Convince us. Make your best case for Hoffman, Owens
So here's the E-Day Minus One In-Box Challenge. Write a few sentences in the comment box below giving your best, positive argument on behalf of the candidate you support.
What is it about Bill Owens that sold you? How about Doug Hoffman? And what about the concerns raised by their critics? How do you process those ideas?
Remember: This is a chance to give the positives, the hopeful reasons that you support your choice. Flames and ad hominem stuff will just tune people out.
Go for it...
Labels: election09
posted by Brian Mann @ 11/02/2009 09:31:00 AM
37 Comments
37 Comments:
A narrow Owens win: (1) For the past two decades labor has been part of the winning coalition of John McHugh.
The majority 80,000 labor households will go to Owen at this point--no longer split down the middle with Dede. The labor GOTV effort could be huge (2) a backlash against outside money and endorsements. Hoffman appears to be a creation of outside influence (3) a backlash by women for the trashing of Dede. (4) The district has been trending Democratic, an Owen win would not be out of the question.
Hoffman is a district outsider who's not even eligible to vote in area he wants to represent. He consistently failed to who any significant knowledge of the local issues relevant to the people he wants to represent in Congress, and he was trailing in polls and endorsements.
Then Palin and the other tea party types got involved, Glenn Beck gave him huge national exposure, and suddenly cash and endorsements poured in. At the same time, fake websites traced to conservative operators trashed the GOP candidate, and she pulled out after her support withered.
So what will you get if Hoffman wins? Not someone who's in touch with the people he'll be representing for the next two years. Instead, he'll be spending the next two years paying off his political and financial debts to the political interests outside of NY23 who put him in office. He'll vote the way Palin, Limbaugh and Beck want him to, not the way his constituents want him to, but it's the latter group who have to live with the consequences.
I live outside of NY23 myself, but I sincerely urge the people who really matter in this race, the voters, to examine the records & qualifications of the candidates, look at their responses to questions on local issues in their local papers, and think about who showed up at the debates to make a case directly to the voters as to why he should represent them. Then use your vote, YOUR vote, not the vote-by-dollars-or-airtime outsiders are influencing this race with, and pick the person who'll truly represent you and your interests in Congress for the next two years.
What is happening is a backlash to the tax and spend policy of the Democrats. Anyone with any common sense knows that borrowing more and more money to continue spending money we don't have will lead us down a horrible road. Back in World War II we were atleast borrowing form ourselves, but now we're paying hundreds of millions of dollars a day just in interest owed to the rest of the world. If these countries (some good, some bad) ever called our debt, this economy would collapse immediately. When the average person has to budget their income, why isn't this government? Hoffman atleast has a stance that shows some common sense on a number of issues.
At this point, people should be scared run away from whoever the unions are supporting. Big labor has destroyed this country's manufacturing and led to the outsourcing of jobs that the Democrats claim to be upset about leaving. Yet, it's these same unions that continue lining the coffers of these Dems. Common sense is on it's way back and that scares many politicians and is showing in this race and others.
Owens represents the most continuity with McHugh, and in some ways has always been the best North Country-style Republican in the race. His experience around the old Stafford machine reflects that. He'll know how to bet government investment up here, which, like it or not, we need to survive. Without it, depopulation of this area will continue apace--because we can't compete with the corporate welfare of the Southern states and overseas sweatshops.
To a NYer who cares... Since you are outside this district, what standing do you have to know what is important to people in this district? I don't like the spending this government is doing. I don't like the attack on private industries. I don't like that no common sense options will be addressed by the democrats on health care. I don't like the future impact cap and trade (tax) will have on our economy. I don't like how we are being set up to GIVE 2% of our GDP (hundreds of BILLIONS of dollars) to the rest of the world because we are the greatest country in the world. I don't like that Democrats want to pass the union card check bill and give more power to the very people who destroyed the car industry among others. I don't like seeing our dollar intentionally destroyed. I don't like how our "annointed one" goes around the world apologizing to the rest of the world for our ingenuity and drive to become better and be the best. I don't like how this current government wants to make a welfare state out of this country to keep power. I don't like that there are so many lawyers who have been in Washington so long. I don't like that these same people claim to understand what it's like to run a business and how the economy works and what's best for us. I don't like alot of things that are happening to this country and most lead back to Democratic Party (radical) initiatives.
