Let’s get more liberals mad!

This commercial ought to do the trick:

And if you want more hard-hitting truth, this site places it right in the name: Kratovil IS O’Malley!

It sure looks like Martin and Frank are best buds here. This is from the Kratovil newsletter, November 28, 2007.

“Frank is dedicated, tenacious and energetic and he will make a great Congressman.”
Martin O’Malley, MD Governor

Great for raising taxes? Given the backdrop, this picture likely was taken even earlier in the year.

And whatever happened to this approach? This comes from newsletter number 2, December 19, 2007:

“Democratic candidate Frank Kratovil, the State’s Attorney for Queen Anne’s County, said he was focused on promoting a positive, issues-oriented message. ‘Voters want to know how you are different,’ said Kratovil, 39, a first-time candidate for U.S. Congress. For Kratovil, a Democrat running in a moderately conservative district, that means emphasizing his twelve-year-career as a prosecutor.”

Politicker MD
December 11, 2007

(Emphasis mine.)

Hey, when Andy Harris pointed out Frank’s career as a prosecutor, he went whining to his cohorts instead of answering the questions. And Kratovil may have figured even then that the DCCC could be the ones who do the negative ads.

And just days later, where was Frank?

Monday, December 17
Governor Martin O’Malley Reception for Frank Kratovil

And you know how Frank was trying to look a little more moderate? How about this one?

If elected, Kratovil emphasized that he would focus on a number of areas, including helping the United States achieve universal health care, and bringing an end to the war in Iraq.

Politicker MD
December 18, 2007

(Again, emphasis mine.)

Finally, it may be good to bear in mind the following, from another newsletter:

“As Kratovil explained, this is not an Eastern Shore versus Western Shore election because the winner of the election needs to represent the entire district.”

The Avenue News
April 16, 2008

Yet how many of his sycophants think the Eastern Shore needs to be represented by someone who lives there? (Such that he does, when you figure Stevensville is a stone’s throw from the Bay Bridge.) I’m sure all of the counties in the district would like the Congressman to hail from there and the fact is, prior to Wayne Gilchrest, the district was represented by someone on the Western Shore.

And you know those people who want to pit this as an O’Malley vs. Ehrlich tilt and note who won the 2006 election? Just try these numbers on for size, and check out just who won every county in the First Congressional District. I’d take those numbers any day of the week – maybe that’s why Frank Kratovil ran away as fast as he could from Martin O’Malley once the primary was over.

I’ve seen a lot of Democrats in my day – remember where I was born and raised. Frank Kratovil is the same as 95% of the rest. He’ll come campaigning and saying just how centrist he is then go to Washington and vote to tax you more, spend more money, and create lots of work for government bureaucrats. While there’s quite a few Republicans who exhibit a lot of those same traits, I don’t take Andy Harris for one of those because I’ve examined his voting record and he stands on principle, not politics.

Recently I wrote a letter to the Annapolis Capital after they unwisely endorsed Frank Kratovil. I don’t think it ever was published and I’ve given them a week or so to do it, so I’ll go ahead and place it here now.

It appears your October 23rd endorsement of Frank Kratovil for the First Congressional District seat is based on two factors: the happy accident of Mr. Kratovil relocating just a stone’s throw across the Bay Bridge to practice and bide his time before running for political office and, on the other hand, your attribution of “lone wolf” status to Andy Harris for a few selected Maryland Senate votes.

In their debate at Cecil College, Kratovil is quoted as saying about Harris, “What people wanna do is say what people want to hear.” On the contrary, it’s Frank Kratovil who has practiced political expediency from the beginning of his campaign. For one example, once Kratovil secured the Democratic nomination it was clear that the endorsement from Martin O’Malley wouldn’t serve him well in the general election so it was under the bus for the Governor. Joining O’Malley beneath the wheels was any public mention of his party affiliation because he now bills himself as an “independent” – yet Frank’s not independent enough to refuse nearly $2 million of campaign cash from Democrats inside the Beltway.

