Category: Kratovil Watch

Harris officially in the Congressional race

“In 9 months and 27 days we get America back.”

That’s how Andy Harris termed the 2010 election as he officially confirmed probably the worst-kept political secret in Maryland and placed himself in the running to oust Frank Kratovil as the First District’s Congressman.

Andy Harris (left) arrives at the East Coast Iron facility in Salisbury to wrap up his announcement tour of the district. With him is local business owner and Harris volunteer Mark McIver.

After speaking to an audience of 70 in Easton (according to one observer) and earlier stops in Bel Air and Annapolis, Harris greeted over 40 supporters in the metal shop turned announcement location. Observers shivered in the chilly room but were excited by what Harris had to say, interrupting the State Senator with applause several times.

First, though, he was introduced by one of his cohorts.

District 37 State Senator Richard Colburn introduced his fellow State Senator, telling attendees Harris was the 'smartest' State Senator because he knew the issues.

State Senator Richard Colburn told those present that Harris “knows the Eastern Shore” and would fight to preserve those industries and jobs which define our region – seafood and agriculture. After pointing out some of the half-dozen elected officials in attendance, Colburn praised Andy’s work in the State Senate as well, telling us he would be missed after this session.

State Senator Andy Harris discusses his opponent's record during his announcement tour of the district, January 5, 2010 in Salisbury, Maryland.

After Colburn’s introduction, Harris strode to the podium and told the chilly crowd, “this kind of business is what the election is all about” as it was one directly impacted by federal policy. It was time to put us back on the path to prosperity because people were telling him “enough is enough.”

He recounted the reasons he got into politics in the first place in 1998, as the entrenched incumbent held positions Harris believed were out of step with the district. In contrast, Harris defended his record as one which put families and businesses first.

By the same token, he felt Congress was out to “dismantle” our way of life and make our children worse off than we are. They “attempted to take over” business and health care while “whistling past the graveyard” of mounting deficits.

Andy Harris speaks to supporters during his official campaign kickoff announcement in Salisbury, Maryland, January 5, 2009.

Harris touched on a number of items he’s planning to work on when elected to Congress:

  • Ending the stimulus and deficit spending. America is saying “enough is enough” to wasteful and excessive government spending.
  • Patients and doctors making health care decisions, not a one-size-fits-all plan.
  • A Constitutional amendment for term limits, similar to one recently introduced by Senator Jim DeMint.
  • No cap-and-trade “schemes” since they’ll threaten the area’s agricultural tradition.
  • Stopping the “payoff for union muscle” by killing the legislation enabling “card check,” best known by the misnamed “Employee Free Choice Act.”
  • No earmarks – “business as usual” in Washington is the wrong way to do business.
  • Not voting to maintain Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House.

Perhaps the biggest direct swipe at opponent Frank Kratovil came at a point in Andy’s speech where he spoke about Kratovil’s pledge of fiscal conservatism while spending $250,000 of taxpayer money to send out several full-color brochures to local supporters and other residents. (For the record, I’m not on that mailing list.)

The overriding theme for Harris, though, was one of “bring(ing) back America from Pelosi and company.”

After his remarks, Harris took a few questions from the reporters present. Responding to a question about the election, he termed it “a clear call for changing business as usual in Washington.”

The first thing Harris would do if elected? Co-sponsoring the Constitutional amendment for term limits.

Biggest issue? “Getting our jobs back and preserving our heritage.”

Which Kratovil votes did you object to most? Harris mentioned the vote for the stimulus bill (after voting against it), the partisan vote to install Pelosi as Speaker, and Kratovil’s vote for cap-and-tax, which Harris called, “a jobs bill – for India and China.”

It promises to be an interesting campaign, with the “9 months and 27 days” likely to be full of charges and counter-charges and 30-second commercials mainly sponsored by outside interests. This will be fun.

Update: Maryland GOP Party Chair Audrey Scott also chimed in, describing Harris’s Annapolis stop:

Yesterday was “Andy Harris for Congress Day” across the State and at the MDGOP headquarters, as State Senator, Andy Harris, announced his candidacy for Congress from Maryland’s 1st District. Excitement was high and turnout of supporters and the Party faithful was impressive… the headquaters was packed with enthusiastic, cheering Republicans commited to electing Andy to Congress!

