Below is a re-print of a diary my wife posted on Daily Kos last night. It is an interesting read. Also, we are in a contest as she mentions at the end. PFAW and Howie Klein are sponsoring it and we are trying to get as many one dollar donations as possible, so as tedious as it will be, instead of giving twenty dollars, give one dollar twenty times. The one with the most donors gets DCCC money and we can use that for targeted cable ads. Help if you can and spread the word about the contest. Thanks BW
Below is an op/ed that we are releasing to the traditional media later this evening. This will be cross posted on other blogs but is here first. Also feel free to cross post on your own blogs if you desire.
Thanks
cross-posted from Bloosier Hysteria (bloosierhysteria.blogspot.com)
Another vote, another reminder just how out of touch Rep. Mike Pence is with voters in his district. A vocal opponent of any form of governmental bailout, Pence says he is set to vote against the proposed legislation on the grounds it goes against the ideas of a free-market economy.
Does Pence not know such a vote could be economically fatal for many hard working hoosiers across the state? Or does he just not care? Because as Senator Richard Lugar, who says he will support the bill, points out:
"I will continue supporting efforts to pass legislation to restore credit flow to homeowners, businesses, farmers and all the people who, by the very nature of their businesses, need to borrow money to maintain their activity and keep employees," Lugar said Friday. "Failure to pass such legislation would lead to massive unemployment and failure of small business and farming operations in Indiana. That is unacceptable."
And just in case anyone needed further proof of the shear absurdity of Pence's position, consider his defense:
"If you came here because you believe in limited government and the freedom of the American marketplace, vote in accordance with those convictions," Pence wrote.
He had argued that the plan should include tax cuts for capital gains and for corporations that bring home overseas profits. Pence said that would free "trapped capital" to deal with the liquidity crisis.
Nevermind such a position amounts to yet more tax breaks for big business with no mention of average taxpaying hoosiers. How the rest of the Indiana congressional delegation will vote is still up in the air, but rest assured answers will be forthcoming as congress is set to vote on the bill sometime today.
"While I am disappointed that I will not be given an opportunity to address the Republican National Convention, I was honored to have been asked to speak and I wholeheartedly supported the decision to cancel convention activities as Hurricane Gustav advanced to the Gulf Coast.
The new theme is "reform", and I guess the GOP doesn't think that Pence matches that label. At least, not as well as Rudy Giuliani, failed Maryland gubernatorial Senate candidate Michael Steele, and earmark-loving, scandal-ridden, and Bridge-to-Nowhere supporter Sarah Palin.
[Note:] Corrected Michael Steele's political situation. The initial version of this post referred to Michael Steele as a failed gubernatorial candidate. I meant to write that he was a failed Senate candidate and former Lt. Gov. - BrianK
(Bumped from the user diaries. - promoted by Thomas)
BlueAmerica is hosting a contest to support progressive Democratic candidates. These nine candidates have not yet gotten the support of the Democratic infrastructure (read: cash), but the winner will receive a $5,000 check from BlueAmerica.
There are some great candidates in the contest - including Annette Taddeo down in Florida, Rabbi Dennis Shulman in New Jersey, and Indiana's own Barry Welsh.
Here's how it works: any donation given to a candidate at the BlueAmerica Contest Page - whether $1, $20, or $2300 - counts as a vote for that candidate. The candidate who receives the most votes by September 6 will win the prize.
Let's help maximize Barry's chances against Mike Pence. Join me in lending a little support. Remember, the amount doesn't matter - even a dollar is a vote.
For those that do not know, I am Barry Welsh and I am the Democratic Congressional Candidate in Indiana's 6th District and a longtime member of the Netroots.
Last night I had a unique opportunity. I sat at a table with five patriots.
I listened as they talked on their individual expertise with passion. I could not help but think back over the history of this nation, and how many times conversations like the one I was listening to became a spur to progress. From the revolution that brought the birth of this nation, to the industrial revolution, to the technological revolution, all were fueled by the passion of progressive visionaries
(Bumped from the user diaries. - promoted by Thomas)
Things have been hectic since we had our voter explosion in the primary. For those that don't know, here in this district of Indiana, my opponent had a decrease in his primary base of over 5500 voters in a Presidential year, and we had an increase of over 70,000 new voters across the district. We doubled my opponent's vote total when all was said and done. We have him in a position he has never been in before. It is an exciting and hopeful time here in East Central Indiana. Oh and also he keeps putting his foot in his mouth, so that doesn't hurt.
