My Personal Response to GOP Chair Dave Hansen's Comments on Helen Thomas

Helen Thomas:



OK, that was bad. But, was it bad enough to generate these comments from Utah Republican Party Chairman Dave Hansen (via today's Political Cornflakes)?

"Helen Thomas has clearly lost any semblence of rational thinking and has let her bigoted views of Israel and Jews take over. Yes Helen, its time for you to retire. You might be more comfortable living out your remaining years in a white supremacist enclave in northern Idaho."

Maybe Ms Thomas can take a few of Mr Hansen's party members with her. Namely Senator Buttars, Representatives Wimmer and Sanstrom, and Mike Lee and Tim Bridgewater, too. Their comments have been just as bad, if not worse, than those of Ms Thomas.

I'm sure they'll all love it up there with those folks.

-Bob

(P.S. - I know that Senator Buttars is in the hospital with health issues. I hope he gets better soon.)

Mike Lee T-Shirt on Sale at KSL.....

This was funny. Thanks to several friends who posted it on Facebook and Twitter.

Mike Lee US Senate Campaign T-Shirt Adult XL. Pocket Constitution included.
Salt Lake City, UT 84121 - Jun 4, 2010
This is a T-shirt that I got at the Utah Republican State Convention. The shirt has "I Like Mike" on the back.

I'm selling this shirt because I stand for principles and I can no longer have "I Like Mike" displayed on my back. I thought I liked Mike. He loves the Constitution. I love the Constitution. He was a true conservative. I am a true conservative. It was something I was looking forward to wearing.

But in the past few weeks, my shirt has come to mean something else. I found out that Mike failed to register as a Lobbyist when he represented his clients in front of Elected Officials. But instead of admitting he was wrong, he blames other people. It sort of reminds me of another Constitutional Lawyer who is now our President.

Then he started attacking his opponent over issues like earmarks, even though he has represented companies that receive federal funds. These attacks came after he threw a fit before the convention when Senator Bennett was attacking him. He is acting like the bully down the street that loves to dish it out, but can't take it when someone does it to him. I'm not sure who Mike Lee really is anymore. Is he truly a Constitutional expert or is he just another lawyer opportunist?

He wants a constitutional amendment for term limits, but he won't self-impose his own limits if he is elected.

He believes in state's rights under the 10th Amendment of the Constitution, but he represented EnergySolutions that wants the Federal Government to force Utah to take nuclear waste that we don't want.

This shirt needs to go to a home that believes in hypocrisy in their Senate candidates. They need to lack depth in their political discussions and then be uncompromising in their defense of Mike Lee, even with all the evidence I just presented.

I'm willing to trade for a Bridgewater or Granato XL T-shirt. Since they still have some integrity left in them.

Granato: GOP Candidates Want To Increase Taxes on 83% of Taxpayers

Tommy Burr, Out of Context:

Sam Granato, the Democratic nominee for Sen. Bob Bennett's seat, castigated Republican primary opponents Mike Lee and Tim Bridgewater for expressing support during a KSL debate for "so-called 'fair' or 'flat' tax plans" that, according to Granato, "economists say could result in substantial tax increases for 83 percent of American families."

"That doesn't sound fair to me at all," he said in a release Wednesday.

Granato said that non-partisan fact-checking organizations have said these plans aren’t very flat or fair, and will result in tax hikes for families earning less than $100,000 per year, while the wealthy receive sizeable tax cuts.

“Lee and Bridgewater need to stop pandering to extreme ideologues and start focusing on helping the Utah families who need it most,” Granato continued.

Republicans want to raise your taxes. Republicans want to raise your taxes. Sounds like who I want to vote for.....

Bridgewater And Lee's Convention Speeches

I haven't had the chance to watch the whole thing (though I was in the room for Bridgewater's speech). However, more blog posts will be coming, especially on Bridgewater's comments about terrorists not getting Miranda rights showing his (and most Republican's) disregard for the Constitution, and how it will get a terrorist out of jail one day.

Channel 4's Lazy reporting

Why pay to conduct your own poll when you can just use someone's insider poll?

From KTVX:

SALT LAKE (ABC 4 News) - Utah Senator Bob Bennett may no longer be the front-runner for his own party's nomination.

According to reliable Republican sources, Bennett now trails GOP challenger Mike Lee by a significant amount among GOP delegates.

According to our sources, Mike Lee's campaign has conducted two large surveys in the last month.

Each polled between a quarter and a third of the delegates to next month's Republican state convention.

Reportedly, Mike Lee is first with 37 percent of the delegate vote.

Bennett is said to be second at 22 percent.

Tim Bridgewater, according to information given to ABC 4, is third at 20.5%

And Cherilyn Eagar, we're told, is in 4th place at 13% of those polled.

Here's the problem I have with this:

How do we know this was an unbiased poll?

After all, if you're going to be leaking a poll (especially with that much detail), to Chris Vancour, why does it have to be accurate?

For all we know, The question was "If the convention was today, which of the following candidates would you vote for? Mike "Superhero" Lee, Bob "Old Fart Who Likes Big Banks" Bennett, Tim "Nobody" Bridgewater, or Crazy Cherilyn Eagar?"

-Bob

Shurtleff Out --What does it mean for the other competitors?

With Attorney General Mark Shurleff suspending his campaign for US Senate to deal with family matters surrounding his daughter's depression, what does it mean for the other people in the race?

