Tim Bee is looked upon as a serious contender to Gabby Giffords in 2008 because of his moderate reputation (which is not supported by a moderate voting record) and his bipartisan etiquette. Based on Bee’s first foray into electioneering, that view may be premature. Bee is apparently tone-deaf to CD8, and the American people in general, on the issue of Bush’s illegal wiretapping program that the Congress just made the unforgivable mistake of authorizing for another 6 months.
The overwhelming majority of Americans, 73%, oppose domestic wiretapping without a warrant of the sort which Bush’s illegal program is admittedly engaged in. That includes 51% of Republicans who oppose such an intrusion upon their civil rights in the name of the "War on Terror." Yet, the very first major swipe Bee takes at Gabby is her vote against authorizing Bush’s program for six more months without any serious oversight or additional judicial scrutiny. He said, "I think she’s on the wrong side of that issue." Presumably then, the right side of that issue is the one that only 27% of citizens support.
That’s one way to kick off your campaign – maybe Tim should have led by advocating for wringing the necks of dogs who can’t cut it in the pit anymore, only that could have assured him starting out from an even narrower electoral base.
Bee also apparently thinks that Gabby is out-of-touch with the district. "There are concerns about whether she’s gone back to make the changes she said she would and whether she’s in touch with the
district," Bee said. I’m finding it hard to figure out when she managed to find time to get ‘out of touch’ in the eight months she’s been in office. Considering she’s constantly underfoot of every constituent in the district nearly every moment Congress is out of session, it must have happened when she’s traveling to global hot-spots on fact-finding missions related to her foreign policy and military committee assignments. Shame on her.
Finally, Bee stuck his stinger in his mouth and pulled the trigger by criticizing President Bush and his whole Administration. After initially sidestepping a question about the Iraq war, Bee
said, "I believe that this war has been poorly executed, and there have
been many mistakes made along the way, but at the same time, it’s going
to be extremely important that we have a successful outcome." The incompetents who have driven the Iraq occupation off a cliff are the very same ones Bee is criticizing Gabby for not giving unchecked power to spy on and search Americans’ communications and financial records without a warrant. Why does Bee think that those who have botched the war in Iraq are going to do such a great job when given unfettered power to spy on Americans in the name of the ‘war on terror’? And certainly Bee’s criticism of BushCo’s handling of Iraq isn’t going to go down well with the reality-challenged base of the GOP who think that things are getting better all the time in Iraq.
Or maybe I’ve got it all wrong. Perhaps Bee isn’t criticizing the Administration’s handling of Iraq. Perhaps he’s actually criticizing those doing the real ‘executing’ in this occupation: the troops. When he says the war has "been poorly executed," I suppose he might be just ragging on the grunts and officers who have been pulling the triggers, making the hard calls in the field, and, incidentally, doing all that inconvenient dying and killing people are so upset about. Nah. He wouldn’t do that, would he? Maybe he’ll clear that up for us. So which did you mean, Timmy? Is it Bush and the ideological goons that have screwed up Iraq, or the troops?
Bee is proving himself far from an able and amicable Republican challenger. He is showing that he intends to play by the Rove play book: baselessly smear your opponent at every opportunity, and politicize your opponent’s concern for civil liberties and human rights in the name of the ‘war on terror’, and never, never question whether our men and women are dying for a cause worthy of their sacrifice. That will not be a winning strategy in 2008. If Bee keeps up in this vein, he won’t even do as well as Randy Graf against Gabby.
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Well that’s a load off my mind. The Administration won’t tell Congress what it’s doing, but they’ll tell Dwight. Goodness, what do we even need a Congress for? I will rest easy now knowing that my civil liberties are protected while Dwight’s on watch…
Oh, and Gabby was supposed to do what about Countrywide giving Magnus the shaft? Not too clear on that…
Question:
Is Giffords aware as a former New York Broker that over 2,000 jobs have been lost in her district because of First Magnus-Charter Funding filing Bankruptcy and First National Mortgage and Bank?
Does she know that First Magnus was a week away from forming The First Magnus Bank?
As with First National that closed all offices EXCEPT one in scottsdale because of the Mortgage Company bankrolling its defaults through its Bank?
Does she know that QUICKER LOANS FUNDED BUY COUNTRYWIDE just opened a new office in Arizona and its Countrywide that defunded First Magnus and forced it into Bankruptcy?
First Magnus DID NOT deal in the sub-prime business but Quicken and Countrywide did and still is!!
Looks like Countrywide DBA as Quicken wanted First Magnus OUT OF THE WAY in ARIZONA QUICK and pulled the plug on them BEFORE they became more competion for them and had a BANK!!
So where is your constituent supporting Giffords NOW??!!
Oh yea at The Foothills Mall!
As for Giffords and her Moral’s and to send her back to Congress in 2008; I say anybody BUT Giffords will support the needs of the constituents over the needs of The Tucson Chamber of Commerce and the business community!
She called me today on a robo call telling me to come see her and her staff at The Foothills Mall on Saturday: yea sure!
She is putting on a MASK of seeing her grass roots constituents while taking the BIG BUCKS from the business community acrossthe board ; so who do you think she really represents???
I looked into the so called “Wiretap” thing.
My sources on the inside of that operation tell me it does NOT wiretap anyone in the United States period; BUT does have access to less than 100 cell phone calls being transmitted through United States Phone Companies to other Countries.
I have been involved in calls from India that are threatening and have filed Police reports and Quest Security has informed the Police that Quest can NOT trace a call in the United States that is layered through another United States phone carrier with-out a warrant.
I do not support Wiretaps of U.S. Citizens and it seems people have gotten this thing all wrong!
There are no “Republican Party” candidates, only “Bush Party” candidates! It’s obvious many Bush Party candidates are trying to disassotiate themselves from the occupant of the White House, but we shouldn’t let them.