West Virginia Blue
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To Democrats, moderates, progressives, liberals and independents, i.e. 60% of America; it is, indeed, a confusing political time. While many of us want Obama to win re-election, most of us concede that any incumbent President running for re-election with 8.5% unemployment is highly vulnerable and likely to be defeated. So it just seems weird that that the Republicans don't seem to be treating this whole election-thing seriously.
What's going on?
Yes, Obama is vulnerable. But the Republicans are flocking to Newt Gingrich. A man with near 100% name ID among likely voters and near 60% unfavorable ratings. 60%! It's almost as if Obama pulled a reverse Watergate, broke into the GOP headquarters, drugged the chairman and had a Mission Impossible style replacement mask put on James Carville who took over things just to screw with Republicans.
But that doesn't quite seem plausible, so here are two other theories.
1. Insanity rage. Anyone beyond a certain age has known friends or family members who were perfectly sane and rational for their entire life and then simply snapped. If it can happen to individuals, it can happen to an entire political party. Sometimes severe trauma can do it. Sometimes it's just blind rage. We've all seen people who are so blinded by rage in a bitter divorce that they reject the mild mannered, efficient lawyer who can draw up a quick property settlement with minimum fees and hassle. Sure, their ex-spouse will get a lot, but your friend will get more this way than if any other way is pursued. By contrast, there is the person who says, "I don't care if I have to spend 150% of my $5 million network! I don't care if I become homeless and have to beg on the streets for the rest of my life! I would rather starve to death than give my spouse a single penny!" So this person hires a lawyer who is skilled at lengthy depositions, hiring private eyes, and firing lots of nuisance law suits. Mission accomplished. Ex- spouse gets nothing. Your friend ends up bankrupt and living in a box on the street.
In this scenario, Republicans are so filled with intense, utter blind rage of Obama, all they care about is finding the one person who can attack, vilify and trash-talk Obama the most forcefully. Well, no one can seriously dispute that Gingrich is uniquely talented for that. Republicans hate Obama so much all they care about is inflicting pain. That's why they don't care about any of New Gingrich's shortcomings. That's why the various so-called family values coalitions rally around the thrice-married, serial adulterous Gingrich against the once-married, idyllic family man Obama. That's why Tea Party members who hate career politicians who get rich off of lobbying and stay in Washington for 35 years don't care about Gingrich's Freddie Mac contracts.
News Flash: it just doesn't matter! Newt Gingrich can publicly marry 5 wives at the same time, he can have a live pay-per-view webcast sexually assaulting an underage boy paid for by the National Endowment by the Arts and it just won't matter. The only thing that matters is hating and trashing Obama, and Gingrich is the best there is among official candidates. Of course if Republicans really had their way, the ticket would be Ann Coulter/Rush Limbaugh in 2012 (who knows, maybe a brokered convention will create that ticket).
Republicans are taking the attitude that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. And since Obama is the enemy and Gingrich trashes Obama better than anyone, Gingrich is Obama's worst enemy therefore Gingrich is the Republican's #1 friend.
2. The second scenario has a slightly different beginning, but then blends into the same result. In this scenario, the cause of Republicans flocking to an unelectable scoundrel like Newt Gingrich is the result of Republicans now living in a hermetically sealed bubble. This is a media bubble, geographic bubble, religious bubble, and social bubble.
First, the media. Thanks to the continued rise of Fox News, and conservative websites, plus the steady influence of talk radio, it is now possible for a person to be a news junkie, consider himself to be extraordinarily well-informed, and NEVER hear anything positive about President Obama. In the conservative media universe, where most Republicans now get most of their news, the dominant world view is that President Obama is the worst president in the history of the country. Obama is the most corrupt, least talented and most disastrous leader in the history of the world. Obamacare is the single worst act of public policy ever created. Obama is a foreign-born Muslim socialist who through some fluke slipped into the White House accidently. Now that his hideous flaws have been revealed daily for almost 4 years, Obama will be voted out of office, perhaps by a 95% margin, and sent back on a boat to Africa, where he came from and where he belongs.
