CHICAGO (AP)-- The Veterans of Foreign Wars' political action committee Friday endorsed a Republican congressional candidate with no military experience over a Democrat who lost her legs in combat in Iraq.
more bellow the fold
Suddenly, today, out of the blue, the national Veterans of Foreign Wars endorsed Roskam.
Unlike SOP for these sorts of things, the VFW never sent Duckworth a questionnaire. None of the local VFW chapters were contacted.
Democratic congressional candidate Tammy Duckworth gave both legs in sacrifice to her country, but that apparently wasn't enough for the Veterans of Foreign Wars to endorse her.
Instead, the national VFW relied on the word of former Republican state Sen. Ray Soden of DuPage County to back Republican Peter Roskam in the down-to-the-wire 6th Congressional District.
Roskam tried to bill the endorsement as a major boost to his campaign in the final days, but found himself admitting he sat on the endorsement until the end for maximum attention. The VFW representative was unable to give much of a reason for the endorsement or explain how it happened, and Roskam looked stunned at the harsh questioning from reporters.
So if no local chapters were consulted (and they support Duckworth), and if she received no questionnaire, how did it happen?
Roskam said the national endorsement was based on the recommendation by a few 6th District VFW leaders. The only one he named was Soden, a former head of the Illinois VFW who was appointed to fill out former Republican Senate President James "Pate" Philip's term in 2003.
Buttice said Soden sits on the national VFW's political action committee board but had surgery Friday and was unavailable.
Next time, the VFW may want to consult with their local chapters. As is, this endorsement is blowing up big time in Roskam's face. If nothing else, it gives Duckworth yet another chance to hold press conferences surrounded by vets and have her story repeated in newscasts.
Rejecting Duckworth, Laesch, and Seals? WTF? What were you thinking?
An election night rant for the hell of it continues after the bump.
I've read a few comments, some on dKos, suggesting we make nice with Rahm Emanuel. After all, he's part of Democratic leadership.
I don't like to knock Democrats, but I'll make an exception for him. It's not because he's a glory hound; that' too common a failing among polticians to single anyone out. It's not even because of his public hostility towards Dr. Dean, although that makes appeals to "save your criticism for the Republicans" a little lame in his case.
Emanuel combines two minor faults into one huge one.
Combine these two, and you get a man imposing poor tactics on his favored Democratic House candidates.
Salvatore Capirchio, head of the VFW PAC regarding his decision to endorse Peter Roskam who filled out a questionnaire over veteran Tammy Duckworth who lost her legs during her service in Iraq:
Our endorsement was about who was going to best serve the interests of the 40,600 veterans who reside in the Illinois 6th District.
Remember when Peter Roskam (R,IL-06)appeared on television?
Remember when he stood there with a man and woman and bragged about his endorsement by the V.F.W.?
Remember how pleased he was that the organization had endorsed him over Tammy Duckworth (D,IL-06)?
Well, none of it was true!.
My husband, a V.F.W member and Tammy Duckworth supporter was dismayed and more. He called Tammy's office and was told about a Press conference downtown in Chicago. We had just enough time to get there.(About 30 minutes) Amazingly, he was not the only veteran and V.F.W. member to show up. And there were all angry...wanting to burn their membership cards!
More below the fold.
Hi Kossacks,
First off, thank you for helping me win $5,000 from the Daniel Kovach Scholarship Foundation for my blogging! While many of the other bloggers nominated have done impressive work, I still feel as if my contributions to the political blogosphere were deserving of the award. So thank you all once again.
Secondly, I apologize for my absence from the blogs. Life at Drew University (where I'm a freshman)has been very stressful due to recent problems in the student government, of which I was a part of. Thankfully I've moved on and am preparing for my last final exam tomorrow. My New Year's Resolution is to be more active with my blogging, and hopefully I can fulfill that promise.
This morning at 10am there will be a press event calling on Roskam to support parts of the First 100 Hours agenda in Schaumburg. I know it's late notice but I only got the email yesterday. Read on to see how you can join in and help force lil Petey's hand or if he sticks to his guns highlight just how out of the mainstream he is.
Yes, that is right. Newly elected GOP extreme right Congressman, Peter Roskam (IL-8) cut and runs from his constituents. Although he has already voted on major bills such as:
On January 10, 2007, Roskam voted against a bill to increase the national minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 per hour over two years. The bill passed the House 315-116[103]. 82 House Republicans supported the legislation.
