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Plainfieldrob
Posts:175
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| 08/02/2006 11:54 AM |
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Just a quick post to once again let you know that letters to the editor really do work.
This past week, I wrote to the Naperville Sun (via their website) and no less than three people appproached me or my wife to let us know they read my letter.
Folks, people really do read those letters.
Keep writing, keep it positive and good things will happen.
President motivated by politics, not science
The scientific debate is over. The potential of embryonic stem cells is so great that 80 Nobel Laureates wrote to tell President Bush that in 2001. Most scientists believe that embryonic stem cell research provides greater opportunity than adult or even umbilical-harvested cells.
HR 810 was vetoed for political reasons plain and simple. Yet, one has to wonder why the president was in such a hurry to veto this measure on the very same day the House passed it. In 2001, when this issue made headlines for the first time, President Bush had this to say regarding embryonic stem cell research, "I'm thinking about it ... There are no timetables."
People like my mother, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, will simply have to wait until the next president comes into office for her hopes for a healthier future to be restored. But to his credit, Mr. Bush has guaranteed himself the vote of fringe conservatives who unfortunately are some the most reliable Republican voters. It was a brilliant political move in an election year, and I just wish he would be honest and admit the politics masquerading as morals.
- Rob Reed
Plainfield |
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Plainfieldrob
Posts:175
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| 08/02/2006 3:27 PM |
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Eample letter to reporter following up on his article/analysis...pasting my response first, his article next because Daily Herald does not host articles beyond 7 days... (cross-posted to www.fireside14.com)
Mr. Krol, I especially enjoyed your analysis in your article of July 30th. I would like to mention a couple of things that I hope may assist in future articles on this subject.
First, you note Charlie Cook’s analysis on Democratic prospects in the fall which I think was useful. But later in the article you state “with maybe 25 to 30 of them meriting true toss-up status for both parties.” This assertion is not supported by anything I’m reading including analysis by Mr. Cook himself.
Cook’s site is subscription based, and perhaps you were unaware of his analysis on this subject, but the DCCC notes on their website that "In the House, where Democrats need a 15-seat gain to win a majority, Republicans have 15 seats that the Cook Political Report currently rates as tossups. No Democratic seats remain in that column.” http://www.dccc.org/stakeholder/archives/005094.html
Speaking of Mr. Cook, I think it’s also important to point out that he put the race between Dan Seals and Mark Kirk to his Competitive House Race chart on June 28th of this year which puts Mr. Kirk’s quote to you in a new light.
Another point I would take issue with is your statement that “The Democratic message has come in fits and starts, with the party delaying release of its platform.” I will point out that Howard Dean released the Democratic Agenda (a six-point plan) in April of this year with a lot of publicity . http://www.dnc.org/agenda.html
This past week, Congressional leaders re-affirmed the Democratic themes with their own six-point plan which you so noted. These two plans converge almost entirely and in my opinion that is far from disunity.
As an avid fan of politics, I have also seen zero analysis which supports Mr. Hastert’s claim that the Republicans will pick up House seats this fall. I think that fact should have been pointed out following Mr. McGovern’s quote.
Finally, I understand the conventional wisdom that states Democrats have no vision, and they benefit from the poor performance of Republicans. Perhaps there is some truth to that but I’m not sure it’s an accurate reflection of reality in August 2006. The Democrats do not control the House, Senate, or Presidency. With Hastert as speaker, we’ve seen numerous examples of Democratic bills and amendments killed by inaction. The committee process is completely partisan and there is simply no room for Democrats to maneuver legislatively. Sir, I hope the next time you begin to repeat the popular refrain “Democrats have no vision” you look to the DNC and other related Democratic organizations who all provide ample evidence planning for a variety of our nations pressing issues.
One final example, the unanimous plan for a Iraq presented by Congressional Democrats just two days ago…
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/07/31/democrats.iraq/
(As an aside, besides the competing bill from Feingold and Kerry, almost this same plan existed in March)
Best regards,
Rob Reed
Plainfield
Democratic Precinct Committeeperson Oswego 27
Still man of the House?