It is now possible to hear that worldview perpetuated from a variety of media sources that (if you are a conservative Republican) you trust and admire. Furthermore, it is now easy to surround yourself with friends who all share your beliefs. And everyone at your Christian, suburban, white, Protestant church shares your worldview. And everyone in your neighborhood does too.
So imagine a world where every single trusted media source from the Wall Street Journal, to Fox to Newsmax all agree that Obama will be easily defeated because he is the worst president ever. And every friend you have feels the same. And everyone you work with feels the same. And everyone at your church feels the same. Suddenly, it becomes quite difficult to imagine any reality in which Obama is not the worst President ever and destined to an electoral defeat of epic proportion.
In this bubble, the whole concept of a GOP candidate's "electability" seems quaint and, frankly, irrelevant. In this view, Newt Gingrich is eminently electable because any and every Republican over the age of 35 and born in America (ha, take that Obama!) is electable.
Electability is relative. Since conservatives cannot conceive any circumstances where Obama could b e re-elected, then of course Gingrich is electable. In this sense, Gingrich is "thin" for a presidential candidate, if your comparison pool consists of William Howard Taft and Newt Gingrich.
So why can Romney never be acceptable to a majority of Conservative Republicans today? Quite simply, the problem with Romney is that he does not hate Obama. Romney isn't willing to call Obama a monster. For Christ's sake, Romney isn't even willing to call Obama a socialist or a communist! (He only hints at it). The problem conservatives have with Romney is that they suspect, deep down, that Romney secretly likes and respects Obama and that is the most despicable thing they can think of in a GOP presidential candidate.
Conservatives believe that Romney is bland and milk toast candidates like that don't win elections, because they end up like John McCain and Bob Dole. So to the conservative Republican trapped in the conservative bubble, Romney is actually less electable than Newt Gingrich. And all the polls that show Romney is eminently more acceptable to moderates, independents, and conservative Democrats? They all come from the liberal media and conservatives are too smart to fall for setup tricks from the evil liberal media!
So what do conservatives really want? They want a debate between Obama and Gingrich. And in that debate, they want Gingrich to turn to Obama and sneer "Please get your skinny black ass back on a boat and go back to Kenya where you belong. And don't even think of stepping back into the White House again unless you are willing to swap your grass skirt for a butler's uniform so you can fetch me my tea!"
This is what conservatives mean when they say Gingrich can "beat" Obama in a debate. And when Gingrich does deliver that sound bite, he will have won that 40% of conservative America forever. He will be their lord and savior. But in the process, Gingrich will alienate every single moderate, independent, and conservative Democrat in the nation, thus guaranteeing an Obama landslide victory along with a Democratic sweep of the House and Senate and a possible Democratic re-alignment that could last a generation.
Some of you may be asking, isn't there the chance that conservatives simply have policy differences with Obama? Uh, no. this is entirely personal. Regarding foreign policy, Obama has killed Bin Laden and largely continued Bush's wars and fight against terrorism. Liberals have a problem with Obama's foreign policy, not conservatives.
What about domestic policy? Obama repudiated what every liberal asked for: a single-payer government run universal health care plan. Instead, Obama enacted the Nixon health care plan along with all of the Heritage foundation-advocated mandates. As former Reagan Administration official, Jack Kemp-Ron Paul adviser Bruce Bartlett has written, Obama has governed like a "moderate-conservative Republican."
No, the problems Republicans have with Obama are not political, they are personal (and yes, racial).
So what should Democratic supporters of President Obama do these days when having conversations with Gingrich-supporting Republicans? Here is what I recommend:
1. Whatever you do, don't tell them we want them to nominate Newt Gingrich and that we think Gingrich will be really easy to beat because he is the most detestable national political figure of the last 20 years.
