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If influence and political clout were given for hypocrisy, double talking Republican Rep. Shelley Moore Capito would be a champion legislator instead of a perennial no-name back bencher on Capitol Hill.
The DCCC has unveiled the latest entries into the House Republicans Hypocrisy Hall of Fame, which has now grown to 67 Members. These Republicans have been caught trying to celebrate the benefits of projects they opposed in President Obama's recovery bill, the 2009 Omnibus Appropriations bill, and the Omnibus Public Land Management Act.
"With the economy showing early signs of recovery, it's no wonder that more and more House Republicans are scrambling to take credit for the benefits they opposed," said Ryan Rudominer, National Press Secretary for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. "Times are tough. Hardworking Americans need solutions, not more hypocrisy from the Republican Party of No."
House Republicans Hypocrisy Hall of Fame:
* Representative Shelley Moore Capito (WV-02) - "Capito informed the group that roughly $1.5 million in neighborhood stabilization funds have been made available to West Virginia, and she said the situation that many are facing in the current financial times is heartwrenching. 'It's just breaks your heart,' Capito said." [The Journal; 3/10/09]
Yeah, so heart breaking she voted against the needed relief to help her constituents although she's happy to claim credit for it.
Shelley Moore Capito is a proud member of an extremist party. The organization dedicated to re-electing her and her colleagues to the House of Representatives -- the National Republican Congressional Committee -- made an offensive sexist comment.
Capito is a dues paying member of the NRCC. She owes it to her constituents to condemn the recent statement as sexist.
While she's at it, she might do well to clarify her views on civilian control of the military, too.
After my stunning appearance at the Press Gallery I sent out this email:
Dear XXXXXXXX, How are we going to pay for it? Simply put, it’s critical that we address those concerns and ensure that we’re being good stewards of taxpayer dollars.
Remember, we only ask this question of Democrat Presidential priorities, never of magical Republican voodoo tax cuts. Only Nono Goposaur has magic pixie dust that makes deficits invisible for eight years. Sorry it wore off.
And that’s also why I was shocked by this week’s reports of misconduct by ACORN, an organization which has received more than $50 million in taxpayer subsidies.
Shocked, shocked, I say, that this organization the Pres. Bush funded over his eight years for about $40 million of that $50 million would accused of having a few bad employees, you know like that whole torture thing, just a few bad apples. And that they were taped like ABC taped Food Lion bleaching bad pork. And those reporters should be found guilty and fined. Never mind.
In the aftermath of the $700 billion financial rescue, the AIG affair and others, our plan puts a premium on ending taxpayer funded bailouts of failed firms. Simply put, we cannot continue to have taxpayers foot the bill for the poor decisions of others.
Now, you don't remember that is was the guy who visited every Fourth of July so we could hang out together, who started all this, do you? And isn't it sweet how I get to vote last, and am protected from this hard votes that the boys took?
And just yesterday I joined a wide bipartisan majority in the House of Representatives in supporting a measure to halt the flow of federal tax dollars to ACORN because the behavior exhibited on the recently-surfaced videos simply isn’t acceptable for an organization receiving taxpayer support.
Because after they lost $9,000 million in Iraq due to sloppy accounting I did not care about, we need that $50 million for things like my earmarks. Isn't it nice that the Democrat Chairman stuck up for me. Then I voted NO on the final bill. A girl has to do what a girl has to do.
# Flake #5: Eliminates $250,000 in project funding for construction and renovation of the welcome center at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park in West Virginia. This project will replace a trailer facility and improve the image and functionality of the park for tourists. Rep. Capito requested this project.
Chairman Obey recommends that Members VOTE NO.
But support increased Pell Grants or reduced costs to the taxpayers for federally backed student loans or increased support for community colleges? See you soon at the Blue Ridge Community and Technical College! ACORN! Wolverines!
As always, please don’t hesitate to contact my office with your thoughts, ideas and concerns. It’s an honor to serve you and your family.
Debate and votes on amendments have been going on over the lasttwo days. My understanding is that this claws back the fees and subsidies to private banks for making student loans, re-invests 88% of those the savings back into community colleges, schools in areas with natural disasters and increases in Pell Grants, then returns $10 billion over ten year to the General Fund. Some colleges already have decided to skip private banks.