Sen Bob Bennett (R)

In the eyes of many, this boiled down to a two-person race -- Shurtleff vs Bennett. With the AG out of the picture, Bennett's run get much easier. There's still a chance, but his road to reelection definitely got easier today.

Sam Granato (D)

Easily the person most hurt by this is Sam. Let's face it, the best-case scenario for Dems was a Shurtleff-Granato race to November. The worst-case scenario is Bennett-Granato.

Cherilyn Eagar (R)

This is definitely a win-lose for the Eagar camp. On one hand, it opens the door for more media coverage. On the other hand, she loses much of the "anything you can do I can do better" competition she was playing with Shurtleff. She'll gain some of the delegates that were looking to Shurtleff for change, but not enough to make a difference.

Tim Bridgewater (R)

The second-worst-kept secret in the 2010 cycle has been that Tim Bridgewater was running for Senate. And, because of that, the announcement of his campaign came with little fanfare. However, with Shurtleff gone, it allows him to step up to the plate. His experience in the Republican Convention/Primary system from his two runs for the US House gives him the leg up in recruiting delegates. He is the new favorite to force a primary with Bennett. his ability to win a primary is another question.

-Bob

UT-Sen: And then there were six

DesNews:

Vowing to wage a low-cost grass-roots campaign aiming to return the country to constitutional principles, Republican James Russell Williams III formally announced his candidacy Wednesday for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Bob Bennett, R-Utah.

"We have to change the way our politicians are running the government. The best hope for our country, and for our families, is to return to our core conservative principles of fiscal discipline, accountability, strong national security, limited government and immigration reform," he said.

He enters a crowded race. Already in it are Republicans Bennett, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, and former congressional candidate Tim Bridgewater, and conservative Cherilyn Eagar is expected to formally announce her candidacy on Thursday. Also in the race is Democratic food business owner Sam Granato.

Williams, 36, of South Jordan, owns a small business called Creative Customs, which provides electronics work for car dealerships. He said he has never run for political office.

From The SideTrack

Annother Member of the Loony Wing Joins the Senate Race

Ethan Millard writes on KSL.com that Cherilyn Bacon Eagar "is forming an exploratory committee in preparation to join the race to replace Senator Bennett."

She Joins Mark Shurtleff and Tim Bridgewater on the Republican Side. Joe Granato is the only Democrat to have announced at this point.

Who is Cherilyn Bacon Eagar?

Cherilyn Bacon Eagar is an owner of and marketing director for WebsTarget® by Computer Camp, an Internet marketing company that services the real estate industry nationally. She is President and Policy Analyst for World Class Education Research, founded to publish and advocate for ideals that strengthen the traditional family. She was co-author of the first state Family and Educational Rights to Privacy Act, to protect students from invasive psychological and non-academic testing. She is also author of an education policy manual entitled Edugate America: The Deconstruction of a Culture and is completing a book on pornography to help the family members of sexual addicts.

She has presented nationally on education reforms and related topics for over 20 years, has been a media spokesperson for many causes from Stop ERA of the late 70’s to hosting an opinion/comment talk radio show. She is featured in Sean Hannity’s book Let Freedom Ring in recognition of her successful post-9/11 national campaign against the Red Cross’ “neutrality” policy which prohibited the singing of traditional American patriotic songs such as “God Bless the USA” and “America the Beautiful” and “Declaration” (with text from the Declaration of Independence), and songs which mention the words “God” and “prayer.”

She developed a summer program in New York City for aspiring performing artists working with Broadway directors and instructors and rated among the top 2 programs along with NYU’s “Cap 21” program. She received highest ratings while on the faculty at the Orange County School of the Arts (a charter school) and at Brigham Young University. She has been accepted into the Masters Degree program in Education and in Marriage and Family Therapy from Liberty University in Virginia.

Cherilyn has had a wealth of experience in the private, non-profit charitable sector, having raised approximately $1 million for various causes from the Boy Scouts to the Special Olympics, as well as fighting pornography over the past decade. She has also had a lifetime of experience in the political arena in several regions of the U.S., multiple times as Republican county and state delegate, a candidate for the school board in Texas, as campaign manager for the 1994 Congressional race in Utah’s 3rd District, and in supporting conservative candidates and causes that strengthen families.

A lifelong, dedicated Republican, she has also had brief, but vast, top-level, “third party” experience when she helped Patrick Buchanan in his bid for the presidency. During that time, she became the National Press Secretary for the Reform Party. As a result, she is a strong advocate for working within the existing two party-system to affect change. She believes the Republican Party, though its platform reflects correct principles of government and the free market, has drifted too far toward Statism/Big Government in practice.

She is now dedicated to restoring the Republican Party to the principles of its platform, to fiscal responsibility, and to the principles of the free market and states’ sovereignty for which President Ronald Reagan stood, especially in the area of education. She opposes the recent national take-over of America’s economy and recognizes that Congress has adopted a mixed economy of predominantly socialist/fascist principles. This must change if America is to survive and remain that “Shining City on a Hill” that Reagan envisioned as the bastion of freedom for the rest of the world.

She is married to Randy Eagar, and together they have seven children and 9.5 grandchildren.

I'm wondering if the Loony wing of the party are diluting their voting bloc too much with too many candidates.

-Bob

From The SideTrack