On January 11, 2007, Roskam voted against the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act.[104]
On January 12, 2007, Roskam voted against the Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act, which would require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate lower covered Part D drug prices on behalf of Medicare beneficiaries. [105]
There is no real way to contact the man! Does he think since he is elected, he has the power of absolute rule? Does he think he is "The Decider" like Bush?
This is the fourth and last of four regional diaries that attempt to identify the highest priority 2008 elections in each of the 50 states.
Previously, I looked at the Western states here. http://www.dailykos.com/...
The South here. http://www.dailykos.com/...
And the Northeast here: http://www.dailykos.com/...
Month 3 of Tracking the Top 50 House Pick up Chances
With the Presidential race gearing up at a its fastest pace ever, it is extremely important to remember that 2008 is still a chance to strength our majority in the House and as importantly, punish the Republicans who stood with Bush every step of the way until it was politically inconvenient. So this is Month Three.
The Chicago Tribune is reporting that Tammy Duckworth, the decorated Iraq War Veteran who came close to defeating Republican Peter Roskam in the 2006 Congressional elections, has announced that she will not seek that seat in 2008. She is currently the director of the Illinois Dept. of Veteran's affairs.
This is disappointing news as I felt that she would be swept in on the wave of dissatisfaction that has been building up. But, she seems to have found her Al Gore momentum in what she is doing now.
As if it wasn't hard enough, in 2006, to have to fight against the Lazy Media's stenographic efforts in promoting the neo-conservative talking points, progressive candidates also had to fight against the strong will of Rahm Emanuel. The Democrats won in November 2006, in spite of, not because of the efforts of Mr. Emanuel. His blueprint for "success" in the 2006 Congressional elections was to find DLC-friendly, "Republican-ish" candidates to field, giving us the present day dilemma of the Bush-Dog Democrats helping to seize defeat from the jaws of victory on the National Stage.
Many of the candidates that Emanuel helped elect have joined with a group of self-styled conservative Blue Dog Democrats and have cast key votes with Republicans and stymied Democratic efforts to end the occupation of Iraq and the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping program.
In an article just published at Truthout four races from this time period show a pattern of deviousness which was Mr. Emanuel's Modus Operandi.
it doesn't take a lot to remind me that chicago is a center of confrontational politics. i will always remember that morton blackwell told students at the leadership institute to read saul alinsky's "rules for radicals." blackwell's purpose was not only to provide insight into the liberal mind (which we would argue about) but to demonstrate the kind of tactics that he believed conservatives needed to fight. careful observers would recognize many of the his tactics as reactions to what one finds in alinsky's works.
Imagine you’re heading into an election, and that you are facing deep hostility,a public which blames the elite political class for the expensive, bloody fiasco it got us all into, and decries inaction to end the war, and the assault on American values like valuing human rights.
What kind of candidate would you think the GOP might head into an election in this environment? If you said someone who has voiced some support for armed forces involvement in the Abu Ghraib human rights violation scandal, you might get a few laughs. "They’re playing to their 24-percenter base," you might say, and even then, you’d have your doubts, between laughs.
But in IL-06, the party in DC is lining up behind just such a candidate. Only here’s the catch: She’s a "Democrat," one of us.
Here it is, after many months of absence, my House rankings (offense only this time). I know you've been holding your breath, so please forgive me for turning your face purple with anticipation.
Because of the many GOP open seats, vulnerable incumbents have gotten less coverage 'round these parts. But you can still spot some of them, especially as the list unfolds.
Let us start the bidding with:
PVI: R+11
Outlook: Likely Democratic pickup
As long as the corrupt Doolittle is in the race, Democrat Charlie Brown is way up. At least, that's what the last poll said. But I think we learned in 2006 that corrupt Republicans like to bow out at the last minute. I expect Doolittle will do the same eventually.
Much much more below the fold...
I am all for running everywhere, and the 50 state strategy.
But neither we nor the Republicans are running everywhere (at least not yet!) In this series, I will look at where we are not running (I am not going to look at where Republicans are not running, as I have no desire to help Republicans, however modestly)
This diary is partly inspired by the great work done by BENAWU.
crossposted to swingstateproject
