Monday, October 30, 2006

Democratic Sweep? Not in my neighborhood.

I live in Northern Coastal Orange County, California. It's part of the California 46th Congressional District, one of the most gerrymandered and Republican dominated districts in the country. Our Congressman is Dana Rohrabaker, currently running for his 10th consecutive term but you'd never know it.

There are no campaign signs on the streets. No adds on TV. There are no news stories or editorials in the local papers concerning the candidates or their positions on the issues. The Democratic candidate is a throwaway, has raised no money and received none from the DNC. Dana has plenty of money but prefers to let the non campaign continue. His last personal appearance, at a large public venue, that I am aware of, was last 4th of July.

Dana votes pretty much like you would expect a conservative Republican to vote. His only divergence from the Bush agenda is that he is strongly anti-immigration, but he has been strangely silent during the recent populist anti-immigration uprising.

He was Jack Abramoff's closest personal friend in Congress, or anywhere, as far as I know.

He has accepted massive contributions from CAIR, and virtually every other Islamic lobbyist group with money to spend. Several of his Arab American contributers are awaiting trial in Federal courts on charges of aiding terrorists. In 2002, he went to Afghanistan, for extensive private meetings with Taliban leaders, and travel throughout the country. He was not critical of the Taliban following this episode. He is not a friend of Israel.

He supports punitive prison terms for drug users and low level traffickers, while freely admitting a youthful background of drug use.

He is anti-abortion, anti-feminist and anti-gay rights. He is strongly supported by the Focus on the Family organization, led by the feminine acting, but, we are told, strongly heterosexual clergyman, James Dobson. Dana, himself a batchelor, never previously linked to a feminine companion, married precipitously, after a short courtship, in his fiftieth year, to a young, Republican staffer. Several years later, he became the father of triplets, which in this day and age, usually is the result of in vitro fertilization. He has not weighed in on the Foley scandal. Like they used to say in Florida, this a man with strong, thespian leanings.

Seems to me like the Democrats are throwing away a good opportunity here. Democratic sweep of the House? I'll believe it when I see it.

1 comment:

reddog said...

I hear you sonarman and I should feel ashamed of myself. Nothing I wrote is untrue but it is strung together in a very insinuating manner. This has, to our national disgrace, become a hallmark of American political discourse today.

I have no problem with anything Dana may or may not be. I do not fear diversity but dispise hypocracy. If a man runs for Congress, he should come out among the people, speak his mind and respond to the concerns of the people. This, Dana refuses to do. Whether or not he is in jeopardy of losing the election or not is beside the point.

I am not nefariously sniping from afar. My name's on the blog and in the book. Just thought I'd stir the pot, nobody else is.