This is priceless. Tamyra D’Ippolito, the liberal Bloomington gadfly (and sudden right-blogosphere cause célèbre) who’s a few measly signatures away from becoming the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate from Indiana — or at least from forcing the Dems to engage in some very unseemly, and perhaps widely politically damaging, hardball tactics to prevent that scenario — is posting up a storm on her Facebook Page, including this exhortation to her supporters and “supporters”:
We are calling all people to file signatures tomorrow Republicans, Democrats, Independents, Tea Baggers, everyone with a pulse go to your county clerks office tomorrow before noon in your district.
As one commenter was kind enough to point out, “If u want Tea Party votes please don’t call them teabaggers, they find that offensive. Just fyi…” LOL!
[UPDATE: She responds! “Sam, thank you for pointing out the lingo of the tea bag organization. What is the correct term?” … ROFL!! … She’s serious. She is FOR REAL. Just read her Facebook Page. People, this could be a major-party U.S. Senate nominee in a crucial swing state! This is hilarious! … Does Wonkette know about this yet? Wonkette is going to love this.]
The more I read up on this, the more I realize it’s most definitely amateur hour in Indiana. And, politics inside, my inner political-junkie imp loves it. Go Tamyra Go! 🙂 Heh.
On the bright side, at least Senator D’Ippolito 🙂 is limiting her plea to voters “with a pulse.” I’m not sure if that’s technically a requirement in certain parts of the state…
Best political story EVER?
P.S. Open Left is begging readers not to support her. And, from Daily Kos, there’s this testimonial: “I live in Bloomington, Indiana — where this new candidate is from. I can tell you with 100% certainty that this woman will be CRUSHED in a general election. … She is an amateur to the 3rd degree and is a bit of a laughing stock around town. She owns an Italian Restaurant that is basically open when she feels like it and the business (surprise, surprise) is going under. I have spoken with her on the phone (trying to learn more about her restaurant when it first opened) and she is a complete flake.”
from forcing the Dems to engage in some very unseemly, and perhaps widely politically damaging, hardball tactics
1) Nobody is forcing the Dems to do anything. This is absolutely an own goal.
2) I assume by hardball tactics you mean circumventing or subverting election laws. The Dems have done it before, and they’ll do it again, as long as they keep getting away with it. (in an ironic coincidence, Sen. Lautenberg fell and was taken to the hospital tonight)
Nobody is forcing the Dems to do anything.
Of course you are literally correct, but obviously I mean “force” in the political sense, as in, if she succeeds, their choices will be: a) employ hardball tactics, or b) absolutely, with 100% certainty, lose Indiana. Don’t be obtuse; you know what I meant, as it’s perfectly obvious. And once again, I’m not making a normative judgment here. I’m talking procedure, and delighting in the absurdity of it all. I’m not saying “…and if the Democrats do this, it will be perfectly fine and wonderful!” On the contrary, I’m laughing at them for their crazy absurd predicament, and I am merely predicting what will happen next (not saying “and I endorse this course of action”).
Meanwhile, my phrase “hardball tactics” is deliberately vague, since I don’t know exactly what the Dems would have to try and do. It could be anything from highly aggressive but perfectly legitimate petition signature challenges, to finding a legit loophole and taking advantage of it, to blatantly trying to change/ignore the law. I don’t know the exact legal circumstances (and neither do you, I’m guessing), so I’m not making any pronouncements about any of that; I’m simply predicting the Democrats will, precisely as the Republicans would, do whatever it takes, provided they can get away with it, to prevent this unimaginable nightmare scenario — the major-party Senate nominee in a key swing state being a blatantly ridiculous amateur-hour gadfly, due to a totally bizarre circumstance whereby a few thousand last-minute signatures from Tea Partiers got her on the ballot before anyone else could do anything — from occurring.
If D’Ippolito is the Democratic candidate it will simply be karmic justice for the Lautenberg switch.