And just as in the case with Ted Stevens and the Republicans, the voters protect the Democrats and relieve them of any “tough” decisions:
Nine-term Democratic Rep. William Jefferson, who has been battling scandals and a federal indictment for the past three years, lost his bid for re-election on Saturday.
Republican challenger Anh “Joseph” Cao, an attorney and community organizer, defeated Jefferson in the 2nd Congressional district race. He will become the first Vietnamese-American elected to Congress.
With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Cao had almost 50 percent of the vote to Jefferson’s 47 percent.
A community organizer, ehh? I hope they don’t tell Sarah Palin. At any rate, good riddance.
Billy Bob Neck
I’m sure that "community organizer" part is some kinda lie-beral media joke to make Republicans seem stupid. It’s the Commie News Network, after all.
The Grand Panjandrum
This was one of those cases where I would have liked to have stood on principle and railed against the FBI invading the offices of a sitting member of Congress. However, the guy was clearly a crook and found myself not not caring as much as I thought I might. Good riddance. I hope he ends up behind bars with Duke Cunningham as a cellmate.
demimondian
Adios, Bill. Don’t let the curb hit you on the way by.
No. Wait. I wouldn’t want to pollute anyone’s yard with you. The gutter is where you belong.
Zifnab
First Republican I’ve rooted for in a while. Really, if any Democrat is going to lose this electoral cycle, I’m glad its William "Refrigerator" Jefferson. Perhaps this will teach the CBC not to defend crooks just because they’re members of the club. (I doubt it, but I’m allowed to dream).
Comrade The Other Steve
I’m convinced that Jefferson was merely hiding money in his freezer because he foresaw the market collapse.
They should give him a job on CNBC.
Conservatively Liberal
Good riddance is right, and don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out. I have read the opinions of Democrats from his area and they said that since he was busted he has been laying low, covering his ass and not doing a damn thing for his constituents. Just about every post I saw they said that they were holding their nose and voting for the Republican and hope for a better challenger next time around.
Better to vote for a possible crook than a known one…lol!
The Grand Panjandrum
Not only is this good news for Democrats, but bad news for folks like Our Lady of Perpetual Outrage:
Another Republican who appears to not be pure enough for the True Believers.
demimondian
OT, but annoying: the Chrome spell checker dictionary recognizes neither Obama nor Barack. Somebody should file a bug with the team at Google.
D-Chance.
David Corn (or is it Mick Jagger?): Meet the new boss, same as the…
demimondian
@D-Chance.: Yeah, and Kos is angry about the fact that somebody in the press has the temerity to be shrill about Obama’s continuing failure to provide anyone in his inner circle who represents the Democratic wing of the Democratic party. Obviously, the kingmaker who didn’t actually make the king is fretting that someone might observe the fact that the left-wing blogosphere is currently being used by the Democrats the same way the socons are used by the Republicans.
I’m looking forward to the emergence of a sufficiently large collection of left-wing ideologues in the House to challenge the established right-wing nuts on the teevee screens.
[+popcorn]
Dennis - SGMM
When Jefferson got into trouble Nancy Pelosi rightly pulled him off of the powerful House Ways and Means committee. When he was re-elected in ’06 she wrongly put him on the Homeland Security Committee. Jefferson should have been kept off of any committee. The Dems were handed a pass on this one. Hopefully they’ll take a moment to recall that the appearance of being ethically challenged ended decades of Democratic Congresses.
Brian J
Question for the group: an article I read a few minutes ago said that the DCCC didn’t support Jefferson. I like that, but I want to know if it’s anything special or just standard practice for criminals running for reelection. Did the NRCC support any of their legally-challenged incumbents this past cycle or in 2006?
And that bit about being a community organizer is just too rich for words to describe.
kommrade reproductive vigor
Finally. It takes a pair of XXXL cajones to run for office with a freezer full of cash one’s rap sheet.
Incertus
@kommrade reproductive vigor: Not in Louisiana. When I lived there, we elected Edwin Edwards four times after all (though in all fairness, he did run against David Duke once).
smiley
@demimondian:
Can you right-click on a word and add it to the dictionary?
Bob In Pacifica
Cao is an anti-choice zealot. Sometimes it’s better to have a politician’s hand in your pocket than in your pants or up your vagina.
Just saying.
The Grand Panjandrum
@kommrade reproductive vigor:
He’s from Louisiana–the state that once had a crook, Edwin Edwards, running against a Klansmen, David Duke, for Governor.
That election produced one of the best bumper stickers I have ever seen:
Gumbo. Jazz. Crooks.
