The Charlie Story.

Last night I wrote a spoof news story on Charlie The Tuna's happiness with the exemption given to the tuna industry on minimum wage.

In reality, Chicken of the Sea also benefits from the deal. I needed a loser in the story and I could not resist using Chicken of the Sea.

However, one fellow dropped a comment in response. He griped about how the GOP, his congressman in particular is no better. Uhhhh, that wasn't the point.

The point was to question why American Somoa is exempt from the legislation when no one else is, not even the Northern Mariana Islands. StarKist & DelMonte of course say it would unduly burden the industry. Well, of course it would I don't dispute that. But why is it that argument never works elsewhere or for other industries?

I do not suspect any corrupt deal here but of course asked to support my lack of suspicion I couldn't. I could only state that despite my differences with Nancy Pelosi I have no reason to suspect she is corrupt.

I suspect it comes down the fundamental definition of special & vital interests and the fact that DelMonte is Nancy's vital interest. My interests are vital and all others are special.

Updates
1/16/2007: some minor edits to improve the clarity of my meaning.

What Happened?

Our now infamous and still new congressman Steve Kagen is living up to expectations.

What happened? What led to his winning?

Quite a few different thing mixed together to form the vote soup that put him into office.

A Tsunami of Discontent

Of course, the most widely attributed factor was a national GOP fatigue. This was brought on my many things. The culture of corruption hyped by Nancy and the Dems did its work and I would not say the GOP played the Dem scripted part but no doubt the likes of Foley lent credence to the charges. The DeLay case may have done so too but I would say Tom DeLay is a victim along the lines of the Duke LaCrosse player. He'll have his day in court. The Dems played it very skillfully.

Other points are lack of progress on immigration and in Iraq. Plus every now and then the independent voter gets change in their mind. Never mind asking them what needs change its just change for change's sake.

Don't whine about the MSM. We have proven we can win despite their best efforts.

Dissatisfied & Split Republican Voters

Many of the people I knew who supported John Gard did not do so enthusiastically. John's record in the State Assembly did not show a lot of promise. Looking for progress on TABOR and tax relief we did not find it. Looking for spending restraint we did not find it.

The Honesty Tour which of course gave the impression Terri thought John dishonest did not help. What were her supporters going to do? Vote for a person they spent months trying convince Eighth district voters was dishonest? In fact, quite a few of Terri's supporters went on to work for Steve Kagen's campaign.

Of course, the RPW & RNC did not help the situation by overlooking its own rules to favor John Gard. From the start, I viewed Terri's chances as a long shot. Still, one of the reasons we have primaries is to help strengthen our individual candidates, their staffs, and to give those conservatives who are a part of our grass-roots more of a say. Remember, it is them ultimately we need on our side. The executive is a top-down organization, congress is a bottom-up organization.

I am Not a Democrat, Only Goes So Far

Even in a right-leaning district you need to say more than I am not a Democrat. To be fair, I paid about 0 attention to the advertisements as I was in the Madison area for most of the race (for work) and in any event I watch DirectV's mostly The History Channel, FNC, and sports programming so I missed the deluge of advertisements. Like I need advertising to motivate me, anyway. Any positive TV presentation's to the voters were washed out by the negative ads.

Just like '00, '02, and '04 candidates have to present something about them as well. John Kerry's only attributes were he served in Vietnam and wasn't President Bush.

We had an operative in town in '02 to help with the Scott McCallum campaign. People complained about the negative advertising in that campaign. She told us that negative advertising works, expect more of it. Well, it did not then and did not now.

Negative campaigning will never and should never go away. However, we need to emphasize a candidate's pros over the opponent's negatives.

Please Nancy, For The Children.

Isn't that what the left often falls back on when a position does not resonate with the public? It is for the children?

Nancy Pelosi & the Dem's minimum wage increase bill raise the minimum wage across the nation and all but one U.S. Territory. Which U.S. Territory is exempt? Why U.S. Somoa. Why does U.S. Somoa get excepted to the law? No reasonable explanation has been submitted by the Democrats in fact it is somewhat humorous to read about this:

"There's something fishy going on here," said Rep. Patrick T. McHenry, North Carolina Republican.

During the House debate yesterday on stem-cell research, Mr. McHenry raised a parliamentary inquiry as to whether an amendment could be offered that would exempt American Samoa from stem-cell research, "just as it was for the minimum-wage bill."

A clearly perturbed Rep. Barney Frank, the Massachusetts Democrat who was presiding, cut off Mr. McHenry and shouted, "No, it would not be."

"So, the chair is saying I may not offer an amendment exempting American Samoa?" Mr. McHenry pressed.

"The gentleman is making a speech and will sustain," Mr. Frank shouted as he slammed his large wooden gavel against the rostrum.

Some Republicans who voted in favor of the minimum-wage bill were particularly irritated to
learn yesterday -- after their vote -- that the legislation did not include American Samoa.

Source: The Washington Times – GOP hits Pelosi's 'hypocrisy' on wage bill

Of course some are noting possible reasons for the exemption. Namely, StarKist Tuna is U.S. Somoa's largest employer and StarKist's parent company DelMonte is headquartered in – San Francisco – Nancy Pelosi's congressional district.

Please, why is Somoa but not the Northern Mariana Islands exempt from the new minimum wage law?