Posted on 06/26/2006 1:25:47 PM PDT by Dane
Posted by Chuck Muth June 25, 2006 at 4:46 pm
JOHN JACOB DINGLE-BERRY SCHMIDT
The old axiom that Republicans never blow an opportunity to blow an opportunity has never been more in play than in this Tuesday’s GOP primary race in Utah’s 3rd congressional district.
Challenger John Jacob had the money to credibly take on incumbent Rep. Chris Cannon. And he had the hottest of red-hot issues: illegal immigration. Cannon, after all, is well known as a champion of amnesty for illegal aliens and Jacob has been successfully pounding him on it. In addition, Rep. Tom Tancredo’s Team America PAC, led by fire-breathing pit-bull Bay Buchanan, has been hammering Cannon unmercifully in radio ads urging voters to support Jacob.
On issue after issue, Cannon and Jacob, both conservative Republicans, generally found themselves in agreement. But on the immigration issue, they were polar opposites. The entire race, with national implications, would likely turn on this one issue. And the tide was running in Jacob’s direction.
And then the wheels started popping off the apple cart…
IS THAT MY FOOT? HERE, LET ME SHOOT IT
First came the story about how Jacob had unlawfully given money to an immigrant family. Oops. There are details and explanations to the story…but what kind of voter pays attention to details?
Then there was the story about Jacob’s “gambling problem.” Jacob, a Mormon, eventually admitted to gambling in Las Vegas during the Nationals Finals Rodeo…a no-no according to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Oops, again.
Then Jacob was forced to admit he had his figures regarding the number of illegals in a Utah prison all wrong. On the campaign trail, Jacob had been telling audiences that 40 percent of prisoners in the Central Utah Correctional Facility were illegal aliens. This week, he had to admit that it was only 8 percent. Oops.
Then last Tuesday, Tad Walch of the Deseret Morning News reported on Jacob’s “FastPass” idea for illegal aliens based roughly on Disneyland’s ticket program which allows some people to go straight to the front of the line. Apparently, Jacob is thinking that illegals who can prove they’ve been in the U.S. for 10 or 20 years would return to the their home country and obtain a FastPass which would put them at the front of the immigration line and allow them to return to the U.S. legally.
To which The Amnesty King responded: “It sounds like what some supporting you call an amnesty.”
Um, yeah.
THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT
But punting away the winning amnesty issue and all the rest could likely be the least of the Jacob campaign’s worries. On Friday he went off the deep end, likely scaring the be-jeepers out of even the most religious of conservatives in Utah and around the country. Here’s the campaign-crushing Associated Press story from Friday…
“Republican congressional hopeful John Jacob believes the devil is impeding his efforts to unseat five-term Representative Chris Cannon. He says there’s another force that wants to keep him from going to Washington and the devil is what it is. Jacob says that since he decided to run for Congress, Satan has disrupted his business deals, preventing him from putting as much money into the race as he had hoped.”
What the…?
And this wasn’t just a one-time slip of the tongue in the middle of a bad Timothy Leary-like acid trip. Jacob first blamed devil for his campaign troubles at an immigration event on Wednesday, and then reiterated the claim in front of Salt Lake Tribune editors the very next day. And already the story has traveled halfway around the world.
“A candidate seeking the Republican nomination for a Congressional seat in Utah has blamed the devil for problems with his campaign,” reports London’s The Independent newspaper today. “John Jacob, a businessman aiming to oust Republican incumbent Chris Cannon in a party primary this week, told The Salt Lake Tribune that since he had decided to try for Congress, the devil had disrupted his business deals…” The paper added that “Mr. Jacob asked the (Tribune) not to quote him about Satan because he would be marked as ‘one of those screw-loose people’.”
Gee, do ya think?
Now, I know Mormons are very religious folks, but even the most devout must be scratching their heads this weekend wondering if Jacob might be a few fries short of a Happy Meal. As one fellow Mormon close to this race wrote to me after reading about this bizarre charge: “He’s toast. Extra crispy.”
DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES?
The Jacob campaign is now in full panic mode, with the candidate trying to explain away the unexplainable. “I think the way I tried to explain it was in the last ten months I’ve had more adversity than I’ve had in the last ten years,” Jacob is now saying. “So chalk it up to whom you’d like.”
Um, how ’bout the Tooth Fairy?
The supreme irony here is that Cannon is every bit the “loose screw” that Jacob now appears to be. He once told me face-to-face after the impeachment hearings that he believed the Chinese had implanted a chip into Bill Clinton’s head and that the former president was completely under the control of the ChiComs.
