The Fighting 29th

All about New York's 29th Congressional District

Politico has an article about Eric Massa's visit from members of Healthcare for America Now (HCAN). The group, which is pro health reform, delivered 5,000 signatures to Massa's office on Tuesday, and representatives from that group met with Massa on Wednesday.

Massa's in an interesting position on healthcare reform. He opposes the current bill because it does not include a strong public option to compete with private insurers. Because of that opposition, groups like HCAN are lobbying him to vote for the bill. Yet his fundamental position, support of single-payer health care, is consistent with HCAN's, and anathema to the right-wing groups planning a visit to tonight's town hall in Mendon.

Reader Elmer sends this Corning Leader exclusive interview with Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Eric Massa.

Massa also met with the Star-Gazette editorial board. Here's the S-G interview.

Finally, the Democratic National Committee has launched a pro-Massa radio ad campaign. Audio and text of the ad after the break:

Freedom Works is a group that is supporting the recent protests at Congressional town hall meetings, like the one that's supposed to occur on Thursday in Mendon. Philip Dampier, the blogger behind Stop the Cap, points out an interesting connection:

The group behind all of this, Freedom Works, is an astroturfing group I’ve dealt with before on our municipal broadband issue that I write often about on Stop the Cap! It suckers ordinary citizens into advocating against their own best interests by… well, making stuff up and scaring them. They always hide their true funding backers, pretending to be a “consumer group.”

Municipal broadband isn’t a way for local governments to supply broadband service at the speeds and pricing consumers want, it’s an ‘Obama-engineered socialist takeover of the Internet, as part of his secret campaign for stifling dissent.’ They load mostly retired folks who sit around all day listening to talk radio onto several buses and send them into various places to protest and disrupt.

We endured this nonsense in our successful battle in North Carolina, and those asking some of these people questions quickly learned they had no idea what the specific issues were — they were given basic talking points, a bus ride, and told to chant various slogans which usually had little to do with the issues at hand.

Eric Massa's Thursday night meeting in Mendon will be the target of a group called "ReformNYS". In a message posted on that group's mailing list, a list member posted the following:

Lets give him [Massa] what Arlen Spector just got in PA on the "Health Care Bill"

What Spector "just got" was a bunch of people yelling during his meeting, drowning out the speakers and those who might want to ask questions.

It's worth noting that this is not at all the treatment Randy Kuhl got at his town hall meetings. I attended one meeting where there were silent protesters. At another meeting, a MoveOn representative presented Randy with some signed petitions. Everyone got a chance to speak, and nobody was drowned out.

There's nothing wrong with organizing protests outside town hall meetings, asking tough questions at those meetings, and presenting Members of Congress with petitions. Disrupting those meetings is just a stupid, bullying tactic that can only end badly.

Reader Elmer sent me Joe Dunning's Sunday column on Sunday, but I screwed up and forgot to post it. It's here [pdf].

Dunning took a look at Eric Massa's financial disclosure, which contains a number of donations from Corning, Inc and Corning executives. Dunning's explanation for why a typically Republican corporation would put $10K in Massa's pocket is worth a read in full, but I hadn't heard this before:

There may also be some backlash against Reed, who announced he’s not seeking re-election as Corning Mayor in the midst of his first term. The company strongly supported Reed in his successful bid in 2007 to unseat Democrat Mayor Frank Coccho in hopes of securing the office for a number of years.

There were those who felt Reed jumped ship too early for his own political gain, allowing Coccho back into the political picture with his own bid to regain the mayorship. Those who donated to Reed's campaign against Coccho might not be so eager to give to his congressional campaign.

Dunning is an apolitical straight-shooter, so I think this reflects a real sentiment in Corning rather than a political talking point.

Reader Don sends WETM's teaser for a Randy Kuhl interview, which contains this gem from the former Representative:

You know when I first ran for public office way back in 1980 I took it with the understanding that someday people are going to want hamburger instead of steak.

Randy's planning on supporting Tom Reed next year. Perhaps Reed will have a better strategy for luring back Republicans who voted for Massa: one that doesn't include insulting them.

Eric Massa's call to fire Bill O'Reilly made the Messenger-Post, as well as some big audience national blogs.

For those new to the controversy, it concerns Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl, who is serving in Afghanistan, was captured by the Taliban under unclear circumstances, and was featured in a recently released propaganda tape. Here's a CNN update on the case.

Fox analyst Ralph Peters, a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel, said the following about Bergdahl on Fox:

If, when the facts are in, we find out that through some convoluted chain of events, he really was captured by the Taliban, I'm with him. But, if he walked away from his post and his buddies in wartime, I don't care how hard it sounds, as far as I'm concerned, the Taliban can save us a lot of legal hassles and legal bills.

Obviously, calling for the murder of an American soldier by the enemy is a bit beyond the pale, even for Fox News.

In what was apparently a misguided attempt at damage control, Peters appeared on the Bill O'Reilly show, where O'Reilly said he thinks that Bergdahl is "crazy", and Peters said that he's sure that Bergdahl has "shamed his unit", though "I do hope for his family's sake this guy comes back safely". This is apparently what passes for an apology on Fox News.

The Army is running an investigation, and at some point we'll know what happened to Pfc. Bergdahl. In the meantime, over 500 people in the town of 6,000 where Bergdahl grew up are having a vigil for him. Here are a few words from them:

"It was part of his adventurous spirit that carries on," said Blaine County Sheriff J. Walt Femling, who rented an apartment to Bergdahl in 2006, on why he joined the military. "Not only that, but he wanted to serve."
Bergdahl showed up at the Blaine County Gun Club in 2007, looking for summer work. He and manager Dick Mandeville got along well, with Bergdahl's duties including helping shooters on the trap fields, stocking targets and cleaning racks full of rifles.
"He was good every which way you looked at it," Mandeville said.

I don't know what happened to Pfc. Bergdahl, and I doubt that Bill O'Reilly will resign because of this, but Massa's right to make some noise about this one. It stinks.

Reader Elmer sends today's Corning Leader front page [pdf] (and jump [pdf]) with a story about Tom Reed's new hires. His campaign manager will be a veteran of the 2006 New York State Governor's race who has ties to the national party.

Reed's staff is quite different from Randy Kuhl's. Kuhl's 2006 campaign manager was his son, and his 2008 manager had nothing like the experience of Reed's new hire. This is a clear signal that the national Republican party is taking this race very seriously.

Reader Vincent sends an email from Eric Massa that includes an online poll asking recipients their opinion on the new healthcare bill. The poll was sent to anyone who signed up for Massa's newsletter on Massa's home page. It's another interesting use of technology, one which presumably costs a small fraction of the price of a direct mail outreach.

Joe Dunning's story in today's Corning Leader has Eric Massa's reaction to the House health care bill. Massa's concerned that the funding mechanism (a tax increase on the wealthiest Americans) will hit New York disproportionately.