Ed Murray heads out, unfounded speculation fills vacuum

Opinion, Politics

January 5th, 2010  4 Comments

Oh goody goody gumdrops! The Dead Pelican has an exclusive report about the New Orleans Mayoral race. Think of all the incredible insights you’re about to learn. I wonder if by some miraculous chance the report involves anonymous sources and charges of national Democratic Party collusion on behalf of the Mitch Landrieu campaign.

Sources tell THE DEAD PELICAN that Murray’s exit has made Lt. Governor Mitch Landerieu the new front runner, and he will be difficult to beat.

This is partly because the National Democratic party plans to provide massive amounts of Cash in support of Landrieu’s mayoral bid, THE DEAD PELICAN has learned.

Mitch’s backing by the national Democratic party comes as part of a deal his sister Senator Mary Landrieu struck with the Obama white house.

This idea of the National Democratic Party supporting Mitch Landrieu was an article of faith for the Dead Pelican and his fellow conservative travelers back in 2006. Naturally, it was based on a false, retracted Drudge story, but that didn’t matter to them. They continued to believe it anyway and state it as fact, even though they knew (or should’ve known) where the real “outside interference” in that election was coming from (read: White House and GOP, on behalf of Nagin).

In an email, Jeffrey tells us that during a Tuesday interview on WWL 870am, demographer Elliot Stonecipher claimed that national Democratic interests pushed Murray out on behalf of Mary and Mitch Landrieu. Other conservative pundits are closely hewing to the line, as well.

For example, The Hayride opines:

So why would Murray pull out? The most obvious answer is the fix is in.

Many had suspected a strong interplay between Mitch getting the mayoral seat in New Orleans and Mary’s use of the political machines to manufacture the votes to get re-elected again in five years; she’s managed to squeak past three Republican opponents so far despite being continuously regarded as vulnerable, and it’s been the Orleans Parish vote which has saved her every time.

Do read that link if you want a good laugh about Republicans WHO STILL think Nagin was the best choice in 2006. These are not serious beings. They are massively uninformed or willfully delusional. Their arguments are strawdust, yet they keep peddling canards like “Mary needs Mitch to secure the ‘New Orleans vote’ so she can win re-election”. Paul at Wizbang! was saying the same thing four years ago: Mary needs Mitch to rebuild the projects in 18 months so 100,000 blacks can move back to N.O. and ride the buses to the polls so she can get re-elected. Of course, contra the Hayride and Paul and everyone else, Mary Landrieu didn’t need the (dreaded) New Orleans vote to get re-elected in 2008. She would’ve won by about 20,000 votes if you subtract the Orleans Parish numbers from the totals. But facts cannot overcome these hysterical conservative zombie myths. They persist, inexorably in the addled minds of these conservatives (who cannot get over Woody Jenkins defeat in 1996): Nagin was better than Mitch Landrieu! The Dems helped Mitch Landrieu! Mary Landrieu needed the New Orleans vote to win! All are false.

Anyway, back to the Hayride:

But with Landrieu’s scandalous “Louisiana Purchase” vote on the senate health care bill trashing her approval ratings and reputation, the Orleans machine vote is going to be absolutely indispensable when she comes up for re-election in 2014. She’s going to need someone who can turn out/manufacture more votes than perhaps ever before, or else she’s toast.

And to generate that kind of machinery, you need more patronage than just a U.S. senator can generate. You need a mayor at the strings who can dole out jobs and contracts to really run a good machine….

Little surprise, then, that in the wake of Murray’s departure from the race the buzz has it that big national Democratic money is headed to New Orleans in support of Mitch’s campaign. One gets the impression that Murray was either frightened off or bought off by the national party.

So we’re going to treat as fact an anonymous report by the Dead Pelican on an issue that the DP was dead wrong about four years ago? I guess so! And it was false myths like these that helped lead to the re-election of Ray Nagin (not to mention corrupt Greg Meffert, world-class blowhard Ed Blakely, and the ineffectual Police Chief Warren Riley). And yes, I hold these conservative pundits and activists partially responsible for the colossal wreckage of Nagin’s second term in the wake of the Federal Flood.

And since both Murray and Landrieu are Democrats, the only deduction one can make from the above is that we’re now seeing the added benefit to the Landrieu’s of Mary’s healthcare vote. Specifically, the Democratic National Committee has now decided the New Orleans mayor’s race in favor of her brother as an additional compensation for her vote – the $300 million we knew about was only part of the bargain.

It’s the “only deduction” that can be made, you see? Other possibilities are unimaginable. Murray and Landrieu are both Democrats, see, and party means so much in Orleans parish. Is there an “off” position to the conservative “dumb switch”, when it comes to the name Landrieu? I’d really like to know. (Mary’s likely not running for re-election, so chillax you fevered wingtards.)

Who else? Ah yes, Professor Sadow puts his own spin on the issue:

Murray may have been a victim of national political trends that may have made Democrats look bad. Given his entrance just prior to his sister Sen. Mary Landrieu’s crucial votes to allow health care legislation that would raise premiums, taxes, and lower the quality of care to advance, it’s theorized that part of Mary’s motivation for supporting the bad legislation was promises for Democrat fat cats to contribute to Mitch and not to Murray. Then, Murray fell on his sword to prevent Democratic infighting that might damage the already rapidly-souring Democrat hopes later in 2010.

Again, what’s the double bankshot idea that’s in play here? That Democratic “fat cats” who were going to support Murray were ordered by Obama to support Mitch so that Mary’s health care vote could be secured? Really? In actuality, many prospective donors immediately jumped the ships of several candidates when Mitch entered the field. But for these pundits, it always comes back to some grand Landrieu conspiracy about delivering “the New Orleans vote” to Mary or other Dems in the next election. It cannot be otherwise. But I can’t follow Sadow’s logic here: how does it help the Democratic party to lose a Democratic Lieutenant Governor to a mayoral position that is solidly Democratic anyway? Are we to think that Murray’s withdrawal will somehow substantially help Rep. Melancon become Senator, or Rep Cao be defeated? That will tamp down the in-fighting in some sort of important way that will make an electoral difference? Come on! If you’re going to make arguments based on premises relying on unsourced DP bulletins and cagey “it’s theorized that” phrases, can’t you come up with something more persuasive?

Now, I don’t know exactly why Ed Murray pulled out of the race so abruptly. Gambit political analyst Clancy Dubos explains the puzzling move by saying Murray didn’t want to commit more personal funds to the effort, and that his “moral compass” wouldn’t allow him to play “the race card” against Mitch Landrieu. In light of my political experience, I’m a little more skeptical that there aren’t other subterranean reasons afoot— perhaps some involving candidate John Georges. Time will tell on this one. But the conservative line about some grand conspiracy involving Mary Landrieu and the Democratic Party making deals is unsubstantiated speculation, very much like the false and outlandish claims made in 2006.