 Conversely, you describe Harris as, “bright, engaging and knowledgeable about national issues,” but feel Andy wouldn’t be a “consensus-builder.” If building a consensus is about selling out your principles for short-term political gain, then we’re poorly served as a district and as a nation. Andy Harris has consistently shown that he stands for smaller, less intrusive government that leaves more money in the pockets of all citizens, not just those deemed to deserve it because of their income status.

You’ve endorsed a “finger to the wind” politician, I’m supporting a man who has a solid core set of beliefs and will stand up for what is right. The First District needs Andy Harris in Congress.

And I stand by that statement, so I’ll be out on Tuesday (and maybe even before that depending on how my weekend goes) trying to place a REAL Congressman in Washington, not some dimestore phony who will change his positions with the wind (and drop unpopular politicians when it’s politically expedient. By the way, before you say it, President Bush endorsed Wayne Gilchrest in the primary, not Andy Harris.)

On Tuesday or whenever you send in your absentee ballot prior to then, vote for Andy Harris.

By the way, if you folks on the left are mad now, wait ’til you see the subject of my next post.

Author: Michael

It's me from my laptop computer.

13 thoughts on “Let’s get more liberals mad!”

  1. Mike,

    You guys are barking up the wrong tree again. I have publicly stated my disdain for O’Malley, but a Washington Post poll last week shows he still has a higher approval rating statewide than does Ehrlich. In other words, Ehrlich doesn’t command the same clout he used to.

    For the past week, I have been watching you guys in extreme panic mode. In some ways, it actually gives me comfort insomuch that it confirms something I’ve been told.

  2. Bud, the key word in your comment is “statewide”. Andy Harris is NOT running for a U.S. Senate seat, he is running in the First District. As I showed, Governor Ehrlich polled better in the 2006 election here.

    If anyone should be in panic mode, it’s Frank Kratovil and his campaign – what happened to that lead you supposedly had? I’m very confident because I’m backing a candidate who’s more in tune with the Eastern Shore than the (barely) Eastern Shore resident.

  3. Even as Dr. Vatz conceded last night, the Gilchrest endorsement does more for Kratovil than the Ehrlich one does for Harris. And while Ehrlich did well on the Shore, he still didn’t get the 68% of the vote Gilchrest enjoyed in 2006.

    As for the polls, they all show the race within the margin of error. Back in February, Harris viewed the General Election as a mere formality. Perhaps if he didn’t openly display such cockiness, people would like him more. It’s further compounded by the people he surrounds himself with. The likes of Grant Deaver in Pasadena and the two clowns of Salisbury tend to alienate people. And, don’t even get me started on that joke of a campaign manager he employs.

  4. Since I don’t know Grant Deaver, I’ll leave that part alone. The same goes for one of the “two clowns of Salisbury” who I’ll reserve comment on, but I’ve found G.A. is a pretty good guy in my dealings (no pun intended) with him. He’s a partisan conservative, like I am. Neither of us has any use for the left, and that’s where we believe Frank Kratovil will eventually end up regardless of his “independent”, “moderate” language. Maybe I go about saying it in a nicer manner.

    Given recent election results, you can’t blame Harris for being very confident about his success back in February. It took a very negative campaign by Frank Kratovil and megabucks from the national party along with the economic tsunami which hit the country to even make this race close – I honestly believe in a “normal” year this would be a 15 to 20 point Harris win.

    You may like my next post better.

  5. I am surprised you put yourself in the same category as GA Harrison. I may disagree with you politically, but you certainly conduct yourself in a more dignified manner than him. Likewise, I am a little shocked to hear you don’t have “any use” for the left. Honestly, I wouldn’t have suspected that considering you’re somewhat fair in your reporting.

    Fact is, Harris should have embraced someone like you instead of the clowns. No doubt, you communicate and relate to others much better. That being said, in politics you should always play like you’re behind. Leave little to chance. When voters sense a candidate taking their vote for granted, they start looking around.

    Overall, Harris needed to be more “human”. Instead, he chose to be cocky and confrontational. That sealed the deal for me. Don’t get me wrong. I am a conservative leaning person whose comfortable with Kratovil. Still, I would’ve seriously considered Harris had he been a little more humble. Of course, his association with certain groups trouble me as well.

