Meme Tracker, Chapter 1: Moderate Charlie Bass

Moderate, My Ass (4.00 / 7)

Bass, a leading moderate during his 12 years in the House, will file a statement of candidacy for his old New Hampshire House seat with the Federal Election Commission, according to the Union Leader's John DiStaso.

Ask yourself:  Does a moderate. . .

* Call the Sierra Club an "extremist" organization? (Bass for Congress press release, 9/16/02)

* Refer to the federal Direct Student Loan program as a "disaster for New Hampshire" -- and call for its elimination? (WMUR Debate, 10/22/02)

* Vote to abolish the Department of Education and the Low Income Heating Assistance Program? (Vote #251, 3/16/95; House Budget Committee, 5/11/95)

* Support the Bush Administration's campaign to invest the Social Security Trust Fund in the stock market? (Vote #273, 7/25/01)

* Accept more money from tobacco interests than the other 22 New England congressmen put together -- and then vote against funding the government's plan to curb teenage tobacco use? (Vote #309, July 24, 1997)

* Oppose increasing the minimum wage, while -- at the same time -- voting to increase his own six-figure salary every year? (Vote #43+44, 3/9/00; House Budget Committee, 5/9/96; Vote #192-195, 5/23/96)

* Oppose expanding the Family and Medical Leave Act to offer flex-time scheduling, comp-time, and unpaid leave for family emergencies? (2000 National Political Awareness Test, Bass submission, Employment and Affirmative Action Issues section)

* "Earn" a lifetime rating of 8% from the AFL-CIO? (http://www.aflcio.org/issues/politics/labor2006/NH_2.cfm)

Lots more to come on this topic during the next several months. . . . Charlie, we haven't forgotten.

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by: Dartmouth Dem @ Sat Oct 03, 2009 at 08:39:00 AM CDT

You Go DD (4.00 / 1)

I have been waiting for your true target to emerge and it makes my heart soar like an Eagle...btw is Charlie a Sox fan ?

"Poetry is not an expression of the party line. It's that time of night, lying in bed, thinking what you really think, making the private world public, that's what the poet does." Allen Ginsberg

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by: JonnyBBad @ Sat Oct 03, 2009 at 09:33:47 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Question: What to George Steinbrenner, Alex Rodriguez, and Charlie Bass have in common? (4.00 / 1)

Answer:  They're all big fans of George W. Bush.  Steinbrenner and A-Fraud maxed out to his re-election campaing, and Charlie was one of his most devoted lackeys on Capitol Hill.

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by: Dartmouth Dem @ Sat Oct 03, 2009 at 10:44:28 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Whats does Kurt Schilling have in common with anyone rational ? (0.00 / 0)

or Manny, or Bill Lee ? Is Pedro still working at a mall shoe store, and knocking down old men ? Mark my words...it is not your year, or Charlie's.

"Poetry is not an expression of the party line. It's that time of night, lying in bed, thinking what you really think, making the private world public, that's what the poet does." Allen Ginsberg

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by: JonnyBBad @ Sat Oct 03, 2009 at 11:38:56 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Leave Bill Lee out of this n/t (4.00 / 5)

"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 @ Sat Oct 03, 2009 at 13:29:01 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Bill Lee vs. Yankees (4.00 / 1)

12-5 career record. I can understand why the Emperor is a little bitter.

As for Petey, he has one more ring than A-Fraud, and he's a starter on a playoff team this year. Not too shabby. And Zimmer? He shouldn't attack men 1/3 his age if he doesn't want to get pushed away.

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by: Dartmouth Dem @ Sat Oct 03, 2009 at 13:35:49 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Really! (0.00 / 0)

I'm actually still fond of Manny, but comparing Bill Lee to Manny or Schilling is absurd.


"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 @ Sat Oct 03, 2009 at 14:52:51 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

apropos nothing (4.00 / 1)

Last night it occured to me that Jacoby would have a gazillion stolen bases if only he could run on the Red Sox. Sorry Tek and Victor, but the games would go a lot quicker if we just started the men walked on second base.

