Arkansas Democrat Gazette Endorses Hutchinson Campaign

Arkansas Democrat Gazette thru "Hutchinson for U.S. Senate" webpage ^ | Oct.20, 2002

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Arkansas Democrat Gazette Endorses Hutchinson Campaign Arkansas Democrat Gazette October 20, 2002 For Tim Hutchinson We know where he stands RULE NO. 2 in taking on an incumbent politician is: Explain why the voters should make a change. (Rule No. 1 is: Raise lotza money.) The principal argument Mark Pryor has made for unseating Senator Tim Hutchinson is this: My last name is Pryor. That may have been good enough for his father, but it isn't good enough for us. And it shouldn't be good enough for serious Arkansans, either. Even on the most important of issues, Mark Pryor just smiles his smile, awshucks his way through the question, and all but sketches imaginary circles on the floor in front of him with the toe of one shoe. It's almost as if he's counting on some kind of automatic voter reflex to put him in the United States Senate. (Ballot says Pryor, vote same.) Agree or disagree, Arkansans have the right to know where their senator stands on abortion. Mark Pryor was prochoice in 1998 when he ran for attorney general, or said he was. Now he says abortion is wrong but he wouldn't do anything to stop it. And while he's opposed to abortion personally, he thinks women should be able to abort their children. Well, sometimes. After all his talk, all we know is this: If Mark Pryor gets pregnant, he promises to have the baby. As attorney general, he aw-shucked his way past those payday loan lenders who take advantage of the least among us. He was satisfied to take their money and leave them to prey on the desperate. He also defended an unconstitutional law that branded homosexuals as criminals. And our attorney general showed even less backbone when it came to thoughtcrime. Maybe you remember that. Maybe not. We don't blame you if you don't. His rationalizations weren't worth remembering. But Attorney General Pryor once backed a hate-crime law for Arkansas. He said the bill would punish only conduct, not thought. Nice sound bite. But it made no sense. The proposed hate-crime law would have increased penalties for those who commit an offense if their thoughts were in the politically incorrect place. Beating up somebody over his race/color/ religion/gender/sexual orientation would have got you a 20 percent higher sentence. Beating up somebody else because of his class, dress, political affiliation or for just his wallet would get you a 20 percent discount. Thought had everything to do with it. That's why these laws are a species of what George Orwell called thoughtcrime. They create "protected classes" that divide ordinary victims from special ones. We ourselves would prefer to treat all criminals equally. And severely. Granted, our conversation with the attorney general on this issue got ridiculous at times, but that's what happens when an attorney general supports a ridiculous law. Our minds fog just thinking about it. We were thinking of that weird conversation when some simple, sensible thoughts intruded: Tim Hutchinson deserves a second term. Yes, there have been times when we didn't like how he voted or what he was saying, but we knew where he stood. And could understand it. He gave the conversation some traction. The senator is gaining in seniority, which helps small states like Arkansas in Congress. He's a solid supporter of the Second Amendment and gun rights. He's a member of the Armed Services, Veteran Affairs, and the Agriculture committees, among others. He has taken a consistent, principled stand on abortion. (He's agin.) And you never have to wonder what the heck he's trying to say. But, we've forgotten the most important reason of all to vote for Tim Hutchinson. It's more important than bringing home the bacon, more important than his opponent's non-answers to tough questions. The president needs Tim Hutchinson in the Senate. So do all those who value freedom abroad and a free market at home. This isn't to say Mark Pryor wouldn't lend W. a hand if it were the popular thing to do, as on issues like the War on Terror. He would. As long as the polls held up. But this president needs a Republican majority in the Senate to push through other legislation - like making his tax cuts permanent - and to approve judicial nominees now stuck in the long, long partisan pipeline. The 107th Congress is still sitting on dozens of judicial nominees, and it's tying up the court system in elaborate knots. (Strom Thurmond pert-near birthed a cat the other day when the Judiciary sat on one of his favorite nominees. But it was kind of fun to see the Senate's oldest member "ever" raise Cain with these 70-year-old whippersnappers.) The Homeland Security Bill is stuck in the mud, meaning the Senate. And in the next couple of years, a couple of vacancies could be opening on the Supreme Court of the United States. Who will fill those seats - a Scalia or a Ginsburg? A thinker or another vague mediocrity? The answer could determine the course of constitutional law for the next decade. Or more. Do the people of Arkansas want every nominee to kiss current Majority Leader Tom Daschle's ring before a vote? Mark Pryor could prove to be another arrow in Sen. Daschle's quiver. A vote for Tim Hutchinson could prove a vote for a much-needed new majority leader for the U.S. Senate. A Republican-controlled Senate could clear the way to exploration of oil drilling here at home, and that would mean less reliance on Middle Eastern mullahs. Other needed legislation is also knee deep in the Senate. A lot could depend on your vote November 5 th. (Or tomorrow, when early voting starts.) Will we reform the Social Security system, letting folks decide to invest a portion of their own money, or let the system get as close to bankruptcy as possible before rushing pell-mell to save it? You have a close race and some great issues in your hands, Mr. and Mrs. Arkansan. Lest we forget, at critical times like these, all politics is national. Every seat in a closely divided Senate is decisive. A smile, a familiar name, and a handshake shouldn't be enough to win your vote. Arkansas needs to send an experienced, principled senator, one with the president's ear, back to Washington.

