Swett is the Democrat Who Can Win in November

not in September ? (4.00 / 3)

If I keep getting totally negative anti-lobbyist hit mail like I did today from registered lobbyist Swett I may be  less than enthusiastic in November if she manages to win next Tuesday.

http://www.unionleader.com/art...

The "lobbyist" label has played a big role in the Swett-Kuster campaign. Swett has continually pounded Kuster for representing pharmaceutical companies.

She, on the other hand, was listed as a lobbyist on federal forms for her husband's Dick Swett Associates, which later became Katrina Swett Associates when her husband became Ambassador to Denmark during Bill Clinton's presidency.

Swett continued to insist yesterday that she never lobbied, but, she insisted, Kuster has lobbied for pharmaceutical-backed initiatives that Democrats generally oppose.

The UL piece today really turned me off, especially as she chose to play out the NH primary Obama vs.Hillary race meme. Read it yourself I'm not going to do a replay. IMHO it is divisive and will hurt our party in the general if the Candidate of the moderate middle chooses to play off the dislike for the President evidenced in recent polls.
We have made historic gains in Congress and I want to send someone there to work with the President, not work him over.

note to close readers: this might be sarcastic so think twice before reading to candidates for use in their attacks on each other

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by: JonnyBBad @ Wed Sep 08, 2010 at 19:43:58 PM UTC

From the article: (0.00 / 0)

"I was a Hillary Clinton supporter, proudly, and it did assume those kind of dimensions, and I'm very much that candidate in this race," Swett said.

I don't remember this.  Does someone have a link to the endorsement?

birch paper; on Twitter @deanbarker

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by: Dean Barker @ Wed Sep 08, 2010 at 20:06:34 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

No sign of it here (0.00 / 0)

The GWU archive is normally where I go to check such things. It lists staff and all the major endorsements.

Hillary Rodham Clinton-Organization, New Hampshire

"Ill writers are usually the sharpest censors." - John Dryden

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Wed Sep 08, 2010 at 20:28:35 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

IIRC it was S.O.P. (0.00 / 0)

Dick endorsed Hillary early, keeping Katrina above the fray, while letting people know where they stood. She almost had a Primary you know...

note to close readers: this might be sarcastic so think twice before reading to candidates for use in their attacks on each other

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by: JonnyBBad @ Wed Sep 08, 2010 at 20:54:04 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Really? (4.00 / 1)

I woulda figured Dick for a Richardson kinda guy.

Hmmm. Go figure.

"Ill writers are usually the sharpest censors." - John Dryden

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Wed Sep 08, 2010 at 21:03:04 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

all that n/t (0.00 / 0)

note to close readers: this might be sarcastic so think twice before reading to candidates for use in their attacks on each other

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by: JonnyBBad @ Wed Sep 08, 2010 at 21:16:46 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Low hanging fruit (0.00 / 0)

Sad to see campaign professionals glom onto narratives tee'd up for them by local pundits and the GOP.

Just plain lazy and unimaginative.

Now, if Katrina wins, we will read and hear about the success of "Hillary Democrats" and what that means for 2012.


"Ill writers are usually the sharpest censors." - John Dryden

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Wed Sep 08, 2010 at 20:14:13 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

What's with the tort reform and hitting the trial lawyers? (0.00 / 0)

In an article in Health Affairs (subscription required) the authors estimate that the total cost of the medical liability system is about 2.4% of health care spending.  This includes real malpractice - of which only about 10% wind up filed as law suits.  We need less malpractice, not fewer remedies for injured parties.  

I don't get it.

Link w/abstract:
http://content.healthaffairs.o...

In the immediate aftermath of Since the start of the financial crisis, the Fed/Treasury lent, spent, or guaranteed $28 $29 trillion to save the banking system.

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by: StraffordDem @ Wed Sep 08, 2010 at 21:14:32 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Shame on the Swett campaign (4.00 / 4)

for their 11th hour dishonest hit piece mailer.

The mailers have been hard-hitting on both sides, but this is the first one I've seen that's intentionally misleading.

birch paper; on Twitter @deanbarker

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by: Dean Barker @ Wed Sep 08, 2010 at 19:58:43 PM UTC

Teh .jpg (4.00 / 1)

I got "the" line: "Katrina hit Annie so hard, Jim Demers got a bruise."

"Ill writers are usually the sharpest censors." - John Dryden

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by: Jack Mitchell @ Wed Sep 08, 2010 at 21:00:38 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Thanks for finally admitting that Annie's work for PhRMA is wrong! (0.00 / 1)

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by: Putney Swope @ Thu Sep 09, 2010 at 03:47:04 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

My wife even commented on it. (4.00 / 2)

She's really not into politics, but she laughed about how horrible that mailer was.  Truly pathetic.

