Face the music and dance, Johnie me lad.
Regards, Ivan
Face the music and dance, Johnie me lad.
Regards, Ivan
Ping!
Good one. Thanks. Got some relatives (some Pubs and some dems) in WV that would be might interested in reading this.
Regards to you Ivan.
This is pretty much on the mark. Maybe a point or two too low for W, but very close. I also agree with the political assessment.
If W has a major gaffe, or if one of the multitude of garbage scandals the RATs are throwing at Bush manages to stick, Fn will be right back in the race. Of course, no one can predict the impact of a terrorist strike either.
Barring these things, however, W is clearly in the driver's seat and is on track to pull out a solid electoral college win.
Wow,this guy actually puts his family ahead of his union and admits it publicly. It is a shame that this story is a real news story. I tip my hard hat to him.
BTTT
We're smarter than we look in WV. GO Bush!!
Freetraders must be mad - they lost the opportunity to make profits on the steel imports!
All Freaking Right! Thanks Ivan! Good news!
I love that there are Goths for Bush. My 15 year old daughter tried to tell me that there were Goths and Punks but I didn't believe her. Bless you!
Bush’s imposition of tariffs on imported steel saved the Weirton plant from closure. Although the decision outraged European exporters and briefly tested Bush’s relationship with Tony Blair, American steelmakers were spared competition for 20 crucial months.Gee, I wonder how that will play in other towns which still rely on the steel industry... hmm... and are they in, oh, I dunno, say, Pennsylvania? :')
Bush is a MAN.
Kerry is a gigolo and a worm - and those are his GOOD points.
Well, I retract my previous contention that steel tarriffs would result in only harm. Apparently, they turned this one vote.
Has anybody noticed that when republicans vote for a democrat, they're mentioned in the press (if ever) as "thoughtful."
But when dems vote for a republican, they're mentioned as a "turncoat?"
I wonder why? Couldn't have anything to do with media bias, huh?
Mark
I know a few union people that are voting for Bush .. though they won't admit it in public .. if you know what I mean
From the 9/10/04 Wheeling (W.Va.) Intelligencer:
WEIRTON - The "Steelworkers for Bush" want it known that they truly are steelworkers and that they are union members who think for themselves and question union leadership. The group that stood behind Republican President George W. Bush when he spoke in Wheeling on Aug. 29 called a news conference Thursday at the Millsop Community Center in Weirton to refute claims that they aren't really steelworkers.
Fourteen of them have signed a letter to Democratic challenger John Kerry asking that he "do the right thing" and not allow steelworkers that support him "to attack their fellow union brothers and sisters."
Eleven members of the group indicate with their signature that they are workers for Weirton Steel. They are Richard Casini, Michael Ingole, Henry DiNofrio, Bob Hoover, Rhonda Jennings, Wesley Robinson, Frank Casini, David Haught, Donald Elder, Donald Ryan and Greg Williams.
Others who signed the letter were Jerry DiBacco, an employee of the Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp.; Robert Carpenter, a worker at Weircove; and Weirton Steel retiree Robert Haught.
The steelworkers crafted their letter after steel union leadership and members of the Kerry campaign announced earlier this week that they were investigating the tape of Bush's Wheeling speech to determine whether the workers in black T-shirts behind him actually were steelworkers.
Richard Casini, who introduced the president in Wheeling, said the steelworkers support Bush because the steel tariffs he imposed "saved the industry." Casini is also a Democrat and a union steward with the Independent Steelworkers Union. The ISU, the United Steelworkers of America and the United Mine Workers of America all have endorsed Kerry, he added. Casini said he has been questioned by the ISU membership about the union's decision to endorse Kerry.
"They thought I did it," he said. "There was an enormous amount of our people who were not happy. I thought we needed a voice" to show support for Bush, "and the effort just snowballed."
Casini added that since he spoke out for the president, he has not received the best of treatment from some other union members that support Kerry. "I get comments every now and then," he said. "I've found things in my mailbox at the union office that were just childish - the type of things you would find on the Internet. They were put there to challenge my views.
"I took them to our union president (Mark Glyptis), and he has asked them to stop. When they get in the attack mode, it is the most disturbing thing."
At a Kerry rally in Steubenville on Saturday, former United Steel Workers of America local president John Saunders - now co-chair of the Ohio County Democratic Party - said he disagreed that the tariffs and Bush were what had saved the steel industry. Saunders suggested the industry was instead saved by concessions in benefits for retirees agreed to by union membership.
"That is ridiculous nonsense," Casini said Thursday. "The tariffs are what saved it. These people who would tell you otherwise are intellectually dishonest. They think we (union members) are idiots who can't think for themselves.
"There are many steelworkers who would be happy if the union got out of the politics business and got back to the business of representing our concerns about our jobs and pensions."
He added that the Steelworkers for Bush appearance in Wheeling "was public," and union leadership didn't have to secretly investigate tapes to prove the steelworkers' identity. "They just find it difficult to accept it when (union members) just won't follow them," Casini said. "It used to be thought that what was good for the union was good for the worker, and what was good for the union was what was good for Wheeling-Pitt. That is not the case anymore."