* I’m not sure what sort of a candidate would propose a 23 percent national sales tax, but state Sen. Randy Hultgren did several months ago, although he’s since walked away from it. Democratic Congressman Bill Foster takes him to task with a new ad…
…Adding… Hultgren’s response…
“For too long, both parties in Washington have spent far too much, with far too little regard for the future,” said State Senator Randy Hultgren, Republican candidate for Congress. “We need to restore fiscal sanity to our spending, starting with honest and realistic budgeting and serious-minded plans to balance the budget and pay down the debt. For our sake and for our children’s future, we need to get our fiscal house in order.
“Unfortunately, my opponent Bill Foster has been part of the problem out in Washington. Since he was first elected, our budget deficit has tripled. Bill Foster has consistently supported Nancy Pelosi’s big-spending agenda, and our district and our country deserve a representative who will work to cut spending and restore fiscal discipline in Washington.”
“It’s no surprise that Dold is proud to have the support of an extremist like Grover Norquist, who called Social Security a Ponzi scheme. Norquist is a self-described ‘winger’ who was George Bush’s go-to guy in the attempt to privatize Social Security and yet another member of the radical right lining up behind Bob Dold.”
* Remember last Fridaywhen I looked into claims by Republican congressional candidate Adam Kinzinger about a couple of signs with large pictures of politicians wearing Hitler mustaches? I concluded that the evidence wasn’t quite up to snuff.
But Kinzinger’s campaign has pushed hard to get this story into the mainstream and have done their best to connect the signs to Debbie Halvorson’s campaign. I received no less than eight e-mail messages from her campaign and stories sprouted up all weekend on conservative blogs, including Andrew Breitbart’s website. Here are a few more…
* Joliet Herald-News Ignores Story of Demonstrators With Nazi Signs
* Congresswoman Halvorson supporters carry Nazi signs
* Democrat Rep. Halvorson (Illinois) Sponsors Protest Rally Calling Opponent a Nazi
* Dem Congresswoman’s Supporters Participate in ‘Palin-As-Hitler’ Rally
* Well, Media Matters was able to reach the person who made the signs. His name is Bill Preston and he claims he has zero affiliation with the Halvorson campaign and the people who protested the Americans for Prosperity rally last week…
Preston concurs, telling Media Matters, “I was just there.” He says that he went on his own to protest AFP and the tea party, bringing along “about five signs” depicting right-wing leaders with Hitler moustaches. Preston says that “the point of my signs is, why is it OK to have Obama with a moustache” but not those leaders shown in the same way. Media Matters has noted that tea party protestors have followed conservative media figures in invoking Adolf Hitler and the Nazis to smear President Obama.
Preston says that when he arrived outside the AFP event and saw other protestors, “I didn’t know who they were.” He says that he tried to hand out his signs to them, but with the exception of one person who, Preston says, briefly held a sign depicting Palin with a moustache, none of the other protestors would hold them; others would take the signs when he offered them, then try to hide them from sight.
In the video, several other protestors are seen trying to hold their own signs between Preston’s sign and the camera. According to Preston, it was clear to him that his signs made the other protestors uncomfortable, with the most vocal telling him, “Why don’t you find yourself another corner?” He says that he “regret[s] that people might associate my signs with the other people” who were there.
Halvorson’s campaign has since condemned the signs, saying that “the congresswoman would never condone anyone comparing Kinzinger or any candidate to Hitler.”
Preston says that he has no affiliation with the campaign, and that while he once was called and asked to go door to door as a volunteer, he refused because he doesn’t support Halvorson because she “supports the NRA.”
Unless somebody can debunk Preston’s direct claims, this story is over. The Kinzinger campaign needs to take a breath already.
* More congressional news…
* Hare, Schilling verbal sparring highlights candidates forum
the norquist endorsement is one of the stupidest things dold has done. If dold feels that confident to engage with a guy like that, Democrats are in deep deep trouble because he is anathema to practically everything the district stands for.
“A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to separate investors from their own money or money paid by subsequent investors, rather than from any actual profit earned.”
By changing a few words:
Social Security is an investment operation that pays returns to retirees from money paid by subsequent retirees, rather than from any retiree contribution or from actual profit earned.
Anyone besides me consider the possibility that Preston is a Tea Party/Kinzinger plant?