Thus for all those reasons, why in the world would any one who associates themselves with this group of people? I'm voting for Hoffman because he atleast thinks that spending should be curbed and taxes lowered to try to kick start this economy. Just remember, FDR prolonged the Depression 7 years longer than it should have been through the New Deal and over spending. Obama's doing the same thing. We should be learning from history or we're damned to repeat it. I guess power to the Democrats is more important than learning from our past.
He's not Hoffman!
I didn't say NY23 voters should not to vote for Hoffman - I said they should vote for the person who best represents THEIR interests in Congress, and if Hoffman does that for you, more power to you. Personally, though, I think he should be running to represent the Lake Placid district he resides in, since he's apparently out of touch with issues relevant to NY23.
My disgust is with this race being turned into a national litmus test on the future of the GOP, with national money, national endorsements and national airtime exposure. Hoffman's ducked the local debates and failed to win endorsements from local papers - does it really matter what Sarah Palin or Glenn Beck think of a man they never heard of four weeks ago? Hoffman says what they want to hear, and in turn they say he's the best candidate for NY23. My point is that NY23 has to live with the consequences of who they vote for, not Palin or Beck, so it's pretty easy for them to send dollars and exposure to the man if he helps make them look like kingmakers in return.
I live in NJ now, and will be voting for the Independent candidate for governor because he has the best ideas and actual plans for my adopted state, and shows a true understanding of the issues. If NY23 wants to elect Hoffman to play Washington games of get-back-at-Obama, go for it. You can choose to replace someone who understood local issues and put his district before partisan games with someone similar, or someone focused on paying back national-political debts instead.
Good luck - just vote for your interests, not the interests of outsiders who couldn't find NY23 on a map a month ago.
Final comment to the folks who think I have no place to weigh in on Hoffman as an outsider.
You're right. NY23 is not my district, and I'm no expert on your local issues.
However, my views come from following this story, the culmination being these comments and editorials from local sources who actually do know what matters to NY23:
http://www.poststar.com/news/opinion/columns/wdoolittle/article_de2b0ade-c558-11de-9fdf-001cc4c002e0.html
http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/article/20091029/OPINION01/310299964/-1/OPINION
http://blog.syracuse.com/opinion/2009/10/our_choices_6.html
Choose well, and Good luck.
Owens to win - Hoffman against a women's right to choice -
I don;t know who will win. But I know I'll vote for Hoffman. Of the two choices one is a clear tax and spend liberal. Simply put- we can no longer afford that type of thinking. We're broke. Both major parties have brought us here and that guy in the White House has no idea of how to stop this bus from running off the cliff. In fact he's pushing on the gas pedal, not the brakes.
So. I'll vote Hoffman and hope he'll stick to his guns.
Way to go, Bret - vote for the carpetbagger with no ideas or plans of his own, just talking points handed to him by career politicians who don't give a damn about our "parochial" issues.
Good job on keeping it positive people!(extreme sarcasm)
What sold you on your candidate, not why the other one sucks. only one comment fits the purpose of these comments. Its anyone's race at this point. I am still undecided on the candidate I will vote for.
Owens is not the ideal candidate in terms of his policies and proposals, but in this race, this year, he is the best candidate to represent the North Country. We will be in a recession for some time, and we need a representative whose first priority is the economy in this area.
Hoffman has values and positions that many voters here can relate to. Unfortunately, he defines himself as someone who if elected will oppose the current administration on principle instead of working with it on our behalf.
Owens is more in touch with the issues in this district, and the players you have to work with to address them. We need a candidate who will hit the ground running for the North Country, and given the 2-candidate field we are left with, Owens is the better choice.
As a lifelong democrat who was planning to cast his first-everGOP vote in a federal race for DeDe, I 'm sorry Brian but the single best reason I will vote for Owens is
He's not Hoffman
To all the people complaining about the "carpetbagging" by Hoffman... there weren't any objections when a woman from Arkansas and Washington, D.C. carpetbagged to become Senator, but now you throw a fit over someone a few miles outside a district? Makes sense doesn't it. The hypocracy!
