Football Politics: Showdown at the Lambeau - K Corral

In Green Bay, Wisconsin, the wind chill is a biting 30 below zero and there is plenty of snow on the ground. However, as the Green Bay Packers are getting ready to host (and defeat) the Dallas Cowboys this weekend, things are heating up in the smash-mouth political football game known as the 2016 GOP presidential primary.

When the Cowboys come to Lambeau Field, they will be probably bringing along their biggest - and I do mean biggest - fan, Chris Christie, otherwise known as the Outlaw Jersey Whale.

Christie is out to show that he is the toughest, meanest and most corrupt Republican Governor around. Not only does he verbally abuse teachers for fun, he has gotten himself inescapably entangled in Bridgegate, the scandal that won't go away.

But even Bridgegate wasn't enough for Christie's insatiable appetite, so he got himself tied up in yet another scandal, but faces yet another possible investigation for taking gifts from Cowboys owner, Jerry Jones, after allowing the Port Authority enter into a business relationship with Jones.

But Christie isn't going to be throwing his weight around Green Bay without a challenge.

He's going to be on the turf of Scott Walker, Tosa Ranger, aka Desperado. Walker is the only governor to be a person of interest in not just one, but two, John Doe investigations. Six of Walker's aides and friends have already been convicted of illegal politicking, embezzling money from a veterans fund and other sordid affairs and more than a score of others have been granted immunity for their testimony. The only reason Walker has escaped the long arm of the law is the millions of dollars of dark money thrown at his legal defense cooperation fund.

Walker, like Christie, thinks he should be president. Or at least the voices in his head that he mistakes for God are telling him he should be governor.

Walker believes this so much that he has rehired a consultant with experience running national campaigns while he is busy explaining that he doesn't really need a college degree to be president, as long as he can follow orders from the Koch Brothers, Sheldon Adelson and the Bradley Foundation.

Walker hasn't waited for Christie to get to Wisconsin to take some potshots at him. After Christie's embarrassing attempt at hugging last weekend, Walker sent out this almost as embarrassing tweet:

Walker, Tosa Ranger and the Outlaw Jersey Whale have tangled before, with Walker feeling that Christie wasn't supportive enough during the gubernatorial election.

But that will be small potatoes as these two knuckleheads try to out-conservative and out-corrupt each other as the primary moves on.

The Effect of Money in Politics!

There are two very strong monied lobbies in politics nationally that both made the news yesterday, and I think we are going to find two very different results:

1.  Dallas Cowboys Nose Tackle Josh Brent was in an accident where he was drunk and ended up killing a passenger in his vehicle.  

Dallas Cowboys nose tackle Josh Brent has been arrested and charged with intoxication manslaughter stemming from a late night crash that resulted in the death of a teammate.
CBS Station KTVT reports that Jerry Brown Jr., a 25-year old currently on the Cowboys' practice roster, was killed in the accident.
Irving police spokesman John Argumaniz said the accident happened about 2:20 a.m. Saturday in the Dallas suburb, hours before Brent was to be on a team flight to Cincinnati for the Cowboys' game Sunday against the Bengals.
When police arrived, Brent was responsive and able to speak with officers. Brown was unresponsive and was transported to a local hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
Officers conducted a field sobriety test on Brent and arrested him on suspicion of driving while intoxicated, Argumaniz said. The charge, a second-degree felony punishable by two to 20 years in prison, was upgraded after Brown was pronounced dead.

 The Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) lobby has proven very powerful and has worked successfully to increase punishments for drunk drivers.    Obviously Josh Brent was acting very irresponsibly and his actions caused death to another human being.  He is in much trouble and will be forced to pay for his mistake.  

Our second story comes from Pennsylvania:

 Police said the gun went off as Joseph Loughrey, 44 (pictured), and his son Craig were getting into their car outside the Twigs Reloading Den in Mercer, PA.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported that Loughrey told police he had emptied the magazine of his 9-millimeter Taurus handgun, and he didn’t know there was a bullet in the chamber. The gun discharged and his son was struck in the chest.

State police said Loughrey was cooperative and distraught during questioning, the newspaper reported.

“I know that little kid was everything to him,” Mark McLaughlin, Loughrey’s friend and co-worker, told the newspaper.

The National Rifle Association(NRA) has also been one of the very strongest lobby organizations in Washington.  Unfortunately, instead of making people more responsible who own guns, they have focused on making it easier to own guns with less responsibility.    Joseph Loughrey also acting very irresponsibly and his actions caused death to another human being.  We will see what his punishment is.  

 It will be interesting to follow these two stories to completion and see how each is treated in the courts and in the press!