Tuesday, February 6, 2007

My Congress critter gets it

Color me pleasantly surprised. Got an email newsletter from Congressman Sam Graves yesterday. Bravo Sam! He hasn't gone all Washington on us and forgotten his midwestern values. I dropped Congressman Graves an email to let him know I approved of his stance. Can't hurt to compliment them, heck, they might listen to us more if we write when we have something good to say....

Straight Talk with Sam

"I think we can all agree that success in Iraq is the only option. Allowing Iraq to fall into a full scale civil war which results in Iraq breaking up into individual parts will undermine our security, the security of our friends and allies in the region, and could provide terrorists with a safe-haven from which to plot, train, and execute terrorist attacks. However, my number one priority is the safety of our men and women serving in our Armed Forces."

4 comments:

Fishing River said...

Sam does a great job of marketing himself as "in touch" with Mid-Western values, but the truth is that Sam will say anything that serves Sam's political future. In the 2004 election he lied blatantly about his opponent, accusing her of sexual impropriety in order to discrredit her. It was completely false and Sam knew it. She is a middle aged woman in a wheel chair who ran an honest and open camapign. Sam refused to debate her because he was afraid she would confront him with his deception. So when you say that Sam hasn't forgotten his Mid-Western values I have to ask when he ever had them. Now I wonder if you won't delete my post. If you do, your blog can't be considered much more than another means of political advertising for Sam.

Mama C said...

Ofcourse I will publish your comment. I'd really like to have more background on it.
Can you provide more information? A link to those statements?

Fishing River said...

Mama C-

Below is an article that ran in the St Joseph News-Press on October 21st, 2006-

6th District hopeful decries 'dirty politics' of opponent

Sara Jo Shettles believes a campaign ad by U.S. Rep. Sam Graves sets a new standard for "dirty" politics.

The Graves campaign began running radio and television ads this week claiming Ms. Shettles, the Democratic challenger to the 6th District congressional seat, once worked for a pornographic magazine.

Ms. Shettles denies the charge, saying she sold advertising not for Penthouse magazine, as suggested, but for Omni, a science magazine owned by the same conglomerate, General Media Inc.

In a financial disclosure filed last week, the Graves campaign reported $3,100 in contributions this election cycle from Comcast Corp. PAC. Adult titles carried on that cable provider Friday night included "Bikini Roundup" and "Key West and Wild."

Ms. Shettles lists on her biography "a 14-year career with a multimillion-dollar publishing company." The company goes unnamed. She says she worked as a salesperson in the Washington office for the Omni division of the company. Omni, which begin in 1978, dissolved its print publication in 1995.

Other magazines in the corporation were Four Wheeler, which focused on off-road vehicles, and Longevity, which concerned health topics.

A press release sent out on Graves for Congress letterhead says, "Along with the pornographic magazine, General Media also provides adult consumer products through an online store."

Ms. Shettles said she left General Media in 1993, before the advent of Internet commerce.

Though Mr. Graves is not quoted in the press release, which carried a headline "The Pornographic Connection," he vouched for its content in an interview this week.

"She worked for General Media. They did Penthouse. They do Internet peep shows," the Republican congressman said. "They do sex toys and a variety of things. The two most profitable enterprises they had ... were Penthouse and I think the sex-toy side of it."

Ms. Shettles said of Mr. Graves Friday, "I can't imagine him going this low. ... This is beneath dignity."

Amy Russell, the advertising sales director for Foreign Policy magazine in Washington, said she worked with Ms. Shettles at General Media, whose headquarters was in New York.

"Jo and I were advertising salespeople for the magazines," Ms. Russell said Friday. "I'm the one who sold Penthouse. ... I can't believe 25 years later this is an issue."

The ads generated interest not only locally but in the national media. The Washington Post weblog called "The Fix" pointed to the Graves campaign Friday as one of several in which Republican lawmakers are reflecting the pressure of this heated election season.

"There is other evidence that even previously safe GOP incumbents are getting a bit nervous," the writer, Chris Cillizza, reported before describing the Graves ad.

Here is the St Joseph News Press link- http://www.stjoenews-press.com/ However, you have to be a subscriber and even then, I am not certain that they still have the article online.

Mama C said...

well just damn. That is dirty politics. No way to defend that, nor would I attempt to. Thank you for the information. I won't forget it when he is up for re-election.