Hunter vs. Reid… The FlashReport had the Washington Times article yesterday on Duncan Hunter’s call for Harry Reid’s resignation, but I thought you might be interested in the full text of the Hunter release. I love "your-my-friend-but-your-also-an-idiot" political statements, and Hunter pulls it off with aplomb:
Hunter Calls on Senator Reid to Step Down as Senate Majority Leader
WASHINGTON, D.C. – House Armed Services Committee Ranking Republican Duncan Hunter (R-CA) today called for Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) to resign as Majority Leader following his controversial comments stating that the war in Iraq "is lost."
"In commenting on ongoing operations in Iraq, you recently stated that ‘this war is lost.’ This unfortunate statement is both inaccurate and damaging," opened Hunter in a letter to Reid.
"It can have no effect but to demoralize the brave men and women, who are honorably fulfilling their mission in Iraq, and to encourage our adversaries. Even if you sincerely believe it to be true, your pronouncement of failure will undoubtedly be used by terrorist leaders to rally their followers – inevitably leading to increased attacks on U.S. and coalition forces," Hunter continued.
"Currently, there are about 146,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. When the reinforcement operation is at full strength, this number will stand at approximately 157,000. How can anyone, including a United States Senator, possibly declare as a failure a reinforcement operation that is less than fifty percent complete?"
Hunter continued, "I’ve always considered you a friend, but my highest obligation is, like yours, owed to our forces in uniform, especially during this time of war."
"Given your position of leadership within the United States Government, I find your pronouncement of failure irresponsible and disserving to America’s armed forces. In light of the fact that this statement has both been used by our adversaries and has exhibited a marked lack of leadership to U.S. troops, I call on you to resign your leadership position," concluded Hunter.
Time to Spare for Anderson… FR readers probably know ad-nauseam that Joel Anderson’s Iran divestment bill has legs (AB 221 passed Judiciary last week), but did anyone notice the freshman assemblyman made Time Magazine a couple of weeks back? Yep, right there in the Verbatim column:
"I’m not saying that we should take a foreign policy stance; I’m saying it’s not a good place to invest our money."
JOEL ANDERSON, California assemblyman, about a bill he wrote that would bar California’s investment in Iran; when he introduced the bill in January, he called Iran’s finances "the mother’s milk of terrorism"
The mention is wedged right between Alberto Gonzalez and President Bush entries. Not sure if that’s good company or not for Time, Joel, but Nancy Pelosi is also noted in the same column.
Nehring Reminds the Dems Just What the Meaning of San Diego "Is"…. I’m not one of the hundreds of bloggers descending on the State D convention this weekend, even thought it’s right down the freeway…I feel no need to buy drinks and gather nuggets of info in the other side’s den like some needy right version of Bob Mulholland. Kudos to Ron Nehring and the CRP Communications Office, however, for defining the tone for the setting:
This weekend California Democrats will gather in San Diego County for their annual convention.
It’s the first time in more than a decade that the state Democrats are coming to San Diego – I suppose they finally found enough rooms among the small number of unionized hotels that labor officials allowed the party to come back to our fair city. Good for them.
San Diego is not the same city it was ten years ago, however. Organized labor took control of the city council in 2000, which immediately ran the city into the financial ditch through massive payoff to the public employee unions who elected them, in the form of a colossal pension benefits increase that has forced the city to the brink of bankruptcy. Several former union officials and allies are now under indictment or investigation for their role in the scheme.
So much for the Democrats’ vision of San Diego government.
San Diego is also not the same city – or county – that it was just seven years ago either. Back then, Democrats were doing fairly well holding onto districts where they held a plurality in voter registration.
Perhaps the California Democratic Party will hold a workshop this weekend on how to lose in districts you should win. They’ve gotten very good at that in San Diego County. Here are some examples:
-In 2002, Republican Shirley Horton won in the 78th State Assembly District, a heavily Democrat area that the Assembly Democrat majority specifically drew for themselves in the 2001 redistricting. Assemblymember Horton won her third re-election last year by her biggest margin yet, despite a 6% registration advantage for the other party.
-In 2005, Republican Jerry Sanders defeated the San Diego Democrats’ golden child, Councilmember Donna Frye, by 8% despite the fact that there are 30,000 more Democrats in the City than Republicans. Sanders’ victory stunned the political establishment where the conventional wisdom strongly favored a Frye victory.
-In early 2006, Republican Kevin Faulconer defeated union operative Lorena Gonzalez in a special election in Council District 2 — despite the Democrats’ 4% registration advantage in the district and a massive expenditure campaign by organized labor to elect another "one of their own" to the council. Later that year, Faulconer crushed a former county Democrat Party Chairman for a full term.
-Democrats lost yet another mayor’s office in San Diego County that same year as Republican Cheryl Cox defeated incumbent Democrat Mayor Steve Padilla in Chula Vista, the second largest city in San Diego County. Conventional wisdom used to hold that the area of San Diego County south of Interstate 8 is Democrat territory. So much for that theory.
-Also in 2006, Democrats failed again to regain any seats on the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, losing even in the Second Supervisorial District, which is just 23% Republican. Republican Ron Roberts won in a walk, winning about 60% of the vote.
Six key elections. Five Democrat districts. Six Democrat losses.
Given this record, I’m crossing my fingers the state Democrat Party picks up lots of habits from the failed San Diego Democrat Party, which I hope is giving many strategy sessions on how to conduct campaigns for local offices.
They’re not doing any better in campaigns for federal offices either, come to think of it.
Remember the special election following Duke Cunningham’s resignation? The Democrats in Washington were telling every reporter, blogger, and straggler that this was going to be their big upset victory and they would shock the world with the triumph of Democrat Francine Busby over Republican Brian Bilbray.
I don’t know where Francine Busby is these days, but it’s not in Congress. Bilbray won by a comfortable margin in the special election, and sailed to victory for a full term later that year.
Make that eight key elections, and eight Democrat losses.
There are many good reasons for the Democrats to be in San Diego – showcasing a model for victory just doesn’t happen to be one of them.
Ron Nehring
Chairman, California Republican Party
Have a great week!