2. When Republicans say "Newt is a great debater and will destroy Obama in the fall debates," just smile and say "Newt sure has done well against Romney and the others in the primary debates." Do not point out that if Newt bashes the media or attacks Obama as the "food stamp" president in a fall debate that he will look like a complete ass to the independent voters who will decide the election.
3. When more headlines pop up claiming that Gingrich has 60% unfavorably ratings and is, in fact, less popular than Charles Manson, Republicans will counter that this is just liberal media spin and that, in fact, Newt is highly electable. Bite your tongue. Do not correct your Republican friends. Instead, simply say, "Any incumbent running at a time of high unemployment will have a hard time winning re-election.
4. When Republicans ponder who Newt should pick as his running mate, please suggest Ann Coulter, or, better yet, Sarah Palin! If you are going to go over-the-top, go all the way!
The Democratic Party and President Obama's re-election brain trust are doing cartwheels and giving each other high-fives over the news that Newt Gingrich is surging in the polls in Florida and won the South Carolina primary.
"Thank you, thank you, and thank you. We couldn't have done it better ourselves! You have just voted for a candidate who is viewed unfavorably by 60% of American voters according to the non-partisan Public Policy Polling organization! If there is less popular American politician not currently serving time in prison, we are not aware of one. We are hoping and praying that other Republican Primary voters follow your example and vote for Newt "open marriage" "grandiose" "dump your wives as soon as they get sick" Gingrich in future primaries.
We believe voters selected Newt for Two Reasons: 1. By calling Obama the "Food stamp President" Gingrich let voters know that he shares their belief that a black man should not be allowed to be in the White House unless he is a butler. 2. When Newt showers liberals and the media with contempt, he's damn good at it. You really get the idea that Newt hates and resents liberals. Whereas voters get the feeling that Romney personally likes liberals and the media and gets along with them most of the time.
If the GOP does nominate Gingrich, Obama's re-election is virtually guaranteed. Obama could appoint Willie Horton as Secretary of Defense and turn Camp David into a crack house and still easily beat the cartoonishly detestable Newt Gingrich in a general election."
Today's Republican Party is full of talented and accomplished leaders, like Governor Mitch Daniels of Indiana and former Governor Jeb Bush of Florida. Sadly, not one of these leaders has chosen to run for President.
Instead, the Republican Party is left with the greatest collection of four clowns since Shemp joined the original Three Stooges.
Witness the following:
1. Mitt Romney. Romney is so awkward and politically tone death that he makes Michael Dukakis and John Kerry look like Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan. Before our eyes, Romney is morphing from a leading candidate for president into a leading candidate to star in a remake of the "Grey Poupon" mustard commercials. Romney might not be a low-IQ, homophobic bigot like some candidates, but he makes Louis the XIV seem like a man of the people. It seems only a matter of time before Romney announces in a debate that the person who had the greatest impact on his life was Leona Helmsly when she said "only the little people pay taxes.
2. Newt Gingrich. Where to begin? Newt isn't the most detestable politician you can think of; he is the most detestable human being you can imagine. Period! Newt is the sort of person who if he asked for your permission to marry your daughter or sister, you would offer him a large sum of money to leave quietly and move to another state, or else. If you close your eyes and try to imagine a politician who is utterly repugnant at every single intellectual, moral and even physical level, you would not be able to come up with something worse than a Newt Gingrich.
3. Rick Santorum. Rick Santorum has all the wit, charm and class of that guy in high school who threw your gay cousin in the dumpster behind the cafeteria. The more you get to know Santorum, as the good voters of Pennsylvania did, the more you want to kick him out of office by nearly 20 points, as the good voters of Pennsylvania did.
4. Ron Paul. Ever meet a Ron Paul supporter, and not just at a Klan rally or Hitler reenactment party? Have you ever talked to a Ron Paul supporter for 10 minutes? Case closed.
