I received a news release from Congressman Charlie Dent's campaign yesterday. It's a reaction to Scott Brown's upset victory in Massachusetts, where Coakley went Croakley. Scott Brown talked about issues. Congressional challenger John Callahan runs from them. Yesterday, in the bluest of blue states, Massachusetts, voters went to the polls and by a large margin, supported Senator-elect Scott Brown. During his campaign, Scott Brown made it clear to the voters of his state that he steadfastly opposed the government takeover of healthcare that Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are trying to cram down the throats of Americans. There was no question where Scott Brown stood on this and other important issues, and his honest statement of his positions was a service to the voters because it helped them make informed decisions.
Contrast Scott Brown’s honesty and straightforwardness with John Callahan’s evasiveness and emptiness on healthcare. John Callahan started his race for Congress more than six months ago. He still cowardly refuses to open up to the voters of the 15th District about where he stands on the tremendously important issue of healthcare, as well as other important issues.
“John Callahan’s silence on healthcare is deafening and damning,” said campaign manager Shawn Millan. “He is purposefully hiding his position on important issues from the voters,” Millan added.
Most likely with good reason.
“John Callahan continues his chicken-dance on the issue of healthcare,” Congressman Charlie Dent observed. “He’s trying to get away with running an issue-free campaign.”
Callahan spoke at an SEIU/MoveOn.org-sponsored healthcare protest in support of Nancy Pelosi’s healthcare legislation and in opposition to Congressman Dent’s vote against that plan. The protest was held in front of Congressman Dent’s office. Callahan has also expressed support for the so-called public option.
The Dent campaign is calling on Callahan to answer four straightforward, but important questions on health care to help inform the voters of the 15th District where he stands:
1) Does he continue to support the healthcare plan that passed the House in November?
2) Does he still support a “public option?”
3) Will he condemn the Democrat Congressional Leadership’s and President Obama’s lack of transparency during the current healthcare negotiations?
4) Will he publicly condemn any effort to force this woefully deficient bill down the throats of the people of the 15th District?
If John Callahan continues to refuse to answer questions on important federal issues like these, then the real question is: Why is Callahan running for Congress?
58 comments:
Dent is running scared. Brown's victory was a blow to the status quo. Dent is the status quo in the Lehigh Valley.
Callahan is the change the Lehigh Valley needs and deserves.
"If John Callahan continues to refuse to answer questions on important federal issues like these, then the real question is: Why is Callahan running for Congress?"
If he refuses to state his position on important issues why should anyone(except total partisans)vote for him?
Scott Armstrong
Brown's victory was a blow to the status quo. Dent is the status quo in the Lehigh Valley.
I am very pleased Brown won in Massachusetts, but I do not make more out of it than what it was.
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Brown's victory was a repudiation of Democrat arrogance and spend, spend, spend policies. Even Massachusetts (a very blue state) was concerned over the very deep in the red future Obama, Pelosi and Reid were creating for them.
Callahan is the change the Lehigh Valley needs and deserves.
America got what it deserved in 2008. Hopefully the lesson has been learned.
Obama was still blaming Bush yesterday. The guy is incapable of accepting responsibility. The command and control aspects of the progressive government-business alliance were soundly rejected by Massachusetts independents. Closed door meetings and shady backroom deals have finally caught up to the gang that's certain they know what's best for us.
Dent can phone this one in. Although, he won't. Callahan doesn't know what to stand for at this point. He looks more ridiculous than whomever that loser in Massachusetts was.
Brown was no upset.
Americans want their country back - PRONTO!
That was liberal Massachusetts, where D's outnumber R's by a 3 to 1 margin.
The Obama Experiment has been a colossal failure, no matter how hard the Kool-Aid drinkers spin crap.
Progressive Liberals have been exposed for who they really are - out and out LIARS bent on a radical agenda.
Got Earmarks?
Got Lobbyists?
Got Transparency?
Exactly what have you got, Obamabot?
Except out of control, record-level spending...
