Murtha pleas for $1 million after racism comments
It seems that Jack Murtha, the King of Pork, has used a weapon of mass destruction, his mouth, to get to the point where Bill Russell is within striking distance of retiring the man who slandered the Haditha Marines in one of the most shameful episodes in American political history.
If Bill Russell is successful this Tuesday night in defeating the man who said these Marines “murdered innocent civilians” only to see them exonerated or having the charges dropped, you may be able to hear me celebrating in Missouri from Pennsylvania.
~~John Cronin~~
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/murtha-pleas-for-1-million-after-racism-comments-2008-10-30.html
By Roxana Tiron
Veteran Democratic Rep. John Murtha (Pa.) has sent out a last-minute plea for $1 million to save his hotly contested seat, endangered by his own remarks describing his district as racist.
In an e-mail sent to potential donors, Murtha’s campaign asked his supporters to maximize all campaign contributions.
“We need to raise another $1 million to compete,” his campaign fundraiser Susan O’Neill wrote in the e-mail obtained by The Hill. “We need money immediately.”
O’Neill blamed Republicans from outside Pennsylvania for Murtha’s problems. Polls show Murtha, running for his 18th term, ahead of his GOP opponent by just a few percentage points.
“Congressman Murtha is in a brutal reelection campaign,” O’Neill wrote. “The Swift Boaters have put up a candidate from Virginia and have raised millions of dollars against Congressman Murtha. In addition, other 527s and the [National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC)] have spent millions to smear Congressman Murtha on TV, radio and in newspapers.”
Murtha’s race appeared to tighten after he called his western Pennsylvania district a “racist area.” After apologizing, he added more fuel to the fire by saying the district was, until recently, “really redneck.”
Murtha’s comments have been widely repeated, and the congressman was even parodied on “Saturday Night Live.”
In a fundraising e-mail sent on Thursday, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) asked her own supporters to help Murtha. “In Pennsylvania, my good friend John Murtha — a strong supporter for me during the primaries and an important voice against the war in Iraq — is depending on your help to win,” Clinton wrote.
GOP challenger William Russell, a 46-year-old Iraq war veteran and retired Army colonel, has outraised Murtha so far. As of Oct. 15, Russell had raised $2.9 million compared to Murtha’s $2.2 million.
Political action committees can donate up to $5,000 to candidates, while individuals may donate up to $2,300.
Murtha, a close ally of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), is a welcome target for Republicans, who otherwise are headed toward what appears to be a gloomy election night.
Russell moved from Virginia to run for Congress because of Murtha’s criticisms of the Iraq war.
Murtha’s comments about western Pennsylvania being racist have emboldened Republicans to give last-minute help to Russell.
Murtha, a decorated war veteran, first won his seat in a 1974 special election by a little more than 100 votes.
The NRCC this week bought a television ad that highlighted Murtha’s remarks. Separately, former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) accused Murtha in a radio spot of “insulting his own constituents” and “apparently forgetting who he works for.”
Murtha is the chairman of the House Appropriations Defense subcommittee. He has been very successful in the federal earmarking process, ranking as the highest recipient of earmarks in the defense appropriations bill.
His earmarks have revitalized Johnstown, the largest city in his district, and defense companies have opened offices and facilities throughout the region he represents.
October 31st, 2008 at 8:08 am
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/48941
October 31st, 2008 at 12:16 pm
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081031/POLITICS01/810310323
October 31st, 2008 at 12:18 pm
n a tough year for GOP, Romney’s star is rising
Newsweek poll shows ex-Mass. governor is the leading Republican candidate for 2012.
Thomas Burr / Salt Lake Tribune
On Nov. 4, when Americans go to the polls to elect a new president, a surprising beneficiary may be off the ballot: Mitt Romney.
With polls in key states forecasting a comfortable victory by Sen. Barack Obama and fellow Democrats, Republicans may find themselves booted out of the White House, shoved further into the minority in Congress and marginalized in the powerhouse of Washington.
If Sen. John McCain loses Tuesday, Romney could be well-positioned to rise as a leader of the Republican Party to guide conservatives through a few years in the political wilderness and emerge as a favorite for the GOP presidential nomination come 2012.
see link above
October 31st, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Workers at Top Wall Street Firms Give Millions More to Dems
Media echo liberal claim they represent Main Street not Wall Street, but Democratic candidates receive more cash from firms boosted by bailout.