Call me paranoid, but it’s a perfect psy-op. He’s soooo for Halvorsen (or against Kinzinger), he goes over the top, and in the process benefits Kinzinger and puts Halvorsen onthe defensive. Not to mention linking Halvorsen’s campaign to Godwin’s law. The convincing piece of evidence for me is that he tried to give other anti-Kinzinger protesters signs.
VanillaMan do you read these things aloud before you hit post? Halvorson should fire someone because she was standing around someone with a dumb sign? Because it might be seen on youtube?
Interesting that Foster is going so over the top negative with an ad that is so misleading. Hultgren suggested a national sales tax as an alternative to income and other taxes. Foster (his handlers actually) obviously want people to think Hultgren proposed a sales tax ON TOP of existing taxes. Not true, never true.
Hultgren has little chance to respond since he has no money and no real campaign to speak of. The DCCC knows they can throw Foster’s multi-million warchest at Hultgren and not get hit back.
If Hultgren manages to win this, it is all because of the wave.
OK then. She has to do more than she has. I suspect this is not the end of this story. Debbie has to do something publically about this. It is going to hurt her.
“Dems will reduce cable buys in the Chicago market, saving valuable resources that might be spent elsewhere. The party is optimistic that Pres. Obama will not let any of the 3 Dems running in competitive races — Reps. Bill Foster (D) and Debbie Halvorson (D) and marketing consultant Dan Seals in the open IL 10 contest — want for money.”
Up to this point, I did not thing the wave would hit Illinois as hard as some other states. I just saw a PPP poll in WI, Feingold is now down by double digits in his Senate race. Maybe the wave will hit Illinois soon, I can’t wait for the end of September polls to see where the races. The most recent poll for Kirk shows him up by 3.
This is why I am disliking D.C. more and more. The Kinzinger-Halvorson race is a microcosm of the slime. Kinzinger is called a nazi. The outrage! Now someone “has” to apologize, but if Debbie Halvorson and her crew won’t, they “back” the dude to carried the sign. Really? It’s bad enough that the NRCC and DCCC are throwing their oomph into that race in full bore mode, but this over-the-top grade school taunting plays out just as badly.
Rich, I take it you’re not in a mood to put up with Oscar Mayer today. Er, reference baloney…
@John Galt - Do you also believe that every attendee at every Tea Party protest is responsible for every sign carried by every other Tea Party protest attendee?
If so, I commend you on your consistency — but even so I ask you to consider the logical implications of your broad application of the transitive property to politics.
Regualr advertising would be more fun to watch if they ran attacsk ad’s on their competitors the way politicians do dang those anti-defamtion laws that are easily enfroceable in the marketplace but not in politics….
The coke v pepsi attacks ad’s just right themselves…
Which is just a onvuluted way of saying time and again politics comes down to two formulas; make everyone fear your opponent, and make everyoe scared of your opponent.
the public says it hates negative ad’s, but the poll numbers suggest we still listen to em.
But then again, the oddball signs are a small minority of the signs on display at Tea Party rallies. They are the outliers. In the Kinzinger protest in question, I believe 100% of the signs were related to “so and so is a Nazi”. Whack-job/outlier Tea Party protesters are also not employed by the RNC, or John Boehner, nor do they immediately march over to the local congressman’s campaign HQ to a hero’s welcome.
It’s apples to oranges. Staffers from Obama for America were employing Nazi imagery & rhetoric to the explicit approval of Debbie Halverson’s campaign.
*And BTW, I’ve said my peace about this particular issue. I’m inclined to move on and to not hijack this thread too much lest we incur the wrath of the ban-hammer.
Hitler has become like tiny strips of bad peeling wallpaper at the extreme fringe ends of too many campaign rallies BOTH right and left. Yes, BOTH right and left. Hitler mustache signs held by loony screamers and/or paid protesters are mostly completely tuned out as irrelevant and stupid, yet at the same time are highly offensive to average persons–both Democratic and Republican– who had decent educations and know exactly who Hitler was and what he did. This stuff needs to stop, or at least the media needs to quit being so gullible and easily manipulated.
I’m not talking censorship or an abridgement of first amendment right here. I’m talking common sense. Camera shots of a couple of tattered and recycled Hitler signs on the TV news are as irresponsible and non-newsworthy as if a few naked dancing protesters of some sort were filmed and shown on TV. The press would NOT show naked protesters to give them their 15 minutes, and in the same vein they have no need to publicize Hitler signs day after day so a few crazies can see themselves on the 10:00 news, either.