...and a fool who wants to take Federal tax dollars and, instead of giving that money to our soldiers to fight radical Islamic terrorists, hand that money over to lawyers to protect the non-existant Constitutional rights of the very same Islamic terrorists who try to kill us and blow up our planes.
Next week, the bozo will give a speech explaining how arrogant America is and bow to a Saudi king.
How is this bill "forced" when it was voted for by 60 Senators (out of 100 in case your audience doesn't know) and a healthy majority of the people's House?
Dent is out of touch. Look at the exit polling in Mass and he may discover something.
If he refuses to state his position on important issues why should anyone(except total partisans)vote for him?
Because he's a highly popular mayor of the valley's finest city? Dent is part of the Congress that failed this country over the past decade.
"Because he's a highly popular mayor of the valley's finest city? "
All the more reason to keep him there, don't you think?
That was liberal Massachusetts, where D's outnumber R's by a 3 to 1 margin.
Actually, the independents outnumber both parties. And the exit polling revealed that people who voted for Obama and Brown wanted stronger action on healthcare and an overwhelming majority want a public option.
When local employers start dropping insurance for the their employees, I believe many of these conservatives will be begging for a mea culpa.
"Dent is out of touch. Look at the exit polling in Mass and he may discover something"
Apparently, you haven't. Dems are fed up with the bullshit sandwiches from a President who failed to keep the promises he made as a candidate.
That may be the case however I was speaking directly to the sentiment of the healthcare bill by Obama voters who voted for Brown.
I have to think Callahan must be having real second thoughts on this upcoming contest. The political landscape has turned 180 degrees since he was talked into the run by Democratic Party bigwigs. He has to understand the new dynamic makes defeating Dent almost mission impossible.
Scott Armstrong
Bully is still trying to pick a fight and is getting more frustrated by the day. Dents camp is losing in the money game and knows it. The mayor is developing the structure to get his message out effectively and is going to crush Dent when the time comes....tick tock millan.....
Maybe Dent should be focused on his primary first, because he may be very suprised. And don't forget his Independent challenger.....
This release from a sitting congressman is really sad....
What I find sad ias a Bethlehem mayor who tells City Council he should be applauded for violating their laws. Is he King Maurice?
Do you really believe Callahan did what he did without a legal opinion?
I can't think of a single lawyer who would advise Callahan to tell City Council they should applaud him for violating two of their own ordinances.
Bernie you know your playing loose with the quote....the point was the city received more money in house than budgeted for, that is a good thing. The complaint was that the extra income was used without council approval. A mistake was made, no doubt. Lesson learned, move on...
Stick to the point and not to Shawn Millan's spin.
Callahan is probably the best candidate we have had in years. He knows how to run a government. He is not going to be hurt by what happened in Mass.
The point is that Callahan exhibits arrogance. If he speaks that way to a city council, how will he treat a constituent?
As far as exit polls and all the other desperate attempts to make lemonade out of lemons, the fact is that a Democratic candidate promoted by Obama lost to a Republican who opposes Obamacare in a very blue state. Obama voters who voted for Brown said they did so because of his failure to deal with employment and put people back to work. He's dithering around accepting Nobel Peace Prizes he did not earn while the country is going to hell.
Yet Brown himself voted FOR a Massachusetts healthcare plan MORE liberal than the one in Congress. The voters did not want to be double-charged and I highly doubt they'd be willing to give up what the rest of the country wants - healthcare security.
I think it is unfair to expect Obama to throw a switch and reverse decades of bad government and out of control financial markets.
That's a fair point. But as I've said before, he's going in too many different directions at the same time. His agenda has been too optimisitic.
And if he did the opposite, he'd be accused of doing nothing. I really think this Obama disparagement is being manufactured by the right. I really don't see it in the real world.
What is unsettling to me is how the country rallied around George W Bush in times of crisis yet the right merely uses the crisis to destroy the President.
Example: Richard Reid the shoe bomber was never presented as an example of President Bush being lax on terrorism. But what happened with the underwear bomber? There was a President, the right-wing, and a Bus involved.
