Who represents you in the House of Representatives? How long have they been in office? Are you generally happy with their performance? Who is running against them in 2006?
My representative is Chaka Fattah. He is serving his sixth term in Congress. I am generally happy with him. He got 88% of the vote in 2004, so I’m not sure what patsy will be running against him. The filing deadline is March 7th, 2006. Fattah might not serve out his next term so he can run for Mayor of Philadelphia.
heh,…Jay Rockefeller and Robert Byrd. I enjoyed corresponding with both during the runup to war. One didn’t listen and the other said everything better than I could hope to.
ah, your Senators. And interesting duo. But what about your representative?
(Moore)Capito Mollohan and Rahall and I’m pretty sure that all are from career political families. The expansion of tech business in the state and the growth of the panhandle area near northern VA have helped redden the state recently.
My Senators are more fun.
I’m not sure I’ve ever known life without Steny — feels like forever.
Just looked it up — not my imagination. This is his 13th term.
Makes no difference what he does, or who is running against him. He has the seat as long as he wants it.
This is what my guy is famous for. BTW, he’s a Repug idiot, redundant I know.
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news&id=3205245
Oooops!!! (Or is as this fashion now, My bad!) The above person is my state representative. My congresscreature is Rep.Sue Kelly, another icky, well-entrenched Repug tool.
Hi neighbor…
you involved with these folks…
http://take19.blogspot.com/
… at all?
We’re going after Sweeney in the 20th this year. It would be great if you folks could knock off Kelly at the same time.
That was in our local news… I am in CT about 20 minutes from Brewster. My wife said they were talking about that at her work a bit since many of her co-workers commute from the Brewster area to their office in Armonk.
Funny story. Your wife is an IBM commuter I assume.
Nope… Close though! She works across the street from IBM at the other really big head office in Armonk. lol
I don’t have a Congressperson per se because I am a resident of the District of Columbia. Nonetheless, the much-loved Eleanor Holmes Norton serves as our Delegate in the House, serving on and voting in committees but unable to vote on the House floor. We have no one representing us in the Senate. There’s a reason why DC license plates are emblazoned with the phrase TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION.
just over the district line for this reason. My last set of DC tags said “A Capital City” — bleh.
D.C. should be represented. I’d like to see that happen, and we can all help to make this an issue.
Maybe we could take half of Texas’ Senate and House delegates and hand them over to the District? It would solve 2 problems.
1) The District would finally get some represenatation…
AND
2) It would be a fitting punishment for Taxus having given rise to “King George, The Deceiver” and the endless legacy of repaying his political and fiscal mistakes.
Ya’ll need to throw the tea in the harbor!
MICHAEL C. BURGESS…..
A repugly.. so needless to say NOT happy with him. Just another rich doctor
I’m actually sorely lacking in my awareness of more ‘local’ politics, though not local issues, per se. I know more about my NH senators than I do my reps… so I briefly looked into Charlie Bass for here. Interesting…
Damn, I might even like this guy (some findings below). It seems he’s like a lot of the politicky folks here, labelled ‘R’, but not at all following strict GOP party line. Guess that’s why our state motto is ‘Live free or die’… perhaps that’s also why the Libertarians are coming… Sources all come from his website.
———
Washington, D.C. -U.S. Representative Charles Bass’ (R-NH02) effort to remove language from the Deficit Reduction Act that would open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil drilling was successful.
“There will be no drilling in ANWR,” said Bass. “I conveyed the moderate Republicans’ concern with this provision to the leadership, that message was heard, and this damaging language has been stripped from the bill.”
———
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Representative Charles Bass (R-NH02) today announced that he has reached an agreement to remove the MtBE safe harbor from the final version of the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
“There will be no safe harbor for MtBE or any other gasoline additives in the energy bill,” said Bass. “New Hampshire and dozens of municipalities will be able to move forward with their suits for widespread contamination of their waters against gasoline refiners, blenders and retailers, and anyone else involved in the release of MtBE into the environment.”
———
New Hampshire’s two congressmen were split on a bill, recently passed in the U.S. House, which restricts people other than parents from taking minors across state lines to get abortions without permission.
The Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act (CIANA) passed April 27 on a 270-157 vote. U.S. Rep. Jeb Bradley voted in favor of the measure, while Rep. Charles Bass voted against it. Both are Republicans.