Foster won when they had the special on a Saturday and no fences were mended after a really bitter primary. The district is still more Republican than Democrat and I suspect turnout in Aurora and the tri-cities is going to be down (that will not help him either).
As for Kirk some of that is a function of the candidate at this point.
Simple reality is that Hultgren has to hope that the 14th is a wave district. His campaign has been a tremendous disappointment.
Even this year, Democrats aren’t going to voluntarily hand over seats without a fight.
If Foster holds on, he will not be helped by redistricting, but it is unlikely that Repubs will go back to Hultgren if he can’t win this year. So Randy had better take off the gloves and start running like he cares.
Attempting to stick to the facts:
* The photos and video posted on Big Government show that several people were holding/waving the multiple, offensive (Kitzinger, Beck, Palin) signs, not just the one;
* I understand that the Halvorson Campaign told you that ”Some of the protesters stopped by the Illinois Victory office after the protest to say hello and get some water;”
* Halvorson’s campaign staff later told the Media Matters website that “several staffers for the Illinois Democratic Party’s coordinated campaign held a rally protesting…the AFP event”;
If she is genuine in her condemnation of the offensive display, and she knows who was responsible for it, will she dissassociate herself from the coordinated campaign?
I suspect she will not, and for that reason, I must disagree with your assention that “this story is over.”
==Preston says that “the point of my signs is, why is it OK to have Obama with a moustache” but not those leaders shown in the same way==
It’s not OK, just as it was not OK to do it when Bush was President. Yeah, he conveniently leaves that little fact out when he claims it was simply a protest of people doing it to Obama. Where was he two years ago doing similar protests of people on the left displaying “Bush=Hitler” signs? Unless his memory only goes back two years, he’s either a hypocrite or a liar.
- Ghost of John Brown - Monday, Sep 20, 10 @ 1:53 pm:
The Nazi references on both sides are just getting pretty stupid. Why even do them?? OK, some idiot shows up with them and waves them around. Do they even get any “traction” of support by doing that? “why I’ll be - I didn’t know Beck/Obama/Palin (insert appropriate name) was a Nazi. I’ll have to stop supporting them now that I know this”. What typically happens is what happened here. People with video cameras see it, they get pounced on, and it makes their side look childish.
Can we PLEASE get back to campaign strategies that measure slightly about 50 IQ points?
This also applies to such great moves as “They have a lobbyist who used to work for BP/Cigarette Companies/etc.”, “They said the word ‘you people’ which is obviously racist”, and the like.
We have some serious issues to deal with. Is it too much to ask for a serious campaign? Yeah, I know the answer, just making a wish here.
Cincinnatus, if Social Security is a Ponzi scheme, then please opt out and leave more for the rest of us. Make your checks payable to the US Treasury.
The truth is that it was designed as a pay-as-you-go system. It started covering the elderly as soon as it was set up so there was no balance in the account to start from. It is currently in surplus. And it keeps millions of older Americans out of poverty. And there are simple solutions to potential problems in 25 years: means testing and/or raising the maximum deduction past $6,600.
It was not a pay as you go system, never was. It always depended on payroll taxes to pay the benefits of the retirees.
According to the Social Security Trustees Report in August, if you really believe that ObamaCare will save the money that it claims it will (most economists have since August spoken out that it will not, along with a recent report by the OMB), the Trust fund will run out of money by 2040. That estimate is pulled to about 2025 if the ObamaCare savings do not pan out.
And why should I pull out of the Ponzi scheme called Social Security? I’ve paid into it all my life, and will be drawing on the money you will continue to put in very soon.
==It was not a pay as you go system, never was. It always depended on payroll taxes to pay the benefits of the retirees.==
Sounds like pay-as-you-go to me.
It has always depended on payroll taxes of current employees to pay for current retirees. The system has also banked some excess for the future, but that doesn’t make it a retirement savings program. Since the original retirement age was, at the time, the same as the average life expectancy, it wasn’t much of a retirement plan.
Norquist endorsement will hurt Dold with the undecided center in the 10th. Norquist rates Mark Kirk as a “pledge-breaker” with a red (bad) percentage. Dold’s right-wing support in the primary scares a lot of moderates who voted for Kirk, now this in the fall campaign. Looks like third time is the charm for Seals - he’s still up by 13 points.
Nazi signs are nothing more than malicious cheap shots used by fringe elements. The more attention we give them, the more they will turn up. Not a single one deserves anything but being ignored.
