Topic: Election 2010

Go to the Cuyahoga County Clerk of Courts and look up case number CR-11-548100-A. The full name of the case is State of Ohio vs. Thomas Ganley. This is what you're looking for:

The Ohio GOP really needs to do a better job of recruiting candidates to unseat Betty Sutton.

Time to get to work.

I suspect we can all share a sigh of relief there.

How many House seats will the GOP gain today? Here's the running tally of predictions from the Tribbles (listeners of the Hugh Hewitt Show who lurk in the #hhrs hashtag on Twitter):

At stake: bragging rights for whoever gets closest without going over, of course! As of 4 PM Eastern, the InTrade odds are hovering between 60 and 65 ... and rising.

This is doubly true for MSNBC anchors.

   

   

   

   

I've never met Congresswoman Betty Sutton, my Representative here in Ohio's 13th District. Every time I hear her on the radio or see her on TV, she comes across as a mild-mannered, pleasant person. I am convinced that she truly believes she's doing what's best for America. If she and I found ourselves at the same dinner table I'm confident that we could chat easily and cheerily about the travails of the Cleveland Browns, the latest news of our respective families, and what works best for keeping rabbits and deer out of a flower bed. I have absolutely no reason to think ill of her personally, and I'll bet she's a loving wife, a sweet daughter, a good neighbor, and a responsible and caring pet owner.

Betty Sutton is also a radical leftist.

To put her views in context, first go take a look at her very close friend and trusted colleague Jan Schakowsky. No, really. Go look, and then come back here.

Republican nominees for the U.S. House Tom Ganley (OH-13) and Peter Corrigan (OH-10) will be on the Bob Frantz Show this evening, starting at 7 PM. Ganley's challenging incumbent Betty Sutton (D), and Corrigan's challenging incumbent Dennis Kucinich (D).

Try catching the broadcast on the WTAM webcam, or just tune in to the station's 50,000 watt blowtorch at 1100 on your AM dial. Bob Frantz's e-mail address is bob@wtam.com, and he's on Twitter at @Frantz_WTAM.

Ask for suggestions online and you'll get suggestions:

Here's a fun way to screw with the Democrats' internal polling and brand management -- and hopefully convince them to stay the course and keep doing crazy things voters hate instead of pulling towards the middle and trying to put their mask back on before 2012.

The Democrats rely heavily on polling...with an upper tier that is dead-set against moving the party back to the middle. This is suicide for the party, but the Leftists who now control the DNC don't want to believe that. Instead, they want to see polls that tell them the public LOVES what the Democrats have been doing and want them to commit more of this madness between November 3rd, 2010 and November 2012.

It should be our mission to screw with as many Democrat internal polls as possible...to give these nuts the data they want to keep Obama on the wrong track for the party. This will guarantee the Democrats will keep making people furious for the next two years, so the public can wipe even more of them out in the next election (including people like Claire McCaskill in the Senate, and Obama himself in the White House).

...

For each one, we tried to answer while keeping in mind what would do the most damage to the Democrat Party in the long term. So, for questions that asked if we thought the party was on the right track, we said it definitely was. For questions about what issues we wanted Democrats to push, we answered the ones that would alienate Democrats from the most voters. Ie, healthcare, immigration, etc. This is counterintuitive to what YOU personally want to see, so you need to think strategically. Democrats are hurt most when they are talking about things like healthcare, immigration, the environment, etc. So, that's what they need to be encouraged to keep talking about.

Americans really want to deal exclusively with jobs...so the LAST THING we want them to actually ever talk about is jobs. Let the survey indicate Democrats need to talk nonstop about healthcare, immigration, and the environment just to keep making people mad for the next two years. That will greatly benefit conservatives.

Brilliant. You can see the HillBuzz submission at their site.

These are the dastardly sneaky skunks who Betty Sutton and friends want to punish:

In other words, she wants to punish the people who employ three out of four small business employees. Guess what will inevitably result when those small business owners get hammered by Congress? They'll be forced to cut payrolls.

J-O-B-S, right, Betty? Way to "protect the little guy."

He can't answer straightforward questions:

Would domestic offshore drilling increase the supply of oil? Would building more oil refineries increase the supply of gasoline? Would drilling in ANWR increase the supply of oil?

Weasel. Those weren't difficult questions. Chime in any time, Rob Portman.

Congresswoman Betty Sutton can't seem to get any traction with her constituents, collecting only $43,156 in contributions under $200 for the entire first half of this year. Nevertheless she's breathing several sighs of relief this week.

The extreme left-wingers running the National Education Association rode to her rescue yesterday with $550,000 in TV advertising. Today, the crooks who run the SEIU (the people who brought us ACORN) tossed Sutton another $200,000 of TV ad time.

That's in addition to a pair of ad buys ($219,000 and $85,000) from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee down in Washington, and 21 union-funded campaign workers. Betty can finally hire more "supporters" to help her claw her way back to Washington.

Why do the union bosses love Betty Sutton so passionately? It's no mystery:

I wonder if Senator Brown's successor in the U.S. House, Betty Sutton, will take his advice and run on Obamacare, the GM bailout, the Chrysler bailout, the government takeover of the student loan industry, and the rest of the Democrat Party record? Or will she continue to flail around and dishonestly sling mud?

Click any of these memory-jogging graphics for more information on that Democrat record that Sherrod Brown's so proud of:

When you can't generate grassroots volunteer support (look at the crowds!) by running on your record, you just hire people and fake it. Right, Betty?

Subject: DCCC Hiring in Summit and Lorain County
Date: Tue, 28 Sep 2010 22:44:20 -0400
From: Cratic@DCCC.ORG
To: Cratic@DCCC.ORG

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is hiring in Ohio's 13th Congressional race.

Democratic campaign hiring paid canvassers to help drive voter participation in Summit and Lorain Counties. We are seeking energetic and committed applicants with experience volunteering or working on electoral campaigns to work alongside a seasoned team of campaign professionals.

LORAIN COUNTY INTERVIEWS, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 30TH, NOON TO 6PM.
115 Cedar Street
Elyria, OH

SUMMIT COUNTY INTERVIEWS, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1AT, NOON TO 6PM.
1 Merriman Rd (Merriman and West Market)
Akron, OH

JOB HOURS:
MONDAY-WEDNESDAY 3:00-7:00PM
SATURDAYS 10AM-3PM
SUNDAY 10-2PM or 2-6PM

PAY: $10.00

Past campaign volunteers encouraged to apply. Email cratic@dccc.org if interested. Equal Opportunity Employer (EOE). Qualified applicants are considered for employment without regard to age, race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, disability, or veteran status.

Considering how many people in the 13th District have lost their jobs thanks to Betty's lockstep voting with Nancy Pelosi, it's awfully nice of her to offer ten bucks an hour to help her con voters into sending her back to Washington. Another two-year term should be enough time to drive America into ruin with massive spending, corporate bailouts, union payoffs, cap & trade, card check, tax increases, and more government regulations. What's not to like?

With tons of DCCC money and union-funded staff, maybe she'll have a prayer.

Somebody hears footsteps. Those attack ads don't pay for themselves, do they?

September 30th Update: Here's the first one: a civil lawsuit alleging attempted rape and sexual assault.

---

What do you think the 13th District's congresscritter will do next month when she finds herself behind Tom Ganley in the polls, and without any support, contributions, or substantive ideas?

A friendly reminder to my fellow conservative, moderate, and independent voters here in Ohio's 13th District: Rep. Betty Sutton (D) did much more than just read the bill in detail before voting "yes" ... she helped write it.

If you ever actually see her, ask her to defend that economy-crippling, job-killing bill. If possible, record her response on video (use your camera phone, or maybe this or this) and contact me so I can post it on YouTube. It would be fascinating to see.

My reaction: *yawn*

Really? This is the best the GOP leadership can do? I can understand why Erick Erickson's upset, since this document is as tuned into the American people's concerns as a TV with bunny ears trying to catch HBO. Suggestion for Boehner, Cantor, and pals: stop fooling around and take Doug Ross' advice.

