Are You Kidding Me?

Looks like people are finally listening to me, only without giving me the credit, of course. Apparently, another one of Allen's supporters has made/is making a feeble attempt at "getting in with the blogs". Only this one seems to have a full on case of the crazies. In fact, he makes Sam's father look tame! He's sitting wherever he is, going on and on about Rasoul's religious beleifs, and how Rasoul is bringing over Palestinians for god knows what. He asks "How many people has Rasoul helped in this manner?" Not that it matters, but isnt generous giving and charity a good thing? I thought it was. There are plenty of non-profit organizations that bring over intelligent, bright children/young adults in order to help them with education. If Rasoul can afford to brighten someone's life, then so be it. I dont see the supporter complaining about Latin American, African, European, or Asian kids coming over to further their dreams...

Lets dissect some of "FaithDefendingJew"'s statements, shall we?

"Rasoul is seeking Congress to stop the support of Israel and these Palestinian organizations are well aware of this likeminded agenda. I believe Rasoul may have issues over the 1967 war and this is his way to return the favor to the Jews. You can take the man out of Palestine but you cannot take Palestine out of the man." I do believe that Sam was born in Warren, Ohio... and been to the Palestinian area twice in his life.

"Generally speaking, I dont bother with a garden variety pagan running for office." Ahh, who would this Pagan be? I'd love ot know who he's talking about, since his rant didnt really allow for the insult to stick to anyone in particular.

"It is my understanding that Goodlatte has refused to support healthcare bills and this would be due to his beliefs. Being a Christian Scientist forces him to ignore the issue of healthcare because they reject sickness and death." It could also be that he refused to support the bills because they would have raised taxes or some other ridiculous Republican sentiment. Not necessarily his religious views. Remember, this is a man who takes money from Merck. You know Merck, right? This man is taking money and looking away while Merck pollutes your waters and kills your fish. (Speaking of which, why hasnt Rasoul pummeled Goodlatte with this?)

"I have done my homework on Salam Rasoul and I have shown his agenda appears very clear to be toward the removal of Israel in line with the mainline Palestinaian convictions." I'd like to see what kind of homework you did. If you mean that one question you emailed him, then thats not homework. What Donna did for me, thats homework. You? You wrote a quick email.

Then we come to Hank Bostwick who runs Teh Harbinger. Considering his odd pseudo-friendship with Allen, we have to wonder where this is coming from:

"Many of Allen’s vocal supporters (Sharon Wright, Moshe/FDJ, Robin Waller, etc.) have made similar claims about Sam Rasoul. At first, I thought there were only isolated incidents of prejudice; however, this thread and the fact that it has been resurrected (excuse the pun) after so long convinces me that, for whatever reason, Janice Lee Allen seems to attract supporters who clearly have issues with people of different faiths and ethnicities. This is problematic for a number of reasons the most important of which is the fact that a Congressional representative must represent people of all faiths and ethnic backgrounds.
The time has come for Janice Lee Allen to step out and disavow the statements of Moshe/FDJ, Robin Waller and Sharon Wright. She needs to make a strong statement indicating that she does not believe in these sorts of comments and that her campaign is not responsible for them. Additionally, the syntax, word choice, sentence structure and subject matter may also suggest that the above individuals are one and the same. In that case, it would be easy for Allen to disavow them and claim they are the work of a sole bad actor with an ax to grind.

This comment thread would be a great place for Ms. Allen to distance herself from such comments."

It probably would, Hank. But something tells me that Ms. Allen is not that confrontational. This kind of xenophobic crap has come up before, and she ignored that, too. But more to the point, Hank sounds oddly familiar! I wonder why?

But in all seriousness... this has to stop. Or, does it? Let Ms. Allen dig her political grave. If she continues to keep this kind of company, it will serve make it easier to exploit later in the campaign.

Some More Stats

The numbers are as follows: (and please remember that these are for $200+ contributions only)


Rasoul

Total Contributions from Northern Virginia: $16,068.00 or 42.85%
Total Contributions from the 6th District: $20,384.00 or 54.35%
Other Total (From Goochland, Charlottesville and Richmond areas): $1,050.00 or 2.8%


Since 41.14% of total contributions from inside Virginia were from one zip code (24064), I decided to investigate. $13,300 or 35.46% of all contributions came from people who's last names were Rasoul within this zip code. That is 65.25% of all the contributions from the 6th district.

The higher concentrations, excepting the zip code previously mentioned, were from 22310 in Alexandria at 17.11%, and 20171 in Herndon at 9.33%.


