The LuLac Edition #529, August 1, 2008

PHOTO INDEX: OUR 1968 LOGO, SENATOR ARLEN SPECTER AND OUR "MAYBE I'M AMAZED" LOGO.

SPECTER AGAIN

Senator Arlen Specter this week announced he intends to run for another term for the U.S. Senate in 2010. Specter, recently finishing up three months of chemotherapy told reporters he is feeling good and fully intends to make the race for another term in two years. Specter ran a tough race in the GOP primary in 2004 running against conservative Pat Toomey. With the help of strange bedfellows Rick Santorum and George W. Bush, Specter won a tight race in the primary and then routed Joe Hoeffel in the General Election. It will be interesting to see who his foes are in 2010 on both the Democratic and Republican side.

GIVE IT BACK LOU

Congressman Paul Kanjorski (D-PA) recently called on his opponent, Republican Lou Barletta, to give back a thousand dollar contribution to his campaign from indicted Republican Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska. Stevens appeared at an arraignment in federal court this week to answer charges of corruption. Barletta received the contribution from the Northern Lights PAC, that is registered with the Federal Election Committee (FEC) as a political action committee of Stevens, according to FEC official records. “This just shows again how Bush Republicans are bankrolling Barletta’s feeble fundraising effort. By taking and keeping the Stevens’ money, Barletta basically buys into the GOP culture of corruption that forced them out of the leadership in Congress in 2006 and still persists today. Special interests like Halliburton and oil companies dominate the Bush administration, lobbyists run the McCain campaign and indicted public officials contribute to Barletta,” Kanjorski said. “Barletta is just another typical Republican politician, despite all his claims otherwise. Give the tainted money back, Lou,” Kanjorski declared.

MAYBE I’M AMAZED

MAYBE I’M AMAZED at the number of people who were diehard Obama backers in the primary now having second thoughts as the campaign kicks into high gear. Many say people should have seen this coming with Obama losing big industrial states at the end. While Obama still appears to be the toast of the nation, I detect a curious undercurrent of resentment and distrust. I’m also hearing a lot of code words too. “Unqualified’, unseasoned,” “not yet ready”, “arrogant” and “elitist”. It remains to be seen however if the GOP and the McCain campaign will be up to the challenge of knocking Obama off.
MAYBE I’M AMAZED at the blatant ignorance displayed by many callers to local talk radio. Callers to Corbett, Nancy and Kevin and Sue Henry will state right out in the open that they don’t like black people, Hispanics or anyone not in their regular world order. And equally amazing is that they tell the hosts, “you recognize my voice, so you know who I am”. Well, at least if you’re a minority, you know your enemy right up front but this type of call simply says, “I’m ignorant and you know what, I’m damn proud of it!!!” God bless the hosts and the call screeners. And for that matter, all of us.
MAYBE I’M AMAZED that a local newscaster (?) on Public Radio said the other day that Senator Bob Mellow was going to “rescue” himself from decisions regarding health care in connection with a seat on the Blue Cross of NEPA Board. Shades of Fontella Bass! Do you think she meant “recuse”? Rescue is when someone is saved from danger, recuse is when one eliminates themselves from a decision making process for fear of a conflict.

MAYBE I’M AMAZED at the ineptness of the McCain campaign locally and nationally. I understand there was a photo op with former President Herbert Walker Bush but that the photo could not be used because the 80 something Bush looked younger and more vital than the Arizona Senator.
MAYBE I’M AMAZED that there seems to be no follow up to the declaration of a witness in a Lackawanna County Court Case to the accusation that there was financial wrong doing by the last regime of majority County commissioners.
MAYBE I’M AMAZED that CBS News does a story featuring two boys from Nanticoke, State Representative John Yudichak and Congressman Paul Kanjorski. Aren’t there other races across the nation for Congress that are vastly more important and interesting than the 11th Congressional race featuring Kanjorski vs. Barletta?

MAYBE I'M AMAZED that it was 29 years ago this week we lost New York Yankee catcher and captain Thurmon Munson in a plane crash. And that this weekend is the final Old Timer's Day at Yankee Stadium.
MAYBE I’M AMAZED that a major local newspaper does a supplement on the Baby Boom Generation and has virtually no local remembrances. The stories in the tabloid could have been about Anytown, U.S.A. Opportunities were missed to have local boomers talk about how JFK affected their lives (they could’ve contacted former State Representative Kevin Blaum and former Scranton Mayor Jim McNulty), a section on the Vietnam War could’ve featured the courage of former Scranton Mayor David Wenzel, any and all topics of pop music could’ve been covered with an interview of Joe Nardone of the All Stars, music critic Joe Middleton or WARM Sensational 7 member Joey Shaver. Instead there was just a generic series of articles that said nothing about growing up here in Northeastern Pennsylvania. And the kicker is the one quote they did have was from someone who said they remembered the significant day that Alan Shepherd became the first American in space, yes that important date of March 6th, 1961. Trouble is Shepherd went up in space on May 5th, 1961. But hey, the supplement was chock full of ads which I guess was the point of the whole tribute to baby boomers.

