Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Closer than we can imagine

  Disclaimer: The Unapologetic Apologist speaks for himself only and does not represent the opinions of Jefferson-Adams News Network even though he is management. He does not represent the Republican Party, nor the LDS Church and his opinions do not reflect that of any political candidates as he does not represent any candidate or campaign.

Closer than we can imagine
-By Daniel Moir

  We’re only 41 days away from election day, and there’s a lot to do yet, but the good news is that, as the old phrase goes, many hands make light work. Right now a number of us are already on the ground helping out with our favorite candidates, whether it’s the Gov, Mike Lee, Morgan Philpot, Shawn Bradley or Lee Brinton. The good news is that the polls are looking pretty good for pretty much everyone. We’re in a good position to reclaim some seats that have been out of our control for quite some time.
   I want to put a spotlight on Morgan Philpot’s race though. This is the campaign that I am most enthusiastic about for the simple fact that Morgan is without a doubt one of the most honest and honorable people I have ever met. He’s already a man of great integrity, and that he is asking for our support so that he can bring that integrity to Washington to represent us makes me very happy.
   Morgan’s race against Matheson is very close. According to political analyst and former Clinton staffer Dick Morris Morgan is 3 points shy of besting Matheson.-1 The race is that close. Morris understates how close this really is, most polls have an average margin of error of plus or minus 3 or 4 points. Meaning this could be a statistical tie.
  There are a lot of “establishment” party that have expressed their concerns to me that this race may be unwinnable, but I hope seeing this polling data will reveal to you that we are close, and therefore we can and with your help will win this race.
  Murray has a lot more registered Republicans that I think most of us realized. I really tried to push hard on the vote by mail efforts for that reason. Although I am disappointed that more people in Murray didn’t sign up for vote by mail, I am happy to report they have taken the fliers we’ve been passing out with great enthusiasm. Even though the deadline for vote by mail is this upcoming Saturday (9-25-10) I am still determined to walk most or if possible all of the precincts, even if its just to pass out fliers, with particular emphasis on Morgan, though I am including fliers for other Republican Candidates as well. I believe that Murray is the place that will surprise everyone and break the statistical tie in Morgan’s favor, and in the process help Lee Brinton and Shawn Bradley win their campaigns.
  This race is winnable and will benefit your favorite candidates in the process so it will be well worth it to jump on board if you haven’t already.
   We are also going to start putting up yard signs so let me know if you'd like to participate in that effort.
   But why should we vote for Morgan you might ask? Aside from the fact that he is exactly the sort of statesman I’ve hoped would appear on the scene I cannot stress enough his willingness to listen. Of all the candidates I have gotten to know Morgan is the most quiet. This seems like an odd quality to emphasize, but its an important one because he is quiet so he can listen to your concerns, and he spends a great deal of time in deep thought and comes up with real solutions that go beyond the typical “cut taxes, cut spending” we have come to expect from Republican candidates, although the most immediate solutions to our problems really do boil down to those two plus the dreaded but absolutely necessary de-regulate…
  I have enjoyed the conversations I have had with Morgan for these reasons. Meetings with him go far beyond the typical question and answer session and often delve into deep and detailed explorations of each issue at hand. He is without a doubt one of Utah’s brightest lights. Add to that that he’s an all around nice guy and you have in Morgan someone who not only should be representing us in Washington, but one of the few people I have ever met that genuinely deserves to be our representative.
