Chris Shays (R-CT) Is a Liar

by Chris Bowers, Sun Apr 10, 2005 at 11:28:34 AM EDT

Shays in October 2004:When the House Ethics Committee formally rebuked Majority Leader Tom DeLay for the second time in six days, Rep. Chris Shays (R-CT) came to the defense of the right-wing GOP Leader he so often supports saying, "I think he's been a great majority leader." [Congressional Quarterly, 10/7/04]Shays in April 2005:Yesterday, Shays flatly denied supporting DeLay, telling the small but lively gathering that the Texan probably will not last out this term as house majority leader, lacks credibility and will never attain the prominent position of speaker of the house.

"He knows that . . . if he ever runs for speaker, I get to vote on the House floor, and my 'No' vote combined with the Democrats means he will never be speaker," Shays said, drawing applause from the room. "One of the things I want to say here is that Tom DeLay will never be speaker in Congress."

Shays can try to parse this, and argue that he supports DeLay for majority leader but not for Speaker, but even then this is a case of not being, um, entirely honest.

Tags: House 2006 (all tags)

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15 Comments

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Why do the seemingly intelligent prople
of Connecticut elect people like LIEberman and Shays? At least our lying hypocrite here in California is a movie star!
by Doc Allen 2005-04-10 11:49AM | 0 recs
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Hey,
we've got Feinstein.

In blue states, a corporate candidate can weasel through by taking money from local industries (for example, infotech  in CA or insurance in CT) while quietly promising to look after their interests, then using that money to publicly promote liberal positions. They get the best of both worlds -- public and corporate support -- while we get screwed.

It's almost worse in a blue state, where there's generally no real competition in the general election -- you just vote for the Democrat, whether it's Barbara Boxer or Gray Davis. It just so happens that the Davises of the world are better at getting through primaries, using methods like the one described above.

by catastrophile 2005-04-11 11:10AM | 0 recs
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Re: Why do the seemingly intelligent prople
If you are going to insult the intelligence of people from Connecticut, I suggest that you spell correctly.

Beyond that, Chris Shays is the most ethical politician that I know, and I am proud of him for having the guts to stand up to party leadership like this.  Yes, I can see the point in making comments as he did for electoral gain, but you know what?  IT IS WORKING.  Everyone in his district that I have talked to is in support of his position on DeLay, even staunch Republicans.  I am very liberal, and I voted for him, mostly because his opponent, Diane Farrell had absolutely NO qualifications to run against him.  A first selectwoman from WESTPORT is not going to cut it.

Plus, he is very socially liberal when it comes to a woman's right to choose whether to have an abortion or not, civil unions, and has an amazing record when it comes to the environment.  I don't agree with him on every issue, but I do think that he represents me well.

by begalafan 2005-04-19 09:21PM | 0 recs
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To be fair to Shays however...
... please do remember that it was "Shays Rebellion" that attempted to stop DeLay from changing House Republican caucus rules in the wake of his ethics committee admonishment.

He may not have told the entire truth here but lets not pick on a guy that is helping us right now.

Let's save the ammo for finishing the job of taking down DeLay, ok?

by Andrew C White 2005-04-10 11:57AM | 0 recs
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Re: To be fair to Shays however...
No man, we have to take Shays too. This is a republican in a democratic district. He can pretend to be an honest maverick republican all he wants, but at the end he is still a republican and is one less seat for us.

 No more Mr. nice guy, we are brutally attacking(not literally) everyone with any association whatsoever with the republicans. If not, we will never regain the majority in the House.

Thats why, even though they are nice people, Snowe, Collins and Chaffe have to go too, Im sorry, but they are republicans, there ought to be no more bipartinsanship or BS like that. We are taking down all republicans. Attack there name, there family, there past, there character....we are not playing Mr. Nice guy anymore, because they never have and never will.

by rafadex 2005-04-10 01:48PM | 0 recs
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Re: To be fair to Shays however...
Attack their family, yeah, that's a good one.
by dbp 2005-04-10 05:20PM | 0 recs
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Re: To be fair to Shays however...
To add on, I think the idea of attacking Shays for supporting Delay and attacking Shays when he calls for Delay to step down is similarly brilliant.
I don't disagree that moderates like Chafee, Shays, and Maine's Senators need to either switch (in Chafee's case) or face strong Democratic opposition. No matter how they vote on the war or how strongly they support Campaign Finance Reform, their presence still keeps us away from a majority, and non-Zell Dems would be preferable. Also, Shays' comment about Delay needing to step down was because he feared it would be bad for Republicans, not because he thought Delay was out of line.
But this isn't Rick Santorum. This isn't Jim Sensenbrenner. These are people who have worked with us in the past, and attacking everything they do only serves to polarize the parties by driving all moderates out.
by dbp 2005-04-10 05:31PM | 0 recs
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Shays Isn't Helping Us
<<He may not have told the entire truth here but lets not pick on a guy that is helping us right now.>>

Rare that I agree with Chris, but let's be really clear here.  Shays new denouncement of DeLay isn't aimed at taking the scumbag down.  Shays isn't trying to help us.  He's trying to help himself, pure and simple.

The fact of the matter is that Shays has voted with the likes of DeLay over 80 percent of time time while praising DeLay as "a great majority leader."  Shays, while running around and telling everyone who will listen that he's a moderate, has been nothing more than a lapdog and an enabler for the kind of right-wing nuts that run the Congress.

