The truism of the moderate Lynn Jenkins

Normally, we don't like to blame things on the media. Reminds us too much of Phill Kline, however, a few things have begun to bother us about the local media's coverage of the 2nd District race.

First, without any real reason, Lynn Jenkins has been anointed a moderate. Tell me, on what issue is Lynn Jenkins moderate? Just because she isn't as conservative as Jim Ryun, who was ranked the MOST conservative member of Congress by the National Journal.

Does that mean folks like Duncan Hunter and Tom DeLay are moderates too? They were in the House at the same time as Jimmy, so apparently since they're less conservative than he is, they're moderates.

Of course they're not, and neither is Lynn Jenkins. I challenge any Jenkins supporter reading this blog to post in the comment section ONE ISSUE on which Lynn Jenkins could truly be considered a moderate.

People call her pro-choice, but in reality she supports exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother. You know, like EVERYONE ELSE WHO ISN'T COMPLETELY INSANE.

In reality, as Blue Tide Rising and Boyda Bloc have both correctly pointed out, and Lynn has even stated herself, Ryun and Jenkins have just about the same positions on nearly every meaningful topic.

Both want to deport everyone with a hint of brown in their skin. Both want to make the irresponsible Bush tax cuts for the super-rich permanent. Both refuse any kind of meaningful withdrawal from Iraq until we "win," whatever that means.

Beyond that though, the media seems to be obsessed with Lynn's victory in the primary. Understandably, it was a major upset and Lynn and her campaign deserve some credit for getting the job done.

But let's be honest here, Lynn Jenkins did not win that primary so much as Jim Ryun lost it. She still has a major name recognition problem. Jim Ryun was just SO BAD during his 10 years in Congress, Republican primary voters just wanted him to go away. This isn't a sign of some major shift to the center in Republican primary voters (remember, Lynn is still a conservative) it just means they're sick of Jim Ryun.

Lynn Jenkins' personality problem

First and foremost, we want to apologize for our absence the last 13 days. We know you all have been jonesing for some LBK, and we apologize for leaving your fix unfulfilled. No excuses, we'll be better, we promise.

Now, to the business at hand.

If you watched 2nd District Congressional debate the other night, I think you'll agree that Lynn Jenkins scored some pretty solid points on the issues, but as time passes from the debate, the consensus seems to be that she came off as condescending, rude and even annoying.

It's not just that annoying voice of hers. Anyone who has followed this race already knows about that, but her body language, including touching Jim's shoulder as she talked about him like he was a wayward child.

Then, about half way through, she called him BABE! She was telling him it was his (read: Congress') fault she was forced to raise taxes 12 times in the Kansas Legislature.

We were at your mercy, babe.

What the hell?

Jenkins campaign manager Patrick Leopold said that Jenkins says it all the time and meant no harm by it. Honestly, that wouldn't surprise me, but in the world of politics, perception is more important than reality. Jenkins won the debate on the substance, but her shrill, condescending tone and body language may have created a likability issue for her.

Jim Ryun on the other hand, came off as the wounded little boy being picked on by the meanie Lynn Jenkins. Anyone who knows the tactics Jim Ryun has exercised in the past knows that he is anything but, but that doesn't matter.

This isn't the first time she has done this either. At a recent campaign event, she inferred that a trained monkey could do Jim Ryun's job in Congress as well as he did. Not that we disagree, but seriously, that's hard core.



If you'd like to weigh in on Babegate, click here.

Tip of the hat to BoydaBloc.

A Republican and a lie, two peas in a pod

Homer Simpson once said, "It takes two to lie. One to lie and one to listen."

In this case, we refuse to take part in the Kansas Republican Party's latest mistruth.

In a Harris News story this morning, the Boyda camp rightly called the GOP's claims that Boyda voted for "the largest tax increase in history" "malarkey." (See Boyda Bloc's explanation).

The fact of the matter is, Boyda supports several aspects of the Bush tax cuts -- the ones targeted at the middle class, where they should be. The problem is most of the actual revenue is lost from the tax cuts on the uber-wealthy, which a Boyda spokesman even said she would support if the Republicans could find a responsible way to fund them (they can't, don't worry!)

So what smoking gun did the poster who goes by the name "Kansas Republican Party" (didn't Christian Morgan blast so-called "anonymous" blog posters awhile back? Just asking.)

An alleged quote from Boyda's MySpace page two years ago, a page that the GOP knows full-well was not run by the campaign or anyone associated with it.

