A Challenge for Matheson is a Good Thing -- for Matheson

That's right, contrary to "popular" belief, a challenger to Jim Matheson will help him. I believe this for two reasons:

1) It will move him further to the left. He doesn't have to go to the extreme that Bob Bennett is going to, but just throw the liberals a bone once in a while.

In 2006, Chris Cannon was challenged from the right flank of his party, and came out successful. However, he didn't move right far enough, and many that had sided with him in 2006 went for Jason Chaffetz in 2008.

Even the threat of a primary challenger was enough for Jon Huntsman to throw the conservatives a bone on school vouchers during the 2007 elections.

And, he has some tremendous political capital to spend.

2) He can counteract the Republicans' biggest claim against him.

Remember this from last month?

At a town hall meeting, [RNC Chair] Steele went to the heart of the matter when it comes to Matheson. The campaign theme expected next year, he said, is: A vote to re-elect Matheson is like a vote for liberal Nancy Pelosi.

All Jim Matheson would have to say is "see, the Nancy Pelosi wing of the Party hates me."

-Bob

Chris Cannon behind Obama Smear Attempt

From Raw Story:

The brother of a Republican congressman and a Republican businessman attempted to pay an professor in Oxford to use software he designed to "prove" that 1960s radical William Ayers helped write Sen. Barack Obama's biography.

The professor, Dr. Peter Millican, teaches philosophy at Hertford College, Oxford. His software is designed to detect when works are by the same authors by comparing the use of similar words and phrases.

The offer was revealed Sunday in a British newspaper.

“He was entirely upfront about this," the professor said of the Republican businessman who made the offer. "He offered me $10,000 and sent me electronic versions of the text from both books.”

Millican said he took a preliminary look and found the charges that Ayers had had a hand in ghostwriting Obama's book “very implausible.” A deal was agreed for "more detailed research," the paper said, but when Millican "said the results had to be made public, even if no link to Ayers was proved, interest waned."

The Republicans sought to allege similarities between Obama's Dreams of My Father and Ayers' Fugitive Days.

The offer was made by Robert Fox, a California GOP businessman and brother-in-law of Republican Rep. Chris Cannon (R-UT).

Asked by the British paper who'd made the offer, Fox and Cannon tried to pin it on each other.

Cannon said "he merely recommended computer testing of the books. He doubted whether Obama wrote his autobiography, adding: 'If Ayers was the author, that would be interesting.'"

Fox "said he had hoped that Cannon would raise the $10,000 to run a computer test. 'It was Congressman Cannon who initially pointed me in that direction and, from our conversation, I thought he might be able to find someone [to raise the $10,000].'"

I wish I knew that we'd be rid of Chris Cannon in a couple of months. However, I have a feeling that his brother, Jow the Publisher, has a job waiting for him to try and make the DNews less "liberal."

-Bob

Chris Cannon speak to something he knows well: Political Theater

The House Judiciary Committee voted Wednesday to cite former White House adviser Karl Rove with contempt of Congress for refusing to testify about his involvement in the prosecution of an Alabama Democrat and the firing of several U.S. attorneys.
Rep. Chris Cannon, a Utah Republican on the committee, voted with his fellow party members against passing a resolution calling for Rove to be held in contempt. Cannon dismissed the effort as "theater."
Cannon accused Democrats of trying to set up Rove for a potential jail sentence even though President Bush extended executive privilege to his former deputy chief of staff excluding him from testifying before the panel. "So what's the point of holding Mr. Rove in contempt? There is none," Cannon said at the hearing. "It's all an attempt to selectively throw Karl Rove into a criminal-contempt docket."
Rove, who graduated from Olympus High and attended the University of Utah, was a top political adviser to Bush. Democrats insist he has not cleared up questions of political intervention in the firing of several U.S. attorneys and his involvement in the prosection of former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman.

This is the same Chris Cannon who lead the House fight in the impeachment of Bill Clinton 10 years ago.....

Cannon Fired Over Issues Other Than Immigration

Salt Lake Tribune:

Roughly the same number of voters who were highly concerned about immigration in 2006, when Cannon won his last primary, showed up this time, when Cannon got whipped. Exit poll results show that more of those who said they had a tougher view on undocumented immigrants voted for Cannon's opponent, Jason Chaffetz, but a majority of those who backed plans like a guest-worker program also favored Chaffetz.
Poll numbers point to voters' overall dissatisfaction with government and their own situation. Nearly 70 percent of respondents said the nation was on the wrong track, and a full one-third said their family's financial situation was worse off than a year ago.
Moreover, large majorities of those who said the country was on the wrong track and said their families' finances were worse voted for Chaffetz over Cannon.

A 70% wrong track in one of the most conservative districts in the country? That's when you know things are bad.

-Bob

Chris Cannon's delusional comments on religion

Mitt Romney lines up with General Conference Protestors (with Dick Cheney and Chris Cannon, too!)

Sharing the program with Dick Cheney at tomorrow's meeting of the Super Adventure Club is Mitt Romney. SOme of the prominant members of the Super Adventure CLub and what they have had to say about the religion Mitt and I happen to share:

Pat Robertson (Through CBN):

"In summary, the Mormon church is a prosperous, growing organization that has produced many people of exemplary character. But when it comes to spiritual matters, the Mormons are far from the truth. "

Bob Jones III (On Larry King Live):

"KING: The argument against the Mormons is what?