OK, OK. Maybe that’s NOT quite as bizarre as the devil stuff. But it’s close.
In any event, it now appears that the best opportunity to take out the Provo Prevaricator has gone up in smoke. Then again, if the devil can mess up Jacob, maybe the Big Guy upstairs - who, after all, does work in mysterious ways - can still pull out a miracle on Tuesday. Let us pray…
Tex, I'm sure there are folks on FReep who actually think more highly of Jacob because of this remark. Why, I don't know, but you can bet they're out there.
Yeah I have noticed that. It is really embarrassing.
You're probably right, but not for the Satan comments, I don't think. LDS acquaintances tell me that his sentiments are not all that uncommon for Utah. But I'm not a mormon, so I'm not authority on the matter. Maybe my buddies are just engaging in wishful thinking.
We all engage in wishful thinking at one time or another.
That's one reason why reports from people who live in the district or state are meaningless unless they have some good factual evidence -- or unless you know the source to have excellent political judgement.
Tancredo wouldn't stoop that low, Dane, and if he did, I'd be the first to denounce him.
Jacob's unfit for office, I grant you, but so what? If he's elected, he's going to be a freshman congressman from a backwater district with virtually no influence. He won't be in a position in which to harm the country with his nuttiness. Most likely, he'll just vote the House party line. I don't see why that's such a problem.
Cannon, on the other hand, is highly influential and a major player for the open-borders lobby in the house. He already has done tremendous harm to the nation, and is poised to do much more.
It's not a hard choice.
Perhaps the cynical nature of the above analysis offends your idealistic sensibilities. Too bad. Patriotic conservatives need to learn realpolitik or else we're doomed to lose.
tancredo/bay buchanan went after a 100% ACU conservative(Chris Cannon).
I wouldn't put it past the meglomaniac.
C'mon, dude, calm down. Cannon may vote right on a lot of issues, but he's dead wrong on immigration at the worst possible time. Jacob will vote the right way on this issue, and if he doesn't, we'll toss him, too.
Cannon, on the other hand, is highly influential and a major player for the open-borders lobby in the house. He already has done tremendous harm to the nation, and is poised to do much more
LOL! Yep throw out a Congressman with influence for somebody who will be considered a nutcase and have no influence in Congress.
That's a really good message to send to the constituients of UT-3.
My advice don't go into political consulting anytime soon.
Duh. How stupid do you think I am?
Newsflash: I'm not sending any messages to constituents of UT-3. Of course it would be stupid to say something like that to them, and I'm not suggesting anyone do it. Purely from their own self-interested standpoint, Cannon would probably be a better choice. I would still vote for Jacob if I lived there, but it would be a matter of putting my country ahead of my district.
FR is another matter, however, at least that's the way I see it. It's the one place where conservatives can be frank with one another.
You need to read my comments again, I did not trash YOU. I trashed the politics of California. I stand by my statements.
Yep it would never happen in California - but this is Utah where politics and religion always mix. Don't count him out by your left coast political standards.
A little sensitive aren't you? Perhaps not by California standards, but if the truth hurts....
I've had to sit still and listen to what a bunch of "bumpkins" Utah voters are too. Preconcieved notions happen....try to get over it.
Well no one is going to convince you no matter how much evidence there in that Cannon is not the open borders anti-christ.
That's your perogative, but when you push the nut candidate(who you admit is a nut), people tend to think of you as nutty also.
Perhaps, but it's a different ball game when there are two nut candidates, as in this case.
Again that is your pergative, but IMO, Jacob is much nuttier than Cannon, and I guess using your logic, since Sensenbrenner has endorsed Cannon, that he is also a "nut".
Uh, he won't get the chance to vote. Congress has punted.
http://www.knrs.com/cc-common/podcast.html
Thanks, I'll have to listen to it tomorrow. I searched all over and couldn't find anything.:)
Most of the workers doing construction now are illegal (you can watch the contractors pick them up at 'the place' downtown where you find illegals standing on the corner.)Men who have lived their entire lives in Utah and worked construction cannot get work....since they won't work for the $5.00 an hour that an illegal will.
You can watch the Lawn-Care people pick-up the illegals everyday. I doubt if you can find ANYONE in lawncare (other than the owners) who speak english.
But....the people in this state will vote..and wether Cannon wins or loses....the people in government will KNOW just how pissed off the voters are.
redrock
Which leaves out Cannon who never listens.
redrock
Yep...we are.
Unlike some in this Nation (or in this forum for that matter) WE will stand and vote for what we believe in.
WE BELIEVE that our Nation needs to control the borders...and that Cannon does not.
Just going by his voting record on this issue is enough.
redrock
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