Hare Today, Gone Tomorrow

…from Unions, Lawyers and other congressional clowns.  Phil Hare raised $170,000 in the second quarter.  His campaign trumpets:

…79 percent of Hare’s donors were individuals.
 
“Congressman Hare remains in the driver’s seat when it comes to resources in this race,” said Maggie Depoorter, political director for Friends of Phil Hare. “This 2nd quarter report went above and beyond our greatest expectations, once again demonstrating the enthusiasm for Congressman Hare and his agenda. The fact that so many people contributed, especially in this tough economy, shows that voters support the Congressman’s efforts to invest in the 17th District, create jobs, and hold Wall Street accountable. We expect to have nearly $1 million at our disposal to spread Congressman Hare’s record of accomplishment this fall.”

While his campaign committe acts as if all the money was contributed by individuals, it was not.  Instead, the vast majority of Hare’s money has always been contributed by labor unions, law firms, political action committees and other congressional campaigns.   In this article, Bobby Schilling’s campaign points out “that $120,000 of Hare’s funding came from special interest groups from outside the district, accounting for 2/3 of Hare’s total second quarter fundraising.”

Clicking here shows that almost all of Hare’s donations come directly from the aforementioned groups, most outside of the 17th District, and hardly any individuals.  It also states that Hare had only 187 contributions – wow, what a groundswell!   In fact, I ran a search at opensecrets.org, and it doesn’t appear that even Maggie Depoorter, political director for Friends of Phil Hare, has ever donated $200 or more to Mr. Hare. 

By way of contrast, Schilling raised over $125,000 from individual donors and around $13,000 from political action committees. 

It seems the people support Mr. Schilling, while the entrenched interests who hope to use Mr. Hare as their continued tool to exploit said people for their own gain support His Phatness.

to be a Democrat, and have the press always covering for you.  I mean, Bush’s poll numbers were in the toilet after literally years of day-in, day-out pounding for the war, Katrina, etc.  Can you imagine what Obama’s poll numbers would be like if the press came after him even half as hard?

Anyway, I was reminded yet again of the butt-covering the press will do for their favored class, Democrat politicians when I saw this article in the Galesburg Register Mail.  One quote:

The campaign for the fall elections has already turned nasty on a number of occasions. Hare believes he was unfairly ambushed by supporters of Schilling at an event in Quincy this year. The supporters taped an argument with Hare about health care reform in which he said, “I don’t worry about the constitution.”

But the quote was taken out of context. Hare meant that he didn’t think the health care reforms he ardently supported were unconstitutional.

How do you like that?  The quote was simply “taken out of context,” nothing to see here, move along.  The paper simply accepts as fact — and reports as fact — the claim that Hare was taken out of context.  But is it a “fact” that Hare was taken out of context?

At the time, I noted the exchange:

When questioned where in the Constitution he is granted authority to mandate health care, Hare responded: 

“I don’t worry about the Constitution on this to be honest.” 

Hare then tries to recover and quotes the “life, liberty and pursuit of happiness” phrase and when corrected that those words come from the Declaration of Independence, says “It doesn’t matter to me.”

Then, when clearly asked again where the Constitution grants authority for mandated Health Care, Hare admits “I don’t know, I don’t know.” 

Hare was asked where the Constitution grants him authority to implement and mandate health insurance, to which he replied he did not “worry about the Constitution on this…”  Nothing provably out of context.  And yet the press is reporting as fact that Hare was taken out of context, and adds helpfully that “Hare meant that he didn’t think the health care reforms he ardently supported were unconstitutional.”  How do they know what he meant when he spoke?  He did not say that, so how do they know?  Simply repeating talking points is not reporting.

Like I said, it must be nice.  What a joke the press in America has become.  Don’t they have any shame?  Did the R-M ever bother to ask Hare about his premeditated and deliberate slander of a constituent?  Nah…. once again, nothing to see here, please move along.

But people are voting with their wallets, one reason newspapers are dying.  And if Americans vote with their wallets this November, the Democrat control of the House will be dead, as well.

Just a quick link to this article, regarding Phil Hare’s claim to be a veteran.  I don’t care too much about the semantics of the use of the word, but the claim does seem a bit disingenuous. 

