[Swiftwater Gazette] Blank Screen

Tue Oct 20 11:07:24 EDT 2009

Elle,

Update below.  Actually, I'm starting to like this woman - she's gonna
save me a lot of money.  The next time the GOP calls asking for a
donation, I'm going to mention Dede's name and explain why I'm
personally choosing the candidates I support. It IS imperative that we
replace the current Congress but that doesn't mean a candidate
automatically gets my support because they have an R behind their
name.

Got Tea?

Brad

-------------

Scozzafava Calls the Cops

Lowville, N.Y.
Tonight, Dede Scozzafava, the Republican candidate for the November 3
special election in the 23rd congressional district, spoke to about
100 Republicans at the Lewis County GOP dinner at the Elks Lodge 1605.
After a dinner of turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing, Scozzafava
fended off criticism that she wasn't as conservative as third-party
candidate Doug Hoffman and urged her supporters to vote for her in
order to keep her Democratic opponent Bill Owens from serving as a
rubber stamp for Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama's agenda in Washington.
It was a fairly typical evening--until the speech ended and someone
with Scozzafava's campaign called the police. On me.

Earlier today Lindsay Beyerstein reported that Scozzafava responded to
an AFL-CIO questionnaire by saying she would support card-check
legislation that eliminates the secret ballot requirement for
organizing unions. As Beyerstein notes, this contradict statements
made by a Scozzafava spokesman in September.

So after the dinner, I asked Assemblywoman Scozzafava if she supports
card check. "Yes, yes I do," she replied.

At that point someone from her campaign placed himself between
Scozzafava and me and told me I should direct all my inquires to the
campaign's spokesman. I nonetheless asked Scozzafava if her signing of
the Americans for Tax Reform pledge not to vote to raise taxes means
she would oppose any health care bill that raises taxes. "What kind of
taxes?" she replied. Then another couple of gentlemen interposed
themselves between Scozzafava and me as Scozzafava headed for the
door.

I spotted Scozzafava later as she was walking to the parking lot, and
asked her: " Assemblywoman, do you believe that the health-care bill
should exclude coverage for abortion?" She didn't reply. I asked her
twice more. Silence.

After she got into her car, I went to my car and fired up my laptop to
report the evening's events.

Minutes later a police car drove into the parking lot with its lights
flashing. Officer Grolman informed me that she was called because
"there was a little bit of an uncomfortable situation" and then took
down my name, date of birth, and address.

"Maybe we do things a little differently here, but you know,
persistence in that area, you scared the candidate a little bit,"
Officer Grolman told me.

"[Scozzafava] got startled, that's all," Officer Grolman added. "It's
not like you're in any trouble."

That was good to hear.

But I do wonder if it’s the Scozzafava campaign that’s in
trouble--with a candidate who supports card check, who is unwilling to
say she’d oppose a health care bill that raises taxes or includes
abortion coverage, and who is so reluctant to answer questions that
she has someone with her campaign call the cops when she’s questioned
by a reporter who is (if I may say so) polite--if a bit persistent.