While we at AmericanLP are working tirelessly to support President Obama and all Democratic candidates at the Federal level and we are pulling for every tactical advantage we can get, we have to confess that something doesn't seem right here. This is starting to seem too easy. It's almost like the Republicans are throwing away the election needlessly. The four remaining GOP Presidential candidates is the greatest collection of political losers ever assembled with the possible exception of when David Duke dines alone.
The same House Republicans who can justify any tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans are ducking an effort to vote for the bipartisan Senate bill to extend the payroll tax cuts.
The Republicans know a payroll tax cut will help millions of Americans and provide a needed boost to help the economy, but since their entire goal is to keep President Obama from being re-elected, they'd rather the nation suffer than do something to help America.
Republican darling South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has some explaining to do about her forming a nonpartisan committee to study creation of a state health exchange to help the uninsured:
Meanwhile, back in May, the Charleston Post & Courier filed a Freedom of Information request with the governor's office for information on the committee. For its efforts, the paper received some press releases and nothing of great interest. Then in November the newspaper filed an almost identical public records request with the Department of Health and Human Services.
This time, the answer included a number of emails to and from the governor, which had either conveniently not been saved by Haley's office or just not included in the May response.
Among them was a message from Haley to her top aides and the person who wrote the committee's report seven months later - DHHS Director Tony Keck - telling everybody up front that despite the wording of her own order, the point of the panel was not to consider the idea of a state health exchange but "to figure out how to opt out and how to avoid a federal takeover, NOT create a state exchange."
Given that bombshell, revealed by the newspaper last week, those committee members unaware of the plan, who spent hours debating, researching and investigating in the faith that they were actually doing something, were understandably upset. One person involved called the whole thing "kabuki theater - all for show." The story so far - dictating the outcome of a supposedly independent, nonpartisan committee beforehand, and then omitting public records from a response to a FOI request - was bad enough. But then came the stonewalling, backtracking, obfuscation and deflection as the office bristled at being called out.
In case Newt Gingrich does get the GOP nomination, my group, AmericanLP, wants to be ready. So we are in planning stages for casting and shooting a commercial like the one below. Please contact me if you know anyone who would be interested in starring in the ad.
Open Casting call for White Woman age30-45 who fits this personal description willing to appear in national broadcast TV ad
:60 TV Ad
(Emotional instrumental background music)
Middle-aged woman speaking right into camera
"Newt Gingrich is absolutely right when he says nobody but Christ is perfect and that everyone deserves forgiveness. Still...
My own father cheated on my mother and left us for a younger woman...those were hard times.
A few years ago, my own husband left me for a younger woman...we've had some really hard times.
So what am I supposed to tell my son now about how to treat women? Newt Gingrich has twice as many ex-wives as all previous Presidents of the United States combined. It's been well-documented that Newt has repeatedly and flagrantly cheated on numerous wives. It seems like Newt has used women and tossed them aside his whole life.
What kind of message does it send to my son that you can screw and screw over as many women as you can get your hands on your entire life, and then, at age 70, which is how old Gingrich would be in his first year, claim that you've "matured" and be given the highest honor in the world by serving as President? I want a president I can look up to as the best of what we're all about, not the worst.
I'm not saying we have to go back to the 1950s, but can't we have some standards? Committing adultery is one of the 10 commandments. Is it really enough to say, 'sorry, I've matured?' Where do we draw the line? Are we going to elect convicted murders or rapists, just because they say, 'I realize that I was less than perfect and now that I'm 70 I promise not to murder anymore?'
I want a President I can look up to, not someone who reminds me of the worst betrayals in my life."