RE: Social Security … read all the assumptions, etc. They basically assume all us baby boomers wait until 66 / 67 and collect the maximum. (The fiscally conservative approach is to use those pessimistic “everybody gets the max” assumptions.) If we do that, the future shortfall, in general terms, is about 30%.
Then change that assumption to where all the baby boomers decide to retire early at 62, either because we ran the numbers, found break even on waiting is about age 79 and we don’t expect to be around that much longer than that, or because we lost our jobs and had no choice in retiring early. (There have been a number of recent stories about how early retirements have hit SS hard this past year, so I’m not going to bother supplying any links.) Just coincidentally, the reduction in benefit payments from 66 / 67 to age 62 is about 30%. When you get done with projecting all the numbers, almost all of the so-called shortfall is now gone, even though 4 more years of benefits were paid out (at a much lower continuing rate). Admittedly, this is the most fiscally optimistic assumption.
Of course, actions have unintended consequences and tax changes have even bigger unintended results, so I wouldn’t bet the farm on any of those projections, since all they really are is (maybe somewhat educated) guesses.
Not sure why you think Hultgren’s campaign is a disappointment. I think he has been far and away a better candidate then Oberweiss ever was, and that is part of why I’ve been actively volunteering for him. Here in the western end of the district I would bet money that Hultgren is going to get far better vote margins then Oberweiss did. Everything from number of signs, to number of campaign events, to activity from (popular) State Sen. Bivins…I have been very impressed with Hultgren as a candidate.
Someone else will have to speak for the eastern end of the district, but from what I’ve seen he hasn’t been slouching out there either. Foster’s ad is laughable–anyone who compares their records can immediately pick up on the fact that Foster has been far more comfortable with votes that spend money and push future tax increases. I think, in the head-to-head of the two ads Rich posted, Foster loses big-time. He is just not credible on tax issues or spending issues, and neither is his party. He is welcome to continue the battle for this seat in the arena of tax issues: he loses.
Apparently, Mr. Hultgren also failed to pay tens of thousands in taxes for his campaign employees, leaving hard-working Illinois taxpayers holding the bag.
Yes. Those were MY signs. And nobody gets it.
Tea Party rallies all across America have Obama as Hitler posters as a staple. Yet I give them a taste of their own idiotic medicine and what do they do? They cry. “Outrageous!” “Distasteful!”
Kinzinger speaks at Tea Party rallies, is a “Tea Party Pick”, and admits being in the Tea Party movement. He then tries to distance himself from the Tea Party by saying he doesn’t support its most fundamental platform planks, such as doing away with Social Security, Medicare, the EPA, and even the Dept of Education.
You can’t have it both ways, Adam. You either support the Tea Party platform or you don’t. If you don’t, don’t speak at their rallies and say you are a member. If you don’t, criticize Obama as Hitler posters as vigorously as you do Palin/Beck as Hitler posters.
You’re lying one way or the other if you don’t.
ps - I DID NOT walk into Halvorson’s office with the other people. The video clearly shows that. In fact I talked to the Halvorson people and told them I was unhappy that their stunt diluted my message.
Besides. Who would actually think that a Democrat would have the guts to use a tactic like that, let alone just stand up for themselves?
- shore - Monday, Sep 20, 10 @ 10:20 am:
the norquist endorsement is one of the stupidest things dold has done. If dold feels that confident to engage with a guy like that, Democrats are in deep deep trouble because he is anathema to practically everything the district stands for.
- Cincinnatus - Monday, Sep 20, 10 @ 10:25 am:
From Wikipedia:
“A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to separate investors from their own money or money paid by subsequent investors, rather than from any actual profit earned.”
By changing a few words:
Social Security is an investment operation that pays returns to retirees from money paid by subsequent retirees, rather than from any retiree contribution or from actual profit earned.
- John Bambenek - Monday, Sep 20, 10 @ 10:28 am:
Re: Kinzinger
Media Matters and Preston both don’t mention why he walked into Halvorson’s campaign headquarters and was yucking it up with the staff.
If he doesn’t support Halvorson, why is he hanging out with the campaign manager in the office?
- Dirt Digger - Monday, Sep 20, 10 @ 10:29 am:
Nothing ad buy on Foster (and Halvorson over the weekend). About $50K for each. Unless they’re planning on adding a zero to that it’s wasted money.
