According to Politico‘s David Catenese:

Former ambassador and state party chair Ann Wagner has not yet announced her 2012 plans, with spokesperson John Hancock saying she’s still “seriously considering” the Senate race.

Wagner has indicated she’s not interested in a down-ballot race, but informed GOPers say she hasn’t completely ruled out challenging six-term Rep. Todd Akin in a primary.

Wagner seems to be desperately looking for a niche. If, as Catenese speculates, Jo Ann Emerson has decided against a Senate run on the basis that her occasional gestures toward sanity may tar her as too moderate to run against the hormonally unbalanced conservatives who have already declared themselves, wouldn’t Wagner fall into this category as well? Her campaign for Chairman of the RNC showed that she’s more than willing to pander to the Teople, but, sheesh!… she’s a Republican, she has to.

Wagner might have a chance against Akin. Although the 2nd is strongly Republican, conventional wisdom has it that there are lots of folks out here who aren’t nearly as far out on the rightwing limb as Akin is – and a lot more who don’t even know how far out he is. For Democrats out here in GOPer land, it might be no more than the proverbial difference between the fire and the frying pan, but I, for one, would be willing to see the district thrown back back into the frying pan as long as there’s no chance of a credible Democrat challenger to Akin. It’s just the embarrassment factor with Akin … you know?

Those state insurance exchanges for individuals without insurance which were enabled by the federal health care reform law? Representative Chris Molendorp (r), Chair of the House Health Insurance Committee, has introduced a bill in the General Assembly to set up Missouri’s:

HB 609

Establishes the Show-Me Health Insurance Exchange Act

Sponsor: Molendorp, Chris (123)

Proposed Effective Date: 8/28/2011

LR Number: 1237L.02I

Last Action: 2/23/2011 – Read Second Time (H)

Bill String: HB 609

Next Hearing: Hearing not scheduled

Calendar: Bill currently not on a calendar

The bill.

Interesting. There are no co-sponsors.

“What would you do with a brain if you had one?”

If you haven’t heard it already go listen to the audio of the phone conversation between anti-worker Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (r) and who he thinks to be a right wingnut billionaire supporter.

Athenae at First Draft:

….It’s not that what he said was all that new, given what anyone with a pair of eyes can see, it’s that at no point during this call, during all these monstrous things, did Walker even THINK this might be a prank. At no point did he say, wait a minute, this person is rather a douche, and excuse me but who are you? No, he giggled along with casual discussions of smashing the entire state’s underpinnings like he talks to people like this a thousand times a day.

A lot of his defenders spent the day pointing out that most of Walker’s comments aren’t anything new, and that the blogger actually comes off far worse for saying all those horrible things, and that’s the entire goddamn point. Walker is someone who is totally used to being around people who say shit like that, so used to it he didn’t even question whether the call was real. That’s the real news here: That this guy is even more of an asshole than everybody who already hates him thought he was.

Bingo.

Oh, hell, we’ll save you the click through. Here are the audio recordings of the phone call:

Stoopid is as stoopid does.

Update:

Dennis G. at Balloon Juice:

….The call was funny and useful in the way it exposed Walker, but the fact that the call even got through says even more. The prankster got a hearing by claiming to be David Koch, but he proved himself to be the real deal through his racism, his meanness and just being a dick. That got him connected to Walker without any further review. In some way it is a bit comforting to know that Team Walker is staffed by idiots. But only a bit comforting as George W. Bush has recently proven that a team of idiots can do real and lasting damage as they play out their fantasies in the real world….

It doesn’t mean anyone to the left of Attila the Hun and Tea Partiers. Socialism, according to Wikipedia, advocates “public or common ownership and cooperative management of the means of production and allocation of resources.” The public isn’t going to own hospitals or medical practices. It’s going to regulate them. Not that I would mind a little more socialism in this country. We’ve always had it:

Public libraries. Check.

Fire departments. Check.

Police departments. Check.

Public roads. Check.

Public schools. Check.

Hell, until Dubya farmed it out to private contractors, the military was socialistic.

But (yawn) Phyllis Schlafly expects us to scream in horror at that vile socialist, Barack Hussein Obama.

