Prominent Republican "person of color" (that color being ORANGE...), Congressman John Boehner, launched his campaign for Speaker of the House today with a speech demanding, among other things: tax cuts for the wealthy, more impediments to union organizing, no energy reform, and more. As Minority Leader, Big Orange Rep. Boehner would be the logical vote for Speaker should the GOP manage to capture a House majority.
Here's Boehner in his own, bizarre words:
The president’s government takeover of health care is already wreaking havoc on employers and entrepreneurs. [...] One of the new law’s most controversial mandates requires small businesses to report any total purchases that run more than $600.
Doesn't that sound frightening? You have to wonder why then Congressional Republicans blocked an effort to repeal this provision!
House Ways and Means Chairman Sandy Levin (D-Mich.) offered a bill Friday on the floor that would repeal the mandate included in the healthcare law requiring small businesses to file 1099 forms to the IRS for purchases to suppliers above $600. The mandate is set to take effect in 2012. [...] The bill provides an opportunity to "stand up for millions of Americans and small business or keep a tax loophole and side with companies that ship jobs overseas."
Republicans questioned the offset for the bill that would raise about $19 billion by closing those tax loopholes and said they were disappointed in the process on how the bill was brought to the floor.
Holy cow... is there anything these babies don't whine about? Let's consider just how much damage they could do if turned loose once again to wreak havoc on the Congress.
Gee, in the middle of a record heat wave, just the thought gives me a definite chill!
FYI... remember Boehner was last seen in Alabama's 5th Congressional District when he helped temporary Congressman Parker Griffith (R-Turncoat) sneak past protestors into Griffith's own fundraiser.
Speaking in Huntsville, AL at his campaign headquarters on Saturday, AL-05 Democratic nominee, Steve Raby, challenged Mo Brooks to distance himself from the national GOP's efforts to privatize Social Security:
"Today, Mo Brooks is campaigning across the district with a Washington politician named Representative Marsha Blackburn. Congresswoman Blackburn is an outspoken critic of Social Security and has sponsored legislation that calls for the privatization of both Social Security and Medicare." [...] "This great country made a promise to its hard working citizens a generation ago, a promise of economic security and stability after a lifetime of hard work. I pledge to the voters of the 5th district that I will fight to preserve and protect this vital program."
BLACKBURN: You know, people forget Medicare is a program that individuals have paid into every single year with their Medicare and their Social Security beneifts the federal government has first right of refusal on that paycheck. And this is one of the reasons we need to make sure individuals get the money out that they have placed in. This is one of the reasons we have had the discussion over and over for our younger earners of having accounts that have their Social Security number and their information on that — personal accounts.
Ok campers! Pull out your 401k statements from, say, 2006 and compare them to 2007 or 2008 statements. Now, imagine if you'd retired during the summer of 2008 and watched your nest egg get swallowed up by the great crash of 2008:
Stocks skidded Monday, with the Dow slumping nearly 778 points, in the biggest single-day point loss ever, after the House rejected the government's $700 billion bank bailout plan.
The day's loss knocked out approximately $1.2 trillion in market value, the first post-$1 trillion day ever, according to a drop in the Dow Jones Wilshire 5000, the broadest measure of the stock market.
Raby is correct to be asking Brooks to clarify his position on Social Security. The popular Republican "solution" seems to be private accounts. That's worked so well for privatized pensions - ie 401k plans - hasn't it?
AL-5 Democratic candidate, Steve Raby, will celebrate the 75th birthday of Social Security at his campaign office in Huntsville on Saturday, August 14. Raby will hold a press conference beginning at 10am and invites the public to join him and local seniors "as they discuss the continued importance of this vital program."
Raby's headquarters is located at 222 Holmes Ave., Huntsville, AL.
Now, according to Glenn Beck, Social Security is a program that "should never have been created" and tied that creation to Stalin.
Really Glenn? STALIN? Stalin was responsible for the deaths of what, about 20 million people? While Social Security has helped keep our grandparents alive:
Its linkage with Medicare, which turns a youthful 45 this year, has combined to help lower the poverty rate among seniors from about 30 percent to less than 10 percent. [...] At a time when it's fashionable to be savagely critical of nearly everything, Social Security stands out as a stunning success story. If the program has challenges, and it certainly does, they are not the result of its fundamental design and operation. [...] There are, to be sure, periodic stories about Social Security benefit denials that appear callous and even unfair. But for nearly all Social Security recipients, the payments come when they're supposed to, and in the proper amounts. When it seemed during the Great Recession that little about retirement could be depended on, Social Security continued to be dependable.
According to an email sent by a prominent trade association in North Alabama, it's "important to fight the current liberal Legislative agenda" and the way to do that is to discuss the problem with Mo Brooks. Now, the text of the email doesn't provide a formal endorsement of Brooks, true, but read the screen shot below and see what you think.
