Newshoggers Archive: PA-4 and Wingnut Welfare

Farewell. The Flying Pig Has Left The Building.

Steve Hynd, August 16, 2012

After four years on the Typepad site, eight years total blogging, Newshoggers is closing it's doors today. We've been coasting the last year or so, with many of us moving on to bigger projects (Hey, Eric!) or simply running out of blogging enthusiasm, and it's time to give the old flying pig a rest.

We've done okay over those eight years, although never being quite PC enough to gain wider acceptance from the partisan "party right or wrong" crowds. We like to think we moved political conversations a little, on the ever-present wish to rush to war with Iran, on the need for a real Left that isn't licking corporatist Dem boots every cycle, on America's foreign misadventures in Afghanistan and Iraq. We like to think we made a small difference while writing under that flying pig banner. We did pretty good for a bunch with no ties to big-party apparatuses or think tanks.

Those eight years of blogging will still exist. Because we're ending this typepad account, we've been archiving the typepad blog here. And the original blogger archive is still here. There will still be new content from the old 'hoggers crew too. Ron writes for The Moderate Voice, I post at The Agonist and Eric Martin's lucid foreign policy thoughts can be read at Democracy Arsenal.

I'd like to thank all our regular commenters, readers and the other bloggers who regularly linked to our posts over the years to agree or disagree. You all made writing for 'hoggers an amazingly fun and stimulating experience.

Thank you very much.

Note: This is an archive copy of Newshoggers. Most of the pictures are gone but the words are all here. There may be some occasional new content, John may do some posts and Ron will cross post some of his contributions to The Moderate Voice so check back.

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Wednesday, May 19, 2010

PA-4 and Wingnut Welfare

By Dave Anderson:

One of the secondary races that I was keeping an eye on last night was the Republican primary for PA-4. It was a two person race for the right to run against Rep. Jason Altmire (D) in November. One of the candidates is a local attorney, activist and low-level Bush political appointee. The other was also a local attorney, high level Bush appointee and a three bit player in at least one Bush politicization of the Justice Department scandals. The second was Mary Beth Buchanan, the former US Attorney for Western Pennsylvania, and the local Republican establishment choice for PA-4.

She got crushed!

She lost by a 2:1 margin. I guess my theory that the Wingnut Welfare Machine is broken has some validity to it as she has been out on her ass in Republican sinecure positions since she left her post on Grant Street last summer.

This lack of wingnut welfare or at least wingnut welfare with any
prestige and value as a future jumping off point has trickled its way to
Pittsburgh. Former US Attorney for Western Pennsylvania, Mary Beth
Buchanan recently resigned with nothing solid lined-up... Normally, the
former US Attorney for the region is welcomed back into the
public-private sector elite. Fred Theiman,
the region's US Attorney from 1993-1997 is currently the head of
the Buhl Foundation and sits on half the power boards in the region....

The
Pittsburgh Comet is passing along reasonably solid rumors that the
Pittsburgh Republican establishment and more particularly, its
Republican leaning law firms made it clear that there would be no work
available for Ms. Buchanan.

The Republican establishment can't get one of their own a high profile public or private sector job because of her loyalty to the Bush Administration, and they can not get her through a primary in a rapidly trending Republican district.

Wow.

Besides Mary Beth Buchanan, and the local GOP establishment, the other big loser is Jason Altmire. He has been lucky in running against Republicans who provoke a visceral dislike among liberals and Democratic door-knockers in the form of Melissa Hart. Quite a few activists held their nose for a chance to keep Hart out of Washington. I think quite a few local activists were willing to hold their nose to keep Buchanan away from power. I don't think the Republican nominee, Rothfus, will inspire that type of motivation for Altmire to use against his activist base.

1 comment:

Ol'FrothMay 20, 2010 at 4:44 AM
Altmier continues to piss off the base with his votes on HCR and his cosigning of the odious TEA act, all in an efoort to woo teabaggers who aren't going to vote for him anyway. I'd like to see how many Democrats voted in the Senate race, and yet witheld their vote for PA-4, or jotted down a write-in.
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