Congratulations Congressman Burridge!
Only a day after I accurately described Chris Cannon as an American Traitor, he gets listed among the top five most corrupt members of Congress (the House) to watch.
A few of his close friends who used to be on that list include Randy “Duke†Cunningham, now serving an eight-year jail term for bribery and Rep. Bob Ney, has agreed to plead guilty to crimes that will likely result in a minimum two-year prison term.
Ok, so Chris Cannon has been helping his brother’s (Joe Cannon) lobbying firm. Big deal; an ethical lapse perhaps. Worse however, is Chris Cannon’s abysmal performance as a Utah Congressman. So far this year, Cannon missed 102 votes and just last week, was one of only 30 of votes against (vs 374 for) a prescription drug relief program for veterans.
Take it from someone who watches Washington very closely. Chris Cannon DOES NOT work for Utah. He works for Bush. Sure when his vote happens to be aligned with Utah’s interest, he construes it as such, but if you compare his record the the rest of the Utah delegation, you must question his loyalty to Utah.
Please Utah, send Christian Burridge to Congress.
September 22nd, 2006 at 11:52 am
This is a two party system. If, for whaterer reason, you are thinking about protesting by not voting or voting for some third party, like a write-in cantidate, you will be voting republican. Just saying.
September 22nd, 2006 at 12:53 pm
“you will be voting republican. ”
this is a B.S. scare tatic used mostly by dems to keep the 2-party (devolving to one) system the way it is.
September 22nd, 2006 at 3:06 pm
Jenni, ‘devolving to one’ is scarey enough, but given that there are subtle differences still worth recognizing between the two major parties, wouldn’t a person who leaned toward, say for example, Nader, be better off in the end if he or she voted Gore? My objective, admittedly is to restore some balance to this fiery wreck that is the bush admin. and damn if it don’t scare me that it should continue without accounting. I’d like to see everyone outside of the 30% dyed-in-the-wool bushnicks vote for whoever they thought best to govern, and would hope to see this contemptable ‘war-pres’ and torture advocate deposed by sheer numbers of citizen voters who are nothing more philosophically at odds with him. How hard should it be to top the 30% hardcore repub base? Really? I’ll gladly support a more progressive ticket when I feel the lid is firmly back on this group of America haters.
Sorry for trying to scare ya’ll. I’m scared, pissed and feeling mal-represented on top of that. So what?
September 22nd, 2006 at 9:08 pm
Caveat-
The two party system is destroying us.
There will always be scary Republicans — and now that the neocons have cleared the way for arrogant power mongering, they will continue to get scarier. They are so scary that there were many Dems who have and continue to roll over and play dead when they should be acting as an opposition party — remember that vote to give Bush war powers when there was a dem majority back in 2002? And you can be sure that the Dems will always say “you can’t vote 3rd party ‘cuz so and so is very scary and a vote for 3rd party is a vote for the scary guy.” Dems have the option of working toward Instant Runoff Voting which would eliminate the spoiler effect, but they’d rather fight off a multi-party system by using fear tactics.
Are all Dems bad? By no means. We have some great dems here in Utah and a few nationally. But while the two party system exists, there’s no reason for Dems to do the right thing (unless they’re just plain ol’ good and principled people — and many of them are not — the ones that are, are the ones that seldom win) they’ll always be able to get by on being the lesser of two evils.
Also, with the ever rightward moving Republican Party being their only competition, they will continue to strategize by moving to the right to catch those voters. After all, everyone on the left has no choice but to vote for them (because not boting for them is voting Republican, remember?) so why make any effort toward causes that we care about?
I’m not sure that I consider myself a Green anymore, but that’s because I’ve seen up close and personal in the GP too many times how being so tied to ideology can destroy the party, acitivist groups and friendships.
I consider myself an independent more than anything now — I’ll vote for the best person regardless of party. If you try to scare me off voting for the best person, then I might just not vote at all — no reason to go to the effort when I don’t believe in the candidates. And maybe that’s wy 50% of us don’t vote.