…………………..

Coverage of the Ed Martin event has been thorough on the Missouri progressive blogosphere. St. Louis Activist Hub, in fact, has three postings:

• I Don’t Care What You Say, It Was A Great Night For Health Reform
• Ed Martin Forgets His Supporters, Claims People “Know How To Be Civil”
• Ed Martin, Bill Hennessey Hide in the Back of Their Own Forum: Schlafly Bolts!

FiredUp! has one: This Is What a Better Informed and Better Organized Movement Looks Like.

Women’s Voices Raised for Social Justice has a posting on its Facebook Page: Women’s Voices Members speak out at Health Care Forum

All that is in addition to my first piece, In which I explain who showed up for Ed Martin’s dance; my two videos–so far–of Schlafly: MS. Schlafly takes on “Obamacare” and But, but … I thought Republicans liked police states.; and a video of Harvey Ferdman, Harvey Ferdman takes the health care reform conversation to common ground.

The man who made himself a national laughing stock will be vacating the 29th floor of City Hall on May first when either Sly James or Mike Burke is sworn in as the next mayor of our fair city. By coming in third in the primary, the controversy-and-scandals plagued Mark Funkhouser becomes the first Mayor of Kansas City to be denied a second term since the voters decided Frank Cromwell didn’t deserve one…in 1924.

The General election is March 22nd, and to be eligible to vote you have to be registered by March 9, or if you have moved have your registration updated by then. You can register or update your registration in person at the KC Election Board, recently relocated to Union Station, or at any branch of the Kansas City public library.

If you live in Kansas City and want to review the returns for city council races, you can find them here.

One last thing before I go sleep the sleep of the weary and the just — Alvin, I can now accept your forgiveness. But damnit — Tony was right and I was wrong. Do you have any idea how hard that is even to get my head around, let alone accept?  

Oh, brother:

FIRST REGULAR SESSION

HOUSE BILL NO. 549

96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

INTRODUCED BY REPRESENTATIVES BAHR (Sponsor), RUZICKA, DIECKHAUS, JONES (89), HIGDON, GATSCHENBERGER, LASATER, McNARY, CONWAY (14) AND KELLEY (126) (Co-sponsors).

1018L.01I                                                                                           D. ADAM CRUMBLISS, Chief Clerk

AN ACT

Relating to motor vehicle mileage taxes.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:

           Section 1. No global positioning system or other technology that identifies and records a person’s location at all times shall be used to monitor mileage traveled by any motor vehicle on any road, highway, or street in this state for the purpose of imposing any tax on the mileage traveled by such motor vehicle.

[emphasis in original]

Maybe we should use GPS technology to track the progress of the state budget and job creation initiatives in the Missouri General Assembly.

What is it with the republican caucus? They feed stupid bills to freshman legislators and hope that by throwing everything against the wall maybe something will stick? That’s some legislative strategery and agenda.

Harvey Ferdman’s testimony last week at Ed Martin’s “Obamacare hearing” was unique.

Other reform proponents talked about what the bill will accomplish or appealed to the human sympathies of the Tea Partiers in the room, citing the inhumane treatment they’ve gotten from health insurance companies. Ya-da, ya-da, I could hear the hardhearted ones thinking. In fact, one woman began her remarks this way:

One thing I’ve heard here tonight over and over by … these people is that millions–I know there’s thousands and millions dying all over the streets–[at that point she flapped a dismissive hand] I know we’ve heard that from the administration too.

So you see what I mean. When Judith Parker and LaDonna Appelbaum described their problems with health and life insurance quotes, when Bunnie Gronborg explained why the ACA is not socialism, that woman heard: Ya-da, ya-da. But we wanted a chance to speak about what would touch most people. We knew that the callous, ignorant folks who listen to the lies of Schlafly, et. al. would figuratively clap their hands over their ears, that hearing it wouldn’t  change them. We just didn’t want them holing up in their comfy echo chamber. We wanted to make them uneasy.

But Harvey took a different approach. He crafted a message based on their ideology. If anything, that upset them more than what they saw as sob stories from other proponents of reform. But Harvey delivered his speech in the most sweet spirited tone possible–which went some way toward quieting them.