2:45 PM Update: Some call it a pledge to nowhere, some call it stupid, some call it milquetoast, some call it timid, some have a pithier alternative ... and then there's the plan involving bacon and giant robots.

The Representative from Ohio's 13th District finds herself caught between an unpopular President she supports, pitiful fund-raising results, an opponent with a huge war chest, her own barely-concealed radicalism, and the public's outrage at her spending spree since her first election in 2006. She squealed for help from the cavalry and got a response.

Betty Sutton's benefactors, the corrupt union bosses and the DCCC (oops, sorry for repeating myself), just sent her 21 union-paid staffers and $219,000 for advertising. With the way she burns cash to push outright lies, she needs all the help she can get.

Hey, Betty! How about running on your record instead? I'm sure your constituents would love to hear more about your votes on Cap & Trade, Obamacare, TARP, the bank bailouts, card check ...

We're screwed if we don't reverse this right now.

The liberals/progressives/left-wingers have come absolutely unhinged. Somebody's got to hit the brakes.

If you find the earlier graphic too confusing, try this:

This is what happens to employment when progressives/liberals/left-wingers take charge of federal taxing, spending, and regulation. Without fail. Every. Single. Time.

Play this for 'em.

Start watching the odds.

Vote on the existing questions, or ask your own. From the explanation on the site:

If, according to the old saying, "all politics is local," then the time has come to demonstrate that new, interactive media can invigorate local civic engagement around elections -- moving from interest to involvement, from spectacle to civil society.

Personal Democracy Forum, with support from The Knight Foundation and in partnership with Google and YouTube, has created a platform to facilitate that involvement. It's called 10Questions. Here's how it works:

• Citizens can post text questions or video questions through YouTube for candidates in the 2010 midterm elections; each race has its own page where we aggregate questions posed for candidates in that specific race.
• Using Google technology, visitors to that site can vote questions up and down. After a set period of public engagement, the 10 top- voted questions in each race are posed to the candidates.
• Candidates then have the opportunity to post video responses, and voters rate those responses for completeness, directness, depth and substance -- criteria that are sometimes hard to get out of politicians in the rapid-fire context of a live debate.

I just asked Rep. Betty Sutton (D-OH) the following question:

Concerning your vote to raise the Federal Debt Limit ... do you believe your constituents support your position? Would you do it again? How much spending is enough?

Any bets on whether she answers at all, much less directly? Perhaps if more of her constituents asked her the same questions, she'd come out of hiding.

Given her stellar record since 2006, her fondness for meeting her constituents face to face, and her penchant for all things centrally planned, Representative Betty Sutton (D-OH) will no doubt draw many valuable lessons (and no small amount of inspiration) from the following instructional video provided by Her Majesty's Government.

I hope Betty's scheduler takes these tips into account when updating her calendar. He must be a very busy staffer; I've been calling him several times a week without response.

In a stunning reversal of her long-cherished belief that the federal government knows best about everything, and certainly not due to any panic over the impending loss of her seat in the House of Representatives (you sexist racist hate-filled warmonger), Representative Betty Sutton (D-OH) finally ended her silence on the Cordoba House Park 51 Ground Zero Debris Field Mosque, according to The Plain Dealer:

"This is a sensitive issue, especially for those most directly affected by the attack at Ground Zero, and I trust that those in the area are in the best position to find a solution," Copley Township Democratic Rep. Betty Sutton said on Tuesday.

...

[Challenger Tom] Ganley said "Obama and liberal leaders" have "acted in a way that is insensitive to families and friends of those victims we lost almost nine years ago." He said he supports New York Gov. David Patterson's effort to move the proposed mosque and Islamic cultural center to another location.

Ganley followed up on his Facebook page:

I am opposed to the mosque being built near the WTC memorial, though when asked by the Plain Dealer, my opponent will not say yes or no.

I guess Tom Ganley just doesn't understand how busy Betty is. She's got too much on her plate to respond to an issue that highlights her party's incoherence and incompetence in matters of national security and common decency. Ganley has yet to learn that in the world of our Washington ruling class, all matters are best decided by bureaucrats and czars in DC unless it would embarrass a Democrat incumbent to take a position. In such rare cases, these matters become Local Issues™.

I wonder if Betty agrees with Speaker Nancy Pelosi that opponents of the Hamasque should be investigated? Perhaps people like these should be the first ones to be called to testify at the next Democrat Party show trial:

"Never Forget" is just a slogan when there's an election to be won, y'know.

... of today's Democrats?

Had enough yet?

August 18th: Anywhere but in Columbus with Barack Obama

August 20th: $1000/plate fundraiser

August 22nd: RSVP-ONLY Volunteer Appreciation Day

August 27th: $30/plate spaghetti dinner fundraiser with union fatcats

August 32nd: Town hall meetings with constituents

September 0th: More town hall meetings

September 11th: Back to DC to stimulate the economy with more spending and pork

--

8/17 9:24 AM Update: Betty Sutton's staff checks in again ... but still won't explain what she's doing tomorrow instead of being seen with President Obama.

Barack Obama is all for it. Hamas wants it. Does the Democratic Congresswoman for Ohio's 13th District have anything to say one way or the other? Speak up, Betty (and without Clintonian wriggling).

--

6:00 PM Update: Hello, Sutton staffers! Is your boss too busy to schedule any town hall meetings, or is she just afraid of her constituents' inconvenient questions?

Two years ago, Betty Sutton jumped aboard that express train to socialism without much thought at all.

Betty may claim that she made her decision after careful consideration of the economic circumstances, but don't you believe her. She's an economic ignoramus who follows Nancy Pelosi's lead in lockstep, and that's all there is to it. There's no critical thinking involved.

Shailagh Murray's snarky piece in Saturday's Washington Post jabs Betty Sutton's challenger for taking advantage of Sutton's signature legislation.

Republican House candidate Tom Ganley sold more than 800 cars last summer through the "Cash for Clunkers" government rebate program. But does Uncle Sam get a thank you?

"Let's talk about Cash for Clunkers," the voluble millionaire, who owns the largest auto dealership group in Ohio, told a group of voters here recently. "It created a 30-day surge in auto sales. After it ended, there was no business. It was like the faucet was shut off."

...

Most economists say the nationwide stimulus effort has generally paid off, although they differ on how much.

...

But Sutton is a top target of Republicans, in part because of her support for the program. Her opponent's 31 dealerships sold an estimated $17 million worth of cars through Clunkers rebates, but he now denounces the program as a fiscal folly.

Ganley needs to get in front of this "he's-a-hypocritical-used-car-salesman-fatcat-rich-guy" portrayal quickly, before Sutton hangs it around his neck for good. This isn't the first time we've seen this line of attack, and there are more tasks that require Ganley's attention.

Enough fund-raising and strategizing, Tom. Hit the campaign trail (Lord knows, Betty refuses to). Define yourself, define your socialist opponent, and publicize your plan to get government out of our health care, our lives, and our wallets.

Betty Sutton is one of the key supporters of Obamacare. She votes with Pete Stark 94% of the time. Stark offers the following response when challenged on his support for Obamacare:

Past evidence strongly suggests that Sutton agrees with Stark here, too. Prove me wrong, Betty. Let's hear your response to these objections in some format other than a conference call, and sooner rather than later.

You think this chart published by the left-leaning Brookings Institution is scary?

Hmm. Maybe a little bit. It's tough to be scared by something so unclear and wonkish. Instead, watch this ...

... and then study this:

Betty Sutton must be very proud of her work.

So, how about those events back in Ohio's 13th District? Still waiting on a schedule ...

Hi there, Congress. Hope you had a nice Independence Day. We Americans out here in Flyover Country sure did. We listened to readings of The Declaration of Independence, grilled burgers, drank frosty beverages, watched fireworks, played patriotic music, and generally reveled in the many blessings of liberty we've enjoyed since 1776.

