JIM WALSH (R-NY) RETIRING FROM CONGRESS-- THAT'S ABOUT TWO DOZEN SO FAR
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Hey Jimmy, don't let the door hit you in the ass
Jim Walsh is one of those fake moderates the Republicans try passing off in moderate districts, like NY-25. His voting record is not moderate; it's very right-wing. And that's why he nearly lost his seat (51-49%) to Dan Maffei last year and why it was apparent that Dan was going to bury him in November and it's why he has decided not to even try again in 2008.
The Syracuse-based district voted against Bush in 2000 and 2004, voted for Hillary and will likely never give its votes to a Republican again-- at least not for a long, long time. Walsh may be a wingnut but he knew which was the wind was blowing. One look at his voting record-- violently anti-choice, anti-environment, anti-consumer, anti-labor-- in the light of what his constituents say they want, made it clear that he'd never win again. In this district which solidly opposes Bush's Iraq policies, Walsh has voted on Iraq-related legislation 60 times since cheering on the authorization to use force against Iraq on October 10, 2002. Despite the wishes of his constituents, he has been a complete rubber stamp for Bush and Cheney for the past 6 years. Last February he finally voted against the so-called surge-- after being barraged by furious constituents-- but immediately reverted to voting with the radical right on every single Iraq vote after that. Out of 60 votes, he managed to oppose Bush and Cheney once-- and then crawled back to them with his tail between his legs. Good riddance!
Last August Blue America endorsed Dan Maffei and we've been helping him raise money. 141 of our members have given so far. NY-25 is one of three seats Blue America plans on helping Democrats capturing in November. (The two others are Eric Massa in NY-29 and Jon Powers in NY-26.)
UPDATE: I GUESS WALSH WASN'T ONE OF THE MODERATES CQ WAS SPINNING ABOUT
I'm guessin' they wrote this silly, absurd Congressional Quarterly piece before Walsh's retirement story hit the wires last night.
For the first time in a while, some moderate House Republicans see a reason to be optimistic.
The centrists who survived the Democratic surge of 2006 see signs of hope when they look at their party’s presidential contest. To varying degrees, House GOP moderates feel kinship with Sen. John McCain of Arizona, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
Give me a break. Even if they insist on referring to lock step right-wing congressional ideologues-- who have rubber stamped the entire Bush agenda-- as "moderates," how can anyone in their right mind listen to what's been spewing out from McCain's, Giuliani's and Willard's mouths and relate that to any kind of "moderation?"
By backing President Bush’s policy in Iraq, GOP leaders have made political survival difficult for Republican lawmakers representing swing districts. It didn’t help when the leadership took a hard line last year against Democratic efforts to provide more money than Bush wanted for domestic programs, including health insurance for poor children.
Well, guess what McCain, Giuliani and Willard are saying about those very issues. And if the fake moderates are all so optimistic, why are they all quitting and retiring at the fastest rate in congressional history?
Labels: Blue America, Dan Maffei, Jim Walsh, New York
posted by DownWithTyranny @ 9:38 PM
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7 Comments:
I bet Walsh would LOVE to have the door hit him in the ass on the way out. In fact, I bet he would love it repeatedly. Nothing like a nice rough spanking for a repug. It reminds them of happier times with paddles in their college fraternities. "Please sir, can I have another"!
You people are disgusting. However, that's pretty par for a member of the Democrat party.
Hey Mr. Anonymousie, there are a lot of Bush2 hating Ex-Republicans and Independents who are disgusting here TOO! Proud of it.
I learned my disgusting from former Speaker Newt Gingrich - getting caught having an affair after trying to impeach Clinton very sanctimoniously, and asking his wife for a divorce while she was in the hospital for cancer.
I'd like to think we have learned well from the Republicans and they are ALL now FAIR GAME per Mr. Rove, master disguster and teacher.
"Democrat" Party.... HA HA! I get it! You heard that on Rush din'tcha! Oooh, very clever, very biting. Your incisive, Swiftian satire is biting.
Thanks to ridiculous re-districting, Jim Walsh is not just based in Syracuse. His district also extends into the eastern suburbs here in Rochester. Walsh's problem, just like the rest of the upstate GOP, is that he's been a rubber stamp for Bush, who is despised in western New York.
However, I will credit Walsh for at least being flexible enough to -finally- modify some of his extreme positions he's held which are totally out of touch with his district, the Iraq War being the most significant.
The bigger issue for us in western New York is the revolting record of Randy Kuhl's, whose district literally begins with the house next door to mine (I am just inside Louise Slaughter's district).