Bass voting against CIANA is HUGE in my book, btw…
8th district, TN. John Tanner a blue dog democrat that will not hear me out. I seriously thought of running against him once, but my family talked me out of it. He is conservitive to the point that sometimes he reminds me of a moderate republican..he and harold ford (memphis) and they do upset me to no end.
The man that put the THUG in reTHUGlican.
Remember Miami in 2000? The so-called “Brooks Brothers Riot”? The part of that whole mess that made the USA look like a banana republic? The worst, most despicable part of the whole thing? That was lead by my congressman. This guy.
Apparently he has some problems driving too.
An Ambitous fellow, he is pissed at a lot of the state Republican leadership and Pataki because he wanted to be Governor after him but the party is a mess and Pataki waited so long to bow-out that it didn’t leave him enough time to take over and mount a serious challenge to Eliot Spitzer.
We have a fantastic candidate running against him this year. Her name is Kirsten Gillibrand. She has filed her papers but hasn’t formaly announced yet. She is working on her web site and as soon as it is up I’ll be sure to let everyone know.
Sweeney has to go. He is the kind of politician that gives politics a bad name.
GILLIBRAND FOR CONGRESS
ACCOUNTABILITY, RESPONSIBILITY, AND TRUST
FOR NEW YORK’S 20TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT
Kirsten Gillibrand is a rising star among a new generation of Democratic leadership in New York State. She is an accomplished civic leader and attorney in both the public and private sectors. As a wife and mother with deep roots in the region, Gillibrand understands what New York’s 20th District needs to meet the challenges our communities are facing and is committed to fighting for what matters to our families.
Gillibrand is running for Congress to bring accountability, responsibility, and trust back to government. Gillibrand was raised in the tradition of public service; her grandmother founded the area’s first women’s Democratic club and was a pioneer for women in the region. Gillibrand is committed to carrying on this tradition as an advocate and reformer for New York State and its families.
Gillibrand supports strong homeland security, tax cuts for middle class families, and economic development that will bring jobs and investment back to the 20th District. She knows that the 20th District has been without a voice fighting for investments in education, healthcare, and economic security, for the most vulnerable in our society – our elderly and our children – and for our troops, who put their lives on the line for us everyday.
Throughout her career, Gillibrand has demonstrated her commitment to public service. During the Clinton Administration, she served as Special Counsel to the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Andrew Cuomo. Gillibrand played a key role in developing and furthering HUD’s economic development and labor initiative and advised the Secretary on a broad range of ethics and labor issues, new markets legislation, and governmental investigations.
Currently a partner at Boies, Schiller & Flexner, one of the premier law firms in the United States, Gillibrand works on a wide range of legal and policy-related issues and understands how to negotiate at the highest levels. Gillibrand also understands the needs of those who have no voice, having represented many pro-bono cases for individuals in need of first-rate legal representation. Among them, she has represented abused women and their children and tenants seeking safe housing after lead paint and unsafe conditions were found in their homes.
A native of Albany, Gillibrand and her husband, Jonathan, currently live in Hudson, New York and have a 2-year old son, Theodore. A magna cum laude graduate from Dartmouth College, Gillibrand went on to receive her J.D. at the University of California at Los Angeles Law School, and served as a law clerk on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
Over the last decade, Gillibrand has also been active in a wide range of political and service-oriented efforts, serving as Chair of the Women’s Leadership Forum Network, and on the Boards of the Eleanor Roosevelt Legacy Committee, the New Democrat Network in New York, and the Commission on Greenway Heritage Conservancy for the Hudson River Valley. She also serves on the Advisory Board for the Brennan Center for Justice, which recently led the way in calling for reform of New York State Government.
My Congressman is Brian Baird (D-WA).
Jan Schakowsky replaced the late great Sidney Yates in 1998. As one of the most liberal members of Congress, she votes my way about 100% percent of the time. The only exceptions have been in the area of so-called intellectual property rights, but the transgressions were minor. The only downside is that it gets kind of boring to have nothing to get mad at her about and no suspense as to whether she’ll be reelected. She’ll win as usual with at least 70% of the vote, so I don’t pay attention to whatever poor shmuck might be running against her. I’m proud as hell to have her as my rep.
