Blue Dog Dems fiscal grades in the red
Posted in News on Monday, September 8th, 2008 at 4:26 pm by Assistant Managing Editor Carl LaVO
Tom Manion, running against Patrick Murphy for the 8th District congressional seat, just sent out a press release hitting the fiscal record of Blue Dog Democrats.
It reads:
“Someone should explain what fiscally conservative means to the Blue Dog Democrats,” said Congressional candidate Tom Manion. “It’s not fiscally conservative to vote for a debt limit increase, or to vote for a spending bill that contains 9,000 earmarks. The Blue Dogs are misleading the voters with this label, and the failing grade from the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste group is well deserved.”
The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste released their annual Congressional ratings recently, and the Blue Dog Democrats, self-proclaimed fiscal conservatives, earned an 11% out of 100 in the report. Tom’s opponent Congressman Murphy fared slightly better with a still failing grade of 15% out of 100. The Heritage Foundation also reviewed the Blue Dogs, stating that “they have failed as fiscal stewards.”
A recent commentary on the Blue Dogs by syndicated newspaper columnist Froma Harrop overlooked these details, separating Blue Dogs from “the old-time lefties” and supporting the fiscal conservative label.
“It’s pretty clear who Ms. Harrop is voting for in November,” said Tom. “But I think the voters know that 15% is a failing grade by any measure. The Blue Dogs are barking up the wrong tree. Just wait until the pit bull arrives in Washington!”
GOP poll rise could help Manion
The Intelligencer
The nation’s positive response to John McCain and Sarah Palin at last week’s Republican convention could boost the prospects of Bucks County congressional candidate Tom Manion, poll results suggest.
A USA TODAY/Gallup Poll that gives McCain a 50 percent to 46 percent lead over Democrat Barack Obama also provided a huge swing in attitudes toward Republican congressional candidates and the GOP in general.
Before the political parties held their conventions, the Democrats held a 51-to-42 percent edge on the question: “Which party’s congressional candidate would you vote for?” The Republicans now lead in that category, 50 percent to 45 percent.
And while that question is not specific to Bucks’ 8th District race between Manion, Democratic incumbent Patrick Murphy and independent Tom Lingenfelter, the Republican challenger called it a “good sign.”
“But it is still a long way until Election Day,” cautioned Manion, who was in Pittsburgh Monday filming campaign commercials. “We’re planning to get out and show the voters that we are the best choice for the issues they are concerned about; the energy crisis, the economy, health care and our national security.”
Nat Binns, press secretary for Murphy, had a different take.
“No national poll is going to change the fact that too many families here in Bucks County are struggling,” Binns said. “Pennsylvanians know we cannot afford a third Bush term and that is why Congressman Murphy has joined Democrats and Republicans in fighting for change every single day.”
The new poll, taken Friday though Sunday, was conducted among 1,022 adults, including 959 registered voters. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 points.
Political scientist Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia told USA TODAY, “The selection of Sarah Palin has made a big difference.”
However, in an analysis of the impact of political conventions since 1960, Sabato concluded that post-convention polls signal the election’s outcome only about half the time. “You could flip a coin and be about as predictive,” he said. “It is really surprising how quickly convention memories fade.”
McCain had trailed Obama by 7 percentage points before the GOP convention in Minneapolis. The poll showed he narrowed Obama’s wide advantage on handling the economy, by far the electorate’s top issue. Before Minneapolis, Obama was favored by 19 points; now he’s favored by 3.
“We ended the week with a new enthusiasm,” said Paul Lindsay, Pennsylvania spokesman for the McCain campaign. “People who have never volunteered for a political campaign are doing it now. There’s an excitement out there.
“We have a team of mavericks that’s ready to challenge the Washington establishment. At the same time we recognize that this is going to be a close election.”
While Obama spokeswoman Ellen Melody said, “We always knew this race would be close,” she also took a shot at national polls.
“If you go by the polls, you’d have two different candidates running for president today. Both Obama and McCain were written off this time last year,” she said.
Another poll done following the conventions by CNN/Time showed the presidential race deadlocked at 48 percent, largely unchanged from the previous week, when Obama led McCain by 49 percent to 48 percent.
