Quillon: Hang up phone, Jack, and go meet the people…
Townhall meeting grades: Specter: A (unfiltered, unscripted), Casey: C- (filtered, scripted), Murtha: D- (telephone town hall meeting)…
Quillon: Hang up phone, Jack, and go meet the people…
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23 Comments
Jack Murtha is not supporting the bill he co sponsored with Nancy Pelosi. http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/... This is amazing. Can John Murtha continue to fool his voters? He supported and voted for Pelosi's cap and trade which is directly adverse to interests of his coal mining constituents. How the UMWorkers continues to support him against the interests of its membership is a a mystery to me.
Jack Murtha is not supporting the bill he co sponsored with Nancy Pelosi. http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/... This is amazing. Can John Murtha continue to fool his voters? He supported and voted for Pelosi's cap and trade which is directly adverse to interests of his coal mining constituents. How the UMWorkers continues to support him against the interests of its membership is a a mystery to me.
Bob… I live in Murtha's district for 5 years. He will be reelected until he is thrown in jail or drawn into a district he cannot win.
The best we can do is win the legislature and draw Cambia County into Shuster's district. Shuster would crush him.
Bob… I lived in Murtha's district for 5 years. He will be reelected until he is thrown in jail or drawn into a district he cannot win.
The best we can do is win the legislature and draw Cambia County into Shuster's district. Shuster would crush him.
You may be realistic or perhaps your assesment is overly pessimistic, hard to tell. I think the dynamics of the district may be changing. and, in any event, he will not be there forever and there is no successor. I don't know what the people of Murthaville will do without the Pork, really unearned welfare, when he is gone. He has build a culture of dependency that will be defeating. I think, demographically, the area is getting older and older and poorer and poorer because there are no opportunities for young people. Very sad, almost tragic. But ss the old die out, their ideas and culture dies and there may be, I hope, a regeneration. Your realism is an indictment of the American electoral system, though. What works, though, survives and what does not work perishes; there is an evolutionary dynamic in the affairs of human beings as F.A.Hayek and Edmund Burke point out. We shall see but I do not underestimate either Bill Russell or Peg Luksik.
PS If Murtha were so unvulnerable, then why did he back off the Health Care Bill promoted by his very close ally, Speaker Pelosi and which he cosponsored. He is polling and he realized he could be vulnerable. and if he were so confident, why did he not meet the voters rather than a telephone Town Hall? Murtha is vulnerable and, even if you don't know it, he knows it. Whether the vulnerability can be translated into electoral defeat is another problem. Murtha has been cut off from PMA which was a conduit for campaign contributions from the beneficiaries of his pork.
How do we know he did back off? Because he said so?
Correct. Rep Murtha said so publicly. He is not supporting the bill he and Nancy Pelosi co sponsored! That is what the news story says he says and there is no reason to believe otherwise. He caved to pressure. This was the Glenn Beck Model at work in the 12th. Talk radio, Internet bloggers, the Committees of Correspondence.
Mike Allen in today's Poiltico.com points out that the only district in the country that flipped from Kerry to McCain was Jack Murtha's
Districts that McCain won in 2008 that Kerry won in 2004: 1 (John Murtha’s PA-12). http://www.politico.com/playbook/
Murtha is vulnerable. He is a Pelosi Democrat in a McCain performing district. The challenge is to inform the electorate.
Voter Contact Voter Contact Voter Contact the Informed Voter is Bill Russell's Ally…. and I think the Luksik Network can get this message out. Bill Russell is trustworthy and solid and anyone who meets him knows that. He will keep his promises and Peg Luksik is right there next to him to keep him from path of temptation. Bill Russell can win in 2010.
No reference made to Tim Holden? He didn't even have the decency to hold a town hall meeting. I'd give him an 'F'…
SHUSTER?!?!? What are you talking about, Ryan? Most of the people in Shuster's district HATE Bill Shuster. And there would definitely be a ton of sentiment carryover in Cambria. The main problem is that other than Mike DelGrosso a few years back (a he really scared the crap out of Shuster but won't run again), there has been no other realistic candidates. And Tony Barr is way too left to really give Billy a good challenge. If a real challenger ran against Shuster and had the funding to advertise in the populated areas (be it primary or regular election), Bill would be out of office.
SHUSTER?!?!? What are you talking about, Ryan? Most of the people in Shuster's district HATE Bill Shuster. And there would definitely be a ton of sentiment carryover in Cambria. The main problem is that other than Mike DelGrosso a few years back (and he really scared the crap out of Shuster if you recall but won't run again), there has been no other realistic candidates. And Tony Barr is way too left to really give Billy a good challenge. If a real challenger ran against Shuster and had the funding to advertise in the populated areas (be it primary or regular election), Bill would be out of office.
Bob… the problem is that as the old die, they are replaced by the young who lacked the ambition to leave. We are seeing this already play out at the local level in places like his district. Local offices are not being contested. There is no civic spirit on either side of the spectrum.
