Thursday, August 24, 2006

The Race for The Sixth District of Illinois

Illinois Sixth District.
The Fightin' Sixth!


Henry Hyde's old stomping ground.

Actually he still serves. Kinda.

There is a race for his seat. Of course we have two candidates:
Democratic candidate Tammy Duckworth
State Sen. Peter Roskam, R-48th District

This is a very big election year. This is a big election in that big election year. First Lady Laura Bush was just in Addison raising funds. Vice-President Dick Cheney made a stop at the same Addison Medinah's Banquet Hall in March. Both stumping for Duckworth.

No they weren't. I'm kidding. They were here for Roskam.

Duckworth has on her side, Baraka Obama. Kinda.

And maybe Durbin though I don't want to really call that a strength.

Duckworth has no political experience. She is an Iraq War Veteran. Losing both of her legs in a helicopter crash in Baghdad. Her platform is very similar to the standard Democratic platform. The troops need to come home. Sure. Health Care reform. Yeah, good.

But, she is change. I like change. This seat has been a Republican seat since at least '75.

Does she have the skills to navigate the sometimes complex world of Congress having no experience? Is different for the sake of different a reason to vote for someone? Short answer, no. Long answer, yes when we have had these guys in charge for this long.

She's a Democrat. I'm a Democrat. I probably side with her on most social issues. Gay Rights, Women's Reproductive Rights, our personal liberties. All that crap. But I'm pretty sick of the Dems these days.

Roskam has been serving since '93 in the Illinois Congress, both as a Rep. and Sen. Before that he worked for Henry Hyde and, surprisingly still in his bio, Tom Delay.

Ouch. I don't like that.

He is a former teacher in favor of permanent tax cuts and paints himself as a conservationist.

I'm for tax cuts to. I'm more for responsible government spending. Taxes I can live with if the money isn't being wasted in Vonnegut like absurdity. For example see; F.E.M.A. mobile home project. My thinking is that taxes will come down naturally if the government is responsible. Creates a surplus for themselves. Maybe I'm the jerk.

I do like the conservation part of Roskam's record. I like that a lot. I like wide open spaces. But is he a Neo-con-theologian who will spend his time rubber stamping the Republican Party line? Probably.

Most recently Roskam debated an empty chair. The empty chair accepted the invite after Duckworth turned it down, claiming truthfully, that it wasn't a scheduled debate. She has made herself available to people at local meetings. To me this says, her handlers are keeping a close eye on her, careful of where and when she debates, and republicans are still jerks. After the debate, the empty chair's polls rose 2 points.

So lets get it on. Learn the issues. Get the right candidate in there.

Good site for more info then I have.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Another important Duckie attribute is her support for stem cell research. I know this topic has seen more glamourous days, but as someone with a quadriplegic friend, I believe it's as sexy and relevant as ever (the debate, not paralysis, although Rollerball challenges that notion.)

Phil said...

I agree Vanessa. Thanks for bringing it up.

The link at the bottom of the article has a post that speaks to that issue but it is a VERY important issue and should be treated as such.

Thanks for reading.

Phil said...

I mean, the link at the bottom of my post, not at the bottom of the article.