![]() |
|
| Robideaux |
State Rep. Joel Robideaux, R-Lafayette, the recently appointed chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee and senior member of the Lafayette delegation at the Capitol, stunned no small number of local Republicans including, according to sources, several friends over the weekend when he came out in support of Texas Rep. Ron Paul’s long-shot bid to win the GOP presidential nomination. Not only did Robideaux announce his support for Paul, the independent-turned-Republican lawmaker is co-chair — along with former state GOP co chairman Charlie Davis — of Paul’s Louisiana campaign.
“Ron Paul is the only Republican running for President who has the credibility to actually follow through on his commitment to stop the runaway train of federal bureaucracy and spending,” Robideaux wrote in a press release touting the endorsement. “None of the other Republican candidates have offered a plan to make any meaningful cuts in federal spending. In fact, the other candidates only seem interested in wearing the conductor’s hat and tooting the horn a few times as the train goes over the cliff.”
Paul is considered a fringe candidate within the Republican establishment in large part due to his anti-orthodoxy on issues like the War on Drugs and U.S. military intervention in foreign affairs — positions that have also made him attractive to young voters.
But in hitching his wagon to Paul, is Robideaux taking on the taint of racism, whack-job conspiracy theories and anti-scientific ding-battery that have long plagued Paul and which ultimately make him an untenable candidate? Paul has yet to adequately explain those knee-jerk, racist newsletters published under his name in the 1980s and ’90s, or his routine praise during the Clinton years of the militia movement that produced domestic terrorists like Timonthy McVeigh, or his claims that Israeli spies were behind the first World Trade Center bombing, or his opposition to the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act and the establishment of the federal holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; or his dismissive views of the scientific consensus on climate change and evolution or his vows to abolish the Environmental Protection Agency and leave the safety of Americans’ drinking water and food supply to conscientious corporations.
Read more on Robideaux’s endorsement here.
JUNE 17 If anyone ever wonders why Saints fans hate Atlanta with a capital H, here's a good indication. Radio "professionals" at an Atlanta station created an entire segment around making fun of former Saints player Steve Gleason, who is now paralyzed by ALS. Listen, nobody's ever accused DJs of being rocket scientists. But how could someone think it is amusing to pretend to ask a man with a degenerative, fatal disease if he will be alive next week? The DJs have been fired, and are now whining about how gutless their former bosses are. Wow.
JUNE 18 Here's the latest from the Advocate on the fatal hit-and-run accident allegedly involving the president of the Livingston Parish School Board. He's accused by police of hitting a 21-year-old man on a highway early Sunday and driving away. The man died at a hospital later. On Monday, police seized the president's truck and towed it away. But he's available for board meetings: apparently a $500 bond is sufficient for this type of thing over in St. Helena Parish.
JUNE 18 Former broadcast journalist Griffin Scott has posted this plea on his blog for financial assistance from his readers. Scott, who says he was fired after he wrote something fairly innocuous (for Facebook) on his wall, is suing a media giant for his job back. He's framed himself as David going after a bloated media giant, and he's probably not far off.
JUNE 18 Here's a fairly absurd column posted on DIG Magazine about the completely absurd practice of naming killer storms. Tornadoes don't have names. Blizzards don't have names. But hurricanes do, and there's a big process to bestow them, Jacques Cormery writes. He's right about the crazy assemblage of names -- this year, there's everything from Tanya to Humberto -- and his idea that we don't waste good names on killer storms is a good one.
JUNE 17 Political columnist John Maginnis has some advice for Louisiana Republicans: grow up. After the schism that occurred in this past session - fiscal hawks teaming up with Democrats to spank the Republican "majority" and hand Gov. Jindal his, er, aspirations for continued solon control -- they need to figure out how to get along with each other, Maginnis writes.
JUNE 17 Here's the Picayune's obit story for Dorothy 'Miss Dot' Domilise, the lady who made poboys at the uptown restaurant that bears her name. Miss Dot moved to New Orleans during World War II, where she met and married her husband Sam. When she passed away Friday she was 90, and had spent more than 60 of those years working at the restaurant on Annunciation Street.
JUNE 17 This editorial in the Advocate speaks in favor of the consent decrees that have federal judges overseeing police operations and the sheriff's parish prison in New Orleans. Mayor Landrieu and Sheriff Gusman can't get along, so outside forces, like the Inspector General and the judges, are needed to make sure things run right, the editorial opines.
JUNE 18 Here's a post from Manny Schewitz on Forward Progressives that is good for a chuckle. Manny had an epiphany back in November, and is sharing it with us today: he believes that Fox "News" is killing the GOP by pandering to right wing nuts. Now, don't get it twisted: Manny's not broke up about it. He says he enjoys watching the downward spiral with a shot of whiskey and "a schadenfreude chaser."
Most Read
in case you missed it
Did you ever watch the unedited version of Ron Paul's interview with Gloria Burger? Obviously not, because it was edited to look like he walked off when in fact he did not and stayed until well after the interview was over.
Another point that shows you are a tool is your claim that Paul never appologized or claimed responsibility for those letters even though he didnt write them.
Nice try though... you "journalist".