My old buddy, Jim Moran, has a kind of … traditional … view of politial office:
Democrats win back control of the U.S. House of Representatives in November, U.S. Rep. Jim Moran said he would use his position in the majority to help funnel more funds to his Northern Virginia district.
Moran, D-8th, told those attending the Arlington County Democratic Committee’s annual Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner on June 9 that while he in theory might oppose the fiscal irresponsibility of “earmarks” – funneling money to projects in a member of Congress’s district – he understands the value they have to constituents.
“When I become chairman [of a House appropriations subcommittee], I’m going to earmark the shit out of it,” Moran buoyantly told a crowd of 450 attending the event.
Colorful language and campaign hyperbole aside, Moran has a lot to gain if Democrats topple the GOP’s 12-year control of the House. His relative seniority of eight terms would make him a powerful member of any Democratic majority.
I’ve been following the career of Jim “the Jooos” Moran (D-MBNA) for a long time, beginning with this 2002 post:
WHY MY OSTENSIBLE PARTY, THE DEMOCRATS, WILL NOT BE ABLE TO USE BUSH’S CORPORATE HISTORY AGAINST HIM
From today’s NY Times
The bill, which has been vigorously opposed by consumer-rights groups, had long been the top legislative priority of credit card companies and some banks, which insist that many debtors abuse the bankruptcy laws to escape debts they should be able to pay. The companies sharply stepped up campaign contributions to members of Congress in recent years as they promoted the legislation.
Among the biggest beneficiaries would be the MBNA Corporation of Delaware, which describes itself as the world’s biggest independent credit card company. Ranked by employee donations, MBNA was the largest corporate contributor to President Bush’s 2000 campaign.
The company has also recently acknowledged that it gave a $447,000 debt-consolidation loan on what critics viewed as highly favorable terms to a crucial House supporter of the bill only four days before he signed on as a lead sponsor of the legislation in 1998. Both MBNA and the lawmaker, Representative James P. Moran Jr., Democrat of Virginia, have denied that there was anything improper about the loan.
Right. Then there was this gem:
By Spencer S. Hsu
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, March 10, 2003; 3:22 PMJewish organizations condemned Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.) today for delivering what they said were anti-Semitic remarks at an anti-war forum in Reston, in which he suggested that American Jews are responsible for pushing the country to war with Iraq and that Jewish leaders could prevent war if they wanted…
Which got me going here, and more here.
Here’s the news about his stepdown from a minor committee post, and more about his sterling character.
He’s up for re-election this year. And while I’m generally favorible to Democrats in the national Legislature, I’d gladly make an exception for him.
All I know is, if he’s in favour he needs to be real careful of the Scots!
The ascendancy of people (so many people) like Jim Moran shows how much the DP takes the Jewish vote for granted. Just as they once took the Solid South for granted, until it went solid in the other direction.
Ah, but you’ll respond that Jews are traditionally married to the socially progressive promises of the Democratic Party. Only none of that social progress ever seems to happen – not since 1968, when the guy who tried it got hounded out of office by the rampaging leftheads in his own party. Since then the Democrats have given us Yassir Arafat’s best friend, and eight years of government of Bill Clinton, for Bill Clinton, and by Bill Clinton.
So how long do you think they’re going to gather those moonbeams, while the McKinneys and McDermotts pile up in Congress?
That should be _ius *primae* noctis_. The adjective has to be genitive singular feminine to agree with _noctis_. Even if you want it to agree with _ius_ (“first law of the night”?) it would have to be _primum_, since _ius_ is neuter and _primus_ is masculine.
Sorry about the pedantry, but I am a Latin teacher.
#2
Jim Moran reached primacy well before he went off the deep end.
He retains his position due to the difficulty of beating an incumbent in a primary, and the way gerrymandering protects incumbents of BOTH parties. In particular he has an absurdly gerrymandered district, that puts every mainly Dem area in NoVa in one district. Which is not only to the benefit of Moran, but also to GOP stalwart Tom Davis, which is why BOTH parties in the VA legislature support it.
AS for Clinton, he was not Arafats best friend, though he was willing to bet on Arafat, as was Yitzak Rabin, who started the Oslo negotiations BEFORE Clinton got involved. And to his credit, Clinton has been the principle truth teller about what happened at Camp David, and why Arafat was responsible for the failure of peace.
Id be happy to get Bill Clinton in the WH for another 4 (or 8) years. and ya, know, I think theres a shot.
I was referring to the other one, the peanut guy. Whats his face.
Sorry, Weevil – I gotta look this stuff up, I guess…
A.L.
No shot at all LH IMHO. Hillary was booed at the Kos-fest.
Nutroots hate her. Nuff said.