Joe vs The Sidekick?

From Today's Daily News:
GOP delays nominations

The Delaware County Republican Party's nomination convention has been postponed from today until next Tuesday, putting off the selection of candidates for the 7th Congressional District and other races.

The party is considering nominating W. Craig Williams, an assistant U.S. attorney working under U.S. Attorney Pat Meehan in Philadelphia, to run against Democratic U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, according to party sources.


So, if true, the GOP scramble to "duel" Sestak has resulted in the GOP's primary dueler failing to show up and leaving his "second" to take the bullet.

The "W" stands for "Wendell". Wendell Williams does satisfy one of the comic book staples of having names with alliteration. (Lex Luthor, Peter Parker, Lois Lane, etc.)

Bye-Bye to Another Bat-Villian

In an unsurprising move, Upper Darby Police Chief Michael Chitwood officially dropped out of the race he never officially entered in the first place.

Choice Quotes from the Delco Times article:
"Congressman Sestak and the Democrats don’t have to worry about me," Chitwood said. Duh! We didn't worry about him before.

Chitwood said the scales really tipped on his decision against the congressional bid about three weeks ago during a search for a 4-year-old girl who had gone missing in the Stonehurst section of Upper Darby. Me thinks 5 weeks ago Chitwood saw that Sestak had 1.4 Million in the bank.

The Times noted that "Chitwood has also several times expressed a dislike for fundraising. Sestak apparently does not share that outlook — as of October, the freshman congressman had a war chest of more than $1,420,000."


"It's too early to think about the election; Joe is focused on change from Iraq and the economy to health care," said Sestak spokesman Clarence Tong upon hearing news of Chitwood's decision. Too early to think about election? When during raising the 1.4 mill did Joe stop thinking about re-election? Spokesman is a crappy job, like a pimp without the cool hat.


Finally:
Delaware County Republican Party leader Thomas Judge Sr. said Tuesday a few other potential candidates had also recently fallen off, but there are about three names left on a "short list" of possible Sestak challengers the party is still looking at.

"Nothing's been formalized yet, but we are looking at some individuals," he said.

individuals = "lambs to the slaughter"

Podcast - Inteview with Joe Sestak by Robert Henson

Here is a radio interview/podcast from The Big Show with Robert Henson in Chester County.

Three New Bat-Villains

In today's Philadelphia Daily News, Bill Bender takes a peek at three new names being floated to take on Sestak, especially Michael Chitwood.

Chitwood confirmed yesterday that he has been asked by Upper Darby Republican leader John McNichol to consider running for Congress.

If McNichol is backing him, what's McNichol hoping to get out of it? The GOP is certainly desperate to knock out Sestak now, while he is still a freshman, and they perceive him as vulnerable. (Clue: Joe was most vulnerable last year when he had no money, no name recognition, no political experience and running against a popular 20 year incumbent.)

Also on the list are John McMeekin II, a Philadelphia attorney and Radnor school board member, and Stephen Elliott, a deputy assistant secretary at the U.S. State Department.

McMeekin said he is "very serious" about a congressional bid, but would back anyone the GOP selected. Elliott could not be reached for comment.

How serious is McMeekin if he will just go along with whomever the GOP machine picks? There's a little thing called a Primary for those that are "very serious".

The rest of the article focuses mostly on Upper Darby Police Chief, Chitwood. (Let me guess, he's going to run on a platform of "law and order".) I don't know a lot about Chitwood's politics (yet) and it's unclear how his local experience will translate on nation issues like energy policy, education, Iraq, environment and health care. I wonder if he is for or against gun control. Does he think that terrorism is a military or police matter? Would people be concerned that a cop-turned-legislator would be a good defense against the trend to turn the US into a police state?

The article also mentions that Chitwood turned down an opportunity early last year to enter the gubernatorial race in Maine, where he had served as a police chief.

Now, that is interesting. Would the former Weldon-zombies repeat their chant of "carpet-bagger"? While I suspect that Chitwood is tough-as-nails and in good shape for his age, that I doubt he is ready to run a marathon campaign. Chitwood is 63 and I doubt he can maintain the same level of energy as Sestak (who outlasted his staff of twenty-somethings).

My recommendation for Chitwood: end your career with successes in Upper Darby, not as a sacrificial lamb for the Delco GOP machine.

Papa's Got a Brand New bag Blog.

Since there is nothing interesting going on in the PA 7th race (yet), and we have a lot of local elections... I'm branching off to start a NEW BLOG!