Posted by John McCormack on October 19, 2009 11:14 PM | Permalink

On 10/19/09, elle <ragdollelle at yahoo.com> wrote:
>>Watch the NY 23rd Congressional race.  The GOP candidate
> in that race needs to go down in flames, she's a bum.
>
> Who is she?
> elle
>
> --- On Sun, 10/18/09, Brad Haslett <flybrad at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> From: Brad Haslett <flybrad at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Swiftwater Gazette] Blank Screen
> To: SwiftwaterGazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com
> Date: Sunday, October 18, 2009, 6:58 PM
>
> Elle,
>
> I'm with you on the VA & NJ Guv races - send a message.  Having said
> that, it won't do any good to "throw the bums out" if new bums
> get/stay in.  Watch the NY 23rd Congressional race.  The GOP candidate
> in that race needs to go down in flames, she's a bum.  Marc Rubio is
> gaining on Charlie Crist in the Florida Senate race - Crist needs to
> go.  Ed's got a Senator in his backyard (the one who is not his
> friend) that need's taken behind the woodshed for a fantasy v reality
> conversation. Your basic premise is correct, these people need to ask
> themselves whether they want to follow "The One" over the cliff or
> not.
>
> Brad
>
>
> On 10/18/09, elle <ragdollelle at yahoo.com> wrote:
>> I'm thinking the races in Va & NJ are an early referendum on O'Baby....if
>> the Republicans  prevail some Dems may back up a bit on their support
>> of some of these wild policies. being promoted to 'save' America.
>>
>>  Russian helicopters???Did I hear correctly?? When our economy  &
>> umemployment are on the skids???)
>>
>> elle
>>
>>
>> --- On Sun, 10/18/09, Brad Haslett <flybrad at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>> From: Brad Haslett <flybrad at gmail.com>
>> Subject: [Swiftwater Gazette] Blank Screen
>> To: "Letters to the Editor"
>> <swiftwatergazette at mailman.theswiftwatergazette.com>
>> Date: Sunday, October 18, 2009, 8:09 AM
>>
>>
>> O's 'blank screen'
>>
>> By LYNN FORESTER DE ROTHSCHILD
>>
>> Last Updated: 4:37 AM, October 17, 2009
>>
>> Posted: 12:14 AM, October 17, 2009
>>
>> IN "The Audacity of Hope," Barack Obama described himself as "a blank
>> screen on which people of vastly different political stripes project
>> their own views." This is a powerful tool in elections and explains
>> why liberals, moderates, Democrats, Independents and Republicans
>> joined together to give him 53 percent of the vote last November.
>>
>> Since his election, this "blank screen" has been an asset, allowing
>> the new president to maintain an illusion of progress, even as he has
>> avoided the hard choices necessary for progress. But, as Americans
>> ponder the unavoidable consequences of the president's policies --
>> particularly health-care reform -- the illusion is wearing thin.
>>
>> The government has spent $3 trillion to prop up Wall Street and take
>> over the big insurance and auto industries -- yet the middle class and
>> small businesses continue to suffer. Fifteen million workers remain
>> without jobs; 32 percent of Americans' homes are worth less than their
>> mortgages -- and a whopping 61 percent of Americans are living from
>> paycheck to paycheck.
>>
>> For these reasons, the American people have begun to judge President
>> Obama on his record, not his rhetoric; on his policies, not his
>> narrative -- and on his ability to govern, not on his campaign
>> machine.
>>
>> The cool and reasonable candidate who gave hope to his voters, who
>> promised to rise above the ugly politics and big money of Washington,
>> is turning out to be as conventional a politician as any other.
>> Indeed, as he runs a permanent campaign from the White House, he is
>> proving to be more committed to protecting the vested interests of his
>> party than standing up for actual change.
>>
>> A gentleman I met recently in Washington, DC, could well be the poster
>> child for Obama's problems. Like many Americans, he greeted Obama's
>> entry to the White House with high expectations. But increasingly, he
>> finds himself at odds with the president. He came to the United States
>> from Haiti in the '80s with nothing; he was able to learn English, get
>> a job as a driver and put two children through college.
>>
>> I asked him if he would not have preferred if our country had
>> guaranteed him a job, a pension, health care and a college education
>> for his children. He told me no -- and gave three reasons.
>>
>> First, he said, he takes pride in knowing what he has done for his
>> family. Second, he knows that the government does not, cannot, know
>> what he wants for himself and his family. Third, he knows that what
>> government gives, it can take away.
>>
>> Having lived the American dream, he realizes that the individualism at
>> the heart of American democracy is what is actually at stake in the
>> present debates over the president's many policies.
>>
>> Immigrant or native-born, it's written in the American DNA: A
>> paternalistic government threatens our independence, our individuality
>> and our right to self-determination. It's why Jefferson sang praise to
>> the yeoman farmer and Jackson to the common man. It's the principle
>> that Reagan placed at the heart of his presidency, and that Clinton
>> built on by advancing policies that empowered individuals -- not
>> policies that made individuals beholden to the state.
>>
>> In contrast, President Obama's praise for the free market and
>> individual liberty just doesn't ring true -- because his record does
>> not reflect his rhetoric. His actions show a fundamental disconnect
>> with American values -- a disconnect that won't be dispelled with
>> captivating speeches, no matter how masterfully delivered.
>>
>> It is for this reason that so many Americans are uneasy about Obama's
>> health-care plan. The promised benefits don't add up. It's just not
>> possible for the government to simultaneously a) provide care for 30
>> million more people, b) not increase the budget deficit and c) allow
>> anyone who is satisfied with their health care package to experience
>> no change.
>>
>> In repeatedly insisting that he'll deliver all three results at once,
>> Obama has lost credibility: 80 percent of Americans polled said that
>> his health-care reform will raise costs or diminish quality of care.
>>
>> On the back of total federal debt that is already over 70 percent of
>> our total GDP, and in light of $34 trillion of existing unfunded
>> liabilities in Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, the president's
>> lack of actual, as opposed to rhetorical, fiscal discipline further
>> erodes his authority.
>>
>> In light of all the political capital that true and sensible
>> health-care reform would cost him, it is most likely that President
>> Obama will accept legislation that fails in all but name. In such a
>> case, the president will claim victory -- but not solve our
>> health-care problems. It will be another empty triumph of his "blank
>> screen" politics.
>>
>> And voters will find that they elected not another FDR, but another
>> Jimmy Carter.
>>
>> Lynn Forester de Rothschild is CEO of E.L. Rothschild Ltd. and founder
>> of Together4Us.com, a political Web site.
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>>
>>
>>
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