If ever you needed proof that the KS GOP was run by adolescents, this is it.

"But, but, but...you said on your MySpace page!"

Something else worth noting in the Harris piece. Morgan claims that McCain will be a boon for the victor of the Ryun/Jenkins snoozefest.

Uh, perhaps you didn't see the poll commissioned by Sen. Roberts. McCain is polling under 50% in Kansas. There go those facts again.

Hello??? Is anyone in there? Earth to Lynn Jenkins, do you copy?

Lynn Jenkins is a regular David Blaine, she can disappear before your very eyes.

One minute, she's running for Congress, albeit poorly, and the next minute it's like she wasn't even there.

Wait. What's that? You don't even know who she is?

Don't worry, lots of people don't. Anyway, Lynn is this smiley woman who served a term in the Kansas House and half a term in the Kansas Senate before bouncing up the political ladder to State Treasurer in 2002. Now she's running in the Republican primary against Jim Ryun.

Now that we're all on the same page as to who Lynn Jenkins is, it makes you wonder how the Hell people who aren't fortunate enough to read this blog are supposed to figure it out.

Her opponent in the primary, Jim Ryun, "served" 10 years in the seat before GETTING served by Nancy Boyda in 2006, so people already pretty well know who he is (which may end up being more of a liability than a benefit to Mr. Ryun) but even he has been on TV with for almost two weeks now in the two major media markets in the district.

So what of Lynn Jenkins, who's own campaign admits that name recognition is the biggest hurdle over which they must leap to have any chance in the primary.

Nowhere to be seen, that's where.

It almost makes you wonder if she's decided to punt this campaign and focus on 2010.

Good luck with that.

Conservative District?

Jim Ryun and Lynn Jenkins and even the press have been arguing on the campaign trail that the majority of voters in the 2nd District consider themselves conservative. I haven't seen any polling to back this up, so I thought I'd take a look at the official polls - elections.

Obviously, the 2nd District would not be called "liberal." It went over 60% to George W. Bush in both 2000 and 2004, but having lived in the 2nd District all my life, I question the argument that it is "Conservative."

First, let's examine how the district is represented in the Kansas Legislature. Of the 43 seats that lie either in whole or in part in the 2nd District, 22 are held by Democrats compared to 21 Republican-held seats.

State House and Senate seats are divided proportionately based on population, so that means the majority of the voters in the 2nd District are represented by at least one Democrat in the Kansas Legislature.

Admittedly however, the further down the ticket you go, the less significance party affiliation holds, so let's look at the 2nd District seat itself.

In the past 20 elections, Democrats have won the seat 11 times, Republicans have won it nine times. Republicans not named Jim Ryun or Sam Brownback have won the seat only three times.

To me, with the exception of Presidential races (which is more up for grabs this year than it has been in decades) the district is decidedly not liberal or conservative, but rather straight down the middle of the road.

So the next time you hear Lynn Jenkins or Jim Ryun call this a conservative district, remember, the facts don't back up that claim.

Ned Ryun...crazier than his dad?

If you're interested in right-wing conspiracy theorist nutjobs and their blogs, I highly suggest Jim Ryun's son Ned's blog. He's no Brian Brown, but sometimes I think he figures the best contribution he can make to his father's campaign is proving that Jim isn't the crazy one in the family.

BoydaBloc yesterday had a humorous bit about Ned lamenting people who just can't keep themselves out of the limelight (like his dad), and now we have this.

Why don’t you (GOP members of Congress) police yourself better so that the Foleys and Cunninghams don’t get hung around every members neck?

A fair sentiment, but perhaps this "policing" should include keeping ideologues like Jim Ryun out of Congress. After all, Foley was legitimately hung around Jim's neck in 2006 after it came out that the two were neighbors on D Street (remember, the sweetheart townhouse that Jim still calls home) and even held a joint fund raiser in May 2006.



You'd think Ned would remember this event, since he played such a prominent role in it.

Rep. Jim Ryun (R-Kan.) was a late addition to the block party, dishing out coffee and black-and-white mousse cake to complete the guests’ culinary journey. Ryun’s wife, Anne, and son Ned stayed away from pricey planners to give the night a touch of the congressman’s folksy charm, including red- and blue-frosted elephant cookies handmade by a constituent.

“It’s very warm and inviting to have people into your home rather than in a public meeting place,” Anne Ryun said. “Among the congressional families, we do a lot of getting together among ourselves.”

