Nashville News Blog

So, Woods, since Harrison and Heatseeker have been involuntarily taken out of commission, the good ole boys are having you do their hippie-punching for them?

I know you are trying to protect them, but they are doomed any way. This is the first I have heard of this, but let me say it's about damned time.

ANYTHING Mary is associated with will be done well, I have found. Maybe it's because she realizes, as I do, that it's not 1992 any more and the same old GOB (not GOP) BS simply won't work any more.

Tell that to your pals in the Old Guard, Woods.

"Brand: Unite TN will be about building Unite TN - we will define who we are based on our values and priorities, which we know to be traditional American values and priorities."

Now that is funny!

Chairgimp Chipper has run the TNDP's SS Minnow aground. The Chipinista are floating away on a makeshift raft. And Left Hand Wanker attacks me . . . What sense does that make?

I haven't been involuntarily sidelined from anything, Wanker. Hell, I've never been in the damn game. I'm a punk-ass blog commenter that twists your panties whenever I like -- even without making the first freakin' comment.

The sooner you realize that Heatseeker isn't the problem for the Democrat Party in Tennessee, the sooner you might get somewhere . . .

Course, it's fine with me if you Democrats never wake up.

Won Choi? as in the Won Choi who destroyed Tying Nashville Together, got pushed out of the NAACP, and got asked not to come back to the TNDP after his vacation, but who's got money so people keep listening?

Great, that's the kind of leadership Democrats need!?!

I've never seen so many catch phrases and talking points strung together in one place before. Congratulations.

How many Republicans are in the Land Trust of Tennessee?

The Tennessee Medical Association is totally a Republican organization.

TSEA knows who is in charge of the Tennessee General Assembly and isn't going to help some liberal group.

League of Women Voters is a non-partisan organization.

Common Cause is a non-partisan organization.

The Women's Political Caucus (state and Nashville) are non-partisan organizations.

ACLU

NAACP

All non-partisan.

Most of these groups are non-partisan.

Who thinks they are suddenly going to go partisan for a state party that everyone knows is imploding?

Oh, and Jeff, whats with the use of the term "moonbeam"?

Thanks for bringing that up, Mack. I had just gotten used to being labeled a "Moonbat" and along comes this Moonbeam nonsense. Stick to one pejorative folks, you know how easily confused we tree-hugging Grateful Dead burnouts can get.

Woods, could you please discuss the ethics of posting a private e-mail? Not just writing that you know of it or have seen it, but actually posting it. A private e-mail.

So an organization has to notify a political party if it plans to do any political organizing? And it shouldn't exist at all if a political party already does? I hope Woods decided to notify Kleinheider before he wrote his own idiotic bullshit, and will immediately dismantle his blog since its already being done.

"It's hard enough for the Democratic Party to find success in Tennessee –– let alone some group of fringe lefties like these folks."

Shhhhh!

We want to encourage Democrats to think that their problems are due to the fact that they just aren't liberal enough.

By the way, is that headline really accurate? Is that really what this organization is trying to accomplish?

Here come the fascist Chipinista trolls to threaten the free speech rights of anyone that refuses to bow to their awesome power.

"Uh, yeah, uh, you posted a private email, Nashville Scene. Is that legal? Maybe we oughta sic the secret police on ya."

Nevermind that it's a legit news organization publishing an email from one public figure to a bunch of other public figures, including elected officials. The Chipinista want it stopped, dammit! In fact, was that a public meeting.

Comrade Stalin is proud, my children.

OK, first of all, I don't see anywhere that Mancini considers this effort as a part of the Democratic Party. She seems to view this as a "progressive" (why do they shy away from "liberal"?) initiative. Not necessarily the same thing.

