Who better to criticize the voting record of a California legislator on regulatory issues than someone from 2000 miles away? Who indeed?
To be fair to both sides, if you watch the first video then you have to read the block quote. (You do want to be fair, don’t you?) Watch the video at the bottom only if you don’t get the humorous reference in the title.
OK, here’s the story:
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is investing heavily in trying to help gormless Gary DeLong beat State Senator Alan Lowenthal in CA-47, which is 60% Long Beach and 40% western and central OC (including Los Alamitos, Stanton, Garden Grove, and a little bit of Santa Ana.) So the Chamber cut an ad with a $3.3 million buy, versions of which will play in CA-47 and nine other California districts. In CA-47, they slam Lowenthal’s supposed record as a taxi spender. The weird thing is that this attack on all of the Californians’ record begins with a hefty attack on business conditions by someone from … Sacramento? San Diego? Needles? No: Minnesota.
Miss Duluth’s argument that there’s less certainty in business conditions under Obamacare is pretty laughable, by the way. The “certainty” under the present health care regime is that it’s going to collapse under its own weight without reform. Obama’s moderate — too moderate for my taste — reform will stabilize the system so that, among other things, we don’t have people getting their primary care in emergency rooms, for Pete’s sake, as Mitt Romney suggests is reasonable.
As for the attacks on Lowenthal himself, the thing that stands out most clearly is that they would say these things about him whether or not they were true. The Chamber in California designates bills that they dislike as “job killers” — a declarative conclusion without much analysis — so saying that “his bills have been called “job killers” is sort of like saying that Obama is a socialist because his opponents have called him a socialist.
Lowenthal has not released expensive videos to rebut these charges, but luckily Mike Shimpock, who taught at Edison High when I was there, sent around an e-mail about this ad.
The Tea Party Republicans will stop at nothing to hold on to their majority, and they have now focused on Alan Lowenthal.
Just yesterday, they started a one-week, $317,000 negative ad blitz against Alan Lowenthal. This is a HUGE media buy.
Today is the last day of the last full-reporting period. Can you donate $5, $10, or any amount to help us answer this attack?
To find a business owner willing to criticize Alan, the Chamber of Commerce had to go 1,986 miles to Minnesota — that’s where their “small business owner” is from.
Even worse, the “small business owner’s” company specializes in “outsource management”. I guess Alan created too many jobs in the United States for her taste, and not enough overseas.
Real businesses in California support Alan, like the California Small Business Association which represents over 200,000 small businesses. They know the truth, that he fights for jobs and job creators.
But unfortunately the Chamber of Commerce and Republican Gary DeLong aren’t interested in the truth. They are interested in winning by any means necessary, even if it means using shadowy, unreported millions to lie about Alan Lowenthal.
We can’t fight this onslaught on our own. We need YOUR help to get the truth out to voters.
Please give before midnight tonight. Every dollar counts. We need your support of $5, $10, $25, $50, or $100 if you can spare it.
Thank you for standing with Alan.
Mike
Mike Shimpock
Senior Strategist
(Of course, it’s too late to send in money for the reporting period ending Sept. 30, but I am informed that they will still accept contributions.)
The actual of the video is that Lowenthal has sometimes “chosen … more taxes [and] more regulations” during his 14 years in the legislators. Whoop-de-doo. The question ought to be: has he chosen wisely? There are some bad taxes and bad regulations — and there are some needed taxes and good regulations. Shades of gray, wow! If DeLong is going to do what the Chamber would have him do to not be slammed in such an ad — vote NO on everything — then he’ll just contribute to a dysfunctional federal government where people like him are afraid to offend Grover Norquist and his “anti-tax pledge” army for fear of a primary challenge. So what the ad essentially says is that DeLong will govern with his spinal cord rather than his brain. This might be a good pitch for, say, Darrell Issa’s new district, but CA-47 seems a lot more moderate than that.
As for the reference in the title: the following video is not safe for work, for children, or pretty much for anyone. From Pulp Fiction:
Admittedly, there are significant differences between “gettin’ medieval” and “gettin’ Minnesotan” on someone’s ass — such as that gettin’ Minnesotan probably isn’t going to work. (There are other obvious differences of note as well, but I’m not going to dwell on those.)
I just reviewed Alan Lowenthal’s campaign website. He has served at the local and state levels of government. I think his successful efforts to improve the air quality in Long Beach and his record of job creation are impressive. He has my vote.
http://www.alanlowenthal.com/2012/
I just reviewed Alan Lowenthal’s campaign website as well. He seems to have been endorsed by every liberal Democrat machine politician in Los Angeles, and all public employee unions… http://www.alanlowenthal.com/2012/endorsements/…sounds like he has been at the public trough for 20 years!
Well stated Muriel – Like!
Muriel: what does “at the public trough” mean to you — if anything — and how do you justify applying that term to Lowenthal? He was a highly respected college professor and for the past 14 years has been a highly respected legislator — someone who has worked hard and well in his position. How is that “at the trough”? If you called Mitt Romney or Meg Whitman “at the trough,” I’d more easily get the point.
State Senator Alan Lowenthal voted for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “Global Warming Final Solution Act.” AB32 created a “Cap & Trade” system for California, (no other state has “Cap & Trade”).
From the Right:
Could Cap and Trade Cause Another Market Meltdown? It’s anticipated that carbon default swaps, (carbon derivatives), will be a $2 trillion market, the biggest of any “commodities” derivatives product in the next five years. http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/11855
From the Left:
Obama’s Cap And Trade Carbon Emissions Bill – A Stealth Scheme To License Pollution And Fraud
http://www.countercurrents.org/lendman090709.htm
In 2010 the voters could have delayed the implementation of AB32, but they answered “No”; they voted for manufacturing jobs moving out of California to a non “Cap and Trade “state. I can’t blame Alan Lowenthal; he’s giving the people what they want, – those polluting manufacturing jobs leaving California, and billions of dollars in commissions for Wall Street carbon swap traders.
When millions of Californians are hungry and homeless and call Congressman Lowenthal, asking: ‘What Happened?” ‘You have to help us’, Congressman Lowenthal will have an answer, and the stupid voters that sent him to Congress will believe his answer.
From the very broad center, stretching far into the Right and the Left: “We’re glad to see California taking the lead nationally in addressing the dire problem of global warming with whatever means are available.”