[spectre]

Poor little Arkansas. The dang State gets blamed on this forum every single week for spawning and giving the Nation, Bill Clinton, and now, the shoe is on the other foot, and the Republicans in Arkansas are being taken to the wood shed for expecting someone to live up to the expectations of the platform their Candidate ran on?

Don't YOU think that an Ordained Baptist Minister who ran on Family Values, and paraded his loving family all over Arkansas before his election, shouldn't be held to the standards HE set forth? His "conservative religious voters, have been a critical part of his base! Who is being a hypocrite?

It's OK...I'm holding my nose and voting for him, so relax.

As for his former wife of 29 years, yes...Donna and his three sons, Josh, and twin sons Timothy and Jeremy have publically supported Tim. Whispers behind the scenes, is that Donna privately suffered, but put up a good front. A great lady, and Mother, IMO. She wasn't left financially well off either.

The election was Tims to throw away, and no one will be more furious than I will, to see Mark Pryor get elected. We'll never get the idiot out of office if that happens.

sw

[AxelPaulsenJr]

Posted by AxelPaulsenJr to JimSimon On News/Activism Oct 23 11:21 AM #183 of 234 Not the denomination that Hutchinson represented as a pastor.

Wow, really. I bet I know a lot of excommunicated Baptists, then.!

Posted by AxelPaulsenJr to JimSimon On News/Activism Oct 23 11:30 AM #186 of 234 And that somehow disqualifies Tim from holding elective office?

Posted by AxelPaulsenJr to JimSimon On News/Activism Oct 23 11:43 AM #191 of 234 No. But it does make him a less appealing candidate to social conservatives, such as myself.

Point taken: It remains only for you to decide which is better, a divorced Baptist pastor who will vote for conservative issues and support our Republican president or a Klintoon demorat who will syncophantly follow Dashole.

Posted by AxelPaulsenJr to JimSimon On News/Activism Oct 23 11:56 AM #199 of 234 Like I said...the lesser of two evils...

Pardon me if you have already stated so: But you live in Arkansas and you will vote for Tim? Post Reply | Private Reply | To 196 | View Replies

Posted by AxelPaulsenJr to JimSimon On News/Activism Oct 23 12:08 PM #206 of 234 How can you not live in Arkansas, but vote in our senatorial race?

Posted by AxelPaulsenJr to JimSimon On News/Activism Oct 23 12:25 PM #222 of 234 Never said I could vote in Arkansas. And nicely said in the best tradition of Klintoon speak.

Posted by AxelPaulsenJr to JimSimon On News/Activism Oct 23 12:35 PM #229 of 234 You do the same.

Posted by AxelPaulsenJr to JimSimon On News/Activism Oct 23 12:37 PM #230 of 234 He's probably short in the family jewels department as well. lol Care to clarify this comment? Not really, people who are really from Arkansas and can really vote in Arkansas know what that comment means.

If this is your definition of personal attacks, then you are the one being nonsensical.

[Lauratealeaf]

Guess they are a little slow on the "uptake" back there in Arkansaw!! What the heck is in their water?

I have often wondered that myself. But, believe me there are quite a few lucid Arkansans who will vote for Tim. Most will come from Northwest Arkansas. The dems serve the happy water to many in southern Arkansas to get them to vote Democrat. Plus, they load the black church crowd up on Sundays and try to take them to vote. Lots of fraud has always gone on in certain areas of Arkansas. Up until Clinton finally left Arkansas was mainly a one party state. The Democrats can't stand that there are now actually electable Republicans. They are fighting against Republican victories just like the devil fights against his ultimate end.

[spectre]

Thirteen years younger.

sw

[AxelPaulsenJr]

JimSimon signed up 2002-10-23. But I must say when you join something you jump in with both feet, right from the get go. LOL,

Welcome to the FreeRepublic.

[missanne]

Clinton lied under oath to a grand jury! Having sworn on the Bible twice that he would protect and defend the Constitution!

Sen. Tim didn't commit adultry and that is what your post seems to indicate.