Notable attendees included Former Ambassador Ellen Sauerbrey, and elected officials, Senator Ed Reilly, Delegate James King, Delegate Bob Costa, Delegate Tony McConkey, Delegate Ron George, former Senator Janet Greenip, and County Executive John Leopold, who addressed the crowd in support of Andy Harris. The race is on! Get on the band wagon and help Andy return the 1st District to Republican representation in Congress.

As a general policy, the MDGOP does not get involved in contested primaries. There are many candidates coming forward and those who are not challenged in primaries can count on full State Party participation from the onset. During the General elections, we are supportive of all our Republican candidates.

News conservatives can use

Since, thankfully, Congress is away for a couple more weeks we have an opportunity to catch our breath and assess the situation we find ourselves under.

One such effort was undertaken last week by Americans for Limited Government as they did the research and compiled a quick primer of the voting records of 90 so-called “Blue Dog” and moderate Democrats. It tends to show the revolving door aspect of Democrats voting against their leadership in just such a number to make some votes nailbiters, but not enough to defeat the proposal.

ALG’s Bill Wilson puts it this way:

Americans for Limited Government today released the voting records of some 90 Blue Dog and what it dubbed “so-called moderate” House Democrats on what ALG President Bill Wilson called “some of the most controversial votes of 2009.”

“So-called Blue Dog ‘conservative’ Democrats in the House have long touted their caucus as being fiscally-responsible, but what emerges from an analysis of their voting records is a pack of lapdogs who have voted largely in lock-step with their more radical counterparts in House leadership,” said Wilson.

“In vote after vote, the Blue Dogs have been all bark and no bite.  Although they had the votes to do so, they have not stopped a single piece of budget-busting legislation in a year that saw the largest budget deficit in American history: $1.4 trillion,” Wilson explained. 

“By over a 4 to 1 margin, so-called ‘moderates’ in the House have voted with the bankrupt Pelosi agenda of Big Government,” Wilson added.

The analysis shows 856 Yea votes and 207 Nay votes, which Wilson said “was not enough to stop anything.”

The ALG analysis includes votes on the $789 billion “stimulus”, bankruptcy mortgage “cramdowns,” ACORN funding, a $108 billion International Monetary Fund expansion, the Waxman-Markey carbon emission caps, the $2.1 trillion “public option” health system, the $154 billion assistance program for bankrupt states, and the $290 billion debt limit expansion.

According to the Blue Dogs’ website, “In the 111th Congress, the Coalition intends to continue to make a difference in Congress by  forging middle-ground, bipartisan answers to the current challenges facing the Country. A top priority will be to refocus Congress on balancing the budget and ridding taxpayers of the burden the debt places on them.”

“By its own measure, the Blue Dog coalition has not succeeded,” Wilson noted.  “The House of Representatives this year alone has voted to spend more than $3.6 trillion, to nationalize the health care system, to strangle the nation’s access to energy, and to bankrupt the Treasury—and yet the Blue Dog and so-called ‘moderate’ Democrats have done nothing to stop the profligate financial catastrophe unfolding at the nation’s Capitol,” Wilson said.

Wilson pointed to the record national debt which currently stands at over $12 trillion, as placing an “insurmountable burden on the next generation of Americans.” The total debt is projected to top the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2011 at over $14 trillion. By 2020, it will top $20 trillion.

Wilson said that if entitlement spending is not reined in, it will soon half of the entire budget.  According to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), entitlement spending as a percentage of budget outlays will continue to increase over the next decade.  In 2019, OMB projects that entitlements spending will stand at $2.482 trillion (45.93 percent of outlays totaling $5.403 trillion).

According to the National Center for Policy Analysis, by 2050 entitlement spending “will consume nearly the entire federal budget.”

“While the nation is going bankrupt, House Blue Dogs and ‘moderate’ Democrats pretend that their support for these terrible pieces of legislation is ‘deficit-neutral.’  They have done nothing to stop the madness, which will only bankrupt the Treasury, destroy the dollar, and saddle American taxpayers without a debt that cannot be paid.”

