The Conservative Soul: Roach vs Bilbray

The conservatives need to find their soul...

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Democrat Francine Busby, 55, a women's studies lecturer who in 2004 won 36 percent running against Cunningham, finished first, but with only 43.7 percent, about what Bill Clinton, Al Gore and John Kerry won in the 50th in 1996, 2000 and 2004 – 45, 43 and 44, respectively. So Republicans heaved sighs of relief, thinking the seat is safe. They sighed prematurely.
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Point to be made - small margin of error.


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On June 6, Busby faces Brian Bilbray, 55, who led all Republicans on April 11. The 14 Republicans won 53.5 percent of the vote, but Bilbray – who from 1995-2001 represented the neighboring 49th District – won just 15.3 percent. And Eric Roach, 43, a wealthy self-financing candidate, won 14.5 percent.
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The two people that have a chance are squabbling. But Roach is squawking - he believe Bilbray is wrong.

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...Darrell Issa, the Republican who now represents the 49th District, threatened to “bury” Roach if he did not quit campaigning. Roach, unamused by such pressure to disappear, says 45,000 of the 73,000 votes cast for Republicans April 11 were for conservatives. He is one (pro-life and aghast at spending by the Republican-controlled Congress), and he says Bilbray is not because Bilbray is pro-choice and “has voted for many tax increases.”
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And Bilbray, since losing the 49th District in 2000, has been a Washington lobbyist, with a home in Northern Virginia, where his children attended school.
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This makes the issue for me..

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As for Roach, Bilbray says “the male ego is a fragile thing – as any woman can tell you.” He expects Roach to recede, once the sting of the April 11 loss subsides. Roach is visiting Washington this week, measuring conservatives' support for continuing his campaign.
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Roach intends to push Bilbray out. Bilbray can't stop him. This is the fight soul of the local Republican district.

Roach is a conservative and Bilbray is a neo-conservative. The 50th is unsure of what they want. When I look at the election results, I see that Republicans voted MORE for a non-big money candidate. Where as minority support is strong for a neo-conservative like Bilbray.

Find your soul Republicans - Democrats know theirs and have the plan!

US Appeals: Schools can ban hurtful shirts.

You may remember the news story about the student that decided to display his belief that "Homosexuality is Shameful". He believed that his Christian faith compeled him to to "protest" his schools acceptance of LBGT groups on campus.

You might be happy to read the US Appeals Court ruling...

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Public schools can bar clothing with slogans that are hurtful, a U.S. appeals court ruled Thursday in the case of a student who wore a T-shirt saying "Homosexuality is shameful."

The 2-1 decision by a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals backed a San Diego-area high school's argument that it was entitled to tell a student to remove a T-shirt with that message.
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Keep your shirt on.. or take it off... it all depends - read on for more.

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"Perhaps our dissenting colleague believes that one can condemn homosexuality without condemning homosexuals. If so, he is wrong. To say that homosexuality is shameful is to say, necessarily, that gays and lesbians are shameful," Reinhardt.

"There are numerous locations and opportunities available to those who wish to advance such an argument. It is not necessary to do so by directly condemning, to their faces, young students trying to obtain a fair and full education in our public schools," Reinhardt added.
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Salute the elephant, instead of the flag.

I'm sure this the kind of thing that happens all the time at RNC HQ...

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As someone stood up to lead the Pledge of Allegiance at a GOP dinner here Thursday, it was suddenly realized there was no flag in the room.

“Pledge to the elephant!” shouted Bob Watkins of the county Board of Education.

So the audience, which included Rep. Darrell Issa, state Senate Minority Leader Dick Ackerman, Assembly Republican Leader-Elect George Plescia and Mayor Jerry Sanders, turned toward the GOP banner and recited the pledge while facing the party's symbolic pachyderm.

Fortunately, it was a patriotic red, white and blue – with stars.
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I'm sure it was a simple understanding, they don't have a flag because Duke Cunningham was too busy wrapping himself in it before he was indicted...

They just never got around to getting it back from him. Not to worry, they are sending it back really soon... Duke has a different set of stripes to cover himself in...

http://jail.ytmnsfw.com/

Republican Unity...

Is there such a thing in CA-50? Were Republicans ever really united for something or against something? Or was it just easy to sleepwalk to the polls?

Duke Cunningham rode this district for 14 years. The last year was hell in a handbasket at his own doing. Republicans in our district have a strong party allegiance, which is admirable. But what good is party loyalty when it flies in the face of your values?

Dishonesty. Bribery. Lies. Poltics over People. Corporate Interest before Public Interest.

If this is what the Republican party stands for you've got to change it.

Taking money from lobbyists, bribes, and corporate interests doesn't help America. It won't help Americans in the least, when it comes to the morgage payment, paying for college, or healthcare.

When the political dirt flies back and forth you find there was not Republican Party Unity in CA-50.

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Even before Brian Bilbray appeared to clinch a narrow victory Tuesday over 13 other Republican rivals ...supporters called on the field to "unite" behind Bilbray's candidacy. But a day later, it appeared that unity could be slow in coming.
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No unity.

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Eric Roach, Bilbray's nearest Republican rival, said Wednesday through campaign managers that he might ask for a recount of votes cast in the sprawling 50th District ---- a move that would delay Republican solidarity in the weeks of campaigning left before June 6.
"Right now, our focus is to wait for the 10,000 or so provisional and absentee ballots left to be counted, and determine if a recount is necessary," Roach spokesman Stan Devereux said.
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No unity.

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On Wednesday morning, with nearly 100 percent of the votes counted, Bilbray had apparently eked out a narrow victory over Roach, with 15.15 percent of the vote, to Roach's 14.46 percent.
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She said Wednesday that she welcomes the upcoming fight against Bilbray, a Washington lobbyist.Bilbray said the fight against Busby would be easier if Republicans stick together.
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More on the recount process itself...

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However, a hand recount of more than 130,000 votes ---- which would have to be counted precinct by precinct from the 445 precincts ---- could take a long time, Haas said. Haas said that anyone could ask the county to conduct a recount of any election, and the county would do it. But, Haas said, the person or group requesting the recount would have to pay for the work. He said that could amount to "thousands of dollars a day," depending upon how many county election workers were hired to handle the recount, and how long it took.
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No Unity... From Roach.

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A review of the tally suggests that, if the current numbers from Tuesday's election hold up, and if Bilbray needs a united Republican front, losing Roach's support could undo his candidacy.Add Roach's votes and those of the other 13 Republican candidates to Bilbray's, and the GOP percentage of the vote would come to 56.08 percent ---- enough to comfortably defeat Busby's 43.92 percent.Subtract Roach's 14.46 percent, and Bilbray's support would drop to 41.62 percent, a slice that would lose to Busby's current percentage.
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No Unity... from Kaloogian

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Former Assemblyman Howard Kaloogian, who finished a distant fourth with 7.4 percent of Tuesday's vote, declined to return repeated calls Wednesday to determine if he would throw his support to Bilbray.
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No Unity... from anyone...

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And Republican leaders and supporters tried unsuccessfully several times at Tuesday night's celebration to get all 14 candidates to join each another on stage.
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Keywords: Immigration - Amnesty, Security, Illegal.

Talking point keywords are going to be thrown around - Amnesty (bad), Security (good), etc... - These things will rally the Republican base...

In keeping with the terms, Adopt the terms. Use them on Bilbray. Busby's campaign will need to attach those themes to Bilbray's lack of integrity to drop his support.

Ex:
Electing Bilbray is giving amnesty to the flood of Lobbyists, by giving letting them invade Congress.


Cool huh?