And now that it's getting him in hot water, he's running away from his record and his own statements.

Going after Shays for being the hypocrite and coward he is and trying to take down an unethical creep like DeLay are not mutually exclusive efforts.  

Shays needs to be held accountable for his record and statements, and DeLay needs to be spanked as regularly as possible.  

In their own ways, both are part of the problem with Congress, and they both deserve to be dragged through the coals for their actions.

by Politicalhack06 2005-04-10 12:56PM | 0 recs
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Re: Shays Isn't Helping Us
Right, but remember how close Shays' district is. He knows that MoveOn.org and ACT are just waiting to buy airtime in September of '06 showing Chris in the  hot tub with Tom.

Up to now, all but the most sober and dispassionate Republicans thought the wingnuttery was a good sign for them.

Now many of the electorally vulnerable ones realize that it's one thing to have Bush embarass himself with the Social Security roadshow and its another thing to have the Majority Whip in ethics trouble. But when you add both to growing skepticism about the Republicans stoking the fires of media circuses like Terri Schiavo...

now finally Joe SixPack in the "red states" thinks  the GOP is fiddling while Rome burns and getting nervous enough to treat his local Congressman like old underwear. No matter how comfortable it might feel, you have to change it sometime and once you decide to change it, you can't be convinced otherwise.

by risenmessiah 2005-04-10 01:35PM | 0 recs
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If
they showed up at the RNC, smiled and clapped when Cheney and Bush accepted the party's nominations, there can be little doubt as to their true convictions.
by Seldom Seen Smith 2005-04-10 04:01PM | 0 recs
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Don't yank my noodle toy poodle
Tony clifton says, when you're inthe party
you support the party.

Baby, delay is making enemies. you want
to get in the way, you gotta deal with
Tony first. Woa woa woa woa.

by turnerbroadcasting 2005-04-10 06:24PM | 0 recs
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10/7/04
In fairness, let's cut this guy some pre-election slack.  If the GOP candidates were Kronos and Kang from the Simpsons, by 10/7/04 Shays would by required to tout their green-ness and many tentacles as signs of their high virtue.

For know, he's carrying our water.  Cheer him on until either DeLay is done for, or Shays is coming up for re-election.

by jcjcjc 2005-04-10 07:11PM | 0 recs
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Just a moment
Whoa... just a moment here.  I've heard plenty about Shays saying that DeLay should resign, that has been all over the news.  But a liar? First time I've heard that one.  Let's look at the quote again: "Yesterday, Shays flatly denied supporting DeLay..."
Shays never said that he did not support DeLay in the past, he just said that he does not support him now.  It only implies that he lied when that sentence follows the quote from October- before the truth about DeLay came out.  Frankly, I'm glad to see that someone in the Republican party has brains, and I'd like to think that Shays might have done this because he has a stronger moral compass that some of the other party members.
Regardless of what his motive might have been, this is exactly what Shays needed to do.  I live in Connecticut, in the most Democratic part of it,  no less.  Shays had a real close win last election, regarless of the fact that his candidate had pretty much just two issues: I'm not in GW's party, and I'll do more about traffic problems.  I've talked to many die-hard Democrats who still voted for Shays because they feel that he is a truely honest politician.  By coming out against DeLay he has done exactly what he needed to do to cement his role as an honest politician
by TheProctonator 2005-04-10 09:07PM | 0 recs
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Precisely
There is now an abundance of evidence that
points to Delay being corrupt, even after
rebuke three times in one year from the ethics
committee.

I count a total of four new, big allegations

  1. the korea trip
  2. the odd accounting practices for that charity..
  3. his wife and daughter shorting the till
  4. the russia trip

Plus, on top of that two main problems - only
recently

  1. Pushing schiavo but not doing any legislation
  2. Trying to blame the judges for the error

The 2nd is dangerous. Only a clinton appointment
on the federal court (Wilson) actually voted
against removal of shiavos feeding tube, a move
which I say clearly demonstrates that if you're
going to appoint federal judges you should
not silence the other party with the nuclear
option - the partisanship on the schiavo case
was nothing short of revolting - on both sides
of the aisle. (read the book of Job sometime, folks)

The KEY maneuver in washington right now
is a procedural maneuver.  A huge land grab.
The GOP is perfectly willing to use stealth mode
anytime, anywhere baby.

So remember, whatever needs be done - do it
short, sharp and simple. Want to goof around
attacking shays - fine.  Two possible
consequences.

  1. He's a red herring.
  2. He's sincere, and you're just stalling the issue.

either way its the wrong way to go.
Go after delay with a message that
bespeaks of the wrongness of the
attack on Senate procedure, on 100 years
of history, and on fair and qualified
appointments like Judge wilson.
by turnerbroadcasting 2005-04-11 04:12AM | 0 recs
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I am very interested in this
I am very interested in this
尖锐湿疣 性病 尖锐湿疣 咪喹莫特 明欣利迪 疣迪 尖锐湿疣 咪喹莫特 咪喹莫特 疣迪 明欣利迪 疣迪 艾达乐 咪喹莫特 尖锐湿疣 尖锐湿疣 尖锐湿疣 尖锐湿疣
by hpvv 2005-12-19 10:13PM | 0 recs

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