What troubles me more is Hare’s reaction to the incident:

“After I pointed out that according to the law he is not a veteran, he became very upset and demanded to know my name. I refused to tell him my name, saying that this was about his claim of being a veteran and not about me.

Mr. Hare then told one of his aides who was with him, to follow me to my car and get my license plate number so he could find out who I was. I have since been told that Mr. Hare’s daughter works for the DMV.

I then asked Mr. Hare if he was going to stop telling people that he was a veteran. Mr. Hare again demanded to know my name, and again told his aide to get my name or to follow me to get me license number so he could find out who I was, so he could tell the former reservists what I said.

I asked Mr. Hare if he as a public official was going to use his official office to run name checks on private citizens, in order to intimidate them into not asking questions he did not want to answer.

As Mr. Hare was turning to walk away from me he paused, and turning back to my direction, he glared at me intently, and while leaning forward pointed his finger at me, and in a threatening and intimidating manner said, “I’ll find out who you are!”

Unbelievable.

So says Jim Geragthy!  He notes about Hare that “anyone who thinks he’s a safe Democrat is, I suspect, extraordinarily mistaken.”

Agreed.

Why?  According to Geraghty, “in most cities in Hare’s district, unemployment is close to double what it was the last time he faced the voters.” 

Then there’s the matter of those polls conducted by Hare’s campaign but never released.  What could they have shown?  How good could they possibly have been for Hare if he’s decided to keep them under wraps, even after needling from GOP challenger Bobby Schilling?  55–45?  If it were, say, 57–43, wouldn’t Hare have released them to show he’s still in fine shape?

*****

Of course, Hare can always rely on his raw charisma, charm, and dashing good looks to carry him to victory.

Now THAT’s funny!

So says Jim Geraghty at National Review.  He compiled a list of 99 House races, and then broke them down by categories of difficulty.  Geraghty lists Hare in the easiest-to-beat category, the first time I’ve seen a prominent figure come out like that on the race.  I agree though, this guy is going to lose.  Just look at him.

Hat tip:  Illinois Review

Well, it turns out that Hare’s office has admitted that it screwed up.  As noted previously, the allegedly racist paper handed to Hare by Quincy resident Allie Lymenstull was not racist at all; Hare’s office just said (falsely) that it was.  While it was over-the-top, it was NOT racist. 

But given that Hare was backpedaling for his political life, that didn’t matter.  The press release issued by his office explicitly stated, and placed in quotation marks the supposed quote from the paper that “The White House is No Longer White.”

Hare’s office left this slander out there for at least a whole week.  Then, after it had served its purpose (namely, making his opponent’s supposed racism the issue, rather than Hare’s stupid statement) his office silently changed the press release to conform to the truth.  (Initially, the office obviously simply cut and pasted the true quote over the falsehood, it even left in place the initial period, thus, the sentence ended with an exclamation mark and a period – they have since changed this.)

When called on it, Hare’s office then sought shelter in the comforting arms of its cheering section — the press.  The Springfield Journal-Register willingly obliged with a puff piece, which paints Hare’s detractors in the worst possible light, while refusing to ask the most basic questions of Hare and his alleged mistake:

After the video started circulating — portions have been shown on various Fox News programs, and a short version has logged more than 325,000 views on YouTube — Hare’s communications director, TIM SCHLITTNER, issued a statement saying that what Hare said was taken out of context. What Hare meant, Schlittner said, was that he is not worried about the new health-care law being ruled unconstitutional.

Hare repeatedly said at the meeting that he supports the Constitution, Schlittner said.

“Congressman Hare served six years in the Army Reserves. He needs no lectures on fighting for the Constitution,” Schlittner added.

Schlittner also accused Hare’s Republican opponent in the 17th Congressional District, BOBBY SCHILLING of Colona, of politicizing the Quincy event by sending supporters to be disruptive.

Schilling denies that and says Hare’s trying to change the subject. He also accused Hare of an “out-and-out lie” that implied agitators against Hare were racist.

Schilling has a good point. Schlittner’s statement said that at the meeting, “Congressman Hare was called a Nazi. He was called a liar. He was handed a piece of paper that said ‘The White House is no longer White.’”

