"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is big enough to take away everything you have"
Thomas Jefferson

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Enough is Enough

If you ran a company would you hire a person if you never interviewed them?

The answer should emphatically be NO!

The same should be true for the any candidate in the 23rd Congressional District. Democrat Independent Bill Owens who is willing to change his spots just to get elected is hiding behind slick commercials, Conservative Republican Doug Hoffman is hiding behind attack ads aimed at Dede Scozzafava. Neither candidate has run a campaign of substance.

To this point, neither have made themselves available to the public for a forum of questions and answers. In fact neither of the two have even made themselves available to the media. The media folks openly admit Owens and Hoffman are denying them any access other than a prepared statement.

A person who was in attendance at the Cape Vincent grip and grin on Sunday for Bill Owens came away with the impression that Mr. Owens is quite confident about victory and gives off the impression he does not need nor care about Jefferson County in order to win. Would you elect someone from three hours away that you never met and has this kind of attitude?  In a community where Fort Drum equals boom or bust; the answer to that question should emphatically be NO!

Mr. Owens has never faced an issue that he would prefer to address, time after time he deflects an issue and does not take a position and repeatedly admits to not being informed. Such as today: "I feel very strongly about the fact that people should not make speculative pronouncements about issues that they are not fully informed about" if he is not informed of the issues then why should he be elected. 

Doug Hoffman, who does not even live in the 23rd Congressional district, is baseless in his campaign. He is really not a contender to win, but attempting to be nothing but a spoiler. Here is a quote from Hoffman that proves the that point. "There's only 20 days left . . . but we have her on the run" Are the people of North Country prepared to fall for this bull-hit, are they willing to throw an election for this crap?

Dede Scozzafava is the only person known to the constituents in the North Country, you know her record, which is being distorted by her opponents. You have probably in several cases had the opportunity to speak with her in person.

According to media sources she is the only candidate making herself available to them, although one could argue she needs to do more. Dede should be holding public forums on her own, whether the other two attend or not is up to them to explain. Dede should be getting in front of the media and talking about the issues, flushing the others out.

Come out from hiding Doug and Bill!

If they don't then they simply do not deserve a vote, either vote for Dede or write in someone you know and like!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

If Owens wins, how long before Drum is put on the next BRAC list. People on this side of the district has a vested interest in keeping Drum open, and should support Scozzafava, who has already been promised McHugh's former seat on the Armed Services Committee if she wins.

Anonymous said...

You honestly think Drum will close? That is ridiculous. If anything they will continue to expand as they have for years now. I have heard way more talk of it becoming a site for basic than talk of it closing. With McHugh's new post, Drum will never be forgotten regardless of who is in Congress.

Danny M. Francis (Eyepublius) said...

LOL -- now you guys sound like Dan Francis ...

Stop it - you're killing. I'm the comic here, not you...

BTW: Drum is not going anywhere ... I said that back in '92 and '94 and '95 (about the airfield issue at Drum which we got as I said), and I was always laughed at ... hey, give me some credit about knowing somethign, okay? Then we can talk seriously about other tough issues.

But, I agree totally - Owens running a slick, well funded (very well-funded - mostly outside money, big outside money) PR "race."

I'm not one to say "I told you, and the DEMS at Blue Mountain Lake, so," but I told you so.

~ dmf

hermit thrush said...

it's too bad you have no credibility about this, piv. just last year we witnessed the incredible sight of a candidate for the vice presidency who refused to give a single press conference during the entire campaign, despite being a total newcomer to the national scene. it was completely unprecedented!

you had an opportunity to take a principled stand and speak out against her then. but she happened to be a republican, and you uttered no objections, no complaints, nothing. i don't think you've ever had a single bad thing to say about sarah palin, in fact.

and the reason this is all too bad, at least at this very moment, is that your post above is absolutely right on.

it's a disgrace that owens and hoffman (and scozzafava too, though to less of an extent) have gone running from the media and from public engagement.