Liberty. That's pretty important to us. We know you love the power and prestige that comes with being in Congress, and we don't really mind it too much when you start believing the flattery of the people following you around all day, osculating your posteriors. But something's been bugging us for a couple of years now, especially since January of '09.

Listen, about that bloated and ravenous federal government you've been injecting with steroids ...

... yeah, that's the one. Americans might once have thought that your plan to spend our way out of a crappy economy was worth a try. But now? Um, not so much:

The new survey found that just 29% believe last year's economic stimulus plan has helped the economy while 43% believe it hurt. Not surprisingly, there is little appetite for another round. By a 69% to 15% margin, voters believe tax cuts is a better way to create jobs rather than more government spending.

Ultimately, though, voters are looking to the private sector to create jobs. Sixty-five percent (65%) say that decisions made by business owners seeking to grow their business will do more to create jobs than decisions made by government officials. Just 23% expect the government officials to have a bigger impact.

The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on July 1, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.

Consider this a friendly reminder from your employers about your apparent lack of any sense of self-preservation. You might want to reconsider the wisdom of continuing down the same path you've been on. Just sayin'.

See you in November.

Courtesy of the Calculated Risk blog. Click to enlarge:

Come back and look at this whenever you hear happy talk from Democrats about the unemployment rate dropping. The reason the news reports have been talking about a "drop" in unemployment is because the rate they're talking about doesn't give the whole picture. It doesn't count people who've given up looking for work. The unemployment rate reported by the media (called "U3 Unemployment") went down because people left the work force.

That's not good, in case you were wondering.

*ahem*

Nice job, Democrats! Click any image to enlarge it.

[source]

[source]

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Change is coming in November.

Betty Sutton's been busy:

Rep. Betty Sutton (D-OH) introduced H.R. 4678, the Foreign Manufacturers Legal Accountability Act, to protect consumers from dangerous and defective products manufactured and produced abroad. Every year, countless Americans are injured, sometimes fatally, by dangerous products that have been manufactured abroad and imported into the U.S. Recent examples included toxic drywall, faulty infant cribs, lead paint in children's toys, and defective tires. These products not only hurt American consumers, they hurt American businesses.

...

The Foreign Manufacturers Legal Accountability Act:

• Requires manufacturers to register an "agent" in a state where the company does business to accept service of process for civil and regulatory claims.
• Registering an agent will constitute an acceptance of personal jurisdiction of the State and Federal courts of the state in which the agent is located.
• Covers products regulated by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), such as children's toys; the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), including prescription drugs and medical devices; and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), like pesticides.

If that sounds good to you at first glance, Rick Woldenberg urges you to think again:

The purpose of this bill is to make foreign manufacturers of finished goods and parts intended to be used as components in those finished goods register for service of process in this country. In other words, foreign manufacturers must register here so our plaintiff's bar and the government can sue them with ease. The new law prohibits trade with foreign manufacturers unless they are registered, and enlists the aid of the federal government's snarling dog, the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, to enforce this law.

This means that every factory we use outside the U.S. will have to register for service of process in the U.S. if we want to continue to import our products from them. The law goes even FURTHER, asking that each agency involved to study ways to force manufacturers of components to register here, too. So, for example, if you make a toy in China and your factory buys boxes from a local printer who has NO contractual relationship with you, this law asks the agencies to study the feasibility of getting such box printers to register for service of process in this country. To accomplish that lofty goal, of course, you have to know their identity. Our customers do not know our vendors' names and we aren't telling. It's none of their business. Do you think it's any different for our factories relative to us? Will they ever disclose that information to our Mother Government (to them, a foreign government)? Please - would you disclose your sources to the Chinese government? And who pays the administrative and out-of-pocket costs of this exercise? And what about the consequences of the fear factor and the costs of new litigation on markets?

...

This is an example of how I learned to HATE Congress and Democrats. These rules descend on our business in suffocating waves, adding no value but creating major distractions and feeding fear. On the other hand, perhaps I will be eating crow when Obama's recently announced master plan to reduce the deficit by two-thirds in three years through increased spending, increased entitlements, increased taxes and increased regulation works like a charm. Maybe this law is part of the implementation of that great plan.

That's how progressives like Betty Sutton work to "fix" unemployment. Do you feel encouraged yet? Check out what a well-respected lawyer has to say about the CPSIA, which Betty apparently thinks is too weak and needs strengthening with her new bill. Betty's bill could be the next Smoot-Hawley Tariff. The first one helped trigger the Great Depression. Remember that when you see Betty's TV ads touting her concern for "the little guy" and her tireless work to "create or save jobs." It's a protectionist election year gimmick that will result in serious pain later.

I e-mailed Congresswoman Sutton to request her schedule of town hall meetings this summer here in Ohio's 13th District. Her response:

June 24, 2010

Dear Mr. Konsen,

We hope you are doing well.

Thank you for your email. We will be sure to notify you when Representative Sutton holds her next town hall meeting.

Take care,

Office of Representative Sutton

Sincerely,

Betty Sutton
Member of Congress

Make of it what you will.

I just submitted this question to my Democrat Congresswoman here in Ohio's 13th District, Betty Sutton: "If taxes go up next year (whether from the expiration of the Bush tax cuts, the enactment of new tax hikes, or both), will that help or hurt the economy?"

If I actually get a response, I'll post it here.

Last summer, the Obama Administration threw $50 billion of your tax money down the mortgage foreclosure rat hole. Yesterday came news of what happens when Washington showers another $75 billion on mortgage holders without even requiring evidence that they can pay it back. It's called the Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan, and it's imploding:

The Obama administration's flagship effort to help people in danger of losing their homes is falling flat.

More than a third of the 1.24 million borrowers who have enrolled in the $75 billion mortgage modification program have dropped out. That exceeds the number of people who have managed to have their loan payments reduced to help them keep their homes.

...

A major reason so many have fallen out of the program is the Obama administration initially pressured banks to sign up borrowers without insisting first on proof of their income. When banks later moved to collect the information, many troubled homeowners were disqualified or dropped out.

...

As more people leave the program, a new wave of foreclosures could occur. If that happens, it could weaken the housing market and hold back the broader economic recovery.

...

Credit ratings agency Fitch Ratings projects that about two-thirds of borrowers with permanent modifications under the Obama plan will default again within a year after getting their loans modified.

Apparently the brain trust in the White House just discovered that people without incomes tend to default on mortgages, even after the government restructures the terms. That's one heck of an expensive experiment.

How did we get here, and how does it affect Ohio's 13th District? We can thank our Democrat Congresswoman, Betty Sutton.

This sounds typical, knowing what we know about scared politicians who refuse to face their constituents:

Mike Allen's POLITICO Playbook reports: Phil Schiliro, the White House congressional liaison, has told the Senate to aim to take up an energy bill the week of July 12, after the July 4 break (and after the scheduled final passage of Wall Street reform). Kagan confirmation will follow, ahead of the summer break, scheduled to begin Aug. 9. The plan is to conference the new Senate bill with the already-passed House bill IN A LAME-DUCK SESSION AFTER THE ELECTION, so House members don't have to take another tough vote ahead of midterms.

Hey, Tom Ganley! Add item number seven to your to-do list: repeatedly challenge Betty Sutton to pledge in writing that if you defeat her, she will not pass a cap and trade bill in a lame-duck session. If she says no or ignores you, hammer her in TV ads.

First, please schedule some campaign events. Your calendar's empty. If you really want our votes here in Ohio's 13th District, you'll have to earn them.

Second, you've got a serious Cash for Clunkers problem that you need to solve. Soon.

Third, you also need to take away Betty Sutton's helpless-victim-of-misogyny card. She's cashing in on it.

Fourth, how do you plan to address Betty Sutton's award from the Ohio Automobile Dealers Association?

Fifth, how will you respond to accusations that your business practices are less-than-ethical?

Sixth, if you truly oppose Obamacare (although your current position isn't clear), and if you want to set yourself apart from Betty Sutton, click on this logo ...