By Jeff Poor
Business & Media Institute
10/31/2008 11:51:12 AM
Based on media coverage, conventional wisdom suggests Wall Street would favor Republican Party candidates when donating to campaigns. But that’s not the case.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics Web site OpenSecrets.org, out the top 25 political contributors for the 2008 election cycle, nine were Wall Street banking or investment firms, including the now defunct firm Lehman Brothers. Employees at eight of those nine firms gave more money to Democratic candidates – nearly $17 million to Democratic candidates versus only $11 million to their Republican counterparts. That’s 60 percent for Democrats to only 40 percent for Republicans.
Four of the top six overall donors are Wall Street financial firms participating in part of the recently passed $850 billion bailout – Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), Citigroup (NYSE:C), JP Morgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) and Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS). Employees of those firms gave $10.4 million to Democrats and $6 million to Republicans or 63 percent Democrat. Employees of bank Goldman Sachs alone gave $3.6 million to Democrats and $1.3 million to Republicans, a nearly 3-to-1 ratio.
http://www.businessandmedia.org/articles/2008/20081031114947.aspx
October 31st, 2008 at 2:39 pm
http://www.politico.com/arena/
This is a link to a discussion that has political advisors, pundits, and business people commenting on this years election and who may had made a better candidate. Some advocate McCain and Palin for the top of the ticket and Romney gets a few nods as well.
IS it a back and forth between Republicans and Democrats.
October 31st, 2008 at 2:49 pm
Save the Family!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1GRQGc5GQ0
November 1st, 2008 at 7:11 am
An interesting look with some historical conservative references:
Top GOP-ers: It’s Bush and Rove’s fault
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1008/15140_Page2.html
By CRAIG SHIRLEY & TONY FABRIZIO
(The last three paragraphs)
“Bush has also put conservatives in an impossible position by trying to explain deregulation versus the out-and-out corruption of the financial industry and bailout of their friends on Wall Street and nationalize the mortgage and banking industries. For the record, Reaganites oppose the bailout and federal involvement in anything other than throwing crooked brokers and bankers into jail block C.
Wehner said this election is not a referendum on conservatism, but he is only partially right. Millions of Americans have come to erroneously see Bush as a conservative when nothing could be further from the truth. This election will more accurately be a referendum on Bush’s “Big Government Republicanism,” and not Reagan conservatism, not our conservatism.
Trouble is, few will know it, and we conservatives have our work cut out for us.”
November 1st, 2008 at 7:35 am
From NRO David Frum’s Diary:
The Party Balance
A self-described “independent conservative” writes to Frum:
“I’ve long maintained that the single largest catalyst that’s driven the evolution of both parties in the last 15 years is the loss of California by the GOP back in 1992. … For the Dems, winning and securing Cali and it’s motherload of 54 (now 55, which is 20% of the necessary total) electoral votes was crucial. Without them, they had almost no way to win the WH short of a miracle. …
As for the GOP, the loss of those e-votes and seeming total inability to even muster a mildly competetive threat out there has forced them to attempt to keep a lock on the South and cater more and more to the needs and desires of that constitiuency. They can’t afford to lose a handful of states down there than the Dems can afford to lose Cali. So, basically, the GOP is the party of the South and battles tooth and nail every 4 years in Ohio to crawl across the finish line with 271 electoral votes.
Texas … will probably end up going the way of the quartet of Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada and to a degree, Arizona eventually. It seems to me that 2 or 3 of those are now at best tossup states and perhaps leaning blue. And in AZ, things are close. If they flip does that mean Texas is a couple to several cycles away frofollowing ? … Can the GOP survive if Texas becomes a tossup state ?”
November 1st, 2008 at 8:00 am
The GOP needs an injection of common sense. They have been taken over by religious extreminst, who vote solely on one issue. Abortion. Yet, since 1973, Abortion has been the law of the land, and we have had easily 4 conservative presidents (and 2 liberal ones, of the same reliogious brand as the exterminsts, albiet not so ‘right’), and abortion is STILL the law of the land. See a pattern here? Talk is cheap. Actions speak louder for me. Nothing has been done.
Fast forward to 2008 election cycle. The economy is taking a nose dive. McCain admits he knows squat about it. Huckabee could not figure it out. The others were in the game to split up the votes and Ron Paul was just ‘out there’. One guy had what it took. BUT, since he was LDS, the extreminsts refused to vote for him. I’m quite sure Mitt would have put Mac on the ticket to balance the military issues. However, the message got sent loud and clear that the Southern States, which the GOP pandered to, could not have a LDS man on the ballot, regardless of qualifications and track records.
This is WHY we are losing. The GOP has chosen an unholy alliance, and it is not paying out anymore. It’s time to change the message and get on with life. It’s time for the ‘three legged stool’ to come back, it’s time to open up the big tent again, and stop excluding ANYONE because they worship in a different place. It’s time to wander in the wilderness and regroup.