Newark Mayor Cory Booker said that it is his race, not his Meet the Press gaffe honesty that is keeping the leaders of the Democratic Party from having he speak in prime time during the Democratic National Convention in September.
He has no speaking role at the Democratic National Convention next month in Charlotte, N.C., but that’s understandable, according to Booker:
“The polite way to say why I didn’t have expectations is that I’m an African-American, northeastern Democrat in a safe state. Maybe if I was a Latino from Nevada or San Antonio.”
State Senator Joe Kyrillos sent a staffer to hand deliver a debate challenge to U.S. Senator Bob Menendez this morning. Menendez wouldn’t take the Kyrillos’ letter.
Here is the text of the letter:
Dear Senator Menendez:
One of us will be the next United States Senator from New Jersey. We will be tasked with finding a solution to the rising unemployment and exploding deficits and debt that are wrecking havoc on our country. The ongoing fiscal crisis has largely been caused by Washington’s inability to create certainty for the economy and the demands of powerful special interests and unions and the politicians who do their bidding. We will have to make tough choices to return America to prosperity and stability. I am willing to make these tough choices. New Jerseyans would benefit from knowing your position.
New Jeseryans need to know our positions on these important issues before, not after, the election. That’s why I have released a comprehensive jobs plan. When you publish press statements you carefully avoid such specifics. And by drastically limiting your exposure to the press and the public, you are avoiding being pinned down in live questioning. But these are new times. New Jerseyans want leaders, not politicians. Difficult times require a leader who is able to get results.
We owe New Jerseyans a serious conversation about fixing our country, so I hope you will join me in a series of 5 debates across the Garden State that cover separate topics. I suggest a debate on each of these topics – jobs and the economy, taxes, spending, education and government ethics. We must also ensure maximum viewership of our debates so that the voters can make an informed decision come November.
I am committed to working with you to ensure that all New Jerseyans know where we stand on the issues that matter most to them. I await your call at my campaign headquarters at (732) 957-1580. I look forward to hearing from you and I look forward to vigorous debates of these critical issues.
Sincerely,
Senator Joe Kyrillos
It would be one thing if the junior U.S. Senator was a popular incumbent not wanting to give his opponent exposure, but despite 6 years in the Senate and 7 terms in Congress, 60% of New Jersey voters still do not know who Menendez is. Obviously, Menendez is hoping to continue to go unnoticed in November and ride back to Washington on Barack Obama’s coattails.
This election, like every Congressional election, will have nominees running around their districts and, in the case of Senatorial candidates, the state, spewing banalities and canards about what “they” have as a philosophy, what direction “they” will push for their country, what “they” will support and reject. As it has been for many years, it will all be nonsense.
There is only one issue in this year’s Congressional campaigns. There is only one issue in this year’s Senatorial campaign. Anything else is a myth. The only issue is whether in the next two years Congress will be run by Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi or by two people with very, very different ideas.
Frank Pallone and Rush Holt wouldn’t vote against Nancy Pelosi if their lives depended on it – perhaps because they fully believe their political lives are totally dependent on the good will of Nancy Pelosi. In the entire time each has represented us, they have shown not a hint of a backbone, moral, ethical, intellectual, or otherwise. These two do not represent their districts in New Jersey. They never have. They never will. They represent their party, and only their party. More precisely, they represent the will of Nancy Pelosi. What their constituents should be demanding is that their representatives represent New Jersey, not Pacific Heights, California. Can anyone honestly say they are just tickled pink with having this country run by Nancy Pelosi? She is as intellectually stiff and dead as her surgically created face. No one who exclaims that we need to pass the most significant domestic legislation in fifty years in order to see what it says as opposed to actually reading the darn think before deciding whether it is worth supporting, is worthy of leading this nation. But a vote for Pallone or Holt is a vote for Pelosi. There is no getting around that.
