Tuesday, August 24, 2004
Coming off the dry spell since Jim Traficant's failed stab at re-election to Congress from inside Federal Prison, Youngstown is officially back in action as the state's premiere purveyor of bizarro politics.
Ohio Democrat endorses Bush
In the 2000 presidential election, Vice President Al Gore, the Democratic nominee, received 69,212 votes to 40,460 for Bush in Mahoning County, which includes Youngstown. Democrats outnumber Republicans by a 5-1 ratio, according to the Mahoning County Board of Elections.
“What has our community received in return for the past loyal support for Democratic presidential candidates? Dare I speak the answer? Nothing,” McKelvey said.
The appropriate question might be "WTF did we *expect* when we elected James Traficant, year after year?" Or, more pointedly, "what exactly have Republicans done for us lately?" Maybe he likes what the Bush economy has done for manufacturing, and he'd like more of it? What does McKelvey get out of this deal? As it turns out, the article moves to just that question:
McKelvey said his decision came after he had gotten to know Bush. He and his wife were guests of Bush at the White House last May, after the president promoted community health centers during a visit to Youngstown.
You may recall that late in the game, Traficant himself threatened to switch party loyalties. A former staffer in Traficant's constituency office from that period told me "It was stressful. You didn't know week to week who you should be talking to, what party you were in. Acutally, you didn't know if you even had a job, week to week, because of the [corruption] trial." In the end I think the switch-threat actually did get Traficant some allocation dollars for a pet project... wait, was it those same community centers?? If you know, hook me up with the info.
Quotes from the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette. You know it's bad when Ft. Wayne is mocking you.
Ohio Democrat endorses Bush
In the 2000 presidential election, Vice President Al Gore, the Democratic nominee, received 69,212 votes to 40,460 for Bush in Mahoning County, which includes Youngstown. Democrats outnumber Republicans by a 5-1 ratio, according to the Mahoning County Board of Elections.
“What has our community received in return for the past loyal support for Democratic presidential candidates? Dare I speak the answer? Nothing,” McKelvey said.
The appropriate question might be "WTF did we *expect* when we elected James Traficant, year after year?" Or, more pointedly, "what exactly have Republicans done for us lately?" Maybe he likes what the Bush economy has done for manufacturing, and he'd like more of it? What does McKelvey get out of this deal? As it turns out, the article moves to just that question:
McKelvey said his decision came after he had gotten to know Bush. He and his wife were guests of Bush at the White House last May, after the president promoted community health centers during a visit to Youngstown.
You may recall that late in the game, Traficant himself threatened to switch party loyalties. A former staffer in Traficant's constituency office from that period told me "It was stressful. You didn't know week to week who you should be talking to, what party you were in. Acutally, you didn't know if you even had a job, week to week, because of the [corruption] trial." In the end I think the switch-threat actually did get Traficant some allocation dollars for a pet project... wait, was it those same community centers?? If you know, hook me up with the info.
Quotes from the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette. You know it's bad when Ft. Wayne is mocking you.
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