Considering my high school class reunion recently, I think we can see where places like Murtha's district are going. Anyone with an ambition, education, etc… leave ASAP. Those who remain are those who lack ambition, more likely to use government benefits, etc… His district is becoming more of a rural ghetto dominated by old people on a fixed income and the younger people who lacked the ambition to leave and often are societal burdens.
Bob… the problem is that as the old die, they are replaced by the young who lacked the ambition to leave. We are seeing this already play out at the local level in places like his district. Local offices are not being contested by anyone. There is no civic spirit on either side of the spectrum.
Considering my high school class reunion recently, I think we can see where places like Murtha's district are going. Anyone with an ambition, education, etc… leave ASAP. Those who remain are those who lack ambition, more likely to use government benefits, etc… His district is becoming more of a rural ghetto dominated by old people on a fixed income and the younger people who lacked the ambition to leave and often are societal burdens.
You have a point. The lack of initiative and willingness to take entrepreneurial risk and the envy of those who do take the risk and are successful hold the entire community back. Like Alinsky, the "have nots" resent the haves and take what the haves have built up by their ingenuity and skills and intelligence. The Union Organizers exploit the resentment and anyone with ambition leaves and those willing to invest go elsewhere.
Bob… yes it went for McCain, but remember it is probably the most racist part of PA. In addition, the Republicans hold fairly little of the district at the local and state office levels. This district went nearly 70-30 for Casey and 65-35 for Rendell in 2006. The 12th District is not Republican territory, but like West Virginia and Arkansas, Republican went it comes to the president and Democrat for everything else.
Republicans should shy away from such places. Anyone who represents this district is going to be expected to be a massive porker, actually the worst of the delegation. Local government is far from conservative. People like to complain in DelCo that government is not conservative, but it looks like Ron Paul governs compared to the downright socialism of places in the 12th.
It is deeper than resentment. It is an outright rejection of globalization and all its implications. Places like the 12th still live in the 1950s culturally and economically. They expect someone to go down to the plant, clock in for 40 years, then retire. No need for an education or any self-improvement. Being reliable is the only quality necessary to have a job.
Anyone who proposes to change this mentality is met with resistance. Remember these people will fight a McDonalds or Wal-Mart vigorously. McDonalds only has one store in Greene County because when it wanted to place one in the second largest town, the locals fought it off like McDonalds was an agent of Satan. It took Wal-Mart ten years to build a store, making Greene County the only county with an interstate and not a Wal-Mart in PA.
In addition, their attitude towards schooling is disturbing. I would say most Americans realize that college is necessary today to have any chance of success except in places like the 12th.
At the end of the day, do we really want these people on our side?
Good points Ryan in DelCo and you may be right. They may vote for pork because the unions scare away anyone who would want to invest.
More good points. I did not know abut Walmart. Walmart delivers goods at affordable price and creates employment. I did not know McDonalds was on 'bad' list. What is the objection of McDonald's? Not union? It appears the mentality is that intransigent mentality. We would rather have nothing than non union. If they do not see need for education, then one cannot get ahead. When I was out there, I recall there were no bookstores, not even small ones. No Borders or Barnes and Nobles and not even small used bookstores. That tells us a lot.
It is disturbing. I lived in a smaller town in Michigan while I went to undergrad and it had more. While I cannot remember exactly, I doubt there is a full size Borders or Barnes and Noble in the 12th. There are a few Borders Express' in the malls but nothing else. Greene County, 40,000 people, has one McDonalds. They tried to build a franchise in Carmichaels/Cumberland Twp, roughly 7000 people, but the local businesses fought it. The county I lived in Michigan for four years was similar size had four McDonalds, a large WalMart, two Krogers, several small grocery stores, countless CVS style stores, and several local bookstores.
In the end Bob, it boils down to the people of the 12th do not want to be self-sufficient or enter even the 1980s. Conservatives are fools to try to appeal to these people. Hopefully this explains why I have so much contempt at times for such places.
He gets reelected easily when Republicans could challenge him in the primary.
Now I really do not understand how Holden holds that seat. That is worse than Carney up in PA-10.
I remain optimistic. After all, these voters flipped from Kerry Liberal Dem to McCain liberal Republican. This demonstrates some independent thinking and a willingness to split a ticket.
It may be interpreted that the voters knew more about presidential candidates McCain and Obama and made their choices. Washington County seems to be friendly to the entrepreneur. For all the pork, the worker base is skilled and working in the military cosmopolitan. You can't keep them down on the farm once they've seen Paree. and the Internet opens the world. One does one's best to make a change.
The more the voters get to know the Murtha who has morphed Pelosi Pink and the solid and reliable Bill Russell, the better the changes for improvement. The Informed Voter is Our Ally.
Thanks for the input, Ryan_in_DelCo, the insights are useful and counsel a slow and steady approach.