Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Little Fibs, Big Lies, and a Sub-Zero Heart

RE: The Kennedy/Foxx debate last night in Ashe County...

An Opening Note on Small Lies
At one point last night, in response to a general question about agricultural issues, Virginia Foxx threw away a line that opened a huge window on her character. She said that she and Tom were really "farmers," both at heart and in practice, and that she had picked and cooked fresh green beans and potatoes the day before. "And they were delicious."

No doubt she's a serviceable cook, but any local gardener instantly recognized the lie. There are zero "fresh green beans" out in any garden at this time of year. There are dried bean husks hanging on leafless bushes.

If she's willing to lie about something that inconsequential, she's willing to lie about the big stuff. For example:

Her "no" votes in Congress. It's a total misconception, she said, that I vote "no" on everything. I've only voted "no" 40% of the time and "yes," 60% of the time.

That qualifies as a big statistical lie. The only way she could squeeze out a 60% "yes" voting record is to count all the "filler" resolutions (like the one "honoring" the Christmas tree industry) and the courthouse-naming bills -- the non-controversial, pro-forma stuff.

But on 451 key, substantive votes catalogued by Project Vote Smart, she performed as follows:
Voted yes 129 times
Voted no 322 times

That fantasy figure of 60% was her favorite number last night: She also said that 60% of the country are "conservative." Just like her. "They agree with me," she said. But at least 60% of that audience last night was 100% in disagreement with her.

Where did she get that statistic? The obvious answer: she made it up. The highest figures we can find of voters' self-identifying as "conservative" is in a 2009 Gallup poll, which found as many as 40% of respondents describing themselves as either "conservative" (31%) or "very conservative" (9%), the highest percentage in any year since 2004, according to Gallup. And one might legitimately ask of that 40%, especially in the 5th Congressional District of North Carolina, whether they agree that they are "conservative" like Virginia Foxx.

Would they have voted to deny federal aid to the victims of Katrina, for just one example. Would they have voted against reforming the rapacity of credit card companies? Would they have voted no on "expressing support of the goals and ideals of the National School Lunch Program"? Would they have voted no on the "Elder Abuse Victims Act"? Would they have voted no on student loans (not student give-aways ... student loans)?

It's doubtful that the self-professed "conservatism" of Foxx's 5th District constituents is in synch with Foxx's hard-heartedness. In fact, on every vote mentioned in the previous paragraph -- and on many others like them -- the majority of her fellow "conservatives" in the Republican Party voted "YES!" Foxx is in a class all to herself when it comes to "NO!"

But then she was raised super-poor
She doesn't want anyone to forget that fact. By my count last night, she mentioned three separate times how poor she was growing up. What she didn't mention was how rich she is now and how positively GROSS it is for such a wealthy, formerly poor woman to have such harsh attitudes toward the non-wealthy and such solicitous regard for the super-rich ... i.e., bankers and corporate honchos.

Only her love of The Lord exceeds her love of money
She also paraded God, the Baptist version, as a third party in her corporate shilling. That's not just GROSS. It's ... weak.

Empty Seats
The Military Officers Association provided each candidate six seats for family and friends in the front row of the Ashe Civic Center last night. Billy Kennedy's seats were full. Foxx's were empty. No husband. No daughter. No grandchildren.

The lack of human connection signaled by that emptiness is almost sad.

18 comments:

Henery said...

First YouTube moment from last night's debate has been put up ... Foxx denying that we've got to move off fossil fuels and Billy's response: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrJ3Cgkiwd0

Anonymous said...

I'm no farmer but I was there last night as an undecided voter from Ashe County. I thought Foxx started pretty strong, but in the end Kennedy cleaned her clock. Thanks for providing the fact checks of her figures last night, but even I knew she was pulling them out of thin air. Billy Kennedy did a really good job last night.

brotherdoc said...

Wow, an Anonymous who actually AGREES with something JW posted. The earth is moving. Thank you, Anonymous no farmer, for being...you. Post again as No Farmer so we will know which Anonymous you are. LOL
Incumbent backlash: let it begin with Foxx and Burr!

Anonymous said...

Kennedy cut his own throat with his cowardly support of Muslim terrorists. he would rather have them killing us over here than fight them over there.

He will be lucky to get 30% of the vote.

Henery said...

Well, Anonymous, that's not just a plain lie. What you just said is a DAMN LIE. Billy never said anything remotely close to "supporting Muslim terrorists." You get your facts from the same place Foxx gets hers ... your imagination. Why Williams -- or whoever moderates this bilge -- allowed that to be posted here I'll never know!