By Eric Krol
Daily Herald Political Writer
Posted Sunday, July 30, 2006
Last month, Dennis Hastert made history when he became the nation’s longest-serving Republican House speaker.
In less than four months, Plano’s Hastert finds out whether he’ll extend that record-breaking tenure by two years or watch it come to an ignominious end.
Control of the House is on the line in the Nov. 7 mid-term election, with Democrats needing a net gain of 15 seats to topple Hastert, who holds a 232-203 advantage while representing Kane and western DuPage counties in Washington.
Making it a tougher-than-normal fight for Hastert’s House GOP is the current political climate, where the dominant issues are the war in Iraq, congressional ethics, gas prices that are high and presidential approval ratings that are low.
On Hastert’s side is history. In the past 15 years, only one election has resulted in a net change in the House of more than eight seats. That took place in 1994, when Republicans swept into control under then-leader Newt Gingrich.
Both parties are upbeat about their prospects while downbeat about the opposition.
“American voters are really fed up with the direction of the country,” said Jen Psaki, a spokeswoman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “No one can deny the presidency, House and Senate are controlled by Republicans.”
Counters John McGovern, spokesman for Hastert’s Keep Our Majority campaign fund: “We have a good story to tell about our record on tax relief, energy and national security. What’s disturbing is the Democrats have no agenda of their own other than to raise taxes and conduct more investigations.”
Pluses and minuses
Democratic hopes seemingly are buoyed more than anything by Republican woes.
Public opinion polls show national dissatisfaction with President Bush’s handling of the war and his overall job performance. And gas prices continue at record levels while oil companies — who give more in campaign cash to Republicans — announce record profits.
Those trends have Charlie Cook, who publishes the respected, non-partisan “Cook Political Report,” predicting Democrats will pick up anywhere from 10 to 20 House seats — putting them right on the cusp of taking control or outright dethroning the GOP.
So far, national fundraising is going slightly better for Democrats than Republicans, a relatively rare occurrence in recent times. To combat that disparity, Hastert departs today on a monthlong, 17-state fund-raising campaign tour.
Democrats also are relying on the historical trend that the party in power typically loses seats in the mid-term election. Bush was an exception to that rule in 2002 when Republicans added three House seats.
While Democrats are trying to nationalize the election, that’s usually a difficult proposition. In the final analysis, the election isn’t a national one but 435 individual contests played out on legislative maps largely designed to protect incumbents in both parties. Add in the old maxim about everybody hating Congress but liking their own congressman, and it’s easy to see why the House results have fluctuated so little.
Also weighing down Democratic efforts to nationalize the fall election is disunity among its leaders. Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman Rahm Emanuel, a Chicago congressman, has been at odds with Democratic National Chairman Howard Dean, the failed 2004 presidential primary contender.
Emanuel wants to take the traditional approach of focusing campaign cash on a few dozen specifically-targeted races. Dean wants to spread the wealth around the 50 states to build the party at all levels.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Evanston calls the notion of an Emanuel-Dean feud “overblown.”
“We do need to do both (approaches) to help the party. There’s nothing that helps build party unity like winning,” she said.
Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk of Highland Park suggested the Democrats have been in disarray and haven’t put forth a cohesive agenda.
“They’ve been unable to add value to any perceived dissatisfaction with Republicans,” Kirk said.
The Democratic message has come in fits and starts, with the party delaying release of its platform. Emanuel next month co-authors a book, “The Plan,” his attempt at articulating national Democratic themes.
The six-point Democratic plan calls for reforming the federal prescription drug plan to lower prices, eliminating oil company tax breaks, raising the minimum wage and business taxes and allowing college tuition to be tax-deductible.
But the plan also doesn’t mention the Iraq war — a sign the party continues to have trouble handling the divisive issue. Cook calls it a “jump ball” at this point.
Kirk, who served in the State Department and remains in the Naval reserves, said the ongoing Hezbollah-Israeli conflict in Lebanon adds a new dimension. “A month is a long time in politics and as we have seen in the Middle East, a week is a long time,” he said.