Actually, the flier, handed out by 88-year-old ALLIE LYMENSTULL of Quincy, who calls himself “100 percent radical American,” carried a picture of the White House above the words: “America’s White House? Not any more!”

The flier also shows drawings of flags with a swastika and a hammer-and-sickle and pictures of ADOLF HITLER, JOSEF STALIN, FIDEL CASTRO, BENITO MUSSOLINI, NANCY PELOSI, HARRY REID and President BARACK OBAMA. The American flag is turned upside down, Lymenstull told me, to indicate “distress.”

Lymenstull said he considers members of Congress who voted for the health-care bill to be “communist, socialist, Marxist, fascist traitors.” (Lymenstull gets his own health insurance through his elevator construction union, a line of work he was in for 38 years, and Medicare — which, of course, is a government insurance program.)

Nonetheless, he said, the president’s race had nothing to do with the wording on the flier.

“We did get the wording on the flier wrong,” Schlittner said of the “White House” line.

That’s all folks — we got the wording wrong.  Nothing to see here.  Go home to your families. 

Any reporter worth his salt would ask the obvious follow up:  how did that happen?  But not the Journal Register!  They simply parrot the theme pedaled by Hare’s office.

A few other obvious questions, questions any fifth grader would ask, if trying to get the real story:  You placed the erroneous racist comment in quotes – why?  Who did it?  How did it happen?  Where did the erroneous quote actually come from?  Was it manufactured in your office?  We know it was not on the actual piece of paper, so where did you get it?  Why did you not correct it right away?  Why did you not issue a retraction, and an apology?  How is it that the remark just so happened to fit the Democrat talking points (also now disproved) that the “tea partiers” were racist?

Inquiring minds want to know.  The Springfield Journal-Register apparently doesn’t.  And some people wonder why newspapers and news are dying.

So says Ken Lowe at the Herald-Review.  He says:

Even if we disagree on how to fix big national problems like health care, isn’t the important part that everybody in the country wants to fix them? Yelling at Phil Hare until you get him, in a moment of contrary anger, to say he doesn’t care about the Constitution, isn’t getting anybody closer to that goal.

Wonder if he’ll ever get around to asking why Phil Hare has deliberately slandered one of his constituents.  This was no moment of contrary anger, it was a premeditated and coordinated effort to divert attention from himself and onto his detractors by sliming them as racists. 

Will Ken Lowe or the Herald Review ever address this?  I won’t hold my breath.

A few days ago, Phil Hare’s office released a statement, explicitly stating that at the now-famous meeting in Quincy (“I’m not worried about the Constitution” and all that), Hare “was handed a piece of paper that said ‘The White House is No Longer White.’”

I questioned whether this was true at the time, stating:

And where’s the piece of paper?  Why didn’t he hold it up on the video (WGEM was there), and call out the racist who handed it to him?  (Let’s see, if it took him a whole day to read those seven words, I wonder how long it took him to read the 2,700 page Health care Bill three times…?)

Illinois for Growth has now conclusively shown that the piece of paper did NOT say “The White House is No Longer White.”  It was a lie.  The Congressional Representative for the 17th Congressional District in Illinois lied.  And not a simple misstatement, either – this was a deliberate and premeditated falsehood, and smear.  Phil Hare wanted people to believe that the people at the meeting — his constituents! — were racists.  The press release issued by his office explicitly stated, and placed in quotation marks the supposed quote from the paper that “The White House is No Longer White.”

But the actual document never said that.  More importantly, it never implied anything remotely racist.   Instead, it used some admittedly over-the-top imagery of historical political figures and stated “America’s White House?  Not Anymore!”  This is a far cry from what Phil Hare said was on the document, and is not racist is any way, shape or form.

Hare’s sliming of his own constituent as racist is reprehensible, but certainly not beneath the  Democrats in Congress.

Hare has already silently backtracked, though.  If you click on the link for his prior press release, it has been silently changed, and now the quote reads:

“Yesterday, Congressman Hare held what was supposed to be a meeting with seniors in Quincy to discuss important provisions in the health care bill. But Bobby Schilling, Congressman Hare’s opponent in the fall, politicized the event by sending his supporters to disrupt it. Congressman Hare was called a Nazi. He was called a liar. He was handed a piece of paper that said “America’s White House? Not Anymore!.” So much for a civil debate.