More info at www.americanlp.org and www.dailynational.com
Keeping President Obama from succeeding at getting people back to work and turning the country around is the goal of the Republican Party just as it is to break the institutions of government so they then can say government is broken. A Republican staffer has come clean:
It was this cast of characters and the pernicious ideas they represent that impelled me to end a nearly 30-year career as a professional staff member on Capitol Hill. A couple of months ago, I retired; but I could see as early as last November that the Republican Party would use the debt limit vote, an otherwise routine legislative procedure that has been used 87 times since the end of World War II, in order to concoct an entirely artificial fiscal crisis. Then, they would use that fiscal crisis to get what they wanted, by literally holding the US and global economies as hostages.
snip
It should have been evident to clear-eyed observers that the Republican Party is becoming less and less like a traditional political party in a representative democracy and becoming more like an apocalyptic cult, or one of the intensely ideological authoritarian parties of 20th century Europe. This trend has several implications, none of them pleasant.
The next section is a good reminder that while I disagree with many of our state's Democrats in office on many issues, it is important not to lump them all together because that only helps the long-term goals of the Republicans to tear down the institution of a democratically elected government itself:
A couple of years ago, a Republican committee staff director told me candidly (and proudly) what the method was to all this obstruction and disruption. Should Republicans succeed in obstructing the Senate from doing its job, it would further lower Congress's generic favorability rating among the American people. By sabotaging the reputation of an institution of government, the party that is programmatically against government would come out the relative winner.
A deeply cynical tactic, to be sure, but a psychologically insightful one that plays on the weaknesses both of the voting public and the news media. There are tens of millions of low-information voters who hardly know which party controls which branch of government, let alone which party is pursuing a particular legislative tactic. These voters' confusion over who did what allows them to form the conclusion that "they are all crooks," and that "government is no good," further leading them to think, "a plague on both your houses" and "the parties are like two kids in a school yard." This ill-informed public cynicism, in its turn, further intensifies the long-term decline in public trust in government that has been taking place since the early 1960s - a distrust that has been stoked by Republican rhetoric at every turn ("Government is the problem," declared Ronald Reagan in 1980).
Emphasis throughout mine.
James Fallows at The Atlantic sums up the GOP staffer's essay well how fragile democracy is when a determined minority seeks to use the very institutions to undermine it instead of governing in good faith:
More fundamentally, Lofgren argues that today's Republicans believe they are better off if government as a whole is shown to fail, not just this Democratic Administration. Republican hard-liners might seem to have "lost" the debt-ceiling showdown, in that they wound up even less popular than the Democrats are. But in the long view, Lofgren says, unpopularity for anyone in Congress, including their party's leaders, helps the Republicans: "Undermining Americans' belief in their own institutions of self-government remains a prime GOP electoral strategy," because it buildings a nihilistic suspicion of any public effort, from road-building to Medicare to schools. (Except defense.)
Fallows also publishes an email from a Democratic staffer:
Privately, many of us who have worked in Congress since before the Clinton Administration have been complaining about the loss of the respect for the institution by the Members who were elected to serve their constituents through the institution. I don't think people realize how fragile democracy really is. The 2012 campaign is currently looking to be the final nail in the coffin unless people start to understand what is going on.
One thing that especially resonated with me about Mike's piece is the importance of "low information" voters. The mainstream media absolutely fails to understand how little attention average Americans really pay to what goes on in all forms of government. During our 2008 race, our pollster taught me (hard to believe it took me 24 years to learn this) that the average voter spends only 5 minutes thinking about for whom to vote for Congress. All the millions of dollars of TV ads, all the thousands of robo-calls and door-knocks, and it all comes down to having a message that will stick in the voters' minds during the 5 minutes before they walk into the voting booth.
The media likes to call this group "independents," which implies that they think so long and deeply about issues that they refuse to be constrained by the philosophy of either party. There may be a couple of people out there who fit that definition, but those are not the persuadable voters campaigns are trying to capture.
