Any of you wealthy GOPers just happen to have a spare $10,000 lying around after the 15th? Well, have I got a deal for you!
The Litchfield County Times is
reporting that the Commander-in-Chief himself, President George W. Bush, will be attending a April 25th fund raiser for State Senator David Cappiello at the Kent, CT home of former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and his wife, Nancy. The goal is to inflate Cappiello’s war chest in his attempt to Cappiello unseat U.S. Congressman Chris Murphy for the 5th CD.
The cost of attending the main reception is $1,000 per person and the cost of having a photo taken with Mr. Bush is $10,000 per photo. Wow. It must be good to be the king er, President. While this will be good for Capiello’s coffers, the Litchfield Times raises questions whether it will be good for necessarily be good for his election campaign:
Many Republicans in Connecticut remain surprised and anguished that, in 2006, Mr. Murphy, then a Democratic state senator, was able to defeat an esteemed and longtime incumbent, Nancy L. Johnson of New Britain. Ironically, given the guest of honor at next week’s fund-raiser, Mrs. Johnson’s defeat was credited by some analysts to her perceived willingness to work with the Bush administration on the war in Iraq, Medicare and other issues.
It’s clear Chris Murphy’s campaign will lose no time making the connection. Here’s a quote from Eamon Welch, campaign coordinator: “Wow. President Bush flying in to help his friend Dave Cappiello is a clear and stunning signal that [Mr.] Cappiello’s real intention is to continue President Bush’s ways of running Washington, whose policies and politics have led us to where we are today-with a tarnished image around the world, on the verge of a recession and in the middle of a civil war in Iraq. If [Mr.] Cappiello is the Republican candidate, this will be the lasting image of the campaign-[Mr.] Cappiello and [Mr.] Bush side by side.”
Now if only I had a spare $10K floating around…*starts humming the theme from “The Man from La Mancha”*
26 responses so far ↓
1 Headless Horseman // Apr 17, 2008 at 4:59 pm ·
+11
I am sorry Sara. But I’ll be needing my $10,000 to pay my state income tax, gas tax, delivery tax, estate tax, the gross receipts tax which is passed on to me, sales tax, business entity tax… etc. etc.
Now I finally see the reason Democrats want taxes so high. It leaves Republians like me without money to contribute to Republican candidates. Clever.
2 saramerica // Apr 17, 2008 at 5:15 pm ·
--8
Awww. And you’ll miss out on the picture of you and W.
:-(
3 pharg // Apr 17, 2008 at 6:56 pm ·
--11
It’s a ready made advertisement for Chris Murpy.
You wouldn’t even have to add sound. Just footage of Bush’s arrival and a caption identifying who it’s for. Bingo! Murphy wins 60/40.
4 TrueBlueCT // Apr 17, 2008 at 7:00 pm ·
--10
Do you think “W” knows that Crappiello called his Iraq war a “mistake from day one”?
Anyway, I hope the CT GOP wastes a lot of money on CT-05.
5 matt w // Apr 17, 2008 at 7:04 pm ·
--9
pharg said:
It really is amazing — did they think nobody would find out?
6 Al // Apr 17, 2008 at 7:13 pm ·
--9
Well, this is perfect!!!!!!
This gives Chris Murphy the perfect chance here in his own district to again call on President Bush during this visit to suspend for 6 months adding 12.3 million barrels of petroleum to our strategic reserves over the next 6 months. By following Congressman Murphy’s idea we would then flood the domestic supply with an additional 3.5 tenths of one percent more oil during those 6 months. According to Congressman Murphy and as reported in a recent headline story in the Meriden Record this bold move would result in us saving 25 cents a gallon during that time. Now that Mr. President, Murphy hopes is a demonstration of real leadership.
On the down side, that of course would then provide the President with the perfect chance to return volley here in Mr Murphy’s home district. He could then call on the Freshman Congressman to demonstrate if his math skills are any better than his questionable understanding of how market forces work. Now that Mr. Congressman would be a demonstration of what happens when you try to use showmanship to make up for lack of leadership.
7 El Kabong // Apr 17, 2008 at 8:43 pm ·
+2
“is a clear and stunning signal that [Mr.] Cappiello’s real intention is to continue President Bush’s ways of running Washington….”
It’s tough to believe these guys are so devoid of ideas that they’re going to focus as much as possible on the ‘You hate Bush….you must hate (candidate x)”
Whether or not it’s Bush coming to a fundraiser, that’s the only thing they’ve got to run on. The appeal of that to anyone but the blue-est of voters peaked long ago. Those sad folks are still blogging in the past, telling everyone how evil the prez and his war are….at….every…single….chance they get.
The world is moving on. The voters who make the call aren’t those hardcore bloggers, who live in an itty-bitty world of their own and are 100 percent certain of every race they write about here.
Some of them will be mismanaging……er, working on campaigns this fall with their (over)confident mindset.
8 Adam J. Schmidt // Apr 17, 2008 at 8:56 pm ·
+10
It’s going to be John McCain not President Bush on the top of the ticket in November and I can’t help but think that’s a good thing in Connecticut.
9 RandyJFrost // Apr 17, 2008 at 9:07 pm ·
--14
Hey Nutmegs. Just got a little bit more info about the dinner and thought I’d share. To start, the kitchen will be walled off by a 9 foot high border fence so as to prevent any illegals from working the event. After paying your $10,000 for the picture with the President, the photographer will tell you that he ran out of film, and that it’ll cost untold billions to send a surge of his assistants to Walgreens to buy more film (which may or may not be there). Regardless of the whether or not you leave with a picture, you will be asked to consider the photo session a success. Also just got word from the caterer. She said they’ll be serving nothing but pork. It’s the Present and Cappiello’s favorite.