  Matheson is a nice guy too, but lately he hasn’t been too keen on making public appearances, and while the Democrats are quick to pounce whenever Republicans receive a contribution of any kind the fact that Matheson’s campaign has been funded largely by PACs has managed to escape the ire of the selectively outraged media. Matheson has managed to have 84% of his contributions come from the political action committee of business, labor unions, other politicians and special interest groups. Naturally when this comes to light the Salt Lake Tribune gives him a pass because he’s not a Republican so its okay for him to get donations. -2 Having watched several candidates challenging the incumbents struggle to come up with donations, (in fact 80% of Morgan’s funding has been from individuals (Ibid)) I understand that campaigns are expensive. I might let this criticism go were it not for the way the news is hammering Governor Herbert right now for a PAC donation. (In fact watching Caroon make a complete jerk of himself on this issue has been hilarious but that’s a V-blog project my Dad is working on with me so I’ll stay mum on that one for now.)  Democrats have proven entirely hypocritical on this issue, screaming about ethics when its clear that their own ranks have more than enough suspicious funds coming in, and one question I am dying to ask Matheson… “Have you taken any money, directly or indirectly, from George Soros?”
  Another beef I have is that Matheson seems to have developed a severe case of tea-aphobia (chronic case of irrational fear or resentment toward those who seek a limited government.) Going back to my earlier mentioning of Matheson’s lack of public appearances, he has refused to host real town hall meetings, preferring to hide behind pre-recorded phone calls instead that I used to get invites too until recently… though my pre recorded questions never got a pre-recorded answer. He used to be really good at responding to any emails or letters I’d write, but when I wrote him about the controversial health care measure asking what he intended to do I didn’t get a response until months after the measure had passed. While running against Claudia Wright he boasted about the massive spending he’s supported, and also mentioned he voted to expand healthcare coverage for Utah’s Children-3… Hmmm, How popular are all those cash for clunkers type programs he supported? Last I checked not very.
  Then there’s his on again off again support of the big cheese itself, the Obamacare bill. The way he voted on this measure was admittedly brilliant because he can tell conservative audiences he voted against it, and liberal audiences he supported it and be telling the truth both times!
   Matheson did end up voting against the final passage of the bill-4. But correct me if I am wrong, but did Matheson not vote in favor of ending debate and moving to a vote? If he and a few others hadn’t the bill would have never come up for a vote. I know for certain he also voted yes on Pelosi’s proposal to use the slaughterhouse rule to deem the measure passed.-5 I also know that there were a number of concerns raised when Matheson went from a firm no vote for the health care over haul to an undecided after the questionably timed Obama appointment of his brother to a federal court. Again in the final round he did vote no, but there was a lot of eyebrow raising moments getting there. Most concerning for me, the Libertarian-Republican in the room, was how Matheson always seemed to give the Democrats the Yes vote when they stood in most need of it, and only voted no when it was clear the measure in question would pass without his vote. So in a manner of speaking Matheson both supported Obamacare and didn’t support it at the same time. Frankly I think its time we get representatives in Washington that Utah can rely on for our representation.
  Now if I got anything wrong here feel free to correct me, please provide facts to show where I am wrong but I will happily retract any statements that are in error, but there is one more matter I take issue with concerning Matheson and that is his overall performance as our congressman. Although Matheson is not happy to have this made public and has lashed out hard against Morgan for pointing it out in his recent ad entitled “empty seat” (check it out on You Tube,) in reviewing his record through http://www.govetrack.us and http://www.opencongress.org it really does appear as though Matheson has accomplished little in the last ten years. I know if I had a record like that where I work I’d probably be joining the ranks of the 9.6% of Americans who are currently unemployed.
   Nice guy or not I don’t really get a strong sense that Matheson is willing to take a solid stand on many issues, he’s certainly left those in Utah looking for strong leaders wanting.
 


-1: Congressional Candidates who urgently need help, by Dick Morris and Eileen McGann www.dickmorris.com 9-20-10
Accessed 9-22-2010
-2: Matheson, “the PAC man” ranks No. 3 in the house by Matt Canham, Salt Lake Tribune 9-7-10 http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/politics/50209672-90/matheson-money-pac-pacs.html.csp

-4: Jim Matheson faces health care vote fallout, Alex Isenstadt www.politico.com 6-18-10 http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0610/38694.html accessed 9-22-10

-5: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2010/roll129.xml Look for Matheson under Yeas

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