Thursday, August 05, 2010

Did John Boehner Play 119 Rounds Of Golf Or 120 Rounds Of Golf Last Year? Or Was It Merely 117 Rounds?

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It's a miracle I got any blogging done at all in the last few days. It's like non-stop phone calls and e-mails from all these media folks in John Boehner's district wanting to know why we're picking on him, where'd we get the money for the billboards, why is the billboard not inside the district, and how, exactly, do we know he played 119 rounds of golf in 2009. I mean, those calls haven't stopped in 3 days. Everyone has been pretty nice and polite though. And I think they appreciate the transparency with which we handle all the questions, rather than the way the Boehner folks weave and dodge and never seem to manage to give a straight answer to any questions. The big Cincinnati Enquirer website kicked off the fetsivities even before the first of our BeatBoehner billboards went up. The video up top was the report that ran yesterday at News 5, WLWT, the powerhouse NBC affiliate for southwest Ohio.

Boehner's spokesman says he only "held 7 golf events last year," but no one cares how many events he hosted. The question is how many times he's been out golfing instead of working. One day out of three seems like an awful lot, don't you think? Especially for someone who's advocating raising the retirement age-- for the rest of us-- to 70. Meanwhile, between his lobbyist-financed political action committee and his own considerable personal wealth-- apparently being a career politician pays a lot more than anyone ever guessed-- he's put at least a quarter million dollars into his favorite sport-- not counting the fetching shorts.

Boehner's spokesman referred to us, contemptuously, as "Ultra-liberal Democrats." They ought to check out my bona fides with Chris Van Hollen, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Rahm Emanuel and John Barrow if they want to know how tight we are with the Democrats! But even if he persuades Butler County voters we're... ultra-liberals, how's he going to smear Golf Digest? In October, 2005 that magazine reported that "Despite all of the problems facing Ohio families, according to Golf Digest Magazine, Congressman Boehner finds time to play about 100 rounds of golf a year-- most with special interest lobbyists. He says he pays special attention to the lobbyists he meets on the golf course, bragging “...if someone I’ve gotten to know on the golf course comes into my office with a good argument, I tend to want to listen.” Yeah, especially if they bring their checkbook. Oh, and speaking of checkbooks, can we hit you up again? We want to keep the billboards up-- and there are so many more nice messages Boehner's constituents ought to see about him-- and we want to run our TV spots. This page has pictures of all six billboards but the contest is over and we're just going to use it to collect money to BeatBoehner: more of these billboards everywhere from Darke and Mercer counties down to the southern tip of the district where Boehner keeps a home (at the 10th hole) and more TV spots.



So... if you want to donate you can do it online by clicking this link or you can send a check to the Blue America PAC, PO Box 27201, Los Angeles, CA 90027.

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10 Comments:

At 7:08 AM, Anonymous me said...

"Boehner's spokesman says he only 'held 7 golf events last year,'"

Sounds like a valid defense.


"but no one cares how many events he hosted. The question is how many times he's been out golfing instead of working."

Good question, but unfortunately, your news program said nothing about that. They left the impression that Boner's defense was valid, and at the same time they made Coussoule look like a teenager.

Not that I'm some kind of expert, but you might want to consider giving Coussoule a heads-up next time something comes out, and that both of you be better prepared to counter the inevitable defense than you were this time.

You have to show the tv stations PROOF that Boner was golfing with lobbyists every third day all year long. Of course they tend to favor the status quo, so if you don't give them hard facts to support your position, they'll go against you, just like they did this time.

And Coussoule looks like he was caught off guard by the whole thing. He should have had hard-hitting prepared statements ready.

I'm just saying.

 
At 1:17 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

"Not that I'm some kind of expert, but you might want to consider giving Coussoule a heads-up next time something comes out, and that both of you be better prepared to counter the inevitable defense than you were this time."

I'm not sure but I think that kind of coordination is illegal.

 
At 1:30 PM, Blogger DownWithTyranny said...

Anonymous at 1:17-- you are completely correct. Blue America isn't allowed to coordinate any of this campaign with Coussoule. We have to be extra-careful because this is John Boehner we're talking about, not just some GOP schlemiel from Bumfuck

 
At 2:08 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

See if you can explain this even better.

Boehner is like the quarterback for Ohio State, or the Bengals or the Browns. And his game plan is to do nothing. No offense. Absolutely nothing. Just do nothing and then punt and leave all the hard work up to the defense.

It is true he is not the quarterback of a football team but he is the quarterback for the House Republicans. The citizens of Ohio are too smart to fall for a quarterback with a plan to fail.

Do you think the quarterback should out be playing golf on almost a third of the days of the year? Or does this sound like the playbook of a loser? Do you think a verified loser should even be in the game? Vote for his opponent, who will try to win for America.

 
At 3:15 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

How much would 119 rounds of golf cost assuming someone would pay for it themselves? I'm assuming that the clubs and balls are free?

 
At 3:22 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

What? He plays Golf and doesn't come to Tucson? Then you're probably going after a wrong guy, Howie.

 
At 11:02 AM, Anonymous me said...

I understand that. I'm not talking about illegal coordination. If you have to wait to tell him until two seconds after the billboard is up in front of the public, so be it.

But it looks like he was caught flat-footed by it, like the first he heard of it was from the reporter. I would have preferred that he at least had a bit of time to prepare a response.

The same goes for Blue America. When the reporters called, wouldn't it have been better if you had provided them with a list of dates and locations of his golf outings? And better yet, as complete as possible a list of the lobbyists he golfed with? That would have made a killer story that would have echoed around the country for weeks.

 
At 11:06 AM, Anonymous me said...

Again, I'm not an expert. I'm just saying that, as in all of life's endeavors, you'll have much better success if you get all your ducks in a row.

 
At 3:30 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I BEG Ohio voters to give Boehner 365 days a year to play golf! Vote the lying, worthless, self serving scoundrel out in November.

In just 3 short months Ohio can tell the EVERY politician that their standard self serving, do nothing but accept bribes way of life is OVER!

 
At 8:43 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Shouldn't Boehner be allowed to play all the golf he wants. He represents all of us not just the special interests of the rich. I know that I was able to play 3 games last year. Too busy trying to earn enough money to pay my 25% tax rate on my income. He earned it, and he needs a lot of money to run again. When the American Jobs act was going to be presented he discussed with teh VP his golf scores. I know what is important to Bohner, don't the rest of you.

 

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