Mike's Election Guide (22 page)
She’s voted with Republicans 94 percent of the time in Congress. She voted against lowering the interest rate on student loans (even 124 of her Republican colleagues supported this one, along with the Democrats).
Democratic candidate
Victoria Wulsin
challenged Mean Jean in 2006 and came within 3,000 votes of defeating her. This is supposed to be a conservative Republican district, but the Republicans have an unpopular candidate who Wulsin almost defeated before, and she should put up a good fight again. She is a doctor and a mother and has won more Democratic votes in the district than anyone before her. Dr. Wulsin has taken the pledge that all members of Congress and congressional candidates should take: “I have pledged not to take taxpayer-funded insurance until all Americans have access to quality, affordable care.” She also pledged to not take any contributions from the pharmaceutical industry. She is also calling for a quick end to the war in Iraq and says, “It’s unfair that well-connected defense contractors like Blackwater and Halliburton get special no-bid contracts without any accountability.”
OHIO’S 16TH DISTRICT
John Boccieri
Despite being anointed by the retiring Rep. Regula, who held this seat since the 1950s, Republicans are not high on fellow GOP-member Kirk Schuring. A State Senator who formerly served in the Ohio House of Representatives, Schuring successfully sponsored a bill that overturned a predatory lending statute in Cleveland, a fateful move that contributed to the financial struggles of many of Cleveland’s formerly middle-class neighborhoods.
A Major in the Air Force Reserve, Democratic candidate
John Boccieri
served in both Iraq and Afghanistan and more than 40 countries during his 13 years in the U.S. military. He’s also held political office in Ohio as both a State Representative and State Senator, where he’s worked on veterans’ issues, including sponsoring the Military Injury Relief Fund to help Ohio vets transition to civilian life and afford their medical bills. He’s been endorsed by VoteVets.org and Progressive Patriots.
PENNSYLVANIA’S 6TH DISTRICT
Bob Roggio
Republican Jim Gerlach has won 3 elections in a row by 3 percentage points or less, so the Democrats hope they can finally get over the top in 2008. He, too, has received campaign funds from Tom DeLay’s political action committee and has also been fined by the Federal Election Commission for campaign finance violations. He’s actually pretty moderate as far as Republicans go, but one thing really sticks out in my mind: In 2005,
The Washington Post
reported on how the GOP House leadership held a “five-minute vote open for 45 minutes” in order to convince moderate Republicans in opposition to an energy bill.
The bill was titled The GAS Act, and it had the backing of the energy industry; according to the
Post,
“it was fervently opposed by environmentalists and their Democratic and Republican allies” because it provided subsidies for refiners and opened some federal land up for new refineries. Gerlach was one of those moderate Republicans who switched his vote under pressure from Tom DeLay and the Republican leadership. After 39 minutes of standing his ground, he caved. Don’t we need leaders who can hold their ground for longer than that?
Democratic candidate
Bob Roggio
is a businessman who says that his opponent has been a rubber stamp for the Bush administration on Iraq, the economy, and environment. On Iraq, he says, “The war in Iraq was a mistake. Over the past 6 years, almost 4,000 brave troops have been killed, and close to 20,000 more injured (the number is actually over 70,000). We have spent hundreds of billions of dollars, while ignoring the very real domestic needs of our country. President Bush continues to ask for more money, and more troops, but has no new ideas to win the peace. I will fight to end this war, and bring our troops home responsibly, and with honor.”
VIRGINIA’S 11TH DISTRICT
Gerald Connolly
Keith Fimian is trying to hold on to Rep. Tom Davis’ seat for the Republicans, but Virginia is turning blue, and Fimian, a wealthy conservative, faces an uphill battle. Although he has the backing of the Republican whose seat he is trying to fill, the strongest praise Tom Davis gave to Fimian in a recent interview with the
Washington Post
was that he’s a “credible candidate,” and “He’s much better-looking than I am.”
A member of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, Democratic challenger
Gerald Connolly
could be a real leader in Congress on the environment. Most candidates call themselves “pro-environment” whether or not they’ve done something about it or have any serious plans to do something about it; Connolly has both. He worked with the Sierra Club on the “Cool Counties” initiative to fight global warming and has been part of Fairfax County’s nationally recognized environmental programs on parkland preservation, green building policies, and watershed restoration. He is serious about his environmental agenda for Congress and has a detailed plan that you can see by visiting
www.gerryconnolly.com/Environment
.
