ROGUE'S GALLERY

Negative advertising, whether deemed effective or not, dominates the political climate as our nation prepares for the November election. In trying to sort out the facts from the many attack ads, I collected “snapshots” of candidates from a wide array of articles in newspapers, magazines, and journals that reveal at the very least, some shortcomings, and at the most frightening, downright dangerous positions.

Listed below are snapshots of a few of the candidates seeking positions of political power at the national and state levels.

I have observed that so many of these candidates exhibit values that are far from being in the best interest of the average American family and have demonstrated character flaws that raise my fear that they can’t and won’t represent what is best for the American people.  Shouldn’t character count in a member of Congress, a senator, or a governor of a state? This partial list of Republican candidates, if successful, will promote measures that will allow corporate greed to continue to spread unabashed, unbridled, and unprecedented.

As I review the qualities of the candidate list the Republican Party is presenting to the electorate this fall, I am at a loss to understand why, according to recent polls, American voters’ may likely choose the candidates who would return us to the failed policies of the past that led us to the current financial and international problems.

I hope that readers of this blog will carefully examine what those candidates are saying and promoting, and will not be swayed by slick attack ads, many paid for by anonymous donors who really don’t care about the welfare of the public, but are front organizations serving corporate and Wall Street interests.  This is not to say that many Democratic candidates don’t have issues; however, their flaws do not compare with some of the “off the wall” characteristics of the candidates below.

Senator Daniel Moynihan once said, “Everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion, but not to his or her own facts!”   Intelligent voters will compile the facts before November 2. Here are the snapshots.

SHARRON ANGLE (GOP candidate, U.S. Senate, Nevada) stated that the cities of Dearborn, Michigan and Frankford, Texas were governed under Sharia,  Islamic law and that  Departments  of Education and Energy  should be eliminated along with Social Security. She has suggested that autism is a phony rubric and that people are taking advantage of such maladies to obtain extra health benefits.

BILL RAGGIO (GOP leader, State Senate, Nevada) in a recent response to Angle candidacy – said he could not accept “… her extreme and often even radical ideas and positions.” and  “ … her record to be totally ineffective as a four-term assemblywomen, her inability or unwillingness to work with others, even within her own party, and her extreme positions on issues such as Medicare, Social Security, education, Veterans affairs and many others.”

DEMA GUINN (wife of former GOP governor Kenny Guinn, Nevada) stated that U.S. Senator Harry Reid, Nevada, shared her late husband’s commitment to education and he would have supported Reid in the current campaign.

JOHN RAESE (GOP  candidate, U.S. Senate, West Virginia) owns a home in Palm Beach where his wife and children live in a $2.9 million 7000 square foot home with a driveway of pink marble, and he has his “residence”  in West Virginia. He told an interviewer, “I made money the old fashion way. I inherited it.”  As a businessman he he “wants to eliminate the minimum wage” and it was reported he “has failed to pay workers’ compensation for on the job injuries.”

PAUL LePAGE (GOP candidate for governor, Maine) has homes in Maine and Florida; each gets tax breaks as the family’s principle residence.  A correspondent asked, “If elected will he be governor of both states?”

JOE MILLER (GOP for U.S. Senate, Alaska) joins Carl P. Paladino (GOP candidate for Governor, NYS) in wanting to outlaw abortion even in the case of rape or incest. Miller also denies climate change and favors abolishing Medicaid & Social Security.   He pointed out that Social Security is unconstitutional because it wasn’t in the Constitution when it was written. Mr. Paladino, who was found to have sent pornographic emails, wants to control internet pornography.

CHRISTINE O’DONNELL (GOP candidate for U.S. Senate, Delaware) believes that allowing women to attend our military academies cripples “the readiness of our defense” and wives should “graciously submit” to their husbands  while her web site exhorts her “commitment to the women’s movement.” Rick Santorum, (former GOP U.S Senator, Pa.), calls her the “Clarence Thomas for feminists.” She told Bill Maher on his TV show that, “American scientific companies are crossbreeding humans and animals and coming up with mice with fully functioning human brains.”

MEG WHITMAN (GOP candidate for governor, California) spent a record shattering $145 million of her own money as of October 1 on her campaign but recently fired her housekeeper  who worked for her for 9 years because she “discovered” she was an illegal immigrant.  Correspondence dated 4/22/03 between the housekeeper and the Whitmans indicated they were informed of her status at that time. The Whitmans had received notices from the Social Security Administration about the housekeeper’s illegal status in 2003.  Meg Whitman  “immediately terminated Nicky’s employment” when the news broke.  Mrs. Whitman said she considered Nicky, “a friend and part of our extended family.” The housekeeper  might be deported.

MICHELLE BACHMANN  (GOP Congresswoman – re-election, Minnesota) urges Minnesotans to get “armed and dangerous” to “fight back” against cap-and-trade legislation and be concerned about the “death panels” in the recently passed health care reform legislation.

TOM GANLEY, (GOP candidate, House, Ohio), a car salesman, has been “… sued more than 400 times for fraud, discrimination, lying to customers and overcharging them about repairs,  and endangering their safety.”

DAVID SCHEIKERT (GOP candidate, House, Arizona) Is accused of being “a  predatory real estate speculator who snatched up nearly 300 foreclosed homes, been cited for neglect and evicted a homeowner on the verge of saving his house, just to make a buck.”

RICHARD HANNA  (GOP candidate, House, New York), a millionaire who  “got rich while his construction company overcharged taxpayers thousands, was sued three times for injuries caused by faulty construction and was cited 12 times for health and safety violations.”

DAVID VITTER (GOP U.S. Senator, Louisiana) was involved in a sordid prostitution scandal in Washington, D.C. and Louisiana in 2007 but easily won his party’s primary and now leads his opponent Charlie Melancon (Democrat, Louisiana).