- Rich Miller - Monday, Sep 20, 10 @ 10:31 am:
===Media Matters and Preston both don’t mention why he walked into Halvorson’s campaign headquarters===
He didn’t. That’s a lie and not supported by any video I’ve seen. Back off that, back it up or be deleted.
- wordslinger - Monday, Sep 20, 10 @ 10:33 am:
Hitler’s back — and hot. He’s the political Jim Morrison of 20th Century genocidal dictators. And Mel Brooks continues to make a fortune off of him.
Judging by the spots, there’s good bipartisan business in creating “Going Out of Business” signs for political ads.
- soccermom - Monday, Sep 20, 10 @ 10:34 am:
Wordslinger –
I like Jon Stewart’s take: How much harder would it be to draw a Stalin moustache?
- 47th Ward - Monday, Sep 20, 10 @ 10:48 am:
===Why is she there? Why is she appearing to be a part of this group?===
More reading comprehension problems from Vman. I know, it’s Monday. Have another cup of coffee and re-read the post VanillaMan.
OK, I’ll try to help you understand that there is no there there in your comment:
===He says that he “regret[s] that people might associate my signs with the other people” who were there.===
End. Of. Nonstory.
- Thoughts... - Monday, Sep 20, 10 @ 10:50 am:
Anyone besides me consider the possibility that Preston is a Tea Party/Kinzinger plant?
Call me paranoid, but it’s a perfect psy-op. He’s soooo for Halvorsen (or against Kinzinger), he goes over the top, and in the process benefits Kinzinger and puts Halvorsen onthe defensive. Not to mention linking Halvorsen’s campaign to Godwin’s law. The convincing piece of evidence for me is that he tried to give other anti-Kinzinger protesters signs.
- Dirt Digger - Monday, Sep 20, 10 @ 10:50 am:
VanillaMan do you read these things aloud before you hit post? Halvorson should fire someone because she was standing around someone with a dumb sign? Because it might be seen on youtube?
- Rich Miller - Monday, Sep 20, 10 @ 10:51 am:
VanillaMan’s comments were deleted. Anyone else want to try? How about lifetime banishments? Stick to the facts on the ground or say goodbye.
- Rich Miller - Monday, Sep 20, 10 @ 10:55 am:
One more deletion, VMan, and you’re banned for life.
- E Pluribus - Monday, Sep 20, 10 @ 10:56 am:
Interesting that Foster is going so over the top negative with an ad that is so misleading. Hultgren suggested a national sales tax as an alternative to income and other taxes. Foster (his handlers actually) obviously want people to think Hultgren proposed a sales tax ON TOP of existing taxes. Not true, never true.
Hultgren has little chance to respond since he has no money and no real campaign to speak of. The DCCC knows they can throw Foster’s multi-million warchest at Hultgren and not get hit back.
If Hultgren manages to win this, it is all because of the wave.
- VanillaMan - Monday, Sep 20, 10 @ 10:56 am:
OK then. She has to do more than she has. I suspect this is not the end of this story. Debbie has to do something publically about this. It is going to hurt her.
- Cincinnatus - Monday, Sep 20, 10 @ 10:56 am:
“Dems will reduce cable buys in the Chicago market, saving valuable resources that might be spent elsewhere. The party is optimistic that Pres. Obama will not let any of the 3 Dems running in competitive races — Reps. Bill Foster (D) and Debbie Halvorson (D) and marketing consultant Dan Seals in the open IL 10 contest — want for money.”
http://hotlineoncall.nationaljournal.com/archives/2010/09/dems_scaling_ba.php
- Rich Miller - Monday, Sep 20, 10 @ 11:00 am:
Cincinnatus, I linked to that story a week ago.
- OneMan - Monday, Sep 20, 10 @ 11:01 am:
Well E Pluribus the wave brought Bill in so it can also take him out. Also I suspect he would be a likely target when they redistrict.
- Cincinnatus - Monday, Sep 20, 10 @ 11:16 am:
OneMan,
Re” The Wave
Up to this point, I did not thing the wave would hit Illinois as hard as some other states. I just saw a PPP poll in WI, Feingold is now down by double digits in his Senate race. Maybe the wave will hit Illinois soon, I can’t wait for the end of September polls to see where the races. The most recent poll for Kirk shows him up by 3.
- MrJM - Monday, Sep 20, 10 @ 11:22 am:
Bill Preston should abandon political commentary and rejoin Theodore “Ted” Logan in the “Wyld Stallyns.”
