Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Barletta on the issues

From the DCCC:


Bush-Republican Lou Barletta: Unprepared and Clueless about Cost of Iraq War



Republican Lou Barletta is running for Congress and doesn't even know the cost of the war in Iraq .

"At a time when General David Patraeus is on Capitol Hill and Congress is re-evaluating the toll of the Iraq War in terms of American lives lost and its huge drain on the federal budget, Lou Barletta is totally ignorant about how much the war costs,” said Carrie James of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

When asked on a recent Northeast Pennsylvania radio talk show (Sue Henry Show, WILK, 3/17/08) what the Iraq war was costing hardworking Americans, Barletta stammered and twisted and couldn't give an answer. The caller who asked the question actually had to provide the details.

"This only proves the point that Barletta is a one-trick pony candidate that grandstands and nothing more. The working people of Northeast Pennsylvania can't afford someone like Barletta who's embarrassingly unprepared when it comes to Iraq and the major issues."

This war has cost 4,000 brave Americans their lives, nearly 30,00 have been injured, it has pushed our military to a breaking point, and diverted tax dollars that should be used to help working people and seniors fight skyrocketing gasoline, grocery, utility, and healthcare costs. All this and Lou Barletta is clueless about a war that some independent analysts state could cost more than $1 TRILLION."

“ Barletta should know better than to plead ignorance about a war that Americans are fighting and that's busting the federal budget at a time when a bad economy is hurting working people as never before. Barletta should do his homework and learn about one of the most important issues facing Congress. Anything less dishonors the brave men and women serving in Iraq ,” said James.

BACKGROUND:


The Pentagon tags the cost of the Iraq war at roughly $600 billion to date. [ New York Times, 3/19/08]

Independent analyses conducted by Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz indicate that the cost of the Iraq war could exceed $1 TRILLION. [ Washington Post, 3/9/08]

Since the start of the war in Iraq , 4,011 American military men and women have been killed. [Department of Defense, 4/3/08]

An estimated 29,395 service members have been wounded in Iraq and, as of March 1, more than 31,300 have been treated for non-combat injuries and illness. [Department of Defense, 3/18/08;
AP, 3/8/08]

Nearly 1.7 million U.S. troops have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan since September 2001 – more than 592,000 have been deployed more than once. [Department of Defense, 1/31/08]

12 comments:

  1. I would vote for a turnip before I voted for a congressman that gave 12,000,000. taxpayer dollars to his family. He got a pass on the first 9,000,000. and he is getting a pass on the 3,000,000 he just funnelled to his nephew Russell. Kanjo is a disgusting piece of shit.

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  2. Anonymous3:41 PM

    Well Kanjo might be a shit, but the DCCC is correct. Lou is fucking clueless about U.S. policy. Heard the interview, he stammered more than Meuser.
    There is still not one issue other than immigration on his web site.

    Hey Lou stop giving the DCCC ammo, put up a fucking issues page on your website. Or don't you know any of the issues facing American and Americans.

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  3. Anonymous3:45 PM

    Issues? Issues?

    We don't need no stinking issues...

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  4. Anonymous4:06 PM

    How come this information cannot be found on the DCCC.org website? Did Ed Mitchell supply it before it was sent by the DCCC? Just curious...

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  5. Anonymous4:12 PM

    http://dccc.org/newsroom/press/ I cannot find this press release listed.

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  6. It looks like the area made the front page of the cnnMoney site this morning:
    http://money.cnn.com/2008/04/09/news/economy/wilkes-barre/index.htm

    Forget about the nepotism charges, like it or not it has become accepted practice in the area. If people really cared about nepotism charges, Luzerne county would have switched to R a long time ago.

    Paul Kanjorski's 2nd largest contributor in the 2006 cycle committed large scale fraud in the mortgage industry. This fraud was overlooked by its auditors and may crush KPMG just like Enron did to Arthur Anderson.

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080327/bs_nm/kpmg_fraud_dc

    Paul Kanjorski was the chair of the committee that oversaw the widespread use of subprime loans and of turning those loans into timebombs which will crush many pension funds (anyone check what is in the PA teacher's pension portfolio?).

    I have no dog in the fight, but seriously, stop poking with a stick when you have issues with the impact of a Louisville Slugger at your disposal. Maybe there wouldn't be so many people who went straight D if the Republicans in the area actually showed the public they want to win.

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  7. Anonymous7:52 AM

    If someone would tell me more about Lou's position in issues I'd at least listen, but this blog pretty much sums it up. If I live in Wilkes Barre, why would I vote for Lou? Kanjo might not be the best candidiate but he understands his whole district's issues and isn't fixated on one. Seriously, someone at the GOP national level needs to step in and tell Lou how to run a better campaign...and I'm a Dem saying that...on second thought, just let Lou be Lou, and we'll see you in the fall with the 11th tucked away safely in the D column.

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  8. Anonymous8:00 AM

    your right pj, i'm a republican and i am not voting for the simpleton from hazelton.

    and kanjo is not nor has not been the chair of any committee, he was the chair of a sub-committee, big fucking difference. and he has only been in that position w/i the last year and a half.. any dopes who want to blame the current crisis that was due to long term mismanagement and policy is grasping at straws...

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  9. 8am,

    From 2001:
    http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/05-17-2001/0001496316&EDATE=

    "Look at Japan. If the mixing of commerce and banking is so good then why
    is the second largest economy in the world so locked up that it can't do
    anything else," Kanjorski said. "The message is we should not be following
    down the same path and mix commerce and finance. This issue is just not a real
    estate issue," he added.

    Sounds like quite the harbinger. Unfortunately, money changes everything when one receives $109,400 from the Real Estate industry in the 2006 cycle. Who do you believe, the words or the money?

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  10. Anonymous11:22 AM

    Finally! Someone willing to meet with the Mayor!
    "Lou Barletta, Alan Keyes."
    Just curious...I wonder if he asked the LaRouche or Nader campaigns...

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  11. Anonymous11:29 AM

    lou has videos on his web site and guess what?? they are all of the same fucking issue.... wow he is diverse..

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  12. Anonymous1:48 PM

    Anon...
    I can hear it now...
    (voice over on a Barletta ad)...
    "Global warming, the rising price of gas, and the Chinese Tibet conflict all can be traced to our porous border to the South."

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