his administration and currently has homosexual staffers working on his campaign."

Just what New York needs, another politician who talks out of both sides of his mouth. If his views don't sink him, this pathetic attempt to two-step will.

Take your pick. He's a homophobe or a lying, two-faced politician with a trust factor of zero. 30 days until this clown fades into oblivion.

Update: From the Daily Beast: Ten Fun Facts About Paladino

No amount of tea partiers can save Carl Paladino from himself. Now he's attacking gays.

The Republican candidate for governor, Carl P. Paladino, told a gathering in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, on Sunday that children should not be “brainwashed” into thinking that homosexuality was acceptable, and criticized his opponent, Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo, for marching in a gay pride parade earlier this year.

The polls had him losing before this. Four more weeks and he will fade back into the obscurity from which he sprang.

Russ Feingold debates tonight:

Johnson vs. Feingold, Round 1, is on for tonight. Republican challenger Ron Johnson and three-term incumbent Democratic U.S. Russ Feingold will square off for an hour starting at 8 p.m. in the first of three televised debates scheduled before the Nov. 2 election.

Cheddar for Russ here. The debate will be broadcast on C-Span.

Speaking for me only

I was worried that when the Dems got around to making this a campaign issue, they would portray Ken Buck as "soft on crime" or too cozy with defense lawyers, neither of which is remotely true. Happily, the ad primarily focuses on the ethical implications of Buck's actions. I wrote up the whole story here. [More..]

There is no race I care about more than Russ Feingold's in Wisconsin (now that Boxer looks pretty good - hell of an ad wasn't it?), but, unlike Jon Cohn, I think this ad could be a mistake, if it leads to campaigning in the fashion Cohn is advocating for:

Cohn argues that President Obama is touting the health bill too. I don't really see Feingold making much of an explicit argument for the health bill, more of a "protecting your health care" pitch unconnected to the health bill (sort of a Medicare pitch really.) In any event, I bet Obama wouldn't be "touting" the health bill if he were up for reelection this year. That's politics 101. I think Feingold may be setting up a Social Security/Medicare hit on Johnson. Cohn, a big health bill proponent, is probably misreading what this ad is trying to do and what it is leading to. Or maybe this is Feingold's pitch to the New Establishment bloggers to see if they might engage in his campaign. A little sugar so to speak.

Speaking for me only

A Dem winning an election is better than the Republican winning almost every time. But among Dems, who is it more important to see win? The fighting progressive or the craven Blue Dog? This is a theme regular readers will have read before from me, but, via Digby, Howie Klein seems to make a similar argument, but gets it a little wrong in my view. Howie writes:

With very few exceptions, the Democrats in the most vulnerable positions are conservatives who have voted most consistently with Boehner and the untrusted GOP minority, Blue Dogs like Bobby Bright (AL), Glenn Nye (VA), Chris Carney (PA), Travis Childers (MS) and Frank Kratovil (MD) and inherently reactionary political cowards with no moral compasses like Tom Perriello (VA), Suzanne Kosmas (FL) and Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ). If Democrats can manage to hang onto the few progressives who refused to play the Republican lite game who are in jeopardy in swing districts-- Carol Shea-Porter (NH), Alan Grayson (FL), Mary Jo Kilroy (OH), Phil Hare (IL)-- and at the same time, manage to shed some of the dead weight, the House Democratic caucus will be far better off, far more focused on helping ordinary American families and far less susceptible to blackmail from corporate conservatives in its own midst.

The problem is not the dead weight imo. The problem is CATERING to the dead weight. (I wrote about that a few years ago.) That said, for progressives, the fight should be for the one who fought for you. That ain't the Blue Dogs.

Speaking for me only

Rahm Emanuel made it official today. He's running for Mayor of Chicago. His website is up and running. His first action after setting up his FB page and website: embarking on "listening tour" across Chicago.

Who are among Rahm's first intended victims?

To be the city we want to be, we can't have gangbangers taking the lives of our schoolchildren.