A survey of 3,000 self-identified Tea Party members punctures a lot of myths about the people in the Tea Party leading the Republican Party down the rabbit hole:
Our analysis casts doubt on the Tea Party's "origin story." Early on, Tea Partiers were often described as nonpartisan political neophytes. Actually, the Tea Party's supporters today were highly partisan Republicans long before the Tea Party was born, and were more likely than others to have contacted government officials. In fact, past Republican affiliation is the single strongest predictor of Tea Party support today.
What's more, contrary to some accounts, the Tea Party is not a creature of the Great Recession. Many Americans have suffered in the last four years, but they are no more likely than anyone else to support the Tea Party. And while the public image of the Tea Party focuses on a desire to shrink government, concern over big government is hardly the only or even the most important predictor of Tea Party support among voters.
So what do Tea Partiers have in common? They are overwhelmingly white, but even compared to other white Republicans, they had a low regard for immigrants and blacks long before Barack Obama was president, and they still do.
More important, they were disproportionately social conservatives in 2006 - opposing abortion, for example - and still are today. Next to being a Republican, the strongest predictor of being a Tea Party supporter today was a desire, back in 2006, to see religion play a prominent role in politics. And Tea Partiers continue to hold these views: they seek "deeply religious" elected officials, approve of religious leaders' engaging in politics and want religion brought into political debates. The Tea Party's generals may say their overriding concern is a smaller government, but not their rank and file, who are more concerned about putting God in government.
This inclination among the Tea Party faithful to mix religion and politics explains their support for Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and Gov. Rick Perry of Texas. Their appeal to Tea Partiers lies less in what they say about the budget or taxes, and more in their overt use of religious language and imagery, including Mrs. Bachmann's lengthy prayers at campaign stops and Mr. Perry's prayer rally in Houston.
Yet it is precisely this infusion of religion into politics that most Americans increasingly oppose. While over the last five years Americans have become slightly more conservative economically, they have swung even further in opposition to mingling religion and politics. It thus makes sense that the Tea Party ranks alongside the Christian Right in unpopularity.
The Tea Party falls below atheists and Muslims in the poll.
The analysis by the researchers says what those of us on the left have said from the beginning that these people were just hard-core Republicans being marketed under a new label. The good news is they're new the driving force of the Republican Party. The bad news is they're the driving force of the Republican Party.
The Republican plan put forth by Rep. Paul Ryan, the Republican chairman of the House Budget Committee, would increase taxes on the middle class and the poor while increasing tax cuts for the rich and increasing the deficit.
Did the deregulation of the financial industry create any jobs? No.
Did both help crash the economy? Yes.
We are being manipulated to give government handouts to the very same big banks and corporate scam artists that crashed our economy in the first place. We are told that what is good for big business is good for America. But these so-called "job creators" are only creating jobs for yacht manufacturers and maids. Check the math. The profits of our nation's (and the world's) largest corporations are rising, as are the salaries and bonuses paid to executives. Are they creating jobs? No.
Well, that's not exactly true. I think Wal-Mart is hiring if you're willing to work for $7.78 an hour.
Yet big corporations and their lobbyists have been manipulating our government -- both Republicans and Democrats -- to grease the wheels for big business while putting up more and more obstacles for working families, small business owners and homeowners. Yes, working families' taxes are too high and yes, small business owners struggle under too much bureaucracy. But not big business and the super-rich. No, our government is designed to their advantage.
The rich are getting richer and the rest of us are getting poor and that is not by accident.
While profits are skyrocketing on Wall Street and among CEOs laying off workers, the Republicans are doing all they can to stop economic recovery programs that create jobs. They are again putting their political interests ahead of the American people.
Republican family values in action. I'm sure he can go on forever about the sanctity of marriage, just like Newt Gingrich and our own former State Sen. Vic Sprouse.
I recently posted a diary critical of Speaker Thompson on health reform. But it is all hands on deck as the Democratic Speaker battles Republicans in the last days of the session. As everyone probably knows by now, Republican Ron Walters has requested that all bills be read in full on third reading slowing work in the House down to a crawl. I heard about it on the radio today and knew I had to write something supporting Thompson tonight.