My name is Betsy Decillis and I am the Finance Director for the Barry Welsh for Congress Campaign. I've got some exciting news!
First off, today is Barry's birthday. He turns 49 years young and I wanted to make sure everyone had a chance to send him their well wishes.
Secondly, you can still get Sherri's recipe for Double Chocolate Drop Cookies! Just donate $12.10 in honor of Barry's Birthday here and she will e-mail you the recipe. Thanks to everyone that has donated so far!
(Bumped from the user diaries. Here's the latest from the Barry Welsh for Congress campaign, which has been hard at working building an infrastructure for their upcoming rematch against Mike Pence in the 6th District. - promoted by Thomas)
CONNERSVILLE, IN - The contentious Fort Wayne, IN mayor's race has been a political flashpoint for Indiana Republicans in this year's municipal election season, with indicted Republican candidate for mayor Matt Kelty faced with wholesale defections from his campaign, lackluster support from his own party members and in a particularly embarrassing moment, withdrawal of the support of Indiana 3rd Congressional District Representative Mark Souder's endorsement.
In contrast to Souder's retracted endorsement, Representative Mike Pence, as he does with President Bush, stands in lock step with Matt Kelty, once again bringing Pence's alignment with politicians of questionable character into the public eye.
Democratic challenger Barry Welsh, the nephew of former Indiana Governor Matt Welsh and a United Methodist Minister on sabbatical to campaign full time in the rematch with Congressman Pence, has dogged Mr. Pence in recent years by raising questions about his choices; from Mr. Pence accepting contributions from and support of disgraced former Speaker of the House Tom Delay, for his fundraising dinners at convicted felon Jack Abramoff's exclusive restaurant Signatures in 2003, and also for his support of such recent scandalous luminaries as Idaho Senator Larry Craig, talk radio host Rush Limbaugh, child predator ex-Congressman Mark Foley, and now the indicted Fort Wayne GOP mayoral candidate Matt Kelty who's November trial on felony campaign finance irregularities will soon begin.
CONNERSVILLE, IN - Indiana 6th District Congressional candidate Barry Welsh (D-Connersville) released the following statement today regarding the vote yesterday in which current Representative Mike Pence voted to sustain President Bush's veto of the low income children's health program.
"Congressman Pence stood in lock step with President Bush and the veto denying Health Care to Children in the S-CHIP bill. Congressman Pence had to flip-flop in his voting as he had voted for the bill before voting against it. Congressman Pence thought Health Care for Kids was important and voted for it, until President Bush told him to vote against it. Pleasing President Bush is more important to Congressman Pence than Health Care for Kids, and that is not representative of Hoosier Family Values and is the wrong priority for any Congressman to use in decision-making."
For more information contact Communications Director Joh Padgett at (317) 352-5066 or via email at press@barrywelsh.org. Also visit our website and blog at the addresses listed below.
Join Barry Welsh live on BlogTalkRadio for his weekly radio address every Tuesday at 12 noon EDT. This week Barry will be discussing events in the Middle East. Join us LIVE at noon and call in to (646) 716-8764 to discuss your views with Barry directly! If you cant join us at noon, come on by and listen to the archived podcast anytime!
The guys from Political Nexus and Heading Left and hosts of the talk show Candidates Corner, Clammy C and There Is No Spoon are having Barry and I over to their place tonight to raise money for Barry's campaign and we sure hope you will join us. The show starts at 7pm on Candidate's Corner on BlogTalkRadio and will also be live blogged on DailyKos this evening as well.
We'll be auctioning off these items as well such as:
An Iowa 2004 Deanie Baby toy from the Howard Dean 2004 campaign - minimum bid $10
A copy of Charlie Savage's new book Takeover donated by Jane Hamsher - minimum bid $15
If you would like to bid on these items email your bids to finifinito@gmail.com and check over at Barry's Blog for updates on current bid prices all evening. the auction will conclude at 9pm EDT this evening and winning bid owners will be notified by email at the conclusion of the auction.
And be sure to heck out our brand new CafePress Store! We have a number of great items available for purchase including:
The response to the announcement that Barry Welsh's Green Night event was being postponed these past few days from our friends in the Netroots has been nothing short of amazing. Markos has been extremely supportive and we are humbled that he would take the time to help Barry's campaign in a difficult time.
