The Dayton Daily News endorsement of Dayton’s representative in Congress, Mike Turner, makes no sense. The newspaper reasoning is spectacularly goofy and well summarized in its endorsement headline: “Turner’s Focus Earns Him a 4th Term.”
Focus? Our national debt is a monster that threatens to devour us all, the economic foundations of our economy are crumbling before our very eyes. Because of the incompetence, the criminal neglect, the greed, the corruption of Congress, we have all become poorer and less secure. It seems the whole country will be bankrupt. It seems incredible that DDN would praise Congressman Turner’s “focus.”
If our democracy is to have any credibility, we need to blame the mess we are in on those who are responsible. John McCain wants to emphasize that it was all because of the greed on Wall Street. Greed is like electricity, it needs to be controlled and channeled into useful productivity. Our government deserves a lot of blame for the mess we are in, in fact, it is safe to say that our crisis is man made, and government is to blame. Morons, corrupt morons: Let’s cut taxes, particularly for the wealthy, AND let’s fight two expensive wars at the same time; let’s increase government spending by over 40%; let’s let the greed of big corporations, wealthy interests, have unprecedented privilege to change financial markets into casinos, and, let’s let them walk away with astounding amounts of cash. Let’s add $4 Trillion to our national debt. And, by all means, let’s get while the getting is good.
Our local congressman, Mike Turner, in his six years, fully supported this attitude and gave Bush and the Republican leadership whatever they wanted. His “focus,” evidently, was in being a successful politician, in playing the game. And he was successful. His full cooperation with the Republican power establishment meant that he could have his turn at the trough and could grab his share of goodies to bring back home. Nothing in his record would suggest that his focus was to think independently and to stand for common sense, or the common good. His focus was on doing what he thought was in Mike Turner’s best interest. (Including his two NO votes on the Wall Street Bail Out: Mike Turner’s “No” Vote Was Attempt To Boost His “Conservative” Credentials.)
It is amazing that the DDN says that Turner should be praised and rewarded when it is clear that it was Turner’s flawed thinking and his very flawed actions, that helped propel us toward the crisis we now face. On balance, in evaluating Turner, there should be much more weight given to the fact that Turner helped empower Republican excesses over the last six years than to the fact that he helped bring millions of federal dollars into the District. The DDN analysis seems very flawed.
The fundamental fact, our wake-up call, is that our democracy is in trouble. Our government has no accountability. Over 90% of US congressional districts, like Turner’s, are considered “safe,” regardless of how outrageously our government insults and degrades us all. The DDN does a public disservice when it ignores this fundamental fact. The crux of DDN’s endorsement of Turner: “Turner kept a sharp eye on matters of local interest, and he has made a difference.” Wow. The DDN’s definition of “local interest” is mighty narrow. It seems to forget that there is an enormous local interest in economic stability. Turner’s votes caused the national debt to explode; Turner’s utter loyalty to Republican mismanagement and Republican deregulation imperiled us all. These are matters of enormous “local interest.” How can the DDN be so obtuse?
Turner was derelict in his duty. The fact is, Turner did what most politicians sent to Washington do. He played along, he got in line, he kept his mouth shut. Turner, and every political worm he identifies with, is the problem. And, if our democracy has any reality, in this election, an aroused and awakened electorate will vote Turner out.
The DDN does a great disservice. Innocent children, I’m afraid, may look to the DDN for wisdom and be led astray. Jane Mitakides is an intelligent, caring, and accessible person and those qualifications, alone, are more than sufficient to make her a superior choice. But in this election, if our democracy works as it should, Mitakides should get a lot of votes simply because she is an alternative. She is the Not Turner Candidate. Mitakides should be elected. Her election would be a shock to some Republicans, but, in the long run, her election would actually benefit the local Republican Party. It would give local Republicans an opportunity to find a more deserving candidate and to return to values long abandoned by the radical Republicans now in charge.
