Posted on 10/01/2012 5:02:28 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
If Republicans ran the culture, Wendy Long would be a household name. Shed be a heroine. Shed be celebrated. Shed have a Barbie doll named after her. Shed be driving the election season.
But Wendy Long is the Republican running for Senate in New York, and it was decided long ago that Republicans dont win Hillary Clintons old seat the Daniel Patrick Moynihan seat. (Nevermind that Jim Buckley was there before them.) Those who decide such things, however, forget that just an Amtrak ride away there is a Republican incumbent running for reelection for what was not that long ago long considered Ted Kennedys seat in the same legislative body and he could well win.
The fact of the matter is that every Senate seat counts (which is one of the reasons Todd Akins going national has been such a cause for political heartburn). And, while New Yorkers may not realize it yet, theyve got a clear, contrasting choice this year as to what kind of senator they will have.
Long is exactly the kind of person we need in the Senate. After clerking for Justice Clarence Thomas, she joined the esteemed firm of Kirkland & Ellis, where she became a litigation partner. She left Kirkland & Ellis in 2005 to build the Judicial Confirmation Network (now known as the Judicial Crisis Network), which helps gain confirmation both to the Supreme Court and to lower federal courts for jurists who are committed to the law and the Constitution. This years senatorial campaign is far from the first time that Long and her family have made sacrifices in order to contribute to the preservation of our constitutional republic.
I jumped into this race because I believe, in 2012, everything is on the line for America, she said in a recent television interview. Our free-market economy is on the line. Capitalism is on the line. The dignity of work and the dignity of human life is on the line. Our security. Our energy independence. So much is at stake in this election. And thats the reason that I jumped in. My hope is that we can focus on the real issues, because there is such a strong contrast in the electoral choices voters face this year.
Its hard to focus on real issues, though, when the incumbent senator, Kirsten Gillibrand, has ignored all debate requests thus far. When Gillibrand was on display in a march of women senators at the Democratic convention in Charlotte, there was very little of substance, save for the continued implication that only liberal Democrats truly represent women, and that our freedom is contingent on eroding religious freedom.
I think a lot of women, women of faith in particular, understand that this whole war about the contraception, abortion, sterilization mandate is not about womens health, Long said in that same interview. Contrary to White House claims, the Department of Health and Human Services health-care mandate has nothing to do with womens health its about a big central government trying to conscript religious organizations into a political agenda, an agenda that violates their deeply held beliefs which are shared by women of faith.
The Democrats have concocted this whole phony war on women narrative, Long insists, simply to mask their dreadful record on the economy and jobs.
What the mother of two is alluding to here, of course, is an issue that was featured to the point of obsession at the Democratic convention. For Democrats, remaking female nature is a priority, without which freedom is impossible. This is why abortion, contraception, and female sterilization (male sterilization is not covered under the Affordable Care Act) are placed by the Department of Health and Human Services within the purview of Preventive Services. Long, a Catholic and a pro-lifer, is running not to convert anyone but to represent her fellow New Yorkers in a manner consistent with the tradition of our laws. Until the advent of Obamacare and the HHS mandate, we enjoyed a bipartisan consensus on conscience protection. Unlike the president and his rubber stamps in the Senate, Long is not looking to impose her conscience on anyone. She simply aims to protect our first freedom.
The Democrats seem to be focused on this issue of abortion, contraception, sterilization, thinking thats really whats on the minds of most women, and I just think that that is incorrect, Long says. I think women really are concerned about the economy and jobs. She has written for the Wall Street Journal twice since launching her campaign discussing financial reform, and she rejects the punitive approach adopted by Gillibrand and the other Empire State senator, Charles Schumer. The Democrats are making a bad gamble, politically speaking, she observes. Her prediction is underscored by a recent Susan B. Anthony List poll that indicates that the HHS mandate could cause trouble among swing voters in swing states. This isnt a Catholic thing. This isnt a Republican thing. This is an American thing America as global beacon and protector of human dignity.
The people I see all around New York love our country and our state, and theyre angry and worried that the America they love is slipping away, Long tells me. The Establishment in Washington, including Senator Gillibrand, acts like nothings wrong and we could go on like this forever. The people know that we cant.
Wendy Long gets it: the fear and disappointment brought on by Obamas brand of hope and change. You dont have to be a Republican to vote for her. You dont have to be a conservative. You just have to be a concerned citizen.
New York voters, your country needs you. The U.S. Senate needs responsible public servants. America needs morally serious stewards in the upper chamber of Congress. We all need Wendy Long in the Senate.
Kathryn Jean Lopez is editor-at-large of National Review Online.
I hope Ms. Long does well, but Republicans shouldn’t have to hope for this seat. Had Giuliani managed to pry himself away from his admirers in the national media, he could have won that seat in a cakewalk. He wouldn’t be any help to the GOP on social issues, but he’d be a far sight better than any New York Democrat on issues of the economy, law and order and foreign policy. Baffles me why he wouldn’t have put his name into this race.
Do you have a link to Wendy Long’s website?
A contribution is in order.
Thanks
RE: . Had Giuliani managed to pry himself away from his admirers in the national media, he could have won that seat in a cakewalk.
Depends on when he ran. If it were the year 2000 ( when Hillary ran as an Illinois transplant ), it would have been a heck of a battle and even then, I wouldn’t know who would’ve won.
RE: Do you have a link to Wendy Longs website?
A contribution is in order.
___________________________
Here it is :
http://www.wendylongfornewyork.com/splash?splash=1
Thanks!
If you know of anyone who can volunteer for Wendy Long, her Victory Offices are here:
http://www.wendylongfornewyork.com/victory_offices
I was surprised to see a Victory Office only around 30 miles from me.
btw, this is how bad Kirsten Gillibrand is:
” Mothers Day idea from Kirsten Gillibrand: Why not donate to a pro-choice group?
snip
This Mothers Day, I cant think of a better way to honor all the mothers in the country past and present than with a contribution to EMILYs List, Gillibrand writes. Theyre the ones working tirelessly to elect the pro-choice Democratic women who are making sure that our freedoms are protected for generations to come.
snip
Emilys List requires all candidates it supports to back taxpayer funding of abortions “
Tell every NYS voter you know.
After tonight’s debate, get used to saying President Romney.
Even in NYS, more Republican candidates will win, because Republican voters will be going to the polls on Election Day to vote for Romney. Say Romney doesn’t take NY. He will still get more votes than anticipated (after the debate) which will help all Republican candidates in NY.
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