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C-L's Love Letter to Haley
By Todd StaufferThe Ledger gives one last smooch to Governor Barbour, "political genius."
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Smokin' the Polls
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour is smoking the polls. Well, one poll anyway. The Raleigh, N.C.-based firm Public Policy Polling, which Democratic pollster Dean Debnam founded, unveiled its findings Friday, Dec. …
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Barbour to Challenge Health Care Reform
Gov. Haley Barbour yesterday asked Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood to challenge the constitutionality of the health-care reform legislation passed by the U.S. Congress on Sunday. If Hood refuses to …
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Under Fire, Barbour Backtracks on Personhood Doubt
Gov. Haley Barbour is trying to unring a bell after raising concerns about the wording of Initiative 26, Mississippi's Personhood amendment, earlier this week on several cable news shows. (Watch …
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Crime
Mississippi Executes First Inmate in Nine Years
Last evening the State of Mississippi executed David Neal Cox, 50, by way of lethal injection. The execution marks the first case of capital punishment carried out by the state …
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Barbour: What's In a Name?
This week, with the two-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina approaching, it's worth noting that the storm is still trying to knock down one more person as it blows its way …
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Minor: Haley Should Release Tax Returns
In Bill Minor's syndicated column this week, he argues that Gov. Haley Barbour should be more accountable to the public:
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Stop the ‘Boys Will Be Boys' Attitude; It Kills Women
As we approach Chick Ball weekendstarting with a poignant one-woman show about a victim of domestic abuse and ending with a celebration of women and their artI urge everyone to …
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State
Former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour Arrested with Loaded Handgun at Security Checkpoint in Airport
Former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour arrested with loaded handgun at security checkpoint in airport.
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Week One: Budget Cuts
A new round of budget cuts expected later this week will affect all state agencies, Gov. Haley Barbour told business leaders at the Mississippi Economic Council's "Capitol Day," Jan. 8. …
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Art
Tobacco Tout Out of Touch
Anti-smoking group Communities for a Clean Bill of Health released a poll this week revealing Mississippians' support for a $1 cigarette tax increase over Gov. Haley Barbour's proposed plan to …
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Barbour Used Ledger to Excuse Non-Disclosure
Be sure not to miss the juicy tidbit in Adam's cover story this week about BlindTrust-gate, which I also talk about in my editor's note about Barbour. That is, Barbour's …
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Barbour Calls Special Session
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour called a special session this afternoon to consider increasing the amount that state, county and municipal employees pay toward retirement. Barbour, who made the announcement about …
Entry
Barbour's Chickens Turn Out to be Buzzards
By RonniMottYou ought to know you're in trouble when the folks who should be your biggest cheerleaders come and do a dance on your head and slap you around a bit.
Former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour has been a player in the Republican Party for decades. As a matter of fact, he was one of the big conservative brains (along with Lee Atwater) that came up with the Southern Strategy, a political mindset that has kept Southern politics stuck on the battlefield of black versus white since the days of Ronald Reagan. Barbour served as Reagan's political director and as chairman of the Republican National Committee.
Some might say that Mr. Barbour had a hand in stirring up the witch's brew that created right-wingers like the Tea Party—and I'd agree. But if he stirred the pot, he sure has no control over its content.
Now, Barbour is blasting conservatives, especially those on the ultra-shaggy edges of the right-wing fringe. The Washington Post calls them—the roughly 45 Republicans in Congress who refuse to bend at all, ever, under any circumstances—cast-iron conservatives .
“When you control the House, the Democrats control the Senate and the White House, you can’t exactly cram your stuff down their throat,” Barbour said in a Post TV "In Play" interview yesterday. “Some of our friends sometimes forget that.”
“The guys that wanted to make Obamacare the trip wire for closing down the government and making Obama cave in … that’s not going to happen; that was never going to happen,” he added.
Barbour goes on to blame the conservative troubles on—wait for it—outside agitators. The problem is, they're skunks of the same stripes:
Barbour went on to note that his bigger concern for the party moving forward was the number of outside conservative groups — he mentioned the Senate Conservatives Fund and the Club For Growth by name — who seek to vilify Republican Members of Congress for allegedly breaking with party orthodoxy.
“Some of these same people go out and raise money for outside organizations that attack the other Republicans not over principle, not over policy … over tactics,” said Barbour. “There is no excuse for making people think a conservative Congressman who has a 98 percent conservative voting record is a bad person because you disagree with his tactics.”
See the WaPo's The Fix blog for the entire interview.
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Another Nod To Big Tobacco
Former tobacco lobbyist Gov. Haley Barbour announced March 27 that he was vetoing a bill to provide $20 million a year to The Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi, an anti-smoking …
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Barbour Faces Budget Opposition
... especially on education cuts. The Clarion-Ledger reports today: On Tuesday, dozens of lawmakers — mostly GOP allies — gathered with Barbour to pledge support for the changes. "I'm willing …
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Mississippi Ex-Gov. Barbour Sued Over Photos in Katrina Book
A photographer is suing former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, saying he used her copyrighted work without permission in his 2015 book, "America's Great Storm: Leading Through Hurricane Katrina."
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Governor Chides Lawmakers for Unfinished Business
Gov. Haley Barbour took time off from nationwide GOP fundraising efforts to announce that he has no plan to call a special session to address the state's non-existent budget just …
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Business
A Duty to Disclose?
Mississippi environmentalists say former Gov. Haley Barbour isn't telling the whole truth about his eager boosterism for Mississippi Power Co.'s Kemper County Coal project.