(I thought he was BooMan’s as well)
He’ll sell out the environment for jobs now and then, but he is a Union man through and through and provides some of the best constituent services you’ve ever seen. Plus, as Chair of Philadelphia Democratic City Comittee he has maintained sufficient political peace in this city for it to finally begin to reclaim some D power on a statewide basis. So, when Sen. Man-on-Dog finally gets retired to a life of watching Pitt fall to the Nits while drowning his sorrows in Iron City beer, remember to send Bob a thank you note.
(N.B. Bob is (IIRC) the only white guy representing a majority minority district and is a member of the CBC in good standing, plus he makes Rep. Fattah’s elections look close, how’s 97% of the vote sound!)
each day is a torment of writhing embarassment.
Rick Renzi, Republican, a real schmuck. There’s a couple of Democrats who are running: Jack Jackson, Jr. and Mike Cacciopoli. Mike’s one of our local DFAers. Both are much better than last election’s candidate, Paul Babbitt, a decent man, but not ready for attack politics.
Democrat Betty McCollum will run for her 4th term. She’s great! Some poor scmuck will probably challenge her, but not get much support. Betty represents St. Paul and remember what happened last week to our DINO mayor who endorsed Bush? We just don’t play that!
My Congressperson, in my little corner of Austin, TX, is Lloyd Doggett. He’s the one person I never feel like I have to send a petition to, because usually he’s already done it right, before I even heard about it!
I am soooo jealous that you still have Doggett.
Just in case anyone outside of Austin reads this and hasn’t already heard the rant – brinnainne, songmaker, and I ALL used to have Doggett as our rep. Then DeLay did his redistricting . . . and now brinn and I have two different complete R assholes misrepresenting us.
But in a way, I’m kinda glad I’m currently stuck with Smith. I’m going to really enjoy helping to replace him with John Courage, and brinn can work on replacing whatisname . . . And we’ll end up with 3 Democratic reps from Austin instead of one. Take that, DeLay!
Yes, I am jealous as hell that you still have Doggett too, but happier than hell that DeLay didn’t manage to get him tossed out — he is a STALWART!!
My “Rep.” is a slimy little DeLay appointed slug named Michael McCaul (his first term)….yeegods, he SUCKS. I am pretty sure there is at least one dem. challanger announced at this point — I don’t remember his name right at the moment, but I’ve looked at his website and he seems pretty good — I have written him an email and he wrote back the same day — I am going to see what I can do to help out his campaign.
J. is right — we WILL have 3 dems. from Austin next year, I have no doubt. I am also going to help out David Van Os for AG, I voted for him for a supreme court place last year (the ONLY dem. running — can you believe THAT?!) but he lost….he is running for AG now.
Cornyn is up for relection this time ’round, but I am hoping that Barbara Radnofsky can toss KayBay out on her worthless ass….we’ll see. I’m still not 100% sold on her, but she’s I’ll take her over KBH ANY day….
I worked for the IRS for years – there’s a service center here in Austin so they hire zillions of people to help process the returns (or did, they may have it so automated now that they don’t need so many people). Anyway, the federal gov will only pay benefits like health ins if your “expected tour of duty” is more than six months. So they’d say on our forms “expected TOC – 5 mos” on the forms and then keep us on for 7, 8, 9 mos. Our union took it to court – and I testified (my best friend was a union rep). We won!!!
I always thought, years later, when I’d see Van Os’s name in the news that he was the lawyer that fought for us. When I saw him at DemFest last summer I asked him if I was remembering that right. He said, “Yes! NTEU local —.” I didn’t remember our local number – and have forgotten again – but he did. He is way cool.
And btw, Union Forever!! (Proud AFT member, now.)
DemFest… I’m sorry we didn’t get a chance to meet! Did we? I know I introduced myself at the bloggers breakfast and met all sorts of people. Tried to pay attentiont to who was who but there were so many folks.
I think we did, at the bloggers’ breakfast, for about 20 seconds – there was just so much going on that we didn’t really get to talk. There’s a pic of me on this diary of Tracy’s. (I’m the one with the grey hair.) You can see if that rings a bell.
Once in a very very long while there’s a good side effect. My rep used to be the evil bastard himself, but after he pulled the strings I have Al Green. Wildly popular in some parts of town, a vintage Black Activist, congressionally seems to be something of a nonentity. But… he ain’t DeLay. That’s good enough for now. Maybe next time I’ll want someone with big feet, but for now I’m just happy not getting stomped.