He was also against the Iraq war from the beginning.
WASHINGTON’S 8TH DISTRICT
Darcy Burner
Name a notorious figure in the Republican Party and you’ll probably be naming someone who’s raised funds or campaigned for incumbent Dave Reichert. From George W. Bush, who made a visit to Reichert’s district for a fundraiser, to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Dave Reichert has a long list of questionable friends. He’s also received campaign money from the political action committees of two Republicans the law has already caught up with, Tom DeLay and Randy “Duke” Cunningham. Finally, he was backed by a well-known, local GOP activist named Larry Corrigan, who was arrested in an Internet sex sting for trying to arrange a sexual encounter with a 13-year-old girl. Dave needs to find some new friends.
He’s voted with his fellow Republicans 84 percent of the time. This includes voting against the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, in favor of war funding with no strings attached and in favor of the FISA domestic spying legislation.Reichert is anti-abortion, opposes using federal money for sex education, and says that he supports a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. Back when the Republicans were in the majority in 2005, Reichert supported a bill to protect gun makers from lawsuits. It was the NRA’s top legislative priority and when the bill passed it was so far reaching that it retroactively barred lawsuits against gun makers who behaved negligently and caused damage.
Democratic candidate
Darcy Burner
was raised in a blue-collar military family and vividly recalls her parents’ struggle to pay off her younger sister’s medical bills. After working her way up the ladder at Microsoft, she left the company in 2006 to challenge Dave Reichert, losing in a close contest. Fighting to end the Iraq war is a priority to this mother and community leader, and she also brings innovative technical expertise from one of the most high-tech districts in the country.
Darcy is typical of so many Democrats who are running this year. These 30 seats may be the most likely to win, but that’s not to say another 30 can’t also be won. And if that happens, we’ll have a veto-proof House (should the unthinkable happen).
Ultimately, whether this comes to be is up to you. If you live in any of these districts, volunteer as much time as you can to the campaign. If you don’t live near any of them, how ’bout a road trip and spending a week or two to help out? And I know many of you could write a check to any of these candidates. Or go online and make a contribution.
Victory is close, and so is four more years of the same insanity. We have no choice. It’s time to act.
FOX NEWS/TALK RADIO/MCCAIN CAMPAIGN EASY GUIDE FOR LIFTING LINES OUT OF CONTEXT FROM THIS BOOK
Over the years, I have had to witness a silly parade of right wing talk radio hosts, Fox News commentators, and Republican Party spokespeople make up stuff about me or what I’ve said in the hopes that fewer people would give credence to what I have to say. It’s been a losing battle for them, as I remain blessed with millions of readers and filmgoers, people who have appreciated my work and hopefully been entertained and enlightened by what they have seen. Of course, the more people buy my books or come to my movies, the more the other side ramps up the hate machine against my work. I feel sorry for them, mostly for why they are afraid to debate me on the
issues
. Instead they go after me, the person.
But truth is not the commerce of talk radio and Fox News and the Republican Party. In order to denigrate me, they will pull lines or statements from this book out of context, hoping to heighten the rage of their listeners and viewers against me. But this is not a good year for the Right, and I guess I’ve started to feel sorry for them. They will be out of power soon, and we all know how that feels.
So, in order to make their job a bit easier, I have gone ahead and saved them the trouble by doing their work for them. Below, I have taken a number of quotes from this book out of context in the style that they are accustomed to doing. This is my gift to them on the eve of their defeat. Go ahead, Rush and Bill, Sean and Scarborough—bloviate away with any of these pre-approved, pre-taken out of context quotes from my new book. They’re on me. Good luck, and enjoy your time in the desert.
p. 2–23 “The terrorists are on the run! . . . I know many of them . . . personally . . .”
p. 3 “So a million homes are snatched from hard-working Americans! THAT’S A SMALL PRICE TO PAY FOR FREEDOM!!”
p. 2 “. . . the terrorists are . . . my friends . . .”
p. 3–61 “. . . If you want to be free from terrorist bombings, then you have to be willing to . . . buy . . . this book . . .”
p. 3 “Unfortunately, not all soldiers in the fight against the terrorists know how to use their weapons. So we experience some fratricide. Stuff happens.”
p. 8 “For me to believe . . . that Ahmadinejad guy, (he) would literally have to walk onto the stage of ‘American Idol’
with the very bomb itself in his hands!
Seriously, I will have to see the actual friggin’ bomb, and THEN I want him to show me that he knows how to use it.”