10 JohnMac // Apr 17, 2008 at 9:32 pm ·
--11
I think it’s great that W is gonna fund raise for Cappiello while at the same time stumping for Murhpy! He came out to California in ‘06 to help Dick Pombo, and instead helped Jerry become the freshman Congressman from CA’s 11th District. It’s a night I remember well! The election, not the Photo Op for Pombo.
11 ctguy // Apr 17, 2008 at 9:43 pm ·
--11
I can’t believe Cappiello is attaching himself to the dismal record of this president. That can’t mean his campaign is in good shape.
12 What? // Apr 17, 2008 at 10:05 pm ·
+7
ctguy said:
Others view it exactly the opposite.
13 pharg // Apr 17, 2008 at 10:07 pm ·
--12
Fade from black , a limo round the corner. The smirking chimp smiles at the camera. Cappiello makes sure he is not seen on camera with the smirking chimp. He knows the irony is fatal. He said the war was a colossal failure but he’ll take the chimps money!
14 ebpie // Apr 17, 2008 at 10:18 pm ·
+6
Didn’t Bush visit Greenwich in October 2006 to raise money for the state party? Last I checked we didn’t have a Congresswoman Farrell.
This is a non-issue politically.
15 ctguy // Apr 17, 2008 at 11:30 pm ·
--11
All I know is that if I were running for congress, the last thing I would want to do is associate myself with a president who has one of the lowest approval ratings in history because of a disatrous foreign policy and a total disregard for the economic condition of the majority of people in our country.
It strikes me as desperation…Cappiello must have run out of all other options.
16 What? // Apr 17, 2008 at 11:40 pm ·
+7
ctguy said:
10 points higher than congress.
The truth is, no one can understand why an honorable man like Bush would associate with anyone like Cappiello.
17 questioneverything85 // Apr 17, 2008 at 11:52 pm ·
--12
If I were Cappiello I would cancel this fundraiser ASAP. I know the guy’s strapped for cash, but this will ultimately cripple his bid to oust Murphy in November.
18 Stamfordinho // Apr 18, 2008 at 6:42 am ·
--9
Good for David Cappiello. Imagine if Nania could get Bush to stump for him — that would be ruinous for the Cappiello campaign. Few people in the USA can help candidates with fundraising as well as GWB can. Now I think I’ll send Cappiello some more money!
19 Jack Dobb // Apr 18, 2008 at 7:31 am ·
+10
ctguy said:
Yeah, the Bush tax cuts doubled the tax burden on the rich. What was he thinking? Clearly, you have no idea what you’re talking about. As Arthur Laffer aptly points out:
Since 1980, statutory marginal tax rates have fallen dramatically. The highest marginal income tax rate in 1980 was 70%.
In the year Ronald Reagan took office (1981) the top 1% of income earners paid 17.58% of all federal income taxes. Twenty five years later, in 2005, the top 1% of income earners paid 39.38% of all (federal) income taxes.
In 1981, the total taxes paid in 2005 dollars by the top 1% of income earners was $94.84 billion. In 2005 it was $368.13 billion.
From 1981 through 2005, the share of all income taxes paid by the bottom 75% of all income earners (as reported on the individual income tax returns) declined to 14.01% from 27.71% … the bottom 75% of all taxpayers today pay less than 35% of all the taxes paid by the top 1% of all income earners.
20 Jack Dobb // Apr 18, 2008 at 7:34 am ·
+8
pharg said:
Imagine, just for a second, if a Republican had referred to the leading Democratic Presidential candidate as a chimp. Imagine the outcry, on this blog, on Daily Kos, in the New York Times, and more. So why is it OK to call the President a chimp but not a Presidential candidate a chimp?
21 gerardw // Apr 18, 2008 at 7:49 am ·
+5
Isn’t it obvious why Bush is fair game but Obama is off limits for such a comment? Bush is Yale and Obama is Harvard.
22 Stamfordinho // Apr 18, 2008 at 8:18 am ·
+2
Bush is a chimp and Obama is a chump. Uh oh, does that make Hillary the champ?
23 gerardw // Apr 18, 2008 at 8:45 am ·
+2
Hillary is chomping at the bit to get elected.
24 Headless Horseman // Apr 18, 2008 at 8:46 am ·
+12
RandyJFrost said:
Clever. You neglected to mention that while you’re inside the event, Jimmy Carter is outside making out with the dude who slashed your tires and pissed in your gas tank.
25 cancerboy3 // Apr 18, 2008 at 11:45 pm ·
--6
Well I suppose this is what we should expect. The powers of Commander in Chief have been delegated to General Petraeus, which is probably a good thing. The President has no aptitude, or apparent inclination to deal with the other problems that he and his flying monkeys have either caused or exacerbated over the last several years. But I guess there are still enough cretins here in the 5th District who might pay ten large to get their picture taken with him, in his new role as figurehead fundraiser seeking to boost the lackluster campaigns of lackluster Congressional candidates. And I imagine there are enough of such candidates nationwide to occupy him for the next 6 months. (Although it’s just as likely that the mere announcement of his appearance here will probably raise another half million for Murphy in Roxbury and Washington alone).
At any rate, as the child of parents who served on a Connecticut Republican Town Committee in the fifties, when that was an honorable calling, this whole spectacle, on both sides of the fence, is too dispiriting for any more words.
26 rex // Apr 19, 2008 at 11:53 am ·
--4
What? said:
Ouch!
Truth is, no amount of money that Cappiello raises at this shindig will be worth the damage it’ll do to his campaign. That association remains toxic in Connecticut.
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