Obviously I’m most interested in the record of one Frank Kratovil, and while he’s somewhat better than the about 4:1 yea/nay ratio exhibited by these “centrist” Democrats, a Republican would’ve voted for few if any of these budget-busting, big-government items. Aside from voting with his party for the repressive House rules Democrats put in place, Kratovil changed his mind on the stimulus once his price was met, voted for national service (which included a call to make 9-11 a “day of service”) and voted for cap-and-tax before feeling the heat of his constituents and turning into a fiscal hawk late in the game, after the horse had escaped the barn. If you believe today’s Daily Times article on Kratovil by Greg Latshaw, it appears Kratovil will pursue that “independent” fiscal hawk strategy leading up to the 2010 election.

It may be a prudent idea for Kratovil to portray himself as a fiscal conservative, but I’d rather have the real thing in there.

Scoring the locals

As most of you are aware, one of my late-spring tasks over the last couple years has been the monoblogue Accountability Project, where I go through the vast amount of items our General Assembly somehow manages to dream up in just 90 days and sift it down to about 30 or so of what I consider “key” votes on items which make it to the floor. At that point I work out a numerical grading system based on 100 and rate all 188 members accordingly.

After the 2008 election, I thought it would be a good idea to track local Senators and Congressmen in a similar manner. I admit that part of it was partisan because I thought Andy Harris would’ve been a fine Congressman whereas voters picked a liberal in sheep’s clothing.

But people really should know what their elected officials are voting on and how they address issues. It’s just quite time-consuming for one person to do so, even if you limit the universe to a total of 13 members of Congress (counting both Maryland and Delaware delegations – after all, what’s three more when you’re doing 10?) I know how long it takes me to do 188 people times 30 votes for Maryland, but once the middle of April passes they vote on nothing else the rest of the year unless a Special Session is called. Congress doesn’t work that way.

So I’ve decided on a compromise measure of sorts. Obviously I can track individual federal votes through THOMAS (among other sources) but making a compilation could be a full-time job. And, unlike Maryland, where only a few groups bother to compile votes in a similar manner as mine, dozens of groups create Congressional scorecards based on their pet issues. Thus it makes sense for me to put together a spreadsheet similar to that I use for Maryland but with only 13 representatives on it, then group particular issues of interest together. For example, an NRA scorecard would be lumped into a section devoted to the Second Amendment along with any pro-gun control groups. Instead of doing the work to record each vote and reinvent the wheel, others can do the work and I can act as a clearinghouse.

This way I get the coverage I desire to inform voters without sacrificing the other aspects which make monoblogue such good reading.

So as 2010 dawns and these scorecards for 2009 come out, I’ll begin compiling the federal side of the monoblogue Accountability Project. It should be a good exercise in informing the voters where our local representatives stand just in time for the 2010 elections.

Message to TPX3: don’t forget Delmarva

Having interviewed one of the main protagonists not once, but twice as a result of cross-country bus tours, I probably have a little more insight than the average person on what the goals of the Tea Party Express were and continue to be.

That’s why I’m a little disappointed with the first look at the route planned for next March and April as TPX3 rolls across the country once again. The route covers 27 states and does briefly run through Delaware and Maryland (via I-95) on its way to the final stop in Washington D.C.

But unless they’re planning a whistle stop somewhere in the northeast corner of Maryland they’re forgetting about a vulnerable Democrat freshman who voted in favor of cap-and-tax, and wouldn’t necessarily pass up a chance to support Obamacare and restoring the death tax if certain conditions were met (I refer to them as his thirty pieces of silver – needless to say they come at taxpayer expense.)

With the looping path being taken already, I don’t think it’s all that difficult to spend an afternoon (most likely April 14, the eve of the next major taxpayer rally in Washington, D.C.) traversing the Delmarva because there’s a lot at stake in the 2010 election in our neck of the woods, too. We’ll have two freshman Democrats (Kratovil of Maryland and Nye of Virginia) running for re-election as well as an open Congressional seat in Delaware as Mike Castle tries to move to the Senate – most likely against Joe Biden’s son Beau, the First State’s current Attorney General. The Democrats already have a pretty strong candidate eyeing that Congressional seat, former Lieutentant Governor John Carney. The “Delaware Way” doesn’t have to be the only way.

Perhaps a good way to convince them to work our way is to show them the money. But I’d rather do it through a simple application of logic because we’re not a people of vast means.

They have the opportunity to influence four different races (if you count Maryland’s U.S. Senate seat which is up for election and held by Barbara Mikulski) in a few hours’ work on a peninsula which too often feels shut out of the political process. So that’s my bid and hopefully they’ll listen.

