Semprini Caught Making False Accusations Against CSP

The Party Of Myths (4.00 / 7)

If they can't win on facts and truths -- which they obviously can't -- they invent myths.  "Marriage equality will destroy marriage."  "Obama wants death panels."  "John Lynch is increasing the budget."  "Obamacare will destroy Medicare."  "Congressional Democrats want to nationalize health care."  

Of course, what do we expect from Republicans when they nominate people for national office who say climate change isn't happening, or believe that the Earth is 6,000 years old and cavemen (and women, if they admit they existed too) walked with dinosaurs?

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by: Rep. Jim Splaine @ Tue Sep 22, 2009 at 13:44:01 PM CDT

Walked with dinosaurs? (4.00 / 1)

Wadda ya know. I thought they domesticated and rode them. I guess you can learn something new every day.

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by: Michael Marsh @ Tue Sep 22, 2009 at 16:22:19 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Yabba Dabba Dooo (4.00 / 1)

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by: Jennifer Daler @ Tue Sep 22, 2009 at 17:16:21 PM CDT

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The purpose of the lie is to get media attention and temp (0.00 / 0)

the victim to go "negative" in the sense of saying "No, that's not what happened."

Denial is ineffective because the people who received and believed the lie aren't going to attend to a correction of something that supports their prejudice.  Best not to bother with them.  Also good not to leave it up to the target to respond and be ineffectual.

I'm not sure that I'd want an apology from the likes of Semprini and Aggravatin' Wilson. :)

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by: hannah @ Tue Sep 22, 2009 at 13:45:01 PM CDT

Hannah...were you by any chance... (4.00 / 4)

an advisor to the Dukakis and Kerry campaigns?

Democrats solve problems, Republicans sit and say no.

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by: Ray Buckley @ Tue Sep 22, 2009 at 14:25:41 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

No, just a close observer who finally recognized the pattern. (4.00 / 1)

Being slow it took me a long while.  And I didn't realize until his year the extent to which there's an effort to intimidate and depress the Democratic vote constantly, not just during an election.  Trimming the voter rolls in Florida of "felons" wasn't the half of it.
Motor voter turned out to be a scam because there was yet another layer that could "lose" information even in nominally Democratic counties.

The Dukakis campaign was hopeless.  They wrote off Florida early on.  But then, the closest Clinton and Gore came to Florida in '92 was Valdosta, Georgia.  Dean got that right; that if you don't campaign, you're not going to win.

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by: hannah @ Tue Sep 22, 2009 at 17:54:53 PM CDT

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This is the Same Guy (4.00 / 2)

Who ran a consistently dishonest campaign against me in 2000. They knew it was a pack of lies, and didn't care, because it was the closest race I ever had. So why not lie? I don't think he cares that his attack on Shea-Porter is dishonest.

Then again, Semprini's choice for president, Giuliani, didn't demostrate a sense of New Hampshire realities.  

No'm Sayn?

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by: BurtCohen @ Tue Sep 22, 2009 at 14:07:09 PM CDT

I thought the race was close because.. (4.00 / 1)

of Wayne's brother's uber popularity in Portsmouth.

Democrats solve problems, Republicans sit and say no.

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by: Ray Buckley @ Tue Sep 22, 2009 at 14:26:52 PM CDT

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well yeah (0.00 / 0)

People did think they were voting for Wayne's nice-guy brother Kevin.

No'm Sayn?

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by: BurtCohen @ Tue Sep 22, 2009 at 18:27:14 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

The Portsmouth Herald deserves praise for reporting the truth and not hiding behind some sort of false equivalency. (3.43 / 7)

Too often the press is content to simply report the she said/she said back and forth without bothering to examine whether accusations are either true or even make sense.

Anyone might make the mistake Wayne Semprini made-- our memories are very fallible-- but to refuse to apologize is bizarre-- "Who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?" makes a great country song, but is a little short of what we should expect from those who would lead us.

"But, in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope." Si se puede. Yes we can.  