What would you think if you received this "invitation" from a business group you belong to? What gets me is the "we all know.... " lead in. I'd be tempted to RSVP in a less than nice manner.
My friend who received it called "an example of Business Communication FAIL" and noted "... sweetheart ..... I got news for you. There are other viewpoints out there in the big world. When I read your email, I read "Dear _____: Piss off".
You have to wonder how much of this garbage flys totally under the radar of the MSM, political bloggers, and other campaigns. Memo to Steve Raby: it's time to start hustling (although you probably are already) because Mo's got a lot of friends with $$ who want him to "fight the liberal Legislative agenda."
If only we HAD a real one, they'd have something legitimate to whine about....
Dale Jackson is all in an uproar because some debate or forum he (with Right On Huntsville and the Rocket City Democrats, apparently) was trying to set up fell through. Now Steve Raby (D) probably isn't interested in a debate with Dale as a moderator -- Dale's a little bit partisan, you know -- but Steve is a very smart guy and I imagine he'd like to get Mo Brooks on TV three nights a week from now to election day if he could, so Mo can talk about how he'll reduce government spending if we send him to Washington.
Say it often enough and that message will sink in with the folks whose livelihood flows through that giant pipeline of federal dollars from Washington to Redstone Arsenal, Missile Command, NASA, the rocket plant in Decatur and so forth. Send another loose cannon to Washington and watch them cut OUR federal dollars, not the ones headed for California or Texas.
The more people in North Alabama see and hear Mo Brooks, the less likely they're going to vote for him. He's a nice enough guy to talk to, but he has some seriously crazy ideas and doesn't shy away from talking about them.
I've no doubt there will be debates and forums between Raby and Brooks. Hopefully many, and hopefully broadcast far and wide.
That's really the question upon which this congressional race -- one of less than twenty competitive GOP held seats in the country this year -- will turn. When I saw both Brooks and Raby at the WVNN candidate mixer a few weeks ago, it was clear that Mo Brooks wants this race to be a referendum on Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi while Democratic nominee Steve Raby wants to talk about bringing jobs and investment to North Alabama. You can see the contrast clearly in this video shot at the WVNN event:
Brooks' strategy is obvious from this article, heavily based on a press release from the Brooks campaign:
“The 5th Congressional District is pivotal to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s reelection effort. As a result, Speaker Pelosi’s liberal allies (personal injury trial lawyers, the NEA, labor unions, and the like) have already “invested” over $100,000 in Democrat Steve Raby’s campaign,” said Brooks.
Brooks added, “Remarkably, each of these liberal special interests (plus the ultra-liberal Alabama Democratic Conference and New South Coalition[1]) preferred Steve Raby in the Democratic Primary over his three apparently more conservative Democratic challengers.”[2]
I have to take exception to that last sentence. Steve Raby was far from the most liberal candidate in the Democratic field -- something that gave a lot of us heartburn in the primary.
As noted in that article, the post-primary FEC reports are out for the period 5/13 to 6/30:
Brooks raised $152,565, $44,618 from PACS, and spent $51,160. He has $259,005 cash on hand.
Raby raised $170,606, $69,258 from PACs and spent $162,341, leaving $118,484 cash on hand.
Steve Raby's fundraising performance is fine, but he needs to be careful of the burn rate. Brooks defeated Parker Griffith with a very low $$ campaign that didn't spend until the end and he'll certainly try that again for the general election.
Mo Brooks had a lot to say about a lot of topics, Steve Raby stuck to his jobs message. I think we'll see a lot of this over the summer -- Mo will talk about anything, Raby will stick to his message. Having and reiterating a message is important, but I'd still like to see Raby at least admit that he'll support some Democrat for Speaker of the House, even if he can't admit he'll vote for Nancy Pelosi. Heck, in years past the only reason I've voted for the Democrat in AL-05 was, "At least he'll vote for Nancy Pelosi as Speaker."
Take that away and what do liberal Democrats have left?
Why, oh why couldn't Les Phillip be the Republican nominee in Alabama's 5th CD?Foreclosurewould be such a great way to kick off a general election campaign.
You had only to look at Phillip's campaign finance disclosures to realize that he did not have a firm grasp on handling money. Most of the money he raised was spent raising more money, not contacting voters or other effective election-related expenditures. Or on dry-cleaning bills. Too bad he couldn't use campaign funds to pay the mortgage.
Our -- thank you God and Mo Brooks! -- temporary Congressman Parker Griffith still doesn't get it, even after a humiliating defeat at the polls. He thinks his party switch cost him is seat in Congress -- Wrong! It sealed his fate, but after an ugly primary challenge he would have lost as a Democrat as well. Griffith is still spouting the kind of crap that cost him his seat in Congress:
"I think Obama is a socialist. I think Nancy Pelosi is, as well," he said, repeating recent campaign themes linking Democrats, government spending and a suffocating national debt.