Dying to pass a new tax

Yep, leave it to House Democrats – they must figure there’s no rest for the weary, so no tax relief for the dying.

Yesterday, the House voted 225-200 (with 26 Democrats joining the GOP) to shelve the one-year moratorium on the 45% estate tax currently in place, which was enacted as part of President Bush’s broad palette of tax cuts. Delmarva representatives all voted “no” on the final bill as Mike Castle of Delaware, Frank Kratovil of Maryland, and Glenn Nye of Virginia all decided the tax hike wasn’t worth it.

For Kratovil’s part, he opposed it because:

Rep. Frank Kratovil opposed HR 4154, a proposal to permanently extend 2009 estate tax levels, citing the legislation’s failure to extend adequate protections to family-owned farms.  Kratovil also noted that the $3.5 million threshold included in the bill, aimed at exempting smaller estates from the tax, is not indexed for inflation and would therefore put future generations of middle class tax payers at risk from a tax that was never intended for them.

Kratovil then cites his support of an exemption for family farms, provided they remain in the family and devoted to agricultural use.

But there is a trick to this vote, where Democrats who supported the bill can argue they voted for a tax cut. After the zeroing out of the estate tax in 2010, the previous pre-Bush rate of 55% was set to take effect. This bill makes the 45% rate “permanent” (at least until they can sneak in another raise) yet some whined that the reduction will “cost” the federal government $234 billion over 10 years. To which I say, so what! Nor do I care that it currently affects 1/4 of 1% of all taxpayers – it still needs to go!

Let’s be honest here. The game being played by the Democrats who voted for this is one of class envy, and had the bill been amended to Kratovil’s liking he would have been happy to vote for it too. Philosophically I don’t believe he’s opposed to the death tax. However, given the number of Democrats who represent states with high concentrations of agricultural interests that provision may yet be tucked into the Senate bill and make the bill require a conference committee to argue it out.

So those of you who have rich relatives on death’s doorstep probably won’t get the break you deserve – you’ll have to pay the piper as your dearly departed paid during his or her lifetime.

Counting chickens?

As Yogi Berra most famously said, this is a case of deja vu all over again:

There is great news in my race to take the First Congresssional seat back from the tax-and-spend party of Pelosi.

Likely voters in the First District were polled the week before Thanksgiving.  Like all Americans, they were concerned about the economy and what the Democrats in Washington were doing.

If the election were held today, I would beat Frank Kratovil 52-39%.  Click on this link to read the original poll memo from the Tarrance Group, one of the leading national polling firms that also does the well-known “Battleground Poll”.

This is exciting.  With just 11 months to go until Election Day, we all have a lot of work to do if we want to take the country back from the crowd in Washington.

You can visit my new campaign web site at www.andyharris.com  Please let me know what you think.  You can also sign up at the website to volunteer for the campaign. Or you can contribute to the campaign at www.DrHarrisForCongress.com.

I’m looking forward to seeing you on the campaign trail throughout the First District!

Sincerely,

Andy Harris
Andy Harris for Congress

Most of you know I was a Harris supporter last time, and I take regular delight in telling folks who assured me Frank Kratovil would be a moderate (as opposed to having the liberal voting record I predicted) that “I told you so!” Even his final “no” vote on Pelosicare that supporters point to as evidence of an independent streak is somewhat suspect because he didn’t vote to recommit in the previous vote – a majority vote to recommit with instructions would have effectively killed the House bill.

However, Andy Harris having a 13 point lead at this early juncture means little – that and $5 will get you a latte at Starbucks. Admittedly it’s positive news for his campaign.

Two other factors in Andy’s favor will be not having to defeat an incumbent in the primary (so there will be a more-or-less united Republican Party this time around) and having an opponent with a voting record perhaps even farther left than his moderate GOP predecessor.

(In truth, Wayne Gilchrest would likely have voted the same way on cap-and-tax and Pelosicare as Frank Kratovil did. But Gilchrest would have likely been more of a fiscal conservative. To me, had 2008 been Gilchrest vs. Kratovil Frank would have likely found success running just a little to the right of Gilchrest. Instead, he picked up the Gilchrest mantle thanks to Wayne’s endorsement and could afford to run a little bit farther left, like calling for “universal health care.”)

