YOUR Thoughts on Russell's Campaign

Note: This blog is different from most others. They generally offer tidbits of political gossip (gleaned from CNN) -- or poll data that will be out-of-date within a week. The emphasis here is on HOW -- on how candidates in tough races can raise enough money and build enough support to win. Politics is not about idelogical preening. It's about taking practical elections that lead to celebrations on Election Eve. If you don't win elections, your complaints and suggestions will fall on deaf ears.


YOUR Thoughts on Russell's Campaign
One of the great things about the campaign of Lt. Col. William Russell against John Murtha is Russell’s willingness to be creative – to “think outside of the boss.” Also, the campaign is very willing to consider ideas from voters, both those in the 12th Congressional District and outside it.
All the campaigns I’ve endorsed (see the names above) will be uphill battles. It will be difficult to prevail in them, but at the same time, all of them could be winnable with excellent political tactics. I’m asking all bloggers and their visitors to put on their thinking caps. When I get ideas from you I’ll pass them along to the candidates.

I’m starting with the Russell Campaign, and these are the questions I’d like you to reflect on. You can leave the comments on this site or e-mail me at TalkTop65@aol.com. Here are some key questions:

First, how would you suggest Russell go about raising significant amounts of money given Murtha’s penchant for seeking revenge against those in his District who support his opponents?
Second, Since most people don’t contribute to campaigns is there an approach that will change that fact?
Third, what issues – three at the most – would you suggest Russell emphasize in his campaign?Fourth, how would you go about attracting conservative Democrats, a huge group in the 12th District, to vote for Russell? (There are twice as many registered Democrats in the District as Republicans.)
Fifth, what are the best ways for Russell to communicate with voters: face-to-face (hard because of the size of the district)? Television? Radio? Bumper stickers? Buttons and Tee-shirts? Yard signs? If all of them, which would you stress?
Sixth, to what degree would you emphasize by name the lobbyists and other special interests currently pouring money into the Murtha campaign?
Seventh, would you discuss Murtha’s close links with Nancy Pelosi and other far-left Democrats?
Eighth, are either Murtha’s advanced age (75) or his 34-year-reign in Congress significant issues?
Ninth, what’s the best use Russell can make of the many bloggers from around the country who are advocating his candidacy?
Tenth, how much should Russell make of the fact that Murtha will refuse to debate (almost a certainty).

I hope everyone who visits this site – or for that matter, your own site – will speak out on one, two, or more of these questions. They’re all very real for William Russell and his supporters, and the answers are not always completely clear. Please help out. It doesn’t matter where you’re located. Remember, my e-mail address is: TalkTop65@aol.com. I'll tell you the results soon.

Samantha West: Murtha's Worst Nightmare

If you'd like to hear William Russell's one-hour appearance (Monday) on "Jenn of the Jungle's" BlogTalkRadio you can do by inserting the following in your browser: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/screwliberals

Scroll down, and you'll find the program link


I invite you to read the piece below on a remarkable woman, Samantha West, a novelist and political activism who passionately supports William Russell. Here are some other piece you may enjoy about John Murtha (not exactly "John the Great")

New Column on Defeating MurthaBy Stephen R. Maloney During the month of December, I'll be folding "SmartPolitics101" in with my two other sites, which are: http://stevemaloneygop.blogspot.com and http://camp2008victorya.blogspot.com. The number of "Bloggers 4 Russell" continues to grow. ...SmartPolitics101 - http://smartpolitics101.blogspot.com/

Three Issues to Defeat MurthaBy Stephen R. Maloney NOTE: THIS IS CROSS-POINTED AT MY NEW MAIN SITE: http://stevemaloneygop.blogspot.com/. I sent the following to Chris at http://thehotjoints.com/, who just joined "Bloggers for Russell." (Look to youir right on the blogroll to see who ...Campaign2008VictoryA - http://camp2008victorya.blogspot.com/

MURTHA, ALTMIRE: PA'S ODD COUPLEBy Stephen R. Maloney By tomorrow morning (Friday), I'll have another column up on my new site: http://SteveMaloneyGOP.blogspot.com. It will deal with the close -- and even somewhat disturbing -- relationship between Cong. John Murtha (D, PA 12th District) ...Campaign2008VictoryA - http://camp2008victorya.blogspot.com/



Samantha West: Murtha's Worst Nightmare (cross-posted on: http://stevemaloneygop.blogspot.com/.

I've been honored lately by numerous visitors who are Marines or members of Marine families. If more come -- and if you ask them for help, they will come -- please scroll down to the picture below of the Iwo Jima flag-raising.

One of the bloggers I found in my searches is not a Marine, but she's written a novel featuring the Corps! That's Samantha ("Sam") whom I noted in the previous column. She's one of many people who've joined the "Bloggers 4 Russell," an online force that's going to play a key role in helping Lt. Col. William Russell defeat John Murtha. (If you haven't joined the Russell Bloggers, what are you waiting for?)

