Home ›

House elections

CT Dem Congressman Murphy: Guzzle here, Guzzle now

by Ironman | August 5, 2008 at 7:18 PM
in

Yesterday morning, as Republicans in the U.S. House were trying to summon the place back to work on the energy issue, I spotted my Democratic Congressman, Chris Murphy,  in his official car getting on I-84.

Murphy's official car is a 2006 Chevrolet Malibu. . According to www.fueleconomy.gov  this model consumes an average of 23 mpg, using 626 gallons in a normal driving year. 

Murphy talks the talk on fuel economy  

Last July, he presented an energy platform that called for at least half of the motor vehicles made in the United States to have flex-fuel capacity by 2015. His initiative included higher mileage-per-gallon standards http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18201067&BRD=2303&PAG=461&dept_id=478976&rfi=6

But obviously that does go as far as ditching the ride he has now,  even though he voted for legislation that will probably ban production of such cars in the not too distant future http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_Average_Fuel_Economy#Future since the minimum will be 35 mpg for the American auto fleet.

Murphy could have switched to one of the most popular passenger cars in America http://www.autoobserver.com/2008/07/june-car-sales-us-buyers-almost-veer-off-the-road.html and gotten a Toyota Corolla, which is good for better than 30 mpg as long as you let up a bit on the pedal and stay near posted limits.

But I guess leg room matters more than authenticity. He tells the rest of us to make do with less, and he doesn't. ...and remember he is the guy who is telling his constituents  "its time to wean ourselves off petroleum" http://www.thenextright.com/ironman/my-tone-deaf-democrat-congressman-mouth-works-ears-and-brain-dont  well, weaning begins in your own driveway, Chris! 

I don't know where Murphy was off to yesterday morning , but I can be sure it had nothing to do with increasing domestic energy supplies. Whadda putz!

 

Snoozing Sandy?

by Ironman | August 5, 2008 at 6:18 AM
in

Over the past weekend I was at the in-laws in upstate NY and we were sitting around watching the Sunday talk shows over brunch. This ad for Republican House candidate Sandy Treadwell  http://sandytreadwell.com/Default.aspx    is up on Albany TV

http://www.sandytreadwell.com/multimedia/details.aspx?ID=23

I have to say it had an impact, but maybe not the one Treadwell intended. My brother-in-law and I broke into a skit about "being tired" and "paid for by Sealy Posturepedic".

If Treadwell wanted not to be thought of as some impulsive off-the-wall guy he succeeded. The problem with this ad is he seems to be mimicking Ben Stein's approach in Ferris Bueller.

Note to Republican candidates. People are angry. Anger is an emotion. Don't be afraid to show some yourself.

And while people may be tired of how inept Congress is, don;t look tired yourself.     

You can't win if you don't play

by Ironman | May 28, 2008 at 6:18 AM
in

Another week in Navy Blue CT

A liberal Congresswoman attacks the Pentagon for its public relations efforts......
 
 
DeLauro Fights Use Of Retired Generals To Justify Iraq War
 
when she is married to a flack for major defense contractors and the oil industry ......
 
 
"Greenberg works with corporate clients including BP, Boeing, Monsanto, Comverse, Sun Microsystems, and United HealthCare."
 
Haven't heard about this little cognitive dissonance in the paper, have you? Yep, one of Nancy Pelosi's top allies is married to someone who both does PR work for major corporations with government contracts or lobbying concerns---and is a major pollster at the same time for Democratic congressional candidates.
 
Meanwhile, DeLauro got a pass from the Beltway GOP when she attacked the Bush adminstration for recruiting retired Generals to promote the Iraq War.  You can't tell the voters what a bunch of hypocrites the Democrats are if you don't bother to make the case when the hypocrisy occurs.
 
I'll have more on the Congresswoman for Life from New Haven,,,,like her hubby's attempted "greenwashing" of a polluting oil company; her wholesale endorsement of the ethanol debacle which has brought "stagflation" back from the days of the leisure suit; and as Chair of the Agriculture Appropriations Committee she swindled her urban and suburban constituents to enrich the booming farm economy. 
 
But much as the Beltway types aren;t holding DeLauro accountable--neither are the local Republicans. Despite a full court press by Heath and his boss, the local GOP Mayors and the conservative Yale professors begged off the race; leaving the nomination to an unknown perennial candidate from one the district's smallest towns. Needless to say, the weaker the opponent the less restrained by common sense and decency a liberal incumbent will be.  Evidently, what DeLauro does didn;t bother any of the serious players enough for them to be bothered.    
 
The first way to win is to make sure we play. Recent events involving both medical crisis and personal conduct of incumbents demonstrate that we better have something better than a warm body in the race when opportunity knocks. We should not be treating incumbents holding seats won by statewide GOP candidates(CT 3 was won by Rowland in '02  and Rell in '06)  like they hold the Maxine Waters seat in LA.   And what's in it for the aggressive challenger who is likely to fall short in a 55%-62% generic Dem district? Well, you get the name recognition and political organization in place to win a future local election in a more favorable town. Or you build points with the party to get an underticket nomination for a statewide office (Comptroller; AG et al). 
 
The role of an opposition party is to oppose. Howard Dean got past the scream and has the Dems doing that well. It's time we did likewise.        

 

Syndicate content