RedState has the full quote:

“You’ve heard about the controversies, the process about the bill…but I don’t know if you’ve heard that it is legislation for the future – not just about health care for America, but about a healthier America,” she told the National Association of Counties annual legislative conference, which has drawn about 2,000 local officials to Washington. “But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it – away from the fog of the controversy.”

Rational and thinking people would want to, you know, know what was in legislation before it got voted on.

Just so you heard that correctly, Dan Rather, the formerly distinguished CBS Evening News anchorman who got busted running a bogus hit story on President George W. Bush, was just recorded saying…

“Listen he’s a nice person, he’s very articulate” this is what’s been used against him, “but he couldn’t sell watermelons if it, you gave him the state troopers to flag down the traffic.”

“Couldn’t sell watermelons“? Was Rather being intentionally racist? Probably not, but that’s never stopped the raging left from seeking to devour those who speak before they think….that is unless they’re liberals.

That said, I’ll give them the benefit if the doubt and give them a few days to release their scurilous rage against those who would speak ill of “The Chosen One”, intentionally racist or not.  But more than likely, the fiery depths of Hades are more likely to freeze over than the left get upset.

(H/T – Newsbusters)

What is it with southern Indiana Democrats lately? Warrick County GOP Chairman Rick Martin has the latest in shady Democrat antics.

At Thursday’s meeting of the Warrick County Election Board, Democrat board member Dennis Sullivan made a statement that he had no intentions of supporting the continued use of the satellite voting location at the Ohio Township Public Library for early, absentee-in-person voting for the 2010 election. Democrat chairman Terry White also made statements to this effect in a number of communications with Warrick County Clerk Sarah Topper. Because a unanimous vote of the Election Board is required by law to approve the use of a Satellite Office, it appears that the 26,000 plus voters in Ohio Township will be denied the access to polls that was extended to them in 2008.

…

The Democrats’ refusal to allow absentee-in-person voting at the Ohio Township Library is a complete reversal of policies instituted under former Democrat Clerk Shannon Weisheit. The satellite office in Ohio Township was designed to expand access to all voters in Warrick County, regardless of political party affiliation. The fact that Warrick County had a 300% increase in absentee voting in 2008 as compared to 2006 is a clear indication that the citizens of Warrick County want this office to remain open. The Warrick County Republican Party supports efforts to offer satellite voting in Ohio Township in 2010 to provide greater access to all voters.

On the heels of the largest election turnout in years, I find it odd that Democrats on Warrick County’s election board are seeking to suppress the vote by denying satellite voting access to thousands of registered voters. Normally this is a ploy that Democrats would love to play on Republicans, what with voter suppression usually a part of the Democrats platform of fear mongering against Republicans. If Warrick County Democrats get their way, they would be the ones preventing easy access to voting.

What can be done? According to Chairman Martin “On Wednesday, March 10 at 4:00pm in the Commissioner’s Meeting Room in Boonville, the Election Board will reconvene to take a formal vote on whether to keep democracy, and the satellite office, alive, or revert to a system where voter access to the polls was limited.” Sounds like a perfect opportunity to get your voice heard.

In the fall of 2006, Herald-Times columnist Mike Leonard admitted that he fabricated a Congressional vote that never took place in order to take a partisan shot at incumbent Congressman Mike Sodrel. On February 28, Mike Leonard lied about funding for Ivy Tech, attempting to lead readers to believe that Ivy Tech’s operating budget is funded by property taxes. On March 7, Leonard hit another low.

In a column about a dispute between Union Board and Young Americans for Liberty at IU, Leonard asserted that YAL was denied funding for a speaker not because of bias, but because YAL did not follow the proper procedure and allow UB to help with planning the event.

Of course, Leonard contradicted himself by saying that UB “got the ‘cuckoo-cuckoo’ whistle” from faculty and rejected the request because the proposed speaker did not have “sufficient academic credibility.” So which is it, Mike? Was it bias against the speaker himself or was it because YAL did not follow procedure? You cannot have it both ways.

(Read more after the leap)

Despite some pontificating by 8th District Democratic Chairman (and likely challenge mastermind) Tony Long, Sue Ellspermann will still be on the ballot in the wake of a meeting of the Indiana Election Commission on Friday.