That would be Excellent!
– MrJM
- Team Sleep - Monday, Sep 20, 10 @ 11:29 am:
This is why I am disliking D.C. more and more. The Kinzinger-Halvorson race is a microcosm of the slime. Kinzinger is called a nazi. The outrage! Now someone “has” to apologize, but if Debbie Halvorson and her crew won’t, they “back” the dude to carried the sign. Really? It’s bad enough that the NRCC and DCCC are throwing their oomph into that race in full bore mode, but this over-the-top grade school taunting plays out just as badly.
Rich, I take it you’re not in a mood to put up with Oscar Mayer today. Er, reference baloney…
- MrJM - Monday, Sep 20, 10 @ 11:42 am:
@John Galt - Do you also believe that every attendee at every Tea Party protest is responsible for every sign carried by every other Tea Party protest attendee?
If so, I commend you on your consistency — but even so I ask you to consider the logical implications of your broad application of the transitive property to politics.
– MrJM
- Ghost - Monday, Sep 20, 10 @ 11:43 am:
Regualr advertising would be more fun to watch if they ran attacsk ad’s on their competitors the way politicians do
dang those anti-defamtion laws that are easily enfroceable in the marketplace but not in politics….
The coke v pepsi attacks ad’s just right themselves…
Which is just a onvuluted way of saying time and again politics comes down to two formulas; make everyone fear your opponent, and make everyoe scared of your opponent.
the public says it hates negative ad’s, but the poll numbers suggest we still listen to em.
- John Galt - Monday, Sep 20, 10 @ 11:56 am:
@MrJM
No, I don’t.
But then again, the oddball signs are a small minority of the signs on display at Tea Party rallies. They are the outliers. In the Kinzinger protest in question, I believe 100% of the signs were related to “so and so is a Nazi”. Whack-job/outlier Tea Party protesters are also not employed by the RNC, or John Boehner, nor do they immediately march over to the local congressman’s campaign HQ to a hero’s welcome.
It’s apples to oranges. Staffers from Obama for America were employing Nazi imagery & rhetoric to the explicit approval of Debbie Halverson’s campaign.
- Rich Miller - Monday, Sep 20, 10 @ 11:58 am:
===In the Kinzinger protest in question, I believe 100% of the signs were related to “so and so is a Nazi”.===
A total lie. One more and you’re banned for life.
- John Galt - Monday, Sep 20, 10 @ 11:59 am:
*And BTW, I’ve said my peace about this particular issue. I’m inclined to move on and to not hijack this thread too much lest we incur the wrath of the ban-hammer.
- Responsa - Monday, Sep 20, 10 @ 12:05 pm:
Hitler has become like tiny strips of bad peeling wallpaper at the extreme fringe ends of too many campaign rallies BOTH right and left. Yes, BOTH right and left. Hitler mustache signs held by loony screamers and/or paid protesters are mostly completely tuned out as irrelevant and stupid, yet at the same time are highly offensive to average persons–both Democratic and Republican– who had decent educations and know exactly who Hitler was and what he did. This stuff needs to stop, or at least the media needs to quit being so gullible and easily manipulated.
I’m not talking censorship or an abridgement of first amendment right here. I’m talking common sense. Camera shots of a couple of tattered and recycled Hitler signs on the TV news are as irresponsible and non-newsworthy as if a few naked dancing protesters of some sort were filmed and shown on TV. The press would NOT show naked protesters to give them their 15 minutes, and in the same vein they have no need to publicize Hitler signs day after day so a few crazies can see themselves on the 10:00 news, either.
- Rich Miller - Monday, Sep 20, 10 @ 12:09 pm:
===the wrath of the ban-hammer. ===
LOL
- OneMan - Monday, Sep 20, 10 @ 12:14 pm:
Cincinnatus
Foster won when they had the special on a Saturday and no fences were mended after a really bitter primary. The district is still more Republican than Democrat and I suspect turnout in Aurora and the tri-cities is going to be down (that will not help him either).
As for Kirk some of that is a function of the candidate at this point.
- E Pluribus - Monday, Sep 20, 10 @ 12:21 pm:
Simple reality is that Hultgren has to hope that the 14th is a wave district. His campaign has been a tremendous disappointment.
Even this year, Democrats aren’t going to voluntarily hand over seats without a fight.