Here’s the transcript, but you’d gain by watching it.

We’ve all experienced group plans. The things about a group plan is that when you change employers, they can’t refuse you for a pre-existing condition. Why is that? That’s because if only people who need insurance bought insurance, the insurance companies would be broke. Right? So the group plans, they’re spreading out that small predictable risk against that big hopefully not gonna happen risk. And that’s partially what’s happening with what you guys are calling Obamacare–I call it affectionately Obamacare. And that’s what they’re doing by requiring that everyone participates, so that the healthy and the sick all share that cost, so no … so the insurance companies can afford to stay in business. If we don’t require everyone to have health insurance, the insurance companies are going to go broke.

That’s my first point. My second point is, honestly I would much rather have an accountable government [derisive laughter], who I can elect every two or three years. You guys, you guys, [trying to be heard above the laughter] you guys are a good example. There’s been a lot of political footholds made by the Tea Party. I respect that. You guys are a good example. You can change the politics. You can change the politicians. But I cannot change the bureacrats and the profit-oriented people who run the insurance companies. If they make a decision [clapping from proponents of reform], if they make a decision about the end of life, about me, I can’t fire them. But I can get my politicians out of office and put someone in there who believes the way I do.

If you watched the video, you heard Harvey’s tone of voice and the audience’s cynical reaction. You saw the gray haired gentleman in the frame with Harvey shaking his head at all the critical points in the speech. They’re a concrete wall. They believe that business is never wrong, and that if you don’t get what you need in life, it’s because you weren’t disciplined enough.

What George Lakoff said on this point bears repeating:

The way to understand the conservative moral system is to consider a strict father family. The father is The Decider, the ultimate moral authority in the family. His authority must not be challenged. His job is to protect the family, to support the family (by winning competitions in the marketplace), and to teach his kids right from wrong by disciplining them physically when they do wrong. The use of force is necessary and required. Only then will children develop the internal discipline to become moral beings. And only with such discipline will they be able to prosper. And what of people who are not prosperous? They don’t have discipline, and without discipline they cannot be moral, so they deserve their poverty. The good people are hence the prosperous people. Helping others takes away their discipline, and hence makes them both unable to prosper on their own and function morally.

It’s Calvinism. I was raised with it. Prosperity is a sign that God loves you and that you are one of the elect. Poor people are not favored by God. It’s some ugly stuff, especially when it starts influencing public policy, because it can cause, as the lady said, “millions–thousands and millions littering the streets”. Not literally of course. No, most of them die unobtrusively in their houses. How convenient for the Corpublicans.

I respect Harvey for a beautifully crafted argument and for his gentle tone. And although he made little progress against those cussedly bullheaded and hardhearted people, he could still give elected Democrats a lesson in how to present our point of view.

……………………………………….

Coverage of the Ed Martin event has been thorough on the Missouri progressive blogosphere. St. Louis Activist Hub, in fact, has three postings:

• I Don’t Care What You Say, It Was A Great Night For Health Reform
• Ed Martin Forgets His Supporters, Claims People “Know How To Be Civil”
• Ed Martin, Bill Hennessey Hide in the Back of Their Own Forum: Schlafly Bolts!

FiredUp! has one: This Is What a Better Informed and Better Organized Movement Looks Like.

Women’s Voices Raised for Social Justice has a posting on its Facebook Page: Women’s Voices Members speak out at Health Care Forum

All that is in addition to my first piece, In which I explain who showed up for Ed Martin’s dance and my two videos–so far–of Schlafly: MS. Schlafly takes on “Obamacare” and But, but … I thought Republicans liked police states.

Chicago isn’t the only big, blue city with a mayoral primary tomorrow, Kansas City has one, too, in which about 15% of us will go to the polls and decide which two candidate of the six in the primary will appear on the general election ballot in April.

For me, tomorrow morning and the polls opening can not get here fast enough, because voting for someone NOT named Mark Funkhouser will be, for me, an act of redemption. I literally wrote a post* on November 8, 2006 laying out a case that if he didn’t run, the people of the city should draft him. Then I busted my ass to get him elected.