... and sign the pledge.

Time to adjust course, Tom.

Good news, Democrats! Maybe that anti-incumbent frenzy isn't as bad as you've heard. National Public Radio conducted a poll in 70 U.S. House Districts they identified as battlegrounds (60 Democrats and 10 Republicans). The very reliable survey of likely voters yielded the following results:

Do you approve or disapprove of the way [your incumbent House representative] is handling [his or her] job as a member of the U.S. Congress? (Skipped if open seat)

Margin of error: +/- 3.5 percentage points

Rejoice, Betty Sutton! Cheer up, John Boccieri! Smile, Zack Space! Whistle a happy tune, Charlie Wilson! Dance a happy jig, Mary Jo Kilroy! Hoist a tall frosty one, Steve Driehaus! Do ... whatever it is you do, Marcy Kaptur! It's good to be a Democrat Representative in 2010, baby.

I wonder what else those fine progressive folks at NPR unearthed?

This is Democrat "tolerance" in action. Congressman Bob Etheridge assaults lowly American citizens who dare to ask questions:

Remind me again how we on the American right are the violent ones.

Great news! President Obama wants another $50 billion bailout, this one for public sector unions.

President Obama is pressing Congress to approve emergency aid money to support economic recovery and help avoid widespread layoffs of public workers, the Washington Post reported Saturday.

Congressional leaders received a letter from the president asking for almost $50 billion for distribution to state and local governments, saying that increased spending is "urgent and unavoidable," the Post reported. The money would protect the jobs of teachers, police and firefighters.

"Because the urgency is high -- many school districts, cities and states are already being forced to make these layoffs," Obama wrote, "these provisions must be passed as quickly as possible."

Obama's plea comes despite last year's $787 billion economic stimulus package, which worked to stabilize the failing economy [Riiiiiight. -- Ed.], but did little to help the country's high unemployment rate. At 9.7 percent, unemployment is nearly the same as it was a year ago.

What could possibly go wrong? America's in the best of hands. Our Democrat Congresswoman here in Ohio's 13th District, Representative Betty Sutton, has been in charge since 2006. It's been rainbows and unicorns ever since.

Still, let's take a look back. Naturally, you completely forgot that $787 billion stimulus that Obama and Congress rammed through last year, didn't you? It was a spending orgy that was supposed to "create or save" gazillions of jobs. Remember that? It's the brilliant job-creating scheme that didn't actually, um, work. Who could've seen that one coming? Total shocker.

Here in Ohio, unemployment is much worse than the national average ... but that's not all. There's still $381 billion of that money lying around unspent, collecting dust in Washington. Why do you suppose Congress isn't redirecting that money to this new "emergency" instead of extracting another $50 billion from your pocket?

This new plea for another "emergency" bailout demonstrates (again) that there's no reason to trust the Democrats when they talk about fiscal responsibility. They're as trustworthy as a drug addict squeezing his relatives for money: "This is the last time I'll ask. I promise. I'll check myself into rehab, first thing tomorrow, but just this once I've gotta have this fix. It's an emergency and I'll die without it. Pinky swear!" If you think this is a one time deal, then there's some lovely oceanfront property in Death Valley that's got your name on it.

Congress lives in a strange alternate universe where your money is their money. When the economy's booming, the Congressional Fantasyland response is to "invest in America" by taxing The Rich™ (people who create wealth and hire you) because they're easy targets for class warfare rhetoric and the politics of envy. When the economy's crashing, the Congressional Fantasyland response is to suck more money into Washington so they can spread it around.

Hey, wait a second. Where have we heard that idea before?

It should come as no surprise that Betty Sutton, a big fan of Barack Obama, has the same strategy for healing all that ails us.

Think of it as the Underpants Gnome Theory of Government:

Now here's the kicker. Not only does Betty Sutton genuinely believe that the Underpants Gnomes are worth imitating, she personally benefits from Obama's new "emergency" $50 billion bailout of public sector unions.

In an effort to help Representative Betty Sutton (D-OH) break her streak of relentless profligacy with her constituents' money (including stimulus packages for terrorists), I invite her to take a look at a Federal Trade Commission scheme to prop up failing newspapers with revenues from taxes on internet news sites, cell phone bills, iPads, Kindles, and computers.

C'mon, Betty. This one's a no-brainer. Be brave.

--

11:15 Update: Welcome, Sutton staffers!

Dennis Prager does a wonderful job of distilling the worldviews of Left and Right to their essence.

200 proof clarity.

Tick tock, Betty. Do you really have no objection to President Obama's $400,000,000 stimulus package for Hamas out of taxpayer funds?

Not even one little peep of protest?

gaffe (n.): 1) a social blunder; faux pas. 2) when a politician tells the truth.

Watch the left side of this video from May, 2008. That's Congresswoman Betty Sutton (D-OH) sitting there, giggling. Any guesses as to why?

Look, Congresswoman Sutton, I know you're not exactly renowned for your fiscal discipline, but can you at least muster an objection to giving a $400,000,000 terrorist stimulus package to Hamas?

The United States will contribute $400 million in development aid to the Palestinian territories and work with Israel to loosen its embargo on Gaza, President Barack Obama said Wednesday.

Surely there are better things to do with taxpayer money:

Let me get this straight. Our economy has cratered. Unemployment is nearly 10 percent. The national debt is expected to exceed our gross national product by next year. And we're giving $400,000,000 to our mortal enemies in Gaza?

$400,000,000 to the Hamas-led death cult allied with Iran and Syria? $400,000,000 to the people who celebrated the destruction of the twin towers? $400,000,000 to rain thousands more rockets upon Israeli women and children?

The Right, the Left and everyone in between needs to raise hell. This. Cannot. Happen.

Consider it a throwaway gesture of self-preservation goodwill towards your bitter, gun- and Bible-clinging constituents in an election year. Your radical progressive "populist" base will forgive you for throwing a bone to those nutty right-wing kooks who hold to the quaint notion that we shouldn't fund terrorism man-caused disasters with their money.

--

12:20 PM Update: Welcome, Sutton staffers! Nice to see you're awake.

Cash For Clunkers is Betty Sutton's baby. She touts the wasteful program as the crown jewel of her dubious achievements in office. Under normal circumstances Cash For Clunkers would be a big fat target for any Sutton opponent to hit, but unfortunately our nominee seems unable to pull the trigger.

Judging from his lackluster performance to date, it will take a minor miracle for car dealer Tom Ganley to erase his earlier praise for the program:

Tom Ganley, owner of the Ganley Auto Group, estimates the government owes him $3 million for the cars he's sold.

"In essence, I and other car dealers are loaning money to the federal government, interest free," Ganley said. "I feel for some of the smaller dealers across the country. They could actually sell themselves out of business."

...

And despite being owed millions, Ganley called the program an overwhelming success.

"It has certainly primed the pump and accelerated auto sales," Ganley said.

That's bad. Blatant flip-flopping for political advantage is worse, and that's exactly the accusation that the Sutton campaign will use to tar her opponent. The Ganley campaign has so far made one weak attempt to backpedal:

Ganley and Renacci both maintain the sales program was a clunker and that they only participated to meet customers' expectations. They said it sparked a temporary sales spike followed by a slowdown, and had negative long-term effects on the industry and used-car consumers who could have bought trade-ins the program destroyed.

"The program was, at its basic level, an unnecessary intrusion of government into the private business sector," says Ganley campaign manager Jeff Longstreth, contending that the government payments helped car buyers, not dealers. "It was unnecessary federal spending that is indicative of the current administration's policy of spend, spend, spend."

The argument's right on target, but how does Ganley plan to credibly criticize a program that reportedly paid him $20 million for selling somewhere north of 800 cars? Ignoring the problem won't make it go away. If he intends to pursue the "it was a temporary spike" line of attack, he'll have to cast doubt on a Maritz Automotive Research Group report that suggests otherwise (hint, hint). Ganley's campaign site makes no mention of the Maritz report, which was released three months ago. Nor is there any mention of Cash For Clunkers. Is the Ganley campaign waiting for an engraved invitation to deal with the elephant in the room?