He also said that he still thought recent healthcare reforms needed to be repealed, and that North Alabama needed to be concerned about Democratic efforts to curtail manned spaceflight and reduce missile defense.
Griffith's crazy talk started last summer when he implied Nancy Pelosi was crazy and, even now that he is a man without a political future, he's still at it.
Memo to PG:It's still a fact that trash-talking Obama and Pelosi does nothing to bring pork federal funding to your district. And oh baby, the pork federal funding is what voters in the 5th congressional district care about, no matter how much lip service "conservative" leaders pay to concerns about creeping socialism or the national debt. "We must cut the federal budget," they cry. "No, no, not our part of the federal budget."
Jess Brown summed up the situation in the 5th CD very well last December:
"We don't need a battleship" to go to Washington and engage in ideological warfare with the other party. We need a submarine."
Parker Griffith is still firing all guns. God knows how much more damage he'll do to North Alabama between now and January.
Choosing a qualified candidate often rests within their support from the community and past record of performance. It is essential that the candidate has been active and visible in the community for some period of time in order to build a bond with and trust from the community for which they would like to represent.
With that said people ask questions:
Where has Taze Shepard been for the past 10 years?
Why will Taze Shepard not talk about the issues important to the people of the district for which he would like to represent?
Why would Taze Shepard use his own loaned money to broadcast expensive "attack" commercials instead of talking about the issues?
Is it really possible to invoke the spirit of John Sparkman by mentioning him (and not the issues) at every event?
People consistently bring up "what the Republicans will do in the fall" and that we need a candidate that can survive that election. Surely, since Shepard received a notorious loss for state school board as he did, he has little chance of standing up to this similar challenge against a Republican. Invoking John Sparkman was unsuccessful in this and many other situations.
We need a candidate that can stand on his own merits - We need Steve Raby.
These are a just few questions that the people have been asking but have yet to receive any answers.
In contrast for the hardworking people of the district, here are a few answers from candidate Steve Raby (from a previous post):
Simply put, Steve Raby is the candidate with the experience, past record of performance, ability to build successful team and most importantly, Steve Raby is just a good old nice guy.
A few weeks back the Taze Shepard for Congress campaign sent out a press release to say that Tory Green had joined their campaign team. Who is Tory Green, I thought? Turns out he is the young Eagle Scout who presented the State of Scouting address to President Obama and Congress in 2009.
Tory Green, the first Eagle Scout from Troop 400 in Huntsville, met President Barack Obama at 2 p.m. this afternoon inside the White House.
"It was breathtaking," said the 17-year-old Lee High School senior. "Not only did I get to meet the president, but I got to give Michelle Obama a big ol' hug."
Tory Green has also met with Governor Riley and Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle recently declared "Tory Green Day" in the city. Neat story, I thought. Wonder what inspired this young man to work on a congressional campaign?
Not long afterward I was introduced to Tory Green at a Shepard event and got him on camera for a few minutes talking about that very thing. My apologies for the background noise -- you take your few minutes of face time where you can get them!
I have this special trust in him. ... I was always told to walk with a sense of urgency, to have a sense of urgency. .... Taze walks with a sense of urgency. He talks with a sense of urgency.
Whatever happens in the congressional race this year, I think Tory Green is a young man who knows where he's going and we'll be seeing more of him.
We've created resource pages for each individual Congressional and statewide candidate we've covered at LIA over the last year. Each page includes links to videos of their speeches and interviews, issue diaries, opinion diaries, and more.
This was NO SMALL EFFORT! So please use these pages to learn about the candidates and make an informed decision on June 1. Now, I'm sure that somehow, somewhere Mooncat and I left out someone's candidate diary. If you don't see your favorite, add a link in the comments and we'll update the candidate page.
We will have a page up tomorrow on the AG candidates, but I wanted to get this much up tonight and truthfully, can't type anymore. My "mouse hand" is numb!
I suspect "lobbyist" performs very poorly in focus groups this year. Raby needs (needed?) a narrative to counter this attack, which he should have anticipated.
Local and state candidates swarmed the Madison County Democratic Reunion on Thursday. For the AL-05 candidates, this was the last time they would appear together before the primary on June 1st.
They were definitely the main event, speaking last and getting the most attention from the chattering crowd. Here are their speeches in their entirety, totally uncut. If you're still undecided on this race, this is a good opportunity to hear from them unfiltered, without the 30 second soundbites you get from TV news and commercials.
What was a pretty quiet, placid race has heated up in recent weeks although it's failed to reach the intensity of the GOP dust-up featuring temporary Congressman Parker Griffith, Commissioner Mo Brooks, and Les Philip.
What are your thoughts? Have you made a decision yet? Watch the videos on the flip and tell us what you think!
