Sununu Sprints Away from Civil Liberties

by: Dean Barker

Tue Jul 08, 2008 at 07:39:09 AM EDT

But not for the reason you might assume. Sure, the article is chock full of the usual indicators about how out of touch Sununu is with our state - how the Wolfeboro GOP is utterly dispirited, how the eyes of voters, who think Sununu is "OK for what I know about him", "go wide" when they learn about his recent vote to cut Medicare.

There's even this classic bit of noblesse oblige character revelation - when Sununu hands out lolipops at the July 4th parade to kids who don't say thank you in return, he stands "lingering until the kid shows due gratitude."

The article's real value, however, goes beyond what we already know about John E., and into suggesting how wise it would be for the Democratic leadership to, you know, actually stand up for our civil liberties the way Carol Shea-Porter and Paul Hodes did recently on the FISA vote.

A Fourth of July parade might not be an ideal spot for a political debate, and Sununu shows no interest in engaging in any. "Support the filibuster," Wayne Keene, an independent from Gilford, tells Sununu. The senator doesn't acknowledge the suggestion and heads up the road. Keene says he wanted to urge Sununu to support a Senate effort to block immunity for phone companies who may have illegally spied on Americans. It's a key issue in this libertarian-leaning state.

"If you notice, he wouldn't pay attention to me," says Keene.

And then there's Gabrielle Grigore, who fled Romania to live in the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Her experience with the Communists has given her a love of liberty that ends up making her a typical, libertarian-minded New Hampshire voter. This year, that doesn't seem to bode well for the Republican Party. "Freedoms are taken away with such a smile here. 'We're going to "monitor" you. It's for your security,'" she scoffs. "In Romania, they took it with a whip."

Her heart broken by Bush, she says, she won't be voting at all this time around.

Are you listening, Harry Reid, Steny Hoyer?  How greatly do you want the Granite State to move into the D column next cycle? And how much do you want the Libertarian Party to grow here?

OK, So Maybe Wolfeboro's a Little Different

by: jwgoodwin

Mon May 12, 2008 at 08:11:39 AM EDT

Anyway, I decided to get them cards since my daughter loves cards (I got other stuff I will be giving them when I get home tonight -- jeez) in the mail.  

While in Blacks, I overheard an older couple making a "wide stance" joke.  Pretty funny.  Then I went up to Lydia's and there was a group of women in their late 50s to 60s arguing over the merits of bio-fuels and whether they were worth the carbon costs of production and the increased food costs worldwide.  Then I walked back down Main and there were four kids protesting the Iraq War for no apparent reason other than to do it.