We had a good night last night.  So why am I complaining?  I’ll tell you why.  The so-called MSM (shame-stream, not lame-stream, Sarah), in its outrageous and fawning coverage of Rand Paul (more on him in a moment), eclipsed the fact that Democrats had a far better night than Republicans.  

The Democratic base turned out in far greater numbers.  Joe Sestak unseated a former Republican-turned “Dem”.  Mark Critz won Murtha’s seat in a real contest, the special election, against a Republican.  And Blanche Lincoln, a DINO and Republican in Dem clothing, was forced into a run-off.  Bill Halter now leads Blanche Lincoln — 48% to 46% — in overnight polling for the June 8 Run-Off! But you’d never know this if you listen to the so-called MSM.  Yet all the corporate media can talk about is Rand Paul and the so-called Tea Parties.  A so-called movement spawned by Dick Armey and Peter Peterson and populated by mostly conservative Republicans IS NOT a populist movement, nor a movement of any kind.   And the populist yearnings of some individuals, albeit some duped individuals they have roped in notwithstanding, it is still not a populist movement.  

The media does this brainwash despite the fact that the so-called tea partiers aren’t (tea partiers).  They don’t qualify as a modern rendition of an historic tea party because the 2010 ones have representation.  Are they too ignorant to know what really happened in the original one?  Or are they reading GOP rewrites of history.  The original tea parties were not sparked, as today’s ones are, by corporations trying to interfere with impending legislation in and oversight by Congress. There was no US Congress at the time of the original tea party.  And the crowd is too ignorant to know, or too corrupt and deceitful to care, that they front for/represent corporate interests, all the ones Americans for Prosperity and Freedom Works (and others) front for.  Yet they call themselves a “movement.”  It’s laughable.  

If they are a “movement” they are one which dumps a crap load of twice-chewed corporate drivel upon the rest of us.  And the shame-stream media knows, but won’t report it.  Indeed, the “movement” is nothing more than the base of the GOP.  From hence forth I will not use the term “Tea Party,” but rather TP, a more fitting term, I think.  They don’t like the term tea baggers (which they began using first).  Call em TP.

And now a few words about Rand Paul.  Son-of-an-elite, and an elite himself, Rand Paul is a country club Republican pretending he’s an outsider.  His father went to an Ivy (Duke–not that there’s anything wrong with Duke, but it is one of the most expensive universities in the nation) and is a physician and member of Congress (insider).  Daddy Paul says he believes in term limits, but doesn’t believe in them when the term limit is his own.  Elite.  Washington Insider.  Did I mention xenophobe?  Daddy Paul is an “insider” in that respect too.  No “outsiders” need apply.

Baby Randy is a doctor, an ophthalmologist.  Elite.  But because he lives in KY instead of , say TX, with Daddy, he’s hoping the folks see him as an outsider.  Yeh, sure.  Have you actually heard him speak?  An more effete snob there has not been since, umm, William F. Buckley.  Yeh, he’s a TP.  He wants to kill the Dept of Education and the Federal Reserve.  He wants to drown government and programs people depend upon. He’s an opportunistic, arrogant  and messianic demagogue, who uses malicious lies to strike fear in a gullible electorate…all for the greater glory of corporations and Club for Growthers everywhere.  “Movement?”  No.  It’s insider radical conservatives making a power play and taking some Americans populist and libertarian yearnings along for the ride.  So stop BS-ing us, so-called MSM outlets.  Tell it like it is, for once.

Well, that didn’t take long!  Soon after Jim Webb called “foul” on the “U.S. Navy Veterans Association” – an organization which the DPVA points out has engaged in “questionable and potentially corrupt dealings” (while also donating $55,000 to Ken Kook-inelli, who refuses to donate the money) – the Veterans Administration has pulled the group’s page from its website. In addition, Senator Webb’s office reports that the VA “will conduct a review of the group as well as a review of procedures used to screen organizations before they are listed on the VA website.”

Just for fun, check out the “before” and “after” screenshots after the “flip.”  Oh, and great work by Jim Webb!

I hear that famed (Warner, Kaine, Miller, Wagner, McAuliffe, Deeds) Virginia communications strategist Mo Elleithee is now in Connecticut, having ridden to Richard Blumenthal’s rescue in the last day or so. Check out these tweets by Elleithee.

*”Is the New York Times giving Blumenthal a RAW deal? http://shar.es/mCCZM ”

*”Correct link. AP BREAKING NEWS: (SAME) Video shows Blumenthal correctly stating service http://tinyurl.com/3xgg3gz ”

*”Hartford Courant: Blumenthal and Vietnam, the director’s cut http://bit.ly/cQMBWG ”

Mo also tells me that “the CT press are rallying behind him for the most part.”  In addition, it looks like the leading CT pro-Democratic blog is supporting Blumenthal and criticizing the “journalism” in this situation.