I included this photo to remind us all that we have a common goal: DEFEAT PARKER GRIFFITH!
The Madison County Democrats held their annual reunion/picnic last night in Huntsville and it was probably the last chance before the primary to see the four Democratic candidates for AL-05.
Mitchell Howie, Steve Raby, Taze Shepard, and David Maker were all on hand to meet and greet the crowd, distribute literature and signs, and all gave short 2-minute speeches about themselves, their campaigns, and their priorities.
We'll be attaching video of all four this weekend for those still undecided.
Other statewide candidates attended: all three Attorney General candidates - James Anderson, Michele Nicrosi, and Giles Perkins.
Anderson's speech was more than brief: he stood, said his name and asked for our votes. Then he sat down. Usually, you have to pry people away from the mic, so that was odd.
Nicrosi talked about her background, her priorities, and view that the AG should be non-partisan once in office.
Perkins didn't speak; he had to leave early to attend another event.
Candidates for Treasurer, Jeremy Sherer and Charley Grimsley also spoke.
Sherer talked about the need for better financial education in the state, citing the large number of Alabama citizens dependent on "payday loans, " "rent to own," and other non-traditional financial services. He discussed the importance of supporting community banks and the problem of state money being placed in banks that discriminate.
Finally, he reminded the crowd that the only way for the Democrats to take back the Treasurer's office is to nominate a real Democrat. If we nominate someone who's a backer of Roy Moore, George W. Bush, Steve Windom, and Beth Chapman, then we're nominating a Republican. And hey, the GOP's already doing that!
Grimsley talked about what he'd done in the past as Conservation Commissioner, as someone who helped pass a law helping breast cancer patients, and a lawsuit he filed against Riley over the Gulf State Park hotel.
He didn't mention how any of that relates to the Treasurer's office or what he plans to do when in office.
Possibly because he doesn't have a clue. I relate this anecdote from Mooncat with relish:
"Last night, I spoke with an undecided voter who met Charley Grimsley for the first time. She told me she was pleased to have finally met Charlie Grimsley and then remarked that he is "a nullity." When asked what he'd do as Treasurer, he could say only that he'd 'hire good people.' So she asked him if the Treasurer had a large staff. He had no idea."
We'll have video of everyone up so you can see for yourself - once we can get the time. We're also putting together a "resource" diary on the candidates so you can easily read previous posts and comments about the candidates, their stands on the issues, and see video of them.
5th District Congressional candidate Taze Shepard held a press conference this morning to "set the record straight concerning politically motivated allegations" about his work with the US Space and Rocket Center over 10 years ago. In response to a question on the state of the Democratic primary, Shepard said polling indicates, "we are in the lead and intend to win."
When I read this article in the Decatur Daily about Steve Raby, I did not get a warm feeling.
"I could come in here and draft you a 30-second sound bite on what I would do. I'm not going to start regurgitating some position just to get people riled up. I'm not about making speeches and boxing myself into 'this is the only way it will work.'
...
He is more about process than issues. In an election where most candidates have a three-step solution to every problem facing North Alabama or the nation, he veers from the simplistic.
"I'm not trying to make people the maddest or give the fieriest speech. I'm running for a seat on the U.S. Congress so we can be part of a team," Raby said. "It's not politically sexy, but it's what I'm doing."
...
While he wants to keep federal dollars flowing to North Alabama, he does not see himself as liberal.
"Can you be a conservative and be a Democrat? Well, I am. Heck, I own more guns than anyone in this race."
I really don't care how many guns a candidate owns, but I do care if he or she claims to be a conservative or a liberal and I do care if he or she isn't willing to share a position on issues likely to come before Congress. Or issues important to the district. I've had it up to here (raise hand above head) with Democrats who claim to be "conservative" and try to run for office by never taking a position on anything so they don't risk offending any group of voters. Grow a spine, people!
So, when the opportunity presented itself, I asked Steve Raby what he meant by that "conservative" comment? And, by the way, why doesn't the "Issues" tab on his website go anywhere? Video and transcript of his response are below the fold.
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Our -- thank you God and Mo Brooks! -- temporary Congressman 
This was NO SMALL EFFORT! So please use these pages to learn about the candidates and make an informed decision on June 1. Now, I'm sure that somehow, somewhere Mooncat and I left out someone's candidate diary. If you don't see your favorite, add a link in the comments and we'll update the candidate page.
They were definitely the main event, speaking last and getting the most attention from the chattering crowd. Here are their speeches in their entirety, totally uncut. If you're still undecided on this race, this is a good opportunity to hear from them unfiltered, without the 30 second soundbites you get from TV news and commercials.
Mitchell Howie, Steve Raby, Taze Shepard, and David Maker were all on hand to meet and greet the crowd, distribute literature and signs, and all gave short 2-minute speeches about themselves, their campaigns, and their priorities.