Long, by the way, did not recuse himself from the vote despite his apparent conflict of interest.

Earlier this week, Democrats challenged the candidacy of Republican state representative candidate Sue Ellspermann, who is looking to run against Russ Stillwell in House District #74.

The Evansville Courier & Press has the story (also covered on a blog here):

Sue Ellspermann’s bid for the Indiana House is in jeopardy after someone caught what the Southwestern Indiana Republican admits is an inaccuracy in the paperwork she filed to become a candidate.

An Indiana Election Commission hearing scheduled for Friday in Indianapolis could determine whether her name will be scratched from the ballot — a move that would effectively end her chances of defeating incumbent District 74 Rep. Russ Stilwell, D-Boonville.

In what Ellspermann called a mistake, she checked a box on her candidacy filings indicating she voted in the 2008 Republican primary.

That year, she said Monday, she was one of many Republicans who instead voted in the Democratic primary. Ellspermann said she did so to participate in the party’s still-competitive presidential contest.

“I typically vote Republican, and so when I filled out that form, I checked that box without giving it another thought,” she said.

Ellspermann, a precinct committeewoman with the backing of local and state Republicans, said she hopes the election commission will allow her to remain on the ballot.

“I’m hoping for some leniency there,” she said. “I don’t think there’s any question in anyone’s mind that I am a Republican candidate.”

The man who challenged Ellspermann’s candidacy is Charles R. Wyatt. Area Democratic officials said the challenge did not come at their behest. But Wyatt, a Boonville resident, has a history of giving to Democratic candidates.

Ellspermann is the founding director of the Center for Applied Research at the University of Southern Indiana.

Another Republican, Angela Sowers of Boonville, has filed to run in the party’s primary.

I call shenanigans.

And I don’t mean on Charles Wyatt, who happens to be a Democrat donor, though that’s plenty shady in and of itself:

(Read more after the leap)

Herald-Times columnist Mike Leonard has done it again. As you may recall, Leonard committed a serious breach of journalistic ethics in 2006 by fabricating a Congressional vote that never took place and attacking Mike Sodrel based on that fabrication. Now, he is lying about Governor Mitch Daniels.

On February 28, Leonard wrote:

Daniels has stayed consistent in his drive to write property tax caps into the state constitution. Even though the caps already are state law.

We’ve seen the wisdom of that philosophy already. Public education is getting slammed, higher education is taking hard hits — especially at Ivy Tech.

There is a major problem with Leonard’s argument. Ivy Tech is not funded by property taxes. Leonard is attempting to lead H-T readers into believing that Ivy Tech’s operating budget is funded by property taxes, and their operating budget has suffered as property taxes have gone down since the reforms implemented a few years ago.

That is not true. It is a lie. That means Mike Leonard is a liar.

(Read more after the leap)

Well…what do we have here:

But she said this not to long ago:

And this:

Now all of a sudden she wants to be friends?

Baron says that he might run, but that he wants to have “conversations” first.

From the Indy Star:

U.S. Rep. Baron Hill said today that he isn’t ruling out a run for the U.S. Senate now that Evan Bayh has said he won’t seek re-election and will retire at the end of his term.

Hill — in his first public event since Bayh’s announcement a week ago — said he needed time to speak with the senator and others about the possibility before making a final decision.

“I’m open to the idea,” said Hill, D-9th District. “It doesn’t mean that I’m going to do it.”

Because Bayh announced his retirement just one day before a crucial filing deadline, no Democratic candidates qualified for the ballot. That means the Indiana Democratic Party’s 32-member central committee will choose a nominee.

Hill had been out of the country visiting troops on a military-sponsored trip until this weekend and had been unavailable to comment about the Senate seat.

While he was away, U.S. Rep. Brad Ellsworth, D-8th District, announced he would be a candidate for the Democratic nomination. Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott and Gary School Board member Darren Washington also told party officials they intended to run.

Hill said he is scheduled to speak with Bayh today and wanted to talk with others as well.

“Let me have those conversations first and then we’ll see where this goes,” Hill said.

Let’s think about this for a moment. Evan Bayh not only timed his departure to come at the last possible moment so as to prevent a genuine primary challenge, but he also timed it to occur while Baron was out of the country visiting troops overseas and would be unable to react for an entire week.