The CNN/Time poll of 1,022 Americans was taken by Opinion Research Corp. and had a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
Blue Dog Democrats Bark Up the Wrong Tree
Blue Dogs Receive Failing Grade on Fiscal Ranking
(Sept.8, 2008) – Doylestown, PA. (Manion for Congress)
“Someone should explain what fiscally conservative means to the Blue Dog Democrats,” said Congressional candidate Tom Manion. “It’s not fiscally conservative to vote for a debt limit increase, or to vote for a spending bill that contains 9,000 earmarks. The Blue Dogs are misleading the voters with this label, and the failing grade from the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste group is well deserved.”
The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste released their annual Congressional ratings recently, and the Blue Dog Democrats, self-proclaimed fiscal conservatives, earned an 11% out of 100 in the report. Tom’s opponent Congressman Murphy fared slightly better with a still failing grade of 15% out of 100. The Heritage Foundation also reviewed the Blue Dogs, stating that “they have failed as fiscal stewards.”
A recent commentary on the Blue Dogs by syndicated newspaper columnist Froma Harrop overlooked these details, separating Blue Dogs from “the old-time lefties” and supporting the fiscal conservative label.
“It’s pretty clear who Ms. Harrop is voting for in November,” said Tom. “But I think the voters know that 15% is a failing grade by any measure. The Blue Dogs are barking up the wrong tree. Just wait until the pit bull arrives in Washington!”
####
Sources:
http://councilfor.cagw.org/site/PageServer?pagename=reports_Ratings_AtaGlance
www.heritagefoundation.org
Contact Information:
Karen Smith
Press Secretary
Cell: 215-622-1779
Office: 215-348-9080
E:mail: karenformanion@gmail.com and karen.smith@manionforcongress.com
AOH Bristol Picnic
Date: Sun Sept 14th
Time: 1-7:00pm
Place: 614 Corson Street Bristol
For more info. call 215 348 9080
Annual GOP Picnic
Date: Sun Sept 14th
Time: 12-5:30pm
Place: FOP Picnic Grounds Wycombe, PA
For more info. call 215 345 6811
Warrington Day
Date: Sat Sept 13
Time: 12-7:30pm
Place: IPW Memorial Field, Folly and Bradley Roads, Warrington, PA
For more info. call 215 348 9080
Newtown Market Day
Date: Sat. Sept 13
Time: 10am-4pm
Place: Main Street Newtown
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The Bully Pulpit
The Bulletin
09/08/2008
The Convention Versus The Clambake
GOP 8th Congressional District hopeful Tom Manion made the rounds at the Annual Billy Meehan Clambake in Northeast Philadelphia. Less than 5 percent of the 8th Congressional district is in Philadelphia. However, this small portion was the deciding factor in the 2006 race. A new face to Philadelphia politics Mr. Manion received an enthusiastic response from the party after being introduced by Speaker Emeritus John Perzel, R-172nd. Mr. Manion spent the afternoon shoring up his support among party leaders, namely City Commissioner Joe Duda, R-Philadelphia, and state Rep. George Kenney,R-170th. Most of the ward committee members in attendance had an opportunity to spend time with the candidate. Mr. Manion opted out of the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn. Instead, he greeted commuters at the Cornwells Heights Train Station and devoted his time to the campaign. His opponent, freshman incumbent U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy was a keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention in Denver.
The Bristol Stomp
Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright stopped in Bristol for a speaking engagement. State Representative Tony Melio, D-141st, was the master of ceremonies for the “Women Issues” event held at Lower Bucks Hospital. State Treasurer Robin Weissmann, D, was also a speaker and introduced Ms. Albright to the audience. Students from Bristol High School attended as part of a class project. Ms. Albright spoke about the need for party unity within the Democratic ranks. The speech outlined what she felt were to be the top priorities of the next president. Initially, Ms. Albright supported U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., but has joined her fellow Democrats in supporting United States Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. Mr. Obama’s vice presidential pick U.S. Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., will be visiting lower Bucks County later this week.