James Gerlach. I think he’s been the recipient of a fair amount of Delay PAC cash…blech.
I sure hope Lois Murphy (she is running aginst him, right?) can show him the door next year.
Has served since 1982. I adore him–high ratings from NARAL, unions, and the ACLU, 7% from the Christian coalition, supported the challenge to the Ohio electoral vote–enough said. His Parkinson’s is getting more advanced, though, and his last opponent (Andrea Zinga, a despicable winger empty suit whose only claim to fame is she used to be a news reader) was the first to attempt to make an issue of his health. She’s going to run again, but has at least one primary challenger this time.
sngmama, I love Lane Evans. He is a VN vet who is honest and will go the distance for you. know him somwhat personally.
Yeah, he’s another one Illinois can be proud of. How does the horserace look at this point? He’s one out-of-my-district rep I’d go to some length to try and help out of he seemed to need it.
I am glad you feel this way. He needs all the help you can give to him. He is a strong person and you need to keep him as long as you possible can… CMH too boot.
I honestly don’t know yet how things will go this time–he doesn’t do much public speaking, and last time I heard him speak (last spring) it took some effort for him to speak and for the audience to understand. I hope the voters will continue to remember what a good job he’s doing, but well, voters can be idiots sometimes.
I am so very sorry to hear this. He always came with all the ammo he needed to make sense of things. I saw him, well, I think it was 3 years ago at a cmh convention. He did look somewhat tired. I do think a lot of him, in more ways than just being a veteran, tho. One thing I can say about him he is honest. He was very interested in helping us get the VN memorial in Srpingfield erected and he was a hoot to listen to as well. Lots of fun to be around…:o)
Yeah. I don’t know him personally at all, but I think the world of him as a public servant.
A story about how some of us in the district feel about Lane: In about January of 2004, we were having dinner with a group of friends. One asked about the upcoming primaries, and who the best choice was for Senate. Another friend answered: “Barack Obama. I don’t know much about him yet, but Lane Evans supports him, and I’d vote for a fluffy pink bunny if it had Lane’s support.”
My congressman is Daniel Lipinski. This democrat is constantly voting with the republicans. I don’t know anyone that is happy with him.
Yeah, speaking of shmucks, some of them are Democrats. This idiot Lipinski “inherited” his seat from his dad, long time Rep Bill Lipinski. Ol’ Dad set it up to announce his retirement too close to the election for any real candidates to file, and then arranged with the Chicago Dems to slate Sonny Boy. Just to be sure the boy got the seat, the Dem machine then ran a ringer as the “Republican” candidate. Sonny didn’t live in the district at the time — heck, he didn’t even live in the state (shades of Alan Keyes!). He’d never held any office either, but I guess the DNA was deemed perfect.
As you say, he votes with the Dems only about as often as Melissa Bean does, and I can vouch that he never answers his mail from constituents. To keep a long story long, I’m almost as disenfranchised in my Blue district as I would be if I lived in Indiana.
Get a candidate and dump’m.
I get stuck with John Shimkus, who just sucks. BTW, he’s violating his own term limit pledge to run for another term next year.
I don’t know who’s running against him. Last year, his opponent was so inept that I didn’t even know his name until a couple of days before the election — despite the fact that I live in the bluest part of the district.
I have congressman for life Tom Davis. He sucks. There are rumors that he won’t run again, other rumors that he will run for the senate if either of our senators decide to not run again.
I sure wish that the Dems would run a reasonable offense. Don Beyer maybe.
You don’t know who she is, eh? The bill that resulted in the cost of prescription drugs going through the roof is one of her signature bills that she had pegged her re-election campaign on.
I am guessing that AARP will come out against her pretty early in the cycle, considering they represent the people feeling the biggest pinch on that drug bill.
Yep… We have a real “All-Corporate-Allstar” republican in our neck of the woods.
I’ve got Barbara Lee and she speaks for me! :>)
Lee is very representative of her constituents; a tried and true Liberal Democrat.
God Bless Barbara Lee!
Duncan followed his father in this seat, which may be (R) for a looong time to come. As of now, there’s no announced (D) challenger.