Agreeing to the Rule for Debate #703 241-175 Mollohan AYE
Rahal AYE
Ca-pee-toe NO
And since there are no funds for ACORN in the bill, Rep. Issa (R-CA) has a motion to recommit and amend the bill to defund ACORN. (I consider it a cheap trick.) #718 345-75 Mollohan NO
Rahal NO
Capito AYE
Final Passage H.R. 3221 to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965, and for other purposes #719 253-171 Mollohan AYE
Rahal AYE
Ca-pee-toe NO
I wonder why Charleston Newspapers never reported that Republican Rep. Joe Wilson (R-Loudmouth) and our very own Shelley Moore Capito (R-Hypocrite) actually BOTH voted in lockstep with Bush Rubberstampeders to provide federal funds for illegal immigrants' healthcare?
The rubberstamping Repub votes came during the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003, which contained Sec. 1011. At that time, they authorized $250 million annually between 2003 and 2008 for government reimbursements to hospitals which provide treatment for uninsured illegal immigrants.
From last Friday's email. I just got around to translating it tonight.
Dear XXXXXXXX,
The last few weeks have taken me across the Second District from the Eastern Panhandle, to Buckhannon and into Putnam and Jackson Counties in the Kanawha and Ohio River Valleys. I've heard from many of you along the way with your thoughts and concerns ranging from energy to the all-important healthcare debate.
I stopped a couple of places to claim credit for grants or the stimulus money that I did not vote for, but mostly I prefer to keep an arms distance with those sanitary phone town halls.
Thank for taking the time to write to me or for taking the time to stop and say hello. I appreciate hearing from you.
Haven't I gotten good at responding with utterly unrelated political mush these eight years, neither acknowledging your existence nor making a strong argument for my position? Sometimes I do in those one minutes speeches, but nobody watches CSPAN, right?
As I traveled from stop to stop, it became even clearer that West Virginia truly embodies what it means to be an energy state. Over the course of a week I visited an Upshur County home using geothermal energy, a Pendleton County Habitat for Humanity site engaged in "green" building, and multiple homes powered by wind and solar energy. I also spent time with researchers at MATRIC and West Virginia State University, where they're making important strides in new energy technology.
I am so glad I do not have to bother my beautiful mind with those with bad water like Nicky Ray does. And forget that those homes may have been where the pesky people Eastern Panhandle are with all the wind and solar alternates.
And throughout my energy tour, healthcare remained one of the most important issues on the minds of the West Virginians with whom I met. And during stops across the district, in meetings with constituents and in my phone calls and emails, there is no shortage of opinions when it comes to how best to reform our healthcare system.
I know you have opinions, but I will have to check with the guy with a tan to see if I can vote for reform that would help you out. Is Jack Abramoff out yet?
Those who like their current insurance coverage, must truly be able to keep it without fear of being moved into a government-run plan.
So, I heard about those death panels and I guess we have to use them to keep people off of Medicare. Oh, I mean one of the sorority sisters took chemistry, and she hasn't found the fountain of youth.
There is bipartisan consensus on issues like ending coverage denials based on pre-existing conditions, promoting wellness and insurance portability, and seeking lower cost options for the uninsured. My hope is that when Congress is back in session in September we can focus on these areas of agreement.
How did I know Grassley and Enzi were going to go a kamikaze on us this weekend. You know, I'm not really a Republican, right?
As always, please don't hesitate to contact my office with your thoughts and concerns.
We just love hearing from the little people, don't we Daddy?
Republican Rep. Shelley Moore Capito loves her some ribbon cutting ceremonies and closed door appearances in front of friendly audiences. When it comes to talking impromptu with a well-informed constituent, not so much so.
Is she so scared of answering difficult questions from constituents she would stoop to using local cops as screens? It sure looks that way.
Too many conservative senators like Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) are to blame for the GOP's downfall, one of their retiring Republican colleagues complained Monday.
"We got too many Jim DeMints and Tom Coburns," Sen. George Voinovich (R-Ohio) told the Columbus Dispatch. "It's the southerners."
Voinovich, a native Clevelander who retires after the 2010 election, continued after the southern elements of the GOP.
"They get on TV and go 'errrr, errrrr,'" he said. "People hear them and say, 'These people, they're southerners. The party's being taken over by southerners. What they hell they got to do with Ohio?'"