Obviously Andy Harris runs a risk in revealing these polls too early, and I wonder if this was really meant for public consumption when the results were revealed a week or so ago. I suppose knowing Andy polls well against Frank Kratovil does work well for fundraising, and Harris is going to be at a disadvantage there because the special interests and labor unions are going to pour millions into keeping Frank employed across the bridge. (Hey, that’s what they did last time to get him there.)

Harris will have one last hurdle to navigate though. With his name on the Congressional ballot this year it’s certain he won’t be running to retain his seat in the Maryland Senate – but he’ll still have to vote there next year. Last year I detected a slight modification of his stridently conservative record when I went through voting records for the monoblogue Accountability Project, perhaps with an eye on this rematch.

But I caution Senator Harris that it’s not going to matter if he bends over backwards and moderates to appease certain voting interests. Any such effort is going to be ignored by the Kratovil team anyway as they troll through 11 previous years of Maryland Senate votes to pick out those which may play poorly to voters. Not many voters appreciate principle, and being on the short end of a 46-1 vote too many times became the subject of Kratovil team’s derision in one particular commercial. (It doesn’t matter to average voters that he was right to be in a small minority or even the lone voice of dissent in several cases because they’ll never get the full context of the bill in question from a 30 second ad. Truthfully it’s a miracle that the Democrats cite the particular vote and that’s only because they’re legally bound to.)

The trick for Harris this time around, though, will be on Election Day and the task at hand then will be to outperform his 2008 numbers on the Eastern Shore. He can do just as well in his stronghold west of Chesapeake Bay but in my opinion he needs to carry the four Lower Shore counties to win. Just flipping the numbers in Wicomico County (or any other Eastern Shore county save Caroline and Cecil) would have been enough for Harris in 2008. And given the fact that at least one third-party candidate will be on the ballot complicates Andy’s battle a little bit more.

All we need to do is remember Harris had a double-digit lead in polling as late as last July to see that the work is far from over. Frank Kratovil and his big-money backers didn’t get where they are by being stupid so there’s no doubt they’ll be slinging the mud as quickly as they can at Harris, if only to try and bury the questionable voting record Frank has accrued.

It should be an interesting 11 months.

Kratovil defends his vote

Earlier this week I found this in my e-mail box. I’ll let the guy speak his piece but reserve the right of criticism.

Last weekend, the House of Representatives voted on comprehensive health care reform legislation.  I believe that many of the measures included in this bill can play a part in improving our health care system – expanding coverage to the uninsured, increasing access in rural areas, and reducing health care costs are all priorities.  However, ultimately I was unable to support the bill because I do not believe that H.R. 3962 offered a fiscally sustainable approach to reforming our ailing health care system.  I wanted to share with you an op-ed I wrote that appeared in the Easton Star-Democrat that discusses the health care reform vote in more depth.

I am committed to passing health care reform legislation that cuts costs and insures more people, but I do not believe we can accomplish this in spite of our nation’s long term economic health.  I did not believe that the bill that passed the House met this standard so I will continue to work with my colleagues in Congress in hopes that a better bill can be developed as this process continues to move forward. 

Fair enough. But in his op-ed Frank also notes:

What has struck me the most, however, wasn’t the anger and unruliness that grabbed so many headlines during August, but rather the number of people I would encounter who believed that I should commit to voting one way or the other before even knowing what would be included or excluded from the legislation.   This was perhaps the only aspect of the health care debate that was truly bipartisan; I heard from many Republicans who demanded that I oppose any health care reform package, regardless of its contents, while some Democrats have told me I had a duty to unquestioningly support the bill simply because it was a priority for my party’s leadership.

To me, it’s not a question of party loyalty as it is determining the proper role of government. It’s my belief that government has a very limited role in health care, particularly when it comes to the doctor-patient relationship. It’s true that health insurance needs some sort of reform but the market should be able to take care of it – for example, decoupling health insurance and employment would solve the problem of needing to keep a job to maintain health insurance.

Where goernment can help is to roll back the regulations and mandates which increase the price of insurance by making insurers cover a myriad of conditions which might not necessarily apply. To me, insurance need not be mandatory but it’s not a bad idea to have it.