A fiscal conservative (R), he actually voted against the Iraq war because of how the funding of the war was handled (“Let’s just sweep that issue under the rug, boys.”). Probably the only vote he ever made where I agreed with his vote, and I can at least respect him for taking a principled stand against W, even if that wouldn’t be my primary reason for voting against the war…
Consistently bad on the environment; he’s probably sick to death of getting my emails on progressive causes.
Jane Harmon (D)
With redistricting some years ago, liberal Santa Monica and Venice were combined with the more conservative South Bay… and we end up with Jane Harmon.
A month or so back, hubby was at the local farmers’ market when he noticed that Jane Harmon was there to speak with her constituents. When he went to see her, some Code Pink members were pressing Harmon about her support for the war. Because the Code Pink women weren’t playing the part of the happy constituents that Ms. Harmon expected to find on a Friday morning, she got a little huffy and walked out.
Anna Eshoo (CA-14), another of the bay area’s reliable liberal votes. So far no signs of star quality, but this is a pretty safe Democratic district.
Another Eshoo constituent here — and if we don’t have Democratic representation, we get liberal to moderate Republicans; our district was once represented by Pete McCloskey, the one Republican my mom hated having to vote for (he wasn’t far enough right for her), but she could never, ever, ever vote for a Democrat.
Mike Sodrel, IN-9 is one of the ten most vulnerable gop congressmen according to Act Blue. He is a Cheney pal and was a DeLay cash recipient. Former three term congressman Baron Hill is spoiling for a rematch with Sodrel next year and seems to have an excellent change of regaining the seat.
…is a Democrat for Life. And let me tell you, that’s one of the best kept secrets here. I tell people this, and they’re fucking shocked.
We have a Planned Parenthood clinic. A couple of local districts here went Nader in 2000. (Don’t worry, it didn’t matter in this state.)
But let me tell you, this Democrat for Life did NOT get elected because he’s hostile to reproductive rights. No, it’s safe to say that women got sold out here for nothing, as the election was over more local stuff.
I feel betrayed by the Democratic Party. And all of Chuck Schumer’s smarmy rationalizations and magical thinking that anti-choice Democrats can’t be taken at their word on this issue are not going to convince me.
The Democrats no longer get my support. They no longer get my money. (Or anything from my extended family.)
I go by the individual only now.
Who? What district and state?
Yup, I’m stuck with a Repulsivican. I don’t care what I write him about, he votes the exact opposite. On top of that, he appears to be hand in glove with Tom Delay: took $69,977 from ARMPAC, took $3,000 from DeLay Campaign Fund. This man does not represent me.
CA CD-6 Lynn Woolsey. Big Bad Lynn. Grey-beige Lynn looks like she belongs elsewhere than with the House Dem troublemakers–but there she is time after time shamelessly voting the way I want her to. Against the Bankruptcy Bill, against the war, etc., etc. She knows the factions in Marin & Sonoma Counties and rounds ’em up every two years. She seems to have no higher political aspirations than Rep., the District likes that.
Right next door (I lived there for years) is CA CD-1 with Mike Thompson. His long narrow but geopraphically concise District is the North Coast/Redwood Empire and the eastern part of the Wine country. Mike’s a Blue Dog Democrat, about right for the mostly rural District. He doesn’t always vote how I like.
I’ve given up on calling Woolsey’s office….down here in Marin we live with her nonsense as well.
If I need to get info to a congress critter or want impact I call Nancy Pelosi’s office. Since it’s the right area code on caller id I get through everytime.
What’s worse is we’ve got some real DINO’s looking at running at Woolsey in ’06.
Rolfyboy do you want come down and help us try to take Contra Costa County from Pombo in ’06? He had to fight to hold in ’04 and we aren’t distract with a Presidential campaign this time. It could be a fun campaign!
Man, am I thinking about that. Pombo’s the pits, and the biggest stain on the Dem. Party’s rep is we haven’t opposed him properly. That 11th District is a gerrymandered nighmare with completely different demographics and messages in the two or three parts, which works in Pombo’s favor.
Used to be Martin Frost, but thanks to Delay’s little redistricting mess here in Texas, the repug who doesn’t represent me is Pete Sessions.
And, of course, for my Senators I’m stuck with Kay Bailey-Hutchinson and John Cornyn! Not a chance in hell any of them ever pay any attention to all my little emails!
I guess the only good thing I can say about my “representatives” is they’re really easy to cuss at!