West Virginia occupies a distinct geographic (and cultural) location in the United States:
The Census Bureau considers West Virginia part of the South because most of the state is south of the Mason-Dixon Line. The northern panhandle, however, extends adjacent to Pennsylvania and Ohio with the West Virginia cities of Wheeling and Weirton being just across the border from the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, while Bluefield is less than seventy miles from North Carolina and Harper's Ferry is considered to be a part of the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. The unique position of West Virginia means that it is often included in a wide variety of geographical regions, including the Southeastern United States and even the Northeastern United States.
Someone really should ask Rep. Capito if she agrees with her esteemed colleague Sen. Voinovich:
Who does Capito blame for the GOP downfall, "the southerners" or someone else?
To be fair, there's no need to oversimplify the situation, she doesn't have to choose just one or the other.
Republican Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (WV-02) inadvertently admitted her constituents like the health care reform priorities of President Obama and the Democratic Congress. That's the only conclusion that makes sense from her most recent newsletter.
You see, early last week Rep. Capito sent out an email blasts with a poll asking about health care reform. It wasn't quite a push poll, but it was difficult to answer for advocates of a public option (or, even better, single payer).
All this left us wondering, what would Rep. Capito have to say about the results of that survey?
Capito's Statement
The July 24, 2009 E-News Update opens with these lines:
After last week's newsletter I was very pleased to hear from so many West Virginians with their thoughts about the healthcare debate.
It's clear from last week's survey and from my emails that West Virginia families share a desire for meaningful healthcare reform, but they also want to make sure we make the right decisions and act in a bipartisan manner.
(Emphasis mine.) Yes, indeed, West Virginians ("families" and everyone) want meaningful healthcare reform. And, of course we all want the "right decisions" (duh!). Guess what? Only one party is offering that. The Republicans in Congress have no plan.
Rep. Capito didn't ask a single question in her poll about a Republican plan (that doesn't exist) and she didn't ask a single question about bipartisianship. Of course, no one beside out-of-touch Beltway wags says things like "I only want health care reform if lots of Republicans and lots of Democrats vote for it."
When Rep. Capito says "It's clear ... that West Virginia families ... want to make sure we ... act in a bipartisan manner" she's inadvertently admitting a uncomfortable truth for the GOP.
West Virginians want Republicans to get out of the way and join the majority of Democrats in support of President Obama's health care priorities. That's "the right decision" in a "bipartisan manner" "for meaningful healthcare reform."
So tonight I almost didn't answer my phone when I saw Unknown Caller on the Caller ID. But I did and was greeted with our Representative's chirpy voice, welcoming me to her Town Meeting on healthcare reform. I thought it was a new gimmicky kind of ad, aimed at Obama's healthcare reform bill. But I was actually kind of pleasantly surprised. Did anyone else hear this?
Apparently there were thousands of callers "logged in" to the conference TOwn Hall. We were invited to press *3 to request time to ask a question or make a suggestion (of course I did!), but warned that because of the high volume of callers, she wouldn't be able to get to everyone.
I felt sure it was a ploy and I listened with trepidation to the callers' questions and suggestions.
Surprisingly, most of them were asking for the public health option, and even three or four of them were bold enough to suggest a single-payer health plan! Shelley Moore capito rather gently tried to steer the callers to her way of thinking -- private industry is the best solution -- but enough callers suggested otherwise to her that I think she was probably a bit rattled.
I never did get to talk -- I wanted to tell her about our travails with the insurance companies from a physician's point of view -- literally 7 months of trying to credential with a handful of "good" insurance plans, encountering roadblock after roadblock, every plan requiring a different kind of application/form/set of documents/contracts/rules.... and we are STILL not credentialed with them all! But that's ok.
I'm hoping that the public health option and even single-payer keeps popping up into her consciousness. I have to hand it to her -- she didn't talk nasty about Obama or the Dems' healthcare reforms, not once -- she simply stated that a few of its points "concerned" her. Even when a caller referenced a Rush Limbaugh statement that the eldery would be led to hospice (and implying that they would then be led to suicide, I think?!?!) she said that she thought that sounded like sensationalism. I have to say she conducted herself very fairly.
Last Saturday (July 18), around 400 of your neighbors gathered at the state Capitol Culture Center for a protest and town hall meeting regarding the harm that cap and trade legislation will do us. Although Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV 2nd), expressed concern about losing West Virginia coal jobs, she apparently never explained how it will do so. I missed the event, but I've read all the reports that I could find, and even though it was far better covered than any anti-mtr protests, I'm willing to bet that no one will ever get around to asking Capito what makes her think that cap and trade will cost WV coal mining jobs. Because it won't. It may, however, help us to gain "green" industry jobs.