So what is at stake? Apparently the health care bills have been passed out of committees. According to the Daily Mail Ron Walters tried to filibuster in Committee on those bills and was called to the carpet for it first by Democratic Delegate Virginia Mahan and then Democratic Chairman Harry Keith White. Other bills still at play are the Marcellus Shale; legislation allowing coal producing counties to keep more of the severance tax dollars; an education bill aimed at curbing dropout rates; and the school bullying bill are caught up in this circus created by Republicans as well as dozens of other bills.
Thompson did the right thing and removed Walters from the powerful House Finance Committee and if the Speaker can hold his own against these GOP games then he will greatly improve his standing amongst Democrats across the State. If Thompson fails at this critical juncture then it will come at a bad time for his gubenatorial race. For Thompson, but more importantly the State, let's hope Thompson wins in his battle against the GOP. All Democrats should line up behind him regardless of whom they are going to support in the election.
Thank you to an anonymous tipster for passing along this email.
----- Original Message -----
From: Kasey Warner
To: Post 44 Philippi ; Post 1 Wheeling ; Post 103 Chapmanville ; Post 104 Parkersburg ; Post 118 Ravenswood ; Post 128 Paw Paw ; Post 136 Ridgeley ; Post 137 Capon Bridge ; Post 139 Milton ; Post 14 Martinsburg Turner ; Post 145 Peterstown
Sent: Wednesday, March 09, 2011 5:12 PM
Subject: Possible Speaker at Future Meeting
Folks:
I had the occasion recently to talk to Betty Ireland, candidate for Governor. I was extremely impressed with her businesslike approach, her knowledge of pension matters (that is one of her areas of expertise), and her sincere concern for veteran/military issues in West Virginia. Based on our talks, she is looking to see how she could gain full exemption of military pensions from State income taxation, and perhaps the same for Guard and Reserve pay. She is very interested in veteran issues.
In that light, I thought it may be good to include Betty Ireland in a future meeting/program of your Post. I imagine you have a non-partisan policy ... and she IS a candidate for Governor ... but a number of Service organizations do invite candidates for educational purposes of their members, and to allow organization members to express to a candidate issues of the veteran community. Ms. Ireland is attuned to the need for an appropriate posture during a campaign when dealing with service organizations; her husband is retired from the Air Guard, and she understands the non-partisan stance of veterans groups.
Please let me know. If you would find it beneficial to have Betty Ireland attend a meeting to speak (and listen to concerns of the membership), please let me know and I will try to get it on her schedule. I think she has a decent chance of being our next Governor, and it would be nice to have her as a friend of veterans organizations.
Rick Thompson was the frontrunner for me in the Governor's race before there was one. It seemed he and Manchin could not stand one another and well- the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Add that to the fact that he placed one of my old buddies, Mike Caputo, on his leadership team, and I thought I had someone that would fight for the working person. Unfortunately, it appears Rick Thompson is in it for Rick Thompson. The House has still not moved on bills crucial to health reform and after talking to my cousin who volunteers for the AARP it appears as if the House Speaker might let these bills die because he is too worried about his race for Governor to do anything about it
After reading an article in the Daily Mail tonight it looks like Republicants are in unison against health reform. That is not a surprise- they have no alternatives and would put their partisan gamesmanship ahead of people without health insurance- count nearly all my family, all life long Democrats, on that list.
If Thompson can't bring the people health reform when it is sitting out there on a platter for him then what the hell could he do as Governor? The Democrats control the House nearly 2 to 1 and it is a crying shame that Thompson can't exercise any leadership to get this done. Hell, the Senate passed all these health bills weeks ago and it sounds like they got every Democratic vote to go along with it.
This is a crying shame WV. Thompson, if you fail on something that is this big of a slam dunk then you don't have a shot for Governor- at least you won't with my family, and buddy, we all vote.
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