[sweetliberty]

"Hey Randi is not a much younger than Tim"

I met her yesterday at Tim's office. She seems like a very nice lady. I also met his daughter-in-law, Amber I believe it is.

[sweetliberty]

"It is one of the few mainstream newspapers in the country that has a conservative bias."

Kinda ironic too, given the name of the paper.

[AxelPaulsenJr]

Kinda ironic too, given the name of the paper.

Especially given that the paper is the merger of two papers. The Arkansas Gazette which was a largely liberal paper, and the Arkansas Democrat which was a largely conservative newspaper.

If they could only get rid of Gene Lyons, the paper would be perfect. Or nearly so. LOL

[sweetliberty]

"In the eyes of God, Hutchinson is still married to his first wife."

Okay, I'll grant you that as to the letter of the law, Tim is a sinner. Now show me where in scripture it says that he is to remain forever unforgiven, particularly if he is running for the senate.

[Lauratealeaf]

Okay, I'll grant you that as to the letter of the law, Tim is a sinner. Now show me where in scripture it says that he is to remain forever unforgiven, particularly if he is running for the senate.

I guess somehow the dispensations have changed between Reagan and Hutchinson. It was ok for Simon to support Reagan in 1980 but not Hutchinson in 2002. Something about that doesn't compute. I suspect that if it were a democrat running who had been divorced Simon would have no problem. He cannot resort to the "Hutchinson was a Baptist preacher" because he did leave the ministry before he ran for office.

[bradactor]

I lived in Little Rock Arkansas back in the years of 1964 until 1968. Winthrop Rockefeller the democrat was governor then. At the time I was a democrat. Arkansas gave us Clinton and turned me into a Republican through and through.

If Hutchinson was divorced, what sin did he commit? I have been divorced and remarried myself before. I am a different person now and would not do many of the things I did many years back. George W. Bush was a wild guy too but turned his life over to Christ.
The thing is Hutchinson is not Clinton and neither is Bush. I no George W. Bush did some wild things too. Geez, as far as I know, you finally have strong republican support in Arkansas that has been needed for a long time.

This amazes me to read why people will not get out and vote for so and so and that is how the democrats remained in control for so long and why Clinton got re elected in 1996 as well, just for examples.

Anyway, I live in Texas now and am glad. I knew nothing about Clinton when he ran in 1992 but after talking to a high school friend in Little Rock I knew I could never vote for the guy. But to compare Hutchinson to Clinton is ridiculous. We did have a conservative republican in this state named Buster Brown that went after an intern like Clinton did and he is gone. But what Hutchinson did is not the same thing from what I have read on this thread and he should not be put in the same boat IMHO.

[AxelPaulsenJr]

Hate to tell ya, big guy. but Winthrop Rockefeller was a Republican.

[Vets_Husband_and_Wife]

As for his former wife of 29 years, yes...Donna and his three sons, Josh, and twin sons Timothy and Jeremy have publically supported Tim. Whispers behind the scenes, is that Donna privately suffered, but put up a good front. A great lady, and Mother, IMO. She wasn't left financially well off either.

The fact that his ex-wife has publicly supported his election says something. I really doubt that she has told people she is suffering, and of course when a marraige fails, there is pain. But it is private pain!! Their pain!!

I also don't see Sen. Hutchison out there saying bad things about his wife. So these fine people, YES, BOTH OF THEM, deserve to have this aspect of their lives remain in the PRIVATE domain.

Even a person with high religious standards, yes, even a FORMER Minister, can have personal problems. If he was trying to be the BAPTIST MINISTER this matter would matter. But he is running for office. Not the Ministry.

THATS what is hypocritical. The man and his family had some very sad personal failures. Sounds to me like they are trying to live past it.. to get along and to survive. Sad as it all is.

But the point remains, he has served his State well.

I can think of a lot of reasons Arkansan's should hold their nose,.. but Sen. Hutchison isn't one of them. What a bunch of hypocritical self righteous fools. IMHO

And yes,.. POOR Arkansaw will look like the epitomy of inbreeding if they continue making these stupid decisions.

First they vote IN Clinton, (more than once I might add..and KNOWING full well what he was up too!). Now they want to run off a decent good man, because he and his wife have a failed marraige. I'm sure you don't speak for Donna Hutchison. In fact, how do you know she wouldn't be insulted by your comments? I happen to think (perhaps even KNOW) she would be!!

[sweetliberty]

I am actually thankful that I can claim not to have resided in Arkansas at any time when Clinton was here. My experience is that most of the good people of Arkansas are conservative but the Rat stronghold can be attributed to several things.

First, there is a lot of ignorance. Of course this isn't peculiar to Arkansas, but I think many voters only vote Rat because they think of the democrat party of an earlier and more conservative time and really don't realize the rampant socialism that is now synonymous with the party.

