Ben Cardin News

Fearless Prediction: Daniel Bongino Will Be The Latest MD Republican To Epic Fail

11:29 pm EST May 31st, 2011 | News, Politics | 2 Comments

Daniel Bongino, a secret service agent, is set to run as a Republican next year to attempt to oust Maryland Senator Ben Cardin.

This won’t work, for many reasons.

Cardin is a quiet, nose to the grindstone progressive-leaning senator. The exact kind of senator Maryland tend to elect time and time again.

Cardin defeated Michael Steele by double-digits in 2006, which is about as close a Republican is going to get in a statewide race in Maryland.

Bongino’s campaign chair is Brian Murphy, who ran for the gubernatorial nomination and lost, even with an endorsement from Sarah Palin.

Bob Ehrlich, who beat Murphy, got his butt kicked by Governor O’Malley.

Did I mention Maryland is a very Democratic state? Furthermore, next year is a Presidential election. An ad or two with the “Obama-Cardin” line should be all that is necessary here.

But I encourage the Maryland Republicans, who must now certainly be the most frustrated GOP state party around, to push this doomed-to-fail candidacy.

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Mob Makes Sen. Ben Cardin More Resolved To Make Reform

3:11 pm EST August 15th, 2009 | News | 10 Comments

Ben Cardin, Maryland’s junior Senator.

Cardin said the meetings have changed lawmakers, but probably not in the way most of those who shouted the loudest would like.

‘I’m more resolved than ever,’ Cardin, 65, said Thursday after his whirlwind week. ‘I love debating. I’m sorry more of that couldn’t happen this week because of so much of the shouting, but I personally believe the American people still want us to deal with tough problems. We’re not all going to agree, that’s obvious, but we’re at the point we need a specific bill.’

If Cardin’s experience resembles that of other lawmakers, many might return from the August recess with a sharper focus on and a greater personal stake in the issue after intense confrontations with voters close to home.

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John Kerry To Waste Time, Senate Resources On Newspapers

5:09 pm EST April 20th, 2009 | Media | 32 Comments

Yes, the senate is legendary for wasting time on issues it has no business being involved in (baseball, for instance) and here is the latest, apparently being led by John Kerry. Please, stop. The newspaper business is killing itself. The bad economy is just giving it the killing blow. The printed daily newspaper is nothing special that needs to be preserved by congressional action. Again: horse and buggy in a combustion engine world.

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Cardin’s Paper Plan

8:23 pm EST April 3rd, 2009 | Media | 5 Comments

I still think it’s a waste, but here is some more detail from Sen. Ben Cardin himself about his Newspaper nonprofit plan. Basically I guess he wants to create a loophole where a paper can become a 501c3 and accept ad revenue exempt from taxes. That sounds… like a bad idea. Cardin says its targeted to local papers, but there’s nothing stopping a paper like the NY Times from doing it. And why should papers, unlike other outlets, have their income exempt from taxes? DOA.

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Sen. Ben Cardin Wastes Time On Newspaper Industry

7:41 pm EST March 24th, 2009 | Media | 22 Comments

ben cardinBen Cardin. My senator, Ben Cardin. Good guy. Bad move.

Struggling newspapers should be allowed to operate as nonprofits similar to public broadcasting stations, Sen. Benjamin Cardin, D-Md., proposed Tuesday.

Cardin introduced a bill that would allow newspapers to choose tax-exempt status. They would no longer be able to make political endorsements, but could report on all issues including political campaigns.

Advertising and subscription revenue would be tax-exempt, and contributions to support coverage could be tax deductible.

Cardin said in a statement that the bill is aimed at preserving local newspapers, not large newspaper conglomerates.

“We are losing our newspaper industry,” said Cardin. “The economy has caused an immediate problem, but the business model for newspapers, based on circulation and advertising revenue, is broken, and that is a real tragedy for communities across the nation and for our democracy.”

The newspaper is dying. It is dying due to its failure to innovate. It is also dying due to its inability to put the interests of its readers above its advertisers, not realizing that a milquetoast paper afraid to upset the apple cart will turn people off and lead to lowered ad revenues.

Senator, these papers don’t need any additional help from the government. If they choose to go private and become foundations they may do so, but they do not need a single hand from the government to do so. They are not special. They don’t rise to the level of the sort of industry – like finance or automotive – that at least has a semi-coherent argument as to why it needs special legislation.

Senator Cardin, you’re a good guy, but this is a misguided waste of time.

