The Fighting 29th

All about New York's 29th Congressional District

Evan Dawson and Sean Carroll at 13-WHAM are working the suffering story. Evan has two posts (here and here).

Kuhl's interview on the remarks will be played tonight on the 13-WHAM broadcast. His spokeswoman, Meghan Tisinger, didn't take back Kuhl's statement this afternoon.

Evan and Sean are trying to dig into why these remarks surfaced now. I don't know the answer to that question, but the reason they're an issue now is pretty clear. Colin Powell's Obama endorsement on Meet the Press [video], and his remarks afterward [video] which singled out Michele Bachmann, have been extremely influential.

Powell, the stable center-right voice of rational Republicanism, called out all the haterade we've been seeing. He did it calmly, succintly and with one devastating example. Maybe if you're John McCain, you can stand up to Powell. Rush Limbaugh can say Powell did it because he's black. But if you're Michelle Bachmann, you have one choice: abject apology.

As for Randy Kuhl, I don't think the choice is as clear. His remarks were garden-variety haterade. He didn't say that more than half of the House of Representatives hates America. He just implied it. I think the smart move here is for him to back down and this will go away. My sense is that he's going to push it, and it won't.

Update: Kuhl did not back down. Here's a quote from the just-posted update to one of the WHAM blog posts:

I think it's outlandish to think that a comment that I made 11 weeks ago is the beginning of quote-unquote a trend of my party some two and a half months later. I'd like to think that I had that kind of leadership capability and that I was that much forefront thinking, but not particularly.

I think that one needs a re-think: Is he saying he would rather have been the leader of the stupid brigade, instead of Michele Bachmann?

Rahm Emmanuel is in town, holding a press conference with Eric Massa about expansion of S-CHIP.

At the press conference, Massa said that "one of the proudest moments of my life will be the day I cast a vote" for S-CHIP expansion. Massa said that 280,000 children in New York would benefit from expansion.

Emmanuel said that S-CHIP was an example of bi-partisan cooperation, citing the 17 Republican Senators and 47 Republican Members of Congress who voted for S-CHIP. He characterized it as a "fully paid-up" program, saying that there's "no doubt" that S-CHIP will be one of the first bills to be voted on in January.

Randy Kuhl has been on the wrong side [of this bill] five times. No issue represents the fundamental difference between Eric Massa and Randy Kuhl more than this one.

I asked both about the issue of S-CHIP coverage in New York, which would move to 400% above the poverty line. This was one of Kuhl's reasons for voting against the bill.

Massa cited a report issued yesterday by the Journal of the American Medical Association saying that children whose parents are at 200-400% of poverty line are not getting healthcare.

Emmanuel said, "These are the kids of working parents. They fall, through no fault of their own, between Medicaid and employers that provide private health care. They make more because they work, so they can't get Medicaid. But where they work doesn't provide health care."

Massa also said that it's likely that not insuring these children ends up costing us money.

The current spending in the 29th, including money from party committees, is $1.4 million for Massa vs. $970K for Kuhl.

Randy Kuhl received a 36% rating from the League of Conservation Voters, according to the League of Conservation Voters.

Reader Elmer noticed that Eric Massa was endorsed by American Hunters and Shooters.

The Star-Gazette also reports that Randy Kuhl was endorsed by Monroe County Town Supervisors, who are all Republicans.

Sean Carroll at the 13-WHAM blog has a profile of the newly announced write-in candidate in the race.