My view is that Blumenthal has been a superb Attorney General and should be a no-brainer for U.S. Senate, but also that embellishing his Vietnam War record – or, lack thereof – is not good at all.  If it’s just one instance, taken out of context, then it’s probably not a huge problem politically. On the other hand, if it’s part of a pattern of “misstatements,” then it could (and probably should) end his candidacy. We’ll see, but for now, it seems like the NY Times is the one with egg on its face a lot more than Blumenthal.

P.S. Whatever Blumenthal said, it’s still a gazillion times less insane than the crap Ken Kook-inelli has been spewing almost every day since he’s been in office.

UPDATE: Fox’s Neil Cavuto argues that everyone should “cut Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal a break.” According to Cavuto, Republicans should “[g]et him on issues that matter, for God’s sake; not nonsense like this that does not.”

Tim Kaine comments on Rand Paul’s victory in the Kentucky Republican primary for U.S. Senate last night.

Today, Kentucky Republicans selected Rand Paul as their Senate nominee, handing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell a stunning loss. In a show of weakness for the Minority Leader, and in a race that symbolized the fight over the heart and soul of the Republican Party, Rand Paul overcame McConnell’s handpicked candidate by a large margin. Unfortunately for Republicans, ordinary Americans are unlikely to be receptive to extreme candidates like Rand Paul in the general election this November.

Rand Paul’s positions fail to resonate beyond the far-right Republican segment of the electorate that supported him tonight. Middle-class Kentucky voters want to elect a Senator with clear ideas about how to create jobs and opportunities for Kentucky families. But Rand Paul is more interested in talking about abolishing the Department of Education and disbanding the Federal Reserve than about supporting economic recovery.

As a result, Democrats are now in a better position to win Kentucky’s open Senate seat.

Let’s hope Tim Kaine is right about this. For now, I’m just enjoying watching Mitch McConnell get his butt kicked. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.

P.S. This should play really well among Kentucky voters this fall.

UPDATE: After the “flip,” check out the analysis I received from a politically astute friend via email.

I finally got home last night after 10 from work…and read the primary results.  My first impression was not too bad at all.  In particular, I pointed out to my wife that Kentucky might be the sleeper and happy surprise for Dems.

Bearing this in mind, I was still a bit surprised Saturday before last when I found myself sitting in Pikeville [Kentucky]…for a medical school graduation and got to gauge the crowd’s reaction to the guest speaker – Mitch McConnell.  

Their reception was cool, even rude at times.  A lot of little things, such as less than half of the crowd acknowledging McConnell when introduced and even less standing…There was a lot of this but it still came down to the basic fact that the folks simply did not like McConnell.  It was that noticeable.

I won’t bore you with some of the history of races in Kentucky, but Republican stock is not nearly as high as the national media would make it. To put this in perspective for this year’s race, Rand Paul is nuts like his daddy and Dems aren’t out of the running.  

Paul will pull traditional Rep areas and probably fairly decisively.  Conway just ran a statewide race, although downticket, and knows how to run statewide.  McConnell may or may not jump in to help Paul and may even be rebuffed by Paul.  It will be mainly a retail politics election but there will be a lot going on in the traditional mode of politics.

The U.S. Navy has a different view of oil drilling off Virginia’s coast than our esteemed governor.

A newly released U.S. Defense Department report shows that exploratory drilling for oil and natural gas off almost three-quarters of the Virginia shoreline where the government has proposed those activities is incompatible with military operations and training.

The report is the latest potential setback to a plan strongly endorsed by Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) to conclude sales of leases to companies interested in drilling 50 miles off Virginia’s coast by 2012.

The Defense Department report, concluded in March but released in part Tuesday by Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.), a drilling opponent, indicates that drilling would interfere with military activities, including ordnance training and carrier operations, in 72 percent of the 3 million acres covered by the lease sale and that it could be allowed only with restrictions in 6 percent of the area. Norfolk is home to the world’s largest naval base.

So…we already know that Bob McDonnell doesn’t give a rat’s hindquarter’s about the environment. Now, let’s see if he cares what the U.S. Navy thinks.

P.S. Maybe McDonnell can ask Ken Kook-inelli to sue the Navy on this?  After all, Crazy Cooch says it only costs $350.  Ha.

UPDATE: Mark Warner says:

This is the reason why we have a multi-year, multi-agency review process, to allow local, state and federal stakeholders to weigh-in and recommend ways to mitigate any concerns. Senator Warner believes we should gather all of the relevant information as we continue to evaluate Virginia’s offshore wind, natural gas and oil potential.