At least Callahan takes time to get information on an issue before
forming his opinion. Dent just waits until the Republican Party tells him how to vote and then votes accordingly...Wow, what a great Congressman.
Brown is hot, Callahan is hot.
Dent is dogmeat. Cosmo magaizine would never publish Dent naked.
Go Callahan.
Bernie - you are crazy.
Central, I'll agree with you there. Obama acted responsibly and quickly to the latest incident of terror. I think that, no matter what smears come from the far right, it is generally perceived that he handled the matter well. It is believed that is primarily why his approval ratings have gone up a bit.
usa1, Thanks for that very intelligent assessment of the candidates.
Central Scrutinizer sure is on a roll, but his momentum is causing him to get a little fast with facts...
he points out that Healthcare was passed by 60 votes in Senate (and yes I know that is out of 100), and a "healthy majority" of the House...however, it's important to keep in mind it wasn't the same bill that passed the Senate, lots of special handouts had to be included just to get to 60...in other words, harry Reid had to bribe (with OUR money) members of his own party just to pass this.
As for the House, the vote was 220-215...which means that if just 3 Democrats change their vote, and everyone else votes the same way they did the first time, the bill fails...perhaps part of the reason Dems are having such a hard time with healthcare reform is that some seem to have a difficult time understanding the meaning of the word "healthy"
As for emphasizing that people who supported Obama, are for the healthcare bill, yet still voted for the candidate who said he could be the vote to stop it over the person who ran as the person to keep it alive...well, I think that says more about how people feel about Obama's record of governing thus far...they may like the idea of reform, but they don;t care for his methods of achieving that reform
Finally, Richard Reid is brought up as a comparison to Obama's handling of the "Underwear Bomber"--once again, context matters...Reid was apprehended not long after the idea of military tribunals had begun to be implemented...the program was still in its earliest stages...you will note that any terrorist caught after Reid was not placed into the US criminal Justice system by Bush...they were slated for the military system.
Obama, despite having the benefit of seeing how the military courts work versus the criminal, still chose to use the criminal system, going back to the old mindset of treating terrorism as a criminal matter, and extending the rights of US citizens to people who (not citizens themselves) have engaged in such acts against our Country.
Point 1 - It's called compromise and pushing legislation. It has always happened and always will. Unsavory, yes but part of the political landscape our founders created.
Point 2 - May Democratic congressmen voted AGAINST the bill because it was far too conservative.
Point 3 - I don't believe it says anything about Obama at all as his approval ratings are pretty darn good. Coakley was a horrible candidate, the Dems too the race for granted, and the tea parties rallied their troops based on a lot of misinformation.
Point 4 - Richard Reid was tried in US Federal Court and sentenced to three consecutive life sentences. If you are insecure enough to be afraid of Reid breaking out of prison and raping your family, get a dog.
Judge to Richard Reid: "You are not an enemy combatant, you are a terrorist' ... 'You are not a soldier in any army, you are a terrorist. To call you a soldier gives you far too much stature.'
I know the right-wing likes to trump these knuckleheads up but please.
The exit polling spin is riotous.
Obamacare is dead and Brown is your new US Senator from Massachusetts.
Please refer to the final vote tabulations and try to be gracious losers.
Brown, the gentleman who voted for a more liberal policy than the teabaggers oppose. Ah, irony.
For those Tea Partiers/Baggers and Republican who look at Brown as the saviour, look to his record in Mass. There is a reason Glenn Beck does not trust him.
RE Pt.1: Compromise and pushing legislation? typically, compromise comes with ppeople who oppose your views (i.e., between Repub and Dems)...all the "compromise" was one-sided...and I don't see how forcing 49 states to cover Nebraska's Medicaid costs represent compromise? How the buyoff of Landrieu in Louisiana represent compromise..it's vote-buying pure and simple...and it was Obama who said he would end politics as usual, and be so open--no backdoor deals on his watch...the Anreican people are learning different...
