CT-04: Chris Shays Claims To Be One Part Obama One Part McCain

by Todd Beeton, Fri Aug 22, 2008 at 07:04:04 AM EDT

I think I threw up a little in my mouth as Republican Congressman Chris Shays's new ad began:

The hopefulness of Obama. The straight talk of McCain...

...and still more as it ended...

Everyone has a congressman, we have Christopher Shays.

Is this guy serious? I know he likes to blur the distinctions between himself and his Democratic challenger every two years but this is ridiculous. But, I suppose, what else is the last remaining Republican congressman from New England who represents a D+5 district to do?

Watch it:

The truth is, Shays is a staunch supporter of John McCain's -- in fact is one of his honorary Connecticut co-chairs -- and is actively trying to defeat Barack Obama. And as for Shays' claim to be "independent", well, the Jim Himes campaign dispatches that myth:

Statistical analysis of Chris Shays’ votes reveals that when it counts, Shays has been a loyal servant of the Republican Party. On the closest votes—when his vote has the most power to affect the outcome, when the Republican Party most needs his support, and when 4th District residents most need him to make the right choice—Shays has lined up behind his Party’s leadership 89% of the time, or nine out of ten times.

This finding—based on analysis of the 1,752 votes cast in the 110th Congress—shows that Shays is not “purple” as he claims, but is, in fact, a true Republican partisan. Real political courage doesn’t mean crossing the aisle when it’s safe and easy; it means exercising independent judgment on the close votes where your decision can really make a difference.

Every two years Shays pulls this crap and it's about time, now that the 4th district has such an excellent Democratic alternative in Jim Himes, that the 4th district stood up and said "we don't need a fake Democrat when we've got the real thing."

Tags: Chris Shays, CT-04, Jim Himes (all tags)

  • 3 Comments
  • 0 recs
  • Share
  • Permalink

Comments

3 Comments

Shadow_head_small
I grew up in this district...

And met Chris Shays in person once (to his credit, he came out to a union strike line and actually said something mealy-mouthed in support of a just settlement).  

And I'm struck watching this ad at the number of black faces.  Shays actually lives in Bridgeport, the city with the large black population, and not the lily-white suburbs which make up most of the rest of the district.  

Even though he's historically gotten very little of the black vote in the district, I can't help but wonder if this ad is an attempt to shave off more of the black vote in the district than he normally gets.  

by telephasic 2008-08-22 07:18AM | 0 recs
Marine sunglasses
Shays is here, Shays is there, Shays is everywhere

I used to have enormous respect for Shays, but the last couple years have shown me that while he's a good, honorable man, he can also be a little too wishy-washy and blind to the facts. If I lived in his district, I would have voted for him in '02 and '04, not sure about '06, but this year, I say, GO JIM HIMES.

by Nathan Empsall 2008-08-22 07:53AM | 0 recs
Shadow_head_small
I ran Dem media campaigns in this district...

...it's, perhaps, the biggest anomaly, statistically speaking, as far as CD's are concerned, in the entire U.S...in terms of results there for the past three decades! For something like 30 years, it's always been determined by the Indie voters, with Dem's holding a slight registration advantage for quite awhile.

Chris Shays also represents Joe Lieberman's stomping grounds, for all intents and purposes.

More importantly, Jamestown Associates, the media folks behind most of the Rove's negative Obama work this year (and the agency of record for Sheldon Adelson's and Ari Fleischer's Freedom's Watch), did Shays' last couple of campaigns.

Don't know if they're doing them this year.

Fleischer also lives within spitting distance of CT-04.

by bobswern 2008-08-22 07:59AM | 0 recs

Diaries

Advertise Blogads


----------- myDD - skin -----------