Mine is Rodney Frelinghuysen (R- NJ, 11th district). Rodney has been in office for I think 6 terms or so, and although I never vote for the Republican in this race, the seat is very reliably Republican. That being said, Rodney is actually a decent enough fellow, a moderate Republican, as honest as Tom DeLay is a sleazy criminal. Of course, Hot Rod does also vote fairly reliably along party lines.
Rod’s staff is VERY slow in getting responses to me after I call or write his office to complain about something.
Ed Markey, D. A great guy. I met him last summer when I interned for him. Most of the work staffers did was helping constituents on things like immigration and veterans benefits, nothing really connected to getting reelected or anything like that, his real goal is to help people. I just wish he had voted the other way on that internet regulation bill, however it made me realize that that was actually the FIRST time I disagreed with his vote.
Plus he has a thick skin – very valuable nowadays.
represented by Louise Slaughter. (Rochester, NY)
She’s really great, and she now posts regularly on DKos.
She grew up in the South and so has a southern accent, but has lived in this area for decades. During her last election her opponent made some kind of comment about her being from the South, and she said something along the lines of “I’ve lived in this area longer than you’ve been alive…”, which was true…
Yes, you are.
Atrocious, mediocre DeLay crony from a semi-distinguished Oklahoma political family (a local highway is named after his mother).
Cole was elected to his OK-4 seat in 2002, when J.C. Watts stepped down. OK-4 contains Norman, which is, I suppose, as liberal as Oklahoma gets (i.e. not very liberal). However it also contains two major military installations — Tinker AFB and Fort Sill — as well as a very conservative and republican swatch of SW Oklahoma.
A little remedial Oklahoma political geography: Politically speaking, Oklahoma in many ways resembles the South. It was overwhelmingly (conservative) Democratic for decades; now it’s overwhelmingly Republican, especially in national elections. The most GOP part of the state is actually our largest city, Oklahoma City. The most concentrated Democratic areas are also the most rural, especially in the east and southeast of the state. Oklahoma is one of only two states, along with Utah, that did not have a single blue county in 2004.
At any rate, in 2002, Cole won a pretty close election — 54-46 — over a Democratic candidate whose hands were to a great extent tied by the DCCC. He’d won his primary battles arguing against the Iraq war, and was apparently told by the DCCC that he had to shut up about that if he expected any support from his national party.
In 2004, the Democrats didn’t bother to run anyone against Cole, making my district the second closest uncontested seat in the country.
Nothing is as politically odious as the GOP, but the Oklahoma Democratic Party beats it in the category of simple uselessness.
Mike Michaud (D) 2nd Congressional, Maine. Great guy. Last card holding union member in Congress. I’m about to diary his latest letter. Stand up guy. Works really hard. 2nd termer and the Repubs made a big run at him last time and got slammed. Moderate Repubs vote for him, 60% of independent voters adn 90% of Dems. Go Mike Go.
“Duke” Cunninham-CA50 r. Need I say more? At least he is not running for reelection.
Norm Dicks WA. About the only good thing I can say about him is that he’s democrat and we were friends in high school. Got elected in the 1974 Democratic sweep and has been there ever since. Is good at getting pork and is a reliable Dem vote. In a different world might have risen to Chairman of the House Defense appropriations committee. Watches his base and is always in the local parades, and has public buildings named after himself.
Mine is Mike Rogers (R) Michigan’s 8th district. In his third term. Is Majority Deputy Whip. Sets on Energy and Commerce Panel, and Select Committee on Intelligence! Former FBI, if I remember correctly. Company GOP guy, although he publicly expressed concern over GW’s non-plan plan to overhaul Social Security. According to a former political foe, received campaign funds from a pac associated with Tom DeLay. One of the up and comers for GOP.
To date no opposition candidate has been announced, but there is a chance that a former CIA guy might take him on. Typically a safe GOP district, since it was reconfigured in the 90’s. GW got about 60% in this district in 04.
…you were a West Philly boy, BooMan.
I, myself was born in, raised, in, and can’t seem to move out of University City.
No complaints about Chaka Fattah. Wish there were more like him. He’s kind of quiet though.
Representative Rodney Frelinghuysen (New Jersey) is a ranking member, the Vice Chairman, of the House Defense Appropriations committee. He is a six-term incumbent in the safest of safe districts. He has worked cheek to jowl, side by side, with Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Feith, Sanchez, and all the defense contractors in Iraq.