RE: Pt. 2--if that's the case then the version thaat passed the Senate has NO Hope in the House
RE: Pt. 3 --Obama's approval is pretty good? Really? Good, I hope all Dems feel that way...and even if this were true, keep in mind they aren't trending upwards..and and neither is approval of Healthcare...in fact, in both cases, the more people learn....
RE: Pt. 4---yes Reid was convicted...but bringing these people under the criminal justice system is just a terrible idea---the disclosure requirements alone will do so much damage to our already horrible intelligence system.
Anyone is miles better than the one who previously stained that chair. There was nowhere to go but up.
Oh Thank God for reasoned thoughtful statements backed by some basis in fact
"The Central Scrutinizer said...
If he refuses to state his position on important issues why should anyone(except total partisans)vote for him?
Because he's a highly popular mayor of the valley's finest city? Dent is part of the Congress that failed this country over the past decade."
Central, you have just proven yourself a partisan.
Scott Armstrong
Why does it need to be Democrat vs. Republican, Conservative Vs. Liberal. You mean to say we can't find common ground on this issue and move on?
While we speculate, bitch and moan China manufactures, China builds, China buys another American company, surpasses our battery technology in order to have a stranglehold on the possible future auto industry.... Why can't someone step up rally the troops and put the USA on top of the hill again?
Excellent questions, C.
USA # 1
Whatever happened to that concept?
It is hard to put USA first when the radical leftist Obama and his minions take USA taxpayer money and give it to Islamic terrorists for lawyers to get them off the hook for attempting to kill USA citizens.
It is hard for Obama to put USA # 1 in between apologizing for America's arrogance and bowing to Saudi and Japanese royalty.
Give Obama a break, though.
He's an inexperienced rookie learning on the job.
This ain't community organizing, ya know!
Obama did not earn the Nobel Peace Prize?
YOU LIE!
YES HE DID!!!
Obama is the smartest and greatest President ever.
Chris Matthews said he was the last Kennedy brother.
Allentown Democratic Voter
Ohare has his orders, he must write whatever his mancrush Dent's office tells him too.
It is Ohares role in life to suck off of people get recognition and free stuff.
Hey I'm Allentown Democrat Voter
http://hotair.com/archives/2010/01/21/breaking-pelosi-announces-that-she-cant-pass-senate-obamacare-bill/
Sorry for the gobbledygook friends -- this is a link to an article with this headline:
Pelosi announces that she can’t pass Senate ObamaCare bill
As President Obama once said: "You lost."
Deal with it.
Jon Stewart: Funnier than 1000 Rylocks slipping on 1000 banana peels
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-january-18-2010/mass-backwards
I am sure not the intent, but the picture you use is bi-partisan proof that both parties like to "give away" the public's money(albeit, borrowed--debt). Despite the rhetoric it really doesn't matter at the national level, D or R. I have to laugh when I tune in to Hannity or the other talking heads--Republican indignation at all the loose Dem spending sounds like the Democrat indignation in 2006 at the Republican Bush deficits. Whoever controls the cookie jar, acts just like the other when they had the cookie jar. Both parties are fiscally irresponsible.
There is no real leadership anymore...just living for the next election.
Dent is very out of touch. THe reason the Cosmo centerfold boy won is because Dems are upset that Obama isn't tougher about healthcare reform and Wall Street reform, shown by Obama's sudden switch the following day on his stance toward the banks. Dent is always out of touch. I still say that I will respect him if he gives up his govt. healthcare and buys private healthcare like the rest of us, that is, if he gets approved. He might be denied healthcare for being too short.
Central, you have just proven yourself a partisan.
Mr Armstrong, I'm afraid you are the last person herre who can speak out against partisanship. Yes, I support our President and our country. How about you?
It is hard to put USA first when the radical leftist Obama and his minions take USA taxpayer money and give it to Islamic terrorists for lawyers to get them off the hook for attempting to kill USA citizens.
Because the President is a Muslim born in Indonesia, right? Oh my.