Taubenberger Takes School District To Task
Matt Taubenberger, the GOP candidate for the open seat of retiring State Representative George Kenney, R-170th, lead the charge against the Philadelphia School District and their vendor Camelot School System for proposing a new school in the Fox Chase section of the city. The proposed academic institution was to benefit the school district’s most disciplinary challenged students. The 500 student facility would have occupied the former Orleans Technical Institute building on Rhawn Street. The residents found out about the new school by visiting the School District website. Mr. Taubenberger, a Fox Chase resident and active member of the Fox Chase Homeowners Association took issue with the fact that neither the City nor School District sought resident insight to the proposed school. During the meeting Mr. Taubenberger promised the school district that he would fight the opening of the school. The community overwhelmingly supported Mr. Taubenberger’s belief that the school did not belong in their neighborhood. Officials from both Camelot School System and the School District backed off the idea. The school will be placed at a different location. Mr. Taubenberger enlisted the help of Councilman at-large Frank Rizzo,R, and Councilman Brian O’Neill , R-10th, to help the school find an alternate location.
The Merit Of Murt
State Representative Tom Murt, R-152nd, will be introducing legislation that would help smaller municipalities that rely on volunteer services for emergency services. House Bill 2310 will give volunteer firefighters, fire police and emergency responders in Pennsylvania a break on their local earned income tax. The bill is expected to be voted on this fall and has over sixty legislators lending their names to it.
Not Goode For The GOP
Philadelphia City Councilman at-Large, W. Wilson Goode Jr.,D, is contemplating on introducing legislation for a change to the City Charter. The bill would remove the two minority-party held at-targe council seats from election. The current election procedure has both parties nominating five candidates and the top seven holding a seat in council. Goode proposes that each party still nominate a slate of five and the top five take council seats. The current GOP at-large council members are Frank Rizzo and Jack Kelly. Both men have entered the DROP program but have not officially announced retirement or re-election plans. Taking away these two council seats would cut the GOP elected city officials in half. The other two elected Republican officials are City Commissioner Joe Duda and 10th District City Councilman Brian O’Neill.
Local GOP: Palin ‘our new superstar’
By GARY WECKSELBLATT
Staff Writer
It hasn’t been an easy time to be a Republican, according to Bob Kerns, chairman of the Montgomery County GOP.
“The Republican Party has been beaten up,” Kerns said Thursday. “Everybody’s saying we’re going to lose. This is (Barack) Obama’s year. This is the Democrats’ year.”
And then came Sarah Palin.
The Alaska governor’s speech Wednesday at the Republican National Convention ignited the Xcel Energy Center crowd that included gushing Bucks and Montgomery delegates.
“Electrifying,” Kerns said. “Being there, the reaction was incredible. … She’s our new superstar.”
Pat Poprik, vice chairwoman of the Bucks County Republican Committee and treasurer of the Republican Party of Pennsylvania, sat with the state delegation, about 12 rows from the stage.
“I could feel the grit in that woman,” she said. “She was remarkable. Women across the country had to be saying, ‘She’s like me. She drives her kids to practice.’ The air here is palpable.”
Raymond “Skip” Goodnoe, an alternate delegate and former Newtown Township supervisor whose family owned Goodnoe Family Restaurant, a now-closed landmark, called Palin’s speech “galvanizing.”
Palin, John McCain’s surprising pick for vice president, was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, a town of just less than 10,000 people, from 1996 to 2002. After an unsuccessful campaign for lieutenant governor of Alaska in 2002, she was chairwoman of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission from 2003 to 2004 while also serving as ethics supervisor of the commission.
In November 2006, Palin was elected governor, becoming the first woman and youngest person to hold the office.
Democrats have questioned her qualifications while Republicans have embraced her.
“She made more decisions in her time as governor than Joe Biden did in his 30 years in the Senate,” said longtime Bucks County Recorder of Deeds Ed Gudknecht, a Bucks delegate. “And she had more votes running for mayor than (Joe) Biden did for president.”
Kerns, a Lansdale attorney, dismissed the “unmerciful” criticism that’s been tossed at Palin, calling her a “dynamic person who has a track record.”
He praised her speech, specifically the points relating to energy and small business. “This isn’t a game any more, and she really gets that. We have to put everything on the table (to solve the country’s energy needs). And she understands small business and how Obama’s plan to raise taxes will hurt them.”
During her time in Minnesota, Poprick has been touching base with political officials in Bucks who have told her they’ve run out of literature because of a spike in interest.
“We’re exuberant,” she said. “We want to get out and work. … She got rid of the chef. She sold the plane on eBay. This is a new start for us.”