Second, and related to the first, there are a lot of democrats who have never given much thought to why they vote that way, just that their families always voted democrat and they always assumed it was their duty to do so as well.

Third, there is a huge number of black voters in Arkansas and it is a well known fact that black sheeple vote Rat, probably because of the entitilement and victim mentalities that accompany it and because many have bought the lies that the likes of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton have put out there that keeps them forever inferior and incapable of rising above that mentality.

And finally, there seems to be a network of Rats that have been around for generations and seem to think they have the right somehow to power and that the end justifies the means. These can be found tightly enmeshed in the elected offices and the courts of local districts. I am not speaking, obviously, as one who has had a lot of personal experience here, but as one who has observed for awhile and listened to others who have. I call this the Clinton power structure and it is this evil network that needs to be broken down in my opinion.

Perhaps longer term residents of Arkansas could better address the "why do they vote Rat" issue.

[Vets_Husband_and_Wife]

I have family in Arkansas.. and you are right on!!

They were intelligent enough to know who Clinton was before the FIRST election. And they support Sen. Hutchison now. Sen. Hutchison has served them well. He is a good honest decent man, who sadly had a failed marraige.

I respect him, and his ex-wife and children. They have way more class than some who speak of their private lives.

Donna Hutchison is on the record supporting his re-election. You didn't see Rudolph Guillianni's ex doing that! Most ex-wives don't.

That she IS supporting his candidacy, speaks volumes. She truly respects him, and is saddened by her divorce, as is Sen. Hutchison.

Now Arkansan's need to get back to the business of picking someone who is going to represent their needs and serve them best.. that would be Sen. Hutchison. If they don't re-elect him.. they get what they deserve!

[spectre]

Get a grip on reality. REALITY is what Tim did to his own self..and consequently his party.

You are preaching to the Choir, and believe me, it's not been easy being a Republican in the State of Arkansas. Being a Yankee, Republican was darn near impossible, but they accepted us.

I first met Mike Huckabee at a coffee in our neighborhood, where there were 5 woman in attendance...before he was elected Lt. Gov. I campaigned for him.

We have and will support Tim Hutchinson, go back and READ my posts on just how we support him. Our youngest son gave his heart and soul campaigning for Tim Hutchinson.

You must understand, MARK PRYOR is campaigning on FAMILY VALUES, on being pro second amendment AND backing Bush on Iraq. He is stealing some of Tim's thunder and running as tho he were a Republican.

You should understand WHY I am desperate to point out the reason we have for concern, it is REAL. No matter how much you or me or anyone else wants to change the issue.

If Mark Pryor WINS he will go to Washington and vote anti-family, pro-abortion, anti-gun AND against BUSH on Iraq, I promise you.

Tim should have been winning this election hands down, and that is why I am so angry.

sw

[AxelPaulsenJr]

I think that some of the generational demorat voting dates back as far as to the post civil war days, when the carpetbaggers raped (ecnomically and otherwise) Arkansas and the South after the war.

The carpetbaggers, so called because of the carpet type bags that they carried, were associated as being Republican, or the product of the Republican President, Abraham Lincoln. I suspect that there were many demorats among their numbers as well.

And ironically up until the days of FDR, most blacks in the south voted Republican. And thanks to the giveaway schemes of FDR and his party, most of the blacks in the South remain at poverty or near poverty levels to this day.

[Vets_Husband_and_Wife]

Wow!! I agree with every single thing you stated in post #256!!

My family on my mothers side, came from Arkansaw. It is her family that remains there. You are totally correct. It is/was a generational thing. Some of the family still votes Democrat for the very reasons you stated. They just don't realize how much the party has changed. We even used to vote Democrat. But things started to change when we voted for President Reagan the first time. We then helped a Democrat get elected in Alaska as Governor, and since his tenure as Governor have voted strictly Republican. (*Nothing to do with Governor Cowper,.. we loved him). It was a strange time, as we saw a lot during Gov. Cowpers campaign. Things within the Democratic party that turned us away. After Gov. Cowper, there was never another Democratic Candidate we could even remotely support. That was the end of that.

The Dems don't realize that the party THEY KNEW, that they grew up with, has totally changed its political ideologies. Thats why we left,..and why eventually more will. If they are educated on the issues and the candidates before hand, if they take their "duty" seriously they will investigate things for themselves, and when voting vote responsibly. But I fear they are mostly brainwashed by the liberal media. One day it would be interesting to see a study done. One that shows if a populas only gets "liberal" news, how they vote, versus a populas that has access to cable news and conservative sites as well. It would be very interesting to see what powers of persuassion the media has over peoples thinking and voting.

Just a great post by you.. I can't say it as articulately as you just did.. but I agree with everything you said!