Friday’s political round-up

August 18, 2006

Today’s installment of campaign-related news items that wouldn’t generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers:

* Further proof that Pennsylvania’s Senate race is getting a little closer comes by way of a new Strategic Vision (R) vision poll, which shows [tag]Bob Casey[/tag] (D) leading [tag]Rick Santorum[/tag] (R), 47% to 41%, with [tag]Carl Romanelli[/tag] (R) picking up 4%. Oddly enough, when respondents were asked the same question without Romanelli in the mix, the results were nearly identical, with Casey ahead, 48% to 41%. (thanks to Rege for the tip)

* Local GOP leaders in Texas’ 22nd district formally endorsed Houston Councilwoman [tag]Shelley Sekula-Gibbs[/tag]’ write-in campaign yesterday in the race to replace former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. Sugarland Mayor [tag]David Wallace[/tag] (R), however, is reportedly interested in continuing his own write-in bid, even without the party’s support.

* In Nebraska, a new Rasmussen poll shows incumbent Sen. [tag]Ben Nelson[/tag] (D) continuing to enjoy a big lead over businessman [tag]Pete Ricketts[/tag] (R), 55% to 32%. It’s a slight shift from last month’s poll, which showed Nelson ahead, 57% to 31%, but when the margin is this big, it hardly matters.

* Speaking of Nebraska, the gubernatorial race is even less competitive. According to Rasmussen, Gov. [tag]Dave Heineman[/tag]’s (R) re-election bid couldn’t be much more secure at this point — he now leads challenger [tag]David Hahn[/tag] (D), 71% to 18%.

* In Wisconsin, a new Research 2000 poll shows incumbent Gov. [tag]Jim Doyle[/tag] (D) leading Rep. [tag]Mark Green[/tag] (R) in the state’s gubernatorial race, 48% to 38%. The 10-point margin is slightly larger than the seven-point lead Doyle enjoyed in a similar poll a month ago. (via Teagan Goddard)

* And, finally, in Florida, GOP activist [tag]Tramm Hudson[/tag] (R), the leading candidate to replace Rep. Katherine Harris (R) in Florida’s 13th district, recently told a Christian Coalition audience about a bridge-building exercise he did in the military in the 1970s. He explained, “I grew up in Alabama; I understand, I know this from my own experience, that blacks are not the greatest swimmers, and may not even know how to swim.” Hudson apologized yesterday, explaining that he had said “something stupid.”

On October 5th, 2004 you did a story on how Bush was screwing with the lives of veterans. You used a quote from one of my friends and my heroes Gene Westbrook. If you have forgotten so quickly why don’t you look at you’re own quote to refresh your memory.

I love the military; that was my life. But I don’t believe they’re taking care of me now,” said Staff Sgt. Gene Westbrook, 35, of Lawton, Okla. Paralyzed in a mortar attack near Baghdad in April, he has received no disability benefits because his paperwork is missing. He is supporting his wife and three children on his regular military pay of $2,800 a month as he awaits a ruling on whether he will receive $6,500 a month from the VA for his disability.

What you failed to do was follow up on this story. You never mentioned is medical discharge and how he finally did end up with the support. I doubt you even care about it. You people make me sick. You have so much hate towards George W. Bush that you just throw people’s names out there and drag their lives through the mud.

But I guess that’s your nature. You’re carpetbaggers!

  • #1

    That’s really not fair to Steve. It is not like he can follow up on every story out there. Why don’t you tell us what happened instead of attacking? Why don’t you get your own blog and follow up on these stories if you feel so strongly?

    I am glad to infer from your note that this had a happy ending.

  • You have so much hate towards George W. Bush that you just throw people’s names out there and drag their lives through the mud.

    I doubt you really believe that, Jonathan. I didn’t mention Staff Sgt. Gene Westbrook and his injury in 2004 because I wanted to drag his name “through the mud”; I mentioned him because I, among others, want to see him and everyone who wears the uniform receive the best possible treatment. Too often under this president, that hasn’t happened. That’s not about “hating” Bush; it’s about supporting — real, genuine support — for U.S. troops.

    It was, after all, your friend who said he didn’t feel like he was receiving the care he needed. If he’s getting better care now, I’m relieved and delighted. I can only hope the thousands of people like him get the assistance they need as well.

    You people make me sick.

    If sincere concern for men and women in uniform disgusts you, that’s a shame, but I wish you well and hope you find a different website that will tell you what you want to hear.

  • It would seem to me that an individual who comes into a discussion—whether that discussion is face-to-face, or via one of several available “over-the-horizon” modes (snail-mail, e-mail, telephone, ‘net communities, etc.)—and attempts to disrupt the conversation’s topic by interjecting a wholly-unrelated diatribe, is not an individual of estimable ethical standards. Further, one must simply wonder why the issue of SSG Westbrook, wounded in action in April 2004 and brought to light in this arena (as well as the Tacoma papers, Tacoma news organizations, and the Lawton Goodyear plant that sought to raise funds for a specially-equipped van) on 5 October 2004, is suddenly an issue of importance to this individual on 18 August 2006—or might one surmise that the issue of SSG Westbrook’s acquisition of earned support-resources took this long? This individual—Johnathan, I believe—makes no mention of when these services were finally delivered to SSG Westbrook, whether in entirety, partiality, or at all. he merely pops in from a distant place, and seeks to ingratiate himself via a diatribe unrelated to the subject-at-hand.

