Today's Letter is 'L'

"L" is for:

• Liberal
• Lefty
• Loser

Sorry, but as of last night, the Alphabet begins with 'L'. 

Why?  It is my tribute to one man. 

That man?  Steve Driehaus, D, OH

As linked on Drudge (and reported in US News and World Report): 

There's nothing quite like a politician scorned.

When voters in Ohio's 1st Congressional District threw Democrat Steve Driehaus out of office after only one term, he did not bow out gracefully.  No, he decided to get even.  So he did what anyone does in today's culture: he sued somebody.

Charging that its activities contributed to his defeat and thus to his "loss of livelihood," Driehaus is suing the Susan B. Anthony List, a group that supports pro-life candidates for Congress and which has been one of the leading and most effective organizations involved in the fight to cut off federal funding to Planned Parenthood.
...
Amazingly, rather than laugh the suit out of court U.S. District Court judge Timothy S. Black, an Obama appointee, is allowing it to go forward.

...
Driehaus's suit is breaking new legal ground and may already be having a very chilling effect on political speech. It goes directly at the heart of our First Amendment protections and criminalizes what is at least a difference of opinion. And it's curious that the case has not received more attention from the national press.

What is equally curious, however, is why Judge Black has allowed the case to move forward and why he did not recuse himself from it since, as Barbara Hollingsworth reported Friday in The Washington Examiner, he apparently is the former president and director of the Planned Parenthood Association of Cincinnati.  As seeming conflicts of interest go this one is a real humdinger.

NOTE TO SELF:  Determine if 'humdinger' is an actual word in the vocabulary...

But wait, there's more!  I found the following on the HuffingtonPost from October, 2010:

Left Adrift by His Own Party, Ohio Democrat Steve Driehaus Fights On 
CINCINNATI – Beleaguered Democratic House incumbent Steve Driehaus is the antithesis of a stiff-upper-lip, suffer-in-silence politician. Confronted with bad news (and the 44-year-old freshman congressman has had more than his share this week in his rematch race against Republican Steve Chabot), Driehaus revels in his defiance.

Saturday morning, the red-faced Driehaus – leaving his blue blazer on the chair as he stood to rally 150 AFL-CIO union activists -- began his five-minute speech with an admission that most candidates would bury in the fine print of their Federal Election Commission reports.

A few beats later, the Bad News Bear candidate reminded the union-hall crowd, "You may have heard this week that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee pulled some of its ads for me down in this district."

"I got a call from my campaign manager this morning," he declared, with national AFL president Rich Trumka looking on. "She's a little worried that Steve Chabot raised more money than I did this quarter. Shocking."

About all that was missing was the lament that the Driehaus family dog was being held for ransom by the John Boehner Fan Club.
...
But unlike every other Democratic incumbent left adrift as the national party performed its triage to redirect money to races it considered more winnable, Driehaus launched an immediate counterattack. The congressman impulsively cut a minute-long video (primitively shot with the candidate, his collar-button open and his tie askew, sitting against a white wall decorated with a Driehaus campaign poster) that went up on ActBlue, a grassroots Democratic fund-raising website.

"I've had the guts to stand up for you when it comes to tough votes on health care, changing our economy, turning this around and making a difference while we stand up to Wall Street," Driehaus declared in the video before launching his hard sell:

"Let's send a message to the DCCC that you stand up for candidates who stand up for your principles."


Okay, let's summarize the above snippets as concisely as possible:

1. Steve Driehaus is suing the SBA-List because he lost his job - because a Pro-Life Group was 'mean' to him
2. The DCCC pulled funding for Steve Driehaus because they felt he could NOT win.  They were 'mean' to him also 
3. Timothy Black, a US District-Court judge appointed by President Obama in 2010, determined that this case WILL go to trial, in SPITE of the First Amendment  
4. Judge Black is the former Planned Parenthood President and Director (who also, according to Judgepedia, attended Harvard (big surprise here, huh?) and is endorsed by Naral - they, of course, protect the right of women to 'choose' to, um, kill babies)
5. Steve Driehaus "had the guts to stand up for you when it comes to tough votes on health care, changing our economy, turning this around and making a difference while we stand up to Wall Street".  The voters in Ohio had the guts to FIRE him

Bottom line(s): 

Steve Driehaus, the world, apparently, is a 'downright mean' place.  Michelle Obama taught me this.  I don't personally believe it, but if both you and Michelle O. say it, well, it must be true.  If anyone knows anything about 'mean' I'm sure a couple of pros like yourselves are 'down with' the concept of 'mean'.  After all, you are both Liberal Democrats.  You got the 'mean market' cornered.

So the DCCC pulled your funding because you were WAY behind in the polls?  Sue them.  They actively worked against you by taking the money you were so rightly entitled to.  Because in politics, it's all about 'entitlements' isn't it? 

Now we're asking a guy who used to get PAID to run a Planned Parenthood region to decide whether a lawsuit against a Pro-Life group should go forward?  It'd be funny, but well, you know, it's not.  Why this lunkhead didn't recuse himself is known only between himself and whatever non-religious-specific-diety he worships.  However, graduating from Harvard, he may just 'worship himself' when time allows.  Harvard grads are the absolute BEST at everything.  Too bad he didn't win a Nobel, or something, then he'd be pretty darn near 'infallable'. 

Steve, dude, you're a LOSER.

But here is my 3 Step plan for your personal recovery! 

STEP 1:  File your unemployment claim like the other 14 MILLION Americans who are unable to find employment in the economy which YOU helped to create.

STEP 2:  Shut up and just 'go away'

STEP 3:  Mutter to yourself, "The world is so mean" repeatedly as you fade from our Nation's collective memory