Kratovil’s Shills Are Working Overtime
September 4, 2008 by Cato
Filed under Blogging, Liberalism, Maryland, Maryland Politics
Usually I don’t address a commenter directly in a post. That’s why those great folks at WordPress (or your blogging platform of choice) gave us the comments section. However, a recent post by my friend, fellow Red Maryland contributor, Michael Swartz motivated me to do so.
It seems that one of Frank Kratovil’s shills has been hitting several Delmarva blogs with comments lauding the joys of all that is Blue Dog Frank. Fair enough. Providing an open forum for all comers is one of the purposes of the blogosphere.
I have to admit that I’ve learned a lot from this guy:
- Big Labor is not a special interest group. Forcibly taking dues money and handing it over to political candidates that their membership may, or may not, support is OK. However, a grassroots group asking their membership to send INDIVIDUAL contributions to certain candidates is a “special interest” IF, and only IF, they support conservatives.
- Health care is a “right” that we’re just all going to have to pony up and pay for. Get ready for a series of big tax increases folks.
- We need to wreck our economy through extreme environmental regulation.
- We need to pull our troops out of Iraq now. (With the effect of providing succor to one set of enemies, appeasing others, and snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
If only Kratovil were so candid on the stump. He only tells the truth when appearing before left-leaning groups like last week’s NAFRE meeting or tonight’s AFL-CIO “health care forum” at Wor-Wic. I guess ordinary citizens are “special interests” and should be deceived while federal employees, Big Labor and radical enviros are a core constituency.
Now our itinerant commenter is upset because I called Wayne Gilchrest a SORE LOSER. Sorry Joe, and Wayne. The TRUTH HURTS. If you don’t like it, do what most leftists do – invent your own.
That’s precisely how we have reached our present, relativistic point in history.
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I guess that makes you a Harris shill.
The question of "special interests" is what are they buying? Don’t you find it ironic that the Harris signs up and down Rte 50 are located next to For Sale signs?
It makes my day that I have two blog posts specifically designed to address my activeness on the blogosphere. Though I agree with the majority of this comment:
"It seems that one of Frank Kratovil’s shills has been hitting several Delmarva blogs with comments lauding the joys of all that is Blue Dog Frank. Fair enough. Providing an open forum for all comers is one of the purposes of the blogosphere."
I have told you before I am no shill. I pretend not. You are the one that refuses to acknowledge that you blatently represent the interests of the Harris campaign even if indirectly. That is not a bad thing, I just don’t agree with your charaterization of me as a shill.
I never said Frank wanted to bring the troops home now! I said he wanted to end the war there is a difference. He has repeatedly said that he would do so with the situation on the ground and political ramifications in mind.
Health Care is a right, and if you don’t think so then you should probably reevaluate how you view your fellow man.
"Wreck our economy through regulation" is what you said I said we needed to do. Protecting agricultural resources and the future fishing populations of the bay is critical for the survival of the Eastern Shore’s Farming and Fishing industry. This is not the stance of a tree hugger, but of someone who cares about our Farmer’s and Fisherman. I guess you don’t.
Even if I concede that Big Labor is a special interest, what is their skin in the game? They want better jobs, pay, healthcare and retirement and you criticize them. Wow! You don’t care about the working class? How much do you make a year anyway, because if you are like the rest of us somewhere in the middle then I don’t understand how you couldn’t support organizations like AFL-CIO.
The fact is that I spend a considerable amount of time around the blogs just trying to get the positive message of Frank Kratovil’s campaign and point the finger at some critical shortcomings of Andy Harris’.
The truth does hurt Cato, if that’s you’re real name.
Write -
If it makes you happy to characterize me as a shill, be my guest. It takes a lot more than that to.hurt my feelings.
While your remark about the signs isn’t totally accurate, it is funny. However, the first sentence of your paragraph isn’t even tangentially related to the first. Also, Kratovil would give his left nad for those sign locations.
Joe-
Don’t be so sensitive! If you notice, I didn’t freak out when your fellow traveller called me the same.
The rest of your comment is GREAT, albeit wrong. MTF
First of all, who doesn’t want to end the war? Don’t be ridiculous, Republicans like myself don’t want war, but we certainly want victory.
If you look at Katovil’s answers on issues, you see that he is very skilled in providing convoluted responses to make himself sound centrist. Upon closer inspection, it is clear that he is a flaming liberal. Evidently he knows more about drilling for oil and business than those who actually do it for a living. In a capitalist society, business owners do what is most lucrative. Oil executives have an obligation to their shareholders to drill where it is most beneficial, where the largest deposits of oil are most likely to be found. This is offshore and in ANWR. Sure they could go on a wild goose chase poking for oil on the lands they have already leased that show little oil opportunity, and in the process drive up their expenses without any profit. But how will that help you, the consumer, except for driving up oil prices further? Sure they could drill in my back yard and waste a lot of money in the process, while doing nothing to increase our supply. Congress needs to get out of the way and let the Americans have ownership of the resources our country has to offer. Congress does not own these lands; the people do! Let oil companies drill where an abundance of oil is known to exist. Unfortunately Kratovil does not support this.
Healthcare is not a right. If you don’t understand this, then maybe you need to study the constitution. How we view our fellow man is an issue for charity, not government regulation. Obama suggested when he was talking about taking from the rich and giving to the poor through government regulation and taxation, that this was being neighborly. Since when does the government have the right to regulate neighborliness?
I worked as a teacher for five years and know that unions are interested in far more than good benefits and good salary, which is all well and good. They are also deeply entrenched in a social agenda and politics, donating millions to liberal candidates with money gleaned from union dues. Their skin in the game is often more about their power, than about benefitting the working class. Unions are just a smaller version of what happens in DC.
As a stay at home middle class mom who clips coupons to save a penny, I resent this mentality, and I resent the government’s intrusiveness in my life. Whenever government attempts to "save the day" whether it be social security or Katrina, it always turns out badly. I say no thanks to government regulated healthcare. It is too hazardous to my health.
Less regulation and allowing capitalism to work- that’s the answer!