Why is Sam, who's located in the Southwest, working hard to defeat a congressman from far-away Pennsylvania? Because, as she said on her own blog, she'd "vote for the Devil before she'd vote for Murtha." My sentiments entirely.

Sam did two things that some conservatives neglect to: (1) she noted that it's going to take a lot of money to defeat Murtha; (2) she volunteered to help with fundraising. Also, she went to http://opensecrets.org/, keyed in the name "Murtha" and found out about some of this recent fundraising. Here's the comment she left (in italics).

"In 2006 Murtha raised $2.7M, we have got to get together and raise a lot of money for William Russell. While issues are of the utmost importance, it is a practical matter that money has a huge impact on who wins the race. Every blogger who is for William Russell must do their best to bring cash to the table. This afternoon and evening I am putting together a letter writing campaign that anyone can do to help bring in the money. Within 48 hours I will have the procedure posted on my blog." -- Sam

I don't know exactly what Sam's politics are -- aside from the fact that despises Murtha, an understandable position. But I'm gratified that, unlike some political types, she doesn't regard her own ideological purity as somehow sufficient. She also doesn't assume that Murtha will self-combust and blow away.

She understands that it takes money for a challenger to have a chance to defeat a well-financed incumbent who does everything in his power to extract money from the beneficiaries of his dispersals of your tax dollars -- mainly lobbyists and well-heeled executives.

It will require a national effort to overcome Murtha, the House of Representative's version of Methuselah. That effort is already underway, and it's paying many early dividends.

Sam mentions that Murtha raised 1n 2006 about $2.7 million - more than three times as much as his opponent (and my friend) Diana Lynn Irey. What Sam didn't mention is that Murtha spent about three-and-a-quarter-million. He accused Diana of getting her money from out of state. In the end, he got two-thirds of his from out-of-state -- and she got two-thirds of hers from Pennsylvania (as you'll see on OpenSecrets). He doesn't allow the facts to interfere with his condemnations.

If you'll go yourself to opensecrets.org and search around in Murtha's financial reports, you'll see that as of 9/30/2007, he'd raised more than $700,000 for the 2008 race against Russell. Somehow, somewhere he's spent a good chunk of that money (on what???). But I assure you, there's a lot more where that money came from.

After all, Murtha doesn't just sell out to anyone, after all. Unless they have big bucks, he's not interested in them. I'll be writing more about this, but I hope you will go to OpenSecrets. Doing so -- and I do it all the time -- is one of the great "guility pleasures" of political activism.

In the meantime, please (pretty please?) heed "Sam's" words. If you want Lt. Col. Russell to have a fighting chance against Moneybags Murtha, go to his site and make a contribution. You won't regret it.

As for "Sam," she's quite a find, although we've already found some others like her. She's one of those "connectors" I've referred to recently. That means she knows people, seeks to influence them, and takes the real actions that lead to positive political outcomes. If Lt. Col. Russell can find 100 or so people like Sam, then John Murtha will drink alone on Election Eve.

I told Sam, whom I met today, that I like her. She's feistiness incarnate.

Heck, I'd go to war beside her, and I bet my Marine friend Larry would also!

RUSSELL ON BLOG RADIO MONDAY AT 8 P.M. (EASTERN)

Jenn of the Jungle, a BlogTalkRadio powerhouse, will have Lt. Col. William Russell, who's running hard and well against John Murtha, on her radio show at 8 p.m. Monday, Dec. 10. Jenn announces her show will be "Skewering Leftards like shrimp on a barbi . . . Jenn's Jungle Radio supports our troops and their mission. Bring it Moonbats." She's good. She's funny. And she just may be the girl your mother warned you about! Find Jenn at http://blogtalkradio.com/screwliberals.

The call-in number for her show, and I hope you will do so, is: (646) 478-5334.

PA's Odd Couple: Murtha, Altmire

PA's Odd Couple: Murtha, Altmire

"What country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time that this people [Americans] preserve the spirit of resistance?” (Thomas Jefferson)

It’s time for a political revolution in the districts, the 4th and 12th, of Democratic congressmen Jason Altmire and John Murtha. It will be a peaceful revolution that culminates in many voting booths next November. It will be a revolution against two Democratic politicians who treat their constituents like a huge crowd of dunces.

If you’re a Democratic candidate statewide or in a congressional district outside Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, how do you get elected? You run on the proposition that you’re a “conservative Democrat.” You’ll announce that you’re favor of the rights of the unborn and gun owners.You’ll also say regularly that you “support the troops,” although you’ll be very vague about how you can do so without supporting their mission. You’ll talk about the need for fiscal restraint, but that won’t apply to Bridge-to-Nowhere-type projects supposedly benefiting either your district or a political ally’s.