Goodlatte:

Total Contributions from Northern Virginia: $21,450.00 or 6.42%
Total Contributions from the 6th District: $286,820.00 or 85.78%
Other Total (From Richmond/Charlottesville Areas): $26,100.00 or 7.81%None of the names on the Goodlatte list were the same as his, however that is not to say that his family did not donate to his campaign. The higher concentrations of donations were from 24014 in Roanoke at 11.84%, 24018 in Roanoke at 9.91% and 24503 in Lynchburg at 10.44%.

Donna...Shaming People One Math Problem at a Time

Let's face it, Rasoul is not getting the support he needs, inside Virginia and inside the 6th, to be the candidate. Allen still hasn't posted anything-supposing she hasn't spent more than $5,000 this is all legal-but someone should be filing something to get a hold on her receipts (hint hint). It's not dirty if it's illegal.

I've examined Donna's excel sheets (excellent job). Even the people who do monetarily support Rasoul in Virginia come from Northern Virginia; by large numbers (as people will see later today). This will not be acceptable. As I've been attempting to put across: If you are going to take money to run for office, then you should be able to prove that the constituents will support you with monetarily and therefore have "stock" in you as their representative. Allen has begun taking money, as of yesterday, according to her website. So her main support, thus far, comes from vocal (and annoying) supporters on line and in the newspapers.

You don't need lots of money to win an election, but you do need smart people and support behind you. Rasoul and Allen, both, have talking heads that make no real sense and act a bit like sycophants instead of level-headed soldiers of policy.

Speaking of weird people...Drew Richardson, raging Democrat, former FBI terrorism kung-fu master, and week-long candidate for Congress decided to come out in favor of Allen and fire a few shots against the Augusta Free(dumb) Press. So, yeah, Democrats are one big giant happy congruent family in the District. That shows up well in the latest slap fest that is the News Leader.

Also, what was with Belle Rose coming out in favor of T. Boone Pickens? I mean, honestly, an oil guy, a Republican, Swift Boat supporter, giver of money to George W. Bush, and supporter of RUDY Guilliani's Presidential campaign. Too many people are hearing a man with a Texan accent saying nice and pretty words and thinking he's some messiah of the environmentalist movement. How many times, honestly, what will it take until you people get it through your heads that these people are not our friends. Making money isn't wrong, no; lying to people, making your living off of lying, living in a state of hatred of fellow Americans and attempting to push policy that does not in anyway make sense... that is wrong.

In other news, soon I will be putting together some questions which I will be emailing to all three candidates. I wanna know some details. And I will make a promise to you dear readers: I will not edit one word from their answers.

Raw Statistics

*Note: These numbers do not include statistics for the less than $200 contributions, which account for approx. $87,436 or 45.9% of total contributions from the Rasoul Campaign, and (a very large number which I havent the mental strength to figure out) from the Goodlatte Campaign.
**Also note I am not seperating out 6th district contributions from the rest of VA.

Sam Rasoul:

Out of VA Total: $58,684.00 or 57%
Inside VA Total: $37,702.00 or 36.6%
Candidate Total: $6,565.00 or 6.4%
Total Contributed Above $200.00 (since inception of reports to FEC): $102,951.00

Robert Goodlatte

Out of VA Total: $37,400.00 or 10.2%
Inside VA Total: $331,120.00 or 89.8%
Total Contributed Avoce $200.00 (since 2007): $369,020.00
-I decided to find out what percentage outside of Virginia the DC contributions made.
Total Amount from DC: $9,150.00 or 24.5% of total out of VA


I have taken all of the data from the FEC website, as it stood, and created an Excel spreadsheet detailing location and contribution amount. If anyone would like a copy, please email me, and I will be glad to forward it on.

Please notice that I am not politically analyzing these numbers. That is for the person with the ancronyms after their name to think about.

Stay tuned tomorrow for a full statistical analysis of the numbers by zip code! Exciting!

Clears throat...

As of 6/30/2008, Sam Rasoul has raised $190,387. As of May 4, 2008, he had raised $148,646. That's a gain of $41,741...dude couldn't even put a decent down payment on a house. There's nothing really new here, small contributions work when you can draw from 300 million people-like Sen. Obama, but let's be honest, it doesn't work as well in the Congressional race. It would be symbolic and wonderful to see party leaders donating substantial amounts to the campaign: If they aren't willing to back up their candidate financially, then why should the people vote for the person?

Somewhere I read that Rasoul is good for Congress because he has worked closely with members of Congress, yadda yadda.... But if so, wouldn't those Congresspersons then contribute to Rasoul's campaigns through their leadership PACs? Hmmm. Sounds like a candidate that has woefully been found wanting.

Sam Rasoul is an exceedingly nice guy, but he is not a good politician. Go forth and find a real politician who will be able to get serious cash to fight Goodlatte on the level. When the time comes, if he wants, Goodlatte will be able to plaster every house in the district with his name. If we're lucky, Rasoul can get enough signs to cover a bridge on I-81.

