Politics Extra: First-name basis?

Thursday, October 05, 2006

First-name basis?

Apparently to Rep. Jean Schmidt, the president’s press secretary is just “Tony.”

Schmidt, a Miami Township Republican, was one of three local campaigns to shoot out news releases today advertising a Friday event with presidential spokesman Tony Snow, a Cincinnati native.

For Schmidt, Snow will attend a luncheon fundraiser at The Millennium Hotel at noon.

"It is an honor to have Tony visit his hometown of Cincinnati" Schmidt in her release. "This will be an exciting opportunity for people to hear directly from Tony."

It won’t be a very long lunch. Snow is due to visit with Rep. Steve Chabot’s campaign volunteers at 1:30 p.m.

Snow then will attend a 7 p.m. campaign event with Kentucky Rep. Geoff Davis at the Cincinnati Airport Marriott in Hebron.

Tickets for Schmidt’s event are $200 per person. Anyone interested in attending the event should contact the Schmidt campaign at 513-791-JEAN (5326). But don’t ask for the finance department. We hear she’s a little short staffed right now.

7 Comments:

at 8:28 AM, October 06, 2006

John in Cincinnati said...

Forgive me for noting the irony of Tony Snow being the featured speaker. I'm sure his remarks will fit the quality of Jean Schmidt's job in Congress -- a snow job on the voters of the 2nd District.

Her only real achievement after a magical four point vote shift in 19 minutes in Clermont County in the Special Election, was her foot-in-the-mouth comment about war hero John Murtha, calling him a coward. Murtha, called for the re-deployment of our troops in Iraq, over the horizon -- for quick strike capability if necessary. Not unlike the current thinking of most military leadership.

I wonder what kind of snow job will justify the "family values" candidate supporting the present House leadership in the Page abuse scandal?

at 9:03 AM, October 06, 2006

Anonymous said...

"a magical four point vote shift in 19 minutes in Clermont County in the Special Election.

Bet it was the first time in history that "high humidity" elected a member of congress."

The GOP is spinning their "family values" by either blaming the exposure on the Democrats (despite Brian Ross saying his source was a lifelong Republican) and by saying it was "a couple of naughty emails". First off, the Dems were unaware of the scandal and second then WHY DID FOLEY SO QUICKLY RESIGN?

If there are any "values" Republicans out there truly interested in knowing where this is heading, they should google "Conspiracy of Silence" (was suppose to air on the discovery channel-but never did) and do a little research on the sex slaves of the Mariana Islands and where Tom Delay and Jack Abramoff fit into the trade (hint: forced abortions). PS They have been playing you, big time!

at 9:30 AM, October 06, 2006

Anonymous said...

Perhaps Mr Snow would like to comment on the "values" of Tom Delay and Jack Abramoff (ie sex trade, forced abortions etc.):

Democrats Renew Push for Mariana Labor Bill
Legislation Blocked by DeLay Extends Controls Over U.S. Territory
By William Branigin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 7, 2006; 5:06 PM

House Democrats led by Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) introduced legislation today to extend key federal controls over a U.S. territory in the western Pacific, renewing an effort that was blocked for years by lobbyist Jack Abramoff and once-powerful Texas Republican Tom DeLay.

The bill aims to apply U.S. immigration law and basic labor protections, including the U.S. minimum wage, to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), a U.S. territory 3,900 miles west of Hawaii. Human rights and labor investigators have found rampant abuses there over the years, notably the trafficking of women for a commercial sex trade and the exploitation of mostly female workers from poor Asian countries in a largely foreign-owned garment-manufacturing industry that uses the territory to turn out "Made in U.S.A." clothing exempt from U.S. tariffs and quotas.

As a lobbyist for the Northern Marianas government and, subsequently, the garment industry on the main island of Saipan, Abramoff enlisted DeLay and other Republican leaders in a battle against the Clinton administration, human rights groups, labor unions and a bipartisan group of lawmakers to preserve local control over immigration and the minimum wage.

-snip

He charged that DeLay, the former House majority leader, and Abramoff, a conservative Republican who became one of Washington's top lobbyists, "ignored well-documented threats to American security, criminal activity, violations of labor law, forced abortions and human trafficking" in the Northern Marianas.

"They were running a protection racket," Miller said. "DeLay and Abramoff protected the Marianas garment industry from congressional scrutiny and were rewarded handsomely for it with trips, lucrative contracts, campaign money and more. The most exploited women in the world, and the American legislative process, paid the price."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/07/AR2006060701673.html

There's a difference between "talking the talk" and "walking the walk" when it comes to values. Foley, Delay and Abramoff DO NOT practice what they preached. Don't believe me, research yourself.

at 9:35 AM, October 06, 2006

Anonymous said...

I think everyone agrees he resigned so quickly because the Page's parents released the IM conversations to the news (not law enforcement) on the last day of session and Foley knew he was caught. All Pelosi brought up on the floor on Friday was that the Speaker's office was warned of some emails, which while creepy, had no illegal side to them.

Thanks Democrats for blowing this out of the water so you can have your "October Suprirse." There's no scandal, just a sick old Representative that got caught. But it's not the first time, Dems in Massachusetts should know this VERY well.

at 9:42 AM, October 06, 2006

Anonymous said...