While Baron was in the Middle East, Brad Ellsworth jumped into the race head first, arranging a replacement to run in his spot and dropping his Congressional candidacy entirely.

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Boy, Brad Ellsworth sure thought he would be clever. He jumped into the Senate race with both feet. He even arranged for his buddy, state representative Trent Van Haaften, to switch over to run for the 8th District seat. And Ellsworth has withdrawn from the 8th District primary ballot, effectively making Van Haaften the Democratic nominee.

And a deeply flawed nominee he is. He is rolling in special interest money and lobbyist gifts. He has repeatedly voted for a left-wing agenda in Indianapolis, and he is quite possibly closer to Obama (he endorsed him) than Ellsworth (who never really did).

The Courier & Press:

Citing the absence of an incumbent, the current political climate and issues that could make presumptive Democratic nominee Trent Van Haaften “an easy target for Republican ad makers,” the Cook Political Report changed its assessment of a “likely Democratic” win with Ellsworth in the race to “lean Republican” without him.

“The early leader in the GOP field, cardiologist Larry Bucshon, lacks deep roots in the district and has yet to get his campaign fully up and running, but doesn’t have a record to attack, either,” the Washington-based political newsletter stated. “Running as a political outsider, (Bucshon) has raised $100,000 for the race so far and should certainly be able to raise much more now that Ellsworth is abandoning his re-election bid.”

In the 24 hours after state Rep. Van Haaften of Mount Vernon, Ind., filed his candidacy to replace Ellsworth, the newly reconfigured 8th District race began to come into focus.

Van Haaften was part of a group of Democratic legislators who endorsed Barack Obama over Hillary Rodham Clinton in the 2008 Indiana Democratic presidential primary. Among the roughly half-dozen supporters who cheered him Saturday was DeLyn Beard, chief Vanderburgh County organizer for the pro-Obama organization Evansville for Change, and Posey County-based Obama volunteer Ann Shank.

When even the C&P is pointing out your shady doings as a legislator, you have a problem:

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You’ve got to admire the brazen chutzpah of Evan Bayh. Even as he whines about the partisanship of Congress in announcing his retirement from the Senate, Bayh timed his departure to be the ultimate partisan act.

By leaving when he did, Bayh completely deprived hundreds of thousands of Hoosier Democrats of the chance to have a say in who will replace him. That decision will now be made by 32 of Bayh’s closest cronies on the Indiana Democratic Party’s State Committee.

Fred Barnes puts it well:

Did Democratic Senator Evan Bayh, who insists he favors more bipartisanship in Washington, schedule the announcement of his retirement to give his party a distinctly partisan advantage in picking a candidate to run for his seat? It sure looks like he did exactly that.

Indeed, Democratic strategists and party officials in Indiana were full of praise for Bayh for delivering his announcement less than 24 hours before the filing deadline for candidates. This means party leaders–32 of them–will pick a candidate (by June 30), and a primary will be averted.

Bayh almost certainly knew exactly what he was doing. He is the most important Democrat in Indiana and one of his close associates, state party chairman Dan Parker, will lead the panel that chooses the Democratic candidate for Senate.

And Bayh is very familiar with the state’s election law. His first elected office was Indiana secretary of state, the official who’s in charge of elections.

Politico, the Washington-based political newspaper, quoted Indiana Democrats as saying the timing of Bayh’s announcement was beneficial to their party. “I’m sure Sen. Bayh was well aware of the need for the party to have as much input as possible,” Marion County Democratic chairman Edward Treacy told Politico. “He knew what he was doing.”

The ABC News affiliate in Indianapolis, WRTV, said “Democratic sources” told the station tell that “Sen. Bayh waited ‘til the last minute to prevent other Democrats from entering the race and that also means keeping people out who might not have really had a chance at winning the general election.”

Think about that last line again:

“Democratic sources” told the station tell that “Sen. Bayh waited ‘til the last minute to prevent other Democrats from entering the race and that also means keeping people out who might not have really had a chance at winning the general election.”

Translation: Democratic sources said Evan Bayh wanted until the last minute to prevent Hoosier Democratic primary voters from electing someone (generally liberal and left of the Hoosier mainstream) like themselves.

(Read more after the leap)