Redstate

Posted at 10:47am on Jul. 1, 2008 Democrat Congressman Tim Mahoney (FL-16): Honoring Those Who Defended the Soviet Union [Updated]

By Jeff Emanuel

[Update-7/1/08@1012CDT: Asked about the photo by Cox Newspapers-Washington, Mahoney spokeswoman Leslie Pollner-Levey said, “We’d like more time to respond. We’re looking into it.”

That tone changed quickly. When the staff realized the magnitude of their error, Charles Halloran, Mahoney's chief of staff, had this to say: “This was an honest staff error. We deeply apologize to those who were offended and we will take steps to ensure that this mistake doesn’t happen in the future.”

Kudos to them for being willing to "take steps to ensure that this mistake doesn’t happen in the future." After all, getting it right the first time -- which could have been ensured had one single U.S. military veteran been shown the mailpiece supposedly "honoring" veterans before it was sent out.

Sometimes it takes a massive screw-up to teach folks to kick the laziness habit and reinforce attention to detail, I suppose.]

Tim Mahoney, freshman Democrat Congressman from Florida, really, really loves the troops. Remember last March, when he responded to questions about whether or not the 'surge' in Iraq would work by famously saying "So what"? Well, forget it -- Tim Mahoney loves the troops, and don't you dare think otherwise.

He loves them so much that he wants every person in his district to know how much he loves, and honors, the efforts, dedication, and sacrifices of those who defend our freedom.

He loves them so much that he recently sent out a taxpayer-funded mailpiece titled "Honoring Those Who Defend Our Freedom" (viewable here in .pdf form, and here with Staff Advisory Opinion attached).

Read on.

Posted in 2008 | Honoring the Red Army of Josef Stalin | Targets | Tim Mahoney — Comments (14) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 9:06am on Jun. 19, 2008 Don Young ($-AK) Provides More Reasons to Beat Don Young

By Erick

We have more information this morning that should give you incentive to contribute to Sean Parnell (R-AK) in his bid to unseat Don Young ($-AK).

Have you heard about the A-Team? That's Don Young's list of lobbyists who, in any and all cases, should be put through to him should they call Young's office.

A number of news outlets are reporting on this and other interesting items from a checklist for interns from Young's office. Young's spokeswoman says the list was not the office's official list, but rather a list put together by interns for interns. Anyone who has ever been an intern knows that the intern generated list is by far the most accurate reflection of what goes on in the office.

Andy Roth references one section of this check list:

Read on . . .

Posted in A-Team | Culture of Corruption | Don Young | High Maintenance Congressional Wives | Sean Parnell | Targets — Comments (2)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 8:51am on Jun. 12, 2008 "I don't apologize to ANYONE!" says Democrat Congressman who admitted lying about Iraq to win 2006 election

By Jeff Emanuel

Pennsylvania Congressman Paul Kanjorski (D) has made news for both accidental honesty and ill-timed, transparent duplicity in the last couple weeks.

Now, in an attempt to control that damage and prevent further gaffes (which would cause damage to his apparently Keystone State-sized ego), Kanjorski is refusing to answer any questions about the statements that previously got him into trouble with the media, the voters, and his Congressional Democrat masters.

Video below [Note: Watch the female staffer's face when she realizes what "Charlie" is about to ask her boss.]:

Kanjorski begins the conversation by immediately telling the questioner, "You're not going to put words in my mouth" -- and then proceeds, from there, to deny, deny, deny and deny some more the contents of a (rough) transcript of Kanjorski's previously-videotaped statement that:

We really in this last election, when I say we...the Democrats, I think pushed it as far as we can to the end of the fleet, didn't say it, but we implied it.

That if we won the Congressional elections, we could stop the war. Now anybody was a good student of Government would know that wasn't true. But you know, the temptation to want to win back the Congress, we sort of stretched the facts...and people ate it up."

Apparently being number two (or less) to Ex-Marine Jack Murtha can work wonders for a man's ego, as well as his self-assurance that he need never apologize to anybody for what he may have said or done.

Clearly, Mr. Kanjorski would rather we all forget his admission that Democrats used and abused the naive, trusting anti-war, Code Pink left in order to win back Congress -- as well as his braggadocios claim, after vocally and vigorously opposing the 2007 'surge' in Iraq, that he and Democrats actually forced President Bush into enacting that successful strategy.