My blog is PA Delco Watch (at PADelcoWatch.com)

My new blog will focus on the races and politics of Delaware County. As far as Joe goes, I'll be free to hold his feet to the fire, if the situation warrants.

Also, NO anonymous blogging:
If you want to post comments, strap on a pair, get a free blogger account, and quit hiding.

Joey the Crank

Haverford Township's resident crank, Joseph R. Breslin, wrote a letter to the Delco Times. For those that haven't hear Mr. Breslin speak, picture Archie Bunker, without the class. His letter is little different.

His Delco Times letter is supposedly a copy of one he sent to Sestak's office. In the letter, Breslin starts with:

As I stated in an announcement on Nov. 15, 2006, which was never carried by the local press, I will oppose the newly elected Democratic Congressman as a Republican for the 7th Congressional District, and will present issues and a platform each month to strengthen America and return government back to the people.

Gee, not stated in the press, or even during his failed County Council campaign. Only 3 months ago, Breslin was running for County Council, with his stated purpose of preventing Andy Lewis from getting elected. Seeing as how 6 were running for 3 open seats, even if Breslin got more votes than Lewis, he couldn't guarantee that Lewis wouldn't have been in the top 2 of the other 5 candidates. I've never hear anyone say that Breslin was good at math (or any other intellectual skill).

But, here are my questions... If Breslin had actually made it to the November ballot, and even less likely got elected, how was he planning on running against Sestak? And if abandoning a County Council position to run for Congress was his plan all along (since November 15, 2006 as he claims), why did he bother to run for County Council if he never had any intention of serving out his term? (Does this constitute a fraud on the contributors to his failed primary campaign or is Breslin protected by the adage "A fool and his money are soon parted."?)

I guess I should comment on the rest of Breslin's letter. It concerns itself with the fictional proposals for a NAFTA Superhighway. For literate Internet users, it doesn't take much searching to discover that there is no such plan/proposal. It was a political rumor created to fan the anti-immigration crowd and have a phony issue for politicians to oppose.

Breslin is such a lightweight, that I can't even add him to the list of Bat Villians. He wouldn't even make a decent henchman, though if any Bat Villians need a court jester, they needn't look far.

Better Late Than Never...

On Saturday, Aug 4th, Joe Sestak and 4 other Democratic Congressmen joined the other 126 co-sponsors of a bill to end the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy. The new bill, H.R. 1246, The Military Readiness Enhancement Act of 2007 now has 131 co-sponsors.

The purpose of this Act is to institute in the Armed Forces a policy of nondiscrimination based on sexual orientation.

In other words, to stop kicking out valuable soldiers from the military just because they may happen to be gay. Prior to "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", the policy was open discrimination and bigotry where soldiers could be interogated about their sexual preferences and removed. The current policy prohibits a direct investigation, but still requires gay soldiers to hide who they are, and is quite simply: "Un-American". Unfortunately, in the 1990's, it was the best policy that progressives could get past the bigots.

Even today, the military classifies homosexuality as a mental disorder, despite all the evidence to the contrary. Maybe they should classify bigotry as a mental disorder.

Not long ago, 55 Arabic translators were discharged from the military once their orientation was uncovered. One in particular had his emails read during a routine fishing expedition looking for fraud in some department. This translator hadn't been asked and hadn't told, but was discharged just the same (and he WANTS to serve). These translators are crucial to the safety of soldiers in Iraq because they translate insurgent communications about ambushes and road-side bombs. There was information about 9/11 that didn't get translated until 9/12 because we were short-handed.

As John Stewart put it on the Daily Show: "Some people rather would rather be killed by a terrorist than saved by a gay hero."

The vast majority of the current generation of soldiers, most under 25, don't have a problem with gays serving openly (and many of them have shown integrity by not ratting out their fellow soldiers). There are still some old homophobic bigots running the show that are preventing progress, but, hey, they can't live forever (just like the slave owners).

It is long past time that the current institutionalized discrimination was abolished.


Back to Joe....
While I had hoped Joe would have been one of the original co-sponsors, I have even greater hopes that his involvment and military credentials will provide some movement on this issue in Congress. For some, it may raise their awareness, for others they may be inspired by Joe example, and a craven few may simple use Joe as political cover to justify support to their less-progressive constituents.
Whatever gets the job done.


Though I still feel very strongly against Joe's Iraq vote last May, I am pleased that Joe is getting it right with his support of a bill that truly honors the soldiers and improves their security.