Mike D. said...

"any local gardener instantly recognized the lie. There are zero "fresh green beans" out in any garden at this time of year. There are dried bean husks hanging on leafless bushes." - J.W.

I harvested jalapeno peppers, red bell peppers, tomatoes, and tomatillos from my garden yesterday, and I am still waiting on my burgeoning romanesco, J.W.

Care to come harvest with me and then call me a liar in print?

Do you garden, or do you drive to the corporate giant EarthFare and buy corporate "organic" vegetables? Because it seems to me that if you were a gardener, you would understand that it is not at all unlikely that someone could be harvesting fresh green beans this week. As a matter of fact, I saw some at my friend's place last weekend.

Henery said...

Mike D.,
Your insulting tone might have a little more kick if you had your facts straight. Everyone who gardens is still getting peppers, because they mature late, and some people are still picking tomatoes. But Foxx didn't say a word about peppers and tomatoes. She said "green beans." Most green beans take 60-70 days to maturity and have been finished in local gardens for a long time now.

Opinionated said...

J.W. has quite a garden from which he and Pam harvest a lot of what they eat. I, too, thought the comment about Foxx being "a farmer" because she and Tom had just eaten fresh green beans from her garden was a fib....we've already had frost at our place, the green beans are long gone, and the only tomatoes I have left are on vines hanging upside down in the garage to ripen. And Foxx lives at the same elevation as we are.

Mike D. said...

Henery and Opinionated,

I do not know when Foxx planted every plant in her garden, and I would guess that you do not know either.

Look, I am not her biggest fan, but it's not fair to call someone a liar unless you know for sure. Now, if she said she picked cherries, that would be different because the ripeness depends only upon the season, but Foxx might plant beans two or three times each year for all we know. She could have a climate controlled greenhouse where she harvests beans in December. I have no idea. Do you?

Brushfire said...

I still have some green beans in my garden BUT Virginia Foxx is still a terrible representative. Let's focus on her appalling political philosophy rather than her rotten character.

Anonymous said...

She grows new jersey tomatoes

Mike D. said...

Brushfire,

I apologize for focusing on the pettiness of J.W.'s attack.

Apparently Henery and Opinionated agree with J.W. that green beans are an important hot-button issue in the election.

I think your post would be more powerful absent the hateful words "appalling" and "rotten". But in essence, you are correct. Part of why you keep losing to her is because a majority of the voters in Foxx's district agree with her positions on the issues. You cannot win by sticking to the issues.

So J.W.'s solution is to attack her personally. It hasn't worked yet, and in this Tea Party political climate, you don't have a icicle's chance in hell of beating her this time.

Anonymous said...

JW, et al, Maybe you should give ole' Virginia the benefit of the doubt. Maybe she grew those green beans on one of the 16 parcels she owns in Watauga County. After all, the $2,298.065 worth of structures on the property could include a big green house. Or maybe she grew the beans organically at her house in Frostproof, FL. Or maybe the beans are still growing off the mountain at her house in Tanglewood.

I suspect the only "green thumb" Virginia's got is the one tainted by the color of money.

Henery said...

Mike D., Maybe you cant see the beans for the bushes! The issue is her easy habit of lying. You focus on "beansgate" and dont say a word about her claim that 60% of her votes are yea ... pretty well refouted by JW. Okay its clear that JW hates her. But seems like a lot of people who know her hate her, including evidently her own daughter. Youve got a bit of hate in your heart too, don't you? Just different targets for that hate.

Henery said...

Mike D.,
P.S.
Issues? I've been coming to this blog for years and only just started posting. JW has outlined Foxx's stand on issues all along, hasn't he. And based his attacks on her votes. The fact that you want to say the attacks are only "personal" just puzzles the hell out of me.

Anonymous said...

Attn Henery:

JW doesn't refute her 60% claim. I did some research and Foxx voted "yes" about 62% of the time in this Congress. JW is hand picking the votes he wants to use. In fact, he admits that Foxx was correct in her number when he said.

"The only way she could squeeze out a 60% "yes" voting record is to count all the "filler" resolutions"

Aren't those so called "filler resolutions" votes too? So JW proved Foxx was correct.

Anonymous said...

Well, I saw some fresh green beans, half-runners, at the local grocery yesterday. 'Looked pretty fresh to me.

Brushfire said...

Anon - Filler resolutions are meaningless crap. No - they don't count