Notice how the updated release now shows the actual quote, confirming that Illinois for Growth’s document is correct?  So, in sum, Representative Phil Hare called one of his constituents falsely, a racist, and has now confirmed the fact by changing his press release, without informing the public, or apologizing.  This was no innocent mistake, it was a smear, through and through.

Confirmation that Hare changed the press release to remove the defamatory remark is found in this article from the Quad Cities Online, which quotes the slanderous statement from Hare’s (prior) press release:

But Rep. Hare’s office alleges that Bobby Schilling–the congressman’s Republican opponent–sent his supporters to derail the event.

“(Rep. Hare) said several times during the meeting yesterday that he supports the Constitution, but that conveniently didn’t make the tape,” the release from the congressman’s office states.

In the statement, the congressman’s office also contends there were other things not shown on the tape.

“Congressman Hare was called a Nazi,” the release states. “He was called a liar. He was handed a piece of paper that said ‘The White House is No Longer White.’ So much for a civil debate.”

WGEM also confirms the smear here; The Quincy Herald-Whig here.

Hare thinks he can silently back out of this, but I beg to differ.  This is news, folks.  Mr. Hare has been caught in a white lie.  And it ain’t pretty.  As Mr. Hare said, “so much for a civil debate.”   This guy is a disgrace. 

ps- anyone know how to get a “screen grab” or a cached view of the prior statement?

Boy, if Hare is taking heat in Decatur, of all places, he is royally screwed.  From the Herald-Review:

Talks grew heated between constituents and U.S. Rep. Phil Hare on Monday as he visited Decatur to speak about recently approved federal health care legislation.

Hare, D-Rock Island, spoke about the bill and took questions afterward at the Decatur-Macon County Senior Center. Many of those present aired concerns about a possible government take over of the nation’s health care system, which Hare rebuffed.

*****

“Our bill strengthens and preserves Medicare,” Hare said. “Anyone who says differently is not telling you the truth.”

Gee, Phil.  When you were called a liar in Quincy, you got up and ambled out.  Now you’re calling others liars? Anyway, people aren’t buying what Hare is selling:

Many audience members weren’t happy with the explanations, with some of them interrupting Hare and each other.

Dave Freyling, 72, a retiree from Decatur who said he gets medicine with help from Veterans Affairs, said he didn’t believe Hare had even read the bill.

“I don’t understand (the bill) and I don’t think anybody else does, either,” Freyling said. “I think that’s one of the biggest problems they have right now.”

Can you Hare us now?

Have you noticed that since his now-famous discourse on the Constitution, Phil Hare won’t speak to reporters or others to himself explain how he was “taken out of context”?  Instead, Hare’s only direct comment is a silly one-minute video, which he read from notes (and still stumbled around on).  But from now on, it seems Mr. Hare will be on a much shorter leash.

Doing most of Hare’s talking is his “communications director,” Tim Schlittner.*  The other day, he said that Hare had been “railroaded.”  He went on to say:

Schlittner tells WGIL the whole incident masked what the meeting was all about.

“The disappointing thing is, there were honest, hard-working senior there that had legitimate questions,” Schlittner said. “But, the meeting turned into a political exercise. In the end, (the bloggers) were people that, no matter what Congressman Hare said, it wasn’t good enough for them.”

First of all, it was a political meeting, for crying out loud!  I can’t stand it when politicians (particluarly those that have just orchestrated a government takeover of one-sixth of the American economy) want to cry that their meetings are turned “political” by those who disagree with their actions.  They are politicians — meetings they hold with their constituents are by definition political!

As for the seniors that had “legitimate questions,” what does Schlittner have to say about the “majority” of the crowd that started chanting BS in response to Hare’s earlier bloviating at the same meeting? 

Finally, I’m not sure how Schlittner thinks that Hare was “railroaded” — all he did was respond to a question, and spoke what he really thought. 

But if by “railroaded,” Schlittner means “run out of town on a rail,” that will happen on November 2nd.

*Was that Mr. Schlittner there taking and holding Mr. Hare’s jacket as he scrambled into his SUV at the end of the famous video?  If so, why didn’t the communications director step up there and clear up the misconception right then?