Randy Kuhl replaced a very moderate, well-respected Rockefeller-style Republican Amo Houghton who retired a few years back. Again, due to crazy redistricting, Randy's district which has always been centered on the southern tier of NY now also includes most southern suburbs of the city of Rochester.
Kuhl has been rubberstamping the Bush agenda since he got into office and still does so. His constituents are so outraged by the man's voting record that they've shown up at his district offices, and he's taken to telling the press he carries a loaded gun -and- has since padlocked most of his offices to make sure he is not exposed to anyone with a contrary position.
The press in Rochester and Canandaigua has been running plenty of letters to the editor from people who loathe Randy Kuhl and want him out of office. Unlike Walsh, Kuhl is just as stubborn as Dubya himself, and the only way to change his mind is to get him out of office where his opinions don't matter. Eric Massa is running against him again this year and may claim the win.
Upstate New York is becoming endangered territory for the Republican party on the federal level, whose core values of fiscal conservatism and staying out of people's lives has been replaced with neocons and religious zealots whom the long-standing supporters of the GOP up here have nothing in common with.
Well, after sending Walsh an email reading "na-na na na, na-na na na hey hey good-bye" before all the votes were counted in '06, this is some of the best news i've heard in awhile. Dan Maffei's got my support again this year.
AP October 24, 1994, Monday Republican Mayor Rudolph Giuliani rejected his own party's candidate for governor Monday and threw his support behind embattled Democrat Mario Cuomo's bid for a fourth term. . . The mayor had repeatedly said he was concerned that Pataki's plan to cut New York's state income tax by 25 percent over four years might mean less state aid to the city even though Pataki had vowed that it wouldn't. . . The Republican mayor told the City Hall news conference he was aware he was taking a risk by endorsing a Democrat, but added: "Mario Cuomo will simply be a better governor than George Pataki."
AP August 19, 1994 Giuliani, a former federal prosecutor elected mayor last fall, stood on a stage with Clinton in Minneapolis last week and applauded after the president ripped congressional Republicans who derailed the bill.
AP February 8, 2000 Giuliani has routinely run for mayor with Liberal Party backing. . . "He's wrong on domestic partners, he's wrong on gays in the military, he's wrong on gay rights, he's wrong on rent control, he's wrong on ... we could just go on and on and on," Long said.
AP March 3, 1997 Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who enjoys his role as a tough politician, stunned friends and foes alike as he gamboled before 2,000 people at a black-tie affair dressed as a woman. . . Giuliani called his feminine alter ego "Rudia." Giuliani, running for a second term this year, remarked that he is "a Republican pretending to be a Democrat pretending to be a Republican."
AP June 28, 2001 Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, in an effort to escape the strains of his divorce, has forsaken Gracie Mansion for the refuge of a close friend's high-rise apartment, according to published reports. . . The East Side apartment is owned by the mayor's friend, Howard Koeppel, a [homosexual] Queens car dealer and mayoral fund-raiser
UPI February 24, 1982 Mayor Edward Koch, who now wants to run for governor and will need upstate support to win, says living in the suburbs is ''sterile,'' and rural life is a ''joke.'' Koch made the comments in an interview with Playboy magazine . . . Questioned about time wasted in city subways, Koch replied, ''As opposed to wasting time in a car? Or out in the country, wasting time in a pickup truck when you have to drive 20 miles to buy a gingham dress or a Sears Roebuck suit?''
AP March 17, 2006 "If you drive from Schenectady to Niagara ... it looks like Appalachia," Spitzer said . . .Appalachia is a mountainous region with some well-documented, often oppressive rural poverty. It covers all of West Virginia and parts of 12 states, including part of southwestern New York.
NYT June 8, 1994 Brushing aside suggestions of patronage, Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani yesterday defended the hiring of four relatives to positions in his administration, saying that they were hired because of merit, not family ties. . . Shortly after taking office, the Mayor hired Catherine Giuliani, who is married to a cousin, also named Rudy Giuliani, as a program coordinator in the Community Assistance Unit in Queens.
AP April 29, 2008 Rudy Giuliani should not have received Holy Communion during the pope's visit because the former presidential candidate supports abortion rights, New York Cardinal Edward Egan said Monday. Egan says he had "an understanding" with Giuliani that he is not to receive the Eucharist.
AP March 23, 2007 Giuliani's first marriage to his second cousin, Regina Peruggi, ended after 14 years in divorce and later an annulment. His second marriage, to TV personality Donna Hanover, ended in a bitter divorce after he announced their breakup at a news conference in 2000.
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