Posted on 09/05/2010 7:06:51 AM PDT by SandRat
SIERRA VISTA — There’s a little trouble at home with Republican congressional hopeful Jesse Kelly’s recently born son, Luke.
“He sleeps all day, so he must be a liberal,” Kelly told an appreciative crowd of more than 80 people Saturday as he warmed them up to a conservative stump speech in which the target was two-term Democratic U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.
Noting they are tied at 46 percent according to the most recent poll, Kelly said, “In a couple of months I’ll be your congressman.”
Unlike Giffords, who last week would not use Kelly’s name while in Sierra Vista, he had no trouble saying “Gabby Giffords” many times as he attacked her congressional votes and other missteps, as seen by him, inciting applause from the audience many times.
One of his Kelly’s attacks was the sitting District 8 congresswoman’s “lie” about his stand on Social Security, an issue on the minds of many in the audience.
She is using a Democrat scare tactic saying he would end Social Security, while the real issue is people having the right to make the same decisions members of Congress do to determine if they want their taxes withheld from their pay invested in private market accounts, he said.
There will not be an end to Social Security for people now drawing the funds or for those close to doing it, the GOP candidate emphasized.
“But future generations have to have an option,” Kelley said.
Giffords’ TV ad campaign, released the day after the primary, citing Kelly’s alleged stand on Social Security was “lie number one, and more are coming,” he said.
The money is an individual’s and it is for them to decided how they want it invested, he said.
“If I want to put it into a mayonnaise jar and bury it in the backyard, that’s my decision,” Kelly said, adding people are tired of being told what they can and cannot do with their hard earned money.
Giffords is not doing what the people of the district want and her votes, which are out-of-sync, proves it, the GOP candidate went on to say.
“She has four years of failure,” Kelly noted.
But, if the people of the district, which includes all of Cochise County, vote for him, there will be a change from not doing the people’s will to having a person in Congress who will always remember he is there to truly represent them, Kelly emphasized.
If Republicans don’t assume control of Congress again, taxes will be going up and right now, if the Democrats see three pennies belonging to a taxpayer on the ground, they will steal them to fund their wrong policies, he said.
“They (Democrats) squeeze the American taxpayer for every cent they have,” the Republican candidate said.
Conservative Republicans believe taking back Congress is only one step. The ultimate goal is to have Barack Obama voted out of office in the 2012 presidential election.
And a way to see it happen is for a Republican-controlled Congress to restructure the course of government, including reversing some of the policies, starting with the health care reform that was pushed down the throats of the public, Kelly said.
And although Giffords said she would not vote for Obamacare if it didn’t have tort reform, she did, Kelly said.
“We don’t have a health care problem, we have a health care payment problem,” he said.
Only through open market competition will the health insurance industry be forced to do what is right and at a lower cost, Kelly said.
On an issue close to many in Cochise County, illegal immigration and all that is associated with it, he said his Democratic opponent is coming to the debate late when calling for border security.
Kelly noted, “Now she runs to the TV camera like she’s Sheriff Joe (Arpaio),” well known for rounding up illegal immigrants in Maricopa County.
Saying his campaign is attacking — “we’re playing offense” — it is forcing his Democratic opponent to defend her record.
“She’s going on the defensive and she’s going to lose,” he said.
Conventional wisdom says he will get 40 percent of the vote in the November general election and Giffords will get 40 percent.
“We’re fighting for the (remaining) 20 percent,” Kelly said, noting his opponent “has ticked off a lot of people,” and he sees the majority of the undecided coming over to his side of the plate
This is a close race and deserves watching. The district tends conservative, but there are a few communities that give new meaning to the phrase looney leftie.
Donated $100 two days ago, with more to follow. This is where I live...the smaller communities are GOP, but the district includes a big chunk of Tucson - and Tucson is pretty liberal. The east side is more conservative than the west, but that is like saying LA is more conservative than SF...
Also, Vail is like San Francisco without the water. Liberal and gay. Voted strongly for a tax increase last spring, and polls indicate the Vail School district will be able to pass ANOTHER tax increase in November. I can’t recall Vail ever voting against a tax increase, which is why my property taxes run over $4000/year. It has driven a number of the old time residents of Vail out. They just couldn’t afford their property taxes...but the new comers keep approving more.
This is winnable, IF he has the money to compete. I read somewhere that Giffords has over $1 million, and she will get strong union support. I don’t doubt but that in Oct, I will once again see teachers lining the streets with signs about how we must vote democrat “for the children”!
Cook PVI is +4 R, that’s good. Giffords received 55% of the vote last time out, that’s bad. How much of your $4000 property taxes goes to educate the children of illegal immigrants? How much of the property tax burden is borne by illegal immigrants?
I doubt Vail has very many illegal immigrant kids. Vail takes pride in having excellent schools, and spends any amount of money to support them. If you link a tax increase to education, Vail will approve it.
Me? I home school...while Vail has nice facilities, I thought their curriculum was marginal at best. My youngest daughter was reading at the 12th grade level while in the 4th grade, and needs more to challenge her. They also mix politics with education - imagine that!
Having home schooled we got the same results. But it is so depressing to know that even that standard of reading for a 12th grader is frequently not achieved by many. If we could graduate 100% of seniors reading at a 10 year old home schooler's level, it would be a huge improvement over now.
I also live in the Giffords zone. I voted for Jesse in the primary and will support him in the general election in Nov.
I don’t watch TV, so haven’t seen any of her ads, but I’ve been told that Gabby’s pretty much not even mentioning that she’s a Dem in them. I hope she’s as scared as that sounds!
We had been watching Kelly for over a year, he was at all the TEA parties we attended. He’d look you in the eye and answer any question we threw at him. The last event we attended was scheduled from 5PM to 8PM, he speechified for about 7 minutes and then did nothing but answer questions from the audience (about 80 people). EVERY question. Fully. He was knowledgeable and principled - he didn’t contradict himself on policy in different questions, which is refreshing as hell.
One question was kind of, “Will you go to Washington, throw out BO, overturn healthcare and put us back on a gold standard?” He paused for a minute and then replied, “I’m not Jesus Christ, I can’t do miracles.” Then told the guy what he’d work torwards and told the guy to watch his votes, he wouldn’t be disappointed.
When asked how he planned to go to Washington and not lose his soul (suspect that questioner is a Glenn Beck watcher!), he said he’d not party with the bad guys and spend as much time back here in his district as possible, so he could stay well-grounded with us, the people he would represent. Essentially, he would avoid fleas by not laying down with the dogs.
Being a Marine doesn’t hurt!
We like him. A lot.
Seeing as how the most influential book on the shaping of my world view came at the age of 9 while I was in the fourth grade in the year 1964, I would consider my public school education vastly superior to that of any public school education today. The book was Animal Farm, and I checked it out of my elementary school library. Most people consider anything by Orwell, including Animal Farm, to be at least at the level of 12th grade. I had a prof in one of my ed classes who couldn’t believe I’d read it in 4th grade. She said, well you may have read it, but it’s unlikely you grasped it. I told her I grasped it very well and it was why I could always see through liberal politicians and what lead me to become a conservative. It didn’t sit well with her.
Like Bisbee? Like the Tucson areas of the District?
I like what this person has to say.
Bisbee, indeed.
Douglas and Naco too.
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