(and there's also far less of an onus on dede to make herself further known to voters, since she has a long voting record in the assembly.)

not to get all hoity-toity, but the proper workings of democracy demand that voters be as well-informed about the candidates and issues as possible.

if we believe today's poll, owens's media strategy looks to be working quite well towards getting him elected. but that comes at the cost of subverting our political culture -- a cost that i believe far outweighs any short-term political gain.

those who want to truly serve the public should welcome media scrutiny.

City Watch said...

HT,

Let me be perfectly clear - I am not a Palin fan. The truth is I like Romney and not because he is more conservative. I think he is more astute in both business and politics. I don't view candidates for a GOP moderate or conservative slant those issues that separate two factions of the GOP are relative, but not the end all be all. I tend to seek candidates for their knowledge.

City Watch said...

p.s.

Palin did offer herself up for interviews and did debate.

I am sure you recall the "Can I call you Joe" moment.

hermit thrush said...

dear piv,
you're certainly right that palin offered more access to the media than owens has.

but that doesn't change the fact that her engagement with the media was historically poor. how can you run for the second-highest office in the country and not do a single press conference?

(off-hand the only interviews i can remember were her quasi-infomercial with hannity and her bombs with gibson and couric, though i'd be happy to be reminded of others.)

it's also worth noting that palin sought a much higher office -- an office at the national level to boot -- so that the standards for granting media access were higher for her.

the princicple is the same with both of them. both have come far, far short of providing adequate public and media access. but you've only criticized the democrat, not the republican.

(in fairness to owens, i should also mention that just this afternoon comes word that he's agreed to do a televised debate with the other two candidates.)

as for this:

Let me be perfectly clear - I am not a Palin fan.

seriously? as i said before, i don't remember you ever writing a bad thing about her before. what i do remember is an awful lot of cheerleading on her behalf during the campaign. if i'm wrong, please point me to the relevant posts. i'd happily acknowledge my misconceptions.

and finally, doesn't your non-fandom of palin only heighten your hypocrisy/partisan hackery? i mean, if you didn't even like her that much at the time, then what on earth kept the principles you're espousing now from applying to her then?

City Watch said...

HT, I do not believe I posted anything on her specifically, perhaps the ticket, but not her. She does nothing for me, neither positively nor negatively.

Anonymous said...

So Kelmit. What you're admitting is you've accused PIV of taking a stand that he didn't take. And you are also accusing Palin of avoiding media scrutiny, then later in another post admitting that this did not happen. Well this certainly is typical Klermint. Either you're lying or making things up. I'll go with the latter, as you haven't been posting much.

I really don't understand why you would even attempt to make a point like this, but I guess it's all related to hatred, this time your hatred of Palin. Just like Danny and Fox News, these emotions keep you up at night, and never fade. It's gotta be a tough way to live. I don't see racism as part of any of this. That's a relief.

As far as the race for the 23rd is concerned, it looks good for you. I suspect Mr Owens will win. He doesn't seem like a bad guy, but it's hard to know much about him. That media you love so much, with reason, is allowing all the candidates to hide. But things look good for you and yours. Congrats.

hermit thrush said...

dear piv,
i'm not sure what exactly you mean by "her specifically" vs. "the ticket," but at any rate, it's not hard to look up some of the things you did write:


* In the end, McCain makes a smart bold move with Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska.


* This is just more proof that Sarah Palin is a professional and everyday "hockey mom" who faces and relates to life's challenges.

And apparently these decisions are not above Palin's pay grade either.



* Everything else just shows her family experiences real life struggles just like many other average families. Many Americans will be able to relate to her life, as opposed to the political elite of other candidates.


* She is widely popular as someone who can relate to the average person and she is a breath of fresh air. Keep rockin' Sarah!

then there was your glowing reaction to her speech at the rnc. and who could forget this gem, my favorite of them all!

there's more i could cite, but i think we all get the point. it pretty clearly amounts to just what i said: a lot of pro-sarah cheerleading (Keep rockin' Sarah!).

i'm perfectly willing to believe you now that you're not actually a fan of palin. it's just that that isn't what's come across on your blog, at least as far as i've seen.

and none this changes the fact palin had an atrocious record of media engagement during the campaign, but you never saw fit to criticize her for it.

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