Our democracy is failing. If the DDN wanted to elevate the political discussion to a level that is worthy of our democracy, it would take the position that, in these unusual times, a protest vote against the Washington establishment, against politics as usual, is crucial. We, in the Third District, asked Turner to represent us, to represent the common good, but, he let us down. Turner is a bum. If the DDN had any spine, its endorsement headline would have said, “Mike Turner Is A Bum, For Our Democracy’s Sake, Throw The Bum Out.”
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“Our national debt is a monster” – haha, yeah, and it’s all Mike Turner’s fault!
I replaced “Mike Turner” with “Joe Biden” in your article and it all fits in just right! Except for the keeping his mouth shut part – he pushed for all the spending.
I’m not saying that Turner is the only bum that needs to be thrown out. He just happens to be my congressman. There are plenty of Democratic bums as well, and if our democracy was working, they would all be thrown out.
I disagree. I voted for Turner in his first election, and I personally think he one of the career republican politicians selected by Bob Bennett and the Cleveland cabal, like Husted, Austria, Tiberi, and Boehner to name a few.
However, if you really examine his voting record since he has been in office he has about an 80 percent conservative track record. So I would be inclined to continue to vote for him rather than Mitakides the socialist running against him. But if you are a socialist then I can understand your problem. But I would like to know why this weblog is classfied a “conservative” weblog with BlogNetNews/Ohio?
I’ve always voted for Turner also. Finding a good conservative is relatively difficult these days, but his voting against the bailout was great to see.
Turner is a bigot. He has consistently opposed the gay and lesbian community. He did this when mayor when he led the opposition to anti-discrimination protection in Dayton, and he continues to do this in Congress whith has support of the amendement to ban gay marriages and domestic partnerships.
He uses his political position to act on his personal prejudices, so there is absolutly no way I can support the bastard.
Brian, In order to label those in Congress, like Turner, who have supported and empowered Bush, in his wild economic policies, as “conservatives,” you need to radically redefine what the term, “conservative,” means. We are trillions of dollars in debt, and our whole economic structure is on the verge of collapsing because of the action of these morons. Their irresponsibility is astounding, their greed and corruption is outrageous. Their actions are the opposite of “conservative.” Elections are the only opportunity to show support for the actions of your representative or show rejection of those actions and, it seems to me, in this election, anyone who identifies with “conservatism,” would be zealous to vote a big “NO” to Turner.
There must be some real conservatives in the 3rd District who would welcome the chance to run as a congressional Republican candidate in 2010. We’ll likely be stuck with Turner for a long time, if this election opportunity is lost. I don’t know the basis of your reasoning that concludes that Mitakides is a “socialist.” But it doesn’t matter. This election is not about Mitakides, it is about speaking in a loud voice: Mike Turner is a Bum, Throw the Bum Out. (And, I have no idea how BlogNetNews/Ohio evaluates blogs, nor how they define “conservative.”)
Some time ago, I wrote this article, Tell Me Once Again, What Does It Mean To Be A Conservative?
Jeff, you may be right that Turner is a bigot. But, it seems to me that Turner, more than anything, is an opportunist. He would be glad to project a bigot’s persona, if, somehow, such a projecting would advance his political career. I doubt that he has much personal conviction on any topic that drives his actions, but I’ve not paid enough attention to Turner to say that with certainty. He seems to me driven more than anything by personal ambition. The whole religious right political movement, that gets people to vote against their own economic interests, is a scam, and Turner is glad to benefit from this scam. Hopefully the economic crisis we are in will be a wake-up call to many people whose votes, previously, were determined by their emphasis on “social issues.”
If the most you have is that Turner “played the game” then your anger is misdirected. It would be more productive to go tell the people who voted for Barney Frank and Chris Dodd that they should throw those bums out. They are more responsible for this mess than Turner.
Be careful about saying reregulation caused this economic turmoil…regulation was a contributor.