I would like to nominate for the most offensive comment by any candidate in describing the outcome of the 2006 elections the remarks made this morning by Congressman Tom Reynolds (R-NY) who is also Chairman of the House Republican Campaign Committee.
In describing why some of his candidates lost their election, Reynolds said "We had some incumbents who were caught unprepared, and by the time they got around to paying attention, because they had not done enough to disqualify their opponent, the environment prevented them from localizing their race." http://www.wivb.com/...
Reynold's comment that Republicans needed to "disqualify" their Democrats even more to win their races is a symbol of all the problems with elections today in the is country. Disqualify....what the heck is he saying. He didn't say we needed to tell people why our candidates need to be re-elected, he said that some Republicans didn't trash their opponents enough.
I have read reports that over 90% of the money spent by the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee was spent on negative ads. But apparently, Reynolds wants more. After hundreds of thousands of negative spots, Reynolds wants more.
Reynolds should apologize to the voters of America for those spots and for his belief that if the Republicans were more more negative, they might have lost fewer seats.
His use of the term "disqualify" to describe how Republicans treat their opponents is disgusting and it reflects his disrespect of the process and voters. It is evidence that Reynold's is trying to avoid responsibility for his actions.
After making this disgusting remark this morning, I hope that if the House Ethics Commission finds him responsible for in any way the coverup of Mark Foley's behavior that the Ethics Committee, the full House and the newspapers and tv stations of this district ask him to resign.
Tom Reynolds actually paid for an ad to apologize to the voters in his district for his behavior in regard to Mark Foley. I would suggest Reynolds should apologize to ever voter for his comments this morning.