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by: Paul Twomey @ Tue Sep 22, 2009 at 14:59:17 PM CDT

He's probably still angry... (4.00 / 5)

Over being the Republican Party Chair in 2006.
Wasn't a good year for them.  

"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."  Franklin D. Roosevelt    

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by: Kathy Sullivan 2 @ Tue Sep 22, 2009 at 15:01:59 PM CDT

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If I remember correctly, it was a pretty cool year to be Democratic chair. (4.00 / 3)

"But, in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope." Si se puede. Yes we can.  

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by: Paul Twomey @ Tue Sep 22, 2009 at 15:10:22 PM CDT

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doing blue wave n/t (4.00 / 1)

'Aints no more

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by: JonnyBBad @ Tue Sep 22, 2009 at 15:55:03 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

doing blue wave n/t (4.00 / 1)

'Aints no more

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by: JonnyBBad @ Tue Sep 22, 2009 at 15:55:03 PM CDT

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and pretty cool to be the vice chair too! n/t (4.00 / 1)

Democrats solve problems, Republicans sit and say no.

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by: Ray Buckley @ Tue Sep 22, 2009 at 17:00:20 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Also, and equally important: (4.00 / 1)

This article gives much needed media space to debunking the lie I hear all the time from the right-wing wurlitzer, that CSP was removed from a Bush event:

Shea-Porter also said Semprini was false when he said in the letter that she "was removed for her disruptive behavior at a town hall-style meeting President Bush was hosting" which took place at Pease International Tradeport in February 2005. But Shea-Porter wasn't removed from the event (a Herald reporter who attended the event didn't see Shea-Porter removed). She said she expressed her protest to administration policies with a slogan on a T-shirt. She said she never said a word while Bush spoke and wasn't disruptive, though she remembers having a confrontation with a Bush supporter after the event.

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by: Dean Barker @ Tue Sep 22, 2009 at 17:47:10 PM CDT

sent to seacoastonline on Saturday night (4.00 / 7)

To the Editor,

I read with great interest the recent letter to the editor written by Wayne Semprini, who was attempting to blame
Carol Shea-Porter for the actions of folks wearing waffle hats at a Bradley town hall meeting in Rye in 2005.

You see, I was there that day. I was working as a community organizer for the NH Citizens Alliance in 2005. At that point,
I was organizing folks around the Bush proposal to privatize Social Security. Former Congressman Bradley had run for office
promising he would not privatize Social Security, but by 2005, he was singing a different tune, and refusing to take a stand one
way or the other about Bush's plan. In 2005, we were trying to get Bradley to declare a position, and stop waffling. That's where
the waffle hats came from. I made those hats myself.

My NHCA volunteers and I were not working for Carol Shea-Porter. We weren't colluding with her.
The NH Citizens Alliance is a 501(c) (3) non-profit, a non-partisan group that works on issue campaigns.
Our issue in 2005 was protecting Social Security. I attended most of Bradley's town halls in 2005 to bring attention to Bradley's stance (or lack thereof) on Social Security, and
in 2006, we focused on Medicare Part D. I'm sure the Congressman, and his staffers remember seeing me, and my volunteers on
a regular basis. An article printed by your paper, in 2005, makes it quite clear where the waffle hats came from:  http://archive.seacoastonline....

It's a shame that Wayne Semprini is resorting to this sort of outright dishonesty in an attempt to besmirch our Congresswoman.
I'm also rather miffed that he's giving the credit for my creativity to someone else.

Sincerely,

Susan Bruce
Jackson, NH 03845

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by: susanthe @ Tue Sep 22, 2009 at 17:49:39 PM CDT

Best final paragraph. Ever. n/t (4.00 / 4)

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by: Dean Barker @ Tue Sep 22, 2009 at 17:51:18 PM CDT

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PERFECT!!!! (4.00 / 3)

I'm also rather miffed that he's giving the credit for my creativity to someone else.

Democrats solve problems, Republicans sit and say no.

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by: Ray Buckley @ Tue Sep 22, 2009 at 17:54:53 PM CDT

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