Tom, I'll be blunt. You're a used car salesman looking to become a politician. That means you've got more than the usual public relations handicap to overcome. Unless you stop deluding yourself that you'll win simply because you're not Betty Sutton, and do it soon, you're doomed. A lazy campaign is a losing campaign. Get off your butt and convince your potential constituents that you're worth our votes.

In the spirit of my Simple Questions For Progressives series, I have a question for Congresswoman Betty Sutton: how do you decide whether any given government spending proposal is too big? My best guess is that the only "bad spending" in your book is military spending; I could be wrong, but I doubt it. I'd love to hear if you have ever voted against a non-DoD spending bill since your election in 2006, and if so, why you voted "no."

Nichole Reynolds, please tell your boss I'll post the entirety of her response here, unedited. I know your office reads this blog.

Looks about right to me.

U.S. Census data on automobile sales offer yet more proof that Betty Sutton's biggest "achievement" was nothing but a clunker.

Just like every other Keynesian stimulus program, Cash for Clunkers relied on the delusional idea that government can create new wealth by destroying old wealth:

It destroys wealth by not letting these cars be used up over their useful life. It destroys wealth by routing scarce resources into activities - in this case, car building - that wouldn't otherwise take place, denying other industries access to those resources. It destroys wealth by taking on liabilities, through borrowing, that have to be paid back later by taxpayers (reducing their purchasing power in the future) or by taxing them immediately (reducing their purchasing power today).

...

These people traded in a car they've been likely to drive less. We can safely assume these cars didn't get as good gas mileage or were older, "clunkers", because they were targeted for these reasons. These cars also may not have been driven at all, or driven rarely. However, they've been used to help people get a vehicle that they're now more likely to drive more frequently!!! More driving means more emissions, even if the emission per unit of travel is less. More driving means more fuel consumption, even if the fuel consumption per unit of travel is less.

Betty Sutton's a labor lawyer and a career politician. All she's ever done is spend money to pander to big union bosses, radical environmentalists, and every other nutty leftist special interest in existence. She knows absolutely nothing about the free market, nothing about creating capital and jobs, and nothing about the real world consequences of her actions. Nobody should be surprised that her hare-brained ideas have wrecked the economy and burdened our children with mountains of debt.

Re-electing her and expecting anything different makes as much sense as giving an alcoholic a bottle of whiskey and the keys to your car. This shambling monstrosity is her baby. No wonder she didn't abort it.

As of last Friday, The International Monetary Fund now forecasts that the American national debt will reach 100% of our Gross Domestic Product within five years. This chart comes from that very long IMF report, and displays the problem clearly:

The left side of the chart shows U.S. debt as a percentage of GDP. The bottom of the chart shows the year.

Notice where the debt zooms upward? That's 2006. As I recall, that's when the Democrat Party took over the U.S. Congress. All federal spending bills originate in the U.S. House of Representatives. Come to think of it, 2006 was the year that a certain someone got elected to the U.S. House from Ohio's 13th District.

If she actually wanted to ruin our economy and turn us into a basket case like Greece, how would Betty Sutton's voting record be any different? She's either trying to destroy American free enterprise, or she's hopelessly ignorant of basic fiscal sanity.

Someone on Her Royal Highness' staff should Google "The First Rule of Holes" and do a finger painting explaining the concept to the boss.

To hear some tell it, the tea party movement is riddled with minority-hating racists.

Oops.

Among the many reverberations of President Obama's election, here is one he probably never anticipated: at least 32 African-Americans are running for Congress this year as Republicans, the biggest surge since Reconstruction, according to party officials.

...

Many of the candidates are trying to align themselves with the Tea Partiers, insisting that the racial dynamics of that movement have been overblown. Videos taken at some Tea Party rallies show some participants holding up signs with racially inflammatory language.

A recent New York Times/CBS News poll found that 25 percent of self-identified Tea Party supporters think that the Obama administration favors blacks over whites, compared with 11 percent of the general public.

The black candidates interviewed overwhelmingly called the racist narrative a news media fiction. "I have been to these rallies, and there are hot dogs and banjos," said Mr. West, the candidate in Florida, a retired lieutenant colonel in the Army. "There is no violence or racism there."

Looks like it's time for the Left to try a new futile avenue of attack, since the New York Times isn't exactly a right-wing propaganda rag. Good luck, chumps.

Here's the scoop on Steve Chabot, Steve Stivers, and whoever wins the ridiculously close 18th District primary.

This is an off-year primary election, so you'd be justified in expecting low turnout at today's election ... but you'd be wrong. I cast my ballot right before the polls closed, and the poll workers told me they'd seen 528 voters today (plus 4 provisional ballots). That's well over 50% turnout.

Hmmmm. I wonder if this means anything unusual?

This document is purportedly a copy of a mailer from the Medina County Republican Party. Look for the section headed by "Had enough hope & change?" and read the second bullet.

Medina County GOP mailer on Rep. Betty Sutton (D-OH)

Here's the text:

• Let's replace Pelosi's Puppet John Boccieri with a good solid conservative. Let's see -- he was against ObamaCare before he was for it!
• Let's take Betty Sutton out of the House and put her back in the kitchen!
• Let's fire Harry Reid from his job as Senate Majority Leader by putting Republicans in the majority!
• Let's put Governor Strickland in the unemployment line by electing a fiscal conservative who will tear down the barriers to job creation in Ohio!

If this is a real mailer, then the people who approved it need to be tossed out on their ears. This is 2010, geniuses, not an episode of "Mad Men."

First of all, homemakers deserve honor and respect. Wise cracks about sending a woman back to the kitchen are just plain offensive. Claiming that a move from Congress to "the kitchen" is a demotion has it precisely backwards. To say that I have more respect for the average homemaker than for the average congresscritter is an understatement on a par with saying I prefer strawberry ice cream to cockroach soufflé.

Second, this is just dumb politics. Only an oblivious tool would think that the contents of a public mailer will never get into the opposition's hands. Even internal documents (especially the stupid ones) find their way to the press. This was a public mailer, you morons. Way to play right into the Democrats' stereotype of Republicans as knuckle-dragging misogynists. All they need is one juvenile and insulting wisecrack from you and they've got ammo for attack ads all summer long. Never mind that the conservative movement is home to Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, Liz Cheney, Laura Ingraham, Star Parker, Anita MonCrief, Michelle Malkin, Jill Stanek, S.E. Cupp, Kathryn Jean Lopez, and millions upon millions of women just as independent and hard-working as they are. The media and the Democrats are longing to play the victim card to defend Betty Sutton's uncertain seat in the House, and now they think they have an excuse.

Way to go.

4/29/10 Update: It took him a week, but Tom Ganley finally responded to the uproar.

Instead of talking about creating jobs, Betty Sutton wants to talk about a newsletter sent out by the Medina County Republican Party. I'm sure you all have heard about the newsletter and the idiotic comment about Betty Sutton included in the newsletter. For the record, I had nothing to do with the newsletter or the comment. My campaign, along with several other candidates, paid for an advertisement in an insert included in the newsletter. No one involved in our campaign saw the comment until it appeared in a Plain Dealer article last week. This is the equivalent of buying an ad in a newspaper and then being held responsible for the editorial content the next day. Further, we have not been endorsed by the Medina County GOP or the Chairman Bill Heck, and we have made it abundantly clear to them we do not support this kind of inappropriate language.

I believe the comment was very offensive, and I do not support it. I also think it was offensive how Betty Sutton's first response was to send out a fundraising letter. I hate stereotypes, and I do not tolerate them. As I am not an elected official or a member of the Central or Executive Committees and do not have any influence over the Medina County GOP, I cannot control what they decide to do about this situation. The only thing I can control is how my campaign conducts itself, and I am very proud of the race we are running. This will serve as our last comment on this subject. We should be talking about creating jobs, not this fake outrage.