Unfortunately for Rep. Kanjorski (D), we won't forget or ignore that.

And neither should the voters of Pennsylvania-11.

Posted in PA-11 | Paul Kanjorski | Targets — Comments (8)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 9:46am on May 28, 2008 Target TX-22

By Erick

Bob Novak has an article this morning on the Blue Dogs. One of them is Nick Lampson, running against RedState endorsed Pete Olson.

The one dissenter on the Colombian free trade vote and the one absent Congressman on the Iraqi troop withdrawal was the same person: Rep. Nick Lampson (D-Tex.). Paradoxically, he is arguably the most liberal of the selected l0 Blue Dogs as reflected during five previous terms representing the Beaumont area. He was wiped out in the 2004 election following the Texas redistricting engineered by former Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Tex.). Lampson filed as a candidate in DeLay’s Houston-area district and campaigned as a moderate in this Republican territory. Lampson was elected when DeLay was indicted by a politicized district attorney.

Lampson, proving he is more political than ideological, has all of a sudden become quite conservative, being one of the least reliable votes for Pelosi.

That, of course, cannot cover up for years of being a party line toeing liberal and for voting for Nancy Pelosi as Speaker. In 2006, Lampson only won with 52% of the vote in a disaster of an election for Shelley Sekula-Gibbs, who RedState helped toss out in the primary.

The district went for Bush with 64% in 2004. This is a very middle class to upper middle class district that is ripe for the GOP to take it back. The Cook Partisan Voting Index puts it at R +15.

Lampson is probably the most vulnerable of the Democrats in the House. HIs opponent, Pete Olson, is a veteran and he is backed by Phil Freakin' Gramm. He'll be a dependable conservative vote.

Folks, we can beat Nick Lampson pretty damn easily, but we need to cough up some change for Pete Olson to get this seat back. It may be one of the only seats we do get back, so let's make it count.

Posted in Nick Lampson | Pete Olson | Targets | TX-22 — Comments (2)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 9:44am on Feb. 27, 2008 Pentagon City Tonight. Come on down!

By Erick

Mark Tapscott has the deets:

Rep. John Murtha is hosting a gala dinner tonight at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Pentagon City for defense industry lobbyists who have received and who hope to receive millions of tax dollars via earmarks sponsored by the Pennsylvania Democrat. . . .

RedState.com is the blog that put out the original call for protests. The responding groups are Americans for Prosperity, Citizens Against Government Waste and the National Taxpayers Union.

The protesters are meeting at 5:30 p.m. at the top of the Pentagon City Metrorail station outside the Ritz-Carlton Hotel at 1250 South Hayes St. in Arlington. Organizers say photographs of attendees will be taken and posted on the Internet.

Posted in Targets — Comments (0)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 7:41pm on Aug. 6, 2007 Yes, I'd be proud if I were a municipal welfare queen, too.

By Erick

I don't think I need to offer much commentary beyond just giving you this bit:

When Representative Jeff Flake, Republican of Arizona, recently ridiculed a provision on the House floor to spend $100,000 on a prison museum near Fort Leavenworth, Kan., Representative Nancy Boyda of Kansas jumped to promote her district’s heritage.

Leavenworth County, she boasted, had more prisons than any other county in America. Its inmates, she added, have included Machine Gun Kelly and the Birdman of Alcatraz (before he was sent to Alcatraz).

“The local residents are proud of their heritage, and rightly so,” Ms. Boyda told Mr. Flake during a debate on the House floor. The House voted 317 to 112 to keep her earmark.

Posted in KS-02 | Targets — Comments (4)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 7:54pm on Jun. 12, 2007 Lynn Jenkins Taxes

By Erick

Good for Club For Growth getting out there early. Lynn Jenkins, the underfunded tax hiking Treasurer from Holton, is making a go at the Republican nomination for Kansas-2, the seat Jim Ryun narrowly lost to Nancy Boyda last year. Ryun himself is trying to make a come back, and he odds are in his favor.

Jenkins has gone so far as to label Ryun a, dare I even use this word on the front page, a . . . conservative! She says he's out of touch with the district he represented for multiple terms. Well, the Club has fired its first shot in the race and it's a good one using Lynn Jenkins' own record against her.

