Garden State Patriot

Yesterday, scores of New Jersey patriots – and patriots from all over the country – descended on the Capitol in Washington, D.C. Our message was clear: KILL THIS BILL!

We were greeted by several terrific addresses from Congressional Representatives like Michelle Bachmann, Mike Pence and Scott Garrett. Mark Levin, Jon Voigt and our own Steve Lonegan also joined the chorus of speakers.

Afterwards, our delegation fanned out - some meeting with Congressman Garrett and others with Reps. Rothman and Adler.

Here is the first of my videos from the rally. Unfortunately, I was much too far away to capture all the speakers but this will give you a sense of the size of the crowd and you can hear all the speeches in their entirety. I will upload more later (as it’s been a bit time-consuming!). So please look for more shortly.

And at the end of the day, a rainbow formed over the Capitol! A sign of good fortune? We can only hope!

Also, here is an article of interest on yesterday’s protest focusing on Steve Rothman.

Cross-posted at Conservatives with Attitude!

Well, after 10 town hall meetings in August, I think it’s safe to say the verdict is in: Steve Rothman didn’t listen.

Rothman appeared on Lou Dobbs Tonight, along with our favorite Congressman Scott Garrett, on September 10th to debate healthcare – and among other things, had this to say:

REP. STEVE ROTHMAN (D), NEW JERSEY: Well I think my colleague, Scott Garrett and I, the Democrats and Republicans in general in the House agree on about 80 percent of what’s already in H.R. 3200. I did 10 town haul(sp) meetings over the summer and we learned a lot about what language needs to be tightened up, what things concern people and those suggestions are going to be incorporated in the bill, but basically if you have insurance, we’re going to make sure it’s more affordable, bend the cost curve…

Honestly, I don’t know how Rothman could make the case that Republicans agree with 80% of what’s in the bill. But more importantly, the fact that he thinks the message from the town hall meetings was simply to ‘tighten up the language’ and ‘incorporate our concerns’ is insulting to everyone who went to those meetings to protest the Democrat’s proposal. The message of those meetings was clear as could be: We do not want this. Go back to Washington and start over!

Unfortunately, like Dear Leader, Rothman doesn’t really care what the American people had to say to him. After all, they think they know best.

The video of the segment can be seen here. The transcript here.

If current trends continue in New Jersey, where the oppressive tax climate has been driving people out of the state, New Jersey will lose a Congressional seat by 2012. The state’s delegation would drop from 13 to 12 representatives in the House. From the Bergen Record:

New Jersey will send one less representative to Congress in 2012 if population trends around the country continue through the end of the decade, a new study shows.

New Jersey came up just 15,187 people short of the population needed to keep its 13th seat in the House of Representatives and its delegation would shrink to 12, based on Census Bureau population estimates for 2008 analyzed last week by a Virginia consulting firm.

The analysis found New Jersey and Michigan joining six other states, including New York and Pennsylvania, that would lose House seats because population growth has lagged behind states in the South and West.

Of course, this would set up a serious redistricting battle in New Jersey. If Democrats are in power after the 2010 elections they will certainly target Republicans such as Scott Garrett.

But politics and Supreme Court precedents designed to protect minority voting rights will play as big a role as demographics in the final district map. A contraction of the state delegation could set up a battle between two incumbents, but Baker said it’s also possible one member of the delegation will choose to retire.

Already, Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill and Trenton are discussing various scenarios. Not surprisingly, Democrats would like to see two Republicans face off in a primary.

Among the scenarios mentioned by one senior House Democratic aide was a northwestern district where two Republicans, such as Rep. Scott Garrett of Wantage and Leonard Lance of Clinton Township, would face off. Another scenario would pit Garrett or Lance against Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-Harding.

While Republicans will try to prevent such a scenario, they won’t have much leverage if they remain a minority party in the state. The bottom line is this is yet another example of the just how important next year’s Governor’s race is, as are the state legislature elections. It won’t be enough to fully turn this state around merely by having a Republican in the State House. The Republicans really need a sweeping victory next year to prevent losing a Representative in Congress.

This is just remarkable. Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, in the wake of the Senate defeat of the auto industry UAW bailout, accused those who opposed the measure of being ”un-American.” 

“It is unacceptable for this un-American, frankly, behavior of these U.S. senators to cause this country to go from a recession into a depression,” Granholm said during a radio interview Friday morning.

Imagine someone accused Granholm of doing the very same thing on this or any other issue? There would be an uproar on the Left.

Later in the day, Granholm went on to accuse those Senators who opposed the bailout of favoring foreign automakers.

This is chutzpah of the tallest order considering it is people like Granholm who have helped cause the problem. It is Granholm and other liberal Democrats who have made it impossible for the US automakers to succeed by virtue of a) being in bed with the UAW and not compelling them to make concessions and b) their continual support of crushing regulations and environmental standards.

Liberals like Granholm are the ones who have actually - in a roundabout way - showed favoritism to foreign automakers. They’ve created an economic environment where it’s harder for the Big 3 to be profitable, while companies like Honda are not subject to the same pressures.

Is it any wonder that Granholm’s home state of Michigan is an economic disaster?

—
New Jerseyans take note. These are your Senators and Representatives who voted YES to this UAW bailout.

• Sen. Lautenberg (D)
• Sen. Menendez (D)
• Robert Andrews-1
• Frank LoBiondo-2
• Christopher Smith-4
• Frank Pallone-6
• Bill Pascrell-8
• Steve Rothman-9
• Donald Payne-10
• Rodney Frelinghuysen-11
• Rush Holt-12

These voted NO:

• Jim Saxton-3
• Scott Garrett-5
• Mike Ferguson-7

For all New Jersey election results, please click here. Despite efforts on this blog to fight Ballot Question #1, it passed convincingly, with similar margins as the Presidential race.