    Now, in returning to the “real” discussion, I find it beyond laughable that Hudson seems to be trying to lose even worse than harris will lose. What are they drinking down there in Florida? Seawater? It’s as if the entire GOP—every last candidate amongst them—are all trying to “out-martyr-ize” each other….

  • Actually, Jonathan, we don’t hate George W. Bush. We really don’t.

    We think he’s a clueless, incompetent, delusional, rock-stupid neo-con tool who is personally responsible for tens of thousands of deaths, the degredation of the finest military machine the world has ever known, the draining of American resources leaving us with massive debts not seen in modern times, among other things, who should be cleaning the inside of prison toilets with his tongue.

    But we don’t hate him.

  • At least CB mentioned the story. I would be amazed to hear Rush or Hannity talk about this SSG’s problem. And if they did, it would be to complain about “liberal bureaucrats” or something stupid like that.

    As for politics here in Nebraska, I figured Ricketts’ gap would close a little bit. In their first debate, Ricketts just looked a little out of his league. Plus, as pointed out at this site, when his message is that “Washington is eroding our values”, he seems to forget that it’s the party he’s running for that’s in charge in Washington.

    Heinemann’s lead doesn’t suprise me. He’s pretty much promised that he’ll keep the Mexicans out of the state, keep poor black kids out of the rich suburban schools in Omaha, and jail homosexuals.

    Okay, I made that last one up. But I’m sure he’s thought of it.

    And I prefer “Cornhusker”, not “carpetbagger”
    Go Big Red

  • the hudson story is embarassing to florida republicans. this guy was the chairman of the sarasota county republican party! i am disappointed in the party’s poor judgement.

  • While that idiot in Florida clearly shows his inability to see dark-skinned people as anything but alien, I have a tiny bit of sympathy for him, because I’ve wondered myself if statistics might indeed show that fewer people of African descent know how to swim.

    In public swimming classes with my daughters over several summers, the several times when there were kids who were years older than others in their beginning classes, those kids were black. Of course, maybe that just indicates a willingness to barrel in and not be embarrassed to be twelve and swimming with six-year-olds. Or maybe it was just coincidence. One of the mothers was actually Jamaican, so I suppose that one shouldn’t count. But I’d be curious to see if there are statistical differences.

  • Guess I just needed to do a little research. Although this still leaves some questions…

    From National Center for Injury Prevention and Control:

    African Americans: Factors such as the environment (e.g., access to swimming pools) may contribute to the racial differences in drowning rates between African Americans and white Americans (Branche et al. 2004). During 2002–2003, the overall age-adjusted fatal drowning rate for African Americans was 1.25 times higher than for whites (CDC 2005). However, these rates vary by age. During this time, African-American infants under one year had a fatal drowning rate slightly higher than the drowning rate of white infants (CDC 2005). Most infants drown in bathtubs, toilets, or household buckets. Among children 1 to 4 years of age, African Americans had a lower fatal drowning rate than whites. Drownings in this age group typically happen in residential swimming pools. African-American children ages 5 to 19 years fatally drowned at 2.3 times the rate of white children in this age group during 2002–2003 (CDC 2005). As children get older, drownings often occur in open water areas such as ponds, lakes, and rivers. If African Americans participate less in water-related activities than whites, their drowning rates (per exposure) may be higher than currently reported (Branche et al. 2004).

  • African-American children ages 5 to 9 are four-and-a-half times more likely to drown in swimming pools than Caucasian children.

    Most African-Americans don’t feel as confident in the water as white people. In a 1994 Public Health Reports survey, 62 percent of African-Americans said they had limited swimming ability versus 32 percent of white people.

    Army recruiters have noticed the discrepancy. In the 1980s they had a hard time getting minorities into the Special Forces. Plenty of African-Americans were applying. But on the third day of try-outs, everyone had to swim two laps of the pool wearing fatigues and combat boots.

    Fifteen percent of the African-Americans failed, compared with 3 percent of the whites.

    On average, nine people drown in the US every day, about 3,300 per year. Forty percent of the persons drowning are African-Americans. The African-American community represents about thirteen percent of the population, but accounts for forty percent of the drowning deaths.

    If the proportion of the drowning deaths represented the population ratio, 425 African-Americans would drown each year. The facts are that about 1,325 African-Americans drown each year on average, an excess death rate of almost 900. The really sad news is that in the 5 to 19 years age group, the drowning rate for African-Americans is twice the white drowning rate, and in the 10 to 14 years age group the drowning rate in 4 to 5 times the rate for whites.

    Some anecdotal stuff suggests that the reason blacks don’t swim is that it was perpetuated by plantation owners. Apparently “Blacks can’t swim” is something that whites — and even blacks — have been saying about blacks for at least the last 50 years. Various obvious sociological reasons for the differences are given, such as families where the mother works, fewer pools in black neighborhoods, segregation in the past leading to parents who can’t swim. And then there are also apparently serious websites that say blacks have denser bones, which is why they have lower rates of osteoporosis, and thus have more trouble floating. One suggests that methods used by the American Red Cross to teach swimming are discriminatory, because they are ill-suited to people with denser bones.

    Sorry that I’m obsessing about this. Just thought there might be more to it.

    • Comments are closed.