Woody!

James "Woody" Brosnan is on a roll today, two articles in one issue. The Washington bureau chief for the Commercial Appeal has an article on trade (see below), and an editorial on Marsha Blackburn, the Republican candidate for the Seventh Congressional District.

That editorial, titled "Blackburn should take lesson from Ga.," purports to teach Blackburn something from the two Congressional losses in Georgia last week. Incumbents Bob Barr and Cynthia McKinney both lost in primaries, but for different reasons.

Woody would have you believe that Barr lost because of his controversial stances and outspokenness. What doomed him was being redistricted into a new area, and his own idiocy in handing a loaded, unsafed gun to someone. That gun went off. At a party. Sheesh.... Woody would also have you believe that McKinney lost because she criticized President Bush over September 11. As Woody says, "I suspect her constituents were just tired of her act." Not hardly. She was being heavily financed by Arabic and Palestinian interests, and she was outspokenly anti-Semitic. Jews got wind of this and support flowed to her opponent; Republicans crossed over in the primary in astonishing numbers. It ended her career.

But Woody still wants to link Blackburn to controversy:

Blackburn has said nothing as controversial as McKinney or Barr
has. But she carries the reputation of being a rabble-rouser
because of her frequent appearances with the radio talk show
hosts whose demagoguery helped kill a state income tax.

Ahhh...there it is. The ol' CA line. Which he immediately plays down, when it's for his side:

And there's nothing wrong with making the talk show circuit.
That's how Rep. Harold Ford Jr. (D-Tenn.) is building his name
recognition and influence.

Riiiight. Except when it's "rabble-rousing anti-income tax talk radio." Right?

He attacks Blackburn on her welfare reform stance. She lumps all kinds of programs into "welfare reform," as many Republicans do, believing it all to be punitive income redistribution. Blackburn sees it all as costly, basing her numbers on a Heritage Foundation study. Woody chastises her for that, arguing that "welfare" is a single program and not nearly as costly as she claims, even saying it costs less than an Arleigh Burke guided missile destroyer! He wants you to believe that a single destroyer costs upwards of $20 billion. In fact, they cost slightly less than a billion each.

But the fact does remain that all "entitlement" programs are the single largest apportionment of Federal tax dollars--greater even than defense and interest on debt. Go read the back of your Federal Income Tax instruction booklet to see.

Mostly, Woody seems to already be laying the ground for future smacks at Blackburn, as she's the likely winner this November. (Quick--name her opponent!) Basically, he wants us to believe the Seventh District seat "belongs" to East Memphis and Shelby County. Those folks from the East end of the District "stole" it from us, by making us have three area candidates against her, thereby dividing our power.

Naturally, Woody assumes that Blackburn is too stupid to do anything like work all of her District and meet the needs of the largest part of her District. Yeah, the woman who beat a crowded field, stymied both the Governor and the House Speaker during the Income Tax War and overcame press denunciations is too dumb to protect her seat.

Until next time,
Your Working Boy