John Adler for U.S. Congress, NJ-District 3
My state senator, John Adler, is going to take on perhaps the biggest challenge of his political career: deadweight Republican incumbent John Saxton in NJ District 3. Saxton has built his reputation on helping save Ft. Dix and Ft. Monmouth from being eliminated as military bases; while Saxton certainly should receive some credit in that regard, it is the men and women of the U.S. military who really deserve the credit. A closer look at Saxton's record reveals him to be a Bush loyalist when it comes to foreign policy; he refuses to even question the president's failed policies in Iraq and continues mistakenly to think we are fighting al Queda in Iraq rather than policing a civil war. Further, his campaign contributions have come from the most sketch sources, from Jack Abramoff to Tom DeLay to Halliburton; there isn't a better prop for special interests groups than Congressman Saxton.
In stark contrast to the pro-life, anti-science, anti-stem cells funding Saxton is state senator Adler, whose work for creating healthy, smoke free environments, property tax reform, and open space preservation has made him one of the most respected state legislators in Trenton. As Chair of the senate judiciary committee and an ethics committee member, Adler has an influential and powerful post in state politics, but his work for his constituents would be better served as a congressman in Washington. Adler has a progressive record on worker rights and has been endorsed by organizations that support a better fiscal and business environment in N.J. I welcome his entry into the race for NJ-03 and can't think of a more qualified and capable individual to represent the district.
John Edwards Post-Speech Speech
The Edwards campaign made a savvy move by having the former Senator provide a rebuttal to Pres. Bush's latest spin on the Iraq War. Edwards, who bought airtime on MSNBC, argued that Congress cannot keep funding an open-ended conflict -- echoing what Sen. Jack Reed did in an official Democratic response -- and that the president must come to Congress with a definite plan for withdrawal, and Congress should suspend funding of the war if he refuses.
I thought that Edwards did look presidential on some level and seemed determined, as he has been of late, to have his message heard by the American public.
Larry Craig and Republican Hypocrisy
In 2004, we were told by the Republicans that gay marriage was a dire threat to the social order; some, such as escort-seeking La. senator David Vitter, actually went so far as to call it the greatest threat facing the nation. Routinely, Republicans seek to implement anti-gay legislation, from local Republicans Scott Garrett and Rick Santorum to many others, and this form of discrimination under the law is one of several ways that socially conservative Republicans have routinely denied basic rights to gays and lesbians. By socially marginalizing gays and depriving them of basic rights such as the ability to adopt children, certain states and the country overall justifies legally the type of illicit behavior exhibited by Larry Craig.
Craig was your typical conservative Republican on social issues, and his stance on gays and lesbians was totally and utterly hypocritical. Craig had voted against a hate crimes bill that included violent acts committed because of sexual orientation, and he had to long supported and voted for measures that limited marriage legally speak to heterosexuals. The legislation that he supported helped justify homophobia and promote the beliefs of anti-gay groups across the country. Give gays and lesbians full protection and entitlement under the law, and marginalization of gays and lesbians will become more anomalous as equal rights for homosexuals as such change is also initiated on the social level.
Some Bad Democrats in N.J.
As someone who loves clean government and advocates public financing of elections, I am appalled that several members of the state's Democratic Party were arrested today on corruption charges. Two of the arrested were Democratic Assemblyman, and the quotes posted on politicsnj.com and the fact that they were arrested, not subpoenad, point to their guilt in the bribery case. This is a betrayal of the voters' trust and reveals these individuals, who were officials from Atlantic to Passaic County and beyond, to be undeserving of the office they hold. These Democrats give the rest of us Dems who want an ethical and clean legislature a bad name.