JONES: Mormonism is pantheistic -- it is a religion of -- well, it doesn't teach the same thing about Jesus Christ that we teach. Mormonism teaches that Jesus Christ...

KING: Came back,

JONES: ... were brothers, that they were spirit children that God and his wife fathered in heaven, and that when there's a Mormon marriage in the temple and so forth and so on, that that couple when they die go to a planet and people it with spirit children, just like God and his wife people heaven, and that Jesus and Lucifer were brothers, and that Lucifer rebelled, and Jesus sided with the father. Therefore, he had -- the Bible teaches very clearly that Jesus Christ is God. He is not a created being, he is God. He is in essence -- he is very God of very God."

Phyllis Schlafly (not about mormonism, but interesting given the Warren Jeffs thing):

“By getting married, the woman has consented to sex, and I don’t think you can call it rape,” she said.

And, while I'm qoting things, here's a quote about the Super Adventure Club from Utah Democratic Party Chairman Wayne Holland:

“We welcome members of CNP to Utah,” said Wayne Holland, chair of the Democratic Party of Utah. “Utahns have a rare opportunity to see – or more accurately not see – what Republicans are all about. And that is policy making by the few, by the privileged, in secret.”

-Bob

P.S. Super Adventure Club is a South Park reference.

Cheney, Romney, Cannon to share podium at secret (combination) meeting

Tommy BUrr in Out of COntext:

Vice President Dick Cheney will drop into Salt Lake City on Friday to speak to the Council for National Policy, a group so private even its members are encouraged not to mention the name.

Ex-Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney will also address the group as will the Czech Republic president and Congressman Chris Cannon.

But don't expect to see any coverage of the event as the meeting of hundreds of the nation's most powerful conservative activists is confidential.

The council is a "private membership group whose meetings are closed to the media," director Steve Baldwin informed me this morning.

Who is the Council for National Policy? From Source Watch:

The Council for National Policy is a secretive forum that was formed in 1981 by Tim LaHaye as a networking tool for leading US conservative political leaders, financiers and religious right activist leaders. The group, which meets three times a year, promotes "Educational conferences for national leaders in the fields of business, government, religion and academia to explore national policy alternatives. Weekly newsletters are distributed to all members to keep them apprised of member activities and public policy issues. A semi-annual journal is produced from membership meeting speeches,"[1]

According to ABC News, "The CNP describes itself as a counterweight against liberal domination of the American agenda." [2] The "far right's answer to the Council on Foreign Relations" (Washington Babylon)

Others are not so kind to the organization and its motives. Mark Crispin Miller states that the CNP is a "highly secretive... a theocratic organization -- what they want is basically religious rule" (A Patriot Act). Barry W. Lynn, the executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, told the New York Times about the CNP meeting ahead of the 2004 Republican National Convention, "The real crux of this is that these are the genuine leaders of the Republican Party, but they certainly aren't going to be visible on television next week." [3]

The founder wrote the Left Behind series of books that deal with the second coming (and does a bad job of it).

But, even though we won't be able to see what they say live (anyone know the secret handshake to get in?), we'll be able to read some of their words when they get published on the website.

A face for radio

So, JM Bell, author of the most narcistically-named blog in Utah JMBell.org, is going to host KSL's Nightside Project tonight from 7-midnight.

So, I have some advice for Mr Bell. I am qualified to give this advice because I am an expert in Radio. I'm an expert in everything, didn't you know?

1. Don't call anyone a chick or a Ho. AG Mark Shurtleff did just that while he was hosting Nightside last Thursday. It makes his legal opinions look really smart.

2. Don't lie about nuclear energy or oil. Friday's host, Congressman Chris Cannon (Satan's Choice Party-UT03) said that nuclear energy was great for the environment and safe. Yeah, tell that to the people in Japan living near that nuclear plant that's had problems the past week.

Then, he went on to say that if we had the oil from ANWAR, we could drop gas prices by a buck to a buck and a half per gallon. First off, we use dollars a currency in this country, not bucks. Using bucks as currency would decimate the deer population too fast. Secondly, it would reduce gas prices about 2 cents per gallon.

3. Stay away from Ethan Millard. Despite the fact that his blog has really gone downhill the year that he's worked for Nightside, they still refer to him as "Utah's most feared blogger." They must know something the rest of us don't. I suggest packing heat. Or at least a stun gun.

-Bob

Allah Akbar

[US Rep Chris] Cannon was on KSL News Radio's "Doug Wright Show" Wednesday morning talking about terrorism and the troop surge in Iraq. On the call-in show, he indicated that peace in the Middle East could mean being able to move away here in the United States from "a kid shouting 'Allah akbar' as he shoots people in Trolley Square," to people thinking more about religion, God and "judgment." (Deseret Morning News, Thursday, February 22, 2007)

Chris Cannon is at it again. Open mouth, insert foot. Again. Cannon likes the taste of feet more than my new dog.

Of, course, Cannon's source for the Allah akbar quote was FOX News. And if you heard it on FOX News, it's true and fair and balanced and contains 11 daily vitamins.

Oh, and what is "Allah Akbar" mean? God is Great. "The phrase 'Allahu Akbar' is the opening declaration of every Islamic prayer..." (source)

In other words, had he actually said what Chris Cannon said he said, he would be "people thinking more about religion, God and judgment." It would be like me saying "Father in Heaven" before doing something.

Would that make me a terrorist?

-Bob