  6. Maybe I left a couple words out – we have no use for the policies of the left. I get along with folks like Jim Ireton all right, just disagree vehemently with their policies and I don’t back down.

    It’s a little off topic but I wish what you said about taking one’s vote for granted were really true, considering how minorities have been treated by the Democrats for two generations. Yet the black vote still splits 90-10 or so Democrat.

    Back to Harris. I’ve found him to be a confident sort of person but he didn’t come off as cocky to me. Granted, I’m not dealing with him as much as some others do but he’s always taken a few moments to speak with me when I see him.

    I would have preferred a much more positive campaign, but when one is attacked (and remember, Frank attacked first in the general election campaign) they’re either going to fight or run. Andy chose to fight.

  7. Come on, Mike. Don’t act as if Harris was some victim of negative attacks. This guy has ruthless attacked every opponent, Democrat and Republican, in each race in which he has run. I have encountered few people as nasty as him.

  8. Annapolis Capital
    By ERIC HARTLEY, Staff Writer
    Published November 02, 2008

    Andy Harris clearly is willing to do anything to get to Congress. Anything.

    In the desperate last weeks of his House campaign, the Republican state senator from Baltimore County is suggesting in mailers and news releases that his Democratic opponent, Queen Anne’s County State’s Attorney Frank Kratovil, threw a court case as a favor to a political donor and let a child molester off easy because he’s such a soft-hearted liberal.

    In public debates, Dr. Harris also continues to lie about another statement by his opponent.

    “It’s outrageous,” Mr. Kratovil told me. “I think he knows that the only way he wins now is to bring my positives down.”

    Dr. Harris, who’s an anesthesiologist at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, knows he’s lying and obviously doesn’t care. He’s making the calculation that the slurs will stick even if the facts don’t – at least in the minds of enough voters to sway a very close race in the 1st Congressional District, which includes the entire Eastern Shore and parts of Anne Arundel, Baltimore and Harford counties.

    Now, about those facts. They might not matter much to Dr. Harris, but here are a few anyway.

    Did Donna Jones, as a Harris mailer strongly suggests, get off easy because her lawyer gave Mr. Kratovil a campaign donation?

    No; Ms. Jones made a deal to testify against her boyfriend, career criminal Gary Corn. Thanks to that leverage, he pleaded guilty in two cases to burglary, robbery and theft and has been sentenced to 50 years in prison. Sounds like a smart prosecutor to me.

    The case against the sex offender, Robert Dwyer, who pleaded to lesser charges, was weak. That’s what Mr. Kratovil said, anyway – and Dr. Harris couldn’t refute that because he admitted he knows nothing about the facts of the case.

    A Harris mailer claims Mr. Kratovil “declined to prosecute” 15 of 17 charges against Mr. Dwyer. Well, that’s called a plea agreement, and it happens in almost every case in every court in America, as the lawyers who fed the case to the Harris campaign know very well. But hey, who cares about facts or context? These cases are just political tools for Dr. Harris.

    “We present the facts and people will judge,” Dr. Harris said Friday when I called him.

    In other words, throw enough mud and some will stick. At the very least, the repetition of the accusations helps you. Here’s a memo, Dr. Harris: A mailer can include some facts and still be a lie if it makes baseless allegations. Indeed, even by writing this column, I risk giving credence to those contemptible charges.

    But it’s worth that risk to raise this question: What kind of man would sacrifice every vestige of honor just to win a seat in Congress?

    Political scientists say the reason so many candidates campaign negatively is that it works. Voters will tell pollsters they hate attack ads, but the truth is the messages stick, perhaps subconsciously. On Tuesday, though, voters in the 1st District can send a strong message against dishonest, detestable campaigning.

    Whether you’re liberal, conservative or somewhere in between, ask yourself before you vote: If this is what Dr. Harris is willing to do to get to Capitol Hill, what might he be willing to do once he’s there? “In my view that’s the problem with politics,” Mr. Kratovil said. “You have people who think it’s so important to be in that position and are willing to do or say anything to get in, and once they’re there are willing to do or say anything to stay there.”

