Monday, August 12, 2013
Obama Rodeo Clown
Today’s top story is… a rodeo clown at the Missouri state fair dressed up in an Obama mask and performed some kind of modern ritual play where the scapegoat is gored by the bull or something. Except that the scapegoat was the President of the United States. The crowd apparently enjoyed they stagecraft and “went wild.”
Oh Missourah, here we go again. The AP story made the Washington Post. Why can’t we just win a spelling bee or something, and get national attention that way?
Pull Quote: Beam, who grew up attending the State Fair and attends the fair just about every year, said he has never seen anything like the Obama mask display, which he felt was inappropriate for a state-sanctioned event that receives state funding.
“This isn’t the Republican Missouri State Fair,” Beam said. “It was cruel. It was disturbing. I’m still sick to my stomach over it. ... I’m standing here with a mixed-race family. My wife’s from Taiwan, and so was the student (his family was hosting). I’ve never seen anything so blatantly racist in my life.
“If an old country boy picks up on something like that, imagine what a person of color would think.”
Interesting
The article credits Show Me Progress and social media for taking the viral.
Conduct Unbecoming a Rodeo Cowboy?
“The Missouri Rodeo Cowboy Association would like to extend a sincere apology for the inappropriate act during the Bull Riding at the Saturday performance of the MRCA Rodeo. The MRCA Board of Directors and over 600 members do not condone nor approve of this sort of activity. The MRCA Board of Directors is dealing with the situation firmly and quickly as this type of behavior will not be tolerated. The Sport of Rodeo is not meant to be a political platform. We are taking measures by training and educating our contract acts to prevent anything like this from ever happening again. All Members of the Missouri Rodeo Cowboy Association are very proud of our Country and our President. Once again our apologies to the Missouri State Fair and the fans who were in attendance and we hope to see you at another rodeo soon.” See the website here.
House Dems Want Interim Committee
“Poking fun at our president is a time-honored tradition in this country, but the incident Saturday night at the Missouri State Fair rodeo went well beyond the line. The concept of an angry bull attempting to trample a black man for the amusement of a crowd is neither entertaining nor funny and is not the type of behavior that our taxpayer-subsidized State Fair should promote.
“House Democrats will be asking House Speaker Tim Jones to immediately appoint an interim committee to investigate this incident and to consider whether continued taxpayer funding is appropriate for an event that allows such racist actions to occur.”
McCaskill Wants Someone “Held Accountable”
“If what’s being reported is true, then it’s shameful and it’s unacceptable. The State Fair is funded by taxpayer dollars, and is supposed to be a place where we can all bring our families and celebrate the state that we love. But the young Missourians who witnessed this stunt learned exactly the wrong lesson about political discourse—that somehow it’s ever acceptable to, in a public event, disrespect, taunt, and joke about harming the President of our great nation. Missouri is better than this, and I expect someone to be held accountable.”
Roe Spins Off Axiom’s “Command” Mail House
Press release: Axiom Strategies is pleased to announce the launch of COMMAND, a voter contact firm specializing in direct mail, phones and digital voter contact. It is an affiliate of Axiom Strategies. Previously, Axiom Strategies had a mail division housed internally for its national political mail…
The new firm will continue to service Axiom clients but will also grow and expand its national client base. In addition, COMMAND will add to the current mail service a phone and digital voter contact dashboard to its current product offerings. This change will allow COMMAND to offer a suite of voter contact products that will create an opportunity for candidates to work with the best and brightest in the business regardless of the size of their race or their budget, ranging from City Council to President of the United States.
Progress Missouri Uploads PFDs
Progress Missouri has uploads legislators’ Personal Finance Disclosure forms. See the dropbox here.
I skimmed through and didn’t see any stunning revelations. Though I do admit to the appeal of voyeurism, there’s really nothing titillating. While the PFDs perhaps serve their function, they don’t give a full picture of the wealthier members on the general assembly. Real estate holdings for example are only in Missouri, so we can’t see where the jet set enjoys kicking up…
For example, while we can see every pebble of the mountain of munis owned by Sen. John Lamping, his more interesting investment in a private equity fund, is just a generic one-line.
Or the excitement of seeing Rep. Stanley Cox’s stock picks (“He like Toyota Motors! Interesting! Maybe a play on the Japanese new fiscal policy?”) turns into another yawn when you notice Cox is no trader. Those holdings of his are all pretty much the same as he had in 2010…
Bits from PFDs
Katie Hicks, wife of Rep. Don Hicks, apparently owns a KFC restaurant.
Rep. Elijah Haahr utilized the Pregnancy Crisis Tax Credit last year. And, Rep. Rocky Miller utilized the Domestic Violence Shelter Tax Credit.
Former state senator Jim Lembke’s wife, Donna, is Executive Assistant to the GM of the St. Louis Blues.
And
Let’s say kudos to lefty Progress Missouri for the act of transparency that the state itself should be providing. It makes them kin to the right-wing Pelopidas which does similar things to the lobbyists’ registrations I link to every morning.
Other Bits
Lieutenant Governor Peter Kinder says that he expects the Republican supermajorities to send a “Right to Work” proposal to the voters next year. See it here.
Randy Turner’s new site Inside Joplin debuted over the weekend. See it here.
NYTimes article on Sunday, “For Freshmen in the House, Finance Panel is a Money Seat,” mentions Ann Wagner. See it here.
Tweet of the Weekend
Jeff Grisamore @RepGrisamore: Congrats to my oldest daughter, Sarah, for making it through first round cuts for American Idol today. Called back for Aug. 20. Proud Daddy!
eMailbag: Hensley for AG?
“One name for AG that has been floated as well is Cass County Prosecutor Teresa Hensley, who made a well-regarded Congressional run against Vicki Hartzler in an impossible district for a Democrat. By the way, Mike Sanders’ wife works for Hensley…”
eMailbag: Days of Gaw
“Dave, in my opinion, Speaker Steve Gaw lead the Dems as you describe the Caleb Jones platform. Also, my opinion, was the downfall and end of Dem majority.”
$5K+Contributions
Committee for Research Treatments and Cures - $100,000 from The Civic Council of Greater Kansas City.
Clint Zweifel for Missouri - $10,000 from Davis, Bethune & Jones.
Notes
KC’s Civic Council sends the first big check to the new committee to push the new sales tax to recruit researchers.
And, Zweifel continues to put up numbers consistently…
Lobbyist Registrations
From the Pelopidas website:
April Popescu deleted Parent Revolution.
Birthdays
Happy birthdays to former Rep. Vicki Schneider (58).