If Foster holds on, he will not be helped by redistricting, but it is unlikely that Repubs will go back to Hultgren if he can’t win this year. So Randy had better take off the gloves and start running like he cares.
- GoldCoastConservative - Monday, Sep 20, 10 @ 12:24 pm:
Rich,
Attempting to stick to the facts:
* The photos and video posted on Big Government show that several people were holding/waving the multiple, offensive (Kitzinger, Beck, Palin) signs, not just the one;
* I understand that the Halvorson Campaign told you that ”Some of the protesters stopped by the Illinois Victory office after the protest to say hello and get some water;”
* Halvorson’s campaign staff later told the Media Matters website that “several staffers for the Illinois Democratic Party’s coordinated campaign held a rally protesting…the AFP event”;
If she is genuine in her condemnation of the offensive display, and she knows who was responsible for it, will she dissassociate herself from the coordinated campaign?
I suspect she will not, and for that reason, I must disagree with your assention that “this story is over.”
- Anon - Monday, Sep 20, 10 @ 12:49 pm:
==Preston says that “the point of my signs is, why is it OK to have Obama with a moustache” but not those leaders shown in the same way==
It’s not OK, just as it was not OK to do it when Bush was President. Yeah, he conveniently leaves that little fact out when he claims it was simply a protest of people doing it to Obama. Where was he two years ago doing similar protests of people on the left displaying “Bush=Hitler” signs? Unless his memory only goes back two years, he’s either a hypocrite or a liar.
- Dirt Digger - Monday, Sep 20, 10 @ 1:02 pm:
GoldCoastConservative:
So what?
- Rich Miller - Monday, Sep 20, 10 @ 1:06 pm:
DD, exactly.
- Ghost of John Brown - Monday, Sep 20, 10 @ 1:53 pm:
The Nazi references on both sides are just getting pretty stupid. Why even do them?? OK, some idiot shows up with them and waves them around. Do they even get any “traction” of support by doing that? “why I’ll be - I didn’t know Beck/Obama/Palin (insert appropriate name) was a Nazi. I’ll have to stop supporting them now that I know this”. What typically happens is what happened here. People with video cameras see it, they get pounced on, and it makes their side look childish.
Can we PLEASE get back to campaign strategies that measure slightly about 50 IQ points?
This also applies to such great moves as “They have a lobbyist who used to work for BP/Cigarette Companies/etc.”, “They said the word ‘you people’ which is obviously racist”, and the like.
We have some serious issues to deal with. Is it too much to ask for a serious campaign? Yeah, I know the answer, just making a wish here.
- Lefty Lefty - Monday, Sep 20, 10 @ 1:56 pm:
Cincinnatus, if Social Security is a Ponzi scheme, then please opt out and leave more for the rest of us. Make your checks payable to the US Treasury.
The truth is that it was designed as a pay-as-you-go system. It started covering the elderly as soon as it was set up so there was no balance in the account to start from. It is currently in surplus. And it keeps millions of older Americans out of poverty. And there are simple solutions to potential problems in 25 years: means testing and/or raising the maximum deduction past $6,600.
- Cincinnatus - Monday, Sep 20, 10 @ 2:18 pm:
It was not a pay as you go system, never was. It always depended on payroll taxes to pay the benefits of the retirees.
According to the Social Security Trustees Report in August, if you really believe that ObamaCare will save the money that it claims it will (most economists have since August spoken out that it will not, along with a recent report by the OMB), the Trust fund will run out of money by 2040. That estimate is pulled to about 2025 if the ObamaCare savings do not pan out.
And why should I pull out of the Ponzi scheme called Social Security? I’ve paid into it all my life, and will be drawing on the money you will continue to put in very soon.
- Pot calling kettle - Monday, Sep 20, 10 @ 2:25 pm:
==It was not a pay as you go system, never was. It always depended on payroll taxes to pay the benefits of the retirees.==
Sounds like pay-as-you-go to me.
It has always depended on payroll taxes of current employees to pay for current retirees. The system has also banked some excess for the future, but that doesn’t make it a retirement savings program. Since the original retirement age was, at the time, the same as the average life expectancy, it wasn’t much of a retirement plan.
- Xgman - Monday, Sep 20, 10 @ 3:01 pm:
Norquist endorsement will hurt Dold with the undecided center in the 10th. Norquist rates Mark Kirk as a “pledge-breaker” with a red (bad) percentage. Dold’s right-wing support in the primary scares a lot of moderates who voted for Kirk, now this in the fall campaign. Looks like third time is the charm for Seals - he’s still up by 13 points.