Suburban turf key
As one might expect given that the GOP is in power, most of the seats in play are held by Republicans. While estimates vary by political analyst and party, approximately 40 seats across the country form the battleground this fall, with maybe 25 to 30 of them meriting true toss-up status for both parties.
If that’s the case, Democrats not only have to defend all their current holdings, including 10 open seats, which leaves little room for error if the party is to pick up its 15 seats to gain control.
“Clearly, the Democrats need to run the table,” said McGovern, who added that Hastert believes Republicans actually have a chance to pick up seats this fall.
Republicans have 18 open seats, including eight where Bush won the district by 4 percentage points or less in 2004. Still, the national Democrats aren’t publicly boasting about their chances.
“We’re never going to make a prediction (we’ll take the House),” Psaki said. “Every week though, we expand the number of seats in play.”
The Chicago suburbs form a key battleground for control of the House. In the 6th Congressional District, longtime U.S. Rep. Henry Hyde of Wood Dale is retiring, leaving Republican state Sen. Peter Roskam of Wheaton to battle Democratic Iraq war veteran Tammy Duckworth of Hoffman Estates. An ailing Hyde campaigned little and still got 56 percent of the vote, but his reliable name won’t be on the ballot for the GOP. And Bush scored 53 percent in the district, meaning it’s not quite as Republican as it once was.
The 8th Congressional District features Democratic U.S. Rep. Melissa Bean of Barrington, who upset Phil Crane in 2004, against Republican incumbent David McSweeney of Barrington Hills. Bush scored 56 percent in the district two years ago, meaning that Bean, who squeaked by with 52 percent, isn’t resting comfortably.
One suburban seat that’s not expected to be in play is Hastert’s — Jonathan Laesch, a carpenter from Newark, is running on the Democratic side of the ticket against Hastert.
Should the Democrats succeed, Illinois stands to lose a significant amount of clout without Hastert as speaker, which could impact federal dollars flowing back to Illinois for transportation and health care. Democrats argue the loss would be at least somewhat offset by Sen. Dick Durbin, who remains No. 2 in Senate Democratic leadership, and the potential for Emanuel to step up in influence if he steers the Democratic ship to victory.
For Hastert, he’ll learn in early November whether he stays on as House speaker through at least the end of President Bush’s term or likely ends his congressional career if loses control of the chamber. While Hastert has been mentioned as a possible ambassador to Japan, at this point he’s hoping the sun doesn’t set on his speakership and send him to the land of the rising sun.
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Plainfieldrob
Posts:175
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| 08/04/2006 7:54 AM |
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5 more letters for progressive causes verus 0 for conservative causes in the Ledger this week.
John Morello, Hyrim Wilson, Chrisi Vineyard, Joe Serra, and Martin Flowers...
I really believe we are in the beginning of a political sea change in Kendall County and America. It's good to be a Democrat! |
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Plainfieldrob
Posts:175
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| 08/07/2006 12:51 PM |
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Another example for my fellow Democrats...
The upcoming November elections are less than 100 days away and Kendall County has yet to see any campaigning by Denny Hastert. I believe voters deserve to know where our candidates stand on issues of importance. Denny Hastert should have to make the case for his re-election every two years as the framers of the Constitution envisioned. But instead, Denny has taken to traveling the country on behalf of vulnerable Republicans…and there are a lot of them.
Recently Hastert embarked on a trip to visit 42 Congressional Districts. That’s almost 10% of the Districts in the United States. He has flown to cities in Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wyoming among others this week to raise money for vulnerable Republican candidates. I’m sure 12-term incumbent Clay Shaw (R-FL) was glad to have Denny visit considering his seat is endangered; but I know Kendall County voters would be glad to see him even more. However with dozens of other Districts expecting Hastert’s visit in the coming weeks, the fact is we may never see Denny Hastert campaign in our District before Election Day.
Whether you support him or oppose Hastert is not relevant. Flying all over the country should come second to answering to your constituents in my opinion. Most people do not consider golf outings, press releases and pork-barrel earmarks for new roads to be campaigning. I require someone to convince me and lately, the only one doing some convincing is John Laesch, a Democrat.
You have a choice in 2006, please vote.
Rob Reed
Plainfield, IL
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