Gang leaders don't target children, nor do they condone their killing, according to Tio Hardiman, director of CeaseFire Illinois, which works to prevent neighborhood violence. He probably knows a lot more about the subject than Rahm.

I'd like to hear Rahm promise some innovative juvenile justice programs and programs designed to assist at-risk kids in finding alternatives to gangs. Instead, he's promising more of a crackdown, which is as sure to fail as the war on drugs.

Here's Rahm's stance on issues while in Congress. [More...]

The accusations flew in the Meg Whitman-Jerry Brown California gubernatorial debate today.

Here are some excerpts. Whitman:

"The real tragedy here is Nicky. After Nov. 2, no one's going to be watching out for Nicky Diaz. And Jerry, you know you should be ashamed, you and your surrogates ... put her deportation at risk. You put it out there and you should be ashamed for sacrificing Nicky Diaz on the altar of your political ambitions."

Brown:

"You have blamed her, blamed me, blamed the left, blamed the unions, but you don't take accountability and you can't be a leader unless you're willing to stand on your own two feet and say 'Yep, I made a mistake.'"

[More...]

Here are the documents Meg Whitman says her housekeeper gave her in 2000. I'm not impressed by the housekeeper's story, but that might be because of her lawyer. (I like Gloria, but I've never bought into any of her clients' "victim" stories over the years, starting with the woman who claimed Marv Albert bit her.) They seem to start with a grain of fact,and then get blown out of proportion with far too little later on to back them up.

And didn't she pull a similar stunt a month before the recall election in which Gray Davis got sacked and Arnie became Governor - coming forward with a woman who claimed she was groped?

Miller first surfaced around midday on October 6, the day before the recall election, front and center at a news conference called by Los Angeles lawyer Gloria Allred, California’s pugilistic defender of women’s rights. Miller told the assembled media that Schwarzenegger groped her on two occasions while she was a stunt double in the films The Terminator and True Lies.

Whitman's version of the sequence of events sounds plausible, although a little too much like "Don't ask, don't tell" -- and this all could be retaliation over being fired, after Mrs. Diaz "told." The truth is probably in the middle. [More...]

Good on Move On:

There's no better, more principled Democrat in Washington than Sen. Feingold: The only senator to vote against the PATRIOT Act. A steadfast opponent of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And a passionate crusader against corporate influence in politics. Right now he is down in the polls and in real danger of losing his seat. Can you chip in?

If you don't want to contribute through Move On, give directly to Russ here.

Speaking for me only

Attorney Gloria Allred is coming to the aid of another damsel in distress. This time, it's the former Latina housekeeper of California Gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman. Allred will be holding a press conference later today. TMZ reports:

We're told the housekeeper has lawyered up with none other than Gloria Allred. The housekeeper and Allred will hold a news conference today in Gloria's office at 11 AM PT, "to tell how she suffered as a long-time, Latina household employee in Meg Whitman's home."

We're told the housekeeper will be filing a legal claim against Ms. Whitman. From what we're hearing, the disclosures could have a significant impact on the campaign and possibly the election.

TMZ will live-stream the conference and says it's one not to miss. It also has this photo-stream of Allred's "Greatest Hits."

Kevin Drum asks:

[I]f the prospect of ripping apart healthcare reform, shutting down the government, deep sixing START, slashing social spending, and reliving the glory days of investigations over Christmas card lists isn't enough to get you motivated, I guess I'm not sure what is. I wish I got more warm and fuzzies from Obama too. [. . .] But letting Darrell Issa take over the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform doesn't seem like a very good way of getting that message across.

OK then. I think I'll go donate a hundred bucks to someone. Who do you think it should be?

I'm not much afraid of Darrell Issa, and Kevin's message seems mostly about defending all the great accomplishments of the past 2 years. I dunno if that's a winner either. Here's what gets me going in this political season - making sure progressives in the Congress do not lose. The most vulnerable progressive looks like Russ Feingold. I urge Kevin to give his $100 to Feingold's campaign. I urge all of you to give what you can. That is an election to get invested in.

Speaking for me only