I quickly learned that he was in over his head and I have spent the last three-plus years apologizing to Alvin Brooks, who I knew personally, professionally and politically long before that election, for backing his opponent four years ago. He has long since forgiven my transgression, but I can’t forgive myself until I vote against that arrogant sumbitch. I am fully expecting the heavens to open up and a choir of angels to sing when I put my ballot in the optical scan machine tomorrow morning. I have had one standard line that I have used for about three-and-a-half years whenever anyone asks me about the mayor: “Ugh. Please. Funkhouser was the biggest political mistake of my life, and I voted for Dukakis…in the primary.”

With the primary tomorrow, all six candidates gathered today at the Plaza branch of the Kansas City Public Library for a live debate/candidate forum that was moderated by Steve Kraske, political reporter for the Kansas City Star and host of KCUR’s Up to Date for a special 90-minute edition of the show that broadcast the forum live, as it was conducted in front of a live audience of about 250 people. (If you missed it, but live in KC and want to listen before you vote, you can do so at the link.)  

They had the press sequestered over by the wall, but the person in the audience closest to me takes her civic responsibilities seriously and took great notes.

With the polls opening in less than twelve hours, I don’t have time to do a transcript of a 90-minute broadcast, so I will just give my overall impression of the five candidates challenging the incumbent — Sly James, Jim Rowland, Mike Burke, Deb Hermann, Henry Klein — and let my remarks so far stand on their own as what I think about him and his leadership of the city I love and call home.

I really wanted to like Deb Hermann and muster some support for her, but today’s forum just left me cold. Before the event got underway, they drew names, with the intent of asking a question of the opponent whose name they drew. When Kraske asked her whose name she drew and to ask her question she informed the room that she drew Mayor Funkhouser’s name, but since she has been on the council and asking questions of him for three-and-a-half years and she would just pass. Hmmm. So will I…

I get a definite Dennis Kucinich vibe off of Henry Klein. He says the right things, he’s bright and charming and engaging, gives a damn about public safety and local control of our police department, knows the issues cold…and is probably only going to finish fifth, just in front of Funk, when the votes are tallied tomorrow.

Mike Burke is a development attorney and definitely a top-tier candidate. He has a long history of service to the community, including serving in the administration of the much-loved and missed three-termer Dick Berkley, who served from 1979 to 1991. His experience and his history of service make him a solid choice that you wouldn’t regret voting for all day every day for three-plus years when he proved to be in over his head, because he wouldn’t be.

Jim Rowland is a civics teacher by training, he has served on the city council and he oversaw the rehab of the Truman Sports Complex and there was no drama, labor disputes, scandals, kickback schemes, accounting chicanery, cost overruns, missed deadlines…He joked during today’s event that maybe he should have messed up just a little in order to get his name in the paper and raise his name-recognition a bit.

And finally, Sly James. Sly is a retired Marine, a trial lawyer and a community activist. When we tried to recall Funkhouser a little over a year ago, he is who we wanted to replace him. He has the legal background, the leadership experience and the vivacious personality, quick wit and oratory skills to make a great mayor for our city.

I walked in with an “anyone but Funkhouser” feeling, and I moved Deb Hermann into that category about thirty minutes in. I got the same feeling off her that I get from Funkhouser — they seem to think they are doing me a favor by offering their services. I wanted to tell them both not to do me any favors — we’ll handle it ourselves and not trouble you poor vexed and put-upon souls.

When it was over, those two were out of there like a shot from a gun, it was as if they couldn’t get away from the rabble fast enough. The other candidates were shaking hands and talking to the people who came out to hear their ideas in a 90 minute forum on the Plaza, knowing that those people will sure as hell take five minutes to go to their neighborhood polling place and vote tomorrow.

Sly James and Jim Rowland — the two who act the most like they actually want the job, talking with voters in the hallway after the debate. As long as there were voters with questions, they were there to listen and answer.

* Unfortunately, the post in question, which appeared on the original Blue Girl, Red State blog was lost to the ether during an upgrade of the Blogger platform, so I can’t link back to it.