And given the $1 billion price that Frank Kratovil’s vote was purchased with for the cap-and-tax legislation, it’s certain that the negotiations have begun for determining how many pieces of silver he’ll sell out for this time. Of course, with 40 Democrats to spare Nancy Pelosi might give him another exemption from toeing the party line. He’ll still get the huge union and special interest donations to his campaign coffers regardless of how he votes, anyway – these folks aren’t stupid and know some Democrats will be cut down in the midterm elections next year. So, if Frank wins he may not have quite so much wiggle room in his next term and someone will be there to remind him which side his bread is buttered on.

Bottom line: Frank Kratovil took an oath to uphold the Constitution, but I can’t find anywhere in the document where it says health care is a right. Voting no on this go-round is good, but showing leadership against this intrusion into our private lives – not just calling on Congress to slow down consideration – would be even better.

Is Frank being frank?

I came across an interesting article in yesterday’s Washington Post regarding some of the media buys which have occurred over the last couple days.

The piece by Aaron C. Davis and Ben Pershing features a number of House Democrats who voted on both sides of the bill. Obviously groups like Health Care for America Now and AFSCME are giving “attaboys” to those who voted yes and condemning those who properly voted no, with notable exceptions. Apparently Frank Kratovil is being spared their wrath – for the moment, anyway.

To me, though, this is the money part of the article, part of which quotes our plurality Congressman:

Rep. Frank M. Kratovil Jr. (Md.), who was one of 39 Democrats on the other side of Saturday’s vote, was spared in initial ads and protests. But he said that he expects criticism for his no vote to carry into the 2010 election.

“Some on the Democratic side think I should have blindly voted for it because it was a priority of the leadership, and some on the other side say don’t vote for it regardless of what’s in it,” Kratovil said in an interview Monday, noting that his vote on the final legislation could still be in play.

The freshman, among those who swelled the party’s majority in the House, initially voted against President Obama’s stimulus bill this year. Over the summer, he voted for climate-change legislation. Kratovil said he thinks his record adds up to a powerful case for independents — and maybe some Republicans in his Eastern Shore district– that he can base decisions on policy and not politics.

“I think I’ve demonstrated . . . that I won’t let pressure force me to go one way or another,” he said. (Emphasis mine.)

So his vote can still be in play, huh? Remember, folks, it’s all but certain that if the House bill survives in the Senate (or if a companion Senate bill passes) he’s going to have to vote on this again. Nor should we forget that, to Frank, “universal health care – means universal.” At least that’s what he campaigned on in 2008; then again, at the time he didn’t have a voting record to dissect.

Those who congratulated Frank for his wise vote against Pelosicare (probably knowing they had a vote or two to spare) might not be so pleased with him when he turns around again and votes for a “compromise” House-Senate bill. It’s been hard to figure out just what core principles Frank has and this subject muddies the waters even further.

One step closer to losing more freedom

Well, we tried as best we could but the bad guys prevailed 220-215.

Not that I didn’t expect Pelosicare to pass, but what pisses me off is they got the fig leaf of bipartisanship because of one Republican voting “yes” – Rep. Anh “Joseph” Cao of Louisiana, a freshman who replaced former Rep. William “Cold Cash” Jefferson. I presume he comes from an extremely Democrat district, but still that’s pretty inexcusable.

None of Delmarva’s representatives voted for final passage of H.R. 3962 as Castle, Kratovil, and Nye all voted no. However, only Castle voted for the motion to recommit, which would have killed the bill. Castle was also the only one on Delmarva to vote for the Stupak Amendment, which made abortion funding almost completely illegal. So Kratovil and Nye will have some explaining to do to pro-life residents of their districts.

So now the fight moves to the Senate, with their first hurdle being to secure cloture or finding some shady manner of getting around that requirement. Again, with 60 votes against them there the GOP need have only stood back and watched Democrats write their political suicide note but now that stain of “bipartisan” support is indelibly etched upon this bill.

In all, it’s apparent that Congress doesn’t listen to the people anymore. But we figured that from the start.

Notable quotables from the ’emergency House call’

I knew I would have a long pictorial post yesterday so I omitted a lot of the quotes I thought were notable.

In opening the program, Rep. Tom Price of Georgia (who also spoke at the 9-12 rally) called H.R. 3962 “legislative malpractice.”