Comrade Darkness
Hm, a good year for
mixed race community organizershalf-breed terrorists.Comrade Peter J
Stalkin’ Malkin writes:
But thanks to Memeorandum we also got what she orginally wrote:
demimondian
@Bob In Pacifica: No, it isn’t. That’s what the Republicans forgot in 2005 and 2006 — and 2008. Clean politics is more important than any single special issue, because, in the long run, dirty politicians lose majorities, leaving you with no issues whatsoever.
South of I-10
@The Grand Panjandrum: I had the bumper sticker on my car and I held my nose and voted for Edwards. Anyone but Duke. So glad to be saying buh bye to Dollar Bill.
Half of Louisiana is under water, the other half is under indictment – Billy Tauzin. Hoping Billy Tauzin is wrong on both counts from now on.
Comrade Stuck
Obama just told Brokaw that he was going to be holding regular poetry readings in the White House. He is going to drive the wingnuts much much crazier than anticipated. Fun Fun Fun
The Grand Panjandrum
@Comrade Stuck: AND more importantly he was speaking English in complete sentences. That was poetry to my ears.
@South of I-10: Generally, I would say voting for the crook was a bad move, but in this case it really was important to vote for him.
robertdsc
Did Jefferson’s district hold a primary and did anyone challenge him on the Dem ticket for his seat? How did he end up running in the primary?
Given his troubles, I would have preferred he resigned his seat and a special election held, but since he "gutted" it out, now he’s gonna pay the price.
Comrade Stuck
@Comrade Stuck:
that was off topic. Sorry
South of I-10
@robertdsc: There was a primary, though I can’t remember who ran against him. What was very unlucky for Jefferson was hurricane Gustav. The primary elections should have been held that weekend with the run-off on 11/4.
J. Michael Neal
For for the Lizard, Not the Wizard
Zifnab
For governor, yeah? Tossing in one more bigot to the House isn’t going to drastically swing things. If anything, we can only hope Cao will get maxim exposure on the cable news circuit. Let him give another diatribe about gay marriage to box turtles and how we need to Jesus up the uterus. I’m sure he’ll do just fine in 2010.
Brian J
If what I’ve read about the politics of the district is correct, he should last one term.
Tom Q
Barring some political earthquake, Cao’s re-election chances should be about the same as Lampson’s in TX this year (in DeLay’s old district) or Mike Flanagan’s (the guy who knocked off Rostenkowski in ’94 when Rosty was under indictment) — which is to say, non-existent. This is one of the most Democratic districts in the country, and it took the combination of Jefferson’s criminalty and the low-turnout of a delayed election for Cao to even squeak through. I’d suggest he not invest in DC property.
Given the Dem margins in the House, this makes little difference. More disappointing for the party was the apparent near-miss in the other LA district — a VERY GOP-favoring seat that came within .4% of going Dem.
passerby
FINALLY! He’s out.
I remember when this nothing-but-hot-air pol first won his seat. I was so disgusted and disheartened that our electorate would fall for his schmooz. Time after time during his tenure in Washington he proved himself to be a self-serving big shot. This man never did anything without it benefiting himself or his family.
So good bye Dollar Bill Jefferson. The fact that he lost* to an Asian American is pleasantly surprising to me. I don’t care if he does have an "R" behind his name. It’s a cherry on top, nevertheless.
[* Still disconcerting to see a high percentage, 47, of his district still support him. So much ignorance out there.]
Nellcote
Jefferson’s been under indictment for 3 years. Isn’t there a statute of limitations or something that gets the DOJ to charge him or get off the pot?
The money in the freezer was rediculous but I think his larger crime was commandeering National Guardsmen & trucks to salvage mysteriously heavy suitcases from his home in LA during the immediate aftermath of Katrina.
Objective Scrutator
That’s a shame that William Jefferson lost. He was the most honest Democrat I’ve ever known, which isn’t saying much. Also, looking at Cao’s background, I cannot say that I can support a Vietnamese refugee in our Congress. Such actions are dangerous to take.
Oh, and this is comedy gold:
Pro-lifers don’t put their hands in other people’s pants or vaginas. In fact, we strongly favor execution of those who do. Then again, this quote DOES prove that Democrats, as a party, are nothing but crooks.
Paul in KY
Mr. Cao is probably not a right-wing whack job. Hopefully, we can get him to side with the Democrats on some progressive legislation.
I’m glad Mr. Jefferson has been excised from our caucus.
Person of Choler
And while we’re at it, hello to Louisiana Republican John Fleming who squeaked past Democrat Paul Carmouche, 48.1% to 47.7%, replacing Republican Rep. Jim McCrery who is retiring.
Plus, Bobby Jindal seems to be doing pretty well in office.
ET
Being from NOLA I will say glad that jackass got the boot. Good riddance to bad rubbish….
Saying that I don’t think Republicans should be all that "OOOO the next coming" (WaPo article Tuesday) cause chances are he is quite likely to get the boot in the next election. Guess Jefferson did wear out his welcome.