And the hypocrisy, too!
What amazes me most is the ability of the radical right to ensnare those voters that they would hurt the most, and get them to vote for radical right issues. Guns, abortion and saying "Tax and spend" over and over seems to be their formula. The middle/ low income white males they get to vote for them have absolutely nothing to gain from tax cuts. But, they line right up and vote for the guy supporting the richest of the rich. So, even though it kills me, I have to think they'll line right up and vote for Hoffman. Even though Hoffman doesn't give a rats butt about the well-being of those folks.
Help me to understand where the tax and spend liberal stuff comes from. As a moderate Republican, I am embarrassed to say that my party has not done as well as some Democratic administrations. It will take us decades to recover from the big government conservative policies of Bush 43. When he pushed the tax cuts in 2001 I took my $300 tax check and sent it to the Concord Coalition who fights to reduce the budget deficits. I knew where this was going to lead. As people recall the war in Iraq was funded off the books,so it wouldn't show up on the deficits. Bush never went to the country to ask it to support additional taxes to fund the war. He just ran up the deficit. So much for pay as you go. From 2001-2006 the Republican controlled the Congress and Presidency and the red ink increased more than it had during Clinton's 8 years. Suddenly, REpublicans who never worried about deficits are beating up the current administration over the spending. It is hard to take seriously. I don't think Hoffman will be any different.
At least Clinton made the effort to establish NY residency before running for office here. Hoffman is seeking to represent the interests of a region he doesn't live in, and he's not as well versed in local issues when questioned on them by area newspapers.
Hoffman chose to pass on a Plattsburgh-based debate even though he was there earlier that day, but made time to appear on Glenn Beck's national show - he's clearly more interested in winning over conservatives on a national stage than convincing the local voters he's the best choice.
The withdrawal of Scozzafava leaves the choice between an outsider running a national-focused campaign, and a local resident who knows our issues, shows up at debates to discuss them, and has not pledged to turn down stimulus-based job creation in the region.
If the choice is Owens or Hoffman, then Owens is the better choice for the North Country. Period.
as a retired person I I fear the taxman. So, Hoffman.
We need to rethink the way we live... public jobs, pensions, promise.. need to stop.
We can sovle problems by acting on our own.. it will bring us in concert with our neighbors, and we'll know what it is our communities need. We won't have to fly to think tank conferences to discuss it. Obviously there's a place for a bare-bones government. But government is not meant to absolve me of my responsibility to live for otheres. So I have to vote for the candidate that supports my moral code, believbes in the integrity of the individual, and the responsibility the individual has for their community and their home. Hoffman.
To Anon. 2:43pm:
Who pays the paychecks of most of these "middle/low income white males"? It happens to be the people who have money. So let's keep milking the rich and keep as many people on their butts not contributing to the tax rolls. Oh, I forgot the Democrat game plan is to get over 50% reliant on the government and rely on that percentage to never vote away all the free money. See inner cities. How long will these yahoos continue voting for hope and promises of a better life that will never come unless they do something about themselves. The poorest inner cities in this country have been Democratic controlled for 50 years with no hope and no change. "Keep 'em poor and we'll keep on promisin'."
I think it's wrong that almost 50% of this country pays no taxes, yet reaps a lot the social and welfare benefits paid by the rich. The cycle of welfare needs to end. NO MORE FREE RIDES! What is it... 1% pays 95% of the taxes? What happens when the amount this 1% pays every year keeps shrinking? The gov't dips into the next pockets and then the next... Everyone should have a stake in things and pay a percentage.
Anonymous 3:04pm:
You are complaining about Hoffman living 5 miles outside the district. Have you seen the district map? Here's a link:
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/findyourreps.xpd?state=NY&district=23
If you zoom in a little bit, you see that the district surrounds Lake Placid on 3 sides for a long ways south. So this 5 miles makes him out of touch with the district?
Hillary came from Arkansas and couldn't have told where Watertown was on a map, yet she was okay for "trying to establish residency"?
As I always say, if a Democrat is a crook, he gets reelected. If it's a Republican, he's forced out in a week.