Posted in Jim Ryun | Kansas | KS-02 | Lynn Jenkins | Nancy Boyda | Targets — Comments (2)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 11:22pm on Jun. 6, 2007 Zach Space on William "In His Refrigerator" Jefferson

By Kevin Holtsberry

The Columbus Dispatch's political blog, The Daily Briefing, had a nice post today on how Congressman Zach Space seems to be toning down the rhetoric he employed as candidate Zach Space:

Want to see a classic example of the difference between an aggressive candidate throwing caution to the wind and a cautious incumbent who weighs every word?

Look no further than the shifting stance and nuanced words of Rep. Zack Space, the Dover Democrat who replaced disgraced GOP Rep. Bob Ney of Heath, over the issue of indicted Democratic Rep. William Jefferson of Louisiana.

Read on . . .

Posted in OH-18 | Ohio | Targets | Zach Space — Comments (0) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 12:07pm on May 15, 2007 MajorityAP Leveling Playing Field

By Erick

Over the past few weeks, we've been keeping a close eye on how the Majority Accountability Project would embrace its mission to "Keep the Majority Accountable," and level the playing field.

Today, they hit a homer against one Freshman Democrat in upstate New York, Kirsten Gillibrand (NY-20) and it's a case worth-noting as a model for what's to come this cycle.

It started with MajorityAP.com breaking the news that Kirsten Gillibrand had traveled to both London and France for campaign donations.

Traveling overseas to raise money isn't against the law (as long as the contributions are not from foreign nationals). But coupled with Gillibrand's own statements which she lashed out at her opponent, former Rep. John Sweeney, it's another case of saying one thing to get elected - and doing another once elected. "Hypocrisy" is a great way to describe it.

Read on . . .

Posted in Kirsten Gillibrand | New York | NY-20 | Targets — Comments (0)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 9:43am on May 9, 2007 Steve Kagen Hides His Pork

By Erick

Poor Steve Kagen (D-WI). Just a couple of months ago he embarrassed himself by claiming to insult the President and First Lady at the White House and assaulting Karl Rove in the bathroom. Now he's admitting he lied to get elected in his heavily Republican district.

According to the Majority Accountability Project, Kagen ran his campaign as a conservative Democrat promising to "require full disclosure of all earmarks" and work toward ending "all pork-barrel projects." But that has not happened.

Kagen is running as fast as he can from his pledges and won't divulge any of his requests for pork.

In a district that the Republicans will probably take back in 2008, Kagen is doing all he can to be a one term wonder.

Posted in Steve Kagen | Targets | Targetted Seats | WI-08 | Wisconsin — Comments (5)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 11:27am on May 7, 2007 KS-2: Nancy 'Slacker' Boyda?

By Stay Red Kansas

Earlier this year, www.stayredkansas.com discussed Nancy Boyda’s ‘refusal’ of the national Democratic Party’s ‘frontline’ aid, designed at protecting vulnerable freshmen incumbents.

Shortly after Boyda ceremoniously proclaimed her rejection of the aid, it became known to Stay Red that Nancy actually wasn’t even considered for the assistance – her name was left off of the list of targeted incumbents!

In the time since, Stay Red has tried to piece together exactly why Nancy Boyda was not included in the D.C.C.C.’s front-line program. After reviewing a memo from Democratic Congressman Chris Van Hollen, we’ve discovered exactly why.

Read on . . .

Posted in Kansas | KS-02 | Targets — Comments (3) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 1:55pm on May 3, 2007 Can We Shut This Down Before It Starts?

By Erick

Nancy Boyda (D-KS) is a target for us, though she's been very smart at toeing the line lately. While we certainly want to see Nancy beaten in 2008, I think we should not whore out our principles to do so.

The Republican party, if it wants to stay credible and distinguished from the Democrats, must maintain its believe in fiscal conservatism, which means we don't need to be nominating tax hikers. Our friends at the Club for Growth are raising warning flags over Lynn Jenkins, a potential challenger to Boyda.

