Sunday, October 22, 2006

Scheurer Attacks MoveOn for Bean Support

After you take a look at this, you might be interested in how the Chicago Tribune got snookered today, on McHenry County Blog.

Here's a press release received from Moderate Party candidate Bill Scheurer. To put this in context, Scheurer opposes the war in Iraq.

MoveOn Supports War Candidate
Chicago--It is now clear. MoveOn is a shill for the Democratic Party that puts party over principle, and will support any Democratic incumbent in a tight race -- even a politician who votes with the Bush administration against all of MoveOn’s purported core beliefs.

People on the MoveOn mailing list who live in the Illinois 8th Congressional District recently got emails asking them to work for the incumbent Democrat Melissa Bean.

The email said: “One of the Democratic House campaigns near you urgently needs volunteers to help reach voters. You can help with just a few hours this weekend.” It then went on to give official Bean campaign contact information for all three counties in the district.

In a continuing bait-and-switch game, MoveOn is shamelessly working its vast mailing list for “Operation Democracy” which they falsely advertise as “A Grassroots Campaign to Fight the Right and Elect Progressives.”

Exactly who are these “progressives” they want to elect?

It appears that these may be any Democratic candidates “in 30 highly competitive House districts.” We do not know who all of these are for sure, because the MoveOn hierarchy is so secretive.

But, it is now a proven fact that these “progressive” candidates include the IL-8th District Democratic incumbent Melissa Bean, who in fact is running in a highly competitive race with Republican challenger David McSweeney and independent antiwar candidate Bill Scheurer.

Issues on the MoveOn agenda for motivating progressive voters include opposition to the war in Iraq and Bush’s “reverse Robin Hood” budget.

Bean is one of several Democrats who have voted with the rubberstamp Congress for these, and a long list of other, Bush policies --
CAFTA,
the Patriot Act,
the bankruptcy bill,
estate tax repeal,
tax cuts for the wealthy,
the Sensenbrenner bill,
the energy bill,
the flag-burning amendment,
the Terry Schiavo intervention,
warrantless surveillance,
secret military tribunals,
and more.
Not exactly what you might expect from a liberal MoveOn candidate.

As for being a progressive, Bean has an “F” grade (a perfect 0% score) on the Citizens for Tax Justice report card, and an “F” grade (a dismal 13% score) on the Drum Major Institute report card. On the war, she has an “F” grade (28% score) with The PeaceMajority Report.

In fact, Scheurer is the true progressive in the IL-8th District race. A staunch opponent of the Iraq war, he also is a strong supporter of working families and universal healthcare. His campaign has received financial support from some of the biggest and most politically active unions in the land (SEIU, Teamsters, IAMAW, Steelworkers, UNITE).

In 2004, MoveOn called a similar campaign “Leave No Voter Behind.” Perhaps they should rename this one “Leave No Democrat Behind” no matter how bad.

Such deceitful, behind-the scenes manipulation reminds us of the famous Edwin R. Murrow challenge to Chairman McCarthy: “Have you no sense of decency, sir?”

12 comments:

Anonymous,  11:11 AM  

Have you no decency quote, for the record, was not Murrow. It was the Counsel for the Army Welch.

Mr. WELCH. I meant to do you no personal injury, and if I did, beg your pardon.

Let us not assassinate this lad further, Senator. You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?

Senator MCCARTHY. I know this hurts you, Mr. Welch. But I may say, Mr. Chairman, on a point of personal privilege, and I would like to finish it—

For the historical record of that hearing go to:

http://www.historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6444/

Anonymous,  11:27 AM  

"Behind the scenes manipulation" -- Is that a bad thing?

Funny. You didn't complain about the behind the scenes garbage when the GOP gathered signatures for Schuler.

And yet you claim to have some morality.

Pathetic.

Bill Baar 11:48 AM  

Wasn't the Welch quote intended as comment on the Weller character assasination posts?

Bean's a good Democrat. One I could vote for. Watchout for the turmoil among Dems if they retake the house because they elected a handful of sensible Dems to give them the margin.

fedup dem 12:02 PM  

Bill Scheurer is apparently clueless about the realities of politics and government. He is an ideologue, not a "Moderate." To call Scheurer a moderate is like calling William 'the Refrigerator" Perry a prima ballerina.