"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 @ Sat Oct 03, 2009 at 15:09:00 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

By far the most important vote a member of Congress votes is the first of the term. (4.00 / 6)

Any one who votes for Charlie Bass is voting for people like Tom Delay and John Boehner to name all committee leaders and control the agenda of Congress for the entire term.

After that it doesnt matter how much many ribbons and how much pretty wrap you put on.

"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 @ Sat Oct 03, 2009 at 10:29:09 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Well said, Paul n/t (4.00 / 1)

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by: Dartmouth Dem @ Sat Oct 03, 2009 at 10:45:09 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

But, but, but --- (4.00 / 1)

but you have to vote for those guys.  It's like -- you just have to.  Sure, a few Republicans with consciences and spines stood up and voted against Newt Gingrich for speaker, but -- well, did I mention that they had consciences and spines?

That whole "shred of integrity" thing just isn't Bass's bag, baby.

Besides, the moment he saw Tom DeLay's ship was sinking, he scurried right off it.  He deserves some credit for that, right?

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by: Tim C. @ Mon Oct 05, 2009 at 10:55:58 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

a couple of weeks (4.00 / 7)

before the election that ousted Bass, I heard him speak at a luncheon in Littleton, that was attended mostly by Republicans. When he said that Saddam Hussein had ties to al Queda - they all groaned, and turned away in shame.

Charlie was a good right wing soldier - repeating Bush's lies all the way to the end.  

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by: susanthe @ Sat Oct 03, 2009 at 11:08:36 AM CDT

Psst! Political beat reporters... (4.00 / 1)

There's actually an engaging and new story to be written about "Moderate Charlie Bass." It's The Road Not Taken story.

We had a bunch of Yankee Republicans some years back. Some of them changed parties (Jeffords, Specter). Some of them quit politics (if you consider Rudman a moderate, he's an example). Some of them lost (Chafee).

And some of them changed their spots, making accommodation with the right wing of the GOP. Charlie's big contribution to the Main Street Republicans was reaching an understanding with Club for Growth.

Why do some Yankee Republicans choose one path, others another? What do their original supporters think of the choices?

This story would also have the advantage of not being willfully wrong, as the "Charlie is a traditional Yankee moderate" story is.

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by: elwood @ Sat Oct 03, 2009 at 19:29:12 PM CDT

Ha! (4.00 / 1)

I almost forgot:

Charlie's big contribution to the Main Street Republicans was reaching an understanding with Club for Growth.

What walls did not tumble down, what alliances were not made, in the vain effort to keep Sununu his seat!

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by: Dean Barker @ Sat Oct 03, 2009 at 21:03:18 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Kind of like I consider Jessica Simpson an actress. . . . (4.00 / 1)

(if you consider Rudman a moderate, he's an example)

 

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by: Dartmouth Dem @ Sat Oct 03, 2009 at 21:36:32 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

First Bill Lee.... (4.00 / 1)

And now poor Jessica Simpson? She doesn't deserve being included in an analogy involving Warren Rudman.  Poor Jessica - never should have split with Nick Lachy; first she went out with that horrible John Mayer, and then Tony Romo was mean to her.  

In all seriousness, Vanity Fair did a story about her a couple of months ago, put a person behind the beautiful face on the cover of the tabloids. And she does USO trips overseas, including Iraq and Afghanistan.  She's not a bad egg.  

"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 @ Sun Oct 04, 2009 at 05:59:48 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

She ain't Hepburn, Kathy n/t (0.00 / 0)

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by: Dartmouth Dem @ Sun Oct 04, 2009 at 06:40:56 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

? (0.00 / 0)

Very few actresses are Hepburn-esque. That doesn't mean they should pay the price of being dragged into an argument over what constitutes a moderate Republican.  They don't deserve that!

Especially poor Jessice.  

"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 @ Sun Oct 04, 2009 at 20:24:02 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

what ? n/t (0.00 / 0)

"Poetry is not an expression of the party line. It's that time of night, lying in bed, thinking what you really think, making the private world public, that's what the poet does." Allen Ginsberg

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by: JonnyBBad @ Sat Oct 03, 2009 at 22:06:16 PM CDT