Let's Kick Christopher Shays "Off The Fence" Already
By Howie Klein Friday Aug 22, 2008 5:30pmFew of the rubber stamp Republican senators are as likely to be defeated in November as Oregon's Gordon Smith, someone who just spent 5 years voting for every single item on the Bush-Cheney agenda followed by 6 months of trying to convince Oregon voters that he's a "moderate," an "independent voice," and-- unbelievably-- kinda almost a Democrat. Back in June he was laughed off the air with a short lived ad that attempted to cash in on Barack Obama's huge popularity in his state.
There's no Republican in the House who has tried this exact same tactic more forcefully than Chris Shays of Connecticut. Shays is the last Republican member of the House from the 6-state New Hampshire region and his Connecticut congressional district has a PVI of D+5, the bluest district in America represented by a Republican.
Like his close ally, Joe Lieberman, Shays has managed to stay in office by persuading Democrats that he isn't really that Republican. His voting record, however, paints a very different picture. When Bush and the Republicans needed his vote-- no matter what the harebrained scheme they were pushing, he was always there for them. Take Iraq, for example. "Mr. Moderate" participated in 63 roll calls regarding Iraq since he voted 4 times on October 10, 2002 to authorize the use of force there. And "Mr. Moderate" voted against the Bush-Cheney agenda in Iraq exactly... 3 times, once to require competitive bidding on oil contracts when Cheney was caught trying to steal all of Iraq's oil, as did more than 4 dozen other Republicans, once to turn an Iraqi reconstruction grant into a loan (which was supported by 84 Republicans), and once on an inconsequential and unsubstantive budgetary matter. This week Shays, who is co-chairman of McCain's pointless Connecticut operation (he is polling just 36% against Obama) released an ad, very much like Gordon Smith's, trying to capitalize on Obama's immense popularity in Connecticut. Take a look-- and then consider donating to Blue America endorsee Jim Himes' campaign to replace him.
And Senator Obama's response? "In this race, the good people of Connecticut should know that Barack Obama supports Jim Himes and believes Himes is the candidate who will bring the change American families need to Washington."
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Since when did it become the 6-state New Hampshire region?
As a native Massachuesttian I take offense to the characterization that it is a New Hampshire region, we all know that Massachusetts is the heart and soul of the region both economically, politically, culturally, and geographically.
First they have a man's voice narrating the ad,and then some woman comes on and says " I'm Christopher Shays,and I approve this message". What was that all about?
Happy to report I just moved to CT and I'd vote for a monkey before I'd vote for Shays.
GOP
Get Outta Politics ! ! !
Take your ass and your JOHN THE BUSH REPUBLICAN MCCAIN to MN convention for the Senator Craig MEAT-and-Greet .... stall #5 at the MN airport
get a lot more than your HAND shaked....
................. r..... dont vote for a monkey.... that's how DUBYA, the f'ing CHIMP, got into office
Shays always reminded me of a proctologist. Or an undertaker.
This is one we can win. After Bidden is gone, we need all the sure things we can get. This is one of them. A one term loser that needs a good kick in the ass. Give it to him.
I cannot abide this man; he is not my rep in Ct, but he really needs to go. He is a cowardly man, who hides behind his years in the Peace Corps, but seems to have no problem sending others into battle. And then there's this from The National Journal in 2006:
"For more than three years, the House clerk had no record stating that Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., had taken a 2003 trip to Qatar. The trip was partially paid for by a group run by a protege of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. But Shays says he disclosed the trip shortly after returning. "Everything has been public. I provided copies of the speech I made in Qatar," Shays said, "and we filed the proper forms."
However, the documents were not posted on the clerk's Web site, because, according to the clerk's office, they were not received until October 27, 2006, just hours after The Hartford Courant asked about them. The staff director of the Government Reform Committee's national security subcommittee, R. Nicholas Palarino, said that three and a half years ago he put the disclosure form in a blue envelope and gave it to a page to deliver to the clerk.
House Administration Committee spokeswoman Sally Collins said: "The form was probably misplaced or lost. Is it common? No, but these things happen." The form Shays sent to the clerk was a one-page document, dated May 6, 2003. The document said that Shays traveled from Washington Dulles International Airport to Doha, Qatar; to Amman, Jordan; to Tel Aviv; and back to the United States.
According to the form, the Islamic Free Market Institute Foundation/University of Qatar provided $8,141 for travel, $600 for lodging, and $150 for meals. The institute is a nonprofit that in the late '90s rented office space from Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist, a friend of Abramoff's. Khaled Saffuri, a D.C. consultant, was then its executive director and is now the chairman. Saffuri had worked for Abramoff in a lobbying venture that quickly fizzled.
Shays said he was flattered when he was asked to appear in Doha and made sure the news media was aware of his address. "I gave a very strong speech about how Islam was hijacked by extremists, and how the Mideast was a powder keg where there's so much wealth concentrated in so few," he said. (Hartford Courant, 10/28)"
Shays represents the part of Connecticut that is super-high income.