And possibly so for Robert Gleason, chairman of the state Republican committee.
“To win an election you need people to believe you can win and she has made a huge contribution in that regard,” Gleason said, adding that “if Obama doesn’t win Pennsylvania he’s finished.”
Along those lines, Kerns called Bucks and Montgomery counties “the real battleground of this battleground state.”
If Palin is indeed a turning point for a Republican ticket that has consistently trailed Obama in the polls, it could help buoy the candidacy of Tom Manion, who’s running against incumbent Democrat Patrick Murphy for Bucks County’s 8th District congressional seat.
“She’s got a kind of special spirit,” said Manion, who was campaigning Wednesday night but got home in time to watch Palin’s speech. “It’s so right for where our country is right now. She’s part of the party but she’s not speaking to the party. She’s speaking to the country.
“It lines up so well with where I’m coming from.”
Kerns called Palin “a frontier woman of the 1800s translated into the 21st century.”
Manion on the street
8th District challenger meets with Newtown, Bensalem residents
By Peter Ciferri; Advance Editor
Republican congressional candidate Tom Manion spent Aug. 27 touring Cornwells Heights and Newtown, hoping to secure a few more supporters as he continues his bid to unseat Democratic Congressman Patrick Murphy in Pennsylvania’s 8th District.Manion spent the morning at the Cornwells Heights Train Station in Bensalem Township before meeting with the Newtown Rotary Club for lunch. The Doylestown resident also sat down with
The Advance “It’s a great opportunity to listen and hear what the problems are,” Manion said of his man-on-the-street approach. “It really comes down to the people of the district and the taxpayers, and in an informal setting like this, you really get an opportunity to understand what’s on their mind and that really has to guide what you do.”
Manion, a Marine Corps veteran, said the people he met Wednesday were concerned with high energy prices and were “ready for a change” in Washington D.C.
“It’s the summer months and people are adjusting their vacation schedules because of it, but they’re really concerned about what’s ahead for winter,” he explained, adding that he believes residents are frustrated with Congress’ “inability to begin the debate.”
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Manion said his energy plan would call for incentives to people who use alternatives like solar and wind, which he hopes would create a larger market to move forward with the resources.
“We’re not going to get there overnight. So, we’ve got to think about conservation,” Manion told
The Advance. “Also, we need to reach into our current supply we can’t achieve these alternatives overnight and we need a transition strategy. I think increasing [arctic oil] supplies can be the way to do that.”
He explained that the United States has “oil rich areas in the arctic” that he believes should be explored, but at the same time, urged the government to be “equally aggressive” in pursuing alternative energy.
Manion said his business experience - he spent several years as an executive at Johnson & Johnson - gives him the ability to “build solutions and get results” with bipartisan efforts.
“You have to understand the bigger picture and the goal in mind. The goal is not party politics, it’s our country,” he said.
Manion said his background as a Marine makes him “action oriented” and he wouldn’t come to the job with a “60-day or 30-day or 10-day plan,” but would rather take on the challenges immediately facing the 8th District.
The Republican challenger said his chief concern is the struggling economy, but added that there is not one defined plan for solving the problem. Manion hopes he can help “build confidence back in the American people” by working to understand the economic woes.
“It’s about getting together quickly with like-minded people,” he explained. “We need to get things done quickly, and once we get together we can get to work.”
In addition to what he calls “the lowest rated Congress in history,” Manion said people are fed up with the White House leadership; a frustration that led him to support John McCain.
“He’s demonstrated leadership and the proven ability to work with people to get results,” he said.
Additionally, Manion’s impression of the Democratic National Convention has been critical. “I think it’s really much like the platform so far. There’s not a lot of substance to it There’s a lot of talk about what’s wrong, but there doesn’t seem to be much accountability or a specific plan.”
The 8th Congressional District covers all of Bucks County and portions of Montgomery and Philadelphia counties. Manion will face-off against Democratic incumbent Patrick Murphy and Independent political activist Tom Lingenfelter in the Nov. 4 election.
The Advance contacted both the Murphy and Lingenfelter campaigns and is currently scheduling interviews with both candidates.
The three have a scheduled debate at the Waterwheel Restaurant, 4424 Old Easton Rd., Doylestown, on Oct. 17 at 8 a.m.
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