Catch the spirit. (thegools - 8/6/2006 10:54:05 PM)
Put em' on your blog....screen-saver..whatever..
OR.....................
On August 15th, Shawn O+óGé¼GäóDonnell will have a fundraiser in Arlington Virginia to give a boost to his chances before the fall campaign really heats up. When we think about the race in the 1st District, we often see a heavily red district with a 3rd term Republican Congresswoman. What we fail to see is the importance of this race for Jim Webb and the importance of highlighting the damage this Congresswoman has done to the people or her district with her reckless indifference to concerns over tax fairness, civil liberties, energy, and health care.
First lets talk about Jo Ann Davis
We know Jo Ann Davis is a religious zealot. She is voraciously pro-life, anti-gay rights, and has attempted to fan religious flames over some made-up war on the celebration of Christmas. We know that she claimed in 2004 that her fight for the Marriage Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was among the "most important" issues she had ever supported in Congress. However, let us not forget her atrocious voting record on other issues, and remember that no matter how much she grandstands with the same old rhetoric, she is a bad Congresswoman, plain and simple. Click here to see Jo Ann Davis+óGé¼Gäó Voting Record by issue
She has supported all measures of the Patriot Act, no matter how severe. She has done little to stop polluters except to give them more leniencies. She has done little to stop the hemorrhaging of our health care system except to pass the give-away Medicare Prescription drug bill that benefited primarily the pharmaceutical industry. She has done nothing but stand in the way of efforts towards fuel efficiency by opposing CAFE standards (which require improved miles per gallon). In fact, as oil prices go sky high, U.S. cars and light trucks are now less fuel efficient, on average, than they were 19 years ago!
On taxes, she is way out of touch with her district. In a district of primarily working class people, her tax priority appears to be the repeal of the estate tax that affects no more than a handful of families in her district (all of whom are the wealthiest families), whereas at least 99% of her district would never be affected by a repeal of this tax, except that they would have to make up the extra tax burden. In foreign policy issues, she went to the right, even of George W. Bush and the Republican Congress, to oppose providing assistance to foreign countries to combat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and other diseases. Even Bush realized that helping millions of dying people at least curries favor, if not being the right thing to do.
Of course, when it comes down to it, Jo Ann Davis has defined herself as a right-wing Christian conservative. However, her voting record depicts someone far to the right of even her primarily religious constituency. (I.E. supporting the same Christian right groups that have called all homosexuals pedophiles, have supported abortion bans even in the case of rape or incest, and have encouraged legislators to personally intervene in our personal family affairs - such as the Terry Shiavo case.)
Based on her shoddy voting record, O+óGé¼GäóDonnell has taken her to task with a new feature on his website that provides +óGé¼+ôFACT SHEETS+óGé¼-¥ on Davis+óGé¼Gäó real record in Congress.
How does this impact Jim Webb?
Ultimately, win or lose, O+óGé¼GäóDonnell+óGé¼Gäós campaign is intrinsically linked with Jim Webb+óGé¼Gäós campaign. The more Democratic voters he gets, the more Webb will get. The closer he is to Jo Ann Davis in the 1st District, the closer Jim Webb will be to George Allen in the 1st District. If Jo Ann Davis had no opposition, Webb+óGé¼Gäós hopes of keeping it close in the 1st would be much bleaker.
Like Jo Ann Davis, George Allen shares many of the exact same policy stances. He also has opposed CAFE standards, has helped polluters, and has supported repealing the estate tax. Although he doesn't trumpet it in public like Davis does, he supports the same extreme Christian right positions when he votes.
As we have heard, Jim Webb has stood against the extreme, like Jim Webb, Shawn O+óGé¼GäóDonnell has supported a far more progressive vision for District 1 (and all of Virginia). For the environment, for health care, for protecting civil liberties, and for getting our troops out of Iraq as soon as we can, and providing oversight on the management of the War so that horrendous mistakes are not allowed to continue.
For this reason, I ask all who live in Northern Virginia that care about Shawn+óGé¼Gäós race AS WELL AS Jim Webb+óGé¼Gäós to please try to come on Tuesday evening, August 15th, 6:30pm to 9:00pm at the home of Jim Turpin and Susan Prokop at 111 North Irving Street Arlington, VA 22201. Donations are $35 for young democrats and $50 for others. If you cannot make it, than try to make a contribution for him (or any other Virginia Democrat running for the House) at Act Blue. Thank you. Click here for more information.
For more specifics on Shawn O'Donnell, see Shawn+óGé¼Gäós website.
She sounds as vile as Katherine Harris.
Can you accept the theoretical possibility that maybe one person per county across the 1st just might be inspired by Shawn's campaign to turn out to the polls, and that that person hasn't heard that Jim is running? After all, Jim's campaign is not yet quite as obvious as the sunrise.
Can you wrap your mind around the notion that someone inspired by Shawn to take the trouble to vote just might not vote for felix, but just might vote for another Democrat just 'cause he is one?
So if that just happend to be the case, and Jim were to win by half a dozen votes, then it seems to me that one could reasonably make the case that Shawn was indispensible in Jim's victory.
I'm not smart enough to predict what's going to happen in November, and I'm guessing you're not either, but if Jim loses by six votes, I'll be blaming it on you.
That's
What
I
Think
OR.....................
Serves me right for not proofreading!
Both Allen and Davis use patriotism and social issues to obfuscate and distract from their despicable records of support for the agenda of multinational corporations.
I sincerely hope that Shawn will pull voters attention back to the real issues of failed imperial war, diplomatic and economic fiasco and middle class job deterioration in America.
Making the case that the current Republican politicians are neither conservative nor moral nor patriotic is indeed an effort in which Jim Webb will benefit from allies such as Shawn O’Donnell. I agree that there is indeed a synergy when more than one Democratic candidate makes such claims about the elected Republicans in the Congress and Executive.