The program began after Price, serving as master of ceremonies, spoke. Before beginning the Pledge of Allegiance. Rep. Todd Akin of Missouri referred to the Pledge as something which “drives liberals crazy.”

Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota was one of three featured speakers. She had several good lines.

Referring to the gathering she helped organize, she exclaimed, “You came! And you came to your House!”

Being on Capitol Hill: “You stand with us on the hallowed ground of freedom…we are the privileged generation.”

While Republicans are the minority, “your voice of persuasion is unlimited.”

Even Jon Voight called Bachmann “a true American patriot.”

Actor John Ratzenberger called the Democratic leadership “Woodstock Democrats” as opposed to earlier party members like Tip O’Neill and John F. Kennedy, and noted that it was the National Guard who came to help build the Woodstock stage, even as most of the attendees didn’t support the military.

Rep. Scott Garrett of New Jersey called the crowd “awe-inspiring” and reminded us the first passage of the Hippocratic oath is to “do no harm” – yet the bill does serious harm.

“There is no greater fight than the fight for freedom,” Rep. John Shadegg of Arizona reminded us, “and with your help, freedom will win.”

Minority Leader Rep. John Boehner of Ohio was more direct: “Your voice is critical today…(Pelosicare) is the greatest threat to freedom I’ve seen in my 19 years in D.C.”

Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia: “Your efforts to stop this bill are being heard loud and clear.”

Michigan Rep. Pete Hoekstra pointed out the Constitution and Declaration of Independence were 39 pages combined, while the Pelosicare bill was over 2,000 pages: 39 pages to grant freedom and 2,000 to take it away.

Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council: H.R. 3962 is “radical social policy dressed up in a hospital gown…and we all know that a hospital gown doesn’t cover everything.” Perkins blasted the “radical anti-life agenda” of the bill and called it a “bailout for the abortion industry.”

Rep. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee (who also spoke at 9-12) called the bill “bad medicine” and wanted the GOP to be known as the “party of know.”

Texas Rep. Mike Burgess told the crowd they “have to keep being heard this weekend” and categorized this gathering as a “booster shot” after the outcry in August and September.

Congress is “on a collision course with freedom” if they pass this bill, said Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina.

Rep. Joe Wilson of South Carolina was a crowd favorite. He pointed out that H.R. 3400 is the GOP alternate plan. By the way, it’s only 230 pages.

Since he’s running for Governor of his home state, Rep. Zach Wamp of Tennessee is aware of H.R. 3962 and its possible affect on states. He called this “the mother of all unfunded mandates.”

Finally, Rep. Paul Fleming of Louisiana, sponsor of an unsuccessful resolution to remove the exemption Congress will enjoy from any health care fill, told the crowd that he “underestimated the arrogance” of Congressional Democrats when he arrived earlier this year.

I’m saving the best for last. According to the latest whip count (updated at 9:45 this morning) in The Hill, Frank Kratovil is a “firm no.” This jibes with what I was told by those who met with Kratovil after Thursday’s rally, so obviously either Nancy Pelosi didn’t put enough sweetener in the bill to buy his vote (like was done on cap-and-tax) or Kratovil is fearing for his electoral life given the sentiment of the district outside the limited confines of those who contribute to Progressive Delmarva. Maybe those folks can see about a Green Party challenger to Kratovil.

So let me be the first to congratulate and appreciate Frank’s vote. However, he’s certainly not out of the electoral woods by any stretch of the imagination, nor are we assured of victory. Remember, Nancy can sacrifice a goodly number of votes and still pass this over unified GOP opposition.

Finally, a little video. I skipped my usual FNV for the week, but here are three videos I took at the event.

This man was encouraging protestors to have a good old-fashioned sit-in at Nancy Pelosi’s office.

And we were having fun calling out Nancy Pelosi.

Best of all was getting to hear Mark Levin off the radio.

I tell you, it was a fun day. But to be honest I liked the 9-12 rally better because it didn’t seem to be as self-serving politically. Had they limited the speakers to maybe 6 to 8 and the program to an hour, I think it would have been more effective as far as the main goal of engaging recalcitrant Congressmen. Given the extremely long security lines, I’m certain a number of people who stuck around to hear the entire program probably didn’t stay to engage their representative, particularly if they had to return home on a bus.

But as long as we win on this bill, it can serve as a template for further activism in the future – even for those on the other side. Perhaps this is the end of political complacency – at least I hope so.

