Ever heard of Congresspedia? I was just recently notified that the Half Empty blog was added to their Texas Portal. Lots of my lefty blogger associates are listed there as well. I scrolled through the list of Texas congressional races and was struck by the fact that there are so many uncontested congressional races in Texas. Twenty-two out of thirty-two congressional races have no declared challengers, unless Congresspedia needs to check again and update the website.
This is astonishing.
There are 13 Republican congressmen who are listed as not being challenged, a bad thing, and 9 Democrats listed – a seriously good thing. Tom DeLay’s twice in a decade redistricting has had its toll. Except in his own old district, CD-22.
But here, in what Republicans call the “Fighting 22nd”, the opposite is the case. Not only is the race not going uncontested in ’08, Congresspedia’s own reporting shows what I have mentioned before: not only is the CD-22 race contested, but it is contested with a vengeance. They only list 5 Republicans who are in this race. Somehow they missed Pete Olson, but they also missed “The Kid”: Alan Steinberg.
Now I can completely understand about how they forgot about Alan. I personally suspect Alan is running for congress so he can date hot chicks. But what’s with omitting Pete Olson? This, guy, I think, is going to be a player. I think there are huge money guys betting on this horse. Money guys who don’t want to see another disaster in Shelley Sekula (define me . . . define me) Gibbs, and money guys who don’t want to see another neoconservative fanatic take this office - we’ve all watched “Mean Dean” try and make Swiss cheese out of his own party chairman with his neocon henchmen.
And why do I think this? Two things. One, the guy raised $211,000 in 45 days in the 3rd quarter FEC reporting period. Much of this is from out of district. Bad news for Pete because they can’t vote for him. But the good news is that he can use that cash to introduce himself to the CD-22 voters. Bringing me to thing two. Two, guess what just appeared on my front door? A Pete Olson brochure. Door drops in February of ’08 is reasonable. But October of ’07?
This guy is a player.
It was designed as a mailer, but this piece is a 5 panel heavy cardstock slick foldable with the rightmost panel a poke out reply mail campaign contribution card. They ask for contributions, never mind that it’s a prepaid card – how the H-E-double hockey sticks can anyone send in a contribution in a card?
He is prominently displayed on the outer panel wearing his sailor suit. He was in the Navy for 9 years. So he’s been out of district for awhile, but graduated from Clear Lake High School – yep, another one NOT from Sugar Land.
And apparently he has a huge fan in former Senator Phil Gramm who he is using like a heroin user uses methadone: often and whenever he can get it for free.
But the guy has been in the military and we tend to like that in our congresspeople. They will tend not to vote to put our soldiers in harm’s way needlessly and for trumped up reasons.
Right?
Well . . . . maybe.
Here is what I found out about Pete Olson’s view of “The War on Terror” in particular. No, you be the judge. I quote:
This is astonishing.
There are 13 Republican congressmen who are listed as not being challenged, a bad thing, and 9 Democrats listed – a seriously good thing. Tom DeLay’s twice in a decade redistricting has had its toll. Except in his own old district, CD-22.
But here, in what Republicans call the “Fighting 22nd”, the opposite is the case. Not only is the race not going uncontested in ’08, Congresspedia’s own reporting shows what I have mentioned before: not only is the CD-22 race contested, but it is contested with a vengeance. They only list 5 Republicans who are in this race. Somehow they missed Pete Olson, but they also missed “The Kid”: Alan Steinberg.
Now I can completely understand about how they forgot about Alan. I personally suspect Alan is running for congress so he can date hot chicks. But what’s with omitting Pete Olson? This, guy, I think, is going to be a player. I think there are huge money guys betting on this horse. Money guys who don’t want to see another disaster in Shelley Sekula (define me . . . define me) Gibbs, and money guys who don’t want to see another neoconservative fanatic take this office - we’ve all watched “Mean Dean” try and make Swiss cheese out of his own party chairman with his neocon henchmen.
And why do I think this? Two things. One, the guy raised $211,000 in 45 days in the 3rd quarter FEC reporting period. Much of this is from out of district. Bad news for Pete because they can’t vote for him. But the good news is that he can use that cash to introduce himself to the CD-22 voters. Bringing me to thing two. Two, guess what just appeared on my front door? A Pete Olson brochure. Door drops in February of ’08 is reasonable. But October of ’07?
This guy is a player.
It was designed as a mailer, but this piece is a 5 panel heavy cardstock slick foldable with the rightmost panel a poke out reply mail campaign contribution card. They ask for contributions, never mind that it’s a prepaid card – how the H-E-double hockey sticks can anyone send in a contribution in a card?
He is prominently displayed on the outer panel wearing his sailor suit. He was in the Navy for 9 years. So he’s been out of district for awhile, but graduated from Clear Lake High School – yep, another one NOT from Sugar Land.
And apparently he has a huge fan in former Senator Phil Gramm who he is using like a heroin user uses methadone: often and whenever he can get it for free.
But the guy has been in the military and we tend to like that in our congresspeople. They will tend not to vote to put our soldiers in harm’s way needlessly and for trumped up reasons.
Right?
Well . . . . maybe.
Here is what I found out about Pete Olson’s view of “The War on Terror” in particular. No, you be the judge. I quote:
“I proudly served in the defense of America. Those years taught me this is still a dangerous world for those who love freedom.”
“We are in a war that we didn’t ask for and didn’t provoke, but it’s one we must win. As Congressman I will support the troops and their mission [emphasis his] – to kill or capture terrorists wherever they may be hiding, training, or plotting attacks.”
Is that slick or what? Iraq? What War in Iraq? It’s a war on terror and we are fighting the people who attacked us. Never mind that we are spending billions on Iraq. It’s classic Republican bait and switch. Hey-presto no war in Iraq. No mention of this war means he doesn’t want this to be a campaign issue. In that he is dead wrong. This will be an issue and I think as a former military officer, he has some viewpoints that may not ring with the conservatives in the district. In other words, in the parlance of my guy, Rick Noriega, he talks the talk, but doesn’t walk the walk.
On immigration? He wants a fence. He asks the question that they all ask when the people want to know why Republicans hate “The Messicans” so much: “If we don’t know who is coming into our country, how will we know they don’t want to destroy us?”
Oh, that’s right. It’s not about illegal immigrants; it’s about keeping out the terrorists. It that’s the case, then where is the talk about a fence on our northern border? That’s the border our 9-11 terrorists crossed, not our southern border with Mexico.
So Pete Olson has an uphill battle getting some name recognition, but he’s had a couple of breaks and once wore a sailor suit. That will play well against Crazy Bob, Silly Shelley, and Mean Dean.
Alan Steinberg? ROFLMAO.
On immigration? He wants a fence. He asks the question that they all ask when the people want to know why Republicans hate “The Messicans” so much: “If we don’t know who is coming into our country, how will we know they don’t want to destroy us?”
Oh, that’s right. It’s not about illegal immigrants; it’s about keeping out the terrorists. It that’s the case, then where is the talk about a fence on our northern border? That’s the border our 9-11 terrorists crossed, not our southern border with Mexico.
So Pete Olson has an uphill battle getting some name recognition, but he’s had a couple of breaks and once wore a sailor suit. That will play well against Crazy Bob, Silly Shelley, and Mean Dean.
Alan Steinberg? ROFLMAO.
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