Reader Elmer sent today's Corning Leader editorial [pdf] about Eric Massa's performance. The Leader's editorial writer isn't overly concerned with Massa's statement at Netroots Nation, and the Leader concludes that Massa was doing what he was elected to do. Leader columnist Bob Rolfe also has a positive column on Massa.
The Massa press office also sent Andy Thompson's column in the Hornell Evening Tribune [pdf]. Thompson lauds Massa's hard work, but wonders if the Netroots Nation remarks will come back to bite him.
Comments
Bob Rolfe is a die hard Democrat. Never met a Democrat he did not like. Massa like all good Liberals knows what's better for us than we do. He is still a member of the Party that Obama, Reid & Pelosi are. And when push comes to shove he will do their bidding.
Remember how he ran Kuhl through the mud in the last campaign, when he voted against the Stimulus Bill and the second time around Kuhl voted for it. I believe Massa stated that he would have voted against it. Guess what? When it came Massa's turn to vote on the Stimulus Bill, he voted for it.
Oh, how brutal he was about Kuhl's PAC money. Other than accepting Union PAC money, he (Massa) was squeaky clean. Now he is willing to take all kinds of PAC money. His reasoning is that he does not want to financially burden his supporters. By the way he wants your five's, ten's, twenties' etc. to keep him in office. Also, it is not beyond him to lie, if he thinks it will help him.
It's true that Rolfe is a Democrat, but the Leader editorial staff is conservative, and they also posted a positive editorial about Massa, as noted in the post.
You give no evidence that Massa does the bidding of his leadership because there's no evidence to give. He's voted against some key bills, including war funding. The Leader mentions Massa's independence in the editorial that you apparently didn't read.
You're wrong about the "stimulus" bill. The bill that Kuhl waffled around about last year, and Massa opposed, was the bank bailout. The reason Massa opposed it was a huge giveaway to the banks without proper controls. Now that banks have survived and are handing out millions in bonuses, I think it's pretty clear that Massa was right.
Massa's criticism of Kuhl was corporate PAC money, not PAC money in general. And yes, he's gone back on that pledge.
So the score on your comment is 1 true claim and 3 false ones. This isn't the Star-Gazette comment section -- you can't just say anything you want and expect it to be unchallenged. I don't care if you disagree with Massa, but get your facts right next time.
I did not state that Massa does the bidding of his leadership. What I did say was; "He is still a member of the Party that Obama, Reid & Pelosi are. And when push comes to shove he will do their bidding". I have been around the man many, many times & watched his game playing. I personally do like Bob Rofle, and prayed for him to get through his medical problems. I do respect your comments & civility.
Well, he was pushed and shoved a couple of times so far, and he didn't do their bidding - as for the future, we shall see.
Listen, I'm old enough to remember when the Underhill family owned/operated "The Corning Leader" (yes, its name was more geographically specific then) and when the thought of any good thing being said about a Democrat was, within reason, hard to imagine (that said, they always were fair, sending their then-editor, but GOP State Committeeman, George Bevan to both the Republican and Democratic national conventions). The paper has evolved dramatically w/respect to its hard-to-call editorial stance and the current generation, the Dunnings, etc., are to be well-commended for it. Rolfe, I thought, was a Republican. He started out, fresh out of Syracuse University journalism school, as a well-followed editor of "The Steuben Courier," up in Bath. Evenhad a weekly column called "Liberty Street Beat." Then County Clerk Chilt Latham, with wife Marian, ran that remarkable weekly during those days. He's smart and insightful---and, believe me, he had plenty of opportunities, in both his professional and personal lives, to observe Mr. Kuhl's activities. But I'm rambling! I just want to say that I love the "Leader" of today, always look forward to Rolfe and Dunning, and, by the way, were the election today you bet I would cross over to vote for Massa. (He's the kinda guy who you can be proud has succeeded Amo).
FYI - The Underhills sold the Leader to Bob Howard about two weeks before the flood 0f 72. There were 6 or 7 feet of water in the Leader building and it actually was printed in Hornell for 30 days or so. Dick Peer was the Editor at that time.
Unless something drastic happens I would bet that The Leader will endorse Massa again in 2010,
Thanks for the Leader history - I still think it's the best paper in the district.