Surprise, surprise, surprise. I’m not Gomer Pyle, but I was shocked to have not one, but TWO responses to my U.S. Senate Ten Questions awaiting me upon my arrival back on the Eastern Shore after a fun and relatively relaxing vacation.
However, today’s is a little different. Mr. English chose only to answer Question #10 regarding Presidential candidates – as far as the rest he’s deferred to his website. I can give the Democrat a couple points for economy of effort but the idea behind TQ is to get specific answers to compare and contrast. Since returning I’ve been working on compiling the “debate” posts, which are going to be LONG, so much so that I’m dividing them into three separate dates. At the moment (subject to change) the dates will be September 1st, 6th, and 8th. With no original answers to Questions 1 through 9, he’s going to miss out on that portion of the campaign.
But here is George’s answer to Question #10. I’m actually just going to place the bulk of his e-mail response here, aside from greeting and close:
Question #10:
This question should present you with the shortest answer. Given that in 2008 either you will be seeking re-election to the House and hoping for some coattails at the top of the ticket, or preparing to work with a new President (for the Senators), if you had a short list of 3 to 5 names you’d like to see seek the job, who would they be? Please note that they do not have to be candidates who are considered to be running for the post at this time.
My apologies for the belated response, but I been kept busy filling our questionnaires, etc and other campaign activities. My campaign website contains 24 issue mini-papers that would answer most of the questions that you have asked below. If your readers would access my website, they could click on the titles of any of the issue papers of interest plus an extensive biographical summary directly from the home page. These issue papers range from one to three pages in length and are quite comprehensive despite their brevity. (Editor’s note: I have a link to his campaign in the right-hand column.) Tell your readers to use the URL search windows on their computers to locate my website if their browsers cannot find it.
Regarding my choice for President, my first choice would be Representative Dennis Kucinich, whom I have seen and heard during the 2004 campaign and my second chioce would be Senator Russ Feingold. Mr. Kucinich spoke about about his first job working for a newspaper in Ohio during the Vietnam War. He had to visit the homes of the parents of sons who had been recently killed in Vietnam to borrow photos that would be used in the deceaseds’ obituaries. Many of these homes were very modest and their dead sons obviously had been the center of their parents lives. Mr. Kucinich recalled how palpably he felt their soul-wrenching grieving and how devastating their loss was when he spoke with them. That is why he was one of the few members of Congress to resist the stampede to war in iraq and made the issue the highlight of his unsuccessful campaign for President. I hope that he runs again for President and that the citizens of this country will now listen to him and recognize how courageous he was and still is by his steadfast opposition to the war. Mr. Feingold impresses me with he personal integrity, a virtue which I find seriously lacking in most members of the Congress. Their fixation with “Political Correctness” has morphed into “Political Cowardice”. The interminable morass this country now finds itself mired in the Middle East is the direct result of their moral weakness.
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I suppose this sets a record for the shortest response. I did sneak a peek at my next U.S. Senate response upcoming on Tuesday because it was sent to me as an an attachment to the e-mail and she may have the longest ones. Her name is Lih Young and she’s running as a Democrat as well.
Tomorrow I’m going back to the Maryland General Assembly race for Rich Colburn’s responses. I didn’t get any new responses over the few days I was away so at the moment I have no one in next Wednesday’s slot (hint hint). While there may be some who discourage participation, I’m ready for more responses from those who truly want to answer the questions voters want to know about and who disdain “politics as usual.”
Late edit: Just after I finished this I checked my e-mail and what should I find but TQ responses from District 37B incumbent Addie Eckardt. So she will have Wednesday’s TQ slot.
Nice work on your interview series, Michael – a lot of work, looks great!
It’s just part of the job of keeping voters informed *shrug*. Actually, the credit is due to those who take the time to answer the questions, despite what some would be told to do.