People like Scheurer who castigate Democrats who fail to toe their ultra-liberal line are the main reason why the Democrats have failed in five attempts to regain control of the U.S. House. Politics is the art of compromise and of building coalitions and consensus, something people like Scheurer will never seem to understand.

Anonymous,  2:09 PM  

LL:

Get your facts straight.

The attack was made by Skinner, who apparently condems "behind the scenes manipulation" despite the facts:

1. Republicans got Schuler (or whatever the guy's name is --nobody but Skinner ever heard of him)on the ballot; and

2. The only one giving the guy any pub is Skinner.

Has Skinner become a liberal,or are he and his pals in the GOP doing some manipulating?

I attack the source when the source is a raving hypocrite preaching morality.

Anonymous,  3:35 PM  

MoveOn should be called RollOver, because that's exactly what they do for the Democratic Party. Just ask any Green.

Anonymous,  4:21 PM  

LL,

You can call Skinner whatever you want, but he clearly wants the Republican to win that seat. If you can't see that, then you are simply a fool.

Skinner rips "behind the scenes manipulation" and engages in it himself.

Nobody else says a word about this Sculer person. Just Skinner and the Republicans who gathered signatures for him and got him his spot on the ballot.

That is reality.

Unknown 6:57 PM  

For the record, Republicans did not gather a single one of our 15,000 signatures to get me on the ballot -- the first independent, third-party candidate for U.S. Congress in Illinois history.

The hundreds of volunteers who collected these signatures were all personally known to me, or to one of our committee members.

No Republicans here. Lots of Democrats, Greens, Libertarians, Independents, peace activists, progressives, union workers, etc.

Anonymous,  7:49 PM  

Bill:

True or false: Republicans have been, and continue to, assist your "campaign."

Show some integrity. Admit what everybody knows.

Anonymous,  7:56 PM  

In addition:

Did Skinner and his pals make you change your views on abortion before they would work for you? Was it an explict promise, or did you just see that it was necessary to do it and as such, did it without being asked?

Anonymous,  8:04 PM  

Schurer's Campaign -- Let the GOP Do It
GOP flier highlights views of 3rd party

By Susan Kuczka
Tribune staff reporter
Published September 25, 2006


Independent 8th Congressional District candidate Bill Scheurer is receiving free advertising from an unlikely source.

The Illinois Republican Party recently flooded the northwest suburban district with a campaign mailer contrasting Scheurer's anti-war views with the supportive positions of GOP candidate David McSweeney and freshman Democratic incumbent Rep. Melissa Bean.

The GOP flier calls Scheurer a "principled liberal" who wants the immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq and accuses Bean of having "multiple positions" and "no convictions" on the issue. It calls McSweeney a "common-sense conservative" who wants to "complete the mission."

John Tsarpalas, executive director of the Illinois Republican Party, said party officials believed it was important for district voters to know Scheurer's views on the Iraq war, which national public opinion polls have shown to be an unpopular campaign.

"We think [Scheurer] has a clear position, and voters need to know his position," Tsarpalas said.

The GOP leader also said he believes Scheurer will be a factor in the November contest, especially if he draws votes away from Bean.

"We think he's a viable candidate," Tsarpalas said.

Scheurer unsuccessfully ran against Bean in the Democratic primary for the 8th District seat in 2004. Rather than face her a second time, Scheurer decided to run as an independent, guaranteeing his advancement to the November general election.

"Any time people get exposed to our campaign, any way or any source, it helps us win votes," said Scheurer, a Lindenhurst resident whose son spent a year in Baghdad with the National Guard.

He said his campaign has had about $50,000 in contributions, compared with the millions flowing to McSweeney's and Bean's camps in what's expected to be one of the costliest House races in the U.S.

Scheurer, who has no plans to distribute his own fliers, said he has focused his campaign on "street-oriented" events to drum up support.

"I haven't focused on fundraising or made a single phone call for money," he said.

Unknown 8:43 AM  

Skeeter,

Come out and meet our dozens of volunteers. Let me know if you find any Republicans here.

You just cannot accept the fact that people are starting to vote for what they believe in, rather than partisan politics.

As for abortion -- it speaks volumes about you to suggest that someone would change their stand on such an important moral issue for political gain.

Just because your candidate did this on the war, don't think the whole world is like that. We are not all triangulating politicians.

bill

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