Posted on 11/07/2006 10:15:35 PM PST by Congressman Billybob
That title is not a misprint. This is about the 2008 election in the 11th District of North Carolina.
First, the big picture now. The Democrats have taken control in the House, contrary to my prediction (I was nearly alone in that). The Democrats have gained in the Senate, but pending results yet to come after midnight EST, it looks like the Republicans will hold a vary narrow margin in the Senate.
In my own District, NC 11th, 16-year incumbent Republican, Charles Taylor, has been defeated by Heath Shuler, a neophyte Democrat who billed himself as “a conservative” and a representative of “Western Carolina values.” But, there’s often a wide gap between a candidate’s campaign words and his reality as an office holder when he actually wins election.
The very first action of Heath Shuler, immediately after he is sworn in come January, will be to vote for Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco as the new Speaker of the House. That will not be an auspicious beginning to upholding Western Carolina values.
More telling will be his pattern of voting on issues and bills that come before the House. I predict Shuler will vote at least 85% with Speaker Pelosi and the national unions which are the backbone of the Democrat Party nationally. Why do I say that?
Remember the fairy tale about the Pied Piper of Hamlin? Its moral was, “He who pays the piper, calls the tune.” And, who paid the piper in Shuler’s case? A glance at his official records with the Federal Election Commission show that he received $4,500 from Pelosi personally, and similar amounts from several other liberal Democrats in Congress, plus healthy contributions from all the major national unions excepting the National Education Association.
I’m estimating from my knowledge of Shuler that he lacks both the intelligence and the courage to buck the interests of those who paid the freight for his successful run. He almost has to be a follower rather than a leader, due to his lack of experience. He is such a neophyte that he’ll need staff help to find the executive washroom.
In short, in the next two years Shuler will demonstrate that he is not “a conservative” and that he does not remotely represent “Western Carolina values.” He will be ripe pickings for defeat in 2008 in this rural, conservative District in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
I expect that at least ten significant Republicans in this District will posture to be the nominee to take back this seat from the accidental Congressman, Heath Shuler. I expect that at least three of those will remain in the primary to the end. I expect that whoever wins the Republican primary will have a large leg up to defeat Shuler. And I expect to be that nominee.
Am I declaring as an official candidate right now? Not on your tintype. That triggers all sorts of who-struck-John with the FEC. Besides, I have to get out in the District and prove that I have the chops to run and win. It’s true that I have more years of experience working in, for and with local, state and federal government, than Heath Shuler has been alive. There are no secrets about either my background or my policy issues. For more than 40 years, I have been researching and writing on public issues, and those statements are out in public, in front of God and everyone.
I ran in the primary against Charles Taylor. I did a few things excellently, but many things poorly. If I repeat and build on the successes, and learn from and avoid the failures, I can be the Republican nominee and then the new Congressman from the 11th District of North Carolina.
I have reestablished an Exploratory Committee to run for Congress. I need help of all types, from all who want a better Congressman in this District than Heath Shuler. I expect that Shuler will be as much out of his league and over his head in Congress as he was in the NFL as a temporary quarterback for the Washington Redskins.
So, please sign up with me to help,... [Two sentences elimiated in line with JimRob's rules for FR.] I will have minimum expenses for office supplies, and for gas and oil, and occasional meals and stays at the Holiday Inn as I visit the far reaches of the District. (It’s huge – 14 counties and 2/3rds of a 15th county.)
I look forward to hearing from you. I’m counting on you. And you know from my decades of work in public issues, that you can count on me.
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About the Author: John Armor is a lawyer specializing in constitutional law, who may again be a candidate for Congress in the 11th District of North Carolina. John_Armor@aya.yale.edu
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This was an excellent post. We need to attack the reputations of the newly elected Rats, including the phony "conservatives," ASAP and KEEP IT UP. I mean we must do this individually, in their districts. This is a standard Rat technique, and we need to learn from them. If Shuler and all the other freshman Rats have a chance to define themselves to district voters and become popular as individuals, not just symbols of anti-Bush sentiment, it will be VERY HARD to unseat most of them. We need to find the most vulnerable point in each one's armor and go after it starting TODAY and doing it EVERY DAY with letters to the editor, word of mouth, FReep demonstrations, etc., etc., etc. Leave no stone unturned, and DON'T worry about being "fair." The nation's future is at stake.
This kind of passive nonsense is what loses us elections.
bump for CBB- If you become a Congressman, will we have to address you as Congressman "Congressman Billybob"?
Without missing a beat, one of my friends said, "I guess after that we'll have to call you, 'Dr. *sshole.'" It's always good for anyone who aspires to high office be taken down a peg or two from time to time.
John / Billybob
Wait a second though....Maybe I should have made this more clear..
I voted straight ticket Republican. I except everyone that has any morals or principles whatsoever to vote straight ticket Republican. We did. We did what we could. And, yes, I'll expect that again in 08.
But, the point I was making is...now that we've done what we can..and yes, we'll also do the same thing in 08, we don't have to go around depressed or thinking it's the end of the world in the meantime.
Yes, looking back at my post, I can see that it could have seemed as if I was someone who didn't vote because I thought it would be "good for us" to experience this....or even someone who voted Democrat because of the same reason.
Believe me, that would never happen.
My comments were only saying, "here's how we can look at this, now that it's behind us and we have to live with the results of it for the next two years".
Oh, and yes, the scripture says that no one has authority unless God gives it to them. But, I don't think that means we just stay home and let God voter-fraud the election machines so that the right person wins, either. We have to do our part. But, in the end, there's a reason for it, even when it seems like it didn't work out the way we thought it should.
OK, thanks for the explanation.
OK, thanks for the explanation.
What is the snail mail addy to your explortory committee?
I need some help here. I know your name is John, but I'm just not getting what this means.
Thanks for the link, but I couldn't help thinking that the poster (the quite honorable Congressman Billy Bob) was referring to himself in the phrase that I questioned.
And good luck avoiding it if possible.
I was not familiar with that particular colloquialism, myself.
Which is why I looked it up
{I'm old enough to remember when the use of *that* phrase implied that BOOKS were involved!)
and decided that in the interest of propagating arcana it was worthwhile to share the link.
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