Topic category: Government/Politics
Charlie Cook and Anita MonCrief on Scott Brown Becoming Obamacare Stopper
Martha Coakley was supposed to be a lock, but now Obamatons across America are in shock. The race to fill the United States Senate seat long filled by the late Ted Kennedy was Massachusetts was Massachusetts Attorney General Coakley's to lose. She had won her Attorney Generalship with nearly three-fourths of the vote. She easily won the primary for the Democrat nomination against her male competitors. Democrats outnumber Republicans in Massachusetts by three to one. But the Age of Obama unfolded and Coakley lost the race. She will rightfully be counted out unless the race is stolen for her by counting her in.
With the race in large part a referendum on Obama's radical agenda, especially looming Obamacare, Obama's ACORN and SEIU allies will do their worst.
National Journal's cautious, but capable Charlie Cook, who knows something about politics:
"Cook: Brown Favorite to Win in Massachusetts
"Sunday, 17 Jan 2010 05:46 PM
"Leading political analyst Charlie Cook sent an unusual email Sunday to readers of his influential newsletter saying that Republican Scott Brown is now a slight favorite in the race to fill the seat of the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.
"Cook sent the message just hours before President Barack Obama's appearance to help shore up support for Democratic state Attorney General Martha Coakley, Politico reported. Cook still added that the race could go either way.
"'This past Thursday, Jan. 14, The Cook Political Report moved the open Massachusetts Senate seat rating from lean Democrat to toss-up, having moved it from solid Democrat to lean Democratic on Jan. 7,' Cook wrote, Politico first reported. 'We continue to see this race as very much of a toss-up, with Republican state Sen. Scott Brown holding onto a very narrow, single-digit lead over Democratic state Attorney General Martha Coakley.
"'Given the vagaries of voter turnout, particularly in lower participation level special elections, this race could still go either way, but we put a finger on the scale for Brown. Last-minute Democratic attacks on Brown have driven his negatives up some and slightly diminished the incredible intensity of support that Brown enjoyed, but it looks more likely than not to hold.'"
ACORN whistleblower Anita MonCrief on WHY America needs a Brown victory:
"Will ACORN’s Leftist Agenda be Thwarted by Scott Brown?
"Posted by Anita MonCrief On January - 17 - 2010
"In a move that is oddly fitting for a President who failed to interrupt his Hawaiian vacation to respond to a terrorist attack, Barack Obama is heading to Massachusetts to assist his base of union and community organizers.
"'Obama is headed to Massachusetts Sunday to campaign for Democrat Martha Coakley, whose race against Republican Scott Brown has narrowed to a toss-up as voters zero in on the cost of a massive health insurance bill in Congress.'
"As the left struggles to maintain 'Ted Kennedy’s Seat' the cracks are beginning to show in a radical agenda many believe was crafted by leaders at groups like the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. As Brown supporters eye the state warily, ACORN has largely gone underground in Massachusetts. Beginning in the 1970’s ACORN has operated silently in states across the country conducting 'progressive experiments' in liberal states like Massachusetts through the use of organizing around ballot initiatives."
In addition to illuminating illustrations, MonCrief provided informative background in detail:
"Lisa Ranghelli, a Massachusetts native, authored a report entitled ACORN Wins: The Monetary Impact of ACORN Campaigns, A Ten Year Retrospective, 1995-2004. Ranghelli’s report listed several ACORN legislative agenda items like predatory lending laws and minimum wage increases 'tested' in Massachusetts shortly before a nationwide campaign:
"Categorized by issue area, these totals encompass the estimated monetary benefits of some of ACORN’s major campaigns between 1995 and 2004, including:
…STATE EITC INCREASES
Finally, ACORN has successfully increased the earnings of low-wage workers by allowing them to keep more of what they make. In Massachusetts, ACORN led a coalition that won an increase in the state Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) in 1999, from 10 percent of the federal credit to 15 percent, or a 50 percent increase. According to the State Department of Revenue, close to $21 million additional dollars went into the pockets of low-income taxpayers annually after the increase was implemented."
Ms. MonCrief also explained ACORN strategy:
"After the disastrous defeat of HillaryCare in the 1990’s, liberals began to operate under the idea that 'all politics are local' and both before and after Ted Kennedy facilitated ACORN’s leftist agendas that were precursors to ObamaCare. In a 2006 report ACORN details its next steps after assisting Democrats with 'taking back Congress:
ACORN Legislative Agenda for 2007
Working Families Agenda
Minimum Wage – Soon after the new Congress gets to work in January, both the House and the Senate are expected to move bills to increase the minimum wage to $7.25 an hours in three steps by 2009. While almost everyone believes this will pass (and Bush has indicated he will sign an increase), the fight will be over getting a clean bill – without poison pill amendments such as small business tax breaks or 'protection' of small business from health insurance costs (read: higher premiums and insurance cut offs for our members). ACORN will take a leadership role in both raising the profile of the issue with our friends in Congress in select Congressional Districts in Dec and Jan – AND targeting some moderate Republicans and weak Dems who are more likely to go along with the poison pills.
Soon after we get the $7.25, Sen. Kennedy will introduce a more ambitious bill to restore the value of the minimum wage to its historic levels (more like $9.00/hr.) AND index it to inflation. We’ll likely have to fight for this bill for many years, and it is not likely to be a very big priority in year one, 2007.
