Posted on 10/04/2006 4:41:15 PM PDT by COEXERJ145
In an interview with News 3, Democratic Congressman Chet Edwards made an offer to Republican candidate Van Taylor to end the negative political ad campaigning.
"I would offer to Mr. Taylor to take down all of our television ads and from here forward, run nothing but positive ads about what we're going to do for this country, and what we believe we can do, positively, for our district," Edwards said.
Late Wednesday afternoon, Taylor's campaign manager, Casey Phillips, made the following statement:
"To me, this offer really reminds me of a school yard bully backing down from a fight once someone holds their ground against them. This guy has made a living of tearing his opponents apart, and he's got more than he can handle on his hands right now. The people of Central Texas deserve to know his voting record."
In response, Edwards expressed his disappointment, and said voters now know who insists on running negative ads.
During the primary, Taylor spent most of his time calling his opponent childish names and even running an ad saying “my opponent lives with his parents.” All we needed to get rid of Chet Edwards was a mature, responsible, conservative and all we got was a loud mouth moron who doesn’t deserve to be elected to Congress.
District 17 went for President Bush by roughly 70% and yet Chet Edwards won reelection in 2004 and will do so again in 2006. Voters in this area tend to respect Edwards even if they don’t agree with him. Taylor’s abysmal behavior just ensures another Democrat seat in the next Congress.
It's too bad. Guess we'll have to wait until 2008 to have another chance to send Edwards packing.
I will take your word on the sleaziness of Van Taylor's primary campaign, but Chet Edwards has a *very* liberal voting record, and if voters in the TX-17 (who are conservative enough that President Bush got 70% in 2004) were told the truth about Edwards instead of the BS he spouts about being a "conservative Democrat" he'd be out the door. So I, for one, hope that Taylor keeps hitting Edwards over the head with his own voting record.
I've met Chet Edwards and while I agree with him on very little, I respect him as a person. He is a good man albeit very misguided on most issues.
Taylor went negative on day one and I predict he will lose 60%-40% on election day. Arlene Wohlgemuth lost 51%-47% and she was considered a fairly week candidate. Taylor could have been a strong candidate but his actions have scuttled his chances.
Wohlgemuth's only liability as a candidate was that she was not an Aggie. Edwards should have never won in 2004; he had barely won in 2002, and the new district was both new to him and more conservative than his old district, not to mention the fact that President Bush was atop the ballot. If Wohlgemuth lost while treating Edwards with kid gloves, then I think we should take the gloves off this time.
I know you're in the district and I'm not, and you personally know Edwards and I don't, but I fail to see the sense in treating Edwards's liberalism and hypocrisy as off-limits. Edwards was the lead sponsor of the sham substitute amendment to the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban that, if approved, would have ensured that not a single abortion was prohibited, since it allowed for an exception whenever the abortionist certified that the "health of the mother" (which includes "mental health") could be affected by giving birth to the child, and obviously the abortionist could always say that childbirth poses risks to the mother's health. I would have no pity for Edwards if his constituents were informed that Edwards wanted to keep the barbaric procedure known as partial-birth abortion legal in all 50 states.
It's clear you're not going to vote for Taylor. Are you going to vote for Edwards?
I'm not in that district, but my son came home from A&M last weekend with a Taylor bumper sticker on his car.
I don't know the ins and outs of the campaign, even though I gave a few bucks to Taylor. But my gut reaction to this story is: Judging by Edwards' offer of a truce, and Taylor's refusal of that offer, we might actually have a chance in this race!
Nope, I won't vote for Edwards.
Edwards is a big liberal liar who pretends to be more conservative than he is.
Edwards will vote Pelosi to be speaker and make Conyers run our foriegn intelligence committee. That is horrific.
Will Edwards vote for FMA, making tax cuts permanent, HR4437 and keeping spending in line. Doubt it. He does just enough to get by.
If it takes a 'gutter' campaign to take out the garbage, I'm all for it.
I live next door to this district and your exactly right, Taylor went negative from the get go! Not once have I seen a Taylor ad that doesn't attack Edwards.
Taylor comes off looking like the spoiled rich boy, while Edwards, in the few positive ads he runs, comes off looking like the down-home neighbor!
Just my observation...Taylor will do well in the urban areas, but will lose because of the rural areas of the district. I drove through Grimes County the other day...tons of Edwards signs...only one Taylor sign!
Edwards come off as a nice guy which he actually is in person. He is a very personable individual although politically he is dead wrong on most issues.
Taylor comes off as a jerk and has since the Republican primary. We could have done better and Tucker Anderson would have had an excellent chance to get rid of Edwards.
District 17 should be a GOP stronghold but, until we have a good candidate to run against Edwards, it will remain Rat.
The GOP knows Taylor doesn't stand a chance and spending money on the race is pointless.
I agree....he isn't a good candidate. He lost me at "I married the girl who wrote to me everyday when I was in Iraq". Please!!!
He lost me during the primary when he said "My opponent lives with his parents."
The truth was the ranch/farm Anderson lives on is still in his parents' name as most family owned farms are so as long as the parents are alive. His parents are retired and living elsewhere. Taylor came out acting like a thug and still acts like a thug.
He deserves to loose and Edwards is going to eat him alive come Nov. 7th.
Texas elections always have dirty mudslinging. It's part of why I love Texas.
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