- Aldyth - Monday, Sep 20, 10 @ 4:57 pm:
Nazi signs are nothing more than malicious cheap shots used by fringe elements. The more attention we give them, the more they will turn up. Not a single one deserves anything but being ignored.
- Retired Non-Union Guy - Monday, Sep 20, 10 @ 10:21 pm:
RE: Social Security … read all the assumptions, etc. They basically assume all us baby boomers wait until 66 / 67 and collect the maximum. (The fiscally conservative approach is to use those pessimistic “everybody gets the max” assumptions.) If we do that, the future shortfall, in general terms, is about 30%.
Then change that assumption to where all the baby boomers decide to retire early at 62, either because we ran the numbers, found break even on waiting is about age 79 and we don’t expect to be around that much longer than that, or because we lost our jobs and had no choice in retiring early. (There have been a number of recent stories about how early retirements have hit SS hard this past year, so I’m not going to bother supplying any links.) Just coincidentally, the reduction in benefit payments from 66 / 67 to age 62 is about 30%. When you get done with projecting all the numbers, almost all of the so-called shortfall is now gone, even though 4 more years of benefits were paid out (at a much lower continuing rate). Admittedly, this is the most fiscally optimistic assumption.
Of course, actions have unintended consequences and tax changes have even bigger unintended results, so I wouldn’t bet the farm on any of those projections, since all they really are is (maybe somewhat educated) guesses.
- Liandro - Tuesday, Sep 21, 10 @ 12:52 pm:
@E Pluribus:
Not sure why you think Hultgren’s campaign is a disappointment. I think he has been far and away a better candidate then Oberweiss ever was, and that is part of why I’ve been actively volunteering for him. Here in the western end of the district I would bet money that Hultgren is going to get far better vote margins then Oberweiss did. Everything from number of signs, to number of campaign events, to activity from (popular) State Sen. Bivins…I have been very impressed with Hultgren as a candidate.
Someone else will have to speak for the eastern end of the district, but from what I’ve seen he hasn’t been slouching out there either. Foster’s ad is laughable–anyone who compares their records can immediately pick up on the fact that Foster has been far more comfortable with votes that spend money and push future tax increases. I think, in the head-to-head of the two ads Rich posted, Foster loses big-time. He is just not credible on tax issues or spending issues, and neither is his party. He is welcome to continue the battle for this seat in the arena of tax issues: he loses.
- obvious - Tuesday, Sep 21, 10 @ 10:31 pm:
Talking about taxes -
Mr. Hultgren sold toxic assets then to avoid paying taxes, setup a fund in Cayman Island. An article at Crain’s Chicago Business -
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/section/blogs?blogID=greg-hinz&plckController=Blog&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3a1daca073-2eab-468e-9f19-ec177090a35cPost%3ae8e66c06-3b3a-4b5b-a81a-788bf88ef2ad&sid=sitelife.chicagobusiness.com
Apparently, Mr. Hultgren also failed to pay tens of thousands in taxes for his campaign employees, leaving hard-working Illinois taxpayers holding the bag.
- matzoid - Thursday, Oct 7, 10 @ 10:42 pm:
Yes. Those were MY signs. And nobody gets it.
Tea Party rallies all across America have Obama as Hitler posters as a staple. Yet I give them a taste of their own idiotic medicine and what do they do? They cry. “Outrageous!” “Distasteful!”
Kinzinger speaks at Tea Party rallies, is a “Tea Party Pick”, and admits being in the Tea Party movement. He then tries to distance himself from the Tea Party by saying he doesn’t support its most fundamental platform planks, such as doing away with Social Security, Medicare, the EPA, and even the Dept of Education.
You can’t have it both ways, Adam. You either support the Tea Party platform or you don’t. If you don’t, don’t speak at their rallies and say you are a member. If you don’t, criticize Obama as Hitler posters as vigorously as you do Palin/Beck as Hitler posters.
You’re lying one way or the other if you don’t.
ps - I DID NOT walk into Halvorson’s office with the other people. The video clearly shows that. In fact I talked to the Halvorson people and told them I was unhappy that their stunt diluted my message.
Besides. Who would actually think that a Democrat would have the guts to use a tactic like that, let alone just stand up for themselves?