If only someone had $900,000 sitting around somewhere. Oh, and wide, sweeping support in the district.

Hate Mail Redux.

I would like to thank Truth-teller for raising my profile.

The problem with people, who claim to tell the truth, and in fact claim to be tellers of the truth, is that they often fall prey to sycophantic dilemmas where they end up being self-serving grabbers of attention. See, I look at truth as a philosophical proposition. The purpose of thinking individualy is to advance a person closer and closer towards absolute truth (…without ever being able to reach it). The problem with Truth-teller (and those like him/her (can I get a gender?)), is that they feel they have a firm grasp on this truth.

But truth is like a freshly caught fish—the more tightly you grab hold of it, the faster it flies out of your hands. In other words, for my pedantic readers, truth is relative. It was acknowledged early in the election season that Allen should get out of the race and support Sam. That was in April, it is now July. She’s not only still kicking, she’s gaining a wider support base and, yes, the DNR does support her, as does Teh Huffinger. Let me support my ideas here:

In a quick few stories, Jeff Mellot took hold of Allen and began to flatter her by incorporating her into the political process-bringing her into stories that should have only been about Sam (i.e. the cheap gas stunt). The Color Purple article from Teh Huffinger, geez, where to start. By calling her “purple,” she seems like she’s uniting the ideas of the Democrats and the Republicans (Blue + Red = Purple). This is dangerous. The idea that the ideological differences can be whitewashed into a pragmatic path is not true. Everyone must realize that.

Regardless of how Obama and McCain voted today on the FISA bill (both aye), the two parties are different—it’s what I spend my day doing, making sure the differences are evident in all points possible.

To correct truth-teller’s inaccuracies, I don’t agree with the Virginia First deal. In my previous post (about the Color Purple Huffinger article), I said that the first response to the "Politics of Place" article was from a guy who felt that native-born Virginians should be the only people allowed to run for governor. And I said that these were the types of people who Allen was going to get the support of and if there were enough of these people lying around, a “silent majority” of nativist/racists, and if she gets enough votes to get a 40/40% plurality with Goodlatte, then Democrats in the district are done. And the 6th district will be a black hole of Republican ideologues.

As for the marriage amendment that truth-teller feels sealed the deal on gay rights in the Commonwealth; try telling that to the Moral Majority when it comes to Roe v. Wade and women’s rights. Just because there is a law, a SCOTUS ruling, an amendment, does not mean it is exempted from revision. No, he doesn’t have to raise forth a rainbow flag, but yes, he should make his opinions known. The Democratic Party is the inclusive party, how are we to feel about a candidate that does not conform to even the most basic ideas of the party? Gay rights may not play well in the Valley, but neither does being Muslim, really. However, Valley Dems seem happy to take up the religious fight, why not take aim at other biases?

As for Mr. Garstang. As far as the 6th district Democratic Committee website is concerned, he is a member of the committee, making him a party elder. The idea that he is some sort of old man and blogger only is as erroneous (hint: scroll to comments), and if he really feels as such he should just find a rocking chair and a porch and accept his fate to end his life staring at the Blue Ridge. It doesn’t change the fact that I was right. Whether or not the list is old, it is the only list available on the Federal Elections Committee website, thus making it the official list. It is the list we real politicos go by. The list includes donations through about the third of May, 2008. As of this time, influential party members were not giving en masse to the candidate.

What I am outlining here is a Democratic party who does not have the funds to back up its promises. I am no advocate for Goodlatte or Allen. I hope that I have made that clear. If you don’t want to force Allen out of the race, fine. But the Democrats are not showing themselves as serious. Going all over the place and visiting people is great and all, but it has to be backed up with money and it has to be backed up with local support. The next financial report will be telling. It’ll be interesting. Hopefully I’ve convinced some of you to give more, and give often—to the max. You need signs, TV and radio ads, etc. But first, Sam needs a stable campaign, a manager and someone who can really control the vision of the campaign.

Locally, Democrats need to show their die-hard support and rally people. By doing so it will gain the interest of the DCCC. Without them, the Rasoul campaign will lose loads of free cash and advertising.

Goodlatte’s on Judiciary and the FISA bill passed…please move on this. Republicans like privacy. Show them what they are losing. Rally real support. Stop talking amongst yourself and go gain some converts.

Hate mail.

Quick note... when writing/creating/sending hate mail, please keep in mind to do so while using correct grammar (TT) and knowing how to utilize the interface... I'm lookin' at you, Keller. Thanks.

