Plain Politics

Insight of a Sergeant Major (The author, J.D. Pendry, is a retired Army Command Sergeant Major who writes for Random House.)
 
NO PUNCHES PULLED HERE
 
Jimmy Carter, you’re the father of the Islamic Nazi movement.  You threw the Shah under the bus, welcomed the Ayatollah home and then lacked the spine to confront the terrorists when they took our embassy and our people hostage.  You’re the Runner-in-Chief.
 
Bill Clinton, you played "ring around the Lewinsky" while the terrorists were at war with us.  You got us into a fight with them in Somalia, and then you ran from it.  Your weak-willed responses embolden the killers.  Each time you failed to respond adequately they grew bolder, until 9/11.
 
John Kerry, dishonesty is your most prominent attribute.  You lied about American Soldiers in Vietnam.  Your military service, like your life, is more fiction than fact.  You’ve accused our Soldiers of terrorizing women in Iraq. You called Iraq "the wrong war, wrong place, wrong time"… the same words you used to describe Vietnam. You’re a fake.  You want to run from Iraq and abandon the Iraqis to murderers just as you did the Vietnamese.  Iraq, like Vietnam, is another war that you were for, before you were against it.
 
John Murtha, you said our military was broken.  You said we can’t win militarily in Iraq.  You accused United States Marines of cold-blooded murder without proof.  And said we should re-deploy to Okinawa.  Okinawa, John?  And the Democrats call you their military expert.  Are you sure you didn’t suffer a traumatic brain injury while you were off building your war hero resume?  You’re a sad, pitiable, corrupt and washed up politician.  You’re not a Marine sir.  You wouldn’t amount to a pimple on a real Marine’s ass.  You’re a phony and a disgrace.  Run away John.

Dick Durbin, you accused our Soldiers at Guantanamo of being Nazis, tenders of Soviet style gulags and as bad as the regime of Pol Pot who murdered two million of his own people after your party abandoned South East Asia to the Communists….

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Groups to Work Together for Fast Action on Pelosi’s 100 Hour Agenda, Call Initiatives a ‘Down Payment’ on Larger Program for Change

WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 /U.S. Newswire/ — More than 100 leaders, speaking for dozens of progressive organizations, assembled today to organize a campaign to back major portions of the House Democrats’ early legislative agenda. The attending groups represent an expansion of a regular meeting of progressive leaders known as the "Tuesday Group." Organizers said support for key elements of the agenda represents a down payment on a more ambitious agenda for change promised by the new majority in Congress.

More than 40 groups, led by Americans United, U.S.Action and the Campaign for America’s Future, met to outline plans to press House and Senate members to vote for a minimum wage increase, negotiating for lower drug prices, student loan interest rate reductions, and a repeal of tax benefits for the oil and gas industry to pay for public investment in alternative energy sources. These agenda items are part of House Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi’s agenda for the first 100 legislative hours of the House next month.

The groups devoted almost their entire meeting to building participation and momentum for the coalition effort, known as CAN – Change America Now. The campaign is growing as groups turn their post-election attention to moving an immediate agenda, which they see as a down payment on a larger agenda for creating an economy that works for working people.

"Democrats ran the most populist elections in memory," said Robert Borosage, co-director of the Campaign for America’s Future and a co-chair of today’s Tuesday Group meeting. "We need to make sure the Democrats deliver on their promises, and that the 100 Hours Agenda is just the first step in creating an economy that works for working people. The 100 Hours Agenda gives Democrats a chance to show that we support positive policies for change, and we’re not just against the Republican agenda."

Borosage opened the meeting with a presentation that highlighted polling data showing that large majorities of Americans support the 100 Hour Agenda initiatives. According to a Newsweek poll, 68 percent of Americans believe increasing the minimum wage should be a top priority for the new Congress. A Yale University study found that 90 percent of the public supports requiring Medicare to negotiate lower drug process and polling from Hart Research found 78 percent of Americans support a prescription drug plan direct from Medicare.

Americans United Communications Director Brad Woodhouse presented details of the CAN campaign’s plans to today’s Tuesday Group meeting. Woodhouse said the campaign would target "the walking wounded" who narrowly won re-election, mounting an offensive in targeted districts with media events, town hall meetings and other tactics.

