Recently Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick (R. PA-08) has asked Congressman Emanuel Cleaver (D. MO-05) to visit his district and talk about civility:
http://bensalem.patch.com/...
Their appearance at Maple Point was part of the school's celebration of Constitution Day. Earlier that morning, State Representative Frank Farry spoke to classroom representatives about state-level government. State Senator Tommy Tomlinson has been scheduled to meet students on Wednesday.
"It really makes a difference to the students when they can meet their representatives face-to-face," said Anne Schmidt, chairperson of the school's Social Studies Department. "The subject becomes much more meaningful to them and encourages them to get more involved in their communities."
After each congressman addressed the sixth and seventh graders on the importance of a civil dialogue between two parties that represent the people of the United States, some students took to the microphone for a 30-minute question and answer period.
They may not be of voting age, yet, but the middle schoolers demonstrated a keen interest and knowledge of the important issues of the day, including Syria, gun control and unemployment.
“The students at Maple Point Middle School had great questions for me and Representative Cleaver, and I hope that being able to talk to them as members of Congress from opposing parties in a civilized manner will stick with them as they grow up in an often uncivil political climate,” said Fitzpatrick.
After the session, Fitzpatrick planned to show Cleaver a few points of interest in Lower Bucks, especially his own hometown of Levittown. Later this year, Fitzpatrick will become Cleaver's guest in Missouri's 5th District, which includes most of Kansas City and the suburbs of Jackson County. - Bensalem 9/13/13
Well that sounds nice, one of Fitxpatrick's constituents pointed out that the Tea Party Congressman is the farthest thing from an expert on civility:
http://www.phillyburbs.com/...
His words begged the question of how his former 8th District opponents would describe Fitzpatrick’s brand of civility.
Last year, when he ran to hold his seat against Democrat Kathy Boockvar, Fitzpatrick had no problem with the National Republican Congressional Committee creating a website called “Radical Kathy” and attempting to link her to Philadelphia cop killer Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Though asked to condemn the attack that Boockvar described as “nuclear bomb throwing,” Fitzpatrick never said it was out of bounds.
In 2004, in his first congressional campaign against Ginny Schrader, an NRCC mailing called her the “Hate America” candidate and invoked the name of Hezbollah, a Lebanese group known for organizing suicide bombings against Israel.
Schrader, who has a Jewish daughter and granddaughters, was “appalled” and demanded an apology from Fitzpatrick. It never came.
Her daughter, Lisa Freedman, who had to explain the campaign mailing to her children, said “My stomach got sick — I was nauseous,” she said. “I know about attack pieces, but something like that ...” - Philly Burbs, 9/20/13
A lot of politicians fight dirty in order to win elections. But Fitzpatrick's record of using racial tensions to scare people out of voting for his opponents is just disgraceful. That's why I'm eager to get rid of him next year. The DCCC is eager to get rid of Fitzpatrick as well. They recruited a top notch candidate in 2006, Iraq War Veteran Patrick Murphy (D. PA-08), and they're looking to Veteran candidates again to unseat Tea Party foot soldiers like Fitzpatrick:
http://www.politico.com/...
Democrats, who need to net a daunting 17 seats to win the House, have so far recruited a half-dozen veterans to run in red-tinged districts. Among them: Jerry Cannon, a 65-year-old retired Army major general from upstate Michigan, and Kevin Strouse, a veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars who’s seeking a seat in the Philadelphia suburbs. In Iowa, where Democrats are trying to knock off bomb-throwing GOP Rep. Steve King, the party is fielding Iraq War veteran Jim Mowrer.
In the opposite chamber, Senate Democrats, who are trying to defend a six-seat majority, are waging an uphill battle to protect a conservative Montana seat. The party is wooing the state’s lieutenant governor, John Walsh, a retired Army brigadier general. Democrats are also trying to protect a Michigan Senate seat, where Rep. Gary Peters, a former lieutenant commander in the Naval Reserve, has launched a campaign.
“This is a concerted effort, and it’s part of a surge of veterans running as Democrats in the last few years,” said Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Steve Israel (D-N.Y.). “It used to be that Democrats started out from behind on national security but that’s been erased.”
“What better profession for a candidate than someone who put on the uniform of the U.S. military and fought for us?” he asked. - Politico, 9/17/13
Strouse has been pulling in both big donations and endorsements and has a real shot at unseating Fitzpatrick. If you would like to donate or get involved with Strouse's campaign, you can do so here:
http://www.kevinstrouse.com/