I remember when the airborne fly ash (aka "coal ash") around the John Amos power plant near St. Albans was so thick that you couldn't open your car window while driving for fear of being blinded. Back then industry stooges ...er "experts" warned politicians that cleaning fly ash from the air would skyrocket costs and lose jobs. And although exactly the same arguments were used against acid rain mitigation laws, the fact is that none of their dire warnings ever amounted to any more than hollow scare tactics. Because when lawmakers finally stopped the coal fired power industry from being bad corporate neighbors, the cost of electricity never really shot up. Yet entire "green"industries have sprung up since that coal ash legislation. In WV, though, not so much, largely due to extreme anti-"green" tunnel vision of our coal-powered politicians.
The point of cap-and-trade is to cap carbon emissions to mitigate pollution. Simply figure out how to stop polluting and you won't have to pay the tax. So if coal is really as clean as Rep, Capito told us during her campaign, then just why would anyone need to protest?
The bill requires power plants, factories, refineries and electricity and natural gas distributors to reduce the emissions linked to global warming. It also calls for more power production from renewable sources such wind and solar energy, and raises energy-efficiency standards.source
Instead of wasting millions to lobby and buy politicians to lie about how "clean" coal is, wouldn't it make far more sense to develop a method to make coal "clean" and then manufacture and export it?
BTW Rep Capito has collected $263,290 from the coal industry so far to shill their bogus "Coal is Clean" shinola, so you'll never see her at a town hall meeting expressing her "concern" over the loss of tens of thousands of deep mining jobs in WV due to the expansion of surface mining.
Goodwin said he was originally contacted in mid-June about the possibility of running.
"They are anxious to get started," he said.
Goodwin said he recently met with Van Hollen and other members of the DCCC.
It's no big surprise the DCCC is actively recruiting candidates. It is interesting that Carte Goodwin has decided to float a WV-02 trial balloon in the papers.
Capito, now in her fifth term in the House, has had several fierce Democratic challengers in the past. Last year, she defeated Anne Barth, Sen. Robert Byrd's longtime Aide, by 14 percentage points. Two years earlier, she held off a challenge by Erik Wells, former TV anchor and now a state senator, by a margin of 17 percent. And in 2002 Capito took 60 percent of the vote, trouncing lawyer Jim Humphreys in what became the most expensive House race in the nation.
Oops, I think Kris Wise Maramba at the Daily Mail forgot about Mike Callaghan in 2006 and got the rest of the dates mixed up, too.
Regardless, like Callaghan and Barth before him, Goodwin would both suffer and benefit from a lack of having run for elected office before (no record to run on, no prior positions to defend). Like Anne Barth, he would also benefit from good relationships with the Gov. and the Democratic Congressional delegation.
Other than that, I don't know anything about Goodwin's political views or what kind of candidate he would be. My biggest concern is that running yet another conventional DCCC-fueled campaign is going to end with the same disappointing results.
A young first-time candidate running against Rep. Capito will be inclined to "play it safe" while building up their name recognition and developing a reputation as a Democratic team player. While it is critical that Democrats field a credible challenge in case Rep. Capito stumbles, I just don't see a conventional campaign beating her.
The one path I can imagine for Democratic electoral success in WV-02 is a candidate who is willing to invest heavily in field, spends very little on TV advertising (and most of that on cable), and spends at least 9-12 months in full-time campaign mode knocking on doors and visiting every nook and cranny in the district. Retail politics educating voters on how Rep. Capito is complicit in their plight, that's how you can beat her.
U.S. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito is known for her double-talking ways. But as she tries to hitch her wagon to President Barack Obama's rising star, she can't change how she says one thing, but votes another.
"I honestly think the American public doesn't like to see the food fight occur when there's no sort of give and take or negotiation. Now we have a president who has repeatedly said he wants to move in a bipartisan way, but the other powers that be are very reluctant."
One of those powers opposed to bipartisanship would be Capito herself.
Shelley Moore Capito has voted with a majority of her Republican colleagues 88.2% of the time during the current Congress.
Capito is a partisan Republican no matter how much she claims otherwise.
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