Enemies of Normal Americans

A.C. Kleinheider just learned the hard way what happens when you show a bit of kindness to the stupid party. A couple of weeks ago he urged readers to support the 06 senate candidacy of Ed Bryant. The Blogging for Bryant people noted his endorsement and added a link to his blog:

I was happy and surprised to see that they had become aware of my support and added me to their links.

A day or two later it occurred to me to drop them a line thanking them. So, I went to their website in search of their email address. I found instead my link had been removed.

. . . I assumed they had done a bit more perusing of my blog and decided that Hard Right was not something a site promoting a mainstream politician should be linking to.

I wouldn't disagree. Where I in their position I don't know that I would link to me. Anyway, one of them emailed me back explaining that they had been playing around with they links and mine was inadvertently deleted.

. . . I had been imagining some conspiracy to keep Blogging for Bryant clean of crazy Rightists and all that happened was an oversight. . .

A few days later, the Hard Right link was then removed as well. My subsquent emails have gone unanswered.

I am aware it seems childish and petty to mention this but I think it is instructive. Let me be clear: I do not think they have any obligation to link to me just because I linked to them -- not at all. . .

All they had to say was, "Yeah, we looked at your blog again and think your site is incompatible with the image of Ed Bryant we are trying to promote". . .

None of this will effect my vote for Ed Bryant. He is excellent on the National Question therefore he is my main-est man in the 2006 US Senate race in Tennessee.

Bloggingforbryant must have had a link to me for a time since I saw it as a referring link on my site meter. I haven't endorsed Bryant, and won't be voting for him without some new information. It is good that he is strong on immigration, but unless he is willing to make enemies with Karl Rove the way that Tom Tancredo did, it isn't enough. Who cares what he is willing to vote for, if it is never going to get to a vote?

The only Republican that I have been able to vote for in the last couple of years has been Tennessee's second district congressman Jimmy Duncan, who defied the President on entering the Iraq quagmire and voted against the Dept. of Homeland Security -- two of the most important votes of career. On top of that, he has written for Chronicles and the American Conservative; and has quoted Bill Kauffman from the House Floor.

The problem with voting for Republicans in the Bush years is that the party has become in Newt Gingrich's phrase (for Democrats, of course) the enemies of normal Americans. George W. Bush, with his plans to ignite the fire of global democracy, has become in many ways the political heir of Woodrow Wilson. He is as bad as the Democrats on immigration. Even the Republican's tax cut fetish is bogus, since at some point somebody is going to have to pay for their spending spree of the last five years.

Unless Bryant indicates that he is going to be at odds with his party and president; almost to the point of being a persona non grata, he will have to win without my vote.