Though Ryun's campaign first attempted to distance themselves from the pedophile Foley, they would later change their tune.

You know what though, crazy as he is, we can't help but agree with Ned on this one. We also wish the GOP leadership in Washington would keep better watch of the flock. But re-electing Jim Ryun would be putting fox in charge of the hen house.

When in doubt, lie, lie and then lie some more

Remember when Republicans were the party of fiscal responsibility. Somewhere in the past decade or so they decided that it would be easier to just CLAIM to be fiscally responsible, but not actually, you know, do it.

We thought that was going to be part of Lynn Jenkins' campaign in the primary against Jim Ryun. You know the, "If ever there was a time to send a CPA to Washington..." line. Well, apparently she's decided she can't win by actually being fiscally responsible, because that takes a lot of work and requires sacrifices that you just don't have to make when you can simply lie about it.

So Jenkins and Ryun teamed up with Nick "The Tool-man" Jordan to perpetuate one of the NRCC's lies against Dennis Moore and Nancy Boyda.

(Dear TKR and SRK, the above letters in the pretty colors with the funny line underneath them, that's called a "citation" Readers can click on it to see independent confirmation of the claims being made)

Jim Ryun, Lynn Jenkins and Nick Jordan — all Republicans trying to unseat two Democratic congressional incumbents who represent Lawrence — say the Democrats voted for the largest tax increase in the history of the United States.

(OK boys and girls, the above lines with the messed up margins, those are called "block quotes." This is another method of providing verification and credibility to one's argument)

Zing. One point for the radical right. But wait, there's more. It turns out that their statement, powerful though it may be, is...how should we say this...not true.

On that day, the House on a 212-207 vote approved a budget resolution, which Boyda and Moore supported. No Republicans voted for it.

The bill title was: “Revising the congressional budget for the United States government for fiscal year 2008, establishing the congressional budget for the United States government for fiscal year 2009, and setting forth appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal years 2010 through 2013.”

You see, the bill didn't actually do a damn thing to the tax code. So how, pray tell, can you carry out the largest tax increase in the history of the universe without making a single change to the tax code? The answer: you can't.

Sure, Reps. Moore and Boyda, along with other Democrats who are actually fiscally responsible, are willing to let some tax increases on the wealthiest Americans expire, because it was unwise fiscal policy in the first place. (Sorry billionaire oil tycoons, you may only be able to buy one Rolls Royce this year)

But the Republicans don't stop the lying train here. No sir. There are more lies to be told.

In his speech at Americans for Prosperity, Jim Ryun painted a horrifying picture of what might happen when all of the middle class tax cuts are destroyed by the above mentioned vote.



Just one problem, the resolution in question seeks to PRESERVE those tax cuts.

In a speech before the anti-tax group Americans for Prosperity, Ryun said the resolution that Boyda voted for will increase the taxes on millions of Americans, including many in the middle class.

But the resolution also includes policy language that calls for middle income tax relief, including extension of the increase in the child tax credit, relief from the so-called marriage penalty, and other deductions aimed at the middle class.

“Nancy has always believed that the middle class relief should be made permanent,” said her spokesman Thomas Seay. He said the sunset clauses in Bush’s plan don’t take effect until 2011. “Nancy has said again and again that when this issue reaches a vote, she’ll support extending middle class tax relief,” Seay said.

Oh right...the facts again. (NOTE: TKR and SRK...facts are things that are verifiable accurate. In addition to citations and block quotes, you should consider adding these to your blogs as well.)

Don't believe a politician on either side? I don't blame you. But typically you can trust the non-partisan research institutes. Not Center for American Progress or Americans for Prosperity, the actual research organizations that care about...research.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities says the budget resolution contains no tax increase, let alone the largest in U.S. history.

The resolution approved by the House assumed that the nation’s tax law would be amended to extend some of the expiring tax cuts, especially those affecting middle class families, according to the center, which is a nonpartisan group that works on policies and programs that affect low- and moderate-income families. The costs of those tax cuts would be offset by other changes in policy, which could include eliminating the tax cuts for the very wealthy, some Democrats have argued.

Of the allegations made by the Republicans, Aviva Aron-Dine, a policy analyst with the center, said, “Our view is that that claim is inaccurate.”

She added, “The language of tax increases is very powerful. It’s important to correct the record.”

Time and time again, I find myself think "Stephen Colbert was right." The truth really does have a liberal bias.

Tip of the hat to BoydaBloc.