"Democrats had a mandate for change," said Woodhouse. "Now is the time to show what that change means."

MoveOn Washington Director Tom Matzzie also discussed MoveOn’s successful campaign to rally its 3.2 million members as a guide for building the coalition’s campaign for supporting legislation that will ensure that our economy works for working people. CAN is already uniting the efforts of many national and local organizations, leveraging all the activity around these issues into one massive campaign effort.

So just who makes up this group? The usual suspects, of course…

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“Openness in the conduct of public business is essential to a democratic society.”

“ensure both the greatest possible public access to the actions, discussions and records of all public bodies, and their accountability to the people.” 

“When Thomas [convention chair John Thomas (R-Belmont)] first invited applicants for the post, he announced that only Republicans would be considered.”

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THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. This week I’m visiting Singapore, Indonesia, and Vietnam, where I’m attending the annual summit of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum. On this trip, I am carrying a message for the people of this region. America will remain engaged in Asia because our interests depend on the expansion of freedom and opportunity in this vital part of the world.

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Asia is important to America because prosperity in our country depends on trade with Asia’s growing economies. Today, America’s trade across the Pacific is greater than our trade across the Atlantic, and we need to continue opening up markets in this part of the world to American goods and services.

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My position is clear: As long as the playing field is level, America’s farmers, small businesses, and workers can compete with anyone, so America will continue to pursue free and fair trade at every level with individual countries across whole regions and through the World Trade Organization. By opening new markets for American goods and services, we help create new customers for our products abroad and jobs and opportunities for our workers and small businesses at home.

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WASHINGTON, Nov. 13 /U.S. Newswire/ — The Democratic National Committee issued the following statement in response to news that former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani may seek the GOP nomination for president:

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"It’s unclear whether or not Rudy Giuliani will be able to just ‘explain away’ the fact that he’s consistently taken positions that are completely opposite to the conservative Republican base on issues they hold near and dear," said Democratic National Committee Communications Director Karen Finney. "Throughout his career Giuliani has tried to paint himself as a moderate, but now that he’s vying for his party’s nomination, will he undergo an extreme makeover in an attempt to cozy up to the far-right?"

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Giuliani Was A Registered Democrat For Much Of His Life.

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Giuliani registered as a Democrat and even served as a party committeeman on Long Island when he was 21. (U.S. News & World Report, 3/23/87; USA Today, 12/20/99)

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Giuliani Is Pro-Choice.

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When asked to respond to social issues on CNN’s Inside Politics, Giuliani replied, "I’m pro-choice." (CNN, 12/2/99)

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Giuliani Doesn’t Support A Ban On Partial-Birth Abortions.

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When asked whether he supported a ban on what critics call partial-birth abortions, Giuliani replied, "No, I have not supported that, and I don’t see my position on that changing." Giuliani also told The Albany Times Union that he would not support a ban on late-term. Moreover, when asked "If you were in the Senate and he 1/8President Clinton 3/8 vetoed the so-called partial-birth abortion procedure.you would support the president on that." Giuliani replied: "Yes. I said I then that I support him, so I have no reason to change my mind about it." (CNN, 12/2/99; New York Times, 11/26/99; CNN Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer, 2/6/00)

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Giuliani Identified Himself As Pro-Gay Rights and Supports Civil Unions and Gay Benefits.

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When asked to respond to social issues on CNN’s Inside Politics, Giuliani replied, "I’m pro-choice. I’m pro-gay rights." When asked whether marriage should be between a man and a woman, Giuliani agreed, but stated "I supported civil unions, however, partnerships, and I signed that legislation when I was mayor of New York City. The distinction is that you protect people’s rights."(CNN, 12/2/99; Hardball, 10/13/04)

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Giuliani Opposed Bush Tax Cut.

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"Although Mr. Giuliani is running as pro-gun control, pro- abortion-rights Republican who likes tax cuts, he did shy away yesterday from the large tax cut proposal of his political benefactor, George W. Bush, which has been criticized as too large and favorable toward the rich." (New York Times, 2/04/00)

The DNC knows Americans yearn for someone who can provide some visible leadership in the post 9-11 world. They know that Giuliani has the potential to fulfill this void for a lot of people, both left and right.

