DSCC goes after Cotton

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The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee wasted not time pouncing on Rep. Tom Cotton’s (R-Dardanelle) questionable and controversial amendment that even had his fellow Republicans scratching their heads. The amendment was eventually pulled after some suggested it get narrowed (or re-worked). DSCC’s release below:

Tom Cotton is clearly wasting no time trying to push his extreme right wing agenda through Congress. Yesterday, Cotton introduced an amendment to “automatically” institute severe penalties on extended families, including nieces, nephews, and great grandchildren, of people accused of violating U.S. sanctions against the Iranian government.

Cotton’s legislation would completely disregard American citizens’ due process rights guaranteed under the Fifth Amendment. In the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Cotton said, “there would be no investigation,” before inflicting harsh punishments of up to 20 year prison sentences upon “parents, children, aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces, grandparents, great grandparents, grandkids, great grandkids” of those accused of violating sanctions against Iran.

“To call Tom Cotton an extreme ideologue is not overstating anything,” said Justin Barasky, a spokesman at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. “He is proposing legislation that would eliminate the constitutional right to due process for grandchildren, nieces and nephews of Americans accused of a crime.”

Polls show that a majority of Americans view the Republican party as extreme, but the legislation was even too far right for Cotton’s House Republican colleagues, who ultimately forced him to withdraw the amendment.

This is the second recent eye-brow raising actions taken by the freshman congressman from Yell County. Last month his wobbly/partisan comparison on Bush/Obama counter-terrorism records got rated by Politifact as “Mostly False”. I was expecting less of this from a Harvard educated Lawyer and U.S. soldier.

Our ruling (Politifact)

Cotton said, “In barely four years in office, five jihadists have reached their targets in the United States under Barack Obama,” compared to zero “in over seven years after 9/11 under George W. Bush.” Cotton’s math is inconsistent and stacked against Obama — and there’s a limit to how fairly a comparison like this reflects what an administration can accomplish in counter-terrorism. On balance, we rate Cotton’s claim Mostly False.

Cotton is only in his 4th month in Congress, and is expected announce this Summer for U.S. Senate against two-term Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Little Rock). Will we see the model of a modern major candidate? Or more of these eye-brow raising stories?

Final Results on Reader’s Poll: GOP version

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Last week I put up my first Polldaddy.com poll, and I’d like to thank all those who came to the site to vote. Since my traffic was unusually high for 2 days, I am confident I’ve gotten a few new readers along the way. Ok, enough thanks and appreciation…. here’s the skinny on the “Reader’s Poll” results.

final results

Curtis Coleman was overwhelming selected as the one “most likely to win the GOP primary”. From looking at the results, it’s apparent that he has a Ron Paul-style digital army that believes he can do it.

Team Coleman was even nice enough to reference the NSR poll in a fundraising e-mail…..

…These two online polls are not scientific polls, and some believe they reflect only the strength of a candidate’s grassroots organization and the “passion” of his/her supporters.  But they clearly show that CURTIS CAN WIN!…

Credit is due that they mention it’s non-scientific. Though, I’ll have to push-back on any implication that this poll is an indicator of primary election results or current attitudes toward any victory.  But hey, I got on someone’s e-mail list… I guess that counts for something.

And finally, NSR has learned that “one IP address=one vote” would definitely have been the best option for a poll like this. I had previously  mistakenly mentioned that someone voted 146 times for Curtis Coleman from the same IP address. After reviewing the poll for this post it appeared that the 146 votes were cast for State Rep. Debra Hobbs instead. Not that there weren’t multiple votes for Coleman or Hutchinson, but this one took the cake.

hobbs

My oversight, going to correct previous post and tweets.

Thanks for reading, now… let the comments flow in!

NSR Lunch Links: Reform Thursday

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If you didn’t catch me on The Alice Stewart Show yesterday, I briefly touched on the Martha Shoffner resignation, and the need for increased transparency and stronger ethics legislation. Later, I happened upon an article by someone who definitely knows more about reform policy than I’d ever hope to know, Professor Jay Barth (H-endrix). Click on the link below for his take on the possibilities of reform and progress in the coming years in Arkansas.

Still ripe for reform in Arkansas?

yes….. the text is quite big…..

Also, if you are interested in why our congress is so out of whack, you would really enjoy REDISTRICTING: THE GAME.

Yes, that’s right, there is a game on redistricting, and it shows the player how map makers can make competitive districts and safe districts.

Unluckily the game is not available on X-BOX LIVE or Wii Channel….

Is there a need for an Independent redistricting commission? Play the game and let me know what you think….

Y’all know these polls are just for fun, right?

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Yeah, so someone on twitter quoted my poll on AR GOP gubernatorial primary showing Curtis Coleman leading Hobbs and ASA!.

You know these polls are non-scientific, right? Real polling is taken from a universe of registered voters that are randomly selected and then surveyed with a margin of error included.
This is an Internet poll…. I mean I had to delete an IP address that voted 146 times for Curtis Coleman.

Thanks to all who came to my site to take part in what is meant to be a fun handicapping poll of my blogs readers (however few they may be).
But please remember that this is not real polling by any stretch.

On a side note if any of y’all want to help me raise 5 Grand for a real poll to conduct, I will entertain that idea.

Thanks,

NSR

Follow NSR on twitter @naturalstaterep
E-mail me at NaturalStateReport@gmail.com