Update: From USA Today (h/t Michelle Malkin):

“After months of thoroughly reviewing legislative proposals and speaking with constituents and stakeholders, I am not satisfied that this bill before us is a sustainable solution,” said Rep. Frank Kratovil, D-Md. Alert readers will remember that he was the congressman hung in effigy during the height of the August town hall meeting uproar.

Maybe it wasn’t the most appropriate means of expressing opposition, but looks like it worked!

Observations on the ’emergency House call’

Yesterday I was in Washington, D.C. because Michele Bachmann asked me to be. But I wasn’t the only one there.

And this was just the crowd when we made it there at 11 o'clock, an hour before the rally was slated to begin.

Luckily it was a pleasant November day, but those of us gathered had a purpose – to defend our liberty.

I just liked the shot with the sun shining through the flag.

Tomorrow the House is slated to vote on the Pelosicare bill, better known as H.R. 3962.

I took this photo in the office of Rep. Glenn Thompson, the Congressman I interviewed earlier this week. I guess he better get cracking on reading this!

So tens of thousands of us decided to pay a visit to OUR House and set these people straight. Does this look like Astroturf to you?

I took this shot looking back toward the Washington Monument.

This was taken from the back of the crowd looking toward the Capitol.

And they were freedom-loving Americans.

Passing the American flag overhead gave me an opportunity to take this shot with the Capitol dome in the background.

But unlike a true TEA Party, there was more of a partisan flavor to this event. Not to say that most Republicans aren’t in agreement that Pelosicare is a bad idea, but they certainly take some of the blame for passing other bad bills in the recent past. Here’s one Congressman gladhanding the crowd on my end of the Capitol steps.

I don't know who this is off the top of my head, but he was playing politics.

As the program began, the GOP representatives formed the backdrop for each speaker.

It may be difficult to see in the center of the picture, but the neatly-arranged rows of well-dressed people were the House's Republican caucus.

But the presentation, which featured luminaries like Jon Voight, John Ratzenberger, and crowd favorite Mark Levin, was truly the draw to get people to Washington. Their assignment after the show was over was to visit their representatives on D.C. turf. Most of them heeded that advice.

A line of people waited to get through security at one of the entrances of the Cannon House Office Building.

And a good number of them came just to see our favorite Blue Dog Congressman, Frank Kratovil.

It's a touch blurry with no flash, but you can tell the hallway was full of people urging Frank Kratovil to just say 'no' to Pelosicare.

In truth, most of these people only got to speak to Kratovil’s staff because the House was still in session and voting. Apparently Frank has heard the District and would vote against the bill. He really should heed the advice on this lady’s sign.

Advice for the Blue Dogs.

I’m throwing this shot in because a lot of people wanted to see Levin speak and I happen to agree with this guy’s sign.

I can just see the ProgDel folks calling this guy a 'raaaaaaacist!' I assume the sign refers to President Obama and not Mark Levin.

Yet the mainstream media doesn’t seem to get it yet. Check out where this CBS News reporter set up shop.

I took this shot from the bus as we were arriving at the protest. Hey, come on over where the news is!!

The vote is slated for tomorrow, but storm clouds are gathering over the Capital. This powerful storm has an ETA of November 2, 2010.

As we were leaving, the clouds were gathering and lent themselves to a dramatic shot of the Capitol.

Powerful message from Pence

Normally I like to put up selected videos on my Friday Night Videos feature, but this one is both inspiring and time-sensitive.

The key in this fight is going to be Blue Dog Democrats. We need to make sure they realize that a vote for Obamacare comes at their electoral peril. They can be part of the new conservative resurgence or they can be roadkill in 2010.

The time is nigh for action once again, as apparently the House Obamacare vote is on tap for later this week. I’m aware that the AFP folks have a meeting set up with Congressman Kratovil on Friday but if they want to influence his health care vote that may be too late.

There is also a bid by Rep. Michelle Bachmann for a smaller version of the 9-12 rally on Thursday, with a noontime gathering at the Capitol then visits to various Congressmen. For those who aren’t able to get to Washington, D.C. on such short notice there’s a call for people to meet at the Congressional district offices and state capitals at noon Thursday.

Regardless of the venue, the idea is the same: stop Obamacare in its tracks. Let’s get to work.