I am sorry for the way Ms. Allen's parents died. But, many people die this way, and it is no more or less tragic than thousands of other deaths. The term tragic, when it relates to death, usually means that the death was preventable or otherwise incidental (i.e. Africans in Darfur and Kenya being hacked to death with machetes or a new born dying in an airplane crash).

Sam's campaign cash is regrettable. The truth is, there's no money on the list from important Democrats in the districts (case in point, Mr. Garstang over at cobalt6 and Mr. Deeds going to Richmond-but can't become attorney general...). This is why Democrats in the district are in the doghouse with the state party and the DCCC-by now wouldn't you think the DCCC would have some adviser, some form of financial support, set up? Yeah... but the local Democrats aren't doing enough. Look at the red to blue page on the DCCC website. No mention of Rasoul. No mention of my beloved district. Why? Because of Truth-Teller, the-writing-challenged, and his/her groupies of fat, blog-writing, pedantic, white, middle-class, wannabe, hopelessly lost, careless, feckless, pseudo-polymath, pseudo-intellectual, troglodytes.

I don't mean to be so harsh to the heart land (yes I do), but get it through your heads: There will literally be no Democratic Party if Allen continues to receive support and the Democrats choose to ignore her.

Attack

This is why Democrats in the 6th district cannot be trusted to run, handle, or win a campaign. Teh Huffinger has given Allen a complete and utter out on the xenophobic-side of her campaign. On top of obliterating their former warning that she and her supporters are racist idealogues, teh Huffinger's English teacher has now made it clear that they support Allen's candidacy. So now there's the Daily News Record and teh Huffinger. Rasoul is losing the battle of the press, and of course none of the television news stations are covering anything of this because it's too bloody boring.

Every time Allen gets good press, every time someone comes out and says she's a good person or that she's a moderate... it steals votes away from Rasoul.

There are not enough liberals in the Valley to allow Sam to win and he is not good enough as a politician to pull all the sides together (far left to left center to beat out who Allen can get). Explain how she can get press like this? How she can come off as the amazing "bringer together of people" and at the same time be against gay marriage? Rasoul has been more or less silent on the issue of gay marriage. And through all of this, Goodlatte has spent nothing, not one cent.

Of course, this type of media-bias hurts Goodlatte too, and if she can back up her popular support from the newspapers and vocal blog responses with actual funds, then Goodlatte will come out hard against her.

With very little money the Democrats should have already taken her down. She was a Democrat, don't any of you know anything damaging about her? She has a son, whom she apparently raised by herself; who is he? And of course she has an ex-husband' where is he, what does he do? She's been in real estate, yet has she ever done anything wrong? Not gotten a permit, lied on a loan, taken people to court? Have her current and previous renters been interviewed for their knowledge? How do you find that information; go to the courthouse and look up the deed records, search the database to find out what she owns! Then go to those places and find out who lives there, how much she collects in rent, what type of people she rents to, what kind of person she is.

It's not dirty; it's politics, and as she opened up in teh Huffinger: "What are their motives, and ultimate goals in running for office...[w]hat is their agenda?" Why is she running? Honestly, how does her mother's "horrible death" (How did her mother die? Was it really horrible? Check the newspaper.) lead to theology degrees, and then to political office?

This woman is a full-time quack. Who has she worked for in her life? What are her finances? Bring her down, and quickly, because if you don't, there are going to be serious problems in August, September, and October. The new story won't be that Goodlatte won, it'll be the questions surrounding how one old woman got more votes than an organized and motivated Democratic Party.

This woman has not had a video on youtube, nor an organized speech. Yet somehow she's kicking the ass of the Ass Party. She is capable of being stopped and you have to stop this syphoning of support away from (moderate) Democrats and independents before the whole damned thing implodes. What happened when the State Party chair or the chair of the DCCC looks in on this and wonders what the hell happened? In this year when the Republicans are weaker than ever, the year when Barack Obama (My Hero) could win between 38 and 40 states, the Democratic Party of the 6th district of Virginia couldn't beat a stooge like Goodlatte because Allen pulled enough support away to get a 40-ish percent plurality with Goodlatte! Then it'll look like the Democratic Party and Sam Rasoul stood in the way of change in the district, and in two years Allen will be able to come back and knock every single one of you down on your asses because she'll have respect, a name, and motivation. And you people will have to sit and shut up or else face becoming known as the Ralph Nader's of the Valley.

Bring her down before the end of September, before she can get money, and before she can get in front of television cameras.

You're a bunch of freakin' loons and Allen's going to get enough supporters for a Beer Hall Putsch that will change the Valley. The first comment on teh Huffinger's latest love letter to her shows her exact demographic-a person who would love it if only Virginians were good enough to govern Virginia. If she continues to get traction, there's going to be no such thing as a Democratic Party in that district.

Find the information, embarrass her and end this.