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Ben Cardin Gets To The Party Late

5:57 pm EST June 4th, 2008 | Democrats | 2 Comments

Way to go out on a limb.

Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., and Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., endorsed Sen. Barack Obama for president on Wednesday.

In a prepared statement, Cardin said he had tremendous respect for both Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, but he said Obama would — in his words — “change the direction of our nation and return us to a time of hope, renewal, and prosperity.”

“I’m proud to support him,” Cardin said at Democratic National Committee headquarters. “I am convinced the American people want a change.”

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CNN Gives Michael Steele His Wannabe Wish

10:19 pm EST November 2nd, 2006 | Republicans | 19 Comments

I can’t completely blame the techs at CNN for their gaffe. Michael Steele has signs up declaring him to be a Democrat, tries to pretend he’s never been a Bush supporter, while wearing a jumpsuit that apparently had him from head to toe in Democratic blue.

Of course they’re going to think he’s a Democrat.

Steeled

But like the Spice Girls sang, Michael Steele is a “wannabe”. He’s a right-wing Republican, who is against stem cell research, against a woman’s right to choose, against affirmative action, and for the Iraq war. That he supports a party that works night and day against blacks and other minorities also shows that he’s a failure as a black man, but he’s too ashamed to fly under their banner no matter what the mindless sheep who pimp his candidacy say (and of course CNN was too chicken to call him on it). You get the feeling Michael Steele would say anything to get elected.

That’s because he would.

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OW In The Media

11:36 am EST November 1st, 2006 | Media | 5 Comments

My comments on the Steele race and Wayne Curry’s endorsement of him made the DC Express newspaper this morning:
Owexpress
(via)

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Rubes, Redux

12:19 pm EST October 31st, 2006 | News | 1 Comment

Con bloggers crack me up some times. Today, many of them are heralding the story that Wayne K. Curry endorsed Steele as some sort of repudiation of the Democratic party in Maryland. According to these folks who don’t have a clue about anything here, this is the nail in the coffin, the killing blow, because – once again – black voters are too dumb to make up their own minds.

Here are the facts, Curry was a frontrunner to be Bob Ehrlich’s running mate. Yes, Republican governor Michael Steele. Does that strike anyone as a salient point? This supposedly Democratic county executive was inches away from being part of the Republican ticket (and it’s no surprise he was being heralded by the DLC).

Then there’s also the question of how effective Curry’s endorsement is. In the Democratic primary, Curry endorsed Rushern Baker for Prince George’s County Executive. Yet, his opponent Jack Johnson won by 6%. So, a Wayne Curry endorsement didn’t move the needle in Prince George’s county, but it’s supposed to move the black vote to Michael Steele across the entire state?

I’m sorry, but while I know the stereotype that people believe – especially conservatives – black voters are not the dummies you think they are. They see deeper than skin color and they actually have been listening to Michael Steele and who he hangs out with.

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Mongomery County: Ground Zero For The Maryland Uprising

1:06 am EST October 30th, 2006 | News | 1 Comment

Montgomery County, Maryland, where I was born and where I currently live is integral to Democratic success in Maryland for the upcoming election. Martin O’Malley and the rest of the Maryland Dems were out in force Sunday to make that happen.

Yesterday’s rally — held before several hundred cheering and sign-waving supporters — was part of an effort to mobilize the Democratic base and to reach out to Democratic voters who do not normally vote in non-presidential election years. O’Malley was joined by all of the statewide candidates, including Cardin, as well as a large roster of county Democrats.

Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan, appearing with O’Malley for the first time since he dropped out of the Democratic primary for governor in June citing depression, was given a rousing welcome. In his remarks, Duncan criticized a new television ad for Ehrlich that includes disparaging remarks the county executive made about O’Malley before dropping out of the race.

Duncan called the ad an attempt to “mislead the public” into believing he supported Ehrlich. “If they got quotes from me about Ehrlich, you couldn’t print them,” Duncan added.

And this statement from O’Malley sort of says it all:

O’Malley portrayed the governor yesterday as out of touch with the Montgomery electorate, hammering Ehrlich for saying two years ago that multiculturalism is “bunk.”

“Anybody who doesn’t think multiculturalism is good for America, come to Montgomery County,” O’Malley said.

And this bit is just hilarious:

His comments came at an event where O’Malley won the endorsements of two former leaders of Democrats for Ehrlich, a group formed in 2002 to support the then-congressman.

“I am ashamed, embarrassed and feel very foolish for what I did,” said Wayne Frazier, the group’s former chairman.

Okay, fine. Just don’t do it again.

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