Paid Sick Days – ACORN intends to make the fight for paid sick day a big one in 2007. To supplement our city and state campaigns on this issue, we will push for the Healthy Families Act (introduced by Sen. Kennedy and Rep. DeLauro), which would require employers to provide 7 paid sick days a year.
"Kennedy’s unequivocal support led to ACORN attempting to establish its now embattled Working Families Party in Massachusetts:
'The Working Families Party in New York and Connecticut continued to establish themselves shrewdly as political forces. The ballot project in Massachusetts to advance election opportunities (read fusion) made it to the ballot, which was never easy, but unfortunately could not overcome some of its negatives, so lost decidedly by a woeful margin, even in the trenches of liberalism. This will be something that we will have to answer in the future.'
"As speculations of desperation regarding ObamaCare swarm around the Internet, see Hot Air, for example, ACORN has continued working silently through partners like Emily’s List and America Votes. The ACORN agenda became the cornerstone of the Obama campaign and then presidency, with Obama and Democrats fiercely protecting ACORN along the way.
“'In 2007, for the first time in 12 years, we will be working with a Democratic controlled Congress. Without being overly optimistic (after all, it takes 60 votes to pass anything controversial in the Senate, and Bush is still President), we are developing an ambitious agenda of programs and priorities that we will be pushing for. In particular, we will be paying attention to how our allies in Congress can assist us in our campaign work by holding hearings and otherwise shining a spotlight on our issues and targets – something that only the majority party can do.
Furthermore, we are working to make sure that key leaders in Congress fully understand the role that ACORN played in the 2006 elections: we are working collaboratively with the political department to ensure that the impact of our political work is widely known and appreciated.
Legislative priorities will include:
ACORN Working Families Agenda, including an increase in the minimum wage, paid sick days, expanded EITC, and Childcare assistance.
Immigration reform, which may actually move early next year.
Legislation outlawing predatory lending practices (as opposed to just stopping bad pre-emptive legislation).
Additional funding for housing counseling, and a separate pool of funding for delinquency/foreclosure counseling and outreach.
A housing trust fund – which will make funding available for our development program.
Possible legislation on RALs, payday lending, and other predatory financial practices, as well as support for our VITA and benefit access centers.
Election reform, on voting machines, voter registration issues, etc…'
"As Coakley continues to make mistakes that would cripple anyone on the right, her status as an empty suit for the 'Kennedy Seat' has almost reached satirical proportions. What ACORN and the Democrats did not count on was the same qualities that first made Kennedy appealing to voters are being exhibited by Brown. Brown’s supporters see him as a wild card, someone who is going to shake things up and listen to the people. Hopefully Ted Kennedy would be proud."
Initially after Roe v. Wade, Senator Kennedy was pro-life, and that was something of which he could be proud.
Now, Massachusetts (and all America) need Brown to fit the radical agenda, especially Obamacare, with a burial shroud.
Like Obama, ACORN and SEIU, Coakley can't survive close inspection. Example: Coakley would bury the chance of a faithful Catholic (like some of the late Senator Kennedy's relatives) to work in a hospital emergency room instead of provide conscientious protection.
Michael J. Gaynor
Biography - Michael J. Gaynor
Michael J. Gaynor has been practicing law in New York since 1973. A former partner at Fulton, Duncombe & Rowe and Gaynor & Bass, he is a solo practitioner admitted to practice in New York state and federal courts and an Association of the Bar of the City of New York member.
Gaynor graduated magna cum laude, with Honors in Social Science, from Hofstra University's New College, and received his J.D. degree from St. John's Law School, where he won the American Jurisprudence Award in Evidence and served as an editor of the Law Review and the St. Thomas More Institute for Legal Research. He wrote on the Pentagon Papers case for the Review and obscenity law for The Catholic Lawyer and edited the Law Review's commentary on significant developments in New York law.
The day after graduating, Gaynor joined the Fulton firm, where he focused on litigation and corporate law. In 1997 Gaynor and Emily Bass formed Gaynor & Bass and then conducted a general legal practice, emphasizing litigation, and represented corporations, individuals and a New York City labor union. Notably, Gaynor & Bass prevailed in the Second Circuit in a seminal copyright infringement case, Tasini v. New York Times, against newspaper and magazine publishers and Lexis-Nexis. The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed, 7 to 2, holding that the copyrights of freelance writers had been infringed when their work was put online without permission or compensation.
Gaynor currently contributes regularly to www.MichNews.com, www.RenewAmerica.com, www.WebCommentary.com, www.PostChronicle.com and www.therealitycheck.org and has contributed to many other websites. He has written extensively on political and religious issues, notably the Terry Schiavo case, the Duke "no rape" case, ACORN and canon law, and appeared as a guest on television and radio. He was acknowledged in Until Proven Innocent, by Stuart Taylor and KC Johnson, and Culture of Corruption, by Michelle Malkin. He appeared on "Your World With Cavuto" to promote an eBay boycott that he initiated and "The World Over With Raymond Arroyo" (EWTN) to discuss the legal implications of the Schiavo case. On October 22, 2008, Gaynor was the first to report that The New York Times had killed an Obama/ACORN expose on which a Times reporter had been working with ACORN whistleblower Anita MonCrief.
Gaynor's email address is gaynormike@aol.com.