Posted on 10/08/2004 6:12:03 AM PDT by Oklahoma 1
[b]Brad Carson: A John Kerry Kind of Politician
Regardless of the Issue, He's Voted For and Against Everything
Tax Cuts[/b]
Brad Carson has repeatedly voted against President Bush's tax cuts (Roll call vote #103, 4/18/2002; Roll call vote #182, 5/9/2003; and Roll call vote #225, 5/23/2003).
After becoming a candidate for Senate, Carson flip flopped and voted in favor of making President Bush's tax cuts permanent (Roll call vote #138, 4/28/2004 and roll call #472, 9/23/2004).
[b]Protecting Pregnant Women and Unborn Children from Violence[/b]
Brad Carson voted against the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, also known as "Laci and Conner's Law," on April 26, 2001 (Roll call vote #89, 4/26/2001). This bill would prosecute those who injure or kill a pregnant woman during the commission of a federal crime with two crimes, one against the mother and one against the unborn child.
After becoming a candidate for the Senate, Carson flip-flopped and voted for passage of the Unborn Victims of Violence Act on February 26, 2004 (Roll call vote #31, 2/26/2004).
[b]Gay Unions[/b]
Brad Carson voted to subsidize same sex "domestic partnerships"-gay marriage by another name-in Washington, DC (Roll Call vote #352, 9/25/2001).
After becoming a candidate for the Senate, Carson endorsed the Federal Marriage Amendment, which would ban gay marriage (Tulsa World, 2/8/2004).
Yet, he remains the only member of the Oklahoma House delegation who is not a co-sponsor of the Federal Marriage Amendment he claims to support.
[b]Government-run Health Care[/b]
On March 11, 2003, Brad Carson co-sponsor HR 1205, legislation to put children born after 2004 in a government run health care, a proposal that would cost a staggering $800 billion and place government bureaucrats in charge of health care decisions.
After becoming a candidate for the Senate, without any explanation Carson removed himself as a co-sponsored of this bill (Congressional Record, page H4824, 6/23/2004).
[b]Access to Affordable Prescription Drugs[/b]
Brad Carson voted against allowing patients to re-import cheaper prescription drugs (Roll call vote #445, 7/25/2003).
As a candidate for the Senate, Carson claims he supports allowing patients to import prescription drugs (The Tulsa World, 8/29/2004).
[b]Medicare Prescription Drug Entitlement[/b]
Brad Carson voted against a bill, H.R. 1, creating a Medicare prescription drug entitlement (Roll call vote #332, 6/27/2003). Carson stated, ""I have a problem with the president's Medicare plan in principle and from a practical level" (Gannett News Service, 1/29/2003).
After becoming a candidate for the Senate, he voted for the same bill, H.R. 1 (Roll call vote #669, 11/22/2003).
[b]Immigration[/b]
In 2001, Brad Carson said he supported amnesty for illegal immigrants (The Daily Oklahoman, 7/23/2001). He even voted to extend the deadline for undocumented illegal aliens to apply to become permanent citizens (Daily Oklahoman, 3/17/2002) and to provide funding to localities that knowingly disregard federal laws against harboring illegal immigrants (Roll call vote #270, 6/18/2004).
As a candidate for the Senate, Carson now claims he "opposes amnesty for illegal immigrants" (Carson ad, 10/2004).
[b]Welfare Reform[/b]
Brad Carson voted for a resolution (Roll call vote #400, 9/19/2002) calling on Congress to pass legislation renewing work requirements for welfare recipients.
Yet, he voted against the extension of these welfare reforms twice (Roll Call vote #170, 5/16/2004 and Roll Call vote #30, 2/13/2003).
[b]Social Security and Medicare Solvency[/b]
In 2002, Brad Carson stated that "the impending raid of Social Security" is "the most pressing domestic issue of our time" Carson elaborated that "the proposed budget now before us in this House diverts $1.4 trillion of the Social Security trust fund and $556 billion from the Medicare trust fund to pay for spending and new tax cuts. … The question today is when are we going to stop talking about saving the Social Security trust fund and finally do it." Carson admitted "It is hard for me to understand how, in what is obviously the most successful and popular Federal program ever conceived, how it can be subtly cut and raided for short-term convenience (Congressional Record, page H720- H721, 3/6/2002)."
Yet as a candidate for the Senate, Carson has refused to offer any solution to protect the Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds, even dismissing concerns about the long term solvency of these entitlements as "alarmist" (Tulsa World, 8/29/2004). In a debate in Tulsa, he denied there was an impending Social Security financial crisis, despite the dire warnings of financial experts. "Social Security can be there without a single change in the program, without raising taxes, for a hundred years to come," according to Carson (KRMG radio debate, 8/30/2004).
[b]Abortion[/b]
When he ran for Congress in 2000, Brad Carson said he was "pro-choice" (Carson for Congress website, 9/7/2000). As a member of Congress, Carson has voted against abortion restrictions and even voted to fund abortion with taxpayer dollars (National Right to Life Congressional scorecard).