Brian Keeler, aka NYBri from DailyKos, has been nothing short of a hero these last few days. When I told him about the situation with Barry's sister and the event being postponed, he immediately sprang to action to spread the word to a number of friends and allies and is even going to help us with what I have to announce today. More after the flip.
(Bumped from the user diaries. - promoted by Thomas)
According to this story over at Daily Kos, Barry is dealing with some difficult family issues currently.
"...disaster struck his family, and with a sister in the hospital undergoing serious surgery, he's put on his "family" and "minister" hats and is tending to her."
Kos goes on to speak very highly of Barry and implores his readers to donate to Barry's campaign. I'm including those links here for those of you who might also wish to support Barry's campaign and I'm also including his campaign email address where you might send Barry and his family words of support during this tenuous time. Similarly, maybe we can use this thread to offer words of support.
I would like to take this opportunity to introduce you to John Good as the official campaign blogger for the Barry Welsh For Congress campaign. John is best known for his work at his own blog, Left In Aboite, as well as at Fort Wayne Left and Blue Indiana. John has agreed to join the campaign as lead blogger and blog team coordinator, or "coach" as we are calling him.
John is a great fit for our team ideologically and is a fantastic writer whose style is both thought provoking and entertaining to read. He lives with his family in the Ft. Wayne suburb of Aboite where he operates a small business logistics operation. He has worked on several Democratic campaigns as a volunteer and recently worked on the Tom Hayhurst for Congress campaign, so he does bring Congressional campaign experience to the table as well.
I look forward to his postings which will appear on our main blog at http://blog.barrywelsh.org, but he will also be posting to other group blogs such as Blue Indiana, DailyKos, MyDD, Open Left and Booman Tribune regularly as well. Be sure to check out his first post on the official campaign blog, and please take time to leave a comment to welcome John to the Barry Welsh For Congress campaign!
(Bumped from the user diaries. Why not head over and give Barry's new blog a visit? - promoted by Thomas)
The Barry A. Welsh For Congress campaign today unveiled the new official blog on their website, located at http://blog.barrywelsh.org. The new blog will feature posts from the candidate himself as well as blog team members, communications staff and the occasional guest post from friends and allies of the campaign. The blog will be used to make regular posts with items of interest relating to the campaign, recent podcasts, interviews online and more.
In a press release that went out today, Barry Welsh drew attention to remarks Rep. Mike Pence (R-Iraqi Markets) made during the House hearing yesterday at which General Petraeus gave testimony about the Surge tactic used in Iraq. Pence stated for the record and in a public, televised hearing the following nonsense:
"I witnessed the Anbar Awakening in my visit there this past April," Pence said at a House hearing on the report. "It is a remarkable development that the so-called Triangle of Death a year ago now has tribesmen, clerics and community leaders working hand-in-glove with American troops and, as they told me, declaring that an attack on an American is an attack on an Iraqi."
What is truly a remarkable development is the fact that Pence seems stuck in time, thinking that conditions in one Iraqi province last April is a sign that the Surge is working out just fine! The fact that the US Government was able to purchase the cooperation of Sunni tribal chiefs in one province by supplying their forces with guns and supplies does not mean conditions in the rest of the country have improved. In fact, all reports coming out of the country continue to paint a bleak picture.
Conditions on the ground in a war zone are notoriously difficult to track. What may have been a quiet, peaceful area in April could be today's deadly kill zone when faced with the conditions you have in a civil war situation which is what we find ourselves in with Iraq. To try and use one province's improvements in security 5 months ago as an example of improved security nationwide today is disingenuous at best and puts our troops in danger at worst. Insisting that security is improving at a time when the situation is further deteriorating is wrong and Pence's penchant for existing in the moment last April makes him A Man Out Of Time with no clue of the reality around him.
(Bumped from the user diaries. - promoted by Thomas)
Join us on BlogTalkRadio today at 12 noon for the weekly edition of Barry Says - a weekly campaign news update and opinion show hosted by Barry Welsh, Democratic candidate for US House in the Indiana 6th district running against Rep. Mike Pence (R- Iraqi Markets).
This week Barry will be tackling the issue of 3 Indiana cities appearing on the 10 most impoverished cities in America list released by the Census Bureau, including the 6th District city of Muncie which is the 6th most impoverished city in America. Barry will also update folks on how our Blue America event did this past Saturday and discuss upcoming events as well.
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