Hart vs. Altmire

I gotta tell you, Tom, I'm really disappointed that I didn't see your post yesterday, in which you solicited questions from us to ask of Hart and Altmire when they sat down with you, even though I'm not from the 4th district.

There's a question I've got for Hart that's been nagging at me ever since I ran into her at a cocktail party a couple of years ago.  She was going around asking people, "Do you like horse meat?", and telling everyone how healthy it is and how we should "get off cows" and start eating horse meat.

She had me cornered for about 10 minutes, until I finally told her, "I'm sorry, honey, but I think I'd rather bet 'em than bite 'em", and walked away.  But then she just moved on to someone else.

If I'd have gotten this to you in time, I would have had you ask her why she doesn't mention her love for horse meat in her campaign.  Is she afraid that she might offend the voters, or what?  For as big of an issue as this seems to be for her, you'd think that she'd be out there extolling the virtues of equine cuisine in her stump speeches.

I happen to know that Altmire finds the practice disgusting.  I think it would have made for interesting conversation with your having them both sitting there.

What about it Melissa?  What's the deal with you and horses?

I'm a constituent in the Fourth District.  I have received two robocalls from Hart's campaign that were the most scurrilous in content and negative in tone campaign calls I have ever received.  Outrageous claims were made re Altmire's alleged voting history by the nameless speaker who claimed to be "a lifelong Democrat" calling "people in the neighborhood" (implying he lives in my "neighborhood", but who sounded like a professional actor.

I called the Hart headquarters and identified myself by full name, address and phone number as a constituent.  I asked for the name of this "lifelong Democrat" and was told that was privileged information.  I then asked for documentation in the form of Bill Numbers, dates of votes, etc., to support their attacks on Altmire.  I was told they had that information and would immediately send it to me.  That was two weeks ago and all I have received from the Hart campain is yet another broadbrush robocall attacking Altmire with no specifics to back up their claims.  Interesting that she prefers to spend her campaign dollars to attack Altmire, rather than to detail her own positions.

I sincerely hope that the PG endorses Altmire.  He has a reputation for being able to work with people and getting along with people.  Our nation faces a broad spectrum of crises, and we need congresspersons and senators who can build concensus to work toward solutions.  Hart can't even get along with her own Republican colleagues, let alone the Democrats who appear on the way to a solid majority.

I worked in the state capitol when Hart served there.  I felt sorry for her because the good ole boy GOP network loved to gossip about her personal life and gave her a cold shoulder.  I ran into her at a party for Allegheny county officials at the then Fox Chapel Yacht Club.  I again felt sorry for her because in a fairly crowded room, she was standing absolutely alone with, literally, a circle of empty floor space around her.  Every other politician in the room was "working the room", gladhanding one and all.  So I went up to her and complimented her on a piece of legislation she had recently introduced.  I then identified myself as a lawyer working for the Democratic caucus - and this was back in a time when the elected representatives and their staffs still treated each other with respect and actually had friends "across the aisle".

As soon as she heard that I was a Democrat, she turned on her heel and stalked away from me without a single word.

She also made a lot of enemies in the Allegheny county GOP when she encouraged people to run against 3 GOP incumbents.  I have heard similar stories from others in Harrisburg, as well as both Democrats and Republicans who tried to work with her in Washington.  In 2005 The GOP gave her a prime assignment for such a junior representative to the powerful Ways and Means Committee, and she  then infuriated the GOP members by repeatedly walking out in the middle of meetings, with no specific justifications or explanations.  

Few people know this, but I specifically support Jason Altmire because I am CONSERVATIVE.  Melissa Hart was a wild spending, recklessly deregulating Republican, but she was no conservative.  Conservative philosophy is all about caution and includes cutting spending, not creating deficits by failing to pay the bills.  I would have had more respect for Ms. Hart if she would have shown the courage of her convictions and cut programs and pork barrel spending.  Instead, she was the worst of both worlds - the liberal nanny-state big government of No Child Left Behind and record spending combined with catastrophic laissez-faire economic policy - with a bit of unethical protection for the Mark Foley's, Larry Craig's, and Tom Delay's of the world to boot.  Congressman Altmire has been a breath of fresh air, and the ethics law he passed in the first days of his tenure showed me he is a man of his word.

Clearly, we need to support Altmire. It's not even a question. Congressman Altmire may be a bit too conservative for some of us, but he is in a conservative district and he's a good guy who has been right most of the time. Although I am still bitter about his slow and lackluster support for Obama, he has my vote.

And on top of all of this, Melissa Hart eats horses.  Can you imagine?

Old Toadsly lives in the 4th Congressional District and, after visiting both Web sites and watching the six-minute PG Media Center Video starring Hart and Altmire, has these observations:

Hart's Web site is groovier, but Altmire's is better written.

Hart is prettier, but Altmire is more photogenic.

Hart is an attorney, but Altmire is a better extemporaneous speaker.

Hart is pro-life, so is Altmire, but he doesn't advertise it on his Web site.

They disagree on some issues, but they are not the incarnation of Barry AuH2O and Lyndon Johnson!

I like both of them, but I'm voting for Altmire. He is not the Democratic Party's lap dog as demonstrated by his nay vote on the federal government's $750 billion "bailout" of Wall Street. He is in touch with his constituents' views and, so far, has done an admirable job of representing us.

It has been a breath of fresh air having Jason Altmire as our rep.  in PA-04.  

Hart spent all of her time trying to satisfy the extreme leadership in the last congress, such as Tom Delay.  She also worked hard to represent the interest of many extreme fringe interests that included handing our Social Security money over to Wall Street!

Jason has shown to be an independent thinker who is interested in representing his district first and foremost.  Our jobs, our roads, our veterans, our seniors have all been important to our congressman and not extreme ideas from fringe groups.

We need to send Jason back to Washington for another term.

As a voter in the 4th congressional district I am proud to have Jason Altmire represent us in Congress.  He has shown that he is an independent thinker.  I was proud that he voted against the bail-out bill, even though most democrats voted for it.   Melissa Hart spent her whole time in congress voting how Santorum and Bush told her to.   We need to give Jason Altmire a second term he deserves it.