A Couple Wednesday Newsie Bits

Senator Kerry calls Joe Lieberman's "scare tactics" a "disgrace." The Young Turks interviewed John Kerry, and he was asked about Iraq and Lieberman's campaign slanders of Ned Lamont. Kerry replied:That's bunk. That's scare-tactic bunk. And it's an unfortunate statement from somebody of Joe's quality, and I regret it…. (…) I'm not going to stand for those scare tactics, that's exactly what the Republicans have been doing for the last years. They avoid a real discussion by throwing out a slogan and scaring people…. (…) It's a disgrace that people are playing to the lowest common denominator of American politics, which is fear.via Atrios The Anniversary of the Ratification of the 19th Amendment August 26 David Cobb, Green Party candidate for president in 2004 recalls some rather significant history.First, remember that voting was not the only right denied to women at that time. Most states also had laws to forbid women from owning property, holding patents, or even entering into legal contracts -- including California. As late as 1957, there were still 11 states that prohibited women from serving on juries. In many respects a woman was once legally treated as the property of her father or husband. Courts and judges routinely and consistently upheld and applied these oppressive laws. But the 14th Amendment should have changed that, because it explicitly states that “no state shall deny any person equal protection of the law.” Many suffragists concluded that freed slaves and women now possessed a constitutionally protected right to vote. This is an imminently rational conclusion. Women are people, right? Not according to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that women were not “persons” for purposes of the protections of the 14th Amendment (Minor vs. Happersett, 1875). via Tracy Van Slyke Fun In TX-22 Paul Kiel at TPM Muckraker reports that the GOP is having a wee bit o' trouble selecting an "official" write-in candidate (their only option, since DeLay won't actually run again, and Tony Scalia said that the GOP couldn't impose an alternate candidate on the public). Sugar Land Mayor David Wallace, who does not enjoy universal approval, had an unkind word for the meeting scheduled by the party leadership to specify a single party-endorsed nominee: “that may have worked in Moscow.” The Daily Show On George Felix Allen Junior's Campaign Rob Corddry: "Between you and me, I don't know what Macaca means. But it sure (bleep) sounds racist. And Jon, here in Virginia, still not sure if that helps or hurts a guy." Norm at onegoodmove has the video.