The Fighting 29th

All about New York's 29th Congressional District

Eric Massa attended a Kuhl news conference this morning to ask Kuhl about scheduling time for a debate. Things got a little heated, as this WETM story recounts.

According to the report, Kuhl, who was "visibly unamused", talked a little smack after it was over:

"That's not the way I was raised," said Kuhl of Massa's behavior. "Unfortunately, there are people who didn't have the luxury of having wonderful parents like I did who taught about parental respect."

I understand the first part of Kuhl's taunt: Massa had bad parents (i.e., "Your Momma"). The second part, about parental respect, doesn't quite make sense. Is Massa supposed to treat Kuhl like his Daddy?

Video after the break:

WETM and Syracuse's News 10 both have coverage of Eric Massa's trade plan.

Sean Carroll at 13WHAM has a nice piece about the charities and public service organizations supported by Massa and Randy Kuhl.

Eric Massa had a short press conference this morning to announce his new trade plan. The plan is available on Massa's site[pdf]

Jeremy Moule at Rochester's City Newspaper has filed his take on Monday's Boehner/Kuhl press conference.

The Corning Leader has a story on Greenpeace's delivery of 1,000 signatures to the Massa campaign asking him to fight global warming.

The anti-war protesters who occupied Randy Kuhl's Bath office last year argued their appeal in court yesterday. More coverage here and here.

When Randy Kuhl chose to take a page directly from Newt Gingrich's book and make drilling the centerpiece of his energy program, he chose to ignore what we've know for at least 35 years: we are far too dependent on a commodity that's extracted in some of the most contentious corners of the earth. Instead of attacking this problem head-on, he chose to mouth a comprehensive energy plan while advertising a "business as usual" solution.

That would be fine if "business as usual" were presented honestly. But the case coupling drilling more with paying less in the near term is so tenuous that Kuhl and others following the Gingrich gameplan have to rely on a set of false claims to make their case.

13WHAM's Evan Dawson has coverage of a Republican press conference in Rochester. One piece is Amo Houghton's remarks on why Randy Kuhl is targeted. (Because he's a moderate?) The second is an interview with Kuhl and House Majority Leader John Boehner.

Andrew Bacevich's interview with Bill Moyers is an interesting and enlightening discussion of how we got into our current political predicament. Bacevich is a retired Army colonel, and a conservative in the real sense of the term. Here's one part of the interview that I thought hit the nail on the head:

The Congress, especially with regard to matters related to national security policy, has thrust power and authority to the executive branch. We have created an imperial presidency. The congress no longer is able to articulate a vision of what is the common good. The Congress exists primarily to ensure the reelection of members of Congress.

and this:

BILL MOYERS: Here is what I take to be the core of your analysis of our political crisis. You write, "The United States has become a de facto one party state. With the legislative branch permanently controlled by an incumbent's party. And every President exploiting his role as Commander in Chief to expand on the imperial prerogatives of his office."

ANDREW BACEVICH: One of the great lies about American politics is that Democrats genuinely subscribe to a set of core convictions that make Democrats different from Republicans. And the same thing, of course, applies to the other party. It's not true. I happen to define myself as a conservative.

Well, what do conservatives say they stand for? Well, conservatives say they stand for balanced budgets. Small government. The so called traditional values.

Well, when you look back over the past 30 or so years, since the rise of Ronald Reagan, which we, in many respects, has been a conservative era in American politics, well, did we get small government?

Do we get balanced budgets? Do we get serious as opposed to simply rhetorical attention to traditional social values? The answer's no. Because all of that really has simply been part of a package of tactics that Republicans have employed to get elected and to - and then to stay in office.

and this about the 2006 election, where Democrats promised to end the Iraq War:

BILL MOYERS: And you say the promises of Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi prove to be empty. Reid and Pelosi's commitment to forcing a change in policy took a backseat to their concern to protect the Democratic majority.

ANDREW BACEVICH: Could anybody disagree with that?

This blog is devoted to understanding one Congressional district. In the three years I've been writing here, I have been surprised to see how much power Congress has ceded to the President. The most unpopular President in modern history has been able to manipulate Congress because each party in Congress, as Bacevich says, is mainly concerned with maintaining its majority.

The whole interview is worth watching.

One point of pride in Randy Kuhl's 2006 campaign was his pledge to visit all 145 towns in the district every year. Because of last year's protests, and their attendant media attention, Kuhl changed those meetings to by-appointment-only this year. He's held a handful so far, and no more are scheduled on his town hall meeting page. His campaign website also contains no mention of the meetings.

A reader noticed this state of affairs and contacted Kuhl's office asking about meetings. He was told that Kuhl will be having more meetings if he's elected this year.

In 2006, town hall meetings were a major part of Kuhl's effort to portray himself as a "service Congressman". In 2008, they are a public relations liability that are no longer part of Kuhl's campaign.

WETM covers Kuhl's drilling ad with a pretty favorable story, including a bunch of man-on-the-street interviews. Video embedded below:

13WHAM is first off the blocks with analysis of Randy Kuhl's latest campaign ad. It rates the claim that Kuhl is the only candidate who supports offshore drilling as "fiction". The "drill now/pay less" claim gets called "faction," because it's contains a tiny portion of fact: "So, 23 years from now, expanded drilling would actually drop the price of a gallon of gas--about 2.7 cents."

If you're not sure about the term "faction", Ms Shirley Bassey explains it in a video embedded below: