Tonight 8PM ET on the Blend: Liveblog w/Virginia Foxx challenger Billy Kennedy
Submitted by Pam Spaulding on Mon, 09/13/2010 - 6:33pm
The liveblog link: http://tinyurl.com/billykennedyPHB
I’m Billy Kennedy, and I’m running for Congress against North Carolina’s greatest embarrassment … Congresswoman Virginia Foxx (R-5th).
A little about myself: I’m a farmer, a father, a carpenter, and I’ve been both an active contributor to my community through service projects and a local political activist through the Watauga County Democratic Party.
I’m the son of a Presbyterian minister who late in life became the Mayor of Black Mountain, N.C. Both of my parents contributed greatly to my sense of personal commitment to making the world a better place.
I won’t get deeply into my political philosophy here or my stand on specific issues, since those are readily available on my website and in the several liveblogs I’ve done at dKos (here, here and here) and at Crooks & Liars.
If you don’t know about the several-term incumbent I’m running to replace, here’s a little background. She is a consistent ideological ultra-conservative. In just the last year and a half, Virginia Foxx voted “no” on all of the following:
Jan. 29, 2009: Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009.- Feb. 4, 2009: Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act.
- Feb. 17, 2009: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
- Mar. 11, 2009: Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009.
- Mar. 30, 2009: Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009.
- May 20, 2009: Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009.
- May 22, 2009: Weapon Systems Acquisition Reform Act of 2009.
- May 22, 2009: Credit Card Act of 2009.
- June 24, 2009: Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2009 including the Car Allowance Rebate System (Cash for clunkers).
- Oct. 28, 2009: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 including the Matthew Shepard Act.
- Nov. 6, 2009: Worker, Homeownership and Business Assistance Act of 2009.
- Feb. 12, 2010: Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act.
- Mar. 18, 2010: Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act.
- Mar. 23, 2010: Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
- Mar. 30, 2010: Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, including the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act.
- July 21, 2010: Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
If you don’t know her voting history, you may certainly have heard some of her most extreme public utterances. Here’s just a sampling...
1. "I'm misunderstood in the same way Jesse Helms was." 2003, in an interview with GOPUSA while still a NC state Senator.
2. "The worst thing we can do is to get government involved in solving problems." September 16, 2003, in the NC state Senate's special session on medical malpractice lawsuit reform.
3. "I thought Mr. [Roger] Clemens made a very credible presentation here today. I have no reason to doubt him." February 13, 2008, in a hearing before the US House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, looking into illegal "juicing" by professional athletes.
4. "I think the 16th Amendment is unconstitutional." April 15, 2008, in an interview with Kathleen McFadden with the High Country Press. Foxx did not explain how a duly ratified addition to the Constitution could be "unconstitutional".
5. "Governmental attempts to regulate and tax tobacco are no different than if the government were to regulate and tax Mountain Dew." April 8, 2009. A close paraphrase of what she said to teenagers at North Surry High School, according to the editor of the Mt. Airy News.
6. "I also would like to point out that there was a bill -- the hate crimes bill that's called the Matthew Shepard bill is named after a very unfortunate incident that happened where a young man was killed, but we know that that young man was killed in the commitment of a robbery. It wasn't because he was gay. This -- the bill was named for him, hate crimes bill was named for him, but it's really a hoax that continues to be used as an excuse for passing these bills." April 29, 2009, on the floor of the U.S. Congress, with Matthew Shepherd's mother sitting in the visitor gallery.
7. "There are no Americans who don't have healthcare. Everybody in this country has access to healthcare." July 24, 2009, in a Capitol Hill press conference.
8. A Republican health care plan would "make sure we bring down the cost of health care for all Americans and that ensures affordable access for all Americans and is pro-life because it will not put seniors in a position of being put to death by their government." July 28, 2009, on the floor of the U.S. Congress.
9. “I believe we have more to fear from the potential of that [health reform] bill passing than we do from any terrorist right now in any country.” November 2, 2009, on the floor of the U.S. House.
10. Refusing to hold predatory credit card companies accountable for raising interest rates and adding new fees, Foxx said, “People who take out credit cards don’t have a gun to their head. If you don’t like the rate, get another credit card.” November 4, 2009, on the floor of the U.S. House.
11. “...we [Republican members of Congress] were the people who passed the civil rights bills back in the ’60s without very much help from our colleagues across the aisle.” November 19, 2009, on the floor of the U.S. House.
12. “I don’t see raising the minimum wage as helping American workers.” Quoted in an article in Roll Call, Dec. 10, 2009.
13. “All the promises [President Obama] has kept have endangered our lives.” On the Bill Lumaye Show, NewsRadio 680 WPTF, Jan. 5, 2010.
14. “Most of these people who got these loans that are in trouble now got them because they never expected to pay them back. They expected somebody to bail them out. They weren’t honest when they did the loans, and now they are going to be bailed out by this legislation. Now it’s just unbelievable that that’s the attitude that people have. They could be getting help out of the [unintelligible] program that already exists, but they don’t do it because they don’t want to pay the money back and they don’t want to share the increase in value if they ever sell the home for the federal government which is underwriting their mortgage. I think again they’re living in a never-never land. They think that they’re due this money for free. They’ve been taught to live in a welfare society. We’re continuing the welfare mentality.” Arguing against mortgage relief on the floor of the U.S. House, Feb. 5, 2010.
15. “Most of the things that have been done by the federal government which are unconstitutional have been done for good reasons. They’re not malevolent reasons, but they’re wrong. We should not be funding education, for example.” On the floor of the U.S. House, Feb. 19, 2010.
16. “We’re talking about four years,” Foxx said. “If we don’t take this country back from the leftists who are running it now, we will lose our country.” To the Iredell County Republican Party’s Reagan Day Dinner, Feb. 6, 2010.
17. “One of the most offensive pieces of social engineering legislation in the history of the United States.” Said about H.R.3590, “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,” the health-insurance reform bill, on the day it passed the House of Representatives, March 21, 2010.
18. “The things we have to put up with around here!” Said by Foxx after she had rebuked two female legislative interns for mistakenly getting on a “Members Only” elevator in the Capitol, July 20, 2010.
I very much look forward to liveblogging at Pam’s House Blend, taking all your questions, and delving into what you’re thinking about this all-important election year.
Billy Kennedy's web site:billykennedyforcongress.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/billy4wnc
If you feel so inclined, can donate to Billy Kennedy's campaign directly through ActBlue.
Kennedy liveblog about to start, click here...
http://pamshouseblend.com/
I can't wait, I so hope the district I grew up can make a better choice that it has the last few times (Foxx & Burr).
if you want to see the replay of the liveblog
Just click here for the archive: http://tinyurl.com/billykennedyPHB
--
Pam Spaulding
Durham, NC USA
Pam's House Blend
www.pamshouseblend.com
Thanks, Pam. Very interesting.
Billy's pretty dang sharp.
some highlights from the liveblog...
Quote of the night from Billy Kennedy, when asked about his prospects to defeat Foxx (8:06):
And this exchange:
He was asked about LGBT issues, specifically ENDA, UAFA, and civil marriage. His answer:
--
Pam Spaulding
Durham, NC USA
Pam's House Blend
www.pamshouseblend.com
Billy Kennedy
You don't have a snowballs chance.
Mr Clean
That would be a shame
because it would mean the voters in his district are dumber than a box of hammers.
Stan Bozarth
BUSH TAX CUTS REVISITED
The “Bush Tax Cuts” (BTC) were originally proposed by then Republican presidential candidate George Bush during the 2000 campaign. Less than 5 months after Bush took office in January 2001, he signed into law the “Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001” (EGTRRA) on 6/07/01. The new legislation included 441 tax and pension law changes (source: BTN Research).
The cost of the BTC (i.e., an estimate of the reduction in federal revenue that would occur) over the 10-years from 2001-10 was projected to be $1.3 trillion. The cost of the reduction of all marginal tax brackets was the largest piece of the $1.3 trillion amount, totaling $727 billion over the 10-year period. Other tax features of the BTC included a doubling of the child tax credit and an elimination of federal estate taxes by the end of the decade (source: Joint Committee on Taxation).
The 2001 EGTRRA legislation included numerous other provisions, e.g., increased 401(k) limits (up from $10,500 in 2001), a catch-up feature for 401(k) plans (a feature that did not exist in 2001), higher annual addition limits for retirement plans (i.e., Section 415 limitations) and faster vesting for defined benefit pension plans (source: EGTRRA).
EGTRRA created a new 10% marginal tax bracket (from the previous lowest rate of 15%) retroactive to 1/01/01. Further marginal tax rate reductions (including a decrease of the top marginal bracket to 35% from 39.6%) were scheduled to be phased in and fully implemented by 2006 (source: EGTRRA).
AFTER THE CUTS WERE IMPLEMENTED - Individual income taxes collected by the US government rose from $858 billion during fiscal year 2002 (i.e., the 12 months ending 9/30/02) to $1.16 trillion during fiscal year 2007, an increase of +35.5% or +6.3% per year (source: Treasury Department).
If you follow this closely, you’ll see that the Bush Tax Cuts INCREASED the amounts flowing to the US Government, fairly dramatically. Who wouldn’t take a 6.3% yield in this day and age?
Mr Clean
Cutting and Pasting -- Even a Progressive Can Do It!
Simple analysis is nice and clean, but rarely accurate.
Had the tax rates remained at FY 2000 levels, how much revenue would have been collected from individual income taxes by FY 2007? Your analysis suggests that revenues in FY2007 would have been the same as in FY2002 if tax rates had remained unchanged.
It's also interesting that your analysis did not extend to FY 2008 or FY 2009, for which data is available. FY 2008 receipts were $1.146 trillion, and FY 2009 were $915 billion (from individual income taxes).
So extending the analysis another two years....$858 billion to $915 billion over seven years....total gain of 6.64% over 7 years...less than 1% per year. Of course, I'm guilty of using your faulty analysis...
But thanks for playing. I'm sure James will offer some lovely parting gifts.
Read more: http://bluenc.com/bush-tax-cuts-revisited#comment-135432#ixzz0zWkm627Z
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Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted. -- sign on Einstein's office wall.
"End of Quarter Deadline Tonight at Midnight..."
"End of Quarter Deadline Tonight at Midnight-Help us put our ads on the air early!"
Like many graduate students, my bank account is perceptually low, and there are plenty of school loans lurking in the future, so politically donations have to be thoughtfully considered. That said, the 2 candidates I've supported financially this time around are Elaine Marshall, and Billy Kennedy. I wanted to share this latest call to action from the Kennedy campaign because I hope you will too.