JEB BRADLEY-- A RUBBER-STAMP NEW HAMPSHIRE REPUBLICAN WHO'S GOT TO GO

There are plenty of reasons to oppose Jeb Bradley's re-election bid in New Hampshire in November. Bradley has been a real whore when it's come to vacuuming up bribes from the worst elements of the Republican Culture of Corruption-- with thousands and thousands of dollars flooding into his campaign coffers from scum like DeLay, Boehner, Blunt, Ney... And in return, of course, Bradley has been the perfect little rubber-stamping Republican robot-- a dependable vote when DeLay needed ethics rules gutted, a dependable vote when Bush needed congressional approval for his harebrained schemes to destroy the middle class and embroil us in his cockamamie crusades around the world.

There are 4 Democrats vying to take on Bradley in November: Rye School Board Vice-Chairman Gary Dodds, Rochester Democratic chairwoman, a progressive, Carol Shea-Porter, 3-term state legislatorPeter Sullivan of Manchester, and NH Democratic House Leader James Craig, a moderate who has no campaign website yet but is, more or less, the state party organization favorite.

NH-01 encompasses the southeastern third of the state and includes Manchester and Portsmouth, the 2 biggest cities. Although New Hampshire as a whole voted narrowly for Kerry in 2004, massive GOP electoral tampering delivered this district to Bush (by the barest of margins). Recently Congressman Rubber Stamp gave flinty residents, as well as less flinty ones, another reason to vote against him. Our pals at the Center For American Progress pointed out a very misleading editorial sneaky Jeb wrote for the Manchester Union-Leader when he got back from a "fact-finding" trip to Iraq in January. Actually, he wasn't looking for facts; he was looking for excuses to back up the far right's lies and distortions about what's going on in Iraq.

You know their ridiculous meme about how everything's coming up roses in Iraq and it's only the cowardly, treasonous, liberal media (presumably, including the 90 or so who have been killed covering it plotting against America over there) who lie and say something is awry or amiss... or something not good? Well Bradley has been pushing that line of crap and he tried to hoodwink New Hampshire residents into believing it.

You can read Congressman Rubber Stamp's whole editorial right here. He claimed that the troops are concerned about the media coverage back home and how all anyone hears is a bunch of bad news. He somehow neglected to mention that his own plane-- carrying half a dozen congresscritters-- had to take evasive action to avoid a shoulder held missle fired at it as it was coming in for a landing in Baghdad. I wonder if Bradley thought the Iraqis were just throwing candies and flowers at his plane? He says he lied his ass off kept the incident on the down low because he only wanted to focus on the troops. OK, focus on them, Congressman Rubber Stamp! Get them the hell out of there because their problem isn't GOP claims about biased media; it's about the constant dangers they have to face. And for what? So George Bush can strut around claiming he's a war time president while wrecking America with impunity?

Yeah, yeah, yeah... but Bush ain't running in November and-- alas-- he ain't running in the September 12th primary. So what are we gonna do? The only way to get to Bush is to defeat Jeb Bradley. And the best way to do that is to offer up a clear, clear choice. And the polar opposite of Bradley is Carol Shea-Porter. She has a very compelling life story, one that makes leaves no doubt exactly why she is a progressive Democrat and why she believes that together people can accomplish so much for the common good. I hope you'll read it and feel as inspired as I did. And she doesn't beat around the bush or triangulate when it comes to her positions. Her positions are the grassroots, progressive positions and they are the opposite of the Inside-the-Beltway scumbag positions. Carol's going to be an independent-minded Democrat in Congress, not a rubber-stamper... not for anyone.