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Condolences accepted, but the glass is half-full, and this political Katrina can be an excellent brief opportunity to learn from our mistakes so as to come back stronger two years from now.
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What this election showed is that the Northeast is getting more liberal as the south is getting more conservative. (Another GOP House seat was picked up in GA). We in NH have been under siege by liberals coming from all sides for some time now, and the Republicans that remain in New England with the exception of John E. Sununu are all moderate to liberal. Olympia Snowe, a Whitman clone is a typical example. In Maine, they prefer their Republicans neutered. But, Lincoln Chafee who voted against John Roberts, and publicly announced he was voting for John Kerry in ’04 lost, thank God, as did some other RINOs. Too bad Arlen Specter wasn’t running. Anyway…
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Purgation is often the beginning of a cure. Rhode Island liberals figured, why vote for a pretend Socialist when you can have the real thing, which combined with a general feeling of "throw the bums out", anti-incumbency animus that was everywhere. Maine will eventually replace Snowe and Collins as Vermont replaced RINO Jumpin’ Jim Jeffords with avowed Socialist Bernie Sanders. Still, the turnover number was average for a 6th year in a two-term presidency.  This was nothing like ’94. NH may remain a live-free-or-die state for a while yet, simply by being able to point to the surrounding states and say, "Do you really want to look like THAT?!" which is a powerful tincture against self-induced lunacy most of the time.
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As I worked for Chuck, Jeb, and the local Dover candidates last Saturday, I spoke to Republican voters who told me point blank that they were going to "send a message", so I saw this coming. The message was two-fold, 1. Bush needed to WIN the war quickly or get out, instead of bleeding us to death by a thousand cuts, and 2. Republicans were going to be punished for their anti-conservative, decadent behavior over the past 6 years: Namely, "a bridge to nowhere", runaway spending, new entitlements, Abramoff-like influence peddling, Foley-page porn, failure to want to stem the flow of illegal immigration etc. The drive-by media’s considerable bias doesn’t help us either.
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Ouch!!!!!!!!!

Having been at the Ward 3 Manchester polls from 6:30 Am to 7:00 pm I have no idea what was going on around the state other than very somber phone calls late last night. Here is your chance to email back what happened in your town.

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My take from "news" reports about the NH Congressional seats:

It looks like the theory of placating RINO Republicans by bouncing all over the map on votes and positions did not endear Bass and Bradley to the conservative base they think has gone away forever. And it certainly was gone to them last night.

Some of this is coat-tails of big out side money as much as any candidates.

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No one except activists on the far left have any idea who has been just elected to the DC House seats so the left will be giddy about that until Hodes and She-Pot take off the mantle of CHANGE and actually start doing what comes naturally to libs.  Arneson, Swett, Fernald, and Shaheen not showing their faces helped the Libs as well.

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As I watched the ballot clerks stack the absentee ballots on the table we were working at in Manchester it was apparent that Questions One and Two would win in Manchester, of all places.

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Does anyone have any sense of WHO was showing up at their local polls last night? In Manch. there was a very large crowd of last minute same day registrants, young, few little kids. The older crowd came early. The Moderator estimated about 1,200 -1,300 would show up but about 1,500 did, many new. There were many 04 voters who were on the Manch. voter list who moved and no longer receive mail leaving over 20% of the list full of names needing to be purged. Just last November many of these same voters in Manch ousted Mayor Baines and would have voted in a tax cap if it had been on the ballot. So I would guess that taxes and Baines’s arrogance are still issue. Chalk this election up constant Iraq and scandal news. Pounding the scandal and arrogance theme worked on Benson for the Dems. so how long can they ride that pony if they are now  "in charge" of everything?

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Last night’s election could provide an opening for conservatives who have been pinned under the Republican Party’s "Main Street" crowd since they sold out Bob Smith (who began leaning the same way himself). How many elections do Republicans have to see full page "Republicans for this or that liberal" advertisements to get the message?

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Libertarians could have openings for seats in state offices with the demise of the Republican Party if they pick carefully.

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I always feared NH would slowly drift into some sort of Ma., Maine, Vermont type of state but last night’s sweep by uber-libs leaves an opening for opponents. 

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Ed Naile

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