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Rachel Maddow detailed the surprising dynamic going on in a Democratic primary in Illinois where a former congresswoman likely won't win because of her vocal support of the gun nuts lobby, even to the point of channelling Wayne LaPierre with her [gun laws] "always hurt law-abiding citizens" crap from a 2010 YouTube video for a Second Amendment Freedom Rally in Chicago.

via Maddow Blog:

As Rachel noted on the show on Friday, a super PAC run by New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg (I) has taken an active interest in the special election, hitting Chicago's airwaves with ads targeting Hutchinson and former U.S. Rep. Debbie Halvorson (D) for having earned "A" ratings from the National Rifle Association.

The RNA's grade, Rachel noted, "is a scarlet letter" in the heavily-Democratic district, so much so that it helped push Hutchinson out of the race altogether.

If there were any doubts that the post-Newtown environment has changed, ask yourself: when was the last time a congressional candidate was forced to quit after taking heat over a positive NRA rating?

Robin Kelly, meanwhile, is eager to tout her "F" rating from the right-wing organization. Though the Democratic primary remains quite crowded, the race increasing appears to be a showdown between Kelly, who enjoys backing from Bloomberg and progressive groups like the CREDO super PAC, and Halvorson, who is scrambling to convince voters she disagrees with the NRA on a series of key issues, her previous boasts about her "A" rating notwithstanding.

The Democratic primary is a week from tomorrow, the winner of which is very likely to win the seat. Given the national implications, it's a race worth watching -- we haven't seen one like this in a long while, but it may prove to be a sign of things to come.

For her part, Halvorson blames outside groups like Bloomberg's PAC for trying to buy a congressional seat. Halvorson even claims she's still the frontrunner, seemingly oblivious to her fate. Or perhaps she figures she'll land a gig at Fox News slamming Democrats anyway, as evidenced by this segment with Megyn Kelly last week.

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Proving yet again that Joe Walsh picked the wrong person to mess around with with his foolishness. Tammy Duckworth does not suffer fools gladly.

Via The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell:

Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq war veteran running for a congressional seat in Illinois’ 8th district, responded to opponent Rep. Joe Walsh’s controversial commentson abortion rights.

“I think he’s taking biology lessons from Todd Akin,” the Purple Heart recipient told MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell during an appearance on The Last Word.

Walsh falsely claimed women do not die from pregnancies because of “advances in science and technology” and the exception for the life of the mother has become “a tool for abortions at any time under any reason.”

During a press conference on Friday, the anti-abortion incumbent somewhat walked back his original statement:

“When it comes to having an abortion to save the life of the mother, I will say again that outside of the very rare circumstances, such as ectopic pregnancies, during which both the mother and baby will die if the baby is not aborted, and other rare health issues and circumstances, the research is pretty clear that with the advances in modern medicine an invasive and traumatic procedure like abortion is often, thankfully, not necessary to save the life of a mother.”

Duckworth, who calls herself pro-choice without restrictions, said at Thursday’s debate that her opponent “would let a woman die rather than give the doctor the option to save her life.”

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Republican Joe Walsh's answer on the abortion issue tonight in his debate on WTTW’s Chicago Tonight with Tammy Duckworth caught reporters offguard, so they asked him again what his stance was, figuring they'd misheard him. They hadn't.

via WGN:

The two candidates also clashed on abortion rights.

Walsh said he was against abortion “without exception,” including rape, incest and in cases in which the life or health of the mother was in jeopardy.

Asked by reporters after the debate if he was saying that it’s never medically necessary to conduct an abortion to save the life of a mother, Walsh responded, “Absolutely.”

“With modern technology and science, you can't find one instance,” he said. “... There is no such exception as life of the mother, and as far as health of the mother, same thing.”

So, according to medical expert Joe Walsh, there are never any instances where a woman's life is in such grave danger that she'd need an emergency procedure to end her pregnancy. Tammy Duckworth also called out Walsh for cosponsoring legislation that would have redefined rape as "forcible rape," a bill which would prohibit federal funding of abortions except in instances of "an act of forcible rape or, if a minor, an act of incest."

Here's Tammy Duckworth's ad which came out a few days ago.

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Joe Walsh, America's Most Offensive Congressman ®, doubled and then tripled down on his comments disparaging Tammy Duckworth today in an interview on CNN. I lost count of how many times he says "Ashleigh" here, but if it were a drinking game you'd have gotten alcohol poisoning.

via Salon.com

In a heated interview with CNN’s Ashleigh Banfield this afternoon, Rep. Joe Walsh, the controversial Republican Illinois, quadrupled down on his attack on his Democratic opponent’s military service, while also taking the opportunity to call Banfield “kiddo,” and defend his previous attempt to humiliate an octogenarian political opponent. Walsh said he didn’t regret attacking Tammy Duckworth, his rival who lost both her legs fighting in Iraq: “I’m not going to back down from anything I’ve said.”

His initial comments came during a town hall last week, when he said of her service, “my God, that’s all she talks about.” When asked about the swipe by Politico, he explained, “I have so much respect for what she did in the fact that she sacrificed her body for this country. … Ehhh. Now let’s move on.”

The entire interview was over 12 minutes, which DemRapidResponse (DNC) put immediately on YouTube. I couldn't in good conscience subject you to the entire thing though. Suffice to say though, the clock on Joe Walsh remaining in congress is ticking.

Continue reading »

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Tammy Duckworth didn't mince words tonight in describing the waste of political space that is Joe Walsh. I especially liked how she pointed out how useless Walsh has been in his two years in congress, typically working against his constituents interests.

via The Ed Show blog:

Speaking on Tuesday's The Ed Show, Duckworth that it was "irresponsible" of Walsh to talk that way about military service. "Our 23 million veterans have done more in one day in uniform than he's done for this country," she said.

"He's trying to muddy the waters," Duckworth continued. "He's just trying to shift the focus away from the fact that he's done nothing for the people of the district. He's irresponsbile in his words and he's irresponsile in his actions."

Duckworth added that Walsh has "done nothing in his two years in Congress other than be an extremist loudmouth for the Tea Party."

From Guanabee.com: Puerto Rican Man Almost Deported To Mexico:

This is why Arizona SB 1070 will backfire: Immigration authorities in Berwyn, Illinois arrested Puerto Rican Eduardo Caraballo in a stolen car case, but when his mother posted his bail, he was detained because authorities didn’t believe he was a legal citizen. His mother brought his birth certificate, but Eduardo was unable to answer some questions about the island because he’s lived all his life on the mainland. Eduardo was detained for more three days and threatened with deportation–to Mexico.

I don't have any sympathy for car thieves if the man is guilty of what officials are potentially charging him of, but I don't want to see anyone who is a legal citizen deported to a country they were never a citizen of either. Three days to figure out this man was a United States citizen and that he should be tried in a U.S. criminal court if charges are pressed and not deported even after they got his birth certificate?

As Laffy said, "From the Department of Bound to Happen". I guess even if you show your papers that isn't good enough in some parts of Illinois now. Thanks Arizona. Looks like your xenophobia is spreading.

I am happy to share the fifth installment of the Driftglass and Bluegal podcast for your listening pleasure. If you missed the previous editions you can find them under our podcast tag as well as Fran's link below.

Blue Gal here: These podcasts are posted at our own blogs weekly, they're available at iTunes, and downloads of past episodes are available here. Thanks much to C&L's Video Cafe for their support.

[The occasional eff bomb while we talk about Republicans may make this podcast not safe for work.]

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November 16, 2009 FOX News

Congressman Kirk on GITMO detainees potentially being moved to a supermax prison in Illinois