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Thursday, June 07, 2007
Anyone but Chuck
Yes, please. I've been wondering how long the good people of Nebraska could continue to support tolerate Chuck Hagel. The man is a walking, talking disaster — the senatorial equivalent of Ron Paul. I have to deliberately unclench my jaws after listening to him on the Sunday morning talk shows, whose producers I'm sure must get a huge kick out of inviting him simply to embarrass every rational Republican in the country.
It's not that I think he's unpatriotic. It's that I think he's too stupid to be left alone in a room with a book of matches.
Best of luck to his primary challenger, about whom I know nothing, but to whom I going to give some serious consideration of sending a campaign contribution.
Posted by Beldar at 09:18 PM in 2008 Election, Politics (2007) | Permalink
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Comments
(1) DRJ made the following comment | Jun 7, 2007 9:48:21 PM | Permalink
Amen to that. Hagel's challenger is next on my list of donations, right after Fred Thompson.
(2) Beth made the following comment | Jun 7, 2007 10:00:21 PM | Permalink
too stupid to be left alone in a room with a book of matches.
HA! Perfect description!
I'll second DRJ's comment; his challenger will probably be seeing a lot of nationwide support.
;-)
(3) Dan S made the following comment | Jun 8, 2007 3:03:54 PM | Permalink
May I suggest a name for this anti-campaign?
Chuck Chuck!
(4) Kent made the following comment | Jun 8, 2007 9:15:43 PM | Permalink
Being a lover of low humor, I'd make that "Upchuck Chuck!'
(5) LazyMF made the following comment | Jun 9, 2007 2:14:19 AM | Permalink
Beldar, I'm not going to try to convince you to like Chuck Hagel, but I will try to convince you to steer your contribution to a better use - maybe the tip jar of your favorite Iraq war blogger or as a tip to good mariachi band at your favorite Mexican restaurant.
Chuck Hagel has to know that his recent defections from the Republican Senate mainstream is political suicide in Nebraska.
Nebraska is a very conservative state with a small population. What happened there in the last gubernatorial election was closely observed by Hagel. In that election Tom Osborne ran against an opponent in the Republican primary. Osborne was arguably the most popular politician ever in Nebraska (imagine a Coke Stevenson that also successfully coached football for UT and A&M) After growing up in Hastings, attending a state university, playing in the NFL, earning a doctoral degree and coaching the Nebraska football team during 3 decades and 5 national championships (one of which they regretfully had to share with an inferior University of Texas team following the 1971 season), Osborne ran for Congress as the representative from Nebraska's 3rd district. He won the congressional seat with a massive landslide (85% of the vote I think) with a conservative Christian, Republican platform. He easily won re-elections also. When he decided to leave Congress to become governor it was assumed he would be a shoe-in. However, he ran afoul of one campaign issue that lost him the election.
Nebraska had a state law that allowed the children of illegal aliens to attend Nebraska state universities (if they qualified) at the tuition rates for in-state residents. The only significant populations of illegal immigrants in Nebraska are the Hispanic meat packers that work in the slaughterhouses. I never saw an actual number demonstrating how many children of illegal aliens were attending Nebraska universities at in-state rates, but I would be surprised if it was more than 50. However, Osborne's opponent made this issue the main focus of the Republican primary. The opponent wanted to change the law; Osborne wanted to keep the law the way it was. The campaign turned into thinly-veiled xenophobic debate and allowed the opponent to beat out Osborne, and then to easily win the general election.
If you contribute money to John Bruning, you have to know that he will likely attack Hagel on immigration issues to win the general election. Just look as his stance on immigration on the web link you provided and you'll get a hint. Do you want your campaign dollars going to fund xenophobic advertising in a race that Bruning will win easily, or would you rather contribute your funds to a cause of which you can be proud?
(6) Beldar made the following comment | Jun 10, 2007 7:56:08 AM | Permalink
LazyMF, my friend, I was hoping to get your comments on this post, for you are my resource on all things Nebraskan.
I dunno if Bruning is xenophobic or racist, or has been or will be playing upon those tendencies among Nebraskans. Those labels have been thrown about too promiscuously by supporters of the recent immigration bill in their push-back against the bill's opponents, but there are indeed genuine racists and xenophobes, of course. When and if I decide to throw some money to an opponent of Chuck Hagel, I will indeed look more closely to try to ensure that I'm not funding someone who does indeed fall in those categories.
(7) sherlock made the following comment | Jun 10, 2007 11:06:34 AM | Permalink
I seem to recall that back when Chuck said we were losing in Iraq and should throw in the towel, some wag proposed this slogan:
"Cluck, cluck, cluck. Vote for Chuck!"
(8) LazyMF made the following comment | Jun 10, 2007 5:49:22 PM | Permalink
I don't know if Bruning is a xenophobe or just an opportunist.
When I wrote my comment Bruning's website had bullet points for each of his major campaign platforms. Now (Sunday) all of that has been replaced by news articles. When one clicked on his immigration policy bullet it revealed an immigration policy as hard core as I've ever seen from a mainstream politician, including ending bilingual education in the classroom.
Two clarifications:
(1) the old Nebraska law only allowed the children of illegal immigrants to attend state universities at in-state rates if they were graduated from Nebraska high schools; the law was not a magnet for the illegal aliens from neighboring states.
(2) UT was inferior in 1970 because the were given the national championship by UPI prior to the bowl games. UT failed to win their bowl game. Nebraska beat LSU in the Orange Bowl, then took the AP crown.
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