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 Tuesdays GOP primary race in Utahs 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 Tancredos 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 Jacobs 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 Jacobs 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 Jacobs FastPass idea for illegal aliens based roughly on Disneylands ticket program which allows some people to go straight to the front of the line. Apparently, Jacob is thinking that illegals who can prove theyve 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 campaigns 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. Heres 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 theres 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 wasnt 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 Londons 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: Hes 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 Ive had more adversity than Ive had in the last ten years, Jacob is now saying. So chalk it up to whom youd 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 Clintons head and that the former president was completely under the control of the ChiComs.
OK, OK. Maybe thats NOT quite as bizarre as the devil stuff. But its 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
The Cannon haters rhetoric gives a new meaning to the addage "over the top".
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The problem with the story (and the reason I view it more serious than Tancredo) is that Jacob appeared to know that the immigrants, because of student status, could not receive the money, but he gave it anyway.
I personally, don't think it's such a big deal and, other than charges of hypocrisy, it's small potatoes.
LOL Spiff, while you diss the American Conservative Union and their 100% rating for Chris Cannon.
We don't hate Cannon. We hate his La Raza support and his voting record on immigration as researched by Spiff.
Of course it does not matter what we think, but what his district thinks.
And we will find that out tommorrow.
You're right. And the important point here is that any incumbent who does not have a record of opposing illegal immigration cannot be trusted.
It will be because he RAN AWAY FROM IT>
That needs to be repeated over and over if chuckles wins tomorrow. Strange isn't it we don't see Cannon campaigning for "comprehensive" reform that is supposedly according to the Wall St Journal and Manhattan Institute supported by 80% of Republicans?
But if he's going to have a "heart" on this, where else will his heart go?
The bottom line is he helped two illegal immigrants become American Citizens.
A plus for Jacob.
If you elect politicans(in the state and federal level) who support illegal immigration your state will end up like California.
Damn does hypocrisy know no bounds?
You are really a sad case.
Does that make Jacob a plain old "F" (I mean, way to make yourself look like an idiot than giving an "F-" which doesn't exist) or does Jacob get an "F+"? "F" for FastPass, at least.
"LOL Spiff, while you diss the American Conservative Union and their 100% rating for Chris Cannon"
If he has such a conservative record why is he in a runnoff with a novice, in which many of you call him a nut.
It says more about Cannons weakness than mr. Jacobs.
You have not lived in California and had to deal with politicians(from both parties) who bow down to the illegal alien lobby.
Then what are you basing your support for Jacobs on? His main stance is for amnesty via his quick card pass.
Says Dane, who's never met an illegal alien supporter he didn't like.
I know you want your pound of flesh, but this isn't a game.
No, I have no other dog in this fight.
Someday laz you will grow up out of 8th grade, but you go right ahead and stay in that mentality like others in Congress, such as tom tancredo.
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