Those folks graduated from Harvard and Yale and their goal is to make money.
Some of them have taste. Some don't.
Shays knows how to play this crowd. Whatever Wall Street wants.
He sucks. But he's a tough fucker to beat.
I think Mr Klein means "New England" of which comprises New Hampshire (my own fair state) and some other states too.
I'd been proud of NH for going blue the last couple of election cycles -- but I have to say, I do not think Obama will carry the state. I hope the down ticket races will go to the Dems, but I fear for Carol Shea-Porter, who is mostly an excellent Rep, but who is being trashed unduly in our local media (which includes the influential & exceedingly partisan Manchester Union Leader). Most recently, fwiw, I've seen a huge number of Repub signage around & so forth, and lots & lots of McCain ads versus a couple Obama ads.
*shrug*
Obama:
If Shays were a Dem, with the exact same voting record that he has as a Repub, Obama would appear in ads supporting him. So who cares what Obama says about any congresscritter.
Funny, Obama's message is very similar to Shay's: To get things done in Washington, we must reach across the aisle. I sure hope Obama's not going to spend all of his time in the White House pandering to conservatives. Ugh.
I've lived in Chris Shays' district for the past five years, and it has been interesting observing the politics here.
I'm from NYC originally, but lived for sixteen years in Boston before moving to northern Fairfield County--not the "Gold Coast," which includes Greenwich and Westport (William F. Buckley territory). When Fearless Flightsuit comes to CT, he never goes anywhere but Greenwich. That's where the big bucks are.
The important thing to know about Greenwich is that it's in that little "tail" of Connecticut that sticks out to the southwest, within close proximity of NYC, so lots of Wall Street types and other megawealthy souls live there. Originally it was because CT did not have an income tax. It does now, but it's considerably lower than that in New York.
The politics in Connecticut are odd, to an outsider like me. The town I live in is about seventy-percent Republican, but it has a Democratic selectman (mayor, of sorts) and the school board is largely Dem. (Schools are a big selling point of the town, so the voters know where their interests lie.)
There are still a lot of Republicans in Connecticut that fit into the "Rockefeller Republican" mode, which is approaching extinction in much of the rest of the country. The governor, Jodie Rell, is a pretty popular, moderate Republican, who succeeded the unbelievably corrupt John Rowland, also a Republican, who was forced to resign and spent some time in prison due to his myriad shady deals. One young guy I know was working as an aide in the Connecticut legislature. He's a Republican, but very bright and relatively progressive. He told me that he would have no future in the national GOP. So much for the "big tent" theory.
It's a mystery to me that Shays has managed to hang on this long. But then again, Lieberman won in '06--though with a lot of Republican help. What I do know is that the economy is hitting hard here too--lots of people are losing jobs, and there are too many houses on the market. I hope the Dems put up a strong candidate against Shays.
What is right with America?
When the right is finished with America there will be nothing left.
As a lifetime resident of Connecticut I'm embarrassed
by Ct. voters voting for Shays. Please folks, kick
this cretin out. BTW that's 75yrs living in this state.
Got to be a medal for that.
Please don't forget about Susan Collins. She's right there with Smith and Shays. Go Tom Allen!
Delaware's At-large congressional district is D+7 but has been represented by Mike Castle (R) since 1993. Castle incidentally has a very good chance of winning Joe Biden's senate seat, should it come to that.
One thing about the Smith/Merkely campaign here in Oregon, with everything that's going wrong in this country all Smith can do is attack Merkely for being Speaker of the Oregon House when a bunch of new furniture was bought. It received bi-partisan support and Smith's own people had nothing but glowing praise for it before. It would be freaking hilarious if dumbass Oregonians weren't falling for it.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, sometimes I don't think Americans deserve democracy.
I hate this oily creep. The first out of state donation I've ever made was to Jim Himes. Please beat this worm.
Yeah, number 18...."creep" is the right word. Does that man, that creep, have no shame?
I love Obama's response.
To reiterate: "the 6-state New Hampshire region" is called NEW ENGLAND.
Massachusetts is it's heart, Rhode Island is it's soul - and that little 'tail' thing at the Southwestern corner of Connecticut that DoktorN in #12 mentioned is either it's coccyx or it's a-hole.
Nice post, Howie, but wake up, please.
Gordon Smith is a (political) whore.
Message time!!! Joe Lie can't be voted out this year but Shays can be. He should be a man, and stand by his record. Stand by your voting record Christopher, and tell us how we are better off!
JT @ 2:
LOL!
In Oregon Jeff Merkley is still polling about 7 points behind Gordon Smith, who has about 4 times as much money as Merkley. Smith is blanketing TV with his ads. So--PLEASE do something concrete and send a little money to Merkley. You can help kick this proto-Republican Gordon Smith out of office and help insure a more Democratic Senate.
treestump @ 20:
Nice! That image will stick in my mind forever.
Howie, I don't know about "laughed off the air." Smith's still running that ad.
His "sea of partisanship" looks pretty tranquil. Maybe he should get out of the harbor more often.
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