Good reply, but way late.

That's gotta sting:

Sutton received our endorsement in 2008 among a lackluster field of challengers. But her subsequent participation in the liberal Democratic train wreck now bankrupting the nation and bloating the size of the federal government must be stopped in the November election.

...

[Republican challenger Tom] Ganley hates wasting money, especially the way President Obama and Democrats in Congress including Sutton are throwing it around. Ganley foresees the high cost of Obamacare destroying small businesses.

Ganley is correct when he argues that it's time to replace lawyer lawmakers such as Sutton, who love spending other people's money, with businessmen like himself who spent their lives making money and producing jobs.

...

America needs to take Congress back from the wrecking crew there now. Our support, and endorsement, goes to Tom Ganley in the May 4 Republican primary, and we look forward to his victory in the Nov. 2 general election for Ohio's 13th Congressional District.

Are the long knives out for Betty?

It's so cute when progressive bloggers get their knickers in a twist in feigned outrage over a post by a conservative that uses hunting metaphors to describe the electoral tasks ahead.

Congressional candidate Allen West, speaking at the American Freedom tour in Fort Lauderdale, Florida at the Revolution Nightclub:

The Democrats and the radical left spit venom because they're afraid:

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 52% of U.S. voters believe the average member of the Tea Party movement has a better understanding of the issues facing America today than the average member of Congress. Only 30% believe that those in Congress have a better understanding of the key issues facing the nation.

When it comes to those issues, 47% think that their own political views are closer to those of the average Tea Party member than to the views of the average member of Congress. On this point, 26% feel closer to Congress.

Finally, 46% of voters say that the average Tea Party member is more ethical than the average member of Congress. Twenty-seven percent (27%) say that the average member of Congress is more ethical.

...

By a 62% to 12% margin, Mainstream Americans say the Tea Party is closer to their views. By a 90% to one percent (1%) margin, the Political Class feels closer to Congress.

It's only going to get worse for them, too. Using generic ballot poll responses to predict the number of U.S. House seats retained by Democrats after the 2010 election, Gallup sized things up back in November 2009 thusly:

Look at the left hand column. It only goes down to 45% approval for a generic Democrat candidate. Surely the polls wouldn't drop any lower than that or the Dems, would it?

Whoopsie! It just hit 44%.

Keep screaming, geniuses.

Gee, when do I get to tar all Democrats as violent egg-throwing nutjob loonies? The left relishes smearing all Tea Party activists and conservatives and Republicans as violent bigots based on scanty evidence, after all.

As for proof of a Tea Partier shouting the racist epithet "ni**er" at a black congressman ... well, we're all on pins and needles waiting for it. I'm sure that any day now, someone's gonna jump on that $100,000 challenge. Yup. Real soon.

Cue the crickets.

----

9:30 PM Update: Lest we forget ...

10:30 PM Update: A little perspective would seem to be in order, don't you think?

You worked so hard to extract a promise from the Precedent to issue a magic Executive Order, one that can overrule the federal funding of abortion in the Obamacare bill signed into law at noon today. You made such a very big show of accepting your precious little fig leaf, but you're still standing there naked at 5:00 PM.

Where is it, chump?

10:45 Update: Teh One sure is in a hurry to live up to his word, eh? I'll bet it'll help you sleep at night, though, Bart. That is, until Obama decides that his EO is no longer convenient (per Geraghty's Rule), or until some federal judge permanently enjoins its enforcement as incapable of overturning an Act of Congress, or as an "undue burden" on a woman's right to a dead baby. But hey, just trust the most radical pro-abortion president in history. It's bound to go well.

3/26 Update: Stupak's pathetic attempt to justify his action rings hollow.

3/27 Update: Stupak's price? $578 million in earmarks for his district.

Mr. Wooden, how on God's green Earth can you continue as a member of the Democrat Party after its headlong dive last night into socialism, taxpayer-funded abortion, and blatant corruption?

You attend Tea Party rallies. You claim to be pro-life. You claim to be pro-free markets. You claim to be anti-corruption. You claim to be pro-military. You claim to be pro-gun rights. You claim to be anti-Obamacare, for Heaven's sake. Nevertheless, your party stands in opposition to all of your proclaimed stances. Talk about cognitive dissonance! This ain't your father's Democrat Party. Scoop Jackson's influence burned away decades ago.

If you first defeat Betty Sutton in the primary election for Ohio's 13th Congressional District, and if you then defeat your Republican opponent and become our Congressman, will you caucus with your party? Will you support its leaders, like Nancy Pelosi? What's to keep you from being the new Bart Stupak, Mary Jo Kilroy, Marcy Kaptur, or ... Betty Sutton?

If your party has decisively left you, if you are who you claim to be, then how can you reconcile that with your continued membership in the Democrat Party? Are you naïve? Are you hiding your true beliefs? Do you lack the courage to leave a socialist party bent on destroying our republic? Why are you a Democrat in 2010?

Explain it to me. Please.

----

5:00 PM Update: How about you, Dan Moadus?

Watch the clip. Click the banner. Sign the pledge. Take back your liberties.

... then today's betrayal surprised you. I didn't trust him, but wish I'd known that Stupak telegraphed his move:

There's no such thing as a "Pro-Life Democrat." No. Such. Thing.

----

8:10 PM Update: For the benefit of my progressive readers, a little taste of what's coming.

Protesters Have Some Friends in the Capitol

Feet from the Capitol, protesters roar when GOP members fly a "Don't Tread on Me" flag from the House balcony.

We're just getting started, and we're not feeling despair. I'm smiling at the thought of November 3rd.

----

8:45 PM Update: Linda Goldthorpe for Congress

Courtesy of BarackHatesThis.com, here's the list of undecided Democrat Congressmen to call and voice your opposition to Obamacare. Melt the phones, people. This is the left's best chance to turn America into a socialist banana republic. Stop them!

In case the site is down (it's been swamped by traffic), here's what the home page says:
 

There's Still Time To Act. What Are You Waiting For?

Don't believe Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi when you hear them saying they've got the votes to pass their monstrosity of a health care reform bill.

This fight is NOT over.

At this very moment, targeted Democrats in the House of Representatives are sweating bullets, trying to decide how they're going to vote this weekend.

They've been reading polls like this one -- polls that prove to them that in their very own districts, their constituents are opposed to a government takeover of health care.

They've been on the receiving end of millions of dollars of advertisements from the special interests.

As of Friday afternoon, President Obama and Speaker Pelosi are still several votes short.

You still have time to make your views known, and make your voice heard.

And don't think that just because you've called YOUR Member of Congress and let him or her know what you think, your work is through.

The vote of a Congressman in Pennsylvania or a Congresswoman in Ohio WILL impact your life, and our nation's future, no matter WHERE you live.

So call them. Call ALL of them on the target list below.

Call their district offices first, then call their Capitol Hill offices.

Be polite, but be firm. Ask them to please vote to kill the bill.

Send them back to the drawing board, to put together health care reform we can ALL support.

Because there's NO interest more special than YOURS.

Democrat John Boccieri (OH-16) just announced he'll be voting "yes" on Obamacare. In response I just contributed $25.00 to Republican challenger Jim Renacci.

Please do the same and contribute what you can, and let's replace this craven licker of Nancy Pelosi's boots.

11:25 AM Update: The rumblings were real. Democrat Charlie Wilson, (OH-06) just caved and will vote "yes" on Obamacare.

Ohio candidates and voters have signed the pledge to repeal Obamacare, but so far no elected officials have signed it. Encourage them to do so!

12:05 PM Update: More from Ed Morrissey at Hot Air.

4:30 PM Update: Tom Blumer has a nice collection of links and a revealing video clip, plus a suggestion to "go local" if Boccieri's DC phone is busy.