As a candidate for the Senate, Carson claims that in Congress he has voted "anti-abortion… every single time" (Tulsa World, 8/31/04).
[b]Partial Birth Abortion[/b]
During his first term, Brad Carson initially voted to kill the Partial Birth Abortion Ban (Roll call vote #342, 7/24/2002). When the bill was considered again on June 4, 2003, Carson did not vote at all.
On October 2, 2003, after Carson became a candidate for the Senate, he voted to approve the bill.
[b]Tort Reform[/b]
Brad Carson has voted against ending frivolous lawsuits against small businesses (Roll call vote #189, 5/18/2004) and health care providers (Roll call vote #64, 03/13/2003 and roll call vote #166, 5/12/2004). He even voted against a bill to protect businesses, already victimized by terrorism, from frivolous lawsuits (Roll call vote #464, 11/29/2001).
On September 14, Brad voted three times against the Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act, a bill that would require courts to penalize attorneys and law firms that file frivolous lawsuits. He voted against allowing the bill to be debated (Roll call vote #444, 9/14/2004). When this attempt to kill the bill failed, Brad then voted to send the bill back to a committee (Roll call vote #449). When that also failed, Carson voted against the bill's final passage but knowing the eyes of the voters who he needs to send him to the U.S. Senate were likely watching, he changed positions and voted for approval of the bill (Roll call vote #450). Carson spokesman Brad Luna said Carson, an attorney, "has always been dedicated to reducing unnecessary and frivolous lawsuits" (Daily Oklahoman, 9/16/2004)
[b]Carson's Liberal Record[/b]
In 2000, Brad Carson stated that on some issues he is "liberal" and described himself as a "raging moderate" on "most issues" (Carson for Congress website, 2000). During his four years in Congress, Carson has a more liberal voting record than most members of Congress on nearly every single issue (National Journal).
As a candidate for the Senate in 2004, Brad Carson is running as a conservative.
[b]Support for President Bush[/b]
Brad Carson has voted against President Bush's conservative agenda more often than Hilary Clinton, Ted Kennedy and even John Kerry, until he became a candidate for the Senate.
Year 2001 2002 2003 Brad Carson 51 52 50 John Kerry 65 72 30 John Edwards 67 76 41 Hillary Clinton 61 67 47 Ted Kennedy 66 64 47
(Congressional Quarterly's Website, http://www.cq.com/, 9/13/2004)
[b]The War in Iraq as Part of the Broader War on Terrorism[/b]
In February 2003, Brad Carson said "the Bush administration's push for war on Iraq is "diverting attention from the nation's battle against terrorism" (Associated Press, 2/7/2003).
On October 4, 2004, Brad Carson stated that the war in Iraq is "perhaps related to our war on terrorism" and that "winning the war in Iraq is an important-- a difficult yet important-- part of that global struggle" against terrorism (KOCO 5 and AARP Oklahoma Senate debate, 10/4/2004).
[b]Endorsement(s) for President[/b]
Within a week's time Brad Carson was supporting both candidates for President. He endorsed John Kerry for President (Urban Tulsa Weekly, 9/9/2004). Then when polls were showing Kerry was behind by large margins in Oklahoma, he told voters to re-elect George W. Bush (The Hill, 9/16/2004). He has since reaffirmed his support for Senator Kerry on Meet the Press, stating, "I'm a supporter of the Democratic nominee [John Kerry], of course" (Meet the Press, 10/3/2004).
[b]Transportation Funding[/b]
Carson told the Tulsa World he "will not criticize anyone for taking a different approach" on how to determine the distribution of federal transportation dollars. He even stated "Tom Coburn and Steve Largent are very principled men. You can agree with them. You can disagree with them, but you would never argue with the fact that they are very principled men." The Tulsa World noted that "Carson said Coburn and Largent were 'right to resent the fact that people tried to use such crude techniques to get your vote.' While saying he would have supported the huge 1998 transportation bill and, therefore, would have been able to accept the additional $15 million in special road money, Carson insists his vote also will never be for sale. 'I'm not going to be trading my vote for dollars under any circumstances,' he said. 'That kind of crass dollars-for-votes is something that is just grossly inappropriate'" (Tulsa World, 2/11/2001).
Yet Carson did criticize Tom Coburn's principles that Oklahoma should receive a 100% return on the taxes we pay for transportation funding. Carson also sold his vote. He was the only member of the Oklahoma delegation to co-sponsor and vote for a bill that actually reduces the amount of transportation funding Oklahoma will receive by $250 million (H.R. 3550, Roll call voted #114, 4/2/2004). In exchange for his support for this bill, Carson received $45 million in pork projects.
Of course Carson is a trojan horse of liberalism and inevitable and consistent leftwing votes, until the 5th or 6th yr of his term when he'll make a show of going towards the Right. Sadly Coburn has undermined his own campaign with avoidable mistakes.
Thank you for posting this.
good post. Carson cannot win this election. Unfortunatly the Indian tribes will sell out to Carson like they did Henry in the Governors election.
Dr. Coburn has a better vision, and will win!
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