As a matter of reality (and that's what I try to be all about), very few Democrats would have their support. There are no liberal Republicans in Tennessee, and for that matter only a handful of liberal Democrats. Remember, Mancini has a great disdain for Democrats who actually win elections in Tennessee (Bredesen, Cooper, Gordon, Davis). So TNDP should probably look on this program overall as a negative. They won't be helping most Democratic candidates, and it's conceivable that they may even be running Green Party or other fringe candidates that reduce the chances of Democrats.

A better response from Chip Forester would have been: "Thanks, but no thanks. We will be working within our own programs, and we would welcome any help you want to give." He is dead wrong to think this "complements" many, if any, TNDP supported campaigns.

Second, Hill Bobbs makes an excellent point. By far, most of these organizations are non-partisan in their approaches, in their bylaws and in their membership. Where Mancini got the idea that the TMA, one of the most reactionary groups in the Western world, would participate in this group is beyond me. The NWCP is studiously bipartisan, and switches its leadership by party every year. ACLU, NAACP, the League of Women Voters, all avoid direct political endorsements and do not participate in partisan campaigns. Even the Trial Lawyers (Tennessee Association for Justice) at one time had Fred Thompson's son Tony as a lobbyist, and maybe still do for all I know. And all of those environmental groups have plenty of GOP members who are otherwise very conservative in their ideas and don't view protection the land and water as a "liberal" idea. I'm betting most of these organizations are objecting to being included, and were in fact included without their kowledge or permission.

Mack makes a great point. Isn't a liberal coalition of organizations what the Tennessee Alliance of Progress (TAP) is all about? Nell Levin and others have worked hard to build that organization, and its affiliates certainly fill the progressive coalition model better than Mancini's ill-advised list.

I think an organized liberal coalition has a place in Tennessee politics, just as I think the teabaggers ought to have a chance to participate in the public dialogue. And I don't fault liberals for wanting to try and make an impact on elections. But Mancini's approach is indeed off a moonbeam, and she and her fellow organizers of UnitedTN need to get a reality check.

Heatseeker, your paranoia is boiling over. I'm no more a 'Chipinista' than you are Comrade Stalin.

I didn't question whether printing the e-mail was legal, I questioned whether it was journalistically ethical. Pay attention.

'email from one public figure to a bunch of other public figures'

Public figures don't get to send private email?

Don't take that shit woods!

Woods, I don't know ya, but others seem to think that you are an astute political observer, and I'll take them at their word.

Much as I hate to flog this particular horse, the use of the term "moonbeam" is nowhere near endearing, and you know it. Its at best dismissive, and while I expect that kind of coverage from almost anyone else, this is troubling coming from the Scene.

Would you refer to efforts by TGW as that of Feminazis? Sure, there are degrees, but a smart guy like you could have found a less patronizing term to use when referring to this group's formation.

Progressive groups and Liberal groups (no, they are NOT the same) have serious shortcomings that could pointed out, and I applaud any constructive criticism, but something about this article feels...I don't know, personal?

No, Martin, isn't the same. Conservatives are not teabaggers. The Tn Taliban are not conservatives. I know plenty of Conservatives, and most them are embarrassed by these poseurs. But that isn't my point.

If Woods thinks these folks are "moonbeams", fine, call them that and stand behind it. But the claim that it is an term of endearment is disingenuous and that adds insult to injury.

I do everything in my power to avoid using derogatory terms when referring to those who may disagree with me, so I am no hypocrite.

Now I've just remembered you from years ago on this blog, and i just remembered how tedious it was trying to engage you. Suffice to say, i won't do so again.

"No, Martin, isn't the same"

It's exactly the same, despite your attempt to spin it otherwise.

Ohs noes! Uriah Heep just called the Chipinista communists.

They are gonna cry for sure.

Mack says:
Woods, I don't know ya, but others seem to think that you are an astute political observer, and I'll take them at their word.

don't believe everything you hear Mack.

How much are you being paid to trash Mancini wherever you can find her, OG Ben/Heatseeker/Your Father/Kevin (NotSo) Sharp/Him Jester/FloydR/Just asking? Can't you just pick one cowardly handle and hide behind it?