Things getting worse for Tiahrt

Swing State Project  reports

Things have gotten a little worse for Todd Tiahrt in his race against Jerry Moran in the GOP primary to succeed outgoing Sen. Sam Brownback: SUSA now shows Moran up 42-32. Two months ago, Moran led by seven points - and by just three two months before that. The Kansas primary is not until August 3rd, so Tiahrt still has time, but he doesn't seem to be gaining much traction.

Tiahrt Goes Dirty in Campaign Against Moran

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Appearing recently on a Wichita Christian radio station, Republican Congressman Todd Tiahrt attempted to paint Jerry Moran, his rival for the 2010 Republican Senate nomination, as soft on gays, and managed to distort the record of his party's 2008 standard bearer.

His evidence Moran has been endorsed by 2008 Republican Presidential nominee John McCain. McCain on October 7 signed the conference report for the 2010 Defense Appropriation, which includes the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Hate Crime Prevention Act.

According to Tiahrt, this means that Moran isn't fit to represent Kansas family values. According to Tiahr's logic, McCain and Moran are soft on homosexuals. Tiahrt claims the hare crimes prevention act will mean that Ministers will be prosecuted for reading 1st Corinthians from the pulpit.

There's a big problem with Tiahrt's guilt by association. At the time that McCain endorsed Moran, McCain was leading the fight against including the hate crimes bill.

Another problem: the bill protects military personnel against hate crimes because of their status.

Extreme Todd: Obama, Sebelius, SCHIP are all socialists

Interviewed this week on KCFN 91.1 FM, Kansas Congressman Todd Tiahrt seems to say that Obamma has appointed Gov. Sebelius to be HHS Secretary because Obama has put the country on a "path to socialism." Tiahrt's Exhibit No.1? Sebelius supported S-CHIP, the State Children's Health Insurance Program.




Tiahrt's opponent for the 2010 GOP nomination, Jerry Moran, also voted for SCHIP.

Will Extreme Todd denounce Moran as a "closet socialist"?

Will Extreme Todd denounce those other notorious Kansas socialists like the AARP, PTA, Kansas Hosital Association, Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger?

Tiahrt Flunks Macroeconomics

Wichita Congressman and Senate candidate had an op-ed in the Eagle this week rationalizing his opposition to President Obama's economic recovery program.

Tiahrt wrote

Studies have shown and history has proved that when consumers get extra money in their pockets, they do one of three things: They save it, spend it or invest it. All three options would help to quickly increase growth in our economy.

Sorry, Todd, but increased saving --in the midst of a depression--will not increase growth in the economy. It will do exactly the opposite.

Here's a quick explanation from Wikpedia

If a population saves more money (that is the marginal propensity to save increases across all income levels), then total revenues for companies will decline. This decrease in economic growth means fewer salary increases and perhaps downsizing. Eventually the population's total savings will have remained the same or even declined because of lower incomes and a weaker economy.

Sadly, the stimulus debeate shows that for Todd Tiahrt and the modern Republican Party, the operative program is Party First! The Rich First!

Esquire's Kansas Endorsements

Esquire Magazine has come out with a whole slew of endorsements. The ones for Kansas seems mostly on-target. In my opinion, any Democrat who takes on an entrenched GOP in the 1st Disrict deserves a vote. For more Esquire endorsements, see here.


Election 2008: Who People in Kansas Should Vote For

Editor's note: the name of the incumbent candidate is italicized, while the candidate we're endorsing is in bold.

SENATE

Pat Roberts (R)

Jim Slattery (D)

As then-chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Roberts steadfastly defended the CIA as clean on torture and the NSA as clean on wiretapping--and just as steadfastly dragged his feet on investigating prewar intelligence failures for the tawdriest of reasons: to protect the White House. His opponent, a moderate former congressman, will do better.
Esquire endorses: Slattery

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Congressional District 1

Jerry Moran (R)

James Bordonaro (D)

Moran is an informed, subtle legislator with an independent streak. His stand against the administration on Medicare cuts drew plaudits from all but his own party leaders; his balanced views on ethanol promote that industry while seeking to protect Kansas's stockyards. Great work.
Esquire endorses: Moran

District 2

Lynn Jenkins (R)

Nancy Boyda (D)

A successful executive and lifelong pro-choice Republican, Boyda switched parties in 2003 over opposition to the war but retains her antitax, pro-business leanings. Which leaves pro-choice, antitax, pro-business Republican Jenkins free to campaign on what, exactly--change?
Esquire endorses: Boyda

District 3

Nick Jordan (R)

Dennis Moore (D)

Easy choice here: vague values-and-terrorists talk from the challenger versus bipartisan accomplishment by the incumbent.
Esquire endorses: Moore

District 4

Todd Tiahrt (R)

Donald Betts (D)

Tiahrt, knee-deep in Abramoff and DeLay cash, deserves to be dumped for this sin alone. But let's keep things positive: His opponent is as accomplished a state legislator as you'll ever find.
Esquire endorses: Betts

Bushies Screw Kansas Again

First it was the Air Force Tanker, now it looks like the Bush administration, aided and abetted by Roberts and Tiahrt, are rigging a government contract to go to their political allies. This time it's the contract for a biodefence lab. Manhattan (Ks.) is still in the running, but the fix may be in.

The Washington Post reports

The Homeland Security Department swept aside evaluations of government experts and named Mississippi - home to powerful U.S. lawmakers with sway over the agency - as a top location for a new $451 million national laboratory to study some of the world's most virulent biological threats, according to internal documents obtained by the Associated Press.

And more

The states where locations were eliminated despite earning scores higher than Mississippi include Georgia, Maryland, Missouri, Texas, Wisconsin and California, where a site in Tracy near the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory had vied for the lab.

Government experts originally expressed concern that the proposed site in Flora, Miss., was far from existing biodefense research programs and lacked ready access to workers already familiar with highly contagious animal and human diseases, such as foot-and-mouth virus, that could devastate the U.S. livestock industry. They assigned the site a score that ranked it 14th among 17 candidate sites in the United States.

Why Won't Tiahrt Endorse McCain?

Via Daily Kos, the Washington D.C. insider newspaper The Hill reports that 14 GOP Senators or Representatives have declined to endorse John McCain for President. Among them is Wichita's Todd Tiahrt. (Another dozen won't comment.)

Doolittle’s and Tiahrt’s offices did not specify their disagreements with McCain, but both lawmakers were ardent opponents of McCain’s push for campaign finance reform six years ago

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