More important, he is a Viet Vet.
He knows in his bones the utter futility of trying to fight an enemy that is (a) indistinguishable from the indigenous population, (b) endlessly re-enforced through 2,000 miles of hopelessly open borders, and (c) supported by a closed culture that knows more about us than we will ever know about them, a culture our soldiers can neither comprehend nor trust.
Still, with all the painful lessons of Vietnam, with all of his prestige and job security, Representative Frelinghuysen does not to question the assumption that somehow — if only we train and motivate enough Iraqi troops in the cities – jihadists reinforcements will stop sneaking through the 2,000 miles of open borders,
Our cause in Iraq may be noble, but our operational brain is dead. The Vietnam War was lost because 500,000 American troops were unable stop the infiltration of foreign insurgents across the Cambodian border and down the Ho Chi Min Trail. We could not stop them because it was physically impossible to seal the borders, because we could not distinguish good guys from bad guys, because the insurgents knew far more about us than we did about them. We were uniformed, sitting ducks, and they were not.
So the question for Representative Frelinghuysen is this: If 500,000 brave and dedicated troops could not stop enemy infiltration into Vietnam, why would you ever think that 150,000 can keep the enemy out of Iraq?
Is our surveillance along the 2,000 miles of Iraqi border – which is about the same as our border with Mexico, by the way — more effective than it was along the Ho Chi Min Trail?
Are the jihadists less motivated than the North Vietnamese?.
Perhaps the Iraqi soldier today is smarter than the ARVN soldier of 1965-70, less corruptible, more committed to our Western ideals.
Irrespective of why we are in Iraq, whether Frelinghuysen was in on the cherry-picking, he — along with Hegel and McCain and a few others who served in Vietnam — cannot help but know that our strategy in Iraq flies in the face of common sense.
By virtue of his powerful position on the Defense Appropriations Committee, fully capable of directing funds for body armor, in a position to call a halt or raise an alarm at any time, Rodney Frelinghuysen has been instead ever the good soldier, following his Party’s orders, protecting his own safe seat.
Rep. Randy Kuhl, another Delay clone. But, it looks like there is hope-Eric Massa is running against him, one of the fighting Dems. He has a web site:
http://www.pixelhead.net/massaforcongress/default.asp
and a blog:
http://www.ericmassa.bravejournal.com/index.php
He sounds pretty good, maybe not as far to the left as I’d like, but then, he’s 1000 times better than what we have now.
And he gets on my last nerve…
As a Chicagoan, I am pretty well taken care of, locally. But I can’t stand Emanuel and his pro-militarism, pro-business, pro-Patriot Act, pro-full of himself self…
My Congressman is Wally Herger. He’s been in office for 157 years and counting. He’s despicable on every level. He’s a liar, he’s a cheat, he doesn’t give a fig about representing anyone but those who bow down to Bush 5 times a day.
I lived most of my voting adult life in Sonoma, in the Bay Area of California. Yes, I enjoyed the political bubble and miss it tremendously. My representative was Lynn Woolsey. She had an open door policy that made her available to her constituents most of the time. She wrote letters of support for those of us who were tapped into what the rightwing was successfully doing in California.
Then I did the ‘right thing’ after my mother and sister died. I moved back to upper Northern California into a bastion of conservatism to take care of my 82 year old father. That’s where Wally Herger comes slithering into the picture. It doesn’t matter who runs against him because he will be reelected for the umpteenth time.
Stupidity reigns in this neck of the words. Now I’m really depressed just thinking about it, I’m going to go eat some chocolate.
Jim Walsh, NY-25. (Somewhat spurious family tradition has it that I am his cousin five times removed or something.) Son of former longtime mayor. Born with silver spoon in mouth, & c. Has the obligatory “get me out of Vietnam service” letter on file. (Was already hauled out by a typically underfunded opponent; nobody cared.)
Prince of Pork for the greater Central New York region, longtime back-bencher who has put in his time to get on committees (currently: Appropriations Subcomittee). Big on Northern Ireland peace issues. While hardly a winger, he is a dull and dutiful Bush loyalist. Best seen as a somewhat farther right, less questioning version of Sherwood Boehlert.
Ran unopposed in 2004; Dem opponents generally get 25% of the vote against him.
The district seems to have been totally written off by the Dems.
I am very interested in this
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