(First Diary, so if I screw up the formatting, please inform me how to fix it.)
Here in TN we are having a primary for Republican candidate to replace the outgoing Senate Majority Leader. I live in TN-2, a congressional district that hasn't elected a Democrat since 1854. Here in TN, the East is (obviously) very Republican, the West is a Democratic stronghold and the middle is, well, neither. If you are going to win a statewide election as a Republican, you must carry a huge majority in the East.
Harold Ford will win the Democratic Nomination hands down. He has dubbed the Republicans as the three stooges (personally I find this rather insulting, I like the three stooges and consider them to be harmless. Not so, these Republicans). Detestables 1 and 2 are former 1994 Reps Van Hilleary and Ed Bryant. Neither Van nor Ed consider the other to be in the race. They are both running against former Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker.
So, why do I want someone to get my mail?
Well today I decided to rotate the tires on my truck. We moved and had a baby this Spring so I didn't have the air line from the workshop to the garage hookup up (in other words no impact wrench, no imitating an Indy pit crew). I get the tires rotated and left the lug nuts loose. I went to the shop, brought the torque wrench up to ensure 83 foot-pounds (side rant to Toyota: those lugs came tightened at over 130 foot-pounds and I would never have gotten the tires off with that short lug wrench you supplied, even at my sympathy pregnancy weight). I forget the extension, so on the way back to the shop I went and got yesterdays mail from the mailbox, only to find a flyer from Van Hilleary...
Van has a nice picture of himself, his very nice looking wife and their daughter. Van reminds us that he his is no chickenhawk (he is a decorated air force veteran). That's all the positive things I can think of about the man. On the back of the flyer I see Van comparing himself to Bob Corker: (Make sure you have no food or liquid in your mouth for the next line):
Hilleary Corker
Conservative Liberal*
Cut Taxes Raised Taxes
Tough on Immigration Not tough on immigration
Official English No to Official English
No to Lavish Spending Yes to Lavish Spending
Yada, yada, yada
* I forewarned you to swallow before reading. Corker is about as Liberal as Kennedy is Conservative.
Van goes on to tell me how contact his office in case I am interested in volunteering. (Is it ethical to volunteer and then tell people to not vote for the man? No? Sorry Van gonna hafta pass on that.)
Van, please let me explain, you is dumb as rocks.
Da only good thing you ever done while in Congress was be to be in Congress when Prez Clinton balanced the budget and you are too (censored for content) stoopid to even consider that a good thing.
Cutting taxes to run a deficit means you need to go back to school to learn `rithmatic.
Van I don't want the US Senate to enact an Amendment banning SSM. Even if I did, I can think of about 6 million things more important for the US Senate to deal with.
Van your "I support the President" campaign means you are so out of touch with America that I question your ability to read.
When my father tried to nicely to explain to you why companies don't do as much pure Research (most of R&D is on the D(evelopment) side) as many in Washington think they do, he was calling you a (censored for content) dumb (censored for content, shouldn't even think that about a person) who was too stupid to figure out he was being called an idiot. I am not so nice. Van, you are a dipstick and there isn't any oil in the pan.
However, I am in a tough spot. I think Ford cruises over this clown, but might not beat Corker. Should I vote in Thursday's Republican Primary against Corker, or just leave it alone? (And please would someone get my mail for the next couple of days? I wasn't sweating rotating the tires even in the high humidity until I read this campaign ad, at which point I broke out into a sweat that is contaminating my little stream out back.)