1968

The Republican National Convention opened in Miami forty years ago this week. The convention was micro managed by Nixon supporters who were working on the event since Dec. of 1967. The staffers wore pins with 4 squares on them. If a square was checked, you had limited access. If all 4 squares were filled in, that staff member had full access to the entire Nixon complex…..On selection day, these candidate’s names were put into nomination, Governor Ronald Reagan of California, Governor Walter Hickel of Alaska, Governor Winthrop Rockefeller of Arkansas, Governor George Romney of Michigan, Senator Frank Carlson of Kansas, (who died yesterday at age 94) Senator Hiram Fong of Hawaii, Governor Nelson Rockefeller of New York, Senator Clifford Case of New Jersey, former Governor Harold Stassen of Minnesota, Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, Governor James Rhoades of Ohio and former Vice President Richard Nixon of New York. Nixon was well within the margin of victory besting a last minute conservative-liberal coalition of Governors Reagan and Rockefeller that got nowhere because Nixon had already sewed up the southern delegations at a meeting in early June. It was for this reason that the Nixon campaign allowed the number of favorite sons to be nominated for President. Rhodes of Ohio and Thurmond of South Carolina were nominated because of their crucial support in the delegate race, Case and Stassen as favors to two old warriors who were Nixon’s backers when he was Eisenhower’s veep, Hiram Fong of Hawaii and Walter Hickel of Alaska as tributes to the newest states in the union (it was after all just a little more than a decade since their statehood), the vanquished George Romney was awarded a spot in the sun while retiring Senator Frank Carlson was nominated by his eventual successor, a little known Congressman and war hero named Bob Dole. It is said the Nixon camp put the name of Winthrop Rockefeller (brother of Nelson) to annoy the New York Governor. This was the last modern day convention to allow favorite sons names in nomination. When it was all said and done, Nixon had 692 votes, Rockefeller 277, and Reagan 182. Needed to nominate was 667. Nixon went through the threshold with 25 votes to spare. Despite efforts by Rockefeller and Reagan to budge those votes, it was an impossible task because the Republican party in 1968 correctly surmised that America was tiring of the drama of 1968 and wanted stability. And they found that in the New Nixon…….The Vice Presidency was decided in a matter of 14 hours after Nixon’s nomination. There were three sets of contenders, on the liberal side New York Mayor John Lindsay, Illinois Senator Charles Percy and Oregon Senator Mark Hatfield. On the conservative side there was John Tower and George Bush of Texas and Howard Baker of Tennessee. A third contingent were called the political eunuchs, Governor Spiro Agnew of Maryland, John Volpe of Massachusetts and Ltn. Governor Robert Finch of California. Strom Thurmond and the southern states summarily dismissed the liberals. George Bush was given major consideration by the Nixon people while Senator Everett Dirkson of Illinois rallied for his son in law Howard Baker. At 7AM, Nixon realized that if he picked one of the conservatives, he might lose some support with the moderates. He offered the nomination to Robert Finch, a moderate popular Ltn. Governor in the Golden State. Finch turned him down saying he was not qualified to make the run and advised Nixon to pick either Agnew or Volpe. Nixon knew both eunuchs as they were called would not hurt him and deemed them safe picks. He admired Agnew’s tough guy stance, welcomed him to his team after the Maryland Governor, (an early Rockefeller backer was embarrassed when Rocky opted out of the race in March and never bothered to tell Agnew who had a room full of reporters and influential fundraisers in his office) and thought the taller Maryland Chief Executive would make a better impression on the voters than the diminutive Bay State Governor. And by the process of elimination Maryland Governor Spiro Agnew became Nixon’s nominee for Vice President. Nixon gave his acceptance speech, from YOU TUBE, here’s a snippet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81TLP7twQRk&feature=related
Statewide Governor Raymond Shafer and Senator Hugh Scott were relegated to minor roles at the convention being early Rockefeller supporters…..Locally GOP delegates John S. Fine and Margaret “Peg” Sordoni represented Luzerne County in Miami….and forty years ago this week the number one song in LuLac land and America was “Classical Gas” by Mason Williams. From You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mguzKze1sYo.