I'm sorry John endorsed Swett.  I'll always respect him and the campaign he ran, but I don't get the endorsement.  

"We Demand Rigidly Defined Areas of Doubt and Uncertainty" D. Adams

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by: nonverbalcoma @ Thu Sep 09, 2010 at 00:53:42 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Is That Photo Real? (4.00 / 1)

That is beneath contempt. It is disgusting. Low even for a Republican. If the Swett campagin put that out, they brought shame on themselves.

Katrina stayed above the fray when Dick endorsed. I remember.

And that list; good people all, but it's up to the voters not those good party insiders.

Again, that hit piece is too gross to be composted.  

No'm Sayn?

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by: BurtCohen @ Wed Sep 08, 2010 at 21:38:40 PM UTC

scanned from the mailbox today, and emailed to jack n/t (0.00 / 0)

note to close readers: this might be sarcastic so think twice before reading to candidates for use in their attacks on each other

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by: JonnyBBad @ Wed Sep 08, 2010 at 21:41:23 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

It's an impressive list of endorsers n/t (0.00 / 0)

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by: elwood @ Wed Sep 08, 2010 at 23:25:16 PM UTC

Not that impressive. (0.00 / 0)

Had she put that list out in March or April, I'd have been impressed.  But days before the primary, this is all she's got?  That doesn't bode well.

Don't get me wrong, I know and very much like and respect over half a dozen people on that list, and would give some weight to the opinions of half a dozen more, but they're vastly outweighed in numbers, cumulative affection, and my trust in their judgment by those on Annie's list.

This is a poor attempt to persuade.  I'd look to like Annie, if looking at liked names moved me.

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by: Tim C. @ Thu Sep 09, 2010 at 17:20:14 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Also, this neat little line is too clever by half: (4.00 / 2)

Katrina supports President Obama's approach on Afghanistan but knows our commitment cannot be open-ended, and she is dedicated to keeping him to his word that our troops will leave that country in 2011.

This sounds like she's all about leaving Afghanistan entirely ASAP (Hey, 2011 is just 3 months away!), when a more, shall we say, forthright formulation would have replaced "our troops will leave" with "some of our troops will leave" or "our troops will begin to leave."  Neither the President nor Katrina Swett supports, or ever has supported, the rapid withdrawal from Afghanistan that the wording here suggests.

I presume that it was written by some high-level campaign press staffer, quite possibly never even seen by the candidate, and only glanced over by most of the signers.  It is nonetheless a deliberately bogus representation of the positions of both the President of the United States and the candidate on whose behalf it was written, and must be recognized as such.

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by: Tim C. @ Thu Sep 09, 2010 at 17:35:15 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

correctly put (0.00 / 0)

I knew that intuitively, but when you flesh it out like that, it becomes a conscious recognition. I just write it all off to 'weasel words' in my head. Its easier getting to the 15th that way.
5


note to close readers: this might be sarcastic so think twice before reading to candidates for use in their attacks on each other

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by: JonnyBBad @ Thu Sep 09, 2010 at 18:03:44 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Well ... I don't know (0.00 / 0)

I had my own objection to that line, but I can't quite get to calling it bogus. The president has a mushy position with one firm component, the July 2011 deadline. She's "dedicated to keeping him to his word" -- i.e., making the president adhere to the deadline. I think that's a reasonable position for a candidate to take.

That said, if she's relying on the mushiness of his position to stake mushy ground ... then yeah, I'm with you, that's bogus.

And if that line has some other meaning ... that's bogus too. The deadline is widely known.

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by: JimC @ Thu Sep 09, 2010 at 21:35:59 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Thanks for the diary John (4.00 / 6)

I would modify the title to "is a" vs "the".

In addition to Katrina...
-- Anne McLane Kuster is a Democrat that can win in NH.
-- Paul Hodes is a Democrat that can win in NH.
-- John Lynch is a Democrat that can win in NH.
-- Carol Shea-Porter is a Democrat that can win in NH.

They can all win if NH Democrats show up and vote in November.

Katrina's mailers are turning off voters I'm talking to on the phone.

"I don't know who she is but I wouldn't vote for her" (Real Quote)

They are damaging the reputation and brand of what it means to be a Democrat.

If you have any voice at the table I'd respectfully urge you to ask the campaign to focus on Katrina's unique position to advocate for the Middle Class, rather than working to depress Democratic voters and turnout in an important election year.

Hope >> Fear





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by: Mike Hoefer @ Thu Sep 09, 2010 at 02:52:38 AM UTC