I never seem to hear about President Bush's out of control spending and leftist policies from the right-wing posters here. I wonder why? Perhaps the letter behind the name has to do with it? Bush took a surplus and turned it into a massive deficit and during his eight year tenure sat back and watched as the world financial markets crumbled. Obama has to pick up the pieces and HE'S the incompetent one. Great stuff.
Valid point, but I am one of those who was unhappy with the spending of Bush. Unfortunately, the alternatives were not exactly bastions of fiscal prudence either. I didn't think it was possible but Obama has been able to outspend even Bush. But the fault also lies with Congress, and is at least a part of the reason the R's lost control of Congress, and hopefully they've learned their lesson. Clearly the D's did not learn from the R's mistake. And here's a little prediction for you all...the focus of D's and Obama will turn to economic issues (okay not exactly breaking news) but the important decision facing them is how they attack this...if they contineu to porpose more government involvement, more interference, more taking from one to give to another, more spending...well, that is also one of the lessons of Massachusetts...people are concerned with the size of government...more proposals to make it bigger to solve a problem will not serve D's well...
Hey Central :
Give up.
Obama IS a loser.
Don't you notice the rats fleeing the ship?
Jonah - Obama's outrageous spending consisted of a stimulus plan - something any President would have done. TARP was already under way - again, something any President would have done. There is nothing outrageous about how Obama dealt with the situation handed him.
Notice the date on the check (picture): 2005. Republican House, Senate, and President.
Like I said above, there is not much difference between D's or R's in DC in what they do rather than what they say. They all like to "bring the bacon home" (even if the bacon came from China).
Nothing outrageous? really? $787 billion stimulus, which we were told was vital to pass immediately, yet barely one third of the money has been spent? A stimulus we were told was necessary to keep unemployment from hitting 10%...which is where we are now? I know, it's all W's fault, and Obama was dealt a bad hand...but it's not like it was a surprise...he knew before the election things were bad...but he told us this stimulus would solve everything. Now, he's trying to take the TARP money that wasn't used, and instead of giving it back to us (why on earth would one do THAT), he wants to use it for Stimulus II (although that word is now apparently forbidden)...when the first stimulus hasn't even been fully implemented. What happened to the promise to stop earmarks? the promise to refuse to sign any bill loaded up with pork?
TARP was under way, and one can argue whether it should have ever been done...but at least the money has been accounted for...oh wait...Obama's Treasury Secretary didn't want that info to get out did he?
You cannot complain about Bush's spending, and the lack of criticism from the right on that, and then defend Obama's spending which is so much more it boggles the mind. You are doing the very thing you accuse R's of...criticizing Bush for spending, but giving Obama a pass...even defending it. If you don't like Bush's spending, please explain how you can support even more spending by Obama...
I think what bothers D's more than anything is how much Obama has followed W's path on a host of issues...
Jonah - Bush's wasn't spending to combad a depression. You seem to lack the context of the immediacy of the situation. Or are you implying that Obama and the Democrats created a bogus stimulus just to spend taxpayer money as some sort of fetish? And while I would have liked to see the stimulus funds spent more quickly, it is probably prudent to let it trickle out. I'm sure the President is as disappointed as you that this his plan is not working as quickly as you would like.
Okay, except you can't spend your way out of a recession (sorry it's not a depression, as much as you guys want to paint the dourest picture of what you inherited)...further, the whole point of the Stimulus according to Obama is that we needed it passed immediately so it can have immediate effects on the economy..now you claim, oh no, we meant for it to trickle out...which is it?
Bush's spending came primarily in good economic times...his extra spending came as a result of the downturn...his first stimulus, then the first bailout, were both reactions to worsening economy (not saying I agree)...so you once again are criticizing Bush for doing the same thing you praise Obama for...again, if you are goiong to criticize spending, then it only seems proper to criticize increasing already out of control spending at a time a poor economic conditions...something Obama clearly understands in his attempts to hide the true cost of his healthcare reforms...his outright lies about how it will cost the people more money, not cut spending in any way shape or form
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