• Jenkins voted to raise the state sales tax by 8% (HB 2009, 2002)
• Jenkins voted to expand the Death Tax to family members outside the immediate family (SB 39, 2002)
• Jenkins voted to increase fuel taxes by more than 38% over four years (HB 2071, 1999; HB 2507, 2001; HB 3011, 2002)
• Jenkins voted to increase state income taxes by 5% (Topeka Capital-Journal, 04/12/02)
• Jenkins voted against decreasing state property taxes by $1 million (SB 69, 2001)
• Jenkins voted to increase taxes on insurance premiums (HB 2065, 2001)
• Jenkins voted to increase taxes on tobacco by 270% (Topeka Capital-Journal, 04/12/02)
• Jenkins voted for an $18.1 million increase in alcohol taxes (Topeka Capital-
• Journal, 04/12/02)

• Jenkins voted for a total of $335 million in higher taxes in 2002 (Topeka Capital-Journal, 04/12/02) and a total of $31.4 million in higher taxes in 2001 (Topeka-Capital-Journal, 05/05/01)
• Jenkins supported taxing the Internet (Project Vote Smart, 2000)
• Jenkins refused to sign a pledge against new taxes. (Kansas Taxpayers Network)

With Republicans like that, who needs the Democrats?

Posted in KS-02 | Targets | Targetted Seats — Comments (8)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 10:18am on Apr. 18, 2007 Them Targetted Dems

By Erick

How are the Freshman Democrat Blue Dogs doing? These are the men and women who beat Republicans in Republican leaning seats and promised to be Republicans without the corruption. Well, Robert Novak has a report card.

Thus far, Gabrielle Giffords, Harry Mitchell, Joe Donnelly, Brad Ellsworth, Nancy Boyda, Heath Shuler, Charlie Wilson, Chris Carney, Jason Altmire, and Nick Lampson have disappointed. In fact, Lampson failed to vote on either the GOP proposed budget or the Democrat budget. And sadly, Gabrielle Giffords, Nancy Boyda, Chris Carney, and Jason Altmire voted in lock step with the Democrats from embryo killing research to eliminating the secret ballot in the workplace.

Chris Carney, whose district gave Bush 60% of its vote and Nick Lampson whose district gave Bush 64% of its vote have both voted in lock step with Nancy Pelosi on every issue, other than Lampson bailing on budget votes.

As Robert Novak notes

By winning a term in 2006 to represent a Republican district, each of the Democratic moderate freshmen earned two years to convince GOP voters that Democrats can look after their interests just as well as Republicans. But to the extent that each votes and thinks Democratic, each also risks a short career that could be over as soon as 2008.

You can read the whole article here.

Posted in Arizona | Indiana | Kansas | North Carolina | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Targets | Targetted Seats | Texas — Comments (6)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 8:38pm on Apr. 16, 2007 KS-2: Boyda Gets Blown Away

By Stay Red Kansas

For the last few months, Stay Red has covered the impending Second Congressional District Primary, paying little attention to the re-electability of incumbent Nancy Boyda.

Last week, Stay Red discussed the filing of Jim Ryun’s quarterly donation report, which showed around 250K raised during the previous three months. Much of that is easy money – this much we know. That said, it was a very solid report nonetheless.

No doubt, there was a vast amount of strategy behind Ryun’s filing.

First, the Ryuns wanted to potentially ward off a challenge from Lynn Jenkins – this was unsuccessful as Jenkins officially announced her candidacy last week.

Read on . . .

Posted in Jim Ryan | Kansas | KS-02 | Nancy Boyda | Targets — Comments (7) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 12:12am on Jan. 31, 2007 KS-02: Ex-REP Ryun ready to run again

A rematch in the making?

By Adam C

Ex-REP Ryun (R) lost by only 4 points last Fall. It looks like he is preparing for a rematch against the Democrat, Boyda.

Many Republicans have gone further, calling Boyda’s victory a fluke, resulting more from the year’s unusually strong anti-Republican national tide than from the relative strengths of Boyda and Ryun. They note that when Boyda, a former pharmaceutical company executive and former Republican, first sought the seat in 2004, she lost to Ryun by a 15-point margin.

Now Ryun appears set on trying to prove that interpretation correct, telling local party leaders in eastern Kansas and members of the press that he is likely to seek a rematch with Boyda next year.

As the article mentions, Boyda already flip-flopped on the "surge" to please the anti-war left, which should give the KS GOP some fodder in a Presidential cycle. KS-02 gave President Bush 59% of the vote in 2004. Even if this is not a rematch, Republicans will field a strong candidate against Boyda.

Coming on the heels of the announcement that ex-REP Jeb Bradley will run against for his old seat in NH-01, 2008 could be a lot better for Republicans in the House than 2006.

Posted in Targets — Comments (7)/ Email this page » / Read More »