Campaign finance totals: US House

Here's a table of all the finance numbers for the candidate for US House.

We will post a smiliar table for the state parties later today and one for the US Senate candidates when that data becomes available.

Links

Incumbents: Jerry Moran, Todd Tiahrt, Nancy Boyda, Dennis Moore

Challengers: Jim Ryun, Lynn Jenkins, James Bordenaro, Donald Betts, Nick Jordan

Earmark transparency: What a good idea!

On the campaign trail, Republicans Lynn Jenkins and Jim Ryun are misleading voters. They say the earmark process needs to be brought out into the open, and then the say the way to do that is to beat Nancy Boyda. What they neglect to tell the voters is that Nancy Boyda has been one of the trailblazers in that very endeavor.

Rep. Boyda yesterday released (for the second year in a row) her list of earmark requests, not just the projects that make it into law, but every single earmark she has requested or will request in the future.

Jenkins likes to say "We need to bring the earmark process out of the dark of night" and "We need to bring the process out of Washington's smoke-filled rooms." Well Lynn, we here at LBK couldn't agree more. But see, Nancy Boyda has already done that, not just promised to do so.

Jim Ryun, apparently without recognizing the irony, announced that he'll never seek another earmark. "Hi. My name is Jim Ryun, and I'm addicted to earmarks." That's not the answer either, as there are many of these funding projects that are perfectly legitimate and actually help people in the 2nd district.

"I am joining the earmark reform movement in Washington and will work to repair an obviously broken system," Ryun said. "The earmark crisis is out of control."

See this post at Boyda Bloc for analysis on how it got out of control.

But Rep. Boyda's leadership is more than just a link on a website, Rep. Boyda voted for a moratorium on earmarks until a meaningful overhaul of the system can be accomplished.

So how do we fix a broken earmark system? Re-elect Nancy Boyda.

Pot, meet kettle, Vol. 2

Ok, we're probably setting the bar a little high for ourselves on the first day, but the excriment just keeps flowing from Jim Ryun's campaign. Maybe I should just turn off my rss feed so I won't keep reading things that upset me.

Word from one of the major Republican blogs (I'm not going to post a link, they don't deserve your page views) is Jim Ryun has made a pledge to not request a single earmark if he is elected to the House of Representatives.

First off, not all "porkbarrell spending" is bad. The problem is that under the former Republican Majority (of which Jim Ryun was a member), it had gotten out of control and the projects were 1) ridiculous and 2) put into bills without any debate or even so much as a vote on the floor.

Where was this pledge during the 10 years that Jim Ryun served in the United States House of Representatives? A commenter on the above-mentioned nameless blog aptly described Jim's actions as resembling that of a recovering alcholic. "Hi, my name is Jim Ryun, and I'm addicted to porkbarrell spending."

Did Nancy Boyda request allocations during the 2007 session? Yes, she did. But she has nothing to hide. In fact, she has posted every request she made, even the ones that never made it into law.

These projects are not bridges to nowhere, they're legitimate projects requested in the open that benefit the communities of the 2nd District. Morever, Rep. Boyda has voted to issue a moratorium on further porkbarrell spending until meaningful earmark reform can be decided upon.

Rep. Ryun can make all the promises in the world in his quixotic voyage to win back his seat, but the people of the 2nd District know all to well what Jim Ryun is really about. They lived through 10 years of it.

Pot, meet kettle

From our friends over at BoydaBloc, we find a story of Jim Ryun -- JIM RYUN -- crying in his beer (*AHEM* Root Beer - alcohol is a sin against God) about Lynn Jenkins and her shady ethics. Though it wasn't the first time the legitimacy of these ads has been called into question, it was the first time Jim Ryun got involved.



It seems Mr. Robertson has a short memory. You see, Jim Ryun wasn't exactly a boy scout during his years in Congress.

He was buddy-buddy with the likes of Jack Abramhoff and Tom DeLay. So much so that he felt sorry for their plight and voted to ease ethics rules in the House and even to keep the revolving door of lobbyists and Congresspeople wide open.

He even itemized "caging" -- the illegal practice of identifying questionable voters to challenge at a later date -- on his Federal Expense reports.

We're not the only ones who noticed the hypocrisy. This video was posted at Boyda Bloc as well as Everyday Citizen.





The jury is still out on whether Lynn Jenkins' actions regarding the Learning Quest advertisements are indeed unethical, but one thing is for sure - watching Jim Ryun in his glass (town) house throwing stones is quite humorous.