September 23rd, 2006 at 6:01 pm
We can’t suppose that the 50% of us who do not vote are necessarily of a like mind, Simply, for whatever reasons, known to each, they are not going to participate. Suppose for a sec. that there were a heafty block of us who could all get behind a similar platform, if only to depose the regime presently at the helm. Some of them will simply be held still by personal momentum. Others will jump at the opportunity, and still others fit along the whole spectrum between. Of course there will be members of the two established camps who will see it the same way and join in…which leave us with the task of formulating that platform, organizing everyone, promoting, convincing and ultimately succeeding. Bully for us. That is a big task for the next month and a half, and that is why I suggest voting for Dems. Clearly the repubs have staked out the torture zone but I’m convinced that while they feel that they can’t succeed w/o torture, they won’t succeed w/torture either. They’re doomed…IF sensible people (and I count a large chunk ot that 50% as sensible) can bring themselves to the polls and give voting for their best choice and in thier own interests a shot.
Thereafter, name it, you have me…I’m yours. Peace.
September 23rd, 2006 at 6:48 pm
Never said they’d vote with a like mind, just that”maybe” many may see no reason to go to the effort to vote for candidates they don’t believe in — that could be on both ends of the spectrum.
I hope you are right that the torture issue destroys the repubs.
September 23rd, 2006 at 10:57 pm
“Are all Dems bad? By no means. We have some great dems here in Utah and a few nationally. But while the two party system exists, there’s no reason for Dems to do the right thing (unless they’re just plain ol’ good and principled people.”
Jenni, that is why I am chairing Christian Burridge’s campaign. He is just a plain ol’ good and principled person. As is Steve Olsen, as is Pete Ashdown.
Democrats, along with Jim Matheson, have brought you the opportunity of a lifetime to send four (4) great people, who care about people, to the Uniited States Congress.
VOTE DEMOCRAT!
September 24th, 2006 at 8:43 am
It’s time people figured out that is precisely the Lesser of the two evils one should be voting for!
September 24th, 2006 at 9:12 pm
Sorry Rob, you seem like you are a principled, good guy — Matheson is NOT a great guy in my opinion and is very guilty of what I was complaining that too many Dems are doing — voting right-wing to capture a few voters from the competition — he can count on most of the votes on the left because, hey, a vote for anyone else is a vote for the Republican according to Dems who want to keep the two-party system just they way it is.
Matheson:
*voted for the war in Iraq
*has a horrible position on women’s right to their bodies
*authorized the Patriot Act
*voted yes on CAFTA and other unprogressive trade bills
He does seem pretty reasonable on environmental and flag issues, however.
September 25th, 2006 at 6:05 pm
Thats your opinion Jenni, I disagree, but I respect you.
We may not always agree with the issues, but Jim Matheson shares our Utah values, and he is making a difference for Utah in Washington. I respect that.
Jim does capture the votes of the other Party, and he will be elected by members of the other Party, again. They might not always agree with Jim, but he has earned their trust. I respect that.
At the time I believe that anyone could have voted for the war in Iraq. It was a difficult and unsure time. Public opinion was confused and different then.
As far as Iraq goes, we are there. When we went there we took on a responsability that we may not have been prepared for. But we are responsible, and we need leaders in Washington that will support solutions that will ultimately bring our soldiers home. An unfortunate reality is that it may be longer than any of us is comfortable with.
Take a look at Pete, Jim, Steve, and Christian. What a team!
Do you really want a one Party State Jen, a multiple Party State, or a no-Party State? One and none are pretty much the same. Two have three you must first have two. This is the true nature of things. I would love to have a multiple Party system, but a one Party system just won’t do.
Democrats are the true Independant thinkers. Proof of this is that we have Rocky and Jim. Two different personalities, yet both are Democrats.
Jim is a great guy Jenni, in my opinion, and I actually know him.
VOTE DEMOCRAT!
September 25th, 2006 at 6:06 pm
Oh ya, and vote for Burridge!
September 25th, 2006 at 6:06 pm
And Olsen too!
September 25th, 2006 at 6:06 pm
And let Pete lead way!
September 30th, 2006 at 9:02 pm
[...] …for one simple reason, Christian Burridge is a BRILLIANT lawyer (for the little guy), a brilliant man, and a devout Mormon. Christian’s grasp of the issues, politics, and public policy is legend. That’s why Cannon refuses to debate him. On the other hand, anybody with a wit of sense knows Chris Cannon is no angel. (You will remember as I wrote about here, he recently found himself at the TOP of a list five most corrupt members of Congress to watch.) [...]