As for Menendez, aside from his well-documented corruption pushed aside by the fourth estate that used to protect America, he is every bit as important for the continuation of Harry Reid’s dominance in the Senate as Al Franken. If one were suddenly to awake from a long sleep, they might be inclined to laugh heartily at the great satirical impression by Al Franken of a clueless, directionless U.S. Senator – until being informed it is not an act. Harry Reid himself has done nothing in four years to turn this economy around. He has spent every day blaming the Republicans. The fact is, the Republican House has sent Mr. Reid 65 bills, each of which would aid this economy in some way, providing jobs, providing fiscal sanity, providing the means of stabilizing an economy that currently threatens the viability of the dollar as the international standard. He has buried every one. He has never passed a budget during Obama’s tenure. His Senate even unanimously rejected the only budget ever submitted by Barack Obama – without ever producing an alternative.
The nation simply cannot wait until 2014 to take the Senate out of the control of Harry Reid. New Jersey cannot wait until Lautenberg runs again (no, seriously, he’s still there) to have a Senator representing New Jersey, not Nevada.
There is only one issue in this campaign. The voters of New Jersey need to plow through the posturing and supercilious nonsense and recognize that their choice is not about the candidates they see on the ballot. Their choice is to have the power in the hands of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, or to elect candidates who will represent New Jersey, not Pacific Heights, California or Nevada.
Monmouth County Republican Chairman John Bennett & Middlesex County Republican Chairman Samuel Thompson
cordially invite you to join them for An Evening with Anna LittleFeaturing Nationally Recognized Political Commentator, Author, and True Patriot
~ Christine O’Donnell ~
Please Join Us at Lakeside Manor Tuesday, August 14th From 6:00 PM – 8:00PM 410 Route 36 Hazlet, New Jersey 07730
Patriot Ticket $250
Co-Host Sponsorship $2,500
Other Sponsorships Available – Please Call for Details
~ RSVP TODAY – Space is Limited ~
Call 732-658-5461
Please Mail Event Contribution Checks To: Friends of Anna Little P.O. Box 382, Highlands, NJ 07732
Please Include: Employer and Occupation in the memo line (Information Required by Federal/State Law – if self employed list ‘self’ and industry ie: Attorney)
~Thank You to Our Host Committee ~
Municipal Chair of Old Bridge, Anita Greenburg, Assemblyman Rob Clifton, President of Affiliated Republican Club Wayne Pomanowski & Mayor Fred Rast of Atlantic Highlands
Governor Chris Christie will deliver the keynote address at the Republican National Convention. The story, first reported by Save Jersey last week, was released to the national media this morning.
Christie told USA Today:
“I’ll try to tell some very direct and hard truths to people in the country about the trouble that we’re in and the fact that fixing those problems is not going to be easy for any of them,” Christie told USA Today in an interview announcing his speech. He said he will describe his experiences in New Jersey as evidence that “the American people are ready to confront those problems head-on and endure some sacrifice.”
New Jersey’s other political rock star, Newark Mayor Cory Booker is still in Obama’s doghouse. Despite the president’s personal assurance to Booker that his “Meet the Press” commentary calling Obama’s anti-Romney ads “nauseating” was “small potatoes,” the mayor will not have a headlining role at the Democratic National Convention.
6th District congressional candidate Anna Little’s claim that she “made history” and “came the closest in 24 years to defeating Frank Pallone” in 2010 is a fib, according to research compiled by The Star Ledger’sPolitFactNewJersey.
PolitFactNewJersey found that while Little’s margin of defeat was smaller than most who have taken on Pallone, the 2010 election was not Pallone’s closest and that Little’s timing was wrong.
Americans are hurting. Unemployment is rising. We need leaders who care about the challenges we face as a country, and not about winning their next election. That’s why I was troubled to read about your objection to a resolution that I supported, which would allow voters to decide whether our state judges should pay the same amount as other state employees toward their health and pension benefits. This resolution would save our State a lot of money that could go towards other worthwhile investments like improving education and protecting our environment. New Jerseryans deserve an explanation as to why you oppose such a commonsense reform. On behalf of all of them I will ask you, Why? We await your response.