The richest 1% pay most of the taxes because the richest 1% own more than 90% of the assets in the U.S. The rich should not support a nation of freeloaders, but they need to pay their fair share just like anyone else.
Therefore, shouldn't the richest 1% pay 90% instead of 95%? Wouldn't that be their "fair share"
ANON "What is it... 1% pays 95% of the taxes? What happens when the amount this 1% pays every year keeps shrinking? The gov't dips into the next pockets and then the next... Everyone should have a stake in things and pay a percentage."
That describes exactly what happens when the the "fiscal conservatives" give tax breaks to the rich. The part you forgot was that total revenue drops and the deficit expands. Just like it did during the Bush years. Now Hoffman wants the same stuff. What a great plan.
Hoffman's a longtime resident of the Lake Placid district, and makes a point of it by stating in his bio how he helped with the Olympics (as an accountant, not as a manager/leader like Romney). He's out of touch with the issues and priorities of the North Country, which is why he was trailing in fundraising, polling and endorsements until Sarah Palin made this race a pet project.
Hoffman's visibility came from outsiders, most of his fundraising came from outsiders, and his prominent endorsements are coming from outsiders (like Dick Armey, who belittles local issues as being "parochial"). If Hoffman's elected, do people really expect his focus to suddenly be on North Country issues he was unable to talk to before, or by paying back Palin and his other benefactors by playing the national political game for their team?
We need representatives from this region to stand up for this region - we don't need a Palin puppet. Owens is the only meaningful option left.
I'm voting for Owens because he stands for a set of policies and positions that serve our interests. Hoffman is running a campaign based on being against things, and we need action, not obstruction, to get out of this recession.
Anonymous said: "Anyone with any common sense knows that borrowing more and more money to continue spending money we don't have will lead us down a horrible road."
Then don't vote for Hoffman! He'll surely vote to escalate the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which will put us in further debt.
" Anonymous said...
Way to go, Bret - vote for the carpetbagger with no ideas or plans of his own, just talking points handed to him by career politicians who don't give a damn about our "parochial" issues.
November 2, 2009 12:40 PM"
So instead I should vote for the liberal with no ideas or plans of his own, just talking points handed to him by career politicians who don't give a damn about our "parochial" issues?
Golly, I see your point. Owens is a MUCH better choice.
Scheesh!
Anon 2:48PM (Why can;t you people make up a screen name!!!)
Well said, and exactly what drove me away from the RNC and RINO Repubs. The only way we'll get fiscal responsibility back is to clean house in Washington (and Albany). I keep seeing posts saying guys like me are putting "party" ahead of the good of the country. What party? I'm not supporting the Repubs or the Dems. I'm looking for the fiscal conservatives who realize Gov't can't keep treating people as an inexhaustable source of free money, believe in the Constitution and BoR and don't view the producers of this country as enemies. At this point neither party offers any hope of that.
Hoffman will protect my marriage
Hoffman will protect us from gays
Only because Dede Scozzafava, the only candidate that, in my opinion, genuinely understands the diverse cross section of residents of this region (23rd district), dropped out of the race am I now going to vote for Owens... although I am still considering a "protest" vote for Scozzafava.
Mostly, I am really looking forward to this thing being over. It has been awful. I would say it was an embarrassment for the North Country but most of the awfulness has come from the outside... and I'm not referring to the candidates themselves.
Saranac Lake
Anonymous 2:48pm hit the nail right on the head. I guess a separate post would be needed to "Help me to understand where the tax and spend liberal stuff comes from."
Why was there no outcry on the right when Bush was spending beyond his means while cutting taxes? It would be interesting to hear a defense of the previous administration's failing to "pay as you go". Beyond a chorus of "national defense" that is....
Pat, there was an outcry. People like Glenn Beck and myself were talking about it years ago. But no one listened back then. Bush was the straw that broke the camels back for me and the Repubs. We were asking questions an no one listened. That's what the 9/12 Project and the Tea Parties are about. Look into it, it's not Obama, it's the whole crooked system.
it's not Obama, it's the whole crooked system What a complete pile of BS. Look at the signs the teabaggers were carrying and tell me again how this is not about Obama.
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