In yesterday's Chicago Tribune there's an editorial written by one Dennis Byrne who says he's held jobs from reporter all the way up to member of the ed boards of 3 major newspapers in town since 1965 titled "Rosie's rant won't work in Wheaton". They let this over-the-hill rightwing hack have half a page above the fold on their commentary page in the editorial section yesterday to smear Tammy Duckworth, Melissa Bean and Rosie O'Donnell.
The Trib repeatedly does this. Jonah Goldberg was given that prominent space the other day to rail against 9/11 conspiracy theorists. Not the most pressing issue of the day. Charles Krauthammer got other valuable column inches on the same page yesterday to advocate for war on Iran.
And the Trib wonders why they're hemorraging circulation? Read on for a link to the article and my takedown with some facts about Peter Roskam everybody in the 6th congressional district ought to know. Also a link to the commentary page where you can tell the commentary editor to (politely) wise up.
Byrne's op-ed is dishonest trash claiming O'Donnell's comments about the Fawells and Dobsons of the world is an attack on mainstream Christianity. You can read it at the link and the following is my response which the Trib got around to posting today. You might want to write
Marcia Lythcott the commentary editor and ask her why they think printing dishonest, divisive rightwing propaganda is good for their dwindling readership and bottom line.
And if you know anybody in the IL-06 district make sure they know a few facts like these below about Peter Roskam before they vote on Nov. 7.
Dennis Byrne expended a lot of vitriol in his editorial demeaning Rosie O'Donnell and other Democrats outside the district who support Tammy Duckworth and Melissa Bean without ever mentioning the fact that he lives in Chicago not Wheaton. How does he know what will work in Wheaton?
He also doesn't mention the fact that while Peter Roskam has a lot of fat cats to draw on in the 6th Congressional district who like the idea of their secretaries paying more in taxes than they do he's also received over $380,000 from Tom Reynolds' (NY-26), National Republican Congressional Committee in Washington DC to Duckworth's $58,076.71 from Rahm Emanuel's Democratic Comgressional Committee to date.
Apparently most of that $380,000 has been spent on mailers flooding homes in the district with what can only be described as lies about Duckworth's positions on issues like taxes and immigration intended to scare voters into thinking she wants to overtax them and give their jobs to illegals. There is nothing further from the truth.
As for the radical Christians O'Donnell spoke of I'd suggest we take a look at Gary Bauer, the failed presidential candidate who ran afoul of the FEC in 1998 doing Roskam's dirty work for him. Bauer helped Roskam to the tune of over $69000 worth of improper expenditures in his Republican primary race he lost to Judy Biggert in the 13th Congressional District. The FEC fined Bauer $12000 for that little "mistake". Bauer once told the Associated Press when the Vermont Supreme Court came out for same-sex marriage: "I think what the Vermont Supreme Court did last week was in some ways worse than terrorism". That sounds pretty radical to me.
Conservative columnist Robert Novak reported less than a month ago "National Republican strategists are deeply concerned about the possible loss of the [Sixth] district and have brought in an ace political operative to try to save the campaign...Jason Roe." Roe was forced to apologize back in 2000 when serving as campaign manager for a Republican House candidate in California for making religiously demeaning comments about one of the opponent's supporters. I suggest Roe keep away from religious issues and concentrate on making sure Roskam's campaign stays in compliance with Federal Election Commission regulations. For a guy who's run for office so many times Roskam sure has a problem getting it right. He failed to report his fundraising expenditures for the third quarter of 2005 on time too.
And while we're looking at religious extremism let's examine Roskam's record itself. He opposes abortion except when the life of the mother is at risk, making no exceptions for rape or incest. No exception for rape or incest? That doesn't sound very Christian to me.
He opposes not only public but private funding for embryonic stem cell research. He fought a bill supporting such research in the Illinois Senate and faced bipartisan opposition with Republican State Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka, State Senator and DuPage County GOP Chairman Kirk Dillard, and Republican House Minority Leader Tom Cross all supporting it. Major medical and educational institutions, such as Northwestern University, supported the proposal, which Roskam helped to defeat. I guess according to Byrne Topinka, Dillard, and Cross are the radicals too.
I'm sure Peter Roskam is a fine personal injury lawyer. If I slipped, fell and broke my leg on a crumbling front stoop at Dennis Byrne's house I might hire someone like Roskam to sue Byrne for me but I sure wouldn't want a guy like him representing me in congress. A candidate for Congress ought to at least be able to get his facts straight and file his paperwork on time. Roskam apparently can't do either.
If you'd rather have a bona fide heroine than another sleazebag Republican lawyer in congress You know what to do.
http://www.duckworthforcongress.com/