Cross-posted from Minnesota Progressive Project
ingratiate: to try to win somebody's favor by pleasing him or her, especially in order to gain an advantage. syn: curry favor, suck up to, grovel to
The above definition comes to mind when one reads this tweet sent by a Cravaack staffer Saturday morning:
serving coffee and busing tables on the Range this morning. Taking the pulse of main street. #stribpol #mncd8 #mngop
Pulse of main street, my guzi.
This is yet another slick attempt by Snake Oil Salesman Cravaack to divert attention away from the fact that he has acted against Iron Range interests at every turn, opposing the Employee Free Choice Act and voting to eliminate the Essential Air Services Program and to cut the Pell grant program. In addition, Tea Party Chip refused to lift a finger to help us fight off attempts by his Tea Party cohorts in the Minnesota legislature to steal $60 million of our property tax money and freeze the taconite tax escalator.
Not one letter. Not one phone call. Nič.
Rep. Cravaack, there are more constructive ways for you to use your time than pouring coffee at a restaurant for a handful of people (many of whom I suspect were supporters notified in advance):
Why not hold an honest-to-goodness town meeting on the Iron Range? No Tea Party power point, no forcing people to line up like cattle only to be told they can't ask a question (we do have portable microphones, you know), no bringing Team Cravaack members in from outside the area to stack the audience. All you have to do is answer questions from your constituents and listen to what they say. Pretty simple, really.
Better yet, why not spend time "examining" President Obama's American Jobs Plan that you didn't bother to pay attention to Thursday evening? Or is it too much to ask that our congressman spend his time actually bringing jobs to our area? You don't need to pour coffee at a restaurant to know what the average person on the Iron Range wants: Health Care. A sound public education system. Financial aid for college. A living wage. And do you know what we want most of all? Jobs. Jobs, Jobs, Jobs. Or have you been too busy pushing the Tea Party agenda and taking care of Delta Air Lines to notice that our unemployment rate is almost 14%?
Serving coffee in Virginia for couple of hours may be great for public relations and give you some warm, fuzzy pictures to use in your campaign but it doesn't change the fact that you have done nothing to foster economic development, create jobs, support small businesses, or help our kids go to college. If you represented your constituents on the Iron Range instead of big corporations and right wing extremists, you wouldn't need to grovel for our support.
Cravaack is probably thinking 'I'm going to go up there, smile, pour some coffee and schmooze the Rangers into thinking I'm a nice guy who cares about them'. I'll bet he even laughs all the way back to New Hampshire.
Nice try, Chip, but the laugh is on you - we're smarter than you think.
So smart, in fact, that we're going to drop-kick your guzica out of the 8th for good in November 2012