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Campaign News
Lewisboro Ledger J.D. Piro October 12, 2006 It passed unobserved for the most part, but the end of September saw the anniversary of Contract with America, that day in 1994 when 100 Republican candidates for Congress published their ideological manifesto, listing 10 issues they’d bring to a vote once elected to Congress. That seminal moment is memorialized in a photo of the GOP candidates on the steps of the Capitol. In the photo is Katonah’s Sue Kelly, then a candidate for an open seat in the 19th District and now the six-term representative campaigning for a seventh term in Congress. The Contract focused the 1994 campaign, creating a platform describing what Republicans supported, not just what they opposed. It’s a strategy that worked for the GOP in 1994; in 2006, it’s one that Democratic Party leaders, especially the Democrat opposing Sue Kelly, adamantly refuse to emulate. With just a month to go, the Democratic Party leaders have taken to criticizing and carping without offering alternatives or solutions. When they have offered solutions, they’ve been tailored to fit the far left. This dearth of ideas was on display in Cold Spring two weekends ago, as supporters of John Hall, Ms. Kelly’s Democratic opponent, distributed literature listing the “Top Ten Reasons” not to vote for Ms. Kelly. The usual liberal complaints were there – Ms. Kelly voted for prescription drug coverage for seniors, Ms. Kelly voted for tax cuts – but reason number eight was illuminating. Turns out that, prior to her congressional career, Ms. Kelly was a florist. Now selling ornamental plants does not appear to be a particularly objectionable occupation. In fact, if you run a small business, as Ms. Kelly did, you probably empathize with what the small-business person endures – high taxes, onerous regulation, plodding bureaucracies. So rather than make snide remarks about what people do for a living, Ms. Kelly made it easier for all people to earn a living, by cutting income taxes and onerous regulations. And in a leap of leftist logic, this somehow makes Ms. Kelly, who has received high marks from the League of Conservation Voters, an enemy of the environment. As for the real enemy – the terrorists who threaten our national security – there’s a clear choice in this congressional election. One choice is Ms. Kelly, who supports strategies that protect Americans from attack. Ms. Kelly sided with President George W. Bush and Senator John McCain in voting for a bill that preserved America’s ability to detain, interrogate and try suspected terrorists. Democrats in Congress overwhelmingly voted no. More than three-quarters of House Democrats and more than two-thirds of Senate Democrats voted against creating a system for detaining, interrogating and trying suspected terrorists – legislation that the Supreme Court required for these national security activities to continue. The other choice is Mr. Hall. His position on national security is, well, “nuanced,” to use a favorite John Kerry adjective. Mr. Hall’s Web site suggests that the real problem is how we define the term “national security.” He suggests that we “redefine national security” to include things like reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Back in April, he wrote a little tune that put these views to music: “Vote for Peace and we can all have health care almost free no more pre-emptive warfare we’ll be sweeties, abide by our treaties Vote for me.” Now, Mr. Hall is a musician by profession. (Here at Briefing Book, we want to make this perfectly clear – there’s nothing wrong with that.) But this melodious treacle hardly constitutes a strategy to prevent another 9/11. At best, it suggests a lack of seriousness. At worst, it indicates a dangerous and naïve mind-set in confronting the post-9/11 world. If al Qaeda plans to buy a nuke from North Korea and set it off in Manhattan, the answer is to listen in on their phone conversations and stop the plot. The answer is not to start reading through the Kyoto Treaty on Climate Change. The Contract with America had the advantage of describing what the Republicans believed. The Democratic Party has, to date, offered no similar manifesto. The Democratic leaders prefer to rely on the far left’s visceral hatred of President Bush to motivate their voters. So they lurch from topic to topic with manic intensity, stoking anger and avoiding solutions. They talk about terrorists – until it’s actually time to detain and interrogate them – and then they vote no. They talk about gas prices – until they start getting lower. They talk about the economy – until the stock market hits a new high. Now it’s florists – still, apparently, a threat. |
LINKS TO KEY WASHINGTON NEWS SOURCES
PO Box 599 Katonah, NY 10536 sue@suekellyforcongress.com