ARE THESE YOUR VALUES?:

Wednesday, January 4th, 2006
Forced Abortions & Sweatshops: A Look at Jack Abramoff's Ties to the South Pacific Island of Saipan & How Tom DeLay Became An Advocate for Sweatshop Factory Owners

We speak with ABC News' Brian Ross who exposed in 1998 the horrific labor conditions in the U.S. territory of Saipan. At the time, Jack Abramoff was Saipan's hired gun on K Street and Tom DeLay was one of the island's chief advocates on Capitol Hill. DeLay backed the sweatshop owners even though it was exposed that the factory was forcing women to have abortions and treated workers like indentured servants. [includes rush transcript]

Controversy is nothing new to Jack Abramoff. The Los Angeles Times reports Abramoff’s first political scandal dates back to 1972 when he ran for student council president at the Hawthorne School, an elementary and middle school in Beverly Hills California. Abramoff was reportedly disqualified for exceeding the spending limit in the race. In college Abramoff teamed up with two students who would become household names in Washington to take over the College Republican National Committee. They were anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist and Ralph Reed, founder of the Christian Coalition. After college Abramoff’s resume was diverse, from his brief Hollywood career to his secret dealings with the South African apartheid regime.
A 1995 investigation by Newsday revealed that Abramoff helped run a think–tank called the International Freedom Foundation. The organization was set up in 1986 and its goal was to improve the white South African apartheid government’s image in the West while demonizing Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress as communist tools. The Newsday report also quoted sources saying that the South African military helped finance the 1988 movie "Red Scorpion" which Abramoff wrote and produced. The movie was a sympathetic portrayal of an anti-communist African guerrilla commander and loosely based on Jonas Savimbi, the Angolan rebel leader who was an ally of both South Africa’s apartheid government and the U.S government.
We turn now to Abramoff’s special relationship with the South Pacific island of Saipan and how it connects to his ties to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. Saipan is an American territory in the South Pacific also known as the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. In the mid-1990s Abramoff was on the payroll of Saipan officials aiming to stop legislation that would crack down on sweat shop conditions, which run rampant on the island. In 1997, Abramoff arranged a lavish trip to the island of Saipan for Delay.

GO TO THE LINK AND READ THE INTERVIEW (EXERPT)

AMY GOODMAN: I want to go to the issue of forced abortion, which is astounding given Tom DeLay's stand on abortion. Can you talk about that?

BRIAN ROSS: Well, it's completely counter to anything that DeLay or most Republicans seem to espouse, that was, on that island there were forced abortions. And the workers there who are all young women, who often had to pay to get these jobs, knew the rules. And they were barred from having boyfriends and certainly barred from having children if they became pregnant. They knew where to go, and there were a few essential back-alley abortion mills on the island. And that's where these young Chinese women went in order to keep their jobs. And that was the deal. That's part of the situation that was essentially endorsed by DeLay when he fought the laws. The laws were established essentially exempting Saipan, although it is a U.S. territory, from U.S. labor laws

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/01/04/1524256

at 9:46 AM, October 06, 2006

Anonymous said...

THE REPUBLICANS TRIED TO MAKE LIGHT OF THEIR CONNECTIONS WITH ABRAMOFF, BUT NOW WE FIND OUT HE VISITED THE WHITE HOUSE HUNDREDS OF TIMES:

Disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff reappeared on the scene over these last few days. A bipartisan Congressional report described hundreds of contacts between Abramoff and the White House, including 82 contacts with Karl Rove's office and at least ten between Abramoff and Rove himself. Recall that former White House spokesman Scott McClellan brushed off any White House-Abramoff associations back in January, describing them merely as a "few staff-level meetings."

Congressman Henry Waxman, minority chair for the House Government Reform Committee, released a massive batch of emails from Abramoff to various Washington DC power players. In one, dated March 18, 2002, Abramoff wrote, "I was sitting yesterday with Karl Rove, Bush's top advisor, at the NCAA basketball game, discussing Israel when this email came in. I showed it to him. It seems that the President was very sad to have to come out negatively regarding Israel, but that they needed to mollify the Arabs for the upcoming war on Iraq."

"The upcoming war in Iraq," wrote Abramoff casually, one year and two days before the invasion was undertaken. It seems those "few staff-level meetings" availed Abramoff of some significant information. How this criminal came to know war in Iraq was coming before the rest of the world did is something that deserves a great deal of intense scrutiny.

-snip

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/100406R.shtml

ARE THESE YOUR VALUES?

at 9:47 PM, October 06, 2006

John in Cincinnati said...

Some anon. above noted emails "while creepy, had no illegal side to them."

Frankly, we don't know that. Communication transmitted across state lines, to a minor, at least sexually suggestive may, or may not, be illegal.

For a licensed professional they would be unethical between a psychologist, counselor or social worker with a client, intern or practicum student. I don't know what the ethical standards are for House members.

They are at least "creepy" as the writer suggests, but I think the big issue is that some think they're above rules, regulations and basic human decency.

Previous Posts

Thursday, October 05, 2006

First-name basis?

7 Comments: