A relentless pursuit of the truth

On Wednesday I put a sentence in my post about Rush Limbaugh taking part of his opening monologue that afternoon to talk about the primary victory by Andy Harris over Wayne Gilchrest. He actually started on the subject the Friday before (without mentioning any names) with a general comment that conservatives need to work on bringing up a “farm team” from the local and state level to move up to Congress eventually and work on reestablishing conservatism from there. (I attempted to get through and tell him the future was now in our district; alas, all I got were busy signals this time.) 

Somehow those comments moved onto a couple other local blogs because of the Harris/Gilchrest post-election flap, here’s one take from “Straight Shooter.” So I decided it was worth setting the record straight. (By the way, I rate as “the innocent” at Off The Cuff. Guess it’s better than “bad” or “ugly.”)

I know people like to misquote Rush Limbaugh and take him out of context, so I’ll just have to put up what the “Great One” had to say. This is from Wednesday’s program (February 13th):

But what I was talking about in Maryland last night, there was a primary for a Congressional seat currently held by an alleged Republican. The alleged Republican’s name is Wayne Gilchrest. He is from Maryland’s 1st Congressional District. Last night, he lost his bid for renomination to a genuine conservative, a state senator, Dr. Andy Harris. And Harris is expected to win in November over a Democrat opponent in Maryland. Andy Harris is a true conservative. Now, Andy Harris happens to credit talk radio for being a major part of his victory, specifically our old buddy Tom Marr, who precedes this program on our blowtorch affiliate in Baltimore (WCBM Talk Radio 680). Gilchrest, the alleged Republican, was endorsed by Newt and President Bush, the old boy network. In fact, Gilchrest voted against funding for the war I think. He voted with Pelosi a lot. Yeah. In fact, he voted for a timeline for withdrawal.

This story even made the UK Guardian. It’s from Chestertown, Maryland: “A nine-term Republican congressman critical of the Iraq war has been defeated by a well-funded state senator in Maryland’s primary. Rep. Wayne Gilchrest was narrowly defeated Tuesday by state Sen. Andy Harris. Gilchrest voted to go to war in Iraq but later said he regretted the decision. A year ago, he was one of two Republicans in Congress to vote for a withdrawal timeline.

Gilchrest called the campaign the most intense of his political career. Harris depicted Gilchrest as too moderate for Maryland’s first congressional district, which includes the state’s Eastern Shore and parts of the Baltimore suburbs.” In an interview — and Tom Marr sent me a note today from down in Baltimore — in an interview with the Baltimore Sun editorial board, the alleged Republican Wayne Gilchrest apparently on tape personally criticized me, El Rushbo, and talk radio. He’s in the ash heap! Now, I bring this up, ladies and gentlemen, because people have been calling, “What can we do, Rush, what can we do?  I mean, McCain’s not conservative.”  You focus at the state level. This is exactly the kind of thing that I was talking about. Congratulations there to Dr. Andy Harris.

Yes, when I heard that at work it certainly perked up my ears. And just so readers know, I am a Rush 24/7 member so I suppose (as Reagan did) that I paid for this microphone. All I did to the original transcript was place the italics on the sources that need to be italicized for proper quoting. By the way, do us all a favor and cite the source when you steal it. Credit where credit is due.

Personally, I’ve said from early on that this was a primary race to watch and I’ll be damned if it didn’t get national and international attention.

I have a couple other observations while I’m at it. For those of you (such as the Daily Times) who whine about losing “our” representation if a person from the Western Shore wins, they need to remember that in order to get our own district, the Eastern Shore would have to achieve a population of roughly 700,000. According to 2006 estimates, our nine counties fall somewhat short of that at 432,667. So unless the anti-growth people decide to stop worrying about the so-called sprawl we have and let the population increase, we’re going to share a seat with at least some people across the bay. While I’m not a native, it would be my guess that we always have done that.

The other thought I had was about one G.A. Harrison, contributor to Delmarva Dealings, Campaign Edge, Red Maryland, and Salisbury News. Yeah, some may think he went to the Dark Side when he started writing on the latter website but to each his or her own – I prefer to stay independent. And if he’s seeking or being considered for a position with Andy Harris, either with the campaign or, if Harris wins, his Congressional office, more power to him and best of luck. I’m going to do my share of writing about the Congressional race as it unfolds and I’m sure one point of reference I’ll use is G.A.’s insight on how things are going.

Later today I’ll get back to the General Assembly analysis I alluded to earlier this evening. But I read some of what was being said and decided to put this post up to further a “relentless pursuit of the truth.”

Author: Michael

It's me from my laptop computer.

2 thoughts on “A relentless pursuit of the truth”

  1. Michael,
    Take no offense that you are not listed as good. That is generally reserved for the “anti-Albero’s” or “Pro-Maryland bloggers” (which we prefer). While you certainly have been known to knock heads with the little piss-ant, he does not consider you as part of our group. You may as well keep it that way. Keep up the good work Michael!

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