    When I read him that quote, Dr. Harris responded puzzlingly, without elaboration: “This is from a lawyer who solicits and accepts campaign contributions from criminal defense attorneys. Period.”

    Dr. Harris’ attacks on Mr. Kratovil’s professional ethics also are undermined by the fact that nearly every elected prosecutor in the state – Democrat or Republican – has condemned them.

    Then there’s Dr. Harris’ false claim that when talking about the economy at a forum last month, Mr. Kratovil said the federal government had “solved the crisis.” Supposedly, the comment showed his naivete.

    What Mr. Kratovil actually said, as proven by an audio recording on his Web site, was something far more general, that politicians too often fail to address underlying problems as they deal with particular crises.

    “The bigger issue is what do we do now,” he said. “And as I mentioned in my talk, you know, in this country you oftentimes deal with a crisis – we solve the crisis, but we don’t always deal with the long-term issues that led to the crisis.”

    So Dr. Harris is simply lying. There’s no other explanation, unless he wants voters to believe he’s an imbecile – not likely for someone who got through medical school at The Johns Hopkins University.

    An Eastern Shore newspaper initially reported that Mr. Kratovil said, “We solved the crisis,” but even when the paper corrected its story, Dr. Harris and his political handlers continued to lie shamelessly.

    Of course, Dr. Harris denied saying anything untrue and maintained that the full transcript of the evening would show the comment was in the context of the current bailout. He then turned the issue around, blaming the “stunning” bias of the mainstream media, which he said should apply similar scrutiny to questionable claims by Mr. Kratovil about his Senate voting record.

    But every campaign includes such run-of-the-mill accusations about the candidates’ records. Dr. Harris calling Mr. Kratovil a “Martin O’Malley tax and spend liberal”? Sure. Mr. Kratovil labeling Dr. Harris a far-right conservative? Fine. Both are up for debate. But some things are far, far over the line.

    Mr. Kratovil compared his views on campaigning to trying to win a court case.

    “For me it’s particularly tough, because as a prosecutor, I believe in fighting to win and being tough,” he said. “But I believe in being fair. … I want to win. I want to bring that person to justice. But I’m not going to cheat.”

    The attacks leave Mr. Kratovil frustrated and unsure how to respond. He knows that facts aren’t always enough in politics. But he said: “We can only hope that after years of this kind of advertising that people are tired of it.”

    Andy Harris is about to find out.

  9. Nice opinion.

    “Mr. Kratovil compared his views on campaigning to trying to win a court case.”

    It’s too bad he didn’t use the consistency of a court case, where you have to stay on message throughout the trial to convince a jury, for his Congressional campaign. I’m starting to think he should be called “Flip-flop Frank.”

  10. Dear Mono Mike:

    Here’s the meat of that editorial — how about refuting it:

    “So Dr. Harris is simply lying. There’s no other explanation, unless he wants voters to believe he’s an imbecile . . .”.

  11. Listen to the tape and tell me what Kratovil says. When I hear it, it’s not clear whether he says “solve” or “solved”. Obviously it wasn’t clear to the Daily Times reporter and she made the judgment call to write “solved.” Had Harris said the statement, there would have been no correction.

    There is still a dispute of fact, thus one cannot be lying. Kratovil is an attorney, he should know all about the parsing of words.

  12. Mike:

    Look at the general context of the Kratovil statement — the entire passage, not just that single phrase. The DT error was obvious and corrected almost immediately. Eveyone, Harris and Meekins included, knew that. Face it, your boy “Dr. Deceit” is a LIAR! And, once we practice to deceive — he can’t stop, as in the stuff he has put our about the criminal cases.

    This has been one of the most disgraceful campaigns I can recall — Harris deserves to have his head handed to him by the Republican voters.

  13. You condemn Kratovil for the photo of him and MOM as if that puts them in bed together is no different then Obama putting McCain in bed with Bush. Sometimes you have to do your Party duty and smile for the camera.
    Have you read the letter from the State’s Attorney’s who denounce Harris’s attack on his record in court? He truly took thing’s out of context and twisted to paint a false picture of Kratovil.

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