A warning to John Boccieri, Steve Driehaus, Zack Space, Charlie Wilson, Marcy Kaptur, Tim Ryan, Betty Sutton, Dennis Kucinich, Marcia Fudge, and Mary Jo Kilroy:

Any special deal, job, earmark, or payment that comes your way in return for your "yes" vote on Obamacare will be dragged to center stage and spotlighted. Bank on it.

According to The Columbus Dispatch:

Rep. Charlie Wilson is one of a number of Democrats who is officially undecided about the final health care bill - but the St. Clairsville Democrat is giving off strong signals he is headed toward a "yes" vote.

Get on it, folks!

Washington Office
ph: (202) 225-5705
fx: (202) 225-5907

Canfield, OH
ph: (330) 533-7250
fx: (330) 533-7136

Marietta, OH
ph: (740) 376-0868
fx: (740) 376-0886

Bridgeport, OH
ph: (740) 633-5705
fx: (740) 633-5727

Ironton, OH
ph: (740) 533-9423
fx: (740) 533-9359

Wellsville, OH
ph: (330) 532-3740

Unless you've spent the last four years living in a cave, this is no surprise at all. In a statement e-mailed to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Betty Sutton said:

Every year more than 40,000 people die because they don't have health insurance coverage, and in this great nation it should not be that way. The legislation is not perfect and indeed contains provisions that I will continue to strive to improve, but I will vote for the bill. By passing this legislation we will take the long overdue step toward ending the egregious, discriminatory practices of insurance companies that deny care based on pre-existing conditions and impose outrageous premium increases. This legislation will also strengthen the solvency of Medicare, lower drug costs for our seniors, and make health insurance more affordable and accessible for small businesses and individuals.

The bosses of the big labor unions want this bill passed, and what union bosses want, Betty Sutton delivers.

By the way, Betty, that "40,000 deaths" statistic is a complete crock of poo:

So, how did these political doctors come up with the 44,000 figure? They used data from a health survey conducted between 1988 and 1994. The questionnaires asked a sample of 9,000 participants if they were insured and how they rated their own health. The federal Centers for Disease Control tracked the deaths of people in the sample group through the year 2000. Drs. Himmelstein, Woolhandler, and company then crunched the numbers and attributed deaths to lack of health insurance for all the participants who initially self-reported that they had no insurance and then died for any reason over the 12-year tracking period.

At no time did the original researchers or the single-payer activists who piggy-backed off their data ever verify whether the supposed casualties of America's callous health care system had insurance or not.

...

To boil it all down in plain English: The single-payer scientists had no way of assessing whether the survey participants received insurance coverage between the time they answered the questionnaires and the time they died. They had no way of assessing whether the deaths could have been averted with health insurance coverage. A significant portion of those classified as "uninsured" may not have even been uninsured, based on past studies that actually did verify insurance status. But the Himmelstein team just took the rate of uninsurance from the original study (3.3 percent), applied it to census data, and voila: more than 44,000 Americans are dying from lack of insurance.

At least do your constituents the favor of using honest data when you try to support your socialist initiatives, Betty.

A decent opening shot, but somehow I suspect my congresscritter Rep. Betty Sutton (D-OH) is not listening any more now than she usually does. When it comes to confronting the vast majority of Americans who don't want anything to do with Obamacare, she's been a bit, um, timid.

Any comment, Tom Ganley? Justin Wooden?

If you really, truly oppose Obamacare as you claim, and if you want to set yourself apart from Betty Sutton, click on this logo ...

... and sign the pledge. I did!

P.S. -- Justin Wooden, call your office!

Rep. Betty Sutton just introduced a warm-and-fuzzy-sounding piece of legislation. It's called the Foreclosure Mandatory Mediation Act of 2010:

Rep. Betty Sutton (D-OH13) joined Ohio Reps. Marcia L. Fudge (D-OH11) and Mary Jo Kilroy (D-OH15), as well as Reps. Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Kendrick Meek (D-FL) to introduce H.R. 4635--a measure to combat foreclosures. Ohio has been particularly impacted by the foreclosure crisis and projections indicate no signs of change. In Ohio's 13th Congressional District alone, 17,555 homes are projected to be foreclosed upon over the next four years. This legislation will require lenders of Federal loans or guarantees to enter into mediation with homeowners prior to placing the property in foreclosure or a sheriff's sale.

Since anything advocated by Maxine Waters automatically gets my antennae twitching, I went to the bill's text, which contains this key nugget (the emphasis and links are mine):

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, before a qualified mortgagee may initiate a foreclosure proceeding or a sheriff sale, the qualified mortgagee shall conduct, consistent with any applicable State or local requirements, a one-time mediation with the affected mortgagor and a housing counseling agency, at the expense of the qualified mortgagee.

For purposes of this section the term 'housing counseling agency' means a housing counseling agency certified by the Secretary under section 106(e) of the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968 (12 U.S.C. 1701x(e)); or a neighborhood housing services program established by the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation under section 606 of the Housing and Community Development Amendments of 1978 (42 U.S.C. 8105);

The parties are forced into mediation (even if it's a slam-dunk case of delinquency by the borrower), and look who foots the entire bill for the mediator's fees: the lender trying to foreclose on the delinquent borrower. When the government keeps forcing a company to incur new costs, the company must eventually pass on those costs to its customers. Otherwise the company will go bankrupt.

If this law passes, it will end up costing you more to get a mortgage. Care to guess which legislators will then wail and gnash their teeth about "predatory lenders screwing the poor" and "fat cat bankers jacking up fees" when those inevitable effects occur? Now, this is par for the course among politicians who have no clue how a free market works. They think the solution to every government-imposed problem is more government regulation and spending. What's unusual is that this isn't the worst part of the bill.

So, it seems Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) will step down fight the rush to remove him from his chairmanship of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. His fellow progressives have decided to leave Corruptocrat Charlie twisting in the wind. That's no surprise.

What does surprise me is the mild reaction from Rep. Betty Sutton (D-OH), my Congresswoman. Maybe that's because Rangel gave Sutton $5000 in 2006. Heck, if it weren't for the sudden danger to her cushy job from Republican Tom Ganley, she likely wouldn't have gotten out in front of Rangel's immolation at all.

I'm sure she's grateful, Charlie, but you're just too toxic these days.

3/3 12:45 AM Update: Spin, Betty, spin.

Quite a lot of blinking in that segment. I guess it was seven grand Rangel gave her, which Sabrina Eaton reports is to be donated to local charities.

Rep. Betty Sutton called yesterday for Charlie Rangel to step down from his post on the Ways and Means Committee:

The House Ethics Committee has now determined that a violation of the ban on corporate funded travel did occur and is still considering other allegations against Mr. Rangel. I think that in order to preserve the public trust, which is of the highest priority, Representative Rangel should, at this point, step aside as Chair of the Ways and Means Committee. Our nation is facing many challenges and we must put all our energy, without distraction or question, into meeting those challenges.

It's funny how responsive to ethical concerns a politician becomes when her seat is no longer safe.

Obama is ACORN. ACORN is Obama.

The two are inseparable.

I love blunt conservative honesty, especially from a politician!

I just looked up the summary of Ohio data on Recovery.gov and here's some of what I found. Compare the numbers for jobs created/"saved" and money wasted spent for Ohio's 18 congressional districts, and the numbers for the ten nonexistent districts that turned up.

$5.3 million went to nonexistent congressional districts, creating (or maybe it's "saving") 11 jobs. That's $482,174 per job. How do I sign up for that sweet deal? Then there's the average waste stimulus per job in our actual 18 districts, which works out to $294,758 ... still not too shabby. If I can snag one of the 149.5 jobs here in the 13th District, I will have cost America's taxpayers a cool $1,026,735! Betty Sutton, call your office. I want a job.

That's "transparency" in the age of Hope and Change™ for ya. Is this incompetent accounting, dishonest accounting, or both?

Want more? Nineteen out of the top twenty Porkulus recipients in Ohio are state, county, or municipal government entities. The one that's not government owned is "a single-purpose environmental remediation Limited Liability Corporation dedicated to providing remediation services to the United States Department of Energy at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant site." In other words, a government contractor.