In most cases, you’ll proudly note that you’re a Roman Catholic (like Congressmen John Murtha and Jason Altmire, as well as yours truly). However, you will under no circumstances talk about how your religious faith has affected your personal or political life. (I will, but they won't.)When you cast a vote in Congress that your constituents might not like, you’ll remain silent about your reasoning on the subject. You’ll maintain extremely close relations with Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the Party’s far-left leadership, and you’ll vote with them on critical issues.

The exception occurs in cases where your vote isn’t needed, when they’ll let you cast a vote that appears to be “conservative.”You’ll look at your elected office as a lifetime position, and you’ll do everything necessary to retain it. If you’re in Congress, you will never, ever do anything to offend John Murtha, who has a long memory and likes to exact revenge.

If you’re very old (like Murtha), you’ll take younger Democrats under your wing. In fact, during his race against Melissa Hart, Jason Altmire declared that Murtha was his “campaign manager.” Murtha’s Political Action Committee funded a good chunk of money to Altmire, which helped to ensure his vote for Murtha as Democratic Majority Leader.

On an important issue in Pennsylvania – the sanctity of life – Murtha and Altmire must assume their constituents don’t pay much attention. They are both “pro-life,” mainly in the sense that they talk a lot about being . . . pro-life. I call such people "Pro-Life, Inc."It’s true that Murtha voted against the hideous process known as “partial-birth abortion.”

If Altmire had been in Congress, he probably would have done the same. However, when Congress considered a bill providing for federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, pro-life Jack Murtha voted for it. So did “pro-life” Jason Altmire. The destruction of viable embryos was okay, as long it didn't come under the heading of "abortion."I

In 1996, Bill Clinton called up John Murtha and asked him to vote for full funding of “family-planning” overseas. Murtha did so. In Congress, “family planning” is a euphemism for abortion.It bothers me greatly that the 30 or so Democrat congressional representatives who claim to be pro-life seem to have absolutely no influence on the vast majority of Democrats in their Party.

Frankly, it also bothers me that other Democrats, like Nancy Pelosi and Ted Kennedy, who list their religion as Roman Catholic can't even bring themselves to vote against something as objectionable as partial-birth abortion. To many Democratic politicians, being "Catholic" is about equivalent to being in the Rotary Club.

On military matters: In his campaign against hawkish Rep. Melissa Hart, Altmire was a hawk. He proclaimed he was against a “timetable” Iraq. He said he would rely on “our commanders on the ground.”

Yet when he got to Congress as a Democrat, Altmire found hawkishness was not exactly in vogue. Murtha voted for an Iraq War timetable, and so did Altmire.

In Franklin D. Roosevelt’s era, there was an a humorous political saying: “As Maine goes, so goes Vermont.” In Congress, "as Murtha goes, so goes Altmire."

The porcine Mr. Murtha and his increasingly rotund younger colleague deserve not offices in Congress, but rather places at the buffet table.Isn’t it time send Melissa Hart, a superb human being, back to Congress in the 4th Congressional District? And isn’t it time to elect Lt. Col. William Russell to Congress in the 12th District.

They both need your help.

(A weekend column will be up about midnight on Friday. Thanks for visiting.)

Stephen R. Maloney
Ambridge, PA 4th Congressional District
("For Murtha and Altmire, no more 'Mr. Nice Steve'")

MURTHA, ALTMIRE: PA'S ODD COUPLE

THE FRIDAY COLUMN IS NOW UP ON MY NEW SITE (CLICK). C'MON OVER!

By tomorrow morning (Friday), I'll have another column up on my new site: http://stevemaloneygop.blogspot.com/. It will deal with the close -- and even somewhat disturbing -- relationship between Cong. John Murtha (D, PA 12th District) and Cong. Jason Altmire (D, PA 4th District). Both individuals are about as low as it goes in Pennsylvania and national politics.

At one point in 2006, Altmire called the much-older Murtha "his campaign manager." Murtha apparently taught Altmire everything he knows about campaigning one way and voting another. During elections, both claim to be "pro-life," but they don't always vote that way.

Yes, I support Murtha's and Altmire's opponents -- William T. Russell and Melissa Hart -- and I do so for some very specific reasons. Russell and Hart are individuals of unquestioned integrity, and Murtha and Altmire most certainly are not.

If you're someone who strongly wants Murtha "out" of Congress, you'll surely wish the same fate for Altmire.

The column for Saturday (which will get posted late on Friday) will start with the following two paragraphs: To John Murtha, who never lowers himself to participate in debates, I'd like to ask a simple question: "If you're truly an adherent of the Roman Catholic Church and are truly pro-life, what on earth are you doing in the Democrat Party?" Jason Altmire, same question.

To the voters of the 4th and 12th districts who are Democrats and truly pro life -- as many are -- I'd like to ask, "What you are doing voting for Murtha and Altmire?"