Some of you Kossacks might be familiar with my Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, as she was recently blasted by our esteemed Congressman over in CD7, Raul Grijalva, for "throwing him under a bus" with her TV ads criticizing the calls for boycotting Arizona. Congresswoman Giffords is a member of of the Blue Dog Caucus, certainly not the most favorite Democrat canine here on the DK. But, there's much more you should know about Gabrielle Giffords before rushing to judgment, and please give me just a few minutes to explain why you should all enthusiastically support her reelection.
Gabrielle Giffords has supported Speaker Pelosi and the Democratic majority in the vast majority of her votes. I don't have the exact number, but conservatives here in Arizona (and there's a bunch of them) scream that she's "Pelosi's lapdog", and that she has voted with the Speaker 80-90% of the time, so I'm take them at their word. I do know that Congresswoman Giffords is a strong supporter of Health Care Reform and and an early vote for it, unlike some of the late votes that had to be wheeled & dealed to push it over the top.
When I see headlines such as Dems privately fear House prospects worsening at Politico, it is increasingly clear that we need to support every last Democrat we can to be elected to Congress. Well, OK, I can see the logic in not rallying behind Blue Dog Dem Bobby Bright of Alabama. But that dog don't hunt here in Arizonas' 8th Congressional District, and Gabrielle Giffords is no Bobby Bright.
Arizona's 8th Congressional District is a challenge for any Democrat. It has a slight Republican registration edge or Democrats, but Independents are nearly 30%, and they tend to be Moderate to Conservative. Border Security is a huge issue here, as most of the district lies close to the border, and here in Cochise County, which lies entirely within CD8, we have over 100 miles of border with Mexico. The US Military has a huge influence here with Davis-Montham AFB in Tucson and Ft. Huachuca army base here in Cochise County. Gifford's Blue Dog positioning is the right match for her district. Home state favorite John McCain carried the district by 8 points over Barack Obama in 2008. Giffords carried it by 12 points over a popular and heavily recruited GOP state senator, by carefully paying attention to the needs and opinions of her constituents.
Finally, I would you to meet her opponent, Republican Jesse Kelley. We channeled a bit of Harry Reid this year in doing what we could to help the Republicans pick the "best" candidate - the best candidate to be defeated! Popular GOP state legislator Jonathon Patton, an Iraq War veteran, and supporter of SB1070 was heavily recruited. But the Teabaggers would have none of that nonsense and rallied behind Jesse Kelley, a 29 year old college dropout (or flunkout, we don't know - he won't release his records). After abruptly leaving school Jesse then joined the Marines, served the minimum 4 year enlistment, and then used that for the basis of his campaign slogan: Send a Warrior to Congress After quitting the Marines when his enlistment was up, he came home to work in his daddy's construction company. Kelley Construction Company gets quite a bit of it's business bidding on things like roads, bridges, and sanitation facilities - all funded by government funding, a good chunk of from the Stimulus funds. But after helping his daddy get as much of that government spending as possible, Kelley runs TV ads whining that the government "is spending our money on things we don't want and don't need!"
And, if you thought Sharron Angle was a nutcase, let me introduce you to a few of our boy wonder's positions:
"The corporate tax rate should be zero. ... We must get the corporate tax rate to zero."
- Zero taxes for corporations??? Well, then surely we citizens get a tax break as well? Nope:
Mr. Kelly’s plan to balance the budget includes creating a national sales tax of 23% that would apply to everything a middle class family buys, from food to medicine. Supporters of this proposal have labeled it ‘the Fair Tax." At the U of A Republican Club debate on April 8, 2010, Mr. Kelly said, "It's time to cut that completely back - fair tax, flat-tax, I support them both. They're both fantastic and a lot better than what we have now."
- Corporations pay zero tax and the middle and lower class pay a 23% sales tax on food & medicine - it's a Republican
Utopia!
And Jesse believes there's no such thing a "moderates", just God fearing, fire breathing conservatives and them danged libruls -
"This middle you talk about — it doesn’t exist. This is a conservative country. Many people don’t label themselves as that, but they are, ask anybody. [...] That middle doesn’t exist. They’re just conservatives who haven’t been told they’re conservatives yet."
And speaking of libruls, guess what we've done and gone now? It's all our fault our country is addicted to Middle East oil:
"We're tied to Middle East oil because we elect too many liberals to our government. It's basically that simple."
And remember me mentioning we have alot of military in the district? We also have a National Park, and National forests. The district is home to tens of thousands of federal workers, who, according to Jesse, are just parasites -
"What is a government worker? A government worker is a person who lives and sucks off of the taxpayer. They don't put anything into the system. They suck off of the system."
It's your choice - one of the Blue Dogs, or this nutjob. I'm going with Gabrielle, proudly voting for her the third time.
http://www.giffordsforcongress.com/
UPDATE: I read that Sarah Palin endorsed Jesse Kelley today, on Fox News -
Sarah Palin endorses Jesse Kelly in CD-8
Sarah Palin appeared with Republican nominee Jesse Kelly today on Fox Business. She gave one of the most gracious endorsements of his candidacy I have ever heard saying" I don’t feel worthy to lace his combat boots."
'Nuff said? You betcha!