Boy oh boy, that Porkulus sure did stimulate the free market, didn't it? Way to go, Governor Strickland ... you sure know how to allocate funds. I can't wait to experience the joys of Obamacare, Cap & Trade, and amnesty for illegals.

For more analysis, check out Ohio Watchdog.

During tonight's joint session, Barack Obama faced a critic brave enough to call his dishonesty what it is:

For yelling "you lie!", I just sent Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina a $10 campaign contribution. If he hadn't apologized for his supposed rudeness in calling a lie a lie, I'd have sent him $50.

More coverage:
Hot Air
Gateway Pundit
Protein Wisdom
Conservative Culture
Ace of Spades

Call in and ask tough questions.

Yoo hoo! Betty Sutton, where are you?

We aren't going away.

Unless I'm missing something obvious, Rep. Betty Sutton (D-OH) still has not released a schedule of her public events for this month. We're 15 days into the U.S. House's summer recess, and there are 23 days left.

Where's Betty?

Her constituents in the 13th District have questions for her, and if we have to fork over $30 to get them ... so be it.

Hey, fellow residents of Ohio's 13th Congressional District! Look what I found!

Legislative Luncheon with Congresswoman Betty Sutton
Wednesday, 8/19/2009, 11:30 - 1:00
Martin University Center
105 Fir Hill Street
Akron, OH 44325

Event Sponsors: AT&T Ohio, Akron Children's Hospital, Oriana House, Inc.

Congress has been in the headlines for the past several months debating important policy such as the economic stimulus, healthcare, climate change and labor issues. Join us on Wednesday, August 19th for a Legislative Luncheon with Congresswoman Betty Sutton, who will provide a Capitol Hill update.

It'll only cost you $30 to get in ($25 if you're a member of the Greater Akron Chamber of Commerce).

How interesting that this event is not mentioned anywhere on Betty Sutton's web site. I'm also still waiting to get a schedule of her events from her staff. I guess I shouldn't hold my breath, huh?

At least at this luncheon, the odds of facing an aggressive goon are lower than at Sen. Sherrod Brown's last town hall.

--

9:15 PM update: "Chicken shi-shi" is right.

Rep. Betty Sutton (D-OH) is worried:

Hmmm ... Betty might be right. As a long-time labor union lawyer, she's in a position to know. I mean, just look at her contributors for the 2008 and 2010 election cycles.

--

7:30 PM update: Scary constituents!

Copley Township Democratic Rep. Betty Sutton held a town hall meeting on health care last month, before concerted disruption efforts began. After outbursts at health care meetings around the country were publicized, Sutton said many constituents told her they wouldn't attend such a meeting because "they would fear for their safety."

"We are trying to figure out how we can best address concerns and questions and hear from constituents in a way that is civil and productive," said Sutton, a member of the committee that drafted the most widely publicized House health care reform bill. She says most of the people she talks to are just trying to figure out what's in the bill and how it would affect them.

"I have meetings every day," Sutton said. "I talk to people."

The House of Representatives adjourned on July 31st. It's now day 12 of their 35-day summer recess, and my Representative has still not released any details of her schedule. Betty Sutton's staff assures me that there will be two public events at some point, somewhere. They assure me that I'll receive a schedule as soon as it's finalized.

Any day now. Yep. That's the ticket.

--

1:15 PM update: Hmmm ... what's this?

5:25 PM update: Curiouser and curiouser. Betty, why don't you publish your schedule on your web site, instead of scattering it in places like this?

11:00 PM update: A telephone town hall meeting is not a town hall meeting.

Sutton's office said she discusses health care with constituents in many forums. Her schedule is not published in advance because it's in constant flux. She'll hold a telephone town hall meeting with constituents next week and will discuss health-care legislation in an upcoming Ohio News Network appearance. Her Washington office number is 202-225-3401.

Dear Zack,

In this letter you told Nancy Pelosi that you couldn't support the Obamacare bill if it wasn't budget neutral. Yet you violated your commitment and voted for the bill on Friday, July 31st. Obamacare is anything but budget-neutral. It obliterates the budget.

Douglas Elmendorf, director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, said bills crafted by House leaders and the Senate health committee do not propose "the sort of fundamental changes" necessary to rein in the skyrocketing cost of government health programs, particularly Medicare. On the contrary, Elmendorf said, the measures would pile on an expensive new program to cover the uninsured

Don't act like this is a surprise.

You'd better hope your sell-out was worth it. We'll be in touch.

Sincerely,
Your Employers

I've called and e-mailed my Congresswoman's very polite and helpful staff several times a week for a month, and so far there's still no schedule for Betty Sutton's activities during the House's August recess. I wonder why she's leaving her staff and constituents twisting in the wind?

The Ohio Republican Party appears to be moving full steam ahead toward endorsing John Kasich for Governor. That's funny ... I thought the primary contest was still underway. When last I checked, Kevin Coughlin was still angling for a chance to take on Ted Strickland.

It's not up to the Ohio GOP to pick the party's nominee. It's up to us, the voters, to choose our nominee in the primary election. The state party ought to butt out until then.

After all, Bob Taft, "Uncle Bob" Bennett, Kevin Dewine, Ken Blackwell, Jim Petro and friends haven't exactly covered themselves in glory over the past several election cycles.

We'll pick our guy without your interference, thanks.

Since I'm pulling for Josh Mandel to unseat Ohio Treasurer Kevin Boyce, I hereby ask the incumbent to keep blowing taxpayer money on campaign materials:

As Ohio's budget swells with red ink, state Treasurer Kevin Boyce spent $32,469 in taxpayer money on promotional items such as water bottles, grocery bags and pencils and plans to buy another $47,457 in swag plastered with his name.

Boyce defended the purchases as routine and said his marketing budget is about 30 percent less than what fellow Democrat Richard Cordray spent when he was state treasurer.

But state Rep. Josh Mandel, R-Lyndhurst, who is running against Boyce, said, "While families and small businesses are tightening their belts, it seems outrageous that the treasurer is using the hard earned dollars of Ohio families to promote himself."

And Catherine Turcer of Ohio Citizen Action, a good government watchdog, said just because other statewide officers spend budget money on promotion doesn't make it right.

Keep up the great work, Kev ... and be sure to keep that resumé updated, 'kay?

Details here.

The more we give to Marco Rubio, the more the folks at the NRSC have to realize we mean business.

If donations are all the National Republican Senatorial Committee understands, then I say let your money talk.

I echo Tom Blumer's open letter to John Kasich. Politicians like Husted aren't the solution to Ohio's woes. They're a big part of the problem.

He wants the State Treasurer job:

Let the fun and games begin, Mr. Boyce.

The candidates for Chairman of the Republican National Committee have agreed to take questions from the party rank and file, via text or YouTube, through January 19th. The candidates will then respond to at least ten of the top questions using YouTube from January 20th through the start of the RNC Meeting on January 28th.

I've submitted three questions so far. Kindly vote for them at the links below.

Closed primaries:

Will you make it a top priority to ensure that by the 2012 election cycle all statewide Republican primary elections are closed to everyone except registered Republicans?

The Ron Paul problem:

Ron Paul has a very energetic and organized community of fans and followers, as is obvious if you browse the other questions submitted here. Unfortunately, his movement also attracts anti-semites, 9/11 Truthers, isolationists, and Bircherite cranks ... all of whom tarnish the Republican Party by association. Ron Paul holds some mainstream conservative positions, but he's got plenty of bad ideas too. How will you distance the GOP from the nuttier elements of the Ron Paul movement, yet still appeal to the rest of his motivated young followers?

A conservative litmus test:

In order to effectively allocate campaign funds to conservative candidates, would you support a minimal litmus test of acceptable conservatism for would-be GOP candidates? In other words, would you require a "yes" to the following question: "Do you want the state to have less control over people's lives, or more control?"