Driving to work yesterday morning, I am listening to the radio and on comes a political ad. Not surprising since it is election time. In our congressional district, we have incumbent Nick Joe Rahall (D) and challenger Spike Maynard (R). Both are running negative ads like crazy. Rahall has actually file cease and desist orders against several tv stations for running an ad by Maynard which Rahall says is false..(Now personally I think he is crying wolf b/c as far as I can see, everything it says is true.) But the radio stations are running Maynard ads like crazy. HMMMM.....So anyway, they had both run against each other before, and I swear Rahall pulled one of his old commercials out of his rear and was running it...all about how Maynard is in the pocket of Massey energy CEO Don Blankenship.....and his time as WV Supreme Ct justice....
yeah yeah yeah, blather on.......So Maynard is corrupt...and Rahall is pure as the driven snow? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA........Rahall has voted for everything Obamamamma has pushed through. Even to the point of stating outright in public "I will vote for xxxxxx bill, even though my constituents don't want me to" Ummm, hello? Are you not supposed to REPRESENT your constituents, not screw thm up the butt without benefit of dinner and a movie and vaseline in quantity?
'Nuff said.
3 comments:
while i support, make that celebrate your entitlement to 'just your lil' ole opinion'...thought you might be interested in a few facts to inform that opinion. A) Spike Maynard and Nick Rahall have never faced each other in any campaign for elected office. Congressman Rahall has never run for any office other than the one he currently holds in the US House of Representatives. This is Spike's first time running for that office. B) The ads that Spike is running re: Stimulus $$ used to purchase windmills manufactured in China...you might want to look at the more recent data on that. The basis of the claim (that many GOP are using this fall) is from a report by an investigative reporting workshop, which is essentially a student run project out of the Communications Dept of American University in DC. The statistics cited in Spikes ad, reference one particular windmill project in TX. The Department of Energy has since confirmed that particular project has to date, not applied for any stimulus grant $. (referenced in Rahall's press release, and hence, the basis of the cease and desist request). As well, the author of that original report (which was published in Feb of this year, and referenced 2009 data) has since issued an update. In a nutshell, that update concluded that it's impossible for him to know at this point if some PARTS....of some windmill projects funded by stimulus grants, may or MAY NOT...have come from China or outside the US. So he appears to take the position (as a student reporter) that since it can't be proven that NONE of the parts have been or will be procured from overseas...that it remains possible that some parts may not be domestically produced. I don't know about you, but that's hardly a smoking gun for anything in my book. In any event, there is an overwhelming majority of economists from both right and left leaning think tanks and institutions that agree a massive stimulus package from the US governement was critically necessary to avoid complete collapse of our economy. They will differ wildly on how much was needed (most say the 700B was not enough)...and they will disagree on what was or would have been the ideal types of projects to spend that infusion of capital on....but they all agree that it was an absolute necessity in some form.
Also, I dont know that it's entirely fair or even logical to hold any Member of Congress who voted for the Stimulus bill, accountable for whether any of the (hundreds...? thousands?) of Federal Agencies or any of the 50 individual States for that matter, managed the distribution of the funds they recieved from Stimulus in an efficient or effective manner. By design...the Constitutional Seperation of Powers stipulates, on purpose...that Congress is singularly responsible for appropriating funds. While they also have the right and obligation to also outline general guidelines as to how any of those Agencies must spend those appropriations, those guidelines are nothing more than that, a suggestion. In legislative lingo, it's called a statement of Congressional Intent. So the reality is this: if you have a problem with how the Dept of Energy awarded the grant $ they recieved from the Stimulus, it should be taken up with the Secretary of Energy. If you have a problem with how the State of WV managed and or distributed any of their (several hundred milllion, if not a few billion...?) Stimulus grants, you should take that up with Gov. Manchin, not Congressman Rahall. His job was to vote yea or nay on if WV...or the Dept of Energy...was going to recieve any of that money. It's the State's and the individual Agencies job, to use the grants effeciently and effectively.
So anyway, none of my business and none of my concern frankly, if any of that changes your lil' ol opinion or not. But I just think it's a shame when people base opinions on inaccurate information, which is easy to do this time of year if you don't arm yourself with real facts.
Actually, ANON, you are lucky I chose to post your comment, as I make it a practice to not publish comments from those who refuse to attach even a screen name to them....I admit one of my facts was wrong--that of there being a prior contest between Rahall and Maynard..however the commercial I refer to IS pulled from a prior anti-Maynard ad. Which in my humble "lil ole opinion", speaks to the desperation Rahall must be feeling upon seeing that he may not carry this election, at least in the numbers he is used to.
I am not extremely educated in the inner workings of every govt agency in this country and quite frankly, as I work well over 40 hrs per week plus raise a family, I do not have the time to sit on the computer as you appear to have time to do, to research every little tidbit. In case you didn't catch the title of the blog, this is MY OPINION......I really don't care if you agree or disagree or not, but at least have the balls to post with a name, not as anonymous. And, nothing else from anyone named anonymous will ever be posted on this blog again.
The fact remains, regardless, that Rahall has never voted with what his constituents want. He has made it plain in his public appearances and interviews that he will vote precisely how he wants, never mind how those of us he is supposed to represent want him to vote. The fact remains he has voted with Obama's agenda all along. He is part of that crowd that is determined to make us all part of the entitlement crowd. Look at his voting record, since you have time to do so.
You have the right to your opinion, I have the right to mine.
Oh yeah, I also put Manchin in the crowd of "screw the people before they screw us". He has done nothing for this state except make us even bigger laughing stocks than we already are.
You know, I bet you're a Rahall staffer....hmmmmm...that could put a different light on things.....
Oh well, this is one vote you won't get......
Oh and as I have noticed 3 comments exactly alike in my inbox as the one I posted to the left, so to speak, I will consider myself to be a victim of political spamming and therefore will no longer accept comments on this post unless there is a verifiable name and email attached to it.
Liberal buttholes.
and that's Just my lil ole opinion.
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